03
The Cinque Terre town of Vernazza, Italy, is the location of January’s photo.
Forty-seven of our readers submitted correct answers, and the winner of the drawing was VIRGINIA DANZER of Portland, OR.
Thanks go to Valeria Wiegand of Freeport, IL, for submitting the photo.
Being celebrated in England as “Drama & Debate,” 2004 marks the 400th anniversary of two auspicious events in King James I’s court of 1604: Shakespeare’s debut performance before the King in the Great Hall, and the Hampton Court Conference which led to the commissioning of the first King James Bible. With that in mind, every weekend from April 9 to May 31, 2004, the Great Kitchens of Hampton Court Palace will demonstrate Jacobean Cookery.
On Jan. 20, two boats with explorers and film crews set off from Kampala, Uganda, on a journey that will cover 6,690 kilometers from the source of the Nile to the river’s mouth in Alexandria, Egypt. The river connects East Africa with the Mediterranean Sea.
Their progress can be followed at the websites www.settlethenile.com and www.thewhitenile.com.
An approaching comet designated Q4 (NEAT) is expected to be more than 2½ times brighter than Halley’s Comet. It will be brightest May 5-15, 2004, and the Seabourn Legend is making a 7-day Mediterranean cruise in May to provide ideal viewing conditions. On board to give expert commentary will be astro-journalist Dan Benedict, founder of the Eye On The Sky news service.
LanChile’s Visit Chile airpass program allows passengers to purchase an airpass, valid for travel to 15 Chilean destinations, at up to 70% savings compared to the cost of purchasing separate tickets for each segment of a trip. And, for the first time, the airpass includes Easter Island.
The program includes up to three airpass coupons for $285 when passengers purchase their international round-trip ticket with LanChile. Additional coupons, up to a maximum of three, may be purchased for $68 each.
Pakistan and India have agreed to continue cross-border bus service for five years. The resumption follows the restoration of regular airline service in early January. Train service between the two countries also was restored, and the weekly train is running between Lahore in Pakistan and Attari in India.
The air and ground links were suspended after India accused Pakistan of an attack on its Parliament two years ago. Pakistan continues to deny any involvement in the attack.
2004 marks the bicentenary of the Royal Horticultural Society, and Britain is celebrating with the Year of Gardening. Marking the occasion, the 2004 edition of a garden-visiting guide has increased the number of gardens featured to 1,250 and reduced its price to £12.99. In the 672-page paperback “The Daily Telegraph Good Gardens Guide” (2004, Frances Lincoln, Ltd., ISBN 0711222622 — 672 pp., $24.95), all the places featured are open to the public.
Scheduled to open in Berlin in June 2004 is an exhibition of works by photographer Helmut Newton, who presented 1,000 of his photographs to the city in October ’03.
In October 2003, a man who had been working in a rural village in Haiti returned to Pennsylvania and was admitted to a hospital with a severe sore throat and respiratory distress. He was diagnosed with respiratory diphtheria and died. The clinical efficacy of the diphtheria vaccine is 97%, but the man had never been immunized.
Diphtheria is contracted by inhaling the bacteria directly from an infected person. It can lead to heart failure, paralysis and coma. Even death can occur in as little as a week; the mortality rate for diphtheria can be as high as 20%.
Britain’s Department of Health is closing loopholes that allow foreign tourists to take advantage of free medical care in public hospitals. Some were abusing the system, including pregnant women who timed their visits to give birth in British hospitals, where they would not be charged.
As of April 2004, under the new regulations travelers who become ill or are injured during their visit to the U.K. will have to pay for treatment, even in National Health Service facilities. Overseas students studying full time in the U.K. will be exempt from charges for treatment.