Spain

Our Trip to Spain
Summer 2003

Wednesday :
I woke up and decided not to go to work, since we were leaving for the airport at 1:30. I also decided that as long as I was not going to work, Lane should not go to camp.
Ilene had a few last minute errands to run, I helped pack. As I was stuffing an extra pair on shoes into a bursting at the seams bag, there was a knock at the door. It was a woman that lives down the block she said” My boys want to know could your boy come out and play” the timing was not great, but I was real happy to meet someone out on the block especially someone with 2 boys Lanes age. Ilene came home we did some last minute packing and panicking, and Taona drove us to the airport.
We met Jim, Heidi, Teddy and Mallory. We all went through security and stopped for snacks. The plane ride was long. For the first 10 hours of our trip I eat. I’m talking about non-stop, almost forgetting to breath. I’m afraid if I went to china I would arrive dead. Someone would have to call my mother “Mrs. Lubell, your son is dead. He Blew-up on the plane. We are still cleaning up pieces of him off the walls” “no it was not a Terrorist attack, it was self educed”. I eat the food they gave me; I eat the food we brought. Yes I’m a glutton, but it is also nerves.
The kids were excited and after a while did fall asleep. Teddy was sleeping on the floor at my feet for part of the time. I of course get sleepy on the plain, but can never go to sleep. One I can’t sleep in strange contorted positions, second someone need to keep a watchful eye at the engines.
We got to the airport got our bags ASAP and took off in a set of cabs to Hotel Villa Real.

I have learned in my travels to Europe that picking a quality 3 star or even 4 star hotel can be tricky, while sometimes you can find a wonderful, quaint, charming 3 or 4 star hotel sometime the place is a dump. That said 5 star hotels are always nice. ( Good going Jim)

After putting stuff away, we started out on our “power tour “of Madrid.
We were checking things off our list at near “Aerial-photography” speed. In about 2 hours we did “Day One ” Our touring was a cardio workout. Not bad considering we had three children in tow. We were walking holding hands, in part to keep a pace and in part because there was little delineation between the sidewalk and the street.

The Prado was wonderful.

There is a part of me that wants to spend one hour per painting, but I also get over whelmed.

If I had the OptionI would love to be able to go and spend 2 hours seeing 6 paintings, then come back next week and study six more. Now at the art institute I can do that, but here it is not an option. We saw what we were supposed to see, and then I bought the book.

That night we met back up and had dinner outside the plaza Mayor. Poor Teddy, Lane is hanging on him at all times, It’s a good thing Teddy is so sweet. We found a restaurant; the food was good, but not great. Lane clearly is going to eat just Olives, French fries, pop, and ice-cream the whole trip. It seems as if dinner in Madrid starts at 9:00pm and then goes till 12:00 followed by drinking till 4:00am, and that’s on a week night. The streets come alive at 9:00pm and the crowds keep growing till 2:00am. We walked after dinner but failed to find Ice cream to the screams of “But you promised” (Truth be told, I missed the treat as well).

Sleeping has been a recurring subject of this trip. Kimmy calls 3 or 4 times, and Heidi is also having some sleeping issues. Jimmy’s nice and relaxed, just like my father; I’m more like my mother when It comes to nerves.

We took off for Toledo today. We stopped at Starbucks (It is impossible to leave home any more) Got to the train, a bit of running and confusion, but Jimmy’s Spanish helps a lot. The train is like most trains in Europe, Rather clean, seem safe. A far cry from the subway, or the “EL”in Chicago. It took a while to get there and I am always surprised what a small percentage of the land people actually live on in Europe. I mean after all these are much older smaller countries than the U..S.

Well, it was worth the trip Toledo the walled city was a real step back in time. We walked for hours. The kids were real troopers, all of them. We found the old Jewish quarter and a shop that sells Judaica. Jim befriended these two Australian young women. They kept kosher. We were comparing notes. We told them we were from Chicago, They said a friend lived there for a few months, "Had we ever heard of a place called the East Bank Club”.

For Jews it’s a small world.

We had more Tapas for lunch, Lane feasted on more olives. We, at that point, had done a lot of walking, so we all thought the Tram was a great way to see the city.The views were amazing. This, when you get a way from the Franchise stores, is the real reason to travel. We bought some souvenirs; Lane bought a bunch of little toy toothpick size swords and then took the train back. It is some beautiful countryside.

We went to dinner for paella.

I Found something else Lane would eat. This dinner was real good, it was also a stunning presentation. It was topped with shrimp, lobster, and mussels. We had some wine and Cava. We are all becoming very big Cava fans The thing is the prices of wine and cava make it easy to be a big sport. While this trip is costing a lot of money, it is less then I feared, and less than it would be in Paris, or London, especially the food and drink. If you were so inclined, you could really live cheap in Spain. But you would have to live differently than in the U.S. After dinner the kids played in a small playground in the square while we had a drink. I love that in Europe the children stay out so late. I finally don’t feel like a bad parent. I also love that you can want into a bar with a child, and no one cares.

