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By Molly Hannon in Berlin—

Although Germany’s southern region of Bavaria tends to rule the roost when it comes to beer, Berlin manages to deliver some good pours. With summer on the horizon, a biergarten visit is a necessity.

Here is a list of three of our favorites from Berlin’s eclectic cast of biergartens—both on and off the beaten path. (Need some more suggestions? Check out this list of biergartens from last year!)

1. Prater Garten
Kastanienallee 7– 9
10435 Berlin
030 448 56 88

Considered Berlin’s oldest biergarten, Prater lies tucked off Kastanienallee submerged in a mini-forest of shady chestnut trees. During the spring and summer, Prater is always packed with loyal patrons and newcomers—both drawn to its lair, which seats more than 300.

Relaxing in the Tiergarten at Schleusenkrug. Photo: Fozzman

Prater boasts a fine selection of beers combined with a selection of other beverages, such as wine, appeasing all palates. Its house-made Bavarian-inspired cuisine, such as wurst, schnitzel, sauerkraut and potato salad functions as the perfect pair for a night of beer drinking and good German grub.

2. Schleusenkrug
Müller-Breslau-Str.
10623 Berlin
030 313 9909

Schleusenkrug is a classic-style biergarten situated near the Tiergarten. It’s canal-side location allows customers to wave to the boats passing by whilst they sip their frothy brew and absorb the beautiful scene.

Schleusenkrug’s close proximity to the Berlin zoo makes it a good pick-me-up for families—specifically moms and dads in need of a refreshment after a long day of staring at caged animals. Like most biergartens, the menu remains simple and loyal to its German roots, providing patrons with a nice variety of German-style beers and food.

3. Brachvogel
Carl-Herz-Ufer 34
10961 Berlin
030 693 0432

Brachvogel, a biergarten-cum-botanical garden, is situated off the Kreuzberg canal, making it a perfect place to socialize, imbibe and eat. With a playground nearby it may evoke childhood, but it is its strong selection of mouth-watering cold beers that makes it a desirable and strictly adult-friendly hotspot.

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Baby Travel Gear and Accessories For Getting Around While Traveling…

Gear for getting around when you’re traveling with baby is more than just a travel stroller or an infant carrier, although they are both essentials for your daily life and traveling life. But just as getting around is just as much about getting there as it is getting around once you’re there, you need good luggage – bags that make your life easy and are easy to tote. You also need good looking stuff, because really, just because you’re traveling with little ones, doesn’t mean you can’t travel in style. All these item we either use, have used, or else totally wish we could afford!

UPPAbaby G-Luxe

UPPAbaby G-Luxe

I was late to the umbrella stroller game, simply because I didn’t (and still don’t) believe you NEED another stroller for travel. However, depending on the amount of travel you do, and with airlines continually changing their gate-check requirements for strollers, if you can swing it – a lightweight umbrella stroller for travel makes your life pretty easy. We adored the UPPAbaby G-Luxe, and can’t recommend it enough…

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Tag A Long Handle

Tag A Long Handle

Once a baby becomes a biped, it’s tough sometimes to keep them safely strapped into their baby jail stroller. And strong-willed independent tots like mine also don’t love holding hands. This handle is an easy compromise. That’s THEIR handle, and our deal is they either ride in the stroller or hang on to it. And the nice thing about this handle is it gives them a bit of space so their feet won’t get nicked by the stroller wheels, and it’s easy to remove to pop in the diaper bag when it’s time to gate-check the stroller.

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Cybex 2Go Carrier

Cybex 2Go Carrier

My daughter did NOT like the carrier. And Bub got carried whether he liked it or not since I had to keep up with his sister!  As he was a heavy baby, I was grateful for the new style of carrier, where their weight is distributed among your hips, and the connecting shoulder strap helped alleviate some of the pressure. I wish I had THIS carrier, though – because mine you could not do forward-facing, and that would have had me carting Bub around for a lot longer. A lightweight carrier such as this is great for travel, as it gives you options when you’ve also got the stroller with you.

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Swipe Wipes Case

Swipe Wipes Case

I am the wipes Queen. Even when I do not have a baby or toddler with me, I have wipes in my purse. I like this Swipe from Skip*Hop because I can simply clip it to my diaper bag and not have to madly dig when I need a wipe in a hurry.  You could also clip one to the stroller for outings where you’re not bringing the diaper bag, or when your kids are FINALLY out of diapers. That happens, right?

