Dave and LaDawn on the Road

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2009-02-24T16:08:00.008-05:00

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2008-12-07T14:29:00.001-05:00

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Saturday: Our Last Whirlwind Spin Through The London

2008-11-24T12:16:00.008-05:00

Our last day in London and still so much to see, but see it we did. Our first stop was to Oxford Circus Underground Station and pick up our day travel passes. Pretty cool, for about $18, you can travel to almost anywhere in the city, make as many transfers as you like, and get back to where you started.

Our first stop was to see the utterly beautiful and unbelievable St. Paul’s’ Cathedral. This is an amazing structure built about 500 years ago. Actually the first structure was built in 604 but burnt down in 1087.
Later that same year a new St. Paul’s Church was begun. In 1666 St Paul’s is again reduced to rubble after the Great Fire. In 1708 architect and designer Christopher Wren lays the last stone upon completion to the magnificent church. The dome at 360 feet is the second largest in the world and simply breathtaking. I still can’t fathom how they built theses kinds of buildings that many years ago without the cranes and building equipment we have today – it still astonishes me.

St Paul’s has been the location of such remarkable ceremonial events including the funeral of Winston Churchill on 1965 and the wedding of Prince Charles and Lady Diana Spencer in 1981.

Once again we ran into the dilemma of not being able to take any pictures in this magnificent structure. Still, I got a few off before I noticed the signs. This is actually the first country we have encountered with so many restrictions on photographing such a rich history – quite disappointing for the photo traveler.

From St. Paul’s’ we headed to the British Library. The Library you say; Why would anyone go the London Library? I thought the same thing till I found in the tour book that this library had not only 16 million copies of everything printed in the United Kingdom but also about the most extensive collection of historic documents in the world. Included are works like the Magna Carta, an original Guttenberg Bible, original Shakespeare writings, and scribblings of the Beatles. Seeing the words to John Lennon’s “Yesterday,” scrawled out on the back of a birthday card to his son, was indeed, fascinating. The trip to the British Library was definitely worth it.

Our next, and last stop for the day, was to the British Museum. This is the oldest public museum in the world. The Museum's immense hoard of treasures spans 2 million years of history and culture. The 94 galleries which stretch 2.5 miles and covers civilizations from ancient Egypt and Assyria to modern Japan.

The main attraction for me was the Rosetta Stone which I’ve heard about since I was a kid. I was always a Egypt and Greek mythology fan so when I heard the museum had the Rosetta Stone on display, we had to head over to see it. We walked into the gallery and here several people surrounded it. I was really surprised when I saw it. I had always thought it was rather small, but here it was – 3 feet tall, 2 feet wide, and about 8 inches thick – it was big, and this was only part of the original.

When you read the history of it, it is amazing that they found it at all, but there it was – the code used by Jean-Fracois Chmapollion (1790-1832) to translate the Egyptian hieroglyphics. Within the Museum is the Great Court which actually surrounds the Reading Room. The Court is covered with a lightweight roof creating what looks like an indoor public square. Very Beautiful!!

We took in a few more rooms and then decided to head back to our hotel. Well, that was the plan anyway. As it has been with most of sight seeing we walked back dropped off some bags full of London goodies, and then headed back down Carnaby Street for the last of the souvenir shopping. We found a tea shop, made a few more purchases, dropped them back at the room and headed back to the Shakespear’s Head pub for a late dinner and drink.

Alas, one drink turned into two, as we chatted with the owner manager, who also bought a round – very nice folks at the Shakespear’s Head pub, you know. The place was packed with rugby fans watching the Wales vs. New Zealand teams battle it out. LaDawn a true sports fan received some first class English lessons on the rules of rugby. New Zealand won handily, much to the dismay of the local favorite.

We headed back to the hotel, settled in and were snoozing by about 8 p.m. – to much fresh air I guess;~) We had an early morning wake up call – 6 a.m. – packed the bags, and headed for Victoria Station, about twenty minutes away by taxi, to catch the Gatwick Express back to the airport.

After a fairly easy check in, we boarded the plane and are heading home as I write this. What a week it was – jam packed with the excitement of opening nights, more theatre, strolling the London streets, taking in the people, the buzz, and just enjoying a drink or two in the city. A fabulous time was had by all!

Check out the show below – it’s a brief recap of our week’s adventures. Enjoy! -Dave and LaDawn.

Friday: The Tower of London

2008-11-24T12:00:00.009-05:00

Boy, did we get a late start today. We didn't even have time to grab lunch. We just grabbed a croissant at a nearby shop, headed for the tubes - London Underground, and managed to find our way down to the Tower of London, which is located in The City section of London and a fair distance from our hotel.

We got there late, but we were able to quickly catch up with the last tour that had just started. The tour was led by one of the 33 Yeoman Warders, “Beefeaters” that have the privilege to call The Tower of London home. I have to say our tour guide was quite funny and we really enjoyed his presentation.

What was intriguing to both of us was, for much of it’s 900 hundred year history, the Tower of London was not a prison, but was really the residence to the kings and queens of the time. And even though it's called the Tower of London, there are several towers within the Tower of London. It's these towers that played residence to the political prisoners, those that committed treason or were a threat to the throne. This would have included Lady Jane Gray, Anne Boleyn, Thomas Moore and Sir Walter Raleigh just to name a few.

The other thing that was interesting to discover, was the fact that the accommodations for the political prisoners were quite posh for the time. They could have their families with them, even servants and could pay to furnish their imprisoned quarters. Sir Walter Raleigh was a resident in one of the towers for thirteen years. Long enough for him to write his book entitled, “The History of the World,” which looked to be over a thousand pages thick and a very fine print. I guess when you’ve got a lot of time on your hands it's easy to write a book of that magnitude.

We continued walking the grounds seeing the REAL Crown Jewels and enjoying a 900-year history of the Tower. Another interesting fact surrounded the be-headings at the Tower. It turns out that the Tower of London was not the place for public be-headings; it was a place for private be-headings. In fact, we were told that it was an honor to be beheaded in the Tower of London. I think that's one honor that I would forgo. In actuality only 10%-15% of the prisoners died or were executed after being imprisoned, most were released.

The Tower Bridge was right next door and we got a great shot of that too.

