Big In Japan: Top Travel Five and a Half Days In Tokyo Product Review by Nancy Bestor Metropolitan, a four star western hotel by Bob Bestor and Steve Frazier-Rice Our intention was to have a long weekend in the Ikebukuro neighborhood for $90. It’s that time of year again, when we away without the kids. We were thinking Excellently located, the Crown Plaza begin planning our next vacation, and New Orleans (pre-Katrina), Austin or is just five minutes on foot from the get out all our travel accessories to see Cleveland (not!) Ikebukuro subway station and from there what we might need to take along to our when we realized we we had quick access to the entire city. next travel destination. Following are a had enough frequent After subtracting travel time, we had few highlights of new and in some cases flier miles for two just five and a half days, so we studied improved products that we’re sure will tickets to Tokyo. several guidebooks to determine the make your travels easier. Our experience with frequent flier miles sites and neighborhoods we wanted to visit. And of course, we marked several Sidekick Alert is the more flexible your dates, the easier Over the last year many a Travel it is to book a trip. Bob and I are nothing restaurants we thought we would enjoy. Each with just a small carry-on, we were Essentials customer has been disappointed if not flexible, so we were able to book a by Eagle Creek’s decision to redesign two week’s trip to Tokyo in November out of off for a week of Japanese adventure. Upon arrival at Narita airport in of their most popular bags, the Sidekick Medford, Oregon. Everything we heard and Mini-Sidekick. If you are one of those about Tokyo led us to believe a week’s Tokyo, we bought tickets for an express train to Ikebukuro. This would be our first dejected customers who couldn’t get a visit could break the bank. But as we got new Sidekick just like your old Sidekick, further into our research, we discovered, of many journeys on Tokyo’s terrific public transportation system. We took subway consider this your alert—Eagle Creek like many places, careful planning will has recognized the error of its ways and save you money. Using www.priceline.com trains everywhere, and other than our one-hour wait for the express, we never brought back both bags in their traditional in tandem with www.biddingfortravel. styling. See, sometimes manufacturers do com, we booked the Crown Plaza continued on page 2 continued on page 4 Travel Essential News • March 2006 A Night at the Fraundorfer In This Issue by Bob Bestor, Jr. the rising noise level, most are on their Pacifico and the Sea of Cortez Page 3 third beer—at least. Three teenaged boys, As usual, the Gasthof Fraundorfer is Japanese Bath Houses Page 6 roaring. The long tables, the booths and in traditional dress, are entertaining the banquets, have been filled for more than crowd with a Bavarian dance involving TE Sponsors Four Children Page 8 an hour. Frau Fraundorfer and her staff high leg kicks and loud thigh slapping. tote trays heavy with half-liters of beer It is just past 8:30pm, everyone has and steaming plates of Bavarian farm been watered and fed, the noise level is fare. The clear tenor voice of Friedl cuts peaking and Friedl has begun to roll out through the din. He wears lederhosen, some of his yodel standards, sad songs of accompanies himself on the accordion, love and death on the mountain. This is Your Retail Outlet for Luggage, Travel Gear, Maps & Travel Books and has played this six-nights-a-week gig the “tipping point;” will the evening coast since 1959, with interruptions only for on to a quiet close or will there be conga 252 E. Main St., Ashland, OR 97520 marriage and heart bypass surgery. lines and dancing on the tables? Either (541) 482-7383 (800) 258-0758 way Garmisch-Partenkirchen’s Gasthof e-mail: [email protected] The 90 or so celebrants squeezed www.travelessentials.com into the cozy, kitschy room are having continued on page 7 ©2002 Travel Essentials, Ashland, OR. All Rights Reserved. the time of their lives, and judging by Big In Japan: Five and a Half Days in Tokyo continued from page 1 unusual) varieties. After watching the press, and many Japanese with cell phone wheeling and dealing, and walking up cameras at the ready. Figuring something waited more than five minutes for a train and down rows and rows of fish stalls, we exciting was about to happen, but having the entire week. We typically rode the searched out Daiwa Sushi for breakfast. no idea what it could be, we decided to subway four to six times a