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Via Diaper Bag

Via Diaper Bag

I bought this diaper bag when Bub was born, and I have not regretted the expense once. It has been my daily tote for over three years now, and it has held up incredibly well. Aside from a few much-needed washes, all the pieces still work, it’s not torn anywhere (even the mesh bottle pockets are still intact), the change pad is somewhere in Quebec City but other than that it’s still fully intact.

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Knot It

Knot It

You always need plastic grocery bags with you when you’re traveling with baby. For laundry, for atomic diapers, for pretty much any reason. And lately I’ve been forgetting my stash of bags at home, so I’m incredibly grateful to have this little lifesaver in my diaper bag. (Yes, mine weighs 20lbs. Yours?) You can *create* the size of bag you need without having a whack of them crammed in a pocket you never think to check.

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ZOO Rolling Luggage

Zoo Rolling Luggage

As soon as they’re big enough, kids love pulling their own bag. So if the bag is light, easy to pull, and actually useful with well-placed pockets and easily accessible contents, that’s a win win. Skip*Hop’s adorable Zoo collection now includes these adorable little rolling suitcases, and the only difficulty with these is deciding which one to get.

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Osprey Vector Luggage

Osprey Vector Luggage

My life’s been made so much easier with this luggage, I’m actually cross with myself for not realizing how decent bags can make your travel days so much easier. These bags are lightweight, can hold a shocking amount of stuff, and are organized in such a way you can still access your belongings from a stuffed to the brim fully-packed bag. The carry-on makes getting through security a breeze, as there’s a special pocket just for your baggie of liquids, and the back pocket zips open to securely hold your travel documents.

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Check out all the 2012 Baby Travel Gear Guides for Eating, Sleeping, Playing and Getting Around when you’re traveling with a baby or toddler!

If you purchase something after clicking a link, Have Baby Will Travel may receive a small commission…

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Destination: United States

DVD set: Route 66: The Complete Series 24-DVD (NEW  May 22, 2012)

Here’s your background music for this article: Nelson Riddle’s theme song for Route 66.

Just in time for your summer road trip planning–here’s a DVD set that inspires a trip across America.  The whopper set of the 1960-1964 TV show, Route 66: The Complete Series, contains all four years of the show–24 discs–116 episodes–100 hours of viewing. Now you know that we love road trips around here–having spent more than a year of Wednesdays visiting every state in the U. S.

Route 66, Maharis and Milner

Good grief! Has it really been 50 years since naughty heart throb George Maharis (Buzz) and all-American, clean-cut, intellectual Martin Milner (Tod) teamed up with a Corvette convertible to tour America? Briefly, two guys set out in a Corvette to tour America, working along the way. The show’s episodes run the gamut from murder to mystery to family melodrama to slapstick farce and everything in between.

Unlike so many shows today, the episodes were filmed on location. Instead of using establishing shots (you know, St. Louis Arch, Grand Canyon, Chicago skyline) the whole production moved every week, making some very long working hours. That approach gives us a realistic look at iconic tourist scenes in the U.S., plus lots of little things you won’t see unless you’re actually on the road.

When I received the review set of Route 66, I started dipping in to see some of the famous guest stars. Although I’ll admit to being old enough to have watched the originals, I had forgotten a lot.  Additionally, looking back on an era of entertainment (and life) reveals things you may not have noticed as important the first time around.

• An hour show on TV is a lot shorter today than an hour show in the sixties, because the commercials are longer and more frequent.
• The writing was more literary. Audiences were expected to appreciate the complexities of a script like “Welcome to the Wedding” in which the brooding actor Rod Steiger, playing a murderer, draws us into his philosophical discourse on the meaning of life without emotion.
• The settings, hairstyles and fashions are REALLY the early 1960′s, not just the meticulous recreations of Mad Men.  That makes for some interesting comparisons that go beyond bouffant hair and narrow neckties.
• Just look how the pair of travelers pull those crisply ironed white shirts out of their limited luggage. None of today’s pack light–two pair of pants and two t-shirts
  

  1960 Chevy Corvette

• The use of a Chevy Corvette for this show must be the best product placement ever dreamed up. While young women were panting over Maharis, and their mothers were wanting to mother Milner, the men were lusting after that set of wheels.
• Some of the guest stars are now considered legendary. People at the end of their career like Joe E. Brown and Buster Keaton, more known for silent films than TV, show us why they are classics when they appear together in the slapstick episode called “Journey to Nineveh” (typical of the interesting titles of episodes, by the way.)
• On the other hand, you’ll spot actors who were nobodies in the early 60′s and became household names.  Ron Howard shows up as a cute little tyke in Opie days (on the Andy Williams Show) and way before he became an award-winning director. Ed Asner plays a minor role in the show featuring Rod Steiger. But there are dozens and dozens more names you’ll recognize in these shows.

