October 31, 2012 · 11:16 pm

take me to Spillville Iowa for some crazy clocks

Clocks

Inside view of the museum

I was writing a travel story about Iowa for a in-flight magazine last week and it dawned on me that I need to get to Spillville Iowa sometime. It’s a tiny town in northeast Iowa not far from one of my favorite cities – Decorah – and it has this interesting museum full of massive wooden clocks handcarved by two Czech Bohemian farmers during many a long winter during the early 1900’s. One clock pay homage to Charles Lindburgh’s historic flight, another – the apostle clock – features the 12 apostles who appear on the hour! Can’t miss that. Adding to the oddity, this is also the house where Czech composer Antonin Dvorak lived briefly in 1893 – long enough the compose a well-known string quintet there. The museum has an exhibit of some of his stuff. Interesting combo…

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October 30, 2012 · 5:54 pm

Advice on how to get Machu Picchu tickets – persistence and a little help from your hotel!

It was much harder than it should have been but I finally am the proud holder of two tickets to visit  Machu Picchu next month. My Bolivian friend at our hotel in Peru’s Sacred Valley came through and things did work, although not without wrinkles. Even he had trouble getting the government website or booking system to work properly for several days. So if you are looking to buy tickets, here’s what I recommend: Go through your hotel if at all possible – which means you’ll have to wire money and some personal details (like your passport number) which is a little discomforting. It cost us about $30 extra – $10 per tix comission to the hotel and $10 to wire money – but I think it’s worth the peace of mind to know that you have advance tickets, given that the number of visitors per day is restricted and it take a lot of time, effort and money to get to Machu Picchu – (you have to book advance trains, hotel, etc.) I’m very excited to see this amazing place!

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October 26, 2012 · 11:24 pm

More on Dubuque

The Redstone Inn

More on Dubuque – I forgot my friend Kathy sent me this info in September:

I just spent the night in Dubuque for a business trip and a downtown bed and breakfast was recommended, the Redstone Inn:

http://www.theredstoneinn.com/

It is a 15-room renovated Victorian hotel, pretty and nicely maintained. Very nice breakfast (small buffet with fruits, yogurt, pastries, breads, cereal, coffee, juices, etc.), plus a custom-made omelet and sausages. Free water, coffee and snacks in the rooms, and a mini-fridge. The price was good for a weekday business rate. (The cheapest room is $75 weekday, and they advertise a business rate.)

Downtown Dubuque seems to have been gussied up some since the last time I was there, and though we got out of our meeting too late for dinner, there were several restaurant/bars that looked promising (Crust, an Italian kitchen — http://www.crustdubuque.com/, the Bank “gastropub” — http://www.thebankdbq.com/bank/default.asp). We ended up having sandwiches at Paul’s Tavern, an old-time burger-and-beer bar with a lot of stuffed animals on the wall! I gather it is a Dubuque institution.

Made me wish I could stay in town awhile longer to check out some of the stuff. There is also the(casinos, a riverwalk, waterpark, aquarium, brewery along the riverfront.

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October 25, 2012 · 10:14 pm

Take me back to…Dubuque

4thElevator2.jpgThis old Mississippi River town – Iowa’s oldest city – has long been one of our favorite places to visit in Iowa but I realize as I’m writing a travel story on Iowa that my Dubuque knowledge is a little rusty. There are so much revitalization going on it’s hard to keep up with all the hotspots designated as historic districts. I’ve heard tell about the majorly restored Julien Hotel – although it’s hard to think about staying anywhere other than a beautiful inn in a restored Victorian mansion (our usual is The Redstone) and I’ve also heard about a bunch of restaurants along Main Street, namely L. May Eatery and Pepper Sprout. I’d also love to return to the National Mississippi River Museum and Aquarium which I think has expanded since I was last there.   And I never miss a chance to ride the charming Fenelon Place Elevator downtown (see photo above)!

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October 22, 2012 · 7:56 pm

Why we’re wiring money to a Bolivian man living in Peru….

The first coat of arms of Bolivia, formerly named as the Republic of Bolívar in honor of Simón Bolívar.

I got so frustrated with unsatisfactory answers from various Peruvian authorities on the basic point of HOW TO BUY ADVANCE TICKETS TO MACHU PICCHU that I have finally decided to go through our hotel in Peru’s Sacred Valley (a prime launching pad for people visiting MP) to get tickets. Hopefully this will work but it seems a bit iffy right now. We have to wire $120 for two tickets  via Western Union to a man who works at the hotel, who will then  buy the tickets for us – for a modest commission plus whatever it costs to wire money these days (haven’t done that in three years, since we needed to send our son some money when he was living in Poland.)

