MAY
NORTH CAROLINA
ASHEVILLE
After reading
Genius of Place: The Story of Frederick Law Olmstead, I wanted to see The Biltmore, Olmstead's last landscape design. I arranged a home exchange, and my friend Janet Muenz made the trip with me. We spent two days at the Biltmore, taking a self-tour as well as the butler's tour, walking around the grounds and gardens, and doing a wine tasting.
I don't usually take photos of myself, so this horrible one is the only one I have! I don't know what possessed me to buy two hats in Asheville; I thought I would wear them tour guiding to protect my head, but I can't stand the heat! The picture of Janet is a bit better.
JULY
NEW YORK
CHAUTAUQUAY
My friend Wendy Weisbard was getting a group of people together to spend a week at Chautauqua Institution' I wavered back and forth, not thinking it was exactly the way I wanted to spend a week of $2,500! I am glad I decided to join the group; it was an intriguing and intellectually stimulating week! The theme was The Pursuit of Happiness! We stayed at the Athenaeum Hotel, part of the Chautauqua Institution, and felt pampered all week! That is the Athenaeum Hotel above. There were several highlights for me, but the best were probably the Golden Boys (Fabian, Bobby Rydell, and Frankie Avalon), the Romeo and Juliet Project, and the morning lectures.
These are my travel companions: In the front row are Cynthia Weisbard, Howard Harary, and Wendy Weisbard. The second row is Janet Muenz, Barry Ripin, Marilyn Ripin, Joanie Steinberg and me. David Steinberg is the tall gentleman in the back! We had our private table for the week -- breakfast, lunch and dinner!
The restaurant at the Athenaeum Hotel served breakfast and lunch buffet style and dinner was a three-course meals most evenings. This was one of the more delicious desserts -- a trio of apples.
SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER
EASTERN UNITED STATES AND CANADA
I wasn't going to include my own tours, but I should remember them as well. This fall I completed my 8th and 9th tours as the tour director for Cosmos/Archer's Direct Eastern United States and Canada Grand Vacation. We start in New York and then head north to Boston for two nights, Quebec for an additional two nights, a night in Montreal and Ottawa with a boat tour of the Thousand Island on the way to Toronto where we spend two nights before heading south to Niagara Falls for one night; then we are back in the United States with a night in Lancaster, two nights in DC and back to NY! The second tour this year found ourselves in the middle of the government shutdown, so it made our time in DC a little more challenging.
I got to do a few things I have never done before on the tour, so I'll highlight those; 9 times on the same trip can be quite boring, but it never is! I wish I weren't so tired in the afternoon and free evenings so I could make it out on my own to explore. But a rainy morning in Niagara dampened the helicopter rides, and I took my first ride on the Spanish aero car over the Whirlpool Rapids.
The highlight of my personal exploration was a visit to the Museum of Fine Arts in Montreal for the Chihuly exhibit. I had seen Chihuly a few times before -- an exhibit at the Tower of David in Jerusalem and the dining hall in Montezuma, New Mexico! This exhibit, both of new and older works, was quite stunning, and I was glad to see many of my guests at the museum. I think many more of my first tour passengers took advantage of the evening hours!
Our day in Toronto was rainy during the first tour and found me sick on the second tour. I was feeling so awful, with a sore throat and head cold, that I hired a local tour guide to take my place as the city guide. With a new bus driver on the second tour (although he did great), I was anxious anyway about my ability to give directions and commentary at the same time. It is not one of my strengths! As we made our way up to the 360 restaurant in the CN Tower, there was a total cloud cover, and we could see nothing out the large windows as we found our tables. But, as we sat down, the clouds literally lifted, and we got not only a gorgeous view of the city, but we also saw two beautiful rainbows.
OCTOBER/NOVEMBER
ITALY
Susan and I took a trip to Sorrento and the Amalfi Coast, with Susan doing most of the pre-planning for our experience. It turns out that we visited right at the end of the season, which had its pros and cons. We totally lucked out with magnificent weather, but we also found a few of the tours we wanted to do were cancelled due to lack of numbers.
SORRENTO
Sorrento was our base; we stayed in a hotel right outside the center city, the Grand Hotel de la Ville. From there were were able to take day trips along the coast, Pompei, Naples, and an overnight in Capri. Sorrrento was a great place to stay; the city offered great restaurants, shopping, and beautiful sites. This picture was taken in front of the lemon grove that we used as a shortcut into town each day.
