A Different World - Part 2

Rimini is a beach town, a tourist destination. Although it was the beginning of the off season when we got there the water was still a pretty happening place when the sun was shining.  Contrary to what Americans perceive, not everyone goes topless.  You pretty much do whatever and wear whatever, from swimsuits to skives to business suits you see it all down at the beach.  Many locals come by after work for a walk, bike or run along the shore before heading home to make dinner.  The variety of shells is amazing and you find lots of pieces of stone and terra cotta that washes up as well probably from some ancient ruin or shipwreck.

Amongst my perusing of hotel tourist literature and a by chance sighting during a bus ride I was delighted to find the Ceramic House also know as Casa Ugolini, a private residence on the Via Flaminia owned by Cesare and Susanna Minelli Ugolini.  Cesare was an antique dealer and ceramics collector who created a masterpiece using tiles and ceramic pieces set to be discarded from local sites around Rimini.  Although this was not open to the public for tours it was quite the sight to behold from the street.  If you'd like to find out more click HERE for a great video tour and description plus some other photographs.

Another very cool find was an archaeological dig site.  Years ago when Rob was here for previous training this particular spot was a construction site with the usual orange net fencing surrounding it.  Apparently when they went to begin a new structure they discovered the ruin of the Surgeon's House, plus an even older development underneath that.  The Museo della Citta oversees the site now and it is part of the museum admission.  They've covered it and built walkways across so you can see everything quite well.  Unfortunately my photos do not do it justice in the least.  I did however find a couple videos on YouTube should you care to know more. 
Click and enjoy!  LONG VIDEO  -  SHORT VIDEO

My visit through the museum was quite interesting.  I went on Wednesday morning which was the free admission day only to find the place virtually deserted except for myself, two art students, and a couple museum lady guards.  They are quite particular about the order you go through the museum, or maybe they just want to make sure you see everything.  If I started to drift off course one of the ladies would come down and "scuzi" me into the section I should be at first.  They did not speak English other than "photo ok, no flash" again contrary to what I was told that "everyone pretty much speaks English".  Not the case my friends.

The exhibit about the Surgeon's House had descriptions in English and were excellent.  As I toured the upper floors I quickly discovered that was the only exhibit with English explanations.  There was an amazing display on the Crucifixion of Christ with art ranging from oil paintings to ceramics to wood carvings, paintings on wood, stone/marble, and metal work.  Then, bam, a retro advertising lithograph display!  Another area of marble and stone carvings and pieces, lots of mosaics, tapestry, furniture, all incredibly old then....hello....a contemporary photography exhibit, which was fascinating!   From there I headed over to the Piazza Cavour to check out the open air market, which is basically the Italian flea market where all the shops have someone out selling off overstock for cheap.  Not exactly the second-hand shops I was hoping to find and due to their crazy sizing I didn't purchase much.

One day I took an extensive bike ride that went along the canal and totally tripped on kitchen gardens.  I live in a rural area and people have all kids of gardens and crops but I was just so enamoured with these plots.  I watched in fascination as an elderly man came out of a his garden gate across the canal and trucked down a good 20 meter incline with a couple watering cans to fill in the canal.  They do not use heavy gardening equipment like we do in the states, at least not on a small scale. This guy had to be at least in his 70s if not older.  He probably jumped on his bike later that day and pedaled to his favorite local hangout to converse with friends as well.  Elderly people in Rimini are in great shape!  Loved seeing old ladies in their skirts and sensible shoes tooling around on their bicycles.  That's one thing I wish was more feasible to do in my little town, get around by bike.  There's plenty of places to go and bike ride but to conduct your day to day business that way just doesn't work.

One other thing I'll tell you about Italy.....it's got some great knockers!  From antique to modern, great style and designs.  Super fun.

That's all for now.  Next time I'll share a little about San Marino and of course a few more photos.

Columbo

It was a beautiful morning as we headed to the station.  A brief train ride to Lansing for a day of adventure.  Grandpa Q met us at the station, I turned in Fox's tickets and off to our first stop, the Capitol Building, which was a buzz with activities for the Memorial weekend.  Since business does not stop for the tour we forged ahead through the building trying to hear what our tour guide was explaining. Inside the House it was quiet since they were in between sessions but still there was distraction as a few soldiers practiced their flag maneuvers on the floor below.  Amazing to think that all the walls are painted even though they look like marble or expensive woods, it's all plain pine that's been painstakingly painted.

