In London kids are usually allowed in pubs until 9pm, and in some bars they're not allowed. In restaurants, there's no law. Teens over 16 and under 18, accompanied by a responsible, can drink one pint of beer with a whole meal, not more than that. If not in these conditions, it's extremely prohibited to sell any kind of alcohol to under 18. Bartenders are going to ask for ID.

Pubs usually close at 11pm, 10:30 on Sundays. These hours apply for almost every pub in London. The last orders happen at 10 to 11pm, and after 11pm, you'll have half an hour to drink up. After that, please, go away because the bartenders and the manager have to clean up and go home. Thank you!

Bars close later, from 12am or around 3am.

Restaurants close at 11pm or 12pm most of the time. Only a few stay open after this time, most of them very posh and expensive. Others turn to be a night club and stop serving food after a stipulated time.

Depending on the quantity of people dining or having drinks, some of these places have license for after the time they usually close, which means that, if it's too busy, the manager can decide to let the place open until later. On the other hand, if it's too quite, like on special dates as Christmas and Easter, or that rainy winter day, they can choose to close it earlier. So, don't be surprised if your favourite pub closes before or stays open later.

Here goes a list of the most common drinks that we sell in London restaurants, bars and pubs, with tips of how to ask for them.

Beers

There are types of beers: Lager, Bitter or Ales, Wheat beer, Dark beer, Fruity and blond beer.

To know exactly what do you want to ask at the bar, you need to taste each of them, and choose your “best one”.

The most common beers are shown below:

Lagers

Dark Beer

Wheat Beer

Fruity (Strawberry Flavour)

Most Famous Bitter

Blond Beer

You can ask or be asked to serve a “shandy” which consists of half pint of lemonade and half pint of lager; or a lager top, which is the pint of lager with a dash of lemonade.

They can be on draft or keg (in the case of Ales), but also in bottles. In busy pubs and bars, what usually can happen is that there's no place in the fridges for so much sale, what can make the bottles be warm, because they were just put in the fridge before you buy. Beers on draft and keg can have the same problem, either if the glass is hot or even the draft system is not working properly. You can always argue about the temperature of your beer, but do if the bar is not busy, if it's extremely busy, you'll probably wait a long time and can be ignored by the bartenders. You can also call the manager, but, come on, a warm beer is not worthy such a fuzz.

Spirits

The most common measures are 25ml for single shot and 50ml for double. Some generous pubs have measures of 35ml and 70ml instead.

Whiskey

You can drink them with: Coke, Diet Coke, Ginger Ale, Bitter Lemon, Lemonade, Tap water, on ice, as shots, or alone in a rock's glass.

Famous whiskeys and whiskies of London entertainment places:

Vodka

It's usually asked with tonic water, slim tonic, soda and lime cordial, juices, coke and diet coke or lemonade.

There're vodkas with flavours as the Absolute Collection:

 

Gin & Tonic

Nothing else to say. This is the English drink. Have it with lime or cucumber.

Rum

Most common served with Coke, on the rocks or as shots.

Brandy

They can be served alone, or on the rocks. It can be asked with Coke as well, if you don't want to get drunk easily. It's better in very cold days, to warm:

Shots

Some places do a mix of spirits in a shot glass, usually 3 different ones. Thought the most common “single” shots are:

Tequila, Served with Lemon and Salt

Sambuca, Black or White

Others

Served on ice, as shots or with soft drinks:

The summer's favourite: Pimm's with fruits, mint and lemonade:

Wines

There's a huge variety of wines to sell. They're usually from Chile, Australia, New Zealand, Spain, France, Italy and Argentina.

Most common grapes:

Red: Rioja, Pinot Noir, Merlot, Sangiovese, Cabernet Sauvignon and Shiraz/Syrah.

White: Grenache, Pinot Grigio, Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay and Rioja Blanco.

