48 Hours in Adelaide

Adelaide, the capital of South Australia, often gets overshadowed by its big city cousins, including Sydney and Melbourne. But lately, Adelaide has been quietly coming into its own, with a flourishing dining scene, and the addition of new sports and entertainment venues. And with only an 8-hour drive separating it from Melbourne, it makes for a worthy side trip for travelers looking for an off-the-beaten path city break.

Courtesy Australia.com

Perhaps best-known for its Fringe Festival (the second largest in the world, after Edinburgh), the city is undergoing a revival, with its added cultural attractions and the transformation of a central business  district that, in parts, is still a bit rough around the edges. The bit of grit, along with the melding of Anglo and Asian cultures, is why Adelaide seems so real and approachable.

DAY 1

Start your visit to Adelaide with a stroll, as the city is eminently walkable. The three top routes are North Terrace, Rundle Street and the mysterious and action-packed laneways.

Rundle Street Mall
Courtesy cityofadelaide.com.au

Most of the city’s cultural attractions are lined up along or near North Terrace. You can pop in and out of institutions like the South Australian Museum, the Art Gallery of South Australia, and the Migration Museum, or wander around the stately campus of the University of Adelaide, established in 1874. Nearby is the Adelaide Botanic Garden, where you can take in some fresh air among the exotic plants before heading to the National Wine Centre to taste some of that famous South Australian grape.

After a post-wine nap, enjoy the nightlife packed into Adelaide’s revitalized laneways, located in the central business district. These intimate and once-forgotten back alleys are now brimming with quirky shops, restaurants, bars and local trendsetters. Check out the scene at Casablabla, Udaberri Pintxos Y Vino or Peel St.

When it’s time to turn in for the night, the city offers no shortage of great places to stay. For something charming and arty, check in at the Majestic Minima Hotel, complete with rooftop terrace. Or, for something more historic, look to the Mayfair Hotel, opened in 2015 in a stately 1930s building.

DAY 2

Start your second day early with a visit to Adelaide’s Central Market. If you get there at 7 AM, you can see  fishmongers mongering and  farmers setting up their produce stalls. Come a bit later and join in a market tour, which lets you meet the producers, sample the goodies and learn about the history of South Australian food.

Adelaide Centrail Market
Courtesy South Australian Tourism

With your blood sugar levels up, head over for a shop along Rundle Street. Keep walking past touristy Rundle Mall, a pedestrian shopway filled with chain stores and hordes of browsers. When you pass Pulteney Street, the vibe totally changes. On Rundle Street East, the crowds dissipate and the retail spaces fill up with funky gift stores, hipster cafes, an arthouse cinema and fashion houses (top shops include Gorman, M.J. Bale and Sass & Bide).

These blocks are also choc-a-block with chocolate outlets. Grab a sweet at Max Brenner or The Chocolate Bar, or better yet, indulge your sweet tooth at San Churro Chocolateria. They’ve got everything from handmade, chocolate-dipped churros to a dozen choices of Spanish hot chocolate to shakes, fondues and chocolate-inspired tapas. Yum.

One block over, Ebenezer Place feels like a little piece of France plunked down in the middle of Adelaide.  After dropping some Australian dollars at Leonard St. Adelaide, Uggs and Kisses, and Relove SA, a gallery featuring the works of more than 50 South Australian creatives, get your French fix at Hey Jupiter. The brasserie has all of your Parisian cravings covered.

Adelaide Oval Roof Climb
Courtesy South Australia Tourism

Finally, even if you aren’t a fan of cricket (and let’s face it, few outside the British Empire are), you’ll enjoy a literal round at the Adelaide Oval, said to be the most picturesque test cricket ground in the world. Walk around the edge of the stadium’s expansive canopy during a two-hour guided Roof Climb. It’s the best way to experience an Adelaide adrenaline rush.

This article originally appeared here.

