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Rail News & Offers
See the Grand Canyon By Rail
The Grand Canyon Railway (GCR) doubled its steam locomotives trips this summer from one a day to two through September 4. The daily trains allow passengers to spend 3.5 hours exploring the canyon on foot or by guided bus tour before the return trip. Train tours depart from Williams Depot for the South Rim of Grand Canyon National Park.
Website: www.thetrain.com or tel 800-843-8724.
For the fall foliage GCR is proud to present a new first-class special event - the Sunset Limited. The exclusive afternoon excursion train will depart in the fall on its way through the changing seasons to an engagement with a Grand Canyon sunset. Limited departure dates - get your tickets today!
And this winter Grand Canyon Railway presents the Polar Express, which departs in the evenings for the North Pole to see Santa Claus. Click http://www.thetrain.com/polarexpress/ to learn more about the Polar Express. For tickets, telephone 1-800-THE-TRAIN (1-800-843-8724).
Veteran Rail Executive Alexander Kummant Appointed Amtrak President & CEO
The Amtrak Board of Directors appointed Alexander Kummant as President and CEO. The veteran railroad and industrial executive will assume duties September 12.
Kummant previously served as a Regional Vice President of the Union Pacific Railroad, overseeing 6,000 transportation, engineering, construction, mechanical, and other employees supporting an 8,000-mile rail network. He also served as the Union Pacific’s Vice President and General Manager of Industrial Products, a $2 billion revenue business. In leading both units, Kummant was responsible for substantially improved customer service, on-time delivery of client products, and significant gains in financial and operational performance.
Most recently, Kummant served as the Executive Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer of Komatsu America Corporation, a division of the second largest supplier of construction equipment worldwide. He has a continuing record as an adaptable change agent in diverse environments.
Kummant’s first job on the railroad came at age 18 in Lorain, Ohio, working on a track crew for the Lake Terminal Railroad at the U.S. Steel Lorain Works. A native of Ohio, Kummant holds a B.S. degree in mechanical engineering from Case Western Reserve University, a Master’s degree in manufacturing engineering from Carnegie Mellon University and an M.B.A. from Stanford University.
Kummant fills a position that has been held by David J. Hughes on an interim basis since November 2005. Formerly Chief Engineer of Amtrak, Hughes will continue to serve with the railroad in a yet to be specified capacity. Hughes will continue to serve with the railroad in a yet to be specified capacity.
Amtrak’s New Brochure Features 30 Exciting Destinations
Amtrak makes the journey part of the vacation with Amtrak Vacations® packages. Amtrak Vacations offers 30 exciting destination packages that include rail, hotel, transfers, car rentals, sightseeing, events and meals and feature a range of prices to fit every budget. The new Amtrak Vacations Brochure is a 34-page book including a system map, 30 vacation packages and all the information necessary to begin planning an Amtrak Vacation. The brochure also includes everyday and membership discounts, travel information and Amtrak Vacations terms and conditions. To obtain a brochure, visit www.amtrakvacations.com.
Amtrak Vacations offers pre-packaged independent vacations in the United States and Canada, which are flexible, and can be customized to meet each passenger’s needs. Travelers can choose from popular vacation packages listed in the brochure, or even create their own personalized itinerary.
Amtrak Vacations also offers an Air Rail program for those customers who want to experience long-distance train travel, but may not have time to enjoy the train both ways.
An Amtrak Vacations agent will handle everything from rail and hotel to sightseeing and car rentals. With one phone call Amtrak Vacations will make all your reservations and mail out tickets, vouchers, and an itinerary 25 days prior to travel.
For more information or to book an Amtrak Vacations package, call 1-800-AMTRAK-2 or visit www.amtrakvacations.com.
Amtrak Vacations is managed by Yankee Holidays. The new tour operator began selling the Amtrak Vacations brand on April 3, 2006. Yankee Holidays is the only tour operator who can reserve and ticket Amtrak Vacations and all sales are handled by their agents.
Amtrak provides intercity passenger rail services to more than 500 destinations in 46 states on a 22,000-mile route system. For schedules, fares and information, passengers may call 800-USA-RAIL or visit www.amtrak.com.
(718) 789-1500
'Rail 2 Rail' Website Debuts
Amtrak, Metrolink and Caltrans announced this month the new “Rail 2 Rail” website, making it easier for passengers to discover more train options in Southern California between Amtrak Pacific Surfliner and Metrolink trains.
Now passengers can access information about the “Rail 2 Rail” program by logging onto the website at www.railtorail.org. The site will provide information on weekend getaways, special events, festivals and destination promotions for both services. The innovative program was successfully launched in September 2002 with more than 1.4 million passengers utilizing the service since its inception.
The Rail 2 Rail program allows Metrolink monthly pass holders along the Orange and Ventura County corridors to travel on Amtrak Pacific Surfliner trains within the trip limits of their pass, including Saturday and Sunday. Metrolink passengers simply show their monthly pass and board any Amtrak Pacific Surfliner train to their destination. Amtrak Pacific Surfliner ticket holders can ride any Metrolink train between the same station pairs as indicated on their Amtrak ticket.
More Trains
Metrolink monthly pass holders can now ride 21 daily weekday and 24 weekend Amtrak Pacific Surfliner trains in addition to the 48 daily (Monday to Friday) scheduled Metrolink trains and six additional weekend Metro trains at no additional charge. Amtrak Pacific Surfliner Ticket Holders may ride any Metrolink train between Oxnard and Oceanside within the station pairs of their ticket.
Rail 2 Rail also allows Metrolink monthly pass holders to ride Amtrak Pacific Surfliner trains on weekends as well as weekend Orange County Service within the station pairs of their pass. This includes a total of 24 convenient Amtrak trains to choose from and flexible schedules that will make planning weekends simple and fun.
On the weekend, Amtrak Pacific Surfliner trains are a great way to get to favorite locations like San Diego, Santa Barbara, and Ventura. For special Amtrak weekend promotions and train schedules call (800) USA-RAIL or log onto www.Amtrak.com.
Metrolink is Southern California's regional commuter rail service and is in its 14th year of operations. The Southern California Regional Rail Authority, a joint powers authority made up of an 11-member board representing the transportation commissions of Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino and Ventura counties, governs the service. Metrolink continues to be one of the nation's fastest growing commuter rail services, operating over seven routes through a six-county 512 route-mile network.
Rail Europe Announces New Eurostar Fares;
New fares for the high-speed Eurostar train linking London with Paris and Brussels mean more options for low fares, greater flexibility in choosing travel time and increased availability of low-priced seats, according to an announcement from Rail Europe, Eurostar’s North American representative. The new fares go into effect immediately. “One of the biggest differences is that there are fewer restrictions on the lowest fares”, notes Fabrice Morel, President and CEO of Rail Europe.
Previously the lowest fares required travel during non-peak periods and were all non-exchangeable, non-refundable. Now the lowest one-way fares (London-Paris or Brussels) start at $89 US/$108 CAD (standard class, like 2nd class) or $158 US/$192CAD (1st class), and the lowest roundtrips are $96 US/$117 CAD (standard), $194 US/$235 CAD (1st class) without restrictions as to day and time of travel. Before, the lowest one-way fares were $90 US/$109 CAD (standard) and $170 US/$206 CAD (1st), and the lowest roundtrip fares were $90 US/$109 CAD (standard) or $190 US/$230 CAD (1st), but the one-way fares were restricted to travel on Monday-Wednesday 11am-3pm and the roundtrips required a minimum one-night stay.
There are also now nine roundtrip fares (all with no restrictions) compared to five (with restrictions) offered previously. Many of the roundtrip fares are now exchangeable and partially refundable, while before they were neither.
