DJ Trava

Archive for the ‘Travel’ Category

Some of the most famous landmarks and attractions located in the city of Boston are related to the colonial period of this country as well as the Revolutionary War and the nation’s establishment and early development. Meanwhile, this might be kind of surprising to people who are aware of Boston’s contemporary significance and progressive nature. So how is it possible that one city can be so important in both its historical heritage as well as the contemporary culture? It actually makes a great deal of sense when one considers the nature of the revolutionaries and their commitment to ideals.

Personalities like Paul Revere remain forever embedded in the national consciousness and the very essence of our nation’s symbolic freedom status is associated with him. His famous midnight ride took place in Boston and the hanging of lanterns in the Old North Church continue to be one of the major history lessons young people are first to learn. Paul Revere’s house remains one of the most popular tourist attractions and landmarks in Boston. And the Old North Church remains and is also a popular place to visit. And the Boston hotels staff are well accustomed to answering questions about the man, that famous night in history and other significant historic personalities and monuments. And they might even be able to guide you to one of the contemporary features.

The Sydney Myer Music Bowl is one of the favorite places for tourists to visit while they are staying in one of the luxury hotels in Melbourne . It is a great outdoor performance venue and it is located in the popular Southbank entertainment precinct. It can be found on the gardens of the Kings Domain and it is very close to the Arts Centre .

With all of this prestigious sounding names and locations, it can be easy to assume there’s a certain posh to the place. Well, it has been listed on the Victorian Heritage Register, though audiences who gather on its lawns are there to have a great time and people are comfortably spread out on blankets and enjoying a great picnic or are up and dancing along to the beat.

Some of Melbourne’s favorite annual events occur at the Bowl and among those are the Carols by Candlelight, which occurs on Christmas Eve every year. In addition to the seasonal music and beautiful setting, the event raises millions of dollars to support local charities every year. It demonstrates the true giving nature of the holiday season and the spirit is felt throughout the concert stage and audience. The winter is a great time to be in Melbourne and the concert is one of the favorite seasonal events.

When in Napa, after your vineyard and winery tour drop on in to The Lounge at Bistro Zare . Hoss Zare, of San Francisco fame, moved his restaurant to Napa and brought his unique fusion style with him. Zare’s cuisine is Mediterranean-California, the restaurant is located in Napa’s Old Red Hen Mexican building at 5091 Solano Avenue, the setting is warm, sociable and comfortable. You can stop by for lunch or dinner and choose from a creative menu; as for lunch there are items such as Roasted and Smoked chicken Rigatoni, Grilled Pepper-Crusted Top Sirloin, and Pan Roasted Wild King Salmon. For the dinner fare there’s the Braised Sonoma Rabbit, Oven-Roasted Duck Breast, and Grilled Marinated Lamb Steak. Zare’s selection of Palmaz Vineyard wines compliment each dish. The dessert is delectable, like the Warm Chocolate Souffle. If you just need a drink, the Bisto also has a great full bar and the establishment offers live music on Fridays and Saturdays.

There is a luxury hotel Napa provides its hundreds of wine tourists each day nearby Bistro Zare. The place has Persian overtones and some nights even a belly-dancer. The restaurant’s Napa setting, with its balmy climate and abundant local resources, is ideal for Hoss’s inventive, Mediterranean inspired cuisine. Hoss melds the familiar with the exotic and he’s always precise with his sense of balance; he truly is a culinary artist in every sense, even to the presentation of the dish, which are exquisitely crafted to combine complex flavors with eye-pleasing textures.

Hoss only uses top quality ingredients, organic when possible and all from local purveyors . Take his appetizers, such as the Braised Veal Cheeks over white beans served with parsley and extra-virgin olive oil; the Beet Ravioli with farm-fresh porcini mushrooms, sun-dried tomatoes and feta cheese; or the sumptuous Smoked Pheasant Salad with watercress, roasted bell peppers, walnuts and a disk of goat cheese, dressed with a raspberry-lemon vinaigrette. This is just his APPETIZERS!

