A Voyage to Alaska

Despite living on Seattle's waterfront and seeing the near daily arrival and departure of cruise ships bound to Alaska, Ray and Traci have never taken the trip. In fact, neither had ever been on a cruise ship before. Ray's relatives from California decided to travel to the 49^th state on Holland America's ship, The ms Rotterdam and Ray, Traci and Ray's parents decided to join them. 5 major cruise lines make the journey from Seattle: Holland America, Norwegian, Princess, Celebrity, and Royal Caribbean. Norwegian and Princess have the largest boats with what look like fun amenities especially for kids such as big pools, rock climbing walls and water slides. Holland and Celebrity are supposed to have the best food. The ms Rotterdam has 1300+ passengers and 600 crew members – an unusually high crew member to passenger ratio, helping Holland maintain high service standards. The decision to go was a late decision – booking 3 weeks ahead of time, limiting choice of rooms. Holland, like many lines, has several types of rooms including deluxe penthouses with butler service, superior verandah (balcony) suites, regular verandah rooms, ocean view rooms and no-view rooms (obstructed & interior). A new category of rooms called lanai rooms, were formerly ocean view rooms with the window replaced with a sliding glass door allowing access to the main "promenade" circling the ship with reserved deck chairs right outside. Since Ray and Traci had never been on a cruise ship, they wanted to avoid sea sickness – their research revealed many different opinions including picking rooms in the center and low in the ship to reduce rocking. Others told them to not get view rooms which encourage sea sickness, but since they were going to Alaska to see the glaciers it didn't make much sense to not get a view. In the end, Ray booked lanai rooms near the middle of the ship and the whole party was quite happy with them. While you have to share your "balcony" with the whole ship, you have your own chairs with a great view and it makes your living quarters feel much bigger.

Living on the Seattle Waterfront made getting to the cruise terminal very easy. Without airline baggage/weight restrictions to worry about, Ray and Traci packed a lot of stuff. After being dropped off at the Pier 91 terminal, they brought their 2 big suitcases and a large duffel bag to the baggage desk for x-ray & loading. Then passengers head upstairs with passports and tickets for a medical questionnaire (don't check the boxes about being sick if you want to go). You get your picture taken and get on the ship. Ray and Traci found their 197 square foot lanai room quite well designed – 3 closets easily stored their large collection of clothes for a 7 day journey with much room to spare. The suitcases fit underneath the bed – people bringing more than 2 suitcases should make the additional bags "soft" so they can fit inside the suitcases. Together, Ray and Traci brought 2 iphones, 2 Kindles, 1 ipad, a laptop and a Nintendo Wii. Their luggage arrived about 45 minutes after boarding. Upon arriving, Ray hooked up his Wii to the flat screen TV in the room which only showed a few channels including CNN. Rooms have DVD players, so the travelers brought some DVDs – Holland has their own library of DVDs that you can borrow as well. The first meal was a welcoming buffet at the Lido Restaurant – Ray's family met their four California relatives for a nice variety of food including sandwiches, sushi, Thai selections, fried chicken, salads, fruits, and lots of other goodies. After the mandatory safety drill which was really easy to get to since it is right outside their Lanai rooms, Ray and Traci wandered around the ship – there are 4 major restaurants for meals, a hamburger grill stand, a pizza stand, 5 bars, a large library/internet room, a medium sized gym, a spa, a basketball and miniature tennis court, a casino, a theatre, a "showroom" and 2 "pools." The main pool has a retractable roof like Safeco field but is really small. The rear pool is a wading pool with lounge chairs placed in the pool. Next to the main pool is the obligatory Jacuzzi. In general, if you want a fancy pool, you will be disappointed with the Rotterdam. While wandering around the Lido (Pool) deck, Ray and Traci ran into some rather fancy fruit scuptures.

Dinner was at the main dining room and consisted of a delicious menu and great service – Ray's Dad had the crab legs, Traci had the so-so pasta primavera, Ray and his mother had prime rib. Ray especially loved his baked Alaska dessert. After dinner, the travelers went to the showroom for an "introductory" entertainment show previewing many of the musical acts for the week. Ray spent a few hours playing Super Mario Galaxy 2 on his Wii before Traci and Ray went to the late night Lido buffet – Filipino cuisine. There is a different late night buffet theme each night. Traci sampled a few of the desserts but Ray was still full from dinner. Ray and Traci retired to their room which was pretty well soundproofed at least to voices, the ocean, and the engines. Fortunately, their first night was calm and sea sickness free.

Some notes about shipboard life – the ship is quite organized with your room card key being used for all charges including casino play. The Lanai doors have electric locks but unfortunately you have to use a separate card key to open it. Most food is included in your ticket. The Rotterdam has a "premium" restaurant – a steak house called the Pinnacle Grill which charges $20 per person. You have to pay for most beverages – Ray bought a $20 soda card so he could get 20 glasses of soda during meals while Ray's Mom bought a bottle of fine $19 wine which she can drink during her meals (and take home if any is left). Travelers are given an option when they book for early, late or open seating at dinner for meals in the main dining room. Ray picked open seating which seems to be a great choice – you show up for dinner whenever you want. Supposedly, if you reserve a consistent dinner time when you book your cruise, you get the same table and the same wait staff for dinner every night. Of course some nights you may want to eat at the Pinnacle Grill or the Lido buffet and your table will be empty. The problem with set dinner time comes up if you are not hungry at 5:30 or too hungry to wait to 8pm – the main dining room may send you away until your reserved time. In addition, the ship has 24 hour room service (all free) so those so inclined can eat round the clock. Sometimes Ray and Traci would get an early dinner snack at the Lido Grill followed by a proper dinner in the main dining room. Nobody except your scale keeps track of how many dinners you eat. The main dining room will keep giving you food if you are hungry.

Day 2 started with Ray visiting the gym. The Holland gym is fairly small but well equipped. It drove Ray crazy to wait for the many walkers to get off the treadmills since they could walk around the main promenade deck which is 1/3 mile around. Running is forbidden from the main promenade deck for noise and probably safety. Fortunately, Ray found a very small track on the top deck of the boat where you can run – because it is so windy and cold, the few early morning visitors didn't stay very long. Ray found the view gorgeous and sea air refreshing. Traci followed Ray to the gym and then both enjoyed a buffet lunch at the Lido which is the big buffet on the Rotterdam. Ray actually got 3 slices of very good pizza from "Slice" the pizza joint outside the Lido, while Ray's cousin got a hot dog and fries from the grill next to the swimming pool – both brought their food into the Lido buffet with rest of the party who enjoyed the wide variety of foods available. The afternoon at sea was occupied with a slot machine tournament in the casino, and bingo in the penthouse bar called The Crow's Nest. Bingo is played almost everyday. Bingo cards cost $25 for 4 separate games. The 4^th game is blackout bingo and the payout is between $25,000 to $100,000 if someone gets blackout within 45 numbers called. For dinner, Ray's family went to the Pinnacle Grill. Traci had rack of lamb, Ray and his parents all had rib eye steaks after tableside Caesar salads and crab cake/seafood platter appetizers. While the food was really good, you can get much of the same food in the main dining room and save yourself the $20 surcharge – Ray's cousins who ate in the main dining room also enjoyed rack of lamb, steaks, and the chocolate soufflé dessert that Ray had at the Pinnacle Grill. The dining room would give you more than one entree while the Pinnacle Grill would charge you extra. The Pinnacle Grill has 4 standard steaks (rib eye, filet, porterhouse, and New York) while the specials rotate and are often the same as the main dining room. The portions are bigger in the Pinnacle but big deal, nobody in Ray's family finished their entree. After dinner, the group listened to an excellent piano player perform a mix of classical and popular music in the main showroom, demonstrating how difficult it is for talented musicians to get gigs on Broadway. Ray spent a little time after the show winning money at the $5 blackjack table, and then he and Traci met his cousins for late night dining with French themed food in the Lido. While closing down the Lido at midnight, the cruisers noted that the sea was noticeably rougher and the weather foggy but all slept well thru the night despite the muffled sounds of a fog horn which blared all night. Alaska does not have daylight savings time so everybody on board the ship gained an extra hour of sleep by turning their clocks back.

