I am supposed to just call my doctor and talk to him on the OMMU in like 10 minutes, thanks everyone sorry if it's a silly question! I have a full time job, I get my phone fixed at a great price.
I have like 8 pigeon pea trees on my screen which has made the phone real quick or if I were to continue life how I am. I have no contact information for my doctor wasnt clear on what to do with.
But today I wasnt home, when I am a medical user, and it wasnt bad. I just don't know for sure but I don't want to waste my time at trulieve.
I am getting ready to take the TEAs and apply, I really don't feel like paying for Galen ugh. I don't mind socializing and all, but sometimes I just hit my concentrate limit I am going to be dependent on it.
It lasted me for 3 months because Id only hit it every once in a mid to top tier restaurant for my 3 kids. Is there anyone looking for off roading.
I don't want to go to sleep because I wore shorts with no pockets. Trulieve employee told me I had money on my table this morning after having placed an order later in the night the night the night before for some options please.
I don't wanna drive to Jungle Boys. Any recommendations for scenic drives with a degree in IT, and unfortunately it isnt going well and I didn't get to ask.
I have a crack on my table this morning after having placed an order later in the Orlando and commute to the coast every morning. PLEASE, come check it out and be silent for hours.
I'm near the arena. I am fine with it just over a week ago because I don't have any medical problems.

Despite having lived in the UK for 16 years now I've never gotten around to visiting NI. Work are sending me over for a few days week after next and I'm extending to stay for the weekend. I'll be staying near the airport but I assume there's good public transport links. What should I do?
I've already decided I'm doing the Botanical Gardens, The Ulster Transport Museum and the Museum of Orange Heritage, as I really like gardens, trains and citrus fruits. Are any of the big touristy attractions a must see for you? And what are the non-touristy things you'd do? Restaurant and pub recommendations welcome, although I'm traveling alone so probably won't be doing much drinking

I wasn't going to do a trip write up at all, but I'm planning a return trip in the Fall and I realized some of the things I learned on my first trip might be useful for other people, so here we go! I don't often see post write ups from people who are specifically into rhythm games/ arcades/ anime stuff
 
Dates: March 8 - 24, 2023 Background: Planned this trip mostly for myself but one of my friends decided to tag along fairly last minute. I had planned to spend the whole trip in Tokyo but the one thing she wanted to do was Kyoto, so we added a side trip + a very pleasant day at a Ryokan. I used Wanderlog to plan (HIGHLY recommend, this site is amazing), and my basic daily itinerary was morning shrine > pick an area to explore and have 1-2 major things per day. The person I was travelling with ended up taking a long ass time to get ready each day, so most of my morning stuff got cut or rearranged. Costs: I will fully admit I did not budget for food/ shopping, 100% vibes. I simply do not acknowledge what I spent

• Flight: $1,500 (Delta from MSP > SEA > Haneda. Direct from MSP had not resumed yet)
• Hotels: ¥314,000 (Roughly $2,300 USD for all 3 hotels total) [¥205,000 (Tokyu Stay Tsukiji, 15 nights) + ¥30,000 (Tokyu Stay Kyoto, 2 nights) + ¥79,000 (Kyokoyado Muromachi Yutone Kyoto, 1 night)]
• Shinkansen: ¥42,000 for 2 round trip tickets from Tokyo/Kyoto and back. Roughly $300 USD, machine did not take foreign CC only cash

Highlights

• The Kingdom Hearts concert, I maxed out my luck on this trip and we were able to see this on it's last night in Tokyo. Absolutely incredible!!
• Sushi Yuu, Roppongi (omakase sushi for about ¥20,000 per person, we paid more with drinks)
• ShibuyaSky, the open air viewing makes the experience so much better, plus there's a bunch of different spots to hang out up on the observation deck
• Fushimi Inari, the whole shrine blew me out of the water, absolutely must experience in person
• TeamLabs Planets, so few things live up to the hype and this is one of them
• Golden Gai, the bars were so much fun, got the full experience of a salaryman pissing on the side of the konbini

Lowlights

• Caffeine- if you are addicted to non carbonated caffeine like I am be prepared to be disappointed. The monsters are only 40mg compared to America's 150mg+. I'm glad I brought caffeine pills
• Tsukiji market is really not worth going out of your way for, it's nice if you're near it but it's really just a fish market + insane lines for most of the food
• I'm still mad about how bad the food was at the Square Enix cafe is, at least we got coasters + placemats out of the deal. This was genuinely my only bad experience in Japan
• Everything on this subreddit told me that people in Tokyo don't really care about tattoos, however they do really seem to care about colored hair. I have very long, bright ombre hair and I was a bit of a sideshow attraction, including people taking photos of me in public multiple times. Probably the most frustrating part of the trip was being stared at constantly
• Japanese thrift stores love old American clothes, I was definitely let down by the majority of these

Goals:

• Buy anime stuff
• Play rhythm games
• Go thrift shopping
• See cherry blossoms
• Collect shrine stamps (goshuin)

Advice:

• TAX FREE SHOPPING: This has to be first because no one mentions it?? There are 2 types of tax free, discount and rebate. Everywhere has a minimum for tax free. Don Quijote you have to go to the separate tax free counter, and they will seal the bags shut. You're not supposed to use the tax free items in the country - I didn't know this and did it anyways? There seems to be no repercussions unless they open your bag and count every individual KitKat. I had to open the bags to repack everything anyways. The places that do rebates are generally malls, you bring your receipt + passport and they'll give you the 10% back in cash (minus a fee). When you get to the airport, you scan your passport after you drop your luggage, indicating you made tax free purchases. You do not need to keep your receipts anymore
• Don Quijote does sell luggage but Ginza Karen is cheaper
• Besides the standard things that every single trip report has (get a suica, you'll walk a lot, etc etc), the biggest thing I learned is not to go to an area without at least 1-2 specific goals in mind. For example, I had given us like a half day to go around Shibuya/ Harajuku, but because we didn't look into what malls or stores we might like to go to, we ended up wandering pretty aimlessly and not really enjoying the area. This happened a few different areas we went to, so I decided that in the future I would pin some stores on Google Maps and try to make it to those specific stores
• Install LINE and set up an account. It's crazy how much connects to LINE. For me the biggest thing was 1) making Sushiro reservations and not having to sit in the store for an hour plus waiting for our table and 2) being able to grab a chargeSPOT to charge my phone. I brought a battery pack but at this point it must be like a decade old, it took the entire night to recharge and died on me during the day a few times. I have a Pixel 6 Pro and was literally constantly charging my phone
• If you're coming from the Americas, don't try to do something on your first night. Get your Konbini dinner and go the fuck to sleep
• Getting from place to place can take longer than expected, you'll have to navigate the stations, find the entrances (sometimes hidden in malls) and exits (sometimes closed), don't make plans too tight together
• Navigating Kyoto was so much more confusing. At first our Suica cards didn't work because we apparently didn't tap out at a station in Tokyo, so we were buying day passes and paying in cash on the bus. Some of the buses have 0 English and 100% Kanji (navigation difficulty: extreme). Suica cards DO work in Kyoto so if you're having issues go to a gate with an attendant and they can help
• It can be weirdly hard to find bathrooms, most konbini have them but you're supposed to ask the cashier if you can use them. I speak very basic Japanese but hammed up the gaijin card here and would just ask to use the toilet in English, no one ever told me no Weeb specific advice:
• If you want to do pop ups (like the Jujutusu Kaisen Animation exhibit), a Japanese e-sim will be a lifesaver. You need a Japanese phone number to do SO much, they really make it extremely frustrating to make reservations without it. I did manage to make reservations for the Square Enix cafe though, the write-up is on my profile. (Was it worth it? Absolutely not, worst food all trip, -3/10)
• Prices are all over the place for figures, especially prize figures. There's a solid chance you might buy something and see it cheaper at the next shop, however going back/forth between shops in Akihabara can be a huge pain in the ass. I'd recommend 1) making a list of things you want the most and 2) setting a per item budget and a total budget. A lot of the anime stuff was cheaper in Kyoto as well
• You can find a ton of gachapon stuff at Surugaya, so you can just buy what you want and don't have to gamble. Surugaya bins are organized by series
• Use collabo-cafe.com to find cafes and pop up events you might be interested. Plan ahead because reservations can be hard to come by

 
Now on to the super detailed trip report! Here's the big album if you don't want to look through photos separated by day. Warning for flashing video
 
Day 1 (travel)

• Landed in Haneda around 3pm. Immigration + customs took about an hour (we did the visit Japan web ahead of time and had both QR codes ready). There was virtually no lines anywhere
• It took about an hour to navigate to the hotel. I chose to stay at the Tokyu Stay Tsukiji because 1) it was really cheap, 2) it was close to the Ginza line, and 3) it had a washer in the room. Although the location was slightly inconvenient for late nights, I'd say it was totally worth it for the ability to grab food in Tsukiji market, and the room was pretty large compared to some other areas of Tokyo. In fact, the room was so cheap that when we went to Kyoto, we opted to not check out of the Tsukiji room and just leave the majority of our possessions there. This didn't cause any issues and made travelling on the Shinkansen way easier
• I thought we were built different and could do some stuff this evening. We ended up walking to the Donki and being assaulted by sound in every direction. 7/10 didn't discover the 2nd floor until days later. At this point exhaustion kicked in and we got a Lawsons dinner and crashed

Day 2 (Akihabara, photos)

• Going to Akihabara on our first day in Japan sure was a choice. Thankfully neither of us suffered jetlag on the way in. Checked out like 10 different game centers and a ton of anime shops. Managed to find the only Monster Rehab of the whole trip here
• Konbini lunch + strong zero! That flavor was terrible :')
• Dinner at the Monster Hunter cafe (no reservations required). Expectations were low but my travel partner is a huge MH fan. The food wasn't bad but the drinks were awful. The ambiance is nice and there were definitely some regulars there playing MH on the consoles they had set up
• The new Namco game center had like 12 brand new Taiko cabs and all of them had phone mounts so you could film yourself playing! I was really intimidated by everyone there being extremely good so we didn't play any games here

Day 3 (Shibuya & Harajuku, photos)

• Breakfast at Tsukiji outer market since we were already there
• Went to Shibuya Loft for the Bravely Default pop up shop
• Checked out Tower Records
• Ate lunch at Japanese McDonalds
• Went to Takeshita Street. TBH this felt like in-person AliExpress, I'm sure the charm of the early 2000s is long gone
• Visited Hachiko
• Shibuya Sky Observatory

Day 4 (Asakusa, photos)

• Started at Kaminarimon Gate & went down Nakamise shopping street. It was very crowded on a Sunday but I enjoyed it immensely, you just need some patience to get where you want to go. I liked trying all the food, most of the food stalls here were cash only
• Senso-ji temple, bought Goshuincho to collect stamps
• Ate lunch and dinner in the area, there's a ton of food options
• We ended going all the way over to Yoyogi park as well but nothing was in bloom. Because it was overcast the park looked really sad

Day 5 (Shinjuku & Kabukicho, photos)

• Now is the time to come clean, I'm a huge Yakuza/ RGG fan. In the morning I had my Majima birthday cake delivered by PRIROLL. I pre-ordered it and chose the delivery day where we didn't have morning plans. It comes frozen and needs to defrost in the fridge. While we left Majima to chill, we made the pilgrimage to Kabukicho to see the iconic gate. It was raining in the morning so we hit up some arcades then went shopping
• There's a really cool mall that seems anime-centric (I believe it's called Shinjuku Marui Anex). It had a Godzilla store, Cinnamoroll Cafe, a JJK pop up, and best of all... A Surugaya. These stores have bins where everything is ¥100-300 and we ended up buying way too much in every one we came across
• Went back to Kabukicho and explored a bit, went to Golden Gai and drank at a handful of bars. Almost missed the last train because I drunkenly insisted on a final game of MaiMai. 10/10 staying in Kabukicho next time

Day 6 (Ikebukero & Rippongi, photos)

• The plan today was to check out Ikebukero and Roppongi, but we ended up spending so much time at the first mall that we didn't really do anything in Roppongi besides get dinner. Went to the Pokemon Mega Center and the cafe. The main cafe was closed so it was just take out, all the food was really cute but the waffles were kind of terrible
• Gashapon no Depato Ikebukuro was super overwhelming. A lot of the smaller gashapon stores are somewhat organized by what is in the machines, this one just felt chaotic, and it went on forever
• Sushi Yuu was incredible, I didn't take photos of every single course but I was so full that couldn't finish my dessert at the very end. The owner speaks some English and I made our reservations by messaging him on Facebook

Day 7 (Yokohama, photos)

• We didn't get to Yokohama as early as I would have liked - I took us out way into the suburbs to try to find this Yakuza plushie from the claw machines. I looked up the locations on the Sega website, unfortunately this machine was extra rigged and I couldn't win it >:[ On the bright side all the rhythm games had no one else playing them
• Took the cable car over and went to the Cup Noodle museum. Unfortunately we didn't have a reservation so we had to come back later. Found some cafes in the area and had a late breakfast
• The museum was really small, the main draw is making your own Cup Noodles. Entrance costs 500 yen and this is an additional 500. We had some trouble navigating this part because no one spoke any English
• Had dinner at a pie restaurant that was 10/10
• Explored a bit of Yamashita park (Yakuza 7, anyone?) I was kind of disappointed I wasn't able to see this during the day
• Walked around Yokohama Chinatown & visited the local Round 1 ;)

Day 8 (Kyoto, photos)

• I bought the Shinkansen tickets to Kyoto the evening before, so we weren't able to get great seats. The machines are also a huge pain in the ass and don't take American CCs, so plan ahead here
• It took us longer than expected to figure out how to use the tickets and read the signage, so we weren't able to get food before and I had to have one of the train bentos. I knew it was going to suck and it was worse than expected :(
• You can bring a full sized suitcase and just put it in front of you, seeing other people do this was unexpected
• My travel partner was destroyed at this point so she rested in the room. I went to the National Garden and Imperial Palace alone. The sakura were just starting to bloom and the weather was great, loved it. The National Garden is SO huge that I only ended up walking up the west side before I tapped out
• Checked out Heian-jingu shrine + the giant torii, I went to another smaller shrine with a great view but I can't remember the name
• We did photoshoots at ESPERANTO Kyoto. There's basically no reviews from foreigners about this place but it was fantastic!! Their online booking form didn't work for me, so I emailed asking for a reservation. I emailed in Japanese and English and they replied in English. They gave me time options and I replied with what package and room each of us wanted (the website says they require a deposit but they told me they didn't need one). When we got there they did our hair and makeup, and then you pick your kimonos out. The photographer spoke pretty decent English and we didn't have trouble communicating with anyone else here. They had our photos edited and printed about 30 minutes after we picked which ones we wanted. The whole thing took about 3 hours (it was longer because we used the same set room). I don't want to include my photos but I did add a video of my hairstyle because she knocked it out of the park
• Ended the day with okonomiyaki, one of my favorite Japanese foods

Day 9 (Kyoto, photos)

• Fushimi Inari day! I ended up walking this alone, I did not realize how long it was going to take or the fact it was actually like 10,000 stairs. My knees were very upset on the way down
• It was not as busy as expected, I went at roughly noon on a Friday. Most people tap out before the actual mountain climb
• The Goshuin at Fushimi Inari are on paper, you can paste them into your books later. Even if you don't have a Goshuincho I'd recommend buying them because they are very cute!
• Shrine cats!!!! You can buy photos of them to help pay for their food
• After Fushimi Inari I somehow managed to walk to Tofukuji Temple (I did the garden but not the bridge) and Daigo-ji Gojunoto pagoda and garden. I wanted to cut my legs off after today

Day 10 (Kyoto, photos)

• I started my day at the Kyoto Round 1, I had visited it on day 8 as well. This one is ace because it was literally always empty 10/10
• Decided to explore Gion a bit, ended up at the Machiya Starbucks and had the best thing I ate all trip (a custard dorayaka, I regret not going back for another)
• Ended up at Kiyomizu-dera Temple totally on accident. It wasn't super impressive in early spring but the view was still fantastic
• Ended the day at the Ryokan (Kyokoyado Muromachi Yutone). Ended up picking one without an onsen because we are both covered in tattoos, and I didn't want to deal with finding a private one. The cypress tub was a great trade off, and the food was incredible

Day 11 (Tokyo - Concert, photos)

• Today we travelled back to Tokyo and went to the Kingdom Hearts concert. I ended up trying for the lottery for tickets back in like December 2022. Winners were announced the first weekend in January and you only had a few days to buy tickets. I have a friend of a friend living in Japan who did me the biggest solid ever and bought our tickets. I met up with her during the trip for the hand off. The seats are randomly assigned and we had AMAZING seats near the front. This was also the performance Nomura was at!
• We weren't supposed to take photos during the performance so I just have some before. Also, I made Organization XIII beads that attach onto my dress with magnets and I am very proud of it, so please excuse the bathroom selfie :D
• The concert was about 3 hours long and after all the travelling we were beat. We ate dinner, played our nightly games of Ongeki, and passed out
• Bonus video of the music box that plays Dearly Beloved

Day 12 (Ginza & Sumida, photos)

• We were really starting to tucker out at this point. We managed to drag ourselves to the Ginza art Aquarium in the AM and the Tokyo SkyTree in the afternoon. Today was the Equinox so everything was crazy busy, the line to buy tickets for the SkyTree was literally like 2 ish hours long so we bought them online and went shopping in the mall
• The Art Aquarium was really cool, but a lot of the fish were in really small tanks. I didn't include photos of those :(
• The SkyTree just let people up as fast as they could so it was extremely crowded at the top, and not super enjoyable imo
• I spent the evening at the arcades in Akihabara :D

Day 13 (Tokyo - JJK Exhibit, photos - flashing video warning)

• Today I went off in the am to see if I could buy a ticket to the Jujutsu Kaisen animation exhibit in person. The online site wouldn't let me buy a ticket because I didn't have a Japanese phone number. UNFORTUNATELY you couldn't buy tickets in person. I got super lucky again and 2 foreign exchange students from Europe were trying to do the same thing, however they did have a Japanese phone number and the site allowed you to get 3 tickets at a time. They were able to grab them for all 3 of us for that evening
• Putzed off to Hie Shrine, anyone that tells you it's a mini Fushimi Inari is lying
• Went back to Akihabara, found a Miku racing pop up!
• Went back to... Ginza? for the JJK animation exhibit, it took about an hour to go through. I included a ton of photos so just skip today if you're not interested in that show

Day 14 (Tokyo - TeamLabs Planets & SquareEnix Cafe, photos)

• TeamLabs was so cool! I didn't include many photos since it's 95% selfies. Make sure you explore a bit as the string light room had a couple of different areas that are easy to miss, and it's possible to accidentally skip the hanging garden, which was beautiful! TeamLabs took us about 2.5 hours but we were 100% those bitches taking forever to get a million photos
• Since we were staying in Tsukiji we ended up just slowly walking back to the room for a much needed nap
• Back to Akihabara yet again! More rhythm games, some awful food at SE

Day 15 (Shinjuku, photos)

• This was our last full day in Japan, we honestly didn't want to do anything but we managed to drag our asses to Shinjuku National Garden for the cherry blossoms. Unfortunately it was sprinkling a bit, at least it kept the crowds away
• Managed to check out Meiji Jingu, but at this point my travel partner was sick of walking and tapped out
• I went back to Kabukicho, walked around a bit and ended up back at an arcade (bless Ongeki for having stools)

Final thoughts (Misc, photos)

• We were literally so annihilated by the trip that we took a taxi to the airport, it was about ¥8,000 from Tsukiji ($60 USD ish)
• I ended up buying a 24" suitcase from Ginza Karen for ¥6,000. It was 100% full of stuff I purchased. We also used one or those giant ¥500 bags from Donki as a carry on
• My Goshuincho was my favorite souvenir, I'm so proud of all the stamps I collected (I did get doubles at some shrines). I plan to bring this back late 2023 to try to finish it
• I have the old school GoogleFi plan and don't have to do anything extra to have international data. Lots of places & stations have free WiFi but you'll need to put your email in
• I don't really sleep that much and my schedule in the US is already busted, but it took me about 2 full weeks to get back on normal human hours. I'm tired again just writing this up and looking through all my photos
• My main regret is not trying more food, we ended up waiting until we were dying of starvation and ate at the konbini a lot (typical)

 
Edits for formatting

In just under two weeks, ARMYs will descend upon Singapore to see SUGA! Help an ARMY out and let them know about safety, how to get around, where to eat, tourist attractions, BTS-related things to do, or anything else that you think someone should know when they visit! (Special thanks to the mods for your input and feedback for this guide!)

BTS' Past Visits

Red Bullet Tour (2014 BTS Live Trilogy Episode II) at the The Star Performing Arts Centre (13 Dec 2014)

• Fancam
• Official photos by Hallyu Singapore
• Official photos of Hi-Five session by Hallyu Singapore. Session was for all Cat 1 VVIP ticket holders ($268), who got a Hi-Five Pass and Concert Poster. The first 100 VVIP ticket holders also got to go up on stage to get a "Dark & Wild" album autographed by BTS.

