Denver, Saturday, January 25, 2020

Denver 2020

Denver Art Museum Trip

Saturday morning and a day filled with possibilities.  Since our main focus of this trip, the Monet exhibit at the Denver Art Museum was completed, we had this morning to relax a little.  Howie was up an at ‘em at the workout facility this morning early, shaming the rest of us, and then we met at the fourth floor restaurant for breakfast, alas - no room at the inn. We picked up a recommendation for a breakfast/brunch place around the corner from the museum - The Dozens. It turns out we had noted it on Friday, it is right across from our Pints Tavern lunch place of that day.

We called, they don’t take reservation but there were open tables.  We stopped back at our rooms for coats and then walked to the restaurant.  We should have been quicker, by the time we arrived, this little house diner was slammed.  The wait was anywhere from 15 to 30 minutes.  Assessing our chances to find any place else in that time frame, we opted to wait our turn.  Lucky we did.  When we finally got a table after 20 minutes, we were treated to some of the best breakfast food ever.  We each tried a different omelette, one with spinach, two of the namesake Denver variety and one with cheese and sausage.  Excellent, served with hash potatoes and an English muffin.  Coffee was good and hot. Another great food stop in Denver.

Over breakfast we discussed our plan for the day resulting in our returning to the hotel, checking on our packing and negotiating a noon late departure.  We then rested for a bit, returned to the lobby for checkout and left our luggage with the door guys and gals for our return as we had booked a scheduled Lyft driver for our airport run for 3:00 pick up at the hotel.  We then took a free ride from the hotel to the nearby Denver Botanical Garden, a pleasant surprise being that, due to our memberships in Lauritzen Gardens in Omaha, we were allowed free entry! In near perfect weather of 57F, we wandered the grounds, which were surprisingly compact but picturesque in the winter doldrums.  Denver’s higher altitude allows a somewhat milder winter than in Omaha. This is really a high plains/arid climate.  There were wonderful Pondersa Pines, moved from the nearby higher elevations down to the garden and trained in Bonsai configurations.  Some of these trees were near 400 years old, but no taller than 6-10 feet.  We had a discussion with one of the volunteer gardeners who was busy pulling old needles off a pine near the frozen pond in the Japanese garden. We learned a lot about the garden and its winter work. Although there were not a crowd of visitors, there were a good number wandering the grounds and taking in their share of vitamin D.

We left the garden around 2:45 via Lyft and headed back to the hotel to pick up our bags and meet our ride to Stapleton Airport. This Lyft driver was one of the most interesting characters we met during our entire trip. He regaled us with his stories of travel, his time in the Israeli army and his work on placing multi-million dollar art collections in museums around the country.  Left unanswered is why this guy from Israel, who handles $150 million dollar art collections, was driving a Lyft car in Denver, Colorado - one of life’s great mysteries.

 We arrived back at the airport around 3:45 and arranged our check in, luggage drop and security clearance. We then headed for the Pour La France restaurant by our gate.  We enjoyed our last meal in Denver of wine, beer, a pair of cheeseburgers and a pair of Crocque Monsieur sandwiches, all accompanied by fries.

 We finished and headed a short distance to our gate where the flight to Omaha was already boarding.  A large 737 and sold out.  We claimed our seats, leaned back and spent a quick 65 minutes on our return, touching down in chilly Omaha at 7:45.  An hour later we were home, unloading our suitcases, tossing dirty clothes in the hamper and listening to the dog and cat complain about their caretakers while we were away!! Another fun experience that went off with nary a hitch.  Good traveling once again.

Denver Friday, January 24, 2020

Denver 2020

Denver Art Museum Trip

The morning arrived sunshine and bright. The high temperature today was 57, and the weather was almost balmy.  We gathered at 8:30 this morning in the restaurant for breakfast of Bagels, Oatmeal, mixed fruit, Wheat Toast, juice and the all important Coffee. Today is the whole purpose of this jaunt, a viewing of the Monet show - A return to Nature, at the Denver Art Museum.  Our timed tickets were for 10:15 entry, so we presented ourselves at the entrance at 10:00 and used the few minutes to reconnoiter the ever present museum shop.  This one was a notch above the many we have visited over the years.

This show was marvellously presented.  Audio devices were distributed and allowed one to enter a room of the show, choose the number and hear some background of the work on display in that area.  It didn’t give you a detailed explanation of each piece but rather an overall view of the time frame and geographical region Monet was exploring, allowing one to wander the room and concentrate on the art.

Although crowded, the room was quiet and the people respectful of one another.  Monet lived to the ripe old age of 86, dying in 1926. During his entire career he was exploring and recording nature as he saw it.  His constant struggle to present the light he saw onto the canvas was readily apparent.

There were a number of his famous Lily Pad paintings on display. We were all agreed that our visit in 2019 to his home and gardens in Giverney was a highlight of our trips and brought these paintings more to life.  We could see what he was trying to do as it matched with our memories of the area, his home and his gardens.

