Cool Consortium

Before you can publish in Dreamweaver, you must set up a “home base” folder where your website will live on the local hard drive of your computer. Once this is in place, you can use Dreamweaver’s FTP feature to “get” and “put” the HTML files from your local folder to the remote server. Here’s how to set it up for a BASIC website that does not include PHP, .asp or any “dynamic” elements.

Open Dreamweaver.

Go to the top menu and click SITE, then NEW SITE

The prompt will ask you for a name. Name it “Whatever Your Site’s Name Is” (you can space this – it’s like a title bar, not a domain.)

Next Prompt: Do you want to work with a server technology?

Your Answer: NO

Next Prompt, Question 1: How do you want to work with your files?

Your Answer: Option 1

Question 2: Where on your computer do you want to store your files?

Your Answer: (Here, you will set up a folder hierarchy. Your heirarchy might be, C:/Your Websites/Name of Website

Next Prompt: How do you connect to your remote server?

Your Answer: FTP

Now it will ask you the following questions:

What is the hostname or FT address of your Web server?

Your Answer: This will vary. Typically, it’s ftp.whateveryourwebsitenameis.com (starts with ftp, a period, and then a domain name dot-com. The domain name could be your own domain name, or it may also be the domain name of your hosting provider. You may want to search for the term ‘FTP’ in your host’s help instructions so you know exactly what address to enter here.)

What folder on your server do you want to store your files in?

Your Answer: typically the answer to this is htdocs, but you have to figure out where your main HTML files are stored on your server. (I know that in Earthlink the folder is called webdocs).

What is your FTP login:

Your Answer: whatever your website login is

What is your FTP password:

Your Answer: whatever your password is

Now check off “save” and then click TEST CONNECTION to make sure you’re hooked up. If you can’t connect, recheck the above information and repeat the process.

Next Prompt: Do you want to enable checkin and checkout?
Your Answer: NO

(This is up to you. If you have multiple designers on your team, then checkin and checkout could be a good way of preventing file versions accidentally overriding each other. If you work alone, just say NO.)

Note:

If you screw this up for some reason or want to change anything, go back up to the top menu, click SITES again and select EDIT. you’ll see the name of your website (whatever you named it in Step 1) listed and you can repeat this same process.

To use the FTP in Dreamweaver, just go to the far right hand window where it says DESIGN, CODE, APPLICATION, FILES all stacked vertically. Hit the arrow where FILES is located to open up the little FILES window.

Note: if you don’t see any far right window, you may have chosen the alternate view when you first launched the program. In this case, go to the TOP MENU BAR and click SITE and then SITE FILES. A floating window should open up that you can drag anywhere beside your main window.

In the FILES window, you’ll see a little pulldown menu where you can opt to view your server files.

Next to that pulldown is another pulldown menu that says REMOTE VIEW. By default, you’re looking at the server (as opposed to your local computer folders, which is another choice in this pulldown).

Just beneath the word FILE in that FTP window, you see a little icon that looks like a plug with a black dot next to it (far left). Click that and it’ll “connect” you and the dot will turn green, for “GO Dreamweaver!”

To open a file from your desktop, mouse away from the FTP window and go to the *usual* place in any program where you’d open a file. (Top menu bar, far left, FILE.)

Open the file from the folder where it’s located on your computer. Edit the file.

When you’re done editing the file, go back to the FTP window on the right, that you just set up. Make sure you’re connected (that dot next to the plug doohickey should be green. If it’s black, click the plug icon again to connect).

To transfer the file from your local desktop to the remote server, do this:

Mouse away from the FTP window again, and back to your open file. Focus your gaze TOP CENTER. Next to the TITLE bar there are two arrows, a green “down arrow” and a blue “up arrow.”
To PUT the file on the remote FTP server, click the BLUE UP ARROW.

(The blue UP arrow stands for PUT or PUBLISH from your computer to FTP server)

(The green DOWN arrow stands for GET or retrieve your file from the FTP server to your computer)

Later on, you may want to open the file directly from the FTP server and edit it.

So, go to the FTP window and click the icon to connect to your server again. The list of files should appear.

