Fall festival time in Canada

From a shellfish festival in the east to a wine festival in the west, Canada has a cornucopia of spectacular late summer and early fall events. How about music festivals, fall colours, giant pumpkins or a massive display of silk lanterns? Somewhere in Canada, you'll find all that. Some top events:

-- The Magic of Lanterns, Sept. 9-Oct. 31: Few fall festivals have a higher visual "wow" factor than The Magic of Lanterns in Montreal. More than 700 traditional Chinese lanterns made of silk illuminate various areas of the Chinese Garden section of the Montreal Botanical Garden. The lanterns are designed in Montreal and handmade by craftsmen in Shanghai. The annual fall festival of lights marks the arrival of autumn. See tourism-montreal.org.

-- Prince Edward Island International Shellfish Festival, Sept. 15-18: Where can you gorge on lobster, crab and mussels, watch oyster-shucking competitions and culinary demonstrations, plus take in some live music all in one place? Try the International Shellfish Festival, which some have called Atlantic Canada's biggest kitchen party. The 16th-annual event, which takes place at the Historic Charlottetown Waterfront, also features celebrity chefs, the PEI Potato Seafood Chowder Championship and the International Chowder Championship. The event promises live music from some of the best acts in Atlantic Canada. Contact 1-866-955-2003 or peishellfish.com.

-- Niagara Wine Festival, Sept. 16-25: More than 100 fun-filled events are planned for the 60th-annual Niagara Wine Festival next month, and perhaps surprisingly, not all of them are wine focused. Along with winery tours, tastings and wine seminars, look for concerts each weekend, a focus on Niagara cuisine, and two parades: The Pied Piper Parade in St. Catharines on Sept. 17 (with the participation of children from the Niagara region), and the Grande Parade on Sept. 24. A celebrity luncheon on Sept. 14 will feature national affairs columnist Chantal Hebert. The festival hub is in historic Montebello Park in downtown St. Catharines. For more check newvintagefestival.com.

-- Fall Okanagan Wine Festival, Sept. 30-Oct. 9: Wine festivals are common but the Fall Okanagan Wine Festival is said to be the only one that occurs during harvest time. More than 100 wineries will participate in some of the 165 wine-related events throughout the valley over 10 days. One of the participants is Quails' Gate Winery, whose wine was served to William and Kate during their recent visit to the Northwest Territories. Events include WestJet Wine Tastings (one of the signature kick-off events) on Sept. 30 and Oct. 1. More than 40 wineries will showcase 150 wines each evening. Tickets are $65 (for this event). Other events include wine-paired lunches and dinners at the wineries and educational seminars like an "All You Need Is Cheese & Wine" seminar at Manteo Resort. See thewinefestivals.com.

Visitors to the Okanagan can take in the region's cenic beauty on one of five new wine trails. KelownaWineTrails.com.

-- Celtic Colours International Festival, Oct. 7-15: This nine-day musical extravaganza throughout Cape Breton, N.S., has the added advantage of taking place when the region's trees are in full fall splendour. Cajun and Appalachian connections to Celtic music are this year's focus, with artists in residence Ron Bourgeois, a Cheticamp songwriter, and Bruce Molsky, an old time Appalachian fiddler and singer from the U.S.

Among the dozens of performers at this 15th-annual event are the Black Family from Ireland, BeauSoliel avec Michael Doucet from Louisiana, Ireland's Alan Kelly Quartet, and Scottish Gaelic singer Kathleen MacInnes. They'll join a host of the region's own favourites including Ashley MacIsaac, J.P. Cormier, the Elliot Brothers and Mary Jane Lamond. One of several "special projects" this year is The Barra MacNeils' Celtic Roots and Branches concert (Oct. 15) featuring the Barra MacNeils and other festival performers.

Along with the usual shows dedicated to Cape Breton fiddlers, piping, guitar, piano, Gaelic song and dancing, concerts will also celebrate the contribution of legendary Cape Breton composer Dan R. MacDonald, and pay tribute to Alice Freeman for hosting ceilidhs in Inverness for over 20 years.) See celtic-colours.com.

-- Prince Edward County (Ontario) Pumpkinfest, Oct. 15: This annual festival in Wellington got a boost by one of its citizens Bill Greer, a former Reeve of Wellington who, in 1996, grew one of the biggest pumpkins ever -- weighing in at 456 kilos! The 14th-annual Pumpkinfest begins with a pancake breakfast, followed by a Parade of the Giant Pumpkins, then contests, children's games and entertainment as well as craft tables, and food from noon until 4:30 p.m. The event is sponsored by the

Prince Edward County Pumpkin Growers and the Prince Edward Country Pumpkinfest Committee. Check pec.on.ca/pumpkinfest.

writer@interlog.com

Burning Man fest celebrates 25 years

Starting Aug. 29, tens of thousands of people will descend on a great expanse of Nevada desert to celebrate the 25th anniversary of Burning Man, a gathering of free spirits, artists, entrepreneurs -- and anyone else who managed to get a ticket.

Several thousand more would-be participants will have to wait until next year, as 2011 marks another historic milestone: the first time the event has ever sold out, said Burning Man communications manager Andie Grace.

According to an agreement with the Bureau of Land Management, the event is permitted an average of only 50,000 people per day, Grace said.

The theme of this year's festival, "Rites of Passage," is an appropriate one as it also previews a change in the structure of the California-based Black Rock City, L.L.C., which runs the event, from a for-profit organization to a not-for-profit that will continue to promote the festival's ideology throughout the year.

"It's a logical extension of what happens here, and of taking our principles into our own communities," said Grace, referring to 10 principles including civic responsibility, communal effort, and being noncommercial and based on giving.

Through the group's not-for-profit outreach, Burning Man will become "a state of being that exists all the time," Grace said.

That state of being has beckoned its devotees, mostly through word of mouth (organizers do no self-promotion or advertising), into the Black Rock Desert in increasing numbers for more than two decades.

They travel like pilgrims from faraway lands ready to confront the possibility of dust storms, extreme temperatures, and drenching rainstorms in order to live for one week in a self-made and participatory community that bases itself on acceptance, self-reliance, self-expression and creativity.

REMOTE, FEW RULES

There is nothing to buy on the remote expanse of sand about 120 miles north of Reno, save precious coffee and bags of ice, and few rules beyond protecting health and safety, and active participation in the ever-evolving community formation.

Though the event has grown each year, it's those principals that keep people like 52-year-old Michael Marin coming back for more.

"It is such a blessed relief to be accepted on your own terms without expectations to be anything else," he said.

Marin, a retired financial investment banker and airplane enthusiast from Arizona, has attended the event since 2003, when he came across an aviation listserve discussing logistics of flying an airplane into the makeshift festival airport.

"The quality of exchanges and knowledge of information really impressed me."

He was also impressed by the noncommercial nature of the festival that pushed people "past bartering and into a gift economy", a sense of giving that would spread exponentially throughout the community, he said.

"Soon you end up with 50,000 people trying to pay it forward," he said, referring to individuals feeling so appreciative they in turn do a good dead for someone else.

For Hannah Hoel, it was the art that inspired her to attend Burning Man for the first time in 2008. Living in New Mexico, Hoel, 27, heard from friends that it was a creative gathering with a lot of astounding artwork.

"I really needed a creative outlet, so I went," she said. Her first experience, however, was jarring and left her lonely and anxious for several days, no doubt aided by a massive dust storm upon her arrival. "It wasn't a great first day."

But the art did indeed persist, and two years later, she is ready to go again, and to bring her boyfriend, Eden Kark.

TICKET SCRAMBLE

The festival may be noncommercial once inside, but money and supply and demand are involved when it comes to tickets. Kark, 44 and a doctor of Oriental medicine, waited until the last moment to buy his ticket, only to find the event had sold out.

Given that he and Hoel had already rented an RV for the week, to the tune of $2,200, not having a ticket wasn't an option, he said.

"If I was going to go, I was going to go in comfort, but now I needed to find a ticket."

Kark and Hoel trolled websites for days trying to locate an extra ticket, encountering scalpers hawking tickets for prices substantially above the original value.

Official ticket prices range from $210 and rise to $360 as the event nears. Kark settled on a $450 ticket; a bargain, considering the possible loss at hand.

Burning Man didn't always have an RV renting crowd, an airport, or a surge of 50,000 people to contend with. It began in 1986 on a beach in California when Larry Harvey, now 63, and friend Jerry James decided to burn an 8-foot effigy built in honour of summer solstice.

By 1990 the burn was moved into the remote and barren Black Rock Desert, where the event has accumulated an increasing number of participants every year.

The number of activities has also increased and according to this year's list includes anything from cooking classes to dances; face painting and roller-blading; yoga courses and Bocce Ball tournaments.

There's a pancake house, 12-step groups, legal advice and snuggle puddles; kite flying, language exchange, a bike shop (transport around the desert is by bicycle only, unless one has an art car permit), and a family-friendly area.

All of this culminates on Saturday, with the burning of a 50-foot-tall effigy of a man.

LOGISTICAL FEAT

The mushrooming crowds are a logistical feat to manage, requiring 35 full-time and eight part-time staff; and thousands of volunteers who each year design and create a city complete with street names and numbers, a postal service, a central gathering tent, and porta-potties for thousands.

Notable is the lack of any garbage bins. It's part of the self-reliance principle and strict policy that whatever one brings in one must also take out.

The few rules leave plenty of room for creativity, seen in people's daily costumes as well as in art installations, often massive in size, that dot the desert basin.

The art this year includes an enormous installation by Jim Bowers -- a 15-year "burner," as veterans call themselves -- said to be the world's largest timepiece.

The clock, made of lasers and designed by a "dream team" of UC Berkeley physicists and scientists, will have a 3-and-1/4 mile circumference and a diameter of 1.27 miles, said Bowers.

Bowers, 55, has been working on the $50,000 art project for the entire year, and has incorporated 4x6 foot paintings in each of 12 towers, painted by 67 different artists.

Reflecting on the event's 25-year anniversary, he said, "It's not any better, it's not any worse. It's just different."

