1650 years ago.

1,650 years ago

Precisely one thousand, six hundred and fifty years ago, on July 21st (I’d have blogged about it then but I didn’t join up until the following month). The Middle East was born. Oh, the land was there, and there were people there, but everything was different, totally different.
Imagine. On July 20, 365 CE, the south shore of the Mediterranean sea was thriving. There were dozens of major cities which had populations in the hundreds of thousands. Most of these places were rich beyond anything that had been known before or long since. Then the next day….BANG!!!!
A Magnitude NINE earthquake just southeast of Crete sent a tsunami as powerful as that which wrecked the lands of the Indian Ocean in 2004 crashing into North Africa, Southern Italy, Greece and the eastern shore of the Med.
Cities were wiped off the map. Alexandria in Egypt and Lepdis Magna in Libya were devastated. The great Lighthouse managed to survive (it didn’t fall until a thousand years later), but the great palaces and downtown area of Alexandria, Queen of the Nile, fell into the sea.
The Roman government responded as one might expect. They raised taxes. This led to a massive revolt among the survivors. The Berbers fled the cities. With the huge farmlands poisoned by seawater, there was mass starvation. Then another earthquake devastated western Asia and the Huns invaded Europe, forcing the Goths onto Roman territory. Civilization crumbled. Rome itself was sacked in 410, something that hadn’t happened for centuries.
Paganism, the traditional and Greco-Roman faiths, which were already in trouble, died out rather quickly, and the many Christian sects were in open warfare with each other. Islam wouldn’t arrive for centuries, but the gangrenous rot caused by the tsunami’s damage (tens of millions of books and documents, wiped away, hundreds of thousands of artisans and skilled laborers dead), was very slow to heal. Western civilization in the area was  barely hanging on when the Muslims arrived 300 years later.
What is amazing to me is how little natural disasters are accounted for in history. While the eruption of Vesuvious in 79 AD is well known, almost nothing else was. The tsunami was for the most part forgotten until archaeologists started finding clues in in the 1970s. Historians before that had always wondered why the thriving cities of North Africa just suddenly poofed out by the time the Vandals arrived.
Ancient history is indeed ancient history. But the vibrations from such remote times still affects us today.

toronto film festival 2014

Toronto’s film festival has shrank. Not the movies, but the area. The Cineplex Scotiabank googleplex on Richmond is only two blocks away from the Lightbox on King, and with nothing but restaurants surrounding these two venues, you can’t really go anywhere., just circle the same few blocks over and over again. Which is okay, I guess. The Chapters Bookstore next to the main venue is gone, which is a bummer. It was a great place to hang out between screenings.   With Worlds Biggest Books gone as well (something I found out last July, so this is insult on top of injury), and that means there’s nowhere cheap to hang out besides waiting on line for screenings.

 

So with nowhere to go and nothing to do but go to movies, that’s what I did. A friend of a friend, who looks like a slightly chubby Marilyn Monroe, had to leave early for personal reasons. The publisher of this site had gotten me some tickets for me at great cost to his personal reputation, and I was only going to be up there for a couple of days. So she gave me her five hundred bucks industry pass, which had her adorable visage right there on the front of the pass. She’s 35, blonde, and weighs 138 pounds, and I’m 57, bald, have a bushy grey beard and weigh 235.   This wasn’t going to work.

 

But somehow it did.

 

The first thing I did was go down to the HQ and try to get caught. I went to the press lounge and was immediately stopped by a volunteer guard. She took one look at the badge, scanned it, and let me through.   I took a stroll and went   o find a place to sit down. There wasn’t one, so I went around walked around to see where the theaters were in the Lightbox and went back into the press lounge. They let me in for a second time and I was just about to get into the DVD room when the woman who let me in came running up to me.   The jig was up, I thought,

 

“Excuse me sir” she said.

“Yes,” I replied, apprehensively.

“Oh, I thought you were someone else” was her response, “Sorry.”

“Well,” I said with a smile, “I AM someone else. I’ve been someone else for years.”

 

She smiled back as I got the heck out of there.

A block away was the Princess of Wales theater, One can see the rush line from the Lightbox. There was a guy giving out free tickets to see James Marsh’s The Theory of Everything, a filmic biography of physicist Steven Hawking. They couldn’t throw me out; I had a real ticket!!

As to biopics, this one wasn’t that bad.   It starts at Cambridge University in England where Hawking( Eddie Redmayne) is still healthy. Here he meets Jane(Felicity Jones), and despite the fact that she is gorgeous and he’s kind of geeky, they fall madly in love.  Then he get’s sick. They get married despite of this, and then there’s the usual melodrama, as Jane meets Jonathan(Charlie Cox), a choirmaster and is smitten, surprisingly, so is Hawking, and things get kind of complicated. Then he gets famous and things get even moreso.

The acting is terrific, even though it feels like a movie-of-the-week. But then again, this is Toronto, where Oscar-bait tends to get introduced.

 

Next, I went up to the Scotiabank googleplex to see if I would get caught again. Nope. I didn’t have a press and industry (P&I) schedule, so I told the lady guarding the elevator I was only going to see the one up on the second floor, which was for the most part true.   I did indeed go up and look at the schedule. Didn’t find anything to my liking, and just walked into the first screening room I found.   What I found inside was a thing called the Owners, which was from one of the ‘Stans and was atrocious.

Director Adilkhan Yerzhanov is an amateur in bad sense of the word. The acting is okay, but the editing is terrible, the star has bruises that keep popping in and out of the poor lead’s face and it’s distracting. This is not a musical and yet people start dancing for no reason at all.  I almost walked out.

 

The next day’s goal was to recreate the glory days of the film festival by going to as many as five or six movies.  

  I managed to actually do it. It seems that this year’s festival has a theme. Horrible diseases. You will remember the Steven Hawking film. He’s got Lou Gerhig’s disease. The hero in the Owners sister has a fatal disease too.   Now the first film of the Day, Richard Glatzer, and Wash Westmoreland’s Still Alice,   in which the title character( Julianne Moore) is afflicted with early onset Alzheimer’s. To make things worse, she’s married to Alec Baldwin, and the ending sucks. They set up an excellent one, but nooooooooo…Then there’s Daniel Barnz’s Cake, which is about how Claire Simmons( Jennifer Aniston) is coping a year after her horrific car wreck. She’s become a total bitch that only her saintly maid Silvana ( Adriana Barraza) can put up with her. I call these films “gilded turds” because everything is brilliant but the script.   

 

Across the street from the theater, there was a place that served really great tuna melts, and  I savored one before going to see John Stewart’s Rosewater which ,despite the director’s reputation, is a physiological drama. Maziar Bahari’( Gael García Bernal) is an Iranian journalist living in London who gets sent back home to cover the 2009 presidential election   He hires a driver named Davood ( Dimitri Leonidas) who shows him around Teheran and  where the opposition   hangs out. This is fascinating and is the flashback part as the film opens with our hero being taken away by the secret police.

 

Now why is the movie named Roswater? Well, that’s the nickname our hero gives his interrogator, played by Kim Bodnia. The final half of the film is mostly the verbal jousting between our hero and Rosewater, and Bernal and Bodina are both due for getting nominated for awards in the winter and spring.

j street part 4

On the last day of the conference, I started out with a panel on “What’s Next for the Palestinians Leadership?” Which sounded like a very interesting one, especially since I really didn’t know very much about it. Who is running the Palestinian Authority besides Abbas, and what are they going to do when the old man dies?

The answer was clear as mud. The didn’t really talk about who the major politicians or factions were, but they did mention that there were free local elections in ’12, (so much for Palestinians not being able to vote) except for, naturally, Gaza, and that the “Palestinian State” that was sitting in the UN General Assembly was NOT the Palestinian Authority, but the Palestinian Liberation Organization.  

