Medieval Times

Mini-road trip, to Dallas for the last weekend of the State Fair. The day started out as planned, got the kids loaded into the car and we zoomed off in the direction of Dallas, everything after that is a blurr since I spent the time napping in the car (thanks Brenda). Some time during the trip we made the customary stop and Bucee's in Madisonville for refreshments.

We arrived at our hotel, Hilton Garden Inn Market Center, somewhere around 5:30pm, Brenda's folks had arrived earlier in the day. Tonight we would spend the evening with them at Medieval Times. The second group attending the State Fair would arrive tomorrow; Mom, Chad, Sherry and Lexee.

At the appointed time, we gathered in the lobby to make the drive to Medieval (less than half a mile) for our reservation. I've heard about this place and had always wanted to attend but it had never been able to make it on my list, this time, Brenda made it happen. As we arrive at the location, the exterior of the building starts to get you into the mood, with its castle like structure and the greetings from the host outside. Of course as soon as we enter, we are herded to the pay booth then shuffled into the picture line before being shown the pasture of marketing awaiting outside the arena/dining room. All sorts of tempting merchandise beckon as you are waiting outside the arena.

Finally the time has arrived for us to go into the arena/dining room, precluded with a monolog from one of the characters, then we are ushered to our seating area. Once inside the arena, the illusion of actually being transported back into a medieval stadium began to appear. Our waiter approached and instructed us on how dinner would work, the menu was simple all able to be eaten without utensils, as we were advised that our hands were the fork and spoon to be used for the meal.

The meal worked well with out utensils; soup, chicken quarter, potato and cob-corn. I must also admit that the amount of food was quite enough and was actually tasty. The dinner was served throughout the performance, and the performance was quite entertaining, the kids were glued to the performance the whole night.

As the performance came to a close and it became time to leave, I have to admit that it was a good experience, despite the initial herding, once the performance and meal came the experience improved. When the kids were asked how they enjoyed the evening, we got two thumbs up!

Isle of Adventure

Our day begins with the breakfast of champions at the Bayliner food court, where I have a delicious helping of bacon and eggs before we start the grueling day at Isle of Adventures theme park.

Honestly what I thought would take us two days to accomplish at the parks with Harry Potter's world we actually did in a day, so today was going to be a low key day. As fate would have it the first site I'm greeted with upon entering the park is a site from India

 Since neither of us had been to Universal Studios in a while, we really just kind of wandered around, not riding too many rides. For lunch we stopped off at Finnegans, where I had the seafood potatoe pie, don't remember what Brenda had..

We actually found ourselves going to Hogsmeade and catching the Hogswartz express back to Universal studios for some more butter beer and some general wandering. No rush to get on rides and not kids to wear us down, we decided it was good to retire early and just enjoy the time away from the kids and have dinner back at the hotel.

Wizarding World of Harry Potter

Staying at the Universal Studios hotel allowed us entry into the park before the other park goers, this was nice but meant we had to get up earlier to enjoy the extra hours. We leave for the park with coffee in hand and darkness still around us as the sun had not yet come up. We are now walking through City Walk with all the other early risers making their way to the park, our goal was to head straight to the Harry Potter world and beat the crowd.

Standing at the gates to Universal Studios with itinerary in hand, we were ready to execute that itinerary and maximize our Diagon Alley experienced before it became overruned with Potter fanatics.

The gates open and we're off, I didn't see anyone running but the walking pace was brisk. Walking in darkness inside the park was pretty cool as we passed many attractions not yet opened on our way to Diagon Alley located at the back of the park. We were a few of the first ones at the gate, which meant we had a good start on some of the people in line. As we approached the Wizarding World of Harry Potter we see the Kings Crossing and across from that we see the Knight Bus and have to pay it a visit.

The way the Harry Potter world was setup within Universal Studios was done nicely. It is presented at the Mogul's world right next to the San Fransisco area of Universal, so from that point it is very unassuming.

Unassuming until you pass through to Diagon Alley and enter the Wizarding World.

 

Diagon Alley becomes real at this point, the first thing you notice is the dragon sitting on top of Gringots Bank, we felt like we were immersed in Harry Potter's world. One of our first stops was Weasley's Wizard Wheezers



And of course we had to stop at Ollivander's wand shop to pickup a wand (Dumbbledor's wand) so we could start our magic making adventure.

