Video game exhibition coming to the Smithsonian American Art Museum

by Melanie Renzulli on

Gamers: put “World of Warcraft” on pause, lay down your controllers, and take note. Beginning on March 16, the Smithsonian American Art Museum in Washington, DC, will open the first major exhibition of video games. The Art of Video Games will show how video games as an artistic medium have evolved over the past 40 years and will feature 80 games, all of which were chosen in a public vote in 2011.

The 80 games on display will be organized according to their game systems, of which there are 20 types, from Atari to to XBox 360, Nintendo Wii, and Sony PlayStation 3. Prepare to be sent into a fit of nostalgia while viewing early favorites, like Pac-Man, Space Invaders, and Donkey Kong (alas, no Frogger). Or, just browse in amazement at how far video graphics have evolved with each iteration of Super Mario. The exhibit features four Super Mario versions: Super Mario Brothers 3, Super Mario World, Super Mario 64, and Super Mario Galaxy 2.

The best part about the The Art of Video Games is that visitors will have a chance to play five of the games. Pac-Man, Super Mario Brothers, The Secret of Monkey Island, Myst, and Flower will all be featured in the museum arcade, giving anyone the chance to try out these vintage games or rack up a new high score.

The Art of Video Games kicks off with three days of GameFest, a weekend in which visitors can meet video game pioneers, artists, and designers. The exhibition runs from March 16-September 30, 2012, before moving on to the Boca Raton Museum of Art in October.

Image Flickr/zooboing

Secret supper prohibition-era restaurant pops up in Vancouver, Canada

by Jessica Festa on

For three evenings only, Swallow Tail Canada will once again be hosting their Secret Supper Soiree in Vancouver, British Columbia, in Canada. While guests can expect a classy 1930’s-inspired underground bar, murder mysteries, transportation in a timeless double decker bus, and tastings of wines that are not available on the market, they will not know the location of the speakeasy until the night of the event.

The creators of the prohibition-era pop-up event are telling guests to meet at Pacific Central Station and from there will be picked up and taken backwards in time. To make the event more realistic, participants are also being asked to wear their fanciest speakeasy attire. Once at the secret location, a five-course tasting menu by Chef Andrea Carlson of Bishops as well as one Pims Cup and three wine tastings from local wineries will be offered.

Says Chef, Sommelier, and Owner of Swallow Tail Canada, Robin Kort, “I used to be a swing dancer, so I’m really enamored by the 1930s and that whole speakeasy era. It embodies what Swallow Tail is, too. It’s underground, exclusive, and secret. I like that vibe.”

Dates for the event are January 21, January 28, and February 4 at 4PM. Click here to purchase tickets.

10 free things to do in Paris, France

by Jessica Festa on

While Paris, France, is not typically thought of as a budget travel destination, with some research and planning it is possible to visit the The City of Lights without spending a fortune. Just add some of these free and fun activities to your itinerary to help you save cash while still exploring the city.

Take a walking tour of the city

While most tours charge a fortune to show you the sites and give you historical background, SANDEMAN’s NEW Paris tours are not only free but also fun. They run on the idea that their tours are so worthwhile that your tip will be enough to sustain the program. I took a tour with them when I was in Paris and our comedic yet knowledgeable guide had the entire group laughing the entire time. And at the end, he invited us to go out with him that night to see where the locals drank. Walking tours depart daily at 11AM and 1PM from the fountain on Place St Michel.Learn something new at a the Musée Carnavalet

The Musée Carnavalet is one of the many free museums in Paris and is one of the best museums for learning the history of the city from its birth to its present through exhibits, art, furnishings, artifacts, recreations, photographs, and letters as you learn about the French Revolution, Voltaire, Rousseau, death by the guillotine, 20th century paintings, and more. The museum’s structure itself is also historical as the museum resides within two mansions, one from the 11th century and one from the 17th century. Some other notable free museums include the:

  • Maison de Balzac- Museum dedicated to the French novelist Honoré de Balzac who produced works like “La Comédie humaine”, “An Episode of Terror”, and “Vautrin” in the mid-1800’s. The museum is actually housed in his former residence.
  • Petit Palais– A fine arts museum with a range of exhibits like The Eastern Christian World, Paris 1900, Renaissance, Graphic Arts, and The Classical World, to name a few.
  • Musée d’Art Moderne– Modern art museum that houses works from the 20th and 21st centuries from artists like Pablo Picasso, Juan Gris, Henri Matisse, and Pierre Bonnard.
  • The Louvre– While this famous and overwhelmingly large museum isn’t free everyday, it is always free on the first Sunday of each month.

Hear live music and get a bird’s eye view of the city at Sacré-Coeur

Sacré-Coeur is my absolutely favorite spot in Paris and sits on top of a giant hill. I love going there at sunset with a picnic and a bottle of wine and enjoying an all-encompassing view of the entire city. The area is named after the Basilica of the Sacred Heart, which is a Roman Catholic Church that you can go inside and explore. You can also stroll around the church and visit little shops and small parks. The best part about the area, however, is the live music. There always seems to be a talented singer or musician playing for tips with a big crowd of people gathered around, sitting on the steps near the church, listening to music and sipping their drinks. It’s a really laid-back yet social atmosphere.