day. Each ride Daiwa is a popular sushi restaurant, and wait. Very soon our little crowd began to cost about $1.50 per person, and the stir as a small motorcade appeared on trains were almost always full, no matter the palace grounds. As the very official the time of day. Amazingly convenient, looking black vehicles approached, the we were able to get everywhere we crowd clapped and some of the women wanted to go, and we never used began to cry. Soon the windows on one another form of transportation. car rolled down, and inside were the We ate at many delightful Emperor and Empress of Japan smiling restaurants during our week. Our first warmly and waving to all of us. Wow! night featured an excellent example It was lovely. Later we found out that of the innumerable and inexpensive their only daughter married that day, to noodle houses located throughout the a commoner, thus renouncing her title city. Lonely Planet’s Tokyo recommended and right to the throne. Jangara Ramen under its Cheap Eats Lonely Planet says it is Tokyo’s “best and Another highlight of our stay was section, and we were not disappointed. best-known sushi breakfast.” It was not a visit to Tobu, a large department store Large bowls of steaming hot ramen, with easy to find. We asked for directions and in the Ikebukuro neighborhood near a variety of toppings like bean sprouts, still had trouble (this was the running our hotel. A trip to Tokyo would not be sliced pork, shrimp and much more, are theme of our week in Tokyo as businesses complete without a visit to one of their available for about $5-8 any time of the don’t have street numbers). Ultimately we major department stores at opening time. day or night. Noodle shops are Japan’s saw the line outside of a tiny restaurant, We arrived shortly before 10 am, the “fast food”, and we rarely saw westerners with two narrow sushi bar counters. Once doors were unlocked, but we were not in these restaurants. Many have a vending inside and seated we were served green yet allowed to enter. Moments before machine near the front door where one tea, and then encouraged by our chef to opening, the employees simultaneously purchases a ticket specifying their desired order the fixed price meal. We agreed, and took to their stations, in this instance dish. These vending machines offer only a pageant of very fresh and succulent sushi at cosmetic counters. At 10am on the Japanese characters and the price. No followed. Generally light on the wasabi, nose, a bell rang, and we were welcomed pictures and no English translations. So we westerners were the only customers in. As we walked through the cosmetics for us it was quite the adventure—putting given wasabi on the side. Our sushi special department, each and every Tobu our money into the machine, pressing included octopus, shrimp, yellow tail employee murmured a greeting and the button of choice (I’ll be having tuna, rolls with fish eggs, another roll with bowed deeply to us. We felt like royalty. the 950 yen dish tonight, how ‘bout tuna and more. It’s all fabulous until…. Apparently store employees bow to the you?), handing our ticket to the cook the sea urchin! YUCK! It was very gooey first few customers in their store each , and waiting for our mystery meal. No and very fishy too. I decided to attack it morning. It was a fun and sort of wacky problem though, as everything was always with one big bite, thinking the sooner I experience. delicious. got it down the better. Bad idea. I nearly Another wonderful food experience We awoke early on our first full gagged and had to secretly pass the rest was a visit to Yurakucho Yakitori Alley, day in Tokyo and headed for the Tsukiji of it to Bob, who is more adventuresome under the elevated railway tracks in the Central Fish Market, one of Tokyo’s most and gladly ate it along with his piece. Ginza neighborhood. Yakitori is Japanese famous places. Over 5.5 million pounds Our Daiwa Sushi breakfast was the most barbecue. Skewers of grilled chicken, eel, of fish, worth more than $23 million, expensive meal of our trip, $60. liver, various vegetables and more, along are sold each day. To see the market in Later the same day, we took what with beer and wine, provide a popular full swing, you’ll need to arrive early, as turned out to be a several mile walk after work snack and social stop for the restaurants, stores and other buyers are around the walls, gardens and moat of the Japanese. Yurakucho Alley has several done haggling over fish and prices by Imperial Palace. The Palace is only open open-air restaurants, teeming with happy 8am. We recognized many types of fish, to the public two days a year, January 2 Yakatori eaters and beer drinkers. We but there was much more that we didn’t and December 23. We hoofed it around had several small grilled dishes with our recognize. Most of it was packed in ice the Palace’s exterior, until we came to a Sapporo beers, including chicken, pork, inside recycled styro-foam boxes, and small crowd standing outside one of the liver, green peppers and leeks. At one there were many exotic (and I might add gates. The crowd included members of the point, the staff led the rowdy customers in a clapping cheer that Bob and I quickly “Give me a museum and I’ll fill it.”