Travelsmartplanet

Making friends with Victor, the mascot of Just for Laughs in Montreal. The festival is in full swing.

Tags: Canada, comedy, festival, friend, justforlaughs, mascot, Montreal, Quebec, roadtrip, summer, travel, travelblogger

You can get lost in the V8 Energie Labyrinth at the Just for Laughs festival in Montreal. It’s free!

People taking part in a stationary bike race in the street festival at Just for Laughs in Montreal. You can also play board games and video games and human Foosball, and even go an an amusement park ride, complete with a small midway.

Tags: amusementpark, bicycle, boardgame, Canada, comedy, festival, foosball, games, justforlaughs, midway, Montreal, Quebec, race, ride, streetfestival, summer, travel, travelblogger

Why not have loads of belly laughs on your next trip? There are a few ways to cut costs and take in the hysterical Montreal Just for Laughs comedy festival inexpensively. Here’s all the FREE events:

On July  21st, Weird Al Yankovic is doing a free outdoor concert as part of  “The Mandatory World Tour”. The Scène Vidéotron will be presenting various free activites at 7pm every day and shows at 9pm.

The Street Arts Festival has acts performing for free in and around Place des Arts. Starting at 1 pm each day, the colorful Place de la famille le Lait will offer its load of shows and activities including a merry-go-round for kids and all the family

Also for your family entertainment, the Labyrinthe V8 will be open from 6pm during weekdays and from noon during weekends.

Every night from 4pm-3am, the Melting Pot, set on the Esplanade de la Place des Arts, invites party goers to enjoy great music presented by various international DJs.

From July 23rd to July 25th, the Zoofest Festival will take place on the Parterre des artistes. Nicknamed Le Spot, this 3-days outdoor celebration will feature the craziest, funniest and talented emerging artists.

At the Le Mondial des Jeux Loto-Québec set on Maisonneuve Blvd, you can get to play various table games and board games. In the center of the Complexe Desjardins, you are invited to discover and play the latest and the classic video games. Plus, you will have the opportunity to show off your skills in friendly competitions. Kids and grown-ups will also be able to show their talents at the Complexe Desjardins in a drawing contest.

www.hahaha.com
http://mondialdesjeux.com/en/

TICKET DEALS

The best deal by far is the OFF-JFL pass. It costs $49.50 and you get to choose 3 tickets to any of the 100 or so OFF-JFL shows. Also included is that each day from July 22-25, you get an additional free ticket for an OFF-JFL show.

OFF-JFL has a lineup of artists performing at smaller venues where the shows are much more intimate, The lineup this year is absolutely incredible. I really laughed at Ethnic Show headliners Alonzo Bodden, Ahmed Ahmed and Gina Yashere who are on this list.

There are a number of package deals for tickets. There are the tourism packages in which you can stay overnight in a hotel, be right downtown in the midst of all the action, and take in the Gala of your choice starting at only $200 (for 2). There are also multi-show passes available which cuts costs.

Last minute tickets can be purchased at the box office on the corner of Jeanne Mance and Sainte-Catherine.

www.hahaha.com

FOOD

Bouffons! Mtl is a gourmet novelty set on Sainte-Catherine street so festival-goers have the chance to experience a full range of new flavors that will definitely live up to anyone taste buds. Meet chefs, enjoy local products and taste delish dishes from the best food-trucks in the city. The festivities will start at noon every day, inside and outside. For the inside action, look for the Bouffons sign near Clark.