Next we grabbed a quick breakfast then headed over the Impression 5 Hands-On Museum.  This is a very cool stop.  Since all the exhibits are set up through one huge open floor the boys were old enough to just let go to explore.  They could read directions and execute all of the experiments on their own so Dad and I wandered ourselves and got snap happy.  The drawers of leaf, seed, bug, and insect collections kept me occupied for quite a while along with the oil and iron mix contraption.  Ethan had fun at the pitching machine, checking his speed.  Ben spent his time building with Legos.  Giant bubble machines are always enjoyed by all. Grandpa Q I believe did a thorough investigation of it all.  Bought a couple books about wildflowers in the Gift Shop, a geyser top for the mentos and coke experiment, astronaut ice cream, and some erasers for our collection.

Although satisfactorily explored, the hands-in didn't take as much time as I thought it would so we were able to add an extra stop to the MSU Gardens to check out the 4H Children's Garden in particular.  There were about a half dozen employees out working diligently to get things ready for the busy season.  The ponds in particular were in great need of TLC.

We drifted on into the main gardens and into the green house that housed the indoor 4H garden.  That was unfortunately closed for a renovation but what before my wandering eyes should appear, the Curiosity Classroom was there. With everyone out working I had minute to peek in and drool.  What a fantastic resource at MSU, with learning extended through models, microscopes, mini collections, and marvels of nature all about.  I believe some of the 4H Discovery Days classes take place here, Ben is just old enough to be eligible.  Ethan will be next year.

From there we google mapped our way over to the Potter Park Zoo. First in, Granpda was jonesin' for a hot dog and the boys wanted one too, plus pops all around.  The food shack was just closing up and the kid gave us all a free hot dog that would have been thrown out. Woot! Bellies and thirst being satisfied we made our way through the zoo. There was an ostrich with eggs, an excellent bald eagle set up and a nest on display, caught the lion being fed jumping up like a big dog to catch the meat, but the owl wouldn't open its eyes for nothin. The tiger was pretty active, saw the penguins being fed, and one of the ostriches gave us a full open! It was an interesting little zoo although the dark metal bars are sort of a drag, especially when it comes to picture taking.  Overall they had a nice collection of animals.  We were going to take a camel ride but it was closed that day and we missed the baby tigers, by the time we made our way to the back where their habitat was they had already been "put to bed" for the night. :(  We'll have to stop back when we take Fox up for camp.

Another favorite discovery of the day for me was these fabulous recycled art pieces that were displayed throughout the zoo, made from bottle caps and tops!  Gorgeous!  Totally going to replicate this idea, kudos!!

For dinner we ate at Clara's Lansing Station in the train car, of course!  I had the Seafood Quiche, very tasty!  Wasn't so impressed with the Bruchetta.  Ben scraped away at a Nachos while dad and Ethan shared a Rueben.  Dessert took us to Anthony Hall for some famous MSU Dairy Store ice cream!  Ben and I had a fantastic mint sensation, Ethan went cookie dough, dad did chocolate I think.....?  It's all a blur I was in a yummy ice crean haze.  Dad dropped us at the train station and headed home.  The boys occupied themselves with soccer game with a pebble while I read some more of "Barnhart."  I crashed out on the ride back but I don't think the boys totally did.  Asked the conductor when we exited about bringing my bike on the train.  He said they do allow it but you have to make special arrangments and there may be an extra fee.  Everything we did on our adventure would have been totally bikable, we stayed within a 7 miles radius for all the activities.  That could be some fun.  I'd love to have my bike around Chicago too!

Before I headed to Lansing I hung out at the Lapeer Virtual Learning Center open house.  They had representatives from a few of the providers that are available for online classes there to explain how their programs work.  Plus you could test out some of the courses.  I liked aspects of both Aventa and Lincoln Interactive.  Curious if the middle school would consider doing the Spanish program for an elective.  A presentation overviewing the virtual options was given, streamlining the information that had been researched over the past few months. They've had a few families enroll already and several inquired about further conversation. We're hoping there is a slow and steady progress so that participants get the assistance they need to succeed. I've also had a couple opportunties arise to coordinate enrichment activities through several non-profit organizations in the area.  Very exciting, meetings coming up, will update as things are finalized.

