Category: Vacations

We took a quick trip to NYC to see The Neil Diamond Musical: A Beautiful Noise at the Broadhurst Theatre. We took Amtrak there. Comfortable ride, about four hours. Much better than flying. Stayed in the Marriot Marquis, right in Time Square. Nice hotel, seemed to be recently renovated. Only compliant was the walls seemed a little thin, could hear our neighbors pretty easily. We could easily walk from the Penn Station, to the show, and to the hotel. Very convenient.

The show exceeded my expectations. I assumed it would be just a bunch of song and dance numbers, and there was a lot of that. But they also attempted, successfully it seemed to me, to make sense of Diamond’s life. The structure the story around a series of conversations between Diamond and his therapist. They used the line from I Am I Said as the story’s theme:

Did you ever read about a frog
Who dreamed of bein’ a king
And then became one

Diamond felt himself a frog unless he was performing, when he became a king. When the performance ended, he turned back into the frog. This relation helps Diamond come to terms with his life.

The actor that played Diamond as a young man was especially good. Not did he look like Diamond (although better looking), he somehow managed to sound exactly like him. The performance was really spot on.

Went to Paris from June 3rd to the 10th, 2023. Good time.

June 3

Arrived around noon, Paris time. Exhausted, got no sleep on the plane. Overnight flights = no good.

The Airbnb suited our ends. It was a bit rundown, but big enough for two people, quiet, and within easy walking to the Eiffel Tower area. It had a little stereo, which I used a lot. The balcony had a wall of climbing Jasmine, which smelled so nice.

We walked from the apartment to the Eiffel Tower area.

June 4th

We took an Uber to Pere Lachaise Cemetery, the resting place of many well-known figures, most notably to me, Jim Morrison.

At night we walked over to Rue Cler, had gelato.

June 5th

Took a tour to Monet’s house in Giverny. Tour was done by a company called Blue Fox Travel (booked through Trip Advisor).

The trip was nice. Our guide, Phillipe, was informative and very pleasant. Monet’s place consisted of his house, his flower garden, and the water lily garden.

We also walked around the little village of Giverny.

June 6th

Visited the Catacombs. Pretty cool.

After that, we walked to the Rodin Museum, which we had really enjoyed during out last trip.

At night we walked along the Seine. We checked out a few of the bridges. Lots of people were taking pictures, often standing in the middle of the road.

June 7th

We took the metro out to a “discount” shopping mall, La Vallee Village. We bought a purse, which I accidently left in a Fred Perry store. Luckily, it was still there when I went back. That night we took a short metro ride to the Montmartre neighborhood. We visited the Basilica of Sacré Coeur de Montmartre (Sacred Heart of Montmartre). There was a large crowd of locals hanging out and listening to musicians.

June 8th

Visited the d’Orsay, which is definitely one of my favorite museums. For one thing, unlike the Louvre, it’s not so big that it’s overwhelming. It also has a lot of more modern artists, especially the Impressionists.

This picture below was a favorite, by Manet.

They also had a replicate of the Statue of Liberty with a good explanation of its history.

Afterwards, we walked over to eat at Angelina’s, a popular restaurant know for its pastry. Good.

And got some cookies.

June 9th

Last tourist day. Visited the Louvre, which is just not a fun museum. So crowded and so large. We skipped the big exhibits we saw last trip. Saw the rooms of Napoleon III instead.

We also saw an exhibit on ancient Persia.

May 6th – Took the train from Union Station to NYC. Went with Ebie, Saughi, Chris, Mini, Armoun. Stayed at the Courtyard Marriot at 1717 Broadway. Ate dinner at Franuces Tavern downtown on Pearl Street. George Washington held a celebration dinner there in 1783. It was the watering hole of several of the Founding Fathers.

Food was ok.

May 7th – Slept late, then went to the MOMA. Saw the Mattisse “Red Studio” exhibit. Saw a movie at MOMA – https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0039310/ – by Roger Leenhardt – was an influence on the French New Wave.