Anyway, we wanted to take in one more performance of “Imagine This,” so we jumped into the tube, better known as the Underground, and headed for Covent Garden. We found a great restaurant, Masala Zone, which was about the best Indian food, with the best presentation of the food that I had seen. The price was right, the wine was delicious, and we finished and headed for the theater.

We had one minor incident along the way - a hail storm that hit us briefly as we walked the three blocks up to the theater. Yes, it's true -- a hailstorm! The weather is getting very cold for the weekend and we’re expected to be under freezing most of Saturday maybe with some snow. The weather has been with us most of this trip with partly sunny days and fairly nice temperatures in the mid 40's. We're bundling up for our journey on Saturday.

Anyway, we had another great night of theater seeing "Imagine This” for the second time and feeling just as enthusiastic as we did when we saw the performance Wednesday evening. A few of our Cincinnati contingent were also at the play and it was nice to visit and chat with them making our goodbyes at the end of the play and all planning to get back together once we all returned home.
We decided to walk back for hotel, about a 20 minute walk, and take in the city for yet another time. I was pretty fired up and as we passed the Odeon Theatre, the largest theater in London -- 1700 seats -- I noticed that the new James Bond movie, Quantum of Solace, was showing. I just couldn't talk LaDawn into seeing the late, late showing so, we just headed back to the hotel room relaxed and reminisced about another great day in the city.

Thursday: Another Trip Around The City And One More Play

2008-11-24T11:29:00.006-05:00

Hey everybody, Dave reporting today --

After enjoying our wonderful evening at the theater last night, we headed back to the hotel, ordered some room service, and just crashed.

We got a reasonably early start on today -- now early for us in London doesn't mean like eight or nine o'clock in the morning. It actually means we got out by around lunchtime. It seems the main reason for this is that when we get back to the room we spend a lot of time talking about the day, and tuning into whatever the latest news is on the BBC.

Anyway, we grabbed a quick lunch in Soho today at a small Italian restaurant. The weather was quite warm and we're able to take our lunch at one of the street side tables - which was quite nice.

The main plan for the day was to head back over to visit the New London Theatre for a special reception for all those who were involved with the play Imagine This. It was cool because we got to meet the producer, the directors, the choreographers, and just about all the creatives who are involved in the play. Also present were some of the lead actors we also got a chance to visit with. The nice thing about this meeting was the fact that you got to see how the actors see the play from their side of the stage which is quite insightful and just lends a greater appreciation to this theater experience for LaDawn and I.

Our agenda for today also included seeing the play “Billy Elliot ” at the Victoria Palace Theatre. We were told that the theater was too far to walk but we decided to try it anyway letting our advisers know that we were old but sturdy. I have to tell you, it turned out to be a marathon walk. 90 minutes later we arrived at our destination a bit exhausted and as LaDawn was saying in her heeled boots “with our dogs a’barkin".

We grabbed our tickets, got great seats just 11 rows from the front stage, and settled in for another wonderful evening of theater. It was a bit amazing but, the young boy playing the part of Billy Elliot has to be one of the hardest working 12 year old kids in London. The dance numbers in the play were truly wonderful, high energy and effort that this 12-year-old boy put into his performance was unbelievable.

We grabbed dinner at a nearby Indian restaurant -- not the best restaurant in the world -- grabbed a cab home and crashed. One thing LaDawn and I really enjoyed doing is walking the city and we figure we got about 30 miles in so far. Part of the excitement is seeing all the shops, all the people, all the restaurants, all the colors, all the smells, and all the excitement of the bustling London around us. It's just exciting to be in the middle of it all.

That wraps it for today and I think we’re both planning to sleep in a bit for tomorrow. But having said that, our big plans include visiting the Tower of London tomorrow. So until then, were signing off today, and we'll see everybody again tomorrow.

Dave and LaDawn on the Road - England 11-08

2008-11-20T08:21:00.012-05:00

Day 4 Wednesday

We get a late start today and begin by taking in lunch at a nearby pub. Then again we are on foot as we walk to the National Portrait Gallery near Trafalgar Square. It's three floors of incredible history of the Kings and Queens as well as many, many notable historic individuals. Again we are disappointed that photographs are not permitted. For history buffs this is a must see.

IMAGINE THIS..........
Where freedom was found through imagination.
Where hope and laughter could conquer fear.
Where love knew no boundaries. It's finally play day...The opening night of IMAGINE THIS. The reason why we have come to London. The reason we have met so many new and wonderfully excited Cincinnatians who also have taken time from their busy day-to-day schedules, who have invested hard earned dollars and made this great adventure to see opening night.

The play is being shown on the West Side at the New London Theatre. Although the present New London Theatre - all glass and concrete splendour as designed by Paul Tvrtkovic - only opened as recently as 1973, there have been theatres on this Drury Lane site since at least 1851.

Then it was Middlesex Music Hall, which 60 years later was rebuilt by theatre-architect extraordinaire Frank Matcham and renamed the Winter Garden in 1911.Prior to the New London Theatre's official opening it was used as the venue for a televised concert by Marlene Dietrich in November 1972, before hosting a range of shows including Grease that saw the West End debut of the then-unknown Richard Gere (as Danny Zuko), as well as stints as a TV studio.

Finally, in May 1981 the theatre was converted specifically for Lloyd Webber's musical version of T S Elliot's Cats which lasted a record-breaking 8949 performances, ending on its 21st birthday: 11 May 2002.

Below is a photo of some of our fellow travelers the Cincinnati group. Also a photo of Dave and I with Marcia Goldsmith, Mother of David Goldsmith the wonderful lyricist to IMAGINE THIS. Upon arrival we are pleased at the beauty and dynamics of the staging and just the raw the feel of the theatre. We are excited and the audience is nervously jazzed for this performance. We are not disappointed. The play is INCREDIBLE!! In the 2 1/2 hours of production you are easily moved from laughter to tears. The performance of Peter Polycarpou is amazing. The best we've ever seen.

Peter was in the original cast of Les Miserables and Miss Saigon. He also has performed in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and The Phantom of the Opera just to name a few. Staging, costumes, the musical numbers, the production, the story, we LOVED it all. That was the feeling from the entire audience as a vigorous, a rousing an electric standing ovation that went on for several, maybe even 10 minutes. Tears not only came rushing from the spectators to this wonderful performance but also from many of the actors on stage. A truly thrilling performance. Our only slight disappointment is that Peter does not take a curtain call alone, as he certainly deserves it.

