Tag Archives: Travel Series

My 2016 Mid-West Trip~Part 8

24 Aug

A Slice of Life

Bill Lites

 

Day 8 (Saturday)

It was a beautiful day for my trip from St. Louis, MO to Indianapolis, IN.  My first stop was to visit the Indiana Transportation Museum located in Noblesville, IN. This museum turned out to be a very small and mostly a collection of neglected rolling stock.  However, there was a tour guide who showed me around, and informed me that much of the museum’s train equipment was in one state of restoration or another. He added that the restoration process was slow going because they did not have that many volunteers to do the work.

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I spent a lot of time with Greta trying to find the Rolls-Royce Allison Heritage Trust Museum located on the southwest side of Indianapolis. She kept taking me around in circles that always ended up at the same intersection, in front of a deserted building. I finally found the Rolls-Royce facility, a mile or so down the road, but did not see a museum sign anywhere. I couldn’t find any evidence of it, and I might be wrong, but the museum (if any) might be closed to the public.

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Next I headed for the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Museum situated just west of Indianapolis in Speedway, IN.  In order to get to the museum I had to drive through the tunnel, under the speedway racetrack, to the infield where the museum is located.  The museum has a fantastic collection of race cars, many of which have been winners in races at the Indianapolis 500 race, and other races at the speedway, dating from the early 1900s to the present day.

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One of the tour guide to saw me taking pictures of the cars and said, “Would you like me to take your picture with one of these race cars?” When I told him I would like that, he said, “Just sit on the bench in front of this one, it is the car Juan Pablo Montoya won the last year’s Indianapolis 500 race with (and $2.5 million).”

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I tried to find the World War II Memorial, which is the centerpiece of the World Memorial Plaza in downtown Indianapolis, but Greta kept telling me she couldn’t find a match for the address I had giving her. So, after several tries, I gave up the hunt for today and headed for the motel.

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Tonight I treated myself to meal of some really great Outback Stakehouse grilled Pork Chops, garlic mashed potatoes, asparagus and a house salad with ranch dressing on the side. They were some of the best pork chops I’ve had in a long time. Freshly baked bread with lots of butter and Strawberry jam was my desert. Makes my mouth water just thinking about how good it was!

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Tomorrow morning I’m heading out early for Louisville, Kentucky.

—–To Be Continued—–

 

 

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My 2016 Mid-West Trip~Part 7

17 Aug

A Slice of Life

Bill Lites

Day 7 (Friday)

Since most of the museums on today’s list were on the west side of St. Louis I started with the Historic Aircraft Restoration Museum located at the Creve Coeur Airport. I had been unable to find their hours of operation on their website; I called ahead this morning and was told that they were only open on Saturday and Sunday. They also informed me that any other day of the week the museum was only opened to the public with a 24-hour advance appointment, which left me out in the cold. I was a very disappointed as the museum consisted of three hangers which I’m sure houses many beautifully restored airplanes. Maybe next time.

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Not too far down the road was the St. Louis Museum of Transportation located in the small community of Twin Oaks. This was a fairly large museum consisting of restored cars, trains, and aircraft. The most interesting item at the museum, as far as I was concerned, was their 1/3 scale train ride. The train was modeled after an early 1900s steam engine with open train cars for passengers that circled a portion of the museum grounds. Everything associated with the train ride was 1/3 scale, including crossing safety bars, flashing lights, railroad crossing signs, and the load & unload station. I took a ride and the little kid in me really enjoyed it.

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Next I headed for the Greater St. Louis Air & Space Museum located in Cahokia, but Greta had a hard time finding it. I reset the location three times for her but she never could get me there. Finally I stopped at a motel and ask for directions, which they printed out for me from MapQuest. I tried to follow the written directions, read the street signs and drive at the same time, but that didn’t work. So I tried a final time to input the location to Greta, and what a surprise, she took me right to it. However, when I got there the Greater St. Louis Air & Space Museum I saw at that location was a joke! It was one rundown Hanger with a beat-up C-47 sitting out in front with no engines, and they were closed.