Pricing on high-speed trains such as Eurostar is similar to airline fares in that there are a wide range of fares or “buckets”; when the lowest fare is sold out, the passenger gets the next higher fare, until those are sold out. “It really pays to book your Eurostar ticket as soon as you know your plans,” adds Morel. Eurostar tickets may be booked nine months in advance from Rail Europe (www.raileurope.com), and if your plans change, most fares are now exchangeable
More one-way fares for passholders and seniors (over 60)
Travelers holding a Eurailpass, France Railpass, BritRailpass or Benelux Tourailpass now have more one-way passholder fares; before there was only one passholder fare each in standard and 1st class – which meant these fares were often sold out. Passholder fares start at $77 US/$94 CAD (standard) or $136 US/$165 CAD (1st) (the new passholder fares are $1-2 more than the old fares). Passholder fares are all exchangeable prior to departure (low-priced non-passholder one-way fares are not).
Senior travelers now have six fares, compared to only one previously, and senior fares are now exchangeable. They start at $89 US/$108 CAD (standard class) or $141 US/$171 CAD (1st). More senior fares make it less likely that senior fares will be sold out on a particular train.
Lower price on Youth Flexi Voucher (for those under 26)
Eurostar has long offered an additional level of flexibility to travelers under 26 – the Youth Flexi Voucher – now $89 US/$108 CAD (previously $90 US/$109 CAD) While all other passengers must select the specific train(s) when they purchase a ticket, Youth travelers can simply buy this one-way voucher (in standard class) and turn it in up to 45 minutes before departure to get a seat on that particular train.
Traveling at speeds up to 186 mph, Eurostar makes the London-Paris journey in an astonishing 2 hrs 35 min, London-Brussels in 2 hrs 15 minutes on the fastest schedules. Travel times will shrink by another 20 minutes in 2007 when the last segment of high-speed track is completed in England. More than 65 million travelers have ridden Eurostar since its launch in 1994.
To book Eurostar tickets or for more information, consult a travel agent or call Rail Europe at 1-800-EUROSTAR (1-800-387-6782) in the U.S. or Canada or log onto http://www.raileurope.com/us/rail/eurostar/index.htm (US) or http://www.raileurope.com/canada/rail/eurostar/index.htm (Canada).
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Hotel News & Offers
Four Seasons Hotel Atlanta Brings Masterpieces From The Louvre to Your Doorstep
Located just steps away from the High Museum of Art, Four Seasons Hotel Atlanta's Louvre Atlanta special art package unites an experience in luxury, art and unforgettable memories-beginning October 14.
During the three-year exhibition and an unprecedented partnership between the High Museum of Art and Paris' Musée du Louvre, Louvre Atlanta features an exclusive collection of hundreds of works of art never before seen outside of the Musée du Louvre. The exhibition opens in October with the "Kings as Collectors," featuring works assembled during the reigns of Kings Louis XIV and Louis XVI, including two very special masterpieces from the Louvre's collection-Raphael's "Portrait of Baldassare Castiglione."
The Four Seasons’ Louvre Atlanta Package includes:
* Deluxe Accommodations
* Overnight Valet Parking
* Two VIP tickets to the exhibition
Rates begin at $360 and are per room per night, single or double occupancy, exclusive of taxes, gratuities and other charges unless otherwise noted and do not apply to groups. Valid through December 30, 2006, subject to availability and cannot be combined with any other offer. Advance reservations required.
To reserve your Louvre Atlanta hotel package, featuring VIP tickets (limited waiting), visit www.fourseasons.com/atlanta or call Four Seasons Reservations at 1-(404) 881-9898. For "Louvre Atlanta" exhibition information at the High Museum of Art, visit www.high.org .
Old Edwards Inn And Spa Announces Fall 2006 Packages
2006 Fall Packages are now available at Old Edwards Inn and Spa and The Lodge at Old Edwards Inn. These treasured getaways offer guests the opportunity to escape the every day routine while relishing beautiful fall color and crisp mountain air. Additional spa packages are available to enhance guest’s total relaxation, rejuvenation and enjoyment at The Spa at Old Edwards Inn. Additional nights are also available to extend each package. Dinner and Spa reservations should be booked when booking packages.
The Old Edwards traditions of Champagne arrival, gourmet Continental breakfast each morning, a welcome amenity and evening turndown and a Butler’s Pantry with snacks, fresh fruit and non-alcoholic beverages are standard and come with each guestroom and package.
-- Leaf Looker Package (available October 1 through November 15, 2006)
Experience fall in the mountains of Highlands! Take a walk or drive and view the brilliantly colored foliage or cascading waterfalls. Find the perfect spot to spread your blanket, and settle down for a picnic lunch as you enjoy the cool crispness of the season.
Packages start at $629 inclusive of tax and gratuity and include two nights deluxe accommodations for two at the Inn or The Lodge; gourmet picnic lunch for two;
Old Edwards embroidered picnic blanket and disposable camera
-- Hiking Package
Two nights deluxe accommodations for two at the Inn or The Lodge; self-guided hike with local hiking guide of trails and waterfalls; gourmet picnic lunch; Old Edwards embroidered picnic blanket and disposable camera; and 80-minute Ultimate Relaxation Message for each hiker
Single Hiker price - $749 (Weekdays–Sundays–Thursday), inclusive of tax and gratuity and $849 (Weekends–Friday and Saturdays/Holidays), inclusive of tax and gratuity
Two Hiker price - $1059 (Weekdays – Sundays – Thursday), inclusive of tax and gratuity and $1159 (Weekends – Friday and Saturday/Holidays), inclusive of tax and gratuity
-- Golf Packages (available mid-April through October)
The Old Edwards Inn and Highlands Cove Golf Course are pleased to offer a spectacular golf getaway. The championship design of the Highlands Nine and the Cove Nine combine for a par 71 layout that will be enjoyable and challenging for any player--with a view that is nothing short of inspiring. Golf Package includes two nights deluxe accommodations at the Inn or The Lodge; golf amenity; one round of golf on day of choice. Rates: $729 inclusive of tax and gratuity for two golfers; $649 inclusive of tax and gratuity for one golfer. Rates are subject to change and are based on availability. Tee times must be specified at the time of reservation.Two-day golf packages are also available.
-- Golf Clinic Package (Available Sunday ~ Thursday and Mid-April-October)
Clinics are offered for groups up to six persons. Four nights deluxe accommodation at the Inn or The Lodge; golf amenity; gourmet Continental breakfast each morning; three Golf Clinics at Highlands Cove (Putting, Chipping, and Full Swing); $300 Spa credit; three gourmet lunches in Madison's Restaurant and Wine Garden or Spa Café and three-course dinner in Madison's each night, exclusive of beer, wine and cocktails; transportation to and from Highlands Cove. Rate: $1,809 per person including tax and gratuity
(A three-night itinerary is also available upon request.)
Call reservations at 866-526-8008 for more information or to book your package.
The Old Edwards Inn and Spa is located at 445 Main Street, Highlands, NC 28741, 828-526-8008 or 1-866-526-8008.
The Old Edwards Inn and Spa is a AAA-Four Diamond award winner; a member of the National Trust Historic Hotels of America and a member of Preferred Boutique.
Fall Escapes - Historic Getaways from Historic Hotels of America(R)
Crisp leaves, cool nights and cozy fires -- all signs that summer is giving way to the magic of autumn. This fall, choose from nearly 60 relaxing or rejuvenating getaways from Historic Hotels of America. The fall specials and packages from Historic Hotels of America are featured at http://www.historichotels.org/fall_getaways.
The following are selected samples:
-- Phoenix Park Hotel, Washington, D.C.
Experience the ultimate in hospitality and newly renovated guest rooms with this Fall Weekend package. Enjoy a pint of Guinness upon arrival and walk to the city's museums and monuments. (Available October 5 through November 26, 2006, Thursday through Sunday; $109 per night, single or double occupancy.) Visit http://www.historichotels.org/hotel/38
-- Mohonk Mountain House, New Paltz, N.Y.
