SL Renaissance Festival: The Silk Road Travel Permit | Trucking with the CPCB | Events Announcements | New Locations

SL RENAISSANCE FESTIVAL

The third annual Renaissance Festival in Second Life® opened yesterday (September 23rd) and runs until October 2nd. The organisers told The Gazette; 

The SL Renaissance Festival is Second Life's premier Medieval shopping and entertainment experience. We are proud to partner with Linden Lab in support of the American Cancer Society and Making Strides Against Breast Cancer.

The noble mission of the festival is to help fund breast cancer research, provide information and support and help people reduce their breast cancer risk or detect it early. This year's theme is The Silk Road, a famous historical network of trade routes connecting China and the Far East to the Middle East and Europe.

The Bellisserian Bureau of Bureaucracy and the Continental Passport Control Board contributed our technology to this year's festival so the organisers could issue a Silk Road Travel Permit. Festival-goers can use it to collect beautiful stamps from the various destinations along the route. Our very own Sun made the stamps and they really are lovely, as you can see from the photos.

Silk Road Travel Permit

click each photo to see it full-size

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Of course, our own passport holders are not left out. There's an event stamp for their passports too. Like all other visitors however, they'll need the special permit to collect the Silk Road stamps.

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TRUCKING WITH THE CPCB

Many readers will be familiar with GTFO! (Get the Freight Out!), the RPG that's all about delivering freight by road, rail, sea or air. You will have seen trucks, trains, boats and planes in SL bustling about on GTFO! business. You may even have done some deliveries yourselves.

His Excellency Freddie Harrington, Hon. Ambassador to Nautilus, told The Gazette this week;

 I expect some people have noticed the ghost trucks which go around Satori, they're a bit like the pods but maybe more fitting to the theme of that particular continent which has tons of GTFO! points and players.

At the inspired suggestion of our founder Boo, Freddie has arranged for some of these ghost trucks (designed and scripted by an SL resident with the truly splendid name of Zipper Wurgle) to advertise the services of the Continental Passport Control Board. You may see them running around on the continents of Corsica and Nautilus bearing the CPCB's logo.

Click on them as they pass by and you will get a landmark to our local Embassy and an information notecard. Keep your eyes open for them!

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EVENTS ANNOUNCEMENTS

As a service to landowners with stamp terminals for our passports we are always happy to publicise events they hold at their stamp-issuing locations. Just send your information / press release to the Editor Dave (Lord Junibalya) in-world by notecard or via the Email the Editor link in the sidebar. 

This week new location Tabu Social Club has a grand opening event and you are invited! The party is at the club on Sunday September 25th at 2-4pm SLT. Get your dancing shoes on as DJ REGI YIFU will be master of music for the event.

PRIZES will be randomly awarded to Tabu group members, during the event. So be sure to wear your tag! Owner Safi Starlight told The Gazette; 

TABU is a friend of the ARTS in Second Life! Works by renowned artists AmandaT Tamatzui, Pagan Lane, and LOUVRE will be on display

If you love to play games in SL, there are several of the most popular game tables at Tabu.

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 NEW LOCATIONS

Our colleague Amanda's art event continues at the Second Life Endowment for the Arts. This huge art installation features hidden spots for visitors to find and one is a ballroom where you can now find another limited-edition stamp.

The next two locations this week do not feature new stamps. PAW – Public Animal Welfare and our esteemed journalistic colleagues at the SL Newser have relocated in-world and taken their stamp terminals with them. The updated SLURLs are below. Both the Gazette Online Travel Guide and the StaFi HUD in-world have also been updated.

Other new locations this week are the Bear Paw Tour at Mount Campion, the charming Chalet Alpenrose B&B in Bellisseria, the hip and happening Tabu Social Club in Heterocera and of course the limited edition event stamp for the SL Renaissance Festival.. 

Happy travels!

