A Hippie Oasis in the Middle of Copenhagen

Imagine a place where everyone is chilled out. People are smoking weed or drinking beer everywhere you look. On benches, on the street, in cafes, next to the lake. It's all good. But this place actually exists and it's right in the middle of Copenhagen. Welcome to Christania. Established in the 1960's as a "free" city there are tenuous links to Copenhagen proper but this haven is entirely self-governing. There's Green Square where the dealers set up lemonade-stand like stalls to sell their wares and lined by cafes where one can sit and enjoy a blunt and some food or drink. There's the beautiful lakeside where you can sit on the grass, have a doobie, listen to some music, and soak in the fresh THC-tinged air. The whole place has a relaxed atmosphere and acts as the perfect counter-balance to the bustling city. But don't take any pictures anywhere near Green Square or you might meet some very unpleasant people. For more info: wikitravel.org/en/Copenhagen/Christiania

One of the few things you are allowed to photograph in Christiania.

The View from Aiguille du Midi at 3842m

For EUR 45 you can ride the Aiguille du Midi cable car in Chamonix and experience an incredible view of Mont Blanc from up close. After queuing for a bit, you are zipped up to 3842m. At the top there are several viewing platforms, a small cafe, and a gift shop. The views at the top are well worth the price. And judging from the hordes of tourists that ride it, the word is out.

Dutch Toilet Design Ethos: Admire your work?

A standard "Western" toilet has a bowl that is shaped like a funnel with a small pool of water (let's call this the outflow pool) at the bottom which is positioned close to the centre of the bowl. Or better yet, it's positioned close to where your poop will land. When flushed, water flows from top to bottom, pushing anything on the sides of the bowl to the outflow pool.

The "resting pool" is in the centre. 
Just imagine a giant pile of poop there.

The older style Dutch toilets, however, have a very peculiar shape. The outflow pool is at the very front of the bowl and there is a small platform with a small catchment of water (let's call this the resting pool) which dominates the bowl. The platform is positioned in exactly where your poop lands so that when you have a #2, all your excrement lands in the resting pool and stays there till flushed. Because the resting pool is so small, it's as if your poop is sitting on a pedestal so that you can admire your work. When flushed, most of the water comes from the back of the toilet to push whatever is in the resting pool to the outflow pool. I will admit, it's interesting to see your poop in a small pile rather than floating in water. I admired it before I flushed. Having it sit on the pedestal makes it look a lot more extravagant than when it's floating in the outflow pool. But if the Dutch do admire their work, they certainly don't talk about it. I, on the other hand, would definitely boast about the size of my dump from the previous day and how it looked on the shit pedestal. It was grand.

NYC Bicycle Share Coming Soon?

According to BBC Travel, a new bicycle share program is set to start in early August in New York City. But as with any large scale public project, delays are inevitable...

"The initial rollout will consist of 7,000 bicycles and 420 stations, peppered throughout the lower half of Manhattan and parts of Brooklyn and Queens; the program will be expanded in the spring of 2013 to reach 10,000 bikes and 600 docking stations in total.

"An annual Citi Bike membership costs $95, a seven-day membership is $25 and a 24-hour membership is $9.95. No deposit is required, and members can make as many daily trips as they want, as long as they keep each trip within the time limits (annual members must return bikes to a dock within 45 minutes of pick up; weekly and daily members have 30 minutes to re-dock). Those who exceed the time limits will pay additional fees which start at $2.50 for the first 30 minutes but increase exponentially thereafter (remember: the idea is to share the bikes, not monopolise them). 

http://www.bbc.com/travel/blog/20120725-new-york-citys-new-bike-share-program 

The Most Epic Road Trip Ever. 23 Years. 800000 Kilometres.

This man is my new inspiration. From the BBC: 

"Back in 1989, as the Berlin Wall fell, Gunther Holtorf and his wife Christine set out on what was meant to be an 18-month tour of Africa in their Mercedes Benz G Wagen. Now, with more than 800,000km (500,000 miles) on the clock, Gunther is still going.

The German former airline executive has travelled the equivalent of 20 times around the planet in the vehicle - which he calls Otto. He says he has never had a serious breakdown."

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-18910560

Subject to copyright. Photography by Gunther Holtorf and David Lemke.

Escondido Falls, Malibu, CA

Escondido Falls is a great day hike in Malibu and is accessible right from the Pacific Coast Highway on Winding Way Road. There's a small carpark on PCH. If that's full you can park right on the side of the PCH. To get to the trailhead, you walk down the road past the multi-million dollar mansions and in about 10-15 minutes you'll see a sign and a path on the left that slopes down the hill. At the first two path junctions take a left and you'll reach a small waterfall with a refreshingly cool pool of water underneath it. It's too shallow to swim in and due to all the rocks it's a bit tricky to get into the water but it feels great to put your head underneath the falls on a hot day. From here, there are several paths leading further up. The easiest one is on the right and rises gently at first then gets very steep. Once you climb up and through the boulder crevice you find yourself on a very small rock ledge which fronts a 20+ metre drop. I have to admit, it's a bit unsettling if you don't like heights but the view of the falls a bit further up from this point is awesome. From here there is a web of tracks that aren't signposted so you have to do a bit of path finding but almost all the trails invariably lead to the top of the hill.

On the way down, you have to press your back against the smooth side of the boulder crevice while pressing your hands and feet on the other wall. Think of walking on all fours...vertically. It's actually not as hard as it first seems but be sure to wear a shirt for this bit. And be ready to use your hands for the very steep descent back into the forest from here. Remember the easy path going up I mentioned earlier? It's important to keep left and try to take this path back down to the smaller falls. If you take one of the other routes like we did you'll have to find your way down some near vertical rock faces which you definitely don't want to fall off of unless you don't mind breaking a bone or two.

The Louvre Pyramid

The Louvre Pyramid serves as the main entrance to the museum and also makes for a nice juxtaposition to the rest of the palatial building and grounds. It's basically a glass and metal (steel?) pyramid sitting in the middle of the main courtyard to the complex. Unsurprisingly, there was quite a bit of controversy surrounding it when it was introduced. However, it has since become quite popular with the hordes of tourists that visit the museum each day. If you stand on one of the concrete blocks near the roundabout it's easy to get of a photo of yourself touching the tip of the pyramid, similar to the one everyone takes when they go to the Taj Mahal.