Find the name of the file you want to edit, and while still in that mini File window, click the name of the file once (to highlight). Then click ‘FILE’ and ‘OPEN’. (this is all done in the little FTP window, not the main window).

Now your file will open up in the main (big) window. Edit it, and then click that BLUE ARROW by the center TITLE BAR to PUT or publish it again.

NOTE: if you click the blue arrow located in the little FTP window, it will PUT the ENTIRE SITE from your desktop to your server.

If you’ve already edited and put some files but not others, this will mess your stuff up royally. Why?

Because it’ll take the files from your computer and replace the “most updated files on your remote server” with the old ones from your local folder, thereby deleting your work. I have done this by accident and it is no fun.

If you know that all the files on your server are the *correct* ones but the ones on your desktop are the *old* ones, you can *get* the files from the server by clicking the GREEN DOWN arrow in the little FTP window on the right.

This will replace every file on your hard drive with the same named files from your server.

If you royally mess up something, but as you remember it, the last file that you PUT (or published) is still live on the web, you can type in that file name in your internet browser and then do a VIEW SOURCE, copy the HTML code, and paste that back into the file on your hard drive, Save, and then PUT it again.

Generally, it’s a good idea to work from your local folders and then PUT the entire site (in the FTP window) all at once. But I am a jerk and I don’t do it that way.

Good luck, and happy FTPing, getting and putting!

Copyright 2006 Dina Giolitto, Wordfeeder.com Copywriting and Marketing Services for the Web

Your customers are irate and your marketing guy just doesn’t GET the new software. What happened? Your web copy isn’t getting the message across. Visit Dina at http://Wordfeeder.com and discover how a copywriter with over a decade of experience will lend that professional edge that will put you at the forefront of your industry and eliminate the confusion in your copy.

There are good Bus Tours and there are really bad ones. To understand why, you have to understand the bottom line and that’s what the bus tour companies are most concerned with; rightly so, because they have to make a profit or close their doors. But this doesn’t mean their tours should “take you for a ride” if you’ll forgive the pun.

The kinds of tours we’re talking about here are the typical, impossibly cheap 49-persons-on-a-49-seat bus that are heavily advertised and sold by travel agents for a commission. These can be good value, but you have to know what to avoid. Some savvy travelers take the escorted coach tours every year only for the hotels, meals and transportation provided. Every day they do their own sightseeing after the bus stops for the day. You can take a tour and to a limited degree, still go your own way. This works particularly well on the tours that stop in five cities in six days, or similar tours depending on their duration.

Typical big bus tours will have a professional multilingual European guide and 40-49 people aboard. The tour company is probably very big, booking rooms by the thousands, often in their own company-owned hotels. The buses are usually very good; a luxurious new or fairly new 49 seater, with a high quiet ride, comfortable seats, air conditioning and a toilet on board. Go with the flow on one of these big economical tours and you’ll see a lot of Europe, but you won’t experience much of Europe.

The hotels will fit American and Canadian standards. This means large, not too personal and offering comfort, good plumbing and double rooms. Be sure to check the brochures carefully for this phrase: “we’ll overnight near Rome”. Near might mean halfway to Naples in the middle of nowhere. If most meals are included on one of these tours, don’t expect gourmet meals. The tour companies drive the prices down to the point where the hotels and restaurants can barely break even and most of the meals will be buffet style with little evidence of local cuisine.

Europe will be spoon-fed to you by your guide on these big company tours. The sights you see will be those chosen for their convenience to the tour company, not for their cultural or historical significance. This is getting to be more common all the time, because with the burgeoning populations and increasing tourism, the museums and historically significant sights are resorting to reservations, which put a crimp into the bus tour schedules. The “historically significant” site the bus will take you to will often be the one with easy parking and in a town or city where there is a company owned hotel.

Stop and think, you cannot take 49 people into a “cozy” pub and be cozy. A good stop for a guide is a place with easy access to and from the freeway, easy bus parking and where the guides and drivers are supplied with free coffee, sandwiches and cakes. The staff should speak sufficient English and accept bank cards and above all, 49 people can all go to the bathroom at one and the same time!

