Iceland & New Zealand most friendly to tourists (not Bolivia) ... Deal of the Day

Looking for a warm embrace? Try a trip to New Zealand or Iceland. But don’t even think of Bolivia or Venezuela.

A global tourism study by the World Economic Forum that ranks countries on tourism (I referred to it a few days ago as Canada was ranked eighth overall in the world) also looks at how welcoming they are to tourists. And apparently not everyone exhibits the same level of hospitality.

The study gave top scores to Iceland and New Zealand, with 6.8 marks. Next were Morocco, Macedonia, Austria and Senegal at 6.7, followed by Portugal, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Ireland and Burkina Faso at 6.6. Canada was ranked 12th, with a mark of 6.4.

Not bad. And way ahead of the UK, which came 55th, and the U.S., which ranked a dismal 102nd out of 140.

The worst was Bolivia, which was ranked 140th in the world for warm welcomes with a mark of just 4.1. Why? I haven’t a clue, although I did find it funny that the first photo I found of Bolivia in the Star's library this morning was the one at right, showing a guy at a festival south of La Paz looking like he might be ready to cold-cock a visitor from Orillia.

I went on the Internet this morning and found some nice photos. But I can't say I had much of a mental image of the place before today, except for Lake Titicaca. The mountains look kinda pretty in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. Aside from the shooting and violent deaths, I mean.

Next worst was Venezuela (maybe a new president will help) at 4.5, followed by Russia at 5.0. Rounding out the bottom ten were Kuwait, Latvia, Iran, Pakistan, the Slovak Republic, Bulgaria and Mongolia.

I’ve never been to any of those. But I did meet a guy from Bulgaria once. It was 1985, and I was a general assignment report for the Star working out of 1 Yonge St. There had been an incident about some Bulgarians being expelled from Canada, allegedly for spying. Something to do with computers.

I was dispatched forthwith to the Bulgarian consul’s office, which I recall was in a decrepit building near the old Winston’s restaurant downtown. I walked into an office that looked like a reject from the old Barney Miller TV show, with a sagging sofa and tired looking flowers and photos on the wall of burly generals in full military regalia.

It was like the Cold War was still at full throttle. I started leafing through a really horrible magazine showing sad-looking buildings in Sofia and pictures of Bulgarian peasants stomping wine grapes and smiling and doing all sorts of other delightful things that peasants do. Then I got called onto the carpet. A man who looked a lot like one of the Bulgarian generals on the wall (you know the type; one eyebrow, which you could’ve cut with a lawnmower set on high) peered menacingly at me over his desk and said in a thick, thick accent, “So, how come you never write anything good about Bulgaria.”

I was stymied. Not to mention baffled.

“Sir,” I told him. “I’ve never written ANYTHING about Bulgaria.”

I had to explain I was a general assignment person, not a seasoned European correspondent. He took it well enough and was actually fairly pleasant, as I recall. He insisted, of course, that no Bulgarian would consider spying on Canada.

And that’s my Bulgaria story.

TRANSAT REBOUND?

Transat still lost money in the last quarter. But not as much.

The Montreal-based company reported losses of $15.1 million for the final three months of 2012, which is substantial but far less than the $29.5 million they lost in the same quarter in 2011.

In a story on OpenJaw.com, chief executive Jean-Marc Eustache says the time to make money is right now.

“Tomorrow morning I plan on being profitable,” Eustache told a Montreal press conference. “Make no mistake, we will be profitable this year. If not, we have to fire the President. This is not a sustainable situation. We are not in business to lose money."

Eustache admitted that he expects Air Canada’s new leisure airline Rouge to offer new competition. "For sure there is concern. Their President (Calin Rovinescu) has said very clearly that he is going after Air Transat. This summer their capacity is negligible. And it remains to be seen how quickly the 767's are moved over from AC. But am I afraid? No. I have seen a lot of competition over the last 25 years. In fact, on one of the most competitive routes - Paris - we make money. AF (Air France) is #1. Then us. Then AC.”

Still, Canadian Press quoted one Bay Street analyst as saying the improvement was "below expectations" and that the company's "outlook remains muddled."

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A brief look around the town of Whitehorse; fun shops and a nice waterfront

WHITEHORSE - Downtown Whitehorse sits in the Yukon River valley, with towering sand cliffs on each side to give it anice definition. There’s the usual array of WalMart’s and Boston Pizza restaurants as you come into town from the airport (perhaps three minutes away) but it quickly gives way to some colourful shops and restaurants and small hotels.

There are a few t-shirt shops and souvenir places, but also some fun and interesting places, including Mac’s Fireweed Books; a great place to browse and catch up on Yukon history. Across the way on Main St. is one of the city’s true treasures, Baked. They make a huge variety of scones, including ones with cranberry and coconut and also raspberry-chocolate. I hear the cinnamon buns are terrific, and they also sell pretzels with caramel, which I don’t think I have the nerve to try.

The place is packed every morning, as they make a great cup of coffee and a wonderfully rich coffee latte, done up with the shape of a palm tree and even a small coconut. The outside seating is hugely popular when the weather’s nice.

A couple doors down is Tokyo Sushi, which is reasonably good. I guess it’s not surprising to see a couple of sushi places in town, as Whitehorse, after all, is only a two-hour drive from the Pacific Ocean. Some green veggies in the tempura would’ve been nice, instead it was shrimp and all the orange stuff they could find: carrots, sweet potato slices and squash. Not bad, and $21 for two pieces of sushi, a tempura dish and a Diet Pepsi.

It looks like it’s part of a gas station, but G and P outside of the city centre on the Alaska Highway does good Greek food and makes a pretty mean steak. Comes with salad, veggies, roast potatoes and mushrooms for $32. Take that, Ruth’s Chris.

