Cape Cod 2010 - We Have Arrived

July 31, 2010 (Saturday)

We have arrived for our annual two week vacation on Cape Cod. Our summer home is in Eastham, and we have been vacationing here for decades (literally). Our family will be trickling in over the next few days. At our peak (in terms of guests), there will be 16 of us here.

Chris and I arrived today, as did my Mom. We drove half-way here last night, and made the remainder of our trip this morning. Although we had hoped to arrive by noon, we were foiled by some truly excessive traffic. We hit a slow moving procession of vehicles about

10 miles from the Bourne Bridge. And we crept along. We sat in that traffic for about an hour

It was discouraging. But it is always worth the wait!

We finally arrived at our house around 1:00pm. My Mom was already here, so she constituted our welcoming committee of one. And then we proceeded through our "settling in" routine.

We unpacked the car, and unpacked our clothes, and then we headed to the grocery story to buy the essentials. My Mom and I also made our first run (with many more to come, no doubt) to Snow's -- our favorite all-things-for-the-home store.

And now we are relaxing with our Cape Codders. Chris made them for us. They are a great combination of cranberry juice, vodka and lime. Cheers to another great beach vacation!

A Day at the Races - Sandown Race Track

Saturday, July 3, 2010:

Our primiary plan for this day was to visit Sandown Race Track located in the town of Escher, about 20 miles southeast of London. We annually spend a day at the Saratoga

Race track (in New York) in August, and we were interested in seeing how race tracks in England compare to those we know in the US. We took the train, from London (out of Waterloo Station), and found it to be a very easy trip. Upon arriving at the train station in Escher, we found taht Sandown was a short 10 minute walk away.

The first thing that struck us about Sandown was its size. Compared to US race tracks, the actual rack track seemed equal in size, if not bigger, but the surrounding facility is much smaller. During the course of the day, I found that I really liked the smaller size because it allowed us to move from one area to another much more quickly and, as a result, take in a lot more of the activity.

For example, the parade ring (where the horses are walked around and the jockeys meet the owners for pre-race chit-chat) and the winner's circle

(where the winning jockey and owner are photographed and presented with their trophies) sit directly behind the grandstand and are only 30 feet from each other. Also, the grandstand itself is very small (seating only several hundred people). Most people seemed to spend their time on their feet, in the area between the grandstand seating and the actual track -- which was a much wider and more expansive area then we are used to seeing.

The betting at this track was also different for us. First, although there was a brochure available that explained the betting system, the Brits use terms that were foreign to us to describe the different betting

combinations that are available. For example, there is no such thing as a "win, place or show" bet. Similarly, they don't use the term "boxing." I am sure that comparable types of bets exist, but we had some difficulty trying to figure it all out. So we just placed bets "to win." That phrase (and that type of bet) is universal!

Second, there are two different betting services available to take your bets. The first is a government sponsored system, like the state systems we find across the US. The second, however, is much more fun and it consists of "bookies." They have a different name for them there, but that's what they are.

Just below the grandstand area, these individual bet-takers set up electronic

tote boards under umbrellas (with their names prominently displayed), and offer a set list of "odds" for the horses in each race. While the odds offered by the government are constantly ch

anging to reflect the way in which bets are being placed, the bookies' odds do not change. What makes the bookie system more interesting is that each bookie has set his/her odds independently and they do not all match. So, if you decide you like the look of a particular horse and you plan to bet on him/her regardless of the odds, you can then shop around and find the bookie offering the highest return on your money. It's kind of a neat system.

Sadly, we found the bookie system a bit intimidating. The action around the bookies can get rather fast and furious. So we stuck with the government betting windows. As usual, we were very conservative with our betting -- limiting ourselves to two pound bets per race -- but I got lucky in two races and managed to come out ahead for the day. Sadly, Katherine was not quite as lucky.

We thoroughly enjoyed our day at the races. It was a wonderful way to spend a beautiful Saturday afternoon.

The London Eye

Saturday, July 3, 2010:

Katherine and I spent a great day together in London today. During the entire three weeks that I was in London, the weather was unusually wonderful, and today was no exception. We had blue skies and, although it was a bit warm, it was quite comfortable.