Ballroom @ ATG World Sep 10 - Dec 31 PE
PAW - Public Animal Welfare BE		Relocation - no new stamp
SL Newser PE		Relocation - no new stamp
Mt Campion Bearpaw Tour HE
Chalet Alpenrose BE
Tabu Social Club HE
SL Renaissance Festival – Event from 23 Sep - 2 Oct

Farewell, dear Pru, and Thanks | New Open Homes HUD | Mount Campion Self-Guided Bear Paw Tour | Mount Campion Fall Treasure Hunt | The Spelunker's Map Project | New Locations

FAREWELL, DEAR PRU, AND THANKS

Prudence Anton has been a pillar of the Bellisserian Bureau of Bureaucracy for some time and especially since she merged her Bellisseria Parade of Homes venture into our bureaucracy. Sadly, her RL obligations mean she has had to retire from the BBB. She will be sadly missed. 

Pru is a true SLebrity and for all the best reasons. She's always glamorous, yes. She's seen at the best parties, yes. She organises the best SL weddings, yes. And she has been the Spielberg of Bellisseria for a long time with the wonderful movies she makes with Sceneris of our community events. But she's no shallow, showbiz narcissist. Behind everything she does is a drive to make Bellisseria – and Second Life® as a whole – a better community. She's one of those Bellisserians who took the idea the Lindens and Moles gave us and ran hard with it.

Boo Rojyo, founder and CEO of the BBB said;

Prudence supported the BBB when it was little more than a vague idea in my head. She received the 6th passport we ever produced, and helped publicise what was a very modest offering at the time. Pru later joined the BBB bringing the very sophisticated Parade of Homes offering with her plus her legendary event and cinematic skills. We'll miss her many SL skills, but personally I'll miss her people skills most. I very much respect her wise advice, and her enthusiasm. I trusted her so much I was more than happy for her to be the BBB's single point of contact with the Lindens, a role I knew she'd fulfil far better than me or anyone else. Anyway Pru's not gone, her influence in SL will live on, and the BBB is always an open house to her of course! Good look on your next endeavours Prudence! Don't be a stranger!

Thank you Pru and all our best wishes for your future. 

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NEW OPEN HOMES HUD

BBB web whiz Robert Rhodan is developing a new gadget to distribute information about open houses in Bellisseria. It features not only those in the Parade of Homes Review, but also in Gingir Ghoststar's Bellisseria Inter-Pub League. So if you're interested in interior design, SL gardening and/or the principles of domestic prim economy, you will soon have a new way to check out how house-proud Bellisserians use their 350 prims!

Robert says of his invention;

A prime example of Bellisseria's community spirit is the generosity of those citizens who open their homes to the public so others can enjoy different home styles and be inspired by great interior design. Prudence Anton's Parade of Homes and Gingir Ghoststar's Bellisseria Inter-Pub League guide people to such homes via their respective blog and Discord Channel.

A recent comment from Nika Talaj in the SL forums gave me an idea to bring both guides together. Nika wrote: "It would be terrific if readers could just click on a home's picture and TP there." I'm happy to say that I have now made exactly such a tool by adapting the design of the StaFi HUD to make an in-world, browser-based Open Homes Guide.

The new guide features each home's name, SLURL (to TP directly with a mouse-click), exterior and interior photos, owner description and date of opening. Like the StaFI HUD, there' s a switch to hide or show the HUD on screen. It will show the most-recently added homes on a separate page.

The prototype features around 186 Open Houses, but many lack interior photos. The guide will invite owners either to provide photos themselves or invite Robert to organise a photo-shoot. The HUD automatically updates; users need do nothing more than click to refresh.

Be sure to drop by BBB HQ to get your own in-world Open Homes HUD from the dispenser that's already in place.

You can also access the information in the HUD by clicking here. This online version will eventually automate the listings in the Parade of Homes Review. The PoHR itself, hosted like The Gazette by the BBB's Dave, will continue with occasional interior design articles by SL writer and creator, Teresa Firelight. 

Robert welcomes your feedback and suggestions on this new product, so please check out the prototype and drop him a note in-world or in the comments below. 