 

These are important facts that aren’t known to many people. There is also a move afoot by some groups to permit political parties to exist. That would be nice. But they didn’t really say much beyond that.   I should have gone to the “Rise of   anti-Semitism in Europe” panel.

 

But the really big show was the morning plenum, and that was the one where Obama’s Chief of Staff, Denis McDonough, would be giving a major speech.  Everyone wanted to see that, as did I, and I was thrilled to hear they were letting the press early….only to discover that they gave us seats in the back and the side with a lousy view of the preceedings….

 

The opening speaker (not counting the introduction by some committee member) was Stav Shaffir, who is still the youngest member of the Knesset and the most popular member of the Zionist Union.   She repeated her CV, how she spent a couple of terms in the Army, then tried to find a decent job while living in a crappy Tel Aviv apartment and starting what was the equivalent of the “Occupy Movement” in 2011 before becoming a professional politician in ’13. She then went on saying that Israel was a great country and would be far better if Bibi was no longer there. The youth in the audience loved her, as did I. (we had had a conversation the previous day)

 

Then…something happened that shocked the living daylights out of me.

 

They announced that there would be a televised message from the President of Israel. I hadn’t expected that. Considering that Reuven Rivlin is a dyed-in-the-wool Likudnik, and considering how J-street and Likud aren’t exactly lovey-dovey with each other, I hadn’t even considered he would do that. But there he was on the big screen (which I could see), giving a platitudinous greeting and wishing everyone in the audience well. A majority was enthusiastic, but some weren’t, I wasn’t surprised more weren’t.

Then came Denis McDonough, the second most powerful person in Washington. “…an occupation that has lasted for almost 50 years must end!” Mr. McDonough thundered, “Israel cannot maintain military control of another people indefinitely,”

That got a standing ovation. It was easy to see why.

 

It was something EVERYONE can agree with. Not even Bennett thinks the present state of affairs is something that most Israelis want to maintain indefinitely. Everyone at the conference was unified on the basic concept of the Two-state solution, but nobody agreed on the details.

The panel discussion afterwards led by Ethan Bronner wasn’t at all edifying, although someone mentioned Abbas’ threat to dissolve the PA because they’re running out of money.  That was it.

There was going to be a gala, the press was told they would be provided pizza and seats in the back for James Baker’s speech, but that meant I’d miss my flight.

I almost did, but that’s another story….

Walking down J street, part three

"One thing you must understand is that when you support the BDS movement, you actually are helping Netanyahu, because Netanyahu is playing on that fear, that almost every Israeli Jewish citizen is feeling, that there is a possibility that the world will just turn against us,"— Stav Shaffir, ZU member of the Knesset.

That was a primary theme of the J-Street convention. I heard this over and over again.  The vast majority of the attendees weren’t anti-Israel, they were anti-Bibi, and that was the general consensus: Israel good, Bibi bad. Another consensus was the necessity of a two state solution. What wasn’t agreed to is what shape of the borders for the two (three?) states are going to be.

 

The first session I attended the first morning was on “Israel as a neighbor”, which was presented by the New Israel fund. The speakers all were in favor of land swaps to keep most of the settlements intact. , it was the same with the   main “plenary session”, called “The Choices Ahead, ” which had  seven members of the Knesset (by my count, nearly a fifth of the entire   Israeli   parliamentary opposition was there)   talking, and they all were very “hawkish” on security and lamented they didn’t get that message across.

Nobody was in favor of the green line as a permanent border. Not even the Palestinian negotiator, Saeb Erekat, who specifically stated that Israel needed secure borders.   However, no speaker that I heard, and I missed quite a few panels so I can’t be certain about this, came out in favor of the Hamas plan or going back to Folk Bernadotte’s   “1935 borders.”

 

What everyone did come out against a ONE state solution that the Arabs and the BDS crowd (and Bennett) are in favor of. Nobody came out in favor of a binational state of Palestine from the river to the sea (although Noam Sheizaf, the guy from +953, came close.)

 

The panels that I was most interested were the Arab-centric ones. The panel entitled “Gaza: The Human and Political Costs of Deprivation and Disunity” is a case in point. Yes, the situation in Gaza is horrific, and yes, most of the people on the panel blamed Israel (Howard Sulka, who ran an NGO there, gave the case why HAMAS started the last war but came to the conclusion that “we can’t be sure”), but nobody had a nice word to say about Hamas’ government of the area. Even Maha Mehanna, who is Gazan and has to go back, didn’t say anything good about them (She explained that Hamas was elected because the Fatah regime was so corrupt).

However, they did explain how they had to go through diplomatic hoops because Hamas is a terrorist organization that may not be talked to. The holes in the narrative were amazing to behold.

I attended the Iran panel, which was both fascinating and unedifying to the mx, before going to the next plenum: “Does Liberal Zionism Have a Future?”

 

This is an excellent question, DOES IT?

The panel, led by Peter Beinart, wasn’t very optimistic, and they rightly blamed Netanyahu, Leiberman and Bennet. Which brings everyone back to which two-state solution is the best one? That particular question wasn’t actually addressed, what WAS, was the status quo, which everyone considers untenable.

The villains were fingered as not just Bibi, Bennett et al, but the Republicans as well, who are working to alienate Liberals/Progressives from the entire Zionist project and declare the 69 percent of the Jewish vote that voted for Obama “self-hating Jews” and guilty of treason.  Some of the issues were clearly articulated but not all.

There was no evening session, and Elder’s request that I attend the mincha prayers that day, but I didn’t get the request until after it was over. Just for the record, It took place at the Sixth and Eye Synagogue and was reportedly packed. Also the camera on my computer doesn’t work. Sorry.

Walking Down J Street part two

 

Day two

 

With dozens of panels to choose from, it was difficult to choose which ones to go to, and as with a lot of these things, there were scheduling conflicts galore.  So I decided to go to the major ones (and those I could find).   But first, I needed a cup of coffee…

There was a buffet with bagels and cream cheese. Grabbing some of that and a cup, I went down to the lobby where they had the “huckster room” as these areas are generally known, and looked at the booths set up by various groups.

 

What I found was mostly innocuous, but what really piqued my interest were all the maps….

Now I love maps, I’ve got a huge collection and there in front of me was a gold mine. Most countries have at least two sets, one for the tourists and international community and one for the nationalists and internal use.   Such is the case with Israel.

 

J Street itself was giving out maps. These were big and were relatively detailed and had the green line easily visible in, what else?, green. Now Israeli maps don’t show the green line.  While most showed the Gaza strip and some showed “Areas A and B”, not a single one shows the Green line.   J Street was giving these out to be posted in synagogues and Hillels and the like because it’s important to understanding what the situation is.  Maps are good for things like that.

 

Other groups were also giving out maps. For example The New Israel fund had one showing all it’s current projects, such as promoting healthcare for the poor and the rights of Reform and Conservative Rabbis, fighting growing inequality between rich and poor in the land of the Kibbutz and the like. (On a side note, When I asked them about their participation in the lawsuit against the PLO, they said the their witness for the terrorists, Michael Sfard, was actually a ringer who’s testimony deliberately helped the plaintiff.) , and he most interesting was their blurb supporting   “the women of the wall” movement. I say it’s strange because they show the Old City in Israel and don’t mention, as the BDS movement (which NIF claims to be very much against) likes to, that the Kotel is in “illegally occupied Palestinian territory”.

 

“Americans for Peace Now” has a slick, two-sided map with “East Jerusalem“ on one side and the West Bank on the other, which shows the where all the “settlements” are. It also shows the Barrier wall.  The Jerusalem side attacks “Ideological tourism projects” that threaten to transform the conflict into a religious conflict where no compromise is possible” I thought that was pretty funny.

