Krik's Picks

It's been 3 months since my wife and I returned from our 26-day trip to Paris and Italy. I've written separate posts about each of the destinations that we visited. This is an overview of the entire trip with some miscellaneous comments. We couldn't go to Paris without a pic of the Eiffel Tower Technology: We took our first trip to Europe for our 25th wedding anniversary in 1999. Of course, I was still working and felt the need to keep in touch. I think I had a cell phone in those days; I can't really remember when I got my first one. But I certainly did not get an international calling plan. Instead, I used a toll-free number to check voice messages back at the office and visited internet cafes to check e-mails. It's a lot different now. First of all, no more internet cafes. Every place we stayed had free WiFi included with our rooms. We were able to use our iPads to get emails every day plus keep up on news back home, send photos, and check TripAdvisor r...

There's a relatively new place in south Minneapolis that's getting a lot of favorable buzz. St. Genevieve is a French wine bar in a quiet residential neighborhood. We had a 7:30 reservation on a Saturday night. So, yeah, they take reservations! Big plus in my book.  Friends had told us it's quite noisy, and in the entryway, it was. But we were seated at a table near the back, and it wasn't too bad. Probably the most impressive thing was the friendly, knowledgeable, and accommodating staff. It was our first time there. The hostess sat down next to us and explained how things work - mostly small plates, encourage sharing, wine by the glass or bottle, half glasses of wine available. Very nice.  When we had questions about the wine, our server was very helpful - accurately describing the ones we were interested in. We liked our choices. My wife usually shies away from Pinot Noir, but when she inquired about it, the server noted that it's a white Pinot Noir - Pfeffi...