Zoocap

What’s the top place for families to visit in New York City?  It might not surprise you to learn it’s the American Museum of Natural History, but it may surprise you to know that by going inside this building, you’ll find out more than you ever thought possible about what’s going on outside the building…  way outside the building.  Right now, on a daily basis, the museum is showing a planetarium space show just about every half hour, titled, Journey to the Stars.

This program has been running for about six months now, so it’s fairly recent, and it’s hosted by Academy-Award winning actress and narrator, Whoopi Goldberg.  The show draws on images from ground and space telescopes, allowing us to simulate images that have never been witnessed before.  Guests will find out what it’s like for stars to be born and to die, and it includes what will one day happen to our own sun billions of years from now (long after we’ve found a way to leave this planet, I’m thinking).  The museum’s astrophysicists and NASA (the National Aeronautics and Space Administration), as well as forty scientists across the world have helped to create this exhibit, and if you don’t know that much about the sky and what’s beyond our atmosphere, you’ll find out a great deal in a hurry.

The show was written by a winner of an Emmy, an author and composer of over a hundred and fifty scripts and books aimed at kids and adults alike.  Her name is Louise A. Gikow, and the chances are good you’ve already seen her work, because she’s written for the Jim Henson Company and Nickelodeon, and, even for the National Lampoon magazine.  She also wrote the last script for the planetarium show here called Cosmic Collisions.

Of course, once you’ve finished taking in the night sky, you’ll want a place to contemplate the universe, and that may be find in any number of places in New York in hotels that are big or small, you’ll find a comfortable place to come inside and contemplate this exhibit and what it’s really like in the Great Outdoors.

After our previous tries to visit the Brooklyn Bridge, we decided to give it one more try, because today the sun was out and the forecast was showing that the it would stay sunny for the entire day. Before we took the subway, we wanted to see if there were any interesting restaurants in New York that might be near the bridge. Then we were off, we took the subway over to Brooklyn and headed to one of the restaurants listed on-line. But, before we could make it to the restaurant, we came upon one of the ubiquitous hot dog vendors, we couldn’t help ourselves, we ate 3 hot dogs each! So, much for a nice sit down lunch in a great restaurant. 
 
We made our way across the bridge end to end, which was back to the Manhattan side. We are tremendous fans of bridges, the elegant structure of Brooklyn Bridge did not disappoint. We wandered around the rest of the day to just experience New York. We landed in Chinatown first, then onto Little Italy and we enjoyed the party atmosphere there, we think maybe it was because New Years was coming up in a few days, but who knows, maybe Little Italy just likes to party all the time. We didn’t blame them, it was a lovely area and we had tons of restaurants to choose from, but we headed back to Chinatown for Chinese food and had a feast, followed by Tsingtao, Chinese beer!
 
Afterwards, we took a walk through Tribeca and to Soho, where there was a mass of crazy street vendors trying every which way to get us to buy knock-off handbags, sunglasses, watches or perfumes! Instead of Soho, it should be called Knock-off. We found a coffee shop and ordered mass quantities of coffee in order to revive us from all the walking we’ve done today. While there, we talked to a local woman who was a delight! She’s not the only local person we’ve met, everyone we’ve struck up conversations with has been friendly and helpful — far from the stereotypical rude New Yorker!  We chatted for a long while and then headed back to our lodgings and a good night’s sleep.

I have always been drawn to the style of Art Deco.  The art and the architecture seems somewhat contradictory to me, in that it looks modern while retaining a vintage feel.  I don’t know if that makes sense, but when I found myself standing in the middle of the Art Deco District in South Beach I was in heaven.  To be honest I was not sure what to expect when I was preparing for my first visit to Miami.  I have never been a bikini wearing beach kind of person, my favorite time on beaches is during storms, so I was wondering just what I would do once I got there.  I found a great hotel online at miamiluxuryhotels.com and when I checked in I explained this dilemma of mine to my bellboy on the way to my room.  He asked what I was interested in and I told him art, food, history, coffee, street markets…and he said that I must visit the South Beach Art Deco District. 

In this district there are more than eight hundred buildings of the Art Deco style.  I had my camera with me of course, and filled the memory card with images of these fabulous buildings to paint from later on when I got back home to my studio.  I went into the lounge of one of the hotels and ordered a drink at the bar.  I asked the bartender about the neighborhood and he gave the full story.  He said that most of the buildings were constructed through the 1920’s, which was also during the time of the prohibition. 

Much of the South Beach area became known for gambling and illegal liquor and speak-easies, attracting mobsters and crime.  For the next few decades the area became quite a slum.  But, he told me, the popular 1980’s TV show “Miami Vice” changed all that.  I questioned him and he said that the show had a lot to do with it, but that at the time the Miami Design Preservation League took interest in the neighborhood and restored all of the buildings to their original beauty.  The Art Deco district and all of South Beach is now one of the chicest and most visited areas of Miami.  I thanked him, and set back out on my journey to explore more of South Beach, and to discover a bit more of the history as well.

Are you going to Huntsville? Need a great room at one of the elegant hotels located in Huntsville? www.hotelshuntsville.com  There are plenty of nice places to stay and there are some fun things to do while you are visiting. There are plenty of things to see when it comes to the NASA space program. There is also the interesting North Alabama Railroad Museum and then there are some different kinds of museums. One of the more charming museums is the Clay House Museum.

The Clay House Museum is an old home that was originally built around the 1850s. The museum was started by a lady named Robin Hall Brewer. She fell in love with tea sets and started a collection that lead here to 8,000 pieces over a decade and a half. It all started with the fancy tea service she took part in at a restaurant in San Fransisco. She started to collect the tea cups, saucers and there matching creamer and sugar bowls that were made by Noritake. The museum is like a shrine for Japanese made tea sets. She also wrote a book on the matter becoming quite the master of tea set knowledge.