I thought my Rib Tickler portion was fairly skimpy at lunch, but Klondike Ribs and Salmon BBQ is a fun spot with lots of crazy stuff hanging from the walls and ceiling and a small patio up front that’s lovely on a warm spring day. The building is said to be the oldest operating structure in Whitehorse, which seems to be getting a fair bit of new ones these days due to an economic boom.

You might think it’s a reasonably affordable spot, but I was told a nice three-bedroom home in town goes for about $500,000. Not quite Toronto or Vancouver, but by no means cheap.

The MacBride Museum is tons of fun, with great displays on local history and geography and native Canadians and colourful locals over the years. One local artist is said to refer to Whitehorse’s “colourful five per cent,” but I think it’s more like 30 or 40 per cent, personally.

One thing you’ll learn by checking out the Sam McGee cabin at the museum is that writer Robert Service took some rather large liberties with his famous poem The Cremation of Sam McGee. The poem he wrote claims McGee was from Tennessee when, in fact, he was from Lindsay, Ontario. Probably didn’t rhyme as well as Plumtree, Tennessee. Unlike the fictional Sam McGee, the real one is said to have not minded Yukon winters all that much, either. But, hey, artistic license and all that, right?

Whitehorse is a much bigger city than I expected, and there seems to be a pretty genuine counterculture, with tattooed folks and multiple piercing types mixing in with the truckers and outdoor adventure types. There are a few rough spots around the edges. A couple colleagues say they went into a shady-looking bar Tuesday at 5 p.m. and saw a guy get tossed out into the street, which is always entertaining and, yes, could happen in any number of cities around the country.

They’ve done a great job with the Whitehorse waterfront. The old SS Klondike paddlewheel steamer sits at the north end of the waterfront, although it doesn’t go in the water any longer. There’s a great, grassy park for kids with tons of playground equipment and also what looks like a new walking trail along the river down near the foot of Main St., and you also can take the Whitehorse Waterfront Trolley.

Our GoMedia sessions, courtesy of the Canadian Tourism Commission, are taking place at the beautiful and spanking new Kwanlin Dun Cultural Centre (see photo) on the waterfront a few blocks south of Main St. It’s a very impressive building, with tons of wood and natural light. There’s meeting space and artist rooms’ and the building also houses the new Whitehorse Library.

All in all, a surprisingly sophisticated and definitely energetic little city with lots of charm.

 

Lovely and historic Annapolis Royal in Nova Scotia - surprising stories....

ANNAPOLIS ROYAL, NOVA SCOTIA – It’s a wee challenge getting here from Lunenburg. Well, it is if you try to take a couple lesser-known roads, which I’m wont to do. The first part of the drive is absolutely lovely as you trace your way from the bay in Lunenburg along cool, gentle waters on your way to Bridgewater, where there are small but impeccably tidy homes looking out over the bays. The land looked impossibly green and soft after a spring rain; as if someone had photoshopped the entire province. As I drove up into the gentle hills towards the town of New Germany (it may be called Nova Scotia but in these parts the first European settlers were German Lutherans), I passed a white house where a large, black crow was flitting about in a deep green lawn with bright yellow dandelions. You can drive along through central Nova Scotia and see endless small streams and lakes with nary a cottage or jet ski in sight. Instead of taking Highway (road, really) 10 up to Middleton, I opted to turn off at New Germany and head west to Highway 8 and get to Annapolis that way. It was a quiet, lovely drive past some real old-time towns. As I approached North Brookfield, a sign told me it’s the home of “Forests, Farms, and Friendly Folks.” In Kempt, I was told they’ve had “A Century of Strawberry Suppers.” A large sign outside the small fairgrounds in Caledonia was touting a coming day with horse pulls and a pork barbeque, and better than the other way around I reckon. Everywhere I’ve gone on this trip, I’ve run into folks who’ve made some remarkable real estate deals. A friend of mine recently bought something like an eight acre farm near Truro for what I seem to recall was less than $200,000, including a house. In Annapolis Royal itself, I spotted a real estate ad for a three-bedroom house on 2.3 acres of waterfront land for $142,800. “There’s a joke in Newfoundland,” a friend told me the other night in St. John’s. “A guy from the city goes out to the country and sees a sign for some property for $22,000. So he knocks on the door and makes an offer and the guy doing the selling replies, “It’s a firm price, $22,000, but you have to take the house. And the barn. And all the rest of it.” Annapolis Royal is a hugely historic part of Canada. The French settled in nearby Port Royal way back in 1605; two years before Jamestown, Virginia was created by the English and three years before the founding of Quebec City. One of the main attractions are the fortified grounds of Fort Anne, said to be the most fought-over piece of land in Canada (it changed hands some seven times, with the English finally taking over for good in 1710 and making Annapolis Royal the capital of Nova Scotia until Halifax came along in 1749). Near the western edge of the fort area is a monument to Sieur de Monts, who came here in 1604 and is described as the “pioneer of civilization in North America,” having founded “the first settlement of Europeans north of the Gulf of Mexico.” I don’t have the strongest knowledge of Canadian history, but I had never heard of de Monts. And there’s something wrong with that. Maybe those folks who talk about Canadians not knowing their history have a point. There are a ton of historic structures in Annapolis Royal, including the O’Dell House Museum. It was the former home of Corey O’Dell, who was a member of the Nova Scotia Pony Express. Yeah, I also had no idea Canada ever had a Pony Express, as I always associate it with the wild west of the United States and riders flying past desert buttes and dodging native American arrows and bullets. But the Pony Express was a pretty big deal back in the day in and around Annapolis Royal. If you drive out past Port Royal towards Victoria Beach (there are stunning views out of the Bay of Fundy and great sunsets, by the way), you’ll see a plaque honouring the Pony Express, telling you that it ran between February and November in 1849, covering 146 miles from Halifax. News was carried by horses and riders in as little as eight hours on behalf of Associated Press, as there was no telegraph in Halifax in those days. The information from Halifax came to the Annapolis Royal area, and then was carried by ship over to the telegraph station in Saint John, New Brunswick. From there it was sent to the newspapers along the eastern seaboard of the United States. Amazing. More to come next week on lovely Annapolis Royal and what you’ll find in the present day.

