Did you know the Musee du Louvre is one of the biggest art museums in the world? It has more than 35,000 pieces of art on display every day. And, that’s only 10% of the entire collection.
Over 10.2 million visitors come here
every year.
Built originally as a fortress in the
12th century, the Louvre was turned into a royal residence. Then, it
became a permanent art museum after the French Revolution.
It’s busy. I mean really busy. There are some days and times where you don’t even feel like you can see anything Tour groups, school groups, tourists with selfie sticks, people in a hurry…it can be crazy.
If you would like a little less busy,
here are a couple of tips.
Wednesdays and Fridays the Louvre is open until 9:45 pm. Be sure to purchase your tickets ahead of time for these days. They are not available at the door. Or, purchase the Paris Museum Pass. This is a good deal as it gets you into many museums in the city. Or, go several times to the Louvre.
Start your visit about 6:30 pm. The
tour and school groups have gone. Tourists are off to dinner. It’s quieter and
more serene.
Stay away from Mondays. Some other
museums are closed on Mondays, so crowds are larger here.
It’s the night before you leave for France. Do you have these things finished?
If you have a pet, do you have all the paperwork ready for your pet
sitter? These should include a letter for the vet, so they can treat your pet
if necessary. Does the sitter know where the food and water are?
Do you have a house sitter? Do they have a copy of your insurance agent’s
contact information?
Have you backed up all your devices? Your phone, computer, laptop,
tablet…etc.
Are all your batteries charged? Even your spare ones?
Have you printed or downloaded your maps? GPS and phones work great…most
of the time. Printed and downloaded ones are an added benefit.
Do you have enough cash? It’s easy to get some, if you can find an ATM.
If you get it before you go, you don’t have to look for one and you don’t have
to think about foreign transaction fees.
Are you medicines within the expiration date? Do you have a copy of your
prescription?
Are your bags packed?
Can you get a good night’s sleep without worrying everything is ready?
Renting a vacation rental this year? Check out this advice several travelers have to offer.
If
you are looking at VRBO or HomeAway, look for the Premier Partner designation.
On Airbnb, check for the superhost badge. Both are given for outstanding
service.
Read
the reviews…all of them. Pay close attention to the dates and if the owner
responded to something which wasn’t up to par. If the same negative comment
keeps coming up, it’s probably a good sign there is a problem in that area.
If you are planning on doing a lot of cooking, it would be a good idea to pack a quality chef knife in a checked bag. I’ve never had great knives in rentals.
Ask
questions of the owner. Don’t assume anything. I did once. When the amenities
mentioned linens provided, I assumed that meant ALL lines. It didn’t. No sheets
or pillowcases were provided. Just towels!
Introduce
yourself to your host via email or text. Do this in advance. It is always a
good thing.
When
contacting an owner and it takes several days for an answer, this might be a
sign he or she is not a prompt person. That would be a consideration if you
needed to talk to them while staying at their property.
Look
at Google Street View and well as maps. This gives you a good view of busy
streets, railroad tracks, bars, graffiti-filled buildings, and streets filled
with garbage.
In the US we are familiar with 911 as the emergency number to call. Let’s say you are traveling. Any idea what you should do if there is danger in another country?
For instance:
Australia uses 000 and New Zealand uses 111
Canada is 911 as are the US Territories like Puerto Rico,
American Samoa, and the US Virgin Islands
Much of the Caribbean Islands use 911 as well, including
Antigua, Aruba, Bahamas, Bermuda, Bonaire, Belize, Cayman Islands, Dominican
Republic
Jamaica uses 110 and 119
The EU (European Union) has created a universal number of
112
Do you pack the right shoes for walking when you travel? If your travels include cobblestone streets like these in Colmar, France you need good walking shoes.
Cremant means creamy in
French and is the word used to denote sparkling wine made in the “Methode
Champenoise” in any region other than Champagne.
For instance, Cremant
de Loire is in the Loire area. Sparkling wines here are most likely made from
Chenin Blanc or Cabernet Franc grapes.
Cremant de Bourgogne
(Burgundy), Cremant de Jura, and Cremant d’Alsace are other regions. In the
Alsace it might be made from Pinot Gris, Pinot Blanc or even Gewürztraminer.
Did you know some popular prescription and over-the-counter medicines commonly used for things like pain relief, better sleep, allergies, or your common cold are illegal in some countries? That means you need to know what you can and cannot take into a country when traveling.
The
United Arab Emirates and Japan, for example, are among the most restrictive
nations. Many other countries ban or restrict importing narcotics, sedatives,
amphetamines, and other meds you think are common. So…what should you do?
Plan Ahead
Laws vary by country and
there is no central, up-to date repository. One travel consultant suggests asking
your physician, travel medical insurance company, or local pharmacist four to
six weeks before traveling. “When you inquire about your shots, ask about
medications. Odds are they may not know off the top of their head, but they
have the resources to find out.”
