Day 9 – Promenade Plantee, Cat Cafe, and Pompidou Center (Continued from Day 8) Our next-to-last day started at a hip breakfast place called Lockwood. They open early for breakfast, and stay open late for dinner and drinks and music. I started the day with pancakes, which immediately put me into a sugar coma. Next we were off to…
Paris – Day 8, pt 2 (Continued from here) This morning, we spent the day in a suburb of Paris, looking at the graves of beloved pets in the Cemetery of Dog and Other Domestic Animals. This afternoon, we explored the opposite of suburbia. We checked out le petit Manhattan. In other words, La Défense. Although Paris keeps its historic…
Day 8, Part 1 – The Cimitière des Chiens (or, I DO Wanna Be Buried in a Pet Sematary) (Continued from Day 7. Day 1 starts here.) Our eighth day in Paris started with a long train ride to the Northwest of Paris, to a suburb called Asnière-sur-Seine, for what turned out to be the highlight of the trip. Paris…
Day 7 – The Marais, Saint Germaine des Pres, and the Museum of the History of Medicine(Continued from Day 6) Le Musée d’Histoire de la Médecine is one of my favorite finds in all of my time in France. I’d never even heard of it ’til an American friend posted a link to it on my blog, asking me if I’d…
Day 6 – The Canal St. Martin, Belleville, and the Pere Lachaise Cemetery (Continued from Day 5) Our first full day in Paris began with a walk up the Canal St. Martin, and then a visit to the newly hip neighborhood of Belleville. To get to the canal, you take the Metro to Place del la Republique. This is where…
Day 5 – Goodbye Amsterdam, Hello Paris (Continued from Day 4) Day 5 of our trip was mainly a travel day, but we had the entire morning to do something in Amsterdam. I was considering the Rembrandt House, or maybe the zoo, but Udi was free that morning, and offered something pretty neat. He said that if we wanted, he’d…
Day Four in Amsterdam – Markets, Parks, a Cat or Two, and the Eurovision Song Contest (Continued from Day 3) Saturday was our last full day in Amsterdam. We were going to check out the newly renovated Stedelijk Museum, but there was a change of plans. Our friend Udi was free that morning, and he suggested we check out some…
Day 3 in Amsterdam – The Red Light District, Amstelkring Museum, and Westerpark (Continued from Day 2) No trip to Amsterdam is complete without a peek at the city’s oldest neighborhood, which has hosted the world’s oldest profession since the year 1200. The Dutch call this area “De Wallen” or “The Walls”, after the old city walls that once stood…
Day 2 in Amsterdam – The Six Collection, Electric Ladyland (the First Museum of Fluorescent Art), and EyeBar(Continued from Day 1) It’s amazing what 31 hours of being awake, followed by half an ambient and a comfortable bed will do for you. Woke up feeling very rested, and we faced the day with great anticipation, for today we were going…
I love to travel. It’s what I live for. Although I tend to seek out new and exotic lands, it’s nice to go back to familiar places now and then. I get to revisit restaurants and museums that I enjoyed the first time I visited, and I get to check out new neighborhoods, new exhibits, and new shops and stores. …
I recently had the pleasure to take a trip to my favorite international city, Amsterdam. I first visited this wonderful city in 1998. Although I have traveled to most European countries, I hadn’t had a chance to return to Amsterdam until 2011. At that time, I was fortunate to discover the Poezenboot, a cat shelter/sanctuary permanently docked in the Singel…
Just before venturing out for our final day in Istanbul, I look out of our room window; First thing I see is a kitty across the street. This should be a good omen for the rest of the day. Our goal today was to see the Quincentennial Museum of Turkish Jews. The museum is located not far from the…
Our last full day in Istanbul. Today, the plan is to take a cruise up the Bosphorus. Anyone who’s read Orhan Pamuk’s book, “Istanbul” knows the importance the Bosphorus Strait plays in the lives of the people of Istanbul. The 19 mile-long Bosphorus serves as Istanbul’s main highway, hosting a never-ending stream of vessels, from little fishing boats to humungous…
Today I thought we’d try something a little different. Today we’re gonna pop on over to the Asian side of Istanbul. Our destination is Uskudar, a charming district easily accessed by ferry and teeming with historical mosques. Exploring Uskudar gives us a chance to experience the streets of a quiet, everyday neighborhood, without the opulent architecture, modern style and throngs …
To fully appreciate the urban Istanbul of today, you must leave the Old Town and plunge headfirst into the hip, happenin’, lively, upbeat, European-feeling New District, and that’s what we did. After spending the first two full days exploring the classic sites of the Old Town, we indulged in the part of the city where our hotel was located. We…