The view of the valley is perfect from the alpine meadow, as we sit warm in the sun, listening to The Magic Flute at the annual Mozart Festival. This could easily be Salzburg or Kitsbuhl, but actually is the mountain village of Stowe in the Northeastern U.S. state of Vermont. Stowe lies in the heart of the Green Mountains, where the cold winters make for fantastic snow sports, and the fall brings leaf peepers to see the foliage. I’m most fond of the summers though, when the forest seems to be in full bloom, and the weather is pleasant. (more…)

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It isn’t very difficult to see why southern Spain’s Costa del Sol is such a hit with European holidaymakers. With its white-sand beaches and mountainside citrus groves, this stretch of Malaga coastline is a marvelous slice of pure Mediterranean, boasting an average of over 300 sunny days a year. In the past sixty years, the region has gone from backwater to big-time; today, the geography of the coast is a litany of high-end resort towns, like Marbella and Torre del Mar, which cater to the wealthier crowd.

Despite the Costa del Sol’s reputation as a seaside playground for the rich and famous, visitors willing to go beyond the beach may find themselves surprised by how much the region has to offer. They run the gamut from outdoorsy to intellectual, from windsurfing all the way to wine tasting. Malaga’s coast offers an array of adventures to suit every palate, each one flavored with the Costa del Sol’s unique Andalusia-meets-Mediterranean charm. (more…)

Tags: addition, advance, air, Alhambra, altitude, Andalusia-meets, anyone, ape, are, area, array, average, backwater, Barbary, bargain, beach, belief, biking, bit, break, calm, Cave, cavers, center, century, challenge, chamber, chance, charm, check, check th, citrus groves, city, classical music performances, coast, coastline, cobblestone, cold, conservation, conservation concerns, continent, Costa, costa del sol, crowd, Day, destination, drive, due, edge, equipment, era, Europe, event, excursion, experience, forest, gamut, geography, Gibraltar, globe, Granada, Group, head, hiking, hiking boots, hinterland, hour, house, hungry travelers, Iberian, king, lace, litany, Malaga, Mar, Marbella, Mecca, Mediterranean, mediterranean charm, Moorish, mountainous hinterland, mountainside, music, name, Nerja, Nieves, offer, order, outdoorsy, package, palace, palate, Paleolithic, park, peak, peninsula, place, Plan, planning, playground, population, practice, price, region, reputation, resort, rock, sand beaches, score, search, seaside, seaside resort town, Sierra, sierra de las nieves, sixty, skeletal, skeletal remains, slice, snowfall, Sol, southern Spain, Spain, spice, square kilometers, Strait, stretch, sun, system, Tarifa, tasting, territory, time, Today, Torre, torre del mar, Torremolinos, Tour, town, trek, trip, vertical caves, view, virgin pine, water, way, weather, while, wine, winter, year

I sat down at the slender, grey-topped table next to the leafy fence that marked the edge of the Gimbsheim Weinbrunnenfest. My company for the evening, all of whom were more than three times my age, could easily have been half the participants in any small town ladies night bingo club.

Expecting to slowly sip a glass of wine or two over conversation of knitting, gardening, or perhaps if it got a little edgy, how so-and-so had stolen someone else’s goulash recipe and passed it off as their own, I settled in with a mild sense of dread. (more…)

Tags: Abend, afternoon, age, air, answer, approval, area, ascent, awkwardness, bakery, bike, bike ride, bingo, bit, boy, breath, butcher, cathedral, chuckle, club, Coliseum, comment, commercialism, community, company, conversation, couple, dance, dancing, didn, dread, drink, drinking, edge, Eiffel, elderly woman, Europe, evening, evening festivities, Expecting, experience, farmer, fence, festival, floor, flung, Food, foot, Friday, garden, gardening, Germany, gift, Gimbsheim, glass, glass of wine, goulash, goulash recipe, grape, Guten, hadn, hair, haired woman, Hilde, hillside, housing, humor, July, ladies night, landscape, laugh, locals, mild sense, moment, monument, morning, Mosul Valley, music, narrow streets, Neuschwanstein Castle, next morning, night, night bingo, nothing, Oppenheim, Paris, postcard, recipe, region, Rheine River, Rheinhessen, ride, ridge, Riding, road, rock, Roman, round, Ruth, Scattering, scene, scenery, search, sense, shirt, shop, sightseeing, sip, site, someone, something, spot, Square, St. Mark, stand, stone, strung, table, three times, time, tourist, Tower, town, town ladies, translation, variety, War, wasn, way, weekend, Weinbrunnenfest, wine, wine festivals, wines, woman, world, year