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(This is the sign on the gate where Greta took me)

When I got home and looked up the museum’s website. I couldn’t understand what had happened. All the photos on their website showed something very different from what I had seen and photographed. There was some information about two museum site locations (hangers), so maybe Greta took me to the other location. Whatever, that doesn’t explain her taking me to the address I had for the museum. Mysteries seem to never cease with Greta. I may have to turn her in for the GPS system on my IPhone.

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(This is not the museum location Greta took me to)

Finally I headed for the St. Louis Gateway Arch. I had left visiting the Arch until last because the Internet had said their hours were 8 AM – 10 PM. I have always wanted to ride the elevator up to the top of the Arch, but today it wasn’t going to happen. I had noticed as I came across the bridge, over the Mississippi River, that it looked like there was a lot of construction going on around the base of the Arch. When I pulled into the parking lot I was told that parking was $15, and that Arch tickets might be sold out for the day.

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I was a little surprised at this statement, because it was only 4:30 in the afternoon. The parking attendant was very nice and informed me that today the Arch was closing at 6:00 PM and the last tram ride was at 5:45. I hadn’t known I needed to buy a ticket online before I left home, and would have to drive several blocks to the Courthouse to buy a ticket. Even if I was able to get a ticket, the chances would be slim that I could drive to the Courthouse, find a place to park, buy the ticket, and get back to the Arch parking area and walked to the tram location in time. As I was discussing all this with the parking lot attendant, I noticed a group of at least 75 – 100 school children, all dressed in the same uniform, heading for the Arch tram location. Even if both trams were working, I just knew my chances of getting a ride in one of the small 5-person trams would be likely impossible today. That’s when I called it a day and started looking for someplace to have dinner.

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After all the frustration of this day, I treated myself to a wonderful dinner at the local Cracker Barrel. I had enjoyed their Grilled Catfish so much a couple nights before that I decided to try their grilled Lemon Pepper Trout tonight. It was wonderful, and the collard greens and carrots were great. Honey on one of their famous buttermilk biscuits was my dessert. Once my tummy was full, I was ready to head for the motel for some TV and a good night’s rest.

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—–To Be Continued—–

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My 2016 Mid-West Trip~Part 6

10 Aug

A Slice of Life

 Bill Lites

Day 6 (Thursday)

 

I was surprised when leaving Oklahoma City, on I-70, to discover that it was a Toll Road. As it turned out, by the time I got to Kansas City it had cost me eight dollars in tolls. On the way I stopped in Tulsa, OK to check out the Tulsa Air & Space Museum located adjacent to the Tulsa International Airport. This was a small museum with only about six nicely restored airplanes.

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However, they did have a very unusual Spartan 12W as part of their collection. The Spartan 12W is an upgraded, tricycle gear variant of the Spartan Executive aircraft. I’m going to see if I can talk to my friend Terry (the airplane buff) to see if he has ever heard of, or seen, a tricycle geared Spartan 12W aircraft.

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Just as I was about to cross the border out of Oklahoma I stopped in the small town of Afton, OK to visit in the Afton Station Route 66 Packard Museum. As part of the museum’s name implies, their claim to fame is a nice collection of beautifully restored Packard automobiles, dating from the 1920s through the 1960s. So, it surprised me to see a 1990 Maserati TC sitting off by itself in a side room.

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The museum is located on the old Route 66 Highway and they have every conceivable Route 66 type of memorabilia for sale in their gift shop. It brought back lots of memories from my childhood, when I was raised in Albuquerque, NM with the two-lane Route 66 as our main street (Central Avenue) through town.

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Just down the road a few miles was the National Rod & Custom Car Hall of Fame. I was amazed at the display of some 50 one-of-a-kind custom cars in this collection. I discovered that most all of them were designed and built by Darrell Starboard, who is a famous car show participant with his magnificent original designs.

There is no way to describe the beautiful workmanship of these cars. I would have to compare Darrell Starboard with Bert Rattan, as far as forward-looking design concepts are concerned, in their respective fields.

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By the time I arrived at the TWA Museum located at the Kansas City International Airport they were closed. When I googled that museum I discovered that it was mostly memorabilia items recording the history of TWA’s hub, at what is now the Kansas City International Airport, from the 1920s to the 1990s.

