Destination: Europe
World Hum’s New Seventh Wonder of the Shrinking Planet: The Irish Pub
by Michael Yessis | 07.23.07 | 5:15 PM ET
The Irish pub has long intrigued us, both as a subject to write about and as a fine place to drink the occasional pint of Guinness. Thanks to Eva Holland for reminding us that the Irish pub also embodies many ways the globe is shrinking and cultures are colliding. It’s a worthy addition to our Seven Wonders of the Shrinking Planet. As Eva wrote in response to our call for a replacement to the now-closed Starbucks in China’s Forbidden City—hers was among a number of terrific suggestions; thanks to everyone who posted an idea—Irish pubs can be found just about everywhere in the world.
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Yahoo! BuzzA Traveler’s Take on Michael Moore’s ‘Sicko’
by Jim Benning | 07.23.07 | 3:12 PM ET
Forget the controversial fact-checking piece CNN’s Sanjay Gupta put together for Michael Moore’s documentary on health care, “Sicko.” Now, the San Francisco Chronicle’s John Flinn—ever the provocateur columnist—takes Moore to task for his coverage of foreign hospitals, based entirely on Flinn’s own unplanned visits to hospitals in France, Cuba and elsewhere during his travels. “Michael Moore got it all wrong about the French health care system in his new movie, ‘Sicko,’” Flinn writes. “The best part isn’t that the government sends workers out to the homes of new mothers to do their laundry. It’s that French hospital meals come with wine. I don’t know how Moore, who seems rather starry-eyed over la belle France in the film, forgot to include that nugget.”
Copenhagen’s Christiania in Jeopardy
by Jim Benning | 07.23.07 | 12:37 PM ET
Like many visitors to Copenhagen, I wandered around the hippie experiment in utopia called Christiania a number of years ago. I bought the local newspaper, strolled “Pusher Street” and passed off-the-grid homes, struck that such a place existed in a major European city. But Christiania’s future is now in doubt. “The current conservative government is feeling the pressure from developers to ‘normalize’ Christiania,” writes Rick Steves in Sunday’s San Francisco Chronicle.
Despite a Nose-Diving Dollar, Europe Still Beckons U.S. Travelers
by Terry Ward | 07.20.07 | 11:46 AM ET
During the three months I recently spent in France, sticker shock was so much a part of my daily life that, by the end of my stay, I barely balked at shelling out five bucks for a shot of espresso at my favorite Biarritz tapas bar. Recently, the dollar dove to a new record low—a paltry $1.38 against the euro. And according to a story in the New York Times, the currency pinch for those of us spending greenbacks in Europe is bound to get worse before it gets better.
Confessions of a Born-Again Cowboy in France
by Peter Wortsman | 07.18.07 | 9:01 AM ET
At home in the United States, Peter Wortsman is more Woody Allen than John Wayne. But to his adoptive French family, he is "The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance."
In Krakow, Jewish Culture has Become Hipster Culture
by Terry Ward | 07.16.07 | 4:03 PM ET
In June, more than 20,000 people descended on Krakow, Poland for the city’s annual Jewish Festival—complete with Hasidic dance performances, Hebrew calligraphy lessons and klezmer music galore. But perhaps the most interesting thing about the gathering was that very few of the festival-goers were Jewish. Jewish culture is gradually making a comeback in Eastern Europe. And in Krakow, it seems, it has become downright trendy.
The Ikea Hostel: Norway’s New Take on Sleepover Tourism
by Julia Ross | 07.16.07 | 2:45 PM ET
Though Ikea has reliably provided me with inexpensive towels and silverware over the years, I’ve never looked forward to spending a Saturday trekking to one of its warehouses. So I was surprised to read in The Guardian that Norwegians consider the stores a destination, a must-see on the summer travel circuit. Now Ikea is capitalizing on this interest by turning hotelier, at least temporarily. This month the company will open a one-week overnight hostel at one of its Oslo locations, where up to 30 shoppers will have the chance to bunk down in-store each night, sample the cafeteria’s Swedish meatballs and wrap themselves in bargain-basement Ikea bathrobes, all free of charge.
The World Hum Travel Zeitgeist: It’s a Wonderful Life
by Michael Yessis | 07.13.07 | 1:31 PM ET
Their seven wonders, our seven wonders and the wonder of the Dreamliner top the minds of wide-eyed travelers this week. Here’s the Zeitgeist.
Most Read Feature
World Hum (this week)
Seven Wonders of the Shrinking Planet
* From “Airworld” (pictured) to Starbucks in the Forbidden City, an alternative take on the seven wonders of the world.