With wand in hand it was time to try our hand at magic and Brenda was up to the task. This was a pretty cool concept, buy the want and visit all magic markers around the area and wave the want to make things happen? As we looked around we could see people everywhere waving wands and having things "magically" happen within the park.

(magic marker, these were located throughout the park)

We really wanted to ride Escape from Gringots before the lines got too long. We make our way to the entrance and are turned away. We must deposit our wand and backpack in one of the lockers before getting on the ride. Well this did not sit well with me at all even if the lockers were free, I did not like the fact of now having to take more time to figure out their lockers (which never opened or worked right for me) and depositing my "stuff". However, I complied and we got inline for the ride. Making our way to the ride was quite amazing as the wait area immersed you into Gringots.

The ride was pretty awesome, not exactly a roller coaster but very bumpy and jerky theme rides or story rides that took you and your vehicle on a ride through the story with some holographs thrown in from the Harry Potter cast.

Again back to the lockers and the struggle with trying to get it open and release our belongings. Not liking the lockers.

Next on the fabulous itinerary (developed by yours truly) was to find Knockturn Alley and explore the magic waiting for us there.

(some more magic by Brenda)

All this magic and adventure has left us hungry, where better to have a bite to eat but the Leaky Cauldron, and breakfast was on the menu. Surprisingly the line for the Leaky Cauldron was not that long, it was breakfast time, and I suspect most people had eaten before entering the park. Once in line, our order was taken and we were seated at a table. Shortly after being seated we were served our plentiful breakfast of bacon, eggs and large biscuit, delicious.

We spent a few more hours wandering around the streets of Diagon Alley trying our magic at the various magic spots. Trying all the magic spots with the wands was fun, the area didn't have any really big ride attractions outside of Escape from Gringots. We did take a break to try the hyped up butter beer, and it was every bit as good as the hype. After splitting ONE butter beer between us I knew our next one would not be for sharing. Feeling like we've seen everything in Diagon Alley we found ourselves going to catch the Hogwartz Express to Hogsmead located in the Isle of Adventure park. Before we could catch the Hogwarts Express we had to leave Diagon Alley and make our way to Kings Crossing where we waited to board at the familiar 9 3/4 station.

Hogwartz Express was impressive, its not a real train but a very cool ride AND a different ride going from Diagon Alley to Hogsmead and from Hogsmead to Diagon Alley. Nicely done!

(Hogmead Village)

 

(Hogwartz Castle)

(my Lovely bride)

(Harry Potter's Escape)

Arrival in Hogsmead via the Hogwartz express was a great way to park jump (now actually being in Isle of Adventure park). Hogsmead also had places we could try our magic wands, but at this point in the day, the lines to do magic were getting long, so we helped ourselves to some butter beer and made our way to Harry Potter's Escape to wait in line.

The line for Harry Potter's Escape took you inside the school of Hogswartz with theaming inline with the movies and little things to get your attention and keep your mind off the fact that you're waiting in line (nicely done). The ride itself was good, and I could see why people would want to stand in line to ride (not many other rides in Hogsmead). Exiting Harry Potter's Escape we found the Flight of the Hippogriff and had our turn at the ride, this as a nice little roller coaster, well suited for small children and mildly fun for adults.

The day is starting to heat up, so we must have more butter beer, this is a very popular drink within the Harry Potter worlds. We meander around Hogsmead a while longer, trying our magic and just enjoying the theme of the park, but by now we are ready to do more than just walk. As the day is starting to escape we leave Hogsmead and wander through the remaining Isle of Adventure park to ride some favorites and have lunch in Dr. Sues land at Cirkus McGurkis.

A few more rides and some wandering in the park and we que up for our dinner reservation at Mythos, a sit-down restaurant. The ambiance and theme of Mythos was nice, and the food was delicious (I had the Blue Cheese Pork Chop)! It was nice to get off our feet for a while and enjoy a nice meal in comfortable air conditioning. I think having the time to rest and a fabulous dinner was our demise for the day because we weren't really in the mood for anything else afterwards, in fact we headed straight to the gate to get in the Que for the bus back to our resort.

