Our cruise on the Viking Octantis continues.  Tomorrow, a tour of Halifax, Nova Scotia.  But before my topic of the day, wines, first, some Trump news of relevance. President Donald Trump was the one who announced a  10-day ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon .  Apparently, Hezbollah, too, will be included. The Commission of Fine Arts approved designs for a  250-foot tall triumphal arch , featuring eagles, Lady Liberty and a line from the Pledge of Allegiance.   This is a Trump-appointed board which also approved $400 million for Trump's White House Ballroom.   Will beome the tallest trimphal arch in the world, 86 feet taller than the Arc de Triomphe in Paris, twice as that of the Lincoln Memorial and almost as high as the Capitol. Planned for Memorial Circle on Columbia Island directly across the Potomac River from the Lincoln Memorial. My interest in wines keeps evolving.  Our New Orleans Ritz-Carlton Hotel room had a March copy of...

The 77th Tony Awards were announced last night.  From Lincoln Center and hosted by Ariana DeBose.   The winners ....and  most memorable moments .  We were in the middle of Broadway a month ago, and would have gone to see a couple of them had we known in advance these results.  I'll mention only one show,  Merrily We Roll Along. Music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim. First premiered on Broadway in 1981, directed by Hal Prince.  Totally flopped, and closed after only 16 performances. Returned in 2023, starring Jonathan Groff, Daniel Radcliffe and Lindsay Mendez.  Won four Tonys, with both Radcliffe and victorious in their slot. This the song from the show:   Merrily We Roll Along . Of course, there is the more traditional nursery song, also called  Merrily We Roll Along , written in 1935 by Charlie Tobias, Murray Mencher and Eddie Cantor.  Was used as the  theme song of Warner Brothers'  Looney Tunes . A film adapta...

This is Day 49 of our 53-day global journey.  Yesterday was a day to remember.  I would place it among the top three days we've had on this trip.  #1 was probably  Keukenhof Tulip Gardens  in the Netherlands.  Not sure what might else might be in this top list. We began with a 2PM lunch at Le Bernardin.  There are  13 Michelin 3-star restaurants in the United States , 4 in New York City.  So we sought one close to the Marriott Marquis, and was able to get a reservation at Le Bernardin.  We prefer lunches, and luckily enough, they offered this service. San Francisco has 3 and Chicago 2.  None in Los Angeles.  I went to Joel Robuchon in Las Vegas 15 years ago when it was on this list, but it got dropped in 2009, and that could well be because Michelin does not review Nevada anymore.  There are around 150 3-star restaurants in the world.  I've been to a few of these 3-stars on my previous around the world trips. A compet...