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On the other side of the airport was the National Airline History Museum which was also closed. This is one museum that I was really sorry to miss visiting as I am interested in the history of all the different U.S. airlines. It appears that this museum and the TWA Museum are closely linked, as both display mostly aircraft used by TWA over the years. This is not hard to understand since what is now the Kansas City International Airport was the TWA hub for so many years. The museum’s website indicates it has set an ambitious goal for itself, with the restoration of several large projects. A 1934 Northrop Delta 1D, one of America’s first single engine commercial transport airplanes.   A Lockheed Constellation, known worldwide as one of the first international piston-engine passenger aircraft. A Lockheed L-1011 Tristar, one of America’s premium international jet airliners, and a Douglas DC-8 jet transport just to name a few. Any one of these projects would be a challenge for any museum to take on.

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The last museum on my list today was the Kansas City Automotive Museum located southwest of the city, just off I-35, between Lenexa and Olathe, KS. The museum was closed, but I was able to look through the windows to discover that this was a small museum consisting of 12 nicely restored cars dating from the 1950s and 1960s. There are just not enough hours in the day for me to see everything I want to see along the road I am traveling.

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I had a quick and easy dinner at Taco Bell tonight. Three Crunchy Beef Taco Supremes with lots of Verde Salsa to spice things up. Then it was back to the motel for some TV and a good night’s rest.

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—–To Be Continued—–

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My 2016 Mid-West Trip~Part 5

3 Aug

A Slice of Life

Bill Lites

Bill Red Spot Plane

 

Day 5 (Wednesday)

 

The trip from Fort Worth to Oklahoma City was uneventful. The mesquite trees that inundated central and northern Texas began to disappear as I progressed north, to be replaced by beautiful green foliaged trees of all types in Oklahoma.

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My first stop today was to visit the Oklahoma Railroad Museum located on the east side of Oklahoma City. This museum turned out to be a very small museum with just a few steam engines, and some passenger & freight cars. It was closed, so I wasn’t able to go through any of their restored museum pieces.

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The H & H Gun Range was on the Internet list of “Things to do in Oklahoma City” and I was interested to see what it was all about.  It turned out to be one of the most impressive gun shops I have ever witnessed.  They had every type of pistol, rifle, and ammunition anyone could ever need. They had a pistol range, a rifle range, and even a bow and arrow range. They also had every type of hunting and fishing equipment that a person might have need of. All of this in one store that took up as much as a city block in length and was all housed under one roof.

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Next I stopped at the Oklahoma Science Center, but it was absolutely full of children (grade school through high school) and was so noisy you could hardly hear yourself think. As you might imagine, I didn’t stay long.

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Down the road a ways was the Charles B. Hall Air Park located just outside the main entrance to Tinker Air Force Base. They had a nice arrangement of restored aircraft, statically displayed in the park. The park was named in honor of Major Hall, who was a Tuskegee Airman flying with the 99th Pursuit Squadron during WWII. He was also the first African-American to shoot down an enemy aircraft in combat. I really hate to see some of these magnificent warbirds sitting out in the weather and slowly deteriorating.

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On my way to Bethany, OK to visit my next aviation museum, I stopped off at 180 Medical to talk to Taylor Dragoo, who is my company contact for my self-catheterization supplies. As it turned out he did not look anything like the picture I had of him in my mind, when we are talking on the phone. We had a nice visit but he was busy and I had places to go, so I didn’t stay long.

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My last stop for the day was at the Oklahoma Museum of Flying located in Bethany, Ok. The owners were kind enough to let me in, past their normal 4 o’clock closing time. The museum is quite small with only four planes in one small hanger. However all four of those airplanes are in flying condition. With one of their planes being a B-25 Mitchell, we talked of people in the warbird restoration community that we all knew, such as Tom Riley and Dave Matthews.

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When I arrived at the motel for the evening, I arranged everything I was going to take into my room on the passenger seat and punched the door unlock button. I walked around to the passenger door, to retrieve the items, and found the passenger door locked. What a surprise! I was sure I had punched the unlock button. But when I went back to the driver’s door it was also locked. “Uh Oh! Where are my keys? On the seat with the other things. What have I done now? Locked myself out of the car, dummy.” Everything I needed to contact Roadside Assistance was laying right there on the seat out of reach.

