Gadlinks for Wednesday 12.9.2009

by Brenda Yun on

While some of you were catching some sick rides on the slopes, these pro surfers were riding mountain-sized waves on the North Shore of Oahu at the Eddie Aikau Big Wave Invitational yesterday. Either way, I hope you all had a great start to the week. We’re in the thick of it now, and here are some cool travel stories to get you through the next few days.

‘Til tomorrow, have a great evening!

More Gadlinks here.

Gold treasure revealed

by Sean McLachlan on

Back in September we reported on an amazing find of Anglo-Saxon gold that had been discovered in England. Now some of the treasure is on display at a free exhibit at the British Museum.

The Staffordshire Hoard dates to the 7th or 8th centuries AD, a time when England was a patchwork of small Anglo-Saxon kingdoms. The Anglo-Saxons were great warriors and storytellers and made some of the most beautiful metalwork and jewelry of the early Middle Ages.

The hoard was found by a man using a metal detector and includes more than 1,500 items such as bracelets, three gold crosses, sword fittings, and other pieces of jewelry. The hoard is valued at £3.285 million ($5.35 million).

Archaeologists noticed that all of the objects would have been used by men, and think this hoard may be booty taken during one of the period’s innumerable wars. There are a large number of sword fittings that had been torn off the weapons. These swords would then be untraceable, a bit like rubbing off the serial number on a gun. Perhaps the swords of defeated enemies had been stripped of their gold and the weapons redistributed among the victors.

You can learn more about the hoard at this website, complete with some dazzling photos.

Compromise over Rosetta Stone fight?

by Sean McLachlan on

Dr. Zahi Hawass, the head of Egyptian Antiquities Council, has offered a compromise in his battle with the British Museum over the return of the Rosetta Stone.

The stone was discovered by French archaeologists in 1799 but went to the British Empire in 1801 as spoils of war after they ejected Napoleon from Egypt. It’s one of the most important of ancient Egyptian artifacts because it has the same text written in hieroglyphs, demotic (another Egyptian script), and ancient Greek. Until its discovery nobody could read ancient Egyptian, but Greek had never been forgotten. The key to unlock one of the world’s greatest civilizations had been found.

The Rosetta Stone is one of the treasures of the British Museum, but Dr. Hawass has been leading a fight to get it back. Now he’s said he’ll stop if the British Museum loans the stone to Egypt for a few months.

If it did make it back to Egypt, it would probably be displayed in Cairo’s newly revamped National Museum, a jaw-dropping collection of ancient treasures.

The Brits might want to take him up on this. Dr. Hawass has been a tireless crusader and has already gotten the Metropolitan Museum of Art to return a stolen artifact and had a similar victory with the Louvre. He’s shown he won’t give up until Egypt’s heritage is back home.

Get out and go: Events around the world (December 9-14)

by Brenda Yun on

It’s time to look at the festivals and events happening around the world, and this week has a particularly international selection of happenings. If you’re close and have time, then you have no excuse to get out and go!

  • Toronto – The Festival of Carols, a holiday tradition, will be held in Toronto this Wednesday, December 9th.
  • Oslo – The Nobel Peace Prize Ceremony will be held in Oslo Thursday, December 10th. The Nobel Peace Prize Ceremony takes place every 10th of December, the date on which Alfred Nobel died in 1896.
  • Cape Town – The Hout Bay Harbour Festival will take place in Hout Bay, Cape Town on Friday, December 11. The festival will continue until December 13.
  • St Lucia – The Festival of Lights Celebration will take place for two days in St Lucia starting this Saturday, December 12. Saint Lucians celebrate this day by going to church services, attending parades and rallies, organizing sports meetings and staging cultural presentations. December 13th is the National Day of St Lucia.
  • Auckland – Coca-Cola Christmas in the Park will take place in Auckland on Saturday, December 12 . This is a free musical event that begins at 7:30 p.m.
  • Tokyo – Gishi-sai takes place on Sunday, December 13 in Tokyo, Japan. This is a festival honoring the forty-seven loyal retainers (ronin) in Akoh, who were made popular in movies and dramas.
  • Tanjay City – The Bod-Bod Festival will take place Monday, December 14th in Tanjay City in the Philippines. The festival celebratesto the Bod-bod, a native delicacy made of glutinous rice, coconut milk, sugar and salt. The festival will continue until December 16th.

If you make it to one of these events, let us know how it was, or if you know of an even that’s coming up, please let us here at Gadling know and we’ll be sure to include it in the next “Get out and go” round-up.

Go Reindeer sledding in Russia this winter

by Katie Hammel on

Forget dog-sledding. For the ultimate winter endurance test, try reindeer sledding in Eastern Russia with Russia Discovery’s 9-night excursion into the “Pole of Cold” in Yakutia.

The tour is not for the faint of heart or those who want to be pampered. In fact, Urban Daddy calls it “the most physically demanding holiday celebration outside the Polar Bear Club”. Listed as a requirement for the tour is physical fitness and “physical and psychological resistance to the cold.” How cold? Pretty darn cold. The average temperature in January is -40C.

if you think you can brave the freezing temps, you’ll start your tour with a day in Yakutsk where you can visit the Institute of Permafrost before setting out on a 19 hour drive to Yuchugey, a settlement of reindeer herders. By day three, you’ll be practicing your hand at reindeer sledding; on day four you’ll spend 5-6 hours crossing the frozen terrain by sled and then sleeping outdoors in a 4X4 tent. Another day of sledding (in total, the sledding covers 35 miles over two days) is followed by a 20 hour drive back to Yakutsk. On day eight you can visit a husky farm and compare dog-sledding to reindeer sledding before returning to Moscow.

The tour isn’t cheap at €3560 per person, but included in the cost are all meals and accommodations, rental of all the furry outer wear required to keep you from dying of hypothermia, and the chance to feel like Santa as you glide over a snowy landscape pulled by a team of real live reindeer.