 

The best of the bunch (on a technical level at least) was B’Selem’s. It was detailed and easily color-coded.   You can see the facts on the ground much better than on the other maps.   They weren’t there, another group, who was more on the Kumbaya” side of the argument was. There were lots of those, lots of whom were offering trips.

There were lots of groups who like that, only the “Free Hillel” table seemed to be genuinely pro-BDS. The guy was really defensive. So was one fellow who said that Hamas was merely elected to the “municipal administration” of the district and wasn’t really the government. (You can’t really argue with these people without being tempted to punch them in the face).

 

The “Kumbaya” people were promoting neighborliness and understanding between Jewish and Muslim Israelis for the most part and there’s absolutely nothing wrong with that. However they generally make excuses for the Palestinians, such as Bikom, which does some amazing maps, who tried to explain why the Arab Jerusalemites, who can vote, don’t (they don’t want to look like they accept Israeli sovereignty).

After filling up my knapsack with give-aways and my face with food and coffee, I went to listen to the speeches….

 

Walking down J Street, episode one

I got an email a couple of weeks back informing me that the J Street   “Progressive Zionist” organization, sort of like AIPAC’s evil twin (or good, depending on how you view things) was having it’s annual jamboree at the Walter Washington convention center in DC, and would I like to pay a ton of money to go?

I would not.( Pay the ton of money that is.).

So, as I do on occasion, I filled out the press form and sent a bunch of digital clippings. They gave me a ticket. Even better, KAYAK was able to get me a $150 round trip flight to DC.   Another sixty bucks for two nights at the youth hostel next to the Convention center and off I went….

 

Day One

“Do you have a card” She said.

“No,” I replied, “why?”

“If you’re a journalist I need to see your business card in order to talk to you”

She was a student you see. She had taken a training course before she came here and was told to be suspicious of   skeevy old men with press badges and was told to get the business card and give it to the secret police (or whatever J street calls them). I said there was no reason, because I was only making conversation.

She gave me a very dirty look.   I could understand sort of.   Netanyahu had just won the election and everyone was to some extent angry and depressed. However they did try to look cheerful. The opening ceremonies were starting soon and I headed up to take my seat.

 The first two rows of seats in the grand ballroom were in fact circular tables. I searched around for a while and got a seat with a decent view. The rest of the people around my table were middle aged, behind us were the kids, allegedly there were about a thousand of them from all around the country, and Toronto, Canada, and tonight, they were the stars of the show. Lights! Music!!!!! Here we go….

 

Onstage comes J-Street Morton Halpburn, who gets a standing ovation. He thanks the crowd , and starts on a short and forgettable speech. He then starts talking about “J Street U”, which is their version of Hillel.   There’s a fanfare and football music, a bunch of squeaky clean college students enter stage rights looking like something out of the Bradhy Bunch, and in their peppiest voices they start the roll call of the universities. I’m not sure if it’s more of a high school pep rally or a political convention. Clearly this was latter and goes on and on and on. . Then they announce the Hillel’s who decided to come. Apparently the BDSers have somehow managed to split the movement, and the two organizations are actively feuding.. J Street, no matter what else you may have heard, is currently anti-BDS, they think it makes Bibi and his ilk look like victims and it leads to anti-Semitism., both of which are true.

 

There’s more football music and cheering as President Jeremy Ben Ami is introduced. He’s a thin and wiry gent, with a crooked smile and glasses, kind of nerdy. He starts thanking people lie in awards show, all the kids in general, and the senior staff in particular before shedding his kindly persona and starts tearing Bibi limb from limb before going after the rest of Likud, the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations and a whole bunch of other people and organizations. The crowd loved it.

Then there was the “Kumbaya” story of two grandmas, one Jewish and one Palestinian, and how they called each other by phone as their governments bombed each other. Very sweet.

Finally there was Rabbi Rick Jacobs, President of the Union Reform Judaism. who gave an astoundingly good speech. He hit all the right points, wasn’t radical at all, and was almost thrilling. The crowd loved that too. Then came the cake.

 

We’d get to the really important stuff   the following day.

 

 

the list so far....

1. Europe

2. Great Britain and Ireland

3. England

1. Cliveden
2. Windsor Castle
3. Chester
4. Penzance and Land's End
5. St. Ives
6. Hotel Tresanton and The Seafood Restaurant
7. Chatsworth House
8. Burgh Island Hotel
9. Gidleigh Park
10. Arundell Arms
11. The Rising Sun
12. Royal Pavilion
13. Glyndebourne Festival
14. The Cotswolds
15. Chewton Glen
16. Winchester Cathedral
17. Osborne House
18. Canterbury Cathedral
19. Leeds Castle
20. Sissinghurst Castle Garden
21. The Lake District
22. London
23. Chelsea Flower Show
24. The Connaught Hotel
25. Tea at the Ritz
26. Hadrian's Wall
27. The Newark Antiques and Collectors Show
28. Le Manoir Aux Quat'Saisons
29. Oxford and Cambridge Universities
30. Blenheim Palace
31. Ludlow
32. Bath and Ston Eaton Park
33. Cathedral Church of St. Andrew
34. Cunard's QM2 and QE2
35. Stratford-upon-Avon
36. Warwick Castle
37. Salisbury Cathedral
38. Stourhead
39. Stonehenge
40. Castle Howard
41. York Minister

42. Scotland

42. Scottish Golf
43. The Castle Trail
44. The Hebrides
45. Isle of Skye and Kinloch Lodge
46. Scotch Whisky Trail
47. Highland Games
48. Skibo Castle
49. Loch Ness
50. Inverlochy Castle
51. Airds Hotel
52. Balmoral Hotel
53. Edinburgh Castle
54. The Festivals of Edinburgh
55. Hogmanay
56. The Royal Scotsman
57. The Mackintosh Trail
58. One Devonshire Gardens
59. Balfour Castle
60. Kinnaird Estate
61. Altnaharrie Inn
62. The Trossachs

63. Wales

63. Caernarfon Castle
64. Bodnant Garden and Bodysgallen Hall
65. Maes-Y-Neuadd
66. Snowdonia National Park
67. International Musical Eisteddfod
68. Portmeirion
69. Plas Bodegroes
70. Hay-on-Wye Festival and Llangoed Hall
71. Dylan Thomas's Boathouse
72. Tintern Abbey
73. St. David's Cathedral

74. Ireland

74. Dromoland Castle
75. Blarney Castle and Bunratty Castle
76. Cork Jazz Festival
77. Kinsale
78. Powerscourt House and Gardens
79. Longueville House
80. Ballymaloe House
81. Glenveagh National Park
82. Bloomsday
83. The Book of Kells
84. Pubs and St. Patrick's Festival
85. Restaurant Patrick Guilbaud
86. The Shelbourne
87. Aran Islands
88. Cashel House Hotel
89. Connemara
90. Galway
91. Delphi Lodge
92. Ballybunion Golf Club
93. Dingle Peninsula
94. The Ring of Kerry and The Park Hotel Kenmare
95. Sheen Falls Lodge
96. Killarney National Park
97. Horse Country and Mount Juliet
98. Adare Manor
99. Ashford Castle
100. Waterford Castle Hotel and Golf Club
101. Wexford Opera Festival
102. Tinakilly Country House
103. Giant's Causeway
104. Royal Portrush
105. Mourne Mountains

106. Western Europe

107. Austria

106. Bregenz Festival
107. Durnstein and the Melk Abbey
108. Old Graz
109. Grossglockner Road
110. Lech and Kitzbuhel
111. Salzburg Festival
112. Vienna
113. The Opera Ball and Hotel Imperial

