Travelsmartplanet

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The beauty of taking a Bateau Mouche ride on the Seine is the joy of going under so many famous bridges – and learning the history effortlessly as you go. This one is the Pont Alexandre III built between 1896 and 1900, the most ornate one and a Paris historical site. Four gilt-bronze statues of Fames watch over the Beaux-Arts style bridge. The exuberant Art Nouveau lamps, cherubs, nymphs and winged horses celebrate the Franco-Russian alliance enacted in 1892 by Tsar Alexander III. His son Nicholas II laid the foundation stone in October 1896. In the same political spirit, the Trinity Bridge in Saint Petersburg was designed by Gustave Eiffel, and the first stone was laid in August 1897 by French president Félix Faure .

The Flagler Museum invites you to tumble down the rabbit hole and enjoy all the splendor of their “Mad Hatter’s Tea Party”.

Families are invited to come dressed for Tea on Saturday, March 11th, 2017 at the enchanting ambiance of the Flagler Museum. The morning will commence at 10am with parents and children creating their own festive bonnets and top hats.

Sporting their fashionable masterpieces, parents and children will then be entertained by a  story from “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland” and learn proper table etiquette from the Mad Hatter.

The ending is as divine as the start,  culminating with a Gilded Age style tea lunch in the Museum’s Café des Beaux-Arts, designed in the style of a nineteenth-century Beaux Arts railway palace. Families will be delighted with an assortment complete with dainty tea sandwiches, traditional scones, and sweets.

Space is limited, advance purchase is required. To Buy Tickets: flaglermuseum.us/museum-store/mad-hatter-tea-party

For those of you unable to make this charming event, fortunate for you that the Flagler Museum offers an afternoon tea each day, which features an array of delicacies and refreshments reminiscent of the elegance of entertaining during the Gilded Age. Don’t miss the chance to treat yourself to a a selection of gourmet tea sandwiches, traditional scones, and sweets complemented by the Flagler Museum’s own Whitehall Special Blend™ tea, and served on exquisite Whitehall Collection™ china. Hours: 11:30 – 2:30pm Tues – Sat, 12 – 3 pm on Sun

Photo Courtesy of: © Flagler Museum

Location: One Whitehall Way, Palm Beach, FL 33480
Date: Sat., March 11, 2017
Time: 10am
Tel: 561- 655-2833
flaglermuseum.us
For Regional Accommodations, Restaurants & Attractions: thepalmbeaches.com

If you are heading out to Ottawa to enjoy our nation’s capitol, leave some time to explore the Canadian Museum of Nature. It’s the perfect place for all ages of the family to enjoy themselves. The brainy kids (or adults) can soak up extensive details about nature while the playful gang can pull levers or turn knobs in a deep sea sub, learn on many touch screens, or even dance around in front of  the endothermy camera checking out their colorful “hotspots”.

Everyone is awed by the the 19.8-metre blue whale skeleton in the Water Gallery but keeping going further in. All the way in the back are many interactive games for young and old alike: make believe areas for the wee ones, a board game along a wall,  animal jigsaw puzzles on touch screens, word games, etc.  

Gawk at the dinosaur fossils or walk amongst the fleshed-out dinosaur creatures for photo ops with kids. In the Vale Earth Gallery swoon over the 1200 gorgeous minerals, rocks and meteorites. Our 5 1/2-year-old couldn’t get enough of the joystick which controls a huge earth or the button to start the volcano.

Sure there’s a full size mammal gallery but the 11, 8 and 5 1/2 year-olds all stayed longer in the small Nature Live space where they oogled the cases of walking stick bugs in different camouflage colors and thicknesses. How many of you have come face to face with a tarantula? Then they listened intently as a docent showed fossils which were indigenous to Ottawa.

If you have time there are two 3D movies, “Prehistoric Planet 3D and Micro-Monsters 3D” (both too scary for the 5 1/2 -year old) but our gang liked the interactive museum more.

The famous Bird Gallery, with  one of the most extensive collections of Canadian birds in the world re-opened June 1. A special exhibit on now is Ultimate Dinosaurs June 11-September 5 and then upcoming is Reptiles: The Beautiful and the Deadly, October 6-April 2 .

A brand new Arctic Gallery will be unveiled on June 23 which is set to explain how the arctic is changing, including plants, animals and people of the area plus scientific research. Outside, three new ecozones will be shown off on June 17 including a woolly mammoths and an “iceberg”.

I’d like to give a thumbs up to the friendly security guards who answered questions informatively and helped to point out nearby bathrooms and water fountains.

Canadian Museum of Nature, a Beaux Arts building, was our first national museum, completed in 1912. Trivia buffs should note that this building  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
Phone: 613-364-4021
www.nature.ca

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