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Rome has its share in international fairs. It has a big fair center which hosts important events and trade shows that take place all year round. Today I’ll give you a short hint about the New Rome fair which is Situated near Fiumicino village, a place just outside the city and very near to the Leonardo da Vinci Airport (Rome’s most important international airport). The New Rome Fair is so called because it has been there only for a couple of years. It has been renewed and inaugurated on April 21st, 2006. Although it is not yet completed, the New Rome Fair was designed to function in a futuristic and oversized environment. When you visit it nowadays, you can see hundreds of pavilions, elevators and escalators which are all made of steel, crystal and modern recyclable building materials. Also, the fair has conference centers with big halls and more than a dozen of restaurants extending throughout a total surface of 920,000 square meters. The New Rome fair hosts many events and exhibitions, acting as a link between services and customers. The events and exhibitions are not confined to one field of business, they vary between IT, high-tech, tourism, home-living, food, automotive, etc. The most important events yearly showing into the New Rome Fair are: Casa Idea, Moa Casa, Globe2010, Big Blu, Eudi Show, The famous exhibitions of interior decoration and furnishings. Arti & Mestieri Expo This is dedicated to all handicraft lovers who take it as a job or a hobby.

While I was surfing the net, I found a strange story that happened to a man visiting New York for the first time. It all started when he arrived at the JFK New York Airport (one of the 3 found in NY) yet I don’t think it’s a Kennedy curse! It can just happen to anyone visiting a new place..

Anyway..

He said he arrived at JFK (That’s short for Kennedy Airport) at around 1:30 p.m., and after the usual long airports procedures he and his friends were out at last.  Reaching for the transportation desk (where they could find some guiding about places and stuff) a man stopped them and asked if they need a taxi (New York yellow cabs) , and they said no because they were expecting a ride from the previously-booked famous tourism company. After a while, another man came and asked them the same question, they then told him what they were expecting and mentioned the company name.

For their surprise, the man took out a card with the company name and some details underneath, and asked them to follow him to the park. The tourist felt a little uneasy about it, specially that a professional company driver won’t start asking about their taxi  in New York needs rather than their target company!

More strangely, when they reached the park they found a car awaiting them not a bus! This was the time that the tourist insisted to see an ID card of the claimed driver, the thing which the claimed driver refused to do for reasons they couldn’t buy. So they apologized to him and went back to the desk where they found a large sign explaining how legal it is to offer a taxi ride in this area (where the desk is)!

I can’t really expect what could have happened if they went on with that guy, but it’s good to warn everybody visiting New York  about this I guess. You can always find a trustable guide at the transportation desk, unless you’ll have someone to pick you up!

The wonder nestles in the center of Wien and can be spotted from anywhere owing to its colorful and scintillating beauty. The vast expanse of the palace of Hofburg in Wien is another ethnic piece of architectural excellence. As you travel through the palace, which is a small town in itself, you will find the office of the Austrian president, an international conference centre, a number of museums, the chapel where the Wien Boys’ Choir sings and the hall in which the Lipizzan stallions perform. You would love to take your family to this rather new museum of The Sisi Museum which was opened on the diamond jubilee of the wedding of Empress Elisabeth and Emperor Franz Joseph. One cannot afford to miss the Leopold Museum in Wien, a must for anyone interested in Austrian art.

Austria is not only this much. You will know more once you tour the place yourself. The exciting fun in this city of art awaits your presence heartily. Happy journey!

The Emperor Alexander I of Russia visited Berlin in 1805: in honor of his visit we the Berliners named one square of their city Alexanderplatz. Once a cattle market, Alexanderplatz became a major commercial centre with a public market at the end of the XIX century.
During the 1960s Alexanderplatz was enlarged as part of the German Democratic Republic projects. After the reunification the surrounding buildings underwent a consistent renovation that is still ongoing.
In 2007, the Alexa shopping mall with some 180 stores was inaugurated.
In Alexanderplatz area we also find some historic buildings such as the Red City hall (Rotes Rathaus), traditional seat of Berlin government.

gothic

The Iglesia de los Jerònimos is the oldest of Madrid’s religious monuments that was built in far 1505. This Gothic style church was a place of prayer and spiritual retreats for Spanish kings and it was the site of royal weddings until King Alfonso XIII married Queen Victoria in 1878. Oaths and royal funerals also take place inside Iglesia de los Jerònimos.

