Thanksgiving at Chris & Donna's House, Abingdon, MD

 

Friend's Giving w/ T'Shawn and Pete

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Christmas Spectacular with the Rockettes, Radio City Music Hall

Paris Restaurants

 When I ask ChatGPT what are the best restaurants in Paris. I get the following list: 

1. Le Meurice Alain Ducasse
2. Septime
3. Le Jules Verne
4. Guy Savoy
5. L’Arpège
6. Pierre Gagnaire
7. Alléno Paris au Pavillon Ledoyen
8. Le Cinq
9. David Toutain
10. Clamato

This time I’ve dined at #2 and #5, plus Tables by Bruno Verjus which is on the World’s 50 Best Restaurants list (but it wasn’t that good, nor is it on this list). Previously I’ve dinned at #6 & #7.   Next time, I’ll select from the balance of the list. 

Cassa Museo Luciano Pavarotti

Luciano Pavarotti was a renowned Italian operatic tenor who crossed over into popular music, becoming one of the most acclaimed tenors of all time. Born in 1935 in Modena, Italy, Pavarotti began his music career in the 1960s, making his debut as Rodolfo in La Bohème in 1961.  

Pavarotti sole over 100 million records, won numerous Grammy awards, and was  appointed a Knight Grand Cross of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic in 1988 ! He was also known for his charity work and performed with fellow tenors Plácido Domingo and José Carreras as The Three Tenors.  Pavarotti passed away on September 6, 2007, due to pancreatic cancer. 

St Thomas, U S Virgin Islands Oct 15 – 20, 2024

St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands

Rest and relaxation on St. Thomas including night kayaking in clear-kayaks and LED lights around the bay viewing nocturnal marine life such as tarpon fish with T'Shawn. 

Bismarck, ND Oct 10 – 11, 2024

Bismarck, North Dakota

 Arriving on the last day of this road trip, I found Bismarck to be a lot larger than I expected but I could not find interesting places to visit.  The most interesting was North Dakota Heritage Center & State Museum which includes extensive exhibits on the history and culture of North Dakota’s Native American tribes detailing the state's Indigenous heritage and history. My favorite exhibit was the When Dinosaurs Ruled. There were so many well lit, interesting dinosaur skeletons. The museum is located next to the North Dakota State Building, but the building did not look like a state capital building. It looked more like an outdated office building built in the 1970's. I explore the Bismarck Downtown Artist Cooperative and Alley 5.5, both were extremely underwhelming. Still wanting to explore, I decided to give the zoo a chance.  I hate zoos, but I was bored and the weather was really nice.  The zoo was exactly as I expected a bit boring and also underwhelming. Zoos are always also a bit sad.  However, some of the monkeys were very active which was nice to see.  Had dinner at Butterhorn, which had very good online reviews, but like almost every other restaurant I ate at on this trip, the food was just average. I ordered: Cheeseburger Orzo Soup (Grandma’s recipe, dill creme fraiche, sesame seed croutons); Dirty Martini Dip (Castelvetrano olives, bleu cheese, cream cheese, lemon, gin, vermouth, toasted focaccia); and Blue Crab Fra Diavolo (Lump blue crab, fettuccine, Calabrian chilies, pasta, vodka, fennel pollen, breadcrumbs). 

Sioux Falls, SD Oct 9 – 10, 2024