Other activities regarding the celebration of the Berlin wall fall include a huge domino wall, 2.5 meters high and separated by 1.5 meters, colorful painted by German children which would very much appreciate the tumbling down of the dominos as a symbolic representation of what happened 20 years ago. The Germans say that the unification process still hasn’t finish and that it has still many breaches to close, of course, the separation was not only physical but ideological and that is even tougher to overcome, but these kinds of celebrations definitely put them in the right track. When visiting Berlin on a Vacation trip a visit to where the Wall was and the Berlin wall Museum is a must so next time you are in Europe plan to spend some time in Berlin it is filled with History and you may buy a piece of the Wall that divided them for so many years.

http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/la-et-wall-project6-2009nov06,0,3833490.story

http://www.voanews.com/english/2009-11-06-voa35.cfm

http://europa.eu/abc/european_countries/eu_members/germany/index_es.htm

The Berlin Wall Anniversary

This November 9^th the 20^th anniversary of the Berlin Wall fall will be celebrated, and all the German people are expecting a great celebration, the Wall divided Berlin for more than 28 years so after it was down, the Germans could reunite with family and friends. The celebrations included a U2 concert in the Brandenburg Gate which was one of the 12 gates the t West Germany controlled very strictly. The concert given by U2 in an open space was polemic because the people who were in charge of the event decided to put a metal wall to avoid the people without ticket any visual observation of the concert, a wall was built to prevent people without tickets to come in and watch the  U2 concert celebrating the falling of the wall, ironic isn’t it? These kind of events should have been public and free in order for us to focus on the real important facts we are celebrating don’t you think?

http://www.voanews.com/english/NewsAnalysis/2009-11-06-voa12.cfm

http://www.gibson.com/en-us/Lifestyle/News/u2-berlin-wall-show-1106/

http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/la-et-wall-project6-2009nov06,0,3833490.story

Yankees Celebration Parade in New York City

As I see it (not being a Yankee fan or any other baseball team for that matter) it is not a fortunate day to be on a vacation trip in New York City, waste a whole day of my Royal Holiday Week long stay not being able to cross any of the parade streets or attend any of the touristic sites that would take that route. The people in New York won’t even mind tourists tomorrow, they will be so busy celebrating the Yankees World Series 27^th championship, and many businesses will undoubtedly be closed because the owners would want to attend the famous parade. After a 9 year dry spell, the Yankees are giving the city a mayor triumph even bigger than the Giants winning the Super Bowl, so if you find yourself in New York tomorrow take several precautions with the parade going on and drink a beer and join the celebration, it is a happy and highly emotional one so instead of complaining, join in and have some fun.!!!!

http://www.royal-holiday.com/

http://www.usatoday.com/sports/baseball/99play/wsfs52.htm

http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/2009/11/04/2009-11-04_yankees_parade_friday_11_am_broadway__its_confetti_time.html

http://www.foxcharlotte.com/dpp/sports/dpgo-New-York-Yankees-Parade-fc-200911051257423659921

Yankees win World Series

It seems everywhere you look the biggest news in the United States or at least for the United States that the Yankees won the baseball world series the first one since 2000, but overall the 27^th World Series they have won. I don’t care much about baseball and definitely don’t like to follow it closely but in the sports world this is big news so I am compelled to talk about it, and here I am reading that the night’s hero was Matsui, and that they won over the Phillies 7-3 in yesterdays night’s game with winning with a total of 4 games vs. two games the Phillies won. So for the time being the city of New York is having a great time celebrating and having the famous Yankee Parade Route from Broadway to  City Hall where some people say the mayor  is giving them the city’s keys.

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/2359302/yankee_parade_route_returns_yankees.html?cat=14

Happy Anniversary Sesame Street !!

Today is Sesame Street  40^th anniversary, we all grew watching these lovely characters showing us the alphabet and which way is up and which way is down, I love all of them especially Bert and Ernie and I even made a hand painted pajama for my nephew when he was in his Sesame Street loving phase. They show kids diversity, self esteem, numbers and letters in a fun to learn way. So Happy Birthday to all of them and their creators and the wonderful crew that has kept them working with and for the kids all this years. Happy Birthday to Elmo and Cookie Monster and Big Bird and to all of them.  The kids still love them and so do the Moms who grew up with them so I hope they will be around for another 40 more. I like that they have franchises all over the world and I think they should be equally successful all around so in all the languages out there Happy 40^th anniversary for Sesame Street.

http://weblogs.baltimoresun.com/entertainment/books/blog/2009/11/sesame_streets_40th_anniversar.html

http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/blog/2009/nov/04/google-doodle-sesame-street-bigbird-40

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/11/04/big-bird-google-doodle-ce_n_345030.html

http://edition.cnn.com/2009/SHOWBIZ/TV/11/04/sesame.street.anniversary/index.html

Celebrating other Countries’ Traditions.