Brewer did everything she could think of to make the museum a success. She even volunteered at the Huntsville Weeden House Museum to learn how to run a museum. She learned everything she could about the tea sets and she collected as many pieces as she could. She even flew to Japan and visited the factory were her collection was made. Sadly the 57 year old, Robin Brewer died from cancer in 2008. The old home and museum is now an art gallery for local artists as well. It is located in the Madison area of the city on Eastview Drive. It is a great thing to see what dreams can be created with passion.

I got a friend with all sorts of superstitions about cars. She believes in the whole Saint Christopher thing and keeps a plastic stature of him on her dashboard glued with this uber version of super glue. She claimed it came from NASA where her father worked, but she claimed a lot of things. She was a storyteller about everything and never wasted a chance to entertain someone with a story. She was like Almost Browne expect her name was Cat Morgan. Cat Morgan had a story about her name too.

Cat had all sorts of stories about anything and everything that she could lay her hands on. Dishwashing fluid, mops, roofs, school parking lots, new tires . There are more things I could tell you she has stories about, but I cannot remember them all. Just those. The story about tires is an especially good tale. It stopped mattering to me whether or not this tall tales or big fish were real. I got to understanding that it wasn’t the tale and what was true in it or not true in it that mattered, but what she was trying to tell with the tale. There was where you could find the real, the authentic, the truth if you want it. But you had to look hard.

Here is her story about tires: she was driving on throughway and about two miles ahead of her was a gigantic and monstrous semi truck painted with a Chinese dragon on it that circled around the truck a couple of times with its curvy body. Anyway, she wanted to get a closer look at it because she loves dragons. Cat has stories about dragons too. So she tried to get closer and closer to the dragon, scything a path through the other automobiles on the road. Then she saw the body of the dragon split open, in the back where the door was to upload and unload things. Columns and columns of tires were back there, a whole army of them in the belly of the Chinese dragon semi truck. The tires spilled out and rolled around the road marble-style. A lot of people were mad and unhurt but she just laughed because got another good story to tell. I still don’t know what’s authentic in this story, which is why I like retelling it because I hope to never know.

On my visits to New York, I have noticed that everything tastes better.  The coffee is better.  The spaghetti and ravioli is better.  The Chinese food is better, and the pizza?  Well there is a reason that every other city in the country, has “New York Pizza” shops.  Okay, there was for a while the craze of the California Pizza Kitchen, and of course Chicago style pizza is popular as well.  But the craze of the Chicago pan pizza escapes me, as I have had Chicago style pizza, in the city of Chicago, and nothing beats the pizza of New York City.

Some people claim that the pizza in New York is so good because of three populations that have been drawn to the city throughout the years, the chefs, the food artisans, and the immigrants, all bringing their worlds together in the making of the perfect pie.  The many cultures have brought with them their customs, and their roots can be seen, or tasted rather, in their culinary artistry.  As stated before, the food of the city is just outstanding, check it out.

The first pizza shop was opened in 1905, by Gennaro Lombardi, Lombardi’s and is still on Spring Street, with the pizza cooked in the original coal oven just across the street in the original kitchen in Little Italy.  This pizzeria is still in business and is credited for the beginning of a world wide love of New York pizza.  There are many more long standing pizzerias throughout the city and each of the five boroughs.  Coney Island is home to the famous Totonno’s Pizzeria, and at DiFara, the traditional pieces covered in buffalo mozzarella are still made by Domenico Demarco, the 70 year old pizza chef extraordinaire.

My Italian friends quietly say that they now prefer the pizza of the United States, and of New York most assuredly to any of the pizza in their home towns in Italy.  My first slice was experienced in Times Square, at a popular little joint called Ray’s.  It is a taste I will never forget.  Perhaps it was the excitment of being in the city for the first time, and the vibe of the square, but as I said, it all just seemed to taste better, even down to the last bite of the crust.

In 1956, Paolo Soleri settled on the eastern side of the greater Phoenix area, in the city of Scottsdale.  Soleri was born and grew up in Turin, Italy, and upon completing his degree in Architecture at the Torino Polytechnico, he moved to the Arizona desert to study at Taliesin West with Frank Loyld Wright.  He has garnered many awards over the years, and when he returned for a visit to Italy, he founded the Ceramica Artistica Solimene. This is where he developed, among many other things, the bronze windchimes that so many people living in and traveling through the city of Phoenix so covet.

All around the city, you will find these chimes decorating the homes and balconies, the patios of the restaurants in some of the finest hotels in Phoenix, and in the carry on satchels of those traveling back home.  For the past thirty years, the sales of these chimes have contributed funds for his ongoing architectural project, Arcosanti.  Arcosanti is part of the commitment Soleri made to himself when he moved to Scottsdale, a commitment to experimentation and research in urban development and planning.

Arcosanti is a small village, which houses five thousand people, and has been undergoing construction and modifications beginning in 1970.  It is a way of combining ecology and architecture, which will leave the smallest footprint on the environment as possible.  There is minimal use of raw material, and a great reduction in the use of non-renewable energy and resources.  The site is open for touring seven days a week, the hours Monday-Saturday being 9am to 5pm, and on Sunday from 11am-5pm.

To pop in at any time during operating hours you will take a self guided tour, for group tours previous scheduling arrangements are necessary.  The gardens located throughout Arcosanti are beautiful to wander through, and many times people choose to have their celebrations here.  Most of the residents are artists, so along with the famous windchimes you will find various objects created by those living on the site.  It really is a grand place, in every way, so on your next trip through the Arizona desert, make sure to find some time for a visit to Arcosanti.

