[Idyllchat] Best of the Untours Cafe: Sept 28th

[Marilee Taussig]

here are just a sampling of the many noteworthy contributions to the Untours
Cafe.  A warm welcome to  all Idyllchatters to join the  Cafe.  Even if you
don't want to contribute, you can see everything  everyone is doing  just by
clicking on  www.untourscafe.com

*Photos to Die for*


It was a close call but the shot of the week has to go to  Bill Kover made
in Quebec.....(several of our staff stood around and gawked at the monitor
displaying this....and someone said, "is that a photo or a painting!?")
Here's his blog about his and Eleanor's trip to
Quebec<http://www.untourscafe.com/profiles/blog/show?id=676822%3ABlogPost%3A14200>
.<http://www.untourscafe.com/profiles/blog/show?id=676822%3ABlogPost%3A14200>


We have had people wax rhapsodic about our trips before, but Liss Poulson
Small<http://www.untourscafe.com/photo/photo/show?id=676822%3APhoto%3A13243>is
the first person to get this poetic (photographically) about the
catalog!
(It IS true, though, Kim Paschen is an artist at putting together the
Untours Catalog....did yo get yours yet?)

Incidentally, Liss and Gabe just left for a Spanish Untour that they are
super excited about...and two of our new Cafe members this week are family
members of theirs....who want to follow their travels as they go, so they
joined the Cafe. We will look forward to onsite reports from Gabe and
Liss....hopefully their pictures there will be as mouth-watering as this
gorgeous shot.

Speaking of mouth-watering Spain, Lotta has another mouth-watering food
photo here<http://www.untourscafe.com/photo/photo/show?id=676822%3APhoto%3A13021>,
this time tapas in Madrid. She tells us what they are, too, which is enough
to make me get on the next plane. This and all the other insanely good
photos that are recent I have featured on the Main page. Kudos to
Marlene<http://www.untourscafe.com/photo/photo/show?id=676822%3APhoto%3A13866>,(candied
apples,yum!)
Joan and Bruce<http://www.untourscafe.com/photo/photo/show?id=676822%3APhoto%3A13866>,
(not sure where...can you tell me?)
Jim Peterson,<http://www.untourscafe.com/photo/photo/show?id=676822%3APhoto%3A13625>killer
good Eiffel tower shot
Tom Keyes (Alsatian children in
costume<http://www.untourscafe.com/photo/photo/show?id=676822%3APhoto%3A12062>
) <http://www.untourscafe.com/photo/photo/show?id=676822%3APhoto%3A12062>
Doris M. (Garden in LaAlhambra,
Spain)<http://www.untourscafe.com/photo/photo/show?id=676822%3APhoto%3A12473>

Finally, they aren't photos and there are only a few, but if some of us bug
her, I think Mary Anne
Miller<http://www.untourscafe.com/photo/photo/listForContributor?screenName=bluevase>might
tell us more about the wonderful watercolor trip journals she
creates....I found her combination of words and images on the same page to
be especially good at capturing the feel of a trip. It is like a tripblog as
only the miraculously dexterous can do one...great painting and legible
handwriting.


*In Blogs:*


   - Two long time Untourists together at last: one thing we've noticed
   is how much people who take Untours seem to like each other...apart from
   their travels, they often find they have lots in common. In this case, two
   of our best buddies, from completely different parts of the country finally
   met in person in
Switzerland<http://www.untourscafe.com/profiles/blog/show?id=676822%3ABlogPost%3A13743>.
   - Hal talks about Alphorns and
alps....<http://www.untourscafe.com/profiles/blog/show?id=676822%3ABlogPost%3A10441>
   - I usually think modern art is kind of flaky
but<http://www.untourscafe.com/profiles/blog/show?id=676822%3ABlogPost%3A14292>

*
Cafe Tech Improvements*

This week several important improvements to the Ning platform were
introduced and we here at the Cafe are busily putting them into use....


*An almost-ready Help section:* We finally got the ability to add pages to
the Cafe, so Marilee is as busy as a bee putting together a Help section. You
can see the ONE topic she (me) has finished
here<http://www.untourscafe.com/Help/page/show?id=676822%3APage%3A13942>....Feel
free to use the comment feature below to ask questions when the instructions
aren't clear --- each one of these topics will be a work in progress. Next
one I am working on is how to sign up...and as soon as that is done, we will
be inviting a bunch more recently returned Untourists.

*WAY better 'search*' function: behind the scenes, we have been imploring
the tech support people at Ning to help us fix our search function on the
Cafe. It has been ---ahem --- less than thrilling in its results, as you
know if you have tried it. Just yesterday, they fixed a bug and now, for the
first time, a search for, let's say, Rome, will result in pictures, blogs,
videos, comments, forums posts and more as long as they have the tag,
'Rome'. *Try it! I searched on the word  "food"......a very dangerous thing
to do if you are on a diet.*

*The Latest Activity:* See this Forum
Discussion<http://www.untourscafe.com/forum/topic/show?id=676822%3ATopic%3A14126>,
or just check out the top of the Main Page for a quick view of this new
feature and how it works. It helps you see what is going on all over the
Cafe...without having to hop from page to page.(If you don't want it to
include your latest activity, you can opt out on your My Page privacy
options). One Cafe member said of finding good conversations on other
members' pages, " It's like eavesdropping on a great conversation at the
local Pub...." and speaking of which, a good example of great conversations,
buried deep down in the cafe are all the comments below Vance's great
picture of Hal

The picture is amazing (Vance titles it, "Is this man sane?") but the
conversation
about the picture<http://www.untourscafe.com/photo/photo/show?id=676822%3APhoto%3A9659>(13
comments)is worth it on it's own. Wouldn't I like to be in a pub with
the people chatting here.

You can find another good conversation here:

What kind of TripBlog is your
favorite?<http://www.untourscafe.com/forum/topic/show?id=676822%3ATopic%3A12961>

I have found a good technique for starting good conversations. Post a
question on the Forum, and then use the "Share" button to send it to 3 or 4
of the people on the Cafe that you think might be interested. They usually
respond...and then other people pile on. The more the merrier in those
conversations.

Well, that's all I can think of, but I am sure I missed something. Won't you
post a comment on this, if you found something delightful lately that I
didn't mention. Also, let us know if someone asked a question which no one
helped out on.

best,
Marilee


-- 
Marilee Taussig
Program Director
Untours

"Those who say it can't be done should not interrupt those who are doing
it." Friend of Jim Hightower's
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