Delta Airlines has a hub in Minneapolis. We found cheap last minute tickets to Minneapolis from both major airports in Chicago. Another sweet deal was that we got upgraded to business class on the way there. We were refreshed with beverages (served in real glass glasses) and name brand snacks (twix, pb cups, etc.) for the whole duration of our short flight up there. First time I wished the flight was longer.
The hotel we stayed at was Aloft and it was located right by the Mississippi river. The area of the hotel was similar to Chicago's South Loop: lots of new condo buildings and new restaurants. Hotel is also a block way from the Guthrie Theater and Mill City Museum. I loved the hotel's efficient and eco friendly design (it had an IKEA feel to it). It was only $76/night, a bargain considering the new and trendy condition of the hotel. Highly recommend it, and will look for this chain again when traveling to other cities. Another plus, the hotel was close to the Downtown East/Metrodome LRT Station. This train line has a station inside the airport, and runs every 10minutes. We took the train both from and back to the airport to save money on cabs. The trip was fast and fun, most of the line runs above ground so you can see a bit of the Minneapolis neighborhoods on your way to the hotel.
Nice ride bike system, had just installed the bike stations throughout the city a month before we visited. So we were one of the first people to try them out. Many locals stopped us to ask how the bike rental works. You rent the bikes for just $5/24hrs and that's the only fee you pay if you use the bikes only 1/2 hr at a time. The bike stations are located throughout the downtown area at about 5minutes apart. So it was very easy to take a bike and get to out destination, lock it in, walk around and then when it was time to go get a bike from a station close to where our walk ended. We biked around the Mississippi river, through residential neighborhoods (Nicollet Island Park), and the University of Minnesota campus. The bikes were sturdy, have flashing lights that only turn on when you're pedaling, and they conveniently lock by just pushing them into a station (you don't have to fumble with a chain and lock). The bike rental uses credit cards, so you can check out a bike instantly on the spot at any bike station.
Every Saturday morning (in the summer) there is a Farmer's Market at the Mill City Museum, one block from the Aloft hotel. We arrived Friday night and had dinner at a Japanese fusion restaurant accross the street form the hotel, Wasabi. The next day we had breakfast at the Farmer's Market at the Mill City Museum. There was lots of outdoor cooking, music, children and pets at the farmer's market. We saw the cutest giant labradoodle there. From the Farmer's market we followed the banks of he Mississippi River to the Stone Arch Bridge, all within walking distance. After crossing the bridge, we stumbled on a trail through Father Hennepin Park. It had a lot of greenery and stone formations, it felt like we were in the middle of the wild instead of downtown Minneapolis.
In the evening we biked to Nicollet Mall, a street in the center of town full of bars. All the bars had outdoor seating areas and their doors and windows were open so music and any live performances could be heard outside. Nicollet Mall is a great laid back hang out. You had people dressed up in clubbing attire and people dressed in jeans and a T-shirt just enjoying a beer. I really liked the laid back atmosphere and the people watching.
For half a day on Sunday we went to downtown St. Paul, we cabbed it there to save time since the towns are a good 20minutes apart by car. We visited the Science Museum of Minnesota and saw their Dead Sea Scrolls exhibit, and ate breakfast at the famous Mikey's Diner. We also walked around following one of the walking tours for St. Paul featured in the book Walking Twin Cities, we borrowed from our local library.
One place that we did go for about 2hrs that we really could have skipped and wouldn't have felt the difference, was the Mall of America. We took a cab from downtown St. Paul and then returned to our hotel via the LRT train which had a station at the mall. I had read an article about this mall as a kid and was fascinated with the facts. However, when seeing it in person it was no different that a regular mall, just a lot bigger. So big that in the center it has an amusement park. So big that several stores repeat themselves throughout the mall. They had ~ 4 Carribou Coffee places and more than one Starbucks. We ended up having lunch at the food court, since we felt the restaurant selection was not that great. Even the relatively big food court had hardly any healthy food selections. I was a bit disappointed overall with this mall. I guess I had too many great expectations.