The not insignificant charms of tiny Lana'i City, Hawaii; definitely not Honolulu!

Poor Lana’i.

All the brochures talk about Waikiki Beach and Ka’anapali and Kona and, lately, Kauai owing to The Descendants with George Clooney. Lana’i, meanwhile, plods along in the very significant shadow cast by its more established siblings. But I get the feeling that’s the way the locals want it.

I poked my head in the door at the Lanai Art Center on Dole Square – the only real shopping area (and a tiny one at that) in the town of Lana’i City. Owner Jeanne Mothersbaugh was sitting at her desk, surrounded by heaps of Tupperware and plates of food.

“The ladies came in to bead (do their beading work) and surprised me with a birthday cake and a whole menu,” she explained, her face beaming enough light to be seen on Maui, some 16 miles away.

Mothersbaugh has been on Lanai for eight years and wouldn’t trade it for anything.

“It’s all about love,” she said. “Everyone I know; they all have time for you.”

Across the square from the gallery is the Dis and Dat shop, an eclectic store that sells jewelery and knickknacks from Ecuador, China, Indonesia and, of course, Lana’i (see photo with the great old Metropolitan out front). They also, Riel insists, offer up more than 1,000 styles of wind chimes. The noise is a cacophony when you walk in but manager Catherine Riel says you get used to it.

“I’ve been here nine years,” she said. “I love it. I love the weather, and Lana’i is very diversified, much more than when I was in Oregon.”

A quick trip through the tiny but lively and fun Lana’i Arts and Cultural Center makes that much clear, as visitors are taught about the “Hawaiian, Western, Filipino, Portuguese, Spanish, Chinese, Japanese and Korean” workers who planted and harvested pineapples for the Dole company during Lanai’s pineapple heydays, from 1922 to 1972.

There are great photos of the old days on the plantation, with pictures of the Lana’i City Band, the local baseball team and more. James Dole, who ran the plantation, is often quoted as saying that happy workers made for better pineapples, and he seems to have done a fair bit to help his low-paid workers form a bit of a life for themselves. 

By 1930, Lana’i was churning out 100 million cans of pineapple a year to a hungry world. But economics changed and the Philippines became a much cheaper place to grow the stuff. These days, only a handful of fields are given over to pineapple, mostly for local consumption.

In addition to getting a taste of the island's pineapple days, visitors to the center are treated to ancient stones used for something like bowling, material from tremendous outrigger canoes that came from Tahiti, plus a collection of local shells and island maps and more.

Next door is the only hotel in Lana’i City, the small and charming Hotel Lana’i. Built for Dole executives, it’s a one story, yellow affair that sits on a hill above and off to one side from the main square and is surrounded by  towering Norfolk and Cook Island Pines; planted on the island to help collect moisture from the clouds. The service is super-friendly and it’s got charm galore.

It’s also home the past few years to the Lana’i City Grille, supervised by legendary Maui chef Bev Gannon. The floor is a lovely lacquered hardwood and walls are painted white and there’s original artwork sprinkled on the walls and on some display shelves. It’s a touch on the loud side and there’s no view, but the place packs ‘em in.

The spicy shrimp and lobster bisque isn’t labeled as an Asian style dish, but arrives as a Thai-style dish with chilis, lemongrass and coconut milk. It’s very spicy and quite good, but not quite what was advertised. The scallops were good but not remarkable, while the grilled venison was done to perfection. They have a tremendous ahi appetizer that’s rolled in Japanese spices and seared for just a few seconds.

They serve a nice continental breakfast with cold quiche, juice, cereal, pastries and great coffee. Or you can toddle down to Blue Ginger, a local hangout on Dole Square where you can get a thick slab of French toast with a humongous ball of butter for $2. It’s a great spot to watch the locals, who arrive in long pants and t-shirts or sweatshirts as the elevation is a good 500 or 600 metres above sea level and it gets a tad windy. The conversation turns quickly to work and sick relatives as the woman behind the counter dishes out fried rice, Portuguese sausage omelets, saimin and pancakes. If you don’t feel like eavesdropping you can pick up the local paper and read about the new fireman’s station being built at the teeny, tiny Lana’i airport.

There’s a small golf course nearby that was built for the pineapple workers, but most folks who bring their sticks play either the Experience at Koele – affiliated with the Four Seasons Lodge at Koele – or the Challenge at Manele, next to the Four Seasons Manele resort (see photo).

Koele is up in the mountains and is built like an English hunting lodge; complete with  a roaring fireplace. Manele is more a beach-style place, although extremely elegant and with many Asian touches. If you're staying at the Hotel Lana'i you can get a free shuttle and go up for dinner or a drink or just take a walk about either place. There's no beach at the Lodge, but Manele Bay features terrific Hulopo'e Beach; one of the best in all Hawaii.

The Challenge at Manele is a beauty of a course, a Jack Nicklaus design with a couple holes sitting high above massive, brown seacliffs and some of the most beautiful ocean in Hawaii.

