T H I S+W E E K

Forbidden island:
Travel to Cuba
By Don George, Editor

Cuba libre!
By Mark Schapiro
A hot art scene brings the world to Havana's door
-A gallery of images
-Books on Cuba

Irish idyll
By Patric Kuh
Savoring Ireland's greatest hotels

D E P A R T M E N T S

The Surreal Gourmet
By Bob Blumer
Your own sitcom, with curry

Postmark
San Francisco:
The borrowed city
By Gary Kamiya
-Books on San Francisco

Passages:
"Paris in Pink"
An affair in Paris
By Katya Macklovich

>Readers' Tips and Tales
Philadelphia: Weirdness Capital of America?

A letter to the Editor
An Uzbek responds

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Your virtual travel agency

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

LA S T+W E E K

Saturday, May 24

Praise the Titanic!
By Doug Cruickshank
Eighty-five years later, they're still going down with the ship

A full list of all
Wanderlust articles

Barry G. Berkowitz | Philadelphia: Weirdness Capital of America?
03:26pm May 29, 1997 PST (#10 of 13)

i had the good fortune of going to college about an hour outside of Philly & that afforded me the ability to visit every now and again.

I must say that I agree almost entirely with Mary Beth's estimations of the city. On the whole, I found it filthy (and I was a native New Yorker at that time, too!) and lacking in typical "American City" charm. Then I fell HARD for a Bucks County girl who turned me on to Philly then broke my heart.

My memories of Meredith are pretty horrible, but I gained a new found love for South Street and an excellent Philly Cheese Steak. On the Cheese steak topic I must respectfully disagree with Mary Beth. I've tasted a number of them & found a Jim's Steak to be on the whole, superior to Pat's. For all of those about to flame me, I UNDERSTAND IT'S A MATTER OF PERSONAL TASTE!

It may just be that Jim's is so close to a bar called the Copacabana (also on South Street) where I've had some of the best Margaritas (the secret's in the fresh, home made sour mix) of my life. Come to think of it, I always went to Jim's after the Copa. Could have something to do with it....

Amber Cilantro | Fear of Flying
09:11am May 30, 1997 PST (#2 of 3)

tranquilizers work wonders as well.

My worst trip was from NYC to Vegas, when somewhere along the way, the plane felt as if it were thrown sideways. I thought it was the end of the world as I knew it.

Last month, we were about to touch down on the Madrid Airport runway, when the plane jerked upward to ascend again. It seems that there was a plane on the runway that we would have crashed into had we landed.

Doug McCain | Wild Mushrooms
108:55am May 28, 1997 PST (#2 of 7)

i'm a hunter too -- a passionate hunter. I've hunted in Indiana (where I was born and raised), in California and Wisconsin, and in Mississippi (where I live now).

I own a forest in Indiana. Its ONLY FUNCTION is to produce mushrooms. It has been in my family since indian days, and it has always been used for mushrooming. (My ancestors hunted mushrooms there in the 1820s.) Part of it is virgin forest -- some trees are over 300 years old. No, I won't tell you where it is.

Last year I got to spend two days in my woods at the peak of the morel season and found 40 pounds! This year, I could only afford one day and it was early in the season, but I got two pounds. I count any year a success if I find at least one morel.

I return to Indiana every Christmas to visit family, and I always hunt mushrooms at that time. December is the best time for oyster mushrooms -- I've never failed to find some. I take an axe into the woods to knock them off of dead trees where they are frozen solid.

Here is a question that has puzzled me for years. How did America become so regionally divided into those who hunt mushrooms and those who wouldn't even consider it? In my home town, EVERYONE hunts mushrooms. Children are taught to do so as soon as they can walk. It is so ingrained in the culture that it makes a reliable subject for small talk (along with the weather). It is a safe subject because everyone has experience with mushrooms and something to say about it. In other places, people are unaware of mushrooms, or even afraid of them.

There are many places like my home town. When I meet a stranger, I sometimes make a brief reference to mushrooms to see if he is from such a place. If he is, he will pick up on it right away. If not, he probably will not even notice the reference. Gotta go... It's chantrelle season here in Mississippi.

Bookmark
http://www.salonmagazine.com/wanderlust/bookmarks/ttreaders.html

Readers' Tips and Tales Issue No. 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5