Finding the pit stops: You're the last team to check in!

[NJRadioGuy]

In your travels have you ever found yourself in places that were used for TAR pit stops or other locations featured on the show? Years before I started watching The Amazing Race, I happened to visit the Hellbrunn Palace in Salzburg, Austria. When I watched Season 14, leg 2 a few years later I saw that was the pit stop, and it sparked an interest in visiting these whenever I'm on vacation. I've subsequently visited about a dozen (I will chronicle my search for S30E06's in Prague in a separate message) and I'm wondering who else here has visited various pit stops and locations made famous by the show. Photos if you got 'em!

Edited July 26, 2018 by NJRadioGuy

[Netfoot]

The only place I've visited that I know was on the race, is the Pontcysyllte Aqueduct in north Wales where teams from All-Star season #24 had to learn and perform traditional Welsh poetry.  (Brenchel were the first to succeed with this Roadblock.)

Our route last year took us close, and I thought "Why the hell not?"  And I wasn't disappointed.  Not because of the connection with TAR, but because it was an interesting place to visit in it's own right.  If you find yourself in the vicinity, do yourself a favour!  Just don't rely on that railing, which is 212 years old and (apparently) made of cast iron with the consistency of breadsticks. When on this aerial tow-path, I recommend walking close to the water, since should you trip and fall, you probably want to emulate a fish, rather than a bird!

[NJRadioGuy]

Oh, I loved that challenge and that spot looked, well, Amazing. I wish they'd go to the U.K. more often. Especially Scotland. Whisky-related tasks on Islay, for example!

[NJRadioGuy]

Here are a couple of mine that I can find the pictures of. The first two are Season 17 Episode 7 (Naryshkin Bastion at St. Peter and Paul Fortress, SPb, Russia), Hotel Stechelburg near Lauterbrunen, Switzerland in S14 Episode 1, Hellbrunn Palace in Salzburg, and the last one is the Catherine Palace Season 5, leg 4. I've also been in the park behind St. Isaacs in St. Petersburg for S17E06 but couldn't find the precise spot where the mat was located, and also, locally, Gotham Hall in Manhattan (Season 21 final mat) and the Unisphere in Queens (Season 1 final).

 

[Netfoot]

18 minutes ago, NJRadioGuy said:

I wish they'd go to the U.K. more often. Especially Scotland.

Me too, and me too!

Visiting Scotland was a big part of my trip last year.  I was able to go O'er the sea to Skye (Mallaig to Armadale, Caledonian MacBrayne ferry, £15 for two people and one saloon).  This fulfilled a lifelong personal desire from the highest echelons of my bucket-list.  But yes, Scotland has a lot to see and do.  

Oh, wow.  You've really been to some TAR landmarks!  Even Helinski.  (I love you, BQs!)

[NJRadioGuy]

I, too, have been O'er the Sea to Skye, in 2005. Driving up from Glasgow in a day. Long before I found Outlander, of course. When I go back in 2020, I'll be going to Edinburugh, Culloden and Inverness, then on to Islay. My liver may or may not follow me home, begging for its life.

I didn't get to any TAR landmarks in Helsinki, alas, although I was thinking about it. If they ever go back there and go to Suomenlinna fortress (it would be a fantistic locale), the Esplanade, ride the Pub tram or go to the most northerly metro station in the world I'll have 'em covered :) We did, however, take the Tallink ferry to Tallinn and visit the Brotherhood of the Blackheads building (below) from Season 15, Leg 9.

[jpgr]

I've been to Castelo dos Mouros in Portugal (Season 23, Episode 3). Was visiting a cousin who lives in Lisbon and asked specifically to go see this place because of TAR. Don't have photos on this computer, and I am not sure I found the spot where the mat was but it was a great place to visit!

[NJRadioGuy]

So here's the pitstop story I wanted to share. I made reference to this in the S30E06 original thread as well. This aired just a few months before my visit to Prague and I knew I had to find this pit stop and get my picture taken there. I searched for it on Google Maps and it took quite a while to find using Street View. So I bookmarked the location and set out on a very warm and humid Sunday morning in June.

The racers would have been coming from the Kafka telephone nightmare Road Block, so I approached Letenské Park, where the pitstop was located, from the point of view of a racer who was only told that the pit stop was in the park (which is utterly huge, and about the size of New York's Central Park, incidentally). If they went on foot, it would have been about 3/4 of a mile hike to the entrance of the park.

But here's where the fun begins. If they weren't told specifically in the clue (there are often parts of clues that aren't read on camera, so I just don't know), they'd most likely have entered the park at the main staircase. It's a LONG way up.

About 500 feet due up, in fact. There was also a shortcut, and it was even steeper. Carrying backpacks, and in a panic to not be eliminated. 

 

It took my fat old self about 10 minutes to make the climb, wander around a bit and find the marked spot. The mat location was actually in the dirt, between the curbstones and the vegetation; I just liked this view of the city better. It was a brutal climb for a big guy like me and all I had was a small messenger-style bag, water bottle and a hat (not in the picture). Just getting here and making that climb was tough, and a vivid reminder of why I'd never be able to complete even a single leg on the Amazing Show. Only instead of a Kafkaesque phone room to deal with, I had an equally Kafkaesque (and ultimately futile) search for a place to buy a daily tram pass using folding money and not coins, which is the only way you can buy tickets from the machines. Not even the metro stations have attendants on Sunday mornings!

[chitowngirl]

I live near The Shoe House in Pennsylvania that was featured in TAR Family Edition. That’s all I got. TAR is my travel dream place.

[TheRabbi]

I've never been out of North America, but I did do a cross country road trip about 3 years ago. I spent a night in the Dallas area, and decided I needed to go check out the Fort worth stock yard, site of the final maze challenge of TAR5. Keep in mind TAR5 was like 12 years old by this point, but there is indeed still a maze there, with a big "As seen on The Amazing Race" sign, and all the weird signs inside the maze are totally legit. It costs like 10 bucks or so to go through it, and was well worth it. Pretty cool experience. 

[SnideAsides]

I haven't been to any Pit Stops, but I have done the walking tour from TAR2's Aussie slang Road Block, and I've also been to the start lines of two of the Australian TAR seasons (in fact, I was at one of them the day it premiered), and I've checked off every location from the Israeli and Norwegian TARs' visits to Melbourne. Does any of that count?

[Hanahope]

My husband’s family is from Arles in France, so I’ve been to the arena where they hunted for bull tags one season and also to Les Baux de Provence which has been in a couple of seasons .