Royal couple in Alberta ... Big days for (of Sherlock Homes) and the Beatles

Freelancer Roberta Avery checks in on the royal couple's stay in Alberta.

Media reports that William and Kate stayed overnight in the honeymoon cabin at Skoki Lodge brought back memories of my own visit to Skoki in 2005.

With no electricity and no running water, the words rustic and basic come to mind, but it's also a stunningly beautiful setting on an Alpine meadow high in the Rockies and the welcome I received from managers Leo and Katie Mitzel was, well, fit for a queen.

Not sure if the Mitzels are still there – they were in 2009 when my husband visited - but if they are, I wonder if  Katie cooked them her famous wild salmon with fresh tarragon.

I stayed in the honeymoon cabin on the second night. It was like something straight out of a Heidi novel. The wooden bed covered in thick duvets was soft and comfortable, but the floor of the cabin sloped so much it was easy to imagine that you would slide right out of the front door. Not a happy thought after a nocturnal visit from a grizzly tromping on the front porch.

Then there is the question of the outhouses. The Metzels did their best to keep them clean, but you still had to brace yourself against the overwhelming smell.

There are reports that the cabin was fixed up and a new bathroom was flown in for the royals If that's true, hopefully it will still be there when I next visit.

I always thought that Skoki would be heaven if it just had a flushing toilet.

Meant to get this report from Toronto Star reporter Petti Fong into the blog on the 7th. Mea culpa. But think of me as 364 days early....

Edinburgh, SCOTLAND – Had he lived and had he been a real person (not necessarily in that order), Dr. John H. Watson, Sherlock Holme's faithful companion, would have been 159 years old yesterday.

Some devout Sherlock Holmes fans have tracked July 7, 1853 as the date when Watson was born which gives the fictional character a link to his creator. On this day in 1930, Arthur Conan Doyle, the Edinburgh physician turned writer who created Holmes and Watson, died at the age of 71.
During his time in medical school, Doyle met the men who would inspire him to create Holmes and Watson.

At a current exhibit at Surgeons' Hall Museum in Edinburgh, there are photographs, letters and articles about Doyle's connections in the city and details of his relationship with Dr. Joseph Bell, his teacher in medical school and another physician Dr. Patrick Watson.

“I thought of my old teacher Joe Bell, of his eagle face, of his curious ways and his eerie trick of spotting details,” wrote Doyle. “If he were a detective, he would surely reduce this fascinating but disorganized business to something near an exact science.”

A photograph of Bell, in a deerstalker hat and cape, looks eerily similar to the portrayal of Holmes by actor Basil Rathbone (see photo) in the black and white movie versions.

In Doyle's medical school class notes, he wrote about an exchange between Bell and a patient who walked into a clinic. Using his observation skills, Bell was able to even before talking to the patient, assess the man had been in the army, a Highland regiment specifically, and had recently been stationed in Barbados.

It's the kind of assessment that Holmes would have done with startling accuracy much to the amazement of his sidekick like the time Watson returns for a visit and the detective correctly deduced he went for a walk in the country a week ago, was quarrelling with his maid and had gained seven pounds.
“You would certainly have been burned, had you lived a few centuries ago,” Watson once told Holmes.
Dr. Patrick Heron Watson, the real life counterpart to his fictional namesake, was an assistant to Joseph Bell.

Later, the Edinburgh physician who received his medical licence at age 22 went to the Crimean War where he became a war surgeon just like the fictional Watson did during a rotation in Afghanistan. The real life Watson eventually became a physician to Queen Victoria and later King Edward VII.

The Conan Doyle and Joseph Bell exhibit called The Real Sherlock Holmes include some of the author's first writings including his first published article in the British Medical Journal dated to 1879. Conan Doyle poisoned himself taking a dose of gelsemium over a period of days to see what kind of effects it would have on him.

“I determined to ascertain how far one might go in taking the drug and what the primary symptoms of an overdose might be,” he wrote.

Sherlock Holmes would have been proud.

The Surgeons' Hall Museum is located on The Royal College of Surgeons' campus on Nicolson Street in Edinburgh.

And now for something completely different. Back to Jim B...

A GREAT BEATLES MOMENT

I spotted something on Twitter the other day to say that July 6 was the day Paul McCartney met John Lennon, and that's DEFINITELY worth celebrating.

For those unfamiliar, McCartney was a young lad and went to a neighbourhood party called the Woolton Fete at St. Peter's Church in Liverpool. There, John Lennon was up on stage wearing a checkered shirt and singing for a local "skiffle" band called The Quarrymen.

Paul tells a great story about how Lennon (see photo) was singing "Come Go With Me" but ad-libbing - as only Lennon could, I think - lyrics about going "down, down, down, to the penitentiary."

"I liked that," McCartney has said in numerous interviews. "I thought that was very clever."

Lennon got McCartney to play "Twenty Flight Rock" for him and, I think, show him how to tune his guitar properly and that was enough soon after to get Paul an invitation to join Lennon in The Quarrymen, who eventually morphed into the Silver Beatles and then The Beatles.

They became somewhat popular.

Gotta get myself to Liverpool soon to check out the Beatles sites. I'm told the city has gone through tremendous changes and is now quite something to see.

 

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Star reporter Petti Fong checks out Zelda Fitzgerald's house in Alabama

Zelda Fitzgerald died in a fire at the mental hospital where she was about to undergo electro-shock therapy treatment on this day back in 1948. Here's a post from Star travel correspondent Petti Fong, our Western Canada reporter.

Montgomery, ALA. -- Before she became the world's most famous flapper, she was known around her hometown as Zelda Sayre, a spoiled, strong-willed and attention-seeking young girl from Montgomery, Alabama.

