The Travel Belles» The Inspiration Board

Lotusland Lovelies in Montecito, California

Leslie Coff — Fri, 29 Oct 2010 04:05:04 +0000

For this week’s Belle Views, Leslie Coff gives us a peek at Lotusland, located near Santa Barbara, California

“One who does all work as an offering to the Lord, abandoning attachment to the results, is as untouched by sin [or Karmic reaction] as a lotus leaf is untouched by water.” Bhagavad Gita

Just inside Montecito, California, adjacent to Santa Barbara is a closely held secret: Lotusland. Although it sounds like a scary Homer’s Odyssey-type amusement park, it actually makes for a fantastic, botanical and artistic afternoon.

The most amazing thing about Lotusland is, without exception: The Lotus.

Truth is, I had seen “water lilies” and “lily pads,” all close relatives of the lotus, but I could not really understand until I saw them myself why they are prized above all, in Asian culture. According to lore, the Lotus connects us to Heaven, our spirituality, and our ability to accept the treasures of the Divine.

Standing at a pond filled with Lotus feels like… well, maybe it feels the same as it would standing on Mount Olympus, gazing at the ancient gods and goddesses enjoying peeled grapes. Or standing at the pearly gates watching angels preen their wings.

Belle Views: Chic Breakdown in Paris

Tuula Rampont — Fri, 22 Oct 2010 04:05:02 +0000

Editor’s note: Have you ever returned from traveling somewhere, remembered a scene that told a whole story, and said “I wish I took a picture of that,”? Snapping a few atypical Paris photos of a broken down car in Place de la Concorde and letting her imagination run away for a few minutes, Tuula Mattson shows us a scene we might say that about.

Ahh, Paris…the lights, the sounds, and the experiences you can only have in one of the most interesting cities in the world. Probably one of my favorite things to do when I visit la capitale is to promenade down its grand boulevards and imagine what it would have been like to live in the Paris of old – a life where stately carriages whisked away finely-dressed madames & monseiurs to impossibly chic dinner parties (with impossibly-high hairstyles to match). For me, it’s quite difficult to stand just about anywhere in the Tuileries Gardens, gaze upon that massive palace of elegance known simply as the Louvre, and not feel inspired. Well, that and the handful Parisian chocolate pastries I’m usually toting on my “walk”, have me feeling pretty romantic by the end of the day about the City of Light.

As I was ambling through the Tuileries Gardens one vaguely hot summer afternoon last August (crumb-filled patisserie bag in hand), I was more than delighted to come across this “breakdown” scene smack-dab on the Place de la Concorde. Of course not so delighted for the poor men who were stuck in the sun with their now-defunct car, but delighted that I was having one of those fabulous travel moments that allows us to escape reality for even a split second…and dream.

Whether he was the next Armani or simply a trendy Arab prince didn’t matter too much to me in that moment, the bigger question of the day was: did they need any company? And if so, could I bring my pain aux chocolats with me?

That afternoon, I was caught dreaming about who they were and where they had been going in their chic clothes & fancy car. I imagined one to be an heir to an immense fashion house who had hired the car (on a rich-whimsy of course) to take him to the opening of his newest boutique. Otherwise, he was surely the son of a Sultan. Well, whether he was the next Armani or simply a trendy Arab prince didn’t matter too much to me in that moment, the bigger question of the day was: did they need any company? And if so, could I bring my pain aux chocolats with me?

Obviously, I never got to the bottom of the chic breakdown story, but it left me not only with a great memory in Paris, but also a wonderful reminder of what travel allows us to do – escape, dream, and indulge our wildest imaginations.

Belle Views: Cancun of Surprises

Krista Bjorn — Fri, 08 Oct 2010 13:46:35 +0000

Editor’s Note: A few words and Cancun photos from Krista really say it all

Every once in a awhile, a lovely little miracle sneaks up to cheer my heart when I least expect it.

Such a thing happened last week when I was invited by Park Royal to experience their beautiful Caribe Park Royal Grand an all-inclusive resort in Cancun as their guest.

I confess I was envisioning a noisy hotel and crowded beaches overrun with screaming children and partying college kids. Reality was anything but that.

I slept each night with my balcony door open, the crashing waves and rustling palm trees lulling me to sleep.

Every morning I awoke to watch the sunrise over the glistening ocean, shaking my head in gratitude and delight.

