On our recent trip to Frankenmuth, we pretty much ate our way through the weekend. Our first taste of Bavaria took place at downtown’s Zehnder’s, famous for its all-inclusive chicken dinners. Honestly, we were torn between Zehnder’s and its sister restaurant at the Bavarian Inn, but the neon sign outside of Zehnder’s won us over in the end.
Zehnder’s serves lunch and dinner and is open from 11:00 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. daily. Patrons can choose which of several dining rooms they prefer to be seated in. Most of the ones we peeked in looked substantially similar, with white table cloths, a mellow color scheme, and seasonal floral arrangements. I cannot ever imagine needing reservations at this massive restaurant, ever, as the assorted dining rooms can fit a total of 1,500 guests!
Here’s a shot the restaurant’s charming exterior, with aforementioned sign. The other photo shows our dining room of choice. I can’t remember what it was called (they all had names), but I know it was to the left after we entered. We were seated in the center of the room, directly behind the pictured table.
Zehnder’s offers both a traditional menu and a more famous family style option. We breezed right past the schnitzels and fish dishes to order the All-You-Can-Eat chicken dinner for $18.95 per person, adding mixed Bavarian sausages for $2.00 more. Don’t worry, we did have more traditional German food a couple of days later at the Bavarian Inn which offers an almost identical menu. I have to say I liked the chicken dinner better, and Zehnder’s also won out for atmosphere and service.
Our meal kicked off with this rather unusual selection of appetizers. As you can see, we received a light noodle soup, crunch garlic toast, and fresh bread in two different varieties. To accent the breads we were given various spreads, the best of which was the slightly spicy cheese served with the garlic toast. The coleslaw-looking stuff to the middle left never got touched.
After spending some quality time with our breads and spreads, we dug in to the main course. This included fried chicken, dressing, mashed potatoes with gravy, buttered noodles, and green beans. Most of this menu is standard, with the vegetable option I believe changing seasonally. The buttered noodles (homemade) came coated in cracker crumbs and were the best I’ve ever had. Other standouts included the juicy fried chicken and the fluffy mashed potatoes. There was really nothing I didn’t like, with the possible exception of the dressing. This is an all-you-can eat meal, but there was so much food I think we only had seconds of the noodles and possibly the potatoes.
Finally, our meals ended with two small dishes of homemade ice cream. I was expecting hand-packed but soft serve was a nice surprise. The hubby ordered plain vanilla (boring!) and I, as you can see, opted for chocolate and vanilla swirl. This small dessert was a perfectly sweet ending to a perfectly delicious and enjoyable meal!
I think I have accumulated a small but loyal readership over the past couple of months, so I’m curious who I’m talking to. Please humor me by answering my (extremely low-tech) poll below about where you live! If your state/country isn’t listed and you’d like to give me more specific information in the comment section, that would be much appreciated.
Yes, I know Christmas is long past, but consider this tardy post an early entry for next year’s holiday season! Chicago’s Museum of Science and Industry is well-known for its annual holiday celebration – Christmas Around the World. We visited for the first time this year to check out the decorated trees as well as the museum’s newest exhibit, “You! the experience.” The final verdict? I would definitely return for the Christmas display, if not for You!
The Museum of Science and Industry is located about ten minutes from downtown Chicago. We often ride the Southshore Railroad and exit at the museum stop. The museum is also accessible via Metra from downtown. If you drive, there is a nice attached parking garage available. Current museum hours are 9:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. every day except Sunday, when the facility opens at 11:00 a.m.
Standard adult museum admission costs $15.00, which is a substantial increase from a few years ago. Kids are $10.00. The Christmas Around the World display is included with standard admission, but there are always several extra cost experiences. During our recent visit these were The White House: A Look Inside ($5.00), U-505 Submarine optional on-board tour ($8.00), and Omnimax movies Wired to Win, The Human Body, and Mysteries of the Great Lakes. Because of the museum’s large size, we rarely do the extra charge exhibits. I will say that I saw Wired to Win in Louisville and it was fabulous.