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It took me half an hour and four phone calls before I could contact someone with Thrifty who could help me. It took another half hour for the locksmith to get there and unlock the door. The only upside to this entire ordeal was that the manufacturer had included “Lockout Insurance” with the car, so I didn’t have to pay for the locksmith. You better believe I will be keeping a close eye on those car keys for the rest of this trip.

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Dinner tonight at the local Cracker Barrel was grilled catfish, collard greens and a tossed green salad, with ranch dressing. One of their famous biscuits and honey was my dessert. What a delicious meal that was.

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—–To Be Continued—–

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My 2016 Mid-West Trip~Part 4

27 Jul

A Slice of Life

Bill Lites

Bill Cross Plane

 

Day 4 (Tuesday)

 

I made good time on my trip from Houston to Fort Worth today, and my first stop was to visit the C.R. Smith Museum. This museum records the history of American Airlines, which was founded in 1930, and how the airline has developed from its inception, to the present, under the leadership of C.R. Smith.

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They had a beautifully restored 1935 DC-3 in American Airline colors (of course!). That reminded me of my very first flight on an airplane. That took place in 1945, when I was 6 years old, and my family was moving from Dallas, Texas to Albuquerque, New Mexico. And would you believe it, that trip was in a plane that just happened to be an American Airlines DC-3. I wondered if it could be possible that this is the very airplane I flew in all those many years ago? I have heard of stranger things than that happening.

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Several museums that I had planned to see in Fort Worth were closed today so my next stop was to visit the Vintage Auto Museum and Grill in Weatherford, Texas. This is a very unique museum, in that it includes a bar and grill all under one roof.

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One of the museum’s favorite automobiles is the 1964 Lincoln Continental Convertible that President Lyndon B. Johnson used to drive around his Texas Hill Country ranch, when he was there resting from his White House duties.

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I forgot to mention a minor incident I had yesterday. As I was leaving Texas City, heading north on I-45, a truck kicked up a stone that hit my windshield, (left of my field of vision) leaving a chip in it. I told myself, “I’ll have to be sure to mention that chip to the Thrifty Rental Car folks when I turn the car in at the end of my trip.” That thought was based on the fact that DiVoran and I have two chips in the windshield of our 2003 Mercury Grand Marque that you can barely see, and have been there for years with no problem.

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But, by the time I got to the motel last night, a crack had migrated about 4 inches out of the chip, toward the center of the windshield. When I got up this morning, the crack was not any bigger.   No problem, right? Well, as the day wore on, the crack kept getting bigger. There didn’t seem to be any system to it. I’d drive along for a while and there would be no progression of the crack. Then all of a sudden, it would grow an inch or more.   So, by the end of the day now, the crack was over 12 inches long, and had progressed right across my field of vision. I was afraid that if the windshield was hit again, it might shatter and I could be in a heap of trouble. Since I had some time left in the day, I called Thrifty, explained the problem, and asked them for the closest office where I could take my rental car for a replacement. That turned out to be not far, at the DFW Airport. Thrifty set up the exchange and by the time I got to the airport, that office had my replacement car ready.

 

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So, then it was back to the motel, with my new car, for leftover Baby Back Ribs, sweet potatoe and cole slaw. It was all almost as good as it had been the night before at Longhorn Stakehouse.

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—–To Be Continued—–

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My 2016 Mid-West Trip Part 3

20 Jul

A Slice of Life

 Bill Lites

Bill Stars Plane

 

 

Day 3 (Monday)

The day trip from Houston to Galveston took longer than I had expected. My first stop was to visit the Lone Star Flight Museum. This was a very nice museum with about 20 aircraft (in one very large hanger) most of which were restored to flying condition.

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I was surprised to see they had a German Me-262 Schwalbe (Swallow) jet fighter on display.  I ask one of the volunteers if the Me-262 was in flying condition and he said, “Yes.”  Then he told me it was on loan from another museum, and it was actually one of the three beautiful new Me-262 reproductions built by the Classic Fighter Industries at Paine Field in Everett, Washington.

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The next stop was to visit the Galveston Railroad Museum which had a very nice collection of rolling stock. Their train station restoration was amazing and reminded me of several stations I had visited on my travels to and from duty stations while in the U.S. Navy. A large variety of train memorabilia, including original dinning ware, from the 1920s through the 1960s was also on display.

