astrid

Well, our Viking River Cruise is going to be a coach tour, and based on our latest research, a very bad one full of rushed tours, no free time, early cattle calls for coach rides to nowhere, and Viking intentionally cheaping out with alternate lodgings by locating them 1+ hours from the original port.  Not on the ship yet (and probably won't be, even if we end up taking a total loss on the cruise booking, the reviews of Viking mishandlings of recent trip deviations were that bad), we already experienced stonewalling customer service and intentionally deceptive communications that online reviews have eluded to.  

My river cruise and Viking cruise itches have been well and permanently scratched.  I would tell anyone ever considering a Viking river cruise to read the 1 and 2 point reviews on cruisecritic and see what happens when Viking invokes "acts of God".  I should have sought out those reviews before booking, rather than assume that Viking would naturally care about the comfort and welfare of a seemingly loyal clientele, to keep them loyal.  

So far, we had a couple pretty nice days in Prague (Taste of Prague tour and Milada both excellent).  In Vienna, we have a surprisingly wonderful meal at Restaurant Walter Bauer and a remarkable one at Konstantin Filippou. I was underwhelmed by food at Mraz und Sohn.  So far Oswald's & Kalb is not open when we can go, but we hope to get there. 

Barra Brava is good, especially ceviche Barra Brava.  We haven't been to La Canela for a couple years, but loved their ceviche back in the day.

Nowadays I'd vote for Evergrain.  Millworks is better for desserts and a few appetizers, but Evergrain is really solid across the entire menu and cheaper.  

I would worry about pesticides unless they are labelled organic, and very carefully even then.

Or Google edible orchid and pay a lot.

Too bad you don't live nearby, or I'd offer to let you pick through my spray free patch of nasturtiums, which are just as pretty and tastier.

+1 is fond of them, so we usually go through 20 to 30 of them each fall.  I open them by scoring the peel and then breaking them open, it's pretty easy once you get the hang of it.  You can freeze the extra seeds and then add them to decorate salads and other food items.

It still isn't well labeled.  One in our party alleged that he wandered around Taco Bamba for 15 minutes trying to find the place.

We just made a visit.  Overall the food was really good, the service was pleasant but inconsistent and scatterbrained (we had to ask 3 different waiters over a timespan of about 30 minutes to bring a dessert menu, the first two promising to do so and then nothing).  They need to notify Google  Maps that they exist so people can find them.

I don't like the Ling Ling samplers that I have tried.  They are chicken and really heavy on celery flavoring, and the filling is minced so  finely that it's a weird spongy mass.  The Bibigo bulgogi dumplings from the Gaithersburg Costco are pretty good (the vegetarian Bibigo dumplings are bland as heck).  The Chinese brands might be iffier on ingredients, but most actually taste like Chinese dumplings.  The Ling Ling samplers taste terrible to me.

See Parisbymouth.  Not sure how the restrictions are affecting Airbnb options but when we were there 3 years ago, it was 1/4 of the cost of remotely comparable hotels.

"A Decoder Guide To Scoring the Best Prices at CostCo" by Zach Johnston on uproxx.com

10 hours ago, squidsdc said:

  Oh yes, I did forget -- tires for our car!

And the tire guys will fill nitrogen for your tires for free! 

I don't have much exposure to Sam's or BJ's, but my impression is that Costco tend to stock more upscale brands and the Kirkland branded goods tend to be consistently of excellent quality and value.  I have shopping there for so long that I am not even sure if they have things that suit me or I adapted to prefer their stuff.  In any case, I like to bring snacks for coworkers and they tell me that they can't find what I bring in from a normal grocery store.  Home delivery isn't available yet in my area so I haven't tried, but my browse through suggest that it's a really limited selection.  Plus I see the random .97 discontinued discounted items when I am in the stores.

We are a household of 2 adults and Costco supplies probably 85 percent of our food.  We get an embarrassing amount of cash back because of my spending habits on food and non food items.

The raspberries I have are frozen.  You can thaw for 30 minutes or eat straight from freezer.

My wardrobe is now mostly Costco clothing.  They have some really comfortable clothing at good prices, and the no hassle return policy coinciding with normal shopping is great.  The store buying experience is hit and miss, but the online experience is very easy and they often run $3 off per piece promotions as they are currently doing.

I found Costco very useful for outfitting our house.  The online site has lots of furniture and storage and appliance options, with periodic discounts.  I probably saved hundreds of dollars on LED bulbs alone.

Costco travel can offer very competitive prices for cruises and car rentals.

