Monday, October 26, 2015

Piettes in Paris: October 7-18, 2015

Wednesday, October 7, 2015
  • Leave home at 10:15
  • 10:40 AM Bus to Chicago
  • AA Flight 42
  • Departs ORD at 3:30PM
Thursday, October 8
  • Arrive CDG at 6:45AM
  • Air France bus to Gare de Lyon
  • Notre Dame
Friday, October 9
  • Musée Bourdelle (10:00 – 18:00, T – N)
  • Montparnasse cemetery
  • Trocadero views of the Eiffel Tower
Saturday, October 10
  • St Eustache church
  • Rue Rambuteau market
  • Pompidou Center (11:00 – 22:00 W-M)
  • Saint-Merri (9:00 – 18:00, M-S)
Sunday, October 11
  • Orangerie museum (9:00 – 18:00 W–M)
  • Musée d’Orsay (9:30 – 18:00, T-N)
  • Packers at WOS
Monday, October 12 – travel day
  • Train to Lyon -10:58 Gare de Lyon
  • St John the Baptist church
  • Walk through Old Lyon
Tuesday, October 13
  • Funicular to Fourviere
  • Basillica of Notre Dame
  • Gallo Roman museum & ruins
  • Boat ride down the Saone, up the Rhone, and back
  • St George church
Wednesday, October 14
  • Beau Arts Museum
  • Museum of Confluences (11:00 – 19:00 T-N)
  • Museum of the Resistance
Thursday, October 15 – travel day
  • Train to Paris 11:34 Lyon Part Dieu
  • Madam Curie museum (13:00 – 17:00 W – S)
Friday, October 16
  • Carnavalet Museum
  • Maison Victor Hugo (Place de Voges 10:00 – 18:00 T-N)
  • Petit Palais Beau Arts museum
  • Rue Cler
Saturday, October 17
  • Sacre Coeur
  • Montmartre
Sunday, October 18, 2015
·         AA Flight 41
·         Departs CDG at 9:25AM
·         Arrive ORD at 11:50AM
·         12:20 Bus to Milwaukee
·         Home by 3:00PM
·         Packers at 3:25
Miscellaneous things to do in Paris
  • Musée Monmarttan Monet (10:00 – 18:00, T-N)
  • Musée Jacquemart-Andre
  • Catacombs
  • Natural History museum
  • Maison de Balzac (10:00 – 18:00 T-N)
Miscellaneous things to do in Lyon
  • Lyon greeters
  • n caraf d’eau = caraf of tap water
  • Un pitcher du vin = pitcher of house wine

Monday, August 31, 2015

Seattle - August 12 to 16, 2015

In August we went to Seattle for our nephew Charile and Nicole's wedding.  We arrived around 6:30PM on a direct Alaskan Air flight from Milwaukee.

We only had one day in Seattle itself, but we did make the most of it:

  • Pike Market
  • Antique firefighteing equipment museum
  • Alaskan God Rush museum
  • City Hall
  • Olympic Sculpture Park
  • a bunch of other stuff.
We stayed in Belltown at a great little AirBNB that was very conveniently located.

On Friday we went to Union, WA for the wedding.  We stayed in a little cottage, another AirBNB.

The wedding was a lot of fun!

Monday, May 25, 2015

Memorial Day in Chicago, 2015

Memorial Day is a good weekend to go to Chicago since not a lot of people do.  We got a great hotel (Marriot Residence in on East Walton) for $90/night and were two blocks from the lake.  If you're going to Chicago, you want to be north of the river, preferably in the Gold Coast or Old Town neighborhoods.



We had three things we wanted to do:  Adler Planetarium, Oak Woods cemetery and Enrico Fermi's grave (my wife loves me), and dinner with our friend Joe.

We got them all done.

I'm not sure when we'll be there next, but I do want to see the play "Burning Bluebeard" this winter.

