Medium Cool is a weekly series related to popular culture, mostly film, TV, and books, with some music and games thrown in. We hope it’s a welcome break from the anger, hate, and idiocy we see almost daily from the other side in the political sphere.
Arguments welcomed, opinions respected, fools un-suffered. We’re here every Sunday at 7 pm.
What do you do to get the feel for the local culture when you are traveling? When I say “traveling”, I don’t care if it’s it’s the state next door, the county next door, or traveling around the world.
Is it the food? Museums? Shops? Cultural events? Wandering through neighborhoods? Talking to random people in the street?
If it’s the food, I hope it doesn’t look like this!
Math Guy
I sample the locally brewed beer.
Phylllis
Definitely the local food scene. We’re also partial in the summertime to traveling to places with minor league baseball. It’s always interesting to check out other ballparks and to see what kind of crowd comes out.
TBone
Taking back roads, back streets, off the beaten path adventures wherever possible. Take the long way, or the least trod path, or the country road. Does not apply to restaurants, however – always stick with populated eateries. Especially if the locals eat there.
azelie
Definitely wandering through neighborhoods and seeing people going about their lives. When I’m traveling internationally, I like going to grocery stores. Breakfast stuff, cheese, snacks, etc.
The last couple of years when I’ve been traveling for work I’ve had to bring my tween along, so seeing what activities are available for families has been a different way of getting to know a place. I miss having time for museums, religious sites and other cultural activities, but that phase of my life will return at some point.
NotMax
Did someone mention international?
;)
Starfish
I am currently on a trip that is not far from home. When I travel, I often eat at Mexican restaurants because they are better with our food allergies than most.
Yesterday, I was on my first kayak trip, and I took it too close to the shore so I could look into the windows of the fancy waterfront homes.
I looked at one of the fancy waterfront homes on Zillow and decided that the house with the spiral staircase that had glass stairs was not for me, even if a rich relative that I did not know I had died and left me the money to buy the thing.
Mr. Prosser
Being an amateur naturalist and avocational archaeologist it’s all about the climate, flora and fauna, geology and the prehistoric record. The greatest pleasure is studying the rock art of the Southwest and Great Basin and Northwest, learning of the past climates of those areas. This all started from reading Craig Childs’s Atlas of a Lost world
Nelle
I head to parks. I walk the cities and towns. One day in Paris, we walked 26km. I don’t know if we can do it again, but we’ve done a number of four day walks (with luggage transfers). Marlborough Sound, New Zealand; the Cotswolds in England; and Provence. I’m steeped in literature and I want to walk the landscape that authors and characters experienced. I strike up conversations with those willing to chat. When we first were in New Zealand, we would still be thanked by older people for the American presence in New Zealand in WWII, when so many Kiwis had gone off to defend England and then Japanese subs came crawling around (though there was still some grumbling about Yanks marrying their girls).
MagdaInBlack
It has been awhile since I’ve had an actual vacation, but when I do, I do not like a structured one. I’m more of a “lets take a weekend road trip” type. “I wonder what’s down that road” has yielded a lot of treasures.
kalakal
I just walk around. Sitting with a coffee at a cafe, preferably outside, works well. Another good one is exploring a few food stores
MagdaInBlack
@kalakal: oh, I loved grocery/food store safari when I traveled.
Mousebumples
@Math Guy: beer, wine, local juice (eg, pineapple, papaya, guava when I’m Hawaii).
I try to scope out the local scene ahead of big travel plans – I toured a local chocolate factory (Cadbury) in New Zealand. Checked out a luau in Hawaii. Look for unique restaurants, and maybe ask for recommendations as I walk around. People have favorites – though random happenstance works too!
Baud
Brothals.
randy khan
My wife and I like to walk around. Usually we have a destination in mind, but not always, and we happily detour when we find an excuse.
I also try to eat local food when I can. (We had three pretty good meals at random little places, one which had no English menu, but pictures on the Japanese menu, when we were in Japan, and none of them were more than you’d pay for, say, Chipotle in the U.S.)
Another food thing is that I like to try local soft drinks. Inka Cola in Peru and Irn Bro in Scotland both were pretty good. In Paris or London, it’s things like fizzy lemonade (if it says lemonade, it’s probably fizzy) from Euro-centric big companies, as there don’t seem to be a lot of actual local choices.
