WAR-MIL-AMS: Days 3, 4 & 5 - Northern Italy

Saturday, May 19, 2012:  Happy Anniversary to us!  We woke up early this morning and made our way to the Warsaw Airport for a short LOT flight to Milan, Italy.

As shown here on Ashlee's I-Phone, we were lucky that each of the cities we were flying to on this trip are in the same time zone and seven hours ahead of CST.  With an overnight flight that we were able to sleep on, and a restful first day in Warsaw, we were not feeling any ill effects of jet-lag.

Our Doubletree Hotel wasn't close to downtown Milan (but it was free thanks to some Hiltion points Ashlee had acquired).  So by the time we landed, rode the Malpensa Express Train (the airport is 30 miles from downtown) and took a short cab ride to the hotel, and then a cable-car ride (photo above) downtown, it was already mid-afternoon.




 
Once we got downtown we checked out the Milan Fortress (Sforza Castle) and its
surrounding park and had  a few glasses of wine in an outdoor cafe there. 
A very nice introduction to this busy, busy city.

 

We got back to the hotel and changed for our anniversary dinner.  Instead of slogging back downtown, we decided to try a place within walking distance, an Italian bistro called L'Imaggine, which got wonderful reviews.  We completely agree!!  What a wonderful place!  Excellent food, good service and a ton of "freebies" including a welcoming drink, table sweets, succulent meatballs (our favs) and even a shot of strong grappa on the way out the door.  Wow!  What an experience!  We were so stuffed (their lasagna is amazing) and so "happy" from all the alcohol, we were afraid to tell them it was our anniversary or we would have never got out of there!

EARTHQUAKE!

http://www.sacbee.com/2012/05/19/4502777/earthquake-strikes-in-italy-near.html

Yes, we felt it as we lay in our bed on the 4th floor at about 4 AM local time.  Thankfully, the epicenter was 60 or so miles north of us and we were not affected other than being creeped out a bit.

(Editor's Note:  May 29, 2012:  Ten days later disaster struck again in Northern Italy with 17 more deaths from another strong quake.  Our hearts go out to these folks in this beautiful region.)

Sunday, May 20, 2012:  Our first of two scheduled day-tours out of Milan was set for today.  We were headed north toward the Italian/Swiss Alps and the beautiful resort area of the huge Lake Maggiore.



Just over an hour out of Milan is the charming little resort town
of Stresa on the shores of Lake Maggiore.



Isola Madre on the amazing Lake Maggiore

As the weather threatened, we took a great little boat ride on Lake Maggiore
out past Isola dei Pescatori (Island of the Fisherman).

We landed at Isola Bella (Beautiful Island) and toured the Palazzo Borromeo,
an amazing palace of exquisite artwork and beautiful rooms built by the Borromeo Family
which owned all of this area at one time

Our favorite rooms in the palace were the six grottoes in the bottom floor
which were decorated from ceiling to floor in intricate patterns made
of stones from the lake itself.  It took 20 years to complete these rooms.

The palace gardens were equally impressive albeit a little harder to enjoy now that
the rainy weather had settled in quite stubbornly and we were forced to view them
from under the protection of souvenir umbrellas we bought at the book shop.

It was then over to Isola dei Pescatori for lunch and some shopping.

After lunch we encountered our first ducks of the trip on the narrow wet streets
of the small town.  Ducks would become a theme for this trip for some reason.

We did some praying for the rain to let up, but they went unanswered...for now.

Back in Milan, the rain continued as we did a little shopping downtown
 with the Milan Fortress looming in the background.

Now this is how you do a mall!  The Milan Pilazzo was full of shops
(and shoppers) and, best of all, protected from the persistent rain.

Monday, May 21, 2012:  Our second day-tour out of Milan was scheduled to go south to the coast.  After two hours of driving through torrential rain through winding mountain roads, the outlook was kind of bleak.

Our first stop was the big port city of Genoa.  The rain had slacked up some,
but we still needed our umbrellas to enjoy the beautiful architecture.

Genoa has done an interesting job of conforming former private city palaces into government
offices and businesses.  The history of the city is preserved and the business of today
goes on without a hitch.

Amazing frescoes from circa 17th century are free to view in many different
public buildings in Genoa.

The exquisite use of marble in all different colors adorns Genoa's
San Lorenzo Cathedral.

This WW II bomb dropped through the roof of the Genoa's San Lorenzo Cathedral
 but did not detonate.  Church officials declare this a miracle and seeing
actual evidence of a miracle definitely makes it much easier to believe.

