Films to watch out for in 2008

Star Trek XI: The Menagerie (out 26 December)Who's in it? Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, Simon Pegg, Eric Bana.
What's it about? It follows the early days of James T. Kirk and his USS Enterprise crew during their time at Starfleet Academy.
Lost co-creator J.J. Abrams is directing this one - and that guy knows how to make exciting films.

The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian (out 27 June)Who's in it? Anna Popplewell, William Moseley, Georgie Henley, Skandar Keynes.
What's it about? It's time to go back in that wardrobe again. The Pevensie siblings return to Narnia where they're enlisted to once again help ward off an evil king and restore the rightful heir to the land's throne, Prince Caspian.

10,000 BC (out 14 March)Who's in it? Steven Strait, Camilla Belle.
What's it about? A prehistoric epic about a young mammoth hunter's journey through uncharted territory to secure the future of his tribe. It's made by the director of Independence Day and The Day After Tomorrow so expect the effects to be mind-blowing.

Christmas Decoration using Potato as a Base

The building nicknamed "Armadillo"

Once Labour regained control of the GLC from the Tories in May 1981 the then Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher was determined to abolish the council.
There began a four year political battle to remove the council, run by the Labour politician Ken Livingstone, whose far-left policies earned him the title Red Ken.
An initial attempt was defeated, but a Bill published in 1984 precipitated the end of the GLC and in 1986 the Greater London Council was abolished and thousands of people took part in festivities to mark the historic final hours of 97 years of local rule in London.
A throng of 250,000 people gathered on the South Bank in London, home to the Greater London Council to witness the final hours. Festivities ended with the largest display of fireworks ever seen in the city after a week of events costing £250,000.
In May 1997 Labour was elected to power with a manifesto commitment to allow Londoners a referendum on whether they wanted a new mayor and a Greater London Authority.
They overwhelmingly voted for a council which came into existence in July 2000 with Ken Livingstone as mayor.
He won the mayoral election as an independent after Labour expelled him for not supporting the party's official candidate.
He was re-admitted into the party in January 2004 after Prime Minister Tony Blair admitted he was wrong about his prediction that Mr Livingstone would be a "disaster" for London.

In July 2002 the new Greater London Authority moved into a new building on the side of the Thames. City Hall was designed by Foster and Partners, one of Britain's leading architects, whose design brief was to create a building for the GLA that would become a new landmark for the capital. It is part of the More London development located between London Bridge and Tower Bridge, on the south bank of the Thames. The GLA is leasing City Hall for 25 years.

Now owned by a Japanese company, the old County Hall building has been transformed into a leisure complex. The main riverside building contains the offices of the British Airways London Eye Experience, London Aquarium, Dali Universe tourist attractions and Namco Station, a corporate entertainment centre, as well as Premier Inn and London Marriott hotels. Dining opportunities include Locale a pizza and pasta restaurant and McDonald's.

County Hall Lettings Company handles the residential accommodation in the complex. The Club at County Hall is an exclusive health and leisure club.

London Eye & River Cruise

On a very wet and very windy Sunday morning we boarded the 8:10 National Express coach from Ringwood to London Victoria for our prebooked River Cruise/London Eye Experience and lunch.
We could not have picked a worse day for it but as it tuned out the weather in London did improve at the right time. We arrived at Victoria Coach Station on time and walked the short distance to Victoria Underground Station to catch the tube to Waterloo on the south bank of the Thames. When we came up onto the South Bank from the underground it was still very wet and windy and we had to take the short walk to what originally was the Greater London Council building, until the GLC was disbanded by Margaret Thatcher, that now houses the ticket office for the British Airways London Eye.
Our river trip was booked for 11:45 and by the time we boarded the boat it had finally stopped raining and the skies were starting to clear. On board we were greeted with a well needed glass of warm mulled wine. The boat trip lasted about 40 mins and took us down river as far as Docklands and back to the London Eye and the commentary for the trip was very informative.

We then grabbed a quick cup of coffee before stepping on board the London Eye. Apart from a very short shower when our Pod reached the top of the Eye our views were spectacular.

We landed at about 1:30 and took the short tube journey from Waterloo to Charing Cross and then a short walk up the Strand to Porters English Restaurant in Covent Garden. After lunch we took a stroll around Covent Garden before returning to Victoria to catch our 17:00 coach back to Ringwood.

2007 Movie Review

We very rarely go to the cinema, in fact the last time was to see "Happy Feet" when it first came out and that was part of our wedding anniversary weekend break to Bath last year.