We spent over two hours wandering the displays, revelling in the beauty Claude Monet presented for us.

As it now was lunchtime, we walked a few blocks to the Pints Tavern for a beer and sandwiches.  This British style pub was opened in 1993 and boasted quite a few house brewed or local brewery beers.  They also had the self-proclaimed “largest number of Scotch Whiskys on order.” Based upon the list presented and the number of bottles on display in the bar area, one could easily agree.  Alas, there were no takers of the available water of life on this trip.  Although a couple of the $1,000 per shot whiskys were intriguing, also a number of the more reasonably priced bottles.

Next we wandered into the nearby Denver Public Library Main branch to tour the Red Chair Bookstore, their used book store located on the first floor. We found a number of intriguing titles and enjoyed visiting with the volunteer on duty. Purchases were made. We then headed to the nearby Civic Center Station and hopped on the Free Mall Bus to journey down 16th street and back towards Union Station.  We turned around and headed back a few blocks to the Tattered Cover Bookstore, a huge new and used bookstore that caught our eye. We spent well over an hour wandering the shelves, seeing new and used titles that we had read, wanted to read and were reading.  Eventually purchases were made and we then hopped back on the Mall Bus for the ride/walk back to our hotel. 

We again gathered at the lobby bar for a cocktail.  As it was crowded with no seats available in the room, we wandered out on to the bar terrace and sat next to the unique fire pit to enjoy our drinks and plot our evening.

We picked a Restaurant in the Larimer Square area near University of Colorado Denver campus  - The Euclid Hall.  This old hall dating from 1883, converted to a restaurant, boasted a 2019 James Beard Foundation “Smart Catch Leader” award for the work of its chefs.This is essentially a beer and brat focussed restaurant, but one with amazing food.  First up was an hors d’oevres called Chip and Dip - comprised of a large center dollop of lemon goat cheese, covered by oolong tea smoked rare duck breast, duck confit, house made fresh cut fried potato chips and a sprinkling of dill. It was delicious and we wiped out the small offering in a flurry of oohs and ahs, For mains, there was a Crispy Chicken Sando - a crispy chicken breast on a sesame bun with celery mayo, iceberg lettuce and bbq sauce with pickles, declared scrumptious.  Also a Brat burger, a smoked beef short rib bratwurst, split, on a bun covered with slaw, 10,000 island dressing and Jarlsberg cheese, again deemed like nothing tasted before and one that would be scarfed down again.

The men opted for a “Sausage Party,” a selection of all four sausages available, the aforementioned Beef Short Rib, a Boudin Blanc, a Lamb Merguez,  and a Pork Cheddarwurst, accompanied by an assortment of four mustards, some pretzel bun rolls and a house assortment of pickles. All were tasty and the mustard added to the treat.  For dessert we shared a S’mores pot de creme and a Pecan Bread Pudding.  Coffee topped ended the meal. This was intriguing adventure in eating, nothing like we had ever tried before, and thoroughly enjoyable. We agreed that we could easily recommend this restaurant to any visitor to Denver as a don’t miss stop.

We left the restaurant and walked to Larimer Square to view the lights and walk along looking at the night life. We eventually made our way back to 16th Street, ordered another Lyft and returned to the hotel to retire after a long art, food, and book filled day in lovely 50 degree weather in the middle of January in the mile-high city.  Next time we will probably be stomping through foot deep snow, but for now, the weather was very acceptable.

Denver, Thursday, January 23, 2020

We arrive at Eppley Airfield, having been picked up by our travel mates, Howie and Lee Needelman for a short hop from chilly, snowy Omaha to colorful Colorado. A quick and uneventful flight in our economy (steerage) seats. Upon arrival at Stapleton Airport, we walk for miles to the baggage claim area. One good thing about the long walk is that, when we arrive at the carousel, our luggage has also arrived.

Next we head to the train stop for our senior price tickets and the train ride into downtown Denver, headed for Union Station. A pleasant but not speedy ride and we disembark. From there we walk a few blocks and pick up the free Mall transit bus to take us a few miles down the 16th Street Mall to the civic Center station. Alighting, we walk the four blocks to our hotel for the stay - The Art Hotel.

This property, adjacent to the Art Museum, near the State Capitol Building and the Library, is smack in the middle of central Denver. The hotel is a smallish (165 room) modern hotel with very acceptable rooms and a restaurant.lobby.bar on the fourth floor. We drop our luggage and head to the bar for an afternoon cocktail and a bite of hors d’oevres.

We decide to go see a movie and land a Lyft ride to the nearby movie theatre, settling in for the movie 1917. We all recommend this Oscar nominated film to any. Truly a mind opening look at World War I.

Next, we walk to the nearby Brown Place Hotel, Denver’s iconic hotel, founded in 1892. It’s stunning lobby and chandelier are amazing. We dine in the Ships Tavern Pub on sandwiches and chips with accompanying wine and beer.

We then head back for the 15 minute walk back to our Hotel and are down for the count by 10:00.