Mitchell Smyth

A display of costumes worn by Ava Gardner in the 1951 musical Show Boat, in which Gardner played Julie LaVerne.

Ava Gardner Museum grew from a single kiss

Many men loved Ava Gardner, but it's doubtful if any of them adored her as much as the 12-year-old boy she kissed in a school playground

A display of costumes worn by Ava Gardner in the 1951 musical Show Boat, in which Gardner played Julie LaVerne.
THE VANDERBILT MANSION in Hyde Park, in New York State’s Hudson Valley, was the summer and fall retreat of railway and steamship magnate Frederick W. Vanderbilt. It is now open to the public and visitors can tour it.

Millionaires’ Row in Rhinebeck, New York well worth visiting

On the first half of the drive you can visit Lyndhurst, the home of "the Wizard of Wall Street," railway tycoon Jay Gould

THE VANDERBILT MANSION in Hyde Park, in New York State’s Hudson Valley, was the summer and fall retreat of railway and steamship magnate Frederick W. Vanderbilt. It is now open to the public and visitors can tour it.
THE GREAT MOSQUE forms a background to the colourful market in Djenne, Mali. The mosque, the largest mud structure in the world, is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

World’s largest mud building

In the summer, when temperatures frequently top 40 degrees Celsius, it's baked kiln-hard. Then come the rains, from July to September...

THE GREAT MOSQUE forms a background to the colourful market in Djenne, Mali. The mosque, the largest mud structure in the world, is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Mannequins of schoolteacher Patrick Brunty and a student in the restored Drumballyroney School, one stop on the Brontë Trail in Northern Ireland. Brunty later changed his name to Brontë.

Touring the Brontë Homeland by auto

It's an auto tour along a 16-kilometre circuit south and east of Banbridge and in the shadow of the famous Mountains of Mourne.

Mannequins of schoolteacher Patrick Brunty and a student in the restored Drumballyroney School, one stop on the Brontë Trail in Northern Ireland. Brunty later changed his name to Brontë.
HEAD BUTLER URAL Korkmanz serves canapés to a guest aboard Crystal Serenity. Butlers are on call 24 hours a day for penthouse guests on the luxury cruise line’s two ships.

When pampering isn’t enough, get the royal treatment

A team of butlers are on offer on the Serenity, a high-end cruise ship, and will be a your beck and call.

HEAD BUTLER URAL Korkmanz serves canapés to a guest aboard Crystal Serenity. Butlers are on call 24 hours a day for penthouse guests on the luxury cruise line’s two ships.
THE PIONEER INN is one of the landmarks of Lahaina, Maui. It was built by a Canadian Mountie who pursued a criminal to Hawaii — but didn’t get his man. Instead he stayed and went into the hospitality industry.

Lahaina used to be ‘the buzz’

Lahaina was as wild and woolly as any place on the planet — until the do-gooders put a stop to it

THE PIONEER INN is one of the landmarks of Lahaina, Maui. It was built by a Canadian Mountie who pursued a criminal to Hawaii — but didn’t get his man. Instead he stayed and went into the hospitality industry.
RIDERS APPROACH the rocky outcrop called Weaver’s Needle in the Superstition Mountains of Arizona. The Needle is featured in many of the stories supposedly giving directions to the fabled Lost Dutchman gold mine.

The hunt for the Lost Dutchman mine in Arizona

Some have spent their lives searching. Many have given up in frustration. Dozens have disappeared in these forbidding canyons

RIDERS APPROACH the rocky outcrop called Weaver’s Needle in the Superstition Mountains of Arizona. The Needle is featured in many of the stories supposedly giving directions to the fabled Lost Dutchman gold mine.
JESSE AND FRANK James grew up in this farmhouse in Kearney, Missouri. Now a tourist attraction, it’s furnished as it was when the brothers began their crime career.

Missouri: See where Jesse James lived, robbed banks and died

The farmhouse nearby has been recreated to look much as it was when the James boys were growing up

JESSE AND FRANK James grew up in this farmhouse in Kearney, Missouri. Now a tourist attraction, it’s furnished as it was when the brothers began their crime career.
A FLOWER BED and fountain front a wing of Ashford Castle, the Irish hotel whose guests have included Ronald Reagan, Russell Crowe, Tony Blair and Pierce Brosnan. It once belonged to a member of the Guinness family, makers of the famous beer.

Ashford Castle ‘arguably the poshest hotel’ in Ireland

The hotel, a symphony of turrets, arches, galleries and battlements, has been called "the apogee of Victorian neo-Gothic in Ireland."

A FLOWER BED and fountain front a wing of Ashford Castle, the Irish hotel whose guests have included Ronald Reagan, Russell Crowe, Tony Blair and Pierce Brosnan. It once belonged to a member of the Guinness family, makers of the famous beer.
“MERMAID” TARA PERFORMS in Weeki Wachee Springs, Fla., the world’s only City of Mermaids.

The singing mermaids in Florida are back for tourists to see

The singing mermaids looked like they may be silenced due to a legal dispute, but they are singing loudly now

“MERMAID” TARA PERFORMS in Weeki Wachee Springs, Fla., the world’s only City of Mermaids.
“SURRENDER, MA,' THE G-men yelled outside this house in Ocklawaha, Florida, in 1935. But Ma Barker and her son Fred didn’t, and died in the subsequent gun battle. Aside from patching up the bullet holes, little has changed here since then.

Florida: She fought the law and the law won

Visitors can still hear the story from the patrons in Ma Barker's Hideaway, a tavern near where killing happened in 1935

“SURRENDER, MA,' THE G-men yelled outside this house in Ocklawaha, Florida, in 1935. But Ma Barker and her son Fred didn’t, and died in the subsequent gun battle. Aside from patching up the bullet holes, little has changed here since then.