The longest train tunnel in the world

Switzerland: Exclusive Journey of Discovery

The Gotthard Base Tunnel, the longest train tunnel in the world, enters into service on 11 December 2016. Prior to this, the record-breaking construction will be more accessible than ever, but only for a limited period: from 2 August 2016, passengers may descend into the once-in-a-century construction on exclusive tunnel rides - disembarkation in the depths of the mountain included. The special "Gottardino" train only runs until 27 November 2016 and the number of tickets is limited.



The test operation of the Gotthard Base Tunnel is in full swing. The handover of the longest train tunnel in the world by constructor Alp Transit Gotthard AG to its future operators, Swiss Federal Railways SBB, will take place in two months' time, on 1 June 2016, after 17 years of construction.

Catching a train deeper into the mountain than ever before

Before regular operations of the Gotthard Base Tunnel commence on 11 December 2016, SBB is giving customers the opportunity to admire the interior of the once-in-a-century construction. From 2 August to 27 November 2016, the special "Gottardino" train will carry visitors to a record depth in the rock of the Swiss Alps. A special stop will be made at the multifunction station in Sedrun. Here, 800 metres below the surface, a tour will vividly demonstrate the dimensions of the gigantic tunnel system.



Once trains are travelling through the Gotthard Base Tunnel at high speed, a stop in the middle of the tunnel will no longer be possible. Thanks to the new north-south connection, regions and neighbouring countries on both sides of the Gotthard Tunnel will move closer together. From the end of 2016, passengers will cross the Alps in the new tunnel in only 20 minutes and reach their destination faster than ever.

Cruising the Amazon River

Howlers, screamers and the perfect pisco sour

Guest blogger Louise Southerden [www.noimpactgirl.com] travels to the Peruvian Amazon with Lindblad Expeditions.

“Anybody been to the Galapagos?” asks expedition leader Carlos Romero at the first night’s briefing aboard the Delfin II, a 14-cabin luxury river vessel and our floating hotel for the next eight days. A few hands go up. “Forget it. Forget about [blue-footed] boobies in the middle of the walking tracks. This is the Amazon. Here, you have to work to see the animals.”

Delphin II, Lindblad. (Picture by Richard Maack

Rainforest walk (picture by Louise Southerden).

He’s right, but it’s our Peruvian naturalists who do the hard yards. They make it look easy. Every dawn and dusk, we board purpose-built skiffs to explore narrow creeks off the main rivers, puttering quietly so as not to disturb birds with names as colourful as their feathers – horned screamers, speckled chacalacas, white-headed marsh tyrants – and monkeys (platoons of squirrel monkeys, solitary howlers). Some days we go ashore to hike in the rainforest and visit villages that have no road access; we also get to kayak and swim with pink river dolphins in piranha-free lakes.

Howler Monkey (picture by Louise Southerden).

And after every outing, the Delfin II welcomes us back with hot showers, fine dining and on-board activities such as talks and cooking demonstrations, including one on how to make the perfect pisco sour, Peru’s national drink. (The secret? Shake it while dancing to some Afro-Peruvian tunes.) The best part is knowing that when we wake up the next morning, we get to put on gumboots and insect repellent and head out again to explore another corner of the world’s last great green wilderness.

How to do it: Lindblad Expeditions runs 10-day 'Upper Amazon Aboard the Delfin II' trips all year round, for a maximum of 28 guests at a time, departing from Lima. See http://au.expeditions.com/

New York City neighbourhood

UPPER EAST SIDE - HOME TO NEW MET BREUER

Met Breuer just opened, ‘Museum Mile’, seven new brands launched flagships on Madison Avenue and a foodie hotspot – just a few reasons to explore this beautiful

The Metropolitan Museum of Art on the Upper East Side (see picture below) opened The Met Breuer [BROY-er] in March 2016 in a neighbourhood that is already home to some of the world’s most-renowned cultural institutions, restaurants, and shops, steps from Central Park, and is where some of New Yorkers have called home for generations. The new Met Breuer, housed in a landmark building designed by Marcel Breuer on Madison Avenue and 75th Street, provides a new space for visitors to explore collections of 20th and 21st-century contemporary and modern art in dialogue with the full scope of the museum’s collection.



The Upper East Side is a cultural neighbourhood unlike any other in New York City. From The Met Fifth Avenue to the Frick Collection, the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, the Cooper Hewitt Smithsonian Design Museum and everything in between, art aficionados are guaranteed to find places that will take their breath away. Museum Mile, which runs along Fifth Avenue between East 82nd and East 105th Streets, boasts eight world-class cultural institutions.