114. Belgium

114. Cathedral of Our Lady
115. Bruges
116. Comme Chez Soi
117. La Grand Place
118. Leon de Bruxelles
119. Mary Chocolatier
120. Abbaye d'Orval

121. France

121. Biarritz
122. The Dordogne and the Cave of Lascaux
123. Eugenie-les-Bains
124. St.-Emilion
125. Musee d'Unterlinden and the Wine Road of Alsace
126. Cathedrale Notre-Dame de Strasbourg
127. Burgundy
128. Vezelay and L'Esperance
129. Champagne and Les Crayeres
130. Les Calanches
131. Giverny
132. Mont-Saint-Michel
133. Normandy's D-Day Beaches
134. Paris
135. Hotel de Crillon
136. Taillevent
137. Cathedrale Notre Dame de Chartres
138. Chateau de Versailles
139. Toulouse-Lautrec Museum
140. The Camargue and the Gypsy Pilgrimage
141. The Walls of Carcassonne
142. Place Stanislas
143. Lourdes
144. Loire Valley and Domaine des Hauts de Loire
145. Ile de Re
146. Aix-en-Provence
147. Antibes and Hotel du Cap Eden-Roc
148. Amphitheater of Arles
149. Avignon and Hotel La Mirande
150. Hotel Carlton Inter-Continental
151. Hostellerie de Crillon le Brave
152. Eze
153. Les Baux-de-Provence
154. Mougins
155. Vieux Nice
156. La Fondation Maeght
157. St.-Tropez
158. Vence
159. Annecy and Talloires
160. Chateau de Bagnols
161. Chamoniz and Tour du Mont-Blanc
162. Courchevel
163. Vieux Lyons
164. Restaurant Paul Bocuse
165. Megeve
166. La Maison Troisgros
167. Pic
168. Georges Blanc
169. The Grand Casino
170. Hotel de Paris

171. Germany

171. Baden-Baden and Brenner's Park Hotel and Spa
172. Hotel Traube Tonbach
173. The Bodensee (Lake Constance)
174. The Alpine Road and Zugspitze
175. The Romantic Road
176. Bamberg
177. Residenz Heinz Winkler
178. Coaching in Bavaria and Neuschwanstein Castle
179. Alte Pinakothek
180. Christkindlmarkt
181. Deutsches Museum
182. Oktoberfest
183. The Passion Play of Oberammergau
184. Regensburg
185. Berlin Philharmonic
186. Brandenburg Gate
187. The Museum Scene
188. Sans Souci
189. The Zwinger
190. Summer Music Festivals
191. The Rhine Valley
192. Cologne's Cathedral Quarter
193. Heidelberg's Schloss
194. Quedlinburg and Hotel Theophano
195. Hotel Vier Jahreszeiten
196. Lubeck
197. Sylt
198. Weimar

199. Greece

199. Crete
200. Mykonos and Delos
201. Santorini
202. Patmos
203. Rhodes
204. Symi
205. The Acropolis
206. National Archaeology Museum
207. Delphi
208. Epidaurus
209. Monemvassia
210. Mount Athos
211. Hydra
212. The Monasteries of the Meteora

213. Italy

213. Alberobello
214. Capri
215. National Archaeological Museum
216. Spaccanapoli
217. Pompeii
218. The Amalfi Coast
219. Positano's Hotels
220. Ravello
221. Paestum
222. The Best of Sorrento
223. The Quadrilatero
224. Piazza del Duomo
225. Ravenna
226. La Posta Vecchia
227. Rome
228. The Hotel Hassler
229. Sistine Chapel
230. Cinqueterre
231. Portofino
232. Bellagio
233. Hotel Villa d'este
234. Palazzo Ducale
235. The Milanese Experience
236. Il Duomo
237. The Last Supper
238. La Scala Opera House (Teatro alla Scala)
239. Rocca Scaligera
240. Borromean Islands
241. Rossini Opera Festival
242. Urbino
243. La Costa Smeralda
244. Aeolian Islands
245. Valley of Temples
246. Mount Etna
247. Two Gems of Palermo
248. Taormina
249. Church of San Francesco
250. Florence
251. The Uffizi Galleries
252. Villa San Michele and Villa La Massa
253. Lucca
254. Montalcino
255. Pienza
256. Il Pellicano
257. Chianti and San Gimignano
258. Piazza del Campo and the Palio
259. Basilica of San Francesco
260. Palazzo Terranova
261. Gubbio
262. Il Duomo
263. La Passeggiata
264. Spoleto Festival
265. Crossing the Mont Blanc Massif
266. Asolo
267. Cortina d'Ampezzo
268. Scrovegni Chapel
269. Venice
270. Carnevale
271. Cipriani Hotel
272. Venice Simplon-Orient-Express
273. Verona
274. Teatro Olimpico

275. Netherlands

275. Anne Frank House
276. Cafe Society
277. Canal Cruises and Tulip Time
278. Oude Kerk
279. Pulitzer Hotel
280. Red-Light District
281. Rijksmuseum
282. Van Gogh Museum
283. Kroller-Muller Museum
284. Delft
285. Het Mauritshuis
286. Manoir Inter Scaldes
287. European Fine Art Fair
288. North Sea Jazz Festival

289. Portugal

289. Pousada Rainha Santa Isabel
290. Evora
291. Marvao
292. Bussaco Forest
293. Obidos
294. Museum Calouste Gulbenkian
295. Sintra
296. Madeira

297. Spain

297. Arcos de la Frontera
298. La Mezquita
299. The Alhambra and Parador de San Francisco
300. Seville
301. Guggenheim Museum Bilbao
302. San Sebastian
303. The Caves of Altamira and Santillana del Mar
304. Avila
305. Leon
306. Salamanca's Plaza Mayor
307. Meson de Candido
308. La Catedral de Toledo
309. Catalan National Art Museum
310. La Sagrada Familia
311. Museu Picasso
312. Cadaques and Figueres
313. The Way of St. James and the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela
314. Madrid
315. La Residencia

316. Switzerland

316. Restaurant Bruderholz
317. Gstaad
318. Jungfraujoch
319. Kanderstag
320. Murren
321. St. Moritz and the Glacier Express
322. Schlosshotel Chaste
323. Davos-Klosters
324. Lucerne Festival
325. Park Hotel Vitznau
326. Rheinhotel Fischerzunft
327. Lugano's Splendid Villas
328. Saas-Fee
329. Verbier
330. Zermatt
331. Winter Alpine Balloon Festival
332. Restaurant de L'Hotel de Ville
333. Montreux Jazz Festival
334. Petermann's Kunststuben
335. Dolder Grand Hotel and Kronenhalle

336. Eastern Europe

337. Czech Republic

336. Carlsbad
337. Cesky Krumlov
338. Castle District
339. Charles Bridge
340. Estates Theater
341. Old Town Square
342. U Fleku

343. Hungary

343. Castle Hill
344. The Danube Bend
345. Gerbeaud
346. Gundel
347. Hotel Gellert

348. Poland

348. Rynek Glowny
349. Wawel Hill
350. Chopin's Birthplace

351. Romania

351. The Painted Monasteries of Moldavia
352. Count Dracula's Castle

353. Russia

353. The Trans-Siberian Express
354. The Armory Museum and Red Square
355. The Bolshoi
356. The Moscow Underground
357. Tretyakov Gallery
358. Waterways of the Czars
359. Nobleman's Nest
360. The White Nights Festival and The Grand Hotel Europe
361. The Hermitage
362. Pavlovsk
363. Petrodvorets

364. Scandinavia

365. Denmark

364. Aeroskobing
365. Hotel D'Angleterre and Kommandanten
366. Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek
367. Restaurant Ida Davidsen
368. Tivoli Gardens
369. Kronborg Slot
370. Louisiana Museum of Modern Art
371. Egeskov Castle and Steensgaard Herregaardspension
372. Falsled Kro
373. Odense
374. Roskilde
375. Skaged

