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The Las Vegas Mob Experience

June 7th, 2011

The latest attraction to hit the Vegas Strip is the Las Vegas Mob Experience. This is the first of two museums / attractions opening in 2011 dedicated to the unique history of Las Vegas. Whilst the beginnings of Las Vegas are a little ‘underworld’, it is what it is, so why not embrace it?

The first attraction to open its doors is the Las Vegas Mob Experience located at the newly renovated Tropicana Hotel and Casino on the Las Vegas Strip. This interactive experience takes you from the streets of New York where you will meet characters along the way trying to tempt, bribe and cajole you into doing illegal activities. You’ll meet the mob boss, the police and more on your journey through the history of the Mob.

Old time getwaway gangster car

You’ll then come upon the famous desert scene, where Benjamin “Bugsy” Siegel and Meyer Lansky discussed how Las Vegas was the next ‘big thing’. This was where gambling was legal and the Mob could make a fortune from skimming the takings. As history buffs know, this is exactly what happened, but unfortunately for Bugsy, his girlfriend Virginia Hill was skimming from the Mob and Bugsy was ‘hit’ in Virginia’s large house in Beverly Hills right after the Flamingo opened its doors on 26 December, 1946.

Your experience continues with an insight into the counting room, the ‘back room’ where you determine the outcome for a casino thief and then finally to the point where the decisions you have made up until now come to fruition.

Before you exit the attraction, there is a plethora of memorabilia and artifacts from some of the top gangsters in Las Vegas’ history – Bugsy Siegel, Meyer Lansky, Sam Giancana, Anthony ‘The Ant’ Spilotro and Allan Sachs.

Inside Bugsy Siegel’s house

The second museum to open will be The Museum of Law Enforcement and Organized Crime spearheaded by Las Vegas’ own ‘Mob Mayor’, Oscar Goodman and scheduled to open in December, 2011. The museum will be located Downtown on Stewart Street in the former Federal Courthouse and Post Office.

So on your next visit to Las Vegas, be sure to stop by the Tropicana Hotel (a one-time mobster haunt) to catch a glimpse into the life and times of some of America’s most notorious criminals and their rise and subsequent fall in Sin City.

- Jenny Crossling

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Carnegie Hall Celebrates Japan in City-Wide Festival

May 12th, 2011

201103-b-oyama-nitta03_sqjpg

Beginning in 2007 with the Berlin in Lights festival, Carnegie Hall has featured the music and culture of global destinations through wide-ranging, multi-disciplinary programming in its three concerts halls and at institutions throughout New York City. But right now, perhaps no other festival may be as important as JapanNYC (March-April), which celebrates the diversity of Japanese culture in more than 40 performances and events and pays special tribute to Japan and its people in the aftermath of this month’s earthquake and tsunami. Some of Japan’s finest classical musicians and organizations, including the NHK Symphony Orchestra, with principal guest conductor André Previn and soprano Kiri Te Kanawa; the violinist Midori in solo recital; and Bach Collegium Japan, the country’s leading period-performance instrumental ensemble, appear alongside traditional Japanese music performers, such as Yutaka Oyama and Masahiro Nitta, masters of the evocative shamisen, a three-string lute-like instrument.

JapanNYC encompasses dance, film, and the visual arts, including “Bye Bye Kitty!!!”—a survey of contemporary Japanese art—at the Japan Society (through June 12) and the special installation of a Japanese Garden at this year’s Macy’s Herald Square Flower Show (through April 10). Both are free.

A related festival, JapanOC, takes place at the Orange County Performing Arts Center, part of Segerstrom Center for the Arts (philharmonicsociety.org), and throughout Southern California, where performers range from the Tokyo String Quartet to ukelele virtuoso Jake Shimabukuro.

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Posted in Culture, Featured

Tags: Japan

Buon Compleanno Italia! Happy Birthday Italy!

