Come along with me and share the excitement as I explore the world researching freelance articles. These blog posts offer short chunks of travel that you can digest quickly as well as plenty of photos so you get the picture. You'll have some fun, make discoveries, and pick up great ideas and information for your own vacations. Think of me as your canary in the coal mine. For even more travel inspiration, visit my BERKELEY AND BEYOND website at http://www.berkeleyandbeyond.com.
December 31, 2009
December 18, 2009
Arlington, Virginia: Laying of the Wreaths; things to do
Know the line has held,
your job is done.
Rest easy, sleep well.
Others have taken up where you fell,
the line has held.
Peace, peace, and farewell . . .
December 16, 2009
Hong Kong at dusk
Hong Kong at dusk
At this website, place your cursor at the top of the photo. You will notice it is 6:10 PM. Bring the mouse down slowly over the photo without pressing the button on the mouse. Do not right or left click. Night appears, the lights come on, and at 7:40 PM it's dark!
December 14, 2009
ARTWALK in Mazatlan, Mexico--part 1; things to do
ARTWALK IN MAZATLAN, PT. 1
First Friday, 4-8pm, Nov-May. Free.On this self-guided tour of Mazatlan, participants not only get to walk the quiet back streets of the old town, but they gain access to some of the beautiful historical buildings and even to a few homes. I met an artist who paints cats and also saves them from the streets, keeping the kitties in a sort of mini-kennel in her studio/home. Among my favorite stops: the colorfully renovated old structure that houses the Casa de Leyendas Bed & Breakfast; a small complex of shops with an inviting cafe in its courtyard. Artwalk is relatively new, now only in its third year, with 24 sites and more than 41 participating artists.
ARTWALK in Mazatlan, Mexico--part 2
More places to see cats when you travel.
image c2009 Carole Terwilliger Meyers
December 12, 2009
NYC: The Pickle Guys, things to do
The Pickle Guys
The new guys on the block, this pickle shop known as The Pickle Guys opened in 2001. Choose from seven types of barrel-cured pickles plus pickled vegetables. All pickling is done on premises. A list of historical synagogues in the neighborhood is posted at their website.
image and video ©2009 Carole Terwilliger Meyers
December 11, 2009
December 9, 2009
NYC: Economy Candy; things to do
Economy Candy
Here since 1937, the old-time Economy Candy store is stuffed with penny candy, dried fruits and nuts, and assorted halvah, but modern delights such as gummy brains and chocolate eyeballs are also on the menu.
image c2009 Carole Terwilliger Meyers
December 7, 2009
Pacific Palisades, California: Cafe Vida; restaurant review
Cafe Vida
As busy and crowded as a bee hive, popular little Cafe Vida has seating indoors and out. The extensive menu offers many organic items, and eggs—breakfast is served all day--are cage free. Especially tasty items include a tuna melt, a Mexicali veggie burger, sweet potato fries, and green lemonade (sounds weird—the green comes from spinach--but is actually very good). You can skip the macaroni and cheese—it looks and tastes like it came out of a box. Oh, yeah, and celebrities like it here, too. I spotted Hilary Swank dining in the sun when I lunched here a few weeks ago.
More places to visit in Pacific Palisades.
December 3, 2009
Portland, Oregon: Pok Pok; restaurant review
Superb versions of Thai street foods such as fish-sauce chicken wings (a must-order), mild curry noodle soup, and spicy steak salad are on the exotic seasonal menu at popular Pok Pok--a casual ramshackle collection of indoor and outdoor venues. When available, a whole fish special to pick at with chopsticks is a prime choice, and grilled boar collar—a delicacy—is appreciated by gourmets. Any vegetarian dishes are either vegan or can be made vegan. An excellent whiskey bar operates inside.
welcome sign at Pok Pok restaurant in Portland, Oregon |
interior of Pok Pok restaurant in Portland, Oregon |
famous chicken wings at Pok Pok restaurant in Portland, Oregon |
more delicious dishes at Pok Pok restaurant in Portland, Oregon |
More ideas for exploring the U.S.
images ©2018 Carole Terwilliger Meyers
updated 4-24-18
November 23, 2009
NYC: Katz’s Delicatessen; restaurant review
Katz’s Delicatessen
Here since 1888, casual Katz’s Delicatessen features atmospheric hanging salamis and is the oldest deli in NYC. There is no pork here, only kosher-style fare, and almost everything is made or cured on site. Service is cafeteria-style, and portions are huge. They are famous for their hot pastrami on rye and hot dog (the taught skin sort of pops when you bite in), but you can also get what they claim is New York’s best cheesecake or have what Meg Ryan had for lunch in that famous scene in “When Harry Met Sally” (customers have acted out this scene under the sign designating the spot). And then there are latkes (potato pancakes), stuffed cabbage, and knoblewurst (garlic sausage). But whatever you do, don’t lose the ticket you are given when you enter, or your bill will be $50.