Sunday evening we went to the ACME Comedy club in Mineappolis. The stand up comedy was great, and what made it even more special that evening was a particular member of the audience who had a most unusual and contagious laugh. I laughed with tears, and the comedian had to stop and knowledge that his show was so much better because of the audience that night. That evening we walked to the comedy club from our hotel a good 1.5 to 2 miles. It was all through beautiful and trendy residential neighborhood. Lots of new and trendy condos and townhomes have been built recently in Minneapolis. Many of the old riverfront abandoned mills/factories have been rehabilitated into condos while still keeping the old architecture details in place.
After the show we had dinner at the Guthrie's Theater seafood restaurant Sea Change. The restaurant had a beautiful decor and the food was amazing. I had the bouillabaisse, which is a tomato base stew with seafood. I dipped my bread in the tomato/seafood sauce and found heaven. At the end I wanted to lick the bowl, it was so delicious. I will definitely be keeping my eyes open for this at other seafood restaurants.
The last day of our long weekend journey to Minneapolis we visited the inside of the Mill City Museum. We had admired the museum from the outside all weekend, since it was right by our hotel. Inside it was just as fascinating. I loved the way they built the museum using the ruins of the old mill. The old fused with the new architecture was gorgeous. The museum gives a great overview of the area's history and how the Mississippi river helped put it on the map. A must visit for anyone going to Minneapolis.
All in all, Minneapolis/St. Paul made a great weekend getaway from Chicago. I will recommend that you stay in Minneapolis as there is much more to do than St. Paul, but still do a quick trip there for the museums or just to walk around.
Saturday, July 10, 2010
Friday, October 9, 2009
8/31/09 to 9/5/09: Milos, Greece
Review Milos, Santorini, and Athens
8/31/09 to 9/12/09: Various Locations, Greece
Decided to make one of the island destinations our first trip. To get anywhere in Greece you have to fly in through Athens. So after a long flight to Athens we boarded a very small plane for Milos.
We flew Alitalia for the first and last time. Their hub is in FCO airport and it was the most innefficient airport I have ever been in. In summary, Alitalia lost our luggage when getting there and back, and both losses occurred in Italy at FCO. Due to the plane changes it took one cool 24 hours from the time we left our home to the time we reached our first hotel in Milos.
The hotel we stayed at in Milos is called Provatas Beach Hotel. Since Milos is a fairly small island, it has a few towns and a lot of beaches around the island. Our hotel was located right off the Provatas beach in the south center of the island. Since we did not stay in the town (no beaches in the town, just a port) we needed transportation to get around. We rented a small automatic car, for which we ended up paying cash since their processing machine was broken. The rental was expensive compared to similar cars in the US. We were charged a premium for requesting an automatic.
Provatas Beach Hotel:
With our rental we were able to drive around the whole island and check out the different towns and beaches. The main harbor town is Adamas. We spent almost every evening there as there were lots of restaurants with outdoor terraces to choose from. Lots of grilled meats and seafood on the menu. Many items fried. Salads are served with most meals and mineral water. All the restaurants we tried the food was good, but nothing out of the ordinary. I enjoyed the smelt fried fish which brought back childhood memories.
We soon realized the beach right outside our hotel was the nicest beach since it had golden fine sand. All other beaches we checked out had rocky dark sands. Overall we were very pleased with the Provatas Beach Hotel for its proximity to a great beach and the included daily breakfast.
The two highlights of Milos (besides lounging on the beach) are: Plaka and day boat trips around the island. Plaka is a historic city on one of the highest points on the island. It has the white washed houses and a great view of the surrounding islands and waters. It's an ideal place for sunset watching. However, we realized early on that we are not sunset people. So every sunset we went to watch we walked away in the middle of it, never saw it to the end. We like sunsets when they are combined with other activities like: reading, dinner, shopping, but never just sitting there and waiting for the sunset to happen.
