Jaunted

Tags: Festivals / Boats / → All Tags

Happy Birthday Hamburg Harbor

Starting today, Germany's dockside city Hamburg is celebrating the big Hafengeburtstag (Harbor Birthday): "the world's biggest port festival." The grand arrival parade for the 818th birthday (that's pretty old) kicks off on Friday afternoon and the festival concludes with the grand departure parade at 5pm on Sunday.

Previous birthdays have seen a million people gather: this year the weekend features sail-bys of tall ships and old sailboats, dragon boat racing, and the interesting-sounding "tugboat ballet." There's also stuff happening up in the air, with hot-air balloons, helicopters and parachuting and live interviews with pilots in Lufthansa cockpits. They also have fireworks on Saturday night, hopefully after the balloons and parachutes have landed for the day.

[Photo: John Starfire]

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Tags: Food / Food Trends / → All Tags

Get Your Qualified Kebab Here

If you've spent any time traveling around Germany, chances are you've not just gulped down a sausage and some beer, but also a kebab. With 2.5 million people of Turkish descent calling Deutschland home, there's a doner kebab stall on every corner.

But now kebab culture is going to get even better. Up in Hamburg (where they surely should be focused on hamburgers) they're starting a Kebab School. Focus skills will include how to cut meat properly, the calculation of how much meat to put on a skewer and how to avoid germ contamination.

Graduates will proudly hold a Certificate in Meat Processing with Doner Kebab Production Specialization and will, no doubt, be sought after for their high skills by corner doner stalls across the continent. So if you're looking for the best kebab on your next trip to Germany, just check if the back wall of the stall for diplomas.

[Photo: mikko_l]

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· School for Skewers? Shish! [Reuters]
· It's September, It Must Be Oktoberfest [Jaunted]
· No Wurst For the Wear [Jaunted]

Tags: World Cup / Sports / Team USA / → All Tags

That's the Thrust of It

Welly welly well, the U.S. team may have some `splainin' to do after their 3-0 defeat against Czech Republic yesterday. Page Six reported over the weekend that Landon Donovan and a few other players were spotted in Hamburg's St. Pauli District (read: where the hookers are) a week ago. Don't they remember how Ronaldo stayed celibate during the Brazilian team's last run at the World Cup?

Still, this could be the explanation--or excuse--American fans have been looking for since yesterday's defeat. No wonder the team was crushed. It's not that the best U.S. athletes play other sports, ones where they can make a lot of money in the U.S. Not at all; the reason that the team lost is that they were all suffering from a vague burning sensation in their nether regions. Surely that will please the U.S. fans that spent their vacation time supporting the team at this year's World Cup. Next time, Team U.S.A. needs to bring their own hookers.

[Image via bambi bar/Flickr]

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Tags: Travel News / → All Tags

In the Market for a Private Island?

Farhad Vladi's your man. Vladi is the president of Vladi Private Islands, based out of Hamburg, and in the past 30 years has bought and sold more then 1,200 of the world's most decadent private islands.

Can't afford one? You can still browse. Vladi told Islands Magazine [via MSNBC] that the Caribbean's even pricing out the millionaires, but Sweden and Nova Scotia are still bargains (try $400,000 for a "substantial" island). Central America is getting hot too, especially the coasts of Costa Rica, Belize and Panama.

Does Vladi own his own island? Of course. 2,100-acre Forsyth Island, off the coast of New Zealand. He looks at buying islands so romantically:

"To buy an island is the same as courting a woman. You can never explain exactly why you love her. It's chemistry - something you cannot define - a feeling that you can stay forever."

Awwwww........as soon as we have an update on his relationship status we'll let you know.

Related Stories:
·   Want to Buy an island? [MSNBC]
·   Vladi Private Islands [Official Site]