Relax, renew and refresh with this Autumn Spa-tacular package. Delight in your choice of a spa treatment or product, welcome amenity, 10 percent discount on additional spa service and use of fitness facilities. (Available midweek from September 4 through November 30, 2006; from $279 per person, per night, double occupancy, including three daily meals.) Visit http://www.historichotels.org/hotel/Mohonk_Mountain_House
-- Jekyll Island Club Hotel, Jekyll Island, Ga.
Tee off in style this fall at the historic Jekyll Island Club Hotel. The Birdie Golf package includes accommodations, 18 holes of golf with cart, full breakfast, taxes and gratuities. (Available through December 30, 2006; $139 per person, per night, double occupancy. Resort fee extra.) http://www.historichotels.org/hotel/53
-- Monmouth Plantation, Natchez, Miss.
Unwind in the tranquil setting of this great American landmark with the Historic Fall Getaway package. Escape with a round of croquet, a relaxing read in a hammock or a quiet stroll. Package includes hors d'oeuvres in the study, five-course candlelight dinner, tour of the main house and full Southern breakfast. (Available through September 30, 2006, Sunday through Thursday; $193 per person, double occupancy.) http://www.historichotels.org/hotel/90
Historic Hotels of America, a program of the National Trust for Historic Preservation, has identified more than 200 hotels that have faithfully maintained their historic integrity, architecture and ambiance. To be selected for this prestigious program, a hotel must be at least 50 years old, listed in or eligible for the National Register of Historic Places or recognized as having historic significance. Reservations can be made though Historic Hotels of America http://www.historichotels.org/.
Popular Hotel Becomes Ultimate Getaway for New Yorkers and Travelers Alike
Following a nearly $20 million renovation, The Radisson Lexington Hotel (511 Lexington Avenue, NYC 212-755-4400) has emerged fresher and sleeker than ever, with world-class amenities and six distinct dining and entertainment outlets that have positioned the hotel as the ultimate leisure destination in New York City. Located in the heart of Manhattan's fashionable East Side, the Radisson Lexington Hotel offers guests the best of New York City all under one roof. Visitors can experience several different types of world cuisine, a topnotch dance club and superior athletic facilities without ever leaving hotel grounds. The 27-story hotel has been a hospitality landmark for decades, and now features 705 newly renovated guest rooms including a variety of suites, as well as rooms with terraces, in addition to spacious meeting facilities, luxurious amenities and a fully redesigned lobby.
The Radisson Lexington Hotel has a long, illustrious history. Most notably, the hotel features a penthouse suite that served as the residence for "Hall of Famer" Joe DiMaggio during the eighteen seasons he played for the New York Yankees. The aptly named Centerfield Suite is adorned with granite, marble and mahogany furniture, and features rare photos of DiMaggio on and off the field in addition to a terrace that offers a sweeping view of Midtown Manhattan from eighteen stories high. Marilyn Monroe was also a guest of the suite when the two were married.
The lobby of the Radisson Lexington Hotel is a unique architectural achievement, melding high-end design with chic accents created to maximize style and comfort. The terracotta figures that decorate the Lexington Avenue entrance are reminiscent of those found on Notre Dame, and rows of winged lions adorn the building's facade. Beneath a metal canopy, inscribed with the hotel's name, visitors pass through the expansive glass doors into the spacious marbled-floored lobby, accentuated with sky-scraping pillars and sumptuous velvet curtains.
The newly remodeled guestrooms have been designed with the frequent business and leisure traveler in mind. With elegant additions such as chic brown-striped curtains, modern marble bathrooms to luxurious 300-thread count bedding, all rooms are equipped with the latest technology including high-speed wired Internet access, flat-screen televisions, and some rooms feature the exclusive Sleep Number Bed, which allows guests to determine their "sleep number" -- the level of firmness they find most comfortable
The Radisson Lexington is the only hotel in Manhattan with six distinct dining outlets, running the gamut from nouvelle Latino cuisine to the classic New York diner and authentic Chinese fare.
A complimentary fitness center equipped with Star Trac Pro treadmills, Precor elliptical crosstrainers, Star Trac Pro stationery bikes, cardio vascular equipment, free weights, and a flat screen LCD TV is available to all guests 24 hours a day, in addition to an automated business center, providing a photocopier, fax machine, laptop Ethernet connection and a desktop computer with high-speed Internet access. Three well-appointed meeting rooms with big daylight windows are conveniently located on the mezzanine level, comprising 1,100 square feet. The Florentine rooms can accommodate up to forty people, the two luxurious appointed Boardrooms up to 10 people. The hotel can arrange T1 lines, projectors, speakerphone, charts, and A/V equipment at additional cost.
The hotel's full service concierge staff can arrange tickets for the theater, sporting events, transportation and directions to Manhattan's most interesting sights.
Two New Restaurants By European Star Chefs Open In New York
In the space of one month, two notable chefs are opening restaurants in the Big Apple.
-- Gordon Ramsay to Open First U.S. Restaurant in New York City Fall 2006
Famed Michelin-starred chef, author, television personality, and former professional soccer player Gordon Ramsay will open his first US restaurant, Gordon Ramsay at The London, in New York City at The London NYC Hotel (formerly the Rihga Royal), part of the LXR Luxury Resorts collection. The restaurant will offer intimate modern French dining taking cues from its renowned London counterpart, Restaurant Gordon Ramsay on Royal Hospital Road in Chelsea, the only restaurant with three Michelin stars in London. The bar and more casual area of the restaurant, The London Bar, will be based on Ramsay's exciting Maze restaurant on Grosvenor Square in London featuring a daily offering of market specials and a variety of tasting dishes that encourage guests to construct their own menus in a relaxed and informal environment.
The New York restaurant is being designed by internationally acclaimed designer David Collins. The design will combine classic British style with Manhattan vivacity. Decorated in shades of emerald, diners will find privacy offered by richly detailed timber panels, Gordon Ramsay at The London will seat 45 guests. The more casual area and bar offer seating for 80 and seamlessly blends patchwork leather furniture in shades of blue and green. Guests can enjoy breakfast, lunch, dinner, cocktails and tea service beneath a suede lined ceiling in this warm and inviting room.
The kitchen, which will be equally stunning, will boast a private chef's table, something that Gordon is famed for in London. Here guests can enjoy the atmosphere and excitement of the kitchen whilst dining in luxury.
For more information on Gordon Ramsay and his restaurants, please visit www.GordonRamsay.com. The London NYC, a 564 room hotel is located at 151 West 54th Street between Sixth and Seventh Avenues. For more information on The London NYC property, visit www.TheLondonNYC.com or call LXR Luxury Resorts at 1-877-LXR-XOXO.
-- Introducing L'Atelier de Joel Robuchon at Four Seasons Hotel New York
This summer a new restaurant was unveiled at the Four Seasons Hotel in New York— L'Atelier de Joel Robuchon. For the first time in Master Chef Robuchon's illustrious career, his celebrated cuisine is now available in Manhattan in an accessible and informal style. . "New York is continually pushing the boundaries of international cuisine and I am honored to be part of that energy," says Chef Robuchon. "The Four Seasons is the perfect locale for L'Atelier de Joel Robuchon as it is quintessentially Manhattan -- the pinnacle of the city's style, global appeal, and culinary inspiration."
With the help of legendary architect I.M. Pei and famed French interior designer Pierre-Yves Rochon, who was instrumental in developing L'Atelier de Joel Robuchon's inspired style, the dream team reinvented L'Atelier's design concept to artfully blend with I.M. Pei's award-winning architecture.
Dissolving the boundaries between kitchen and dining room, L'Atelier de Joel Robuchon, whose name refers to an artist's studio, allows a dynamic interaction between chef and diner, yielding direct access to the creative process. Seats are arranged around a U-shaped bar that looks directly into the kitchen-what was once behind-the-scenes becomes center stage. There is seating for 20 around the pearwood counter and 30 at individual tables.