He has seen change in the growing percentage of spectators versus participants. Where the entire community once would participate, "now its 80% spectator and 20% doer or artist, where we entertain the rest," Bowers said.

"It's okay, because my work has evolved. I started out making a wire blinking hat and now I'm building a piece of art that takes up the entire festival."

 

Euro fall travel opportunities abound

Just because fall is around the corner doesn't mean that Europe has stopped welcoming Canadian travellers.

In fact, savvy Canadians know that fall and even winter presents travel opportunities across the continent.

Not only are there fewer crowds but in many instances prices drop. That’s the case with well-known escorted tour company Globus.

The company offers 15 tours which are offered in fall, winter and spring, ranging from the seven day A Taste of Greece to the 27-day Europe in Depth holiday.

In between is a host of choices in Britain, Italy, Spain and Eastern Europe.

Tour prices range from $1,149 plus air to $4,629 – savings of up to $730 per person off the peak season prices.

For more information visit www.globusjourneys.ca.

Scotland's Inner Hebrides easy to explore

Time often stands still for many familiar with the 36 Inner Hebrides islands west of Scotland.

But while history -- including Vikings and rival clan chiefs -- is everywhere, that's not all that keeps attracting visitors and new dwellers.

Walking is a super way to explore trails and dales, and snow -- except for high peaks -- rarely lingers on the Gulf Stream-warmed lowlands or shores of the three archipelagos I recently visited.

Archaeological digs have unearthed evidence of humans, battles and burials dating back 10,000 years. Some relics are near roads, as are crumbling homes vacated when families began leaving in the 1800s for mainland jobs or North America.

Reached mostly by ferry, you easily detect earthy aromas of burning peat keeping some homes warm.

Boating, sea kayaking, fishing and cycling are also popular. Top commercial ventures are tourism, tenant farming (mainly sheep) -- though you'll see long-haired Scottish cattle -- fishing, plus Scotch whisky.

Relax and I'll lead you down a few garden paths, through the mists of time and into the sometimes modern world of island living. Then I'll wish you good health.

GIGHA

If you ken Gaelic, Willie McSporran would tell you Gigha, population 132 is "Giogha."

Only 9.5-by-2.6 km, "God's Island" is rugged, gently-sloping and wind-swept.

McSporran, 75, said Gaelic is strongest among elders, with "newcomers more interested" in the language than children.

Boasting 700 souls in the 1700s, an exodus eased with a major change in 2002.

Heading the Gigha Heritage Trust, McSporran helped raise $6 million to buy out the island's owners.

Two of the 47 homes were "tolerable," said McSporran, who was awarded an MBE -- Most Excellent Order of the British Empire.

With hard work, money from Scottish Housing plus local endeavours, almost half of the homes were restored.

"Buying the island was the easy part," he said. "Keeping it going is the difficult part."

But three wind turbines reap rewards for returning electricity to a power grid, and there are several new homes and businesses, including the rustic Boathouse Cafe Bar beside Ardminish's harbour.

There are three livestock farms, the community-owned Gigha Inn & Pub, a shop-post office near the 1923 Church of Scotland, and ships call regularly.

Popular 20-hectare Achamore Gardens is near the island's road, as are self-catering cabins, golf, beaches including the aptly named "Queen's Beach," and ruins of a 13th century church. Of several ancient standing stones, the 'Giant's Tooth' is where criminals are said to have been hanged.

Once a ferry worker, firefighter, special constable and Coast Guard volunteer, McSporran said the ferry takes him and wife Anne close to shops and other mainland facilities. But returning home is a must for these "Gioghach" or "gamhainn," Gaelic for Gigha devotees.

ISLAY

Pronounced "eyelay," this island bustles with almost 4,000 residents over 620 sq.-km. It has three main villages: Bowmore -- where the round shape of Kilarrow Parish Church above the high street leaves no corner for the devil to hide -- Port Ellen and Port Charlotte.

There are eight distilleries, buses, nice shops, inns, a wide range of dining, a golf course and a woollen mill specializing in tartans.

Islay "is a bird-watcher's paradise," said Visit Scotland's Joanna Campbell on the Loch Gruinart Nature Preserve.

In a bird-watching cabin, recent visitors recorded swallows, Moor Hens and sedge warblers, but white-tailed and golden eagles, cormorants and wading birds are also frequent. And when 25,000 pairs of geese fly from Greenland in early summer, "the sky is black," Campbell said. 

As we drove along the winding road beside sea-fed Loch Indaal to picturesque Portnahaven, we saw long-haired, reddish Highland Cattle and, surprisingly, llamas.

Well-known for whisky, Islay also has a "local ales" brewery, which has been featured in films and TV shows. There is a Festival of Malt and Music in May at Bridgend, plus a local "funky bagpipes" band, The Red Hot Chile Pipers.

Now hearing them would be a hoot!

JURA

"Dyrøy" in Old Norse -- Jura aptly translates as "deer island."

It has one shop, an inn, 5,000 deer outnumbering humans 25-to-1, plus estates including one Prime Minister David Cameron visits. 

At another, George Orwell wrote Nineteen-Eighty-Four, his dark 1949 Big Brother novel.

Jura also has "the world's only walkie-talkie cafe."

At Inverlussa Beach, tea lady Georgina Kitching answered the portable radio on a table near her home.

Teaching by computer and telephone, she started "Tea on the Beach" in 2010 because "people kept asking. And I love baking.

"We wanted to live somewhere wild and beautiful," so she and teacher-husband Phil, who commutes to Islay, relocated to Oak Tree Cottage from England in 2009 with sons James, now 6, and Peter, 4.

Our driver, tour-and school bus company owner Alex Dunnachie is another newcomer who helped give Jura new life.

A Glasgow upholsterer then oil rig diver, he "absolutely fell in love with the place" while holidaying, and wed a local woman.

Dunnachie first took us to see Jura Parish Church's walls of black-and-white photos, showing people and places mostly in the early 1900s.

Near his home, the gravestones at Kilearnadil Cemetery include several with Celtic Cross carvings. And while Gillour MacCrain has no marker, legends of his "180 Christmases" until 1645 tantalized us. 

Dunnachie said some absentee owners, who holiday here, rent out their homes through local caretakers.

The next day, seals watched from rocks as Islay-based boatman Nicol MacKinnon motored north to Corryvreckan Whirlpool, where we thrilled to his careful -- sometimes fast -- maneuvering, forgiving the occasional wave-drenching.

On the 60-minute return, he fetched workers from the 22-metre-tall Skervuile Lighthouse built by relatives of Robert Louis Stevenson, whose Treasure Island is believed based on local sailor's pirate tales.

Islanders make their own fun, with artists, the Pete Smoke and the Roaches Band, and the annual Jura Distillery 25-km footrace north from"ˆCraighouse, past the Paps of Jura -- three picturesque peaks up to 785 metres high.

Revived by new owners in 1963, the distillery -- with 28,000 barrels maturing -- has tours and a shop stocked with several globally successful single malts, some based on 200-year-old recipes.

For about $1,000 a night, its Jura Lodge guests can sample them in the former head distiller's house.

Reminiscent of old hunting lodges, the four-bedroom rustic getaway's fixtures and furniture include antlered skulls, Victorian cabinets, leather sofas, antique pictures and mirrors, a suit of armour, freestanding bathtubs, modern showers, plus hidden refrigerators in the well-stocked self-serve kitchen.

Finally, there is a fabulous view of Small Isles Bay and palm trees from the bay window.

"Slainte!" 

IF YOU GO TO SCOTLAND

ROAD TO THE ISLES

Air Transat flies direct to Glasgow from Pearson Airport. For just over three hours through glorious highland country, drive northwest along the A82 past Loch Lomond, take A83 south along Loch Fyne to Tayinloan, where the ferry sails to Gigha. Large cafe-and bar-equipped ferries sail from Kennacraig on West Loch Tarbert to Islay -- two hours, 20 minutes to Port Ellen, two hours to Port Askaig. The small ferry to Jura, from Port Askaig, takes 10 minutes. Islay has a small airport, about an hour from Glasgow.

BITS AND PIECES

The Gigha Hotel & Pub, the Harbour Inn in Bowmore on Islay, and the renovated Jura Hotel have comfortable, affordable rooms. I recommend their dining rooms. Fish, of course, is a specialty. For travel information, go to the Visit Scotland website at cometoscotland.com.

Let Captain Lance show you Rideau

I'm just home from a cruise that fits virtually any budget, can be squeezed into a short getaway and won't leave you an ounce heavier.

The vessel is the whimsically named Chuckles, captained by Lance Jervis-Read. A British shipwright by trade, he bought the 1940 Maine lobster boat for $1,500 and spent eight years overhauling and refitting it for passenger service.

Captain Lance does a variety of day trips on a small part of the Rideau Canal, that historic and scenic engineering marvel that runs between Ottawa and Kingston.

The Rideau is well known to recreational boaters and paddlers but overlooked by much of the travelling public. That may change now that it's been declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

The term "canal" is a bit misleading. It's actually a 202-kilometre-long chain of lakes, rivers and canal cuts.

The project was undertaken because the British feared that the Americans, who they'd rebuffed during the War of 1812, would return.

Lieutenant Colonel John By -- Ottawa's Byward Market is named for him -- and an army of surveyors, engineers, diggers and blasters completed the massive job in less than six years.

From mid-June to early September, Chuckles cruises from Chaffey's Locks to Jones Falls and back. It's 90 minutes each way, and passengers have an hour ashore to explore Jones Falls Lockstation.

There are 47 locks at 23 stations. Three locks are electrically operated. The outcry over that change was such that the other 44 are still hand-cranked by Parks Canada staff.

Captain Lance explained how everything works. But passengers got a first-hand experience when Chuckles goes through the locks at Chaffey's and later at Davis Locks. In one we were joined by two live-aboard cruisers, a rental houseboat and two canoes.

In between we passed rocky, heavily forested shorelines and islands, million-dollar cottages belonging to captains of industry and high-powered politicians, sleek power boats and solitary anglers.

And families of loons, which weren't disturbed when we came alongside, thanks to Chuckles' electric motor.

At a place called The Quarters, the waterway is so narrow that we waited for oncoming vessels to come through, each skipper calling out how many more are still to come.

