Wine and Spirits Travel

I was up early at the Dan Hotel Tel Aviv for another busy day on my press trip with Israel Tourism . After breakfast, I met with the rest of the journalists and our guide, Carmela, in the Executive Lounge at the hotel with our luggage.  We were heading to two more hotels in Israel before we would be back at this one. Since most of the group had arrived later than me, they were all heading to the Bauhaus area I had toured on my first day. I decided to check out some of the boutique shopping area around Sheinken Street in Tel Aviv with another journalist, Jo Piazza. We stopped first at a café for some coffee. As interesting as the pastries looked, we had just finished a big Israeli breakfast, which focused on the sweets. As we walked through the blocks we noted that they all looked simple and understated from the outside, despite the fact that most of the clothes and shoes were high-end. I window-shopped while Jo picked up and dress and then we

My friend Betty and I had flown down to Daytona Beach for three fun-filled days. We hit the ground running on day one , and day two was even more busy. We woke up early at the Oceanside Inn and headed to Crabby Joe’s Deck & Grill to meet Lori Campbell Baker and Tonya West of the Daytona Convention and Visitors Bureau for breakfast. Lori and Tonya had worked hard to arrange our schedule and, although it sounded like a strange spot for breakfast, I trusted they had their reasons. When we arrived, we soon realized Crabby Joe's was not only a scenic spot out on the Sun Glow Pier over the ocean, but the menu was filled with some unusual dishes, like fish fillets for breakfast. The day was cloudy and it appeared that a storm was coming, but we were ready to brave whatever the weather had in store for us. Betty enjoyed the Fisherman's Special with grits, while I had some tasty French toast. We talked more about Daytona Beach, what we had done,

Whether or not we’ve ever written it down, we all have a bucket list. Those lists consist of places we hope to go. Many of us dream about these places, while others make it their life’s mission to travel to them. I’ve actually got two lists, though neither one is on paper. One is of places I wish to explore and the other is of places I just need to get to in order to see if the magic is really there.  The latter list includes places such as Paris, Rome, and London, all of which I’ve been to. There’s one place I hadn’t visited until I arrived on my Viking River Cruise . That place is Vienna. It was cool and foggy when my friend Tracy and I arrived in Vienna, Austria . The buses were waiting to take us on a tour of this city that played such a major part in the world war.  Vienna had come out the other side and become a spot of history and culture, with former homes of Mozart, Beethoven, and even Sigmund Freud throughout the city. The tour took us to some

I was looking forward to exploring more of Buffalo, New York, a town I had only briefly stopped through before. I had my friend Lynn along with me and our day was filled with quite a mixture of activities – and restaurants. We were up fairly early and headed to breakfast at Betty’s , a popular place recommended by Peter Burakowski of the Buffalo-Niagara Tourism Board. The menu did indeed look quite appetizing and we had a tough time narrowing it down. We finally decided to share an Asparagus and Artichoke Quiche along with the Peach French Toast, which was filled with cream cheese and topped with streusel and blueberries. They were both good, but the French Toast was my favorite. We had gotten passes to the Albright-Knox Art Gallery and enjoyed walking around seeing works of old new artists, all leaning toward modern and contemporary art.   The exhibits here change often so you can always plan on catching something unique whenever you go. After the museum