Monday brought clear weather and beautiful scenery. Ray and Traci skipped the gym and enjoyed the breakfast buffet at the Lido – the variety of food was great and the quality was good, but not spectacular. Around noon, the ship docked in Juneau – sunny skies and amazing geography met the vessel (along with many other cruise ships!) Ray's family got off the ship and rode the 5 minute Mount Roberts Tram to the visitors center complete with two gift shops, a cinema and a wounded bald eagle being rehabilitated back to health. Ray and Traci decided to hike to the Mt. Roberts Cross which was half way to the summit. Snow was seen in patches on the mountain and the views from platforms along the trails were incredible.

After riding the tram down back to Juneau, Ray and Traci wandered around downtown Juneau which was filled with various tourist traps selling the expected variety of souvenirs. Ray spent much time before the cruise contemplating taking a helicopter to the Mendenhall glacier but eventually decided against it mainly due to the questionable safety record of Alaskan aviation. In fact, a recent newspaper article reported 17 recent deaths from aviation accidents in three months -http://www.adn.com/2010/08/14/1410392/crashes-give-alaska-aviators-pause.html. Ray's cousins took a bus tour of Mendenhall Glacier and Gardens, something they recommend to future travelers. If you book tours thru the cruise line, they are often more expensive but also can be of higher quality – in Juneau, you find a bunch of tourist booths selling everything from bus tours to helicopter/dog sledding adventures at discount prices. Holland charged $56 for the Mendenhall tour while you could find discounted $7 tours, but there appeared to be quite a difference in quality of the bus (e.g. old converted school bus vs air conditioned tour bus) and places toured. After their day in Juneau, Ray had an excellent meal in the main dining room. His "Ketchikan" chowder, Caesar salad, Manila clams & scallops with noodles and baked Alaska dessert was outstanding. Traci's fruit & berry appetizer followed by hen with almond and brown rice stuffing and apple walnut tart dessert was also quite good. After dinner, they attended an excellent show featuring 6 of the Holland performers singing and dancing to Broadway show tunes. The late night dinner featured a "California" theme but both Ray and Traci were only able to nibble on some fruits and desserts.

Tuesday was glacier day. The seas were rougher than in the past. Ray actually got a bit seasick for the first time while running on the treadmill. He felt better after walking around the ship so he was able to finish his run on the treadmill. Ray's Dad fell off an elliptical trainer due to the rough seas. Traci joined Ray during the walk and they saw a whale flapping around 50 yards from the ship. Spotting active whales were a definite treat for the morning exercise crowd.

Both Ray and Traci enjoyed breakfast and lunch buffets at the Lido restaurant. The captain warned that the ship may not get to see the Hubbard glacier which borders Disenchantment Bay due to poor weather and visibility. Fortunately, the skies cleared enough to get the boat to within a half mile from the glacier although rain, fog and cold temperatures made the best viewing areas on the ship's bow less than pleasant. A glacier is a collection of compressed snow which becomes dense ice, and gravity forces the ice down to the sea often taking parts of the land with the ice flows. At the sea, chunks of ice form avalanches which make thunderous roars during the journey into the sea.

Since Tuesday was spent entirely on the boat, Holland had many other activities going on including a trivia contest, a name that tune contest, and a Bingo game – sadly, Ray and Traci did not win anything. After leaving the glacier, the seas became rougher and Traci's appetite for her Italian wedding soup and bream fish sauté dinner waned. However, after taking 25mg of meclizine, she quickly felt better and was able to enjoy her meal. Ray enjoyed his tasty turkey dinner and another baked Alaska dessert. The evening finished with a show by a world champion juggler who did an amazing feat – juggled 3 sharp machetes while riding a tall unicycle. Afterwards, they took a trip to the late night dinner buffet with a taste of Asia theme.

The trip south continued on Wednesday with a stop at Sitka. The weather was cold and rainy, so Ray and Traci never left the boat. To get to Sitka, you need to "tender" – get on one of the Rotterdam's life boats to shuttle you to shore as cruise ships do not have a place to dock. While the tender process went smoothly, there wasn't much desire on Ray or Traci's part to ride a small boat 15 minutes just to get to another tourist trap on a cold and rainy day. Both travelers used the largely vacated ship to exercise – Traci in the gym, Ray on the top deck running track where he figured out that 11 laps around was approximately 1 mile. Ray and Traci spent the rest of the day eating at a mostly empty Lido buffet, reading, playing Nintendo and napping. Before dinner, the family got together and won their first Holland America Trivia contest – chocolate trivia, scoring neat traveling coffee mugs. The seas became noticeably more violent as they left Sitka with 15-20 foot swells, and Ray began getting sick during dinner. While he was green during the soup course, he took some over the counter meclizine and enjoyed the rest of his dinner – salmon and strawberry ice cream. Traci did not get sick and enjoyed her third lamb dinner of the trip. After dinner in the showroom, two singers Melody & Irwin, headlined a musical treat – duets thru the ages. Both were quite talented and after Melody successfully completed the challenge of Whitney Houston's "I Will Always Love You," many wondered why she wasn't on American Idol. Late dinner in the Lido had a Dutch theme.

Ray and Traci awoke Thursday to the PA announcement of the cruise director that the ship arrived at Ketchikan and the tourist shops beckoned. Ray and Traci again enjoyed the Lido breakfast; Ray tried the omelet bar for the first time. Next, they wandered around Ketchikan, the rainiest place in the United States. Most of the shops were geared toward the tourists. A few shore excursions were available but given the limited time (7am-Noon) and the drizzly weather, Ray and Traci explored on foot. After an hour or two of experiencing Ketchikan and finding again that their iphone 3g connections didn't work, they returned to the boat and Ray enjoyed salad from the Lido buffet and pizza from "Slice" while Traci had oxtail soup and rice. During the afternoon, more unrewarding trivia and bingo contests took place. Ray did discover that the Crow's nest bar on the top of the ship made some really good strawberry smoothies. Thursday's dinner was a formal occasion – On Monday and Thursday patrons were asked to dress nicely (jackets & ties) for the main dining room and the Pinnacle grill – although the Lido buffet always is casual. At the Lido people wear everything from t-shirts and shorts to swimsuits and even the Holland bathrobes. The Lido usually has many of the same entrees as the formal dining room, in addition to a regular salad bar, dessert bar, pasta bar and a few other items. Note that the dining room's dress code even on "Formal" night is not rigidly enforced – some male diners had neither coats nor ties. For Thursday's formal dining, Ray had the classic surf and turf (lobster/filet mignot) which was quite good – even in the dining room, patrons can order additional entrees at no additional charge but one was enough tonite. Traci enjoyed the chef's special salmon dish. After dinner, a comedian Jeff Burghart took the stage in the showroom. Comedy is really difficult with an audience of mixed ages and ethnic backgrounds. Traci enjoyed his impersonations and humor – Ray, not so much. To top it off, the late dining theme was "Dessert Extravaganza" and the crew lined the pool deck with many types of treats including ice cream, fondue, cakes, pies and cookies.

Friday was the final full day of the cruise with a planned nighttime stop in Victoria, B.C. The weather was nice and the seas calm. Both cruisers skipped breakfast but after morning workouts, Ray enjoyed a grilled BLT and Traci had Thai chicken curry and Singapore vermicelli noodles. The afternoon was packed with several activities including a class on how to make the cute towel animals found on passengers' bed each night (Ray bought a copy of Holland's how to guide),

the finals of Holland America's "Idol" competition, and a final game of Bingo. Predictably, a few of the "Idol" performers demonstrated real talent, but surprisingly, 3 showed no musical talent (Must have been a very slow week at the Karaoke events.) Ray and Traci's final dinner was in the main dining room – Ray had a New York steak while Traci had ling cod. The food continued to be excellent to the very end, although the "free" and unlimited dishes were depressing the enthusiasm for this food free for all. The ship docked at Victoria where Ray and Traci took the shuttle bus to downtown, and explored Chinatown as well as the waterfront. The after dinner arrival and limited time on shore discouraged Ray and Traci from touring the famous Butchart Gardens. The final event of the cruise was a great musical show showcasing the talents of three female performers singing the songs of 1950s groups such as the Supremes. The final late night dinner at the Lido had a variety of foods.

