A Winter's Visit to Europe

Off to Favorite Places

As many of Roadboy follower's know I frequently enjoy traveling in the off season.  I'm more than happy to wear some wool, put on a hat and warm scarf if that is the price to see the Mona Lisa minus the shoves of summer. It is also a time of amazing bargains everywhere in Europe.

I am lucky to be accompanied by someone who will be experiencing Europe for the first time and that will make the trip even nicer!

First stop is Madrid. Why Madrid? Well, because it is one of Europe's most underrated capitals. Spain's largest city is a treasure trove of spectacular art, architecture and one of the most modern and efficient airports in the Europe.  From Madrid anywhere in Europe is close by and pretty inexpensive to fly to!  It is also a bargain to land in since it tacks on some of the lowest airport fees in Europe. With the current economic woes in Spain (Particularly in Madrid) the city offers pretty amazing hotel and restaurant bargains too. A city that seemingly never sleeps can be a perfect place to overcome jet lag too!

Off season in Madrid is mid-winter and August (when it is abandoned by Madridista's for being just too hot!) Of course, for us Phoenicians, the August temp in Madrid? Not so much!

Jet lag relieved we'll board an Air France flight to Paris. Total advance purchase airfare on Air France from Madrid to Paris? $78! 

Paris in winter can be very cold (mainly December and January), but it is warming up in February and starting to show glimmers of spring in March. During our 5 days in the City of Lights we are planning to hit the traditional Parisian highlights (without the crowds) plus a cold 1 mile walk through  its creepy catacombs.  A day trip to Versailles will be thrown in for good measure.

After a week in Paris we'll board a Eurostar from Paris Nord to St. Pancras station London. Advance purchase tickets on the sleek high speed rail ran $78. Sadly just three days in London, but we have tickets to three West End shows. While NY Broadway shows now run close to $200 a ticket, live theater in London is a screaming deal. 

We've also got sights set on London's wonderful museums (most are also still free!! Which may constitute the last two bargains in one of Europe's most expensive cities). The price of hotels in London have hit epic, but London's amazing public rail network makes some wonderful outlying hotels in West Ealing and East Croydon an option (frequently for $100 USD / night). 

The last leg of the visit will be a quick British Air flight to Barcelona's gleaming new airport (advance purchase $83 from Gatwick). Another nice benefit of staying in East Croydon is the ease of transferring to Gatwick.

Beginning and ending the trip in Spain allows for an easy sunny mid-winter introduction to Europe and a sunny departure back home.  Home to wonderful seafood, culture and the architecture of Antoni Gaudi Barcelona is close enough for a perfect day trip to Spain's first National Park Montserrat.

Stay tuned for photos. 

Roadboy's Travels © 2015

Sold!

The 2015 Arizona Collector Car Auction Roundup

January in Phoenix is usually a magic time. The weather is comfortable and the skies are azure. The snowbirds are back so the roads have become even more hazardous. The golf courses are green and greens fees are approaching interstellar. And our citrus trees are full of oranges and grapefruit.

It is also the time when the big collector car auctions return and when locals pull the sunbrella covers off of their prized rolling stock and go cruising.

The car auctions also just seem to get bigger each year. The volume of exceptional cars filling the tents at the RM, Gooding, Barrett Jackson, Bonham and Russo and Steele auctions was amazing and the prices they fetched prove it.

This year set new records for high dollar car sales. This was another Ferrari year. Of the 42 vehicles selling for more than $1,000,000, sixteen were Ferrari's. Two Ferrari's flirted netted $9.6 and $9.4 M respectively. In fact, these top transactions alone accounted for $101,757,000 in sales

The top sales in order:

RM:
This year RM topped the list in sales of high dollar cars. In fact they sold over $40 M in million dollar plus cars. This year they sold a 64 Ferrari 250 LM by Scaglietti for $9.6 M blowing through last years record sale at $8.8 for a 56 Ferrari GT California LWB at $8.8 M. In fact, RM alone sold over $29 M just in Ferrari's. They rounded out their sales with a bunch of Mercedes Benz 300SL's and a couple of Porsches. All of RM's top sales were European.

