Lemming Tracks: Hey! Where'd Sunday Go?!

The Lemming was awake all the way through Sunday - afternoon naps were part of the routine, a few years ago, and may return, but they're not part of the Lemming's life at the moment.

Which has very little to do with the topic of this post. Whatever that is. The Lemming had something in mind a minute ago. It can't have gone far - - - aha! Got it.

The Lemming's household had some pleasant breaks in routine, more-or-less over the weekend. The son-in-law and #2 daughter visiting from Thursday to Saturday was one, then the Lemming's father-in-law stopped in for a chat Sunday afternoon - and stayed for supper.

The Lemming got the Sauk Centre Journal's weekly entry done:

• "Candles That aren't Candles; Candles With a New Twist, and a '50s Diner"
  Sauk Centre Journal Blog (June 26, 2011)

By the time that was done, it was late: and the Lemming had a decision to make. To wash, or not to wash: that is the question. Whether 'tis better to let the dishes go until Monday morning, anon explain why the fry pan isn't clean: or face the counter's clutter. And so, sitting well in order, smite the trumpet that will never sound retreat.

The Lemming seems to have slipped from Hamlet (more or less) into Battle Hymn of the Republic, by way of Tennyson's Ulysses. Not the James Joyce one, and that's another topic.

Come to think of it, that bit sounded a bit like Joyce's contribution to incomprehensibility as a literary affectation. And that is yet again another topic.

Briefly, the Lemming decided to wash the dishes, instead of writing a post for this blog. On reflection, that still seems like a prudent choice.

However, there's still one post to do for today - and the Lemming would just as soon have something to show for what you may, or may not, have expected to see yesterday.

Eco-Tourism and Complimentary Snack Trays

By the way, the Amazon Rainforest Hotel - "The Ariau Amazon Towers - Largest Treetop Hotel in the World" is near Manaus, Brazil.

Yes, now you, too, can "Escape to the natural beauty and wild majesty of the Amazon Rainforest... Nestled in a canopy of trees above the Amazon River..." at "... the only hotel resort built completely at tree top level in the Jungle."

"Experience the ultimate in eco-tourism ... " while feeling guilty about breathing in oxygen and selfishly exhaling carbon dioxide - that only encourages wasteful growth by those plants over there. Oh, wait. They're plants: so it's okay if they grow.

Actually, staying at that treetop hotel looks like fun, and the monkeys seem to enjoy hanging around the complimentary snack trays.

Wait a Minute: What If Those Weren't Always Monkeys?

At least, the Lemming assumes that those are monkeys in the photo. Which brings up the question - by all that is sane, why is a major section of Downtown Disney called "Pleasure Island?!" They're re-imagining the area (http://disneyworld.disney.go.com/faq/pleasure-island/, as of June 27, 2011) - but apparently keeping the name. Doesn't anybody watch Pinocchio any more? Remember what line of work the Coachman was in?

Oh, well: appreciation of metaphor and symbolism doesn't seem to be one of contemporary American culture's major strengths. And that is definitely another topic. Topics.

"Green" Doesn't Have to be Goofy

At this rate, the Lemming isn't going to get around to The Vermont Country Store, which isn't particularly near Manaus, or anywhere else in Brazil.

The Lemming remembers the first Earth Day. It was groovy.

The Lemming still lives on Earth, so what happens on this planet is of personal interest. Which may be why the Lemming is so annoyed when wackadoo fanatics make 'environmental awareness' sound like a psychiatric condition. Aside from practical concerns, the Lemming thinks that not pouring raw sewage in the well is a moral issue. Which may not mean what you think it does:

• "Lemming Tracks: Bird Poop, Animal Carcasses, and Dumping 8,000,000 Gallons of Drinking Water"
  (June 21, 2011)
• "Charity Demands Environmental Awareness (and God Doesn't Make Junk)"
  A Catholic Citizen in America (April 12, 2011)

Eco-tourism may still be controversial, or not. One (1) resort hotel, built in treetops or not, isn't likely to utterly destroy for all time the Amazonian rainforest. The local monkeys may actually have benefited from it - snack trays and all that.

The High Cost of Relevance?

The Lemming tried to discover just how much it costs to stay at the "Largest Treetop Hotel in the World" - and didn't find a price list. Which may mean that 'if you have to ask, you can't afford it.' Particularly since one of the vacation packages is called the "Berkeley Repertory Theatre Package."