The city of Los Angeles is a sprawling metropolis.  To fly into the city at night, you will find a sea of street lights and buildings just outside your airplane window, that never seems to end.  I moved to LA in the summer of 1999, just one week before my birthday and as luck would have it, we drove through the desert of Arizona and California during the hottest part of the day, only to end up on the 101, at the beginning of rush hour traffic.  Six lanes of traffic heading West through the Valley, and six lanes heading East.  It is a different kind of city when you are moving there, as opposed to spending a few nights in a best Los Angeles hotel, being driven around by the hotel chauffeurs.

When I found myself stopped in the madness that is the 101, and the endless sea of not city lights, but the sun reflecting off of the roofs of hundreds and hundreds of cars, I questioned my decision to move to this city.  But we finally reached our new place, unloaded the U-Haul, and I feel directly to sleep.  The next morning, I knew that if I headed out from the Vally, and just drove to the coast, I would be standing on the sand of one of the most incredible stretches of coastline in the Western part of the United States.

I took off on the windy road through Topanga Canyon, and after about half an hour, I turned a curve and saw the blue of the Pacific Ocean in the distance.  My heart started to pound a bit, as I drew nearer to the fresh saltwater scented air.  During the next two years, the beaches along the coast were my home.  From the calm and elegant Malibu, to the funky and energetic boardwalk of Venice.  Any excuse I had to go from one side of town to the other by driving along the Pacific Coast Highway, I took, as even though it was out of the way, it was a great way, a breezy Southern California way, with the top down and the tunes of Moby playing loudly from the stereo.

It’s been years since I was last in San Antonio, but I remember distinctly two things about it: The Alamo and The River Walk.  Known at first as the Mision San Antonio de Valero, The Alamo has existed on its current site since 1724 or two hundred and eighty-six years.  Sixty-nine years after its inception, the mission was secularized and given over to Indian residents who farmed the fields; by the 1800s, the Spanish military a cavalry unit, who called the place the Alamo after their hometown, Alamo de Parras.  In 1835, the Alamo entered history when General Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna arrived with an army outside San Antonio, taking the people inside the Alamo by surprise.  The defeat of the Alamo and the victory of Santa Anna has been recreated many times in film, giving rise to the expression “Remember the Alamo!” as a rallying cry against such a crushing blow.  Now a museum, the Alamo keeps that memory alive, open every day of the year except for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.

The River Walk has an even older history than the Alamo, stretching back as far as 1536, when Alvar Nunez Cabeza de Vaca, at the time shipwrecked and a captive of Indians, saw and later described the River; much later, in 1691, a Catholic priest camped near a stream known as the Yanaguana and decided to celebrate a mass on St. Anthony’s Day and so renamed the stream San Antonio.  Several centuries later, in 1959, the river became a city park, officially starting the development of the River Walk.  In 1962, a landscaping program along two miles of the river walkway planted seventeen thousand trees and shrubs and vines.  The El Tropicano, which was the first riverfront hotel, opened.  Today, in the 21st Century, the River Walk remains a unique addition to the city, filled with shops and luxury San Antonio hotels.

As much as I extoll the virtues of the San Antonio River Walk, you should know that the River Walk is actually drained for maintenance, this year from January 3rd to the 12th; however, this means that San Antonio is holding the Michelob Ultra Mud Festival!  Each year, once the river is filled up again, the Mud Festival is the place to be as media and civic celebrities and politicians attempt to capture the title of the Michelob Ultra Mud Queen and Mud King, attempting to raise money for the River Walk Association.  Included in the festivities are Ultra Mud Pie Ball, Ultra Mud Coronation, and the Ultra Mud Parade.  If you miss it, Bud Light will be holding a Mardi Gras River Parade in February!

My last days in New York have been a busy last few days. Naturally, I went to another house party thrown by one of my dozens of cousins from Med. school. There were board games with alcohol as the gain or win, a live band and all-in-all a great night and morning. We didn’t get any sleep basically, so most of my cousins and I ended up at brunch where the mimosas flow from a fountain (kidding), but alcohol was par for the course.

I spent the rest of the day checking out Brooklyn; I really went there to eat at this very famous pizza place, but the long queue did not seem appetizing. I walked all the way across Brooklyn Bridge, which gave me a stunning view of New York City. I ended up in the artsy part of town, Soho I think, the place where they converted all the dilapidated warehouses into galleries and art studios. Then, I walked into what seemed not a so safe area, wasn’t sure, but I definitely felt like I didn’t want to stand out as a tourist. It was a great day anyway, and I had a great experience in Brooklyn.

That night I got to see Avenue Q, an off Broadway play at this really nice theater venue called New Stages. I got a great deal on my Broadway tickets on-line, click here if you’d like to get great prices too! The venue is a collection of some pretty small stages, almost black-box really, where you almost feel like you’re a part of the play going on. I liked Avenue Q, it was funny, relevant and quotable.

My last day was spent at the American Museum of Natural History. The exhibits were interesting and imaginative, but it was the planetarium that really blew me away. Finally, it was time to head home. I’ll miss my cousins, but now it’s time for them to come to California to visit me.

Austin, Texas is also the state’s capital. In addition, many people would call it the country’s musical capital. The city itself goes so far as to refer to itself as the live music capital of the world. That’s a pretty big claim and Austin has the goods to back it up. Live music is played and enjoyed throughout bars, clubs, café’s and coffee shops across the city. Many of the residents are musicians and the ones who aren’t enjoy and support the music scene. There are also festivals and ongoing events that are not only popular with the residents but attract the numerous populations of tourists that visit the city each year. The hotels Austin fill up quickly in the days before the annual Austin City Limits Music Festival, which was named after the famous PBS program.

The PBS program that the festival is named after has become one of the most popular taped concert series in the world and many musicians and bands consider a performance invitation on it one of their fundamental goals and while the Midnight Special in the 1970s indicated to many musicians that they had arrived or they had made it, a performance on Austin City Limits holds the same appeal to performers today.