Being a tour guide is not the fun job it might seem at first glance. There’s lots of responsibility, paperwork and miserable hours; a good guide is the first up in the morning and the last to bed at night. Most guides – if they can – will keep their distance from their group socially, this is a job to them, not a seven, fourteen, or twenty-one day party on wheels. Each tourist has his or her own problems and personal demands and a group of 49 can often become an amalgamated pain in the butt to the guide.

Ever wonder how they get paid? They usually make a daily salary between 50 and 100 dollars, a percentage of the optional excursions, kickbacks from the museums, attractions, etc. that the guide brings their tour to and finally the end-of-the-trip tips. Some professional guides with a lot of experience on a particular tour, will pay the tour company a flat fee for the privilege of guiding the tour and keep all the money from the excursions, kickbacks and tips. A top notch professional guide can make 500+ a day on a good tour.

Here’s some final tips for you to employ to help ensure a good trip.

First and above all else, stay on the good side of your guide. Wait for a quiet moment to ask for advice instead of insisting on individual attention. If the bus is making a quick pit stop and there’s a coffee kiosk close, ask if you can bring back coffees for the driver and guide. Go along with the small things, without letting him/her take advantage of you.

Be wary of the sightseeing options and especially the “night activities” or “local color” options. A couple hundred Aussies, Kiwis, Japanese, Koreans, Americans and Crazy Canucks drinking sangria and whirling their noisemakers is not local color! Instead visit a local café or bar of some kind and strike up a conversation with the locals. You’ll have a good time and probably feel better the next morning, especially if you take it easy with the local firewater. Some of it is very strange and very powerful.

Decide before you leave home whether you’re going on a tour to see and experience Europe, or to shop. If it’s to shop, the guide will be happy to steer you to all their “best buys”. Rolexes are pushed in Switzerland, leather goods in Florence and glass objets d’art in Venice. And that “professor” or “scholar” that meets your cruise ship, or at the hotel first thing in the morning on a free day? He is actually a carpet salesman who will take you to the obligatory ancient site, then take you to his carpet store and then take you to the cleaners if you fall for his line. Any time a guide, storekeeper or salesperson tells you that it’s a special price for the tour, but you must buy now, run -don’t walk- to the nearest exit. You can probably get it for half the price down the street, but only if you can break away for the tour group and a sharp guide will make that almost impossible.

Always be on the lookout for opportunities to talk to the local population. This is easier if you came not to shop but to learn and experience. Most people are very proud of their city, canton, or country and love to tell you about it. So lean back, have another sip of wine, listen and enjoy! Happy touring!

Michael Russell
Your Independent guide to Tourism.

Contrary to the popular view that it always rains on Bank Holiday Weekends, Good Friday arrived dry and sunny and we set off on the Wightlink Ferry along with many other travellers on the first big ‘get away’ of the season. Our destination, Littlecote House not far from Hungerford.

Just off the A.4, Newbury to Marlborough Road we decided to stop off at Hungerford for a caffeine boost before continuing on to Littlecote House. Hungerford has boasted antique shops for centuries and the town, steeped in history, is still a haven for antiques today. After a welcome coffee at the Plume of Feathers Inn in the High Street sitting in the window watching town life go by we then spent an hour or so across the road mooching round the stalls in the Hungerford Arcade. This building, dating back to 1360, was one of the first arcades of this type in the country and houses some 80 stallholders. We resisted purchasing a very unusual Victorian mounted glass claret jug for ourselves and instead settled for a pair of silver and enamel cuff links depicting golfers. An apt birthday present for one golfing mad son.

By this time Littlecote was calling. Back in the car and only ten minutes or so away we were soon driving along the tree lined avenue and through the paddocks leading to the House. It is easy to close your eyes and imagine riding up to the house on horseback, but this is 2006 and we are in a car so we drive towards the new hotel section within and to the east of the Estate Buildings, park up, check in and unload our luggage for the weekend. One of the pleasures of staying at Littlecote is that you can book a room in the Mansion and let your imagination carry you back in time.

