Massively crowded? It does seem that way at times, but that is an indication of the local popularity of the place. The pizza has a thin crust that reminds me of European pizza, but the toppings are far more plentiful here. A medium is fine for 2-3 people. The large is an 18 incher.My family and I lived in Anchorage for 2 years and we frequented this local "Pizza Joint" many times.And I bet they do a simple pepperoni up right, too! Oh, and the root beer on tap is smooth and wonderful.
Pizza snobs, here's the deal. The crust is somewhere between thin, saggy New York style and deep deep Chicago style. I had heard great things about Moose's Tooth and it lived up to all of the hype!This was such a hit with our three sons (college and recent grad)and their parents that we ate here twice - on our first and last nights in Alaska. Very creative and excellent pizzas. This is a very nice casual restaurant. Strikes me as well-lit and open, if a bit on the noisy side
Orso Ristorante
You can't go wrong in this place. It is reasonably priced (especially for lunch when the prices are comparable to Applebee's, but the food is obviously much better). You have to try the appetizers... I love the calamari, and spinach artichoke dipThe Insalata Orso salad is so good, I've never had anything like it! If you try their smoked salmon chowder, you'll be craving it again for the rest of your life, its that good. They also have some fresh seafood for the main meal, but I like the Wild Mushroom Raviolli the best.Desserts...oh the desserts. You can't go wrong, just pick the flavors you like the best, you won't be disappointed.Their wine and beer are superb. I'm not into drinking, but if you are a bit of a connoiseur, you will be tickled. The only problem you will have at this restaurant is not being able to try everything on account of a full stomach! The service is impeccable, too! If you are in Anchorage and you don't eat at Orso you really missed out. Why even go to Anchorage if you aren't going to Orso?
The atmosphere was chic and the restaurant seemed trendy. I'm not sure if the Friday before Memorial Day is tourist season yet or not, but my wife and I decided to go to eat at about 3pm and were able to obtain a reservation for 5:30 without issue. My salad had too much dressing for my personal taste, but swapping with my wife made that an easy fix as hers had a touch too little for her taste. The garlic cream sauce perfectly complimented the meal instead of overwhelming it as is so often the case with sauces.
This is by far my favorite restaurant in Anchorage! It's a little pricey but so worth it! The drinks are amazing and the food is even better!My two fine dining experiences in Anchorage were Simon's and Orso. While the view at Simon's is unique, the food and warm environs at Orso are unparalleled.
A complete let-down, We dined here in October - the night after a fantastic meal at Jens' Restaurant. Everyone had told us that we *had* to go to Orso - it would be the perfect meal, the best we'd have, everything would be great. Well, it was a huge let-down. We didn't order any wine, and after that, our waiter seemed not to care about our table at all. The service was horrendous.
I don't understand why people rant and rave about the (overpriced, crowded and extremely noisy) Glacier Brewhouse next door because Orso is a far better restaurant. If you're in Anchorage, you must try Orso!
Spenard Roadhouse
IT WAS LOUD! So loud that it was hard to hold a conversation...and this on a Wednesday night and about 50% capacity. I would recomment this to anyone EXCEPT if you were looking for a nice, quiet meal.Spenard Roadhouse opened in February 2009 and has pretty much scored success on all fronts.
Tuesday, May 26, 2009
Sunday, May 24, 2009
Vancouver-2
We've all visited multiple times, love it, and travel frequently but are looking for those not-so-obvious things to do. We are especially interested in art, history, theatre, museums, cooking schools, classes and other unique or new experiences. Any recommendations along those lines from recent visitors or natives? Ideally you should do a day trip to Victoria.. fly harbor to harbor and visit the show on at the Royal BC Museum...if you fly both ways it's easily doable without too much stress. This show is supposed to be wonderful. oops I should have double checked.. the big show will be gone before you are here. honestly you'll think us wimps but I like to try to do one place and just dive in deep. We would like to check out Seattle,Vancouver and Victoria during our visit and I know this could be overly ambitious, especially since my wife will be 28 weeks pregant at the time. The one thing my wife wants to do for sure is whale watching, but she is pregant and the tought of going on a bumpy zodiac scares me.
I would ditch 【俚】拋棄,丟棄 the rental car as it will take far more time to cross border and get ferries with it. Sometimes you can time it so the last day you could get a plane saving you a nite in Seattle. Thanks a ton for your advice. I will look closer into all of your recommendations.the Marriott is in a good location almost midway between the Delta nd the Laurel Point...and if you can get a good room with points then I'd go for it.
I would ditch 【俚】拋棄,丟棄 the rental car as it will take far more time to cross border and get ferries with it. Sometimes you can time it so the last day you could get a plane saving you a nite in Seattle. Thanks a ton for your advice. I will look closer into all of your recommendations.the Marriott is in a good location almost midway between the Delta nd the Laurel Point...and if you can get a good room with points then I'd go for it.
Vancouver BC
How is it? Have I missed out any important, interesting attractions? Is my itinerary feasible.