The festival began in 2002 and was only two days during that inaugural year. It occurs in the early part of October or late September and since it began it has quickly elevated to the status of Lalapooza, Boonaroo and Coachella as one of the top live music festivals in the United States. It has also drawn some major names in the music industry including Tom Petty and REM. Elvis Costello, Cold Play, John Mayer, Sheryl Crow and Willie Nelson are others and are also among the list of performers that have appeared at both the festival and on the televised program. The Dave Matthews Band, Pearl Jam and Ben Harper were among the major names from the 2009 nine festival.

Tennis players, with their speed and agility, also have the ability to work out what their opponent might be doing five moves from theirs and the other possible moves to their countermoves.  Tennis players are amazing sportsmen and sportswomen.  However, the clinical mindset it takes to dissect the moves of your opponent has room as well for silly superstitions.  Almost every player has them.  People have seen them throughout many tennis tournaments, and probably will see them again during the up and coming Autralian Open.  Tennis players, even famous ones, are not inured to routines and habits that have become a part of their superstitions.

During his games, Andre Agassi must make the ball boys and ball girls be in the original place they were before he serves.  If that means he asks them to go back, he will do it.  In a whole tournament, one of the Williams sisters, Serena, will actually wear the same pair of socks.  Not copies of the same kind, but the same stinky sweat ridden pair soaked in sweat from numerous matches.  Other famous female tennis players have their share of superstitions.  Hennin-Hardenne would never ever put her feet on tennis lines between points.  Allegedly, this habit has toned down now from her usual ferocity in keeping up her superstition.

What is the point of such superstitions?  Mostly it’s a mental one.  If a player thinks they have an advantage by doing some strange and often dumb looking (or smelling if you’re Serena Williams’s socks), then that player will play like they have an advantage.  It’s a kind of self-imposed psychological trick.  The other reason superstitions work is it makes a brain get some focus which is critical for a match.  Tennis is a detail-orientated sport: a player must be focused on the ball pin ponging around the court and following through on a swing and a million other things.  If having the ball boys out of place distracts you, you will also be off your game.  Therefore, it is better almost to have a superstition that eliminates such distractions,  It isn’t really so much a superstition either as a means to increase the mental aspect of a player’s game.

Perhaps nothing is more important to a company than the internet, especially in terms branding.  An irate customer might take down a company with just a few blog posts, or some well placed forum discussions.  At the very least, a customer, or an angry employee for that matter, can make a pretty large dint in a company’s brand.  Since the internet is a top place for creating a brand, from viral videos and other forms of ad campaigns, it is of absolute importance that a company, in particular those that do the majority of their business online, protect their brand.  Part of the way a company can do that is through search engine optimization.

What is search engine optimization?  It is a way to develop the kinds of sites and the number of sites a web site gets in online traffic process from a search engine.  Part of the way to start is through website analytics software.  Google is a prime place to start.  Such software will allow you to look at who is going to your website, the demographics to be more precise, but also to look at the demographics of a competitor’s website as well.

Google actually provides the tools you need to get good results from such research.  Google Ad Planner allows a company to search out websites that draw in the kind of people you want to draw into your website.  Ad Planner, though purely a research tool, is extremely helpful.  You can take the data and information you’ve gleamed from it for a media planner application, which does what the phrase suggest: it helps you to plan and organize and how to define any problems you have in marketing and make achievable goals from them.

There are other great things about the Google Ad Planner that can help a company out.  It also allows industries to trim and form plans based upon the statistics a subdomain provides, which is the kind of data Ad Planner provides.  From there, you can start building a plan that will allow you to form the sort of results you want from search engine optimization services.

After arriving later in the afternoon in San Francisco, we wasted no time heading out to explore. Our first stop was walking down Polk Street, we heard it’s full of spas, cafes and a few neighbourhood grocery stores, but what’s even better, is that is ends at Fisherman’s Wharf. There’s enough seafood restaurants that could feed the entire state of California. The place was packed with tourist, including us, but thankfully, it was winter the the crowds were much less than what they would be in any other season. We got to sample fresh seafood everywhere we went, from clam chowder to red snapper. That pretty much filled us up to where we didn’t need to sit down and eat at a restaurant. We managed to roll back to our San Francisco cheap hotel room to recharge for tomorrow.

The next morning, we visited China Town, and well, to be honest, we were a little disappointed. I mean, it felt authentic and everything, but it just wasn’t ‘tourist’ friendly. I don’t blame them, really. I’m sure China Town get inundated with thousands of tourist every day, but we really didn’t expect to see so many souvenir shops. The best part about visiting China Town was getting to see how fortune cookies are made. It was amazing that after rounding a corner, we found ourselves in Little Italy! What a difference a street corner makes! In Little Italy, we found the bookstore that was famous for selling and promoting banned books.

From there we headed down Jack Kerouac Alley and had lunch at the famous Ferry Building. Then, with our stomachs full, we took the ferry to Alcatraz. We spent the entire day on the Island, the history is rich and the tour has lots of interesting audio-guides.

For our last day in San Francisco, we spent the time walking to the Golden Gate Bridge, but to get there we had to walk through the Marina. After about two hours of walking, we finally made it to the bridge. What a magnificent site! It was really windy, so it took us over an hour to walk across it and back again. There are phone stations along the bridge, and there are signs posted above them saying ‘Don’t do it!’  The phones are patched directly to a suicide crisis center.

We could’ve stayed in San Francisco for months, it’s such a big city and there’s literally so much to do here. We’re looking forward to our next trip back, but for now it’s time to do some wine tasting in Sonoma and Napa Valley!

There are so many fabulous things about travel in Asia today, and it’s one of the great cultural experiences of a lifetime to visit any part.  There is an immense diversity in any of the cities and countries, and probably too much to see in one lifetime.  But one place that offers a wonderful introduction to this complex world is Singapore.  It’s been described as a kind of gateway, with a blend of east and west, and there are many cultures that converge here.  It is extremely modern, and people who come with the expectation of visiting a world that has a taste of the past won’t find it here.  Instead, the future is very bright, and there are more technological and cultural advancements than most of the great cities in the world.  It’s been on the cutting edge of science and art for some time, and lately it seems to have taken even greater strides forward.

