world reviewer
Ame P. Oliver
Member statistics
- Member since
- 29th November 2007
Heart still on the farm, head and feet frequently in the clouds (inside a plane) and the rest of the body looking for new adventures.
Ame P. Oliver's activity
- 07 Nov 2009
Ame P. Oliver reviewed Nottingham Castle in Nottingham, United Kingdom
Nottingham Castle has stood on its own natural rocky outcrop, one with 130 foot cliffs to the south and west since the year after the Battle of Hastings: 1067 – overlooking its surrounds. In its first incarnation it was a wooden castle, protected …"
- 21 Oct 2009
Ame P. Oliver reviewed The Witch House (The Jonathan Corwin House) in Salem, United States
Despite the numerous reported hauntings in Salem attributed to the evils done in the name of the 1692 Witch Trials, the Jonathan Corwin House, home to the judge in the trials that sent 19 people to the gallows, had one man squashed to death by stones and…"
- 20 Oct 2009
Ame P. Oliver reviewed York Treasurer's House in York, United Kingdom
York Treasurer's House is a graceful, medieval structure. Built beside York Minster and carefully restored by a wealthy local industrialist – well aren't they all – this house is presented as a museum where each room is done up in the s…"
Ame P. Oliver reviewed Beauregard-Keyes House in New Orleans, United States
During the day this museum tells the story of General Pierre Gustave Toutant Beauregard, the Confederate General best remembered for his victory at Bull Run, but after dark it's supposed to receive visitors from another plane. The General lived in this …"
Ame P. Oliver reviewed Lalaurie Mansion in New Orleans, United States
The Lalaurie Mansion is an old and eerie place, as all haunted houses should be. But its story is even less savoury than most. The lady of the house, Delphine Lalaurie, a socialite and cousin of the Mayor of New Orleans, was known for three things: bei…"
- 01 Oct 2009
Ame P. Oliver reviewed Great American Beer Festival in Denver, United States
People come from all over the world for the three days of this event - which doesn't sound like it gives enough opportunity to try the 1,800 different American beers, and then another 500 or so international beers. This is a competition - across 75 cate…"
Ame P. Oliver reviewed Oregon Brewers Festival in Portland, United States
80 breweries take part in this festival – and lots of them have more than one beer there to be tasted so that's quite a number of beers to try. As well as local boutique beers, craft beers come in from all over the US, and as far as other particip…"
Ame P. Oliver reviewed Mondial de la Bière in Montreal, Canada
This beer festival is a showcase for micro-breweries with only a few of the larger breweries attending, and then only in small numbers, so it's a good opportunity to try a beer you may only otherwise find in a few local restaurants. There's around 450 d…"
Ame P. Oliver reviewed Belgium Beer Weekend in Brussels, Belgium
Belgium is known for taking beer seriously. They make it in as many colours and flavours as you could possibly imagine – including fruit flavours – and make some of the most potent brews known to man. Which is why their beer festivals deman…"
Ame P. Oliver reviewed Cannstatter Volksfest (The Stuttgart Beer Festival) in Stuttgart, Germany
The Cannstatter Volksfest is more than just a beer festival, it's also an autumn fair – the kind with the good food and the world's largest portable ferris wheel, as well as a carnival of other rides. One of the traditions involves a fruit covered …"
Ame P. Oliver reviewed Gäubodenvolksfest in Bavaria, Germany
Straubing's Gäubodenvolksfest is Oktoberfest's younger sibling. It was founded in 1812 as a festival of the agricultural of the Danube region. These days it's like the family version of the beer-y blast, they have carousels, roller coasters and th…"
Ame P. Oliver reviewed Tasmanian Beerfest in Tasmania, Australia
Tasmania to the rest of Australia is the geeky kid at school who follows the bigger, cooler kids around, but in this case the geeky kid does have beer – good for him. Yes, Tasmania does brew some good beers, and the rest of Australia is happy abou…"
Ame P. Oliver reviewed New Zealand Beer Festival in Wellington, New Zealand
The New Zealand Beer Festival gets two outings, a warm up in Wellington, then a chaser in Auckland. It's a celebration of local and international beers, in the form of a huge tasting and drinking festival. The 2009 event promised more than 60 different…"
Ame P. Oliver reviewed Shanghai Oktoberfest in Shanghai, China
it might seem like one of the most unlikely places in the world to find yourself linking arms and singing "Oans, zwoa G'suffa", but the good-eatin', good-drinkin', good partyin' appeal of Oktoberfest spread to the east in the late 90s and it se…"
Ame P. Oliver reviewed Kitchener-Waterloo Oktoberfest in Ontario, Canada
Canada has a contender for the title of Best Octoberfest in North America, and this one has a theme song as well, promising they'll roll out the barrel for you, which seems to be their themed take on pulling out all the stops to make sure you have a good…"
Ame P. Oliver reviewed Oktoberfest Zinzinnati in Cincinnati, United States
Oktoberfest Zinzinnati competes with Oktoberfest USA (La Crosse) for the title of America's Most Authentic Oktoberfest. Both festivals claim the title is theirs, both of them claim they're folky and Germanic, and the best. Zinzinnati also claims to hav…"
Ame P. Oliver reviewed Octoberfest USA (La Crosse) in Wisconsin, United States
The US has numerous Octoberfests – well, what's not to like, right – but the one in La Crosse presents itself as one of the US's few authentic 'Old World' folk festivals. The festival was started by a couple of homesick Germans in 1961, so a…"
- 19 Aug 2009
Ame P. Oliver reviewed Ski Dubai in Dubai, United Arab Emirates
What's missing from most shopping malls is an indoor ski resort. It's got to be, after all, as far as I'm aware there's only one in the world, and that's this one in Dubai's Mall of Emirates. Yes, that is the middle of the desert – the key to thi…"
Ame P. Oliver reviewed Umm Suqeim Beach in Dubai, United Arab Emirates
White and sandy with showers and shelters, this beach is one of Dubai's most popular. They've recently put nets into the water to stop swimmers straying too far out to sea, but there are life guards that should stop you before you get to the nets."
