Fun in the FL Keys for less than $5 per person

Feeding the Tarpon at Robbie's Marina in the Florida Keys (mile marker 77) in Lower Matacumbe Key , is a cheap way to entertain the kids for less than $5 person. After that you can hang out at the Hungry Tarpon (that will cost you a little more, but it's a good chillaxing spot)

Venice

There's really no other word to describe Venezia; Magical!


A proposal...




Venezia at Sunrise...




















































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Lauterbrunnen Valley, Switzerland

After a lovely evening in the quaint town of Beaune, on the Burgundy region, we headed to the Swiss Alps. While in Beaune we experienced wine tasting in a XIII century cava, we dined in a XII century cava, and we slept in a XVII century chateau. In Beaune I learned how real Dijon mustard is supposed to taste like, let's say I'll never have Grey Poupon again! (The pictures above are from Baune)

We arrived to Lauterbrunnen Valley Thursday afternoon, the valley is known for it's many waterfalls. It has been said that this valley inspired JRR Tolkien, for his description of Rivendale Valley in the Lord of the Rings.
The Staubbach fall it's very easily seen from the hotel.
A small group of decided to join our fearless leader Colleen in a morning hike of the valley. During our hike along the river through the Nordic Trail, we were able to see the Spissbach fall, the Buchenbach fall, and on our gondola ride up to the town of Murren we saw the Murrenbach fall up close.
I have to admit that the idea of climbing via gondola was not in my initial plans, however the group was very supportive of my fear of heights. Paul our driver said that I could hike back down with him if I wanted, since he was not riding the gondola down. From Murren, at 5361 ft we got a closer look of the Eiger North Face peak, later we walked down to the town of Gimmelwald, elevation 4593ft, were we had a lovely picnic by an old mountain hostel. Our excursion later tooks back down via gondola ride to the lift station, our group really got along wonderfully and the hike gave me the opportunity to chat along the way and to spend time with some group members that I had not had the opportunity interact with.
From the lift station, Paul dropped a few of us at Trummelbach falls. The falls are the only glacier waterfalls inside a mountain in Europe. It is accessible, after a short hike, via a tunnel lift from there you can continue on walking inside the mountain were the temperatures drop dramatically and the sound of the water running it's impressive. After another scenic walk we arrived back at the hotel utterly exhausted and ready for a good night sleep. The next morning called for an early rise and departure to Germany, where this story will continue.

View from Gimmelwald




View from inside Trummelbach falls



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A snapshot of day 4

After a nice breakfast with the group we headed to the Saint Chapelle, a XIII Century church that took only 6 years to built, which considering it's splendor it is quite a feat. It's stained glass murals are breathtaking.
From there we went to Notre Dame, I was impressed by its architectural details. For some reason the St. Chapelle and the Sacred Heart church moved me a lot more than Notre Dame.
I wished I had the time to visit the crypts underneath.
From NotreDame we walked to the Latin Quarter were many famous writers used to hang out. After lunch I left the group to visit the Rodin Museum which was on my to do list. The gardens at the museum are very peaceful and surrounded by Rodin's sculptures. The must see pieces are in the garden. To see The Thinker and The Gates of Hell up close was really amazing.
The rest of the evening was spent packing and chillaxing, as day 5 is morning at the Louvre and afternoon ride to Beaune, in the Burgundy region.


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The journey continues...

Day two in Paris was quite an adventure! Woke up late, not because of jet lag but mainly because lately I don't sleep well regardless which time zone I'm
in. Got up in a hurry to catch the Metro to make my 1130 tour of the Eiffel tower, I made it just in time, but i had no idea were to check-in amongst the hundreds of people there.
I have found that people here, although not warm and fuzzy, are very nice and helpful. The security guard helped me out and soon enough I was taking the elevator up to the tower to catch a magnificent view of the city. After a little birthday brunch on the tower, I headed to the Open Tour bus to catch a glimpse of the important sites. Little did I know I was going to be able to do more than that, the Open bus tour gives you the ability to hop on off in different places and capture the city at your on pace. My two day pass was definitely worth the money. I used it all day Sunday and Monday and rode (3) out of their (4) routes visiting the must see places.
Monday's highlight was seeing the Sacred Heart church in the Montmartre district, and the Luxembourg gardens in the Montparnasse district. It was an overcasted, rainy day but somehow that did not hinder the adventure.
In the afternoon I met the group with which I will continue this journey all the way to Rome. Most of the people in the group are either from the West, Southwest or Pacific Northwest, all very nice, some with a few idiosyncrasies but not bad considering there's 25 of us. I wonder what they are writing about the PuertoRican in the group, sure they think I'll bring some spice to the mix. I also met our tour guide, Colleen, a petite blonde from Seattle that immediately laid down the law, we synchronized watches to be on Colleen time, to prevent being late to our departure times.
Later in the evening, we headed to the ile de la cite area for dinner, of course someone was late, and once again Colleen specified, that next time we will leave them behind. I'm sure they will be on time from now on. We ended up the evening with an awesome view of the Eiffel Tower at night from a Sienne boat tour, the weather was perfect.
I can't leave out the most amusing part of my day, when Colleen left us stranded at the Metro station. It wasn't on purpose, we weren't late, it
just happened very quickly as she boarded the train ahead of us and just like that the doors closed and she was gone. The look on her face was worth a million bucks, but we happened to be very resourceful and met her at our destination. We now hold the incident as a trump card against Colleen, as the adventure continues.



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Paris Day 1

Arrival to Paris was uneventful, well if you don't count the fact that my flight was delayed due to Obama landing at MIA, and the kid seating behind me occasionally had the need to kick my seat. Luggage arrived timely and transport was already waiting for me. We drove by the Arc de Triumph and Champ Elyse on the way to the hotel. The concierge was friendly and accommodating, and my room surprisingly big for a single room. There's a farmers market on the street behind the hotel, as well as a fromage store and several patisseries on the same street. Yes, I'm in heaven!
I spent the afternoon at Chateau Versailles, my tour partners were a family from Italy. I was surprised as to how much I could understand the guide's Italian narrative. And with my Spanish we got along superbly!
As expected the Chateau was grandiose in every way. It was packed on account that Sunday May 1st is a holiday and it is closed, as well as regularly closed on Mondays. So many tourists like me with limited time only had today to visit. I'm glad I did.

I ended the day with dinner at "le cafe de la place" where I practiced my broken French and managed to order dinner, dessert and a beer!!
Not bad for day one!

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Miami Food Trucks

This week I had the opportunity to experience the latest SoFla craze, the gourmet food trucks. The food is great as well as the experience of finding out where they will meet. You can find more information about them at BurgerBeast
What follows are some pictures of the trucks:




Latinhousegrill is so far my favorite, the owner Chef M is a talented guy that takes good care of his customers. You can follow them on FB or Twitter @latinhousegrill




The Fish box excellent place to get your seafood fix. Great lobster sandwich!



People gathering around Montaco



I don't know but people say they make a mean Grilled Cheese!


The Gastropod


No introductions needed


Miso Hungry for your Asian food craving

You can follow the individual trucks on Twitter or follow @burgerbeast for updates.
Get out there and enjoy!

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