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9 Curveball Co-Op Board Questions That Are Designed To Trip You Up

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sweat

The vast majority of co-op rejections are based on application packages, with the bad news delivered before a co-op board interview is even scheduled.

So once you've proceeded to the in-person inquistion conducted by a duly elected body of your potential neighbors, your chances of approval are actually excellent....provided you don't screw it up.

We've already walked you through some questions that co-op boards should ask, as well as what they should not. BrickUnderground's Big Fat Board Interview series--a collection of firsthand accounts of real-life board interviews--provides an even fuller sense of the predictably unpredicable terrain you may encounter. 

For our latest foray behind closed doors, BrickUnderground asked a handful of real estate brokers for some recent stumpers and their suggestions for hitting your answers out of the park:

1. Why are you downsizing? 

This question is a common one, though not one that applicants necessarily expect. While the typical reason may be due to a change in family size—or to trim expenses—you should keep the latter to yourself, says real estate broker Michael Signet of Bond New York Properties.

Put the focus on space -- not money.

“Co-op [board members] don’t want to hear you say that you want to move to save money. It's better to say that you’re empty nesters," says Signet.

2. How do you like your job?

While this may just be an innocuous part of your conversation, board members may be trying to get a sense of your overall job security.

“This is not the time to have a candid discussion about any existential crisis you might be experiencing at work,” says Therese Bateman of Town Residential, “so no need to cause unnecessary alarm with throwaway lines.”

Instead she recommends being upbeat and not disclosing any details. 

3. Are you interested in serving on the board? 

“I recommend neutrality in your response, should you be asked if you’re interested in serving,” says real estate agent Mindy Diane Feldman of Halstead Property. 

Lately, she says, some applicaiton ackages even ask applicants directly if they have any background or skills that may be useful to the board, which is new.

"It’s best to be neutral," she says. "For example, say, ‘If the board or the building thought that I could make an important contribution, I would certainly be open to discussing it.’:

But it's a bit of a balancing act. "You never want the board to think that you are aiming for a position," she warns.

4. Are you planning a renovation? 

Revealing the details of any renovation plans can be potentially concerning to board members.  For one thing, you never know who may live adjacent to your apartment and dread the disturbance of a renovation.

“It is best to omit details of your proposed renovation until after closing,” says Bateman

While you want to be truthful—obviously an estate purchase will require upgrading—it is best to instead say, "We are taking one step at a time and have no immediate renovation plans."

5. What are your political beliefs or with which political party are you affiliated? 

While this question is completely legal, it might be unexpected and throw you off your game.

According to Neil Binder of the Bellmarc Group, it’s best to remain neutral whenever possible, especially if you’re asked about a specific issue. “I suggest that buyers attempt to take a very neutral position on political matters by saying that it’s an important issue and you’re still considering the facts," he says.

“I actually guide my clients when I am [instructing them about] getting their reference letters not to get anything that has a political bent to it,” says Feldman. 

6. Do you have parties or entertain often? 

This question is quite common--and it's not a popularity test. It's a disturbance of the peace predictor.

Tom Stuart of Bond New York suggests saying, “We enjoy having occasional dinners with close friends” and leaving it at that. 

7. What do you do in your spare time? 

While it seems innocent enough, this question can literally hang you if you give yourself enough rope.

Bateman has three easy suggestions when fielding this one: “Keep it clean, keep it simple, and keep it quiet,” meaning now is not the time to tell the board about your plans for learning the clarinet. 

8. Why did you choose this apartment/neighborhood? 

“This is an opportunity to be complimentary,” offers Bateman. “Don’t bog down your response with a blow-by-blow description of the 30 apartments that you saw before this one, or that it is the only one you could afford.” 

Generally speaking, Feldman agrees. "Don’t let this one encourage you to overshare. In fact, there are times when boards don’t phrase a question as a question, and that can take people off guard. That’s why we always advise clients to be cordial and not chatty,” she explains. 

9. Do you have any questions? 

While in other forums it is often useful to have questions at the ready as a demonstration of your interest, you really shouldn’t raise them during a co-op interview.

“Boring is good,” says Feldman. “A co-op interview is not a job interview—people do not have to fall in love with you. For instance, when the board asks you if you have any questions, say, ‘None that I can think of right now, but I’ll be sure to get back to you if any should occur.’ It is neverabout keeping the conversation going, as it often is at a job interview.”

Finally, never ask about the board’s decision at the time of your interview. Instead say something like "We look forward to hearing from you."

Related posts:

To pass your co-op board interview, read this first

What co-op boards should ask (and tell) buyers at an interview (sponsored)

How to buy a NYC apartment

How to spin a board interview

5 questions the co-op board shouldn't ask you (sponsored)

Big Fat Board Interview series

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This Ugly Sweater Bills Itself As The Ultimate Contraceptive

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This is the Safe-Sex Sweater from Firebox.

Why We Love It: "It's always good to be prepared," jokes the product description of this sweatshirt on the Firebox website. The unisex sweater is decorated with pictures of condoms and condom wrappers, but is actually just made of polyester with "ribbed for your pleasure" cuffs.

And though shirts may not be a medically recognized way to keep babies and STDs at bay, the company does promise that you will only have a 1% chance of getting laid while wearing it — making your odds of getting pregnant or getting someone else pregnant lower than actual condoms!

 

Condom sweater

Condom sweater

Where To Buy: Available through the Firebox website.

Cost: $62.79.

Want to nominate a cool product for Stuff We Love? Send an email to Megan Willett at mwillett@businessinsider.com with "Stuff We Love" in the subject line.

SEE ALSO:  This Travel Grooming Kit Is Not Much Bigger Than A Wallet

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Great Romantic Restaurants In 10 Major Cities Around The Country

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women drinking wine on a date

With Valentine's Day less than a week away, it's time to get a restaurant reservation on the calendar, if you haven't already.

The food-loving editors at Zagat shared their picks for must-try romantic restaurants in 10 major cities around the country, giving us two options in each place.

These romantic restaurants are definitely worth a visit, on Valentine's Day or for any other special occasion.

ATLANTA: Canoe

4199 Paces Ferry Road

Food: 27
Service: 27
Cost: $50

Chef Carvel Gould serves up exceptional food at this upscale restaurant overlooking the Chattahoochee River. Prices are high, but the service and setting make it worth your while.

 



ATLANTA: Bacchanalia

1198 Howell Mill Road

Food: 29
Service: 28
Cost: $111

Consistently one of the top-rated restaurants in Atlanta, this New American hotspot has a great wine list, stellar staff, and retro-chic interior.



AUSTIN: Peche

208 W. 4th Street

Food: 24
Service: 21
Cost: $38

Order a retro-style cocktail made with absinthe while you dine on seasonal French cuisine at this trendy restaurant in Austin's Warehouse District.

 



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A Candid Look At Revel, The Hot New Hotel On The Atlantic City Boardwalk

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revel atlantic city casino

This post originally appeared at Oyster.com.

he newest hotel on Atlantic City’s boardwalk, Revel is a pristine luxury property with a smoke-free policy that helps keep its casino fresh and airy.

The spacious rooms are top-notch: All feature ocean views from floor-to-ceiling windows, sexy bathrooms with double vanities and large showers, and tech-friendly amenities such as massive flat-screen TVs, remote-controlled lights and shades, free Wi-Fi, and even door sensors that let staff know when room service carts have been pushed into the hallway.

The resort has everything that other luxury properties in Atlantic City offer, such as numerous celebrity chef-helmed restaurants, several nightclubs, a theater, a pool, and a beautiful spa, but Revel offers a more serene vibe.

Plus, it has the celeb factor: Beyonce and Kanye West (who infamously announced Kim Kardashian’s pregnancy during a performance at the hotel), and even Michelle Obama, have all stayed here.

Like at other resorts, however, the restaurants are overpriced and there are long lines at the nightclubs, but fist-pumping locals and visiting bachelor and bachelorette parties would argue that it’s worth the wait.

Editor's note: Oyster's hotel investigators shot all these photos on location themselves, so what you see is what you get.

The lobby has numerous corners for lounging and chatting.



An expansive front desk means check-in moves quickly.



The property is enormous.



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10 Dogs Who Photobombed Real Estate Listing Photos

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Dogs photobombin real estate pics, Estately

Real estate photos can capture the essence of a home to give you an idea of what it could be like to live there, but these photos can also sometimes capture the spontaneity of life.

Like if your dog walks in on the shot, for example.

Our friends at Estately.com came across a number of photos in their listings where the family pet wanted in on the action. These dogs are definitely not camera shy.

This dog does NOT want you in HIS pool at a Yorba Linda, Calif. home.

See the listing for this property at Estately.com.



The movie "Beethoven" could have been filmed at this house in Hoquiam, Wash.

See the listing for this property at Estately.com.



This home in Preston, Wash. comes with its very own second-floor-guarding dog.

See the listing for this property at Estately.com.



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Our 6-Week Family Trip To The Far Corners Of China Was Nothing Like I Expected It To Be

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great wall of china unrestored sectionThe challenge was a six-week trip around the tourist-free parts of China with two feral children, no guide and not a word of Mandarin. Sara Wheeler was relieved at and surprised by the warm welcome that awaited her family.

Over the course of six weeks traveling independently in China, I must have bought my sons 20 plastic footballs. Whenever the pair of them started a kickabout next to a rice paddy, two teams quickly assembled. A football pulled like a magnet.

Once, the boys started fooling around with a ball in a courtyard of the Labrang Monastery on the Tibetan plateau, among the most important Buddhist centres in the world. Within minutes, young monks fluttered out like starlings, hitching up crimson robes and racing for the ball.

A country that bans Facebook is a dicey choice for a family holiday if you are in possession of a 15-year-old. Besides that, both said teen and his 10-year-old sibling are appallingly badly behaved – almost feral – and their father and I wondered what disciplinarian Chinese parents would make of them (and of us).

But the boys adapted to China from the first day, and it turned out to be the perfect destination for an outdoorsy family with a flexible approach to lavatorial arrangements.

