Arriving in Frankfurt en route to other European destinations take the time to explore Germany’s second largest city, often overlooked in favour of Berlin. Rather than just taking the transit option through Europe’s second largest airport, join the increasing number of travellers dropping into Frankfurt for a city-break or a longer stay. Stay overnight and discover treasures such as the Goethe Museum and the Old Town district.

Goethe’s House, the birthplace of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (in 1749) was destroyed in World War II and then rebuilt true to the original in 1947. It’s a fascinating insight into how a merchant’s family lived in those days, when Frankfurt was a Free Imperial City and part of the Roman Empire. The GoetheMuseum is right next door.

Try applewein and German frankfurts or sausage at one of the cafes or restaurants in the medieval Old Town Square (Romerberg), see the Romer (which has been the City Hall since 1405) and explore the nearby old Opera House, now a concert hall. Shoppers should head for Goethestrasse or Kaiserstrasse.

Frankfurt is ideal for exploring on foot and everything is within easy walking distance……continues

For a complete story and images contact the author.

Copyright story and images Karen Halabi 2008

                                                                                                                                     From village roots: Across problem-plagued Africa, a quiet revolution is taking place. Microcredit at the village level is enabling villagers to install solar panels to recharge their mobile phones. "What is going to permanently change Africa will be the iPhone", says a British educator currently resident in Malawi. "People will be connected via the Internet as never before." Other development achievements include hand-operated water pumps, which have seen a near-total eradication of cholera. Take a trip by pickup, minibus and train from northern Zambia to coastal Mozambique, and experience how life in this region of Africa is finally changing for the better. See image preview: http://www.photographersdirect.com/simmons/search.asp?lb=8978

by Sally Hammond

The showerhead is enormous – as big as a dinner plate, delivering a storm cloud of big fat droplets, pretty much like standing under a tropical waterfall. The hotel guidelines in the room rabbit on about it too, calling it a 'serious shower', and then –  and this you have to like – gives guests full permission to nick off with their toiletries. 'Do take them,' it demands. Who would refuse such an invitation?
It's not at all how you would expect an English hotel bathroom to behave.
More than 200 years ago Samuel Johnson described Bristol as so bad he wished he was in Scotland, his companion declaring himself 'by no means pleased with his inn' there. A couple of centuries later, I am very happy indeed to be in Bristol - and I like my inn as well.
In Boswell's time, when he penned that critical review, Bristol was quite a different place though: dirty, dangerous and working class, if you believe contemporary writers. At that time 'my inn' was working hard too as a sugar house, converting grimy sugar-beet tubers into glassy crystals suitable for the gentry's afternoon cuppas.

(finishes…)
Yet Bristol is more than just a city-port destination. It's the ideal hub for exploration into so many diverse areas: Wales, Cornwall, Gloucestershire and the Cotswolds are on the doorstep. Leave the city, and suddenly you are back to narrow hedged lanes, views across rumpled green velvet meadows, dark woods, or seaside villages tempting you with ice cream made from the milk of local dairy herds.
So why not stay locally in a hotel with sugar connections? Chances are you'll have sweeter memories of Bristol because of it.
 (900 words)                                                                                   

©Sally Hammond 2008

Picture Credits: Gordon Hammond    

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(finishes…)
Regardless of the always 30-something temperatures, and the steamy climate that sends people searching for pools, or forces them to chill-out in air-conditioned bars or restaurants, the visitors just keep coming to Singapore. And what do they do when they get there?
Well, they happily stay with the Ss. They sightsee, stay in one of the country's hundred hotels (a thirty percent increase in the past three years) and shop, adding  yet another 's' – spending. Singapore's statistics tell us that over seven million tourists from around the world visit Singapore every year and they can expect to exchange quite a bit of currency during their average 3.3-day stay.
Whichever way you look at it, that's plenty of S$s – and Ss.
©Sally Hammond 2007

See additional images: http://www.photographersdirect.com/simmons/search.asp?lb=8329

When the Shanghai stockmarket shakes, world economies wobble. As China prepares to host the Olympic Games in 2008, Karen Halabi goes to Shanghai to investigate the changes that have taken place in a country that remains as inscrutable as ever, as it emerges as the world’s foremost economic superpower.

When the rest of the world peers into China from its lounge rooms next year ………

©Karen Halabi 2007 words and images.

Story runs to 2,400 words as an in-depth feature and socio-economic analysis of China today as it prepares for the Games. Pics available.

"Generation Y", also known as "Millennials," "Generation Next," the "Echo Boom," or the "Digital Generation", were born (depending on who you talk to) between 1978 and 1994, which means they’ve not yet hit 30. And while often seen as a marketer’s dream, Generation Y is proving even harder to reach than Generation X, simply because they’re at saturation point – creating a real challenge for tourism operators wanting to access this younger market segment.

Add to that, the planned Dubai Metro has been expanded in size and concept to four lines and 320km, from an originally-planned two lines and just 70 km of track. Construction work has already begun on the first two lines, which should be completed by 2009, to coincide with the scheduled opening of a new light rail system. 

One of the special things about Budapest is the prevalence of thermal springs right in the centre of the city; around 120 springs and boreholes supply the city’s spas and baths with more than 15  million gallons of water daily, ranging in temperature from 21-78°degrees C.

Along the Danube, at the meeting point of the Buda Hills and the Great Plain, a geological fault causes thermal springs to bubble to the surface. This beneficial feature of the area was recognised very early by the people who settled down here. The Celtic tribes, which inhabited the region in the 1st century, named it "ak-luk", which means abundant water. The Romans called the province Aquincum, (aqua also means water) and 14 Roman baths have been excavated in the Buda area.  The Hungarians quickly discovered the medicinal effects of the water and took advantage of them. 

The palatial Gellért Spa is one of the best known and most favoured among the thermal baths of Budapest. Part of the art nouveau style Hotel Gellért, which was built in 1918, it is full of Roman style columns and elaborate mosaics including a gold dome and other oriental decoration. During the Turkish occupation of Hungary in the 15th century a bath house was built on this spot.

Most of Budapest’s thermal baths are reminiscent of Turkish mosques or Roman temples, with indoor baths, swimming pool and an open-air section. The thermal water is said to cure nervous system problems, respiratory diseases and locomotor disorders. However visitors and Hungarians alike crowd into these social gathering spots to relax, take the waters and soak up the atmosphere. You can even endure a massage with a masseuse who looks like a former in the Communist army. Then jump from the hot water to the freezing cold shower and after, the steam room; just the thing to make you feel like an invincible Roman or Turk.

Definitely worth a visit, but be sure to follow it up with a stop at the legendary olde-worlde Hungarian café Gerbaud’s for some of their wonderful Hungarian style chocolate torte….

Copyright ©Karen Halabi 2007 Story and images

• Article can be tailored to editorial requirements.
• Images of Budapest and its spas available on request from author.