There is certainly a distinct possibility of having an archetypal exotic experience when you enter into the world of food here.  Those who are unfamiliar with Asian cuisine will find many delightful offerings, and it will very likely change the way you think about food in general, and may even change your diet altogether.  Some of the world’s best culinary traditions have a permanent home here, and restaurants in Singapore offer fantastic variations of Chinese, Malay, and Indian food.  There are many other stunning kinds of food here, too, with Italian, and Japanese, and international fusion cuisines all over the city state.  Those who are curious about the karaoke craze in the world, and wonder if it’s for real, or a thing of the past, will find a lot to experience here in Singapore.

With the success of operations like Party World, which has many different locations all over the island, there is a very lively karaoke scene here.  In fact, it’s one of the great evening entertainments, along with a good meal, of course.  Visitors here looking to do as the Romans do should visit a karaoke club at least once.  But it’s a lot like the food, because once is very rarely enough, and it can be a habit that lasts a lifetime.

Sentosa is becoming an extremely popular and attractive island as well as one of the major cultural centers of Singapore. There are many things to do and tourists are continually increasing their population there every summer. The island has two golf courses, which is a popular stress relieving activity for people who visit Singapore and are there on business trips. Golfing is also popular with many other people and golf fanatics are always looking for a great course and many times chose their vacation destination based on the golfing possibilities. There are many other exciting activities, performances and aspects of Sentosa that continually entice visitors and keep residents happy.

Universal Studios Singapore is a new theme park that is expected to open early next year. The plans to develop this new colossal activity and attraction center were announced four years ago in 2006 when the bid was won to build the theme park in Singapore. It is the first of its kind in Southeast Asia and the second Universal Studios to open in Asia.

The park will cover forty-nine acres of land and will feature twenty four different attractions. The park is divided into seven distinct zones that are independently theme oriented. The themes include Hollywood, which will be styled after the actual Hollywood Boulevard in California, USA. This will be the main zone of the park and is also the first one that guest will encounter when they arrive there. There will also be a large theater for plays and musical performances. Other zones include the Sci-Fi City, New York, The Lost World, Far Far Away, Ancient Egypt and Madagascar. This is definitely anticipated to be one of Singapore’s most popular tourist and residential attractions. Most of the guests who stay in one of the hotels Sentosa will be visiting this great attraction.

Taylor Swift has become not only an incredibly appreciated young artist but is also a strong role model for many of her fans, regardless of their age. Beginning with her first album, which was released in 2006, Swift has quickly risen to the top of the charts and is a favorite of country music lovers as well as those from various other genres. She has achieved all of this at the young age of twenty. In fact, she just turned twenty on December 13 of this year. It is interesting to watch young music stars as well as young actors rise at such an early age. It can be difficult to make the transition from child performer to adult star, which is a particularly common struggle in the acting world. However, Swift’s music shows a maturity that appeals to audiences of all ages and burst onto the scene at the transitional point of adolescents and adulthood, which means that most people will not be stuck in seeing her as a child. In addition, her work has originated from a point of musical and emotional maturity, which raises her status from a child to adult star in many people’s and critical views.

Due to her composer and sense of dignity, Taylor Swiftranks higher than many of her peers in the category of integrity as well as in her musical abilities. She has proven to be an interesting and charming personality, which should help her maintain her success and deal with all the ups and downs of the industry that she is certain to face throughout the years. It is clear that she already has a strong character and should be able to preserve through many of life’s difficulties. In addition she has developed a loyal fan base that should grow with her through the years. In addition to being a singer, she is a songwriter a guitar player and also an actress. She has already been determined to be one of the most powerful entertainers and has numerous directions she might follow in the future.

A month ago, Bill and I went to see the highly entertaining and popular ‘Pop life Exhibit’ at the Tate Modern in London. Afterwards, we thought we’d check out the Dragon Castle for dinner, which was nearby our hotel in London. We read a wonderful review about it in the London’s local ‘TimeOut’ paper.

We, hopped on the Northern Line at London Bridge and emerged only two stops later at the Elephant and Castle station, which on the map seemed wondrous, but the name of a stop does not mean a thing, the place was kind of gritty. Navigating the roundabout just outside the station made the Old Street roundabout look like a picturesque jaunt through the countryside. Any how, stepping inside the Dragon Castle restaurant, we were immediately transformed by the interior decorations, old-school Chinese banquet hall. There even was a large double happiness symbol in the back. We found out that is where they hold wedding banquets. The restaurant was all a buzz with customers, birthday parties and a wedding reception party.

As we looked over the menu, we were astounded by how inexpensive it is here. Bill can not resist a roast duck and I had the clay pot dish of Japanese tofu, which was luscious and silky, it was more like a custard than any tofu I’ve ever had before. The salted chicken and fish were tender and enhanced with a wonderful fish sauce. I know I’ll be craving this dish in the future. We both loved the vegetable choices, we got to pick how we wanted them prepared. Our servers were all super nice and attentive. Our water glasses were always kept filled, which really is a feat in London. So, when you come to London, we highly recommend coming to the Dragon Castle, and if you do, please order a clay pot dish to go for me and bring it back to the States!

There are a few Bremerhaven hotels to choose from if you find yourself pulling into this port city. You would definitely want to splurge on a room in this town. The youth hostels are not the set up to give the best experience. They close early and so you would miss the night out on pub row. They call it the Alte Buerger. It used to cater to the many sea men that came in on the cargo ships but today they don’t stay long and are not allowed to get off the ships because of time restraints. It is a smaller city and not one that is first on the list to visit when in Germany but perhaps you had to travel through to get to somewhere else or maybe you are interested in the emigration center that resides there. This is the main attraction that would bring visitors in by choice.

