Destination: France
Slings and Arrows of Outrageous Fortune
by Alexander Basek | 01.23.09 | 2:31 PM ET
Over at the Hotel Hotsheet, Kitty Bean Yancey is up in arms about the cost of a Singapore Sling at the Raffles in, er, Singapore. Kitty is making a larger point about “hotel sticker shock,” but for our purposes, a pricey Singapore Sling is a fine example of something that’s a struggle for any frequent traveler: the paradox of drinking at the bar of a landmark hotel.
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Yahoo! BuzzMorning Links: ‘Killer Blueline Buses,’ the Idea of America and More
by Michael Yessis | 01.22.09 | 8:07 AM ET
- Revealed: confessions of a hotel housekeeper.
- No little bottle of lotion in your hotel room? No fruit in your breakfast buffet? Blame the economy. Hotels are.
- “Killer blueline buses” pose a dilemma in Delhi: They’re dangerous, but they’re needed.
- MediaShift looks at Phil Balboni’s vision for GlobalPost.
- GlobalPost asks its correspondents “What does the idea of America mean to the world?”
- Newley Purnell posts about Matt Gross and multimedia travel journalism—with a World Hum shout out, too.
- Theodore Dalrymple on the “disturbing reality at a Paris Metro stop.”
- Nathan’s says its flagship hot dog shop will remain in Coney Island. Glad to hear the site of some great childhood memories is being preserved.
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Seven Great Time-Lapse Travel Videos
by Jim Benning | 01.13.09 | 9:09 AM ET
Jim Benning sifts through YouTube's accelerated videos to find the seven best
Europe’s Deep Freeze
by World Hum | 01.09.09 | 2:46 PM ET
REUTERS/Alexandra Beier Winter weather blasted across Europe this past week, creating frigid scenes across the continent.
See the full photo slideshow »
Morning Links: Walking Across the U.S., Rebranding France and More
by Michael Yessis | 01.08.09 | 9:29 AM ET
- Video: Slate interviews “an Algerian man who just walked alone across the United States with nothing but $217 and a backpack.”
- Some “serious soul-searching in French tourism circles” helped inspire the country’s new rebranding campaign.
- Mapped: 50 United States and their Mottos. Intelligent Travel talks to the map’s creator, Emily Wick.
- Rick Steves in Iran: The preview.
- Cheap flights abound for the New Year, but, by historical standards, they’re not as cheap as you might think.
- Peter Hessler takes a road trip to the Tibetan Plateau. (It’s only an abstract, unless you’re a New Yorker subscriber.)
- USA Today looks at Twitter and travel.
- Want more Twitter in your life? Maybe attend a Twestival.
- Cunard reveals its 2009 Queen Mary 2 voyages with “literary luminaries” on board. Among the writers on the transatlantic crossings: Kathryn Harrison and Oscar Hijuelos. It is my duty to tell you that if you’re interested in going, you should first read this (pdf).
The Three Literary Capitals of the World?
by Eva Holland | 12.22.08 | 12:00 PM ET
Conde Nast Traveler has chosen Berlin, Dublin and Boston as its three best cities for bookworms. They’re all worthy choices, but still, I have to ask: Was this list originally titled, “Three Best Cities for Bookworms, Not Counting Paris and London”?
Morning Links: Jellyfish Gone Wild, Sedaris and More
by Michael Yessis | 12.15.08 | 8:35 AM ET
Catch up on links from our redesign break:
- Brave New Traveler lists The 6 Characters You’ll Meet At Every Expat Bar.
- Recession travel: Trade depressed stock for Caribbean resort stays.
- TSA critic Jeffrey Goldberg sat for an interview with Stephen Colbert.
Happy 100th Birthday, Claude Levi-Strauss
by Jim Benning | 11.25.08 | 2:01 PM ET
The great structural anthropologist celebrates the big 1-0-0 on Friday in Paris. Travel lit readers know him in part from his 1955 travel memoir of sorts, Tristes Tropiques, which begins with the memorable line, “I hate travelling and explorers.” More importantly, as NPR points out, Levi-Strauss “changed the world’s perception of so-called ‘primitive’ tribes in Asia, Africa and America.”
Louvre to Display Abstract Sculpture by TV’s Wally Cleaver?
by Michael Yessis | 11.18.08 | 9:20 AM ET
The AP reports that Tony Dow, Beaver’s brother on the iconic television show “Leave it to Beaver,” will show a piece of his art at the Societe Nationale des Beaux-Arts exhibition in Paris. San Francisco Chronicle pop culture critic Peter Hartlaub follows up and says Dow’s work will actually be on display at the Carrousel du Louvre Dec. 11-14.
90 Years Later: Searching for Wilfred Owen
by Eva Holland | 11.17.08 | 11:14 AM ET
The 90th anniversary of the end of the First World War just passed, and The Times of London’s travel section marked the occasion with a powerful essay by Chris Haslam, who traveled around France in the footsteps of war poet Wilfred Owen. Haslam’s search covers several battlefields, and ends at the forest cottage where Owen spent his last night.
Flushed Down the Toilet: One Passenger’s Arm
by Valerie Conners | 10.28.08 | 8:18 AM ET
A man riding a high speed train in France had to be rescued by emergency workers after dropping his cell phone down the train’s toilet, reaching in to extract it and having his arm trapped by the suction system. Said one witness, “He came out on a stretcher, with his hand still jammed in the toilet bowl, which they had to saw clean off.” Wow.
Paris and Amsterdam Airports Sign Alliance Deal
by Valerie Conners | 10.22.08 | 11:55 AM ET
What will that mean for travelers? By operating as dual-hub airports, they can now offer passengers more flights to more destinations. Of course, Aeroports de Paris—owners of Charles de Gaulle and Orly—and the Schiphol Group made the deal primarily to combat their own financial struggles.
Photo of Charles de Gaulle airport terminal by andrewcparnell via Flickr (Creative Commons).
Sesame Street, Global Edition
by Joanna Kakissis | 10.17.08 | 1:59 PM ET
When I heard Big Bird and South Africa’s muppet Zikwe talking to NPR about Putumayo Kids’ “Sesame Street Playground” album this weekend, I couldn’t help feeling jealous that I hadn’t grown up hearing songs like “Rubber Duckie” in Mandarin. The 40-year-old dean of all children’s shows now airs in 120 countries, and the new album showcases its worldwide reach.
There are songs from Israel, Palestine, Tanzania, South Africa, France, China, Russia, Mexico, the Netherlands, India and the United States. Concierge is especially fond of the “Pollution Song” from South Africa: a ditty about cleaning up after yourself. Wouldn’t it be nice if everyone in the world sang along to that?
Headed to Provence? Bring Your Old Francs
by Eva Holland | 10.17.08 | 1:49 PM ET
Time to dust off the foreign coin collection. Businesses in the Provence village of Collobrieres are now accepting Francs, the Times of London reports. The Times article suggests that the move is a backlash against Euro-era inflation, but in this France 24 news clip, the villagers deny that they are rebels with a cause:
Louvre, Pompidou Expanding in France and Overseas
by Eva Holland | 10.15.08 | 3:47 PM ET
The two prominent Paris museums have both announced plans for provincial annexes, in Lens and Metz respectively. Meanwhile, Abu Dhabi’s “Louvre of the Sands” (which we’ve mentioned before) remains in the works, and a Pompidou outpost will also be popping up in Shanghai.
Photo by ruiwen via Flickr (Creative Commons)