gracious/travel

To commemorate its hometown's status as the coldest town in the United States, this concrete penguin was constructed in 1989. At 27 feet tall and a solid five tons, it beckons to passersby from its spot in front of the Glacier Gateway Inn, a furniture-shop-turned-motel.

The penguin talks (when its speaker works), bleating out the slogan, "Welcome to Cut Bank, the Coldest Spot in the Nation!"

An Australian man has completed a three-year journey from Mongolia to Hungary, following in the footsteps of the Mongolian leader Genghis Khan.

When Tim Cope began his 10,000 km (6,200 mile) journey in June 2004 he expected it to take 18 months.

However, a stint at home when his father died and other delays meant it took more than double that.

Throughout the trek he traveled on horseback and relied on the hospitality of local people, including nomads.

He traveled with three horses at any time, one to carry him and two to carry feed and supplies and briefly, whilst in Kazakhstan, also used a camel.

He needed 13 horses in total to complete the marathon journey, though two of them - Taskonir and Ogonyok - have been with him since October 2004 when he was in Kazakhstan.

His other companion was Tigon, meaning "hawk" or "fast wind", a black and white hunting dog given to him as gift in Kazakhstan, whom he now hopes to take home to Australia.

Arriving at his final destination, the Hungarian town of Opusztaszer, Mr Cope paid tribute to the animals saying that they, along with the numerous people who had welcomed him into their homes, were the "real heroes" of the journey.

Both he and the animals faced much hardship as they endured life on the steppes of Asia and Central Europe, experiencing temperature ranging from minus 52C to plus 54C.

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Audio slideshow from the Chicago Tribune: Rome's ancient glories can still be experienced.

Dogs are part of the fiber of daily life in Paris. They're with their owners in restaurants, in up-scale hair salons, in the Metro, and absolutely everywhere in the streets. Sometimes they're on leash, and if tired, they may be carried in their owner's arms or even put in a baby buggy. But more often than not, they're free-wheeling through the streets, leashless, impeccably behaved, and always in the company of their owners.

Once known in the west either in the form of "sukiyaki" or the more exotic "sushi," Japanese cuisine has in recent years become much more familiar and appreciated around the world.

Penguins will be making a big impact this Christmas, thanks to a new animated adventure set to grab the nation's attention.

With this in mind, travel website Isango has come up with its top penguin-inspired breaks in Australia and New Zealand.

Penguin Place on the Otago Peninsula, New Zealand
Unique to New Zealand, yellow-eyed penguins have their own special reservation on the Otago Peninsula on the South Island's south-east coast.

Penguins on Parade, Philip Island, Australia
Emerging from the sea around sunset, these "fairy penguins" can be seen waddling up Summerland Beach to their burrows. Elevated boardwalks and special viewing areas give holidaymakers a great chance to witness the penguins first-hand.

Since July 2004, in the little town of Cochrane, northern Ontario (Canada), you can visit the Polar Bear Habitat, a kind of local zoo where people can live the once-in-a-lifetime experience of an outdoor swim with polar bears.
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Virtual Poster Museum - Loire Valley Railway Tour

Here is a tour of many of the famous and beautiful castles, palaces, and chateaux of the Loire Valley, France via the great posters of the first half of the 20th Century and the post-war period.