Meaford Winery's
the apple of their eye
MEAFORD, Ont. – In a community that's as down home as apple pie, it's a surprise to drive down a gravel road and trip across a chic new winery with all the sophistication of a California vineyard.
Meaford may be the apple capital of Ontario, but it's considered the "outer limits" of the Ontario Vintner Quality Alliance's designated wine regions. Yet, after successfully experimenting with some hardy varieties of grapes, Neil and Gwen Lamont opened Coffin Ridge winery here in early June.
The building itself has sleek lines emphasized by black and blood-red trim. Inside, the tasting room oozes sophistication – even in the bathroom where the black-and-red theme continues.
The name is equally dramatic. Legend has it that more than 100 years ago, pioneer pallbearers crossing the ridge dropped a coffin and the corpse rolled toward what is now the vineyard.
Gwen Lamont, a former psychotherapist with a knack for spotting a marketing opportunity, tied in the Coffin name with California winemaker Robert Mondavi's theory that winemaking breathes life into harvested grapes.
"The grapes die a natural death when they are picked and turning them into wine brings them back from the dead," says Gwen Lamont.
So, naturally, Coffin Ridge's signature wines go by the names Back from the Dead Red, Into the Light White and Resurrection Rose.
"Do you think the names are okay?" Gwen Lamont asks a group of ladies enjoying a glass of wine on the patio overlooking the blue waters of Georgian Bay.
"Perfect. I'll take a bottle of Back from the Dead Red next time I visit friends I haven't seen in years," says Jean Compton of Mississauga.
Coffin Ridge sells a glass of wine for $5 to $7 and, for $15, offers a vintner's plate – enough for two to share – pairing the wines with local artisan cheeses and breads.
Wine is also available by the bottle, but with an inventory of only 500 cases for the first year, Lamont fears they may run out before they close for the season in October.
"The response has been amazing," she says.
So far, about half of the 10-hectare vineyard has been planted, with geizenheim and frontenac. Winemaker Terry Rayner experimented to perfect the wine made from the hardy grapes brought in from Quebec and Ohio.
"You have to do things a little differently this far north," says Rayner.
The result has wine connoisseurs identifying Coffin Ridge as a winery to watch.
Coffin Ridge's 2007 riesling sur-lie is "bound to win many awards," says food and wine author Shari Darling. "This is one of the most unique, complex and interesting Ontario rieslings I've ever tasted."
While Coffin Ridge is the Southern Georgian Bay region's first winery to open to the public, others are also working hard to establish the area as a new wine region.
Third-generation apple grower John Ardiel has been growing grapes in the Town of the Blue Mountains since 1998. Ardiel has teamed with Collingwood wine marketer Robert Ketchin and sixth generation Niagara wine maker Murray Puddicombe and their Georgian Hills Vineyards is already producing wine that is available at local restaurants including Oliver & Bonacini at Blue Mountain and Collingwood's Café Chartreuse.
Georgian Hills plans to open a winery in 2010, but private tastings are currently available upon request, says Ketchin.
Tim Dixon, of Miami, Fla., owns land on the Bruce Peninsula which he hopes to turn into a vineyard so he contacted the Lamonts and offered to fly up to help with this year's planting.
"My property isn't much farther north than this, so it's very encouraging to see grape vines do so well here," he says as he plants in the Coffin Ridge vineyard.
Darling is enthusiastic about Coffin Ridge's location.
"Take a deep breath and count your blessings that we have such a lovely winery to visit in northern Ontario's cottage country," she says.
Robert Avery is a Meaford-based freelance writer.
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Detroit has taken some hits over the years, but it always seems to bounce back, thanks to its creative spirit and proud people
May 03, 2008 04:30 AM
DETROIT, MICH.–Everybody in this storied border town has an opinion and a fierce local pride that they feel compelled to share.
It starts early on. As my cohort and I enter the U.S., a chatty customs agent regales us for a good 15 minutes on the techno talents of local musical legend Derrick May. A taxi driver insists we tour Boston Edison, the posh neighbourhood famous for Henry Ford's Motor City mansion.
A bartender at the fantastic Slow's BBQ restaurant tells us about Handmade Detroit, an up-and-coming arts and crafts collective.
And at Pronto, one of the city's oldest gay bars, a well-dressed young man named Darryl shares his tidy opinions on architecture: "The most beautiful houses are in Indian Village."
Yes, the brutal hand of history has left Detroit's formerly glamorous city centre bereft of the human energy needed to fill its imposing skyscrapers.
That doesn't override the city's equally imposing artistic and industrial accomplishments – of which we remind ourselves by rattling off its nicknames.
There's Motor City, of course: and this summer, Detroit is beefing up its auto-themed events to celebrate both the 100th anniversary of the founding of General Motors and the 100th anniversary of Henry Ford selling his first Model T.
There's "Detroit Rock City," thanks to bands like The Von Bondies and The White Stripes, and Motown for a playlist stocked with Marvin Gaye, the Jackson Five, Stevie Wonder and The Supremes.
It seems like every time Detroit has taken a hit, it surges impossibly back, and this cycle lends itself to colourful retelling by a population that is both gregarious and prideful.
Our best local guide is Bill Cooper, who has so many anecdotes and statistics on the tip of his tongue, we dub him Mr. Detroit. (FYI, Michigan residents use their hand to show what part of the state they're from. Ask someone and see).
He brings us to Cliff's Bells, a breathtaking art deco bar re-opened three years ago.
One of Cooper's favourite spots to spend an afternoon is the eight-year-old, 41,000-seat baseball stadium Comerica Park, which he considers an analogy for the city.
"It's beautiful and flawed," he says. "We spent $300 million on a ballpark that opened with a scoreboard so far to the left no one could read it."
But in extolling the park's virtues, Cooper offers up a Norman Rockwell painting: The stadium has a midway with a Ferris wheel and a merry-go-round, plus fireworks every weekend. Sunday afternoons, kids can get their faces painted free, then can run the basepaths after the game.
Mike Ilitch, owner of the Little Caesars Pizza empire and both the Tiger and the Red Wings hockey team, is another local with a surfeit of hometown pride that he's shown off in the 80-year-old Fox Theatre, which he restored to a heart-stopping level of ornate splendour after it, too, spent decades abandoned and picked over.
Treated as a hero in the city, Ilitch has made Tigers games a Michigan must-do, bringing out three million spectators to Comerica Park in 2007 alone.
Of course, it doesn't hurt that baseball is a local obsession – or, as Cooper puts it, "The Tigers and Detroit are one and the same."
He tells us how the Detroit Tigers mended a patch in the fabric of a city torn apart by racial strife. After the brutal race riots of 1967, white residents took off for the suburbs, while blacks were trapped in a hollowed-out downtown. The down-and-out stretch along 8 Mile (Eminem's `hood) gained national notoriety as the dividing line.
"Fast forward to 1968," he says. "The Tigers won the World Series and unified the city." Cooper wasn't even born yet but considers that World Series win his own.
The design of Detroit's city centre is a tribute to the wheels of the cars that once afforded it so much Roaring '20s dazzle – streets like Woodward Ave., Michigan Ave. and Cadillac Square radiate out like spokes, proffering gorgeous Renaissance buildings to the gods of commerce and industry.
