Travelsmartplanet

For some Halloween ghouly delight check out the popular Graveyard Shift Ghost Tours at the Mark Twain House. eerie enough to have been featured on SyFy Channel’s acclaimed paranormal series Ghost Hunters and the Biography Channel’s My Ghost Story, bringing their investigative teams to the house.

Prior to the tour, a short film will be shown: Ghost Tour, which was filmed in The Mark Twain House. On the tour participants will hear creepy tales and stories of spirits that surround The Mark Twain House and learn about Twain’s own interest in the supernatural.

Filled with haunted history, dark tales and Victorian traditions encompassing seances and spiritualism, these nighttime tours are as educational as they are goosebump-inducing.

The tours sell out fast and are only offered seasonally, so be sure to make your reservations.

Location: The Mark Twain House and Museum, 351 Farmington Ave, Hartford, CT 06105
Dates: Thurs, Fri & Sat, Oct 20th, 21st, 22nd, 27th, 28th and 29th, 2016
Hours: 6 pm – 10 pm (Tours leave at 6pm, 7pm, 8pm, 9pm, 10pm)
Tel: 860-247-0998
marktwainhouse.org/visitor/events_programs.php#
For Regional Accommodations, Restaurants and Attractions: ctvisit.com

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Celebrate autumn in Elkton’s historic downtown, where 18th-century buildings are now filled with art galleries, cozy cafes and antique shops.  Since 1997, the Elkton Fall Fest has attracted thousands of families to visit the small-town shops, watch special county contests, and participate in community activities. The outdoor, pedestrian-only street festival event is held on Main and North streets.

The commemoration gets underway with Fall Fest Friday Night Kick Off Party; on main street souped-up hot rods line the streets for a car show and live entertainment is performed by a Neil Diamond tribute band throughout the evening.

Saturday’s festivities includes a compilation of contests including: Cecil 500 Push Cart Derby, Elkton’s Pretty Baby Contest, Miss Fall Fest, The Voice of Elkton singing contest, and a Delmarva DockDogs event featuring 3 areas of competition, horizontal and vertical jumping abilities as well as their speed in the water.  The Downtown Festival of the Arts is new to Fall Fest, a juried row of art from the Courthouse to Cecil County Arts Council.

The Fall Fest weekend will be filled with a variety of food, crafts, games, children’s activities, live musical entertainment and fun for the whole family.

Location: 101 East Main Street, Elkton, MD 21921
Dates: Sept. 16 – 17, 2016
Hours: Fri 5 – 9 pm, Sat 8- 8 pm
Tel: 410-398-5076
elktonfallfest.com

For Regional Accommodations, Restaurants & Attractions:
elktonalliance.org
ccgov.org/tourism

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Ceiling detail in the entry hall of the Flagler Museum in Palm Beach. The carving was intricate, and the gold was real gold.

Tags: architecture, carving, ceiling, design, detail, drivei95, flagler, flagler museum, Florida, gold, henry morrison, i95, interstate95 usa, intricate, Museum, ornate, palm beach, roadtrip, structure, travel, travelblogger

Here is the magnificent ballroom of the Flagler mansion, in its heyday and today. You can see carved moldings, electric chandeliers, arched doorways and windows and polished wooden floors.

Tags: arch, architecture, ballroom, carved, chandelier, design, doorway, drivei95, electric, flagler, flagler museum, floor, Florida, henry morrison, i95, interstate95 usa, molding, Museum, palm beach, polish, roadtrip, structure, travel, travelblogger, window, wooden

Here is the magnificent ballroom of the Flagler mansion, in its heyday and today. You can see carved moldings, electric chandeliers, arched doorways and windows and polished wooden floors.

Tags: arch, architecture, ballroom, carved, chandelier, design, doorway, drivei95, electric, flagler, flagler museum, floor, Florida, henry morrison, i95, interstate95 usa, molding, Museum, palm beach, polish, roadtrip, structure, travel, travelblogger, window, wooden

In the magnificent Queen’s Lantern, the glass open space at the top of the Museum of Nature, what looks like a giant jellyfish is hanging. You can see it from afar outside the museum, and inside as you navigate between floors. The windows with stone dividers provides a beautiful view both of the outdoors and inside the museum.

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The ceiling of St Patrick’s Church was created by inverting the hull of a ship.

Tags: Canada, cape breton, ceiling, church, create, hull, inverted, nova scotia, port, roadtrip, St Patrick's, structure, sydney, travelblogger

This is Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago Club in Palm Beach. You can normally not see it from the road due to the high hedges, but when Trump hosted a press conference here concerning his nomination, the hedges were trimmed, and we were able to get this view. It was originally built by Marjorie Merriweather Post.

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Walking through the streets of Prague, you will come across the Astronomical Clock. Each hour, the wooden figures of apostles appear in the windows and some of the sculptures move. When the apostles finish their story, the golden rooster crows and shakes its wings, the bell rings and the clock chimes the hour.


An urban myth which went on for centuries was that when the Prague Councillors found out that the 15th century clock maker Hanus (Jan of Ruze) was going to make another clock, they became jealous and blinded him. However in 1961, the real artist was discovered in an old document which described the astronomical dial and says it was made by Mikulas of Kadan in 1410.

www.cosmos.com/Product.aspx?trip=46050

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Maman the Giant Spider

Most people would not think of taking children to an art museum. However, The National Gallery of Canada in Ottawa offers Artissimo,  one of the best children’s programs I have come across  – and at an amazingly reasonable price of only $24 for 2 adults and 3 children. They try to teach kids about the art through different senses.

– First up was the creation of Art Buddies, toys (like dolls or animals) which can be found in paintings. These exact reproductions are given to the kids to hold, and then they are pointed to galleries where they can try to find them in a painting. Our Marguerite Charlotte doll had golden curls intertwined with green ribbon, and was holding a little blue bird in her hand.

– Second fun activity was the touch box which the child wears around his neck. They can put their hands in the sides (like a muff) and feel textures inside. Each box relates to a painting which has these textures in it; they have to guess what they are feeling and what in the painting represents it: a feather, lace, fur, picture frame, etc.

– Thirdly, was a real hit for ages 4-10. In Sounds Like Art, they are given headphones which play sounds. In each gallery, they have to find a painting which would relate to that sound: water, a crying baby, horses’ hooves, crackling fire.

The Arts and Crafts Area

For completing these games, the kids are rewarded with collectors’ cards of the paintings.

– Lastly there is an arts and crafts area set up in the most beautiful setting possible – the Great Hall with its soaring windows. While they are creating their works of art, you (and they) can oogle the magnificent panoramic view of Parliament Hill, the Gatineau Hills and the Ottawa River.

The children also enjoyed finding the surprise garden (from above and at ground level), the ceiling water window in the lobby, the “sound sculpture” in the chapel and, of course, Maman, the giant spider outside.  And yes, there is also the fabulous collection of art. We spent 4 hours there easily.

Location: 380 promenade Sussex Drive, Ottawa ON K1N 9N4
Phone: 800-319-ARTS
Hours: Tues-Sun 10-5 (closed Mon Oct 1-Apr 30)
www.gallery.ca  www.beaux-arts.ca

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