Chuckles docked above Jones Falls. Captain Lance handed out walking tour brochures and suggestions on what to see, including a blacksmith shop and a fortified house where one lockmaster lived for 42 years.

There's a turning basin and three sets of locks with the highest lift on the system, 27 to 30 feet above the normal.

A tourism contact who knows the Rideau well told me that if visitors have time for only one lockstation on the entire Rideau, this is it.

On the way back, Captain Lance offered biscuits and beverages and took a route closer to shore. He pointed out a huge osprey nest and said he'd seen the chicks just before they're inaugural flight. We spotted one of the parents perched on a dead tree.

--- --- ---

IF YOU GO

Rideau Boat Tours: www.rideauboattours.com, phone 613-272-0222.

Getting there: Chaffey's Locks is 65 km north of Kingston, off Highway 15.

Accommodations: We overnighted at The Lakehouse, a four-bedroom stone house on Clear Lake, just minutes from Chaffey's. It has a fully equipped kitchen, big living room and a sitting area running the width of the house. It rents for $1,500 per week or $230 per night and can accommodate up to eight persons. Children can also use the facilities at Green Valley Cottages and Trailer Park campground next door. Email Jan or Dave Burt at burtie@rideau.net or phone 613-359-5799 for more details.

Food/drink: The Cove, in Westport, and Stirling Lodge, in Newboro, were recommended. Both are on the water.

Tourism information: Visit www.rideauheritageroute.ca.

Doug English can be reached at denglishtravel@gmail.com or by mail c/o London Free Press, P.O.E. Box 2280, London, Ont. N6A 4G1.

Tips for surviving work travel

There are some simple ways for the road warrior to stay sane and healthy, says Harvard Business Review.

The Harvard Management Tip of the Day offers quick, practical management tips and ideas from Harvard Business Review and HBR.org (www.hbr.org). Any opinions expressed are not endorsed by Reuters.

"Travelling for work is draining. Most people return home feeling depleted from delays, lack of sleep, overeating, and overworking.

Try these three things to help you renew when you're on the road:

1. Get enough sleep. This is the most important thing you can do. Calculate how much sleep you'll get when you arrive and if it's not enough, make up for it on the plane. Bring a mask and earplugs.

2. Start your days with exercise. It doesn't need to be extensive. Just 20-30 minutes will improve your mood. But, don't do this at the expense of sleep.

3. Avoid the minibar. There is nothing good in there. If you really can't resist, ask the hotel to remove it before you check in."

-- Today's management tip was adapted from "The Six Keys to Surviving on the Road" by Tony Schwartz.

Sumo wrestlers lift city's spirits

The pale, glistening bodies of two mammoth sumo wrestlers slammed together amid piles of wreckage, charred boats in the background, in this Japanese port district, eerily silent after many residents died in the March earthquake and tsunami.

A loud thud broke the silence and the victorious wrestler lifted his sweat-drenched body as the scorching summer sun rose out of the ocean at a summer training camp in an oceanside area of Soma, devastated by the March 11 disaster.

The wrestlers wanted both to give back to the community, some 270 km northeast of Tokyo, that has hosted their summer training for 20 years -- and also redeem their ancient sport, tainted by recent scandals.

"I'm still scared of aftershocks, but I want to fight my heart out for my family and make people in Soma smile again," said winning wrestler Oazuma, 21, wiping his wide forehead.

A metal roof was the only thing left of the sumo summer gym, or "stable," after the massive 9.0 quake triggered a tsunami that left parts of Soma a pile of rubble and set off the world's worst nuclear crisis in 25 years at a nuclear plant just 50 km away.

Some 80,000 have been forced to leave their homes near the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, which continues to leak radiation -- including the family of wrestler Oazuma.

"My dad and mum lost their jobs, and although I'm just a sumo beginner I ended up as the sole family breadwinner," he added, noting that his family remains in temporary housing.

Having the wrestlers return as if it was any other summer is seen by many as a vital step to lift morale as survivors make fragile attempts to rebuild their shattered lives.

"We live in the shadow of Fukushima. Many people have already left this area, others are pondering such a move," said Hiroko Mori, 29, as she cheered on the wrestlers with her daughter asleep in a pram beside her despite the heat.

"I love sumo and come to see them practice here every year. It's great to have them back," added Mori.

Between the stable and the shore the land was unnaturally flat, with weeds growing amid shattered house foundations and bald cement slabs. Some 460 residents and over a thousand houses were swept away throughout Soma -- with around 20,400 dead or missing across Japan.

"Mori is right. Our wrestlers are like 'Nadeshiko Japan'," shouted a pensioner in his seventies, referring to women's soccer team that became a nation-wide sensation and gave the country a sense of unity after winning the World Cup in July.

MAKE OR BREAK

Stable founder Hayao Shiga, himself a former sumo wrestler, said he stared in shock at satellite photos of the area -- a vast stretch of nothing but debris -- just after the disaster.

"I couldn't believe my eyes, but as soon as I saw the metal roof of the stable still there I thought we can return to Soma, pick up the pieces and start all over again," he added.

Sumo training is steeped in tradition and due to its ties to Japan's ancient Shinto religion, some aspects -- such as throwing salt to the earthen ring for purification -- take on a ritual flavor. Wrestlers build strength through primitive methods such as lifting stone and pushing against each other.

"Faster, faster! Hold the body lower, or you'll get pushed out immediately!" shouted the former stable master as the wrestlers threw their bodies against each other.

But rebuilding is far from an easy task, with sumo as a whole at a critical make-or-break point on top of everything Shiga's stable faces.

The sport, already struggling with a declining fan base as young people desert it for baseball or soccer, was hit by a corrosive succession of scandals including match-fixing, drugs and drink, and the hazing death of a trainee.

"As our sport slowly licks its wounds, we want the people here to carry on fighting with us," said Yukihiro Kimura, a sumo referee, as around him wrestlers energetically shared their post-training breakfast with local residents.

In another show of support for the area, which has taken an economic hit with the shipment of many agricultural products banned due to radioactive contamination, the traditional "chanko" stew was filled with local radishes and Chinese cabbage, which the wrestlers devoured.

"I traveled through the quake-affected areas with other wrestlers and one thing was true time and again," Kimura said.

"We were there to cheer up the survivors, but their resilience and determination to carry on against all odds ended up inspiring us."

 

India temple treasure brings riches

A stream of bare-chested religious devotees step gingerly through metal detectors at the Sree Padmanabhaswamy temple in southern India as armed commandos with AK-47s guard perhaps one of the world's greatest treasures to surface in recent times.

For months now, following a court order to prise open subterranean vaults sealed for centuries at the heart of sleepy Thiruvananthapuram, the capital of balmy Kerala state, shell-shocked experts have been coming to terms with the vast hidden hoard, estimated at one trillion Indian rupees, or $22 billion.

In a nation where 500 million people are still mired in poverty, the find has been a revelation, stoking debate over how to best safeguard and use this newly discovered wealth at a time of financial uncertainty and modernization across India.

Put in a broader context, the find in the lush, spice-growing but relatively undeveloped Kerala, where infrastructure is patchy and per capita income lags richer northern states, could salvage the state's rickety finances, lift millions out of poverty and even help wipe out a quarter of India's overall fiscal deficit.

The treasure, an accumulation of religious offerings to the Hindu deity Lord Vishnu, includes a four-foot high gold idol studded with emeralds, gold and silver ornaments and sacks of diamonds.

"It's been a real shocker," said Manish Arora, a devotee in a white cotton mundu walking bare-foot outside the seven-storey 16th century pyramidal temple complex. "Nobody thought there'd be money like that here.

"They should use it for public welfare, for development."

But in a deeply spiritual and religious country, where even photographic documentation of the stash is barred to avoid defiling the site, any decision to remove the treasure from the temple vaults and its deity could prove highly controversial.

Some politicians, however, have suggested categorizing the treasure and selling off less historically important items like diamonds or gold bars, then investing the proceeds as part of a trust to generate steady, recurring income for social causes.

"Of course money should not be kept idle," said O. Rajagopal, a member of the Hindu nationalist opposition group, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

"It can be used in such a way that it generates more wealth and that wealth can be utilized in various useful ways like spending in education, or hospitals," he told Reuters in a small flat in Kerala.

Calls have also been made to display the treasures in a newly built museum that could prove a major tourism draw.

POLITICS, GOLD, CORRUPTION

Since the hoard came to light, Kerala's chief minister Oommen Chandy pledged to beef up security around the temple as it "naturally will be under threat."

Rather than a heist by tomb robbers, however, some fear the threat lies more with a broader malaise pervading India today as supercharged capitalism foments greater corruption in politics.

"According to my calculation this treasure constitutes only a small percentage of wealth lost in scams recently by the central government," said M. A. Baby, a leader of Kerala's Communist parties, a leading opposition force in the state.

Public anger has swollen after a spate of corruption scandals ranging from a multi-billion dollar telecoms licensing scam, shady Commonwealth Games deals and illegal mining that have triggered mass anti-graft protests and policy paralysis.

"Political people have been looting the country for so long, so how can the normal layman believe they'll safeguard this money," said Ajith Kumar, a tour guide standing in the shade outside the temple.

"The best way they can keep the money is to keep it inside the temple. That's the simplest solution."

The stash might never have come to light had not a frail 70-year-old silver-bearded devotee filed a legal petition challenging the royal family of Travancore, custodians of the temple for centuries, demanding greater transparency and better management of the long rumored, but never publicly revealed, riches sealed within six subterranean vaults.

Sundara Rajan's petition led the Kerala High Court to order the government to take over the assets, but the royal family appealed to India's Supreme Court, the country's highest court, that ordered a detailed inventory and expert reports on the treasure, before making a judgment expected in October.

The success of the petition is a testament to India's strong legal tradition compared with fellow Asian economic powerhouse China, where individuals often struggle for justice in the face of corrupt officials, pliable judges and a stability-obsessed ruling Communist Party.

While the stash hasn't become a major political controversy yet, there have been precedents in India for religious sites becoming wider social flashpoints.

