THE MODEL RAILROAD GARDEN

We recently visited the Chicago Botanic Gardens. It was my birthday, but my husband got the gift because we discovered one of the 37 speciality gardens is the Model Railroad Garden. Being the train fanatic he was like a kid in a candy store.

Set up over a 7,500 square foot area, the Model Railroad Garden showcases 18 different-sized model trains, ranging from toy-size to sophisticated G-scale (garden-scale) model trains. The trains run on 17 different railroad tracks (totally over 1,600 feet of track), over bridges and through tunnels. The train tracks are grouped in several different settings titled Landmarks of America, complete with replicas of dozens of famous buildings or landmarks. Miniature trees, shrubs and people, all intricately made from natural materials, add to the composition and sound effects to complete storybook-like settings.

The famous curves of Lombard Street (complete with a car driving down the hill), a miniature cable car and the iconic San Francisco houses showcase the Santa Fe train speeding by.

Pikes Place Market is Seattle's original farmers market established in 1907. In the photo below miniature town citizens watch as the Santa Fe passes by the market stores. Despite its name, the Santa Fe railway never actually made it to Santa Fe, New Mexico. 

The SS Natchez, the New Orleans paddle wheeler with its pine cone paddle wheel, floats on the Mississippi River as the Amtrak train flies by.

Three houses depict the French Quarter in New Orleans as the Amtrak and Rock Island trains speed behind them. The Rock Island train line was important because it initially connected Chicago with the Mississippi River.

 
An impressive Baltimore and Ohio train travels in front of the White House where Marine One is stationed. The Baltimore and Ohio Railroad was one of the most important railroads in the history of the mid-Atlantic region rivaling the Pennsylvania Railroad.

A replica Lincoln Memorial has both the Baltimore and Ohio and Chicago and Northwestern trains rumbling by it. At its height, the Chicago and Northwestern railroad operated over 12,000 miles of track in seven states.

George Washington's home of Mount Vernon shows the Baltimore and Ohio train passing behind it.

Independence Hall has a miniature Liberty Bell in front of it with the Illinois Gulf Central train in the background. The Illinois Gulf Central train was called the Main Line of Mid-America with its primary route connecting Chicago to New Orleans.

The Statue of Liberty has the same Illinois Gulf Central train in the background.

 











































Mesa Verde National Park complete with the Sun Temple shows a Pennsylvania Railroad freight train steaming by. The Pennsylvania Railroad was the largest railroad by traffic and revenue in the U.S. for the first half of the 20th century, acquiring over 800 other rail lines and companies.

Napa Valley has the  Napa Valley Wine Train traveling past the miniature vineyards. If you plan to visit the Napa Valley area soon, think about booking a multi-course lunch and train ride through the wine country on the vintage-restored Napa Valley Wine Train.

The famous Hollywood sign sits behind the Frank Lloyd Wright-designed, Mayan-revival-architecture Charles Ennis house as the Illinois Gulf Central train speeds by. 

There are several other Frank Lloyd Wright-designed replica houses in the garden such as...

Taliesan West in Scottsdale, Arizona

Fallingwater in Bear Run, Pennsylvania

And his home and studio located in nearby Oak Park, Illinois.

Also in the Hollywood theme is Graumann's Chinese Theatre with the same Illinois Gulf Central train.

With Mount Rushmore in the background, the Pennsylvania Railroad freight train steams by the Mitchell Corn Palace.

A working Cape Cod lighthouse has a miniature iconic VW bus sitting in front of it with the Rock Island train about to cross over another twig bridge.

  











































The Baltimore and Ohio train speeds past Abraham Lincoln's boyhood home in Springfield, Illinois. This photo shows some of the meticulous planning that it took to put this garden together with the railroad tracks crossing each other and two other "twig" bridges.

Another of the "twig" bridges...

U.S. Cellular baseball field...(husband's team)

And of course, the north side baseball team's park complete with the famous rooftop apartment buildings (Go Cubbies!).

The Chicago Botanic Gardens are FREE to enter.
Visitors must pay to park, but military veterans enter FREE.
Many visitors bicycle to the gardens.
Learn more about the beautiful gardens here.

Thank you for visiting,

 A Great Europe Trip Planner 

All photos were taken by me during my visits to the Chicago Botanic Gardens in August, 2015.
Unauthorized use is prohibited.

WATERLOGUE WISTFULNESS

I can't believe it's been nearly 10 years since I visited Paris. But I do remember one of my favorite neighborhoods of Paris we visited was Montmartre. I bought my favorite purse there, and we ate lunch at the most charming Parisian café on Place du Tertre.