Next Came

The Gooding Auction:
The Gooding Auction sold over $27 M in high dollar cars. Of those cars $17.7 M was just Ferrari. They sold a 59 250 GT California Spider for $7.7 M and a 62 400 Superamerica for $4 M. Of the 11 cars that Gooding's sold for over $1 M Only one was American (a 64 Shelby).

Followed by

The Barrett Jackson:
Barrett Jackson netted about $19.9 M in the million dollar club. Unlike RM and Goodings, The top dollar cars at the Barrett Jackson were American. They sold a 66 Shelby Cobra for $5.1 M and re-sold Harley Earl's 1950 GM Futureliner (Bus from the Pratte Collection) for $4,000,000.  Mr Pratte donated the proceeds from the Futureliner sale to charity). Pratte's 54 Sleek Bonneville concept car went for $3.3 M.

Then

Bonhams:
Bonham's had $13,1 in high dollar cars with their top car being a 66 Ferrari 275 GTB which sold for $9.4 M.

And finally

Russo and Steele:
Russo and Steele had only one car in the million dollar club. It was a 57 Mercedes Benz 300 SL Roadster that sold for $1.4 M.


A Day at the Barrett Jackson
For pure theater you can't beat the Barrett Jackson. The shear number of cars they sell coupled with its unsurpassed people watching opportunities make it my favorite. Being Scottsdale, the BJ is always  filled with the usual parade of scary plastic surgery augmented "Barbie meets Vampira" clones walking around in their surgically installed skinny pants. To the uninitiated Scottsdale is kind of where Stepford meets the desert.

Here are some of my snaps,,,

1954 Pontiac Bonneville Motorama Concept

Sold for $3,300,000

1949 Talbot Lago T26 Grand Sport by Franay

Sold for $1,650,000

1935 Duesenberg Dual Cowl Phaeton

Did Not Meet Reserve

I Love Hood Art

This One is A Packard

Here is One is From a 1932 Plymouth 2 Door Coupe

And This One is From a 1926 Franklin

1925 Rolls Royce Springfield Silver Ghost Riviera Town Car

Did Not Meet Reserve

1957 Ford Skyliner Retractable

Sold for $110,000

There were some new cars from Ford and Lincoln on display (which demonstrated how wonderful both lines are getting). And there was also the usual kitsch for sale.  If you ever need and old gas pump, slot machine, neon sign or autographed photo of Sylvester Stallone, you know where to come.

And, as always, despite Arizona's ban on smoking in public places, there is always the pervasive cigar smoke in the air (usually attached to fat guys with gold chains). The cigar smoke masks the smells from the stands selling every conceivable cardiac arrest food ever conceived.  

Gotta love it.

We finished up by watching a few "Thursday" cars go under the gavel. 

For Roadboy's photos from 2010, 2012, 2013 and 2014 (I didn't post for 2011) Click Here:

2014 Event

2013 Event

2012 Event

2010 Event

See you next year in Scottsdale!

Roadboy's Travels © 2015

Je Suis Charlie!

Francois-Marie Arouet - Voltaire

Gunfire employed to silence free expression anywhere, awakens its defenders everywhere. For now, we are all Parisians.

Roadboy's Travels © 2015

*Sculptor: John Antoine Houdon
Los Angeles County Museum of Art

So Cal Holiday Theme Park Nightmares

The Hunger Games

Update

As a result of the serious (Criminal?) overcrowding at Disney we later came to find out that the days we were at the park coincided with a serious outbreak of measles.

And a few weeks after hosting conditions that enabled a health emergency to develop Disney responded by raising daily ticket prices.  I'm old enough to remember "E" tickets, so the current 1 day park hopper ticket price of $139 is breathtaking. I still love the place, but greed is greed.   

