Lou Vouitton, the blue is charm

Monday was a rather enjoyable day. We got up in the morning and had some breakfast up at the Penthouse suit because my dad is a Platinum Member with Marriott. After breakfast, we got into a cab and drove about twenty minutes to the Bacardi Factory here in San Juan. The factory here, makes 70% of the Bacardi Rum sold in the world, with the other 30% split equally between their Bahama and Mexico facilities. The tour was quite interesting, explaining the roots of the Bacardi company including the reason for their bat logo.

During the tour, one of the stops was at a replica bar of their former facility in Cuba where the bartender there taught us how three drinks were originally made with Bacardi Rum, the Cuba Libre (or Rum and Coke), the Mojito, and the Daiquiri. After the tour was over, we went to the gift shop where we could purchase different rums as well as other gifts. I picked up a bottle of Bacardi Peach Red, Bacardi Select, and a bottle of their 12 year aged rum, Bacardi Reserva Limited which can only be purchased at the Bacardi Factory in Puerto Rico.

After getting a few free drinks at the bar at the Bacardi Factory, we loaded back into our cab and came back to the hotel where we went down to the beach to lay out for the day. I layed out until about 2:40 when I went up to the bar near the beach to watch the soccer match. Italy was playing The Netherlands in Euro 2008 and I wanted to watch the match. I should have known that it was going to be a long match when they served me an Amstel Light when I had ordered a Sam Adams. Italy ended up losing 3-0 and have put themselves in a rather precarious position for the rest of the tournament.

After watching the match we got ready to go out for dinner and made our way a few blocks down the street from our hotel to a rather progressive part of town surrounding a very nice green space. It is the kind of area that I wish we could have built in Syracuse around the inner harbor with some nice upscale shops such as Salvatore Ferragamo, Gucci, Dior, Louis Vouitton and Cartier.

Our dinner was quite nice as the restaurant was outside and we had some pizza which was actually quite good. I love eating in open air places and the only thing that would have been better is if they had an expansive wine list that we could have picked from. And of course if the rest of my family besides my dad and I enjoyed wine.
The sights of the park from where we were sitting were great, and there were some really cool buildings nearby, including this great mixed use building that looked like it had retail (Gucci), offices, and condo/apartments.

I had no idea that all of this was there and it makes me wish that I could so something more in Syracuse about getting something done in the inner harbor area. I know it is a little more difficult to do some of the nice outdoor eating space since the weather is awful so much of the year, but I really think that a more upscale area could thrive in that part of town. I think that if it were combined with a park like what we saw here in Puerto Rico, the area could look amazing.

After looking at the different shops that are there, I decided that we had to go back the next day, because I wanted to do a little shopping. Not that I think I will buy anything from any of the places because they are too expensive for my budget, but because it is just fun to see them and try things on.

A stroll through the streets of Old San Juan

Sunday morning, after a nice buffet breakfast at our hotel, we took a taxi in to Old San Juan. We had the taxi drop us off at the Catherdral there as we were going to try and catch mass. It was only around 12:10 and the midday heat was starting to get unbearable. We walked in to the church and it was absolutely gorgeous. They had all the front doors and several of the side doors open so as to get a bit of a breeze in there and to reduce the heat even further, they had the lights off and were reading the scriptures by candlelight. It seemed like a very pretty service, the only problem was that the entire service was in Spanish. In case you didn't know, everyone in Puerto Rico speaks Spanish. Most of them speak English as well, but pretty much everyone knows Spanish. It is crazy. Since the last time that I have really looked at Spanish was about ten or twelve years ago, I really dont recall much.

After we sat through all of the readings, we decided that it made sense to just leave since we weren't getting anything out of mass. After mass we walked through the streets of Old San Juan. The style of the buildings are in the typical Carribean style and colors. I absolutely love the bright colors and the stucco exterior of the buildings that you see around here. They remind me so much of Bermuda and St. Thomas and they make me happy because I remember the times we spent there.

While we were walking through the streets of Old San Juan, we decided to do a little shopping. There were a few stores that we found at least a little interesting, stopping in to Coach and Dooney & Bourke among others, but for me, the highlight of the shopping was the Puma store. I found some nice new kicks for about $17 and they look pretty sharp.

We took a little break out of our day to have some lunch at the Hard Rock in San Juan. I don't know about you guys, but we love going to the Hard Rock for lunch or dinner when we are traveling. We always know that we are going to get a good meal at the Hard Rock, and the prospect of getting a new pilsner, hurricane or shot glass from a city we haven't been to before is fun as well. I like to take a look through the different memorabilia that they have, and this one had some nice pieces including a shirt worn by Michael Stipe of R.E.M. and several items from Jon Bon Jovi. I took a picture of his guitar to send to Sanchelli. I know he would appreciate it. After we had lunch and walked around a little more we came to a square in the city. You know how in Central Park, and in other large cities, there will be spots for people to play Chess in the parks? Well, here in this square they had it set up so that people could play Dominos. It was fascinating.