— Pablo Picasso continued on page 6 Page 2 •Spring 2006 Sipping Pacifico On the Sea of Cortez by Mia Barnard where movie stars of the 1940s and 50s mind-boggling—anywhere from $20 to What do the movies Catch 22, The Lucky used to hang out. Miramar is also home to $1,000 a night. I’d definitely ask to see the Lady, and The Mask of Zorro have in the Perlas de Guaymas pearl farm, where a bathroom before committing to spend a common? San Carlos, Mexico, of course! veritable rainbow of pearls are cultivated night anywhere on the lower end. San Carlos is a sweet little town, perched and sold. Traditional orb pearls and oval Downtown, the Marinaterra offers on the Sea of Cortez. My father has a pearls come in more colors than I ever the most upscale lodgings. And about two second home here and I have visited imagined. Their tour is informative and miles out of town the San Carlos Plaza nearly every year since 1991. When I engaging, and the gift shop showcases Resort has everything you need on site first walked down its narrow dirt roads all the creations of several designers who to just sit and chill, rent jet skis or take those years ago, I had only the faintest have fashioned quite a bit of exceptional a long beach walk. The Plaza Resort, suspicion that San Carlos would turn into jewelry. however, is not easy on the wallet and the rapidly expanding town it is today. Out on the Paseo Mar Bermejo, in feels a little remote. Relatively chilly winters protect San the opposite direction of Guaymas, is a I love souvenir hunting, and Carlos from mushrooming like holiday small fishing village that is worth seeing San Carlos has offered up its share of super-spots Mazatlan and Puerto Vallarta, if, like me, you are fascinated by dramatic tchotchkes. My two favorite souvenir yet its scenery blows them all away. It’s shops are Sagitario and La Guelaguetza perfectly situated—from the surrounding Artesanias, located up on the hill across hilltops you can see the desert stretch all from the Marinaterra. La Guelaguetza is the way to the ocean, and while lounging my number one shopping choice. A sweet on the beach you can gaze up at the Mexican lady runs it and most things have cactus-covered foothills. a nice artisan feel to them. For a small town there is quite a The drive from the southern U.S. to lot to do. Golfing, hiking, water sports, San Carlos is long but relatively easy. It’s horseback riding, boating, and my about 250 miles from Nogales, AZ, and favorite—drinking Pacifico on the beach most drivers run it in 4-5 hours. There and soaking up the rays. I have gone on are four tolls along the way totaling less some great hikes, watched pelicans dive than $20. Rest areas are numerous and for their meals and, most memorably, offer gas, snacks, and bathrooms. Please gone SCUBA diving off San Pedro note that you absolutely must have Island. That was a magical day—dolphins special Mexican auto insurance. Several escorted our boat to the dive site, and online companies offer coverage ranging sea lions played with us under water (a from basic liability to packages that also little scary but cool!). Another great late juxtapositions. The village is home to a include towing, medical emergencies and afternoon activity is the Sunset Margarita few fishing families who struggle to eke even legal fees and bail. In our experience cruise—the 90 minute adventure takes out a living. There’s not much to see online insurance shopping is better in you out onto the bay to watch the sunset except their shacks and drying fish. All every way than buying it at the border. in a few different picturesque locales, with just a few kilometers from the lavish San Driving Mexico is always an easy Margarita-filled coolers, of course. Carlos Plaza Resort (rooms up to $995 a adventure and the fact that it’s become San Carlos has truly become a city night). Sometimes it’s just important