The Bistro- Off topic and fun posts!

[BWIVince]

5 hours ago, mskatiemae said:

OMG, now we have come full circle!!!

Here is the answer:

https://www.facebook.com/220426855036852/posts/681512012261665/

 

Full confession I did not know this one (asked a friend, the name starts with G) though I was a big fan of the MTM show when I was growing up in Central Pennsylvania. 

Funny, with the recent passing of the amazing Cloris Leachman, I was just thinking about the longevity of the actors that worked on the MTM show...  It’s amazing how many of them lived into their 90’s, or are close in Gavin’s case.  Of course Ted Knight was sort of the opposite of that thought, having died decades ago.  🙁

 

You beat me to two points I was going to make about the skywalks — they’re as useful in the summer as they are in the winter, and they protect you from the state bird bites.  😁

 

Vince

[Coral]

9 hours ago, KenzSailing said:

 

I'm from Nebraska. I know all about state fairs, especially those snobs in Iowa and their butter sculptures(oooohhh....)

 

But you've inspired me.  When the Chez goes public, my first course served will be deep fried foie gras, coated in responsibly sourced dark chocolate, with a dusting of panko. On a stick.

 

Of course someone has probably already done this.  

Where in Nebraska? I live in Lincoln. We just have 20" of snow on the ground now.

 

Our State Fair moved and no longer is popular. Iowa's is still King.

Edited January 28, 2021 by Coral

[mskatiemae]

Another shameless plug for my local tourism - today is the start of the 135th anniversary Saint Paul Winter Carnival!

 

https://www.visitsaintpaul.com/blog/guide-to-the-saint-paul-winter-carnival/

 

And skyway fans, the skyway is primo viewing spot for Grande Day Parades (at least when we had parades) on a very very cold Saturday in late January.

 

Slogan for the festival is "The Coolest Celebration on the Earth" and it pits the Boreas family (ice royalty) against the unruly and scurrilous Vulcans (dressed as 'devils' who bring back the warmth).

 

We are using a drive-thru for the snow and ice sculptures this year, as we did for the State Fair food vendors in 2020.

[Roland4]

11 hours ago, travelberlin said:

We used  to joke that Minnesota had only two seasons: winter and July...

Ivi

The Canadian version of that; We have all four seasons - Almost Winter, Winter, Still Winter and Road Construction! 😁

[KenzSailing]

6 hours ago, Coral said:

Where in Nebraska? I live in Lincoln. We just have 20" of snow on the ground now.

 

Our State Fair moved and no longer is popular. Iowa's is still King.

 

Omaha.  Twenty inches?  I am flashing back to shoveling my parents' drive(open to the north, walled in on the south.) Meanwhile, here we have a shot at 2-4" on Sunday, and I'm already bracing myself.

[Coral]

23 minutes ago, KenzSailing said:

 

Omaha.  Twenty inches?  I am flashing back to shoveling my parents' drive(open to the north, walled in on the south.) Meanwhile, here we have a shot at 2-4" on Sunday, and I'm already bracing myself.

Omaha got a tad less. Lincoln had 2" this weekend, 16 inches Monday and then 1-2" on Tuesday. It isn't pretty. They hope to have residential streets done by tomorrow. I still had snow on the ground from a previous snow. So far, since October, we have had 34".

 

I think Omaha got 12" on Monday. It ranked 7th in Omaha for largest one day snow record.

 

I am so done with winter. I think the storm this weekend will be rain/ice as opposed to snow so we will be spared.

 

I like Omaha - they have better restaurants than we do and a pretty darn cool zoo. If you haven't been recently - our zoo now ranks up there with San Diego's.

Edited January 28, 2021 by Coral

[rafinmd]

Today's sunrise is the first from my cruise on Enchantment of The Seas during her first deployment to Baltimore.   January 28, 2013 was a sea day in route to San Juan.

 

 

Roy

[rafinmd]

Today's sunrise is from one year ago, on what should have been a 2-ship (plus Amtrak) circumnavigation of the globe.  On January 29, Crystal Serenity was still on the way to her first port of call:

 

 

Roy

[rafinmd]

Today's sunrise is from my 2015 Maasdam cruise to Rio. On January 30 we visited Bonaire.

 

 

Roy

[KenzSailing]

On 1/26/2021 at 3:01 PM, BWIVince said:

Vegas is also notorious for gouging citywide convention attendees and organizers to a much higher degree than almost any other city, long a bone of contention during their biggest events.
 

Vince
 

 

 

Back on the subject of Las Vegas, your point above was made a bit more specifically, and pointedly, by the LV dining book I picked up. The author, John Curtas, wrote:

 

"Vegas is the most expensive dining town in America. The mantra of the big hotels is 'hit 'em hard, hit 'em fast and wait for the next sucker to show up.'" 

 

A little harsh maybe, but not totally incorrect.  We go to LV mostly for the dining, but we know what is about to happen to the AMEX in my pocket when we cross the threshold at Robuchon, Guy Savoy, or even the coffee shop at Bellagio.

 

Parenthetically, on the general subject of hotels, etc, searching for sources of revenue: I read in Washingtonian today that the Sofitel downtown is offering a 2.5 hour room-for-room-service only option.  You get the room for no charge, minimum $70/pp room service spend.  Desperate times, desperate measures(as your might imagine, the once every four years tourist bonanza that is the inauguration did not materialize this year.  Quite the opposite, in fact.)