 

Southern California's theme parks are beautifully turned out from Thanksgiving to New Years. The decorations and holiday spirit are wonderful. In years past everyone used to comment about how uncrowded Disneyland was on Christmas Day. A couple of years back we spent Thanksgiving at California Adventure (the Thanksgiving dinner at The Vineyard restaurant was delicious). This year we decided to celebrate New Years at Universal Studios and Disneyland.

So did pretty much everyone else in Los Angeles. 

The reality is nowadays Disney sells so many Southern California resident annual passes and multi-day park-hopper tickets that any day surrounding a major holiday (where children are out of school) is guaranteed to be a complete nightmare. And, this year, Universal has most of the upper park closed while they add their new Harry Potter attractions, so it is excruciatingly crowded on holidays as well.

We knew we were in trouble a week or so earlier when reports surfaced of crowds so big at Disneyland on Christmas Day that they had to temporarily close entry portals for safety reasons.

Universal
We arrived at 10:00 am only to find parking garages that were already nearing capacity. Staff got behind shifting cones leaving cars trapped on already full floors. This forced platoons of cars to exit and re-enter garages starting the hunt all over.

At the park entrance the ticket lines were epic. We had a 90 minute wait at the "expedited" wireless ticket booths.

With tix we entered, met our friends and proceeded to the Studio Tour which was posting 85 minute waits.

Everywhere we found total pedestrian gridlock. We quickly realized our day at Universal was a total loss. IMHO Universal had created a potentially dangerous condition. If anything ever incites crowd panic, the rush to escape will result in serious injuries.

Since, our hard won tickets allow us to return throughout 2015, after one ride we left. We went on to have a great day (and big plate of La Korea's delicious Kalbi ribs) at the Farmer's Market.

Fun?! At Universal

Disney

On New Years Day when we arrived at the "Mickey and Friends" parking structure we were among the last guests to park on the roof. 

This is a 3.8 million square foot garage that efficiently parks 10,225 cars on six decks (each deck being 14.5 acres).  In other words each deck is the size of 14 NFL football fields. So, when you arrive, if you get parked on the roof, accept the fact that your day is gonna be screwed.

Once in the park we found cast members engaged in heroic crowd control measures using ropes and directional batons. Fast passes for the day gone before we entered and wait times for all major attraction ran at least 85 minutes.

Since we've been to Disneyland dozens times over the years we enjoy just being there (even if we don't actually get on any rides). So we shopped, watched the holiday parades and enjoyed dinner at California Adventure's Carthay Circle restaurant (using reservations we made weeks in advance). The dinner included priority viewing for the amazing World of Color water show.

Waiting for the World Of Color

If I ever even suggest a visit to a Southern California theme park on any day other than mid-week in the off season....

Just shoot me!

Roadway's Travels © 2015

Roadboy Visits The Reagan Library and Museum

Spectacular Vista's and Air Force One

The National Archives, Office of Presidential Libraries, is charged with managing America's 13 current presidential libraries / museums. 

The creation of presidential libraries began in 1939 when Franklin D. Roosevelt donated land on his Hyde Park estate to house his presidential records. FDR believed that presidential records belonged to the nation, not each individual president. He felt that presidential records must be archived, preserved and made accessible to the public. 

The Presidential Libraries Act of 1955 made the process of presidential library building official, requiring they be built using private funds. The law decreed that upon completion the libraries would be federally maintained.

I've now visited the Eisenhower, Johnson, Lincoln, Bush (W) and Reagan libraries. All, except the Lincoln Library, are part of the National Archive's system.  

Clearly the location, character and size of each presidential library becomes the personal statement of its namesake. Some libraries are located in a president's ancestral hometown (Dwight D. Eisenhower's beloved Abilene Kansas for example). Other's are built in a place that comes to be associated with a specific president (President Clinton is clearly identified with Little Rock, Arkansas). President Reagan's library stands in California on top of a hill.

Much like a portrait captures only what an artist intends for the viewer to see, presidential libraries are not true museums, they are showcases where the carefully packaged legacy of a president is presented.

