Along with primatologist Dr. Biruté Galdikas, up-close interactions with orangutans in Borneo are featured with three sailings to Indonesia by Orion Expedition Cruises (New York, NY; 877/674-6687).
Dr. Galdikas, who founded the Orangutan Foundation 40 years ago, is guest lecturer, and passengers may spend two days at her base in Tanjung Puting National Park.
During Berlin’s seventh annual Festival of Lights, Oct. 12-23, 2011, landmarks and monuments will be illuminated and international artists and lighting designers will present light installations, art and designs. Cultural events are scheduled.
This year marks the 125th anniversary of the Kurfürstendamm and, during the festival, buildings on the famous boulevard will be artistically illuminated.
In honor of the 800th anniversary of Reims Cathedral in Reims, northeastern France, special services, concerts and exhibitions are being held May 6-Oct. 23, 2011.
The annual festival Eurochocolate (www.eurochocolate.com [in Italian only]), in Perugia, Umbria, central Italy, Oct. 14-23, 2011, will draw hundreds of thousands to attend cooking classes, seminars, tastings and exhibitions on all forms of chocolate. In the medieval streets, stalls will sell all forms of food with chocolate — ice cream, cakes, pastries, etc.
2011 marks the 150th anniversary of the unification of Italy. Through November, special events are planned in Turin (the country’s first capital) at the Officine Grandi Riparazioni, a complex of workshops, and La Venaria Reale, a royal palace.
Among the offerings are exhibitions on 150 years of Italian fashion and the history of Italy since its unification.
“La Venice Biennale 2011,” the 54th International Art Exhibition in Venice, Italy, June 4-Nov. 27, 2011, has 89 countries participating at 12 venues. In addition to contemporary visual arts, it includes a film festival (Aug. 31-Sept. 10), a theater festival (Oct. 10-16) and a music festival (Sept. 24-Oct. 1). Tickets and events calendar at www.labiennale.org.
Hampton Court Palace, several miles southwest of London, was the home of many monarchs, most notably Henry VIII. Costumed actors there reenact the Tudor world of his time daily, 11 a.m.-3 p.m., gossiping in the Base Court, meeting the king in the Great Watching Chamber, etc.
On the first Saturday and Sunday of each month, there is an exhibition of Tudor cooking in the palace kitchens. The Tiltyard café then serves up some of the food, 11 a.m.-4 p.m. (main dishes from £6.50 and desserts from £2.50).
A series of menu translator e-books is available for Italian, Dutch, French, Portuguese, German, Spanish and Swedish. Each “Passeport Gastronomique,” from Travelight Books, has hundreds of items listed alphabetically plus a phrase book (vegan and vegetarian phrases too) and a pronunciation guide.
Download each onto a Kindle or to a smartphone with a Kindle or Nook app. $6.99-$9.95 from Amazon.com or BN.com or your mobile Nook or Kindle store.
For travel situations where there’s little water to be had, Invisible Dry Spray Shampoo from Salon Grafix can get hair clean in one minute. The shampoo is sprayed onto the hair, allowed to sit one minute to absorb oils, then brushed out. The product is clear and leaves no residue. Available in drugstores, a four-ounce can may cost $7.99 and the one-ounce travel size, “good for about 10 uses,” $2.99.
The free app “Copenhagen Open” has information on the city’s restaurants, shops, attractions, events and more. The proximity of each site to your location is given along with a description, open hours, prices, contact info, etc.
From the city’s visitors’ bureau, Wonderful Copenhagen, preview the app on the website and download it to your smartphone by texting the code “cphopen” to +4522904000.