Travelweekly

 Christmas in New York makes you feel that you have entered a movie set and nobody knows to call action. All is exaggerated, like the city is aware that it is being scrutinized and throws itself wholeheartedly into the game.   You may come to believe that the magic is enhanced by the movies, but as soon as December comes, you know that it is barely the tip of the iceberg.   Everything is different with the first snowfall. It falls on the streets like a light white dust, the yellow taxis become friendlier, and the steam rises out of the subway vents like adjustable billboards.   When you are walking in Manhattan during cold weather, when you are in a coat, you half expect to hear a soundtrack of the ones you have heard before. You cannot but think of all the scenes you have seen at holiday time there year after year.   Note: Make sure to check  Meet And Greet At Stansted   during the winter when travelling and book according to your needs. Limit...

  The first thing that comes to you is the smell. It is rich, creamy, and even a bit nutty, and flows into the air way before you can even see the cheese. Going to the traditional cheese markets of Alkmaar and Gouda is not only about trying food. It is entering a living tradition that the Netherlands has so dearly kept for centuries.   It was my first experience in Alkmaar, at the beginning of a Friday morning. The square was already wittering with silent excitement. Wire after wire of the same cheese in the form of perfectly round balls was stacked like golden pieces under the sky.   Men, wearing crisp white clothes and straw hats, strode with unbelievable speed with cheeses on wooden stretchers. The audience stood in awe, with cameras cocked to shoot, yet there was a feeling of reverence, as well.   When roaming the market, I paused at small stalls where samples were available. One of the salespeople gave me a slice of young Gouda, and I smiled, trying ...

  Riding in the Dutch country is something marvellously down-to-earth. Perhaps it is the murmur of the bike tires amidst smooth roads, or how the sky appears to expand way above your head and it seems to be a canvas of soft blues and floating clouds.   Whatever it is, the only thing when you are leaving the city behind is that the Netherlands opens itself in such a way that it seems so peaceful and alive.   I once recall when I rented a bike right outside of Amsterdam and I chose to go on a path which had windmills, farms, and long vistas. In the beginning, I believed that I would use a fast loop. Note: Make sure to book  A irport parking Luton   before travelling for a stress-free travel experience.   However, as soon as I rode over the first green fields, the good ones with grazing cows that almost seemed to be amused by passing bicycles, I realized that I was going to have a more serious adventure.   The road went through little to...

  It is the places that relax you the moment you enter them and to me, the Forest of Fontainebleau is one of them. An hour out of Paris, it is the same as passing to another world, a more peaceful, gentler world where trees appear to breathe with you. I would not have imagined it would have had such a sudden change but the moment I got there, it was like the forest gave me a relief and maybe relieved the burden on my shoulders. I came to Fontainebleau in the morning, still bearing a part of the traffic with me of the city. Other plans had the forest. It was chilly and smelled rather of pine and damps. Even the light was different, as it went through some of the old trees, high and old, and so diffused that the entire woodland was light. The trail continued to act as I went deeper. One minute I was against high oaks, which fell above, and the next I fell into a sunny opening that looked like where one would most want to draw a long breath. I even wondered at some stage whether I h...