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MOUNT CAMPION SELF-GUIDED BEAR PAW TOUR

Mount Campion is pleased to announce that their most recent tour – the Bear Paw Tour – is now available self-guided. Just go to the Tour Start and look for little Bear Paw markers on the ground. Each marker has a number indicating which stop it is on the tour. Left click the marker and it will tell you in local chat the information that a Ranger would give on a live tour. There is a lot of information at each stop, so each message ends with three tildes (~~~) to let you know it is finished.

There are also some directional markers (an arrow in the Bear Paw instead of a number). Those help you know which direction to go when there are confusing cross trails.

The tour takes about 75 minutes (an hour and 15 minutes). It starts and ends at the same location as the Main Tour, but takes you different places.

The tour tells the story of the Bear Paw Tribe, and traces the steps of their migration around Mount Campion. It will take you to several breathtakingly beautiful places, as well as to two of our Passport Stamp Terminals.

Mount Campion’s Main Tour also now has a self-guided version. It starts and ends at the same place as the Bear Paw tour, but is completely different. This tour uses arrows above the ground as Tour Stop Markers, and each marker points the direction to follow for the next stop. If you click on the Main Tour Stop, it also gives you information in local chat.

If you prefer a Ranger guided tour, each of the two tours will be offered at least once a month.

Article by Teresa Firelight

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MOUNT CAMPION NATIONAL FOREST FALL CAVES TREASURE HUNT

It is time to put on your best Indiana Jones gear and join in the hunt for buried treasure in the caves of Mount Campion. The first person to find the buried treasure wins $L1000. (There is only 1 prize, so you'd better hurry to get started).

Somewhere in the caves of Mount Campion National Forest are three 3-digit number clues, painted on various cave faces such as rocks or walls. The three-digit numbers are in large red letters and labeled Clue A, Clue B, and Clue C. You must find all three numbers, record them on a notecard, then submit the notecard to Mar Scarmon to claim your treasure! The first correct submission wins!

The caves of Mount Campion National Forest are located in four adjacent regions on the Heterocera continent, these are Campion, Campanula, Highflyer, and Spinach. The clues will be in open walkable areas of the caves, they will be visible if you walk around and explore the caves thoroughly and they will not be concealed inside objects or in inaccessible locations. The clues will not be blatantly obvious so you will have to search a bit.

If you would like full details of the hunt, including the locations to cave entrances, please Go Here and left click on the Treasure Hunt sign. It will give you a notecard with all the details you need.

Article by Mar Scarmon (aka Marz) and Teresa Firelight | picture by Teresa Firelight

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THE "SPELUNKER'S MAP" PROJECT 

The Cave System in Mount Campion National Forest is a popular destination for SL'ers. Exploring the caves is fun. But for adventurers walking in the footsteps of Indiana Jones and Zork I..III (anyone old enough to remember that ?) it is easy to get lost. To quote Zork

You are in a maze of twisty little passages, all alike. It is pitch dark there. You are likely to be eaten by a Gru

According to the park rangers, the caves are uncharted. It would be a big task for one person to map them, so I devised a collaborative way to map caves that span four regions. I call it The Spelunker's Map.

The idea is simple. I have published a shared Google Drawing 256x256 grid map for each of the four regions. As it's shared, many contributors can work on it together. Any explorer taking part can: 

• use the SL coordinates displayed in his/her viewer to mark any fork in the path.
• choose one path and walk to the next fork
• draw a line between the previous fork and this one to represent the path. It can be a straight line, as you can't go through cave walls!
• optionally, add a photo at any point of interest to help other travellers
• if passages cross at different height levels, but are not connected, they can be added in different colours
• if a path from a fork leads to a new region, add a point on each region's map, with an explanatory comment
• place a stub and a text note "yet unexplored" for any unmapped paths from forks to help themselves and other cavers in future

Here is a link to an example of an edited map. This illustrated PDF manual explains the system in full. Here are the links to all the regional maps. 

Mt. Campion Region (partly complete)

Campanula Region (empty)

Spinach Region (empty)

Highflyer Region (empty)

Before you begin to edit these live maps, you might like to use this demo grid for some practice!  Please be careful to use the recommended settings as set out in in the PDF manual. 