Images from Plaka:
The other highlight of Milos was our day long boat trip around the island. You just shop around the Adamas harbor for touring boats for the next day ( and there are lots) and you embark on a day long excursion with various stops around the island. This was a wonderful way of meeting people who were also on vacation. On our boat we ended up being ten tourists and two locals. The countries represented on the boat were: Hungary, Greece, Spain, South Africa, and the US. Talk about a multinational crowd. Everybody had in common English so we had no problems with communication. By the way, when you travel to Greece, everyone involved in the tourist industry knows or understands English, so language was never an issue.
Images from Boat Day Trip:
Breakfast, lunch, and various snacks were provided on the boat trip. The day trip had various stops for snorkeling, cave exploring, and beach lounging.
Milos was a great destination, but coming from the US we would advise to stop in Athens as the first destination to rest and then travel further to the islands. We stayed in Milos a couple of days so we fully recovered by the end.
Next we took an interconnecting water taxi from Adamas, Milos to Santorini. The water taxi was big and accommodating, it had TVs and a restaurant for small refreshments. We bought breakfast from the port before leaving and ate it on the boat. The trip was a luxurious ~2hr in which we read up on our next destination.
Embarking the water taxi in Milos:
8/31/09 to 9/12/09: Various Locations, Greece
Decided to make one of the island destinations our first trip. To get anywhere in Greece you have to fly in through Athens. So after a long flight to Athens we boarded a very small plane for Milos.
We flew Alitalia for the first and last time. Their hub is in FCO airport and it was the most innefficient airport I have ever been in. In summary, Alitalia lost our luggage when getting there and back, and both losses occurred in Italy at FCO. Due to the plane changes it took one cool 24 hours from the time we left our home to the time we reached our first hotel in Milos.
The hotel we stayed at in Milos is called Provatas Beach Hotel. Since Milos is a fairly small island, it has a few towns and a lot of beaches around the island. Our hotel was located right off the Provatas beach in the south center of the island. Since we did not stay in the town (no beaches in the town, just a port) we needed transportation to get around. We rented a small automatic car, for which we ended up paying cash since their processing machine was broken. The rental was expensive compared to similar cars in the US. We were charged a premium for requesting an automatic.
Provatas Beach Hotel:
With our rental we were able to drive around the whole island and check out the different towns and beaches. The main harbor town is Adamas. We spent almost every evening there as there were lots of restaurants with outdoor terraces to choose from. Lots of grilled meats and seafood on the menu. Many items fried. Salads are served with most meals and mineral water. All the restaurants we tried the food was good, but nothing out of the ordinary. I enjoyed the smelt fried fish which brought back childhood memories.
We soon realized the beach right outside our hotel was the nicest beach since it had golden fine sand. All other beaches we checked out had rocky dark sands. Overall we were very pleased with the Provatas Beach Hotel for its proximity to a great beach and the included daily breakfast.
The two highlights of Milos (besides lounging on the beach) are: Plaka and day boat trips around the island. Plaka is a historic city on one of the highest points on the island. It has the white washed houses and a great view of the surrounding islands and waters. It's an ideal place for sunset watching. However, we realized early on that we are not sunset people. So every sunset we went to watch we walked away in the middle of it, never saw it to the end. We like sunsets when they are combined with other activities like: reading, dinner, shopping, but never just sitting there and waiting for the sunset to happen.
Images from Plaka:
The other highlight of Milos was our day long boat trip around the island. You just shop around the Adamas harbor for touring boats for the next day ( and there are lots) and you embark on a day long excursion with various stops around the island. This was a wonderful way of meeting people who were also on vacation. On our boat we ended up being ten tourists and two locals. The countries represented on the boat were: Hungary, Greece, Spain, South Africa, and the US. Talk about a multinational crowd. Everybody had in common English so we had no problems with communication. By the way, when you travel to Greece, everyone involved in the tourist industry knows or understands English, so language was never an issue.
Images from Boat Day Trip:
Breakfast, lunch, and various snacks were provided on the boat trip. The day trip had various stops for snorkeling, cave exploring, and beach lounging.