I would say that Chinatown will probably only need about 3 or 4 hours, so you have the rest of that day to fill, and the same with Granville Island. Your days are also quite weather dependent, except for some of the mall shopping, and June weather is notoriously unreliable. There are several Boathouse Restaurants, including one with a lovely view over English Bay, so I have no idea what prompted you to go out to New Westminster. I'd reassess that choice. I'd be inclined to do Granville Island in the morning. It's actually easy to spend more than 3 hours in Stanley park...especailly if you want to walk the seawall ( or cycle) visit the Rose Garden, visit the Aquarium, stop at Prospect Point, wander along by Lost Lagoon...it's a wonderful Park and really depends on what you enjoy doing.
You could do a nice loop by doing Gastown, Chinatown, Yaletown and then Aquabus over to Granville Island..this would be one full day but not too much for one day. if you like gardens then visit the Sun Yat Sen in Chinatown.
Want to feel like a local, try looking at English Bay area, plenty of shops but mostly residental and on the beach. It's not far from downtown-walkable. More with long term apts, less expensive hotels.
And this time plan to see Granville Isl, take a day trip by car to West Van to hike and sight see, do a longer stint at Stanley Park (a large chunk of it was closed last time due to wind storms/downed trees).
If you have not yet found a suitable hotel, we wonder if you have thought about renting an apartment. We have stared doing this now as we find we can get an apartment just minutes walk from the Waterfront, shops, etc. at a more reasonable price than hotels and B&B's and have more room.
My wife and I were booked in for the 10:00am tour on Sunday, May 17th / 2009 for her 30th Birthday.
There is an inexpensive English Bay chain restaurant named the Boathouse and sitting on the heated deck is a good choice. Sunset is 9:00pm. Reservations at http://www.boathouserestaurants.ca/ I'll leave the Harbour Centre to someone else.
The Boathouse and Milestones have patios that overlook English Bay. I actually prefer the Milestones patio. Either way, you can finish dinner and walk across the street to admire the rest of the sunset.
One tip - skip dessert at the restaurant and walk a block up Denman to grab dessert - there are about 5-6 dessert places (gelato, cupcakes, cookies, cream puffs, etc). My personal favourite is Dulcinea with their Spanish hot chocolate. I believe on Wednesdays they even have live flamenco music!
Yes, it IS the WorldMark! It sounds like we won't have any problem finding some things close by,
It's on Hornby and Helmcken, which is pretty much the center of downtown Vancouver. A short walk to the shops/restaurants of Robson Street and Yaletown, a short walk to the seawall and to English Bay beach. A 20-30 minute walk to Stanley Park, also a short walk to the water taxi ride to Granville Island.
If you have one day, I'd probably spend part of it at Granville Island, part of it in Stanley Park, and watch the sunset from English Bay. You'll be within close walking distance to dozens of excellent restaurants - it's really a great location.
Why not cut one night off vancouver and take the amtrak train the night before your flight. It's a lovely ride... part along the water and it will still be light most of the way that time of year...over night in Seattle and spend the mprning at Pike Place market, visit the new Seattle Museum of Modern Art and then catch your plane.
We arrive the evening of 9 July for a cruise. I really need help trying to organize and see as much as possible on July 10 prior to 2pm to board the ship.
Your problem is going to be your luggage. You need to get checked out of your hotel in the morning, but you won't be able to take it with you sightseeing before heading to the peir to board your ship.
I'd say pick one downtown attraction - probably either Stanley Park or Granville Island (assuming nice weather - perhaps the Maritime or Vancouver Museum if it's lousy), and plan on spending a couple of hours there.
You could head down to Granville Island for breakfast, have a bit of a wander as things are opening up, then grab one of the pedestrian ferries for a ride around False Creek, getting off in Yaletown for a bit of wander.
1. Take a cab to Stanley park..then walk part of the seawall..make your way to the Aquabus watertaxi and go to Granville Island.. have lunch do some craft shopping.. cab it or bus back to hotel.. go to cruise.
2 A more adventurous (and exhausting) itinerary
Up by 6:30 am...walk over to Stanley park and cut across by Lost Lagoon over to English bay.. walk west ( clockwise) towards Siwash Rock.. spend about 1 hour in park and then catch a cab to Waterfront Station.. be at Waterfront by 8:10 to take Seabus to Lonsdale Quay then take bus # 236 to Grouse Mountain..this will put you on Grouse just before the skyride opens at 9am
http://www.translink.ca
http://www.grousemountain.com/Summer/
Ride up Grouse..explore for about 1.5 hours ..and then come back down the mountain and reverse your route back to Waterfront station..where you will catch the #50 bus to Granville Island
http://www.granvilleisland.com/en
( 15 minute ride) by now it will be lunch time so grab something from one of the many food outlets and sit outside to watch the boat, watertaxi, kayak traffic on False Creek and enjoy one of the street perfomrers who abound on the island. Slip past the market to the Netloft to shop/view great crafts from all over BC
about 1:30 grab a cab from Granville Island to your hotel.. have the cab wait while you pick up your luggage which the hotel stored fro you at 7am and cab it to Ballantyne.
