Priscilla Queen of the Desert quite the Australia treat - pink boa's for everyone!

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October 27, 2010Priscilla Queen of the Desert quite the Australia treat - pink boa's for everyone!

You gotta love the Aussies.

As manly as that country is - heck, Manly is the name of one of Sydney's top beaches - they're still able to get some major laughs out of gay culture. Witness Priscilla Queen of the Desert, which I was lucky enough to see on Tuesday night at the Princess of Wales Theatre in Toronto. I didn't quite know what to expect, but I came away hugely impressed by the acting and the costumes and the sheer audacity of whoever thought up the movie that sparked the play.

Wild doesn't begin to describe it. I mean, I hadn't seen a good skit involving dancing transvestite cupcakes for weeks.

Seriously, it was spectacular. But a little backstory first, if you like, and you can insert your own joke right now about checking the rearview mirror. The story involves a drag queen in Sydney who sets out to rough and ready Alice Springs to visit the six-year-old son he's never seen. He enlists an aging queen and a young, bitchy cohort to go with him and do an act in Alice Springs, but they have a few adventures along the way as they motor their way across the outback in a bus named Priscilla, encountering a few rednecks and some interesting characters along the way. The scene with the cupcakes involves the main character going outside the bus one morning and finding the aging drag queen - played spectacularly by Tony Sheldon - asleep with her head in a cake. This prompts the main character (Tick as a guy, Mitzi when he's in drag) to say how he's always wanted to sing the really stupid 1960s song, Macarthurs Park, which includes lyrics about someone who "left the cake out in the rain," as well as lyrics about sweet green icing flowing down and other cultural oddities probably appreciated most on acid, or at least some really strong dope.

Anyway, as he sings out come a bunch of queens with giant green cupcakes around their middles like some sort of hyper-caloric hoop skirt, complete with green icing and coloured smarties, with towering plastic umbrellas over their heads. Hilarious and incredibly inventive.

I'm not a fan of the music they feature in the play, being more inclined to classic rock or Elvis Costello in the 1970's/1980s versus Gloria Gaynor's I Will Survive and anything that got played in places with glittering disco balls. But it's just fine and it fits perfectly with the script and the singers are tremendous and the campy nature is just so overwhelmingly in your face that you can't stop smiling.

I kinda thought the play would paint Outbackers in a bad light, but many of them come across as pretty decent guys, especially Bob, who is exceptionally played by C. David Johnson. He was quietly spectactular, and even tossed off a great ad lib when one of the sets froze in mid-stage. The workers had to come out to get something unstuck, so as he walked off the stage Johnson smiled at the audience and said, "Well, they spent a lot of money on the bus."

I have a couple quibbles about the dialogue, which often snapped but far too often sagged (insert Freudian note here, too). A couple of the lines were simply dumb, including one where an Aboriginal character was asked about something and said, "Don't mind if I didgeri-doo." Ugh. That's about as bad? as "adieu, adieu, to yuh and yuh and yuh" in "Sound of Music."

That issue aside, it was a smashing success and thanks to Australia tourism for the Aussie champers to start the night and for a fine show. I'll be in the outback meself in about 10 days time. I've seen Sydney and Melbourne and the Ocean Road and the Great Barrier Reef, but the Outback is purely virgin territory for me (sorry, I can't help it).

I'm so thrilled at the prospect, I'll reach into the (pseudo) disco era and quote Oakland, California's own? Pointer Sisters, "I'm So Excited, and I Just Can't Hide It."

I'll be visiting Ayers Rock or Uluru, just as the characters in the play did. But I won't climb it as it's considered an affront to the aboriginal people. And I probably won't take the pink feather boa that the Mirvish people kindly sent my way.

Then again....

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Posted by Jim Byers at 04:18:25 PMin Current Affairs, Film, Music, Travel

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Travel Blog by Jim Byers
Jim Byers is the Star's Travel Editor. He has been writing travel stories for more than a decade, covered five Olympic Games and spent years covering the Blue Jays, the Toronto Raptors and the PGA Tour. He's been everywhere from St. John's to Vancouver, as well as China, Australia, the Caribbean, a dozen countries in Europe and just about every major city in the U.S.

Okay, he was only in Liechtenstein for a couple hours in a rental car and his only visit to New Orleans was when he was 12, but you get the picture.

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St. Lucia tourism riding high; new casino could do even more...Whistler changes

St. Lucia's tourism director was in town on Monday and we managed a few minutes over lunch.

"Canadian visits to St. Lucia are up 109 per cent" in the last year, Louis Lewis told me. "That's amazing at a time when many countries would be happy with a rise of nine per cent."

Yes, they would. Most of us would be happy with an increase of that size in our economic portfolios, too, but that's another story.

Lewis said they've made a concerted effort to boost tourism from North America and that U.S. visits were up 40 per cent so far this year compared with 2009; also a terrific number.

"We had a good winter, and summer outpaced winter for the first time," he said.

More flights - there are now four per day from Canada - have helped a lot. So has the boost given the country's website, stlucianow.ca, which earlier today was offering all-inclusive rooms for as little as $109 per night per person and was advertising fall deals of 60 per cent off.

As good as things are, Lewis said St. Lucia isn't standing still. A new casino north of Rodney Bay, on the northern part of the island, should open in December, the first casino on the island.

Casino City Times reports the casino will include 350 slot machines and 14 gaming tables and will be managed by Treasure Bay Corp. LLC of Biloxi, Mississippi. It's said to be about 15,000 square feet and will employ 300 full-time workers in St. Lucia.

I told Lewis about how I'd visited the country music bar in Castries, the Nashville Palace, when I was there and we chatted at length over lunch about his country's fascination with hurtin' tunes and how they don't like modern country music.