The blending of the new and the very, very old is never more evident
than in Genoa as a part of the original city gate is dwarfed by
a modern high-rise in the background.  Somehow, it all works.

Christopher Columbus' boyhood home.
That's right, he was Italian.
He only went to Spain for financing.

There actually are blue skies  in Italy!!  Our hopes began to rise as we stepped out into this
main square in Genoa to see the heavy rainclouds starting to disperse.

A bit of the Genoa waterfront.  This replica ship was built for a movie and is
now a tourist attraction along with a nice aquarium.

We continued east from Genoa along the beautiful Italian coast to the resort town of
Santa Margherita with it's beautiful crescent-shaped bay.

I call this one "The Miracle at Santa Margherita."  Our prayers are answered today as the heavy rain clouds
broke free in glorious wonder revealing the awe-inspiring Italian coastline.  Official weather reports called
for a 90% chance of rain for the entire day for this area.  I guess miracles do happen.

After checking out the town a bit, we boarded a ferry and headed due south along the coast toward
the small village of Portofino.  The views were amazing.  This is the Italian Riviera at its best.

Portofino - easily on of the most beautiful places we have every visited.
Pictures do not do it justice.

We hiked up to the Portofino Lighthouse and were rewarded with this fish-eyed
view of the village in all its glory.  Truly, an amazing place and the weather
could not have been better.

While Portofino lies in a protected inlet with only lapping waves, the pounding of the Ligurian Sea
is relentless just on the other side of this point of the Italian coast.



The ride back was just as good.  The rain was gone for good and we enjoyed a beautiful

ride home north back to Milan.



It was back to L'Immagine for dinner tonight.  How could we not?  Here's just a sample of some of the freebies you get with dinner...clockwise from front:  cherries & apricots, delicious little hard candies with liquid centers (we took a handful of these for our future flights), lollipops, homemade licorice, a bottle of limoncello liqueur (and two shot glasses), some kind of candy similar to Easter peeps and peanuts (we have yet to figure that one out).

Tuesday, May 22, 2012:
Flying out of Milan back east toward Warsaw for a plane change to Amsterdam.
The snow-capped Alps stretch out in the distance over the green of Italy.

Millan and northern Italy were awesome despite some bad weather.  We have loved all of our trips to Italy with Venice still remaining our favorite place we have every visited (although Portofino and the Italian Riviera are a very close second now).  We can't wait to come again and discover more of this amazing country.

WAR-MIL-AMS: Days 1,2 & 9 - Warsaw, Poland

Thanks to a great airfare deal I found many months ago, we decided to celebrate our 11th wedding anniversary in style with a return trip to Europe with three new destinations on the agenda:  Warsaw, Poland; Milan and some other areas of northern Italy; plus Amsterdam and other parts of North and South Holland in The Netherlands.  We nicknamed the trip the WAR-MIL-AMS since those are the abbreviations of the three main cities we would be flying in and out of during our trip.  Here's a day-by-day breakdown of the trip told mostly in pictures...

Wednesday, May 16 and Thursday May 17, 2011:  After an early flight to Chicago and a little layover time in The Windy City which included a great lunch and some tasty brews at Revolution Brewing, plus another libation at the travel-inspired bar, The Map Room, we boarded our LOT (the Polish national airline) jet for an overnight, nine-hour, non-stop flight to Warsaw, Poland.  The great airfare deal on LOT Airlines was the reason we chose Warsaw as our first destination since it is their hub.  While not the first European city we thought of to visit, it turned out to be a very nice place.

The great view of  some of downtown Warsaw
from our Hilton hotel room.

Drinking might be a national sport in Poland.  They take it very seriously.



After dinner at a cool microbrewery in downtown Warsaw called BrowArmia on our first night in Poland, we walked back to our hotel through beautiful Saxon Park which includes the solemn Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.

 Friday, May 18, 2012:  During our first full day in Warsaw we had an "off the beaten path" city tour scheduled with a relatively new company called Adventure Warsaw.

While not the most beautiful of pictures, this is a true "snapshot" of the country of Poland over the last one hundred years.  In the center is the pre-WWII lovely architecture which survived the 85% destruction of the city by bombing.  To the left is the stolid and plain style of Communist Poland after WWII.  And to the right is the scuttled remains of the post-Communist era when capitalism ran wild only to see many projects never take form and left abandoned as is by their boom-or-bust developers,  A great stop on the Adventure Warsaw tour that no one else would point out to you.

