Category: Travel Blog

 

Another month and another trip to Washington, DC.  Whenever in the area of DC and northern Virginia, there are two restaurants I have to visit.  Old Ebbitt Grill is my favorite restaurant in Washington DC where I go for the Oyster Happy Hour.  The other restaurant is a small, primarily take-out sandwich shop called Bozzelli’s in Arlington (although they do have other locations in the region) where I usually have the Metro Italian sub.  There are many places to eat in the DC region, but I do have some regular visits I have to make.

 

In May of 2019, I returned to Northern Virginia for work, however, this time my wife traveled along and we had a couple of weekends to explore the area.  We visited Monticello (Thomas Jefferson) and Montpelier (James Madison).  While I had heard a great deal about Monticello and Thomas Jefferson’s quirky design style, Montpelier was a great surprise.  The estate is well kept and the guide did a tremendous job of presenting the story of James Madison.  We also had the opportunity to dine at Michie Tavern (near Monticello), the Kenmore Inn in Fredericksburg, the Gadsby Tavern in Alexandria and Old Ebbitt Grill in Washington, DC.  All highly recommended for the ambience and the food.

From Top Left:  Monticello, Montpelier, The House Where Lincoln Died, Michie Tavern.

In April 2019, I returned to London to study for another week at the London School of Economics and Political Science.  This was my fourth course in the Executive LLM program and examined the European Union and State Aid.  While in London, my parents, my wife and I, had the opportunity to travel to Stratford-Upon-Avon, the Cotswolds and Oxford, in addition to various sights around London.  We dined at wonderful historic restaurants such as Rules Restaurant and Simpsons on the Strand as well as historic pubs such as Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese, the Sherlock Holmes, and the Lamb and Flag. I definitely will dine at these locations again when I return to London in December.  London is truly one of my favorite cities and a traveler could certainly never run out of things to do, to see or to eat.

 

 

For a few days in March, 2019, my wife and I traveled to Denver, Colorado for a committee meeting.  We had a couple of days of free time and the opportunity to travel up to Boulder to visit the University of Colorado (where my father-in-law had attended).  For breakfast, I highly recommend the Buffs Restaurant in Boulder.

While in Denver we stayed at the historic Brown Palace Hotel and dined at the historic Buckhorn Exchange.

Buckhorn Exchange was established on November 17, 1893 as a saloon called “The Rio Grande Exchange.”  Theodore Roosevelt dined at the restaurant in 1905 after his Presidential Express train arrived in Denver. The restaurant contains over 500 mounted animals and trophy heads of every description, including an African Cape Buffalo shot by President Teddy Roosevelt.  As of 2018, five U.S. presidents have dined at Buckhorn Exchange, and at least one unknown college professor.

The Brown Palace was built in 1892 of sandstone and red granite and past guests have included:  the “Unsinkable” Molly Brown (she stayed at the hotel only a week after the Titanic disaster), the   infamous Sun Yat Sen (just before becoming the president of China), The Beatles and Presidents Taft, Harding, Truman, Eisenhower, Reagan and Clinton.

 

I returned to the London School of Economics and Political Science for a week in December, 2019.  For this visit to London I stayed at a hotel near Abbey Road and went by the famous studios, crosswalk and, of course, the Abbey Road Studios gift shop.  I also dined at a very historic pub, The Black Friar, which is not far from St. Paul’s Cathedral.  The Black Friar is a traditional pub with Henry Poole’s Art Nouveau reliefs inside the bar area which reflect the friary that once stood there.  The location was great and the food wasn’t bad either.

 

 

In September 2018, my wife and I traveled to Monterrey for several days to attend a board meeting.  While most of the time was occupied inside of a conference center, we did have some limited time to explore Fisherman’s Wharf and Cannery Row in Monterrey.  Each location has it’s own collection of unique shops and restaurants.  In addition, we traveled down to Carmel one evening to have dinner at the Folktale Winery.  It was a beautiful setting; the dinner was exquisite and the wine wasn’t bad either.

 

In August 2018, I returned to Northern Virginia and Washington DC for work and had the opportunity to visit a few sights that I had not visited previously.  The World War II Memorial  consists of twenty-four bronze bas-relief panels flank the ceremonial entrance. To many, these panels stir memories as they tell the story of America’s experience in the war. Granite columns representing each U.S. state and territory at the time of World War II ring an impressive pool with water shooting high into the air. Quotes, references to theaters, campaigns, and battles, and two massive victory pavilions chronicle the efforts Americans undertook to win the war.

In addition, I returned to the Smithsonian and the National Museum of African American History and Culture.  The National Museum of African American History and Culture is an absolutely beautiful building, collaboratively designed by Freelon Group, Adjaye Associates and Davis Brody Bond.  The museum has about 85,000 square feet of exhibition space with 12 exhibitions, 13 different interactives with 17 stations, and 183 videos housed on five floors and has close to 37,000 objects in its collection.

 

In July 2018, I had the opportunity to visit Estonia and Finland while traveling to the region to present a paper at the European Group for Organizational Studies 34th Annual Colloquium.   EGOS is a scholarly association which aims to further the theoretical and/or empirical advancement of knowledge about organizations, organizing and the contexts in which organizations operate. As a collective, one of its main aims is to maintain and provide a voice for the critical and analytical approaches of its members to the study of organization worldwide.

Shown above is the Helsinki-Tallin ferry route (leaving from Helsinki) and the Presidential Palace in Tallin, Estonia.

 

Traveling to Washington, DC in May and June on business, I had the opportunity to revisit Mount Vernon.  I had visited Mount Vernon years ago when I was a teenager and it was quite interesting to travel there again.  The estate has expanded greatly since that time and now includes a large visitor center/museum.  The visitor center/museum is well done and does not detract from the real highlights of the visit such as the mansion itself and the tomb of General George Washington (he did not want President mentioned on his tomb as he saw himself primarily as a soldier/farmer).

While in Casco Viejo, Panama City, Panama for our anniversary, my wife and I tried out two fantastic eateries.  Diablicos is a traditional Panamanian style restaurant where we enjoyed Ropa Vieja (shredded beef) together with rice/beans and fried yucca.  The restuarant is in the midst of the old quarter surrounded by beautifully restored colonial architecture as well as striking colonial ruins.  The next day we dined at Tantalo Kitchen enjoying Tantalo Ceviche and Jumbo Grilled Shrimp.  While both restaurants had very different menus, the experiences were equally incredible.  Add a bottle or two of Balboa (Panamanian beer) and all is well with the world.