Most Viewed Travel Story
Los Angeles Times (current)
By Popular Vote, the World’s ‘New 7 Wonders’ Named
Most Viewed Travel Story
Telegraph UK (current)
Where to Stay: Amsterdam
Most E-Mailed Travel Story
USA Today (current)
10 Great Places to Get in Tune, be Outdoors
World’s Best City
Travel + Leisure World’s Best Awards (2007)
Florence
* Travel + Leisure’s 12th annual readers poll also ranks the world’s best hotels, islands and more.
Most Read Weblog Post
World Hum (this week)
‘Man Overboard’: A Look at Cruise Ship Disappearances
Happy Birthday, Prague’s Charles Bridge
by Jim Benning | 07.13.07 | 1:17 PM ET
Prague’s landmark Charles Bridge, one of Europe’s most arresting sights, turned 650 years old this week. The Prague Post covered the city’s elaborate festivities and recounted a little bridge history: “According to legend, King Charles IV, later to become Holy Roman Emperor, laid the foundation at 5:31 a.m. July 9, 1357, after consulting astrologers to come up with the palindromic time and date sequence of 1357-9-7-531.” A Charles Bridge webcam shows plenty of people out enjoying the bridge today. I dialed up World Hum contributor David Farley, who lived in Prague for three years and edited Travelers’ Tales Prague and ask him about his memories of the bridge.
Leo Hickman: In Search of the True Cost of Travel
by Frank Bures | 07.13.07 | 8:44 AM ET
Are travelers destroying cultures, economies and the planet? Are they making the world a better place? Frank Bures chats with the author of "The Final Call" about the ethics and consequences of world travel.
U.S. Embassy in Italy: Naples Stinks!
by Michael Yessis | 07.13.07 | 7:17 AM ET
There’s some serious trash talk going on in Italy. The U.S. Embassy issued a warning earlier this week urging Americans to avoid Naples and its suburbs because they “may encounter mounds of garbage, open fires with potentially toxic fumes, and/or sporadic public demonstrations by local residents attempting to block access to dumps.” Naples, it turns out, is in the midst of a garbage crisis. Trash service has been disrupted since May, according to reports. Dumpsters are overflowing, and those that aren’t are allegedly controlled by the camorra, the Neapolitan mafia. And doing business with the camorra will cost you some euros.
Seville Hotels Offer Siesta Rates for ‘Iberian Yoga’
by Terry Ward | 07.12.07 | 11:13 AM ET
Hotels in the southern Spanish city of Seville are looking to lure beach tourists to their scorching inland city this summer by offering “siesta rates,” with rooms discounted 30 percent during the hottest hours of the day—between 3 p.m. and 7 p.m. “The siesta is making a comeback, recycled for the modern world as ‘Iberian yoga,’” Elizabeth Nash writes in The Independent. “Far from the afternoon snooze that consumes valuable working time, Spain’s siesta is being rebranded as essential for spiritual wellbeing and a balanced life.”
How to Eat Weisswurst in Munich
by World Hum | 07.12.07 | 10:49 AM ET
Photo by Chris Gray It's hard to find a restaurant in the German city that doesn't serve weisswurst. But it's said that the white sausages should never hear the noon church bells. Chris Gray explains.
Is It Bad Form to Order a Cappuccino After 11 A.M. in Italy?
by Jim Benning | 07.11.07 | 2:44 PM ET
Not only did a friend tell John Flinn never to order a cappuccino after 11 a.m. in Italy “because Italians think it’s barbaric,” but Flinn found the same advice repeated on countless Web sites. Anyone who breaks the 11 a.m. rule, common wisdom seems to dictate, will immediately be exposed as a good-for-nothing ignorant tourist. Flinn wondered whether Italians were really that judgmental. “I tried to imagine the reaction if a Belgian tourist walked into a McDonalds in, say, Cincinnati, and asked for mayonnaise for his fries,” he writes in Sunday’s San Francisco Chronicle. “It would draw, at most, a bemused shrug, wouldn’t it? Would an Italian waiter react to a post-11 a.m. cappuccino request any differently?” Flinn set out to find the answer on his last trip to Italy. What did he discover?
Paris Mayor to Parisians: Be Nice to Tourists, S’il Vous Plait
by Michael Yessis | 07.11.07 | 8:38 AM ET
Is their reputation for rudeness catching up to Parisians? Oui, mayor Bertrand Delanoe apparently believes. Earlier this week, Paris launched a campaign to make the City of Light more tourist friendly with initiatives that include “Paris Tourist Day” and the “Charter for the Parisian and Visitor.” The AP and the Agence France-Presse, among others, have the story of the Paris “charm offensive” and the charter, which asks Parisians to “take the time to give information to visitors” and “make use of foreign language skills to reply to them in their language.” It’s probably a good thing for a country that’s seeing its most-favored nation status among tourists rapidly eroded by China.