Marry at the House of Juliet, hope for better results

by Tom Johansmeyer on

Finally, there’s a wedding destination for fans of Ishtar, Zima and the Dukakis campaign – among other disasters. If you want a bit of hype to your nuptials, book some space at The House of Juliet. Maybe your marriage will have a little more traction.

Officials in Verona, Italy, where Shakespeare‘s famous play was set, will soon be used for weddings. Daniele Polato, the rocket scientist city official who proposed the program, says, “Verona is known worldwide as the city of love. We have inherited this splendid reputation and we want to promote it.”

Seriously? Splendid reputation? Two teenagers, who barely knew each other married, shacked up and accidentally killed each other. Yep, that’s a horse I’m going to bet on.

Adding your wedding to this fine literary tradition can be as cheap as $770 (for residents of Verona) to $1,280 for people who aren’t EU citizens. City officials claim that the need for more documentation is the reason for the price differences. Weddings could start as early as next month.

400 strip for Aer Lingus tickets, some of them hotties

by Tom Johansmeyer on

Remember that stunt we covered last week … where an anonymous airline was giving away free flights to people who would flash as a flash mob? Well, it was Aer Lingus, and there were only 400 winners. Fortunately, they all seem to be attractive. I’m guessing we didn’t want to see the other 600 anyway.

The strip site, which was kept secret until the last minute, was Jubilee Gardens in London. Thanks to the power of cliché, this St. Patrick’s Day get-together featured shamrocks for the participants to wear. Fortunately, this didn’t stop a few die-hards from going “Full Monty.”

As if anyone cares, the stunt was organized to promote new Aer Lingus routes from Gatwick Airport to Europe, with a tagline of “no hidden extras.” Though, I guess that depends on who was wearing the shamrock.

Weirdest festivals from around the world

by Karen Walrond on

Seven years ago, when I became engaged to my now-husband, Marcus, I took him back home with me to Trinidad & Tobago to meet my parents for the first time, as well as participate in my country’s legendary Carnival. On Carnival Tuesday, as we were dancing in the streets, I said to him smugly:

“See how lucky you are to marry me? You get to visit my country and enjoy fabulous festivals!”

“Ah yes,” he agreed in his English accent, “but one day soon, I’ll take you back to my dad’s home in Gloucester, where we can go to the Cheese-Rolling Festival!”

I looked at him strangely, and attributed his odd response to the hot sun. Cheese-rolling festival? Jeez. Clearly, he needed to lay off the rum.

Turns out, the Gloucester Cheese-Rolling Festival is quite famous: according to MSNBC.com, “In a logic that defies reason, participants of this festival race down a vertiginous hill in pursuit of a 7.8-pound roll of cheese.”

Oookay.

Amazingly, this isn’t even the weirdest festival out there — you can check out some of the other oddball festivals around the world here. And let it be said now, I’m heaving a big sigh of relief that my Marcus is from a small town in England, rather than a small town in Spain, where revelers at one particular festival “parade around town and whip the townspeople, while a cow masquerader runs amok in the crowd.”

Wow.

Moscow luggage handlers lighten load

by Tom Johansmeyer on

What’s going on in Moscow? If you have any valuables in your luggage, they may not be there when you get to the hotel! Well, maybe the odds are better now that police at the city’s main international airport have arrested several luggage handlers suspected of sifting through bags and pocketing the good stuff.

The thefts began in early January at Sheremetyevo Airport. It seems that a daily flight to Sharm el-Sheik, a Red Sea resort in Egypt, was the most popular target. This destination is something of a favorite among Russians. So, the bags on Nord Wind Flight 1921 were lightened a bit, especially of cameras, computers and jewelry.

Police spokeswoman Yelena Starkova was stingy with the details, not revealing how many arrests were made or the value of the stolen goods.

Sauna, rinse, repeat in a Finnish mokki

by Tom Johansmeyer on

Finland isn’t as cold as you’d expect, according to Trevor Corson in The Atlantic Monthly. It’s far enough north that, on this side of the ocean, you’d freeze your ass off on the best of days. But, thanks to the magic of the European climate, it feels a lot like Maine. It’s in this part of the country that the locals find the perfect vacation spot.

Nudity abounds, though of course behind closed doors. Find a mökki (really just a cottage), and spend your time sweating in the local sauna. Apparently, this is fun. It must be, because there are around half a million mökki in Finland – roughly one for every 10 people in the country.

There’s a catch … as there always is. Life in a mökki involves forsaking running water and electricity, and the manliest of men look forward to digging ditches. There’s more than just mileage, it seems, between the exclusive parties of Southampton and the Finnish recreational ideal.

The sauna aspect is something that I’ve never been able to understand. Extreme heat just doesn’t work for me, and when invited to partake of this ritual last summer, I declined (not as politely as I probably should have). But, the Finns swear by it, roasting their bodies and subsequently jumping naked into nearby lakes … rinsing before they repeat.

It’s not for me. Not only do I not hang out in sweat-boxes … I need the rhythms of the city to rock me to sleep.

Are you into this stuff? Not sure? Check out the video after the jump.