Green Bay, June 2011.

Chicago, Memorial Day 2011

Over Memorial Day this year we stayed at the Hotel Indigo in Chicago's Gold Coast. That's a little north of where we usually end up with Priceline, but it was fun to explore that neighborhood more.

We were pretty close to the Chicago History Museum. That was well worth the trip. We also went back to the Chicago Contemporary Art Museum since it has reciprocity with the Milwaukee Art Museum. It wasn't nearly as depressing as the first time we went (Thanks, Ab!).

We had dinner one night at the very excellent French restaurant, Bistrot Margot. Laurie had veal, I had duck.

Sunday night we ate at the Cafe Iberico, a great tapas place that Julie & Brian D turned us on to.

We'll be back in Chicago no later then November.

Rome: Feb 19 - 27, 2011

This was our first time in Italy. We spent the entire time in Rome.

Day 1 - Sunday, 20 February 2011

• Arrived on time and got to the Hotel Smeraldo around 10:00AM local time.
• Unpacked, walked though our neighborhood for about an hour, had a couple bbers, then napped for about three hours
  
• Walked from our hotel through Campo de Fiori, Piazza Navona, to the Pantheon,

  From Rome 2011

  the Trevi Fountain, to the Spanish Steps then ate in Campo de Fiori

Day 2 - Monday, 21 February 2011

• Went to the Roman Forum, Palatine hill, & Coliseum
• St Peter in Chains to see Michelangelo's Moses

  From Rome 2011

• Lunch at Carbonara in Monti
• Pilgrim's tour of churches: San Maria Maggiore, San Giovanni in Laterno, San Clement
• Dinner near Piazza Navona
  

Day 3 - Tuesday 22 February 2011

• Santa Maria degli Angli
• Baths of Diocletian
• National Museum of Rome

  From Rome 2011

• Walked back to the Trevi fountain
• Santa Maria sopra Minerva with the Bernini's elephant and Michelangelo's "Jesus and the Cross"
• Lunch at Cul du sac
• San Luigi dei Francis w/ Carrivagio's St Matthew
• Gesu, head church of the Jesuits
• Wine bar
• Sergio's for dinner

Day 4 - Wednesday, 23 February 2011

• Borghese Gallery
• Walked back to the Spanish Steps

  From Rome 2011

• Lunch at Lilli
• Trastevere walk
• Dinner at La Pollarola

Day 5 - Thurday, 24 February 2011

• Vatican Museum, Sistine Chapel, St Peter's Basilica

  From Rome 2011

  
  
• Dinner at Sergio's - Thursday is gnocchi night in Rome!

Day 6 - Friday, 25 February 2011

• Ostia Antica day trip

  From Rome 2011

• Bocca de veritas
  
• Dinner at Buffeto 2 near Campo de Fiori

Day 7 - Saturday, 26 February 2011

• Michelangelo's steps to Piazza de Campidoglio
• Statue of Marcus Aurelius

  From Rome 2011

  
  
• Victor Emmanuel monument
  
• Trajan's column
• Piazza Victor Emmanuel
• Lunch at Franco's in San Lorenzo
• Dinner at La Pollarola

Day 8 - Sunday, 27 February 2011

• Uneventful trip back home in Wauwatosa by 6:00PM local time.
  

Chicago, November 5-7, 2010

We hadn't been to Chicago yet this year and almost did not make it this time because of work. Fortuantely we were able to catch the 5:45PM train and were at our hotel before 8:00.

We Pricelined the Doubletree off of Michigan avenue and got it for $65/night. That's our favorite place to stay because of its location and the rooms are pretty nice.

Because we got in late we just went bar hopping for a while then ended up at our favorite piano bar on Oregon St. As usual the credit card machine wasn't working ("it was working last week!") nd we knew to stick with beer since the drinks are so watered down.

The usual pianist retired and the got a new guy who was excellent. We requested "All The Young Dudes" by Mott the Hoople as we always do and did an excellent version.

Saturday we sneaked into the Surgery Museum. It was closed because they were installing a new exhibit, but the door was open and we got to spend about twenty minutes there before getting kicked out.

We stumbled upon a Badger bar and watched the Badger game over lunch (some guy wanted to fight me because I insulted horse racing) and we mostly just walked around and enjoyed that great city.

We tried to go to The Dirty Martini on Hubbard later that night, but the are closed. Too bad.

We caught the 10:20AM train home on Sunday and were at our house shortly after noon.

Great city, almost too easy of a vacation.

San Francisco, September 2-6, 2010

This was our first trip to San Francisco, but probably won't be our last. We were there for three and a half days.

