Top 17 5-star Luxury / Boutique Hotels in Manhattan, New York

19 October, 2018 | Hotel reviews | 10 seen

Get the celebrity treatment with world-class service at the finest 5-star luxury hotels in Manhattan, New York. 

For a luxury stay at one of the 5-star hotels of Manhattan, you should be ready to spend starting ~ $250 per night up to $1,250. From my own experience, I have spent "just" $600 for a 4-night stay at INNSIDE New York NoMad Hotel back in 2017

In today's article I've listed top 17 5-star luxury hotels in Manhattan, New York

Disclosure: hotels listed below contain links to Booking.com, by clicking on links on this page and by making a reservation on Booking.com site, I might earn an affiliate income, at no cost to you.

The Beekman, a Thompson Hotel is located 500 m from the Brooklyn Bridge and the Westfield World Trade Center.

The rooms and suites boast custom beds, leather headboards, oak floors, craft cocktail tables and marble bathrooms.

The Beekman is architecturally distinguished by its 9-story atrium that has a pyramidal glass ceiling at the top. The upper stories of the atrium are bordered by balconies.…

Funicular Restaurant Complex

18 October, 2018 | Restaurant reviews | 57 seen

High above Tbilisi you will find the most stylish centre for food and drink in the city: the Funicular Restaurant Complex.

Without doubt, the Funicular Complex is one of the most important places in Tbilisi, with its significant long history dating back to 1905. I have been visiting this place on rare occasions, during trip to Mtatsminda mountain. 

My first visit here, probably was back in 2014, during Latvia - Georgia business forum. Nowadays, Funicular Restaurant complex has become one of the most popular Tbilisi restaurants among city guests.

Panoramic views toward Tbilisi

The Funicular Complex includes 4 separates dining facilities: Chela (traditional Georgian), Puri Guliani (bakery), and the signature Restaurant Funicular and its Ball room. Ball room is perhaps the ultimate venue for a conference, wedding reception or party, with the facilities and service to match. 

Goodies at Puri Guliani

With a brand new Funicular train going from Chonkadze Street, one can take a magnificent trip to the Funicular Complex and enjoy dinner with stunning panoramic views over Tbilisi.

Mtatsminda Park in Tbilisi

13 October, 2018 | Tourism objects | 50 seen

Mtatsminda Park is an amusement facility located atop on Mount Mtatsminda on a 770-meter height overlooking the Georgian capital Tbilisi. 

It is the highest point in Tbilisi. Located on more than 100 hectares. Park has more than 100 years of history. Mtatsminda Park is the most popular theme park in Tbilisi. It is the best choice for fun and relaxation. 

You can find various cafes, Souvenirs shops, child entertainment center, a wedding house, picnic zones, a Ferris Wheel at the edge of the mountain, offering splendid views over the city, funicular tram and other fun attractions on the venue.

Carousels in Mtatsminda park, Tbilisi

Fresh air, fascinating view of Tbilisi, fun rides, attractions, constant events, excellent customer service will let you relax, have fun and enjoy your free time with your friends and family members. 

Views over Tbilisi

To use most of the park's attractions you should buy a special plastic card of Mtatsminda park at the cash desk in front of the entrance. The card can be used at rides and funicular. Each attraction cost some money, you should…

Tbilisi TV Tower

12 October, 2018 | Tourism objects | 25 seen

Tbilisi TV tower probably is the most visible construction in the city, located inMtatsminda  I haven't heard though it would be opened for public. 

Here is what we know about it:

Georgia Tbilisi TV Broadcasting Tower is a free-standing tower structure used for communications purposes. The tower is located in Tbilisi, Georgia and was built in 1972.

The preceding structure, built in 1955, was moved to the vicinity of the city of Gori.

Tbilisi TV tower

The tower is operated by "Georgian Teleradiocenter", that was established 1955. Communication systems on the tower include regular broadcast, MMDS, pager and cellular, commercial TV, and amateur radio repeater. The tower is 274.5 m (901 ft) high on a mountain at 719.2 m (2,360 feet) above sea level.

The present tower has been put on the list of the unique European TV towers.

Five Year Blog Anniversary

10 October, 2018 | Blogging | 5 seen

Today, on October 10th, 2018, ReinisFischer.com website is celebrating its 5th birthday. Each blog anniversary is a huge milestone for me and the 5th birthday is no exception. What has started as a simple experiment has turned out to be a successful online business venture!

It was just yet another Autumn evening when back on October 10, 2013, I registered domain name www.ReinisFischer.com, but in fact, I started my blog some 7 days earlier on October 3rd, 2013.

I had my blog been set up and it already was filled with a few articles, before it was actually launched. Yes, such strange behavior probably can be explained that geeks do geek things, though I don't see a geek in me.

