Whether you choose a Mediterranean cruise or an expedition into Antarctica, you will always find the exceptional levels of service for which PONANT is renowned. Customized and attentive, PONANT provides the privileged feeling of sailing aboard your very own yacht. Read more...

I could write a book about what has been called the “most anticipated new ship of the year” but let me share a few – besides the Magic Carpet – of my favorite discoveries aboard the Celebrity Edge.

First the fast facts: the 14-deck Edge is the first ship designed entirely in 3-D. The Edge can carry 2,918 passengers and has a crew of 1,320 from 60 countries. Read more...

Streets are draped in mourning. Wailing “widows” in fishnet stockings and miniskirts lament loudly. Paraders dressed as popes, bishops and nuns bless onlookers and each other.

It’s “El Entierro de la Sardina” or the “Burial of the Sardine” in Santa Cruz de Tenerife, capital of the largest of the Canary Islands. It’s when a gigantic 30-foot papier mache fish is carried through city streets and thrown on a massive bonfire. As the huge fish goes up in flames, fireworks light the night to signal the official end of Carnival. Read more...

Andrew Jackson loved his home so much that he chose to be buried there with his beloved wife Rachel. Some say that the man known as “Old Hickory” keeps watch over his Tennessee plantation.

“Many people don’t think that he has ever truly left,” tour guide David said. “General Jackson had such a strong personality that I think he has stayed around to watch over his home.” Read more...

Cruising with PONANT provides guests with destinations including mooring in the heart of Mediterranean hidden bays, sailing between the majestic glaciers of Antarctica, an expedition to the remote lands of Alaska, or island hopping in the Caribbean. Read more...

ABOARD CARNIVAL VICTORY – Leaving the sterile steel-and-concrete cruise terminal to board the Carnival Victory, I saw the woman ahead of me stop and marvel at the huge nine-deck ship atrium.

“Oh, it is so gaudy,” she said.

 “I love it,” responded the woman next to her. Read more...

PONANT offers luxurious yachts that are built on an intimate, human scale. French crew, expertise, attentive service, gastronomy: set sail in a five-star environment and enjoy a travel experience that is simultaneously authentic and sophisticated. Read on for more detail on their ships: Read more...

On a summer day in 1894, however, a young Mississippi candy merchant and soda fountain operator changed all that. Joseph Biedenharn had an idea that quickly changed the soft drink industry.

The Vicksburg businessman put the popular drink in bottles so that people anywhere could enjoy it whenever and wherever they wanted.

“Now people could buy their Coke and take it home,” says Donna, guide at the Biedenharn Coca-Cola Museum in downtown Vicksburg. “They didn’t have to go to a soda fountain anymore when they wanted a Coke. Now Coke is sold all over the world.”

Oh, the things you can learn on a shore excursion from the American Duchess. When the boat docked in Vicksburg, I took the hop-on, hop-off Steamcoach to explore the city.

As a nice perk, the Steamcoach is complimentary for passengers and makes its rounds at stops around town every 15 minutes or so. Another service from the steamboat company is that most shore excursions are included in the cruise price, plus most museums allow cruise passengers to visit free.

Exhibits feature Coke history & memorabilia

Opened in 1975, the Biedenharn Coca-Cola Museum houses a wide variety of exhibits detailing the beginnings of Coke, the history of the Biedenharn family, collection of Coca-Cola advertising, shelves of different Coke bottles and a bunch of Coke memorabilia.

Among the exhibits is a reproduction of the equipment first used to bottle Coke and a restored candy store and office area featuring furnishings and displays of the 1890s. The museum is housed in the actual building where the first bottling took place.

The museum also sells ice cream, candy, fountain Cokes, Coke floats and Coca-Cola souvenirs. An ornate onyx soda fountain adds a beautiful historic touch. “You couldn’t afford to have an onyx soda fountain like this today,” Donna says.

Coke itself was created in 1866 by Dr. John S. Pemberton, a pharmacist in Atlanta, Georgia. He thought it would be nice to have an alternative to bars where people went to drink alcohol. He envisioned drugstore soda fountains as family-friendly gathering places. Coke syrup for the fountain drinks was distributed throughout the South, including Vicksburg.

But Joe Biedenharn noticed that country folks couldn’t get to the soda fountains as easily as townspeople. Why not, he thought, put the soft drink in bottles that could be transported anywhere?

How ‘soda pop’ got its name

At first, the Vicksburg man used whatever bottles he had on hand to bottle Coca-Cola. The early bottles were sealed with a rubber disk that was pushed into the neck of the bottle and held with a wire.

“When you pulled the stopper out of the bottle, it made a popping noise,” Donna says. “That’s where they say the name ‘soda pop’ got started.”

In order to fight imitators and make the Coca-Cola bottle instantly recognizable, the company decided to settle on a unique bottle design. Ben Thomas, one of the original patent bottlers, said that “we need a bottle which a person can recognize as a Coca-Cola bottle when he feels it in the dark.”

The now famous Coca-Cola contour bottle was patented in 1915 by the Root Glass Company of Terre Haute, Indiana. Because of its curvy shape, the bottle was nicknamed the “Mae West” after the voluptuous Hollywood sex symbol.

Photos and article by Jackie Sheckler Finch

The museum showcases early Coke bottles.