Of course, many of those buildings have been underused for decades. Which makes them especially interesting to those fascinated by beautiful decay: The 79-year-old Leland Hotel has soaring ceilings, a ballroom with ornate crown moulding and a fireplace offset by massive chandeliers.
It also has buckets to catch leaks and tragically water-stained wallpaper. It gives off a faded grandeur reminiscent of Havana, Cuba.
Those who prefer their treasures shiny will be happy to know that Comerica seems to have got the urban renewal ball rolling. Another newly polished spot is Campus Martius park, a green patch in the centre of the wheel's spokes that's well traversed by baseball fans in search of that sloppy, chili-laden postgame treat, the Coney Dog at the Coney Island diner.
One of the city's greatest architectural treasures, the Book Cadillac hotel is undergoing an ambitious, $180-million-conversion into a luxury Westin.
The playboy Book brothers who owned the Cadillac lost it during the Great Depression, and it changed hands countless times, growing more and more decrepit until its shuttering in the mid-80s. Like so many of the city's landmarks, it spent decades being broken into and picked over, much of its gorgeous marble and stonework now part of locals' personal artifact collection.
So why reopen it now? The answer is baseball. John Ferchill, the brain behind the Westin project, made his name building luxury hotels in formerly deadbeat strips of Cleveland and Pittsburgh.
"We noticed that new ballparks dramatically changed a city's demographics," says Ferchill. "In Cleveland, it created a whole generation of people, of kids, who are downtown all of the time."
And there's hope that just might happen here. Most of the 67 condominiums slated for the Cadillac's top floors have been sold, including a three-level penthouse with a 30th-floor balcony looking out over the Detroit river.
Other revamped architectural wonders have been remade into art galleries. The splendid, massive, Beaux Arts space known as the Detroit Institute of Arts is the country's fifth-largest museum: a Diego Rivera mural celebrating the city's factories is one of the most important 20th century works in the United States. Just down the street is a former car showroom that's now the hip Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit.
"Artists have always been outsiders who like to colonize areas that aren't popular," says the MOCAD's director, Marsha Miro. "Detroit is really on the fringe, nothing is perfectly packaged, it isn't over. That cultivates a lot of artistic energy."
Just about every Detroit bar has adorned its walls with local photos and paintings and, in my humble opinion, a lot of it is really good.
Of course, beauty is in the eye of the beholder.
Denise Balkissoon is a freelance writer based in Toronto.
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Apr 19, 2008 04:30 AM
Judean Desert, Israel – Here are just a few phrases that you never thought you'd hear yourself say:
"The off-roading in the Judean Desert is breathtaking" or "I tried a lovely cabernet-merlot on a recent wine-tasting in Israel," or "The bird-watching safari I went on is a marvel of eco-tourism."
As this country prepares to celebrate 60 years of nationhood next month, amid 4,000 years of history, Israel is more eager than ever to put on a fresh face for the world and offer travellers a dose of the unexpected.
It's not an easy job in a country where political battles continue to dominate headlines and where tourism is so intricately linked to a rich religious heritage.
Nonetheless, this tiny nation's less obvious attractions are putting themselves out there, extending a warm welcome and encouraging visitors to explore the "new" Israel.
Desert off-roading
The Pink Floyd blasting from Gil Shkedi's Land Rover suits both the man and his surroundings perfectly, mixing a taste for adventure with a decidedly laid-back vibe.
Shkedi was a pioneer in turning the harsh yet striking environment of Israel's Judean Desert into a tourist attraction. He first launched his desert jeep tours 15 years ago and now boasts three Land Rovers, a hostel-style tented campsite on the southern tip of Israel's famed Dead Sea and excursions that range from two hours to several days and include camping under the desert stars.
The powdery layer of dust covering every inch of the jeep and the salty taste in the air as we climb into the back is a sign of what lies ahead.
Taking a hard – very hard – left off the comfort of the highway that runs alongside the Dead Sea, we are plunged onto a swath of dry seabed.
After bumping along the salt-crusted shore a short while, we veer back across the highway and then enter the labyrinth of wadi (Arabic for dry river beds) that lead to the fabled Mount Sodom, an 11-kilometre stretch of hills made up almost completely of salt.
Star among the eerie salt peaks is the 230-metre-high "Lot's wife formation," a biblical reference to the woman who disobeyed God by turning to look back as she fled Sodom and was turned into a pillar of salt.
A haven for rappelling, hiking and biking, the region has well-marked trails and hosts a mountain-bike challenge every November that draws enthusiasts from around the world.
Rappelling inside the dark, cold caverns of Mount Sodom was halted after the number of visitors getting lost or injured became too much for the local mountain rescue volunteer unit, of which Shkedi is a member.
"You have to respect the desert, you have to take your water, you have to prepare yourself and yet, still, some people will cross the limits."
Scaling a fortress
Anyone who watches the History Channel will know the story of Masada, the tragic tale of how 960 Jews chose death by their own hands over slavery after a long siege by Roman conquerors in 73 A.D.
The 450 metre-high mountaintop fortress of King Herod, where the Jewish zealots resisted the Romans, is considered the best-preserved example of a Roman siege camp.
While already a popular tourist stop on the Dead Sea, Masada opened a new museum last year at the base of the fortress that puts the battle and subsequent archeological finds into perspective using life-sized statues and settings that invite the visitor to be part of life in Masada.
The exhibit concludes with a moving statue of Yigael Yadin, the famed archeologist who led the teams of thousands of young volunteers who excavated the site in the 1960s.
He is pictured hunched over his desk drawing his clues from ancient writings of Jewish struggle by Josephus. The three-minute cable car ride, or one-hour hike to the top via the Snake Path, is worth it, if only just for the sweeping views of the Judean desert and the Dead Sea.
Wine for a new age
The history of Galil Mountain winery sounds like a joke. What do you get when you mix an Israeli kibbutz looking for a new business venture with a winemaker trying to bolster the reputation of Israel's wine industry?
The punch line is an amusing little wine known as Galil Mountain Yiron, which has been putting grins on the faces of wine critics ever since it was first bottled back in 2000.
The winery's most acclaimed creation is a kosher blend of cabernet, merlot and syrah grapes, but Galil's Carmit Ehrenreich says it's about more than accolades and awards.
"We want to sell wines, but we want to sell Israel too," she says of the venture that borrowed from the established winemakers of Golan Heights Winery in partnership with the local Yiron Kibbutz.
Nestled high in the picturesque hills above the Sea of Galilee, Galil Mountain is just steps from the border with Lebanon and was a grape-growing area 1,000 years ago.
The new, young vines growing on hills steeped in so much history is just one of the motivations that drive the winemakers of Galil, says Ehrenreich.
Dispelling the myth that Israeli wines are sweet, unsophisticated concoctions only to be brought out for religious holidays is another key aim.
"We have so much to offer and we are very eager to grow," she says of the plans to establish a food, wine and music festival along with some of the smaller, boutique wineries already operating in the area.
Fine dining for high flyers
We are roaming around one of the world's best restaurants – in a golf cart.
Nir Aspis tells us that if only we were migratory birds, we would be feasting in the equivalent of a Michelin-star establishment.