We started our day at the London Eye. The London Eye must be one of the world's largest "ferris wheels" -- but that description hardly does it justice. As

part of the City's celebrations for the advent of the new century, just prior to 2000, London built this particular attraction. It was intended to be in operation for just the year 2000 but it was so popular that it has remained in place indefinitely.

The Eye is located on the southern bank of the Thames slightly east of and across from Big Ben and Parliament. From a distance, it looks like a ferris wheel. Up close, it looks much more like a giant bicycle wheel with huge pods attached. The pods are fully enclosed (much like a gondola lift at a ski resort), but they are the size of small rooms and 20 or more people can fit comfortably inside one pod.

The pods are mostly glass and have bench seating in the center. No one sits down, of course. There's too much to see.

We had reserved our tickets in advance so we had an assigned time that we were to show up at the Eye. This worked out really well and although we had a bit of a wait in the ticket line, once we got our tickets we had no wait actually getting onto the Eye.

The Eye is in constant motion -- but it moves very, very slowly. Pods are emptied and re-populated while the Eye is moving ever so slowly past the boarding platform. There is no problem getting everyone off and on with plenty of time to spare.

We were actually on the Eye for about 30 minutes. That's how long it takes for this giant wheel to make one revolution. As we rose higher and

higher over the City scene, on this beautifully clear day, we enjoyed some spectacular views -- and took way too many pictures. It was so hard not to. These vistas gave me a much better feel for London and the surrounding area than I had ever had before. It put everything into geographic perspective!

But I most enjoyed the views of Big Ben, Parliament and Westminster Abbey. They are such beautiful structures. We also had a neat view over Charing Cross Station and all the trains coming and going. There is so much to see in London and se saw it all from the "Eye" in the sky. It was great.

The Tower of London

June 2010:

Following the completion of our trial work in London, several of us extended our stay in the City so that we could enjoy some of the sights. My particular plan was to spend a couple days with Katherine -- who was spending seven weeks in London as part of a summer internship program sponsored by Elon University. But before meeting up with Katherine (who had classes to attend), I spent a Friday morning at the Tower of London.

I had visited the Tower once before but had not taken advantage of the Beefeater tour -- so that was my goal on this day. It was a beautiful, sunny day when I visited, and that meant that hundreds of other tourists (maybe thousands) were also visiting the Tower, so I found myself in a particularly large Beefeater's tour group. But that was okay. The tour guide was excellent and I thoroughly enjoyed the tour.

The Beefeaters are British naval officers who, after a minimum of 17 years of service, are invited to join this special group of ambassadors and keepers of the Tower. They are highly educated in all things related to the history of the Tower, and they are also very personable and quite funny. Our tour started at one of the front gates and took us all over the grounds -- ending up in the Chapel where the bodies of about 50 persons who were

executed at the Tower (including two of the wives of Henry VIII) have their final resting place.

The Tower of London is poorly named. It's name gives the impression that it is a single structure -- a Tower -- when in fact it is an entire complex of buildings. The Tower of London started out, over a 1000 years ago, as a royal palace, and it has served many functions, including that of royal mint. One of the least of its functions, but its most notorious, was as a prison for individuals (often members of the nobility) accused of high crimes (like treason) against the State.

Not all prisoners kept in the Tower were executed, but for those who were, the most common form of execution was by hanging.

These public hangings took place on "Tower hill" located outside the gates of the complex. A more select few were beheaded, and those executions, including that of Anne Boleyn, took place in the central courtyard of the Tower. Today, there is a low pedestal with a glass pillow sitting on it that marks the spot of these executions.

Also while at the Tower, I enjoyed walking through a temporary exhibit of armour and armaments that was on display in the White Tower, which sits in the middle of the complex. The exhibit included a lot of very old armour as well as a lot of interesting, inter-active exhibits for the young and young-at-heart.

The Tower of London should be on every tourist's "must see" list when visiting London. It's a really cool place.

The Blackfriar's Pub - London

June 2010:

During June of this year, I spent almost three weeks in London participating in an insurance coverage arbitration. We worked out of our firm's London offices, and we stayed at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in "The City" section of London. It was a very busy time, and we worked very hard, but we also managed to grab some time occasionally to enjoy the city.