After the play it's on to a cast reception. While we find it somewhat difficult to recognize the actors and actresses without stage makeup, we are fortunate to meet several during the course of the evening. Dave is photographed with Cameron Leigh who plays Lola and also Dave and I with Peter. Back to the hotel, happy, enthused and thrilled from the performance.

Dave and LaDawn on the Road - England

2008-11-19T07:57:00.007-05:00

Day 1-2 traveling-Sunday/Monday
We met up with a few others traveling from Cincinnati to London at the Greater Cincinnati Northern Kentucky Airport. It's a long and on this occasion a turbulent flight as we are thankful to be safe and sound on the ground in England. How exciting it was to step into the train station, luggage in tow and find our first poster displaying the play, Imagine This, we have all come so far to see at it's opening night celebration. A quick taxi ride from Victoria Station to our hotel finds us a firm mattress and soft pillows to rest our weary bodies upon for a short nap. We are saying at the Courthouse Hotel, which was at one time an actually jail and court house on the Great Marlborough Street in the area of London called Soho and Trafalgar Square.

Soho is renowned for the pleasures of the table, the flesh and the intellect since it was first founded in the late 17th century. Also known for London's most fashionable is continues to be considered the center of entertainment. The area has a wonderful cosmopolitan mix of people including a vast array of bars, pubs, restaurants and cafes and incredible shopping.

After a short nap we head out to explore our surrounds, grab some dinner and begin to take in the city. Regent Street just a 1/2 block from our hotel if delightfully decorated for Christmas with beautiful lights. The store windows are bursting with this season's most impressionable fashions. Window shopping is great.

Directly across from our hotel is Carnaby Street. During the 1960's this street was so much the center of swinging London that the Oxford English Dictionary coined the term meaning "fashionable clothing for young people". It continues to have a reputation for cutting-edge fashion. It too is decorated for the upcoming Christmas Season.

Day 3 Tuesday
After Dave completes his blog post - we are off to take in the city by daylight. Our destination is Westminster Abbey a few miles from our hotel. We will walk the distance and enjoy the fresh yet cool air. The rain of yesterday is beginning to stop and temperature is in the mid to lower 40's.

Westminster Abbey is world famous as the resting place for Britain's monarchs and for the coronation of their royalty. It has the most impressive collection of medieval architecture in London. While 1/2 national church and 1/2 national museum the church is homes to hundreds of tombs. The incredible Lady Chapel which was consecrated in 1512 left Dave and I both breathless at the beautiful vaulted ceiling. The octagonal Chapter House with amazing stained glass windows and incredible tiled floor from the 13th century was also breathtaking to behold. But nothing can truly compare to the beauty and opulence of the Abbey and High Alter area where William the Conqueror held his coronation - get this in 1066! Amazing. Unfortunately, and much to our disappointment, NO photographs were permitted inside the church. This is a must see for any visitor to London.

From Westminster Abbey we were just minutes away from Big Ben. This impressive clock is the largest in Britain and has kept exact time for the nation since it was first set in motion in 1859. This certainly is a symbol of Britain and the chimes ring daily on BBC radio. Then a short walk across the park to the Thames River.

As the days are quite short this time of year we decided to start the few miles back to our hotel. We walked along the Houses of Parliament office buildings with their impressive statutes and incredible architecture. While be both agreed the city is nearly as exciting as Paris - it is an amazing display of history within the buildings, monuments and displays.

Our walk back took us to Trafalgar Square. This area buzzes both day and night with crowds enjoying the restaurants, theatres and night clubs. This is also the home of the National Gallery and the National Portrait Gallery which we plan to take in another day. The beautiful fountains and statues are truly impressive. We decide to explore this area a little more and soon find ourselves in Chinatown. The streets are filled with restaurants, shops selling oriental produce and strange aroma-filled shops. Zorro is playing at a local theatre so we decide to catch dinner within the area and stay to enjoy the production of Zorro. We finally arrived back to the hotel at 11:30 pm. We are filled with excitement as we truly had a full day of adventure, sightseeing, and flavors of the city. Slightly tired from all the walking, we estimate between 8-10 miles today, we are pleasantly surprised that our hotel has taken a BIG step in changing to a Hilton property, Doubletree to be exact, and we have awaiting in our room 4 chocolate chip cookies. A perfect ending to a wonderful day!! -LaDawn

Two More Days of Paradise

2007-11-30T14:52:00.000-05:00

Things sure do move slowly down here, but the scenery, weather, and people are very friendly and wonderfully welcoming. Wednesday, after a slow start at the house, we headed down to the Tropicana for a really good lunch. They have something called the lava bowl which is something like our Fajita plates back in the States - down here, the lava bowl is just so much cooler. I will say one more thing about the Tropicana too - they have the best margaritas we have found so far. I don't want to say two of them is too many, but in fact two of them is one too many - but boy, are they smooth - imbiber beware.

On Thursday, LaDawn and I had a really nice walk around the neighborhood. I did my thing with the camera while LaDawn held the flash. We got some really great images which you can see in the slide show below. Yesterday evening we had a wonderful dinner at on of the locals favorite restaurants - Guacamaya's - real Mexican food that was delicious, and didn't break the bank either. Open the link and read down for a visiter's comments. We had dinner with a lovely woman, Elsa, who runs a Christian school for about 300 of the kids here in San Jose. With eight teachers and her assistant Debbie, they really have their hands full. That's Elsa's son Kiki in the slide show and arm wrestling Lindsay - LaDawn's daughter - in the slide show.

We finished the day strolling the Art Walk - there were some pretty cool objects d'Arte on display in the galleries. It was a nice way to wrap the day. Friday, we are heading into Cabo San Lucas for lunch at "The Office" and a sight seeing day in the big city. I'll give you wrap up on that over the weekend as we head out early on Saturday and get into Cincy kind of late that evening. Until then, Adios! Dave and LaDawn

Monday and Tuesday

2007-11-28T12:47:00.000-05:00

Not much stuff going on for the first of days down here - I think everybody was just "vegging out". Anyway the break is well needed. The funny thing is that we spent a good part of yesterday shopping for goodies down here. Let's see, we hit Costco, Sam's - yep they are all down here. We also hit Mega - the grocery store with a view. Monday was off to a slow start too, but we ended up at Sunset Mona Lisa - the best place to watch a sunset in Cabo.