After we walked around a little longer, we decided to call it quits for the day and went back to our hotel to sit by the pool. The weather wasn't that great and we didn't spend much time down there before heading back to our room to figure out where we wanted to go for dinner. We decided to go across the street from our hotel to a restaurant called Miro which served Catalan style seafood. I'm not a very big seafood eater, but I decided to branch out a little bit and I ordered the Baked Halibut in a Creamy Cheese sauce. It was absolutely delicious. I think I may have to go for more of the seafood if I get an opportunity when we are here since I am sure that a lot of it has to be fresh.

Cherry Blossom

On our first day in Puerto Rico, Saturday, I was actually pretty exhausted. I have this problem where I spend too much time working. Some people would call me a workaholic. Actually, I think I call myself that so it is nothing out of the ordinary. I actually slept until about noon when I got up and saw a note from my family saying that they were down at the beach. I changed into my board shorts, grabbed my book (The Case For Israel) and my iPod and went down to the beach.

We had some lunch and then I actually spent most of the afternoon sitting around with Casey chatting and having some drinks. It was a good day, and the weather was nice. After sitting around with Casey most of the afternoon, it was time for dinner and we watched the Belmont before heading out into San Juan for dinner. We went to a restaurant near our hotel called Cherry Blossom which is one of those Japanese steakhouse style where they cook in front of you. I should have gone with some Sake to drink, but instead I stuck with the gin and tonic that I have been going with lately and it wasn't a bad decision. I had the chicken and shrimp, which was absolutely fantastic, and we had a really good chef who made things a lot of fun. I should have got a picture of when he made me get up there and try and balance the egg on the spatula. I did it a couple of times, but that was it. My brother, on the other hand, was amazing. He was able to do it about 10-15 times and probably could have done it more, but I think he was ready to sit back down so he stopped.

After our dinner, we made our way back to the hotel and sat down at the casino. It wasn't a very productive night at the casino in our hotel, as I dropped twenty bucks, but my brother won ten and I think my mom dad won about eighteen so it was pretty good.

Third times a charm

I should have known that it was going to be a long night when I got to the airport way too early for my flight. Two false starts, and seven hours after I was supposed Orlando for San Juan, I am finally here in bed. I got everything unpacked and set up and we don't have any plans for tomorrow so I think we are going to just take it easy all day. I am definitely looking forward to that.

The plane that we were supposed to be taking to Puerto Rico arrived in Orlando about a half hour late and because of that I was able to engage in conversation with a girl, Casey, that had been sitting near me when we realized the plane was not arriving and her mother. It turns out that Casey is a travel enthusiast and relatively recently published a book about getaway weekends for girls in Orlando. It seems she was coming to Puerto Rico for a getaway weekend with her mother and some friends. After chatting for a while down the jetway it was off to our respective seats.

We started to leave, and had mechanical problems so we had to push back to the gate so they could take a look at what the problem was. They took a while, but supposedly corrected the problem and we were set to leave again, but of course that didn't work out so well and then finally on our third time attempt we were able to actually leave.

The storm before the calm

I am sitting in Orlando International (MCO for all of you with an airport code fetish), enjoying a nice Tanquerray and tonic and waiting for JetBlue flight 745 to San Juan. Had I not attended Microsoft's Tech-ed 2008 for Developers this prior week, I would have been there already anxiously awaiting my sister's arrival as I am certain my mother, father, and brother are doing. As it is, I will end up being the last one to arrive, however, that means I do not have to deal with the anxious feelings of being at an incredible vacation destination and waiting for the rest of my family to arrive.

I honestly don't know if I have looked forward to any of our other family trips as much as I have this one. This is one of the very last, if not, second to last trip that we are definitely going on as a family. My sister just graduated with her Doctorate in Physical Therapy so she will be starting her new job very soon and my brother will begin college this fall at Nebraska. These things, combined with the fact that I also work all the time mean that we will not have a lot of free time in the future, and particularly not a lot of free time together. It is sad and unfortunate to think that this could be one of the last trips we go on, but that is what makes my anticipation so high.

All five of us have not been together since Christmas and this will be the first family vacation that everyone will be of legal age in the location that we are visiting. Finally, we can all share a bottle of wine at dinner, or go down to the hotel bar for a drink after a long day at the beach.

I don't think that there is much background to give as far as our family trips are concerned, but we have have been doing them since I was probably a year old. I fondly remember the days when we would travel to the Jersey Shore, or our trips to islands such as Bermuda, Jamaica and St. Thomas. We have been throughout most of this great country. From Central Florida to the tip of Cape Code. From the Badlands of South Dakota to Fisherman's Wharf in San Francisco and most places in between.

Our original plan for this year was to go to Italy for my parents 30th Anniversary and both of my siblings graduations. Unfortunately, due to circumstances known as life, we were unable to go on our trip and instead decided to go to Puerto Rico a week earlier than we were going to do Italy. Hopefully, we can make this as enjoyable of a trip to celebrate as Italy would have been.

Only another hour and fifty three minutes until my flight departs. I can not wait to get there...