Attractions

Edmonton, Alberta, Canada

Nestled between two of Canada’s most beautiful national Parks, Jasper National Park and Elk Island, Edmonton Canada’s sixth-largest metropolitan city and is the second largest city in Albert, second only to Calgary. Just over 780,000 people call this beautiful city home, and it’s no surprise why – there is plenty to see and do in Edmonton! Whether you’re stopping by for a weekend or a week, check out some of the following sights to get a flavor of what Edmonton has to offer.

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Coffee Heart Art

Walking around Florence, Italy’s spectacular art galleries and monuments can truly overwhelm you and apparently make you physically ill – it’s called Stendhal Syndrome, and having been to Florence multiple times, I can definitely attest to feeling overwhelmed by all the beauty and history, whether or not the syndrome is real. (Although, it could also have been the fact I nearly knocked myself out on a 14th century beam at the top of the Duomo.) Not a fan of dizziness and feeling completely overwhelmed? How about trying out an entirely different type of experience at the Espresso Academy. That’s right! Instead of wandering around the Accademia or the many piazzas, you’ll get to learn about one of Italy’s greatest passions, which some people say is a work of art in itself – coffee and espresso.

Don’t scoff! The Espresso Academy gets really good reviews, and I find it to be a refreshing, creative alternative to the city’s innumerable art galleries. Here, you’ll learn that anyone can make a cappuccino – but making a good one takes skill and knowledge. Have ever been to a cafe that creates little milk designs on the top of your cappuccino? There’s an actual certification you can get to learn how to do that (it’s not as easy as it looks!) in the course called Milk Art.

I would also love to take the Tasting course – you are able to taste coffees from all over the world, both good and bad, and learn how to distinguish between high quality and low quality coffees. Apparently, coffee is as complex as wine, and this course will help prove that to you.

Florence, Italy

Photos: journeyscoffee, stevehdc

I am so embarrassed by my scrapbook pages of Rome.

Spanish Steps, check

We were there for five hours on a cruise ship stop on May 14 (a.k.a our 26th wedding anniversary) and being intrepid travelers, shunned the guided options NCL and Shore Trips dangled in front of our eyes. Why, I have no idea — we’ve actually traveled entire countries via the organized-tour-on-buses gig and had no problems with the concept. I, personally, enjoy the fact I have a luggage slave in these situations.

Maybe we could blame the fact it was our anniversary and we wanted to feel young and free, but it was more likely because we were too cheap to pay the going rates for an official tour. So we mapped out a few major sites we wanted to see — Hard Rock Cafe (hey, I had to collect my bear), Spanish Steps, Trevi Fountain, the Pantheon, the Colosseum — jumped off the bus we rode in on and started sprinting with a map from Rick Steve’s Italy book clutched tightly in our fists.

No doubts, it's the Trevi Fountain

The cab driver dropped us off in front of the Spanish steps, so I know those photos are correctly labeled. We had a short spat in the middle of a sidewalk when my husband thought we should go straight to toss our coins in that famous fountain, and I was all for following the big sign on the corner saying “Trevi Fountain” with an arrow pointing right.

And that’s where my luck ran out.

At lunch, we grabbed a more detailed map and hoofed it toward the Pantheon. My husband went up the steps, I stood on the sidewalk, and we took photos of each other waving. We oohed over the architecture, and then went in quest of that Colosseum. It was just down the street a few more blocks.

Except it wasn’t. We wound up wandering through neighborhoods, looking at all kinds of interesting things we couldn’t identify or find on a map. We found huge grassy expanses that looked over some very impressive ruins, and spent a good portion of our time trying to figure out what they were. I still don’t know. Eventually, we had to take a cab back to our transportation to the ship, disappointed that we’d literally missed such a big chunk of history. It didn’t help to hear tales at dinner from fellow passengers who did visit the Colosseum (for sure).

Any clue where we are?

Well, you eventually bounce back from such mistakes, so I arrived home full of stories about our great week in the Mediterranean, and with a vow to go back and see more of Rome on a much longer time frame. Working on my scrapbook pages always reinforces these plans.

Help id this building!

And then for some odd reason, I decided to double-check the spelling of Pantheon after I glued it down in 3-inch high letters on my paper, and found myself staring at a Wikipedia page that blew my mind. That photo in no way matches mine, unless perhaps we were staring at the backside of the building, although Wikipedia isn’t terribly encouraging of that theory, either.

If you can figure out where in Rome Julie was, I’d be most grateful. Just don’t tell me you are a tour guide there. I can’t stand the irony. I would, however, be grateful for advice on how to fix that screwed up scrapbook page.

Photographs: Julie Sturgeon

I really wish, considering how things turned out, that I had a great story as to how I found London Walks.

But the hard truth is, I was looking for a tax deduction. My husband’s company sent him to Europe for a series of meetings, and since it wasn’t going to cost them any extra to stash me in the hotel rooms, I bought an airline ticket and tagged along.

International airline tickets on my independent journalist income weren’t exactly compatible at that point. Not to mention two weeks without working would really decrease the checks coming in to cover that airline ticket. So my goal was to find stories to pitch and recoup part of the investment.

But wandering around London on your own isn’t terribly enlightening, unless you think someone wants to read about the ridiculous prices you found at Harrod’s in the appliance section. Or where to find the cheapest sandwich in Covent Garden. Somewhere in my wanderings, I came across a flyer for London Walks tours and figured for the 5 pounds it wouldn’t be a stellar tour — but if I picked up a few ideas it would be worth it.

