When you think of cheese, do you visualize a stringy piece of mozzarella stretching from your lips to a freshly baked slice of pizza? Now imagine yourself rolling headlong down 300 yards in pursuit of a seven lb of cheese. If you find yourself falling into this category, I mean if you’re a cheese lover, read on.
Ever wondered where is the best place in the world to live in? Well, according to a survey by the Readers’ Digest Magazine, it’s Finland that tops the list as the world’s most comfortably habitable place. The study was conducted by environmental economist Matthew Kahn. He did the rankings on the basis of green indices like quality of air and drinking water as well as socioeconomic indicators like education,income and life expectancy. According to the study, Finland won high marks for air and water quality, a low incidence of infant disease and how well it protects citizens from water pollution and natural disasters.
If you’re a ski fan and are unable to wait any longer for the start of the ski season, then here’s good news for you guys. Check out where you can ski now and where you should start queuing for the early freshies. The publication of top-ten spots for early-season ski action has made many of the ski resorts in Europe to start the skiing early this year.
French ski resort of Val Thorens topped the list of the top-ten spots as European resorts. Chamonix, Alps (Mont Blanc) are among the other listed resorts. Your wait is over now and the wait of ski regions of Europe is to begin soon. Plan your Europe trip and enjoy early-season skiing!
Jules Verne restaurant, the much-famed restaurant in Eiffel Tower, opened on Saturday, after a four month closure for renovation work. The restaurant serve French food, headed by French top chef Alan Ducasse, and is situated on the second floor of the Eiffel Tower, some 125 metres above ground level. Ducasse and Sodexho, the French catering-services giant, took over management of the Jules Verne and the tower’s other restaurants earlier this year.
The ambiance of the restaurant, along with the menu have been designed to offer locals and tourists a truly French experience. Ducasse, who heads a range of restaurants around the world, has garnered a record 14 Michelin stars, created an underground ‘cooking laboratory’ in this restaurant to prepare some of the dishes and keep a large wine cellar because the tower kitchen was only 45 square metres. This they felt was too small to serve 120 guests. Besides this, the furniture in the restaurant had to be weighed to meet the tower’s weight limits. Fearing fire risks, the kitchen does not even use flame-producing gas.
If Venice could be known for its glamour, Milan should be known for its canals. Yes the canals that made it a popular portcity holds no attraction now. Alternatives modes of transport being available waterways are no more an attraction.
Whether it’s running of the bulls festival or the tomato festival, Spain always has something or other to be in limelight. Now it has what it claims to be the World’s biggest salad. With 6,700 kilograms (14,740 pounds) of lettuce, tomatoes, onions, peppers and olives as ingredients 20 Spanish cook prepared the salad in about three hours.
No one can question Italy’s plethora of art and cultural sites and there are many architectural treasures that need preservation and restoration. Italy is spending 300 million euros ($420 million) per year for restoration and upkeep of its cultural heritage and private donations from Italian citizens and companies total about 42 million euros ($59 million) but this doesn’t make enough funds needed for restoration of the architectural sites.
I am not sure why but, whenever someone talks about England and the English, I always get the creeps. The name itself is kind of spooky. Added to that, the medieval castles and English moors paint a picture of creepy, scary England in mind’s eye. Also, there are several haunting tales throughout the English country side that’s popular through out the world.
The Muncaster Castle of England, is a superb example of a haunted English castle. Spending a whole night there will turn the gutsiest person into a gutless, sissy. Why? Well, here’s a glimpse. How would you like to hear a weird, bizzare guttural sound coming from one corner of the room while you stand on a carpet that looks disturbingly similar to blood? All this is happening when it’s not even midnight!
None of us likes fights and want peace around. Right? But you’ll be surprised to know that there are people around the world who love to indulge themselves in a fight. Every year a small town of Ivrea is transformed into an unlikely battlefield. People from each district form an army to attack its neighbor with a single deadly weapon. And you’ll be even more surprised to know that weapon used in this battle is the orange!
Rome is as full of traffic as is filled with beauty. It easily gets jammed at almost every major road. But so as to not avoid missing every single glorious moment of your visit in this beautiful city, biking is the ultimate way to travel here.
It’s fast and it’s the only way you are going to make it past every roadblock of this magnificently crowded city.
The city’s antipollution politics has made bike riding more popular and coupled with the swarming cars and vehicles it is the fastest route to any place there as it saves a lot of time and the trouble with parking.
Right from the leafy pathways of the Borghese Gardens, the Roman version of Central Park down the glamorous Via Veneto toward the breathtaking Colosseum it is simply put the best way to see the city.
The view keeps getting better as the wind sweeps across your face as you keep pedaling around the pedestrian square and its Bernini fountain and then touch the Piazza della Rotonda alongside the huge dome of the Pantheon, still intact after 19 centuries.
Out here as much preferred it is to travel on bike one needs to be very alert to avoid the quick snapping of the bikes from right under your nose. Other than that bikes have plenty of advantages over scooters like themetal bars prevent motor vehicles, but not bicycles. In Trastevere, the lively neighborhood west of the river, most alleys are open only to pedestrians and bicyclists.
Rome has been always said to be courteous to cyclists though the only problem one might come across other than keeping your eyes on your ride always is to find a secure place to tie up your bike so as to prey your eyes on the exquisite beauty of Rome.
Even through the major gridlocks one can be sure that a bicyclist has eternal rewards as Rome is after all, a city of contrast, best cherished by means of speedy mobility.
Although the city’s hills, mature cobblestones and solid streets can make biking tricky for some, it’s now easier than ever to enjoy the highlights from the bicycle seat.
The number of bicycle lanes and rental shops and the indulgence of Rome’s otherwise aggressive drivers make biking in Rome fitting.
Some places for Bike rentals:
The headquarters for the Parco Via Appia Antica (Via Appia Antica 42; 39-06-513-5316) is two miles from the Colosseum, outside the Porta San Sebastiano, and offers bike rentals (3 euros an hour for the first three hours, and 10 euros a day).
Bici & Baci (Via del Viminale 5; 39-06-482-8443; www.bicibaci.com), two blocks west of the Stazione Termini.
Danilo Collalti (Via del Pellegrino 80/82; 39-06-6880-1084).
Bici Pincio (Viale della Pineta; 39-06-678-4374) in the Borghese Gardens.
via source: Nytimes
Images: Rome1
