Moon Petal

Well every real city has to have some sort of night life going on and Orlando Florida definitely has some great places to enjoy some entertainment. There is always something going on at the Hard Rock Cafe with its impressive stage hosting the top performers of the world. Then there is the Downtown Disney are with its many live stages filled with all styles of music and other forms of entertainment.  

If you are in the island mood head over to the Bahama Breeze . They are serving up island style cuisine and hosting up some local reggae music nightly. Speaking of dinner shows, Orlando has some very unique dinner shows. Check out the Mark Two Dinner Theater. They have been putting the best Broadway musicals and comedies for years becoming Orlando’s Finest Dinner Theater. The food is great and so is the service.  

Country music can be found at Cowboys Orlando . This club is having a good time because everyone in it is having a good time. The bands are great and the beer is flowing so check it out.  

Ask your Orlando hotel ‘s concierge to point you in the right direction for a night out on Universals City Walk. There are all sorts of fun live performances going on along city walk. It is a great place to people watch and hang out with your family and friends. They have performances from jazz legends to the young rising stars of Orlando. They even have a club called Rising Star Club which features you. If you have to guts. Pick a song and sing it with a live band and back up singers for the house. See if you have what it takes to entertain an audience.  

Another thing all of Florida is known for is their Cuban heritage. There are some great clubs like the Cuba Libre Restaurant and Orlando Rum Bar for some great dancing and food. But, if you are only looking for the best, head over to Orlando’s House of Blues. They have got premier entertainment every night. You can find it at Downtown Disney.  
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Nearly everyone who spends any time on Corsica has had moments of an uncanny feeling that this gorgeous and exotic terrain has been visited before in the dreams of the travelers. Even those who come to Corsica to get away from it all and enjoy a few days lost in recreational bliss get the sense that this has all been explored before. Of course, it’s all true, the place has been inhabited for a very long time. The contemporary Corsican culture is at once hospitable and baffling, with a nearly-impenetrable language, and customs that speak to another world at another time.

But Corsica is not simply an idyllic land that has remain unchanged over time. It has gone through an amazing number of evolutions, and is always on its way to becoming something else. Today, the fine cuisine, derived from local customs and supplemented by fantastic twists from the French, Italian, and Spanish, is some of the richest and most delicious food that a traveler could ask for. And its generous hospitality is certainly on display in the gorgeous local hotels , offering a stay that is somewhere this side of paradise.

The landscape is certainly haunting, there’s no question of that. For such a small island, there are infinite variations in terrain, with beaches that are both accessible and impossible, and mountains that seem so dense that they might serve as the perfect training grounds for the French Foreign Legion. Any notion that there have been multiple civilizations making their lives here is not unmistaken. Ptolemy wrote extensively on Corsica, although the writings still seem to give maddeningly scant information about who actually lived here.

Even more mysterious are traces of what some of the places may have held as a function for these earlier civilizations. The megaliths do speak of a sacred function from another time, and they certainly refer to a religious cosmology that is probably lost forever. Or perhaps it can be found somewhere in the music, the polyphonous choruses that hint at a world view that includes endless plays of mystery between the hidden and the revealed.

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Visiting New South Wales is contending with history and the future while enjoying a particularly splendid moment in a present that we all share. It’s a particularly lively part of a particularly lively continent, where multiple cultures collide and collaborate, and this makes for some rather exciting conversations. Having time booked at one of the lovely hotels here means that there is a chance to join in on these conversations in a very direct way.

There are plenty of ways to enjoy time spent here, and it’s all very well spent. For those who might be looking for a bit of a rest from the hectic pace of the city, there are places of unearthly beauty. Ironically, this is some of the most iconic geography on the planet, and has struck the imaginations of human beings here for thousands and thousands of years. For those looking for some urban distractions, there’s also plenty, and it all comes together in the art. It’s been said before that the visual art of a culture can be a key to its history, as well as its future, and in New South Wales, there are keys to be found in Aboriginal Art .

There are many places where the works of the local Australian indigenous peoples are displayed, but one of the most accessible to wide audiences is surely the Campbelltown Arts Centre . For the greater Sydney region, this is one of the more remarkable spots to see all kinds of visual art, along with music, performance, and other art forms that tell stories of the area, as well as stories that reflect the history and future of the planet at large. There is a focus on Aboriginal Art, too, which helps to locate some of the more unique qualities of the place. There are artists working here in a variety of mediums, and all contribute to a very large and complex puzzle, which at times begins to look as looming as the land itself.

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A great league night is a beautiful thing, although it can be a little difficult when you’re in town just visiting. So you sometimes have to improvise and find the next best thing. For me, there’s no bigger bang for the buck than 2-for-1 bowling, and in Monterey, the place to be is Monterey Lanes . Here, the word on the street is that it can be a little spendy, but it’s also the only game in town right now, and it will certainly do.