I have a decent home cinema system and prefer watching movies in the comfort of our own home and avoid the queues for the drinks/sweets/ice cream!
Over the last couple of years I have built up a collection of about 50 DVD's and when it comes to buying them I tend to look for the bargain buys and movies that I know I will watch more than once. The latter means I will get good value for my money. Likewise with a wish list for Christmas/Birthday, the list will only be of movies I will watch more than once.
Any movies that fall outside these criteria I will hire from the local library at a cheaper rate and for longer period ie: a week, than it would cost from a dedicated movie hire store.

If you looked at my collection you will see a wide range of genre. This years bargain buys include:

Dejavu - Denzel Washington

The Pursuit of Happyness - Will Smith

Premonition - Sandra Bullock

Blood Diamond - Leonardo DiCaprio

The Interpreter - Nicole Kidman/Sean Penn

Babel - Brad Pitt/Cate Blanchett

The Constant Gardener - Ralph Fiennes/Rachel Weisz

X-Men, The Last Stand - Hugh Jackman/Halle Berry

Fantastic4 - Ioan Gruffudd

Happy Feet

Narnia

Another burden for the UK motorist

Average petrol prices set a new milestone as UK motorists counted the cost of crude oil's surge towards 100 US dollars a barrel.
The average price drivers are now having to pay is 100.08p a litre for unleaded petrol, the AA said.

In London, Brent crude rose to more than 94 US dollars a barrel, supported by severe weather in the North Sea, which has shut down several oil platforms.

At the start of the year petrol was 88.32p a litre on average, with diesel at 93.68p a litre. This means that UK drivers are now spending an extra £8.08 million a day on petrol compared with the beginning of 2007.
The contrast with February this year - when the lowest average petrol price of 85.99p a litre was recorded - is even greater. Also, this time last year petrol cost 86.11p a litre. This means UK drivers are now spending nearly £9.61 million extra a day compared with the same time last year.
Individually, for a motorist with a typical 50-litre fuel tank, a petrol refill is costing £6.99 more than this time last year.

Petrol Price Hike!!

Had to fill up with petrol this morning and was greeted with the sign at our local Shell garage - £1.09 for a litre of unleaded petrol!
I think a boycott of major suppliers is called for.

A Day out with Thomas the Tank Engine

Towel Sculpture - by Akram

The Lamaya Hotel - Marsa Alam

The Lamaya Hotel, Marsa Alam, is located on Egypt's Read Sea and is perfect for beach lovers and water babies. It's away-from-it-all location and excellent facilities make it a real hit. The stylish design reflects the classical Arabian influences of the area and gives the complex a feeling of space and elegance.

The hotel is located in Coraya bay which is about 10 mins drive from the new Marsa Alam International airport. This grand title does not fit the daily low number of flights in and and out of the airport.

The horseshoe shape bay is surrounded by desert with a background of mountains in the distance.

On the lefthand leg of the bay can be found the Lamaya Resort Hotel where we stayed. At the bottom of the leg is a walkway across the water and coral, leading to two jetties, one for the dive boats and another for snorkelers. From the walkway can be seen a variety of fish swimming in the crystal clear water amongst the coral.

Snorkelers have easy access to the water from the jetty via ladders that project right into the water. Here the reef drops down about 30 feet to the sea bed. It is well worth taking the plunge into the clear water because on one side of you can be seen fish just below the surface swimming over the shallow water reef and if you look down you will see a variety of coral and more fish.

If staying at the Lamaya does has a minus point it is because you are not allowed to access the water immediately in front of the hotel because they are trying to encourage new coral growth. You have to walk up the beach to the start of the curve to gain access and once in the water you start to see fish from a very shallow depth. Every day we saw different fish, Blue-spotted Stingray, Lionfish, Parrot Fish etc.

If you walk around the bay on the paved walkway to the righthand side you come to the Coraya Beach Hotel. This is a slightly older hotel but has the advantage of direct access from the beach into the shallow water of the bay.