Because Tod and Buzz get jobs in each community they visit, we get acquainted with not just a tourist America, but with working class America–fishermen, farmers, factory workers.  The sad thought strikes me that it would be impossible to replicate their journey exactly, because so many of those jobs are gone.

Maharis left during the third season, replaced by Glen Corbett as Linc.  Corbett lacked the chemistry and the show ended after the fourth season. Milner and Maharis still live in Southern California, and you can learn more about the show from some interviews on line if you Google Maharis, although Milner has fewer interviews available. Interestingly, both of them, in separate interviews, picked a show from the first season as their favorite. It is called “Thin White Line,” and deals with LSD–then still unfamiliar to the TV audience.

I am totally hooked by this enormous collection–watching an episode or two each day. (Well, a girl’s gotta do something until Downton Abbey comes back, right?) And as I watch, I compile a list of places in the United States that I simply must see–and hope they are still there. However, be warned, the episodes did not happen in a sequence you could follow on a real road trip, and, surprise, very few of them actually took place along the actual Route 66.

(Extra materials on the DVD include commercials from the period– eliminated in the episodes themselves–and a look at the little sports car that everyone wanted.)

Links here to Amazon are affiliate links which means that even though it costs you no more, you’ll be supporting our work at A Traveler’s Library when you shop through those links. Thanks!  Photo of Buz and Todd are from the Route 66 web site, courtesy of Shout Productions, who made the DVD set. Other photos are from Flickr and you can click on them to learn more about the photographers.

Have you taken a road trip on Route 66? Or across some other wide swath of America?

This content is a post from: A Traveler’s Library To comment on this post or search for related information, click on the link to A Traveler’s Library. We’ll leave a light on for you.

©2012 A Traveler's Library. All Rights Reserved.

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If you’re at all interested in photography, this is a must. Every year on the first weekend in June, a huge and very popular international photographic event takes over the small town of Bièvres, just south of Paris. This year over the weekend of Saturday and Sunday June 2^nd and 3^rd, professional and amateur photographers gather for a weekend of exhibitions and a second-hand photographic market on Sunday. And it’s all completely free.

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Baby Travel Gear and Accessories For Helping Baby Sleep While Traveling…

Have Baby Will Travel has been online for five years, and in that time I’ve learned that there are some things that can make your life a whole lot easier while you’re traveling with baby – for eating, sleeping, playing, and getting around. Some are must-haves, some are nice-to-haves, some may seem excessive – but if there’s a product or service available that could possibly make your life easier, wouldn’t you want to know about it?

Some of these I’ve used personally and loved. Some of these I wish were invented when my kiddos were smaller. Some of these were out of my budget but I wished I could afford. All of these will either help give your baby a safe place to sleep while you’re on the go – or even possibly help baby to fall asleep!

Baby Bjorn Travel Cot

Baby Bjorn Travel Cot

I’ve seen and lugged my fair share of baby travel beds, and the Baby Bjorn one, while pricey, is probably the sturdiest one I’ve come across. It’s also incredibly easy to set up, incredibly easy to take down, and weighs only 11 pounds – most certainly lighter than the baby that’s likely sleeping in it. It’s not exactly the most compact when folded, but if you are lucky to be flying an airline where checking luggage is not extra and you’re not sure about your sleeping arrangements at your destination, this way you know you have a safe and secure place for baby to sleep.

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Phil&Teds Nest

Nest

Those clever Kiwis at Phil&Teds have created a cool multi-purpose travel bag/travel bassinet for those hitting the road with baby. Nest is a lightweight bag – approved for overhead storage in airplanes – that can hold all of baby’s odds and sods while you’re en route, and then serves as a cosy bassinet for baby to sleep in. It is safe and suitable for newborns and infants up until about nine months of age, so if you’re planning on doing a fair amount of travel while baby is quite little (as you should!) than Nest is a great investment.

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Canadian shoppers be patient! Nest is not yet available in Canada.

Toddler Travel Bed

The Shrunks Toddler Bed

This inflatable bed is BPA-free, pthalate-compliant, and offers toddlers a comfy and fun place to sleep when you’re out and about. The toddler bed + pump weighs under 8lbs, and can fit in a suitcase. How I wish this was invented for those few trips we took when my daughter was too big for a pack’n’play, but too small for a real bed. The inflatable toddler bed fits regular crib sheets, and they also have a version that’s a twin bed that fits regular twin-sized bedding as well.

