Honeymoon Day Three: Barbados to Union Island to Petite St. Vincent

We awoke that morning in Barbados and had several hours to kill before heading off to the airport. We got some breakfast and basically held down the fort at the Meridian Inn, counting down the minutes until we could leave. Finally at noon we hopped in a cab and mad our way back to the open-air air port to make the third leg of our expedition. This time it was a tiny puddle jumper plan (aka a death trap) from Barbados to Union Island. A island among many smaller island which make up The Grenadines. I did not enjoy this plan ride. Not one bit.

Yes I am wearing the same dress as the day before. Don't judge me.
When you are asked to keep all bags at the rear of the plan for balance reasons, I get a wee bit ancy.

Views from the tin-can-of-a-plane's window. Sure it's pretty, as long as you do not crash.

Finally back on solid ground, we had one final trek before we could really relax. This time we would board a yacht and travel 5 miles to PSV. We were greeted by a lovely, jovial chap named Maurice who gave us bottled water and drove the boat so quickly that I swear I was air born a few times. Thankfully I found all of this to be quite delightful.

The Union Island Yacht Club docks.

Happy not to be 10,000 feet in the air.

Views from the boat.

PSV!!!

Pulling int the PSV Docks and being greeted by the delightful managers.
What's even more delightful? A mixed alcoholic beverage.

As soon as we hopped into the robins egg blue cart we were whisked up a hill to the "Little Bluff" where our cottage, cottage #2, sat nestled among the hills.

This is where we stayed for the week, and should I ever be able to build a vacation home in a tropical area, this is what it would look like.








In a word: Amazing.

They had prepared a lunch for us which we devoured in our cottage and quickly made our way to the beach. That evening we opted to have dinner in our cottage as well, which was our first taste of many amazing meals to come.

That night the menu consisted of: A Roasted Pumpkin Soup with toasted almonds and creme fraiche. Fried cod ( I think it was cod...) fritters. Lobster tail with a butter sauce and some kind of fish (which escapes me at the moment). Fried apple fritters and a few sorbets rounded off the meal.



In a word: Yum.

Honeymoon Day Two: Hotlanta-Barbados

(yes I realize it has been over a month....no excuses, just lack of motivation)

After a whirlwind day in Atlanta we were up (yet again) at the crack of dawn to board a flight to Barbados, where we would spend an evening before arriving in Paradise. Thankfully all went as scheduled and our flight was on time and ran smoothly.

Here we are in the Barbados open-air airport.



These pictures were taken right before we jumped in an unmarked cab (an action we were warned against taking on our way out of the terminal). We live life on the edge. Thankfully we were transported safely to our dwellings for the evening: The Meridian Inn.

I knew this place would not be fancy, however I was able to pay for it with American Express points. Since it was currently the "high season" in Barbados there was no way to find an affordable hotel for the evening. While our place had it's own "charm" one might say it was really just a step up from Youth Hostel. I kept telling myself it was only for one night.




That afternoon Jürgen took a dip in the ocean, and we walked to a small restaurant about 10 minutes from our mo...a hem...hotel. We had a simple dinner of local fish and local beer. A small kitten approached us begging for food, and since we both go weak in the knees for kitties we fell prey to its batting eyes.



It was about 8:00 when we finished dinner, and after two days of little sleep and much travel it was time hit the hey, which is exactly what we did.

Hotlanta Honeymoon

It all began with a call to my mother. No...it all began with a weather report. No...I think someone called and told me about a weather report. One way or the other, we'd heard it reported that Chicago was expected Armageddon: Snow throughout the weekend, beginning January 9 - our day of departure. The original itinerary had us leaving Chicago, from O'Hare (which is always a mistake) at 7pm to spend a very brief evening in Atlanta, before heading back to the airport the next morning for a flight into Barbados.

After hearing about the snow, and taking into account how fickle the weather service can be, especially in Chicago, I called my mother for some sage advice. I think we both landed on "pray for no snow" as the answer. Thankfully it didn't stop there. After a talk with my sister, my mother figured that since it was already snowing ridiculously in PA, where Stef is in college, and the storm was headed our way, it would be smart to try to get out of Chicago on the earliest flight possible. She called me back and then things got difficult.