Prices

Average prices for London most touristic pubs, bars and restaurants:

• Pint of beer: £3,30
• Single spirit mix: £3,20
• Shots: £2,40
• Small glass of wine (house): £3,50

In Cyprus, we are well placed to take advantage of the health-giving aspects of the Mediterranean diet: the olive oil, salads, fish and of course red wine. What a pity so much of the wine is insipid. It need not be so.

The amount of sun should produce intense reds. Look what comes out of the Southern Rhone or even the softer Herault reds…. Even comparing like for like, some of the reds from Greece like Nemea or the big-bodied fella' from Santorini offer a satisfying mouthful.

And leading the way under extreme duress is a gentleman in the Lebanon - Serge Hochar. He produces a magnificent red, complex, aromatic and mouth-filling that rivals some of the big wines from the Rhone or Bordeaux where he trained.

Some years his acclaimed wine, Chateau Mussar, does not declare a vintage. The problems of a vineyard six checkpoints away from the winery in the Bechaar Valley; picking and transporting while shells burst around, defeat even his enthusiasm. But when he makes it, the wine is long-lived and delicious.

Here, winemakers are only just cottoning to the fact that there is more to it than pouring cheap alcohol down holdymakers' throats. Try Keo's Heritage, a vintage wine from rediscovered Cyprus varietals; at the moment limited to 15,000 bottles a year. Another good drink is Kannavera from Vouni Panayia Winery and let's not forget Fikardos' succulent Lefkarda.

You might also keep an eye on some of the wines coming from Kathikas like Vasilikon. Providing these producers don't get inflated ideas on cost, we should all heartily support them. After all it is for the good of our health.

Many tourists spend only a few hours in the town, or perhaps a day, but if you are able to stay for a night or two St. Emilion will take you on a journey through history.

Accommodation

To experience the true flavour of St Emilion it is best to ignore the hotels and book several nights in one of the many private ‘gites' (furnished, self-catering holiday cottages or apartments) in or near the town. An online search reveals a wide range, from the inexpensive and spartan, to luxurious chateaux. We found an apartment in the centre of the old town. It was cool, comfortable and inviting. The original stone building had been unobtrusively modernised to provide a large well-equipped kitchen living space, a sitting room (with a television that we did not need to use) two spacious double bedrooms and two bathrooms, one ensuite. A tiny vine-covered courtyard just below the cobbled street was an inviting spot to return to for cheese and wine after a day's sightseeing.

Days start with flinging open the shutters to a place where so much living is done outside. Women still sweep the doorsteps and walk to the boulangerie for the morning's fresh bread and croissants. Once the wine shops and cafes open, the day has begun in St Emilion.

St Emilion's Wine

St Emilion's ancient streets are lined with tiny shops selling the wine that is produced nearby. This is an ancient wine-producing region - grapes have been grown on the warm hillsides around the town for centuries. Its vineyards are modest in size but produce wine of a quality that is known worldwide. You can take a vineyard tour on a small train; listen to lectures, available in French and English, from experts on grape growing and winemaking; and of course, sample and purchase the local produce.

The History

St Emilion's unique architectural heritage continues to be carefully preserved. Walls of crumbling cream stone stretch along its borders, with grassy moats and the remains of ancient gates. A church whose chancel dates from the fourteenth century advertises next Sunday's activities on its notice board - and provides a cool quiet haven inside. A vast key (available from the tourist office for a small fee) gives access to the medieval belfry that can be seen from all parts of the town. A steep and breathtaking climb is rewarded with an equally breathtaking view across the narrow, bustling streets of shops and houses to the imposing square keep of the castle and then to the manicured vines beyond.

The older Eglise Monolithe church, dug out of the limestone cliff in the years between the ninth and eleventh centuries, is the largest of its kind in Europe. A tour of its catacombs, containing coffins and several sarcophaguses, invokes thoughts of the monks who lived and died in St Emilion so long ago. Their prayers seem to have lingered, especially in the tranquil cloisters of the Dominican monastery and the cave known as the hermitage, where St Emilion took refuge in the eighth century (escaping crowds of pilgrims after performing miracles in a nearby town).