to so convenient has allowed us to see for of Norte Americanos, with over 60% of remind yourself where you are. ourselves how diverse and...just...BIG this the population arriving from north of Back in San Carlos, there is no country is. It’s always good to come back the border. A few stay all year around, shortage of great restaurants to choose to San Carlos, though, where we can kick but most are snowbirds that stay only for from. My favorites are Piccolos, Blackies, back and relax for a while, chat mindlessly the winter months. So even though you the local hangout Bananas, and El Buen with my Dad, think of home, and laugh are most certainly in Mexico, English is Café. In the evenings Jason and I often at the cold winds we’ve left behind in the spoken everywhere, making things that found ourselves at Froggies (a sports chilly north. much easier for the visiting Anglophone. bar run by a former race car driver) or For more of a “local” feel, you can Tequila’s, both of which feature live music —Mia Barnard is the floor manager of Travel scoot around the bay to Guaymas, a from local bands most nights. Essentials. She and her husband Jason are distinctly Mexican city. There are some Where to stay? Well, you already busy planning their next BIG adventure, the good restaurants, and a grand old hotel in know that I stay with my Dad, but there birth of their first child in late April. the Miramar district, the Playa de Cortez, are plenty of established hotels and B&Bs in the town. Places on or near the water abound, but the price range is “I traveled a good deal all over the world, and I got along pretty good in all these foreign countries, for I have a theory that it’s their country and they got a right to run it like they want to.”—Will Rogers Spring 2006 • Page 3 Top Travel Product Review continued from page 1 Sunday Afternoons Passport Shirt & microfiber. Sunday Afternoons knows Island Breeze that versatility is paramount in a travel listen to their customers. The sun’s rays cause more than shirt and the Island Breeze, with its classic For customers new to the Sidekick 90% of the over 1 million skin cancers single button breast pocket, can be tucked here’s the scoop: For years both models diagnosed each year in the U.S. in and worn with a sport coat or you can were two of Eagle Creek’s best designed Everyone needs to do a better go shirt tail out casual if you prefer. and as a result best selling and most job covering up. The problem is that Check out these and much more beloved bags. Then in late 2004 Eagle traditional sunscreen needs to be regularly from Sunday Afternoons, including their Creek announced that both Sidekicks reapplied. It is also messy, greasy, attracts revolutionary sun hats, both in our store would be re-designed in order to update dirt and stings when it gets in your eyes. and online at www.travelessentials.com. and “improve” the product. Well, we all It’s also easy to miss a spot and certainly -BB know that efforts to update and improve very difficult to spread on your own back! Citysafe 100 & 200: The Secure On the other hand sun protective Handbag fabrics work as long you wear them, are Peace of mind, style and function not greasy and heck, they can even be come together as one in the Citysafe, stylish—like UV protective shirts from a sophisticated, tamper-proof women’s Sunday Afternoons of Ashland. shoulder bag from Outpac Designs. For women, the fashionably fitted With the Citysafe, protection comes in many ways. The adjustable shoulder strap houses two slash-proof high-tensile stainless steel cables. The side and bottom upon a nearly perfect product can backfire panels are lined with Outpac Design’s to the detriment of the customer, retailer and company. Unfortunately this was one of those times. But now we’re pleased to announce that the Sidekicks are both back to the designs we love. Both models offer the choice of carrying as a traditional shoulder bag or as a handy fanny pack via the hidden, zip- out waist belt. Each offers excellent use of space with a roomy front organizer pocket complete with a zippered change pouch, key fob, pen slip and space for accessories. Measuring 6x5x2.5” the Mini offers a main compartment with plenty Exomesh interlocking stainless steel of room for small camera, extra glasses, security system, once again designed to Ipod, sunscreen, lip balm and even an foil, slash and run thieves. A tamper-proof energy bar or two. And with the full zipper as well as a shoulder strap that can size (10x7x3”) Sidekick you’ll be able to be secured to a fixed object (like a chair add a guidebook and map to the main when eating in a restaurant) also keeps compartment as well. 95 the wolves at bay. Each features durable 420-denier Passport Shirt ($69 ) offers a certified The Citysafe comes in two sizes, the waterproof rip-stop nylon, YKK zippers UPF rating of 40 in a cotton-like, 100 and the 200. Both feature detailed and fully taped seams for increased moisture wicking, poly-coolmax fabric. internal organizers with padded sunglass strength and weatherproofing. Both This extremely lightweight shirt goes the and cell phone pockets, credit card the Sidekick ($40) and Mini-Sidekick extra mile to keep you cool with a mesh and pen slots and a key clip. The larger ($30) are available in palm, blue rear cape vent, mesh under arm venting Citysafe 200 also provides an external and black. Online at http://www. and roll-up sleeve tabs. zip-away water bottle holster and two rear travelessentials.com/department/Luggage/ For men the silky smooth Island 95 quick access pockets. Waistpacks/12000000437.html Breeze Shirt ($69 ) also provides a The Citysafe is adaptable too. It can -BB certified UPF rating of 40 in a moisture be worn over one shoulder like a purse, wicking and anti-microbial quick dry or its adjustable strap can be lengthened “Some cause happiness wherever they go; others, whenever they go.” — Oscar and the bag can be slipped over your head Wilde continued on next page Page 4 • Spring 2006 Top Travel Product Review continued from previous page (other accessories like phone adaptors tect your high-tech gadgets like PDA’s and are required). You can ask us what a cell phones, and multiple pockets for CD’s, and worn crossways for more comfort and tax impulse is, or just buy the Eurosurge DVD’s, pens, business cards and more. The safety. and never have to worry about it. The removable accessory pouch holds miscel- Your friends will think it’s a great Eurosurge sells for $4995. See it online at looking women’s shoulder bag and you’ll http://www.travelessentials.com/ love it for both travel and everyday pages1/18501030109_1.html use. The bags come in black, red and -SFR taupe. The Citysafe 100, which measures Digital Phone Line Tester 9x8x4” sells for $4995, while the Citysafe 95 Fact: The world is switching to digital. 200 (13x10.5x4”) sells for $59 . Fact: Everyone else is doing it a lot faster Online at http://www.travelessentials. than we are in the US. Problem: If you com/department/Luggage/Shoulder_ will be using your modem (in reality an Bags/22300000001.html outdated hardware tool), you should -BB International Laptop Travel With the travel season upon us, it is a good time to revisit the topic of laneous items and fits into a store-away international electricity and taking your pocket. On the outside you get a quick ac- laptop on ab international trip. While cess front pocket for important documents I could go deeply into the esoteric and and a dual purpose back pocket which al- detailed world of electricity, I will spare lows the bag to slide over luggage handles you the trouble and simply tell you exactly for fast, convenient travel. The Briggs & what you need and why. The “why” is never plug it into any international phone Riley Big Screen Laptop Computer Brief easy: We don’t want any of our expensive outlet without confirming what type of is made from 2520 Denier Ballistic Nylon, digital devices melting while we are on phone line you are accessing. Digital which is water repellent, self-healing, and vacation. Luckily, the “what” is easy, too. phone lines, which are becoming more resistant to abrasions, color fading and and more prevalent internationally, are 10 soiling. The Computer Brief is available in The EuroSurge Protector two sizes, 17” ($139) and 15” ($119) See The EuroSurge Protector is the smallest, times more powerful than analog but look exactly the same. The only way to ensure them online at http://www.travelessentials. simplest, feature-laden surge protector com/department/Briggs_And_Riley/Brief- you can buy anywhere at any price. It that you won’t fry your modem is to get a Digital Phone Line Tester. Three lights cases/11206060056.html. - adapts your plug to most international SFR outlets without an additional adaptor. tell you whether it is safe (green), safe but The few other adaptor plugs you may wired backwards (yellow), or unsafe (red). The only reasonable solution when you —This often comes as a surprise to many encounter red is to find another phone customers, but Bob Bestor, Travel Essentials’ outlet. The Digital Phone Line Tester sells co-owner, and