Up to 11 tornadoes strike Britain

Tornadoes ripped through parts of Britain today, leaving a trail of destruction behind them.
Reports suggested that as many as 11 twisters formed separately as a cold front moved north-eastwards across England.
Local residents reported hearing "horrendous" noises as violent winds tore down trees, pulled off roofs, knocked off chimney pots and in once case overturned a caravan.
Hayley Stroud, 27, described the twister that hit Farnborough, Hampshire, at about 7.30am as "like something out of The Wizard Of Oz".
Terrence Meaden, deputy head of tornado research group Torro, said five reports were "looking certain" to be confirmed as tornadoes.
They came from Farnborough, Luton, Bedfordshire; Nuneaton, Warwickshire; Breaston, Derbyshire; and Eye, Cambridgeshire.
Dr Meaden said further research may well confirm that another six tornadoes - in Northampton; Nottingham; Scunthorpe; Whittlesey, Cambridgeshire; Long Eaton, Derbyshire; and Ollerton, Nottinghamshire.
Although there was widespread damage to properties and vehicles across England, there were no immediate reports of injuries.
The Met Office said a weather system "conducive" to tornadoes travelled across the country from west to east this morning.
A spokesman said localised winds had gusted up to gale force speeds of 40 to 45mph

Hengistbury Head to Mudeford Spit

An ideal walk on a Sunday, or for that matter any day of the week is the 2 miles from Hengistbury Head Cafe to The Beach House cafe on Mudeford Spit. If you're less keen to walk, the 'Noddy Train' will take you from the car park to the Spit. Alternatively you can take the ferry from Mudeford quay, or other ferries from Christchurch quay. The last option is to cycle, making sure to keep to the paths, from the Head car park.

We took this walk on a sunny Sunday afternoon following the path across the top of the Head and down to the Spit, stopping there at the Beach House cafe for a drink and then back along the bottom lane, used by the Noddy Train, to the car park. A walk of about 4 miles in total.

The views from the top of the Head on this bright sunny afternoon were fantastic

The sandbank or Spit as its known is narrow stretch of sand jutting out into the small inlet at Mudeford at the entrance to Christchurch quay. On the sandbank are several beach huts, one of which sold for allegedly £60,000 recently!

National Coastwatch Institution

The National Coastwatch Institution (NCI) is a voluntary organisation set up in 1994 to restore a visual watch along UK shores after many small Coastguard stations closed due to Government cutbacks. NCI is a registered charity and controlled by a board of Trustees with a Constitution agreed by the Charities Commission.

NCI stations have been set up along the coast from Lands End in the South West to Hartlepool in the North East. Each station keeps a watch over its own particular area whether it is a popular seaside town, busy port or shipping area. Accidents will always happen at sea and along the coastline, wherever there is an NCI station a watchkeeper will be looking out for danger and ensuring your safety on the water.

Each Station is manned by a team of fully trained and dedicated volunteers who keep a daylight watch up to 365 days per year. Stations are equipped with telescopes, radar, telephone and weather instrumentation as well as up to date charts. Close contact with the Maritime Coastguard Agency (MCA) aims to promote stations to Declared Facility Status in order to become an integral part of the National Search and Rescue Structure.
Watchkeepers come from all walks of life and offer a wide range of skills and experience. Full training ensures that all volunteers reach the high standard expected by the NCI and MCA. Regular assessments take place at all stations and retraining programmes are held to maintain standards, and to keep watchkeepers up to date with latest legislation or improved operational procedures.
Watchkeepers are the eyes and ears along the coast, keeping a visual watch, monitoring radio channels, using radar and providing a listening watch in poor visibility. Watchkeepers remain vigilant at all times. Surveillance work is mainly routine but watchkeepers are trained to act in an emergency, report to the MCA and if required co-ordinate with the search and rescue services.
A log of all water-based activities is kept during each watch, and if required weather conditions can be passed to yachtsmen and fishermen before they set to sea. Also with the new generation of web cams we can identify sea conditions for those who wish to check on the weather or sea state prior to doing any watersport activity, hopefully reducing the need for MCA response and RNLI call-outs. Also during each watch other activities such as canoeing. diving etc are closely observed, as are bathers, walkers and climbers who walk our shoreline.
When on watch watchkeepers provide a vital link with all the emergency services and can provide an emergency contact point on land for both sea and shore users.

We recently had the privilege of being invited into the station during a visit to Swanage. This station is open from 8.00 - 17.00, 364 days of the year. We were shown some of the equipment they use and the daily log book

An incredible spectacle of wonder and enchantment

Cirque du Soleil changed the face of Cirque style productions with their artistic interpretations of the world’s greatest acrobatic skills. From their base in Canada, they soon became the world leaders in this style of presentation with many sold out shows in Las Vegas and around the world. And now, from the award winning creative team behind "Spirit of the Dance" one of the world’s most popular Dance shows, comes the next generation of Cirque style productions.