Dropping the Ball...and the Pickle...and the Potato...On New Year's Eve

When it comes to New Year’s Eve celebrations, very few places are dropping the ball these days. Instead, they are dropping wenches, wrenches, pickles, potatoes and bologna—and that’s no bologna.

The New Year’s Eve bologna drop in Lebanon, PA is a bunch of bologna

Pennsylvania may reign supreme when it comes to dropping things on New Year’s Eve. There are more than a dozen drops around the Keystone State, ranging from a button in Carlisle to a sled in Duncannon to the aforementioned wrench in Mechanicsburg (naturally).But certainly, Lebanon’s Bologna Drop takes the cake as a must-see New Year’s Eve event. You never sau-sage a thing as a 250-pound lunch meat plunging 16 feet to the excitement of adoring peeps.

Speaking of PEEPS, the marshmallow concoction is usually associated with Easter. But in Bethlehem, PA, where the treats are made, the drop of a 4.5-foot tall, 85-pound illuminated PEEP chick makes New Year’s Eve egg-stra special.

What’s the dill with pickle drops? While it’s a “no-briner” that Dillsburg, PA drops a six-foot Mr. Pickle, why is a place called Mt. Olive celebrating with a cucumber? It turns out the North Carolina burg is home to the largest independent pickle company in the country. But an unanswered pickle is why Mt. Olive opts to drop its three-foot cuke down a flagpole at midnight Greenwich Mean Time (7pm EST).

We wish you a happy bleu year! | Photo courtesy of Plymouth Arts Center

Dairy gets its due on New Year’s Eve in Wisconsin. In Plymouth, the former home of the National Cheese Exchange, a giant cheese wedge gets lowered from a 100-foot crane. But come early. The cheese roars at 10pm. Sounds gouda to us.

Boy oh Boise

Famous Potatoes, indeed. On New Year’s Eve, Boise, Idaho’s most notable spud is a luminous 16-foot tuber known as the Glowtato. Here’s the dirt: Thousands of spectators take to the streets to watch the s’mashing potato plummet in front of the State Capitol at midnight.

Female impersonator Gary Marion, known as Sushi, hangs in a giant replica of a woman’s high heel shoe in Key West, Fla. | Photo courtesy of (Rob O’Neal/Florida Keys News Bureau/HO)

In Key West, Sushi gets dropped on December 31…but she’s actually a drag queen and not a piece of raw fish. Sushi sits in a giant red stiletto that goes down at midnight. But plenty of actual sea creatures are celebrated along the Eastern seaboard on New Year’s Eve. Key West also drops a conch (and a wench, but that’s off-topic). Easton, Maryland lowers a crab. And in Eastport, Maine, the country’s easternmost city, they drop a sardine. An hour before the sardine goes down, a maple leaf falls in Eastport, sweetly celebrating the city’s neighbor just across the border. Why 11pm EST? Because it’s midnight in Canada. O.

This story originally appeared here.

Here are some recent stories I covered for Orbitz Blog.

We started in South Dakota.  

Then, it was off to eat, first along some food trails in the USA... 

...and at some of the country's top food halls.

Dig in!

Canines, Comedy, Culture and Kansas..

...are among the topics I've covered for Orbitz Blog this month. Here are links for your reading pleasure.

Pooch hounding you for a vacation? Here: 7 Pet-Friendly Hotels Every Dog Should Visit

Funny bone need a tickle? Just for laughs, here's a peek at some of the world's top comedy festivals.

Traveling to DC? If so, here's intel on the city's most buzz-worthy neighborhoods and here's a look at places in Washington where women rule.

NationalWomensParty.org

Finally, if you are looking for the Old West, consider starting in Kansas.

kansastravel.org

You Won't Believe What These Hotels Used to Be

The original post about hotels that used to be chocolate factories, shoe factories, etc. 
is here.