Before the building of a manor at Littlecote finds of Palaeolithic and Mesolithic flint tools and Bronze Age pottery fragments indicate there had been human activity on the site which also appealed to the Romans. William George, a Steward of Littlecote made an archaeological discovery in 1728 the importance of which was not fully realised until re-excavations took place in the late 1970’s when a mosaic floor, dating back to Roman times was discovered. During the 13th & 14th centuries a medieval village developed over the Roman settlement and an early manor house established, held by Roger de Calstone. Now Littlecote is one of England’s finest Grade 1 listed Medieval Tudor Mansions and presents a long history of alterations and additions. From the mid 13th Century it remained in the de Calstone family until William Darrell married Elizabeth, daughter of Thomas de Calstone in 1415 and inherited the Estate, later passing to Sir John Popham in 1590, Lord Chief Justice who presided over the trials of Sir Walter Raleigh and Guy Fawkes and who was responsible for much of the alterations and additions.

As a typical visitor to Littlecote I like to visit the Great Hall first with its grey and white diamond flagstone floor, oak panelling and English fan-vaulted ceiling. There is blue, gold and bronze roundel in the high window where Jane Seymour and Henry VIII’s initials are united by lovers’ knots and cupids heads, for it was Littlecote that Henry VIII visited and courted Jane, a relative of the Darrells. Housed in the Hall are a 30 foot long Shovel-Board table and the finger stock said to have been used by Judge Popham to confine prisoners in the dock.

A door at the end of the Great Hall leads into the drawing room decorated with hand painted Chinese wallpaper with windows overlooking the original main drive and lawns. This room is wonderfully relaxing and an ideal place to sit and read the Sunday morning newspapers whereas the Popham Library leading off the drawing room is a very special place to enjoy an after dinner drink. Beyond the library is the Dutch Parlour which would fascinate all art lovers with it’s panels depicting scenes from ‘Don Quixote’ and Butler’s ‘Hudibras’, painted by Dutch prisoners taken from a naval battle around the year 1665.

Carrying on through is the Brick Parlour with examples of 17th century panelling and the Diamond Hall is the Cromwellian Chapel and gallery created by Alexander Popham, grandson of Sir John. We are told that this is the only remaining example of a Cromwellian chapel in a private house, with the pulpit positioned where the alter would be in other places of worship. The term ‘dropping off’ originates from the design of the pews with their slight forward tilt causing anyone falling asleep during a service to literally ’slip off’. They work too. You just have to try them out! The gallery of the chapel then leads through into the haunted landing and bedroom so called for its association with the murder of a new born baby during ownership by the Darrells.

Story has it that a midwife from nearby Shefford was brought to the house, blindfolded, to deliver a baby. After successfully helping the mother to give birth to a boy the midwife was ordered to throw the baby on the fire by a wild-eyed man later identified as ‘Wild’ William Darrell. It is the ghost of the mother who is said to haunt both bedroom and landing. To complete our visit of the house is a visit to the Long Gallery with its fine Oriel window. Lined with family portraits this room is some 110 feet by 18 feet. Long galleries, a typical feature of houses at this time, provided the opportunity for taking exercise without having to venture outdoors in bad weather. However, no less attractive to the visitors than the house are the gardens – some 113 acres of which 40 acres are formal gardens – but they are another delight, another story.

Olivia Hughes,
Invaluable group of companies

http://www.invaluable.com

Only Invaluable gives you unrivalled access to pre-sale and post-sale information for auction houses and salerooms across the globe. Find art, antiques and collectables. Try our Keyword search, register at http://www.invaluable.com for a free 14 day trial.

Going by air

Flying to Mexico is the most common way to go to the main resort and tourist destinations. Major U.S. airlines offer non-stop or direct flights to a wide variety of Mexican cities. You can work with a travel agent or you can book your flight over the internet. There is a tremendous variety in price, so it’s worth doing some homework. Booking way ahead sometimes gives you a bargain price — but you can also sometimes get very good prices if you have an impulse to go right away, or within a week or two. Look for U.S. or Mexican airlines.

Charter flights can offer rock bottom prices at times, but do be aware that the charter operator may have the right to cancel the flight if it doesn’t fill, and they can do this up to about 10 days before the flight. However, if you want to cancel your reservation with them it may not be possible.

Vacation packages to Mexico

Combined airfare and hotel packages can offer you very good value. The hotels may not be the best known, but sometimes they are. And in this internet era, it’s easy enough to do a search on the name of the hotel and town. Especially if you are traveling to Cancun, Acapulco, Ixtapa, or any of the many other vacation type destinations in Mexico, vacation package deals are well worth exploring.

