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Briefs
New Website Lists Camping Resources
For RVers
Travelers looking to plan their next RV
or camping adventure need not look any further than the newly
revamped Go Camping America website www.GoCampingAmerica.com. The website
features numerous resources for RVers and campers and is powered
by Friend Communications, an outdoor hospitality technology
specialist.
The website includes more in-depth information
on RV parks and campgrounds, plus a detailed search capability
so that RVers and campers can more easily find the parks with
the amenities they specifically want such as swimming pools,
50 amp service, dump station, WiFi, etc. In addition to the
database of parks, the new site also contains in-depth travel
and tourism information on all 50 states, the ability to make
real-time, on-line reservations through ReservationFriend.com,
an area to submit information if you are interested in holding
a reunion or club event at a park, and a forum to buy and/or
sell RVs. With the new content, www.GoCampingAmerica.com serves
as a one-stop shop for planning a RV or camping trip in the
United States.
Revamped sections include:
• "Find a Park" – a comprehensive
database of more than 3,900 RV parks and campgrounds across
the U.S. Visitors can search by state and region, and can
now also search by amenities, activities, atmosphere and memberships
using the expanded search option. In addition, travelers can
book their stay directly from the Web site.
• "Plan Your Trip" – provides
resources on trip planning, what to pack, safety, RV maintenance,
driving tips, weather, gas prices, road conditions, pets,
on-the-road activities for kids, and traveler's tips.
• "State Info" – a newly expanded
section listing each state's tourist attractions, events,
outdoor recreation recommendations, road rules and more.
• "Types of Lodging" – provides
details regarding the types of rentals available, such as
cabins, trailers and park models, and provides a state-by-state
database of parks with rentals available.
• "Outdoor Tips" – tips on activities,
cooking, campfires, packing and recipes
• "Kid's Pages" – created just
for kids, with state facts, games, coloring pages, kid's recipes
and safety tips
• "RV Sales" – a new section
that allows visitors to search a database for RVs for sale,
or to sell their own RV
• "GCA Shop" – provides RVers
and campers the chance to buy Go Camping America gear.
• "Links" – provides useful links
to a variety of RV and camping-related Web sites
The National Association of RV Parks
and Campgrounds (ARVC) is the national association representing
over 3900 RV parks and campgrounds throughout the United States
and Canada. The association is headquartered in Falls Church,
Virginia. More information about the association can be found
at www.arvc.org . Additional
information about the association's member parks, an online
directory of parks and other camping services, and general
information for camping consumers can be found at www.gocampingamerica.com.
Additional information about RVs and RVing can be found at
www.gorving.com.
Mobil Travel Guide Introduces Star Ratings
To The Caribbean
Mobil Travel Guide, originator of the prestigious
Five-Star ratings and certifications program for hotels, restaurants,
and spas, today announced a partnership in the Caribbean with
Freeman Group, a hospitality and tourism service evaluation
and improvement company with more than 20 years experience
in the region. The deal is part of Freeman Group’s new offering
called FG Destinations and marks the beginning of Mobil Travel
Guide’s plans to apply its internationally respected Star
rating system to properties worldwide.
Mobil Travel Guide has been providing the
most comprehensive and objective hotel ratings and reviews
in the United States and Canada since 1958, using more than
750 criteria, which are updated annually. As FG Destinations
expands its program into the Caribbean, hotel properties in
the region will be evaluated using Mobil Travel Guide's proprietary
and industry-leading process, which involves using a combination
of its highly trained field inspectors and undercover service
evaluators. The public will have access to Mobil Travel Guide’s
reviews of the Caribbean properties online at www.mobiltravelguide.com just as
they currently do for hotels, restaurants, and spas in the
United States and Canada.
For a detailed explanation of how Mobil
Travel Guide arrives at its Star ratings, visit HowStuffWorks,
the exclusive online publisher for Mobil Travel Guide, at
www.howstuffworks.com.
Madrid’s Summer In The City Festival Offers
Music, Dance Theater
A 44-day non-stop extravaganza of music,
dance and theatre will kick off this weekend in Madrid. Veranos
de la Villa, the Summer in the City Festival, presents
131 concerts, ballets, operas, flamenco shows – many free
of charge – in over 30 venues in Spain’s capital through August
14. Now in its 21st year, the summer festival invites
some of the world’s most renowned artists in jazz, blues,
classical and world music, opera, ballet, flamenco and zarzuela,
Spain’s own genre of musical comedy.
Legendary dance icons will present ballets
at the city’s former slaughterhouse, the Matadero Madrid,
which include “Shanghai Beauty” by Jin Xing
(7/28-30) and the “Pink Floyd Ballet” by Roland
Petit (8/2-4). Giuseppe Verdi’s “La Traviata,”
directed by Franco Zeffirelli, is scheduled for August 8 and
9. At the Teatro Español, from July 13 to 16, Mikhail Baryshnikov
will stage “Hells Kitchen Dance.”
For world music,
jazz and flamenco fans, The Sabatini Gardens
is offering three cycles. Artists from Argentina, Austria,
Brazil, Greece, Iran, Morocco, Portugal, Spain, the UK and
the US will perform 12 concerts including from July 25 to
August 11, some of flamenco’s most acclaimed dancers, singers
and guitarists will perform in 14 shows: Vincente Soto (7/25),
Victor Monge and Rafael Riqueni (7/27), Pitingo con Habichuelas
(7/28), El Güito and Mari Paz Lucena (7/30), José Mercé (8/1),
Antonio Carbonell and Encarna Anillo (8/2), Lole Montoya and
Alba Molina (8/3), Ballet de Blanca del Rey (8/5), Polito
and Israel de Paz (8/8), Jose de la Tomasa (8/10), Gerardo
Núñez Trio (8/11) and José Menese (8/12).
Many events
are free of charge. For the third year the city’s grand Plaza
Mayor will be the setting for a concert– this time Beethoven’s
9th Symphony – performed by the West-Eastern Orchestra
Divan, Daniel Barenboim conducting on August 10. Summer in
the Street is staging ten free shows of street theater, classical
music and ballet in seven city districts in July on Fridays
and Saturdays until August 12, Music for the Sunset will feature
free concerts by orchestra ensembles and string quartets in
four of Madrid’s plazas and at the Egyptian Temple
of Debod. Until September 3 in Retiro Park, 21 companies from
around the world will present free puppet theatre. Through
September 3rd, the open-air Parque de la Bombilla
is showcasing more than 200 movies ranging from small
independent foreign films to Disney blockbusters. Tickets
are about $5.60. ( www.fescinal.com )
Prices and
times for “Summer in the City” vary by venue and performance.
Admission ranges from about $19 for some shows to $60 for
operas. Tickets average about $25 and youth and senior discounts
are available. Go to www.esmadrid.com/festivalveranosdelavilla
or http://www.munimadrid.es.
For information about Spain, visit www.spain.info.
Cluny Abbey
To Get 3-D Tour
Travelers to
France visiting Cluny Abbey can now get a glimpse of life
there 1,000 years ago thanks to a virtual tour of the church.
The edifice, once the biggest in Christendom, was 90 percent
destroyed some two centuries ago. The 3-D tour is part of
a major 20-million EUR ($25-million) restoration project for
the Benedictine abbey which in 2010 will celebrate its 1,100
birthday. Founded in 910 AD, the church in central eastern
France was a major place of pilgrimage with the monastery
becoming the most influential and prestigious in Europe from
the 10th to 12th centuries.
Paris Visit
Package of Passes and Airport Transfers Available
Visitors to
France can purchase an airport transfer and museum/metro pass
package for $170 per person based on two people traveling
together. The pass includes a private car with an English
speaking driver roundtrip from Paris Charles De Gaulle International
Airport to your hotel and return; a four-day museum pass with
unlimited use at 70 different sites, and a three-day unlimited-use
Metro pass. More information is available in the US at 800-960-2221
or 480-905-1235. Website: www.discoverfrance.com
Rough Guides
Publishes New Guide To Goa
The Rough Guide
to Goa published by Penguin, is the essential guide to India's
best known resort region. Written by David Abram, the 384-page
guidebook includes a full color section that introduces Goa
and its highlights. There are evocative accounts of every
beach in the state, from remote fishing villages to luxury
resorts, plus the region's temples, markets, wildlife sanctuaries
and waterfalls; and reviews of the best places to stay, eat,
drink and party.
Mumbai is covered
in depth as are the sights of neighboring Kernataka, including
the ruined city of Hampi and the seaside pilgrimage site of
Gokarn. Goa’s history, religion and environment are covered
in detail and convenient maps display the region’s highlights.
Available at bookstores. Price: US$ $17.99; UK £11.99.
Hotline
Established by Israel Tourism Ministry During Hostilities
The Israel
Ministry of Tourism set up a hotline and a special section
of its Web site to provide current information about travel
to Israel during the violence in Lebanon and the north of
Israel. The Web site is www.goisrael.com. Click What today’s
headlines mean for tourists to Israel on the home
page
The hotline
is open 24 hours a day, seven days a week and the service
is available in English, French, Hebrew and other languages.
Callers can get information on flights, hotels, group tours
and travel within Israel. From the US, the hotline is accessible
by dialing 972-3-5207600. Questions can be e-mailed to feliw@tourism.gov.il.
********************
Travel Destinations
Summer Family
Vacations Soar to New Peaks on Germany’s Alpine Road
Bavaria is
a wonderful retreat for all ages and even all seasons. Fall,
winter and spring are filled with wonderful holidays and festivals,
art, food and culture that the entire family will enjoy. But
it is also the place to be in summer. Families will delight
traveling the German Alpine Road in Bavaria, which traverses
300 miles of breathtaking scenery. Along the route, there
are 64 health and Well Vital Spa resorts with unique Bavarian
treatments, and no fewer than 25 ancient castles and fairytale
palaces that delight the child in every family member.
Fun history
lessons are to be found at every turn on Germany’s Alpine
Route. Garmisch-Partenkirchen, the site of the 1972 winter
Olympics, maintains the original Olympic stadium and enough
paraphernalia to satisfy any history buff interested in sports
or the composer, Strauss. The nearby town of Oberammergau
is not only famous for its Passion Play every ten years but
also for its unusual frescoed houses. The painting technique,
Lueftlmalerei (fresh air painting), is a handicraft from the
18th century whereby citizens displayed their wealth by means
of opulently-painted facades. The mountain village of Mittenwald
has been a center for violin manufacturing since 1858 and
visitors can still see the instruments being produced or partake
in violin-making studies. Website: www.mittenwald.de
The Middle
Ages come alive in Kaltenberg on the grounds of Prince Luitpold
of Bavaria’s castle. Tournaments featuring professional jousting
matches between would-be kings and knights (feted by their
ladies) take place each year in July. A medieval market and
a delicious royal beer, Koenig Ludwig Dunkel (the dark King
Ludwig) complement the festive air. Website: www.ritterturnier.de
.
The castles
along the Alpine route rival any amusement park. Real royal
residences by the mad King Ludwig will awe and inspire young
and old. Neuschwanstein, the model for the Disney Castle,
overlooks the Bavarian foothills from its high perch. Ludwig’s
baroque country estate, Linderhof, is nestled in the Bavarian
hills and is surrounded by beautiful hills, trails, follies
and gardens. Ludwig’s palace on the Chiem Lake is a sumptuous
replica of Versailles, complete with a Hall of Mirrors.
While not part
of the usual classical education, teenagers do appreciate
Chiemsee’s summer reggae jam from August 25 to 27. Website:
www.chiemsee-reggae.de. And, the whole
family can enjoy a variety of shows in Chiem’s open-air, lakeside
theater where the stage is literally floating on a dock.
Website: www.chiemsee.de
The walking
and hiking opportunities are endless with varying degrees
of difficulty. Each town on the Alpine Road has well-marked
paths and hiking guides and maps available. A perfect antidote
to climbing and biking at the end of each day is to luxuriate
in Bavaria’s WellVital spas and other health resorts along
the Alpine Road. Unique Bavarian treatments include beer baths,
alpine horn showers, hops, herbal and hay baths. At the end
of the road in the eastern town of Bad Reichenhall, the whole
family can dive into the outdoor spa facility, the Gradierwerk,
or treat themselves to age-old treatments ranging dwarf pine
oil massages to salt and brine treatments. Website: www.badreichenhall.de
Mountain huts
and charming village hotels add to the mix of five star luxury
spas. "Cool” is the operative word when it comes to overnighting
at "Schachenhaus,” Ludwig’s mountain-high hunting lodge,
a mere 5,628 feet above the town of Garmisch. The hike to
the lodge is full of inspiring landscapes and on every 25th
of August, the anniversary of King Ludwig’s birth is celebrated.
The nearby botanical garden, laid out in 1900, with approximately
1500 different alpine flowers and plants is an unusual attraction
at that altitude. In July and August, the flowers are especially
beautiful.
For more information
on the Alpine Road, all of its charming towns, hiking guides,
accommodations and tours, go to: www.deutschealpenstrasse.de
. For more information on Bavarian and German events for the
family, visit www.bayern.info
and www.ComeToGermany.com
*********************************
Travel Tours
Asia Transpacific Journeys Suggests
Three Winter 2007 Itineraries
Here and elsewhere in far-flung Asia, time
seems to stop and ancient rhythms reign, rhythms that Asia
Transpacific Journeys (ATJ) explores day in and day out with
guides whose life work is committed to sustaining cultures
while sharing nuances with visitors.
The itineraries include Burma, former French
Indochina (Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia) and Thailand.