"There's a joke on the other islands that they can always tell who the St. Lucia workers are by turning off the Caribbean music at a club or bar at night and turning on a country-western song. If anyone dashes onto the floor for the country music, they're from St. Lucia."

Romance remains a huge part of the attraction of St. Lucia; not surprising when you see the beaches and forested highlands and the grand Pitons that dominate the skyline on the south end of the island.

WHISTLER CHANGES

Things are heating up, or , rather, cooling down nicely in Whistler, host (in part) of some pretty famous sporting events a few months back. The Olympics are firmly in the rear-view mirror, but the first FIBT World Cup events take place Nov 25-27 during Whistler's opening weekend, with bobsleigh and skeleton slated for the Whistler Sliding Centre. It will be great to see Canadian medallist Jon Montgomery in action, with or without a post-race beer on the main streets of town. For more information, check out the link.

Whistler/Blackcomb also has an Early Booking Offer, where guests can book by November 15, 2010 and receive the best deal of the season and a price guarantee. Lock in at the current rates, and if the price drops for the equivalent package during the season, they’ll match it. Families can save even more, as kids 12 and under stay, ski, rent, and receive airport transfers for FREE. Early booking packages are available from just $86CAD per person per night

Amber Turnau of Whistler/Blackcomb tells me they're "really looking at leveraging the awareness built up from the games (both internationally in Germany and Australia) and at home here in Canada."

Turnau says that based on a study conducted by Tourism Whistler in partnership with Tourism British Columbia, awareness of Whistler increased significantly in the key overseas markets of United Kingdom, Germany and Australia. The study measured awareness of Whistler before and after the 2010 Winter Games (November 2009, January 2010 and March 2010). Increases by market:
- United Kingdom - awareness increased from 32 per cent to 45 percent
- Germany - awareness increased from 19 per cent to 42 per cent
- Australia - awareness increased from 48 per cent to 62 per cent.

Guests this season can ski/ride where the Olympians raced on the Dave Murray Downhill and Women’s DH, she points out. Not me, but thanks anyway.

GOOGLE TV AND GOOGLE TRAVEL?

A fellow Star worker was just telling me how Google is going to be available on TV's, or some such. It probably is already and I just don't know it. I remarked to her that I also had heard Google was getting into the travel business, which kinda scares me in a way I can't even begin to explain.

We both agreed we're totally screwed with technology once our kids leave home, although I'm pretty sure I'll be able to get the toaster to work all right.

TRANSPORTATION WOES in TORONTO

So, last Friday I get off the subway at Lawrence Station, and for the second time in a few weeks, only one of the escalators at the north end - five flights worth - was working. And it was, for the second time in a few weeks, the DOWN escalator that hardly anyone uses at rush hour. My goodness, folks, is is THAT hard?

Then, yesterday, BOTH escalators at the north end were out of service in the evening. Today, I went in the south entrance and one of the four escalators wasn't working. Glad to see my hard-earned tax dollars are being well-spent, guys.

It's also been a strange few trips. On Monday morning, some poor fellow sat on the floor of my subway car and cried and repeatedly banged his head. Poor fellow. On the way home, some guy stopped a buddy and I and looked at our Blackberries and wondered if we worked for the Secret Service. Today, a young Anglo woman started hurling racial epithets at a young, black woman, who wasn't taking any lip and gave it right back to her until the TTC finally had to call the cops and hauled the Anglo woman away, thank goodness.

Phew. Of course, on Sunday I tried driving into work and got caught up in the Toronto Marathon madness. Yes, the road closures were in the paper but would it have hurt the city to tell drivers that the Gardiner ramps to Yonge and Bay Sts. would be closed BEFORE WE GOT THERE and then found out we had to go to SPADINA and then double back in city traffic, only to find a huge backup of cars trying to get off the eastbound Gardiner at Jarvis? Just a couple signs, guys? Honestly.

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Toronto Star Travel's Grand Tour of the World...a modest proposal!

Not as easy as it sounds.

The boss asked me recently to come up with a series of ten great spots we could feature in the paper between now and roughly Christmas. They had to be a mix of places around the world, with some ancient and some newer cities, some northern and some southern spots, and a nice mixture of cultures.

Check my column on the front page of today's Travel section for more, but suffice to say it was a lot of work to come up with the places we'll be profiling over the next couple months, starting this Saturday.

We kick things off Saturday with a look at Rome, the Eternal City, where I was blown away by an outdoor concert in August at the bottom of the Spanish Steps. It was just incredible.

From there, we'll tackle Tokyo and, in no particular order, Buenos Aires, Jerusalem, Sydney, Maui, Dubai, St. Petersburg and Cape Town.

Anyone with a keen eye for copy editing will notice that I named nine destinations in the last two paragraphs. But I also said the boss asked me to come up with ten places in the world. The discrepancy is that I came up with nine spots, but we want to get readers involved by asking them what should be our tenth and final destination.

In other words, you get to tell me where to go; likely a tempting thought for many of you out there, mostly my family. We thought about leaving it open-ended and letting folks choose from any place in the world, but it would've been too hard to tally up all the votes. So, in the interest of brevity, we're asking readers to choose from the following three spots: Paris, Bangkok and Mumbai. They're all great places, but only can be my final destination.

If you want to cast your ballot, just drop us a line at travel@thestar.ca and put the words "Grand Tour" in the subject line of the email so we know what you're writing about. Then you can tell me where to go.

Sound like a plan? We'll look things over and announce the "winning destination" in a few weeks, and I'll drop in for a few days later this fall and write up a story for the final Grand Tour episode.

Thanks for reading, and be sure to cast a vote.