Reservations are now being accepted for dinner beginning Tuesday, September 5, 2006. Reservations will be taken for the tables and the 6 pm seating at the bar, subsequently diners at the bar will be seated on a first come, first serve basis. For information and reservations, please call L'Atelier direct at 1-212-350-6658.
Five-Star Fall Sale at The Barcelo Maya Beach Resort In Mexico
The Barcelo Maya Beach Resort in Mexico is offering special fall all-inclusive vacation packages at its luxury hotels starting from $409 per person (based on double occupancy) for a five night all-inclusive stay. The special fall sale includes the two new Premium Level hotels opened earlier this year that are the newest addition to the stunning Barcelo Maya Beach Resort. The Resort encompasses more than a mile of sparkling Caribbean beach protected by a natural reef and is surrounded by a nature park. Amenities include a selection of eight gourmet restaurants, live entertainment, water sports and easy access to area attractions.
To enjoy special fall savings at either the five-star Barcelo Maya Beach & Caribe Hotel from $409 per person, or at the new Premium Level Barcelo Maya Tropical & Colonial Beach Hotel from $499 per person, guests can contact their travel agent. Rates are based on availability so book early. All-inclusive packages include accommodations, meals, house cocktails, and all taxes and gratuities.
The new Barcelo Maya Tropical & Colonial Beach Hotel includes spacious guest rooms inspired and influenced by classic Mexican architecture. Guest rooms feature a private terrace or balcony, air conditioning with individual climate control, in-room safes, ceiling fans, a coffeemaker, bathrobes, a complimentary mini bar, and satellite TV.
The new Barcelo Maya Tropical & Colonial Beach Hotel offers a selection of 10 continental style restaurants, four gourmet restaurants and ten bars. Guests may choose from casual buffet style dining or one of four specialty restaurants: Mare Nostrum for fresh seafood; Bali-Hai for Oriental, inspired cuisine; Capri for Mediterranean-Italian food; or Santa Fe for grilled specials and steaks. For relaxation there are two expansive beachside swimming pools with a whirlpool and swim-in bars. For children there is a separate pool with water games. Guest may also enjoy the fitness center complete with separate men's and women's steam rooms and saunas. The new hotels have a special Kid's Club as well as babysitting services, video games and movies on-demand. There is a shopping gallery and a beauty salon. The spectacular night club features its own live orchestra and nightly entertainment, and disco dancing.
The Barcelo Tropical & Colonial Beach Hotel join the popular Barcelo Maya Beach & Caribe Hotel to create one of the area's most beautiful and comprehensive all-inclusive resort destination properties. The resort complex is surrounded by a 500,000 square meter natural park and located on a beautiful and serene beach with a natural coral reef. It is less than 50 miles from the Cancun International Airport and is connected by highway. For more information on Barcelo Hotels and Resorts visit http://www.barcelo.com.
Raffles Beijing Hotel Reopens After Multimillion Dollar Renovation
Rafffles Hotels & Resorts reopened the Raffles Beijing Hotel after a nine-month, multimillion-dollar renovation. Established in the 1900's, the hotel is noted for its French-Orient colonnade facade, brass-bedecked doors and lofty interiors. The renovation included the hotel's 171 guest rooms and suites; four restaurants and bars; and meetings space. The Raffles Beijing Hotel is located at the crossroads of Chang An Avenue and the Wangfujing shopping district. For information or reservations, visit www.raffles.com.
Mandarin Oriental, New York Launches “Bridal Dress Quest” Package
Mandarin Oriental, New York is offering its new Bridal Dress Quest Package with New York’s renowned wedding planner, Marcy Blum. The package offers a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to find the wedding dress of one’s dreams in the fashion capital of the world. Mother-daughter, or the bride-to-be and her best friend, will enjoy a day of guided “dress quest” shopping with Marcy Blum, the foremost wedding and party planner on the East Coast whose heavy-hitting client list includes socialites and celebrities from the Rockefeller family to the rocker Billy Joel.
The package begins with a phone consultation with Marcy Blum to tailor the dress quest experience to the bride’s individual taste. On the actual day, a Mercedes sedan will transport the “questers” around Manhattan for six hours of personalized shopping with Marcy to top wedding gown designers and stores. Brides can try on the edgy designs of Selia Yang, the custom gowns of Lara-Helene, the eclectic collections of Mark Ingram’s The Bridal Atelier, and the classic styles of Vera Wang – all personal, long-time contacts of Marcy’s. A break for lunch at Marcy’s private club, SoHo House, is also included. After a day of shopping, a night of pampering awaits at Mandarin Oriental, New York, with luxurious accommodation in a Central Park View Suite and an indulgent two-hour Spa treatment for two in the hotel’s acclaimed Five-Star spa. To top off the experience, Marcy will select a gift from the new Spoylt Bryde by Marcy Blum Collection. Spoylt Lingerie is the maker of hand crafted, haute couture intimates based in London.
For the multi-tasking bride-to-be, an additional Marcy Blum “day of beauty” can be added for hair and make-up consultations with professionals from Marcy’s personal list of New York’s finest stylists and make-up artists. The Bridal Dress Quest Package rate is $5,350 plus tax and service charges. The incremental cost of an additional day of beauty with a second night of accommodation at Mandarin Oriental, New York can be added based on prevailing hotel rates and availability.
For reservations call (866)-801-8880 or go to www.mandarinoriental.com .
Sandals Resorts Offers Couples Opportunity To “Test Drive” Their Honeymoon
Sandals Resorts, in conjunction with Brides Magazine, is offering couples the exclusive opportunity to ensure their Caribbean honeymoon goes off without a hitch -- before getting hitched. Couples can arrange for a one-day trip to Sandals Royal Caribbean Resort & Private Island in Montego Bay, Jamaica to sample a taste of a Sandals honeymoon before they say “I do” to the resort. At $179 per person, including roundtrip airfare on Air Jamaica from New York (JFK or Newark), couples will be treated to a lavish Caribbean beach party where they can meet with key experts in the wedding industry, and a preview of all of the luxurious amenities offered as part of a Sandals Resorts honeymoon.
The “Test Drive” offer is available from New York (JFK or Newark), for three select days this fall, on September 27th, October 18th and November 15th, and includes lots of extras including a VIP beach bag of free goodies and a chance to win some incredible prizes, including a five-night/six-day honeymoon to any of Sandals Resorts twelve Caribbean locations in Jamaica, Antigua, St. Lucia and the Bahamas.
Couples, who book a minimum six-night stay at any Sandals Resort within two weeks of their “Test Drive” visit, will have the cost of the day trip credited to their booking.
For more information, call your local travel agent or 1-800-Sandals (1-800-726-3257) or visit www.sandals.com.
Record Number of Hotels Apply for Membership in Leading Hotels of the World
For the year-to-date, a record 355 hotels have applied for membership in The Leading Hotels of the World, the highest number ever in the company's 78-year history. "This is an indisputable indication of the vibrancy of our business," commented Paul M. McManus, president and chief executive officer. "The hospitality industry has traditionally turned to The Leading Hotels of the World, Ltd. for its exceptional value and unrivalled brand recognition, yet the number of applicants this year has been remarkable."
Of that group of hopeful applicants, only 24 -- a mere 7% -- have been accepted, due to the company's exacting level of quality and service standards.
Mr. McManus added, "In the face of stepped-up activity in mergers, acquisitions and re-flaggings, customers and hoteliers alike seek the support and promise of a strong and proven brand. Our success throughout nearly eight decades of marketing innovation and business development has made The Leading Hotels of the World the brand of choice for the international luxury market."