Located on charming Place Emile Goudeau, the Bateau Lavoir was made up of small painting studios occupied in the very beginning of the 20th century by some of the most famous French painters such as Juan Gris, Amadeo Modigliani, Henri Matisse, Georges Braque, André Derain, Maurice Utrillo and of course, Pablo Picasso. It is in the building that Picasso painted one of his most famous paintings, Les Demoiseles d'Avignon, considered by art historians as the beginning of his Cubist period.

If you are interested in purchasing variations of this print, please visit my Travels in Watercolor blog by clicking here.

Thank you for visiting,

A Great Europe Trip Planner 

Photo taken by me during my visit to Paris in May, 2006.
Waterlogue image created by me.
Unauthorized use is prohibited.

ABOARD THE CARNIVAL LIBERTY

I've written about the five islands we visited on our recent southern Caribbean cruise on Carnival Liberty, but I haven't yet written about the ship itself.

We sailed on Carnival Liberty for three reasons: First, it sailed out of San Juan. I really wanted to revisit San Juan because I fell in love with the city on our previous cruise (see that blog post here). Second reason was it was a ship we had never sailed on before, and third, it sailed the particular itinerary we wanted, specifically to the islands of Barbados and St. Lucia which we had never visited and had always wanted to.

Compared to the last two ships we sailed on, Carnival Liberty is a smaller ship, though at 952 feet in length and 2,974 passengers, it is no dinghy. It is one of Carnival's Conquest-class ships, and in 2011, the ship went through a major refurbishment as part of Carnival's $500 million Fun Ship 2.0 initiative. 

Before I continue with this post, let me reiterate that we loved our time on Carnival Liberty. However, if this ship was refurbished just 4 years ago, it has gone through a lot of wear and tear since, and Carnival has neglected to maintain a few of the refurbished spaces (pools needing paint, light bulbs needing replacement). That being said, 95% of the ship is beautiful, and we enjoyed the majority of our cruise. Therefore, I'm going to give you a tour of the ship by sharing some of my favorite photos.

Our cabin: We had a standard balcony cabin on Deck 6. We are simple travelers; we don't need a suite. However, I must have a balcony...no compromising there. One of the best features of the room was the mattress. The exclusive "Carnival Comfort Bed" was one of the best mattresses I've slept on: firm without being hard and great cushy pillows.

 



The food: Many other Carnival cruise passengers will agree that a Guy's Burger and fries is one of the best food experiences on a Carnival ship. We agree! 

As far as rating the food and the dining overall on this ship, our eating experiences ranged from pretty good to awful. Most of the food was delicious, and the dining room service got better as the week progressed (the first night's service was simple terrible which left us wondering how it would be the remainder of the cruise). The main issue was temperature of the food. Lukewarm really isn't a good thing, but after so many complaints to our waiter, it got to the point where we just dealt with it. I believe one factor was not enough waitstaff per table.

The decor: Here is where I will give a thumbs up. I really liked the way the ship was decorated.

The wrought-iron chandeliers in the public areas had multi-colored lights which changed color constantly. The different colors showed reflections in the floor.  

The staircase railings were also wrought-iron scroll work. Decorative scroll work was on the tiles lining the atrium walls and the walls of the elevators.

Czar's Palace Casino: A major highlight of our cruise was winning $175 on the slot machines in a period of less than 10 minutes. Needless to say, we left right after that.

The interior bars and lounges:

Casino Bar: I love those multi-colored lighted chandeliers!

Hot and Cool Nightclub:

The Stage Lounge:

The Alchemy Bar:

Piano Man Bar:

Victoria Aft Lounge:

This is where we saw two really good comedy acts. I really loved the chairs they had in this lounge.

Venetian Palace Main Show Lounge: 

with the Venetian carnival masks decorating the tables...

We saw musical song and dance shows here including a darling Towel Animal Theatre, a puppet show featuring talking and singing towel animals. It might have been targeted to children, but this big kid loved it. I still something sing in my head: Towels Just Wanna Have Fun, a parody to Cyndi Lauper's Girls Just Wanna Have Fun.

On the Pool Deck:

Blue Iguana Tequila Bar

Pools, whirlpools and waterslide:

Below also shows the Red Frog Rum Bar from where I got all those delicious strawberry daiquiris!

Lit up at night:

These photos show you that Carnival Liberty really is a beautifully decorated ship, and we had a wonderful time aboard. The few issues experienced with dining room service and food temperature did nothing to deter us from having a wonderful time on our cruise. We can't wait for our next cruise!

Thank you for visiting,

A Great Europe Trip Planner 

All photos were taken by my husband and me during our Carnival cruise in April, 2015.
Unauthorized use is prohibited.