Hugo’s Cellar, located on the lower level of the Four Queens Hotel is a somewhat pricey, romantic, continental style restaurant with decent ambiance.

Not very large, it is a bit noisy, with good food, very experienced servers, soft lighting, and good jazz played at reasonable decibels. What makes Hugo’s a MUST TRY dining experience are the little extras provided and their incredible and remarkable service.

Upon arrival, the hostess provides each female guest with a perfect long stemmed red rose, and then escorts the party to a table. The bus person is immediately clued to bring complimentary bottled water and a vase to the table. Once water glasses have been filled, warmed hand towels provided, bread and cheese placed on the table and the roses are in water, the waiter magically appears to take drink and dinner orders. Drinks in front of you signal the salad chef to wheel his cart to the table.

The idea of allowing each guest to choose his own ingredients, quantity and dressing is simply brilliant! It not only cuts waste and cost for management, but also delights the patrons. Salad plates there almost always are empty when removed by the bus person! Immediately after the table is cleared, tiny cones of raspberry sorbet are brought to cleanse the palate before the main course arrives.

Dinner is over now, but your evening is not! If you ordered coffee, it comes with a tray of delightful things to add to it, such as cinnamon sticks, whipped cream, brown and raw sugar, orange and lemon peels, chocolate shavings….and a complimentary dessert tray! This consists of a lazy susan of white and dark chocolate covered strawberries and dried fruits, with a dipping bowl of whipped cream.

This signals the dessert cart to be brought over to your table (I cannot fathom needing any further dessert). The waiter then brings the bill and removes the vase of roses, which clues the hostess that a check has been served, and the bus people that a table will soon be needing their attention. When the waiter has the paid bill in his hand, he leaves the individually wrapped roses on the table for the ladies to have.

Authored by: Sandra Oertell

Hugo’s Cellar
Four Queens Casino Hotel
202 Fremont Street
Las Vegas, Nevada 89109

Dinner 5:30 pm to 11:00 pm daily

Who doesn’t love chocolate, right? Well I’m sure there are a few of you out there. But for everybody else, a visit to Ethel M Chocolate Factory in Henderson, just south of Las Vegas is a must.

Back in 1911, Ethel and Frank Mars started making butter cream chocolates from scratch in their own Tacoma, Washington kitchen. Frank Mars went on to create the world renowned Mars Inc. Company in 1919

Forrest Sr, who was Ethel and Frank’s son of course had a taste for fine chocolate and also worked at Mars Candy Company.

After Forest Sr retired from Mars, he started Ethel M Chocolate in 1981. Forrest Sr. named his gourmet line of chocolates in honor of his beloved mother Ethel, and utilized chocolate recipes he had learned from her.

Many of Ethel’s original milk and dark chocolate recipes are combined with the finest nuts, fruits, caramels, creams and liqueurs to create the more than 50 varieties of gourmet candy sold today.

Just after they began their business, Forrest Sr. and his wife lived above the Ethel M factory.

Forrest Sr.’s wife wanted her own garden. But the challenge facing them was how to build one in the harsh Nevada desert.

Once simple option that came to mind was creating a cactus garden. So now guests can stroll through a beautiful, two-and-a-half-acre Botanical Cactus Garden that includes about 350 different species of cactus and various desert plants.

During your visit, you can enjoy free samples and an informative guided tour. Learn all about the gourmet chocolate making process by watching video monitors and placards placed outside each viewing window.

There are numerous Ethel Chocolate retail stores in Las Vegas. Check the web site below for a complete list.

Ethel M Chocolates creates specialty chocolates like nobody else, and is the official “chocolate of choice” for the Emmy’s.

Luckily for all of us chocoholics, the Mars family tradition of producing top quality chocolates lives on for all to enjoy.

Ethel M Chocolate Factory
1 Sunset Way
Henderson, Nevada
Tel: (888) 627-0990

For many people, the scenic Cotswolds epitomize their vision of quintessential England.

The glorious hotchpotch of honey colored stone buildings, ancient rooftops and wonky gables.

Popular with both the English and foreign travelers alike the Cotswolds are famous for their gentle rolling hills and historic towns and delightful villages.

The Kiss, with its gold symbols and romantic appeal is one of the best known paintings in the modern era. Gustav Klimt is best known for The Kiss, despite a career full of extraordinary works, with the others sometimes overlooked.

The glowing themes of The Kiss painting by Klimt showed lovers intertwined into one being, symbolizing the strength of this bond. Some art traditionalists rejected this for its use of eroticism, but others found it refreshing.