We used the services of tour operators both here and in China but never travelled in a group, and we did most of the research ourselves using Lonely Planet and the internet. This was time-consuming, and not for the faint-hearted. I was determined not to race around ticking off sights – indeed I was keen to avoid sights.

We decided to begin in Hong Kong and end in Beijing, and chose three regions in between, picking out the most interesting rural corner of each. For the most part we travelled by bus, or hired a car and driver, or took a soft sleeper compartment (ruan wo) on a night train, and we stayed in simple guesthouses – some very simple (two had no bathrooms at all). Every couple of weeks we indulged in a spot of luxury. We booked trains, buses and some accommodation via the brilliant Chengdu-based tour operator Yu Ying at Navo Tour. Crucially, the obliging Mr Yu spoke good English; it took a lot of web-trawling to find him.

To prepare for this article, I asked my crew to choose the highlight of the whole eventful six weeks. Three of us chose Baoshan in the north-west of Yunnan. (Younger son, Reg, dissented. He chose the Wii console in his room at the Hong Kong Mandarin Oriental.)

The poor province of Yunnan nestles in the dent between Burma, Vietnam and Laos on China’s distant south-west frontier. Perched on a natural citadel overlooking the Yangtze, and edging into the foothills of the Himalayas, Baoshan village has no roads, and we had to walk the last leg. Our guesthouse had a squatter loo, no coffee and a murderously loud rooster that lived in a permanent dawn.

But for three days I sat high above a bend in the Yangtze, watching the river change from milky coffee to silver at a thousand-year-old trading post on the Tea Horse Road (Chama Dao), where caravans once took tea west to Tibet and India, and brought horses back east to China.

In the Baoshan shop (there was only one), cash was stored in a washing-up bowl, and behind the counter a poster advertising China Mobile had peeled away to reveal a faded slogan from the Cultural Revolution: 'Zao Fan You Li' – 'To rebel is justified’.

Our mud-brick homestay guesthouse, Mr Moo’s, abutted the ancient entrance gate where people gathered to smoke Tibetan pipes and play cards. Like everyone in Baoshan, they were Naxi (pronounced 'Nashi’), members of a 250,000-strong tribe of nature-worshippers with the only pictographic script still in use in the world. The older ones had never learnt to speak Mandarin. One, Mrs Lao, a spritely 75-year-old with a face so wrink­led it was smooth, guided us along thin paths down to the Yangtze and through purple Himalayan saxifrage on the mountainsides beyond. The landscape unfurled like a painted Ming scroll. Every 10 minutes, the Katy Perry ringtone on Mrs Lao’s mobile phone went off.

In Baoshan my boys peered in at open windows where a woman was washing up in a tin basin or weaving on a loom, something that as an adult I could never do on the grounds that it’s nosey. People invited them in, and they returned chattering with news. They learnt a couple of dozen words of both Mandarin and Naxi. Wherever we were in China, people involved them warmly. At a noodle shop in Lige on Lake Lugu in Yunnan, Reg performed with the resident drummer, and when we went for a walk before breakfast in Wenqian two boys leading water buffalo gave Reg and Wilf a ride.

In Huang San on the outskirts of Lijiang, the ancient Naxi capital, I took a translator to interview a dongba, a Naxi shaman (the religion evolved from Tibetan Bon Buddhism). The 40-year-old He Kai sported a Dalí moustache and oiled hair and wore an elaborate gold waistcoat over scarlet robes. We sat round a fire in his single room while he tugged on a 4ft-long pipe with a cigarette poked in the end. Paintings of Naxi animal spirits danced across the walls. Mr He is a sixth-generation dongba. I asked him what his role involved.

'I speak to the spirits on behalf of the people,’ he said. 'I give advice on failing harvests, and conduct ceremonies – weddings, funerals, prayers for convalescence, that kind of thing. At festivals I pray for good fortune.’ He had never been to school. 'As a child I used to go around the mountain villages with my grandpa, who was also the medicine man.’

He had to beg for several years while learning the Naxi script, which only the priestly caste writes and reads. I asked if he would write me something, and he brought out a bundle of the insect-resistant paper that the Naxi have made for generations, and started writing – painting, rather, as he used a brush.

'Red Guards destroyed most of our books in the Cultural Revolution,’ he said as sweeping hieroglyphics crept across the paper, 'and either killed dongbas or compelled them to abandon their profession.’ The Naxi had never really recovered from the murderous horrors of the Cultural Revolution.

'I worry about the future,’ Mr He said. 'There are only 30 dongbas left. In village classrooms, Naxi children have to speak Mandarin.’ The government in Beijing boasts about 'one big family’, but the Goddess of Democracy statue hoisted in Tiananmen Square in 1989 has yet to be made flesh.

The trouble with a six-week family holiday is the generalised impossibility of getting away from one’s family. I developed a keen eye for the women-only thermal baths in Yunnan – basically a roof over a tiled hot spring.

In a one-yak village in the north-west, I bathed with women who cleaned one another’s backs with a kitchen scrubbing brush and unravelled topknots to soap long black hair. When they had finished, they washed their knickers in the same water. They were friendly, gesturing the best place to stand to feel the impact of the flowing water, and stared at my DD poitrine, never having seen such enormous appendages. When they felt more confident, and sufficient smiles had been exchanged, they asked if they could touch them. The roof was an arch of dirty glass and the afternoon sun slanted on to cobwebs and cracked plaster, and on to the girls’ spent shampoo sachets floating on the surface of the sudsy water.

It was not one long idyll. Road travel is hazardous. No Chinese driver would dream of stopping at a pedestrian crossing, and fatalities are epic in scale – on a two-hour journey outside Beijing we passed three accidents, one of which had resulted in a pair of corpses on the tarmac. On the four-hour minibus trip from Lijiang to Baoshan, the driver chain-smoked and talked on his phone, even on the hairpin bends. As for the horn – according to the China-watcher Peter Hessler, it is a neurological extension of a driver’s nervous system. Neither is public transport infallible. On a six-hour bus ride to Lake Lugu, two of us had to sit in the aisle. A plane journey from Hong Kong to Guilin was delayed for nine hours. And so it went on.

Now we must come to matters lavatorial. Squatters are de rigueur outside metropolitan areas (and often within them – the gleaming new Kunming airport has no sit-downs), and I broke fresh personal ground at a bus station in Guanxi when I entered a two-at-a-time lavatory and crouched next to a stranger.

More seriously, we went for weeks without meeting a single person who spoke English, which makes independent travel hellishly fraught. Even urban taxi drivers don’t recognise the most basic proper names, and we quickly learnt that we had to have everything written down in Mandarin. If, like me, you have not a single character of Mandarin in your repertoire, you have to plan ahead, collaring English speakers in advance to write out a list of toponyms. The byzantine transport systems were similarly hard to navigate with one’s tongue tied. Catching a bus from Lijiang, for example, involved a baffling search for the numberplate at an apparently random starting point that turned out to be the starting point of hundreds of other buses. We learnt to station ourselves at four different spots, goggling attentively.

Nor was China solely wondrous to behold. Large-scale, high-rise construction was under way in every province. Entire districts were rising, yet tens of thousands of tower blocks stood empty. Inflation runs at 8-10 per cent in China, whatever official figures say, and nobody knows what will happen when the property bubble bursts and the ideological battle between Maoists and modernisers approaches an endgame. I was glad that my kids could see China now.

In addition, you don’t get to be the world’s largest energy producer without belching out a lot of crap (not to mention irreversibly poisoning the water table). In Xining, in Xi’an, in Beijing, the traffic was filthy, metaphorically, the pollution filthy, literally. The headlong rush to develop has pushed so far west that it is even approaching our small Yunnan paradise. High up in Mr Moo’s eyrie, as I watched the Yangtze change colour, I contemplated a gash through the Himalayan yew on the mountainside. It was a dirt road, inching nearer.

Food in China is completely different from the gloopy monosodium-glutamated gunk often served in Britain. Street food was universally tasty, and at guesthouses such as Mr Moo’s we ate vegetables from the garden, eggs laid that morning, and pork from the last pig slaughtered, all freshly wok’d. Again though, much is not for the faint-hearted.

Before trekking from Yunnan into Sichuan, we accompanied our guide on a shopping expedition. He led us down an alley to a chicken yard where he proceeded to hold up live fowls for us to select. Bunnies hopped all around and he suspended one of those by its ears too, but the boys howled, so we did without roast rabbit.

After that challenge we returned to Lijiang and indulged at the gorgeous Banyan Tree in 'Over-the-Bridge Black Fish’, a grouper that swims in the meltwater of the sacred Jade Dragon Snow Mountain before turning into an esteemed delicacy served in thin raw slices dropped into broth at the table.

It was not altogether a relaxing trip, at least for the adults. Although my partner and I had planned as thoroughly as we could before departure, we were still obliged to spend long evenings hunched over the map of China and our soon tattered guidebook, often in the flickering light of a kerosene lantern. When we got stuck, and needed advice on how to establish which bus was ours, we rang Mr Yu, the tour operator at Navo, on our mobiles (coverage off the beaten track is better than it is in Europe).

I would recommend everything we did, if you have an appetite for adventure. On reflection, it wasn’t really too hard. We were surprised at the Chinese warmth and capacity for friendliness – I think we had been expecting the foreign-devil treatment, and nothing could have been further from reality. As for cost: in rural areas we lived easily for £25 per head per day, including accommodation. The 11-hour train journey from Xi’an to Beijing costs between £30 and £82 one way, depending on class; children under 120cm travel free, and those measuring 120-150cm go half-price. Buses are super-cheap. As for luxury, China does five-star in style. At journey’s end in Beijing the Opposite House in the Sanlitun district dazzled us all: cutting-edge artworks in the cavernous atrium, football-pitch rooms, brushed-steel pool – one felt quite the country cousin.

The children learnt that it was more rewarding to discover China for themselves than have a tour guide lead them by the nose. However, it was worth throwing money at some things. We had saved the Great Wall as a grand finale, but as Chinese tourists travel in multitudinous herds, the wall is impossible at its nearest points to Beijing.

