Category Archives: Uncategorized

Thanks for being flexible Southwest Airlines

Another thing to love about Southwest: their flexibility. Yesterday when I realized that my connecting flight from Vegas to LA was going to be delayed yet another hour due to mechanical problems with the plane back in Tucson, I decided it was time to act. I tried to get on an earlier LAX flight which was oversold but the airline said I could give it a shot…and not loose my seat on my scheduled flight. No extra cost. No hassles. What a delightful change from other airlines which are rarely so flexible and would charge extra to change my ticket. Even more amazing, as i was,rushing back across the airport to see if I could get,on the earlier LAX flight, I passed a gate where a flight to Burbank was boarding. I remembered that my brother lived even closer to Burbank than LAX so,I dashed over to the desk, asked,if there were any seats left and once again, was told it was oversold but worth a try. A few minutes later , my name was called and an hour later I was at the Burbank airport when I got a,text saying my original flight still had not left Vegas. Even though Burbank was more expensive, no one said a word about charging me more or not letting me on the flight. Talk about a good way to build brand loyalty! meanwhile here (see photo) is the reason why I am now staying in a sweet bungalow in Toluca Lake with my brother and his family. Beautiful,area by the way. We walked in some lovely residential areas, passing houses owned by movie stars like Steve Carrell and even sawmthe house that was used as the exterior for the brady bunch!

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Filed under airfare, Los Angeles, Uncategorized

Adventures with American Airlines

So we are flying home from Boston on Monday night, perfect weather (when there was supposed to be a storm) and we are feeling cautiously optimistic that we will get to Des Moines. At O’Hare we have to get from the end of terminal H to the end of terminal G to catch our next flight. a long haul debut we have time…about 40 minutes. after a few minutes, the monitor that just seconds ago showed our flight leaving on time at 9:40 pm now suddenly says it’s leaving at 11:40 pm, because our plane is due for an inspection. (at 9:30 pm??) This is not a good sign.

After waiting awhile, we are suddenly told our flight will leave at 10:30 from gate 7 so we leave gate 21 and head to 7, uprooting other passengers who are now told to move elsewhere. Before we can get comfy, we are next told to move back to Gate 20. Just before we board, the poor people en route to Madison who were reassigned to our original gate 21 (and presumably our original plane) are told their flight is now leaving at 6:30 am. Really? At least our ferry ride from Provincetown was a little calmer!

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Bye to Cape Cod

Our last day on Cape Cod was unambiguously gorgeous weather wise and no sudden downpours while we were riding our bikes through the dunes on the bike trails. It felt suddenly like fall, with crisp air, sharp sunlight, yellow and red leaves. Lovely. We ate again at the Lobster Pot, this time on the top floor with a spectacular view of the harbor, the curving stretch of tan sandy beach,and brilliant blue water with boats bobbing in the waves. Couldn’t resist the fried clams, again, at the Pot, but also tried fish and chips (we have eaten a lot of cod this trip. When in Rome) and the clam chowder. the fast ferry back to Boston was much easier on the stomach and head, with a lot less chop, thank god. From the World Trade Center we resisted the temptation to take a water taxi to Logan($10 per person) and took the silver line, which is an above ground bus to Logan. We figured out the transit system too late. We thought we bought a charliecard but instead bought a charlieticket and paid 50 cents more ride. Better explanation needed for tourists! Having recently used public transportation in Chicago, London, Berlin, Krakow, Prague and Washington DC I can speak with some authority on this. Anyway, great trip.

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Filed under Boston, Massachusetts, Uncategorized

Provincetown lovely on a quiet October Monday

I hear this can be a wild and crazy and gay party town but not on a Monday night in early October. It’s still gay, of course. but quiet, almost peaceful, and I love it here. We are staying at a pretty old guesthouse, the Fairbanks Inn, a sea captains house from 1776 with pretty old furnishings, wide wood planked creaky floors, old fireplaces in rooms, pretty floral,wallpaper. We rented excellent bikes at Provincetown Bikes and set off on a sunny but increasingly overcast day on the terrific Eight mile bike trail through the dunes by Herring Cove and Race Point beach, past tidal marshes with wheat colored grasses blowing in wind and strands of pine and beech trees. A really lovely trail. IpUmfortunately about midday through it started to drizel and then it poured. We cowered under a tree but it didn’t give us much shelter and we got completed soaked. Then just as suddenly the sky turned blue and clear so we walked on lovely quintessential cape cod racepoint beach to dry off a bit.

Lunch was a shared lobster roll and fried clams, both excellent, at the Lobster Pot, an institution here, with good reason, with an excellent Harbor view. We had cold Portuguese french toast at the portugeuse bakery, oddly the only thing I remember about my last visit here 30 some years ago and a lovely dinner tonight at the classy but warm Red Inn (clams, cod, lobster-shrimp-crab cakes, a surprisingly light delicious cheese cake.The center of town is pretty tricky tacky but we liked the east and west ends of commercial street, which are more residential.

Our fast ferry was very bumpy, as we flew over massive waves but we made it. We went on bay state cruises which left not from long wharf, as we thought, but the pier behind the World Trade Center in, yesterday again, the seaport area.

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Filed under Boston, Massachusetts, Uncategorized

Back Bay, Beacon Hill, Seaport in Boston

I was somewhat relieved to find out that the seaport area where we have spent much of this trip in Boston did not look familiar NOT because of my rusty memory of living here 30 years ago but because it didn’t exist…at least in its current highly developed form. It’s a nice addition to a city that already has a lot to offer. We went to a wedding at Sam’s at Louis and then then next day to brunch at Miel in the Intercontinental hotel (excellent smoked salmon, cream cheese and bagel) and the new Institute of contemporary art (where we saw an interesting show of the work of Amy Stillman, whom i had not heard of but liked) all in the seaport area. it was easy to get back to Back Bay taking the Silver Line, a strange bus that goes underground in a tunnel more suited to a subway train, to the red line.