ATJ’s Winter 2007 Small Group Trip departures
of up to 16 passengers include:
-- January 20, 2007. 22 Days Passage To
Indochina (Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia)
The exquisite French colonial architecture
of Hanoi, Saigon’s markets, the textiles of Vientiane, the
glittering golden city of Luang Prabang, and Angkor Wat, Asia’s
archaeological equivalent of the pyramids, combine with elephant
excursions to create the definitive journey to this corner
of the world. Land cost per person of $7,395 includes expert
tour leadership, insurance, and elegant accommodations.
-- January 21 and February 18, 2007. 16
Days Burma, Land Of The Golden Pagoda
Float down the languid Irrawaddy River,
overnighting on a classic, restored colonial-era river barge,
then journey by rail, car, horse cart and foot to explore
golden pagodas, exotic markets and tribal villages. Considered
the hands-down Burma experts in the industry, ATJ offers the
definitive journey to this enchanting land. Land cost per
person of $4,395 includes expert tour leadership, insurance,
and exceptional accommodations.
-- February 16, 2007. 14 days, Royal Thailand
This superlative journey celebrates Loy
Krathong, Thailand’s magical festival of light and water.
Explore Bangkok by long tail boat; ride on bamboo rafts down
rivers and atop elephants through hill-tribe villages. Visit
Ayutthaya, the former imperial capital and now a UNESCO World
Heritage Site, a remote Burmese border town, Golden Triangle
tribes, and the stunning world-class beaches of Phuket. Land
cost per person of $4,895 includes expert tour leadership,
insurance, and stunning accommodations.
Included in the per person rate on all
Small Group Trips are accommodations, nearly all meals, transfers,
visa fees, tips, entrance fees, medical and emergency insurance
and a comprehensive pre-departure packet. ATJ can also arrange
Custom Journeys to these and other Asian destinations. ATJ
can also arrange international air through its in-house air
department.
Asia Transpacific Journeys has been crafting
private Custom Journeys and Small Group Trips to the Asia/Pacific
region since 1987.
For 2006 ATJ’s ever-expanding itineraries
of 18 Small Group Trips and Custom Journeys encompasses 20
countries in North Asia, South Asia, SE Asia and the Pacific.
Some trips also support global conservation and cultural preservation.
ATJ’s own non-profit Asia Transpacific Foundation, established
in 1998, works with rural Asian communities to provide clean
drinking water through locally made ceramic water filters.
For more information please see www.asiatranspacific.com or call
toll free 800-642-2742.
Rediscovering Polynesia - The Expedition
of a Lifetime
Centuries ago, in the village of Maeva
on the lush island of Huahine, Tahiti's respected district
chiefs once lived side-by-side, worshiping ancestors at their
respective marae – open-air stone structures built for religious
rites and ceremonies. Most fortunately, Maeva was not lost
to history nor to commercialization – the quaint little town
still stands as the center of life for the island’s inhabitants.
Te Mau Fenua Ma’ohi (Tahitian for “Polynesia”)
– particularly the island of Raiatea, the second-largest of
the Society Islands – figures prominently in Polynesian prehistory.
Historically, Raiatea (once called Havaiki) is often considered
to be the cradle of Polynesian civilization.
This fall, travelers can experience the
colorful and significant history of these two influential
islands via an expedition led by noted archaeologist Dr. Yosihiko
Sinoto, of the acclaimed Bishop Museum in Hawaii. Sinoto,
honored with a Tahitian knighthood, Japan's Order of the Rising
Sun, and Bishop Museum’s Robert J. Pfeiffer Medal, has been
recognized throughout Hawaii and the Pacific for his research
in Tahiti's Society and Marquesas Islands. He has also conducted
extensive study on the two isthmuses of Huahine – Huahine
Nui (“Nui” meaning ”big”), and Huahine Iti (“Iti” meaning
“small”).
The expedition will take place September
23 through October 1. During the eight day expedition, Sinoto
will be the group's guide on the islands of Huanine and Raiatea,
visiting archaeological and cultural sites where he has discovered
and restored many important marae. A circle island tour of
Huahine will include a visit to the town of Maeva, a stop
at Fare Pote’e (a reconstructed traditional meeting house
now being used as a cultural center), and a route along the
Mata’ire’a Hill trail, where the partially restored remains
of an island settlement considered an integral component of
the unique Maeva Village Archaeological Complex still stands.
On Raiatea, Sinoto will take the group
to Opoa, the ancient political and religious center of the
Society Islands, where visitors will see the famous Marae
Taputapuatea, Marae Hauviri, and other ceremonial artifacts,
including an ancient archery platform.
The expedition includes round-trip airfare
from Honolulu to Papeete, accommodations at the Te Tiare Beach
Resort on Huahine and Raiatea Hawaiki Nui hotel on Raiatea,
ground transportation, and welcome and farewell dinners.
Optional excursions are available for the group while in Papeete,
including an In Gauguin’s Footsteps tour and a Grand Circle
Island Tour. A Moorea circle island tour or 4x4 safari excursion
on Moorea are offered as other options. Price is $3,450 per
person, based on double occupancy.
To book reservations, please contact Rachel
at Travel Ways (808) 597-1425.
*********************************
Travel
Alerts
Warnings and advice covering both travel
and health issues in countries can be found at the Department
of State (DOS) homesite at http://travel.state.gov/travel/travel_1744.html
-- Travel Warnings are issued when the
State Department recommends that Americans avoid a certain
country. The countries currently listed can be found at http://travel.state.gov/travel/cis_pa_tw/tw/tw_1764.html.
-- The State Department issues Public Announcements
to disseminate information quickly about terrorist threats
and other relatively short-term conditions that pose significant
risks or disruptions to Americans. The current Public Announcements
are listed at http://travel.state.gov/travel/cis_pa_tw/pa/pa_1766.html.
-- Information on countries can be found
in the Consular section of the DOS website at
http://travel.state.gov/travel/cis_pa_tw/cis/cis_1765.html.
Information on Avian Flu can be found at
http://travel.state.gov/travel/tips/health/health_1181.html
.
-- Information on the 2006 hurricane season
in the Atlantic, Caribbean, and the Gulf of Mexico can be
found at http://travel.state.gov/travel/cis_pa_tw/hurricane_season/hurricane_season_2915.html
*************************************
Air News & Offers
US Airways and Republic Airways Holdings
Expand Partnership
US Airways) and regional airline partner
Republic Airways Holdings have announced they are amending
their existing partnership and adding 30, 86-seat Embraer
175 aircraft to the US Airways Express network. The new Embraer
175s will replace 20 existing 50-seat Embraer 145s operated
for US Airways Express by Republic Airways Holdings' Chautauqua
Airlines subsidiary. The remaining ten deliveries can replace
other retiring aircraft or be used for limited growth in 2008.
The aircraft will operate in a single coach-class
configuration and will enter service beginning in 2007 at
a delivery rate of one-to-two planes a month through the summer
of 2008. The new aircraft join Republic's existing fleet of
28, 72-seat Embraer 170s already being operated under the
US Airways Express banner.Website: http://www.usairways.com/
Continental Airlines Ranks First According
To Latest J.D. Power Survey
According to the annual North American
Satisfaction Survey taken by J.D. Power & Associates for
2006, Continental Airlines ranked first in overall customer
satisfaction among the eight mainstream airlines. Delta, American,
Alaska, US Airways, United, Northwest and Air Canada followed
in this order. JetBlue ranked first, followed by Southwest,
AirTran and Frontier among discount air carriers.
JetBlue Expands Service
JetBlue Airways began low-fare service
on three new routes this month, offering its award-winning
service, 36 channels of DIRECTV programming and roomy, all-leather
seats between Boston and Buffalo, New York; Burbank, California
and Orlando, Florida; and Burbank and Las Vegas, NevadaBoston,
MA to Buffalo, NY
Boston/Buffalo Service
JetBlue is the only low-fare airline to
fly nonstop between Buffalo and Boston's Logan International
Airport, with three daily flights. The new service strengthens
JetBlue's position in Boston, with daily nonstop service to
Bostonians' favorite destinations in the United States and
Caribbean. JetBlue recently opened a crew base in Boston,
and also started serving Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania with two
daily nonstop flights. JetBlue's regular fares range from
$69(a) to $159(a) each way between Buffalo and Boston. Other
restrictions apply (a). The new nonstop service on the new
Boston-Buffalo route will be flown with JetBlue's new EMBRAER
190 aircraft.
Buffalo customers will also have access
to 12 other JetBlue destinations via convenient connecting
service in Boston, including Fort Lauderdale, Orlando, West
Palm Beach, Fort Myers, and Tampa, FL; Nassau, Bahamas; Denver,
CO; Phoenix, AZ; Long Beach, Oakland and San Jose, CA; and
Seattle, WA.
Burbank, CA to Orlando, FL
JetBlue will operate one daily flight between
Burbank, CA (BUR) and Orlando, FL (MCO), the first and only
airline to provide nonstop service on the route, using its
A320 aircraft. (JetBlue already offers nonstop service between
Long Beach and Fort Lauderdale.) JetBlue is offering a sale
fare of $159(a) each way with regular fares ranging from $179(a)
to $399(a) each way. Other restrictions apply (a). Customers
enrolled in the airline's flight gratitude program, TrueBlue,
will earn six TrueBlue points each way, with double points
awarded for travel purchased online at www.jetblue.com.
Burbank, CA to Las Vegas, NV
JetBlue also continues its expansion of
service from Burbank with new daily nonstop service to Las
Vegas. JetBlue's regular fares range from $39(a) to $139(a)
each way. Other restrictions apply (a). JetBlue will operate
one daily flight between Burbank (BUR) and Las Vegas (LAS),
using its A320 aircraft. This 156-seat aircraft offers customers
comfy all-leather seats and the most live entertainment options
in the skies today, with 36 channels of DIRECTV programming.
JetBlue customers enrolled in the airline's flight gratitude
program, TrueBlue, will earn two TrueBlue points each way,
with double points awarded for travel purchased online at
www.jetblue.com.
In Las Vegas, customers will also have
access to convenient connecting service to Boston, New York/JFK
and Washington, DC/Dulles. Website: www.jetblue.com
Other new services begun by JetBlue include
Syracuse, New York to Orlando, Florida
JetBlue Airways now provides daily nonstop
service between Syracuse Hancock International Airport and
Orlando International Airport. This is the only nonstop service
offered by any airline from Syracuse to any Florida destination.
Orlando becomes the
airline's second nonstop destination from
Syracuse, with regular fares
for the new flights ranging from $99(a)
to $299(a) each way. The new service to Orlando complements
JetBlue's current three daily flights from Syracuse to New
York's John F. Kennedy International Airport. Starting November
1, JetBlue will add a fourth daily nonstop flight to New York's
JFK.
JetBlue operates the new service between
Syracuse and Orlando with
Airbus A320 aircraft. The additional flight
between Syracuse and New
York/JFK, effective November 1, will operate
with EMBRAER 190 aircraft.
Both aircraft offer the low-fare airline's
signature 36 channels of
DIRECTV(r) programming (b), the most live
television of any airline,
extra legroom and all-leather seats. JetBlue
customers in Syracuse
have access to 39 destinations via convenient
connecting service at
JFK, including some of JetBlue's newest
destinations of Nashville, TN
(service starts August 31); Houston, TX
(service starts September 7);
Aruba (service starts September 15); Sarasota,
FL (service starts
September 21); Tucson, AZ (service starts
September 28); and Columbus,
OH (service starts October 3).
In the six years since its launch, JetBlue
Airways now serves 41 destinations with more than 440 flights
daily.
Four Daily Nonstop Flights
From Raleigh-Durham to New York / JFK
JetBlue Airways has begun new service from Raleigh-Durham
International Airport (North Carolina) to its home base at
New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport with four
daily nonstop flights. Regular one-way fares between New York
and Raleigh-Durham range between $84(a) and$199(a). In addition,
the low-fare carrier announced it will introduce one daily
roundtrip flight between Raleigh-Durham Airport and Boston’s
Logan International Airport beginning October 18, with introductory
fares of $74(a) each way. Regular one-way fares to Boston
will range between $94(a) and $209(a), up to 70 percent lower
than current market rates. Introductory fares, which are based
on availability, must be purchased by August 3 with all travel
completed by November 15.
JetBlue will serve Raleigh-Durham Airport with its brand-new,
100-seat EMBRAER 190 aircraft. In addition to nonstop service
to New York/JFK and Boston, JetBlue
customers flying from Raleigh-Durham International Airport
will have
connecting service to 31 other JetBlue destinations, including
the
airline's newest planned service to Nashville, TN (service
begins
August 31); Houston Hobby Airport (service begins September
7); and
Tucson, Arizona (service begins September 28).
New Service From Columbus, Ohio to New York and Boston
in October
JetBlue Airways will begin service between
New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK) and
Columbus, Ohio with up to four daily nonstop flights starting
October 3, and one daily nonstop flight between Boston's Logan
International Airport and Columbus starting October 18. To
celebrate the new service, JetBlue is offering
introductory one-way fares to/from New
York starting at $69(a), with regular fares ranging between
$89(a) and $199(a) each way, up to 69percent lower than pre-JetBlue
fares. JetBlue will operate flights to Columbus using its
brand-new EMBRAER
190 aircraft. Columbus customers will also
have access to 39 other JetBlue destinations via convenient
connecting service at JFK, including Raleigh-Durham, NC (service
begins July 20); Houston Hobby Airport(service begins September
7); Sarasota, FL (service begins September 21); and Tucson,
Arizona (service begins September 28).
