Beer Wars

While we were on vacation in British Columbia this spring, I was relating to our kids the nasty advertising campaigns that Molson and Labatt had waged against each other regarding the provenance of the "mountain" beer that each of them sold in Ontario. The residual evidence of the ads involved wasn't as easy to find as I had expected, so I did some work to find examples to support my recollections.

B.C. or BS?

In 1997, Labatt began to sell Kokanee in Ontario. Kokanee was originally sold in British Columbia, and its marketing is heavily associated with mountains, glaciers, sasquatches and the like.



Labatt's main competitor, Molson, seized on the fact that Kokanee sold in the Ontario market was actually brewed in London, Ontario. (For those unfamiliar with Canadian geography, the London area is decidedly not mountainous.) To educate the beer drinking public, Molson placed ads in various print publications with the tag line "B.C. or BS?" I think that there may have been some radio spots as well.



Rocky Mountain Truth

By 2006, it appears that anyone at Molson who remembered the ridicule invited by implying that a beer came from a different place than it actually did had moved on. In any event, Coors Light was being aggressively promoted for the Ontario market, with much imagery associated with the Rocky Mountains.



The Coors Light sold in the Ontario market was actually brewed in Etobicoke, Ontario, which is possibly even less alpine than London. This allowed Labatt to create the "Rocky Mountain Truth" campaign. A major element of this campaign was a website which no longer exists, but is archived by the Wayback Machine. For viewers from devices that don't support Flash, the images below give a flavour of the contents.

Back to The Salt Mines

Tomorrow marks my first day back in the office, and a return to normal quotidian routine. There is probably not much to share from my working life that will be of common interest to my relatives, friends and colleagues. So, although I won't decommision this blog, I anticipate that the frequency of my posts will decrease dramatically. As a final thought from my time away from work, here's my reading list from the past five weeks. These are all good reading (although I'm still working on the last one).

• The Big Short, by Michael Lewis
• Three Day Road, by Joseph Boyden
• Moby Dick, by Herman Melville
• Life, by Keith Richards

Back Home

After roughly a month, we're back home. In the big scheme of things a 29 day trip is not really very extraordinary, but it felt epic to me. We passed through parts of 8 different countries (9 if you count Vatican City), and managed to do it without the "if this is Tuesday, we must be in Italy" feel.

There are probably some profound insights to be had from all this, but none of them occur to me at the moment. This is from our last night, enjoying a good meal and one last German beer.

Prague

Prague is the last major stop on our trip, and it's a bit of an adjustment to be in a big city again, with the accompanying crowds and noise. This guy with the impressive mustache was playing jazz flute at the entrance to Prague Castle.

The Czechs seem to be big on St Vitus. There was a church of St Vitus in Cesky Krumlov, and this is the entrance to the St Vitus Cathedral in Prague. Construction started in 1344, and was completed in 1929. I took this photo mainly to allow me to make jokes about dancing.

You are Now Permitted to Have Fun

Going back a couple of days, after visiting Martha's cousin we spent two nights on the Wolfgangsee in Austria. This is actually a lake, one of several alpine lakes near Salzburg. It is a beautiful spot.

It seemed like we were the only non-Austrians in our hotel, and I was really struck by how quiet and orderly everything was even though it is clearly a resort town. It's the only place we have been where pedestrians uniformly wait for the walk light to illuminate before crossing the street. Even the town's wet t-shirt contest is very structured. They have a contest, but only on one specified day all summer.

For anyone planning to be in Austria on Aug 18th, more details are at http://www.stwolfgang.at/index.php?option=com_content&task=blogcategory&id=3&Itemid=89

Cesky Krumlov

Today we are in Cesky Krumlov, second most popular destination in the Czech Republic and a great bargain. Dinner for two of us last night was 500 Koruna (about $25), including lots of good Czech beer. This is the main square in the old town.

Here's the view from the castle across the river to the old town.

The World is Flat

A couple of years ago I read Thomas Friedman's book on globalization, The World is Flat. Its core argument was that the world is effectively becoming a smaller place, and that geographic boundaries are less significant than they once were. I have two observations from our travels in Europe that support this, based on changes since I first spent time here when I was in university.

Not that many years ago, Europeans largely owned cars built by their own automakers - French drove Renaults, Peugeots, and Citroens, Italians drove Fiats, and Germans in particular drove German cars. Now it seems that anywhere in Europe one sees almost any brand of European car (but still far fewer Japanese cars than we are accustomed to in North America).

