We went to NYC and expecting it to be cold it was @#$%ing cold this time.     I know that Teri hates the cold  but even I can’t deal with @#$%ing cold.    However New York is such a great city that we was still able to do new stuff even though we have been here many times before and for the last time I will emphasize it was @#$%ing cold.      The first that was new to us was fifth avenue at night.    We have seen Macy’s but now a lot of the bit department stores try to one up them and the winner has to be Saks Fifth Avenue.     Below are pictures from Sak’s

A second thing that was new to us was going to the Peter Luger steakhouse in Brooklyn.    This place was great.    The service was excellent and the food was incredible.    We had the steak for two which was one of the best steaks that we have ever had and as a appetizer we had one large strip of bacon which was also incredible.     It is expensive but highly worth it.

We also saw two shows during this trip.     Latin History for Morons and Spamilton.    First Latin History for Morons is a one man show by John Leguizamo.     Great show and he is always adding to it which you can tell by the very time references to the latest news.    This was in the studio 54 theater on 54th street.

The other show was Spamilton.     Besides spoofing Hamilton it spoofs almost every play going on in New York and the creator of Hamilton Lin-Manuel Miranda.      All 7 performers and the one piano player was incredible.     You did not have to see Hamilton to enjoy the show and if you are a theater junkie (at least one person I know who lives in Ashburn Va) you will really love it.     This was in the small but intimate Puerto Rican traveling theater.

Below is just more Christmas scenes from various places around New York

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Hello everybody.   I know it has been a LONG time since I did a blog.   I hope to be more active in 2018.   Anyway we got lucky and went to an event at the Franciscan Monastery in NE DC.    Friends of the monastery donated their extensive collection of nativity scenes from around the world so everybody could see it.    It was impressive to see their collection.    Below are some of my favorite ones.

Mexico

Thailand

Poland

Guatemala

Tanzania

And my favorite the US

Be sure to look for all of the sarcastic items in the US nativity scene.     Below is the monastery.

And below are pictures from inside the monastery.

Less than 1/2 mile from my hotel I was able to walk to San Felipe.     This was a fort guarding Cartagena.     This fort is similar to one I went to in San Juan Puerto Rico but I think I like this one better.     One thing I really like here was this great film in English explaining the history of the fort and how important it was in defending the city from the British.     At San Felipe you do a bunch of climbing and combining that with tropical weather I knew to be there when it opens at 8AM.     Actually I was the first tourist walking up which means the hawkers came at me first.    But I even got a cool cap from them so even the sales pitch was cool.   Below are pictures from the fort including the tunnels.

 

At the end of 2016 we made it to Cartagena.     The first thing you notice as soon as enter customs in the airport is a huge picture of the star of Modern Family and I am not talking about Ed O’Neill.   Teri found this hotel called the Casa Mary which is right in the middle of Getsemani.     It was the perfect location.      We was just a few feet from Plaza de Trinidad where a lot of people was hanging around for New Years Eve.

This is where we celebrated New Years/Our Anniversary.    It was cool being with all the locals and the “professional travelers”     Getsemani is where all the backpackers hang out.    I have not seen an area with a higher concentration of hostels.     Another cool thing about this area was the restaurant Solar.     We had perfect seats to people watch and it had free internet.

All over Cartagena but especially Getsemani you see some of the best murals.     Below are quite a few of the better ones I saw in the neighborhood.

 

Another cool thing about our hotel is that we was just down the street from the Cafe Havana.    This was probably the perfect club.     Cuban music, crowded but not too crowded, historic, and all types and ages of people.     The final thing I want to mention about Getsemani is some of the cool places we ate.at.    Both are family places.     One was a fish restaurant basically right next to our hotel.     The food was delicious and everybody in the family and I do mean everybody gave us great service.      This was a house the family opened up their kitchen to the public the other place was what I would call an upscale food truck.     Again family run with the cook cooking on the street with the seating on both sides of the street.     Well run operation with the family using two houses to help out.

Hello people sorry about the long delay.    I was very busy.    Last December I went to the Jimmy Carter Center in Atlanta.     It has been almost 25 years since I have been here.

The number one thing I realize from his center is that Jimmy Carter believe that EVERYBODY should be treated fairly and he believe this at an early age.     I was amazed at the social changes he tried to make as Governor of Georgia in the 1970’s.

This museum shows all phases of his life from his time in the US Navy, his time when he was a peanut farmer, his time as governor of Georgia, when he was President, and all of the charitable and peace keeping missions he has done after he left the white house.

I am sure everybody especially those in the United States knows that his presidency did not end the way he wanted it to with the Iran Hostage Crisis he was probably one of the most sincere and honest presidents ever.   He even sold his peanut farm to avoid any conflict of interest.     Below is a picture of Jimmy Carter.     When you enlarge it you will notice many modes of transportation is used to create a painting of Jimmy Carter

Thanks to my friend Cedric Garrett and his niece Sabrina Brown we was able to attend the new NMAAHC museum on it opening day Sept 24, 2016.     There were many festivals in DC this weekend but this was the biggest and easily the one with the most VIP’s.     Included with the VIP was the number 1 VIP OBAMA.     He had the speech that opened up the museum.     I heard the end of the Obama speech but my wife and Cedric told me that I missed it when Oprah and Wil Smith was on stage.     After the speeches the monument grounds had a festival which included music and other things.     One of the bands performing was from New Orleans part if not all of the Preservation Hall Jazz Band.

