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Showing posts from January, 2007

Le Hotel de Glace

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Has anyone seen that book "1000 Things to Do Before You Die"? I can't really recommend it since I find it way too Eurocentric, with about 10 pages devoted to the city of London, but a mere 2 devoted to the entire country of South Africa (give or take). So it bothers me to admit that the idea of staying at an Ice Hotel came as a result of that book. I was browsing through it, when I came across a blurb about the Swedish Ice Hotel. I casually mentioned to Shawn that it would be nice to stay there. He responded with an incredulous " You ?! You would stay at an ice hotel?!!" What followed was an even more immediate realization on my part that now no matter what, hypothermia be damned, we would have to stay at an Ice Hotel. For economic reasons, the one in Sweden was replaced with the one in Quebec and the plans were set in motion. For anyone not familiar with the Ice Hotel idea, it is exactly what it sounds like. It is a hotel which is erected ever

So many things rhyme with Tivoli, and yet I can not come up with a clever title.

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Thanks so much to everyone who has commented or e-mailed me words of encouragement for this blog project. If I had realized how fun this would be, I think I would have started it earlier. This week, work has brought me to Rome for a short 20 hour stay. Since I've previously hit all the Roman must-sees, I opted to use this time to visit Tivoli, which is about one hour to the east and is known for its ruins and Villas (and yes, I do know you could say that about every single Italian village). The most visited attraction is Villa Adriana, the ruins of Emperor Hadrian's preferred summer getaway. Yet, somehow this did not translate to a clear, visible sign at the designated bus stop (something along the lines of "Yes, you dumb tourist, this is your stop! Ring that bell! Now!! You are going to pass it..." would have sufficed) , so I ended up visiting Villa d'Este instead. Villa d'Este is the 16th century palace of Cardinal Ippolito d'Este and is known f

Now with photos...

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In taking this blog thing for a test drive, I am throwing up some random photos that make me smile. Such as this one, the resident monkey from our hostel in Ciudad Bolivar, Venezuela. Who doesn't love an adorable monkey? Who?? Or a cuddly wuddly anaconda? Who, I ask?

Here it goes...Really.

In the past, I have bought journals, all with evocative covers and blank pages intended to hold the written memories of my adventures. They, each and every one of them, have sat pristinely untouched. When asked to share my travels in book or blog form, I have deferred to these journals that I will get around to any day now , or in more honest moments, conceded that I should just start a blog. Well, that moment has finally arrived. This is my sole New Year's resolution. I intend to post at least once a month, thus the title, and detail one of the places that I have been, things I have done, people I have met, etc. during that month. I am counting on you, my brutally honest friends, to hold me to this resolution. Note that I am not promising that these places, exploits, or people will be in any way interesting, only that they will be written about. Let's not get our hopes up too high, now. The January adventure will most likely be coming at the end of the month. Shawn and I have