Philadelphia International Auto Show - 2011

Every year for the past several years our family visits the New York International Auto Show.  We like to see whats new in the auto industry and the kids love to jump from one car to another and touch every button possible - something they are not allowed to do in my car.  This year we decided to visit a neighboring city - Philadelphia.  Philadelphia hosts this show a couple of months before New York.  While it is about as close to us as New York, it is much easier to get to and costs a lot less!

The full photo-report will follow soon...

The Bremen Town Musicians (Бременские Музыканты - Мюзикл)

Last Friday our family went to see The Bremen Town Musicians (Бременские Музыканты) the musical.
The show was performed by the group of dancers from Moscow at the Whitman Theater located in Brooklyn College.

To make sure we get there on time and don't get caught in rush hour traffic we decided to leave home well in advance.  However, to my surprise, there was no traffic anywhere - not in New Jersey, not in Staten Island, not even in Brooklyn!  Unbelievable! The only slowdown happened near the Brooklyn College, but not due to traffic but because of all traffic lights and poor road conditions.  The snow removal is still not 100% in New York.

Anyway, we got the theater one hour before the show.  Needless to say, we were first!

By the way, this was a really great performance.  The singing, dancing, and humor that the actors injected into the show was fabulous.  They did a great job at making it fun not only for kids but also for adults.  And since this show was attributed to the 40th aniversary of the very popular animation movie, it made the adults, myself included, feel like kids again!

Here is a YouTube clip that shows you just how fabulous this show was.  Enjoy...

Florida Vacation (Part 2 - The Cruise) - Key West

On the fourth day, our ship arrived to Key West.  It is a nice little island located at the very end of the long chain of islands called keys that start in Miami and end almost near Cuba.  Key West is considered the southernmost island of the continental USA.

Florida Vacation (Part 2 - The Cruise) - Bahamas

On the third day our ship arrived to Nassau, Bahamas.  I could not wait to get off the ship and feel the solid ground under my feet.  But before leaving the ship, we wanted to figure out what to do and where to go.  We really wanted to do some sightseeing, visit Atlantis - their biggest hotel, and maybe go on the beach.  There were "Land Excursions" available for purchase on the ship but they all were very expensive.  We decided to try our luck in the port.

Florida Vacation (Part 2 - The Cruise) - Formal Night

The second day was spent at sea.  The main events of the day were the Captain's dinner and a photo shoot. But these events were scheduled for the evening.  In the morning, after our breakfast, we sent the kids to daycare where they played games and did art and crafts.  My wife and I went to survey the ship.  We walked from floor to floor to see what's interesting on the ship.  We found the casino, several night clubs and cafe, a Duty Free store and an everything for $10 store.  The casino was filled with gamblers.  I guess the passengers payed so little for the cruise that they felt they had a lot of extra money to donate to the Carnival corporation.  And the corporation was taking everything it could get.

Florida Vacation (Part 2 - The Cruise)

Day 1.
We arrived at the Jacksonville port around 11 AM.  A lot of people were already there looking to start boarding the ship that was towering over us.  We dropped our baggage with the porters and went into a room to go through security and registration.  There I saw a long line of people trying to do all the same things.  I noticed that a lot of passengers had a small round patch behind their ear.  I assumed it was a nicotine patch.   I was wrong - these patches were from sea sickness.  After about one hour of slowly moving toward the entrance of the ship through zigzagging lines we came to a place where photographers were taking shots of happy travelers.  Unfortunately, we did not look so happy because we were hungry, tired, and just informed that we could not go to our room - it was still being cleaned.  Instead, we were asked to go straight to the top deck where the lunch was being served.

Florida Vacation (Part 1 - The Drive)

The two-week family vacation that included a five day/night cruise to the Bahamas and Key West, a day at Daytona Beach, and a week in Disney World had began on Sunday, November 7th.  That night we packed our car and headed south towards the sunny Florida.  900 miles or 1400 km to be exact. This was not the first time we were driving to Florida, so we had a game plan.  To make sure I would be able to drive all night I took an afternoon nap and told kids to be quiet or they would not be going on vacation.  They believed me.  :)