If you can possibly do it ..try to get onto your boat later...if you have even one mor ehour you could leave Granville Island by Aquabus to Yaletown.. do a short stroll here then take cab to hotel.
http://www.theaquabus.com/
The above itinerary is rather manic but it would certainly let you see some of the "High Points" of Vancouver.
Finally for a restaurant I would look at Il Nido.. it's on Thurlow just off Robson and gets consistently good reviews..check www.dinehere.ca.. you can sort by downtown vancouver and price/type of food. Il Nido is in a courtyard and I would make a reservation as it is busy in town in the summer.. you can reserve for 9:30 or 9:45 of you want.
http://www.cafeilnido.net/
Hope the above gives you some options/ideas..
WOW!!! you guys are good. I think we will take a combo of both and put it together. The ship leaves at5:30pm and we suspect there to be many like us trying to get a "taste' of Vancouver prior to the cruiseand it could be crowded to check in the later it gets.
locals sneak up there for an overnight for a reason! Definitely. Whistler is a good day trip if you are pressed for time, but as you have a fair bit of room in your schedule, I'd plan on making it an overnight trip, even if it's up in the afternoon and back the next morning. Not sure of your age group, but Whistler has such a fun party/club/pub scene year-round, that it's worth staying up so you can take full advantage of that without worrying about the drive back to Vancouver.
Dont worry about the transportation to the cruise. Depending if you are leaving from the main cruise terminal or balantine terminal ...a taxi ride will be anywhere from 4 minutes to 11 minutes and no more than 5 to 10 dollars. we have compact downtown and the terminals are right there.
I dont think you would need a car at all. I would suggest that if you book a hotel downtown...any hotel you will be within walking district of the following.
Day 1)Robson street: You can spend a whole day walking robson street all the way west to denman..then head south on denman down to english bay. Great people watching and cool people (gay capital of canada on denman).
day 2) rent bikes at the northernmost point of denman street. ride the bikes around stanley park. If not into biking for sure do the walk. itsw beautiful for locals and tourists alike.
Come over to my house for lemonade and..ok now im kidding but you for sure will have enough to do in 2 days without renting a car.
Trying to fit in a trip to Victoria to zipline. We are already ticketed on Amtrak arriving in Vancouver at 11:30. I'm trying to decide if it is feasible to then head by ferry to Victoria. We would want to have some time between train and ferry. What is the area surrounding the Amtrak station in Vancouver like? Are there decent restaurants or shopping or other attractions nearby?
I would say that Chinatown will probably only need about 3 or 4 hours, so you have the rest of that day to fill, and the same with Granville Island. Your days are also quite weather dependent, except for some of the mall shopping, and June weather is notoriously unreliable. There are several Boathouse Restaurants, including one with a lovely view over English Bay, so I have no idea what prompted you to go out to New Westminster. I'd reassess that choice. I'd be inclined to do Granville Island in the morning. It's actually easy to spend more than 3 hours in Stanley park...especailly if you want to walk the seawall ( or cycle) visit the Rose Garden, visit the Aquarium, stop at Prospect Point, wander along by Lost Lagoon...it's a wonderful Park and really depends on what you enjoy doing.
You could do a nice loop by doing Gastown, Chinatown, Yaletown and then Aquabus over to Granville Island..this would be one full day but not too much for one day. if you like gardens then visit the Sun Yat Sen in Chinatown.
Want to feel like a local, try looking at English Bay area, plenty of shops but mostly residental and on the beach. It's not far from downtown-walkable. More with long term apts, less expensive hotels.
And this time plan to see Granville Isl, take a day trip by car to West Van to hike and sight see, do a longer stint at Stanley Park (a large chunk of it was closed last time due to wind storms/downed trees).
If you have not yet found a suitable hotel, we wonder if you have thought about renting an apartment. We have stared doing this now as we find we can get an apartment just minutes walk from the Waterfront, shops, etc. at a more reasonable price than hotels and B&B's and have more room.
My wife and I were booked in for the 10:00am tour on Sunday, May 17th / 2009 for her 30th Birthday.
There is an inexpensive English Bay chain restaurant named the Boathouse and sitting on the heated deck is a good choice. Sunset is 9:00pm. Reservations at http://www.boathouserestaurants.ca/ I'll leave the Harbour Centre to someone else.
The Boathouse and Milestones have patios that overlook English Bay. I actually prefer the Milestones patio. Either way, you can finish dinner and walk across the street to admire the rest of the sunset.
One tip - skip dessert at the restaurant and walk a block up Denman to grab dessert - there are about 5-6 dessert places (gelato, cupcakes, cookies, cream puffs, etc). My personal favourite is Dulcinea with their Spanish hot chocolate. I believe on Wednesdays they even have live flamenco music!
