February 14, 2018 - Romantic Destinations and 25 Valentine's Day Facts

Tanya's Daily Scoop
Covering the West Coast & the World
NEXT TRIP DEPARTS IN: 1 DAY (so I thought)

Romantic Destinations

Hello to all you love birds out there!

     ❤️❤️❤️Happy Valentine's Day❤️❤️❤️

As it turns out, today we are going to be celebrating as one big happy family! 

My dear sweet Chaplin who pretty much loves all things holidays (just as much as I do) came up with the idea of us all celebrating together!

​And being that the kids, Dave and I just got back from a 2 week trip and that I am about to leave again (for Chicago); I went ahead and made her Valentine's Day plans come true and called for dinner reservations tonight at Free Soul Cafe.

Read all about this delicious cafe right here:
Freesoul Caffe

Jet's bday, July 2017 (c)travelincousins.com

We've actually been know to spend many a birthday or special occasion at this lovely and DELISH little spot!

Cosette's bday 2017, (c)travelincousins.com

Cosette's bday, Oct 2010 (c)travelincousins.com

The last time we all spent Valentine's Day together was back in 2013 when we went to Real Food Daily.

Valentine's Day 2013 (c)travelincousins.com

Valentine's Day 2013 (c)travelincousins.com

Valentine's Day 2013 (c)travelincousins.com

Valentine's Day 2013 (c)travelincousins.com

I figured that since we've just returned from the 2 week ski trip and since I thought I was leaving again on Thursday evening, enjoying a wonderful family dinner would really be just perfect!

Plus tomorrow night before my assumed flight, Dave and I will be off to the theatre to see Candide, staring Kelsey Grammer.

More on this tomorrow...

​So you must know that I usually get intrigued and inspired by the articles published by the likes of  Travel+Leisure, this one was just so fitting for today: "The World's Most Romantic Cities"
they list 20 worldwide cities and I've chosen to share the TOP 5 with you:

1 - Venice, Italy
2  - Paris, France
3  - Carmel-by-the-Sea, California
4  - Florence, Italy
5  - Rome, Italy

Are these really of any surprise???

And while being that I am Travelin' Tanya, of course I've been to each of these beautiful locations.

But it got me wondering exactly how many out of the 20 cities that I actually have visited. And so I continued to read on...
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There are actually 5 of these cities that I have yet to visit (although one of the cities is on my list for this Spring).

Can you guess which 5 out of the following cities that I haven't ever been to?

Lucerne, Switzerland
Aix-en-Provence, France
Salzburg, Austria
Savannah, Georgia
Seville, Spain
Monte Carlo, Monaco
Siena, Italy
Barcelona, Spain
Victoria, British Columbia
Santa Barbara, California
San Francisco, California
Quebec City, Quebec, Canada
Bruges, Belgium
Charleston, South Carolina
Honolulu, Hawaii

Another super cool find this week was put out by Time Out for The 15 most romantic getaways in America

1. Sonoma, CA

2. Aspen, CO

3. Martha’s Vineyard, MA

4. Kauai, HI

5. Charleston, SC

6. Boston, MA

7. Big Sur, CA

8. Glacier National Park, MT

9. New York, NY

10. San Juan Island, WA

11. Savannah, GA

12. Sedona, AZ

13. Block Island, RI

14. San Diego, CA

15. Amelia Island, FL

Now out of this list I've only been to 8 of these locations.
​Can you guess the 7 I haven't been to?

Let me share my screw up with you...

​Please be sure to check and double check all of your booked flights before doing what I did (and have done). 

I woke up this morning to a missed text message. It was from the airlines, reminding me to check in.

Note that you cannot check in until 24hrs before your flight and while I thought my flight was a red-eye on Friday (late Thursday), it was actually a red-eye TONIGHT!!!

Ohhhhh nooooooo! (I am so NOT ready)

I was starting to have a mini panic attack. Knowing that Dave and I have tickets to the theatre tomorrow night and that I also have a full day of errands to run before heading out to LA. 

Well apparently I thought the flight was leaving on Thursday night and arriving on Friday morning and I was off by like 24hrs!!!

Luckily I was able to call the airlines and fix the messed up situation and I now leave on Friday morning. WHEW!

I sure hope that I finally learned my lesson and double and triple check any booked travel plans.

Alrighty I gonna sign off now.

Have a wonderful Valentine's Day, Singles Awareness Day, Ash Wednesday, Frederick Douglass Day, Library Lovers Day, National Ferris Wheel Day and more
-Travelin' Tanya

Elisa's Daily Scoop
Covering Long Island & NYC Boroughs
​CURRENTLY ON LONG ISLAND

25 Valentine's Day Fun Facts  

A warm Happy Valentine's Day to you!

Any romantic plans?  Well, I'm not so sure how romantic my day will be.  As it turns out, we have a big day at the orthodontist. 

That's right, my little girl, Kelsey will be getting her braces on today.  I didn't plan for her first day with a brace face to be on Valentine's Day - it just sort of worked out that way.  Oh well, I'm sure she will be able to still enjoy some chocolate!

Here's another Travelin' 25!

25 Fun Facts About Valentine's Day

1. Valentine's Day is an old tradition thought to have originated from a Roman Festival known as Lupercalia.

2. It was held on February 15 as a fertility festival dedicated to Faunus, the Roman god of agriculture. During the celebrations boys would draw names of girls from a box and the pair would be partners during the festival. These matches often led to marriage.

3. The festival survived the initial rise of Christianity but was outlawed at the end of the 5th century when Pope Gelasius declared February 14th St Valentine's Day.

