For travelers who have a bit of time to check out Hungary, thermal baths, the biggest and most famous in Europe, are the snapshot of society and the people there. Asian countries like Korea and Japan also share the culture of thermal bathing. While taking a hot spring bath is now more favored by elderly people for special occasions in Asia, there are no age, gender or social barriers at Hungarian baths. During my weeklong stay in Hungary, I visited two most famous thermal baths in the country: t

Travelers frequent cave bath town, vineyards, old cities, lake, abbey and more

New restaurant-dessert bar serves up revamped American-Italian fare

Lotte Hotel Seoul invites Michelin-starred Korean chef Lotte Hotel Seoul’s Mugunghwa is hosting Hooni Kim, owner-chef of the Michelin-starred Danji and the acclaimed Hanjan in New York. The celebrated chef has been invited to present the creations he serves at Danji and Hanjan. The lunch menu, priced at 95,000 won, includes New York-style cold spicy sea bream soup with seaweed and fumet sherbet, Korean beef tartar with natural pine mushroom, butterfish simmered in soy sauce or Hooni Kim-style sp

Sunday mornings other Minneapolis families went to church; we picked up bagels at the Lincoln Del. That’s how I knew we were Jewish.Dad ordered a baker’s dozen, sliced lox and cream cheese. Also Max’s half dills, whitefish wrapped in paper and a block of gritty halvah. I helped by gazing into the glass case. It was cold, bright and packed with astounding confections. I was mesmerized by the frog cakes, cut to reveal raspberry smiles.Once, the woman behind the counter lifted out a chocolate-cover

Mr. A, who lives in my neighborhood, is known to be extremely punctual. He’s even more punctual than the German philosopher, Kant was. The security guards in the apartment complex tell the time of the day by seeing Mr. A come to and from work. He is always extremely neat in his appearance. His hair is oiled, shiny and perfectly parted. He often checks the mirror to make sure that his tie is perfectly straight. He carries a small pocket mirror and comb. His office is extremely clean and neat, to

VILLEPINTE, France (AFP) ― Once firmly entrenched in their traditional gastronomy, consumers in gourmet havens like France and Italy are slowly starting to demand gluten-, dairy- and meat-free diets as environmental and health concerns kick in.No-allergen pasta, vegan croissants, meatless hamburgers ― “free-from” food is one of the leading trends at this week’s SIAL international food fair outside Paris, where companies say Europeans are starting to care as much about what is left out of their f

The biggest mistake Germany made during reunification is that one side was the victor, while the other was the defeated, according to a prominent German writer and thinker. German novelist Bernhard Schlink, the writer of the award-winning 1995 novel “The Reader” and many other works that shed light on the theme of the past, guilt and postwar generation of Germany, says if he could give advice on Korean reunification, it would be to respect each other. “You two (North and South Korea) will be the

British director Lawless to put on ‘Otello,’ Verdi’s operatic adaptation of Shakespeare play

When she is standing before you, in the still eye of the pop-culture hurricane she has inhabited for several years now, you realize Lena Dunham is just like any young woman who fusses with her hair, loves her sister and can’t resist cheese.But then you hear the steady hum of a sold-out crowd just beyond the door; notice the table stacked with signed copies of Dunham’s new book, “Not That Kind of Girl,” for which she was reportedly paid $3 million; and hear her mention a visit to the Facebook cam

For a country as closed and intimidating as North Korea is, the number of memoirs by people who briefly lived there is surprisingly large ― at least one a year since 2000, according to a list by the Seoul-based website NK News.The books fall into two categories. In the first are those by authors who clearly wish to be allowed back. They pay little mind to the absence of basic freedoms for North Koreans and dismiss the restrictions they experience themselves. They are not alone: A sizable number