When Susan and I travel, she always finds a cooking class, and our Italian cooking class at the Taverna Sorrentino Cooking School was a highlight. We made bruschetta, gnocchi, calzone, fried pizza, scallopini, and tiramisu.
POSITANO
Our first stop on our tour of the Amalfi Coast was in the small town of Positano, famous, it seems, for the balcony scene from Under the Tuscan Sun. We walked around the town, mostly comprised of small shops and, of course, a beautiful cathedral.
AMALFI
Our second stop on the coast was in the town of Amalfi. Here we had lunch at a fast-food fish place, obviously owned by friends of our tour guide. Another highlight of Amalfi was the beautiful duomo, the site of a wedding that day. This is a picture of the main piazza from the steps of the Duomo.
RAVELLO
Our last stop along the Amalfi Coast was the small town of Ravello. There, we sat in the main piazza; Susan had a cappuccino, and I enjoyed a glass of local red wine.
POMPEII
The following day we took the train to the city of Pompei for a visit to the ruins. I was flabbergasted by the size of the place; I barely touched the surface of the ruins for two reasons: first, I kept getting lost or turned around, and second, it was just too large! But I had a wonderful walk around the excavated city while Susan took a quick look around since it was her second visit.
CAPRI
Susan booked a bed and breakfast in Capri at the Capri Inn. We packed an overnight bag and took the hydrofoil over to the island for a two-day visit. We had a fabulous time, first taking a bus to Anacapri with a ride up to the top of Mt. Solaro on a chairlift! Here is a photo looking at the Faraglioni!
Susan and I are headed back down to Anacapri.
That night we had a light "snack" in Capri where we found many of the stores and restaurants either closing or getting ready to close for the winter. The next morning we took a fabulous boat ride around the island, with a ride into the Blue Grotto.
That afternoon, after walking around the Marina Grande, close to our hotel, we took the hydrofoil back to Sorrento. This is a photo taken from the terrace of our room:
NAPLES
We had not planned to visit Naples outside the airport, but since the wine and food tour wasn't running due to lack of participants, we decided to take a day's trip to the city and take the Hop On Hop Off bus. It was a bit of a bust since we found it very difficult to get around, and impossible to find some of the bus stops! But the highlight to me was the Duomo! Finally, we took the train back to Sorrento.
Our last day in Sorrento was All Saint's Day; I went to the cemetery where most people spend the day, and that afternoon, Susan and I spent shopping.
We ended our trip with a carriage ride, thanks to the low prices since it was the end of the season, and a magnificent sunset our last night in Sorrento.
DECEMBER
FLORIDA
MADEIRA BEACH
I still had a week in a condo in Madeira Beach, Florida thanks to my last home exchange before my condo board put an end to that! I took my father for a week in the warm sun, and at the last minute, we invited my sister Renee to join us! The condo in Collwood was right on the beach with a balcony overlooking the ocean. Dad is all thumbs up!
That night we had a great dinner at Walt'z where I tasted snapper for the first time, but not my last. The next day we tried out the beach. It was difficult for dad to walk on the sand, but we got far enough to rest on the lounge chairs for awhile.
On Monday we went to the Dali Museum after meeting Linda Brewer (from my trip to Scotland) for lunch at Acropolis Greek Taverna. The works of Dali were fascinating, and the building in St. Petersburg was amazing.
On Tuesday morning we picked up Renee, and that afternoon we had a great lunch at Sculley's and then sat out in the sun. That night we went to Friendly Family Restaurant in Johns Pass; I wanted king crab legs, and they were fabulous! I particularly liked the decor:
We took it easy on Christmas Day. Renee and I took a walk on the beach to collect shells for Jessica, and when she fell down backwards taking her first selfie, we laughed so hard I almost peed in my pants!
That afternoon we sat at the pool (no good pictures) It was Christmas Eve that night, so we did what all good Jews do on Christmas, we went out for Chinese food. We did some research and went to Zum Hee in Seminole; it was quite crowded and the service was so, but the food was great. I was particularly taken with the old style serving dishes that reminded me of my childhood, so we ordered my favorite -- shrimp and lobster sauce.
Thursday we relaxed at the pool and on the balcony before heading to Tampa to meet our home exchangers, Ed and Freyda Cohen at the Columbia Restaurant. We had a great dinner followed by a flamenco dance show that was quite good!
Friday morning my dad and I headed back early to the airport while Renee had a day to relax in the condo thanks to some drizzle! Our trip back was easy, although Renee had a substantial delay. But what a great family vacation!
