My business is ministry and that ministry targets Central Asia and the Middle East, so I can’t always be an open book about where I go and why. However, I can tell you I made a visit to Birmingham, Alabama for business at an unspecified time for an unspecified reason. While I can’t give you those details, I can tell you some of the stories related to the trip.
The Crack of Dawn
In the DFW Terminal
My traveling companion for this particular trip was my work buddy and good friend, Hannah Beth. I’m old enough to be her mother and she’s gracious enough to treat me as if I’m her age, and I love it. Our flight to Birmingham was ridiculously early and we had to bring along some signage, so both of us were concerned about getting there, getting checked in and getting on the flight. In our eagerness we got to the airport hours before we needed to. We were there so early I had plenty of time to walk around and take pictures of the mosaics on the floor.
An Over Easy Arrival
We arrived in Birmingham in time for breakfast. While I’m used to being the tour guide pretty much anywhere I go, I was happy to turn the reins over to Hannah Beth on this trip. Her sister goes to school there, so she has the inside track. She proved that when she took us to Over Easy. She had a breakfast-something and I had lunch-something. Both were delicious.
The decor and atmosphere was very California: modernesque furniture and semi-hippie waitstaff. Because it was a late morning on a weekday, most of the clientele were students who didn’t have early classes and a few moms who’d dropped the older kids off at school.
We arrived at the restaurant via her sister’s campus. We Uber-ed there from the airport. I’m not a natural Uber-er, but Hannah Beth treats it like it’s her second car. We may work together like two peas in a pod, but we do come from opposite sides of the generation gap. At the campus, we picked up her sister’s car – another evidence of working in ministry. No rental cars or swanky hotels.
Speaking of the lack of swanky hotels, we stayed in a La Quinta. Don’t get me wrong. There was nothing wrong with the place. It was clean and convenient. The breakfast was good. It was a fine place to stay, but let’s face it two stars is not exactly plush.
So that’s the basics – an early morning flight, a little transportational shuffle, a hearty breakfast and an economy hotel. The rest of the meals were either breakfast at the hotel or something served to us at the thing I can’t tell you about. However, this was me and I had Hannah Beth with me. Adventures are in store. By the way, Birmingham is called the Steel City, because it used to be the home of most of the world’s steel mills. More about that next week, so please come back to visit.
Armed with a recommendation and an address, Deb and I headed towards San Marcos. We wanted to grab a bite before we headed to the outlet mall. We found a lot more than a bite at Palmer’s!
An Awkward Beginning
From the street Palmer’s doesn’t look like much. In fact, coming from Gruene, the first thing you see is a wall with a large mural. Nothing about the mural let us know we’d made a good decision, but when we found the parking lot we realized we’d found the nirvana which had evaded me during an earlier yoga session.
A large shaded patio with a splashing fountain promised we were about to have a good time, but we had to work for it. As we passed the patio entering the restaurant there were scads of empty tables, but when we asked to sit out there, the hostess hesitated. She had to go check something and she asked us to sit down. When she came back she said we’d need to wait a little and that sounded OK, until a little turned into a lot.
There was a time in my life when I would have meekly sat there until called, but that time has passed. The hostess busied herself sorting through menus and made a career of ignoring us. Since the patio was virtually empty, we wondered what was up. Finally, I asked exactly what we were waiting on since there were so many tables available. She stammered around about the wait staff having just taken orders and not being quite ready to serve us. I didn’t stammer when I said we’d rather do our waiting outside.
She reluctantly seated us on the patio and soon we’d made our drink orders. It was never quite clear why the hostess expected us to wait docilely in the slightly dank and very dark vestibule, but with the breeze blowing, a jazz trio playing and the water playing in the fountain, we didn’t care for very long.
Sour cream? REALLY?
A Little Bit of Heaven
So, the service was lacking before we ever got a chance to sit down, but I didn’t really care. The food took forever to get there and when I got it, I didn’t like it very much. (Nothing on the menu suggested the fritatta came heavily drizzled with sour cream. There are only three things in the whole world that I won’t eat and sour cream is one of them.) But that’s alright. I was happy and didn’t want to get unhappy!
Sitting on the patio at Palmer’s is the closest thing I’ve found to sitting on the patio at Joe T’s; and sitting on the patio at Joe T’s is the closest thing I’ve found to heaven – only the food at Joe T’s is good, really good.