Yes, it IS the WorldMark! It sounds like we won't have any problem finding some things close by,
It's on Hornby and Helmcken, which is pretty much the center of downtown Vancouver. A short walk to the shops/restaurants of Robson Street and Yaletown, a short walk to the seawall and to English Bay beach. A 20-30 minute walk to Stanley Park, also a short walk to the water taxi ride to Granville Island.
If you have one day, I'd probably spend part of it at Granville Island, part of it in Stanley Park, and watch the sunset from English Bay. You'll be within close walking distance to dozens of excellent restaurants - it's really a great location.
Why not cut one night off vancouver and take the amtrak train the night before your flight. It's a lovely ride... part along the water and it will still be light most of the way that time of year...over night in Seattle and spend the mprning at Pike Place market, visit the new Seattle Museum of Modern Art and then catch your plane.
We arrive the evening of 9 July for a cruise. I really need help trying to organize and see as much as possible on July 10 prior to 2pm to board the ship.
Your problem is going to be your luggage. You need to get checked out of your hotel in the morning, but you won't be able to take it with you sightseeing before heading to the peir to board your ship.
I'd say pick one downtown attraction - probably either Stanley Park or Granville Island (assuming nice weather - perhaps the Maritime or Vancouver Museum if it's lousy), and plan on spending a couple of hours there.
You could head down to Granville Island for breakfast, have a bit of a wander as things are opening up, then grab one of the pedestrian ferries for a ride around False Creek, getting off in Yaletown for a bit of wander.
1. Take a cab to Stanley park..then walk part of the seawall..make your way to the Aquabus watertaxi and go to Granville Island.. have lunch do some craft shopping.. cab it or bus back to hotel.. go to cruise.
2 A more adventurous (and exhausting) itinerary
Up by 6:30 am...walk over to Stanley park and cut across by Lost Lagoon over to English bay.. walk west ( clockwise) towards Siwash Rock.. spend about 1 hour in park and then catch a cab to Waterfront Station.. be at Waterfront by 8:10 to take Seabus to Lonsdale Quay then take bus # 236 to Grouse Mountain..this will put you on Grouse just before the skyride opens at 9am
http://www.translink.ca
http://www.grousemountain.com/Summer/
Ride up Grouse..explore for about 1.5 hours ..and then come back down the mountain and reverse your route back to Waterfront station..where you will catch the #50 bus to Granville Island
http://www.granvilleisland.com/en
( 15 minute ride) by now it will be lunch time so grab something from one of the many food outlets and sit outside to watch the boat, watertaxi, kayak traffic on False Creek and enjoy one of the street perfomrers who abound on the island. Slip past the market to the Netloft to shop/view great crafts from all over BC
about 1:30 grab a cab from Granville Island to your hotel.. have the cab wait while you pick up your luggage which the hotel stored fro you at 7am and cab it to Ballantyne.
If you can possibly do it ..try to get onto your boat later...if you have even one mor ehour you could leave Granville Island by Aquabus to Yaletown.. do a short stroll here then take cab to hotel.
http://www.theaquabus.com/
The above itinerary is rather manic but it would certainly let you see some of the "High Points" of Vancouver.
Finally for a restaurant I would look at Il Nido.. it's on Thurlow just off Robson and gets consistently good reviews..check www.dinehere.ca.. you can sort by downtown vancouver and price/type of food. Il Nido is in a courtyard and I would make a reservation as it is busy in town in the summer.. you can reserve for 9:30 or 9:45 of you want.
http://www.cafeilnido.net/
Hope the above gives you some options/ideas..
WOW!!! you guys are good. I think we will take a combo of both and put it together. The ship leaves at5:30pm and we suspect there to be many like us trying to get a "taste' of Vancouver prior to the cruiseand it could be crowded to check in the later it gets.
locals sneak up there for an overnight for a reason! Definitely. Whistler is a good day trip if you are pressed for time, but as you have a fair bit of room in your schedule, I'd plan on making it an overnight trip, even if it's up in the afternoon and back the next morning. Not sure of your age group, but Whistler has such a fun party/club/pub scene year-round, that it's worth staying up so you can take full advantage of that without worrying about the drive back to Vancouver.
Dont worry about the transportation to the cruise. Depending if you are leaving from the main cruise terminal or balantine terminal ...a taxi ride will be anywhere from 4 minutes to 11 minutes and no more than 5 to 10 dollars. we have compact downtown and the terminals are right there.
I dont think you would need a car at all. I would suggest that if you book a hotel downtown...any hotel you will be within walking district of the following.
Day 1)Robson street: You can spend a whole day walking robson street all the way west to denman..then head south on denman down to english bay. Great people watching and cool people (gay capital of canada on denman).
day 2) rent bikes at the northernmost point of denman street. ride the bikes around stanley park. If not into biking for sure do the walk. itsw beautiful for locals and tourists alike.
Come over to my house for lemonade and..ok now im kidding but you for sure will have enough to do in 2 days without renting a car.
Trying to fit in a trip to Victoria to zipline. We are already ticketed on Amtrak arriving in Vancouver at 11:30. I'm trying to decide if it is feasible to then head by ferry to Victoria. We would want to have some time between train and ferry. What is the area surrounding the Amtrak station in Vancouver like? Are there decent restaurants or shopping or other attractions nearby?