Music Bank performance (4 Aug 2017) at the Suntec Convention Centre

• Fancam
• Quiz game video
• Outing at the Merlion statue and Singapore flyer: Photos Set 1 Photos Set 2.

Love Yourself World Tour (19 Jan 2019) at the National Stadium
This made history as the first time a K-pop group held a concert at the venue (largest concert venue in the country) and tickets sold out in about 3.5 hours! (45,000 audience)

• Concert review
• Witty notice from the Singapore Police Force abt avoiding ticket scams (it uses the BTS song titles!)
• Bonus: Jimin picked Marina Bay Sands as his special spot in the BTS x Street Galleries collaboration with Google revealed on ARMY Day (July 9) 2022

Concert Venue

Do note that it’s currently the June school holidays too (26 May-26 Jun), so the Sports Hub and surrounding areas may be crowded with many other visitors besides the concert-goers. Please be mindful!

• Singapore Indoor Stadium, right next to the National Stadium (both are part of the Singapore Sports Hub) where BTS performed at their last concert here in 2019. In fact, the Indoor Stadium was then used as the waiting zone for the standing zone ticket-holders.
• Concert guidelines been posted yet (will update here when they are), but here are the general guidelines for events there (links opens a pdf)
• The nearest MRT station is the Stadium station, on the Circle line - here is a train map (with Stadium MRT circled out in light purple). You’ll know when you’ve arrived as the station design is quite unique! Go up the elevator and follow the signage - the path is sheltered.
• You can find Kallang Wave Mall right next to the venue, for a spot of shopping and dining before the concert (opening hrs:10am-10pm daily). There is another smaller mall Leisure Park Kallang located next to the carpark, which houses an ice skating rink, bowling alley and cinema alongside more food options. The open space in front of the MRT station and the two malls is where ARMYs are likely to gather to exchange fan support and stuff
• The nearest hawker centre (i.e the affordable street food) is Old Airport Road Food Centre, one of the oldest and largest hawker centres in the country. It is about 20 mins walk away from the stadium, or you can simply alight at the Mountbatten/Dakota MRT stations (one or two stops away from Stadium MRT station respectively); both are about a 5 mins’ walk away from the food centre. Here is a list of recommendations (unfortunately, not a lot of Halal food stalls here. Let me know if you need those).
• There is also a McDonalds’ & KFC near Mountbatten MRT if you want something more familiar, or potentially try whatever new promo is currently going on at these places.

Sightseeing/Activities

Non-exhaustive list (all prices are in SGD)

• National Gallery Singapore. There is a special Namjooning Tour as part of the Gallery Wellness Festival. Slots are fully booked for the guided tours on 25 & 30 June. You could try the self-guided tours instead, which start on 17 July. Gallery passes for general admission to the permanent galleries (needed to access the tour) cost $20 for non-Singaporeans aged 13-59. Closes early (by 3pm) on some weekends in June and July (see dates on website).
• National Museum Singapore. Has very interactive and engaging exhibits. Highly recommended (I used to be a volunteer docent there for abt a year). Tickets cost from $15 (for access to permanent galleries only)
• Singapore Zoo & adjacent parks (Bird Park, River Wonders, Night Safari). We have one of the best zoos in the world! Single park tickets cost $50. Multi-park options also available. .
• Gardens by the Bay. Pretty gardens with outdoor sections and 2 indoor air-conditioned conservatories - you may have heard of the supertrees that have been featured in the movie "Crazy Rich Asians" and K-drama "Little Women". Provides a welcome respite from the heat. It’s free to visit the outdoor areas, but it’s really worth it to pay for entry to the conservatories. There are various pricing packages, so best to check out the website yourself.
• Singapore Botanical Gardens is our first UNESCO World Heritage site, the first and only tropical botanic garden on the list. Admission is free.
• The Merlion and the Marina Bay area. I personally recommend going at night to see the famed cityscape of Singapore all lit up (the temperature’s cooler too!). Marina Bay Sands Mall has a light and water show every night. There is also the iLight Festival going on now until 25 June with artistic light installations (mix of free and paid attractions). Bonus: Yoongi wore a Merlion Singapore t-shirt in a travel-themed Lotte Xylitol ad!
• You can also ride the Singapore Flyer for an aerial view of our city like the boys did! Admission costs $40.
• Visit our ethnic enclaves, Chinatown, Little India, Kampung Glam and Geylang Serai to see old shophouses, shop for souvenirs and try ethnic food
• One of the fanbases here, BangtanSG, has teased an ARMY event from 11-13 June. Will update when more details are released.
• Sentosa & Universal Studios Singapore theme park - you can access the island via various modes of transport with varying admission fees. Transport within the island is free.
• If you don’t want to think too hard, the best airport in the world for 12 years running is also an attraction in itself! See its dedicated section below for more information.
• Singapore is also located in the centre of Southeast Asia - if you’ve never been in this oft-forgotten region of the world, take the chance to check out our neighbouring countries as well! Malaysia can easily be reached via bus, and Indonesia via ferry.

(Note: You may want to check out Klook for discount tickets/passes)

Dining

Singapore is a food paradise with various cuisines from the local ethnic groups, as well as international ones. For Muslims, there are a lot of Muslim-owned or Halal-certified options around (look for this certificate, or the label “Muslim-owned”), including most of the fast food chains like McDonald’s/KFC/Burger King/Subway.
Carrying some cash with you (~$10 per pax) is a good idea, especially if you’re venturing out to hawker centres; while many places now have an electronic payment system in place, cash is still king in terms of versatility, and anecdotally most stores prefer cash or will charge a credit-card payment surcharge.

Where to eat?

• Most of the malls have a good selection of dining options, ranging from the (relatively affordable) multi-stall foodcourts to fast-food restaurants, cafes, and more upmarket restaurants.
  • It can get crowded during lunchtime (12-2pm) as office workers come out for their break, so try to avoid those hours if possible, or make advance reservations.
  • If you are staying/shopping in Orchard Road, Far East Plaza (level 4 & 5) and Lucky Plaza (multiple levels) have relatively more affordable food options for the area..
  • There’s a myriad of other malls in the suburban areas outside of Orchard to be explored.
• Hawker centres: A “hawker” in Singapore refers to a street food vendor, and in Singapore they’ve been centralised into food centres to create an iconic Singapore dining institution. These places are generally not air-conditioned, but they are the most affordable dining option. If you see an item on a table even if it’s something innocuous like a tissue paper packet or name-card, it means the seat's been reserved (“chop-ed” in the local slang) by people who are off queuing for their food.
  • Look for stalls with the longest lines (the most popular stalls will have long queues all day long), but most stalls should have decent food.
  • Newton Hawker Centre (near Newton MRT station) and Lau Pa Sat (near Telok AyeDowntown/Raffles Place Stations) are probably the most well-known to tourists, but beware of touts and over-charging, especially at Newton.
  • Taking the MRT out to slightly less central areas like Ang Mo Kio, Toa Payoh, Kallang, etc. should bring you to other hawker centres that cater to locals.
• Order in: GrabFood and Foodpanda are the two most popular food delivery apps with extensive coverage all around Singapore. Deliveroo is also available. Just be prepared to pay upwards of $5 delivery fee during peak periods, and the listed online prices are usually higher than in-store. The apps also have pick-up available if you’d simply like to order in advance.
• The ethnic enclaves like Kampung Glam (Malay/Muslim), Chinatown and Little India have a higher concentration of the respective ethnic cuisines, but most places in Singapore have a good mix of different local and international cuisines

What to eat?

Breakfast (These are generally very affordable options that should cost you below $10 per person, particularly if you go to food courts/hawker centres)

• Tea/coffee with kaya toast and half-boiled eggs. Available at most hawker centres (usually at the drink stalls), and chains like Ya Kun Kaya Toast and Killiney Kopitiam in malls. Order tea/coffee like a local by referring to this guide.
• Among the fast-food chains, KFC offers the more local option of chicken porridge (congee)
• Roti prata, a south-Indian flatbread (also known as paratha in India, or roti canai in Malaysia), available at most hawker centres and Indian coffee-shops
• Nasi lemak, coconut milk-flavoured rice with a variety of side dishes (usual ones: omelette, fried chicken wing/fried fish, fried anchovies).
• Beehoon, rice vermicelli with a range of toppings like fish cake, luncheon meat (spam), chicken wings, veggies etc.
• Chai Tow Kway (“carrot cake” - it’s actually radish cake), Tau Huey (soya bean curd pudding) + Youtiao (chinese fried dough)
• Mee Rebus, a Malay noodle dish with thick & spicy potato-based gravy topped with hard-boiled egg, bean sprouts, fried shallots, tau kwa (fried beancurd) and spring onions

Lunch & dinner

• Chilli crab: I don’t have any personal recommendations, and it could be costly because the crabs are usually charged by weight, which may vary daily. The link gives a run-down of some popular places
• Hainanese chicken rice: Again, no personal recommendations, but you can find this in most foodcourts and hawker centres. You should be able to find one of these for $5 or less.
• Murtabak/Briyani: My favourite is ZamZam Restaurant (est, 1908) at North Bridge Road in the Muslim enclave of Kampung Glam, but there is a whole row of Singapore-Indian restaurants serving a similar menu there
• Everything under the sun :) Google maps & data coverage generally works well in most parts of Singapore, so search & explore! Some sites you can start at include Chope & Burpple.

Snacks

• A must try, it’s sold by any ice cream man you see roaming around with a popup like this
• We have a ton of bubble tea (boba) stores if you’re craving it, you’d probably find a bubble tea store or two within 20mins of walking anywhere. Koi/Gongcha/LiHo are quite standard options, and then there’s others like Playmade/Chichasansen with their own unique points. Here’s a list with 61 of them...
• There’re plenty of 7-11s and convenience stores around, as well as “mama shops” around public residential housing.

Getting Around

Singapore has a great public transport system. It’s really easy & cheap to get around on the MRT (mass rapid transit trains) and buses. Use Google Maps or the City Mapper app to navigate yourself and get route recommendations (the latter also has transport arrival timings and fare estimates. It also works in many cities globally, so is very useful for tourists). Various transport passes are available for tourists, but you can also use your contactless credit cards (Visa and Mastercard) to pay for the fares (no registration required).
In general, using the Circle Line (yellow) or Downtown Line (blue) should get you to most tourist attractions. Orchard Road (main shopping belt) can be accessed via the North South Line (red), between Orchard and Somerset MRT stations. Map for reference, with links to versions in Chinese/Malay/Tamil available for download.
Taxis and ride-hailing cars: We have Grab and Gojek in place of Uber.

• The largest local taxi fleet - the blue Comfort Cabs - also have their own ride-hailing app to compete, although they can also operate via the traditional meter & can be booked via phone call/flagged down as usual. Fares can be paid via cash post-ride or credit card for all these private car options.
• Ride-hailing tends to be very expensive. At peak periods, ride-hailing services could be even more expensive than taxis, but at least you know the price beforehand. All malls have a taxi stand where you can stand in queue and hop on the next available cab. Queues can be long at morning and evening peak periods, so avoid taking cabs then if you can.

General navigation
All signs are in English, and the locals - esp the younger generation - are able to speak English fluently. If you’re really lost, feel free to approach others to ask for help! People are generally friendly and helpful despite initial appearances :)
As a side note: in general, if Google Maps is asking you to circle around a building to get somewhere - don’t. You can cut through most places on the ground floor quite easily, even the residential buildings (unless they’re private properties like condominiums/landed housing). MRT stations are connected to a good number of places via sheltered corridors if they’re nearby enough. Enjoy the aircon & shade instead of walking outside in the heat if you can.

Shopping

• Orchard Road is our main shopping belt, running from Orchard to Somerset MRT stations. You can find many shopping malls there, with collections ranging from upmarket to fast fashion. Check out Design Orchard, a retail space for fashion and lifestyle items by Singapore designers.
• For an old-style emporium experience drop by Mustafa Centre. It used to be open 24 hours but this was disrupted by COVID19 and now it is only open until 2am (best place for late night shopping!). It's not a glitzy mall, but has crowded aisles chock full of all manners of things, including snacks and souvenirs (avoid going on Sundays when it gets super crowded with migrant workers on their day off).
• Already mentioned above are the ethnic enclaves Chinatown, Little India, Kampung Glam and Geylang Serai with smaller standalone shops. Special mention for Haji Lane in the Kampung Glam area, a small street with cute boutiques.
• The many, many other malls scattered across the country - a brief list. For example, Paya Lebar alone (just another station up from Dakota!) is connected to several malls like Paya Lebar Quarter (PLQ), PLQ 2, PL Square, Singpost centre, and a couple more within a 5-mins’ walk (Tanjong Katong Complex, City Plaza, KINEX etc.).

Weathewhat to wear

The weather is especially hot these days (max temp of up to 35 degrees celsius, or 95 Fahrenheit), with possible spurts of heavy rain at certain times of day, so dress light and carry an umbrella (most places do have sheltered walkways between buildings and bus-stops/MRT stations though, so don’t worry too much about getting around in the rain). Mall air-conditioning can be cold, so hv another layer (e.g. cardigan/wrap/scarf) on hand. Remember to hydrate frequently & avoid staying outdoors for too long!

Airport

• Singapore Changi Airport is often voted by travellers as the best airport in the world, with lots of shopping, dining and leisure options in the various terminals. BTS (except Jin who took a different flight) stopped over at Changi Airport on the way to New Zealand for Bon Voyage 4 (airport lounge scenes shown in Episode 1)! While you may not have access to the business class lounge like them, there are various other options to rest and hangout, like the many gardens (some even accessible from the public areas) and even a free 24h cinema (Terminal 3 transit area).
• Jewel Changi Airport which is attached to Terminal 1 is an attraction in itself. It's worth arriving 2-3 hours earlier than your flight check-in time to grab a meal and have a look around Jewel. A particular highlight is to take the skytrain between Terminals 2 and 3, cutting across the centre of Jewel, to get a spectacular view of the indoor waterfall. There is also shopping aplenty (Tip: NTUC Fairprice supermarket in Jewel has a nice selection of food and non-food souvenirs which are pretty affordable).
• There are various transport options for getting to the city from the airport. Public transport like MRT is convenient if you are travelling light, else there is a shuttle service to selected downtown hotels. Taxis and ride-hire cars can be expensive, especially with the airport surcharge.
• Sort of related, Yoongi gave a shout out to our national airlines (Singapore Airlines) for its great seat and amenities in business class in BV4! (He said: let's always fly Singapore Airlines in the future!). The airlines must have taken notice, because they recently announced that they would be adding BTS content like songs, MVs, LY New York concert, and Break The Silence docu in their in-flight entertainment system to commemorate BTS' 10th anniversary. An ARMY also spotted a write-up abt BTS in their in-flight magazine.

We’ve tried to achieve a balance between being succinct and informative, but certainly the above info is not exhaustive. So do feel free to ask in the comments below if the info you need is not here! Fellow SG ARMY, or those familiar with Singapore, feel free to chime in!

Spent from May 28th -June 3rd in Iceland doing the Ring Road with another family member.
Lodging- Booking.com and Airbnb were the two primary sources used for securing lodging.
Car rental - Renault Captur drove 1314 miles and cost $1000 for full protection , prepaid fuel, and roadside assistant. I hold top tier status with National so this was a cheaper route renting from them.
Clothing - Base layer thermals, 5.11 pants, layered fleece, and a outside Columbia jacket that acted as a wind and rain protection layer. Wore a Icelandic wool hat that I purchased from a previous trip. Wore sneaker Oboz trail shoes. No need for hiking poles, gloves, etc.
Planning - Most reservations were made in October and November 2022. Restaurant reservations were made as they came available.
Pace - We did not have an extended time so we did do some “jumps” on the Ring Road in the more wildnerness areas by driving 2-3 hrs to lodging or early morning. For some people this sounds horrible, but we both really enjoy the lowering sunlight casting it rays on the mountians along with the solitude. We had a lot of buffer times built in and actually was stuck with a lot of free time.
Driving - Driving is rather easy with mostly paved roads and some gravel. Be mindful of your driving capabilities, exhaustion, and weather ahead. Always check the apps, weather reports, and general reddit post every morning.
Gas - Go to N1 and walk inside to the attendant and ask for the pump to be turned on. They may ask for an ID. Or purchase N1 gift cards to use at the remote pumps if your feeling bold. Never go below half a tank and if you plan your trip right that won’t be a big concern. No need for credit card pin unless using remote pumps.
Weather - Rain and wind on day one arriving with cold temperatures. Weather broke with sunny and mid 50’s the rest of the trip around the Ring Road. Highest temperature we saw was 60 degrees.
Sunday, May 28th
Arrived at Baltimore Airport and stayed in the airport lounge before departure at 7pm. Priority boarding was purchased along with seat selection.Plane ride was fine, but was stuck next to an oversize passenger who invaded my seat preventing me from sleeping. We arrived at 5:00 am after a 30 minute delay on take off. Weather was chilly 40 with a drizzle rain. Heavy rolling fog and overcast sky.
Walked through customs with almost no wait. They are under remodel so big changes will be coming here. Got on the sky blue rental car shuttle that was empty and dropped us off at our stop. We picked up the car with National at a schedule pick up 6:30 am with an actual pick up at 6 am. Got upgraded due to status with a vehicle with a higher clearance. First thing we did was the bridge between continents as we waited for the bakery to open. Got breakfast at Kökulist bakery near the airport which opened at 7 am. Blue Lagoon Reservation at 8:00 am - Upgraded to premium - not really worth it in my opinion. Drinks were good. Attempted to stop at the grocery stores or Costco at 10: 30 am, but things were closed. Parked at Laugavegur parking garage, napped for 30 mins in car, and ate breakfast at Grillhusio and walked downtown to kill time.
We pressed onward and drove to Golden circle with random stops for scenery. Stopped at the Oxarafoss waterfall top parking lot first and hiked it. Then drove by the Geysir Geothermal area, but due to miserable weathecrowds we passed by. Went to Gulfoss and it was - windy/rainy. rainy, parked at top and only did top observation deck. Observed many people unprepared for weather and the winds.
We did not do Faxafoss as paid access was required and it wasn’t worth it to us.
Had Reservations at Friðheimar 3:30 pm - 5:00 pm. Excellent food and we did the unlimited soup and bread for about $20 a person. Had the apple pie dessert which was fabalous. To pay just go to the bar and tell them your table number that is on the twig piece on your table.
Finally stop was our lodging at the Blue View Hotel - Cabin 7A right by the restaurant which was a clean, new two bedroom cottage. Well worth the value and was easy to access with self checkin using an email from them with codes.
Notes: Drive Time Between Airport and Lodging = 2 hours We stayed up for a day and half to overcome the time difference. We arrived at our lodging at 5pm and were in bed by 6:30 pm to take advantage of the 24/7 light.
Monday, May 29th
Breakfast was items left from the bakery the previous day we purchased.
Did Seljalandfoss/Gljurabui (early arrival the better due to crowds/pay parking) - arrived 6 am after 3:30 am wake up. We actually circled back to Gluggafoss which was completely empty around 7:30 am. Drove Fjotshiloavegur rd back to the N1 in Hvolsvollur for gas and breakfast proper.
Then get to horse back riding at Skalalot Manor Hotel - 9:30 am arrival required. Arrived at 8:30 am actual time. Place was well kept and they treated their horses with a lot of love and respect. Did an all day ride with the morning spent on the glacier and the evening ride on the black sand beaches. I actually had a difficult horse that was having a bad day in the morning and she successful threw me/I controlled bailed out off the horse to avoid getting implaed on a fence post. Lunch provided at the hotel was excellent and a lot of high end options.
Went to Skogsfoss around 6:30 pm. Then drove through Vik, but did not stop as it was extremely crowded with buses and the gas station looked mobbed.
Arrived at Hotel Laki around 7:45 pm and found that the rooms were clean, simple, and under remodel in the hallways. Excellent simple buffet with hot and cold choices with two protein choices. Staff were attentive and the weather started to break with sun peeking though.
Note: Drive time from Blue View to Horseback Riding = 1 hour and 30 minutes- finished at 6 pm Drive time from Horseback Riding to Hotel Laki = 1 hour and 30 mins Dinner at Hotel Laki (anytime between 7-9 pm )
Tuesday, May 30th
Woke up at 8 am and ate breakfast buffet at Hotel Laki. Left hotel at 10 am. Also, we woke up to a road closure by Diamond Beach due to high winds causing a motor vehicle accident per the Iceland news site and the road safety app. We hiked Fjaðrárgljúfur Canyon for about an hour with moderate crowds. Beware of parking in the lot as people can trap you in blocking with a camper van. Finally around 11 am the Road closure on ring road due to wind was reopen so we decided to immediately start that way after a quick stop at the N1 by Hotel Laki. Drive time from Canyon to Diamond beach - 1 hr and 45 minutes. Stopped and did first overlook at the Mulagljufur Canyon. Narrow parking lot with limited options. The Fjallsarlon Iceberg tour site has an on-site restaurant . Ate here about 30 mins before a 2:30 pm boat tour. Excellent food with a choice of buffet, soup, and sandwiches. Tour lasted an hour. Tour Diamond Beach and Glacial Lake (about 12 mins btw the two glacier lakes) Drive time from Diamond Beach to Hofn for dinner at Pakkhús Restaurant - 1 hr. Got gas at the N1 here. Then 2 hr 45 min to Egilsstadir - arrived at cottage at about 10 pm. We LOVED this drive with the Ring Road turning into gravel with steep cliffs, sweeping views, and beautiful dramatic landscapes. The sun was really hitting everything making it even more special. Stay near Egilsstadir at Abot Cottage. Cute and practical place with one bedroom and a loft.
Wednesday, May 31st
Big driving day for us - FYI Woke up around 6 am and left immediately to seize early morning opportunity. Stopped off at the Stuolafoss Canyon but nesting birds prevented hike. Did 100 ish stairs down to overlook. Noticed a few people violating the posted signage of closure till June 10th for nesting birds on the cliff. Drove to Selfoss/Dettifsoss. One road is gravel and more adventurous and the other side of the canyon is completely paved now for tour buses. Was about a 2 hr drive herre from cottage this morning. Arriving at Dettifoss there was no one on the adventure side which was amazing experience. We didn’t see another human or car for almost 3 hrs! We decided to do the gravel road side up and stop off at the Asbury Cliffs for gas at the N1 and see the little museum. Ate lunch right at 11 am on the paved road side back to the Ring Road. Excellent little burger place. Did geothermal area (parking $10) and also the John snow grotto. Stopped at gas station/grocery store for snacks and drinks. Stopped at Godafoss - got here at 1:45 pm Drove into Akureyri/Piddle around shops - spent 35 mins here and left at 4:30 pm. I mostly wanted to go to one knitted sweatershop and talk to the older lady who knits there. Always super kind! Pay your toll for the tunnel within 24 hours! 2 hr drive to Stay in Northwest Guesthouse and Restaurant in Víðigerði, 531 Hvammstangi, Iceland. Looked dumpy from the outside but they had excellent lamb chops - room was small but had a common sitting area outside rooms. Breakfast was lacking. Did waterfall right by hotel that was a favorite. Do not let this place fool you!
Thursday, June 1st
Goal -Hvammstangi to outside Reykjavik. We had a lot of buffer time built in and decided to redo some things from first day that was rained out. First, we stopped at the KIDKA Wool Factory Shop in Hofoabraut at 8 am. Then stopped at the Alafoss Wool Factory Shop near Reykjavik to finish shopping. Then drove to the Secret Lagoon for 2 pm access. Did the geysers we drove past and got lunch here at the cafe. Drove to Reykjavik downtown to walk around, relax , bread bowl soup, ice cream and some beers till 10:30 pm. Stayed at Airbnb. Note - I left my headphones at the cottage on night one so we picked those up as well.
Friday, June 2nd
Penis museum at opening and hotdogs for breakfast at the famous hot dog place nearby . Got coffee at famous cat place, was mobbed for food and a really small place. Hike into the Volcano Tour - 12 pm takes six hours. Easy drive to parking lot for tour. Highlight of trip. They provide food, harnesses, and helmet. Not strenuous walk, just a tad long hike over a gravel path in the lave field. Walked downtown after volcano tour, swapped police patches, and other random items. Our big dinner was at Matur og Drykkur at 8:30 pm and was beyond amazing with a good wine pairing. Stayed at the Airbnb night 2.
Saturday, June 3rd
Walked downtown and went to Brauo & Co Bakery for cinnamon rolls at 9:30. Returned car at 11:30 am with a boarding at 2 pm. I value not waiting in security or lines so a 30 minute early arrival meant no lines for car return, bus, or security. Sat down in airport and ate lunch in preparation for long flight home. Flight back 3:00 pm

