The Mutter Museum: A Museum of Medical Oddities-Philadelphia, PA

When I first saw the Mutter Museum featured on a television show, I knew that it was a museum that I had to visit. I finally got to go this past summer and was not disappointed...

(Photography is not permitted in the museum but I couldn't resist taking some photos with my phone. The quality is not the best but I am still glad that I can show some of what the museum has to offer)

Dried Head

The Mutter Museum is located at the College of Physicians. 
Dr. Thomas Dent Mutter donated the collection in 1858. It was originally used for medical research and education. The museum has lots of medical oddities, antique medical equipment and other interesting specimens.

Skull Collection

The museum's main floor has beautiful wood cabinets full of medical tools, wax molds, skeletons and an extensive skull collection. It was very busy when I visited so it took some time to get close to read the info in the cabinets.

Chang & Eng

The museum has a plaster cast of famous siamese twins Chang & Eng. Below the plaster cast (very hard to see in my picture) is a jar with their attached liver in it.



Soap Lady

One exhibit that I had to go back to visit a few times was of the Soap Lady. The lady died in the 19th century of yellow fever. She was buried in soil with some chemicals that turned her body into a soapy substance also called grave wax.

Here are a couple of other interesting photos that I took during my visit.

If you want to visit the Mutter Museum, get more info at http://www.collphyphil.org/Site/mutter_museum.html
The museum admission costs $14. You can get a $2 off coupon-http://www.collphyphil.org/Site/coupon.html

American Airlines Files for Ch.11 Bankruptcy Protection

This has been expected for a while...From what I have read, most do not believe it should have any impact on passengers. I sure hope not as I have a ton of AAdvantage miles in my account and recently reached AA Gold.
I wrote about it One of My Mileage Goals Reached- AA Lifetime Status 


I just saw this article on the main page of Yahoo:


American Airlines files for Ch. 11 protection

AP – 16 mins ago

FORT WORTH, Texas (AP) — The parent companies of American Airlines and its regional affiliate American Eagle are filing for Ch. 11 bankruptcy protection.

AMR Corp. and AMR Eagle Holding Corp. said Tuesday that they filed voluntary petitions to reorganize, saying it's in the best interest of the companies and its shareholders.

American says it sought protection to reduce its costs and debt to remain competitive in the airline industry.

American was the only major U.S. airline that didn't file for bankruptcy protection after the 2001 terrorist attacks.

American says labor-contract rules force it to spend at least $600 million more than other airlines.

American Airlines Twitter Gifts

A couple of weeks back I tweeted a blog post about American Airlines to Twitter. This led to a converstaion with @AmericanAir, American Airlines official Twitter Channel. After writing back and forth with them I jokingly (kind of) asked if they had any AA souvenirs to send a big fan. They immediately wrote back that they would check to see if they had anything & soon after direct messaged me asking for my mailing address.


I was wondering what they could possibly be sending me. It couldn't be an AA t-shirt since they didn't ask for my size and I also figured that it wasn't a gift of AAdvantage miles. I was hoping it would be one of those small airplace models with the airline's logo on the side...


When I got home from work the other day, a package from FedEx had arrived from AA. I excitedly opened it up and received three items.
1- AA baseball cap
2- AA red pen
3- Two AA wings sticker patches

I want to thank @AmericanAir for the nice gifts!


To reach American Airlines through Twitter , you can write to:
-Customer Service- @American Air
-AAdvantage- @AAdvantage
-Europe- @AAEurope

United Mileage Plus Shopping- Earn 1,000 Bonus Miles + Double Miles from Select Retailers

United Mileage Plus Shopping is running a promotion where you can earn 1,000 bonus miles.

If you spend $250 with any online retailer you earn the bonus!

Terms & Conditions:The 1,000 bonus award mile offer is valid from 11/18 -12/31/11. To qualify for the 1,000 bonus award miles, a cumulative spend of $250 with participating MileagePlus Shopping online retailers during the time of the promotion is required. The maximum number of bonus miles that can be awarded to each qualifying member through this promotion is 1,000 bonus miles. The bonus award miles will post to your Mileage Plus account within 8 to 10 weeks after the promotion end date.