On our penultimate day we lashed out on a day trip with an English-speaking guide, a private minibus and a packed lunch, and headed to Jinshanling in Hebei province a couple of hours north-east of the capital to walk a 10.5km section of the wall. Some of the brick cladding had broken away revealing the original tamped earth, a beacon tower had collapsed entirely, and the floor was badly cracked up in places, but for a whole afternoon we had the fabled wall to ourselves, and the watchtowers on distant ridges seemed to be floating towards the Simatai mountains as the wall dipped and looped between its ancient Ming towers.

'I’m going to miss China,’ Reg said. 'But I’m looking forward to a Domino’s pizza.’

As the Chinese proverb insists, 'It is better to travel 10,000 miles than to read 10,000 scrolls.’

The Ultimate Travel Company(020-3603 9350; theultimatetravelcompany.co.uk ) can arrange bespoke journeys across China, both on and off the beaten track. An 18-day adventure, beginning in Hong Kong and ending in Beijing with an indulgent stop en route in Lijiang, costs from £3,850 pp, including BA flights to Hong Kong, returning from Beijing, private transfers, guiding and an exclusive Great Wall walk. Navo Tour: navo-tour.com

SEE ALSO: A Hike On The Part Of The Great Wall Of China Most Tourists Never See

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50 Awesome Culture Tours To Experience This Year

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One of the most memorable experiences in my travelling life was to be shown around the Prado Museum in Madrid by a curator of Spanish paintings from the National Gallery.

“This,” he said, pointing to a streak of light across the canvas of Velázquez’s great painting Las Meninas, “is my favourite white line in the whole of art history.” He went on to describe the extraordinary visual power of that simple stroke of white lead paint and how it illuminated and unified the image.

For the small group of us clustered in the gallery, he brought the painting to life in a way that no audio tour or museum guide can usually get close to. That’s the difference that a real expert and enthusiast can bring to a guided tour. And I don’t seem to be alone in appreciating this.

The number of expert-led, small-group tours that focus on art, architecture, history, music, military history and other cultural themes has grown sharply in recent years. Small, specialist tour operators such as Martin Randall, Holts Tours and ACE Cultural Tours have massively expanded the range and variety of their programmes, and they have also begun to introduce more exclusive arrangements.

Many of the better tours now include admission to houses and collections not usually open to the public, after-hours visits to the more famous ones, or the chance to meet curators. Meanwhile, the bigger operators of escorted tours have been developing their own range of cultural tours – often with bigger groups and a more general approach, but just as appealing for those who prefer a bit more variety and a little less academic focus.

Whichever approach you prefer, such holidays can be a great opportunity to learn and enjoy the culture and history of a destination, and they can also be great fun. After all, you will be among fellow enthusiasts – often a mixture of couples and singles, and of course you will have plenty of time to chat to the guide while travelling, eating and drinking on the tour.

Below we have picked out 50 of the best cultural tours for 2013, most of them of the more specialist expert-led variety, but also included is a selection of more general introductory itineraries (selected by Sally Howard). We have focused on overseas trips, though many of the companies listed also offer British-based tours.

See the bottom of the article for more tips and advice on choosing a cultural tour.

Art

It’s a big year for art anniversaries, exhibitions and major museums on the Côte d’Azur, in Amsterdam and in Oslo, and three of my selected tours reflect this. There’s also a particularly original tour to China on behalf of the Royal Academy.

Specialist tours

1 Art on the Côte d’Azur

This is a well-structured tour following key artists associated with the region, including Chagall, Picasso, Matisse, Cocteau, Miró and Léger. Gallery visits, a coastal drive, boat trip and walking tours of Nice and Menton combine with lectures by Colin Bailey, an art historian.

March 18-25, £1,895. ACE Cultural Tours (01223 841055; aceculturaltours.co.uk )

2 Amsterdam; The Rijksmuseum Revealed

Offering a chance to be among the first to see the restored Rijksmuseum (which opens on April 23), this tour is arranged by Tate Travels (in partnership with the Ultimate Travel Company). It includes two visits to the museum in the company of Robert Uterwijk, an artist and lecturer, who will explain the renovation and show the newly displayed collection of Dutch paintings. The itinerary also includes the newly reopened Van Gogh Museum, and a reception at the privately owned Huis Van Loon.

May 11-14, £1,368. Tate Travels (020 3582 1283; theultimatetravelcompany.co.uk )

3 Munch in Oslo

Celebrating the 150th anniversary of Edvard Munch’s birth, this is built around exhibitions at the Munch Museum and in Norway’s National Gallery. Dr Frank Høifødt, former curator of the Munch Museum, leads the tour, which includes a visit to the artist’s studios, where he died in 1944. These are at Ekely, on the outskirts of Oslo, and access is by special arrangement.

June 26-29, £1,660. Martin Randall Travel (020 8742 3355; martinrandall.com )

4 China: A Journey Through Chinese Imagery

This is part of a collection of expert-led tours arranged for the Royal Academy of Arts by the tour operator Cox & Kings, often with access to artworks that aren’t open to the public. The itinerary focuses on the influence of Buddhism, Daoism and Confucianism on China’s art and includes a special visit to the Chonghua Palace in Beijing.

October 6-19, 2013 and April 27-May 10, 2014, £3,995. Cox & Kings (0845 154 9073; coxandkings.co.uk )

5 New York: The Performance of Style

Inspired by Tate Liverpool’s Glam! The Performance of Style exhibition, this tour includes an exclusive early morning private visit to the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) to view Glam movement artists including Hockney and Allen Jones. Subject to confirmation, there’s also a private visit to Palazzo Chupi, the artist Julian Schnabel’s extraordinary, bright pink residence, built above a former horse stable.

November 7-12, £2,702. Tate Travels (see above)

General tours

6 Emperors and Artists, Italy

A great option for those new to the cultural treasures of Italy, this tour promises all the show-shopping Italian moments, from gondola rides in Venice to gelati in the Roman sunshine. It also offers a snapshot of Italy’s artistic legacy, including an expert-guided tour of Florence’s Uffizi Gallery; and the many artistic riches housed in the Vatican City at Rome, including that famous paint-job by Michelangelo.

July 8 and 22, from £4,489 (0845 485 1525; abercrombiekent.com )

7 Arts and Delights in Vienna, Austria

Vienna offers something for culture vultures of all stripes, with its plenitude of imperial architecture, classical music, and food and fine-art traditions. This five-day tour introduces you to Austria’s artistic and cultural legacies, from the architecture of Otto Wagner to the shimmering artworks of Gustav Klimt. Digest what you’ve seen in style, over coffee and Sachertorte, at the famous Hotel Sacher.

September 8 and October 13, from £895 (0845 166 7003; vjv.com )

Architecture

The distinction between art and architecture tours is often blurred, with many covering both aspects of a destination. Those selected below focus primarily on buildings and monuments rather than artworks.

Specialist tours

8 Norman Might, Baroque Splendours: Puglia Across the Ages

The historian Charles Freeman leads this “leisurely” exploration of Puglia, the heel of Italy. It includes visits to a wide range of monuments from medieval and later periods, and time to absorb the magnificent Baroque architecture of Lecce and the much lesser-known Norman cathedrals and castles of the regio.

September 23-30, £1,995. Ciceroni Travel (01869 811167; ciceroni.co.uk )

9 French Gothic Art & Architecture

In pursuit of the sublime, this tour explores the development of Gothic style, ranging from the 12th-century Abbey of St Denis , near Paris, to the great cathedral at Reims. The eight-day trip is led by Malcolm Oxley, an art history expert, and includes a full-day excursion to Chartres.

October 13-20, £1,990 including rail travel. ACE Cultural Tours (01223 841055; aceculturaltours.co.uk )

10 Painted Palaces of Rajasthan

Often straying away from the well-worn tourist track, this 12-day tour combines the great Rajput forts and palaces with the lesser-known, colourfully painted merchant homes of Shekhawati. It is led by Dr Giles Tillotson, an expert in the region’s architecture and history, and includes time spent exploring the gardens and shrines of Jodhpur, Nagaur and Mandawa.

November 4-15, £5,170. Martin Randall Travel (020 8742 3355; martinrandall.com )

11 Florentine Palazzi

A new itinerary focusing on Renaissance palaces and allowing access to several that are normally closed to the public. These include Palazzi Corsini, Lanfredini, Pandolfini and Capponi all’Annunziata. Special arrangements also allow entry to the Uffizi’s 16th-century Vasari Corridor. The leader is Dr Joachim Strupp, an expert in Italian art.

November 6-10, £1,920. Martin Randall Travel (see above)

12 Art Nouveau Brussels

Be prepared for plenty of walking during this in-depth study of the city’s period façades and interiors. Professor Werner Adriaenssens, curator of the Musée du Cinquantenaire, will give a private introduction to an exhibition celebrating the 150th anniversary of the birth of the architect Henry van de Velde. Colin Bailey will conduct the tour, and accommodation will be at the fin-de-siècle Hotel Metropole.

November 8-13, £1,375 including train travel. ACE Cultural Tours (see above)

General tours

13 Heritage of America, Western & Oriental

From the luminous palladian façade of the White House in Washington, to the gleaming skin-and-bones skyscrapers of NYC, the architecture of the commercial and political capitals of the US bespeaks the confidence that made America great. Western & Oriental’s Heritage of America Escorted Tour explores the two cities during a 10-day itinerary that also takes in Independence Hall in Philadelphia, where the Declaration of Independence was signed, and a night among the Amish in Lancaster.

April 12, May 31, June 21, September 6 and 20 and October 11, from £2,029 (020 3504 1714; wandotravel.com )

14 Beautiful Bruges, Belgium

Behind the politicking and EU directives, there’s another Belgium, with a history as rich as the mayonnaise served with the country’s defining steak-frites. Leger’s four- or five-day break introduces you to the charming canals and cobbled streets of Bruges, the august palaces and Grand Place of Brussels, and the piers and esplanades of Ostend, the “Queen of Belgium’s seaside resorts” where the Belgian royals once spent their leisurely summers.