I started this blog thing with a goal - To blog 365 consecutive days and when I launched I was looking to reach about 6,000 monthly users by the end of my first blogging year. The fact is, after the first year of consecutive blogging I reached just 3,364 monthly users, what was just a half of my goal. Now 5 years later I'm reaching an audience of 100,000 and more users monthly. Amazing,though it has been a long road

…

Cafe Gardeni Tbilisi

9 October, 2018 | Restaurant reviews | 8 seen

Cafe Gardeni is located on D. Aghmanashebeli street in Tbilisi, just behind the Bank of Georgia building. I have been coming to this place for years just to enjoy a cup of Turkish coffee.

Over the years I have learned here are served great homemade dumplings, tasty ice cream and more. 

The owner of this place is a very intellectual Armenian man KamoJan, we have been exchanging views over foreign policy, internal happenings and of course KamoJan knows all the best Armenian jokes. 

Cafe Gardeni in Tbilisi

I know that KamoJan loves to experiment with tastes and he has a great mixture of splendid coffee varieties.

Tbilisoba 2018

7 October, 2018 | Living in Georgia | 15 seen

Tbilisoba or Tbilisi City Festival is an annual October festival which celebrates the diversity and history of Tbilisi, the capital of Georgia. If you are planning your first trip to Georgia - consider your trip here during the city festival and try local cuisine (horis mcvadi) and that awesome Georgian wine. 

Tbilisoba 2018wase held on October 6-7 in the streets of ..you are right - Tbilisi. This year's Tbilisoba was special for us, as it was the first Tbilisoba we took with us our little baby girl. We went by foot from our apartment to the Rike Park and ending this walk at the right embankment of Mtkvari. My best finds this year was: mcvadi from farmers. 

With the help of the Police, we caught a taxi and safely returned home. Tbilisoba definitely is kids and even infant friendly. 

I made a lot of photos of our little cute one but missed regular photos (without our baby), here is one though:

Tbilisoba 2018

Tbilisoba was first held on October 28, 1979, and has since become an established tradition. The festival features open-air concerts of traditional…

Back to Georgia, Back to Gym

6 October, 2018 | Health & Wellness | 14 seen

It has been already 9 days since we have been relocated back to Georgia, and it has been already 5 days I have been back to the gym.

Now this time I returned 120.5kg... that's insane. A year ago my weight was about 102 kilos. On average I have gained 20 kilos in 2018. There are two simple reasons to explain this. First and most important - a newborn baby born. Second - I quit smoking about 4 months ago.

I believe both happenings have a huge impact on my total body weight. Now, I feel really happy holding little toddler on my hands and knowing she will raise a healthy girl free of tobacco smoke. Also, I feel it's time to get back into the shape.

I renewed my membership at Champions Academy (160GEL.mo) and 5 days later have already lost 2 kilos or have got down to 118.5 kg. Still, at least 18.5kilos to lose. I feel this is going to be a tough autumn/ winter season. 

• How I Lost 4.4 Pounds In 5 days In The Gym
• Back to the Gym - Get Under 99kg Beard Challenge

My best result so far has been 97.2 kg on March 23rd, 2017. The worst so far has been recorded on October 1, 2018, at 120.5 kg. 

Tip…

Actual Price Index at Tbilisi Market - October 2018

5 October, 2018 | Living in Georgia | 9 seen

Three years ago I launched a fun project - Actual Price Index at Tbilisi market, just to document price movements for veggies and fruits in the market, depending on the season. In total I have made two kinds of research for 2015 and 2016, see: Actual Price Index in Tbilisi Market (Georgia) - At Start of October 2015 and Actual Price Index at Tbilisi Market - March 2016

Now, today, three years later I once again decided to measure, how prices have changed in the past three years.

Here is my basket of goods I bought in Tbilisi market on October 1, 2018

Veggies from Tbilisi market

*Prices are from 2016

As you can see there has been some inflation over the years, but also…

September 2018 Dividend Income Report - $65.33

3 October, 2018 | Investments | 11 seen

Welcome to the seventieth (#17) dividend income report, covering earnings I've made from dividend-paying stocks, peer to peer lending (both fiat and cryptocurrencies) in September 2018. 

In case you are wondering why I'm sharing online my earnings - the answer is pretty simple - I like transparency and these reports help me to observe my progress or bounces. Hopefully, my reports can give some inspiration to you as well. (If so, please leave a short comment below) Also, I have a goal to reach one million dollars in my bank account by the time I will turn 60 (27 years still to go). 

Last September turned worst than expected - mostly because I didn't receive two dividend payments, on the other hand, I will receive them in October, which will boost this year October dividend income report.

Disclosure: This article contains affiliate links to mintos.com peer to peer lending website, by clicking on links on this page and by making an investment on mintos.com, I might earn affiliate income at no cost to you. Also, I'm not a…

HashMart Bitcoin Cloud Mining Review

2 October, 2018 | Crypto | 26 seen

It has been a time since I last time reviewed some of the cloud mining platforms. It was at the end of September when I noticed an ad from HashMart.io and decided to explore more. 