My free time was spent on the almost deserted white sandy beaches, snoozing happily on the comfy loungers or bobbing in the waves of the warm sea, finding gigantic seashells with my toes on the sandy bottom.

I discovered that Autumn and Winter are the perfect times to visit this vacation hotspot. Most of the tourists have gone home and the resorts are veritable havens of relaxation and escape. You don’t have to fight for a table, a lounger, or a spot of sand to call your own.

Caribe Park Royal Grand was nothing like I expected, and sometimes that’s the best thing in the world.

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Belle Views from Rome: Madonna and the Traffic Light

Eleonora Baldwin — Fri, 24 Sep 2010 12:55:38 +0000

Editor’s note: As usual, Eleonora brings us her own lovely perspective with another one of her unusual photos of Rome (and cool story to go with it!) for this week’s Belle Views.

An ex-voto is a votive offering to a saint or divinity. It is given in fulfillment of a vow–the Latin term is short for ex voto suscepto, “from the vow made”–or in gratitude or devotion.

Ex-voti are usually placed in a church, affixed in a chapel or roadside shrine, like the one portrayed, where the worshiper seeks grace or gives thanks for a wish granted.

As such these may include plaques, marble tablets or handwritten signs with texts explaining the miracle attributed to the helper, or symbols such as a painted or modeled reproduction of a miraculously healed body part, or a directly related item, like a crutch given by a formerly lame person.

I’ve seen ex-voti around town include paintings of saved dogs, silver heart shapes, model boats, war medals and even football shirts given by players and supporters of a winning local soccer team..

The mosaic on the busy corner of Rome’s Via Gramsci and Viale Buozzi here, is in itself an ex-voto expressing gratitude for rescue from a car wreck. Amen.

The Country Escape of Marie Antoinette of France

Krista Bjorn — Fri, 17 Sep 2010 04:05:14 +0000

Shining gold, glittering crystal and lavish tapestries make up the bulk of the dizzying opulence of the palace of Versailles, but it is the Queen’s Hamlet, Marie Antoinette of France’s country idyll, that won my heart.

My friend Amy and I had already spent a whopping ten hours exploring on one of many available Versailles tours, walking down stone staircases, across intricate parquet ballrooms, and through marble hallways. Our bodies ached and our eyes refused to take in one more silk tassel, porcelain cup or dripping chandelier. We were almost ready to call it a day when we rounded a turn in the path and saw this.

My jaw dropped, my breath caught and all fatigue ebbed away. For the first time that day I felt a kinship with Marie Antoinette. This was the place she created, the spot in Versailles where she insisted on making her mark, building an escape where she could be herself and feel safe from the intrigues of court.

Marie’s hamlet was constructed in 1783-1787, and was the picture of an authentic Norman village with eleven houses bordering the lake. Five of the homes were for the queen and her attendants, the others used for the peasants and farm work.

Each house had it’s own garden filled with cabbages, artichokes and cauliflower and fenced with hornbeam hedges and chestnut trees. Small orchards produced apples and cherries, and banisters and staircases were festooned with sunny pots of hyacinths, quarantaine flowers, wallflowers and geraniums.

What a peaceful, gentle place it is. Amy and I wandered through the village delighting in the still flourishing gardens, nibbled on plump, ripe grapes dripping from the arbor, and sat happily on the stone bridge, content to watch the sun setting over the lake.

Every part of Versailles is stunning, but the hamlet is my favorite. The part where I feel I could putter away in the garden and milk cows with a queen.

The Alhambra of Granada: Spain’s Most Visited Monument

Kate Turner — Fri, 10 Sep 2010 04:05:13 +0000

The Alhambra of Granada is one of the most popular places to visit in Spain and a prime example of the country’s Moorish heritage.

Constructed in the mid 14th century, the Alhambra is a vast complex combining fortress, palace and gardens, the hilltop site is home to some truly beautiful architecture.

The main attraction, the Palacios Nazaries, is all the more remarkable considering that it was built hundreds of years ago from cheap materials (brick, wood and adobe).

Nowadays, instead of Moorish rulers, the Alhambra is full of camera-toting tourists, but even the crowds can’t dim the charm of its intricate construction, calligraphy-engraved walls and stunning views of Granada and the hills beyond.

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For more information: Alhambra of Granada official site