One of the great attractions within the City of London is its many pubs. They are located on just about every street corner, and they are wildly popular. It is hard not to conclude that Londoners dearly love their ale. They seem to drink a great deal! And both the pubs and the City are happy to accommodate -- so much so that drinking in the the city streets is permitted. As a result, it is quite common to see people congregating (often loudly) outside the pubs -- with glasses in hand. In fact, if

you peek into any given pub, you might find that it is exceptionally small. The custom in London is to enter the pub, purchase your drink and exit the pub to stand on the sidewalk outside. The pubs even have open windows (no screens) and ledges extending over the sidewalks so that there are places to lean and rest your glass.

While we were in London, we found ourselves attracted to a pub located directly across from our hotel. It's called the Blackfriar's Pub, and it has stood on this particular corner for several hundred years! There is much neat artwork both inside and outside the pub (statues and murals), but I don't think anyone goes there for the art.

Pubs are not typically known for serving particularly appetizing food, but the Blackfriar's Pub is truly an exception. They have great "bar food," and we had late night meals here on several occasions. I came to be a real fan of their hamburgers -- which are surprisingly huge and excellent. (My mouth is watering a little bit as I write this.)

So when you are next in London (and I hope you have occasion to travel there), I highly recommend the Blackfriar's Pub. It is located on New Bridge Street just off Blackfriar's Bridge (no coincidence) and just outside the Blackfriar's tube stop (also no coincidence!). You can't miss it! And please offer a toast to the Queen on my behalf.

Graduation Weekend - Part I

Saturday, May 15, 2010:

On Saturday, May 15, 2010, my nephew, Nick, was presented with his diploma from the School of Mechanical Engineering at Carnegie Mellon University. We attended a very nice diploma ceremony in the afternoon and enjoyed walking through the "mall" area of the campus.

Carnegie Mellon University is located in the Oakland section of Pittsburgh -- not far from the University of Pittsburgh. The campus is fairly compact, but still very pretty. The nicest area is a wide open space surrounding on all sides by academic buildings. There's also some neat outdoor sculpture.

Carnegie Mellon may be considered the academic jewel of Pittsburgh. It is a very prestigious university and is particularly known for its schools of computer science and engineering. CMU is regularly the recipient of government grants to study robotics and other high tech projects. And

in recent years, it was gifted with funds from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation which were used to build a new computer sciences facility.

A Day at the Carnegie Museum

Saturday, May 15, 2010:

My nephew Nick graduated from Carnegie Mellon University on May 16, 2010. To celebrate the occasion, our family congregated in Pittsburgh. We attended the festivities at the school, we had a couple of great dinners together, we toasted Nick, and we did some sightseeing in and around Pittsburgh. One of our stops, on Saturday morning, was The Carnegie Museum in Oakland.

We spent most of our time in the dinosaur exhibit and the gem exhibit, but we started out in a room off the main reception area, walking through a very interesting piece of installation art. It consisted of a series of structures, erected to create walkways through them, and each section of the exhibit was constructed of "tiles" of aluminum all in the same pattern and about 12 inches square. They were hung and strung together with chains. There were openings made to look and feel like windows, and the entire structure was surrounded by mirrored walls, which gave the appearance of its being even bigger than it already was. We were thoroughly entertained by this really cool piece of art.

Our goal this day, however, was the dinosaur exhibit. The Carnegie Museum has always had a world-class dinosaur exhibit but several years ago they completely overhauled and redid this area of the museum. The result is truly amazing. In addition to the usual fossils assembled to reflect the skeletons of these massive beasts, the exhibits are supplemented by all sorts of computer screens and graphics. We had a grand time roaming these rooms and marveling at these mysterious creatures.

The Orchids at Phipps Conservatory

May 2010: One of my favorite places in Pittsburgh (I've mentioned this before) is Phipps Conservatory. It is located on the edge of Schenley Park in the Oakland section of Pittsburgh, and it's an easy 25 minute drive from our house.

On a Saturday in May, I joined a group of ladies from our Church and we made a trip to Phipps. We spent a wonderful couple hours roaming the conservatory. I found the flowers so beautiful and it was inevitable that I would take a lot of pictures.