The ship returned to Seattle during the early morning hours. Ray and Traci awoke, had a quick breakfast at the Lido Grill and they disembarked the ship at 7:45 AM for the very short taxi ride home. Ray enjoyed the cruise very much, really liked the ability to turn off your brain for a week, but was concerned that the constant supply of really good food could become a health hazard. Alaska was beautiful and the glaciers quite amazing.

There is so much more to write about but this is a blog not a novel. If you have any comments or questions, please let Ray and Traci know!

Ray and Traci's Tips for Holland America Cruisers

1. The lanai rooms are great. You don't have a private balcony, but your balcony is the whole teak deck that surrounds the ship – very handy for viewing things like whales and glaciers. If people outside your window spot whales, you can rush out thru the sliding door directly to the main deck. Note: If you plan to take this cruise next year, the Holland America ship will be the Westerdam or Oosterdam which do not have lanai staterooms.

2. The Pinnacle Grill had nice dishes, but unless you are dying for a specific steak preparation, you are better off eating in the main dining room where they will feed you multiple entrees and not charge you $20 for each one.

3. While listening to the Park Ranger talk about the Hubbard Glacier while you watch the ship's approach on the crowded bow, it is not necessary to stand and suffer bad weather. Once arriving, the captain parks the boat for a good photo break, rotating half way thru so both sides of the ship can take pictures.

4. Go to the Crow's Nest for Happy Hour from 4-5pm when drinks are 50% off

5. Don't worry about packing too much as there is plenty of closet space and large suitcases can be stored underneath the bed

6. At the first sign of seasickness, take 25mg of meclizine. It's effective and works fast! You can get some at the front desk if you don't buy it beforehand (over the counter motion sickness pills available at places like Rite-Aid)

7. If you like a particular type of wine, buy a bottle. They will tag the bottle with your name and pour from it every time you dine until you drink it all. Alcohol is not particularily expensive, at least compared to similar resorts. Ray's $20 Soda Card was good for 20 glasses of soda at any restaurant or bar (tip included!) but he didn't use all of his glasses, especially after he discovered strawberry smoothies in the Crow's Nest bar.

A Weekend in Portland (Oregon)

Ray's cousin planned a wedding in Hood River, Oregon along the Columbia River. Ray and Traci, after realizing neither could remember the last time they visited downtown Portland, decided to stay overnight in Seattle's sister city rather than in scenic Hood River.

The Friday afternoon trip did not begin well. What should have been a 2 ½ hour car ride turned into a 4 hour ordeal with stop and go traffic starting in Seattle and lasting all the way to Olympia. Just as the travelers reached Oregon, they encountered the rush hour traffic in Portland. Fortunately the drive to Portland was the worst part of their weekend.

Upon arriving at their hotel, "The Nines", Ray and Traci were quite impressed with their room. Their hotel occupies the top 7 floors of the downtown Macy's building. When making an advance reservation, the Nines ran a weekend promotion cutting the internet rate 25% so Ray and Traci decided to take advantage of the good deal. They were given a large corner room with modern décor and a spacious bath. Furnishings included a 42" LCD TV, a table with chairs, a desk, and a chaise lounge. The only bad part of the hotel is the $32 per night valet parking fee.

After checking in, Ray wanted to have dinner at a noted Portland steakhouse, The Ringside. The meal consisted of Caesar salad, rib eye steak for Ray and rack of lamb for Traci. Because it was Ray's birthday, the restaurant also gave Ray one of his favorite desserts – a hot fudge sundae. In a word, the food was fabulous. And for $80+tip including drinks, by Seattle standards it was a great deal! Portland does not have a restaurant tax (and Oregon has no sales tax) making many things a 10% off bargain!

The stuffed travelers decided to walk around the Pearl District next. The Pearl District looked like Seattle's Belltown with more families and less nightclubs. Many nice residential buildings surrounded parks with bistro type restaurants at the street level. On their journey, Ray and Traci encountered several parking lots with lunch trucks and food booths set up – kind of like a miniature "Bite of Portland" with a wide variety of ethnic foods at cheap prices. Mobile trucks were set up next to very temporary tents and more permanent appearing shacks. Also in the Pearl District was the famous Powell Bookstore, the largest bookstore Ray had ever seen. Multiple floors contained new and used books of every genre imaginable. In this era of e-books, it was refreshing to see a vibrant bookstore. On the way back, Ray and Traci passed the Pioneer Courthouse Square where a summer festival was taking place. Along with food vendors and a local band, teams of sand designers built amazing structures out of exclusively beach sand and water.

Before retiring for the night, Ray and Traci visited Voodoo Donuts, a food channel favorite donut house. While the shop had a large variety of donuts, they purchased some of their more famous styles – the Voodoo Donut with a pretzel stabbing the human shaped donut leaving raspberry drippings, a Bacon Maple Bar, and the Portland Cream Donut.

Saturday began with Ray running along the Willamette River. Like many cities, Portland has a riverfront park between downtown and the river. Several different bridges cross the river, and one can run a loop using bridges to get from one side to the other. Portland is a very bicycle friendly city with defined bicycle lanes. Most of the downtown streets are one way making the streets safer for both pedestrians and bicyclists. It is a bit confusing to walk around downtown due to the lack of crosswalks and pedestrian signals – people simply wander across streets when they clear. After the run, Ray and Traci headed out to look at shopping areas (free of Washington's 9%+ sales tax). Nordstrom's anniversary sale was going on its second day although the store looked pretty empty. Niketown appeared to have relatively more customers. Ray and Traci stopped for a light lunch at the Pioneer Square Mall which contained a food court with a wide variety of meals – Ray had soup and salad, Traci had a bagel and a fruit cup. After lunch, the travelers headed out to Hood River for the wedding. The trip to Hood River was quite scenic and the actual event took place with a beautiful backdrop of the Cascade mountains. After the joyous celebration, Ray and Traci returned to the Nines hotel and the brief weekend in Portland ended the next morning with a much quicker drive back to Seattle.

A Trip to the New Bronx Zoo

Ray and Traci decided, despite a disappointing Mariners season so far, that they would visit the new Yankee Stadium during the Yankee/Mariner series this year. Surprisingly, tickets were not hard to come by, with Stubhub.com scalping outfield tickets for about $25 each. Like many Seattleites, Ray and Traci have complained about the cool and damp Seattle weather this summer. They got on the Alaska Air flight to New Jersey, and then promptly wished for Seattle weather. After landing in New Jersey, they took the Air Train at Newark's airport and got onto the New Jersey Coast Line train which dropped them off at Penn Station in New York. The temperature was more than 90 degrees with 80% humidity. Fortunately the late arrival spared the travelers the direct sunlight, but it was quite uncomfortable especially dragging their bags to their hotel.

The hotel for their latest New York Adventure would be the Hilton Times Square. Their room was surprisingly large, easily the largest room they ever had in New York. It was clean, modern and tastefully decorated with some very practical amenities like a good sized closet and many drawers to put clothes in. Adventurers to New York who want to stay in the middle of the action would find the Hilton ideal.

With darkness falling, Ray and Traci ventured into the crowds to find dinner. Traci picked a restaurant in midtown called Sapporo (like the Japanese Beer). Traci had shoyu ramen while Ray picked the Sukiyaki. The food was good especially considering the total bill was $22. Before retiring for the evening, they stopped at the fancy Times Square McDonalds for soft ice cream – the restaurant has a Broadway theater styled store front and the spacious interior is decorated in the same fashion.