376. Finland

376. Hotel Kamp
377. The Savoy
378. Ainola
379. Savonlinna Opera Festival
380. Icebreaker Cruise
381. Santa's Village

382. Iceland

382. The Ring Road

383. Norway

383. Kvinke's Hotel
384. Bergen and Troldhaugen
385. Norwegian Coastal Voyage and North Cape
386. Lofoten Islands
387. Munch Museum and Hotel Continental
388. Vikingskiphuset
389. Geirangerfjord
390. The Northern Lights
391. Hardangerfjord
392. The North Pole

393. Sweden

393. Gota Canal
394. Visby
395. The Ice Hotel
396. Drottningholm Palace and Court Theater
397. Gripsholm Castle
398. Ulriksdals Wardshus
399. The Grand Hotel and Operakallaren
400. Stockholm Archipelago
401. Vasamuseet
402. Midsummer Eve

403. Africa

404. Northern Africa

405. Egypt

403. The Great Pyramids of Giza
404. Islamic Cairo
405. Khan El-Khalili
406. Museum of Egyptian Antiquities
407. Diving in the Red Sea
408. The Sinai
409. Abu Simbel
410. Aswan and The Old Cataract Hotel
411. A Nile Cruise
412. Luxor and The Old Winter Palace
413. Siwa Oasis

414. Morocco

414. Essaouira
415. Fes el Bali and the Festival of World Sacred Music
416. Imilchil Betrothal Fair
417. Trekking the High Atlas
418. Hotel La Mamounia
419. Place Djemma El-Fna
420. Yacout
421. The Great Sahara
422. La Gazelle D'Or

423. Tunisia

423. Bardo Museum
424. Sidi Bou Said

425. Eastern and Southern Africa

426. Botswana

425. Chobe National Park
426. Jack's Camp
427. Abu's Camp
428. Okavango Delta

429. Ethiopia

429. Gonder
430. Lalibela

431. Kenya

431. Ol Donyo Wuas
432. Private Wildlife Reserve
433. Island of Lamu and The Peponi Hotel
434. The Masai Mara
435. Little Governor's Camp
436. Mount Kenya Safari Club
437. Pemba Channel Fishing Club

438. Madagascar

438. Rafting the Mangoky River

439. Malawi

439. Horseback Safaris in Nyika National park

440. Mali

440. Timbuktu

441. Mauritius

441. Mauritius

442. Namibia

442. Etosha National Park
443. Skeleton Coast

444. Seychelles

444. Aldabra Island
445. Desroches Island and Lodge
446. La Digue Island
447. Ste. Anne Marine National Park

448. South Africa

448. Ellerman House and Mount Nelson Hotel
449. Table Mountain
450. Phinda Resource Reserve
451. The Drakensberg Mountains
452. Sabi Sand Game Reserve
453. The Cape Winelands
454. The Palace of the Lost City
455. Rovos Rail and the Blue Train
456. Constantia Wine Region
457. The Garden Route
458. Hermanus

459. Tanzania

459. Climbing Mount Kilimanjaro
460. Ngorongoro Crater
461. Sand Rivers
462. Stone Town

463. Uganda

463. Murchison Falls National Park
464. Tracking the Mountain Gorilla

465. Zambia

465. Tongabezi Safari Lodge

466. Zimbabwe

466. Hwange National Park
467. Mana Pools National Park
468. Matobo National Park
469. Victoria Falls
470. Victoria Falls Hotel and Livingstone Island

471. The Middle East

472. Israel

471. The American Colony Hotel
472. Christmas in Bethlehem
473. The Dead Sea
474. Israel Museum
475. The King David Hotel
476. Masada
477. Museum of the Diaspora
478. Old Akko
479. The Old City
480. Vered Hagalil

481. Jordan

481. Jerash
482. Petra

483. Oman

483. Al Bustan Palace Hotel
484. Nizwa
485. Old Forts Route

486. Saudi Arabia

486. Mada'in Saleh
487. Old Jeddah

488. Syria

488. The Covered Souks of Aleppo
489. Krak des Chevaliers
490. Omayyad Mosque
491. Palmyra

492. United Arab Emirates

492. Al-Ain
493. Burj Al Arab
494. The Gold Souk

495. Yemen

495. Old Sana'a
496. Shibam

497. Asia

498. East Asia

499. China

497. Classic Restaurants of Beijing
498. The Forbidden City
499. The Great Wall
500. The Hutongs of Beijing
501. The Li River
502. Hotel Intercontinental
503. Tea at the Peninsula
504. Victoria Harbour and Victoria Peak
505. Garden of the Humble Administrator
506. Shanghai Museum
507. The Terra-Cotta Warriors of Xi'an
508. The Three Gorges
509. Lhasa
510. Mount Kailas
511. Sunday Market
512. Xishuangbanna
513. West Lake

514. Japan

514. Old Kyoto
515. Walking the Nakasendo, Visiting the Tawaraya
516. Nara Koen
517. Sapporo Snow Festival
518. Climbing Mount Fuji and Restoring the Soul
519. The Park Hyatt Tokyo
520. Tsujiki Fish Market
521. Cherry Blossom Viewing

522. Mongolia

522. The Gobi Desert
523. Horseback Riding in Mongolia

524. North and Central Asia

525. Bhutan

524. Paro Festival
525. Chomolhari Trek and the Tiger's Nest

526. India

526. Palace on Wheels
527. Top Tables
528. Chapslee
529. Ladakh
530. The Backwaters of Kerala
531. The Temples of Khajuraho
532. The Cave Temples of Northern Maharashtra
533. Taj Mahal Hotel
534. Palace of Winds
535. Jaisalmer
536. Umaid Bhawan Palace
537. The Pushkar Camel Fair
538. Samode Hotels
539. The City Palace and the Lake Palace
540. Trekking in Sikkim
541. The Taj Mahal
542. The Ghats of Varanasi
543. The Marble Palace
544. The Darjeeling Highlands

545. Iran

545. The Royal Square
546. Persepolis

547. Nepal

547. Jaljale Himal
548. Durbar Square
549. Bhaktapur
550. Mount Everest
551. The Kingdom of Mustang
552. Fish Tail Lodge
553. Royal Chitwan National Park

554. Sri Lanka

554. The Galle Face Hotel
555. Esala Perahera

556. Turkey

556. The Roman Ruins of Ephesus
557. The Covered Bazaar and Cagaloglu Hamam
558. Hagia Sophia
559. Kariye Museum
560. Mosque of Suleiman the Magnificent
561. The Pera Palas
562. Topkapi Palace
563. The Whirling Dervishes of Konya
564. The Blue Voyage
565. Pamukkale
566. Cappadocia

567. Turkmenistan

567. Tolkuchka Bazaar

568. Uzbekistan

568. Old Bukhara
569. The Registan and Shah-I-Zinda

570. Southeast Asia

571. Cambodia

570. The Silver Pagoda
571. Angkor Wat

572. Indonesia

572. The Heart of Bali
573. Four Seasons Resort at Jimbaran Bay
574. Ubud and the Amandari
575. Baliem Valley
576. Borobudur and the Amanjiwo
577. Yogyakarta
578. Lombok
579. Amanwana
580. Torajaland