Seems that HashMart.io is a Russian cloud mining company incorporated in Cyprus. 

Disclosure:  This article contains affiliate links to hashmart.io cloud mining website, by clicking on links on this page and by making a purchase on hashmart.io, I will earn a 5% affiliate income at no cost to you. Also, I'm not a financial advisor and I don't give you any advice, I'm just sharing my own experience. Investments in stocks, funds, bonds or cryptos are risk investments and you could lose some or all of your money. Do your due diligence before investing in any kind of asset. 

Hashmart is a small enterprise with a global goal: now that almost everyone on the planet has a smartphone, we want each of you be able to have access to Cryptocurrencies and to the numerous advantages they can bring.   

Now, this goal probably is a bit silly, as for getting a piece of cryptocurrency it's enough to open an account at Coinbase and buy…

TOP 14 Best Selling 8GB RAM Laptops

1 October, 2018 | Laptop Reviews | 140 seen

There are several parameters and criteria to use for filtering out laptops for your needs. One of the parameters to look at is RAM memory. In today's article, I've listed the top 14+ best-selling laptops on Amazon featuring 8GB RAM memory.

8GB is a decent business class laptop actually, and it's not a surprise seeing that 8GB RAM is accompanied by Intel Core i5  or even Intel Core i7 processors. 

Not to say more, meet the top 14 best selling 8GB RAM laptops on Amazon

Disclosure: This article contains affiliate links to Amazon.com, by clicking on links on this page and by making a purchase on Amazon site, I will earn an affiliate income at no cost to you. Prices for laptops listed on this page are retrieved using Amazon Product Advertising API and is updated daily. For actual prices please refer to the product page on Amazon.

• Powerhouse performance from AMD Ryzen 5 5500U mobile processor, 8GB DDR4…

Kalvene Railway Station

22 September, 2018 | Railway / Bus / Ferry | 16 seen

Kalvene Station is a railway station on the Jelgava – Liepāja Railway.

The station is located in the Kalvenes municipality of the Aizpute district in Latvia. I noticed this railway couple of years ago and was amazed by its impressive heights visible from the road. 

Kalvene Railway Station September 2018

Kalvene Station was opened on September 25, 1929, along with the opening of the railway line Jelgava-Liepaja . The modern type building was built in 1932. Until 2001, the diesel train Riga-Liepaja stopped here. After the cancellation of this train, there is no passenger turnover at the station. The station operates as an intermediate station, it changes the train.

Diesel passenger trains have not been in service since August 15, 2001

Gutmanis Cave in Sigulda

18 September, 2018 | Tourism objects | 27 seen

Gutman's Cave (Latvian: Gūtmaņa ala) is the widest and highest cave in the Baltic countries, located on the Gauja River in the National Park of Sigulda, Latvia.

It started forming more than 10 000 years ago when meltwater eroded the sandstone rock after the Ice Age. It is the oldest tourist attraction in Latvia. On the walls of the cave are inscriptions from the 17th century. 

It is 18.8 meters deep, 12 meters wide and 10 meters high. The cave was formed from the yellow-brown sandstone rock of the Gauja river bank; its formation is due to a millennium-long interaction between the river and an underground spring.

Gutmanis Cave in Sigulda

Many foreign students and romantic couples are heading here. 

The cave is considered the oldest tourist attraction in Latvia because visitors, from even the earliest days, have left “decorations” such as names, initials and the dates of their visits engraved on the walls of the cave. Inside the cave are coats-of-arms and the names of various barons and estate owners. These were made to order for a fee by local…

Cafe Ivetas Ķēķis / Jura Staļļi / Grobiņa

16 September, 2018 | Restaurant reviews | 25 seen

Cafe Ivetas Ķēķis (Iveta's Kitchen) is located in Grobiņa municipality, some 10km from Liepāja, this cafe/restaurant actually is part of another cool attraction Jura Staļļi (George's Stables). From my understanding, it's a family run business. 

It was already past 20:00 and we left Liepāja a little bit hungry and decided to take some quick stop at Caffe Lielā Pietura, but the place was already closed, and we decided to give it a try for Jura Staļļi (as we had heard some good words before about this place)

Now, great was my surprise to find this place was almost booked, there were about 30-40 people on site (we got a lovely table inside the house, next to the kitchen). The next surprise come when the owner of the place recommended us to try their special burgers.

Burgers at Ivetas Ķēķis

Now, this was something great- the very best burgers I have tried in Latvia, and I would even say, the second best after US burgers. The buns are ordered from Poland, this sounded a bit strange to me, as I thought that buns should be made on site, see: How To Make Burger Buns at Home

We…