6 Days in New York

Siren Song

It's been too long since I've been to New York City to soak up the amazing jazz scene. It calls to me. When I found out Kurt Elling would be playing the role of Hermes in Hadestown on Broadway, I knew that was just the excuse I needed to plan a trip to the Big Apple. With my retirement at the end of December 2025 and Kurt on Broadway through January 2026, early January was the obvious time to go.

Day One - Monday

My travel buddy and fellow jazz aficionado, Steve, suggested we stay at the Lotte Palace. (That's pronounced LOH-TEH. It's a Korean company.) Steve is a travel guru, having traveled around the world, so when he recommends a place, I listen. Not a bad view from our room.

Room with a View

That's St. Patrick's Cathedral across the street.

The Lotte Palace is beautiful. It was originally the Villard Mansion, built by railroad magnate, Henry Villard. The mansion was built in the Neo-Renaissance style in 1884. Sadly, Villard went bankrupt around the time he finally moved in and only lived there a few months. This is the ceiling of the Gold Room where we had cocktails. They also serve breakfast here.

The ceiling of the Gold Room in the hotel

Directly above this room is the library. I tried to imagine Villard living here in January 1884. Electric lights came to wealthier homes in Manhattan in 1882, so he might have had indoor lighting. But he was probably burning candles to read by. And the the only indoor heating was the fireplaces.

The library of the original Villard Mansion

One of my former colleagues recommended a jazz club in Tribeca that I hadn't heard of, The Django. So after checking into the hotel we hopped the subway down to The Django for a late set featuring the Jihee Heo trio. Great show. I wasn't familiar with any of the performers, but the music was great, mostly standards including a beautiful rendition of "Lush Life".

Jihee Heo Trio at The Django

• Jihee Heo (piano)
• Eric Willer (bass)
• Chris Beck (drums)

Day Two - Tuesday

In addition to being a world-traveler, Steve is also a foodie, so we had to check out some haute cuisine. Of course we wouldn't want that to interfere with jazz shows, so we had lunch at Le Bernardin.

Outside Le Bernardin dressed like a New Yorker

We had the chef's tasting menu. It was amazing. I don't have the words to describe it. I'll let you read about it in the New York Times: Le Bernardin Holds On to Its Craft

After lunch we walked around midtown and decided to check out St. Patricks Cathedral which was still decorated for Christmas and awash in red poinsettias. 

Altar at St. Patrick's Cathedral 

The Waldorf-Astoria re-opened a few months ago after being closed 8 years for renovations. If 8 years seems like a long time, don't forget to factor in the Covid time warp. The lobby is beautiful and it has a beautiful 1908 Steinway piano that belonged to Cole Porter, who lived in the hotel back in the 1940's.

Cole Porter's piano in the lobby of the Waldorf-Astoria

We found out that they actually have someone playing the piano for the cocktail hour, so we decided to come back for cocktails later in the week.

In the evening we headed out to hear vocalist Dee Dee Bridgewater, who was doing a 5-night run at Birdland with pianist Bill Charlap. Dee Dee can be wild and crazy and Bill definitely shares her taste for musical adventure. They played standards and I mean played. It felt like they were just playing around for the pure joy of it. It was a great show! They did:

1. On A Clear Day
2. Sometimes I’m Happy
3. Just One of Those Things
4. Lush Life
5. I’m Beginning to See the Light
6. S’Wonderful
7. In A Sentimental Mood
8. Honeysuckle Rose
9. Mood Indigo
10. Caravan

Day Three - Wednesday

Before our Hadestown matinee at 2pm, we had time to check out another nice restaurant. Can you guess the name of the restaurant from this picture?

Yes, that's right Le Veau D'Or (Golden Calf). It was another excellent meal.

Then we we're off to the Walter Kerr Theatre.