581. Laos

581. Wat Phou
582. Luang Prabang
583. Sailing the Mekong River

584. Malaysia

584. Sipidan Island
585. Headhunters' Trail
586. The Datai
587. Pangkor Laut Resort
588. Penang

589. Myanmar

589. Inle Lake
590. The Road to Mandalay River Cruise
591. Shwedagon Pagoda

592. Philippines

592. Banaue Rice Terraces
593. Taal Volcano
594. Amanpulo

595. Singapore

595. The Eastern & Oriental Express
596. Raffles Hotel
597. Singapore's Street Food

598. Thailand

598. Ayuthaya
599. Ancient Thai Massage
600. Chatuchak Weekend Market
601. The Grand Palace
602. The Oriental
603. The Sukhothai
604. The Hille Tribes of Northern Thailand
605. The Four Seasons Resort
606. Koh Phi Phi
607. Koh Samui
608. Phangnga Bay
609. Mae Hong Son
610. Phuket

611. Vietnam

611. Dalat
612. Halong Bay
613. Cha Ca La Vong
614. The French Quarter of Hanoi
615. Hanoi's Old Quarter
616. Pho Hoa
617. The Rex Bar and the Ben Thanh Market
618. Hoi An
619. The Mekong Delta
620. Sapa

621. Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific Islands

622. Australia and New Zealand

623. Australia

621. The Blue Mountains and Lilianfels
622. The Hunter Valley Wine Region
623. Sydney Opera House and the Harbor
624. Arnhem Land
625. Ayers Rock and the Olgas
626. Seven Spirit Bay
627. Kakadu National Park
628. The Tiwi Islands: Bathurst and Melville
629. Cape Tribulation
630. Fraser Island
631. The Great Barrier Reef and the Coral Sea
632. Hayman Island Resort
633. Heron Island
634. Lizard Island
635. Barossa Valley
636. Kangaroo Island
637. Cradle Mountain National Park and the Overland Track
638. Freycinet National Park and Freycinet Lodge
639. The Great Ocean Road
640. Cable Beach
641. El Questro Station
642. Margaret River

643. New Zealand

643. The Bay of Islands
644. Lake Taupo and Huka Lodge
645. Wharekauhau Country Estate
646. Bubbling Rotorua
647. Marlborough Wine Region
648. Grasmere Lodge
649. The Grand Traverse
650. Milford Sound and Doubtful Sound
651. Mount Cook National Park and the Tasman Glacier
652. The Home of Bungee Jumping and Jet-Boating

653. The Pacific Islands

654. Cook Islands

653. Aitutaki
654. Island Dance Festival

655. Fiji

655. Beqa Lagoon
656. Horseshoe Bay Beach
657. Moody's Namena
658. Jean-Michael Cousteau Fiji Islands Resort
659. Taveuni Island
660. Vatulele Island Resort
661. The Wakaya Club
662. The Yasawa Islands

663. French Polynesia

663. The Marquesas Islands
664. Bora Bora
665. Huahine
666. Maupiti
667. Moorea
668. Heiva I Tahiti
669. Tetiaroa Village
670. The Coral Atolls of Rangiroa

671. Micronesia

671. Chuuk Lagoon's Ghost Fleet
672. Palau
673. Yap, the Darling of Micronesia

674. Papua New Guinea

674. The Highland Sing-Sing Festival
675. Sepik River
676. Ambua Lodge

677. Tonga

677. Heilala Festival
678. Kayaking the Vava'u Islands

679. (Western) Samoa

679. Safua Hotel
680. Vailima, Robert Louis Stevenson's Home

681. The United States of America and Canada

682. The United States of America

683. Alaska

681. Mount McKinley and Denali National Park
682. Kenai Peninsula
683. The Iditarod
684. The Inside Passage and Glacier Bay

685. Arizona

685. The Boulders Resort and Golden Door Spa
686. Canyon de Chelly National Monument
687. The Grand Canyon
688. Lake Powell
689. Arizona Biltmore Resort & Spa
690. Red Rock Country
691. Canyon Ranch Health Resort

692. California

692. Death Valley National Park
693. The Golden Door
694. The Getty Center
695. Hollywood
696. Monterey Peninsula
697. The Pacific Coast Highway
698. Hotel del Coronado
699. A Tour of San Francisco's Cable Cars
700. Chez Panisse
701. California's Wine Country
702. Yosemite National Park

703. Colorado

703. Aspen
704. Home Ranch
705. Mesa Verde National Park
706. The Million Dollar Highway and the Durango and Silverton
707. Rocky Mountain National Park
708. Telluride
709. Vail

710. Connecticut

710. Essex
711. The Mark Twain House
712. Mystic Seaport
713. Litchfield Hills and the Mayflower Inn

714. Delaware

714. Winterthur Museum

715. Florida

715. Amelia Island
716. Kennedy Space Center
717. Swimming with Manatees
718. Everglades National Park
719. Key West
720. Little Palm Island
721. The Delano
722. Joe's Stone Crab
723. South Beach
724. Villa Vizcaya
725. Walt Disney World Resort
726. The Breakers
727. Sanibel and Captiva Islands

728. Georgia

728. Elizabeth on 37th
729. Mrs. Wilkes's Boarding House
730. Savannah's Historic District
731. The Golden Isles

732. Hawaii

732. Big Island
733. Kauai
734. Lanai
735. Maui
736. Oahu

737. Idaho

737. Lake Coeur d'Alene
738. Henry's Fork Lodge
739. Middle Fork of the Salmon River
740. Sun Valley Resort

741. Illinois

741. Art Institute of Chicago
742. Arun's
743. Charlie Trotter's
744. Chicago's Blues Scene
745. Frank Lloyd Wright Tour
746. Superdawg

747. Indiana

747. The Great Amish Country Auction

748. Iowa

748. Iowa State Fair

749. Kentucky

749. The Bourbon Trail
750. Bluegrass Country
751. The Kentucky Derby

752. Louisiana

752. The French Quarter
753. The New Orleans Restaurant Scene
754. Mardi Gras
755. New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival
756. Preservation Hall
757. Soniat House

758. Maine

758. Acadia National Park
759. Maine Windjammer Association
760. The White Barn Inn
761. Maine Lobster Festival

762. Maryland

762. Obrycki's
763. Chesapeake Bay

764. Massachusetts

764. The Freedom Trail
765. Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum
766. Legal Sea Foods
767. Brimfield Outdoor Antiques Show
768. Cape Cod National Seashore
769. Woodman's of Essex
770. Tanglewood Music Festival
771. Martha's Vineyard
772. Nantucket
773. Thanksgiving at Plymouth Plantation

774. Michigan

774. Mackinac Island's Grand Hotel

775. Minnesota

775. Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness

776. Mississippi

776. The Natchez Trace

777. Missouri

777. Arthur Bryant's Barbecue

778. Montana

778. Big Sky
779. The Complete Fly Fisher
780. Glacier National Park
781. Triple Creek Ranch

782. Nevada

782. Bellagio
783. The Las Vegas Strip

784. New Hampshire

784. The Balsams
785. The Lakes Region
786. Mount Washington

787. New Jersey

787. Cape May

788. New Mexico

788. Albuquerque's Balloon Fiesta
789. Route 66
790. Carlsbad Caverns National Park
791. The Cumbres & Toltec Scenic Railroad
792. Roswell
793. Inn of the Anasazi
794. The Santa Fe Opera
795. Ten Thousand Waves

796. New York

796. The Adirondacks
797. The Catskils
798. Cooperstown
799. East Hampton
800. Finger Lakes
801. Hudson Valley
802. New York City
803. Historic Downtown New York
804. Museum Mile
805. Saratoga Springs

806. North Carolina

806. The Biltmore Estate
807. Great Smoky Mountains National Park
808. The Outer Banks

809. Ohio

809. Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Music

810. Oklahoma

810. Cattlemen's Steakhouse

811. Oregon

811. The Oregon Coast
812. Oregon Shakespeare Festival
813. The Lewis and Clark Trail
814. Crater Lake National Park
815. Willamette Valley