Gustav Klimt’s ground breaking art style courted controversy but his support from key areas of Austrian society helped him to continue his style. Key features of Klimt’s work were intensive colors, golden backgrounds & ornamental layouts.

The Museum of Applied Arts and the Belvedere are best known for housing Klimt’s art in the modern day, after much was taken by the Nazis or fell into private collections. Much has been restored to Vienna and Austria. Klimt’s The Kiss is on show around the world in reproduction form too.

The Kiss uses two lovers intertwined with bold jewelry and shapes to illustrate his symbolic intentions and this method was continued in Klimts Beethoven Frieze and Stoclet Frieze, which further established Klimt’s art.

The style of Gustav Klimt is closely tied in with Art Nouveau and Arts and crafts, with the extravagant, golden styles to convey his feelings into a decadent painting.

The Kiss has supreme popularity amongst even those who know little about art and is a rare case of a painting becoming well known with so many people across the world.

Expert Art Author Tom Gurney is ready to hear your views on all things art, simply drop him a comment on any of his art blogs!

Nobu Restaurant

Located in the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino, Nobu Restaurant in Las Vegas is a gorgeous restaurant with some of the best food diners will ever have.

Classically trained in Tokyo, Nobu Matsuhisa is famous for taking traditional Japanese cuisine and infusing it with South American and Western flavors that make an incredible combination.

Robert DeNiro is one of the owners, and it is not uncommon to see other celebrities dining here unobtrusively.

Sushi bar and entrees are described as “groundbreaking Japanese cuisine with Latin American influences.” Famed chef Nobu Matsuhisa brings dining that is delightful and unique to restaurant patrons.

A wildly different dish for many diners may be the Squid Pasta, but more ordinary menu items are also available. Try the Omakase chef’s selection for a sampling of Nobu’s very best. Prices are moderate to high. Full bar service provides your favorite wine or cocktail.

if you are there only for the sushi you are missing out on wonderful and unique sushi style dishes. Nobu offers a tasting menu and several great dining options from the hot kitchen.

Nobu retaurant’s service is outstanding. Their waiters are friendly and knowledgeable and are really invested in making the dining experience a custom one, serving their customers and making adjustments as needed from a time and pace perspective.

To summarize, Nobu offers great sushi, great atmosphere and the best molten chocolate – green tea ice cream bento box desert you will ever have.

Nobu
4455 Paradise Road
Las Vegas, NV

Christmas in Madrid is an unforgettable experience.

Madrid, the capital city of Spain presents innumerable prospects for enjoying Christmas holidays, because Christmas is celebrated with lot of frolic and fun in this part of the world.

Like most other European cities, Madrid showcases its own unique version of these traditional Holiday markets and events. The city comes alive with an array of colorful lights and festive holiday cheer.

Christmas events in Madrid make the Christmas celebrations in the city all the more enchanting and exciting. Be a part of this festivity this season and celebrate this festive season with Christmas Carnivals.

The main Christmas Market is located in the beautiful Plaza Mayor.  Some of the highlights of the season include; extensive lighting displays along all the main boulevards, a sound and light display for kids at the Gardens of Discovery near the Plaza Colon (Dec. 22 – Jan.7), and the annual animal parade in Retiro Park on Christmas Eve.

For a little exercise and fun during this time, the city sets up outdoor skating rinks in the parks around this historic city.

It’s hard to be believe it’s been 20 years since the fall of the mighty Berlin Wall in Germany.  The wall that divided East versus West and divergent ideologies is gearing up for a huge celebration.

Arguably the most moving historic moment of the 20th century, was the ultimate fall of the Berlin Wall. 2009 will mark 20 years ago this year– was an unforgettable triumph.

Not hard to imagine that Germany is scaling up for a huge celebration and is planning an array of exciting events to commemorate this momentous occasion.

Berlin, now country’s capital, is a haven of creative design and hip cultural delights – is throwing a year-long party for the world to enjoy.

In May, visit the launch of an open-air exhibit on Alexanderplatz (formerly in East Berlin) about the fall of East Germany’s communist government. From November 7 to 9, a three-day “Festival of Freedom” will take place at the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin. This historic event will be “culminating in a multimedia recreation of the wall coming down.”

If you are looking for a luxury hotel during your stay in Berlin, Germany ….. try these favorites:

Hotel de Rome: Housed in a historic bank building (with the bank vault converted into a pool) and boasting panoramic views of the city’s attractions, this hotel is a member of the prestigious Rocco Forte Collection. Enough said.

Hotel Adlon Kempinski: A fixture on the Conde Nast Traveler Gold List, this illustrious hotel is actually offering a special package to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the Berlin Wall’s demise, which includes a guided city tour of Berlin’s historic sites.