Coach and ferry tour, departures May to December from £229 (0844 846 0808, leger.co.uk )

History and battlefields

The tour to Istanbul with the historian John Julius Norwich, though expensive, stands out this year (see below). While this is a quiet year for battlefield trips, the 100th anniversary of the beginning of the First World World War falls in 2014, and the bicentenary of Waterloo and the 600th anniversary of Agincourt in 2015, so you might want to start planning now for the next couple of years. Holts Tours is the leading battlefields specialist.

Specialist tours

15 The Ancient Greeks and Romans of Naples

Rupert Smith, a classicist and teacher, brings the stories of ancient Greece and Rome to life on this week-long Easter holiday tour aimed at families with children aged 11 and over. Boat rides and a stay on a mozzarella farm combine with trips to Naples, Pompeii, Amalfi and Paestum to provide a good balance of fun and education.

April 4-11, £1,630 excluding flights. Cazenove and Lloyd (020 7384 2332; cazloyd.com )

16 In the Footsteps of Alexander the Great

A new tour for 2013 that splits the previous 20-day Alexander tour in half, with part one launched first. It will retrace his footsteps across Turkey from Istanbul to Bodrum. The guide is Peter Sommer, who in 1994 walked 2,000 miles across Anatolia, from Troy to the battlefield of Issus, retracing Alexander the Great’s march in Turkey.

April 29-May 9, £2,650 excluding flights. Peter Sommer Travels (01600 888 220; petersommer.com )

17 Dambusters 70th Anniversary

Led by Major Alan Thompson, both an expert on the Dams raid and a pilot who has flown the attack routes, this five-day tour will include sites in England, Belgium, Holland and Germany associated with the heroics of Barnes Wallace and 617 Squadron.

May 15-19, £925 including coach travel. Holt Tours (01293 865 000; holts.co.uk )

18 The Normandy Landings

A four-day trip that includes visits to some of the most evocative of the D-Day sights: Arromanches, where one of the Mulberry harbours was established, Omaha Beach, Pegasus Bridge and the British cemetery at Bayeux. The guide is Rhydian Vaughan, formerly of the Welsh Guards and a member of the Guild of Battlefield Guides.

September 16-19, £1,095 including ferry travel from Portsmouth. Ultimate Travel Company (020 3582 1283; theultimatetravelcompany.co.uk )

19 Istanbul with John Julius Norwich

This tour, led by a historian with a talent for bringing the subject to life, includes special access to city museums and two dinners in private houses. He explores the legacy of the Byzantines, and the itinerary includes visits to the Hagia Sophia basilica and the Topkapi Palace. Note that £1,500 of the tour cost will be donated to EORTC, a European cancer-research charity.

September 27-October 2, £4,989 excluding flights. Fine Art Travel (020 7437 8553; finearttravel.co.uk )

20 Lost Cities of Caria & Lycia

With accommodation and travel on a traditional Turkish gulet, this is a relaxed and sociable cruise, though energetic walking is needed to reach some of the ruins. These include visits to many lesser-known sights such as the theatre of Kyaenae; the temple and fish-oracle of Apollo at Sura; Aperlae, with its well-preserved city walls; the pillar tombs at Apollonia; and Oinoanda, as well as Patara and Tlos. It is led by John Penney, Emeritus Fellow of Wolfson College, Oxford.

September 14-27, £2,900, excluding flights. Westminster Classic Tours (020 8286 7842; westminsterclassictours.com )

General tours

21 Taste of Turkey Tour

The Peninsula of Gallipoli, located in the northeast of Turkey, four hours from Istanbul, witnessed some of the fiercest fighting of the Great War. Today it bristles with monuments to the men who fell in Gallipoli’s brutal battles. This eight-day tour takes in the Anzac Cove, where Australian and New Zealand forces landed in 1915, the Gallipoli memorials and museum, and the tunnels used during the war. For light relief, there are two nights in Turkey’s ancient and atmospheric capital, as well as a stop-off at Pamukkale, with its calcium terraces and hot thermal pools.

 February to December, twice-monthly departures, from £759 (0800 088 6002; encounterstravel.com )

22 Royal New Zealand tour, New Zealand

Today considered the founding document of the New Zealand nation, the 1840 Treaty of Waitangi, between Maori chiefs and the British Crown, was one of the most peaceable agreements between expansive 19th-century colonial powers and native peoples. On this 27-day Royal New Zealand itinerary a Maori guide will illuminate the events that led to the signing of the treaty and its controversial implications. The tour, which covers North and South Islands, also takes in the country at its majestic natural best, from scenic vineyards to glinting lakes, greenstones and glaciers.

Monthly departures from Oct 13 to May 14, 2014, from £5,995pp (0161 236 2444; scenictours.co.uk ).

Archaeology

As with art and architecture, a fine line separates history and archaeology tours. The leading archaeology specialist is Andante Travels which has a very wide range of group tours, as well as some cheaper, self-guided itineraries all focusing heavily on interpreting sites. Because of the major exhibition Life and Death in Pompeii and Herculaneum which opens at the British Museum on March 28 ( britishmuseum.org ), several operators are offering trips to both sites during 2013.

Specialist tours

23 Pompeii, Herculaneum & Classical Campania

A chance for special, behind-the-scenes access to some of Pompeii’s private monuments and buildings is why this tour is among Andante Travels’ most popular options. Spring and autumn departures are led by a range of expert lecturers including William Manning, Emeritus Professor of Roman Archaeology at Cardiff University.

Seven departures March to May and September to October, £1,365. Andante Travels (01722 713800; andantetravels.com )

24 Art and Archaeology of Sri Lanka

A 13-night tour taking in important Unesco sights, notably the colonial city of Galle, first-century BC rock temples at Dambulla and the frescoes at Sigiriya Fortress, dominated by the 660ft-high Lion Rock. The trip, led by Hilary Smith, a cultural historian, offers a chance to get to know the island’s Buddhist temples, royal capitals and beautiful botanical gardens.

September 8-20, £2,715. The Traveller (01285 880931; the-traveller.co.uk )

25 Crete: Island of King Minos

Less-visited western sites, alongside the famous Minoan palaces of Malia and Knossos, are included in this particularly thorough, 10-day itinerary. Led by Dr Christina Hatzimichael Whitley, the tour spends three days in Chania taking in the Archaeological Museum, the site of Aptera and an excursion to the Samaria Gorge.

September 18-27, £2,100. Andante Travels (see above)

26 Jordan: The Land of T E Lawrence

Jordan is an excellent touring destination and many companies offer fairly standard “highlights” itineraries of the Roman and Biblical sights, Petra and T E Lawrence’s desert camp at Wadi Rum. This tour covers similar ground but is led by a highly knowledgeable guide, Dr Neil Faulkner, who has overseen excavations for the Channel 4 series Time Team and is best known for his long-running archaeological project at Sedgeford in Norfolk.

October 28-November 5, £1,979. Kirker Holidays (020 7593 1899; kirkerholidays.com )

27 Nile cruise with Kate Adie

Explore the best temples, ruins and tombs in the company of the veteran BBC correspondent, who will host the tour alongside a local Egyptologist. You sail from Luxor to Aswan on the Nile Lily, a replica of a 19th-century dahabiya, combining period furnishings with modern bathrooms and air conditioning.

November 26-December 3, £2,490. ACE Cultural Tours (01223 841055; aceculturaltours.co.uk )

General tours

28 Taste of Peru

Arising from the Highlands of Peru at some point during the 13th century, the Inca Empire, at its height, commanded much of the west of the land mass that’s now South America. Some of the world’s best-preserved archaeology stands testament to the Inca’s might. Explore the highlights of the extant Inca ruins on this eight-day tour from Kuoni, from the terraced town of Ollantaytambo at Sacred Valley, to the magnificent Inca fortress of Sacsayhuamán at Cuzco and the legendary citadel of Machu Picchu, perched on a mountaintop and one of the Seven Wonders of the World.

April 13, June 8, July 6, September 14, October 12, from £2,285 (0844 488 0326; kuoni.co.uk )

29 Man Fears Time, Time Fears the Pyramids, Greece to Egypt

In the millennia since humans first put down root in the lands that border the Aegean and Mediterranean seas, many civilisations have risen and fallen on these fertile and sun-blessed soils. This 19-day ocean cruise, from mid-market leader Titan, covers 5,000 years of human travail and triumph. You’ll see the imprint of the Greek and Roman Empires on Turkey, the Holy Land in Israel and the rose-red city at Petra in Jordan. The tour concludes in Egypt, with the pyramids at Giza and the spare beauty of the Valley of the Kings.

October 26, from £2,500 (0800 988 5823; titantravel.co.uk )

Music

Martin Randall and – more recently – Kirker have been the most inventive specialists in arranging a wide choice of tours – including the major international festivals, private recitals, and visits to the principal opera and ballet houses. This year – the bicentenary of both Verdi and Wagner – there will be the first of a small programme of tours organised on behalf of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden.

Specialist tours

30 San Francisco and Santa Fe Opera

One of the first tours organised for the Royal Opera House (but open to all) begins in London with a performance of Simon Boccanegra, and includes four more operas, notably Figaro at the Santa Fe summer festival, with backstage tours and talks by leading figures at all three opera houses. On the trip will be Marie-Thérèse Hill, a pianist and experienced opera guide.

July 3-14, £5,808, Royal Opera House Tours (020 3582 1283; theultimatetravelcompany.co.uk )

31 Savonlinna Opera

Celebrate the anniversaries of both Verdi and Wagner with these performances at Olavinlinna Castle, Savonlinna, Finland. The programme includes first-rate productions of La Traviata, Macbeth and Lohengrin, and the guide and lecturer is Simon Rees, a former dramaturge of Welsh National Opera.

July 16-20, £2,420, Martin Randall Travel (020 8742 3355; martinrandall.com )

32 Salzburg Festival

This visit to one of Europe’s greatest classical music festivals includes six concerts over five days, including four by the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra (one a performance of Verdi’s Don Carlo conducted by Antonio Pappano) and one by the Orquesta Sinfónica Nacional Infantil de Venezuela, conducted by Sir Simon Rattle. The guide is Professor Jan Smaczny, of Queen’s University Belfast.

