BRITAIN & IRELAND :
LONDON EASTSIDE: London Eastside has recently launched their website www.londoneastside.co.uk The website allows one to:
- Search for venues quickly and easily by location, capacity, layout or postcode
- Search for venues and amenities using an interactive map
- Send event enquiries about an event to suitable venues
- Get useful information on transportation and how to get here, local shops and markets, bars and restaurants, museums and galleries.
THE ORIGINAL TOUR – Special Winter Promotion: From 12/11/2007 until 29/02/2008 tickets for the Original Tour will be valid for 48 hours instead of 24, so 2 days for the price of 1. Also launching this winter are free walking tours. Original Tour customers can choose from the Changing of the Guard Walk or our Classic Walk, exploring the hidden treasures of the Trafalgar Square area. Walks will run daily from our newly opened London Visitor Centre on Cockspur St and will be guided in English by one of our experienced and entertaining guides. For more information please contact Jo Bachelor on joannab@theoriginaltour.com or call 0208 877 2109.
WIMBLEDON LAWN TENNIS MUSEUM: Centre Court Eye will be the next new addition to the Wimbledon Lawn Tennis Museum, allowing visitors a panoramic view of Centre Court. Complemented by highly informative interactive stations, this with the ever popular McEnroe ghost and famous back stage tours of the whole complex continue to make Wimbledon Lawn Tennis museum a year round attraction. For more information visit www.wimbledon.org/museum
To the top of the pageAROUND EUROPE :
POLAND: The terrible twins have been separated. Unable to get support for law-making, the Prime Minister was forced to call an election. The opposition campaigned “Keep the family silver at home!” referring to the older people who liked the incumbents calls for Russia and Germany to pay out for the war, communist rule and any diversion he could think of to cover the dire straits the Country was heading for. His successor is managing to repair some damage.
SPAIN: ADIOS FRANCO: After years of fighting, the Spanish Law now prohibits any symbols, references, plaques and street names relating to the dictatorship. Local authorities have been told to find and fund exhumation of burial sites and mass graves of executions during the Franco Era. The Valley of the Fallen has been designated a monument to all victims of the Civil War. The Catholic Church has come under fire for their moves to honour priests who were martyred by the communists during this time.
THE PRADO: has reopened after a multimillion Euro facelift that has taken over 5 years to complete. An extension involved the demolishing part of a local church, which has had its cloister rebuilt inside the Museum. 400 paintings, not seen on public exhibition before will now hang on display.
OUR LADY of the POST: The much loved Post Office building on the Plaza de Cilebes – Palacio de las Comunicaciones – has been taken over by the Mayors office. A must on any Madrid by night few visitors ever went in to study the building. Now the GPO has moved next door in Alcales, and locals fear they will no longer be able to visit the inside.
ITALY: VENICE: A new fast commuter service will open along the Grand Canal from Piaz- zale Roma to St Marks, starting on 21 st January, but will only be available to holders of Venetian ID cards and season tickets. There has been an outcry as locals already only pay a fraction of the tourist price for visitors.
CORTINA: In a referendum at the end of October the residents of the “Pearl of the Dolomites” voted to leave the Veneto region and join Sud Tirol (Alto Adige), which offers greater autonomy and lower taxes. In addition there is a small culturo-ethnic issue, which was the spur for the referendum, as a minority speak the same dialect as the Sud Tirol.
COUGH UP: A report by the leading retail association in Italy has claimed that 7% of the nations output is taken by the Mafia. With an estimated turnover of € 90 billion, 20% of all businesses pay protection money with the figure rising to 8 out of 10 in Sicily.
THE NETHERLANDS: One of the world’s most densely populated countries with 485 people per square km is proposing to construct an island in the shape of a tulip to shield it from the rising seas as the earth warms up. The island would be 50kms in length and similar to Dubai’s Palm Island and could be the answer to the overcrowding problem facing the low lying country. The proposal is not without opposition from environmentalists.
GERMANY: TURNING LEFT: The rise of a new force, Die Linke (The Left), is causing political earthquakes in Germany. Die Linke was founded in the middle of June this year and it is now Germany’s third biggest party, with over 70,000 members. It registers between 11 and 14 percent support in polls, the third highest rating, and is set to enter regional parliaments in forthcoming elections in the states of Hessen, Hamburg and Thuringia.
WINING ABOUT THE DRINK: The EU has proposed that the term “wine” can only be applied to fermented drinks made from grape juice, which has caused consternation in some areas. In the German state of Hesse they have produced an apple based drink called Ebelwoi since the 16 th Century, which is labelled as apple wine. Famous for its hangover potential it is often mixed with sugary lemonade and Asian visitors claim it loosens the bowels. Now what about the fruit wines of Northern Italy, and don’t forget Elderberry Wine? And Babycham which is sparkling Perry
THE ARMY MARCHES ON ITS BOWELS: Bundeswehr Financial accounts have revealed that each German soldier uses 10 rolls of toilet paper a day! After questions from parliamentary bodies an audit showed the figure was too high based on the number of sheets in a roll. However precise figures are not at hand and certainly the grey recycled paper is very good for cleaning hand guns.
Country Toilet rolls per year, per head
Britain 110
America 90
EU average 77.5
German civilians 73
Baltic states 24
FRANCE: PARIS: With the backing of President Sarkozy, the Mayor of Paris, Bertrand Delanoë, has unveiled the visions of 11 architects for reviving the north and eastern fringes of the city with projects that include towers as tall as Canary Wharf in London Docklands. His scheme focuses on developing three ramshackle districts at the Porte de la Chapelle in the north and Bercy and Massena on the Seine in the southeast. A local law, passed in 1977, banning new buildings taller than 25 metres in the centre and 37 metres elsewhere would be repealed. The rule was imposed after uproar against the 1972 Tour Montparnasse, the 207-metre skyscraper whose brutal lines blight the mid-Left Bank. This would mean that Paris could see its new towers by about 2015.
SWEDEN: JONKOPING: A doctor in this Swedish city has devised an eco-friendly way of disposing of bodies. As we run out of space for burials, and the increased use of preserved foods means bodies take many more years to decompose than before, so a novel idea has been proposed. First the body is chilled to freezing point, then it is put into liquid Nitrogen to a temperture of -192 C. The brittle remains are then placed in a vibrator which reduces it to a pinkish-beige dust. Then any organic traces (fillings, steel pins, pacemakers or implants) are removed and the rest is placed in a biodegradable pouch and buried, perhaps in a flower bed.. The process has been approved by Sweden's Lutheran Church
REST OF THE WORLD :
DISNEYLAND: The most popular ride “It’s a small World” will be closing in January for rebuilding as, because the size of the patrons has increased, the boats are susceptible to grounding in the tunnels. Cast members are trained to estimate when the weight factor is getting too high and block off some rows of seats, but increasingly jams are happening. Incidentally when people complain about the stoppages they are given food vouchers! So have another burger while you wait.
INDONESIA: Two volcanoes are growling – Anak Krakatoa (Child of Krakatoa) and Mount Kelud. When Krakatoa exploded in 1883 blasting 25 cubic kilometres of rock, ash and pumice into the atmosphere, two thirds of the island disappeared. Eruptions since 1927 have given birth to a new island, Anak Krakatoa, which is starting to spew forth lava and smoke. Another Indonesian volcano, Kelud, considered one of the deadliest has also started eruptions again in eastern Java. This last had a big eruption in 1990 when a 7 km high column was blow into the air. Work is under way to build walls to divert flow, but the biggest problem is that locals refuse to obey orders to evacuate.
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