Here are some highlights:

Thursday, 9/2:

• SF Public Library and Dashiell Hammet's type writer
• City Hall
• Asian Art Museum of San Francisco
• Nightcap at the Redwood Room in the Clift Hotel on Geary

Friday, 9/3

• Fisherman's Wharf
• Coit Tower
• Lunch at Tony's in North Beach
• The Castro
• Dinner at The Great Eastern on Jackson in Chinatown

Saturday, 9/4

• CityGuides walking tour of Chinatown
• Dim sum for lunch
• The Ferry Building
• Murals in the Rincon building
• Yerba Buena Gardens

Sunday, 9/5

• Alcatraz
• Oysters in Pacific Heights
• Sushi in Japantown
• Dinner at John's Grill on Ellis
  

Nashville April 8-11, 2010

I've been in Nashville a number of times for work and always enjoyed that city. We decided to got there with our friends Amy & Sara.

Thursday, 8 April
• Visited the Parthenon at Centennial Park
• Lunch at Jack’s Barbeque
• The Frist Museum of Visual Arts
• Martinis at the Union Station Hotel bar
• Music at Legend’s Corner

Friday
• Vanderbilt University campus stroll
• Loveless Café for brunch
• Hermitage Hotel bar for a beer
• Tour of the Tennessee State Capital
• The Civil Rights exhibit at the Nashville Public Library
• Farmers’ market and Bicentennial Park
• World War II Memorial
• Tootsie’s and Wildhorse Saloon for music
• Kareoke at Lonnie’s!!!

Saturday
• Breakfast at Rotier’s
• The Hermitage
• BB King’s for lunch
• More music at Legend’s
• Dinner at the Mad Platter

Barcelona 2010

Thursday 2/11/2010
We left Milwaukee on the 10:20 bus to O’hare. They were able to reassign our seats and we took off for Madrid on time.

Friday, 2/12
We changed planes in Madrid and left on time for Barcelona where we got separated at the airport (I’ll take the shame on that). Laurie’s bag did not arrive. They knew it was in Madrid and said that they would bring it to us later that day.



Saturday, 2/13
Ramblas, Mercat de la Boqueria, Columbus Monument, Eixample area, Block of Discord, Casa Mila, Catalan Concert Hall, Sardana dancing at the Cathedral

Sunday 2/14
National Museum of Catalonian Art (MNAC) on Montjuic, lunch at Meson David, Drum bands on the Ramblas

Monday 2/15
Barcelona Cathedral, Parc Guell, La Sagrada Famila, lunch at la Candela, concert in the cathedral

Tuesday 2/16
City Museum, Picasso Museum, lunch in the Barconleta area (black rice made with octopus ink), the Mercat de la Boqueria for cheese and ham.

Wednesday 2/17
Catch the 5:30AM bus to the airport, arrive early in Chicago. Back in Milwaukee and home by 4:15PM

Chicago, December 4-6, 2009

Dan and Doreen met us and Sara and Amy in Chicago. We went to see The Addams family musical with Nathan Lane and Bebe Newirth. It wasn't as good as I had hoped, but I'm glad I got to see those two actors.

As always, we had a great time and that city. It was great having Dan and Doreen there.

Paris, October 2009

We were in Paris on 30 September 2009 and returned on 4 October. It was a great trip.

That was our third time there and every time we love that city more.



Day 1
• Hotel Pratic at 11h
• Toured Musee Carnavalet
• Place du Vosges
• Marche de St Catherine
• Walked through Ile St. Louis and Ile de la Cite
• Toured Notre Dame

Day 2
• Gustave Moreau Museum
• St Trinite church
• Cluny Museum of the Middle Ages
• Pantheon
• St Etienne du Mont Church
• Dinner at Le Poisson Rouges

Day 3
• Chartres
• Night in the Bastille

Day 4
• Pere Lachaise cemetery
• Napoleon’s tomb and the Museum of the Army
• Nuit Blanche

Chicago May 1-3, 2009

We took the train down as usual. I pricelined our hotel, $80, and got the Sheraton. We had a fantastic view, looking down the Chicago River.

New York, April 15 - 19, 2009

We saw lots of stuff on this trip!

Day 1
• Tenement Museum
• Dinner at EtcEtc
• Play “Desire Under The Elms”

Day 2
• Ellis Island & the Statue of Liberty
• Lunch in Greenwich Village
• Dinner with Mike M. at Resto

Day 3
• Brooklyn Museum
• Brooklyn Neighborhoods
o Park Slope
o Williamsburg
• Walk back over the Williamsburg Bridge
• Dinner at a Korean Barbeque

Day 4
• The Metropolitian Museum of Art
• Central Park
• A late lunch at Lasagna Ristorante
• Play “Billy Elliot”

Louisiana - February 2009

We were in Franklin, Louisiana for a family reunion in February. All my siblings were there.

