Blackpool Pride

For the last five years, Blackpool has been hosting a 'Blackpool Pride Parade and event' and every year it has got bigger and bigger. Although I have never attended the actual event, I do like to go and watch the parade. It is normally on for a couple of days and there are market stall's, entertainment such as Xfactor's Lucie Jones, Tight Fit, The Cheeky Girls and Blackpool's own Betty Legs Diamond (all appeared this year 2010) as well as many others. The parade is always very colourful and flamboyant and great to watch and should not be missed if you are in Blackpool. I always try and take plenty of pictures and have photos from 2009 and 2010 on my Flickr. http://www.flickr.com/photos/geminiali.

Below are some pictures from the Parade from 2009 and 2010.

Blackpool Pride Parade 2009

Pride Parade 2010

There is a website that is one of the partner associated with the Pride Parade and that is BAGS (Blackpool Accommodation for Gays) for any help with accommodation.

Cow Parade

Cow Parade is the worlds largest free art exhibition. It originated in Chicago in 1999 and is working its way around the world. It is basically life size cows (not real obviously!!!!) made of resin or plastic and companies sponsor cows and then invite artists to design them. The cows are around for about four months and then they are auctioned off for charity. I was lucky enough to be in Chicago in 1999 when the cows were in town.


I was visiting my friend in Niles, Michigan and had booked a couple of nights in Chicago before flying home and she told me to 'Watch out for the Cows In Chicago'. I did not have a clue what she was talking about, but she just said you will know when you see them!!!!!! Soon enough when we got to Chicago we saw them scattered about all over. There was quite a few on Michigan Drive which is the main shopping area, John Hancock Building, Intercontinental Hotel and Sport Stadiums as well as many other locations. It was not possible to see them all as there were over 300 all over the city.






Although Chicago was the first official Cow Parade it did actually start in the summer of 1998 in Zurich as a trial by Beat Seeberger-Quin. The cows are all given names with a reference to the design, location or theme of the cow. One particular cow which became famous after Cow Parade in Chicago was 'Sky Cow' which was auctioned off and bought by Oprah Winfrey and is said to be grazing at her ranch in Indiana!!!!


In December 2000, I had booked a Christmas shopping trip to New York with my mum and my friend and found out that the Cows had been there in the summer, between June and September. We were a bit gutted we had missed them, but a lot of the gift shops especially Hallmark were selling miniature replica cows from the New York and Chicago Cow Parade. This was when my addiction began!!!!!!! I bought about three I think, as I was conscious about getting them home in one piece. I had tried to buy them in Chicago, but nobody seemed to be selling them at the time.






Since Chicago and New York Cow Parade has been all over the world to cities including Tokyo, Denver, Sao Paulo, Bratislava and Auckland among many more. I have caught three parades in London, Manchester and South Africa but I as gutted to miss Edinburgh and Dublin as they are easy to get to from where I live.


Cow Parade is very popular now and you can buy the miniature Cows from shops all over the world, but after our trip to New York and I had decided I was going to collect them, you could only buy them online in the USA.


This did prove very costly especially as I was being charged tax from the postman when he delivered them depending on the value. I had originally decided to collect every one from each parade but that became impossible as there were about two or three a year in various cities and the fact that there would be up to about fifty on sale from each parade, I would need to win the lottery a few times over. I decided to check out cows on each parade and put my favourite on my birthday and Christmas wish list. They cost between £12.99 and £19.99 for the small cows so it can be very costly. You can buy the cows for a certain time and then the Cow Parade company retire them out to pasture and you then find them hard to buy. Some of the older cows from Chicago and New York have become quite valuable.


The London Cow Parade ran from June until September 2002, the charities benefiting from the auction were Childline and RABI. We booked a weekend down to London to try and see as many cows as possible, we managed to get a list of them all and the locations of where they were and ticked them off as we saw them. We did see quite a lot but they were spread out all over, so it was not possible to see them all. I think there were about 150 cows in total all over London in different locations such as The Ritz Hotel, Liberty Store, The BBC, Berkeley Square and Buckingham Palace among others. In some locations such as Haymarket, Marble Arch, St Katherines Dock and Canary Wharf (to name a few!!) there would be more then one cow. Some of my favourite cows were 'Beef Wellington, 'Cow Bus', 'Sea Cow' and 'Cower Bridge'.


It was fun travelling around London hunting for them and we were very lucky that the weather was warm. The one thing that did disappoint me was the vandalised cows at the Opera House at Covent Garden. There was one which had been written on, and another which had a broken foot (why would somebody do that?) It is just disgusting that the organisers, sponsors and artists go to all the trouble and hard work and somebody has to spoil it.