I love museums, but on the whole I don’t expect much in the way of real local culture from them. (One exception – there is a big exhibit on Scottishness at the Kevlingrove Gallery in Glasgow, plus a gallery on the Arts & Crafts movement in Glasgow. Also, there are daily organ concerts, which isn’t really local culture, but is a reason to be there at 1:00 every day but Sunday, when the concert is at 3:00 (and, I just discovered, 15 minutes longer).
Mel
Finding little shops and Mom and Pop restaurants.
Going to local libraries is another great way to learn what’s special. Librarians are gems, no matter near or far.
randy khan
@Nelle:
Did you do the repurposed rail line park walk in Paris? We did it last year (well, mostly – at some point we made a wrong guess, although it still was an abandoned rail line), and it was pretty interesting. It predates the much more famous High Line in New York, but it’s the same basic idea.
My wife and I spent most of a day once hopscotching local parks in Honolulu, which has a ton of them. We were on a layover on our way home from the Big Island with nothing else to do, and it was a lot of fun to see the variety.
frosty
Well since we just got home after three months on the road I should be able to come up with something.
Definitely the natural world. National Parks, State Parks, County parks. Florida State Parks are The Real Florida. Get off the beaches and out of Disney World and visit a couple. Take the pontoon boat tour if they have one. Also, if you’re into it, look for eBird hotspots. I got 15 lifers last February in Florida and 20 on our meandering trip to PNW.
Food. There isn’t a lot of truly local food IMHO. We went through Minnesota but I never got Hot Dish. We tried elk and bison burgers in North Dakota though. What we have found is really good restaurants in small towns where you wouldn’t expect them. Which brings me to …
Drink. I like to try a six-pack of local beer but haven’t had much luck lately. If you want a Pilsner instead of an IPA, pickings are slim. Local distilleries are another thing to try. Every one makes their own take on gin and they’ve all been good and different.
Finally, the landscape. We’ve traveled with the Roadside Geology books open while we tried to figure out what we were looking at. I found a better source though. Here’s a great site put together by EPA/USGS/NRCS with maps and descriptions of the area you’re driving through:
Level III and IV Ecoregions by State
Geology, soils, ecology, former and current use. Here’s a sample of one of the best: Montana. If you’re a map geek like me you can spend hours on these.
https://gaftp.epa.gov/EPADataCommons/ORD/Ecoregions/mt/mt_front_1.pdf
frosty
@Baud: So you haven’t gotten out of Amsterdam?? Really, the other places in the Netherlands are worth seeing, too. //s
Eric S.
I’ve been back for a couple weeks from Europe. I love to walk the neighborhoods and find the local food/farmers markets. I always eat and drink local. This trip I did a guided tour that was a weeklong bike ride through Flanders. A typical guided tour isn’t my cup of tea but the bike tour gave an illusion of freedom and we were able to see so much countryside at a leisurely pace.
Old School
Spanish Moss
When my husband and I travel internationally, we do it sandwich-style. Touristy stuff on the front end, then rent a vacation home for a week or so in the middle, then more touristy stuff on the back end. The middle part is usually my favorite: going to the grocery store, mostly cooking our own food, mixing with the locals a bit, maybe going out to a local restaurant or bar. We relax and get a little taste of what it is like to live there. The grocery stores and markets are always fascinating.
frosty
I think my brilliant, well-thought out comment went into spam? (I hope! If I have to do a second iteration it won’t be as good.)
Chet Murthy
@Eric S.: Was this thru a commercial outfit? Care to share a pointer ?
Princess
I wander around the grocery stores.
Phylllis
@Old School: I saw that the other day. Such a lovely show. I will miss it.
Anyway
*I enjoy trying out the local subway/metro — it’s fairly easy in large cities – London, Paris, Tokyo etc but fun to try in medium or smaller cities. I enjoyed using the subway/bus in Antwerpen, Budapest, Vienna etc
* in addition to wandering around, grocery stores etc…
Old School
@Phylllis: I know. I saw the news earlier this week as well, but saved it for Medium Cool thinking this would be the place for it.
Then it didn’t fit this week’s theme (but I posted it anyway).
Eric S.
@Chet Murthy: A company known as Beer Cycling. Their motto is “Getting you from Pint A to Pint B.”