The food might have been mediocre, but they had something called a Poinsettia to drink. For the uninitiated, a Poinsettia is the same thing as a Mimosa, except that you use cranberry juice instead of orange juice. Orange juice is not one of the three things I refuse to partake of, but I do avoid it if I can. Now that I know about Poinsettias, I will never have to regret that I don’t particularly like Mimosas, ever again in my life.
Here’s what’s funny. A Poinsettia was $5, but according to the waitress, “for $8 you can get twice as much.” I planned to be there for a while so I went for the large. Forget twice as much! I could have gotten everyone on the patio severely drunk with the huge bottle of Poinsettias I was served. Deb had started with a make-your-own Bloody Mary Bar, with which she had been underwhelmed, but if we would have known, we would have just ordered the large Poinsettia and two glasses. We both drank as much as we dared over several hours and still couldn’t make a dent. See why the fritatta didn’t matter!!
I could go on, but the bottom line is this, the shady patio, the jazz band and the Poinsettias were so good, nothing else mattered – not the lousy service, not the mediocre food, nothing. I will return to Palmer’s but it was time to head to the outlet mall. Look out credit cards!!
Cesky Krumlov was lucky. While it suffered a season of Communism, the Communists never had enough money to modernize the place. So when they were kicked out in 1989, all Cesky Krumlov needed was a little TLC. Tourists discovered it in the early 1990’s and the rest is history.
Entering the Time Warp
As I mentioned before, our wonderful guide was a native Krumlovite. He grew up there and had an abiding love for his lovely little town. We had disembarked our bus up in the castle gardens and seen a couple of lovely vistas from the castle grounds, but this charming blue, onion-domed church was our first taste of Krumlov proper.
City, town or village?
The pace of our tour slowed down as the guide shared the highlights of his town, including his favorite places to eat and stories about his friends. I’ve toured with guides that turned this dialog into an “ain’t-I-great” soliloquy, but the charming citizen of Krumlov did not fall into that trap. His stories were all about the wonders in his favorite town.
By the way, while it is tempting to call it a village, rather than a town, it got a city charter somewhere along the way. They would probably be insulted because that I was calling it a town instead of a city, but I want you to get the feel of the place, even if my terminology is not technically correct.
On Our Own
We wandered along quaint little streets until we reached the town square, where our guide released us to our own reconnaissance. Our little group of cruise buddies hotfooted it back to our guide’s favorite restaurant and enjoyed a delightful lunch with generous quaffs of Czech beer.
And here’s their sign
Here’s where to find the restaurant
Then we headed out for shopping. EEEK! The prices were astronomical. I strolled into a handbag store and hurried out with my tail between my legs. While I’m not great at currency conversion, I do know enough to figure out when I’ve wandered into a triple digit zone. The cheapest handbag I could find was very comfortably in that triple digit zone and while my friends are certainly worth that much, I can’t afford it.
There were dozens of establishments featuring souvenirs – you know the kind, t-shirts and tea towels emblazoned with screen-printed images – but that wasn’t what I was looking for. Finally, I found a store with darling little gingerbread Christmas ornaments. I almost bought them out and was thrilled with my find, but unfortunately I lost them somewhere along the way. I was broken-hearted because they were hand-made and seriously darling.
Had I anticipated the expenditure, I would have bought up some amber jewelry. Every other store on the winding streets is an amber jeweler and I loved most of their wares. My bestie loves amber and I desperately wanted to find something for her, but in a town where a small cloth clutch costs about $200, you can imagine what the amber cost. Still, the prices were not unreasonable, so if you go, budget for the amber and shop until you drop!
Safely back in the pack
Suddenly It Was Time to Go
For the final half hour or so, we abandoned our cruise buddies, because I was still desperately on the hunt for gifts. All of sudden we looked at our watch and realized we had to leave – right then. That’s when we figured out we were lost and Cesky Krumlov no longer felt like a quaint village, but more like the city they prided themselves on being. Our panic only lasted a short while, but that was long enough. They’d warned us they would leave us if we weren’t on time.
We strolled back through the town, up a path around the castle and there our buses were waiting for us. The drive back to the boat seemed longer than the trip to the Czech town, because we were hoping enough time would be left to check out Linz before dinner.