All of which is okay - the Lemming made decisions that pretty much guaranteed a lifetime of not vacationing on Côte d'Azur, with a little 79-room cottage overlooking Kathmandu for seasons when (other) nouveau riche sully the pristine beaches. The Lemming isn't likely to see the inside of cruise ship, when it comes to that. So far, the tradeoffs have been excellent.¹

Encouraging folks with substantial disposable incomes to dispose of some of the 'extra' in around Manaus probably makes sense. Particularly for folks living in or around Manaus. The city is an industrial center, and Brazil as a whole isn't even close to being the poorest country in the world.² Still, folks with jobs at eco-resorts buy groceries and pay rent - and that's getting into economics. Also common sense. And yet another topic.

Which isn't saying that Brazil is a veritable Earthly Eden, where the Age of Aquarius really happened. More topics.

Bottom line? The Lemming figures that if folks with money to spend want to spend it in a few nights at a four-star tree house, where watching monkeys will help them feel good - well, there are worse ways to spend money. Much worse. Yet still more topics.

And the Lemming has got to stop writing - or this 'Monday' post won't be finished until Tuesday. If then.

Not-entirely-unrelated posts:

• "Endeavor's Last Flight, Orbital Hotels, and Spaceports"
  (June 1, 2011)
• "Last Trip for Space Shuttle Endeavour; and Reaching for the Stars"
  (May 16, 2011)
  Particularly
  • 'This Space for Rent'
  • Common Sense, Safety, and Leaving the 19th Century
  • When it's Time to Build Spaceships - - -
• "Japan, Cherry Blossoms, and 'a Limit to Extreme Self-Restraint' "
  (http://apatheticlemming.blogspot.com/2011/03/chefs-table-not-workbench-not-in.html)
• "Chef's Table: Not a Workbench; Not in McDonald's"
  (March 3, 2011)
• "Boeing 747-8: Big Can be 'Green' "
  (February 12, 2011)

---

¹ The Lemming lived on the low side of the economic spectrum by choice:

• "Lemming Tracks: Lower Middle Class and Loving It"
  (December 14, 2009)

² "Brazil," CIA World Factbook (page last updated June 9, 2011)

A Hotel on Turtle Creek

Rosewood Mansion on Turtle Creek

"Recognized as the most celebrated hotel in Texas, Rosewood Mansion on Turtle Creek is the only Forbes Travel Guide Five-Star and AAA Five-Diamond hotel in Texas. Considered a Dallas icon by both locals and visitors alike, the Mansion retains the intimate ambience of the private residence it once was while providing the highest levels of quality and service."

Unlikely as it sounds, to have "Turtle Creek" and "ambience" in the same paragraph, this sounds like a really classy place to stay. Expensive, anyway.

Don't take the Lemming's word for it, though: the website has an impressive Photo Gallery. The one showing "The Library at the Mansion Restaurant" - doesn't seem to have a single book in sight.

Oh, well.

Ten - or Eleven - Seriously Fancy and Odd Hotels

"Ten of the Wildest Hotels from Around the World"
POINTclickHOME (July 8, 2009)

"From an underwater retreat to a leaning tower that surpasses Pisa, take a look at some of the wildest and most design-driven hotels across the globe"

"Written by Leah Konen

"High thread count sheets are nice, but for a luxury hotel to really impress us we want outrageous architecture, decadent decor, and edge-of-the-earth locations. It's a tall order, but with a search across the globe we've found the top hotels that shatter all expectation. So whether you're planning an escape for a few days or just want to take a virtual trip around the world, check out 11 hotels that bring the best in art, design, and adventure under one roof...."

"
This is the first one covered in this post: The Barcelo Raval Hotel, Barcelona, Spain. That's a lavish lobby they've got.

Next stop is the Commune by the Great Wall Kempinski, Beijing.

Each featured hotel is allotted a photo, and a pretty good text description. The writing is a trifle breathless, but that's par for the course for this sort of travel review.

You've got (partly) underwater hotels, a hotel made out of ice, oddly-shaped hotels - - - Overall, this is a pretty good look at the flashy end of the luxury hotel spectrum.

