Pub In The Park

Once you’ve seen Colonial Williamsburg, taken the ghost tour, and seen the giant Presidential Heads at Presidents Park, perhaps it’s time to check out Jamestown Settlement, a fascinating living museum.  Entering Jamestown Settlement is a bit like a trip back to the 1600s, where you’ll find costumed interpreters providing in character info about how the Powhatan people lived.  You may explore a long house, or play Indian games, see how food was prepared, even tan a deer hide.

There’s three ships here, too, that are replicas of those sailed by Captain Christopher Newport.  There’s interpreters onboard here as well, playing the crew, and they’ll answer questions about what it was like onboard.  In an age, when we can cross the ocean in a matter of hours, weeks aboard these wooden vessels must have been a trying experience, and these crew will make that experience come alive for you.  Not only are you able to look through the ships, but you can lie down in the beds, and see how comfortable or uncomfortable the voyage really was….  In addition to showing you life with the Powhatan and the sea voyage over, this experience will show you, too, the first few years of life in the Jamestown Settlement.

There’s also an excellent museum on site.  On the outside, the building for the exhibits is fairly new, perhaps in contrast to the world outside; inside, though, you’ll find a number of exhibits that thoroughly explore the time period.  You can literally spend hours in the museum as you explore the models and films and exhibits that show how Jamestown was founded and how it progressed as a colony.  It’s a great place to spend a day with your family.  For a great place to stay in the area, all you need to do is take a look here.

Some cities are known for their streets: In Beverly Hills, it’s Rodeo Drive.  In Hollywood, it’s Hollywood or Sunset Boulevards.  In Paris, the Champs Ellysee; in London, Shaftesbury Avenue; in New York, it’s Fifth Avenue.  If you’ve arrived in New York City, this is perhaps on of the essential streets on which to stroll.  You’ll find that Fifth Avenue begins north of Washington Square and runs far north to 143rd Street in Harlem.  In-between, you’ll find, like Rodeo in Beverly Hills, this is one of the planet’s most costly streets, particularly from 49th to 59th Streets.

Along Fifth Avenue, you’ll find stores of the calibre of Louis Vuitton, Prada, Gucci, Versace, Ferragamo, and others.  There’s Brook Brothers, an NBA Store, and even an Apple Store with its Genius Bar.  Of course, there’s Saks Fifth Avenue, as well as a number of incredible jewels at Harry Winston, known as the jeweler to the stars.  Also on Fifth, you’ll find FAO Schwartz, the largest toy store in the world.

As you walk down the street, you’ll find Central Park, and great residential homes, large churches, and other historic buildings.  In the Museum Mile, from 82nd to 104th Streets, you’ll see the homes of 19th and 20th Century industrialists; most of these residences have become museums, such as the National Academy Museum or the Frick Collections (previously owned by the philanthropist Archer Huntington and Henry Clay Frick, respectively).  The Museum of the City of New York itself is contained within one of these mansions, built in 1932.  You’ll also discover the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Guggenheim Museum!  The former is one of the largest museums the world has to offer, while the Guggenheim is famous for its architecture and the modern art it exhibits.

You’ll find, too, St. Patrick’s Cathedral around 50th and 51st streets.  If you’re tired after all this walking, you might want to check into the Plaza on Fifth Avenue, a hotel made famous as the place The Beatles (along with many U.S. Presidents) have stayed.  For more information about the Plaza and other places to stay, especially near casinos, check into any one of these New York hotels.

Well it is Valentine’s Day again and it is always fun to come up with some fun and romantic things to do. There is always the either fancy or funky dining out experience. There are seemingly endless places to eat and drink in San Francisco. A modern edge restaurant you could go to might be the Levende Lounge. It is located in an old building but it has a new romantic modern style in architecture and cuisine. There is a great mix of Latin American, Asian and Mediterranean influences in the dishes they prepare.

If you like the classics of Dean Martin or 007 style you may find yourself most comfortable at Bix. This restaurant has been in San Francisco since 1988 and is the home of some of the best live Jazz in the Bay area. It is an intimate environment with a close seat to the fine music that fills the air. You can start with a classic martini and a delicious Dungeness Crab appetizer. Then move into Oysters on the Half Shell or a rack of lamb. They always have fine steaks available with the classic side dishes served with a wonderful Napa wine.