United Shopping also has an offer to earn double miles from a few featured retailers like:

Eddie Bauer, Sephora, Office Depot, Drugstore.com & Banana Republic

More details at https://www.mileageplusshopping.com/promo____.htm#terms

A Visit To The Monk's Bowl Village- Bankgkok, Thailand

                

When I read that only one village left in Bangkok still made the monk bowls used for collecting food alms, I had to visit. Most monk bowls are factory made now but Ban Batt Community still makes them by hand.

When you visit, you get to see the bowls being hammered by hand. It is amazing to see the bowls starting out as flat pieces of steel. It takes 8 separate pieces of steel to make one bowl.

Each family member seemed to have a different job. This lady was busy sanding down a bowl that was finished being hammered together.

This man's job was to polish and smooth out the inside of the bowl. Considering this is where the monks keep their food, I hope he did a nice job!

The members of the community were very friendly and happy to see us checking out their bowls. It didn't seem to be a place visited frequently by tourists. They tried to answer our questions as best as they could but their English was limited.
I wanted a souvenir from my visit but the large bowls were pricey and a bit bulky to bring home so I bought a small bowl which I still have today!

The village is located at Soi Ban Bat an alley off of Bamrung Muang Road. It is close to the Golden Mount Temple.

Win 100,000 Miles From Delta This Holiday Season

Here is a quick and easy contest to enter- Enroll for a chance to win 100,000 miles in the Delta Sky Store Sweepstakes

You need to register by 11:59 PM ET on November 29, 2011. Open to US residents only.

Enter at http://www.deltaskystore.com/shopping/winmiles.htm

Spirit Airlines Black Friday $50 Off Coupon

Spirit is offering a $50 Coupon off a roundtrip flight purchase. Flights must be booked by 11:59 PM ET on November 27, 2011. The offer is good for travel starting from November 29, 2011 through December 20, 2011.

 To save $50 off* your roundtrip purchase, you must enter-
50OFF (all caps, no spaces)

in the promotion code box on the homepage when booking your flight. Once the promotional code is entered, fares displayed will automatically reflect a promotional discount of $25.00 off each way for a total discount of $50* when purchasing a roundtrip reservation. Additional terms, conditions, taxes and fees apply. Baggage charges may apply.



US Airways Dividend Miles MasterCard $10,000 Holiday Sweepstakes

I received a postcard in the mail from my friends at US Airways Dividend Miles Mastercard letting me know about a sweepstakes they are running. (This is for the card issued by Barclays)

you could win $10,000!

"As one of our valued US Airways Dividend Miles MasterCard customers, we are delighted to invite you to participate in our 2011 Holiday Sweepstakes featuring a $10,000 Grand Prize and five $1,000 prizes. Every purchase you make with your card between November 25, 2011 and December 31, 2011 will earn an automatic entry into the sweepstakes..."

-Every purchase you make with your card between the dates listed above is an automatic entry.
-Use your card every day for additional entries
-Remember you earn Dividend Miles with every purchase

Odd Street Vendor: Cell Phone Booths- Cartagena, Colombia

While walking around Cartagena you'll notice street vendors selling an endless list of items. You can find clothing, shoes, housewares, toys and all different foods- fruits, vegetables, cheeses, hot foods & sweets.

I found it pretty funny to see lots of people talking on cell phones that were attached to tables by a string. It turned out that these tables were pretty much what I call a Cell Phone Booth.

I'm guessing that in Cartagena most of the people don't own cell phones and I didn't seem to notice any traditional payphones anywhere so these booths made sense.

They also seem to be a pretty good deal as all calls are 99 Colombian Pesos, about $0.05 US

Visiting the Berlin Wall- Las Vegas, Nevada

I didn't get to see the Berlin Wall when I visited Germany but got to see a section of it in downtown Las Vegas. The Main Street Station Casino has a section of the wall in one of the mens bathroom with urinals attached to it.

