Alaskan Cruise

So, I will say up-front that I am not the biggest cruise fan. I have been on many enjoyable cruises, but taking a cruise is not my favorite way to see other parts of the world. However, my opinion changes when it comes to an Alaskan Cruise -- a cruise through Alaska is definitely the way to see this beautiful part of the United States.
Most cruise lines include an Alaskan cruise in their repertoire. We choose the Princess line, though both the Norwegian line and the Royal Caribbean line are high-end as well. For a different experience, some of the smaller cruise lines have Alaskan cruises as well.

TIP: Each cruise line has their pros and cons. Choose your cruise line carefully based on what is important to you and your family.

As with most cruises, there are numerous fantastic excursions you can choose during your travels. One fantastic one we choose a helicopter ride to the Mendenhall Glacier and a glacier walk. This, to me, was a once in a lifetime opportunity. The helicopter ride showed us a bird's eye view of this beautiful winter wonderland. The dips and dives of the helicopter ride were breathtaking. Once we landed on the glacier, we took a quick hike around. We even got to sip some glacier water -- it was the clearest, most delicious water I have ever tasted. And I usually think all water tastes the same!

Other fun excursions include white-water rafting, sled-dog racing and tours through the various towns. If you are interested in fishing, salmon fishing tours are also very popular. You can be as adventurous and sporty as you like. Or you can just stay on the boat and have a massage!

On our cruise, we stopped in a few small towns, all of which were quaint and adorable. They are a throw-back to when people first discovered Alaska. Big taverns made fully of wood. Cute stores. And even cuter little animals everywhere.
One of the towns we went to is Skagway, which was once the gateway to the gold rush. It still retains the charm of the gold rush era. Another town on the cruise circuit is Ketchikan. This town is steeped in Native American history. We visited numerous Native American points of interest when we visited, including seeing some amazing totem poles.

On the boat itself, you can often see animals like whales from the decks and gorgeous scenery abounds. Another big plus of cruising is that there are numerous on board opportunities for children of all ages. Young children can partake in the many kid's activities, while teenagers can go to the on board discos and otherwise not spend time with their parents ;)

All in all, taking an Alaskan cruise is a great way to see a part of the country which is otherwise slightly hard to navigate.

www.princess.com

Philadelphia Museum of Art

Last summer, my law school gang got together in Philadelphia where two members of our gang live. The best part of the trip was obviously spending time with my friends. But, one of my favorite parts when exploring Philadelphia was visiting the Philadelphia Museum of Art.

This is one of the most famous art museums in the United States. It was founded over 125 years ago in conjunction with the Cenntennial Exposition of 1876. Today, the musuem is unfortunately known to most Americans because of the famous scene from "Rocky" where Rocky Balboa jogs up the steps of the museum and triumphantly raises his arms in the air. Many many people run up the stairs like Rocky all day long. There is actually an hysterical video on YouTube of some Catholic monks doing their best Rocky impersonations. My husband grew up watching these movies with his dad, so he made sure to take his turn running like Rocky as well. There is a Rocky statue at the bottom of the museum and an imprint of his footprints at the top of the stairs. So if you are going there as a Rocky fanatic, don't worry, you will definitely get your fix.

However, if you are going to the art museum to, you know, see art, you will not be disappointed. The Philadelphia Museum of Art has a fabulous art collection. There is a reconstruction of an Asian tea house in the museum which is very cool. There are medieval armor exhibits, which you know all the men love. There are even bizarre modern art installations. So, there is pretty much something for everyone. Additionally, the musuem has numerous special exhibitions a year which will not disappoint. We saw a fabulous exhibit on Renoir's Late Period that had a very interesting and informative audioguide.

The museum itself is also beautiful. It is a huge marble building that looks like what you want a museum to look like. It sits at the end of one of the main streets in Philadelphia so you have a very enjoyable walk to the musuem plus a great view from the top.

TIP: You can buy your tickets to the museum online ahead of time, which is especially helpful when you want to see one of the many short-term exhibitions.

When visiting Philadelpia, you will see many historical sites. I would definitely make time in your sight-seeing schedule to spend some time at this famous art museum.