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT....THE LATEST FROM THE CARIBBEAN

If you're heading to the Caribbean this winter, and many of you are, you won't want to miss the update that freelancer Jo Matyas provided yesterday. So, in the interests of keeping her information out there, I'm re-publishing Jo's blog from Wednesday. Thanks again for the file, Jo; it's greatly appreciated.

Regular contributor to the Toronto Star travel pages, Josephine Matyas, gave up a weekend of turkey and cranberry to attend a Caribbean Tourism Organization conference on the island of Barbados. In addition to an island tour, a stop at the excellent Barbados Museum and some time bobbing in the water with a mask and snorkel, she got the scoop on what’s new for visitors to the Caribbean this winter.

Every winter-shocked Canadian knows that the Caribbean is a place with a “kick back and chill” vibe. Every island is different – a good starting place to plan, and find deals is www.caribbeantravel.com. The site has information on hot deals, festivals and events and you can search by your area of interest.

As for some specifics about what’s new for the winter 2010/11 (yes, the snow is almost here) . . .

Barbados wants visitors to come for the food, as well as the sun and the turquoise waters. From November 19-22, 2010 the island is holding the first annual Food & Wine and Rum Festival. A number of celebrated chefs will be on island to show off their skills, including Canadian Ricardo Larrivee, host of Ricardo and Friends on the Food Network. Local Barbadian chefs will be doing a few cooking demos themselves, holding tasting events and interactive sessions. Drinks will be flowing as a part of the festival (how could they not be, on the island that is home to the world’s oldest rum, Mount Gay) – wine experts and mixologists will produce demonstrations and tastings around the island. www.foodwinerum.com

A few Bajan food facts:

There are 3,000 rum shops (think very tiny, local bars) on the island. And next door there is often a church (although the island has substantially fewer of those – just over 300). The locals like to say that they aim to “keep all the spirits in one place.”The national dish is flying fish, rice and peas, and a side dish called “pie” which is an oven-baked macaroni and cheese.Another traditional favourite is callaloo soup, a delicious dark green, iron-packed soup made with callaloo leaves (much like spinach).

St. Lucia is well known as a destination for romance and honeymoons (ABC filmed The Bachelor on island) but it’s also a popular cruise stop and full of activities for families. The lush, hilly island is full of history, and fruit and vegetable plantations that the tourism people would like to open up to visitors. St. Lucia lies in the “cocoa belt” (a zone plus or minus 20 degrees latitude from the Equator). On December 29, 2010, Hotel Chocolat opens a new property on the historic Rabot Estate, an operating cocoa tree plantation (yes, the air does smell like cocoa) with a killer-view of the island’s stunning twin Piton Peaks. www.thehotelchocolat.com. The popular summertime Go Bananas program will probably run again in 2011 (for those who like to plan ahead) – room upgrades, complimentary babysitting, free meals and stays for kids under age 17. www.stlucianow.com. More in the adult realm, a new casino is scheduled to open by November 2010 in the Baywalk Mall in the Rodney Bay area at the north part of the island (the marina here makes Rodney Bay very popular with the boating set).

The sister islands of St. Kitts and Nevis (I am coming clean with a bias – these are two of my favourite Caribbean destinations) claim that studies show visitors come for the beaches (well, yeah) and for the rainforest tours and ecoadventures. There’s no hiding that these are two of the pricier islands in the Caribbean. St. Kitts is starting construction on a private air terminal (service should be up and running at the end of 2012), so if you’ve got a private jet, you’ve now got a place to park it. The Four Seasons Nevis will be re-opening on December 15, 2010 offering special package rates – the island’s premier property has been closed for a two-year refurbishment. www.fourseasons.com/nevis. If horseracing interests you, the new Beaumont Park on St. Kitts hosts races on a ? mile oval track. The new Silver Reef Resort on St. Kitts has completed 36 of the planned 62 units – built eco-sensitively the sale/rental units recycle grey water, employ solar power and use local building materials to reduce the carbon footprint. The Beach Club at Sandy Bank Bay is set to open in early 2011 – it’s the first stage of a luxury development called Christophe Harbour on St. Kitts (mega yacht harbour, marina, Tom Fazio championship golf course, boutique shopping and five-star hotels). The open-air Beach Club will have private dining patios, a natural-edged pool, waterfall showers and direct access to Sandy Bank Bay beach and the Atlantic Ocean. www.christopheharbour.com

Bermuda is even closer for Torontonians since WestJet launched service in May 2010. This November through March has been branded Bermuda’s Golf & Spa Season, with eight courses participating and spa specials for the golf widows. Eighteen of the island’s largest hotels have signed on for The Compliments of Bermuda promotion – every two-night stay gets you a third night free for travel between November 15, 2010 and March 15, 2011. www.bermudatourism.com. The Reefs Hotel & Club – voted Bermuda’s Best Hotel by Travel & Leisure and inducted onto the 2010 Conde Nast Traveler Gold List – recently doubled their size with a new fractional wing, www.thereefs.com.

And finally, tiny Anguilla, where the focus is on celebrity and stylish living will once again host the popular Moonsplash Music Festival, timed to coordinate with the full moon in March 2011. The festival is four days of reggae talent, ranging from cutting edge sounds to founding legends. www.bankieban.net?

Josephine Matyas is a Canadian travel journalist who often writes about ecotourism and the Caribbean. You can find her at www.writerwithoutborders.com.