We did make it back early enough and I’ll share that with you next week, but for now, enjoy all these pictures from Cesky Krumlov.
While many of the wonderful things I discovered on my Danube River Cruise I can attribute directly to Rick Steves, he failed me miserably at lunch in Vienna. Please don’t go to Cafe Tirolerhof.
Rain, Rain Go Away
When I first shared my dream day in Vienna with my husband, he balked at lunch and dinner in the city. He couldn’t understand why we’d look for places to eat, when we had a perfectly good boat serving both meals without incurring any extra cost. I explained how we’d be a bit of a stroll and a subway ride away from the boat in the Hofburg environs, creating both time and monetary constraints on our day. He seemed to acquiesce to my research, but I don’t think he actually gave up on getting back to the boat for lunch.
When we exited the Treasury he was on museum overload and he really wanted that lunch. We had a few tense minutes, but the sun was a little bit on my side and it appeared we were in for some better weather, so Bill agreed to take in some of the sites which were, by my estimation, within walking distance – but first he wanted to sit down and have a meal.
Cafe Tirolerhof
I read him Rick Steves’ description of Cafe Tirolerhof, “a classic Viennese cafe full of things that time has passed by: chandeliers, marble tables, upholstered booths, waiters in tuxes and newspapers.” Sounds irresistible, right? And the cafe was only a block away.
Well, it’s not really that Rick Steves lied. Everything he listed was there, but instead of being as charming as it sounded, it was creepy and somewhat disturbing. My first complaint is that along with all the other things time has passed by, the Tirolerhof has a whole lot of dirt their staff has been passing by for a long time. I’ve heard waiters in Viennese coffeehouses can be rude to American tourists. Well, the Cafe Tirolerhof waiters are rude to everyone – a real equal opportunity situation.
What’s more the menu is downright weird. I pride myself on being able to pick something delicious off menus in unfamiliar places – even when the menus aren’t in English. Well, the Tirolerhof menu is translated into English, but you want to believe something is lost in translation. Let me tell you, it’s not. The food is as weird as it says it is. What’s more the cafe does not take credit cards and because the broken credit card machine at the Imperial Apartments had forced us to use most of our euros, I had to wander down the street and figure out the Viennese ATM.
The Gray Continues, But at Least the Rain Quit – For a While
Love is the only thing that saved me at this juncture. The sun which had been on my side right before lunch had once again retreated, but it wasn’t raining right that minute. Having already paid for lunch, Bill figured he might as well let me trot around the palace environs, especially since I promised we’d just be sightseeing, not paying fees and trudging through museums.
So we set off on the walking tour I had charted out in my head. What else should you see when you visit the Hofburg? Come back next week and I’ll tell you about our trek.
From 6 – 11 AM a Cafe Breakfast was available at a coffee station next to the Lounge. In fact, food and beverages were always available there. The food ranged from croissants and danish in the morning to cookies mid-afternoon, but there was always something. The liquid libations offered even more variety: coffee drinks both hot and cold; hot tea and hot chocolate; both bubbly and still water; even juices in the morning. The Cafe Breakfast service satisfied the needs of both the early risers and late sleepers, while the coffee station itself kept the rest of us from getting peckish throughout the day. There was at least one day we visited it for a second breakfast and on most days we took advantage of it for an afternoon break. At 7 the Aquivit Terrace served a Continental Breakfast.
At 7:30 the Restaurant opened up for a Full Breakfast and I do mean full. There was a lovely buffet where you could get anything from a made-to-order omelette to a bagel with lox. A list of all the things available would take up more word count than I want to spend on it. I was particularly fond of the mushrooms sauteed in butter, not something I usually eat for breakfast, but once I tried them I ate them every morning. Healthy things like fresh fruit and yogurt were available as well as diet-busters like bacon and breads of every sort. I’m not very experimental in the morning, so I had no interest in things like pickled herring and other local “delicacies” they offered up, but you might be.
Were you able to visit all the stations on the buffet and still not find something you were interested in, a menu was available for other selections. My husband chose to order from the menu on several mornings, but that wouldn’t keep him from enjoying the buffet too. The menu included all those taboo treats like French Toast, Pancakes and Waffles.