It was fun searching for the bathroom where the wall was located and now I can say that I got to pee on the Berlin Wall!

(No peeing was actually done for this photo but I did get to use the urinal earlier during the visit!)

The Main Street Station Casino is located in downtown Las Vegas at 200 North Main Street. The bathroom is located on the main floor.

Sunset in Pennsylvania Dutch Country- Lancaster, PA

While driving through Pennsylvania Dutch Country we passed countless numbers of farms with huge silos. On the way to dinner one evening we saw this amazing sunset. I had to pull over the car for a few minutes to enjoy the view and get some photos.

Beer Tasting in Bruges, Belgium

While on a trip to Belgium my brother and I wanted to try as many beers as possible. In many bars, the beer menu is the size of a book. It can be really hard to decide which beers to try but the waiters are usually happy to give suggestions.

Some of the beers could be pricey so we thought of a plan to order one beer at a time & share them. (This way we would always have a cold beer & could maximize our beer tastings.)

Early one evening we were wandering around Bruges and noticed a quiet shop with a great beer selection & pretty decent prices. We asked if we could buy some beers to drink in the store since it was pretty cold out. She said no problem and this led to an improptu beer tasting session!

We tried around 5-6 beers and decided to spread our friendly, good will by sharing a taste with some locals. All we asked was for some suggestions of what to try next!



MyPublisher- 10 Free Holiday Cards & Free Shipping- 2 offers available

MyPublisher is a great site for making photobooks of your trips. I've made quite a few books using their offline program. The photobooks can be a bit pricey but they frequently have sales of 30-40% off.


I received an offer from MyPublisher to get
10 Free Holiday Cards & Free Shipping with NO purchase necessary
The offer expires on November 21 2011.
I have two codes available. It also states one use per customer or user account.


The codes are 2R3-0B40
              TDF-MKTF
(If you take a code please leave a comment so others will know that it was used.)


Visit MyPublisher at http://www.mypublisher.com/

Blog: From A Traveller's Desk is Featuring a Profile of Yours Truly!

I was asked by another blogger to be a "Featured Traveller" for his blog.  The blog is called From A Traveller's Desk.


In the feature, I talk about some of my travel experiences & give a few travel tips. Some of my photos are also included in the post.


The link to the post is http://fromatravellersdesk.blogspot.com/2011/11/michael-wasserman.html#comment-form

Final E-Mail from US Airways for the 2011 Grand Slam

I received an e-mail from US Airways with the subject-    Way To Go Michael!

Here is what US Air e-mailed me about:

Good job, slugger

You earned 16 hits for a total of 25,000 bonus miles – and we’re all cheering for you! And, you may still have a few more miles coming your way. Hits made between September 14 and November 14 will continue to post through March 28, 2012.


It was nice to receive this e-mail at the end of the Grand Slam although it wasn't of much use.(I already knew all of the information they were telling me!)


I am hoping that next year US Air communicates better througout the Grand Slam. It would be nice to receive updates each time a hit posts to an account- possibly have a scorecard of some sort to mark off hits earned that shows in your Dividend Miles account online.

GK or CK? Knockoffs in Hong Kong

You can buy a knockff of just about anything in Hong Kong. Most items look like and are crap but some can be quite amusing to look at so at least it has some value...


While checking out a local market, I came across this high quality GK underwear. I had to look twice to realize that it wasn't actually CK, you know Calvin Klein. This was in fact GK- Gioven Kelvin.

So You Think You Can Dance- Riga, Latvia

My wife and I were walking around Riga one day and heard some ridiculously loud and awful music playing. When I turned to see what was going on, I saw this old lady doing a really crazy and hilarious dance. I couldn't stop watching and had to record a small clip of it. I guess she worked it and earned her Lats (Latvian currency) for the performance!

Win Mets Season Tickets for 2012 Season



My favorite baseball team, the New York Mets are running a contest where you can win :

-Grand Prize of a pair of season tickets for the 2012 season

-Runner Up (five winners) will win "other great prizes"

All you need to do is submit a photo showing your Mets pride & in 100 words or less tell them about your favorite Mets memory over their 50 year history.