6/29 Saturday.

I woke up and went out to take pictures with my very heavy Bronica. I was walking around taking Black and White photos. I loved the light, the textures. Photography for me is about the process of seeing, of critical observing, as much as the actual photos. When I go out taking pictures I always remember the subject far more clearly. I came back Teddy Lane and Mallory were up: so I took them for a walk, bought some sunglasses. Went back we all got together and went for coffee and took a walk to the Botanical gardens. I went on my one taking pictures. Jim and I broke down and took the kids to Burger King for a change from Spanish Cuisine. All of the adults went to a place around the corner and got some sandwiches to go. At this point let me say I have had a significant quantity of ham. The Ham is very good and very salty, it is also default to chew some times and so I was afraid of choking some of the time. But away from Urban Insurance, I do that less often. I’m not sure why that is.
We went for a shot walk to our next “Must See. After all of our fear of the weather, the fact is it has been delightful. Ok. A little hot, but clear, cooler in the evening. No Rain.

Centro de Arte Regina-Sofia
http://museoreinasofia.mcu.es/

The 4th floor had some works I had recently seen at the MCA, Gursey and Newman.
All contemporary art with an emphasis on Spanish artist. The 2nd floor had Miro, Dali, Bunuel and Picasso including Guernica. We saw to Buneul movies. I have to admit I liked some of the work better that all of that early Christian art in the Prado. We walked around. There was a fashion show in the courtyard in front on the Sofia. We mad it back to our hotel at about 7:00. I went with Jim to a place for a beer and olives and nuts. The whole thing was 4 Euros. (That is nothing even with the poor exchange rate) I have to say that everyone is working hard to be easy-going and get along, and it is paying off. The pacing of the trip is wonderful. Traveling together has really added a whole dimension to the trip. In actuality, I truly think that it will be a special memory is being formed.
The kids voted for Pasta. The food was good. They put us in a little room in the basement. There was something nice about if I did not have the impression that they were trying to hide us away. It was about 11:30 when we went to a Flamenco dance place. We had some Sangria. The dancers were good, but the prerecorded music took away some of the experience. The kids thought it was cool but they were also falling asleep.
Problem with my camera, I really am in need of psychological care. With me every problem is the end of the world. So on a Sunday morning in Madrid, not speaking a word of Spanish, I set off to find someone to fix a 35-year-old SLR medium format camera. I don’t have to tell anyone that I was not successful

We were running and just made the train to Segovia

The train took two hours.
We then took a bus to the town. The bus passed through the roman aqueduct, that in and of it’s self, was worth the trip. We went to the cathedral and then up to the Alcazar.

We climbed up 147 steps to the top. What a great view. The town was so cute and picturesque. We had lunch and of course more Ice cream. We went back on the train back to Madrid, but not before stocking up on a massive amount of candy.

Woke up at 8:30 ran to the camera store in hopes that they could fix my 30 yrs old 6X6 camera. I did not expect them to be able to but I thought I’d try. The guy at the camera store said “Nice Camera, but I would need to send it out for repairs to a guy in Belgium. He had the new version of my camera, but it was $2,200 so I bought a 35mm. On the way back I saw Jim, we had a coffee at a little place down the street.
Jim went to pick up Kimmy. It was great to see her. Jim and I went to rent cars. We passed 6 places with no lines then we got to ours- the line was out the door. It took us over one hour just to get to the desk. Then we were told that our reservation vas not valid because of the “3 Hour Rule”” We said were here but it took an hour to get to the desk. “Sorry No Car.” You will have to wait till an other car comes in.
All of this time Jim is on the phone with Heidi trying to get “Happy Pills for her sleeping. I had only a few with me. A doctor came to the hotel.

How do you say “LEMON” in Spanish?

The car Jim got was very large and very smashed-up, and it stunk. I drove mine back Jim stayed to trade his in for something that looked a bit less like a Medi-car.
My drive should have been simple, but the road to our Hotel was closed due to some sort of demonstration. After one hour of one-way streets, just wide enough for one car up hills (Not use to stick shift on hills, and this before I bought my Porsche Carrera)

I finally put the car in a space four blocks away and walked. I learned to drive stick- shift on a flat level street. I forgot when you stop at the top of a hill, the car rolls backwards when you let out the clutch. And take your foot off the brake. I would be forced to stop on the steepest hill right at the top, and each time some guy would pull up and stop right on my tail. Typically it would be a driver with an $80,000.00 car with an anger management problem.