The spellbinding and magical Le Grande Cirque is one of the most exciting shows you will ever see and we joined an enthusiastic audience at the BIC last night.

It has fast become one of the hottest tickets in show business history with sold out shows and standing ovations night after night. It has played to over 10 million people around the world, smashing all box office records on the way. Featuring an international cast of 50 world champion acrobats and performers from over 15 countries, including China, Russia and Monte Carlo, this award winning spectacle takes your breath away. This thrill a minute production delivers incredible talent beyond your wildest imagination that takes you to the edge of your seats - and back again! Le Grande Cirque is perfect for all the family, with fun and happiness written all over it. The mesmerising show brings beautiful costumes, dynamic lighting, and some of the greatest international talent ever assembled on one stage. The music for the show has been selected from the world’s most popular classical composers, and masterfully arranged with up to date rhythms to reflect the international appeal of the show.

Hurricane Dean taken by crew members on the space shuttle Endeavour

British holidaymakers travelling to the Caribbean face disruption as Hurricane Dean heads towards popular tourist spots with increasing strength.
Restrictions are now in force on inbound visitors to both Jamaica and the Cayman Islands. The Met Office predicted that Dean could turn into a Category 5 storm - the highest level for a tropical cyclone - within the next three days.

The storm, the first hurricane of the Atlantic season, is set to pass directly over Jamaica at about mid-morning Sunday local time, according to weather company MeteoGroup. It is currently travelling at 18mph towards the island, with wind speeds of 150mph and gusts of up to 185mph.
In the Cayman Islands, where the hurricane is expected early on Monday morning, the Government announced that only Cayman nationals and residents can enter the islands until further notice.

Down!

After promotion last year, Verwood "A" bowls team have been relegated in both the Dorset and New Forest leagues.
With the end of the league matches, players can now relax for the rest of the season, which finishes the end of September and play out the remaining internal matches and friendlies.
The reason for the poor results this year could be attributed to several reasons. At the end of the day we did not play well enough but poor team selection and the fact that some players were moved into the first team to replace missing members did not help.
When the outdoor season finishes it is back to indoor short-mat bowls.

Stephen's Castle, Verwood

Taking advantage of a sunny evening and clear blue sky's, on Sunday we drove into the town and took the short walk to the northern common to Stephen's Castle.

There is no castle here but has a viewpoint above a disused sand quarry.

In 1993 the common was designated a Local Nature Reserve.

Grazing cattle have recently been introduced to manage the growth of the grass and ferns.

The view from the top proves that it is still a "Fair Wood" with scarcely any roofs visible of the thousands of dwellings beneath the canopy of trees. This is a peaceful retreat from the hurly-burly of the town centre traffic and affords panoramic views, on a clear day, over to the Isle of Wight, Bournemouth and Purbeck. We took our binoculars with us and were able to pick out various landmarks on the horizon.

You can see Bournemouth International Airport in the near distance and planes parked on the tarmac. The water tower at Tower Park retail park is also visible.

In the far distance you can pick out the various high rise buildings of Bournemouth and Boscombe with the Purbeck Hills beyond that.

To your left can be seen Hengisbury Head with the Isle of Wight in the background

Spirit of Broadway

"This glamorous, high energy Broadway extravaganza features an international cast of singers and the highest kicking chorus girls this side of New York! The huge cast bring you a red-hot performance that lights up the town with dazzling highlights from Broadway's greatest shows.
Chicago, Cabaret, Grease, 42nd Street, Les Miserables, Cats, A Chorus Line, The Rocky Horror Picture Show, and lots more.
Lavish costumes, terrific lighting and an incredibly talented cast are all part of the success story of this breathtaking production"

That's the publicity put out by the Pavilion Theatre, Bournemouth.
The first half we found a bit heavy with songs from shows such as Cabaret and Les Miserables not being to our liking. However, it picked up in the end with songs from Grease & Chicago.
The singers had very good voices but they tended to be drowned by the music.
The sound quality in the second half seemed to improve and it picked up tempo with songs form Mama Mia and Saturday Night Fever amongst others, with the audience clapping to the music. Found The Rocky Horror Show song was a bit strange.

Overall not a bad show, although we wished we had gone for plan A and booked to see Spirit of the Dance which we last saw in Tunbridge Wells some years ago.

