Venice, Florence, Rome

So we are off on a new adventure. We flew into Venice on Aer Lingus (very nice airline, first time we used them) from Dublin and went to the first of 3 wonderful hotels (on a Tauck tour) Hotel Baglioni. After settling in we walk thru San Marco Piazza, and have our first pizza, bono. On Sunday we did an excursion to Murano, Burano and Torcello, saw glass blowing, lace making and of course the churches. Monday saw the Doge's Palace. The first "real" Italian meal, a sign of what's coming, 4 courses and impolite to skip one, oy vey. Tuesday off to Florence on the train at speeds of up to 180 mph, lunch, then a walking tour on the way to see the Galleria dell' Academia  and Michelangelo's David, magnificent and the first of numerous works of art that only got better. Next day the Duomo and the Uffizi Gallery, with works by Raphael, da Vinci and Botticelli. Thursday saw a bus ride into the Tuscan country side with an unexpected stop to a World War 2 memorial, then a visit to a Wine Cellar and lunch with 4 pairings, did I mention the wine? OMG very stop and meal had so many its hard to choose the best!!! The Hotel Helvetia and Bristol was our stop in Florence. Now as wonderful as those two cities were its off to Rome by high speed train.The hotel was on the famed Via Veneto (Regina Hotel Baglioni) and a bus tour of various locations, but the next day, St Peter's to see the Basilica and inside there the Pieta finished by Michelangelo when he was 22!!! think back, what where you doing at 22? I'm embarrassed to say, after a free afternoon (we went to the Pantheon ) our tour has a special deal, which is really the price of going in itself, 3 Tauck tours of about 40 in each, after hours in the Vatican and the Sistine Chapel, if you know me well, you know I talk, regarding this I'm speechless, we have been to many great things in our travels, from Mt McKinley in Alaska to the Pyramid's in Egypt, the Sistine Chapel might be the most beautiful, even without the religious aspect, it's just awe inspiring. Not sure how to top this trip, but we will try next year as we think of a week in Ireland

Tucson The Third

So we love this city and since my wife can do conference time there, we made our third trip out. The hotel is always picked by the conference and this one was outstanding, JW Marriott Starr Pass Resort ,  pricey but if you want top of the line, well...

We flew out on Valentine's Day, and drove up to Phoenix on Sunday to spend time with a friend and her 3 girls, even though Ethan had kind of out grown it we went to the Zoo and had a lovely day.

Back in Tucson, Monday was the Arizona- Sonora Desert Museum, which is outdoors and a place we will always stop at regardless of how many trips we make. Ethan and I did some new things this trips, including the U of A Museum of Art, AZ History Museum, the AZ State Museum and The Steward Observatory Mirror Lab. The museums all had native artists and native american artifacts. The art has some major artists, O'Keefe of course, Warhol and de Kooning and Dali.

If you have kids who are science geeks like Ethan, the Shepard Observatory Mirror Lab  and Kitt Peak National Observatory are must stops. The former is where they make mirrors that are on huge telescopes and Kitt is where all the Astronomers come to do research .

And finally we went to Tombstone, hokey but a fun day and the Courthouse is very interesting.

As always if you need details , get in touch.

Amsterdam / Bruges

First off two very important pieces of information, ask the concierge at your hotel when the Royal Palace is open, not all the time, don't miss this. Second, Anne Frank House, either get tickets online before you go or at Central Station, not specific time, but have them and be on line no later than 8:30, its a zoo after that. Also earlier in the week in better

Travel, when booking flights look into Icelandair, requires a stop in Kelflevik but the prices are great. Also the Renaissance Hotel, 1/2 block from Central Location, transportation hub for all your needs. If you can swing the Club Level, it comes with Buffet Breakfast everyday and afternoon, cocktail hour, so while the room is a bit higher, the perks make up for it. Also get a Holland Pass, depending on number of tickets you order you save time and money at most museums (not Frank House), avoid using a ticket on their 2 hours bus trip around town.

Now the trip, Dutch Masters Excursion, you can do the museums alone but having someone who knows the art and "the"pieces to see helps, this was Van Gogh Museum, followed by a Canal Trip, (with light lunch,sandwiches) and the Rijksmuseum. If you only do one excursion, IMO, this is the one. Zaanse,Voldendam, Markeen, windmill visit, cheese maker, clog maker. Fun but if you rent a car, skip Markeen. Niuewerkirk , one of the oldest churches in town, near Royal Palace, beautiful. We went on a tour of North Holland which includes a trip to the Enclosing Dam they are very proud of, it separates the North Sea (salt) from the largest lake in western Europe (fresh) an engineering marvel, also a short visit to Medembrik , wonderful small museum Westries and a ride on a steam engine train, Not for everyone but a relaxing day.

Bruges, its a long trip, either by bus or train, again if you have rented a car, they have the only Michaelangelo outside of Italy and a beautiful city. And of course the Chocolate Museum

We really liked Delft (reminded us of Oxford) and The Hauge, but the trip was a bit short in both places. Other places we saw and liked, Rembrandt House, Joods Historisch Museum, Portuguese Synagouge, Holocaust Museum, Alkmaar Cheese Market (1/2 day trip, Fridays only) National Maritime Museum, Tulip Museum, (with Holland pass discount card, it was 5 euros for the 3 of us). Dutch Resistance Museum (a must imo, shows Dutch involvement in WW2)

So there you have it, we covered a lot in 10 days But it was a great trip, would go back in a heartbeat. As always if you are thinking about going get in touch and we can talk, we of course avoided the "coffee shop" (they don't sell coffee , lol