Another kind of package is the guided tour, often of several cities and typically with hotels and transportation included. This can be very good for people who haven’t explored Mexico much or who speak little or no Spanish.

Cruises to Mexico

Cruises leave from both coasts of the U.S., and vary in how long they last. The shorter cruises can be very economical. Cruises will only give you a taste of Mexico compared to other vacation choices, but that might be just the thing to whet your appetite!

Mexican buses

Mexico has an incredibly good network of buses going between cities. Most foreign travelers prefer the deluxe buses or the first-class ones, which typically offer movies, comfortable seating, rest rooms, and an easy schedule of many departures a day. Between the smaller towns you may get retired school buses from the U.S. and more rigorous conditions.

Driving

Driving conditions vary considerably from one Mexican highway to another. Some are slow, while the relatively expensive toll roads usually have light traffic due to their prices. Don’t drive between Mexican cities at night. There are tales of robberies, but more common hazards include livestock lying on the road (enjoying the warmth of the pavement) and vehicles driving without good headlights.

A Few Thoughts on Safety

If you travel in Mexico, do be aware of safety and theft issues. If you carry a purse, think about how easily it could be snatched and perhaps carry your passport and credit cards in your clothing close to your body, even in a pouch under your clothes.

There is much publicity in the U.S. about the occasional dramatic crimes that happen to tourists abroad. If you keep in mind that people are poorer and that you appear wealthy to them (even if that idea is laughable to you), you will make the best choices.

As for health concerns, Mexico is much improved from the past, but do be prudent about what you eat. Most drinking water you will be served is purified now, but it does no harm to ask. Other factors under your control are how much alcohol you drink and how long you stay out in the tropical sun.

Use common sense, and be aware that common sense is different from one country to another. Don’t worry too much. The vast majority of travelers to Mexico have a safe and delightful trip.

Rosana Hart has traveled to Mexico many times. Her website, www.mexico-with-heart.com, contains the full text of a book she wrote about traveling in Mexico, as well as information and travel tipson a variety of Mexican cities popular with tourists.

If you have some cash to spend and are looking for a nice way to spend time away from the stress of city life, consider going to a cozy mountain resort on a retreat. Mountain retreats are fabulous for everyone — family, friends, employees or perhaps a romantic getaway for you and your spouse. A mountain retreat offers peace, serenity and lots of activities as well.

If you are snow skier, you do not have to wait until winter to experience your favorite sport. There are places in the country where you can ski all year round. If your budge allows, you can travel to the Swiss Alps or other European destinations that offer totally new skiing experiences.

There are mountain lodges and resorts that cater to the wild and weekend adventurers. They are located near wild life parks that allow hikers and visitors to come and experience oneness with nature. There are also mountain retreats that offer a tour of historic places such as old battlegrounds and famous cave mines. Some feature canopy walks or walks that you can take on ledges built suspended and connected to large trees. This is a safe and fun way to explore the forest.

It really depends on your budget. You can really save a lot if you just rent a small cottage on a mountain village and pretty much do your own thing- hiking in the woods, a little hunting where it is permitted, or rock wall climbing. Or you can stay at the most luxurious mountain resort that gives you five star hotel treatments, complete with your own gourmet chef – a retreat that will not soon be forgotten.

Whatever kind of adventurous or getaway you have in mind, a mountain resort retreat will definitely do your mind, body and soul some good. You will come back relaxed and filled with adventure stories to tell every one back at the office.

Upset with your online sales? Tired of looking for reasons why you continuously fail with your online business no matter what you do? Then, it is time for you to do some shaking. You have to loosen up in order to realize that in spite of the many efforts that you have tried, there are only three reasons why you are not making any sales online.

If you are not making any sales as you have wished it to be, in spite of the many hocus-pocus techniques you have tried, it is almost certainly down to three reasons only: not enough traffic, wrong type of traffic, no customers just visitors.

What do these three reasons mean? Well, first let me tell you that having a business online is not the same as what you have offline. Even if both involve money or financial matters, they are entirely different from each other.