The Christmas Around the World display is dominated by a central giant tree flanked by dozens of trees dedicated to countries around the world. We explored the trees in a counter-clockwise pattern. It took about forty-five minutes to see them all, and we didn’t even read every word of the plaques detailing holiday customs in various countries.
Here are a few of the trees. My absolute favorites were Greece (far left) and Japan (far right). I’m not sure how “authentic” any of the trees are in terms of being what would actually be on display at the holidays in the listed countries. They seem more like symbolic representations with iconography specific to these places. In any event, they’re very pretty.
We had a very difficult time finding the tree for Poland, where my people are from. Finally we reached it – it just happened to be the last one we came to! Near the display, there is a little gift store set up where visitors can buy ornaments representative of their heritage.
After we finished admiring the trees, we headed over to check out You! the experience. This newish exhibit is an “interactive” look at the human mind, body, and spirit. Quite frankly, it seems a little redundant to me in that some of these themes are already touched on in the museum’s Genetics display.
The You! gallery, while offering some interesting exhibits, suffers from many of the same problems as most displays of its type – long lines and frequent malfunctions of the interactive experiences. We very much wanted to try a game where visitors can move a ball back and forth with their brain waves, but after waiting fifteen minutes behind a mother and son who had camped out there we gave up and moved on. We attempted to play with a touch screen maze but found the table to be non-responsive to our touching. I did like the simple display pictured to the bottom right which allowed guests to lift the weight gain associated with eating the pictured snacks each day for a year. Not that it had much effect, in that I’m drinking a soda while writing this entry and will probably enjoy a candy bar shortly!
After fighting our way through the crowds at You! we stopped in to experience two of my favorite things at the Museum of Science and Industry – the Brain Food Court and Mold-A-Rama! The museum’s food court is one of the best I’ve seen at this type of facility, offering a wide variety of tasty healthy and not-so-healthy foods. My mom opted for the taco salad, while I had a tasty pretzel bread sandwich. Christmas cookies were also available during our visit.
As for Mold-A-Rama, The Museum of Science and Industry offers several different types. This visit, I made myself a lovely grey wax U-505 submarine to add to my collection.
We had a great day at the Museum of Science and Industry. Although we don’t visit here as often as the Field Museum or Shedd Aquarium, we are going to make an effort to make the trip more frequently. Perhaps we’ll go in March to see Science Storms, the soon-to-be-opened addition to the museum’s collection.
My blogging has been on hiatus for the past month as we enjoyed a fabulous trip to Key West and cruise on the Disney Wonder. However, we’re now back to business as usual, which means the Midwest and great Midwestern things!
Today’s post is about a rather unique museum, the Muhummed Ali Center in Louisville, Kentucky. I’ll admit, I passed this one by on my first trip to Louisville and was dragged there kicking and screaming on our recent visit. Anyone who knows me knows that I am not a sports fan, period, much less a boxing fan, so I fully expected to be bored out of my skull. As it turns out, this facility is as much about history and social commentary as it is about boxing, and fully kept my attention for the duration of our two-plus hour visit.
The Muhummed Ali Center is located in an attractive, modern building in downtown Louisville with a very nice exterior courtyard. Center hours are from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday and from noon to 5:00 p.m. on Sunday. Adults cost $9.00 and children $4.00. Various discounts are available, including $1.00 off for anyone who can show a ticket stub from another Museum Row participant (Louisville Science Center, KentuckyShow!, Glassworks, etc.) Students, even graduate ones like my husband, save $4.00. I hope the museum is making enough money to stay open, as it was virtually empty when we visited at 2:00 p.m. on a Saturday afternoon.
The museum’s exhibits span several floors. If you have limited time, be sure to see the films, as they are very well-done, and the olympic torch display, which is located on one of the lower floors. My full write-up on the museum can be found here. Overall, the Muhummed Ali Center, while perhaps not a Louisville “must-see,” is certainly a pleasant way to spend an afternoon.
