European City Parks

1. Men from York sound like Mick Jagger.

2. By law, you have to have a double-barreled name to wear a top hat.

3. The Royal Family are of German origin.

4. All black cabs must have, by law, a dozen sausages in the trunk.

5. Some towns are constructed purely from houses with tin roofs.

6. Scotland did not get regular electricity supply until 1985.

7. Wales has more sheep per square mile than people.

8. All Cockneys are descended from midget Italians.

9. In Yorkshire the only legal profession is mining.

10. The Queen visits every mother at home after they have given birth.

11. French people are not allowed into Lancashire.

12. Prince Philip has a legal right to have sex with any bride the night before she gets married.

13. The pope has a private quarters in Buckingham Palace.

14. London has “gay only” buses which are pink.

15. Australians are not allowed entry to the UK, as they are classed as criminals.

For 1000 years Beefeaters have kept watch at the Tower of London. Now the Tower’s Body of Yeoman Warders has welcomed its first female, Moira Cameron. After rigorous training, including duties attached with the famed Ceremony of the Keys conducted each night of the year, Yeoman Warder Cameron has donned her blue and red dress uniform.

“Working here at the Tower of London is absolutely amazing, I feel so privileged to be here and it’s great to be in the uniform at last. I’m still getting used to wearing it but it certainly makes you stand very straight!”

Chief Yeoman Warder John Keohane said: “Yeoman Warder Cameron has been with us for a few weeks now and I can see she already has built up a great rapport with our visitors. Now that she is in exactly the same uniform doing exactly the same duties as her male colleagues, I think she will prove a great asset to the Tower and a valuable member of my team.”

Yeoman Warders are all former military people who have proven service to the crown and boast exemplary records for all duties. Over the following year, Yeoman Warder Cameron will learn by heart the complete history of the Tower so that she can lead one of the hour-long visitor tours that cover the myths, legends and stories of key events in English and Tower history.

Yeoman Warder tours are highlights of any Tower of London visit. The Beefeaters are all gifted storytellers who play to the crowd. The animated behavior entices and sometimes scared the hell out of children. Along the way, they describe grisly executions, house arrests and torture techniques, marriages and wars. On any cold, blustery day in London, a Yeoman Warder tour of the Tower takes the chill off your back.

For a peek at what you’ll experience, visit The Tower of London web site.

Packing light, packing right, is essential to getting around Europe (or any destination) quickly with less hassle and … ahem! … baggage. These tips come to you care of Briggs & Riley travel products:

Hauppauge, N.Y. – Ask any seasoned travel pro and they’ll tell you: a successful trip starts at home with smart packing! Briggs & Riley Travelware, a leader in innovative, high-quality luggage, polled a host of well-traveled professionals from journalists to business owners to get their top tips and tricks for successful packing.

Jim Lahren, Vice President of Marketing at Briggs & Riley states, “We polled hundreds of top travelers to get their best packing secrets and tips to help consumers save time and headaches in advance of their trip. Some of the key themes that came up repeatedly: pack ahead so you don’t rush, only take essentials, keep important items handy for easy access, and many suggested keeping key garments in the plastic bags they come in from the cleaners to eliminate wrinkles. There were also many unique and funny tips as well.”

Here are the top suggestions for anyone who wants to pack like a pro!

• “Do what I call packing ahead: start a few days before your trip and as you think of things you need/want to bring either write them down or lay them out. This way you make sure you don’t forget anything in the last minute rush.”

• “Never let your husband pack. No good can come from it.”

• “At least a week in advance of the trip, I start reminding my wife she takes too much clothing and packs way too much stuff. I do this with the hope that by the time I’m ready to start squeezing everything in, it won’t be too strenuous an undertaking.”

• “Lay everything out that you intend to take, and then remove one-third of it. This will eliminate ‘over-packing.’” Another respondent suggested, “To limit what I carry, I go through my bag a second time after packing to eliminate things that I might not need. Simple toiletries like tooth paste, mouthwash, and even white t-shirts can be purchased in small quantities after arrival at my destination.”