President Reagan

Ronald Reagan 
Ronald Reagan was larger than life; an iconic and charismatic leader whose legacy is equal parts actor, cowboy and president. He is also a man of many contradictions. 

He overcame humble beginnings with early achievements in sports and theater. A superb athlete, he worked summers in Illinois as a lifeguard and is credited with the rescue of over 70 distressed swimmers. He documenting each rescue by carving a notch in a nearby log.

Despite the depression, he was able to attend college. And, while admitting to only being an average student, he emerged a student leader. The first speech he is credited with was a loud protest of cuts in academic funding and increases in student fees. Ironically, after securing his own education, as governor and president he tirelessly slashed state and federal funding for education.

His love of school plays quickly allowed him to understand how best to exploit his looks and charm. Never lacking confidence, he left college for Hollywood securing dozens of movie roles.

After a couple of decades the number and quality of movie roles being offered to him declined to a point where he decided to embark on a new career in politics. 

Stubborn, yet never lacking in optimism, his innate charisma continued to serve him well. He knew what to say, how to say it, and perhaps most importantly, when to deliver his lines. The famous "Mr Gorbachev Tear Down This Wall!" was, in part, improvisation against the advice of his speech writers. 

He could flash a 30 megawatt smile and use his innate ability to read people to convey to them his sense of what was right. This allowed him to establish special, highly personal, and convincing relationships with the world's leaders of his day.

The courage and humor he displayed after the attempt on his life will stand for all time. 

On a personal note my father was always fond of Ronald Reagan. And, when the chance came to catch a glimpse of him, Dad took it. My mom said they arrived early and staked out a spot with a good view. And, when the president arrived he scanned the audience and, with deliberation, walked directly to my father. He stopped and shook dad's hand. He then turned, smiled, waved and left the room. 

It was like he came to see my dad, every bit as much as my dad came to see him.

Reagan's Oval Office is Accurately Reproduced 

The Reagan Library and Museum
The hilltop site of the Reagan library is blessed with sweeping views in every direction. Its architecture, however, is (at best) average. The building is '80's office park meets warehouse". It completely lacks the charisma and charm of its namesake. And, once inside the tour route is poorly oriented with no natural flow at all.

The library carries a steep (I think) $21 admission price. It is currently the most expensive of all presidential libraries.

I advise visitors to come with clear expectations. As with most presidential libraries / museums, the museum is just a big infomercial chronicling his triumphs: the fall of the Berlin Wall and the Soviet Union, along with his success in nuclear arms reduction. He also takes credit for ending the Iran hostage siege and inflation.

Despite the clear impacts on his career and life, don't expect any mention of his first marriage, his parental shortcomings, his relentless efforts to bust trade unions, or the complete failure of "Trickle Down" economics.

His shameful complicity in Hollywood blacklisting is portrayed with a spin only a soviet propagandist could love. His legacy of explosive modern deficit spending to stimulate the economy (i.e. spending freely on defense, while cutting taxes and pushing debts to future generations), although emulated by most of the presidents that followed him, is ignored. And, if you seek understanding of Iran Contra, good luck. Only the most observant will find a small mention of it in the basement.

Much here becomes obvious only by omission. 

I encourage visitors entering the museum to carefully study the names of donors engraved at the entry. "For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also". Luke 12:34 


Air Force One
The library / museum tour includes the huge new warehouse housing Air Force One - Tail 27000. 

This is the elegant 707 President Reagan used for most of his presidency. It is restored and freshly painted in the original Raymond Loewy livery commissioned by Jacqueline Kennedy.

Tail 27000

Every Inch Gleams

The Loewy Livery

Tail 2700 served from 1973 until it was replaced by two new 747's in 1990. Despite the addition of the 747's, Tail 27000 continued to serve until 2001. This aircraft holds the distinction of flying more presidents, more miles, on more missions, than any aircraft in American history.