When we got back to the hotel I found Ilene and Heidi were successful in getting the Xanex script, (After my car ride I could have taken 2) It took several tries to get it filled. We said our goodbyes, and Ilene Lane and I took off for Cordoba.

Driving on the road was fun. I was up shifting, downshifting. The car was underpowered but it was great. Well it was great till we hit the city of Cordoba, or as I like to call it

“The city with-out signage”.

We got in at night (still light) after several calls to the hotel that recommended that we park at an other hotel (The Nia) and the walk. That is what we did. Four bags on wheels on a one mile walk. Luggage does not roll well on cobble stone streets. The hotel was a surprise .it was part of the old wall, It was 4 times larger on the inside than it appeared from the outside. The place had been brought up to 21st century standards. That night we walked through the old Jewish section. It was a maze, and it was dark in a sort of film-noir sort of way. Very cool. We found a great restaurant Cherass0-Glives.
Even though we traveled a relatively short distance from Madrid, this was clearly a different part of the country. We walked by the out side of the
. Mezquita-catedral de Cordoba. Very impressive even from the outside.
Then off to ice-cream.







Thursday: we went to the http://www.sephardicsages.org/cordoba2.html
Synagogue in Cordoba Spain It was built in1315
It was just a short walk from our hotel. We heard about 15 people all speaking a language we realized was Hebrew. They were a part of a tour group from Israel Lane was playing where he should not and fell and hurt himself. The Jews came to the rescue.

We went off to the Mesiquita. That was amazing. The scale was not to be believed

Attraction Hours
June-Sept daily 10am-7pm; Oct-Apr daily 10am-6pm
Location
Torrijos and Calle Cardenal Herrero s/n (south of the train station, just north of the Roman bridge)
Phone
95-747-05-12
Prices
Admission 6.50€ adults, 3.25€ children under 10
Season
Closed Jan and May
Mezquita-Catedral de Córdoba
From the 8th century, the Mezquita was the crowning Muslim architectural achievement in the West. It's a fantastic labyrinth of red-and-white-striped arches. To the astonishment of visitors, a cathedral now sits awkwardly in the middle of the mosque, disturbing the purity of the lines. The 16th-century cathedral, a blend of many styles, is impressive in its own right, with an intricately carved ceiling and baroque choir stalls. Additional ill-conceived annexes later turned the Mezquita into an architectural oddity. Its most interesting feature is the mihrab, a domed shrine of Byzantine mosaics that once housed the Koran. After exploring the interior, stroll through the Courtyard of the Orange Trees, which has a beautiful fountain. The hardy can climb a 16th-century tower


Then we were off to lunch, Again we had to wheel our luggage across the stone streets, find our car, and get back on the road to Seville.
Of course we made great time on the roads, and of course we got lost trying to find our hotel. http://www.hotelosseises.com/ This time we parked outside of the "old city" and took a cab. The hotel was fine but it had a roof top pool. It was 90 outside and Lane and I thought a swim was well deserved. It was wonderful. We could see the Cathedral town as we played “Secret Agent Man “ in the pool. Ilene went for a walk .
Had dinner at La Carboraira and took a long walk.

Wednesday; We got up and went to the cathedral . climbed up the tower. It was a very big climb (read Digital fortress (Dan Brown) starting around Page 295

As we were going up and up, each turn showing more and more of the view of the city the more it became clear that there were so many sites to see. Lane said “Dad that’s the bridge that we saw on the Science Channel”

So we put it into “Power sight-seeing” mode.
We went off to plaza D’Espana,

The Gold Tower.
I figured that the best way to see a lot of a city was to get on a boat. We took a super boat ride. Saw much of the “old city and then went past much of the new city constructed for the worlds fair, including Lane’s bridge.

The next stop was the bull ring.

This was not our favorite spot on the trip even though there was no bull fight. But Seville was yet another city that we left saying “ We should have spent more time”
We did drive into the dark something we said we would not do.

That night we drove into Granada
Well we get into Granada about 10:00. Guess what, we are lost again. We were told it was easy to find. We decided to park and take a cab. We had the name, or sort of the name of the Hotel. Hotel Palacio Santa Cuesta DeSanta Ine’s

We told the name to the Taxi driver who made no less than 40 turns to arrive at our destination. Many of these streets were so narrow that when an other car came one had to back up. Even people had to back up since there was no room for the person and the car even if they stood as close to the wall as possible. So at 11:00 at night we get out of the cab in a dreadfully murky alleyway with our bags and were left there in the dark to find our way. After 10 minutes we came to a door to a Hotel. A one star hotel. We were all a bit taken back. The name seemed to fit, but this could not be the place. Luckily it was not. But that meant we were lost again. We found these two young German women that were nice enough to help us with our map. Problem was they were also lost. ( I think the expression is the “blind leading the blind”) The thing was they were very persistent. Ilene called the Hotel and asked could they send out someone to find us. Well after 10 more minutes of the Germans pointing on the map, we left them the map and followed the over the phone directions of the woman on the phone. We made her stay on the line till we were at the door.

