Forget about cheese and chocolate, the latest fondue craze is ice! First you take a piece of fruit, cake or marshmallow and dip it in a topping like chocolate or cream. Then you submerge the entire thing in a bowl of liquid nitrogen for 5 seconds to create an icy treat. Currently, ice fondue is available at several restaurants in the Netherlands and Belgium. Check out their website for more info and locations.

icefondue

In Collinsville, Illinois, just 12 miles east of St. Louis, Missouri you can find the world’s largest catsup bottle. It’s actually a 170ft water tower that was built for the G.S. Suppiger catsup bottling plant in 1949. Although it was set for demolition, it was saved and restored to it’s former glory by a preservation group in 1995. It’s on the National Register of Historic Places and gets visitors every day…it even has it’s own fan club!

World’s Largest Catsup Bottle

It took 27 years but, on August 22nd, the new Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial opened to the public in Washington D.C. Standing 27 feet tall, it’s carved into a slab of granite on the National Mall. Next to the statue there is a stone wall inscribed with quotes from King. The memorial has been met with a variety of accolades and criticisms, but that is not uncommon when a new museum or statue goes up. At the end of the day, it’s fitting that King is a permanent fixture on the Mall and hopefully he’ll inspire visitors for years to come. An official dedication ceremony is scheduled for October 16th on the 16th anniversary of the Million Man March.

Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial

There is something magical about a lighthouse, even a little one. Located in Kingsland Point Park in Tarrytown, NY (otherwise known as Sleepy Hollow) the 1883 Lighthouse guided boats along the Hudson River from 1883 until it was decommissioned in 1961. The inside of the lighthouse is only open to group tours by appointment, but anyone can walk around the outside once they gain entrance to the park where parking is $8 for non-residents. Next to the lighthouse is a stone wall which resembles the Berlin wall and has been partially covered in artwork. The park itself is small but quite nice and includes a dog run.

1883 Lighthouse

Nearby, we visited the Vanderbilt Mansion, small by Vanderbilt standards but still very impressive. It was built by Frederick Vanderbilt and is considered one of the last houses of the Gilded Age. The tour is run by the National Park Service and is very informal. Basically the guide tells you a bit about each floor and you can ask any additional questions as you wander around on your own.

The Culinary Institute of America is just a few miles away and makes the perfect lunch stop. There are five student run restaurants on campus, 4 of which are semi formal and require an advance reservation and the Apple Pie Bakery Cafe which is casual and has walk in service. We decided to visit the cafe and the food was delicious. The menu had a great variety of small and large plates and many unique desserts. We liked the food so much, that we ended up bringing home a loaf of fresh cheddar jalapeno bread, a box of truffles and some macarons for later!

After a great meal, we drove 20 minutes to the Walkway Over the Hudson in Poughkeepsie. It’s an old railroad bridge that was converted to the world’s longest pedestrian bridge at 1.28 miles. It offers beautiful views of the Hudson River and a great opportunity to watch trains and boats pass by.

Even though Will and I are not big cruise people, I always wanted to take a trip on one of Cunard’s Queen ships. They seemed so romantic and elegant, the way transatlantic crossings used to be. The Queen Mary 2 typically sails between New York and Southampton, England but occasionally she makes longer or shorter trips. When I heard about the 4th of July cruise, out of New York with stops in Halifax and Boston, I thought it would be the perfect way for us to check out the majestic vessel.

Date: July 2011

Embarking/Disembarking: The QM2 usually sails out of Brooklyn, NY but our special cruise left from the Manhattan port. The pier was crowded and disorganized as there was a Carnival ship boarding at the same time. It took hours to get checked in and we couldn’t find the bag drop so we were stuck dragging our suitcases around. Once we got on the ship, the elevators were messed up and it took quite a long time to get to our room. Disembarking was much easier when we returned. We chose to carry our own bags so we could get right off the ship when it docked. We just listened for an announcement and were off in minutes.

Cabins: Cunard ships are broken up into three classes. First and second class are, in order, the Queens Grill and the Princess Grill. Guests in these classes have suites, separate restaurants and separate decks to lounge on. Everyone else is in the Britannia Class which eats in the two-story Britannia dining room and has access to all the common areas. The Britannia rooms range from tiny, inside staterooms to larger, balcony staterooms. Some of the balconies are in-hull, which means they are enclosed like a sitting room, while others are outdoor. Apparently the in-hull rooms are ideal during a windy, rainy crossing but, since we were just going up the coast of New England, we booked an open balcony room. The room was a bit worn, but spacious and we loved being able to sit outside, especially on the 4th of July when fireworks were going off in every direction. The beds are pretty comfortable although the pillows are flat and horrible. The bathrooms were also spacious for a cruise ship and the shower pressure and temperature was excellent. We were on Deck 8 at the very front of the ship and it was smooth and peaceful, but we could hear our neighbors on their balconies if we were outside at the same time. If someone is out chatting or playing music, you definitely couldn’t do any quiet reading.

