Delicious DIning at Il Bosco Davidson, N.C.

f you happen to be staying at the Davidson Village Inn there are several dining options that you can walk to. Il Bosco is one of them and it was our choice on a Monday evening in January.

We were the first ones in the restaurant at 5 p.m. when they opened and we were lucky enough to get Tarra, the daughter-in-law of the owner as our waitress. She is an amazing waitress, she explained everything in detail, could answer any questions that we had about the cheeses, the entrees and of course the wine.

We began our meal with an antipasti tray. You decided which cheeses, meats and accompaniments you want. We choose two kinds of cheese, a wild boar salami and two sides, candied pecans and mixed olives. It arrives right after the warm crusty bread and white beans with olive oil. 

Tarra had made cheese suggestions and I was very pleased with the choices. Saint Andre is a luscious creamy brie and the minionette was a harder more cheddar like option. The salami was excellent and not at all gamey as one might expect from wild boar.

We followed with a house salad which they happily split for us into two dishes. It is simple with a lemon vinaigrette topped with shaved parmesan and grape tomatoes. Light, simple and delicious.

For our main courses, we opted for the smaller portions of the pappardelle Bolognese and the sweet potato gnocchi with Gorgonzola sauce. Al loved his pappardelle, no big heavy red sauce here, just meat and pasta. My gnocchi was sinfully rich and delicious. I could not quite finish even the smaller portion.

We were too full for dessert but three amazing homemade cookies found their way to our table and we, of course, did manage to fit them in. I had ordered a cappuccino at the beginning of my meal which I sipped throughout.

We loved Il Bosco. It is a little formal, not overly so but not shorts and flip-flops more casual Friday work attire. Real cloth tablecloths and napkins, wine service and top-notch service. But of course, it was the high quality of the food that would bring us back and no doubt we will be back. 

To read about our stay at the Davidson Village Inn follow this link. 

Flash Back Thursday: Pitfalls of Online Booking

Most of us rarely use a travel agent these days. We can book most things ourselves online. You can get hotel reservations by using you computer, your tablet and even your smartphone. It is fast, convenient and at times confusing. 

Some pitfalls that you need to watch out for when booking online are:

Third party booking agents

Have you ever tried to simply book a hotel and found yourself on a third party site? Some of these like Booking.com and Hotels.com are fine and have competitive rates however, if you want to get reward credits, this is not the way to go. You may also find that hotels are not quite as happy when you use a consolidator, not always but sometimes. 

The problem with some other sites is that you may find yourself hijacked and charged booking fees. You should never pay a fee to book a hotel, seriously, you are giving them your business and you are going to be charged extra, I think not!!

You also may not be able to specify what type of bed you want. For me this is the most important issue, I do not want a double bed under any circumstances, it must be at least a queen or twins.

Overseas booking

When you are booking a  room outside the country, I am most familiar with Europe, I often deal directly with the hotel by email. It cuts down on misunderstandings and confusion. You will have the email later if there is any discrepancy. You also get to know the staff and it can be helpful, really in my experience as helpful as Tripadvisor in determining if this is a place you will feel comfortable staying. Always ask if breakfast is included in the rate, often it is.

In conclusion, always look your reservations over carefully. Be sure you are getting exactly what you requested. make sure it is the exact hotel you requested and check the dates and check-in policy. 

Before making the booking, read the cancellation policy. Often the lowest rate will not allow you to change or cancel your reservation. If you are sure nothing will change, by all means, grab this rate. If however, you are prone to changes, make sure your rate allows this. This is one area that is often overlooked and if you don't want to find yourself charged for a room you aren't going to use, be sure that you can cancel before you hit the send button. If in doubt, call the hotel directly using Skype.

A delightful stop at The Rumor Mill Market in Davidson, North Carolina

Are you someone who will base a trip around someplace that you want to visit? I am. I was watching Tiny House Big Living on HGTV one time last summer and they were decorating one of the tiny houses. They went to a store called The Rumor Mill Market. 

I had no idea where it was located but a Google search showed that it was in Davidson, NC. I popped up a google map of Davidson and found that it was just a mile off of I-77 which is the route we travel from Connecticut to Florida. It is near Lake Norman which was familiar to me since we stayed in Mooresville last year.  

Jeanne and Scot opened The

Rumor Mill Market three years ago and it has been growing by leaps and bounds ever since. It now occupies the space of three former businesses in an industrial building near the Depot on Depot Street. It is also an easy walk from the Davidson Village Inn.