The last hotel featured isn't open yet: the Hyatt Capital Gate Tower:


It's supposed to open this fall. This architectural oddity is in - where else? - Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.

12 Beautiful Upscale Hotel Pools

"12 Most Amazing Pools in the World"
BootsnAll Travel (February 23, 2009)

"It used to be that all you had to attract people to your hotel was build a pool. As tourists evolved, the pool was considered a must. Thus the indoor pool became a standard of luxury. Today, both of those types of pools are anything but impressive. It is this reason that many hotels are spending thousands, if not millions, on their pools in hopes of attracting customers. Check out some of these luxury hotel pools to see what we are talking about...."


(from BootsnAll Travel, used w/o permission)

That's the first of twelve pools mentioned. Each entry has a photo and a brief description. This one is called an "infinity pool." The last entry explains what "infinity pool" means: that the pool seems to "...drop into the sky."

What I appreciated most in this short article, besides the beautiful photos and short-but-adequate descriptions, was the brief look at the history and business aspect of hotel pools in the introduction.

The 12 featured pools are:

1. Crown Towers Hotel in Taipa Island Macau
2. Burj Al Arab in Dubai
3. Golden Nugget Las Vegas
4. Blue Lagoon Geothermal Resort in Grindavík, Iceland
5. Begawan Giri Hotel in Ubud, Bali
6. Mandarin Oriental in New York
7. San Alfonso del Mar in Chile
8. Four Seasons in Costa Rica
9. Six Senses Hideaway in Zighy Bay, Oman
10. Perivolas Luxury Hotel in Santorini
11. Atlantis Resort in Paradise Island, Bahamas
12. Hotel Villa Mahal in Turkey

Ice Hotel on Discovery Channel - A Cool Tourist Destination

Discovery Channel ran a documentary about a hotel made of ice. Called, logically enough, the Ice Hotel. I did a little checking, and found two websites about this cool tourist destination:

• "Ice Hotel"
  Discovery Channel
  This is a companion page to the Discovery Channel documentary. It's not long, but if you missed the show, it will do a decent job of introducing you to
  • Jukkasjärvi, the village where the Ice Hotel is built each year (" 'Jukkasjärvi' means something like meeting point, a function which this former Sami village had for over 500 years.")
  • The city of Kiruna, near Sweden's tallest mountain, Kebnekaise peak
  • The surrounding land, all of it north of the Arctic Circle
  I learned that it gets down to -50 Celsius (-58 Fahrenheit) in winter, and that summer temperatures can get up to 33 degrees C (a little over 91 F) - sounds just like home (I grew up in the Red River Valley of the North, across the river from Fargo, North Dakota)
• "IceHotel"
  The Ice Hotel's own website includes:
  • "From the Ice Age to the Present"
    About the Hotel (including "Magnetite Heavy Art") and the land around it
    • "The story about the hotel of ice and snow"
      This page, and the one titled "Torne River," were the two that made visiting the website worthwhile for me - but I'm one of those people who like a little detail about the history and setting of a place
    • "Art & Design Group"
      This is a contact information page, but the snow sculpture photo is worth seeing
    • "A Magnetite Art Exhibition"
      Yep - someone made artworks out of magnetite - iron ore - no wonder it was "Heavy Art
    • "Visit our ice factory"
      I was hoping for more detail: but the photo is cool
  • "Live in comfort in the heart of things"
    Accommodations at the Ice Hotel (Summer version)
  • ""
  • "Wilderness Adventures"
    Hunting, fishing, family excursions - even classes, for students who can't get out of the studying habit (Summer version)
  • "Inspiring meetings above the Arctic Circle"
    There's a photo at the top of this page that's badly in need of a comic caption - probably something to do with the third man from the left, who may be screaming
  • "ICEHOTEL Shop "
    Visitors have an opportunity to spend more money, of course:
  • "Torne River - the artery of ICEHOTEL"
    For a tourism marketing website, this page as a pretty good set of paragraphs and photos about Jukkasjärvi, the Torne River, the northern lights, the wilderness, and Sami (Lapp) culture

Another Dubai Development: Rich Country, Innovative Architecture

"Seven star 'Jungle' hotel tempts developer in Dubai - images" "Building staff have variously named it 'The Rollmop', 'The Pringle' and 'The Funnel'. Any better suggestions should be posted below."

I suggested "The Vase."