In addition we had to give this man our passport numbers (which are required to buy the MP tickets) and a few other distinguishing characteristics (our date of birth, nationality, etc.) and he, in turn, gave us  information about himself that we apparently need to include when we wire money so he can pick up the wire transaction. (This is how we found out he’s Bolivian…he also sent us his passport number and home address, not the hotel address.)

At this point, we have no reason to think he’s not reputable – the hotel he works for is recommended by at least one travel guide I’ve used.  But I’m still uneasy about the whole thing – especially handing over personal info and money to a total stranger in this age of “identity theft” and old-fashioned money theft.  I fault Peruvian officials for NOT making the process much clearer and easier for tourists to understand and follow. After all, MP is their major tourist attraction – and we are spending a lot of time and money to try to get there.

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October 19, 2012 · 6:01 pm

Possible hotels for next trip to New Orleans

The Soniat HouseWe won’t be staying at the Frenchmen Hotel again in New Orleans – it has its charms but was too noisy, too disorganized (we’re still trying to sort out our final bill), and too uneven in terms of the quality of the rooms and especially the beds, particularly the sofabed. But I did get some ideas for our next visit if we stay in the French Quarter including: The Hotel Royal, The Soniat House Hotel  and we’d gladly return to The Provincial Hotel (where we spent our last night.) I’d still prefer to stay in Uptown or the Garden District – which was our original plan until Hurricane Isaac knocked the b&b where we were booked – Chez Ellie Marie – out of commission. Next time! (Ellie Marie is right by two restaurants we really liked – Boucherie and Camelia Grill.

 

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October 18, 2012 · 7:09 pm

Machu Picchu – still trying to figure out HOW to buy advance tickets

 

The ruins viewed from the Guardian’s Hut

I have never – ever – had such trouble figuring out how to buy tickets for a place in my life. It’s maddening. I have not been able to get  clear answer on 1) if I need advance tickets in November to visit Machu Picchu? 2) If there is any way to get advance tickets?

The Peruvian government has a website to reserve the tickets but because you can no longer use a credit card of any type to pay for them (due to problems with credit card fraud, apparently) it’s highly unclear how the reservation system works. There are all kinds of stipulations that frankly don’t make much sense. Below is the latest missive I got from the Peruvian government website folks. Clear as mud….(My concern is that we’ve spending a lot of time and money to go to the site – we’ve booked planes, trains, a hotel etc – and apparently there is a limit on how many tourists can visit so I certainly would prefer to reserve or buy tickets in advance. But maybe I don’t need to – because we’re not in the peak tourism season. Or maybe I just plan cannot!)

Dear Betsy

We are so sorry but Visa had so many problems with stolen  and cloned cards that they preferred to cancel the payment system from abroad, all foreign card payments are suspended due to the high level of fraud presented.
We don’t accept any other kind of payment.
Probably visa won’t accept the payment until the next year.

If you have already employed a hotel o some service in Cusco they are able to help you to purchase your ticket.
Another option is to contact to some travel agency.
On our website www.machupicchu.gob.pe – Consultas (Queries)- agency, you can see the list of the travel agency.
Remember that you have 6 hours to make the payment or your reservation will be cancelled. 

However if you want to visit only Machupicchu City, you can buy your tickets with 3 to 2 day in advance, if you want to visit Machupicchu and Huaynapicchu you need buy your tickets with 2 weeks in advance.

In Perú: 

You can make your reservation on our website www.machupicchu.gob.pe and pay Any office of the Banco de la Nación it is necessary to bring the printed RESERVATION FORMAT; Hours of Availability: Monday to Friday from 8:00 – 17:30 hrs and Saturday from 9:00 – 13:00hrs. Only you can pay in cash and Soles (Peruvian currency).  

In Cusco:
In our authorized offices located on Av. De la Cultura Nº238 Condominio Huascar Wanchaq. Hours availability from Monday to Saturday  07:15 – 18:30. you can book and pay
The AATC (Association of voyages and travel agencies) located on Calle Nueva Baja N º 424, Cusco –  Peru Phone: (084) 22-2580. Hours of availability: Monday to Friday from 9:00 – 16:00hrs.  you can pay just with Visa Card     
Remember that you have 6 hours to make the payment or your reservation will be cancelled.       