The Ship: As I’d imagined, the Queen Mary 2 is very elegant. The common areas are beautiful from the gorgeous grand lobby with its glass elevator, to the stunning Queens Room, the largest ballroom at sea. There is no shortage of things to do and places to explore and because the ship is so large, it never feels crowded. There’s a nice little art gallery, a big fitness center, a spa, a planetarium (tickets are available every morning on a first come, first served basis), many shops and several bars and clubs where you can have a nice drink and just enjoy the ride. There are nightly shows, mostly dancers, which were pretty good and there is a casino with 115 slot machines and 11 gaming tables. Of course, there are also pools and plenty of lounge chairs to relax in outside if the weather permits.

Meals: There are three meals a day served in the dining rooms. In the Queens and Princess Grill Dining Rooms, you can show up within an allotted time frame for your meals or have them served in your suite. In the Britannia, you can do the same for breakfast and lunch, but you are assigned a table at a specific seating time for dinner. There are three courses with several options every night for each. There are vegetarian selections, but there is also a separate vegetarian menu that you can order from in advance, the night before as long as you let them know of your dietary restrictions ahead of time. The quality of the meals varied widely. Some nights they were good and some nights not so much. In my opinion, the food was not gourmet, it was often very heavy and sometimes tasteless. Food is also available, buffet style, in the King’s Court. I didn’t like the food there at all. Afternoon tea is served every day in the Queens Room and this was my favorite eating experience on the ship. White gloved waiters served us cups of tea with sandwiches, tasty little cakes and scones with clotted cream. There is also a Todd English restaurant and special themed dining experiences which you can reserve tables at for an additional fee. We didn’t try any of these so I can’t review them.

NOTE: Although the dress code on the ship is relaxed during the day, there are strict dress codes for eating dinner in the dining rooms. They are formal, semi-formal or elegant, but you are expected to dress for dinner every night and the dress code is enforced. You are never going to see jeans or sneakers at night in any of the dining rooms. If you don’t want to dress up, you have to go to the buffet or order food to your room.

Ports of Call: Our cruise had stops in Halifax, Canada and Boston, MA. Although there were excursions offered for an additional fee we opted to explore the cities on our own. In Halifax, it was an easy walk over to the Citadel, an old, British military fort on a hill. There were actors dressed as soldiers that put on a demonstration with an old cannon. You can take a guided tour or just walk around the stone fortress on your own. From the top, you have an excellent view of the town. We also visited the pretty Public Gardens and the many shops around the cruise port. As I’m from Boston, we had been there many times and seen all the sights. We walked from the ship to the Institute of Contemporary Art and made a stop at Mike’s Pastry in the North End to pick up some amazing cannolis and a lobster tail before reboarding the ship. We didn’t have a great view of the Pops fireworks from the ship, but we could see them.

Overall Impression: While sailing on the QM2 wasn’t exactly luxurious, it was definitely nicer than the average cruise. It was a bit overpriced, but had we not travelled over a holiday, I think I would have found the fares more reasonable. I wouldn’t recommend it for children because it is expensive and not really setup for kids but, for a couple or group of adults, it’s a nice trip.

Grade: B

For more pictures, please visit my Photo Gallery or click on any of the photos posted above.

Queen Mary 2 Official Site

Every summer, Stamford, CT hosts a public art exhibit placing sculptures in various locations in the downtown area of the city. This year, the theme is Wit and Whimsy and 39 sculptures by 12 artists are featured. The display will run until Labor Day and most of the artwork is actually for sale. You can get details and a map of the exhibit on the official Stamford Downtown website. If you can’t make it to Stamford, you can still check out some of the sculptures by clicking into my photo album through one of the pictures posted above.

Stamford Downtown – Wit and Whimsy

There’s nothing like a Kool-Aid stand on a hot summer day and, if you head to Hastings, Nebraska from August 12-14th, you can visit the world’s largest! With 14 flavors pouring at any given time, the stand serves up a gallon of Kool-Aid every minute. It’s all part of Kool-Aid Days, a celebration set in the birthplace of the fruity drink that draws over 50,000 people every year. Events include a parade, a golf tournament, a Kool-Aid drinking contest and carnival games. Of course, the Kool-Aid man himself oversees the festivities! Check out the official site for more information and a full schedule.

Kool-Aid Days

Although it opened just 8 months ago, The National Pinball Museum in Georgetown, VA will close on September 1, 2011 after losing its lease. The good news is that you still have just over a month to check it out! The museum features exhibits about the history of Pinball and 300 machines, 50 of which are available to play.

Admission is just $3.00 (free for kids under 9) and games are $0.75/play. Every Thursday from 12-8pm, admission is $20 and includes unlimited play all day.

The National Pinball Museum

A huge part of the U.S. is heading into a heat wave and what’s better than ice cream on a hot day? I recently came across this great list of the country’s craziest ice cream flavors in Newsweek. In case you are wondering, I’ve only had the Brown Bread at Scoops in L.A. personally…..it was delicious.