When is a hotel not just a hotel? When it is re-purposed from a building that used to
to be something completely different. Turning old, oft-abandoned buildings into hotels 
helps developers feed the increasing demand for idiosyncratic travel experiences. 
Meanwhile, many of these rehabs end up playing a major role in the revitalization of 
down-and-out city centers. You’ll never guess what these five hip hotels used to be:

The Charmant Hotel, LaCrosse, Wisconsin

Life is like a box of chocolates at the Charmant Hotel. The 67-room luxury boutique hotel 
has been crafted out of the Joseph B. Funke Chocolate Company, which was in business 
from 1898 to 1933. Charmant was the premium line of chocolates produced by the 
Funke-y bunch. Aside from its name, The Charmant preserves and re-imagines 
architectural details of the original structure, including its wood beams, pulleys, exposed 
brick and maple floors. If you breathe in deeply, you might even whiff the aroma of 
molasses seeping out of those old floors. The rooms are highlighted, of course, in 
chocolate-brown. Remember to make friends at the front desk. The staff there might well
indulge your sweet tooth by doling out handcrafted chocolates.

Brewhouse Inn and Suites, Milwaukee, Wisconsin
A bed in a brewery? That’s what’s on tap at the Brewhouse Inn and Suites. Transformed 
from an abandoned Pabst Brewery  (the largest brewer in the world during the first half of 
the 20th century), the building reflects Milwaukee’s brewing heritage in a heady way. 
Copper brew kettles from the original factory are lined up on the mezzanine, overseen 
by King Gambrinus, the patron saint of beer and brewing. His stained-glass likeness was 
commissioned by Frederick Pabst himself. Speaking of glass, the Brewhouse’s front desk is crafted from 1,550 beer bottles from Milwaukee-based breweries. Reclaimed wood from the factory is used throughout the property, from the headboards 
in the rooms to the tabletops at Jackson’s Blue Ribbon Pub.

Refinery Hotel, New York, New York
Hat’s off to Manhattan’s Refinery Hotel (circa 2013), which originally was a high-end 
millinery factory (circa 1912). Located in New York City’s Garment District (naturally), 
Refinery Hotel’s design draws on the building’s past with a custom installation of
hat-making tools in the lobby. Each guestroom has a slightly raw aesthetic inspired 
by the original factory, such as concrete ceilings, distressed hardwood floors, custom area 
rugs, and sewing machines-inspired desks. The hotel’s event space is called, what else,
The Hatbox. 

Craddock Terry Hotel, Lynchburg, Virginia

There’s no business like shoe business at the Craddock Terry Hotel. The Craddock Terry 
Shoe Company was founded in the late 19th century in Lynchburg, Virginia. At one time, 
it was the fifth-largest shoe company in the world. At its peak, one factory, which opened 
in 1905, produced more than 2,500 pairs of women’s shoes per day. That building is what 
was re-imagined into a hotel by Hal Craddock, the great-grandson of the shoe company 
founder. In 2007, the Craddock Terry Hotel opened, retaining its original industrial feel, 
with exposed wood beam ceilings and nine-foot tall windows. What gives the place even 
more ‘sole’ are that hints of its shoe-making past are everywhere. Whimsical touches
include in-room breakfast served in old-fashioned wooden shoe shine boxes and 
art installations clogged with 100 years of shoes.

Kendall Hotel, Cambridge, Massachusetts
What was once a firehouse is now a fine accommodation. The Kendall Hotel is housed in 
Engine 7 Firehouse, a Victorian-style structure built in 1895. The firehouse closed in 1993 
and re-opened as a hotel in 2002. The building, the oldest in Kendall Square, has been 
restored in a manner befitting its heroic past. Its restaurant, the Black Sheep, is named 
after Engine 7’s self-described Fire Department misfits. Both it and the lobby are filled 
with firehouse memorabilia and Victoriana. Eleven of the guest rooms are located in what 
was once the firemen’s dormitory. But don’t worry. If you stay in one of them, you won’t 
have to exit via a pole.