The orchids at Phipps are particularly wonderful. They are such

an intricate flower, and there are so many varieties. Here are just a few of the many pictures I took on this day.

Our Final Night in Vienna

Saturday, April 10, 2010 (Part 5)

On our last night in this beautiful city, we decided to try to get a dinner reservation at one of the nicer restaurants that was written up in our guidebook. It was called Do & Co. and we were successful in getting a reservation.

This restaurant sits on the 6th and 7th floors of a surprisingly modern (all glass) building on the square directly across from Stephensdom. Because we were willing to take an early time slot, we got a really good table sitting along the windows directly facing the church.

We each dined on classic Viennese dishes. I had weiner schnitzel (a long time personal

favorite) and Katherine tried some sort of veal meatballs. It was very nice "farewell" dinner. We toasted a wonderful week together, and we talked about returning to Vienna some day to see the many things that we were unable to see on this trip.

And so, this is my last entry regarding our April 2010 vacation through Denmark, the Czech Republic and Austria. If you could not already tell from these blog entries, we had a thoroughly wonderful time.

Schonbrunn Palace - Apple Struedel

Saturday, April 10, 2010 (Part 4)

We had one more stop to make at the Palace before heading back to the city. And that was the bakery! But we had to walk through the gardens to get there and, on the way, it started to pour again. And to make things even more interesting, it also started to hail. We were running and laughing our way through the gardens, and the hail was bouncing off our jackets!

We finally got to the bakery. But this was no ordinary bakery. Here, they provide a demonstration about how to make apple strudel, and they perform the demonstration

in a kitchen that is several hundred years old. We bought our tickets and received a small piece of strudel. We were early, so we managed to get ring-side seats. This turned out to be a lot of fun. A young girl was the instructor. She spoke first in German and then in English. She explained the ingredients and she rolled out the dough and constructed the strudel.

The most amazing part of the process is the dough. it is paper thin, but it seems to be quite durable. This must come from the fact that the dough rests (sits) in a bowl of sunflower oil for 30 minutes before rolling. After rolling out the dough, it is further stretched by tossing it in the air (like pizza dough).

Once fully stretched, the dough is spread over a linen towel. The filling (already mixed) is then dumped into the center of the dough and shaped by hand into an 18-inch log. Then the dough is folded over the filling and rolled. The ends are twisted into knots and the top is basted with butter.

The sample was very tasty indeed!

Schonbrunn Palace - The Conservatory

Saturday, April 10, 2010 (Part 3)

As I mentioned before, Schonbrunn is not far from Vienna -- no more than 10 miles. And we were very proud of ourselves that we got to the Palace by subway. Katherine has a lot of experience with the trains and buses in Copenhagen, so I let her take the lead. In hindsight, it was all very easy and very fast. This was definitely the best way to travel. What made it so easy and stress-free was that everything was exceptionally well marked. The signage was excellent and it was everywhere. There was constant reinforcement that we were headed in the right direc

tion.

Following our lunch at the Gloriette, we consulted our map and made our way to

the conservatory -- called the Palm Court. Inside, we enjoyed a walk through some lovely displays of azaleas and rhododendrens (and palm trees, of course) as well as a large variety of orchids in one particularly hot hothouse. There were also a number of unusual flowers (unusual to me anyway), and Katherine had fun taking a lot of pictures of the many beautiful

flowers.

Schonbrunn Palace - The Royal Apartments

Saturday, April 10, 2010 (Part 2)

Inside the Schonbrunn Palace, we picked up audio guides and toured 40 rooms! This tour took us through several state rooms, Maria Theresa's apartments and Franz Joseph's and Elizabeth's apartments. This was very interesting. Through a discussion of the rooms' decor, furnishings and paintings, we again got a view into the lives of these royal families. Some of these rooms were quite beautiful, but what makes Schonbrunn so special are the grounds, and that's where we spent most of our time while here.

