Eat, Sleep, Breathe, Travel

Asparagus-mania in Germany

Who likes asparagus? (I do.)

If you like asparagus, you should go to Germany during the next two months. That’s because Germany has just entered Spargelzeit, otherwise known as asparagus season.

This is the first I’ve ever heard of this, which kind of surprises me. (I like to think I’m in-the-know when it comes to food customs around the world, especially in Central Europe.) As it turns out, every year at this time, when asparagus is in season, Germany eats and celebrates all things asparagus (which they call the king of vegetables).

In Berlin it starts with a ceremonial tasting at Brandenburg Gate. From there the asparagus festivities reach epic levels. There is plenty of eating of course—asparagus sausage, asparagus soup, ham with asparagus embedded in it, asparagus ice cream. But it goes beyond food. There are asparagus festivals. There are heated debates about the best ways to cook asparagus. At least one town crowns an annual Asparagus Queen (with crowns of asparagus).

And yes, it does mean that toilets around Germany have a special smell this time of year.

Photo: Spree2010 via Flickr

Olympics in London and more

The Olympics will be in London this summer, and I’ve come across this cool video walking tour of the Olympic Park.

It’s actually kind of a different spin on your average Olympics walking tour. It takes you through an interesting London neighborhood called Hackney, which has historically been very industrial and is now filled with artists.

As for Olympic sites, the video takes you past the huge media headquarters for the Games, as well as the Olympic Stadium, the Aquatic Centre, the walkway where athletes will pass through en route to fame and glory, and the Velodrome (which people are calling the giant Pringle, thanks to its curves).

A lot of EF College Break summer trips will be lucky enough to be in London while the Olympics are going on. For instance, this one and this one and this one. (Check the dates.)

There’s nothing like being in a city when there’s that extra buzz in the air. Even if you’re in a city where the big event isn’t actually happening, it’s special. I can attest to this from my time in Prague during the 2006 World Cup and the 2005 World Ice Hockey Championship. Incredible fun.

Besides the Olympics, there’s another humongous sporting event in Europe this summer: Euro 2012, the huge soccer tournament. People in Europe go nuts for their national teams throughout the tourney, and anyone who’s in Europe between June 8 and July 1 will be a part of it. Like on this trip, or this one, or this one.

Europe will be a fun place to be this summer.

Photo: megoizzy via Flickr

St. Patrick's Day is near

As we speak, EF College Break travelers are in Ireland, gearing up for their big St. Patrick’s Day in Dublin. Yes, we all wish we were there too. You can live vicariously through them by checking out the EFCB Tumblr blog. Travelers are posting live every day from the trips.

For those of us stuck at home, I offer five lesser-known facts about St. Patrick himself and the holiday that bears his name. Here we go:

1. Originally, the color associated with St. Patrick was blue, not green.

2. St. Patrick’s Day is held on March 17 because that’s the day St. Patrick died (back in the 5th century).

3. St. Patrick’s Day wasn’t named an official feast day in Ireland until the 17th century. It became an official public holiday in 1903.

4. For some years in the 20th century, a law in Ireland required that pubs and bars stay closed on March 17, in order to curb excessive drinking. The law was repealed in the 1970s. (Good move.)

5. In the mid-1990s, the Irish government started St. Patrick’s Festival, which showcases the creativity, innovation, and general all-around greatness of the Irish culture. It's been growing ever since.

Dublin is where you'll find the world's biggest St. Patrick’s Day festivities (that’s why the EFCB trip is celebrating there). They have parades, music, performances, and plenty of Guinness to go around.

If that sounds fun, you can do it next year.

Photo: LenDog64 via Flickr (CC)

Crazy Valentine’s Day contest in Thailand

In case you haven’t gotten enough Valentine’s Day hype, I thought I’d direct you to this entertaining bit of Valentine’s Day news from Thailand.

Seven couples are competing in a kissing marathon to see who can stay kissing the longest. To win, couples must remain lip-locked continuously, no exceptions—that includes when going to the bathroom and while eating. They use straws to get food and drink into their mouths.

