In this book, the author takes us on a journey through the early 1910s, a time when Europe was alive with excitement and anticipation. From the vibrant streets of Paris and the elegant charm of London, to the rugged beauty of the Swiss Alps and the rolling hills of Italy, the author shares his personal experiences and insights into each destination. As war looms on the horizon, the essays offer a unique glimpse into a world on the brink of change. With vivid descriptions and colorful anecdotes, this book is a must-read for anyone with a passion for travel and a love of history.

Paris Nights: My Year at the Moulin Rouge opens with a bored twenty-seven-year old Cliff Simon staring out at the ocean from his beachfront house, wishing he was somewhere else. Gavin Mills telephones him from Paris inviting him to join him at the iconic Moulin Rouge. Cliff sells everything he owns, leaving Johannesburg, South Africa for the City of Lights. He learns that his spot at the Moulin is not guaranteed and is forced to audition. Making the grade, he is put into can can school before he is allowed into the company. His adrenaline is pumping from excitement and fear, both of which he has faced before. Taking a look back, we see twelve-year-old Cliff helming a racing dinghy in the midst of a thunderstorm on the Vaal River. His father yells at him not to be a sissy, and he brings the boat back to shore alone. We then travel to London with his family escaping the tumult of Apartheid. He trains for the Olympics, but drops out, enrolling in the South African military where he subjected to harsh treatment and name calling Fokken Jood. After a honorable discharge, he works in cabaret at seaside resorts and is recruited as a gymnast in a cabaret, where he realizes that the stage is his destiny. The memoir fast forwards to Cliff s meteoric rise at the Moulin from swing dancer to principal in Formidable. Off stage he gets into fights with street thugs, hangs out with diamond smugglers, and has his pick of gorgeous women. With a year at the Moulin to his credit, doors open for him internationally and back in South Africa. He earns a starring role in Egoli: Place of Gold, and marries his long-time girlfriend, Colette. On their honeymoon to Paris, Cliff says, Merci Paris for the best year of my life.

". . . funny, provocative, wildly inventive. . . . remarkably entertaining." - San Francisco Chronicle Here are five enthusiastically received plays by Charles Mee: Fêtes de la Nuit, Limonade Tous les Jours, Café le Monde, Memory Palace, and A Walk in the Park. ". . . a feast for the mind and, when the subject is love, a feast for the heart." - The Austin Chronicle ". . . an honest-to-goodness romantic comedy . . . a winsome bonbon with a sweet, gooey center." - TimeOut.com ". . . a tickling, ultimately piercing rumination on romance in the twilight of life. . . ." - Los Angeles Times ". . . a fast moving, racy, raunchy confection that may offend some, annoy a few and surely make everybody else roll in the aisles." - Culturevulture.net

The book is a landmark volume which examines perplexing tourism debates such as the relevance of mass tourism, climate change, authenticity, tourism and poverty and slow tourism. Multidisciplinary in content, it covers applied aspects of sociology, anthropology, humanities and biosciences. The book is unique in its presentation and style and will be an essential resource for scholars, academics and practitioners.

This elegantly written book describes the evolving perception and experience of the night in three great European cities: Paris, Berlin, and London. As Joachim Schlör shows, the lighting up of the European city by gas and electricity in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries brought about a new relationship with the night for both those who toiled at work and those who caroused in restaurants, pubs, and cafes. Nights in the Big City explores this change and offers a stirring portrait of the secrets and mysteries a city can hold when the sun goes down. Sifting through countless police and church archives alongside first-hand accounts, Schlör sets out on his own explorations with a head full of histories, exploring the boulevards and side-streets of these three great capitals. Illustrated with haunting and evocative photographs by, among others, Bill Brandt and André Kertész, and filled with contemporary literary references, Nights in the Big City is a milestone in the cultural history of the city.