Photo Of The Day: Venice Of The East
In travel media, we hear a lot of city comparisons: Ljubljana is the new Prague. Shanghai aims to be the Paris of the East. Looking at today’s Photo of the Day, you’ll think, “Wow, that looks like Venice. But in the East!” Taken by Flickr user Ver Argulla in western Thailand, the photo shows the floating market of Damnoen Saduak. Its proximity to Bangkok has made it a big tourist attraction, and while it may have lost its authenticity as a market for locals to grow and sell food, it still makes for a stunning photo.
Show us the next Rome of the North, and add your travel photos to the Gadling Flickr pool for the next Photo of the Day.
[Photo credit: Flickr user Ver Argulla Jr]
When It Comes To Travel Apps, Value Is In The Eye Of The User
In a continuing quest to find travel apps that actually do something unique and are worth the time to load and learn, we head in a different direction today.
About this time last year, we introduced HipGeo, a free iPhone and iPad app that passively records our location as we travel, then mashes photos and comments made along the way into an animated map and travel diary for sharing. I tested the HipGeo app on a cruise through Scotland, Wales, Ireland and France over the summer with Azamara Club Cruises and found the app to be quite accurate. HipGeo nailed the trip, right down to our outbound flight from Newark to Edinburgh that taxied to and from the runway a number of times before taking off 18 hours later.
At the time, HipGeo’s chief product guy, Rich Rygg told CNET “If Tumblr and Foursquare had a baby, it would look like the new HipGeo.” I found that to be an accurate claim, used HipGeo on a couple other trips and that was that.
New to the scene, LiveTrekker is what looks at first glance to be a travel app similar to HipGeo. LiveTrekker came promoted as “the perfect application to capture, share and relive your journey to family and friends,” in a press release. I thought of all the time it took to learn HipGeo and was about to dismiss LiveTrekker as one of the same when one feature caught my eye.The press release went on to say LiveTrekker has the capability of capturing what we see and experience on a trip in “exact geographical context with unparalleled detail.” Now this was something new.
Rather than simply taking the existing technology, repackaging it and performing the same function as HipGeo and other travel apps already on the market, LiveTrekker has some unique features worth a look.
Available for iPhone and Android smart phones, LiveTrekker lets travelers capture, share (in real-time or not) and relive their journey. Unique to LiveTrekker, and possibly worth the switch from competitors, is the app’s ability to note what direction the camera was pointed when taking a photo, enabling it to draw on rich resources for great detail in what it displays.
Other unique features include the ability to choose between satellite, map or Google Street view on playback. A live, working relationship with the LiveTrekker website complements the app with rich resources. The ability to search, relive, edit and share our best experiences at will makes LifeTrekker an interactive online travel diary that we can do something with too.
Say I have a friend who is totally into castles. On our Scotland trip, we ran across a good number of them but HipGeo gave me no way to send just that part of the recorded journey. LifeTrekker does.
Is LiveTrekker an app that actually does something different? It appears to be. Still, as with all travel apps, the value to the individual user comes from its speed, accuracy and ability to perform a function that adds to our travel experience.
My friend who physically writes in a hardbound travel journal would have no use for this, nor would a number of others I know who simply won’t take the time to learn how to use it.
What about you?
Do you have travel apps you just can’t do without? Or if given the chance, would you rather just leave your smartphone at home? Tell us here with a comment.
Want to know more about LiveTrekker? Check this video:
[Photo credit- Flickr user csaila]
Ancient ‘Toilet Paper’ Discovered In Fishbourne Roman Palace
An examination of some strange ceramic disks found at the Fishbourne Roman Palace is changing how we look at some of the most private aspects of Roman life.
Excavations at the palace in the past 50 years have uncovered dozens of pieces of broken pottery that had been deliberately shaped into flat disks. Archaeologists tentatively called them gaming pieces but were never convinced that was correct. Now a new study published in the British Medical Journal suggests they were used to wipe Roman ass crack.
Palace curator Dr. Rob Symmons said in a press release, “Obviously, we will have to think about re-classifying these objects on our catalogue and then we will look into a scientific analysis to identify any tell-tale residues that prove that these objects were used for anal cleaning. Which should be fun.”
Perhaps dip them in water and sniff?
It was already known that the Romans used sponges soaked in vinegar on the end of a stick to wash their rear ends. Ceramic disks wouldn’t have been as hygienic (or comfortable) but could have worked.
Fishbourne in West Sussex is the largest Roman villa in Britain. Built in the first century A.D., its floors were decorated with elaborate mosaics that are in a remarkable state of preservation. It’s unclear who lived there. Archaeologists have suggested either a Roman governor or a local British chieftain who threw in his lot with the conquerors. The palace burnt down around the year 270.
[Photo courtesy Fishbourne Roman Palace]
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Cake Walk: A Stroll Through America’s Junk Food Museums
It’s a well-kept secret that Americans are junk food aficionados. What with all our time spent in fitness pursuits and our outstanding universal healthcare system, it might come as a shock that some of us sneak the occasional treat. Luckily, for those of us who might not like to taste but still like the scene, this country of health-food nuts and cardio kings does offer a wide variety of museums dedicated to that little-known American art form – the carbohydrate.