Because flash photography was prohibited, I have very few interior photos of the museum. I did snap a shot of the interactive torch film (above), which dramatically details Ali’s lighting of the torch at the 1996 Olympics.
While most of the museum is adult-oriented, there are a few kid-friendly displays including this tile mural created out of hundreds of children’s drawings. There is also an interactive boxing display where kids can put on gloves and try their hands in the ring.
My little sis recently moved to Louisville for work and school. While I miss her, I appreciate that the move adds this fun, funky city to our weekend road trip rotation because it rocks! Louisville is chock full of great food and interesting attractions, so you can expect more than a few blog entries about our past and future journeys there. I’ll kick things off with a quality breakfast joint – a must-do in any city.
Toast on Market is located in Louisville’s trendy downtown area, just blocks from numerous art galleries and museums. The clientele when we were there included couples, families with children, and groups of friends. Most diners seemed to be locals. Like many other shops and eateries in this area, Toast on Market has a “warehouse” feel with exposed brick walls and high ceilings. The decor is relatively low-frills with just a few pop art paintings for color.
We arrived at Toast on Market at around 9:00 a.m. on a Saturday morning and were seated immediately. However, the restaurant really filled up shortly after this, and folks were standing, sitting, and wandering around in the available waiting room. No one seemed to mind, probably because these seemed like regulars and free coffee was available.
Toast on Market has all the breakfast stand-bys at reasonable prices. I ordered two scrambled eggs with cheese, white toast, and hashed brown casserole ($4.75). This was just about the best breakfast ever. The hashed brown casserole had a delicious crumbly coating and the bread tasted homemade. I was definitely a member of the clean plate club!
As usual, my mom wanted something relatively healthy so she ended up with a modified version of my entree – two eggs over hard, a fruit cup, and toast (also $4.75). She, like me, was pleased with her order her order.
The hubby cares little about healthy when we’re on the road. He ordered this gorgeous brioche French toast dish with strawberries and whipped cream ($7.50) and a scrambled egg on the side ($1.50). I’m not a big fan of brioche myself, but he loved this super-sweet dish.
Service was speedy and we completed our meal in about forty-five minutes. Overall, we left Toast on Market happy and our total bill for three, including tip, was right around $25.00. This is not bad at all for brunch in a big city. I would return to this restaurant in a heartbeat for its amazing hash brown casserole, reasonable prices, and friendly neighborhood vibe.
I’ll admit – I was one of the ones kicking and screaming about the recent transition of Chicago’s historic Marshall Field’s on State Street into a Macy’s store. However, I’m pleased to say that Macy’s has kept many of the best features of this downtown institution. The public spaces are still heavily decorated for the holidays, as shown below. Even more importantly, visitors can still enjoy a delicious brunch, lunch, or dinner at the seventh floor Walnut Room.
The Walnut Room is lovely year round, and certainly more peaceful during the spring, summer, and fall. However, it is most known for its massive Christmas trees, each year’s with a different theme. Over the years we have eaten under Pinocchio tree, a Martha Stewart tree, and a Swarovski crystal tree. The tree can be viewed from a platform on the store’s top floor or from most points inside the Walnut Room.
This year’s tree is simple, with primarily silver ornaments. Unlike in past years, the base is bare – no presents – with words projected from above. I think the one nearest to us said “Peace.” Here are a couple of photos:
The dining room itself gets very crowded. We made a last-minute decision to eat dinner here, and were shocked to find there was no wait at 5:30 p.m. on a Friday night. I vividly remember spending several Saturday mornings during my childhood enduring three hour waits with a pager, so I would highly recommend an early weeknight dinner as an alternative to this scene. If you do want to do the brunch, arrive early!
We were quite lucky and ended up sitting at that vacant table right next to the tree in the photo above. It was a great seat, except for the mysteriously unaccompanied kids at the table next to us who kept bumping my mom’s chair. I think they were just overly excited. There is a sugar plum fairy of sorts who comes around and sprays glitter on the kids, and she was causing general hysteria among the little ones.
