Julie Ryan ~ Love of Gloucester ~ Guest Blog Post @julieryan18

Welcoming today, Julie Ryan, fellow Book Connectors member, to talk about Gloucester, her home town.

Gloucester, with its famous cathedral, actually dates back over 2000 years to Roman times. It also has the distinction of being England’s most inland port and is conveniently situated with the Cotswolds, the Forest of Dean and Wales all close by.

Having lived here for twelve years, one of my favourite areas to visit is The Quays, the dockland area of Gloucester that has seen massive rejuvenation in recent years. With the designer outlet, multiplex cinema and restaurant chains, this area has become quite trendy. What I appreciate though is the docks themselves from where you can take a boat trip down the Gloucester- Sharpness canal. On the dockside is one of my favourite restaurants with a great view, aptly named ‘Greek on the docks.’

The kleftiko (lamb cooked in a clay oven) is to die for. I first went there for my birthday and will definitely be going back.

The area has been mostly pedestrianized and there’s a pretty little church that looks as if it’s been marooned amidst the redevelopment.

If you want to find out more about local history, Gloucester Waterways Museum is just a stone’s throw away and well worth a visit. I really enjoyed finding out what life was like for people living on barges last century.

At Christmas the area becomes a magical grotto with stalls selling Christmas novelties and mouth-watering goodies. There was also an ice-rink set up last Christmas to add to the magical feel.

The area also hosts a Victorian market and in summer the Tall Ships Regatta is not to be missed as the ships are quite a sight to behold as they sail into the Docks.

From the Quays it’s an easy walk into Gloucester itself. The town is arranged in a crossroads style with roads named Eastgate Street, Southgate Street, Westgate Street and Northgate Street. Although there is a modern shopping centre, I still love the ambiance of the streets and it’s not too difficult to imagine what they must have been like in medieval times.

Overshadowing the city is the magnificent cathedral.

It was begun in the late 14^th century and the cloister is one of the earliest examples of cross vaulting – truly magnificent but for most people the cathedral is better known as the place where several scenes from Harry Potter were filmed. Dr Who and Wolf Hall have also been filmed here and if you visit, you can see why.

Gloucester’s final claim to fame is of course Beatrix Potter. In the shadow of the cathedral is ‘The tailor of Gloucester’, a museum and gift shop dedicated to this book.  

It is believed that Beatrix Potter got the inspiration for her book whilst visiting a cousin who lived in Gloucester.


Whatever your interests, Gloucester is a wonderful place to visit and I feel very lucky indeed to live here.

Thanks for joining me on my blog Julie. 

BOOKS SET IN GLOUCESTER

Title - City of Secrets
Author - Christine Jordan
Synopsis - When in 1497 murder, flood and disease hit the holy city of Gloucester it’s not long before the monks of Blackfriars and the corrupt burghers of the city start to talk of sorcery. Orphaned at a young age and trapped in marriage to the boorish Humphrey, Emmelina finds herself the focus of fear and superstition. Punishments are brutal; fires will be lit; people will burn. But what really happened to her friend and maidservant, Fayette, and how much is she prepared to risk in the name of freedom… and of love?

Title - Dark Ritual

Author - Patricia Scott
Synopsis - Murder arrives in a small English village when the naked body of an investigative journalist, Sandra Peterson, is found stabbed to death in a crop circle. The graphic way her body has been mutilated, and the attempt to set fire to her remains, lead to a disturbing suggestion.

Have the old beliefs of human sacrifice and pagan worship returned to the quiet English countryside?

DCI Fowler and DC Peale are called in to investigate. It soon becomes clear that Sandra had links to quite a few of the men in the village.And before they know it, nearly everyone they come across seems to be a suspect. Was this a random murder to re-invoke an ancient Pagan ritual?Or is it a cover up for something even more sinister…?

Fowler and Peale need to find before someone else falls victim to this Dark Ritual…

‘Dark Ritual’ is a chilling murder mystery that is perfect for fans of Kathy Reichs and Elizabeth George.

Check out Julie's blog etc. on the links below-

Website/blog for book reviews // Blog  // Facebook // Twitter

Check out the Top 15 Attractions in Gloucester in the video below.