Ame P. Oliver reviewed Russian Beach/ Open Beach in Dubai, United Arab Emirates
This beach goes under both names - it's a fairly happy go lucky kind of place, and one of Dubai's few public (see free) spaces. Local workers come down as well as the tourists and families - be prepared for impromptu volley ball games and big family pic…"
Ame P. Oliver reviewed Khorfakkan Beach in Dubai, United Arab Emirates
Khorfakkan Beach has the virgin sand and the beautiful coral the sand comes from – though the coral is thankfully where it belongs, under the sea, with a colourfully healthy coating of fish and marine life. Snorkellers The breakers that come to m…"
Ame P. Oliver reviewed Kite Beach in Dubai, United Arab Emirates
Long and smooth, this is the right beach for you if you're a sunbather, or a kitesurfer. For everyone else the water may be a bit too full of people learning to kitesurf, or practice other water sports, and the lack of facilities may detract from the sm…"
Ame P. Oliver reviewed Mamzar Beach in Dubai, United Arab Emirates
About 25 minutes drive from the city in the opposite direction from Jumeirah Beach, which is the one with the famous hotels lining it, this long stretch of soft sand is another example of Dubai looking after its visitors. In this case that means chargin…"
Ame P. Oliver reviewed Jumeirah Beach in Dubai, United Arab Emirates
From the air this beach would look pretty lovely. The water is blue, the sand white and the bits of green neatly shaped and sprouting perfectly proportioned palm trees. Even the boardwalk looks inviting. The shades of the pools compliment the blues of…"
- 31 Jul 2009
Ame P. Oliver reviewed Musée Jules Verne in Loire Valley, France
This museum is in a beautiful house overlooking the Loire River. It would be perfect if this was a house Verne had lived in, but it's not the case, he was born in Nantes though. The 19th Century mansion has been renovated into a museum to dis…"
- 29 Jul 2009
Ame P. Oliver reviewed Eurockéennes in France
Eurockéennes de Belfort could be the largest music festival in France. If it's not then with around 100,000 people attending it over the three days, it's one of the largest. The festival happens in July, on a peninsular on the Ma…"
Ame P. Oliver reviewed INmusic Festival in Zagreb, Croatia
The INmusic Fetsival is Croatia's largest, held on an island in Lake Jarun, Zagreb. The 2009 festival has 25,000 tickets to it, a number which has been steadily increasing as the reputation and the line up improves year by year – the first fe…"
Ame P. Oliver reviewed Rock Werchter in Belgium
It's big. And it's line up includes some of the world's biggest band names. Rock Werchter is one of the four largest European music festivals – the others being Sziget, Roskilde and Glastonbury – with about 80,000 people in the …"
- 23 Jul 2009
Ame P. Oliver reviewed Jungutbatu Beach in Bali, Indonesia
Jungutbatu Beach on the northern coast of Nusa Lembongan is the largest beach on the island – which has become very popular with lovers of tropical island resorts as well as the divers and snorkellers who initially colonised it touristically. …"
- 10 Jul 2009
Ame P. Oliver reviewed T in the Park in Scotland, United Kingdom
In festival terms, T in the Park has been around for yonkers – the first one was held in July 1994. It started off as a two day festival but gained an extra day as it gained more followers, thus bigger bands and extra stages, thus even larger…"
Ame P. Oliver reviewed The Big Chill Festival in North East England, United Kingdom
This festival is for cool kids and happening parents. A family event for festival lovers who have suddenly found themselves with offspring, yet not ready to give up and spend their summer in the back garden listening to the radio. The grounds…"
Ame P. Oliver reviewed Bestival in South East England, United Kingdom
The Isle of Wight holds more festivals per capita than anywhere else in the UK. Which is saying something about the scenery, the space and the local's attitude to a bit of extra noise. Bestival sticks out from the other festivals because of t…"
Ame P. Oliver reviewed The Secret Garden Party in South East England, United Kingdom
This festival claims to be 'a nihilistic escape from the daily drudge of normality', and to invite you into 'the world of Eden and Babylon'. That roughly means they've built two hedonistic arenas in a huge landscaped garden by the side of a pictu…"
Ame P. Oliver reviewed Latitude Festival in East Anglia, United Kingdom
Though Latitude was only born in 2006, it's already a name some of your cooler grandparents might have heard of. They might also be able to tell you that it's held in July, in Henham Park, Suffolk. They might not be able to explain that this …"
Ame P. Oliver reviewed End of the Road Festival in The United Kingdom
End of the Road won Best New Festival in 2006. And it's still going, proving that its organisers have staying power as well as vision. Held in the Lamer Tree Gardens, Dorest, a rural idyllic setting, especially when the peacocks who live here…"