Universal Studios

Excitement is flowing around us this morning as we prepare for the day.  Its finally the day, and over due, that we fly away to Universal Studios and the Wizarding World of Harry Potter for Brenda's birthday without the kids.

The Dark Lord has already cast a wicked spell trying to keep us away, as Brenda is exiting the truck she closed the door on her finger! Ouch! Not to be thwarted by dark magic, we patched her up and forged ahead to await our departure to land of magic.

 (the first aid administered to Brenda's smashed finger)

We arrived at the familiar Orlando Airport, and started our search for the Universal store where we pick up our "travel wallet" which contains all our travel documents. Our next stop is to the bus stop, where we wait for the Universal bus to pick us up. Once the bus arrived we were whisked away to our resort, Cabana Bay. This resort was quite impressive, the check-in area was very spacious and no waiting for assistance in checking in. The Cabana Bay resort had a retro 1950's theme and was very cool.

 (the Universal bus that picked us up at the airport)

As she always does, before luggage can be placed, Brenda had to take pictures of the untouched room. The room was nice for a budget resort hotel, the reviews I read online about it were all true, it was a nice hotel.

(the retro look was spot-on)

Hunger was now setting in but that would not tempt us from checking out the resort first. We strolled the grounds of the resort before finally making our way to the Bayliner Diner (resort restaurant). Brenda had a monster sandwich and I had the flat bread. We both really like the decor of the restaurant, playing old TV commercials and clips on the big screen TVs located in the dining area.

  

 

(some pics of the resort)

 

(the hotel restaurant)

 

(our lunch)

After our lunch and with renewed energy, the plan was to catch a movie at City Walk for the evening then finish out with dinner at City Walk. Instead of taking the shuttle bus to City Walk, we found the garden path to the park, thinking this would be a short walk, I think it turned out to be about a mile. After arriving at City Walk we checked out the movie times to find out that we missed the starting times by 30 minutes, so after all that walking it was time for a snack, and we found a Menchi's for some refreshing yogurt. Since we weren't going to be watching a movie tonight we had some time to kill, so we sought out the first aid station at City Walk to get some extra band-aids for Brenda.

After hanging out at City Walk for a few hours, we loaded up on snacks to take back to the room and enjoy, popcorn, pretzels and drinks. We opted to take the shuttle bus back to the resort rather than the garden walk. Back at the room, we had our snacks and ended our day. Tomorrow we would be visiting the theme parks!

UT Austin Campus Visit

Today we visit Ethan in his element, that means a trip to the dorm and walk around campus. But first we must feed the little monsters with IHOP (and the big monsters too).

Not really an eventful day, it was again open agenda and just spending time with Ethan and hearing about his life for the past five weeks. We were, however, not going to be seen on campus without showing our support.

We arrive at his dorm, Blanton, around 10:30 and he comes down to meet us and take us up to his room. Brenda and Ethan discuss things while the other kids start to do what they do best, get into things.

After a bit of chit-chat with mom, Ethan takes for a stroll around his dorm facilities where we eventually make our way to Jester Hall and the cafeteria for some lunch. 

This may be the first good meal Ethan had in days. I don't have much details of what he's been doing the past five weeks, I left that for mom to hear. I do know that he's been a busy young man, meeting with the different companies looking for summer interns and doing lots of homework. He did mention mid-terms would be starting soon and attention would be focused on school.

He seems like he's enjoying the campus life and getting what he wants out of it, including a good education. Brenda was already discussing Ethan's "come home" schedule while we were eating lunch.

About 4:00pm it was time to part ways, Ethan had to get to a Hack-a-thon with his computer science team, an event that would be lasting all night. We had to get the little ones home, their attention span and time at the campus was wearing down and Amber needed food.

Road to Austin

Its been five weeks since Ethan left for college, this will be the first time we've seen him since leaving. I know Brenda is very excited about the trip and I think the kids are too. I have to say that I'm also excited about seeing him too.

No plans for the trip really, just an open agenda. We did manage to get a dinner plan set at Chuy's next to the Hilton Garden Inn NW and met Ethan there for dinner around 7:30.

The place was very loud but Brenda sat next to him and got to visit while I entertained the kids. Unfortunately while Ethan was pulling in to park he had a fender bender. Not a good way to meet the family after five weeks, nothing major just scratched another car while trying to park.

