When describing Davis’s farmer’s market—with its troubadours and familiar faces and its pedal-powered carousel—I’ve been known to make reference to Gilmore Girls and its wholesome but oddball-filled setting of Star’s Hollow. I worried that most of the people I’m talking to now have no idea what I mean.
But alas, it appears, I’m in good company. Gilmore Girls is going to start streaming on Netflix tomorrow (all seven seasons), and there’s an awful lot of celebrating going on. New York Magazine‘s culture blog, “Vulture,” has been publishing article after article about the show (one of my favorite’s has been a debate about Rory’s and Lorelei’s boyfriends). Buzz Feed has a round-up of pie charts for the show’s fans. Entertainment Weekly‘s “Popwatch” gives a list of this month’s Netflix releases as “10 other exciting releases” “beyond ‘Gilmore Girls.'” And even the New York Times is asking “Why are we so obsessed” with the show?
Did you watch the show the first time around? Were/Are you a fan? Will you watch it now?
P.S. Ben or Noel? (From Felicity, that other show I watched in college.)
[Photo copyright CW Network/via New York Magazine]
Kids’ Halloween costumes are the ultimate in disposable clothing purchases—buy it once, and chances are, it’s worn only once. Plus, it can be a challenge to find high-quality, well-made costumes at a reasonable price. This year, why not try your hand at making your own? (Older children can help, too! ) Below, a few favorite sources for easy, inventive DIY ideas that kids will love—enough, I’m willing to bet, for them to defy the curse of the one-time wear.
There was an Op-Ed* recently that bemoaned the bucket list, the “padding [of] one’s experiential résumé” for the sake of “novelty” that turns experiences into boxes one checks off. While I certainly wouldn’t agree with the author’s naming a visit to the Vatican or a trip to Paris (or even Las Vegas) as experiences that are over-hyped as a consequence, I agree that it can be “cloying” to hear one has “done” a city.
Last week, I flew to New York for a really special dinner hosted by the Austrian tourism board. And as we—a handful of other bloggers and myself—were sitting down to dinner, one of our hosts, Director Michael Gigl, referenced the Op-Ed, noting that Austria is perhaps all the more special a destination because it isn’t one of those places people tend to put on such a list.
Austria, he said, is loved for its Gemütlichkeit—a difficult to translate (not to mention pronounce) term that describes easy-going, friendly Austrian hospitality.
That’s not to say there aren’t bucket-list worthy sites in Austria: historians, music lovers, skiers, epicureans, dancers… you get the point… would surely take issue with any such suggestion! When I think of Austria, I think of pastries and wine (they’ve been cultivating wine since the Roman times), of waltzes, of composers like Mozart, Joseph Haydn, Strauss and Schubert, of dirndls and skiing in the Alps. And of course of a long, rich history. Watching an Opera in Vienna would surely be worthy of any such bucket list.
When my parents took me to Europe as a very lucky (but certainly not adequately grateful) teenager, we drove from Italy into Austria. My priorities were mostly about following in the footsteps of Maria Von Trapp (The Sound of Music was filmed primarily in Salzburg and there’s a photo of me in front of the church that served as the façade for Maria’s wedding), but what I remember now was seeing wild swans floating atop a glassy, misty lake in Hallstatt; donning colorful jumpsuits to slide down into salt mines; and laughing at my mom’s heavy use of the brake after my dad and I sped downhill on a summer luge.
Back to that evening in New York. It was full of Gemütlichkeit. And this time I knew enough to appreciate it: First of all, Kurt Gutenbrunner (of Wallsé and a few other wonderful NY restaurants) made us an amazing dinner in a private home in Red Hook (one of those artist’s lofts beside Fairway market that looks out at over the Harbor with its water taxis and ferries and, of course, Lady Liberty). You may have seen some photos on Instagram or Twitter from me with the hashtag #MyAustrianEvening.
There were canapés of wiener schnitzel, liptauer, and foie gras; smoked trout crepes with salmon caviar; spätzle with corn and chanterelles with braised rabbit; roasted venison; about three different desserts; and a lot of wonderful wine. And the members of the Brooklyn Symphony Orchestra came and played classical music by Austrian composers and… well, it was just lovely.
So, of course, the takeaway here is that we would all be lucky to take a trip to Austria. (And, bucket-list or not, you should start planning one, here. Now.) But in the meantime, if you’d like an evening like this, they’re offering a chance to win an Austrian Evening in your home (for you and nine of your friends)—go to the Austrian travel page to learn how to enter to win.
What do you think of “bucket-list” travel? Have you been to Austria? If so, what was most memorable about your visit?
