Travelsmartplanet

CT: Exit 90 on I-95: Mystic Seaport – Step back in time in this 19th century maritime village offering you everything from tall ships to boarding the very last wooden whaling ship.

See a scale model of the area in 1870, figureheads from the bows of ships, a planetarium, a visitors’ gallery overlooking  restoration when in progress and the world’s largest collection of nautical photography.

The permanent seafaring exhibit covers immigrants, traders, explorers, fishermen, artists and vacationers on oceans, lakes and rivers. Try to catch the “man overboard” or “dead horse ceremony” aboard a sailing ship, and leave time for the large museum and fabulous gift shop. Your second day is FREE

Location: 75 Greenmanville Ave, Mystic, CT
Hours:  Apr-Oct 9-5, Nov-Jan 2 & Feb 16-Mar 30 Th-Sun 10-4
Tel: 888-9seaport  (888-973-2767) or 860-572-0711
www.mysticseaport.org

Tags: artist, bow, ceremony, dead, explorer, figurehead, fishermen, gift, horse, immigrant, lake, maritime, Museum, Mystic, nautical, ocean, overboard, photography, planetarium, river, seafaring, Seaport, ship, trader, vacationer, whaling

FL Exit 212: Space shuttle Atlantis will be unveiled at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex on June 29 for its new mission ­to inspire those who visit it; It will be on permanent display. The Space Coast will be one of only four destinations worldwide where visitors will be able to view an orbiter and one of only three destinations where visitors will be able to view one that traveled to space.

Space shuttle Atlantis made NASA’s historic final launch, completing the 30-year shuttle program. Atlantis will be housed in a brand new $100 million interactive exhibit complex. The shuttle is dramatically showcased as if it were in orbit – as only astronauts have had a chance to see it – departing from the International Space Station.

Rocket Launches – Though the Shuttle program has ended, visitors can still catch sight of unmanned rockets that continue to launch from Kennedy Space Center. Visit www.spacecoastlaunches.com to learn about upcoming rocket launches.

Location: Kennedy Space Center
Date and Time:  starting June 29, 2013
Hours: Daily 9-5
Tel:  321-449-4444
www.kennedyspacecenter.com

Tags: astronaut, Atlantis, Coast, Kennedy Space Center, launch, orbiter, shuttle, Space

I-95 Exit 68:  The South Florida Science Center and Aquarium has just been re-named so it is having a party on June 7th when admission will be free all day. The building may look small, but it is hugely interactive, so travelers of all ages will enjoy playing here. You can feel the density of solids, see how guitar strings vibrate, try out the frozen shadows room (loved that!), learn to write in hieroglyphics or check out Dr. Saul Rotter’s butterfly collection.

Adults were all lined up playing the wall of brain teasers (balance nails, color match) and little ones were in the microscope room. If you’ve ever wanted to see one, there’s a mammoth tusk and a 3,000-year-old child mummy.

The planetarium offers 5 daily shows, and in the aquarium you can find genetically altered fish which fluoresce under UV light in the presence of toxins in the water. There’s Subway for lunch. Outside there’s an interactive garden with echo tubes, whisper dishes, mini-golf and a butterfly area.

Location: 4801 Dreher Trail N. in Dreher Park, Palm Beach, FL
Hours: M-F 10-5, Sat 10-6, Sun 12-6
Free Day: June 7
Tel: 561-832-1988
www.sfsm.org or www.sfsciencecenter.org

Tags: aquarium, brain, butterfly, echo, fish, garden, guitar, hieroglyphic, mammoth, microscope, mummy, planetarium, shadow, South Florida Science Center and Aquarium, teaser, tusk, whisper

If you are heading out to Ottawa to skate on the Rideau Canal and to enjoy Canada’s capitol, leave some time to explore the Canadian Museum of Nature, their first national museum, completed in 1912.

The Beaux Arts building was recently renovated and is now fronted by a towering glass atrium. That’s where we found the arts and crafts action. Perhaps leave that for the end, after you’ve had a chance to watch “Exploding Geology”, the tornado demonstration, walk through the large bird display (and play on the interaction boards),  swoon over the 1200 gorgeous minerals, rocks and meteorites , meet the 10-metre blue whale, enjoy the full size mammal gallery (look for the reindeer), go face to face with a triceratops,  or spy on the tarantula.

Kids of any age and their parents will enjoy their day. If you have time there are two movies, “Nature Unleashed” and “3D Dinosaur” but our gang liked the interactive museum more. Special exhibits coming up will show off Ikebana, Japanese floral design, Flora of the Canadian Arctic and in the summer, the Hidden Lives of Ants.