- 30 -

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What's new in the Caribbean...an update from Star Travel regular Jo Matyas

Jim Byers' Travel Blog Beta Toronto Edition Login/Register Weather wheels.ca healthzone.ca yourhome.ca parentcentral.ca toronto.com thestar.com Web find a business Home News GTA Opinion Business Sports A & E Living Travel Columns Blogs More ? Autos Careers Classifieds Deaths Real Estate Diversions Acts of Kindness Sudoku Crosswords Bridge Results Contests Lotteries Comics TV Listings Horoscopes Public Editor Public Editor Columns About the Public Editor Recent Corrections Report an Error Stay up to date RSS Feeds Twitter Updates News Alerts Newsletters Mobile Devices Other sites: toronto.com parentcentral.ca yourhome.ca healthzone.cawheels.ca flyerland.ca goldbook.ca starauctions.ca insurancehotline.com wonderlist.ca collapse Site map Home Blogs Jim Byers' Travel Blog

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? Star man Adrian Brijbassi blogs from St. Petersburg, Russia...Hockey time! |Main| Toronto Star Travel's Grand Tour of the World...a modest proposal! ?

October 13, 2010What's new in the Caribbean...an update from Star Travel regular Jo Matyas

?

Regular contributor to the Toronto Star travel pages, Josephine Matyas, gave up a weekend of turkey and cranberry to attend a Caribbean Tourism Organization conference on the island of Barbados. In addition to an island tour, a stop at the excellent Barbados Museum and some time bobbing in the water with a mask and snorkel, she got the scoop on what’s new for visitors to the Caribbean this winter.

Every winter-shocked Canadian knows that the Caribbean is a place with a “kick back and chill” vibe. Every island is different – a good starting place to plan, and find deals is www.caribbeantravel.com. The site has information on hot deals, festivals and events and you can search by your area of interest.

As for some specifics about what’s new for the winter 2010/11 (yes, the snow is almost here) . . .

Barbados wants visitors to come for the food, as well as the sun and the turquoise waters. From November 19-22, 2010 the island is holding the first annual Food & Wine and Rum Festival. A number of celebrated chefs will be on island to show off their skills, including Canadian Ricardo Larrivee, host of Ricardo and Friends on the Food Network. Local Barbadian chefs will be doing a few cooking demos themselves, holding tasting events and interactive sessions. Drinks will be flowing as a part of the festival (how could they not be, on the island that is home to the world’s oldest rum, Mount Gay) – wine experts and mixologists will produce demonstrations and tastings around the island. www.foodwinerum.com

A few Bajan food facts:

There are 3,000 rum shops (think very tiny, local bars) on the island. And next door there is often a church (although the island has substantially fewer of those – just over 300). The locals like to say that they aim to “keep all the spirits in one place.”The national dish is flying fish, rice and peas, and a side dish called “pie” which is an oven-baked macaroni and cheese.Another traditional favourite is callaloo soup, a delicious dark green, iron-packed soup made with callaloo leaves (much like spinach).

St. Lucia is well known as a destination for romance and honeymoons (ABC filmed The Bachelor on island) but it’s also a popular cruise stop and full of activities for families. The lush, hilly island is full of history, and fruit and vegetable plantations that the tourism people would like to open up to visitors. St. Lucia lies in the “cocoa belt” (a zone plus or minus 20 degrees latitude from the Equator). On December 29, 2010, Hotel Chocolat opens a new property on the historic Rabot Estate, an operating cocoa tree plantation (yes, the air does smell like cocoa) with a killer-view of the island’s stunning twin Piton Peaks. www.thehotelchocolat.com. The popular summertime Go Bananas program will probably run again in 2011 (for those who like to plan ahead) – room upgrades, complimentary babysitting, free meals and stays for kids under age 17. www.stlucianow.com. More in the adult realm, a new casino is scheduled to open by November 2010 in the Baywalk Mall in the Rodney Bay area at the north part of the island (the marina here makes Rodney Bay very popular with the boating set).

The sister islands of St. Kitts and Nevis (I am coming clean with a bias – these are two of my favourite Caribbean destinations) claim that studies show visitors come for the beaches (well, yeah) and for the rainforest tours and ecoadventures. There’s no hiding that these are two of the pricier islands in the Caribbean. St. Kitts is starting construction on a private air terminal (service should be up and running at the end of 2012), so if you’ve got a private jet, you’ve now got a place to park it. The Four Seasons Nevis will be re-opening on December 15, 2010 offering special package rates – the island’s premier property has been closed for a two-year refurbishment. www.fourseasons.com/nevis. If horseracing interests you, the new Beaumont Park on St. Kitts hosts races on a ? mile oval track. The new Silver Reef Resort on St. Kitts has completed 36 of the planned 62 units – built eco-sensitively the sale/rental units recycle grey water, employ solar power and use local building materials to reduce the carbon footprint. The Beach Club at Sandy Bank Bay is set to open in early 2011 – it’s the first stage of a luxury development called Christophe Harbour on St. Kitts (mega yacht harbour, marina, Tom Fazio championship golf course, boutique shopping and five-star hotels). The open-air Beach Club will have private dining patios, a natural-edged pool, waterfall showers and direct access to Sandy Bank Bay beach and the Atlantic Ocean. www.christopheharbour.com

Bermuda is even closer for Torontonians since WestJet launched service in May 2010. This November through March has been branded Bermuda’s Golf & Spa Season, with eight courses participating and spa specials for the golf widows. Eighteen of the island’s largest hotels have signed on for The Compliments of Bermuda promotion – every two-night stay gets you a third night free for travel between November 15, 2010 and March 15, 2011. www.bermudatourism.com. The Reefs Hotel & Club – voted Bermuda’s Best Hotel by Travel & Leisure and inducted onto the 2010 Conde Nast Traveler Gold List – recently doubled their size with a new fractional wing, www.thereefs.com.