The youngest of six children born to a prominent southern Alabama family, Zelda was named after two stories published in the late 1880s: Zelda's Fortune and Zelda: A Tale of the Massachusetts Colony. Zelda's ancestors included senators, newspaper editors and jurists.

Her father, Anthony Dickinson Sayre, was on the Supreme Court of Alabama and a leading jurist in the state. One thing I've always wondered about was whether Zelda's father knew Nelle Harper Lee's father, A.C. Lee, the model for Atticus Finch in To Kill A Mockingbird.

Nelle Harper Lee's upbringing in Monroeville, Alabama was markedly different than Zelda's in Montgomery, about 100 miles away.

One thing Zelda and Harper Lee shared was famous childhood friends. In Zelda's case, she was a childhood friend of Hollywood starlet Tallulah Bankhead, while Lee's childhood companion was Truman Capote. Lee never married but Zelda became famously known for her marriage to F. Scott Fitzgerald who she initially rejected because she was afraid he wouldn't make enough money to support her.

She was attracted to his promise that he would become famous and after he showed her a chapter from is book This Side of Paradise, she showed him her personal diary which he used verbatim in his novel.
The Fitzgerald home in Montgomery, Alabama considers itself the only museum dedicated to Zelda. The Fitzgeralds lived in the house from October 1931 to April 1932 during a period when he was working on Tender Is The Night and Zelda began writing her only novel, Save Me The Waltz.

The brick home on 919 Felder Avenue was leased because it was close to Zelda's parents in a leafy, established neighbourhood in Montgomery. A month after moving in, Fitzgerald was heading westward to Hollywood after accepting a screenwriting job leaving Zelda behind with their ten-year-old daughter Scottie.

She wrote daily letters to Fitzgerald, some of which are on display inside the couple's former home. "I think you're here when I wake up...your room is warm and fuzzy with you and I sit and look where you left mags."

She also described a parade outside but she didn't go, preferring the deserted streets. "The weather here is a continual circus day...smoky with the sun like a red balloon and soft and romantic and sensual."

The museum's executive director Michael S. McCreedy said his favourite piece in the house is a childhood book owned by Zelda. With a careful hand, he unlocked the cabinet and took out the tattered and yellowing book. Turning the front cover, he showed the faint writing made by Zelda herself.
"Please take care of this book. This is a splendid book - this book is wonderful!" and signed simply "Zelda."

Her paintings are also inside the home, which had been used briefly before becoming a museum for university students. The front room remains much the way it would have been when Zelda lived there and glance out the front window and except for the cars, the street has the same look as it would have almost seventy-five years ago.

This is how Zelda described Montgomery which she called Jeffersonville in her short story Southern Girl, written in October 1929.

"Every place has its hours...So in Jeffersonville, there existed then, and I suppose now, a time and quality that appertains to nowhere else. It began about half past six on an early summer night, with the flicker and sputter of the corner street lights going on, and it lasted until the great incandescent globes were black inside with moths and beetles and the children were called in to bed from the dusty streets."

On March 10, 1948, Zelda Sayre Fitzgerald died in extremely tragic circumstances. She was locked in a room at a mental hospital in Asheville, North Carolina where she was awaiting electroshock therapy when a fire broke out in the facility. Nine women, including Zelda, died.

Vancouver Olympic memories...Richard Branson arrives today...Iceland blog

You'd think that four months and a day after the glorious Vancouver Olympic Games ended, that chief organizer John Furlong would've had a day off.

Nope.

"Not yet," he said in a swing through a post-G20 Toronto today. "I'm hoping maybe this weekend."

Furlong was busy, of course, with the Paralympic Games in March. Since then, he's been advising folks in London about the 2012 Games and Sochi, Russia about the 2014 Winter Olympics. He's also chairman of the board of Own the Podium.

Today, however, he was in town mostly to talk about the massive and impressive official commemorative book of the Olympic Winter and Paralympic Winter Games, titled "With Glowing Hearts."

There's everything you can imagine, including breathtaking scenery and athlete shots, photos of the opening and closing ceremonies and shots of the amazing volunteers. There are mountains aglow with light. Some even have snow on them (sorry, John). There's a guy named Crosby waving a giant Canadian flag. There's Moir and Virtue and a tearful Joannie Rochette and Alex Bilodeau and Shaun White and Lauren Woolstencroft, who swept all five of her Paralympic alpine events for Canadian glory. And, yes, there's something on the Georgian luger who was killed early on, Nodar

There's also a photo of give guys standing at a urinal, with their jackets revealing the fact they were from Peru, Croatia, the U.S.A. and Mexico. I guess there's solidarity everywhere at the Olympics.

Oddly enough, Furlong said this marks the first time an organizing committee has put out a post-Games book. You'd think it was a natural after, say, the Sydney Games or even Salt Lake, but it didn't happen.

"We tried not to leave anything out," he said as he went through some favourite photos.

The book retails for $85. Proceeds are split between the publisher, the bookseller and VANOC, which is using the money to help balance its budget.

Furlong yesterday said he still expects a balanced budget, but no major operating profit from hosting the Games. The Games budget included a $110 million fund to help maintain the Richmond Oval for speedksating, the nordic venues in the Callaghan Valley and the Whistler sliding track.

Olympics ended four months ago yesterday; the Paralympics a few weeks later. The Vancouver organizing committee had 50,000 workers at the peak, and Furlong said he's now down to 20. Not thousand. Twenty.

"We have a few more contracts to deal with and we have to do a proper audit and prepare a final report for the International Olympic Committee."