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I was disappointed when I couldn’t find the Texas Seaport Museum where I hoped to see the Tall Ship Elissa. Greta took me to the Galveston cruise ship terminal which was bustling with cruise line passengers, taxis and limousines.  The entire dock area was blotted out by the mass of the cruise ship tied up alongside the terminal, taking on passengers. The Elissa is a two-masted, iron-hulled brigantine sailing ship originally built in 1877 in Aberdeen, Scotland by the Alexander Hall & Company. The ship is one of the world’s oldest sailing ships, and is maintained and sailed annually around the Gulf of Mexico.

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I stopped and took a photo of the famous Willis-Moody Mansion there in Galveston. I had read that the mansion is a 31-room Romanesque historic residence that was built in 1895 by Narcissa Willis. It was later bought by the entrepreneur William Lewis Moody Jr. and is now listed on the National Register of Historic Places. I decided not to take a tour of the mansion and headed back toward Houston.

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The route Greta proposed for my return to Houston took me past the small town of Texas City, TX. I was old enough (9 years old) to remember the tremendous disaster that happened at the Port of Texas City in 1947.  So I decided to stop and see if they had a museum or memorial honoring the many people that were killed as a result of that disaster.

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The small Texas City Museum is said to have a section set aside for the 1947 disaster, but the museum was closed. However, there was a Texas City Remembers park that honored the people killed in that horrific disaster.

I stopped to pay my respects.

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I made it back to Houston in time to visit the site of the Battleship USS Texas

(BB-35). I had toured two other U.S. battleships and a U.S. cruiser, so opted not to tour this ship. However, Wikipedia informed me that the ship is a New York class battleship that was commissioned in 1914. The USS Texas was involved in many actions during WWI, and again during WWII including support of Allied landings on North Africa, Normandy, Iwo Jima and Okinawa.

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As I was leaving the Battleship Texas site, I noticed right ahead of me was a very tall monument. So I stopped to see what it was all about. I discovered it was the 567 foot high San Jacinto Monument, located on part of the San Jacinto Battleground State Historic Site. This impressive monument was built to commemorate the decisive 1836 Battle of San Jacinto during the Texas Revolution. It was completed in 1939 and is the world’s tallest masonry column (13 feet taller than the Washington Monument). Leave it to Texas to be and have not only the biggest, but also claim to have the tallest!

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Next it was over to the William P. Hobby Airport to see if Greta could find The 1940 Air Terminal Museum. And what do you know; she took me right to it! I was surprised to learn that according to Wikipedia, Houston’s Hobby Airport has been around since 1927, and has had several names; W. T. Carter Field, Houston Municipal Airport and Howard R. Hughes Airport, just to name a few. This building was the first airport passenger terminal built in Houston.

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Opened in 1940, this art deco structure served as the Houston Municipal Airport Terminal until 1954 when it was renamed Houston International Airport. As the air transportation business expanded across America, Houston’s airport expanded with it, and in 1967 it was renamed, again, to what we now know as the William P. Hobby Airport. Too bad the museum was closed, as I would like to have browsed through the history of this beautiful air terminal building.

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On the way to the motel, I asked Greta to see if she could direct me to the ArtCar Museum. As it turned out, this was a small museum that displays mostly post-modern age cars, modified by artists/owners to the specifications of their own idiosyncratic images and visions. I was sorry to find this museum closed for the day, since I would have loved to seen some of those “Artists” handy work.

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Dinner tonight was Baby Back Ribs, a sweet potato with cinnamon butter and cold slaw at Longhorn Steakhouse.  It was all wonderful, and put me in the mood to kick back with a relaxing TV show and a good night’s sleep. I couldn’t find any good TV shows, so I just checked out tomorrow’s weather and went to bed.

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—–To Be Continued—–

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My 2016 Mid-West Trip~Part 2

13 Jul

A Slice of Life

Bill Lites

My 2016 Mid-West Trip Part 2
By Bill Lites

Day 2 (Sunday)

I was expecting today to be a long day, but that huge storm that hit Houston the day before was getting ready to make today even longer. That storm must have been moving slowly west while I was enjoying a good night’s sleep. I hadn’t been on the road more than a half an hour this morning when I started running into the rain. And it was solid rain from then for the next six hours. It was coming down so hard at times that I couldn’t hear my audio book on the car speaker system over the pounding of the rain on the car.

traffic_in_the_rain

Of course no one expects to have an accident just because it’s raining, but as you might expect, someone did. Just look at the car in the left lane, in the picture above, and tell me that is adequate separation for driving on an Interstate in a driving rain! How can people expect to arrive at their destination in one piece when they drive like that? Over the course of the day there were two major accidents which caused I-10 westbound traffic to back up for miles each time.

