Krik's Picks

In May 2016, we took a really wonderful trip to Italy. We were gone for almost a month. Our itinerary included Milan, Piedmont, Cinque Terra, Umbria, Amalfi Coast, and Rome. We were planning a return trip to Italy this June. That seems quite unlikely now with the coronavirus causing such devastation there. GATTAVECCHI VERNACCIA We, of course, are in the midst of social-distancing guidelines and stay-at-home orders. So on Saturday night, we made a special meal and opened a bottle of wine that we had brought back from that remarkable trip four years ago. Here's the story ... We were staying at an agriturismo in the tiny little town of Civitella D'agliano outside of Orvietto. The weather wasn't so great. On the last day of our stay the forecast was for rain. We had planned to drive around the region and do some wine tasting. According to the forecast, the weather looked less threatening farther north. My wife suggested we go to Montepulciano. That was a little furthe...

After spending 3 days and nights enjoying the quiet, natural beauty of the High Atlas Mountains , we concluded our stay in Morocco with 2 nights in Marrakesh. I have to admit, despite the beautiful historic buildings we saw, the noise, the traffic, and the constant hassles of finding your way through the city almost spoiled it for me. The son of Joseph School Here's an example. One day, we were trying to find our way to a walled garden that we wanted to see. We were lost and I was about to try using Google Maps on my iPhone to find our way when a man stepped up to us and offered to lead the way. We didn't really want a guide, but we let him lead us. Of course, when we got to the garden, he wanted to be paid. I reached in my pocket and pulled out my change - 5 dirhams. "Not enough," he said. He wanted 20 dirhams. I told him, honestly, that I did not have 20 dirhams. I offered the 5 dirhams again, and when he declined, I went to put the money back in my pocket. ...

Last October, my wife and I spent nearly a month visiting several countries. As our itinerary came together, we had to give Lisbon the short shrift. We'd only have 3 nights there. But by prioritizing the sights we wanted to see, we felt that would be all right. We expected to have a half day when we arrived and then 2 full days, one of which would be a day trip to Sintra. Alas, when we arrived at the Bordeaux airport for our flight to Lisbon, it was fogged in. Our flight was delayed and delayed again. We finally took off 4 hours late. By the time we got to Lisbon, we only had time to get settled in to our hotel and explore our immediate neighborhood. But that was alright because we picked a great neighborhood. Our hotel was located right at the  Miradouro de Santa Catarina. This is a popular plaza high above the Tagus River. In the evening, crowds gather there to watch the spectacular sunset, to drink wine or beer, to socialize and to listen to the street musicians who perform ...

One of my goals for the trip my wife and I took to France last autumn was to learn more about French wine. I've always felt uncertain about ordering French wine. Show me a wine list, and I can be fairly confident about picking a good wine from California or Italy or Argentina. But not so for the wines from France. The irony is, on our past trips to France, we've always liked the wine with our meals. Often we would just order a carafe of house wine, and often it would be a Bordeaux. Then, when we'd return home, if I tried to order a French wine at a restaurant, too often it didn't live up to our expectations. So on this trip, we planned a 4-night stay in Bordeaux specifically to become more knowledgeable about the nuances of wine that's produced there. Saint-Emilion  During our stay, we did 2 wine-oriented day trips. One day we joined a bus tour to the Medoc region, where we visited 2 chateaus and tasted their wine. The first was Chateau D'Arsac and the ...

Technically, I suppose legally, our trip last autumn included 4 countries - France, Spain, Portugal, and Morocco. But actually, the time we spent in San Sebastian really should have counted as a fifth country - Euskadi , the Basque Country. The food, the people, the language (sure, they all speak Spanish, but among themselves, they speak euskara ) all are distinctly Basque. Even the name of the city is differentiated; call it San Sebastian if you want, but you'd better understand that locally it's called Donostia. This was the second city in a long trip that my wife and I took. In many ways, it was my favorite. Getting here from Paris did present some logistical challenges. I considered taking a train. But that would have taken most of a day. So we decided to fly to Biarritz and then took a bus to San Sebastian. We had to get up early to get to the airport, and then after we arrived in Biarritz, we waited for about an hour for the bus. It wasn't bad, but in the end, we mi...

During our stay in San Sebastian last October, we were amazed by the prevalence of water sports that we saw. We knew that the city's beaches are part of its appeal. So we expected to see swimming and surfing, which we did. But we didn't know that we'd see so many people participating in so many different water sports in all kinds of weather. Sailboats racing about on a rainy day The weather was beautiful on the afternoon we arrived in San Sebastian. We had expected cool weather, so we did not bring swimsuits on this trip. However, we did roll up our pant legs and wade in the refreshing sea water. As we walked along the beach, we watched several people in kayaks rowing back and forth across the bay. My wife and I both do some kayaking at Island Lake in Minnesota. For us, it's just a leisurely way to get out on the water and enjoy the scenery. The kayakers we saw in San Sebastian were serious rowers. We were impressed by how fast they went. The next day, the weath...