The summer of 2004 saw Cow Parade travel to Manchester with over 100 cows residing all over the city. The chosen charity for the Manchester parade was Manchester Kids. We travelled to Manchester for a Cow Parade hunt, location list in one hand and camera in the other. There were over 100 cows in Manchester scattered about in different locations. Again we were very lucky with the weather as it was lovely and sunny.


We travelled to Manchester Piccadilly by train and one of the first cows we saw was the Dangermoo-se Cow. As my husband is a big kid and Dangermouse fan he was quite happy!!!! We did not get round to see every cow as they were located all over the city including Manchester Airport and Wythenshaw. The cows that were in the city centre were easy to find and there was a few in each location including St Ann's Square, The Lowry, Victoria Station and Piccadilly Gardens.






As far as I am aware they provided great entertainment to all who saw them as there were always loads of people around them taking photos. There were ten cows on the Arndale Centre which is always really busy anyway. Some of my favourite cows from this parade were Mooer's Moomalade (Triangle), Daisy Beckham (Arndale), Vivienne Westwood Cowture (St Ann's Square) and China Moon (Lincoln Square). Some of the cows that resided in Victoria Station and the Arndale Centre were actual seats that you sit on.


I bought about four or five miniature cows from Cow Parade Manchester, the problem is I do not have anywhere to put any more and I have had a few which have been broken when people have been to my house and picked them up as they are so fragile.
In 2004 my husband and I had booked a holiday to South Africa visiting Cape Town, Durban and Victoria Falls in Zambia. We found out that Cow Parade would be in South Africa when we were there so we looked forward to that.




One of the Partners of Cow Parade South Africa was Kulula which is a low cost airline that operates within South Africa. Because we had booked a couple of flights with them, we managed to find out information on the aircraft about where the cows would be and what dates etc. The cows were spread out all over the Country from Johannesburg and Pretoria to Durban and Cape Town so there was no way we would be able to see them all.



We were going to Durban and Cape Town so knew we would be able to see the cows there. The South African charity chosen to benefit from the auction was CHOC (Childhood Cancer Foundation South Africa). Our first stop was Durban and there were quite a few cows on the sea front and Shopping Centres. There were more cows at Durban than Cape Town, but the majority of them were in Johhannesburg, Sandton and Pretoria. Some of the cows that we saw were Peace Cow, Walter Sisulu, Sisonce and Mooti Cow.








This cow is the Ama moo Moo, Ladumooo. Eish! Hlalala! - The Udderly Bullish Cow which was in one of the shopping centres in Durban. It is promoting the FIFA Soccer World Cup to be held in South Africa in 2010. Cow Parade in South Africa raised over R1 million for Charity and proved to be very popular. Cow Parade has now become so popular and the word is spreading quickly as the parade goes from City to City and Country to Country.




You can buy the miniature versions nearly everywhere now and they are always being sold on eBay. You can also buy books, plush toys and many more. The website that I used to buy everything from is Cows Cows Cows this is great if you live in the US but can be costly if purchasing from outside the US the good thing about this website is it is a very good reference site especially for retired cows and if you are looking for a particular cow and are not sure where it was.

Current cities hosting cow parade at the moment are: Tijuana, Mexico; San Jose, Costa Rica; and the island of Capri, Italy. Coming soon are:Taipei, Taiwan; San Diego, USA; and Madrid, Spain. If you are in or around any of these destinations then I would definetly recommend that you visit the cows.

South Africa 2004 Part 2: Durban

We flew to Durban from Cape Town with Kulula, which took two hours and cost about £35 . There are regular flights to Durban with Kulula and Mango which is a new airline. They are the low cost airlines which fly within South Africa. We had booked into the Holiday Inn North Beach (Now Southern Sun) for four nights. The Hotel is overlooking the gorgeous North Beach, and we were lucky enough to allocated a sea view room.

Durban has one of Africa's best beaches and well known for surfing as it is in the Indian Ocean which has better conditions and is warmer. Durban is also the largest city in KwaZulu Natal. The beach and promenade at Durban known as the Golden Mile has golden sandy beaches, that lovely blue sea (that you don't see in the UK!!) and lots of shops, bars, restaurants and hawkers selling paintings, carved wooden ornaments and beads among other items.

We were advised that we must visit the Victoria Market in the Indian Quarter (or Indian Market as it is known!!!). Durban has the largest population of Indian people outside India. We travelled by taxi to the Market and it certainly was as experience!!!!! As soon as we got out of the taxi, we were pounced on by sellers all trying to get us to look at their stalls. The market has lots of stalls selling mainly herbs and spices as well as fruit, veg and fish. They also sell furniture, brassware, wooden ornaments, and materials. Much of it is too big to take home in your luggage!