• “I save clothes that I’m about to throw out and then I pack them when I take a trip. I wear them on the trip and then throw them out before I pack to come home. That means I now have room to pack the new stuff and any souvenirs I bought. Beware though: two people emailed me that they threw their old clothes away at very fancy, high-end hotels. And the hotels had them dry cleaned and Fed Ex’d back to them, thinking they had thrown them out by mistake!”

• “Business travelers who frequent the same hotels can pack a bag or plastic storage box and leave it at the hotel until their next visit. In the interim, the hotel will launder, press and fold clothes as necessary, and hold them for you until your return. Slip the concierge $20 every now and then and you’ll be treated like royalty each time you visit and your property will be well protected for you.”

• “I had a favorite room in a nice hotel in Chicago. The room had a drop ceiling. Because of this I was able to lift a tile and hide things in the room above the ceiling. Every time I went there I stayed in the same room by booking far enough in advance to get it. I kept razor blades, shaving cream, deodorant and several other things in a small Tupperware container above the ceiling and never lost any of it. I don’t go there very often anymore, but I suspect that my things are still there!”

• “I’m on the road constantly and I try to make the road feel as much like home as possible. I try to get hotels to give me the same room every time, of course, but I also carry a couple of pictures of my wife and a couple of pictures of my daughter in my luggage. I also bring a small iPod player so I can listen to my music. My desk – here in Minneapolis today – looks just like my desk at home or my desk in New York or my desk in San Francisco.”

• “First rule: NEVER CHECK BAGS. One roll-on bag that fits in the overhead should do it for any trip – even up to a month. You can do it if you follow my second tip:”

• “Pack EVERYTHING BLACK: black shoes, black undies, black clothes, black makeup bag. It never goes out of style, always looks clean, always makes you look slimmer, it’s good for every season, and it’s easy to accessorize with color. With black, you can travel for two weeks or two months with one little carry-on bag. You’ll look chic in NY or London or Kuala Lampur.”

• “It’s not the clothes, it’s the shoes that matter! Pack with similar colors or styles in your clothes so that you can minimize the number of shoes required for the trip as they take up more space than clothes.”

And most important:

• “I always pack my underwear first so that I don’t forget it.”

Source: Lois Whitney & Christine Carney, HWHPR /New Media
Published: October, 2007

As if the Eurostar wasn’t already attractive enough, the UK’s first high-speed line will improve the journey time from London to Paris.

From November 14th, 2007, the journey from London to Paris will take 20 minutes less than before, making the total journey time just two hours and 15 minutes.

For those tourists visiting Europe, the Eurostar is also cleaner and more reliable than airlines, producing ten times less CO2 emissions that is set to be cut even more by 2012.

“Our check-in times are incredibly fast and on-time performance is 92 per cent compared to the airlines’ 55 to 70 per cent,” said Emma Harris, director of sales at Eurostar.

Trains will travel at a top speed of 186mph on the high-speed line, which has the potential to encourage even more passengers to choose rail over air travel around Europe.

The Eurostar also offers cheaper discount deals, with affordable return trips available from £59.

It’s your turn!

You’ve read what I have to say and see about many European city parks. That is just one part of travel, as we all know. Now I and the community of park enthusiasts want to hear from those of you that have traveled to the parks listed on European City Parks.com. Which is your favorite? Why do you visit parks when you travel? Tell us your experience so we can begin a dialog on Best Parks to Visit, Staying Green in Europe, Get Away from the Tourist Scene, Protect Our Parks, Where is the Nearest Beer Hall in [you pick the city]? and whatever else you have to say about traveling through Europe.

All you need do is register below, create a user name, and you can give your opinion to these parks or your favorite park.

Do you like Brugge’s Astridpark? Have you found a corner of Boboli Gardens that I didn’t comment on and which you feel needs a good review? Is your favorite park not listed on this site and you want to give it a nudge? Do you think the site needs to represent other fun city parks you know of and can give me a shout? Let us know and we will all benefit on our next trip to that neck of the Rhine or street in Madrid.

Cheers, and keep on walking!