Before you dismiss this place as a backwoods hunting and trapping airport know that WiFi signal is strong and free throughout the airport and they recently installed cellular antennas to the building so our Cingular cell phone signal is stronger than it is on Pine St. in San Francisco.
More semi-live blogging to come from Mackinac Island (aka "The Rock") tomorrow.
Probably the most famous day trip/tour in Iceland is the "Golden Circle". It takes you on a spin through some of the Southwest's most famous natural and historical sights, such as the Gulfoss waterfall, the [thorn]ingvellir rift valley which served Iceland's Viking settlers as the location of their parliament, and the hot springs of Geysir (where the term "geyser" was coined) which still serve to spew boiling water on thick-headed visitors.
This clip is not actually Geysir which has lain dormant for the past 40 years (or so the tour guide seemed to indicate), but Strokkur, which erupts every 8 or 10 minutes. Don't worry, we've only simulated the anticipation-filled, battery-draining wait by editing it to about 20 seconds. Note the people to the far right who experience splashback.
Mister P, one of our far-flung correspondents, recently took a trip to Iceland. All this week, we'll be running stories from his Jaunted Field Trip to the country, the first of which is below.
Icelandair: Mystery of the skies! As evidenced by the diagram above, this is what happens in an emergency on an Iceland Air flight, accompanied to a lesser extent by this. Maybe our "clueless tourist" is showing, but it's more likely that the fine details are always what shout out "You are now in a foreign culture!".
In addition to safety pamphlets evidently designed by Keith Haring, Iceland Air also features pre-flight cabin music by Sigur Ros, and still includes surprisingly edible meals with warm rolls. The grilled chicken and breaded fish fillets were not bad but avoid the crab salad--mysterious or not, crab salad is never a good idea aloft.
One of the things that is most striking for visitors to Provincetown, especially straight men and women, is a "flip the script" feeling. Suddenly, gay culture is the dominant one, and it makes Ptown a fascinating place to visit, even for those who come from places where gay culture is thriving, like New York or San Francisco.
According to the Boston Globe, Ptown is struggling with the flip side of the usual discrimination problems as well; gay residents are accused of slurring straight residents by calling them "breeders" and accosting them for signing an anti-gay marriage petition. The names of the 43 Ptown residents who signed were published online by knowthyneighbor.com.
This was the cause of a fracas between Ptown local Yvonne Cabral and Provincetown Magazine publisher Rick Hines last Friday. Before we give you possibly the best description of the lead-up to a fight ever, let's just say that we think everyone should get along, regardless of sexual orientation, and perhaps a vacation town is a good place to start relaxing about life in general.
Anyway, the Globe set the scene before Hines accosted Cabral:
All parties involved agree that Cabral was shopping and Hines was buying a hotdog when Hines told Cabral that she was a bigot.
Shouldn't tasty street food help us overcome our differences?
Part of our job is to protect you, the unsuspecting traveler, from B.S.: Overhyped destinations, crummy food, and cramped hotels are no fun, and we suffer so you don't have to. One of the problems that we had in Provincetown was with the restaurants. Because of the rapid turnover of visitors, there's not much reason to improve the quality of the food or the service if repeat customers aren't an issue.
That said, we should place the blame squarely on our own shoulders for the dreadful meal we had at Sal's Place, on the water by Commercial Street in Provincetown's West End. We ignored our travel instincts, seduced by the promise of eating tasty Italian food al fresco by the water.
Sadly, none of those things would come to fruition. Spotting an empty table right by the ocean on the balcony, a large coughing man wearing a stained apron told us it was already claimed. Presumably, this was Sal himself, and it occurs to us now that he bore more than a passing resemblance to Barth from You Can't Do That on Television. It didn't escape our notice that our dream table sat empty the rest of the night.
Not that it would have mattered; Sal's overpriced home-style Southern Italian cooking was as bland as it could be. Linguine with clams was flavored with butter alone--there wasn't even garlic--and the spaghetti with tomatoes and mushrooms tasted suspiciously like Prego.
Buying gifts for the folks back home in a beach town can be a real chore. Between seeing the same lobster-shaped oven mitts everywhere or fighting your way through the hoi polloi just to find that perfect tacky t-shirt, that gift shopping gets same-y faster than a redhead gets a sunburn. Happily, one store in Provincetown is an antidote to such homogenization: The Dune Shack.
Located slightly West of the ferry pier in the center of town, the Dune Shack has all sorts of unique collectibles and good gifts, including aquatic creature-based tchotchkes that are a bit more surreal than the average stuff. We came home with a sperm whale bottle opener, for example, although we were mightily tempted by the one shaped like a frighteningly realistic lobster claw. The store also sells scrimshaw made by local artists, so head on over there for all your whalebone art needs.
One of the things we quickly discovered in Provincetown was that arguments about the quality of the food in town are a favorite pastime among repeat visitors and year-round residents alike. Countless restaurants that received glowing praise from one person would then be panned by another--except Spiritus Pizza, which seems to be universally loved. It's even got a web cam, just like the inimitable Shake Shack!
Open since 1971, Spiritus only gets busier at the night drags on, and on weekends the police will arrive to direct traffic in front after midnight. Despite a crush of people ordering slices and whole pies, you won't have to wait long for a fresh piece. We recommend the pepperoni, which is greasy enough to soak up any alcohol but tastier than that on the average pie. Milkshakes and ice cream are also available, thankfully in a separate line. You'll get no arguments from us about the tastiness of this part of the Provincetown culinary scene.
If you want to stay somewhere snazzy in Provincetown--and you don't have your heart set on a pool, like we often do--you're not going to do much better than the Land's End Inn. Located all the way at Provincetown's west end, the Inn sits atop a hill overlooking the tip of Cape Cod.
Rooms are less modern than the Brass Key--instead of TV, you get a wraparound view of the Cape--but many come with large outdoor balconies. The room that we sampled (itself decorated in a slightly fussy New England style), the Library, came replete with early editions of Gulliver's Travels. The staff is also happy to oversee your dining options in town, although the Inn itself would be greatly improved by the addition of a restaurant of its own.
A tip: While the walk to the center of town to the Land's End is doable, schlepping your bags is not recommended, as that last trek up the hill is a doozy. Considering how disheveled we looked when we arrived, it was lucky the staff didn't grab pitchforks and torches before running us off the property. Rooms start at about $265 in the High Season.
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by markj