"Up to 500,000 birds stop in Israel twice a year," he explains of the migratory patterns of 400 species of birds that make the long journey from countries such as Finland and Russia to northern Africa every fall before returning home again each spring.
"For them, the Hula valley is like coming to a very good restaurant," he says.
"For some, we are also a good motel for a few days."
The Agamon Hula Lake Ornithological Park, which lies in northwestern Israel on the edge of the Golan Heights near the border with Syria is viewed as a world leader in accommodating the needs of migratory birds, their natural predators and even local farmers while providing a unique attraction for visitors.
"We are not a nature reserve, this is a working farming area," Aspis stresses of the eco-tourism venture which has been open to visitors for four years.
Visitors can choose from golf carts, bicycles, pedal-powered carts, a guided mini-train or even a camouflaged trolley that lets you get up close and personal with thousands of visiting cranes. You are also free to roam on foot.
We are visiting Agamon at a special time for bird-watchers. In anticipation of the Beijing Olympics, each country was asked to submit information on their national bird.
"We didn't have one," Aspis tells us of the dilemma that prompted an ongoing national competition for Israel's official bird.
Among the contenders is the spur-winged plover, which Aspis points out and says he thinks might just win the contest, to be announced as part of Israel's anniversary celebrations in May.
"The spur is a bit like the people, a bit aggressive, a bit loud and looks like it's ready to protect itself," Nir laughs as he points out the bird's wing shape. It appears to be armed.
Caroline Mallan is a London-based freelance writer. Her visit to Israel was subsidized by the Israeli Ministry of Tourism.
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Just the facts May 8 is the official date of Israel's 60th anniversary and there are events planned throughout the year. See www.goisrael.ca For information on Agamon Hula Lake Ornithological Park, including what birds you can expect to see at different times of the year, go to www.agamon-hula.co.il Jeep tours and trekking in the Judean Desert can be found at www.shkedig.com Masada National Park visitors information can be found Here Galil Winery visits can be arranged via their website at www.galilmountain.co.il |
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Boldly going where few golfers have gone before - to the GTA, Muskoka and beyond!
Whenever your most pleasurable games and memorable courses are crammed into a couple of weeks, it almost seems uncivil.
After attending The President's Cup at Royal Montreal, immediately followed by the seductive scenery of Mt. Tremblant's Le Geant and Ontario's Muskoka Bay, it was a golfer's dream vacation.
Yet my biggest thrill last year was playing Canada's most northerly - and westerly - golf course up at Dawson City in the Yukon, a gorgeous wilderness course with real live grass and just one live golfer.
Ordinarily, you'd stop there and be done with it. But these days, I feel compelled to forge on and seek the most easterly and southerly clubs of Canada and add them to my resume of trifles. Luckily, my loyal cadre of spies still keeps me informed about course conditions around the GTA and I'm always intrigued by new clubs and changes in the old standbys.
Incidentally, during my two years of glorious retirement, I golfed every day with my loyal band of brothers - Bob, Rod, Bill and Ziggy - still managing a single digit handicap, although I've been playing for so long, it's in Roman numerals. Just maybe I'm slowing down a bit, too.
The other day, a little old lady tapped me on the shoulder at the seventh tee and asked if she could play through. But now it's time for a Captain Kirk shot - one that goes where no man has gone before - my
picks for the birdies and bogeys, and top 10s of 2007.
TOP 10: GTA PUBLIC COURSES
1. Bond Head North
2. Eagles Nest
3. Copper Creek
4. Wooden Sticks
5. Glen Abbey
6. Lionhead Legends
7. Angus Glen South
8. Woodington Lake
9. Osprey Valley
10.Royal Ontario
TOP 10 BEYOND THE GTA COURSES
1. Muskoka Bay
2. Taboo
3. Black Bear Ridge
4. Deerhurst Highlands
5. Legends on the Niagara
6. LochNess Links
7. Tangle Creek
8. Copetown Woods
9. Timber Ridge
10.Atoka (Cranberry Resort)
FROM THE 19TH HOLE
Top executive course: Innisbrook
Toughest tee time: Twenty Valley
Best senior value: Coral Creek
Longest hole: Black Bear Ridge's 11th, 690 yards
Best greens: Deerfield
Top waste bunkers: Copetown Woods
Scruffulous driving range: Le Geant
Friendliest staff: Royal Ontario
Most unique 150 yard markers: Dawson City's dredge buckets
Most hair-pulling short par 4: Royal Ontario's 14th, 239 yards
Quirkiest hole: Lakeview's 12th
Best bar view: Peninsula Lakes
Classiest clubhouse and art gallery: Bond Head
Trickiest green: Wildwind's 3rd
Yummiest chili: Bond Head
Longest driveway: Muskoka Bay's mile
Worth bootlicking to play: 18th Le Geant; 9th Muskoka Bay
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A different take on the natural beauty of the Grand Canyon
Apr 12, 2008 04:30 AM
GRAND CANYON, ARIZ.–A canyon wren greets the dawn, its call a descending scale of flute-like notes. Eyes open to the sight of distant palisades blushing in the morning sun. Here at the canyon bottom, a kilometre below the rim, shadows linger well into the morning.
One by one, campers crawl from sleeping bags, grab mugs and head toward the aroma of coffee and pancakes. Beside them flows the Colorado River, a football-field-wide channel of muddy-brown liquid. The nearby current mildly laps the bank, but a quarter-mile downstream, the ominous roar of rapids reverberates from riverside cliffs.
Stunning confines, tasty cuisine and the promise of coming cataracts – another day begins in the depths of Arizona's Grand Canyon.
Every year, more than four million tourists stand at the canyon's edge and gape at its cliffs and chasms, shapes, shades and shadows. A mere 25,000 gaze back annually from below.
Instead of expansive grandeur, folks at the bottom experience a corridor filled with intimate colours, textures, sights, sounds and smells.
Riverside landforms vary from sheer cliffs to tumbling slopes and skirted terraces. Surprises abound. Springs gush from cliffside caves, waterfalls tumble over desert bluffs and tributary canyon slots lead to emerald grottos.
Willows and tamarisks shade sandy benches. Coyotes, deer, and desert bighorn roam streamside flats. Other than a pair of foot bridges near Phantom Ranch, the only marks of humankind are historic.
"There are not many places in North America where you can go for 18 days on a river trip and not go through communities," observes part-time river guide Matt Claman. "This is a very long stretch of uninterrupted river travel that also happens to have a lot of whitewater."
The Grand Canyon offers over 150 named rapids. They range in scale from wavy churners to frothing maelstroms sporting waves higher than houses and holes that could swallow a Hummer. Bounding, bouncing and bashing through one of these can be a puckering endeavour.
Most river trippers hurdle through the canyon's cataracts on pontoon rafts powered by pistons. The rigs stretch around 10 metres in length and can hold 15 or more people plus guides. Gear, food, fuel, spare engine and generally enough adult beverages to open a streamside speakeasy get strapped on top.
These floating motor coaches travel at around 13 km/h, giving gas-powered trips the advantage of speed. Passengers can traverse the length of the canyon in six days, with optional seven- and eight-day journeys available to those wanting more time for side-canyon exploration.
