Dinner on day #1 in Munich was at The Charles Hotel at their restaurant, Sophia’s . Scotty started with white asparagus soup and I had ravioli stuffed with asparagus; it is still asparagus season. For our mains, hubs had tagliatelle with red sauce, and I had stuffed turbot. On the second day, we had dinner at Neo-brasserie Hoiz . Scotty began with the grilled Caesar salad, while I opted for the spicy fried calamari with Asian influences. Scott ventured to try an ox steak acco

Spending two days in Nuremberg provided two evenings to delve into the local cuisine. The first night's dinner was at a traditional Franconian restaurant called Albrecht Duerer Stube . The setting was as authentic as imaginable, featuring timbered walls, various knick-knacks, and waitresses dressed in dirndls. Albrecht Duerer, a painter and printmaker from the late 15 th century, hailed from Nuremberg, and his former house still stands. However, you're likely more interested

Deciding where to eat can often be more difficult than choosing which site or museum to visit. With so many options and limited time, Berlin presents a wide range of choices, requiring some discernment when making reservations. I usually book in advance for major cities if I'm worried about last-minute availability, but I also enjoy getting recommendations from the local concierge. Our first night's dinner was at a trendy, small restaurant called Barra , where we sat at the b

We stayed at the Relais Chateau Hotel Bulow , which didn't meet our expectations compared to the Andaz Prague. It was somewhat disappointing, as we've previously enjoyed other Relais Chateau hotels, but this one could use a bit of refreshing. We discovered a fantastic bakery just half a block from the hotel called Elias . The bread and pastries were excellent. Starting the day with a sourdough baguette, serrano ham, arugula, and a double shot cappuccino was perfect! Scotty, h

Prague offers a variety of dining options. We enjoyed breakfast each morning at the Andaz, an ideal starting point for our stay, and its breakfast was consistently satisfying. Typically, we skipped lunch, opting instead for a cup of coffee and something nutritious like a piece of strudel to keep us going until dinner. On our first night in Prague, we indulged in our first Czech pilsner, which I paired with a tender braised leg of venison served in a wonderfully thick roasted

The Grand Bazaar and Spice Market have been commercial hubs since Ottoman times. Walking through them envelops you with exotic scents of the spices to the sights which ranged from handcrafted copper to jewels to Turkish textiles. We had a cup of tea at a cafe on the roof above the bazaar where we could look down on the undulating rooftops that Tom Cruise hopped and skipped across on his motocycle in Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning Part One. People actually pay to take a to

Our first exposure to the Ginza  area of Tokyo was to have dinner at a bustling Italian restaurant called The Kitchen Salvatore Cuomo Ginza . The food was decent, but the service left much to be desired. We experienced a long wait for our meal, and they played loud heavy metal rock music. Eventually, Scott's dinner came out but we still had to wait another ten minutes for mine to arrive. As a former New Yorker, I have no problem expressing myself and in this case, I pulled ou

We traveled along the steep slopes of the Iya Valley to a ravine with a 300-year-old thatched farmhouse, part of the Chiiori Trust , a unique project that seeks to preserve age-old rural traditions in the valley. A delightful 80-year-old lady prepared our lunch and entertained us with a traditional folk song. She truly embodied the essence of life in a blue zone. The tempura was amazing!! We continued on to have tea in a village in Ochiai, a community featuring traditional ho

There are many historic sites along the Singapore River, such as The Fullerton Hotel , the Old Parliament House , Chinatown , and Little India . Another "must see" is the top of Marina Bay Sands SkyPark  for a panoramic view of Singapore: we did not see any obvious crazy rich Asians. One observation is that there are no grocery stores on the streets. I believe you can learn a lot about a place by visiting its supermarkets. We discovered a network of underground malls that in

Keep in mind that your blogger is a retired surgeon and not a party animal. I had my fun while training in NYC back in the '80's. Despite being in a rigourous every other night call program, we would still find time to blow off some steam at Studio 54, which was just a few blocks south from The Roosevelt Hospital (now know as Mt Sinai West) or go out to Fire Island and hang in the Pines for the weekend. Those were the days when Warhol, Bianca, Liza held court at Studio 54 and