Travelrific® Travel Journal
Picture postcards in prose.™ Check out the blogroll on the front page for official merchandise and other resources!Archive for international travel
Ski Flying Championship in Norway
By Linda Tancs
The Ski Flying World Championship takes place now through Sunday in Vikersund, Norway. Qualifying rounds begin today; the event ends with team competition and the prize ceremony on Sunday. Getting there is easy. Both Oslo Airport Gardermoen and Sandefjor Airport Torp are located approximately 90 minutes from Vikersund.
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Racing Around the Caribbean
By Linda Tancs
Nelson’s Dockyard is the only Georgian dockyard in the world and is the largest tourist attraction on Antigua. In its midst is The Inn at English Harbour, a relaxing location from which competitors in today’s Royal Ocean Racing Club’s Caribbean 600 have been gearing up for the fourth annual yacht race around 11 Caribbean islands. The RORC Caribbean 600 features over 500 hundred competitors from at least 24 different nations taking part in this high-speed yacht race. The list of nations represented includes Australia, Austria, Canada, Cayman Islands, Croatia, France, Germany, Great Britain, Holland, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Malta, New Zealand, Norway, Russia, South Africa, Spain, Sweden and the United States. The largest yacht competing this year is Hetairos, the world’s largest carbon composite sailing yacht and the favorite to win.
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Skating Race in Norway
By Linda Tancs
The Norwegian Skating Festival is a long distance skating race on Lake Mjøsa in Moelv, between Lillehammer and Hamar. Taking place on 18 February this year, the competition is open in all classes from 8-80 years over distances of 10, 20, 50, 100 and 200 km. For those prefering a more leisurely pace, the festival also offers a celebration of all things ice, including figure skating, curling and ice fishing. Moelv is reachable in approximately 25 minutes by train; the closest airport is Oslo.
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Monaco Ballet Comes to New York
By Linda Tancs
Les Ballets de Monte-Carlo, the official company of the Principality of Monaco, features 50 dancers and has performed in more than 25 countries around the world. Debuting today at New York City’s Joyce Theatre is the company’s production Altro Canto I, followed by Opus 40. Altro Canto I is an energetic piece that premiered at the Grimaldi Forum in Monaco as part of the 2006 Spring Arts Festival; Opus 40 is an ode to youth with beautiful sets and costumes. See it now through 19 February.
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Phoenix Rising in London
By Linda Tancs
The Phoenix Artist Club is a members’ club located in the heart of London’s Theatreland at 1 Phoenix Street, a haven for professionals from the performing arts and media industries. Transformed into a theatre bar in the 70s, the site is located in the original dressing and rehearsal rooms of the Phoenix Theatre where Laurence Olivier made his debut on stage in the 30s in “Private Lives” with Noel Coward and Gertrude Lawrence. Although a private club, visitors who retain any theatre stub or museum ticket can obtain a day pass to take in the nostalgia. Membership is required after 8 p.m.
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A Dickens of a Celebration
By Linda Tancs
Today marks the 200th anniversary of the birth of Britain’s beloved author Charles Dickens. To mark the event, a wreath laying ceremony will take place in Poets’ Corner, Westminster Abbey, at 11 a.m. Dickens is buried in the South Transept of the Abbey. The ceremony will include readings from his novels and his other writings by actor and director Ralph Fiennes, author Claire Tomalin and two of Dickens’ descendants. Events will take place throughout the year. Don’t miss the re-opening of the Charles Dickens Museum, based at his only surviving London home. The Museum of London is also hosting an exhibition, complete with the desk and chair where Dickens wrote some of his greatest works. The best of times await you.
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A Celtic Celebration
By Linda Tancs
The Festival of Imbolc is an ancient Celtic tradition celebrated with fire, commemorating the holy day of Brigid, the goddess of fire, healing and fertility. The fire symbolizes the increasing power of the light over the darkened winter months. Other world festivals likewise celebrate the coming of the change in seasons (albeit a bit later), like Las Fallas in Valencia, Spain. It’s a time of purification–so think about that spring cleaning!
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Europe’s Largest Fire Festival
By Linda Tancs
Since the 1880s the folks in Lerwick, Shetland have celebrated Up Helly Aa, Europe’s largest fire festival. Taking place on the last Tuesday in January each year, the event involves a series of marches and visitations, culminating in a torch-lit procession, the burning of a galley and dancing in various halls throughout Lerwick. At least 11 halls will host revelers until the wee hours of Wednesday morning, a public holiday. Thank goodness.
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A Haven of Peace
By Linda Tancs
Amongst the hustle and bustle of cruise ships negotiating exotic ports of call in Tanzania, it’s easy to forget that its largest city, Dar es Salaam, means “haven of peace.” You’ll likely experience that in the city centre at the botanical gardens. Or perhaps during a stroll through the adjacent National Museum, home to antique tribal artefacts and World War One memorabilia. And what better time to go than January and February, the short dry season. Your haven is waiting.
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Oldest Botanic Gardens in Western Hemisphere
By Linda Tancs
One hundred miles west of Barbados in the Eastern Caribbean lies a chain of 32 islands and cays making up St. Vincent and the Grenadines. Some of the most fertile soil in the world can be found there, but perhaps its biggest claim to fame are the botanic gardens, the oldest in the Western Hemisphere founded in 1763. Among its many distinctions is the sucker from one of the 630 breadfruit plants brought to St. Vincent in 1793 by Captain Bligh. Perhaps not surprisingly, roasted breadfruit (along with fried jackfish) is the country’s national dish.
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