Returning to modern times and needing to eat, you find restaurants and cafes in St Emilion offer the food for which France is famous, from simple to lavish, served outdoors in a garden setting or in grand style within. So much choice - so little time. It is always hard to leave places of great beauty. St Emilion is no exception.

 

Olive oil is the staple of almost, if not all Greek plates. Olive oil is found all over Greece, as well as the trees that bear the fruit. It has ties to both religious and folk beliefs, and is used as Greece's official addition to any plate that needs that extra "touch" of Greek taste.

Food and holidays are both very sacred to the people of Greece. The most extravagant meals are held during Holidays, such as Christmas.

The Greek Christmas celebration lasts for thirteen days, from Christmas Eve until Epiphany, January 6, the day that the Magi arrived in Bethlehem, bringing gifts to the Christ child.

Bread is the most important of the Greek holiday foods. Historically, flour and yeast were scarce and expensive and thus saved for special meals. Traditional items, such as Christmas bread or stravropsomo, a fruit-filled loaf, decorated on top with the sign of the cross and Chistopsomto or “Christ's Bread”, a leavened bread made of flour, sesame seeds, and spices, such as anise, orange, cloves, and cinnamon accompanied by dried figs, are eaten on Christmas Eve.

Other traditional Greek Christmas sweets include thiples, fried dough strips dripped with honey, kourabiedes, holiday butter cookies, kataifi, phyllo-wrapped confections made from cinnamon and sugar and drizzled with honey, melomacrona, popular honey cakes, and the ever-popular sweet pastry, baklava.

The Greek also have their own set of habits that they fulfill at mealtimes, which they take very seriously. For example, meals are always held at specific times of the day. Breakfast is held bright and early at 8 AM, lunch not until around 1 PM or so, and supper can be at either 8 PM or 10 PM.

A typical Greek meal would always start with an appetizer, which usually turns out to be a salad. Feta cheese, olives and tomatoes are commonly seen in them. Wine will also almost always accompany the main course. Robolla is a popular choce for the main course, a white wine hailing from Cephalonia.

When the main course DOES come around, though, it could be any number of delicious plates. However, the Greek national dish is perhaps the Souvlaki. t is a blend of lamb or beef and seasonings, seared and stuffed in a pita topped with sliced and diced tomatoes, onions and tzatziki, then served with a yogurt sauce. Moussaka is normally eaten along with a red wine like Agiorghitiko while Styphado is eaten with a heavy red wine such as a dry Mavrodaphne.

Baklava is also by far the most popular Greek dessert - it is a multi-layered pastry filled with crunchy nuts and oozing with honey syrup. It is made up of little Filo squares filled with a walnut, semolina and honey mixture and garnished with honey and grated orange peel.

As far as I can see, Greek foods and culture have not greatly impacted Nova Scotia's own dining habits and foods. However, Athens is one of the most well-known and most popular restaurants on Quinpool. It is a Greek restaurant with a wide variety of meals.

Its location has also made it the site of numerous conflicts throughout history, dating back as early as Roman times. More recently, Friuli Venezia Giulia was host to World War One's most significant episodes. It is an area that was also immortalized by Ernest Hemingway in his beloved classic, A Farewell to Arms. Hemingway, who based this work on his own experiences as a soldier during the First World War, would never forget the horrific events he saw on the battlefields of Northern Italy. The names of Schio, Fossalta, and the Piave River were forever etched in his mind. Nor have the people of Friuli Venezia Giulia forgotten about the blood that was shed on their land more than 90 years ago. Visitors to the region can now pay homage to the soldiers of the First World War at the Great War theme park, an open-air museum in Monfalcone, the War Memorial at Redipuglia, where the remains of 10,000 soldiers are laid to rest, and the Museum of the Great War in Gorizia.

