World of Coca-Cola, Atlanta, GA

If you miss this attraction, you really are missing a bottle of free coke and sampling of Coke around the world. Oh wait, there is a 20$ for admission. Entry to the museum is in batches and every guest receives a small coke tin in the front room. Next is the introduction room that holds 125 years of coke artifacts. This is followed by a 6-minute feel-good video.

From the theater guests enter the main lobby. It showcases several coca-cola bottle sculptures from around the world. At this level, guests have the opportunity to take a picture with the infamous polar bear. 

This museum is also a bottling plant but it produces only 1200 bottles per minute. This is way less than the production plants.

 And more memorabilia.

The fun part is tasting beverages from around the world. Some were great but some were disgusting. If you have the time and wouldn't mind spending money or just want to visit this place out of curiosity, go ahead and visit. But you won't miss much if you decide to skip this museum.

48hrs in New York City with young kids

New York City is on every tourist bucket list. When it comes to places to visit in a limited time frame, can be extremely overwhelming. But the timeframe of my visit and size of the group I was with narrowed down my choices for me. We visited NYC with two young kids and our parents. So anything involving long walks, hikes, public transportation, stairs, and booze is out of my list. I see various posts on Pinterest listing about 10-15 places to cover in 48hrs with kids. I cant imagine how efficient they must be if they were able to visit so many places in 48hrs with young kids.

Day1 Statue Cruises: Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island Statue Cruises is a must-do attraction in NYC.  The cruise tours Ellis Island and Statue of Liberty. Always reserve tickets online and be prepared for extended wait times based on the time and day of the year. Cruise is reasonably priced around 18$ per adult. Kids enjoyed the cruise, views, and snack bar on the cruise ship. This tour kept us busy the whole day.

Day1 Broadway & Times Square: Even though the morning view of NYC is amazing, nothing can top off night time view of NYC. Time Square is one of the busiest streets in NYC and is known for its LED screens. Feel the warmth of Time square's neon screens at night. The best part is munching on roasted nuts on a cold day. No other city is quite as vibrant as the Big Apple at night. Kids loved meeting their favorite Disney character at the Time Square. Be sure to tip them.

Broadway- The best place for theater in the world. If you can add a play or a musical to your itinerary, go for it. Time Square would be a good spot for visiting once. I wouldn't do it more than once since it is crowded, expensive to park and there is nothing more to see. I would spend my time elsewhere next time.

Day2 9/11 Memorial: The 9/11 Memorial is free of cost but the visit to the museum is around 25$ per person. the visit takes around 4 hrs. Admission to the museum is free on Tuesday from 5pm till closing. Reserve tickets online before your visit. Free admission needs ticket reservations too.

Day2 One World Observatory: If you can do one observatory, this has to be it. Located right next to the 9/11 memorial, One world observatory has the best views of NYC.

Standard tickets are around 35$. Do not miss the introduction video at the auditorium. We did the priority reserved at 56$ a ticket, it skips a lot of lines and waits times. The views are amazing even though tickets are pricy.

Art Institute of Chicago, Millennium Park and Grant Park, Chicago, Illinois

No trip to the windy city Chicago is ever complete without a picture with the big shiny bean in the Millennium Park. We chose a Thursday to cover Millennium Park, Grant Park and the Art Institute of Chicago as the Art institute has free entry on Thursdays. Parking is very expensive and any discounts on entry fee is always welcome. 

Art museum has an amazing collections from across the world. It has a wide array of collections and prepare for miles of walking if you are visiting all locations at once.

One World Observatory, New York City, NY

Located right next to 9/11 Memorial, One World Observatory has the best views of New York compared to other sky scrapers. If you want to do one skyscraper during your next visit, this should be the one. Ticket price is steep but the views are absolutely worth it.

Visitors have to go through TSA like security process. Elevator takes you all the way to 102 floor. Introduction video in the auditorium was amazing. It walks you through the construction of Freedom tower and reveals New York sky line at the end.

Views are amazing and the best.

No doubt it is a concrete jungle out there. But, still love the Big Apple.

Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island, New York & New Jersey, USA

New York!!! A trip to New York city is never complete without a visit to Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island. Best time of the year to visit is around late April- early or early September right after schools start. Crowd is comparatively light on a week day. Statue cruises start from either Battery park on the NY side or Liberty state park on the NJ side. Both cruises stop at Ellis Island and Liberty statue. The cruise ships are pretty good with enough seating and refreshments on board. If you wish to get a good picture of Manhattan sky line or Statue of Liberty, head to the top deck of the ship.

Before boarding the cruise, expect a TSA level security check and very long lines. Visitors have three levels of access at Statue of Liberty. Regular access, Pedestal and Crown access. it is always a good idea to reserve tickets from StatueCruises before visiting. Regular access and Pedestal access have almost same prices. I would strongly recommend Pedestal access as it gives a better vantage point, lesser crowds and beautiful pictures.