March 20th, 2011

When you think of Italy it is hard to get beyond images of ancient Romans filing into the Colosseum in its heyday; Michelangelo painting the Sistine Chapel or carving David’s steely thighs. So how can it be that Italy is this year celebrating its 150th birthday?

Buon Compleanno Italia! Happy Birthday Italy!

While Italian culture may be as old as the hills, the country as we know it only came into being in 1861. On March 17th of that year Risorgimento (revolution) ended, with most of the independent Italian states united under King Victor Emmanuel. The King named Turin as the country’s first capital. Technically there were several states not part of the unification in 1861 – Rome included – but we won’t argue the finer points.

The government has marked March 17th as the official day of celebration, it being the day that King Emmanuel was declared the first King of Italy.But it is still undecided if the 150th anniversary of Italy’s Unification will be declared a national holiday. Regardless of that decision the celebration will kick off on March 16th, with Notte Tricolore (Tricolor Night)in Rome. Festivities will be spread around the city on the day and will include (among other things) concerts, theatre shows, street entertainment and at midnight, a huge fireworks display to welcome March 17th – the unification date. » Read more: Buon Compleanno Italia! Happy Birthday Italy!

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Tags: Italy

Milan Walking Tour – From the Duomo to da Vinci’s “The Last Supper”

March 18th, 2011

Milan, Italy’s capital, can be a hard city to crack for tourists. Some might argue there’s a more rushed feel here, a sense of hurry and a lack of the relaxed charm that radiates from other Italian gems. So to get a little help understanding what makes this city tick, I booked a three-hour tour with a private viewing of The Last Supper.

Milan Walking Tour

I met my guide Alice and group in the centre of the Piazza Duomo. We start with an introduction to one of Italy’s best-known and most beautiful buildings, the Duomo. For a cathedral that has had 30 kilos of pigeon poo dumped on it each day and was under construction for six centuries, Milan’s Duomo, the third largest church in the world is looking in pretty good shape the morning I see it.

The stunning facade that features over 2,300 hundred statues was put in place by Napoleon during the French occupation. Today we’re lucky enough to see it gleaming white and sans scaffolding, the result of a seven-year restoration and clean up that kept the building covered most of the time. » Read more: Milan Walking Tour – From the Duomo to da Vinci’s “The Last Supper”

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Posted in Featured, Interesting Places

Tags: Italy

Mara Serena Lodge: Wild safari destination in Kenya

January 26th, 2011

Welcome to the only lodge in the internationally acclaimed Masai Mara National Reserve! Nestled in the heart of the popular ‘Mara Triangle’, Mara Serena Lodge is among the premier destination for a wild safari. Perched well on a towering bushy hill looking over the savannah plains as well as the below twisting loop of the hippo-filled Mara River, the lodge is among the nation’s most dramatic wildlife showground showcasing the greatest wildlife migration of the wildebeest.

Designed to reverberate the round motif of a typical Maasai farmhouse holding manyattas as domed huts of mud, the Mara Serena Lodge well unifies the raw African wildness with the international classiness via its twin lines of rooms each offering a great vista of the serpentine Mara River. The result is a sophisticated, but still a beautifully traditional looking lodge blending well with the environment.

Facilities and services

Non-smoking 74 rooms including 5 rooms for family
Swimming pool and sundeck

3 game drives with wilderness guides daily in tailored traditional safari vehicles
Nature or bird-watching walks daily with a guide
Big Five spotting
Dining room

Gift shop
Business centre
Dinner in the bush
Breakfast by the hippo pools
Tours to the Maasai communities for buying their famous handicrafts
Maasai dance and guitar music
WiFi
Satellite TV (in communal areas only)
Hot air balloon flights
Balloon safaris

Conference centre
Baby-sitting, children’s dining
Special dietary services
Board games and library of Africana books
24-hour on-call medical services

Each of the lodge rooms feature private balcony giving you the breathtaking views of the wildlife rich plains. No matter which you choose, each room is compact, eco-friendly, soothing, and luxuriously presented to accommodate the guests in its separate modular unit as well as spacious seating area. Spectacular views are also best enjoyed from the dining areas as well as from the rock-surround swimming pool.