Coupled with the experience of seeing the stirring reminders of the war that was to end all wars, the cuisine of Friuli Venezia Giulia is equally rich an experience. The cuisine of the region has been equated to being as varied as the landscapes, extremely rich and diverse. It comes from the joining of the three culinary traditions that have shaped and influenced the region the most: the Austrian, the Venetian, and the Slav. Some of the delectable dishes from the regional capital of Trieste are jota, a soup made of beans, potatoes, and white cabbage; goulash; and presnitz or cuguluf, a ring-shaped pastry of Viennese origin. From Gorizia, a small town at the foot of the Alps, comes such dishes as potato gnocchi with plums, drizzled with melted butter, cinnamon and a little sugar; and kaiserfleish, smoked pork loin scattered with grated fresh horseradish and served with sauerkraut.

Friuli Venezia Giulia is one of Italy's best kept secrets and will enchant all those who visit. It is a region not to be missed, one that will reward those who seek out its many wonders.

For More Information Visit These Sites:

Turismo.fvg.it

Lost Generation.com

Maria Liberati.com

Baby Mice Wine from China: This is a rice wine with baby mice and is said to be good for asthma but you must swallow a mouse with the drink to get the full effect.

Seagull Wine which is made by the Eskimoes: This is simply made by putting a dead seagull in water, sealing it in a bottle and leaving it in the sun to ferment. Tasty!

Cynar from Italy: This is a liquer made from artichokes. It has been described as being a vile smelling and worse tasting mix of burned artichokes and alcohol. It is brown like the water you get when you soak a burned vegetable pan in water and it smells even worse. Have you ever boiled a pan of potatoes dry? Well, this smells three times as bad. However, someone out there must like it.

Urine: That's right, plain and simple pee from cows. This is a popular drink among the native people in Kenya. Somehow I don't see this becoming commercially viable in Europe and US.

Vine Snake Whiskey from Thailand: This drink certainly looks lethal with that coiled up snake in the bottle. This whiskey is flavored with Asian Vine Snake which is said to be only mildly venomous, but it still looks quite threatening in that bottle.

Blood and Milk Cocktail: This is a Masai ceremonial drink made from cows milk and blood and served warm. It is enjoyed by the Masai People of Tanzania, Africa. The people in the photo look very happy with it, but most of us would be slightly queasy at the idea. Yuk!

The late Steve Irwin was an extraordinary ambassador for Australia, but many Americans and British still seem amazed to discover most Aussies don't live in the bush.

Fact: most Australians have never wrestled with a crocodile or owned a corked hat. The “Aussie Dream” is aspiring to live in a detached house on a quarter acre block. Boringly suburban, I know, but true. And yes, we do have electricity.

Myth 2: All Australians drink is beer

Although Australia is known for lagers like Foster's (which have to be drunk ice-cold, thus inspiring shivers of revulsion from most Brits.) and beers from Carlton United Breweries are the stuff of legend, our fine wines are some of the best in the world. The French would smile approvingly if they knew that wine-savvy Australians nonchalantly down a glass or two of Cabernet Sauvignon with their lamb chops. They're good value, too. Seek out wines from South Australia's Barossa Valley, New South Wales' Hunter Valley and Western Australia's Margaret River. Special occasion wines include collectables like Penfold Grange Hermitage and Henschke Hill of Grace.

Myth 3: It's always hot in Australia

Australia's climate is extremely variable. True, in the Northern Territory the average temperature rests around the mid 30s in Winter, climbing to dizzying heights of 40 + in Summer. Back on the East Coast, however, we have four genuine seasons every year. Remember, of course, that our Winter is a Northern Hemisphere Summer (hence the term Down Under). I live in Melbourne and the joke is, we have four seasons every day. No self-respecting Melbournian would go out without an umbrella.

Myth 4: Australia is cricket-mad

This is a half-truth. Australia is sport mad. Sport is the lingua franca that binds the melting-pot of this nation together. Saturday wouldn't be Saturday without the “footy” (Australian Rules Football). Footy Tipping competitions are standard in every office, our national Institutes of Sport are crammed with young talent and the whole of Australia grinds to a standstill for the AFL Grand Final in September and on the first Tuesday in November for one of the most prestigious horse-races in the world, the Melbourne Cup.

