Italy by Rail & Ship: Varenna’s Villa Cipressi Garden

July 9, 2017 by edwinandlisa

An early evening stroll through the terraced, lakeside gardens of Hotel Villa Cipressi…

JFK Airport Priority Pass Lounge: Wingtips

July 8, 2017 by edwinandlisa

While we are on tour in Italy there may be times where we do not have any internet or WiFi connection, so in this case here are some previous unpublished posts from our current adventures…
Priority Pass provides airline lounge access to many airports around the world. This is one of the perks at Lisa and I get from our I priced credit cards. It has come in handy and we have certainly gotten a lot of value out of them since we have flown so much over the past year. This is a quick look at the wingtips JFK Lounge in New York City. Wii ended up hanging out there for about 4 hours before our flight left, taking advantage of the wifi, food, free drinks, and comfortable surroundings.

Located in terminal 4, just past the security gate on the second level

Comfortable seating with plenty of plugs to recharge electronic devices. Also nice big windows to gaze out at the runways.

At both ends of the lounge are men’s and women’s restrooms. There was no dedicated Business Center, just lots of seats with a few tables and stools.

Self serve hot beverages as well as cookies and trail mix available

Self-service chilled beverages included sodas, bottled beers common and various juices. Interesting Li, there was no bottled water, only a spigot with cups to drink from

Self-service Spirits are, Lisa took advantage but I stuck with the water and sodas

For food offerings, they had a bread station and two kinds of soup. There was also some cereal, available now but more likely for the morning service

The salad bar was extensive, with hummus, tomato, cucumbers, tuna salad, chicken salad, and more.

On the Hot Food Line was rice, mixed veggies and some sort of baked chicken pieces that were a bit dry.

New York City: Celebrating the 4th of July Part 2

July 7, 2017 by edwinandlisa

While we are on tour in Italy there may be times where we do not have any internet or WiFi connection, so in this case here are some previous unpublished blog posts from our current adventures…

Seaport Summer Music Festival with David Sanborn headlining, as members of the Chase Sapphire credit card we were able to purchase VIP tickets for this 4th of July event. $20 each got us an exclusive rooftop lounge, gourmet bites and an open bar. And this being the Fourth of July, we were just a block away from the Hudson River to enjoy the New York City Fireworks at dusk. Or so we thought…

Call card holders of the Chase Sapphire card have their own special reserved area for the concert, but our VIP experience upgraded us to a different Lounge

Gourmet Bites menu

The Char grilled beef was our favorite followed by the little strawberry Shortcake desserts

Open bar. I am not a drinker so I had the bartender make me a drink and he made it with pineapple juice, cranberry juice, vodka, and triple sec. Lisa had some wine and a cranberry vodka.

Me and my drink in front of the outdoor table that had Cayenne spiced nuts and bags of popcorn

Three stories above the action

Just behind us is the seaport area where there is supposedly good views for the fireworks

Getting closer for those Fourth of July fireworks!

And after waiting for almost an hour for the light to turn into dusk and dusk to turn into dark, the fireworks started. We could hear them, but we could not see them. Unfortunately that building basically blocked the entire view of all of the fireworks so we gave up after 10 minutes of looking for various Vantage points to actually see fireworks display. However it was a great night all in all!

Doughnut World Tour Stop: New York City, NY

July 6, 2017 by edwinandlisa

No visit is complete without a visit to a local donut shop and on this, our last hours in New York before catching our plane to Italy, we indulged in one fancy donut from this well-reviewed joint.

The Place: Dough Doughnuts

Location: Times Square area, New York City

Doughnut tried: Horchata Cinnamon Glazed

Price: $3 for regular donuts, $3.50 for the special variety. Our single selection was in the latter category.

Verdict: Pretty Good. Not the best we’ve had. I think the issue was in the name. This doughnut was certainly made up of lots of dough- thick and chewy and not enough glaze in proportion to the dough.

Rating: 6.5 out of 10

Dough is a mini chain with locations around the city

So many selections! Lisa whittled it down to three choices, and I had to pick one out of the three for us to share.

The other choices Lisa made me decide on were the toasted coconut and the Nutella centered doughnut

Too big and heavy to pick up with your bare hands, this one definitely needed the fork and knife!

New York City: Celebrating the 4th of July Part 1

July 5, 2017 by edwinandlisa

We spent the late morning through the afternoon at the Intrepid Museum, using our OMSI passes to gain free admission and saving $15 each. This is the first time either of us has been on an aircraft carrier.