More NYC attractions.
More NYC restaurants.
November 19, 2009
NYC: Brick Lane Curry House; restaurant review
Brick Lane Curry House
Named for London’s narrow Brick Lane, which is home to a collection of Indian restaurants, this popular venue’s menu lists all the usual suspects plus a few more. Interestingly, the colorful walls at Brick Lane Curry House are painted with real paprika, turmeric, and coriander mixed into the paint. Some diners here are actually brave enough to take the Phaal Challenge. It is claimed that this Phaal curry is the world’s hottest--so hot that the chef dons a gas mask when he prepares it to keep his throat from getting irritated during cooking. Those who take the challenge must finish all the curry, but they can take as long as they like. Those who actually manage to down it all get a free beer, a certificate, and their picture on the restaurant’s website. N.Y.C. resident Suzanne Meyers says, “It made my throat feel like it was closing up.” She and her dining companion last week, Raul Flores (depicted in photo), didn’t make it to the finish line.
More NYC attractions.
More NYC restaurants.
image c2009 Suzanne Meyers
November 17, 2009
Mazatlan, Mexico: Playa Mazatlan; hotel review
Built in 1955, this low-rise (four stories) colonial-style resort features rooms with either a terrace or private balcony. Its choice beach-front location faces Isla de Venados. The beach is sandy, the surf is gentle, and thatched palapas provide respite from the sun. The quietest rooms are in a three-story section surrounding well-tended interior gardens; those by the restaurant and beach can be noisy (the beach is one of the town’s liveliest). Rooms are decorated with dark wood furnishings and colonial accents.
Fiesta Mexicana
For more than 40 years, the hotel has hosted Fiesta Mexicana on Saturdays, and fireworks light up the sky on Sunday nights. A popular passtime is relaxing in traditional rocking chairs from Concordia and watching the lobby action. The resort’s open-air La Terraza Playa restaurant-bar overlooks the beach, and rock climbing walls, a zip line, and a spa with a temazcal (an igloo-shaped sauna room where guests are seated around red-hot lava rocks) and a cenote (cave pool).November 15, 2009
NYC: Yonah Schimmel; restaurant review
Yonah Schimmel
Yonah Schimmel knish shop hasn’t changed a bit since it opened in 1910--the knishes were sold from a push cart from 1890 to 1910--except maybe for a few newfangled electric appliances. The shop even has its original dumb waiter. All of the heavy, hearty, baseball-size knishes are vegetarian (the traditional potato is a personal favorite) and are still made by hand and baked (never fried) downstairs, as they have been for generations. Consider washing one down with a fizzy cherry-lime Ricky, orange cream, or egg cream made--all with authentic old-time soda water. This delish knish shop is in a scene in the Woody Allen movie, “Whatever Works.”
More vegan-vegetarian places.
More NYC attractions.
More NYC restaurants.
November 12, 2009
NYC: The Enthusiastic Gourmet tour (CLOSED)
The Enthusiastic Gourmet
Take some tasty bites of the Big Apple’s Jewish ethnic delights on The Enthusiastic Gourmet's “NY Nosh Tour” of the Lower East Side. Guide Susan Rosenbaum, who leads all the tours herself, is nothing if not enthusiastic and obviously loves leading her groups through this often overlooked Old World section of Manhattan. She will feed both your mouth and your mind. Stops can vary, but usually include a delish knish shop that is in a scene in the most recent Woody Allen movie (“Whatever Works”), an “appetizing store” that specializes in smoked and pickled fish, and the famous delicatessen where that memorable scene in “When Sally Met Harry” was filmed—not to mention a tiny matzoh factory where you get to taste the product hot out of the basket.
November 11, 2009
NYC: Great N.Y. Noodletown; restaurant review
Great N.Y. Noodletown
Locals, tourists, and police alike bump elbows in the unassuming and small dining room here at Great N.Y. Noodletown. Diners are moved in and out quickly and find themselves sharing any empty seats with incoming diners. The kitchen serves up a legendary bowl of wonton noodle soup featuring succulent dumplings filled with sweet whole shrimp and a topping of roast pork. Spicy yellow Singapore chow fun is another favorite, and some declare that the salt-baked squid is to die for (salt baking is light deep-frying). Personal noodle favorites include lo mein (chubby noodles) and chow fun (flat noodles), but you can choose from wheat, rice, and egg noodle items. After, take a walk around Chinatown and also along Canal Street, where you can pick up some knock-off bargains.
More NYC attractions.
More NYC restaurants.
