Thursday June 29
Thursday was again planned to be a family day. And again, due to jet lag, we were up early. Fortunately, mom and dad also got up early so we could spend some time with them. Faye, her boyfriend Matt and the three kids were all still sleeping, having stayed up late the night before so just the five of us headed out to grab a bite. Continue reading “Family: Food and Fun – 2017 Summer Holiday”
Tuesday June 27
After the crazy adventure getting in, our first night was a wash. We ate, said hello, then quickly collapsed. Monki experienced jetlag and was up at 1:30am, ready for the day to start. We were kept active with her until 5:30 when we were finally able to get a couple more hours of sleep. Continue reading “Sun and Sand – 2017 Summer Holiday”
Sunday-Monday June 25-26
I’ve said it before, but traveling from Lithuania is not easy. At least not by plane. Very few places are accessible directly, and those that are, are usually through the low-cost airlines (let’s never forget Flights for 50p, shall we) and get you someplace near your destination (For example, going to Paris, Ryan and Wizz fly you to Beauvais, which is about an hour away). Anyway, for our flights to the US, where we are going to spend a week on vacation with family in San Diego then all head back to Vegas for mom’s Bat Mitzvah, we decided to do it in two jumps – Vilnius (not even from Kaunas, so that’s another hour added on to the journey) to Paris then Paris to LA. Continue reading “Coming to America – 2017 Summer Holiday”
My boss, the publisher of David Magazine, has this wonderful way of working. If I happen to be traveling somewhere, he knows something about the history and sends me on an adventure to write a story for an upcoming issue. This time, I was in Portugal, so he sent me in search of Portuguese Jewish history. The result is at the link below. Enjoy!
The Age of Discovery of the Portuguese Jews
Source: Rabbi Abraham Zacuto and the Astrolabe | David Magazine
Almost two years ago, through a weird series of connections and circumstances, I ended up tech-ing a clown show called Aga-Boom, which was performing in the Vilnius Comedy festival. Long story short I became friends with the principles, Iryna and Dimitri (and Jesse, who is also in the show and with whom I have many mutual friends from many different facets of my life) and several weeks ago, they asked if I could tech their upcoming run in Lisbon, Portugal. On the plus side, I’d never been to Portugal, it was decent money, and I always love working in theatre. The down side was that it was a three-week gig at the end of the semester and with Monki only 4 1/2 months old I would miss her 5 month check up (this after missing her 1 month for a gig in Vegas) and three weeks is a long time away from family. Continue reading “Just clowning around…Lisbon (11/28-12/5)”
I left Antwerp early… again. Today I was heading towards Ghent, a town I knew had a history. The train ride was only about 30 minutes so I’d get to Ghent early and have all day to explore. Until the train stopped. Seemed that there was a train stopped on the tracks ahead of us and a voice came over the intercom informing us we’d be delayed a few minutes. In Dutch. A nice gentleman sitting across from me translated so I could keep up. Continue reading “Belgium 2016 Day 5 – A Ghent-leman and a Scholar”
Really wasn’t expecting to go the Netherlands this trip, and yet, here I was, just past 8am, hanging out with fully armed Belgian soldiers, waiting for the train to Rotterdam. As it turned out, our train was delayed so we were instructed to take the following train (which had a change rather than being a direct route). This wasn’t a big deal and they announced instructions in Dutch and English. The problem was the poor Albanian guy who was trying to get to Amsterdam (the ultimate destination of the train which would drop me in Rotterdam). He was having a hard time figuring out where to go so I made sure he got on the right train and then changed where we were supposed to. I left him on the second train. I hope he made it. Continue reading “Belgium 2016 Day 4 – Ink, Bridges and a Butt Plug Gnome”
For the second year in a row, we headed to Rasa’s hometown of Mažeikiai to celebrate Christmas. This year, though, was going to be a bit different. Rasa has a job now, so her time off schedule is quite different. Instead of being able to spend a leisurely week or so as we did last time, we only had a few days, counting the weekend. So instead of relying on relatives, friends or public transport, we decided to rent a car for the few days. It gave us more flexibility and freedom. Continue reading “Christmas, Mažeikiai style”
DAVID • Think: Art of the Reboot.
My latest “think” piece for David. This time about reboots and remakes and sequels and everything else in-between.
Please chime in on the discussion, either here or (preferably) on the magazine’s page. Would love to know what you think.
We woke up Monday morning with the sad realization our whirlwind tour of Northern Italy was coming to an end. We weren’t in as big a rush as we had been since today was going to be devoted to seeing the city we’d been staying in and then moving north and eventually ending up at the airport preparing for a 6am flight. Continue reading “Italy – Day Seven – Padua and Verona – Shakespeare would be proud!”
Waking up in Florence, in our private B&B, was a weird experience. We knew we wanted to make the most of the day (we’d planed our route the night before) so again we got up early (not as early as yesterday, however, we learnt from that mistake) and showered and packed all without seeing another person (and in fact, the other two rooms on our floor were demonstrably empty). As we were leaving, though, a door opened downstairs and our host sleepily stumbled out, asking for payment. I proffered my bank card and was asked for cash. Two hotels booked through Booking.com and two hotels asked for cash after requiring a credit card for booking purposes. Inconvenient to be sure. The other thing to remember about Italy – they charge you a tax for existing. There is a city tax per person per night at each hotel and most restaurants add in a per person fee for the pleasure of dining in. Additionally, something I didn’t know, but if you stand at the bar and drink your beverage, you’ll pay significantly less than if you take a seat at a table. Important tips. Continue reading “Italy – Day Three – Florence is hungry!”
Our plan was to see as much as we could in Italy, even if that meant not seeing things in great depth. To that end, our horrible experience in Hotel Valley would only last the one night and we would get up early to get to the train station and get down the coast to Genoa. We had planned for a 7am wake-up. Unfortunately, the best laid plans… Continue reading “Italy – Day Two – Genoa and Pisa – Rain drops all fall at the same speed…”
I knew I needed to get away for a few days in January. It’s not just the cold and the lack of sun, but they don’t help. I needed a routine break. At the end of September Monika had done a ten day train trip and something like that sounded good. I also wanted to go to Malta or a Greek island would have been nice. I also wasn’t sure if I’d be going alone or with Rasa, since she had her own work to do. There was talk of going to India with Jennica, but timing on that didn’t quite work out (and the cost was a bit prohibitive as well). So I was in a bit of a quandary. Continue reading “Italy – Day One – Milan – The Last Supper and a late dinner”
When Monika says “There’s a bus tour going to Riga to see the light festival,” your first response should be “I wanna go.” At least that’s my response. Going with Monika on a day trip is always fun, especially to another country, so I was in! Rasa was game as well so we told Monika to book it for us. See, this wasn’t just a “let’s go” trip, this was actually a bus tour operated by the company she works for, Guliverio Kelionės. Continue reading “A Palace, a Castle and Some Lights… What’s involved with a day trip to Riga?”
“I’ve seen you naked.”
This was the first thing I heard when I stepped into the church for Antti & Tiina’s wedding. “I’ve seen you naked.” Thing was… he had. This was Vesa, whom long time readers will remember from my first time in a Finnish Sauna almost exactly six years ago. Continue reading “A Wedding in Vaasa”
Getting the Hang of Thursdays 