Of course, coffee, tea and a variety of juices were available, but should you have an interest in it, champagne was also being poured. Many of the passengers enjoyed mimosas, but I can’t start the day drinking. I’m a wimp!
Lunch
Most of the shore excursions were planned to get you back to the boat for lunch at 12:30. Lunch was served in the Restaurant in much the same way as breakfast, but with different selections. Instead of a chef preparing fresh egg dishes, the lunchtime chef offered made-to-order pasta. There were a wide variety of casual foods offered around the buffet, but you could also order off the menu. The Aquavit Terrace was also available.
Most days we’d order off the menu and then graze the buffet for tidbits until our meal arrived. The menu items were served in European proportions. You could get as many as you wanted, but a three course meal could be eaten without feeling as if you’d just ingested half the boat. Well, perhaps the desserts were overly indulgent, but the other two courses were very reasonable.
The items on the menu offered a wide variety. There was usually a regional specialty, something for the meat-and -potatoes sort and something else for the vegetarian. The vegetarian choices were delightful, even if you weren’t vegetarian. I would usually opt for the regional specialty, unless it was pickled something or other.
The wine started flowing at lunch, but that’s when I got my caffeine fix. I’ve already complained mentioned the fact that Diet Dr Pepper was not an option, so I’d have a bottle of Coke Light, Europe’s answer to Diet Coke. Pretty much any other non-alcoholic beverage you were interested was available at lunch.
I did mention desserts didnt I?
Dinner
If you liked the idea of a buffet, then you could go to the Aquivit Terrace for dinner, but in the Restaurant dinner was off the menu.
Passengers generally dressed up a little for dinner, but if you happened to stroll in from enjoying free time at the port and were still wearing your sneakers, you wouldn’t be turned away. For the most part Viking passengers dressed up the scale from your average ocean cruiser, but there was no formality. There was no pool or beaches, so folks weren’t running around in swimwear. The chilly weather discouraged shorts, tank tops and the like. I liked dressing up for dinner and you could tell other women did, too. My husband usually wore nice trousers and a long sleeved shirt. Jackets and ties were not worn.
Each evening before dinner there was a briefing of some sort up in the lounge. The cruise director would ask if we enjoyed our day and then give us the lowdown on what would be happening next. Some evenings this event would be accompanied by a glass of free champagne. We always took advantage of that, but we never ordered drinks. The bar was always open, but unlike the wine with meals, alcoholic beverages in the bar were not free. With so much wine flowing at dinner, we saw no reason to invest in cocktails. That was not true for all the passengers though. We saw the bartender mix a lot of martinis.
Most evenings we’d find our cruise buddies, Deb, Mike, Gwynne and John at the briefing and then take a table with them for dinner. The fun we had around the table made dinner one of the best parts of the day. The food was to die for and as I’ve mentioned the wine never stopped.
At both lunch and dinner the menu was divided into two parts, but different things were offered for each meal. The left side had the chef’s daily menu and the right side was labeled “Always Available.” I usually ordered from the day’s selection, but Deb was all about the Grilled Salmon on the Always Available side of things. The dinner choices on either side were divided into three courses, but you could order it anyway you wanted. Also, like lunch, they provided a variety of things to please the adventurous, the meat-and-potatoes sorts and the picky (for whatever reason).
I’ve chatted for too long about food, but it is an important part of a cruise. Next week I’ll start sharing our exciting stops along the Danube.
TRAVEL THERE: THREE SQUARES A DAY & ALL THE WINE YOU CAN DRINK ON THE VIKING TOR
From first meal to last, Viking River Cruises does everything right. Everything I loved about meals on other cruises they incorporated into their food service and what I hated they left out.
Single Seating Service
The overriding difference between river and ocean cruising is size. For me that was good news. Everything I wanted was either on the same floor as my stateroom or one floor down. I could be in my room one minute and in the next I could be sitting in the dining room.
Here’s a peek of the Restaurant on the evening of the regional buffet. Dig those desserts!
Each meal was served in one seating and you sat wherever you wanted. One thing I had really liked about assigned seating on ocean cruises was that your server really got to know you and within a day or two they had all your preferences down. It also narrowed down the thousands of possible table mates to a table-full of people to have dinner with and I’d always been lucky enough to really like the people we sat with. Well, on the riverboat, we got to know all the servers and by the end of the cruise each of them knew us well enough to provide incredibly individualized service. The small number of passengers also made cruise friends a lot easier to find.
