Tag: https://www.visiteastofengland.com/

Africa, Countries, UK

Britain will be hotter than the Sahara so head-dress up

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It’s a favourite tabloid fall-back for warm weather, look for a sunspot comparison… and this weekend Britain will be hotter than the Sahara so head-dress up.

The meteorologists and the headline writers have swooped upon Dhakla in Moroccco this week for their reference point.

With Morocco 29C and East Anglia in England 30C on Monday.

Heads we win: Our G Adventures trip in Jordan

Now while Sahara dwellers and Arabs generally are noted for their keffiyehs the Essex and East Anglians go bare-headed.

Of course, as a confirmed bandana-wearer I’d always advise covering your head in the heat.

And that, of course, is the origins of the keffiyeh.

Though, of course, in the Arabs’ case their head-dress became a buttress against the winds and sandstorms.

Keffiyah, my lord

Heads we win: Our G Adventures trip in Jordan

These days the keffiyahs are sold to tourists across North Africa and the Middle East.

And despite the cultural appropriation campaigners trying to stop our fun the traders don’t mind our coin.

And your friendly G Adventures guide will even show you how as happened in Jordan.

Stormer: Keeping the sands at bay

So just like the bandana, you fold the keffiyeh into a triangle and drape it over your forehead.

Wrap the shorter end under your chin and wrap the longer end across your face.

So that it covers your nose and mouth.

Pull it up and over the top of your head, meeting the end of the other side.

And tie both ends together.

Get ahead, wear a hat

Beret good: With Daddy’s Little Girl

Just like my St Lucian pal Jerry ‘The Big Dipper’ rocked in the Wadi Rum desert.

And I have done wearing a Mr Benn collection of headgear around the world.

From cowboy hats and Davey Crocket raccoon skins to French berets and Soviet bearskins.

Hello Cowboy: Going native in the US

And yes you’re welcome too to don an oversized Paddy’s Day tall green felt hat or Scottish Tam O Shanter.

Although that might be a bit hot here in the coming days.

When Britain will be hotter than the Sahara so head-dress up.

 

Countries, Culture, Europe

Amber lists and you’re a gem

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I put my foot in it with a colleague, so just to say there will be no more gags about Amber lists and you’re a gem..

The amber threat has had holidaymakers panicking and fretting about getting back from foreign countries and then paying through the nose for self-isolation.

And the latest countries in the firing line are two of our favourites, France and Italy.

But the fossilised tree resin is something to be treasured as a precious jewel.

And also a healing property for hippies, whom I lean to….ooooohhhhhhm!

Museum pieces

Craftwork: amber

You’ll find amber really wherever you’ll find trees, or where trees once were, which is pretty much everywhere.

And among all their magical qualities they also seem to have a magnetic pull on women.

Particularly when you’re on your holiday with la famiglia in the coastal town of Southwold in England’s East Anglia.

And the evidence is somewhere at the bottom of the Scary One’s Jewellery box.

Though not the 2.2 kilo exhibit… it would only drag her neck down.

Pole stars

Shine bright: The colour of the sun

 

Now every day’s a school day when you’re meeting holiday providers from around the world.

And while feeding our bellies with big bowls of Polish soup and warming our hearts with their vodka, our Polish friends gave us the rundown on Gdansk.

And its impressive history with amber.

What’s more it’s even better than it was before with the new Amber Museum of Gdansk opened to the public only last week.

Amber is brilliant in tone and hue and can act naturally as a receptacle for all the things that can get stuck in trees, like bugs.

While it is a great building block for jewellery yes, but from spoons to chess sets to Fender Stratocaster guitars.

Opening gambit

The voice of Dresden: With Ingrid in Dresden

Museum director Waldemar Ossowski said: “Amber items are delicate and sensitive, and the susceptibility to damage increases with the age of the item, which is why many amber masterpieces have survived in fragments and are missing many figurines.”

We’re told too that it sits in the pantheon with the the collection of the Danish royal family, the State Hermitage Museum in St Petersburg and the Grünes Gewölbe museum in Dresden.

Something begotten in the state of Denmark

Walking on air in Nyhavn, Copenhagen

And if you know your Copenhagen you’ll know the museum is located in Kanneworff’s House in Nyhavn which dates back to 1606.

You’ll be taken on a 30-50 million journey and needless to say Denmark is at the heart of it.

And there will be a celebration of Scandinavian forests and their traders.

While there’s also chess too, naturally.

The Russians are coming

And take a tour of the ramparts: Kaliningrad

Whisper it around Poland where they like to claim amber as their Baltic gem but the Russians are coming with their own amber museum in Kaliningrad.

Well, like all things Polish, they’ve already settled and are flagging their own museum.

Should you be in the region then lucky you. So have a look around.

Obviously at all the amber and the many exhibitions including the Fifth Russian Contest of Gallery Art.

But also take a guided tour of the rampart to learn about the history of the growth of Konigsberg fortification power.

So that’s our Amber lists and you’re a gem all of you who are called Amber.