Steve Frazier-Rice, Travel for $1995. See it online at Essentials’ manager, are not brothers, though http://www.travelessentials.com/ when not working at Travel Essentials, they pages1/18501030050_1.html enjoy many of the same things, including bik- -SFR ing, music and good beer. Laptop Computer Brief The Briggs & Riley Big Screen To learn about more Laptop Computer Brief fits all 17” laptop new travel products, screens and has a convenient U-shaped opening allowing you to use your laptop and read more travel stories while it’s still inside the brief. An interior on Japan, New York, need are available for just a few dollars mesh computer pad has ventilation panels and allow you surge protected access to keep the computer from overheating. and more, to every 220-240 volt outlet in the A file divider fits letter and legal size file go to our website, world. Additionally, the folders, while the front pocket organizer EuroSurge provides surge protection and has a key keeper, padded pockets to pro- www.travelessentials.com. tax-impulse protection for your modem “He won’t fly on the Balinese airline, Garuda, because he won’t fly on any airline where the pilots believe in reincarnation.”— Spalding Gray Spring 2006 • Page 5 Big In Japan: Five and a Half Days in Tokyo continued from page 2 everywhere we looked, mothers and cultural experience. caught on to and took part in. It was a fun daughters in kimonos with fancy hair Tokyo Practicalities and lively atmosphere! and makeup, boys in special robes, and Few places in Tokyo accept credit On our last day in Tokyo (a Sunday) fathers in their finest suits. The weddings cards. We used ATM machines for all featured brides and grooms of our cash needs and carried that cash in traditional Japanese dress with us everywhere we went, as the city is parading through the temple extremely safe. Our hotel appeared to be courtyard under red umbrellas the only place we could use a credit card. with their impeccably dressed Everywhere else was cash only. By the guests following behind. It way, there is no tipping in Japan. was a beautiful spectacle on The Japanese people we came in a perfectly clear and crisp contact with did not speak much English. autumn day. Interestingly Perhaps we did not spend much time enough, with these traditional in heavily touristed restaurants, but the ceremonies taking place language barrier was a difficult one to inside the park, the entrance cross. Our Japanese phrasebook, and the to Yoyogi Park is where the few words we learned in Japanese, came in less traditional gather on very handy. we visited Yoyogi Park in the Harajuku Sundays. For more than 40 neighborhood. The beautiful park with years, this area has been the hangout for lovely wide gravel pathways, huge wooden Tokyo’s youth culture, an exhibition of gates, and a classic temple was busy on sorts. Girls called Cos-play-zoku (zoku this day, as several weddings were taking meaning tribe) dress in outlandish place in the temple, along with many costumes ranging from gothic to S&M to blessings for small children. Families cartoon characters. It was an interesting were dressed up in traditional clothing end to a terrific week and an outstanding Naked with Strangers—A Japanese Bathhouse by Nancy Bestor While we had been told that the Japanese scrubbing and rinsing every single inch “A few minutes in a public bathhouse will will generally forgive foreigners’ ignorance of my body several times, to make certain teach you more about daily life in Tokyo of their social graces, the bathhouse is I didn’t offend, I set my bucket and soap than any book you could ever read,” says where this generosity ends. aside and chose a bath to start in. I tried Lonely Planet’s Tokyo. Public bathhouses, We initiated the entrance, removed the hot, hot, hot, hot burn pool first, or “sentos”, live on from the days when our shoes and paid the attendant about which was the largest pool in the place. homes and apartments didn’t have $4 each for use of the facility, a locker I later learned it was 109 degrees. I must showers or baths. But to many Japanese, and a towel. We then went our separate have made quite a face, because a kind sentos remain an important cultural ways, Bob to the men’s side, and me to the woman quickly pointed me to a separate meeting place where social and economic women’s. room, where there was an ice-cold pool status is literally stripped away. Our research revealed that locals (whose temperature was actually 71 Therefore, as a way to dive deeply will watch foreigners very carefully, to degrees) and