Its permanent home, elevated, and afforded a breathtaking (and seemingly endless) view of California's rolling hills, is appropriate and wonderful.

And its View

As an added bonus, while LA's Petersen Auto Museum is being rebuilt, the library is temporarily hosting some very cool cars.

There is a gift shop and cafe (serving decent burgers and sandwiches). 

Bring a camera and, If weather permits, (i.e. not too windy) spend some time exploring the grounds. President Reagan's grave is on the west side of the building.

Wear comfortable shoes since the (totally inadequate) parking lot is frequently full compelling visitors to park down a steep hill.  Flag down a shuttle if you need it!


Roadboy's Travels © 2014

Perfect Vanilla Cream Caramels

Creation of a Holiday Tradition

For me this story began at Jerry's corner market near High Street in Oakland California. Jerry's closed decades ago, but when I was a kid that is where my best friend Paul and I went to buy candy. We went there because they had shelves of penny candy in big jars. There were jars filled with rock candy, jolly ranchers and candy pills on white paper. 

On my trips there, after much careful deliberation, I'd usually wind up with a little white bag filled with wax bottles filled with colored liquid, something chocolate and (always) a sugar daddy, small box of milk duds or a slo-poke. 

On a trip to Canada in my teen years I found Mackintosh's Creamy Toffee bars. Those are the splendid hard toffee bars that without patience will quickly adhere to your teeth and deliver you directly to a dentist's chair.  

As an adult my next true caramel revelation was delivered in a cafe in Palo Alto. The dessert there was a poached pear drizzled with a light homemade caramel sauce. Along with Banana's Foster I realized it was simply the most wonderfully balanced dessert I'd ever eaten.

All of this led me to want to start making caramels myself. And, for the past seventeen years, my daughter and I have made caramels for the holidays. We present them to friends as expression of love. 

In the past few years Ms. M. has taken over the ritual and has experimented with new caramel recipes in a quest for perfection. Although we started with this basic vanilla cream caramel, she now makes caramel sauces, chocolate chip caramels, mocha caramels and cinnamon caramels.

Vanilla Cream Caramels

Every year our little bags of caramels get mailed to friends pretty much all over the world. And, every year we get asked for the recipe. Usually people that ask for it confess that making candy scares them a bit. 

It shouldn't       

Here is the basic recipe we have been adapting from one originally published in Food and Wine magazine back in 1997.

Since each batch takes about 35 minutes of constant stirring we typically double the recipe and make double batches.

Before you get started you will need:

• A heavy 3 quart sauce pan with tall sides

• A quality candy thermometer (we use a Taylor candy thermometer from Grandma)

• A pastry brush and bowl filled with water

• Aluminum foil

• Wax paper

The Tools

For a single batch (64 caramels):

• 1 tablespoon canola oil (or some other flavorless oil)

• 1 ½ cups heavy whipping cream

• 1 cup light corn syrup

• ¾ cup sugar

• 3 tablespoons unsalted butter (softened)

• 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

The Ingredients

Step 1

Line an 8” square baking pan with foil extending the foil over the sides of the pan.  Then thoroughly coat the foil with the canola oil

Step 2

In the saucepan combine the cream, corn syrup and sugar.  

Stir continuously with a long handled wooden spoon over moderate heat for about 5 minutes (until sugar is dissolved). 

Using the pastry brush dipped in warm water, brush down the sides of the pan twice to prevent crystallization.
                                                                                                                         

Step 3

Raise the temperature to Medium High and attach the candy thermometer to the side of the pan. 

Continue cooking the syrup, stirring constantly, until the temperature rises to 250°, about 30 minutes.

Remember....

250° is “Hard Ball” and makes the classic hard glassy finished toffee type of caramel that 4 out of 5 dentists adore. 

We prefer softer, more elegant, caramels and stop at 243°.

Step 4

Add the vanilla and the butter stirring till the butter is all melted. 

Pour the caramel into the foil lined pans.  Let cool on rack for at least 2 hours.