The food at The Walnut Room is pretty darn delicious. We eat here a couple of times each year and have never had a bad meal, but we definitely have some favorite items which we tend to order.
Mrs. Herring’s Chicken Pot Pie is The Walnut Room’s most famous and longstanding menu item. With good reason – it’s fabulous! The pastry is much more lighter and flakier than one usually finds in a meat pie, making it a fine choice for a nosh in the middle of a shopping marathon.
While there are many tempting salads to choose from at The Walnut Room, my personal favorite menu item is the Peach Nest, pictured above. This dish includes some of the finest chicken salad I’ve ever had, its flavor heightened by the bed of onion straws underneath. It also comes with peaches, grapes, strawberries, and three different types of bread with a dollop of strawberry cream cheese. I love this dish for brunch, lunch, or dinner.
Finally, no trip to this State Street establishment is complete without a piece of its signature dessert, Frango Mint Pie. This is basically a very strongly flavored ice cream pie with a crumbly graham cracker crust. It’s worth the ice cream headache it brings!
The Walnut Room tree went up shortly after Thanksgiving and should remain up until after New Year’s. If you’ve never checked out this Chicago holiday favorite, make some time to pop in and enjoy the tree, the lights, and possibly a delicious meal.
The Indianapolis Children’s Museum has always been amazing, and continues to invent and improve itself. I personally consider this museum to be the biggest “must-see” attraction in our state for both adults and children.
While the museum is worth visiting year-round, it pumps up its offerings during late November and December. This year’s “Jolly Days Winter Wonderland” celebration takes place daily (except for Christmas) between November 27, 2009 through January 10, 2009. Despite having no kids in tow, we bundled up and made the drive to check out this holiday event.
The center piece of the Jolly Days activities is the “Yule Slide,” which is set up right in the middle of the museum atrium. The line was short for the first half-hour after opening but seemed to hold constant at about fifteen minutes thereafter, so encourage your little one to bring his/her patience. Adults can go down too although we felt strange doing it without any kiddos in tow.
From the atrium, we headed into the designated “Jolly Days” area, which is located in one of the special exhibit galleries on the second floor. There are designated play areas for various ages, a tiny pond for “sock-skating,” an ice-fishing exhibit with velcro fish, a play kitchen (above, right) and a “stable” where children can groom fake reindeer. This area is also home to Santa and a queuing area that leads to his home.
While we are definitely “kids at heart,” this area was a bit much even for us. Within an hour of museum opening time it was jam-packed with pushing, shoving, screaming, crying kids battling for space in the too-small exhibits.
Fortunately, we fared better in the rest of the museum. In fact, Jolly Days seems to absorb a lot of crowds, so the remaining areas of the museum were surprisingly empty for a Saturday morning. We started by checking out Dinosphere, which was added to the museum around five years ago. It has an actual working paleontology lab onsite and the scientist on duty was eager to answer our questions and let us touch a T-Rex leg fossil. We also took advantage of the uncrowded craft area to create a couple of textured clay dino-heads.
We also stopped by three other major permanent exhibits: What If…, Take me There: Egypt, and The Power of Children. What If… is one of our old favorite exhibits but, sadly, is currently the part of the museum which could most use a fresh coat of paint. I wouldn’t be surprised if this exhibit is on someone’s list to be gutted, as several aspects of its displays (dinosaurs, Egyptian tomb) are dealt with elsewhere.
Take Me There: Egypt is promoted as the museum’s newest permanent exhibit, although I could swear some variation of it existed during my last visit a few years ago. Be sure to take the “plane” into Egypt to maximize your immersion experience. I think Egypt will be a huge hit with kids, as there are tons of opportunities for active play in model houses and markets. Adults should be sure to catch the very interesting video featuring different Egyptian women and children discussing their views regarding wearing the traditional hijab.
The Power of Children is quite good, but very sad. It follows the lives and stories of three children: Anne Frank, Ruby Bridges, and Ryan White. Proceed with caution if taking young children. I think the content of this gallery is very important, but parents must be prepared to explain concentration camps, AIDS, and racism which may be a lot for a five year old to handle in a single afternoon.
