PICTURES OF THE WORLD
Prince Albert II of Monaco inaugurates the new Grace Kelly suite at the InterContinental Carlton Cannes
Cannes, May 2010: Grace Kelly, glamorous star of the 50’s, Alfred Hitchcock’s muse, famous Princess of Monaco, gives her name to one of the most prestigious suites of the InterContinental Carlton, inaugurated by His Serene Highness, the Prince Albert II of Monaco.
In 1954, Alfred Hitchcock filmed many scenes of his cult movie « To Catch a Thief, » in the InterContinental Carlton Cannes. The movie’s stars, Grace Kelly and Cary Grant, spent many days in the Palace.To honor Grace Kelly’s beauty and talent, her son Prince Albert II of Monaco agreed to christen the suite in this legendary Palace, where his mother left a perpetual mark.
The Grace Kelly suite will now be one of the 10 suites on the seventh floor named after famous artists of the cinema world, along with Sean Connery, Sean Penn, Cary Grant, Sharon Stone, and Sophia Loren, allowing us to delve deep into the heart of the giant Hollywood scene.
Luxury, discrete elegance, refinement—such are the essential characteristics of this new exceptional place. Timeless alliance between tradition and modernity, the decoration,designed by architect Nicolas Papamiltiades, has been inspired by the Hitchcock movie « To Catch a Thief. » Adorned with sumptuous photographs of Grace Kelly from the Princely Palace of Monaco’s private collection, this sublime suite, with a 280 sq. m surface area, seduces with a spacious and refined design.
INTERCONTINENTAL CARLTON CANNES
58 La Croisette, 06400 Cannes
For more information visit www.intercontinental.com/cannes.
Sand Hotel, Dorset, England
Get exotic and taste the flavor of a completely new form of holidaying on the Weymouth Beach in Dorset, England. So are you tired and disgusted with the regular mountaineering and stereotypical vacations? Do you wish to get out of the conventional closed doors of the posh resorts and enjoy a dreamy life beyond? Well then, feel the difference with the latest and first ever sand hotel in the United Kingdom.
Here’s presenting you the world’s first sand-made hotel on Weymouth Beach in Dorset, England. A wonder of a sort in itself, the huge 1000 tonne sand building is designed exclusively to suit the taste of those travelers who want to make their every holiday a memorable and worthy event. With a magnificent open-air set up and all facilities identical to any luxury resident, the unique sand hotel is a hotshot amongst the tourists and travelers across the world.
Scientifically and tactfully designed by the master creator, Mark Anderson, the sand hotel comprises a twin double bedroom structure, with an open air construction that provides the guests with a unique opportunity to experience the entire star-studded night live, while on bed. Can you imagine how romantic the night would be, directly under the sky amidst the ambit of a galaxy of stars?
« It is the biggest sandcastle-like structure ever built in UK, » the BBC quoted Mr Anderson. Indeed it’s a castle in the form of an onshore hotel. Begin your day at the sand castle, with a touch of the tide waters kissing your feet at dawn.
« The innovatively planned sand hotel at the Weymouth Beach in Dorset is a manifestation of the creator Anderson’s idea as much as the toil of a team of six workers, including sculptors and diggers to give it the perfect shape that it is. It took eight days and unremitting 12 to14 hours per day to complete the sand hotel. « We had a team of six people and a digger working 12 to14 hours a day for eight days, altogether 600 hours. », recalled Mr. Anderson.
But the hotel is not equipped with a bathroom and toilet. Otherwise, it is a heaven for every romantic traveler; with a bed of sand lying at their disposal and a whole world of nature surrounding their presence. However, if you really feel the urge, by now, to get a taste of the difference in the sand hotel, you better do it right away before the rains drain away all your dreams.
2010 Fifa World Cup:Is Vuvuzela SA football’s trumpet a beautiful noise or a sound from « hell »?
- Vuvuzela, Fifa 2010
What’s plastic, a metre long, brightly coloured and sounds like an elephant? It’s the vuvuzela, the noise-making trumpet of South African football fans, and it’s come to symbolise the sport in the country. I am not sure I like it a lot even though it ads some ambiance !
It’s an instrument, but not always a musical one. Describing the atmosphere in a stadium packed with thousands of fans blowing their vuvuzelas is difficult. Up close it’s an elephant, sure, but en masse the sound is more like a massive swarm of very angry bees.
And when there’s action near the goal mouth, those bees go really crazy.
To get that sound out requires lip flexibility and lung strength – in short, a fair amount of technique. So be sure to get in some practice before attending a South African football match, or you the sound you produce may cause some amusement in the seats around you!