My wife and I have been to Paris often enough now that we sort of feel at home there. Well, if not actually 'homey,' at least familiar enough so that we can wander through neighborhoods with a sense of familiarity. So when we planned our autumn trip to Europe (and Morocco), it was an easy decision to begin in Paris. There's a direct flight on Delta from Minneapolis to Paris. We flew overnight and arrived mid-morning. After clearing customs, we arrived at our hotel late morning. The friendly staff let us check in early. So we had a chance to unpack and relax before setting out. But even if they hadn't, we could have just checked our luggage and gone out to find a cafe for lunch. The last time we were in Paris, the weather was ugly - cold, windy, rainy, we even had sleet one day. So this trip was sort of a do-over, and the weather was much more pleasant. In mid-October, we expected it to be cool. Normally it would be. But for the 4 days on this trip, we enjoyed unseaso...

There are many reasons why my wife and I keep coming back to Paris. One of them is the immense variety of things to see and do there. Every time we return, we have a list of favorite places to see and things to do. But we also have a companion list of new things to visit and do. Ossip Zadkine, a sculptor's self-portrait.  The itinerary for our October trip included a pair of small museums that we'd read about -  Musee Zadkine  and the  Musee d'Art et d'Historie du Judaisme . (Both, by the way, are recommended by a French blogger who I follow. Her name is Clotilde   Dusoulier. She calls her blog Chocolate & Zucchini .) Our plan was to go to Zadkine first. It's located close to the Luxembourg Gardens and only a few blocks from the hotel where we stayed. This fit our plan of old and new nicely, since the Gardens are on our must-visit list. So on a bright Monday morning, after getting checked into  our hotel, we strolled across the Gardens to find t...

We all make compromises with loved ones, right? I don't know if visiting a cemetery would have been high on my list of things to do in Paris. But my wife really wanted to. So on an overcast and blustery day in mid-October, we trekked across town to the gates of the Pere Lachaise Cemetery.   My first suggestion - learn from our mistake. Don't walk. Take a taxi or public transportation. It was a long walk, 2.5 miles, from our hotel near the Pantheon . It wasn't a bad walk, but the neighborhoods were not particularly scenic. It was nice to see some of the neighborhoods outside of the tourist center of Paris. And, for that matter, it didn't take too much longer than public transportation. It took us around 45 minutes to walk it. The shortest public transit route took 31 minutes (according to Google Maps) and required a transfer. But if you do decide to walk, remember - when you get there, all you're going to be doing is walking around some more.  My wife had a list of g...

I don't really like New York very much. I serve on the board of Mazon , an anti-hunger advocacy organization. Mazon has a yearly board meeting in New York. That's really the only reason why I go there. If it weren't for Mazon, I probably never would go to New York. And yet ... It seems like my wife and I always have a good time when we go to the yearly meeting in New York. We walk around a lot. We see a lot of interesting things. We enjoy some good food and hear exciting jazz. Sometimes we visit acquaintances who live there. My wife usually does some shopping. Our most recent trip in May turned out that way. Here's what we did. My board meeting was scheduled for Monday. We flew in on Friday. Our flight was supposed to arrive early afternoon. But, first we had a delay taking off from Minneapolis. That put us an hour behind schedule. Then when we landed, at 2 p.m., we encountered horrendous traffic delays getting to our hotel. That took an hour and a half. (Our dr...

I never really liked Colorado very much. That is, until we went there in early March of this year. Throughout my career, I only went there a few times for business meetings (in Denver and Colorado Springs). On those trips, I didn't see anything appealing enough for me to return. My wife and I went to Denver in 2015 for a family wedding. It was a fun wedding, but still no desire to vacation there. But when the invitation came for another family wedding in Denver, my wife and I decided to take a couple of extra days and go to Boulder with her brother and his wife. That trip completely changed my attitude. Not only could I see making a return trip (to Boulder, that is), I'm eagerly thinking about when that might be. Day 1 hiking in Chautauqua In early March, there's still plenty of skiing in Colorado, at least at the hire elevations. We're not skiers. We were looking for some scenic hiking. We found plenty of it in Boulder.We rented a cabin at the Colorado Chauta...

My wife and I just can't stay away from San Francisco. We first visited 40+ years ago for our honeymoon. We liked it so much, we moved there for a year. Though we didn't stay, we have made many return visits over the years. It's the city we travel to most often for leisure. So we know it pretty well. Our October trip was technically a business trip. We did have a meeting on one day. But we extended our stay so that we'd have time to take in our favorite activities and visit some favorite restaurants. One little glitch - it rained. Quite a lot, actually. But we still made our way around the city and visited familiar locales. Some of the others who were involved in the meeting used the opportunity to go to museums. The city has great museums. But on this trip, we didn't join them. Another couple had a break of good luck and went on a harbor cruise - no rain, lucky them. We've been on the harbor cruise before. It's fun. Lodging: The meeting planner made arr...