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Put Down Your Jello!

In airports, train stations or any public building, we're all now completely used to having a myriad of security checks and searches to overcome in our daily life. We also know to report suspicious looking packages or objects. And that's what they did in Halle, eastern Germany recently.

Police and chemical warfare specialists sealed off a road where an allegedly "flabby red, orange and green substance" had been spotted. They took samples but hadn't finished analysing them when some locals made the connection: a recent wedding in the area had ended in a jello fight, and the newlyweds confessed that they might not have cleaned up all the leftovers.

[Image: veo_]

Related Stories:
· Jelly Sparks Security Alert [Ananova]

Tags: Germany / Australia / animals / → All Tags

Takes Swan to Know Swan

An ex-pat Aussie swan has fallen in love at a lake near Münster, Germany. The swan--a black one, that's how we know it's Australian--must have got wind that Münster won an award as the world's most liveable city (in the category of 250,000 to 700,000 inhabitants). And we already found out that Aussies on holidays are ready for a fling.

The problem is, this swan has fallen for a someone in a different league. It looks like a swan, that's true, but is in fact a big plastic swan-shaped paddleboat. The experts report the romance in this way:

The black swan is showing all the typical signs of love for his species - circling his plastic lover, staring longingly at it and making crooning noises.

There's nothing like a swan in love with a paddleboat to boost tourism: If you dash over to the Aesee Lake soon you can snap up a T-shirt, snowdome or keyring souvenir featuring the swooning swan.

[Image via Viroica G/Flickr]

Related stories:
Aussie Air Sex Survey [Jaunted]
Lovesick Aussie Swan [Adelaide Advertiser]

Tags: Beatles / Halle / Germany / Museums / → All Tags

Happiness Is a Beatles Museum (Unless You're Pete Best)

Few peoples do classic rock like the Germans do, and, as it turns out, the Germans may do the Beatles even better than the Brits. While Liverpool's got the officially sanctioned "Beatles Story" experience, Germany has something even better: a privately owned Beatles museum run by a real Beatles geek. His name is Rainer Moers, and his three-storey gallery in Halle is home to the Beatles memorabilia he's been collecting since 1964.

The museum's twelve exhibit rooms are divided by year groupings, beginning at 1957-64 and running all the way up to the present, including each Beatle's solo years. Admission is € 3.00 to Liverpool's £ 8.99, though, admittedly, only there can you get an audio guide narrated by John Lennon's sister. Alright, so the Beatles Story does have some great stuff you won't find anywhere else, but there's one important reason why we'll pick the Beatles Museum in Halle first any day, and it ain't tangible. The love, dedication and, okay, obsession it took Rainer Moers (a real fan) to bring the museum to life are the best testament imaginable to the influence and impact of the legendary Fab Four.

Halle is a 1 hour 17 minute train ride from Berlin, making it a completely doable day trip from the city.

Related Stories:
·   Beatles Home Given Landmark Status [Jaunted]

Tags: Munich / culture / museums / Germany / → All Tags

Long on Culture, Short on Sleep

Apparently Germans don't feel the need to sleep. That's the message we get, anyway, from the success of the Long Night of Museums concept. For nearly 10 years now, cities around Germany have picked one night a year when, after buying just one general admission ticket, you can spend all night visiting the various museums and cultural sites a city has to offer, connected by free shuttle buses and other transport.

Now, whether or not you really want to be reading about the history of German public transport at 3am, then taking a bus to the office for monument protection, the point is not that you want to but that you can. Munich's got its Long Night coming up on 21 October (you should know that this one only runs until 2am), so save up some sleep and hit the Bavarian streets and museums. You won't be alone.

[Image via mcmumpitz/Flickr]

Related stories:
Long Night in Munich [Go Travel News]
It's September, It Must Be Oktoberfest [Jaunted]

Tags: Germany / beer / beer festivals / → All Tags

It's September, It Must Be Oktoberfest!

It always feels a bit like the Germans are cheating us, opening Oktoberfest, as they do, in September. But those who have the beer rule, so you should know that this week is the first official week of Munich's ale-swilling Oktoberfest for 2006. Local businesses are hoping the World Cup happiness hangover will encourage visitors to exceed last year's effort of drinking 6.1 million litres of beer and eating almost 480,000 roast chickens.