The largest luxury shopping district in North America, Madison Avenue teems with the biggest names in haute couture, featuring the world’s most celebrated fashion and jewellery brands, and over 100 art galleries. This historic community exhibits timeless elegance with a contemporary flavour that is distinctively New York. Since the start of 2016, seven new brands opened flagships on Madison Avenue, including Aurélie Bidermann, De Beers Diamond Jewellers, Isabel Marant, Saint James, Sonia Rykiel,Smythson of Bond Street, and Sweaty Betty.



The Upper East Side is also home to great cuisine. Visitors can choose from posh sushi spots, brasserie-style meals, confectionary delights, and nearly any other imaginable option. From JoJo restaurant housed in a lavish townhome, to Daniel Boulud’s namesake restaurant Daniel, to Orsay, diners taste buds will think they are in the heart of Paris enjoying the most exquisite French food. Looking for the perfect brunch spot? Sarabeth’s features a legendary brunch selection and specialty drinks such as the Four Flowers Mimosa and the Pickled House Bloody Mary.

For visitors looking to enjoy more of the Upper East Side can extend their stay at one of the Upper East Side’s luxury hotels such as Bristol Plaza, Hotel Plaza Athenee, Hotel Wales, Loews Regency, or The Surrey.

For more on the Upper East Side, visit http://www.nycgo.com/slideshows/must-see-upper-east-side/1.

For more information on New York City go to nycgo.com or follow us @nycgo_au.

CANADA: Bonjour Quebec!

As I travelled back to my hometown, I discovered new and old favourites. Here are my top suggestions for a walking tour of Quebec, one of the oldest cities in North America.

by Guest Blogger Caroline Faucher, Honey and Paws

All images by Terry Marshman

8am - Start the day with one of Cosmos Grand Allée's huge selection of breakfasts, then walk it off by making your way to the Petit Champlain where you will find charming artisanal boutiques and spectacular views of the Chateau Frontenac, Quebec's most famous landmark.

10am - Grab a coffee and a Beaver Tail, a truly Canadian deep-fried pastry, before heading down to the Musée de la civilisation for a cultural fix.



12.30pm - Avoid the crowd with an early lunch at Le Bureau de Poste, a new eatery with an après-ski ambiance. There, try Quebec’s national meal, the Poutine.

2pm - Stroll down Rue Saint-Joseph to the newly revitalised Saint-Roch district where you will find designer shops and trendy tea houses.



6pm - Head back up town and finish off the day with a gourmet burger accompanied with a microbrewery beer at Chez Victor on Rue Saint-Jean.

8pm - If this isn't enough, make your way to the edge of the old fortress city for some people watching at Carré Dyouville. Depending on the season you might even catch a friendly hockey match played on the outdoor skating rink.



9pm - Retire for the night in one of the city's many old auberges, with some dating back to the 17th century.

EXPLORER’S HONG KONG

With front row seats for Hong Kong’s nightly laser show and adjacent to Harbour City and its mega-shopping centre with anything for everybody, sits a hotel its namesake could never have imagined.

Marco Polo’s fabled and fabulous (and some say fabricated) tales of his journey across Asia have turned his memory into an icon for groundbreaking and exciting ventures.

So it’s not a big leap of imagination to call a chain of ultra-sleek hotels after him. Begun in 1969, the Marco Polo Hotel Group has since spread across China, Hong Kong and the Philippines.

Welcome pack.

Recently I stayed in the group’s flagship hotel, Marco Polo Hongkong Hotel, in Canton Road at Tsim Sha Tsui, and gleefully accepted my upgrade to a room with a view. And what a view! My window looked out over the top of Harbour City, across Victoria Harbour filled with its bustling traffic of water craft, towards Hong Kong Island where we would water the night’s light show play out on the city buildings later.

Comfy bed

In addition, we were accorded the privilege of access to the Canton Lounge and popped in several times for the good coffee and varying snacks – dim sum, madeleines, sandwiches, Portuguese tarts – and a table where we could settle down with laptops. We could have come for breakfast too, but the main breakfast room was worth experiencing: every conceivable breakfast dish, including of course great HK yum cha offerings.

Canton Lounge

I have to admit that the lounge was not strictly necessary for work purposes. I hinted that the food and coffee was a major draw, didn’t I? Our room itself was more high-tech than almost anywhere else, with a Handy Phone that kept us connected for free.

If Marco Polo has continued in the afterlife as a time-traveller, he would love this place. The trouble is, when he returned his friends would never believe the stories of what he found on offer in his namesake accommodation in Hong Kong.

‘There’s old Marco again,’ they’d say, ‘always exaggerating!’