Some people like to get out and stroll as they snuggle together. San Francisco is filled with great places to walk and talk. The Fisherman’s Wharf may be a bit crowded so how about a nice day or evening at the zoo. The San Francisco Zoo is a nice casual place to enjoy all the creatures, brought from around the world, to snuggle in there habitats and watch you walk by. There is also the Spa idea. Couple’s massages and soaks are always a luxurious treat. What a fine way to enjoy each other company in a relaxing and different environment away from the streets and the crowd. So find the honeymoon suite and either begin a new love or revive an mature one.

New York is the best town in the world, and there’s never going to be another town like New York.  It’s the most interesting and exciting place in the world, and there are some people who might say that it’s not what it used to be.  It could be that those people aren’t who they used to be, either, but New York is still my city, it’s my favorite city, and I’d never live anywhere else.  That’s because it’s an actor’s dream of a city, even though it might be one of the worst places for an actor to try to make a living.  I came here with the idea that I’d struggle for awhile and I was all ready to pay some dues.

Soon enough, though, maybe after two years or so, I’d be living in four star hotels, and New York would be my oyster.  Or at the very least, it would be a place to go get oysters for my friends, because I would be friends with all of the people who owned oyster places, and I would get them in to eat.  My dream is to make sure my friends don’t have to wait longer than ten minutes, or maybe fifteen sometimes.  This is how I saw the city, but doing the walk of an actor is something that sometimes takes a little longer.

It’s a city that rewards those with vision, initiative, and drive.  But it rewards those who already have money much faster, and with more oysters.  I learned my craft here, though.  I followed in the footsteps of Stella Adler, and studied all the things she encouraged her students to study.  I looked at the lives of all the great actors I admire, Brando, DeNiro, Hoffman, and DeLuise, and tried to live like they did.  On the edge of a breakdown, or on the edge of a great meal, it was all part of the actor’s process.  When I audition for a role, I’m already living the part.  Sometimes, I have to be someone who’s depressed, and sometimes I have to be a soda cracker.  It doesn’t matter.  It’s about the work.  I still love New York.

Once you’ve seen the Coca-Cola Museum and the Georgia Aquarium, you may want to find your way to Atlanta’s High Museum of Art for this last days of its exhibit, Leonardo da Vinci: Hand of the Genius.  There are a few times in life when you’ll be able to witness art work that has lasted for hundreds of years; in fact, there are only two people whose work is so extraordinary, I would do whatever it takes to see their art in person.  One is Michelangelo, particularly his sculpture.  The other is Leonardo da Vinci.

One of the best museums in the Southeast, the organization has collections of classic and contemporary art.  This time around, their exhibiting fifty works of Leonardo da Vinci, as well as twenty sketches as studies, some never seen before inside the United States.  The exhibition is in three parts, stressing different parts of the artist’s life: Leonardo, the Sculptor, the Student, and the Mentor.  As a Sulptor, he planned to create the planet’s biggest and most complicated statue.  The museum has recreated the 26 foot high Sforza Horse in the Sifly Piazza.  As a Student, his works are presented alongside work by his contemporaries, the people from whom he most likely learned, such as Andrea del Verrocchio or Donatello’s famed Bearded Prophet (never before seen outside Italy, not even outside Florence).  As a Mentor, the museum demonstrates Leonardo’s influence over younger artists.  This includes Giovan Francesco Rustici and Peter Paul Rubens.  Rustici’s large bronze figures, John the Baptist Preaching to a Levite and a Pharisee, is provided as an example of this mentoring relationship and friendship.

Hand of the Genius closes on Sunday, February 21st; however, to provide more time for the public to see the works, the museum has extended its hours on the closing weekend.  Friday, February 19th, the gallery will be open from ten in the morning to midnight.  On Saturday, February 20th, it’s ten in the morning to seven in the evening; on Sunday, February 21st, the last day, you’ll have one more opportunity to see the work from noon until six in the evening.  To make sure you don’t miss it, arrange for a room in advance.  There are few opportunities to see legitimate works of genius.