Motor rigs plough through whitewater, treating passengers to an amusement park-like, drenching ride. Riders, especially those near the bow, feel the thrill as waves of water pour over them. Because of their power and size, motor rafts seldom flip.
Motorized trips have their disadvantages. Thjere's the din of engine noise, and those sitting near the back smell the exhaust. Guide interaction is limited. Scenery passes quickly and the shortness of the trips and size of the groups make it difficult to get to know fellow passengers.
"People go back to their cliques and families," observes Ryan Zimmer of Wilderness River Adventures. "You have a few people who mingle, but not many."
Then there's the speed itself. Some think that even eight days in the bottom of the canyon is not enough time. For them, commercial outfitters offer longer, muscle-powered alternatives.
The most common go-slow options employ oar-powered, inflatable rafts.
Floating at half the speed of piston-powered rigs, a full-canyon oar journey takes a dozen days or more. The unhurried pace allows more time for absorbing the majesty of the canyon. Vacations become experiences.
"You get people who come down here for 16 to 18 days and it's a completely different experience," says guide Bill Bruchak. "They become part of the place and end up taking it with them. That's what boatmen call `getting it.'"
If motor rigs are the river's busses, these are its minivans. The rafts carry four to six passengers each plus an oarsman. Chummy seating and lack of engine noise gives guides the opportunity to share natural history, human history and a few tall tales from their own canyon history.
Their smaller size and lower-slung seating make oar-powered rafts feel more exciting in heavy whitewater. Although it happens infrequently, they will flip more easily than their motorized brethren. Fortunately, they are far easier to turn back, sunny-side up.
For those who think that watching a guide do the work is too sedentary, a number of companies offer paddle rafts. Passengers wielding plastic paddles provide the locomotion while guides bark instructions. Success in the whitewater depends on strength and teamwork.
Of course, paddle rafting is not for the unfit. With 364 kilometres to cover, upper body muscles get a Bengay-worthy workout.
Paddling a rapid can be exciting but when it comes to whitewater, few rides compare to those provided by dories. Invented in the 1960s, these wood and fibreglass vessels carry four passengers and an oarsman. They are broad on the bottom and feature upturned ends with pointed bows and sterns. Costly, colourful and classic, dories are the sports cars of commercial river running.
They are also somewhat rare. Of the canyon's 16 outfitters, only two (Grand Canyon Dories and Grand Canyon Expeditions) offer dory trips.
The most manoeuvreable commercial craft on the river, a dory's hard sides, sharp bow and rocker-shaped hull allow it to carve its way through a rapid like a Ferrari twisting down a race track. Guides carefully plot routes. Unlike rubber rafts that bounce off boulders, when a dory smacks a rock, holes can result. Most are easily patched with fibreglass and epoxy.
Dories are also the most prone to tipping, and the easiest to right. To help keep the boats from going bottoms-up, passengers learn to lean into waves. After a rapid, they bail out the boat.
The fun of a run can be measured by the inches of liquid sloshing in the foot wells.
Grand Canyon float trips are not for everyone. Nights are spent camping on sandy benches. Shelter comes in two-person tents, which you erect yourself.. Mattresses are foam pads, and bedding is a sleeping bag.
The bathroom consists of a military-surplus ammo can topped with a toilet seat, and the only bathing facility is the 7C river. There are bugs, bats, snakes, scorpions, rodents and the occasional skunk to contend with, along with ample blasts of wind, rain and heat.
Cell phones don't work at the bottom of the canyon, and there's no TV, WiFi, Internet, or even electricity to recharge an iPod. In the world of interconnectivity, it's a disengaging getaway.
On the other hand, most commercial trips provide guide-cooked dining with menus featuring fresh foods through trips' end. Experienced river runners share knowledge, stories and song.
Hikes lead to waterfalls and pools nearly impossible to reach by any other means. Sunsets paint the sky pink, and starlit nights are simply stellar.
Best of all, the river provides an ideal venue for testing limits, challenging fear or just contemplating the meaning of life.
"The greatest thing for me being down here is just seeing how it affects different people," says Wilderness River Adventures guide Paul "Okie" Jones, "and trying to see how it has affected me."
Whether motor or muscle-powered, the experience is not soon forgotten.
Dan Leeth is a freelance writer based in Aurora, Colo.
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Victoria's grande dame still charms
guests with
a sumptuous serving
of treats, tea and tradition
Mar 29, 2008 04:30 AM
Victoria, B.C.– What grande dame Canadian hotel was designed by a man who'd later be murdered, played host to a wild cougar, charges $60 for afternoon tea and is celebrating 100 years in the business?
It's Victoria's Empress Hotel, which opened its portals in 1908 – the year Henry Ford produced his first Model T, the first-ever Mother's Day was celebrated and Anne of Green Gables was published.
The stately Edwardian pile was designed by Francis Rattenbury, who had also designed the nearby B.C. Legislature.
To this day, the two define the city's British sensibility and colonial charm.
Rattenbury later returned to his native England and was bumped off by his chauffeur, who was having an affair with Mrs. Rattenbury.
A century later, the hotel – now branded as the Fairmont Empress – remains a Canadian classic. Travel magazines perennially list it as one of the world's great hotels.
The hotel looks back at a who's who of royals, politicians and movie stars. Shirley Temple stayed, allegedly hiding out from kidnappers. Bob Hope joked about using the corridors as a putting green. Barbra Streisand was turned away from Afternoon Tea for running afoul of the dress code. Rita Hayworth, John Wayne and Lassie – yes, Lassie – slept in the Vice Regal Suite.
The only celebrity ejected for bad behaviour was actor Peter Lawford, charter member of Frank Sinatra's Rat Pack, who'd gone overboard attempting to seduce a room-service girl.
But no guest was more stellar than the 60-kilogram cougar that dropped in back in March 1992.
The story that the cat sauntered into the lobby and gave the desk manager a new white hairdo is just a rumour. In fact, the feline was found in the hotel's indoor parking lot. It was pursued by a hotel employee who insulted it by mistaking it for a dog. Finally, it was tranquilized and packed off to a new home in the Cowichon Valley.
This Centennial year, the Empress has a portfolio of treats for guests who walk through its imposing portals. They range from a bargain accommodation package to a new souvenir book.
In the baronial opulence of the Empress Room, the menu spins through time to offer the gastro-hits of 1908 – the likes of tournedos Rossini and baked Alaska – only lightened up in the contemporary mode.
Much of the Centennial fuss has to do with the Tea Room. It's been fastidiously refurbished.
"We spent $175,000 replacing the white oak floor," says general manager Roger Soane. "We finished it to look as if it'd been around since the beginning. It looks so much like the original, people can't tell the difference."
Afternoon Tea goes back the full hundred years.
"It's what we're known for," explains Soane. "It's not about what you get. It's about the experience. Like being in Singapore and going to Raffles for a Singapore Sling. It's not breakfast, lunch or dinner. It's purely for pleasure. It's about good friends and decadent food. There's no rush, no worry, just an abiding sense of tradition."
The hotel sells more than 115,000 teas every year. That's a cool minimum revenue of $6.9 million.
Tourists can't seem to go home without it. Cruise ship passengers practically storm the room.
"Afternoon" tea is often served at 9:30 p.m.