It was a superb show and Kurt Elling was fabulous as Hermes. Hadestown tells the story of Orpheus, from the Greek myth, who travels to the underworld to rescue Eurydice. It also weaves in the Greek myth of Hades and Persephone.  I would have guessed that Orpheus or Hades had the most songs,  but Hermes narrates the story and has most songs. Kurt was great as Hermes. He's a great storyteller. Hadestown also takes place in the 1930's when jazz was the popular music and the big bands of Duke Ellington and Count Basie were, well, big! I also really enjoyed Jack Wolfe who played Orpheus. I found his performance and his singing very moving.

In the evening Steve and I went our separate ways. Steve wanted to see "Porgy and Bess" at the Metropolitan opera and I wanted to hear some more--you guessed it--jazz! 

I had learned the previous night that Birdland has a theatre in the basement below the club, which is called--drum roll--the Birdland Theatre. And Wednesday is guitar night at the Birdland Theatre, which is hosted by Frank Vignola. And his guests that night were the young phenom, Pasquale Grasso, and Mike Stern who has been on the scene longer than I've been working. And I just retired after 40 years. It was a great show. They weren't too loud, which guitarists can often be, but they did play a lot of up-tempo songs, which guitarists also seem to do quite often. They did a lot of trading off on comping and soloing and even all 3 soloing at once at one point. It was wild and fabulous. They did:

1. There is No Greater Love
2. Equinox
3. I Love You
4. Wing and a Prayer (Mike Stern original)
5. Softly
6. Sunnymoon for Two

Guitar Night at Birdland Theatre

• Mike Stern
• Pasquale Grasso
• Frank Vignola
• Alex Raderman (drums)
• Gary Mazzaroppi (bass)

Day 4 - Thursday

When I booked the trip, I didn't realize there was a two-day festival at Jazz at Lincoln Center on Thursday and Friday. 6:30pm to 12:30am both nights! We decided to go on Thursday. Steve took a nap on Thursday afternoon and I was teasing him about that, but he was gearing up for a long night. I went out in search of a tea house. A few blocks from the hotel I found Tearoom by Calmplex. It's in a basement: you have to walk through a pottery class and a clothing store to get to it. But it's lovely when you get there. You order your Chinese tea and they bring you a gongfu tea set so you can have your own little tea ceremony. I love the ritual of tea. It's very calming, especially at the Calmplex. And they have a tiny model of a tea set by the register. The cups are smaller than a fingernail.

Miniature tea set at Tearoom by Calmplex

We got to Jazz at Lincoln Center around 6pm. There were 10 different shows on for the first night of the Unity Festival, but we couldn't see even half of them. Here's the ones we did see.

Jazz Legacies Fellowship Honors All-Star Concert 2026

The Mellon Foundation created a fellowship to support elder jazz veterans. Twenty musicians received a fellowship grant. You can read about all the recipients at the Jazz Legacies Fellowship.

Seventeen of the recipients were able to participate in this concert. One of the recipients, George Cables, was unable to attend because he had another gig! The concert went by pretty quickly with each participant playing only one or two songs. One of the recipients is Seattle's own Julian Priester, who played with many of the greats over the last 7 decades. Julian is still playing his trombone and Steve got to play with him at a jam session just the week before. It was great to see him on the Rose Theatre stage.

Veronica Swift

At Dizzy's Club we saw Veronica Swift, a super-talented young vocalist. She said she was working on a new album about home and belonging and was singing some of the songs from that upcoming project. I didn't recognize most of the tunes. I think the first tune was "As Soon As I Get Home" from "The Wiz", which is a ballad, but after a chorus she took it up-tempo and started a blistering scat reminiscent of Ella. She also did a really uptempo version of "Chega de Saudade" and an intoxicating rendition of "Don't Rain on My Parade".

Veronica Swift at Dizzy's Club

It was a beautiful set! She closed with "Sing" by the Dresden Dolls, which she closed with when I heard her in Seattle at Jazz Alley two years ago. She was at the Triple Door in Seattle last year and that set had a heavy rock and roll influence. On the Dizzy's stage in New York she has integrated jazz, rock and Broadway into a swinging and soulful good time.