August 10-16, £4,380, Martin Randall Travel (see above)

33 Bohemian Heartland:

Art & Music in Prague

This is not a purely musical tour, but it’s included because Prague’s musical life is so rich, and the trip includes the chance to book opera, ballet and concert performances. Led by Tom Duncan, an archaeologist and art historian, it includes private visits to important palaces and art collections.

October 22-27, £1,795. Ciceroni Travel (01869 811167; ciceroni.co.uk )

34 Verdi at La Scala, Milan

Kirker is offering several trips to La Scala; given that this is Verdi’s year, the one that includes two of his greatest works in three days looks like the one to pick. The productions of Aida and Don Carlo are conducted by Fabio Luisi, and the trip is accompanied by Sandy Burnett, the musician and former Radio 3 presenter. October 28-31, £1,290. Kirker Holidays (020 7593 1899; kirkerholidays.com )

General tours

35 Music in Seville, Spain

From tapas to bullfighting, many inventions synonymous with Spain hail from Seville. Perhaps chief among its gifts to the Iberian Peninsula is its music: from the stirring strains of flamenco, to the 30 operas and symphonies composed in the balmy Andalusian capital. Noble Caledonia’s tour illuminates the musical and cultural heritage of Seville, Cordoba and Jerez, from the scenes that inspired Bizet’s Carmen, to the bullring where Don Jose committed the murder of his beloved. En route, the London Festival Opera performs works associated with your location, including Mozart’s Don Giovanni, Rossini’s The Barber of Seville and a performance of Carmen at Casa Bailen, a private 17th-century palace.

April 30 to May 7, from £2,395 (020 7752 0000; noble-caledonia.co.uk )

36 Elvis and the Southern Sounds, Tennessee

It’s almost 60 years since an impromptu recording session at Sun Studios in Memphis saw a young Elvis Presley jamming with Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl Perkins and Johnny Cash. In the decades since this “Million Dollar Quartet” convened, the impact of the American South on popular music has been profound. Several escorted tours explore the Deep South’s pop musical legacy. For Memphis soul and New Orlean’s jazz try Travelsphere’s Deep South USA. For the “king” undiluted, opt for Archers Direct’s Elvis and the Southern Sounds, a nine-day tour that takes in the big man’s humble birthplace at Tupelo, the Grand Ole Opry at Nashville and the home that’s as famous as the man: Graceland.

Departures twice-monthly, from March to October, from £1,389; flights from airports across Britain (0800 668 1361; archersdirect.co.uk )

Gardens

The news this year is the start of a programme of tours organised on behalf of the Royal Horticultural Society and run by Collette Worldwide Holidays and Wendy Wu. RHS horticulturalists, garden curators and other senior staff will be among the guides. Sue Biggs, director-general of the RHS, used to be chief executive of Kuoni, so standards promise to be high.

Specialist tours

37 Grenada Gardens Tour

An unusual one this, but appealing because it is escorted by the gardener Suzanne Gaywood, who knows the Caribbean island well. She is co-ordinator of the Grenada at Chelsea exhibits. Guests will visit national parks and rainforests and both public and private gardens in Grenada, at a time when the orchids, anthuriums, heliconias and many more tropical plants, as well as spices, will be at their best and in full display.

Nov 21-28 and Nov 28-Dec 5, £1,799. Individual Holidays (01753 892111; individual-holidaysgardentours.com )

38The Beauty of Japan

This intensive 13-day tour, accompanied by an RHS expert, takes in Shinjuku Gyoen National Garden and Jindai Botanical Garden in Tokyo. Also included are the rock garden at Ryoan-ji in Kyoto and the great gardens of Kenroku-en (in Kanazawa) and Koraku-en (in Okayama).

 June 2-14, £5,249. RHS Garden Holidays (0800 804 8710; worldwide.rhsgardenholidays.com )

39 Brittany – Megaliths to Monet

Half the tour is based in Quimper, with excursions to three contrasting gardens, including the Parc de Boutiguéry to see its rhododendrons on the banks of the River Odet. You also spend two nights on Belle-Île exploring its prehistoric stones, walking the dramatic northern coast and visiting the Jardin la Boulaye. The tour leader is Caroline Holmes, a garden historian.

June 6-12, £1,960. Martin Randall Travel (020 8742 3355; martinrandall.co.uk )

40 Gardens of China

This is one of four special itineraries in China offered by the RHS in partnership with Wendy Wu Tours to celebrate the centenary of the Chelsea Flower Show. An expert guide will lead visits to gardens in Beijing, Xian, Guilin and Suzhou.  Sept 1-15, £3,890. RHS Garden Holidays (0844 288 2751; china.rhsgardenholidays.com )

41 Eastern Sicily

Private visits to gardens in the company of Robin Lane Fox, reader in ancient history at Oxford University, gardener and occasional contributor to Telegraph Travel. The itinerary includes palaces in Catania and Syracuse, the amphitheatre at Taormina, the Baroque town of Noto and a trip to see the Riace bronzes.

Sept 13-19, £2,985 excluding flights. Fine Art Travel (020 7437 8553; finearttravel.co.uk )

General tours

42 Colourful Costa Rica

With its “eternal spring” climate and many unique and discrete ecosystems, Costa Rica is one of the most biodiverse countries on earth. CTS Horizons’ Colourful Costa Rica tour carves through photogenic countryside, from rainforest jungles to cloudforests and lush nature reserves, during a leisurely 11-day itinerary.

March 3, March 31, Nov 4, from £2,195. CTS Horizons (020 7868 5590; ctshorizons.com )

43 Glimpses of India

The wonders of the Moguls still have the power to captivate, as this nine-day tour of the highlights of northern India proves. On the classic Golden Triangle route, the tour stops off at the Taj Mahal and Fatehpur Sikri, the red sandstone city built by Emperor Akbar, as well as the restored Mogul Gardens at Rashtrapati Bhavan in Delhi.

Departures monthly, excepting June, from £1,595 (0844 879 3960, transindus.co.uk )

Food and wine

France and Italy are, unsurprisingly, the most popular destinations, though really good specialist companies using expert guides are fairly thin on the ground. Arblaster & Clarke lead the way with by far the best selection of wine tours, but there are some interesting itineraries from other operators.

Specialist tours

44 Classic Alsace & Baden

Alsace wines are under-appreciated in Britain. This tour, led by the wine writer Andrew Jefford, is a chance to get to know them and compare them with German wines on the other side of the Rhine valley. It includes tastings at Hugel and Paul Blanck, and a meal at a three-star Michelin restaurant.

Sept 3-7, £1,675. Arblaster & Clarke (01730 263111; arblasterandclarke.com )

45 Gastronomic Piedmont

Piedmont, centre of the Slow Food movement, arguably takes its food and wine more seriously than anywhere else in Italy. This tour includes visits to Alba, the world’s white-truffle capital, and to several Barolo wineries, plus meals at simple trattorias and Michelin-starred restaurants. It also leaves time to explore the region’s art and architecture – which are also of the highest order. The lecturer is Marc Millon, co-author of Frommer’s Food Lover’s Companion to Italy.

Oct 5-11, £2,660. Martin Randall Travel (020 8742 3355; martinrandall.co.uk )

46 Gastronomic tour of Sicily

Peter Sommer is best known for his cultural cruises in Turkish gulets, but he also offers themed trips to other European destinations. This itinerary in Sicily takes in both gastronomical and historical highlights and is led by Marcello Baglioni, a cultural specialist, and Dr Michael Metcalfe, an archaeologist. It includes cooking classes, visits to local producers of cheese, olives, honey and wines, and numerous tastings, including one of traditional modicano chocolate.

Oct 5-12, £2,495 excluding flights. Peter Sommer (01600 888220; petersommer.com )

47 South Africa’s Winelands

This nine-day itinerary led by Nancy Gilchrist, a Master of Wine, includes visits to some of the Cape’s best and most innovative wineries, and discussions with the winemakers. You will also have time at the Cap Classique & Champagne Festival in Franschhoek and a jazz evening.

Dates and prices to be confirmed, but the trip will depart in November 2013 and cost about £3,000. Original Travel (020 7978 7333; originaltravel.co.uk )

48 Bordeaux First Growths

The headline price looks expensive, but this tour might offer one of the cheapest ways to taste first-growth clarets, which have rocketed in price in recent years. It is led by the wine writer and broadcaster Charles Metcalfe, and will include visits to châteaux including Lafite-Rothschild, Latour, Margaux, Haut-Brion and d’Yquem. You stay for three of the four nights as private guests at the excellent Château Pichon Longueville. The maximum party size is 10.

November 25-29, £3,899. Arblaster & Clarke (see above)

General tours

49 Great Capitals and Vintages of the Danube

Immortalised in literature and art, and in Strauss’s famous waltz, the Danube is one of the world’s most romantic waterways, wending eastward from Germany to eastern Europe, through Austria’s verdant Wachau Valley. This river cruise introduces you to another side of the Wachau Valley: as the region that produces some of northern Europe’s finest (and newly fashionable) white wines. You’ll visit the picturesque Spitz-Grotisch vineyard; and Dürnstein, where terraced vineyards frame the ornate baroque tower of the Stiftskirche (collegiate church). You’ll cruise on to the city of music, Vienna, before docking at Budapest.

Nov 10, 13 and 15 departures, from £2,295. Noble Caledonia (020 7752 0000; noble-caledonia.co.uk )

50 Caribbean Gourmet Chocolate Cruise

Perilous for the waistline, yet fabulous for the soul, Mundy Cruising’s 11-night Caribbean gourmet chocolate cruise offers an insight into the history and provenance of the world’s favourite treat food. The tour is lead by British chocolatier Chantal Coady. It charts the azure waters from the Dutch Caribbean Islands of Curaçao, Aruba and Bonaire, to Venezuela’s Margarita Island and cocoa-bean-rich Grenada, with on‑board talks and chocolate-making lessons en route.