Friday, May 22, 2009
anchorage
The shuttle bus trips into Denali NP are sometimes too long for a child, anyway. So, as mentioned, you could drive to Talkeetna for a river float trip that would give you a good chance of seeing wildlife and views of McKinley.
My husband and I spent several hours watching float planes land and take off! And you are fairly likely to see a moose in Anchorage. (We actually saw more moose in Anchorage than we did in Denali NP and we were only in Anchorage for a couple of days.) You could walk or bike the Coastal Trail, watch the fishing at Ship Creek, go to the Aviation Heritage Museum, Wildlife Conservation Center, zoo, and the Native Heritage Center, and the Botanical Gardens has nice walks and nature trails.
Days are long, so you could take day trips south from Anchorage and see a lot, too. Portage glacier and Byron Glacier (look for ice worms) are certainly close enough for a day trip, and Anchorage.net says Exit Glacier is 2 1/2 hours south. Seward and the Alaska Sealife Center are 125 miles away.
Look at http://www.anchorage.net/ for more ideas or search this forum. There have also been lots of postings about Alaska with kids and Alaska on a budget.
My husband and I spent several hours watching float planes land and take off! And you are fairly likely to see a moose in Anchorage. (We actually saw more moose in Anchorage than we did in Denali NP and we were only in Anchorage for a couple of days.) You could walk or bike the Coastal Trail, watch the fishing at Ship Creek, go to the Aviation Heritage Museum, Wildlife Conservation Center, zoo, and the Native Heritage Center, and the Botanical Gardens has nice walks and nature trails.
Days are long, so you could take day trips south from Anchorage and see a lot, too. Portage glacier and Byron Glacier (look for ice worms) are certainly close enough for a day trip, and Anchorage.net says Exit Glacier is 2 1/2 hours south. Seward and the Alaska Sealife Center are 125 miles away.
Look at http://www.anchorage.net/ for more ideas or search this forum. There have also been lots of postings about Alaska with kids and Alaska on a budget.
As Alaska isn't a cheep place to vacation, Anchorage is much more affordable place to stay than the outlying areas, with lots to do and see in and around town.
Oh you can do Denali in a day from Anchorage. It's known as the suicide run and entails getting up at 3:00 a.m. to drive to Denali to catch an early shuttle back to Wonder Lake and then driving back to Anchorage that night.
For starters: Try the train. There are day trips from Anchorage to Seward, which will save you the hassle of driving, plus free up your time to watch the scenery. Seward has the glacier/wildlife cruises you're looking for, plus fishing, the Sea Life Center, etc. That knocks out a bunch of your list right there.
It is getting close to our Alaska trip and I am left with a few more bookings to make. The food is served buffet style in chafing dishes, go back to Seward and find a good local restaurant to reminisce about the wildlife and glaciers that you just experienced! I enjoy the Wildlife Conservation Center for bears though, it is on the Seward Hwy near Portage Glacier.
Hi, my grandson (7) loves the zoo and it's a great place to let the kids run a bit and burn off some energy.
my family (2 adults/2 kids) are looking for a nice B & B around Anchorage for one night in June. we will need two rooms with 3 beds.
the few that I am considering because they look nice by the pictures are : Alaska Frontier gardens, Mangy moose and Grand Alaska.any thought about there or others?
the few that I am considering because they look nice by the pictures are : Alaska Frontier gardens, Mangy moose and Grand Alaska.any thought about there or others?
If you can pass along some details we might be able to give you some better options based on those. as I am in a freaked out state currently, I just booked two nights at Captain cook (2 bd suit) as a back up plan. (we are not too keen on camping out).
We have one spare day in Anchorage at the end of June and are looking for the best one day bear watching trip. I have read several who think you need more time to veiw the bears or it is not worth it. I have stayed in both and would consider the Seward Windsong Lodge to be the quieter of the two in my experiences. They also have a wonderful restaurant on site.
Can you tell me what Seward itself is like? We think it'd be too much of a hassle for us to stay one night in each place. As mentioned Rust's is good as well as Regal Air.
I will be busy doing all the follow ups,appreciate the time taken. Any thoughts on how best to maximize my time by seeing as much as possible. I don't think you could go wrong with Glacier Brewhouse, The Snow Goose, or Humpy's. we have kids 8 and 13 who are pretty adventurous but the 8 year old bores easily.
