Robert Reiss Travel Blog and Other Ramblings

Saturday we left to visit our grandson, Charlie, to celebrate his 3rd birthday.  No trip is complete without a visit with our friends at TSA.  For some reason the TSA seems to have their eyes on Patrice. Hardly a trip goes by without her being singled out at one of the check points for closer scrutiny.  Saturday was no exception.  In addition to the usual pat down she had her carry on luggage completely emptied. Does TSA know something about Patrice that has evaded me all these years?  Am I married to a mole for Isis?  If the security of our country involves intense investigations of a grandma of XXX years of age (I know better than using anything but XXX here), who has raised 3 wonderful children, dedicated her life to helping others, not the least of all is married to an amazing guy like me, our country is in real trouble.

Our flight was relatively comfortable except for the crying baby 2 rows behind us.  I didn’t think it was possible for a baby to cry for an entire flight but this little guy proved me wrong.  The one good aspect was that it wasn’t my baby who was suffering.

Arrival was uneventful.  Our pilot failed to alert the flight attendants to “prepare for cross check”.  I have no clue want that means but we seemed to arrive without incident in spite of his failure to prompt the crew to do their job.  Upon arrival we were welcomed to SF by the crew to the best of my knowledge they were arriving at the same time as us and as my friend Gary has pointed why are they welcoming us since they are arriving too?

Sunday was a dream day.  Charlie had a wonderful party at Rock N Jump.  It was a pleasure watching him and his brother romp around on the trampolines.  I even got to coach and root on grandma Patrice scale the climbing wall (no doubt part of her terrorist training).

We had a great weekend visiting with David, Robyn and the boys.  We are now waiting for our flight home.  Our 1:20 pm flight was cancelled.  I assume because they didn’t have an air marshal to monitor Patrice’s activity.  My boarding pass had “TSA pre check” printed on it but somehow it was deleted from Patrice’s.  I need to check this woman’s background, no?

Robert

 

 

 

With our BBQ certificates in hand we headed home.  Memphis Airport is small and very easy to negotiate.  The first leg of our trip home took us to Dallas (DFW) Airport.  That place is much bigger than Memphis and of course the terminal in which you arrive is not the same as the terminal from which you will depart.  That would be too easy.  After a short wait (I first typed weight, I guess I am still feeling guilty about all the eating we did this weekend) we were on our way.  A little lightning as we took off from Dallas got my blood flowing.  There was turbulence which was also a bit unnerving.  The remainder of the flight was uneventful.

One thing is clear, all our traveling these past 3 years has made us very much into spoiled brats.  For example I was annoyed there wasn’t wifi on our flight from DFW to LAX. Unfortunately I asked the flight attendant if there was wifi and she told me, “I don’t think so because this is one of our older planes”.  That got me thinking, lightning, turbulence, older plane……..  why didn’t I just keep my mouth shut?

Also the hotel was not to our liking.  We stayed at the Holiday Inn which was where the seminar was located.  It was clear that we were not at the Peabody (where we stayed during our first 2 trips to Memphis).  First of all, no spare toilet paper in a cloth bag (How uncivilized!), no safe (This is the Holiday Inn, leave your valuables at home) but most important, no chocolate on our pillows at night.   Also we missed the Peabody Ducks.   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wwo9L8L_i3U

The trip and training was a lot of fun.  We look forward to the BBQ Festival next May.  I hope if you can’t go with us you will at least follow along via my blog.

Robert

Patrice and I prepared for our BBQ course by going to a restaurant we previously visited on our BBQ tour last May, the Blues City Cafe.  The place is nothing special to look at but the ribs are great (see below).

With that great experience from last night still fresh in our guts, I mean our minds, we attended the BBQ seminar and received our Ph.B. (Doctor of Philosophy in Barbecue).  There were about 100 people attending the training (which is a prerequisite to becoming a judge at the Memphis in May BBQ Festival).  They honor the people who come from the longest distance to attend.  Seminar organizer, Mike Davis, announced “I thought my people from California where going to take the honor but today a man came in from Australia”.  Damn Aussies!

Most of our classmates were from Memphis or the surrounding area.  Many have already been certified by the KCBS.  I thought that was our local Los Angeles TV station but it stands for Kansas City Barbecue Society.  A couple of ladies sitting behind us, who are KCBS certified, recognized us as a couple of newbies.  “You are much too thin to be regulars.”  They shared that they judge some sort of competition almost every weekend (“We do steaks in Texas!”).  They also confessed that they had each gained about 25 lbs since starting to judge food competitions.

