Submitted by Bija Knowles on Sat, 02/13/2010 - 20:04
Venice, with its grumpy gondoliers, and Verona, home to Romeo, Juliet and a pink Roman arena, both have formidable reputations as romantic destinations. But Rome too can more than hold its own when it comes to providing entertainment for lovers of all kinds (whether part of a couple or not).
Canterbury City Council is the latest local authority set to close museums as part of cost-cutting measures. The council is wielding the budget axe – and it’s decided that saving the city’s Christmas lights is more important than keeping the Roman Museum open to the public.
The blockbuster exhibition 'King Tut and the Golden Age of the Pharoahs' will not tour Australia because museums cannot afford it - not surprisingly if you look at the price tag. Egypt wants to prolong the world's most successful tour of artefacts from the tomb of the boy-king but offers to host the exhibition have been underwhelming, to say the least. The Director of the Australian Museum, Frank Howarth, told the Sydney Morning Herald that the show's $10 million price tag and its size were too big for Australian institutions to handle.
To call The Monuments of Syria: A Guide an exhaustive account of that country’s historical sites would be doing the author, Ross Burns, a disservice. It would also be a monumental understatement. The fruits of more than 20 years of research, the book is now in its third edition, and is more detailed and more authoritative than ever.
This is the only guide available in English that concentrates on the historical monuments and sites of Syria. For that reason, Burns could have got away with a lesser work. Instead, he has toiled studiously to produce a book of interest to anyone travelling the country and wanting more than what run-of-the-mill mass market guidebooks offer. As Burns himself points out, there are no hotel recommendations in the book, no advice on where to eat or sleep or on what to pack. It is assumed that the intelligent traveller will source that information elsewhere. As it says on the cover, this is a guide to the monuments of Syria, no more, no less. It just happens to be more or less perfect.
The blockbuster exhibition 'King Tut and the Golden Age of the Pharoahs' will not tour Australia because museums cannot afford it - not surprisingly if you look at the price tag. Egypt wants to prolong the world's most successful tour of artefacts from the tomb of the boy-king but offers to host the exhibition have been underwhelming, to say the least. The Director of the Australian Museum, Frank Howarth, 
