Countries Archives - Page 2 of 6

December 22, 2019February 15, 2020

Layover in Lebanon: a little taste and hope for a return in more peaceful times

I’m going to make an argument right now that sometimes a six-hour airport layover can qualify as a visit to the country. We had a more than six-hour layover in Beirut, Lebanon. The U.S. State Department currently has the country at a level three warning out of four, meaning we’d be at risk traveling here …

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June 23, 2019January 17, 2020

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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May 10, 2019September 24, 2022

Curaçao: A Beautiful Country filled with Beautiful People … an Instagram Dream

So there was this young, very good-looking hotel employee with eyelashes for days. His goal is to be a fashion stylist in New York. He’s confident it will happen. He nodded to his skin: See, I’m lighter, he said. It gives him an advantage, he added. When we looked perplexed, he explained the thought process …

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December 24, 2018January 23, 2020

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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October 25, 2018January 17, 2020

Sweden Travel: The stunning Vasa Museum should not be missed

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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October 17, 2018January 17, 2020

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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October 14, 2018January 17, 2020

Scandinavia: Pricey Provisions & Puzzling ‘Pantsdrunk’ People

You should know one thing before traveling to the Scandinavian and Nordic countries – Finland, Sweden, Norway, Denmark and Iceland. It is expensive. That is, unless you don’t think $27 hamburgers, a $3 chicken wing and $10 drafts are expensive. But at least the taxes are high. You could try to do it on the …

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October 8, 2018January 23, 2020

The Special Effects in Norway are very well done

We are certain we will never see anything more incredible than the Northern Lights. We’re 200 miles above the Arctic Circle in Norway, near a little town called Tromsø. The night was very overcast and rainy. We were certain we would not be seeing anything more than the glare of the city lights off the …

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October 3, 2018January 17, 2020

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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October 1, 2018January 17, 2020

I asked for ‘a nice cold beer’ … they gave me ‘an ice cold bear’

I told the bartender, "I'd like a nice cold beer." I guess my accent was confusing because he thought I said, "I'd like an ice cold bear." He immediately released the chain holding back the brewery's resident polar bear. That's the last thing I remember. Actually there were pretty much no animal attacks during our …

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Category: Countries