When Ray and Traci woke up on day 2, the temperature was already 88 degrees! After enjoying a Hilton complementary buffet breakfast, Ray and Traci decided to go to the King Tut exhibit three blocks from the hotel – King Tut's return rekindles the interest developed in the 1970s US tour, updated with new scientific evidence (i.e. DNA analysis of King Tut's family tree) and new multimedia exhibits. Unfortunately, some of the key artifacts such as the famous golden burial mask didn't make the trip to NYC. Afterwards, Ray and Traci headed from King Tut's Times Square home up Broadway to the shopping district. After a brief repeat visit to the celebrated St. Patrick's Cathedral, they window shopped the Apple Store, Niketown NYC, the Sony Store and Trump Tower. Despite running out of iphones days ago, the Apple store was flooded with people wishing the store had iPhones or iPads in stock! In general, Times Square seems to be bucking the overall negative economy as people seemed to swarm the area even with the new expanded pedestrian walkways. Another recent change was the impressive amounts of police in both the Central Park and Times Square areas which must have caused crime to go elsewhere. Later, Ray and Traci went to Joe's Shanghai in the midtown area for some Chinese food including chicken dumplings, won ton soup and not so crispy spicy shrimp. Joe's is a highly recommended Chinese restaurant although Traci was somewhat disappointed compared to her meal during a previous NYC trip at Joe's other location in Chinatown. After leaving Joe's, Ray and Traci attended the musical "Rock of Ages." Traci was somewhat skeptical of a musical based on many of Ray's favorite musical acts from the 1980s – but the performances, the humor, and the cast's ability not to take themselves too seriously won her over. Ray felt the musical was the most fun Broadway show he attended – a "Mamma Mia" with self deprecating humor and 1980s music with a bite. If you only like musicals with opera quality vocals, orchestral music, and intellectually stimulating plots, don't bother seeing "Rock of Ages" when it plays in Seattle next year.

Tuesday brought more clouds and slightly cooler weather. Ray started his day by running around the reservoir in Central Park which turned out to be quite a challenge given the heat and humidity. After breakfast, Ray and Traci headed on the subway to the Southport TKTS booth to try their luck at getting discount matinee show tickets for the next day. After a 40 minute wait, they bought La Cage Aux Folles tickets at 30% off. The Times Square TKTS booth only sells tickets for day of shows, while the Seaport outlet will sell the matinee tickets the day before. From the Southport area, they walked across one of New York's famous landmarks – the Brooklyn Bridge.

As expected, many tourists crossed the Pedestrian walkways – some in better shape than others, with many stops for photo ops. Leaving the bridge behind, Ray and Traci had lunch in a famous Brooklyn eatery – Grimaldi's Pizza. Despite a 2 pm arrival, Grimaldi's had a line of people on the sidewalk waiting to get in. Fortunately, the line was a relatively short 15 minutes. Ray and Traci enjoyed a very good ham pizza cooked in Grimaldi's famous coal fired brick oven. After their late lunch, Ray and Traci rode the subway back to the hotel before heading to Yankee stadium. The latest incarnation of Yankee Stadium opened in 2009 to much fanfare. The easiest way to get to Yankee stadium from Times Square is the express "D" train from Bryant Park. A 30 minute ride drops you off right at the ballpark. At first glance the outside architecture looks quite plain with little detail except for the golden "Yankee Stadium " inscription. Once inside the main gate, visitors find the "Great Hall" with long banners celebrating Yankee heroes past and present. Ray and Traci took an extended tour around the main floor and the upper deck seating areas before settling in. Overall, the interior of the stadium lacks the polish one would expect in a billion dollar structure. Modern ball parks often have floor to ceiling views of the field for patrons walking the main concourses whereas Yankee stadium has narrower "mail slot" view. Monument park has been transplanted into the outfield of the new stadium but it closes 45 minutes before first pitch. A gorgeous gigantic Mitsubishi video screen occupies the biggest area in the center field scoreboard.

One area where the Yankees did not spare any expense was the high concrete partitions staffed by security separating the choice infield seats in the first few rows with the less pricey ones behind. A premium infield seat can run $1600 while the ones a few rows behind go for $300! Another big deficiency was the relatively limited concessions (with the expected very high prices) – Yankee Stadium's "food court" had only a very few vendors, and the variety of foods was really limited especially given the multicultural background of New York. The stadium does have several exclusive sit down food areas including a steak restaurant which may compensate for the limited concessions. In any case, Ray and Traci spent the first game up in the 400 level by the left field foul pole. Sitting so far away from home plate was a new experience for the Seattle fans however the Mariners surprising offensive outburst and Cliff Lee's typical professional pitching job kept them quite entertained. The M's won 7-4 making Ray and Traci's short subway ride home much happier than it was for the Yankee fans.

Wednesday was the last full day in NYC for Ray and Traci. Ray was quite thankful for 70 degree temperatures and again ran around Central Park's reservoir. After enjoying the Hilton's buffet, they headed out to wander around the area. At Rockefeller Center, the Lego company was having an event – children would build structures out of green Legos and the organizers would arrange them together forming big cities. In addition, master Lego builders put together a massive red Lego apple.

Ray and Traci's next event was the matinee showing of La Cage Aux Folles. Traci was pleasantly surprised when the well known actor Kelsey Grammer took the stage rather than an understudy. Ray was intrigued by Kelsey's talents which were much more impressive than just his famous roles as Dr. Frasier Crane and Sideshow Bob on the Simpsons. Ray did think the story could use a little modernization in its latest incarnation. From La Cage Aux Folles, the Mariners fans headed back to Yankee Stadium on the D train to enjoy another game. For the second game, Ray purchased premium seats directly from the Yankees – 3^rd deck behind home plate in the "Jim Beam" section – basically similar to a more expensive but less extensive "Terrace club" experience found at Safeco. The private lounge had a bar (with Jim Beam, of course), a pizza concession, a burger/fries concession and bathrooms without any waits. After you leave the lounge, the cushy seats in the front portion of the 3^rd deck behind home plate afforded excellent views of the action. For dinner, Traci had an adventurous Spanish Rice with Chicken dish while Ray stuck with the more traditional Yankee Hot Dog. Again, Mariner fans were treated with a dominating pitching performance, this time by Felix Hernandez while the offense again exploded for 7 runs including 2 homers by rookie Michael Saunders. Ray and Traci returned to the Hilton quite happy after a 7-0 thrashing of the World Champions.

Thursday was another cool day. Ray and Traci decided to end their NYC adventure by visiting the Frick Museum – the former residence of a steel tycoon and art patron who assembled a very impressive variety of art. As afternoon approached, they checked out of the Hilton and boarded the Newark airport bound train at Penn Station for an uneventful trip back to Seattle where they found cool and wet weather.

A Short Track to the 2010 Olympics

Because of the wide variety of interesting sports, Ray and Traci found themselves watching a good portion of the 2010 Winter Olympic games. Whether because of the close proximity to Seattle, the personalities involved, or the success of the US, the travelers decided to travel to Vancouver and experience the Olympics firsthand.

The finals of the Short Track competition seemed to be an ideal event – a great competition, a local personality (Apolo Ohno), 3 medal events (Women's 1000m, Men's 500m, Men's 5000m Relay). Unfortunately, many others did too – Ticket brokers, Ebay and the "Official" Olympics Ticket Auctions had the cheapest pairs of tickets running for $900 (9 x original price!). Even after waiting until 7 hours prior to the event, the best deal found was $770 for a pair of tickets in the back of the nosebleed section and likely partially obstructed by a camera man. Deciding to forgo buying tickets online, Ray and Traci headed north to check out the Olympics.

Travel on I-5 was uneventful, and there was no wait at the border. Ray planned on parking near the short track venue (Pacific Coliseum), and found a free street parking spot near a school. After getting Canadian dollars at a HSBC bank, Ray and Traci caught the 135 bus to Robson Square, the center of the Olympics.

Driving in, one wouldn't know anything special was going on. Even during the short 3 mile bus ride to Robson Square, little traffic was encountered – appeared to be a slow workday. Once in the center of the Olympics, crowds were noted in the drizzly Friday, but they weren't overwhelming. Ray and Traci headed to the Olympic Caldron for the obligatory picture of the torch.