Tracey Sinclair on New York - Guest Author gives her top tips

Today I'd like to welcome Author Tracey Sinclair to my blog, who is sharing with us, her love of New York. Thank you Tracey for sharing your thoughts and tips about New York. I can't wait to visit!  

No one is ever disappointed in New York. Whatever you want it to be, it is: I’ve never known anyone visit and come back sad that they went. In the nearly 20 years I have going to the city, each time I arrive, it dazzles me anew. No wonder I decided to set a book there! So here are just some of my favourite places – why not check them out?

The High Line

Sign at the High Line

One of the things I love most about New York is it’s a walking city – you get the most out of it from simply walking around. And while there’s plenty to see just talking a meander round whatever neighbourhood you are staying in, and Central Park is a must-visit, if the weather is halfway decent you can’t beat a visit to the High Line – a former elevated railway line that has been turned, with no little thought and care, into a public park that gives you an elevated view of the city.

Chelsea Market

Although it gets very crammed and touristy, I will always

have a soft spot for Chelsea Market – one of my closest friends used to live around the corner, so I have fond memories of spending my mornings eating artisanal muffins in one of the multitude of trendy coffee shops and restaurants the place is home to. It’s only a few blocks away from one of the entrances to the High Line, so doing both in one day is an ideal jaunt, but be careful – there are so many cute little shops, from crafts and clothes to cuisine, that if you go here first you might have a lot to carry when you tackle your walk! Be sure to check out lovely boutique bookshop Posman Books, which I have never managed to leave empty handed.

Sephora

American women worship Sephora, and it’s not hard to see why. If you are remotely interested in skincare or cosmetics, you can spend hours browsing one of the many stores that litter the city, and you’re guaranteed to come out with something! Pro-tip: Get a loyalty card, even if you’re only visiting. It’s really easy to rack up enough points to get a freebie.

Cocktails

They take their cocktails seriously in New York (and pour them with a liberal hand – consume with caution!) so there are great bars all over the city, with new ones popping up every day. My current favourites are Death & Company, Raines Law Room (where a birthday night out inspired my story A Vampire in New York), and the Up & Up.

Theatre

Library at the Public, New York

A Broadway show will stretch the budget of most travellers, but there’s a wealth of great theatre in New York if you are willing to look beyond the big shows. Check out the Public Theater for talent on the rise (Hamilton made its debut here!) – and, bonus, they have a great bar, The Library.

Don’t stick to the city

If you have time, it’s worth heading across the bridge to Brooklyn (if for no other reason than crossing that iconic bridge!): whether it’s the hipster delights of Williamsburg or the galleries in Dumbo, there’s plenty to enjoy. My favourite discovery last year was Fort Greene’s Greenlight Bookstore, a gorgeous little bookshop set amidst enough coffee shops to keep you happily caffeinated!

Read all about it

There are probably more books on New York than there are actual New Yorkers, so there’s no dearth of reading material about the city. Breakfast at Tiffany’s is one of the most famous – and though it has less charm than the film, it’s worth a read. You might also like Fifth Avenue, Five AM, Sam Wasson’s fascinating story of how the film got made, or Melanie Benjamin’s The Swans of Fifth Avenue, which is a fictional account of Truman Capote and the women who inspired his writing. However, if you want a ‘life is stranger than art’ story which revolves around the world Swans is set in, I recommend Daniel Okrent’s fascinating GreatFortune: The Epic of the Rockefeller Center, which shows the forces and personalities that literally shaped New York.

Tips for travellers

Take comfy shoes: you get so much out of the city if you are able to walk around it.

Take photo ID: most standard bars and restaurants will serve you alcohol if you look over 21, but lots of cocktail bars, particularly those with a ‘speakeasy’ vibe or a doorman, won’t let you in unless you have ID – no matter how old you are!

Tipping is not optional: If you’re not used to it, the amount of money you are expected to tip at restaurants can seem extortionate, but just think of it as part of the bill. Luckily, most places now will state on the bill suggested tips, to save you having to do the maths, but you can find a decent guide to tipping etiquette here.