The course involved a pretest followed by a review of the syllabus.  We also had a demonstration of both “On Site” and “Blind” judging.  The “Californians” were honored by being permitted to be the “Judges” for the Blind Judging demonstration.

Then came the final exam.  The pressure was taken off when the organizers said if you don’t pass the test you will take it again until you pass.  Patrice finished first and when she returned with both her and my certificate I knew I was okay.  We both did quite well but I did manage to miss two questions that I previously answered correctly on the pretest. I guess I didn’t get as much as I could have from the training.

Training accomplished, now it is time to get to working out.  We can’t come here next year unless we’ve done some serious exercising prior to arrival. They don’t encourage health around here.  They even have a run called the Big Hog Run during the Festival.  Male entrants have to be over 175 lbs and females over 150.  The run is a 0.2K (200 meters) and I am told it is all downhill.

Fun times ahead.

Robert

Baby back ribs from The Blues City Cafe on Beale Street

Today we leave for what has become a home away from home, Memphis, Tennessee.  This will be our 3rd trip to the city since June of 2014. Tomorrow, Patrice and I will be attending a seminar.   You all know how committed we are to education and even as our ages advance we want to learn new information and new skills.  If successful, tomorrow’s seminar will qualify us to return to Memphis next May to be judges at the “Memphis in May BBQ Festival”.

Our loyal blog followers might remember the amazing BBQ tour our guide Lance, from Tastin Round Town (www.tastinroundtown.com), took us on last May.  If you recall (or even if you don’t recall) we enjoyed BBQ ribs (pork and beef), a pulled pork sandwich, BBQ egg roll (yes egg roll), BBQ spaghetti (yes spaghetti) and BBQ nachos (yes nachos).  We learned an incredible amount of information about BBQ from Lance but the one thing we found most valuable is that we could become judges for the BBQ Festival.  All we needed to do was to apply, be accepted, and attend the BBQ judge seminar.  What he didn’t mention (or maybe I conveniently forgot this part) is that we need to pass a test after the seminar (you mean we actually have to learn something?).  I just hope they don’t ask us to regurgitate what we learned because if we eat as much as we did with Lance last May, regurgitation might be a real possibility and I am not talking about regurgitation of information.

Currently we are at about 30,000 feet over San Bernardino, California.  I had plenty of time to write and publish this entry while still on the ground but you all know how much I love to use the internet from way up high.  It is my version of the “Mile High Club”.

If any of my readers are superstitious they might be worried that we are flying on Friday the 13th.  We obviously don’t seem to mind (see picture below) because we are seated in row 13.  How is that for tempting fate? My pal, Allen, was born on Friday the 13th (actually November 13th, Happy B-Day Allen) and it seemed to work out okay for him. Actually he is working on his birthday so Patrice and I could have our little getaway.  Thanks, Allen.

Enough for now (some of you might have already said that a paragraph or two ago).

I hope all is well.

Robert

Today is our last day in Rio and again it looks too cloudy to venture up to see Christ the Redeemer.  So I guess we will need to come back to Rio sometime.This morning we had a walking tour of the favelas.  These are poor neighborhoods where many of the local gangs live.  The homes are rather run down and when new family members are added they build up rather than acquire new property.

It was raining during much of our tour so I kept wondering why am I doing this and did I really pay for the privilege?  See the photos below.

We are now back at the hotel and waiting for our ride to the airport.  Looking forward to being back in the US and starting plans on our next trip.

A little wet but still with smiles on our faces.

Roberto

The name of this trip on my blog has been “The Road to Rio” because even though we had wonderful plans to see Buenos Aires, the glaciers of Patagonia and the Iguazú Falls, the main reason for this trip was to satisfy my desire to see the Christ the Redeemer statue in Rio.  You might not know this name but I know you have seen the magnificent structure any time you have seen pictures of Rio.  Christ, with his arms outstretched, standing on the hill of Corcovado looking over the city of Rio below.