I was hungry, and went to look for somewhere to eat, found an over-priced dump with a
coca-cola umbrella and called it a night.
In the light of day I could see we were close to where we needed to catch the bus to Alhambra. What a treat.

The Gardens were amazing . They went on for a great expanse. They were different than a “western” garden, and different again from a Japanese garden. The thing that striked me the most was the doorways of plants. The watering system was fascinating. Remember this is a hot dry climate.

We are walking up to the buildings and we hear ”Hi Ilene” It was the two girls we met in the Jewish store. The ones from Australia. Small world.
We had Lunch and Ice cream. And drove off to Tormelinos

After some last minute changes in our reservation we ended up at a large Hotel that looked like it belonged in Miami. In fact the whole area looked more like Miami than Spain. I can see why people would hate it. I saw it as an opportunity to lie out on the beach and not drive.

We went along the boardwalk and took a long walk. We thought we would walk from our hotel to the end of the boardwalk, see what restaurants there are then walk back and go to one of them. Thing is the walk went for miles. One restaurant after another filled in with little shops in between. We found one that looked quaint. Why waiting for a table Lane was standing under an out door shower/play area and accidentally turned on the water. We had to go get him a new shirt. He picked out one that you get to customize by iron-ons.

Beach Day.

We were going back and forth about going to the city of Rhonda or staying at the beach. I wanted to see the sights, but I think we needed to take a day off and play.
Lane saw these large paddleboats with ladders attached. The idea is you paddle out into the ocean and the Lane can slide off into the water. Well he asked me, I said O.K. but you are going to have to ask mom and she is going to say no. Well that’s what happened. “I’m not letting my
7 yrs old slide into the deep ocean” I told Lane
“Let me check it out, no promises”.

I walked up to the rental guy and said “ is it safe” “What about life preservers”. The guy thought I was nuts. “No Problem, No Problem”. “Fine for child”.
It took a lot of convincing and pouting (Lane was pouting also) to finally get an O.K. for Ilene. I ran and got the boat. They pushed us off. I paddled Ilene panicking, repeating “Closer to shore” like a mantra. We were about 100yrds out when I jumped out of the boat and ended up in water up to my knees. I could not paddle that boat far enough to get ever get into water that was over Lane’s chest. The fact that he’s a great swimmer, didn’t matter he could stand up all the way to Marbella. Ilene calmed down. It was a lot of fun.

Had lunch at a café on the beach. Lane had chocolate waffles and olives and washed it down with a fruit drink (oh to be child).
Played in the “killer” waves. When the son started to go down, or at least be blocked by the building, we left the beach and want to the pool.

That night I got the car out and drove to Benemaldena. I wanted to go to Marbella, but did not want to drive that far. This town was much like the last only nicer. It still looked like a cross between Navy Pier, Burnham harbor and South beach (Minus the deco).
We saw this bungee/trampoline thing, and to my surprise Lane wanted to go on the thing. It seemed so dangerous, in a safe sort of way. He was a little frightened at first but was proud of him self

Had Chinese food for dinner, we were all going through soy sauce withdrawal. That Asian food is more habit forming the opium. In fact I’m getting hungry writing this . Guess what I’m having for dinner.

July 7th: Check out of the Hotel, drive to the airport. Drop off the car.
At the airport I was waiting in a long line while Ilene was taking Lane to the bathroom. Behind me I saw a man in his late 40s, his wife and two teenage daughters. Between them they had no less than 15 matching pieces of luggage. I new at once they were not just Americans, but that they were Jews. Sure enough they were. They lived in Northbrook and one of the girls was friends with our old next-door neighbor’s daughter. It is a small world when your Jewish. They were real nice people; we were on the same flight to Barcelona.
I have to say we were happy to see Heidi and Jimmy and the kids. We had talked on the phone the days we were apart, but it was fun to be back together. We were happy we went south, but it sounds like they had a lot of fun up north. That night we swapped stories.

