Tourists are often worried about crossing paths with a crocodile when they're visiting Australia's Northern Territory, but all you really need to know is you shouldn't smile at one--even if it sidles up to you at the bar.
That's what happened this week at the Noonamah pub on the outskirts of Darwin, and when the croc appeared, some local drinkers acted fast to tape its mouth up and put it in a box. Despite a few spectacular headlines, it wasn't a scary croc--the thirsty visitor was just two feet long.
But we still recommend watching where you put your beer down if you're in an Aussie pub. The next crocodile to walk in could be bigger.
Australians love a good pub crawl--any excuse for a beer, and if you have to move between pubs to get the next round, then it's practically like playing sport. Over the weekend, the small Queensland city of Maryborough organized some particularly good pub crawling: It earned them a world record.
More than 3,000 people visited visited ten different pubs, and it looks like this will get the town into the Guinness Book of World Records.
Ten pubs in a night is a pretty big night out even by Australian standards, and we're not sure how we'd feel the next day after a marathon pub crawl like this. But in the pursuit of a world record, sometimes you've just got to make sacrifices.
Famous medium Derek Acorah says that Lancashire pub Euxton Mills is haunted by not one but three different ghosts. But barkeep Keith Burgess says no way--even if TV crews have stopped in to film them.
Sure, plenty of folks have reported a floating gray lady, a presence in the cellar and a spook in the loo. But Keith just doesn't buy it even though:
[He] admits things have been switched on and off in the cellar...and one or two of the staff have had a couple of "scares."
He probably just wants visitors to focus on something else: The place won awards for Best Kept Pub in Lancashire in 2001, 2004 and 2006. Maybe the judges give extra points for the paranormal?
Now you see 'em, now you don't. Australian authorities seem to get pretty mixed up about when it's alright to see women's breasts and when it's not. Just this summer Australia was searching for women (especially backpackers) to work at the nude car wash in Brisbane to encourage people to get their cars clean in a water-saving, Earth-friendly way.
Well, the drought that inspired the car wash hasn't exactly broken, but the topless women have headed south of Perth to Pinjarra. This week a barmaid at the Premier Hotel was fined A$1,000 (about $900) because she exposed her breasts twice to bar-goers; her colleague was fined half that for helping to hang spoons from her nipples. Seems like going to the pub in Australia just ain't as fun as going to the car wash.
A bunch of Swiss computer geeks who also love their pubs are about to launch a website that they think will change our traveling lives. Or at least that part of traveling which involves finding a pub that suits our tastes.
Localina aims to use a database of 100,000 bars, pubs and clubs from across the world along with international Location Scouts to help match you to your kind of pub. That means that you can input the details about your favorite local pub back home, plus the destination you're traveling to, and it will spit back a recommended pub to match your taste.
It's reminiscent of Amazon.com's attempts to recommend books, CDs or DVDs you might like, judging by your previous taste, and it might just work. Sounds great in theory, but we're a bit wary. If you travel to another country and end up sitting in a pub just like your local, maybe it would've been easier if you'd just stayed at home?
While most people expected the recent ban on smoking in British pubs to make the air cleaner and fresher, there's been a surprise development: all these years, cigarette smoke has actually been masking a whole heap of other smells. As Oliver Devine, a marketing manager in the pub business, delicately puts it:
Appetising food smells have increased but others are less attractive, such as stale food and beer, damp, sweat and body odour, drains and -- how do you put this nicely? -- flatulence.
So one large pub chain is now trying out various artificial scents that should sweeten up the air. (Reminds us of a certain hotel chain.) Smells of ocean breezes, freshly cut grass and beer are all on trial, so give your nose a good workout next time you're in an olde English pub.
While we don't exactly condone the British habit of picking a European city, flying in for a weekend to sample alcohol and women, and flying home leaving a trail of destruction ... well, it happens, and if you're going to enjoy a few beers in Prague, why not do it properly. Take, for example, the Prague Underground tour company which sets up pub crawls for groups wanting to try more than just that horrifying green absinthe the Czech Republic is known for.
Prague Underground offers the Zizkov Pub Crawl: Zizkov is a neighborhood of inner city Prague that claims to have more pubs per square mile than anywhere else in the world. If you're after a more scenic route, the River Pub Crawl has slightly less hardcore nightlife, but your guide still won't leave you until 2am at the earliest. Drink up!
L.A. Times writer Susan LaTempa took one for the team when she went on a three-month long mission to round up Los Angeles County's best Irish and British pubs. The results are in, the wrap-up scarily comprehensive, and there are more than a few revelations to be had for the pub novice.
First, forget what you think is "authentic." Who knew that fish & chips weren't real pub fare, but a dish usually relegated to their own specialty joints? Also, there's no such thing as a British "real ale" here--those are unpasteurized and available only over in the motherland. So what, if not false snacks, makes a great pub? LaTempa lays out her criteria:
A great L.A.-area pub has four main attributes: It offers a goodselection of beers on tap and sells a lot of those beers so they'realways fresh and lively; it serves delicious, fresh, beer-friendly food, whether it's simply well-fried pub grub or more ambitious dishes; it's integrally connected to the neighborhood but is welcoming tovisitors. And it has personality.
Ye Olde King's Head, a British pub owned by an Irishman, is a well-oiled L.A. favorite that serves up twenty beers on tap and the classic mushy peas. Finn McCool's, The Cat & Fiddle and Lucky Baldwins also made the cut for 15 best. But she didn't stop there; there are runners-up a plenty. You know what they say: the more beer, the better. They do say that, right?
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by amandak