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During one of those stop-and-go episodes I was lucky enough to be able to pull off the Interstate for gas and to use the restroom. I was thinking that while I was accomplishing those tasks the traffic might hopefully clear. Well, not only did the traffic not clear up, but there were so many people stopping for gas, that there were lines at all 10 pumps, and people were using the covers over the pumps to stay out of the rain. When I finally was able to snag a pump, my credit card didn’t work. I asked the attendant why my card didn’t work and he said with all this rain his satellite connections are not working. Good thing I had some cash or I would have really been stuck. The light at the end of this very dark tunnel was that the weather in Houston was reported to be clear and dry.

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I finally made it to Houston and got to the Space Center Houston Museum around 2:30 in the afternoon. It was a large facility with a tram tour that included the NASA Human Spaceflight Training Center, the Manned Flight Control Center and the NASA Rocket Park. I ended up spending about 2-1/2 hours there, with the tram tour and walking through the museum.

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By then I was getting pretty hungry and it was starting to rain, AGAIN, so I decided to take my supper at Fuddruckers, which was just down the road. I had one of their 1/3 pound Southwest Specialty burgers. Supper was wonderful and relaxing. Then after a couple of wild goose chases around the northern part of Houston, by my friend Greta, she finally got me to my motel for the night.

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After I got settled in at the motel, I remembered I wanted to pick up a couple of items from Walmart. I asked the desk clerk for directions and found it with no problems. But, as I exited the store I realized I had forgotten to bring Greta with me so I could find my way back to the motel easily. Even with a lot of prayer, and several stops for directions, it still took me an hour to find my way back to the motel. Boy, am I ever glad this day is over. I told myself, “Never leave home-base again without Greta!”

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—–To Be Continued—–

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My 2016 Mid-West Trip~ Part 1

6 Jul

A Slice of Life

Bill Lites

Bill Small Red Plane

 

Day 1 (Saturday)

Because of a couple severe health issues, it’s been almost a year since my last “Museum Discovery Trip” (as I call them), and I was looking forward to this trip with great anticipation. However, after today, I’ve decided I will never fly on the weekend again. The lines were extra-long everywhere I needed to go. It took 1½ hours from the time DiVoran dropped me off at the Southwest curbside check-in, then through security, and finally to the departure gate. Now I know why the airlines suggest you arrived at the airport two hours before your flight; so you can hurry up and wait!

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Once we got in the air, it only took 20 minutes longer to fly from Orlando to New Orleans then it took me to get from curbside check-in to the departure gate. I have to admit it was a very nice flight, and the peanuts were fresh. I thought the over-water final approach to the New Orleans International Airport was going to end up with us having to swim the last mile or so. We kept getting lower and closer to the water! It reminded me of a similar feeling I have had; that of the long over-water final approach, over San Francisco Bay, to the San Francisco airport.

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Once I retrieved my suitcase, it was a very long walk from baggage claim to the rental car facility. At the Thrifty Rental Car counter I discovered my reservation had been made for a “Special Rate” (what was that?). When I got to the pickup area, the agent took one look at my reservation slip and pointed to three SUV’s and said, “Take your pick.” That was a new experience for me. I had my choice of a Jeep Renegade, a Jeep Compass or a Jeep Patriot. After a quick call to my son-in-law (a Jeep owner) for his recommendation, I chose the top-of-the-line Patriot.

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After checking out the New Orleans street map and getting Greta (my Garmin) set up and running, my first stop was to visit The National World War II Museum there in New Orleans. There was a huge amount of construction going on around the museum and it took me some time to find a parking place. I was surprised to see that the museum was made up of three large buildings (called pavilions), and the construction was for their new fourth pavilion).