Travel Planning Tips

From: Yvette Herrera

Uncle Matt,

How do you like to go about researching and planning before you go on a trip somewhere? It might seem like a weird question, but I'm curious about your process and if there are certain resources you like to use.

Joel and I probably won't go on a nice trip until this summer, but I figured it would pay to start thinking about it now and doing some more in-depth learning about our destinations (Italy to be specific). I plan to start leafing through my art history books again as one resource and inspiration on where to go and what to do - those books and classes always made me want to travel and see things firsthand. I'm sure Joel could think of some things too of course, having spent some time in Italy while in the service.

Thanks!
V

This summer! Better get crackin'.

For us, the vacation starts when we decide to go. The planning part is always a lot of fun.

The place to start is the library. They usually have very good travel sections and will have a wide selection of guide books. Different people have different tastes in books. We prefer the Lonely Planet & Rick Steves. Those twoare on opposite ends of the spectrum so they cover a lot of ground. But get others to see what you like before you end up buying a couple to take along and make notes in.

Our library also has extensive travel videos. Again our favorites are Globe Trekker & Rick Steves. I'm sure that your library system has both.

Once you determine a region you need to answer a couple of questions. First, do you want to cover a lot of ground and see the highlights of and area or do you want to stay longer and see it more in depth? Second, do you want to stay in fancy hotels with a lot of amenities or do you want to stay in cheap (but clean & safe) places where you'll probably have to carry your bags up the stairs but will be closer to the locals. You may not know the answers to those questions, but it doesn't matter. Decide for this trip then if you think you'd rather do the other, do that next time.

That leads to another concept that I think is important: plan your trip with the idea that you'll be back. There is so much to see in Rome (or Paris, NY, etc) that you'll never see it all, even if you lived there. So plan your itinerary like you'll be back someday. Don't worry if you miss something that everyone else considers a 'must-see' attraction because you wanted to see something different. It's your vacation and, if it's a must-see, you'll be back.

Along with that, shift your mindset from that of being a tourist to being a traveler. You're becoming a temporary denizen of the city your in, and manage the city from that perspective. That being said, don't be shy about looking like an American tourist. You are American tourists and no one will mistake you for anything else. If you don't know what to do is some restaurant, ask them what to do - they'll be glad to help.

A good philosophy is "The less you spend, the closer you get to the reason you went". I like the idea of staying as local as possible and both Rick Steves and Lonely Planet have excellent recommendations that fit the bill.

So once you've determined a rough itinerary, e.g. 3 days in Rome, 2 Florence, 2 Venice, 1 Padua or 4 Rome, 4 Venice, you can get more specific.

Now's the time to buy your guidebooks because your going to be writing in them a lot and putting post if flags all over (remember that the flags can stick out on 3 sides!) Read about different areas and see where you want to stay. Figure out how the public transportation systems work. Laurie and I try never to take a cab unless we absolutely have to (I think I like that more than she does, but buses and metros get you in with the people).

We reserve hotels via email. They all look pretty nice on there website, so location and price are really the determining factors.

We like to set out a general itinerary. Day one X in the morning Y in the afternoon. We list other things we'd like to see and fill in the gaps along the way. Our plans are always very flexible, but we like having a general overview so that w don't sit around in the morning asking "what do you want to do today"

There is an excellent series of books "Cities of the Imagination" that gives interesting histories of the cities, stuff you normally wouldn't learn about. I'd recommend these, if they have on on the cities you're going to. They can get somewhat ponderous, so skip over stuff you don't care about ("Dark Theater" in Prague in the 1960s??).

I'm excited for you guys! Planning a trip is a lot of fun. Keep me posted on your progress.

Love,

UM

Chicago, April 25 - 27, 2008

Later in April we went to Chicago for a long weekend where we met up with my niece, Julie, and her spouse.

New Orleans, April 10 - 13, 2008

Image via Wikipedia

We were in New Orleans with Amy & Sara for French Quarter Festival.

London & Bath

We were in London and Bath, 10/22 - 28/2007.

Boston 2007

Image via Wikipedia

Boston, May, 2007 with Abbie and Gus Nordholm.
Check out our pictures of this trip here.

New York, April 2005

Image via Wikipedia

5 days in New York City. See our photos here.

October 2006: The Low Countries

Brussels, Amsterdam, & Bruges

See out photos here!

Paris, November 2004

We went the day after the election. The people there could not believe we re-elected George Bush. Neither could we.