After touring the Palace, we walked straight through the central avenue of the gardens. [The rain had stopped while we were inside.] A statue of

Neptune and his entourage holds court

over a central fountain. From this fountain, we hiked up a moderately steep hill to a further monument, with viewing platform, called the Gloriette. We also climbed the stairs to the viewing platform, from which we had a great view over the gardens and palace and even to the city of Vienna beyond.

At the Gloriette, there was a cafe and this turned out to be the perfect stopping point for us to have lunch. Katherine had an open faced sandwich with salad toppings and feta cheese. Ihad a grilled ham and cheese sandwich.

Schonbrunn Palace - The Grounds

Saturday, April 10, 2010 (Part 1)

Franz Joseph's great grandmother was Queen Maria Theresa. She was a very popular ruler, and she ruled for abo

ut 40 years during the middle 1700s. One of her greatest architectural achievements was the construction of Schonbrunn Palace, located about 10 miles east of the city. This is another very large complex, and we spent the better part of the day here.

The Schonbrunn Palace was built to rival Versailles. I have never been to Versailles, but this place is huge. Maria Theresa and her family spent their summers here and that included an entourage and staff of 1,500! Also, Maria Theresa and her husband had 16 children, most of whom were married off to other European rulers for political purposes -- to strengthen the Hapsburgs' power base. Maria Theresa's most famous offspring was Marie Antoinette who was married to France's King Louie XVI and was later executed during the French revolution.

We began our day at Schonbrunn by walking through some of the smaller gardens and working our way through the hedge maze. It was actually a bit more challenging than I expected it to be

but, with Katherine taking the lead, we finally made our way to the central viewing platform. We were rewarded with the start of a heavy rain. And so, we left the maze and walked very quickly, through the progressively more heavy rain, to the palace entrance. By the time we got there, it was truly pouring! Luckily, our timing was good since we arrived at the palace gates just minutes before the admission time on our tickets. This was the perfect place to be while the rain ran its course outside.

A Night at the Opera

Friday, April 9, 2010 (Part 7)

Today was my birthday (and Lisa's birthday, too!). My present to myself (in addition to this great trip with Katherine, of course) was tickets to the opera. The Vienna Opera House is considered one of the best opera houses in the world, and we we able to get tickets to see "The Barber of Seville," by Rossini.

I should mention that we almost missed the beginning of the show. I had misremembered the start time. I thought it started at 8:00 p.m. We showed up at 7:00 p.m., thinking we had a full hour to wander around the beautiful interior of the Opera House. We picked up our tickets at the box office and tried to figure out generally where our seats were. Then, we started wandering around. We found an outside balcony where we enjoyed glasses of champagne. Then we found the "Magic Flute" tapestries. Meanwhile, we started to notice that all

the lounges and common rooms were emptying out, and then we heard some chimes. It was a few minutes before 7:30 p.m.

We both looked at each other and realized that the opera was about to start! We started running - through the tapestry hall, up the grand staircase and up to the loge boxes. We were, literally, some of the very last people to take their seats.

Once again, we had excellent seats. We were in a loge box, in the

second row of loge boxes, and we were just before the bend towards the center section. And we had two of the three front row seats in the box! We were at the rail. We were far enough away that we had a great view of the entire stage, but we were close enough that we could see the details of the performers' faces and dress very clearly.

The Barber of Seville is a comedic opera, and it's a very silly story, but it's a lot of fun. So that we would have some idea of what we were watching, Katherine and I read a few summaries of the story line online using the computer in the lobby of our hotel. Also, in front of each seat, there was a small electronic screen that provided a personalized translation of the libretto. They offered several different languages, including (of course) English. This was greatly appreciated -- very helpful. The lyrics of the arias are as silly as the story, but the singing was truly excellent. The soprano was the most outstanding. And the set and costumes were wonderful. The set was constructed like a life-size dollhouse. All in all, this was very entertaining, and I am really glad we did it!

A Moment (or Several) for Chocolate

Friday, April 9 2010 (Part 6):

We first broke down in Prague. We bought some chocolate in a really nice candy store where they were rolling hard candies. They also had cases full of fanciful chocolates. We had some fun picking out a few each, and then we took our little box of six chocolates back to our room. And

once we got settled, we opened our box and made a first pick. And then we bit in . . ., and we were sorely disappointed. These chocolates were not very good. They were dry and tasteless. We were s

hocked. But there it is. The lesson of the day: do not buy chocolate in Prague!

