Wine and Spirits Travel

It was day two in Milwaukee, Wisconsin , with my friend Lisa and the day would definitely end much differently than it started. It just goes to show you that you never know what’s going to happen next. Lisa and I were up early to head to the Milwaukee ArtMuseum . This museum had become as famous for its design as its exhibits.  The main feature was a set of “wings” that would open at 10:00 am when the museum opened, “flap” at noon, and close when the museum did at 5:00 pm. While we obviously couldn’t stay all day and watch the wings go, it was quite interesting to watch them open.  We then went inside and saw the phenomenal exhibits, which included art from Picasso, Monet, Van Gogh, Dali, and even Andy Warhol. It was fascinating and I hadn’t seen so many of my favorite artists since I was in Vienna . When we left the Art Museum, Lisa and I decided to take a long walk back downtown to the Milwaukee Public Market .  We admired a few buildings along the w

I had never been to Milwaukee before. I didn’t make it there during my traveling years and I hadn’t been there in the seven years I’ve been living in the Midwest. When I received an invitation to cover one of the biggest music festivals in the world that happened to be in Milwaukee, it didn’t take me long to say, “Yes!” My friend Lisa, who was living in Green Bay at the time, met me in Milwaukee for a girls’ weekend. Margaret Casey of Visit Milwaukee picked us up at the Hilton for our first day of tasting and touring. Our first stop was at Indulgence Chocolatiers . I wish we had a place like this in Champaign. Julie, the owner of Indulgence, fell in love with the chocolate shops in Europe and decided to open one in Milwaukee . She creates a selection of chocolate truffles, barks, and bars. Then, she pairs them with your choice of white wine, red wine, beer, whiskey, or cheese. Everything sounded scrumptious and we finally settled on sharing chocolate &

Long before I wrote about travel, food, wine, spirits, or even tennis, I was an entertainment writer. I was young and it was a lot of fun going into New York City and seeing plays, movie previews, and concerts. I knew it wasn’t the kind of life that I could keep up with once I was an “adult,” but it was a great time for a while. I’ve recently received a lot of opportunities to cover music. While I’m not going to make a full time job out of it and trips into the “city” – now Chicago – are not something I can handle nightly, I do like to go to a concert and meet a band whenever possible. I was especially excited to see Soul Asylum and meet the band backstage at the House of Blues in Chicago. My friend John accompanied me into downtown and we arrived early enough to do some exploring around Navy Pier and enjoy a cocktail or two. When we arrived at the House of Blues, there was still plenty of time left before the concert so I asked for a tour. The only House of

I woke up in my suite at Hotel Lone knowing it would be my last morning in Istria. Although my friend Lynn and I would be staying in Croatia a few more days, this was the last day we would be spending with the Share Istria group, a terrific set of guys we had gotten to know well. It was the first place Lynn and I had our own hotel rooms so we met down at the restaurant for breakfast.  The Hotel Lone in Rovinj has one of the biggest buffet breakfasts I have ever seen, and it was included with our room. The rows of fruit, cheese, Danishes, croissants, meats, eggs, yogurt, and covered half of the large dining room. I took my selection of a yogurt smoothies, chocolate croissant, brie and spinach quiche out to the deck. It looked to be another comfortably warm day in this area of Croatia .  We sipped our cappuccinos for a bit before going to our rooms to get ready for a full day. Goran Franinovic of the Istria Tourism Board had been our guide throughou