10 Great Places to Visit in Alabama
Posted by admin in tourism mobile on 02 17th, 2010Alabama, nicknamed “The Heart of Dixie” is known for its heritage as a key southern state. Today the state contains an exciting mixture of old and new. From traditional agricultural events to high-tech rocketry, there’s something for everyone.
Some highlights to visit in Alabama include:
1. Ave Maria Grotto (in Cullman): Also known as “Jerusalem in Miniature”, and constructed by Brother Joseph Zoetti, a Benedictine monk, the Ave Maria Grotto is a 4 acre park containing 125 miniature reproductions of famous shrines and historical buildings from around the world.
2. Battleship Memorial Park (in Mobile): Home to the battleship USS Alabama, the submarine USS Drum, as well as many tanks and aircraft.
3. Bellingrath Gardens and Home (Southwest of Mobile): A beautiful 65-acre garden estate that offers walking tours, cruises on the Fowl river, and is home to an award-winning rose garden.
4. Birmingham Museum of Art (in North Birmingham): Contains an outstanding collection of over 21,000 works of art.
5. DeSoto Caverns Park (Southeast of Birmingham): offers guided tours through the state’s biggest cave which is 12 stories high and larger than a football field. There are also a variety of family attractions in the park outside the caverns.
6. Early Works Museum Complex (in Huntsville): An impressive complex of three history museums including a hands-on history museum for children and a railroad museum.
7. International Motorsports Hall of Fame Museum (in Talladega): This museum, next door to the Talladega Superspeedway records and celebrates the history of motorsports. Exhibits include the Budweiser rocket car which was the first car to break the speed of sound.
8. Noccalulua Falls Park (in Gadsden): A 250-acre public park containing a legendary waterwall, as wall caves, Indian and civil war carvings, a pioneer homesteed, a mini-golf course, a petting zoo, and more.
9. Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail (throughout Alabama): A must for golf-lovers. The Trail is a result of the largest golf course construction project ever attempted. and contains over 400 holes spread across multiple sites around the state.
10. US Space & Rocket Center (in Huntsville): contains the United States’ largest collection space memorabilia and rockets including the Pathfinder shuttle simulator and a Saturn V moon rocket.
You can find out about all these attractions in Alabama, and others in the state too, at:
http://www.vacation2usa.com/p1_state_alabama_attractions.php
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read comments (0)Rare Animals of Botswana, Part I: the Rich Guy
Posted by admin in tourism mobile on 02 9th, 2010The wildlife of Botswana is big and diversified. This landlocked nation in Southern Africa gives shelter to a huge range of nice and helpful species including beetles, grasshopers, flies, mosquitoes, HIV-carrier monkeys and man-charging elephants.
The birdlife is particularily interesting there with its bataillon of green-backed herons and pel’s fishing owls that actually interest no one apart from Kalahari-born tour guide Dantes Liebenberg and his starving cat.
Among all this colorful abundance, there are some unlucky under-populated species who must fight for survival on a daily basis. Abandonned by nature, they’re too short in numbers to go for group hunting, they’re too weak to defend against hungry predators. As a consequence they must hide night and day in their sky-high glass-towers. They can’t travel across the land but by using private planes. They have to sit in the back of limousines to skim through the streets of Gaberones, the capital of Botswana.
You know of course who I’m talking about: the rich guy. Even if Botswana ranks pretty well economically by African standards, the rich guy must be on his guard whenever he risks himself out of his only safe spot: the five-star hotels of Phakalane.
As soon as he reaches one of the villages circling the city, he may come face to face with a vicious Bantou speaking the setswana. This deadly encounter cannot be settled by force. American dollars can sometimes do the job, but not always. Sometimes the greedy Bantou, emboldened by the backing of his 76 brothers, asks for more: gold watch, mobile phone, leather shoes… And the rich guy has no other choice than to lay on the floor in a posture of submission. But even that won’t always save his life…
That’s it for this episode. Coming soon, the next endangered species of Bostwana: the country boy
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Good Summer Vacation
Posted by admin in tourism mobile on 01 25th, 2010There’s nothing like a summer vacation to create fond memories and bring a family closer together. To spend a good summer vacation, it has to be well plan and choose the right place to go for your summer vacation. There are some rules therefore you can achieve familial bliss. Read the rest of this entry »
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San Miguel De Allende: an Artist Colony in Mexico
Posted by admin in tourism mobile on 01 21st, 2010About four hours northwest of Mexico City, a mile above sea level, is a quaint collection of 64 city blocks surrounded by a typical Mexican town: roosters, noisy trucks, music and church bells peeling throughout the day. The air is dry, the temperature hits 70 degrees F every day (it might start near freezing, but it warms up in the winter; in July you’ll always have a cool breeze in the evening) and 16,000 gringos from north of the border make up 16 percent of the town. Named for a patriot who helped in the fight for liberation in 1810, the town is protected from development by strict rules that keep the exteriors of the homes looking the way it did a hundred years ago.