With online business, you do not need the usual type of marketing strategies being applied by the typical business. What matters most in online business is the kind of traffic your web site should use in order to entice people to visit your website and buy your product.

Do you think it is that simple? Guess again.

There are many ways on how to derive traffic to your website but the probability of succeeding is left to nothing if you have employed the wrong kind.

Therefore, for people who wish to know more why they are failing, or why it is important to employ the right kind of traffic in a web site, here are some pointers that you need to know:

1. If you are not getting adequate traffic in your web site, then it only means one thing: no visitors. And, if you do not have any visitors on your site, then, there would be no sales.

2. If you are targeting for the wrong traffic, the results will be the same. The notion no visitors means no sales does not necessarily mean that you have to have any kind of visitors in order to have sales. Indeed, sales are derived from your visitors but getting the wrong ones is just the same problem.

Hence, it is important to have the right target market.

3. However, having visitors, even if it is the right target market will not immediately be converted into sales if you do not know how to turn them into customers. There are instances that you may have many visitors but as soon as they have reached your site, they no longer feel the need to buy your product.

So, what do these three problems mean? It means that you are employing the wrong marketing strategies; hence, you are failing online.

The problem with most people who have online business is that they just immediately start their venture without considering the different factors that will contribute to their sales performance.

So, for people who wish to change their status online, here are some tips that can help you through:

1. Convert your visitors into customers.

You can do this by encouraging impulse purchases on your visitors. Create a buy now phenomenon by placing relevant articles on your site, timing it right, make the registration relatively easy, give some discounts or freebies, and create an atmosphere that would tell them what they are missing if they will not buy your product now!

It is a simple fact. What you need on your site are customers and just visitors, so it would be better that whoever enters your site would really buy your product.

2. Always go for the major and well-known directories and search engines.

The important thing is people should know your business do exist and that they will benefit a lot form your business. It is just a matter of getting public attention. Even if you have the best product in the world but nobody is aware of it, then, everything will just be put to waste.

3. Create a highly targeted mailing list or opt-in list

These mailing lists will definitely be a big help. Of course, you wouldnt want your customers to be one-time buyers only, right? So, that means you have to keep them posted of your business and keep them on the hook. In this way, there will be higher probabilities that they will keep coming back to you, especially if they were satisfied with your product.

Indeed, there are no justifiable reasons to fail online because there are many ways to succeed. You just need a little more education and techniques that will truly help you achieve your targeted sales.

Investigate to see if the moneylender who is tending to give you a money loan is beneficial. A lot of the moneylenders wil show you a interest rate that is looking bonnie but doesn’t feel advantageously or so after some time. It makes no difference if you live in Brookfield Wisconsin or in Eden Prairie Minnesota a secure online analysis will economize you often a lot of incommode. At this present you can check out rates of interest quickly on the internet and image if there are possible sneaky traps you should know about. You should be hopeful today to check out if you have a nice special offer or if you don’t with the bank that offers you a loan.

Translated in Dutch: Woon je in Smallingerland of Zaltbommel en heeft u BKR. Lenen met BKR is nog nooit zo eenvoudig geweest. Koop een nieuw huis met met bkr toetsing hypotheek, 242299 euro is geen enkel probleem om te financieren. Van Maasdonk tot Etten-Leur, financieren met een BKR registratie is hier geen enkel probleem.

A merchant bank in Brockton Massachusetts or so may have a total totally different actual rate for a 10000 dollar loan then a merchant bank in Encinitas California and that makes a large clear difference in your monthly costs. 10.1 percent rate of interest may come along so clean but will it stay perpetual after you have to requite your money loan. That’s the reason why now you really need to check into and discover if you can have a credit loan at a proficient percent loan rate.

If there was one thing I had noticed from my travels around Wales it was the extensive use of the Welsh language. The people of Wales are extremely proud of their country and rightly so. The language helps Wales keep its identity. Many are resentful of English domination and prefer the idea of more independence.

But one thing was for sure. No one could deny the natural beauty of their country and the warmth of its people. The A4086 to Betws-y-Coed may have been slow progress through the narrow twists and turns of the valley roads, but the sheer beauty of the region made the time irrelevant.