Two Dining Venues
We chose to eat all our meals in the Restaurant. The spacious room had tables of various sizes spread comfortably around the room. On both sides were large windows looking out onto the river, sometimes at a city where we were docked and at other times at changing scenery, as the boat made its way to the next destination. In the center of the room was a three-sided buffet for breakfast and lunch. Dinner was usually from the menu, except for a special regional buffet one evening.
The Aquavit Terrace Buffet on the Regional Buffet night.
The other venue was the Aqauvit Terrace. Had the weather been a tad warmer, we would probably have been all over this, especially at lunch. The Terrace was at the bow of the boat, offering a view of the scenery ahead. Half of the seating is actually outside on the deck, but some is inside a glass-encased section at the end of the lounge. That’s where the buffet is and all the meals in the Terrace are served buffet style. Rumor had it that the Terrace menu focused more on sandwiches, salads and small plates, many of which were included on the Restaurant’s menu. Perhaps I should have checked it all out for you, but I was on vacation after all.
All the Wine You Can Drink
This was one of my favorite things about the cruise. The battle of the bottle on the other ships was a confrontation we could not win. On Viking we couldn’t lose, because there was no battle. Each evening they had a small selection of wines, both red and white, which were included in the price of the cruise. Most nights it seems there were only two (one red, one white) but on some of the evenings regional specialties were included which expanded the selection.
My husband, who is a little more picky about wine than me, was always quite pleased with the red choice. I adored the white wines, especially the regional specialties. If you are a wine snob, there is a package you can buy that affords you premium wines, but we didn’t need it and we didn’t meet anyone who did.
It really is all the wine you can drink. Once the wait person finds out which color you prefer for the evening, they’ll keep pouring it for you until you tell them to stop. If mid-meal you want to change colors, that’s fine too. I don’t exactly know how they afford to be so generous, but this single act of generosity endeared me to them forever.
I’ve still got a lot more to say about food, but I’ve run out of words today, so come back next week for a description of the meals.
TRAVEL THERE: WHAT I LIKE AND DISLIKE ABOUT DINING AT SEA
Food is one of the biggies on a cruise and Viking has it down pat. You’d have a hard time feeling hungry at anytime on board, yet it’s not the obscene food orgy of ocean cruising.
Cruise Food I Have Loved
My favorite food I’ve ever had on any boat was a dessert on the Carnival Ecstasy. I ordered it the first night, because it was chocolate. I ordered it the rest of the nights, because it was the best thing I had ever put in my mouth. The name of the chocolate creation, which I cannot for the life of me remember, did it no justice. I have no picture of it, but will never forget it. The rest of the food on the boat was good, sometimes really good, but it wasn’t the best overall I ever had.
The best dining experience on any ship was on Royal Caribbean’s Monarch of the Seas. I was traveling with all the people I loved best, so that may have enhanced the enjoyment. This was old fashioned cruising where you really dressed up for dinner and had assigned seating at a specific time in a single venue. Every meal, every night was a unique and wonderful experience. We also had the best waiter I have ever had aboard any ship any where.
I am not a fan of multiple restaurants on a cruise. I don’t want to make reservations. I don’t even want to have to make a decision about which restaurant I’m going to choose. I don’t want to pay a premium. I like it the way Viking had it. They just fed me.
On our “Free-styling” Norwegian cruise a few years ago, my husband felt like the only style unavailable was the one we wanted – particularly when it came to breakfast. Breakfast is his favorite meal. He loves to linger over the menu and the meal. The only sit-down breakfast service on that cruise was quite early in the morning and on a cruise, Bill doesn’t do anything early in the morning. On top of that he had to navigate the huge buffet, when all he really wanted was for someone to bring him exactly what he wanted for breakfast and he wanted it piping hot. Was it a lovely breakfast buffet? Yes, but he didn’t want a breakfast buffet. Viking solves all of this.