Have you heard enough to want to know how to spend a vacation here?
The FOUR DAY Schedule (make one of these days on TUESDAY for the market)
Day 1 — arrive, get picked up byMario, who talks for an hour about the culture. Walk into town and get a copy of ATENCION. Find an activity (such as talking with locals on Tues. and Thurs 5-6:30 pm)
Dinner: San Francisco Cafe, Jardin
Day 2 — MARKET DAY Tuesday
Look for “Mesa de Plata” (the silver table) and look for the silver haired guy. LUNCH: El Buen Cafe
Afternoon: real estate tour with Gaby Cabello Rivas or one of Gaby’s colleagues. Email her at gabycabello64@hotmail.com
Dinner: Pegaso
Day 3 — Tour of the City with Mario.
He will show you the parts that a local knows, such as a metalworking shop in a residential area — noisy at 10 am, quiet by 5 pm, providing employment for neighbors. Clever!
Afternoon: walk to Instituto Allende, meet Keith Keller at the Escuela of painting and drawing — if you sign up for a class, you can drop in during daylight hours to practice.
Dinner: Cha Cha Cha for Mexican delights, or try 10-10-Pie (stay on your feet wiht this food) — delicious fruit salad and “batidas” (smoothies)
Some people recommend Mama Mia (music)
Day 4 — ADVENTURE $160US per person, early morning hot-air balloon ride, meet outside Recreo 68 at 6:30 a.m.
After breakfast: Walk through the Artisans Market.
Lunch at Bugambila ($28, pricey but romantic).
Tour at 3 pm with Jilda on the 2-hour tour bus (9 to 9, every two hours from Juarez Street). You can write to her and practice Spanish (she wants to practice English) at jizame@hotmail.com
JIlda ZAvala Tour guide
Snack: San Agustin, Mesones, owned by Margarita, a TV and ilm star who lives in Mexico City.
Dinner: 10-10-Pie, El Buen Cafe or Pegaso
Day 5 — Time to leave. Call Mario. Keep lots of video tape or digital space available to record Mario’s every sentence!
Summary
Many call this the “heart of Mexico” — with good reason. The conspirators who plotted to overthrow the rulers of the country did their planning in this area.
Retirees from other countries (mostly the USA) make up one-sixth of the central city’s population (around 80,000). The total metropolitan area is around 115,000. You can live close to the suburban lifestyle in the USA (drive to a mall and place groceries in a car, drive home into a garage and walk 50 feet to a refrigerator). You can also live like people do in Venice, without a car and shopping at a local market.
Restaurants: lunch for two under $10
Dinner for two under $28 at Pegaso in Centro (near the Jardin).
What to do
You can take art courses at the Instituto Allende or look at real estate for sale in the “Golden corridor” north of the city. You could take a tour on the trolley bus or take a cooking class and learn some local recipes. You could even give free English lessons at the local school – get to meet some of the locals while you are there. It’s better than hanging out at an Internet Cafe. Get to know the locals at the Public Library (biblioteca publica).
GETTING THERE
You can fly into Mexico City and then to a nearby city (Queretaro QTO or Leon BJX).
Or you can fly to Houston and then south to BJX or QTO. Before you fly, reserve a driver to pick you up — Call Angelica tours at 52 415 152 6305 and ask for Mario.
Where to Stay
We tried Hacienda de las Flores. Delightful location, sweet dog (the gordita Coquette) and friendly staff. Ask for the TV room and you’ll be able to catch the morning shows on satellite: NBC, ABC and CBS, plus CNN. Rooms have basic cable. Delicious eggs for breakfast.
Helpful Links
PortalSanMiguel.com
InternetSanMiguel.com
SanMiguelOnline.com
SanMiguelGuide.com
SanMiguelArtists.com
MexOnline.com
AngelicaTours.com, ask for MarioTransportation from the airport
Francisco Marquez #33
Col. Independencia
C.P.37732
Office: (415) 1526305
Mobile: 4151535067
Toll free number: 1.877.446.0721
TIPS
Get a good map.
Take the tour of the city with Mario (AngelicaTours.com, but the web link is not reliable)
Steve McCrea, a travel DVD producer, wrote this article for Roadlovers.com, a travel portal. His DVD about San Miguel de Allende is available through Filmbaby.com.
Steve McCrea, a travel DVD producer, writes for Roadlovers.com and an English language web site FreeEnglishLessons.com and has produced a DVD about San Miguel Allende, a town in Mexico, available from Filmbaby.com. He can be reached at TheEBookman@gmail.com
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