816. Pennsylvania

816. Gettysburg National Military Park and Cemetery
817. Pennsylvania Dutch Country
818. Barnes Foundation
819. Philadelphia Flower Show
820. Philly Food
821. Independence National Historical Park

822. Rhode Island

822. Block Island
823. Cliff Walk

824. South Carolina

824. Beaufort and the Low Country
825. The Heart of Charleston
826. Low Country Cuisine
827. Spoleto Festival USA

828. South Dakota

828. The Badlands
829. The Black Hills
830. Sturgis Motorcycle Rally

831. Tennessee

831. Graceland and the Elvis Trail
832. Memphis's Rib Joints
833. Nashville's Music Scene
834. Blackberry Farm

835. Texas

835. South by Southwest
836. The Mansion on Turtle Creek
837. Hill Country
838. The Menil Collection
839. River Walk

840. Utah

840. Bryce Canyon National Park
841. Moab and Red Rock Country
842. Monument Valley
843. Park City and the Wasatch Range
844. Mormon Tabernacle Choir
845. Zion National Park

846. Vermont

846. Manchester Village
847. Northeast Kingdom
848. Shelburne Farms
849. Stowe Mountain Resort
850. Killington and Woodstock

851. Virginia

851. The Homestead
852. Monticello
853. Shenendoah Valley
854. The Inn at Little Washington
855. Colonial Williamsburg

856. Washington

856. San Juan Islands
857. Pike Place Market

858. Washington, D.C.

858. The National Mall and Its Monuments
859. The Smithsonian and Beyond

860. West Virginia

860. West Virginia's White-Water Rafting
861. The Greenbrier

862. Wisconsin

862. Apostle Islands
863. Canoe Bay
864. The American Club

865. Wyoming

865. Cheyenne Frontier Days
866. Grand Teton National Park
867. Amangani
868. Jackson Hole
869. Bitterroot Ranch
870. Yellowstone National Park

871. Canada

872. Alberta

871. Banff, Jasper, and Yoho National Parks
872. The Canadian Rockies by Train

873. British Columbia

873. The Gulf Islands and the Hastings House
874. Heli-Skiing and Heli-Hiking
875. Nimmo Bay Resort
876. Whistler-Blackcomb Ski Resort
877. Sun Yat-Sen Classical Chinese Garden
878. Tojo's and Granville Island
879. Pacific Rim National Park
880. Sooke Harbour House and the Aerie Resort
881. Stubbs Island Whale Watching
882. Royal British Columbia Museum and the Museum of Anthropology

883. Manitoba

883. Polar Bear Safari

884. New Brunswick

884. Bay of Fundy

885. Newfoundland

885. Gros Morne National Park

886. Nova Scotia

886. Cape Breton Island and the Cabot Trail

887. Ontario

887. Niagara Falls
888. Winterlude and Skating on the Rideau Canal
889. Art Gallery of Ontario
890. Four Seasons Toronto

891. Prince Edward Island

891. Prince Edward Island

892. Quebec

892. Charlevoix
893. Lake Massawippi
894. Montreal's Summer Festivals
895. Vieux Montreal
896. Mont Tremblant Resort
897. Carnaval in the Heart of New France

898. Latin America

899. Mexico and Central America

900. Mexico

898. Las Ventanas al Paraiso
899. Whale Watching in Baja
900. Na Bolom
901. Palenque
902. Copper Canyon
903. Cervantes Arts Festival
904. San Miguel de Allende
905. Acapulco Bay
906. Taxco
907. Zihuatanejo
908. Teotihuacan and the National Museum of Anthropology
909. Michoacan
910. Monarch Butterfly Migration
911. Las Mananitas
912. Oaxaca's Saturday Market and Camino Real
913. Chichen Itza
914. Maroma
915. Hacienda Katanchel
916. Cable Car Over Zacatecas
917. El Dia de Los Muertos

918. Belize

918. Barrier Reef
919. Mountain Equestrian Trails
920. Chan Chich Lodge

921. Costa Rica

921. Corcovado National Park
922. Manuel Antonio National Park
923. Chachagua Rain Forest Hotel

924. Guatemala

924. Antigua
925. Lake Atitlan
926. Tikal
927. Market at Chichicastenango

928. Honduras

928. Roatan

929. Panama

929. Panama Canal
930. Archipelago de San Blas

931. South America and Antarctica

932. Argentina

931. Alvear Palace and Recoleta Cemetery
932. La Cabana Las Lilas
933. Las Tanguerias de Buenos Aires
934. Teatro Colon and Gran Cafe Tortoni
935. Estancia La Portena
936. Estancia La Benquerencia
937. Estancia Acelain
938. Estancia Los Alamos
939. Iguaza Falls
940. Estancias Quemquemtreu and Huechahue
941. Perito Moreno and Glaciers National Park
942. Bariloche
943. El Tren a las Nubes and Estancia el Bordo de las Lanzas

944. Bolivia

944. Copacabana
945. Mercado de Hechiceria

946. Brazil

946. Expedition up the Amazon
947. Ver-o-Peso Market and La Em Casa
948. The Ariau Jungle Tower
949. Pantanal and the Caiman Ecological Refuge
950. Ouro Preto
951. Tiradentes
952. Fernando de Noronha
953. Surfing the Sand Dunes of Natal
954. Buzios
955. Parati
956. Carnaval
957. Copacabana Palace Hotel
958. New Year's Eve at Copacabana Beach
959. Corcovado
960. Ipanema Beach
961. Rodizio and Feijoada in Rio
962. Cidade Alta
963. The Festivals of Salvador

964. Chile

964. Hacienda Los Lingues
965. The Wine Roads of Chile
966. Easter Island
967. Portillo
968. Cruising the Chilean Coast
969. Torres del Paine National Park

970. Colombia

970. Gold Museum
971. Cartagena de Indias

972. Ecuador

972. Galapagos Islands
973. Sacha Lodge
974. Otavalo
975. The Riobamba Express

976. Peru

976. Monasterio de Santa Catalina
977. Cuzco
978. Manu National Park
979. The Nazca Lines
980. Lake Titicaca
981. Peruvian Amazon
982. Machu Picchu

983. Uruguay

983. Colonia del Sacramento
984. Punta del Este

985. Venezuela

985. Angel Falls
986. Islas los Roques

987. Antarctica

987. Antarctica

988. The Caribbean, Bahamas and Bermuda

989. Anguilla

988. Cap Juluca and the Malliouhana Hotel
989. Shoal Bay and Gorgeous Scilly Cay

990. Antigua

990. Antigua Sailing Week and Curtain Bluff

991. Bahamas

991. Andros Island
992. Compass Point
993. The Compleat Angler
994. Dolphin Dive
995. Pink Sands
996. Shark Rodeo at Walker's Cave

997. Barbados

997. Sandy Lane

998. Barbuda

998. K-Club

999. Bermuda

999. Golfing in Bermuda
1000. The Southshore Beaches

1001. Bonaire

1001. Bonaire Marine Park

1002. British Virgin Islands

1002. Guana Island
1003. Little Dix Bay and the Baths
1004. Necker Island
1005. Sailing the British Virgin Islands
1006. Sandcastle