We went for a walk down La Rambla. It was filled with people, some shopping many more just walking taking in the sites. La Rombla is set up as Long Street lined with buildings then a one lane one way street, the other side of the street is the same, and in the middle is a wide tree lined walkway. It is the Champs-Elysées of Barcelona. While there are a lot of stores, the “top price” stores are a few blocks away. Barcelona is the Paris of Spain. Just off of La Rambla are small streets and petite paths crowded with the coolest, funkiest, stores, trendiest restaurants you can imagine. There was a martini bar that seats 15 people, next door to Irish pub, next to a Turkish café. Each of which look more inviting than the other. This must be the world capital of faux painting. There were not 10 of these places, or 20, or 30 but streets full. And for each place to eat there were two places to shop. From Spanish tourism trinkets, to antiques, to sex shops, to trendy clothes. Picture Woodfield Mall, then try to
visualize the exact opposite.
Also keep in mind this is all contained inside all of this wonderful vintage architecture. The city is awash in college kids back backing through Europe and some that look like they were due back in college six years ago. After 11:00pm add in some heroin addicts, crack whores and street musicians for extra color. The further off La Rambla you go the cooler and also more frightening it gets. The main tourist spots have every imaginable street vender. There were at least 30 people that stand still till you give them some money. Every city has the “Robot Guy” but they had so many and such variety.
The first day in Barcelona was a shopping day, we left our hotel (another good pick of Jimmy’s) an walked down La Rambla. We decided to split up for two hours to shop. I was in heaven. I found all these cool boutiques, with fun, cutting edge clothes, many having sales. (Helmut Lang for less. I do like shopping. I bought a bunch of clothes. I can’t remember if Ilene got anything. I told her to!
For me, I was on a mission.

That night we went to have drinks at a little Turkish place. I Think we ripped the curtains on accident.

Then after a long walk had dinner and went down to the water for Ice cream. Some of which Lane eat, some of which he wore. He was in heaven. He is a good traveler, he likes sightseeing, but being able to spend massive amounts of time with his cousins was a real treat.
Main Hall

Jim still had the car. So we all squeezed in and went to the Dali Museum. This is what Ms. Dawn (art teacher) was so excited about Lane seeing. http://www.olespaintours.com/ing/olewalk_2.htm
http://www.salvador-dali.org/eng/fmuseus.htm

This was a fun place. It was one big Dali tribute. Almost the way the Regan library is a tribute to him. I thing the word is whimsical. I was happy I went. It seems like something I would remember. It also makes you think what you could do if no one told you “You can’t do that”. If you were not worried about resale value. It would be fun.
I hope I was not the only one that liked it, after all it was a ride.



We drove back to the hotel. Jim made plans to have the car picked up.
Went out for some drinks at a place called the Gin Bar ( or something like that) again, I’m always blown away by the acceptance of 8 year olds in a bar. We had another bottle of Cava. Kimmy and Lane were both going crazy on the olives. We went exploring, found some wonderful stores. We went a little deeper into the bowels of city. We got to some points that looked like they came from one of those R rated cartoons. Somewhere Barbwire would hang out. It started to get a little scary and we went a block closer to La Rambla. We another nice dinner. We ordered so much food the waiter did not know where to put it all. Kids sat separate.
http://www.op.net/~jmeltzer/gaudi.html

It was a hot day. And we were determined to see it all. I think Jim was pushing it, it large part because he new I wanted to check everything off my list. We were doing a lot of walking; we took a bus a cab just to get close to Park guel. We were walking around we saw an accident site (some small truck hit a post) Jim talked to the cops for while. We finally saw a sign. Park Guel 1,000 meters. Lane and Mallory were stopping every time they saw a sign for some sort of Popsicle, or Ice thing. It seemed that every store sold some sort of frozen treat. Unlike here where there are large Walgreen type stores, everything is 300sq feet. So there are thousands of these small stores. (I Love it). Next sign 800 meters, then 600, then 400. “Are we there yet?” then 200 meters, then 1,000 meters again. We were Hot and we were lost. Oh yea, there are hills. We were all getting a little tired. But then we found it. It was worth the trip
We had lunch outdoors in front of Sagrada Familia.

There were a bunch of young people passing out samples of bottles of flavored Ice Tea. Teddy must have chased down 8 of these people. The stuff was not that good, but Teddy was super aggressive at getting them.
We had a long walk home. I wanted to see as much of the architecture as I could. We stopped at what I thought was a 1,000 sq feet store, turns out it, one room opened up to another room which opened to a larger room. Then was a staircase taking you to two more levels. They had wonderful furniture. If I lived in town a lot of their stuff would be in my house
. Ludwig Mies van der Rohe

We kept walking, kept seeing more and more Gaudi. Amazing buildings. Finally Lane and Mallory had a revolt. Lane screamed “Gaudi, Gaudi, Gaudi, We NEED ice cream NOW”

We went back to the hotel to get ready for the night.
This time we went to the restaurant that the hotel recommended.( The restaurant we did not keep our reservations for the two previous nights.) It was on the waterfront. The food was good and it was nice to sit outside
.
We all had packing and the like to do and were a bit sad that it was coming to an end. I think we walked home a little tired, it had been a big day.
Off to the airport in two cabs. Jim bought no less than 6 pounds of olives for the ride home. We were running around the duty free shop buying like we were going back to the U.S.S.R. in the 70s.I was stocking up on wine that it turns out I can buy at Sams for $1.00 more.

