Mosaics floors and stained glass decorated stairways make this gallery especially fun to wander
Miami’s South Beach may be famous for its retro art deco architecture, but where art and culture are concerned, contemporary takes center stage. Planted firmly in the center of this movement is the ArtCenter/South Florida, which works to advance contemporary visual arts and culture in South Florida through education, exhibition and public outreach programming and provides affordable work-space for outstanding artists.
Wandering through on a recent trip to South Beach, I was impressed by the sheer variety of creative work in the gallery. In one studio the artist had stuffed hand-blown glass balls into multi-colored sheer pantyhose and suspended them from the ceiling by their reinforced toes.
Further along, I discovered the paintings of Willard Andre Allen, which are painted on the ‘opposite’ side of clear glass, resulting in a melange of color that incorporates and reflects light when turned over to its rightful side.
Another resident, Adriana Carvalho, began sculpting with the only materials available in her native town of Taquaritinga, Brazil: tin, wire, wood, mango seeds, sugar cane sticks and corn. Her organic sculptures now incorporate recycled materials and merge the spirituality of her native country with the two U.S. cities where she has lived, Chicago and Miami Beach. Read More »
Yay! It’s time that time of the year again when New Yorkers dust off their ice skates and head to the park for some fun. And for Brooklynites, the fun began on Thanksgiving Day when Prospect Park’s Wollman Rink opened for the season!
Prospect Park is one of Brooklyn’s most beautiful parks, where residents and visitors to the area can enjoy many of the same activities they would in Manhattan’s Central Park. Wollman Rink is a great place for winter fun all season long. Take lessons, throw a skating party, take a leisurely spin around the ice, and enjoy a snack and a hot chocolate.
The Lauterbrunnen Valley in Switzerland’s Bernese Oberland is known for being home to the Staubbach Falls, where the clash of water and rock turns the water into a spectacular cloud wave going upwards, in contrast to the water on its way down.
Die Wasserfälle der Schweiz
This beautiful natural symphony once famously inspired Goethe to write the poemSong of the Spirits over the Waters, in which he says – “The soul of man Is like the water: It comes from heaven, It returns to heaven.”
The 1000 ft Staubbach Falls has always been proud of its place as the tallest waterfalls in Switzerland. That was until waterfall specialist Florian Spichtig published his book Die Wasserfälle der Schweiz, which takes an inside look at 129 of Switzerland’s best waterfalls.
Spichtig took a tape to all the falls, and turns out that the history books in Switzerland, which categorically declare Staubbach as the tallest waterfalls in Switzerland, are wrong – not once, but twice.
First Spichtig declared that the Seerenbach Falls on Lake Walen in eastern Switzerland was the tallest. Then the estimates were revised and he crowned the Mürrenbach Fall as the tallest, which brings the tallest waterfalls title back to the Lauterbrunnen Valley, but not to Staubbach.
For the record, the Rhine Falls is the biggest Falls in Switzerland, in terms of the flow of water. It is not as big as the Niagara Falls, which is six times as big, but still big enough to be the biggest Waterfalls in Europe.
‘Tis the Season–The Wildlights are back in Ohio at the Columbus Zoo. This display of LED lights and special holiday activities has been an annual attraction at the zoo for 21 years.
Columbus Zoo Wildlights
We rang in the new year with a trip to the Wildlights on New Year’s Day, arriving mid-afternoon to see the animals and then staying for the lighting of the zoo and the musical light show, which was a hit for the entire family. This year, some of the features from last Christmas are back, and others are new or improved. If you go to see the Wildlights, you’ll be treated to the following:
Visits with reindeer
Entertainment by local musical groups on select dates
Photos with Santa
Treats from Mrs. Claus’ kitchen
Special shows featuring zoo animals
Admission to Wildlights is included with zoo admission of $12 for adults and $7 for children and seniors. Wildlights at the Columbus Zoo runs from November 20, 2009 through January 2, 2010, Sunday-Thursday from 5-9 p.m. and Friday-Saturday from 5-10 p.m. (Zoo is open additional daytime hours.) The zoo is closed November 26 and December 24-25.