Don’t over-schedule: It’s great to do research to narrow down your options, and some things will need advance planning and booking, but you’ll really get more out of the city if you allow yourself time to wander and discover. Your best meal will be that little neighbourhood Mexican place that you just happened to walk past; you’ll find that cute little shop you would never have thought to look for. But remember: New York is like London. Don’t walk too slowly on a city sidewalk, or a native might just mow you down…

About the Author

Tracey Sinclair, Author

Tracey Sinclair is an author and freelance editor and writer. Her books include the romcom The Bridesmaid Blues and the Dark Dates/Cassandra Bick series, the latest of which, Angel Falls, is out now. She wrote A Vampire in New York after a very boozy birthday night out in the city.

www.darkdates.org

@thriftygal

www.facebook.com/darkdates

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Vampire-York-Dates-Short-Stories-ebook/dp/B0131CNC1M/

CHECK IT OUT FOR YOURSELF

Guest Travel blog post - Hastings, East Sussex by Author Madeleine Reiss

Today I'd like to introduce Author Madeleine REISS to my blog. She's talking about her love of the beautiful town of Hastings in East Sussex. Thank you Madeleine

HASTINGS.

I managed to get all the way to 51 years of age without ever visiting Hastings, which is quite an achievement given that my mother lives in nearby Eastbourne. I was always dazzled by the lure of Brighton with its shops and restaurants and I never made the short journey further down the coast. I think all I knew about the town before I visited was its 1066 battle - although the famous skirmish actually took place seven miles away, and the fact that celebrated resident John Logie Baird made a prototype television out of an old hat-box, a couple of bicycle lights and some darning needles while he was living there.

Hastings from the West cliff

I first visited the town when it was in the midst of its annual Jack In The Green Festival in which residents and visitors cavort in costumes covered in leaves and dance and sing their way through four days of celebration which culminates in the symbolic killing of poor old Jack, an act that is said to release the spirit of summer. I seem to remember that despite his murder, the skies stayed resolutely overcast. Although I find Morris dancing less than riveting, I fell in love with the town almost instantly.

Morris Dancers outside a fish and chip shop

                                     

I am drawn to places were you have to put a bit of effort in to discover their beauty. It is fair to say that parts of Hastings are still a work in progress and the town has perhaps more than its fair share of social problems, but nevertheless, it has a subtle, luminous beauty that knocks a lot of smarter seaside resorts right out of the water. There is that light for a start. A lemony yellow hue which bounces of the sandstone cliffs and makes the sky all smeary, like a painting by Turner. The town beach is lovely because despite being within spitting distance of amenities it still feels slightly wild and the sea is the sea in all its uncluttered glory.

Hastings Seafront

                                                              

In the Old Town to the east, there is a wealth of beautiful Georgian houses and narrow streets laced with narrow passageways called ‘twittens’, and lots of independent shops and galleries selling locally sourced crafts and paintings.  There is not one, but two funiculars which take you to beautiful cliff top walks and down below, on the Stade, is the Fisherman’s Museum which is definitely in my top ten museums of all time. It houses an albatross in a glass case and an effigy of a member of the Winkle Club, a man in a shell-covered suit who bears a startling resemblance to Tony Blackburn. To the west is St Leonards, which became part of the town in the 19^th Century and has its own share of interesting architecture including Marine Court, an art-deco building shaped like a liner.

The Albatross at the Fisherman's Museum

                                      

Tony Blackburn's alter ego (Famous UK DJ)

I never saw Hastings pier in its former incarnation before sea, suspect business decisions and fire destroyed most of it, but recently I visited the newly opened version which is wonderfully wide and made for walking and playing on. The old pier features in my novel as a place where my lovers went as children and then later as adults. It seems to be a symbol of Hastings. Despite neglect and damage, it didn’t ever, quite, disintegrate but hung on, knowing that better days would come. The fishing fleet, although sadly diminished, still thrives, still launches its boats in the same way it always did, although rusting tractors have taken the place of horses. It is this mixture of resilience and the ability to adapt that makes me love the town. The cliffs may crumble, buildings may fall into disrepair, you may even think that the town’s heyday has been and gone, but all the time the place is hanging on to its treasures, knowing they will glitter again, showing them quietly to anyone with the patience to notice.