Furlong is now heading up the Own the Podium program, which helped Canada top the gold medal standings in Vancouver. He's trying to keep that going for Sochi, Russia in 2014 and to boost Canada's performance at the Summer Games in London in 2012.

"We want to be a contender in most sports," he said. "We haven't won a team medal at the summer Games in six decades."

To improve Canada's standings, Furlong and OTP are going to need corporate funding. They did quite well with Vancouver, but London and Sochi will be tougher sells. He also realizes the competition will be very tough.

"Every country is doing the same thing as us," he said, noting that Russia, in particular, wants to improve on a disappointing result in Vancouver.

Vancouver had 14 venues, but Sochi has 70 projects under construction, Furlong said, and they stretch over a 135-kilometre-long area.

"I think they'll get it done. Failure is not an option. This is about the face of Russia in this century."

Furlong said he expected a few dozen letters from Canadians after the Games. Instead, he said he received thousands. One of his favourites was from a couple who wanted to rent out their B and B in Squamish, B.C. They thought they had rented to some folks from Switzerland, so they festooned their place in red and white and brought in Swiss flags.

When the tenants arrived for the Games, they were Germans. It wasn't necessarily a problem, but the owners had relatives in the World Wars and had something of a history with Germany.

"By the end, they were good friends and exchanged keys. She told me the Games had removed hatred from her family's home."

Furlong said he expects Vancouver to get its Canadian face back on this week for Canada Day. That's the day they'll officially open Jack Poole Plaza on the waterfront; the plaza named after the guy who got Vancouver's bid off the ground some 10 years ago. It should be great, but it might not rival the feeling in the streets four months ago.

Furlong laughs when he talks about how Canadians went so wild in the streets and how he remembers talking to folks in China about the lack of people walking through the Olympic park in Beijing on a daily basis.

"I asked someone one day why they didn't open the doors and he told me, "Everyone would've come.' I guess in China, that's a lot of people."

VIRGIN AMERICA TAKES OVER THE THOMPSON

Should be a pretty good bash at the new Thompson Hotel in Toronto tonight. Virgin America chief Richard Branson and a bunch of celebrities were due to arrive on the tarmac at Pearson Airport today, then make their way downtown for a rooftop party under the (potentially chilly) stars.

I mentioned the other day that it was going to be interesting to see how Air Canada responds. I got a note from the good folks at AC the other day to remind me that they earlier added new services from Toronto to Orange County, as well as San Diego (which started June 17). They've also boosted service to San Francisco to five flights a day and brought in lie-flat suites in Executive First service on select flights to Los Angeles.

Capacity is to be increased 51 per cent between Toronto and California this year, compared to last, officials said.

LINDA BARNARD IN ICELAND

Star entertainment writer Linda Barnard, always good for some laughs and travel insights, is making her presence felt in Reykjavik. And apparently standing in both Europe and North America at the same time. You can check her out by clicking on this link. Keep up the good work, Linda.

Summerlicious returns...Can't get no (airline) Satisfaction...

Ladies and gentlement, start your reservations. Well, pretty soon.

Summerlicious presented by American Express returns to Toronto for its eighth year, from July 9 to 25 this summer. A list of restaurants and their menus can be found at http://www.toronto.ca/summerlicious.

Summerlicious features three-course "prix fixe" menus ($15, $20 or $25 for lunch and $25, $35 or $45 for dinner) at 150 of the finest dining establishments across Toronto.

Restaurants will begin taking Summerlicious reservations on June 24. American Express Card members can go to the "Front of the Line" to book early reservations on June 22 and 23. New restaurants in this year’s lineup are Ame, Banu, Il Fornello, King St. Social, KiWe Kitchen, Lisbon by Night, Local Company, Nyood, Sagano and Stonegrill.

North 44 has a $45 prix fixe deal that should prove popular. Also on the list is Pure Spirits Oyster House in the Distillery District, where I ate last week and had a fine ahi steak.

It doesn't appear to be part of the deal, but I had a great prix fixe dinner Sunday night at Fare Bistro in Leslieville. The steak frites wasn't the largest portion I've ever had (only a seven-ounce steak, but my doctor would say that's plenty), but the frites were great and they made a really tasty carrot soup with a touch of cinnamon, plus a very nice creme brulee for dessert.

The service gets mixed reviews but our server was lovely and it's a great little spot. She said they're looking to expand, perhaps with a restaurant on the popular Bayview Ave. strip south of Eglinton.

THEY CAN'T GET NO....

A new study from the American Customer Satisfaction Index finds folks down south are happier this year with airlines than they were a year ago. But airlines still score pretty low overall.

The survey found that airlines this year got a 66 rating out of 100, up three per centage points from 2009. But they say that's not good compared to hotels, which received a 75 rating. And they say the ratings are likely to get worse for airlines given increased fares and potential delays.

Southwest Airlines dropped two per cent to a 79 rating, but that was still tops in the ACSI study. American rose 5 per cent but was still slumped at a 63 rating.

Hilton and Marriott topped the hotel charts with ratings of 80, followed by Hyatt at 79.

Papa John's pizza topped the fast food category with an 80 mark, followed by Pizza Hut and Little Caesar at 78. KFC and Burger King were 75 and 74, while McDonald's fell four per cent to a rather dismal rating of 67.

Topping the restaurant category was Olive Garden at a very solid 84, followed by Red Lobster at 83, Outback at 80 and Chili's at 78. I don't know about you, but that seems pretty high for Red Lobster. Olive Garden is fine, if unexciting. But it's reliable. Personally, I'd take Outback or Chili's over Red Lobster any day of the week...