Philadelphia Museum of Art
26th Street and the Benjamin Franklin Parkway
Philadelphia, PA 19130
 (215) 763-8100
www.philamusuem.org

Hagia Sophia

This weekend, I was working on a photo album project (one of my many crazy projects). As part of this project, I ran across pictures from a Mediterranean cruise I had taken a few years back. In looking through these pictures, I was reminded how beautiful Istanbul is, particularly the Hagia Sophia, also known as the Church of the Holy Wisdom. Hagia Sophia is both a former Byzantine church and a former Ottoman mosque. Now a museum, the Hagia Sophia is breathtaking mix of both Christian and Muslim traditions, art and architecture.

Constantine the Great built the original Hagia Sophia in the 4th century, however, nothing remains of this original church. Following the destruction of the original church, Constantine's son built a new church. This church was burnt down, however, some fragments still remain.

The Hagia Sophia was rebuilt in its present form around 535 under the supervision of Emperor Justinian I. It is regarded as a masterpiece of Byzantine architecture resplendent with mosaics and marble. It has a classic basilica plan. It was then converted into a mosque in the 1400s after Constantinople fell to the Ottomans. Various additions and changes were made over time to convert the church into a mosque. The Hagia Sophia has also been rebuilt and restored numerous times since then.


The Turkish government turned the building into a museum in 1934. When visiting now, you can really see the contrast between the Islamic calligraphy and the Christian mosaics which decorate the building.

The Hagia Sophia is really a beautiful piece of architecture, whose combination of Christian and Muslim traditions make it all the more interesting. It is a must-see if you are travelling to Istanbul.

TIP: Some of the more interesting mosaics cannot be seen from the ground level. A special fee and a climb to the mezzanine level is all it takes to see these additional splendid pieces of art.

Hagia Sophia
Aya Sofya Sq, Sultanahmet
Istanbul, Turkey
Phone: 0212/522-1750
www.hagiasophia.com

Lincoln Road

Last weekend, my sister and some of her friends were in town for a vacation. Since I had just returned from Spain, I could not spend time with them during the day, so I sent them to a few of my favorite Miami spots. One of the places I sent them and where I almost always send tourists is Lincoln Road on South Beach.

Lincoln Road is a large street perpendicular to the actual beach that is a closed-off pedestrian mall. For the entire 6 or 7 blocks, people and their pets can stroll without the disturbance of vehicles.

Lincoln Road is a great place to go both day and night. In the daytime, there are numerous restaurants open for brunch and lunch. My favorite brunch spot is Balans, which originated in London. Their brunch is solid and very reasonably priced. At Balans, and at all restaurants on Lincoln Road, you can sit inside in the cool air conditioning or outside and people watch. Unless it is super hot, I always pick outside -- the people watching on Lincoln Road is fantastic! After brunch, there is a ton of great shopping to do. There are chain stores such as Anthropologie and Williams-Sonoma and local shops such as the kids' store Genius Jones. On certain days, there is even a market where you can buy farmer's market type-goods, along with flea market finds. If you are not a big shopper, you can also pop into one of the art galleries. Pop artist Romero Britto's gallery is located here. On a hot Miami day, I highly recommend stopping at Frieze for some locally-produced ice cream.

At night, there are even more options for dining. One of my favorites is Quattro, an upscale Italian restaurant. If you don't want to spend alot of money, a local pizza place, Sosta is excellent as well. After dinner, you can choose to go to the movies -- there is a fantastic movie theatre showing both popular movies, plus more art house finds. Or you can go bar hopping -- Segafredo is a coffee house that is an extremely popular bar after the sun goes down. Regardless, you should end your night at the Ice Box Cafe -- their desserts are to die for, Oprah even named one of their cakes as one of the best cakes in America.

A new addition to the area is the New World Center, home of the New World Symphony. This building was designed by Frank Gehry and is stunning. It is only one block off of Lincoln Road. New World Center features numerous spaces for performance and presentation; a flexible and variable seating performance hall, and a 7,000 square foot projection wall on which concerts, video art and films will be shown free-of-charge to audiences in Soundscape, a 2.5 acre public park, designed by Dutch architectural firm West 8.

Many of you may have heard the joke that Miami is the fifth borough of New York City. Well, nowhere is that more obvious than down Lincoln Road. A bunch of the New York City stables are located here including Shake Shack, Rosa Mexicano and the soon to be open Five Napkin Burger. This is great for us folks who used to live in New York and desperately missed the Shake Shack's frozen custards!

