The Coming of the Black Christ
The Feast of the Black Nazarene is traditionally held on January 9 in Quiapo, a district of Manila. This year 2.6 million people gathered along the procession route hoping to touch the Black Nazarene and be cured of their sickness or be blessed with good luck and perhaps other miracles. [...]
Archive for April, 2008
Las Vegas: UnNatural Relations in Las Vegas I
Posted in Las Vegas, Luxury Travel, Ski, St. Anton, Travel, tagged Gambling, Las Vegas, Travel, Wynn Resorts on April 6, 2008 | 1 Comment »
I flew into Las Vegas last week. It was my third visit to Las Vegas in the last 12 months and each time I arrive at the McCarran Airport, I immediately sense that there is something “unnatural” about Las Vegas. Something about it just doesn’t feel quite right. And I am not really [...]
Las Vegas: Un-Natural Relations II
Posted in Las Vegas, Luxury Travel, tagged Early History Las Vegas, Gambling, Las Vegas, Luxury Travel, Travel, Wynn on April 4, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
By the early 1940s, downtown Las Vegas had several luxury hotels and a dozen small but successful gambling clubs. In 1941, a businessman by the name of Thomas Hull, who owned a string of motor inns in California, decided to open the El Rancho Las Vegas, just outside the city limits right off the [...]
Sankt Anton am Arlberg
Posted in Luxury Travel, Ski, tagged Austria, Luxury Travel, Ski, skiing, St. Anton, Tyrol on April 3, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
Continual War, Dynastic Conflict and the Occasional Tourist…..
Sankt Anton am Arlberg is a village in Tyrol, Western Austria, with a population of c. 2,800 in the summer and around 20,000 in the winter. The dramatic influx of residents is due to St. Anton’s prominence as a ski resort. Situated at 1,304 m above sea level [...]
Hannover: The Abridged History
Posted in Germany, Hannover, Travel, tagged Germany, Hannover, King George, Travel on April 3, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
Glories Past…..The Issue of Self Esteem
The town of Hannover was founded sometime in the early Middle Ages as a small rural settlement on the high banks of the River Leine. Almost 1400 years later, It retains its original character, at least in the minds of its residents.
When I first announced to my German friends that we [...]
Weihnachtsmarkt
Posted in Germany, Luxury Travel, tagged Christmas, Christmas Market, Germany, Travel on April 3, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
The 4000 Pound Fruit Cake….
One of the pleasant surprises of the last year has been the discovery that there is no other place in the world that celebrates the Christmas holiday season quite like Germany. The country’s traditions date back to the middle ages, including its colorful Christmas markets (“Weihnachtsmarkt”) which turn its towns [...]