Well today was the day.  When our guide, Edson, picked us up he had a look of concern. Today was overcast and visibility was awful.  In spite of the poor conditions we went to the landmark statue.  We took the 20 minute train ride to the base.  In addition to the fog it started to rain.  I was not about to be deterred.  I planed this trip for about the past year for this one day and I was not going to let some clouds and rain stop me.  The one good piece of news was that things were not crowded.  The train going up to the base had 6 passengers (looked like it could handle about 150 per car and about 4 cars were pulled upward).   At the prime viewing spot there were 4 individuals (counting Patrice and me).  I stood out there for a few minutes praying for the rains to stop and the clouds to clear.  I then went down a couple flights of stairs to the gift shop to give my prayers a chance to work.  Ten minutes later I told Patrice “I’m going up for another look”.   Patrice wasn’t going to let me go alone so we both braved the elements to see if my prayers had helped.  And much to my amazement things hadn’t changed a bit.  See my photos below.   If you want to see what this should look like check out this link.  http://www.lovethesepics.com/2011/04/christ-the-redeemer-statue-1-of-7-new-wonders-of-the-world-45-inspiring-pics/

Wet, cold and disappointed we left Christ and headed to Estrela do Sur for lunch.  One more buffet (as if we needed any).  This place takes buffet to an obscene level.  In the US you stand on line and get your food.  Typically you wait to have a person carve you some beef or turkey.  At this restaurant the meat carvers repeatedly come to your table.  We were offered a variety of beef, lamb, poultry, pork and fish.  There was also a buffet with a variety of salads, sushi, appetizers and other hot dishes.  Dessert sent you back to your table where they delivered a variety of treats.

Prior to the food I was offered the national drink of Brazil, the “Caipirinha” (see below).  The ingredients are lime, rum, sugar and ice.   Yes, this is Robert who is writing.  You know me as a non drinker but damn it I wanted to see Christ the Redeemer and look below if you need a reminder of what I saw.  The drink was quite good but not to worry, I still am not a big alcohol fan.

Tomorrow we have another tour in the morning.  If the skies are clear we MIGHT be able to arrange a quick trip to see Cristo.  Tomorrow night we return home.  We need to get home because all this food is going to kill us.  I now know why people often die soon after retirement.  I need to get home to my work outs and a much healthier diet.

Christ the Redeemer in hiding.

Caipirinha helping me forget Cristo.

Ciao, ciao,

Roberto

We started our day with another wonderful breakfast at our hotel, then our tour guide took us to the Iguazu Falls airport.  There are 2 international airports in Iguazu Falls, one in Argentina (where we arrived) and the other in Brazil (from where we departed). We went through security and boarded the plan without anyone asking us to show our passports or any form of identification.

The flight left on time (I guess not checking ID will speed up departure times) and we arrived in Rio a few minutes early.  Not sure if I mentioned it but my luggage did not make it to Iguazu Falls with our flight (they brought it the next day) so I was a bit nervous waiting in baggage claim. Both bags arrived and we were on our way.  The hotel was about a 30 minute drive from the airport during which we talked with our Rio guide (Edson) a little about the city and the plans for tomorrow and Monday.

We are staying at the Copacabana Palace which is across the street from the beach.  The hotel is amazing (a recurrent theme for this trip).  Unfortunately we don’t have a view of the beach or the pool.  After arriving we took a walk around the area and the hotel.  There is a wedding taking place here and apparently they are having two separate ceremonies due to religious differences.  We are told that the average Brazilian household income is about $25,000 (USD) but many make as little as $12,000 per year.  Tonight’s wedding families clearly don’t belong in either of these socioeconomic groups.

Dinner was in the hotel at a restaurant called Mee.  It is an Asian style restaurant and has Michelin One Star rating.  Does it make sense to trust a tire company to rate a restaurant? The answer is YES.  We had a fantastic meal.  We didn’t just have a meal, we had an experience.  We sat at the sushi bar and ordered the prix fixe menu that won them the Michelin Star Rating.  We watched the first 3 courses being made.  They were sushi dishes (yes, I ate sushi) and they tasted spectacular.  We spoke with Chef Kazuo Harada who explained that the restaurant is new and they recently received their Michelin One Star of which he is justifiably very proud.

Tomorrow is our tour of the city but tonight we devoted our attention to food (see below).

Sealed Salmon with spicy miso sauce

Scallops Truffle (that is tuna sashimi in the front).

Dim Sum: both pork, the one on the left is green due to spinach.

Sorry too busy eating, I forgot to take a picture of the Sushi Set (1. Tuna with foie gras 2. Chilean King Crab)

Duck.  The duck was then taken off the bone by the waiters and we ate it wrapped in pancakes and Hoisin sauce (like moo shu pork)

Wagyu beef ribs cooked in low temperature with kabocha squash.