Then at at a medditarean restuarant, K….. Had a salad bowl (with farro).

Then went to see the play Nauzi’s was in, Wish You Were Here.

9/11/21 – Flew to Boston. Arrived around lunchtime. Met up with Tyler, then went to Isabella Steward Gartner Museum. They were showing a Titian exhibit, the first time the six poesie (painted poetry) paintings had been exhibited together in over four centuries.

Next, we walked to Newbury Street, a popular shopping and dining district. The houses in the area for the most part 19th century brownstones.

9/12/21 – Drove out to the town of Concord, about a half-hour from Boston. Visited The Concord Museum. A lot of information on the build-up to and the beginning of the Revolutionary War. Listen to a good lecture. Best of all (for me) was the exhibit about Henry David Thoreau. They had a LOT of the original furniture from his home in Walden. Pretty damn awesome.

Next, we went to the Old Hill Burying Grounds. Failed to find the Thoreau family site.

Then, we went to Ralpho Waldo Emerson‘s home. The good news was that it had re-opened from COVID that very day; the bad news was the tour guide was, charitably, mediocre. We saw a grapevine that Thoreau supposedly planted.

9/13/21 – Tyler couldn’t get the same week off as us, big bummer, so he had to stay in Boston. The rest of us headed to Acadia National Park.

It was about a five-hour drive. The little town of Bar Harbor was very cute, beach town vibe. Took a really nice walk along the Bar Harbor Shore Path. Saw the Balance Rock.

We rented a home from VRBO. 1168 Main Street, Someville. The place itself was ok. A bit old and a bit worn, but ok. The TV was good. The house was very close to Route 3. The traffic wasn’t heavy, but when a car did pass by, holy shit, very loud. The house had no reviews on VRBO, probably don’t want to rent one without reviews again.

9/14/21 – After a pretty much sleepless night, we headed out to Acadia National Park. The first stop was Park Loop Road, which goes around the outside of the park for 27 miles. Most of the highlights of the park are on the loop. We stop at many of them, including:

• Wild Gardens of Acadia
• Sand Beach (spectacular)
• Thunder Hole
• Otter Point (lighthouse)
• Cadillac Mountain (highest peak on Eastern US, very nice views)

9/15/21 – Having seen many of the highlights of the main part of Acadia, we headed out to the lesser-known Schoodic Peninsula. This proved to be a good decision. The ocean view from the rocky shore of Schoodic Point was certainly beautiful. Next, we took a hike up to an overlook on the Alder and Anvil trails. (The hike was much longer than it should have been due to our failure to study the map carefully.)

9/16/21 – Woke up crazy early and watch the sunrise on Cadillac Mountain. It was pretty cool up there. Clouds obscured the view, but the sky did turn a nice shade of pink pastel.

After that, we visited Jordan Pond. It was so early we had the place nearly to ourselves. On the first full day of our trip, we couldn’t even find a parking place.

Finally, we took a sunset cruise. Pretty nice.

9/17/21 – Headed home. Dropped off the car and checked in at the Hancock County Airport. I think there were more employees than passengers. Took a Cessna with about eight other passengers over the Atlantic Ocean to Boston. It was a bit disconcerting. We had a long layover, so we went to the Institute of Contemporary Art (ICF) museum. Really wasn’t much of interest this time. The chairs were cool though.

4/29/21 – Left from Dulles. Landed in Boston around noon. Took an Uber to Tyler’s apartment. Did the following:

• Walked thru the Waterfront/Seaport area. It was raining, windy, cold.
• Visited the Institute of Contemporary Art (ICA). Saw several exhibits. Standouts were;
  • Ragnar Kjartansson: The Visitors (music video/Astor house)
  • Attiaader Attia: Oil and Sugar #2
  • Nick Cave: Sound Suit

4/30/21 – Walked about eleven miles or so. Visited/walked thru:

• Northeastern
• James P. Kelleher Rose Garden
• Fenway Park (outside)
• Victory Garden
• Ate on Newbury Street (Raman Noodles place)
• Isabella Gardner Museum – Highlight of the trip.
• Harvard Square
• Cambridge
• Cheapo Record Store
• MIT (beautiful)
• Esplande (Charles River)
• Crossed the bridge across the river (crazy wind)

Watch the first two episodes of the Netflix documentary about the Gardner Museum robbery.