Tuesday we headed of to the Hilton Hotel, best pool and beach in Cabo. The LaDawn, Lindsay, Sarah, and Kent headed for the spa and I hit the beach to get some photographs. WE were back to the house, relaxed with a glass of wine and hit the sack early. Enjoy the slide show of the sites below. Today we are going to explore the cool little town of San Jose - nice art community and good restaurants. That's it for today. --Dave and LaDawn

Sunday Morning in Cabo - Good Morning Sunshine

2007-11-25T11:33:00.000-05:00

Well, we are back on the ground safe and sound after our early morning flights yesterday via Chicago - the airport was even decorated for the holidays - then to Cabo San Lucas on good old American Airlines. The flight was uneventful, but the 3:30 a.m. early morning wake-up call was a "killer". I think I started coming awake about 10 in the morning - but heck we made it. Our friends and hosts for the week - Kent and Sarah Smith were delayed with bad weather going through Houston - Kent was calling the flight a free roller ride thanks to Continental Airlines.

So what do you do when you arrive in Cabo and your friends are 1-1/2 hours away from landing, well as they say, "When in Mexico...." - so had a Margarita at the local airport bar. Anyway, our friends came through the door about 2 p.m. - it was good to see them.

We headed for the taxis, loaded up and were on our way. Man, all we wanted to do was crash - seems all of us were working to hard the past week and we all needed a little R&R - what better place than Cabo.

After settling in, and a brief rest we were on our way. Kent and Sarah know this wonderful gallery owner - Dana Lieb, owner of Pez Gordo Art Gallery - who was having a showing of well known Mexican artist, Alejandro Martinez-Pena. You can check out his work right here. The work was amazing - my favorite was one of the most expensive pieces in the show - good taste I guess ;-) After the gallery visit, we headed to Local Eight for dinner. This is a wonderful little restaurant owned by a neighbor of Kent and Sarah's. Great meal as always, and who can forget the Calamari.

A good time was had by all - heck, we even tried some "Carrot Cake" lighting. You have to head over to DigitalProTalk.com right here for a description of the lighting technique. I showed Kent how it was done - check out my pic of Kent. Then he gave it a try with Sarah and got a very nice result because of some very nice backlighting. Oh-oh, am I talking photography here - slap my face - we are on vacation.

We wrapped up dinner, said good night to Marissimo, our server, and Jeff, the owner, made it back to our Cabo home for the week and hit the sack early. We are getting ready to head on out to a little Christian church Kent and Sarah are involved with so we will fill you in all the day's happenings tomorrow.

Have a good one, Dave and LaDawn from the road.

That's It for This Trip

2007-09-20T12:54:00.000-04:00

We had a great time in Las Vegas - very busy, and a great time in NYC seeing some of the less touristy parts and just enjoying the more quiet parts of the city - Yes Virginia, there are quiet areas in the city.

Our next trip is to Florida to photography a 4 day wedding . We will be leaving around October 15th. And then, after that, on to Cabo San Lucas, Mexico for a little R&R.

See you then, Dave and LaDawn

A Quick Hit of Brooklyn Heights One More Time

2007-09-18T10:44:00.001-04:00

Thursday in Brooklyn Heights and Broadway.

2007-09-14T09:32:00.000-04:00

What a nice day today. It began with beautiful weather and a great visit to Brooklyn Heights, America's first suburb. Getting there was quite an experience, too. We decided to take the subway, and upon our getting settled in for a fairly short trip, 5 "performers" jumped on too and serenaded all the passengers with some great 5 part barbershop harmonies, asking for a little "support" for their services. They were pretty good, so we made the donation to the future performers of America fund.

What a wonderful little detour from the hustle and bustle of the big city. Quiet streets, nice restaurants, and great views of the Financial District of New York City from the Promenade. We just relaxed here for a few hours before heading back to our hotel. Check out some of the images in the slide show below.

After getting back to the hotel, we changed for dinner and headed off to Trattoria dell' Arte for a wonderful Italian dinner. Turns out we were seated in the booth seat John Travolta was recently in. David Letterman and Paul Shafer, we find out, are also frequent guests. This was one of our best dining experiences for the week.

After dinner we headed over to see "Hairspray" at the Neil Simon theater. WOW! What a show! This is one not to be missed if you ever make it up to the city. It was truly a non stop performance. Great songs, great staging, terrific cast. Hey, a play that wins 8 Tonys has to be one of the "must sees" when you hit the big Apple. Here is a clip of one of the performances from the today Show.

LaDawn's daughter, Lindsay, had suggested we check out P.J. Clark's Bar on 3rd and 55th Street. We grabbed a bicycle surrey ride to travel the 7 or 8 blocks only to find upon arrival the place was jam packed. Standing room even spilling out onto the sidewalks. Looks like a fun location that we will check-out our next visit to New York City.

That's about it everyone. We will recap over the weekend. We are heading back to Cincy in a few hours. Got to get the bags packed. --Dave and LaDawn

A Walk in the Park - Central Park

2007-09-13T00:11:00.000-04:00

We started out at 57th and ended up at 97th and then back again. Add to that a few more blocks back and forth and an additional 10 block walk to the theater later that eveningt evening and you can be sure... "my dogs were barking." - about 120 blocks in all. OK, so stop griping you say, you're right, because what a great what walk is was. We covered just about all of Central Park. I personally had only seen small pieces of the park in years past and LaDawn, only slightly more. But today, we took it all in.

There is only one way to describe the Central Park experience. It is a wonderful island of beauty and tranquility in the middle of one of the busiest cities in the world. But once inside the park, the entire city drifted away - no horns, sirens, no road noise in general. Just a slight breeze, kids running, playing and laughing, people walking their dogs, reading, skating, biking - or just relaxing. Can New York City and "relaxing" exist in the same sentence? In Central Park - an emphatic Yes! All the park info is right here.

The park is big which makes for all kind of activities going on - including softball, soccer, carousels, amusement parks, row boating, hiking, biking, jogging, picnicking, gift shops - the list continues to go on. The weather was a perfect 75 degrees with white clouds and blue skies - A Perfect Day! Check out the slide show which shows the many face of the park. Enjoy!

We wrapped the day by seeing "Legally Blond" - the movie made play. Great light entertainment with some wonderful singing voices and a fun story. Sorry no pics here but check out the play's website right here. That's it for today. We plan to head to Brooklyn Heights tomorrow.

