A Travel Blog from the Editors of T+L
Posts by
Mark Orwoll
My favorite new online travel tool is called “Can I Bring It Back?,” developed by the UK government to inform British citizens what to leave behind when returning from their foreign travels. A recent survey of English travelers found that more than half of the respondents wanted more information on what was OK to bring home and what might be confiscated at customs.
For years I wondered about the rusting, abandoned old hulk of a railroad bridge that spans New York’s Hudson River between Poughkeepsie on the east bank and Lloyd on the west, about 70 miles north of Manhattan. Like a stark stretch of fishnet stocking linking the two shores, the underdeck truss bridge, built in 1888, was devastated by fire in 1974. Left to deteriorate for more than 30 years, the bridge symbolized the decline of Poughkeepsie itself.
No longer.
People just can’t get enough of Oktoberfest—from shouting out “Zigga-zagga zigga-zagga hoy hoy hoy!” and singing, “Ein Prosit, ein Prosit, gemutlichkeit!” endlessly (and endlessly, and…) to doing the Chicken Dance while drinking beer with Homer Simpson. Or is it just me?
The original Oktoberfest, in Munich (above), kicks off this Saturday, September 19, and runs through October 4. But if you can’t be in Germany this year because you’re traveling, chances are pretty good there’s an Oktoberfest celebration wherever you’ll be. Here, some of the more interesting fall beer-fests in some unlikely locations:
The streets of Reno, Nevada, resembled the final scenes of a Quentin Tarantino bloodfest this weekend by the time the local fire department arrived to hose down the squishy red residue of 50,000 pounds of squashed tomatoes left clinging to the sidewalks and shopfronts of the Biggest Little City in the World. More than 5,000 people wound up their pitching arms on Saturday to hurl tomatoes at one another and at city officials in what is being called the largest food fight in North America, La Tomatina.
Pardon us for being a bit tardy on this, but when you’re on the kangaroo beat here at Carry On you don’t really expect to handle much in the way of news. Sometimes, honestly, we’re caught napping. So you’ll forgive us if the following tidbit is several weeks old.
A few months ago we reported that a number of kangaroos had escaped from an Australian theme park in southern France (yes, that’s correct) and gone romping through the countryside near Carcassonne before they were rounded up and returned to their rightful roost. We’re not sure if that was the beginning of a trend, but several weeks ago another rebel ‘roo, this one named Will, flew the coop from his home in the village of Gente.
Let’s say it’s 5:30 p.m. on a hot, lazy Monday afternoon in a cool corner of Langan’s pub, on West 47th Street in Manhattan. We cozy up to a pint of Guinness and from under our arm pull out the papers we’ve been toting, our links to the auld sod, where the news is not of universal health care and auto industry bailouts, but of things closer to the Gaelic heart and the fiery Irish temper.
The Irish Examiner, “America’s Leading Irish Newspaper,” describes government plans to alter the hooligan laws. At last! Among the proposals: a hefty fine for singing “hateful songs” or invading a pitch. Thoughtfully, the plan would apply to soccer, rugby and GAA (Gaelic Athletic Association) stadiums the length and breadth of the republic.
Jacques Pepin, one of the world’s most famous chefs and one of the few who has not previously attached his name to a restaurant, announced yesterday that he will open a signature French bistro aboard the new 1,258-passenger Oceania Cruises’ Marina when it launches late next year. The bistro, to be called Jacques, will seat approximately 80 guests and will serve Pepin’s signature dishes like pumpkin soup a l'Anglaise served in a pumpkin shell and free-range chicken cooked on a rotisserie. The hallmarks of Pepin’s cuisine are simplicity and high-quality ingredients.
What is being touted as the most luxurious train in the world is now accepting bookings for its first season. And trust me, this ain’t Amtrak.
The Maharajas’ Express has four itineraries of six and seven nights and takes passengers to some of the
most exotic destinations on the subcontinent, including Jaipur, Agra
(home to the Taj Mahal), Varanasi, Delhi, Mumbai, and Udaipur (voted
the best city in the known universe in the 2009 World’s Best Awards), among many others.
When it comes to German beer, I have some experience--and the scars to prove it. I once received a dozen stitches in my scalp from a misunderstanding with a car door after a long day at Oktoberfest. I have had my hand stomped on by an elderly woman in a drunken crowd of revelers while downing Kölsch at Karneval in Cologne. At the oldest bier hall in Munich, I pulled a back muscle while tapping a massive wooden beer keg (in only two strokes!) with a 20-pound wooden mallet. 
What I have not done, however, is roam the hillsides of Bavaria in search of the finest Noble Hallertau Mittelfrueh hops, or watch how the artisans at Bamberg’s Schlenkerla Brewery concoct their wondrous smoked beer, or explore the history and artifacts at the German Hops Museum in Wolnzach. I confess I have never witnessed the malting process.
It’s enough to make you weep.
But that’s easily corrected on the seven-day Samuel Adams Hopfenpflücken (“hop-picking”) Adventure, organized by the high-end tour company Abercrombie & Kent.
The Fiat 500 gets my vote for the car you’d most like to hug, a car that threatens to unload 17 tumbling clowns when it pulls into the middle of the Big Top. Just looking at one makes you want to buy a ticket to Italy—or at least a DVD of Gidget Goes To Rome. The 500 is so small and inexpensive it seems to shout, “I’m a death-defying cheapskate and I don’t care who knows it.” In other words, a perfect car to be introduced into the United States in these trying times.
