This was my closest ever brush with foot and mouth - a shot of Yukon jack whisky with a shrivelled human toe in the bottom.

To join the Sourtoe Cocktail Club in the Downtown Hotel, Dawson City, Yukon, I had to let its gnarled blackened nail touch my lip, a tradition that started in the 1970s when a local discovered the frozen tootsie of a rum runner who'd had to amputate it in a log cabin when he got frostbite.

Occasionally toes are accidentally swallowed by visiting drunks - they re-emerge painfully a few days later but they aren't really toes you can use again (unless you're really flying), so a steady supply have been donated over the years including ones from diabetics and people who decide to use a lawnmower while wearing sandals. Last time I went they had a full donated set of five toes, all preserved in salt.

It's not as bad as it sounds and you do get to become a member of the Sourtoe Cocktail Club, the only club I've been a member of in my life.

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Kiruna has many interesting types of accommodation available. As well as a good choice of comfortable hotels and guest houses, Kiruna also offers a choice of original and exclusive ideas such as the Ice Hotel, wilderness cabins, lodges, igloos and traditional wig wams.

The unique Ice Hotel gets rebuilt year after year from the ice of the local Torne river. With its ice sculptures and fine works of art, the Ice Hotel is truly an experience that should not be missed.

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Script, act out and record your own film at one of the leading film sets in eastern Europe!
Travel company Riga Out There have just launched this exciting activity as part of their new 'unusual things to do in Latvia campaign'.

Once each film group has made its film, it is given the opportunity to present their film at one of Riga’s leading cinemas with critical feedback given by one of Latvia’s top film directors.


You do not need to have any film background - just turn up in Riga with a group of friends and start dreaming of film stardom!

www.out-there.eu/en/Riga/show/page/108

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The famous pissing boy statue is not the only one in Brussels. Just down the alley from the Manneken-Pis is a statue of a girl engaged in a similar act - however it is hidden behind bars and not so celebrated as the boy.

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It's a tiny space - decked out in retro burlesque style, entered by a dramatic (if small) glass entrance just in front of the Lyceum. A former men's loo it is now rammed with high-tech stuff (sms jukebox, automatically opaque loo doors) and ambitiously holds shows (can't imagine how) every night at 10.

We went in for an early evening cocktail - all drinks 1/3rd off before 8pm. Cocktails strong but chemical, though the wine list looked okay. To be honest it's just feels like a pleasantly odd place to be drinking - huddled beneath the pavement sitting on leather seats which are shaped like buttocks. Maybe I wouldn't go back, but if you are in the area it's worth a visit.

Zero Aldwych
London WC2r 0HT
www.cellardoor.biz

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For a very Californian experience go to the Audium. A 60s style professor creates a soundscape in a room filled with 150 speakers. You troop through a darkened corridor and then sit in a circle in complete darkness. Then the professor plays and mixes strange sounds – supposed to be 3d and sound sculptures but there’s a lot of running water and what sounds like a band of monkeys playing Hammond organs. Bizarre.

1616 Bush Street; performaces are at 8.30 on Fri and Sat only (arrive by 8pm); tel: (415) 771 1616;
www.audium.org

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Not particularly original this one, featuring in a Belle & Sebastion song and all. Just outside the Meiji shrine on Sunday afternoons, right near Harujuki, all sorts of weird creatures and freaks assemble dressed as their favourite anime characters or gothic victorian dolls amongst other things, and all seem willing to have their picture taken. Once you tire of this, your right near trendy Harujuku with limited edition trainer shops, perhaps Japan's only Pizza Express and even a Gold's Gym.

Meiji jingu mae station

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In Tokyo the vast majority of people live in apartments and pets are not allowed or possible. Nekobukero is a response to this. It's a cat petting "house" where lots of Tokyo families and couples go to stroke and play with lots of lovely cats. The set-up itself is worth looking at with cat-themed decor including a cat-shaped TV and a cat-train where some of the moggies spend little holidays away from visiting hands.

There are plenty of toys to tempt the cats with but they also have the opportunity to jump up onto some high shelves to snooze or just to ignore all comers. It's a lovely way to spend a few hours with plenty of people watching points as well as the obvious joy of stroking cats at the top of a Tokyo highrise.

Nekobukero can be found in the Tokyu Hands department store in Ikebukero. (Ikebukero Station) Everyone knows where Tokyu Hands is so ask at the station. Once you get to Tokyu Hands Nekobukero is on the top floor, you enter through the pet department.

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