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  1. In Memory of LAJ_FETT: Please share your remembrances and condolences HERE

JCC Amazing destinations

Discussion in 'Community' started by Ender Sai, Oct 14, 2015.

  1. Ender Sai

    Ender Sai Chosen One star 10

    Registered:
    Feb 18, 2001
    So,

    Sometimes we travel and we find a place that may not be on the top of everyone's bucket list, but in a way that suggests the bucket list is wrong, or that people would amend their list if they knew of the place. A tucked away little gem or a hitherto ignored region.

    Many might know of Phuket in Thailand, but not know that southern Cambodia (Sihanoukville, for example) is just as beautiful but with less tourists.

    Or, how people discovered the natural beauty of Croatia after the tensions in that part of the world died down.

    It could also just be a little beach or forest right near where you live. An art gallery. A coverted urinal with burlesque dancers.

    Have you ever, at home or abroad, ever encountered such a place, and where?

    For me:

    Barbizon, France

    Barbizon will be known to a very small quantity of art historians, but by virtue of this not to the rest of us. Located in the Seine-et-Marne department in north central France, it sits near the larger town of Fontainbleu and borders the Fontainbleu forest.

    Originally noteworthy for the Realist school of painting that shares its name with the commune, it now is a modest but small tourist destination about an hour out of Paris. The nearest train stations are Fontainbleu-Avon or the beautifully named Bois-le-Roi (The King's Wood, or as I prefer, the Wood of the King...)
    What makes it special?

    [​IMG]

    It feels like the word bucolic was invented with Barbizon in mind. A few streets, intersecting with no real care given to the normal angles of an intersection. Cobbled streets. Stone buildings. An old man watching television by his window on the main street. A forest just metres from a cafe.

    [​IMG]

    There are two hotels in Barbizon, though Fontainbleu - home to the internationally renowned INSEAD business school - is 10mins drive away and has many options. You would go here to relax, to buy fresh baguettes from a boulangerie or sit in a cafe and people watch. The forest is remarkable too, the kind of verdant green that makes our inner nerd draw comparisons to Endor.

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]

    So why would one go here? To take in rural French life, to unwind as you walk the fields and the forest paths. To experience a slice of France that's close to Paris in one sense, but utterly divorced in others.


    Are there any places JCers can recommend that others visit?
     
  2. Coruscant

    Coruscant Chosen One star 7

    Registered:
    Feb 15, 2004
  3. Only-One Cannoli

    Only-One Cannoli Ex-Mod star 7 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

    Registered:
    Aug 20, 2003
    The state of mind after sniffling one too many lines.
     
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  4. Ender Sai

    Ender Sai Chosen One star 10

    Registered:
    Feb 18, 2001

    We can't talk about this stuff because Phil or Josh Griffin or Jesus gets upset but I once had a pill (E) that was cut with acid and was convinced a lighthouse was Jesus. We were camping on a beach on the NSW central coast and as an atheist this revelation spurred the need for debate. Armed with about 4 beers and powerful urge to chew gum, a friend and I set out for the truth. I gave new years greetings to families that didn't exist, planned routes around construction equipment that wasn't there and discussed human nature at length (which quite frankly was probably just us talking cod****). I took reaching the lighthouse - 5kms away - as proof Jesus was not real.

    Not answering my phone, however, did not enliven the mood of my friends.

    I mean, hypothetically. Drugs are bad kids, stay away.

    I mean. Hypothetically, for drugs are very very bad.
     
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  5. Chancellor_Ewok

    Chancellor_Ewok Chosen One star 7

    Registered:
    Nov 8, 2004
    If you want a great travel experience, you should definitely think about The Canadian. The Canadian was built by the Budd Company for Canadian Pacific in the mid 1950s, at the height of the golden age of train travel. Today, The Canadian is operated by VIA Rail, which is Canada's national passenger railroad. The Canadian is also the only passenger train of its vintage in North America still running in revenue service with its original equipment.

    [​IMG]
     
  6. slightly_unhinged

    slightly_unhinged Jedi Master star 4

    Registered:
    Jan 28, 2014

    [​IMG]
     
  7. mrsvos

    mrsvos Jedi Grand Master star 5

    Registered:
    Nov 18, 2005
    I'm with SLG. Ya'll enjoy your baguettes .
     
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  8. Darth Punk

    Darth Punk JCC Manager star 7 Staff Member Manager

    Registered:
    Nov 25, 2013
    ENDER, STOP GOING TO SIHANOUKVILLE ON FILTHY SEX TOURIST BUSINESS
     
  9. Ender Sai

    Ender Sai Chosen One star 10

    Registered:
    Feb 18, 2001
    But it is closer than the East End!

    Oooh. We should open a sex tourist bar called the East Bell End!
     
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  10. DebonaireNerd

    DebonaireNerd Jedi Grand Master star 5

    Registered:
    Nov 9, 2012
    Taos Pueblo.

    This is about as close to living in a Sergio Leone film as you'll get. If I smoked, i'd definitely hit up the cigars. For now i'll just have to settle for a poncho and a revolver.