If you like shabby chic, antiques, creative home décor or just interesting shopping, this is the place for you. At this time about 85 dealers are offering their items in booths throughout the building. They have also added a coffee bar where you can get a drink to sustain you for your shopping.

The booths offer a wide variety of items from crafts to vintage linens. I loved the items made by women in Thailand from Napada and spent a good 10 minutes just looking through the luggage tags, purses, small bags and other items. I love to help woman to support themselves.

I will admit that I started buying almost as soon as I entered the door. It is hard not to find something that will grab your eye and just beg you to be taken home. Even though I am traveling, I was unable to resist and I purchased at least six items and was barely able to stop at that.

I highly recommend that if you are going to be anywhere in the area, you stop by and browse through. I am sure you will find something that you didn’t know you needed.

Our Day at Weeki Wachee Springs State Park

I heard about the mermaid show at Weeki Wachee many years ago but have never spent a lot of time in this area of Florida. Now that we are spending the winter here, I decided it was time that we went in search of some of the attractions. I decided that Weeki Wachee would be the first place we visited. 

Our GPS took us on a route that went through several scenic small towns to get us down to Weeki Wachee, funny it took us a much quicker way home!! Go figure. 

I wasn't quite sure what to expect, I knew there was a mermaid show but that was about it. I was in for a pleasant surprise, there was a lot more to the park than just the mermaid show. 

We arrived around noon. The next mermaid show was 1:30. We hadn't had anything to eat so we went to the onsite concession and had a cheeseburger. It was quite good and well priced. The peacocks greeted us when we left the cafe, there are several and they are not shy.

The gates to the mermaid theatre open 30 minutes before the show, it is a good idea to get there early to guarantee a seat. We were among the first people to enter but chose to sit a little to the left of center. I wanted to be able to stand and maybe move around to get the pictures I wanted. 

We saw the show "Fish Tails". There is another show the "Little Mermaid".  The mermaids had pretty costumes, one set was red white and blue and they actually drank and ate while under water which is quite impressive. The show lasts about half an hour, I enjoyed it but having seen it once, it would not bring me back. 

What would bring me back would be the riverboat cruise. I loved it. It takes you down the Weeki Wachee River where you will see all sorts of fish and birds. We got a glimpse of the alligator on the island and best of all two manatee. I took lots of pictures. 

Buccaneer Bay is the water park which wasn't open when we visited. It will open again on weekends in mid-March. We also didn't have time to see the wild animal show. 

Weeki Wachee Springs State Park is well worth a visit if only to get a little taste of what Florida was like 50 years ago.

Florida: Homosassa Springs State Park

Wednesday Al and I took a drive over to Homosaassa Springs State Park. What a great park this is. Here is a small sample of what we saw. I will write an article about it later.

Taking a boat ride on the Homosassa River

Flashback Thursday: Casa da Mo Restaurant Lisbon, Portugal

You know how it is with us when we travel; it is all about the food. We had been joking for days about the fact that we hadn’t really eaten much traditional Portuguese food and we really needed to try the grilled sardines. Yes I know, why? But we had decided we wanted to try them.

When we returned from our day in Sintra we asked our tour driver Victor Emmanuel if he knew of a traditional Portuguese restaurant. He told us about Casa da Mo which was located just around the corner from our hotel.

We headed over and stopped in front to see if we could read the menu. Mr. Raoul came out and introduced himself and pointed out where the English menu was. It looked good and the restaurant was lovely so we headed in. We were given a table along the right wall with a crisp white table cloth. The menu had all the names of the items in Portuguese but there were English subtitles, luckily for us.

We did indeed order the grilled sardines, six of them. Three of us had two each; Jim had the vegetable soup which he kept telling us was delicious. Eating sardines obviously is an art which we have not mastered. There are a lot of bones and you have to avoid the head and pull off the spine. Once you have done this they are not bad, as we say, it was a "once in a lifetime experience". I don’t think I will ever need to do it again.

For our entrees Joe and I had the salted cod with onion, Al had steak Portuguese style and Jim had the pork loin. The meals were all lovely. The cod did have some bones but only on the top, the rest of the fish was juicy and delicious. It was served with small boiled potatoes and a bath of olive oil. The steak came with fried potato slices and a slice of aged cured ham on top. The pork loin was a little spicy and came with boiled potatoes and haricot vert. All the meals were excellent and service was stellar.

