This is an indoor playground designed just for the wee ones. In fact, kids over the height of 42 inches are now allowed in – parents are permitted, strollers are not. The centrepiece is a play pirate ship, complete with slide and ship’s wheel. ‘Leaping’ dolphins are scattered over the floor and make for great climbing toys. Located in the Aventura Mall, Adventurer’s Cove gives toddlers a break from boring shopping.
Just as public conveyances are always ’streetcars’ never ‘trolleys’ in New Orleans, the prime summertime treat is a ’snocone’ never ’snowball’. During the summer snocones are sold exclusively in small, corner stands. One day the boarded-up shops are simply open and stay that way until the owners decided to close, randomly at the end of the season. Using shaved ice rather than crushed ice used almost everywhere else, flavours run the gamut and include eccentric choices such as Bananas Foster. There are upwards of 300 snocone shops in the metro area, but the three that have endured for decades are the sublime Hansen’s, Tee-Eva’s and the SnoWizard. All three shops hours vary and most close on rainy days so call to see if they are open or just drop by.
Despite the impression given by tourist menus, Italian cooking stretches far beyond spaghetti alla carbonara, with each region having its often strikingly different specialities. Visitors to the capital should take advantage of the ‘Sapore di Roma’ festival to taste some of the city’s most authentic dishes, from deep-fried zucchini flowers to broccoli and skate soup. For a limited period, one hundred of the city’s restaurants offer these and other delights for a fixed-price of L38,000. Foodies will also enjoy the special weekend events, which include toasting in the vino novello and sampling the season’s olive oil.
Venice’s few cinemas close up in the heat of summer taking their projectors and audiences outside. The arena in Campo San Polo is the largest and most popular, and has a nightly programme until the end of August. Big hitters include ‘The Gladiator’, ‘Eyes Wide Shut’ and ‘American Beauty’, though even they will struggle to compete with last year’s tear-jerking Venice Film Festival winner ‘Not One Less’ by Chinese director Zhang Yimou. Films are either subtitled or dubbed, and it is wise to check first if your Italian is on the rusty side.
Above average restaurant with a menu featuring both Shanghainese and Cantonese favourites. Notable dishes include ming zuan pigeon, zui he xia (river shrimps in alcohol) and the well-priced ming xia (large shrimps). Not the most original or ground breaking, but at least they boast a few surprises, particularly an unusual dish called jian fei he xiang ti – roughly translated as ’staying healthy with lotus and pig’s fat foot’. Delicious!
This show in the National Archaeological Museum spans 7,000 years of human presence in the region of Viseu, northern Portugal, once the stamping ground of legendary Luso-celtic chieftain Viriato. Exhibits take in items related to life and death, work and play from Neolithic times to the Middle Ages, in a region whose inhabitants are inordinately proud of their pre-Roman heritage. The museum itself also has a permanent collection of artefacts tracing Portuguese pre-history up to Roman times.
The open-air night spot Le Rampe, set on a terrace looking over the river, must surely enjoy one of the best locations in Florence. It is particularly popular with a laid-back, thirtysomething crowd attracted by an eclectic choice of live music performances – jazz, operetta, classical or early music – and good food. The restaurant’s menus are also designed to fit in with the evening’s musical content. But you don’t have to eat; you can just order a drink from the bar and enjoy the fresh air.
God only knows what the future holds, but Hanson’s bid to move out of the bubblegum leagues into real rock might just happen. The blond brothers have put their megahit ‘MMMBop’ behind them with their new serious rock album, ‘This Time Around’. The trio definitely took a giant step forward at the Songwriters Hall of Fame ceremonies, singing the hymn-like Beach Boys song ‘God Only Knows’ for inductee Brian Wilson. By playing the House of Blues instead of a stadium, the band seems to be putting its money where its music is.