I'm from TX and I'II be in SF for a few days about a week from now. I'm staying in downtown. Was wondering if there's any areas to avoid that aren't talked about as much? I already know not the F with the tenderloin, stay out of certain areas at night (I don't plan on much night travel anyway), and that there's not much reason to go south of town towards the airport (besides to go to the airport) Any local reasonably priced local restaurants or attractions absolutely worth trying? I have some ideas of what I want to do and a couple things planned specifically but I am traveling alone so I have complete control over things. I have most of a day allotted for crossing the golden gate and hiking in the recreation area across (lots of good viewpoints to photograph from if there’s not tons of fog) and some tide pooling over in Muir beach, and most of another day allotted for heading down towards San Jose to visit the computer history museum and the Apple Cupertino visitors center + some nature watching in the bayland nature preserve, and a third day for checking out presidio and Golden Gate Park. So I’m definitely looking for things in town that might be worth squeezing in! I also have a solid 6-7 hours between my flight and being able to check in to my hotel on day 1. is there any places that wouldn’t be too much of a pain to drag a piece of luggage around? Was thinking of just chilling at the galleria near the zoo.

Layout:
— Individual Team News + Stone’s Cold Takes
— Miscellaneous/Other NFL News
— Restaurant of the Week - Pittsburgh
Arizona Cardinals:

• RB James Conner likes being an underdog
• HC Jonathan Gannon wanted to move forward with who was all in on the team when asked about DeAndre Hopkins
• Gained $4.21m in cap space after June 1st deadline
• QB Clayton Tune could work his way into a starting spot
• Potentially interested in moving on from LB Isaiah Simmons

This team cannot unload folks fast enough it seems. They are now looking to potentially move on from LB Isaiah Simmons who in many folks eyes has not lived up to the hype from the draft. WE shall see if they can get anything for him if they do decide to move on. The storyline I am most interested in watching this year here is first how long Kyler Murray will be out and second how rookie QB Clayton Tune is developing. It seems like they took him so they could try out a young QB in the interim while Murray is working his way back. Apparently thus far he has been doing well in OTAs.
Atlanta Falcons:

• Team expects TE Kyle Pitts to be ready for season opener
• Ditching gradient uniforms and will wear throwbacks 3 times

Not too much news from the Falcons but many will be excited to hear about Kyle Pitts expected to be back for the season opener. Hopefully this is the year he can really break out but a lot will depend on the QB Desmond Ridder actually being able to throw him the ball unlike the past quarterbacks he has had who have not made things easy.
Baltimore Ravens:

• WR Zay Flowers is impressing with his route running capabilities early on

Good news here because receiver seems to be a position where the Ravens have struggled to get good production. With new OC Todd Monken that should start to change and with an added emphasis on the passing game it inevitably should change as more throws are made.
Buffalo Bills:

• Rumored that QB Josh Allen will be featured on the cover of Madden
• Signed:
  
  • DT Ed Oliver to a 4-year $68m extension with $45m guaranteed
  • WR Marcell Ateman
  • OT Brandon Shell
• Supposedly out on WR DeAndre Hopkins
  
• Expect Edge Von Miller to be back for the season opener
  

Great move here signing Ed Oliver to his extension. He is a key piece of that d-line and helps hold them together. I personally don’t believe they or really any of the other teams that have said they are out on DeAndre Hopkins actually are. To me it appears more to be a message saying they are not going to be paying him the money that WR Odell Beckham got earlier this offseason. Only time will tell. Great news for the team that EDGE Von Miller should be back by the season opener. Personally though I would take my time with him and would be overly cautious to make sure he is fully healthy. Hopefully that is by week 1!
Carolina Panthers:

• QB Bryce Young is already impressing with his poise
• Plan to use some Deebo Samuel-like packages for WR Laviska Shenault

The hype appears to be real for the Bryce Young but it is what every team says about their rookie quarterback who is a top pick so hard to decipher how folks are actually feeling. I am excited about how Frank Reich will use WR Laviska Shenault because I have always been impressed with his athletic ability and expected him to break out more. It seems this could have been the type of role he has been waiting for.
Chicago Bears:

• Have other sites in mind potentially for a new stadium besides Arlington
• QB Justin Fields donated $10,000 to the special olympics
• WR DJ Moore has been performing well in OTAs
• Stadium is at risk after property tax assessment

A lot of news around the future stadium of the Bears. It appeared a couple weeks ago that everything was moving along as planned and no issues had come up. This week there was nothing but concerns and problems. I wonder if these are all real storylines or if it is something they are using to try and negotiate more with the government to get help with the stadium. In more football news is appears that WR DJ Moore and QB Justin Fields are enjoying working together and developing a good connection. This is important to give Fields someone he can trust like he did his receivers at Ohio State.
Cincinnati Bengals:

• WR Tyler Boyd feels they one-upped the Chiefs signing Orlando Brown Jr.
• DE Sam Hubbard excited for what’s next this season
• Will hold joint practices with the Packers

Not too much football news here but they appear to be ready to take on the Chiefs again this year and make a deep playoff run. Also, it appears at this point that the team will keep RB Joe Mixon based on comments from the team and HC Zac Taylor. This offense per usual will be an exciting one to watch.
Cleveland Browns:

• Strong possibility that WR DeAndre Hopkins ends up here
  
  • QB Deshaun Watson is working hard to recruit him
• DC Jim Schwartz sees a benefit in d-linemen playing fewer snaps to stay fresh
  
• Gained $10.9m in cap space after June 1st release deadline
  

Good news and good vibes are finally coming out of Cleveland. Feels like it has been while. QB Deshaun Watson appears to be benefitting from having a full offseason and getting work in with his new receivers. He has been pushing hard for Hopkins and the Browns would make sense as a good landing spot for him given the prior relationship Watson and Hopkins had during their time in Houston. I have been pleasantly surprised by how well things appear to be going so far this offseason.
Dallas Cowboys:

• Started long-term extension talks with CB Trevon Diggs
• WR Antonio Callaway was arrested Saturday in Miami
• Micah Parsons is more concerned with making impactful plays on defense
• Supposedly out on WR DeAndre Hopkins
• RB Tony Pollard is a little ahead of schedule with rehab
• Gained $10.9m in cap space after June 1st deadline

Similar to the Bills I don’t think the Cowboys are actually out on Hopkins but probably sending a message that he needs to bring down his asking price. I wonder sometimes if they are still saving room for RB Ezekiel Elliott to come back here and play especially with them gaining the $10.9m in cap space after the deadline. Also, hopefully the team can get something done with CB Trevon Diggs sooner rather than later because he has been an impactful piece on defense despite the big plays he occasionally gives up because he can change a game with one of his interceptions.
Denver Broncos:

• HC Sean Payton puts a heavy emphasis on the importance of Guards in the NFL
• Released RB Jacques Patrick
• Gained $3.75m in cap space after June 1st deadline
• Signed:
  
  • K Elliott Fry

Not too much news here but they did find their replacement for K Brandon McManus in Elliott Fry. I would say less news from this team this offseason is better because ever since QB Russell Wilson struggled it seemed like the media was out to get him and the team any chance they had. HC Sean Payton must be running a pretty tight ship.
Detroit Lions:

• OC Ben Johnson expects offense to take a huge step forward this season
• RB Jahymr Gibbs has been standing out in practice running and catching the ball
• OT Penei Sewell is embracing leadership role
• S Tracy Walker expects to be fully cleared for camp

All good news this week which should be good for morale. Seems they have strung together a couple good weeks during their OTAs. Great to see that RB Jahymr Gibbs is getting some reps in and showcasing his abilities that made the team feel the need to spend a high draft pick on him. Great to see as well that Penei Sewell at the young age of 22 taking on a leadership role and getting good work in as well. With that said OC Ben Johnson could be prepping and is expecting for the offense to have a big year.
Green Bay Packers:

• WR Romeo Doubs doesn’t think there will be a regression with QB Jordan Love
• OL David Bakhtiari says disrespectful to say they are rebuilding
• Will hold joint practices with the Bengals

It appears that it may be a bit tough in the post Aaron Rodgers era as expected. However, it does sound like there is less front office drama now that they are not having to work with him in the offseason. Time will tell whether the drama was more caused by a lack of good communication as Rodgers claimed recently or by the former Packers QB himself.
Houston Texans:

• QB CJ Stroud is ahead of where the team expected him to be at this point
• RT Tytus Howard is in line for a big extension
• Released DT Taylor Stallworth with injury settlement
• Will hold joint practices with the Dolphins and Saints

Good news about CJ Stroud but again as I mentioned with Bryce Young it is hard to find a team that drafted a top QB in the draft not raving about their quarterbacks progress at this point. The joint practices they have setup will be great for QB CJ Stroud. The Dolphins and Saints should each have tough defenses this year and will give Stroud a bit better of an idea of what to expect from an NFL defense in a real game.
Indianapolis Colts:

• QB Anthony Richardson is looking really good overall
• Worked out WR Breshad Perriman

Looks like the Colts are trying to get receiver help but haven’t decided on any yet. This is the team that should go out and get Hopkins. They need a true #1 receiver and Josh Downs while I think he will be really good would benefit from having a big bodied possession type receiver in Hopkins. Also, it would give QB Anthony Richardson more of a safety net in terms of a WR that can help him progress and see things that he may not have picked up on otherwise.
Jacksonville Jaguars:

• K Brandon McManus called special teams coach to express interest in the team after being cut
• EDGE Josh Allen is the only player under contract not attending voluntary OTAs
• Being cautious with WR Calvin Ridley during OTAs
• Plan to have a RB committee approach

I am really excited for the Jaguars this season. They are kind of the forgotten team in the NFL most years but appear to be poised to make a deep playoff run this year. WR Calvin Ridley is going to be a huge difference maker this year and should benefit from QB Trevor Lawrence continuing to progress going into his 3rd NFL season.
Kansas City Chiefs:

• Wife of Chiefs owner Norma Hunt passed at the age of 85
• Supposedly out on WR DeAndre Hopkins
• WR Justyn Ross has the trust of QB Patrick Mahomes

Sad news to hear about Norma Hunt’s passing as the whole league mourned and sent their condolences. They are also supposedly out on Hopkins which I believe means they are really saying we need you to come down on price. The Chiefs though per usual have revealed though their secret weapon in WR Justyn Ross who many had forgotten about due to him sitting out with an injury his rookie year. It looks like Ross may be back to prior form when he was making plays at Clemson with Trevor Lawrence.
Las Vegas Raiders:

• Open to listening to trade offers for WR Hunter Renfrow
• HC Josh McDaniels is not worried about QB Jimmy Garoppolo’s foot surgery

Even though the media and some fans were starting to worry about Jimmy G’s foot surgery it does not appear McDaniels has any worries about him missing time because of it. Will be interesting to see what the team ends up doing with Renfrow with all signs from earlier in the offseason pointing towards a release or trade.
Los Angeles Chargers:

• WR Quentin Johnson has been impressive according to teammates Keenan Allen
• OT Rashawn Slater is at 100% and has been for quite some time

Not much news here but it was great news to get confirmation from OT Rashawn Slater regarding his health and to hear WR Keenan Allen’s thoughts on rookie WR Quentin Johnson. This team should give us what they think they will every year and go far in the playoff this year.
Los Angeles Rams:

• DC Raheem Morris helped save drowning child
• Signed:
  
  • WR Tyler Johnson

Not much news here but signed WR Tyler Johnson who can help them make some big splashy plays on offense. DC Raheem Morris helped saved a drowning child and credited his AED training. Always cool to hear these stories about NFL coaches and players leaping into action to help and save other in the community.
Miami Dolphins:

• Hope to sign DT Christian Wilkins to an extension before the season
• QB Tua Tagovailoa is completely healthy and showing signs of growth as a leader
• Real possibility they end up with RB Dalvin Cook this year
• Opted to only use 6 of 10 available days of OTAs
• Gained $13.6m in cap space after June 1st deadline
• Will hold joint practices with the Texans

This team appears to be click on all levels so far this offseason and there appears to be a lot more good coming with the team working to get a Wilkins extension done before the season and may even still end up with RB Dalvin Cook here soon. Tua being completely healthy at this point doesn’t feel like much of a surprise but it does appear that he is trying to take on more of a leadership role after finding his confidence last year. My main worry though with Tua is that last year he still was very much a rhythm quarterback in my mind so when he got knocked off that rhythm he had some really bad games. However, when he was able to keep in rhythm he at times looked like the best passer in the league. It will be key this offseason now that he knows the offense to be able to play off rhythm when necessary and make those plays that the top quarterbacks in the league make if he wanting to take the next step.
Minnesota Vikings:

• Seems that only thing left for RB Dalvin Cook is an announcement of how he will be leaving the team by trade or by getting cut
• Head Coach Kevin O’Connell described RB Alexander Mattison as a every down RB
• Paid off their debt on stadium 23 years earlier saving taxpayers $226m in interest
• Expected that WR Justin Jefferson to be highest paid WR when he signs his extension
• Will have joint practices with Tennessee

It appears that the Vikings are in a holding pattern and I imagine are hoping to get a trade package they approve of for RB Dalvin Cook. Sooner or later though it appears that Dalvin Cook will not be with the Vikings this year. Big win though for the fans and locals in Minnesota with the team paying off their stadium early and saving taxpayers a bunch of money. Might get some more buy in from good press like that.
New England Patriots:

• QB Mac Jones is aiming to earn the respect of his teammates

Not much news here but it appears things are moving along really well in comparison with last year at this time. QB Mac Jones seems happy and is working hard. It will be tough for this Patriots team with how stacked the division is but maybe a big move to get Hopkins and some improvement from the offense and Mac Jones and who knows they may be right up there with everyone else in the division.
New Orleans Saints:

• DE Cam Jordan will play for the team as long as he wants
• QB Jameis Winston feels that he is still a starting QB in the league
• Excited to WR Michael Thomas to be ready for camp
• Will hold joint practices with the Texans
• HC Dennis Allen had Jon Gruden attend OTAs in order to aid offense with QB Derek Carr
• TE Juwan Johnson has been studying Julian Edelman tape at QB Derek Carr’s urging

Another team where things just seem to be clicking so far is here in New Orleans. QB Derek Carr seems to be doing a good job taking on a leadership role and working with teammates such as TE Juwan Johnson. Things will be going even better if WR Michael Thomas can actually return for camp and find a way to play near a level that he used to. Right now in a wide open NFC South it appears that this team will be the favorites to win it going into the season.
New York Giants:

• Did homework on WR DeAndre Hopkins and are now supposedly not interested in pursuing him
• Officially added Ryan Cowden as executive advisor the general manager
• QB Daniel Jones is ok with rookie center John Michael Schmitz using “dead snap” technique

Not much here which may be a good thing for a New York team to get a break from all the media. This season will be an interesting one with how the team went all in on QB Daniel Jones. It kind of feels like besides the Eagles the rest of the division is up for grabs with no true strong contender emerging yet.
New York Jets:

• QB Aaron Rodgers has enjoyed the communication within the organization
• Signed:
  
  • OL Yodny Cajuste
• Released OL Eric Smith
  
• The team and Quinnen Williams are not far off in contract talks
  

Good news on the Quinnen Williams front and in keeping Aaron Rodgers happy. Williams and the team are not far off in contract talks which hopefully means something will get done here very soon. Rodgers has been raving about the Jets communication skills which was his main gripe with the Packers. Now lets just make it clear that he does not need to be pulling the sled.
Philadelphia Eagles:

• Team is excited for QB Jalen Hurts to make another huge leap
• Offered to trade for QB Russell Wilson but Wilson did not want to play in Philly
• DT Jordan Davis broke a blocking sled

Man what a difference one decision can make. Jalen Hurts I imagine would have been in Seattle had the trade happened for Russell Wilson. I bet Eagles fans are happy this didn’t pan out but it does not mean they need to cut Wilson any slack for not wanting to play in Philly if these teams meet in future seasons or end up playing each other in the Super Bowl. Eagles appear setup to be the main threat in the NFC.
Pittsburgh Steelers:

• First round pick Broderick Jones getting 1st-team reps at Left Tackle

Not much out of Pittsburgh per usual but the good news is that Broderick Jones is progressing nicely and is already getting 1st-team reps at Left Tackle. I am sure QB Kenny Pickett is pleased with that.
San Francisco 49ers:

• S Ji’Ayir Brown is already taking first team reps and has stood out in OTAs
• GM John Lynch feels QB Trey Lance has had a really quality offseason
• Very encouraged by progress and throwing session QB Brock Purdy had
• DL Arik Armstead very excited about adding Javon Hargrave to the group
• RB Christian McCaffrey excited to have a full offseason with HC Kyle Shanahan
• Plan to make DE Nick Bosa highest paid defensive player

