Monday, July 20, 2015

the return trip!

So on the final two days of the trip we headed back towards Chicago - through an horrific rainstorm between Akron and Toledo on the Ohio Turnpike and into to Toledo in time for dinner... which we had a the lovely Ciao! a wonderful throwback to good Italian supper club style dining with excellent service and wonderful food-


the next morning we headed back (first trip last year) for the second time to the Toledo Museum of Art-







 










Gallery 35 has an outstanding collection of Impressionist masterpieces...





but the other galleries are packed with gems as well-







including two Rembrandts!




a really fine museum which is worth a detour if you are anywhere near the area---

we headed home from there stopping for dinner to try to avoid the rush hour outbound on LSD north to our house- but no avail - we did however pretty much finish our car audio book in the traffic (minus less than 3 minutes LOL) so it wasn't too aggravating!

next up - the day after tomorrow we leave for Dublin and a meet up with cousin Iddo! Stay tuned!

road trip part II

So back to The Henry Ford on the next day of the trip to finish up the museum- having only gotten through four sections on the first day -



so we came from the other side and went first to agriculture - then to a special exhibit by a disappearing America photographer (no, not me...LOL) and then the dymaxion house and "your place in time" as well as the "justice for all" exhibit and winding up with a quick (extremely quick) tour through the industrial exhibit and a moderately quick tour of the furniture .... then on the road to Cleveland!













the dymaxion house!







your place in time!

 


OK- I had every one of these albums in my collection LOL


then came the next generation- by 1987 I had been married for ten years and divorced for four....




liberty and justice FOR ALL exhibit - centerpiece of the modern era - the Rosa Parks bus---



furniture exhibit -


so off we went across northern Ohio and the southern side of Lake Erie to Cleveland - where we arrived in time for dinner at the Greenhouse Tavern - a terrific gastro pub in downtown Cleveland...




from the above menu section we chose the jerky plate and the pea tartare - but first an amuse arrived- 


the jerky didn't look like much but was tasty and not dry but just a bit of chewy texture---



and a cabbage salad sent by the server-



the brussels sprouts were sent by our server for us to try and they were excellent despite the fact that neither of us is a huge fan...


OH MY! the foie gras clams were astounding! 


chicken wings confit - the best wings ever to my mind!


the fifth quarter was an omelet filled with the mystery meat (shredded beef in a zesty marinade) and herbs to top it off-



the pork chop saltimbocca


the steak tartare and frites-


 the gnocchi sardi - another choice sent by our server but we could barely eat a bite-- despite the wonderful textures and flavors...




above- Phil's Torte and below my buttered popcorn salted caramel pot de creme- yes they serve this one in heaven OMG!!!!!


This is one of two reasons to return to Cleveland- the other being this- 


we have now gone twice and still not completely done the details of this overwhelming museum- an absolute MUST SEE destination for boomers and Gen Xers... younger than that maybe not....  and here is the one giant FAIL... when I returned home I found that all my photos taken with my actual camera were MIA... only cell phone photos of the remaining part of the trip exist- so here is a bit of info about the museum and the very very few photos I have - so that may be more incentive to go see it in person !






 the museum guide-




there is (I am sure) a substantial portion of the population who has no idea what that disk thingy is- and why you really really need to have at least one!


taken for friend Aase (huge Elvis fan!)


taken for friends Chuck and Georgia Bavol who we refer to and have for about two decades now - as CBGB-



and because there is only a little more (due to lack of photos) I am heading into the final stretch of the "outbound trip" with this post- 

Pittsburgh- it was the beginning of the planning for the trip this summer- Phil wanted to see PNC Park and catch a Cardinals game on the road so we bought these tickets- 



note- the Sunday day game time- so we arrived on Saturday night for dinner at Altius? Altia? something "high" sounding - a place with lovely views and OK food- but after last night at Greenhouse anything was bound to disappoint...





the dome of our hotel lobby reflected in my tablet-


well - by the time we arrived in Pittsburgh we found out the game was no longer a day game - so we had lunch at another pizza place.  This one recommended by someone we met at a wine dinner in Sarasota last winter-





Phil loved this pizza - me- not so much - it was no Buddy's as a matter of fact it was wet in the middle - and I longed for my crispy Buddy's edges!


so when the game time arrived- I was not thrilled - after 8PM on Sunday- because I had a 5:30 Am wake up call for my trip down to Bear Run to see Fallingwater- I soldiered on however... but fair warning buying a ticket from MLB is like buying one from the airlines - it doesn't matter to them that you planned you trip to the stadium for the day game and they delayed it for SEVEN HOURS!!!!!!



nice park- nice fans- decent food selections- horrible playing by the Cardinals throughout the series so not the wonderful time Phil was envisioning when we bought the tickets in the middle of last winter....

The next day up before dawn to drive 1.5 hours to the site of Frank Lloyd Wright's masterpiece Fallingwater... none of the several hundred shots survived the great FAIL... but here is some info to tide you over- along with my two cell phone photos which I took for FB posting...










oh well - as long as my memory holds out I don't need the photos- LOL

we dined at Meat & Potatoes that evening - a hip place with loud music and decent food - 



we had bone marrow to start and I had pork belly tacos and Phil had something too blurry in the phone photo to identify LOL 



again - acceptable but no Greenhouse Tavern style meal.... the next day we started the "return trip" portion of the summer road trip - stopping in Toledo on the way home... and that is worthy of its own post - so stay tuned!