However, we had not given up on chocolate just yet. We decided that Vienna had to have great chocolate. We found a chocolate store just across from Stephansdom. The chocolates in this shop were named after musical composers - Mozart, Brahms and Shubert. So, once again, we made some careful choices and carried our small package back to our hotel. This time, we had made a very good choice. We had selected a bag of chocolate covered wafers with small nuts included in the outside layer of chocolate. These were really good. In fact, they were so good that we each bought our own bag of these chocolates the next day -- for our respective trip "home."

But the ultimate chocolate experience in Vienna was a trip to the Sacher Hotel to try the world famous Sacher torte. The Sacher Hotel is a very old, very ritzy hotel that sits in a prominent location just behind the Opera House. One side of the Hotel borders on the pedestrian mall and on that side the Hotel has an outdoor cafe. We were lucky to snag a table and thoroughly enjoyed a later afternoon soda with Sacher torte. This torts is a dense chocolate mousse type cake, and it is served with fresh whipped cream. Yum. Yum. I thought it was perfect.

The Royal Living Quarters

Friday, April 9, 2010 (Part 5):

The imperial china exhibit was followed by a temporary exhibit called "Sisi - the Legend & the Reality." Through a collection of photos, paintings, clothing and personal belongings, this exhibit explored the unhappy life of Empress (or Queen) Elizabeth from her marriage to Franz Joseph at age 16 to her death (murder) at age 63.

Following this exhibit, we entered a series of rooms that were the royal apartments of Franz Joseph and Sisi and their children. These rooms were very interesting because they are still furnished and decorated exactly as they were when occupied by the royal family. We learned all about the daily routines of

the king and his queen. Once again, however, no pictures were allowed!

Following our tour of the royal apartments, we had a very nice lunch at an outdoor cafe in the central courtyard of the Hofburg Palace. It was another lovely day, and we enjoyed being in the sun.

Franz Joseph and His Queen, Sisi

Friday, April 9, 2010 (Part 4):

Franz Joseph was one of the last of the Hapsburg rulers, and he ruled for a very long time -- from 1850 to 1916. (The Hapsburgs gave up their reign two years later in 1918.) Elizabeth, or "Sisi," was Franz Joseph's wife and queen and, although it is said that he loved her very much, she may have not entirely returned his affections. Additionally, she very much disliked being queen and shunned her royal duties as much as she could.

Sisi did a lot of traveling and was rarely in Vienna. She was not much liked by the citizens of the state because of her aloofness, but she became something of a national heroine following her tragic death. In the summer of 1898, while traveling, she was assassinated by an Italian anarchist who stabbed her in the chest as she was boarding a boat. She died within hours.

China Servings for Several Hundreds!

Friday, April 9, 2010 (Part 3):

Our next stop within the Hofburg Palace complex was the ticket counter to purchase tickets to see (i) the imperial china exhibit, (ii) the "Sisi" exhibit, and (iii) the living quarters of Franz Joseph and his queen, Sisi.

The china and silver collection of the palace turned out to be much more interesting than it might have sounded at first. Different sets of dinnerware were commissioned by each royal family, and they commissioned multiple sets - one for each palace where they spent time.

Prior to the 18th century, all of the dinnerware was made of silver. Over the years, however, due to the financial drain of successive wars, the silverware was lost because it had to be melted down and the silver converted to currency to fund the war efforts. Beginning in the late 18th century and early 19th century, all of the royal silverware was replaced by less costly, but equally beautiful, porcelain.

Much of the porcelain was commissioned with particular purposes and designs in mind. My two favorite sets were (i) one set that featured drawings of monarchs and the castles they owned and (ii) another set with three panoramic views featured along the edges.

In a 60 plate set of these plates, with three views per plate, there were no repetitions.

In the china collection, there were also hundreds of candelabras and centerpieces for floral and fruit arrangements, and long mirrored stands to display them all. All I could think of as we walked through the dozen or more rooms that housed all this dinnerware was the huge number of staff who must have been employed for the purpose of cleaning and polishing all of these hundreds of pieces.