Travelrific® Travel Journal
Picture postcards in prose.™ Check out the blogroll on the front page for official merchandise and other resources!Archive for tourism
Celebrating the Gold Rush in Canada
By Linda Tancs
On the third Monday of August Canada’s Yukon Territory celebrates the advent of the Klondike Gold Rush spurred on by the discovery of gold in Bonanza Creek in 1896. That means today is a public holiday in the territory, and you should plan on traveling early to avoid traffic to and from the various locales offering events to celebrate the day. The usual roundup includes Watson Lake (known as the “gateway to Yukon recreation”), the Yukon capital of Whitehorse and, of course, Dawson City, the heart of the Klondike gold rush. In fact, the celebration began at Dawson City on 12 August, and there’s plenty to see here, like Diamond Tooth Gertie’s Casino, the Klondike Institute of Arts and Culture and the spectacular wilderness of Tombstone Territorial Park, protecting over 2,000 square kilometres in the south Ogilvie Mountains off the Dempster Highway. Did you know that gold is 19 times heavier than water? You can pan for your own on Bonanza Road at Claim #6, where it all began.
Share this:
Non Stop Fun in Iowa
By Linda Tancs
Attracting more than a million fans the world over each year, the Iowa State Fair kicks off now through 22 August at the Fairgrounds, located 10 minutes east of downtown Des Moines at East 30th Street and East University Avenue. Today’s opening day festivities are highlighted by a tribute to the armed forces, including a live Skype chat with Iowa military in Kosovo, Iraq and Missisippi, a performance by the Central Iowa Hooves horse drill team and an evening concert by country music star Lee Greenwood (free with your fair ticket admission). The grandstand lineup includes Keith Urban, Pat Benatar, REO Speedwagon, Darius Rucker, Sugarland and Sheryl Crow. The entertainment may change from year to year, but annual staples like the Butter Cow (sculpted from butter, you see), double ferris wheel, livestock judging and endless stalls of food will remain–all to keep you in “non stop fun,” as this year’s theme goes.
Share this:
An Island Festival on the Danube
By Linda Tancs
Óbuda Island in Budapest hosts Sziget, an arts and cultural festival taking place this year from 11 to 16 August. The 24/7 festivities include a series of tents producing entertainment of every genre: folk, blues, classical concerts, ballets, operas, motion-and dance theatre and cabaret. Add to that numerous exhibitions, performances, an outdoor museum, puppet theatre and outdoor cinema in the evenings and you have a family friendly event worthy of a visit. There’s even a supervised day care center. Similar to earlier years, a ferry line runs daily both from Buda and Pest during the festival. You can buy tickets with cash only at the ferry station; otherwise, buy them online. Bikers should note that there’s a cycling lane running on the Buda riverbank that leads right up to the festival gate, and they’ll even mind your bike for free.
Share this:
World’s Fair of Money
By Linda Tancs
The American Numismatic Association’s World’s Fair of Money takes place in Boston today until 14 August. Sponsored by the nonprofit American Numismatic Association, the show’s theme espousing the locale as the birthplace of American money is an apt choice considering the story of American money began more than three centuries ago when the early settlers of New England relied heavily upon foreign coins for conducting their day to day business affairs in the New World. Featuring more than 1,000 of the nation’s best coin dealers at Hynes Convention Center, the show will also feature museum-quality exhibits from the Smithsonian Institution, the ANA Edward C. Rochette Money Museum and private collectors. As many as 20 mints from around the world will give visitors an opportunity to collect coins from five continents, recalling America’s reliance on foreign currency in early American history.
Share this:
A Magic Carpet in Belgium
By Linda Tancs
Every two years in Brussels an array of colorful begonias graces Grand-Place in the form of a giant Flower Carpet. This year marks the fourteenth happening of this horticultural phenomenon, opening this weekend to the public from 13 to 15 August, preceded on 12 August by a fireworks display at 10 p.m. celebrating a day of construction of this floral masterpiece by over 100 volunteers. This year’s arrangement honors the Belgian presidency of the Council of the European Union, with the EU logo appearing in the carpet’s center. Surrounding that design are locally relevant images like patron Saint Michael slaying the dragon, the region’s emblem of blue and yellow iris and depictions of the city’s striking Gothic architecture. Be sure to view the work from the balcony of the Hotel de Ville between 9:00 a.m. and 11:00 p.m.
Share this:
Drawing Lines in the Sand in California
By Linda Tancs
In Imperial Beach, California they’ll be drawing lines galore in the sand at the 30th annual U.S. Open Sandcastle Competition. An event for pros and amateurs alike, the competition on 8 August includes a Masters contest for pros and cash prizes up to $21,000 for pro and amateur sand carvers in other categories. Works will be available for viewing until 4 p.m. due to the tides. Why wait until Sunday? Make it a beach weekend and enjoy the Sandcastle Dance on Friday and the street fair along Seacoast Drive on Saturday. Sounds beachy keen to me.
Share this:
German Zoo Celebrates 150 Years
By Linda Tancs
Germany’s Cologne Zoo, the country’s third oldest, is celebrating its 150th anniversary. To celebrate this historic event, the zoo will remain open until 10 p.m. on Saturdays throughout August. Other specials include an exhibition of the zoo’s 150 years every first Sunday of the month at 11 a.m. and the chance to experience Nile crocodiles and hippos with the building of the Hippodome to coincide with the anniversary.