a medium temperature pool into this culture (no pun intended), Bob make certain they get 100% clean and (100 degrees). and I decided to visit the Jakotsu-Yu 100% rinsed before entering the baths Both pools were tiny, but everyone bathhouse, a short walk from Senso-Ji themselves. I put my clothing into a just seemed to scrunch in. Soon I decided temple in Asakusa. After a few wrong locker and smiled at many women, most that I was ready to try the hot burn pool turns, we found Jakotsu-Yu tucked down of whom were older and fortunately didn’t again. As I headed back, I noticed that an alley and of course, with no English pay me much attention at all. I was given the area I had previously occupied was signage. a bucket and stool, and took these into now full and started to climb into a At this moment, butterflies in the cleansing area where there were about different section. At this point another the stomach began to flutter. As rank two-dozen waist-high showers. Here one Japanese woman pointed to a sign (in sits on the low stool and washes, and outsiders we were about to enter a revered continued on page 8 and etiquette-filled Japanese institution. washes, and washes some more. After “He who has seen one cathedral ten times has seen something; he who has seen ten cathedrals has seen but little; and he who has spent half an hour in each of a hundred cathedrals has seen nothing at all.”—Sinclair Lewis Page 6 • Spring 2006 A Night at the Fraundorfer continued from page 1 them, Mathilde, was next to Liz and me. Fraundorfer serves good—if not American At the end of the evening she invited us Heart Association-approved— food. The Fraundorfer is the Bavarian experience. to her home in the north, near Hanover. menu is long, the prices low, the portions Though it dates to 1857, this tiny family- A week later we were sipping wine in the generous, and we have seldom been run hotel and restaurant assumed its sitting room of Mathilde’s well-kept two- disappointed with any dish. Roast pork current role as goodtime headquarters for with dumplings is about $10, half a roast Southern Bavaria during the 1936 Winter duck about $15, calves liver Berliner-Art Olympics, when it became an after-ski, (strips dipped in flour and fried in butter) after-sled, after-skate, hangout for both is $17, and a small mixed salad costs competitors and spectators. around $3. Half a liter of beer goes for We didn’t find the Fraundorfer about $3.30. until 1979, but have returned many The merriment goes on until times since. In those 27 years, almost midnight, though most tourists are gone nothing has changed: the rough wood by 10pm, when Trachten-dressed locals walls and ceiling darkened with age, the begin to gather at the Stammtisch. Olympic photos, the family pictures, the I once asked an employee of the religious icons, the servers in traditional Garmisch-Partenkirchen tourist office if Bavarian dress, the music, and every night there were other restaurants in the area a full house of happy customers. The like the Fraundorfer. Her immediate reply: indefatigable Barbara Fraundorfer still “There is only one Fraundorfer, and there greets hotel guests at 7am and can usually every night is a party.” be seen playing cards at the Stammtisch Gasthof Fraundorfer, Ludwigstr. 24, (regulars’ table) around midnight, when tel. +49/08821/92 70, Web: www.gasthof- we finally give up the ghost. During fraundorfer.de her 16 to 18-hour days she seems to be everywhere; bussing plates, chatting up —Bob Bestor, Jr., is the editor of grizzled regulars, charming the Americans Gemütlichkeit, the travel newsletter for at breakfast, waving goodbye to departing Fraundorfer circa 1979 Germany, Austria and Switzerland (www. guests in the parking lot, and caring for gemut.com). He and his wife Liz travel to her husband, Peppi, injured in a bobsled Europe annually and he is always on the accident that has, after decades of surgery, story house. On the wall were pictures of lookout for a great place to drink beer, hear finally confined him to a wheelchair. four men, all in German military uniform. live music, and have a good time (aren’t we For a long time, Friedl sang duets One or two wore swastika armbands. They all?). with Josef, a ski instructor who played a were her husband and three brothers, all 12-string guitar. Inscrutable and gruff, he killed in World War II. That night and seldom smiled but made eye contact with the next we slept in a spare bedroom. every pretty woman who came through Each morning Mathilde fed us a gigantic the door. Ruddy, round-faced Friedl