As good as it was to see the hustle and bustle of the market, it got a bit on our nerves as you cannot browse the items as you are being pestered all the time. As soon as you hit the market, you smell the exotic aroma of the spices as you wander around. There are a few malls in Durban, but we were told that the Pavilion had the largest range shops and is similar to the Trafford Centre in Manchester. It has shops from designer to High Street Stores and sells everything from clothes and accessories to furniture and African Curios. We travelled about by taxi as the buses are not very reliable. Although one driver went to fill up before he could take us any where and you got the impression that he only put enough fuel in for our journey!

It was my husbands birthday while were in Durban, so we decided to have a day at the races and got a cab to Greyville Race Course. It only cost about £5 to get in and was really quiet. It was a beautiful sunny day and everytime we have been to the horseracing at home it has been cold, windy and raining so this made a refreshing change. The main racing season in Durban is July, which is always busy and is compared to Royal Ascot. They also have the Durban Gold cup which is held in August.

There were quite a few races and obviously not as much prize money as the big races of July and August, but it was good fun. My husband was really surprised at the price of beer which was about R7 (50p) - this compared to the £3 t the Aintree Grand National (see previous post). Soft drinks were also very cheap.

You could also buy snacks and souvenirs. I was quite surprised at how close you could stand to the course and the winners enclosure. It is a lot smaller than Aintree in Liverpool so you can see the stables and get close to the horses and jockeys. We had a few winners and it was a brilliant day out and we are really glad we went although we could not find a cab outside to take us back to the hotel so we risked the walk which was a bit nervy at times!

I am a big fan of Cow Parade and if you have never heard of it the it is basically a Public Art Display on live size painted cows. They are dispayed all over attractions and towns for a period of time and then auctioned off with the money going to Charity. Cow Parade was in Durban when we were there. The cows were scattered all over. They were on the promendade, in the shopping centres, Metro and Botanical Gardens to name a few. We did not get round to see them all, but we got round as many as possible.

There are plenty of things to do and see in Durban as well as soaking up the rays and shopping!!!!. There is the Botanical Gardens, Temples such as the Umgeni Road Hindu Temple and the Shri Mariamman Temple at Mount Edgecombe. There is Fitz Simons Snake Park which is home to 157 different snake species, lizards and crocodiles, Fun World, Sea World (not to be confused with Sea World in Florida), Water World and MiniTown.

As far as eating out goes, there are lots of cafes and restaurants to eat in Durban. The first night we got ready to go out and find a
restaurant at night, the doorman of our hotel asked us where we were going. When we told him, he told us that you should not walk about after dark in Durban as it is not safe. He said that everybody goes to the Suncoast Casino which is like a resort rather than a casino and has over seventeen restaurants inside as well as shops, takeway, casino and cinema. There is also a play area for kids.

Our hotel and most of the hotels along the North Beach run a shuttle bus to and from the Casino which is about 15 minutes away. As we did not want to take any chances, this is what we did. The restaurants include Jaipur Palace, News Cafe, John Dory's Fish and Grill and Spur among others - Spur is everywhere in South Africa! I am sure that people do eat out in restaurants rather than going to the casino, but we like to wander around on foot as I believe this is a better way to get your bearings.

The South Africans love their sport and rugby and cricket are both very popular. Unfortunatley (for my hubby!!! and fortunatley for me!!!!!) there were no games on when we were there or he would have dragged me to a game. We did go past the Absa stadium, and it looked pretty impressive, it is huge and holds 52.000 people. Durban among the other main cities in South Africa are preparing for the World Cup which will be held there in 2010.

The games will be held in cities including Durban, Cape Town, Johannesburg and Pretoria in June and July 2010. You can combine Durban with a safari as there are games reserves in the Kwazulu Natal area such as Abu Madi Game Ranch Mkuze and Leopard Mountain Game Lodge among others. We really liked Durban, but we did a lot of lazing around (after Cape Town, we wanted a rest!!!!) and did not do all the things that we could have done. If money is no object or you want to book that once in lifetime experience, you should book Rovos Rail which is South Africa's answer to the Orient Express and is pure luxury, the itinerary of which includes in game reserves.

Durban has a subtropical climate, and it can get hot and humid in the summer months which are November to February, but it is still warm even in the winter. The currency is South African Rand and it is cheap in Durban. The people are friendly and all the time we were there, we felt safe although we were advised against walking about at night. I would recommend a stay in Durban as it is cheap and easy to get to.