I called it a night after Veronica's set, but Steve's nap paid off and he was able to stay for one more show.

Theme for Akiko: Organ Jam Celebrating Akiko Tsuruga

Sadly, I can't tell you anything about this organ concert, since I was back at the hotel. Steve said I missed Pat Bianchi. Darn!

Day 5 - Friday

Friday we walked along Madison Avenue. And we happened to walk by the Jaeger LeCoultre store. If you aren't a collector of high-end watches, then you probably haven't heard of Jaeger LeCoultre. This was all new to me. Imagine you are walking into their store. Instead of buying that new Toyota Camry you could buy a high-end watch. The watch buying process is quite enjoyable. You are shown to a private room and served excellent espresso and madeleines. And of course, you know the sales rep, as you have purchased a watch from her in the past. Unfortunately, you have to start the conversation by confessing that you have cheated on her and recently bought a watch from one of her colleagues at the LA store. Sorry. But all is quickly forgiven as a tray of 3 watches is brought into the room. You will notice the craftsmanship is impressive, but you narrowly escaped without buying any watches!

We decided to visit the Frick Museum, formerly the Frick mansion built in 1914 in the Beaux-Arts style for Henry Frick. Frick was a dedicated art collector and stipulated in his will that his home and art collection be turned into a museum. The home itself is beautiful and the art collection is impressive--works by Rembrandt, Monet, Manet, Degas, Renoir and 3 Vermeer paintings!

Girl Interrupted at her Music

Officer and Laughing Girl

Mistress and Maid

We had two shows lined up at Mezzrow in Greenwich Village for Friday night. But first, dinner. We decided to take the train down to the Village and find a restaurant there. We found an interesting-looking restaurant called "Moody Tongue" about one block away from Mezzrow. Steve recognized the name as the same as a restaurant in Chicago. We inquire about a table and find out this restaurant has the same owners as the one in Chicago. They can squeeze us in at 5pm, when they open!

Moody Tongue is a sushi place. And they have a chef's tasting menu with beer pairings. Yes, beer, not wine. We both decide to try the tasting menu with the accompanying beers. The sushi was amazing. But I'm not a big beer fan. But I did try every beer and they did pair well with the sushi. I did have some beer left over at the end of the meal.

All the beers at Moody Tongue

The beers:

• Yuzu Lager
• Pressed Asian Pear Saison
• Sudachi Lager
• Orange Blossom Belgian Blonde
• Cherry Oud Bruin
• Cassis
• Cerise
• Bourbon Barrel Aged 12 Layer Cake Imperial Stout

Although I don't like beer in general, I do like a good stout and this bourbon barrel aged stout was delicious. It's the only one of the beers that I finished.

In addition to soaking up the only 365-day a year jazz festival (as Steve calls New York City) and seeing Hadestown, I had a third reason for this trip. To reconnect with some new friends that I met last year during my 5 Days in Cuba.

Geri lives in NYC and Lisa took the train down from Boston and Joe and Monte drove in from New Jersey.  Lisa joined us for the first show, then Geri joined in for the second show, and we all had drinks with Joe and Monte after the show.

Steve and I got a seat up front. Do I look like I'm already excited? Mezzrow broadcasts their concerts on the internet and I have tuned in many times. It was great to be back there in person!

Steve & JD at Mezzrow

Here's the view from my seat.

The Mezzrow stage - close enough to touch!