I also bought a vast number of chupa Chups Again as if I could not buy them down the street.
That is the double-edged sword. I hate that nothing is unique or special any more; but at the same time I love that I can get what ever I want from around the world.
Looking forward, I see all kids of pain and sorrow. It is impossible to predict all of the horrific events can befall a person, but even without the unknown, the predictable future it’s self is reason for tears. There is no form you can sign, no insurance you buy that will prevent the sad days that await us all. It is for that reason that you have to acknowledge those days when things go well.

The trip was a good and happy time. We were all well, all together, and on vacation in Spain.

A Bar Mitzvah at Sea

A Bar Mitzvah at Sea

Day 1.

Day one came much too early. The limo came to pack us up at dawn. We, of course were not ready. I decided that I was not going to wait for the ship to start taking pills for sea-sickness. After all I’m not a great flyer.
We got to the airport with a bit of extra time. I knew Heidi and Jimmy were on the same flight. We waited and they were still not there. I always assume I’m wrong, so I started asking Ilene “ are you sure we are on the right flight?”
Well with a few min. to spare, here comes Jim out of breath with Heidi and seven 13 yrs. Old boys, three 14½ yrs old girls and Mallory.
The plane ride was uneventful. We watched part of Scooby-doo on the laptop (mistake to lug that thing, I’m sure I’ll do at again).
We took a taxi to the ship. We were not able to get into our rooms yet, so we had the first of many buffets. They hand you a plate that is the size of a platter. No one goes hungry on a cruse. I can eat a lot, but seeing people over eat reduces my appetite.

It was time to see our room. I had a very low expectation, and the “Stateroom” was a disappointment. It was small, dark and genuinely depressing. I t would have to be twice as large to be used in the STATEROOM scene from the Marx Brothers.

Ilene was upset, Lane thought it looked nice. Ilene want to talk to someone about Upgrading the room. I went to the pool. I was sitting there feeling a bit sorry for my self when a young girl went by in a wheel chair. She had no arms or no legs. That put things in perspective real quick. I’m sitting on a lounge chair on a cruse ship on a beautiful day. I’m with my wife and child, my parents, Heidi, Jimmy the kids, Jori and Bonny, All are well. If you can’t be happy on a day like that, you do not deserve to be happy. How many times in the future will I look back and say, “if I could only return to that day, that time in my life. How many people would give a year of their life to relive one day when there family were well and together. I learned two things.
1. You get what you pay for.
2. It’s your attitude that determines how much fun you have.

By the way Ilene did upgrade the room.

We went exploring around the ship while suitcases were being moved.
We went to dinner and found that the tables were not all together. The whole planning of this trip had been a disaster. Jerry called every day for 6 weeks to Cruses Only, and never got much help. Jim did not have much better luck.
Jerry went to talk to someone and got them to Do officially what we started to do our-selves, which was to make two tables work, one for the Kids, one for the adults. It was wonderful.

The amount of food was insane. We would order more than we could eat, and we eat more than we should.


Jim kept the wine flowing. Lane was in heaven because he had mallory and the “BIG BOYS” were paying attention to him.
Went to the show on the boat. The show had a comedian and Matt Baker our cruise director.
The “Boys” found some groupies. The “Girls” also found some friends of their own. Lane checked out the Kids center.

Day 2
Getting 21 people to move as a group is like trying to herd cats.
I walked with Jori and Heidi for a while, then just with Jori since Heidi wanted to go at her pace which was faster than Jori, and she ran with Jerry who was too fast for Judy who was upset that she could not go with Heidi. Jimmy was trying to keep 10 teenagers safe and out of trouble. There was a lot of time spent looking for one another. Jerry was franticly trying to “Do the right thing”.
Breakfast buffet was a lot of walking around with “Platters of food” in search of a table and people to sit with. I never eat breakfast But boy can I.
We all left the boat to go to KEY WEST.
We had a startling array of communication equipment. Never has so much technology accomplished so little. The cell phones rarely got answered, and the walkie-talkies were so garbled they sounded like we were on different planets. The girls went shopping, Jimmy took the boys, Judy Lane and Ilene went shopping, and Jerry and I rented bikes. Compared to the bike I just bought, this is almost a different machine entirely. But it was hot and it was fun to speed along. It was great to spend the time (away from work) with Jerry.