And remember watch out for the bicycles, they rule the city

Chicago The Third

Yes we went back to Chicago. Why you ask? My wife just had to do the Beluga Whale Experience before our friend moved. And what an experience, not cheap, but the money helps maintain the Shedd Aquarium so a great cause. The class is 1 and 1/2 hours in total of learning about the Beluga and then being in the tank with them. You feed them, touch them, put your hand in their mouth and help train them. We have swam with Dolphins in Hawaii and helped train Sea Lions in the Bahamas, nothing comes close to this. Save up and go. While we were in Chicago we had breakfast in our favorite place on the Northside, Lilly's Pancake House and dinner in Ethan's favorite restaurant Ron of Japan. So just a short blog as it was a weekend trip. Off to Amsterdam in 10 days for 10 days, look for the blog week of June 23rd

England And Scotland

We had a wonderful time in the UK for two weeks, we will highlight the adventure as we saw so much it gets overwhelming. In London we stayed at the Holiday Inn, Mayfair district. Good location and decent price for the 3 of us, while the food was gotten better in London, its pricey, so if possible eat in the pubs, and try each pubs beer, I did , lol. We saw Westminster Abbey, Windsor Castle, Tower of London, British Museum , Churchill's War Room, Hamton Court, Stonehenge, Oxford and Sherlock Holmes Museum and a few other places. Those mentioned are must see with kids, for us the best where Tower of London, War Room and Stonehenge. You can get a tour of Stonehenge and one other location for a 1/2 day which is better than driving out on your own unless you have a car for the duration of your holiday. Also the on/off bus is very good , we tend to use that at the start to get a fell where everything is.

We then flew up to Edinburgh and joined our tour, we used Collette Vacations and they where great but we discovered we didn't like the part of living out of the suitcase (the longest we where in one place was 2 nights), it works for some but ...Edinburgh Castle and Holyrood are excellant while in town , the other highlights where Culloden Battlefield (like Gettysburgh for the Scots) Ring of Brodgar, similar to Stonehenge but older, and Skara Brae which is a newly discovered remnant of a stone village approx 5000 years old (like Ring of Brodgar) which very little is known. The real highlight was Orkney Island, where we learned about Italian POW's during World War 2 and the church they built, but you need to go and see it and hear the story,its too wondeful to spoil. The Isle of Skye , Loch Ness and an hour cruise on Loch Lomand were included and all fun. We ate a lot of Salmon and Fish and Chips, but when in the UK do what they do, lol
We added an extra day in Glasgow, which has a couple of very excellant museums, one of which is the Children's Science, all hands on and great for kids of all ages

So much more to tell, but its more fun to tell and show pictures in 3D, so until then...

Chicago Redux

As you can see we sometimes go to places more than once. In fact we may do Chicago again in the Fall before our friend moves away. First off food, these first few are in the Lakeview section. Lulu belle's Pancake House, not to be missed, huge portions (and I'm no little guy) the apple cinnamon pancakes were to die for, Ethan's omelet was huge and the rest were delicious, bottomless coffee cup and a warm, friendly staff. Dinner that night was Frieda's (Mexican), again very big portions, however fixed review, I loved mine while my wife left it was spicy without adding anything to the food. Sunday we ate at Ron of Japan, if you like hibachi and think Benihana is good, take if 5 levels up, we will go here again. Last dinner was La Gondola Cucina, which got a plus in my book due to a great beer menu, including one of my favorites not available in NYC , Edmund Fitzgerald Porter by Great Lakes Brewery of Ohio, the food really was outstanding and do not be put off by the outside decor

As for activities, we bought a City Pass (saves a few admission bucks) and hit Museum of Science and Industry, Adler Planetarium and Shedd Aquarium. The first reminded me of American Museum Of Natural History in NY , way too big to see in one day, lots of interactive stuff and 3d movies , great for science geek kids. We are space junkies so Adler was was a real treat for us, nice exhibit on NASA and the Moon program. We wanted to do the Beluga Whale Experience but you need to be 50 inches tall and we were off by 2 so next time, either that or the Penguin's (my fave) it was sold out months in advance so plan

No hotel as we stayed with our friend

Cruise Redux

We set sail on the NCL Gem on December 22 for a 9 days cruise. We were set to visit Puerto Rico, St Marteen, St Thomas and the Dominican Republic. On Saturday the 22nd it was a beautiful evening as we sailed under the Verrazano Bridge, on Sunday after Ethan spent the day in kids program and Mom was doing her CME program, Dad had a massage and we dined in the new Brazilian BBQ restaurant. I must say it was great, so much so that Ethan proclaimed " we must eat here again " and we did later in the week. We also ate in the Hibachi and Steakhouse restaurants. Once we got far enough South we started sunning and swimming in the pool. Alas the first port was Puerto Rico and we hadn't thought ahead, and due to it being Christmas Day everything was closed, so we just walked around a bit and looked at architecure which Ethan loves. The next day we did two excursions, this was St Marteen, first a glass sided boat so we could see the waterlife up close, after lunch we went snorkeling and then to a beautiful beach to relax.In St Thomas we went to Magen's Bay, which we where told was voted one of the 10 best beaches in the world and while it was fabulous , 10 best? Maybe. Our last excursion was in the DR where we ferryed to see mangroves and caves with historic picturegraphs, also an Ethan favorite. Saturday and Sunday were onboard days, Dad hit the spa again for another massage and a facial, as did Mom.Sunday we hit some choppy sea and lucky for us our stateroom was high enough that we din't get sick as many below did.As Ethan gets older and enjoys new food and adventure the cruise gets better, we love NCL as we don't have to dress for dinner even in the specialty restaurants, you can if you want but jeans and a collared shirt works
We love crusing so much we put a downpayment on our next one. Back to normal life and the countdown begins to June and our first adventure to Europe , England / Scotland