Vanessa Rubin was moving--soulful and beautiful. It was my first time hearing her live. I'm already looking forward to the next time. She sang:

1. Are You Ready for Me?
2. The Creator Has a Master Plan
3. Once Was Not Enough (original she said she wrote for one of her ex-husbands)
4. You’ve Changed (with Johnny O’Neal sitting in on piano)
5. Now, Baby, or Never
6. Save Your Love for Me
7. I Ain’t Got Nothing But the Blues

Her band:

• Brandon McCune / Piano
• Richie Goods / Bass
• Alvin Atkinson / Drums

We stayed at Mezzrow to hear the next set with Peter Martin. We moved across to the other side of the room and sat next to the drums. I didn't get any photos of Peter. I guess I was too mesmerized by the music. It was a great set of standards with interesting arrangements. They did "Summertime" with a funk bass groove. It was great.  Songs:

1. Blue Monk
2. Summertime (kind of a funk double-feel)
3. Flamenco Sketches
4. I Can’t Help It (someone requested a Stevie Wonder tune, he picked this one)
5. One Finger Snap (with Adam Maness sitting in on piano)
6. Green Dolphin Street

Band:

• Tamir Shmerling / Bass
• Mark Whitfield Jr / Drums

Day 6 - Saturday

The first week of January turns out to be a great time to visit New York City. The Christmas decorations are still up, but there are no big crowds--just the usual crowds when you have 1.6 million people living on an island that is fewer than 23 square miles.

Our hotel was near Rockefeller Center and I have a distant memory of skating at Rockefeller center as a child with my grandfather back in the 60's. My grandfather worked in the city and occasionally took me and my sister into the city. So I decided to go ice skating.

JD on Ice

After skating I went back to the Tearoom by Calmplex. It was quite busy on a Saturday afternoon, but I was able to get a table after a short wait--maybe 15 minutes.

Saturday night was the big night. We had reservations at Smoke to hear Joshua Redmond. He doesn't usually play venues this small. I last saw him in a big auditorium in Montreal at the festival there. We were all together, me, Steve and my Cuba buddies. Smoke doesn't let you take pictures during the show, so I don't have any. 

Joshua did mostly originals. And he had some friends in the audience. Ekep Nkwelle sat in and sang Skylark. She's a great young singer who I had heard before--also at the Montreal jazz festival. And Emmet Cohen sat in and played Scrapple from the Apple. His band:

• Paul Cornish / Piano
• Phillip Norris / Bass
• Nazir Ebo / Drums

It was an awesome show! The crowd loved it. The crowd kept cheering until Joshua played an encore. And it was definitely an unplanned encore. A roadie had already taken Joshua's saxophones off the stage. He had to bring them back to the stage. It was a great night. And special for the Cuba gang to have Emmet Cohen sit in, since we all met in Cuba because of Emmet. And we got a picture with Emmet after the show.

Cuba trip reunion with Emmet

Au revoir, New York! See you again soon--I hope!

5 Days in Cuba

The road to my Cuba adventure begins in March 2020 when a suddenly out of work jazz pianist living in Harlem named Emmet Cohen decided to have a rent party with a few local friends. Fans could tune in online and leave tips for the musicians with PayPal. Every Monday at 7:30pm Eastern, Live from Emmet's Place would stream on Facebook and YouTube. This was a lifeline for a live jazz junkie like me.

In the summer of 2024 Emmet sent an email to his fans asking if anyone was interested in joining him on a trip to Cuba. I pondered it for a few hours before responding to the email that I was interested. I got a reply that the trip was already full. :-( 

A few days later I got another email that they were adding a second tour. Emmet Cohen would do two back-to-back tours in Cuba. I was in!

On March 13th, 2025 I landed in Cuba with a tour group of 36 people for 5 days in Havana.

Day 1 - Thursday

We left Miami in the morning. Americans can fly to Cuba. They just need permission from the US State Department. You can file for permission yourself, but our paperwork was handled by Cuba Rhythm and Views, a tour operator that organizes trips to Cuba. Thank you to Neil and Ry who handled all the logistics and created a great experience for us!