One of the few remaining buildings of the Jewish ghettos from WWII when Warsaw was held helpless under the invading Nazi boot-heel and millions died as a result of the madness of a few.  As you can see, today's Warsaw is taking great pains to move on from its tragic past, but also never wanting to forget it either.

 

Our small tour group ambles across
a sweeping square in downtown Warsaw.




A storefront reflection of our tour van.  A relic of the Communist era, it's a restored Nysa 522, and has all the charm and appeal of an iron box on wheels, but it definitely gives you a unique perspective of what this city has come from.

After the tour, we got back on the "beaten path"
and visited Old Town, one of Warsaw's
most well-known historic areas and attractions.

Making Polka cool.  A lone musician enjoys the sunshine in Old Town Warsaw.

Our first two days in Warsaw went fast, but the brief visit made quite an impression.  It's an amazing place that is on the rise to probably becoming one of the top cities in Europe in the next decade.  New construction is everywhere and the freedom of capitalism seems to suit the Polish people well.  Some of the little things we will not forget but that didn't make the pictures included our super-comfortable bed at the Hilton, ordering "sausage" for breakfast and getting hot dogs, the tasty cherry beer at BrowArmia and the great evening stroll through Saxon Park.  We would back for another afternoon and night in Warsaw at the end of our trip as we fly back to Chicago from here non-stop when we head home.

Friday, May 25, 2012:  We flew back to Warsaw today from Amsterdam and spent the night at the Westin Hotel in downtown Warsaw, just a few blocks from the Hilton we stayed at the first two nights.

Warsaw on approach.

Besides the great rate we got at the Westin in downtown Warsaw for our last night in Europe, one's of its best attributes were the beautiful glass elevators that provided great views of the surrounding city.

After a week of "local" food, we decided we would pick the style of food we wanted on our last night in Europe and settled on Asian cuisine.  We found a very nice Japanese restaurant called Akashia which is attached to a huge shopping mall, always a plus for Ashlee.  We sat outside since it was such a nice evening and I ordered a grilled seafood medley box.  Little did I know part of the "medley" included a baby octopus....yes, I ate it.  It was rubbery, but not bad tasting.  I also ate the other smaller one I found later buried under some shrimp.



After dinner we took a sunset stroll through Warsaw and stumbled upon another beautiful park called Ujazdow Park (OK, we were trying to get to the Vistola River and got lost), but it was a good substitute especially when we saw these eight ducklings and their mother.  Ducks as you will see if you check out the other blog entries became a real theme to  our trip to Europe for some reason.  We found our way back to the hotel with no problems and headed home the next morning.  It was a great trip from start to finish and despite a few hiccups along the way, it really went rather well.



A Night and a Day at Center Hill

Friday, May 11, 2012:  We spent our first night together actually tent-camping as a couple (Bonnaroo doesn't count since we use a pop-up camper) thanks to an invitation from our friends John and Monique to join them and John's daughter, Courtney, and her husband, Nathan, up on nearby Center Hill Lake.

Our hosts had a sweet set-up lakeside at the Floating Mill Campground.  We shared the large green tent with John and Monique.  Too bad we forgot our pillows (rookies!).  We spent the evening just relaxing around the campfire after enjoying a great outdoors-cooked meal as well.



Saturday, May 12, 2012:
John and Monique had made arrangements to rent a pontoon boat for the afternoon
and we joined them for a leisurely ride on the quiet lake from Hurricane Marina
westward under Hurricane Bridge, which is currently being widened, and then
on around Davies Island.  The temps were a bit cool and a few of us
got in the chilly water, briefly,  but mostly we just enjoyed the views
and relaxed the day away.

Thanks to our friends, John and Monique, for allowing us this unique-to-us experience and for all the hospitality of lakeside room and board.

Music City Runs, Wins and Sings!

We celebrated some more "firsts" for us in Nashville these past couple weeks

that are definitely worth noting.

Saturday, April 28, 2012:   It was a beautiful day in Nashville for the Music City Country Music Marathon.
Congratulations to Ashlee for completing her very first 1/2 marathon! It was an amazing turnout
 with over 31,000 people participating in the 13.1-mile race.

While my knees and ankles weren't up for 13 miles of pounding, I was happy to serve as the "Marathon Mule" for the day as I shuttled cars, belongings and such from the starting line to the finish line not only for Ashlee, but for our friends Danny, Brenda, Wil and Wayne, who also completed the 1/2 marathon.  I was able to take a nice 4-mile bridge-to-bridge loop walk myself downtown while I was at it, so that's gotta count for something.  More importantly I got to see Sheryl Crowe at the finish line...still looking good after 13.1 miles!