Tofu Cheesecake and Raspberry Sherbet for dessert.

Patrice (“Miss Patricia” according to the waitress); Chef Kazuo Harada; and Robert (¨Mr. Richard”)

Hasta mañana,

Roberto

First of all let thank all the people who take the time to comment on my posts.  It is nice to know people are really reading this stuff and I am not just talking to myself (which I have been known to do on numerous occasions).

Today was our day to explore the Igauzu Falls from the Brazilian side. First we went on a lovely walk with our tour guide, Virginia, and got some wonderful close up views of birds, bugs and of course the Iguazu Falls.  After that we were driven to a local boat dock where we got a cruise that took us up to the falls and actually in the downfall of what is known as “The Three Musketeers”.  We have had a ton of fun on this trip but I think this might have been my high point thus far.

Back at the hotel Patrice and I decided to relax and get a massage.  The hotel offers a “couples massage” where you can be in the same room while you are getting your treatments.  The Spa is lovely and after changing into robes we waited on cots for our masseurs to arrive. Patrice was greeted by Genevieve who we found out previously worked as a fashion model in Paris.  Moments later I was welcomed by Hilda who is a descendant of German Nazi War Criminals.  Patrice enjoyed her massage very much, I was introduced to body positions I did not know previously existed.

At night we had a wonderful Brazilian dinner and show at a restaurant outside the park.  It was a variety show and I didn’t understand much of what was being said (except the few things spoken in English) but the variety acts were for the most part quite enjoyable.  A bit loud, but enjoyable.

Tomorrow we leave for Rio.

Ciao, Ciao,

Roberto

Fantastic, stupendous, life changing, awe inspiring.  Yes the hotel has fixed the Wifi and I am back online.  Oh, and we saw the Iguazu Falls too. That was also pretty good.

The Falls were very impressive.  I loved the Niagara Falls (refer to Hall of Fame Road Tour in 2013) but the Iguazu Falls are a much different experience.  Niagara has 3 falls (Horseshoe, American and Bridal) and they are all quite spectacular.  Iguazu is made up of 275 falls which by comparison dwarfs Niagara.  Today we viewed the Falls from the Argentinian side.  Our guide, Virginia, did a phenomenal job of showing us all the sights and making a warm and humid day quite relaxing.   Virginia also had a wealth of information to add to our enjoyment of the day.  I hope you enjoy the photos but as I have said before they just don’t do the sight justice.

Tomorrow we visit Iguazu from the Brazilian side.

As a side note, our hotel is amazing.  It is situated in the park and we have a view of a few of the falls.   The staff cannot do enough for us. The room is spectacular.  Also we are never alone because there always seems to be some sort of bug on our bed or in the shower.  Hey, don’t get agitated we are in a rain forest and we are in their home not vice versa.

Ciao, Ciao (forgot to mention the Italian immigrant influence is very strong in Argentina and this is how people say goodbye)

Robert

This view is from our hotel.

Today was our travel day from the cold of El Calafate to the warmth of Iguazu.

With 5 hours and two flights ahead we decided on a big breakfast for two reasons. The food at the hotel has been excellent and the prospect of airplane and airport food gives me a sense of impending doom.

We were greeted at the hotel dining room by the lovely and friendly Carmen. We asked about the possibility of getting an omelette which she answered “but of course”. So far so good. Patrice asked if we could get some cheese in them. “Yes, yes queso (cheese) and Jam”. Jam? Really, jam in an omelette? We have learned they eat Guinea pig in Peru and Spanairds serve you the cochinillo (suckling pig) with head and eyes staring you in the face but jam in an omelette? Turns out Carmen was trying to speak English and said jam when actually meant ham.

We had a similar incident at the airport. I asked if we would be served anything on board the plane. I was told only an “Alpha Whore”. Wow! What about my wife? “She gets one too”I . I quickly thought this was going to be one wild flight. I heard the South Americans love to party but this was far beyond my imagination. On board I learned we were being served an Alfajor which is Argentinian candy. Very tasty and much safer for on flight use than what I had imagined.

Tomorrow we explore Iguazu Falls. Pictures to follow if my camera doesn’t get wet.

No pictures tonight since we are experiencing WiFi issues at the hotel. This is coming from my phone