Thursday, April 30, 2015

Forest Home Cemetery

Forest Home Cemetery has announced its free walking tours for 2015:

The 2015 "A WALK IN HISTORY" Tours have been announced.
Monday, May 25th (Memorial Day - 2:30pmMilwaukee History
Sunday, June 7th - Beer Barons of Milwaukee 2:00pm
Sunday, June 21st - Cemetery Art and Symbolism 2:00pm
Saturday, June 27th - Civil War History 2:00pm
Sunday, July 5th - Milwaukee History 2:00pm
Sunday, July 19th - Famous Milwaukeeans 2:00pm
Sunday, August 2nd - Milwaukee Mayors 2:00pm
Sunday, August 16th - Cemetery Art and Symbolism 2:00pm
Saturday, Sept. 12th - Civil War History 2:00pm
Sunday, Sept. 13th - Milwaukee Beer Barons 2:00pm
All tours start under the awning of our Halls of History building. Our tours are guided by Paul Haubrich, Bob Giese, Tom Ludka, and/or Margaret Berres. Tours are free but donations are greatly appreciated. These tours are presented by the Forest Home Preservation Association.
I haven't heard if they are having re-enactors on Memorial Day like they did last year (or was it the year before?)

Tuesday, April 14, 2015

New York, April 2015


 On April 9, we went to New York City with our friends Amy & Sara Nolan.

 See all our photos here.

Our flight was originally scheduled to leave at 9:10AM, but after several delays because of a mechanical issue, it was finally cancelled all together.  We ended up leaving on the 3:00PM flight that was itself 45 minutes late.

That was a long time to sit in an airport.  But, everyone has airline stories and they are mostly uninteresting.  There are worse things than hanging out in an airport bar all day.

We got in to NY and to our hotel, the Hilton Vacation place on west 57th Street, right by the Russian Tea Room, without further incident  A & S are members and graciously allowed us to stay there.

Our room, a “Studio Plus,” was great!  Big bathroom, sitting area, separate bedroom area area, and, best of all, a huge balcony on 57th St., looking north.  We could see Central Park!
Looking west down 57th Street from our balcony

Friday was a museum day with lots of walking.  
Laurie, Sara, & Amy on Fifth Avenue
We started out at the Frick Museum.  The Frick is one of our favorites and we go every time we’re in New York (it helps that it has reciprocity with the Milwaukee Art Museum).  There are two portraits there, one of Thomas Cromwell and one of Thomas More (hardly a saint in my book), that have become quite popular because of the books, play, and now Masterpiece show, “Wolf Hall.”
Amy & Sara in the Frick
After the Frick we went to two museums we hadn’t been to before (thanks Amy!), El Museo Del Barrio and the Museum of the City of New York.

These museums are somehow linked and buying tickets to one gets you into the other.  But oddly, they don’t cost the same.  El Museo is $9 and the Museum of the City is $14.  Of course we went to El Museo first and Laurie and I got the added bonus of the senior discount!
Senior Matthew and August Belmont

After lunch we hit the Nicholas Roerich museum on the upper west side.  Roerich was a Russian painter who spent a lot of time in Tibet.  If you’re in the area and have a little time, stop in.  It’s pretty interesting stuff.
 
Dinner Friday night was at Sullivan Bistro on Sullivan Street just north of Houston.  This was a great find by Sara.  The place was very small and it seemed everyone there was from the neighborhood.  The food was excellent.  I had mussels, Laurie and Amy had shrimp, and Sara had salmon.  Laurie and I split an order of sautéed calamari and our waiter brought them a salad when our squid arrived so that they wouldn’t feel left out.  We had some fun political conversations with the people next to us.
 

Saturday was Brooklyn Day.  We spent a little time in Prospect Park waiting for the Brooklyn Museum to open.  11:00 seems pretty late to me.  After a few hours there we headed for Dumbo for lunch, then walked back across the Brooklyn Bridge.
Laurie on the Brooklyn Bridge
We meandered our way back to the hotel, stopping for some wine along the way.

We had snacks and drinks at the Hilton’s happy hour, then went to the Booth Theater to see the play, Hand to God.

A nightcap at the Whisky Trader, then we were ready for bed.

5:00AM came pretty early, but we made it in plenty of time for our 8:30 flight back to Milwaukee.  We were home in plenty of time for a restful Sunday.


Great trip & friends!

Monday, January 19, 2015

2015 is going to be a busy travel year.  Our big vacation will be Paris & Lyon (Lyon has a Museum of Confluences!) sometime in the fall, probably October.

We have a number of other trips already planned:

  • February - Chicago for a wedding
  • April - New York with our friends Amy & Sara
  • June - Madison for a wedding at the Olbrich Botanical Gardens
  • August - Seattle for a wedding
I'm sure we'll get to Chicago at least one more time.  I would like to see Burning Bluebeard if they're performing it next December.