At the Melting Pot on the Esplanade de la Place des Arts, there will be a DJ set every evening and look for the 2 for 1 deal on the burger trio. At Arthur,  during Happy Hour 5-7, you can find 2 for one liquid deals.

www.hahaha.com

Tags: 2 for 1, Ahmed Ahmed, Al Yankovic, Alonzo, art, artist, Authur, belly, board, Bodden, Bouffon, box, burger, celebration, chef, city, Clark, comedy, Complexe Desjardins, concert, contest, cost, deal, DJ, downtown, drawing, ethnic, evening, famille, family, festival, flavor, food, free, funniest, gala, game, Gina Yahsere, gourmet, Happy, hotel, Hour, inexpensive, Just for Laughs, kid, labyrinthe, lait, laugh, lineup, liquid, local, Loto-Quebec, Mandatory World Tour, Melting, Melting Pot, merry-go-round, minute, Montreal, music, noon, novelty, office, outdoor, overnight, package, party, pass, Place des Arts, Pot, product, Sainte Catherine, show, table, ticket, tourist, trio, truck, venue, video, weekend, Wyclef Jean, Zoofest

Oktoberfest began as a wedding party.

On October 12, 1810, when Crown Prince Ludwig, who later became King Ludwig I, married Princess Therese of Saxe-Hildburghausen,  all the citizens of Munich were invited to the wedding!

The festivities were held in the fields in front of the city gates. The fields were named Theresienwiese (“Theresa’s meadow”) in honor of the Crown Princess, and have kept that name ever since. Locals have since abbreviated the name simply to  “Wiesn” which is what locals call the festival.

Oktoberfest is not a German national event. It is a local Bavarian festival, held in Munich.

www.muenchen.de/int/en/tourism.html

www.cosmos.com/Product.aspx?trip=46050

Tags: Bavarian, Budapest, citizen, city, Cosmos, Crown, festivities, field, gate, German, King, Ludwig, Munich, Octoberfest, Prague, Prince, Princess, Saxe-Hildburghausen, Theresa, Therese, Theresienwiesse, tour, Vienna, wedding, Weisn

An international idea celebrated in 50 countries, Restaurant Day is a food carnival created by food-loving people setting up one-day restaurants. The idea of the day is to have fun, share new food experiences and meet others in our community. People offer their family cuisine, favorite recipes, desserts or whatever in their backyard or a park.  Prices are very inexpensive.

Check the maps to see if there is one in your city.

Date: Sunday, August 17
http://www.restaurantday.org/

Tags: carnival, city, countries, cuisine, dessert, family, food, map, people, recipe, Restaurant

Federal Wrestling and Alpine Festival

Schwingen – the Swiss form of wrestling – is very popular in Switzerland. In fact, it developed from herdsman’s pastime to elite sport. Schwingen is fought as a duel between two physically powerful competitors and has its own rules, grips and throws.

The champion wrestler is chosen at the Federal Wrestling and Alpine Festival held every 3 years. Over 250,000 visitors are expected this year in the Emmental arena. The spectacle will be accompanied by other Swiss traditions like yodeling and alphorn blowing.

Around 50,000 individuals will follow the events of the traditional Swiss sports of Schwingen (Swiss wrestling), Hornussen (a traditional team sport, which involves throwing and catching a type of puck called Hornuss) and Steinstossen (stone throw).

Location: Bern
Dates: Aug 30 -Sept 1
www.bern.com/en/region/emmental/events/schwingfest-2013

Tags: alphorn, emmenthal, grip, herdsman, hornussen, puck, schwingen, steinstossen, stone, Swiss, Switzerland, team, throw, wrestling, yodel

In Fellsmere FL the annual town fair has the usual hotdogs, fried dough, turkey legs and candy apples  but here the main feature is the frog leg and gator tail dinners.  There’s rides, games, and stage entertainment: rock, country and blues bands. For those that enjoy browsing and shopping they also have about 100 booths of crafts. There is a free shuttle bus that will take you from Mesa Park to the festival.

 
Location: Exit 156, go west about 3 miles until you see the traffic and signage
Hours: Jan 19: 10-11, Jan 20: 11-6
Frog Leg & Gator Tail Dinner Hours: Sat 11-9, Sun 11-6

(click to enlarge)

Tags: apple, band, blues, booth, candy, country, craft, Fellsmere, festival, Florida, fried dough, frog, hotdogs, leg, rock, turkey