Mocha and Cinnamon Caramels

Cooling Down

Step 5

Use the ends of the foil to lift the caramel from the pan. 

Coat the blade of a large chef knife with canola oil. 

Cut the caramel into 8 strips and cut each strip into 8 pieces. 

Wrap each in wax paper.

Wax Paper for Wrapping

Tips:

Pick a pan with a heavy bottom and high sides. Although professional candy makers swear by stupendously expensive copper kettles, our Calphalon kettles work just fine,

Eliminate sugar crystals using the water and pastry brush.

Be patient and resist the temptation to raise the temp above medium high.  It takes longer, but delivers the best flavor and proper color.

Stir constantly with the wood spoon.

Remove from heat as soon as temp is reached (to stir in vanilla and butter) and pour it into the pan as quick as possible.  

Overstirring at the end makes the caramels grainy.

Make them on days with low humidity.  Perfect for Arizona!

Store in airtight containers at room temperature.

Put in Gift Bags Ready To Go!

Enjoy!

I believe that any recipe that emphasizes sugar, heavy cream, vanilla and butter makes life better. These are, after all, the ingredients we reserve for holidays and special occasions. 

Roadboy's Travels  2014

Roadboy's 2015

Winter In Paris

As 2014 comes to a close it is time to start thinking about 2015. 

I believe 2015 will be a transformative year in travel thanks in part to rapid changes in the airline and hotel industry. To this observer it feels like most of the major airlines and hotel chains are staying up late searching out devious new ways to assure that our loyalty goes unrewarded (i.e. inflating reward levels and adding lots of new little fees).

Maybe it is just that roadwarriors are set in our ways. But it is hard to shake the impression that we are getting less, less and less from our travel dollars. 

I see a collision ahead. 

Many of us in the business community are coming to realize that our more savvy clients are increasingly receptive to us joining them via online meetings in lieu of reimbursing us for costly and time consuming business travel.  Online web chats are certainly reducing the number of business trips I take each year.

Perhaps the decline in business travel, when coupled with the dramatic increasing income disparity in the US, will net a corresponding shift in middle class recreational travel toward road trips and less expensive travel. And I think that may eventually compel a correction in the travel industry. I mean, sure the 1% will still check into a Four Seasons or the Ritz Carlton, but historically cost sensitive destinations (like Las Vegas and Atlantic City), along with modest hotels and mid-level cruise lines may find themselves competing over a shrinking customer base. 

As for me I am planning "50/50" travel in 2015. 

50% of my travel time will be exploring new destinations and 50% revisiting old favorites. 

I plan to begin with a mid-winter visit to Spain, France and England. This is the 50% revisiting old favorites part.

During a mid-winter trip to Paris a few years ago I realized how much I enjoyed the City of Lights under a light dust of snow. That magic powder scares off hordes of tourists. Yet this is when the fountain in the Luxembourg Gardens sparkles with a little ice and trees in the parks show off the precise box cuts they were given last fall. Of course, boulangeries still bake flaky croissants and restaurants are much happier to welcome visitors. The famous museums are all open and wonderfully uncrowded. And, Paris' famed department stores offer their biggest sales of the year. And, while I do not enjoy shopping much, I do find a perverted pleasure observing the world's richest (nouveau riche) and most entitled shoppers (quite literally) fighting over a few discounted Longchamp and Chanel handbags. And, while they "shop", thier army of limo drivers awaits at the curb with motors purring.  

As for me I prefer to see my Paris via a good pair of shoes, a set of "180's" ear muffs and a few layers of wool.

After Paris there will be a quick chunnel trip to enable a few days in London. And, since I love Spain's wonderful airports, the trip will begin in regal Madrid and end in lovely Barcelona (taking the edge off the cold at each end of the trip)!

As for the rest of the year? Well Roadboy is still contemplating a second trip for 2015. Costa Rica is high on my "To Do" list. But there are a dozen other destinations that beckon me as well.

Roadboy's Travels © 2014