The Ayodhya mosque in northern India, demolished by rampaging Hindu mobs in 1992, sparked bloody clashes that killed around 2000 people, and an ongoing legal battle for control over the disputed religious site.

As India globalizes and swelling middle classes become increasingly materialistic, underlying religious beliefs remain deep-rooted in the world's largest democracy of 1.2 billion people, where 80 percent are Hindus and 13 percent are Muslims.

"Now we are fearful," said Anju Parvathy, dressed in a dark blue sari and gold ornaments on her doorstep near the temple's north gate. "We don't want the gold. It's god's property."

The courts, aware of the risk of fanning religious sensitivities, are unlikely to order a total redistribution of the temple wealth, but broker a judicious compromise between all the different interests.

"The supreme court is the final authority of the country, they can take any decision, the government has to comply with it," minister Chandy told Reuters in his office in a historic building not far from the temple.

PROPERTY RIGHTS TO GODS

Yet despite India's secular constitution and modernity, its laws grant property rights to gods.

Indian law carries provisions for deities to effectively own property, meaning the $22 billion worth of offerings made to Lord Vishnu at the temple could remain sealed in the vaults.

"This treasure belongs not to the state, not to the maharajah, not to the people at large, it belongs to the deity only," said the BJP's Rajagopal.

Rajagopal said it was possible using astrological methods to divine the will of the deity on how to potentially invest or divest part of the treasure.

"That deity can own property and can sell property so the whole property belongs to the deity," he added.

Moving forward, however, even traditionalists acknowledge a need for an evolution of India's social and religious fabric.

"We have to move with the modern world. At the same time we want to keep the values also," said M.G. Sasibhooshan, a historian seen to be close to the royal family of Travancore.

"Religion is a great force. It has a role in evolving ethics. Striking a balance between religion and change is the idea for an Indian," he said. "But it's not easy."

 

Queen, Obama boost Irish tourism

Numbers of tourists visiting Ireland rose more than 15% in the second quarter from a year ago, data showed, as high-profile visits by Britain's Queen Elizabeth and U.S. President Barack Obama helped paint the country in a positive light.

Ireland's popularity as a holiday destination has dropped in recent years as price increases driven by a property boom put off cost-conscious travelers.

A subsequent financial crash also put the country in the headlines for all the wrong reasons in 2009 and 2010.

Figures from the Central Statistics Office (CSO) showed that nearly 1.8 million people visited Ireland from April to June of this year, with an 8% increase in visitors from its most important tourist market, the UK.

Queen Elizabeth made an historic visit in May followed within days by a one-day trip by Obama, triggering a wave of overseas interest.

The jump in visitors in April to June was also helped by a fall-off in travellers in the same period of 2010, when a volcanic ash cloud in Iceland closed airports across Europe.

"Anecdotal reports from our industry partners around ... Ireland confirm a more positive picture overall than this time last year," said Niall Gibbons, chief executive of Tourism Ireland.

"However, we know that distribution of visitors is uneven, with some areas performing better than others. The current outlook for North America, mainland Europe and emerging markets is positive for the coming months.

"The economic situation in Britain remains fragile and we are keeping the market under close review."

Ireland's government, anxious to stoke economic growth, has cut sales tax for restaurants and hotels to help tourism.

The tourist sector is Ireland's largest home-grown industry, contributing over four percent of annual economic output and employing over 200,000 people.

 

Kingston a truly lovely city, prisons and all

There are nine prisons in and around Kingston, and bad guys go there for years.

I was given 48 hours. Not behind bars, mind you, but on the loose in an attractive city that's one of Ontario's most historic and prosperous.

Part of Kingston's charm lies in location. It faces the eastern end of Lake Ontario -- some sailing events for the 1976 Olympics were staged there -- at the confluence of the St. Lawrence and Cataraqui rivers.

Part lies in its handsome limestone buildings. Some are 200 years old, but Kingston's beginnings are even older. Founded as a French fort in 1673, it was renamed in 1783 and was Canada's capital from 1841 to 1844. Sir John A. Macdonald, our first prime minister, called it home.

The city is said to be almost recession-proof, thanks to the payrolls of the penal system, the armed forces (CFB Kingston and Royal Military College) and a major university (Queens).

It's evident in a core area that has the vibrancy so many communities' downtowns had before they were "malled'' to death. It helps explain why Kingston has 200-plus restaurants, said to be the highest number per capita in the country.

For a quick overview, hop aboard one of the green and cream Confederation Tour trolleys owned and operated by the chamber of commerce.

The route includes a square behind city hall where there's been a weekly market since 1801, stately St. George Cathedral, a 54-room limestone mansion on King St., Queen's University's impressive campus, and Royal Military College, where our guide recommends visiting Fort Frederick Tower, one of four Martello towers the British built in the 1840s to defend Kingston.

The trolley tour takes only 50 minutes, leaving time for other attractions in and near Kingston. Consider these:

Fort Henry. Our trolley guide called the sunset ceremony Wednesday nights during July and August "spectacular.'' The fort runs several theme tours. The newest focuses on daring escapes by prisoners from the 1800s through the First and Second World Wars.

Canada's Penitentiary Museum. Not for the fainthearted. Some of the shockers are from the 1800s: the Water Bath, used in the U.S. until one prisoner died; The Box, in which inmates, mainly women, were confined as long as nine hours and which was used frequently in Kingston. But at least one, The Strapping Bench, was used as recently as 1969, at Manitoba's Stony Mountain Penitentiary.

There's an exact replica of the cells in the maximum security institution right across the street. Segregated inmates such as Paul Bernardo and ex-colonel Russell Williams spend 23 hours a day there in one of these. I stepped inside, closed the door, and found myself thinking capital punishment would be more humane.

A Thousand Islands cruise. Kingston 1000 Islands Cruises does trips from downtown, but departures from Gananoque or Rockport, east of Kingston, are more scenic.

Rideau Canal, Ontario's first UNESCO World Heritage Site. Jones Falls Lockstation, less than 50 km northeast of Kingston, is the "jewel of the system,'' according to a Rideau insider. The Ontario and Quebec tour operators I was with certainly loved it. Take Highway 15 to tiny Morton, then county road 11.

--- --- ---

IF YOU GO

ACCOMMODATION: Downtown is my preference. The new, all-suites Residence Inn quoted me $199, including hot breakfast, for midweek in early May ($20 more for a water view). The newly renovated Confederation Place Hotel, down the street, quoted $127, including continental breakfast, $15 more for a water view.

EAT/DRINK: Locals recommended Morrison's for breakfast, Woodenheads for pizza, Pilot House for fish 'n chips. All are right downtown. Our group dined well at Residence Inn's West Seventy 6 Grill. I enjoyed a pint at Kingston Brewing Co., 34 Clarence St.

INFORMATION: Phone 1-866-665-3326, visit www.kingstoncanada.com.

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Update The Gatineau-Wakefield steam train mentioned in the Aug. 6 column has suspended operations because of track damage.

Doug English can be reached at denglishtravel@gmail.com or by mail c/o London Free Press, P.O.E. Box 2280, London, Ont. N6A 4G1.

Hong Kong's hidden doors

HONG KONG -- Once upon a time in a country far, far away -- about 20 years ago in Hong Kong, to be more precise -- a man who loved cooking used the middle floor of his three-storey house to entertain his extended family.

Family members adored his cooking just as much as he enjoyed working at the wok, and started bringing their friends to meals. Word spread, and these friends started to bring their friends, until the happy chef was feeding ever larger numbers of people many of whom he'd never met before, but at considerable personal expense.

"How would it be," suggested someone, "if we paid for our meals, and then you could give us your favourite dishes and we'd all be happy?"

And so what had been a private party became a "private kitchen" or "hidden door" restaurant with very limited seating, only open to those whose delighted friends passed on the name and number of the chef.

Hong Kong's energetic entrepreneurial spirit ensured the idea was swiftly copied until many private homes were receiving paying guests for a variety of cuisines. Some were short-lived, but others became so successful they moved to commercial premises, although still on a small scale, and often in unexpected, tucked away locations.

Now visitors to Hong Kong who plan ahead can book themselves everything from classic Cantonese to first-rate French cooking in spaces such as former offices, an antique shop, or afloat on a tiny sampan with a single table.

"As far as I know I was the first," says Master Ng, chef-proprietor of Red Kitchen, "more than 20 years ago."

He was eventually enticed away from home cooking to work for a famous Chinese restaurant group before starting Red Kitchen in a flea market in the leafy New Territories, where a former candle-making factory is now filled with assorted small shops, stalls and restaurants.

Every lunchtime Master Ng offers meals to a handful of guests in part of a small and cluttered antiques shop. This may not be a private house, but it feels little different. The shop's owner sits in one corner scanning the Internet, there's horse racing from Happy Valley playing on a muted television, and the space is otherwise full of traditional furniture, calligraphy, carved screens and homely knick-knacks.

A feast of five Cantonese dishes and one soup is produced, including Ng's most famous dish: Boiled boned duck stuffed with sticky rice and chestnuts, which falls apart into a mouth-pleasing mix of soft textures and gentle flavours. The duck also makes a soup with Chinese herbs that give it a rich mulberry colour and a pleasant tang.

The manager of a nearby wine shop who speaks some English acts as server, and others from the market help Ng set up tables for up to 85 in its public areas in the evening. But the chef is clear his operation still counts as a private kitchen.

"At a restaurant anyone can walk in and choose from the menu. But at a private kitchen there is no menu, the chef must have a very good reputation because there's no advertising, and you cannot just walk in. Only that chef can be the chef, and he can't ask his brother to fill in."

The space is still technically regarded as private, which is one of the ways the owners of hidden doors creatively get round licensing complications. Back in Hong Kong Island's busy Wanchai district another private kitchen manages to run in a sixth-floor office space by notionally being a private members' club. Despite its location in a district that's more Suzie Wong than crepes Suzette, Le Blanc offers an ambitious menu of casually executed French dishes. There's an element of choice gained by ticking boxes for up to nine courses including bread, pate, and a mid-meal palate-cleansing sorbet.