I'm sure the fun of exploration is all the incentive many readers will need. However, there are others! You will have the chance, while mapping the caves, to win the Treasure Hunt announced in the previous article. Furthermore, every explorer who makes a serious contribution to this project will receive a special Spelunker Stamp for his/her passport.  You can bet that this will be one of the most rare and sought-after stamps for any collector.

Happy exploring!

Article and Project Design by Robert Rhodan

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NEW LOCATIONS

As a keen SL sailor and aviator, your Editor was very familiar with the airstrip on the island at Coral Waters in Bellisseria. He has moored or landed there many times. Until this week, however, he didn't know it had a name – Dogbone Airstrip. Viewed from the air, it makes sense! 

Dogbone Airstrip BE

Amanda at the SLEA | NatureCon 2022 Video Tours | Bearpaw Tour of Mount Campion | A New Gadget for You | New Locations

AMANDA AT THE SLEA

Our bureaucratic colleague AmandaT Tamatzui is an artist in RL as well as SL. She deploys her artistic talents for us in designing passport stamps but that's merely a sideline!

She has won a Second Life Endowment for the Arts (SLEA) grant to realise in SL a dream she has long held in RL of turning her paintings into a 3D world in which people can move about. Phase One of  ATG World opens today (September 10th) with a party at 1pm to 3pm SLT. DJ Jewell (Fallen Aurora) will provide the music. 

As Amanda's opening party invitation says; 

Each area will reflect back to the paintings. Visit Indonesia in SL, and drive around mountains textured with paintings from some of her Abstract series. There are bicycle and car rezzers for your enjoyment as you whiz around. Take photos of your visit and share them with Amanda on Flickr or Facebook!

Essentially you can make your own photographic works from within Amanda's art and share it with the world. Or you can just enjoy wandering in her colourful wonderland and finding the hidden spots she's made for you to enjoy. The event runs from today (September 10th) until December 31st.

Of course, as you would expect, there is a special event stamp to be collected for your BBB/CPCB passport too. The stamp has been designed by Amanda herself and will be available until the event closes. 

We wish Amanda every success in this artistic venture and hope you will visit and enjoy her exuberant art. 

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NATURECON 2022 VIDEO TOURS

NatureCon was a great success and the BBB was proud to be a small part of it – and to welcome 700-750 visitors to our build. Mr Beeb's beetles are now all safely back at his home. 

Our old friend Cranston Yordstorm, who modestly describes himself as "part of the build team" at NatureCon has made two videos touring the site, so that you can have a reminder of how wonderful it all was.

Cranston's builds were in fact a big part of the event and we spent a lot of time in that physical manifestation of his whimsical imagination while the event was live. Thanks Cranston. You are an SL philanthropist and we enjoy all your contributions to making our virtual world more fun.

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BEARPAW TOUR OF MOUNT CAMPION NATIONAL FOREST

Today (September 10th) at 9am SLT there will be a guided tour of Mount Campion National Forest with Ranger Teresa Firelight. The tour will begin here and is expected to last for somewhere between 75-90 minutes. Please arrive ten to fifteen minutes early if possible.  

The tour will visit several parts of Mount Campion National Forest as it traces the migration of the Bearpaw tribe from the flatlands to the higher elevations. It will tell the story of how and why this tribe migrated and it will take you to a number of breathtakingly beautiful locations in the park. If you are a BBB or Continental Passport holder, there are two passport dispensers along the route where you can collect passport stamps.

Mount Campion National Forest is over 240,000 sq meters of park land connected over seven sims. Mount Campion is the highest mountain in SL. Mount Campanula is the second highest and both are in the park, which has miles of trails, caves, canyons, lakes, streams and waterfalls, and an abundance of beautiful scenery.

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A NEW GADGET FOR YOU

Our clever Head Scripter North Crannock has come up with a new gizmo, which will be of particular interest to Premium Plus residents of Bellisseria. One of the Premium Plus benefits is the ability to request a particular vacant Linden Home, thus circumventing that old (and not particularly noble) Bellisserian tradition of Game of Homes. In the happy community of Bellisseria, Game of Homes sadly brings out the dark side; making every new homes release a metaphorical Red Wedding.