Earlier on Saturday, we walked from our friends fantastic apartment on Beacon Street through Back Bay and over to equally lovely Beacon Hill where we had coffee and pastry at outdoor tables at Cafe Vanille, on Charles Street and later lunch of thin crust pizza at Fig, the Todd English restaurant. Also managed to remember Louisburg Square, one of the loveliest old squares in the city with streets with large round cobblestones, paving blocks and red brick sidewalks. (See photo) Reminds me of London. We had a good Persian meal at Lala Rokh in Beacon Hill to celebrate a friends birthday.

Our first day in Boston, we took the subway blue then green) to Copley square and then went in reverse to north station where we got the commuter train to our relatives house in Swampscott.

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Glorious Royal Oak Farmers Market

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Filed under Agritourism, Detroit, Uncategorized

Red Coat Tavern burger and Rays ice cream- suburban Detroit

One might get the impression that all I am doing during this visit to suburban Detroit is eating which isn’t entirely true but not sure you really want a blow by blow account of the molasses slow days in the Intensive care Unit of William Beaumont Hospital in Royal Oak. Food, even more than usual,
has been my main source of comfort and entertainment, hence you get yet another gastro post. We went last night to a place on Woodward Avenue I must have passed a bazillion times and not noticed. The Redcoat Tavern. That’s the downside of having a business on a retail-lined main drag. Takes a lot to get noticed. it’s got a faux New England exterior of grey narrow wood slats and a Redcoat portrait. inside it feels like a warm and cozy pub with lots of red leather and wood and really superb burgers…hulking patties of beef cooked as rare as you want (a rare find, mine was pink enough that the bun was a bit gooey from the juice) and thick battered onion rings, a great beer list. perfect place to unwind from the real world of a hospital.

another good place to do that is Ray’s ice cream on Coolidge where I did the highly unusual and went for a “kids cup” by myself that was about four heaping scoops packed into a paper cup for $3. Cannot imagine how much ice cream the adult cup holds. but as comfort food goes, it did the trick. I had chocolate with bits of malted balls and coffee with bits of heath bars.

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Filed under Detroit, DINING, Uncategorized

Farmers Market at Beaumont. hospital in royal Oak, Michigan

Surprised to find a farmers market outside Beaumont Hospital where I am spending the day awaiting my fathers surgery to be completed. Nice idea and picked up some blueberries. Also a
Surprisingly good cafe inside the hospital, the Mackimac Cafe, with an excellent tuna sandwichand peanut butter cookies. Bakery looked great. Takes the edge off to have this. Comfort food when we need it

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Filed under Detroit, DINING, Uncategorized

Florida Avenue Grill, Washington Harbor, towpath in Georgetown

I had one of the best breakfasts ever today at a fantastic soul food restaurant called Florida Avenue Grill, a down home place at the corner of Florida Avenue and 11th street. Everything our party of four tried was delicious…hot cakes sprinkled with cinnamon sugar, eggs, home fries, scrapple (I am not sure I want to know what this actually is but it kind of looked like a sausage patty but had a creamier consistency), grits, cooked apples, a smothered pork chop. Absolutely delicious and we loved the setting, a diner since 1944 filled with photos of celebrities who have visited, most note able African Americans, and the service was warm and efficient! I cannot wait to take friends and family there!

Later my friends and I walked for a bit along the towpath in Georgetown on a perfect sunny day and ended up in what felt more like Miami than DC, the “Washington Harbor ” area along the Potomac, within eyeshot of the Kennedy Center. A fancy yacht was parked outside a retail complex filled with women in bikinis. Really? really. Surprise. Beyond the yacht were paddle boarders, canoeists, pleasure craft. The gardens and grass along the river were full of picnickers. My only complaint is that a security guard wouldn’t let us out our feet in a fountain.

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Filed under Uncategorized, Washington D.C.

Arriving home from abroad to: Google page now in German

After traveling for three weeks through four different countries, using a variety of computers but primarily my ipad, I’ve returned home to a strange dilemma: my google page is now in German. At first I found it amusing but it’s starting to get on my nerves and I can’t figure out how to change it back to English.  Below is what my Google news looks like.  (Oddly it still comes up as “Google News” but my weather comes up as “wetter”; my date/time as “datum & uhrzeit” ).

Ach! (We think that may be the German equivalent of “arg!”)

Wer mit dem Boot nach Australien flieht, wird künftig nach Papua-Neuguinea abgeschoben. Mit einem Abkommen will die Regierung Wirtschaftsflüchtlinge abschrecken. © Scott Fisher/GettyImages. Bootsflüchtlinge vor der australischen Weihnachtsinsel im 
Energiepolitik Wirbel um Atomkraft-Pläne der EU-Kommission – FAZ – Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung
19.07.2013 · Die EU-Kommission hat Medienberichten widersprochen, wonach sie künftig den Bau von Atomkraftwerken fördern will. „Die EU-Kommission möchte in keiner Form zu Subventionen für Kernkraft ermuntern”, sagte der Sprecher von 
Erst verhaftet, jetzt vorerst frei – Russland rätselt über die Wende im Fall von Alexej Nawalny. Schon machen Verschwörungstheorien die Runde: Putin-Anhänger könnten interveniert haben, aus Angst, der Kreml schade sich mit dem drakonischen Urteil 
Die Enthüllungen des ehemaligen US-Geheimdienstmitarbeiters Edward Snowden haben für einen weltweiten Aufschrei gesorgt. Ein Vertrauter Snowdens kündigte nun weitere

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