ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooh WOW that's aMAZINg.. is that annual? special time of year? or is it all year long...? just wanna make sure I'm there to see all the really COOL stuff


yup.. you GOT it.. we'll get someone to take our pic..

It's all year round....i think. They section off a part of the foreshore and let the sculptors loose on all the sand. Some are quite spectacular.

Pretty cool chq this out... Ice Hotel

hey John.. isn't that in Quebec City? that's about 3 hrs from me.. somehow though.. I'm thinking it gets pretty cold in thar.. I'll take a warm sandy beach ANYwhere instead

perfect.. then that'd be ONE place I'd like to see.. most definitely!

santorini has always fascinated me :) cool thread zero E!

thanks bastet.. and thank you for joining us...

I love travel and well.. how better to 'see' the world than thru the eyes of those that live it, right?? my dad used to say "if you want to understand a person.. walk a mile in their shoes" I know he meant it more as a venue to a better empathetic form of understanding humanity.. but to me it ALSO suggests "envisioning the world thru anothers eyes" .. none of us are really very different from another.. it's the politics, belief's and history that mold any given culture.. I'm simply trying to turn passion into reality.. and besides.. I'm human enough to know, I'm not alone in my curiosities..

Santorini? I only saw it from a distance while on a Mediterranean Cruise from Athens to Alexandria Egypt.. I have a pic somewhere from our balcony room of the far off Island cluster.. I'll see if I can find it.. but that WOULD be a beautiful place to explore!!

Heya Bastet

I've done Santorini... Nice place overrun by mass tourism. I went 20 years ago so i'm sure it has multiplied it's visitors 10 fold by now.

Black beaches and volcanic hot springs... Santorini

Z

There are a few of those ice hotels poping up... You're sleeping on a bed of snow LOL on bearskin mind you... Just chq the fur on my pic
whoa comfy cozy

Oooo Z i would love to see that pic if you can find it! and johnn i'm so jealous! it's funny,
but all the pics i've ever seen, it seems alot of dwellings, but no people, lol. would still be
awesome to visit just the same, or stay, for an extended while, at least. :)

gotta love the ice hotel, gives 'frigid' a whole new meaning, lolz.

OH JOHN I hope they're not your relatives..

here's a few from the ship.. it was the closest we got sadly




ooops.. sorry Bastet.. it was too big.. I'll scale it down and try again in a minute

okay.. resized

this is Santorini from a distance...


and again...


THIS.. is a Greek sunrise...


and THIS.. John.. maybe YOU know what this island is called.. it was smokin somethin fierce minutes after this shot..

actually in that last shot.. the cloudy white substance above the mountain is steam coming out.. VERY cool.. but kinda scary too I'd wager..

seriously though.. sleeping on SNOW?? maybe you're rugged furry body could handle it.. but I'm a delicate flower.. I fairly sure I'd WILT from frostbite.. however it would surely require another to keep the 'heat' in.. are you offering your services??

Z! I'm assuming that was taken near Santorini... Yes it's a volcano.
AND IT ISN'T SUPPOSED TO BE SMOKIN!!!!! (RUNS)

The black beaches of Santorini is actually lava sand... and the hot springs are Volcanic... Prolly the best Pic I've seen of it Z.. ty I had to look up the name PALEA KAMENI = Old Kameni

thanks John.. I figured right.. thought you'd know it.. appreciate it..

here's a couple more of the same volcano





yeah.. she was smokin.. and I was thinkin how HAPPY I was to be on the water heading aWAY from it

tanks fer da compliment I REALLY love photography.. and oCCASIonally get TO capture a good one

oops

Not a hotel with a bed, but put the ice lounge down on your list for a cocktail or 2 whilst you're in Melbourne Zee, followed by dinner at one of the many restaurants in the same area....

http://www.chillon.com.au/ice-lounge

OR....

There is the tramcar restaurant, where one can take in the sights of inner city Melbourne whilst dining...

http://www.tramrestaurant.com.au/

OR...

If you prefer to dine on the water?? There is the Yarra river cruise

http://melbcruises.com.au/cruising-restaurant.htm

OR....

Perhaps take a 40 min ferry ride across the bay for lunch??

http://www.visitfrankston.com/accom_result1/searoad-ferries/

Just throwing around a few ideas for your visit ;-)

Actually...the public transport system in Melbourne is superlative to any other major city in Australia. I think so anyway...

Melbourne is one huge grid and is easily accessible to anywhere you want to go using trams, trains and buses if one is travelling on a shoestring budget. It's very hard to get lost in Melbourne...because you always wind up on a major road or highway somewhere.

Sydney on the other hand is a nightmare and has many one way streets because of the waterways that run through it. It can get messy if you don't know where you're going.