Destination: Europe
R.I.P. Miles Kington, King of ‘Franglais’
by Jim Benning | 02.01.08 | 12:05 PM ET
Miles Kington “satirised the earnest but doomed efforts of native English speakers to handle French,” as the BBC put it. (Example: Bill Wyman’s remark, “Je suis un rock star.”) Kington coined the term “Franglais,” and his books on the topic included Let’s Parler Franglais! He died Wednesday, prompting the fitting BBC headline: “Au revoir Mister Franglais.”
Related on World Hum:
* New Addition to the Travel Lexicon: ‘Geotourism’
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Yahoo! BuzzGerman Nudists Ready to Fly Naked
by Michael Yessis | 01.29.08 | 12:39 PM ET
For only 499 euros you, too, can book a spot on the July 5 flight from Erfurt to the Baltic Sea resort Usedom. Passengers can strip down once on board; the crew will remain clothed for safety reasons. “I don’t want people to get the wrong idea. It’s not that we’re starting a swinger club in mid-air or something like that,” Enrico Hess, the managing director of the travel agency taking the bookings, told Reuters. “We’re a perfectly normal holiday company.”
The Road to Happiness
by World Hum | 01.29.08 | 11:41 AM ET
Frank Bures gets lost in Eric Weiner's "The Geography of Bliss: One Grump's Search for the Happiest Place in the World"
In Dubai, a Little Lyon in the Desert?
by Joanna Kakissis | 01.29.08 | 7:07 AM ET
Ah, what love (and oil money) can do. They’re fueling the so-called “Lyon-Dubai City” project, which aims to create a mini version of France’s third-largest city in the desert of the United Arab Emirates.
Britain, Brand That Nation!
by Eva Holland | 01.28.08 | 3:17 PM ET
For the first time in the history of Brand That Nation! we focus on a country that is actively seeking to re-brand itself. Reuters has reported that British Prime Minister Gordon Brown is seeking a national motto, five or six words long, to appear on passports, public buildings, and birth certificates—and heck, why not tourism brochures, too? The New York Times chimed in this weekend, too. The venerable Times of London has been collecting suggestions, and as Kate Kelland writes, “cynicism and subversion are emerging as the most prominent national characteristics.”
Official name: United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
Population: 60,776,238
Capital: London
Motto: To be determined
How Barack Obama Just Might Improve Your Vacation
by Joanna Kakissis | 01.24.08 | 12:39 PM ET
I’ve lived in Greece since 2004 and have watched foreign contempt for George W. Bush reach epic proportions. As an American (albeit one of Greek descent), I’ve repeatedly faced angry cross-examinations about Bush’s foreign policy and the war in Iraq. But since the 2008 presidential race started making international headlines a couple of months ago, including here in Greece, I’ve noticed those angry interrogations are increasingly being replaced with enthusiastic pronouncements about how much the Greeks I encounter love Barack Obama. It’s a startling shift. Could it be a sign that more American travelers will be greeted with warmer welcomes around the globe in 2008? I sure hope so.
Michael Palin: The New ‘New Europe’
by David Farley | 01.24.08 | 11:53 AM ET
David Farley asks the Monty Python member-turned-travel host about the call of the road and his new television series
My Patatas Bravas Are Better Than Yours
by Julia Ross | 01.23.08 | 10:37 AM ET
Last Saturday, my sister and I dug into a plate of our favorite tapas dish—patatas bravas—at Washington, D.C.‘s popular Jaleo restaurant. It’s always the first dish I order—hearty chunks of potato doused in a spicy tomato sauce and finished with a garlicky white sauce, best devoured with the aid of toothpicks. While the patatas are a best seller in Washington, they’re an obsession in Spain.
Day Trippers Not Wanted on Venice’s New Vaporetto Line
by Michael Yessis | 01.23.08 | 10:07 AM ET
Venice residents complained that tourists had made getting around the city a nightmare, so officials planned Line 3, a just-opened water bus route from Venice’s Grand Canal to Piazza San Marco. Only riders holding a Carta Venezia pass can get on board, which effectively excludes outsiders.
Where Did I Buy This Bobblehead Doll? I Could Tell You, But Then I’d Have to Kill You.
by Eva Holland | 01.23.08 | 9:21 AM ET
In Washington D.C., visitors can go sleuthing around the International Spy Museum. In Berlin, they can look back on the reign of the Stasi at the DDR Museum. But in Canada’s capital, and my own hometown of Ottawa, tourists aren’t allowed even a spyglass-eye’s view of the top-secret Canadian Security and Intelligence Service (CSIS) museum. And they most certainly can’t buy souvenirs.
Want a Stress-Free Vacation? ‘Don’t go to the USA.’
by Eva Holland | 01.22.08 | 11:55 AM ET
Matt Rudd has a blunt message for potential U.S.-bound readers in the Times of London: Take your travel dollars elsewhere. There are plenty of places in the world that are just as interesting, he argues, and they come without a “preflight e-interrogation, epic queues at immigration, thin-lipped questioning from aggressive border guards, and an outside chance of a rubber-gloved rectal rummage.”
Found Document Reveals ‘Mona Lisa’ Identity
by Michael Yessis | 01.18.08 | 12:51 PM ET
She’s Lisa del Giocondo, wife of Florentine businessman Francesco del Giocondo, according to a document found at the University of Heidelberg in Germany by Armin Schlechter. So, some of the mystery is gone, but I’m sure it’ll continue to draw David-like crowds.
Related on World Hum:
* Checking Off the Mona Lisa
Italian Officials Consider Moving Michelangelo’s David
by Michael Yessis | 01.18.08 | 9:09 AM ET
It’s because of the tourists. The gobs and gobs of tourists. Tuscany’s cultural official Paolo Cocchi says Florence’s city center, particularly the Galleria dell’Accademia where David has resided for the past 135 years, has become overwhelmed by travelers wishing to see Michelangelo’s masterpiece. He has proposed moving what the Independent calls the “world’s most famous image of manhood” to a not-yet-built cultural center at the edge of Florence. That may relieve some congestion in the city center, but it’s not sitting well with Florence’s “art elite,” according to the Independent.
14-Year-Old Hacks, Derails Polish Tram System
by Michael Yessis | 01.15.08 | 9:23 AM ET
The teen adapted a TV remote to take control of the trams in Lodz, Poland, causing “chaos and derailing four vehicles” last week, according to the Telegraph UK. Nobody was killed, but at least 12 people were injured. Scary, particularly in light of this news.
Awakening the Primal Chef Within at Greece’s Open-Air Markets
by Joanna Kakissis | 01.14.08 | 5:04 PM ET
Photo by Daquella Manera via Flickr (Creative Commons).
This Smithsonian story on the Athens Central Market got me thinking about food (again), but not for the usual escapist reasons. For one thing, Athens Central isn’t a food porn kind of place, since it has all those bloody carcasses, intestines and glassy-eyed fish that inevitably come with creepy sales pitches (i.e. “baby lambs fed only on mother’s milk!”). When I first visited the market in 2004, the full-on raucousness of the place unnerved me. But it also awoke something primal in my palate—something these old but enduring agoras usually do to the sheltered supermarket set.