Vuvuzela supplier Boogieblast offers this advice: « Put your lips inside the mouthpiece and almost make a ‘farting’ sound. Relax your cheeks and let your lips vibrate inside the mouthpiece. As soon as you get that trumpeting sound, blow harder until you reach a ridiculously loud ‘boogying blast’
What should it sound like? Try this .wav file from www.boogieblast.co.za
Celebrity Cruises to Present « Celebrity iLounge » on Celebrity Solstice and Celebrity Summit
Celebrity Equinox
Since May, in a vivid reinforcement of its new brand platform, « Designed for you, » Celebrity Cruises announced plans to introduce on Celebrity Eclipse – the third in Celebrity Cruises’ stylish Solstice Class fleet of ships – the first « Celebrity iLounge. » The announcement met with such positive response from guests, travel agents and press that today, the brand announced plans to introduce the hip, modern lounge on Celebrity Solstice and Celebrity Summit next month.
It is a »a hipster haven, » « a nifty app for tech junkies, » and an illustration of « how much thought some cruise lines are putting into their Internet offerings, while others treat it as an afterthought,” the Celebrity iLounge on Celebrity Solstice® and Celebrity Summit® will – as on Celebrity Eclipse – offer what the line’s guests said they wanted most in an Internet café: easy access to the Internet, inspiring classes and new products.
The Celebrity iLounge on each ship will consist of three main areas: a series of contemporary MacBook® workstations where guests can check their e-mail, retain their social media connections, or print boarding passes; a retail space offering cruisers the opportunity to check out the latest MacBooks, iPods® and accessories; and an enrichment center where certified staff will offer guests tips on Mac or iPod® usage. more »
Children will love visit the Deep at the Natural History Museum’s in London which takes visitors 11,000 metres down
Black sea devil (Melanocetus johnsonii)
A new exibition for the children and their parents who travel in London this summer.
The Deep plunges into the abyss, revealing a deep sea environment less explored than the surface of the moon. With bizarre creatures that have adapted to their harsh world in wonderful ways, visitors to the exhibition will discover theextraordinary yet fragile biodiversity that exists in the deep oceans and learn how Museum scientists are helping to preserve this important ecosystem.
When visitors enter The Deep they descend into the inky depths and embark on an immersive voyage where strange animals are
suspended, jewel like, in the darkened gallery and deep sea giants loom out of the gloom. Combining astonishing imagery, real specimens on display to Museum visitors for the first time and life-size interactive installations, a highlight of the exhibition is a life-size recreation of a whale fall.
Alex Gaffikin, exhibition developer at the Natural History Museum, explains ‘At the centre of the exhibition is a real sperm whale skeleton, which has never been on display before. It tells the fascinating story of the weird and wonderful creatures that can live on a whale carcass for up to 50 years.’
Crushing pressure, icy cold, pitch black – The deep sea is the planet’s final frontier. It is the biggest and yet least explore environment on Earth. Remote, pitch black, with freezing cold temperatures and pressure up to 1,000 times greater than on land, find out about this harsh and alien habitat, which scientists believe could be as rich in biodiversity as rainforests or coral reefs.
Deep sea exploration – The Natural History Museum has a long history of deep sea research, starting with the HMS Challenger expedition in the 1870s and continuing to the present day with the effect of climate change on the deep sea in Antarctica. See some of the 130-year-old specimens collected on Challenger and climb aboard a life-size submersible to experience how modern Museum scientists explore the depths.
Myths and monsters – For centuries sailors have tried to explain the mysteries of the deep with stories of mermaids, sea devils and giant octopuses. Some, like Scandinavian legends of the Kraken, probably come from misidentification, but our fascination continues today in films and computer games.
Whale fall community – The centre piece of the exhibition is a recreation of a whale fall community using a sperm skeleton and stunning projections and footage of deep sea creatures that live on whale carcasses. Be transported to the ocean floor and
discover how a carcass can become a rich ecosystem.
Adapting to the deep – If you lived down here, you’d look weird, too. Bioluminescence, gaping mouths, stretchy stomachs and
seeming invisibility are just some of the adaptations that help deep sea creatures survive. With more than 50 real deep sea creatures preserved and on display, delicate glass Blaschka models and an imagined battle of a giant squid and sperm whale, this
is the closest most of us will get to exploring the deep.
Yvon Chouinard – The Man Who Revolutionized Mountain Climbing
Mont Blanc, Alpes, France
Yvon Chouinard, born in 1938, is a man of mettle and immense talent. Betting his life for death, he has made some outstanding contributions in rock climbing and outdoor gear business. His penchant for taking risks had no extremes, since he proved himself as a kayaker, surfer, fisherman and falconer. He also remained a persevering writer since he started it all. All his books are based on his real life experiences that introduce you to his thrills of climbing. Well assured, he has never been exhausted to surprise you ever.
His upbringing has been most ordinary matching to every second individual. He was son to a French-Canadian blacksmith, . But he developed an inclination towards climbing from his early childhood. He was a member of Sierra Club, when he founded the Southern California Falconry Club. His investigations of the falcon nests eventually encouraged him to take up rock climbing as passion. But he needed to save money for his expeditions and so he started making tools and for the same he used his blacksmith background.
more »