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My companion, Judith Martin, and I traveled in September ’10 to Croatia, where she took a painting class. It was held on the lovely island of Korcula, an hour and a half by boat or van from Cavtat, a beautiful little port where we spent our first night. On the second day, we took a van to our destination and moved into a small but lovely pensione overlooking the sea.
The Wheel of Fortune. ’Round and ’round it goes. Where it stops, nobody knows. Here are the winners of our “Where Were You in 2010?” game. But, first, I digress — in the spirit of the moment, however.
I remember being in the famed Casino at Monte Carlo, Monaco. The roulette tables were overflowing and then I saw a sign saying, “The American Room.” Curiosity captured me and I went off to see what this “American Room” was. I peered in. All slot machines. Ugh!
Hampton Court Palace, several miles southwest of London, was the home of many monarchs, most notably Henry VIII. Costumed actors there reenact the Tudor world of his time daily, 11 a.m.-3 p.m., gossiping in the Base Court, meeting the king in the Great Watching Chamber, etc.
On the first Saturday and Sunday of each month, there is an exhibition of Tudor cooking in the palace kitchens. The Tiltyard café then serves up some of the food, 11 a.m.-4 p.m. (main dishes from £6.50 and desserts from £2.50).
A series of menu translator e-books is available for Italian, Dutch, French, Portuguese, German, Spanish and Swedish. Each “Passeport Gastronomique,” from Travelight Books, has hundreds of items listed alphabetically plus a phrase book (vegan and vegetarian phrases too) and a pronunciation guide.
Download each onto a Kindle or to a smartphone with a Kindle or Nook app. $6.99-$9.95 from Amazon.com or BN.com or your mobile Nook or Kindle store.
For travel situations where there’s little water to be had, Invisible Dry Spray Shampoo from Salon Grafix can get hair clean in one minute. The shampoo is sprayed onto the hair, allowed to sit one minute to absorb oils, then brushed out. The product is clear and leaves no residue. Available in drugstores, a four-ounce can may cost $7.99 and the one-ounce travel size, “good for about 10 uses,” $2.99.
The free app “Copenhagen Open” has information on the city’s restaurants, shops, attractions, events and more. The proximity of each site to your location is given along with a description, open hours, prices, contact info, etc.
From the city’s visitors’ bureau, Wonderful Copenhagen, preview the app on the website and download it to your smartphone by texting the code “cphopen” to +4522904000.
The city of Turin, which in 1861 became the first capital of unified Italy, in 2011 is celebrating the 150th anniversary of the Risorgimento (unification).
In AD 911, the Treaty of Saint-Clair-sur-Epte marked the creation of the Dukedom of Normandy in what is today France. 1,100 years later, more than 200 special events are scheduled to celebrate Normandy’s history and culture.
Events include jazz, rock and piano festivals, a Vintage Car Rally (June 22-26), Thursday night dressage exhibitions at Les Jeudis du Pin stud farm (June-September), an exhibit “Manet to Renoir” at the Musée des Impressionismes de Giverny (July-October) and a sound-and-light show at the 12th-century Abbey Le Valasse (nightly, July-September).
As ITN went to press, the State Department had travel warnings on 34 destinations: Bahrain, Japan, Algeria, Mauritania, Afghanistan, Yemen, Côte d’Ivoire, Mali, Eritrea, Libya, Egypt, Pakistan, Haiti, Central African Republic, Niger, Nepal, Sudan, Kenya, Somalia, Saudi Arabia, Chad, Guinea, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Colombia, Iraq, Burundi, Philippines, Nigeria, Lebanon, Iran, Mexico, Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, Israel/West Bank/Gaza and Uzbekistan.
For details, call the State Department at 202/647-5225 or visit www.travel.state.gov.