They provide the bikes and all necessary equipment, guides, and support van. Hotels, some meals and brewery tours are included.
Pointers would b to train for the rides. Flanders was flat and easy but there was a 60km ride on day 2. My saddle was sore! Where biking clothes, padded shorts etc. and ask the company what level of ride and level or riders usually attend. The guide told us they have a couple tours that are technically challenging and attracted riders out to challenge themselves.
I did another, French Wine Tours, 6 years ago. Much harder ride in Hilly country.
Suzanne
I do a lot of birdwatching when I travel. One time in Athens, the pigeons were so chill that I got them to come stand on my arm.
I have a lot of photos of birds in focus and the famous location behind is blurry.
Eric S.
@Suzanne: A friend on my most recent trip clued me in on the Merlin app from Cornell to identify birds. We have it a bit of a workout once we downloaded the Western Europe data.
pajaro
public transportation in urban places;
in crowded cities, back in the day when I was a runner, I used to love to jog in the cities at dawn.
going to the sporting events that the folks in the place I’m visiting care about, and asking them about the game;
raven
Fish and football
Anyway
I got back from 10 days in Georgia (the country) hiking in the Southern Caucasus and wandering around (checked out local wineries making Georgian-style wine). The language is impenetrable but all the “Fuck Russia” and “FCK PTN” signs were in English. I was surprised at how few signs were in Cyrillic given how long they were part of the Soviet Union.
Suzanne
@Eric S.: Ooooh I have a trip in about six weeks, will download! THX for the tip!
sab
I hate travelling, but during the course of my life I have moved a lot, mostly expecting that this move is the last. I was born in NC, but then we moved.
Ohio based family, but NC, OH, KY, FL OH, MI, CA, NV, OH.
America is a hugely diverse country, especially in food, and in English language. Almost everyone speaks English, but lots of diversity.
My husband and I grew up a mile apart, but because of ethnic, geographic and class differences, we prononunce roof very differently.
Seems silly, but boy does this cross class lines.
Chet Murthy
@Eric S.: Thank you!
Kristine
if there’s a ghost tour, I take it. I’ve found them a good way to learn the local history and lore of the area. I’ve taken them in Greenwich Village, Park City, and St Charles (outside St Louis).
jonas
Not a travel story, but the picture of the Swanson’s dinner brought back fond 70’s-80’s childhood memories because whenever my *parents* went on a trip and left us with a babysitter for an evening or weekend, they always left us classic TV dinners like that in the freezer, which we almost otherwise never got, and the peas and the potatoes and fried chicken were awesome (to my 8 year-old palate, anyway), and especially the apple cobbler dessert. I haven’t had one in decades and I’m sure if I had it today, it would taste like grade-D airline food, but back then it was always a super-special treat. And you got to eat in front of the TV! (Although I later learned that they weren’t called “TV dinners” because you ate them in front of the TV, but because the rectangular foil package resembled an old TV-set and the name just sounded jet-age or something to the Swanson’s marketers.)
Kristine
@Eric S.: I second the Merlin app, especially since they’ve added the sound ID.
Spanish Moss
@jonas: I have the same memory of those TV dinners, such a treat to my young self, and we got to pick our own out at the store beforehand. Thanks for that trip down memory lane, a different kind of travel!
frosty
@Suzanne: You look for birds and you don’t have Merlin yet? You’re in for a treat. The first thing I do on a walk is bring up the Sound ID. If there are birds chirping and singing it gives you a good idea of what to look for. It seems to be really accurate, too. IMHO.
You can play back recordings of birds, then listen, hear the same thing, and confirm which bird you’ve heard. Over time you start to train your ears.
Villago Delenda Est
@Phylllis: Concur 100%. You get the best feel for another culture this way, IMHO.
frosty
@frosty: Well, let’s try it again. We just got home from a three-month road trip so my travel ideas are pretty fresh.
Nature: National Parks, State Parks, County parks, eBird hotspots. State parks can be gems. Florida’s are The Real Florida. Get off the beach and out of Disney World and check them out!
Food: I didn’t find a lot of local food out there on this trip, although we had elk and bison burgers in North Dakota. The good finds have been really good restaurants in small towns where you wouldn’t expect them.