Thursday, May 21, 2009
tripadvisor review (seward windsong lodge)
The lodge (office) was decorated nicely, and had a cozy feel, even though the fireplace was not going, despite chilly and rainy weather. We dined at the on-site restaurant, and our meal and service were satisfactory (albeit overpriced). There was one menu for bar food and one for fine dining, although both areas were within sight of each other.All in all, I'd prefer to stay in the town of Seward, where I can park my car and enjoy the town on foot.stayed at the windsong two nights. our stay was quiet, maybe it was less crowded than during the other commenters time of stay. but we liked being off the road and away from the town of seward and the fish smell found near the harbor.we were there for breakfast and dinner, the service was rather slow. Both the room and the resaurant were rather overpriced. After some great other accommodations, it was a bit of let down to come to this hotel. Room was clean, but dreary. The bed was HORRIBLE.nothing even looked appealing.I'm in a terribly grumpy mood, and for that I blame the hotel's lack of adequate sound proofing in the rooms. I would not recommend this place to anyone who is a moderate to light sleeper. "Really! You paid $30 for those shoes - get outta here!!!". Finally at 9am, there was a lull in the noise, and I drifted off to sleep - only to be awakened AGAIN only 10 minutes later by a knock on the door.
As for the rooms, the bed itself was a gorgeous 4 post bed. The room actually looked lovely, and if you are a heavy sleeper you will not have a problem with the room.
As for the rooms, the bed itself was a gorgeous 4 post bed. The room actually looked lovely, and if you are a heavy sleeper you will not have a problem with the room.
Thursday, November 13, 2008
La trigolía de familia de Ang Lee – Entre dos culturas
Ang Lee (1) es en la actualidad現在（present, current) un director de reputación mundial cuya particularidad ( 特點，善長）es la de saber contar 教述 las historias desde un punto de vista combinado, por un lado el chino, y por el otro el occidental. Ello tiene relación con las circumstancias de su vida; la infancia educado dentro de una familia muy estricta (strict)y su juventud pasándola en los Estados Unidos.
La trilogía de familia está entre 之一 sus primeras producciones y también fue el punto de partida para que yo tomara conocimiento de este director. Los tres títulos son: “Manos que empujan”(《推手》)(2), “El banquete de boda”（《喜宴》）(3) y “Comer, beber, amar”(《饮食男女》）(4).
Cada película no carece（carecer, to lack,be woithout)de elementos chinos. La primera toma su nombre de un ejercicio del Tai Chi; en la segunda nos podemos encontrar con las antiguas costumbres del casamiento chino; mientras que en “Comer, beber, amar”, podemos apreciar la exquisitez de los platos chinos.
El choque( crash, collision) entre las dos culturas da tema para muchas situaciones graciosas (笑料）. Por ejemplo, en “Manos que empujan”, el abuelo enseña a su nieto una canción cuya letra dice: … “a la salida se encontró con un perro mordido （morder, to bite) por un hombre, cogió(coger,, to take hold of,seize,grasp) un “pan” para pegar al perro, pero temiendo(temer. 害怕） al mismo tiempo que el pan le mordiera la mano”. El niño por su parte no quiso repetir la letra y dijo: “el hombre no puede morder al perro ni el “pan” al hombre”. La lógica es más importante en la cultura occidental que en la oriental.
En “El banquete de boda”, los invitados intentan por todos los medios crear dificultades a la pareja de recién casados, por ejemplo, se les hace comer un alimento colgado(suspender, to hang, hang up) de una cuerda(cordon, cord, string), y se les empuja para que se junten y se besen. También, cubren los ojos de la novia y diferentes personas la empiezan a besar y ella debe descubrir cuál de todos es su esposo. Un occidental que era testigo de la escena comenta: “los chinos a mis ojos eran la encarnación de la dulzura (柔順）, del silencio o de genios matemáticos”, y un chino replica: “ya puedes ver el resultado de 5000 años de represión sexual”
En estas tres películas lo que más me atrae es la figura del padre, con un carácter férreo（剛強） pero no completamente inflexible, preocupándose por su hijos de una manera silenciosa. En “El banquete de boda”, su hijo es un homosexual pero tienen miedo de decírselo a su padre ya que desde el punto de vista de este último, lo más importante es la continuación de la estirpe （heir). Pero al final de la película se aprecia que el padre había descubierto hacía tiempo (早就發現）el secreto de su hijo pero que no le había dicho nada no atormentarlo（causar dolor, to torment, cause pain). Tanta comprensión es realmente difícil de encontrar（這樣的理解， 真是太難得了）.