GOL Linhas Aereas Inteligentes Adds
Two More Daily Flights To Buenos Aires
GOL Linhas Aereas Inteligentes Brazil's
low cost, low fare airline, has added two more daily flights
to Buenos Aires, Argentina. One flight will depart from Rio
de Janeiro to Buenos Aires, with a stopover in Sao Paulo.
The second flight will depart from Florianopolis to Buenos
Aires, with stopover in Porto Alegre. With these additional
frequencies, the Company will operate four daily flights from
Brazilian cities to the capital of Argentina.
Virgin Atlantic Now Offers Six Daily
Flights Between New York and London
Virgin Atlantic Airways has introduced
Flight 026 The Daybreaker, increasing service to provide a
fourth daily flight option between JNew York/JFK and London’s
Heathrow airports. With a 7:30 am departure, The Daybreaker
is the perfect choice for those
jetsetters who rise with the sun to get
a jump on their international workday.
The VS026 will be operated by an A340-600,
departing JFK at 07:30 and arriving into London Heathrow at
19:10. This new daylight service from New York will match
the demand from passengers for morning flight departures.
The VS025, the new service from London, will depart Heathrow
at 18.00 and arrive in JFK at 21.00 the same day.
With the now four daily flights from JFK,
Virgin Atlantic also launched
a revised New York flight schedule. Together
with the new morning flight, the revised timings will provide
an evening departure schedule with almost hourly departures
from JFK. Through this new JFK schedule, together with two
daily fights out of Newark, Virgin Atlantic will now offer
6 daily departures from the New York area to London
Heathrow.
Since operations started between New York
and London in June 1984, Virgin Atlantic has flown nearly
163 million miles carrying approximately 12.5 million travelers
serving approximately 25 million meals served onboard.
Second daily flight From London to
Hong Kong Starts In November
In addition to the new New York service,
the airline will also start a second daily flight between
London and Hong Kong, initially four times a week from November
2006, and then daily from February 2007.
London/Dubai Increased Service
Virgin Atlantic also expanded its services
between London and Dubai with daily flights
on July 1, 2006. Since the service began
in March 2006, load factors have been very high, confirming
that business travelers are choosing to experience the best
service in the air and on the ground.
Continental Airlines Selects Chautauqua
to Operate 44 Regional Jets
Continental Airlines announced that it
has selected Chautauqua Airlines to provide and operate 44
regional jets as a Continental Express carrier beginning in
2007, under a new capacity purchase agreement.
Chautauqua, a subsidiary of Republic Airways
Holdings Inc. will operate 50-seat regional jets on Continental's
behalf, under the Continental Express brand. Continental will
continue to schedule and market all of its Continental Express
regional jet service.
In April 2006, Continental announced that
Chautauqua would operate any of the aircraft that ExpressJet
Airlines elected to return to Continental under the Continental-ExpressJet
capacity purchase agreement. ExpressJet's decision to retain
all 69 aircraft provided Continental with the opportunity
to examine options for replacing the regional capacity provided
by those aircraft. Chautauqua will supply the 44 aircraft
that it will operate under the new capacity purchase agreement.
Continental currently has no plans to replace 25 of the 69
50-seat regional jets retained by ExpressJet.
Alaska Airlines Announces New Nonstop
Los Angeles/La Paz, Mexico Service Alaska Airlines will
offer new nonstop service between Los Angeles International
Airport and La Paz, Mexico, starting this fall, making La
Paz the tenth Mexican destination the airline serves. Flights
will operate year-round starting October. 30. Initially the
airline will offer nonstop service three days a week.
Alaska Airlines Vacations packages
to La Paz available for purchase September.
Flights from Los Angeles to La Paz will
depart at 11:20 a.m. Pacific time on Mondays, Wednesdays and
Saturdays. Return flights will depart La Paz at 3:35 p.m.
Mountain time on Mondays, Wednesdays and Saturdays. The new
flights are timed for convenient connections to and from other
cities in the Pacific Northwest, Alaska and Western Canada,
both on Alaska Airlines and its sister carrier, Horizon Air.
Los Angeles-La Paz flights will be operated on Boeing 737-400
aircraft, accommodating 12 passengers in first class and 132
in the main cabin. All flights will offer Alaska's Northern
Bites meals-for-purchase service in the main cabin, which
allows coach passengers to purchase a meal onboard for $5.
The Los Angeles-La Paz service is the fourth
new Mexico route Alaska Airlines has added during the past
month. Alaska announced June 21 it will add seasonal, nonstop
service beginning in October between Seattle and Cancun,
Mexico, and between Portland, Ore., and
the Mexican resort destinations of Los Cabos and Puerto Vallarta.
The airline also received DOT approval to add nonstop service
between San Francisco and Cancun. These flights will
begin in October and are available for purchase.
Introducing service to Mexico in 1988,
Alaska Airlines now transports more than 1.2 million passengers
annually between the US West Coast and Mexico. During its
upcoming winter schedule, the airline will operate up to 41
flights daily serving ten Mexican destinations, including
Cancun, Guadalajara, Ixtapa/Zihuatanejo, La Paz, Loreto, Los
Cabos, Manzanillo/Costa Alegre, Mazatlan, Mexico City and
Puerto Vallarta.
Alaska Airlines and sister carrier, Horizon
Air, together serve 88 cities through an expansive network
throughout Alaska, the Lower 48, Canada and Mexico. For reservations
visit www.alaskaair.com.
Jetstar Launches Low-Cost International
Flights
Australian airline Jetstar has released
its international fares with flights to Bali from $409 one
way inclusive of taxes. The carrier is also selling tickets
to Bangkok for $439, Phuket for $439, Ho Chi Minh City (Vietnam)
for $489 and Osaka (Japan) for $549. All are one way, tax
inclusive. Fares to Hawaii will be launched in the coming
weeks.
Promotional fares to mark the launch of
the flights start from $169 to Bali. The airline will operate
a two-class service including its StarClass which will be
equivalent to Qantas’ domestic Business Class. Jetstar chief
executive Alan Joyce said customers will have the choice of
“very low fares” or they can upgrade for inflight catering
and entertainment.
China Southern Offers All-New Mainland
China Air Pass
China Southern Airlines with the largest
and most technically advanced aircraft fleet in The People's
Republic of China is pleased to announce its all-new China
Air Pass good through the end of May 2007 for $329 (US). Available
only to international passengers traveling inbound into The
People’s Republic of China and good through May 31, 2007,
the all-new China Southern Airlines’ China Air Pass makes
full use of the airline’s extensive domestic flight network
excluding Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan. The new China Air Pass
is available only to passengers who purchase an in-bound China
Southern International ticket originating from America, Australia,
Europe or The Middle East.
Priced at $329 (US) for the first three
domestic flight segments on China Southern Airlines, the China
Air Pass is truly a flexible air program that allows passengers
to reserve their flight segments before leaving for China
or leave the flight segments open and reserve them while in
China. During peak season, the China Air Pass is priced at
$389 (US). All seats are ticketed positive space Economy Class.
The China Air Pass requires a minimum of
three connecting domestic sectors (expandable up to 10 flight
segments) and China Southern is waiving all penalties for
changes in flight reservations. To reserve a flight segment
while in China, passengers are kindly requested to call China
Southern’s Customer Call Center - available throughout China
- at 950-333. For additional information, please contact the
China Southern Customer Service & Call Center Hotline
available throughout China at 8620-950-333 or your local China
Southern ticket office. Website: www.cs-air.com/en
Singapore Airlines Orders Nine More
Jumbo Airbus A380-800s
Singapore Airlines has signed a Letter
of Intent to purchase 20 Airbus A350 XWB-900s and nine additional
Airbus A380-800s, with options on another 20 A350 XWB-900s
and six A380-800s. The A350 XWB family of twin-engine next-generation
aircraft is the newest offering from Airbus and was unveiled
this month at the Farnborough Air Show in the UK. At manufacturer
catalogue prices, the value of the 29 aircraft on firm order
is $ 7.5 billion.
Deliveries for the A350 XWB-900s are scheduled
to begin in 2012 and run through to 2014. The deliveries
for the nine additional A380s will commence in late 2008 and
run until 2010. The A350 XWB-900 can carry up to 314 passengers
in a three class configuration, over a range of 8,500 nautical
miles (approximately 15,750 kilometers). It can also carry
over 20 tons of cargo.
The decision to order nine more A380s comes
after extensive discussions with Airbus about delivery positions,
as well as existing and forward contractual obligations. It
plans to be the first airline to fly the A380 later this year
after a six month delivery delay for ten A380s. The jumbo
jets are built to carry853 passengers plus 20 crew in a single
class configuration. However, Singapore plans to configure
the jets with fewer seats—about 473 in three cabins.
To fill the Airline’s capacity requirements
on an interim basis until the delivery of new aircraft ordered
from the two manufacturers, Singapore Airlines will enter
into a lease arrangement with Airbus for 19 A330-300 aircraft
for delivery from early 2009 until late 2010.
New American Airlines Service From New
York/JFK to San Jose del Cabo Dec. 16
American Airlines announced that beginning
on Dec. 16 it will offer direct service from New York John
F. Kennedy International Airport to the popular resort area
of San Jose del Cabo, in the Baja California region of Mexico.
American will operate one flight each week on Saturday, together
with a return flight the same day. This seasonal service will
extend through April 9, 2007. The airline will fly the new
route with a Boeing 757 aircraft with 188 seats configured
for both business class and main cabin.
American Airlines, a founding member of
the global oneworld(R) Alliance, currently serves San Jose
del Cabo with three daily flights from Dallas/Fort Worth,
two daily flights from Los Angeles, and three weekly flights
from Chicago.
American Airlines Introduces Round-Trip
Flight Check-In at AA.com
American Airlines, a founding member of
the global oneworld(R) Alliance, has introduced an enhancement
to online Flight Check-In at www.AA.com.
Now travelers who have return flights within 24 hours of departure
can check in for both outbound and return flight segments
at the same time.
Round-Trip Flight Check-In is available
at http://www.aa.com/checkin for customers
traveling with domestic e-tickets when their return trip falls
within 24 hours of their initial departure. The new feature
is especially helpful for passengers who want to check in
for their entire same-day trip online but may not have computer
and printer access at their destination. Additionally, Round-Trip
Flight Check-In provides the earliest possible check- in time
for customers seeking a flight upgrade or for those who would
like to be added to a standby list. Just as before, passengers
are able to check in online up to 24 hours prior to departure.
***************************
Rail
News & Offers
Skunk Steam Train Celebration Set for
September 22-27
The Skunk Train is hosting a special six-day
steam engine event September 22-27 that will be unique for
its route, schedule, guest speakers, amenities and the addition
of a second steam locomotive.
The Skunk Engine #45, a Mikado-type 2-8-2
super-heated Baldwin steam engine, normally operates out of
the Fort Bragg Station on the western end of the Skunk's 40-mile
railroad. During the event, the #45 will relocate over the
coastal mountain range to the Willits Station for the first
time in several years. The #45 will then be joined by a second
steam engine, a 1910 Baldwin 2-6-2T, from Roots of Motive
Power, for unique "double-header" steam trips. A
third diesel locomotive will join the train to add dynamic
braking.
Passengers will be allowed to de-board
the train for photo opportunities or photo run-bys.
Trips will take six to seven hours with
a different set of photo run-by locations. Guests will be
entertained on board by musicians and guest speakers, treated
to a barbecue lunch and will receive commemorative memorabilia.
The cost is $195 per trip (or $75 for children ages 3-12).
The schedule is:
-- Friday (September 22): This is a one-way
trip pulled by the Skunk #45 from Fort Bragg - Willits. Bus
transportation back to Fort Bragg is included in the price.
This is one of only two trips that cover the entire 40-mile
line.
-- Saturday (September 23): This double-headed
steam engine departs from Willits for a six to seven hour
roundtrip that includes a barbeque at Northspur.
-- Sunday (September 24): This double-headed
steam engine departs from Willits for a six to seven hour
roundtrip that includes a special lunch on board the train.
-- Monday (September 25): This double-headed
steam engine departs from Willits for a six to seven hour
roundtrip that includes a barbeque at Northspur.
-- Tuesday (September 26): This double-headed
steam engine departs from Willits for a six to seven hour
roundtrip that includes a special lunch on board the train.
-- Wednesday (September 27): This is a
one-way trip pulled by the Skunk #45 from Willits back to
Fort Bragg. Bus transportation back to Willits is included
in the price. This is second of only two trips that cover
the entire 40-mile line.
For information about multi-day packages,
hotel discounts or reservations call 800-866-1690 or visit
www.SkunkTrain.com
.
AAA Members Bring The Kids On Amtrak
For Free
Beginning August 21 and ending December
15, 2006 American Automobile Association (AAA) members can
take the kids along for free on most Amtrak long distance
trains under a new promotional offer announced today. Tickets
go on sale August 1*. Additionally, AAA members can take advantage
of the club’s Show Your Card and Save program that gives members
a ten percent discount off the best available train fares
for most Amtrak services. The Kids Ride Free offer permits
two children (aged 2-15) to travel for free with each fare-paying
adult on most trains.
The AAA Kids Ride Free offer is valid for
travel on board many trains and routes that honor the AAA
Show Your Card and Save promotion, including the Auto Train,
Capitol Limited, Cardinal, Carolinian/Piedmont, Crescent,
Lake Shore Limited, Silver Service, City of New Orleans, Heartland
Flyer, Texas Eagle, California Zephyr, Coast Starlight, Empire
Builder, Southwest Chief and Sunset Limited.
