Food & Wine

From PARIS, France, Jan. 6

(Second of two parts)

From a few days in Chile, including Easter Island, Oct. 29-Nov. 8, 2009, here are our recommendations.

by Brad Shea, Rochester, NY

My wife, Sandy, and I have visited various regions of Italy, and we always had a desire to take cooking lessons there. We know about preparing pasta dishes, but there’s much more to Italian cooking than pasta, so we started researching cooking classes in Bologna, considered by many the culinary capital of Italy.

My wife, JoAnn, and I have taken many cruises but never one on any of Europe’s rivers, so when we saw that Uniworld (Los Angeles, CA; 800/733-7820) had introduced the 160-passenger River Beatrice in March ’09, with 7-night cruises along the Danube, we decided to go.

Most visitors to Paris go with a list of recommended restaurants, but I thought ITN readers would like a list of wonderful wine bars, part of the true Parisian experience. I visited all of the wine bars listed below from January to September 2009, most several times.

VIENNA, Austria, Dec. 11

Eating and drinking in Europe is sightseeing for your taste buds. Every country has local specialties that are good, memorable or both. Here are many of the fun experiences that stick in my mind after 30 years of travel. Seek out any of these on your next trip.

• In the Netherlands, try a rijsttafel (rice table), the ultimate Indonesian meal, with as many as 36 delightfully exotic courses, all eaten with rice. One meal is plenty for two, so order carefully.

by Sandra Scott