We arrived in time for lunch and since we couldn't check in to our hotel yet, we went straight to a restaurant, called La Guarida. The first new Spanish word I learned was el paladar, which means private restaurant. A ristorante in Cuba is a restaurant run by the government, where you get the official government exchange rate of 150 pesos per US dollar. But at the paladars you get the market rate, which was about 320 pesos per dollar! The only government restaurant I ate at was the in the hotel and the food at the paladars was much better and more varied. The next word I learned was la guarida, which means lair. Yes, as in the villain's lair. And it was quite the lair.

The restaurant was on the 2nd floor. This greeted us on the first floor.

And of course, we had to walk by a Fidel Castro quote on the wall next to the stairs. Are they in every building?

Finally we arrive at the restaurant, correction, paladar. They have a fancy wine room. I think we're in for a treat.

We had a great lunch. Check out this unusual lemon pie. It is not what I expected when I ordered pie de limón con almendras.

La Guarida also had a roof deck that we explored a bit after lunch. It has some nice views of the city. This guy is blocking the view in all my pictures from the roof. Oh, well. You can still see the view.

We thought this would be our only chance to see this place. We didn't know that fate would lead us back here the following day.

After lunch we went to the hotel. But it was too early to check in to our rooms. Not to worry! The tour company arranged a lecture by a local university professor on the history of US-Cuba Relations. I thought it might be a good time to take a nap after that rich dessert, but the lecture was really interesting. I had always wondered how the US wound up with a military base in Cuba. Turns out we signed a 99-year lease on the place back in the 1920s. And that lease is coming due soon. I don't remember exactly when. Maybe I was napping a little bit.

I was aware, of course, that the US doesn't trade with Cuba. What I didn't know was that the US uses its influence with other countries to keep them from trading with Cuba also. I can't think about this without also thinking that both Americas and Cubans would be better off if we ended this trade embargo. But I digress. One country that doesn't bend to US pressure in this regard is Spain. And they are one of Cuba's largest trading partners. The hotel that we are about to check into is owned by a Spanish company. 

Speaking of hotels, the US State Department maintains a list of hotels where Americans are not allowed to stay. The Iberostar Parque Central is on the list. But the hotel expanded a few years ago and built a second tower. They decided to give the new tower its own name and address, so it wouldn't be on the list and could serve Americas. That's where we checked in after the lecture, the Iberostar Marqués del La Torre. 

I wonder what would happen if an American ate dinner in the lobby of the Parque Central hotel. Hmmm.

There was a local band in the lobby on Thursday night that I listened to while having dinner at the bar.

They sounded okay. Fun, but nothing to blog about. But I did meet some cool people in the tour group that I would wind up palling around with for the next 5 days.

After dinner we all went to see the evening canon firing. Yeah, it's about as exciting and deafening as you would guess.

After getting back to the hotel I was ready to check out some live music in Havana, so I asked around about where I could hear some local music. This tour was with the Emmet Cohen Trio. The drummer in the trio was the great Joe Farnsworth, who has been a fixture on the New York City jazz scene for decades. Emmet suggested I ask Joe about the local scene. They had been in Cuba for a week already and Joe was getting to know a few places. Joe recommended a place with a pop band in the old plaza. That's actually what they call it--Plaza Vieja--it sounds much cooler in Spanish. He didn't know the name of the bar, but he said it was on the corner of the square and I couldn't miss it. I didn't. It was called La Vitrola. And they did have a fun band. They looked great too. At least from the back.

I got a seat at an outdoor table in the plaza looking in at the back of the band. Okay, I went inside to get a pic from the front too.

Day 2 - Friday

Although I was hoping to spend every day following Emmet Cohen around listening to concert after concert, the tour was a little more varied than that. On Friday morning we visited a private daycare. Yes, daycare is provided by the government in Cuba, but they don't have enough capacity for everyone, so if you aren't in a high priority role (military, construction, tourism) then you may be on your own for daycare. We visited Padre Usera Daycare (Guarderia Padre Eusera) which was started by Sister Rocío de Jesús. Private daycare is legal in Cuba now, but this place was started back when it was illegal. Sister Rocío was a brave soul! I didn't want to take pictures of the children, but I thought this was cute the way all their backpacks were lined up on this bench.

