Austria simply can’t be beat when it comes to beauty. You’ve seen the country in the Sound of Music, but the cities of Vienna, Salzburg and the alpine town of Halstatt are just as nice.
Vienna
Vienna is a city with a ridiculous amount of history. The home of the waltz, Habsburg Palaces and an unrivaled musical past. Walk for an evening through the cobblestone streets in the center city and you can almost hear a famous composer at work. In fact , many of the walking areas are lined with small orchestral ensembles playing their way through the evening. Elbowing in on their act, of course , are those unique artist who dress in a period piece and then stand in one position for what seems time eternal. Buddhist monks would be envious if they believed in envy.
The only downside to Vienna is the expense. It is very expensive. If you are going to spend some time in the city, be ready to pay for the privilege.
Salzburg
Salzburg is one of my favorite cities and I always try to hit it when I am traveling through Europe. The real home of Mozart, Salzburg is Vienna without less of the hustle and bustle. A walk through the shopping district will leave you breathless and, sometimes, penniless, but it is a worthwhile go. Salzburg is a city where you can drink bear with monks, take in an opera or just walk through exquisite rose gardens. Unfortunately, it gives Vienna a run for its money when it comes to being expensive. Yes, pun intended.
Halstatt
Halstatt is the little town in the Alps that puts the Sound of Music to shame. Located roughly an hour outside of Salzburg, the easiest way to reach it is by train. The train travels well up into the Alps and drops you off by the side of a lake. You plop down in a little hut and wait for the ferry from Halstatt to appear. The ferry then halls you across the lake to a Alpine town with no cars – Halstatt. It is like stepping into the past. People are friendly, prices are reasonable and romance is on the hoof. Swans swim along the outdoor cafes dotting the lake and, well, it is pretty dang nice. If you are looking for a little romance, Halstatt is definitely worth your consideration.
For many travelers, Austria gets scratched off the “must visit” list because it is so expensive. Still, you should try to visit it at least once in your life to take in the splendor.
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Every individual wants their home to look attractive. If you are a homeowner and want to decorate the living room then there are several ideas. You can select any decorative depending on your budget.artandtravelmarketing"> oil paintings can be one of the best home decorative. A person can select an oil painting depending on his taste. For several years, men have usedartandtravelmarketing"> oil paintings to decorate their houses. One can see some of the excellent pieces ofartandtravelmarketing"> oil paintings on the art galleries and museums.
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People who have enough space to display the oil painting can opt for the large art prints. If an art print is chosen carefully then it can add some new meaning to the room. Excellent piece of paintings have their own language. They can enchant a person completely and refresh his mind. The interpretation of paintings often varies from one person to other. It is because of their different ways to view the painting. Interpretation of a painting can also reveal the mindset of a person. A piece of painting can spark the imagination of person and can produce several thoughts in his mind.
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Unlike Inuit sculpture, art prints from the Canadian Arctic are a twentieth century innovation in Inuit Eskimo art. One of the most significant events that happened during the development of contemporary Inuit art was when Canadian James Houston taught the Inuit to make art prints by incising designs into linoleum tiles, stone blocks and stencils from sealskins. He had previously studied printmaking in Japan since the Japanese were considered innovators in this art process.
One day in 1957, Houston met up with a local Inuit art carver by the name of Osuitok Ipeelee in Cape Dorset. Ipeelee had been studying the identical printed images of a sailor's head on two cigarette packages he had. Houston demonstrated the process of printmaking to the Inuit carver by rubbing ink onto one of Ipeelee's ivory tusk carvings and made an impression of it on a piece of toilet paper. Upon seeing the resulting graphic, the Inuit artist said, "We could do that. " This resulted in the birth of Eskimo Inuit art prints.
The Cape Dorset Inuit artists soon integrated the new print making methods into their Inuit art and by 1960, their printmaking was a growing business. Eskimo Inuit art prints by early artists such as Pitseolak Ashoona and Jamasie Teevee became much sought after artwork. Because of the success of Cape Dorset, other Inuit communities were encouraged to follow its example. So in addition to Inuit sculpture, art prints became another form of Eskimo Inuit art that found commercial success. Cape Dorset has an annual release of Inuit art prints each year and often sell out. Another Inuit community known for their Inuit art prints is Holman.
Switzerland is the land of skiing, chocolate and very private banking. Ah, but there is so much more to experience in the land of neutrality.
Interlaken
Interlaken gets its highly creative name from sitting on the split of land between two lakes. If you’re looking for a little extreme sporting, this is place. You can backpack, horseback ride, parasail and so on. To really take in the majesty of the alps, I highly recommend you cough up the money for a go at skydiving. You may have gone ski diving before, but I guarantee you nothing compares to free falling down through the mountains of Switzerland. This is how God must feel looking down at the earth. While God gets the view for free, you will have to pay…a lot. Still, the view and experience is something you will never forget.