To take advantage of this offer, call 1-800-USA-RAIL
or book a reservation on Amtrak.com, and enter the code H617.
Some blackout dates apply. Reservations must be made at least
three days in advance of travel.
*This offer is not available on Amtrak/VIA
Rail connection service to and from Toronto, as well as Amtrak
Thruway Bus Service, Series 7000-8000, Acela Express, Metroliners,
Downeasters, Empire Corridor, Ethan Allen Express, Keystones,
Vermonter and Regionals. However, Amtrak’s 50 percent discount
for children ages 2-15 traveling with a fare paying adult
does apply to these trains, with the exception of weekday
Acela Express and Metroliner service and certain Amtrak Thruway
connections.
For schedules, fares and information,
passengers may call 800-USA-RAIL or visit www.amtrak.com.
Rail Europe Simplifies Ticket Categories
And Adds Virtual Train Trips To Website
To simplify booking European rail travel,
Rail Europe has introduced four categories of fares for point-to-point
train tickets on all routes throughout Europe and the UK:
economy (restricted economy), freedom (unrestricted economy),
comfort (restricted premium) and premier (unrestricted premium).
The company has also added virtual train trips featuring unscripted
interviews with real travelers at www.raileurope.com to show
North Americans how convenient and rewarding it is to experience
Europe by rail.
All the available fares for each departure
on a particular route are displayed on one screen. Redundant
price points have been removed and the price shown for each
category is the lowest available fare. Once that fare is sold
out, the next lowest fare is displayed until it is sold out.
Rail Europe’s site only displays live inventory of available
fares.
First-time train travelers can also benefit
from the virtual train trips now available on Rail Europe’s
website (just click from the home page).
This is the latest in a series of ongoing
improvements Rail Europe has made to simplify the online booking
of European rail travel while also increasing the selection
of products offered. In April of this year, the company implemented
a new and improved connection to European databases of rail
schedules and fares. In the fall of 2005, Rail Europe began
selling “market-priced” fares in France and Italy – saving
five to 45 percent over previous fares on many routes. And
earlier in 2005, Rail Europe completely revamped its ticket
booking function to work similarly to airline booking engines
and also show only live inventory.
To check out the new ticket categories
or book European train travel, log on to www.raileurope.com (US) or www.raileurope.ca
(Canada) or call a reservation agent at 1-888-382-7245 (U.S.)
or 1-800-361-7245
Acela Express Café Cars Introduce Wireless
Processing Of Credit Cards
Enjoying a quick bite to eat on board becomes
even more convenient this month as Amtrak introduces wireless
electronic credit card processing terminals to complete credit
card transactions in all Acela Express café cars. Using the
new devices, service attendants are now able to get instant
authorizations from credit card companies. Previously, attendants
needed to hand write ticket and passenger information on paper
forms for credit card acceptance.
The processing terminals accept all major
credit cards, and there are no minimum purchase requirements.
For purchases under $25, receipts are issued only when requested
by the customer. Currently, Amtrak customers who use a credit
card to pay for food and beverages in café cars spend an average
of $12 per purchase.
*****************************
Hotel
News & Offers
Orient-Express Hotels To Acquire Pansea
Hotels Group
Orient-Express Hotels has announced a major
expansion of its business in South East Asia with the acquisition
of the Pansea hotels group from HOSIA, for approximately US$25
million. The transaction will be completed within the next
four weeks, in advance of the high season, which starts in
August.
Orient-Express Hotels’ relationship with
Pansea dates back to 2004 when Orient-Express invested funds
to assist HOSIA with the development of the business. The
deal allowed for Orient-Express Hotels to acquire 100 per
cent of Pansea after five years, in 2009. “The six Pansea
properties complement perfectly our Eastern & Oriental
tourist train which operates between Singapore and Bangkok,
and the Road to Mandalay cruise ship in Myanmar,” said Nick
Varian, Vice President, Orient-Express Hotels, “giving Orient-Express
Hotels a meaningful presence in South East Asia and a platform
on which to expand.”
The six Pansea/Orient-Express hotels are:
-- La Résidence Phou Vao is five minutes
from the center of Luang Prabang, Laos, which is a World Heritage
site. The hotel is set on a hill overlooking the sacred Mount
Phou Si and the golden dome of the Vat Chamsi Stupa. It has
32 spacious rooms, two suites and an eye level infinity pool
overlooked by an attractive restaurant and surrounded by seven
acres of lush gardens. The hotel, which features Laos’ first
purpose built spa, is well positioned for visits to the Royal
Palace, ancient temples, the caves of Pak Ou on the Mekong
river and the 300 year-old weaving village of Ban Phanom.
-- La Résidence d’Angkor is in the center
of Siem Reap, Cambodia, on the river. It is the perfect location
from which to explore the spectacular temples of Angkor Wat
and the awe-inspiring World Heritage surroundings, just ten
minutes from the property. Built in Khmer style, the hotel
has 54 spacious rooms and one suite with a romantic, Cambodian
character. Lying within a walled garden and accessed by a
bridge over a lotus pond, La Résidence d’Angkor feels like
a private mansion with its peaceful leafy gardens, protected
from the bustle of the city.
-- Jimbaran Puri Bali is set in four acres
of tropical gardens looking out over Jimbaran Bay, a wide,
white sandy beach, the best in Bali. The property is comprised
of 41 cottages and cottage suites. A beachfront restaurant
serves international and Indonesian fare and is particularly
romantic at night, reflecting the overall character of the
hotel. Its ‘rooms on the beach’ style is unique on Jimbaran
Bay, where other properties are set higher up on the cliffside.
-- Ubud Hanging Gardens is perched adjacent
to steep rice terraces with sweeping views across the Ayung
river gorge to the ancient Pura Penataran Dalem Segara temple
on the opposite hillside. It has 38 villas, constructed in
contemporary Balinese style on gravity defying pillars, with
thatched alang-alang roofs. The resort’s accommodation, restaurants,
pool and spa cascade down the hillside to the valley floor
below and can be reached by a unique private funicular. Ubud
is a vibrant center of arts and culture, with studios, galleries
and restaurants and a lively calendar of traditional activities
as well as trekking and rafting for the more adventurous.
-- The Governor’s Residence in Yangon,
Myanmar, is a restored teak mansion in the embassy quarter,
set amongst ancient trees and water features and a traditional
lotus garden. The furniture and woodwork in the 45 spacious
guest rooms is typical of the region and is offset by colorful
silks and indigenous works of art. The hotel is close to
the magnificent Shwedagon Pagoda, the spiritual heart of Yangon,
and links with the company’s Road To Mandalay river cruise
ship which operates between Mandalay and Pagan.
-- Napasai, Koh Samui, has 55 individual
cottages on the northern coast of this charming island in
the Gulf of Thailand. The property is built on gentle slopes
leading to a private crescent beach and has outstanding sea
views. There is a coral reef about 100 meters off the beach
and the island, known for its beaches, also provides great
diving and snorkeling. The central complex of the hotel has
a spa, an infinity pool, two tennis courts, a restaurant and
a bar. Beyond the rooms is a small development of 14 two and
three-bedroom villas with private pools, eight of which are
still available for sale to private buyers.
In due course the company will be considering
additional properties in Singapore, Hong Kong, Vietnam and
China. For further information visit: www.pansea.com
Host Hotels & Resorts To Purchase
Hotel Arts Barcelona
Host Hotels & Resorts, Inc announced
that its joint venture in the Netherlands with Stichting Pensioenfonds
ABP, the Dutch pension fund, and Jasmine Hotels Pte Ltd, an
affiliate of GIC Real Estate Pte Ltd, the real estate investment
company of the Government of Singapore Investment Corporation
Pte Ltd, entered into an agreement to purchase the Hotel Arts
Barcelona, a Ritz-Carlton hotel. The hotel, which is located
on the shores of the Mediterranean Sea in Barcelona, Spain,
contains 483 luxuriously-appointed guestrooms, including 28
luxury duplex apartments. The property, which recently underwent
a comprehensive guestroom renovation that was completed in
June 2006, also features 24,000 square feet of meeting space
including the largest ballroom in Barcelona, five high-quality
restaurants and a full-service spa with eight treatment rooms.
The transaction also includes the purchase of an approximate
80,000 square-foot casino that is leased to a third-party
operator.
Maine’s Sebasco Harbor Resort’s Harbor
Village Suites Open
Sebasco Harbor Resort celebrated the grand
opening of the Harbor Village Suites, an 18 room, $2.5 million
development in the heart of the resort village with a ribbon
cutting attended by Governor Baldacci and other state leaders.
The luxury suite amenities include air conditioning, pillow
top mattresses, microwaves, sleep sofas, refrigerators, and
ceramic tile baths. Some suites have fireplaces, whirlpool
tubs, and kitchenettes. To learn more, visit www.sebasco.com
or call toll free 1-800-225-3819. Availability is limited,
so reserve your suite summer getaway today!
Stylish Heritage Hotel Opens In Lisbon's
City Center
Heritage Hotels of Lisbon announces another
in its list of boutique hotels opened this month in the center
of Lisbon. The newest edition will be Heritage Av. Liberdade
(Heritage Liberty Avenue), newly renovated in a late 18th
century building.
The new hotel features 42 customized rooms,
each with free wireless access. The hotel's lobby is inspired
by urban Portuguese manor homes. A terraced cafe, library
and health center equipped with fitness machines and a Jacuzzi
are also part of the renovations. It will be on the famed
late-19th century boulevard the Avenida da Liberdade that
flows from the city’s historic center to the Marques de Pombal
Square.
Heritage Hotels is managed by a Portuguese
family and is a small chain of boutique hotels in the center
of Lisbon. Heritage hotels are found in small buildings and
historic houses full of charm and character. More information
at
http://www.heritage.pt/avliberdade.htm.
Information on Lisbon at
www.visitlisboa.com
and Portugal at www.visitportugal.com
Hotel Okura Amsterdam Opens THE SUITE
In November
2004 Hotel Okura Amsterdam started an extensive alteration
of its hotel rooms. The standard hotel rooms have been substantially
enlarged, making them the largest standard hotel and bathrooms
of all five-star hotels in Amsterdam. Developments continued
with the construction of THE SUITE, the largest (485 m2 /
5390 ft2) and most luxurious suite in the Benelux countries
at a cost of 2.3 million euros.
THE SUITE occupies
two top floors, which have been transformed, into an oasis
of space, warmth and luxury, an environment delightful to
all the senses. The almost 360-degree view of Amsterdam, the
picture windows and the natural daylight form a beautiful
backdrop to the architects' creativity. Marble floors, silk
wallpaper, rich fabrics and warm colors are just a few characteristics
of THE SUITE. THE SUITE's central reception area features
a dramatic fiber optic chandelier, which cascades through
the void over the dining area below. Next to the atrium are
two richly decorated lounges, which also have a view of the
city. A glass stairway with LED lighting leads up to the two
master bedrooms on the upper floor: The Cullinan and The Excelsior.
The bathrooms
are unique: one features a chromatherapy ever overflowing
bath system and the other features an agape spoon luxury bath.
Both bathrooms have a shell-shaped shower cabinet with a rain-dance
air overhead shower, massage side steams and a view of Amsterdam.
The lounges, bedrooms and bathrooms are all provided with
flat-screen TVs. In addition, the rooms have spacious walk-in
closets and the Excelsior Room features a Technogym training
bike.
THE SUITE also
boasts a private cinema (84 inch screen) seating up to 12
guests. This extremely luxurious room is also perfect for
exclusive presentations and videoconferencing. In addition
to its exclusive furnishings, THE SUITE also offers very advanced
equipment, including a Bose Lifestyle 48 audio system, Wi-Fi
and ADSL. Guests are provided with a central control system
for adjusting lighting, security options and room temperature.
Receive Up to $300 in Benefits at Governor's
Inn or Woodlands Hotel & Suites
Colonial Williamsburg offers a cool room
rate and benefits worth more than $300 when staying at the
Governor's Inn or Woodlands Hotel & Suites now through
September 4, 2006. Rates range from $89 per room at the Governor's
Inn and $129 per room at the Woodlands, both official Colonial
Williamsburg Hotels.
Included in the offer are free Colonial
Williamsburg admission passes for children, daily continental
breakfast at the hotel, free bicycle rental, free miniature
golf (located at the Woodlands), free golf for kids when accompanied
by an adult playing a paid round at the Spotswood Course.
Also included are free parking at the Visitor Center, free
shuttle bus service to the Historic Area and free package
delivery from Colonial Williamsburg shops to hotel room. Rates
are based upon maximum of four people per room (2 adults and
2 children) in standard accommodations, and benefit value
is an estimate for a family of four staying two nights. For
reservations call 1-800-HISTORY or book online at http://www.colonialwilliamsburg.com/visit
. Rates are subject to availability and some conditions may
apply. The offer is not available to groups.
First Seven-Star Hotel In Europe To
Open In Late 2006
Europe's first seven-star hotel is due
to open in Milan later this year, as developers and designers
scramble to feed a booming super-luxury market. Town House
Galleria in glitzy Galleria Vittoria Emanuele, an elegant
shopping arcade between La Scala opera house and Milan's cathedral,
will have less than 30 suites and an army of butlers, drivers
and nannies to look after guests.
Owned by the Italian Town House group that
already runs several small hotels in Milan and Turin, it will
be the world's second hotel in the seven-star category, along
with Dubai's sail-shaped Burj Al Arab tower.
Despite its stuttering economy, Italy remains
one of the top players in the global luxury market, with projects
ranging from an exclusive Milanese suburb designed by architect
Norman Foster to private jet interiors by fashion group Versace.