The restaurant can actually seat around 50, although each table is in a separate space barely larger than itself created by drapes suspended from rough wooden beams. The environment is not one for the dignified contemplation of the cuisine, but bright and busy, with bursts of laughter swirling from neighbouring cubicles. The decor is a jumble of chandeliers, Christmas lights, candelabra, dried flowers, ceramics, battered prints of famous oil paintings and mismatched furniture.

The food is a Hong Kong idea of French, and the standard enthusiastically amateur although almost all the ingredients are brought in from France. A champagne ginger-carrot soup is good and a baked banana with creme anglaise and yuzu icecream a fine end to the meal, but the sole with a shrimp spread in a yellow wine sauce could be both a little warmer and more generously sauced. Nevertheless a night at Le Blanc is a thoroughly Hong Kong experience, and after three years struggling to establish its reputation the restaurant is now deservedly popular.

Those wanting classic French food will find it in Central at Liberty Private Works, a third-floor space a stiff climb from an entrance between two boutiques. There's seating for about 15 at an L-shaped counter around the cooking area. This began as a test kitchen for a new bistro, where the chef tried recipes on friends until the bistro's opening. But the tiny space proved so popular there were calls for its revival, and in April newly returned Hong Kong-born Canadian Vicky Cheng re-opened it.

"I told them we can serve the same food at the bistro with candlelight, tablecloths and proper service, but they still like to come here. I think it's the interactive experience."

Cheng believes it is classic techniques rather than imported ingredients that make meals French, and although he has little choice but to fly in white truffles, he believes in applying what he learned at Toronto's Auberge du Pommier to the best of local ingredients, and he enjoys explaining to diners the dishes they've just seen assembled in front of them.

"This is egg yolk raviolo; spinach, ricotta, and white truffle; parmesan foam and Osietra caviar. Begin by breaking the yolk so that it becomes part of the sauce." There's an explosion of colour as the yellow egg flows into the caviar, and with each mouthful the background tang of truffle. A mini baguette is provided for wiping up every last delicious drop of what is just one of eight small but intense courses.

The private kitchen idea has now become so popular in Hong Kong that the label has been employed to revive forms of dining that predated it, including Shun Kee Typhoon Shelter Seafood, where dinner is taken aboard a traditional wooden sampan. The trip begins at a small pier near the Excelsior Hotel, where jolly, barefoot Madam Hing helps guests aboard her narrow, battered, tire-hung craft, and then propels it off through a bobbing shanty town of boats using an oar projecting from the stern.

Almost the entire deck is taken up with a table for up to eight, and its a puzzle as to where the cooking is going to take place, until after a short journey the sampan nuzzles nose-on to a well-lit rectangular raft fitted with stainless steel equipment, ablaze with woks on gas flames, all attended by busy chefs.

Madam Hing moves to the prow to receive dishes and bring them to the table. Giant meaty whelks must be pried from their pretty spiral shells using wooden skewers. Clams "typhoon shelter style" are warm in a black bean sauce with a hint of chili, but the climax of the meal, as the towers light up on both sides of the harbour and other boats nudge alongside, is a small mountain of the freshest possible crab cooked with chili, black beans, garlic and spring onions.

"You have to earn your reputation," says Master Ng. "You have to give up your normal job. Some private kitchens nobody goes."

But to others, everybody wants to go. And so should you.

IF YOU GO TO HONG KONG

INFORMATION

-- For details on travel to Hong Kong, seediscoverhongkong.com.

-- For reviews of private kitchens, see magazines such as Time Out Hong Kong or HK Magazine. Book before you leave home either by telephone or over the web. Wine lists are limited but most places allow you to bring your own bottle with no corkage fee. Tax on wine was recently removed in Hong Kong, and there are many wine shops selling imports at fair prices. Book before you leave home either by telephone or over the web.

-- It takes some effort to get to Red Kitchen so seats are not too hard to obtain. Take the MTR (subway) to Kam Tin station, and then a taxi. The address is Red Brick House, Kam Sheung Rd., Yuen Long, but take the phone number, 3060 9388, so the driver can call for directions. Bookings are also accepted by e-mail at redkitchen@live.hk, but keep the English simple. Master Ng consults on allergies before cooking. Menus start from HK $200 ($25) per person.

-- Le Blanc cuisine française is at 6/F, 83 Wanchai Rd. Telephone 3428 5824 for bookings, and see blanc.com.hk. There's a minimum charge of HK $290 ($36) per person, and a generous meal for two will be about HK $1000 ($125). Try Sundays and public holidays to increase your chances of obtaining a table.

-- Liberty Private Works accepts bookings one month ahead at libertypw.com. The address is 3/F, 12 Wellington St., Central. Call 5186 3282. Availability is better on weekdays for the single 8 p.m. sitting. Dinner is HK$ 700 per person for eight courses plus amuse bouche and including two desserts.

-- No English is spoken at Shun Kee, so enlist the assistance of your hotel to call 8112 0075, and to gain detailed directions to the pier in the typhoon shelter on Gloucester Rd. The earliest pick-up is 6.30 p.m. There are set menus for two, four, six and eight persons, beginning at HK $1080 ($134) for two but dropping per head as numbers increase. One cold soft drink, water, or beer is included.

Egypt uprising art brightens Cairo

A flowering of Egyptian art since the overthrow of Hosni Mubarak is adding color to the capital Cairo and an upswing in business at the city's galleries, as the pride, anger and optimism of a long-frustrated generation plays out on canvas.

Politically-inspired photography, graphic design and graffiti sprayed or stencilled on walls, fences, bridges and fly-overs have flourished since the 18-day uprising toppled the autocratic leader.

Across Cairo, faces of protesters killed during the uprising are immortalized on concrete, fists are shown breaking free from ropes and ancient mummies scream "I am free!."

Much of the street art reflects pride in the movement that united Egyptians across class and religion to put an end to decades of calcified politics and a gaping rich-poor divide.

In Nasr City, a beautiful woman is spray-painted on a fence surrounding a plot of disused land, her dress in the flowing colors of Egypt's red, white and black national flag. Further west in Mohandiseen, an imam and a priest are shown standing hand in hand on the side of one building.

Elsewhere it is darker, angrier. One image painted on a disused building shows a man writhing in chains wrapped tight around his body.

Other graffiti shows anger toward Mubarak and his family -- the former leader is depicted scowling arrogantly or with his head in a noose -- or anxiety at whether Egypt's military rulers really want to deliver the country to democratic civilian rule.

An army officer sketched on a wall in a busy street asks passers-by "man antum?" (who are you?), an allusion to Muammar Gaddafi's disdainful question aimed at Libyan rebels, implying that the military council holds Egyptians in similar contempt.

"ENORMOUS INTEREST"

Some art dealers say the movement is grabbing the attention of collectors at home and abroad.

"There's an enormous interest and push for the graffiti artists, for the illustrators, for the new comic books that are coming out," said William Wells, Director of Cairo's Townhouse Gallery. "At the moment, foreigners are coming through the city constantly looking for them."

Mona Said, owner of Safar Khan gallery, said she received strong interest in her first "To Egypt with Love" exhibition at the gallery in March. The exhibition displayed photography and graphic artwork inspired by the uprising.

"I sold four times what I expected to sell," said Said. "I shipped all over the world."

Hossam Hassan, who combines photography, digital design and painting, depicted protesters in Cairo's Tahrir Square at Safar Khan's gallery.

He said the beige background of his canvases reflects a decaying feeling on the eve of the uprising.

"Everything was cloudy, beige, colourless, tasteless before the revolution. These people came with their energy and injected this red, orange, yellow energy into Egypt," he said, pointing to the splashes of color on the paintings.

Hassan says his work on the uprising will be exhibited in European capitals including Vienna and London this year and will appear next year in a Paris exhibition commemorating the first day of the uprising, January 25.

FEARS OF CENSORSHIP

Other artists hope their depictions of the revolution will promote social causes they say were neglected under Mubarak, who is on trial accused of authorizing the use of live ammunition to shoot protesters, of corruption and abuse of power.

Hanan el-Nahrawy, a deaf-mute artist who has produced surrealistic oil and ink images of Mubarak, said -- through her son who interprets for her -- that she wants to spread awareness for deaf-mutes who received little care under the former leader.

"Mubarak did not like the disabled, whatever their disability," said Nahrawy. "In the days of (previous president) Anwar al-Sadat, there was more attention to the disabled."

One of Nahrawy's canvases depicts the Nile flowing through Mubarak's face, its delta branching off in vein-like lines on his forehead. A small fist carrying tear-shaped nooses is painted on one of his cheeks, while small images of people carrying Egypt's flag chip away at the other.

"These are the protesters trying to find out what's hidden, how much he owns," said Nahrawy. "The veins are like the reverberations of an earthquake. The revolution shook Mubarak."

Another of Nahrawy's works shows the Nile passing through an image that combines Mubarak's face with that of Hussein Salem, a close confidant of the former president charged with squandering public funds. Dollar signs fill the background.

Inspiration from the country's political upheaval is mixed with fears of political censorship by Egypt's army, which has ruled since Mubarak's overthrow on February 11. Rights groups worry over the army's use of military trials in cases where civilians criticized its actions.

Many artists are concerned that religious conservatives now vying for power may try to exert pressure that will curb freedom of expression.

"We've moved into a situation that's a little bit disturbing with the army now adopting similar tactics in terms of censorship that we had prior to February 11," said Wells.

Hassan said the diversity of religion and culture that has inspired artists in Egypt is under threat from strict Islamist groups such as the Salafists.

"This is not right for Egypt. We'll go back to where we were before the revolution and worse," said Hassan.

"The beauty of Egypt is its diversity. I get very upset when Islamists or Salafists say 'Egypt is Islamist, it has to be this' ... the depth and strength of Egypt is that it's Coptic (Christian), Pharoanic, Muslim, modern and old."

 

How to enjoy a Muskoka vacation

Combine a few days at Deerhurst Resort and a dinner cruise on the Royal Mail Ship Segwun and you have a real Muskoka vacation.

We did just that last week with the grandchildren and it was an adventure to long remember -even Mother Nature co-operated with excellent weather.

Embracing Peninsula Lake, Deerhurst Resort is a year-round retreat to Ontario's famous "cottage country" lifestyle in Muskoka.