See you then, --Dave and LaDawn

Tuesday in the City

2007-09-12T12:07:00.001-04:00

This is suppose to be a week devoted to some R&R for David so again we are slow to get the day started.
Tuesday in New York City started with rain in the morning that decided to continue throughout the rest of the day. It stopped later in the afternoon .

All day you couldn't help but think back to six years ago and the terror our country felt on this day. From Kentucky we lived through 9-11 via TV. In New York City they lived the horror first hand. The memories still remain so raw and vivid in our lives. We feel the changes every time we board the airlines. May we never forget but learn to forgive!!

We have been blessed to have spent several vacations trips to the city and have already visited many of the “touristy” locations. On this visit we decided to check out some of the other areas of the city. So off we went cabbing it down to China Town. Even in the rain the streets were filled with visitors from around the world. The street fare atmosphere is fun. Very colorful with booth style store fronts filled with handbags, watches, scarves, jewelry, oriental fans……just to name a few items. Fresh fish stales fills the air with aromas that can’t be found anywhere else in the city.

From China Town.we walked through Little Italy. They are preparing for a large street fair this weekend so the streets were full of trucks and construction teams assembling booths for wonderful Italian dining treats.

From Little Italy we walked through several streets of Greenwich Village. The small little trendy shops and "free spirit" feel of the area transcends you back to the sixties only updated. We ended up taking in dinner at one of Dave's favorite Mexican restaurants, Panchitos. The rain had subsided to just an occasional sprinkle so we were able to enjoy our killer pitcher of Margaritas from the sidewalk seating area as we people watched. We had walked several miles and the much needed rest felt great.

We headed back to Mid Town and our hotel to veg-out in front of the TV before turning in. A nice easy day. Play the slide show to see a few of the sights. --LaDawn

Monday in NYC

2007-09-11T06:11:00.000-04:00

We had another easy day today. After taking care of a few things back home we headed out to the Museum of Modern Art. Again, we were only blocks away. It looked a bit like rain so we ducked into a little gourmet shop that had all kinds of good things on the menu for lunch. We made a couple of quick choices, settled on a nice table outside, and watched the newly arrived rain splash the street. The rain quickly let up lowering the temperature to a very comfortable level, and we continued on to the MoMA.

This was the first time either LaDawn or I had been to this MoMA - and we are museum "nuts" to some extent. I had just read about this unbelievable exhibition by Richard Serra. He is a sculpture who works in really BIG spaces. This exhibit included pieces that weigh upwards of 200 Tons! Unbelievable! Check out the link here for his exhibition. This was the last day of the show so the link won't last long.

We continued visiting all the displays, but I was particularly fascinated by the work of photographer Josef Koudelka. Every one of his photo journalistic images was a beautiful study in composition. I plan to check out his books on Amazon.

That's about it for today. We walked the city a bit, and headed back. Enjoy the slide show of NYC and MoMA views below.

Sunday at St. Patrick's

2007-09-11T05:44:00.000-04:00

We slept in a bit on Sunday morning and felt quite a bit more refreshed after our non stop stint in Las Vegas. We were only abut 6 blocks away from the world famous St. Patrick's Cathedral, so we headed there for Sunday services - what a magnificently beautiful church. The sanctuary was full as expected, but we found a seat, after a very long walk up the center aisle, in the fourth row. The singing was just beautiful, and the thunderous and beautiful sound of the pipe organ gave you "goose bumps" as you listened.

After leaving St. Pat's, we found a street fare just a block or two away. These are pretty popular in New York. You can find an amazing eclectic collection of goodies - from falafel to underwear - colors and delicious food smells everywhere.

Check out the slide show of our walk through the street fair. We didn't want to rush into our New York experience to quickly though, so we headed back to our hotel, caught up on about three days of emails, enjoyed a nice Chardonnay, and called it a day.

Across to Country to NYC

2007-09-11T05:27:00.000-04:00

We were up way to early on Saturday - 4 A.M. - to catch the flight to New York. We had to fly through Cincinnati, Ohio - our home town - on the way east. The down side of the flight was that we had to take all our convention gear with us - and extra 3 bags at about 60 pounds each - whew! The good news - we got upgraded to first class - the only way to travel.

We arrived at our hotel - the Manhattan Club - about 7:30 P. M. The Manhattan Club is right around the corner from the world famous Carnegie Deli on 7th Avenue, named after Carnegie Hall which is also right across the street on 56th Street. We are right in the middle of everything. We had a great dinner at Red Eye Grill and then "hit the sack."

Off to Las Vegas

2007-09-11T04:54:00.000-04:00

Yep, LaDawn and I are on the road again - this time to Las Vegas, NV for the huge Photoshop convention. We are two people who happen to love to visit the city though. It's not the bright lights, the whirlwind activity, the gambling - it's the great restaurants (yes, we are both motivated by food), wonderful shows, but most importantly, the majestic, beautiful quiet areas around the area.

That would include the Valley of Fire - our favorite; Mt. Charelston area - our second favorite, and many other beautiful sites that make for wonderful day trips.

This trip had no time for any such casual site-seeing pleasures. We hit the Luxor and it was non-stop till we left on Saturday. We did have a chance to catch up with our friend Kent Smith of Kent Smith Photography and also Jason and Julie, his assistants. We spent the last night in the city at one our favorite restaurants, Piero's - best Osso Bucca in the world.

Please head over to our sister blog Digital ProTalk and check last week's posts for more info and pics on our activities at Photoshop World.

Off to New York. --Dave and LaDawn

Final Thoughts on our Trip

2007-08-11T08:03:00.000-04:00

Wow! What an experience! With 118,127 steps over 56 miles of exploring on foot, many more miles by car, and 4658 photographs later, we could reach one conclusion - the beauty of this country continued to amaze us. That includes the beautiful art we saw in the unbelievable museums, which in themselves are magnificent. Versailles still continues to astound us as we revisit the images from our tour. The beauty of Paris and then later the small towns of the Provence area just continued to take our breath away wherever we adventured. The architecture from hundreds and hundreds of years ago, the cobblestone roads and bridges, real wood shutters that they actually use, bikers, fields of lavender, vineyards for miles and miles, terracotta roof homes, window boxes everywhere, prams filled with children and dogs on leashes nearly everywhere you looked. Truly, it was a walk back through time.

