Sweet Travels

All of my life I have suffered from what we in the U.S. call a “sweet tooth”. This is not a uniquely North American dental disorder—although it can lead to one. It is simply the ongoing craving for candy and other sweets. When I travel, I am compelled to sample as much of the local candy specialties as possible without succumbing to utter gluttony or thoroughly embarrassing myself. On my return trip home, it’s not unusual to find at least a kilo of chocolate bars and assorted candies in my backpack. So I was chuffed to hear about an Icelandic travel writer who has set up a candy-exchange to help foreigners access their favorite local treats.

Lilja Katrín Gunnardóttir, who edits the travel website Must See Icelandwill facilitate the exchange of Icelandic candy for some of your local specialty sweets. She hatched the notion for this brilliant project after receiving a request from a Boston resident who couldn’t find his family’s favorite Apollo brand licorice in the U.S.. After exchanging emails, they decided on a candy swap.

If like me, you have a craving for some lakkris, or better yet for some mindbending Icelandic licorice/chocolate combo candies, contact Lilja here to do a deal. Be prepared to negotiate for specific candy items, amounts, and shipping costs.

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See Venice And Die (or take a number)

I feel very lucky to have visited Venice before the advent of cruise ships and budget airlines. During my earliest trips to La Serenissima, it was possible to enjoy the city without hoards of cruise ship passengers and daytrippers. In fact, most evenings the streets and canals were peaceful and uncrowded. It was even possible to eat at restaurants without reservations.

These days, the city, with a population numbering around 54,000, is flooded by nearly 60,000 visitors each day. That’s 20 million plus tourists per year. As a result of the intolerable growth in tourism, the city council has just passed measures designed to protect Venice from unsustainable tourism and the erosion of the city’s character. They have placed a cap on the licensing of new tourist accommodations, banned new fast food restaurants and take away shops, and created a system to track tourist numbers at specific sites in real time. Tourism officials have also been ordered to create new maps and brochures directing visitors to less crowded areas of the city. Municipal officials have suggested that they may begin charging for access to areas such as St. Mark’s Square and may begin gating sections of Venice and bridges to control the numbers of tourists visiting at a given time.

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Park It

Inveterate map geeks will find themselves loosing hours on this new website created by an anonymous National Park Service ranger. Our fellow map lover has collected more than 1600 high resolution maps of U.S. national parks, recreation areas, and monuments, along with related links to more maps and visitor information. I’ve already spent an evening down this rabbit hole exploring maps of parks that I’ve visited and aspirational destinations. All of the maps on the site National Parks Maps are free to download and print.

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Unforgivable

I’m usually drawn to street art that is amusing, snarky, or lyrical, but I was blown away by Cuban artist Erik Ravelo’s series “Unforgivable”. These heartbreaking images use street art to challenge  the world’s complacency, and the inaction of our so-called leaders, in the face of the greatest refugee crisis of this century.

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Free WiFi

One thing that most travelers want at the airport is free access to the internet. Well thanks to blogger Anil Polat we can all get free WiFi at airports around the world. The very clever computer security engineer has organized a crowd sourced database of WiFi passwords for air ports and lounges. He has also developed nifty apps for both iOS and Android phones that regularly update the password data. You can get more information from foXnoMad Travel Smarter website.

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Temples of Knowledge

I first ran across the exceptional architectural photography of Ahmet Ertug earlier this year when I was at the Hermitage Museum store in Saint Petersburg. His book on the dazzling palace museum was extraordinary. Now he has released his latest book titled “Temples of Knowledge, Historical Libraries of the Western World”.

The beautiful volume offers a visual tour of some of Europe’s grandest libraries. The terrific book visits thirty historic institutions in Ireland, England, France, Germany, Austria, Italy, the Czech Republic, Spain, and Portugal.

The first edition is limited to 400 hand bound volumes. There’s also a portfolio edition of unbound photographs. Both are issued by Ertug & Kocabikyik Publishing in the U.S..

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Gulliver’s Travels

From a distance, it looks as though a zeppelin has landed on the roof of Prague’s DOX Centre for Contemporary Art. On closer examination, it’s apparent that the airship is actually a clever architectural installation.

Gulliver, named for Jonathan Swift’s iconic 18th century traveler, is a uniquely designed space for readings, art talks, literary discussions, and public forums. The timber and steel construction is the brainchild of DOX Director Leos Válka and architect Martin Rajnis.

Located in the up-and-coming Holesovice District, the DOX is overlooked by most visitors to the Czech capital, but well worth a visit.

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Celebrate May Day

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Welcome to Whitman

It seems appropriate to wrap-up National Poetry Month this year with a nod to the beloved 19th century poet Walt Whitman.

Welcome to Whitman, Alabama is a brilliant documentary that uses the poetry of Walt Whitman to explore life in the contemporary American South. The project was created by filmmaker Jennifer Crandall, who traveled throughout Alabama inviting random people to read from the classic poem “Song of Myself”. You can learn about the project and see all of the readings at Whitman Alabama.

 

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Some Random Island In The Pacific Ocean

Tom the Dancing Bug 1335 across the globe with jeff sessions

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