The sign in the front is one of those great historic emblems, speaking to a time when everyone bowled together. It has a retro appeal that is more than enough for me. Whenever things get complicated, I go bowling. There’s something very simple about throwing the ball down the alley, and trying to do the same thing you did last time, when things were working out and life was good. And it only takes a few frames to realize that life is good right now. Good company can help, and it’s easier to make new friends when you’re on vacation. People are just naturally social creatures, and on a Tuesday night, when it’s after nine, life can be more of a banquet when everyone starts to realize that this is the party, right here.

Going from a nice hotel straight to the bowling alley can be a lesson in social behavior. There’s all sorts of people in town, brought here by many various and fantastic dreams, some of them realized, and some that are still in process. And bowling is a place where the most serious concerns of the day can take a back seat. The sounds of the alley, and the sounds of the music that kids today like, all add to make for a rather beautiful kind of symphony. For variety, there’s also Valley Center , out in Salinas, with a different kind of vibe, but it’s still all about the magic of bowling.

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Rome is one of the world’s city’s the continually entices tourists and gains attention from people from around the globe. And with all major historic city’s, particularly one that has held such a prominent role in the world’s continued evolution and development, not all of the attention that is bestowed on it is positive. Since mass media and broad information spreading first began, Rome has been surrounded by tremendous intrigue, awe and respect as well as controversy. Much of the controversial aspects that are part of the city’s history also contribute to the amount of interest people have in it.

Tourists love to consider stories like that which was involved with Da Vinci Code and other conspiracy oriented pop culture as well as more clandestine information outlets. However, the majority of Rome’s tourists , as well as those at other major world cities, understand that the story behind The Da Vinci Code is fiction and it simply falls into their interest and entertainment perspectives on certain aspects of the city. Most of the time it increases a personal interest in the locations and settings that occur in that book and other works of fiction.

The actual plot of The Da Vinci Code begins with a murder at the Louvre Museum in Paris . The consequential investigation leads to a conspiracy involving the Catholic Church and a secret relationship between Jesus Christ and Mary Magdalene. And of course nothing as controversial as the subject matter of this book, or most references to the Catholic Church can escape bringing up the city of Rome and Vatican City . Both Rome and the Catholic Church have existed for centuries and neither is unfamiliar with the plethora of intriguing stories associated with them and these somewhat controversial intriguing reasons for some people’s visits. However, regardless of your reason for being fascinated with Rome and Vatican City and even some of the art, you are welcome to tour the facilities as long as you maintain appropriate behavior and are respectful.

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Columbia, MD, is not where I wanted to be at this moment, but the weather conditions dictated otherwise. I was on my way to Washington D.C. when an unexpected winter storm hit, rather I should say, unexpected to me, since I don’t follow the news. I managed to find a local hotel , which was extremely accommodating since I had no reservations. I asked the front desk how long do they expect the snow storm to last, and they smiled and said that it could last for a day or two according to the weather report. But, they did inform me that Columbia maintains their roads with a constant vigilance of snow-plows and salt, so if my plans require that I be in D.C. at a certain time, I should have no issues with driving on I-95.

I appreciated their information concerning road conditions, so I told them to book me for tonight only. I also asked them if there was a good place to have dinner, preferably some place catering to my french palate. They first told me about their on-site restaurant ‘The Great American Grill’, but for French cuisine I should try the Cafe de Paris , which was only a mile down the road. I also asked if there was a gym anywhere nearby where I could workout before dinner. I was very happy to hear that they have their own facilities and an indoor swimming pool! I went to my room and put on my swimsuit and went down to the indoor swimming pool to do several laps before I worked on the machines.

After about an hour, I went back to my hotel room, took a shower and dressed for dinner. The staff was correct about the road conditions in town, the roads were very well maintained, so I did not have difficulty driving to the Cafe de Paris. When I arrived, I was pleasantly surprised with free valet parking. When I walked inside, the atmosphere was that of casual and of a neighborhood restaurant. Luckily, I didn’t over-dress. I was seated and was treated to a complimentary glass of wine from the owner who was trying out on his new found wine on his guests. It was very light and not overbearing, which Rieslings have a tendency to do. So I ordered a bottle (what I don’t finish here, I will finish back in my hotel room).

Cafe de Paris’s menu offered French cuisine that covered many regions of France and a few dishes from Alsace and the Mediterranean. As I relaxed with looking over the menu, drinking a nice Riesling, I found myself feeling very much at home here. The staff was attentive and friendly and most of the patrons were jovial. My server told me to not rush, because the owner prefers everyone to savor every moment. For starters, I ordered the Terrine Du Chef Maison, which is Pate’ served with a small salad and cornichons. For my main course I ordered the chef’s special – Assiette De Poisson, which is pan seared salmon, shrimp prawns, crab cake, scallops with red peppercorn cream sauce served with Spanish rice and mixed vegetables. Each bite was a deliberate taste adventure. My palate was stimulated to the point of salivating. I was in heaven. After my meal, I sat back finishing my 3rd glass of wine and made a toast to bad winter weather.

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Coming to another place, an island, where there is very little opportunity to see things that will remind me of the place I left, is always the perfect antidote for fire that has left. It is never easy to move with grace, not when the heart is so heavy as it is, but in time, with many wounds, it is possible to muster something that resembles a kind of elegance. But each time, it seems like a diminishment of the grace that I once used to carry, not a diminishment of the weight, which continues to grow with each year, and with each new adventure.