I loved the architecture. Victorian, but with the southern island look. This is where Ethan Allen furniture should go to shoot its Hemmingway inspired collection. Saw Hemmingway’s house, and the house that is the furthest most point south in the USA.
Found All of our party at one time or another.
WE switched and let Ilene and Judy ride the bikes back. After all it was HOT. I went with Ilene looking for stuff for her teeth, no luck.
More buffet, more pool, more drinks in commemorative glasses.
Dress for dinner. Jori has her 11th matching outfit. If I was a woman, I would be worse. Took pictures
I guess the “Groupies” were really getting obsessed with Teddy and his friends. The more Teddy pulled away, the more they wanted him. Boy that was a technique I never learned when I was a teenager ( I had not learned that in my 20s either).
Lane held his own in a few conversations with Teddy’s friends. They really were sweet to him. Lane and Mallory went to the kids center we went to the show. It was a dance show about rock in the movies. The performers were good. They were not Broadway good but they were suburban playhouse good. All in all it was worthwhile. We got Lane and Mallory, walked around and went back to our room.

Day 3

A little more early morning confusion, a lot of phone calls, a little searching for this one or that one. More platters of food.
Ilene Lane and myself were on our own. We had made plans to see the Mayan ruins

El Castillo
The most outstanding building of Tulum is the Castle, El Castillo, perched on Tulum's highest cliff. This temple-topped pyramid also served as a watchtower and a lighthouse. Like many important structures in the Mayan world, the current building is the result of different stages of additional construction. It began as a palace-like base, the staircase added at a later date and eventually it was crowned by the temple on top. The doorway to the temple has columns in the shape of rattlesnakes, with the tails supporting the roof and their heads adjoining the floor. Due to the rapidly increasing number of tourists to Tulum, El Castillo is now roped-off, and not possible to climb. However, on the other side of the little beach, there's another building on a smaller cliff, which you are allowed to climb. From there you will have a fantastic view over El Castillo and the site in general.
Facts
Tulum is located about 50 minutes south of Playa del Carmen. The ruins are north of the town. The highway bends away from the coast here, so the town is actually a few minutes drive from the sea. Tulum's Zona Hotelera, or hotel zone, is reached by turning left at the traffic light before town. Heading to the right are many cenotes, and eventually the ruins of Cobá. The hotel zone leans towards the beach cabaña style, offering everything from simple accommodation options to newer, more costly 'designer' style palapas. The town of Tulum has several restaurants and convenience stores for supplies.
We took a ferry to a bus in order to get there, but it was well worth while. Finally the reason I lugged the Bronica paid off. I can work for many days on the photos. All around the world there is junk. Tee-shirt shops, Junk jewelry, Franchised restaurants, the Gap, etc. but there are still some places worth traveling to- this was one of them.
Like Stonehenge, this place really has an “Other world” feel.
After the tour, we went back to Carmen d playa. I am sorry that we could not spend time there. When we got to Cancun I was even more sorry we could not spend more time in Carmen d Playa. Cancun was a dump, one junk store after another. I know that there was some silver worth buying, but it was an unattractive, poor town filled with people trying to drag you into their store. Ilene got some earrings which were very pretty I’m not sure if they were a bargain. Went back to the ship. Had a late buffet.
Jim had gone with Jerry and the kids to this beach park Jerry found. Jim got Scuba equipment for the boys. Jerry watched the girls a bit, and went snorkeling. It sounded like the boys had fun.
The woman were shopping. They all came back with silver.
I hung out at the pool, Lifted weights with Jim for a few min.
Jim did the Belly Flop contest- he did not win. Had some drinks by the pool, more commemorative glasses.
Got ready for dinner.
Again the wine was flowing. Heidi was getting a little upset with the groupie thing. “ Don’t these girls have parents.” I guess they won the trip, and then one of them won BINGO. I think they made a profit. We spent a little time in the Casino. I was with Jim when he was at the craps table. He was tossing, and yelling, winning and loosing. It was as if he was speaking another world. I asked him how he knew what he was doing. He said “ When you were young and Jerry was taking you out to museums, my father was teaching me to play craps,” We had a table in the basement”.
Lane and Mallory went to kids center. We went to the show first. We saw a Juggler, and a ventriloquist. Very good.

Day 4

This was an at sea day. We woke up, put the towels out to reserve chairs. More confusion, with trying to get groups of people together for Breakfast, work out morning walks. Teddy and his group and Kimmie and her group were on there own cruse. Lane and Malory get along real well and I think they both had fun. At some point the fact that one is a boy and one is a girl will be a factor in them not being so close; but for now its fantastic.
This was a day of hanging out on the boat. Jerry bought bingo tickets for everyone. Ilene was close but no cigar. Lane did actually get up and sing Painted Black for the kids talent show. I am always surprised that he has the guts to do that. I certainly do not push him. I would be terrified. It was really cool that the big kids came to see him. He expected the adults to be there, but teenagers’ making a special trip to see him was a big deal.



