1,000 Places to See Before You Die 2012 Calendar (Picture-A-Day Wall Calendars) [Import] [カレンダー]

I'm always drawn to this calendar because it includes countries that can't be found in every other calendar. Plus, as with any 365-day calendar, if you don't like one photo, you'll most likely like many others on the page.

Months are organized by themes. They include in order: French Riviera, The Chilean Coast, Costa Rica, The Cabot Trail and Beyond (Nova Scotia), Iceland's Ring Road, The Hill Towns of Tuscany, Imperial Cities of Morocco, Spain's Pueblos Blancos, Route 66: Arizona, Trans-Siberia Express, South Carolina's Low Country, The Romantic Road (southern Germany). Images are crisp and beautiful, full-color and the color appears to print true to form, definitely inspiring of places I would want to go.

In general, photos consist of shots of art or other artisanship work from the area; cuisine; geographical features; people, particularly those doing a job or activity that is popular in the area; or major attractions/destinations, such as the beach or a church. I haven't been to most of these places (yet), but from what I can tell, the pictures seem to be representative of the area, encompassing a variety of different themes. You're also not going to see photos where you look at it and think "that could be anywhere in the world". A picture on the French Riviera page captures the essence of the French Riviera.

For those unfamiliar with the format, there is a larger photo at the top of the page. Next to that is a short written description of the area, and a map that shows where the area is. The written description covers things like highlights of the area, describes specialties or atmosphere of the place. It's a nice little way of wetting your appetite for imagining a trip there, but it's small enough that you still focus on the gorgeous pictures. Then smaller pictures are located below the big photo and description, over the space for each day. Some of these pictures are for one day and others stretch horizontally over two or three days, which makes for a nice break in monotony as it's not all little boxes.

Also, at the top, each of the months has a small calendar box showing the days of the previous month and the next month, but it's pretty small (maybe an inch by inch per month), so unless you're going to have it right next to you, I wouldn't recommend you buying this calendar if you really need that feature. However, for the regular calendar for each month, the numbers are nearly an inch long (black on white paper), so with normal eyesight, they can easily be read from a few feet away. The calendar uses nice fonts that are gently stylized, so they're attractive but easy to read. The entire page then is wrapped by a color border, with different colors representative of the different areas. (i.e. a French Blue for the French Riviera).

To me, Arizona was the most boring page. Colors just were not as bright as all the other pages, and a few images had to be looked at closer to be able to see what they are. Tuscany was probably my second least favorite, but I still liked it okay. I would rate all of the other pages great. I love this calendar anyway, but if I were a judge, I'd still have to give it high marks, as I usually find that I only like about half of the months in a standard 12-month calendar.

I barely glanced at it when I bought it, just heading right towards the cash register, and since it's just as nice as last year's, I'll do the same thing in 2010 (God-willing)!

Happy 2009!

Last year I bought my boyfriend the England version of this calendar, and this year I bought him this one. We have been thrilled with both. We have it hanging in our kitchen and both of us love it -- we look at the pictures while we're waiting for coffee to brew, cooking dinner, making a grocery list. I also think it would be fun to cook a meal each month that is themed to the place in the pictures -- so this month it would be Chile, last month Southern France.

The photography is gorgeous and inspiring -- so much so that at a recent party some of our friends were hanging out in the kitchen and without our consent turned the page to the next month early because they wanted to see the pictures.

I love a splash of color in each day & this calendar delivers. I also enjoy traveling & the calendar has pics & info about great places to visit around the globe. It's educational & fun.