The other significant change I have noted is that a former distinction in women's fashion between Europe and North America has disappeared. At some point in the past couple of decades, European women have started to shave their underarms. I was teasing Martha before we left that her lack of armpit hair would mark her as a tourist, but I haven't observed any woman yet who deviates from Canadian or American practice in that area.

A Few of My Favourite Things

Since we are currrently in Austria, the title of this post is referring mainly to schnitzel with noodles (although I am also partial to crisp apple strudel). As a diversion from our solitary travels, we spent the day yesterday with my wife's cousin at their chalet near Salzburg.

The big revelation for me in this part of the trip has been the affinity that Austrians have for Lederhosen. The owner of the alpine restaurant where we ate lunch had a traditional pair, but our twentyish waitress also had on a pair of leather shorts (in a somewhat more groovy style). We have even seen other tourists sporting this outfit.

Spelunking in Slovenia

Slovenia has one of the largest underground cave systems in the world, and the most prominent among these are the Skocjan Caves. These are an easy 45 minute drive from downtown Ljubljana, but don't seem to be promoted very aggressively. Nonetheless, we drove out to visit the caves today, and they are truly spectacular. Photography is not allowed in the caves proper, but even a photo from near the entrance gives some hint of their size.

The Reka River disappears underground at the entrance to the caves, and runs underground almost as far as the Adriatic before emerging again. This view is from just outside the cave at the point where the river enters. The high ground forms the roof of a 100m high cavern.

More on the caves here - http://www.park-skocjanske-jame.si/eng/skocjan-caves-park_caves.shtml

More from Split

To arrive in Croatia, we took the popular ferry route from Ancona to Split. There are a couple of lines that serve this route. The one we used, Blue Line, has the slogan "Low Cost." This slogan appears everywhere - from the side of the boat to the crew's uniforms. The trip itself was actually pleasant, although the vehicle loading and disembarking seemed a bit disorganized.

In honour of Split's Roman heritage, a performer dressed as the emperor Diocletian makes an appearance at noon every day in the town square to greet the crowd. The whole thing is a little bit tongue in cheek, which makes it less cheesy than I had expected.

Gregory of Nin (Grgur Ninski) was a 10th century bishop who was first to conduct mass in the local Croatian language. It is reputedly good luck to touch the toe of the statue.

On the route north from Split, we passed a memorial to Nikola Tesla (known for the Tesla coil, and many other practical and theoretical innovations in the field of electricity). I had no idea that he was born in Croatia.

Diocletian's Palace

The town of Split in Croatia makes me think of what Italian seaside resorts must have been like fifty years ago, when they were a bit less crowded and a bit less expensive. We arrived by ferry from Ancona, and found a room in a fantastic location inside the historical perimeter of Diocletian's Palace with very little effort. Diocletian was notable for being the only Roman emperor to retire, rather than ruling until assassination or death of natural causes, and in 305 AD he settled in a palace that is now in the heart of Split.

The Trip So Far

Now that the kids are home and getting ready to go to camp, it seems like a good point to summarize our trip so far. Over a couple of weeks, the destinations add up.

Picking the highlights from any trip is a very personal thing. Here's my list from the family portion of the trip.

Favorite city:  Locarno
Favorite activity:  The telepherique up Mont Brevent in Chamonix
Best meal:  Choucroute de la mer at Bofinger in Paris
Best appetizer:  Marinated anchovies at Trattoria San Gennaro in Praiano
Best value:  Our meal at La Piccola Cuccagna in Rome
Best drink:  Grappa at Fattoria Castelvecchi in Tuscany

And, with a different selection of categories, my wife Martha's list.

Best meal:  Scallops with bacon and potato at Bofinger
Best primo piatto:  Scialatielli with shrimp and lemon cream sauce at Pupetto in Positano
Best drink:  Meloncello
Best day:  The beach at our hotel in Praiano
Best ritual:  Morning outing to the boulangerie in Paris

L'Aquila

On the way from Rome to Ancona yesterday we made an impromptu stop in L'Aquila. I vaguely remembered that it had suffered an earthquake a few years ago, but I wasn't at all prepared for the scale of damage that is still present. The historic center of the city is essentially a ghost town, with virtually all buildings still showing obvious earthquake damage and some whole streets cordoned off. Most of the buildings had various sorts of temporary bracing in place to hold them together. The black grid in the photo is a set of steel I-beams that are bolted through many of the buildings. The whole experience was very sobering.