After the 1/2 marathon, Ashlee and Wayne treated themselves to huge post-race corn dogs from Drifters BBQ over in East Nashville.  I stuck with the brisket which was excellent.  This little hole-in-the-wall is fast becoming on our favorite places in the area for a beer or two and a casual meal.

Wednesday, May 2:  We were fortunate enough to witness yet another Nashville Predator win at home and this time it was a first for us because it was in the second round of the NHL Playoffs vs. the Phoenix Coyotes.  Our lower-bowl seats were  less-expensive than many others since they were behind the "defend twice" goal, but to us these great seats were priceless because we got to witness in person the sheer mastery of Preds goaltender, Pekke Renne, for two periods especially the amazing 3rd period when he defended flawlessly against even a 5-3 power play for Phoenix and still shut them out completely.

The win would turn out to be their only one in the series unfortunately, as the Coyotes moved on to clinch the series 4-1 and thus knocking the Predators out of the Stanley Cup race, once again in the second round.  We wished the team had done better this postseason, but personally we couldn't be more happy with the results we witnessed this year including being down on the glass twice during the regular season and then with all the playoff wins we saw in person, it's been quite a memorable season.  We can't wait until next season.  Go Preds!!

After the game, Ashlee even got to hook up again with her new Preds boy-toy, "Big Ben" who's crowd-pleasing belly message was never more classic than this one when flashed up on the jumbo-tron tonight.

Monday, May 7, 2012 - We attended the SOLD OUT show of Ingrid Michaelson at The Cannery in Nashville tonight.  This was our first time seeing her play live (other than part of a set at Bonnaroo a few years ago where we couldn't get close to the stage due to the large crowd).  She was great, not only in terms of musicianship and singing, but also in delivering some quite witty banter  and funny stories to the crowd between songs.  A young up-and-coming group out of England called Scars on 45 opened and sounded pretty good also. 

Below is a short clip of Ingrid performing one of her older hits, "Soldier."

Windy City Birthday Weekend

To celebrate my (gulp) 45th birthday, we planned a long weekend trip to Chicago and invited several friends to come along with us.  While only a couple  of folks were able to actually make it up to the Windy City, we had a grand time nonetheless.  Thanks to our friends, Wayne and Rex, for joining us for the trip.

April 20, 2012:  Happy Birthday to me!
With the need for three bedrooms, we opted out of the hotel option
 for lodging and found this beautiful condo on the north side of
downtown Chicago (The Loop) in a hip, reviving
neighborhood known as Andersonville.  Per bedroom, this was
actually a better deal per person than a decent hotel room.
Highly recommended if you are in town.  Here's a link:
http://www.andersonvilleguesthouse.com/
After working most of the day back at home,
Ashlee, Wayne and I got in late tonight and settled in to our new digs.
We wandered up the street to the Hopleaf Bar for some
late-night brews and tasty treats from their kitchen before
turning in for the day.

Saturday, April 21, 2012:  After Rex had arrived from Atlanta this morning, our first order of business was to check out Half Acre Brewing and see if we could snag a place in their limited-number, Saturdays-only brewery tour.  The weather was a bit cool but clear for our mile and a half walk and we were surprised at the large number of people in line waiting when we got there.  Our spaces were clicked by the official counter in the high 50's and we barely got to take the tour since the cut-off is 60 people.  The tour was lead by none other than company president, Gabriel.   The tour was informative and in-depth and was the first one we had done that included a live DJ mixing tunes during the breaks and while the beer was being sampled.  The beer was excellent.  More on that in Rob's beer blog.

One of the main reasons we chose Chicago as the place to celebrate my birthday over a few other nominees, was the fact that one of our favorite bands, Snow Patrol, was in concert tonight here.  We saw them back in 2009 at The Ryman and we were looking to see them again in a general-admission-style venue to get closer to the stage.  The Aragon Ballroom was just the "ticket" (pun definitely intended).   The historic theatre was just around the corner from our condo.  The sight-lines and acoustics were very good despite its gaudily-decorated  interior.

The concert had sold out fast.
Snow Patrol themselves were fantastic once again in concert. 
They performed all their hits and several songs of their new album,
Fallen Empires, including a snippet of the pulsating title track below.

