I am Adele

Although most of the mosques and monuments in the old section of Cairo are historically or architecturally important, several are especially interesting for tourists. Ibn Tulun is the city’s largest mosque and one of the oldest. It is has a vast arcaded courtyard with a fountain in the center, with pared down decoration typical of the Fatimid style of the ninth century. It’s unique minaret is built as an unenclosed spiral staircase, unlike the tall, thin towers seen in the rest of the city ? it’s claimed this style fell into disfavor because it allowed the muezzin to see undressed women inside their homes as he climbed. James Bond aficionados will recognise the house attached to the mosque from “The Spy who Loved Me”; actually it’s the Gayer Anderson Museum. A British officer, Major Gayer Anderson decorated his house with a fabulous collection of Middle-Eastern art and furniture; today it provides a glimpse of what life would have been like for a wealthy Cairene merchant centuries ago.

Another architectural masterpiece is the Mausoleum of Sultan Hasan. One of the largest religious buildings in the Islamic world, it was built as a tomb for a boy sultan during the fourteenth century, and when it was first opened the fountain in the courtyard ran with cooling sherbet. There’s a macabre story behind its opulence: the money for its construction came from victims of a plague during the Sultan’s reign. The arch outside the tomb itself has superb stone carving and a pair of intricately worked bronze doors lead into the domed mausoleum, its ceiling lavishly decorated. The sultan designed the complex that when his subjects bowed to pray they would face his tomb and bow to him in death as they had in life.

I went on a solo vacation to the UK in March this year, with my only goal being a pilgrimage to Liverpool’s Anfield Stadium. I ended up visiting Arsenal’s Highbury Stadium, Wembley, and Chelsea’s Stamford Bridge before attending matches at Tottenham’s White Hart Lane and West Ham’s Upton Park. From there I was off to Scotland, where I took in a match at Glasgow Ranger’s Ibrox and later visited Glasgow Celtic’s unfinished Parkhead Stadium. The Rough Guide to European Football then led me down to Manchester, where I saw Manchester United’s Old Trafford, and I even checked out Manchester City’s Maine Road ground. Then finally, over to Liverpool to visit Everton’s Goodison Park and of course, the object of my pilgrimage ­ a match at Liverpool’s Anfield. I ended up seeing 12 stadiums in 11 days. I plan on returning to the UK and the rest of Europe soon, and the first item I’ll pack every time will be The Rough Guide to European Football! (And flying V Australia to get there!).

For flights to Europe, try Virgin Atlantic, which offers service to London from East and West Coast cities. Traveling in the shoulder seasons (early spring and fall) rates dip as low as $200. Even economy passengers have seat-back tv monitors and all the Virgin Cola (and Jack Daniels) they can drink. That in addition to a waggish inflight mag (the title, Hot Air, may very well be a reference to blowhard boss Richard Branson), and a cool amenity kit that includes all the usuals (socks, eye shade, toothbrush) as well as a discount at Branson’s music monolith, Virgin Megastore. Once in London, check out all the cheap flights to the continent (easyJet, British Midlands, Ryanair, and Go, a subsidiary of British Airways).

Come to think of it, most foreign carriers offer more bang for your travel shilling than their American brothers. A flight on British Airways will comes with a better meal, free (!) drinks, and friendlier service than most American carriers. Switching from regular Continental to Continental Micronesia on a marathon of a flight to Southeast Asia got me free headphones (a shocking $4 charge on the previous leg of my journey) and an open bar. Try also V Australia Airline.

Though the cheapest ticket might not always yield the most posh results, budget luxury isn’t always an oxy moron.

The Carnival festivities at this C?te d’Azur hotspot are going to be so big this year they need an extra week: Nice will be ringing in the Lenten season for a full three weeks (February 13th to March 7th) instead of the standard twelve-day affair. Carnival in Nice is the perfect place to sample both the lavish pageantry of such Old World Carnivals as Venice and C?diz and the red-hot revelry of Rio and New Orleans. Carnival masques in Nice are as likely to feature string quartets as they are samba bands, and the parades that march through Place Mass?na (at the heart of Nice, decorated for the festivities with over 200,000 lightbulbs) feature women in skimpy feathered bikinis dancing traditional farandoles.

But that’s not all that sets Carnival in Nice apart from every other parade-and-masquerade carnival in the world. The city’s celebration is well known for its colorful “Battles of the Flowers” and the many parades featuring giant papier-m?ch? heads. Of the over 600 elaborately detailed heads that parade through the streets, the most famous is that of King Carnival (the theme of this year’s Carnival is Roi des Odysses, “King of Odysseys,” after all). On Mardi Gras this year, King Carnival will be led by his “executioners” through the streets to Ponchettes Beach, where he will be “burned at the stake” amidst much revelry and fireworks. These final-day festivities will be the climax of the Grand Charivari (“Great Hullabaloo,” running from March 3rd to the 7th), a non-stop, four-day revel in the streets of the city that closes out Carnival.

The Battles of the Flowers have many imitators the world over (the most famous being the Rose Bowl Parade in Pasadena, California), but nothing beats the Nice original. About thirty floats (all designed around a central allegorical theme) are covered by hand with the petals from over 150,000 flowers–everything from roses to rhododendrons–on the night before the floats are scheduled to process through the streets (the Battles are scattered throughout the three weeks of festivities). The “battle” aspect of the parades comes from the onlookers, who often “fight” by flinging confetti at each other.

In Lagos, you can’t go more than a few meters without stumbling into another all-night party. Things don?t get going until about 11pm, and last well into the wee hours of the morning. For nightly Simpson’s re-runs and cheap pitchers of Irish stout, The Old Tavern is always a good bet. Those who desire a more sophisticated partying experience will want to check out Mullen?s, where the attractive foreign staff makes sure everyone is having a good time. And if it’s ‘I can’t remember what I did last night’ you hope to be saying tomorrow morning, head over to Joe’s Garage.

South Side clubs used to have 8AM gigs for nightshift steelworkers just off the job
The blues grew up on the South Side, and appropriately enough, this area still has some of Chicago’s finest clubs. South Side clubs used to have 8AM gigs for nightshift steelworkers just off the job, and the industrial grit is still there. Don’t treat a trip to the South Side lightly?it can be a dangerous place. Know where you need to go and take the most direct route possible. The Checkerboard Lounge, Buddy Guy’s favorite haunt until he opened Legends ten years ago, preserve the spirit of South Side Blues, even as Loop and North Side clubs pack ‘em in. Cheap drink prices and a reasonable cover make a trip to the Checkerboard Lounge rewarding for anyone willing to risk a trip into a rough neighborhood.

In any night, you could visit all four of these clubs or just one. If you wanted to do it in one night, try starting south and ending north at the Kingston mines. Catch the 9PM set at the Checkerboard, hop a cab to the Loop for a few sets and Blue Chicago or Legends. Stay as late as endurance allows at the Kingston Mines. A visit to Chicago would not be complete without hearing live blues. What Chicago offers visitors by day is matched only by the legendary cultural life of its nights.