Dining

Dinning facilities at the Mara Serena Lodge are also commendable. It offers quality cuisine in its principal restaurant as well as via its dedicated room service. The main dinning room is adorned very remarkably featuring three big as well as small domes replicating enlarged Maasai Manyattas for vacationing in Kenya. You will be treated with the expensive international menus, buffets, African cuisine, and outdoor meals. The meal timings are: Breakfast from 7:00 am to 9:00 am, Lunch from 12:30 pm to 2:30 pm, and Dinner from 7:30 pm to 9:30 pm.

Rates

From $227 but subject to change as per the season – the highest being in December, February, and July.

Reaching the Lodge

It is nestled in the Masai Triangle that is at a distance of 320 km from Nairobi. By road, it will take you some 5 hours of drive from the capital of Kenya. Alternatively, it is also possible to arrive by air and land at the Mara Serena Airstrip that is just at a distance of 2 km from the lodge. So, do expect transfer services.

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Posted in Featured, Interesting Places

Tags: Kenya

Taking Time to Get to Know Glasgow

January 8th, 2011

If you go to Glasgow expecting some kind of mini Edinburgh, then you’re in for something of a horrible surprise. For a start, it’s much bigger than the Scottish capital. And secondly, it’s not nearly as immediate.

A wintery Kelvingrove Park

Edinburgh vs Glasgow

Edinburgh is blessed with the looks – the castle, Arthur’s Seat, the old cobbled laneways – and the sort of history that makes for easy tourist potential. Ghost stories, royalty and historic buildings tend to work with the punters, and thus Edinburgh usually features far higher on a visitor’s priority list.

Glasgow, it’d be fair to say, is the scarred bigger sister. She’s not the one you’d look at first and many will turn away before getting to know her. But once you do, she suddenly becomes the more compelling of the pair.

Glasgow style and Charles Rennie Mackintosh

No-one would describe Glasgow as beautiful, but it does have its own distinct style. The buildings of the Merchant City area have a bold class to them, whilst one of the world’s most distinctive architects produced the majority of his work in Glasgow. Influenced by Japanese simplicity and the flourishes of Art Nouveau, Charles Rennie Mackintosh had a unique, modernistic take on design.

Mackintosh buildings can be found around the city, but the Glasgow School of Art is generally regarded as his masterpiece. The student-led tours there are well worth taking for architecture fans. » Read more: Taking Time to Get to Know Glasgow

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Tags: Glasgow

The Louvre Museum: Most visited museum of art

December 16th, 2010

Also known as the Musee du Louvre or formally the Grand Louvre, the Louvre Museum is not only the Paris’ central attraction as well as a historic monument, but is also among the largest museums and the most explored museum of art on the planet. Nestled at the Seine’s Right Bank in the first district and housed in the Louvre Palace or the fortress of 12th century, the art gallery is the home of varied artifacts belonging right since the time of prehistory, which are displayed over a vast area. The relics of the citadel are yet seen if you come to visit this great Louvre Museum. Started in 1793 with only 537 paintings restricted to the imperial and church property, today it is the residence of around 3,80,000 items including 35,000 art works that reside among the eight departments namely, Egyptian Antiquities; Greek, Etruscan, and Roman Antiquities; Near Eastern Antiquities; Decorative Arts; Sculpture; Paintings; Islamic Art; and Prints and Drawings.

Egyptian Antiquities

This is the home of more than 50,000 items kept in over 20 rooms, which are naturally of the Nile settlements dating back from 4,000 BC up to 4th century A.D. This exhibition is regarded as one of the largest in the world providing an insight in the life of the ancient Egypt including the new as well as the middle kingdoms and the Ptolemaic, Roman, and Byzantine era. Check out for the big Sphinx as the guard, mummies, papyrus scrolls, jewelry, clothing, tools, musical instruments, games, and weapons. Specifically, spot the Gebel-el Arak knife, the Head of King Djedefre, The Seated Scribe, the statue of Amenemhatankhm, the statue of the goddess Nephthys, and the goddess Hathor’s limestone depiction.