Finally, art lovers should not miss the very interesting Fireworks of Glass featuring artwork by Dale Chiluly. Much of the sculpture is tucked away on the museum’s bottom floor, next to the Lilly Theater.
Overall, while the Indianapolis Children’s Museum’s Jolly Days celebration was not entirely a hit with our group of childless adults, the museum’s regular offerings were more than enough to keep us busy and happy for several hours. If you haven’t been to this awesome museum, or if you haven’t been lately, I highly recommend making the trip.
Although our family loves to try different restaurants when visiting Chicago, it’s nice to have a reliable “go-to” pizza place to pop into after a long day of shopping or touring. We went through a Giordano’s phase before being put off somewhat by the constant hordes of tourists. We also dined regularly for a while at InField’s at the old Marshall Field’s but I think quality has declined since the Macy’s takeover. Fortunately, I think we may have found a new favorite pizza joint in the form of Pizano’s in the Loop.
Atmosphere-wise, Pizano’s is a cleaner-than-average bar. Typical Chicago/sports bar memorabilia lines the walls, and the lights are dim. There are three different places to sit: upstairs restaurant, downstairs restaurant, and upstairs bar. Upstairs is where the action is at, with downstairs having more of a banquet room feel. I see little difference between sitting in the restaurant versus the bar as both have table service and a similar atmosphere.
Every meal at Pizano’s starts off with typical crusty Italian bread and butter. I imagine they would bring olive oil if asked. It sometimes comes out warm and is very tasty.
Pizano’s has pastas, sandwiches, and pizza with some miscellaneous items thrown in. I have ordered the homemade gnocchi on both visits, the first time with pesto and pine nuts and the second with marinara sauce. I prefer the latter type of sauce on gnocchi because the dumplings tend to be so heavy. These are indeed heavy, but tasty. My only gripe is that the $14.00 portion is large enough to serve a family of six. Next time I’m going to try and ask for a half order as I hate to waste food.
There are several different types of pizzas to choose from at Pizano’s, but my family swears by the thin-crust variety. Even this takes thirty minutes to prepare so order right away if you’re starving. The sauce is delicious, but I believe the cheese blend really sets these pies apart from their competitors. Pizza prices range from $11.00 to more than $25.00 depending on size and toppings. Toppings are pretty standard and include pepperoni, sausage, onion, green pepper, and tomatoes.
Finally, this is sort of random, but Pizano’s has some of the best fountain soda I’ve ever tried. It could be because they serve it in huge glasses but I always find myself gulping down gallons when I’m there! Don’t worry - the beer’s good too.
Although the Loop location is most convenient for us, there are actually three Pizano’s locations. Head here to find one that’s convenient for you.
Really, Frankenmuth is one big dose of Christmas spirit. It’s also the subject of many Travel Channel specials and highway billboards, which combined led us to drive four hours each way to enjoy this “World’s Largest Christmas Store.”
Don’t let the title mislead you – there’s a whole lot to do here besides just shop. We watched a film called “The Wally Bronner Story,” admired the holiday decoration displays, had a quiet moment in the Silent Night Memorial Chapel, and enjoyed frosted Christmas cookies and hot chocolate – in October!
Of course, the shopping itself can’t be beat. Bronner’s offers ornaments, nutcrackers, Christmas dishes, holiday greeting cards, collectibles, stockings, advent calendars, snacks, trees, wreaths, and more. I personally got a jump start on my holiday shopping by picking out ornaments for everyone in my family. Many items can be personalized on the spot - and for free - by a Bronner’s artist.
Bronner’s is open year round. From January through May, hours are Monday through Thursday and Saturday, 9:00 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.; Friday, 9:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m., and Sunday, noon to 5:30 p.m. The rest of the year, the facility remains open until 9:00 p.m. every day except Sunday. Bronner’s is closed (perhaps ironically?) on Christmas day as well as on New Year’s Day, Thanksgiving, and Christmas. The exterior light displays are left on until 11:00 p.m., however, so those arriving in town late can still enjoy part of the show.