Premium Plus residents however don't need to conspire with like-minded friends and deploy legions of alts to bag the best locations when new homes become available. They can request the Linden Home they want by submitting a support ticket here, choosing the issue type Land & Region and the sub-type Linden Homes. It's a nice perk to be able to find your ideal home, in the ideal spot, or perhaps simply close to friends.

How to find those vacant homes though? The new BBB HomeFinder HUD will do that for you. Wear it, stand somewhere you'd like to live in Bellisseria, and click. It will tell you where there's a vacant home and send you a taxi to take you there! Keep it on and move into another region and it will automatically search there too. Just look in 'nearby chat' and click the location co-ordinates to TP to the location.

Your editorial team is to scripting as Shaq O'Neal is to ballet, so it's all witchcraft to us. It's clever stuff though, whatever dark arts may have been deployed. Congratulations, North, on another good idea well scripted and thanks also to Sun and Boo for the design of the HUD and the instruction notecard respectively. 

It's available now at BBB HQ as a Group Gift for BBBug members. Enjoy!

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NEW STAMP LOCATIONS

You can read all about the event behind our new location stamp this week above in our Amanda at the SLEA article. Enjoy!

ATG World at the SLEA (Sep to Dec 2022)

 

 

 

 

Beeb Metamorphosis Part IV: The Finale | Stamp hunting on YouTube | United Artists of SL Exhibition for H.E. Bijoux | Teresa wins Photo Competition | New Locations

BEEB METAMORPHOSIS PART IV: THE FINALE (A STORY FOR NATURECON 2022)

Previously on Beeb Metamorphosis: Chief Passport Inspector Eustace Beeb suffered a transformation following unwise experiments. 

The day wore on with Beeb, in weaker moments, almost blaming himself for his predicament. It was starting to get dark. He'd have to face Mrs Beeb at some point. Somehow the cover of darkness set him more at ease, as he scuttled through the streets of Bellisseria towards home. He walked through the door, his scratchy legs clattering noisily on the freshly polished hall tiles. 

“You're late Beeb” called a familiar voice from the kitchen “You're never late!”

“I..I..didn't have my watch dear” Beeb squeaked  back. At least this was true, his timepiece being most unsuitable for spiny thin wrists.

With a huff Mrs Beeb stepped into the hall. She stopped dead in her tracks. Her naturally loose jaw now loosened somewhat further at the sight that met her.

'What has the fool done this time?' she thought. She was furious. Worse still it was Beeb's turn to do the washing up tonight. No way was she entrusting her best china to those most improper claws. She quizzed Beeb on the cause of this calamity. Fortunately his newly acquired beetle essence prevented the act of blushing, or he would have flushed furiously at his humiliation.

Having discounted the Scotch Egg as the cause, or some evil plot by his BBB colleagues, under the thorough interrogation of Mrs Beeb, Eustace Beeb was forced to confess the extent of his experimentations. He'd always feared his dear wife wouldn't approve.

Having identified the root cause, Mrs Beeb formulated a plan. She dismissed her husband to the best lounge. In the meantime she descended to the cellar to glean what information she could from Beeb's impromptu laboratory amongst the jars of home made pickled quince chutney and her late mother's Hummel ornaments. 

Beeb crawled under the sofa and awaited his fate, now in a state of total dejection. A rather tasty long discarded mouldy cream cracker distracted him for a moment at least. Meanwhile Mrs Beeb sat on a tea chest in the cellar poring over Beeb's copious journals. Occasionally she tutted over his spelling mistakes, and guffawed at his schoolboy miscalculations. 

In less than an hour she returned to fetch her errant husband. Meekly, Beeb scuttled after his wife down the cellar steps. She sat him down on a box and attached the fine threads to his scalp. Beeb sat in glum compliance.

Mrs Beeb sternly warned her husband not to look at the specimen at the other end of these thread like tubes. Whilst not looking Beeb glanced at the tiny man with a beetle head trapped in a recently emptied chutney jar. That puny body could only have been a smaller version of his own. The creature was distracted licking the remains of the rather overripe chutney from the sides of the jar, seemingly unaware of the threads attached to it's huge grotesque head.