Do the Avenue des Champs-Èlysées stroll

This famous walk will allow you to see the many different sides of Paris all in one stroll, as there are bars, clubs, restaurants, theaters, monuments, landmarks, and tons of upscale shopping venues like Cartier, Louis Vuitton, and Hugo Boss (okay, so buying diamonds and designer clothing isn’t free…but browsing is!). You will also see the Arc de Triomphe, where you can get a great view of Paris as well as visit the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, the Grand Palais, a historical palace and museum, and the Place de la Concorde, a huge square with monuments, fountains, and French architecture.

Get spiritual at the Notre Dame Cathedral

The Notre Dame Cathedral is a Roman Catholic church designed in a stunning French Gothic style that is not only a place the spiritual will enjoy, but also the artistic, with 17th century paintings, a Virgin with Child sculpture, beautiful church bells and organs, intricate stained-glasses windows, and a trippy 360 degree panoramic view when you look up. The cathedral also plays the important role of housing the official chair of the Archibishop of Paris, which is currently André Vingt-Trois. It is open Monday-Friday, 8AM-6:45PM, and Saturday-Sunday, 8AM-7:15PM, and is always free of charge to enter. You can also take a look at their service times as well as times for free guided tours organized by language preference by clicking here.

Spend time outdoors in the city’s many parks and gardens

Paris is home to many beautiful parks and gardens where you can spend hours just relaxing and taking in nature. My absolutely favorite outdoor garden area to visit is the Luxembourg Gardens, which was once only open to members of royalty but is now open to everyone, regardless of class. They are formal gardens that are extremely well-manicured and peaceful with statues, fountains, and a large pond known as the Grand Bassin. There are also a lot of activities that go on in the park, like puppet shows, live music, toy boat races, chess games, and Tai Chi. The Tuileries Gardens, which is also a formal and immaculate park that was once owned by royalty, is also a favorite of mine to visit. If you’re there in the summer, there is an annual amusement park held there annually. To change it up a bit, I’d also vote the Jardin des Plantes as one of the best parks in Paris, as it is a bit more sprawling and unkept, in a natural way, with tons of tropical plants, irises, climbing plants, roses, medicinal plants, and more. It is also the site of the Muséum national d’Histoire naturelle (Natural History Museum), a zoo, and an aquarium.

Picnic at the Eiffel Tower

No trip to Paris would be complete without a trip to this iconic landmark. When I was in Paris I visited the Eiffel Tower both during the day and at night, and I would definitely recommend buying a bottle of wine and some picnic supplies and heading over there after the sun goes down. It’s a lot more striking at night when it’s all lit up, and every hour a light show occurs where thousands of flash bulbs start going off, which is a pretty mesmerizing sight to see.

Take in the music scene

There are many venues in Paris that offer great music free of charge. If you like dramatic organ music, visit Saint-Eustache Church at 5:30 on Sundays. You can also enjoy free classical music concerts put on by students at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Paris. Moreover, certain nightclubs like L’Opa (live bands on Tuesdays and Thursdays), Le Régine, and Le Showcase are usually free to enter and offer more upbeat musical fare. Another option is to show up to a free concert put on by Radio France (arrive an hour beforehand). Click here for a schedule.

Sample wines at Taillevent

Taillevent in Paris is well known for its superb wine selection, and every Saturday from 10AM to 5PM in their wine cellar guests can sample vinos in a tasting led by sommelier Brice Mancelet. Each week is a different theme and visitors will also get 10% off the purchase of a bottle of wine.

Nosh on couscous

Couscous is a popular bar food in Paris, and there are a variety of venues that offer the food free of charge. Le Grenier is the most popular; a laid-back jazz and manouche club that offers complimentary couscous with the purchase of a drink on Saturdays. La Chope du Château Rouge is another option as it serves free couscous Friday and Saturday nights after 9 PM to drinking patrons. If you’re out on a Thursday (or Saturday), head to La Cordonnerie, where they serve the delicious dish free from 8PM on.

[all photos via Jessie on a Journey aside for the glass of wine, which is by Davide Restivo]

Bowermaster’s Adventures: Deception Island, Antarctica

by Jon Bowermaster on

Deception Island, Antarctica — The black volcanic sand beach carries a heavy history, of an efficient if somewhat desperate past, in evidence from the cemetery where British whalers are buried to the abandoned and rusted pumps and storage tanks that line the shore, once filled with the oil of thousands of whales killed here each during a 25 year run.

From 1904 to 1931 this bay was home to one of the Southern Ocean’s boomtowns. As many as 15 big processing boats and another 35 “catcher” boats worked this beach at one time, most from Norway and the U.K.