1007. Cayman Islands

1007. Bloody Bay Wall and Pirate's Point Resort

1008. Cuba

1008. Cuba's Jazz Festival
1009. La Habana Vieja and the Hotel Nacional
1010. Hemingway's Hangouts

1011. Dominica

1011. Morne Trois Pitons National Park

1012. Dominican Republic

1012. Casa de Campo

1013. Grenada

1013. St. George's Harbour and Grand Anse Beach

1014. Grenadines

1014. Bequia
1015. The Cotton House and Basil's Beach Bar
1016. Petit St. Vincent
1017. Sailing the Grenadines

1018. Guadeloupe

1018. Fete des Cuisinieres and Guadeloupe's Finest Restaurants
1019. Guadeloupe's Offshore Isles

1020. Jamaica

1020. Jamaica Inn
1021. Jamaica's Reggae Festival
1022. Pork Pit
1023. Rock House and Rick's
1024. Strawberry Hill

1025. Martinique

1025. Habitation Lagrange

1026. Nevis

1026. Four Seasons Resort

1027. Puerto Rico

1027. The Horned Dorset Primavera
1028. Old San Juan
1029. Vieques

1030. Saba

1030. Saba

1031. St. Barthelemy

1031. Eden Rock
1032. Gustavia Harbour & Maya's

1033. St. Kitts

1033. The Golden Lemon
1034. Rawlins Plantation

1035. St. Lucia

1035. Anse Chastanet

1036. St. Martin

1036. La Samanna

1037. Tobago

1037. Diving With Tobago's Manta Ray

1038. Trinidad

1038. Asa Wright Nature Center and Lodge
1039. Carnival

1040. U.S. Virgin Islands

1040. Buck Island
1041. Caneel Bay
1042. Harmony Studios and the Reef Bay Trail
1043. Magens Bay Beach

the mormon lawsuit

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Nuisance lawsuits are a worldwide phenomenon. Every First World country, that is North America and the European Union, has people who would sue at the drop of a hat. Not many, but they damage the reputations of the people who really have been hurt and have no other recourse to fall back on.

For instance there are those people who have been victims of Catholic pedophile priests or a previous generation of Irish women who had been enslaved by the Magdalene nuns.. They sued. They had to sue; there was no other way  to get justice.

Those being sued would sometimes warn that if such things continued to happen, that someday, someone would sue over theology. Not the results of theology, but over the doctrine itself.

The other day, this happened. Thomas Phillips, a former Mormon Bishop, managed to get a British judge to issue a bench warrant to the President of the whole Church in Salt Lake City in order to answer to charges of fraud.  The fraud: The entire Mormon theology.

This is sort of like suing Grandma for lying about the existence of Santa Claus.

The facts in the case are this: Philips had discovered that the rumors that early Mormons, including Joseph Smith himself, were practicing polygamists were true. Shocked, he resigned his membership and started an anti-Mormon website.

Under a British law enacted in 2006 that makes false advertising illegal, Phillip managed to get Judge Elizabeth Roscoe to issue two summonses on behalf of former members who paid the church tithes, stating that if President Monson doesn’t show up on the specified date in March, a warrant will be issued for his arrest.

Few think that Monson will show up, but the judge may issue an arrest warrant. Palestinian activists had gotten a judge to issue an arrest warrant for former Israeli Minister Tzipi Livini over Operation Cast Lead in 2009, and other such actions had been taken.

But on it’s merits, the suit is based on a single accusation: Monson and the top leadership of the Mormon Church are a bunch of lying Atheists. They always knew that there were no golden plates, Jesus never came to America, and there is NO Mrs. God.

Now this actually plays into the Church’s hands. They are in a perverse way proud of the fact that they were persecuted in the early to middle 19^th century, and this is just another example of what they’ve been telling their membership for nearly 180 years.

I think Monson should call Phillips’ bluff. The bench warrant names him as a representative of an organization, so on March 14^th, he could legally just send a lawyer. If the judge issues an arrest warrant anyway, they could play the persecution card.

They could do it NOW. The fraud charge is CRIMINAL offense, and is technically brought on behalf of he Queen who, among other things, is the Head of the Anglican Communion.  The head of one church suing another for fraud!!! It’s a win/win situation! For the Latter Day Saints!!!!

Even if there were a trial, it would be great publicity for the LDS. I hope they let it go on.

2013 Toronto Film Festival, part 2

With only three tickets left and hundreds of films to choose from, I was in a quandary.   What to see? Well, there was a panel discussion called “Class of 2013: New Canadians Directors to Watch, around noonish, which the home office had  sent me an invte for and  they kind of wanted me to go, so I had to work around that.

So looking at the schedule, I had to find something that wouldn’t conflict, and after discovering that 12/12/12 hade been postponed for my convenience, I found a harmless enough romantic comedy called The Right Kind of Wrong, directed by Jeremiah S. Chechik, and starring Ryan Kwanten  as Leo Palamino, who’s backstory is ripped off from Woody Allen’s Manhattan. Leo, a failed writer turned dishwasher falls in love with Colette (Sara Canningon) the day of her wedding - to another man, the seemingly perfect but demonstrably evil Danny Hart (Ryan McPartlin).

Y’all out there in Internet land know how this thing ends. This sort of thing has been done before dozens of times. However there is some snappy dialogue and the scenery (Jasper National Park in the Canadian Rockies) is totally spectacular.  It’s almost worth the price of a ticket to see that alone.

So with that bit of fluff over, I headed to the Filmmakers’ Lounge at the Hyatt Regency Hotel for that panel discussion. ..

Throwing temper tantrums usually end in one of two ways, victory or jail. I had the invite on my hard drive. I showed it to them as well as my credentials, but since my creds were of the third rate variety, they wouldn’t let me in. I argued, I cajoled, I tried to call  the people inside (damn you Virgin Mobile!)  and it looked like it was getting hairy (and late, it had started) when  divine providence intervened.. One of the people who were hosting the thing was just walking by and heard me raising my voice at the security guard.

They weren’t very happy, but I was.

I was then treated to the final fifteen minutes of how to get a grant from the Canadian Film Board. That’s socialism for you. Down here we get to go to banks and have to pay all the money back.  One of the directors was one of the most beautiful women I’ve seen all year, and the rest looked like me. Oh well…

When that was over, I found out where the free soda was before heading back to the multiplex to see the next film. A Buffy parody called All Cheerleaders Die, which wasn’t nearly as bad as it sounds. Okay, it WAS, but nearly not exactly, which is what makes the Midnight Madness section of the festival the best part.

Now comes the logistics part. The home office had sent me an invite to a regular screening of a documentary called Mission: Congo, which was one of the most important films of the entire festival, but more on that later.  First I had to sneak in.

Now you may be wondering why I had to sneak in if I already had an invitation…well, this was a regular screening, which meant that without the right creds, I couldn’t just hang around the area and tell them I was on the list. So I had to sneak around and find who and where the publicists were and get a hard ticket. This was harder than it sounded. First off, they weren’t there just yet, and when they got there, they didn’t have my ticket.  They called their people back at the office and yes, I was on the list and someone somewhere hat the ticket.  UG. Happy ending: just as the lights were going out, they found the damn thing and I got in.

Lara Zizic and David Turner's engrossing documentary lays a well-deserved sucker punch on Televangelist Pat Robertson. It seems this thieving shit conned millions of people into financing his Congo diamond mines by disguising it as aide for the victims of the Rwanda genocide back in 1994.

The film reports that Robertson’s “Operation Blessing” is still soliciting donations to operate Congo hospitals and schools never actually built, Disgusting.

Robertson threatened a lawsuit. I don’t know whether or not he will….

So there was one more ticket left. I wanted to see Gravity, but it started too late. So , instead I took in Peter Landesman’s Parkland, which played out as an episode of  Law and Order: JFK. The acting was fine. There was nothing wrong with the film per se, but this story has been done over and over and over again so much, that it feels like it’s sleepwalking. True, it’s about the ordinary people who somehow got caught up it the whole thing , like Oswald’s brother(James Badge Dale) or the doctors at the Parkland hospital emergency room. The Kennedys, LBJ and Oswald seem to be totally out of place in their own story.  I expect it’ll come and go without much of a trace.

With that over, and the Festival barely started, I went back to my hotel, got my stuff, and left Canada.  Maybe next year, I’ll get to do it right.