Mr. Raoul and Al talked and determined that Al’s father came from the same area in Portugal as Raoul did. Before we knew it little complimentary glasses of Ginjinha the cherry schnapps were on our table and the dessert cart had mysterious relocated right alongside of us.

Joe and I tried traditional Portuguese desserts a plum cake and an egg cake. Jim had sliced fresh strawberries and Al had chocolate mousse which in Portugal is a rich and very dark variety. Followed by coffee in tiny cups and a cappuccino for me this was a very satisfying meal.

If you are looking for a good restaurant with traditional food and prices that won’t send you into sticker shock I highly recommend the Casa da Mo. By the way, a mo is a millstone and the original millstone is on the right as you come in the door. This restaurant has been around for over a hundred years and is very good at making your experience special. You will also see plenty of locals which is always a good sign.

Festival of Sugar Maples McHenry County Illinois

First Rite of Spring in McHenry County, Illinois:

Festival of the Sugar Maples March 5, 6, 12 &13

In March, it's not always obvious that winter is winding down across northern Illinois, but maple trees know the season is changing. Their sap is rising, and that means it's time to make maple syrup. Commercially, Canada produces 90 percent of the world's maple syrup, and it's such a precious commodity that criminals hijack semi-loads of it.

But you don't need to cross the border to see how it's made! Just an hour's drive northwest of Chicago, the McHenry County Conservation District's annual "Festival of the Sugar Maples" makes it possible for you and your family to discover how it's done. The Festival takes place at the Coral Woods Conservation Area near Marengo over two weekends, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, March 5-6 and 12-13.

One hour tours leave every 15 minutes and feature the cultural history of the century-old maple grove and stories of how maple syrup was made hundreds of years ago. Discover how maple trees produce sap each spring and how the sap is collected and boiled down into syrup in the evaporator house. (If you wonder why real maple syrup is so dear, it's because it takes 30 to 40 gallons of sap to make one gallon of syrup!) End your tour with a taste of fresh Coral Woods maple syrup, some hot cocoa and sweet maple treats!

The Festival is free and registration is not required. All ages are welcome, but children ages 13 and under must be accompanied by an adult. Patrons are urged to dress for the weather and to wear shoes appropriate for hiking to the maple grove (about ½ mile, or six blocks).

Want some pancakes with your syrup? Fuel-up before the Festival at the Union Lions Club Annual Pancake Breakfast from 7 a.m. to noon, Sunday, March 6, at Smithwood BBQ Grill, 6517 Main Street, Union. Breakfast is $6 per adult and $3 per child.

School field trips are available March 7-11 and 14-17, by reservation for Kindergarten through fifth-grade classes. For details, phone the McHenry County Conservation District at 815-479-5779.

For more information and directions to the Coral Woods Conservation Area, go to: www.mccdistrict.org.

Plan an Overnight in Woodstock and McHenry County

McHenry County is just an hour's drive northwest of Chicago, bordered on the north by Wisconsin, and on the south by I-90. The Fox River winds down from the Chain of Lakes through the towns on the eastern side of the county, while country roads meander the western side. For visitor information, including links to the above attractions, plus lodging and dining options throughout McHenry County, go to  www.VisitMcHenryCounty.com or phone 815-893-6280. Follow on Twitter and Facebook.

Walking on London's Charing Cross Road

Charing Cross got its name because it was the location in London of one of the twelve Eleanor Crosses. These crosses were erected by a devoted husband, King Edward I, at every place where his wife’s body spent the night on its trip back from Lincolnshire to London. The year was 1290. The original cross no longer exists at Charing Cross; it was destroyed during the Civil War.

A Victorian replica of the Eleanor Cross is located in the forecourt of Charing Cross Rail Station. It has recently been restored and now stands again as a shining reminder of a love story over 700 years old between a king and his consort Eleanor of Castile. 

Charing Cross Road runs from Tottenham Court Road to Trafalgar Square. It is known for two things, having great book stores and theatres. Of course anywhere there are theatres; there will also be bars and restaurants.

Foyles

Foyles Bookstore has been a landmark on Charing Cross Road since 1906. This is their flagship store and for many bibliophiles, this is the finest bookstore in the world. Now having admitted that, it was never one of the easiest book stores to try to find a particular book. Many a book-lover has found a book they never knew that they wanted to own while searching for a particular one.