But what do you get for $60? You're seated in an early 20th century room that's cozy and formal at the same time. There's Royal Doulton china, a silver tea service and a piano player.
The slate of teas comes attuned to a time when everyone's a tea connoisseur. The Centennial tea, for instance, blends leaves from Assam in northeast India for a predominantly malty flavour, Sri Lanka for fruitiness and Kenya for floral aroma.
The food platter is a triple-tier of dainty sandwiches, scones and pastries.
"Americans start at the bottom and work their way up to the pastries," says Ray, a veteran server. "The Queen works her down from the desserts to the sandwiches. Canadians start in the middle."
The smoked-salmon-and cream-cheese sandwich beats its cucumber counterpart. The scones demonstrate why the recipe hasn't changed in 100 years. Among the desserts, the tart cherry coated in chocolate is a decided winner. Included is a glass of Stellar's Jay, the award-winning bubbly from Sumac Ridge in the Okanagan Valley.
The pot thickens with the Centennial Tea to be served Fridays from May to October in the Library. The tab jumps to $100.
"It'll be like tea in a Victorian home," says Soane. "There'll be a harpist. The tea sommelier will be working with the best. The food will be upgraded to include items such as lobster and caviar. But it's still about the experience of being here."
Jeremy Ferguson is a freelance writer based in Victoria, B.C.
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Once-sleepy hideaway now has art galleries, a symphony orchestra
KEY WEST, Fla.–You can still see chickens crossing the road near the busy intersection of Duval and Truman.
Once they might have been chased by an axe-wielding cook with a gleam in her eye. But today they are more likely to dodge tourist trolleys or shoppers weighed down with high-end fashion accessories or original works of art.
But to those who love the laid-back feel this once-sleepy hideaway was long known for, the chickens are a reassuring sight.
Key West may have gone upscale, but the place hasn't lost all its funky, renegade charm.
Drunks still wander arm-in-arm out of Sloppy Joe's, the wisecracking street artists still put on whimsical shows at sunset on the dock at Mallory Square and the descendants of Ernest Hemingway's cats still lap water from the urinal the author hauled home from his favourite bar.
Key West has gotten pricey, especially during the winter season, but it also has a lot more to offer these days than simply a rousing good time slamming rum drinks and singing along to Jimmy Buffett songs. A new art film cinema just opened, art galleries are almost too numerous to keep up with, local troupes perform plays frequently, the annual literary seminar regularly attracts important authors and even a small symphony orchestra calls the island home.
And if culture isn't your thing, there's always the standard fare of scuba diving on America's only coral reef, sport fishing in the azure waters of the Gulf Stream, kitesurfing or sunbathing, strolling the shops and tourist traps, taking a walking tour to gaze at Victorian mansions set in a tropical paradise, or biking your way around an island famous for its end-of-the-road ambience.
Don't forget fine dining, fresh seafood and people-watching, always a winner in a place with as many outrageous characters as Key West.
"It's changed a lot in recent years, but it's still a town that inspires creativity," said Sharon Wells, an artist and student of local architecture who escaped to Key West some 30 years ago. "It's hard to put myself back in 1976 when I came here. It was so incredibly different then. But it's still the people who make the place.''
For visitors looking to escape their everyday grind for a relaxing getaway, Key West is hard to beat, and the prices are certainly competitive with most Caribbean islands.
One of the best ways to see the older, more picturesque part of the island is a walking tour. Wells has produced an excellent "Walking and Biking Guide to Historic Key West." It is available free at her gallery, KW Light Gallery on Duval St., and in many of the racks with tourist flyers all over town.
More than a dozen different walks are organized around themes that include literary landmarks, Victorian mansions, a graveyard ramble, a jaunt through the city's forts and military installations, an Afro-Caribbean tour and a gay trek.
The literary tour is a favourite, and Wells' book includes thumbnails of the remarkable list of heavyweight authors who made Key West a favoured retreat, including Hemingway, Tennessee Williams, Richard Wilbur and Ralph Ellison.
The Hemingway home at 907 Whitehead St. is one of the best because you can tour it, gazing at the desk where the author plied his trade and the airy rooms where he entertained a dazzling array of Hollywood celebrities and bon vivants. The tour costs $11, but is worth the price for the colourful stories the guides tell about the author, his four wives and the dozens of cats that still have the run of the place.
Try renting a bicycle or a motor scooter to expand your touring. The island is only 6 1/2 kilometres long and three kilometres wide, but you can still fill up a day exploring back streets, many of which offer glimpses of fabulous mansions or whimsical shacks.
History comes alive at the Key West Shipwreck Historeum Museum on Whitehead St., just a block from Mallory Square. Actors in period attire entertain visitors, who can also see artifacts from the 1856 wreck of the Isaac Allerton.
Nearby, Mel Fisher's Maritime Museum will dazzle you with gold coins and other treasure brought up by Key West's most famous treasure salvage outfit. Both are great for kids, as is the Key West Aquarium, just across the street from the Shipwreck Historeum.
Key West is hard to beat for an island vacation. And while it has grown and changed dramatically in recent decades, its charm remains.
"There is still a great sense of community here," said Wells.
Cox News Service
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Mar 01, 2008
XINJIANG, CHINA–We drive the Karakoram Highway linking China and Pakistan in a rickety Volkswagen Santana; our driver and guide is a bespectacled man named Xiao Xu.
Xiao, who runs a travel café in a hotel in Kashgar, a city in the far reaches of China's Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region, is testy this morning. He'd expected two people for our trip, but late last night my travel partner and I found a young Australian couple – Tom and Kelly – to join us.
I ask Xiao how long the trip will take.
"With two people, three hours," he huffs, his clear-rimmed glasses resting low on the bridge of his nose. "But four people, four hours. Because it's uphill."
We're on our way to Karakul Lake, a glacier lake 3,600 metres above sea level tucked in the Pamir Mountains, a stone's throw from the Tajikistan border. We've arranged to camp in a yurt belonging to Kyrgyz herders.
This is the China that isn't China. In fact, there's little about Xinjiang's sprawling and inhospitable western region that resembles the Middle Kingdom. Residents are predominantly Uighur Muslim, peppered with Kyrgyz, Kazak and other minority groups living in an area of mostly desert and mountain ranges.
Unlike much of China's natural beauty, the region hasn't been devastated by the nation's growing tourism machine – though there are signs that is changing. At Karakul Lake, a small Chinese restaurant has already been built, construction on a new hotel is underway, and the number of tour groups making day trips is increasing – a trend sure to continue considering the growing interest in travel among China's affluent.
For now, however, a trip to Karakul, or "black lake" in Kyrgyz, still feels like a visit to edge of the Earth.
First, you have to make it. The drive out is harrowing, not so much because of the terrain, which is rugged, but because of Xiao's driving. He rides the Santana from side-to-side on the highway, as if practising alpine ski turns. When his eyes catch a mountain or lake on the side of the road, the car drifts to whichever direction he is looking.
Then there's the fact that the Santana's back seats have no seat belts.
It's a remarkable drive.
The Karakoram is the highest paved international road in the world and the scenery is striking – mountain ranges, glacier lakes and sand dunes. We stop for photos and locals with weathered faces from the cold try to sell us trinkets and watches.
