This former 17th-century mansion, now a stunning 4-star hotel. The hotel is situated on the outskirts of Tours, in the center of a property of 140 hectares with lake view Briffaut. Located 143 miles from Paris, 6 miles west of Tours and 2 miles from Luynes.

It used to be called the chateau de Beauvais, from the Latin “bellum visum” which means “beautiful view.” Hotel is surrounded by ornamental gardens and 350 acres of wooded parkland.

Rooms: 36 Total Rooms Superior room with queen or twin bed, king size bed possible on request. Briffaut pond view. Television, mini bar, direct dial telephone.

All rooms are for non-smokers!

Amenities: Business Center, High-speed Internet, Parking, Pets Allowed, Restaurant, Room Service, Swimming pool.

The restaurant serves sophisticated French cuisine, and there’s a lovely terrace for al fresco dining in the summertime.

Fitness, tennis, ballooning, wine tasting in private trogloditic cellar, Golf, horse riding, fishing.

Lutsen Mountains Resort is a fuzzy dream, where skiers shouted unseen from the fog and snowboarders edged figures in low contrast falling from the sky. The resort is overlooking Lake Superior and has a gray skies, soft snow, quiet woods and winter streams. Lutsen is the largest ski resort in Minnesota. The spot is a worthy downhill destination with 92 trails and a respectable 1,088 feet of vertical drop.

Situated among four peaks in the Sawtooth Mountains of Minesota, trails cut through deep woods and a snow-choked valley that conceals a creek. A gondola tram lift, very unusual in this part of the country carries red cars over the Poplar River.

If you look inland from one of the lifts at Lutsen and the Superior National Forest rolls away to the horizon, a carpet of birch and pine heading onward into the Boundary Waters Canoe Area, then to Canada beyond. Then look south or east and the view offers the blue sky with icy plane of Lake Superior.

On Moose Mountain, the resort’s largest hill, trails roller coaster from a broad summit. The resort opened its lifts in 1948. It grew over the decades, adding lodges and lifts but held on to its North Woods aesthetic. The area had a distinct feel with a “laid-back woodsy vibe where you can wear a flannel shirt and you smell wood smoke in the air.

But Lutsen’s long runs and varied terrain, including beginner to expert trails served by 10 lifts, keep regulars coming back. The resort is more affordable than a Rocky Mountain getaway, and its slopes stay open later — until April 12 this year — than most ski areas in the Midwest.

Lake Superior is the largest of the five Great Lakes of North America and during the winter is a main spot for wave-catchers ride year-round in what is one of the world’s most unlikely surfing scenes. Unlike the ocean, there are no noticeable tides or substantial currents in Lake Superior. Its waves are hard to predict.

When snow piles up in the forest and waves pop off the lake is a signal the start of the cold-weather surfing season. Thick wet suits, gloves, hoods, booties and petroleum jelly smudged on exposed skin all form a protective shell against the crushing cold.

Riders face waves as tall as 20 feet.

The shore at Stoney Point.

The cars over there in this picture with heaters on are crucial fixtures to keeping surfers warm between sets. John Hatcher heads toward the water.

The Palace Garnier, still known to many as the “Paris Opera”, was the world’s largest theatre and opera house when it opened on January 5, 1875. The opulent Opera de Paris Garnier was designed by Charles Garnier for Emperor Napoleon III. The Opera de Paris is one of the great historical opera houses of Europe. It has a strong orchestral tradition and currently enjoys the use of two major opera houses, each a superior example of theater architecture of its own century. The cavernous building was one of 171 proposals submitted in an architectural competition in 1861. The Palace Garnier took 14 years to build, with its completion being delayed by money troubles, the Franco-Prussian War (when the building was used as a warehouse), and a fire that gutted the interior and killed a fireman in 1873.

The interior of the Opera Garnier building is even more impressive than its exterior. The marble Grand Staircase has a height of 30m/98ft! The 54m long Grand Foyer features a mosaic covered ceiling and a large number of chandeliers. It is so luxurious that it can be compared with the corridors in Versailles. A large building, it has a total area of 11,000 square metres (118,404 square feet) and a vast stage with room for up to 450 artists. The auditorium itself comprises roughly half of the total space, most of the rest being used to house necessary logistical support so that the stage demands of any opera can be met and even surpassed. This can include live horses running on a rotating stage. The opera seats 2,200.

The construction of the opera house was plagued by numerous setbacks. One major problem which postponed the laying of the concrete foundation was the extremely swampy ground under which flowed a subterranean lake, requiring the water to be removed by eight months of continual pumping. More setbacks came as a result of the disastrous Franco-Prussian War, the subsequent fall of the Second French Empire, and the Paris Commune. During this time construction continued sporadically, and it was even rumoured that construction of the opera house might be abandoned.

You can see the original gilded busts and statues, the rainbow-hued marble pillars, and the mosaics. The Opera Garnier combines ballet and opera, and offers one of the most elegant evenings you can spend in the City of Light. Because of the competition from the Bastille, the Garnier has made great efforts to present more up-to-date dance works, like choreography by Twyla Tharp, Agnes de Mille, and George Balanchine. The box office is open Monday to Saturday from 11am to 6:30pm.

Niagara Falls

in part at the Falls.

The first person to go over the Falls in a barrel and survive was a 63 year old

As the helicopter gently lifts off from our Victoria Avenue location, the awe-inspiring views of the Niagara Region begin to appear below. We wouldn’t want any picture-taking opportunity to be missed so cameras should be ready to go right from the start!