Expect to pay pounds 250 for indirect flights and about pounds 50-pounds 80 more for non-stop travel so
Expect to pay pounds 250 for indirect flights and about pounds 50-pounds 80 more for non-stop travel, so long as you book through a discount agent – and book after the Christmas rush.Get your bearingsFrom the air, Atlanta sprawls untethered into the horizon (it encompasses 6,150 square miles) and its size can be overwhelming. Why go now?
Atlanta is a dynamic city in the throes of re-inventing itself. Don’t expect the Old South portrayed in the film Gone With the Wind: the city is trying to shrug off its “Confederate and plantation” past. Look instead for hints of life as it will be in the new millennium and marvel at the futuristic buildings.
Beam downBritish Airways and Delta Airlines fly non-stop from Gatwick every day; Delta also flies from Manchester. Also, an expert is on hand for free 20-minute group lessons every afternoon, so there’s no excuse not to join in the revelry.Place de l’Hotel de Ville, Paris, France (00 33 1 4276 4040) to 9 Mar, free – but daily skate hire costs Ff30.
Today, the Newport Harbor Christmas Boat Parade features a variety of competitions, with more than 150 boats vying for prizes in categories ranging from the most lights to the funniest display. There’ll be no snow but lots of fun.Newport Beach, California, USA (00 1 949 729 4400) to Wed, freePhiladelphiaFor nearly 100 years, crowds have lined Philadelphia’s Broad Street on New Year’s Day to watch the annual Mummers’ Parade, a riot of colour, costume and controlled chaos that can last for up to 10 hours. The word “mummer” comes from the German word for “mask”, and elements of today’s revels have their origin in Roman festivals and pagan rituals where people wore costumes and masks to frighten away evil spirits. Today, bands and clubs compete for cash prizes totalling nearly $300,000, so outlandish fancy dress and musical virtuosity are always on the cards – spurred on by rivalries that go right back to the first parades.Broad Street, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA (00 1 215 636 1666) New Year’s Day, freeParisAs part of its Christmas celebrations, Paris has once again created a huge ice-skating rink in the middle of the city. The Patinoire de l’Hotel de Ville covers some 1300 square metres – giving more than enough room for any budding Torvill and Deans to triple salchow to their heart’s content. The parade that grew out of this practice has since been voted one of the top 10 holiday events by The New York Times.
Newport is where it all began in 1908, when an Italian immigrant gondolier, John Scarpa, began ferrying people across the harbour in a gondola decorated with Japanese lanterns. The perfect excuse to re-read John Berger’s Ways of Seeing.
Palazzo Reale, piazza del Duomo, , Italy (00 39 02 8691 5738) to 14 Mar, L15,000NewportLighted boat parades have become a Christmas tradition all over America, the floating spectacle of illuminated craft from dinghies to yachts glowing against the night sky bringing a unique kind of magic to the holiday season. All of the art has one thing in common: it is centred on the face. The show explores how artists through the ages – from Leonardo da Vinci to Francis Bacon (above right) via Lotto, Caravaggio, Gauguin and Picasso – have interpreted the facial portrait, and the museum has dedicated all 1990 square metres of its ground floor to this unusual collection of masterpieces. Don’t forget to check out the celebrity dirt section, which includes a picture of a jar of dirt from John Belushi’s grave and some sand from the sandpit where OJ Simpson played with his kids There’s nothing like playing dirty.. Milan
A number of museums and private collections around the world have loaned works to the Palazzo Reale for its exhibition The Portrait and Physiognomy from Leonardo to Bacon.
