Globe Corner Blogs

Rodin's The Thinker - photo by Kate

The Rodin museum was perhaps my favorite museum that I visited last week in Paris. Housed in a mansion where Rodin spent much of his time, the gardens are filled with casts of The Thinker and The Gates of Hell, set amidst giant, cone-shaped yew bushes and rows of flower beds. The mansion itself is fabulous, with ceilings at least 15 feet high, rocaille motifs, and a grand marble staircase below a giant crystal chandelier. The faded velvet furnishings are all originals, as are the cloudy old mirrors. There is a general sense that everything in this place has been here forever; the peeling paint on the ceilings lends an air of authenticity, and somehow reminds us that Rodin used to hang out here.

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Breathing under water - photo by Meghan

There is nothing more exciting than breathing underwater.  And by exciting, I mean the awe-inspiring, nervous excitement that land-lovers get when they see the local view from the top of a really high roller coaster.  Watching bubbles leave your regulator and run for the safety of the surface is neither comforting nor an affirmation that you are doing the right thing in exploring this other world… but they are ‘pretty.’  Whether you’re snorkeling or using scuba – the strange sensation of staying in an environment that should kill you is a cultural experience in and of itself.  And a country’s underwater residents can be as varied and can eat even stranger things than their counterpart’s topside.  For these reasons, I love scuba.

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Chuck Thompson’s books are not for the faint of heart…or stomach. But anyone who has traveled past their city lines will appreciate his commentary on the highs and lows of travel. His first book,  Smile When You’re Lying: Confessions of a Rogue Travel Writer, is a favorite of the GCB staff. His upcoming book due in December, To Hellholes and Back, promises to be equally popular. Chuck was kind enough to answer a few questions for us about his travel, his books, and his taste in beer.

1. Do you prefer aisle or window? (Please explain.)

Aisle always, avoiding at all costs the trays-down imprisonment of slow post-meal and beverage-service pickup.

2. The subtitle of To Hellholes and Back is “bribes, lies, and the art of extreme tourism.” Could you give us your definition of “extreme tourism“?

“Extreme tourism” is often associated with space tourism or living in a grass hut in Papua New Guinea for a month. But if your idea of a good time is hanging out in grass huts, what’s so extreme about that? Extreme travel, to me, is anything that takes you out of your comfort zone — physically, intellectually, emotionally. That’s why both the Congo and Disney presented me with “extreme” opportunities. I didn’t want anything to do with either one.

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Thanksgiving is rapidly approaching…as is the curdling panic in my gut about the holiday gift-giving season coming on so fast. While the appearance of Santa at the end of the Macy’s Day Parade used to send me into paroxysms of twitchy excitement, now seeing him makes my stomach sink. It is time to buy.

I know I’m not the only one out there with this seasonal anxiety disorder. Fortunately, there are others out there prepared to help – one being the very owner of The Globe Corner Bookstore, Pat Carrier. He was recently interviewed by AP travel writer Beth Harpaz on the best books one could give to travelers as gifts. You can read the interview here. Two other travel bookstore owners were interviewed for the column, and all their choices appear on this page. No need to fret.

The Sex Lives of Cannibals - by J. Maarten Proost

J. Maarten Troost  has been Lost on Planet China, caught Getting Stoned with Savages and adrift in sea of The Sex Lives of Cannibals. Although he isn’t presently floating on a raft off a remote island in the South Pacific, it took some sleuthing to find him. When we did track him down, he was nice enough to respond to some of our questions.

1) Do you prefer aisle or window? (Please explain.)

Window, which is kind of odd because flying is essentially one long cardiac event for me. I do not like to fly. It is what it is and I try to live with it. But whenever I find myself looking down upon Afghanistan or Iran or the Kamchatka Peninsula I find that I feel all warm and fuzzy inside, unless there’s turbulence, in which case I whimper and sway as I try to find my special place.

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Brooklyn EIPA - photo by Llalan

New Yorkers. They love their city, they love their Yankees, and by God, they love their beer. They have German beer bars, Belgian beer bars, American craft beer bars – whatever your thirsty little heart desires.

I wanted to get in on the love fest. Realizing that drinking at all of New York’s beer halls would take weeks and be hazardous to our health, my friend and I tackled a few in Williamsburg over a weekend.

First on the official tour: Spuyten Duyvil. (Don’t ask how it’s pronounced – I forget.) The tag line to the bar’s name is “rare and obscure,” and that it is. While I sipped an Oktoberfest on cask, my friend delicately held a tiny tulip of mead. For as powerful as the honey-heavy drink was, it sure didn’t come in a manly glass. He stuck out a pinky and muscled through.

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Mushroom - photo by Nastia

We have recently started to see an influx of ecotravel guides and beautiful coffee table books on how to travel to exotic places without at the same time forcing them to turn into malls in response to our demands. At first you wonder whether an ecotourist is a new species of a “viator vulgaris” (common traveler) and whether they are somehow more privileged than someone who is just escaping on a family vacation.

It is becoming common to think that ecotourists are the people who are aware of obscure or endangered destinations and can afford to go there. But what really distinguishes ecotourists from the rest?

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