With a sun rare for this island south of the South Shetlands lighting up the beach we moved up and down it, not with giant tools for skinning whales but giant cameras for documenting the falling down boomtown. Rusting tanks that once held whale oil, collapsed dormitories that once housed men and wooden whaleboats buried up to their gunnels by blown sand are the subject. It is rare today that a whale ventures into the caldera, but just before entering through Neptune’s Bellows a trio of humpbacks had blown in the near-distance.

One thing we know for certain is that the sun won’t last. My hope is to make a landing the next day on the exterior of the island, at a beach known as Baily Head. Though it is just around the corner from the interior of the caldera, and we could hike to it in two hours, the preference would be to land by Zodiac on its steep beach.

How steep? It typically shuts out three of four attempts … and those are in big robust, hard-bottomed Zodiacs, not the more pliable nine-footer we will use.

Dump the Zodiac as we land here, and there goes the film, on Day 2.It’s the confidence of my Kiwi compatriot Graham Charles, who knows the coastline of the Peninsula as well as anyone, that is our ace in the hole. Sent to scout the beach just after 7 a.m. he returned with a thumbs up — or maybe it was a shrug of the shoulders, it’s hard to tell when we’re all dressed in six layers — but his message was that right now, it was calm enough to land. The worst case was that we could land by shore and have to hike ourselves and gear to the other side to get off the island.

One, then two and three runs were made with success and during the next two hours as we assembled the 3D camera in a growing wind on the cusp of the beach, observed by several thousand chinstrap penguins, the seas rose quickly and were soon crashing onto the shore. If we’d arrived an hour later, we’d have never been able to land.

The reason to make the effort to reach Baily Head are those thousands of chinstraps that trudge up and down in a continuous file ten to twenty abreast from high in the amphitheater behind to plunge into the cold Southern Ocean for a day of feeding. They line up on the beach, assess the surf, count the sets and then — often hesitantly, sometimes with a stutter step — dive or are swept in.

Landing for them can be even trickier; from a distance you can see them coming — 40 to 100 at a time, porpoising out of the sea, headed for the beach — and then surfing, or being slammed, onto the black sand.

Leaning into the sensitive camera to keep it upright, wrapping it in space blankets and plastic sheeting to protect it from the wet, we watch the scene for several hours in the admittedly freezing wet and cold — 32 degrees with a wet blowing wind and cold spray off the ocean.

The hike with gear to the top of the 500-foot ridge in the now-grassy and muddy bowl that is home to nearly 200,000 birds was easier than we expected and after shooting atop the beautiful ridge for several more hours, by five p.m. we were clambering down the backside towards a small black sand beach.

As we hiked down, a single file line of dutiful penguins, their bellies stuffed with fish and krill, headed back to their nests, most now featuring two fuzzy gray chicks.

Mexico’s safest destinations

by Chris Owen on

Crime in Mexico has kept travelers away from some parts of the country that are riddled with the results of drug cartel operations. Everything from murder to mass graves and the acts of brutal drug lords has caused the U.S. Department of State to issue warnings against travel south of the border. Still, there are a number of places deemed safe by a variety of sources that are worth a look if not a trip to visit.

Our first five safe places to visit come from the San Francisco Chronicle’s Five Safest Places in Mexico. At only 1.1 deaths per 100,000, the agricultural state of Tlaxcala is rated as Mexico’s safest state followed by the Yucatán at 1.3 that has a well-developed tourist infrastructure and thousands of archaeological sites.

Up next is Puebla at 1.85 with 2,600 historic buildings, a wealth of archaeological sites, and virtually nonstop festivals originating in five distinct pre-hispanic cultures ahead of the small state of Querétaro with just 2.02 deaths per 100,000. Best-known for its role in ending Spanish rule, the state also claims three of Mexico’s major wineries and maintains a Cheese and Wine Museum.

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Renewed Baja California Sur, sfgate tells us, was the first flash point when President Calderón upset the drug cartels’ equilibrium and has been barely touched by drug violence. Adventure travelers will find hiking, kayaking, surfing and windsurfing, zip-lines, cave paintings and hot springs here.Tapping Lonely Planet for more safe places to visit in Mexico we find Mexico City, now cleaned up to be a ‘Disney version’ of its former gritty self, Todos Santos where “well-heeled New Mexico artists, organic farmers and even some Hollywood types have snapped up property and put down roots” and San Miguel de Allende where regular festivals, fireworks and parades dominate the local scene.

  “If it’s resorts you want,” says Lonely Planet, Huatulco is a rare success story in recent resort development. This former fishing village has become the Oaxacan beach resort of choice lately, benefiting from its gentle development plan that keeps much of the 12 miles of sandy shoreline completely unspoiled and the town under six-stories high.”

Finally, rapidly growing Playa Del Carmen comes in to round out our list of ten safe places to visit in Mexico. More than a day trip for cruise passengers, visitors come from all over the world in what looks to be a very safe destination, just one of the many we found in Mexico.

Flickr photo by RussBowling