We were flying out on Delta, due to a generous gift from my Uncle Richard, who has more frequent flier miles than he can use in two lifetimes, and so I called to find out how to get our flight changed. When I called they said you can call 3 hours before a flight you want to get on, on the day of, and it'll cost you $50 more dollars to change your flight if there's room. OK. So, for some reason I wound up calling back to double check the flight times that morning, since we figured the earlier the better, and now I got a different story. No, since our flight's eventual destination, regardless of the evening in between was Barbados, and since it wasn't a domestic flight...in end destination, we were not eligible for the $50 rate. It would cost us somewhere in the neighborhood of $250...per person. I tried to reason with this guy, saying Altanta was domestic and they needed to promise to have us in Barbados by the end of the day on Saturday, at the latest if we couldn't get this flight cancelled. Oh, and by the by, according to these geniuses, their contact at O'Hare said, "We're not calling for any snow." Meanwhile, the weather stations and nightly news and preparing you for the storm of the year. But...don't worry...O'Hare's not calling for any snow. After many frustrating minutes of trying to reason with Delta, I finally took my wife's advice and called my Uncle to see what he could do. He, being amazing, came through for us not too long afterwards and we were to leave on a 7am flight.

After just about no sleep, we took a taxi at 4:15 A.M., driven by a man with some kind of palsy, who drive right by our house, right off our street, and off into the night, while I was on the phone with the taxi company trying to figure out why this guy was so late. We got to the airport just as it started snowing, and they put us on the 5:50 flight, because they were already starting to cancel flights later. Good Old O'Hare. A note to readers: ALWAYS FLY INTO MIDWAY. God knows what's wrong with this city that it seems like every winter it's caught unawares by the snow. If we lived in Florida, I could understand. But Chicago?

We arrive in Atlanta, take a shuttle to our hotel, relax for a minute and plan out the rest of the day. We decided to head back to the airport, hop on their metra system and go into town. Blair placed her status on facebook, and through her phone took suggestions for what to do during an unscheduled day in Hotlanta. Two answers came back: aquarium and the coca cola museum...oh, and the Varsity, which Blair's cousin, Ben, suggested...we'll get back to that.

We get into town, and on my mother's suggestion scope out Underground Atlanta. Useless. I don't know why I was thinking it would look more like an underground city, but it looked more like Navy Pier in Chicago, except a little bit dingier and less kid-friendly. We ate a very artery-angering meal in the food court, before heading off to find the aquarium.

The Atlanta Aquarium is supposed to be the largest Aquarium in the country. What they meant was that it houses the largest single standing tank in the country. Being such a huge fan of the Baltimore Aqaurium, I was skeptical that this could outdo it. In the end, though, I'm still sticking with Baltimore as a better aquarium, but the tank was pretty darn impressive. There is a long moving walkway that runs you under a tunnel set up inside the tank, which is just beautiful, especially when you see the whale sharks swim right over top of you. From the sharks, to the otters, to the ray petting zoo, it was an enjoyable experience, all in all. Here are some of the pictures.







After much debate, and a call in to James, who had been through the Coca-Cola Museum on a tour just the year prior, we decided that it would be a unique experience...and it was. After being brought into a room filled to the brim with Coca-Cola paraphernalia, we were escorted into a movie theater to watch a ridiculously uncomfortable animated tour through the inside of a Coca-Cola machine with the creepiest little characters your nightmares could conjure, being voiced by people who actually work inside the factory itself. It probably would've been better as just a documentary-style tour. Cree-py.







It was a pretty enjoyable time, but it was all worth it to finish the tour in the tasting room. In this room you can taste 60-something different cola-style beverages from around the world. How bad can this be? Let's take a look...

To be honest, I had a lot more fun than you see here. There were some great ginger ales with actual ginger in it, and some pretty decent stuff from Asia. The best, however, was the cola from Italy that everyone was trying to get people to try. I, being a people-truster, decided to give it a whirl, only to discover a taste unlike anything I've ever tasted before, and hopefully will taste since. Carbonated, soured urine? Maybe. One way or the other, it was repulsive, and yet, I went back for a second try, just to get the picture above.