From the torch, the hungry travelers found a Japanese restaurant on Robson. Traci had an udon dish with some California rolls and Ray had a beef teriyaki / tempura dinner. Fortunately, this restaurant didn't have "Olympic Pricing" and the $35 (including tip) dinner was quite satisfying. Hunger resolved, Ray and Traci wandered around Olympics Central. Fans everywhere were wearing Canadian Hockey jerseys as their team was about to win their semifinal game, setting up the epic rematch with the US for the gold medal. Police patrols also looked rather inconspicuous – small patrols were noted - but the heavy anti-terrorist forces must have stayed well hidden. Ray and Traci wandered over to the ice skating rink were many kids enjoyed the festivities on the ice while older ones waited 7 hours for a free zip lining experience overhead.

The Official Olympic Store had a long line (they only let a few people in at a time) – interestingly enough, there was a longer line outside the Canadian Mint where they let people actually touch (while wearing gloves) Olympic medals. Ray and Traci went to the Hudson's Bay department store above the Olympic store where on the 5^th floor, they had a selection of Olympics souvenirs, none of which the travelers bought. Ray and Traci are both returning to Vancouver for a meeting in May, and they figured everything would be at least half priced by then.

Their final stop during their brief Olympics experience was back at the short track venue. After getting off the bus (public transportation was very efficient for these games!), Ray immediately was approached by scalpers offering tickets. Refusing initial offers, Ray and Traci found an area that served as an enclave of pure capitalism (maybe the last?) – buyers and sellers finding a market price for tickets. Still unhappy at the prevailing prices – which were much better at this late hour than anything on the internet, Ray and Traci wandered toward the main entrance where a friendly scalper obviously tired from a day's work ended up selling two fairly decent seats for 2 ½ times face value. Armed with tickets, Ray and Traci passed a rather strict security screening (just like at the airport) and found their upper deck seats 13 rows back positioned right above the finish line of the oval. While they missed the Men's 500m quarter finals and 1 of the Woman's 1000m quarter finals, they immediately became captivated by the spectacle that is short track racing. Apolo got disqualified in the 500m finals after an amazing performance in the semifinals (he really did take out a competitor). A highlight of the evening was Katherine Reutter's silver medal in a very close Women's 1000m final, further adding to America's haul.The most interesting and confusing event was the crazy Men's 5000m relay – 5 teams of 4 zooming around at high speeds and changing places on the fly every 1 ½ laps. The US won a hard fought bronze, giving Apolo his 8^th overall medal in Olympic games.

After the wonderful short track competition, Ray and Traci decided to get out of town as the Canadian Hockey team was close to winning its game, and the crazy Canadians would be celebrating en mass until the late hours of the night. Their border crossing was again quick, and the exhausted travelers completed their 12 hour 32 minute journey as veterans of their first Olympics and fans of the short track for life.

Highlights of Washington DC

Each year, an international meeting of Neonatologists takes place in Washington DC, and Ray decided to attend this year. Ray has attended this meeting many times, the previous two times with Traci. Having already done the usual historical tours including the special evening holiday monument tours, all of the Smithsonian museums, Arlington Cemetery, Georgetown, and the Holocaust museum, they looked for new places to explore during an extended stay in the capitol city.

The conference takes place yearly at the Omni Shoreham Hotel, near the National Zoo and across the street from the Woodley Park Metro Station. Fortunately, Washington DC has one of the best subway transportation systems and its grid layout of streets makes getting around quite easy. The highlight of the trip for both travelers was visiting the US Supreme Court and getting to witness the 1 hour argument on the case Black v US. When the court is in session, a very limited number of seats are available to view the action. The courtroom itself is quite large but most of the benches are filled by attorneys in the Supreme Court Bar, law students and the press among other VIPs leaving very few for the public. People assemble at least 30 minutes before the case starts (first case is usually 10AM) and get in first come first serve. The case was about an executive who the government claims deceived his company into wrongfully giving him a $5 million bonus under a Federal Mail Fraud statute. Even for non-lawyers, it was quite impressive to see the 9 Supremes in person (visitors to DC rarely get to see top leaders of the government up front and personal). First, the executive's attorney argued the law was vague and unjust – the justices asked questions and carried on a spirited conversation with the fast talking lawyer. The real entertainment started when the solicitor general (attorney who represents the government's side) started speaking. First, the justices started questioning what constitutes deceit to your company – if someone knew their company was going to build a bigger factory, is it wrong to buy land in the area ahead of time? What about telling your brother in law or best friend to buy land? The company still pays the market value for the land, so the entity harmed is not the company. Then Justice Breyer, got a lot of laughs asking how do you figure out how much harm constitutes fraud? He suggested there were 100 million Americans who would tell their boss they were going to work really hard just to get him out of their office, and then spend the day reading a racing form. Justice Kennedy followed by suggesting American workers might disingenuously tell their boss how great his new hat looks just to get the boss off his back so he could slip out the door to an afternoon baseball game. Should all of these people go to jail? The solicitor general argued prosecutors could make a judgment on what is significant enough prosecute. Justice Roberts then said we cannot just pass a law saying people must not do bad things and leave it up to prosecutors to decide who to put in jail. Anyway, the banter was very entertaining – watching the justices in action was amazing, and showed many of them really lived in the real world and not just some academic fantasy one. Ray thinks attending the Supreme Court was one of the most interesting tourist activities he has ever done (up with visiting the Tower of London!).

Ray and Traci also visited the brand new "Newseum" where ABC host George Stephanopoulos broadcasts his Sunday show every week. While a $20 museum entry fee is quite foreign in a city where all of the Smithsonians are free, both travelers think it was well worth it. The Newseum covers history of media from the Gutenberg press to Twitter – and with it, American history. The memorial to 9/11 was quite breathtaking. The museum is filled with multimedia films, interactive computer displays as well as glass cases containing significant news events during this country's history. The Newseum also has a balcony giving visitors one of the best views of the US Capitol.

Before visiting the Newseum, Ray and Traci went to the Smithsonian American Portrait Museum which represented a more traditional way of appreciating American history – in the form of great art. While museums will continue to show great art, it is difficult to not to choose the high tech Newseum to highlight and learn about American history. Comparing experiences such as the Holocaust museum, the Louvre, or the Newseum is difficult, but Ray definitely enjoyed his visit and plans to return in the future.

Besides the Newseum and the Smithsonian American Portrait Gallery, Ray and Traci visited the "Washington DC National Museum of Crime & Punishment"– Notable criminals including Jesse James, Al Capone, Timothy McVeigh and the Unabomber have their stories memorialized in a glitzy museum with lots of hands on artifacts and displays. Perhaps the most interesting thing about the Crime Museum is how it highlights how so many notorious criminals have been had their stories told in Hollywood movies! Before leaving for the hotel, Ray and Traci stopped by the National Christmas Tree (with the many smaller trees for each state and territory).

Despite several previous trips, Ray and Traci had never visited the US Capitol – Ray obtained advance tickets over the internet from the Congressional web site although during this slow day, walkup tickets were available. Besides visitor passes, one can request "gallery" passes for the House and the Senate from your elected representative / senator – these passes allow you to go into the bleachers above the House and the Senate and watch the action. Ray didn't get gallery passes but fortunately House passes were available from the House appointment desk in the visitor center. The Senate was voting on an amendment to the Health Care Bill so all the passes were gone (probably to lobbyists). The US Capitol Visitors Center was recently built and spectacular – no expense was spared (your tax dollars, of course) in building a spacious and elegant tribute to Congress. Even the cafeteria was good with a rich selection of foods, complete with both Pepsi and Coke dispensers to avoid alienating any particular state. The Capitol tour was short – they let visitors see the large round and largely empty space under the big Rotunda, the Hall of Statues with many famous people (each State gets 2 statues in the Capitol) and the old rooms formerly used for the House and Senate Chambers (which each body outgrew). The most interesting part of the Capitol visit was sitting in the House Bleachers and watching representatives say their piece for 5 minutes each with most of the chamber being empty. On C-span, only the representative talking is shown – what you don't see is a mostly vacant chamber. The place is rarely full except for votes or the State of the Union Speech. The whole process seems a bit silly when so much time is spent talking to an empty room.

Visiting the White House was another fun part of the tour – unfortunately, post 9/11 it is difficult – large groups like classrooms can get passes, you can beg your local representative or senator for passes or you need to know somebody to get you in. Traci's cousin Wendy arranged for such a personalized guided tour – Seeing the East Wing decorated for the holidays was great – you actually see more of the White House on the tour than you do of the Capitol.