The resort offers an ideal mix of accommodations and value packages for everything from a weekend break to a budget-friendly meeting.

There are dozens of on-site relaxation and adventure options to explore at the extensive resort, including a spa, sports, live entertainment and everything from hiking trails, horseback riding and Hummer tours to exploring the charming town of Huntsville.

Deerhurst also features a number of great golf packages.

Deerhurst resort is located two hours north of Toronto bordering the Algonquin Provincial Park.

The resort dates from 1896 when English entrepreneur Charles Waterhouse first opened Deerhurst.

The lakeside hotel was the central venue for the 36th G8 summit last year and the walls in the main building feature numerous photos of Prime Minister Stephen Harper and U.S. President Barack Obama.

The resort offers accommodation for 1,000 people in 400 rooms and suites, many of which are privately owned or blocked by timeshares.

Deerhurst's evening entertainment features a live musical stage show with a new production every year. The career of singer Shania Twain took off when she was one of the performers working at the resort.

Deerhurst hosts a variety of high-profile outdoor sporting events including golf tournaments, running and triathlon events such as the Iron Man and the Canadian Pond Hockey championships each February on specially-built rinks on Peninsula Lake.

Extensive wilderness on Deerhurst property and surrounding the resort make it a popular base for adventure sports.

The Segwun is the recognized symbol of Muskoka with many believing that her haunting whistle sounds out as the offi- cial "heartbeat" which awakens the region each spring.

The story of the Muskoka Lakes Navigation Company, from the re-sail of the Segwun after refurbishing in 1981 to the present day is a tale of unprecedented growth, success and achievement.

It's a story of the Segwun proudly plying the lakes and representing the elegance, style and heritage of Muskoka's past and it's a tale of Segwun today having earned a reputation as an Ontario tourism icon.

With a sailing season of just 145 days, present-day Segwun welcomes passengers onboard from around the world.

From her scenic lunch and millionaires' row cruises to the ever-popular sunset dinner cruises, Segwun's coal-fired engines work harder today than they did more than 100 years ago.

The Muskoka Boat and Heritage Centre in Gravenhurst, home of the Segwun, has been voted as one of Canada's most exciting new attractions.

Offering an interactive experience for visitors that is unrivaled anywhere in the region, the centre provides a glimpse into the unique aspects of Muskoka life that has attracted millions of visitors and spawned countless memories.

The exhibits capture the glory of the Muskoka experience, exploring the rich history of steamships, wooden boats and luxury hotels that helped define the region.

 

Canada's dirtiest shorelines

As Top 5 lists go, this is one Canadian cities do not want to be on.

Just ahead of the 2011 Great Canadian Shoreline Cleanup in September, the organizers of the event released a list of Canada's dirtiest shorelines, measured by how many kilograms of litter were picked up per each kilometre of shore in last year's cleanup.

The dirtiest shoreline is Sydenham Lake in Kingston, Ont., where 5,000 kg of food wrappers, plastic forks and other junk were collected.

The other four top offenders were:

Kanaka Creek/Kanaka Creek Regional Park, Maple Ridge, B.C. - 3,200 kg

Baie des Chaleurs, Charlo, N.B. - 2,720 kg

Tom Hopkins Ravine Park, Delta, B.C. - 1,200 kg

Brownsville Bar Park on the Fraser River, Surrey, B.C. - 1,200 kg

The organizers also listed the five cleanest shorelines:

Niagara-on-the-Lake has some of the country's cleanest beaches, with just .50 kg of garbage removed from the shore of the beach at Firelane 14. (Julie Jocsak/QMI Agency)

Film buffs eye movie locations in Brooklyn

NEW YORK -- From an old-world Italian restaurant where Leonardo DiCaprio ate to the bakery where Cher found love, a New York tour company is taking movie fans to see where their favorite films were shot -- in Brooklyn.

Photographs of DiCaprio and director Martin Scorsese are proudly displayed in the window of Ferdinando's Foccaceria restaurant, a location for the 2006 film "The Departed," which won the Academy Award for best picture.

The fact that "The Departed" was set in Boston makes it an even more exciting find.

"Brooklyn is now the 'it' borough and people are not as interested in big bad Manhattan as much anymore," said Pauline Gacanja, spokesperson for On Location Tours Inc. "People are always surprised about how many movies have been filmed there." The four-hour Brooklyn TV & Movie tour, which begins in lower Manhattan before crossing into Brooklyn, showcases the bridges, restaurants and brownstones featured on the small and big screens.

"It was great seeing where 'Moonstruck' was filmed," Tessa Benjamin, 38, of Dallas, Texas said about the 1987 film for which Cher won an Oscar for best actress in the romantic comedy that also starred Nicolas Cage.

Benjamin's 13-year old daughter was just as excited to see a house in a quaint neighborhood that featured in "Remember Me", the movie starring teen heart-throb Robert Pattinson.

The tour includes more than 40 locations such as the historic Brooklyn Bridge, which featured prominently in the 1971 film "The French Connection," which won the Best Picture Oscar, the courthouse seen in "American Gangster" and the bakery made famous in "Moonstruck".

The critically acclaimed Prohibition- era HBO show, " Boardwalk Empire," that is set in Atlantic City, New Jersey, has also been shot in Brooklyn.

Most of the On Location Tours, including "Sex and the City Hotspots," "Gossip Girl Sites" and "Soprano Sites," are concentrated in the more recognizable Manhattan. The company also offers tours in Washington D.C., and Boston.

An early popular stop in the Brooklyn tour is Junior's Restaurant, a New York tradition that claims to have the world's most fabulous cheesecake.

The restaurant is where Carrie Bradshaw, who is played by Sarah Jessica Parker, and friends shot her wedding reception in the first "Sex and the City" film, which delighted many women on the tour. They found the mini-cheesecake that each received at the stop even more exciting.

"People really enjoy themselves," said tour guide and actor Amadeo Fusca, who shared his knowledge about the films and inside industry information and behind-the-scene scoops with the tour guests.

"Everyone loves the movies and they love to see these places up-close," he said.

 

Ontario is "yours to discover"

Ontario is "yours to discover" and there’s still lots of summer left to explore further.

Here are some culinary, parks and fishing outings suggested by Ontario Tourism.

 

Yummy adventures on the culinary trails

"Pick a region or trail, designate a driver or hop on a tour or a bike and let vintners uncork the secrets of delicious wines," said publicist Kattrin Sieber.

"Indulge in the pleasures of a perfect pairing over lunch or dinner, brimming with local flavours and the freshest seasonal ingredients."

- Blue Mountains’ Apple Pie Trail: Wind through this picturesque area to some of the area’s finest cafes, bakeries, restaurants, markets and farms that serve delicious apple pies and apple-inspired creations. Visit www.applepietrail.ca

- Essex County’s A Trolley Named Desire: Take a ride on a heritage-themed trolley and enjoy favourite vintages from winery to winery. Discover the wide range of food and wine available from local producers. www.wetrolley.com

- Giant Tastes of Thunder Bay: Tour and taste the flavours found in the land of the Sleeping Giant. There is delicious Gouda cheese, fluffy Finn pancakes, fresh fish and berries, superb chefs and a ‘superior’ landscape making this a treat for all the senses. www.visitthunderbay.com

- Niagara Wine Country: Award-winning wines, fresh produce and tantalizing culinary experiences are in Niagara. Sample new releases during tours at various wineries and during the Niagara Wine Festival, Sept. 16 to 25. www.niagarawinefestival.com

- Prince Edward County’s Taste Trail: Nestled around the communities of Picton, Bloomfield and Wellington, food lovers can nibble their way along the Taste Trail. There are culinary treats produced by local farmers, butchers, market gardeners, restaurants, wineries, a cidery and craft brewed beer. www.tastetrail.ca

- Savour Muskoka: Choose from a wide variety of culinary events, trails and experiences throughout Muskoka and Parry Sound. Enjoy shore-line picnics, alfresco dining by the water, devouring delicious wild blueberries, discovering honey producers or searching out the best butter tart. www.savourmuskoka.com

- Savour Ottawa: Ottawa’s Byward Market, one of Canada's oldest and largest public markets, is a colourful mosaic of farmer's market stalls, flower sellers, cheese mongers, butchers, shops and cafes. Sample berries, artisanal cheeses, breads and enjoy the city's famed pastry -- a sugary beaver tail. www.ottawatourism.ca

- Savour Stratford: Continuing through October, enjoy an outing devoted to the culinary lifestyle. Discover the art of chocolate making, spend some time with a tea sommelier and sample artisanal bread and cheese. www.welcometostratford.com/savour-stratford.php

For more tips on trips: www.ontariotravel.net/getaways

 

Park it and enjoy

"Imagine sleeping under the stars, hiking a scenic nature trail or photographing a white-tailed deer."

Take in beautiful scenery with cascading waterfalls, sand dunes and boreal forests as well as family activities such as musical performances, art shows and guided hikes.

Most parks offer boat launches, canoe rentals, picnic shelters and barbecues.

Start with a day trip to Wasaga Beach, sandcastle heaven on the longest freshwater beach in the world, stretching 14 kilometres on Georgian Bay.

Murphys Point on the Rideau Canal has tours of the historic Silver Queen Mine while Springwater, north of Barrie, is a pleasant setting for family picnics or walks through the woods.

Instead of "roughing it," there’s comfy camping with a variety of roofed dwellings.

Balsam Lake park in the Kawarthas has a furnished three-bedroom home that sleeps six while Bonnechere, west of Pembroke, has cabins for rent.

Maple Rest Heritage House in Sandbanks offers a four-bedroom Victorian home furnished with antiques.

Something to think about next summer is a "Learn to Camp" program that quickly filled up when first offered this year.

It included overnight getaways to Bronte Creek, Sibbald Point and Darlington parks to "help first-time campers learn the basics."

There were also community group sessions in the Greater Toronto Area for the camping primer.

For more about parks and camping: www.OntarioParks.com

 

Go fish!

Whether at an Ontario park or a stream, creek or lake nearby, the perfect catch awaits.