November 9, 2009
Introduction to Guanajuato, Mexico
Introduction to Guanajuato, Mexico
Kiss Alley in action in Guanajuato, Mexico |
More ideas for exploring Canada and Mexico.
image c2009 Chris Gray
video c2009 Carole Terwilliger Meyers
November 6, 2009
Guanajuato, Mexico: Las Mercedes; restaurant review
Contemporary local Mexican cuisine is served here at Las Mercedes in a hillside home that doubles as a family-run restaurant. Here, you literally dine in a local family's home--the upstairs is used as their residence—and, with menu selections that are tasty and refined and made with fresh local ingredients, the chef/family member definitely proves that not all Mexican cuisine is about tacos. In addition, the atmosphere is welcoming and friendly and the view expansive. The gourmet lunch I enjoyed a few weeks ago included a salad with cactus and squash blossoms, little chilies filled with cheese, a rich chicken mole, a dessert corn cake topped with coconut ice cream, and a horchata drink made of sweetened rice water.
Watch my video overview of the city.
More things to do in Guanajuato.
More ideas for exploring Canada and Mexico.
November 3, 2009
TallBoys Band in Ajijic, Mexico
November 2, 2009
Guanajuato, Mexico: Diego Rivera Museum; things to do
Diego Rivera Museum
Muralist Diego Rivera was born in Guanajuato in 1886. His modest home is now a museum that houses dozens of his original works, as well as galleries displaying the work of guest artists in rotating exhibits.
Watch my video overview of the city.
More things to do in Guanajuato.
More ideas for exploring Canada and Mexico.
image c2009 Carole Terwilliger Meyers
October 29, 2009
Guanajuato, Mexico: Mummy Museum; things to do
Mummy Museum
Just 2 weeks ago I visited the 56 mummies displayed here in the Mummy Museum in a clean, temperature-controlled setting. Among them is the world’s smallest mummy--a 5- or 6-month-old fetus. All were formerly interred in the adjacent municipal cemetery, where because of rocky ground and dry mountain air many corpses do not decompose but instead dry out (they are not wrapped like Egyptian mummies). Though families can pay for perpetual burial, not everyone can afford this, so to free scarce cemetery space law permits “deadbeats” to be dug up after 7 years. In the past, the occasional disinterred mummy found in good shape was placed on exhibition in the museum, but the practice of disinterring the poor ended in 1958. Currently corpses are displayed in glass cases, which prevents the repeat of incidents in which tourists snapped off a finger or toe as a souvenir. But souvenirs are still available—traditional candies that resemble a corpse are sold by vendors just outside. The museum opened in 1952.
Watch my video overview of the city.
More things to do in Guanajuato.
More ideas for exploring Canada and Mexico.
image c2009 Carole Terwilliger Meyers
October 26, 2009
Carlsbad, California: LEGOLAND; things to do
More ideas for exploring the U.S.
October 24, 2009
San Miguel de Allende, Mexico: Bugambilia; restaurant review
Bugambilia
Established in 1945, Bugambilia is the town’s first, and oldest, restaurant. And it is one of the few that still serves authentic Mexican dishes. I enjoyed lunch here last week in an atmospheric central courtyard dining area with heavy furniture and colorful flowers galore. A delicious tortilla soup (sopa Azteca) got my taste buds ready for a spectacular seasonal dish, Chiles en Nogada--a poblano chile filled with a beef-nut-almond mix and topped with a creamy sauce sprinkled with pomegranate seeds. It features the colors of the Mexican flag and is fabuloso. I'd make the trip again just to eat this dish one more time. All this, and live music nightly. Ole!
Get the recipe.
Get another version of the recipe.
Get a vegetarian version of the recipe.
More things to do in San Miguel de Allende.
October 20, 2009
Magdeburg, Germany: Water-channel bridge; things to do
October 3, 2009
Portland, Oregon: food carts; restaurant review
Food carts
● Ziba’s Pitas
● Spella Caffè
More things to do in Portland.
More ideas for exploring the U.S.
image c2009 Carole Terwilliger Meyers
September 24, 2009
Dolphin stampede on Sea of Cortez in Mexico
Dolphin stampede on Sea of Cortez in Mexico
September 23, 2009
Montreal, Canada: Botanical Gardens Montreal; things to do
Botanical Gardens Montreal (Les Jardins Botaniques de Montréal)
One of the largest botanical gardens in the world, this park is home to 22,000 types of plants, flowers, and trees, as well as 200 different bird species. Botanical Gardens Montreal houses greenhouses with plants from around the world, plus many large, themed outdoor gardens that are covered with snow from November through April.
More gardens around the world.
More things to do in Montreal.
More things to do in Canada.
More ideas for exploring Canada and Mexico.
September 21, 2009
World's Top 10 Hotels Under $19
World's Top 10 Hotels Under $19
Of course, you have to travel some distance to experience some of these bargains. (article removed at source.)