Ray and Traci also made a trip to the National Cathedral, a short taxi/bus ride from the Omni hotel. The 6^th largest cathedral in the world, like many structures in DC is spectacular except for the fact it looks like a copy of Paris' Notre Dame and construction was finally completed during the George H. W. Bush administration – not hundreds of years ago. They attended a wonderful demonstration by the organist and enjoyed the great view of DC from the balcony.

Unlike previous blog entries, not much has been mentioned about food – mainly because the travelers didn't eat at many memorable places. Other than lunch at the Capitol, most meals were on the run at chain cafes like Cosi and Corner Bakery. Near the Omni Hotel, Ray and Traci ate at Open City, Trattoria Italiana, and Tono Sushi which all provided tasty and reasonably priced food for hungry travelers. Ray and Traci also enjoyed lunch with Traci's cousin Wendy at a "healthy" asian restaurant called Teaism in Dupont Circle.

Before returning home, Ray and Traci visited one more attraction just down the street from their hotel – The National Zoo. Washington DC is only one of 4 zoos in America with Giant Pandas. The travelers snapped some pictures of them and said farewell to the National's Capitol.

Traveling to Toronto

Ray and Traci decided to follow their favorite baseball team into a foreign country and make a visit to one of North America’s greatest natural wonders – Niagara Falls. Their journey started on Tuesday with a non-stop flight from Seattle to Toronto on Air Canada. Ray found the modern Embraer 190 to be a very comfortable plane. Even in coach, the jet has individual TV screens which had about 25 movies plus a variety of TV programs, music, and games which entertained passengers from departure to arrival without waiting for the plane to reach a certain altitude. Ray watched “Angels & Demons” which he found to be a good movie, in contrast to the general bad reviews given by the critics. Upon arrival, it took about 20 minutes to clear immigration, get Canadian dollars at an ATM and get in a taxi. The weather was pleasant, overcast and 80 degrees. The taxi ride from Pearson Airport to downtown took 45 minutes. The travelers’ new home for the week was the Royal York, which is a historic – meaning old – hotel 2 blocks from the baseball stadium. Ray booked the hotel due to the great discounted rate at hotels.com which he subsequently cancelled when the hotel itself offered an even better rate - $129!. The Royal York was built in 1927 – Ray and Traci’s room was spacious by New York standards and had a nice view of Lake Ontario. Ray and Traci spent the first evening exploring Toronto’s PATH, a maze under Toronto’s downtown – most of the skyscrapers populating downtown are connected with corridors providing refuge from the elements. Naturally, the passageways are lined with shops and eateries, often with the same stores repeating every few blocks. Ray and Traci negotiated the confusing passages, finally arriving at a large shopping mall – the Eaton Centre. This massive multistory structure was different in one significant way from an American mall– it was very busy on a nondescript weeknight! People in Canada are shopping and actually buying stuff. While few, if any, stores were furnished with unique goods, Traci checked out the Roots store. Roots is a Canadian apparel maker that clothed past US Olympic teams. Now hungry from their day of travel, Ray and Traci ate at the shopping mall’s food court – Ray ate a very unimaginative chicken dinner from KFC while Traci had a much more healthy chicken wrap from a Toronto chain restaurant Freshii. After leaving the mall, Ray and Traci wandered above ground in the “theatre” district of Toronto. While Toronto has a few theatres, a few regular shows were playing – “The Sound of Music,” “Jersey Boys” and a new show “The Boys in the Photograph.”. Ray and Traci stopped at Toronto’s version of “The Second City,” undoubtedly a Canadian version of Chicago’s well known comedy troupe but they decided to pass on the show. After grabbing a few snacks, Ray and Traci retired for the night.

Wednesday morning brought another warm but cloudy and humid day. Ray started the day in the Royal York’s gym which was equipped with many cardio machines but little weight equipment – it did, however, have a nice indoor lap pool. Ray and Traci next wandered to the waterfront area where they found some nice condo buildings and not much else. One thing that Toronto has (that Seattle needs) is bicycle stations in the subways where people can secure their bikes and then hop on to the trains. Disappointed, Ray and Traci wandered back to the Toronto underground PATH and had lunch at Bento Nouveau where Ray enjoyed tempura shrimp udon and Traci had chicken udon. After their early lunch, Ray and Traci met their Grey Line Bus at the Royal York to start the evening tour of Niagara Falls. After a 90 minute journey, the first stop was at the Pillitteri Estates Winery where the 9 person group (a really slow day for the Grey Line!) sampled red, white and an “ice” wine. Traci especially enjoyed the ice wine which can be produced only in certain cold climates as the grapes are picked by hand frozen, the water crystals discarded and the little remaining juice used for production. Most of the world’s ice wine comes from Toronto and the difficult production process results in fairly high prices. From the winery, the group travelled to the floral clock which is a beautiful arrangement of flowers built on a platform with a working clock. The floral pattern is changed yearly and planned by the top students of the Niagara horticultural institute.




The next stop was at the aerocar which basically is a glorified tram across the Niagara river. Ray assumed you would get a view of the falls from the skyride which turned out to be wrong – the $12 tram simply gives you an overhead view of a (boring) river. After the disappointing aerocar, the tour got more interesting with the “Maid of the Mist” boat ride. A tour boat takes a whole bunch of people on a 20 minute ride fairly close to the bottom of the 3 waterfalls which make up Niagara Falls – the American falls, the tiny Bridal Veil falls and the much larger Canadian falls. The Niagara river starts at Lake Erie and flows into Lake Ontario (350 feet lower) – this drop in elevation is what creates Niagara falls. During the night most of the water flows thru American and Canadian hydroelectric plants while during the day/evening most of the water flows down the waterfalls. The American/Bridal waterfalls are separated from the Canadian waterfalls from Goat Island located on the US side of the border. The Bridal Veil waterfall is a sliver off of the American waterfall separated from the main falls by tiny Luna Island. The boat ride gets you up close and personal with all of the waterfalls. Riders can get soaked if you don’t take cover in the downstairs of the boat even while wearing the provided rain poncho.


Dinner at the Sheraton Hotel’s Fallsview Buffet was included in the Grey Line package. While the view was spectacular, the food wasn’t bad either – Ray and Traci enjoyed salads, fruits, pasta, prime rib, baby-back ribs, tomato with beans and rice soup, while passing up many other equally tasty dishes. For dessert, Ray enjoyed cupcakes while Traci had a bit of a chocolate cake and a disappointing bread pudding. The Sheraton has a small balcony just outside the Fallsview buffet, giving a few more opportunities for pictures. After the hearty meal, the group scattered until departure time. A large entertainment district surrounds the falls with everything from amusement rides to a casino. Ray and Traci rode the Skyview Ferris wheel before getting a few pictures with the illuminated waterfalls and had an uneventful ride back to their hotel.