Kempinski Hotel Bristol: The first five-star hotel to be rebuilt after the war and a symbol of Berlin.

Ritz-Carlton Berlin: The posh hotel features the La Prairie Spa pool. Bathrooms in the guestrooms are just as sumptuous and spa-like.

Radisson SAS: Stocked with 2,500 exotic fish, the enormous lobby AquaDom is the world’s largest cylindrical aquarium.

Hotel Concorde: The sleek hotel is all about design with stylish minimalist interiors with lots of contemporary art.

As Halloween nears, discussions of ghost tales and hauntings begin to peak. San Diego’s famous hotel – Hotel Del Coronado – has long had reports of a resident ghost.

Back in 1885, a man named E. B. Babcock had a dream to build the grandest hotel in the west. He did – the luxury Hotel Del Coronado in San Diego, California.

The 399 room hotel cost over $1 million. The Hotel Del Coronado opened in 1891 and was visited by President Harrison. But this gorgeous hotel overlooking the bay of San Diego has a haunted past as well.

A young women, Kate Morgan, was found dead on the steps leading towards the beach. It was ruled a suicide, but the haunted stories soon surfaced around the room she stayed in.

Learn more about past hauntings at San Diego’s Hotel Del Coronado, by a first-hand account.

Full article

Courtesy of: Halekulani Hotel

As the holiday travel season is quickly approaching, many Hawaiian resorts are planning amazing holiday celebrations.

The luxury Halekulani Hotel is located on five acres fronting the gorgeous Waikiki Beach on Oahu. This elegant hotel has a long reputation of offering its guests gracious hospitality, impeccable service and magnificent cuisine.

o December 12 – 24: Twelve Days of Christmas at Halekulani

Each day, guests of Halekulani are treated to surprising, thoughtful, exclusive and complimentary holiday festivities. From poolside snow cones and limo transfers to the ‘Rodeo’ of Hawaii…this is a tradition beloved by return guests.

o December 24: Halekulani’s Santa Claus arrives by Outrigger Canoe
As the sun sets over Waikiki, young children of Hawaii dance hula and sing in anticipation of Halekulani’s beloved Santa Claus who surfs into Waikiki Beach every year. Santa hosts an exclusive Halekulani children’s party and an elegant adult’s reception together with the General Manager.

o December 31: Halekulani New Year’s Eve Extravaganza
Halekulani celebrates New Year’s Eve with a formal gala of fine dining at La Mer and Orchids featuring festive entertainment by the Honolulu Symphony and a fireworks extravaganza over Waikiki Beach.

Halekulani
2199 Kalia Road
Honolulu, Hawaii 96815
(800) 367-2343

Captain James Cook was a British sailor who changed the course of history for Hawaii.

He sailed his two ships, Resolution and Discovery, into Waimea Harbor in January 1778. Cook was reportedly the first westerner to ever set foot on the Hawaiian islands.

Captain Cook had explored several of the Hawaiian Islands until he was tragically killed in 1779 on the Big Island of Hawaii. The reason was a petty dispute over a rowboat.

The monument of Captain Cook is located in Hofgaard Park, in Waimea on West Kauai.

Cook’s monument is actually a replica of the one that stands in his home town of Whitby, England.

Directions:
From Highway 50 (West) from Hanapepe, Waimea is located around Mile Marker #23. The Captain Cook monument is located in the downtown area in Hofgaard Park.

The Black Forest region is one of Germany’s most popular and scenic tourist destinations.

The Black Forest is one of the most beautiful, most romantic highlands with innumerable hiking trails and opportunities to go for a swim. For more than two hundred years it has been a region of German spas famous for their hospitality.

Like Bavaria to its east, the Black Forest combines great outdoor scenery with unique local customs, products, and fare. The Black Forest is also in the middle of Germany’s timber and woodworking industry. This area contributes much of the region’s economy beyond just tourism.

In this part of Germany, the forest is everything, and therefore the forests are carefully managed. Each year, carefully selected plots of land are cleared of trees and replanted, under the watchful eye of forest rangers. The timber comes from a variety of pine tree that literally grows straight up without creating many branches, so the logs are very well suited for making lumber.

Driving through, it seemed like every town had its own lumberyard and sawmill. In between would be piles upon piles of cut logs being watered down and readied for the mill. Trucks carrying huge loads of logs were commonplace.

Black Forest is also well known for its musical diversity. From the spa concert to chamber music, music played by symphony orchestras to Swing, there is a wide range of concerts which not even every city can offer.