For all interested parties I can now, after fifty five years of existence on this planet, testify to the wonders and fascination, even the addiction potential of bird watching. That’s right, you read it correctly, I’m a bird watcher and proud of it. It all started last summer when my best friend Delores talked me into going with her to Cape May, New Jersey. I shouldn’t say talked me into going, it sounded like a great vacation and I certainly needed one. A week in one of the beach hotels sounded just perfect. However, Delores has been a birder since just after her divorce when she was thirty three.

The divorce itself wasn’t responsible for her passion for birds it just allowed her the freedom to pursue it. She had actually wanted to watch birds from the time I knew her in college. Anyway, she had been to Cape May a few times and always remarked about what a great place for birding it was. I have to admit that I never really listened to her stories, nor did they make that much sense to me. When she told me statistics like over 400 bird species have been recorded in the area I tried to look interested but I’m sure a look of “so what” was more prominent on my face. So, to pacify me she told me that I could go diamond hunting while she watched the birds.

She didn’t really need to pacify me much, I was interested in going regardless of the 400 species of birds. And I did have a fun time looking for one of the Cape May diamonds, as they’re called. They’re really quartz pebbles that have washed down the Delaware River. I did find one and even had it polished up. It looks really pretty and I wear it attached to my birding binoculars that I also purchased on that trip. I’m telling you, once I got out and watched and learned a few of the species and their habits and visual cues I became a little obsessed with getting to know them. I know that sounds strange but it’s true. And so now I dare you. Spend one summer practicing the art of birding and I bet you’ll become obsessed with it as well. Really, I dare you.

Robert Moses forever changed not only the city of New York, but the concepts regarding public space and public parks, throughout the entire United States.  He created unprecedented escapes, concerned with the health and the well being of his fellow New Yorkers.  He knew the benefits of the retreat from busy city life, the benefits to the soul, the benefits to a healthy state of mind, and he put them, his ideas and his notions, into practice in the 1920′s. 

For more than fifty years, Robert Moses contributed to his city and to his communities.  One would be hard pressed to find a swing set seat in Manhattan, that this man did not have some part in providing.  To talk a walk today, along the streets, through parks and the alleys behind the best restaurants, New York City is different than what it could have been, could have become, because of the vision of this one man.  Moses’s first project as Parks Commissioner, was the Jones Beach State Park. This resulted in the unprecedented attendance for a park or public beach, outnumbering the attendance for the opening of Central Park seventy years earlier.  From this day forward, his designs became the standard model for parks in New York City in the decades that followed. 

In 1933, Franklin D. Roosevelt initiated the New Deal.  The publicly and federally funded project put innovative and artistic people to work, in a program that affected not only the city parks, but the highways and the public spaces as well.  This was no more evident than in the city of New York.  Hundreds upon hundreds of playgrounds were created for the youth of the city, along with golf courses, public pools, zoos and recreational facilities. 

After three years of planning, the 1939 World’s Fair opened.  This was located in an area that had been a swampland and dump…but later became the Flushing Meadows Park.  From Battery Park to Coney Island, from the Upper West Side to the East Village, Robert Moses changed his city for the better, for the good of the people.  His legend is not only remembered, but replicated throughout the country.  The ingenious projects of a thoughtful man, a good man…a man of New York City.

On my last trip to New Orleans, while my friend was out and I was trying to get some sleep, I had a telephone call from downstairs, the hotel management asking for my help with a problem in the phone lines.  They asked me to keep the phone off the hook as they dealt with it; after a moment, I could only hear breathing on the other end of the phone, and so I hung up.  They called back and insisted I keep the phone off the hook.  I unplugged the phone and then got a call again; there was a second phone in the room.  Again, they asked I keep the phone off the hook, but something didn’t feel right about all this.  I got dressed, went downstairs, and asked at the desk.  The clerk was puzzled, then checked, and explained the calls were coming not from them, but from some other guest inside the hotel.  It was like a little horror movie.  The next time I travel to the Big Easy I know I’m going to look for one of the best luxury hotels New Orleans offers and avoid a repeat of that situation.