The only caution I have is, avoid the Pentagon City location on weekends.  It's completely bonkers.

We are really enjoying TruFru chocolate covered raspberries, available in the frozen desserts area.

Thanks for the recs!  Will definitely look into them!  I am really looking forward to the trip, we haven't had any vacation travel this year except for a weekend in Philly.  I could definitely use a break from work.

Good to know!  Though I can only take so many Madonna and Child paintings in a given week...

I usually Google for best of lists for the city, then verify against TripAdvisor and menu.  That's why I was a little surprised by Oswald & Kalb, as it has a pretty modest internet profile.  It does sound like a great find that I am looking forward to checking out.  I strongly distrust Michelin as an authority, since Michelin 3 starred Akelarre was my worst restaurant meal of 2015 (though I also had one of the best meals of my life at 3 starred restaurant Martin Berasategui on the same trip).

We graduated from literal car camping (sleeping in rental cars in campgrounds) to Airbnb just a few years ago.  So not quite 5 star ready yet.  

Of the mainstream travel guides, I like Fodor for its consistency.  Moon is variable by author but they have a few regional experts.  Blue Guide can be really good for Europe and antiquities.  TripAdvisor is getting more sells-y and less useful, but still massively useful.

On 9/11/2018 at 2:02 PM, Ericandblueboy said:

Stayed at Hotel Bristol, across the street from the opera house.  It's a great hotel at a great location, a short walk from the palace, the cathedral, and Kunst museum.

Best meal was at Oswald & Kalb, a so-called classic restaurant with plenty to choose from.  

We had schnitzel at many places but I don't think they're that exciting.  I think I prefer country fried steak with gravy.  If they just douse the schnitzel with gravy, that would work too.

Steirereck (a Michelin 2 star restaurant) provided great service and interesting food.  The house special is a fish (char) cooked in bees wax.  Hot wax is poured over the raw fish and cooks it perfectly in 12 minutes.  

Where did you look to research central Europe?  

In DC, they freeze back to the ground every few years, and don't have the long hot sunny fall to properly ripen fruits.  I did get a few on my community garden trees on their third year. Climate change in the short run means weaker jet stream and more polar vortices wandering down to mid latitudes, definitely not supportive of zone pushing fruit trees.  

Thanks for the info!  I will definitely look into Oswald & Kalb.

We are traveling with Viking.  Uniworld has basically the same itinerary but for 2x the price.  Plus Viking had a promo of $400 per person airfare (plus $100 to adjust dates and airports).  It worked out to be about the same cost as ocean view on a mass market Adriatic cruise.  Viking doesn't include tip, has less included excursions, and a limited free bar, but the cost savings are hard to beat.  Plus Airbnb in our time frame for Prague and Vienna are around $50 a night for well rated, centrally located studios.  So it seemed like a good time to take the plunge.

We just booked a fall Danube River cruise (Budapest to Nuremberg) and are adding on a few extra days in both ends for Prague, Munich, and Vienna.  Anyone with any can't miss recs for them?  

(Now I must propitiate to the rain gods, lest the Danube stay at near record low water levels and turn the trip into a glorified coach tour).  

Seems pretty true to our experience from 3 years ago.  We say bonjour/bonsoir to everyone that we interacted with, and I cannot recall a rude interaction from the trip.  It seems like civilized way to behave.  

We reserved at most places when we can.   Most restaurants we went to are quite small compared to American establishments.  We did get a table at Frenchie (reservation was impossible even planning 2 months out and constant monitoring) while trying to get a seat at the ridiculously crowded, loud, and hot Frenchie bar a vins.  I don't think we were even given any non pre fixe options at any restaurants we went to, other than at wine bars.

Parisbymouth has a list of restaurants that are open in late December.  High travel costs and musuem closings would make a Christmas trip challenging, the potential of a heat wave with no AC is sufficient incentive for me to stay away from Europe between June and September, and avoidance of ravenous tourist hordes is a bonus. 

Garden peach is the fuzzy one and Azoychka is the yellow beefsteak. The big dark strippy beefsteaks is Girl Girl's Weird Thing.  The other 2 dark beefsteaks are African Queen and Spudakee.  The smaller dark tomato is Tasmanian Chocolate.

PS - for the tomato tasting, I want to clarify that the point is taste all the tomatoes first without anything masking the taste.  You can add whatever you want to the leftovers, but please taste and judge ALL the tomatoes on their own merits first.

How is the mosquito situation in DC.  Do we need repellents?

Any last minute supply needs?  I am making a Costco run on Saturday afternoon, so I can help with last minute bulk needs.