Travel

Crazy-crooked houses, picturesque canals — it’s Louisville to Amsterdam for a $51,000 week-long visit

An occasional look at premium travel from Louisville.

Boulevard loves Amsterdam: whimsical, cockeyed houses lining romantic canals; the recently reopened Rijksmuseum of Dutch Masters after an extensive renovation, and friendly, liberal-minded residents. And that’s not to mention all those coffee shops selling fine marijuana. Indeed, there’s even more to savor in a recent New York Times story about the city: Amsterdam, Revisited. (And don’t miss its fresh update on “36 Hours in” Holland’s capital.

Consider this itinerary:

When: Oct. 12-19. Airline: Delta. Route: Louisville to Detroit to Amsterdam, 10 hours and 17 minutes travel time, including a one-hour layover in Detroit. How much: $7,479, economy to Minneapolis and business class to Amsterdam. Delta reservations.

Related: TripAdvisor recommends the five-star Waldorf Astoria Amsterdam. The Brentano Suite is available during these travel dates for $4,721 per night; that’s the lovely sitting area, below. Reservations. And of course, don’t forget Airbnb Amsterdam apartments.

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The bottom line

For two travelers: airfare, hotel, plus $400 a day for meals, museum tickets and other incidentals: $51,000.

Latest Headlines

Trump renews Amazon attack, 93-year-old KFC retiree hits rare milestone; and UPS plans big new Austin facility

A news summary focused on big employers; updated 2:02 p.m.

Donald Trump
Trump

AMAZON: White House GOP candidate Donald Trump attacked Jeff Bezos again, claiming the Amazon CEO bought The Washington Post to promote a political agenda that would help the company on taxes (CNN). Also, a former software director who led the company’s new FireTV initiative was charged with promoting prostitution in the Seattle area (KIRO).

KFC: A retired 29-year employee in Ontario has reached an American Legion milestone that few reach in any organization: he’s been a member for 60 years. William Young, 93, worked at a KFC franchise, rising to manager before retiring. And he met founder Col. Harland Sanders (Argus Observer).

UPS plans a new $70 million, 300-employee distribution center in Austin with room for 300 vehicles; it’s to open at the end of 2018 (Austin Statesman). Asked and answered: How important is e-commerce to the shipper’s sales (Motley Fool).

In other news, The Courier-Journal has joined 199 other investors in buying a two-year-old colt, which the nascent Churchill Downs Racing Club hopes to run during the current spring meet. The horse is being trained by Hall of Famer D. Wayne Lukas (Courier-Journal).

Money in Politics

As NRA readies big annual meeting here, equally big Ky. political donations emerge

Some 70,000 National Rifle Association members are holding their annual meeting in Louisville this week, a four-day gathering that will include speeches on Friday by White House hopeful Donald Trump, plus Gov. Matt Bevin, Sen. Rand Paul, and others.

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McConnell

The group gave $810,462 to federal candidates for the 2014 election, including a total $22,900 to six Kentucky Republicans, according to the non-partisan Center for Responsive Politics:

  • Sen. Mitch McConnell: $9,900
  • Rep. Hal Rogers: $5,000
  • Rep. Brett Guthrie: $2,500
  • Rep. Ed Whitfield: $2,500
  • Rep. Andy  Barr: $2,000
  • Rep. Thomas Massie: $1,000

Overall, the NRA’s Political Victory Fund has given $197,609 to Kentucky congressional candidates since 1998, according to this new Courier-Journal story.

Unexpectedly, the Responsive Politics center’s data, from the Federal Election Commission, doesn’t show any NRA money for Sen. Paul. And I don’t find any going to Bevin, according to the National Institute on Money in State Politics’ data for the governor; it tracks campaign money at the state level.

The NRA meeting and trade show will be held at the Kentucky Exposition Center; more key information in today’s CJ, which also reports on the group’s history and rise to one of the nation’s most powerful organizations.

Related: etiquette advice for party hostesses who don’t want gun-totin’ guests.

Cops and Courts

Sisters are neighbors — and sworn enemies, too — in $280M Schneider family fight
Galt House
The Galt House hotel is the jewel in the Schneider real estate crown.

The just-resolved legal battle over the late Al Schneider‘s real estate empire “prompted a war of words” between four sisters — three of whom live in adjacent houses on the same block off Newburg Road; the fourth lives less than a mile away, The Courier-Journal reports today.

Al Schneider
Schneider

It dragged on through four courts and required 10 lawyers, “one of those unfortunate family disputes that you hate to see,” said Rebecca Jennings, an attorney for sisters Mary Moseley and Dawn Hitron.

Moseley, 66, CEO of the Al J. Schneider Co., and Hitron, 62, a homemaker, agreed in court yesterday to drop a plan to sell the Galt House hotel and other high-profile assets worth more than $280 million before a May 31 deadline. Now, all 24 of Schneider’s heirs will decide what’s next, the newspaper says.

The other two opposing sisters were Christy Coe, 64, a nurse practitioner, and Nancy O’Hearn, 70, who owns an event planning company. Ironically, the CJ says, Coe’s husband Randy for many years tried to keep other family-owned businesses out of trouble as director of University of Louisville’s Family Business Center.

Schneider, the patriarch, died in 2001 at 86.

Travel

With local Airbnb rentals this gorgeous, we should plan a Louisville staycation
Airbnb house
An amazing kitchen in a Cherokee Triangle home.

An occasional look at premium travel from Louisville.

How big is the home-sharing vacation rental business here in Louisville? Industry leader Airbnb alone offers more than 300 choices across the city.

Our favorite is smack in the middle of tony Cherokee Triangle: an entire four-bedroom, 3½-bath home, with a kitchen we’d die for: “Dacor six-burner stove and double-oven, built-in refrigerator, microwave drawer, dishwasher, farmhouse sink, prep sink, custom floor -to-10-foot-high cabinetry, white marble countertops and 10-foot long island.” Nightly rate: just $500.

That’s right near the city-wide Airbnb average of $493 a night; at that rate, most are in the city center:

Airbnb map

Related: Here’s The New York Times’s Louisville travel page, including this just published update to its “36 Hours in Louisville” guide. Don’t forget the Louisville Convention and Visitors Bureau, and TripAdvisor’s picks, too.