If skate-sailing is your thing and Paris your kind of town, I have the perfect location for you. By all means, try doing this on Quai d'Orsay next to the Air France terminal. You'll have the fresh wind from the Seine, more than enough space for maneuver and the attention of both tourists and motorists. Unfortunately, I cannot tell you where to get the gear (I don't know). But surely, if skate-sailing is your thing, you do. So, smooth sailing!
 Like every good European, I am fond of food and like it to be as fresh as possible. I've always looked for the best ingredients to make my cooking exceptional for my wife, friends and family, as that's whom I usually cook for. Getting my groceries fresh from the market or straight from the farmer has always been my goal, because everything tastes better from the people who take care of their produce and work hard to bring the raw ingredients to our fridges.
In Montreal I was overjoyed to find that there's more than one farmer's market open seven days a week. One of my favorites (not only for its nice building, which I really like) is the Atwater Market, situated very close to the Lachine Canal path, making it the perfect stop after a walk or a bike ride...
Read the rest of: "Marché Atwater"» 
While Ree
is enjoying her wine or Pellegrino or whatever,
I'm salivating over that ball of mozzarella di bufala.
I'm almost ashamed to admit that
I'd never tried this kind of mozzarella before. It is
kind of watery, but the taste is wonderfully fresh...
WHAT: Mozzarella di Bufala
WHERE: Le Volte: Piazza Rondanini, 47 Roma 00186.
 I was about to start my visit at Galleria Borghese in Rome when a sudden bout of hunger hit my travel companion. I'd already eaten lunch that day, but being compassionate and all, I agreed to accompany him to the cafeteria before embarking on the gallery tour.
The cafeteria at Galleria Borghese is a typical museum joint selling coffee and sandwiches to the museum's visitors. Our choice of a lunch spot wasn't completely random - I'd walked past it before, as we were waiting for our tickets, and I'd already made a mental note that one particular sandwich could be good... the one which later turned out to be the best sandwich in Rome (pictured)...
Read the rest of: "Il Panino Più Buono a Roma"»  If the above title makes you go "¿ La Hora de QUÉ?", you're not alone. Only a short year ago, I myself did not know what "horchata" meant, much less what it tasted like.
As it turns out, it tastes pretty good. If you're in Madrid, dubious, I'll tell you were to go to order a glass that will remove all your doubts...
Read the rest of: "La Hora de Horchata"» If you know anything about Ottawa you probably know it as the capital of Canada and not much else. That's most of the story. Unless you work for the government, there's not much to do in Ottawa, particularly after sunset, aside from an all-you-can-eat lobster dinner and a cozy bed...
Read the rest of: "Ottawa: I came, I saw, I left"» Quick, where to go in Montreal on a Thursday night?
Think beer, pool, conversation and a little live music by a good local band on a miniscule stage – not to mention the spirited roar of Canadiens' fans.
Located right in the middle of Plateau Mont Royal, L'Inspecteur Épingle is a bar where a variety of characters congregate to drink affordably priced pints of beer. Patrons are often perched on bar stools or lounging at corner tables beneath plasma TV screens, either listening to or ignoring the game and raising their voices just above the clinking of glasses and background music...
Read the rest of: "L'Inspecteur Épingle: Raise Your Pint, Follow the Puck"»  I have not, traditionally, gone out and done very much on St. Patrick's Day. For a while, this was because I stopped drinking (oh, so many days wasted on sobriety). And for a while, this was because I was going through a cranky phase and didn't want to combat drunken masses crammed shoulder-to-shoulder in a New York pub. These are no longer concerns for me. As for temperance, I have returned to my Scotch-Irish roots. And as for drunken crowds crammed into pubs, I have discovered that I actually enjoy the convivial revelry of such a gathering.
So in the year 2007, I decided it was time to go out and have fun on St. Patty's Day, even if my Irish ancestors were Protestants. England shipped my Scottish ancestors to the Americas as slaves, and I still rooted for them during the world Cup, so I'm over things, even if others are still fighting over Cromwell.
But somehow, I ended up celebrating the first half of St. Patty's sitting in tapas bar Las Ramblas. Nothing says Ireland quite like tapas and white berry pomegranate sangria...
Read the rest of: "St. Patty's Spanish Style: Las Ramblas Tapas Bar"»  I am amazed and grateful at the variety of cafés in Montreal. It is a city where people love to bring their office or school work to coffee shops, since most of them offer Wi-Fi. Hot beverages are essential during the colder months, but there is a difference between hitting the chain coffee shops and arriving by chance to a café in the middle of the very eclectic Blvd. St-Laurent..
Pi Café (Café π) is basically a mixture of coffee shop, workplace, gallery, chess venue and a place for tranquility. I've been there a few times, and it is a wonderful place to enjoy a café latte or tisane while you pull out your book, computer or schoolwork in a reasonably quiet environment.
..
Read the rest of: "Café π: Coffee, Tranquility and One Hip Bathroom"»
 Japan seems not-so-far-away these days. United and American have more flights going to more cities like
Osaka
and Nagoya, and often have last-minute sales for as low as $399…
Roundtrip! I took advantage at a point when the price was so low it
would have been a waste of money NOT to go.
I flew in to
Osaka,
but immediately hopped a JR train to
Kyoto
to visit a friend. He and I would make day trips back there to go shopping, or night trips to hit the clubs, but it wasn't really a top destination on such a short visit. However, on my way back to the airport at the end of the trip, I hopped off the train to check out a highly recommended destination: The Kaiyukan Aquarium....
Read the rest of: "Things to Sea in Japan: Kaiyukan Aquarium"»
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