In contrast to Burj Al Arab, Town House
will be small and urban, sitting on top of a Prada shop in
the Galleria.
Mandarin Oriental, Hong Kong To Welcome
Guests Back With Enticing Stays
In anticipation of its re-opening this
autumn, the legendary Mandarin Oriental, Hong Kong has announced
three enticing accommodation packages. With a focus on indulgence,
the packages allow guests to experience the best that the
hotel has to offer following its comprehensive $140 million
dollar renovation.
-- Oriental Harmony — HKD9,000 per night
(approx. $1,158 USD)*
This pampering one night stay for two with
American breakfast in an exclusive Oriental Suite includes
two hours of sheer bliss in a couple’s treatment suite at
the new Mandarin Spa. Here guests will indulge in the ‘Oriental
Harmony’, one of Mandarin Oriental’s signature spa treatments.
This two hour synchronized four-handed body treatment uses
luxurious oils that are guaranteed to relax and rejuvenate.
-- Luxury Fashionista — HKD6,000 per night
(approx. $772 USD)*
Shop till you drop with expert advice on
the best that the city has to offer. All arrivals will enjoy
an in-room bottle of chilled champagne and a shopping map
to set the tone in preparation for the hotel’s VIP shopping
service. Enjoy an afternoon browsing at many of Central’s
leading luxury stores and boutiques: from Chloe to Shanghai
Tang— with a personal shopper if you choose — and porters
on call to collect shopping bags. A soothing foot ritual for
two awaits at The Mandarin Spa on return to the hotel. This
package is inclusive of full American breakfast at Café Causette
or The Clipper Lounge.
-- Celebration Package — HKD6,000 per night
(approx. $772 USD)*
Whatever the occasion, Mandarin Oriental,
Hong Kong has created the perfect celebratory stay, inclusive
of a bottle of chilled pink champagne, homemade chocolates
from the Mandarin Cake Shop and fresh flowers on arrival.
Celebrations continue with the Epicure’s three-course dinner
menu in the new Sir Terence Conran-designed surroundings of
the legendary Mandarin Grill, exclusive of alcoholic beverages.
The package is inclusive of breakfast for two in the vibrant
Café Causette or The Clipper Lounge.
The above rates are exclusive of tax and
service charge, are subject to availability and valid until
October 1, 2007. For reservations or for further information,
please contact the international toll-free reservations number
at (866)-526-6567 or log on to www.mandarinoriental.com/hongkong
.
*All conversions are approximate values
based on exchange rate of 7/6/06
Hilton Ft. Lauderdale Reach Resort Offering
Saks On The Beach Package
The new Hilton Fort Lauderdale Beach Resort,
scheduled to open fall 2006, has fashioned the perfect concoction
for a rejuvenating getaway – sun, dining, spa and shopping.
Available from November 10, 2006 through April 13, 2007, its
Saks on the Beach package starts at $770 per person, per night,
based on single occupancy, and $500 per person, per night,
based on double occupancy.
Available with a two-night minimum stay,
The Saks on the Beach package includes a one-bedroom ocean
view suite measuring 640 sq. ft. with balcony; one $150-valued
gift certificate to Saks Fifth Avenue at The Galleria Mall,
located a four-minute drive away with complimentary Personal
Shopping Consultation at Saks Fifth Avenue at The Galleria
Mall as well as transportation to/from Saks Fifth Avenue.
Also included in the package is one 50-minute
spa treatment per person, per stay, daily breakfast and airport
transfers or complimentary valet parking at the resort.
For information and reservations for The
Saks on the Beach package, please call 1-800-HILTONS (1-800-445-8667)
or visit www.fortlauderdalebeachresort.hilton.com,
Scheduled to open fall 2006, the spectacular Hilton Fort
Lauderdale Beach Resort is a 25-story, all-suite flagship
property ideally located in the heart of Fort Lauderdale’s
exclusive beachfront district between the palm-shaded boulevards
of Sunrise and Las Olas. It will feature 373-elegantly appointed
studios, one, two and three-bedroom suites; a 22,700-sq.-ft.
Sunrise Terrace with a pool and private cabanas overlooking
the ocean; four dining options; a European spa; 10,000 sq.
ft. of meeting space; and children’s programs. Hilton Fort
Lauderdale Beach Resort will pride itself on its personal
services offered to guests, including dedicated beach concierges,
kids’ concierges, premium transfer service and remote check-in,
personalized shopping, wireless waiters and paperless valet
systems. Hilton Fort Lauderdale Beach Resort is located at
505 North Fort Lauderdale Beach Boulevard between Sunrise
and Las Olas Boulevards.
Autumn Pumps Up The Adrenaline At Red
Mountain Spa In Utah
What better way to boldly greet fall than
with the Grand Canyon Rim to Rim excursion August 31-September
2. For $700 per person (exclusive of five-night minimum stay
at Red Mountain), guests arrive at the spa to spend two days
acclimating to the altitude and undergoing orientation under
the expert leadership of Red Mountain Adventure Guides. From
there, the group embarks down the North Rim of the Grand Canyon
to Phantom Ranch, continuing onwards to the top of the South
Rim. Celebrations ensue to mark the grand accomplishment
on the third day. The guided package, for experienced hikers
only, is inclusive of accommodations, meals and select activities
during the overnight hiking program.
Available September 1 through November
30, the Autumn Allure…And Value offering is sure to make the
grade with guests. Priced starting at $239 per person, per
night based on double occupancy with a three-night minimum,
the package is inclusive of one complimentary 50-minute Sagestone
Swedish massage or 50-minute facial during the stay in addition
to accommodations, three gourmet, healthy meals daily, daily
morning hikes as well as fitness and lifestyle classes.
This fall, Red Mountain rings the bell
on a new series of fun, effective lifestyle packages with
the seven-night Reenergizing through Weight Loss offering,
with others to be announced soon. The program offers a supportive
environment where guests have the chance to learn a healthier
way of living and get a head start of shedding unwanted pounds
under the leadership of Red Mountain’s expert professional
staff. The customized program is available through 2006,
with rates beginning at $2,415 per person for the seven nights
based on double occupancy, including All components of Autumn
Allure…And Value, with two spa treatments per person; a METAbeat
and Resting Energy Expenditure test; one Private nutritional
and fitness consultations; session with a personal trainer
and much more.
For those looking for a lesson in indulgence,
fantasy becomes a reality of renewal with the plethora of
indigenous, distinctive spa treatments at Sagestone. Invigorating
inside and out, the four-night, five-day Ultimate Spa Pampering
Package provides six spa treatments per person and the signature
Red Mountain Spa experience. With rates starting at $1,366
per person through 2006, based on double occupancy for the
four-night package, components include one 50-minute Sagestone
Swedish Massage; one 50-minute facial; one 50-minute body
treatment; one 75-minute Aromasoul Collection treatment;
one 50-minute Solar Manicure; one 50-minute Solar Pedicure
and unlimited fitness classes including yoga, Pilates, chi
ball, Reebok Core Board® and much more.
Fresh from a multi-million enhancement
program in January 2006, Red Mountain Spa is an extraordinary
fitness and health destination located in stunning Southwestern
Utah, a short, two-hour drive northeast of Las Vegas. Enhancements
include renovated accommodations and the new Sagestone spa
& salon, featuring more than 70 treatments and services
using all natural and indigenous ingredients. Red Mountain
is the only spa in the U.S. specializing in outdoor adventure
fitness programs for all levels, including the most extensive
hiking program in the Southwest. Owned by the Pivotal Group,
based in Phoenix, Arizona, Red Mountain is headquartered at
1275 E. Red Mountain Circle, St. George, Utah 84738. For
reservations, call 435.673.4905, toll-free at 1.800.407.3002,
or visit www.redmountainspa.com
Winter Discounts Offered At Lodges In
Grand Canyon National Park
Xanterra South Rim L.L.C.*, operator of
lodges, restaurants and activities in Grand Canyon National
Park, has announced its winter rates and packages at the South
Rim for the 2006-07 winter season. Room rates during the winter
season at hotels a short walk from the rim are up to 28 percent
lower than summer-season rates. This year’s packages include:
- -The Winter Value Rate. For $76 per night
plus tax guests receive a room at Maswik South or Yavapai
West Lodge, or for $89 per night plus tax they can stay at
Maswik North or Yavapai East Lodge. Summer rates at these
hotels range from $76 to $124. The rates are good for single
or double occupancy. The cost for each additional person in
the room is $9. Children 16 and under stay at no extra charge.
Lodge and room type are subject to availability and seasonal
closures.
-- The El Tovar Romance Package at the
elegant El Tovar – a national historic landmark – includes
one night in a standard queen room, a bottle of California
sparkling wine and fruit basket in the room and dinner for
two with a bottle of El Tovar wine in the hotel’s dining room.
The base package cost is $274 plus tax subject to availability.
Guests may upgrade to a deluxe room or suite, based upon availability,
for an additional charge. Guests should mention the promotional
code “ROMA” when making reservations.
The Winter Value Rate is available November
26, 2006 through March 8, 2007, excluding December 21, 2006
through January 1, 2007 and February 16 through February 18,
2007. The Romance Package is available November 26, 2006 through
February 1, 2007, excluding December 21, 2006 through January
1, 2007. Visitors can book their rooms online and learn more
about the park at www.grandcanyonlodges.com or by
calling toll-free 1-888-297-2757 or 1-303-297-2757.
Xanterra Parks & Resorts (consisting of Xanterra
Parks & Resorts, Inc. and Xanterra South Rim, L.L.C.)
operates lodges, restaurants and other concessions at national
parks and state parks and resorts. Xanterra Parks & Resorts
is the country’s largest national park concessionaire. Xanterra
operates concessions in the following locations: Yellowstone,
the North Rim of Grand Canyon, Bryce Canyon, Zion, Crater
Lake, Death Valley and Petrified Forest national parks, and
Mount Rushmore National Memorial; and at the Silverado Resort
in Napa, Calif.; Gideon Putnam Resort and Spa in Saratoga
Springs, N.Y. and eight Ohio State Parks. Its affiliate Xanterra
South Rim, L.L. C. operates concessions at the South Rim of
the Grand Canyon.
Barclay International Group Adds 14
Apartments To Its Paris Portfolio
Barclay International Group, which has
been renting European apartments and villas for more than
40 years, has added 14 affordable apartments to its Paris
portfolio. As well as being affordable, they are attractive,
comfortable and in desirable locations all over the city.
And, since most have sofa beds in the living room, they sleep
more people than the number of bedrooms would indicate. Here’s
a sampling:
-- 15 rue de Sevres is a cute one-bedroom
on the Left Bank, close to the Bon Marché department store
and its fabulous food hall. $184 per night for maximum four
persons.
-- Cardinal has one bedroom in a 19th-century
elevator building near the rue Mouffetard street market in
the Latin Quarter. $240 per night for 4 persons
-- Furstenberg, a one-bedroom apartment
in a charming 17th-century building, is in the heart of fashionable
St. Germain des Prés. $298 per night for 3 persons.
Gabriel, which has two bedrooms, a doorman
and an American kitchen, is very near the Champs-Elysées and
the city’s chicest shops. $439 per night for four persons.
-- Greuze, with three bedrooms, is located
in the 16th arrondissement, arguably Paris’s smartest, most
elegant neighborhood. $527 per night for six persons.
The minimum rental period on these apartments
is one week. All supply linen, dishes, cookware, irons and
ironing boards. Most have cable TV, dishwashers, washing machines
and hairdryers. And some have microwaves, freezers, high-speed
internet, Wi-Fi and VCRs.
For more information and pictures of Barclay
International Group’s Paris apartments (as well as apartments,
villas and cottages all over Europe), visit www.barclayweb.com.
For reservations, call 1-800-845-6636.
Mexico Boutique Hotels' Offer New Summer
Romance Packages
Summer and romance go hand-in-hand this
summer at Mexico Boutique Hotels' 45 boutique hotels, each
renowned for their unique style and authentic charm. Now,
with a variety of new Summer Romance Packages, Mexico Boutique
Hotels is offering couples everything they need for the perfect
escape south of the border.
A sampling of Mexico Boutique Hotel's most
romantic offerings - subject to availability - includes:
-- Azucar- Along Mexico's Costa Esmeralda
lies Azucar, an intimate minimalist retreat fitting perfectly
with its lush tropical surroundings. Starting at $560, the
property's Long Weekend package includes three nights' accommodations
and one dinner for two. A similar midweek package includes
four nights' accommodations and one dinner for two, starting
at $596 for two people and $795 for four people.
-- Casa del Mar- Travel to Los Cabos with
Casa del Mar's Romantic Indulgence package. Couples celebrate
their love in this intimate hotel with four days and three
nights in a deluxe room with a Jacuzzi and private ocean-view
balcony. The package includes: round-trip airport transfers;
Casa del Mar welcome signature margaritas; champagne and fruit
basket in room upon arrival; daily breakfast for two served
in room or at El Tapanco Restaurant; and Sueños Massage for
two at hotel spa (50 min) or on the beach; and romantic candlelight
dinner. Package rates per night based on double occupancy
are $482 from June 1 to October 31, 2006, with an additional
night and breakfast at $320.
-- Hacienda de los Santos- Situated in
the foothills of the Sierra Madre, Hacienda de los Santos
offers the Fiesta de Amor package for a secluded excursion.