Assuming this is the first visit to NYC you must do some of the most common but worth to do activities such as:

1)      Museum of Natural history

2)      Emipre State Building

I also suggest a walk through the streets of SOHO for some shopping or maybe just window shopping. While here you can stop for lunch or dinner either at Il Barolo  or at I tre Merli  on the same avenue West Broadway and same owner. Down the avenue there is also Cipriani Downtown location  If you are in the mood for a simple Panini sandwich you can look for Café Borgia off of West Broadway on Spring Street.

Speaking of Cipriani you should book one night the Rainbow Grill (same link above) at Rockfeller Center where you can enjoy a beautiful view on Manhattan.

Manhattan has to offer great views also at the Hotel Marriott Grand Marquis at Times Square here there is “The View” Bar and restaurant you can go here for a drink, the bar rotates around the building and you get to enjoy a 360 degrees view of New York.

Also not to be missed if the weather allows, at 59th street and 5th ave the Peninsula hotel offers a rooftop garden bar which is elegant  and offers a different view in fact you can see the stylish fifth avenue from the top, nice atmosphere worth a drink .

One night you can book the World Yacht dinner cruise http://www.worldyacht.com/ which certainly is a different way of dining and enjoying the view of Manhattan from the water.

Last week we took some friends from Italy to a Brazilian restaurant http://churrascariaplataforma.com/ it was great nice atmosphere excellent food but you must love meat!

Speaking of meat a steak house is a must and I can suggest Gallagher’s  http://www.gallaghersnysteakhouse.com/index.asp

To end the night if you have energy and like to walk you can cross the Brooklyn Bridge on foot, something different and absolutely unique views here some info http://www.nyctourist.com/bridge2.htm Actually this can be done during the also but I only walked over the bridge at night and New York at night has a unique charm.

Bordering Hyde Park and Kensington Gardens, Bayswater, a most cosmopolitan area with one of London hotels highest concentration, houses today diverse populations, from Arabs, to Greeks, Brazilians, Americans and a substantial local population. Georgian stucco terraces and garden squares build up the biggest part of this London area. In the area, which once belonged to the Westminster Abbey, there were springs of excellent water supplied to a place called Baynard Watering. This is probbaly the origin of Bayswater in London, an abbreviation of the watering place.

Of all the places in the world that you can visit few are as diverse and exciting as Los Angeles, California. Los Angeles is the second largest city in the United States and it is home to a very diverse population. From Hollywood, the center of the worldwide motion picture industry, to the world famous beaches there is something for everyone. Founded in 1781, the 12.8 million Angeleños speak an estimated 224 different languages, and come from all over the globe. Very few places in the world offer the variety and the possibilities of Los Angeles. Four star hotels in Los Angeles include the well known Four Seasons of Beverly Hills, Bonaventure Hotel, and of course the Biltmore. Stay for a night or a week and experience a whole new world.

Wenceslas Square is probably one of the most significant sights in the city of Prague. In the Middle Ages this huge rectangular shaped square was a horse market of Prague’s New Town, during the centuries though the importance of the square grew solidly and it became the most important place for gatherings and demonstrations. Since 1848 the square was renamed after the Patron Saint of Prague. It was in this square that the declaration of independence of Czechoslovakia was read in 1918, it was here that in 1969 the 21 years old student Jan Palach set himself on fire to demonstrate against the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia. At the southern border of the square you will find the National Art Gallery and, in the square itself, you will find a statue of Saint Wenceslas and a memorial to Jan Palach.