Ontario has 15 per cent of the world’s fresh water with more than 400,000 lakes, rivers and streams, making this one of the best sport fishing spots anywhere.

Ontario Tourism has suggestions for a fishing vacation at a lodge, fly-in by bush plane, on a charter boat or fly fishing at www.ontariotravel.net/gofish

To find out what you can catch and what you can keep at some 13,000 lakes, go to www.ontario.ca/fishing

There is also information about planning a fishing getaway, the tackle needed and how to obtain or renew a fishing licence.

 

Jim Fox can be reached at onetanktrips@hotmail.com

 

48 hours at the Edinburgh Fringe Fest

The Edinburgh Festival Fringe offers everything from street buskers and mimes to top-class singers, actors, comedians and cabaret stars at hundreds of venues around the Scottish capital and that's in addition to the international book, art, jazz festivals and the Military Tattoo, which are all part of the cultural cornucopia that is Edinburgh in August.

Reuters correspondents with local knowledge provide some helpful hints for enjoying 48 hours of crowds, comedy, theater, dance and art on the hilly, cobblestoned streets.

First Day

6 p.m. Book into your hotel and then hit the streets, probably after arriving at Edinburgh Waverley train station, which lies at the center of the city under the brooding shadow of Edinburgh Castle. Top tip: You can order a Fringe program before you go, online at www.edfringe.com.

The Fringe website also advises you where and how to book tickets, so it is well worth consulting before you come to Edinburgh - and after you arrive.

Wander over to the Royal Mile and take in the sights and sounds in a city where more than 21,000 performers are ready to entertain you with over 2,500 shows.

One of the great spectacles of the Festival is the Military Tattoo, which caters for 220,000 spectators over its three-week run to August 27.

The Tattoo, with over 1,000 military and civilian performers, is sold out early in the year. But you can try your luck at the ticket office 33-34 Market Street, just round the corner from Waverley Station - or you can check at your hotel desk if any are available.

8 p.m. Head for some food and drink. Try the Royal McGregor pub at the heart of the Royal Mile. (www.royalmcgregor.co.uk). The pub is run by the McGregor family and boasts of its links to the MacGregor clan. Have a pint of local ale to slake your thirst and order from the traditional and modern food menu.

10 p.m. Head to bed because Saturday will be a long slog running from show to show and seeing the sights. Or if you're feeling like making it more of a night out head off the Royal Mile. One Edinburgh treat is The Royal Oak pub at 1 Infirmary Street (www.royal-oak-folk.com), a focal point for traditional folk musicians.

Second Day

10 a.m. Start your day with a hearty breakfast at any of the many pubs and restaurants catering for hungry festival-goers. Wander along the Royal Mile to take in the sights and sounds of everything from buskers to acrobats, mimes, magicians and dozens of other eye-catching shows along the street cut off to traffic for the festivities. Small troupes promoting themselves also line the street begging for you to come to their shows, people in pajamas, funny hats, colored hair, dressed as anything from giant poppies to crazy animals will clamor for your attention and there is an army of young women all toting placards and handing out flyers. Drink it in.

The main official Fringe venues are clustered in the shadow of Edinburgh University's McEwen Hall, where giant tents have been erected on open ground. The box offices for the Assembly Rooms, Pleasance and Gilded Balloon are to be found there. The offices of the Underbelly is on the Cowgate leading into the Grass Market under the southern ramparts of the Castle.

Take time to visit the Castle itself (www.edinburghcastle.gov.uk). Perched on an extinct volcano it is classed as a World Heritage Site. A fortress of some kind has stood here since 600 A.D. and it is still an active military center.

1 p.m. If you hear a booming noise then that's the one o'clock gun fired from the castle almost every day since 1861. Head to any sandwich shop nearby for lunch, or make your way down the Mound past the National Gallery and the Royal Scottish Academy, over Princes Street to the parallel Rose Street, which is filled with pubs, restaurants and bars.

Alternatively, book a posh lunch at The Witchery (www.thewitchery.com) located in an historic 16th-century building by the gates of Edinburgh Castle. The oak-paneled walls are hung with tapestries, mirrors and carvings. But make sure you've made a reservation.

After lunch, take in another show, cruise the Royal Mile and watch the buskers or take a spooky walking tour with Auld Reekie tours (www.auldreekietours.com), who advertise on the Royal Mile or the nearby Mary King's Close (www.realmarykingsclose.com).

Both take visitors on tours of the forgotten bits of the city that lie beneath the Edinburgh of today. See the old haunts of body snatchers, criminals and witches.

6 p.m. You're tired and hungry, so you'd best head for food and drink before a busy evening of shows and fun.

It's time for traditional Scottish food: "Haggis neeps and tatties" or Sheep's offal boiled in a sheep's stomach and served with mashed parsnips, potatoes and covered with a whisky jus.

There are a number of places that serve traditional Scottish food and one close by the festival at 15/16 Market Street is the Doric Bar and Restaurant (www.the-doric.com), which bills itself as Edinburgh's oldest gastro pub.

The Doric was built in the 17th century and serves locally sourced homemade food in its ground floor bar and traditional fare like haggis in the wooden-floored restaurant upstairs with an extensive wine and whisky list.

8 p.m. Head out to some shows you've booked or drop into a Free-Fringe show in a pub or restaurant. More than 500 free shows are available through the city during the festival: buy a drink and take in the entertainment. The performers would be grateful if you could toss a coin or two into a waiting bucket.

11 p.m. As you head for your lodgings, hit one of the many late night comedy and cabaret shows.

Third Day

10 a.m. Grab the newspapers over breakfast and coffee at your hotel or a nearby restaurant before setting off on another rollicking day at the Fringe.

11 a.m. Take a stroll around Edinburgh's Princes Street, Nicholson Street and George Street to take in the shops because you just need to have those knick knacks for those back home.

Edinburgh is filled with shops selling kilts, tartan scarves, rugs, hats, clan badges and joke Scottish memorabilia that is irresistible

1 p.m.

You can lunch at Edinburgh's B'est restaurant on Drummond Street for some good old fashioned British hospitality brought to you by "Faulty Towers," a comedy based on the hit British television show, which starred former Monty Python John Cleese.

Basil, Sybil and the bumbling Manuel serve up a hilarious three-course meal. There is also a dinner show.

2 p.m.

If you are in an artistic frame of mind, try the national picture gallery at the foot of the Mound on Princess Street.

There is also a fine exhibition of Northern Renaissance Art from the Queen's collection at the Queen's Gallery nestled in the outside wall of Holyrood Palace, opposite the Scottish parliament at the foot of the Royal Mile.

You might also take a look into the Scottish National Museum, which has just been reopened to great acclaim after a refurbishment on Chambers Street near Fringe Center.

5 p.m.

As evening comes round, it's time to start winding down. Find a good place to settle in and recount your trip to Edinburgh in a comfortable spot with whisky and a spot of dinner afterwards.

The 180-year-old Cafe Royal on West Register Street, just off Princes Street in the center of Edinburgh, has a bar and a restaurant. Take a seat at one of the booths surrounding the carved wooden bar and order some of its famous oysters, local beer and of course a whisky or two. The Edinburgh institution is decorated with the original stained-glass windows, Victorian plasterwork, irreplaceable Doulton ceramic murals and is said to be haunted.

 

Prince Albert Park beautiful by nature

The huskies are harnessed and prancing while musher Brad Muir gives the rigging a final check.

I'm swatting mosquitoes -- this is a spring training run, and the dogs can hardly wait to burn up a dirt road hauling their lightweight buggy.

It's early June beside Prince Albert National Park (PANP), and the dogs are the stars of Muir's Sundog Sled Excursions (sundog.sk.ca).

Twenty-four paws scatter Saskatchewan sand, Muir's enthusiasm is infectious, and the buggy ride is suprisingly enjoyable; but then the region is rich with rewarding twists and turns.

This year is the centennial of Parks Canada, and while PANP may not have the in-your-face glamour of the great mountain parks it is a gorgeous place, an hour north of the city of Prince Albert, and absolutely deserves to be seen. There is ample here to explore and enjoy in the centre of this quietly booming province, and history abounds.

The park was established in 1927, its almost-4,000 sq. km straddling the southern edge of Canada's great boreal forest. The transition from prairie to bush supports a wealth of wildlife, including the only free-roaming population of plains bison still in their natural range. We'll go look for them shortly, but first more on the park.

Arguably PANP's most famous resident was Grey Owl -- the Englishman Archie Belaney -- who lived and wrote in the park from 1931 to 1938 and died there that year. His valuable conservation work, factual writing and lectures tend to be overshadowed by the elaborate fiction concerning his origins. Belaney's cabin is in the park.

First Nations activity in the area dates back 4,000 years and possibly as much as 7,500.

The scenic townsite of Waskesiu is the hub of the park, and 200,000 visitors flow through there each year to experience the interpretive centres, and explore the many trails, lakes and views. Waskesiu Marina (waskesiumarina.com) offers exceptional, educational tours of the Hanging Heart Lakes area.

We have come, in part, to try to see bison, on the west side of the park near the small community of Big River on Hwy. 55.

The answer to "where do bison roam?" is "pretty much wherever they want," Gord Vaadeland knows this well: The 3,238 hectares of his Sturgeon River cattle and horse ranch abut the park and the bison meander on and off the property at will.

Vaadeland, whose Norwegian family settled there decades ago, takes visitors out on horseback to observe the bison. He's a smart, friendly character with a deep sense of stewardship for the animals. Did I mention he's also an official Sidekick on TV's Mantracker series?

Riding trails through trembling aspen forest, with the prospect of plains bison (or elk, bear, wolf, deer) at any moment, is one heck of way to spend a morning. The family run ranch offers many other activities too. Check out sturgeonriverranch.com.

Nearby, pay a visit to Ness Creek, eclectic home of the four-day Ness Creek Music Festival where every July 3,000 souls savour live bands, workshops and "community sharing." Set in hundreds of hectares of forest, the festival promotes all Canadian arts, particularly Saskatchewan talent (nesscreek.com). The place has a Sixties time-warp feel. My only regret: I was a month too early for the big show.