She also suggests
checking with the embassy of your destination country. The US State Department website
lists foreign embassies. It also lists insurance providers if you need one for
health care abroad.
Label and Pack Your
Medication Properly
Carry all your medication,
from vitamins and supplements to prescription ones, in their original, clearly
marked containers or packaging. You can put that in a clear plastic bag in your
carry on luggage. Make sure the name on the prescription, the medicine
container and your passport all match. If you lost the product information
insert, ask the pharmacist to print a new one for you.
Also, check the TSA
website for up-to-date rules and regulations on packing and carrying your
medication when you depart. The standard rules for liquid carry-ons don’t apply
to medications in liquid or gel form, but you need to inform them when you pass
through security so they don’t confiscate it.
Obtain and Carry
Necessary Documentation
Keep copies of your
original prescriptions, if you can. Better yet, obtain a letter on
official letterhead from your physician that lists the medicines you need and
why they were prescribed.
Know the Names and
Amounts of Active Ingredients
The documentation you
carry should also indicate the generic and chemical names of the active
ingredients, which determines permissibility, not brand names.
For example, the active
ingredient in Benadryl, diphenhydramine, is banned in Zambia in over-the
counter products. In Japan, it is allowed only if the amount in a tablet or
injection is limited. However, a typical 25 milligram tablet of Tylenol PM in
the United States exceeds the 10 milligram maximum amount in a tablet you can
bring into Japan. Some countries restrict the overall total amount of an active
ingredient an individual traveler can legally import, which may impact longer
stays.
Want to go wine tasting in St. Helena? Want to go somewhere with great wines and a view to match?
Look no further than Smith Madrone Winery. There are several
reasons it’s a favorite of ours.
First…the wines. Since there are slopes that seemingly face
every direction, this means different grapes get the exposure they need.
Eastern exposure for dry Rieslings, southern and western exposure for Cabs, and
cooler north-facing for their Chards.
Their wines are all made from the winery’s dry-farmed estate
vineyards. For those of you into soil…these are mostly deep-red Aiken Stoney
Clay. Volcanic rocks, sandstones, limestones, shale…just to name a few. This
certainly helps in the tastes of these wines.
Then, there’s the views. You’re at and elevation of 1,300 to
2,000 feet on Spring Mountain so you can see a long distance in just about
every direction.
When you visit, take some time to walk around the estate.
See if you can find the 120 year old Picholine Olive Trees. Then, wander into
the barn for some amazing wine tasting. This will be like no other wine tasting
in the Valley.
The people are just as great as their wines and the views.
Stuart Smith and Charles Smith III are down-to-earth guys who know their
business. It doesn’t hurt that Stu was named one of the wine industry’s post
inspirational people in 2018.
Trust me, you won’t be disappointed.
You will understand why we love the wines, the people, and
the experience.
If You Go: Smith Madrone Winery is located at 4022 Spring Mountain Road, St. Helena, California 94574.
Phone 707/963-2283; Fax 707/963-2291 www.smithmadrone.com, info@smithmadrone.com
They are open by appointment only
at 11:00 a.m. or 2:00 p.m. on Monday, Wednesday, Friday, Saturday. There is a
tasting fee.
Recently I read a post on The Points
Guy that bears repeating.
The US Federal Aviation Administration has banned select MacBook Pro laptops from being carried on, or checked into the cargo holds of aircraft. The FAA’s decision follows Apple’s announcement that some of the older MacBook Pro units posed a fire risk.
According to the FAA’s statement, the
agency has alerted major US airlines to the recall, explaining that the
affected laptops should not be allowed to fly as cargo or in passengers’ carry-on
baggage.
The devices in question are some
15-inch MacBook Pros that were sold between September 2015 and February 2017.
Apple originally announced the recall
in June, saying it had “determined that, in a limited number of older
generation 15-inch MacBook Pro units, the battery may overheat and pose a fire
safety risk.”
Affected units can be determined by
the product’s serial number and checked online. To check if your 15-inch
MacBook Pro is part of the recall and has been banned by the FAA, follow these
steps:
1. Click the Apple icon in the top left corner of your
screen and select ‘About This Mac’.
2. Confirm your model is “MacBook Pro (Retina, 15-inch,
Mid 2015)”.
3. If so, go to Apple’s dedicated recall page. Enter your
device’s serial number to see if it’s eligible. If it is, you’ll be offered
several options, such as getting the battery replaced.
According to a notice distributed in
Canada in June, about 432,000 MacBook Pros sold in the US were part of the
recall, and about 26,000 of the affected units were sold in Canada. The number
of the devices part of the recall that were sold in Europe has not been
disclosed.
In addition, four non-US based
airlines introduced bans on these. Included are TUI Group, Thomas Cook, Air
Italy, and Air Transat.
Laptops with replaced batteries will
be allowed on board.