Production figures for the first six months of the year bear this out. Through June, room night sales totaled 852,000, an increase of 2% over 2005. Despite recent geopolitical developments, the luxury segment of the travel industry remains robust, and the company benefits from solid, ongoing client loyalty among both member hotels and consumers. Voice reservations sales were very brisk, increasing by nearly 6,000 room nights or 4.4% over the previous year, and Internet transactions rose by 13%.
The Leading Hotels of the World, Ltd. is the prestigious luxury hospitality organization representing more than 430 of the world's finest hotels, resorts and spas, and is the operator of www.lhw.com -- the online source for your luxury lifestyle. As the largest international luxury hotel brand, the firm maintains offices in 24 major markets across the globe. Website: http://www.lhw.com /
Great Fall Savings At Barcelo Bavaro Beach Resorts In Dominican Republic
The Barcelo Bavaro Beach Resort, Punta Cana's most complete beachfront resort, with three miles of pristine beach, is offering great fall savings at its selection of hotels. Guests may choose from the Premium Level Barcelo Bavaro Palace Hotel or the family friendly Barcelo Bavaro Beach & Caribe Hotel, or to be near the action, The Barcelo Bavaro Golf & Casino Hotel. With the majority of all Resort guest rooms offering beachfront views and the vast array of services and amenities, including 15 restaurants, an onsite Casino, an 18-hole professional golf course and Las Vegas style entertainment nightly, guests will find a comprehensive resort experience unequal in the Dominican Republic.
Now through October 31st, guests can enjoy all the resort amenities at special savings. Five-night all-inclusive packages that include guest room accommodations, meals, house cocktails and entertainment and beach activities are available from:
-- $269 per person at The Barcelo Bavaro Golf & Casino Hotel
-- $339 at the Barcelo Bavaro Beach & Caribe Hotel
-- $539 at the Premium Level Barcelo Bavaro Palace Hotel
To secure these special package rates guests should book through their preferred travel agents. All rates are based on double occupancy and subject to availability, so book early.
Each hotel within the Resort has its own ambience and facilities. Guests at the upscale Bavaro Palace Hotel have access to all of the resort amenities, and dining facilities. Guests at the other hotels, have access to the restaurants within their hotels as well as other resort amenities and services. For more information on Barcelo Hotels and Resorts visit http://www.barcelo.com.
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Cities & Culture
News and arts presentations in: Buenos Aires Bermuda, Copenhagen, Johannesburg, London, Madrid, Milan, Montreal Moscow, New York, Paris, San Francisco, Sydney NWS
Bermuda
11th Annual Bermuda Music Festival
October 4 to 7, 2006
The multi-talented Steve Harvey, comedian, actor and radio personality, will host this year’s much anticipated Bermuda Music Festival October 4-7, 2006. The “King of Comedy” brings added funk to the 11th annual music festival’s already eclectic combination of rhythm & blues, jazz and soul – along with an easy-to-book travel package – to the lineup of legendary stars.
This year’s showstoppers include legends such as Gladys Knight, Maze featuring Frankie Beverly and Charlie Wilson of The Gap Band, while also highlighting chart toppers such as India.Arie, Teena Marie and Anthony Hamilton. The favorite songs of classic soul groups such as The Original Manhattans featuring Gerald Alston & Blue Lovette, Harold Melvin’s Blue Notes and The Trammps will beckon guests to groove on Bermuda’s pink sand.
Set on a spectacular stage built over the water at Bermuda’s historic Royal Naval Dockyard, the Bermuda Music Festival’s current performance schedule is as follows:
-- October 4 at Fairmont Southampton, Whaler Inn
Performers: Harold Melvin’s Blue Notes, The Trammps and a Bermudian artist
-- October 5 at Royal Naval Dockyard
Performers: Steve Harvey as emcee, Gladys Knight, The Original Manhattans featuring Gerald Alston & Blue Lovette and Bermudian artists
--Friday, October 6 at Royal Naval Dockyard
Performers: Steve Harvey as emcee, Charlie Wilson of the Gap Band, India.Arie, Anthony Hamilton and Bermudian artists
-- Saturday, October 7 at Royal Naval Dockyard
Performers: Maze featuring Frankie Beverly, Teena Marie, Bermuda’s own Ras Mykkal and other Bermudian artists
Festival website: www.bermudamusicfestival.com
Buenos Aires
Centro Cultural Borges
Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera: Drawings and Photographs
Ongoing
To celebrate the 100th anniversary of Frida Kahlo’s birth, the Centro Cultural Borges has compiled a modest collection of works by both Kahlo and Diego Rivera, her husband. The exhibit’s showpiece is a large pencil study by Rivera for a mural; the other images on display are more modest, consisting mainly of Rivera’s renderings of Aztec rituals. The show’s most notable works by Kahlo are intensely personal: a detailed lithograph of a pregnant female body, created after she suffered a miscarriage, and a jarring depiction of a road accident she survived, but which left her with health problems for the rest of her life. Photographs of the artists, particularly one of a hulking Rivera towering over Kahlo as she paints a self-portrait, are nearly as appealing as the drawings themselves.
Website: http://www.ccborges.org.ar
The Borges Cultural Center is located inside Galerías Pacífico, entrance at the corner of Viamonte and San Martín, Centre. Tel: +54 (0) 11 5555-5359. Open: Mon-Sat 10am-9pm; Sun noon-9pm.
Copenhagen
Royal Danish Ballet
Copenhagen, home of the world-renowned Royal Danish Ballet, has long been a global ballet capital. This fall the city will host two prominent international ballet companies for limited-engagement performances.
-- September 5-10, Russia’s incomparable Bolshoi Ballet will perform Tchaikovsky’s “Swan Lake” and Shostakovich’s “The Bright Stream” at Copenhagen’s new opera house, Operaen, under the artistic direction of Alexei Ratmansky.
-- September 19-24, the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater takes the stage at the newly renovated Tivoli Concert Hall. (Between acts, visit the concert hall’s new Aquarium Foyer, where more than 1,600 tropical fish – and sharks! – swim in Europe’s longest saltwater aquarium tank.)
-- The Royal Danish Ballet 2006-2007 season begins Sept. 1 with “Trio Extravaganza,” three modern highlights choreographed by Finland’s Jorma Uotinen, France’s Angeline Preljocaj and China’s Yuan Yuan Wang. Other productions in the repertoire include premieres of “Schumann’s 2nd Symphony Etudes,” “Dance Mozart!,” Stravinsky’s “Le Sacre du Printemps” and the modern “American Mixture” and “Ailey & Zuska,” plus revivals of “Requiem,” choreographed by Tim Rushton and Bournonville’s “La Sylphide” and “Napoli” among others.
Johannesburg
Johannesburg Art Gallery
Rembrandt 400 years
Until September 17, 2006
for the 400th anniversary of Rembrandt van Rijn's birth, the Johannesburg Art Gallery is showing its collection of the Dutch master’s work. The exhibition features 41 copperplate etchings, acquired in 1934, which reveal Rembrandt's tremendous skill as a printmaker. He experimented with several techniques, such as dry-point, often combining them in a single work. As in his paintings, the chiaroscuro—or dramatic use of darkness and light—is particularly notable. The show also includes prints by Rembrandt's Dutch predecessors and contemporaries, and the gallery is hosting a series of related lectures.
Johannesburg Art Gallery, Corner of Klein and King George Sts, Joubert Park. Tel: +27 (0)11 725 3130. Open: Tues-Sun 10am-5pm.
London
The Annual London Open House
September 16 to 17, 2006
One of the understated delights of late-summer London, this festival offers two days of free visits to 600 buildings across the capital. This is an excellent opportunity to enter and wander round some of the city's finest buildings, many of which are typically closed to the public. The list of participating buildings includes clubs, livery halls, Lincoln's Inn, the Bank of England, the Foreign Office and 30 St Mary Axe (“the Gherkin”), to name but few. Some sites, such as the Royal Festival Hall and the Dome, will also host architects and engineers to explain how the buildings work. The weekend is organized by Open House, a charity that concentrates on architectural education.