On a different note, I had forgetten what a goat rodeo the Fiumicino airport in Rome is. After some tense moments, we did get the kids on a plane for Toronto yesterday, concluding the family portion of our trip. The kids arrived home safely with the obligatory one lost bag that seems to be part of any flight to or from Italy.

The Amalfi Coast and Rome (now with photos)

We've had some internet connectivity issues over the last couple of days, which I suppose is part of the charm of being in Italy. In that time we have spent two nights on the Amalfi Coast (south of Naples) and two nights in Rome. On the travel day between Praiano and Rome we stopped at Pompeii. My main recollection from my previous visit there, in August, is of intense heat. My previous impression was correct. Even without the volcano, I think that the Roman residents would have been incinerated in the summer. The photos below are from Praiano. In the first one, our (ludicrously expensive) hotel is in the foreground and the town of Positano is on the other side of the bay in the background.

This is the interior of the "House of the Tragic Poet" in Pompeii (famous particularly for the Cave Canem mosaic at the entrance).



Slow Down. Take it Easy.

A couple of days ago, while we were traveling through Switzerland, there were posters everywhere along the road with a photo of a guy dressed like a later era Beatle wearing a set of angelic wings, accompanied by the slogan "Slow Down, Take It Easy."

This turns out to be a public service campaign encouraging motorists to drive less aggressively. (In my limited experience, the campaign seems to be having a negligible effect.) The Beatlesque character is in fact named Franky Slow Down. The posters are part of a multiplatform campaign that includes a TV commercial, a music video, and bunch of other stuff.

There's even more - in German, French or Italian - at http://www.slow-n-easy.ch

Tuscany

There is a stereotype about Tuscany, but that stereotype does have a lot of truth about it. It really is a landscape of hillside vineyards, ancient towns, and picturesque rustic villas. I'm not exactly clear on the history, but the fattoria where we are staying has apparently been a center of commerce for at least a thousand years. Of course, the modern plumbing and electrical services and the swimming pool probably weren't part of the medieval compound.

La (Auto)Strada

On an extended vacation, one loses track of time. Until we started driving today, I had forgotten that this was Saturday. It was also apparently the day that everyone in Northern Europe started vacation and collectively set off for Southern Europe. Our rental car isn't actually this small. With three kids in the back seat, it just feels that way.

Across Switzerland to Locarno

Today made for a spectacular drive across Switzerland, and a bit of Italy. After leaving Geneva, we followed the north shore of Lac Leman to Montreux, then up the Rhone Valley into the higher mountains, and finally some white knuckle driving along local roads for the last 30km or so to Locarno. It's hard to believe, but this is actually a two lane road. (This section is in Switzerland - the Italian section has more dilapidated guardrails and might even be a bit narrower.)

Locarno is on Lago Maggiore, which straddles Italy and Switzerland. It seems like a big European holiday spot, but I don't notice any sign of other Canadians or Americans here. I like that aspect; it makes me feel like more of an adventurer. For any Hemingway fans, this is the lake that the protaganist in A Farewell to Arms rows across to escape from Italy after deserting the Italian army. The view below is from our hotel room looking out over the lake.

Mountains

Today we made a side trip to Chamomix. Our original intent was to take the telepherique to the summit of the Aiguille du Midi, but it was closed due to high winds, so we took the telepherique from the other side of the valley. This is a two stage journey, initially to Planpraz at just under 2000m elevation and then to Le Brevent at 2525m. The second stage of the trip was also closed due to wind when we arrived at Planpraz, so we took a pile of photos there.

While we were at Planpraz, the tram to Le Brevent reopened and so we were able to continue to the summit. Although I am still modestly disappointed that we didn't get to the summit of the Aiguille du Midi (3842m), I have to admit that the view from Le Brevent is pretty amazing. This may be the only place I have been where it is possible to use nordic walking poles and not look ridiculous.

The cable car we rode to the summit is the small speck near the center of this photo.

CERN is surprisingly (to me) not a major tourist attraction, but it turns out that the loop of the Large Hadron Collider passes within about 100m of our quaint hotel in Ferney-Voltaire.

Travel Day

Spent most of the day today packing up in Paris, picking up a rental car, and driving to Ferney-Voltaire (just on the French side of the border from Geneva). All in all, it was a pretty uneventful day. We did the first three quarters of the trip on the autoroute, which is a lot like driving on a freeway anywhere except that the convenience stores at the rest stops sell Brie and Camembert. The last part of the trip was a steep drive up into the foothills of the Alps, followed by a spectacular view of Lac Leman and the mountains as we started down toward Geneva.