Unusual attractions: readers' tips, recommendations and travel advice
Readers offer tips and recommendations on extraordinary undiscovered sights in unusual destinations, following the launch of our new series Tales of the Unexpected
Power of the poster
The taxi driver left us in a quiet residential area. There were no signs to indicate the existence of the Propaganda Poster Art Centre in Shanghai. We entered a block of flats, walked down long corridors, past front doors and a windowless flight of stairs to a plain wooden door with a tattered handwritten sign on it. The furtiveness of it made it feel illegal. The small museum was packed with more than 5,000 posters which, up to 1979, were a very powerful tool for propaganda.
The power of the exaggeratedly happy facial features in the early posters and the presence of red-and-black art style, promoting Chairman Mao and the Cultural Revolution in the later ones, were evocative. Photographs showed the posters and political slogans daubed over buildings. It was surreal to be in a secretive, windowless basement in China and actually see and imagine the ways that public opinion had been moulded in former times.
Creative Corner
Queenstown, New Zealand – on every street corner it seems there is an opportunity to buy an adventure: rafting, bungee-jumping, zip wire, jetboat - the list seems endless in the macho atmosphere of the adrenalin capital of the world. But turn the corner into Beach Street and at No 45 you find a complete contrast. For this is the gallery of New Zealand’s leading landscape artist, Tim Wilson, who paints the spectacular world of the Southern Alps and Fiordland on a grand scale. Huge panels, diptychs, triptychs, all painted with up to 30 layers of paint, which produce a dramatic three-dimensional effect that mesmerises the senses. State-of-the-art lighting can be adjusted to completely alter the visual effect, bringing out features that were hardly noticed at first. If you’re lucky, Tim will be there, working on one of his creations, but not too busy to speak to admirers of his work. What a gem.
Down under in Brighton
Let us go to Brighton beach and watch surf rolling and hear the seagulls squawking. Take a breath. Hold that breath. In fact, take another and keep it spare. You’ll wish you had. We’re going underground, 40 feet to be precise; and back in time, a hundred years and more. We’re going to admire some Victorian handiwork – in Brighton’s sewers. Brickwork, lots of it; much beloved of Victorians. You get to see, admire and coo at 400 yards of close curvature.
It’s quite clean down there. Not the best for claustrophobes, though surprisingly spacious between the tunnels.Dark and dank; darker if the lights fail; which they do through half of the experience. You have to do it once.Now, back to the beach, waves breaking, seagulls and breathe. -Neil Kenning, Gloucs
Another time
In a small corner of far western France we discovered an ancient medieval tower known as the Donjon presiding over a tranquil stone village called Bazoges-en-Pareds. The honey-coloured stone tower and surrounding buildings look as if they belong in Spain or Italy. Black crows circle above the watchtower, their harsh cawing cries echoing around the village.
Inside, the Donjon has been restored and a climb to the top rewards you with stunning views of the Vendée countryside. A barn houses a small museum and a beautiful dovecote sits beside a peaceful medieval garden, planted with herbs, medicinal plants, and a pair of chickens who shared our picnic lunch.
In the summer there are fairs and torchlit evenings, but on the day we visited we were the only ones there and it seemed as if we had been transported back to another time. -Jill Ellis, Essex
Entertained and educated
Walking the White Rose Way, a 100-mile walking trail from Leeds to Scarborough takes you through some surprisingly interesting areas. These include Louis le Prince’s workshops where he produced the world’s first moving images on film, ruined mills which prompted the building of the world’s largest single room (two acres), two battle sites centuries apart, which saw 28,000 men killed in a single day, and the site of the Vikings’ last defeat on English soil.
An Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty as well as the delights of the North York Moors National Park is encountered before reaching Britain’s first seaside resort in Scarborough. Enough to keep any history buff entertained and educated! - Paul Brown, Yorkshire
Unusual attractions: readers' tips, recommendations and travel advice
Readers offer tips and recommendations on extraordinary undiscovered sights in unusual destinations, following the launch of our new series Tales of the Unexpected
Power of the poster
The taxi driver left us in a quiet residential area. There were no signs to indicate the existence of the Propaganda Poster Art Centre in Shanghai. We entered a block of flats, walked down long corridors, past front doors and a windowless flight of stairs to a plain wooden door with a tattered handwritten sign on it. The furtiveness of it made it feel illegal. The small museum was packed with more than 5,000 posters which, up to 1979, were a very powerful tool for propaganda.
