The Sybaritic Adventurer
CJ is devoted to his job in community service but helping people is hard work so he needs his vacations on a regular basis. Leaving the country helps, so he gets around.The Sybaritic Adventurer
His travel blogs look at travel from a different perspective: sybaritic adventurer. So these articles will focus on decadent food, the sensual side of travel (eating herring on the streets in Amsterdam, inhaling pain au chocolat outside a boulangerie in Paris) and other hedonistic pleasures. If he doesn't like something, he'll definitely say so. But don't say he has a bad attitude. If he likes something, he has been known to issue wild praise. He's not afraid to use words like "brilliant" or "epiphany". He writes from a New York point of view, and yes, we know he compares foreign museums, food and architecture to New York way too often, so indulge him.
All photos are by CJ. He does it all.
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Travel Blog Posts
May 12th 2012
I’ve traveled the width of Finland from west to east into Russia and now back east to west. One thing I’ve learned is that Finland is a snooze outside of Helsinki. The entire country is forest and farmland. Farmhouses are painted the requisite rust red, a holdover from when that was the only color available. Woods. Lakes. More woods, right up to the Helsinki city limits. Our hotel, the Scandic Continental (not the Inter-Continental) is quite luxurious. I more or less love the heated marble bathroom floor, the elegant hallways, the comfy lobby, the first class restaurant, Olivo, off the main lobby, serving Mediterranean cuisine, unique for Helsinki. Yes, they have a sauna and swimming pool on the top floor. The sauna is free until 2:30pm, after which it is 100FIM. They offer body scrubs and ... read more
January 8th 2012
When I first decided to plop myself in Lisbon, it was out of indolence. I really didn’t want to visit every Michelin 3-star, so Lisbon was the perfect place-there just weren’t any. I would sit in the pastelarias and drink the tiny cups of motor oil they call coffee. Well after 7 months of research, I realized that scenario wasn’t going to happen. Lisbon is a very large city, 1.2 million people and too vast to conquer on foot (as I did in Amsterdam). Yes, we perched at Hotel Miraparque, centrally located on the Parque Eduardo VII, but the true jewels of Lisbon – Torre de Belem (a fortress on the water, the symbol of Lisbon, where Vasco De Gama left town for India), Christo Rei (Christ with arms open on a mountain overlooking the city), ... read more
Copenhagen: More than the Little Mermaid
Published: November 25th 2011Europe » Denmark » Region Hovedstaden » Copenhagen
November 25th 2011
I board a Cross Air flight in Zurich for my final destination, Copenhagen. It is a short flight, so I am not expecting epiphany. The crew is lined up and seems to harbor a secret by their smiles. Well the secret was wide bodied leather seats with a doily for your head to rest and what they said would be a "snack". The snack turned out to be smoked salmon, cucumber salad, a decent roll, Hagen-Daz ice cream and that great coffee you are served all over Scandinavia. Oh and champagne as well, gratis. All served with real china and silverware. Surprisingly I am not too jet lagged, must have been the alcohol (since I’ve had some I seemed to rally.) On our first night we walk about 1 mile into town, Tivoli Gardens area. And ... read more
Eating Up the Decadence of Amsterdam
Published: October 23rd 2011Europe » Netherlands » North Holland » Amsterdam
November 3rd 2008
Long ago, I did my Euro-tourist scramble: eating to the clock to board a bus at 7:40 am to travel 8 hours to scale a fiord in Norway. I was determined to make my vacation into an educational experience so I would visit every museum, monument and Michelin- starred restaurant (because I like to eat well). Now I surrender my senses indulgently in Amsterdam, inhaling the comforting fragrance of stunning chocolate creations, fresh floral displays and just-baked breads, while photographing other-worldly light on a canal. Even the hotel lobby smelled of fresh flowers. As breakfast wasn't avaiIable at my hotel the day of arrival, I seach for mille feuille pastries, but instead pass a real estate office. I used to think I regretted nothing. Now I find that I often regret I didn’t buy a small ... read more
"Don't Cry for Me Europe, I'm in Argentina"
Published: October 16th 2011South America » Argentina » Buenos Aires
March 11th 2008
I had every intention of returning to Europe this year. I researched Vienna thoroughly; I toyed with cities in Belgium. I even devised a way to visit Berlin while stopping over in Iceland to stay a day or two to visit friends for a mere pittance. But when Argentine expatriate friends from NYC chose to return to Argentina in March, I couldn’t resist the opportunity to research a continent that is ripe for literary exploitation. But could I survive in a place where the streets are not paved with blondes? What would the reckless gluttony of dinner be like? Would it satiate my insane need for too much? But oh, did we North American migrants suffer on the Aerolineas Argentinas “direct “11 hour flight that stopped in Miami to pick up stranded refugees, bumping the travel ... read more
Covering the North Atlantic Waterfront: Reykjavik, Iceland
Published: October 16th 2011Europe » Iceland » Southwest » Reykjavík
May 14th 2006
New York is known for many things but not its' Danish. I longed for the inanely decadent mille-feuille pastry I had in Scandinavia, layers of sheer pleasure. Plus a visit to Iceland is crucial to escape the distractions of Manhattan. So this "Lover of the Arctic Circle's" search for ephiphany abroad brought me to the northernmost capital in the world. "Reykjavik" named by the first settlers, the Vikings in 800AD, the "Land of Smoke" (which is actually the steam rising from the ground in underground geothermal hot springs with 300-700 degree F. waters.) I consulted the U.S. State Dept. website to check for travel warnings before I left. There are no terrorist or crime threats here, but I would have to deal with frequent volcanic eruptions, earthquakes and they warn that several tourists per year fall ... read more
Budapest: Come Hungry
Published: October 16th 2011Europe » Hungary » Central Hungary » Budapest » Pest
November 1st 2002
At the airport, a driver with a Mercedes is waiting for us. Nice. There is cold drizzle when we venture out of our hotel cubbyhole, the Ibis Centrum, so we comfort ourselves with a fine lunch at El Caramel, one of the new, cool places on fashionable Raday Utca. My thick creamy mushroom soup was a perfect warm up and my eggplant sandwich on a perfectly smooth crispy roll, hit the spot. Our waitress knows just enough English to get her job done (typical of Hungarian establishments). The thermal baths/spas that city is known for, have no use for English either, so we stumble through. After a nap, we are ready for dinner at nearby Calvin on Kalvin Ter, a well-known square in downtown Pest. The fettuccine with chicken in a fine cream sauce (about $4.50 ... read more
Vintage Sybaritic Adventurer - London
Published: November 6th 2011Europe » United Kingdom » England » Greater London » South Kensington
July 27th 1983
Monday, June 27 South Kensington, London Please note that this is a vintage article. Hotels and restaurants may still exist but may have changed hands. The Rembrandt Hotel has since been renovated and upgraded and Garnier and Brasserie St. Quentin are rumored to have closed, or maybe not, depending on the source. Always call ahead to avoid outrage and disappointment. Also although the exchange rate between the Pound and the Dollar may be the same over time, the prices listed here are decades old. But hopefully you will enjoy the writing style as it was intended, a journal entry of its time. The Michelin Guide rates The Rembrandt Hotel as “comfortable”. Somehow I assumed that even being listed in the Michelin Guide connoted standards. Perhaps the fact that renovations are taking place each day outside my ... read more
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