And finally, tiny Anguilla, where the focus is on celebrity and stylish living will once again host the popular Moonsplash Music Festival, timed to coordinate with the full moon in March 2011. The festival is four days of reggae talent, ranging from cutting edge sounds to founding legends. www.bankieban.net?

Josephine Matyas is a Canadian travel journalist who often writes about ecotourism and the Caribbean. You can find her at www.writerwithoutborders.com.

?

Posted by Jim Byers at 04:29:20 PMin caribbean, Current Affairs, Food and Drink, hotels, The beach, tourism, Travel

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Travel Blog by Jim Byers
Jim Byers is the Star's Travel Editor. He has been writing travel stories for more than a decade, covered five Olympic Games and spent years covering the Blue Jays, the Toronto Raptors and the PGA Tour. He's been everywhere from St. John's to Vancouver, as well as China, Australia, the Caribbean, a dozen countries in Europe and just about every major city in the U.S.

Okay, he was only in Liechtenstein for a couple hours in a rental car and his only visit to New Orleans was when he was 12, but you get the picture.

Subscribe to this blog's feedFollow him on TwitterRead more by Jim ByersRecent Comments Categories africa airlines asia Bargains Books California canada caribbean central america cruises Current Affairs europe Film florida Food and Drink France Games Germany golf Great Britain hotels Ireland Italy Las Vegas mexico Music New York olympics ontario Quebec Religion Skiing south america Southern Ontario getaways Spas Sports Television The beach toronto tourism Travel united states Web/Tech Weblogs Weddings World Cup Archives October 2010 September 2010 August 2010 July 2010 June 2010 May 2010 April 2010 March 2010 February 2010 January 2010 Travel LinksTheStar.com - TravelRelated LinksToday's Online News
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Emirates A-380 Toronto to Dubai; pretty smooth...First impressions of the area...

A buddy of mine, who I will secretly refer to as "Ross," used to love boasting about his old minivan and the "sweet ride" it provided. As great as?it was, I suspect he'd be even more impressed with a trip on the Emirates A-380 that flies from Toronto to Dubai three times a week.

Yikes.

It was my first time on the plane last night (Wednesday), and it was something else. How on earth anything that big takes off is beyond me, first of all. I?mean, take a look at that thing sometime, then add the weight of nearly 500 passengers and all that food and drinks and the water for the showers and it?simply defies the laws of physics, Captain.

I bought a full-fare ticket and was lucky enough to get an upgrade to business class to see how the other half lives. Yeah, it's not bad. There's the?usual pod-style seating area, where the seats tilt back and make into a flat bed. Similar to Air Canada in that sense. But they take things to a whole?different level on Emirates, with a sleeping pad that you can put on top of your seat for a comfier rest, plus much more storage area than most biz class?setups. There was a large shelf to my left, with a mini-bar (no alcohol) with two small cans of pop, a mango juice, plus fresh water and Perrier.

That was quite nice. The food was good, and they served alcohol to folks who wanted it. I had a couple glasses of Bordeaux, but wish they'd had a slightly?larger selection. Four is fine, but I would've thought they'd have six or eight varieties.?The TV/entertainment centre set-up was amazing; a huge screen with? ?spectacular colour and a couple hundred movies to choose from, not to mention a whole whack of TV shows,?documentaries and a ridiculous supply of music; classic albums such as Pet Sounds by the Beach Boys and Harvest from our own Neil Young, great playlists for everyone from Sinatra and classical artists Tom Petty to U2 to the Beatles to Bruce Springsteen, Neil Diamond, Radiohead, Coldplay and Abba, and more.

It's a great way to pass the time.?But what's really cool is the lounge at the back of the biz section. It's got curved benches on each side of the plane to sit about six people in all,?and in the middle is a wide-open spot for folks to stand and mingle and then a curved bar with olives, sandwiches, snacks and a full bar. It was quite?impressive, but it would be nice to see a bottle of Canadian whiskey on board a flight from Toronto.

I didn't get to use it, but the folks were nice enough to show me the first class section, which features even larger televisions, more storage space, a?small desk and lamp and sliding panels so you can be almost entirely enclosed and private. It's quite something. But not as cool as the?shower, which is about the size of a small Tokyo apartment; maybe 12 feet by five, with a full shower. Folks in first class get a half hour in the?washroom per passenger, and five minutes of running water for the shower. And how great would that be at the end of a 10-hour flight?

My tour guide also pointed out how, when it's time for sleep on the plane as a whole, they turn down the regular moodlighting and put on lights that cast the shape of small stars on?a deep blue background on the ceiling.?Emirates has a dozen A-380's operating now and should have 15 by year-end. They have another 90 on order.

Right now they're stuck at three flights a week from Canada to Dubai. They'd like to go daily, but their entreaties to the Stephen Harper?government have falled on deaf ears; Harper being more interested in protecting Canada's airlines, and their deep-pocketed owners, than he is in providing?more choice for Canadian consumers. At least that's how I see it.

I got a charge out of the music on offer, including a bit where you can play all the #1 hits from the UK charts for all years starting with 1955 or so. Lots of?Elvis and the Beatles, of course, but also some weird bits. Wandrin' Star, which Lee Marvin sang/mumbled for the movie Paint Your Wagon with Clint Eastwood,?was a #1 hit in the UK for three weeks in 1970. Also making number one was I"ll Never Fall in Love Again, but not the Dionne Warwick version. This one?was by Bobby Gentry, which was a surprise to me. Also weird that both Michelle and Ob-la-di, Ob-la-da made number one as cover tunes of the Beatles, but?they weren't Beatles singles so didn't make the charts.

Anyway, thanks to Emirates for the sweet ride.