Sunday, April 22, 2012:
Our only scheduled event today was a food tour
in Chicago's Chinatown neighborhood.
The tour was lead by Chicago Food Planet with whom
we have taken two other tours in the past in Chicago.
We rode the red line EL down to the Chinatown stop
south of The Loop and met up with our small group
and two guides.

Our meeting place and first stop on our tour for some delicious Dim Sum plates was Triple Crown Restaurant.  From there we moved on to the Ten Ren Ginseng & Tea Shop where we had a delicious iced black tea with mango flavoring.  We moved next to a different region of China (at least in food taste and style) at the Lao Sze Chaun Restaurant.  Next up was Mandarin-style at Lao Beijing Restaurant that including some delicious Peking duck.  We concluded our eating tour at the Saint Anna Bakery for a tasty dessert.

Of course, it wasn't just eating on the Chinatown food tour.
In between food stops we got to see parts of a vibrant Chicago
neighborhood that many people probably don't even know exist.
We stopped in an actual Buddist temple that looked like a common
storefront from the outside.  We also took a casual stroll over to the
Ping Tom Memorial Park (above).  This hidden gem sits right
on the Chicago River and is a nice oasis among the
hustle and bustle of the city.



After our food tour we wondered around Chinatown a bit more checking out some shops and stumbled upon the Wan Kow Restaurant, or should we say that since we were very full from our food tour,  that we stumbled upon the restaurant's tiny bar for a drink.  What happened next was a heckuva good time with lots of laughs and chatter as we all decided to take the plunge and order our drinks "volcano style."  Basically, that means they mix drinks in large bowls (see above) and set the center on fire for a flaming spectacle to be shared by a group.  Yeah, well, we all got our own individual volcanoes.  In the shortest and simplest terms from there on...hilarity ensued.



The frivolity that started with the late-afternoon volcano drinks continued deep into the night as we headed to Roscoe's Tavern in an area of Chicago simply known as "Boystown."  Figure it out and draw your own conclusions, folks.  But remember, "judge not, lest ye be judged."  We had great night there and met a lot of nice people including Ashlee's new best friend "Sparkles."  (photo above). 

Monday, April 23, 2012:  The big scheduled event for today was attending a Cubs game, but that wasn't until the evening.  We decided to start the day with a Chicago staple-food for lunch, deep-dish pizza!  And the best we know of in Chicago (thanks to a previous Chicago Food Planet food tour) is Bacino's.  We started with and shared their caprese salad and Tuscan-style bruschetta and then split their signature "Spinach Supreme"  large pizza.  Wow! So good!

To walk off some of the fabulous lunch and to take in
the exceptionally lovely weather, we took a long stroll
around downtown including over to Navy Pier which
still had a lot of its seasonal stuff closed, and then up
to Michigan Avenue.  Above is an interesting shot of
the four amigos among the skyscrapers of the Windy City.
At least this distorted view doesn't show how bloated
we really were from our huge lunch!

One of the newest (and strangest) downtown sites is the 26' tall statue of Marilyn /Monroe in her iconic scene from the classic film, "The Seven Year Itch."  What the ????.  As evidenced from the photo above this new landmark is ripe for the taking of goofy photos, bad puns and overall embarrassment to the city of Chicago.  Well, at least it isn't permanent.

While an early-season twilight baseball game between
the St. Louis Cardinals and the Chicago Cubs had no
real rooting interest for any of us, the fact that it was
taking place at lovely Wrigley Field while we were in
town was reason enough for me to want to include it
in my birthday visit.  Everyone else was gracious enough
to go along with it and even plunk down a pretty penny
to experience the game from the rooftop bleachers across
Sheffield Avenue.  Unfortunately, the experience turned
out to be a bit disappointing for several reasons.  First,
we got bumped (unknowingly) from our "VIP status"
when we got moved to a different building due to a
"company function."  Secondly, the unlimited food was
ho-hum at best.  Third, it was very crowded despite it
being a downright cold Monday evening.  And lastly,
it was a downright cold Monday evening.  We toughed
it out until the 7th inning stretch with the Cards leading
2-1.  (We learned the next day that the Cubs came back and
won the game 3-2 in the late innings.)  While we try to
keep this blog as positive as possible it is important to note
our disappointment in this endeavor and to say we don't
recommend it to others based on the price you pay vs.
what you actually get in return.
EDITOR'S NOTE:  We did receive a quick refund for the VIP portion
of our tickets after we complained to them online about our
 poor experience.So that was decent of them.