Nov 5, from £3,395. Mundy Cruising (020 7399 7670, mundycruising.co.uk )

Choosing a tour: What questions to ask

Look at the itinerary in detail – does the place look right for you? How much is squeezed into the time available?

Is the “expert” named in the brochure or website? You should be given some biographical details and evidence of expertise in the subject of the tour.

What is the maximum size of the group? More than 15 to 20 and the atmosphere ceases to be intimate.

Be wary of information on tour operators’ websites. I found several to be badly out of date. All the companies listed will welcome telephone inquiries.

Ask about the hotels. Often they aren’t named in the tour description, but a good operator will tell you which they are, and whether they are in the centre.

If you are having to pay a single supplement, get the name of the hotel so that you can check, by looking at the rates published online, that the supplement is a reasonable one.

Which meals are included?

 Will you have to pay extra for flights, travel, entrance fees or tips?

Compare offerings from rival companies: the price or timing might be better, or the expert more appealing.

A note on tours and prices

Prices given are the lowest rate per person based on sharing a twin or double room and include return flight from Britain unless otherwise stated. Supplements are nearly always charged for single occupancy (see tips below). Tours usually include most meals, and nearly always admission charges at sights and museums, but check exact board and pricing details before booking. Please note that small-group tours can sell out quickly, but often a similar itinerary is available at a later date. Similarly, tours that don’t attract bookings may be cancelled.

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Is 'Gadget Paranoia' Blowing Your Buzz?

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smashed iphone

Until recently, I owned a mobile phone so chunky and ridiculous that people had started to laugh at it – including, memorably, the staff at the shop where I'd originally bought it. (In their defence, I'd had it since 2007, which is the Mesolithic period in phone years.) But if there's one thing psychology has taught us, it's that buying shiny gadgets is a guaranteed path to fulfilment, so I'm now the proud owner of a Nexus 4, a sleek, blemish-free slab of glass, 9mm thick.

Well, I say "proud owner". "Proud but with a background hum of anxiety" is more like it. Because it is, after all, a blemish-free slab of glass – which means I can never quite forget the risk of dropping or scratching it.

This affliction – some sufferers call it "gadget paranoia"– turns out to be widespread in this era of aesthetically wondrous smartphones, tablets and laptops, many either conceived by or copied from Apple's chief designer, Jonathan Ive. "OK, this is ruining my life," writes someone using the name Daikyouju at MacRumors.com, "and maybe it's happening the same to some of you, too. I'm tired of buying microfibre cloths and expensive polishes, just for seeking perfection in my Apple gadgets, and worrying too much about them. How can I get over this?"

This underlying phenomenon isn't new: we've probably all known people who keep the plastic covers on the sofa, or who won't open books properly, for fear of cracking the spine. But never before has such fragile gorgeousness been so basic a part of the daily routine.

What's strange about gadget paranoia is how the standard I feel under pressure to maintain seems to emerge, so to speak, from the object itself, not from me. I bought the phone for its functions, not its beauty; but I got the beauty, too, and now that demands upkeep.

There's an echo here of Nassim Taleb's advice, in his book The Black Swan, to stop running for trains: "Missing a train is only painful if you run after it! Likewise, not matching the idea of success others expect from you is only painful if that's what you are seeking." Since reading that, I've stopped running for underground trains (and buses). I'll break that rule if I'm genuinely in danger of being late. But the mere fact that a train's about to leave isn't a reason to hurry – just as the fact that a gadget's blemish-free isn't a reason to keep it that way. How many other such dictates am I unwittingly following? It's unsettling to speculate.

The standard advice to gadget paranoiacs is, in essence, to get over it (or buy a protective case). "A few knocks along the way add character," argues Jamie Condliffe at Gizmodo.com. "Those little scratches will remind you of things that actually happen in your life. I have a ding in mine from when I walked into a wall drunk. That was a good night."

Others tell of smashing their phones, then realising they're glad: the pressure's off. The easiest way to eliminate the stress of maintaining a perfect record in anything is to fail: thereafter, perfection's no longer an option. "I was at someone's house when they accepted delivery of their brand new motorcycle," recalls one contributor to the community site Ask MetaFilter. "First thing he did was reach down and grab a handful of gravel [and] throw it at the gas tank: 'There, now I don't have to worry about that.' "

oliver.burkeman@guardian.co.uk

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This article originally appeared on guardian.co.uk

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Adolf Hitler Had An Excellent Diet

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Hitler

A woman who served as Adolf Hitler’s food taster has claimed that the Führer was a dedicated vegetarian.

Margot Woelk, 95, said that Hitler ate only the freshest fruit and vegetables during the two and a half years that she was forced to check his food for traces of poison.

During the Second World War, Mrs Woelk, a German citizen whose husband had been sent to fight, was taken by the SS to Hitler’s Eastern Front headquarters in modern-day Poland, known as the “Wolf’s Lair”.

There, she joined a team of a dozen other women whose job it was to protect Hitler from any attempts to poison him.

She said: “Between 11 and 12 o’clock, we had to taste the food, and only after all of us had tried it was it driven to the headquarters by the SS.

“It was all vegetarian, the most delicious fresh things, from asparagus to peppers and peas, served with rice and salads. It was all arranged on one plate, just as it was served to him. There was no meat and I do not remember any fish.

“Of course I was afraid. If it had been poisoned I would not be here today. We were forced to eat it, we had no choice.”

Hitler’s apparent enthusiasm for vegetarianism reflected the Nazi obsession with Aryan bodily purity.

A Hitler Youth manual from the 1930s promoted soya beans, which it called “Nazi beans” as an alternative to meat.

In 1942, Hitler told Joseph Goebbels that he intended to convert Germany to vegetarianism when he won the war.

But although he referred to meat broth as “corpse tea”, he was not fastidious about declining meat. Dione Lucas, his cook before the war, claimed that he was a fan of stuffed pigeon and he was also known to be partial to Bavarian sausages and the occasional slice of ham.

His table manners also came under scrutiny. In a secret diary, one German soldier wrote: “Hitler eats rapidly, mechanically. He abstractedly bites his fingernails, he runs his index finger back and forth under his nose, and his table manners are little short of shocking.”

Hitler spent 800 days at the Wolf’s Lair between 1941 and November 1944, when he abandoned it as the Russians approached.

Mrs Woelk is believed to be the only surviving member of Hitler’s food tasting team.

Shortly before his camp fell to the Russians, she was smuggled out and helped back to Berlin by a sympathetic soldier.

“He put me on Goebbels’s train and I got out,” she said. It is thought that the other women with whom she worked were shot by the Russians.

In 1946, Mrs Woelk was reunited with her husband, Kurt, whom she had presumed dead. The couple lived together until his death in 1990.

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Baby Boomers Aren't Sold On Retirement Communities

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florida, retirement community, 1970s

Time was when retirement meant a move to a community where all your neighbors belonged to the same generation: Old.

No more. As baby boomers begin to retire, they're going their own way -- or ways -- when it comes to housing choices and relocation strategies.

"As they age, boomers are going to be doing a lot of different things," says John McIlwain, who just completed a housing report on the generation for the Urban Land Institute. "There's not going to be just one trend."

That may be especially true in South Florida, where so many residents hail from elsewhere.

South Florida boomers "form a lot of different slices," says Michael Greene, a Coldwell Banker broker-associate who has worked in the local market for more than 40 years. "Their choices really depend on their particular situation."

McIlwain's report, "Housing in America -- The Baby Boomers Turn 65," details how this 78 million-strong generation is creating both challenges and opportunities for the real estate industry. About 10,000 boomers reach Medicare age every day, and the over-65 crowd is predicted to grow 36 percent by the end of this decade, to 54.8 million --up from 40 million in 2010. By 2030, the total will top 72 million.

Because there are so many of them, boomers will affect the housing market for a long time. But how is anybody's guess. Some will stay in the homes where they raised their children. Others will downsize. Others may move to be closer to family or reduce housing costs down. And the affluent may buy a second home near the kids while keeping the old homestead.

Whatever they do, "two things are important to them," says Ron Shuffield, president of EWM Realtors. "I call them the two C's -- community and convenience."

Both come at a price, however, that some may be unable to afford after a housing bust and deep recession decimated their net worth. At a time when they should be retiring their mortgages, some boomers find themselves owing more than their homes are worth and unable to sell.

"The repercussions of the Great Recession are definitely being felt by the baby boomers," says Jack McCabe, CEO of McCabe Research and Consulting in Deerfield Beach. "Some of them took out home equity loans to finance everything from college to renovations, and now they're finding they just don't have the options they once had."

Numerous studies also show boomers don't have the retirement savings they need; a recent TD Ameritrade survey found that the average boomer is about a half-million dollars short.

"This generation has expectations that exceed its wallet," says William Hardin, professor of finance and real estate at Florida International University. "The reality is that a lot of boomers are going to be faced with fewer choices."

Even if Florida boomers have accumulated equity in their homes, downsizing may not make economic sense because of the Save Our Homes Amendment to the state constitution. It caps the increase in assessed value of homestead property at 3 percent per year, or the percent change in the Consumer Price Index, whichever is lower. While a 2008 portability law allows homeowners to transfer that accumulated homestead-exemption savings to a new place, those who have been in their homes for decades may end up paying higher taxes for a smaller place assessed at current market value.

Pam and John Admire considered downsizing to a downtown Coral Gables condo from their three-bedroom Coral Gables house when they became empty nesters, but changed their minds when they ran the numbers.

"I was ready to give up on the maintenance," says Pam Admire, 57, "but when we looked into it, the taxes on a smaller place were exorbitant. It just wasn't worth it."

When boomers do move, they want a simpler lifestyle. "They don't want the responsibility of a pool, a yard, something more to take care of," Shuffield says. "They're done with that."

Townhomes and condos often fit the bill. Two years ago, Silvia and Luis Moran sold their Kendall house with its big yard, Jacuzzi, butterfly garden and orchid house and bought, mortgage-free, a two-bedroom condo in West Kendall. It was difficult for the couple to leave their home of 30 years, but the savings were substantial, even when they took into account homeowner association fees.