ARRIVING IN DUBAI

I was prepared, I think, for the Burj Al Arab and such, but I didn't for some reason think much about the ??Dubai airport before I stepped into it. Wow.?All kinds of gleaming white and silver columns in a huge arrivals area that had to have 50-foot ceilings, plus mirrors and palm trees and fancy lighting.

Really, really awesome. Best part? Out in the covered parking lot/taxi area they have spraying fountains and fake waterfalls. In a parking lot. I can only imagine?what the rest of the city looks like.

We passed a bunch of nice hotels on the way into town, including the Fairmont. Sadly, we also passed a Chili's, an Applebee's, a Tony Roma's, a Pizza Hut and two Kentucky?Fried Chicken outlets. If you didn't see the Arabic signs and the Turkish restaurants you might have thought you were in Miami.

I'm staying the night at the Madinat Jumeirah's Mina Salam Hotel, just a few feet from the Burj Al Arab. The lobby is stunning, with Arabic arches and lovely wooden furnishings,?as well as a small fountain filled with red rose petals and floating candles. Quite beautiful.?The rooms are enormous, with a lovely wooden desk? ?I'm typing at now, a dark, polished dresser, a huge TV and a large sitting area with a very good-sized bathroom?that features colourful Arabic tiles.

The guy at the front desk told me there are 42 restaurants in the complex, which features two hotels and a giant lagoon where they ferry you by boat from one?part to another. Geez.?I wandered about for a while and figured I really wanted a view. I stopped at a place called The Agency and had a glass of wine on the terrace. I asked for an?antipasto platter, which had good cheese and olives and an eggplant spread but no meat. I also ordered a beef yakitori dish that was inedible, but they?charged me for it anyway. I thought about arguing but I wanted to make the point that it's poor service to charge someone for something they wouldn't eat.?So I guess I just did.

Anyway, it was warm (about 30 degrees) with a slight breeze and watching small boats ferry folks about in the lagoon in the shadow of the Burj Al Arab is?not a bad way to spend a Thursday night. There were plenty of folks in Arab headresses and conservative clothing, but also a lot of European/North American girls in low-cut tops and tight dresses. That took me by surprise, although not in a bad way. I guess I thought that even tourists over here would dress a tad conservatively given the nature of the beast. Maybe they do when they're out in the city, but in a tourist enclave like this it seems like it's about the same as Toronto or New York or Bangkok.

?I'll have something more on the hotel tomorrow when I can see it in the daylight. I'm also headed to a Jumeirah desert resort for one night just to get some sense?of Dubai outside the city.

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Star man Adrian Brijbassi blogs from St. Petersburg, Russia...Hockey time!

Jim Byers' Travel Blog Beta Toronto Edition Login/Register Weather wheels.ca healthzone.ca yourhome.ca parentcentral.ca toronto.com thestar.com Web find a business Home News GTA Opinion Business Sports A & E Living Travel Columns Blogs More ? Autos Careers Classifieds Deaths Real Estate Diversions Acts of Kindness Sudoku Crosswords Bridge Results Contests Lotteries Comics TV Listings Horoscopes Public Editor Public Editor Columns About the Public Editor Recent Corrections Report an Error Stay up to date RSS Feeds Twitter Updates News Alerts Newsletters Mobile Devices Other sites: toronto.com parentcentral.ca yourhome.ca healthzone.cawheels.ca flyerland.ca goldbook.ca starauctions.ca insurancehotline.com wonderlist.ca collapse Site map Home Blogs Jim Byers' Travel Blog

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? Thanks to kind nurses & good doctors in Dubai...Cultural understanding program |Main| What's new in the Caribbean...an update from Star Travel regular Jo Matyas ?

October 11, 2010Star man Adrian Brijbassi blogs from St. Petersburg, Russia...Hockey time!

ST. PETERSBURG, Russia — We have Indian Summer and Russians enjoy Golden Autumn, a glorious week or two of unseasonably warm weather that arrives just as the leaves change colour, creating beautiful scenes and a happy atmosphere around town. This week, St. Petersburg has enjoyed temperatures in the mid- to high teens, topping out at 17 degrees on Thursday. There’ll be a few more days above 10 degrees before winter blows in, so people are packing in as much outdoor activity as they can.

On Nevskiy Prospect, the city’s main street that’s loaded with 18th-century architectural gems and historic cathedrals, the crowds are out until early in the morning. On the small beach outside of the Peter and Paul Fortress on Petrograd island, sunbathers took in some rays in bikinis and unfortunate Speedos. At the Moika Kempinski Hotel, one of Europe’s great places to stay, the week’s dinner menu at the wonderful Bellevue Brasserie celebrates autumn with several dishes featuring mushrooms, including a steak with a mushroom ragout that was perfect. In Pushkin, a suburb named after Russia’s most loved poet and playwright, the exquisite Catherine Palace welcomed a large number of visitors who came to see its mesmerizing gold and amber walls. From St. Petersburg, it’s about an hour trek to Pushkin along quaint countryside that’s similar to what we’d find in the Ottawa Valley.

Another popular spot outside of the city is Peterhof, the 1,500-acre summer home of Peter the Great that was built in the 1720s. It’s probably the best spot in the area to enjoy Golden Autumn. Peterhof, or “Peter’s court”, was fashioned after the Versailles palace, and it has 150 fountains that spout water fed from a lake 22 kilometres away. The fountains, many of them representing Greek heroes and heroines, are marvels. The immaculate grounds at Peterhof glistened on Friday with orange, yellow, red, green and brown as the leaves around the palace clung to branches. The best way to reach Peterhof is by boat. It costs 800 rubles (about $27) for a round-trip ticket from just outside the Hermitage to Peterhof. The comfortable ride takes 30 minutes and you can easily spend four or five hours enjoying the grounds and the cafés and restaurants on it. A real special spot.