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I discovered that each pavilion was filled with a variety of authentic memorabilia from each of the U.S. military services that took part in that conflict. I realized I was not going to be able to see everything in detail in the time I had left before they closed. I asked about their reduced price “Day After” ticket, but it was only good for one week, and I wouldn’t be back for two weeks. So, I hurried through each level of each pavilion. It would take hours, if not days, for a person to read all of the information displayed and viewed all of the many short movies on each level of each pavilion. I was familiar with much of the information presented in two of the three pavilions.

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The third pavilion was the one I was looking for; it had the museum’s aircraft displayed. There was a German Me-109 hanging from the ceiling of the foyer and six other nicely restored aircraft, all hanging from the ceiling of that third pavilion. There was a P-51 Mustang, a TBM Avenger, a SBD Dauntless dive bomber, a F4U Corsair, a B-25 Mitchell bomber and a B-17 Flying Fortress. I could hardly believe the strength that pavilion’s roof structure must have, to keep all six of those airplanes suspended from its ceiling.

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As it happened, just across the street from where I parked was Louisiana’s Civil War Museum. Since I’m not a Civil War Buff, and it was raining by the time I got back to my car, I elected not to take the time to go through this museum.

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My next stop was to visit the Cars of Yesteryears Museum in Metairie. I had to drive through several blocks of heavily flooded streets, and when I got to the museum it was closed for the weekend. Since it looked like it was going to continue to rain the rest of the afternoon, I decided to go on over to the motel in La Place, LA and try to dry out there.

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After I got checked in at the motel and dried out, I got dining recommendations from the desk clerk, and headed for supper at The Pier 51 Seafood Restaurant just down the road from the motel.  I had Cajun style crawfish, jumbo shrimp, and a house salad with ranch dressing. Boy was that an experience!  I had always wanted to try Cajun prepared crawfish. A local sitting next to me at the bar, with a huge tray of crayfish, graciously instructed me on how to properly peel and eat the crayfish. In my opinion, its more trouble than it’s worth. Also, the Cajun boil they use is a little too spicy for me.

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With a full tummy and a good night’s sleep tonight, I’ll be on my way to Houston, Texas first thing tomorrow morning.

—–To Be Continued—–

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The Cruise of a Lifetime~Part 14

22 May

SUNDAY MEMORIES

Judy Wills

JUDY

 

 

Since we had sailed overnight to Budapest, and had an early shore excursion, we were up by 5:30 a.m. We had breakfast at 7:00 a.m. with Richard, Judy, Lucy, Roy and Jill, Joyce, Rick and Mary.

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By 8:30 a.m. we left on the shore excursion for Budapest. Some “Fast Facts about Hungary” from the ship’s info sheet:

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Home to over a million people, Budapest spans both sides of the Danube River – historic Buda on the east bank and cosmopolitan Pest (pronounced “Pesht”) on the west. Brimming with history, culture and attractions, Budapest is full of baroque, neoclassical and Art Nouveau architecture, and plenty to do. Museums, shopping and restaurants are the places to be.

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The bus took us around the town, then stopped at the square where we went on to the castle.

Funicular

 

Back to the ship by bus, we had lunch, then to our new room on the Lif, for a nap.

At 2:15 p.m., we had a “Budapest by Boat” tour, with our Program Director, Carl West giving the commentary.

Carl West – Program Director

We went by the Parliament Building, which is the most famous picture shown in the Viking advertisements – red-topped building. Really beautiful.

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We were back on the ship by 3:30 p.m., where we rested/napped and read some – quiet time for us.

We had our final/farewell dinner at 7:00 p.m. with Richard, Judy and Lucy. While it was a fun time, we had our last hugs and “wish we lived closer to you” from each of us. While I know it was a very concentrated two weeks with them, we all feel we forged a deep and lasting friendship, that will only continue when we all get to heaven.

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Since tomorrow would be a REALLY early day (we asked for a 2:15 a.m. wake-up call, with a 3:30 a.m. bus departure time into Budapest), we showered that night, and were in bed by 8:30 p.m.

The Whale

The Whale

According to Google search: That’s the “Bálna / Whale” (formerly called CET building) a modern shopping, cultural, and entertainment centre, as well as a tourist attraction on par with Paris’s Eiffel Tower, or the Covent Garden in London – at least that’s what the city leaders want it to be.