4. In Germany, girls would plant onions in a pot on Valentine’s Day, and next to the onions, they placed the name of a boy. They believed they would marry the boy whose name was nearest the first onion to grow.

5. More than 36 million heart-shaped boxes of chocolate are sold for Valentine's Day each year.

​6. Worldwide, over 50 million roses are given for Valentine's Day each year.

Conversation Hearts (photo credit: mentalfloss.com)

7. The Italian city of Verona, where Shakespeare's lovers Romeo and Juliet lived, receives about 1,000 letters addressed to Juliet every Valentine's Day.
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8. On average, men shell out $130 each on candy, cards, jewelry, flowers and dates. That’s more than double what women commit to spending.

9. About 1 billion Valentine's Day cards are exchanged in US each year. That's the largest seasonal card-sending occasion of the year, next to Christmas.

10. Women purchase 85% of all valentines.

11. In the Middle Ages, young men and women drew names from a bowl to see who would be their Valentine. They would wear this name pinned onto their sleeves for one week for everyone to see. This was the origin of the expression "to wear your heart on your sleeve."

12. Richard Cadbury invented the first Valentines Day candy box in the late 1800s.

13. Many believe the X symbol became synonymous with the kiss in medieval times. People who couldn't write their names signed in front of a witness with an X. The X was then kissed to show their sincerity.

14. Chaucer, as in The Canterbury Tales writer, may have actually been behind Valentine's Day as there is no actual record of Valentine's Day before Chaucer's poem Parliament of Foules  in 1375.​

15. The poem refers to February 14 as the day of birds coming together to find a mate. “For this was sent on Seynt Valentyne’s day / Whan every foul cometh ther to choose his mate,” he wrote and maybe invented Valentine's Day as we now know it.

16. Valentine’s Day may have been named after Valentine of Terni, a priest who married Roman soldiers against orders from Claudius II, who believed single men made better soldiers. The priest was beheaded and killed on February 14, 269.

​17. Because Valentine helped people wed, he became associated with love and he is now the patron saint of engaged couples and happy marriages.

St. Valentine (photo credit: cathoiconline.com)

18. According to Rau, Dana Meachen, it is said that an almond tree near his grave burst with pink flowers and all the birds choose mates, hence the term “love birds.”

19. Red hearts are the official Valentine symbol and red is also traditionally associated with the color of blood. At one time, people thought that the heart, which pumps blood, was the part of the body that felt love. In fact, when the Egyptians mummified their dead for burial, they removed every organ but the heart because they believed the heart was the only part of the body necessary for the trip through eternity.
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20. In addition to the United States, Valentine’s Day is celebrated in Canada, Mexico, the United Kingdom, France and Australia.

21. Americans probably began exchanging hand-made valentines in the early 1700s. In the 1840s.

22. Esther A. Howland began selling the first mass-produced valentines in America. Howland, known as the “Mother of the Valentine,” made elaborate creations with real lace, ribbons and colorful pictures known as “scrap.” 

23. Valentine candy “conversation hearts” have a shelf life of five years.

24.Shakespeare mentions Valentine’s Day in A Midsummer Night’s Dream and in Hamlet.

25. According to Lynda Graham-Barber, Madame Royale, daughter of Henry the IV of France, loved Valentine’s Day so much that she named her palace “The Valentine.”

I thought today would be a perfect day to post an article from AFAR for your reading pleasure as it features seven unique chocolate experiences around the world.

In fact one is right here in New York in Brooklyn!!
Li-Lac Chocolates!

The history of Li-Lac Chocolates dates back to 1923 when George Demetrious, a native of Greece who studied the art of chocolate making in France, emigrated to New York and opened his shop at 120 Christopher Street in the heart of Greenwich Village.

It is here that he perfected his recipes for such items as Almond Bark, Butter Crunch, Hazelnut Truffle Squares, Legendary Fudge, and other favorites, steadily building a loyal customer following in Manhattan's center for artists, intellectuals and innovators.

Over the course of the last nine decades, Li-Lac has changed ownership several times, all committed to retaining the old world character and old-school chocolate making processes originated by George Demetrious, making Li-Lac Chocolates so special and unique.

Deemed "stubbornly old fashioned" by the Wall Street Journal, Li-Lac Chocolates is one of the few old-school chocolate companies to survive into the modern era.   

In 2014, current owners, Anthony Cirone and Christopher Taylor, along with Anwar Khoder, Li-Lac's Master Chocolater, ​built their new chocolate factory at Industry City (Sunset Park, Brooklyn) where customers can look in through oversize windows and see the chocolate-making in action.

Li-Lac Chocolates Founder, George George Demetrious (photo credit: li-lacchocolates.com)

According to Vanita Salisbury, author of this delectable article featured in AFAR: 
"Li-Lac, can score you a glimpse of Old World chocolate-making techniques, with some of its equipment dating back to the 1920s. A private tour will really drive home the small-batch chocolate experience, from the mixing in copper kettles through to the hand cutting on marble tabletops. Tour participants will also make their own chocolate creations and go home with a fresh box of gourmet confection."

​Ok folks, guess what I'm going to check into as a day trip with the girlies!!! In fact, I'm going to call today!

CLICK HERE to read Ms. Salisbury's entire article: 
7 Unique Chocolate Experiences Around the World

Wish us luck today.  Kelsey is getting her braces on!  Pics to follow tomorrow!!!

Have a Happy Valentine's Day!!
​
-E
xoxo