LaDawn and I were constantly astounded as to how they even built these amazing palaces, churches, and towers – nearly everything we saw. The French live in their history – everyday!

The pace of the people is quite a bit slower than what we have in our go – go – go American lifestyle. I “swiped” my credit card into and out of a ticket machine for one of the tours – nothing happened – I did it again – nothing happened. Then the attendant said the Americans are always in a hurry – he showed us how, in a much less hurried manner, we could acquire the tickets. No wonder their heart disease rate is so much less than the Americans – it’s not just the wine, it’s the lack of stress too – something to be learned here. Being there makes you want to slow down a bit too – and “stop and smell the roses” now and then.

The main thing that struck LaDawn and I were the people themselves – how friendly, how helpful everyone was - how just plain nice they were – that included just about everyone we met. At one point while reading a map, we had a couple just walk up to us to volunteer help. Heck, even the language barrier was not a problem - we all just picked through the words we knew and eventually got the help we needed.

People have asked, “Why were you blogging on your vacation?” The main reason is this. Vacations are something we all enjoy, and we all enjoy sharing the stories when we get home. But sharing the stories day by day via our blog, along with the interesting links, was a way for us to relive the day and also a way for you, our family and friends, to journey with us. We hope you all enjoyed the trip.

Au Revoir, Dave and LaDawn

Heading Home

2007-08-11T07:44:00.000-04:00

The alarm went off way too soon, but we were up and out the door in 45 minutes. We wanted to get to the train station early so we could drop the rental car, organize all the bags, and find out where we needed to be to catch the right train to Charles de Gaulle Airport around 6 a.m.

We arrive at 5:00 a.m. but the gates are locked shut – the guards tell us they don’t open till 5:30 a.m. – 30 minutes before we needed to be on the train! Nothing we could do but just sit there. LaDawn kept telling me to practice the “P” word.

Once those gates opened, it was a whirlwind to get in, drop LaDawn off with all the bags, return the rental, get 5 bags muscled through the station, find the train, and prepare to board – remember, there are no skycaps around to help with any of this – you are on your own. We even managed to keep another American couple from boarding the wrong train. Anyway… we made it, saw a nice sunrise in the south of France, and the beautiful farm lands as we headed north.

Airport check-in was a breeze. As we stood in line, we struck up a conversation with some other passengers standing with us in line. This is where the “small world thing” popped up. The young lady we visited with was returning from her third business trip to India – she lives in Independence – not 5 miles away from us. Another gentleman was just returning from the West Bank, Lebanon, and Israel – he reports directly to the Vatican in Rome about the conditions of catholic elementary schools in the mid east. He lives in Cincy, but was going to spend a day or two in Dry Ridge, again right down the road from us – like I said, small world.

An hour later we were in the air. Yep, That's the Great American Ballpark and Paul Brown Stadium from the air as we were coming in for a landing at CVG.

Avignon – Palace of the Popes

2007-08-11T07:05:00.000-04:00

On Thursday we left Crillon le Brave and headed back to Avignon to spend the night. We had to catch the TGV bullet train about 6 A.M. That meant a pretty early wake up call and we wanted to be close to the train depot.

We arrived Avignon about 1 p.m., got settled in at the Avignon Grand Hotel – a very nice place – heck, they even upgraded us to a suite – “clean living” I suppose. We still had one more day in the country and the Palais des Papes was walking distance away.

Avignon is a very old French city that sits right on the Rhone river. It’s claim to fame it that it housed the Popes for about 100 years from the early 1300’s – so of course, we had to tour the Palais des Papes. This was one very “cool”, and very big palace. All the treasures have since been looted, but it was quite an experience walking the space the popes walked 700 years ago. You look at the size and breath of these medieval structures, and you just marvel at the engineering that must have gone into these building projects.

We settled in for our last meal in France – you won’t believe where – it was O’Neill’s Irish Pub. Please no emails. It was prepared in a French style, very delicious, and heck, it was happy hour too. After that, it was back to the hotel and set the alarms for 3:45 a.m.

Heading For Home - But...

2007-08-09T17:28:00.000-04:00

We had another wonderful day today visiting Avignon today - this city was the home of the popes for most of the 1300's. I'm not "reporting" tonight because it is almost midnight here in Avignon and LaDawn and I have a train to catch at 6 AM. After about 3 1/2 train ride, we have to catch our Delta flight back to Cincy in Paris about 11:40AM - yep, kind of a tight connection - so it's off to beddy-bye for now. Updates and recaps over the weekend - Au Revior - Dave and LaDawn

Carpentras, Sunflowers and the Oldest Synagogue in France

2007-08-09T17:02:00.000-04:00

Wow! What a trip trough the mountains - just beautiful! After we got out of the mountains, we continued on and passed some of the most beautiful sunflower fields we had ever seen - considering we had never seen any, it was a sight to behold. We had to beat the rain drops, but still got some great shots - I think LaDawn has one of the best shots with her close-up of one of the sunflower images that closes the slide show.

Now we land in Carpentras, a nice medium size town in France. Although we visited a beautiful church, one Carpentras' claim to fame is that it is home to the oldest synagogue in France. We took the tour and it was beautiful. About 100 families now call this synagogue their spiritual home.

We also visited Isle-sur-la-Sorgue, a quaint little village known for it's antique shops and water wheels. The traffic was bumper to bumper, but once we got parked, it was a fun little visit.

Across the Mountains Again

2007-08-09T16:17:00.003-04:00

We had a great time on our short visit to Sault. Now we headed back east in the direction of Carpentras, France - we had to cross the mountains one more time. We could have taken the quicker highway route, but saw a sign for the "Tourist Route" - we took that one - WOW! what a site. I was stopping the car about every 10 feet to take more pictures - the views were magnificent!!!

The first stop was this unbelievable Lavender field - LaDawn and I were both out wondering the beautiful views taking a million pictures among this this gorgeous French county scape.

After the lavender fields, it was the mountain route descending through the Gorge de la Nesque - be sure to check out this video of the bikers decent - it's what we saw! - the mountains the views were unbelievable.It was like traveling Route 1 through the US. It looked like a glacier just carved it's way down the valley. LaDawn and both think we saw more beauty today on our little adventure than any other day. Just fantanstic!