Zurich
Zurich is the cleanest city in Switzerland, Europe and maybe the world. There place simply sparkles. Various guide books challenge readers to find a cigarette butt or piece of trash on the sparkling streets. Personally, I find the cleanliness of the city a bit of a negative. Stop rolling your eyes. The place is simply so clean that it seems to lack any real character. One keeps getting the feeling you are walking around a Disneyland Park. The budget traveler should be aware that Zurich is more expensive than even Disneyland.
St. Moritz
If you’re looking for the arrogant rich, over the top luxury and incredibly expensive prices, St . Moritz is for you. Not really my crowd, so on to the next city…
Geneva
Geneva is not “just another” clean city in Switzerland. Okay, it looks like it at first and second glance, but the third glance may prove a delight. With cobble stone streets, the city reminds one of the stereotypical Swiss images in the media. In reality, Geneva has a bustling underground of live music, art and general fun. Four aspirin and two bottles of water later, I can certainly attest to it. The only way to let your hair down in Geneva is to buddy up to a local and follow their lead. Trust me, you’ll have a blast.
Switzerland often seems a bit too good to be true. Perhaps it truly is a mountain mirage. Guess you’ll just have to visit to do your own investigation!
On our way home from Orlando, a little more than an hour into our 20 hour road trip back to Toronto, we stopped in St . Augustine, "the nation's oldest city", just north of Jacksonville - indeed the oldest continuously occupied European settlement in the United States, having been founded by the Spanish in 1565.
St . Augustin's founder, Don Pedro Menendez, came ashore on September 8, 1565, and chose to name the settlement after the patron saint whose feast day coincided with the day of landing. Of course , before the Spanish ever set foot on Florida soil, the Timacuan Indians had already been here and they watched Menendez and the roughly 1500 colonists and soldiers settle here. Over the last few centuries the city experienced governments from different countries, including Spain, Britain, and since 1821, the United States.
The real rise of this community came in the late 1800s when Henry Flagler (1830 to 1913) built two hotels and took over a third as part of the Flagler hotel chain. Flagler was the co-founder of Standard Oil, and although not as well known as some of the other early magnates of capitalism, he was one of the wealthiest individuals of his time. Flagler had a major impact on Florida: he founded the Florida East Coast Railway as a means of transporting guests to and from the north to his hotels in St . Augustine, Palm Beach, and Miami. A honeymoon visit to St . Augustine in 1881 with his second wife inspired Flagler's vision to transform this sleepy town into a winter playground for the rich.
Three of Flagler's former St . Augustine hotels are still in use today: Flagler College (the former Hotel Ponce de Leon), the Lightner Building - St . Augustine's City Hall (the former Alcazar) and Casa Monica, redone as a county courthouse in the 1960s, and reopened in 1990 as the restored Casa Monica Hotel. During the late 19th and early 20th century Flagler also developed a residential neighbourhood called the Model Land Company tract.
Within a few short years Flagler's dream of a resort town for northerners faded and he, and the wealthy northern visitors, moved further south. He continued to develop the Florida East Coast Railroad down the peninsula, into and across the Florida Keys, creating hotels and communities along the way.
St . Augustine is centered around the Plaza de la Constitucion, which anchors the Lightner Museum / City Hall, Casa Monica and Flagler College, three stunningly beautiful structures. Located in the former Alcazar Hotel, the Lightner Museum houses collections of legendary hobbyist and antiques collector Otis Lightner.
St . Augustine has a wealth of other historic and architecturally interesting structures. The most historically significant structure in St . Augustine is the Castillo de San Marcos, built by the Spanish between 1672 and 1695. The 19th century Lighthouse Museum is located in the St . Augustine Lighthouse on Anastasia Island east of town across the Bridge of Lions. St . Augustine also houses the oldest store in town dating to the turn of the last century. Talking about old buildings, St . Augustine is home to the Gonzalez-Alvarez House, dating back to 1727, known as the "Oldest House Complex", a National Historic Landmark.
The Mission of Nombre de Dios is located on the west bank of Matanzas Bay, and it is said to have been the site of the first Catholic Mass in what is today the United States. The Spanish Quarter Village is a living history museum composed of a collection of colonial period houses where guides recreate the dress and lifestyle as seen in 1740.
Ponce de Leon's Fountain of Youth National Archaeological Park exhibits foundations and artifacts of the first St . Augustine mission and colony. It also houses the Landmark Spring, Explorers Globe andtravelaccessoriesstore"> navigators' Planetarium. St . Augustine also houses the Oldest Drug Store and the nation's Oldest Wooden Schoolhouse, built more than 200 years ago while Florida was under Spain's rule.
