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2024 Solar Eclipse
We were fortunate to be able to see the Sun today for the solar eclipse as the weather forecasts weren’t particularly optimistic. Although we were about 250 miles away from the totality zone, we still did see 89% of the Sun obscured by the Moon!
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The Key Bridge and Cherry Blossoms from Fort McHenry
We visited Fort McHenry this morning to see the cherry blossoms as well as to take a look at the remains of the Key Bridge, which was destroyed a few days ago after being hit by a ship.
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Farewell Stumpy the Cherry Blossom Tree
Back in 2019, we noticed a rather unique cherry blossom tree in DC at the Tidal Basin. It was by itself, right on the edge of the water, and looked like it shouldn’t be alive but somehow was. This tree has become known as Stumpy! Unfortunately, 2024 is the last year we’ll ever be able to see Stumpy in bloom as he is going to be removed in order to repair this area of the Tidal Basin.
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BMW, Olympic Park, and Munich’s Old Town
After breakfast at the Le Méridien, we took the U-Bahn to Olympiazentrum. We visited BMW World and the BMW Museum and had lunch nearby. The weather was good so we decided to go to the top of the nearby Olympiaturm. Afterwards, we returned to central Munich to see a bit more of the old town area.
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Munich’s Schloss Nymphenburg and Old Town
After breakfast at the Le Méridien, we visited Schloss Nymphenburg. After spending the morning there, we returned to central Munich for lunch and to explore the old town area a bit more. We visited two historic churches, the Asamkirche and Frauenkirche, and walked around the exterior of the Neues Rathaus.
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Munich Residenz and the Old Town
After arriving in Munich and dropping off our bags at the Le Méridien, we headed over to the Residenz. After walking through the former palace, we had lunch nearby and returned to see the Cuvilliés Theatre. We then took a quick walk through the nearby Hofgarten before visiting the nearby Theatinerkirche. We continued on to see the Marienplatz and adjacent New City Hall. We popped into the nearby St. Peter’s for a quick look before walking around the old town area to end the day.
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Chinese Lunar New Year Weekend in Philadelphia
We headed over to Philly to use a free night certificate at the Kimpton Hotel Monaco, see the Chinese Lunar New Year celebrations, and to eat some good Chinese food that we can’t get at home!
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Kauai Sugarloaf Pineapples #3 and #4
We harvested our third Kauai Sugarloaf Pineapple today and took a closer look at a fourth that we just found a few days ago!
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Taipei New Year’s Eve Fireworks 2023/2024
Happy New Year from Taipei! It’s 2024!
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New Year’s Eve in Taipei
One of the reasons we decided to stay at the Grand Hyatt Taipei was for easy access for the New Year’s fireworks at Taipei 101. After going out for lunch and snacks, we returned to rest a bit before going out to the Taipei Civic Plaza, in front of the hotel, to get a good spot to watch the fireworks. It ended up being surprisingly windy and cold but we did get great spot where we had a clear view of the fireworks and were able to sit without anyone directly in front of us!
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