Sometime after noon, we arrive at Karakul Lake.
It's as impressive as we'd heard – a pristine, blue-green jewel, surrounded by snow-capped mountains, bare hills and grazing camels. Muztagh Ata Mountain, at 7,500 metres high, looms in the background.
Fortunately, few tourists have made the impressive trek to the lake, and after dropping off our bags in our yurt and eating a quick lunch with our Kyrgyz hosts, we head out for what we're told will be a four-hour hike around the lake.
Almost immediately I feel shortness of breath – altitude. The scenery, however, distracts me. We snap photos of camels eating sparse grass around the lake, kicking their many turds as we walk.
An hour into our hike Tom persuades me to climb a lakeside hill. So, dressed in jeans, Nike Air Max and a knock-off Arc'teryx jacket I bought at a Beijing market, I climb.
The first section nearly finishes me off. I feel hungry, thirsty and faint. On a steep and rocky slope I look out toward the lake and feel disoriented. For a second, I forget where I am.
Tom keeps going and I stop, but as I watch him climb I get more determined to reach the top, and about an hour after we started, I do.
We continue around the lake, hopping over slim, snaking rivers, much to the bewilderment of grazing yaks. Dirty-faced kids approach us offering camel rides and asking for chocolate.
"Chocolate surprise?" they say, hands extended.
Near sunset, about six hours after we set off, we make it back to our Kyrgyz family and eat a dinner of yak meat with rice, cabbage, onion and tomato, and drink cups of black tea.
Theirs is a hard life. The father, who looks permanently exhausted, herds camels, yaks and sheep. There are five children, aged 3 to 16, all living in a small stone house, 6 metres by 4 1/2 metres at most.
The walls are covered in wool blankets – a colourful blend of reds, blues and greens. The mother and her daughters are all dressed the same: skirts over stockings, thick wool sweaters and bandanas on their heads. They look like Matryoshka (nesting) dolls.
We talk Chinese politics with Xiao Xu, our guide.
"In China, rich government, poor people," he says.
"Do you think China will ever change?" Tom asks.
"It would take a thousand years," Xiao replies.
Xiao's English is spotty but his points well-taken. A few hours later we retire to our yurt. It's freezing cold and none of us can sleep (maybe it's the tea, maybe the altitude, maybe both).
It's pitch black, too, and when I get up to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night, I can't see a thing. Returning to the yurt I slam into the fireplace and struggle to find my spot.
We're slow-moving and groggy the next morning.
"How did you all sleep?" I ask.
"Poorly," Tom replies.
We eat cold bagels and drink tea, say goodbye to our hosts and board the shaky Santana, which barely starts in the cold and, later, stalls in the middle of the highway.
Amazingly, Xiao gets us back to Kashgar in one piece. Five hours after waking up in a yurt belonging to Kyrgyz herders, we're back in Kashgar drinking beer in a hotel bar, and two days later we're in Beijing, back in the real China, back from the edge of the Earth.
Mitch Moxley is a freelance writer based in Beijing.
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Falling house prices lure snowbirds south
Feb 24, 2008 04:30 AM
CALGARY–West Vancouver realtor Cal Lindberg says a growing number of his clients have been inquiring about buying vacation homes in the sunny U.S. south.
"They're looking to buy down there just because of the issues with the subprime mortgages. We're hearing it every day on the news that prices are just dropping like a rock," said Lindberg, president-elect of the Canadian Real Estate Association.
Under normal circumstances, there would be about 3,000 real estate listings in Palm Springs, Calif., he said. But with the U.S. housing crisis deepening by the day, there are about 9,000 houses and condominiums up for sale.
"That just tells you that prices are going to continue to drop because when you have that amount of choice, it's going to put a lot of downward pressure on prices."
Mark Dziedzic worked as a financial planner in Toronto for many years before fleeing south to Arizona two years ago. He founded a real estate firm called Arizona for Canadians, which helps Canucks find homes in that sunny, warm state.
"It's a little bit of a perfect storm for Canadians right now because you've got the dollar at par and you have somewhat of a housing crisis with the subprime mortgage debacle. It's a time we haven't seen in 30-plus years. It really has created a buzz," he said, noting that about half of home buyers in Arizona are Canadian.
He said Canadians are able to negotiate with banks to get some good bargains – sometimes paying just 50 cents on the dollar for homes.
"When they compare it to the value of property up in Canada to what they can get in the States, many times they're very shocked."
The most popular destinations for south-bound Canadians are Florida, Arizona, Texas and California, said Lawrence Barker of the Canadian Snowbird Association.
Barker's group provides a number of services for its members – mostly retirees spending up to six months of the year in the United States – including currency exchange services, group and home insurance and an auto club.
Even though U.S. properties are becoming more affordable for Canadians, Barker cautions against rushing into a purchase. "People need to rent for a couple of years, check it out, then if they're happy, consider purchasing," he said.
Non-citizens are only allowed to stay in the United States for a maximum of six months, regardless of whether they own property.
Snowbirds also have to have a firm understanding of how U.S. property and estate taxes work. And buying home insurance in hurricane-belt states like Florida can be tricky.
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Feb 23, 2008 04:30 AM
1. STAMPEDE TO HOUSTON
From March 3 to 22 the action is non-stop at the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo where top pros from around the orld compete in championship roping, bronco and bull riding. Click Here for Website
2. ECO VOLUNTEERING
The Earthwatch Institute offers holidays for volunteer environmentalists. From from March 3 to 15 you can experience the rich culture of the Pantanla, Brazil's world-class wetland, and help scientists conserve the diversity of wildlife of this ecosystem. Click Here For Website
3. GIRL TIME
Laugh, let your hair down, bond with your best buddies at an all-girls weekend. The Ultimate Pajama Party rolls into The Fairmont Jasper Park Lodge March 14 to 16. Click here for Website
4. MET MADNESS
From March 3 to 7, Smithsonian Journeys offers a chance opportunity to go on a backstage tour of New York's Metropolitan Opera, meet the artists and attend three great performances, including Renée Fleming in as Desdemona in Otello. Click for Website
5. TULIPS IN HOLLAND
Every spring, the Keukenhof Gardens are a feast for the eye. More than seven million tulips and other spring bulbs bloom on more than 32 hectares. Starting March 20. Click for Website
6. EGG HUNT
To mark the 100th birthday of Beatrix Potter's Jemima Puddle-Duck Britain's Lake District is staging the country's largest Easter Egg Hunt. From March 19, kids can search across Cumbria for 100 specially designed eggs, each leading to a great prize. Click for Website
7. ROARING GOOD TIMES
Heritage Holidays in Yosemite, Calif., celebrates the glamour, style, and frivolity of the Roaring '20s from March 2 to 4, with speakeasies, fashion shows, a gala dinner and ball. Click for Website
8. BEER IN PHILADELPHIA
March 7 marks Philadelphia's first Beer Week, hosted by Don Russell, also known as "Joe Sixpack," a local journalist and beer expert. Events include a tutored tasting at the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archeology and Anthropology. Click for Website
9. GLASGOW FOR COMEDY
Taking to the stage from March 6 to 23, top stand-up acts, brand new comedy plays and classic films at Magners Glasgow International Comedy Festival. Click for Website
10. BUCKINGHAM BECKONS
From March 14 to Sept. 21, Amazing Rare Things: The Art of Natural History in the Age of Discovery is open to the public in the Queen's Gallery at Buckingham Palace. The exhibit features the works of influential artists such as Leonardo da Vinci. Click For Website
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Top 10 attractions on Prince Edward Island
GREENWICH, P.E.I. NATIONAL PARK (ST. PETERS)
Parks Canada protects a rare system of sand dunes and sites of early aboriginal and Acadian occupation dating back 10,000 years. Interpretive trails, spectacular sand dunes. Relax at the beach and learn at the interpretation centre.