Thanks for your understanding.

Sincerely,
 

CALL CENTER
DIRECCION REGIONAL DE CULTURA CUSCO
Facebook, Skype y Twitter: DRC Cusco Ministerio de Cultura Call Center
e-mail: callcenter@drc-cusco.gob.pe
Telefono: (51) 84 236061
Direccion: Av. de la Cultura Nº238 Condominio Huascar Wanchaq – Cusco, Perú

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October 18, 2012 · 1:51 pm

Iowa destination dining: The Northside Cafe in Winterset

Outside the revamped Northside Cafe in Winterset, Iowa

Once upon a time there was an old beloved cafe in the central Iowa town of Winterset called the Northside. A charming place with high ceilings, a stamped tin ceiling, a long wooden counter with swivel seats, booths with softened vinyl, old photos, and an old-fashioned sign above the counter that flipped every few seconds to advertise another local business (“Lenny’s auto: instant financing”). The food was nothing to write home about but I took out-of-towners there to soak up the scene. (Did I mention the Northside was the setting for a scene  starring a love-struck Clint Eastwood in the film “Bridges of Madison County?”).

There was also, about 10 years ago in Des Moines a beloved cafe called Chat Noir,which served creative fare inspired by New Orleans, France  and other Euro spots in a funky old house in the historic Sherman Hill neighborhood. After a strong run, it closed and we still miss it. But now it is back…sort of. The new owners of the Northside are the former owners of Chat Noir. During a Saturday lunch at the Northside earlier this month, we recognized familiar faces ( one of the twin sisters who are the cafe’s co-owners) and several favorite dishes (the muffuletta, the crab and shrimp bisque) but many new things. And the vibe is familiar – welcoming and hip but not too. Plus a new small town coziness. It’s like a mash up of theNorthside and Chat. We loved it and we will be back. When you go try the pulled pork sandwich (not goopy with sauce but instead dry smoked pork), the bisque, sweet potato fries, cold-pressed  ice coffee, fresh apple pie. Yum.

Address: 61 East Jefferson Street, Winterset, IA 50273
Phone: (515) 462-1523

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October 17, 2012 · 7:02 pm

Scenes from the Swamp – Breaux Bridge/Lake Martin Louisiana

Swamp tour guide extraordinaire, Norbert LeBlanc on Lake Martin, La. Oct. 2012

A week ago I was cruising slowly through a swamp with two friends from England, a young Morrocan-born woman living in Paris and a gregarious alligator hunter/swamp tour operator named Norbert LeBlanc. I highly recommend his swamp tour – which lasted about two hours and cost a very reasonable $20 per person. Here’s Norbert giving his tour in french (ours was mostly English); http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E-e4t3ArJDA

Here’s some more scenes:

Norbert serving his own personal label of Moonshine en route.

The view from the boat: cypress and tupelo gum trees dripping with spanish moss, alligators and turtles lounging on logs in the water, elegant blue herons and white egrets

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October 14, 2012 · 5:11 pm

cc’s community coffee, central grocery, couchon, Tulane! Hotel provincial

We moved to better digs (and no surprise, more expensive digs) at the hotel provincial on Chartes Street. But even here, we were awakened at 2’am or so by a drunken cackle. Seems unavoidable in the french quarter. Room 515 was in an old building that used to be a warehouse. It reminded us  of a room we stayed at in Florence – high ceiling, huge, old world furnishings, elegant and a little odd. We liked it. our friends ended up in even stranger digs. they had their own two story condo that is normally someone’s home. again, odd.
We had coffee at CC’s Community coffee on Royal then popped into the central grocery but skipped getting the mufaletta because it wasn’t lunch time. We visited a very good new contemporary art gallery called M Gallery not far from our  hotel, then took the st. Charles streetcar (which was a bus ride initially) to Tulane to see our nephew, a happy sophomore there. Ate at cafe ferete. Cute place, so so food. After a swim in the refreshingly cool water of the charming courtyard pool at our hotel, we ate at trendy couchon restaurant – oysters, porkcheek, short ribs,pulled pork with crackling and turnips and pickled peaches. Definitely different. Now taking our chances with frontier airlines. We appear to be leaving. So maybe this flight won’t be cancelled.

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