About the author
Curt is an avid traveler who has been sharing his travel stories on the Internet since 1994. Read more about Curt and his travel blog.
Tag Archives: Beer
Gordon Ramsay Steak, Las Vegas
Shortly before the arrival of our main course at Gordon Ramsay Steak in Las Vegas, my wife Kathryn leaned over to me and said, “This has been a very weird experience.” She was right. The service had been weird. Quite weird. However, the food was more than worth the weird.
Posted in Food Tagged Beef, Beer, Casino, Dinner, Gordon Ramsay, Las Vegas, Nevada, Steak 8 Comments
Hacker-Pschorr tent at Oktoberfest in Munich
Kathryn and I were fortunate to spend an afternoon at Oktoberfest in Munich in 2007. Everyone has a favorite from among the major beer tents at Oktoberfest. Mine was the Hacker-Pschorr tent. The theme is charming and simple: Bavarian heaven.
Eating and relaxing in Las Vegas
Our weekend trips to Las Vegas tend to be busy. We usually cram everything we possibly can into the less-than-48 hours we’ll be here. Sleep comes only out of necessity. So it’s a little weird that I’m starting a new post at 6:20 am, after getting a full night’s sleep and then some. I think we were in bed by 9 pm. That’s pretty lame.
Posted in Travel Tagged Beer, Bellagio, Canyon Ranch, Courtyard Cafe, Donuts, Ellis Island, Las Vegas, Nevada, Orleans, Steak, Venetian Leave a comment
Going places: November edition
My typical Sunday evening is spent with my wife and my parents, who have us over for dinner regularly. Today, however, my wife is in Chicago, and my parents are in Key West. It seems like everyone is traveling but me.
Posted in Travel Tagged Beer, Charlottesville, Going Places, Hurricane, Las Vegas, Mexico, Nevada, Puerto Vallarta, Richmond, Virginia, Williamsburg 6 Comments
Puerto Vallarta: Running the gauntlet at the airport
Immediately upon leaving the customs area, we were forced to walk through a narrow corridor, maybe 50 feet long, with white desks and video screens on both sides. I now refer to this as the gauntlet. In the gauntlet, roughly a dozen men and women with official-looking badges work over the fresh arrivals, trying to convince us they are our ride to our hotel. They’re not.
Puerto Vallarta: Still awaiting Juvo
We’ve been gearing up for Hurricane Juvo since Monday, but it’s taking its sweet time getting here. The latest report is it’ll come ashore as a category-three hurricane much further south in the state of Jalisco, then follow the coast north toward us, probably having weakened to a tropical storm by then.
Germany: Any reason to celebrate in Monheim am Rhein, Cologne, and Düsseldorf
Christian let me know that I had to order the right beer for the city I was in. In Düsseldorf, they brew Alt, so that’s what they drink. In Cologne, they brew and drink Kölsch. I would be frowned upon if I ordered a beer in the wrong city. Those fortunate enough to live in Monheim am Rhein could order either, when in Monheim, of course.
Posted in Travel Tagged Aachen, Alt, Beer, Belgium, Brussels, Cologne, Düsseldorf, France, Germany, Kölsch, Monheim am Rhein, Paris, Thalys Leave a comment
Things you probably don’t know about me
Here’s a list of things you probably don’t know about me. It’s in no particular order.
Posted in Thoughts Tagged About, Arizona, Beer, Coffee, Croatia, France, French, Gambling, German, Holy Father, Keno, Korean, Massachusetts, Mexico, Montpellier, Phoenix, Russian, Zagreb 2 Comments
St. Mary’s Basilica in Krakow
Usually when I talk or write about St. Mary’s Basilica, I’m referring to the beautiful Spanish mission style Catholic church in downtown Phoenix, Arizona. I was looking through some of my old photos recently, and I found a picture of another, much older St. Mary’s Basilica. This one is in Krakow, Poland. It’s also beautiful, built in a Brick Gothic style in the 14th century.
Cosmopolitan Las Vegas: Secret hidden pizza on the Strip
On our recent trip to Las Vegas, Kathryn and I decided to find the secret, hidden, nameless pizza place at Cosmopolitan Las Vegas. I had read about it in our local paper some months earlier.
Frequently asked questions about our road trip in Europe
We’ve only been home a few days, but Kathryn and I have already heard a lot of questions about our trip. For the benefit of everyone else, I’ve decided to repeat some of them here, along with their answers.
Posted in Travel Tagged Austria, Baden-Baden, Beer, BMW, Eisenstadt, European Delivery, France, Gambling, Germany, Italy, Monaco, Munich, Oktoberfest, Paris, Venice, Wiener Neustadt 1 Comment
Oktoberfest, BMW, Rothenburg, Baden-Baden, Eiffel Tower
Phew! It’s been about 72 hours since the last update, but we’ve managed to pack an awful lot in.
Long overdue post
There’s a certain irony to writing a blog. During those times when you have the most to write about, you have the least time to write it. The year 2007 has been, and continues to be, almost unbelievably good to me, and for several months I’ve been maintaining a hand-written list of all the things I want to write about.