Flooding 'the worst in modern history'

The floods paralysing parts of Britain have been described as the worst to hit the country in modern history.
The unprecedented weather on Friday - the equivalent of a month's rain in an hour in some areas - left tens of thousands of homes without clean water or electricity.

http://news.aol.co.uk/extreme-weather/flooding-the-worst-in-modern-history/article/20070723100509990004

HAPPY 50TH

The 19th of July marked Lynn's 50th birthday and we joined the celebrations at the Haven Hotel, Sandbanks for lunch.

The Haven is located literally on the waters edge, on the famous Sandbanks peninsula in Poole, with panoramic views over Poole Bay and Studland.

The weather was warm enough for us to eat outside on the waterside terrace.

The party was made up of twelve people and the menu was varied and when the food arrived at the table all three courses were well presented and served by smiling, attentive and efficient staff. The meal was finished off with coffee/tea and the head waiter brought the birthday cake, we had arranged to be made, to the table.

The day did not finish there because in the evening everybody was transported from Mick & Lynn's apartment by taxi to Dolphin Quay, Poole for the second surprise of the day for Lynn, a trip out in a Sunseeker cruiser around Poole harbour out to Old Harry Rocks

where we dropped anchor for drinks and nibbles. We returned about three hours later for the firework display off a barge moored in the harbour.

Flood chaos after torrential rain

Torrential downpours drenched vast areas of Britain, leading to widespread flooding and travel chaos.
An eerie darkness descended during the height of the monsoon-like outburst, with some areas getting as much as four to five inches of rain in one day - twice the average for the whole of July.

Southern and south west England bore the brunt of the bad weather which swept up through France.

In Dorset, drivers were stranded and sewage spilled on to the streets after floods in Bournemouth and Poole.

In Verwood we were lucky that we only experienced light showers through the day mixed with clear sunny spells.

Why June has been so flaming wet

The weather's onslaught on Britain this month is the result of a sluggish jet stream, a series of areas of low pressure and the time of year, according to a forecaster.
Heavy rain, flash floods and thunderstorms have caused havoc across the country, with three lives already lost due to the horrendous weather conditions.
Forecasters predict more rain is still to come later this week and into next as hopes of a scorching summer, inspired by record-breaking temperatures in April, continue to fade.

Flaming June?

From the top left to right:

Somerset: Glastonbury revellers head home as the festival finishes at Worthy Farm

Barnsley: A car is pushed through flood waters

Hull: Motorists drive through deep water on the A63

Leeds: City centre residents try to reach their homes after the banks of the River Aire were breached

Beverley: Residents wade through waist-high water

Hillsborough: Sheffield Wednesday's football ground under four feet of water

Derbyshire: Traffic stuck between Duffiled and Milford after the river Derwent breached its banks

Fathers Day June 17th

Father's Day is a primarily a secular holiday inaugurated in the early 20th century to complement Mother's Day in celebrating fatherhood and parenting by males, and to honour and commemorate fathers and forefathers. Father's Day is celebrated on a variety of dates worldwide, and typically involves gift-giving to fathers and family-oriented activities.

Three days until they touch down on English soil!

The sound of Wood on Jack

The outdoor bowling season started on May 3 with Verwood Bowling Club second team (Verwood A), having earned promotion last season, playing in division 2 of the Dorset County League and division 3 of the New Forest League.
Moving up to the upper divisions in any sport is always going to be a challenge and this has been the case so far in both Leagues. Hopefully Verwood A can carry on improving in their matches and have another successful season with the aim to keep in the divisions.

If you want to monitor their progress, this can be done by logging on to the following sites.

http://www.kfnorman.f2s.com/leagues.htm


http://www.dorsetcountyba.org.uk/page53.html

A little piece of family history

Although it's exact age has not been verified it is possible that this piece of stained glass is over 100 years old.

Sometime in 1918 relatives on Dad's side of the family, the O'Hara's, moved into 84 Burnthwaite Road, London SW6 and this glass was in the front door and it remained there until the last of them died in March 1989.

When the house was sold it was removed, with the new owners permission and taken to the Poulter family home in West Dulwich, London SE21.

Like any stained glass of this age, when it is removed from a solid frame it is more prone to damage and it is amazing that it stood up to the original removal, transported to West Dulwich, Bexhill in East Sussex and finally to Verwood in Dorset without being damaged.

It has been put back into a frame to keep it rigid and holds pride of place on a wall on the patio.

My wish is that it will eventually be passed on to another generation of the Poulter family who will take care of it for many years to come

Looking forward to a long hot summer!

The Imperial Ice Stars are to skating what Cirque du Soleil is to circus.