According to Google search: The Shoes on the Danube is a memorial to the Budapest Jews who were shot by Arrow Cross militiamen between 1944 and 1945. The victims were lined up and shot into the Danube River. They had to take their shoes off, since shoes were valuable belongings at the time.

The memorial was created by Gyula Pauer, Hungarian sculptor, and his friend Can Togay in 2005. It contains 60 pairs of iron shoes, forming a row along the Danube. Each pair of shoes was modeled after an original 1940’s pair.

~~~~~~~~~~To Be Continued~~~~~~~~~~~

 

 

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The Cruise of a Lifetime~Part 13

15 May

SUNDAY MEMORIES

Judy Wills

JUDY

Since we had to change ships today, Fred and I were up at 5:30 a.m. to shower and dress and finished packing. At 7:00 a.m. we had breakfast with Richard, Judy and Lucy. At 7:45 we completed our packing and put our bags out in the hallway as instructed.

At 8:15 a.m. we reported to our assigned bus to leave the ship and go to Bratislava, Slovakia.

According to the ship’s info on Bratislava:   The emergence of Slovak national consciousness dates to about the 1700s. The written language appeared before the 18th century, and near the end of that century a national movement began to encourage a Slovak identity and the development of Slovak Romanticism with a focus on popular folk traditions. At the end of World War 1,Slovak identity was fully formed, and in 1919 Slovakia joined with Czechia to form a union of two western Slavic nations: Czecho-Slovakia. But its independence was greatly limited by its strong economic, military and political dependence on Germany.

It was then conquered by the Soviets, who wanted to create a pro-Soviet and Communist Czechoslovakia. This lasted until the fall of Communism during the Velvet Revolution of 1989. In 1993, the Slovaks and the Czechs agreed to separate peacefully in what is called the Velvet Divorce. The Czech Republic became a democratic state. Slovakia became an independent nation.

 

We arrived at the Bratislava Castle by 10:00.

 

It was quite windy day but not too cold. While we didn’t go inside the castle, the outside was interesting. Because I knew the history of SPQR, I found this interesting.

According to Google and Ancient Rome for Kids:

The letters SPQR stood for Senatus Populus Que Romanusa – the Senate and the People of Rome. After defeating Tarquin, the last Roman king, the people started a new type of government, a republic. A republic is a type of government whereby people elect officials to represent them in government.

As a publicity campaign, and as propaganda, the new senate had the letters SPQR chiseled, branded or stamped on everything that they controlled. Public buildings, new coins, and even park benches got the letters SPQR added to them.

 The people of Rome were proud of their new government, and were reminded every time that they saw SPQR that they were a part of the Roman Republic, and no longer ruled by a king.

At 10:30 we left for Old Town with a walking tour. We saw many fascinating sights. Here are some:

This little guy is called Cumil (pronounced as Chumil).   As the story goes, Cumil was a mischievous person who while working, used to emerge from under the manhole to look beneath the ladies’ skirts! (Tripadvisor)

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Statue of Bratislava Cavalier Schoner Naci

Napolean – one of the few places to sit

We were given two hours of free time, to look around Bratislava on our own, which is really too long. We found no place to sit – no public benches. We finally went into a bakery and had a hot chocolate and a chestnut pastry. We met and shared a table with Iris and April, sisters from Calgary, Canada (Richard called them “the sisters”), who were also on our cruise. We complained to Carl West (who is from Bratislava, as is Billie, our concierge), that there were no public benches where we could sit and rest our feet. He just laughed. We think it is the city’s plan so visitors have to go into a shop to eat or drink in order to sit and rest.

At 1:00 p.m. we had lunch in the Austrian Trend hotel – it was a very good meal and the entire upper level was set up as a restaurant for our entire ship’s compliment.

At 2:30 p.m. we were back on the bus for our trip Budapest, Hungary. All the buses stopped for a restroom break at 3:45. The bus trip to Budapest normally takes only three hours, but took us four hours instead. We were finally on board the Lif at 6:15 p.m.

At 7:00 p.m. we had dinner with Richard, Judy and Lucy. Richard told us their tour guide, while going through Transylvania, told a story about “wampires… and the bus erupted with laughter.

We were in bed by 10:00 p.m. It had been a long day.

 

 

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