From the newly opened Pizza Brain museum in Philadelphia to the Biedenharn Coca-Cola Museum in Vicksburg, Mississippi, Americans have preserved our carb-laden legacy for time immemorial. Here are five museums serving up eye candy, and in one case, actual candy.
Opened in September 2012, Pizza Brain in Philadelphia is not your average artisanal pizza shop; it’s also home to the world’s largest collection of pizza memorabilia. “If you think about it,” says co-founder Bryan Dwyer, “pizza really is this like life force, the great communicator and equalizer.” The inspiration for the shop and museum came from an exhibition of pizza art that Dwyer commissioned two-and-a-half years ago. One chef, a couple investors, a mountain of pizza paraphernalia, and a Guinness World Record later, the shop and museum serve the good people of Philly, who continue to bring in items for display. (The collection now numbers in the thousands.) Dwyer’s current favorite: a custom-made wooden toilet seat, painted as a “giant pizza creature” and autographed by the artist. Other items include photos, videos (“Mystic Pizza,” anyone?), and a variety of ‘za-loving action figures.
Kuyper Cake Collection, Southern Food and Beverage Museum
New Orleans, LA
If you’re a cake aficionado, you may already be aware of the drama surrounding the famed Kuyper cake collection – the 150 specimen cakes (that is, frosting on foam “cake”) amassed by Frances Kuyper, the “Cake Lady,” over decades at her Pasadena home, where she hosted cake decorating lessons. When Kuyper passed away in 2010, the fate of the cakes was uncertain. Susan Holtz – of the Culinary Department of the Occupational Center in the Division of Adult and Career Education of the Los Angeles Unified School District – rescued them and in late 2012, donated them to the Southern Food and Beverage Museum in New Orleans. “We pretty much saved it from the dumpster,” says museum president and director Liz Williams. The collection currently consists of about 75 cakes, half of which are displayed on a rotating basis as part of “Tout de Sweet: All About Sugar Exhibit.” Williams’ favorites include a cake replica of the Great Barrier Reef, a cake covered in pansies, and a replica of the Pasadena City Hall. The exhibit as a whole speaks to “sugar as a medium to do something that’s really extraordinary,” says Williams.
Blue Bunny Ice Cream Parlor and Museum
Le Mars, IA
Like others on our list, the Blue Bunny Ice Cream Parlor and Museum in Le Mars is home to treats both edible and otherwise. While you could try to munch on their larger-than-life ice cream sundae statue or one of their interactive exhibits about the history of Wells (who makes Blue Bunny), they wouldn’t be as tasty as the ice cream, and you’d probably perish. The first floor holds an ice cream bar with seating indoors and out, while a “grand staircase” takes you up to a second level of seating and exhibit kiosks, historical photos, videos and other pieces. In 2012 alone, 184,000 people visited the parlor and museum, where the leading flavor is, inconceivably, vanilla.
Biedenharn Coca-Cola Museum
Vicksburg, MS
Perhaps the most “American” of beverages, Coca-Cola was first bottled in Vicksburg, Mississippi, in 1894 at a factory owned by the Biedenharn family. And while the Coca-Cola no longer flows like wine here, visitors can stop by the original plant for a refreshing glass of history. In 1979, the Biedenharn family, who had sold the building years earlier, bought it back, renovated it and donated it to the Vicksburg Foundation for Historic Preservation. Hundreds of pieces make up the collection, which features a reproduction of the bottling process, including carbonation and bottle-filling (which was a dangerous gig to have in the plant, as apparently bottles tended to explode); original bottles; sales equipment like mini-coolers and advertising literature; commemorative glasses, trays, pocket knives, lamps – you see where this is going. There’s even a showcase on Coca-Cola and Christmas. According to foundation executive director Nancy H. Bell, “What we think of today as what Santa Claus looks like is really from Coca-Cola advertising.” Well, now we’re re-evaluating our entire childhood, so thanks, Nancy.
Schimpff’s Confectionery and Candy Americana Museum
Jeffersonville, IN
You think you love candy? Well, we guarantee that Warren and Jill Schimpff of Schimpff’s Confectionery love it more – a lot more. Warren is a fourth-generation candy man and owner of the store, which has been making and selling sweets at the same location since 1891. For nearly 50 years he and his wife Jill have been collecting candy and candy-making memorabilia. Thirteen years ago they decided to move their collection to the store: tins, tubs, crates, glass toy candy containers (some with 70-year-old candy still inside), barrels, jars, boxes, advertising, candy-making equipment, including turn-of-the-century brass drop-roll dies for hard candy making, ribbon candy machines … the list goes on. “It’s the history of the U.S. candy industry as told by its advertising and packaging,” says Jill. One of Jill’s favorites is still in use today – a 1921 candy vending machine. Jill personally leads free tours of the store and museum for groups large and small. And after gazing on thousands of pieces of candy history, it would take an iron will to leave without a few homemade sweets at the Schimpff’s store. Go ahead, we won’t tell.
[Photo Credits: Pizza Brain: Marie Alyse Rodriguez; Kuyper Cakes: Southern Food and Beverage Museum; Blue Bunny: Wells Enterprises, Inc; Biedenharn Coca-Cola Museum; Schimpff’s Confectionery]