Happy Birthday

My mother had started a tradition that once the kids were past their 9th birthday they could travel with gramma. Alex went with her to Kentucky and Mammoth Cave for her first trip, then she and Fox went with gramma to Mackinaw Island, and Fox got to travel with her to a family reunion in up-state New York then to historical sites in Philadelphia. Because of mother's quickly declining health and subsequent passing, Ben and Ethan got gyped on the deal. So I decide to pick up the tradition myself .


This past weekend was Benjamin's birthday so he and I took the train to Chicago and went museum hopping. We left out early Thursday morning from Lapeer, arrived on time to Union Station and walked over to the hotel to get a feel for the hustle and bustle of the city. Along the way we checked out the Model Chicago exhibit. I intended to catch the hotel shuttle out to the Lincoln Park Zoo but was informed they do not shuttle you out that far and was given bus instructions instead. We made our way up to the Magnificent Mile but when we got off for our transfer the weather started to look rather omnimous so we opted not to not get stuck in the rain and instead decided to explore the Mile and have a marvelous meal at Big Bowl. We decided to take some culinary risks on this trip too so Ben tried the Chicken Thai Lettuce Wraps from the kids menu and found them quite tasty. We also had the chicken/veggie potsticker combo, and I did the signature Big Bowl buffet with shrimp, noodles, and tons of fresh veggies. A delicious raspberry lemonade was shared and our desserts were delish: Mochi ice cream (orange) with rice wrap for Ben and the Banana EggRoll with brown sugar and chocolate sauce for me. After that we walked down to the Chicago Children's Museum and explored the Navy Pier which we both agreed would need further adventuring in the summer months. Although most of the exhibits in the Children's Museum are geared for preschool and early elementary students Ben did find several that were intriguing. We met the skyscrapper challenge, built with giant wooden erector-set-type pieces, and did some physics experiments. Caught the #29 Bus back to 9th Street and State then walked the last 2 blocks back to the hotel.

Friday was fabulous and jam packed with good times! We woke to our own internal alarm clocks, grabbed some continental breakfast and took the hotel shuttle over to Shedd's Aquarium. Bought the CityPass which covers your admissions and shows to five attractions around Chicago, well worth the price and ease. Arrived right as it opened to virtually no line, by 10am the line looked like one from a Cedar Point attraction. Took our time purusing the upstairs tanks, watched the Aquatics Show which was a phenomenal production and very interesting. They explained some of the training techniques used with the Beluga Whales and dolphins, very cool. From that show we zipped into the theater for Pole to Pole 4-D which consisted of footage from the Planet Earth production with effects of blowing air and seat rumbling thrown in, eh. By now we were hungry, and Soundings Cafe was just the ticket, the meal was the best: Fish Sliders, with organic apple sauce and fresh carrots sticks for Ben and a 1/2 chicken flourentine panini, spicy oriental vegatable soup and a superb salad of fresh greens for me. After lunch we headed down the Beluga Trail to watch some more training up close, then made way to Wild Reef to spend some time gazing into the huge shark tank.--

A little past one we walked down the way to Adler Planetarium, it was a beautiful, clear, sunny day much better than the cold and overcast yesterday. Journey to the Stars was the feature we watched first, picked to skip the second traditional planetarium show and explore as per Ben's request. Fine by me, and good thing we did because they closed at 4pm and we wouldn't have had much time if we sat through it. Since it was nice we walked back on the Water's Edge Walkway to the Michigan Ave. underpass then up to the hotel.

It was such a clear day I thought we should take advantage of it so we quickly left our museum goodies in the room and hailed a cab over to the SkyDeck on Willis Tower (fomerly Sears Tower). We Fast Passed in because of our handy dandy CityPass and got in line for the elevator wait quite quickly. By the time we hit the deck the sun had set and the city lights were all aglow. Far Out! The new feature "The Ledge" is a total trip and a bit freaky. The wait to get back down was a drag but I struck up a conversation in line with a couple from Saugatauk and a mom with two young kids from outside the city. Finally made it back down by 7pm, hailed another cab and went for some Chicago-style pizza at Lou Malnati's right near the hotel. Mmmmm, yummy. Pool - Sauna - Nighty Nite!