But it's not all beers and chickens. Locals like the billion-euro income but are not so impressed with some of the results of all that alcohol:

The festivities tend to turn rowdy in the evenings with drinkers yelling, thumping the tables and lunging at passers-by.

So drink your beer in moderation, sing a hearty German folk song but beware of dangerous thumpers and lungers.

[Image via Office Geek/Flickr]

Related stories:
Germans Crack Open the Beers [The Age]
10 Very Unofficial Oktoberfest Tips [boarding.no]

Tags: museums / Germany / → All Tags

Going for Bronze in a German Museum

A reality TV style exhibit is hitting a museum in Germany this month, with a family in southern Germany preparing to move into the reconstructed bronze-age houses of the Federsee Museum in Bad Buchau. In a scientifically "correct" experiment intended to encourage interest in this open air archaeological museum, the Borngraeber family--Mom, Dad, Anna (15) and Stefan (13)--are ready to live how their forebears did over 3,000 years ago, but just for 10 days: 10-20 August.

This is something we probably couldn't handle, even for this short time. No internet, no MTV, no microwave popcorn: It doesn't sound like a summer holiday activity to us. Mom Margret sees it otherwise:

It's all so exciting; we will be left entirely on our own, to fend for ourselves using only replicas of 3,000 year old tools.

Hmm. When did Game Gear come out again?

Related stories:
Family Volunteers for Bronze Age [All Headline News]

Tags: books / Germany / → All Tags

More Than Sausages in Frankfurt

Book-lovers across the world take note: The 7th and 8th of October, 2006 are dates for your traveling calendar. You might not want to admit that the equivalent of a tourist's library would be your destination of choice, but the thousands of visitors every year to the Frankfurt Book Fair prove that you wouldn't be alone. Frankfurt's not really an exciting tourist destination on its own, it is a key airport in Europe and combining a flight into Europe with a day of ogling millions of new books appeals greatly.

We'll admit to having had a good tour through Frankfurt's conference halls before, when they've been crammed with hot-off-the-press stacks. The travel sections where you can find all the new editions from guidebook publishers and a few tasty travel narratives are naturally a favorite. Each year, a particular country or region is invited as a special guest, and this year India has the honor, with well-known writers like Vikram Seth (famous for A Suitable Boy but also a travel writer) and Arundhati Roy (The God of Small Things) featuring. We're hoping this means the free samples will include a few deep-fried Indian delicacies this time 'round.

Our special Jaunted tip: Haunt the cookbook publishers, they're always trying to entice new recipe-book lovers into their stalls with great-smelling snacks.

[Image via dov/Flickr]

Related stories:
Frankfurt: City of Contrasts [German Tourism]

Tags: Germany / World Cup / → All Tags

Small Talk Awkward Again for Germany

The mood is particularly strange in Germany this morning. Giant screens in public viewing areas are being dismantled, flags are strewn on the side of the road instead of on cars, and nobody knows what to talk about.

On Saturday, the more dedicated half of German fans flocked to Stuttgart to support the Nationalmannschaft in their who-really-cares play-off for third place against Portugal. Feverish French and Italian supporters mixed up in this crowd experienced things very differently: all of a sudden, the Germans love the French, and throw insults at pizza deliverers.

After Sunday's long grand final and a win to Italy in the penalty shoot-out, pizzerias and gelati cafés celebrated long into the night, while the locals, still with a bitter taste after a semi-final loss to Italy, tried to ignore the honking and began to catch up after four weeks with little sleep. Germans are renowned for their inability to make small talk, but they actually had something to talk about this past month, and now it's all over. No matter how the radio and TV presenters put it, the 698 days until the European Championship is still a long time.

Related stories:
Germany's Hangover [Spiegel]
Flags, Flags, Flags [Jaunted]

Tags: Germany / World Cup / radio / music / → All Tags

World Cup: You Gotta Be in it to Win it

Is a pop song forecasting a World Cup win for Germany in 2006 still a viable marketing idea after the team loses? Sure, if you're flexible enough to adapt the song quickly. Munich band Sportfreunde Stiller have been getting plenty of airtime since they released their song '54, '74, '90, 2006 back in May, celebrating Germany's three previous World Cup victories and adding on another from the current tournament.