Website: http://www.londonopenhouse.org/
London Zoo
The London Zoo will debut two multimillion dollar exhibits in 2007: the $10 million Gorilla Kingdom exhibit, featuring Western lowland gorillas in a central African setting; and the $4 million Rainforest Lookout, offering a canopy and ground-level rain forest experience, complete with monkeys, birds and reptiles. The Zoological Society of London, which runs London Zoo, is seeking to partner with travel sellers to promote the new exhibits. For additional information, visit www.thebigdayout.co.uk.
Tate Modern
Kandinsky: The Path to Abstraction 1908–1922
Until October 1
This exhibition follows Wassily Kandinsky’s intriguing journey from landscape painter to modernist master, as he strove to develop a radically abstract language. This exhibition presents over 50 paintings and 30 works on paper. Many of these have never been exhibited in the UK making this an unmissable opportunity to see so many of this modernist master’s most influential works together.
Advance recommendations are suggested for this blockbuster exhibit. Website: http://www.tate.org.uk/modern /
Royal Albert Hall
The Proms
Until September 9, 2006
Since Henry Wood started his so-called Promenade concerts in 1895. This year sees over two months of music, with more than 70 concerts, most of them as usual at the Royal Albert Hall. Among the host of big names who will perform are Bryn Terfel and Angela Georghiou, both opera singers, and the Berlin Philharmonic and the Kirov Opera. The program includes much Mozart and Shostakovich, in celebration of the 250th and 100th anniversaries of their births respectively, plus the world premiere of Elgar's Pomp and Circumstance March No.6, which he wrote with Anthony Payne (who will be 70 on the performance date, August 2nd) and a smattering of modern works
The series ends with the flag-waving jingoism of the “Last Night of the Proms”, which combines a concert at the Royal Albert Hall with “Proms in the Park”—simultaneous gatherings in five parks around the country (including London’s Hyde Park).
Website: http://www.bbc.co.uk/proms
Royal Albert Hall, Kensington Gore, SW7. Tube: South Kensington. Standing tickets from as little as £5. Box office: +44 (0)20 7589 8212.
Victoria and Albert Museum
Leonardo da Vinci: Experience, Experiment and Design
September 14 to January 7, 2007
Leonardo da Vinci is the greatest visual thinker of all time. This exhibition gives you an unrivalled insight into his mind and illuminates the most fundamental aspect of his work: how he visualised his remarkable theories and works on paper. Featuring more than 60 superb examples of Leonardo's drawings, brought together for the first time from British collections, the exhibition displays Leonardo's bound notebooks and single sheets alongside animations and models.
At Home in Renaissance Italy
October 5 to January 7, 2007
At Home in Renaissance Italy will reveal for the first time the Renaissance interior’s central role in the flourishing of Italian art and culture. It will provide an innovative three-dimensional view of the Italian Renaissance, presented as lived-in, object-filled spaces that bring the period to life. The exhibition will showcase masterpieces by Donatello, Carpaccio, Botticelli, Titian and Veronese, and exquisite treasures from the Medici and other private collections, alongside unexpected everyday objects like a babywalker and a pair of velvet shoes.
The exhibition will place outstanding art and domestic objects within their original contexts. Together they will bring to life the rhythms and rituals of Renaissance living - from entertainment and cooking, to marriage, childhood and collecting, presenting an entirely fresh look
at the Renaissance.
Website: www.vam.ac.uk
Victoria and Albert Museum is located on Cromwell Road, London SW7. Tel:
+44 (0)20 7942 2000.
Getting there: London Underground: South Kensingto; Buses: C1, 14, 74 and 414 stop outside the Cromwell Road entrance.
Imperial War Museum
Henry Moore: War and Ultility
September 14 to February 25, 2007
To mark the twentieth anniversary of Henry Moore's death, the Imperial War Museum London is hosting Henry Moore: War and Utility, a major retrospective exhibition that comprises over 160 works produced between 1938 and 1954 that demonstrate the richness and fertility of Moore's artistic practice during this period. Website: http://www.iwm.org.uk/
The museum is located on Lambeth Road. Near the Thames Path (http://www.thamespathlondon.co.uk/ ). Open daily (except 24, 25 and 26 December) 10.00am - 6.00pm. Entrance fee is £7 for adults and £5 for concessions.
Madrid
Thyssen Bornemissza Museum
From Cranach to Monet: Masterpieces from the Pérez Simón Collection
Through September 10 2006
Works from one of the most significant private collections in Latin America will get its first public showing when the opens” on June 20. Designed to give visitors a synthesis of the most important movements in art history from the 14th to the 19th centuries, the exhibition will showcase 57 paintings by some of the great names in art. Also known as the JAPS Collection, after its creator, Juan Antonio Pérez Simón, its key qualities are its emphasis on works portraying feminine beauty, nature, scenes from daily life that juxtapose earthly pleasures with the ephemeral nature found in the still lifes and a fascination with light and color as shown in the transition from Academic painting to modern art. Works by Jan and Pieter Brueghel, Canaletto, Corot, Cézanne, Gauguin, Goya, Pissarro, Renoir, Rubens, Tiepolo, Van Dyck and Van Gogh will be on display.
In 2004 the Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum, one of Madrid’s cultural jewels, doubled in size to accommodate the nine-year loan of more than 700 masterpieces from the Carmen Thyssen-Bornemisza Collection. The $45.7 million expansion by BOPBAA Studio incorporated two late 19th century buildings adjoining the Villahermosa Palace linking them to the museum with a new glass pavilion facing a garden terrace. The additional 90,000 square feet now houses a temporary exhibition room, a library and expanded facilities for visitors.
When the Spanish government paid $350 million in 1993 for the 775 works of The Thyssen-Bornemisza Collection – considered the world’s most important private art collection – it solidified Madrid’s reputation as a leading cultural capital. Spanning the history of painting from the beginning of the 13th century to the late 20th century, the famed collection of Baron Hans Heinrich Thyssen-Bornemisza and his father, Baron Heinrich has outstanding Old Masters (works by Duccio, Dürer, Caravaggio, Van Eyck, Holbein and Hals) as well as paintings by Gauguin, Van Gogh, Klee, Mondrian and Rauschenberg. The collection comprises Dutch and Italian Primitives, German Expressionism, Russian Constructivism, Geometric Abstraction, Pop Art and American 19th century painting – rarely seen in other European museums.
Similar in content to the Thyssen-Bornemisza Collection, the Carmen Thyssen Bornemisza Collection has significant holdings of 17th century Dutch paintings and of 18th century artists such as Canaletto and Fragonard, little represented in other Spanish museums. Perhaps the most important part of the collection is made up of 19th century paintings from John Constable and Caspar David Friedrich to the Impressionists including works by artists like Corot and Daubigny. Richest and most impressive are the Impressionist and Post-Impressionist holdings featuring works by Degas, Gauguin, Manet, Monet, Picasso, Pissarro, Renoir, Sisley and Van Gogh and the early 20th century avant-garde movements as seen in works by the Fauves (Braque, Derain, Matisse) and the German Expressionists.
The Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum is located at Paseo del Prado, 8 and is open Tuesdays through Sundays from 10 AM to 7 PM and during July and August the temporary exhibitions will remain open until 11 PM Tuesdays to Saturdays. (Closed Mondays.) Admission to the temporary exhibition is about $5.14 and about $3.85 for students and seniors. Combined tickets for the temporary and context exhibitions and permanent collection range from $9 to $14.50 ($6.40 to $10.30 for students and seniors).
