Exotic Vacations

Park place: The Gansevoort Park Avenue NYC has a stylish rooftop venue.

With summer heating up and business travel continuing to fill up hotels, the time is right to head to the roof for the best views and the freshest breezes. Here are five scenic options to enjoy a meal or drink.

1. The sleek Gansevoort Park NYC has become a hot spot for style-conscious travelers. Penthouse 2, which is also the pool level, is open from noon through the evening hours, welcoming a business-oriented crowd for drinks and light meals in both indoor and outdoor settings. After 9pm, you can head to Penthouse 1, which becomes a hub for well-dressed night owls.

2.

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ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — Universal Orlando is following Walt Disney World in raising ticket prices.

Universal announced Monday that the price of a one-day admission is up from $82 to $85, matching Disney’s increase announced earlier this month. Both resorts also have raised prices for multi-day, multi-park tickets.

Disney’s increases also include annual passes and Florida resident tickets, while Universal held the line on prices in those two categories.

Universal is still drawing crowds with The Wizarding World of Harry Potter attraction, which marked its first anniversary Saturday at the Islands of Adventure park. Analysts expect modest attendance gains at most central Florida attractions this year.

Prize cows, giant turnips, bonny babies and scrummy scones… country shows are a pure slice of the Irish summer. PСl с Conghaile tracks down his pick of this season’s crop

The Athlone Show, Co Westmeath

Taking place at Gaffey’s Farm in Moydrum, Athlone’s annual show is a big beast, with its cattle competitions topped only by those in nearby Tullamore.

It’s not all cattle, horses and poultry, however. You can flex your tug-o-war muscles, kick back in the beer garden or sample the wares at the Made in the Midlands food village, a new initiative aiming to shine the spotlight on an area not widely known for its food.

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We missed the Strolling of the Heifers, a yearly event here in Brattelboro, Vermont, and by all accounts Vermont’s answer to Spain’s frenetic running of the bulls.

And a much preferred, more gentle event.

But we didn’t miss the contra dancing at Pierce’s Hall, a tiny hall in a brick building unchanged since it was built early 1800′s

It was off a dirt road, dusty and remote. There was an obscure but lovely waterfall and an outhouse for a bathroom..

The dozen or so folks that came to listen to the fiddlers and dance the caller’s steps were mostly long time neighbors.

This was authentic rural community life, as real and as fun and friendly as it gets: foot stomping, family oriented with no alcohol. Just

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Patrick Leigh Fermor died on 10 June, at the age of 96. Of course I read Time of Gifts – the first part of his walk (as an 18 year old!) from England to Istanbul. And of course I loved it and over the years I’ve had other Fermor encounters. Last year, on our London-didn’t-quite-get-to-Australia flight we stopped in Crete where the History Museum in Iraklios features the story of his extraordinary abduction of General Kriepe. In 1944 the Germans occupied the island and the 29-year-old Fermor – ‘a cross between James Bond, Indiana Jones and Graham Greene’ – was a key part of the British-Greek group which captured the island’s German commander. They marched hi

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