The Imperial Ice Stars returned to the UK as part of their world tour with a dazzling new production, Swan Lake on Ice.

They are widely regarded as the premier theatrical ice skating company in the world. Their last production, Sleeping Beauty on Ice, played to over 500,000 people in ten countries. Audiences and critics were united in their praise, with the show receiving nightly standing ovations.

Swan Lake on Ice is performed to Tchaikovsky's music by 25 World, European and National Championship skaters, who between them have won over 200 medals.

The world's leading ice director and choreographer, Tony Mercer, has assembled a first class creative team which includes double Olympic figure skating gold medallist, Evgeni Platov and quadruple Olympic gold medallist Alexi Nemov. Together they have created an unrivalled show incorporating all the intricate and thrilling moves seen at the Winter Olympics and feats never seen before in figure skating.

Sumptuous sets have been designed by Eamon D'Arcy, one of Australia's leading scenic designers, with stunning costumes by Albina Gabueva from Moscow's famed Stanislavsky Theatre.

What is also amazing is the performance we attended is played out in a theatre on a normal stage with an ice floor and not a full size ice rink!

For further information about the Imperial Ice Stars see follow up link.

Swan Lake - The Story

Swan Lake is a ballet by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky presented in either four Acts, four Scenes (primarily outside Russia and Eastern Europe) or three Acts, four Scenes (primarily in Russia and Eastern Europe), based on a libretto by Vladimir Begichev and (possibly) Vasily Geltser, fashioned from an ancient German legend, which tells the story of Odette, a princess turned into a swan by an evil sorcerer's curse.

Swan Lake begins at a royal court. Prince Siegfried, heir to the kingdom, must declare a wife at his birthday ball. Upset that he cannot marry for love, Siegfried escapes into the forest at night. As he sees a flock of swans flying overhead, he aims his crossbow and readies himself for their landing by the lakeside. When one comes into view, however, he stops; before him is a beautiful creature dressed in white feathers, more woman than swan. Enamoured, the two dance and Siegfried learns that the swan maiden is the princess Odette. An evil sorcerer, Von Rothbart, captured her and used his magic to turn Odette into a swan by day and woman by night.

A retinue of other captured swan-maidens attend Odette in the environs of Swan Lake, which was formed by the tears of her parents when she was kidnapped by Von Rothbart. Once Siegfried knows her story, he takes great pity on her and falls in love. As he begins to swear his love to her - an act that will render the sorcerer's spell powerless - Von Rothbart appears. Siegfried threatens to kill him but Odette intercedes; if Von Rothbart dies before the spell is broken, it can never be undone.
The Prince returns to the castle to attend the ball. Von Rothbart arrives in disguise with his own daughter Odile, making her seem identical to Odette in all respects except that she wears black while Odette wears white. The prince mistakes her for Odette, dances with her, and proclaims to the court that he intends to make her his wife. Only a moment too late, Siegfried sees the real Odette and realizes his mistake. The method in which Odette appears varies: in some versions she arrives at the castle, while in other versions Von Rothbart shows Siegfried a magical vision of her.
At this point versions of the ballet diverge. In the original version, Odette and Siegfred, realizing that the spell can never be broken, drown themselves by leaping into the lake. This causes Von Rothbart to lose his power over them, and he dies as a result. But many different endings exist, ranging from romantic to tragic.
In a version danced by the Mariinsky Ballet in 2006, the true love between Siegfried and Odette defeats Von Rothbart, who dies after the prince breaks one of his wings. Odette is restored to human form to unite happily with the prince. This version has often been used by Russian and Chinese ballet companies. In a version which has an ending very close to the original danced by American Ballet Theatre in 2005, Siegfried's mistaken pledge of fidelity to Odile consigns Odette to eternal swanhood. Realizing that her last moment of humanity is at hand, Odette commits suicide by throwing herself into the lake. The Prince does so as well. This act of sacrifice and love breaks Von Rothbart's power, and he is destroyed. In the final tableau, the lovers are seen rising together to heaven in apotheosis. In a version danced by New York City Ballet in 2006 (with choreography by Peter Martins after Lev Ivanov, Marius Petipa, and George Balanchine), the Prince's declaration that he wishes to marry Odile constitutes a betrayal that condemns Odette to remain a swan forever. Odette is called away into swan form, and Siegfried is left alone in grief as the curtain falls.

Look at these seven photographs with remarkable sayings.

Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take- but by the moments that take our breath away.