You can read my full write-up from our visit here. Some of my favorite photos from my trip are below.
OUTSIDE:
INSIDE:
To get a true idea of the size and scope of Bronner’s, you should check out the store map!
Also, if you can’t make the trek to Michigan, many Bronner’s products are available online. We bought a couple more ornaments after we returned home and were happy with the service we received. I do think going to the store makes for a more special experience.
Shedd Aquarium has been hyping its “Reimagined” Oceanarium for years, since before the marine animals were even removed. They’re back now, and I visited Monday for the first time since the reopening to check out the renovated spaces and the new show, Fantasea. I also became a member for the year, something anyone within driving distance should seriously consider. A single membership costs just $80 and includes a guest for each visit. This means the membership pays for itself with the second visit.
Shedd’s exterior looks pretty much the same as always except for some banners and giant inflatable dolphins promoting the “reimagining.” This was my first and only weekday aquarium visit to date (hey, I have to work!) and I was shocked and thrilled by the lack of crowds both indoors and out. Instead of heading straight to the Oceanarium, we started our touring with the Shark Reef and Amazon Rising exhibits. It was incredibly relaxing through these spaces without being surrounded by thousands of our closest friends like we usually are. Weekend or weekday, I think we will follow this reversed touring pattern for all future visits because the Oceanarium is always going to be crowded no matter what.
First, it is worth nothing that the beluga area has doubled in size, or at least the beluga family has. There are now two separate pods of whales to be viewed and enjoyed. We found the pod to the right to be friendlier and more interactive, particularly the oh-so-pregnant Naya, pictured above. She is such a friendly girl, but she looks ready to POP!
We attended the 10:30 a.m. showing of Fantasea. The arena itself has not been changed substantially. It still offers rocky steps for guests to sit on and overlooks Lake Michigan. Once the show starts, though, a screen comes down and blocks all outdoor views. Images are then projected on the screen throughout the show.
Fantasea kicks off with a sea lion performing some antics and progresses into some business about magical sirens and a little girl making a wish to spend a day with sea creatures. My mom and I argued all day about whether or not the girl was a ringer (they try to pretend she is part of the audience). However, I just looked at press materials for the show and they depict the same little girl we saw, so I guess I win that debate.
After the little girl rides to the island in a boat, she gets visits from beluga whales, penguins, and a hawk. There are also human trainers dressed to match each of these creatures. As much as I love the Shedd’s belugas, I’m not sure they are cut out for show business. Whale natural behaviors are rather subtle, and without any jumping or splashing things get a little dull. The penguins, in turn, were absolutely out of control – one of them made a beeline for the crowd and ended up somebody’s lap. I bet it won’t be long before that portion of the show gets retooled to make things safer for both humans and birds. The hawk, at least, behaved himself.
After all the other animals have their turn, the Pacific white-sided dolphins get their turn. They splash and jump, often in unison. These guys are the real star of the show, and I would have enjoyed watching them for longer. The end!
Overall, Fantasea is certainly an improvement from Shedd’s prior dolphin show, at least in terms of theatrics. It actually reminded of some of the presentations I have seen at Sea World. Still, I think there are some kinks to be worked out and I worry that repeat visitors will be bored with a second or third viewing of such a highly choreographed show.
Finally, we ended our tour of the new facility by checking out the new Polar Play Zone on the Oceanarium’s lower level. Gone are the leaky ceilings and dreary water table displays. The space certainly looks much nicer, with clean, brightly painted walls and fresh carpeting.
As to the actual substance, meh. I am a little baffled as to why children need a playground at an aquarium. Isn’t the entire aquarium kid-friendly? The part where parents can dress their kids up as penguins with human heads is particularly odd. I was also disappointed to see that underwater viewing space for the whales and dolphins seemed to be decreased. We never spent much time on this level anyway, though, so I guess I’m just glad that it has been spruced up enough to be of interest to some visitors. There were definitely lots of kids playing when we were there.