London Walks' Graham

Besides, you didn’t have to commit in advance — just show up at the meeting place and pay the guide. If it looked weird or off, I could pretend I was waiting on a friend. I love the chicken-out option. So I arrived at the Tube station meeting spot for the Mayfair walk with Graham (who is still doing this particular itinerary, hint, hint), determined he wasn’t a pervert, and dumped the change in his hand. We set off for two hours of the most lively tour of my life. Graham made the people behind those buildings come alive, he deftly wove in history in storybook form. He even sang for us, in a beautiful tenor.

I’m telling you, when this man pointed out the London Stone, I cared, which is more than Edward Rutherford managed to do in his 800-page novel about the city.

Next night, I was on the Pub Tour walk, learning the secrets behind the walls of what looked like ordinary bars along the Thames. That was all I could cram in on that trip, but when I returned with friends in 2004, I printed a list of tours from the Internet with a strong recommendation they join me on one.

Jack the Ripper tour

They didn’t bite. Following a guide around and stopping every few feet to hear another obscure detail didn’t exactly move them. But the 16-year-old boy in their family did say he’d tag along when he caught the words “Jack the Ripper” between my husband and I. Apparently, anything would beat sitting around in a Chelsea hotel with his sister.

We had the good luck to arrive on a night when Donald Rumbelow himself was leading visitors through the dark streets, exploring the dastardly deeds of the Ripper, speculating his mindset, analyzing his motives. It was creepy. It was gory. It was fascinating. And one teen-age boy ate it up. To this day, he still recalls huge chunks of the drama and will debate who did it.

Which is an even better investment of two hours and a few pounds than a tax deduction.

Photography: cookipedichef (Flickr), London Walks

Chinatown in Vancouver lies between Yaletown and Centennial Pier. A colorful and historically rich area of Vancouver, Chinatown is well worth a visit.

Our family of four took the bus in from the other side of Vancouver, down Pender Street, the main thoroughfare of Chinatown. After passing through the welcoming Millennium Gate, we noticed ourselves immersed in the Chinese culture of Canada.

Vancouver Chinatown Millennium Gate

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Charlotte Harbor, the 17th largest estuary in the nation and the 2nd largest estuary in Florida at 270 square miles, is a world apart from other waterways in Florida. It is home to 192.9 miles of canoe and kayak Blueway Trails and has 830 miles of shoreline that includes river passages, mangrove-edged aquatic preserve, and 28 miles of sandy beaches. Charlotte Harbor even offers world-class boating, fishing, and sailing, as well as prime birding opportunities. But none of this is what makes Charlotte Harbor so unique.

Yacht motors away from the marina at Fisherman's Village just before sunset

Unlike the rest of Florida’s waterfront property, which has been covered in high-rise condos, skyscrapers, hotels, and mega-mansions, 84% of Charlotte Harbor’s shoreline is preserved land, most of which is Read More »

Chicago’s El (or L, depending on who you ask) is the train system that helps locals and residents explore all the great and diverse neighborhoods of the city. It’s called the El because in most spots, it’s elevated above the city, glinting in the sun and making a loud rumble as it moves by overhead. Of course, those who call it the L insist it got its name because it encircles the downtown core known as the “Loop”.

El Train in the Station

Whatever you want to call it, the train is an iconic image of Chicago, and you’d be doing yourself a disservice to visit the city and not take a ride. The El is more than just transportation, it’s one of the top experiences every visitor to Chicago should have.

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Swamps have always conjured images of black water, boot-sucking mud, and alligators submerged to their eyeballs, patiently waiting to chomp on a passing leg. To me these dank, dangerous places were devoid of beauty and to be avoided at all costs. Thus it was with a bit of trepidation that I boarded the old Bluebird school bus, long since painted in a khaki and olive drab camouflage, for my Swamp Buggy Eco-Tour of the Crescent B Ranch, 90,000 acres of oak hammocks, pine woods, pastures, wetlands, and swamps.

Camo-painted school bus takes guests through the swamp

Our driver forced the rattletrap bus into gear and lurched onto a rough sand track. A moment later we sighted our first alligator, a foot long baby perched on a waterlogged branch in a drainage ditch. We rumbled across a brilliant chartreuse pasture and ducked into an unspoiled stand of moss-draped longleaf pine and Sawgrass Palmettos. Soon, the forest opened onto a broad plain where cracker cattle roamed. Read More »

Tourists Ready to Take the Bobsled Plunge

If you find yourself caught up in the Olympic spirit this fall while waiting for Vancouver to host the 2010 Winter Games, take a ride over to Lake Placid, NY where you can visit all kinds of Olympic sites, from the site of hockey’s 1980 Miracle on Ice to the ski jump facility where future talent is trained, practices and hosts events year-round. But for pure interaction, you must visit the Bobsled run. Read More »

There is no shortage of ways to get “high” in Chicago. We’ve got two of the tallest buildings in the US, both offering sweeping views of the city from their observation decks, and the Navy Pier ferris wheel towers over Lake Michigan and its beaches, hoisting riders several stories up. Now there’s one more way to get some air in Chicago. Navy Pier just opened a new balloon attraction called the AeroBalloon, which will lift passengers 350 feet above the city.

AeroBalloon

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