A fun story we couldn’t help reporting is one that’s been on quite a few European news channels this week. Apparently the very secure 15th century fortress prison in Volterra Italy has started operating a passable restaurant, staffed exclusively by its residents, the prisoners.The fortress, about thirty-five miles south east of Pisa in […]

Going to Paris for the art, hardly means you’ve chosen some fringe adventure—not a lot of people AREN’T going for the art. Still, if you’re looking to maximize the efficiency of such a cultural quest, location would seem to be a paramount consideration.And the endearingly personal little Hotel de Buci sits majestically between the Boulevard […]

The lure of the grand metropolis is never stronger than right after one launches ones mortarboard to the sky. Hordes of the freshly educated flock to their respective Wall/Fleet/Friedrichstrasse’s, diploma in hand, wild ambition in mind, determined to flee the bad food and sweatshirt wardrobe as quickly as possible. If alma mater is the University […]

Cities from Paris to Florence to Chicago reasonably lay claim as the pinnacle of gastronomy, but Lyon quite likely trumps them all.
Cour des Loges is Lyon’s most fascinating hotel and delivers as much in its dining room as it does in its bedrooms. The hotel is assembled around a spectacular Renaissance courtyard, […]

Summer is the time of big budget mega movies with little more holding them together than good cheekbones (Oceans 13) dismembered cheekbones (Hostel II) and green cheekbones (Shrek III). So it’s a little strange to see so many European films on the Fandango playlist. La Vie En Rose has been getting raves from day one […]