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Travel to Morocco: splash of color, taste of mint, kiss on the cheek

We’ve stopped off the Kingdom of Morocco’s National-8 road, traveling through the Middle Atlas Mountains.  N-8 – alternately paved, dirt, gravel and two, four and ONE lane – is an experience. In some areas, cantaloupe-sized rocks are used like traffic cones and are strewn randomly to restrict traffic, which occasionally includes donkeys and horse carts. …

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Travel in amazing Africa: transported to the golden era of train travel

If you want an incredible anniversary experience, we have a very good suggestion: Rovos Rail. This was our 20th wedding anniversary celebration and we wanted it to be very special. So how does this grab you: A steam engine and rail cars perfectly restored to their pre-1940s-era splendor taking you from Zimbabwe through Botswana and …

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Goodbye to a Culinary Legend at a Landmark New Orleans Restaurant

Five days before Christmas 2018, Leah Chase grasped my hands between her warm, papery palms. Her long fingers, steady and strong at then 95 years of age, one missing a tip, gripped mine for minutes. A beatific, genuine smile lit her face as we entered her kitchen at Dooky Chase’s Restaurant in the Treme area …

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New Orleans: The Garbage Can Serenade, and other Quirks of the Quarter

I’m writing this a few minutes after some dudes decided to serenade us with the sound of garbage cans being kicked around under our balcony at the Royal Sonesta. In any other place, I’d be on the phone yammering at the manager. But not here … we loved it. We’ve been to New Orleans a …

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Sweden Travel: The stunning Vasa Museum should not be missed

Vasa Museum: visit to Sweden
The first view of the Vasa as you walk through the doors is arresting and breathtaking. The massive Swedish warship built between 1626 and 1628 looms stunningly overhead, shocking in its towering majesty, and makes you feel that you have been transported into the past.  If you have the slightest interest in history, you could …

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Visiting Sweden: The Swedes really know how to do museums

Carriage in the Royal Armory Museum in Stockholm, Sweden
The Royal Armory in Stockholm is a relatively small exhibit of royal coaches and some artifacts in the basement level.  But the Swedes really know how to do museums. The display formed a story, telling of a reputed love affair between Marie Antoinette and a Swedish count, Axel von Fersen. Apparently recently decoded letters between …

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Weather-beaten, scarred, scary-looking … and an artifact

One of these two is a weather-beaten, scarred, scary-looking old head. The other is an artifact on display in the Viking Ship Museum. The museum in Oslo, Norway, features a small but impressive collection of artifacts from the viking era. The highlights are three preserved viking ships. The museum is thoughtfully laid out to permit …

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