The Kleiber Family Timeline

Category: Monuments/Buildings

Monuments and special Buildings

  • Mackinaw 2026

    After we were finished at Saulte Ste Marie we spent a night at the Holiday Inn at Mackinaw City. If you watch certain news stations they show a live feed of the Mackinaw bridge, that feed is from the hotel we stayed at.

    The weather was perfect and the bridge looked awesome as usual. We visited the shops at Mackinaw Crossing and was surprised that the haunted house was not open (it was late on a Friday, if its not open then when is it open).

    The next day we enjoyed a nice breakfast at the hotel and head back home with a quick stop at Sea Shell City. (more…)

  • Saulte Ste Marie 2026

    Dad had business in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan which gave the family a chance to visit one of their favorite tourist places, the Soo Locks of Michigan. James and Mom got to go on the boat tour and had a great time, the majority of the pictures are from that boat tour.

    Afterwards Mom and James met up with Dad and we went shopping on the “strip”. Unfortunately they put up parking meters and Dad didn’t have much change so we had to hurry our shopping spree a little more than normal, however finding a parking spot was not a big deal. (more…)

  • 2026 Comerica Fireworks Finale

  • Detroit Opera House Phantom and Super Bowl 2026

    We bought tickets for the Phantom at the Detroit Opera House way back in September so we had pretty good seats for the sold out event. You never want to sit too close as you can miss some things with the Phantom the the candles in the floor and the chandelier, however you do get the orchestra pit which is cool.

    The whole family enjoyed the show and I noticed some things had changed since the last time I saw the show – the chandelier was completely different and the rear projections for thunder and lightning. The last time we saw the Phantom was at the Masonic Temple and Dad has seen the Phantom also in Toronto, New York, and Vegas.

    After the show we went to Bubbas 33 for a great movie and finally home to watch the superbowl. Despite the superbowl being a lousy game, it was a great day on a cold February day. (more…)

  • Marshall Blues Festival and Museum of Magic 2025

    I think this was our first visit to the Blue Festival since the pandemic. It was an extremely hot day, mid nineties to nearly one hundred degrees. The first thing we noticed was the attendance was down, probably due to the extreme temperatures.

    Mom got to see a few bands while James and Dad explored Marshall. We stopped in to visit the American Museum of Magic and took the tour. They had removed their stage since our last visit and we found a peppers ghost effect that we played with where your face turns into a skull.

    After we rejoined Mom we did a little shopping. Mom got her poster and t-shirt and everyone was happy. Too bad it was so hot but hey, thats summer in Michigan. We all had a great time and it was good to get back to normal after a long layoff for us in attending this festival.
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  • Mackinaw City 2025

    The weather was really perfect for Mackinaw this year, and it was still early enough in the season that it wasn’t too crowded at all. Once again we stayed at the Halloween Express (great breakfast by the way and a balcony to boot). For dinner we had pizza which has become our tradition here. Lots of shopping at the dozens of souvenir shops and plenty of t-shirts will be coming back with us. The bridge is spectacular and we spent time at the rock beach wading in the water. Eventually the bugs came out but not before we picked up a souvenir rock from the beach for Moms Garden. Just a beautiful time for the family.
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  • Mackinaw 2024

    This was our second visit up North this year, but we didn’t have time to make it to Mackinaw when James was receiving his award. So we made a promise to get back up to Mackinaw and while we were only there for a day, we did accomplish our goals.

    Lots of shopping and many of the stores have changed. There are a couple of Psychics there not giving reading which is unique, along with the usual array of tourist traps.

    We stopped into the American Legion there (which is now open to the public, ironic since being able to get a drink at this American Legion was the reason I joined) and enjoyed drinks and chips.

    A perfect day at one of the most beautiful spots on earth.

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  • 2024 Day Nine of Paris Trip

    The last full day of the Paris trip was a free day for the students and most decided to go to Euro Disney for the day, but James had other plans. James left for London England!

    James had to get up early to make the train, in fact so early that the subway was not even open and he had to walk to the train station. Once there he enjoyed a trip along the French landscape till the “Chunnel”. The Channel Tunnel, also referred to as the ‘Chunnel’, is the longest underwater rail tunnel in the world and connects southern England (Folkestone Terminal) to northern France (Calais Terminal) beneath the English Channel at the Strait of Dover. From there he went through customs and to the British Museum where he had bought tickets weeks before.

    It did rain while he was in London and James had to buy a new souvenir bag.

    After seeing the museum, Big Ben, and Parliament – James returned back to France (going through French Customs again) and made it back to the hotel mere minutes before the hotel curfew.
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  • 2024 Day Eight of Paris Trip

    Today was a big shopping day for the class as they went to Galeries Lafayette. Galeries Lafayetteis an upmarket French department store chain, the biggest in Europe. Its flagship store is on Boulevard Haussmann in the 9th arrondissement of Paris. During Nazi occupation of France in 1940, Les Galeries Lafayette underwent a process of “Aryanization”, that is the removal of Jewish owners and their replacement by non-Jewish owners. Théophile Bader, Raoul Meyer, Max Heilbronn, the store’s administrators and 129 Jewish employees were forced to resign. The property of Bader, Meyer and Heilbronn families was taken.

    James was surprised to see the Statue of Liberty in Paris, but then found out that France has no less than 6 reproductions of the Statue of Liberty in Paris (exhibited in the open air or in the museum).

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  • 2004 Day Five of Paris Trip

    The fifth day in France was a historic visit through the streets of Paris. Too many landmarks to mention in this post but lets look at two of the more “unique” places that were visited.

    THE PASSE-MURAILLE, OR “PASSER THROUGH Walls” is a homage to a famous work of French literature by the same name which immortalizes the novel’s tragic finale wherein a man with the ability to phase/walk through walls finds himself caught in mid-pass after a streak of roguish shenanigans.

    Moulin Rouge is best known as the birthplace of the modern form of the can-can dance. Originally introduced as a seductive dance by the courtesans who operated from the site, the can-can dance revue evolved into a form of entertainment of its own and led to the introduction of cabarets across Europe. Today, the Moulin Rouge is a tourist attraction, offering predominantly musical dance entertainment for visitors from around the world. The club’s decor still contains much of the romance of fin de siècle France.

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