But--oops--Germany didn't get past Italy in the semi-final on Tuesday, making this song instantly out-of-date. No problem. A new single was ready: '54, '74, '90, 2010, with the lyrics adjusted to include Germany being a guest at South Africa's 2010 World Cup and trying for the title again on the Cape of Good Hope. It hit the radio within hours of the loss, and has been on high rotation ever since. There's nothing like finding success in failure.

Win All in the Math [Sydney Morning Herald]
German Flag Waving [Jaunted]

Tags: Germany / World Cup / → All Tags

German Nationalism: Bad for Poland, Good for Chinese Flag Manufacturers

Patriotism's been on the rise in Germany the last couple of weeks, but orderliness still remains paramount. With the Nationalmannschaft getting all the way to the semifinals, flag manufacturers and suppliers reported unprecedented sales and many hours of overtime. Radio bulletins, meanwhile, have been running all week about the need to be extra careful securing flags to car windows. Everyone now knows the drill: If a car flag escapes and lands on the windscreen of a car behind, causing an accident, the flag owner is liable.

Fortunately, that hasn't stopped some police cars from flying the black, red and gold; perhaps the frequency of flags flying off cars helped contribute to the huge demand. Moreover, even before the disastrous (for the home-team and flag-makers) Germany-Italy semi-final, it's been more and more common to find bedraggled German flags lying by the roadside. After the German's 2-0 loss result last night, we guess the shops will be selling the remaining car flags at 50% off.

[Image via El Benson/Flickr]

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10 Uses for an English Flag [BBC]
German Fans Beepin' Proud [Jaunted]

Tags: Germany / World Cup / → All Tags

Nationalmannschaft Not as Dirty as it Sounds

During the two day break before the World Cup quarter finals began, Germany tried to figure out what to do when there's no soccer games to watch. TV morning shows ran phone-ins, asking "What are you doing to fill the gap?" while bakeries promoted their soccer-ball shaped bread rolls as a match substitute. Carbs for Cleats, we believe it's called.

One hot topic was the lack of a suitably cool team name for the German national team. They're jealous of teams like Australia who are (or were) plastered across the evening news as the Socceroos, or Italy, with their sexy Azzurri--the Blues. Some people will tell you the German team name is Die Nationalmannschaft--the national team--but that's more of a technical description, not something you'd scream after scoring a goal.

A southern German radio station ran a poll this week in which thousands of listeners voted for a new team name. Some of the candidates were not especially inspiring: Germans Eleven (a lovely combination of English words but German apostrophe-free grammar), Kicker and Die Elf--the Eleven--were all losers in the vote.

The winners weren't much better: Third place was snatched by DeFuNa, an abbreviation derived from "the German national team"and the silver medal went to something a little zany, Germaniacs. By far the most popular proposal was Die Adler--the Eagles. Perhaps they'll be shouting "Go Eagles!" tonight against Argentina (a.k.a. the Albicelestes--White-Sky Blues) but maybe it's time to go back to the drawing board.

[Image via Dario*/Flickr]

Related stories:
Germans Love Socceroos [Jaunted]
Team Nickname Guide [New York Times]

Tags: animals / Germany / Australia / → All Tags

We're Just Wild About Harriet

For two days this week, Germany is twiddling its thumbs. After 18 consecutive days of multiple World Cup matches, this week features a two-day rest, and nobody knows what to do. The flags are still flying ahead of Germany's quarter-final clash with Argentina on Friday, but the horns aren't honking and the public viewing area beer stalls are closed.

Some lost Germans have immersed themselves in mourning for the late Bruno the bear. That gives them something in common with Australians who are mourning not only the tragic loss against Italy, but the death, on Aussie soil, of the oldest living animal in the world.

That's right. We're sad to report that Harriett, a giant Galapagos tortoise first taken from her home by Charles Darwin and living out her life in a Sunshine Coast zoo, died of a heart attack this week at the age of 176. For her first century or so, poor Harriet was wrongly thought to be a Harry, but her love of hibiscus flowers had the animal docs checking again, and she was suitably renamed for her final 76 years.

Related stories:
Bruno Could've Been Saved [Spiegel Online]
T-Shirt Maker Sues Bear Hunter [Ananova]
Charles Darwin's Tortoise Dies [The Australian]