Milos was a great destination, but coming from the US we would advise to stop in Athens as the first destination to rest and then travel further to the islands. We stayed in Milos a couple of days so we fully recovered by the end.
Next we took an interconnecting water taxi from Adamas, Milos to Santorini. The water taxi was big and accommodating, it had TVs and a restaurant for small refreshments. We bought breakfast from the port before leaving and ate it on the boat. The trip was a luxurious ~2hr in which we read up on our next destination.
Embarking the water taxi in Milos:
Thursday, July 17, 2008
July 4th-7th: Palm Beach, FL
I booked the cheapest flight to FL for the July 4th weekend. Didn't know anything about Palm Beach. I just badly needed a beach.
Our flight arrived on time to Palm Beach, but we hovered over the city for ~1hr due to thunderstorms. Finally we were sent 20min North to Orlando to pick up some more fuel since we were running out. After fueling, we waited another half hour in Orlando due to storms, and finally headed to Palm Beach. We landed there three hours late from our scheduled arrival time.
We took a $15 cab ride from airport to Hotel Chesterfield in Palm Beach. I booked the room and breakfast option. Rates were decent and the hotel was one of the nicest Dan and I have stayed at so far. They welcomed us with fresh strawberries, warm cookies, and sherry. They also had complimentary water bottles and jelly beans. They have turndown service in the evening and that comes with Godiva squares. :)
Since we arrived there the 4th of July, we asked for directions and crossed the Royal Palm Way/Lakeview bridge on foot from Palm Beach to Downtown West Palm beach to join the 4th on Flagler Celebration wich was in full swing. The fiesta was right on the Intercoastal Water front on Flagler road and it was a smaller version of "The Taste of Chicago" only with Spanish salsas and meringues instead of jazz. I enjoyed a Mojito wine cooler and put powder sugar all over myself while eating a huge elephant's ear (fried dough). We listened to the music and people watched. It was great! That's how dusk found us. We inched closer to the water's edge as the fireworks started over the Intercostal Waters. The fireworks were to music and lasted a good half an hour.
We walked back to the hotel with the crowds, which we left in West Palm Beach. And took a quick dunk in the hotel's outdoor swimming pool despite the sign that said the pool closed at sunset.
The following day, July 5th, we went down for our complimentary breakfast. It was plentiful and both Dan and I overloaded on the fresh fruit. Florida is supposedly known for its strawberries, and indeed they were delicious.
After breakfast, we headed to Worth Ave. which was only two blocks from the hotel. It's supposed to be the "mall" of the rich during the season (December to April). Sprinkled with names I only hear on TV: Tiffany's, Gucci, Chanel, etc.. the "mall" was a ghostown during offseason. We wondered like drunken sailors through the different hidden courtyards and gaped in the windows of the stores we did not dare enter. To their credit, most stores were so desperate for any humans, they left their store doors open despite the hot and humid weather or posted signs saying "yes we're open" or "come on in". We liked the courtyards a lot, reminded me of Italy's Amalfy coast towns and even saw a sculpture exhibit by a "Romanian Prince" (I liked to imagine he's a gypsy banging a kooky old rich lady of Palm Beach.)
From Worth Ave. we concluded that if Miami is for rich young and fabulous people, then Palm Beach during "the season" is the home of these young and fabulous people's parents and grandparents. I am curious what this shopping district must look like when all its regular clientele is in town. I bet it makes great people watching.
After Worth Ave. headed, again on foot, to see the The Flager Museum. On this one mile pedestrian adventure we saw tons of lizards. It's like they invaded the island. We soon realized that they are the squirrel of the South. The only difference is that they like to cross the sidewalk just as people walk by. So much so, that I stepped on one while walking. They are that abundant and frequent in their movements to the point that I didn't want to walk anymore, afraid that a suicidal one will find itself under my soles again.