Incredibly, the current record for this contest is more than two days (set last year by a woman named Lakkana Tiranarat and her husband). 46 hours, 24 minutes and nine seconds to be exact. Now, I like kissing as much as anyone else, but I can think of a lot of other ways I’d rather spend two days. On the other hand, the winning couple gets a diamond ring worth $3,333 and a hotel gift voucher. On the other hand, they may never want to kiss each other again.

The contest started yesterday, and will presumably run through the big day tomorrow, when one lucky couple will be crowned champion. Happy Valentine’s Day.

Photo: rogoyski via Flickr (CC)

A Big Birthday in London

In case you missed it, Tuesday was Charles Dickens’s 200th birthday. Of course, Dickens is considered one of the greatest writers of all time, so there was quite a buzz about it online. Google even honored him by doing their thing with the thing.

I like Charles Dickens. I remember enjoying A Tale of Two Cities, and though I never read A Christmas Carol, the movie Scrooged is definitely a personal favorite. If you’re taking a trip to London this summer, you might soak in some of the Dickens bicentennial excitement.

This article talks about how London itself was the true inspiration for most of Dickens’s works. He grew up in the city after moving there as a child, working in a shoe polish factory from the age of 12. When Dickens was an adult, they say he would spend hours wandering the streets, observing, getting ideas from all he saw around him. One area that played a central role in many of his books was Covent Garden. Back in Dickens’s day it was a real working marketplace. Today it’s a popular shopping area. A different vibe sure, but the same footsteps.

If you really like your Dickens, you can check out the Museum of London’s temporary exhibition called “Dickens and London”. It’s about Dickens and London. The exhibit will be there until June 10. If you miss that, all is not lost. You can still see where he’s buried at Westminster Abbey, you can go on a guided Dickens Walk, and you can wash it all down with a pint at one of several historic Dickensian pubs.

Photos: pandrcutts via Flickr (CC)

Europe will be buzzing with Euro 2012

Going to Europe this June? If so, get ready to be caught up in Euro 2012 fever. The UEFA European Championship (Euro, for short) happens every four years, and it’s the biggest soccer event in Europe after the World Cup. Obviously soccer is huge in Europe, and the Euro championship pits 16 national teams against each other to compete for the ultimate honor. It’s a huge deal. People go nuts for it.

Euro 2012 kicks off on June 8 and lasts three weeks, with the Final played on July 1. The host countries are Poland and the Ukraine, but the whole continent will be buzzing. Lots of EF College Break trip destinations are competing (Greece, Czech Republic, Netherlands, Germany, Spain, Italy, Ireland, France, England), so get ready. It’s a blast watching games, seeing the locals going crazy, feeling the national pride, soaking in the festive atmosphere. And if you’re lucky enough to be in the country that wins the whole thing, well that’ll take the life-long memories to a whole new level.

I’ve experienced big international sporting events while abroad, and there’s nothing quite like it. I was living in Prague during the World Cup, watching tons of games at the beer gardens and pubs around the city. I will never forget being at a beer garden for the semi-final between Italy and Germany, when a table full of Italians sitting next to us went completely bonkers after Italy’s go-ahead goal late in the game. Weirdly, I also remember there was a big spider at the bottom of my beer. (It’s funny the things that stick with you.)

Photo: Radio Nederland Wereldomroep via Flickr (CC)

Paris Fashion Week ends (with zombies)

I’m a lot of things, but fashionista is not one of them. I have no style. That said, I know that many people are fashionable, and that many people are interested in fashion as an industry and an art form, so for you I’m taking note of Paris Fashion Week. It just ended.

Paris Fashion Week happens twice a year, once in the spring and once in the fall. Of course, the main purpose of the event is to unveil all the new fashion designs from the world’s top designers (not to mention all the wheeling and dealing and schmoozing that must go on behind the scenes). This year, the week ended with a catwalk full of zombies.

If you're interested in fashion, I point you to this informative Paris Fashion Week recap provided by Rolling Stone. It seems to give a good summary of some of the new looks.

Needless to say, Paris is famous for its cutting-edge fashion through the centuries. Many historically famous French designers are household names; people like Jean-Paul Gaultier, Christian Dior, Louis Vuitton and Gabrielle “Coco” Chanel. For many travelers, going shopping in Paris is a semi-religious experience, whether it’s hitting the big-name stores on the Champs-Elysées or wandering down side streets looking for unknown boutique shops. (As for me, I’d rather just sit in a park and eat cheese.)

