AUSTRIA: Indulge your chocolate obsession Friday through the weekend during the Choco Vienna 2009 festival.
Held in the Haus der Industrie Schwarzenbergplatz, Choco Art will feature an international array of chocolatiers providing samples of the best in Europe’s chocolates. There also will be chocolate sculptures and pictures, chocolate fashion and beauty tips, and workshops with recipe suggestions.
The festival is open 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Friday and Sunday and 10 a.m. to 1 a.m. Saturday (in conjunction with the city’s Long Night of the Museums). Admission is 9 euros for adults, 5 euros for children 6 to 14 and free for those younger than 6. The Web site, www.choco- vienna.at, has an English-language section.
For another chocolate experience in Vienna, visit the Confiserie Heindl’s Chocolate Museum (www.heindl.co.at/english/ schokomuseum.htm) to see how the sweet stuff is made and taste even more samples.
GERMANY: Motorcycle enthusiasts will gather this weekend on the grounds of the Auto & Technik Museum Sinsheim for its annual Classic Motorcycle Show.
On Saturday, up to 150 motorcycles from all eras and manufacturers are expected to be on display. Anyone with a motorcycle that is road ready and more than 25 years old is invited to show the bike alongside the museum’s Harley-Davidsons, Triumphs and BMWs. Check out the hourly shows in which a team of riders on original Indian motorcycles confront the “Wall of Death,” a historic 1930s wall almost 32 feet high and 50 feet wide that riders speed around, held up by nothing more than centrifugal force.
Sunday is the traditional Harley show presenting the latest bike models as well as offering free test rides, shows with stunt riders at 1:30 p.m. and 3:30 p.m. and children’s activities. Admission to the grounds is free. The museum’s Web site is www.technik-museum.de/museum_sinsheim_english.html.
Let's goSki test at Sölden
Already itching to hit the slopes? Want to know what’s new on the ski scene? Scherer’s Tours in Germany has organized just the tour, its annual Ski and Board Test weekend Oct. 9-12 on the Sölden glacier in Austria.
The price is 250 euros per person, double occupancy, and includes round-trip bus transportation from Kaiserslautern, Heidelberg, Ansbach and Stuttgart; transfers to the slopes; three nights ’ accommodation in a three-star hotel with sauna; breakfasts and two dinners; and ski party with free beer and prizes. The ski and board companies will be there with their latest equipment.
For reservations, contact Scherer Tours by telephone at (+49) (0) 931-409046, or by e-mail at scherer_tours@t-online.de.
Liverpool music scene
With all those top hits emerging from Liverpool, England, it was no wonder the Guinness Book of Records declared it the “City of Pop” in 2001. The Beatles’ success on the music scene in the 1960s continued in the 1980s with artists such as Elvis Costello, Echo and the Bunnymen and Frankie Goes to Hollywood, in the 1990s with the Boo Radleys, and today with Atomic Kitten and The Zutons.
Through Nov. 1, you can catch an exhibition of these musical success stories at the World Museum Liverpool. The exhibit, called “The Beat Goes On,” includes memorabilia such as the “All You Need Is Love” bedspread from John Lennon and Yoko Ono’s 1969 “bed in” for peace in Montreal; original Beatles’ clothes; and the guitar belonging to Billy Fury, a performer from the late 1950s and early ’60s. It also has an interactive dance floor to relive the scene in an early ’90s club and a karaoke machine for singing the old favorites.
The exhibition is open 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily, and is free. Find more at www.liverpoolmuseums.org.uk/wml.
Vienna’s open-air opera
If you can’t get tickets to Vienna’s Opera House, or you just want to enjoy a performance outdoors, check out Opera Live. Through October, the program has arranged for some performances to be shown on an open-air screen on Herbert von Karajan Square. Some of these include Puccini’s “La Bohème” (Oct. 8 and 15), Mozart’s “The Marriage of Figaro” (Oct. 20, 25 and 29) and Tchaikovsky’s “Swan Lake” (Oct. 26 and 31).
Find more at “Broadcast dates” under “Live opera on the square” at www.wiener-staatsoper.at.
USO Stuttgart goes to Turkey
In the Sept. 24 edition of Let’s Go, an item titled “Thanksgiving in Istanbul” did not mention that you can sign up for the tour at your local USO. The Nov. 25-29 trip organized by Interra Reisen includes visits to the Blue Mosque, Hippodrome square, the Egyptian obelisk, Ibrahim Pasa Palace, the Hagia Sophia, Topkapi Palace and the Great Bazaar. It costs 499 euros per person, double occupancy, (95-euro single-room supplement) and includes round-trip air fare from Stuttgart, Germany, bus transfer in Istanbul, four nights in a four-star hotel, excursions by motor coach (entrance fees extra), a Bosporus cruise and services of a local guide. See “Tours” at www.interra-reisen.de, for more details or contact your local USO.
