Sunday, December 5, 2004
Rick Steves

Rick Steves

Rick Steves, enthusiastic travel series author and Public Television host, will speak about his fall travels to Europe. Steves will offer advice about how to tailor a trip in a way that meets your goals and allows the "through the back door", close to the ground travel that he has always advocated. Updates about European travel in general will preface more focused information about less travelled destinations with developing tourist infrastructures including Eastern European countries whose current accessibility evokes great interest. Steves' new info. should be of assistance to travellers planning to visit Eastern Europe prior to a tremendous expansion of tourism in the region. Steves' fall travels will determine other topics of special interest.

Back to top

Thursday, November 18th, 2004
Sable Island

Marq de Villiers

Marq de Villiers, author of "Sable Island: The Strange Origins and Curious History of a Dune Adrift in the Atlantic", will speak about the history and nature of Sable Island, a thirty mile-longs sand dune. The island is sited 100 miles east of Nova Scotia; it is in constant motion. This account of unsuccessful colonization attempts, legendary shipwrecks, ocean currents and other environmental phenomena is fascinating. Marq de Villiers previous books include "Water: The Fate of Our Most Precious Resource" and "Sahara: The Extraordinary History of the World's Largest Desert".

Two years ago, his talk at GCB transported listeners to the Sahara. Attendees continue to mention de Villiers' memorable reading and his ability to integrate facts and convey wonder.