 

[BWIVince]

30 minutes ago, KenzSailing said:

 

Back on the subject of Las Vegas, your point above was made a bit more specifically, and pointedly, by the LV dining book I picked up. The author, John Curtas, wrote:

 

"Vegas is the most expensive dining town in America. The mantra of the big hotels is 'hit 'em hard, hit 'em fast and wait for the next sucker to show up.'" 

 

A little harsh maybe, but not totally incorrect.  We go to LV mostly for the dining, but we know what is about to happen to the AMEX in my pocket when we cross the threshold at Robuchon, Guy Savoy, or even the coffee shop at Bellagio.

 

Parenthetically, on the general subject of hotels, etc, searching for sources of revenue: I read in Washingtonian today that the Sofitel downtown is offering a 2.5 hour room-for-room-service only option.  You get the room for no charge, minimum $70/pp room service spend.  Desperate times, desperate measures(as your might imagine, the once every four years tourist bonanza that is the inauguration did not materialize this year.  Quite the opposite, in fact.)

 

 

So true about Vegas...  Outside of the gouging issue where the menus get reprinted with new and exciting higher prices when certain conventions come to town, it's amazing the sheer number of ultra-high-end restaurants are in the city, and their proportion to the relatively low room rates throughout the city.  I've been thinking about this a little, and will circle back to that in a separate post in the next couple of days...  Probably while watching the foot of snow fall.  😕

 

It's interesting to watch every business these days trying to reinvent their models -- taking a fresh look at themselves and saying, "ok, we have these products and these services, what else can they possibly be used for or how else can we serve them?"  Especially hotels -- a hotel room can be a residence, an isolation pod, a private dining room, an office, etc...  And I think I've received emails pitching all of those uses recently.

 

The funny thing about room service, is that while a lot of hotels are still running traditional room service, the pandemic has definitely seemed to accelerate the transition to restaurant pick-up or knock-and-drop carry-out that a lot of hotels started a couple of years ago.  Its nice to see the Sofitel not only still offering room service, but actually selling it as an a la carte service for your private dining room.

 

I'm very afraid this month has been the curse that's going to keep on cursing DC tourism logistically for quite a while -- even long after the pandemic.  😪

 

Vince

[rafinmd]

Today's sunrise demonstrate that there can be color in the sky even on a cloudy day.  It is from my 2019 Prinsendam Grand South America Voyage.  On January 31 we were near Cape Horn:

 

 

Roy

[travelberlin]

29 minutes ago, rafinmd said:

Today's sunrise demonstrate that there can be color in the sky even on a cloudy day.  It is from my 2019 Prinsendam Grand South America Voyage.  On January 31 we were near Cape Horn:

 

 

Roy

Roy thanks a lot for your beautiful pictures. There are a good break from the current restrictions and bring nice memories to my mind.

Ivi

[rafinmd]

Today's sunrise is from my 2018 Crystal 2-ship World Cruise.  On February 1 the Crystal Serenity was at sea from Honolulu to Pago Pago.

 

 

Roy

[rafinmd]

Today's sunrise is actually a sunset.  It's from my 2016 Crystal Symphony Antarctica cruise as we crossed the Drake Passage to Antarctica:

 

 

Roy

[rafinmd]

Today's sunrise is the last from my final (so far) cruise on the Enchantment of The Seas out of Baltimore.  It was our last sea day before heading up the Chesapeake Bay:

 

 

Roy

[rafinmd]

Sometimes a sunrise can catch you unexpecting, like this one from the Enchamtment of the Seas February 4, 2013 just as we were arriving in Baltimore:

 

 

Roy

[rafinmd]

Today's sunrise is from my 2015 Maasdam cruise Ft. Lauderdale to Rio.  On February 5 we were just south of Devils Island:

 

 

Roy

[rafinmd]

Today's sunrise is from my last completed voyage, Crystal Serenity Los Angeles to Sydney with planned connections on QM2 to New York.  On February 6 we visited Raiatea:

 

 

Roy

[rafinmd]

Today's sunrise is from my 2015 Maasdam cruise from Fort Lauderdale to Rio.  On February 7 we were at sea between the Equator and Belem, Brazil.

 

 

Roy

[rafinmd]

Today's sunrise is another case of the sun struggling to emerge from cloudy skies.  This was February 8, 2018 from my 2018 Crystal 2-ship World Cruise with the Crystal Serenity being waved off a call at Yasawa-I-Rara, Fiji:

 

 

Roy

[SusieQft]

Roy, I am really enjoying the daily sunrise photos.  Just like on a real cruise, some of them are spectacular and some are less so.  But each one represents a new day on board with all the promise of adventure or relaxation, socializing, enrichment, entertainment, delicious food, etc., that comes with a cruise day.  These are things that I am looking forward to experiencing live on a ship again, hopefully soon.  I'm sure that this is a hope most of us share.  Your photos are a reminder of that possibility.

[rafinmd]

Today's sunrise is from my 2016 Crystal Symphony Antarctica cruise.  On February 9 we were supposed to visit Punta Arenas but were unable to due to strong winds:

 

 

Roy

[rafinmd]

Today's sunrise is instead a sunset.  It's the first one from my 2012 Zaandam Far East Cruise (Bangkok to Hong Kong),  On February 10 we visited Sihanoukville:

 

 

Roy

[rafinmd]

I had not planned to have 2 strait sunrises from my 2012 Zaandam Southeast Asia cruise, but after 2 unexpected days in the hospital it is happening.  On February 13, 2012, the Zaandam visited Na Trang, Vietnam.

 

 

Roy