Any serious foodie needs to dine at Zares and be treated to Zare cuisine, great service at a very social setting.

Vacations are supposed to be about relaxing and having a good time. You can do this almost no matter where you are. If you are in a tiny little town it might be a little bit harder to get away from your usual haunts and spend some unusual time doing something interesting. If you live in Boston though you have no excuse. There are a number of great spas and areas to relax in for as long as you need.

When you are looking at day spas, deciding on one to be at can be hard and should really depend on what you are interested in doing while you relax. Or what you would like them to do to you.

There is always a large chain like Bella Sante Spa that will ensure that you know what you are getting yourself into. The nice thing about a place like this is that while there are a number of branches, you don’t win an award like the best of city search for nothing, and they keep their quality up across the board when it comes to each one.

If you want some quality care while you are being pampered as well as getting all that pesky hair off your legs, underarms and all the other little spots it plagues you try A.E. Lola Elena Skincare and Electrolysis. She is classically trained in Eastern Europe.

On the other hand, if you are looking for some place a little bit bigger to spend your day lounging around, try The Spa at Row’s Warf . It is a full service day spa and you can even get a package if you don’t know yet exactly how you are going to spend you time. They offer half day, full day, and weekend deals.

Don’t think that just because you live in the city you can’t get away. If the thought of coming back to your house is going to drag you down too much check into one of the 5 star hotels. Boston is full of them. It can be your home away from home while you take a vacation within your own city.

No one really wonders what they’re going to do when they visit Los Angeles. It’s just one of those great American cities where there is always something going on and it is a standard preference for vacation destinations. Meanwhile, what do people do when they visit LA? As if you had to ask, but since you did there are actually some extremely common tourist attractions in the city that entice most of the people who visit it, at least for the first time. And for those tourists who are staying in one of the five star hotels in Los Angeles and have spent the bulk of their vacation dollars on their luxury accommodations, there is some excellent news. Los Angeles actually has plenty of attractions and things to do that don’t cost anything. That’s right, the following list of great things to do in LA is free. So, enjoy your five star accommodations and have a great time in Los Angeles.

The downtown LA art walk is one of the hippest things to do in town and offers those who visit these galleries the chance to see some of the greatest local art. There are also performances and street activities. This event only occurs once a month on the second Thursday, so be sure it will be going on while you’re in town. Meanwhile for a place to visit that is there everyday of the year you might want to tour El Pueblo Historical Monument . This is the sight of the original settlement that established the city and is considered to be the birthplace of LA.

There are more interesting historic buildings on Olvera Street , which is a great place to spend some time and enjoy the Latino culture. The oldest existing house in LA the Avila Adobe is located here and there are a lot of activities taking place on the street. Mariachi and traditional folklore dances are regular and the street is full of great authentic Mexican restaurants. And of course you can spend time on one or more of the beautiful beaches that are always full of activities and artists. This is just a sampling of all the free and dynamic aspects of Los Angeles. The rest is yours to explore.

Orlando Museum of Art offers the weary, overloaded by attractions tourist a nice respite from crowds, long lines and noisy rides. Founded in 1924, the Orlando Museum of Art is an educational institution whose sole mission it to capture what is Florida by playing a major role as the leading cultural institution and in giving support the art community. OMA is located at 2416 N. Mills Avenue and admission is only $8.00.

Current temporary exhibitions includes ‘Knuffle Funny: the art and whimsy of Mo Willems’, who is an author and illustrator who is considered the biggest new talent this decade. He has won several prestigious Caldecott Honor awards and 6 Emmey’s for his writing on Sesame Street. He is also the creator of Cartoon Network’s ‘Sheep in the Big City’, and wrote the best seller: ‘Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus!’ OMA’s exhibition feature over 60 black-and-white and color drawings, which many are from ‘Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus!’. This exhibition runs till August 29, 2010.

