Nick hall is a 21-year-old photography student traveling across Europe and posting his experiences on the Guardian
site. He just finished a whirlwind tour of Scandinavia that seemed to have him flying more than actually spending time
in country. In this entry,
Nick searches for the midnight sun in Norway as he heads to Tromsø, the most northern university town in the world . (A
city that, incidentally, has more bars per capita than any other town in Norway). And in
this entry, he is off to the
Estonian city of Tallinn and the island of Saaremaa, which, I confess, really
piqued my interest…its selling points are “bread, beer and windmills.”
Thai Cooking – in Bangkok
Ever wanted to know how to make a wicked pad thai? Or to sizzle
the taste buds of a dinner guest with a tongue-searing chicken curry? Well, you could probably take Thai cooking
classes somewhere at a local community college or in the city, but why not bundle the experience with a trip to Bangkok
instead?
Thai cooking is easily some of the best cuisine on the planet. The Thais have an aptitude with things culinary that
just about nobody beats. Maybe Indian food compares. Maybe some Mexican food. The
BaiPai school is very well respected. And few places compare with Bangkok as a
setting for learning how to cook, not to mention you can hit the school, then cruise out to the islands for a few days
to chill and reflect on all you’ve learned. And the BaiPai Cooking School is very well respected.
A Most Heavenly Cup of Coffee
While you may not catch the Pope here waiting in line for an espresso, there is apparently
a fairly new cafe at the top of
St. Peter’s Basilica in Vatican City. This place of heavenly coffee, said Reuters, is little known indeed, being
“open to tourists who have already visited the top of Michelangelo’s dome and who want to stop for a coffee or soft
drink on their way back down to earth.”
Services at the cafe are apparently pretty basic, but the views from the rooftop location to the Tiber River and
beyond are amazing.
Wine Tour on the Rhone
In the spirit of the holidays and all the drinking that is likely to be done,
MSNBC offers a piece on wine tours in the Rhone. Traveling up the
river’s wending backbone, the author drives north from Aix-en-Provence through pleasant (notice I did not use the
world “quaint”) Rhone villages before finishing the tour in the northern town of Ampuis. The tour takes you
through little places with names like Gigondas, Mauves, Vacqueyras and Beaumes de Venise, where one, persumably not
while driving, can sample the delicious wares of some famous and not-so-famous French wineries. Along the way, helpful
vintners explain the process by which they wring potent potables from innocuous-looking globular fruit. Education and
innebriation have never gone together so well.
American Airlines: No More Free Lunch
Beginning what is likely to be a popular trend in the airline
industry, American
Airlines has said it will start charging for food. I say, it’s about bloody time. For years as the more
fleet-of-foot discount airlines have eaten their lunch, the major airlines have been trawling out their foul-tasting
(or is that fowl-tasting) chicken or pasta to people who, if I may exaggerate, don’t really want it, and who would have
gladly taken a discount on their fare over the food. Of course, you’re not likely to see any savings because all the
major airlines are having such tough economic times because of afore-mentioned discount carriers. BUT, the move will
save American about $30 million a year (that much for rubbery chicken breast and wilted, white salad scraps? Man,
they’ve been getting ripped off.)
Anyway, the food sales will be available on domestic flights longer than three hours and will replace existing coach
food service on 120 transcontinental and 40 Hawaii flights. First class meals remain complimentary (as does the fine
dishware and more genuine smiles from service staff), but the airline will stop all special meal requests on all
non-transcontinental flights. Non-alcoholic beverages in coach remain complimentary…so you’ve got that going for you,
which is nice.
No word on whether the food that you’ll now have to pay for will remain as crappy as it’s always been.