5/01/21 – Met Tyler and headed-out for another ten miles or so of walking. Visited:

• Chinatown (Tyler street)
• Brattle Bookshop
• Boston Commons
• Public Gardens (tulips)
• Granary Burying Ground
• Many other sites along the Freedom Trail
• Crazy anti-vaccinator protesters
• Newbury Street high-end shopping area
• ate lunch at by Chloe (vegetarian sandwich shop – good)
• Bunker Hill

Watched the last two episodes of the Netflix documentary about the robbery.

5/02/21 – Met Tyler for lunch at Flour Bakery + Cafe (good cauliflower sandwich and avocado toast). Uneventful trip home.

We took a family trip to Wintergreen, close to Charlottesville, Virginia. Rented a fairly large five bedroom home at the top of the mountain. The main purpose was to share some family time. Mission accomplished.

We took a few hiking trips. A short hike within Wintergreen, the Shamokin Springs Trail. Nice little waterfall at the end. We also went to Crabtree Falls and Humpback Rocks, both a short drive away. Both worthwhile. Crabtree Falls was especially nice, one of the largest waterfalls east of the Mississippi.

We played tennis a few times. Nice. The kids played golf.

A few lessons learned.

• Should have more carefully planned out the meals I wanted to make. The quality would have been better.
• Could have planned out the sleeping arrangement a bit better. Not bad but could have been better.
• Should have taken a sleeping bag, extra blankets for myself. I knew I wouldn’t be able to sleep in that tiny bed.
• Alway bring the Firestick! (kid saved the day).

Had lunch with Dylan in the Hampden neighborhood of Baltimore, filmmaker John Waters’ hangout. Ate lunch at Rocket to Venus, a John Waters’ favorite. Really good vegan place. Recommended.

Also stopped by Atomic Books, a very hip and cool bookstore.

Went down to West Palm Beach to watch the World Champion Washington Nationals play a couple of spring training games. And also do some touristy things in the area. Good time all around.

9/13/18 – Arrival in Miami
Decent flight from Dulles to Miami International. American Airlines.  Checked into the Villa Paradiso. Nice garden, but an old pretty decrepit.  Very loud air conditioner that ran 24/7. Walked around town.
9/14/18 – Picked up Nasrin from airport. At lunch at a decent Indian restaurant. Walked along Ocean Drive/South Beach in the evening. Cool Art Deco architecture.  Neon lighting.Lot of young folks partying at the bars. At dinner at a Cuban place, Yucca.  Good, unusual vegetarian lasagna.
9/15/18 – Took a tour to the Holiday Alligator Park in the Everglades. The driver, Leah, told us this story about adopting her husband’s daughter’s young child. The daughter has an extreme drug problem.
Could have just driven to the place ourselves. Anyway, it was easy. Pretty fun boat ride, saw a bunch of alligators.
Took another walk along South Beach. Met a woman who worked at the New York Times. She said she had just  done a video about a ballot measure that would allow felons to get their voting rights back after completing  their sentence.
9/16/18 – Drove to Key West
Drove down to Key West. Nice drive, especially the Seven Mile Bridge area. Stayed in a really, really cool boutique hotel, The Gardens Hotel. Saw the mile zero marker. Ate at Azurs, a Mediterranean restaurant.  Watch sunset at Mallory Square. Really special. Fun how the crowd cheered.
9/17/18  -Drove to Key Largo
Stopped at Robbie’s and feed the giant Tureon fish. Wow. Stopped at the Rain Barrel, lots of cool stuff for sale.
Checked in to the Marriott Playa Resort, a pretty spectacular place. Watch the sunset from their private beach.  Swam in the pool. Had it all to ourselves.
9/18/18 – Drove to Fort Lauderdale
Visited Bonnet house.  Perhaps the coolest house I  ever saw.
Used Jet Blue then Uber for the ride home. Fine.
 