    [​IMG]


    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]
     
  11. Jabbadabbado

    Jabbadabbado Manager Emeritus star 7 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

    Registered:
    Mar 19, 1999
    The 852 year old monastery in Vorau, Styria, Austria, an hour away from the sacred birthplace of Arnold Schwarzenegger.

    It contains the most astonishingly beautiful library of rare manuscripts I've ever seen:

    [​IMG]
     
  12. Darth Punk

    Darth Punk JCC Manager star 7 Staff Member Manager

    Registered:
    Nov 25, 2013
    Did I ever tell you about the time I wanted to open a lap dancing club that only had Jewish and Palestinian dancers - I was going to call it Gaza Strip
     
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  13. DebonaireNerd

    DebonaireNerd Jedi Grand Master star 5

    Registered:
    Nov 9, 2012

    I think I prefer that to the Sistine Chapel.
     
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  14. Mortimer Snerd

    Mortimer Snerd Force Ghost star 4

    Registered:
    Dec 27, 2012
    Southern Utah will blow your mind.

    [​IMG]
     
  15. Ender Sai

    Ender Sai Chosen One star 10

    Registered:
    Feb 18, 2001
    Last Crusade's opening was set around this part of Utah, right?

    Lago D'Orta and Orta San Guilio, northern Italy

    When people talk of Italy, it's usually Florence :)x), Tuscany, Milan, Roma, and Venice (which in summer, frankly, smells awful). Occasionally Sienna gets mentioned, and people of course know Lake Garda and Lake Como from Casino Royale's ending or Attack of the Droningondialogue. And Clooney.

    Lake Orta is a bit of a hidden gem by comparison. An hour from Milan, the lake has a few small towns and resorts bordering it but is otherwise a quiet and beautiful retreat. Orta San Guilio, the town, is basically the stereotype of idyllic Italian towns:

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]

    There's such a relaxed atmosphere here. The buildings, as you can see, date back centuries. Small markets and stalls sell food. Restaurants offer authentic Italian food - I had gnocci made with mussels from the lake itself, and it was out of this world.

    You can swim in the lake, and people do. Or take a boat around the Isola san Guilio, seen in the foreground here:

    [​IMG]

    If you ever go to Italy, especially in the north, you need to go here. It's otherworldly. Beautiful, in the sense you always expected Italy would be and often is. Yet, somehow more so.
     
  16. DebonaireNerd

    DebonaireNerd Jedi Grand Master star 5

    Registered:
    Nov 9, 2012

    I'm pretty sure this is where Godfather Part 2 was filmed for the Vito Corleone childhood scenes.
     
  17. Ender Sai

    Ender Sai Chosen One star 10

    Registered:
    Feb 18, 2001
    No, that was filmed in Sicily which is other end of the boot.
     
  18. DebonaireNerd

    DebonaireNerd Jedi Grand Master star 5

    Registered:
    Nov 9, 2012
    As in the rural shots? Yeah, definitely. But the shots I quoted above look eerily like the town square that the Chiefton's capo wander through at night when they say to the townsfolk, "if anyone is found hiding the Corleone boy they will have to answer to the Godfather"...you know, when they hide Vito in the wagon?
     
  19. Ender Sai

    Ender Sai Chosen One star 10

    Registered:
    Feb 18, 2001
    Yep, but I believe that's Sicily too.
     
  20. DebonaireNerd

    DebonaireNerd Jedi Grand Master star 5

    Registered:
    Nov 9, 2012
    Consistent architecture, interesting.

    I always thought North and South would have its own architectural style since they have different language and cuisine.
     
  21. Ender Sai

    Ender Sai Chosen One star 10

    Registered:
    Feb 18, 2001
    There's a few places where you can't be anywhere but there. Pulling into Paris on the Eurostar, seeing those apartment buildings (which you'll know if you played the Saboteur) - you can't be anywhere but there. And Italy? You know all through Italy where you are, even up near the Swiss border.

    Do love it a bit, even if the airport is utterly awful (Leonardo).
     
  22. Darth Punk

    Darth Punk JCC Manager star 7 Staff Member Manager

    Registered:
    Nov 25, 2013
    I have actually been to sihanoukville, cambodge. It is indeed, a beautiful place, and as with the rest of the country, the cambodian people are some of the nicest souls I've met anywhere. I spent 10 days in a hut on the beach with mrs punk, and for most of our stay, shared our room with a spider the size of my hand. You got used to it after a while, the opium helped take your mind off it.

    Good adventures.

    Puffer for supper
    [​IMG]
     
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  23. Ender Sai

    Ender Sai Chosen One star 10

    Registered:
    Feb 18, 2001
    If you named the spider, I think would have to be called Dennis.

    Dirty buggers love their opium. Spiders, I mean. Not Cambodians. You're right, they are the best people.
     
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  24. Darth Punk

    Darth Punk JCC Manager star 7 Staff Member Manager

    Registered:
    Nov 25, 2013
    When you take into consideration what these people have lived through, and their standard of living compared to western standards, they have every reason in the world to be bitter, but it's the absolute opposite.
     
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  25. Ender Sai

    Ender Sai Chosen One star 10

    Registered:
    Feb 18, 2001
    And I mean, Hun Sen is pretty damned corrupt and yet, they're still just warm, loving, open, happy and chilled people.

    Like, say, Yorkshiremen.