Returning

[Enlarge] The Philadelpia City Hall at night

My trip to Philadelphia is completed and I am writing this from our house in Cueramaro on Sunday. Ramon Vargas is singing his lungs out on his Mexico Lindo CD and I am just cleaning up some stuff on a Sunday at home.

The trip to Philly went well, we accomplished our goals and exceeded our expectations. It is a wonderful thing. We stayed in the center of the city, right across from the City Hall in the Marriott Courtyard Hotel. I took many pictures of the area we were in and tried my hand at some studies for the first time in a long while. The area around the hotel is a mixture of modern and historic buildings. The older buildings reminded me of my trips to Amsterdam and because of the Dutch heritage in the city, it is not surprising. I enjoyed searching for interesting textures as I walked around. Look for them in the Philadelphia entry in the gallery.

[Enlarge] Ludwig’s Garden - A beer lover’s paradise

I found a restaurant near the hotel named, Ludwig’s Garden, which for a beer aficionado is a wonderful place. They specialize in excellent, solid German food and lager beers. Their list includes 25 beers on tap and a number I couldn’t begin to count in bottles. Each one is fully described in the beer list so it isn’t hard to find something you have never tried but think you would enjoy. I think I have tasted much of the list at sometime in my life, but there were many surprises just the same. Luis, who accompanied me on this trip, is also a beer nut so we managed to try a little more by splitting glasses and the house has tasting glasses so you can try a little of their tap beers before buying a glass. They had the excellent Bamberg Rauchbier which surprised me. I haven’t had one in 15 years and it was every bit as rich, smoky and good as I remembered. We will be going back to Philly soon, so we will just have to try to expand my education a little more next trip.

Although I flew to Philly from Morelia, I returned to Leon. Like many of the airports in Mexico, the Leon airport is not really in Leon. It serves the region so it is actually closer to Silao. To get home to Cueramaro, I took a taxi to Silao, a bus to Irapuato and another bus to Cueramaro. Of course, this followed getting up at 3am in Philly to make my 6am flight to Huston and my connecting flight to Leon. The trip was not bad, but I was tired by the time I reached home. I still found myself at a fiesta in Cueramaro, but I didn’t stay too long. I slept about 12 hours last night!

I got to meet Rey’s sister Nina and her daughter Tanya from Matamoros this trip – that was nice. I have met so many nice people here and continue to find it welcoming whenever I get a chance to take in where I have the pleasure of living. I’m smiling now, as this entry brings back many moments.

wp:thumb src=”05-05-15-8.jpg” cap=”Rey’s brother Loli, his sister Nina with her daughter Tanya – May 2005”—> ->