 

Nasrin and I took a long trip to Germany. Very nice.
Itinerary
Day  1 – Took Aer Lingus (not a fan) to Ireland, then to Frankfurt. Rented car from Hertz and drove to see Sammi and Baback in their small town close to Mainz. Their son Arman (sp?) was there. They live in a small but interesting house. Lots of architectural detail. Got a flat tire, had it fixed in the village close by. They took us to a park in the city of Wiesbaden (state of Hesse). Ate dinner at a Persian place. Good vegetarian option.
Day 2 – Drove to Cochem in the Mosel Valley.  Stayed at Hotel Thul. Nice place located on a hill overlooking the river/town. Lots of flowers. Very peaceful and relaxing. Took a boat ride and strolled around the town.

Day 3 and 4- Drove on the Autobahn (and a bit on the “Romantic Road”)  to a town called Rothenburg, which was founded in the Middle Ages. The town has been (more or less) preserved as it was long ago, although it’s very much a tourist town. Something like Williamsburg, people dressed up in costumes, etc. We walked around the town, stayed in the Hotel Rappen. The hotel was ok, but there was very loud music from a rock band until after midnight each night. Parking the car was a real headache since the hotel’s lot was constantly full. Fun to walk around the town and on the ancient protecting wall.


Day 5 – Drove to see Saedeh and Marcus at their home in Stuttgart. Had a good time with them. They served us white asparagus for lunch, which I had never heard of, but is very common this time of year in Germany. Delicious, we ate it everywhere we could find it the rest of the trip. They took us to see the University of Tubingen, where Marcus and one of their daughters went to school. I believe we read that it was one of  the oldest European universities. Took a boat ride and walked around. Ate German tapas at an outdoor cafe.

Day 7 – Drove to Munich. Stopped at the Dachau concentration camp right outside the city. Stayed at the Hotel Monaco, which turned-out to not the best choice. It was in a bit of a seedy neighborhood, surrounded by strip joints. The first night was incredibly noisy, and it was too hot to close the windows (no AC). We moved to another room the second night. Problem sovlved.
Day 8 – Took a day trip to Bavaria to see Ludwig II’s castle. Drove much of the way on the Romantic Road. Amazingly beautiful area:  highway was surrounded by mountains, some capped with snow, many small quaint towns. Castle was cool. Took a walk along the lake. Nice.

Day 9 – Took a tour to Salzburg, Mozart’s home town. Tour guide gave us some information about the history the German people, the wars and so on. Salzburg was a disappointment, just a tourist trap. But they also took us to St Wolfgang, a really beautiful small town with a big glacial lake. Nice boat ride.

Day 10 – We stayed in Munich and saw the sights. Could have planned the day better. The jazzy pop group playing in the streets was very good. For some reason they played several Abba songs. We got caught in a blinding rainstorm without umbrellas. Memorable.
Day 11 – Took the train to Berlin. Walked around the hipster German neighborhood we stayed in, Prenlanger Berg. Stayed at the Hotel Meyers, a very nice boutique hotel. The AC made some weird gurgling sound all night.


Day 12 – Took a taxi over to the nearby Hotel Kastanienhof. Nice place for the money. Staff was super helpful. We did a Hop-On/Hop-Off bus tour but that didn’t work out so well because of a big protest going on that blocked-off many streets. Saw Checkpoint Charlie and a few other sights.

Day 13 – Saw more of the Berlin sights, included a nice boat tour. The Chancellor’s office right on the water was impressive. Spent a lot of time at the Topology of Terror.

Day 14 – Took the train back to Frankfurt (because it was much cheaper than flying from Berlin). Walked around the city. The bridges across the river were really interesting. Ate white asparagus and German vegetarian pizza at a local restaurant. Very good, need to find the name of the place.

Day 15 – Took the subway back to the airport, flew home on British Airways. Good flight.