"We wanted to stay close by, near doctors and everything else," says Silvia, who is retiring later this year. (Husband Luis, 60, who has Parkinson's disease, has already left the workforce.) "But we also knew we wanted to simplify our lives. We positioned ourselves for the future."

When you take into account taxes and insurance, affordability is a huge problem for those who want to stay here on a retirement income.

"If you're not affluent, it's difficult to live in South Florida," FIU's Hardin says. "When you look at it, you can move and retire to less expensive places."

The Carolinas, as well as Georgia and Tennessee, are growing in popularity, not only for those who used to retire to Florida but also those retiring from Florida.

For some South Floridians, moving out can also mean going abroad, often back to Latin America. "The wealth you accumulate here goes a lot further there," Hardin says.

If they move, boomers prefer urban areas and walkable communities where they can stay physically active long into retirement.

That's what Russell Robertt wanted when he moved from his condo in the Dadeland area. At 49, the Miami native searched for a more affordable city where he could continue teaching until he retired.

"I was looking down the road at what I was going to need," Robertt says. "I needed a bigger place so friends could visit, but I also wanted something that would allow me to save money for retirement."

He found that in Atlanta. Though his building is in Buckhead, an uptown urban area, the gated community has a large, woodsy area for walking and hiking.

"I just don't see myself in my 60s, sitting in my place watching TV all day. I want to be able to get out," Robertt says.

Because many have cared for elderly parents, boomers also know to look for amenities that are easier on achy backs and creaky knees-- one-story homes with wide doors and hallways, accessible bathrooms, good lighting and "flex space" that adjusts to a homeowner's needs over time.

And those with the resources are willing to pay for these amenities.

"Boomers are more demanding than past generations," says Greene of Coldwell Banker. "They want the luxuries that make their lives easier, things like granite or marble, not mica."

In the end, though, where a boomer grows old will depend in large part on what he or she can afford.

"It's not just the desire," FIU's Hardin says, "it's the ability, and that picture is something that's still unfolding." ___

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Manhattan Is Covered In Nearly A Foot Of Snow [PHOTOS]

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Snowstorm February 2013 Manhattan NY UWS

Here in New York we've gotten spoiled by a mild winter without any snow.  But we're learning to brace for powerful storms.

Swinging into town Friday night, the blizzard known as Nemo was taken seriously enough that my local movie theater on the Upper West side shut down early.

Up and down the coast hundreds of thousands lost power, 5,000 flights were cancelled, and the storm pushed all the way into Canada. The Telegraph reports Saturday's 70 mph winds will do nothing to help cleanup efforts and offers more storm details here.

Meanwhile in the middle of Manhattan we were met with a respectable covering of snow and headed out as the sun rose to see what was what.

The city's first snowstorm of the season had locals out and about enjoying the generous layer of powder up and down the streets.



Some had been up in the night having a bit of fun while everyone else slept



Around 7 a.m. people were mostly taking care of shoveling.



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The 13 Most Bizarre Towns In The World

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Deep in the California desert exists a strange, lawless town, where folks live without running water, yet create outdoor art installations and host concerts.

Jump ahead to see the strangest towns >

Slab City, CA, is unafraid to embrace its quirks, and it’s one of a rare breed of towns that draw travelers for their novelty factor at a time when the world feels increasingly homogeneous, teeming with high-rises and chain stores.

After all, we’re not talking about just an offbeat tourist attraction; these places take strange to a whole new level.

Consider Thames Town: the Chinese knack for knockoffs has spawned this full-on replica of an English town in a suburb of Shanghai, complete with cobblestoned streets and red phone booths. Have a pint at the pub, post the photo to Facebook, and your friends will be none the wiser.

In upstate New York, Lily Dale is odd in an entirely different way, attracting an outsize population of mediums and psychics who claim to reconnect with the afterlife. Steven Cantor, who directed the recent HBO documentary No One Dies in Lily Dale, tried to capture the town’s peculiar energy.

“There are dozens of psychic mediums strolling the grounds, doling out messages from the beyond, particularly during regularly scheduled, immensely popular group sessions centered around an old tree stump, which they believe to be a vortex of spiritual energy,” says Cantor. “It’s something you have to see to believe.”

That sentiment applies to each of the strange towns that made our list, perhaps most of all Elista, a Russian town almost as passionate about chess—an enormous board covers much of the town square—as it is about Buddhism.

If you’re inspired to go hunting for the unusual, you may not have to look far. Just outside of Tampa, FL, there’s a town popular with retiring performers who keep circus trailers and elephants on their lawns. Your hometown might even take inspiration from a place in Australia that went to unconventional means to put itself on the tourist map—by covering its buildings in dozens of murals.

While every town has a story, these strange spots have the best punch lines. 

See the world's strangest towns >

More from Travel + Leisure:

World's Best Beach Hotels

World's Most Romantic Islands

Best Carnival Celebrations Around The World

Best Affordable All-Inclusive Resorts

T+L's World's Best

Longyearbyen, Norway

There is no dying allowed in this remote Arctic town—well, you can die, but you can’t be buried here.

You heard that right: no body has been buried in the local cemetery in almost a hundred years.

Why? The perpetually frigid temperatures prohibit corpses from properly decomposing. Following the influenza epidemic of 1917, Longyearbyen banned burials in the town’s graveyard.

The local polar bear population rivals the human one, and it’s not abnormal for the townspeople to shoot a bear in self-defense (hunting is illegal).

Even after a polar bear takes its last breath in this mining town, it must also be sent away for its final resting spot.



Monowi, NE

Everyone in town knows the name Elsie Eiler, and it’s not just because she’s the mayor—she’s the sole resident.

The population had been diminishing since the 1930s, when this northern Nebraskan town had 150 residents, and by 2000, it was down to one couple: Elsie and her husband, Rudy, who has since passed away.

Now in her mid-70s, Eiler serves beer at the Monowi Tavern (with an official liquor license) and turned her late husband’s collection of 5,000 books into a one-room public library.



Elista, Russia

The king is threatened daily in this Russian town because here, it’s all about chess.

Play a game on the enormous chessboard painted on the ground in the Town Square or head to Chess City, a domed complex that hosted the 1998 Chess Olympiad.

Indeed, some of the world’s finest chess players have paid a visit to Elista, which is the capital of the Republic of Kalmykia.

Its other strange claim to fame is being the only Buddhist region in Europe; Elista’s chess complex includes a museum of Buddhist art.



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15 Fantastic Hotel Bars Around The World

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skybar lebua at state tower hotel bangkok

With incredible designer interiors and glamorous settings, these exceptional hotel bars provide some of the world's most stylish and sophisticated drinking addresses.

Ayana Resort & Spa's Rock Bar, Bali

Drinking at Ayana Resort & Spa's Rock Bar in Bali is a dramatic experience.

Guests access the waterfront bar, which is positioned at the bottom of a cliff face, by cable car and can hear the waves crash once settled at their tables.

Visiting at dusk is recommended as sunsets are often spectacular.

Ayana Resort



Beaufort Bar, Savoy Hotel, London

The Savoy Hotel in London was instrumental in developing the cocktail — you can read about the history of that enduringly popular beverage here — and as a result its long-standing American Bar continues to draw crowds.

More appealing, however, is the hotel's newer Beaufort Bar. Dramatically decorated in black and burnished gold, the venue specialises in cocktails and rare champagnes, and cabaret and music performances are often held in the intimate space.

Savoy Hotel



La Purificadora, Puebla, Mexico

The bar at La Purificadora hotel in Puebla, Mexico, does its best to cater to as many customer desires as possible.

It's on the roof; it's open air; there's a nice view of historic buildings; it was designed by Ricardo Legorreta, one of Mexico's most famed architects; and, of course, it flanks a glass-walled swimming pool ideal for guests who fancy a dip between rounds.

La Purificadora



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The Person Who Paid $16.8 Million For NBA Legend Pat Riley's Unreal Waterfront Mansion Plans To Demolish It

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Miami Heat exec Pat Riley sold his stunning South Florida mansion for $16.8 million nearly a year ago.

Now, the Miami Herald is reporting that the anonymous buyer plans to tear down the beautiful home and build a new one.

The home sits on an 80,000-square foot plot of waterfront property overlooking Biscayne Bay.

The buyer must have something spectacular in mind if he or she is willing to scrap this house.

The front of the home



The property is nearly an island



Now that's a pool



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Maker's Mark Is Lowering The Alcohol Content In Its Bourbon

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maker's mark cocktail Apparently, there isn't enough Maker's Mark bourbon to go around. 

The company's distillery is lowering the amount of alcohol in the liquor to meet high demand, reports the New York Post. 

Company executives sent an email to clients explaining the change, Pedro Oliveira Jr. reported. 

Maker's Mark is currently distilled to 45 percent alcohol by volume, or 90 proof. After the change, the alcoholic content will go down to 42 percent alcohol by volume, or 84 proof. 

“Fact is, demand for our bourbon is exceeding our ability to make it, which means we’re running very low on supply," executives said in the email reported by the Post. It's not clear when the change will happen. 

A New York bartender told The Post that the change was unacceptable. 

"Usually you're going to notice that," bartender Erik Lane told the Post. "If I started putting a half shot of water in the bottom of everyone's beer just to make the keg last longer they'd notice."

It's been a tough week for whiskey drinkers. 

A nefarious surcharge for drinking whiskey "neat" also came to our attention. 

SEE ALSO: 40 Horrible Fast Food Fails

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How To Buy Men's Jeans That Actually Fit

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jeans denim pantsFinding the right jeans is imperative to personal style.

Antonio Centeno at Real Men Real Style recently put together a YouTube tutorial on how men can find the perfect pair of jeans.

His first and most important tip? 

Watch out for vanity sizing. "I wear a size 32, does that mean I have a 32-inch waist?" Centeno asks. "No, that's vanity sizing and it means I have a 34 to 34.5 inch waist. It throws a wrench in everything."

Vanity sizing refers to when companies label sizes smaller than they are so that customers will feel thin and buy them. While the trend started in women's sizing (a size 2 today is really closer to a size 6), it's trickled over to men's apparel, Centeno says.