Coming to a place where there are these kinds of luxury hotels, Honolulu seems to offer something both inside and outside of memory. This is the fire I carry with me, and I find my way around the place where fire and water easily mix. A short coffee in the morning, and I start to remember some of the things that brought me here, and some of the things that I want so desperately to forget. There is a spirit here, or a band of spirits, that seem to want to whisper to me about all of the things that I ever lost in this world.

There are other worlds beyond this one. A lesson from Honolulu is that beyond the views that make great postcards, there is more. There will always be more, too, because there has always been more. I would see myself falling into the mystery here, wanting to imagine a life lived as a kahu , even if it does mean to purchase a ticket to some of the more reprehensible stories of how stories get taken away when they are not given their proper names. In Hawaii, there are traditions of fire that speak to the fire in my soul, and turn it back to water.

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Are you a bird person? Do you like to find areas of the world that have large bird species and the people who know were they are? Hong Kong has lots of birds and the hotel room is not were you will find them. Your going to have to leave that cozy bed and warm bath to venture out into the forests and waters to see an array of beautiful birds. You may want to check with the Hong Kong Bird Watching Society to see what is going on with the birds in the area. Currently, they are trying to stop a railway from being built through Long Valley in the New Territories of Hong Kong. There are more than 200 species of birds in that area because of the wet flood plains that are there. It is the last wet agriculture area so it holds a special kind of bird heritage. It would be a great loss to the Hong Kong birds if they destroy it.

This society keeps an eye on birds located all over the near by area. The offer tours from one day to week long. There are about 450 bird species in the Hong Kong area so that should keep you busy all you need is a good guide, binoculars and telescope, notebook and pen. A camera if you can catch them fast enough would be great too. There is a great guide book by Clive Viney and Karen Phillips called Birds of Hong Kong and South China. It can direct you into some of the areas as what to look for. Bird watchers can start looking right in Hong Kong Park and branch out to Kowloon Park, many areas in the New Territories and other islands. So don’t forget your mosquito repellent, snacks and water for the longer outings and enjoy.

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The NAMM Foundation is an organization which promotes music by providing a variety of musical instruments and equipment to people in hopes of encouraging support and musical education.  One of the divisions of this foundation is located in Carlsbad, California.  This is the Museum of Music Making.   When traveling to Carlsbad, many people come searching for a great beach hotel, and a little bit of fun and sun on the beach and in the water of the Pacific.  The beaches in Carlsbad are wonderful, however for music lovers of all ages, a stop into this museum is a must.  And should you be staying in either Los Angeles or San Diego, this trip to Carlsbad is just an hour and a half from LA, and about an hour from San Diego–a short trip that is well worth it.

There is a music history that lies within the instruments and products themselves.  That history is outlined at the museum, from the beginnings of the 1890′s through the current world of music today.  There are also exhibitions with illustrate the dedication the hard work, the challanges and the inspiration that lie within music making and within the industry.  Innovations in products over the years is included in the history, as well as lectures and shows that are designed to illuminate the audience to the fact that the world of music is a global collective.

The relationship between the old and the new, and the musicians themselves is one that is and always has been a symbiotic one.  Ever changing, but always important.  There are many unique products and instruments that most people are not aware of and their unknown stories are told at the museum.  Over the year they present many concerts, workshops, discussion and films and they have a program for disadvantaged young people, giving them the chance at a world they were unable to enter, or had no idea even existed at all.  This is a marvelous place, just a great look at the world of music, and the ways in which we can all find inspiration when traveling in that world and spending time with it.

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Have you ever put a person from California and a person from Florida in the same room together? It is a sight to see. There is some serious rivalry going on there and I wonder if it has something to do with the need to be the best, warm state out there. I mean, when you look at a Florida map and a map of california it is easy to tell right off the bat which will be more consistantly warm if only because so much of California is not all that close to the equator. For the most part it is actually in the middle of the country and has a lot more space inland than Florida does. Now, this doesn’t make either one better than the other, but my two best friends seem to think so.

I have never really lived in either one, I live somewhere in the middle, but I went to school in each state, which is why I have a best friend from each. I don’t know why I thought it would be a good idea to try to get all three of us together, but here it is the night before my wedding and my two friends have been having a debate about the best and worst qualities of either state. Truth be told I don’t see the problems in either state, they both have great beaches and great weather as long as you are in the right area, and if you aren’t in the right area then they each have their fair share of terrible weather. Hurricanes and rainstorms splatter Florida constantly among other problems with it.

I personally think the best part of either state is the consistently sunny days full of great weather of sitting outside and studying, or for catching a beach party when you can’t study any longer. I don’t know if I could concentrate enough in either one to hold down a serious job though. I would always want to be out and about doing one of any number of things in one of the large cities. I think this is why there are so many people in each state, they are both truly great states and generally for many of the same reasons, just don’t let either of my friends know I think so.

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