Discount for “poor” Americans at Venice bar

by Anna Brones on

The dollar might be low, but if you make your way to Venice you can count on a discount from Harry’s Bar, the renowned Venetian watering hole said to be the birthplace of the Bellini and Carpaccio, and where Ernest Hemingway himself downed martinis. Offering a discount to “poor” Americans who are suffering from the weak dollar is representative of a growing concern across Europe that a decrease in US tourists will have an effect on the tourism industry.

At the entrance of Harry’s Bar you now find a sign that says, “Harry’s Bar of Venice, in an effort to make the American victims of subprime loans happier, has decided to give them a special 20 percent discount on all items of the menu during the short term of their recovery.”

How bad is the current state of the US dollar? When the euro was first introduced in 2002, one US dollar was worth 1.10 euro. Today the same dollar gets about .64 euro, which makes the price of even a simple meal of nutella and a baguette expensive.

“Since the start of January, we noticed a drop in (American) customers of between five and 10 percent and now that we are in April its looks really frightening,” said Arrigo Cipriani, owner of Harry’s Bar. Then again, what better solution to economic frustration than a refreshing Bellini?

Charlton Heston movie trivia and travel

by Jamie Rhein on

When I read that Charlton Heston died last night, an image of him parting the Red Sea as Moses crossed my mind. “The Ten Commandments” was on TV just two weeks ago. While channel flipping, I came across it and he was just getting ready to hold up that staff. According to the New York Times article, the scene where he came down from the mountain with the Ten Commandment tablets was filmed at Mount Sinai.

“Planet of the Apes” has several locations you can also go to and might recognize if you watch the movie. The scene with the top of the Statue of Liberty resting in the sand was filmed in a cove near Point Dume at Zuma in Malibu. The rest of the desert scenes were filmed around Lake Powell (where the spaceship crashed and the crew went to land), Glen Canyon and Page, Utah. I’ve driven through these places and they are gorgeous. I can imagine back in the 60s they were less traveled than today. Malibu Creek State Park was where the ape village was built. Fox Studios use to own the property. Here’s Charlton Heston’s World, a Web site I came across that has several “Planet of the Apes” photos and audio clips.

Other trivia. If you head to Rome, you’ll be near where the chariot race in “Ben-Hur “was filmed at Cinecittà Studios and the Sistine Chapel where Heston played Michaelangelo in The Agony and the Ecstasy.

As an interesting aside, not movie related, Charlton Heston was involved in the Civil Rights March on Washington with Martin Luther King Jr. With Martin Luther King Jr’s assassination 40 years-ago, just the day before yesterday, and Heston’s death the day after, that struck me. I don’t know why. It just did.

Alitalia deal dumped by Air France-KLM

by Iva Skoch on

For a while there, it almost looked like Air France–KLM was actually going to buy Alitalia and dig them out of their ongoing financial problems. Alitalia has been losing $1.6 million a day for more than a year. Grant wrote about the KLM-Alitalia deal just a few weeks ago.

Unfortunately, Air France-KLM ended their negotiations with Aitalia after Alitalia’s unions balked, The Wall Street Journal reports. As a result, the Italian airline’s chairman resigned.

You could just see how this whole thing unfolded in Italy. Silvio Berlusconi, currently campaigning to become Italy’s eccentric prime minister again, thought that KLM was just not offering enough for the national pride that Alitalia is. Looking at it through KLM’s eyes, they could care less about national pride; they wanted a good investment.

Well, if Berlusconi does get reelected, one of the first things he might have to do is place Alitalia under a government-appointed organization. Air Silvio, anyone?

Strike now, while Naples is hurting!

by Grant Martin on

Following a well publicized trash crisis in Naples earlier this year, tourism has plummeted in the Southern Italian city. Despite the fact that rubbish has been cleaned up and the streets are cleaner than ever, images of the garbage bags piled high in the streets have driven tourists away and the hotels and restaurants are now empty.

Which is exactly why it’s time to go to Naples. Hotels expect to be booked at 30% of capacity through the summer, so they and anything related to tourism alike are going to be hurting for business. So you can probably get a great deal on packages to the city while demand is low.

If you’re quick, you might even be able to get in on one of the recent deals that hotels have been offering: since street crime has been so out of hand over the last years, some properties have been giving away plastic watches to wear on the street instead of wearing your expensive jewelery.

A cheap hotel room AND a free watch? What a bargain!

Big in Japan: Eating Mozzarella cheese can kill you

by Matthew Firestone on

Forgive the sensational title of today’s blog, but I am a serious foodie when it comes to all things Italian…

After all, few things in life hit the spot quite like an authentic Italian antipasto of parma ham, buffalo mozzarella and marinated red peppers.

So, you can imagine my shock and surprise when I discovered that my local supermarket here in Tokyo was no longer selling mozzarella cheese.

After making this horrific discovery, I quickly asked the store clerk where I could find this necessary ingredient for my antipasto in the making.

What was their response you ask?

Well, quite simply that Japan has decided to ban all imports of Italian buffalo mozzarella cheese following the discovery of high levels of dioxin in the cheese.

Yikes!

(Interestingly enough, the store clerk then recommended that I try using sharp cheddar cheese instead of mozzarella in my antipasto!)

Anyway, turns out that as of yesterday, the Japanese Ministry of Health has been impounding all shipments of this delicious cheese after South Korean officials discovered 29 toxic samples.

Dioxin, which is an extremely potent carcinogen, hit the headlines a few years back following the alleged poisoning of Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko.

Needless to say, this is not the kind of chemical you want on your dinner plate!

Last month, Chinese-made dumplings containing pesticides sickened 175 Japanese, which launched the issue of food safety and security into the public spotlight.

Culturally, the Japanese are incessant gourmands, so issues concerning food contamination are not taken lightly here in the Land of the Rising Sun.

So, following a rash of food poisonings in neighboring South Korea, the Japanese government was quick to act.

Each year, Italy produces 33,000 tons of mozzarella, and exports 16 percent of that (or approximately 329 tons) to Japan.

So, given that there are batches of killer cheese floating around South Korea, which imports a mere 10 tons of the gooey product, the Japanese public is applauding the government’s foresight.

Of course, the Italian government is less than happy as of recent.

Paolo Minster De Castro, Italy’s agriculture minister, is in talks with Japanese, South Korean and European Union officials on the issue.

At an emergency summit in Rome, the Italian health ministry admitted that traces of carcinogenic dioxins had been discovered at some farms in Campania.

Health officials previously stated that herds of water buffalo, whose milk is used to make the cheese, could be ingesting poisons from illegally dumped rubbish.

Dioxins are usually released when plastic is burnt, though they can also seep into groundwater from decomposing rubbish.

However, the Italian government is fiercely denying that the dioxin in the buffalo mozzarella comes from improperly disposed garbage.

In fact, the Italian health ministry even went as far as to reassure the public that the problems were “limited and contained.”

For those of you living in Japan, my suggestion is to pass on mozzarella for awhile, even though the problem has thus far been limited to the buffalo variety.

And, for anyone living over in America who is fond of Italian food, perhaps you might want to consider going out for Thai this week.

** All images courtesy of the WikiCommons Media Project **