Begun by two enterprising teens in 1903, the current location is the third that the store has had on Charing Cross Road. For many years educational books were the backbone of this business. By 1929 they had expanded and claimed to be the largest bookstore in the world. During the reign of Christina Foyle, her poor practices with employees led to a loss of prestige.

Since the death of Christina Foyle in 1999, Foyle's has gone through a Renaissance and is again the successful enterprise it was always meant to be. Today not only will you find just about any book in stock that you might want (they have over 200,000); you too may find some you never knew you wanted. In 2014 they moved into their brand new location at 107 Charing Cross and now have over four miles of bookshelves and employ over 80 book experts to assist you.

The Garrick Theatre

The Garrick Theatre opened in 1889. It was designed by Walter Emden. The three level theatre can seat over 700. The first production at the theatre was The Profligate by Arthur Wing Pinero. In the ensuing years the theatre has been known for both melodrama and comedies. These days, all manner of production come through.

The Phoenix Theatre

Originally known as the Alcazar, The Phoenix opened in 1930. The musical Blood Brothers, by Willy Russell, had a spectacular run of 21 years here. Currenty Bend Em Like Beckham is playing.

Wyndhams Theatre

Opened in 1899 by actor Charles Wyndham the first show at the theatre also starred Wyndham and his wife. More recently Madonna made her West End debut at this theatre.

Gaby’s Deli

This popular Kosher deli offers a wide variety of options whether you are just strolling on Charing Cross Road or are wanting to grab a bite before you head to one of the theatres for a show. Good food and friendly service are the norm.

The Royal George

The Royal George is a pub that makes a great stop before or after a visit to the theatre or since they offer live entertainment, you might want to go there just to eat, drink, and hang out. They also offer a brunch menu until 2 p.m. in case you are looking for breakfast. They offer traditional English fare as well as chicken and waffles and chirizo hash.

Charing Cross Road is in the heart of the West End and comes to life after dark. During the day it is still a popular place with book lovers and diners. It is one of the many London streets that is worth a visit.

While I have walked this street many times I just don't have my own pictures so I have included one from Wikicommons of the Eleanor Cross. 

Return to Portugal's Cabo de Roca Photo Tour

Our guide/driver Victor Emmanuel took us to Cabo de Roca to see the farthest western point on the continent of Europe. It is a lovely spot and certainly offered a few interesting photo opportunities.

Flashback Thursday: More Brussels Museums

Brussels have received a lot of bad press lately but it is still one of the most charming and historic cities in Europe and well worth a visit. 

Located on the no. 93 tram line, the Musee BELvue is a museum dedicated to the history of the Belgian Royal Family.

For a combined ticket price of €10, you can visit the dynasty collection and the archaeological dig. I will always remember this museum fondly because of their dedicated staff. Not only were we warmly welcomed when we bought our tickets, but one of the docents spent a great deal of time with us recounting his personal encounters with the Belgian royals.

#BELvuemuseum

As you walk the beautiful halls of the palace,  you travel on a chronological trip through the brief history of the Belgian Royal House, beginning with Leopold I, who was the Duke of Saxe and Prince of Coburg Saalfed. He was the uncle of Prince Albert and Queen Victoria and husband of Princess Charlotte of England until her untimely death. He married the daughter of the French king two years after he ascended to the throne of Belgium, and so we see that the royal family is not really Belgian at all. You would never guess this by the love that is shown in the Baudouin Memorial.

The museum consists of three parts. The dynasty section has rooms dedicated to each monarch and their spouse. Each of the rooms contains pictures, mementos, and furniture. In the hall is a large genealogical chart where you can place each monarch in his or her correct sequence. On the first floor, there is a very moving video about the funeral of former King Baudouin, as well as a large exhibit covering his reign -- this is the second section. Fascinating as all this is, it pales in comparison to the archeological dig.

Have you ever wanted to walk through the streets of a medieval city? Well, here you can; there are streets and the foundations of buildings located under the museum and under Place Royale. This former palace of the Dukes of Brabant called the Coudenberg, had its beginnings in the 11th century and was destroyed by a fire in 1731. Subsequent building in the area caused it to all but disappear. This is probably the luckiest thing that could have happened because it has been spared total destruction and now can be enjoyed for generations to come. It really is like a city beneath a city and is amazingly large. The streets are cobbled, and some of the streets even have names. It is a fascinating walk through history.

I have to say, the Musee BELvue was one of my favorite  places to visit in Brussels and not to be missed by anyone who enjoys history.