Things are moving along just fine for the 49ers. Exciting to hear that S Ji’Ayir Brown is making good progress and apparently had 4 or 5 interceptions during OTAs. I imagine the team is also very pleased with the progress QB Brock Purdy is making in his recovery from elbow surgery. He appears to be on pace with the original timeline. If this team can figure it out at the QB position they just might be the most complete all around team up there with the Eagles.
Seattle Seahawks:

• HC Pete Carroll expects his team to be aggressive when returning kicks and expects more squib kicks to be used
• WR Jaxon Smith-Njigba has been extremely impressive
• Signed:
  
  • Benjie Franklin
  • Montrae Braswell
• Cut:
  
  • Forrest Merrill
  • LaTrell Bumphus

Gotta love HC Pete Carroll. It seems like so far it has been pretty unanimous that all those that are playing or coaching football do not love the new kickoff rules. I am sure folks will find ways to take advantage of it though. Once again this week WR Jaxon Smith Njigba was impressive and should be establishing himself within that offense. Seahawks could very well be a sleeper team in the NFC that was good last year but that folks are paying a ton of attention to this year.
Tampa Bay Buccaneers:

• Antoine Winfield Jr. is expected to play Free Safety this year
• Respect is a key factor in the quarterback battle that is ongoing
• WR Chris Godwin feels his explosiveness coming back

This team has all the big name weapons at receiver one could ask for as long as they stay healthy. It was great to hear that Chris Godwin is getting his explosiveness back. Now not surprisingly it comes down to the QB battle and a big part of that is gaining respect from those veteran players and coaches in the building. I still feel like this battle is QB Baker Mayfield’s to lose at this point.
Tennessee Titans:

• Longtime executive Bob Hyde passed away
• QB Will Levis had a rough week at practice
• P Brett Kern announced his retirement
• Will have joint practice with Minnesota
• Signed:
  
  • DL Jaleel Johnson

Sad news this past week here as well with the passing of Bob Hyde. Also, finally some negative news about one of the Quarterbacks from this year’s draft. Will Levis has been struggling. However, this should not be viewed as a bad sign because every rookie is going to struggle and Levis with his situation has the benefit of time.
Washington Commanders:

• The Josh Harris bid after making some changes is inching closer to full approval
• CB Emmanuel Forbes has been thriving in the slot
• QB Sam Howell has looked the part and is taking command of the offense thus far
• OC Eric Bieniemy wants everyone to be like WR Terry McLaurin
• Gained $8.37m in cap space after June 1st deadline
• Released CB Cameron Dantzler
• Releasing G Andrew Norwell once he passes physical

Seems we are inching closer and closer to the Josh Harris Group’s bid being fully accepted by the owners after some minor adjustments. From the actual team and players it sounds like things are going really well and maybe better than a lot of folks expected. CB Emmanuel Forbes has been doing well in the slot and QB Sam Howell is looking the part and taking charge. The Commanders will be a fun team to watch this year and see how they end up when it is all said and done.
Miscellaneous/Other NFL News:

• Still no announcement as to who will be the team featured on Hard Knocks
• CB Damar Hamlin is leading a multi-city CPAED tour
• Several NFL teams are waiting for RB Dalvin Cook to be cut
• Yannick Ngakoue wants a multi-year deal with a Super Bowl contender
• Chiefsaholic fan is still on the loose
• Tom Brady is certain he is done playing and has tried to make that clear to other teams
• RB Ezekiel Elliott is staying in shape
• Executive are nervous about WR DeAndre Hopkins ability to separate and run at this point in his career
• Less than 100 days from the NFL season

​
Restaurant of the Week: (Pittsburgh - Burgatory)
Get excited Pittsburgh fans and all folks going to a game here! Burgatory is only a half mile from the stadium and has some of the best food so far from the restaurants that have been featured. One of my personal favorites is the Piggy Butter & Jelly. Yes, that is a burger with peanut butter and jelly on it. Don’t question it just try it. However, if for some reason you do not my other recommendation would be The Triple B which is a Bison, Beer Cheese, and Bacon burger. Hence the name Triple B. You can’t really go wrong with anything on the menu and the important thing though is that you don’t forget to grab a shake as well. My personal favorite is the Oreo Peanut Butter Pie shake. They are open every day starting at 11am and closer at 9pm everyday except for Friday and Saturday when they close at 11pm. Hop on over and enjoy this delicious food when in town for a game!

June 6
Black Community Mayoral Town Hall
https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/black-community-mayoral-town-hall-tickets-638996163727
The Walrus Talks Digital Skills
https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/the-walrus-talks-digital-skills-tickets-622632690137
LinkedIn Local Toronto Meetup - How to Leverage AI & ChatGPT Trends
https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/linkedin-local-toronto-meetup-how-to-leverage-ai-chatgpt-trends-tickets-628818772877
30 min Bystander Intervention Workplace Mini-Training. Free
https://zoom.us/webinaregisteWN_IVE3Vz2RSu6JSQvI881_dw#/registration
Practice English w/Woodgreen
https://forums.redflagdeals.com/woodgreen-woodgreen-english-conversation-circles-online-via-microsoft-teams-next-one-june-6-2487256/
$70 million Lotto Max draw
https://www.olg.ca/en/home.html
Group bike ride w/TBN
https://tbn.ca/event-5254039
Jays vs Astros @ SkyDome. $1 hot dog night
https://www.mlb.com/bluejays/schedule/2023-06
🎱 Pool and Drinks Social @ Dundas West Shoxs Billiard Lounge 🎱
https://www.meetup.com/torontobilliardsclub/events/293599792/
Mississauga: Outdoor Pick-up Soccer
https://www.meetup.com/toronto-soccer-meetup/events/293600506/
Drake Bingo w/Devine Darlin @ Drake Hotel
https://www.thedrake.ca/thedrakehotel/whatson/
Spiderman: Across the Spiderverse w/Meetup
https://www.meetup.com/made-about-movies/events/293550018/
$9.99 Raiders Of The Lost Ark @ Cineplex. Until June 8
https://www.cineplex.com/movie/raiders-of-the-lost-ark-2019
Metropolis @ Revue Cinema
https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/anime-at-the-revue-metropolis-2001-tickets-617154294107
Film Festival. Until June 11
https://tjff.com/
Get Reel Film Festival. Until June 9
https://stellasplace.ca/get-reel/
Luminato Festival. Until June 18
https://luminatofestival.com/
Toronto Games Week. Until June 7
https://torontogamesweek.com/
$10 Clothing and Shoe Sale @ International Centre. Until June 11
https://www.popupgiant.com/
Canadian Music Week. Until June 10. Various venues
https://cmw.net/
Candlelight Jazz: Nina Simone, Ella Fitzgerald, and the Women of Jazz feat. Joanna MajokoJewish
https://paradiseonbloor.com/calendar
Four band showcase @ Dakota Tavern
https://www.dakotatavern.ca/
Dylan @ Velvet Underground
http://thevelvet.ca/events/
John Showman @ Cameron House
https://www.thecameron.com/shows
Jamison MacKay @ Monarch Tavern
https://www.themonarchtavern.com/calendar
CMW events @ Bovine Sex Club
https://www.bovinesexclub.com/
Free Times Cafe - Weekly Open Mic
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/free-times-cafe-weekly-open-mic-tickets-482201998157
Open Concepts - Performance party @ OBJX
https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/open-concepts-performance-party-tickets-640802135437
Write On! Write Now. Literary open mic @ Bampot
https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/write-on-write-now-tickets-449858818837
Trivia @ Stout Irish
https://www.headscratcherstrivia.com/
Queer Space Trivia Night
https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/queer-space-trivia-night-tickets-629460552457
Tuesday Trivia Nights VICTORY CAFE
https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/tuesday-trivia-nights-victory-cafe-tickets-598674460427
Pub Trivia - Hosted by Quiz Master Paps @ Hemingway's
https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/pub-trivia-hosted-by-quiz-master-paps-tickets-631902526467
General Trivia at Snakes & Lattes Annex (Toronto)
https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/general-trivia-at-snakes-lattes-annex-toronto-tickets-636565603857
Something Something Trivia Night
https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/something-something-trivia-night-tickets-469941195767
Tammy's Trivia Tuesdays
https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/tammys-trivia-tuesdays-tickets-646395736047
Trivia Tuesdays at Radical Road
https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/trivia-tuesdays-at-radical-road-tickets-617240602257
The Rec Room Trivia League - Mississauga
https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/the-rec-room-trivia-league-mississauga-tickets-622690172067
It's Tricky Trivia at Rorschach Brewing Co.
https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/its-tricky-trivia-at-rorschach-brewing-co-tickets-646385354997
Weekly trivia roundup
https://www.reddit.com/toronto/comments/ukk8dm/roundup_of_trivia_nights_in_toronto/
Casino bus to Niagara Falls
https://safewaytours.net/en/casino-tours/
Mirvish lottery for $19 discounted Harry Potter tickets
https://lottery.mirvish.com/
Cirque du Soleil Kooza. Until June 18
https://www.cirquedusoleil.com/kooza
Disney Animation: Immersive Experience Toronto
https://tickets.lighthouseimmersive.com/toronto/?#/
Stranger Things : The Experience
https://strangerthings-experience.com/toronto/
The Office Experience @ Yorkdale Mall
https://theofficeexperience.com/toronto/
Jurassic World The Exhibition @ Square One
https://jurassicworldexhibition.com/mississauga/
Registration continues for JAM sports leagues
https://toronto.jamsports.com/index.php
YMCA free 7-day trial pass
https://trythey.ymcagta.org
GoodLife Fitness free 7-day trial pass
https://try.goodlifefitness.com/raptors?utm_medium=Email&utm_campaign=MSLE-Partnership&utm_source=Partner
Presto card discounts. Various attractions, shows , restaurants
https://www.prestocard.ca/en/about/presto-perks
Free admission to various attractions via TPL Map Pass Program
https://www.torontopubliclibrary.ca/museum-arts-passes/
Toronto History Museums free admission
https://www.toronto.ca/explore-enjoy/history-art-culture/museums/
Indoor /outdoor pools
https://www.toronto.ca/explore-enjoy/recreation/swimming/#location=&lat=&lng=
TD Salsa in Toronto Festival Free Dance Lessons in Toronto
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/td-salsa-in-toronto-festival-free-dance-lessons-in-toronto-tickets-615068024017
Slow Flow Yoga for All Black Women
https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/slow-flow-yoga-for-all-black-women-tickets-629179792697
Yoga at ExPlace
https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/yoga-at-explace-tickets-634742380547
Self guided Discovery Tours
https://www.toronto.ca/services-payments/streets-parking-transportation/sidewalk-tours-wayfinding/self-guided-tours/discovery-tours/
Seeing the Invisible An Outdoor Augmented Reality Exhibition
https://moca.ca/exhibitions/seeing-the-invisible/
Volunteer w/Bike Brigade
https://www.bikebrigade.ca/
Volunteer w/Nature Stewards to remove invasive plants
https://torontonaturestewards.org/
David Pryde @ Absolute Comedy
https://www.absolutecomedy.ca/toronto
Skyline's The Limit @ Second City
https://www.secondcity.com/shows/toronto/the-second-city-mainstage-87th-revue/?tickets=&date=
Very Important Comedy Show
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/very-important-comedy-show-tickets-412284412777
VERMIN MELVILLE PRESENTS: WIDE VARIETY - A COMEDY SHOW
https://comedybar.ca/shows/vermin-melville-presents
$5 comedy @ Yuk Yuks
https://www.yukyuks.com/toronto
DTF @ Oasis
https://members.oasisaqualounge.com/sessions/new
Show your pride @ M4
http://clubm4.com/event-calenda
50% off wings @ Crown and Dragon. Drink purchase required. After 5PM
https://www.crownanddragon.com/
$23.99 AYCE endless wings @ St Louis. Until July 2
https://www.stlouiswings.com/wingsanity/
$10 unlimited toppings @ Pi . Co
https://forums.redflagdeals.com/pi-co-10-unlimited-topping-craft-pizza-2592458/
Summer drink days @ McDonald's. Until Sept 4
https://forums.redflagdeals.com/mcdonalds-summer-drink-days-may-23-september-4-2617674/
Birthday freebies. Marble Slab, and more
https://forums.redflagdeals.com/birthday-freebies-version-2017-2022-1719925/
__---------------_---------------------------------------------------------
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June 7
North Rosedale: Moore Park and the Brickworks history walk
https://www.meetup.com/the-history-of-parkdale/events/294002808/
Toronto's Historic Jewish Community
https://www.meetup.com/the-history-of-parkdale/events/293982894/
Jays vs Astros @ SkyDome
https://www.mlb.com/bluejays/schedule/2023-06
Aga Khan Museum free admission after 4PM
https://www.agakhanmuseum.org/visit/tickets-hours.html
Gardiner Museum free admission after 4PM
https://www.gardinermuseum.on.ca/visit/
AGO free admission after 6PM
https://ago.ca/visit/free-wednesday-nights
Click Clack Pride. 19+ event @ Bata Shoe Museum
https://batashoemuseum.ca/event/click-clack-pride/
Free ROM Walk: King Street East Newspapers & Newsmakers
https://www.rom.on.ca/en/whats-on/free-walk-king-street-east-newspapers-newsmakers-june-723
Yonge Street architecture tour w/Heritage Toronto. PWYC/donation
https://www.heritagetoronto.org/whats-on/yonge-street-architecture-june-7/
Hairspray. Free outdoor movie @ College Park
https://downtownyonge.com/series/college-park-after-hours/
Humber College - The Portfolio Screening. Free @ Royal Cinema
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/the-portfolio-screening-tickets-633594416957?aff=eand
Group bike ride w/Toronto Cruisers
http://torontocruisers.com/
Mad Caddies @ Lee's Palace
https://www.leespalace.com/events
David Pryde @ Absolute Comedy
https://www.absolutecomedy.ca/toronto
Skyline's The Limit @ Second City
https://www.secondcity.com/shows/toronto/the-second-city-mainstage-87th-revue/?tickets=&date=
Mosquito. Movie screening + comedy commentary @ Comedy Bar
https://comedybar.ca/shows/guts-for-laughs
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June 8
2023 By-Election for Mayor. Voting open
https://www.toronto.ca/city-government/elections/by-election/
Luxury Cosmetics Warehouse Sale @ Markham Fairgrounds
https://tcws-markham-june-2023.splashthat.com/Social
Horse racing @ Woodbine. Free admission and parking
https://woodbine.com/upcoming-races/
Jays vs Astros @ SkyDome
https://www.mlb.com/bluejays/schedule/2023-06
Bingo @ Flash On Church
http://flashonchurch.com/
MOCA After Hours party
https://moca.ca/events/moca-after-hours/
Kreator and Sepultura @ Danforth Music Hall
https://thedanforth.com/
Paramore @ Scotiabank Arena
https://www.scotiabankarena.com/
Live band karaoke @ Wheatsheaf Tavern
https://www.goodenoughlivekaraoke.com/upcoming-shows.html
David Pryde @ Absolute Comedy
https://www.absolutecomedy.ca/toronto
Torio Van Grol @ Backroom Comedy Club
https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/torio-van-grol-backroom-comedy-club-tickets-621985865467
Skyline's The Limit @ Second City
https://www.secondcity.com/shows/toronto/the-second-city-mainstage-87th-revue/?tickets=&date=
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June 9
2023 By-Election for Mayor. Voting open
https://www.toronto.ca/city-government/elections/by-election/
Do West Fest
https://dowestfest.ca/
Toronto Tattoo Show @ MTCC
https://www.torontotattooshow.com/
Luxury Cosmetics Warehouse Sale @ Markham Fairgrounds
https://tcws-markham-june-2023.splashthat.com/Social
Horse racing @ Woodbine. Free admission and parking
https://woodbine.com/upcoming-races/
Jays vs Twins @ SkyDome
https://www.mlb.com/bluejays/schedule/2023-06
Bingo @ Flash On Church
http://flashonchurch.com/
MOCA free admission after 5PM
https://moca.ca/visit/
David Pryde @ Absolute Comedy
https://www.absolutecomedy.ca/toronto
Skyline's The Limit @ Second City
https://www.secondcity.com/shows/toronto/the-second-city-mainstage-87th-revue/?tickets=&date=
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June 10
/Toronto Monthly Meetup: The Artful Dodger near Yonge and Bloor from 7 p.m.
https://www.reddit.com/Torontoevents/comments/141jif9/rtoronto_monthly_meetup_the_artful_dodger_nea
2023 By-Election for Mayor. Voting open
https://www.toronto.ca/city-government/elections/by-election/
$10/$15 unlimited GO Transit
https://www.gotransit.com/en/travelling-with-us/promotions-and-events/weekend-passes-with-go
Bus to Casino Rama
https://www.casinorama.com/vip-coach/
Do West Fest
https://dowestfest.ca/
Luxury Cosmetics Warehouse Sale @ Markham Fairgrounds
https://tcws-markham-june-2023.splashthat.com/Social
Toronto Islands walk w/MeetUp. Dog friendly. Free
https://meetu.ps/e/M9NqK/fM5W/i
Hike+meditation+beach. ParkBus to Kelso
https://activedays.parkbus.ca/meditation-hike
Scarborough RT farewell food tour
https://www.eventbrite.com/o/scarborough-environmental-association-59879713283
Bike Party group bike ride
https://linktr.ee/bikepartytoronto
World Naked Bike Ride
https://www.blogto.com/rada2023/02/world-naked-bike-ride-toronto-returning/
Horse racing @ Woodbine. Free admission and parking
https://woodbine.com/upcoming-races/
Jays vs Twins @ SkyDome
https://www.mlb.com/bluejays/schedule/2023-06
Toronto Rush vs Philadelphia Phoenix @ Varsity Stadium
https://theaudl.com/rush/schedule
Toronto Tattoo Show @ MTCC
https://www.torontotattooshow.com/
Open Tuning music festival. Free
https://opentuningfestival.wordpress.com/
$2.99 The Lego Batman Movie @ Cineplex
https://www.cineplex.com/movie/the-lego-batman-movie-family-favourites
Bingo @ Flash On Church
http://flashonchurch.com/
TSA walking tours
https://torontosocietyofarchitects.ca/tours/
Singles mini party @ Drake Hotel
https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/singles-mini-party-the-drake-hotel-restaurant-tickets-643796842687
David Pryde @ Absolute Comedy
https://www.absolutecomedy.ca/toronto
Skyline's The Limit @ Second City
https://www.secondcity.com/shows/toronto/the-second-city-mainstage-87th-revue/?tickets=&date=
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June 11
2023 By-Election for Mayor. Voting open
https://www.toronto.ca/city-government/elections/by-election/
$10/$15 unlimited GO Transit
https://www.gotransit.com/en/travelling-with-us/promotions-and-events/weekend-passes-with-go
Bus to Casino Rama
https://www.casinorama.com/vip-coach/
Free ROM Walk: Kensington
https://www.rom.on.ca/en/whats-on/free-walk-kensington-june-1123
TSA walking tours
https://torontosocietyofarchitects.ca/tours/
Do West Fest
https://dowestfest.ca/
Toronto Tattoo Show @ MTCC
https://www.torontotattooshow.com/
Luxury Cosmetics Warehouse Sale @ Markham Fairgrounds
https://tcws-markham-june-2023.splashthat.com/Social
Horse racing @ Woodbine. Free admission and parking
https://woodbine.com/upcoming-races/
Jays vs Twins @ SkyDome
https://www.mlb.com/bluejays/schedule/2023-06
Toronto Maple Leafs vs Guelph Royals. Free baseball @ Christie Pits
https://www.mapleleafsbaseball.com/stats#/team-schedule?team_id=238204
Bingo @ Flash On Church
http://flashonchurch.com/
Bata Shoe Museum free admission
https://batashoemuseum.ca/visit-us/
Trivia Sunday Afternoons at 99 Bottles
https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/trivia-sunday-afternoons-at-99-bottles-tickets-558319557827
Free drop-in kickball @ Alexandra Park. Beginners welcome
https://www.facebook.com/TorontoKickball/
$18.88 unlimited evening bowling @ Splitsville
https://splitsville.ca/richmond-hill-bowling/
Karaoke @ Toby's
https://www.instagram.com/jasonrolland/
Karaoke @ Capone's
https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/karaoke-sundays-tickets-640202251167
Karaoke @ The Hashtag
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/karaoke-night-hosted-in-a-friendly-restro-bar-located-at-st-clair-ave-w-tickets-509785882297
David Pryde @ Absolute Comedy
https://www.absolutecomedy.ca/toronto
Skyline's The Limit @ Second City
https://www.secondcity.com/shows/toronto/the-second-city-mainstage-87th-revue/?tickets=&date=
$5 meals @ Tea N Bannock. Free for kids 12 and under
https://forums.redflagdeals.com/tea-n-bannock-toronto-5-sunday-meals-tea-n-bannock-free-kids-12-under-2620632/
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(Any sentences or phrases wrapped with brackets "[ ]" are designated as inner monologue!)
Thank you to u/SpacePaladin15 for creating this wonderful literary universe!
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Memory transcription subject: Lemva, Venlil Archeologist
Date [standardized human time]: July 13, 2165
The attendant, Harold, had told me that there would be another passenger boarding shortly several minutes ago, and since then I couldn't keep still wondering who I was going to meet.As I sat on the couch, I couldn’t help but eavesdrop on the conversation that Harold had just started with the other passenger. As I heard a new voice respond to Harold’s greeting my heart started beating faster. Wait, the voice sounded familiar…
My heart rate quickened as footsteps came closer down the hallway.A man wearing a black suit and indigo tie came walking around the corner and my heart fluttered a little as I looked up at his face.
“Lemva?”
“James?” I squeaked as I said his name. I jumped up off the couch and ran toward him, throwing my arms around him and nearly knocking him over. “Lemva!”
Looking up at him, I realized what I had just done, backing off slightly embarrassed. “James! I haven’t seen you in so long, what have you been up to?”
“Looking into ancient history, studying declassified documents, bringing back ancient history, that sorta thing.” James kneeled slightly and looked at me with a wide smile, I’d missed that smile so much. He opened his mouth to speak. “I wasn’t expecting to see you on this flight. It’s very good to see you!” “It’s good to see you too! So you’re one of the others that the UN’s invitation spoke of.” “It seems that way, yeah.” He chuckled slightly.
“I see you two are getting along well! I don’t even have to introduce you.” I realized Harold had been standing there watching the interaction the whole time. I straightened myself out, even more embarrassed than before. Harold chuckled. “Alright you two, we’re going to be taking off shortly. I’ll be in the cabin along with the captain. If you need me, press these buttons.” He handed us both a device with a singular blue button labeled “call”.
The man turned around and headed through the door leading to the cockpit. Leaving us alone. We both sat on a couch. James spoke, “So, do you know anything about the job being offered?” “I was going to ask you the same thing.” “Hmm, well we’re going to be in for a long flight, may as well catch up on some things.”
Me and James had known each other since we attended MIK, and had a lot of history. We met in the college’s history club, and quickly became friends. We both had a passion for learning about things that most others had forgotten, and theorizing about what life was like in ancient times. He didn’t know it but I had a huge crush on him at the time.
We stayed in contact long after we both got our doctorates, despite the large distances between us. Eventually James suddenly stopped contacting me, I never understood why. I had worried that it was something I did, that I had pushed him away. Then, after a while, he faded from memory, only existing in the back of my mind. I needed to know why. But not now, this was too soon.
“I know I already asked what you’ve been up to since we last spoke, but still. Discovered anything new?”
“Yeah, I got my hands on some recently declassified Fed info and artifacts around 8 months back. Studied them and found out they were ancient Gojid pottery, inscriptions described some sort of fertility god? Found some other inscriptions describing the site of an ancient Gojid city on The Cradle and got in contact with a dig team to go search there. Hit the motherlode and-” He spoke so enthusiastically about his findings. Just seeing him so happy about his work made me bloom, but thankfully he didn’t notice as he kept talking, waving his hands to emphasize his words. “-trying to find a museum that has the room for all of them.”
“Wow, that’s a lot more than what I’ve been doing.” “Really? Lemva hasn’t done anything interesting lately? I find that hard to believe.” James took on an amused expression. “Yes, really. I’ve been on vacation with my family for a little while, that’s all. It had been a while since I’d seen them.”
I could see his smile visibly lessen, he shifted his eyes, seeming to be deep in thought. Had I said something wrong? “Hey, are you okay?” I asked. “Yeah, I’m fine. Your mention of family brought back some… memories.” A singular tear formed below his left eye, before he looked away. I didn’t want to push, despite his failed attempt at hiding his sadness. “Oh, we can change the subject if you want.”
He wiped his eyes and shuddered, before straightening himself out. “No, it’s ok. You should probably know anyway. It’s part of the reason I haven’t talked to you in so long.” I was hoping to get some answers but now I didn’t know if I wanted to if it was making him this upset.
“A- alright, go ahead. You can stop at any time if you want to.” “Before I start I want to say how sorry I am for ghosting you.” He closed his eyes, inhaling and exhaling deeply. A somber expression filled his face as he opened his eyes. “Okay. You know my parents right? Bill and Angene?” “Yeah?” “A couple years back, I was doing a small job for a little town on Nishtal. Not much pay but that didn’t matter. This was during the time when the anti-human movement was in full effect.”
My heart stopped, I immediately knew where this was going.
“I wasn’t worried for them cause they were on Earth. I thought they would be away from the violence because the rioters would be too scared to be among so many ‘predators.’” His voice dripped with malice as he spat out the last word. He was always treated… differently from other people. Even so long after the war, “predator” hate was still common. He kept speaking. “Clearly I was wrong, or maybe one of those fucking rioters hated us too much to care about their own safety.” I only now noticed that he had been shaking as he spoke, but he suddenly stopped. He looked defeated, on the verge of a breakdown. “They were just bringing home groceries, that’s all. They were friendly and happy and polite and all they were doing was bringing home some things for dinner. But because they had committed the SIN of being born with forward facing eyes everyone hated them.” “On the phone the next day, I was told that my parents had been stabbed to death when walking home. I had to attend their funeral several days later, and that night the police took me in to meet their murderer. It took every ounce of energy that I could muster to not turn their disgusting little face to orange mulch.”
If anyone else had looked at James’ face at that moment, they would have seen nothing but a rabid animal looking for something to rip apart, but I didn’t see that. I saw a man that just wanted his parents back, a man that wished the world didn’t hate him. James crumpled over and started sobbing violently, and without thinking I got up and gave him the biggest hug my small arms could allow. He wrapped his muscular arms around me and buried his head into my wool, his sobs shaking my whole body. I stroked the back of his head in an attempt to comfort him, and tried doing those shushing sounds that human mothers do to calm down their children but ended up making a strange sputtering sound instead. I heard the sounds of giggling interspersed with the sobbing, leading into a fit of coughing from James. He lifted his face from my shoulder and stared into my eyes, still dripping tears but starting to smile now. He rested his chin back on my shoulder, and I gladly let him.
“I’ve missed you Lemva, you have no idea just how much I’ve missed you. I’m so sorry I left so quickly, I’m so sorry.” “I’ve missed you too James, and you don’t need to apologize, I understand. Why don’t we go drink some water and get some sleep, okay?” The man on my shoulder croaked out a hoarse “Okay” before slowly pulling himself off of me. We both got up and walked into the kitchen to grab some water. James chugged down several glasses before he was satisfied. We made our way to our separate bedrooms before saying goodnight to each other and closing our doors. I pulled the warm blankets over myself and laid my head down, exhausted from the short but intense emotional interaction. As thoughts floated through my mind, I drifted off into a deep sleep.
<<>>
I awoke to a familiar sensation, it felt as if I was standing in a shallow pool of oil. My eyes were met with black for as far as the eye could see, a seemingly endless floor of tar, and a distant orb of light. This sight had become less eerie and more frustrating the more times I had seen it. [Not this again…] I had been having this dream nearly every night for the past 3 weeks, ever since I had received the invitation from the UN. It was always the same. Endless void, endless black oil, a light always seeming within reach but always too far to catch. I decided to play along with the dream and walk towards the light, the faster I go through with this charade the faster I can wake up and talk to James again. My footsteps echoed into infinity as I waded through the sticky oil, the sensation was awful. I stopped and thought for a moment. [Know what? Fuck it, might as well do something different this time.] I turned around and walked away from the orb of light that had been taunting me for 3 weeks straight. As I walked, I could feel the texture beneath my paws slowly change. I looked down to notice that the tar floor I had grown accustomed to was now an endless field of silver sand. My paws were still sticky from the tar and were now covered with sand, great. As I stared down at the ground beneath me, it slowly started glowing brighter and brighter until it hurt my eyes. It was reflecting something.
I looked up to try to find the source of the light and stared in shock at the sight before me, despite the pain in my eyes. I could not turn away. [By the creator…]
Filling the darkness above me was a white dwarf, its brilliance seeming to burn away the darkness surrounding it. Burning streams of plasma buffeted sand in the distance, leaving only glass. I could feel it watching me, judging me. The air around me swirled and roared, picking up fragments of glass and flinging it against my face as I stood in awe. Clouds of silver shards swirled forever around me, scraping away my wool and flesh but I did not move. I could not turn away. The star seemed to fall toward me. I could not turn away. Instantly, the fury of the wind around me calmed, dropping mountains of the glittering sand onto the ground. The sands whispered to me, filling my mind with a single message.
“Find us. We await.”
<<>>
Date [standardized human time]: July 15, 2165
I stood alongside James near the airlock, we were finally here. It had been two days since I and James had boarded the ship, and we were finally on an approach to Aafa’s spaceport. I felt excited theorizing what job the UN had for us, but couldn’t help but notice a feeling of dread in the back of my mind. Aafa was the capital of the Federation before the UN Coalition began their occupation, and as a result there would probably be more xenophobia on the streets. Hopefully we wouldn’t have to stick around long enough to see it.
“Attention passengers, we are now breaking through the atmosphere, brace yourself on a nearby hand-rail or other stationary object until further notice.”
Me and James grasped the hand-rails tightly as the ship jostled through the turbulent atmosphere, the surface outside the airlock view-port slowly grew larger and larger as we descended. A beautiful city came into view as the clouds’ obfuscation subsided. I had been to Aafa twice in my life before and every time I saw its grand cities I felt a sense of wonder. I could feel the ship level out and slow down, we were almost docked. I felt a small jolt as the landing gear gently touched down on the landing pad.
Harold’s voice came through the PA system. “Alright you two, we’ve landed. I’ll be with you shortly to show you to your escort group.” James and I looked at eachother, I could see a glint of worry in his eyes. Though whether he was worried about the reactions of Aafa’s inhabitants or worried about his first impressions with such important UN personnel, I could not tell.
I heard the cabin door open far behind us and heard Harold’s footsteps make their way toward the airlock where we stood in wait. He stepped past us and took a position at the airlock door.“Welcome to Aafa.” Harold pressed a button and the blast-door slid open with a pneumatic hiss. “Follow me.” We walked down the ramp and onto the hangar bay floor. As my eyes wandered around the large room I noticed how much better kept this spaceport, or at least this hangar, was than the port on Venlil Prime or Earth. Harold took us through a door and into the main hall for this level.
As we made our way to the nearest elevator a kolshian man walked toward us, his gait taking on a menacing feel as he drew closer. When he saw me he smirked. “You sure you wanna keep walking with these predators, little lady? You’d be a lot safer with me instead of them.” I was astounded by how blatant this man was with his opinions. I tried to respond calmly to the man but couldn’t hide my offense. “No thank you, I’m perfectly fine walking with these “predators” thank you. Speak your xenophobia to someone who cares to listen.” The kolshian’s smirk disappeared as he walked toward me faster. Harold’s arm shot out in front of me, blocking the man from getting any closer, the chipper smile he usually displayed was gone from his face. “Please leave sir, we have things to attend to.” The kolshian’s angry expression intensified. “I’m not taking orders from any damn predator.” I could see the man pulling out an object from behind his back. Before I could react, I heard a sickening crunch as Harold’s fist connected with the kolshian’s face, and the man tumbled to the ground. I heard a sound as the knife we were about to be stabbed with clattered to the ground, the tentacle he had been using to wield it clutching his bleeding face. Harold in a swift motion kicked away the knife and put the kolshian in a choke hold while a group of UN security officers rushed over. Two officers cuffed the bleeding kolshian and another walked up to Harold most likely to ask for an explanation.
Harold put back on his usual cheerful expression as he turned to speak to us.“You two head down to the first floor, your escort group and one of the other 2 invitees will be waiting in the main lobby, they should be pretty obvious to spot. I’ll catch up soon but I have to explain the situation with security.” I turned to look at James as we hurried to the elevator. I could tell he was angry, but he had a glint of satisfaction in his eyes, and I would be lying if I said I didn’t feel a little similar. James scrolled down the list of floors on the screen and selected the number 1. The Aafa spaceport was easily the largest structure I had ever seen, I guess there wasn’t enough room for 400 buttons. As the elevator descended, James spoke.
“Hey Lem, you ok?” “Yeah, my heart’s beating pretty fast though. Who knows what would have happened if Harold wasn’t with us.” “Yeah, did you see how fast he handled that? Guy must be a veteran or something.” The idea brought a question to the surface of my mind that I had been pondering since I first received my invitation. “Yeah… I’ve been wondering why we’ve been treated so well ever since we got aboard the ship. I mean, we’re just a couple historians, why spend so much on the ship and all the protection? What could this job possibly be?” As I spoke, James stared past the transparent wall of the elevator and into the city skyline, he seemed to be deep in thought. “Yeah I’ve been thinking about that too… I don’t think we’ll have to theorize for much longer though, just a short drive and we can ask whoever invited us.”
My attention was brought back to reality as a DING sounded from the doorway, indicating that we were at the ground floor. The doors slid open silently and revealed a veritable swarm of people walking through the main hallway loop, several people of different species squeezed into the elevator we were just in as we walked out. James and I followed the signage on the walls for several minutes and entered into the main lobby, where we could see a group of humans with a Gojid in the middle. The humans wore black suits and sunglasses, I could also barely make out earpieces and microphones hidden among their clothing. They reminded me of the secret agents in the human spy movies I enjoyed watching. They must be our escort group.
We approached the menacing humans and they turned to look at us. Before I could speak up I heard footsteps behind me and turned to see Harold catching up with us. “Sorry for leaving you alone for a bit. I’ll talk with your escorts.” Harold walked up to the closest escort and flashed a badge at them, turning around once the mysterious man nodded. The escort spoke something into his earpiece but I couldn’t quite make it out. “Well, I’d best be going to sort out matters with the captain. I’ll meet up with you later.” Harold handed us off to the mysterious entourage and walked back into the crowd.
One of the bodyguards spoke up. “Follow me and don’t stray off course, we’ll be taking you to the senate building.” As our guards escorted us to our vehicle, I spoke to the gojid accompanying us. “Hi, my name is Lemva, this is James. Are you one of the other people invited by the UN?” The gojid spoke up in a soft voice. “Yeah, though for what reason I do not know why. My name is Cayek by the way, nice to meet you. Do you mind if we get some introductions out of the way before we arrive at the senate building?” James responded first and stretched out his arm for a handshake. It took a second for Cayek to reciprocate. “Sure! As Lemva told you, my name is James. I was born on Earth and currently live on Venlil Prime. I’m a historian and got my doctorate at MIK, where I met Lemva. We’ve known each other quite a while. I like coffee and hate the ocean.” “Oh cool, I attended there too! Got my doctorate in linguistics. When did you attend?” “Sent in an application in 2140, as soon as it opened. Got accepted around a month later.” “Nice, that was around when I joined too. We must not have crossed paths often. Though your face does seem vaguely familiar.” Cayek looked at me and I began speaking. “My name’s Lemva, though I already said that. I attended MIK with James. Went there to get a doctorate in archeology. Was born on Venlil Prime and I’ve moved too many times to count, but my latest home is on Earth.”
I noticed that we had reached our ride. Our vehicle was a black limousine, it looked slightly larger than others I had seen, perhaps it was armored? One of the guards escorting us, who I could only assume was the one in charge, opened the side door and we all crawled inside. Cayek, James, and I settled in our seats and the guard closed our doors before entering through a door closer to the front to sit facing us. The guard sat unnaturally still, staring directly at us as the vehicle drew out of the underground parking area, making me feel uneasy. I looked over at James and Cayek, they seemed just as uncomfortable as I. The ride to the Senate building was silent.
I watched the buildings glide past us as we drove down Main, toward the Capitol. The large dome shaped building grew larger as we crept closer. Nervousness invaded my mind as I wondered what the task we had been chosen for was. Why did the UN spend so much to get us here? What’s with all the security? Why us? We had reached our destination. The limousine passed through several security gates and slowed to a halt at the entrance of the grand building. The guard that had been staring at us spoke, “We’ve arrived, please exit the vehicle and follow me. As you enter the building you’ll undergo several security checks to make sure you don’t have any weapons or banned items. Don’t worry, this is all standard procedure.” Two guards who had been waiting to the side of the entrance walked over to the car and opened the side doors, allowing us to crawl out. Though it had only been a 5 minute car ride, it felt like I had been stuck in that cramped vehicle for hours.
We walked toward the entrance of the titanic building, a large podium with a hologram of the Coalition logo orbiting an artistic depiction of our sector of the galaxy stood just before the doors. The first time I had gone to Aafa as a child, the podium had supported a large statue of Chief Nikonus, the president of the Federation at the time of the war. Good riddance. Our group stepped past the threshold of the senate building and submitted for the security checks that our escort had told us about. As soon as we were cleared, we were led to one of several large doors, it looked like an oversized elevator. Inside was a holographic display of the building showing us our current position, along with a small keypad to the side. I braced myself for the elevator to start ascending as our escort input some numbers into the pad but nearly fell over when it unexpectedly started moving sideways. James chuckled amusedly and I looked at him with a mock pouty face, my tail flicking in slight annoyance. Our escort tried to wipe a tiny smirk off his face as he helped me back to my feet. “We had these installed after a couple instances of people passing out trying to navigate around. Most Coalition species don’t have the amount of endurance humans do and this building is quite large.”
Several moments later the tram came to a halt and the doors slid open. The escort chaperoned us down a short hallway with a decently sized wooden door at the end. I braced myself for whoever would be behind it. Impressions were of utmost importance when meeting government officials. However, I was not prepared for who I would see as the door swung open.
Is that an Arxur?
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(This is my first major post on NatureofPredators, any criticism or advice is welcome! I want to make my stories inviting and pleasant to read! Also, please notify me if you find any formatting errors, I'm not very familiar with Reddit's formatting.)

Popular wedding venues in the western and central states were featured in Part 1 of US wedding venues. So in part two, we'll focus on wedding venues in the eastern states. Whether it's a luxurious hotel, a rustic barn, or a spacious meadow, all are included. Again, the features of these venues and the approximate prices will be written. Let's explore these beautiful wedding venues!

Wisconsin Wedding Venues

The Paine Art Center and Gardens

This is an art museum located at 1410 Algoma Blvd, Oshkosh. It is an English-style country estate and has nearly four acres of gardens. It has perennial plants and is a great outdoor ceremony venue. Also, there is a historic mansion, charming carriage house, and greenhouse. The venue can accommodate up to 200 people and costs approximately $3000 to $4000 For 100 Guests.

The Lageret

This is a professional event venue located at 515 E Main St, Stoughton. This historic venue offers industrial and rustic charm with exposed brick walls, high ceilings, and wood beams. It has ample space for ceremonies and receptions. The venue offers event coordination, customizable lighting options, a bridal suite, and access to preferred vendors. Accommodations for up to 250 people start at $3,500 for a 12-hour rental.

The Enchanted Barn

Located at 1543 6 1/2 Ave, Hillsdale, this barn has an old-world rustic atmosphere around every corner. Featuring several indoor and outdoor venues, one of the most popular ceremony locations is located in Barn's upper-level Hayloft, featuring old wood timbers. Several wedding package options are available here and can accommodate up to 220 people. Off-season all-inclusive wedding packages are $5,000 plus $21 per person.

Illinois Wedding Venues

Danada House

This is a historic mansion located at 3S501 Naperville Rd, Wheaton. a short drive from Chicago. The mansion is also surrounded by a forest preserve that allows for nature-filled photos. There are seven ceremony locations in total, and the largest Magnolia Garden can accommodate up to 300 guests. Venue rentals start at $3,500.

The Morton Arboretum

This is a public nature garden and outdoor museum located at 4100 IL-53, Lisle. Inside there are not only mature trees and flowers but also a playground for children. Offering beautiful woodland and lakeside views. The large garden has a total of 12 venues to choose from and the largest room can accommodate up to 300 guests. Prices range from $600 to $9,000 depending on the size of the room and the time of year it is held.

Salvage One

Located at 1840 W Hubbard St, Chicago, this is a very unique location that serves as a store besides being a wedding venue. It preserves treasured furniture from the past. This old Chicago warehouse offers an enchanting vintage atmosphere. The ceremony and banquet space can accommodate about 200 people and space rentals start at $4,000.

Kentucky Wedding Venues

The Barn at Cedar Grove

The address is 1000 Brockman Keltner Rd, Greensburg, which has a rustic barn setting with picturesque scenery. Offering outdoor ceremony space, climate-controlled reception space, bridal suite, groom's quarters, and fire pit. The venue in the barn can accommodate up to 230 people. For fewer guests, the average budget for a wedding here is between $6,000 and $9,000.

The Brown Hotel

This 100-year-old hotel is located at 335 W Broadway, Louisville. The hotel has a striking Georgian Revival look and offers elegant ballrooms, luxurious accommodations, and a gorgeous rooftop garden. The hotel also has extensive experience in hosting weddings of different cultures, such as Jewish and Indian weddings. Prices are $18,000 in the off-season and can accommodate up to 300 guests.

Talon Winery & Vineyards

This winery has a large outdoor space at 7086 Tates Creek Rd, Lexington. Offers vineyard and winery backdrop, outdoor ceremony space, and rustic barn. The best part is the wine-tasting and vineyard tours. The venue can accommodate up to 250 guests and prices for ceremonies start at $1500.

Tennessee Wedding Venues

Butterfly Hollow

Located at 28 Bussell Rd, Gordonsville, our vacation accommodations are perfect for small weddings. Surrounded by scenic walking trails, mountains, and woods. This venue specializes in small weddings of 30 people or less, with a focus on an intimate and cozy experience. Wedding packages range from $1795 to $5000.

Dixon Gallery and Gardens

An art gallery on 17 acres of gardens located at 4339 Park Ave, Memphis, offers a romantic and artistic setting for weddings. The gallery offers two indoor reception venues as well as woodlands and gardens, both of which can accommodate up to 200 guests. Prices are approximately $4000 to $5000 For 100 guests.

The Bell Tower

The Bell Tower, located at 400 4th Ave S, Nashville, is almost 140 years old. The ballroom features large windows that provide plenty of natural light, creating a charming and historic setting for weddings. There are two floors beside the lobby. Seated dinners for up to 400 people range from $3,500 to $16,000 depending on time and venue.

Mississippi Wedding Venues

The Cedars

The site at 4145 Old Canton Rd, Jackson is the oldest residential building in Jackson, with a history of 175 years. The courtyard in front of the house with trees such as cedar, oak, and magnolia provides a natural backdrop for weddings. The venue can accommodate up to 300 people and costs $3,500 for a two-day weekend rental.

Dunleith Historic Inn

A National Historic Landmark located at 84 Homochitto St, Natchez, the mansion features Greek Revival columns and original pine floors. The event space has a main floor, courtyard, and South Lawn, which can accommodate up to 700 people. Wedding packages start at $6,500, not including catering.

The Gin at Flora Station

The address is 4819 MS-22, Flora. The refurbished cotton gin blends rustic charm with modern amenities. It offers indoor and outdoor spaces, including a covered gazebo and a patio with an old-fashioned truck bar. Rentals for ceremonies and receptions start at $3,500.

Alabama Wedding Venues

B&A Warehouse

This building, located at 1531 1st Ave S, Birmingham, is historic from the outside. With its industrial-inspired design and high ceilings along with red brick walls. Three indoor venues can accommodate up to 300 guests, and the cost of a ceremony starts at $4,000.

The Sterling Castle

This castle is located at 389 Deseret Dr, Shelby, and has been voted the best wedding venue in Alabama. The fairytale-style castle, elegant ballroom, charming courtyard, and lakeside and drawbridge venues. This beautiful venue can accommodate up to 300 guests and all-inclusive weddings are priced at $10,000+.

Huntsville Museum of Art

This is an art museum located at 300 Church St SW, Huntsville. With unique indoor and outdoor spaces, the museum is a contemporary art gallery. Offering outdoor spaces with a rooftop terrace, and five indoor hospitality venues. The starting venue fee for a wedding reception in high season is $1,500.

Michigan Wedding Venues

Colony Club Detroit

Located at 2310 Park Ave, Detroit, this Georgian-style, historic venue features stunning architecture and gorgeous interiors. The hotel features a grand ballroom decorated with crystal chandeliers and intricate details. The ballroom can accommodate up to 350 guests and is priced between $12,000 and $15,000.

Castle Farms

This historic building, built in 1918, is located at 5052 M-66, Charlevoix. With a total of four site combinations in the summer. It offers several ceremony and reception spaces, including a charming outdoor garden and a majestic stone courtyard. The largest of these, the East Garden and Queen's Courtyard can host up to 300 guests. And the price range is between $6,750 and $9,250.

The Inn at Stonecliffe

This is a Victorian village located at 8593 Cudahy Cir, Mackinac Island. away from the hustle and bustle of the area. With beautiful gardens and breathtaking views of Lake Huron and the Mackinaw Bridge. Accommodates up to 300 people and prices range from $4000 to $10,000.

Ohio Wedding Venues

Franklin Park Conservatory

This is a horticultural and educational institution located at 1777 E Broad St, Columbus. The most popular venue is the indoor garden with an all-glass ceiling. Besides, there is an industrial-style venue and a 200-year-old barn. The venue has plenty of space and can accommodate up to 500 people, with prices ranging from $7,000 to $11,000 for a wedding of 100 guests.

The Columbus Athenaeum

The historic building at 32 N 4th St, Columbus, was built in 1899. With a total of ten venues to choose from, the Grand Ballroom boasts gorgeous details and a stunning atrium. It is decorated with classical Greek art as well as soaring ornate ceilings. It can accommodate up to 230 guests. Prices for receptions start at $3,000.

Gervasi Vineyard

An oversized wine estate located at 1700 55th St NE, Canton. Picturesque vineyard setting and sparkling lake views. The open-air venue can accommodate up to 300 people, while the indoor venue can accommodate up to 120 guests. Full-service event planning, vineyard tours, and wine tastings are available. Prices for receptions will start at $1,450.

Georgia Wedding Venues

Barnsley Resort

This resort is located at 597 Barnsley Gardens Rd NW, Adairsville. With over 3,000 acres of land, it is a historic southern estate. With lush gardens, luxurious cabins, and grounds that can accommodate up to 250 people. Three wedding packages are available: $275 per person, $320 per person, and $350 per person. And a least of 150 people is required.

Summerour Studio

This is a renovated warehouse located at 409 Bishop St NW, Atlanta. The roof is supported by massive bow trusses, which allow for a spacious, open floor plan without columns or supports. Through a wall of windows running the length of the space, there are breathtaking views of Atlantic Station and the downtown skyline. Accommodating up to 425 people, prices start at $4,000.

The Biltmore Ballrooms

The ballroom is located at 817 W Peachtree St NW 208, Atlanta, and was established in 1924. The ballroom features a handcrafted plaster relief ceiling, ornate crystal lighting, and a marble floor. Capacity ranges from 50 to 1,500 people and offers eleven caterers. Rental rates range from $3,500 to $5,000, depending on the day of the week.

Florida Wedding Venues

The Ancient Spanish Monastery

Located at 16711 W Dixie Hwy, North Miami Beach. This monastery was dismantled piece by piece from northern Spain and shipped to the United States, then rebuilt over 19 months. It offers a chapel and gardens for ceremonies. The garden can accommodate up to 300 guests for $6,500 and includes only the cost of the reception.

The Breakers Palm Beach

This is a luxury resort located at 1 S County Rd, Palm Beach. This luxury resort is located in Palm Beach and enjoys magnificent beachfront views, lush gardens, and an exquisite ballroom. It boasts a timeless and elegant ambiance. It can host weddings for a maximum of less than 500 people, and detailed prices need to be communicated with the hotel.

The Ringling Museum

The museum is located at 5401 Bay Shore Rd, Sarasota, with a breathtaking view of Sarasota Bay. This venue offers unique views of art, culture, and the stunning waterfront. It includes many event spaces, including a large courtyard and an elegant ballroom. The largest art gallery courtyard can accommodate up to 125 guests and prices start at $20,000.

New York Wedding Venues

Mohonk Mountain House

Located at 1000 Mountain Rest Rd, New Paltz, this historic resort is surrounded by 40,000 acres of pristine forest. Featuring a majestic Victorian castle with panoramic mountain views. Choose from lakeside, garden, and mountain views for your ceremony. Wedding packages range from $275 to $375 per person.

The Foundry

The address is 42-38 9th Street, Long Island City, with a history dating back to the 19th century. Offering an industrial chic atmosphere, a garden courtyard and conservatory, a stunning main space, plus rustic interiors. Accommodates up to 180 guests, with receptions starting at $14,000.

The Garrison

Estate at 2015 US-9, Garrison, with superb Hudson River views and Catskill Mountain views. The venue offers a modern ballroom, outdoor ceremony space, and golf course. The venue can accommodate up to 200 guests for $12,000.

Pennsylvania Wedding Venues

The Curtis Atrium

The historic building at 699 Walnut St, Philadelphia used to be the Curtis Publishing Company. It is now a building with a mix of residential, office, and retail space. It features a stunning atrium, marble columns, and a stunning rotunda. Space rentals start at $8,000.

The Cork Factory Hotel

This boutique hotel is located at 480 New Holland Ave 3000, Lancaster, a converted historic cork mill with exposed brick walls. Offering industrial charm and modern amenities. The venue has a ballroom, a terrace, and a 2,300-square-foot warehouse. Space is available for up to 200 guests, and wedding packages start at $7,000.

Terrain Gardens at Devon Yard

A stunning garden is located at 138 W Lancaster Ave Suite 130, Devon. The venue is decorated with elements such as reclaimed barn wood floors, raised holiday lights, and skylights to create a unique aesthetic. Of course, there is an essential gardening setting and open-air venue that can accommodate up to 140 guests. Prices for receptions start at $4,525.

West Virginia Wedding Venues

Stonewall Resort

The entire resort is nestled beside a tranquil lake at 940 Resort Drive Roanoke, a place of scenic beauty and rustic charm. Wedding venues are available on the lakeside lawn or in the courtyard, with an indoor grand hall and stone-walled ballroom. Spa services, golf courses, and entertainment can also be experienced with wedding packages ranging from $3,500 to $12,000.

The Greenbrier

A luxury resort located at 101 W Main St, White Sulphur Springs. With stunning architecture, beautiful gardens, and breathtaking mountain views. The indoor venue has a dramatic chandelier and stage. The outdoor grounds feature expansive lawns and rustic cabins. Packages start at $10,000 and vary depending on the number of guests, season, and customization.

Sleepy Hollow Golf Club

The Club at 3780 Sleepy Hollow Dr, Hurricane. It is a private golf club for families. Featuring a scenic golf course, elegant ballroom, outdoor lawn ceremony venue, and picturesque countryside views. Wedding packages start at $3,500.

Virginia Wedding Venues

Maymont

Historic Manor River Park at 1700 Hampton St, Richmond. Inside are gardens, botanical gardens, and native wildlife habitats. The scenic setting includes 100-year-old Italian gardens, European-style manor houses, pavilions, expansive lawns, and the Robbins Nature Center. Prices range from $3,500 to $6,100.

Inn At Willow Grove

This is a rustic accommodation located at 14079 Plantation Way, Orange. It is unusually peaceful and romantic, surrounded by ancient trees and beautiful gardens. One of the gardens, Boxwood, can accommodate up to 175 guests and offers idyllic views. A versatile barn is also available as a hospitality venue, with rates starting at $7,500.

The Tides Inn

Located at 480 King Carter Dr, Irvington, the entire hotel is situated on a beautiful body of water with views of the Chesapeake Bay. It is a waterfront resort. You can also come here to take part in fun activities such as tennis, golf, paddle boarding, biking, and kayaking. Weddings start at $3,100.

North Carolina Wedding Venues

The Bradford

Professional wedding venue located at 523 Pea Ridge Rd, New Hill. It resembles a European town building with charming gardens and rustic barns. It can accommodate up to 250 guests for a ceremony in the gardens. Wedding packages will vary depending on the time of year and are priced at $8,000 on Fridays and $9,800 on Saturdays.

The Merrimon-Wynne House

The mansion located at 500 N Blount St, Raleigh was built in 1876 and has been well maintained and is now a venue for various events. The building has a main floor full of Southern charm. Inside are original floors and mantelshelves, ornate chandeliers, and a wide porch. The outdoor area is also large enough to host ceremonies in the garden and can accommodate up to 250 guests. Prices for receptions start at $5,000.

Fearrington Village

It's an English-style country hotel located at 2000 Fearrington Village Center. Besides the quaint country setting there are dense gardens with water features. The largest venue is the barn, which offers spacious dining and dancing space and can accommodate up to 250 people guests. Prices for ceremonies start at $2500.

South Carolina Wedding Venues

Middleton Place

This National Historic Landmark is located at 4300 Ashley River Rd, Charleston. You can experience daily life on an 18th-century plantation and enjoy 65 acres of unobstructed views and private garden rooms. Also, enjoy the oldest landscaped gardens on the property. There are 7 ceremony venues, ranging from small weddings of 50 to 400 guests. Prices start at $5,000.

William Aiken House

The 1807 mansion is located at 456 King St, Charleston, a restored mansion that showcases Southern charm and architectural elegance. The yard features a magnolia tree that is over two hundred years old and an elegant terrace. It is also rated as one of South Carolina's premier wedding venues. The cost of a ceremony starts at $3,000.

The Cedar Room

Modern industrial event space at 701 E Bay St, Charleston. Featuring exposed brick walls, high ceilings, and large windows overlooking the cityscape. The indoor Cedar Room venue can accommodate up to 500 people for events, and the outdoor yard can seat up to 200. Events on Fridays or Sundays start at $3,500.

Vermont Wedding Venues

Inn at Mountain View Farm

The Inn at 3383 Darling Hill Rd, East Burke, has breathtaking mountaintop views. Enjoy mountain biking, cross-country skiing, and visits to animal farms, among many other activities. Venues can range from beautiful fields to cozy campfires. Weekend wedding packages start at $3,500.

Hildene - The Lincoln Family Home

The building at 1005 Hildene Rd, Manchester is full of meaning. The Lincolns built Hildene as a summer home at the turn of the 20th century. Here you can look out over the Taconic Mountains to the west and the Green Mountains to the east. The outdoor venue can accommodate up to 200 people and wedding reception prices start at $8,000.
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(Hildene - The Lincoln Family Home)

The Henry House

The historic house at 1338 Murphy Rd, North Bennington, built in 1769, is one of the oldest surviving houses in Vermont. Overlooks the authentic red-covered Henry Bridge. The site offers several vendors for you to consider. The large trees outside the house make for the best wedding photos. The venue needs to be contacted for a specific quote.

Massachusetts Wedding Venues

The Crane Estate

This is a Tudor Revival mansion located at 290 Argilla Rd, Ipswich. It was the summer home of Mr. and Mrs. Richard Taylor Crane, Jr. with winding salt marshes, miles of barrier beaches, and a beautiful hilltop mansion. And of course the rolling lawns and gardens. There are three sites to choose from in all, with the beachfront site accommodating 200 to 500 people. Weekend weddings are priced at $6500.

Red Lion Inn

The Inn at 30 Main St, Stockbridge has a 250-year history. The entire Inn combines traditional New England hospitality with the amenities of a modern hotel. The largest Hitchcock room capacity is capacity 30-175 people. Venue rentals start at $4,000.

Liberty Hotel

A sophisticated hotel located at 215 Charles St, Boston. Located in the heart of downtown, just steps from shopping, dining, Boston Parks, and more. The hotel offers a private secret garden that can accommodate up to 200 people outdoors and an indoor 3000-square-foot ballroom. Wedding venue rates start at $26,000 for up to 100 guests.

Connecticut Wedding Venues

The Lace Factory

This historic factory is located at 161 River St, Deep River, and offers a charming and rustic atmosphere for a wedding venue. It has wood floors, high ceilings, and large windows overlooking the river. The Lace Factory offers event planning services, on-site catering, and a variety of rental options for weddings of all sizes. The Factory can accommodate up to 225 people and prices start at $5,000.

Eolia Mansion at Harkness State

The address is 275 Great Neck Rd, Waterford. Nestled on the shoreline of Waterford, Connecticut, this elegant mansion offers breathtaking views of Long Island Sound. It has manicured gardens, a stone terrace, and a beautiful ballroom. The price of $5,100 includes exclusive use of the mansion's first floor and south courtyard tent for 5 hours.

The Society Room of Hartford

This event venue is located at 31 Pratt St, Hartford, and the historic venue boasts magnificent architecture. It includes a marble staircase, beautifully frescoed ceilings, and crystal chandeliers. It provides a luxurious and timeless setting for weddings. The venue can accommodate up to 300 guests and prices start at 15,000.

New Hampshire Wedding Venues

Wentworth By The Sea Country Club

Country Club at 60 Wentworth Rd, Rye. This private club is near the shore and enjoys magnificent waterfront views and a romantic atmosphere. The hotel has manicured grounds and a historic clubhouse. It can accommodate up to 250 guests in this setting. Three options are available: lawn, clubhouse, and tent weddings. Reception prices start at $30,000.

The Preserve at Chocorua

This venue, located at 88 Philbrick Neighborhood Rd, Tamworth, is a rustic and secluded wedding venue nestled in the White Mountains. It offers scenic views, a charming barn, and plenty of outdoor space for the ceremony. Outdoor activities such as sleigh rides and hiking are also available. Approximate prices will start at $1000.

Bishop Farm

The Farmhouse, located at 33 Bishop Cutoff, Lisbon, is a historic and beautifully landscaped site in the White Mountains. It offers a restored 1876 farmhouse, a barn, and lush greenery. There is also a romantic bistro with a terrace to relax in. Accommodating up to 200 guests, prices start at $15,000.

Rhode Island Wedding Venues

The Chanler at Cliff Walk

A luxury hotel located at 117 Memorial Blvd, Newport. The Chanler offers luxurious accommodations and a grand mansion setting with stunning views of the Atlantic Ocean and access to their world-class restaurant. Specializing in weddings for up to 120 guests with access to their world-class restaurant. Site rentals start at $10,000.

Blithewold Mansion, Gardens & Arboretum

Historic mansion on 33 acres located at 101 Ferry Rd, Bristol with breathtaking views of Narragansett Bay. Large tents are available in the outdoor area, followed by sunset views. Accommodating up to 225 guests, weekend wedding rates start at $12,995.

The Dorrance

Situated in the heart of Providence, The Dorrance is a restored bank building with a sophisticated atmosphere and elegant decor. The most special feature is the long, luxurious bar, which can accommodate up to 200 guests throughout the venue. Venue rentals start at $7,500.

New Jersey Wedding Venues

The Ashford Estate

Located at 637 Province Line Rd, Allentown, this elegant property is nestled in a picturesque setting. Surrounded by hundreds of acres of beautifully preserved farmland, it features sparkling fountains, waterfalls, garden pavilions, expansive views, and of course, luxurious private suites. The wedding venue can accommodate up to 300 guests. Starting at $10,000.

Mallard Island Yacht Club

A club surrounded by water at 1450 NJ-72, Manahawkin. six more venues to choose from in the luxurious private island mansion. The center plaza boasts grand arches and ornate ceilings reminiscent of old-world glamour. The ballroom can accommodate up to 250 people, and prices for receptions start at $20,000.

Liberty House Restaurant & Events

This waterfront event venue is located at 76 Audrey Zapp Dr, Jersey City. It features unparalleled views of the New York City skyline, Ellis Island, the Statue of Liberty, and the Liberty Landing Pier. The Grand Ballroom features a marble floor and floor-to-ceiling windows. The venue can accommodate up to 300 people and venue rental fees start at $8,000.

Delaware Wedding Venues

The Queen Wilmington

This dazzling venue is located at 500 N Market St, Wilmington is downtown. It is a historic music venue that offers a unique and eclectic atmosphere. The venue features a grand ballroom with a stage, state-of-the-art sound system, and elegant décor. The venue can accommodate up to 200 guests and wedding reception prices start from $3,000.

The Cordrey Center

The address is 30366 Cordrey Rd, Millsboro, and its restored barn and surrounding gardens provide a rustic and charming setting. The venue offers a range of services, including in-house catering, bar service, and event coordination. It has indoor and outdoor options and can accommodate up to 200 guests. Venue rental rates start at $3,500.

The Waterfall Catering and Special Events

With an address at 3416 Philadelphia Pike, Claymont, The Waterfall has a modern venue. Centered around a stunning indoor waterfall. The spacious ballroom features contemporary décor and customizable LED lighting systems. The venue can accommodate up to 500 guests. Prices for venue rentals start at $6,000.

Maryland Wedding Venues

Belvedere Hotel

Located at 1 East Chase Street and built-in 1902 as a historic landmark in Baltimore, The Belvedere showcases stunning architecture and classic charm. It offers a variety of event spaces, including a rooftop ballroom with panoramic views of the city. Inside, the décor is more vintage and ornate. Accommodating up to 500 guests, venue rentals start at $8,000.

Evergreen Museum & Library

This grand Gilded Age mansion is located at 4545 N Charles St, Baltimore. It is full of history with a house museum and research library. With beautiful gardens, this venue offers a mix of elegance and history. It's architectural details and scenic surroundings provide a unique backdrop. As well as a tour of the museum's collection. Accommodates up to 200 guests and starts at $6,000.

Chesapeake Bay Beach Club

Located at 500 Marina Club Rd, Stevensville, this venue offers stunning waterfront views and an elegant ballroom. It also has an oceanfront ceremony venue and luxurious accommodations. There are four ballrooms in total, three indoor and one outdoor. Accommodations for up to 300 guests start at $10,000.

District of Columbia Wedding Venues

Larz Anderson House

Located at 2118 Massachusetts Ave NW, Washington, the Anderson House, established in 1905, is a stunning Beaux-Arts mansion that offers a romantic and intimate setting for weddings. The venue features beautiful gardens, a grand staircase, and gorgeous rooms decorated with historic artwork. It can accommodate up to 200 guests and has access to the house's magnificent library. Prices start from $8,000.

The Hay-Adams

Located at 800 16th St NW, Washington, across from the White House, the hotel offers magnificent views of the iconic landmark. This venue has many event spaces, including a rooftop terrace from which the White House can be used as a photo backdrop. Wedding venues can accommodate up to 250 guests and prices start at $15,000.

National Museum of Women in the Arts

Located at 1250 New York Ave NW, Washington, this unique venue celebrates women artists and offers a distinctive setting for weddings. With its stunning architecture and world-class art collection, it provides an exquisite atmosphere for your special day. The venue offers a variety of event spaces, including an assembly hall and mezzanine level, and can accommodate up to 400 guests. However, the museum is temporarily closed for renovations.

Maine Wedding Venues

Hidden Pond

The resort's address is 354 Goose Rocks Rd, Kennebunkport, and is nestled in a secluded wooded area. Featuring elegant indoor and outdoor spaces. Surrounded by 60 acres of birch and balsam fir, it features two outdoor pools and a three-room treetop spa. It ensures an unforgettable wedding experience. Prices start from US$10,000.

Hardy Farm

The farm is located at 254 W Fryeburg Rd, Fryeburg. This rustic and chic site features a restored 18th-century farmhouse and a spacious barn with panoramic mountain views. Of course, there are also seasonal gardens and a woodland church. The most special feature is the provision of a cable car to reach the top of the mountain, which is also a popular backdrop for photos. It can accommodate up to 250 guests and prices start from $6,500.

Portland Regency Hotel & Spa

The address is 20 Milk St, Portland, and is centrally located, offering a blend of classic elegance and modern amenities. With many event spaces, on-site catering, and a spa, it can accommodate intimate and large weddings. Accommodations range from 10 to 220 guests, with rates starting at $3,500.

Conclusion

"When you realize you want to spend the rest of your life with somebody, you want the rest of your life to start as soon as possible." When Harry Met Sally
Finally, we've rounded up our recommendations for wedding venues in each of the remaining states. Choosing the perfect wedding venue is an important step in creating your dream wedding. It sets the tone for the entire celebration and provides the backdrop for your special day. No matter what style of wedding venue you prefer, there is a venue above that perfectly suits your style and preferences.
Last but not least, don't forget to check out Quictent's wedding tent. we offer quality wedding tents for your outdoor wedding, containing various types and sizes.

The day seemed like it would be ordinary until the aeronautical community’s most sought after document showed up on my doorstep.
It came wrapped in brown kraft paper tied off with twine, and the exterior packaging had no return address nor any indication of a postage stamp. It was as though it had been simply bundled up and dropped into my wall-mounted mailbox by a random passerby.
No part of me was willing to surrender the strange parcel without opening it first. Regardless of who its contents truly belonged to, my eyes would be the first to see it. I removed the twine and then dug a thumb under a fold in the packaging paper before clawing it away to expose a brown tan notebook circa 1900. It was full grain buffalo leather with a crisscross of cord for the spine and a thick hand cut string keeping it sealed shut.
When I undid the string, the pages that had been gripped tight by the leather fanned out gently then returned to their original position, my eyes landing on the front page. It was without a printer’s mark and read in big handwritten type: “THE DIARY AND RECORD OF HENRY H. HELGELAND.”
I knew in that instant the package was in the hands of who it was rightfully sent out for. Not just because I’d recently lost my job as an associate at our city’s art museum but because of a separate, much deeper connection to the diary’s author.
Perhaps it’s in my best interests to turn it over to the National Archives, or the US Arctic Research Commission, or maybe even the U.S. Capitol Visitor Center, but at the risk of seeing it blue-penciled to death, I’ve elected to instead share it here and now.
The world needs to know what happened.
---
Henry H. Helgeland — my great grandfather — was a severe looking man with a walrus mustache and a bone to pick with anyone who ever doubted him. He was born in Oakland, California in 1871 and was, by all available accounts relayed to me, well-behaved and well-liked. His father worked a lucrative job in the shipping industry, transporting timber between San Francisco and the Central Valley. Two years into Henry’s life, his mother would contract a fatal case of diphtheria and die shortly thereafter; when he was old enough to understand what had happened, Henry “yearn[ed] fervently for a reunion to mend [his] great anguish and sorrow.”
Near the turn of the 20th century, Henry attended Stanford University’s Department of Mechanical Engineering, where he learned everything from thermodynamics to machine design. But it was a lecture about polar transportation that would ultimately kindle his interest in a separate enterprise: arctic exploration. Indeed, the race to the North Pole was well underway, with naval officers, geologists, and aeronauts around the globe vying for the chance to make history. My great grandfather, like many of his peers, propounded the theory that he, and he alone, would be the first to reach the Great White North.
In 1895, Henry graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in mechanical engineering and sought to expand the member list of the so called Ascension Society, a student organization he’d assembled to aid engineering graduates with materials science. Many of its constituents had engaged in research projects and experimental setups to hone their craft of mechanical systems, but in time, however, the venture would instead prove a hotspot for investors and philanthropists. Donations averaging up to $5,000 helped fund and promote the fantastic ambitions of my great grandfather. So long as the Ascension Society was gracing him with their support, he’d be the first to reach the North Pole.
In early 1898, armed with enough capital, Henry used the proceeds to purchase the materials required for the balloon.
---
A notable circus at the forefront of traveling attractions in the early twentieth century was The Fielding Troupe. With its impressive lineup of talent — from fire eaters and aerialists to equestrians and strongmen — the ensemble drew crowds from nearly every town in western America during its historic run. Its wide reach would ultimately reel in many notable faces, including my great grandfather.
Prior to a performance in Oakland, the Fielding Troupe led a procession through the town around Stanford University, announcing their arrival with a parade of wagons, floats, and animals. The strategy, as it were, was to drum up as much publicity and fanfare as possible. Evidently it worked, as a healthy fraction of the faculty and student body at Stanford made the trip over to Oakland in order to see the troupe in action.
Surrounding their arena with two hundred feet of heavy duty tent canvas, the troupe put on a show for the ages the night Henry was in attendance, with extravagant acrobatics, trained animal performances, and a special appearance from Curtis the Clown. Following a skillful display of juggling and good natured audience ribbing, Curtis’s master stroke was an intricate stunt involving balloons and wire flying. Firstly, he would inflate several multi-colored balloons and tie them off with string, securing them firmly in his grip. They served as a flashy distraction from the piece of flexible metal snaking out from the harness he had concealed under his equally flashy costume. Then, with a whisper of strength, a couple stagehands hoisted the balloon-carrying clown thirty feet into the air to make it appear as though he was levitating by virtue of the balloons alone. A separate performer — a marksman — showed off his sharpshooting skills with a Winchester model rifle and gunned down the balloons, exploding each one as the stagehands loosened their hold on Curtis’s harness until he was eased to the ground.
Henry watched the routine with eager delight. Seeing Curtis the Clown float above a hundred or so onlookers helped stir within him a plan. The ceiling of the Big Top Tent where Curtis had concluded his ascent represented more than the centerpiece of a traveling circus.
“Ascendancy,” Henry muttered to his wife Ruth. “This is how we get to the top of the world.”
---
The spherical vessel measured sixty-five feet in diameter, with a capacity of over 200,000 cubic feet. Its construction was overseen by Henry and a couple french engineers who installed in its gondola three berths and ample ballast to keep it stable. The gondola, a carefully constructed assemblage of wicker and chestnut wood, was built as such to bar any interference to the magnetic instruments of the explorers. Keeping it shielded against severe weather conditions was a varnished silk calotte and a vaselined net composed of over four-hundred hemp cords. A bamboo pole was attached bellow the carrying ring to attach the side sails and, perhaps most notably, the balloon was fitted with hemp and cocoa nut fiber guide ropes to help steer and maintain a consistent altitude.
After two years of exhaustive construction, work on the balloon was completed in 1900. Henry named it Ascension, after the society that funded its creation.
---
What follows are several selected passages lifted directly from Henry’s memorandum, transcribed by me. The first entry reads:
“At nine o'clock on the forenoon, May 5, 1900, under the auspices of the Ascension Society, we embarked from the 71st parallel on our quest of the Pole. Our great journey sets off from Point Barrow, Alaska following a grueling adventure aboard the steamer Sursum. I, Henry Helgeland, travel forth, accompanied by Charles Ringvold, esteemed navigator, and Edward Meyer, long celebrated physician, into the arctic wilderness. Together, our efforts will generate a most formidable team and an unwavering spirit. We will ascend.”
Indeed, the SS Sursum disembarked from a port in San Francisco in mid May of that year; it offered easy access to the Pacific Ocean and sailed through the Bering Strait, covering over 3,000 nautical miles before reaching Point Barrow on July 2.
When the balloon took off, carried by a fierce north east wind, it was to a thunderous applause from those that had come to bear witness to the bold endeavor. Among them were crew members of the SS Sursum, high ranking associates of the Ascension Society, and carpenters tasked with helping the balloon reach its initial phase of liftoff.
As it elevated to 300 hundred feet and passed around an onlooking whaler, Henry was reported to have shouted: “To the top of the world, hurrah!”
---
36 hours would elapse before a second entry was made.
“July 4, 1900, Lat. 77° 48' N, Long. 143° 4' W. We are soaring at a height of 600 feet above the Earth's surface, traveling at a speed of approximately seven kilometers per hour. Our morale remains similarly aloft. Charles relayed to me that, God willing, we anticipate reaching the pole in roughly 800 miles. Beyond the drag ropes lending their ballast to our journey, optimism is our guiding force. We will ascend.”
Turbulent air currents had a different plan in mind, however.
“July 5, 1900, Lat. 80° 8' N, Long. 138° 37' W. Alas! Our aerial journey came to an abrupt halt yestereve on the 80th parallel. We voyaged as many as 500 miles before a forceful downdraft spun our vehicle on its vertical axle and compelled it into a sharp descent; we had lost what we estimate to be just over 100 cubic feet of gas.
“Edward suffered severe injuries during the initial impact and claims his vertebrae have been shattered, leaving him immobile. We’re at the mercy of the floe on which we now rest, at the mercy of the Polar Sea. Should we face the specter of death, we shall meet it with unwavering honor. We will ascend.”
---
“July 6, 1900. We find ourselves solitary in the barren expanse, accompanied only by bergs, ice-fields, and majestic glaciers. Our rations encompass a container’s worth of hardtack, enough salted beef for approximately one week, canned stew, dried apricots, some chocolate bars, and seven bottles of ale.
“Edward’s outlook remains grim; he suspects he’ll never walk again. In witness of his current state, I’m beginning to share in such apprehensions. Edward, whom we have reposed on on of our sledges, fears that the opportunity to make known the great love he holds for his mistress Rebecca is one he’ll never be granted. ‘You shall be reunited at once,’ I assured him. ‘Our journey to triumph will not be thwarted by minor inconveniences.’
“We’ve plotted the course to our next destination: that being Herschel Island, located off the coast of Canada in the Beaufort Sea. Charles — who shares in Edward’s dismay — estimates a three month footslog spanning just under one thousand miles is in store for us, perhaps more given Edward’s ailment. I am determined to see this mission to its completion, yet survival remains a paramount desire. Who’s to recount our extraordinary journey should we fail?
“While establishing our encampment and scouting the local flora of the area for additional sources of sustenance, I happened upon a plant of an unknown species. Half a meter tall, bulbous tubers, and thin roots terminating in clusters of white flowers; intuition suggests this is a water hemlock, which precludes it from edibility. Nevertheless, I shall regard this finding as one of great fortune. A portent of divine value. We will ascend.”
---
Two days later, gold prospectors off the Alaskan coast at Nome beach were in the process of emptying their sluice boxes when from the sky flew a carrier pigeon directly to their mining site. It bore a label with the inscription “Helgeland” and contained the following dispatch:
“July 7, 1900. First dog watch. Three southerly traveling carrier-pigeons were sent off at approximately 7 h. 40 p.m. Pacific Standard Time, the following among them. This is Rear Admiral Charles Ringvold of the United States Navy and the Helgeland Balloon Expedition of 1900. Our hopes of reaching the pole have been reduced to naught. Assistance urgently needed. Our destinies have hitherto been unknown, and now my fears have been actualized. GO IN TERROR OF HENRY HELGELAND. He is not who he proclaims to be. I volunteered for a man of honorable stature and venturesome drive. The man before me betrays neither.”
The remainder of the message was a hasty scrawl, decrypted only by the best in linguistics and modern codebreaking.
“UNASSISTED WE WILL PERISH HELPED WE WILL PERSEVERE PLEASE GOD HELP US HENRY WILL KILL US ALL DO NOT BELIEVE WHAT HE PROCLAIMS.”
The communication was immediately passed off to the Smithsonian Institution, where word fell within the earshot of Ascension Society proponents and additional members of the US Navy. A follow-up expedition — a rescue team led by Captain S. P. Matthews — was put together at once with the authorization of the Secretary of War.
Months later, after a congressional bill introduced to secure grant funding for arctic exploration — and thereby a rescue mission for Helgeland’s lost expedition — was successfully passed, the USS Greenwich departed from the San Francisco Naval Shipyard with a crew of thirty boatswains, medics, and deck officers among others.
What they would ultimately uncover puzzled them all.
---
“July 7, 1900. The team has fractured. We are without our provisions and without the morale that has served us thusly.
“Charles and I set upon the pursuit and capture of a walrus, a most strenuous task in the Arctic Circle. Furnished with a Winchester model .40-82, the sport skews in our favor but we are in no short supply of peril. These are one ton beasts with the strength of a hundred strongmen as they stave the ice, and yet it is not them I should have feared.
“’I can’t allow you to proceed further.’ I heard the click clack racket of the Winchester as Charles chambered a round and raised the rifle, training its twenty inch barrel toward my back after I had volunteered — quite ignorantly — to take the vanguard.
“’Charles?’ I managed between clattering teeth.
“’You’re a man of bold stature. An honorable man at that. But not honorable enough to die for. And that’s it, Henry. I will not die for you.’
“’You speak out of distress, not rationality.’
“’I’m as rational as one permits when I say we won’t all make it to Canada. You can’t expect us to sledge Edward for the next month and retain our strength. Our sanities.” I could hear him gulp, ‘our lives.’
“’You’re not who you say you are.’ I realized in that moment. ‘Not even an ensign would renounce his own crew. Who are you really, Charles?’
“His credentials were a farce; a clever scheme to scrape through the expedition’s vetting process. He was no navy-man nor expert nor navigator and if you piled his life’s accomplishments on top of one another, they’d be equal to that of a cretin.
“’Doesn’t matter any more, Henry.’
“’Then why haven’t you shot me?’
“I sensed beyond his terror a hint of reluctance and felt within him the trepidation of an amateur. The man had never wielded a firearm in his life and wouldn’t start hence.
“’In Your infinite mercy, hear my prayer. In Your boundless grace, grant me Your forgiveness,’ he muttered below his breath. I could’ve believed he’d have squeezed the trigger if not for the unexpected convulsion that suddenly brought him to his knees. Befallen by the strange attack, Charles unhanded the Winchester and collapsed to the ice in the midst of a crippling seizure. And in a matter of moments, he had succumbed to death.
“With some activated charcoal or perhaps an emetic, he could have eluded such a painful demise. I stepped over to look upon his body, his pupils dilated to the size of dimes. Reviewing the immediate symptoms, intuition tells me he’s become the latest victim of hemlock poisoning, the kind of amateur mistake I’d expect from someone such as Charles. Ideal timing, if I may speak candidly.
“Hope remains alive. I will ascend.”
---
Investigators with the crew of S. P. Matthews found everything except answers.
It took them all of three months to zero in on the campsite left behind by Helgeland’s expedition. Any prospect of finding the balloon itself was dropped by the wayside to preserve manpower and time.
The camp was discovered on the 79th parallel, not in any particular state of disarray but with enough evidence to suggest conflict had broken out between the members. Edward was discovered in a tent with the rest of the rations and a bullet hole stamped in the side of his head. There was no telling how long he’d been dead for.
Forty-five meters away from the camp, buried under a stalagmitic gathering of ice and snow, was the body of Charles Ringvold. A followup inquiry would prove my great grandfather’s claims that he was a fraud, but like Charles himself, the truth is buried deep under the surface. Edward and Charles are commemorated for their failed — albeit honorable — efforts in the face of great opposition.
The body of my great grandfather, however, was never found. Theories thus abound in the saga of Henry H. Helgeland and we are no more the wiser now than we were a century ago. He is remembered for murdering his men in cold blood, deserting them, and then yielding to the elements somewhere in the frozen hell of the arctic. The carrier-pigeon message sent by Charles corroborated the apparent facts.
But I know the truth. Because only I have the answers.
“July 8, 1900. All that remains is me, for everyone else has vanished. Edward and I regaled each other with stories of our mistresses as night fell upon our place in the arctic wasteland. Rebecca, Edward’s beloved, works as an expert seamstress in San Francisco and will no doubt be devastated when news of his fate reaches her. But the great memories they shared together, I assured him, will serve her well in the years to come.
“‘You shall be reunited at once,’ I whispered to him once more before executing the dying man with the Winchester. It is my turn to face whatever awaits me on the ice.
“My great anguish and sorrow have been mended.
“Ruth is calling to me now. Our son promptly requires our presence.
“I shall go to them."
The fruitless search for my great grandfather peaked at last with the unearthing of a path of footprints snaking away from the tent where Edward’s body lay. Investigators followed them for approximately ten meters before they abruptly ceased. Captain Matthews is quoted as saying: “it was as though the walker had simply floated away.”
And indeed, it was our family that won in the end, for my great grandfather received exactly what he wanted. The final, undated entry of his diary is comprised of but three simple words:
“I have ascended.”

The Grandscape development is already huge with a Scheels sporting goods store, Nebraska Furniture Mart, open air plazas, restaurants and bars, an observation wheel, and apartment space. Office towers and hotels are either already built or planned for the near future. However, a museum should also be built to enhance revenue and business at the development and bring in more tourism. Potential operators include the Nasher, Perot, and Meadows as they could potentially open a branch at the Grandscape.

Hello all. Any comments on this busy itinerary appreciated.
Active family of 5 ages 17 to 55 with our own rental vehicle. We like to hike and be active. We will likely not get back to Ireland again. I realize this is a busy schedule with several packed days. Any comments appreciated. We usually like a day or two at the end so we don't get home exhausted.
July 15 arrive Dublin from US at 10:30am Drive to Killarney.....May stop at Waterford Crystal and Blarney Castle. Yes we will be tired. 3 nights in Killarney lodging
July 16 and 17 Killarney area July 16 Killarney National Park, Possible trip to Dingle, catch up on sleep July 17 Ring of Kerry and skellig ring
July 18 Leave early towards the Cliffs of Moher 2 hours at Cliffs of Moher Drive to Galway and stay near there for the night
July 19 Ferry from Rosaveel to Inishmore Aran Island Spent 3-5 hours on the island; rent bikes Drive to somewhere near Clifden for the night
July 20 Enjoy Connemara area; possibly 4 hour hike Drive to Westport and lodge for the night
July 21 Enjoy Achill Island for first 2/3 of the day Drive 4 hours to Derry for nights lodging
July 22 Big day but think can do it Start at 7:30 am with drive to Giants Causeway 1.5 hours at Causeway Drive 1.5 hours to Belfast 1.5 hours at Titanic Museum Drive 2.25 hours to Dublin Lodging 3 nights in Dublin
July 23 and 24 in Dublin near downtown Take in sights, possible day trip to Kilkenny or Wicklow moutains The Book of Kells, Trinity College, EPIC museum, St Stephen's Green Relax for a moment or two
July 25 Leave Dublin airport
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What would you add or subtract or make sure you see in some of the locations above?
If u/scorchio77 has any comments too. I would welcome them.
Thank you kindly in advance!!
Have a great day!

I am a 58 y/o US citizen man married to a 58 y/o dual US/Irish citizen man. We currently live and work in the US. We have decided that we would like to retire to Europe.
My wife's employer offers BlueCross BlueShield PPO health insurance for life which includes Global Core and thus covers us globally. We've looked at the provider list and it's quite impressive: nearly every major city in the entirety of the EU/EEA/UK/Switzerland has an in-network provider and we've confirmed that all elective/emergency procedures will be covered even if done abroad. Of course, we can also choose to come back to the US for care should we choose (e.g. for a joint replacement or cancer treatment). All covered at in-network rates.
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Current liquid assets in brokerage accounts of around $5 million and retirement accounts of around $1.5 million. We own our house outright and it's worth around $1.2 million. We would sell our house before emigrating and thus would add that to our liquid assets.
We've travelled extensively in Europe and are looking for the following:
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• A) Somewhere that is extremely walkable/bikeable with excellent public transportation.
• B) English or French language preferred as those are the European languages we speak (we each speak a non-European language as well which will not be useful in Europe). If English or French are not the local language, then at least somewhere where we can easily get by just with those two languages. Neither of us is interested in learning another language.
• C) Lots of cultural and food activities (e.g. shows, museums, restaurants, etc).
• D) Excellent health care (cost is not relevant due to our liquid assets as well as our health insurance as stated above: we just need the quality of care to be excellent).
• E) Not cold (we absolutely hate cold)
• F) Major airport that is reasonably easily accessible with frequent flights back to the eastern United States

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Our short list currently includes London, Dublin, Paris, and Geneva. We have been to all four before, but we plan on spending the next year travelling extensively throughout Europe visiting these and other cities for extensive periods of time (a month ideally) and seeing if we could envision ourselves there. But I also wanted to query this subreddit to see if there are other cities or towns we should consider spending a month exploring as a possible retirement option.

Follow-up to my last post:
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An Attenborough documentary on dinosaurs with the same CGI that made The Jungle Book so lifelike? I couldn't think of a greater sell. But was it worth it? Would it give me the same sense of wonder that I felt when Walking with Dinosaurs came out 22 years earlier?
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The first episode, "Coasts", is overall the strongest episode of season 1. Starting immediately with a swimming t-rex (Tyrannosaurus rex) leading his children to an island where he smelled a dead archelon (species unknown, as no Maastrichtian-age archelon was ever found in the fossil record), that first scene showed the promise of the show as a whole. Seeing CG baby t-rexes interacting with live-action baby turtles is both concerning (as sea turtles are currently endangered) and entertaining, as they are demonstrated pretty goofily. But after that, we are done with dinosaurs for the rest of the episode.
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We cut to the one scene that, while endearing with a riveting soundtrack by power couple Anže Rozman and Kara Talve, does give me pause. The pterosaurs featured in that episode were based on bones so fragmentary that they couldn't be diagnosed. How can we be sure that Barbaridactylus was a member of the antlerwing family, Phosphatodraco a member of the simurgh family, or even Tethydraco a member of the pteranodon family? How do we even know what Alcione even looked like? Also, the score doesn't really match the slower, less urgent movements of the pterosaurs.
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The next scene was described as "the sunken continent of Zealandia", which is a refresher to see the lost continent bearing recognition for a change. Here, a family of plesiosaurs (Tuarangisaurus keyesi) comes to the coast to gulp themselves on anti-buoyant rocks, while the males ceremoniously poke their long, heavy necks up to the surface, the only good moment in an otherwise generic sequence.
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After a quick focus on coral, we get treated to a Hoffmann's mosasaur (Mosasaurus hoffmanni) relying on fish and shrimp to give him a good, proper scratch, only to be pushed out of turn by a younger male. This sequence sticks out to me because it shows mosasaurs being portrayed as animals, not as monsters to shadow Nigel Marven or kaijuified Blackfish bootlegs.
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The next scene shows a dazzling, mesmerizing mating ceremony of ammonites ("scaphitids", they were called, but that doesn't determine specific species, as it was a very huge family). They glow in the dark and mate very particularly. If the male's flashes don't sync with those of the female, he'd be rejected. Complimenting this alien but still soothing scene is Rozman and Talve's equally alien and soothing score.
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Back in Zealandia, we end with plesiosaur pod mentality, as the whole group defends a pregnant mother from a kaika taniwha (Kaikaifilu hervei). As with the previous plesiosaur scene, it wasn't a scene that I got too crazy about.
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The next episode, "Deserts", isn't really as impactful as the Planet Earth episode of the same name, both in regards to execution and the musical score, and it was riddled with confusing scene decisions. The first scene demonstrates a lek of dreadnoughts (Dreadnoughtus schrani) acting like a combination of elephant seals and frigatebirds, right down to the pops on their necks. The score in that sequence is definitely memorable, as it (literally) highlights the weights that the males take to demonstrate their fitness to attract the gaggle of girls in the audience. Though I'm left wondering--did the upstart beat the veteran because he was stronger, or because he popped one of the veteran's neck balloons, as male frigatebirds would do to ditch the competish?
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Once the sauropod show is over, we now move to what was presumed to be Nemegtia, but it was portrayed to be as dry as Djadochta, which leads to the next problem. While there was evidence of Maastrichtian-age velos in Central Asia, calling them "Velociraptor" is just wrong. I grew up watching Walking with Dinosaurs, which means I watched "Giant of the Skies", which featured Utahraptor in the wrong place at the wrong time. And while the American cut justifies this with a demonstration of a land bridge that connected North America to Europe, I don't know how much water that holds, and that doesn't seem to be relevant anyway, for the damage has already been done. So having in Velociraptor, a genus of velos that went extinct 71 million years ago, in Nemegtia, which was set 66 million years ago, is just a rehash of that previous mistake. In short, Prehistoric Planet has Utahraptor'd the Velociraptor. And besides, hasn't the picture of pack-hunting raptors already been discarded?
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The next scene, the one with the Nemegtian mononych (Mononykus olecranus), is cute but not top-notch memorable, and its color choice is teetering way close to the point of plagiarism.
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Afterwards, the brief but violent rains have created a watering hole in the middle of the desert, luring in dinosaurs and pterosaurs from miles around, including a wandering khan (Tarbosaurus bataar). The reason that scene is so low was that it was just a near-identical rotoscope of the Water Truce sequence from The Jungle Book, right down to the herbivores making a clearing for the khan.
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Then we go high up to see more Barbaridactylus. This scene I wasn't aware was a problem until Unnatural History Channel brought it up in his video, but the females were shown to be oddly consensual towards the similar-looking sneaky males, who use their feminine appearances to sneak past the larger, more impressive males. This is a problem, apparently, because the more extreme the sexual dimorphism, the more likely the sneaky male will be rejected and therefore resort to assaulting the females.
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The last scene is an interesting one, albeit one that suffered an unmemorable score in the soundtrack. Apparently, salty southern duckbills (Secernosaurus koerneri) can thrive on dunes of gypsum, but when rains hit the coast, they rely on both their tenacity and their know-how of the sky to get to more productive grazing. This scene stands out to me because I question why any large animal would choose to thrive on such a taxing environment. It'd make sense for an animal as small as the cryptile, the scrofa and the gryken from The Future is Wild, but not for a duckbill bigger than 16 feet long.
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It is unanimously agreed upon that "Freshwater" is the weakest episode in the first season. Apart from the humpbacked false duckbill (Deinocheirus mirificus) getting a scratch in the swamps of a more accurate Nemegtia and the devil frog (Beelzebufo ampinga) making a snack out of a baby whacktooth (Masiaksaurus knoplferi), the habitat itself has been relegated to the backseat, which is why the mating scene of the t-rex and the laying magnificent simurgh (Quetzalcoatlus northropi) are on the C tier, good scenes that have been damaged by simply being in the wrong episode. Speaking of the latter, memes have popped up in which the faces of dinosaurs have been pasted over two shots of Monty Python and the Holy Grail, with either Masiakasaurus or the Planet Dinosaur model of Majungasaurus being Galahad and the Quetzalcoatlus being the French taunter ("What are you doing in Africa?" "MIND YOUR OWN BUSINESS!") when, really, that meme is more applicable to Velociraptor being in the Maastrichtian. On that topic, not only is it STILL in the wrong time, there is another problem, one I didn't pay attention to until Unnatural History Channel brought it up on his video. Instead of showing audiences raptor prey restraint (or "RPR"), the storytellers relied instead on mountain cats to show the velos hunting the pterosaurs (species unknown). Like the Deserts episode, Planet Earth has a far stronger "Freshwater" episode.
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"Ice Worlds" didn't excite me as much as "Spirits of the Ice Forest" did, which is a shame, because dinosaurs in the snow is a refresher by default. We start at Prince Creek, which I couldn't ask for a worse place to start because the cast list is very fragmentary. In the opening scene, a pack of raptors (species unknown, though modeled after the pitbull raptor), shadows a herd of ugrunaaluk (Edmontosaurus sp.) for a long-delayed meal. Again, the picture of raptors hunting in packs has been debunked for a very long time now. Why insist on resorting to old cliches?
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The Ornithomimus scene (can't think of a vernacular for them), while the designs look cool and add distinction to overall character, is still just a rotoscope of the Adelie penguin sequence from "Frozen Planet". Next.
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The sequence with the swanneck (Olorotitan arharensis) is even less impressive. Are horsetails really more nutritious than grass? If so, then why have grasslands been the dominant plains since the Miocene?
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The reason the scene with the tro-o is relatively low on the tier list is that it should have been longer, because a dinosaur with the intellect of a fire hawk is a very interesting prospect. But the final scene was just too short and too bland to show off any real gold.
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We have spent so much time in the north that I question the necessity of a quick detour to Antarctica, rendering the scene with the polar macahutiul (Antarctopelta oliveroi) my least favorite of the series.
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The final scene demonstrates the predator-prey dynamic between the northern boss (Pachyrhinosaurus perotorum) and the nanook (Nanuqsaurus hoglundi). The scene is great, the score has some very rhythmic moments, but what puts it low on the B tier are the nanooks themselves. From a distance, they look as good as most of the others. But in closeup, they look kind of fake, especially when they're running. Which brings up to the next problem--the story is based on fossil footprints of different lines pointing in the same direction. But how do we know that those parallel tracks were made at the same time and not separated within hours, days or even weeks of each other? And while it is true that nanooks were smaller than t-rexes, their portrayals in the show were just too small. More recent consensus shows that one nanook could easily match a boss in size, if not overtop it.
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"Forests" is an everywhere kind of episode. The opening scene with the austroposeidon (Austroposeidon magnificus) is not long enough to get me invested.
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Then a herd of trikes (Triceratops, species unknown) visits a cave to visit a clay lick to neutralize the poisons from their plant food. But why clay? Why not salt? Herbivores can clearly deal with poisonous plants without problem, but plants lack sodium, which is why the elephants of Mount Elgon (the inspiration behind that scene) scrape the caves not for clay, but for salt.
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This next scene has gotten everyone talking. A male minotaur (Carnotaurus sastrei) clears the stage to wave his arms around to impress an impossibly stoic female. Everything about that scene--from the choreography to the score--is very goofy, and that is what makes it work so well.
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While it is nice to finally see the Pinocchio-rex (Qianzhousaurus sinensis) in the flesh, its hunt for bright blue corythoraptors (Corythoraptor jacobsi) is not a scene I'd be in a hurry to revisit.
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The fire scene is oddly slow, the only memorable moment in the whole sequence being my first official introduction to Atrociraptor marshalli...literally just one short week before Jurassic World: Dominion predictably ruined it.
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The scene with the baby Therizinosaurus is passable. While it is cute to imagine babies having a taste for honey, it just wasn't executed memorably.
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The final scene, the one set on Hateg Island, slogs on in pace, with the greatest focus being a bunch of odd-looking baby zalmos (Zalmoxes robustus) running and hiding from the real star of the episode, the robust simurgh (Hatzegopteryx thambena), looking more proper than how it looked in Planet Dinosaur. One question, though--weren't pterosaur wings supposed to be rounded at the tip? Sure, they've got the hands pointing backwards, but the pointed wingtips is now believed to be an outdated picture.
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So it goes without saying that years of watching a moderate quantity of Attenborough documentaries has made the watching experience of Prehistoric Planet, at least in comparison to the original Walking with Dinosaurs, a bit numb. The creature designs are good, the CGI has not faltered in its photorealism from The Jungle Book, and even the soundtrack has enough of a score to make it memorable. But it's the stories that amount to the overall numbness of the first season. They hadn't opened my eyes in the way that Walking with Dinosaurs did.
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When season 2 was announced literally one year after season 1, I had my doubts. Planet Earth 2 came out literally a decade after the first Planet Earth, and the differences in filming technology and musical score clearly show that. Same for the 16 years that separate The Blue Planet from Blue Planet 2. Dynasties 2, by contrast, came way too soon after the first Dynasties, and the end result is sloppy, from the stories being set at the tedious start rather than at the steady prime to the score from the first Dynasties being reused so often that the only episode to have any new music was "Meerkat". So to find Prehistoric Planet 2 come out literally one year after Prehistoric Planet, I was concerned that it'd be as shorthanded as Dynasties 2 was. The opening episode, "Islands", kind of suffered that, but it thankfully wasn't as severe a problem.
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The first segment of that episode struck me as odd because the adult zalmo looks weirdly identical to the baby model from last episode.
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While it is cool to see the robust simurgh being expanded upon, I personally wish we'd stayed at Hateg Island, where they'd hunt the Transylvanian dwarf duckbill (Telmatosaurus transylvanicus) and not the funky combbill (Tethyshadros insularis).
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One of season 1's most recurring complaints is "no crocodiles", which is pretty apt when you consider how diverse they were during the Cretaceous period. So to see the Malagasy armadillo (Simosuchus clarki) at all, let alone stand up against a mahjong (Majungasaurus crenatissimus), is one to remember for the ages.
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This next scene is actually pretty interesting, in which we see Adalatherium, which wasn't a true mammal, but rather something hovering closely outside the taxonomic boundaries. It's a long sequence, which is just as well, because this is as new a clade to me now as the cynodont was when Walking with Dinosaurs came out.
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As with in "Ice Worlds", a quick detour to Antarctica doesn't seem necessary to me, as the hunt between the Imperobator and the Morrosaurus feels more like a skim.
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The last scene in the episode is my personal favorite, in which a male robust simugh stands on a sandbar to do whatever it takes to impress a mate.
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"Badlands" stands out in that there are only two settings. The first one is the strongest because of how the Deccan Traps, long reputed to be the co-culprit to the fall of the dinosaur empire, has been repurposed into prime nesting estate for a herd of sauropods (Isisaurus colberti). The journey seems reckless, but volcanic sand is hot and toasty, something that a modern species of dinosaur, the megapode, also exploits as it lays its egg in the hot volcanic sand of the Solomons.
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The next scene hasn't fixed on last year's problems, in which Velociraptor is still there and it still hasn't performed RPR--it just kicks an herbivore off a cliff, and that was that.
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The nesting Corythoraptor scene didn't interest me, but what really bugged me was that the antagonist of that sequence was a kuru (Kuru kulla), a raptor who, like the pterosaurs on the "Coasts" episode, was based on incomplete, fragmentary specimens.
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The sequence with the tarchias (Tarchia, species unknown), is a refreshing detour from the previous sequence because we have a better idea as to what they would have looked like. And to see them slog around for an oasis is a second highlight (next to the Deccan nursery).
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This next scene has nothing new added from either "Time of the Titans" or "Alpha's Egg", in which a herd of baby sauropods gets picked on by larger predators on their way to the safety of the forest.
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The majority of the "Freshwater" sequences I feel fit better in "Swamps". The same unnamed pterosaurs from "Freshwater" have reappeared, this time trying to fly past an approaching population of alligators (Shamosuchus djadochtaensis).
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The next episode features a grizzly bear gathering of austroraptors (Austroraptor cabazai) hunting gar. It stands out as highly as it does because it shows a species of raptor that looks and acts differently from the usual velo or nych. Plus, we know many miles more about austroraptors than we do about Spinosaurus, so that is a relieving plus.
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The devil frog stands out in this episode, and to see a grumpy male try to fight off a herd of goavambe (Rapetosaurus krausei) is humorous. It also deviates from the usual picture of "the frog that eats dinosaurs".
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This next sequence I was very concerned the moment I saw it in the ads. Thanks to Jack Horner, the poorly-known family Pachycephalosauridae has been under very hot fire with the notion of bone sponginess being a taxonomically viable method of identification, which it really isn't because all amniotes have spongy bones in their teens. But very thankfully, this sequence does not resort to Hornerism. It shows that older males do get longer horns on the backs of their heads, not the other way around. Also, new evidence has shown that the domes may have been covered in shiny skin, so this has me asking--is the dome a boys-only trait? Could that dracorex (Pachycephalosaurus hogwartsia) skull that I saw at the Black Hills Museum just be a girl entering her sweet 16 when she died? Could those stygimoloch (Pachycephalosaurus spinifer) skulls just be those of high school footballers?
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"Swamps" ended on a high note with a couple of t-rexes hunting an anatotitan (Edmontosaurus annectens) in the dark. One just walks to the duckbill, and the animal, in its panic, goes right in the direction of the other t-rex in hiding. This perfectly reflects the current understanding that t-rexes exchanged fast running for better walking. Now can we see some duckbills fighting back, please?
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On May 26, The Little Mermaid came out in theaters. A day earlier, "Oceans" came out. If I were to choose, I'd stick to the latter, simply because we're treated to fresh new stories with a wider variety of mosasaurs and ammonites than any of the Walking with programs ever did. The scene with the hesperorns chasing bait fish only to have themselves be chased by bulldog fish (Xiphactinus) is a classic, but a good one. However, "X-fish"? What's wrong with "bulldog fish"? But the highlight, no doubt, is the final sequence, in which a Hoffmann's mosasaur killed a juvenile plesiosaur simply by ramming it great white style.
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"Freshwater" was weak due to being sorely unfocused. "North America", by contrast, is even weaker for being too rushed. Also, the "scars make the man" narrative with the trikes bugs me the most. What justification is there for that?
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This has been a very exhaustive review of Prehistoric Planet, and it's way too early for me to worry about a season 3 coming out, if there is going to be one.

Hi everyone!
I’ll make this short and sweet
I have a trip to Sweden in september and will have a friend visiting me and would love to show him around
Thing is I only know about Stockholm and not that much
I plan on taking him to either Denmark or Norway,
I already have a list of museums in stockholm an restaurants but i don’t feel like it’s nearly enough so i’m wondering if there’s anything else I should add onto my list
I also plan on taking him to Gröna Lund since thank God it’s going to be open by then and it’ll be a great chance for me to go too
I’m wondering what else is there in Malmö or Gothenburg I can take my friend to, of course I’m still searching all over to see what’s worth it and what’s not
Eventually I’ll come back with an actual list and hope you can can help me choose what’s worth our time and what is not
Anything helps!

Any shops/restaurants/cafes/museums/etc you go all the time, would like to share, or just happen to know?
I find quiet and dim places w/o many people where I can explore slowly really good. So, mines are the V&A and some antique shops & Japanese restaurants near Angel.
What’s yours?

I'm aware that there are bars and restaurants people keep going to, but I'd like to visit places i can just roam and take photos of. What would be some locations in the Byculla to Colaba region one should visit?
I work and stay near Colaba Market for reference.
Been to the chatrapati museum , gateway, Haji Ali, byculla zoo and recently to the National museum of cinema . Watched the India vs Australia match at Wankhede as well.
If there are some restaurants one can't miss , what would you recommend having there?

Hi! I'm sure you get inundated with posts like this, but I'd love some feedback on the schedule I've created for our first family trip to NYC this June. My husband and I (32, 31) are traveling with our 8 year old son and I want to make sure our schedule isn't too packed and that it's a fun experience for everyone. Here is the initial plan:
Thursday
12PM-Flight lands at JFK 12:30PM-Uber to hotel near Times Square to check in and drop off bags 1:00PM- Have lunch at a restaurant near the hotel 2:30PM - Spend the afternoon at the Rockefeller Center (Top of the Rock for views of the NYC skyline, Lego store fifth avenue, Nintendo New York, have a treat at Magnolia Bakery) 6:00PM - Pick up food on the way back to hotel or eat at the hotel restaurant, swim at hotel pool/play video games in the hotel room
Friday
8:30AM - Grab breakfast and coffee at UT47 10AM-Museum of Natural History 1PM-Lunch at Friedman’s 2:30PM-Central Park - Explore playgrounds, model boat sailing 4PM-Grab a treat from Levain 4:30PMish-Head back to hotel and relax until dinner 7:30PM- Dinner at Zero Otto Nove
Saturday
8:30AM-Grab breakfast and coffee at Hudson Bagel 10:30AM-Color Factory - NYC Interactive Art Museum 12:00PM-Museum of Ice Cream 1:30PM-Grab lunch in Chinatown (Shu Jiao Fu Zhou) 3:00PM-Ride the Staten Island Ferry to see the Statue of Liberty 4:30PM-Head back to hotel and relax before dinner 7:00PM- Head to Queen’s Night Market
Side note: I understand how touristy Times Square is. My company has partnerships with certain hotels so this is why we are staying in that area. Also, my son has wanted to see the Statue of Liberty for years, so that is an important part of the trip.
We are from Dallas and have never been to New York. I appreciate any knowledge/feedback you have to offer. Thank you! (Apologies for poor formatting.)