Ipod guided city tours

Audio City Tours logo

I hate pottering like cattle in a mass behind a guide.

Two young entrepreneurial guys have a solution. Recently they set up a website, Audio City Tours, where, against a small fee, you can download an MP3 file, that guides your walk through Amsterdam. Two tours are available for the moment: An Old Amsterdam Tour and a Rembrandt Tour.

A Salzburg Mozart Tour is in preparation. They have to be fast with their Mozart tours, as the Austrian site Calling Mozart [url deleted as the site dissappeared since, ed.], set up by the Austrian State Radio ORF, provides a series of free tours in Vienna along various points of interest connected with Mozart.

In the UK it exists already under the name Tourist Tracks with tours in Bath, Brighton, Cambridge, London en Oxford. I also found one for Gloucestershire [url deleted as the site dissappeared since, ed.].

Update: They closed in the meantime.

Last Update January 2017

Avalon Coastal Retreat, Tasmania

Avalon Uitzicht vanuit de keuken

Seeing this breathtaking view from the kitchen of »Avalon Coastal Retreat
I had to place it here.

Paris: Murano Urban Resort

Not sure whether it is new, but it sure looks Cool: Murano Urban Resort.

Update 2020:

I found a blogpost about it at Urban Partners

Opened in 2004, the Murano Urban Resort was founded by one of the great Parisian hoteliers, Mr Patrick Machefert, the man at the origin of the Hotels de Paris group, which aimed to create luxury hotels for the 21st century.

Situated in the east of Paris, between the multicultural République and the arty Marais, the hotel brings some sparkle from the west of Paris to a typically more bohemian area.

The hotel’s young manager, the talented Jérôme Foucaud, ensured this surprising transplant, bringing his dynamism and his address book to make the establishment the most lively and innovative as possible : this involves cycling operations in the summer, champagne in winter, or from day to day, making the bar a festive and enthusiastic place, with musicians and DJs throughout the week.

And a photo collage by Escapio:

A Luxury Travel Blog

A Luxury Travel Blog

As Always I am looking for luxe up market sites.
In doing so I came across Luxury Travel Blog:

A Luxury Travel Blog is like no other travel blog.

It focuses on the finer aspects of travel and serves as a gateway for the discerning traveller, providing information on the most luxurious hotels and resorts, the finest restaurants and news from within the luxury travel industry.

The blog is brought to you by Dr. Paul Johnson.

Paul has worked in the travel industry for some 20 years and has traveled extensively, from his home in Kendal, Cumbria to Kangerlussuaq in West Greenland.

He is also Managing Director of The Dedicated Partnership Ltd., an online tourism marketing company with a client base that includes some of the finest hotels in the world.

The Dedicated Partnership Ltd. operates over 200 travel-related websites including the leading travel search engine, directory and forums at Aardvark Travel, a site which serves in the region of 100,000 unique visitors every month.

Spaander celebrates 125th: Famous Guests and Art

Emma Wilhelmina Cruijff

Each Hotel has a guestbook.

Hotel Spaander of Volendam, a major Dutch tourist attraction, celebrates its 125th anniversary.

Eddy Guyt who was commissioned to write about its history, found 7 guestbooks in the attic with a wealth of material.

Some famous signatures can now be found online.
Emma was the queen mother of Wilhelmina and Johan Cruijff is a famous Dutch football (soccer in US) player.

Portret 1 Portret 2 Portret 4

Besides, Leendert Spaander, the first owner, had the habit of having all sorts of artists from all over the world staying in his hotel and paying him in kind for the stay. So the hotel has an extensive artcollection of over 1200 works of art.

Source: Algemeen Dagblad, 1st April 2006.