For direct contrast, and the absolute height of luxury and haute cuisine, Elk Ridge Resort is the flagship hostelry in the park area and a stunning experience, especially considering its relative remoteness. Golfers will revel. See elkridgeresort.com.

En route back to Saskatoon, past open fields where deer seem omni-present and five-foot tall sandhill cranes dance, immerse yourself in the intrigue, battles and politics of Louis Riel and the Northwest Resistance of 1885 by visiting the Batoche national historic site and nearby Duck Lake. It's just south of Prince Albert. Let the admirable Trails of 1885 project (trailsof1885.com) be your guide. And don't miss the revived Hudson's Bay post at nearby Fort Carlton.

GETTING THERE

WestJet and Air Canada both fly daily to Saskatoon. From the "City of Bridges" on the South Saskatchewan River it's an easy 200 km straight north to the park. Rent a car and get going.

Edmonton Fringe Fest off and running

Celebrating 30 years of singing, dancing, busking and performing, the Edmonton Fringe Festival proves that no-holds-barred theatre is right at home in Old Strathcona.

With a record 100,000 people expected before the curtains close Aug. 21, Edmonton Fringe founder Brian Paisley said it’s the uncensored performances that keeps both artists and theatre-lovers coming back for more.

"It says to the artists the same thing I said to them 30 years ago, bring what you want to do," said Paisley. "Let’s see if there’s an audience out there who wants to see it."

Since its inception in 1982, Paisley has seen the festival grow exponentially but never lose the hands-off attitude he had towards artist’s performances. Something Bremner Duthie truly appreciates.

His dark comedy, ‘33: A Kabarett,’ takes place in Germany at the height of Hitler’s power, when the infamous Führer began to censor theatre productions.

Duthie plays a man who performs all of his troupe’s works one at a time by himself, now that his troupe has been taken to concentration camps.

"I don’t wanna be too heavy on the message because there’s a lot of entertainment there," Duthie said of his work, "but if anything it’s be careful when you start censoring culture, it’s kind of a rocky road."

Fringe Theatre Adventures doesn’t censor, judge or curate performers in any way, something executive director Julian Mayne is proud of.

"We keep an open forum to allow people to express themselves," Mayne said. "That very key is why it works and why it continues to work."

Having performed at Fringe festivals across the world, Duthie said Edmonton Fringe performers are top notch.

"It’s getting a lot more professional in terms of the quality of work that I’m seeing," Duthie said. "People are really taking time with their shows and bring pieces that they’ve spent months or years developing."

The Edmonton Fringe Festival itself spent many years developing. Paisley said the 10 years before his departure in 1992 was about establishing the festival’s reputation and creating a core audience.

Making it to 30 years is a milestone both Paisley and Mayne are proud to share with the city that demanded it.

"It’s a real feather in its cap," Mayne said, "It’s another indicator of how this festival is supported by the community, by the artists, by the businesses, by the funders and by the patrons."

Edmonton Fringe Festival ends Aug. 21. For programming information visit www.fringetheatreadventures.ca.

matthew.dykstra@sunmedia.ca

@SunMattDykstra

 

10 most annoying types of beachgoers

One of the things travellers look forward to most about summer is long, languid days at the beach, which makes annoying beachgoers all that more ... annoying. With this in mind the members and editors of travel website VirtualTourist.com have compiled this list of the most annoying types of beachgoers.

1. THE SMOKER

While there's not much to like about this type, the main gripe of non-smokers is that those who puff seem to think that if they're outside, the smoke won't bother anyone and that they often treat the sand as a giant ashtray.

2. THE LITTERBUG

Don't get us started. This person is apparently unbothered by overflowing trashcans, food wrappers stuck in the sand, and garbage-filled water. We shudder to think what their homes must look like.

3. THE COUPLE WHO CAN'T KEEP THEIR HANDS OFF EACH OTHER

Although we certainly understand that the beach can be a very romantic place, these people just take it way too far. Our advice to them is to save the canoodling for home and use the beach for relaxation only.

4. THE PERSON WEARING THE TOO-TIGHT/TOO-SMALL BATHING SUIT

Something about the end of sweater weather seems to bring out the exhibitionist in people. There's nothing wrong with this but just remember the beach is still a public place. If people are having a difficult time looking you in the eye while you're wearing your suit, you probably need to reconsider.

5. THE HOARDER

For some reason, this person can't go to the beach without bringing practically every belonging they own. From chairs to tents to coolers to cabanas, they have no problem virtually setting up house for the day.

6. THE GIANT GROUP

Treating the beach as if they've rented it out for a party, this group takes the place over. Never mind that you wanted to sit quietly and do some summer reading; they have an extremely important volleyball game to play and you'll just have to deal with it.

7. THE VENDOR

Regardless of whether they sell food, hats, or inflatable animals, on the wrong day these people can really destroy not only the experience but also the landscape. Going to the beach is about connecting with nature, not merchandise, and we wish they would at least learn to take no for an answer.

8. THE DRUNK

Whether they've gotten drunk first and then stumbled their way to the beach or used the excuse of being at the beach to get really wasted, this beachgoer is a giant nuisance.

9. THE DJ

Can't this person just find a nice club and spin there? Why must he or she bring everything short of a jukebox and play their tunes so loudly we can barely hear the waves? Whatever the reason, we have two words for this type of beachgoer: ear buds.

10. THE GROOMER

Does this person not have a bathroom in which to take care of these things, or do they simply not understand that just because they're around water doesn't mean it's time for personal hygiene? We won't get into the details of what they do but we will say we'd be so happy if they'd just take care of this stuff before they left home.

(c) 2011 VirtualTourist.com, Distributed by Tribune Media Services Inc.

Berlin Wall makes comeback for tourists

The Berlin Wall is making a comeback. A half century after it was built and two decades after its demise, a few bits of the Wall that once split Berlin into East and West are being reinstated for posterity to the delight of tourists seeking a glimpse of the city's Cold War history.

Almost all of the 160 km of Berlin Wall that encircled West Berlin in the heart of Communist East Germany was hastily torn down or chiseled away in the euphoria after it was breached in 1989.

There were only a few withered remnants of the wall left by the time the two Germanys reunited less than a year later on October 3, 1990. Only three of the 302 ominous East German guard towers still stood.

"There's a general complaint that the demolition of the Wall was a bit too extensive," said Berlin Mayor Klaus Wowereit.

"That's understandable from today's point of view and it would have probably been better for tourists if more of it could have been preserved," he told Reuters. "But at that time we were all just so happy to see the Wall gone."

There was indeed a powerful rush to obliterate all traces of the 3.6-meter-high concrete and barbed wire barrier, building of which started on August 13, 1961.

"Mauerspecht" (wall-peckers) armed with hammers and chisels got souvenir chips and bulldozers did the rest, turning it into gravel and developing the prime real estate.

Many of the Wall slabs were sold, raising some 2 million deutsche marks for the government (about $1 million at the time). Some 300 East German border guards and 600 West German soldiers worked together to tear the rest down, converting it into 300,000 tons of concrete mass.

But now, as growing numbers of tourists come to Berlin each year searching largely in vain for traces of the Wall, the city has re-erected and restored parts while monument preservation experts are working to conserve other vestigial segments.

'WHERE'S THE WALL?'

"At first no one gave a second thought to the idea of preserving any of the Wall for future generations," said Jochen Staadt, political scientist at Berlin's Free University.

"But there was always interest from foreigners who came and say 'Where's the Wall?'," added Staadt, a specialist on East Germany and the Wall. "It took about a decade until the late 1990s before people in Berlin, especially those under 30, started taking an interest in what the Wall was actually like."

New buildings have gone up on many parts of the former "death strip" that separated East and West, and it is sometimes hard to tell where the barrier once stood.

In the last few years a piece of the Wall complex running six city blocks, or some 800 meters, has been rebuilt and restored on Bernauer Strasse, scene of some of the most dramatic escapes after the wall was built.

People jumped from upper storey windows in buildings on the east side of the Wall onto the street on the west side. The windows were soon sealed off with bricks and the buildings later demolished.

In the early 1990s, the area around Bernauer Strasse was a veritable wasteland, with locals complaining about needles from drug addicts left hind in the weeds in the undeveloped land.

Part of the rebuilt section is made up authentic Wall slabs, some purchased for 1,000 euros ($1,400) each from a private collector, and some of it is made of 3.6-meter-high rusting iron rods that symbolize where the Wall stood but have gaps that allow visitors to see through it.

Another four city blocks, or about 500 meters, of concrete Wall slabs and iron rods will be added next year.

Berlin, with help from the federal government and European Union, is spending some 28 million euros on the construction.

While it is an eerie reminder of where the Wall was, the memorial on Bernauer Strasse is a far cry from the original. Instead of the death-like silence around it, it is alive with myriad tourists buzzing in and around it.

"In early 1989, (East German leader) Erich Honecker said the Wall would still be standing in 100 years and to a certain degree we're doing what we can to make that happen," Alexander Klausmeier, director of the Berlin Wall Foundation that is overseeing the project, said with a smile.

"It's all a bit crazy."

NO DISNEYLAND-IFICATION

There are a few other pieces of Berlin Wall remnants elsewhere: a 1.3-km-long section known as the East Side Gallery that is covered with 105 giant paintings from artists around the world and an 80-meter section behind the Finance Ministry.

A few individual graffiti-covered slabs were put up in Berlin, such as at Potsdamer Platz square, in the last decade. The city also embedded a cobblestone line into streets marking some spots where the Wall stood.

A biking trail follows the wall's route as well.

The rebuilding is not welcomed by all. Some local conservative leaders fear the wall could become a "Disneyland-like" attraction.

"People in Berlin already know where the Wall was and the memory is painful enough," said Staadt, the political scientist. "It's a tricky situation and quite a few people rightly worry any Wall reconstruction could turn into some kind of 'Disneyland'. No one wants that."

Wowereit said that will not happen.

"It was the right thing to do at the time, tearing the whole thing down," he said.

"But step-by-step we will keep expanding this Wall memorial actively. We've seen that a lot of people come to Berlin because of the history and we'll continue to cultivate that, not only for tourists but also as a reminder for future generations."