Trivia buffs should note that this Canadian Museum of Nature  served as home to Canada’s House of Commons and Senate following the fire that destroyed the Centre Block of Parliament in 1916.

Location: 240 McLeod St., Ottawa, Canada
Phone: 613-364-4021
www.nature.ca

Tags: ant, arts and crafts, atrium, Beaux Arts, bird, blue whale, Canadian Museum of Nature, capitol, dinosaur, floral, geology, House of commons, ikebana, Japanese, mammal, meteorite, mineral, Museum, Parliament, reindeer, Rideau Canal, rock, Senate, tarantula, tornado, triceratops, trivia

Exit 215:  At the Valiant Air Command Warbird Museum in Florida, don’t be put off by the first rooms of old-style displays of uniforms, photos and personal artifacts from aerial vets, just go through the magic doors to see the collection of vintage Warbird aircraft. The best part of being here is listening to the war stories re-told by veteran tour guides. We learned from ours that our pilots are treated more importantly than in other countries as the cockpits are built with steel plating to protect them.

In the front section there are amazing stories. Learn about the brave B-25 Mitchell bomber pilots who flew secret missions over Tokyo. The aircraft had fuel for only one way so the trip was a death mission as the pilots had to crash land in China. Read about the WWI pilots who came back and became The Flying Tigers, mercenary pilots for Chiang Kai Shek, and received a $500 bounty for each Japanese plane shot. They got to know Japanese air strategy and helped the US air command in WWII.

During WWII, a couple of paddle wheelers with their tops cut off were floated out into Lake Michigan and were cleverly used as air craft carriers to train pilots to land. An FM-1 Grumman Wildcat fell into lake. Fifty-one years later it was recovered and  totally reconstructed. Dixie Howell, the pilot, was19 years old then and at age 82, when saw it again here (out of the drink) he was tearful. He was a fighting ace and had shot down 7 Japanese Zeros.

In the rear are the stars: a B-52 is here, it was the heaviest bomber built with 8 engines. There’s a subsonic plane with a fueling probe, a Mig-15, Navy Skyhawk, F-14ATomcat and even a 1941 Dodge Army staff car which was used in “Cidar House Rules” and “Spidernan”. Notice that the UH-1 Huey Medivac has a patch in its window (with surgical stitches) which was sewn during bombing raids.

As if all that wasn’t exciting enough, go further back from the main hangar to the restoration hangar to see volunteers at work on vintage planes.

Once a month you can take a ride on the 1942 Tico Belle, with its extensive war history, as it was used in the Normandy invasion and the Berlin airlift.

There’s an air show every March where they take these old geezers up. The gift shop has the largest collection of model airplanes and things like aircraft clocks.

Location: 6600 Tico Rd., Titusville, FL
Hours: Daily 9-5
Tel: 321-268-1941
www.vacwarbirds.org

On Saturday Sept 10th, My husband and I will be on Radio Centre-Ville’s Centre-Ville Consumer show with Beta Wayne.

Tune to 102.3  between 12:30 p.m.  and 1 p.m. and you’ll hear about our experiences in Holland and Flanders, Belgium in May. It will be the full half hour of conversation between us.

www.radiocentreville.com

Tags: Belgium, Beta Wayne, Centre Ville Consumer, Flanders, Holland

Antwerps’s diamond cutters are world famous. Marcel Tolkowsky (an engineer by profession but from a family of diamond cutters) is celebrated as the father of the round brilliant diamond cut (called the American Standard, American Ideal Cut, Tolkowsky cut or Tolkowsky Brilliant), using an optimal number of facets to achieve maximum brilliance.

He set the diamond cutting benchmark in North America and his technique is still used today. In 1919 he derived it from mathematical calculations that considered both brilliance and fire of the stone. Learn this and more sparkling info at the Diamond Museum ( www.awdc.be/diamond-museum-province-antwerp ) in Antwerp, Belgium

We were surprised to find out, at the Diamond Museum in Antwerp, that when cutting a diamond to expose its brilliance, you lose 50% of the diamond. Don’t worry – they don’t toss the scraps out. Leftovers are saved for industrial use – it is, after all, the hardest substance in the world. You can only cut a diamond with a diamond.

Famous diamond quotes are on the wall of the Diamond Museum in Antwerp, Belgium: Zsa Zsa Gabor, “I never hated a man enough to give him his diamonds back”.

Image Courtesy : ekati.bhpbilliton.com

Check out the 181.02 carat diamond in the Diamond Museum in Antwerp, Belgium. It’s from the Ekati Diamond mine located in Canada, 200 km. south of the Arctic Circle in the Northwest Territories. This was Canada’s first diamond mine.