Britain's craziest, cheesiest sport, part sport, part rite of midsummer ritual, cheese rolling is still practiced in two regions of Gloucestershire. On the first Sunday in May, three cheeses are taken to the village church in Randwick for a brief ceremony--bear with me, I know this sounds weird--after which they are rolled around the aisles a few times. One is divided among the congregation while the other two are rolled ceremoniously--after being paraded around town in a colorful procession--down a hill to mark the beginning of Wap (or Mayor's Day) celebrations on May 11th. The festivities in Cooper's Hill are a bit more athletic: runners pursue their respective seven(ish)-pound cheeses down a steep slope. The winner of the race gets to keep his or her cheese! An Olympic event? No. But an awful lot of fun!

FRANCE

The world's best pastry shops. The best pastries in the world are made in France, where layers of cake, as light as feathers, are molded together with airy, sweet buttercream and topped with curls of fine chocolate. Pastries in France are too beautiful (and too fattening) to eat but too delicious not to. Within France, the most tempting Patisseries, or pastry shops, are in Paris where they adorn every corner. There are 2,300 of them! One of the best known and most honored Patisseries is Dalloyau, which specializes in morrons glaces (candied chestnuts), mogador (layers of chocolate cake, chocolate mousse and raspberry confiture) and sherbet cakes. Dallayau shops can be found at 99 rue Faubourg St. Honore and three other locations. The king of pastry is Gaston Lenotre, who runs Lenotre shops throughout Paris. His 350 pastry chefs and cooks use at least 12 tons of butter and 300,000 fresh eggs each month. Lenotre also has the best chocolates in Paris. His shops are at 44 rue du Bac and three other locations.

The best ice cream in Paris. The most delicious ice cream in Paris is sold at Berthillon, 31 rue St. Louis-en-l'Ile. The list of rich, homemade flavors is long; so are the lines.