Dining on the Road in Hokkaido, Japan

You are in a foreign country, driving your rental car through the hinterlands. You’re hungry, but you haven’t seen a restaurant or grocery store all day. In the small villages you pass, there don’t seem to be any restaurants, or if there are, you can’t easily spot them because you can’t read the local signs saying … Continue reading →

Shanghai Sojourn

We are traveling again, this time in China. Irv and I were invited by a colleague at East China Normal University in Shanghai to visit and give some lectures. For me, it’s been almost thirty years since I was last in Shanghai. Things were quite different in 1988, just a year before the Tiananmen Square massacre. … Continue reading →

Urban Wetland

One of our last stops in the Adelaide area was at a small urban wetland. We were taking the beach road to our hotel when we spotted an inlet with a small marsh. Another car was parked along the road, so we pulled in behind it. We wandered around the area, trying to identify the marsh … Continue reading →

Coriole Winery

Our next wine stop was Coriole Winery in McLaren Vale, south of Adelaide, Australia. We had a lunch of duck, left over from last night’s dinner, on the porch overlooking the vineyard. Irv then tasted a few wines: Continue reading →

Port Elliot and Granite Island, South Australia

After leaving Kangaroo Island, we drove to Port Elliot where we stayed overnight at the Trafalgar Suites (see photo). Great place to stay–bedroom, living room, kitchen, and bath; also a private patio and within walking distance of restaurants. After settling into our suite, we headed to Granite Island to hopefully see some penguins. There is a horse-drawn trolley … Continue reading →

Sea Dragon Lodge

We left the Barossa Valley and headed for the ferry crossing to Kangaroo Island. This was a car ferry, so we were able to take our rental car with us. Good thing, too. Kangaroo Island is big (4,405 km2 (1,701 sq mi))—the third largest island in Australia after Tasmania and Melville Island. The ferry crossing was relatively uneventful, although the rough … Continue reading →

Barossa Valley

After our sojourn in Adelaide, we headed in our rental car to the Barossa Valley, a well-known wine region in South Australia. We stayed at the Blickenstal Barossa Valley Retreat, a few miles from the town of Tanunda. This retreat consists of several sets of cottages, quite modern and comfortable, but not really a good … Continue reading →

Château Haut-Grelot

We visited our first vineyard–Chateau Haut-Grelot. The video below shows a bit of the private tour we enjoyed (link in case the player window is not visible): Later, we had lunch at Le Marainaud and in the evening walked around the Terres D’Oseaux (Land of Birds), a wetland reserve (link to video): Continue reading →

Two Days in Napa

After a long hiatus, we are traveling again. Our recent trip was to Napa Valley, California. You can see what we did and where we stayed in the following Prezi slideshow (includes video). In case the player does not work, you can access the slideshow here: http://prezi.com/ryoh5yv6jyw5/two-days-in-napa/# Select the full-screen option for best viewing. Continue reading →

Peking Duck and Other Delicacies

Our next experience in China was somewhat more pleasant than what I described in the previous post. We are on our way to a conference (which I’ll describe in a later post) and are making a brief stop in Beijing–partly for logistical reasons and partly to rest up from the long flight. We were fortunate … Continue reading →