Marco Polo Hongkong Hotel, Harbour City, Kowloon, Hong Kong, www.marcopolohotels.com

BY GUEST BLOGGER - Pics & text : ©Sally Hammond www.foodandtravel.com.au 2016

New museum in Vienna

A museum for the waltz king 

     

A new museum dedicated to Johann Strauss, creator of the Blue Danube Waltz, and his family has just opened in Vienna. But there are also plenty of other places for fans of the waltz king to visit, from his apartment to his final resting place.

Only Vienna could do a museum like this justice. The Johann Strauss Dynasty Museum in the ninth district is the first museum in the world to focus on the history and artistic output of the entire Strauss clan: from Johann Strauss the Elder and the waltz king Johann Strauss the Younger to his two brothers Josef and Eduard. Visitors can also look forward to an impressive range of pictures and documents that bring Biedermeier-era Vienna to life. Audio stations dotted throughout the museum give fans a chance to listen to popular and less well known pieces from the family canon as often as they like, without interruption.

Johann Strauss (1825-1899), known to family and friends as Schani, his father Johann and his brothers Josef and Eduard took the world by storm with their music. With 1,500 works between them, from Die Fledermaus and The Radetzky March to the Blue Danube Waltz,  they embody Viennese music like no others. Their waltz and operetta melodies can be heard in the capital’s concert halls throughout the year as well as at the traditional New Year’s Concert which is broadcast all over the world from the Golden Hall of the Musikverein.




It goes without saying that there is a Johann Strauss monument in Vienna. This golden statue of the waltz king playing his violin can be found in the Stadtpark, a short distance from the Kursalon. The Vienna Philharmonic played at its unveiling in 1921 and today it is one of the most photographed sights in the city. Johann Strauss II composed Vienna’s unofficial anthem The Blue Danube in an apartment at Praterstrasse 54 in the second district in 1867 where he lived with his first wife Jetty from 1863-1870. In addition to original furnishings and period instruments, exhibits include everyday objects from the great musician’s estate as well as portraits, photos, and documents on his life and work. The waltz king was laid to rest at Vienna’s legendary Central Cemetery, near the graves of Beethoven, Schubert, Brahms and Johann Strauss the Elder.

• Museum of the Johann Strauss Dynasty, Müllnergasse 3, 1090 Vienna, www.strauss-museum.at 
• Johann Strauss Memorial, Stadtpark, 1010 Vienna 
• Johann Strauss Apartment, Praterstrasse 54, 1020 Vienna, www.wienmuseum.at
• Central Cemetery, Simmeringer Hauptstrasse 234, 1110 Vienna, www.friedhoefewien.at

Visit: www.austria.info

Singapore After Dark

DISCOVER STRANGELY WONDERFUL SINGAPORE AFTER DARK

When you think of exciting night-time destinations, Singapore may not historically have been on your shortlist, however the Lion City has well and truly grown up, with a range of eclectic experiences that suit all tastes and budgets. While many automatically associate Singapore with popular day activities like the Singapore Zoo, Sentosa and shopping, it’s when the sun goes down and the temperature drops, that you find almost a different city coming to life, but still packed with world-class attractions, cutting edge bars and dining options.

Here are some of our favourite activities to discover once the sun goes down:

1-Altitude Bar: Situated 282m above ground, take in breathtaking views of the Singapore cityscape whilst tantilising your tastebuds with their refreshing signature cockatil, the ‘Zen Breeze’, made with vodka, green tea, lemongrass and mint. www.1-altitude.com



Night Safari: Spot nocturnal animals and wildlife at the world’s first night safari park. Sit back in a train, go on a walking trail with leopards or watch the creatures of the night show! www.nightsafari.com.sg



Hawker Food: For the real authentic taste of Singapore, visit any of the local hawker centres and outdoor alfresco dining areas scattered across the city. Try Boon Tat Street for famous satay, Makansutra’s Gluttons Bay for more iconic dishes like Hainanese Chicken Rice or Char Kway Teow, or be adventurous and head farther afield to suburban Chomp Chomp, a local favourite.



Late Night Shopping: Open 24 hours, shop up a storm at Mustafa Centre in Little India, buying anything from shampoo, to perfume or even a car! www.mustafa.com.sg 

Supper: Travellers can enjoy a late night sweet treat at one of the many cafes, which are open around the clock, such as award winning favourite 2am Dessert Bar, run by Chef Janice Wong. Try their signature dish: cassis plum – a Monet-style masterpiece comprising cassis bombe, elderflower yoghurt foam, plum liqueur and bamboo shoot delight. www.2amdessertbar.com

For more information on Singapore, please visit: www.yoursingapore.com

www.yoursingapore.com