Things to do, places to go 12.13.2007

This week I’ve included some limited-time travel offers in the Thursday roundup of events around the globe:

**  The Chicago Tribune/Baltimore Sun has a dandy list of travel packages with good prices for this time of year, including family-friendly ones in Hershey, PA and the Greenbriar Resort in West Virginia.

**  San Francisco is magical in any month, but right now Travelzoo highlights a hotel deal in the center of the action: the Sir Francis Drake Hotel right on Union Square.  Want more “brrrrr?”  Travelzoo also found a bargain rate at the Quebec Ice Hotel.

**  Even in the midst of ski season you can find decent prices, and Budget Travel has 11 ski deals from California to New Hampshire.

**  There’s a special package geared to families at the Hyatt Regency Tamaya Resort & Spa on the Santa Ana Pueblo (near Albuquerque NM.)

**  In London there two winter goodies this weekend:  the Frost Fair of winter fun along the Thames on Bankside (husky dog sledding, a children’s illuminated parade and family events at Shakespeare’s Globe Theater,) and the Spitalfields Winter Festival in London’s East End.

**  In Chicago, the Lincoln Park Zoo shines brightly with thousands of lights during ZooLights.

**  How about an outdoor ice rink in….Charlotte, North Carolina? Yes, it’s Holiday on Ice in a park in uptown Charlotte.

**  In Budapest, Hungary, Christmas music pours from the Matthias Church on 15 December.

**  New York City’s Cathedral of St. John the Divine features Paul Winter’s Winter Solstice Celebration concerts December 13-15 (and on National Public Radio.)  This year the show “will showcase music from two new albums, and present special guests Native American singer/drummer/flutist John-Carlos Perea, and Brazilian singer/guitarist Renato Braz.” 

**  This weekend is the lighted Christmas Boat Parade in Newport Beach, CA and another one on Sunday, Dec 16th in San Diego harbor.