What We Loved This Week: Pico Iyer, the Cowsills and Bonfire Hopping in Germany

Travel Blog • World Hum • 03.28.08 | 4:01 PM ET

World Hum contributors share a favorite travel-related experience from the past seven days.

Jim Benning
I spent the last couple of days snowboarding in Mammoth, and it’s been great fun. But one of the highlights of the trip was the drive north up Highway 395. I happened to be listening to Terry Gross’ interview with Pico Iyer about the Dalai Lama, and with the snowy peaks all around me, somehow I felt closer to the Himalayas than I had in a long time.

Eva Holland
The Cowsills, a 1960s family singing group said to be the inspiration for The Partridge Family, are a little before my time. Still, I’m familiar with their most famous single—“Hair”—and so I was thrilled (amused?) to be introduced to younger sibling Susan Cowsill in a Frenchmen Street bar in New Orleans this week. Sure, she’s no Brad Pitt, but it’s nice to have my first New Orleans celebrity encounter under my belt. Here’s the song:

Joanna Kakissis
I returned from the Aegean island of Samos on Monday all set to write an angry blog post about what I didn’t love at a hotel there. Here’s the short version: I have to wake up at 4:30 a.m. on Monday to catch a flight back to Athens, but am jarred by a louder-than-thou bouzouki band in the conference room. At 1:30 a.m., I beg the front desk clerk for mercy and get moved to the fourth floor. I lay down in my new bed and prepare to sleep. But then a terrible sound begins in the next room. Is it Jabba the Hut in heat? Jabba does not stop and I do not sleep. I feel cursed and so I curse. I return home and I scrawl angry, vengeful thoughts in my journal. But as I write, I also calm down. I forget Jabba and the bouzouki nightmare and instead begin to detail a striking statue of a Samos native, the mathematician Pythagoras, in Pythagorio, a sweet little village named after him. Here’s a photo from the Pythagorio promenade, where the statue stands. You can see mainland Turkey in the background and the moody spring sea that cooled my seething heart.

Terry Ward
Going bonfire hopping near the village of Werther (yup, of the buttery candy fame) in Germany. In this region, it’s a ritual to hold huge bonfires in farmers’ fields the evening of Easter Sunday, with the whole community turning out to drink gluwein and toss back beers while huddling close to the flames. The tradition dates to at least the 16th century, with the roaring fires symbolizing the driving out of winter and bad spirits. One of the bonfires I went to had a carnival-like atmosphere, with a merry-go-round, dance floor and hundreds of revelers. Another was an intimate gathering of neighbors grilling bratwursts under a small tent. Other blazes could be seen dotting the hillsides. And everyone I talked to asked if we had the same tradition in America.

Kevin Capp
I went to the Vera Project to check out a showcase of Seattle hip-hop artists, including a young, hyperactive guy named GMK and a bespectacled dude with a pair of canons for lungs dubbed Grynch. The Emerald City’s hip-hop scene is slowly gaining national prominence, which, as a spectator, makes you feel like you’re a part of something special. Sadly, this show was designed to raise money for the funeral costs of a young murder victim. To quote the crowd: “R.I.P. Chris Chandler.”

Michael Yessis
I love this Transport for London campaign to reduce the number of cyclists hurt on London’s roads. Watch closely: