SIRKECI MANSION ISTANBUL

COMMITMENT TO WHEELCHAIR ACCESS AT TOP 25 IN EUROPE HOTEL

The history of Sirkeci Mansion, goes back almost a half century. The owners, the Boyaci family, have a history of operating business in the Sirkeci district of Istanbul for 3 generations.

The hotel is located at the heart of the old town, in Sirkeci neighborhood which was home to Roman & Ottoman Empires, and still maintains its important role as steward of cultural traditions to this day.

Sirkeci Mansion’s operational policy is based on a theology not of tourism, but of hosting. This hosting project aims for our guests; not only to spend nights in Istanbul but also be a part of the city.
Its 32 rooms, personalized guest services, spa, Neyzade Restaurant, include an accessible room.

It has 2 separate beds, a large roll-in shower and is approx. 20 square metres. All standard rooms have hair dryer, air condition, central heating, mini bar, LCD screen TV, bathrobe, towel, safe, wireless internet, pillow menu, coffee and tea maker and a bottle of water.

The Sirkeci's positive approach to serving wheelchair-using guests is:

“Nobody is disabled but everybody has different ables” ― Nolan Byrnes

http://sirkecimansion.com/

CABILDO

LIVING HISTORY ON JACKSON SQUARE

The Cabildo is a low cost, totally wheelchair-accessible place to spend an hour out of the broiling New Orleans sun.

From the Louisiana State Museum website:

“Located next to St. Louis Cathedral and facing Jackson Square, the Cabildo was built under Spanish rule in 1795-1799 and named after the municipal governing body that was located there.”

“Before the transfer of the building to the state museum in 1908, the Cabildo served as a city hall, a courthouse and a prison. The building was designed by Gilberto Guillemard, who also designed St. Louis Cathedral and the Presbytere but the third story mansard roof with cupola was not added until 1847, replacing the original flat Spanish roof and balustrade. On the second floor is the Sala Capitular, or "Meeting Room", in which much of the official business of the building took place.”

“In 1803, the Cabildo was the site of the Louisiana Purchase transfer, the event that acquired the Louisiana Territory for the United States, doubling its land-area. The Cabildo served as New Orleans City Hall until 1853 when it became the headquarters of the Louisiana State Supreme Court and saw the landmark Slaughterhouse and Plessy vs. Ferguson decisions.”

“When the Marquis de Lafayette visited the Crescent City in 1825, the city allowed him the use of the Sala Capitular as his residence. In the 1870's, the building came under gunfire on three separate occasions, all the product of Reconstruction era politics and racial tension. “

“The building was transferred over to the Louisiana State Museum in 1908 and has served to educate the public about Louisiana history since. Unfortunately, in 1988 the Cabildo was severely damaged by fire. Over the next five years, the landmark was authentically restored using 600-year-old French timber framing technology. It reopened to the public in 1994 with a comprehensive exhibit focusing on Louisiana's early history.”

The Cabildo is located along Jackson Square, adjacent to St. Louis Cathedral at 701 Chartres St.

Admission $6  Phone 504 568 6968  

Tuesday - Sunday 10:00 a.m. - 4:30 p.m. Closed Monday and state holidays.

http://www.crt.state.la.us/louisiana-state-museum/museum-sites/the-cabildo

PALACE CAFE – A GEM ON CANAL

PALACE CAFE –PART2

The first arrival was a loaf of fabulous French bread.

 

Root beer was the beverage of choice – remember, it’s bad to drink alcohol before during a flight – and it goes surprisingly well with classic creole flavors.

 

Our appetizer was met with a bit of suspicion. Crabmeat Cheesecake is it sweet, savory, gimmicky?

 

The answer is no, yes, no. 

 

The signature dish features a pecan crust, wild mushroom sauté and creole meuniere.

 

Rich, yes. 

 

Cloying, not at all.

 

My main was a generous bowl of seafood gumbo, the best I’d had during a week in the Crescent City.

 

My wife Heidi went with barbecued shrimp prepared with Abita Amber BBQ and lemon, rosemary.

 

The large, almost prawn size shrimp were served on toast made of the famed Leidenheimer local bread.

 

We had just ordered a double dark chocolate brownie -- covered with chocolate ganache and served with hot fudge, double cream, and toasted walnuts – when the executive waiter asked us if we had eaten Bananas Foster during our visit.

 

I explained that I’m not a big fan of bananas, so...so we gave into temptation and there we were with our waiter telling us the history of the Brenna’s original -- fresh bananas sautéed tableside in brown sugar and cinnamon, then flambéed with banana liqueur and rum, served over vanilla bean ice cream.

 

I ate my fair share of Bananas Foster and chocolate brownie.

 

Sated, we had the perfect Palace Café experience to salve leaving day with plots for our return to the culinary confections of this Mighty Mississippi River town.

http://www.palacecafe.com

PALACE CAFE – A GEM ON CANAL

PALACE CAFE –PART 1

 

Since the famed original Brennan’s closed more than a year ago, Palace Café may be the best of the many New Orleans restaurants operated by various permutations of the Brennan family.

 

Certainly, it is the grandest space.

 

Housed in the historic Werlein’s music building, Palace Café is one of the most beautiful adaptive reuses of an historic building in America.

 

The dining room is a perfect blend of high ceilings and a preserved grand staircase and modern accessibility.  An elevator serves wheelchair users well in this airy palace of creole dining.