Athens, althoug it became the capital of Greece only in 1834, the goddess of wisdom Athena (daughter of all-powerful Zeus) had long since been  chosen  as the guardian of the city by the greek Gods who gathered on Olympus. The toursit visiting today the capital  still faces the hellemic history and mythology. No better place to feel this history than the Acropolis, with its panoramic view of the town and its temples dating back to the 5th century BC. Pericles, the general who had ruled Athens from 461-429 BC, had led an ambitious building program on this rocky plateau. The Parthenon thus became the heart of the ancient city and it stands now for Greece glorious past.

The traveler can only imagine  today how it looked like (something like imagining the Colosseum at its maximum splendor).

Although the most photographed monument on the Acropolis is the Erechtheion with the beautiful six stone maidens, or Caryatidis, used in place of columns,  it is on its southern slope  that Greek tragedy was born and where Aeschylus, Sophocles and Euripides had their plays performed in front of some 17000 spectators. A fairly short walk leads the tourist to the Agora, or marketplace of ancient Greece, where men like Socrates met to debate and started the foundations of western philosophy.

Mostly touristy but still requiring a walk are two of the oldest inhabited areas of the town: Plaka and Monasteraki, with their souvenir shops and boutiques. Above all in the labyrinth of Plaka narrow streets plenty of cafés, restaurants and tavernas offer some relax to the tired tourist. who can still walk to Monasteraki flea market to navigate among old books, records, coins and many other items. A suggestion: bargaining is here a must.

After a full day of sightseeing, sit down once again for an ouzo (traditional licorice-flaavoured spirit) and watch the sunset on the highest point of Athens, the Likavittos Hill. Last but not least: there is no shortage of hotels in Athens, for every budget and every taste.

As part of the Ottoman empire for almost 400 years, one cannot but have a small strong ‘Turkish’ coffeee served in any coffee shop. But if you want to jump into a variety of designer boutiques, just go to Tsakalof Street. Here again just sit down at one of it’s many trendy cafés before starting your visit to the over 100 museums in Athens, from the National Archeological Museum to the Goulandris Museum and the National Gallery of Art.

In order to get to know a captivating city like Warsaw a week-end surely is not enough; but we couldn’t stay longer. So we had to make a strict selection: what is worth seeing in Warsaw in 2 days?

Listed below you’ll find our selected sites for our first visit to the capital:

1. Warsaw Old Town with its romantic little streets going down to the Vistula River banks,  nowadays the rebuilt Old Town well deserves the status of Cultural and Natural Heritage of the World Cultural;

2. the Royal Route connecting the Royal Castle of Warsaw to the summer Residence of King Jan III Sobieski (Wilanow) with palaces, churches and sumptuous government buildings. After this walk you will know the history of the town because it is really a journey through the centuries.  The Royal Castle, for instance, was built in the 13th century and, in the course of the centuries, it provided the setting for many important historical events. Robbed and destroyed between 1939-1944, it was rebuilt around the surviving architectural structures from 1971 to1984. Or the Presidential Palace, built in the mid of the 17th century, now remodeled in a neo-classical style. Since 1994 it is the residence of the President of Poland. And still the baroque Church of the Holy Cross (1679/1696): the urn containing the heart of Chopin is walled in in its pillars;

3. the Warsaw Citadel, an imposing fortress dating back to the 19th century, one of the best preserved complexes of Poland’s military architecture;

4. The Palace of Culture and Science, still Poland’s highest building (it’s over 230 metres or 754 feet high) overlooks the town, a huge building housing over 3.000 rooms (conference rooms, exhibition areas, modern and confortable offices, practically a small town in itself);

5. The Powaski Cemetery, one of Europe’s oldest and largest necropolises (anyhow the oldest catholic cemetery in the town), created in 1790. You can see here many examples of sculptural and architectural art with important works of classicism, secession and modern art.There are also traces of the presence and cultural heritage of Jewish people who lived in Warsaw. Before World War II over 350.000 Jewish peoiple lived in Warsaw, thus making the city the second biggest Jewish community in Europe.

Make your hotel reservation in advance, you can book any Warsaw hotels, from a 5 star hotel to a quite bed and Breakfast.

This is the itinerary we have done, but much more  is still to be discovered in Warsaw. We’ll have to go there for a second visit!