Next we went to a private performance of the Liszt Alfonso Ballet. I didn't take any pictures, except of this of poster in the lobby that caught my eye.

After a fancy lunch at San Cristóbal, we visited a music school called Conservatorio Amadeo Roldán where we heard a high school jazz band. After the concert Emmet Cohen and his bandmates gave a master class. Rounding out the Emmet Cohen Trio on bass was Reuben Rogers, who is actually from the Caribbean--the Virgin Islands. Emmet wasn't feeling well that day, so Reuben led the master class. The band had played a Duke Ellington arrangement, I think it was Take the "A" Train. Reuben asked them to play it again and think about the dynamics, when they should play softer or louder. After just a little coaching they played the chart again--or least part of it--and it sounded much better. I was amazed what a difference it made.

We were supposed to have dinner on our own again, followed by a performance of the Cuban National Ballet, but The Fates had something else in store for us. (Do you know Bob and Betty Fate? I think they are from Omaha). The ballet had to be rescheduled and we were on our own for the evening. Emmet happened to know a Cuban pianist, Jorge Luis Pacheco, who had a gig that night at La Guarida. Almost everyone from the tour group decided to go. Our tour guides were amazing. They had arranged a bus during the day to shuttle us around. So many of us wanted to go to La Guarida, that they were able to use the bus to take us to dinner. And they arranged a reservation for 25 people too! We were up on the roof this time, enjoying good food and good music! Jorge Luis Pacheco is a singer as well as a pianist and Emmet sat in on piano for a tune with Jorge singing.

In the middle of the show, large parts of Havana suddenly went dark. We learned that Cuba sometimes has scheduled blackouts when they don't have enough fuel to generate electricity. But this blackout didn't seem to be planned. I didn't notice the blackout right away. Because the scheduled blackouts are somewhat common, a lot of places have their own generator. Like the fancy hotels and paladars. So we didn't lose power at La Guarida, but a lot of the city did. Fortunately our hotel also had a generator, or we might have been sleeping in the lobby. Well, I probably could have handled 5 flights of stairs. Maybe.

Back at the hotel after the music, I was revved up. One of the first people I met in the tour group was Ross, back in Miami. We were lining up to check in for the flight when I saw someone with a sax case. I had to introduce myself. There was a piano in the lobby of the hotel and late Friday night, Ross and I had a chance to make a little music!

Photo credit: Geri Fitzgerald

Day 3 - Saturday

Saturday morning we boarded the bus for an art gallery. This one was in the lobby of the Hotel Melia Cohiba. There were multiple hallways off the lobby with lots of art. This one really grabbed my eye, almost literally. I felt like this deer was looking right at me. He's the Mona Lisa of deer.

And this one was so realistic, I wanted to reach out and touch it.

The next stop on the tour was an artist's gallery. This was actually the artist's apartment. They had art all over the walls and jewelry on display. All for sale, of course. It was cool to see what an apartment in Havana looked like. One tiny bedroom, small kitchen, extra small stove. Reasonable living room and a decent outdoor space out back. I didn't take any pictures inside their apartment, though they probably wouldn't have minded. The tour company had told us in advance to bring cash if we wanted to buy art. This was our first opportunity to do that and a lot of people did. I think this artist does pretty well.

Next another fancy lunch, this time on the beach at a place called Vista Mar. It had a strange sequence of raised black boards at the far end of the pool. I didn't figure out what it was supposed to be until Emmet emailed out this pic a few months later.

Photo credit: Emmet Cohen

Does it look like a piano keyboard to you?

After lunch we visited an artist neighborhood called Fusterland. This neighborhood gets its unique character from Jose Fuster. He covered his house in his ceramic art and the ceramic art vibe spread to surrounding houses.