Saturday was Super and So-so. Woke early and hit the pool again, Ben likes to go when there's not a crowd of people. He swan, I had another sauna, then we got dressed and did a light breakfast at Starbucks. Caught the #6 Bus out to the Museum of Science & Industry and ran into the couple from Saugatauk at the stop. We had a fun chat on the way over but got separated once we hit the attraction. Ben wanted to take the U505 Submarine tour so we bought tickets for that and tickets for the Hubble Omnimax movie was already included with our City Pass deal. The Hubble movie was our second favorite thing of the trip (Shedd's was the best). This museum is a bit overwhelming, it is huge and there is a lot to see. I would have prefered to have two days to split things up because after 4 hours or so you're just tired of pushing buttons and reading plaques. The Smart Home was closed which really bummed me out and the food situation completely sucks! Next time I will definately plan on brown bagging it for this venue. The Brain Food Court is very poorly run and the food was cold and nasty. Jumped on the #10 Express back to Michigan Ave. and Balbo, chilled at the hotel for a bit then boogied up the block for some Sushi at Izagaya. It's been a while since I'd had real sushi having only California Rolls from the Meijer deli on occasion so I sort of over bought not realizing how big these things really are. Ben tried a few but got discouraged because he couldn't bite through the seaweed outer shell and his mouth was to small to shove them in whole. He loved the seafood rolls and his salad though. Ended up taking some with us. We were going to do a walking adventure again and investigate the Buckingham Fountain and Hyde Park but it was too bloody cold and windy so back to the hotel it was to watch one of Benny's favorite shows, Wipeout. I must say I got a few good chubbies out of it myself. Went down to the pool later; there were too many people for Ben's taste so he went back up to watch "Over the Hedge" while I got one last sauna in. Organized and packed our belongings then had a sushi snack before lights out.

Final Day was fine but rainy. It was just a slight mist as we sauntered down to Yolk for a birthday breakfast of Strawberry and chocolate chip pancakes for Ben and an Irish Benny for me (Eggs Benedict with corned beef hash and roasted tomato with big potato browns, and fruit for me. Yummo! Checked out of the hotel and rode the shuttle with backpacks and activity bag in tow to the Field Museum (formerly the The Natural History Museum) as the rain began to come down steadier. Kinda sucked to check our stuff there at $2 per item but worth it to not have to lug it around all day. This attraction can be a little confusing and irritating with all the separate prices and tickets for various traveling exhibits. We navigated through 'Gold,' 'Evolution of Earth,' 'Mammals of China,' 'Tibet,' 'Ancient Egypt' (complete with way-cool tomb), 'Hall of Dinosaurs' (an amazingly extensive bone and fossil collection), a Miori meeting house from New Zealand, and more. But honestly by now we were both getting museumed out. The food choices at Field were also a disappointment, there was a McDonalds and a Corner Bakery and they both hosted tremendous lines. The final vote was to collect our bags and hail a cab to Union Station as it was now officially raining cats, dogs, and small ponies. Since last night's experimental meal was so out there Ben was ready for a good ol' fashion chicken sandwich from Mickey D's so I obliged; we ate, checked out the train station street people, grabbed a Yoga Journal and Sudoku book from the news stand then waited until the chaos of boarding began.

Played a game of Garbage, then Ben played his DS while I listened to my iPod, he read his Percy Jackson book, I read Yoga Journal, did Sudoku, he inihilated me in War, then finally crashed out about 9:30pm. We pulled in to the Lapeer depot around 11:30pm, a little late due to a freakin' blizzard! The drive home sucked bad, since they hadn't done ANY plowing at all. I barely could find a two-track on Lake Pleasant to follow and never went over 30 miles an hour the entire way home. But, we made it and were so happy to be snug in our own house and very own beds once again. Ben is a great guy to travel with, he likes planning, setting a schedule and sticking to it, he is organized with his belongings, and has unexpendable energy. He is even getting better about the waiting periods. This will definately be something I remember and cherish. So sad mother missed out on this experience but very blessed to be able to have precious time with my bestest Benny!