Holbrook, Arizona hotel and dinner

After leaving Cortez, Colorado we drove south toward the 'Four Corners;' however after pulling in the gravel parking lot and seeing the plywood sign with spray painted words to pay $3 a person we turned around. I was just a bit turned off, so we headed south through New Mexico and then into Holbrook, AZ for a night at the Globetrotter Lodge.

Once again, I trusted my friend Tripadvisor for some recommendations for lodging and a meal in Holbrook. I typically wouldn't have chosen this town to stop, but goodness the whole western side of Arizona has yet to be turned into a tourist haven....so very few hotels. Actually, the northwestern corner of Arizona is Navajo and Hopi Tribal Lands and Reservations.

The Globetrotter Lodge in Holbrook is located off Route 66 across the road from the Wigwam hotel (the concrete teepees). A couple from Austria recently purchased the Globetrotter Lodge, did some remodeling and gave life back to a rundown motel. The rooms are quite eclectic...our had just about every color in the rainbow, with striped curtains made out of colorful Mexican blankets, wild west horse blankets on the bed, yellow flowers in the bathroom area, and some modern decor on the walls. It was weird, but comfortable for $65 a night!

Trusting Tripadvisor, we went to an Italian Restaurant called Mesa Restaurante Italiana. Perhaps when it was #1 only the locals were frequenting the restaurant because it was highly overrated.

Birthday Dinner at Champers

I'm not one to take pictures of our meals, so aside from the Roman Candle in my ice cream, there won't be any food pictures. You'll just have to use your imagination.

When I first booked our trip to Barbados, I sought out the advice of other travelers on TripAdvisor (every traveler's best friend!!). The restaurant recommendations were very high for the Tides, Champers, the Cliff, Roundhouse, Fisher Pond and Tapas. After reading the reviews and checking the menu, I decided that Champers would be a perfect place to celebrate my 30-something birthday.

Chuck made a reservation and informed them that it was my birthday, but I'm not one for fanfare or lots of attention, so they could skip the birthday singing....but we'd love a rail-side table on a little cliff over the ocean.

We arrived for dinner and were seated at a rail-side table on the left side of the dining room in a private little corner. The table was decorated with Happy Birthday confetti and every server stopped by to wish me a happy birthday. I ordered a spinach salad with apples, blue cheese, almonds, and a citrus type vinegrette; Chuck opted for the crab stuffed mushroom caps. Our main meal was a jerk pork chop with mashed potatoes and grilled veggies (for me) and Chuck had the grilled mahi mahi. Absolutely divine!

Halfway through dinner, a huge stingray floated just below our table. Even he got the message that it was my birthday :-)

And then, the Roman Candle arrived...and was lit...and almost cinged my eyebrows (kidding).

View of Champers restaurant from the ocean - We were seated on the cliff (on the rail) just left of the gazebo (under the blue covered patio).

Apetito Restaurant in Budapest, Hungary

I usually don’t blog about restaurants, because, quite honestly, I rarely find one that is anything more than overpriced fare.

Throughout Europe you will find signs like these….


My advice is to avoid the establishments that advertise "Turist Menu". Translation: food and drinks that are overpriced, waitstaff that isn't interested in you, a room filled with tourists, food that locals wouldn't touch with a 3 meter pole, and a prime location for pickpockets!

While in Budapest, we stayed at the Hilton-Castle Hill. Across the street is a nice restaurant called Apetito. The appearance from the outside is white table cloth, wine glasses, WMF cutlery….which reads, expensive. Honestly, by European standards, it is very reasonably priced.

Chuck ordered the pumpkin cream soup and a gingered boneless chicken on cornbread with a polenta type mush underneath. I wasn’t that hungry, so I ordered the pasta with spicy vegetables, grilled tomatoes and a farmer’s ham. I tried Chuck’s pumpkin soup and I desperately wanted to order my own bowl. Our meal also included a large bread basket (gratis), two large beers and two Coke lights. The total bill was 30 Euro!

After we ordered, our server brought us the bread basket and two little dishes. He said (in perfect English), here is some bread and some…….(about a 10 second pause) fat. We both smiled at him and said, fat? Yes, it is schmaltz or rendered goose fat and chicken fat, which we use as an appetizer spread on bread.

Here’s a picture for your enjoyment. Chuck tried some and quickly said, maybe I put too much on. So, he tried another piece with not quite as big of a slather of the ‘fat’. Ah, much better. I smelled the, um, ‘fat’ and decided to have a piece of plain bread. It, too, was tasty!

Mmmm....beer

Cheers! Skål ! Salud! Prost! Na zdraví!

Here's Chuck's attempt at soaking up..err drinking up...some local culture while on our 18-day whirlwind tour of Europe.

European Vacation - Day 15 (Baden Baden)

Our next stop on the trip was Trier, Germany; however our driving route was up to Basel, Switzerland, then along the Black Forest (Germany), through Baden-Baden and then on to Trier. Before we left Denmark, I went to Baden-Baden's website to see what we could do there for a half-day. Yes, I know; I'm a planner.

The website said: Baden Baden is so nice, you have to name it twice (Bill Clinton). Well, it has to be nice, right?

We got a late start, so we were a little behind schedule and by the time we arrived in Baden Baden, we were only going to have about 4 hours in town. It was 2pm and we were both hungry. After going to the casino, which is supposed to be the most beautiful in the world, we wandered down an alley off the pedestrian mall. Chuck spots the following sign and proclaims, "It's the Kranz Bar. It has to be good."

Eating at the Kranz Bar and Bistro was very familiar. Even though it wasn't apple smoked pulled pork, our meals were the best of our trip, thus far! I had veggies and chicken in a curry and tomato sauce with rice and Chuck had mediterranean penne pasta with chicken, tomatoes and olives in a balsamic sauce. Yum.

Pretzels with salt...in Salzburg

Chuck and I don't exactly like taking pictures of each other. Here's my attempt at taking his picture as he eats a huge pretzel in Salzburg.

European Vacation - Day 6 (Hallstatt and Salzburg)

Today's journey was the scenic route between Vienna and Salzburg. In our guidebook, it recommends Hallstatt, a beautiful mountain town of 1000 nestled among the Austrian Alps on a clear lake. Well, based upon that description and the fact that it has the oldest Salt Mine in the world, we had to go.

The drive was a little unnerving. Winding roads and steep drop offs, but the view was spectacular. It was raining, so our raincoats came in handy yet again. We parked the car and headed to the Salt Mine and the tram that took you straight up the side of the mountain...and it was a pretty steep mountain!

The tour was about 3 hours long and included a walk through the mountain, sliding down a wooden rain about 35' and then a second rail about 65'. Chuck had the fasted slide time at 33.6 km/hr on the second slide. It was a little scary for me. I think I said Holy Crap about half way down the 65' drop. Ahhh, adventures. The Salt Mine was actually quite cool and I'll blog about that one in more detail later.

Later in the afternoon, we arrived in Salzburg. We stayed at the Hotel Sacher, which is a great hotel, complete with chocolates on our arrival. The Hotel Sacher is known for the Sacher Torte in Austria. We even received mini tortes as part of the turndown service. Yum.
Pictures will be posted soon.