Hastings at Sunset

                                                    

BOOKS SET IN THE AREA - Courtesy of Author and  www.tripfiction.com 

For books set in Hastings why not try one by the author of the blog post Madeleine Reiss, currently at the time of writing only 98p for the Kindle, and a perfect Valentine read; and one by Susan Elliot Wright. 

Title - This Last Kiss

Author - Madeleine Reiss

Buy links - Amazon UK // Amazon US

Synopsis - As original as One Day and as heartbreaking as Me Before You, This Last Kiss is the perfect emotional and romantic read.
Rora Raine is finally coming home to Hastings, twelve years after she left her grief-stricken father, and fled the love of her life, Carl.
Struggling to support her bright but troubled daughter, Rora has convinced herself she'll never love again.
When she meets a bumblingly charming stranger, Rora's heart begins to thaw. But, try as she might, she can't run from true love forever.

Title - The Secrets We Left Behind
Author - Susan Elliot Wright
Synopsis - It was a summer of love, and a summer of secrets…She has built a good life: a husband who adores her, a daughter she is fiercely proud of, a home with warmth and love at its heart. But things were not always so good, and the truth is that she has done things she can never admit.
Then one evening a phone call comes out of the blue. It is a voice from long ago, from a past that she has tried so hard to hide. Scott knows who she really is and what she has done. Now he is dying and he gives her an ultimatum: either she tells the truth, or he will. And so we are taken back to that long hot summer of 1976 to a house by the sea, where her story begins and where the truth will be revealed…

HASTINGS BY AIR

Have a look at Hastings from the air. It will give you a better feel to the Town. 

The Battle Fields are also a tourist site to see. 

ABOUT THE AUTHOR 

Madeleine Reiss was born in Athens. She worked for some years at an agency for street performers and comedians and then as a journalist and publicist. She has two sons and lives in Cambridge with her husband. She works part-time at a brain injury charity and writes for the rest of the week. She has published two novels- 'Someone To Watch Over Me' and 'This Last Kiss’ and is currently working on her third novel.
Twitter: @MadeleineReiss

Facebook author page : https://www.facebook.com/Reisswrites/

Thank you so much Madeleine for contributing your marvellous piece on Hastings. 

Guest Travel Blog Post - Inspired by Happiness and Miss Flower ~ Jessica Norrie

Inspired by Miss Happiness and Miss Flower

This writing blog got diverted and may seem more like a travel blog, so let me, Japanese fashion, impose some order. (Travelling followers picked up recently, please do stay on board: I think our interests coincide.) Hiroshima was so striking I wanted to deal with it first, but now back to what I read to complement my trip.

Why did I go to Japan? My fascination arose from childhood, and a book called Miss Happiness and Miss Flower by Rumer Godden. A small girl receives a present of two Japanese dolls, and her cousin models a house for them to live in.

Of course it’s dated now. Girls may design and work with wood as much as boys; children, sadly, no longer go to the high street by themselves to find information at the bookshop (so few local bookshops remain, for one thing). But nevertheless it was a delight to reread, thirty or more years later, the night before leaving for Japan.

Geiko dancers on stage in Kyoto

Rumer Godden deals, with a light touch, on culture shock and homesickness and efforts by both sides to integrate. The children Nona and Tom understand the dolls need a home different from British homes, where the walls slide and discrete areas may be screened or opened up according to temporary considerations. Everything must be polite and ordered, and there is beauty in small, humble moments – one flower in a tiny vase, a scrap of silk for a pillow. The dolls have very human characteristics; Miss Happiness is optimistic and can accept hardship; Miss Flower is nervous, can’t believe a foreigner can understand her and is so grateful and gracious when the foreigner attempts to do so. In a bonus for those with a talent for carpentry, the book includes instructions on how to make a Japanese doll’s house.

Dolls and puppets are important in Japanese culture, and feature in the next novel I read. Junichiro Tanizaki is a classic Japanese author, and Some Prefer Nettles was published in 1928. I returned to Tanizaki after another absence of thirty years, having as a teenager adored his epic The Makioka Sisters, about a family of sisters living in Osaka (It’s comparable, perhaps, with Lorca’s House of Bernarda Alba, Chekhov’s Three Sisters and any number of green spined Virago Modern Classics. Or even Jane Austen).

