Dinner At Compass Rose

Had dinner at Compass Rose in the U street district last night. It's billed as street food from  around the world - and it was really good. My dinner was an appetizer of 3 dips and pita chips (crushed olive dip, humus and roasted sweet pepper dip) main course - a Brazlian dish of whole shrimp in some kind  delicious sauce and roasted pineapple.

P.S. The blog is doing that crazy thing - When Impost more than 3 pictures it won't let me put a caption on the 4th picture:  this is a view of the type of homes in the neighborhood where I had dinner - just beautiful!

The Compass Rose

Inside the restaurant 

Newseum Pictures Part 3

The  television tower from one of the World Trade Center buildings. It's a very moving exhibit about 9/11.

The door from the Watergate that literally opened the door the scandal.

More Pictures From The Newseum

The view from the rooftop deck of the museum

The display of the front page of  today's newspapers from every state in the US and around the world

The display of the from the Will Ferrell Anchorman movies

1st Day In DC: All The News That's Fit To Print

It was 66 and rainy on the first day of my trip - and I loved it!

I arrived early in the afternoon and after checking in at the hotel headed for the Newseum - what a fabulous museum.  6 floors of the history of reporting news.  Included were exhibits with the coverage of the Watergate scandal, including the actual door from the Watergate that the security guard found taped open when the burglars broke in, one of the first copies of the Suma Theologica, they display the daily front page of all the major newspapers in the US and and around the world, and an exhibit of the Pulitzer Prize winning photographs from 1940 to 2014 ....and so much more.  I.was there for 4 hours and could go back for more.

Here are a few pictures:

This is a portion of the Berlin Wall - they have an exhibit about the building and teariring down of the wall.

The actual tower from Checkpoint Charlie - East German guards were given the order to shoot to kill anyone trying to scale the wall to get to West Berlin

Countdown For A Trip To My Second Favorite Vacation Destination

Only 20 days till I pack my bags again - no funny money this time and a much shorter flight to Washington DC.

Stay tuned for more ranting, raving and panda bears!

Checking My Landing Gear -
Eleanor

Before We Head Home

The days flew by - it was amazing - the trip of a lifetime. So sorry Basil that you weren't here, or maybe not.

We have an early, early wake up call tomorrow - have to be in the water taxi at 5:15 am. We fly to Madrid have a 2 hour layover and then we'll be home late Thursday afternoon.

Thank You Jeanne and Brad for making this dream come true for us.

Thanks for reading the blog and posting your comments.

Arrivederci fina al promissimo viaggio
Eleanor

Wednesday, Our Last Day In Venice

It was a foggy morning, but cleared out by the afternoon.  Cathi had her first vaparetto ride as we headed for the Rialto Bridge area this morning. For some reason, I didn't take any pictures while we were there.  We had lunch at Harry's Bar again, this time met the son of the original owner, Cathi's got a picture of us with him.  And we found the spot for the picture Kara asked us to replicate.

Could barely see see the church across the lagoon from my balcony this morning.

Cathi at the bar in Harry's Bar (note all the glasses lined up for Bellinis that are ordered for lunch - including mine.

Here's the picture Kara

Oh look a picture of me

For The Benefit Of Brad Richards

Composer Antonio Vivaldi was born and found his success in Venice, specifically in the neighborhoods where we are staying. He worked at the Metropole Hotel which is a couple of doors down, and the church that he associated with as concertmaster La Pieta, is also nearby.  So I now present a picture of the Metrpole Hotel as well as 2 pictures I took "under cover" inside La Pieta (another "no photos" church - if I wind up,in jail I am calling you Brad for bail).

Tuesday Evening: Back At Cafe Florian

Cathi contemplates all the delicious menu options.

Our choices: coffee with chocolate and "crema" and Irish Coffee

[Insert your own caption here]


Th-th-th-that's all folks!

Sighing on the Bridge of Sighs because tomorrow is our last day here

Eleanor

The Gondola Ride

Everyone knows these sandal wearing feet in the Gondola

The views were spectacular 

Oh No! A Gondola traffic jam, so much better than the ones on I-30. 

Cathi making friends with the Gondolier

Eleanor Breaks A Rule At Santa Maria Gloriosa Dei Frari

Almost all the churches I've visited do not allow you to take pictures inside the building - even if you are not using a flash, and they are pretty serious about it.  But Tuesday morning, I broke that rule at Santa Maria Gloriosa Dei Frari: as you can see the outside of the church is plain - the inside is unbelievably beautiful. I took these pictures "under cover"  - I  was one of the first people in the church that day and photo patrol wasn't out yet.  By the way the Frari in the title refers toy he Franciscan order of priests who built the church, not the car.

Tuesday's Scenery

Finally!  I can upload some pictures. A few more scenes from Venice streets.  I've got hundreds of them (literally).

I'd say Pope Francis is pretty popular - found this on menu board outside a trattoria (translation : "you can taste the goodness in simple things")

Tuesday - No Pictures

For some reason the internet gremlins are not allowing me to upload photos tonight.
That's too bad, because we finally took a Gondola ride this afternoon, yes we enjoyed it (except for the part where I fell into the Gondola as we were boarding). I'm OK - just bruised ego.

I'll see if I can load some pictures tomorrow morning.

Becoming Addicted To Proseca -
Eleanor

So A Couple Of American Women Walk Into A Bar...

... And discover that you do get chips with your drinks in Italy, potato chips - I'm not kidding as evidenced by the picture below.

Hey look Kara - a wall of wine corks!

That was Monday in Venice 

Buena Sera

Eleanor

More Scenery

Ah Venice!

San Zacharria church which is right behind our hotel.

Another beautiful canal view from the Castello .

Gorgeous  flowers in an alley-way.

Monday: Murano A Really "Glassy" Place

This morning we took an exclusive boat ride to Murano island (Cathi and I were the only 2 people to go early in the morning being the crazy Americans we are). We took a tour  of one of the glass factories  - but I only took 2 pictures during the tour because we were so enthralled by our tour guide Roboerto. We'll explain when we return.  So, here are a couple of pictures of the glass maker creating a blown glass horse.

Eleanor''s Museum Visit

I went to the Peggy Guggehiem Collection this afternoon. It's modern art, I like modern so I'm going to make you look at a couple of pictures from the museum.

By Rene Magrritte  -one of my personal favorites.

By Alexander Calder

This museum has a Nasher sculpture garden too.

See that wasn't so awful was it?  That's all for today folks.

We are headed to Murano Island in the morning for some "glassy" shopping.

Grazzi!

Eleanor 

Meanwhile On the Grand Canal....

...Life is beautiful.  All of these pictures were taken from Academia-Dosoduro side of the canal.

The Doge's Palace or How We Wound Up In Prison

The Doges were the somwhat figurehead rulers of Venice during it's reign over the seas and trade. The Doge's Palace is almost next door to our hotel -so we had to visit the palace.  It's a place of great splendor, intimidation through art and a maze of prison you don't want to get caught in (like we were).

The Grand Staircase into the palace with the statues of greek gods at the top - to remind you of the power within this palace.

One of the many ornate entry ways into the palace.

Cathi in the prison yard. - we  still hadn't found our way out.

More Pictures From Saturday: The Daylight Savings Time Edition

A furry Venice resident keeps an eye on things above the street 

Really typical street scene: a Saint above a doorway surrounded by modern shops

San Marcos at night. Cathi on a cell phone talking to my sister - now I've really seen everything!