Here's one of the pieces up close.

In the evening the Emmet Cohen Trio was supposed to be performing at the Museo de Bellas Artes, but they were in the dark. Literally, no electricity. The blackout was still ongoing. The tour operator scrambled and convinced the hotel to host the concert in their lobby. So we ended up with a more intimate private performance right in our hotel.

There were local guests, a great trumpet player sat in. And Jorge Luis Pacheco (the pianist we heard Friday night) also sat in. And a number of the students that we heard at the school also sat in. The band coaxed the students up on stage and had them take over their instruments in the middle of a song. I looked up and suddenly it was a trio of talented Cuban high school students. Wow! Great concert.

After that we were on our own for dinner. And I knew a place! So I dragged a few of my new friends to La Vitrola. We sat outside and had a lovely late-night dinner.

Day 4 - Sunday

Sunday morning I decided to skip the planned art museum. I went for a run on the malécon, which is a large stone seawall, like a boardwalk, but without the boards. Turns out our hotel wasn't very far from the water. When I got back to the hotel, I decided I need some water, so took a dip in the rooftop pool.

Then I met up with the tour group at Mishifu for another delicious lunch.

Sunday there was supposed to be a concert with the Emmet Cohen Trio and Orquesta Sinfónica Nacional de Cuba at the National Theatre, but--you guessed it--no power. Once again, the tour guides made lemonade. The Sunday concert was going to be recorded. So the concert was moved to a recording studio and we got to watch and listen as they recorded some tracks!

It was a great show. Another intimate performance. Well, as intimate as you can get with an orchestra.

After that, we still had some daylight and I wanted to see the Hemingway House. (Ernest Hemingway lived in Cuba for many years.) But the Hemingway House wasn't open on Sundays. Hemingway also lived at the Hotel Ambos Mundos (Both Worlds Hotel). And the hotel was open. But we couldn't visit room 511 because... there was still no electricity.

Day 5 - Monday

Monday morning we did a walking tour of Old Havana, which was near the hotel. There was a short street that was paved with wooden bricks! They use a hard wood, but the bricks still don't last forever. There was a guy replacing worn out bricks when we were there. Yes, they really are made of wood.

We had a few minutes on our own and I found coffee shop that had a decent cortado!

As we continued to walk I started to recognize some of the streets. I know this neighborhood. That's the Old Plaza! When we took a break for lunch, I went to a restaurant on the plaza with my new gang of friends. Here's what one end of the plaza looks like.

I feel like I am repeating myself here. After lunch we were supposed to see the Spanish Ballet Company of Cuba, but there was still no electricity at the theatre. But the ballet company invited us to come to their rehearsal space (that did have power) to see them. They set up folding chairs along one wall of the room and performed right in front of us!

After I fell in love with Flamenco Dancing, we had one more touristy thing to do. You may have heard about the old cars in Cuba. There are no US made cars that were manufactured after 1959 in Cuba. I had expected to see old cars everywhere. But no, there a lots of recent model cars from Japan, China and Europe. The old US cars are a hobby for some people, but mostly a tourist attraction. This wasn't an official part of the tour, but our tour guides made it happen because so many of us wanted to do it.

Our driver was a former nurse. He said he made more money on one ride then he made in a whole month as a nurse. So he drives tourists around in old cars so he can make enough money to take care of his family.

That night we had our farewell dinner at L'Atelier, another fabulous paladar. Good food and drink and a live band. And one of the folks on the tour celebrated their 90th birthday that night! I hope I'll still be touring new places when I'm 90!

Around The Santiago In 6 Days

Thanks to my cousin, Garrett, and his sweet family for inviting me to come visit them in Santiago! In 6 days I saw the Colchagua Valley (a wine region!), Santiago, Valparaíso, Viña del Mar and Casablanca Valley (another wine region!).