I wasn’t disappointed. Here again was the clear prose; the economical, poetic images

conveying in one line as much as a page of Western description; psychology rendered through gestures, clothing, or choices of food and drink. Tanizaki’s characters think carefully about the design of every object they use, in order to enhance the experience in anticipation, during use, and and in memory. It’s a centuries old Japanese trait that continues today- think of Japanese technology, or think of a Zen garden.

In Some Prefer Nettles, a couple are preparing for divorce. There is no animosity between Kaname and Misako, they are simply tired of each other, but they have a child and an elderly father to consider. And so they proceed with care, with resignation, almost hoping to be denied the pleasure they seek, if it will help diminish the shock to the order of things. Meanwhile there are doll festivals and puppet theatre outings in which their situation is reflected through age old Japanese culture. (The puppets are life size and operated by up to three puppet masters at a time: I saw the one below at the theatre in Kyoto.)



The husband, Kaname, was brought up in old Tokyo “before the earthquake” (of 1923) and harks increasingly towards tradition; the wife seeks modernity but remains adept at selecting his kimonos and arranging flowers for the shrine. “He looked down on her, a sort of mute regret rising in him, without fear of meeting her eyes…..The early cherries were just coming into bloom.” It’s a beautiful, elegiac portrait of a society and a marriage, with a surprising number of echos for the contemporary Western reader.   
I considered reading Murakami, having found the same simple, limpid prose quality in Norwegian Wood, but felt I should explore a wider range of Japanese novelists and discovered Strange Weather in Tokyo by Hiromi Kawakami. Where Tanizaki told a story of modern marriage in a traditional society, this book, set in contemporary Tokyo, tells of timeless romance under modern conditions. A youngish woman meets her old teacher by chance, and he’s now retired and a widower. As with Tanizaki, you can open any page at random and be sure of finding elegiac, gentle prose, a yearning quality: the teacher’s name is Sensei and the narrator murmurs and repeats it just for the joy in the sound of the name. There’s the design commitment again: practical details investing everyday items with a touch of poetry. “The hot spiciness of the crackers really did go quite well with saké…I heard a faint chirping and then the sound of the leaves on the branches rustling for a moment, and then it was quiet again.” I suspect this simple beauty is a quality of the Japanese language, or it may be something that happens in the interface when Japanese is translated into English. But both novels – in which not a huge amount happens – are immensely clear, readable, universal and moving despite the significant cultural differences between us.

I read these two novels on my return. While I was in Japan, I read Motions and Moments, the third essay collection by Michael Pronko, an American professor who has made his home in Tokyo. At first I found these illuminating: as we moved around Tokyo I recognised quirks that he (affectionately) identifies. I was helped to understand certain customs through his intermediary insights; I enjoyed his descriptions of Japanese gardening (they use tiny secateurs like nail scissors to clip their shrubs with minute precision) and understood what he meant by getting lost in Tokyo “vertically as well as horizontally”. The first two parts of the book (Surfaces and Miniatures) were well written, witty and informative. Part 3, Constructs, could have used some editorial help with, er, construction (and I’m aware he acknowledges the help of Newsweek editors at the end). Perhaps by then I was too immersed in the spare beauty of Japanese expression to enjoy American verbosity and repetition. But it’s worth a read if you are going to Tokyo.

Tokyo street scene

© Jessica Norrie 2016

Follow Jessica's blog at - https://jessicanorrie.wordpress.com/

Thank you to Jessica for allowing me to publish this blog post onto my blog. 

Share your favourite vacation locations with me

Following the successful blog posts from last summer, I am asking you once again to share your vacation locations with me and my blog followers. 

All you need to do is write a little about your vacation destination or favourite day out and share some photo's. I will add books relating to the destination to the post, and some other info. 

Last year we featured Greece, Japan, The USA and more. See the Travel blog tabs for ideas.

Just message me with the destinations you'd like to write about.