Paris Fashion Week is one of the so-called Big 4 international fashion weeks that take place throughout the year. The others are London Fashion Week, Milan Fashion Week and New York Fashion Week. Plenty of fashion weeks to go around.

Photo: achimh via Flickr (CC)

Oyster time in Galway

Anyone like oysters?

For those who do, this was a big weekend in Galway, Ireland. It was the annual Galway Oyster Festival (official name Galway International Oyster & Seafood Festival). According to the festival’s website, the event is Ireland’s most internationally recognized food festival and the world's longest running international oyster festival. So it’s a big deal in oyster-loving circles.

The festival involves all kinds of events, some more oyster-related than others. They have a parade through the streets of Galway, dance balls, cooking demonstrations, music concerts, and much more.

The highlight of the festival is the World Oyster Opening Championship. For this time-honored event, countries around the world send their best competitors to fight for championship glory. Contestants go head-to-head shucking 30 oysters as fast as they can, using only a knife and a cloth. Judges pick a winner based on speed, presentation, and lack of oyster blood (among other things).

If, like most of us, you weren’t in Galway this weekend, that’s okay. Galway Bay oysters are famous around the world, and you can enjoy them any time of year. You just need to get to Galway. EF College Break’s Emerald Isle trip comes to mind.

Photo: andy_kyte_uk via Flickr (CC)

Barcelona's biggest festival: La Merce

These are festive days in Barcelona.

Starting today and running through Sunday, the streets of the Catalan capital will be alive with the celebration of La Merce, the city’s biggest annual festival. I have never been, but it looks like a great time. They have countless events and activities, including plenty of standard festival fare like music, food, drink, performances and general merry-making.

But La Merce has three special highlights that make it unique.

First you have the gigantes. These are giant figurines that march through the streets, dancing around and spinning. Pretty cool. Could maybe give kids nightmares.

Then there are the castells. I love these. I’ve written about them before. This is a local tradition of human tower building. The goal is to build the highest tower, the one with the most levels (of humans). Castells can reach as high as ten levels, about 50 feet high. You can see castell-building in action here.

Finally there’s the correfoc. This is where a bunch of people dressed as devils run through the streets wielding firecrackers, torches and very intense sparklers. There are normally two such displays, one for the kids (which is a bit more mellow), and then one later in the night for adults where things get really wild. The devils spray the crowd with sparklers and fireworks. They suggest spectators wear hats and sunglasses and protective clothing.

Photo: vosh via Flickr (CC)

Spain’s giant tomato fight

It’s that time of year again in Buñol, Spain. Time for La Tomatina, the world’s most famous town-wide tomato fight. Of all the world’s odd festivals and traditions I’ve written about for this blog, this one always stands among my favorites.

It happens every year on the last Wednesday in August (that’s this Wednesday). More than 30,000 people get together in this little industrial town in the province of Valencia to partake in a huge tomato-throwing free-for-all.

The fun starts early. The thousands of people come to town and get started with a traditional breakfast of chorizo and rose wine. As they’re filling up, trucks roll in from the countryside carrying about 90,000 pounds of tomatoes (that’s a lot of tomatoes). Then, at 11:00 AM, with everyone feeling good and ready to go, a ceremonial tomato-filled rocket is shot into the air, and the madness begins. Everyone starts throwing tomatoes at each other. It doesn’t take long for the whole town, and all the people in it, to be covered in red.

Though it's basically total chaos, there are some ground rules. You can only throw pre-squashed tomatoes (whole tomatoes can do damage). And you can’t throw anything besides tomatoes. A lot of people wear safety goggles (I’ve never had tomato in my eye, but I can imagine it isn’t pleasant). And most people wear old t-shirts they don’t want anymore (many of which are removed and tossed at some point during the battle).

When the tomatoes have all been thrown, another rocket is fired, and the battle ends. Then it’s time to help clean up. Lots of tomatoes everywhere. And lots of smiles.

Photo: ale77dan via Flickr (CC)