Travelrific® Travel Journal
Picture postcards in prose.™ Check out the blogroll on the front page for official merchandise and other resources!Archive for tourism
Illuminations in Virginia
By Linda Tancs
What do the cities of Richmond, Williamsburg, Newport News, Hampton, Portsmouth, Norfolk and Virginia Beach have in common? Besides their location along Route 64 in the Commonwealth of Virginia, these cities play host to the award-winning 100 Miles of Lights extravaganza. Now through early January, take advantage of the events in these host cities celebrating the season. Choose from several activities such as the drive-through lights display in Newport News, the Grand Illumination in colonial Williamsburg or the dinner cruises in Norfolk or Portsmouth highlighting the festooned waterfront. There’s no need to vote for favorites. Whatever the outcome, the “eyes” have it.
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Baltimore Lights Up
By Linda Tancs
For 60 years, the Hampden neighborhood in Baltimore at 34th Street has lit up in the spirit of the season. This year is no different. Each house on the block flipped the switch the Saturday after Thanksgiving to reveal a spectacle of lights befitting an amusement park. To be sure, this show of solidarity is not unique but nevertheless attracks visitors from around the globe. Clearly, it seems to be a wonderful life on 34th Street. Discover the miracle for yourself.
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Strolling Nantucket
By Linda Tancs
Nantucket’s Christmas Stroll returns this year from 5 to 7 December with the usual fare: live music, tours, crafts and Santa’s visit (with the Mrs. of course) via Coast Guard vessel on Saturday at 12:30 p.m. The Town Crier will announce their arrival and escort them to their horse-drawn carriage for the journey down Main Street. An author once wrote, “All the stories I’ll ever need are right here on Main Street.” The folks on Nantucket would surely agree.
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Philly’s Christmas Spirit
By Linda Tancs
Manayunk means “where we go to drink” in the Lenape Indian language, but this classic town in the northwestern reaches of Philadelphia is more than just a watering hole. Named a National Historic District in 1983, this bustling little hamlet of 60 shops and almost as many restaurants is a holiday favorite with shoppers looking to ditch the malls for a taste of Main Street, USA. Visit the arts and crafts tents every weekend through 21 December for contemporary homespun treats and check out the demonstrations of 19th century candle making, glass blowing, and weaving at Ye Olde Craft Shoppe. Best of all, admission is free.
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House of Glass
By Linda Tancs
The Cathedral of Mary in Erfurt, Germany is getting ready for a facelift. And this won’t be the express version–rather, a 19-year painstaking restoration of its painted glass windows is in the works. Even Michelangelo painted the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel in a shorter span of time. But then again, its restoration from the 1980s took about 14 years. While the glass is out of commission, why not meander about the Christmas flower exhibition gracing the church’s nearly century-old arches?
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Christkindlmarkt, Chicago Style
By Linda Tancs
Tomorrow marks Thanksgiving, but it’s also the start of another (adopted) American tradition in the Midwest. From 27 November to 24 December, the heart of Chicago will once again host a Christmas market. Celebrating its 13th anniversary, the market is the largest of its kind outside of Germany and welcomes more than 1 million visitors each year. Modeled after a traditional outdoor European holiday market, the festivities will include German baked goods, clothing, wooden toys, nutcrackers and cuckoo clocks.
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I Saw Three Ships
By Linda Tancs
Wilhelmshaven, the German Navy’s main base at the North Sea, has enjoyed a post-War renaissance of sorts as a tourist destination. Of particular interest to seafaring types is Bontekai, an area rife with historic vessels, like the museum ship Captain Meyer. More attractions are being planned for the area to increase tourism, which is only fitting for a port city that is third largest in size after Hamburg and Bremen/Bremerhaven. Let the euros roll.
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Boston, Cradle of Liberty
By Linda Tancs
In the current edition of Travelrific® Travel Show, the topic is Boston, Massachusetts. Boston is known worldwide as the site of the Boston Tea Party, but that’s only one event in a long timeline of America’s revolutionary history. Experience colonial times along the Freedom Trail or enjoy more contemporary activities in this vibrant northeastern city where past meets present.
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Caribbean Readies Itself for Tourism
By Linda Tancs
Ready or not, here they come. Then again, maybe not. If the Jamaican Tourist Board’s early pessimism is any indication, the tourists won’t be coming when the season kicks off on 15 December. In fact, so sure is the JBT of economic doom that the entire Board has disbanded. Whether their departure is the result of a vote of no confidence from the tourism minister is surely debatable. Just last year the JBT was voted best tourism board by a group of Canadian travel agents. How quickly we forget.
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Cuba Hits Tourism Milestone
By Linda Tancs
They were breaking out the mojitos and salsa (a band, that is) in Cuba this past week in celebration of the island nation’s 2 millionth visitor for 2008, according to the Associated Press. Not bad for a destination hit thrice with hurricanes while the rest of the world wrestles with bad debt. Not that the Cuban economy wins any awards either, mind you. But despite their own share of woes, they must be doing something right to hit the 2 million mark every year since 2004. That’s a lot of bola.
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