Couples stay in a romantic estate king suite for three nights
and four days and enjoy a Chandon champagne toast on their
arrival evening. Take in dramatic views of Mt. Alamos during
a romantic rooftop private five-course dinner, complete with
wine and private serenade. Also included are two spa treatments
in La Dulce Vida, rose petal turndown service, full daily
breakfasts and round-trip airport transfers. The Hacienda
de los Santos Fiesta de Amor starts at $1,595 per couple and
is available through September 30, 2006.
-- Hacienda de San Antonio- This summer
at Hacienda de San Antonio, discover romance and much more
in the beauty of Mexico's highlands. The Discovery Package
starts at $650 per suite and $1000 per grand suite, including
luxurious accommodations, all meals and non alcoholic beverages,
a variety of spa services, a horseback riding excursion, a
trip to the majestic Volcan de Fuego volcano, and a coffee
and cheese factory tour. This offer is valid until September
30 2006.
-- Hacienda San Angel- Hacienda San Angel,
Puerto Vallarta's most elegant boutique hotel, is pleased
to announce its Celestial Summer Special package. Each couple
booking this getaway will receive complimentary VIP airport
transfers; luxury accommodations, a chilled bottle of champagne
along with fresh fruit and cheese plate; a complimentary round
of margaritas; one free tour of historic Puerto Vallarta in
the Hacienda's air-conditioned luxury van. Summer rates at
Hacienda San Angel start at $215 based on double occupancy.
The Celestial Summer Special starts at $215 per couple and
is valid now through October 31, 2006.
-- Hacienda Xcanatun- A chocoholic's fantasy
combining a lust for chocolate and uninterrupted time with
a loved one is now a reality at Merida's most charming boutique
hotel! Hacienda Xcanatun's Sweet & Romantic Getaway starts
at $1,100 per couple now through October 30, and includes
a welcome drink upon arrival; three nights' accommodations
in an oversized period suite with luxurious bathroom, a private
terrace with hydrotherapy tub, daily full Xcanatun breakfast,
two Sweet spa treatments per person and in-suite goodies include
a fine bottle of French sparkling wine.
-- Las Alamandas- Couples can truly indulge
with Las Alamandas' Summer Retreat Package. An intimate hideaway
retreat within a 1500-acre private paradise of exotic trees,
lagoons and endless white-sand beaches, Las Alamandas is situated
on the beautiful Costa Allegre. Valid now through September
30, the Summer Retreat Package starts at $480 per night including
welcome cocktails upon arrival, fresh flowers, a two-hour
horseback riding tour, a romantic beachfront candlelight dinner,
a picnic lunch on the beach, one couple's massage, ground
airport transfers, and unlimited use of the property's other
amenities.
-- Villa Del Sol- Villa Del Sol's magnificent
suites, situated right on the beach in the magnificent bay
of Zihuatanejo, are an ideal location for a romantic escape.
This summer, Villa del Sol's Romance at the Beach package
takes the planning out of a couple's blissful beach getaway.
Enjoy accommodations for two starting at $1,775, including
welcome cocktails, one candlelight dinner for two on the beach
with champagne, full breakfast for two every day, a one hour
massage and round-trip airport transfers.
-- Villa Ganz- Villa Ganz is a charming
restored mansion in downtown Guadalajara. New for Summer
2006, Villa Ganz's one-night Romantic Package starts at $540
per couple including luxury accommodations in a master suite
with king size bed (upgrade to Grand Master suite if available),
sparking white wine upon arrival, flowers and candles in the
room, full private breakfast for two, dinner for two on the
terrace, and a variety of other special amenities.
-- Villa Montaña- Villa Montaña, situated
on the slope of the Cerro de Santa María, is a colonial gem
and romantic hotspot. The Villa Montaña Especially for Romantics
package, valid now through December 20, 2006, provides couples
with one amazing night in a luxury suite. Couples also enjoy
a bottle of sparkling wine upon arrival, a bouquet of flowers
in their room and full breakfast for two served in the privacy
of their suite. Junior Suite pricing starts at $320 per night.
-- Xaloc- If you strive to walk hand-in-hand
on a never-ending beach each morning, and truly experience
life on a small Caribbean island, then Xaloc at Holbox is
the place for you. Xaloc's Rustic Romance package boasts
five nights' accommodations in an Ocean View room, daily in-room
a la carte breakfast, one candlelight dinner with bottle of
wine, one bottle of Xtabentún liqueur, one double hammock
for exclusive use and round-trip transfers from Cancun. Pricing
per couple now through August 27, 2006 starts at $1,140 per
night. Pricing August 28 through December 16 starts at $1,065
per night.
-- Silver Honeymoon Spa Combination Package-
Couples get the best of Mexico City, Colonial Oaxaca and the
Pacific bays of Huatulco while with the Silver Honeymoon Spa
Combination Package. The journey begins with the charms of
La Casona, then moves to Oaxaca to the romantic Hacienda Los
Laureles and the luxurious Quinta Real Huatulco. The package
includes accommodations in luxurious master suites; tours
of historic landmarks; indulgent spa services; and discounts
at local golf courses. The Silver Honeymoon Spa Combination
Package provides visits to two boutique hotels for a total
of six nights, (three nights Hacienda Los Laureles, three
nights Hotel Quinta Real Huatulco) for $1,617. Visits to
three boutique hotels at a total of seven nights, (one night
La Casona, three nights Hacienda Los Laureles, three nights
Hotel Quinta Real Huatulco), start at $1,680. Prices are
per person based on double occupancy.
For a look at Mexico Boutique Hotels' most
romantic accommodations, visit www.mexicoboutiquehotels.com.
Personal assistance is also available by phone at 1-800-728-9098
(US and Canada toll-free); 01-800-508-7923 (Mexico toll-free);
or + (52) (322) 221-2277 (from other countries).
Mexico Boutique Hotels is a collection
of 45 upscale member properties categorized by their intimacy,
high level of service and outstanding attributes. A group
of small, independent hotels within Mexico that offer a unique
vacation experience for guests, Mexico Boutique Hotels are
typically less than 50 rooms and often serve as destinations
unto themselves. Each offers a unique theme that sets it apart
from other accommodations and provides top service and cuisine
through a personalized experience.
New Summer Rates Offer Travelers For
True Island Escapes In Jamaica
Island Outpost's simplistic yet stylish
Caribbean getaways are the very definition of summer: no crowds,
no alarm clocks, no big resort' style...just chic and sexy
vibes to fulfill everyone's summer dreams. Now, with the announcement
of Island Outpost's new summer rates, crowd-weary travelers
can take a much-needed island escape featuring accommodations
(and prices!) to relax mind, body and soul. All packages based
on double occupancy and availability. Offer valid through
December 14, 2006.
-- Goldeneye, Oracabessa, Jamaica:
The birthplace of James Bond, this 15-acre
seaside hideaway was home to author Ian Fleming as he wrote
his 13 most famous spy novels. Fleming's retreat is now a
boutique property laced with beaches, tropical forests and
secluded nooks, a lush setting which found its way into many
007 adventures. Four intimate villas on the sea, one overlooking
a cove, attract celebrities and other lovers of natural beauty.
-- Goldeneye's "Big Fish Little Fish"
Family Fun Program features plenty of opportunities for children
of all ages and adults to play, explore, and discover while
forming an intimate relationship with earth, sea and sky in
this natural wonderland. Here they can behold the wonders
of the Caribbean during "Adventure & Lessons by Sea",
when Goldeneye's trained lifeguards, skilled sailors, instructors
and water sports enthusiasts Nico, Clifton and Simeon offer
swimming, snorkeling, kayaking, sailing, and windsurfing lessons
(use of water sports equipment is complimentary).
-- Jake's, Treasure Beach, Jamaica:
Jake's, a 29-room bohemian resort located
in the small, authentic fishing village of Treasure Beach,
is a hotspot for hip guests and locals alike. Dramatic cottages
commune with the garden, sea and sky, near a secluded fishing
village. Moroccan domes and arches bloom. Decks skim the waves.
Shells, beads and colored glass glitter brightly from walls.
Celebrate the beachcomber lifestyle in
a true bohemian atmosphere with a summer visit to Jake's.
Guests have an opportunity to stay in one of the resort's
original 24 "chic shacks," as voted by Vogue magazine,
just a few barefoot steps away from the turquoise water of
the Caribbean Sea. Snorkel, fish, canoe or simply swim and
sunbathe on a private beach or in the saltwater pool. Summer
rates start at $115 per person based on double occupancy and
include a complimentary trip to the legendary Pelican Bar
(dubbed the coolest bar in the Caribbean for those in the
know).*
-- Strawberry Hill, Blue Mountains, Jamaica:
Strawberry Hill, Jamaica's 50-acre mountain
top mystical retreat that boasts sweeping views of the majestic
Blue Mountains and the Caribbean Sea, sooths all senses with
dramatic sunsets, flocks of parrots and endemic birds, panoramic
views, and occasional Reggae rhythms. This summer, visitors
reconnect with their inner self through Strawberry Hill Living.
This unique lifestyle embraces all facets of mind, body and
spirit, bringing an optimum balance of de-stressed self-awareness.
To begin, the Caribbean's only full-service Aveda Spa conducts
a complimentary Stress Relieving Treatment and Elemental Nature
consultation to customize spa treatments, self-care rituals,
juices, meals and yoga based on each guest's unique Elemental
Nature. Guests further enhance the experience with nature
walks, tours of coffee plantations, bird watching and discovering
tropical flora and fauna. Summer rates for Strawberry Hill
start at $295 per person per night based on double occupancy.
Rates include all meals, beverages, taxes, service charge,
Stress Relieving Treatment and Elemental Nature consultation.
Whether unwinding at the one-of-a-kind negative edge pool
overlooking dramatic views from 3,100 feet above of the city
or savoring the "New Jamaican Cuisine" from its
famed restaurant, a visit to Strawberry Hill is an indulgence
for all of the senses.
-- The Caves, Negril, Jamaica:
At the Caves, the volcanic cliff is honeycombed
with grottoes: one strewn with flowers and candlelit for intimate
dining, another harboring a bubbling hot tub, some are just
portals into the crystal-clear sea below. Ten handcrafted
cottages nestle into this verdant landscape, crowned by a
petite Aveda spa. Each cottage is unique, harmoniously blending
local wood, stone and thatch.
Exercise gives way to a summer of relaxation
and rejuvenation at the Caves. Guests can visit the Aveda
spa for a soak in the cave-set Jacuzzi or a sensational outdoor
couple's massage in a cave, complimented by breathtaking ocean
views. Unlimited outdoor water adventures are just minutes
away! Soar with a parasailing trip or test speed limits with
Wave Runner and Jet Ski rentals. Visit the nearby Negril
Scuba Center for scuba dives, snorkeling water skiing or deep-sea
fishing. Summer rates start at $515 for two people. Rates
include breakfast, lunch, dinner, local & premium spirits
and house wines. Eight percent government tax and 10% service
charge are included in the rate.
-- Pink Sands, Harbour Island, The Bahamas
Expect understated chic at the Pink Sands
on Harbour Island in the Bahamas, where the beach is a swathe
of rosy powder. The 25 pastel cottages may have a hot designer
- and an even hotter celebrity guest list - but this resort
is all about the privacy. Pink Sands' spacious oceanfront
cottages with private patios are the perfect setting for summer
afternoon cocktails and sunbathing. Feeling adventurous?
Enjoy a wide array of water sports, including bone-fishing,
reef fishing, deep sea fishing, snorkeling and much more!
Snooze on a secluded pink sanded beaches or explore the unspoiled
beauty of nearby Eleuthera Island. Summer rates start at
$600 for two people. Rates include full breakfast and dinner
daily. 18% service charge is additional.
For more information or to make bookings,
call 1-800-OUTPOST or visit www.islandoutpost.com;
0800-OUTPOST1 in the UK.
* All packages based on double occupancy
and availability. Offer valid through December 14, 2006.
Blackout dates may apply.
Island Outpost is owned by entertainment industry icon
Chris Blackwell, founder of Island Records and Palm Pictures,
Island Outpost properties are known for their interesting
character and stunning surroundings. Each offers travelers
a feeling reminiscent of staying at a friend's home. The group
includes Goldeneye, Strawberry Hill, Jake's and The Caves
in Jamaica, Pink Sands in The Bahamas and an exclusive selection
of villas.
********************
Cities
& Culture
Cities featured: Berlin, Bermuda, Boston, Dubrovnik,
Hong Kong, Johannesburg, London, Madrid, Milan, Moscow, New
York, Paris, San Francisco, Sydney NWS, Tokyo, Zurich
Berlin
Martin-Gropius-Bau
Egypt’s Sunken Treasures
To September 4, 2006
Marine archaeologist Franck Goddio has
spent 10 years doing underwater excavations of lost Egyptian
cities dating from the 7th century BC to the 8th century AD
off the coast of the modern city of Alexandria and in the
Bay of Aboukir. Around 500 objects found in these spectacular
underwater excavations will be on display to the general public
in the world premiere of this exhibition. The artifacts span
from the days of the last pharaohs to Alexander the Great
and the period of Greek rule to the Roman conquest that ended
after the spread of Christianity with the age of Islam. Website:
http://www.aegyptens-versunkene-schaetze.org/Ausstellung.aspx
Bermuda
11th Annual Bermuda Music
Festival
October 4 to7, 2006
The multi-talented Steve Harvey, comedian,
actor and radio personality, will host this year’s much anticipated
Bermuda Music Festival October 4-7, 2006. The “King of Comedy”
brings added funk to the 11th annual music festival’s already
eclectic combination of rhythm & blues, jazz and soul
– along with an easy-to-book travel package – to the lineup
of legendary stars.