Posted in Travel Tagged Beer, BMW, California, Concert, Craps, Ellis Island Casino & Brewery, France, Gambling, Germany, Italy, Las Vegas, Monaco, Munich, Nevada, Oktoberfest, San Diego Leave a comment
Drinking in Pasadena, redux
I spent last weekend in Pasadena, visiting the same buddy I saw in August. I’ve spent the time since then sobering up.
I made a last-minute executive decision this morning to do an overnight trip to Vegas. I got in the car at 8:10, and thanks to the miracle of time zones, I was at my hotel at 12:20. I’m going to see how much trouble I can get into by myself in less than 28 hours. I’ve already wandered off the Strip, and I’m settling into my second beer.
Drinking in Pasadena
One of my friends, who goes all the way back to junior high with me, finished his PhD a few months ago and is doing a residency at UCLA. His wife was out of town on business, so we decided to do a guys weekend. I arrived early Friday evening. My friend and his wife are living with her parents, and her father cooked us a great dinner. After that, my friend and I proceeded to Old Town Pasadena to do some serious drinking. However, neither of us Einsteins considered the fact that we had already done some serious drinking during dinner, so the evening rapidly devolved into sloppy drunkenness.
Posted in Travel Tagged Beer, California, Gordon Biersch, Pasadena, Santa Monica, Smarties Leave a comment
Guinness Storehouse
I toured the Guinness Storehouse here in Dublin today. I won’t elaborate much about this tour. It goes without saying there was a pint of Guinness at the end of the tour, which is of course said to be the world’s freshest Guinness. However, to their credit, they served it in a top-floor bar with a 360-degree panoramic view of Dublin.
Pub stop in Ireland
I’m in Ireland, and for the first time on this trip, I’ve rented a car. I left the airport in Dublin maybe an hour ago, and I started driving north until I found a little roadside pub. I’ve had a pounding headache all day.
Weight
I had a discussion with a cousin of mine a few days before I started this voyage. He was joking that I might gain 20 pounds during this trip because of all the beer I’d be drinking, which is perfectly reasonable.
Munich: Bavarian beer
I’m waiting in a bar near where my friend lives in Munich. She had to work late, so she’s not home yet. I thought I’d have a beer while waiting for her. Until just now, I had forgotten how good Bavarian beer is.
Great steak dinner in Ljubljana, Slovenia
I had the best meal of my trip this evening here in Ljubljana. I’d walked past a little hole-in-the-wall place with a sign that read “home cooking” several times since yesterday, so tonight I walked in. I don’t even know the name of the place.
Posted in Travel Tagged Beef, Beer, Home Cooking, Ljubljana, Slovenia, Steak, Western Slovenia 1 Comment
Croatian beer: Ožjusko and Karlovačko
The local beer was generally one of two brands, Ožjusko and Karlovačko. The quality of both was inconsistent, especially when served on tap. A couple times I was poured beer that tasted almost stale, leading me at first to believe the way the bars were storing and serving the beer was the problem, not the beer itself.
Train ride from Zagreb to Split, Croatia
The train ride from Zagreb to Split has had some stunning scenery. We’re up in the mountains, and I’ve been seeing valleys below with lakes and streams and shallow rapids, with campsites and people wading and canoeing. It makes me want to hop off.
A half-liter of Amstel in the hotel bar is 900 forint, which is a little more than $4. And the hotel tacks on a ten percent service charge. The half-liter beer I’m drinking now is 300 forint, with no service charge. You do the math. I’m about 100 feet from the hotel door. I wish I knew about this place two days ago.
Polish beer
I’ve had some really good beer here in Poland. I don’t know why no one ever told me about Polish beer, or why it doesn’t find its way to the US. I’ve had Żywiec and Tyskie both in Warsaw and … Continue reading
Warsaw, Poland: Local currency, done with camping
I decided to spend one more night here in Warsaw. It’s a beautiful city. Mostly I’ve just been walking around, particularly through the city’s lovely parks. I had a beer and an ice cream in the old city center. Not at the same time.
Berlin, Germany: Keeping properly hydrated
Earlier this morning, I bought a 1.5-liter bottle of mineral water while waiting for a train. I was a little surprised that I was able to drink it in about ten minutes. Mostly I’ve been drinking coffee and beer the past couple weeks, and I’ve been sweating a lot as I walk around cities or haul my pack around train stations, so I was probably poorly hydrated.
Beer in Denmark
After a few days in Copenhagen, I can say that I’m absolutely amazed by the quantity of beer people drink here. I learned during my tour of the Carlsberg brewery that historically the water was unsafe to drink here, so … Continue reading
Danish beer: Carlsberg and Jacobsen at the brewery in Copenhagen
I just finished the Carlsberg brewery tour, which naturally included a couple tastings. The beer here is very good. I had a Tuborg last night, and a Carlsberg Pilsner and a Jacobsen Brown Ale here at the brewery.
More Amsterdam, more rain
Of course, being in the red-light district, we had to have a look at the offerings in the windows. It appeared that the more attractive girls worked the main street, and as you got further away, they became, shall we say, uglier.