Hello all—
This winter has certainly been a weird one—deep cold snaps, snow in Southern California, all mixed with unseasonably warm weather that at times had us all in t-shirts. Here’s hoping spring is more predictable!
I feel like we’ve all got that random spot in the world that we inexplicably have always wanted to visit. For me, that was Hamburg, the former independent German city state that is now its largest port city. Maybe it was the architectural icon the Chilehaus or the romance of the canal system—I’m not sure! But I recently visited for our series It’s Still a Big World and was positively charmed. It’s an impressive place with cool architecture, good food, interesting ideas about urban planning, and the, um, “German Mona Lisa.” (You’ll have to read the story to understand my hesitation.)
Lately, I’ve found myself more and more befuddled by the ingredients I see on cocktail menus. Sometimes that’s exciting and leads to new pleasures, other times it’s an unmitigated disaster. One of the cool parts about it is that it allows so much more of the world to play a part in terms of ingredients, and one of the big contributors has been a renaissance of regional alcohols. Well, Liz Weisstuch has a send up on one of the hot new boozes you’ll likely see more and more on menus–rakija, a former Balkan peasant drink.
Since spring is around the corner, many of you are no doubt starting to plan your Greece summer trips. Just in time, Demetrios Ioannu reports on how the residents of Plaka, Athens sole historic neighborhood that sits underneath the Parthenon, are beyond fed up with the antics of tourists.
— William O’Connor, Travel Editor