?WHO SAYS RUSSIANS LOVE HOCKEY?

?Maybe it’s because their national team has underwhelmed at the Olympics in recent years, but Russians just don’t seem so into the start of the NHL season. Every Russian I’ve spoken to prefers soccer and St. Petersburg is building a new 80,000-seat stadium that it hopes will help the nation secure the 2018 World Cup. English translator and tour guide Alexander Sergaev says he’s a fan of hockey, but he follows the Russian Kontinental Hockey League (KHL). He went to Monday’s exhibition game, which SKA St. Petersburg won 5-3 over the Carolina Hurricanes, and says he recently ordered the DVD of the 1972 Summit Series. Still, the start of the NHL season didn’t excite him as much as the KHL.

You’d think an Irish bar would be a place where the NHL would be big. St. Petersburg native Nikolai Firtich introduced me to O’Hooligans, which is just off of Nevskiy Prospect, about a 20-minute walk from the Hermitage. Nikolai said O’Hooligans would have the game, and they did, but we had to ask for it to be put on and then I waited for someone else to show interest in it. No one did. The game was in Helsinki, just across th Gulf of Finland, and at primetime here, but the Hurricanes went on to beat the Wild 4-3 with most of St. Petersburg apathetic.

“People like football more,” says Nikolai, who teaches Russian studies at Vassar University, an Ivy League school in Poughkeepsie, N.Y. He’s in his hometown with a group of his students who are studying here for a semester.

You’ll read more about Nikolai, his students, and the Hermitage and more of St. Petersburg’s amazing sites in the coming weeks in Star Travel.

?

?

Posted by Jim Byers at 08:31:23 PMin europe, Food and Drink, hotels, Sports, Travel

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Travel Blog by Jim Byers
Jim Byers is the Star's Travel Editor. He has been writing travel stories for more than a decade, covered five Olympic Games and spent years covering the Blue Jays, the Toronto Raptors and the PGA Tour. He's been everywhere from St. John's to Vancouver, as well as China, Australia, the Caribbean, a dozen countries in Europe and just about every major city in the U.S.

Okay, he was only in Liechtenstein for a couple hours in a rental car and his only visit to New Orleans was when he was 12, but you get the picture.

Subscribe to this blog's feedFollow him on TwitterRead more by Jim ByersRecent Comments Categories africa airlines asia Bargains Books California canada caribbean central america cruises Current Affairs europe Film florida Food and Drink France Games Germany golf Great Britain hotels Ireland Italy Las Vegas mexico Music New York olympics ontario Quebec Religion Skiing south america Southern Ontario getaways Spas Sports Television The beach toronto tourism Travel united states Web/Tech Weblogs Weddings World Cup Archives October 2010 September 2010 August 2010 July 2010 June 2010 May 2010 April 2010 March 2010 February 2010 January 2010 Travel LinksTheStar.com - TravelRelated LinksToday's Online News
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Advertisement.module-list {width: 300px; padding:0px; margin: 0px;} Legal NoticeTheStar.com
Copyright Toronto Star Newspapers Limited. All rights reserved. The views expressed are those of the writer and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Toronto Star or www.thestar.com. The Star is not responsible for the content or views expressed on external sites.Distribution, transmission or republication of any material is strictly prohibited without the prior written permission of Toronto Star Newspapers Limited.
For information please contact us using our webmaster form. www.thestar.com online since 1996. thestar.com Corrections Contact Webmaster FAQ Site Map Toronto Star About Subscribe Subscribe Self Service Contact Us News Releases Star Internships Careers at TheStar.com Advertise with us Media Kit Online Advertising Print Advertising Special Sections Initiatives Santa Claus Fund Fresh Air Fund Classroom Connection Community Giving Stay up to date RSS Feeds Twitter Updates News Alerts Newsletters Mobile Devices parentcentral.ca wheels.ca yourhome.ca toronto.com pages of the past Stock photos New in Homes more ? Copyright Toronto Star 1996-2009 Terms & Conditions Privacy Policy

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From Burj Al Arab to Al Maha desort resort...two worlds in less than two hours

Jim Byers' Travel Blog Beta Toronto Edition Login/Register Weather wheels.ca healthzone.ca yourhome.ca parentcentral.ca toronto.com thestar.com Web find a business Home News GTA Opinion Business Sports A & E Living Travel Columns Blogs More ? Autos Careers Classifieds Deaths Real Estate Diversions Acts of Kindness Sudoku Crosswords Bridge Results Contests Lotteries Comics TV Listings Horoscopes Public Editor Public Editor Columns About the Public Editor Recent Corrections Report an Error Stay up to date RSS Feeds Twitter Updates News Alerts Newsletters Mobile Devices Other sites: toronto.com parentcentral.ca yourhome.ca healthzone.cawheels.ca flyerland.ca goldbook.ca starauctions.ca insurancehotline.com wonderlist.ca collapse Site map Home Blogs Jim Byers' Travel Blog

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? Emirates A-380 Toronto to Dubai; pretty smooth...First impressions of the area... |Main| I'll be back ?

October 01, 2010From Burj Al Arab to Al Maha desort resort...two worlds in less than two hours

DUBAI - What a difference 120 minutes make. One minute, I'm standing in the Burj Al Arab tower on the waterfront of Dubai, the sail-like, billowing tower that features a restaurant surrounded by
?a giant aquarium with a tiger shark and manta rays. A few minutes later, I'm bouncing down a dirt road looking out a huge, white Arabian Oryx cooling itself in the?shade of a small tree in the middle of a rolling series of Dubai sand dunes.
Fascinating.