Another of our pet peeves with Ocean Cruising has been the battle of the bottle. We like wine with dinner. While we love a particularly good wine, we’re perfectly happy with a decent wine. On-board various ships we’ve ordered by the glass, ordered by the bottle and pre-ordered a selection of wines. Either way we’ve done it we’ve felt the ouch of the price, because we know we can get a perfectly good wine at Trader Joe’s for around $10 a bottle and it bothers us to pay more for less. To make things more interesting Bill loves red and thanks to my sinuses I prefer to drink white. Viking made wine with dinner a breeze for the same price of a breeze.
And speaking of bottles, even getting a glass of water on your average cruise ship is a hassle. They’ll sell you a soft drink package, they’ll tempt you with fancy cocktails and they’ll charge you for a bottle of anything – even water, but try whetting your thirst for free. It’s not easy. Viking completely abandoned that business model. There were bottles of free water all over the place and a dispenser for bubbly and still water at the coffee station.
On most cruises I sort of feel like the emPHAsis is on the wrong sylLAble, as my mother used to say. There’s entirely too much attention paid to shoving food down your mouth. It takes a page or two of the daily newspaper to explain all the food choices and then if all else fails, they will deliver food to your stateroom 24 hours a day. I had all I could eat and more on Viking, but I didn’t have to make a career of managing my food choices.
So now that we have discussed cruise food in general, next week I’ll introduce you to the way Viking does food.
I’m not exactly a fan of DFW, but if I have to go out there I hope I’m flying out of terminal D. For one thing, that means I might be going out of the country, which is always good news to me. For the other, it is by far the best terminal from which to depart.
New and Improved Travelers
There was a time when my husband tried to push the travel envelope to the very edge. He wanted to find out just how close he could cut it. It seemed every trip we were the passengers breathlessly running aboard as they closed the door. Unfortunately, I had been raised by a father who considered earliness to be next to godliness. That race for the plane thrilled my excitement junkie hubby, but I would go into pure panic mode.
Over the years we’ve both mellowed out. This is a good thing, since these days, travel is a very different endeavor from what it was twenty years ago. Anybody pulling a last minute maneuver, like some we did back in the day, would find themselves cooling their heels in some TSA holding space.
Nowadays we get to the airport with hours to spare. We treat the terminal like a tourist attraction, tasting the local treats and checking out the souvenirs.
A Plug for Park &’N Fly
When we fly, our car is parked at the Park ‘N Fly facility on Park Lane. We drive in. A bus pulls up and a nice driver pops out to help us with our bags. Frequently we are driven directly to our terminal, but even at busy times we get from our car to our gate lickety split. The nice driver offloads your bags and you’re almost done.
Over the last year, we joined Costco and guess what! Park ‘N Fly, which is already a bargain at full price, has discounted rates with Costco coupons. You buy 5 day blocks of tickets for $35 and we’re talking discounted. The price is so cheap that we saved money with the coupons even though we had to buy and extra day. The coupon never expires, so we’ll jut hold on to it until the next trip – maybe the one we’ll make to visit our new friends in Oregon we met aboard the Viking Tor.
Our driver for this trip may just be the most charming we’ve ever had. He was filled with the joy of his salvation and was listening to a sermon on his sound system. He politely asked if that was OK with us, but we just amen-ed with him and said a few hallelujahs. He asked where we were headed and when he found out about our cruise on the Danube he really wanted to go along.
Hurry Up and Wait
At the Lufthansa check-in we stared down the kiosk and tried to determine which number or piece of paper it preferred, but we were grateful when someone came to assist us with the check-in, especially since I had already theoretically done that online. It seems to me that all this digital stuff just makes more work. Used to be you called up your travel agent to buy your fare, got a hard copy ticket, took it to the desk and were checked in. Now you dabble online to find a ticket, get a virtual ticket, check-in online, get a virtual boarding pass, fritz with the kiosk at the airport, get pieces of paper and still have to report to a live agent to check-in your bags. Convenience, schamenience!
The line for the TSA security check was not too bad and then we were in, with a couple of hours left to kill. I had visions of sitting down over a good meal at Cafe Izmir, Cool River Cafe, III Forks or Sky Canyon. Then I made the mistake of allowing Bill to see the directory of restaurants and ended up at Popeye’s. You may think I’m kidding, but it’s the truth. Bill loves Popeye’s and since we’re usually trying to eat healthy we stay away. With all food being calorie free on vacations (wink wink) he wanted to get some.