Drink: I try to get a six-pack of the local beer but if you’re a Pilsner fan instead of IPAs, the pickings are slim. Distilleries are a little different. Every one has a different take on gin and they’re all worth a try. Especially if you’re a mixologist like Ms F.
Landscape: I’m always curious about the landscapes we pass through. We’ve driven a few states with a copy of Roadside Geology open, but I’ve found something I like better. Here’s a great site put together by EPA/USGS/NRCS with maps and descriptions.
https://www.epa.gov/eco-research/level-iii-and-iv-ecoregions-state
There’s a couple of different formats. Here’s one of the best ones: Montana. I’m a map geek, I could spend hours on these.
https://gaftp.epa.gov/EPADataCommons/ORD/Ecoregions/mt/mt_front_1.pdf
MagdaInBlack
@NotMax: Yikes! And yik. 😜
frosty
For a day in a new city, we like the kitschy Hop-On Hop-Off Trolley Tours. They give you a good overview of the place, with a little history too. Or the variation we did in London and Paris: a boat tour of the Thames and Seine. Hop off for Parliament and the Eiffel Tower!
Kristine
If you visit NYC, the Circle Line Tour around Manhattan is definitely worth your time. I was stunned at how much green space there is on the island. You get to see all the bridges from the other boroughs and hear bits of history. I enjoyed it.
Sister Golden Bear
@frosty: Yes, but seeing other parts of the Netherlands would require wearing pants.
randy khan
@Spanish Moss:
Markets are great – both food markets and flea markets.
And when we go to Paris, we always go to the supermarket to buy chocolate (the good stuff is cheaper and the variety is better than the U.S. – I just finished off a mango-Szechuan pepper bar), pate, and mustard, along with whatever else catches our eyes and can be taken back to the U.S.
randy khan
@frosty:
We’ve done the Seine boat a couple of times – the one without any tour guide, just the boat going on its circuit of the river. IT’s very relaxing to watch the sights go by.
p.a.
I’ll be the jerk who says: hit on the locals. Deep dive into the culture, that. And possibly the medical, judicial systems.
But seriously, markets, locals’ hangouts.
Steve in the ATL
@Anyway: I’ve had some excellent Georgia wine. From the country, obviously. I’ve never had a drinkable wine from Georgia the state. Perhaps because so much of our energy goes into dominating college football?
Most of my tips have already been covered here: stay in a neighborhood rather than a downtown/tourist zone hotel, grocery stores, drug stores (that’s more my wife…), local wine or beer, local art galleries, smaller shops, public transportation whenever possible, even TV.
Domestically, one can get a great sense of a place by perusing the local real estate section.
MagdaInBlack
@Steve in the ATL: I loved looking thru the local real estate sections when I traveled.
Thor Heyerdahl
I tend to be a wanderer by foot, bike or public transport. I take time to try to visit parks where the locals are – and often are a bit further afield after wandering.
Parks are a great place to see how the locals chill out.
S Cerevisiae
@frosty: thanks for the map link!
for me; birds! and nature in general, second all the recommendations for local food and brew. We are flying to Paris in less than a month and then a tour of Morocco, should be many more birds for my life list.
Robin
@Steve in the ATL: my brother goes and looks at houses for sale sometimes when he is traveling
Central Planning
We went to Montreal back in July. We ended up taking an evening bus tour that was a good 2.5 hours and we saw many different sites. That gave us an idea for what we wanted to see over the next 3 days.
i also like taking back roads to get place and never (never say never!) eat at chains (locally or while traveling)
Steve in the ATL
@MagdaInBlack:@Robin: so I’m not as stupid as people say? Awesome!
Eric S.
@Thor Heyerdahl: I also like to find a big local park or town square. Just people watching in a (hopefully) noon-creepy way.
Asparagus Aspersions
We just got back from 8 days in. Copenhagen and Hamburg. We like to do the little one- or two- hour boat tours in cities we visit that have rivers or canals. This time around we did a boat tour on the river Elbe that went around the different container ships. It was in German so we didn’t understand any of the commentary but it was fascinating getting so close to these massive ships.
Gloria DryGarden
@frosty: I love maps. No,I adore them. I could spend hours. Thank you for these links. Wow.
frosty
It’s nice to see all the other commenters taking a couple hour bus/trolley/boat tour of a new city. I feel like it’s uber-touristy, but hey, I’m a tourist! I also agree with them it’s a good way to get a look around and see where you might want to come back.