Thursday brought cooler temperatures and clearer skies so the day’s adventures started with a trip of the famed CN tower. The structure started simply as a broadcasting antennae but a decision to build an observation platform made the world’s tallest (1815 feet) freestanding tower an attraction for 2 million people a year. The skypod observatory is at 1465 feet, the world’s current highest (note that Taiwan’s Taipei 101, the world’s tallest occupied building has an observation platform at a mere 1285 feet). Unfortunately, when Burj Dubai opens up at the end of 2009, it will set all records at a rumored 2650 feet. The view from the CN skypod was quite impressive. On the lower observation platform, a section of the floor is replaced with glass giving a quite interesting perspective of downtown Toronto. From the CN Tower, Ray and Traci got on the “Hippo” tour which is similar to the ubiquitous “Duck” tours in the US. The Hippo leader gave a quite interesting history of Toronto and some of its landmarks as the tour made its way thru the city eventually ending up at the waterfront where the amphibious vehicle entered the water for a boat tour of Toronto. From the Hippo tour, Ray and Traci headed to a well known foodie hangout – St. Lawrence Market. Ray had a chicken caesar salad at Pasta Mia while Traci enjoyed the Food Channel featured peameal sandwich made with Canadian bacon at Carousel Bakery. Ray also picked up a chocolate cupcake at Future Bakery with a Batman picture on the top. After satisfying their palates, the travelers went to the Distillery District which is an artsy combination restaurant & gallery area. On the way home, Traci got a disappointing vanilla yogurt with raspberries at Yogurt Fruz. The Mariners fans then rested for a bit and then headed to the Rogers Center (formerly known as the Skydome) for a highlight of the trip – watching pitcher Felix Hernandez lead the Mariners against the Jays. Ray got premium seats for both the Thursday and Friday games on stubhub.com. Fortunately, the lukewarm interest (a term used generously) by Toronto fans allowed “scalped” ticket prices to be below regular priced seats at Safeco. Skydome is a round concrete domed stadium with the world’s first retractable roof. It was quite an attraction when it first opened, but now is somewhat dated. The old Astroturf carpet is a hazard to the athletes! The stadium has a huge video screen and many colorful video displays. It has a rich selection of ballpark foods – what it is missing is fans, only 15,000 at the Thursday game. The game was well played, ultimately with the Mariners winning 4-3 and Felix picking up his 17th win. Ray and Traci had a sign “Mariners Fans (heart) Toronto and Rally Fries” – Although the Toronto fans seemed to like it, and put it on the stadium screen at least twice, Ray and Traci did not win any fries from sportscaster Mike Blowers of FSN. With few fans in attendance, and only a handful of signs, it was unclear if anyone won any fries. Hungry, but happy with a win, Ray and Traci picked up dinner at Harvey’s – Canada’s answer to Wendy’s. Famed for customized burgers, Ray had a bacon cheese burger while Traci had a chicken burger. While neither dish would win on Top Chef, the food was good given the late hour.

Friday started with promise – another cool morning with sunshine. Ray woke up early and had a run in the gym followed by a few laps in the very nice indoor swimming area at the Royal York. The first activity of the day was visiting the Royal Ontario Museum (ROM). The museum is easy to find, it is right off of the “Museum” subway stop. At the time of the visit, the ROM had a special exhibition of the Dead Sea Scrolls – a collection of ancient documents including the world’s first lease agreement, and several versions of early religious scripture. The works, hidden in special clay pots were believed to have been written around the time of Christ, and discovered in the 1950s. Other highlights of the museum included a collection of semi-precious stones. In general, the ROM had a nice collection covering the spectrum from the Dinosaurs to ancient Egypt/ancient Greek to modern times along with natural history and art. It is no Louvre, but is worth visiting. After the ROM, Ray and Traci walked past the University of Toronto toward Chinatown. Supposedly, Toronto has the 3rd largest Chinatown in North America – Toronto is, perhaps, the world’s most diverse city with a large variety of neighborhoods and different languages. By law, French and English are official languages. Ray was puzzled by several stores that sold nothing but flags of assorted foreign countries. The weather was becoming quite cold, so Ray purchased 2 pairs of gloves ($4 total) for the upcoming baseball game in Chinatown. The tourists then browsed Kensington Market, a neighborhood with funky shops and eateries located right next to Chinatown. On the way back to the hotel, the tourists passed by the Frank Gehry designed Art Gallery of Ontario (AGO) but didn’t go in. They stopped at the Eaton Mall for Traci’s fruit salad and Ray’s Dairy Queen Sundae. After a rest stop at the hotel, Ray and Traci met up with Traci’s cousin Denise and her friend, Rob for the baseball game. Upon arriving at the Rogers Center (Skydome), the roof was closed – but opened prior to the start of the game. The roof is very interesting, unlike Safeco’s 3 section rectangular carport, the Skydome room has two circular sections on the ends and two middle rectangular sections – the rectangular sections slide to the outfield, then the circular section slides & rotates underneath the fixed circular section – quite ingenious! Roy Halladay, one of baseball’s finest pitchers owned the Mariners and the Blue Jays won 5-0. Again, Ray and Traci got no rally fries with a different sign “Rally Fries, Eh? Go Mariners” despite being seated along the left field line immediately behind the ball boy. Perhaps the poor economy is cutting into the FSN fries budget. After the game, the group headed to Chinatown where they enjoyed a fine Seafood Chinese meal including Shrimp & Cashew nuts, fried chicken wings, tofu with mixed vegetables and seafood sizzling hot plate. Long time resident Rob, picked a restaurant called “Excellent Chinese Restaurant” which almost made up for the Mariners terrible loss.
On the final day, Ray and Traci got onto the subway and went to Yorktown, a high end shopping neighborhood. From there, they got back onto the subway and at Union Station transferred to the “Red Rocket” Toronto’s street cars for a very short ride to the waterfront. Ray and Traci decided to take the 7 minute ferry ride to Centre Island, a Toronto version of Coney Island and Central Park mixed into one. While in the summer months a full amusement park operates daily, fall season brought closures to many things – Ray and Traci didn’t get off the ferry and just returned back to downtown. For a final lunch, Ray had a sukiyaki dish at Edo and Traci had chicken noodle soup at Pumpernickel’s, both located in the Harbourfront Centre. Ray and Traci returned to their hotel, and met up with Rob and Denise who kindly transported the travelers to the airport for an uneventful flight back to Seattle.

First visit to London (Part 2)

Still tired from their brief Paris adventure, Ray and Traci got a late start – Ray started the day by running around Hyde Park after stopping at Buckingham palace to find a sign stating “No Guard Changing Today.” He was amused at finding a traffic signal just for horses between Green Park and Hyde Park. The first trip of the day was to the Victoria and Albert Museum - this free museum contains a vast collection of art from around the world. Specialized collections from Asia are found as well as European art, Ancient art and even a Chihuly Chandelier. Highlights include a “cast collection” – back in the days before photography and world travel, museums would make plaster casts of great works of art such as Michelangelo’s David statue – these casts then were shipped to other museums during the 19th century for foreigners to enjoy. The V&A museum has a most impressive collection.

After leaving the V&A museum, Ray and Traci walked to one of England’s most famous landmarks, Harrods. This enormous 1 million square foot store really has “More of Everything.” While bargains were sparse (here is a $25,732 toy car at the prevailing exchange rate), the store exists as a sharp contrast to the US where large department stores are dying, replaced by big box discounters. Harrod’s boasts several eateries, both eat in and take out – Ray purchased some delicious sushi while Traci went to the Indian food counter and got a yummy chicken & rice dish, total cost for both about 10 pounds.

Next stop was the British Museum (also free) – a huge collection of amazing artifacts from all over the world. On the steps of the museum, you feel like you are entering the Roman Civilization – once inside, visitors find a huge atrium covered by a glass room. Within the expansive structure are long corridors with interesting items, “acquired” from civilizations throughout time.

Stop one was at the Rosetta Stone, a stunning stone tablet which 19th century scholars realized was the key to translating Egyptian hieroglyphs. Next, Ray and Traci were intrigued at seeing a room filled with Roman art pilfered from the Parthenon, under the guise of “preservation.” Well, considering the Romans once conquered the land known now as England, perhaps payback is a bitch. Less easily dismissed is the huge collection of Egyptian art, caskets, tools, and jewelry found in the British Museum – clearly the Egyptians must not be pleased with all of the body snatching.

Ray and Traci had time to visit other fascinating exhibits about money thru the ages (when physical money ruled over digitally created “quantative easing”) as well as an amazing collection of time pieces. Seeing working 15th century clocks is quite humbling to inhabitants of the 21th century who are happy just to see machinery work beyond the manufacturer’s warranty. Nearing closing time, Ray and Traci had to pass on other exhibits and instead, headed to nearby Oxford Street. This area hosted many shops, eateries and boasted a ton of people in the late afternoon on a weekday. Ray and Traci hunted for souvenirs in the many shops. Growing both hungry and tried (especially after the long Paris adventure the day before), Ray and Traci walked down Piccacdilly toward their hotel and stopped at the same Japanese restaurant Toku they visited early in the trip – for about 30 pounds they enjoyed a great ramen dinner including shrimp tempura for Ray and yellowtail sushi for Traci. For dessert, Ray had some strawberry ice cream at a nearby shop.