The Bremerhaven German Emigration Center is actually an amazing exhibit. They but some real thought, time and money into creating this port legacy. It goes to show you that Bremerhaven Germany was a real hub to not only trade and cargo ships but to emigrants leaving Germany. This was once a place that gave sail to the hopes and dreams of many people and families searching for a better life. The museum opened in 2005 to tell the story of some 7.2 million people from all over Europe who decided they were going to try to build their dreams in another land. The building itself has a nice modern resemblance a wooden ship with white sails. It is filled with life size mannequins dressed in nineteenth century styles of many cultures. They have the sound of the people talking in many languages for you to hear through the bustling of hall sounds while you look at artifacts people may have been carrying. Then they have a life size model of the areas of the ships they may have been traveling on so you can see what they may have been experiencing along their voyage.

Kyle loved to watch the night sky. His passion for astronomy began as a young boy when his grandfather first taught him to tell time by the positioning of the stars and the moon and possibly if could see them the planets Jupiter and Mars. Of course it was the stars that were used to tell the time though the planets and moon had plenty of stories attached to them and Kyle’s grandfather told him a new one every time they were able to stand under those eternal time keepers.
When Kyle was twenty he was out with some friends when he noticed what a clear sky it was and how many of the constellations he could make out. A young woman named Jaime happened to be along that night and Kyle decided he would try and impress her. He was about to announce that he would tell the time by the stars when he noticed that his hand was finally the right size to do so. His grandfather had told him that an average sized adult male fist equaled approximately 20 degrees in the sky. Kyle’s plan worked and Jaime was duly impressed. That was the beginning of a great romance between the two and in it’s early development phase they would frequently look at the stars and Kyle taught Jaime many of the constellations.
Meanwhile, that was three years ago and the two of them rarely went out star gazing these days. Jaime and her roommates recently purchased one of the models of portable spas and she planned to have special evening with Kyle there while her roommates would be gone. It was an incredible evening and the two of them enjoyed a nice meal Jaime cooked herself before retiring to the hot tub. While they soaked Kyle looked up and noticed how clear the sky was. That brought back instant memories and pointed out the constellation of Orion to Jaime. They both reminisced about the early days and Kyle was suddenly struck with the desire to propose marriage. Jaime laughed and said it was typical for him to try and impress her under the stars. She also said yes, she would marry him.

Whether it is culture, long walks along the beach, or open air markets, Toronto has it all, and when you are searching for the perfect apartment, TransGlobe Property Management will have just what you need.  The sense of community has garnered this city to placed at the top of the best cities in which to live in all of North America.  Should you wish a place overlooking Lake Ontario, you will not be disappointed.  If rollerblading, jogging or cycling is your thing, the boardwalk is the place to be.

This is a very casual and laid back section of the city of Toronto, as most beachfront neighborhoods tend to be, and although it is a suburb of the city, it is more similar to a beach resort.  Festivals occur throughout the summer months, and the restaurants and the bars are plentiful.  Just as is also true of cosmopolitan cities, there is a variety of cultures who call this city their home, and finding great experiences in Little Italy or Chinatown is a great way to grasp the feel of the many different people living and working in Toronto.

Little Italy is actually made up of two main groups, Italian and the Portuguese.  There is a great open air market that reflects the diversity that just continues to expand in this small section of the city.  Should you chose to live in this neighborhood you will find many “mom and pop” style restaurants in which to find the best pasta dishes in town.  The Kensington Market sits just between little Italy and Chinatown.

At the Kensington Market you will find everything from vintage clothing to Spanish food stalls.  This is one of the local hotspots.  Finding a place to rent in this area through TransGlobe Property Management will ensure that your life will be filled with the excitement and the energy of the constant activity.  And then to head over to Chinatown, you will think that you have just stepped into the middle of Hong Kong.  There are a plethora of restaurants, from Korean to Vietnamese, and Chinese, and your senses will be awakened by the scents and the flavors.  If fun and great times is what you are looking for in a neighborhood, this is one area of Toronto which will provide just that.

All the plans you’ve made for your Singapore wedding day could fall apart if your wedding transportation breaks down or doesn’t show up. To avoid such issues, consider hiring a stretch limousine; a chauffeured limousine hire will allow the wedding party to make a grand entrance on your wedding day, and a grand exit from your wedding venue to your wedding reception. When having a Singapore wedding, you are limited to the choices of wedding cars you’d like to hire, but wedding cars Singapore can offer and will compliment any wedding motif is the stretch limousine.

There is so much more to a wedding car service than just a quick drive to the ceremony, so here are a few questions to ask when choosing a Singapore wedding car hire. Ask if you can see the actual limousine that will be booked for your wedding day, ask if there’s a minimum booking time; how many passengers will the limousine hold; will the limo you booked be the limo that will show up on your wedding day; does the limo company have a contingency plan in case of mechanical failure; how much deposit is required to secure the limo of your choice; what happens if you cancel; what happens if you go over time; is there any other charges; and most important: what services do they offer?

You can minimise the risk by asking a few more basic questions before you make any decision, like do you feel comfortable with the chauffeur? Are the limousines clean and well maintained and is the business reputable and do they have ready references for you to call? If your answers are yes to these questions, then you will be very happy on your wedding day. One more thing, remember to book early to ensure you get the limousine of your choice.

Hot tubs are a great way to gather people together.  They make for perfectly excellent evenings at home, where your friends can come and hang out, enjoying each other’s company and spend the night talking about old times and new times.  There’s something almost equalizing about a hot tub, because it’s very difficult for anyone to turn down an invitation to spend time in hot water with massaging jets.  There are many different kinds of parties you can host as well.