Slowly Beeb felt his body restore. Claws became hands. Black armour became flesh, and light didn't make him fearful any more. Mrs Beeb had saved the day, and Beeb resigned himself to being reminded of that on a constant basis. His laboratory was packed away and taken to the goodwill the very next day.

The beetle was restored to its terrarium. Now one hundred per cent beetle again. The only after effect was an obsession to order every stone, pebble, and twig in rows by order of size, shape, or age. This was generally annoying to his fellow beetles.

Other than a new predilection for consumables past their best by date Beeb was also fully restored to his former self. He also annoyed and vexed all he came into contact with, but as we all know this wasn't exactly a new character flaw.

So the moral of the story is....

DO NOT INTERFERE IN NATURE !

You may not be as lucky as Eustace Beeb, the BBB Inspector of Passports and part time beetle enthusiast.

Also if a collection of used laboratory kit and journals turns up at your local goodwill, maybe pass on that. Second hand head wear is a much safer buy. 

Article by Boo Rojyo, as recounted to him by Mr. Beeb | photographs by Boo Rojyo | Mr Beeb's beetle collection was on show at NatureCon 2022, now sadly ended.

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STAMP HUNTING VIDEOS ON YOUTUBE

YouTube user Spritle Racer (SL resident Angie Xenga) has been streaming live videos of her explorations in search of passport stamps under the title Bellisseria Passport Trips, with the strapline;

Got the Bellisseria Passport...now what? 

We enjoy her approach to the venture. She doesn't just TP in, she drives, sails or flies. Nor does she edit out her many mishaps! These are not polished productions; they're real time recordings of live videos. 

They're steadily building into a library of SL travelogues; each featuring a passport stamp collected. Check them out here. 

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UNITED ARTISTS OF SL EXHIBITION FOR H.E. BIJOUX

Bijoux Barr, Honorary Ambassador to Satori, is taking part in an exhibition which opened on September 1st in the Galerie Principale at United Artists of SL – a major art complex in Satori.

An interesting selection of her original artworks is on show. Your editor's personal favourites were her duotone portraits. 

We congratulate Her Excellency on the exhibition and commend it to you. 

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TERESA WINS PHOTO COMPETITION

Our very own Teresa Firelight is also enjoying artistic success at present. She entered the NatureCon 2022 photography contest and won first prize! She said;

I had a lot of fun with this contest. I had recently discovered and fallen in love with Mount Campion National Forest; so when the contest was announced, I knew that was where I wanted to take my picture. That park has so many beautiful areas, it is a wonderful place to go when you want to do some SL photography.

Congratulations Teresa!

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NEW LOCATIONS

The Firestorm Viewer celebrates its 12^th Anniversary today (September 3rd). Spokesperson Teresa Firelight told The Gazette;

We consider 12 years a major milestone and are responding with a major celebration. Also a Limited Edition Event stamp is provided for those who collect passport stamps. The party will start at 4 PM with an amazing 2 hour show from Euphonius Productions—4 singers in quad streaming: Ryeshure, Ruvi Gatchie, Coco Geddins, and Mae Loved + Dancers! Then we will have an hour of DJ entertainment from Firestorm's own DJ: DJ Trick spinning his ULTIMATE MIX of New Music by great Indie Bands

 

There will also be gifts ... more than there has ever been before at any Firestorm celebration. Gift creators include: ABC Awesome Breed Creations, Addams, !!Firelight!!, Kreatures, Teegle, Teule, Versov, Wild Kajaera and Firestorm itself. The party only lasts for 2 hours, but the gifts will be available at the party location through the end of September.

For more information, including the location, please see Jess Lyon's Blog. The location is embargoed until later today, but we will update the Gazette Online Travel Guide and the StaFi HUD as soon as it's released. 

 

Our other new location this week is the largest airport in the Sansara snowlands; Chamonix City. It makes an excellent launching point for some of the most adventurous flying in SL. 

 

Firestorm 12th Anniversary, PE
Chamonix City Regional Airport, SN

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