The Flager Museum was a treat visually and historically. I have seen mansions/museums before. It was on par with the European castles, with the subtle difference that it had sprinkled the "latest" technological innovations throughout (modern plumbing, central heating/cooling, servant call buttons). The museum was excellent. It was built by the behind the scenes partner of Rockefeller, Henry Flagler (owners of Standard Oil) as a bridal gift to his third wife. The museum is complete with his own personal railroad cart which he used to travel the railroad he built to modern Key West. It was neat that the museum allowed visitors to climb into the cart from one end to the other. It felt like I was at the Museum of Science and industry in Chicago.
Only hunger made us leave the museum. We asked for the nearest place we can eat, and we were directed to a local deli TooJay's. The food was excellent, affordable, and close to the museum. After lunch, we walked back to our hotel in the humid heat.
At the hotel we took a good afternoon nap and then got ready to paint the town red. We took a taxi this time to City Place in downtown West Palm Beach. This is a mall, but unlike any we are used to. There was live music playing everywhere and alcohol was being served by the glass at different stands through the mall. People were walking around this outdoor mall holding cups with different alcoholic beverages. I was so happy to see people that I didn't want to leave the mall.
Besides the beautiful beach, which was just a few blocks away from our hotel, the touristic attraction worth of mention is The Breakers Hotel. All the guidebooks recommended a stroll though this hotel. So we took a taxi to go there. The taxi driver suggested we go see the Seafood Bar. This bar has "two L-shaped aquarium bar counters" where you can "watch small fish and other marine life explore the coral stones". It was pretty neat. I had a bizarre martini that I don't remember the name of, but I do remember it was delicious. The bar had an open view of the ocean. It was wonderful. To the side of the bar there were a few plasma TVs and everyone eating there was closely following the Wimbledon game that was playing.
The hotel does not like "non guests" to roam it's premises, other then the restaurants. The oceanfront by the hotel is also guests exclusive. However, rather than walking out the front door again and taking a taxi back to the hotel, I convinced Dan to "break" into the beach area. We walked over in a secluded corner of the hotel terrace. We found a break in the concrete where the sand started. There was an empty chair there, probably a guard who took a break. We took our shoes off and walked on to the beach. We put our feet in the water and then slowly but surely walked for 30 minutes until we got to the beach that was a few blocks from our hotel. We passed a lot of people sunbathing and children playing in the water. It was a very relaxing and romantic walk.
I didn't capture all the adventures of the trip. It was too much to write about. But I hope I captured enough to enjoy later.
Our flight arrived on time to Palm Beach, but we hovered over the city for ~1hr due to thunderstorms. Finally we were sent 20min North to Orlando to pick up some more fuel since we were running out. After fueling, we waited another half hour in Orlando due to storms, and finally headed to Palm Beach. We landed there three hours late from our scheduled arrival time.
We took a $15 cab ride from airport to Hotel Chesterfield in Palm Beach. I booked the room and breakfast option. Rates were decent and the hotel was one of the nicest Dan and I have stayed at so far. They welcomed us with fresh strawberries, warm cookies, and sherry. They also had complimentary water bottles and jelly beans. They have turndown service in the evening and that comes with Godiva squares. :)
Since we arrived there the 4th of July, we asked for directions and crossed the Royal Palm Way/Lakeview bridge on foot from Palm Beach to Downtown West Palm beach to join the 4th on Flagler Celebration wich was in full swing. The fiesta was right on the Intercoastal Water front on Flagler road and it was a smaller version of "The Taste of Chicago" only with Spanish salsas and meringues instead of jazz. I enjoyed a Mojito wine cooler and put powder sugar all over myself while eating a huge elephant's ear (fried dough). We listened to the music and people watched. It was great! That's how dusk found us. We inched closer to the water's edge as the fireworks started over the Intercostal Waters. The fireworks were to music and lasted a good half an hour.
We walked back to the hotel with the crowds, which we left in West Palm Beach. And took a quick dunk in the hotel's outdoor swimming pool despite the sign that said the pool closed at sunset.
The following day, July 5th, we went down for our complimentary breakfast. It was plentiful and both Dan and I overloaded on the fresh fruit. Florida is supposedly known for its strawberries, and indeed they were delicious.