After such a wonderful time, we decided to top it all off...on a tip from Ben, mind you...with a dinner at the famous Hotlanta Varsity. We're greeted with a nasal, half-hearted "Whaddya have?" from every direction, whereupon we realized that it was a fast-food style establishment with some of the most horrid food we've ever encountered. Let's just say that the cheese fries were enough to put people off cheese fries for good, and it inspired this picture:

Goodnight Hotlanta. Off to Barbados with us.

Wedding Wrap Up

Wow...it's hard to believe it has already been one month since the big day. Time sure does fly.

What a day it was! Thankfully mother nature cooperated with us and blessed up with "balmy" weather in the upper 30's and clear skies. No one had any flight delays amd everyone arrived safely. Who could ask for anything more?

We are still pouring through all of the wedding photos (there are 800 of them), but if you find yourself with some free time and want to browse please do! Just follow this link: http://www.pictage.com/609971

For those of you in attendance you may have noticed several photographers capturing the moments throughout the celebration. No I wasn't trying to create my own paparazzi! As it turned out a good middle school friend of mine is starting his own photography business, and as a favor to me agreed to shoot the rehearsal dinner and day after brunch. I invited him to attend the wedding too because one can never have too many photos. Here are a few he snapped.....

Getting ready is such a process.

Portriats of a bride.
Jürgen's Grandfather knows how to party.

Slowing down for a few minutes.

I LOVE the pictures Devin took and cannot wait to see more. I will certainly keep you posted as they come in!

How I spent my Christmas Vacation....

Celebrating Hanukkah!

With my family staying in Louisville and Jürgen visiting with his family in Baltimore I was left to fend for myself in the Arctic Tundra of Chicago. Thankfully I had two wonderful friends, Roni and Rick who brought me in for Christmas Eve and Christmas to celebrate the festival of Lights with them. We had a wonderful time, ate yummy latkes and helped calm me down after the garage debacle. Rick's mom, Ginny, snapped a few photos!

Rick, Roni and Myself before the yummy feast
Rick and Roni saying a Hanukkah prayer before we chow down
Christmas day was spent with many lovely ladies...Jude, Roni, Ginny, Jessica and Melissa. Such fun!

The Little Prius that could

Hello friends and family! It's been awhile since my last post. With the holidays, the close of my show and then.....oh yes....the WEDDING...times were busy. But I am here to tell you the Blürg is back!

Now sit back, relax, and I will share with you the tale of the Little Prius that Could.

The time was 12:30 am on Christmas Eve. The place was the alley behind my house. It had been a long snow filled day of work, then a show, then a visit to Clarke's for some hot chocolate and socializing with friends. After taking a detour to drop off my friend at her house I made my way home. It must be noted that I have spent my previous Chicago winters driving a Jeep, and was still getting used to navigating the harsh roads in my more compact, fuel efficient vehicle.

As I pulled into the alley behind my house I was quick to notice how much snow had accumulated throughout the day, and my little Prius was trying as hard as she could to get over the snow mounds. At one point I thought to myself "I should just park out front" however I ignored the little voice in my head and kept on truckin'. I came to my garage and began to engage in the oh so delightful snow mobile dance. The dance consists of two steps, driving forward a few inches, reversing a few inches, driving froward a few inches, reversing a few inches. It's tedious but if done correctly it will safely get you over the snow mound and home safely. My car was aligned properly to enter the garage, I pushed on the gas in a final attempt to hurdle over the mound of snow in front of my garage and as soon as I made it over my little Prius surged forward and through, not into, but through the wall of my garage. The carnage looked something like this:


Yeah see that open space...a brick wall used to be there!

I sat in disbelief as I watched a wall of bricks collapse on my windshield and shatter. It was cold, dark and I was all alone. Not to mention it was only a little more than a week before the wedding! Not what you need as you enter the final prep stages for such a huge event.

In the end all I could do was be thankful I wasn't hurt, and amazed that my car wasn't horribly damaged. Look how well it help up!

The Prius is all fixed now and the wall....well it's still down but construction should commence soon. In the meantime I am parking out front more often, for this is a mistake you are only allowed to make once!