Anyway I went to the earth-calendar site and discovered that today is sandwich day in the States, so just for fun I think we should all eat a sandwich and have a great time with friends and family , any excuse is great for a friends gathering, so why not make it a date and go out for some delicious sandwich? In Panama it is Independence Day, so you can get your Panama flag out and celebrate or go to the nearest Panama Embassy or consulate and see what the celebration is all about. Traveling in our routine days can be as fun as traveling to the real place. The thing is you need to get moving there is so much to celebrate and so little time for us to be wasting it thinking about it. You can discover a lot from a country from the embassy or consulate you have nearby I have discovered that when you approach them with some real interest in what the country is all about they will be more than happy to help you.

Celebrations in the World

So between now and Thanksgiving we only have Veteran day to celebrate so I will turn my attention to other countries celebrations. I found this great internet site which lists all the celebrations going on all around the world, for the avid traveler in me it is a great way to plan your vacation trip destination since you can find about the country you want to visit and then go back to the Royal Holiday web page and see which hotel they have in that place or nearby, there is always someplace to stay because even if they don’t have a place to that very country or location they have a Strategic business alliance with RCI and between the two of them you can usually find a place to stay where you are looking forward to visiting. So I get to this global celebration site and then see which festivity or Holiday seems interesting and I plan my trip around it.

http://www.earthcalendar.net/_php/lookup.php?mode=date&m=11&d=03&y=2009

http://www.royal-holiday.com/

Mexican Day of the Dead Celebration III

November being a cold month , the offerings include hot beverages, and of course the family eats the food left behind by the spirit of their loved one, to whom the offering is dedicated. The common thought is that the food lacks all of its nutritious value because the spirit ate the essence of it, but all the same family and friends eat and drink the food and beverages from the offering after the spirit is gone and doing so share another meal with their loved one. The Catrina is another traditional character that comes to life on the Day of the Dead celebrations, she is the female representation of Death, and a flirting and elegant one, with its elegant dress and hat and flirtatious ways, she is looking for someone to seduce and take with her so be careful!!! Ok so many tourist love to visit Mexico this time a year filled with tradition and spiritual meaning, book your vacation for next year’s Day of the Dead in Mexico I already did.

Mexican Day of the Dead Celebration II

The pictures and the candles, the orange flowers called cempaxuchil which is nahuatl for flower of the dead. The picture in this post as well as the one in the previous post are taken from a typical colorful “ofrenda”  offering dedicated to Emiliano Zapata, one of Mexico’s revolution heroes. Which seems appropriated since Mexico is celebrating 100 years of its revolution war next 2010. The candles in the offerings are supposed to guide the way to the family for the soul to come visit, and the orange cempaxuchitl flower odor is supposed to attract the spirit to the offering. The offering can be done in the cemetery or at home, either way if done properly it will definitely guide the soul to the ones who love him or her. Sometimes pillows and blankets are left out so the soul can rest after traveling this far.

http://www.mexconnect.com/articles/316-emiliano-zapata-1879-1919

http://www.indigenouspeople.net/zapata.htm

http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/655846/Emiliano-Zapata

Mexican Day of the Dead Celebration

Today is Day of the Dead in México and as we talked about it is a great celebration, no scary stuff in all Mexican cemeteries people are embellishing the tombs with all sorts of decorated offerings that include the favorite food, music and things of the deceased and waiting with friends and family for their loved ones souls and essence to show up and celebrate with them. As I said it is kind of a Deathday celebration instead of a birthday one. The dead bread and the things the deceased liked in life are carefully arranged to motivate the loved one’s trip to the living world. And food and liquor and songs and music are played because just as a birthday it is a fun and happy party. There are sad moments of course, every party has them, but the whole atmosphere is one of family togetherness, friendship and love.