We had tickets for 3:00 and the line for us to get in was at least 1 hour.     I am going to blame this on the huge amount people and it being the first day.     However it was worth the wait.     This museum had loads and loads of content.      I am not going to describe the pictures that follow but I saw stuff on at least the following subjects:

slavery, reconstruction, blacks in wars, civil right movement, blacks in media, sports, music, movies, medicine

On this trip like most of my recent trips I have tried to see more of New York than just the famous sites in Manhattan.    I went to a few spots some new and some I have been to in the borough of  Queens.    One of the coolest things we went to was the Museum of the Moving Image.    This museum showed the history of motion pictures, early cameras and even had display showing cartoons in the earliest stages.    In this museum you have many exhibits where you can act like the pros whether that is editing, voiceover or other examples.

Picture 1 lunchboxes through the years Picture 2 the outfits of Crockett and Tubbs Picture 3 different movie cameras through the years and some old television sets

Another place I went to was the Jamaica section of Queens.   We have been there before at a different part of Jamaica, we section we went to was jammed pact.    Also for fans of caribbean food this is the place to go to get roti’s pattis and other items.    Also when you walk around you will come across many mini malls where you will see local shops and restaurants.

Two other areas in Queens I visited was Flushing and Jackson Heights.    Both I have been to before but had to visit again.     Flushing is Queens version of Chinatown.    It is just as big and might even be more lively at night.  cheap food, bakeries, many indoor food courts and malls, endless varieties of all types of food and karoke bars.   Also bordering Flushing is the stadium for the Mets and also the tennis complex where they hold the US Open Tennis championships.

Right next door to Jackson Heights this is a mostly hispanic neighborhood where there are endless restaurants and spanish only speaking bars.     I read that the bars stay open as late as 4AM    Too bad there are not many hotels in the Jackson Heights area.      There is no problem with finding hotels in flushing and unlike DC New York subways are 24 hours and this is not the 70’s for the most part the subway is safe.

 

On this trip I spend more time in the Bronx than I ever did.    I tried to cover multiple areas and see as much as possible.     The first place I will cover is probably the most famous place in the Bronx, Yankee Stadium.    I think this is the 3rd Yankee Stadium.    I have been to Yankee Stadium number 2 but I did not get to see what I really wanted to which was Monument Park which is a salute to the great former yankees.    They also have a small museum in the stadium that you can visit as well.     Below are some pictures of the yankees I either know or like.   Since I am not a Yankee fan but a casual baseball fan the pics I choose is probably different than the ones a hardcore Yankee fan would chose.

Even though the two people were not yankee I really like the tribute they had to the two people below.

One final pic I will show is the Yankee being proud of their accomplishments.

Before I got to Yankee stadium I walked on and around Arthur Avenue.     This is the Bronx Little Italy.   I read one guidebook saying it was better than the one in Manhattan.    I will not go there but it is s nice area of the Bronx.

Another attraction in the Bronx is the Hall of Fame of Great Americans which is on the Bronx Community College Campus.      Don’t know how they came up with the people they had statues of, people from all walks of life.

While walking around the Bronx I kept stumbling on streets where there a ton of local stores that seem to go on forever.    One such street is Webster Avenue.     This looks like your typical street you might see in a movie that is under the subway track.

At the end of this street had to be at least 10 blocks of nothing but shops having something to do with car repair or modifications.     It was unreal.    Another area I was in was the Hunt Point area.    At nighttime I hear the area is sketchy but during the daytime it is fine.    I love these 2 murals I saw requesting people not to move but to improve the neighborhood.

And right next to Hunt Point is Southern Blvd which is another street lined with shops.     If you know where to go the Bronx can be cool to walk through.

Well for the first time in over a decade I went to Brooklyn’s West Indian Labor Day Parade.     It was crowded as usual.    The weather helped it was not too hot and no rain.     2 hints for seeing the parade.     The parade route is long so keep walking and when you get a spot close to the rail stay there so you will have great views and if you and go earlier because you have to assume there will be fights close to the end of the parade.     Even though I had nothing to eat there were ton of Caribbean food for you to try.     Below are pics from the parade

More pics for the ladies.

and a ton for pics for the guys.

For the longest time Teri wanted to see Marc Anthony.     She only wanted to see him in New York City, Miami, or San Juan Puerto Rico thinking that those will be his best shows.     Well we was lucky enough to be able to catch him in New York and as an added bonus it was in the legendary Radio City Music Hall.    Been going up to New York City for decades but never made it to Radio City before and the wait was worth it.    It is what you expect very opulent and elegant on the inside.    Also shout out to security and the Music Hall staff even though the line to get in was long the wait was very short.     Below are some pictures of inside the place.

Let’s talk about the concert.     A great show and he only performed 1 of the 3 songs I know.     But everybody else knew all of the his songs and all of the words and it was one huge 2 hour party.

In the last picture is Romeo Santos who was one of the acts that joined him in the show.     I don’t know him but EVERY lady in the concert did he not Marc Anthony received the loudest screams for the night