101 WORST PLACES TO VISIT - slight change

In my blog yesterday I linked to an item about Catherine Price's wonderful book about the 101 worst places to visit. It wasn't quite the best website to link to. So if you want to have a peek, go to www.101worstplaces.com and see what you think. Her book comes out June 22.

101 places NOT to visit before you die...Vacation Deprivation...Jim's Deals/Day

Thanks to the Star's Serena Willoughby for pointing this out to me...an upcoming book that turns the travel biz on its head a bit.

We've all seen the books about 101 places to see before you die, or some such. But American author Catherine Price has reversed field by writing a book entitled "101 Places Not to See Before You Die."

It's a brilliant idea; like going to Italy and writing about beer festivals instead of wine, as a reporter did a year or so back in the New York Times. I really like it.

Price has a few obvious spots on her list: Euro Disneyland being one. Also the museum of tap water in Beijing, which likely is fascinating only to civil engineers or to members of the Communist Party who are taken on field trips and forced to nod their heads and tremble with excitement if they hope to get promoted.

She also singles out Mt. Rushmore (I disagree, but what's the point of a list if it isn't a little bit controversial), the "testicle festival" in Montana, which I think has been over-covered and then some, and the island of Ibiza, which she says is basically an excuse for horny kids to get together and not that there's anything wrong with that.

Also on her list: "Any Hotel That Used to be a Prison," and amen to that (a cute idea but it's been done, folks) and "Any Place Whose Primary Claim to Fame is a Large Fiberglass Thing." That would include Toronto's lame street-side moose, I would think.

She also names the Sam Kee building in Vancouver, which is engaged in a bit of a public relations war with a building in Pittsburgh, as well as perhaps Philadelphia, as to which is the skinniest building in the world.

I'd add a couple of my own:

1. The Canadian walk of fame in Toronto, which is boring and so derivative as to be embarrassing,

2. Any city other than Sacramento in the central valley of California, and,

3. Any port on a Caribbean cruise where you're only given two hours to walk around. It's almost pointless as all you're gonna see is duty-free shops and jewelry stores and cheap bars and they all start to look alike.

Price wrote in an email that she's not trying to be mean with her book.

"One thing I'm trying to emphasize with this project is that sometimes the worst places in the moment make the best stories afterwards -- in other words, it's not all about putting places down; it's about finding the absurdity (and memories) in places and experiences that are unpleasant in the moment but funny when you look back on them."

I haven't met Catherine Price, but I'm beginning to like her.

BORDER CROSSINGS ON TWITTER

Canadian Press reports that motorists planning to cross the Canada-U.S. border can receive estimated wait times via Twitter as part of a pilot project launched by the Canada Border Services Agency.

"The CBSA is committed to applying low-cost technologies like Twitter to keep service delivery standards high without increasing costs to the taxpayer," agency president Stephen Rigby said in a release announcing the three-month project.

Travellers can choose specific port of entries to follow on Twitter. For details, go to www.cbsa-asfc.gc.ca/new-neuf/twitter-eng.html.

FEELING VACATION DEPRIVED? WHO ISN'T?

The eighth annual Expedia.ca Vacation Deprivation survey by Harris/Decima reveals that 47 per cent of Canadians identify themselves as very or somewhat vacation deprived - the highest level in four years.

The survey found Canadians receive an average of 19.68 vacation days from their employers but that one-quarter of us (24 per cent to be precise) aren't taking all of our vacation time; giving back an average of 2.17 unused days. That translates into nearly 36.5 million unused days in Canada overall.

"Investing in our jobs is important, but so investing in our physical and mental health," said Beverly Beuermann-King, a stress and wellness expert. "The vacation time is there; we just need to use it."

A full 50 per cent of Ontarians identify themselves as vacation deprived, which kind of cements our status as work-too-hard-fail-to-play types. But before folks in B.C. get too smug, they weren't far behind, with 46 per cent of British Columbians saying they've vacation deprived. The same number was found in Quebec and Manitoba/Saskatchewan, Atlantic Canada (45 per cent) and Alberta (44 per cent).

JIM'S DEALS OF THE DAY

$2 - Toronto to Fort Lauderdale, cheap last-minute return flight ($235 w/taxes)

http://www.travelalerts.ca/cheap-flights/yyz-to-fll-toronto-fort-lauderdale.html

 

$285 - Toronto to Las Vegas, 4 day vacation ($530 w/tax)

http://www.travelalerts.ca/top-travel-deals/yyz-to-las-toronto-to-las-vegas.html

 

US$499 - Save 72% on this 1-week 4.5* Bermuda cruise from New York (US$689 w/tax)

http://www.travelalerts.ca/top-travel-deals/bermuda-cruise-3.html

 

Baseball umps, UCLA's John Wooden & Cougar Cruise: a travel blog in disguise

I'm feeling rather blue this morning. One of my heroes, former UCLA basketball coach John Wooden, is in grave condition out in Los Angeles.

He's 99 and he's been joking for years about wanting to see triple digits on his drivers license. But the situation doesn't look good.

It has nothing to do with travel, so I 'm sorry about that, but I can't help reminiscing about my limited relationship with the man who arguably is the greatest coach of any sport at any time. It wasn't as crazily competitive as it is now, but to win 10 NCAA basketball championships in 12 years, seven of them in a row, is a feat that's simply impossible to imagine. His teams also won 88 straight regular season games and 38 NCAA contests in a row.

Take that, Duke.

I was lucky enough to be in the front row for every UCLA game in Wooden's last year, which was my first year as a political science student at the University of California, Los Angeles. We'd often camp out overnight to get what was called a priority number, which would be handed out early in the morning on game day. That would allow us to lineup an hour or so before game time and get a place at the front of the line without having to sit all day long and miss classes. It was a good system.