That was how day one was spent.

Good Bye to Italy

Saturday, June 27, 2015
Today is travel day which usually means lack of sleep from night before, ultra-early wake up and generally just a long day when flying west.

We departed the hotel at 4:30am and arrived at the airport at 5:00am, the lines for baggage drop were already long.

The Italy to Munich connection we thought would be the most hassle actually turned out to be easy. Got through security and got a bite to eat before our 6:30am departure.

Arrival in Munich was easy enough until we realize the chaos that is called passport control. Thirty minutes later we are allowed into Germany, and all seemed good. We did some final trinket shopping then leisurely headed towards the gate thinking we had plenty of time.

For some reason the gates for flying to America had another security check point which appeared to be a last minute check due to recent events in France. This security check ate up the rest of our free time, but we were still able to make our flight.

Finally onboard, the final leg of our trip would take eleven and a half hours before we reached American soil.

Florence Gelato Tour

Friday, June 26, 2015
What to do today?  We heard Siena was nice, Lucca also nice. Instead we decide to sleep late and do the Galato tour (Brenda/Jamie style).

We had considered going to Carrera to explore the famous marble quarries but could not get a confirmed tour. It is a two hour train ride one way so we did not want to travel to Carrera and not be able to tour the quarries, because there's not much else to see in Carrera.

Instead of marble quarry tour we do a gelato tour. First stop on the gelato tour is Shake Cafe where I sampled the mango flavor (very bright and delicious) and Brenda sampled the melon flavor.

We made a side trip from the gelato tour to visit the Santa Maria Novelle church, for which the train station is named.

We moved our tour to west Florence away from the tourists. Wandering the streets we stumbled upon the city's old wall where we sat for a while looking for our next gelato score. The wall use to surround the Florence before it out grew its current boundaries, now there are only parts of the wall that remain throughout the city.

We now chart a course east, across the city following the Arno river (yes we are zig zagging our path) and find the next stop of the gelato tour, La Carraia. This was a very popular spot with the locals. I ordered strawberry and Brenda had coconut, both were delicious, the locals know their gelato.

Still heading east (attempting to avoid the tourists and tour groups) we arrive at Piazz Santa Croche, where the Florentine football, Calcio fiorentino, was played two days ago. Here was also a good place for lunch at Finisterrse, where we shared a pizza.

 We has watched the match on TV from our hotel room (in Italian so we didn't know what was going on) , what we gathered from Luca, our bike ride tour guide from the day before, was that it was a game just between the four districts of Florence. The game is a cross between rugby, soccer, kill-the-man with the ball and boxing. We heard that the past three years the matches were never finished because everyone got hurt and the game could not continue. We were intrigued by the game while we were watching, but to see the field after the game was kind of unique.

(the church were the game was played in front of)

After a late lunch it was time for third stop on the gelato tour, Forno a Legna. I branched out and had a double, half tiramisu and half chocolate, and Brenda had banana. We have yet to find any gelato that we were not able to finish.

At this point in the tour I would have to say this has been one of the most flavorful tours. I have seen tours available for wine, wine and dine, museums, etc. but have not seen a gelato tour. Someone should organize one in Florence it might just be the most popular tour of the town.

Our last night in Florence, our last night in Italy, me and my beautiful bride stroll down the streets of Florence hand in hand to have our last Italian meal at the OK Bar, street side cafe. The restaurant actually had good reviews on trip advisor. We both had Ravioli, she had it with pesto sauce and I had it with tomato sauce.

A quick check with google fit back at the hotel revealed that we walked 6.25 miles today or took 17, 567 steps today (way above my daily average). The only thing left to do is pack and catch our flights home.

Whenever I travel to another county I always like to check out the McDonald's, its an international fast food place that can be found everywhere. While I don't eat at these international McDonald's its always amusing to the how they incorporate the local cuisine into there menu and I like to figure out the Big Mac economics; compare pricing of Big Macs between visiting country and my home town.

My conclusion: Italian Big Mac combo $7.96 and Pearland Big Mac combo $6.96, a whole dollar difference. This tells me that prices in general are more expensive in Florence than Pearland.

(the italian twist to the menu)

(Big Mac = $7.96 US)