The museum is a Coke collector’s dream

The Biedenharn Coca-Cola Museum is housed in the old building where Coke was first bottled

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Enjoy a Winter Getaway in the Caribbean on a Warm and Sunny Cruise

Celebrating 10 Years! Sophisticated Cruise Specialists at Crown Cruise Vacations Provide Exclusive Offers, Exceptional Value & Unparalleled Service

Princeton, N.J. (Dec. 18, 2018) – Now celebrating 10 years, Crown Cruise Vacations President Ross Spalding and his team of travel and cruise specialists are experts at booking families, friends and individuals on a multitude of great choices for dream cruise vacations. Read more...

A street vendor stood ready to help onlookers find the tiny critter and to sell them a postcard photo and souvenir of the elusive amphibian.

Now celebrating its 800th birthday, the University of Salamanca has many treasures and tales and the frog is just one of them. Of course, it is not a real frog. It’s a carving of a toad atop a skull.

“Legend says that students who can find this skull with toad atop it on the facade of the university will have good luck on exams,” said tour guide Mercedes Arribas. “The carving is very difficult to see.”

It definitely was hard to find but I did see it and got some photos with help from others in the crowd.

Another tale says that the toad atop the skull is a warning to students. The toad represents sexual temptation and the skull is death. So students should pay more attention to their studies than to carnal pleasures or their time at the university might be short lived.

Founded in 1218 by King Alfonso IX, the University of Salamanca is the oldest in Spain and one of the oldest in the world. Located in the interior of Spain, Salamanca sits in the heart of old Castilla and boasts what is said to be the purest form of the Spanish language.

“Many students come here to study Spanish,” said Julio Cordero Gonzalez, Director of the Office of the Eighth Centenary. “We have students come here from around the world.”

Visitors and group tours also visit the university to admire its architecture and hear the history of the teachers and students who once graced these halls – such as Miguel de Cervantes, Christopher Columbus, Ignatius Loyola and Hernan Cortes.

Teacher jailed for five years during Inquisition

Arranged around a Renaissance cloister, the old classrooms were considered luxurious for the time. Restored to its original simplicity, one classroom has backless wooden benches barely 8 inches wide. Although they looked quite uncomfortable, the benches were considered a pleasure for the times, Arribas said.

“Before then, students had to sit on the floors,” she said.

The ancient rooms also were unlit. But light wasn’t necessary for reading or taking notes. Students were expected to listen closely and memorize what was said by teachers.

One darkened classroom was where humanist Fray Luis de Leon once taught during the 16th century when the forces of the Inquisition were hunting down heretics. The Spanish clergy of the Inquisition had scoured libraries and burned books considered unfit.

One of Spain’s finest poets, de Leon was also a celebrated theologian and brilliant teacher at the University of Salamanca. When he translated the “Song of Songs” from the Bible into the people’s native language, he was denounced as a heretic.

Arrested in 1572 by the forces of the Inquisition, de Leon was thrown into prison where he suffered for nearly five years. When he was finally released, de Leon returned to his classroom greeting students with the words, “As I was saying yesterday…”

Fray Luis de Leon died on Aug. 23, 1591, at the age of 64. His tomb is in the University of Salamanca’s Chapel.

How did astronaut carving get on ancient cathedral

Salamanca is a very walkable city and, with only a day here, that was what my group was doing.

Our first stop was at the beautiful Puente Romano (Roman Bridge) crossing the Tormes River. Originally constructed in the year 89, the bridge was reconstructed in the 17th century after it was damaged by flooding. The bridge offers an excellent view of Salamanca’s two cathedrals.

Salamanca boasts two cathedrals that are connected side by side. The Old Cathedral was built between the 12th and 14th centuries in the Romanesque style. Built in stages from 1509, the New Cathedral is a magnificent Gothic structure.

But it is an unusual carving on the outside of the New Cathedral that draws a good deal of attention and speculation. If you look carefully, you can see a distinct carving of an astronaut. How was that possible? There were no astronauts in those long-ago days.

“During a 1992 renovation, workers carved the 20th century figure,” Arribas said. “But it sure does make people stop, look and wonder if we were actually visited by space beings centuries ago.”

Another interesting structure is a former palatial home known as La Casa de las Conchas (the house of shells) that is now a public library. Outside the home are a slew of shell decorations. I thought they might represent the Camino de Santiago whose pilgrims use scallop shells to commemorate their walk.

But the shells on this house are part of a love story, Arribas said.

“The house was built by a husband for his beloved wife,” she said. “The scallop shell was the symbol of her family. Her husband had 365 shells put on the outside of the house to show his love for his wife every day of the year.”

Plaza Mayor a favorite gathering spot

Strolling through the Plaza Mayor, Arribas told us that the large gathering spot has long been known as Salamanca’s community living room. As the most important place in town, Plaza Mayor seems to always be hosting some kind of party or event. When we were there, a music and light festival was going on.

Folks of all ages gather on the Plaza Mayor. Spaniards are fond of taking their paseo (evening stroll) to the Plaza Mayor. College students and young singles gather here to see and be seen. Parents prepare their babies for sleepy time with a walk. Even a pair of storks seem to be people watching from on high.

Salamanca is a favorite with storks who nest atop cathedrals and other historic buildings. The big birds are considered symbols of good luck. The clicking noise storks make remind me of Spanish castanets.

The sun was going down as we left Salamanca and it was easy to see why Salamanca has long been called “The Golden City.”

Buildings are constructed of a warm brown sandstone which glows with a golden color at sunrise and sunset. It’s no wonder this old city by the river Tormes is now a UNESCO World Heritage site.

Story and photos by Jackie Sheckler Finch

A skull with a toad atop it is difficult to find on the outer walls of the University of Salamanca

An astronaut carving on an ancient cathedral

La Casa de las Conchas (the house of shells)

Storks in Spain are considered good luck