The morning was spectacular here. I woke up about 6 a.m. and made a quick dash for the beach in front of the Madinat Jumeirah complex, where I was staying (my hotel s the Mina ?Salam; one of three on the grounds). The light was wonderful; a mix of indigo and orange and grey, and the light kept subtly changing as I walked up and down a beach that was surprisingly deserted. In half an hour on a perfect morning, there was only one other tourist in sight. Maybe all the young folks were up partying late and drinking pina coladas at Trader Vic's bar, which was packed to the proverbial rafters when I went by at 9:30 p.m.

Anyway, it was absolutely a wonderful morning to be on the beach, not to mention breakfast. I've seen plenty of great buffets before, but nothing to match?the Mina Salam. I'm leaving three-quarters of the offerings, and that's not a joke, but here are a few of the foods they had: make your own omelettes, baked??tomatoes, four types of croissants, vanilla honey, lavender honey, cinnamon honey, hummus, eggplant jam, arabic bread, bacon, chicken sausage, waffles, pancakes, bircher muesli, an Indian station that had paratha, coconut chutney and lots more, a salad bar, miso soup, a cheese platter, figs, dates, banana compote, pineapple compote, pear compote, strawberry chutney, pear chutney, baguettes, a granola station and five kinds of juice. Phew. I wish I was there another day just to sample more. I didn't spot any Captain Crunch or Slovenian sheep cheese, but I bet they'd get it for you if you asked.

The Al Qasr hotel on the same property is even more sumptuous, with lovely rooms and a lush lobby. THey also have a series of villas, some of them right along the beach, not to mention their own souk (market) with lots of stuff for tourists and a kids' club, not to mention two large pools. All in all, an extraordinary resort.

For something competely different, you can check in at Al Maha Resort and Spa, about 45 minutes from the city. It's an area filled with rolling sand dunes, not to mention long-horned Arabian oryx and small/friendly gazelles. It's a lovely, small resort that features tent-like structures scattered among the vegetation and dunes, with full service in a very rustic - and remote - atmosphere. It's won several awards over the years and it's easy to see why, with its seemingly minimal influence on the natural environment.

Among other things, they offer nature walks and late afternoon camel treks. Some folks opt for tours of the desert in four by four's, which I think is rather appalling. But that's just me. Anyway, you have to ?wait for the camel guy to get his animal to kneel down on all fours, then you swing onto its back and lean backwards while he clambers up. Once you're on, it's pretty steady, although the legs spread wide thing takes some getting used to.

The colours were magnificent around sunset, and they topped it off with some sparkling wine. For the customers, not the camels. Shazhab, one of the camel experts,?said some folks at Al Maha prefer horseback riding, which also is offered. But the horses tend to go pretty fast, he said, and you can't ride with
one hand or no hands the way he can on a camel.

Great fun, followed by a lovely dinner out on the terrace, which was lit by tiki torches and a blanket of stars. Good view of the Milky Way and more on a perfect night in the Dubai desert. I was going to walk up from my unit but they'd told me to be careful of the wild oryx's on site, and there was one not far from my place as I headed up, so I wisely (I think) turned around and called for a golf cart. Chicken perhaps, but check out the size of those horns. If an oryx was in a grumpy mood, they could do serious damage.

?

Posted by Jim Byers at 01:44:41 PMin asia, hotels, The beach, toronto, tourism

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Travel Blog by Jim Byers
Jim Byers is the Star's Travel Editor. He has been writing travel stories for more than a decade, covered five Olympic Games and spent years covering the Blue Jays, the Toronto Raptors and the PGA Tour. He's been everywhere from St. John's to Vancouver, as well as China, Australia, the Caribbean, a dozen countries in Europe and just about every major city in the U.S.

Okay, he was only in Liechtenstein for a couple hours in a rental car and his only visit to New Orleans was when he was 12, but you get the picture.

Subscribe to this blog's feedFollow him on TwitterRead more by Jim ByersRecent Comments Categories africa airlines asia Bargains Books California canada caribbean central america cruises Current Affairs europe Film florida Food and Drink France Games Germany golf Great Britain hotels Ireland Italy Las Vegas mexico Music New York olympics ontario Quebec Religion Skiing south america Southern Ontario getaways Spas Sports Television The beach toronto tourism Travel united states Web/Tech Weblogs Weddings World Cup Archives October 2010 September 2010 August 2010 July 2010 June 2010 May 2010 April 2010 March 2010 February 2010 January 2010 Travel LinksTheStar.com - TravelRelated LinksToday's Online News
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Advertisement.module-list {width: 300px; padding:0px; margin: 0px;} Legal NoticeTheStar.com
Copyright Toronto Star Newspapers Limited. All rights reserved. The views expressed are those of the writer and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Toronto Star or www.thestar.com. The Star is not responsible for the content or views expressed on external sites.Distribution, transmission or republication of any material is strictly prohibited without the prior written permission of Toronto Star Newspapers Limited.
For information please contact us using our webmaster form. www.thestar.com online since 1996. thestar.com Corrections Contact Webmaster FAQ Site Map Toronto Star About Subscribe Subscribe Self Service Contact Us News Releases Star Internships Careers at TheStar.com Advertise with us Media Kit Online Advertising Print Advertising Special Sections Initiatives Santa Claus Fund Fresh Air Fund Classroom Connection Community Giving Stay up to date RSS Feeds Twitter Updates News Alerts Newsletters Mobile Devices parentcentral.ca wheels.ca yourhome.ca toronto.com pages of the past Stock photos New in Homes more ? Copyright Toronto Star 1996-2009 Terms & Conditions Privacy Policy

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