Destination: Italy
What We Loved This Week: Christmas in Germany, ‘Slumdog Millionaire’ and More
by World Hum | 12.19.08 | 4:33 PM ET
Photo by Terry Ward 
Email to friend
del.icio.us
Digg
Facebook
Furl
Ma.gnolia
Mixx
Reddit
StumbleUpon
Yahoo! BuzzMorning Links: Taj to Reopen, ‘The Pervert’s Grand Tour’ and More
by Michael Yessis | 12.16.08 | 9:38 AM ET
- The Taj Hotel, one of the Mumbai sites stormed by terrorists last month, plans to reopen some of its rooms Sunday night.
- Joe Brancatelli writes: “Like it or not, acts of terror aimed at travelers and the places they frequent are very good business tactics indeed.”
- Rome and Milan are now connected by the high-speed Red Arrow train.
- Tony Perrottet continues his Pervert’s Grand Tour at Slate. “Sex,” he writes, “Sex has always been the unspoken inspiration for travel.”
- Delta adds WiFi to some East Coast shuttle flights. The airline says it will make its entire fleet wireless by the middle of next year.
- Robbie Knievel will jump the volcano at the Mirage in Las Vegas on his motorcycle on New Year’s Eve. I’ve been to Vegas on New Year’s Eve. This will not be the craziest thing that happens that night.
Eight Best Cities for Street Food
by Terry Ward | 12.15.08 | 12:16 AM ET
iStockphoto Terry Ward lifts the lid on a few of the world's tastiest places to eat the people's cuisine
Plato Was a Backpacker
by Frank Bures | 12.15.08 | 12:10 AM ET
Frank Bures looks a long way back to fellow traveler Plato and the seeds of wisdom
Venice, Italy: St. Marks Square
by World Hum | 12.14.08 | 4:38 PM ET
REUTERS/Manuel Silvestri This month's floods are the worst Venice has experienced in 20 years. But travelers were urged to see St. Marks via walkway, or buy high water packages -- room and rubber boots for 190 euros.
Venice: Souvenir Vendors Could Go the Way of the Pigeons
by Eva Holland | 12.05.08 | 6:21 AM ET
Look out, Venetian vendors of cheap tourist tat. Your canal-side stalls (“fully-fledged examples of urban decay,” according to the city council) are the next target in the city’s ongoing crusade against all things ugly or rude. Local authorities in Venice have already showed the flocks of pigeons and shirtless, napping tourists who’s boss.
Venice ‘Paralyzed’ by Worst Flooding in 20 Years
by Michael Yessis | 12.02.08 | 5:20 PM ET
The Times of London reports that 95 percent of the city is underwater. Travelers are being warned to stay away, though some who are already in Venice are reportedly making the best of the situation.
Venice: The War on Impropriety Continues
by Eva Holland | 11.11.08 | 8:57 AM ET
Buoyed by their recent victory against the St. Mark’s pigeons, local authorities in Venice are once again turning their attention to the battle against uncivilized tourists. We’ve covered their clampdown on bare chests, littering and public naps—now, the new targets include fare-dodgers on the vaporetti, bag lunches in the piazzas, and all those folks who don’t give up their seats for pregnant women and the elderly.
Birds Hit Plane, Force Emergency Landing
by Valerie Conners | 11.10.08 | 10:09 AM ET
A Ryanair flight made an emergency landing at Rome’s Ciampino airport after multiple birds struck the aircraft, damaging the plane’s landing gear and an engine. The incident caused the airport to temporarily close.
Venice Declares Victory in War on Pigeons
by Eva Holland | 10.03.08 | 11:30 AM ET
Good news from the Telegraph: since Venice’s pigeon-feeding ban came into effect this past spring, the pesky pigeon population in St. Mark’s Square has dropped from 20,000 to just 1000. City councilors are also reporting progress in the campaign against un-decorous tourists.
Photo by Il conte di Luna via Flickr (Creative Commons)
‘Only One Man Can Save Venice: Mickey Mouse’
by Michael Yessis | 10.01.08 | 5:23 PM ET
John Kay proposed turning Venice, Italy into a Disney theme park. The idea didn’t fly, but the British economist did win 5,000 euros from the Istituto Veneto and praise for a “thought-provoking critique.” Kay wrote: “The city is already a theme park and should be handed over to Disney—they would do a better job of running it.”
Related on World Hum:
* ‘Too Many Memories’ in Venice
* Videos: Venice Gondoliers, Mariachis and Bollywood for Barack Obama
Borat (Er, Bruno?) Busted In Italy
by Eva Holland | 09.30.08 | 9:13 AM ET
Borat star Sacha Baron Cohen was arrested in Milan this weekend after leaping onto the runway during a fashion show, the CBC reports. The actor is currently at work on a new movie, but this time, his traveling Kazakh journalist Borat will be replaced by another Cohen favorite—roving Austrian fashion reporter, Bruno. The new flick, the catchy-titled “Bruno: Delicious Journeys Through America for the Purpose of Making Heterosexual Males Visibly Uncomfortable in the Presence of a Gay Foreigner in a Mesh T-Shirt”, is due out next summer. There’s no word yet on another accompanying guidebook.
‘Too Many Memories’ in Venice
by Eva Holland | 09.29.08 | 2:00 PM ET
The Sunday Observer recently published a powerful essay about the author’s first return visit to Venice following her husband’s death. “I was living in a new house in London, had new friends, had a new, more profound relationship with my daughters, and had visited new places,” Sheila Hancock writes. “But fear of looking back on our lives together was beginning to limit my horizons. I needed to venture to a place where in the past I had been supremely happy with John. I decided to go to Venice.” Update: Unfortunately, the essay is no longer available.
Videos: Venice Gondoliers, Mariachis and Bollywood for Barack Obama
by World Hum | 09.26.08 | 2:03 PM ET
In that order. We looked for similar videos supporting John McCain and couldn’t find any; if you have any, we invite you to post links in the comments section. We’d love to see them.
The Case of the Japanese Tourists and the Graffiti at the Duomo
by Michael Yessis | 09.19.08 | 7:11 AM ET
The Financial Times has a fascinating rundown of an incident earlier this year involving Japanese tourists in Florence, Italy. The visitors, who were mostly students, added their names to a marble wall at the Duomo, which “has become an accepted, if not necessarily desired, activity in Florence,” writes Lindsay Whipp.