- 06 Jul 2009
Ame P. Oliver reviewed Windsor Jazz and Beer Festival in South East England, United Kingdom
Five days of jazz and liquor an English summer can make. Every August Windsor hosts five days of hot jazz and cool beer (or visa versa), in a pint sized, Thames side match made in summery heaven. It's not just jazz, it's funk, latin and jazz's derivati…"
Ame P. Oliver reviewed Isle of Wight Jazz Festival in The United Kingdom
For the purposes of this festival the Isle of Wight is calling itself the deep south (of the UK), and cooling up it's image with talk of cabaret amongst the cafes, swing by the shops, blues on the beach and a whole lot of horns and drum beats doing just …"
Ame P. Oliver reviewed Toronto Jazz Festival in Toronto, Canada
The Toronto Jazz Festival is a many faceted event. Festival goers have got their Main Stage Concerts, their Lunchtime Concerts, their Afterwork Concerts, Cabaret at the Old Mill and their Jazz by the Lake to choose from. 85% of the acts are Canadian, a…"
Ame P. Oliver reviewed Monterey Jazz Festival in California, United States
This festival has been flooding the Monterey Fairgrounds site with jazz every September since 1958 when Dizzy Gillespie, Louis Armstrong and Billie Holiday topped the bill. This gives it this festival the distinction of being one of the world's longest …"
Ame P. Oliver reviewed Paris Jazz Festival in Paris, France
Paris sizzling in the summer is a bit of a cliché now but one that fits talk about the annual jazz festival which takes place in the Parc Floral – or botanical gardens – though out summer. This series of concerts hosts both established performers and fu…"
Ame P. Oliver reviewed Havana International Jazz Festival in Havana, Cuba
Havana comes with a backing track of groovy beats and tantalising rhythms, so the even if you don't visit during the jazz festival you're still pretty much guaranteed to hear some fantastic music. But if you can make it for the festival that music is cr…"
Ame P. Oliver reviewed San Francisco Jazz Festival in San Francisco, United States
The San Francisco Jazz Festival enjoys a long run – some year with up to nine fall (autumn) weeks of non-stop jazzing events, once you include the lead up and the come down – and never fails to attract a varied line up including some well kno…"
Ame P. Oliver reviewed Canaries Jazz and Mas Festival in Canary Islands, Spain
Laid back sounds in a laid back, sunny setting – the Canaries aren't really the place to sing the blues, but during early to mid July it's a good place for jazz, as the sounds of the sax hitches a ride on to the ocean breezes floating round the islands. …"
- 04 Jul 2009
Ame P. Oliver reviewed Jazz in Marciac in France
This village in Gascony has a larger jazz appreciation per capita (pop. 1200) if their annual festival is anything to go on. With free jazz concerts all day in the medieval main square and late night jam sessions and jazz related exhibitions, this …"
- 03 Jul 2009
Ame P. Oliver reviewed Spirit of Burgas in Bulgaria
The first Spirit of Burgas, on the Black Sea Coast of Bulgaria, got going in August 2008 hosting Asian Dub Foundation, Groove Armada, The Sisters of Mercy on a few stages and tent venues. It attracted some good, international DJs as well. The idyllic,…"
Ame P. Oliver reviewed Frequency Festival in Vienna, Austria
Alternative to mainstream guitar pop, but laced with electronica, rock and hip hop, this first Frequency Festival went off in Vienna, 2001 with only two stages, and it's been going and growing since. To give an idea of the kinda acts they attract to the…"
Ame P. Oliver reviewed Sziget Festival in Budapest, Hungary
This festival is held on a sandy island in the middle of the Danube, in Budapest. It's not a small island or a small festival though, it has about 1000 performances to it, with sounds spanning genres from folk to blues to jazz to world music to dance to…"
Ame P. Oliver reviewed Guča Trumpet Festival in Serbia
While a trumpet festival may not sound cool, you'd be really, really wrong if you thought this festival was a bunch of old trumpet players blowing off. More than 600,000 people converge on Guča, population 2,000, for this free event and competition &nd…"
Ame P. Oliver reviewed Melt in Berlin, Germany
The trendy Berlin club scene has spread outside Berlin, into a coal mine that's been converted into an amusement park of all places. Under mining gear decked out in mirror balls, cutting edge of cool indie, electro and disco music plays and the cool kid…"
Ame P. Oliver reviewed Calvi on the Rocks in Corsica, France
"This festival has a reputation for memorable parties, or forgotten parties, depending on your tolerance. The music happens out of the Octopussy Beach Club, Calvi, Corsica, which is a pretty scenic surrounds, complete with local ruins, ancient churches a…"