Heading to Sault - Lavender Capital of the World

2007-08-09T15:47:00.000-04:00

Today we decided to head out to Sault. Now to get to Sault, you have to cross the mountains - what a trip. It reminded LaDawn and I a bit like Scotland - the trees get a bit scrubby and are not as tall - you just get a feeling that you are a bit higher than where you started.

The first thrill was coming back down the mountain on the other side heading in to Sault. Sault produces 80% of the world's Lavender crop. Lavender is a beautiful purple plant that fills the air with an absolutely wonderful fragrance. When we saw it by the road and got out of the car to take a closer look, you could smell it instantly - just beautiful.

The town itself sits up on a hill - a lot of towns in France seem to have that same kind of geography - very interesting and romantic to see. We roamed around a bit - there was a very nice street market going on which was fascinating to explore - yep that's where most of the souvenirs came from. Each town in France that we visited was a special joy - both in the look and in the people we met (and did our best to communicate with). It was a nice visit.

Wine Country!

2007-08-07T13:28:00.000-04:00

Off to Chateauneuf de Pape today. Chateauneuf de Pape was home to the Popes in the early 1300's. Pope John XXII was the first to plant vineyards there. The drive was about 45 minutes from our hotel - and no wrong turns today! - but what a treat to drive through the French countryside.

We had lunch at a great little restaurant named Le Mere Germaine - wonderful food and ambiance, but be sure to take your MasterCard as Amex and Visa did not work in their credit card machine.

The cool thing about the town is that many of the wineries have their "Cave degustation" - that's tasting cellar to us - right in town. Wow! You can hit a bunch all at one time!

We also ventured out to some of the vineyards for some great tastings too. One of our favorites was Chateau Cabrieres. Our host was heading to Cleveland in a few months because he has family there - small world.

The experience was fun because they didn't speak much English and we didn't speak much French - but it all works out. We tasted many wines, purchased a few bottles, and had a great time visiting with the people.

A Walk to Bedoin - and Back

2007-08-06T13:47:00.000-04:00

Bedoin is a small town just 4 kilometers (or an hour) - that's about 2.4 miles to us Americans - from Crillon le Brave. It was a warm day and that little road sure was busy. And when I have a camera in hand the walk can be kind of slow - so many pictures, so little time. Check out those weird little snails in the slide show too- they were everywhere!

By the time we got to the town - about 2:05 P.M. - we were a bit tired and in need a little lunch and refreshment. To our surprise, all restaurants close at 2 - no lunch to be found. Ah, but a little market had just what we were looking for - a little bread, wine, cheese, and a snack or two.

After our little respite we headed back - did I say there no taxi's for the ride back either. Yep, we got our exercise in for the day - still a pretty walk.

Crillon le Brave

2007-08-06T13:23:00.000-04:00

It was not the easiest place to get to, especially if you don't speak the language, but no problem. LaDawn and I took about 10 wrong turns before we got here and finally pulled into a gas station - many of the gas stations here have no attendants, at least on Sunday - to ask for help from a fellow motorist. I know what you are thinking - LaDawn doesn't speak French - your right, but she communicated enough so that in the end the accommodating driver said follow him. I have to say the people over here have been about the friendliest any we have traveled. The language is a challenge, but after a smile or two, we all get it worked out.

What an idyllic location. The hotel is about 25 miles outside Avignon, located in the town of Crillon le Brave. The city was named after a famous French warrior. Check the link for more info - very fascinating. It was in decline until the 1970's, but now is host to the wonderful hotel - Hotel Crillon le Brave.

We had our best meal of the trip at the hotel restaurant last night. Service was very good - thankfully everyone spoke very good English - and the wine was wonderful. We are headed back there again tonight. All the images are from just around the hotel, restaurant, and our room - absolutely gorgeous!

Heading South

2007-08-06T06:28:00.000-04:00

We had a train to catch to Avignon in the South of France - Part 2 of our trip. The train station is a bit different than the airport -no skycaps to help with bags. Nevertheless, we managed just fine.

We traveled the TGV bullet train down to Avignon. These trains travel at about 200 mph - that's fast - so an 8 hour drive turns into and a 2 1/2 super comfy, quit ride.

It was really cool to see the countryside change as we headed south. Paris in pretty flat, but as you head further south the topography turns into rolling hills and finally mountains. One more very important item - we made it to wine country - the adventure continues!

Notre Dame

2007-08-06T05:39:00.000-04:00

It's our last morning in Paris and we planned to go to Sunday services at Notre Dame. This cathedral has to be seen to be believed. How did they build structures like this 800 years ago? Notre Dame took 171 years to complete!!!

The cathedral was filled and we had front row seats - quite a Sunday service. This particular mass was with Gregorian Chant, so the mass consisted on French, Latin, and Greek - and we were confused before.

St. Mary's Cathedral in Covington, Kentucky - we I photograph weddings occasionally, is actually a smaller replica of the famous French version. Check the link to see the similarities.

Again - a great experience!

Napoleon - Resting in Peace

2007-08-06T05:18:00.000-04:00

Our last full day in Paris - we started a little stroll around town, just taking it easy. Then there it - was a Metro station (that's subway in France) and we off on another adventure - let's check out Napoleon Bonaparte's grave. This, by the way, is not to say that the Metro experience was not an adventure unto itself. Anyway we were off.

This “hotel” was built as a military hospital for wounded soldiers in 1671. It housed more than 6,000 soldiers then and even today a few dozen soldiers still live within the facilities. In the center is again a magnificently beautiful church, gorgeous altar, and breathtaking ceiling, with an amazing golden dome. The dome is 351 feet high and can be seen from all over Paris.

Napoleon Bonaparte’s body rests in grandeur in the crypt directly below the golden dome of the Dome Church. It is a magnificent tribute to whom the French consider their greatest military leader.

As with so many of the buildings and places of historical interest throughout Paris, the Hotel des Invalides includes a museum, this one dedicated to the military history from WWI and WWII and well sculpted beautiful gardens completes the area.

Enjoy the show - subway and all.

The Beautiful Eiffel Tower

2007-08-06T03:25:00.000-04:00

We left the the Louvre about 9 P.M.(that's 3 A.M. back home) and walked to the Eiffel Tower - about an hour. This might seem like a long walk, but in Paris at dusk, it is not. Everywhere you look, there is something beautiful to see.

Known as the most recognizable symbol of Paris, the Eiffel Tower was very impressive. It stands 1,050 feet high and can be seen from all over the city.