Murdering Time
After our chicken we roamed the terminal and looked at all the places we could have eaten and checked out the shops. Along the way we saw some interesting art installations spread throughout the space. We really began to feel like tourists. Many of the most beautiful installations were mosaics on the floor which photograph poorly. We also found this interesting public interactive.
We decided it was getting close enough to departure time that we should get to our gate. They’d decided to start boarding early to beat some turbulence, so getting there early had been a good thing.
If you’re coming through Dallas or leaving from our airport, I hope you’ll get to enjoy Terminal D. If not, you’re stuck with the usual. Maybe if you’re stuck there long enough on a layover you could take the train over to D and dine in style.
On Wednesdays I’m sharing my Viking River Cruise, the reason we were at the airport in the first place. Please check back and share the adventure.
TRAVEL THERE: LEGENDS RESTAURANT AT DOUBLETREE BY HILTON IN WICHITA KS SERVES TASTY AND CONVENIENT FOOD
When you stay at the DoubleTree by Hilton in Wichita KS, you’re out at the airport and away from everything else. The hotel is lovely and once inside you can forget you’re even at an airport. At mealtime Legends Restaurant & Bar, in the lobby of the Hilton is a safe bet for a good meal.
Breakfast As You Like It
The Executive Level of this hotel is a sweet deal during the week, because you have a breakfast buffet and an evening social hour right there on your floor. If you are up on the Executive Level on the weekend, breakfast is still a sweet deal, because it’s comped. Everybody else has to either pay $12.95 for the breakfast buffet or order a la carte. Since it was comped, we opted for the breakfast buffet.
The breakfast buffet has pretty much anything your heart desires. There’s all the cereals, fruit, yogurt, pastries and such. There’s a do-it-yourself waffle maker with all the trimmings. They also have omelettes, Eggs Benedict, breakfast potatoes, sausage and bacon. You know, the usual. Well, maybe not so usual. Eggs Benedict are kind of a treat.
On Saturday, I tried the Eggs Benedict. Everything about them was fine, except for the fact that I’m funny about eggs. I don’t like scrambled eggs or omelettes, and any other egg should be well done. Well, a properly cooked Eggs Benedict should be over easy, but I’m not fond of the runny yellow goo. The sauce was good, the muffin fine and I ate my egg white. I left a lot of yellow goo behind.
The next day was Sunday and after 10 there is a Champagne Brunch with an elevated price tag. They had an extra buffet table all ready to fill up with additional goodies, but we got there before 10 so we could get on the road and to avoid having to pay extra. On that morning I went for some cereal and a biscuit. OMG, that biscuit was good. There can be some pretty sorry excuses for biscuits on a buffet, but these were amazing. I only ate one and since I’m not fond of gravy had no problem avoiding it, but I really, really wanted another biscuit.
Saturday Night Seafood Buffet
After breakfast on Saturday morning, I noticed on the way out of the restaurant that they had a $34.95 Seafood Buffet in the evening. That sounded pretty darned good to me. We’d be at the Living Proof Event all day long and I just bet we’d love to come back to the hotel and veg. I was right. What I didn’t know was everyone else in the general vicinity was also going to realize this was a good deal. I’m guessing that most of the people we saw hanging off the rafters in the restaurant lived in Wichita and came out on a regular basis. They all seemed to have the drill down pat.
There really was all the seafood you could eat. From broiled cod to shrimp cocktail and mussels to crablegs, you could eat yourself into a stupor. I love crab legs and they were sweet enough that they didn’t need butter as far as I’m concerned.
Oh and dessert. There was a chocolate pie good enough for someone’s mother to claim. It had a denser meringue than my own mother made, but the chocolate and the crust tasted just like home. There were other delicious looking choices, like a chocolate cake, but that wasn’t as amazing as the pie. After dinner we were glad to waddle back to our room and call it a night.
The New Year is upon us. I hope itis going to be a good year for you and yours. Party hardy, but get home safe. And come back in 2016 for a little Wichita KS sightseeing.
