At long last I have returned to updating the blog. Here are some great pictures from the dinner in New orleans.

New Orleans

Where do you start!!! The restaurant tour, the night clubs, the food, the Dinner at Brennan's, the presidential suite (with pool table), Brunch at Muriel's, the street car rides, the ferry rides, and, of course, the people who joined us for the celebration. New Orleans is still the perfect place to throw a party. Yes, the clubs and restaurants are not 24/7 like they were years ago, but there is always the casino. For someone who needs breakfast 24 hours a day there is always Daisy Duke's. For someone who insists on gumbo at 9AM there is the Coffee Pot.
The anniversary dinner at Brennan's was impeccable. The restaurant staff did a wonderful job and the food was superb. I still think that my version of the bananas flambe is better but there didn't seem to be any left overs at Brennan's.
It was nice to see that Pat O'Briens still puts on the piano show even though they now close at 3AM.
The above are some pictures from the first day and the restaurant tour. I will add other pictures as they arrive from the various people who took pictures during the weekend.

Athens, Greece with Rachel

Hello Everyone,
If you are studying anthropology, as Rachel is, a trip to Athens and Crete is probably a neccessity. In any case it seemed like the thing to do. In some of my previous blog entries I have been criticized for being too much of a food critic. Too Bad. The food in Greece made the travelling even more interesting. Yes, I wanted to see the Acropolis, the Athens' archeological museum, the various archeological museums on Crete, and the ruins of Knossos but to visit Greece and not enjoy the lamb, the pastries, the sardines, and the rabbit would not be my idea of travel. The museums were magnificent and the food was excellent. The food was even better when you had a surprise guest. (see the photos) Ted was in Athens on a separate trip and joined us for a delightfull evening at a small outdoor restuarant. As you can see by the empty plate, I devoured the rabbit. The restuarant's name is Daphne's and I highly recommend it when you are in Athens. We stayed at the Ledra Marriott which had a pool on the roof with a view of the Acropolis. Ted stayed at the Royal Olympic Hotel which had an excellent location next to the Temple of Zeus and was walking distance to the Acropolis but did not have the roof top pool. It also had a nearby ATM with an unusual "guard" dog. Athens has numerous dogs just like Rome has its' numerous cats.

The Acropolis must have been magnificent in ancient times because it is still quite impressive. However, visiting it on free museum day can be like walking through Times Square. The view down into the old but now renovated amphitheater shows the last of the stage being removed from the "Kiss" concert which was the previous night. Hmm. I guess whatever pays the bills is OK. We rented a car for one day in Athens to drive to the Temple of Poseidon which overlooks the Aegean at the end of the Attica penisula. It was well worth the trip. This must have been truly impressive to ships approaching Greece from the Aegean during the days of the Athenian empire.

It seems that the picture are in reverse order to the commentary. Sorry

Honduras, the Danese/Medina wedding

Congratulations and best wishes to Davide and Nicole,

The trip to San Pedro de Sula, Honduras for the wedding of Davide and Nicole was wonderful. Most impressive was the hospitality of the Medina family. From the plantation visit, to the coffee factory tour, to the wedding and reception, it was the most relaxing four days that I have had in a long time. The day by the pool also contributed to the relaxed attitude. Obviously the focal point of the trip was the wedding and it was fabulous. The ice sculptures, the food, the music, and the company made it an evening to remember and thank God that cameras allow us to remember things that the drinking prevents.