Everyone smiles at Clearwater Marine Aquarium in Clearwater Beach, Florida! Trainers who hand-feed the otters smile. People attending the dolphin shows smile. Kids running their fingers along the back of sting rays in the touch tank smile. But of all the smiles, the most memorable and inspiring is from the aquarium’s most famous resident, Winter the Dolphin.
One of the happy dolphins at Clearwater Marine Aquarium
Featured on the NBC Today Show, CNN, and hundreds of newspapers around the world, Winter has a lot to smile about these days. In December 0f 2005, at only three months of age, Winter became inextricably entangled in a crab trap line in Mosquito Lagoon near Cape Canaveral, Florida. Although the odds of her survival were very low, the dolphin was transported to Clearwater Marine Aquarium for rehabilitation. As a result of her injuries, Winter lost her entire tail and two vertebrae. Read More »
Still looking for holiday gifts? Run, don’t walk, over to the Third Street Warehouse Sale in San Francisco on Saturday, December 5th, from 8:30 a.m. – 4:30 p.m! This annual sale features treasures from manufacturers, distributors and importers who occupy the American Industrial Center.
Check out their website for a list of all the treasures. Children’s clothes, handbags, jewelry, clothing, soap, home decorator items – you will find it all. Personally, I am going to be on the lookout for women’s fashions, including Two Star Dog and Cutloose.
Third Street Warehouse Sale
665 2nd Street (between Third and Illinois)
San Francisco, California
Minneapolis is well-known for its “chain of lakes”–Calhoun, Harriet, Lake of the Isles–and theparks, trails, and parkways that surround these lakes, meandering along the Minnehaha Creek, looping around Lake Nokomis, and then finding their way to beautiful Minnehaha Falls.
Although we spend a lot of time in “the Cities,” the last time I had been to Minnehaha Park and Falls was just after we were married, when my husband and I rented a tandem bike in the Uptown neighborhood near Lake Calhoun and rode around the lakes and along the creek to the falls. This summer, we finally took our children to see Minnehaha Falls, arriving by mini-van instead of bicycle, and viewing the falls through the eyes of a family rather than honeymooners.
It’s beautiful no matter how you look at it.
Minnehaha Falls can be viewed from the side or from the bridge crossing the top of the falls . . .
Minnehaha Falls
or from below. It’s about 100 steps down to bottom of the falls, with a handrail and concrete stairs. Read More »
To the right of the entrance gate at Peace River Wildlife Center in Punta Gorda is a small wooden box where injured animals can be dropped off any hour of the day or night. Sometimes local residents find distressed animals on the roads or in the water; sometimes they drop off pets that have worn out their welcome. Whatever the reason for their appearance, the wildlife center takes them all in, nurses them back to health, and, if possible, reintroduces the animals back into their natural habitat.
Most are successfully rehabilitated and released, but for various reasons, others live out their remaining days at the center. Among the current permanent residents are a pair of bald eagles with amputated wings and a fish crow named Spirit who “quacks” like a duck - the eagles cannot fly and would soon perish in the Read More »
With less than three months to go before the 2010 Winter Olympics begin in Vancouver, British Columbia, excitement is high in Canada. If you are considering a trip to Vancouver for the 2010 Winter Games, here are some tips to help you plan your adventure:
Buying Winter Games Tickets:
Check out Tourism Vancouver for information on purchasing event tickets. If you are not Canadian, you will need to purchase event tickets through your country’s National Olympic Committee or official ticket agent – International Ticket Sales.
Accommodations during the Winter Games:
Again, Tourism Vancouver has a great page devoted to information about booking accommodations during the Olympics. Events are held in Vancouver, as well as Whistler, so be sure you know what you would like to see and plan your accommodations accordingly.
Attractions outside the Olympics:
Yes, it is possible, you might go to Vancouver and decide you need a little time away from the games! Rest assured, there are loads of attractions in Vancouver, especially in the winter. Tourism Vancouver offers information on many of the different things to do in Vancouver, including sports, entertainment and cultural attractions.
Minot, North Dakota, is proud of its Scandinavian heritage; even McDonald’s is decorated with flags and memorabilia from Scandinavia. Each fall, Minot’s fairgrounds are home to the Norsk Hostfest, a cultural celebration involving people in native dress, good food, and music.
In the center of Minot, however, is perhaps the most visible indicator of the city’s Scandinavian heritage: The Scandinavian Heritage Park.