There are the old favorite, the dinner party, where hamburgers and hot dogs and corn on the cob are served right off the grill, while your company enjoys the water.  These can be some of the finest memories of summer, and are precious to recall during the cold months of the year.  There are always options for polar bear clubs in the winter as well.  It’s all up to you, and you’ll get to explore all the options when you have your hot tub installed in your own home.  There are many places to buy them these days, but when it comes to low prices and high values, along with excellent customer service, choosehottubsdirect.com is clearly the way to go.  They help you at every step of the way, from selection, to shipping, to installation and maintenance, and the choices are superb.

It might be helpful, then, to decide what kinds of parties you see yourself having.  There are many optional features that you may want to have from the get-go, because they can make your setup even more perfect than it already is.  There are different kinds of lighting that can add some really spectacular fun to any occasion.  There are also wonderful media and entertainment systems, so you can play music with incredible sound, and even show movies and game on a large-screen television.  There are lots of options.  You may want to host large parties, or you may want something only for one other special someone.  There’s something here to meet everybody’s needs, and make for a magnificent time.

The state of Washington has many interesting geographic elements and also has a diverse ecological makeup. It is divided by the Cascade Mountains and the climate on each side of these is completely different from the other. Most people associate the city of Seattle and its weather patterns and annual rainfall rates with the rest of the state. However, on the other side of the Cascades, it is much dryer and also warmer and many people would be surprised to find some of these regions are also representative of Washington’s geography and climate.

Two major geographic elements of the state that few tourists who are staying in a luxury hotel Washington will be surprised to discover are Mt. Rainier and Mount St Helens. These two colossal volcanic mountains are definitely associated with the state itself and are also one of the primary reasons many tourists visit it. There are numerous picnic areas and great outdoor recreational opportunities near the mountains and they are both popular weekend destinations for Washington residents.

Mt Rainier is part of the Cascade Range and towers above most of the peaks. It is an active composite volcano and is the most dominate feature along the southeastern horizon of the Seattle-Tacoma Metropolitan Area. Most of the local residents refer to it simply as the Mountain. Mount St Helens is also an active composite volcano and it is further south than Mt. Rainier. It is approximately 96 miles south of Seattle and is 50 miles northeast of Portland, Oregon. It is more infamous than its larger neighbor due to its catastrophic eruption, which occurred in May of 1980. This was the most fatal volcanic eruption in US history and also the most economically destructive. Two years after the eruption a steam plume could still be observed above the volcano top. Both of these mountains are major points of interest in the state.

It just goes, that when your company works with the public, in either the service industry or in retail…in any company for that matter, that conflicts will arise that need to be resolved.  Should it happen at Next Day Blinds,  they listen to, understand, and resolve any issues quickly and effectively.  Different personalities are just bound to create different opinions, but a conflict with the customer is not necessarily a bad thing, it is an opportunity to really let your skills in customer service shine.  Growth is the result.

Growth is always an outcome, and just as two young girls on the playground who pull each other’s pigtails, end up the best of friends 30 years later, conflicts get resolved and greater bonds are created.  Although to be honest, a friend sent me to Next Day Blinds when I was renovating my painting studio, and since then I’ve sent about ten people their way, people who were looking for quality shades and blinds and creative direction, all provided at reasonable costs and with the greatest of customer service.  And each and every one has received the best of care.  As far as my research took me when I was deciding which company to go to, I found no evidence of customer reviews.

I mean one of my friends was so satisfied that she thinks from time to time, to stop in with fresh coffee for the staff, but that would be strange in this day and age.  No company is so appreciated by their customers and clients these days, right?  Wrong.  These are the companies will not only prosper during a recession, but the companies that will continue to grow far into the future.  It is a personal touch that is backed with knowledge and service that makes Next Day Blinds so special.  Who would have thought, that so many people as a result, felt so special and so taken care of, by the staff of window covering company?  Will wonders ever cease?

Terry was incredibly excited to arrive at Kennedy airport on that Tuesday. For the first time and instead of visiting the city as a tourist, he was in New York for a major job interview. He had worked in the advertisement business almost since he had graduated from college. He was in at the top of his class and was expected to be successful, though even Terry agreed things were happening very quickly for him. Meanwhile, he maintained a since of humility and gratitude because he knew that even though he worked hard for what he achieved he was also fortunate to live the life he did and receive the opportunities he had.

He settled into his room in one of the NY hotels and considered his interview and reviewed his portfolio, as well as his questions and responses. Terry loved advertisement and always seemed to have a knack for knowing what would appeal to people and draw their interest. Ultimately, he would like to get into advertising for major Broadway productions and would consider how certain elements can sometimes be incorporated into the productions themselves when he attended a performance of Avenue Q later in the week.

The night of the performance Terry had already been to his interview and would be returning home the next day. He sat in the audience and was incredibly impressed with the skill involved in putting together the production. He admired and respected the performers who were in one of the most competitive and unstable fields. He felt that the show did an excellent job of presenting actual real life circumstances in a tremendously entertaining vehicle. He had ultimate respect for the creators of such shows how seemed to possess a complete mastery of presentation.

Jaipur offers some fantastic magic for visitors from any part of the world.  It’s a thriving and bustling metropolis, and serves as a major financial and creative center for the area.  It’s also one of the loveliest places in India, offering a splendid mix of the past and present.  Its architecture reflects many different eras, and the color pink came from a visit by the Prince of Wales in the 19th century.  There are also many amazing old temples and forts that are worth visiting to get a glimpse at the living traditions here, as well as the time long ago.

The whole area is designed after a mandala, reflecting the movements of the spheres, and the intention was so that all the citizens would be aligned with the cosmos, and able to fulfill their destinies on the earth.  It offers a splendid sense of well being in Jaipur.  Luxury hotels, then, are a wonderful way to get in tune with the energy of the place.  The splendid accommodations can afford you the possibility for seeing it with a spectacular sense of refreshment, and can show you what the good life really is.  There are many different definitions of luxury, and Jaipur offers a unique blend that should be sampled at least once in a life.