This year’s showstoppers include legends
such as Gladys Knight, Maze featuring Frankie Beverly and
Charlie Wilson of The Gap Band, while also highlighting chart
toppers such as India.Arie, Teena Marie and Anthony Hamilton.
The favorite songs of classic soul groups such as The Original
Manhattans featuring Gerald Alston & Blue Lovette, Harold
Melvin’s Blue Notes and The Trammps will beckon guests to
groove on Bermuda’s pink sand.
Set on a spectacular stage built over the
water at Bermuda’s historic Royal Naval Dockyard, the Bermuda
Music Festival’s current performance schedule is as follows:
-- October 4 at Fairmont Southampton, Whaler
Inn
Performers: Harold Melvin’s Blue Notes,
The Trammps and a Bermudian artist
-- October 5 at Royal Naval Dockyard
Performers: Steve Harvey as emcee, Gladys
Knight, The Original Manhattans featuring Gerald Alston &
Blue Lovette and Bermudian artists
--Friday, October 6 at Royal Naval Dockyard
Performers: Steve Harvey as emcee, Charlie
Wilson of the Gap Band, India.Arie, Anthony Hamilton and Bermudian
artists
-- Saturday, October 7 at Royal Naval Dockyard
Performers: Maze featuring Frankie Beverly,
Teena Marie, Bermuda’s own Ras Mykkal and other Bermudian
artists
Festival website: www.bermudamusicfestival.com
Boston
Boston Symphony Orchestra at Tanglewood
To September 4, 2006
The Tanglewood Music Center (TMC) – the
Boston Symphony Orchestra’s (BSO) summer music academy – once
again brings young musicians to the Berkshires for a summer
of performing with and learning from many of the most accomplished
artists in the world.
Highlights of the Tanglewood Music Center’s
66th season include BSO Music Director James Levine leading
TMC Orchestra (TMCO) and Vocal Fellows and an internationally
renowned cast of singers in Strauss’ opera Elektra, as well
as the TMC Vocal Fellows performing in a Bernstein on Broadway
tribute concert with Keith Lockhart and the Boston Pops.
Tanglewood on Parade includes the TMC Orchestra – as well
as the Boston Symphony and Boston Pops orchestras – in a rousing
program that concludes with Tchaikovsky’s 1812 Overture and
fireworks.
James Levine also will work closely with
TMC vocalists, conductors, and instrumentalists in preparing
a triple bill of 20th-century opera for performance on July
27 and 28 as the opening concert in this season’s Festival
of Contemporary Music. Mr. Levine conducts the American stage
premiere of Elliott Carter's sparkling What Next? (1999),
and TMC Conducting Fellows lead performances of Stravinsky's
one-act comic opera Mavra and Hindemith's palindromic operatic
sketch Hin und zurück ("There and back"), both dating
from the 1920s. All three of these fully staged productions
will be sung in English.
Stefan Asbury leads the TMC Orchestra on
August 6 in a concert that includes the works of Dvořák,
Fauré, Babbitt, Sibelius, and Ravel. The performance also
features soprano Dawn Upshaw. Finally, Herbert Blomstedt
and TMC Conducting Fellows will lead the Tanglewood Music
Center Orchestra on August 14 in Beethoven’s Symphony No.
4, Lidholm’s Kontakion, and Hindemith’s Mathis der Maler.
Tickets are currently on sale through the
BSO’s website, www.bso.org , and through SymphonyCharge at 617-266-1200
or 888-266-1200. Tickets are priced at $18, $28, $39, $59,
$500, $1,000, and $2,500. Prices for the remainder of the
season are $8.50-$98. All ticket prices include a $1 Tanglewood
grounds-maintenance fee.
Tanglewood is located in Lenox, Massachusetts,
three hours drive from New York City and two hours from Boston.
Dubrovnik
57th Annual Dubrovnik Summer Festival
July 10 to August 25, 2006
Croatia’s premier cultural event: an international
festival of music, theater and dance in a city a legacy of
centuries of civilization. The unique ambient of the closed
and open-air stages of the Renaissance and Baroque city of
Dubrovnik are home, during the festival to about 80 plays,
ballets, operas and musical performances, promotions of literary
works, exhibitions, recitals of poetry and much more. The
Dubrovnik Summer festival was founded in 1950 and has since
1956 been a member of the European Festival Association. Website:
www.dubrovnik-festival.hr
Hong Kong
Hong Kong Shopping Festival
To August 31, 2006
Hundreds of retailers across the city have
conspired to eliminate any excuse visitors might have for
not emptying their wallets on the wares for sale. Special
offers and prizes abound, and many restaurants have hopped
aboard to ensure a consumer’s appetite for food, not just
shoes, is indulged as well. Later, shopping finished, head
to Hong Kong’s waterfront at Tsim Sha Tsui for the Aqua Fantasia,
a multimedia light show displayed on a curtain of water. From
7:30 to 9:30 pm. Website: http://www.discoverhongkong.com/hksf/eng/index.html
Johannesburg
Johannesburg Art Gallery
Rembrandt 400 years
Until September 17, 2006
For the 400th anniversary of Rembrandt
van Rijn's birth, the Johannesburg Art Gallery is showing
its collection of the Dutch master’s work. The exhibition
features 41 copperplate etchings, acquired in 1934, which
reveal Rembrandt's tremendous skill as a printmaker. He experimented
with several techniques, such as dry-point, often combining
them in a single work. As in his paintings, the chiaroscuro—or
dramatic use of darkness and light—is particularly notable.
The show also includes prints by Rembrandt's Dutch predecessors
and contemporaries, and the gallery is hosting a series of
related lectures.
Johannesburg Art Gallery, Corner of
Klein and King George Sts, Joubert Park. Tel: +27 (0)11 725
3130. Open: Tues-Sun 10am-5pm.
London
Tate Modern To Build New Annex
Architectural rendering of new annex
London’s popular Tate Modern unveiled plans
this month for a striking $397 million extension scheduled
to be completed in 2012, just in time for the Summer Olympics
that will be held in the city. The annex, which will resemble
glass boxes stacked up arbitrarily to form a 220-foot pyramid,
has been designed by the Swiss firm of Jacques Herzog and
Pierre Meuron, who were the designers of the Tate Modern in
the 1990s when they converted a South Bank power station into
a modern art museum. The proposed extension will make the
museum comparable in size to New York’s Museum of Modern Art.
The 11-story annex will offer new galleries of differing sizes
and shapes intended to accommodate installations, videos,
film, photography, performance and other nontraditional art
forms.
The Royal Opera House BP Summer Big
Screens Offer Live Screenings
The Royal Opera House BP Summer Big Screens
2006 bring free live screenings of ballet and opera to venues
throughout London including Covent Garden Piazza, Trafalgar
Square, Canary Wharf and Victoria Park Tower Hamlets.
Tate Modern
Kandinsky: The Path to Abstraction
1908–1922
Until 1 October
This exhibition follows Wassily Kandinsky’s
intriguing journey from landscape painter to modernist master,
as he strove to develop a radically abstract language. This
exhibition presents over 50 paintings and 30 works on paper.
Many of these have never been exhibited in the UK making this
an unmissable opportunity to see so many of this modernist
master’s most influential works together.
Advance recommendations are suggested for
this blockbuster exhibit. Website: http://www.tate.org.uk/modern/
Royal Albert Hall
The Proms
Until September 9, 2006
Since Henry Wood started his so-called
Promenade concerts in 1895. This year sees over two months
of music, with more than 70 concerts, most of them as usual
at the Royal Albert Hall. Among the host of big names who
will perform are Bryn Terfel and Angela Georghiou, both opera
singers, and the Berlin Philharmonic and the Kirov Opera.
The program includes much Mozart and Shostakovich, in celebration
of the 250th and 100th anniversaries of their births respectively,
plus the world premiere of Elgar's Pomp and Circumstance March
No.6, which he wrote with Anthony Payne (who will be 70 on
the performance date, August 2nd) and a smattering of modern
works
The series ends with the flag-waving jingoism
of the “Last Night of the Proms”, which combines a concert
at the Royal Albert Hall with “Proms in the Park”—simultaneous
gatherings in five parks around the country (including London’s
Hyde Park).
Website: http://www.bbc.co.uk/proms
Royal Albert Hall, Kensington Gore,
SW7. Tube: South Kensington. Standing tickets from as little
as £5. Box office: +44 (0)20 7589 8212.
Madrid
Thyssen Bornemissza Museum
From Cranach to Monet: Masterpieces
from the Pérez Simón Collection
Through September 10 2006
Works from one of the most significant
private collections in Latin America will get its first public
showing when the opens” on June 20. Designed to give visitors
a synthesis of the most important movements in art history
from the 14th to the 19th centuries, the exhibition will showcase
57 paintings by some of the great names in art. Also known
as the JAPS Collection, after its creator, Juan Antonio Pérez
Simón, its key qualities are its emphasis on works portraying
feminine beauty, nature, scenes from daily life that juxtapose
earthly pleasures with the ephemeral nature found in the still
lifes and a fascination with light and color as shown in the
transition from Academic painting to modern art. Works by
Jan and Pieter Brueghel, Canaletto, Corot, Cézanne, Gauguin,
Goya, Pissarro, Renoir, Rubens, Tiepolo, Van Dyck and Van
Gogh will be on display.
In 2004 the Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum,
one of Madrid’s cultural jewels, doubled in size to accommodate
the nine-year loan of more than 700 masterpieces from the
Carmen Thyssen-Bornemisza Collection. The $45.7 million expansion
by BOPBAA Studio incorporated two late 19th century buildings
adjoining the Villahermosa Palace linking them to the museum
with a new glass pavilion facing a garden terrace. The additional
90,000 square feet now houses a temporary exhibition room,
a library and expanded facilities for visitors.
When the Spanish government paid $350 million
in 1993 for the 775 works of The Thyssen-Bornemisza Collection
– considered the world’s most important private art collection
– it solidified Madrid’s reputation as a leading cultural
capital. Spanning the history of painting from the beginning
of the 13th century to the late 20th century, the famed collection
of Baron Hans Heinrich Thyssen-Bornemisza and his father,
Baron Heinrich has outstanding Old Masters (works by Duccio,
Dürer, Caravaggio, Van Eyck, Holbein and Hals) as well as
paintings by Gauguin, Van Gogh, Klee, Mondrian and Rauschenberg.
The collection comprises Dutch and Italian Primitives, German
Expressionism, Russian Constructivism, Geometric Abstraction,
Pop Art and American 19th century painting – rarely seen in
other European museums.
Similar in content to the Thyssen-Bornemisza
Collection, the Carmen Thyssen Bornemisza Collection has significant
holdings of 17th century Dutch paintings and of 18th century
artists such as Canaletto and Fragonard, little represented
in other Spanish museums. Perhaps the most important part
of the collection is made up of 19th century paintings from
John Constable and Caspar David Friedrich to the Impressionists
including works by artists like Corot and Daubigny. Richest
and most impressive are the Impressionist and Post-Impressionist
holdings featuring works by Degas, Gauguin, Manet, Monet,
Picasso, Pissarro, Renoir, Sisley and Van Gogh and the early
20th century avant-garde movements as seen in works by the
Fauves (Braque, Derain, Matisse) and the German Expressionists.
The Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum is located
at Paseo del Prado, 8 and is open Tuesdays through Sundays
from 10 AM to 7 PM and during July and August the temporary
exhibitions will remain open until 11 PM Tuesdays to Saturdays.
(Closed Mondays.) Admission to the temporary exhibition is
about $5.14 and about $3.85 for students and seniors. Combined
tickets for the temporary and context exhibitions and permanent
collection range from $9 to $14.50 ($6.40 to $10.30 for students
and seniors).
Website: www.museothyssen.org
Milan
Castello Sforzesco
Archaeology and Ethnography from
South America
To January 29, 2007
Milan’s collection of non-European art
has been growing since the 16th century, when explorers first
began to bring back objects from their exploits abroad. Currently,
the Castello Sforzesco is exhibiting some 200 objects—including
vases, textiles, masks, terracotta statues, metal objects
and more—from Mayan, Aztec and other ancient South American
cultures. Website: http://www.milanocastello.it/intro.html
Castello Sforzesco, Piazza Castello,
3. Open: Tues-Sun, 9am-1pm, 2pm-5.30pm.
Moscow
Ballet: Krakatuk
Until mid-October 2006
This summer Kolomenskoye Park, an estate
dotted with historical buildings, stages “Krakatuk”, an ambitious
reworking of “The Nutcracker”. Like Tchaikovsky's famous ballet,
Krakatuk is based on E.T.A. Hoffman's story, “The Nutcracker
and the Mouse King”. The unconventional show uses high-tech
special effects, rock music and circus acts to tell the story
of a homely heroine named Masha. Since its debut in St Petersburg
two years ago, Krakatuk has toured France, Ukraine and Russia’s
provinces. The production at Kolomenskoye Park, in a 1,500-seat
tent, marks its debut in Moscow.
Website: http://www.krakatuk.ru/
Tickets at tickets@krakatuk.ru
Kolomenskoye Park, off Prospekt Andropova.
Metro Kolomenskaya. Performances: Tues-Sun, 7pm. For more
information visit the production’s website.
New York
American Museum of Natural History
Lizards & Snakes: Alive!