Another great aspect of the valley roads was the low volume of traffic. This was the Easter Bank Holiday weekend and any journey made in England would require a very early start. But with a population of little more than a million people, there’s enough room for everyone.

Betws-y-Coed is a quaint little village just within the boundaries of Snowdonia National Park amongst the deep Welsh valleys. Commercial activity has led to the village outgrowing itself and it now bursts at the seams. Retail outlets fight for every square inch of space.

I decided to take advantage of this retail war and buy some new walking boots. After parking on this ridiculously steep hill I made my way to the action. My vulnerability to ingrowing toenails means having to buy at least a size bigger than I actually am to ensure enough space for comfort.

The big sale signs outside one store looked promising so I ventured in and soon found myself amongst the maps. There’s something therapeutic about looking at maps. Maybe it’s the natural human tendency to travel and explore.

The therapy however, only lasts for as long as you are left alone and out of the corner of my eye I spotted a shop assistant approaching in stealth-like fashion. I thought of making a dash to the other side of the bookshelf, but I had already fallen victim and had to admit defeat.

“The Ordinance Survey provides great detail in a 1:50000 scale as well as being weatherproof in its laminated cover,” the man droned monotonously.

“Great,” I replied, struggling to find any enthusiasm. “Where are the boots?”

Steven Cronin owns the City Breaks website featuring city break special offers from luxury hotels to budget accommodations. For more information please visit www.sargas.co.uk

After catching a lovely and much needed rest at the historic Twin Gables Bed and Breakfast we set off to explore the immediate neighbourhood, the restaurant area on 4th Street. We were going to walk, but considering I had been really sick with an aweful chest cold in the last few days, venturing out into the cold evening air had me a little leery. Henry from the Twin Gables was really kind to offer us a drive a few blocks up to a restaurant called Il Giardino, one of the places that had come highly recommended for this area from Tourism Calgary.
We entered a Mediterranean-looking restaurant that was just packed with people. We sat down at a cozy table and had a chance to spend some time with the owner, Mike Ciccaglione, and his restaurant manager Dorothy, to find out more about this establishment. Wherever I go I try to get the human stories, and boy, was I in for an interesting one here. I did not realize that I had connected with one of Calgary’s most successful entrepreneurs, a real immigrant success story.

Mike was born in the Italian region of Molise and left Italy when he was 16 years old to study business administration and restaurant and hotel management in Switzerland. He came to Canada in 1962 following which he worked in a variety of hotels and restaurants in Calgary and Banff. He also studied English as a second language. In 1967 he opened his first restaurant called the Prairie Dog Inn which initially specialized in Mexican food.
As if that wasn’t enough, Mike went on to open the Mexican Village chain of fast food restaurants in several shopping malls and in 1980 he opened the “Pied Pickle” chain.

Logically he decided to expand his business to encompass the supply and distribution of tortillas and other Mexican foods: El Molino food manufacturing was born. This company manufacturers Mexican food products as well as pizzas and Italian pasta dishes and distributes its products to warehouses in Calgary, Edmonton, Vancouver, Winnipeg, Toronto and Montreal.

In 1998 Mike opened “Il Giardino” (the ultimate in Italian food and fun), a restaurant where all the dishes were home-cooked had always been his big dream.
When we walked into this restaurant I had no idea that we we would meet such a successful Canadian entrepreneur. At the same time, you’d never know it – Mike walks around in casual clothing, laughs and smiles a lot and always keeps his eyes open to check on his guests’ enjoyment. During our conversation he got up several times to greet or say goodbye to guests and Dorothy referred to him as a “big flirt”. It is plainly obvious that even at 65 years of age, Mike loves what he is doing and Dorothy told us that he does the rounds throughout his various Calgary businesses on a daily basis. Mike is one of those people who loves his work and always has a twinkle in his eyes.