Myth 5: Australians don't speak English

Australians speak “Strine” - or Australian English. You can spot Aussies at 50 paces because they always abbreviate words: “Smoko” - smoking break, “Arvo”- afternoon, “Barbee” - Bar B Q (not the doll), “Footy” -, see 4 above. Steeped in its convict settler past, the Australian accent is a relic of English Cockney, tipped with an upward inflexion at the end of a sentence, a throwback to the Welsh lilt. However, there are regional differences. South Australians (the first free settlers) pride themselves on having a more “English” sounding accent then their Victorian or New South Wales cousins. You rarely hear Australians say: “Streuth!” or “Cobber” or “Fair Dinkum”! Such traditional demotic has almost vanished because Australian English, like RP, has become increasingly Americanised.

Somehow it exudes a sense of serenity, focus and devotion to God. Young mothers and husbands, older grandmothers and grandfathers all file silently for the vespers and services at Saint Paul's Greek Orthodox Church. The bell on the small chapel beckons believers to mass twice daily; an eternal claxon shivering the temporal apathy and indifference of this world; saying to those faithful "stop, quiet yourself and commune with Me."

On the far side of the church is the ancient cemetery, rocky and weed choked. Walking through it gives you a strange feeling; like walking backwards in time. Most of the headstones are engraved in Greek, a few in Latin, and fewer in English and German. These souls were combatants during World War II, adversaries in life now comrades in death. The wind blows a drying southern wind from the African Sahara and the sun burns down on you to either hurry you into the cool darkness of the chapel or to some other respite.

Such a respite is Steve's, a local restaurant, complete with dark, cool interior and grape arbor. Many of us stationed at the NATO Air Station spent our evenings and weekends here. Steve offers a menu of fresh feta cheese salads with rich ripe olives, dark rye bread and "Fix" beer; a locally produced island beer with a hint of "retsina" (a turpentine like substance that "infects" both beer and wine?definitely an acquired taste).

Most evenings he offers tasty chops, French fries, feta salads, beer, wine or various sodas. The remarkable thing is that nobody has ever seen Steve: legend has that he was a retired Greek-American GI that fell in love with Crete. I know that he brews an excellent cup of Joe, having needed it desperately after a night of too much wine. He also served the finest crème horns that I've ever tasted, anywhere that is. Those served in Munich and Vienna pale in comparison.

After an evening of good food and wine, we would walk back to the Air Station. The moon would shine so brightly that the surrounding country was clearly visible. We knew that we were near home when we saw Saint Paul's Church beautifully backdropped by the moonlight. You could almost here a faint ring of the bell as the evening breeze increased, the old monastery offering a final benediction as we passed through the guard gate.

When I was ten my mother took us on a spontaneous road trip. We had no set destination but eventually landed at the Biltmore Estate in Ashville, North Carolina. For those of you who don't like to fly by the seat of your pants, planning a trip to the Biltmore is easy. Driving in is super convenient with the home sites Regional Driving Directions page. The Estate is about 15 minutes from Ashville Regional Airport which is serviced by most major airlines and car rental companies. Or you could Greyhound it, landing about four miles from the Estate.

Being there…

The Festival of Flowers is being held until May 20th. You can listen to classical music under the arbor, ask gardening questions to the masters, or enjoy wine and chocolate while your children stomp the grapes. During their summer evening concert series you can watch the sun set over the Blue Ridge Mountains while you watch Chicago perform, yes, Chicago. Fall hosts the Harvest Celebration with abundant activities and the changing of the leaves in the mountains, need I say more? It was Christmas time when I went so the Mansion stood in stark contrast to the evergreens surrounding it. Inside a choir sang in the recessed greenhouse-like entry and the smell of cinnamon filled the air from the kitchens below. These days you can experience their Candlelight Christmas Evenings, but it is best to purchase those tickets online at biltmore.com where you can find lots of other details.

Building memories…

As Americans we are the “young country” and as such are starved for true old world culture. The Biltmore embodies the opulence of antiquity fused with American modernism. Treat yourself to a unique and unforgettable experience.

See America's only true castle for yourself.