Website: www.museothyssen.org
Milan
Castello Sforzesco
Archaeology and Ethnography from South America
To January 29, 2007
Milan’s collection of non-European art has been growing since the 16th century, when explorers first began to bring back objects from their exploits abroad. Currently, the Castello Sforzesco is exhibiting some 200 objects—including vases, textiles, masks, terracotta statues, metal objects and more—from Mayan, Aztec and other ancient South American cultures. Website: http://www.milanocastello.it/intro.html
Castello Sforzesco, Piazza Castello, 3. Open: Tues-Sun, 9am-1pm, 2pm-5.30pm.
Montreal
The Montreal Symphony has a new Music Director—Kent Nagano—who takes up the baton in September when he opens the OSM's 2006-2007 season with Beethoven's monumental Ninth Symphony. This concert, the first conducted by Kent Nagano as Music Director, will take place on September 6, 2006, and has been sold out for several weeks. In view of the great enthusiasm shown for this event, the Orchestra has made available a series of tickets for the dress rehearsal. This opening concert will feature the German soprano Angela Denoke, Québec contralto Marie-Nicole Lemieux, German-Canadian tenor Michael Schade, American bass-baritone Alan Held and the musicians and Chorus of the OSM as well as Montreal pianist Louise Bessette, OSM Principal Trumpet Paul Merkelo and OSM Principal Percussion Serge Desgagnés.
This concert will be broadcast by Espace musique, Radio-Canada's musical radio service, and by Radio-Canada television. It will go out live as both a radio and television program, and the radio version will rebroadcast on September 7 (100.7 FM in Montreal) as part of the radio-concerts series. Website: http://www.osm.ca/
Salle Wilfrid-Pelletier (Place des Arts).
Moscow
Ballet: Krakatuk
Until mid-October 2006
This summer Kolomenskoye Park, an estate dotted with historical buildings, stages “Krakatuk”, an ambitious reworking of “The Nutcracker”. Like Tchaikovsky's famous ballet, Krakatuk is based on E.T.A. Hoffman's story, “The Nutcracker and the Mouse King”. The unconventional show uses high-tech special effects, rock music and circus acts to tell the story of a homely heroine named Masha. Since its debut in St Petersburg two years ago, Krakatuk has toured France, Ukraine and Russia’s provinces. The production at Kolomenskoye Park, in a 1,500-seat tent, marks its debut in Moscow.
Website: http://www.krakatuk.ru / Tickets at tickets@krakatuk.ru
Kolomenskoye Park, off Prospekt Andropova. Metro Kolomenskaya. Performances: Tues-Sun, 7pm.
New York
Museum of the City of New York
The Museum of the City of New York is planning a $28 million expansion that will add 23,000 square feet, a renovated lobby and a new gallery. The expansion, slated for completion in 2008, will be the first major renovation since the landmark building on Fifth Avenue was built in 1932. Website: http://www.mcny.org/
ART(212) – Art Fair
September 28 – October 1, 2006
ART(212) a major new contemporary art fair featuring many leading contemporary art galleries will be held September 28 to October 1, 2006 at the 69th Regiment Armory (at 26th Street). More than 70 galleries will showcase works of mid-career and emerging artists, offering savvy and discerning art enthusiasts the opportunity to broaden their knowledge and enable them to buy works in all media—prints, works on paper, paintings, photography, sculpture, installations, and video.
ART(212) visitors will have access to leading galleries from around the United States, Canada, Europe and South America conveniently located under one roof. During the four-day fair, ART(212) will host a series of lectures, performances and installations to assist visitors in broadening their understanding of the contemporary art market as they build their collections. Website: www.art-2112.com
The 69th Regiment at Lexington Avenue @ 26th Street. Viewing times: Thursday, September 28 – Saturday, September 30 from noon – 8pm; Sunday October 1 12noon – 6pm. General admission is $15; Seniors & Students $12; Children under 12 free.
American Museum of Natural History
Lizards & Snakes: Alive!
To January 7, 2007
Lizards & Snakes introduces visitors to the remarkable adaptations of legged and legless lizards, including snakes—a group known as squamates. Grounded in the evolutionary history of the group, this exhibition showcases live animals and their remarkable adaptations, including projectile tongues, deadly venom, amazing camouflage, and sometimes surprising modes of locomotion. With more than 60 animals representing 27 species from the Amazon, the Caribbean and Galápagos Islands, and countries such as Cuba, Egypt, Fiji, Guatemala, Kenya, Madagascar, Mexico, New Guinea, New Zealand, Sudan, and the United States, the specimens range from a four-inch Tropical Girdled Lizard to a fifteen-foot Burmese Python and are shown in re-created habitats, complete with ponds, tree limbs, rock ledges, and live plants. Numerous interactive stations throughout the exhibition will invite visitors to activate recorded squamate sounds, zoom in on live geckos, test their knowledge about squamates, explore the inner workings of a rattlesnake on the hunt, and view videos of lizards and snakes in action. An activity center for children located at the end of the exhibition features more than a dozen hands-on exhibits and activities—from matching lizards to their habitats to assembling squamate skeletons—and includes touchable skin casts, puzzles, question-and-answer sliders, games, and more. Website: www.amnh.org
The American Museum of Natural History is located at Central Park West and between West 77 and 79 Streets.
Frick Museum
Jean-Étienne Liotard (1702-1789): Swiss Master
To September 17, 2006
This is the first North American exhibition on Liotard, one of the 18th century’s most celebrated court painters whose subjects have included the ill-fated queen of France Marie-Antoinette, features more than 50 paintings, drawings, miniatures and engravings from the Musées d’art et d’histoire in Geneva Website: www.frick.org
The Frick is located at 1 East 70 Street.
Museum of Modern Art
Dada
To September 11, 2006
Discover one of the 20th century’s most influential avant-garde art movements. The first major exhibition in the United States of its kind features the work of nearly 50 artists including Marcel Duchamp, Max Ernst, Man Ray, Kurt Schwitters and Sophie Taeuber. Website: www.moma.org
MoMA is located at 11 W. 53rd Street.
Neue Galerie New York
Selections from the Permanent Collection
To September 18, 2006
Works from widely-acclaimed Austrian artists Gustav Klimt, Egon Schiele, Oskar Kokoschka and major German movements ranging from Brücke to Bauhaus will be on display. Website: www.neuegalerie.org
Neue Galerie is located at 1048 Fifth Avenue & East 86 Street.
The New York Botanical Garden
Dale Chihuly Glass Creations
To October 29, 2006
See whimsical glass creations in a gorgeous garden. Thousands of stunning, hand-blown glass sculptures will be on display throughout the galleries of the Enid A. Haupt Conservatory. Website www.nybg.org
The NY Botanical Garden is located at 200th St. and Kazimiroff Blvd. in the Bronx. Transportation to the Garden is available via the MetroNorth rail line from Grand Central Station in Manhattan.
Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum
No Limits, Just Edges: Jackson Pollack Paintings on Paper
To September 29, 2006
Website: www.guggenheim.org
The Guggenheim is located at1071 Fifth Ave. at 89th St., 212-423-3500.
Paris
Pompidou Centre/National Museum of Modern Art
Le Mouvement des images
To January 29 2007
The Pompidou Centre is repeating the experiment of the thematic presentation of its collections: le Mouvement des images – Art and Cinema, proposes a rereading of 20th century art through the cinema. As we enter the digital revolution, this new presentation, organized around the basic components of film – frame roll, projection, story and editing – offers a redefinition of the cinematographic experience widened to include all the visual arts. The exhibition is on display on the fourth floor of the museum.
Please note: one of the floors of the Musée national d'art moderne is currently closed for refurbishment. The entire reopening of both floors is planned for the first quarter of 2007.
Giverny Museum of American Art
Passing Through Paris : American Artists in France, 1860-1930
To October 30, 2006, Gallery B
In the late-nineteenth century France became an international center for artistic training and production. American artists arrived in record numbers to study at the prestigious art academies, exhibit works at the salons and sojourn in the picturesque countryside.