Unfortunately we did not have a chance to explore St . Augustine in detail, but our brief excursion into this historic city quickly proved what a unique destination St . Augustine really is. As a matter of fact, the city welcomes around 2 million visitors every year who come to discover a unique historic part of America. A settlement with authentic Spanish roots, complete with Castillo and all, is a truly unique sight in the U. S. and it was definitely worth the detour.
Here is a collection of websites for further information on St . Augustine:
- the City of St . Augustine, - the St . Augustine Visitor Guide - Visit Florida's information page about St . Augustine - the St . Augustine Historical Society - the City of St . Augustine's Department of Heritage Tourism
This entire article including photos is located at travelandtransitions.com/stories photos/orlando st augustine.htm" class="hft-urls">http://www.travelandtransitions.com/stories photos/orlando st augustine.htm
SocialMediaDaily.com Video Update #1 - Michelle MacPhearson
If you'd like to learn to play the harmonica the best thing you can do is to take one. Even though there are hundreds of programs offering sheet music and instructions, may be it would be better for you to start experimenting on your own as playing the harmonica is not really hard. You can start on your own and later get formal instructions of various harmonica masters.
If you stick up to my advice, you'll get what's really valuable - your own ideas and understanding of the instrument. I personally learnt to play the harmonica about seven years ago and most of the time I was experimenting on my own, though I admit to having used some formal instructions from time to time, too.
As the harmonica is laid out in an intuitive way, learning how to play it by yourself is not a difficult task and it's worth trying. You can purchase a harmonica with a small introductory packet explaining the layout enclosed in the box. What is important to know is that everything is already set up in the chords. You need to play most kinds of music on a richter, or ten hole diatonic, harp, which gives you the opportunity to pick out basic melodies as soon as you try playing the harmonica for the first time. Having the basic knowledge, you can easily improve your skills by regularly practicing playing this beautiful instrument.
If you have already learnt the basics, then you might consider getting some professional help. Of course you can start taking harmonica lessons by a teacher or you can simply start listening to harmonica music played by other musicians. Music is said to be the best teacher, so why don't you gibe the second option a try. In case you do so, you will get many new ideas and in addition to that playing the harmonica might enable you to give your own musical expressions which will be added up to your repertoire.
If you choose to get a harmonica teacher verify that they are experts in playing the exact same style that you want. For instance, imagine you learned to play the harmonica in the Chicago bells mode, then you would not be able to play bluegrass or country blues harp as they all are very different styles.
For many, Route 66 is in their blood – they grew up on the old highway, traveled the road with their parents when they were kids, or, perhaps, even pumped gas at one of those vintage filling stations that actually knew what the term “customer service” meant.
For others, they are nostalgic like me – “old souls, ” some might say. And, if it’s history, it’s interesting!!! What the Santa Fe Trail is to us today, Route 66 will be to our future generations, and it’s heritage and history can no more be forgotten than those of the wagon train pioneers. Yes, it was another era, but still, a giant step in the progress of a nation.
So, people say to me all the time, “I just don’t get it. ” Well, if you travel this vintage pavement, I can guarantee that you will. Along this historic path, that generally follows an even older one – that of the railroads as they expanded westward, there is history that dates back far beyond the asphalt of the Mother Road. It’s not just about an old highway – it is so much more – an evolution from historic trails such as the National Old Trails highway that traversed much of the same road in New Mexico, Arizona and California; or the Trail of Tears that converges with Route 66 in Missouri and Oklahoma.
Along this vintage road, you will not only find the “good ole’ days” that you may remember, but also a depth of history that perhaps you can only imagine. From Civil War sites in Missouri and Oklahoma, to outlaws in Texas and New Mexico, to the numerous gold mining camps of Arizona, the sights along this old highway are incredible.
If you long for the good ole’ days with the buttery smell of popcorn at the drive in theater or a greasy burger at the local diner, you will have plenty of opportunities at places like the Cozy Dog Drive-In in Springfield, Illinois; Wrink’s Market and the Munger Moss Motel in Lebanon, Missouri; or the Snow Cap Drive-In in Seligman, Arizona. If your memory revives the days of Stuckey’s, Steak ‘N’ Shakes, and Burma-Shave signs, you’ll be happy to know that these Route 66 icons are on their way back!
If it’s an older part of the west that you’re looking for, you’ll find that too. Holbrook, Arizona was once said to have been “too tough for women or churches; ” Tucumcari was once referred to as “Six-Shooter Siding, ” and Galena, Kansas was the site of much bloodshed during its coal mining days.
Even though several interstates have virtually replaced the old highway, almost 85% of it can still be traveled. Along the way, you will encounter the remnants of ghost towns killed by the super highways that replaced Route 66. Some of these are a ghost towner’s dream, such as Glenrio, Texas; Cuervo, New Mexico; and a long stretch of ghost towns as you enter California’s Mojave Desert.
Along this historic road, numerous lakes, state and national parks, and historical sites are abundant. Take your time, as, all along the old Mother Road, there is something for everyone.