Enter at http://newyork.mets.mlb.com/nym/fan_forum/fantastic_at_50.jsp

Louis' Lunch- Birthplace of the Hamburger- New Haven, CT

After seeing Louis' Lunch featured on almost every food related travel show the last couple of years, I had to make a trip to Connecticut to try a burger out at the place where hamburgers were created.

I went in late June and luckily there wasn't much of a wait. I had read that the lines could go way out the door and could be over an hour.

The burgers are cooked vertically in the original cast iron grills dating back to 1898.

They are cooked to order and served on two slices of toast. The only extras served are cheese, tomato & onion. I opted to have only cheese which is a spreadable kind.

At first I was skeptical as to how good a burger could be served on plain toast, without ketchup. I was pleasantly surprised as to how great it was. The cheese spread added lots of flavor and the burger itself was really juicy!


More info on Louis' Lunch at http://www.louislunch.com/index.php

American Airlines Reaching Gold Status- Bonus Choices

I reached AA Lifetime Gold about a month ago. For reaching Gold status I was given 8- 500 Mile Upgrades. It seemed like it may have been better to wait until after the new AAdvantage program changes to cross the million mile mark. Starting December 1 2011 AA will be giving 35,000 miles as a bonus.

I definitely value 35,000 miles more than the 8 upgrades so I decided to call the AAdvantage customer service desk and ask if anything could be done. I was transferred to another operator that was more than happpy to switch the upgrades for miles!

She said to wait 24-48 hours for the miles to post.
I checked my account when I woke up and was happy to see the miles in my account less than 10 hours after I had called!

Now that is service!

Is That A Bug Or A Stick- Tikal, Guatemala

I love animals, bugs not so much. While visiting the amazing Mayan city Tikal, I came across this really cool bug, a Stick Bug:

I have seen stick bugs on various TV shows but never before in person. We were walking on a dirt path through the jungle when I was about to take a step but I stopped mid air. This stick had caught my eye and I knew something was not right. This was not a stick, well it was- it was a stick bug. I gently tapped it with my foot and he did not move. He moved down a drop like a spring would but otherwise did not budge.

This has to be the perfect camouflage. We probably passed many of these bugs in the two days we visited Tikal but this was the only one that I had noticed.

American Airlines- Win A Trip to Vail & Beaver Creek

I saw this contest posted on Facebook. If you enter you have a chance at winning a Grand Prize 7 night trip for 4 people or one of five First Place Prize 4 night trips for 2 to Vail and Beaver Creek. Prizes include American Airlines AAdvantage® miles, luxury accommodations, ski rentals, lift tickets and ground transportation!


I've never won a travel contest but it's definitely worth a shot & registering for it takes less than a minute.


Register at http://www.aa.com/i18n/urls/vail_BCMarketingPage.jsp?anchorLocation=DirectURL&title=skitrip&anchorLocation=DirectURL&title=skitrip

The North Face -"Tell Us More About You" $10 eGift Card Offer

The North Face is one of my favorite brands for travel & workout gear. I live in their convertible zip off pants on all of my trips.

I received a very nice Holiday Gear Guide in the mail a couple of days ago.
In the back of the guide there was a very generous offer from TNF. If you register for the mailing list, North Face will send you a $10 eGift Card which can be used online or in store. I received my code within minutes of signing up!

Sign up here- http://northface.ed4.net/gearguide/enroll/signup.cfm

What will you spend your eGift Card on???

Not Your Usual Museum: Friet Museum- Brugge, Belgium

While looking into things to do on a trip to Belgium, I couldn't pass up a visit to the Friet Museum in Brugge. I love fries so why not learn all about friets!
The museum is pretty big and located in a really nice building.

I couldn't imagine how a museum could be dedicated to all things friets but this place was full of info. Definitely a bit too much but it was fun to wander around and get educated on potatoes.

They also had lots of fun exhibits to look at and interesting, old advertising all around

The best part was saved for the end of the visit. In the basement there is a fryshop with really tasty friets!