COLLEGE OF PIPING AND CELTIC PERFORMING ARTS OF CANADA (SUMMERSIDE)
A summer-long Celtic Festival set in an institution that inspires "excellence in Celtic performing arts through quality educational programming." collegeofpiping.com
CONFEDERATION TRAIL
From Tignish in the west to Elmira in the east, the Confederation Trail is a 270-kilometre recreational park, ideal for walking, running or cycling.
NORTH CAPE
View the longest natural rock reef, walk the Black Marsh Nature Trail, visit the Atlantic Wind Test Site and see the North Cape wind farm.
ROSSIGNOL ESTATE WINERY (LITTLE SANDS)
Rossignol offers a variety of premium fruit and table wines. Sample the wines and view folk art, Island paintings and crafts.
PRINCE EDWARD ISLAND PRESERVE COMPANY (NEW GLASGOW)
See, smell and taste great preserves, experience the Café Clyde featuring country breakfast, visit the gift shop and meet the kilted owner. preservecompany.com
GATEWAY VILLAGE (BORDEN-CARLETON)
The village is at the foot of the Confederation Bridge. You can learn about the history and culture of the Island and of the transportation modes across the Northumberland Strait.
ORWELL CORNER HISTORIC VILLAGE (ORWELL)
Experience the life and times of rural crossroads community in the 1890s, with a blacksmith shop, country store, church, school, farm buildings and community hall. Ceilidhs are held, with traditional music, stories and dance.
LENNOX ISLAND MI'KMAQ CULTURAL CENTRE (LENNOX ISLAND)
A community museum that aims to promote and revitalize Mi'kmaq culture and interpret Mi'kmaq history. Hike the 10-kilometre "Path of our Forefathers," enjoy traditional foods or go deep sea-fishing.
OLD CHARLOTTETOWN
The birthplace of Confederation, P.E.I.'s capital city features many historic public buildings and family homes. Stroll the many streets and visit Province House – where the "Fathers" met, Confederation Centre of the Arts – the home of Anne of Green Gables: The Musical and Founders' Hall – Canada's Birthplace Pavilion. www.city.charlottetown.pe.ca
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Hot destinations to
Check out in 2008
The editors at Frommer's have searched the globe and consulted their many author-experts to come up with the top destinations for 2008. Here are 10 of the best and most beautiful spots the world has to offer:
1. DENVER, COLO. Home to many exciting attractions including the Denver Art Museum, a state-of-the-art opera house in the Denver Center for Performing Arts and the annual Great American Beer Festival each fall. There's also easy access to a multitude of outdoor activities.
2. NEW ORLEANS, LA Now starting its third year post-Katrina, it's still a vital destination. Transportation is affordable; infrastructure is back, and the primary tourist areas (French Quarter, Garden District) were not heavily affected by the flooding. The city's historic St. Charles streetcar just resumed service. Almost all the major hotels and restaurants have reopened, and the enforced closures gave some the opportunity to completely revamp.
3. PITTSBURGH, PA Pittsburgh turns 250 next year, and special events commemorate its history, including theatre and ballet performances, sports events, the Pittsburgh Biennial and Carnegie International arts fairs, as well as one of America's most impressive cultural collections: the Carnegie Museums of Pittsburgh.
4. AMERICAN WHISKEY TRAIL A deliciously aromatic tour of America's love-hate relationship with spirits, the journey is fuelled through stops into a half-dozen historical spots across five states including the sites of the early whiskey rebellion in Pennsylvania, taverns and a dozen distilleries.
5. EXIT ZERO ON THE GARDEN STATE PARKWAY, NEW JERSEY Despite the belief that New Jersey is all `Mobbed up' and choked with industrial waste, the opposite is largely true, especially in the overlooked southern Jersey shore. Take the last exit to discover charming boardwalk towns including Cape May, Ocean City, and Wildwood.
6. ESSAOUIRA, MOROCCO Jimi Hendrix and Orson Welles both spent time in this Atlantic coastal town, today a UNESCO World Heritage city. There's a large square – perfect for quality people-watching – a quaint port where fishermen still bring in the daily catch and mend their nets and the medina is Morocco's most traveller-friendly: a mix of art galleries, a jeweller's souk, and shops selling everything from local thuya woodcrafts and argan oil-based products to surf wear and handmade leather goods.
7. CARDIFF, WALES The former industrial city went into decline as its coal industry, factories and rail yards died out. Now, it's reinvented itself as a cosmopolitan centre that still retains its ancient Welsh heart. Anchoring the city is Cardiff Castle, while the astounding performing arts space, the Wales Millennium Centre, holds court in the revitalized waterfront.
8. ST. LUCIA The island's lush rainforests and mountainous landscapes provide dramatic scenery and hair-raising road trips. It's the spot to go for quieter vacations with snorkelling and diving in protected reefs, but you can add to the adventure by scaling St. Lucia's signature twin pitons and ziplining through the rainforest.
9. QUITO, ECUADOR Built on the ruins of a major Incan city, Quito is a perfect blend of colonial charm and modern city. Its 500-year-old churches wearing their hand-carved facades sit alongside a skyscraper-laden metropolis with a growing culinary and nightlife scene.
10. ROMANIA While prices have climbed in popular spots like Croatia and the Czech Republic, Romania remains an astonishing bargain and an authentic experience. The painted monasteries along the border with Ukraine are UNESCO World Heritage Sites. The Danube River Delta offers some of the world's best bird watching for rare species, and the Carpathian Mountains are stunning and still pristine.
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The New Year heralds a fresh batch of hot destinations for 2008. This year, major festivities put three cities in the spotlight, while serious tourism infrastructure building secures other hot spots top billing. Plus, find out more destinations to keep on your radar in 2008.
Liverpool
The city once known primarily as the birthplace of the Beatles has come into its own as a European city packed with sophisticated cultural pursuits and rich history. Liverpool has been preparing for its time in the spotlight since it was named a European Capital of Culture for 2008 five years ago. The highly coveted Capital of Culture designation earns cities the chance to feature and expand their thriving art and cultural offerings, and gives visitors an entire year of special events and festivals to enjoy.
Even without the year-long celebration in 2008, Liverpool's arts offerings impress. The city already boasts eight world-class museums (including its own Tate Museum), a major arts festival, a center for arts and creative technology, and a serious dedication to community art.
But in 2008, after years of sprucing up the city and improving its tourist and leisure infrastructure, the spirit of art will truly take center stage. Over 350 visual and performing arts, sporting, and heritage events are planned during Liverpool's year as a Capital of Culture. Best of all, the majority of events are free. Combine that with Liverpool's relatively affordable hotels and restaurants, and you've got a destination ready to give London a run for its money.