Also, if you only have one day, it’s a not a bad way to go to. We had an unexpected day on San Juan Island (Puget Sound) this summer and instead of spending the whole time in Friday Harbor we took the Trolley Tour. It stopped at the state park where people see orcas, which we wouldn’t have done otherwise. The orcas decided not to be there that day, unfortunately. :-(
frosty
@Gloria DryGarden: @S Cerevisiae: I wish they would put these into books, but oh well.
The Dakotas and Ohio/ Indiana is even better than Montana because they did a little description of the Level IV ecoregions:
https://gaftp.epa.gov/EPADataCommons/ORD/Ecoregions/nd/ndsd_front.pdf
I haz a sad because my neck of the woods on the Mason-Dixon Line it’s just a map with the Level III descriptions, although they have another page with a Word document with more detail. More than I want, actually. I don’t want all the soil descriptions, it seems like voodoo to me LOL.
https://gaftp.epa.gov/EPADataCommons/ORD/Ecoregions/reg3/reg3_eco.pdf
Glad you liked them fellow map geeks! It was during my career when GIS took off. What a revelation!
Gloria DryGarden
In other countries I like best to stay with people. I was an exchange student out of high school, and it made ordinary tourist travel seem flat. Chat up the locals, ask what cultural events are happening, is there a dance, a soccer game (futbol!), a good bakery or restaurant, a cheese shop. If I could go back to Europe or South America, I do like museums, and in Europe I like the churches, even though it’s not my main practice. But one catches a music rehearsal, or an organ concert, in great acoustics ( Notre dame in Paris, notably) Later, when I found out that a lot of the little stone churches in villages in France were built on ancient sacred sites, it all made more sense, why I loved them so. In Uppsala, I visited a church, and in 1979, they had a woman priest! The American guys I met there were quite appalled. I think it would be fun to land in a folk dance or group dancing event, anywhere. When we hung out at college campuses in Italy we got some great leads for things to do, but never a dance event.
In 1979 I was in Paris, and took the metro /subway a lot, but the friend of a friend we stayed with suggested I take the buses, ground transportation, so I would realize how vast Paris was.
Mostly I like to camp, and look at amazing scenery, and identify plants. I’ve mostly done that in Colorado, Utah, and Wyoming, with one trip into New Mexico, and Arizona. It’s great to find the hot springs and sometimes meet people. In little towns, it’s also a lot of fun to visit the health food store, and the thrift stores, for finds you might not ever see at home. The moon flower store in Moab had so many treasures, natural hand balms, piñon lip balm, grapefruit marmalade.
Gloria DryGarden
@frosty: you would love the book ‘prodigal summer’ by Barbara kingsolver. It takes place in Tennessee, in a village and some farms near a national forest preserve. It doesn’t have maps, but so much about the ecosystem is discussed. It’s three stories threaded together, and you don’t find out til near the end the way each story’s characters are interconnected. The description is so clear I can go there in my mind, now, years later.
Gloria DryGarden
@randy khan: why is no one mentioning the smaller statue of liberty on the seine boat tour? Is it no longer there? Is it just ho hum? I was just 21, and didn’t remember much history, but seeing that statue there reminded me how involved France was in making this country, getting us through the revolutionary war.
Gloria DryGarden
@Steve in the ATL: , also anyway
there is a cool linguistics program on kanopy, taught by john mcwhorter, called language families of the world. His description of the languages and families in Caucasus Georgia is fascinating. Very complex. I’m guessing it’s full of remote valleys separated by impassable difficult mountains. Mcwhorter is a fun instructor, too, dry deadpan, almost sardonic, but so intrigued by his subject, and he converts it. I can’t recall exactly, but I think there are 3 language families, and at least 10 languages, in a small region, so fascinating.
Gloria DryGarden
@Gloria DryGarden: he conveys it.
Unlike the auto predict on this B tablet.
randy khan
@Gloria DryGarden:
I don’t know. But there are little Statues of Liberty all over Paris – I’ve seen examples in front of the Musee des Arts et Metiers, and in Luxembourg Garden. (I remember that the one in the garden is the maquette, but I could be wrong.) It seems they were very popular at one point.