No sand, no problem. In the big cities, they bring the beach to you.
By Associated Press
Published July 3, 2005
Stuck on where to take vacation? Are you desperate enough to take advice from The Lonely Planet Guide to Experimental Travel ($18)? The 276-page hardcover by Rachel Anthony and Joel Henry just might get you out of your rut. Or provide a chuckle.
Vacationers heading to European capitals this summer for museums, culture and fine dining can squeeze in an afternoon at the beach without leaving the city.
Stretches of sand are being trucked in to urban riverfronts to create the feeling of a lazy day at the shore, just a seashell's throw from the buildings, shops and busy streets of Paris, Amsterdam, Brussels, Budapest, Rome and Berlin.
These sand-in-the-city installations are designed primarily for urbanites who don't have money or time for a summer holiday on the Riviera or the Baltic Sea. Several of them have been running for three or four summers now and have been a huge success, drawing thousands of city dwellers to sit in the sun in their bathing suits and dig their toes in the sand.
Bikini-clad sun worshipers and others have flocked to the Paris Plage, as the trucked-in sand along the Seine River is known in French, since it started in the summer of 2001. The Paris beach, scheduled to open again this year for a month beginning July 21, offers deck chairs, beach bars and concerts.
There is a Brazilian theme this year, complete with stretches of sand named Ipanema and Copacabana, lush greenery to conjure up visions of the Amazon, concerts of Brazilian music, a samba school and beach soccer.
In Rome, a stretch of beach called "Tiber Village" opened June 18 on the banks of the Tiber River. The beach, lying in the shadows of St. Peter's Basilica and Castel Sant'Angelo, is built with trucked-in sand and synthetic grass. Visitors have access to showers, swimming pools, deck chairs, bars and restaurants. It's scheduled to remain open until Sept. 17 and was financed by the Battelli di Roma, a company running ferries along the Tiber.
Sandbars are installed in several locations along the Spree River in Berlin. The urban beaches are open already, for their fourth season, and will remain open through September. Palm trees, boardwalks, beach chairs and cocktails add to the illusion of a seaside in the city.
An urban beach scene in Belgium's capital city called the Brussels Spa will unfold for the third summer in a row from July 22 to Aug. 21. Called Bruxelles les Bains in French and Brussel Bad in Dutch, the sandy stretch, decorated with palm trees, is not far from the city center.
Last year, 700,000 people visited the beach to attend concerts, play volleyball, walk through a bamboo forest or visit shops and restaurants.
j0987$temp$$STPT$Paper:+Date: 7/03/05+Page: 3T+Section: TRAVEL+Byline: Compiled by JANET K. KEELER+Headline: Briefs: Silly travel+
Two ideas:
- Find your hometown in the index of an atlas, roll a dice, and count down the number of entries from where you live now. Then plan a trip to whatever destination your finger hits.
- Find a classic 20th century song about a place and create an itinerary using all the spots mentioned in the lyrics - for example, "I'll take Manhattan, the Bronx and Staten Island, too," from the 1925 song Manhattan. Or use a book, movie or other work of art to plan your trip, whether it's Giverny a la Monet or The Motorcycle Diaries of Che Guevara.
U.K. MUSEUM OF THE YEAR
A Welsh mining museum called Big Pit has won a prize for the United Kingdom's "Museum of the Year."
Big Pit is a real coal mine where visitors descend 300 feet underground for a tour led by a retired miner. It is part of the Blaenafon Industrial Landscape, a UNESCO-designated World Heritage Site for its role in the development of Britain's Industrial Revolution.
To get there from London, take a 90-minute train ride from Paddington to the Welsh city of Newport, and then a bus from Newport to Big Pit, about 15 miles away. Entry is free. For more information, go to www.wales-underground.org.uk/pit
TAJ AT NIGHT
When India threw open the Taj Mahal to visitors at night, expectations were that ticket counters would be overrun by tourists eager to see the monument in the moonlight.
But tourists have been kept away by a combination of poor visibility from the viewing platform and bureaucratic hurdles to get tickets. According to figures published by the Archaeological Survey of India, only 3,233 visitors have gone at night in the six months since moonlit viewing began - about a quarter of the number permitted.
Those who have gone at night have complained about the three levels of security and poor visibility. The viewing platform is about 300 yards from the monument, and on foggy winter nights all that visitors can make out is a hazy white structure looming ahead.
SHOPPING TRIPS
Attention, outlet shoppers! The premiere issue of Weekend magazine, a new Hearst publication, lists eight outlet malls worth traveling to, many of which have "Shop & Stay" packages in conjunction with local hotels.
They are Woodbury Common Premium Outlets, about an hour north of New York City; Wrentham Village Premium Outlets, 35 minutes south of Boston; Orlando Premium Outlets, five minutes from Walt Disney World; Opry Mills, 15 minutes from Nashville; Grapevine Mills, 25 minutes from Dallas; Las Vegas Premium Outlets, five minutes from the Las Vegas Strip; Gilroy Premium Outlets, 40 minutes south of San Jose, Calif.; and Desert Hills Premium Outlets, 20 minutes from Palm Springs, Calif.
EUROPE GUIDE
If you're heading to Europe for the first time and feel overwhelmed by trip-planning details, a new book from Rough Guides called First-Time Europe might help.
The $14.99 paperback by Doug Lansky is especially useful for students heading off for several weeks or months and for anyone veering off from the standard itinerary of Western European capitals.
PACKABLE CONVENIENCE
The Packable Jacket, by Dickies, is a water-resistant nylon jacket that can be folded into its own pouch. It has sturdy zippers and a hood that's hidden in the zippered collar. When it's stuffed into the pocket/bag, there are two belt loops on the back and a snap hook for easy carrying. It comes in navy, black, royal blue, in sizes from men's small to 5X. The medium is comparable to a women's large. Available for $24.99 at toll-free 1-866-411-1502 or from www.dickies.com
