Tag Archives: travel

Culture

A Naughty Exhibit?

I didn’t use the word s-e-x in the title because I was afraid of sending your internet firewall into a tizzy.

But the poster on the left says it all…apparently, some words are the same whether written in German or English.

When it comes to this particular subject, there are two truths that are universally accepted…Europeans are more comfortable with their sexuality and more importantly, sex sells.

This exhibit is on display at the Nature Museum in Stuttgart, Germany until May 2012. I guess last year’s symposium on Coleoid Cephalopods Through Time just didn’t draw in the crowds, so this year the museum decided to try a different tactic.

I visited their website to find out more information and had to use Google’s Translate feature to read it. I think maybe something was lost in translation:

To the special exhibition, we offer an extensive program. Things to do in the public management program are special tours for couples, singles, men only, or women only.

Hmm…

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Travel

Driving in Germany with a Bloody GPS

As a newcomer to Germany, I wouldn’t be able to make it around the street corner without my GPS. It’s truly a marvelous piece of modern technology. There’s only one problem…I don’t speak German. And now I’m realizing that I don’t speak English, either.

I mean English English – the kind Brits speak. The nice lady on my GPS tries very hard to pronounce German words with her British accent…and she fails miserably. This isn’t actually much of a problem since the Germans use microscopic print for their street name signs and I can’t read them anyway.

GPS Lady also gives the distance to the next turn in meters or kilometers, which is about as easy for me to visualize as the distance from here to Mars. On top of that, she occasionally uses British terms that are not part of my vocabulary. Every time I make a wrong turn, I expect her to say, “Oh, bugger and bullocks, now I have to do another bloody recalculation.”

So if you hear a story about a woman driving her car into a German beer garden, it’s probably just me trying to understand my GPS. By the way, can someone please tell me what a slip road is?

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Life

8 Travel Lessons from Dad – A Father’s Day Tribute

This Father’s Day, as a special tribute to my Dad, I would like to share some of the valuable lessons I’ve learned from him over the years about traveling:

1.  Don’t bring so much flippin’ crap. You don’t need it.

2.  Never ask anyone for directions, just see where the road takes you.

3.  Forget all those new fangled gadgets. Nothing is better than a real map.

4.  If you don’t have any luck at this fishing hole, move on to the next one.

5.  Roll down the windows and feel the wind on your face. Who cares if your hair gets messed up?

6.  Don’t tell your mother you ate chocolate ice cream for dinner.

7.  From the zillions of times my dad and I watched Star Wars together: There is no try, only do.

8.  And from his Vietnam days: If no one is shooting at you, the situation can’t be that bad.


 

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Life

6 Sinful Summer Photo Tips

Now that summer’s finally here, people will be dragging out their cameras and dusting them off in the hopes of capturing some fun summer photos.

Unfortunately, the results of these warm-weather photo shoots are often a little disappointing.

The reason for these less-than-exciting pictures is that most photographers seem to think they must follow a set of rules when taking photos. Nothing could be farther from the truth.

This summer, drastically improve your photos by tossing the rules aside and commiting the following 6 photo-taking sins:

1.  Don’t center your subject. Framing a shot is not like aiming a gun. You don’t need to center your sites on the target. Imagine a set of crosshairs on the photo. Now instead of using the crosshairs to center your subject, use them to place your subject on either side (or above or below) the center of the picture. The baby on the bench in an example.

2.  Knock it off kilter. Instead of taking the typical “photo-taking stance” with feet shoulder-with apart, etc, etc, try a radically different position. Get down on the ground, stand on a chair, or tilt your camera at a diagonal to find an interesting new perspective.

3.  Stop shooting scenics. People flip through scenic pictures faster than light can travel into your camera lens. To make your scenic shots more exciting, put something or someone in the foreground. This adds depth to a photo and creates human interest.

4.  Banish the pose. Avoid those fake-cheese smiles. Photograph both children and adults while they are actively exploring. Shots like this create more personalized memories than staged “portraits.”

5.  Shun sunny days. Our natural response to sun-shiny days is to grab the camera and head outside. Yet full sun can create unsightly shadows and squinty eyes. Overcast days offer a far softer and more flattering light for taking pictures.

6.  Chop off the head. We’ve all made fun of photos where freakishly-tall Uncle Al’s head has been cut off, but sometimes “chopping” off part of the photo can be a good thing. Picture-takers tend to include too much stuff in their photos. Zooming in closer and creating a tighter shot can create a less-cluttered photo. Children’s faces are wonderful subjects – as long as you have the eyes, you will get a great shot.

 

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Culture

In Costa Rica, Order a Married Man

Next time you’re in Costa Rica, find a restaurant that serves comida tipica, or typical Costa Rican cuisine. Pick up your menu, browse through the selections, and choose the dish that offers rice, beans, salad, and meat. Then put the menu down, look bravely at your waiter, and ask for the married man. It’s that simple.

Of course, you might want to use the Spanish word for this: casado. This is the Costa Rican equivalent of a blue plate special. Why do they call it a casado, or married man? I’ve heard a couple of versions of this story.

One version says that in the past, Costa Rican wives would pack this meal in their husbands’ lunch boxes when they sent them off to work. Here’s another:

(From the novel, See Before You Die: Costa Rica)

“Married.”

I jumped at the smooth voice over my shoulder. I turned and there he was—Mr. Ripped—smiling down at me with a plate in his hand. Did he just say something about marriage?

“Excuse me?”

“Casado.” He pointed at the table. “Traditional Costa Rican cuisine. Black beans. Rice. Meat. Cabbage. Tomatoes. It’s known as casado. The word translates as married, or more specifically, married man. It means the boring daily fare a man can expect to eat after he’s been snagged into marriage.”

“Nice.”

“What can I say? These Ticos have a wicked sense of humor…” 

 



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