I was first or second in line for every home game in 1975, Coach Wooden's last year. And I was in the front row, usually in the centre seat, for every game. They'd open the gates an hour or so before the game and all of us who had lined up would sprint down five long flights of stairs to get to the court, which sits below ground level at the famous Pauley Pavilion. It was a hoot, although it's a miracle I never sprained an ankle. I'm not fast, but I'm pretty nimble and I was pretty brave about hopping four stairs at a time at age 18.

There were some setbacks that year, and it wasn't like UCLA had the biggest stars in the game. Bill Walton, now a way too chatty/borderline obnoxious TV commentator, had left. So had Keith Wilkes. But we still had Marques Johnson, who my girlfriend was in love with, and Richard Washington and a couple of spunky role players.

As luck would have it, the NCAA finals were in San Diego that year; just two hours from campus. So we all got tickets and drove down. UCLA got to the semis and just squeaked past Louisville, coached by former UCLA assistant Denny Crum, then toppled Kentucky in a fairly close final. Wooden announced prior to the Final Four that he was retiring, so we know this was it to see him in action. It was glorious.

But it isn't the game I really want to talk about. Instead, I wanted to talk about Wooden the man. He was competitive as can be on the floor, for sure. And he wasn't a saint as a coach. But as a man? Gentle and kind and unassuming as all get out.

Wooden had a book out in the 1970s, titled "They Call Me Coach." In it, he outlined his so-called pyramid of success; an old-fashioned building block of moral principles that he strongly believed led to his success. it's filled with ideas about loyalty, enthusiasm, cooperation and other issues that apply strongly to business as well as basketball.

It doesn't sound like an LA guy to many folks. But Wooden was a product of the Midwest; Indiana to be precise. They don't tolerate a lot of ego in smalltown Indianda - Bobby Knight notwithstanding.

He'd often take time before games to sign the books that people, including me, would bring to him. I don't have it with me right now, but I'm pretty sure if I go home and look on my bookshelf I'll find a copy and it'll say on the inside jacket, "Thanks, Jim, for your interest in this coach."

It's pretty much what he wrote for everyone. But he was patient and understanding and kind as all get out, and I'll never forget the class and dignity he has shown - and hopefully will continue to show - over an inspiring life.

Good luck to you, coach, and God Bless you and your family.

SELIG - AN OLD NATIVE AMERICAN WORD FOR "LEADERSHIP VACUUM"????

On another sports note, I gotta say that I'm once again hugely disappointed in Bud Selig, the Hazel McCallion of sports. The commissioner of baseball had a great chance yesterday to overturn an obvious injustice by granting Detroit Tigers pitcher Armando Galarraga his perfect game.

For those who missed it, Galarraga was one out from the third perfect game of this remarkable baseball season the other night when umpire Jim Joyce mistakenly called a runner safe on what should've been the last play of the game. Joyce, to his credit, admitted he screwed up. Royally.

The Tigers have been unbelievably gracious, which is wonderful to see And GM gave Galaragga a Corvette on Thursday.

But Selig sits in his New York office and, as usual, cowers instead of showing courage. Everyone knows Joyce blew the call. Joyce admits it. TV confirms it. So what if there's no instant replay in baseball? Start it. Now. Please, Bud. For once, take an issue by the horns and do something.

Anyway, my point on this isn't so much to rake Selig over the charcoal (not that that isn't fun) but to point out that a young baseball reporter was charged with interviewing an umpire at the SkyDome back in 1993. He knocked on the umpires door before a game in August in Toronto, and the crew shoved a fairly inexperienced major league ump in front of the reporter.

That reporter was me, in my second year covering the Jays. That umpire was Jim Joyce, in his fourth year as a big league ump.

He was helpful and cooperative and funny, to boot. It's also interesting to go back and look at comments he made about blowing calls.

"The best games I've ever worked are the games that people didn't notice me," Joyce said. "I just did my job."

Another comment jumped out at me.

"People pay their money to come out and second-guess the umpire," Joyce said in the interview. "I think I'm right most of the time but if I'm not doing my job people have a right to yell at me. They really do."

I started my story with a short tale of how Joyce was once at home in Oregon, taking one of the three, one-week vacations that major league umps get each baseball season, when he got called in to help coach his son's Little League team.

He was in the coach's box at first base when a ball came down foul but then spun into fair territory. Instinctively, Joyce pointed at the ground and yelled, "Fair."

The home plate ump had called it foul, but knew Joyce was a pro and went with the fair call.

Not so the opposing coach.

"He said, 'It's foul.' So I said, 'No, it's fair.' So the guy said, 'I'll show you the rule book.' And I said, 'I'd love to see that.'

"So he gets the rule book and I show him where it says that where a ball settles - and that's the operative word, settles - in foul territory it's foul. But it hadn't settled in foul territory, it had settled fair, so it was a fair ball.

          "So he turned to me and said, 'Well, who do you think you are, a major league umpire?"

"I said, 'As a matter of fact, I am, ' and he said, 'Yeah, right, ' and turned around and walked away."

AND FINALLY....A TRAVEL ANGLE!

Great story in today's USA Today about cougar cruises. Not that I'm interested in one. I'm WAY too old to be a "cub," that's for sure. But I do find the whole concept bizarrely interesting, and it would be fun to check one out from a distance, just to watch the dance take place.

I'd love to try another cruise sometime. I've done the Caribbean but that was it. I"m thinking Europe would be fun, provided there's time to stop at ports and actually see something rather than simply dash on and off and do a 20-minute duty-free shopping trip....