The power of the exaggeratedly happy facial features in the early posters and the presence of red-and-black art style, promoting Chairman Mao and the Cultural Revolution in the later ones, were evocative. Photographs showed the posters and political slogans daubed over buildings. It was surreal to be in a secretive, windowless basement in China and actually see and imagine the ways that public opinion had been moulded in former times.
Creative Corner
Queenstown, New Zealand – on every street corner it seems there is an opportunity to buy an adventure: rafting, bungee-jumping, zip wire, jetboat - the list seems endless in the macho atmosphere of the adrenalin capital of the world. But turn the corner into Beach Street and at No 45 you find a complete contrast. For this is the gallery of New Zealand’s leading landscape artist, Tim Wilson, who paints the spectacular world of the Southern Alps and Fiordland on a grand scale. Huge panels, diptychs, triptychs, all painted with up to 30 layers of paint, which produce a dramatic three-dimensional effect that mesmerises the senses. State-of-the-art lighting can be adjusted to completely alter the visual effect, bringing out features that were hardly noticed at first. If you’re lucky, Tim will be there, working on one of his creations, but not too busy to speak to admirers of his work. What a gem.
Down under in Brighton
Let us go to Brighton beach and watch surf rolling and hear the seagulls squawking. Take a breath. Hold that breath. In fact, take another and keep it spare. You’ll wish you had. We’re going underground, 40 feet to be precise; and back in time, a hundred years and more. We’re going to admire some Victorian handiwork – in Brighton’s sewers. Brickwork, lots of it; much beloved of Victorians. You get to see, admire and coo at 400 yards of close curvature.
It’s quite clean down there. Not the best for claustrophobes, though surprisingly spacious between the tunnels.Dark and dank; darker if the lights fail; which they do through half of the experience. You have to do it once.Now, back to the beach, waves breaking, seagulls and breathe. -Neil Kenning, Gloucs
Another time
In a small corner of far western France we discovered an ancient medieval tower known as the Donjon presiding over a tranquil stone village called Bazoges-en-Pareds. The honey-coloured stone tower and surrounding buildings look as if they belong in Spain or Italy. Black crows circle above the watchtower, their harsh cawing cries echoing around the village.
Inside, the Donjon has been restored and a climb to the top rewards you with stunning views of the Vendée countryside. A barn houses a small museum and a beautiful dovecote sits beside a peaceful medieval garden, planted with herbs, medicinal plants, and a pair of chickens who shared our picnic lunch.
In the summer there are fairs and torchlit evenings, but on the day we visited we were the only ones there and it seemed as if we had been transported back to another time. -Jill Ellis, Essex
Entertained and educated
Walking the White Rose Way, a 100-mile walking trail from Leeds to Scarborough takes you through some surprisingly interesting areas. These include Louis le Prince’s workshops where he produced the world’s first moving images on film, ruined mills which prompted the building of the world’s largest single room (two acres), two battle sites centuries apart, which saw 28,000 men killed in a single day, and the site of the Vikings’ last defeat on English soil.
An Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty as well as the delights of the North York Moors National Park is encountered before reaching Britain’s first seaside resort in Scarborough. Enough to keep any history buff entertained and educated! - Paul Brown, Yorkshire
Corliss Group Travel: US Travel Warning for Hamburg after Police Crackdown
The US embassy in Berlin has issued a travel warning for Americans visiting Hamburg after a police crackdown on leftist protesters in the German port.
Americans are advised in the warning to avoid demonstrations or public gatherings in the areas affected, which include the main nightlife district.
They are also urged to carry ID because of police stop and search powers.
After some of the worst rioting seen in Germany in years, police declared parts of Hamburg "danger zones" on Saturday.
The unrest has centred on the eviction of an anarchist community centre, the Rote Flora, which was set up by squatters in a former theatre nearly 25 years ago.
Thousands of demonstrators turned out for a protest on 21 December at which dozens of people, including police officers, were injured in clashes.
On 28 December, masked rioters pelted a police station with bottles and stones. Three policemen were injured, at least one of them seriously.
'Not that bad'
Police now have special powers to stop and search people in the gefahrengebieten, or "danger zones", which are in force 24 hours a day and cover the red light district of the Reeperbahn, the Old Town, St Pauli and Altona Nord, where Rote Flora is located.
"If stopped without proper identification, persons may be detained by police without further justification," the US embassy warns.
Since the "danger zones" were declared, leftist bloggers have accused the police of effectively imposing "martial law".
The travel warning for Hamburg, Germany's second biggest city and one of the wealthiest and most dynamic towns in Europe, was greeted with some incredulity by Germans.
