Wine, Waves & Flies

  Eight centuries ago the Spanish town of Girona had to choose between being infested with flies or infested with French. They went with flies. It was in the year 1285. The story goes that during the Aragonese Crusade Girona fell to French forces, who immediately set off for the collegiate of Saint Felix, where lay the uncorrupted body of the city's patron saint, St. Narcissus. Legend has it that to celebrate their victory the French soldiers desecrated the body of the revered holy man. Suddenly a horde of flies appeared and swarmed the French. According to the graphic description by Bernat Desclot, a monk from Ripoll who "jotted ... [Read More]

Hit by a Tram in Prague

I recall stepping out into a Prague street. I recall lying on my back, staring up into the underside of a tram as pain seared through my body. I just don’t recall what happened in between. It turns out that just before strolling out onto Vyšehradská Street, a one-way thoroughfare near our hotel, I looked right, into traffic, to ensure the way was clear. Being a one-way street I didn’t look left. An unfortunate oversight since next to the three one-way lanes there was a tram lane, heading the opposite direction, with a huge tram bearing down on me at full speed. I stepped  directly into its path. My ... [Read More]

Size matters in the Canary Islands

   I arrived in the Tenerife, largest of the Canary Islands, to the following message from my colleague in Barcelona: "Mr. Jones! I think you made my eruption!" I couldn't think of any way to translate that into something I wanted to hear, so I declined to respond. Sometime later I received the following correction: "Sorry, I meant the eruption! You hear about volcano?" This made me simultaneously relieved and nervous. It turned out that just as Soo and I were arriving in the Canary Islands an underwater volcano erupted, near the Island of El Hierro, forcing the evacuation of more than 600 local resisdents. (El Hierro hasn't had the easiest of ... [Read More]

Adventures in Traveling

  There are a lot of airlines on earth. Some are good (Delta, Qantas), some are excellent (Emirates, Singapore), and some are utter crap. Sliding futilely into the latter position I present Vueling, a low-budget Spanish airline duking it out with Air India for the top spot on my ranking of world’s worst ways to fly. On what should have been a quick, easy domestic flight from Barcelona to Tenerife in the Canary Islands, Vueling instead set about mashing up our journey from the first opportunity, and never let up. Once at the airport Soo and I proceeded to the Iberia desk, since we had Iberia tickets. Some readers ... [Read More]

Style, service and sangrias in Spain

  It's easy to like Barcelona (pronounced Barthalona by the locals. Truly – I spent my first two days here convinced everyone had a lisp.) I decided upon arriving in Catalonia's capital city that it was my duty to sample Spain's native drink in as many places as possible. (This perhaps has less to do with the fact that it’s Spanish that it does with my fondness for sampling drinks – tequila in Mexico, grappa in Italy, vodka, well, everywhere. You get the idea.) And I wondered if being full of sangria would, among other things, help me understand the bizarre and wonderful style of Gaudi, the 19th-century architect whose ... [Read More]

Notes on Oktoberfest

It seems I was not alone in being slightly off-put by Oktoberfest this year. I suspect those carted off after a drunken brawl were a tad miffed, too. They’re common enough that police only record the ones that involve someone having a beer stein smashed into his head (there were 58 this year), but cram a jillion drunks into a small space and fights will happen. The Italians are considered the biggest troublemakers, the Germans and Russians the most likely to break into song. There were 48 children lost during Oktoberfest this year, but all were eventually found. It’s not true that many of these were simply traded ... [Read More]

Oktoberfest and the Madness of King Ludwig

    It seems I'm becoming irritable and dull in my old age. I recall once enjoying Oktoberfest, but this year the annual celebration of beer evolved from raucous fun to annoying frat-party. Munich, the birthplace of Oktoberfest, is home to 1.4 million permanent residents. More than seven million visitors showed up for the annual two-week beer-swilling festival this year, of which I believe about 4 million should be shot. None of these people whose demise would considerably improve society have personalities much improved by the addition of alcohol, nor is their regard for personal space. The 14 beer-tents seat about 100,000 people, leaving the rest to mill around the 100-acre ... [Read More]

Sex and Drugs in Amsterdam

  No city home to both the Sex Museum and the Vodka Museum could fail to be entertaining. Amsterdam doesn’t disappoint. The best way to navigate Amsterdam is by bike (Amsterdam is perhaps the most bicycle-friendly city on earth, with bike paths along nearly every street, and nearly 40% of all commutes around town made on bike. The city even actively discourages traveling within the city by car.) Soo and I weren’t quite that energetic after the sleepless overnight flight, not to mention being genuinely lazy, so we opted for the second-best way, by boat. Known as “The Venice of the North,” Amsterdam has more than 1,500 bridges spanning ... [Read More]

The Abbey, the Taxis and the Troll

  Samuel Johnson once said of London, “When a man is tired of London, he is tired of life.” And so, still rather enjoying my life, I was decidedly pleased to return to London for one last night before heading home to the U.S. The cab driver that zipped me through the city to my hotel was predictably friendly and efficient. London’s specially-designed iconic black cabs are without doubt the world’s best. They’re roomy, comfortable, can seat five people, and almost always come with an exceedingly polite, friendly driver who knows precisely how to get to your destination in the least amount of time possible. As if out to prove this point, the driver ... [Read More]

The Castle, The Sherlock and The Shakespeare

  It’s said that Edinburgh Castle “dominates its city like no other castle in Europe.” I’ve seen only a handful of castles in Europe, but after spending two days in Edinburgh, I can’t disagree. The castle sits atop a steep volcanic rock and has been used as a stronghold for nearly 3,000 years, making it the oldest continuously fortified position in all of Britain. The oldest structure still intact is St. Margaret’s Chapel, in the middle of the castle grounds, built around 1130. Edinburgh Castle was the scene of countless bloody sieges throughout the centuries, especially during the long wars with England, and many kings and queens of Scotland ... [Read More]