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Archive for the ‘Adventure Travel’ Category

Need to extend your time on the slopes? Tired of ski seasons that seem to be over before they begin? Looking for a new challenge on the slopes or just a new experience? Try glacier skiing – it is a great way to stretch your ski season. It should also be noted that glacier skiing is an option suitable to both cross-country and downhill skiers and is available in both Europe and North America.

One of the best places to try out glacier skiing is at Whistler Blackcomb in B.C., Canada. If you are a beginner, this probably isn’t for you. Blackcomb tailors its glacier skiing towards intermediate and advanced skiers. The glacier, weather permitting, opens in early June and shuts down by August.

On the Blackcomb glacier, one will find groomed trails, moguls and a terrain park. The glacier is accessed via two chairlifts that will take one to the base of Blackcomb. One will then be collected by  bus and driven to the glacier terrain. The 112 acres of glacier are serviced by two t-bars.

Make sure if you do decide to undertake glacier skiing that you know and understand the risks. It is an exciting form of skiing but there are hazards such as crevasses and seracs, which form where the underlying terrain is steep or broken. A serac is formed when a glacier meets a cliff or steep slope and flows over the lip. The real danger of a serac is from walking beneath one or having it cause an avalanche. As the weather warms, pieces tend to break off at random intervals. It is best to avoid routes heavy with seracs. It is also best to avoid routes that have a lot of glacial ice, as it too can bring about avalanches.

If glacier skiing is your thing, or if you want to try it out, why not book a room at the aptly named Glaciers Reach. Located in Whistler Village North, this modern town home style accommodation offers you your very own private entrance, a landscaped inner courtyard, outdoor heated pool and hot tub, and an exercise room. It is also conveniently located near all the local amenities and chair lifts. Book early, as Whistler condos end up going fast.

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“The first time I came to Italy, in Naples, I was struck by the cribs of 1700. They opened new horizons to me. I was used to the one of the Metropolitan Museum of New York, small and simple at the base of an imposing Christmas Tree.

The cribs of Naples were a real discovery to me!” Together with the crib Yvonne DiPalma – born in Philadelphia – met also the sculptor Michele Attanasio. She fell in love with him, got married and with him opened the “Paul Whistler Art Gallery”, near Sorrento.

For Christmas, in a place where everybody prepares a crib, they started to make one in the Gallery: scenarios by Michele and characters by Yvonne.

This is how it has begun, by chance, the most charming and passionate adventure of the life of this artist. In the first “Installation” there are 20 characters: sculptures representing the people of the town and famous figures.

This was the start of a thirty-year experience. Every year after that debut in 1976-77 it has had more and more success; it was an opening up of a new life.

The crib emigrated to Florence where it found in Monsignor Setti a supporter and in the Basilica of San Lorenzo a home. In the town of iris the two artists found the same enthusiasm of the first time: that miracle of a sincere participation.

After San Lorenzo, it went to Loggia Rucellai (1981), then to Rome, in the Oratory of Santa Maria in Via, then back to Florence, in the church next to the Gallery of San Jacopo Sopr’Arno (1991). In 1992 the crib by Yvonne was the set in the Theatre Parioli of the programme Maurizio Costanzo Show.

Since then, the work increased “at home” until the interlude of Christmas 1999, when it was lent to the 7th International Festival “Costruimo il Natale”, in the crypt of Santa Croce of Florence.

And now let’s know better this very special crib made of characters of about 50-centimetre height. Yvonne creates the body with iron wire, fabric and stuffing.

To be noticed that all clothes are sews one by one and represent the Neapolitan models of the 18th century. The heads and hair are in terracotta; each sculpted head is a masterpiece of refinement. All characters have the features either of people the artist has met in her life or of famous figures, among them many international politicians: the presidents of United States Nixon, Reagan, Carter, then the Russian, Italian, French, Chinese ones etc. Thirty years of history of 1900 in a crib…

Beside the human characters, there is the world of international animals: in addition to the traditional ox and donkey, there are also horses, sheep, cats, elephants, cocks, baboons, rams, kangaroos, etc… all in terracotta reproduced in the minutest details.

How many are the Crib characters now? Yvonne has stopped counting when they have been more than 200!

They have got out of control and have become alive! Indefatigable, Yvonne creates different groups and expressions, always reflecting upon life and world around us.