With the certainty of a fine hotel in which to stay, I can relax and enjoy the city the way it was meant to be enjoyed…  walking around the French Quarter, resting in Jackson Square, having a cup of coffee and a sugar powdered beignet from the original Cafe du Monde Coffee Stand, watching the Mississippi River roll past one of the country’s unique cities.  I can take advantage of the cities many great parks and museums, such as City Park, where jazz really began, and the amazing Audobon Museums, such as the Audubon Zoo, the Audubon Aquarium, and the Audubon Insectarium.  At night, I can stroll the French Quarter, take in a ghost tour, or listen to the jazz in any number of bars on Bourbon Street.  And then return at night, without fear of any more mysterious phone calls from unknown guests!

We stayed at a cheap hotel in Philadelphia and we were surprised at how clean, quiet and nice it was. The entire staff was helpful and friendly. After we unloaded the car and grabbing a bite to eat, we checked our map and found that the Valley Forge National Park wasn’t too far and it wasn’t too hard to find. We saw literally thousands of deer when we went for a hike, my children were absolutely thrilled; an excellent choice on my part.

The next day we headed to Sesame, but first we had breakfast at our hotel.

We got our tickets on-line and the plan was to spend the whole day there. The parking cost $18, which in my estimation is a lot for a family of four to afford. Once we were inside the park, we were overwhelmed and very unprepared, all my planning went right out the window. We had to rent a locker, which was $20.00, to store our belonging, like purse, camera, and our money, since we didn’t need it at a water park. Then I should have purchased water shoes, because the walkways between the water rides was hot, so we literally couldn’t walk on it. Then, the lines for the rides were just as bad as Disney, my children are young and they really had no concept of waiting in line, so most of the rides we skipped. Then the water was cold!

When it was time to grab a bite to eat, and for a family of four, eating at the water park would have cost us over $50! If I had known the food was going to be so much, I would’ve made sure my family had plenty to eat before we entered the park. It already cost us $250 to get in the park, which is extremely expensive for us. So, my whole idea of fun at a water park for the entire day was a bust. My children wouldn’t do the lines, I wouldn’t pay over $50 for food and the park was a lot smaller then we anticipated. We only managed to play in Elmo’s World and called it a day.

My family would have had so much more fun in our own back yard! When we got back to our hotel, we finally had lunch and I sent the children off to a playground not far from the hotel. I remember my parents always taking us kids somewhere fun for vacation, I just hope my kids will have as much fond memories as I have.

Well it looks like the Farmers Market  in downtown Grand Prairie is opening up again. They closed it for a while so they could make it better. Near by, you will also find quaint hotels in Grand Prairie neighborhoods waiting for a guest like you. Once you have got your bags unpacked, head for the newly expanded farmers market which will have some nice treats to take home with you. From homemade soaps to spices and homemade gourmet foods the venders are waiting to sell you your next favorite item. You can find Market Square by keeping an eye out for the water tower mixed in with green landscaping and an old barn.

There is also much more going on in the downtown area. Here you will find a few main stream stores like CVS Pharmacy and NAPA Auto Parts in case you get a cold, need a tooth brush or a fix a flat tire goo for the rental car. The specialty stores are more than likely going to be of more interest to you. You could go and snoop through the Live Oak Antique store or go smell some nice scents at the Essential Fragrances store. It is a wonderful area to just walk around. Maybe the musicians at the local music stores will let you borrow a guitar and take that lesson you are missing by being away on this trip.

You can’t walk around without stopping for something to eat. They have a few main stream favorites like Jack in the Box and Sonic Burger but I always like to give the business to the small local restaurants especially if I have time to relax. There are a few cuisines to choose from Joy Luck Chinese, Agua Azul Seafood, Amigo’s Restaurant, New York Joe’s Pasta and Pizza, Nina’s Cafe, Brass Bean for some coffee and scones and in the evening you can catch up on some sports at Theo’s Grill and Bar. So what ever you find yourself doing, enjoying your stay shouldn’t be hard.