Cruise to Nowhere

Hello Everyone,

Sorry for the delay in this posting but I have been reluctant to review the memories of the cruise. I went on the cruise with four objectives: to spend time with Tara and Paulo, to snorkle in St. Johns, to scuba in Bonaire, and to visit St. Kitts. The first objective was accomplished and thoroughly enjoyed but I did not need a cruise boat to do that. I always enjoy the time that I spend with them. But Princess Cruise Lines had other ideas regarding my other objectives. The snorkel trip in St. Johns is cancelled due to weather. Docking in St.Kitts was "not possible" due to the winds. Then, the night before Bonaire, crab was included in the salad without being mentioned on the menu. So about midnight, 4 hours after dinner, the cramps struck. I immediately knew what it was and went to my room. It was not as bad as usual so the following morning I planned to go scuba if I could find some Imodium D. MAJOR ERROR!!! Whenever you are on a cruise boat never mention that you have any stomach ailment or call the doctor for treatment. Despite long and animated explanations by me as to my condition, the little dictators quarantined me to my room. Susan, choosing the path of discretion, had already left the boat. After about an hour of agruing and confinement, I barged my way off the boat, found a bar on the beach, and started drinking Bourbon at 11 AM. That put me in fine condition to reboard the boat at 3:30PM and continue my "discussion" with 'Them". They escorted me to my room and placed a guard outside of it. Susan, Tara, and probably anyone else who would have wanted to, continued to enter and exit as they pleased to bring me food and consolation but I had to stay in the room and away from the buffet. I was freed from the quantine the next morning at 6:30 AM when we arrived in Aruba, a destination where I had not even planned to get off the boat. Next was a day of cruising back to San Juan, Thus the title of "the cruise to nowhere". PRINCESS CRUISE LINE SUCKS. If you have the option to use any other cruise line to go where you want to go, please use the other line.

OK, now my ranting aside, San Juan was fabulous and Granada was very nice and hospitable. The locals in Grenada are very appreciative of Reagan's invasion to save them from Castro and the Soviets. I remember when that happened. I was on another cruise with Tara, Rachel, Lyn and Norman. Grenada was devastated in 2004 by hurricanes so at this time, I have to admit that the only way to see Grenada is by cruise boat.

I would definitely go back to San Juan. The old town was delightful. We found a Spanish restaurant that had traditional Paella and in the evening they had Flamingo dancers. We also flound a club that not only had an excellent band but the food was very good. That is not the typical routine.

In the end, we had a wonderful time visiting with Tara and Paulo but could have done without the boat.

Machu Picchu

Hello Everyone, I am sorry for the delay in updating the blog but the internet connections were less than adequate. The scenery however was fantastic. The first day we did the tour of the sanctuary, the second day we hiked to the Sun Gate on the Inca Trail, and the third day we hiked to the Inca Bridge which is the other way on the Inca Trail. Having a room at the Sanctuary Lodge, which is on Machu Picchu, was definately the way to go. We did not have to waste time going up and down the mountain on the bus. The pictures do not do justice to the bridge. you really have to see the cliff into which it is built to appreciate it.

The longest Day

1-27-2008
The longest Day
Everything started innocently enough. We did not have the vouchers or any reservation confirmations for the Cuzco hotel, the Peru Rail train, the LAN airline tickets, a variety of tour vouchers, or the drivers to get us to our connections. But we were off. Worst case we would get to Peru and wing it. The only reservation confirmations that we had were for the flights to and from Lima and the hotel in Lima. We made those reservations ourselves. So off we went.
Arriving in Lima at 11:30 PM we found our driver and were whisked off to the hotel. Our first surprise was that our “morning flight” to Cuzco was leaving at 5:10AM and the driver would be bringing us back to the airport at 3AM. So after an hour and a half of sleep we showered and went back to the airport. We were in Cusco at 6:30AM. Lo and behold another driver was there to pick us up and bring us to the hotel, the Monasterio. He had our vouchers for the hotel and our tours that day. At this point we realized that the country of Peru operated on the philosophy of JIT, Just In Time. The vouchers that we needed were going to show up just in time.
In Cuzco we were at 13000 feet of elevation but it was not bothering us. We toured the archeological sites on the outside of the city and an Inca ruin right in town and did some walking around the downtown ourselves. As usual we found an architectural gem that was not on the tourist lists. It was a convent with an attached chapel and tons of beautiful art. I bribed the guard and got a few minutes of picture taking time inside. I checked later and it is not on any of the tour lists. As the day finally ended we enjoyed a wonderful dinner at the hotel restaurant. Yes, I did have the Guinea pig as an appetizer, it tastes like the dark meat in turkey, and Alpaca loin which tastes just like veal, both were excellent. So, with the exception of our short nap in Lima, we had been going for 30 hours, so we were off to bed. The driver was picking us up at 5:30AM for our train to Agua Calientes, the train stop for Machu Picchu.