So, regardless of when you go, Lincoln Road is a great place to spend some time strolling and people-watching. At times, it seems like all of Miami is there!

Lincoln Road

Between Alton Road and Washington Avenue

Miami Beach, FL

La Sagrada Familia

La Sagrada Familia (or the Basilica of the Holy Family) is a spectacular unfinished Catholic cathedral in Barcelona begun by Antoni Gaudi in 1882. This building is his masterpiece and it shows off splendidly his Art Nouveau architecture style. He worked on the cathedral until his death in 1926, but it is still a work in progress. It is anticipated to be completed by 2030.

This cathedral is a complete original -- it is so detail-oriented and intricate, but also very modern. It is a very different take on a cathderal than the typical European cathedral. By design, everything you see means something. Gaudi put in an insane amount of time and energy into making every detail of the cathedral have meaning.

His general goal was to tell the story of the life of Jesus and the history of the Catholic faith. The 3 main facades of the church show the birth of Jesus, his death and resurrection and the place of man within the natural order. One example of the great details here are the turtles at the bottoms of the columns. They symbolize the stability of the cosmos -- the one closer to the sea is a sea turtle and the one close to the mountains is a land tortoise. Even the gargoyles in La Sagrada Familia are unique -- they look like they are not guarding the cathedral but rather escaping from it. They actually look like the little lizards in our neighborhood that scurry away every time we walk down the street. Clearly that was Gaudi's inspiration...You will also see a cipher on the wall which is very familiar to fans of "Lost." They actually contain Hurley's "numbers" -- spooky, right?!?

The inside is just as stunning as the outside. Again, it looks no other cathedral you have ever seen. There are numerous gorgeous, modern stain glass windows. There are going to be 4 large organs -- one at each end of the cathedral. Around the entire perimeter is a balcony where the choir will stand. It has been created to maximize the sound inside, which means that a concert there should be out of this world.

TIP: I am not always a fan of audio guides, but take the audio tour here. It was both interesting and not overly long.

If you find yourself in Barcelona, your trip would not be complete without discovering the wonder that is the Sagrada Familia.

La Sagrada Familia

Barcelona, Spain

www.sagradafamilia.cat

Telephone: +34 932 073 031

E-mail: informacio@sagradafamilia.org

Brief Hiatus

The blog will be taking a brief hiatus for the next two weeks while I travel with my hubby to Spain. We will be visiting Madrid, Barcelona and Seville. I hope to come back with many new ideas for blog posts based on these travels.

Westminster Abbey

 

So, I, like many other women around the world (and the men who love them) watched Prince William marry Kate Middleton in Westminster Abbey last Friday. It was a magical event that I am sure made millions of little girls want to be princesses. It also reminded me what a magical place Westminster Abbey is.

As anyone who watched the Royal Wedding knows, Westminster Abbey is located in the heart of London near Big Ben and Parliament. It was built in 1245, though it had been a place of worship since 960. It has been the site of the coronation of the British royalty since 1066 and is the final resting place for 17 monarchs. You can still see the Medieval coronation throne there. There have also been many other royal weddings in Westminster besides Wills and Kate's, including Prince Andrew and Sarah "Fergie" Ferguson's. Many funeral services have taken place here, including, most famously Princess Diana's. It is one of the most famous examples of Gothic architecture in the world and contains numerous examples of Medieval art and architecture.

Besides royals, many other famous Brits have also been buried or commemorated in Westminster including Jane Austen, William Blake, Robert Browning, Lewis Carroll, Geoffrey Chaucer, Sir Winston Churchill, Charles Darwin, Charles Dickens, and Henry James. Most of these memorials are in "Poet's Corner" which is like mecca for us English majors. When you walk around Westminster, it is stunning how many famous names you see memorialized there. It is basically a museum of English history!

What is also stunning about Westminster is its size. It is huge and it sits in the middle of a major city. It is pretty amazing.

TIP: Westminster Abbey is closed on Sunday for visitors like many churches, so plan your visit accordingly.

Westminster Abbey is a must-visit in London whether you are an architecture buff, historian or wanna-be princess.

The Chapter Office Westminster Abbey

20 Deans Yard London SW1P 3PA UK

+44(0)20 7222 5152

www.westminster-abbey.org