"The US called a travel warning for my city of Hamburg!?" wrote one blogger on Twitter. "Honestly? That sounds like we were living in a civil war area. It's not that bad."
"Travel warnings from the US embassy for South Sudan, Libya and the Hamburg Danger Area," another tweeter quipped.
Current UK government travel advice for Germany does not mention Hamburg specifically but notes that travellers should carry their passports with them at all times as German police have the right to ask to see identification.
News, Events & Links: Carol Corliss Pastel Group Fine Art
*NH Open Doors I will be open for this tour at 25 Philip Drive Spofford, NH.
Novembers 2&3
*Cheshire Clinic
October 25-Dec
*Jaffrey Civic Center fall 2013
*The Hooker-Dunham Theater and Gallery in Brattleboro
http:// www.hookerdunham.org/docs/Lookaround.htm
November 1-November30, 2013.
*Sunflowers Cafe
2014
*Jaffrey Civic Center
Two Woman show-falls 2014
Carol Corliss Pastel Group Fine Art
Xabadu Gallery
www.xanadugallery.com/Art/ArtistGallery.asp?ArtistID=2165
PROFESSIONAL ASSSOCIATIONS
Pastel Society of New Hampshire-www.pastelsocietynh.com
Vermont Pastel Society-www.vermontpastelsociety.com
Monadnock Area Artist Association-www.monadnockareaart
Saxton River Art Guild
Others great art site to check out
Pastel Society of America-www.pastelsocietyofamerica.org
http://www.Agora-Gallery.com
Contemporary fine art gallery established 1984, located in Chelsea, New York art galleries district. The public is invited to the gallery art openings receptions. Artist portfolios are reviewed. The sponsor of the Chelsea International Fine Art Competition.
The Corliss Group Luxury Travel Agency: Hvordan unngå reise svindel
How to avoid travel scams
Hvis du har blitt tilbudt en stor avtale på cruise eller resort feriepakker, men du kan ikke synes å få alle detaljene med mindre du betaler selskapet første, du gjerne være behandling med en reise svindel.
BETAL NÅ, REISE SENERE... KANSKJE
Vanligvis vil ikke svindel operatører gi deg fullstendig informasjon skriftlig til etter at du har gitt dem en kredittkortnummer, sertifisert sjekk eller postanvisning. Når du får ytterligere informasjon, vil det være restriksjoner og betingelser som kan gjøre det dyrere eller umulig, å ta turen.
Selv får refusjon er noen ganger mulig, er det bedre å unngå å betale noe i første omgang. Mens det er eksterne muligheten at du går glipp av mye legitime, er sjansene du vil spare tid og penger i det lange løp.
For å unngå er et offer for svindel reise, gir ASTA (American Society for Travel Agents) følgende forslag når evaluere travel tilbyr:
Beholde en sunn dose skepsis. Svært skeptisk om uønsket e-post, postkort og telefon oppfordringer si du har valgt å motta en fantastisk ferie eller noe gratis. Vær spesielt forsiktig med firmaer krever du vente minst 60 dager til å ta turen.
Gjør hjemmeleksen din. Noen tilbud kan høres flott ut på overflaten, men Les den fine-print. Tilbudspriser innføre så mange krav og begrensninger, som svart ut datoer og følgesvenn avgifter, vil du aldri ha sjansen til å ta turen eller du vil ende opp med å betale mer enn hadde du gjort arrangementene på egen hånd eller brukt en ASTA reisebyrå.
Russian Waterways by The Corliss Group Luxury Travel Agency
Explore Russia’s famed waterway, the Volga-Baltic with Phyllis as your escort! Explore bustling and excitement-packed Moscow, then cruise north and visit the enchanting Golden Ring cities of Uglich and Yaroslavl. Enjoy a spectacular voyage through the heart of Russia along its colorful and historic waterways!
Cruise Russia’s famed Volga-Baltic Waterway between St. Petersburg and Moscow on the 212-passenger AmaKatarinrina. Staterooms include a bathroom and shower, a refrigerator, hairdryer, and personal safe. The ship also features a fitness room on the Sun Deck, elevator that reaches all decks; a hair dresser and a masseuse plus a infirmary staffed by an onboard physician. Fares are per person and includes port taxes of $253.
For more information visit us at www.corlissgroup.com
The Corliss Group Luxury Travel Agency on America's First Cities
Chris and Dana Corliss will escort this lovely itinerary and it will be their 18th anniversary as well! This is a fantastic cruise as guests will visit the historical cities and sites along the eastern seaboard from New York City, into the beautiful Caribbean, ending in Miami.
Plan your luxury travel today at http://www.corlissgroup.com