Thanking you in advance. x

Bury St Edmunds Cathedral, UK

Travel Blog Post and videos - - Zambesi River and Victoria Falls -- Anne Moyes

Welcome again to Anne Moyes with her latest African Episode - The Zambesi River and Victoria Falls

THE ZAMBEZI

The Zambezi is only half as long as the Nile, but it’s just as important in Colonial history because of its association with Livingstone and Stanley.  I’ve visited three different areas of the Zambesi valley, and can see why this river captivates all who are lucky enough to experience her magic. 

Victoria Falls - Image courtesy of Wallrife

Victoria Falls is locally named Mosi Oa Tunya, which means The Smoke That Thunders. It marks the arrival of the Zambezi into Zimbabwe, and the next 800 miles of it course form the border with Zambia.  When Henry Morton Stanley saw the Falls, he told his editor at the New York Herald, Have seen Victoria. Sell Niagara.  Some years earlier, Dr David Livingstone was the first European to set eyes on this wonder of the natural world, about which he wrote in March 1856, Scenes so lovely must have been gazed upon by angels in their flight.

Helen, my sister-in-law Gail and I flew there for a long weekend. Harare’s domestic airport offers fewer services than Lincoln bus station, so we breakfasted on beer and crisps before boarding a small aircraft for the short flight, during which we were served more beer and yet more crisps.  Although we went in Winter, it was warm, the mosquitoes were busy every evening, and the town’s colonial origins were very much in evidence in the shape of elegantly styled hotels from which the Falls spray and roar can be experienced whilst

African Elephants - Image courtesy of Africa

enjoying afternoon tea in the garden.  Cucumber sandwiches, scones and of course, Victoria sponge cake were the order of the day.  In front of the Victoria Falls Hotel, the brown and gold liveried Pullman train was busy steaming up in preparation for its journey over the Falls railway bridge into neighbouring Zambia.  It seemed like the dawn of the twentieth century; only our digital cameras and Nike trainers signified the twenty-first.

We did all the proper touristy things, of course. A sunset cruise made for close-up sightings of elephants foraging for supper and crocodiles basking on the sandbanks. Our walk through the National Park was exhilarating: yes the spray does create rainbows, it does soak your clothes, and gazing down into that wall of water does make you feel dizzier than a heavy duty ride at a theme park.  A bucket list essential.  The following day, I walked across the bridge into Zambia, wondering how fearless the men were who had constructed this engineering masterpiece, and how mad the tourists of today are who bungee jump off the bridge down into the gorge.

 

Lake Kariba - Image courtesy of Wikipedia

The Lake Kariba weekend was a more amateur affair. After a week at the chalkface (literally – the blackboard still rules in the African classroom), Helen and I set off in an ancient Peugeot 305 to drive 200 km to stay in a lodge on the lake shore.  We were told that Master, the ‘houseboy’ would have the lodge ready and would cook for us, as well as doing all the domestic work.  What we weren’t told was that it would be dark by the time we arrived and that the last 5 km were dirt tracks through the bush.  Somehow, the Peugeot made it, we were greeted warmly and fed generously before tumbling into our mosquito netted boudoirs.  Saturday morning was a revelation.  Breakfast on the balcony overlooking the lake.  A manicured garden with a great brown dump of fresh elephant dung in the middle of the lawn.  A pod of hippos harrumphing with agitation as the serrated silhouette of a crocodile sawed through the glinting water.  White fish eagles circling purposefully above the aquatic activity. 

The drive to the Dam revealed to us the full wildness of our route the previous evening.  Helen was relieved that I didn’t wind down the window when we noticed a group of vultures gorging themselves.  She pointed out that whatever they were eating had been killed, and whatever had done the killing was as like as not still in the vicinity.  Helen was, however, much more agitated when we encountered a herd of buffalo.  Now, I only think of these creatures as suppliers of mozzarella cheese.  She assured me that African buffalo did no such thing, could not be domesticated, and if they took exception to your vehicle could do it and its occupants a great deal of damage.  We drove on warily.

Nyami-Nyami - Image couresty of ShonaandChrisOates.blogspot.co.uk

Kariba town, like Victoria Falls town had all the appearance of a place formerly important, but now in a state of decline.  The shops and restaurants had lost any inclination to welcome customers.  Our precarious clamber up to the dam wall was rewarded with a spectacular view across the Zambesi, its millions of gallons of water walled back into the lake – a feat of human control over Nature.  A statue of Nyaminyami, the river god who legend says will one day restore the Zambesi to its former course, stands guard on the first stone of the dam wall. 