This exhibition presents works completed in France by American artists from 1860-1930 drawn from the collection of the Terra Foundation for American Art. Aesthetic developments linked to French schools of painting such as Barbizon or Impressionism are clearly evident as are recurring subjects including: bustling city streets and cafés, quaint villages, and appealing seashores.
The choice of subject indicates not only that Americans were apt to frequent the same areas, but that they were responding to the demands of the growing art market in the United States. In fact, travel to France became a rite of passage for professional artists who then returned home to practice and teach what they had learned abroad
Winslow Homer, Poet of the Sea
To September 24, 2006, Gallery C
The Winslow Homer exhibition is the first monographic exhibition in Europe on Winslow Homer, indisputably one of the finest American artists and indeed a major figure in all of 19th century painting. Though first celebrated for his Civil War and genre scenes, Winslow Homer is perhaps at his most magical when capturing water, whether in oil or watercolor. This exhibition will clearly represent the freshness of Homer’s approach, his inventiveness, and the underlying emotional and psychological complexity.
Divided into five sections by geographical location, the exhibition will establish Homer’s extraordinary ability to adapt his style and technique to the environment, capturing the quintessence of the surrounding landscape in Gloucester, Cullercoats, Prout’s Neck, the Bahamas or Florida, and the Adirondacks.
Website: http://www.maag.org/expositions/expos.php
The Giverny Museum of American Art is located at 99, rue Claude Monet in Giverny, 75 kilometers/50 miles west of Paris. Convenient rail service to Giverny where Claude Monet lived. Tél. : 33 (0) 2 32 51 94 65; Fax : 33 (0) 2 32 51 94 67 or email: contact@maag.org
Musée de l’Orangerie
Monet’s Water Lilies
Ongoing
Monet’s water lilies artworks languished for decades in a gloomy netherworld in the Orangerie after a botched museum renovation in the 1960s. However, a major revamp of the museum, which reopened on May 17th after eight years, has changed all that.
The eight works, painted between 1914 and 1926, were donated by the artist and hung at the Orangerie in 1927, a year after his death. Impressive in size—each is two meters high; and one is 17 meters long—the paintings help illustrate Monet's influence on nudging art towards abstraction. Some even capture the mysterious sunset light at Giverny, an effect that could woo even jaded anti-Impressionists. The museum also houses the Jean Walter and Paul Guillaume collection of Impressionist and post-Impressionist works by Cézanne, Renoir, Soutine, Picasso, Modigliani and others.. Website: http://www.musee-orangerie.fr
Musée de l’Orangerie, Jardin des Tuileries. Tel: +33 (0)1 44 77 80 07. Métro: Concorde. Open: Weds-Mon, 12.30pm-7pm (until 9pm on Fridays)
Jeu de Paume
Lee Friedlander
September 9 to December 31, 2006
Like Walker Evans and Robert Frank, Lee Friedlander captured the workaday side of American cities and daily life — the storefronts, the billboards, television, and automobiles: general urban reality. His early work as a photographer in the 1950s is notable for its Pop influences, a spontaneous sense of fun and a taste for formal innovation. These traits would remain with him throughout his career; but, as he entered the 1970s, Friedlander's style and subjects gained in breadth. His photographs are full of observation and exude a mix of charm and lyricism.
Attentive to the subtle variations of forms and light, Friedlander produced richly descriptive urban images that reveal the uncontrollable energy of life just as they illustrate the transformative power of photography. In the early 1990s, Friedlander photographed the landscapes of the American West, where he was born. This exhibition covers the full range of subjects explored over his fifty-year career by this great photographer of the 20th century: in all, 477 B/W photographs, 6 color photographs and a set of Friedlander's portfolios and books.
Joel Meyerowitz: Out of the Ordinary, 1970-1980
October 10 to December 24, 2006
This is the first European exhibition of the color photography of Joel Meyerowitz. Produced by the Jeu de Paume and organized in close collaboration with the artist, the show offers a selection of photos taken between 1970 and 1980, a period of what the photographer saw as radical and decisive change.
The 120 vintage or modern prints in the ensemble presented here survey that vital decade that saw him questioning the medium, engaged in aesthetic exploration and developing a new style of photography. Website: http://www.jeudepaume.org
Jeu de Paume, 1, place de la Concorde. Open daily except Mondays.
National Museum of Natural History
Dragons: Between Science and Fiction
Until November 6, 2006
This exploration of dragons—fantasy’s favorite bête noire—is ideal summer family fare. With atmospheric lighting and multimedia effects, the exhibit traces centuries of myths and stories, and explores the symbolic role of the dragon in history. The display includes the remains of dragon-like animals, including the giant head of a Tyrannosaurus rex, alongside a realistic physical reconstruction of the imaginary beast. There are also plenty of stunning objects, such as a Cartier-designed jeweled dragon and ancient relics from China, Asia Minor and elsewhere. Thirteen narrated dragon tales from around the world are read out at different spots in the exhibit, which also features clips from some famous dragon-flavored films. Website: http://www2.mnhn.fr/dragons
Muséum Nationale de l’Histoire Naturelle, Grande Galerie de l’Evolution, 36, rue Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire, 5th arrondissement. Métro: Jussieu or Gare d’Austerlitz. Open: Sun-Fri 10am-6pm, Sat 10am-8pm. Tel: +33 (0)1 40 79 30 00.
San Francisco
California Shakespeare Theatre
Assortment of Shakespeare’s Plays
To October 8, 2006
For more than 30 years the California Shakespeare Theatre has presented one of the Bay Area’s most beloved summer events: evenings of Shakespeare (and other notable playwrights) at its outdoor amphitheatre in the East Bay hills. This year’s program includes “The Merchant of Venice” (August 9-September 3); and a musical version of “As You Like It”(September 13 to October 8). Website: http://www.calshakes.org/v4/home.htm
California Shakespeare Theatre, Bruns Memorial Amphitheatre, 100 Gateway Blvd., Orinda. Tel: +1 (510) 548-9666.
Legion of Honor
Monet In Normandy
To September 17, 2006
Claude Monet spent much of his life in Normandy in northern France and his art reflects his special relationship with this countryside and its topographical features, with its towns and villages, and the seasonal rhythms of the region. Monet gained artistic inspiration from these subjects and returned to them throughout his career. Of particular interest is his interpretation of the sparkling, surging bodies of water found in Normandy, from the
bustling commercial harbor at Le Havre, to scenery along the Seine, or beside quiet river banks, such as the Epte, to the crashing waves at Etretat. Manmade monuments, such as Rouen cathedral, also figure in Monet’s repertoire and will be represented in this selection of approximately 50 paintings.
Legion of Honour, Lincoln Park, 34th Ave and Clement St. Tel: +1 (415) 863-3330. Open: Tues-Sun, 9.30am-5pm. Admission: $10.
Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
Art Gallery of New South Wales
Alberto Giacometti
To October 29, 2006
Alberto Giacometti, a Swiss-born sculptor (1901-1966), is best known for his bronze sculptures of human figures that seem to be wasting away. He worked for most of his life in Paris, where he mixed with the likes of Pablo Picasso, Samuel Beckett, Jean Genet, Jean-Paul Sartre and Simone de Beauvoir. This is Australia’s first show dedicated to the artist. Edmund Capon, director of the Art Gallery of New South Wales, describes Giacometti as a man who searched for “a reality beyond the physical reality, which is indeed the spirit of existentialism”.
The 79 pieces, including 35 sculptures, stretch from Giacometti's surrealist period in the early 1930s to his post-war period, when he developed the spidery statuettes. Highlights include nine bronze figures in the “Women of Venice” series and the “walking man” and “standing female” sculptures he created for the Chase Manhattan Plaza in New York. Website: http://www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au
Art Gallery is located on Art Gallery Rd, The Domain, Sydney. Tel: +61 (0)2 9225 1744. Admission: A$10. Open: daily, 10am-5pm.