After breakfast, we headed to Worth Ave. which was only two blocks from the hotel. It's supposed to be the "mall" of the rich during the season (December to April). Sprinkled with names I only hear on TV: Tiffany's, Gucci, Chanel, etc.. the "mall" was a ghostown during offseason. We wondered like drunken sailors through the different hidden courtyards and gaped in the windows of the stores we did not dare enter. To their credit, most stores were so desperate for any humans, they left their store doors open despite the hot and humid weather or posted signs saying "yes we're open" or "come on in". We liked the courtyards a lot, reminded me of Italy's Amalfy coast towns and even saw a sculpture exhibit by a "Romanian Prince" (I liked to imagine he's a gypsy banging a kooky old rich lady of Palm Beach.)
From Worth Ave. we concluded that if Miami is for rich young and fabulous people, then Palm Beach during "the season" is the home of these young and fabulous people's parents and grandparents. I am curious what this shopping district must look like when all its regular clientele is in town. I bet it makes great people watching.
After Worth Ave. headed, again on foot, to see the The Flager Museum. On this one mile pedestrian adventure we saw tons of lizards. It's like they invaded the island. We soon realized that they are the squirrel of the South. The only difference is that they like to cross the sidewalk just as people walk by. So much so, that I stepped on one while walking. They are that abundant and frequent in their movements to the point that I didn't want to walk anymore, afraid that a suicidal one will find itself under my soles again.
The Flager Museum was a treat visually and historically. I have seen mansions/museums before. It was on par with the European castles, with the subtle difference that it had sprinkled the "latest" technological innovations throughout (modern plumbing, central heating/cooling, servant call buttons). The museum was excellent. It was built by the behind the scenes partner of Rockefeller, Henry Flagler (owners of Standard Oil) as a bridal gift to his third wife. The museum is complete with his own personal railroad cart which he used to travel the railroad he built to modern Key West. It was neat that the museum allowed visitors to climb into the cart from one end to the other. It felt like I was at the Museum of Science and industry in Chicago.
Only hunger made us leave the museum. We asked for the nearest place we can eat, and we were directed to a local deli TooJay's. The food was excellent, affordable, and close to the museum. After lunch, we walked back to our hotel in the humid heat.
At the hotel we took a good afternoon nap and then got ready to paint the town red. We took a taxi this time to City Place in downtown West Palm Beach. This is a mall, but unlike any we are used to. There was live music playing everywhere and alcohol was being served by the glass at different stands through the mall. People were walking around this outdoor mall holding cups with different alcoholic beverages. I was so happy to see people that I didn't want to leave the mall.
Besides the beautiful beach, which was just a few blocks away from our hotel, the touristic attraction worth of mention is The Breakers Hotel. All the guidebooks recommended a stroll though this hotel. So we took a taxi to go there. The taxi driver suggested we go see the Seafood Bar. This bar has "two L-shaped aquarium bar counters" where you can "watch small fish and other marine life explore the coral stones". It was pretty neat. I had a bizarre martini that I don't remember the name of, but I do remember it was delicious. The bar had an open view of the ocean. It was wonderful. To the side of the bar there were a few plasma TVs and everyone eating there was closely following the Wimbledon game that was playing.
The hotel does not like "non guests" to roam it's premises, other then the restaurants. The oceanfront by the hotel is also guests exclusive. However, rather than walking out the front door again and taking a taxi back to the hotel, I convinced Dan to "break" into the beach area. We walked over in a secluded corner of the hotel terrace. We found a break in the concrete where the sand started. There was an empty chair there, probably a guard who took a break. We took our shoes off and walked on to the beach. We put our feet in the water and then slowly but surely walked for 30 minutes until we got to the beach that was a few blocks from our hotel. We passed a lot of people sunbathing and children playing in the water. It was a very relaxing and romantic walk.
I didn't capture all the adventures of the trip. It was too much to write about. But I hope I captured enough to enjoy later.
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