There was a lot of “cruse events”. Sexy legs contest, Fake horse races that sort of thing. Can someone please explain to me why Black Sabbath’s Iron Man and Bach’s toccata and fugue in G minor sound the same when played on a steel drum? Every song sounds the same when played by one of those imitation “Island bands”. We logged in dozens of hours of that sound alike music. It is decoration like the little umbrellas in the drinks. The music gives you permission to over drink.

Dinner was not with-out conflict.
Our table of “kids” were situated right next to a table of “Adults” that seemed not to take delight in the laughter of children. This was a cruse that was in large part populated by families. The kids were not quite, but were overwhelmedly well behaved. They also were very brief in the duration spent dinning. How different people deal with conflict tells a lot about who they are. My immediate reaction was to say “Sorry” and send over a bottle of wine (even though I think they were wrong). Jim sort of ignored them while taking some delight in the other table’s unjustified displeasure. Judy went up to make nice with a tinge of sarcasm in her sweetness, when the woman screamed at her for touching her, Heidi wanted to rip the lady’s throat out. In many ways I thing Heidi’s response is healthier than mine.


Last day

WE got up, could not find anyone. Paid the bill which was much higher than I expected, but was accurate. We left the boat, and maid the assumption that since we could not find anyone or their luggage that they must have already gone- I was wrong.
We were in the cab when we got the call from Jimmy, so we changed direction and went to the beach. I figured we could get a hotel to hold our stuff while we went to the beach. I remembered the Yankee Clipper and we showed up there.

Gave the guy a hefty tip to hold our stuff. He was quite pleased, He was even happier when Jim showed up with more luggage and an other tip. In fact he was pleased enough to offer us the run of the pool and beach- an offer we took him up on. Jim bought lunch for twenty people :so I do not feel bad for the hotel. In fact the manager looking at that days books probably was surprised to see such large sales at
the pool bar for a day with few registered guests.
Ellio joined us at the pool and the beach. It really turned out to be a nice day.
It was the perfect thing to do for the few hours we had to spend.

Our cab driver ( I say “Our cab driver”) because he was the one that took us to the hotel, and made advanced arrangements to pick us back up again. We got to the airport. Went to the terminal and waited and waited. I saw Jessie Jackson there. He was also waiting.
We said hello. Ilene asked him what he was doing to get rid of Bush” He said “I TRYING”. Everyone else got to the airport for their flight one hour later than ours but due to weather. ( Our beautiful day turned dark and rainy real quick. We were stuck on the plain for over an hour and a half. That was bad, it would have been much better to be in the terminal.

Well another vacation is complete. All in all I glad I went.

Judy & Jerry Lubell's first Apartment

Our First Apartment


Our first apartment 6250 N Winthrop Ave. in Chicago.

We could not wait to move into our first home as Husband and wife but until our “Deluxe apartment” was ready - we rented a studio apartment.

This Studio was in an apartment hotel , upstairs of Ashcanaz deli. At the time Ashacanaz was a very popular restaurant, in fact it was a sort of Icon in the world of Jewish delis. It was located on Morse avenue in Rogers Park. Morse was a very crowded street; so each night we had to search for a place to park often several streets away, then walk back to the building.
The main thing we remember of our short stay there, was that we could smell the food. We are not talking about an up-scale 5 star gourmet restaurant with the subtle aromas of Sage and Basel. No this was “Real food”, “Old-World food.

We would guess from the smell what was being served--although sometimes it was easy to tell, because we could hear the orders being called to the kitchen- “I need 3 Cabbage soups, one Matzo ball, one order of Fried kippers two tongue sandwiches and a pastrami on Rye" We would be sitting in our studio and all night we would hear people ordering and smell salami omelets, corned beef on rye, cheese blintzes and Chopped Liver.

Its 50 years later, but we still remember those two weeks at the New Morse Hotel

Learning how to drive

"The Hard Way"

I was 12 when I first started to learn to drive. I was too young, and so I could not ask my dad to teach me so I had no choice but to ask Marvin. While it was nice of him to agree to teach me, it also sort of put me at his mercy.

You see because I was not supposed to be driving, how could I complain about any thing that happened.

Of course, a 1946 Plymouth is a stick shift . So learning how to drive also meant learning how to drive a stick shift . I remember the first time behind the wheel. Every time the car jumped, changing gears, Marvin would sock me. That was some way to learn to let out the clutch easier. I would drive down the street and people would say,” Isn’t that Judy driving?” I would come home black and blue, but I could not tell anyone why. That was the part I hated.

Every night I would go for a ride with the family, stop and get Ice-cream at a drive-in. I would fall asleep in the car when we would get home my mother would wake me up to walk home from the garage which was in my dad’s building by the store.