September 17, 2009
Cochrane, Ontario, Canada: Swim with the Polar Bears at Polar Bear Habitat; things to do
Unbelievably, you can swim with the polar bears at Polar Bear Habitat. However, for safety--though cute, polar bears are among the world's most ferocious carnivores--a bullet-proof, shatterproof glass that is almost 9 centimeters thick separates human from bear.
More things to do in Canada.
More animal attractions.
September 16, 2009
Las Vegas, Nevada: Dine in the Sky; things to do
Dine in the Sky
A spectacular view of the Las Vegas skyline is guaranteed from this dining table suspended 160 feet in the air.
September 14, 2009
Russia: Drive through the Lefortovo Tunnel; things to do
Drive through the Lefortovo Tunnel in Russia
September 2, 2009
Washington, D.C.: National Museum of Women in the Arts; things to do
National Museum of Women in the Arts
Located within a building that is impressive both inside and out, the National Museum of Women in the Arts is the only museum in the world dedicated exclusively to recognizing the contributions of women artists. Women artists seem to be greatly undervalued, with only 5% of art displayed in museums being by women. Here, you'll see more than 3,000 works--all by women. A free audio tour for special exhibits is available by cell phone. On the mezzanine, just off a grand staircase, a pleasant lunchroom operates weekdays in a spacious open area with arched windows.
August 30, 2009
Chicago, Illinois: Millennium Park; things to do
Millennium Park
Michigan Ave./Washington Blvd; look east; Columbus Dr./Monroe St./Randolph St., 312-742-1168. Daily 6am-11pm. Free. Center for art, music, architecture.See:
● Crown Fountain
● Cloud Gate
image c2009 Carole Terwilliger Meyers
updated 6-2-17
August 28, 2009
Hofheim, Germany: WaldGeist; restaurant review
See the video.
More things to do in Germany.
August 26, 2009
Introduction to Gibraltar
Introduction to Gibraltar
More animal attractions.
August 24, 2009
Okinawa, Japan: Churaumi Aquarium; things to do
Churaumi Aquarium
In Japan you can check out the world's second-largest aquarium tank, the Kuroshio Sea.
See it on YouTube.
Read about it in the Daily Mail.
Georgia Aquarium
August 22, 2009
NYC: Ceci Cela Patissette; restaurant review
Ceci Cela Patissette
Order the perfect summer breakfast--a fabulous flaky almond croissant and iced hot chocolate—and then take them into the cute and cozy little back room at Ceci Cela Patissette to enjoy slowly. At other times of day, opt for sandwiches, cakes, and tarts.
August 19, 2009
NYC: New Museum; things to do
New Museum
Situated within a boxy silver futuristic building, the smallish New Museum is NYC's first and only devoted exclusively to contemporary art. To best see the cutting-edge shows, start at the top and work your way down. Panoramic views can be enjoyed from the 7th-floor Sky Room (open weekends only).
image c2009 Carole Terwilliger Meyers
August 18, 2009
Shame on United Airlines--again--part 2
Shame on United Airlines--again--part 2
This video is a tad cheery, considering. Watch to the very end.
Here's part 1, the background story
Great ideas for travel adventures in California and the U.S. and around the world.
August 17, 2009
Houston, Texas, public restroom--part 3
Houston, Texas, public restroom--part 3
I'm soooo disappointed to report that I just found out that this unusual public restroom is a hoax! :)
Loos with Views, Around the World
August 16, 2009
Houston, Texas, public restroom--part 2
August 14, 2009
Houston, Texas, public restroom--part 1
August 11, 2009
NYC: Streit's; thing to do
Streit’s
They’ve been making matzo at Streit's since 1925.
August 7, 2009
NYC: Tango Saturdays in Central Park; things to do
August 5, 2009
Ashland, Oregon: Ashland Creek Inn; hotel review
Ashland Creek Inn
Luxury and privacy are combined at the Ashland Creek Inn in a converted 125-year-old grain mill overlooking Ashland Creek. You can hear the creek from most rooms, and giant shade trees cool the secluded decks. All rooms are suites with kitchens and decks, and each is furnished uniquely with art and antiques from around the world (travel themes include Marrakech, Matsu, and Canton).
Information about visiting Ashland.
August 3, 2009
The Ultimate Hollywood Tour Book
The Ultimate Hollywood Tour Book
If you'd like to see where Hugh Hefner will be spending eternity next to Marilyn Monroe, where superstars hide away from their fans, and where favorite movies were filmed, get a copy of this handy guide--The Ultimate Hollywood Tour Book--to lead you there and also provide the background stories. The book also leads to movie star homes, the sites of infamous crimes, and the final resting places of superstars.
Take the author' personal tour in this video:
Prefer a guided van tour?
Check out Dearly Departed tours' Hollywood Tragical History Tour via Tomb Buggy.
More
ideas for exploring the U.S.
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