Finding ways to join the festivities is easy. Online, check the Liverpool08 website, and when you're in the city, visit the tourist information center focused on 2008 events and activities.
You should book ahead during major events to ensure availability. VisitLiverpool.com keeps track of special offers from hotels.
Quebec City
In 2008, Quebec City will celebrate its 400th anniversary with a year of festivals and events. It's already clear that the city knows how to throw a party—you don't have to look farther than the wildly popular annual winter Carnaval de Quebec (running from February 1 to 17), to know that for sure. With a whole year of celebrations, Quebec City promises to be an exciting destination in every season in 2008.
The anniversary kicks off on New Year's Eve with a giant party. Throughout the year you'll find events such as interactive art tours and exhibitions, performances, and in the French Canadian spirit, a unique show by Cirque de Soleil. The MonQuebec2008.com calendar details more events.
The party will change the very landscape of the city as well. Long-neglected banks of the Saint-Charles River have been restored and trails have been added so the public can better enjoy the river. New public spaces are in the works, including a museum opening as an anniversary gift to the residents of and visitors to Quebec City.
Be sure to book well ahead for the New Year's kickoff celebration, Winter Carnaval, and the official commemorations in early July. Accommodations prices may rise a bit during those times, but there's a city-wide effort to keep prices reasonable. The Quebec City Tourism site lists current accommodations packages available through city hotels.
Beijing
If you host the world's premier sporting event, it's safe to say you're going to have a big year. The countdown has begun to the August 2008 Summer Olympics and Beijing is kicking preparations into high gear. The city is expecting three million spectators during the event. And, even if you're not coming for the Olympics, you can benefit from the expanded infrastructure.
You don't have too look far to find improvements geared towards making the city more visitor friendly. Beijing's new airport terminal, slated to be among the world's largest, will open before the summer games. A profusion of new hotels, including openings from Best Western, Marriott, and Accor, give Western visitors more familiar accommodations choices.
United launched a new Washington, D.C., to Beijing route earlier this year. You'll find more flight options to China too. U.S. airlines American, Delta, and United are all busy forging partnerships with airlines in China to expand their route networks, which has the benefit of giving U.S.-based passengers easier booking and more mile-earning options. And 2007's U.S.-China open skies agreement means the route options between the two countries will continue to increase in the coming years.
Querétaro, Mexico
Colonial cities and legendary towns make up the Querétaro region of central Mexico. Wander through history in Santiago de Querétaro, where adjoining districts of Baroque monuments and indigenous neighborhoods illustrate the peaceful coexistence of cultures that has defined the town for the last four hundred years. In nearby Bernal, the towering rock monolith, which many say imparts a mystic energy, has inspired the official "magical town" designation. Vineyards, markets, hot spring spas, and archeological sites are among the regions other charms.
In 2008, the region will be easier to reach from U.S. departure points than ever before. And in a time when exchange rates in Europe and Canada aren't doing Americans any favors, Mexico still offers good value.
Proximity to Mexico City and new service to the region itself puts Querétaro's myriad charms within reach like never before. Mexico City is a two-hour drive from Querétaro, and recently inaugurated service on Aeromexico from Seattle and Mexicana from Portland, Oregon, makes Mexico City a convenient arrival city for more visitors.
Plus, flying directly to Querétaro will be a whole lot easier in 2008 when Delta starts service from Atlanta in January, and low-cost carrier vivaaerobus kicks off a new route from Austin in March.
India
If you've always thought of India as a destination reserved for backpackers, spiritual seekers, and guided tour-goers, 2008 is a good year to rethink that assumption. Tourism infrastructure growth is on par with China's rapid expansion, and is turning the country into a destination that's more accessible to a wider range of travelers.
New air service is making India easier to reach from the U.S. Continental, which started service between New York and Delhi back in 2005, has just added New York-Mumbai service to its schedule. Air India also recently started a New York-Mumbai route, the first of a series of planned non-stop routes between the U.S. and India. And, India's Jet Airways has just added a daily New York-Delhi route (via Brussels) as well.
Not only is it easier to get to India, but once you arrive you'll find more familiar choices. Hotel giants such as Accor, Hilton, Marriott, and Wyndham are constructing new hotels around the country as fast as they can, and budget-focused chains Choice and easyHotel are also expanding with dozens more hotels opening in 2008 and beyond.
More destinations to watch in 2008
Here are some more destinations featuring a stand-out reason to visit in 2008:
St. Maarten
A new airport terminal and new air service put the part-Dutch, part-French, all-Caribbean island of St. Maarten on the list of destinations to watch in 2008. JetBlue will begin flights between New York and the destination dubbed "the culinary capital of the Caribbean" in mid-January.
Stavanger, Norway
Europe's other 2008 Capital of Culture celebrates its designation with dance and acrobatic ski performances, open-air fairy-tale theater, and contemporary folk art exhibitions, among other events.
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FIND MANY FLORIDA DESTINATIONS &
TOURIST BOARDS BY CLICKING HERE
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Staff Reporter
Back in the olden days, Louis Garcia used to fudge his border declarations. Spend $500. Say $250.
"But not now. I don't want to take any chances. They know everyone's shopping, so they're stopping everyone," Garcia says.
Last weekend, the 30-year-old Oakville man booked a room at a Buffalo hotel for two nights with his wife and young daughter.
"That way, we qualify for the 48 hours exemption," he says.
It's a smart move. The penalty for making a false declaration is severe. Your goods may be seized and, depending on the circumstances, you may have to pay another 25 per cent to 80 per cent of the value of the merchandise to reclaim it. Undeclared alcohol and tobacco will be confiscated.
The Customs Act also allows border services officers to seize your vehicle. If this happens, you'll have to pay a penalty to get it back.
Finally, your infraction will be recorded in the customs computer system and saved for six years, meaning you're more likely to be searched in the future.
Still, Canadians are going to great lengths to avoid hefty duty and taxes.
Kerri, who lives with her husband Jay, near High Park, stopped outside the Coach outlet to snip the tags off her new purse.
"I didn't bring another one," she says with a wink.
And for the stuff that you can't wear home?
"That's what the spare tire case is for," Jay adds, gesturing to other bags.
Ever since the dollar hit parity, trash cans across Buffalo and Niagara Falls, N.Y., have been stuffed to the brim with shoe boxes, receipts and shopping bags.
"Last week, a woman walked out of here wearing four bras," says Clara, a sales associate at Gap Body in the Walden Galleria mall.
Over at Target, staff say locals are complaining about the Canadian crowds.
"We can't keep anything on the shelves," says Sara, who works cash. "You guys just buy up everything. It's insane."
Shoppers have gone so far as to wear old clothes across the border, ditch them, and wear an entire new outfit on the return.
But beware; customs officers are on the lookout for this kind of scam.
"All I can say on that is, people should be prepared to declare all purchases," says customs spokesperson Jean D'Amelio Swyer.
"The consequences for not declaring can be severe and long lasting.
"Our people have seen a lot of cross-border shopping, so they have ways of determining if it's a new purchase."
What ways?
Besides noticing a price tag hanging off the sleeve, D'Amelio Swyer won
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