Share this:
Europe’s Oldest Wooden House Still Thriving
By Linda Tancs
In the small town of Schwyz in central Switzerland stands a sturdy wooden house as old as Notre Dame in Paris. Known as Bethlehem House, it is Europe’s oldest wooden house, a museum whose last occupants left only 30 or so years ago. Circa 1287, the modest dwelling pre-dates the founding of the country by four years. In fact, Switzerland owes its name and coat of arms to this rural town between the Alps in the south and Lake Lucerne in the east. Its Museum of the Swiss Charters recounts the alliance of the cantons of Uri, Schwyz and Unterwalden, whose inhabitants ultimately drove out the Austrians in 1315 by winning the Battle of Morgarten.
Share this:
Basque in the Festivities
By Linda Tancs
Treasure Valley includes all the lowland areas from Vale, Oregon to Boise, Idaho. With a moniker like that it should come as no surprise that the area attracted those in search of gold and other treasures. An unusually large number of Basques joined in that quest, ultimately homesteading in Boise where the ethnic group grew to its largest numbers outside its European base of northeastern Spain and southwestern France. Every five years Boise celebrates Basque culture at the Fairgrounds with Jaialdi, or “Big Festival.” Now through 1 August, experience Basque tradition through tasty croquettes, dances like the Flag Dance (Ikurrina), and ball games like pelota (a variant of which is jai alai) in the Fronton on Grove Street.
Share this:
The World at Your Feet
By Linda Tancs
The world at your feet—that is, under your feet—is a traveler’s mélange of sights and sounds of the earth and under the earth from Old World to New World. Consider Bolivia’s Salar de Uyuni, the world’s largest salt flat. Descending from a prehistoric lake, this snow-hued wasteland is punctuated with a series of cherry red trains bearing silent testimony to a once burgeoning rail system designed for the transport of the area’s rich mineral resources to Pacific Ocean ports. Although generally devoid of plant or animal life, a pink brigade of Andean flamingos breeds among the flats each November.
Pink also characterizes a shallow lake in Senegal, West Africa known as Lac Rose (Pink Lake), so named for the gentle pinkish tint owing to the reflection of mineral deposits in the water. This basin is popular with tourists because its salinity allows for floating. However, it is hope that floats for the locals in this area some 20 miles from the capital city of Dakar; the huge stores of salt extracted from the lake bed are a vital source of income.
The hue turns to blue in Belize, where an underwater sinkhole near Ambergris Caye attracts divers the world over. The Great Blue Hole is about 1000 feet in diameter and 412 feet deep, formed from the collapse of a roof of an underwater cave system formed during the last ice age ending over 12,000 years ago. Not for the faint of heart, the 100-plus-feet dive to a panoply of parrot fish, sponges, grunt fish, elkhorn coral and sea turtles requires advanced skills.
Nature’s fury finds a different mode of expression in Argentine Patagonia at Glaciers National Park. There you might experience a thunderous roar beneath your feet thanks to Perito Moreno glacier. Known as the White Giant, the iceberg’s steady advance creates a spectacular collapse, usually in summer, when the warmer waters of Lago Argentino drill a tunnel through the glacier so powerful that its trademark archway ruptures into the waters below. Be prepared to view a stunning white haze of ice, mist and froth from the observation deck.
Water is an equally powerful part of history in Rome, Italy. In particular, the 2000-year-old aqueduct, Aqua Virgo, is a miles-long labyrinth still channeling water to many of the city’s fountains, including the legendary Fontana di Trevi. Running beneath the ground like many aqueducts to protect its precious resource, it is occasionally visible above ground at such locations as beside the Spanish Steps—just minutes away from Trevi fountain. Another ancient artifact outside the city proper is the Appian Way, the longest and most significant ancient Roman road. Along this path you can explore the catacombs, underground burial places for ancient Christians (as well as Jews and pagans), such as the catacombs of Saint Sebastian.
Underground exploration also thrives among the dark, mineral-clad chambers of show caves in the United States. For instance, Tennessee sports over 8700 caves for spelunkers and casual tourists alike, more than any other state. Manganese, iron, calcium and copper are in abundant supply along the walkways at Appalachian Caverns in Blountville. Its most popular natural resource, however, may be the colonies of grey, big brown and eastern pipistrelle bats lurking around the higher ceilings. Ruby Falls cave in the Chattanooga area is the deepest commercial cave in the country, earning a listing on the National Register of Historic Places as well as the awe of visitors who are drawn to the waterfall gliding 145 feet through its depths. One of the earliest visitors to the eastern Tennessee attraction of Craighead Caverns in Sweetwater was a Pleistocene-era jaguar, the remains of which are now on display at the American Museum of Natural History in New York. Today’s visitors flock to an underwater lake covering over four acres, recognized by Guinness World Records as the World’s Largest Underground Sea.
Another kind of commercialism rules in Canada at Montreal’s Underground City (officially known as RÉSO), reputedly the largest underground city in the world. This subterranean universe comprises 20 miles of tunnels spread over an area of nearly five square miles linking shopping malls, hotels, offices, cultural attractions, entertainment, universities, and transportion stations. Often referred to as a city within a city, the shopping and entertainment mecca is a convenient respite from both cold and snowy winters as well as year-round traffic.
As poet Henry David Thoreau observed, heaven is under our feet as well as over our heads. Whether buoyed by ancient Roman craftsmanship, modern day urban masterpieces or natural phenomena, a world of enlightenment awaits you underfoot.
Travelrific® Travel Journal 