"attraction" news and stories

We hear a lot about road food, traveling the country in search of good eats, but since we can't eat all the time, foodies might have to get a fix at a different sort of roadside stop. These food-related stops along the highway don't have the same pull as, perhaps, a diner that serves fantastic pancakes or perfect falling-off-the-bone ribs in special sauce, but they often have a lot of history - interesting and just plain weird - attached to them. CNN's picks for roadside food stops include the Mustard Museum, a collection of nearly 5,000 types and bottles of mustard in Wisconsin, Lenny the Chocolate Moose, a life-sized 1,700-lb moose, and the Corn Palace in South Dakota. Travelers can also visit the Salt Museum in upstate New York to view the remains of a salt processing plant and hamburger lovers can pay tribute to their favorite food with a pilgrimage to the Home of the Hamburger the birthplace of the food, also in Wisconsin.

We also like the Museum of Burnt Foods, the Pez Museum and, to include one that actually has some appeal beyond pure weirdness, the Sake Museum.

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It looks like Amsterdam will be getting a new theme park, one based on the Roald Dahl's book, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. The park will be called De Chocolade Fabriek and will be primarily located underground in an unused railway tunnel, which means that the builders will have an easier time creating the fictionaly world, since they won't have to block out the sights and sounds of the city. Attractions will include a glass elevator and a chocolate fountain, as well as a production facility that will make a small amount of chocolate. The park will cost about €20 million (approx. $25 million) and is expected to take 2-3 years to completion.

Since it's based on the book, not the movie, you can't expect to see the likeness of Johnny Depp popping up anywhere - unlike at the revamped Pirates of the Caribbean ride at Disneyland - but considering that they made Willy Wonka slightly more disturbed in the updated film, it's probably just as well. The park is, after all, supposed to appeal to kids.

[Images from http://www.dechocoladefabriek.nl/]

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Early Christmas morning, the Bongo Java coffee shop in Nashville, Tennessee, suffered a break-in. While the shop and register appeared to be undamaged, it's famous NunBun was missing. The cinnamon bun, discovered by the store manager in the 1996, was said to have the likeness of Mother Teresa in its cinnamon-glazed layers of pastry. The bun was preserved in the freezer until a local crew made a short film about it, after which the story was picked up by the city paper and propelled into the national spotlight. After having received so much attention, the bun was coated in shellac and put on display in the shop, where it has enjoyed attention as a local novelty for 9 years.

The shop owner fears that the Immaculate Confection may have been destroyed, since it was so clearly the target of this crime.

[Thanks to Tracy for the tip]

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