St. Valentine’s Day is noted for roses, but the holiday always reminds me that my wife’s favorite flower is actually the tulip, something that can be hard to come by in a snowy February in Vermont. Planted before the first frost of autumn, they’re quickly forgotten about until they emerge unexpectedly in the sunny warmth of spring. The red, yellow, purple, pink and white heads on single smooth green stalks begin to frame gardens and walkways around the country, reflecting our fascination with this simple and elegant flower from Holland. As a belated gift last spring, I took my wife to one of my favorite Canadian cities, Ottawa, which just happens to host an annual Tulip festival that showcases both the city and this wonderful flower. (more…)

Tags: Alexandra Bridge, annual tulip festival, anything, appreciation, architecture, area, Arts, attention, autumn, average temperature, Azteca, backdrop, Bagel, ball, bank, Beeblebrox, beer, beginning, bisque, bloom, border, ByWard, Café, Calendario, Canadian, canadian cities, canadian tulip festival, capital, capital cities, Centre, Centretown, challenge, cheese, city, Civilization, club, cob, cobblestone, coldest, Commissioner, companion, Continental, contrast, corn, country, crepe, cuisine, Day, display, doesn, Douglas Adams, Dow, downtown, eighteen, elegant flower, end, English, event, extravaganza, Fahrenheit, family, fascination, favorite flower, Feather, February, festival, first frost, flower, Fox, frost, fun, Gallery, gift, Hill Park, hip, holiday, Holland, horticulturist, Huitlacoche, Hull, ice, IMAX, Italia, Italy, journey, juliana of the netherlands, Lake, Leffe, Little, lot, Major, majority, Market, May, meal, melon, Memorial, menu, Mexico, midway, minority, Mint, Montreal, Museum, mushroom, music, National, nightlife, number, official, Ontario, Ottawa, Ottawa River, outdoor markets, pass, picturesque, Planted, pot, Princess Juliana, princess juliana of the netherlands, Pub, Punctuated, Quebec, Québécois, rest, restaurant, risk, river, scenic river, scope, shuttle, side, snack, snowy, something, speaking, specialty, spring, spring and summer, st valentine, street, stunning architecture, style, suburb, summer, sunny warmth, taking, temperature, the Netherlands, Toronto, transportation, Trattoria, tulip, tulip bulbs, Tulip Festival, Valentine, valentine s day, variety, vegetarian, Vermont, walk, War, warmth, water, way, weather, wife, winter, world, world war ii, Zaphod

Everyone in Bali smiles. Big, broad, beaming smiles. And all that’s necessary to evoke it is eye contact. Even when they may be preoccupied with weaving their scooters through traffic or carrying a heavy, flailing pig across the road, you only have to hint at a smile from your own lips and the response is immediate and electrifying.

“Transport?” queried a smiling young man on a sidewalk in Ubud, an artsy town in the south-eastern hills. It’s a frequent offer on the streets of nearly every town in Bali. Everyone with a car will offer you a ride for a small price. You may say “no thank you” seven times on Monkey Forest Road in Ubud. But what’s heart-warming is that you will always receive an enthusiastic “Welcome!” in response. (more…)

Tags: apple, approach, Arung, awe, Bali, Balinese, balinese landscape, bamboo, Big, bike, brown snake, Buddhist, buddhist history, buffet, cacao, car, coast, coffee, coffee beans and tea leaves, combination, compound, contact, conversation, country, countryside, crowd, Culturally, cycle, daytrip, dialogue, dinner, eagerness, economy, edge, end, English, Everyone, everything, exception, excitement, excursion, Exploring, eye, eye contact, family, feast, foreigner, Forest Road, fountain, France, friendliness, fruit, gateway, genuine friendliness, ginger, ginger tea, Group, Hallo, Happiness, heat, heavy, Hindu, history, home, host, Indonesia, indonesian islands, landscape, leftover, life, luxury, man, mangosteen, meal, middle, mixture, Monkey, monkey forest road, Moon, morning, Mount Batur, mountain, mountain bikes, music, Muslim, muslim country, nut, offer, office, orchard, papaya, path, peanut, peanuts, pear, pig, price, pride, response, reward, rice, rice terraces, ride, road, roosters, salak, school, selection, sentence, service, seven times, sidewalk, skin, smile, society, sound, spicy, stop, table, tea, temple, time, Tour, town, traffic, Transport, Ubud, use, van, village, visit, wall, wave, way, Wide-eyed, wind, year, zeal