李安的《家庭三部曲》
李安現在是一位蜚聲國際的導演，他擅長用一種混合的視角教述中國故事，傳統的中國視角與西方視角相結合。這可能是由他的生活環境決定的，他的童年在嚴格的家庭教育中度過，青年時在美國讀書。《家庭三部曲》是李安最初的創作品之一，也是我瞭解這位導演的開始。
《推手》、《喜宴》、《飲食男女》。每部電影中都不乏中國元素，推手這個名字就是太極拳的一種訓練方式，在《喜宴》中，我們可以看到傳統中式婚禮的一些儀式，《飲食男女》中，更可以體味中餐之美。兩種文化之間的衝突給劇情帶來很多笑料。比如，在《推手》中，爺爺教小孫子一首兒歌，其中有一句是“出門碰見人咬狗，拿著包子去打狗，又怕包子咬了手。”小孫子怎麼都不肯重複，反駁說“人不可能要狗，包子也不會咬人。”西方文化比東方文化更講究邏輯性。在《喜宴》裏，人們想方設法刁難一對新人，比如讓他們咬一個系線上上的東西，有時周圍的人推他們讓他們親吻。或者蒙住新娘的眼睛，一些人上去親吻她，她判斷那人是不是她的丈夫。一個西方人看到這一幕，說道“我還以為中國人只是柔順、沉默和數學天才呢。”旁邊的一個中國人回答道：“這是五千年性壓抑的結果。”
三部電影中最吸引我的要算父親的形象了，性格剛強，卻並非不可變通，總是對他的子女有著一種沉默的關懷。《喜宴》裏的兒子是個同性戀，他不敢對父親講，因為對父親來說，傳宗接代是最重要的。但影片的末尾，原來父親早就知曉了兒子的秘密，他不說破只是為了不讓兒子心裏有負擔。這樣的理解太難得了。
La trilogía de familia está entre 之一 sus primeras producciones y también fue el punto de partida para que yo tomara conocimiento de este director. Los tres títulos son: “Manos que empujan”(《推手》)(2), “El banquete de boda”（《喜宴》）(3) y “Comer, beber, amar”(《饮食男女》）(4).
Cada película no carece（carecer, to lack,be woithout)de elementos chinos. La primera toma su nombre de un ejercicio del Tai Chi; en la segunda nos podemos encontrar con las antiguas costumbres del casamiento chino; mientras que en “Comer, beber, amar”, podemos apreciar la exquisitez de los platos chinos.
El choque( crash, collision) entre las dos culturas da tema para muchas situaciones graciosas (笑料）. Por ejemplo, en “Manos que empujan”, el abuelo enseña a su nieto una canción cuya letra dice: … “a la salida se encontró con un perro mordido （morder, to bite) por un hombre, cogió(coger,, to take hold of,seize,grasp) un “pan” para pegar al perro, pero temiendo(temer. 害怕） al mismo tiempo que el pan le mordiera la mano”. El niño por su parte no quiso repetir la letra y dijo: “el hombre no puede morder al perro ni el “pan” al hombre”. La lógica es más importante en la cultura occidental que en la oriental.
En “El banquete de boda”, los invitados intentan por todos los medios crear dificultades a la pareja de recién casados, por ejemplo, se les hace comer un alimento colgado(suspender, to hang, hang up) de una cuerda(cordon, cord, string), y se les empuja para que se junten y se besen. También, cubren los ojos de la novia y diferentes personas la empiezan a besar y ella debe descubrir cuál de todos es su esposo. Un occidental que era testigo de la escena comenta: “los chinos a mis ojos eran la encarnación de la dulzura (柔順）, del silencio o de genios matemáticos”, y un chino replica: “ya puedes ver el resultado de 5000 años de represión sexual”
En estas tres películas lo que más me atrae es la figura del padre, con un carácter férreo（剛強） pero no completamente inflexible, preocupándose por su hijos de una manera silenciosa. En “El banquete de boda”, su hijo es un homosexual pero tienen miedo de decírselo a su padre ya que desde el punto de vista de este último, lo más importante es la continuación de la estirpe （heir). Pero al final de la película se aprecia que el padre había descubierto hacía tiempo (早就發現）el secreto de su hijo pero que no le había dicho nada no atormentarlo（causar dolor, to torment, cause pain). Tanta comprensión es realmente difícil de encontrar（這樣的理解， 真是太難得了）.
李安的《家庭三部曲》
李安現在是一位蜚聲國際的導演，他擅長用一種混合的視角教述中國故事，傳統的中國視角與西方視角相結合。這可能是由他的生活環境決定的，他的童年在嚴格的家庭教育中度過，青年時在美國讀書。《家庭三部曲》是李安最初的創作品之一，也是我瞭解這位導演的開始。
《推手》、《喜宴》、《飲食男女》。每部電影中都不乏中國元素，推手這個名字就是太極拳的一種訓練方式，在《喜宴》中，我們可以看到傳統中式婚禮的一些儀式，《飲食男女》中，更可以體味中餐之美。兩種文化之間的衝突給劇情帶來很多笑料。比如，在《推手》中，爺爺教小孫子一首兒歌，其中有一句是“出門碰見人咬狗，拿著包子去打狗，又怕包子咬了手。”小孫子怎麼都不肯重複，反駁說“人不可能要狗，包子也不會咬人。”西方文化比東方文化更講究邏輯性。在《喜宴》裏，人們想方設法刁難一對新人，比如讓他們咬一個系線上上的東西，有時周圍的人推他們讓他們親吻。或者蒙住新娘的眼睛，一些人上去親吻她，她判斷那人是不是她的丈夫。一個西方人看到這一幕，說道“我還以為中國人只是柔順、沉默和數學天才呢。”旁邊的一個中國人回答道：“這是五千年性壓抑的結果。”
三部電影中最吸引我的要算父親的形象了，性格剛強，卻並非不可變通，總是對他的子女有著一種沉默的關懷。《喜宴》裏的兒子是個同性戀，他不敢對父親講，因為對父親來說，傳宗接代是最重要的。但影片的末尾，原來父親早就知曉了兒子的秘密，他不說破只是為了不讓兒子心裏有負擔。這樣的理解太難得了。
Tuesday, November 4, 2008
Guerra de anuncios
Al tiempo que se acercan las Olimpiadas 隨著奧運的臨近, las empresas chinas han iniciado una guerra de anuncios, o dicho de otra manera, una guerra de marketing. Vemos las estrategias más utilizadas por éstas:
La forma más eficaz 最有效的途徑 es convertirse en sponsor o proveedor oficial de los juegos olímpicos. De esta manera, la empresa puede labrarse una imagen y una reputación entre los chinos. Además, muchas empresas publicitan sus productos junto a estrellas del deporte. Liu Xiang (1), el corredor que posee el récord mundial de los 110 metros vallas, ha sido elegido por “China Post” como representante de uno de sus servicios, el “EMS”, ya que ambos simbolizan la velocidad, y por ello la publicidad ha obtenido muy buenos resultados.