July 1 to January 7, 2007
Lizards & Snakes introduces visitors
to the remarkable adaptations of legged and legless lizards,
including snakes—a group known as squamates. Grounded in the
evolutionary history of the group, this exhibition showcases
live animals and their remarkable adaptations, including projectile
tongues, deadly venom, amazing camouflage, and sometimes surprising
modes of locomotion. With more than 60 animals representing
27 species from the Amazon, the Caribbean and Galápagos Islands,
and countries such as Cuba, Egypt, Fiji, Guatemala, Kenya,
Madagascar, Mexico, New Guinea, New Zealand, Sudan, and the
United States, the specimens range from a four-inch Tropical
Girdled Lizard to a fifteen-foot Burmese Python and are shown
in re-created habitats, complete with ponds, tree limbs, rock
ledges, and live plants. Numerous interactive stations throughout
the exhibition will invite visitors to activate recorded squamate
sounds, zoom in on live geckos, test their knowledge about
squamates, explore the inner workings of a rattlesnake on
the hunt, and view videos of lizards and snakes in action.
An activity center for children located at the end of the
exhibition features more than a dozen hands-on exhibits and
activities—from matching lizards to their habitats to assembling
squamate skeletons—and includes touchable skin casts, puzzles,
question-and-answer sliders, games, and more.
Darwin
To August 20
The most in-depth exhibition ever mounted
on Charles Darwin, the highly original thinker, botanist,
geologist, and naturalist, and his theory of evolution.
Website: www.amnh.org
The American Museum of Natural History
is located at Central Park West and between West 77 and 79
Streets.
Frick Museum
Jean-Étienne Liotard (1702-1789):
Swiss Master
June 13 to September 17, 2006
This is the first North American exhibition
on Liotard, one of the 18th century’s most celebrated court
painters whose subjects have included the ill-fated queen
of France Marie-Antoinette, features more than 50 paintings,
drawings, miniatures and engravings from the Musées d’art
et d’histoire in Geneva Website: www.frick.org
The Frick is located at 1 East 70 Street.
Museum of Modern Art
Dada
To September 11, 2006
Discover one of the 20th century’s most
influential avant-garde art movements. The first major exhibition
in the United States of its kind features the work of nearly
50 artists including Marcel Duchamp, Max Ernst, Man Ray, Kurt
Schwitters and Sophie Taeuber. Website: www.moma.org
MoMA is located at 11 W. 53rd Street.
Neue Galerie New York
Selections from the Permanent Collection
To September 18, 2006
Works from widely-acclaimed Austrian artists
Gustav Klimt, Egon Schiele, Oskar Kokoschka and major German
movements ranging from Brücke to Bauhaus will be on display.
Website: www.neuegalerie.org
Neue Galerie is located at 1048 Fifth
Avenue & East 86 Street.
The New York Botanical Garden
Dale Chihuly Glass Creations
June 25 to October 29, 2006
See whimsical glass creations in a gorgeous
garden. Thousands of stunning, hand-blown glass sculptures
will be on display throughout the galleries of the Enid A.
Haupt Conservatory. Website www.nybg.org
NY Botanical Garden is located at200th
St. and Kazimiroff Blvd. in the Bronx. Transportation to the
Garden is available via the MetroNorth rail line from Grand
Central Station in Manhattan.
Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum
Zaha Hadid
Through August 23
Fans of architecture should consider visiting
the new exhibition on Zaha Hadid. The comprehensive show features
paintings, drawings, urban plans and proposals for international
design competitions and scale models that capture the Pritzker
Architecture Prize Laureate’s wide-range of work.
No Limits, Just Edges: Jackson Pollack
Paintings on Paper
To September 29, 2006
Website: www.guggenheim.org
The Guggenheim is located at1071 Fifth
Ave. at 89th St., 212-423-3500.
Whitney Museum of American Art
Full House: The Whitney’s Collection
at 75
June 29, 2006-September 3, 2006
On the occasion of the Whitney’s 75th anniversary,
selected works from the museum's extensive collection of art
in the United States fill Marcel Breuer's landmark building.
Continuing the Whitney's founding mission to support new artists
and emerging art forms, the exhibition proposes an active
conversation between the present and the past though dynamic
dialogues connecting works of art across all media, spanning
the 20th century to now.
Three of the Museum’s main floors are organized
around a core group of works, each focusing on a paradigmatic
moment, or "flashpoint," in American art. The fourth
floor is anchored by Minimalist works of the mid 1960s to
early 1970s and explores ideas related to industrial production,
materiality, and conceptual practices. The third floor takes
Pop art as its focal point, with works from the 1960s installed
within the context of a range of historical and contemporary
developments, including those that address urbanism, consumerism,
appropriation and politics. The second floor is centered on
art of the late 1940s and early 1950s when Abstract Expressionism
was at its apex. Works investigating the transcendent and
spiritual qualities in art circumnavigate this core.
The fifth floor galleries are dedicated
to a large-scale presentation of works by Edward Hopper, whose
legacy is intimately connected to the Whitney. The Whitney’s
Hopper works are supplemented by key loans, including such
major paintings as the Art Institute of Chicago's Nighthawks
and the Museum of Modern Art's New York Movie. Calder’s Circus,
one of the museum’s most beloved works, is displayed in the
Lobby Gallery, in a brand new installation.
Full House also serves as a lab for experimentation,
a way of seeing art through art to suggest new perspectives
and meanings on the last seventy-five years of collecting
at the Whitney while flashing forward to the next important
chapter in its history.
Website: www.whitney.org
The Whitney is located at 945 Madison
Ave., 212-570-3676.
Lincoln Center of the Performing Arts
Mostly Mozart Festival 2006
July 28 - August 26
Mostly Mozart 2006 is full of commissions,
American and world premieres, and new productions, all of
which affirm the vitality of Mozart in the creative life of
our own time. The world premiere of a new violin concerto
by the acclaimed Finnish composer Magnus Lindberg, a new production
of Mozart's opera Zaide staged by the ever-provocative stage
director Peter Sellars, and the world premiere of Mark Morris'
exploration of Mozart's love of the piano, Mozart Dances,
are certain to be among the highlights of this summer's festival.
Website: www.lincolncenter.org
Lincoln Center is located between 62nd
and 65th Sts. On Broadway.
Paris
New Director for the Comédie Français
Announced
France’s renowned Comédie Français has
a new director. This month France’s Culture Minister named
the actress and stage director Muriel Mayette to succeed Marcel
Bozonnet as head of the country’s national theater founded
in 1680. The first time a woman has been named to this position,
Mayette begins her new job in August.
Musée de l’Orangerie
Monet’s Water Lilies
Ongoing
Monet’s water lilies artworks languished
for decades in a gloomy netherworld in the Orangerie after
a botched museum renovation in the 1960s. However, a major
revamp of the museum, which reopened on May 17th after eight
years, has changed all that.
The eight works, painted between 1914 and
1926, were donated by the artist and hung at the Orangerie
in 1927, a year after his death. Impressive in size—each is
two meters high; and one is 17 meters long—the paintings help
illustrate Monet's influence on nudging art towards abstraction.
Some even capture the mysterious sunset light at Giverny,
an effect that could woo even jaded anti-Impressionists. The
museum also houses the Jean Walter and Paul Guillaume collection
of Impressionist and post-Impressionist works by Cézanne,
Renoir, Soutine, Picasso, Modigliani and others.. Website:
http://www.musee-orangerie.fr
Musée de l’Orangerie, Jardin des Tuileries.
Tel: +33 (0)1 44 77 80 07. Métro: Concorde. Open: Weds-Mon,
12.30pm-7pm (until 9pm on Fridays)
Jeu de Paume
Lee Friedlander
September 9 to December 31, 2006
Like Walker Evans and Robert Frank, Lee
Friedlander captured the workaday side of American cities
and daily life — the storefronts, the billboards, television,
and automobiles: general urban reality. His early work as
a photographer in the 1950s is notable for its Pop influences,
a spontaneous sense of fun and a taste for formal innovation.
These traits would remain with him throughout his career;
but, as he entered the 1970s, Friedlander's style and subjects
gained in breadth. His photographs are full of observation
and exude a mix of charm and lyricism.
Attentive to the subtle variations of forms
and light, Friedlander produced richly descriptive urban images
that reveal the uncontrollable energy of life just as they
illustrate the transformative power of photography. In the
early 1990s, Friedlander photographed the landscapes of the
American West, where he was born. This exhibition covers the
full range of subjects explored over his fifty-year career
by this great photographer of the 20th century: in all, 477
B/W photographs, 6 color photographs and a set of Friedlander's
portfolios and books.
Joel Meyerowitz: Out of the Ordinary,
1970-1980
October 10 to December 24, 2006
This is the first European exhibition of
the color photography of Joel Meyerowitz. Produced by the
Jeu de Paume and organized in close collaboration with the
artist, the show offers a selection of photos taken between
1970 and 1980, a period of what the photographer saw as radical
and decisive change.
The 120 vintage or modern prints in the
ensemble presented here survey that vital decade that saw
him questioning the medium, engaged in aesthetic exploration
and developing a new style of photography. Website: http://www.jeudepaume.org
Jeu de Paume, 1, place de la Concorde.
Open daily except Mondays.
National Museum of Natural History
Dragons: Between Science and Fiction
Until November 6, 2006
This exploration of dragons—fantasy’s favorite
bête noire—is ideal summer family fare. With atmospheric
lighting and multimedia effects, the exhibit traces centuries
of myths and stories, and explores the symbolic role of the
dragon in history. The display includes the remains of dragon-like
animals, including the giant head of a Tyrannosaurus rex,
alongside a realistic physical reconstruction of the imaginary
beast. There are also plenty of stunning objects, such as
a Cartier-designed jeweled dragon and ancient relics from
China, Asia Minor and elsewhere. Thirteen narrated dragon
tales from around the world are read out at different spots
in the exhibit, which also features clips from some famous
dragon-flavoured films.
Website: http://www2.mnhn.fr/dragons/
Muséum Nationale de l’Histoire Naturelle,
Grande Galerie de l’Evolution, 36, rue Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire,
5th arrondissement. Métro: Jussieu or Gare d’Austerlitz. Open:
Sun-Fri 10am-6pm, Sat 10am-8pm. Tel: +33 (0)1 40 79 30 00.
San Francisco
California Shakespeare Theatre
Assortment of Shakespeare’s Plays
To October 8, 2006
For more than 30 years the California Shakespeare
Theatre has presented one of the Bay Area’s most beloved summer
events: evenings of Shakespeare (and other notable playwrights)
at its outdoor amphitheatre in the East Bay hills. This year’s
program includes “The Merchant of Venice” (August 9-September
3); and a musical version of “As You Like It”(September 13
to October 8). Website: http://www.calshakes.org/v4/home.htm
l
California Shakespeare Theatre, Bruns
Memorial Amphitheatre, 100 Gateway Blvd., Orinda. Tel: +1
(510) 548-9666.
Legion of Honor
Monet In Normandy
To September 17, 2006
Claude Monet spent much of his life in
Normandy in northern France and his art reflects his special
relationship with this countryside and its topographical features,
with its towns and villages, and the seasonal rhythms of the
region. Monet gained artistic inspiration from these subjects
and returned to them throughout his career. Of particular
interest is his interpretation of the sparkling, surging bodies
of water found in Normandy, from the
bustling commercial harbor at Le Havre,
to scenery along the Seine, or beside quiet river banks, such
as the Epte, to the crashing waves at Etretat. Manmade monuments,
such as Rouen cathedral, also figure in Monet’s repertoire
and will be represented in this selection of approximately
50 paintings.
Legion of Honour, Lincoln Park, 34th
Ave and Clement St. Tel: +1 (415) 863-3330. Open: Tues-Sun,
9.30am-5pm. Admission: $10.
Sydney, NSW
Biennale of Sydney 2006
Until August 27, 2006
For the 15th time since 1973, this sprawling
festival of contemporary art and performance takes over Sydney
for the winter season at different venues. Festival director
Charles Merewether has assembled a staggering array of paintings,
photographs, sculptures, installations and projected works
from 85 artists in 44 countries, and many are being exhibited
for the first time. Sixteen venues across Sydney are hosting
the works, including Art Gallery of New South Wales, Museum
of Contemporary Art and Pier 2/3 at Walsh Bay. Website: http://www.biennaleofsydney.com.au
Tokyo
Mori Art Museum
Africa Remix: Contemporary Art of
a Continent
Until August 31st 2006
With 140 works by 84 artists from 25 countries,
this exhibition shows an Africa of many faces shown in sculptures,
paintings, drawings, videos, photos and music. Among the depictions
of voodoo and local gods look for a drawing of a frog—a river
god—by Cyprien Tokoudagba, an artist from Benin. Website:
http://www.mori.art.museum/english/index.html
Mori Art Museum, Roppongi Hills Mori
Tower 53F, Roppongi 6-10-1, Minato-Ku. Tel: + 81 (0)3 5777-8600.
Open: daily, 10am-8pm (until 5pm on Tues). Subway: Roppongi
station, Hibiya or Oedo lines.
Zurich
Bellevue Museum
Fabergé in Zurich – Treasures of
Imperial Russia/
Part One through July 30
Part Two August 2 to September 10, 2006
The magnificent Fabergé-collection of “The
Link of Times Foundation” will also be on display in Switzerland.
After visits in Moscow, St. Petersburg, Berlin and Brussels,
the show displays some of the most famous of Fabergé jewelry
made for the Russian Emperors, among them nine Imperial and
six non-Imperial Easter Eggs.
Website: http://www.faberge-in-zurich.ch/home_en.html
Museum Bellerive, Höschgasse 3, 8008
Zurich. Tram 2 or 4 to the Höschgasse stop. Tel: +41 (0) 43
446 4469. Open: Tues-Sun 10am-5pm (Thurs until 8pm). Admission:
SFr17 (concessions SFr14).
