The 12 best things to do for free in Vienna

Europe's scorching hot summer is showing no signs of cooling down, with Italy facing its warmest weekend of the year so far and heatwave warnings issued in southern France.

If your idea of Spain is eating paella, dancing flamenco, and improving your Spanish, Catalonia might surprise you.

When my husband and I decided to retire, we devised a plan. We wanted to rent out our home in California and visit the UNESCO World Heritage city of Guanajuato.

The tonka bean, a wizened-looking South American seed, is beloved for its complex almond-vanilla scent, often appearing as an ingredient in perfumes. Outside the United States, it has also long been utilized by chefs, but studies have indicated that coumarin, a chemical compound in the plant, can cause liver damage in animals, and the Food and Drug Administration banned the bean in commercial foods in 1954. Now, with reports that the minuscule amounts used to impart big flavor are harmless (and the F.D.A. seemingly not particularly interested in enforcing the ban in recent years), tonka is showing up on dessert menus here. Thea Gould, 30, the pastry chef at the daytime luncheonette La Cantine and evening wine bar Sunsets in Bushwick, Brooklyn, was introduced to tonka after the restaurant’s owner received a jar from France, where it’s a widely used ingredient. Gould says the bean is an ideal stand-in for nuts — a common allergen — and infuses it into panna cotta, whipped cream and Pavlova. Ana Castro, 35, the chef and owner of the New Orleans seafood restaurant Acamaya, discovered tonka as a young line cook at Betony, the now-closed Midtown Manhattan restaurant. Entranced by the ingredient’s grassy, stone fruit-like notes, she’s used it to flavor a custardy corn nicuatole, steeped it into roasted candy squash purée and grated it fresh over a lush tres leches cake. And at the Musket Room in New York’s NoLIta, the pastry chef Camari Mick, 30, balances tonka’s richness with acidic citrus like satsuma and bergamot. Over the past year, she’s incorporated it into a silky lemon bavarois and a candy cap mushroom pot de crème and whipped it into ganache for a poached pear belle Hélène. “Some people ask our staff, ‘Isn’t tonka illegal?’” she says. Their answer: Our pastry chef’s got a guy. —

AmaWaterways has unveiled a new seven-night "Best of the Danube" itinerary inspired by co-founder and President Rudi Schreiner.

Delta Air Lines is now rolling out fast, free Wi-Fi by T-Mobile on select long-haul international routes, with most transatlantic flights to be in service with free Wi-Fi by the end of the summer. 

What was arguably the most shocking announcement of the night at the Walt Disney Company's D23 fan event last night in Anaheim, California, wasn't about a theme park (although there were tons of those, too).

At the age of 63, I was bankrupt and in foreclosure. I had less than nothing because I owed money to a friend. All I had were my pensions. I knew I could never afford to retire in the US.

If you’re an avid traveler (and even if not), you’ve probably heard the rumblings that sometime soon the 3.4 oz. TSA liquids rule is going to change. Currently, you’re not allowed to bring containers larger than 3.4 ounces (or 100 ml) of liquids, gels, or aerosols through security. Commonly referred to as the “3-1-1” rule, it traces its origins back to a failed plot in 2006 when terrorists in the U.K. tried to smuggle liquid explosives onto planes. The rules were originally intended to be temporary but nearly 20 years later remain in place.

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Europe dominates in a new ranking of the world’s most beautiful cities, filling nine of the top 10 spots.

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Kayla Sommese, a Taylor Swift fan who traveled from Los Angeles to Vienna to catch Taylor Swift's Eras Tour. It has been edited for length and clarity. Business Insider has verified her expenses.