We arrived at 10:00pm just in time to view the amazing light show that is performed for only 10 minutes every hour. Perfect timing for some great photographs!

View From the Top

2007-08-06T03:06:00.000-04:00

OK - it's shopping day today so down Avenue Haussmann we go. You have everything on this street - from designer shops to street stands. One of the main stores is Printemps department store - this place is like Bloomingdale's of New York - anything you could ever want all under one roof.

One of the "coolest" parts of Printemps is its outside cafe and restaurant on the top floor. The 360 degree views of Paris were spectacular!

Lost!

2007-08-06T02:38:00.000-04:00

LaDawn and I had a very interesting experience coming back from Sacre Coeur. We thought we would take a short cut down these stairs. We love walking and the stairs seemed to lead to a particularly visually interesting part of town.

Wow! the whole place was teaming with activity and energy. We found ourselves in the mist of this wonderful open air market - the colors, smells, motion - it was a sight to see. Someone was even selling ears of corn so I had to give it a try - delicious!

After about 8 wrong turns, we decided to check the map and voila' - it's so cool to talk French - we figured out where we were. We were quite a bit from the hotel so we stopped at Le Panorama Brasserie, had a glass of wine, then dinner, and a serenade to finish our adventurous day.

The Most Magnificent Museum in the World

2007-08-04T14:46:00.000-04:00

Yes it is - the Louvre is the most magnificent and largest museum in the world. You can not cover it in a day. We just kept moving from one gallery to the next. Yes, we rented the "mp3" head phones self guided tour, but if you listened to each entry, you might be there for a whole month. This place is unbelieveabe in it's scope of galleries and collections.

On top of that, the Louvre is its own attraction without the galleries - the ceilings, floors, halls, and rooms - all defy description unless you are standing in them! Check out the images - again, unbelieveable!

Now the art - the Mona Lisa, Venus de Milo, so many masterpieces under one roof - its breathtaking. There is a building project underway to build another museum to exhibit the some of the other 2/3's of the exhibits that are currently in storage! It makes you want to read the Da Vinci Code all over again.

Promising Actor Dicovered in Paris

2007-08-04T08:54:00.000-04:00

That's right - this is one for Entertainment tonight. Robbie Acklen, acclaimed Cincinnati actor was discovered in western Paris yesterday at the NYU Paris workshop.

We had the opportunity to spend a few minutes with Mr. Acklen before the NYU's final Paris performance. The time we spent with Mr. Acklen, students and staff, was an exhilarating experience. We look forward to his return to the Cincinnati stage.

Click on any slide show image for a larger view.

Sacre Coeur Basilica

2007-08-04T08:04:00.000-04:00

Sacre Coeur Basilica in one of the most beautiful churches in the city. It watches on the city of Paris from it's highest point. It was built as a memorial to the 58,000 French soldiers killed during the Franco-Prussian War of 1870.

It was a cloudy day when we made the trip, but still great weather. We even did the tour to the top of the dome - boy, was that a lot of steps.

We even visited the crypt underneath - we have some tales from there too whwn we get back in town!

All in all another beautiful visit.

Paris Streets and Traffic

2007-08-04T07:53:00.000-04:00

One of the most amazing observations we discovered upon walking thru the city and viewing the city from the Dome of Sacre’-Coeur was that the streets of this city are NOT formed in grid style. There are NO blocks. Most are streets lead from triangle to triangle. So at intersections there may be as many as 6 or 7 streets meeting the intersection.

If you have ever climbed up the Empire State Building and looked down upon New York City you can find easily the streets and intersections. Not here. It is difficult to recognize or even to locate the streets - just a mass of housing. Very fascinating.

And some really good news – the traffic is never that bad, even in “rush hour” – if there is such a thing in France.

Heading to Versailles

2007-08-03T04:38:00.000-04:00

This is my second trip to Paris, but LaDawn's first. I told her we had to see Versailles - truly unbelievable! Built by King Louis XIV around 1678 - this is the largest palace in Europe. This is where royalty lived till Louis XVI and Queen Marie Antoinette fled as a result of the French Revolution. Take a peek at the pictures` and you will see why the peasants revolted.

Another interesting fact - the Treaty of Versailles, ending the First World War was also signed here - pretty cool history.

The opulence is overwhelming. The Royal Chapel, finished in 1710, is regarded as one of the finest Baroque buildings in the country and is an awe inspiring place of prayer.

The Queen's bedroom, where the Queens of France gave birth in public view to assure the linage was witnessed. 19 royal infants were born here. Check out the other images to see the grander. By the way, that's LaDawn and I standing in the original "Hall of Mirrors."

More pics from d'Orsay

2007-08-02T17:32:00.000-04:00

OK, this "blog thing" can get real complicated. Let's see if this works. Check out the d'Orsay album. Here is the slide show. Enjoy!

Off to Musee d'Orsay

2007-08-02T08:09:00.000-04:00

One of the world's leading art galleries - Musee d'Orsay - it's setting in a converted railway station is magnificent. The size of the place just blows you away. We saw Monet's, Renoir's, Van Gogh's, Gauguin's, and too many more to even name. We spent about 5 hours there and still didn't see it all - just unbelievable. Can't wait for the Louvre.

Flowers Everywhere!

2007-08-02T08:05:00.000-04:00

Next we strolled the neighborhood - wow, flowers were everywhere - on balconies, in shops, at restaurants... just beautiful!

A Walk Through the Neighborhood

2007-08-02T07:48:00.000-04:00

We got a good rest and couldn't wait to get out and explore that first day. The first thing we did was check our the hotel - one of Hilton's 5 star world class facilities - everyone was as friendly and helpful as they could be. We checked out the stairway to the ballrooms - its a wedding photographer "thing" - and already was getting some ideas for images.

Off to Paris

2007-08-02T07:32:00.000-04:00

We just landed in Paris. The weather is just beautiful - temperatures in the high 60's and mid 70's - blue sky and white puffy clouds. Our flight in was confortable and relaxing. We flew Delta Business Class this time - can't beat those point upgrades - and the service was wonderful. We even got a little sleep on the way. As we were crossing the English Channel, the sun was just rising on a great day.

We "cabbed" it to the Hilton, Arc de Triomphe - right in the middle of Paris. We finally got settled, caught a brief rest, and set out exploring the surrounds.