My third Zambesi  expedition was even wilder.  Rifa is a wildlife study centre of Zimbabwean school children.

For a great blog post on this area, visit - http://shonaandchrisoates.blogspot.co.uk/2012_12_01_archive.html

Book recommendations - 

Title - Gazed on By Angels in Flight
Author - Hilda Sangwa Schwaiger
Genre - African Chick Lit
Amazon UK - Click here
Amazon US - Click here

Synopsis - After years of exploration in rainy; mosquito-infested woodlands in Zambia; Scottish explorer Dr/ David Livingstone gazed on the mighty Victoria Falls and its astounding beauty for the first time. In awe; he reckoned such an amazing natural wonder must have been gazed upon by angels in flight. More than 150 years later; two vivacious and gorgeous models; Sofia and Coco; and a broadcast journalist; Jody; are drawn; as if by fate; to the magical falls where life will test them as the worlds famous Miss Victoria Falls pageant is underway. At the falls; David Livingstone discovered a magnificent scenic bliss. But can the breathtaking beauty of the falls conquer the challenges these three women encounter- Cocoa; with her mixed heritage; Sofia; with a secret that stole her innocence; and Jody; with her new love interest? Will the women emerge from this event with a more constructive outlook on life; or will they fold under their individual crises? Thrust in a paradise with wildlife and exotic plants; twenty Zambian models compete for the unusual crown during a two-week assignment in the beauty of the tourism hub-Livingstone.

Title - Victoria Falls The complete destination guide
Author - Jeremy A Waldron
Genre - Non Fiction/guide book

Synopsis - If you're planning on visiting Victoria Falls (ZAMBIA and/or ZIMBABWE), this guide is essential for determining where to stay, what to do, and how much it will cost. From budget traveler to luxurious romantic get-a-ways this guide covers it all!

There are few places on earth that match the spectacular splendor of Victoria Falls. Victoria Falls, commonly known as Vic Falls, is perhaps one of the most famous destinations in southern Africa. With its central location to Namibia, Botswana, Zambia, and Zimbabwe, it's no wonder why so many visitors to southern Africa include Victoria Falls into their itinerary. 

One of the seven Natural Wonders of the World, Victoria Falls is truly inspirational. Whether you visit during the rainy season - when the falls form the largest curtain of water anywhere in the world - or during the dry season, you will not be disappointed. 

With lush rainforests, a plethora of wildlife, and a handful of spectacular activities in which to partake, Victoria Falls is a definite, must visit, place of interest. 

Travelers to Victoria Falls want to be placed in accommodation nearest to the falls and have great views of its plunging waters. But which side is better for this, Zambia or Zimbabwe?

In this guide, Wild Safari Africa's Managing Director lists the vital points in great detail of what to see, how to do it, what it will cost and how to save money.

*Interactive maps to get your bearings straight

SOME GREAT YOUTUBE VIDEOS TO TEMPT YOU TO THIS WONDERFUL AREA

Thanks again Anne for your great contribution. It certainly looks like a beautiful area to visit. 

CONGRATULATIONS - We have a winner for my Guest Travel Blog Posts - Shinazy of Bitchin Ol Boomer

** CONGRATULATIONS TO SHINAZY OF BITCHIN OL BOOMER **

At the beginning of May I ran a competition for all those bloggers who wrote a Guest Travel Blog for me.

I had some wonderful blog posts written. They included The New Forest, Catalina Island, Vietnam, Lincoln, Texas, Switzerland, Zimbabwe, Venice, Corfu, Japan, Russia, Dominican Republic. The ones with the most views were Corfu and Vietnam.

As some were posted in May and some in August, obviously the earlier ones would have the most views by the end of August, so I picked the winners by random.org. 

The Winner is.................. Shinazy of the blog "Bitchin Ol' Boomer and her Catalina Island Blog Post.  If you missed her post you can read it here. Many congratulations.

Visit her blog at http://bobbblog.com

$10 Amazon voucher is on its way to you.

Now do you wish you'd entered too?  You'll get another chance real soon.