Transcending Vision: American Impressionism 1870 – 1940, runs till July 18th, and features 75 American artists who demonstrate how they successfully transformed French Impressionism into their own unique styles. They redefined Impressionism with depictions of the American urban and rural landscape, documenting and reflecting how rapidly the country was changing. There are 125 paintings which trace the development of Impressionism in America, plus the emergence of what iss to be considered the ‘American’ style of painting. Herman Herzag, Georger Inness, Childe Hassam, and John Sloan are a few of the artists works being displayed in the exhibit. Their work has captivated visitors and artists alike not only today, but during that period as well.

‘Clydy Butcher: Big Cypress Swamp and the Western Everglades’, is a great exhibition for artists, teachers, adults and children; featuring 40 breathtaking large-format black-and-white photographs. Clydy is a renowned artist in Florida and his Ansel Adam-esque photographs of Yellowstone and Yosemite capture the untarnished and pristine qualities of these National Parks. The Big Cypress Swap is what has separats him from all other black-and-white photographers, and distinctly marks him as the foremost landscape photographer of the natural Florida. There is also a 56 minute documentary, which shares the history of the Western Everglades preservation and showcases Big Cypress as a complex ecosystem and in a continuous evolution.

These exhibition will make you laugh, become introspective and reflective. The peace you’ll find at the Orlando Museum of Art will make you appreciate all that Orlando truly has to offer. You’ll really appreciate the fact that OMA is within walking distance from a 4 star hotel in Orlando , many excellent restaurants and that you won’t have to stand in lines for an hour or more to enjoy the outstanding quality of artwork, and the calming atmosphere with which the OMA has diligently created to separate themselves from the hustle and bustle of Orlando’s touristy attractions.

Planning a trip to New York City in June? If so, check out the CitySolve Urban Race NYC , happening June 19th, and consider participating, because the grand Championship prize is $5,000. The race is an ultimate urban adventure game, where teams solve clever clues and face fun challenges as they get to discover New York City in a fun new way. If you and a partner sign up, you’ll receive a CitySolve Urban Race t-shirt and race number, get listed on the National Championship Qualifier for the top 25 teams only, get a chance to win $5,000 in the National Championship in New Orleans.

Once you’ve registered for this nutty experience, you and your partner will be on a lively, 1-day, New York City’s version of Amazing Race. You’ll get clues for a scavenger hunt that will take you to unmarked checkpoints, which are called ‘SOLVEpoints’ and get a chance to explore the City that you would otherwise not have gotten a chance to see. This race is a high octane adventure that will take you and your partner through neighborhoods like Midtown, Chelsea, Greenwich Village and some nifty New York City hotels , some you’ve never heard about, but are just as interesting as the more popular hotels.

Hopefully, you’re good at solving clues that run the gambit from pop-culture to 8th grade math problems to anagrams, American history and sudoku. If you’re good at Trivial Pursuit, you’ll really like this race. There will also be some different challenges, like having to bowl a strike, identify a flavor of ice cream, build a house of cards or put together a puzzle. The only thing that could ruin this fantastic CitySolve Urban Race NYC, is the weather, like a freak snow storm, or an out of the blue tornado.

Check in is at 11am and the race begins at Noon. 1st place wins $300 and a free Championship entry at New Orleans; 2nd place wins 2 Timbuk2 Bags (worth $100 each) and free entry to the Championships; 3rd place wins free Championship entry; and a $50 gift certificate for the best uniform, best Tweet, best family under 18 and best Senior 55 and older.

If you don’t plan to participate, hopefully as your sightseeing at the usual sights in New York City, you jsut might get a glimpse of CitySolve teams struggling with clues or challenges and see just how much fun they’re having.

