This southern city is home to hundreds of historic homes located on a peninsula across from Charleston Harbor and Fort Sumter where the Civil War began.     Photo by Gene Korte.

Charleston continues its rise in the ranks of top destinations worldwide.  And why not?  More than 300 years old, Charleston, named for England’s Charles II, began its colonial life as a flourishing seaport. Because of that centuries-old history, this place is filled with hundreds of historic homes. And among the attractions of the countryside are grand old plantations full of sweeping movie-scene vistas.

Over the centuries, Charlestonians have been shot at, burned out, beset by earthquakes and hurricanes. More than a few were forced to walk the plank on pirate ships. The British occupied the city for more than two years after the Revolutionary War. And the most devastating war of all here, of course, the Civil War, began at Charleston’s very own Fort Sumter.

Despite all this, including Hurricane Hugo in 1989, which caused billions in damage, Charleston has dusted itself off and reinvented itself.

Once rich from slavery, today Charleston celebrates its black culture, becoming a 21st-century destination for history and music festivals, food, fun and beaches, too. Charleston is the New South.

A grand and glossy hotel

The Charleston Place on Meeting Street, charlestonplace.com, has all the earmarks of an Orient Express hotel. No matter where their hotels are, they will have the perfect blend of welcoming style and comfort. And the location is always perfect, too. In Charleston that means this eight-story landmark hotel, with a staff full of Southern hospitality, is in the heart of the historic district near shops, parks and the city’s Museum Mile. One of the many ways this posh hotel shows its family friendliness is the Spa Kid program where children can enjoy the Cinderella treatment, too.

The hotel’s celebrated Charleston Grill is not the place to be for a quick bite between meetings. Rather, it’s where you want to take your time, enjoy the feast of flavors and textures and say to heck with worrying about the bill. From the first taste of the thinly sliced venison carpaccio and the teeny tiny lettuces with champagne vinaigrette we savored the moment. It was difficult to choose from the menu because we couldn’t have everything. Evening favorites were the grilled kahala fish from Hawaii, even the humble collard greens, and at the evening’s end — all that chocolate.

To continue reading this article, go to http://articles.sun-sentinel.com/2008-11-16/travel/0811130207_1_meeting-street-fort-sumter-charleston-peninsula

This winter scene includes an open-air iceskating rink in Union Square, a park in the heart of San Francisco’s downtown shopping district.         Photo by Gene Korte

It’s walkable and loveable (people do leave their hearts here) and according to many travelers, this city boasts some of the best food and wines anywhere.

If you’re yearning for a big-city vacation and have a weekend to spare, why not come to San Francisco, the city on the bay.

Dine, wine, shop and get around on cable cars and buses when it’s too far to walk.

Wear flowers in your hair, especially in the charming Haight-Ashbury neighborhood of Victorian homes, and enjoy the many bargains from hotel discounts to meal deals at fine restaurants all over the city. You can always put your feet up when you get back home.

With only three nights and two days in the city, we chose bustling Union Square as our home base.

Chinatown is only six blocks away, flower stands are on every corner, and the Powell Street cable cars are right here.

It’s a park in the heart of the downtown shopping district and a neighborhood where new and renovated hotels bloom like daisies. In the winter, the ice-skating rink was open, too, and it was full of skaters well into the night.

Here are three hotels each a stone’s throw from the Square — Kensington Park Hotel, Villa Florence and the Westin St. Francis.  They vary in accouterments and price, but they all offer great beds and service.

To continue reading this article, go to http://www.ihavenet.com/Travel-San-Francisco-Weekend-Getaway.html.

With the annual Hollywood award season in full swing, perhaps it’s time to revisit a favorite stop of the stars.

The Electric Fountain in Beverly Gardens Park, seen in the movie, “Clueless,” is located at the corner of Santa Monica and Wilshire Boulevards in Beverly Hills, California. Photo by Gene Korte.

Beverly Hills is a dazzling movie set that’s open to the public. That palm-tree lined avenue, isn’t that from “Beverly Hills Cop”? Didn’t we see Julia Roberts in “Pretty Woman” walk through the Art Deco lobby of the Beverly Wilshire Hotel? Surely that was Cher who realized she loved Josh in “Clueless,” as she walked by the Electric Fountain in Beverly Gardens Park? Cinema deja vu, it’s everywhere here. The Hollywood district itself is only a few miles away, but perhaps lackluster in comparison.

About a hundred years ago this 5.7 square mile piece of land was mostly a giant lima bean field. Today’s hometown industries are beauty and fashion, celebrities, their homes and their hangouts. The grass is greener and the flowers are prettier here. There are thousands of private and public gardeners in this small town of about 35,000 souls. And there are definitely a lot of high heels and cleavage. Your fingers will go numb googling through all the cosmetic surgeon listings in its three zip codes. The best known being 90210.

The streets are full of stretch limos, of course, Mercedes and BMWs, Bentleys and Ferraris, but it’s so walkable here, as the central business district is measured in blocks not miles.

Denver Post edited excerpt. Distributed by Tribune Media Services, INC. for World’s Fare Syndicate

© 2011-2013  Diana and Gene Korte

The Willard InterContinental Hotel, one of DC’s most celebrated hotels,  is located two short blocks from the White House. Photo by Gene Korte

Washington at holiday time is American tradition at its best, or surely it’s most abundant.  Hard to say how many Christmas trees are now sparkling, or how many light displays, winter parades, menorah lightings and musical or ballet performances grace our nation’s capital.  Even the National Zoo presents its own version of an end-of-year party called Zoolights.

And the hundreds of DC hotels put on their finery as well. The Willard Intercontinental Hotel on Pennsylvania Avenue, for example, is two short blocks from the White House and dates back to the 1850s. This is where President Ulysses S. Grant coined the term “lobbyists” for those gentlemen who hung around the lobby, hoping to corral one of the many politicians having a bite to eat or smoking a cigar in the Round Robin Bar.

This hotel is still a magnet for politicians and has hosted every U.S. president, as either an overnight guest or as an attendee of social functions, from Franklin Pierce in 1853 to the current President Obama.

But it’s a fabulous family destination as well, especially during the holidays when decorations are outstanding and it’s easy to line up some of the best of DC stops, all within easy walking distance, http://www.washington.intercontinental.com.  The Willard also presents free holiday choirs and other musical performances in the hotel’s spacious lobby in late afternoons in December.

 If your plans take you and your family to our nation’s capital this holiday season, be sure to enjoy the tour of a fully decorated White House (http://www.whitehouse.gov), the free museums and monuments on nearly every corner (http://www.washington.org) and The Nutcracker ballet at the ornate Warner Theatre a block from The Willard, http://www.warnertheatre.com. 

This excerpted article was originally distributed by Tribune Media Services, INC. for the World’s Fare Syndicate.       © 2011  Diana and Gene Korte