On their last night in London, the travelers decided to take in some British theatre. Ray got two half priced tickets to a comedy paying at the Criterion Theatre in Piccadilly Circus. London is well known for its theatre. In the summer, Shakespeare plays are often performed, sometimes with only natural daylight and no microphones as in the author’s day. Many shows such as Jersey Boys, Mamma Mia and Wicked are found in London as in the US. Ray and Traci saw 39 steps, which was unique in that only 4 actors played hundreds of characters in the show which was about a bored WW2 era Londoner who became involved in a secret plot against England. Ray didn’t follow much of the humor, but appreciated the cultural experience. Shows in general are much cheaper than in New York, and a TKTS half price office works the same way in Piccadilly Circus as it does in Times Square.

Wednesday marked the end of Ray and Traci’s European Adventure. Rain came and went overnight but left brilliant sunshine in the morning – the entire week in Europe had picture perfect tourist weather. Ray started the day by running a few laps around Green Park (next to Hyde Park) and making sure the “No Changing of the Guard Sign” was not shown at Buckingham Palace. Ray and Traci then packed up and before checking out ventured out to Old Bond Street which is a Rodeo Drive of sort for London with very exclusive brands found in boutiques. As expected in a depression, the street was nearly empty. Traci purchased some chocolate boxes at Charbonnel et Walker which was a bit more expensive than Hershey’s finest in the US.

The last stop was at Buckingham Palace where Ray and Traci tried again to see the changing of the guard. This time the event took place, but an incredible mob of people prevented viewing. Travel guides suggest going early and standing on the Victoria Memorial Fountain.

Ray and Traci arrived just about starting time (11:30) and basically heard the band march down with the troops into the place and the mounted soldiers pass the palace but not much else. Fortunately, videos are found on You Tube, and that will have to fill in the details.

Their European adventure ended uneventfully after checking out of the May Fair, hopping a cab to Paddington Station and taking the 20 minute Heathrow Express Train to their British Airway Flight. Ray and Traci left Europe with a much better appreciation of the art and history and a desire to continue their explorations. Ray also wondered what became of his camera, and particularly the flash memory card inside it.

Ray’s Favorites from the European Adventure
1. London Tower (especially the Beefeater guided tour)
2. Musee du Louvre
3. Notre Dame
4. Eiffel Tower

Traci’s Favorites
1. View of Eiffel Tower from Place du Trocadero
2. Parthenon frieze and sculptures at the British Museum
3. River boat tour along the Thames
4. Eating lunch on the steps of St. Paul’s Cathedral
5. Westminster Abbey

The City of Light at the Speed of Light

Ray and Traci decided to go against recommendations for a longer stay and made a 1 day whirlwind tour of Paris during their London holiday. They had to get up very early to catch the tube to the King’s Cross – St. Pancras station which is the London terminal for the Eurostar, the high speed train that carries passengers from London to Paris via the Chunnel. Ray and Traci had reservations for the early morning 6:55 train. Accommodations on the Eurostar were quite comfortable, similar to the Japanese Shinkansen (Bullet Trains) – with tourist select advance purchase tickets, a pretty decent breakfast with croissants, fruit, orange juice, cheese omelet and chicken sausage was included. The Eurostar arrived on time at Paris at 10:15 (2 hours, 20 minutes later – Paris clocks are 1 hour ahead of London). Travelers need to know that checking into the Eurostar is more involved than a typical train – baggage is screened, riders need to go to metal detectors, and passport control needs to be navigated. As at airports, last minute arrivers may miss their transportation. At minimum, passenger should arrive 30 minutes ahead of the train departure.

The Eurostar drops passengers off at Paris’ Gare du Nord. The first thing one notices is the dudes in berets walking around in fatigues brandishing assault weapons – France is really serious about security, even the “TSA checkers” who guide passengers thru metal detectors are packing Glock pistols. The next thing visitors discover is the plethora of pay bathrooms in Paris, even at train stations. Usually 1 euro is required to get past the gate of a bathroom to use the facilities. Travelers are advised to not leave home without euros!

Fortunately, the weather was wonderful for a brief Paris Adventure – cool and partly sunny. From the Gare du Nord, Ray and Traci hopped in a taxi for a 10 euro ride to Notre Dame, the famous cathedral in Paris. Words cannot do justice to the magnificent Notre Dame. Even on a Monday morning, large crowds milled around. While viewing the inside of the cathedral is free, visitors do have to pay to climb the steps to the higher levels offering views of Paris. During Ray and Traci’s visit, the lines were too long so they walked to their next stop, Sainte-Chapelle – another great church located in Paris. Unfortunately visitors do have to pay to get into this cathedral, and the lines were even longer than at Notre Dame so when you have only 10 hours to spend in Paris, you are going to skip a lot! From Sainte-Chapelle, Ray and Traci walked to their next destination, the Louvre.

The Louvre is the most incredible museum both Ray and Traci have ever seen, and they probably only walked around 25% of it. For a mere 9 Euros each, visitors are treated with the most comprehensive collection of art anywhere! While well known attractions like the Mona Lisa and Venus de Milo highlight the collection, the wide range of art from all civilizations and all of recorded time is overwhelming.

Ray and Traci basically spent 2 hours in one of the Louvre buildings looking mainly at Egyptian and Roman artifacts. Visitors spending a week just at the Louvre probably leave feeling that they missed out on some great works.

The crowds at the Louvre are large, but the cavernous exhibit halls accommodate them even at high profile exhibits such as the Mona Lisa.

All of the museums Ray and Traci visited (England and Paris) had the majority of their sculptures and paintings unprotected from the crowds – while the fragile ones were encased, most were not which makes for some very fun picture opportunities.

After leaving the Louvre, Ray and Traci walked past the Arc de Triomphe du Carrousel which is a smaller version of the larger and famous Arc de Triomphe. Along the way, they noted the Paris traffic circles which surround many monuments – the traffic flows were insane with drivers trying to navigate the circles without a clear pattern.

Now walking down the Champs-Elysees, Ray remarked how amazing it was on a Monday afternoon to see so many people doing nothing – sitting around in parks, sipping coffee at many sidewalk cafes and crowding the sidewalks. Ray and Traci actually got separated during their trip down the Champs-Elysees, causing 15 minutes of near panic.

They ended up sharing a baguette sandwich and buying drinks at a sidewalk café before reaching the Arc de Triomphe.

Both Ray and Traci noted the decreased appetite both had during their European adventure – all of the walking should be stimulating an appetite. Traci thought the 8 hour time shift forward suppressed appetites since sleeping occurred in London during typical Seattle meal times. With long lines becoming a recurring theme, Ray and Traci decided to not purchase tickets to the top of the Arc and instead continue their walk to one of the world’s most celebrated landmarks, the Eiffel Tower.

Lines (or queues if you are British) were long. Tour groups get to buy tickets in advance and bypass the long lines. The word is internet ticket purchases to individuals will be possible in the near future – do it if you can. With 4 hours left in Paris, Ray and Traci decided to wait what turned out to be 90 minutes to get to the top of the tower (tickets were about 14 euros each). The views are great and getting pictures on top of one of the world’s landmarks is fun also. The tower is open at night, and Ray looks forward to some future nighttime visit to see the city of lights. From the Eiffel Tower, the travelers wandered around the immediate area and found a taxi stand. A Mercedes Benz taxi (A first for these travelers!) took them thru pretty busy Paris streets and dropped them off at Gare du Nord for the 9:10 pm return trip back to London. The Eurostar, again, served a good meal consisting of a chicken dinner (Ray and Traci didn't take the advice of the steward who recommended the fish pie). Unlike Japan where the Shinkansens are never late, the Eurostar ended up arriving in London 20 minutes late.

As in London, money is readily available from overpriced currency exchange shops as well as ATMs although tourist locales such as the Louvre and Eiffel Tower accept credit cards (the best option). The entire Paris visit (Louvre & Eiffel tickets, 2 taxi rides, and snacks and drinks along the way) cost 100 euros (1 euro = $1.32 at the time of the visit). This brief trip to Paris was quite exhausting and isn’t recommended but both Ray and Traci are happy they had a chance to visit Paris for a day and plan to return sometime in the future.