Zurich is a perfect city to visit, grabbing a seat at the nearest cyber-cafe, engaging in some lively conversation with new Swiss friends, and watch the future come rolling in. Its present is a lovely one, where there are plenty of things to do, all day and all night, in an urban landscape that is designed to make a good life possible every waking moment. There are an extraordinary number of interesting people living here, called by its reputation as a world-class city for its present as well as its past. Zurich hotels are noted for their remarkable hospitality, promising a lovely stay in a lovely town.

Its history in contemporary art is a very lively one, home to some of the great art movements, and the birthplace of Dada. That art of the future has stood a test of time, one that lived far beyond the energy of the movements proponents, but may become eclipsed by the new digital art age. This is evidenced by Tweakfest , held every year in April, and it is one of the most forward-thinking art festivals in the world. Even if the travel plans are too early or too late for that festival, there is still a kind of hyper-active art energy that haunts the town, and guests can catch new art in motion any time of year.

Some of the biggest activists in this art form are taking to calling themselves tweakers as of late, and the name is rather proper to the form. In digital technologies, one might decide to modify an existing program, tweaking it until it works that way the visionary wants it to. It’s an apt description for what happens here, and what seems to be happening all over Europe, where the next generation is seeing the virtual world as a space to compliment life, rather than retreat from it into technology. New ideas, new paradigms, and new games are being invented all the time, looking at the present and decoding its mysteries to make something better.

The most important literary moments come and go without being able to fully live in them, to live to the fullest, and this is certainly one of the greatest tragedies. To be allowed to inhabit one’s time, fully inhabit them, is a kind of paradise on earth, although few notice at the time even when they are living. Fully living, that is, is a gift that’s reserved only for a spare few, and when it comes and goes so quickly, it is because the moment of waking up is as short as any dream. Or any drama.

And Schiller’s “Die Rauber” is still capable of providing the resistance to a quiet life, even after the centuries passing before our eyes. These are the moments when we can wake up to the moment, the place that is Mannheim, and understand that we are seeing Germany for the first time perhaps, and seeing it fully. This is the city that celebrated its 400th anniversary not very long ago, and has seen its share of tragedies, but in the German consciousness, some of the most elemental tragedies are lived internally, and fully, marking a present filled with doubt and dread.

However, like the most significant moment in a drama by Schiller , it comes like a storm and passes just in time to enjoy a nice lunch. There is always something enticing on the menu, and to eat when one is hungry is one step on the way toward the Good, and the Beautiful. A nap in a glorious hotel might complete the afternoon, but somehow, there is always the next day to contend with. Walking the city with the larger questions at the front of the mind and on the tip of the tongue, there are traces of the best in German philosophy, and there are traces of a vacation, enjoyed in the moment, and fully.

For most people who visit New York, they originally arrive in the city by airplane. Well, that should be clarified by saying most people who visit the city because they plan to vacation in New York or are there for a business trip, arrive by plane. Kennedy and LaGuardia are the city’s main airports and are two of the busiest airports in the world. However a large number of people arrive in the city by automobile and even bus. And once you’re in New York, if you plan to do any inter borough traveling you will most likely do via bridge. And New York has some of the most famous bridges in the world. The Brooklyn Bridge, originally known as the New York Brooklyn Bridge was the longest suspension bridge of its kind when it was originally built.

And of course the most common form of mass transportation while you are in the city is, not what your first thought was probably going to be. It is actually one’s own feet, or walking that is the primary transportation mode for people in New York City. Even tourists get around to a large extent via their own feet and spend a lot of their time in the city walking. Even when combined with some of the other common forms of transportation, a large portion of the distances covered in the city are by foot.

And for those people who need to get off of there feet, there is an extensive subway system that is probably used by more people on a daily basis than any other in the country. It is most popular high speed transportation in the city. And for these purposes high speed means faster than what you can walk. Buses are another transportation in New York as are taxis. Residents frequently get around the city by bicycling or rollerblading. However you get yourself to New York or travel around while you’re there, you will most likely have an incredible time doing it.