Tag Archives: restaurant

Partaking at the Prince’s Vineyard

Partaking at the Prince’s Vineyard
Partaking at the Prince’s Vineyard

Liechtenstein’s welcome guide recommended the Torkel Restaurant so emphatically that I spoiled myself with another multi-course affair.

This time, I booked ahead and arrived early enough that twilight had yet to darken the Alps. Floor to ceiling windows gifted me a front row seat to the majesty on display.

The venue hosting this fine establishment once pressed the wines for their prince, and his vines continue to flourish there. They certainly gave me the royal treatment.

Read the rest of this entry

Enchanted city: Tokyo DisneyLand

Enchanted city: Tokyo DisneyLand
Enchanted city: Tokyo DisneyLand

After a day of grazing on vendor snacks in DisneySea, we decided on more substantive fare and booked seats at the Sherwood Gardens breakfast buffet. “Breakfast” seemed like a misnomer – besides the usual selection of pastries, eggs, and bacon (from the West) and rice, miso soup, and salad (from the East), the endless countertops offered noodles and canapes, egg salad decorated with a tomato rose, hamburgers and fries for littler guests, not to mention enough fish, meat, and cakes for lunch and dinner besides.

We launched into our tour of the flagship park with a few eclectic rides: Star Tours, a drone-populated airport terminal so realistic that it roused unpleasant flashbacks to hectic travel; and the Pirates of the Caribbean. This water-based ride utterly immersed us in a bayou-like landscape as we drifted past candlelit tables — other DisneyLand guests, in fact, dining at the attached restaurant. Next we sailed right through a exchange of cannon fire, with a pirate captain to our left firing on the beleagured town to our right.

Read the rest of this entry

Magic kingdom: Tokyo DisneySea

Magic kingdom: Tokyo DisneySea

After ten days of wrestling with ticket vendors — online, over the phone, via app, at the train station, in merchandise stores, even at the convenience stores where Japan typically buys its event tickets — I gambled a last-ditch effort on asking at the park gate.

Though every other employee swore they would deny me same-day entrance (COVID regulations, naturally), when I presented my sob story in person, sanity prevailed. The beneficent attendants conducted me at once to a backstage office, where a smiling lady issued my ticket to the world of Disney.

Read the rest of this entry