 

Open since 1991, Palace Café has won a ton of major dining awards while witnessing the revival of Canal Street and the renaissance of the Central Business District as a Garden of Eden of new and old style New Orleans cookery.

 

Casual outdoor seating, during the cooler months, provides a front row seat to the restored Canal Street Streetcar line and all the pedestrian activity along the regenerated grand boulevard that borders both the CBD and French Quarter.

 

We stopped in right at 11:30 a.m. lunch opening because we wanted a fine meal in our bellies before we flew back home.

 

The bowtied and jacketed waiter understood our please for expedient service, so we could make to the hotel and taxi to the airport.

 

Nothing felt rushed, underdone, or hurried during our luncheon in front of the floor-to-ceiling windows on Canal.

 

605 CANAL STREET,  504.523.1661  http://www.palacecafe.com

• Lunch
  Monday - Saturday: 11:30 - 2:30
• Dinner
  Nightly, 5:30 - til
• Sunday Brunch
  10:30 - 2:30

NEW ORLEANS MUSEUM OF ART -- Part 3

ROBERT RAUSCHENBERG: FIVE FROM LOUSIANA

I share a birth date with Robert Rauschenberg and I was observing my 50th when we saw an exhibit on him at NOMA in City Park in New Orleans. 

According to a press release on the exhibit of the late Rauschenberg:

In 1977 Rauschenberg participated in the NOMA exhibition Five from Louisiana as one of five Louisiana artists who had gained international prominence. 

The artists included Lynda Benglis, Tina Girouard, Richard Landry, and Keith Sonnier. 

At the time arts advocate Luba Glade praised Five from Louisiana saying, “It answers a loud ‘Yes’ to the ever present question of whether creative people from the land of magnolias, red beans, and gumbo can make it to center stage in the great big art world…”

In Five from Louisiana Rauschenberg exhibited examples from his Hoarfrost series, and debuted a large artwork from his Spread series. 

This is the first time since 1977 that these two series have been shown together at NOMA, along with artworks by the other Louisiana artists from that seminal exhibition.

The image displayed in this blog is especially appealing to me because of the image of the Siamese cat in the center.

For a year now, we have been co-parents to Honey Bear (also known as Miuku) the beautiful and gentle Siamese cat/princess of Little Havana. 

To reach NOMA, phone:

(504) 658-4100

NEW ORLEANS MUSEUM OF ART -- Part 2

EDGAR DEGAS' LITTLE DANCER AGED 14

When we visited NOMA, it was the debut day for Edgar Degas' Little Dancer Aged Fourteen.

The only three-dimensional work exhibited during his lifetime, it will be the highlight of a focus exhibition that runs at the museum till March 1, 2015.

A selection of related works of art by Degas from NOMA's permanent collection will be displayed alongside the Little Dancer, including a pastel, a smaller bronze sculpture, and drawings and prints of one of Degas' favored subjects-the dancer. 

The exhibit was very easy for a wheelchair user to view.  

All displays feature views that are unobstructed for wheelers.

According to a NOMA press release:

Degas modeled Little Dancer Aged Fourteen out of colored wax in 1880, but it wasn't until 1922 when the Little Dancer and the other sculptures found in the artist's studio were cast posthumously by the Hébrard foundry at the request of the artist's nieces and nephew. 

The bronze on view is one of 23 known bronze versions of the Little Dancer, and is in the collection of the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts (VMFA). 

Now considered one of Degas' most important works, his sculpture of Marie van Goethem, a young novice at the Paris Opera Ballet, caused a sensation at the 1881 impressionist exhibition in Paris. 

Originally exhibited like an anthropological specimen under a vitrine, and embellished with a muslin tutu, linen bodice, ballet slippers, and a real hair wig tied with a satin ribbon, this wax sculpture of a novice ballerina or "rat" standing in relaxed fourth position was described by critics as "ugly" and "a threat to society."

The bronze version also feature a fabric tutu and satin ribbon. 

The realistic treatment of her face and the use of unorthodox materials highlighted his desire for naturalism as an artistic standard rather than idealization.

NOMA is at One Collins Diboll Circle, City Park.   Admission is $10.

NEW ORLEANS MUSEUM OF ART

THE GEM OF CITY PARK

New Orleans Museum of Art, founded in 1910 by Isaac Delgado, houses nearly 40,000 art objects encompassing 4,000 years of world art. 

The entrance for wheelchair users is on the right hand side (you can see the rails for the ramp on in the above image.)

Elevators provide access to each floor of art on display.

The wheelchair-accessible street cars on the Canal Street Line marked City Park stop at the grand boulevard leading up to NOMA -- it's the last stop on the line.

It's about a 10 minute walk from the street car stop to the museum.

It's also about a 10 minute walk the other direction -- into Bayou St. John -- to visit the large and historic St. Louis #1 Cemetery.

City Park, with 1,300 acres, is the 6th-largest and 7th-most-visited urban public park in the United States. City Park is approximately 50% larger than New York's Central Park.

Works from the permanent collection, along with continuously changing temporary exhibitions, are on view in the museum’s 46 galleries Fridays from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m.; Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.; and Saturdays and Sundays from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.

The adjacent Sydney and Walda Besthoff Sculpture Garden features work by over 60 artists, including several of the 20th century’s master sculptors. 

 www.noma.org