Destination: Europe
London to Edinburgh in 2:16
by Eva Holland | 08.26.09 | 4:15 PM ET
That would be the journey time—down from 4.5 hours—if a new high-speed rail plan goes ahead in Britain. The possible line is just one of several high-speed rail proposals we’ve been keeping tabs on.
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Yahoo! BuzzImmigrants, Treasure Your Heritage—and Melt
by Rick Steves | 08.26.09 | 11:43 AM ET
Exploring Europe, exploring travel as a political act
R.I.P. Orient Express
by Eva Holland | 08.25.09 | 10:09 AM ET
Don’t worry: The modern, private luxury line to Venice is still going strong. But, as we’ve noted before, the last true descendant of the original Orient Express was a line from Strasbourg to Vienna—and that service has just been cut. The Independent’s Simon Calder offers an obituary:
As an announcement of a momentous death foretold, it is remarkably economical. “Train 468/469,” reports the September edition of the Thomas Cook European Rail Timetable “Strasbourg to Wien [Vienna] will finally be withdrawn.” Between those two phrases is the most momentous pair of words in European rail travel: Orient Express. Seventy-five years after the publication of Agatha Christie’s bestselling crime novel, Murder on the Orient Express, the train that epitomised trans-European travel for more than a century is finally being killed off.
Paul Theroux: ‘The Cross-Country Trip is the Supreme Example of the Journey as the Destination’
by Michael Yessis | 08.24.09 | 2:37 PM ET
Yet one of the most intrepid travel writers alive had never driven across the U.S. So when the Smithsonian asked him and five other travel writers to take on their dream assignments, he picked the cross-country trip. He delivered a beautiful story. He writes:
In my life, I had sought out other parts of the world—Patagonia, Assam, the Yangtze; I had not realized that the dramatic desert I had imagined Patagonia to be was visible on my way from Sedona to Santa Fe, that the rolling hills of West Virginia were reminiscent of Assam and that my sight of the Mississippi recalled other great rivers. I’m glad I saw the rest of the world before I drove across America. I have traveled so often in other countries and am so accustomed to other landscapes, I sometimes felt on my trip that I was seeing America, coast to coast, with the eyes of a foreigner, feeling overwhelmed, humbled and grateful.
The other five writers involved are Susan Orlean (Destination: Morocco), Francine Prose (Japan), Geoffrey C. Ward (India), Caroline Alexander (Jamaica) and Frances Mayes (Poland). Here’s Jan Morris’s introduction to the project.
Two Buskers Banned After Playing ‘Wonderwall’ and ‘Faith’ Over and Over
by Michael Yessis | 08.24.09 | 12:25 PM ET
Apparently an 18-month-long aural assault featuring the massive hits by Oasis and George Michael was enough for the people of Moseley, Birmingham. Said one resident: “It would get to the point where I would be lying in bed and I would have Wonderwall stuck in my head all night. To be fair, they didn’t do a bad rendition of the songs—but after hearing them the first few times it does start to grate on you. Although its not surprising that they can play it well—with the amount of practice they’ve had.”
‘Central Perk’ Lands in London
by Eva Holland | 08.21.09 | 9:56 AM ET
OK, let’s see if I’ve got this right: A fake New York City coffee shop—you remember Central Perk, from “Friends,” right?—that never actually existed outside of a Los Angeles soundstage now has its very own functioning replica, in London? I’m guessing this is one tourist attraction they won’t even attempt to bill as “authentic.”
Frank Bruni on Italy and Eating
by Eva Holland | 08.20.09 | 1:02 PM ET
In a recent interview with the Book Bench, Bruni—who’s just wrapped up his five-year stint as the restaurant critic for the New York Times—offered some thoughts on food culture and social class in Italy. Here’s what he had to say about the Italian-American feasts of his childhood:
What I realized, after I went to Italy and lived in Rome, not in the rural south where my grandparents were from, that the ethos of food in my Italian-American family was a kind of peasant-immigrant ethos. I always thought of it as Italian, because it was my Italian. A bounty of food as a badge of accomplishment. What I learned later in life was that, that’s not so much Italian, as Italian-peasant immigrant. It has as much to do with socioeconomic status as it does with ethnicity.
An Aging Continent Grapples With Immigration
by Rick Steves | 08.20.09 | 10:56 AM ET
Exploring Europe, exploring travel as a political act
A Night at El Bulli, Frame by Frame
by Eva Holland | 08.19.09 | 10:34 AM ET
After a five-year effort, Amateur Gourmet blogger Adam Roberts finally landed a reservation at El Bulli, the Barcelona restaurant regularly dubbed the best in the world. He’s documented his 30-course evening in an entertaining comic strip/photo essay. David Farley interviewed El Bulli’s chef, Ferran Adria, for World Hum back in March. (Via The Morning News)
Berlin’s Currywurst Gets the Museum Treatment
by Eva Holland | 08.18.09 | 1:32 PM ET
The Berlin staple may not have set Alison Stein Wellner’s head on fire when she went looking for the world’s hottest foods, but it remains one of Germany’s favorite sausage variations. And now, currywurst—diced sausage doused in ketchup and curry powder—is getting a museum of its very own.
Some of the weirder details, from Reuters: “An array of interactive exhibits guide visitors along a ‘sauce trail’ through the history and variety of the beloved dish ... A spice chamber scents the air with curry powder as guests relax on the giant ‘sauce sofa’, shaped like a squirt of ketchup while an eco-alley assesses the environmental impact of fast food.”
Machine Guns in the Afternoon
by Stephanie Carrie | 08.17.09 | 11:37 AM ET
Photo by Stephanie Carrie Stephanie Carrie went to Russia to walk the streets that Gogol walked. She didn't plan on practicing her language skills at gunpoint.
Travel Movie Watch: ‘When in Rome’
by Eva Holland | 08.17.09 | 10:25 AM ET
Girl goes to Rome. Girl meets boy in Rome. Magic Roman fountain causes boy and girl to fall in love. Yes, the latest flick in the grand tradition of movies about young Americans finding romance in Europe is en route. The latest incarnation stars Kristen Bell, Josh Duhamel and the aforementioned magic fountain. Here’s the trailer:
Travel Song of the Day: ‘Amsterdam’ by Peter Bjorn and John
by Alicia Imbody | 08.14.09 | 12:41 PM ET
Greenland in Pictures
by Eva Holland | 08.12.09 | 1:10 PM ET
The Big Picture does it again, with a stunning photo essay of Denmark’s icy outpost.
Why Are There no Moving Sidewalks in New York City?
by Michael Yessis | 08.12.09 | 12:30 PM ET
It’s not as bizarre of a question as you may think. Paul Collins looks at plans for moving walkways—the “endless-travelling sidewalk,” in the words of one inventor—in New York and other world cities that never came to be. (Via Kottke)