Food & Wine

When my wife, Sandy, and I were in Carcassonne, France, in October ’11, we asked the clerk at our Novotel to suggest a great place to eat. He directed us to La Divine Comedie (29 blvd. Jean-Jaures, Carcassonne, France; phone 04 68 72 30 36), an unassuming restaurant/pizzeria on the main square near the center of town, just 10 minutes’ walk from the hotel. We noticed that the patrons were mostly locals.

In Torgiano, Italy, in the heart of Umbria, my wife, Rosalie, and I spent a few days at the wonderful, unique, 5-star Le Tre Vaselle (Via Garibaldi 48 06089 Torgiano, Perugia, Italy; phone 075 9880447, fax 9880214) in June ’11. This beautiful hotel, complete with a swimming pool and spa, was converted from a 17th-century mansion.

A friend and I took a dive trip to the Philippines, July 7-22, 2011, organized by A-1 Scuba & Travel Center (Englewood, CO; 800/783-7282 or 303/789-2450).

Is there anyone else out there who cannot brag about going around the world for years taking only a day pack?

I had traveled in Romania with the choreographer Theodor Vasilescu on his annual folk-dance tour in 2009. A group of us were eager to dance in Romania again in summer 2011, but Theodor was not available.

I recalled seeing (while researching a trip to Bulgaria) trips to Romania listed on the website of Penguin Travel (St. Orpheus 9, 1421 Sofia, Bulgaria; e-mail info@penguin.bg).

I spent a month in Brazil, Aug. 6-Sept. 5, 2011, to study Portuguese (June ’12, pg. 16).

To commemorate the 60th anniversary of D-Day, The Orangery restaurant at Kensington Palace and the New Armouries restaurant at HM Tower of London will feature, for one year only beginning June 2004, special World War II menus. The wartime menus, using limited amounts of ingredients as in times of rationing, will be available alongside the more modern menus.