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Posted in Art, Featured, Interesting Places

Tags: France

Desert Dune-Bashing and Wadi Swimming in Oman

December 16th, 2010

The road suddenly ends. We go from tarmac to dunes; an abrupt switch from the real world to a vision from the movies. The Sharqiya Sands are where Oman suddenly becomes tantalisingly inaccessible again. Well, inaccessible to those in a regular vehicle anyway. We’re in the back of a 4WD on a private 4×4 Desert and Wadi Safari. We are in the capable hands of a man who has been driving across this stereotypical Arabian landscape for nine years. It’s a good job we are; it’s not long before we spot a less experienced driver burning out his clutch as he struggles to keep control of things.

4WD Adventure

Just being here is special enough. It’s a truly extraordinary sight, with the dunes lumbering over the horizon in huge swoops. The colour scheme keeps changing too – the sands seem to have a rust-tinged redness to them at the front, turning more yellow and white as you venture further in. » Read more: Desert Dune-Bashing and Wadi Swimming in Oman

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Tags: Oman

The Egyptian Museum: Where ancient Egypt resides

December 10th, 2010

If you are a great fan of ancient Egypt, then your visit to the Egyptian Museum nestled on the Tahrir Square of Cairo is a must. This is where you will come across the most extensive treasures of the ancient Egypt including all types of art as well as artifacts. Commonly known as the Cairo Museum and the Museum of Egyptian Antiquities, the Egyptian Museum is the home of more than 1,00,000 objects out of which, only the usual ones are kept for display, whereas the remaining ones are placed in the storerooms. Among all the artifacts such as the pharaoh’s gems and mummies, the museum’s main attraction now a days is the mummy of Tutankhamun that is preserved here with his 1700 gems along with the golden mask.

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Posted in Art, Featured, Historical

Tags: Egypt

How to Avoid a Turkey Thanksgiving

December 2nd, 2010

If most Americans are like me, and I suspect many are, when it comes to Thanksgiving, they trudge home through horrible traffic and/or airport delays to eat a very large meal on Thursday, visit their family, maybe see a movie, and possibly battle some horrendous shopping crowds in an effort to get a jump on Christmas shopping.

Gobble. Gobble.

I say no more. Fellow Americans, you don’t need another Thanksgiving of watching the James Bond marathon on Spike TV, or waiting in line at the Gap. Just say no.

Instead, by all means, visit the family, have that extra slice of pumpkin pie, but don’t squander away your precious vacation days in store lines (you can buy it online, you know you can) or in front of the television. Break free of the Thanksgiving monotony and go do something fun. Actually have a vacation on your vacation days. This is radical thinking I know, but stick with me here, I have ideas. And I am practicing what I preach, I convinced my whole family to try my suggestion for Thanksgiving this year.

Here’s what I propose: If you live within reasonable drive or train ride to a major city (say around 2 hours or less), have an urban adventure. But, DO NOT SHOP. Instead, visit a museum, indulge in a helicopter ride, treat the kids, or take a day cruise. On Viator.com alone there are over 1,250 things to do in the USA just around the major cities, so no excuses, I am sure you can find something fun to do near you.

If you don’t live close enough to have a big city adventure, visit a National Park near you (or State park, I am not picky). They are blissfully crowd free around winter holidays, and everyone could stand to stroll or hike off a little gravy. Plus, when is the last time you went to your nearby national park? I bet it has been awhile. Stop by and say hi. Take the kids.

Fellow Americans, I urge you, nay, implore you, to GO OUT AND HAVE FUN! If you are home watching the Hallmark Channel’s Festival of Original Movies, or circling for parking at the mall, instead of out having a good time, you are so not going have the best Thanksgiving pictures or stories in the office on Monday. Make a Thanksgiving you’ll be thankful for, the only turkey should be the one you eat.