TRAVEL THERE: A VISIT TO OLD TOWN IN WICHITA KS WITH DINNER AT JASON FEBRES’ TASTE AND SEE:GLOBAL CUISINE
The drive from OKC to Wichita has to be one of the most boring in the world. About the only excitement we had was gathering up change for the toll road. Things got more fun in Wichita. We found Old Town and then ate at a restaurant owned by a famous TV Chef, Taste and See.
Rolling Into Town
The first thing we had to do when we got to Wichita was find our hotel. Then we had to figure out how to get to the Intrust Bank Arena at 9 AM the next morning. I was hoping the hotel would be taking a vanload or two, but no such luck. We chatted with the bellman, but didn’t like any of his suggestions. It looked as if I’d have to drive down there and park. So as soon as we dumped our stuff in the room, we went back out.
Intrust Bank Arena in Wichita is not the American Airlines Center in Dallas, but I was paranoid about it all. (Am I the only one who hates having arenas named after businesses?) I didn’t want to be stuck outside trying to park while Beth Moore was inside the arena blessing the socks off everyone. I programmed Nancy the Navigator to find the arena and headed downtown. Deb tried to help Nancy and kept urging me to go ahead and turn left, but for once I ignored her. Come to find out, Deb had been trying to get me to the Convention Center rather than the Intrust Bank Arena. Nancy had it right.
I drove around a little more to convince myself that parking was not going to be an issue. Then we decided to explore Wichita a little bit. This time we turned Nancy off and I followed Deb’s instructions. She found a gas station and then got me to a parking lot in Old Town.
Discovering Old Town
Like Bricktown in OKC, Old Town in Wichita is an entertainment area. While much of Bricktown is new, most of Old Town is old. The first place we happened upon was Mort’s, which is a happening sort of a place, but it’s also a cigar-smoking place and my eyes wanted no part of that.
Deb in Taste and See
So we followed the map around to an area with several restaurants and landed at Taste and See: Global Fusion. Confession: We had no idea we had arrived at THE hot foodie spot of Wichita. For that matter, we had no idea Wichita was supposed to be a foodie destination. We just got lucky.
Taste and See
The hot foodie spot was not much into decor. Bare tables, concrete floors – a sort of diner vibe. At the back of the restaurant was an open kitchen with a lot of chefs. I’ve heard of too many chefs in the kitchen, but watching these guys seemed like a demonstration of just that phenomena.
Deb was in the mood for a steak and I just wanted to nibble a little bit, but first we wanted drinks. I chose Sangria. Deb ordered a glass of wine, but the waitress didn’t like her choice. After a bit of tasting Deb decided the waitress was right about the pinot being sub-par. I think she ended up with a merlot. My sangria was great.
Then there was the ordering. The tasting menu sounded amazing, but it was $35 and to get the paired drinks was another $45. I’m into a little splurging, but that was beyond my keen. So instead I picked out a couple of tapas. Deb chose a steak and she ordered it rare. The waitress took her order, but then a chef came and discussed the wisdom of rare and suggested medium rare.
The Famous Chef we didn’t know
The conference was a success and Deb loved her steak. I loved one of my tapas, the Cornucopia, but the Pizzettes had too much dough – as in the toppings were just about right, but sat in the middle of too much bread.
All the while we kept our eyes opened for Jason Febres, the famous chef we knew nothing about. Lo and behold, he showed up, but after chatting up a few other tables he landed at a large group about two tables away. He stayed there for the rest of the time we were there, so I never got the chance to help him out with his Pizzettes.
Of course we had dessert. It was some Oreo Cookie thing, which was delicious, but didn’t begin to compete with the not-so-trendy Lava Cake we’d tackled in OKC.
Time to Call It a Night
I’m glad we happened upon the ultimate Wichita foodie experience, but I have to confess that it was not my favorite meal of the trip. In fact, if we were handing out foodie awards, we’d have to give it to OKC, not Wichita.
We took another route back to our car. For a Friday night the area was actually pretty tame. Mort’s was rocking, but we could smell the cigar smoke long before we heard the live band on the patio, so I’m not sorry we missed that hot spot. Nancy the Navigator took us back to the Doubletree and we tucked ourselves in for the night.
Here’s a few more pictures from our foodie experience. Come back next week and I’ll tell you about the hotel.
TRAVEL THERE: BIRMINGHAM FOR BUSINESS
An Over Easy Arrival
jane sadek 