is breakfast in her garden and played more outgoing. I used to note what this Beethoven’s Pastorale on the stereo. Coming in June pair drank during an evening and, though One night, we were invited to the family home of her sister, Erna, for an outdoor it was a prodigious amount from 7 p.m. Travel Essentials’ to sometimes well after midnight, Friedl barbecue. It was a warm summer evening, rarely left the stage for the men’s room. with daylight until nearly 11pm. The Packing Workshop grilled lamb and pork, the beer, the wine, And Josef never did—at least while I was with America’s keeping score. Josef retired from the stage the schnapps, and the toastings, went about 12 years ago. deep into the German night. Leading Packing Expert Mathilde and Erna later came to visit Since, in the way of simple German Anne McAlpin restaurants, strangers are seated together us. It was their first and only trip to the at the Fraundorfer, one meets people U.S. They stayed three weeks. A few years there. A memorable connection happened after that, Erna’s daughter came to the Thursday, June 1 on our very first visit. We were placed U.S. to live with us as an au pair and work in our business for several months. at 2:00 pm and 6:00 pm with a group of German war widows who, It’s not too early when we sat down, arranged themselves Besides memories, music and beer, the so that the only English-speaker among to reserve a space! Phone (541) 482-7383 “The universe is a big place, perhaps the biggest.”— Kurt Vonnegut

Spring 2006 • Page 7 PRSRT STD US POSTAGE PAID PERMIT NO 125 252 E. Main Street • Ashland, OR • 97520 MEDFORD OR 541-482-7383 • 800-258-0758 www.travelessentials.com email: [email protected]

Naked... Travel Essentials Sponsors Children continued from page 7 Travel Essentials wishes to humbly from Brazil. Japanese of course) and said something to announce our “adoption” of four children PLAN sends a couple of photos along me (also in Japanese, of course). I nodded throughout the developing world as a with a profile written by a PLAN staff and smiled politely, having no idea what Childreach Sponsor through PLAN and member working in their area. The profile the sign or the woman had said. Well, as PLAN USA. details each child’s name, age, personality, it turns out, she was warning me, as this One of the oldest and largest aspirations, housing, general health and was the electric section, specially designed organizations of its kind, PLAN’s schooling. It also details both family and to simulate swimming with electric eels grassroots, self-help programs assist more community situations and issues with (true story!). I was shocked several times than 1.3 million children and their regards to a number of variables including upon stepping in. I made a small noise, families in poor communities around the access to food and water and availability quickly hopped out, and gave a “now I world. of employment and health care. understand” nod to the Japanese woman. PLAN has many different ways of PLAN encourages ongoing contact It was amazing to see the locals sitting assisting children in need. We chose with your sponsored child and keeps up calmly in this electric bath, not batting the Childreach Sponsorship program its end of the bargain by providing annual an eye. because of its direct involvement with reports that include information on the With my faux pas’ now out of the an individual child and his or her progress, problems and opportunities of way, I was able to relax and enjoy myself. community. In fact we’ve already “met” your child, their family and community. I hopped back and forth between pools the children whom we are helping and PLAN is audited annually by the without being shocked and had a very will soon be sending letters and photos so independent public accounting firm of relaxing experience. After soaking my that they can “meet” us. PriceWaterhouseCoopers and sends its body until I felt like a wet noodle, I dried Our four kids include Theeraphon sponsors a complete financial statement off, returned my stool and bucket, dressed Daengphuang, an 11-year-old boy from each year. and met Bob outside. Kudduk, Thailand; Stenio Vincent, a For more information on PLAN’s nine-year-old boy from Dilaire, Haiti; programs and practices visit their web site —Nancy Bestor is the co-owner of Travel Haguirata Ouedraogo, a six-year-old girl at www.planusa.org, or call toll free at 1- Essentials. Her fingers still look like prunes. from Toeguin, Burkina Faso; and Lumaria 800-556-7918. Sousa Da Conceicao, a two-year-old girl

Spring 2006