Dorothy has an interesting story herself: she is originally from Montreal and her husband, an engineer in the oil industry, hails from England. Before Calgary they have lived in Montreal, St. John’s / Newfoundland, as well as Jakarta where they ended up as refugees in Singapore for a month during President Suharto’s coup. Now they settled into a calmer life in Calgary.
Mike attributes his success to a strong commitment to quality ingredients and preparation, and he credits great support from his wife Lucy, his daughter Judy and his son Michael Jr. for much of his fortune and he hopes that one day his children will take over. He also recognizes the importance of his employees as a critical success factor. He told us that he feels it’s very important to reward his employees and many of the staff at the Il Giardino Restaurant have been there 10 and more years. A young couple, the evening manager and the hostess, have 15 years of service (5 years at Il Giardino and 10 years at the Pied Pickel) between them and Dorothy confirmed that people really enjoy the work here. Mike says “You’re nobody until people make you somebody”, that’s why treats his employees well and appreciates his winning team.

The construction of Il Giardino is a story in itself: Mike designed the restaurant and one of his long-time friends, Walter Petrin, did all the brickwork while his other great friend Vic Finot was the general contractor. Every Friday he and these two special friends get together to solve the problems of the world. Strangely enough, the next day the problems start all over again.

Outside of work Mike loves to spend time with friends, some of whom he has known for 40 years now. His family is very supportive of him and his wife dedicates a lot of her time to charitable work. Mike also supports the United Way and various fundraising drives for breast cancer and the Calgary Children’s Hospital.

He still goes back to Italy every once in a while although he says he’s seen almost everything in his home country. So now he is thinking of traveling to places like Asia, Africa and Latin America as long as it is safe and reasonably clean. Mike loves soccer and he even used to own a local soccer team that was called the El Molinos Dinos. Another one of Mike’s big passions is his Ferrari and he said that every once in a while he puts it on sale just to see the interest on the part of potential purchasers. But when it comes down to it he really has no intention of selling it.

But that’s not all: Mike is a movie star as well! He has had roles in “Honey, I Shrunk The Kids” as well as in “Cool Runnings”. It seems Mike is always up to something, and when you listen to his list of endeavours it seems incredible that one person can get all this done.

Mike embodies hospitality and while we were there he insisted that we get a real taste of what his kitchen is capable of. For starters we got to sample Il Giardino’s soups: I tasted a Stracchiatelle egg drop soup while my husband got the “Brodo con Polpettine e Pasta” (chicken broth with tiny meatballs and pasta). Then I got to sample a taste of Il Giardino’s famous Calamari (extremely tasty and tender) while Nigel had their Bruschetta bread. We also received a sampler plate of appetizers – Antipasto Italiano (prosciutto with melon).
That wasn’t all: we also got a taste of Il Giardino’s home-made Gnocchi della Nonna which, by the way, are home-made by Mike’s 70 year old sister. Then, we couldn’t believe it, the main course arrived: a sampler plate of three of Il Giardino’s specialties: Pollo ai Funghi (chicken breast in a white wine sauce topped with mushrooms), Piccata al Limone (veal in lemon and white wine sauce), and Agnello al Rosmarino (rack of lamb in a rosemary, mint and red wine sauce). I am not usually a huge meat eater, but these dishes were phenomenal, the meat was tender, the sauces very tasty without being overpowering. Mike topped a fabulous meal off with a tasting of the most famous Italian desert: tira misu.

Without exaggeration, our culinary experience at Il Giardino ranks right up there as one of my best restaurant experiences of a life-time, the food was that delicious. I love Italian food, and the folks at Il Giardino certainly know how to prepare Italian delicacies. We had to take a doggy bag back to our bed and breakfast, there was no way we could actually eat all this delicious food. There is no doubt that Il Giardino serves great, freshly made food. And even more so, it was a pleasure to meet the creator behind this welcoming neighbourhood institution.

Susanne Pacher is the publisher of a website called Travel and Transitions (http://www.travelandtransitions.com). Travel and Transitions deals with unconventional travel and is chock full of advice, tips, real life travel experiences, interviews with travellers and travel experts, insights and reflections, cross-cultural issues, contests and many other features. You will also find stories about life and the transitions that we face as we go through our own personal life-long journeys.

Submit your own travel stories in our first travel story contest (http://www.travelandtransitions.com/contests.htm) and have a chance to win an amazing adventure cruise on the Amazon River.

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The story with photos is published at Travel Stories and Photos (http://www.travelandtransitions.com/stories_photos/calgary_il_giardino.htm)

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