It also means that different brands could have very different fits. 

Pay attention to the rise of the jeans. The rise is the distance from the bottom of the crotch to the button. Centeno says that most men should stay away from jeans labeled "low-rise" because they make their legs seem shorter. 

"For most of us, especially men over the age of 30, low-rise is not a good idea," Centeno says. "What you want to go toward is more of a classic fit."

Make sure the inseam is long enough.

The inseam is the second number on the size of the jeans. Centeno says most men need to go higher than 32 inches. The last thing you want is buying jeans that are too short. 

"You can always get your jeans hemmed if they're too long," Centeno says. 

 Finally, pay attention to the bottom of the pants. 

Jeans usually come in straight-leg, tapered or boot-cut varieties. 

Straight-leg works best for most men, Centeno says. 

Tapered jeans have a skinny fit that don't look good with most shoes, while boot-cut jeans flair out and look like "they're from the 1970's," Centeno says.  

Here's his video: 

SEE ALSO: Men Need To Stop Wearing Square-Toed Shoes >

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The 10 Best Restaurants In Las Vegas

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Raku, Las Vegas restaurants

Las Vegas is known for gambling, show girls, and wild bachelor parties a la The Hangover, but it is also becoming a new food mecca of the world.

As Zappos.com CEO Tony Hsieh seeks to revitalize Las Vegas with his Downtown Project, it seems many chefs are following suit by bringing new life, culture, and cuisines to the fine restaurants centered in the city of Las Vegas.

Our friends at Zagat compiled a list of the 10 best restaurants in Las Vegas, and we have them here from the brazenly bold to the subtly subdued.

#10 The Steak House

2880 Las Vegas Blvd. S.

Food: 28

Decor: 24

Service: 27

Cost: $71

Voted as one of the best restaurants in Las Vegas for over 20 years, The Steak House, located in the hotel Circus Circus, has a refined menu which features dishes like mesquite-grilled steak, prime rib, lobster, and crab.



#9 Sage

3730 Las Vegas Blvd. S.

Food: 28

Decor: 27

Service: 25

Cost: $82

Sage, in the hotel Aria, offers diners a menu of contemporary American cuisine with influences from around the world. Try some of the dishes, which are made with fresh and sustainable meat and produce, and pair them with tastings from any of their 10 bottles of absinthe.



#8 Lotus of Siam

953 E. Sahara Ave.

Food: 28

Decor: 15

Service: 23

Cost: $33

Just east of The Strip, Lotus of Siam is a Vegas favorite which offers Northern Thai specialties in warm, rich sauces. Saipin Chutima is the owner and chef of this Bangkok-style establishment, who has been cooking her traditional dishes from a young age.



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14 Valentine's Day Date Ideas For $50 Or Less

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couple picnic champagne date outdoors

Last month, a survey conducted by Money Talks News revealed the No. 1 most-wanted gift for Valentine’s Day isn’t chocolates or flowers. It’s a romantic date.

According to another recent survey by CreditDonkey, males plan to spend an average of $85 on their Valentine’s dates this year, while women plan on spending less than $50.

But spending time with your significant other doesn’t have to come with a high price.

Here are 14 ideas to make your love life richer without making yourself poorer.

1. Museums

History, science, art, oh my! Show your cultured side by hitting a museum. Maybe you have one of the best near you.

No nearby museums? Shoot for a local art gallery.



2. Games

Nothing like a little friendly competition. Crack open Monopoly, Scrabble (not the kind on your phone), or a deck of cards and compete with your significant other.

Of course, a few friendly wagers – let your imagination run wild – will add to the fun.



3. Thrifting

Shopping is always fun, unless you’re short on cash. Thrifting, however, isn’t just shopping, it’s about finding that diamond in the rough.

Look for antiques, early-edition books, knick-knacks, or quaint furniture. Who knows? Maybe you’ll even find a fur coat like Macklemore’s.

Set a small budget and impress your date with your treasure-hunting skills, or have a competition for tackiest gift.



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HOUSE OF THE DAY: Rent Marc Jacobs' SoHo Apartment For $37,500 A Month

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jacobs soho home

Fashion aficionados rejoice — the ultimate Marc Jacobs accessory is now available in the form of the designer's SoHo apartment in NYC.

According to The New York Post, the downtown condo will be available to rent for $37,500 a month beginning on March 1st.

The listing on Zillow states that the home is roughly 2,500-square feet with three bedrooms, three and a half bathrooms, and enormous windows looking out onto the NYC streets. The iconic 40 Mercer St. building was developed by Andre Balazs and architect Jean Nouvel, and has a garage, pool, gym, sauna, and 24-hour doorman.

It also comes fully furnished, so if you've ever wanted to live like the beloved fashion designer and Louis Vuitton creative director, now's your shot.

Here's the building on Mercer Street in NYC's SoHo neighborhood. Marc Jacobs' apartment is on the 6th floor.



A long corridor greets guests upon entry.



With floor-to-ceiling windows, the home faces South and West.



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Actually, You Can Drive A Porsche In Severe Winter Weather

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Porsche 991 911 Turbo car

Earlier last month, a cold wave blasted New England, dropping temperatures to a heart-frosting 22 degrees below zero Fahrenheit in the evening.

It’s the type of frigid that freezes exposed earlobes into fleshy ice cubes. It was amid this icy spell that Porsche thought it’d be a good time to show the world — or, more specifically, some potential customers – that its cars are built for these intrepid conditions.

Lest we not forget that while the 911 Carrera is a near-immaculate performance machine, its performance is not predicated on delicacy.

And the brand-new 2013 911 Carrera 4 — the “4” designates its all-wheel-drive capabilities — is especially adept. Be it rain, snow, sleet or dry asphalt, gun it, and this 911 will run, temperatures and driving conditions be damned.

“I would never take my 911 out in winter, you kidding me?” scoffed a man named Benjamin, a dentist from upstate New York who was attending Porsche’s Winter Driving Experience. “There’s just no way. Once winter hits, my baby gets locked up in the garage and doesn’t see daylight till the NFL draft.”

Benjamin dismissed the entire idea of running his 2010 Porsche 911 in the snow and doubted its rough weather acumen. To him, there was just no way his beautiful Carrera was going to see snowfall, underscoring the potential metal-gnawing damage the salt-drenched Albany streets could cause its underbelly.

“I take my Boxster S out all the time,” countered Scott, a retired professor from Massachusetts. The idea that a convertible Boxster can handle snowy roads and chilling air temps seems counterintuitive, but he was adamant: “It’s a fantastic daily driver.”

And that’s really the whole point of the Winter Driving Experience, and is why Porsche Regional Manager Joyce Jordan organizes the event in the first place. Frustrated with the misconception that Porsches are track stars limited to perfect road conditions, Jordan is obsessed with proving to frosty New England folk that this is simply not the case.

So she packed up a handful of Porsche 911 C4s and C4S's and brought them to the Sugarbush Resort in Warren, Vermont, a ski outpost nestled in the quaint nooks of the Green Mountains.

On the resort's expansive driving range, Porsche built a winter wonderland of motoring experiences: a long “road” course wrapped around the glimmering white field and the large skid pad in its middle. It was here that we took turns taking Porsche’s 911 4 on the track, testing its abilities on the snow-packed grass.

It’s in these conditions that the 911 4’s All-Wheel Drive and Porsche Traction Management (PTM) really display their technological plumage. The intelligent PTM system independently allocates torque to each wheel as needed.

While potentially 100% of the power could go to the front wheels, the rear-biased system rarely even allows 60% of the power up front. How would you know this? Porsche has handily included an instrument cluster graphic that shows exactly how much torque is being transferred to the front and rear wheels.

The PTM works in parallel with brake-based torque vectoring, a system that applies the brakes to the car’s inside wheels in the case of mid-corner understeer — technology also seen in the McLaren MP4-12C. Working in concert with the ABS brakes, this trio of technologies result in a fantastically balanced system for this well-proportioned, rear-engine coupe.

On the club’s purpose-built track, you could aggressively attack hairpins, and if you hit the snowy bends with too much speed, you could really feel the torque vectoring. Of course, hitting the corners too quickly could get the rear to kick out — especially with the high performance 4S, which boasts 400 hp over the base 4’s 350. A little throttle at such times would leave a rooster tail of snow spraying the surrounding woods.

However good this course was in underscoring the Carrera 4’s capacities on the snow (and, more importantly, showing Porsche’s potential customers), the event lacked any real teeth. Whenever corners were really struck hard, Porsche officials quickly fired disapproving looks and the international sign of “slow down.”

And during the road drive through the valley’s various tiny townships, we were never allowed to gain any real speed, as our guide rarely topped 50 mph. Which was fine when we coasted over the famed Warren Covered Bridge built back in 1880, but not so much when sweeping the long turns that hugged the Mad River. So we got smart: we’d drop the speed and let the lead vehicles get a mile or so ahead and then really throttle it to catch up, the idea being to test the corners under a modicum of stress.

Unfortunately, the guides quickly wizened up to our shenanigans and began waiting for us — even stopping in the middle of the road to throw a wrench in our speeding tricks. No, this was not the place to learn the intricacies of ice driving — for that you’re better off trying something like Mercedes Benz’s AMG Ice Driving Academy in the Arctic Circle or Porsche’s own Winter Driving School in Montreal.

Instead, the Porsche Winter Driving Experience is a place to practice snow driving in a controlled environment and experience the Carrera 4’s sure-footedness on icy terrain, even if it is a mild experience. “It’s a great sampler to get people interested in pursuing their training, as well as buying Porsches,” notes former SCCA race driver Rich Hull. A 10-year veteran Porsche instructor, Hull is gruff but likable — sort of like Sam the Eagle from the Muppet Show, but more affable.

“As I like to say, it's the difference between going to the grocery store and getting a little cookie in a cup or going to a bakery and getting a full-on birthday cake.” But just like a sample cookie, the Winter Driving Experience will leave you wanting more. I’d recommend trying a real school and eating the whole damn cake yourself.

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