Pedestal access has elevator access for most of it. Strollers/ wheel chairs are not allowed. How ever, there are a flight of stairs at the start and end of elevator. Views from the top of pedestal are amazing. you would be amazed by the construction of huge granite pedestal. From pedestal starts the Crown access.

Crown access is whole another story.  It is very hard to come across an open reservation to Crown Access. There is no elevator access to the top. Spiral stairs are the only way to reach Crown and boy they look exhausting. Climbing that stairs with two young kids at this point seems like a circus feet. Hence, I am saving it for later date. May be some day in next 10 years !!!!!!Visit to Ellis Island was pleasant. Museum with audio tour and exhibits was a very nice addition to the cruise.

This is why I LOVE Smale park, Cincinnati, Ohio

These photos speak all about Smale Riverfront Park. Carousel, splash pads, river walks, play areas for the entire family, rose garden, picnic areas, slides, rock climbing and lots of photo ops.

We started at carousel ride because my kids love it and one ride is never enough. Then we stopped at "sing the Queen city" mural for a quick photo session and took a long stroll on the suspension bridge.

Next stop splash pad.

And then walked down the stairs to the park.

These play areas are fantastic and they are spread throughout the park. I love the giant piano and the pig and the swings and the rose garden. Oh, I love almost everything about this park. 

Don't miss this park if you are visiting Cincinnati.

Small and cute Rose garden.

I love these picnic benches on train tracks. Do they move? I don't know. But I tried to move them :)

Thanks, Cincinnati. For not being a disappointment. Hope to visit again. 

Topiary Park, Columbus, Ohio

Columbus topiary garden made it to the list of '5 of the world's fascinating topiary gardens'. I remember seeing the original painting by George Seurat during my visit to Chicago Art Museum  and I was really exited to visit this garden. 

After reading a ton of positive reviews online, I decided to visit this garden as it was only a couple of miles detour on our way home. Boy was I disappointed!!! This should probably make into the list of places "not to visit in Columbus"

The concept of topiary garden of a painting is amazing. It was rather entertaining as my kids and I tried to compare original painting with the topiaries in the garden. The park itself is small and is located in the heart of Columbus downtown. Street parking is available and is free during weekends. There is a small trail that goes around the park and few picnic benches. There is not much shade in the park either.

The sad part is lack of maintenance. There is a small pond in the middle of the park and it is outright disgusting. Metal frame that is used to shape the topiaries is exposed. It bothers me to see such a great place completely out of shape. While the park attracts lot of visitors, I think it would be a good idea to charge a couple of dollars as entry fee if that helps with the park's maintenance. I bet no one would like to see such hard work going to waste.

Sunflower Field, Mason, Ohio

Want a beautiful pictures in sunflower field? Well, head to Natorp's Sunflower field in Mason, Ohio. Courtesy of Natorp's nursery, sunflower field is planted in the corner of Snider and Irwin-Simpson road opposite to Cottell park.  Almost every summer, this sunflower field is open to public.

No matter where in the world you go to, it cannot get prettier than this.

Persque Isle State Park, Erie, Pennsylvania

Looking for a weekend getaway in the Midwest? Look no more... Persque isle state park is a perfect destination for weekend fun in the Midwest. We rather stumbled upon this beautiful park during our short stay in Erie PA on our way to Niagara Falls. We had a fun filled afternoon at this state park. I liked walking various trails around the park. Each trail had something different to offer right from beautiful views to marsh lands. Pick a picnic spots through out the park or a beach of your choice to enjoy an afternoon.

We as a family thoroughly enjoyed quite beaches and sunset. Best part was where my kids and I collected smooth stones around the beach. This state park has a lighthouse, Perry's Monument( smaller than the one in Put-in-bay), boat / bike rentals, boat tours, oh yes and a water taxi too!!

Macarons that travelled from France to USA

Every time I fly through Paris airport, I wanted to taste these delectable macarons but taken aback by the price. I couldn't help but wonder if they were really worth the money or was it just another marketing strategy. However,  I received a box of 12 assorted macarons from Fauchon as a gift from my beloved. 

It had assortment of coffee, chocolate, caramel, vanilla- pistachio, raspberry-chocolate, orange-pistachio?? Well, for a box of macarons this expensive, it would be great to see flavor description at the least. I was instructed to refrigerate the macarons before consuming. They looked appetizing and I took my sweet time to savor each bite of this French delicacy. The texture of the macaron was quite familiar and close to Almond Halwa. Outer skin was bit hard to bite and the filling was thick and heavy. Coffee was my favorite and rest of the flavors were good too. Overall, they were OK. Maybe macarons don't travel that well. I have to try them fresh to compare.