Por otra parte, se organizan actividades de interés público y actividades colectivas en general. Por ejemplo, KFC ha organizado una actividad llamada “Yo amo a Beijing”. Lenovo (2), una marca de ordenadores china, a organizado por su parte una selección de portadores de antorchas olímpicas.
Por último, hay empresas que lanzan al mercado productos estréchamente ligados密切相關 a los juegos Olímpicos. Por ejemplo, el banco “China Commercial Bank”, en colaboración con VISA y Samsung, ha diseñado una tarjeta de crédito especial para los juegos olímpicos, mientras que QQ, el programa de mensajería más popular de China, diseñó una serie de muñecos haciendo diferentes deportes. Son monos可愛,¿verdad?
隨著奧運的臨近，各商家展開了一場廣告之戰，或者說一場行銷之戰。大家各展所長：
最有效的途徑當然是成為奧運會的贊助商（或者特許供應商），商家可借此在中國人民心目中牢固地樹立起形象與聲譽。
還有很多廠家將自己的產品與體育明星結合，製作廣告。劉翔，110米欄世界紀錄的保持者，被中國國家郵政挑中，做一項郵政服務-EMS的代言人，由於兩者強調的都是速度，這個廣告取得了很好的效果。
另外，商家們還會組織一些公益活動或是其他集體活動。比如肯德基就辦了一個叫“我愛北京”的活動。聯想則組織了奧運火炬手的選拔。
最後，商家們推出了一些與奧運密切相關的新產品。中國招商銀行與Visa 和Sumsung合作，設計了一款奧運信用卡。QQ，中國最流行的聊天軟體，甚至設計了一系列的圖像：在做運動的QQ公仔。是不是很可愛呢？
La forma más eficaz 最有效的途徑 es convertirse en sponsor o proveedor oficial de los juegos olímpicos. De esta manera, la empresa puede labrarse una imagen y una reputación entre los chinos. Además, muchas empresas publicitan sus productos junto a estrellas del deporte. Liu Xiang (1), el corredor que posee el récord mundial de los 110 metros vallas, ha sido elegido por “China Post” como representante de uno de sus servicios, el “EMS”, ya que ambos simbolizan la velocidad, y por ello la publicidad ha obtenido muy buenos resultados.
Por otra parte, se organizan actividades de interés público y actividades colectivas en general. Por ejemplo, KFC ha organizado una actividad llamada “Yo amo a Beijing”. Lenovo (2), una marca de ordenadores china, a organizado por su parte una selección de portadores de antorchas olímpicas.
Por último, hay empresas que lanzan al mercado productos estréchamente ligados密切相關 a los juegos Olímpicos. Por ejemplo, el banco “China Commercial Bank”, en colaboración con VISA y Samsung, ha diseñado una tarjeta de crédito especial para los juegos olímpicos, mientras que QQ, el programa de mensajería más popular de China, diseñó una serie de muñecos haciendo diferentes deportes. Son monos可愛,¿verdad?
隨著奧運的臨近，各商家展開了一場廣告之戰，或者說一場行銷之戰。大家各展所長：
最有效的途徑當然是成為奧運會的贊助商（或者特許供應商），商家可借此在中國人民心目中牢固地樹立起形象與聲譽。
還有很多廠家將自己的產品與體育明星結合，製作廣告。劉翔，110米欄世界紀錄的保持者，被中國國家郵政挑中，做一項郵政服務-EMS的代言人，由於兩者強調的都是速度，這個廣告取得了很好的效果。
另外，商家們還會組織一些公益活動或是其他集體活動。比如肯德基就辦了一個叫“我愛北京”的活動。聯想則組織了奧運火炬手的選拔。
最後，商家們推出了一些與奧運密切相關的新產品。中國招商銀行與Visa 和Sumsung合作，設計了一款奧運信用卡。QQ，中國最流行的聊天軟體，甚至設計了一系列的圖像：在做運動的QQ公仔。是不是很可愛呢？
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