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Travel Bed Rail

The Shrunks Inflatable Bed Rail

Yet another product by The Shrunks that I wish was invented when we traveled with our daughter as a toddler. Travel bed rails seemed impossible to find, and I laugh when I think of some of the crazy contraptions we built with the hope of keeping her safe in her bed. Staying in family-friendly hotels and resorts does not necessarily mean they will supply bed rails, and this little invention can give you some peace of mind without taking up much room in your luggage.

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Travel Night Light

Tykelight Night Light

My kids are good sleepers, but the are used to certain sights and rituals that come with bedtime at home. And while we follow our bedtime routine while we’re traveling, how wonderful it would be to bring along the nightlight they’re familiar with?! Plus, we’re always fiddling with hotel room lighting arrangements to try to come up with the best light-enough-to-see-but-not-so-light-it-disturbs-our-sleep level, so just bringing a nightlight from home would alleviate all those issues!

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Back To Sleep Bear

Back To Sleep Bear

Bringing along your baby or toddler’s woobie or lovey is a no-brainer, and this one actually has an added feature that could be a bonus for travel. Not only is it a cuddly (and safe) teddy, the soundbox acts as a white noise machine, and can play womb sounds or a song or message that mama or dada records. The soundbox has an audio and motion sensor, so it automatically starts again if baby cries or the bear is moved. The soundbox automatically shuts off after five minutes, conserving battery life.

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Baby Sleep Sack

Wearable Blanket

The Back To Sleep Wearable Blanket is another step in maintaining at-home sleep habits while you’re away with baby. I used a sleep sack with my kiddos when they were small because I knew they would always be cosy and warm, and also it helps limit their mobility and keep them on their back. I’m certain that traveling with the sleep sacks when they were little helped my children fall asleep when we were traveling, and it’s kinda nice to have the crib bedding and baby blanket all in one.

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Goodnight Moon

Goodnight Moon

We had to buy a new copy of Goodnight Moon for my son, as my daughter’s copy is so beat-up it’s barely readable. And now my son’s copy is in the same state. Both of their Goodnight Moons have come on just about every trip with us, as maintaining our bedtime routine while we’re away is key to helping them fall asleep. We’ve read Goodnight Moon almost every night for six years. To say we can recite it word for word is an understatement – it’s become part of our psyche! I tell myself that’s a good thing Whether your bedtime ritual includes Goodnight Moon or a different book, don’t forget to bring it on your trip.

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Comfy Critter – Shark

Comfy Critters

This is a really cute stuffie, pillow, and blanket, all-in-one! Packing a stuffed animal, pillow and special blanket into your already-bursting carry-on bag is not always feasible, so these little guys are not only cute, they are very functional. Introduced pre-flight, it could help make flights cuddly and cosy as opposed to chilly and cramped. The shark is really cute, no? There is also a Bunny, Puppy, Lamb, Unicorn, Chick, and an ultra adorable Ladybug Comfy Critter.

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The summer travel season is heating up, Cheapos, and what better way to celebrate than by winning a free trip to Germany?

EuroCheapo has teamed up with airberlin and A&O Hostels to offer one very lucky Cheapo a freebie trip for two from New York City to Germany.

Trip Details

The grand prize winner will receive a round-trip flight for two people from New York’s JFK airport to any city airberlin flies to in Germany.

And to make it even more appealing, our friends at A&O Hostels will pitch in five free nights in a double room with free breakfast at any A&O Hostels location, subject to availability.

Sign up here to win!

Simply fill out the form below to enter the trip giveaway. You’ll also be signing up to receive special offers from airberlin and EuroCheapo.

We’ll be randomly selecting the lucky winner on July 17, 2012.

Contest terms and conditions:

* Prize consists of two airberlin round-trip tickets from New York to Germany in economy class, subject to availability. Travel must be completed by March 31, 2013. Participants must be at least 18 years old at date of entry. Other rules and restrictions apply. Contest is open to the public.

* Only one entry will be permitted per person.

* By entering the airberlin and EuroCheapo sweepstakes, you agree to receive top offers and information about airberlin and EuroCheapo by email.

Good luck, Cheapos!

Nothing says summer like a great outdoor festival: sunshine, great company, and amazing food or entertainment. Whether you’re looking for a foodie extravaganza or a legendary music festival, check out our 2012 summer festival guide for the best festivals across the US. Our 2012 Summer Festival Guide 1. Rose Festival – Portland, OR Even if you [...]