Aside from the architecture, and accommodation, the art scene here is also very advanced.  Last year at Banasthali Vidyapith University, they had the digital artist John Antoine Labadie teaching as the visiting artist in residence.  There are many people here who are working in the digital realm, and many artists as well, but few who can cross both disciplines, although it is a current of the future that is starting to show itself in traces.  Labadie’s residency was further proof that art is moving ever into the future in modern Jaipur.

My first impression of Hong Kong is of skyscrapers shooting into the hazy sky. Then, when I was taken to the other side of the island, I was amazed that there can exist such exotic beach alcoves in proximity to the vastness of the neon sign topped scrappers. Plus, to add another dimension, someone told me that on a hilltop sits the biggest bronze Buddha’s on the planet. It’s the third largest Buddha known to be in existence. My mind boggles.

I had to confirm this with my own eyes, so yesterday, is when I began my spiritual journey to the Tian Tan Buddha. The Buddha is located on Lantau Island, west of Hong Kong Island, which can only be reached by ferry. I wish I could have reached it by the Mass Transit Rail, it’s one of the cleanest and most efficient public transport rail systems I’ve ever be on. But, not to change the subject, but the MTR is really worth mentioning.

I arrived safely via the ferry in Tung Chung on the island of Lantau. The second part of my journey was to take the cable-car up to see the giant Buddha. I calmly surveyed the jungle covered foothills below. I was expecting to see something like Table Mountain style capacity in the cable-car, fifteen to twenty people, standing room only and a box attached to hundreds of meters of cable, but what I found was an Austrian ski slope gondola system that stretched from the heart of a 30-story residential district, almost 6 kilometers over an opaque turquoise lake and heading into the jungle clan hills.

It was during the decent that I saw the big bronze Buddha for the first time. It’s on a hilltop, outlined by a grey sky. A sitting Buddha overlooking the valley before him.  As I climbed up the 250 steps to get to the base of the statue, I wondered how on Earth did this get here. As I walked about a bit, I was overcome by a sense of contentment. I was also wishing that there was one of those Hong Kong luxury hotels near by, like the one I’m booked at, well not so near, so I can visit here instead of the concrete jungle of Hong Kong Island.

I arrived in Amsterdam yesterday and I need to make this short, because this place is so unforgettably crazy. I rocked up at the station with no place to go, so I headed straight to the tourist office and told them what I was looking for. The guy behind the counter, just laughed and said ‘it’s Saturday night, there’s nothing available. I thought that was pretty unhelpful, so I struck out on my own. I walked for about an hour and came across one of the five star Amsterdam hotels, walked up to the registers desk, and they had a room available, not only did they have a room, but I got a discount. There was some kind of promotion going on, and I just happened to catch the tail-end of it.

After that, I caught the train ‘Amsterdam Centraal‘ and as soon as I stepped off, it was just crazy. So many people everywhere. I’ve always heard that Amsterdam is crazy, but to experience just how crazy, first hand, made me truly understand what people were talking about. I was 30 minutes into walking about and I was offered so many things, (I’m glad I didn’t bring my Mom, she’d be freaking out right about now). I just politely refused all of it. I found that Amsterdam has a plethora of T-shirt shops. I bought one, a bit expensive, but it will be my reminder every time I where it, just how crazy this place is.

After walking around for about an hour and seeing so many weird and unusual shops, I stopped in at a Coffee Shop. Every block had one and I ordered some fries. I hung our there for about 2 hours. People watching and having people watch me people watch. I then found an Internet cafe and found I had to order a beer and drink it while I used the Internet. It was compulsory. I found out, after being in Amsterdam for a few days, that request like the one at the Internet cafe are common.

After some more walking about, I bought a bottle of wine and a 6-pack of beer to drink during the rest of the evening. I ended up very drunk and all I remember was laughing on the train heading back to my hotel. The reason for the laughing was, that most trains will ‘beep’ just before a stop, but the Centraal Station cranks out techno music 10 seconds before a stop and then an overhead voice says ‘Ha Ha!’  I found that so very funny and it fit in perfect with he city.

Mumbai’s history is as rich and fascinating as the city itself.  The long periods of dynasties, to Islamic and Portuguese rule, and then British control, all the way up to India’s independence, and the events of the recent decades, speak of a city that has witnessed the history of the world.  It has also been one of its most active participants, and a visit here will remind guests about India’s contributions to world culture.  Mumbai is also a world unto itself, with one of the largest urban populations in the world, making up concentric circles of very lively cultures, all contributing to the creative energy of the place.  It is a place where one feels like they are an active participant in the living history of the world, and it’s a splendid and almost exhilarating feeling.

There are plenty of things for a traveler to do in order to enjoy their time to the fullest in Mumbai, and perhaps the first consideration is the lodging.  Being able to relax and find a sense of rejuvenation is very important, as the energy of the city not only gives to its residents, it also can demand a lot from you.  After a good night’s rest and a lovely meal, you’ll be ready to enjoy more of the great contemporary city of Mumbai.  Hotels can certainly give you the chance to rest before the adventures ahead.  If you’re up for the Hard Rock Cafe, or looking to see what’s going on with live music in general, there are plenty of excellent offerings here, any night of the week.

One of the local favorites is certainly Motherjane.  This is progressive rock with an Indian twist, where at times the local rhythms override the classic rock rhythms, in a nice back and forth that makes this an immensely interesting group.  They’re based in Cochin, and play all over Asia, to great acclaim from audiences as well as critics.  The sensibility here is of the head-banging variety, but they have a complexity that only groups like Tool or the like seem capable of exploring, making it a full experience.  There are also lyrics that speak of looking within, and other ideas not normally heard in metal or hard rock, and this is another aspect of the music that gives it an edge, and makes Motherjane well worth the long waits in line.