Program 629: Loving French Cheese; More Cities of China; Carnival in Venice & Rhineland

While this year's Mardi Gras parties were called off because of the pandemic, we'll bring you a virtual celebration of Carnival — a social safety valve for letting off steam since the Middle Ages in Venice and Cologne. We'll also explore more of China's booming megacities with the head of the Young China Group and enjoy the local artisan cheeses you can find all over France.

• Kathe Lison, author of "The Whole Fromage" (Crown)  
• Zak Dychtwald, author of "Young China" (St. Martin's Press)
• Stacy Gibboni, artist and tour guide based in Venice, Italy 
• German tour guide Fabian Rueger

• Kathe Lison is the author of "The Whole Fromage: Adventures in the Delectable World of French Cheese."
• Specific cheeses that Kathe mentions today include the wintertime Vacherin Mont D'Or soft cheese, and the Alpine summertime cheese called Beaufort.
• Zak Dychtwald is the founder of the Young China Global Group think tank in New York.  His book is also called "Young China."
• Chongqing is the megacity in interior China that Zak and Rick discuss, and that listener Jeff visited.
• The city of Venice has an online site for this year's virtual Carnevale in English.
• The Associated Press posts photos of the quiet 2021 streets of pandemic Venice, and some of the elaborate masks that are made there for Carnevale.
• Stacy Gibboni posts photos of her artwork on her website.
• Updates on Covid cancellations for this year's Carnival festivities in Cologne, Germany are included on the Cologne tourism website.
• Fabian Rueger has developed the Packupine app to help you pack your bags for travel, as well as a color puzzle game called Wunderbunt.

Spokes awry, inverted

umbrella on holy ground

bird bath baptismal

— Presley Vischniac, Missoula, Montana 

Canopy quakes, aim

Orangutan plummets. Run!

Shell-shocked? Perfect shot

— Korina and Danya Gordin, Boston, Massachusetts  

Like lovely inkblots

Bluefield's namesake erupts

each year — chicory

— Andrea Brunais, Bluefield, West Virginia 

Went to find a girl

But fell in love with Europe

She is my true love

— Daniel Koppel, Columbus, Ohio