My Aunt Betsy in Portland also wanted to visit her nephew Garrett in Santiago, so we teamed up for a Chilean adventure. We both had enough frequent flier miles on Alaska Airlines to make the trip, but they only had first class available for our trip down, so we had to figure out those crazy cocoon seats that recline totally flat like a bed. Ah, the experiences of travel.

Day 1 saw us biking through the Colchagua Valley, through the vineyards and little towns.

Pausing on a bridge for a selfie

Betsy, Sam, Ben, Michelle, Garrett and yours truly

After many kilometers of pedaling in the morning, we stopped for lunch. Yay! And my first Pisco Sour, the national drink of Chile. Every restaurant seems to have their own recipe.

The basic ingredients are pisco (a brandy made from grapes) and lime juice. It reminded me a bit of a Side Car--tart, sweet and packing some oomph!

Day 2 finds us at the Colchagua Museum learning about Chilean history. And why Bolivia has a navy, but no coastline. (Because they started a war with Chile to take more land and wound up losing all of their coastline.) I learned a bit, but was saving space in my brain for more important knowledge--about the wines of Chile!  We visited the Las Niñas winery, owned by a French company (they ship 90% of their wines to France). I thought this barrel was rather appealing:

But cousin Garrett liked this one:

I learned about the history of the Carmenère grape. Originally cultivated in France (the word comes from the French word for crimson), it was wiped out in France in the 1860's (damn insects!) and thought extinct. In 1994 a French oenologist discovered that a Chilean Merlot variety was actually the long lost Carmenère! And there was much rejoicing. Today, the Colchagua Valley is the main producer of Carmenère for the world.

Day 4 is Santiago Day.  Tours for Tips has a 3 hour walking tour for a suggested tip of 10,000 pesos (about $17).  The only cool picture I got was this cappuccino.



We learned three words on the tour and I remember two of them. That's 66%, what's that a D+? That about captures my Spanish ability.

The first word was terremoto which means earthquake. It's also the name of a drink. If you have more than one, then when you try to stand up, you feel like you are in an earthquake. It's made from cheap white wine and pineapple ice cream. The tour ended in a bar where the tour guide bought a few pitchers of terremoto so we could all try some. Not really something to write home about, but here I am writing about it.

The second word means "the lesser side", but I don't remember what the word was. There's a river running through Santiago and in the past, the poor folk lived on one side and that was the lesser side.

The third word was animata, which means spirit or ghost. According to folklore, if a child dies, their spirit doesn't leave this world, but stays here to help other people. People go to the child's grave and leave gifts (like stuffed animals) and ask for help. If your wish is granted, then you have to go back to the grave and put a plaque thanking the animata.  We looked at one grave with many children's toys and plaques.

Day 5 is time to visit the Chilean coast, so we're off to Valparaíso, the largest port in Chile. Not quite as busy as it was before the Panama Canal opened, but it's still a major seaport.



Next stop, the city of Viña del Mar (Vineyard by the Sea), which is famous for this clock made of flowers.



Finally, we stopped at the Casablanca Valley for some more wine tasting! This is Indomita Winery.



Before it was a winery it was a horse farm. We learned that indomita means untamed. Once we got up to the winery here's the view looking back down.



I'm not sure what the hiker sign is supposed to mean. Look out for hikers!

We tasted Chardonnay, Carmenère and Cabernet Sauvignon and their special high end red blend called Zardoz. I enjoyed them all, but I'd already bought 3 bottles from La Niña and didn't have any more room to bring back more wine. Fortunately, one of their distributors is Total Wine, which is all over the Northwest.  I'll be looking for the 2014 Carmenère, my new favorite grape!

And finally, for my friends and family in Portland and Seattle, if you thought throwing something away was challenging in the Northwest, imagine figuring out which bin to to use in Chile when faced with this:



I only scratched the surface on this beautiful country. I hope to go back and experience more!