REMDANA's WEDDING CELEBRATION
Guest Guide
(If you are interested in seeing the pictures from the Australian Experience, go HERE.)
TID BITS FOR GUEST
(must read first!)
Click HERE for see
TOP TEN THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT SILVER SPRING
(triva truths)
Click HERE for see
RESTAURANT RECOMMENDATIONS
(and more)
Click HERE for see
ICE SKATING RINK – FREE* SKATING FOR GUEST
(*for real!)
Click HERE for PDF file (for reference only)
- NOTE: Do NOT print this. We'll have copies for you. It is only valid with a Rembe Y Geraldina business car stapled to it. We'll do that for you.
HOTEL / HOUSE / VENUE MAP
(print and keep handy)
Click HERE for PDF file - AND print it if you feel you need it.
“MUST HAVE” WEB LINK
(for “All Things Silver Spring”, including comprehensive list of restaurants, shops, etc.)
{this is a mobile site, not an app.}
“MUST HAVE” WEDDING APP
(please use it. we are ‘crowdsourcing’ the photographic moments. i.e.: there’ll be no professional photographer.
you are it!... counting on you.)
From the iPhone Store or Google Play, download the WEDDING PARTY app.
When asked for the wedding name, use REMDANA
To see what’s been uploaded to date, visit:
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TID BITS FOR GUEST
¡BIENVENIDOS A SILVER SPRING!
OK, familia & amigos: If you are venturing into Silver Spring for the RemDana Celebration Saturday, February 15th 2014 at 7pm – Cuban time* - there a few things that I’d like to share with you that might make life easier on you.
- (*While the party starts at 7pm Cuban Time, we'll take a group picture at 7:57pm - German Time. That is, it WILL be at 7:57. Not a minute later. Or earlier.)
We’ll have wine & cheese*, Cuban coffee and dominoes round the clock a day at our house, Thursday through Sunday. Just come by anytime. Park on the street. Lock your car. (Do NOT come over Sunday morning. The Chinese Christian Church uses up all the parking.)
- (*We’ll start with American Wine Thursday night; Australian Wine Friday Morning and afternoon, South African Friday night; and South American Wine on Saturday. Sunday we’ll have Salvadoran Tic Tac.)
Sunday morning we’ll be going to Mass at the Catholic Basilica at noon. The Basilica is only about 15 minutes away. See you at home afterwards, if you are still around.
We’ll have certificates for your 1 hour of free ice-skating in your welcome packets - and available at the house. Try it! The kids will love it.
The Silver Spring Civic Building (where the chin-ding is at – and where the ice rink is also at) is approximately 3 blocks from the Sheraton hotel – and about a mile from our house.
- The address of the Civic Building is “One Veterans Place, Silver Spring (MD) 20910”.
The address to our house is “621 Potomac Ave., Silver Spring (MD) 20910”.
Best way to get the lay of the land of the area is of course Google. You may also want to bookmark on your smart phone the mobile version of our downtown web-site:
- …and see the map we’ve created especially for you as well!
There’s a 24 hour diner (The Tastee Diner) a couple of blocks from the hotel.
The White House is 8 miles south, as the crow flies. That to say, we are literally next door to our Nation’s Capital, so I hope you’ll use the opportunity to do all the fun touristy things.
The core of downtown is Ellsworth Drive, a renovated area with plenty of stuff you’d expect to find in a renovated downtown core. (Regal Theatre, H&M, CVS, etc.)
If you are adventurous, and I hope you are, you’ll want to venture into the ‘holes in the wall’ places found in the ‘Fenton Village’ area (see web-site.)
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TOP TEN THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT SILVER SPRING
A note from a Marylander to any family and friend considering a visit to Silver Spring, here’s a TOP TEN list of things to know:
[1] Maryland is NOT Colorado. Yet. (Though DC does have dispensaries. One is in Takoma DC, right next to Silver Spring.)
[2] Any two consenting adults can make a legally binding life-long commitment (i.e.: "get hitched") in Maryland.
[3] No death penalty here. Threw it out last year.
[4] Anyone over 16 can get a driver's license in MD, even if you do not have 'documents'. (You can not use that i.d. to get on planes or enter federal buildings, though.)
[5] Silver Spring is next to "The Republic of" Takoma Park, a city which is a self-declared a nuclear-free zone - and where 16 year olds (and 'undocumented') can vote in local elections – plus a GREAT place for restaurants and shopping in an eco-way.
[6] This region is #2 in the Nation (next to L.A.) for concentration of folks from El Salvador; and, #1 for Ethiopians.
[7] Abe Lincoln played baseball here. (For real!)
[8] Silver Spring was recently rated as America’s #13 most exciting suburb.
[9] Silver Spring is NOT a “city”… We are a proud ‘region’ of Montgomery County, Maryland. (Think ‘Westchester’ in Miami or Sandy Spring (before it became a City) in Atlanta.)
[10] Regardless of all of the above, Maryland is still below the Mason-Dixon Line, with its own confederate cemetery in Silver Spring. (Though there are not a lot of Waffle Houses; you still have to ask for 'sweet' tea; and Coca Cola shares the limelight with that other overly sweet cola.)
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RESTAURANT RECOMMENDATIONS
Running the risk of leaving lots of cool places out, here’s a short list of places you may want to consider eating or drinking coffee at… They are within a healthy walking distance of the hotel (or easy driving distance.) Yelp these. They are all there. They are also in our mobile web-site http://M.SilverSpringDowntown.com
• Nando’s (South African chicken chain)
• Lebanese Taverna (Local Lebanese chain)
• Fenton Café (awesome crepes)
• Cubano’s (tell Adolfo we said hi)
• Mi Rancho (Mexican with great (heated!) patio)*
• Bete (‘house’ in Ethiopian)*
• Abyssinia (Ethiopia’s original name)*+
• Lucy (named after the oldest human ever found – in Ethiopia)+
• Addis Ababa (Ethiopian capital)
• Kefa Café (great Ethiopian coffee)
• Kaldis Coffee (great Ethiopian pastries)
• Zed’s Café (a Ethiopian ‘living room’ experience)
• Pirates Tavern (surreal)+
• Odalis (Salvadoran)
• La Bamba (Guatemalan)
• Society (African-American ‘lounge’)*+
• La Malinche (Latin tapas)*
• Thai Derm (cheapest place around)
• Classics (better than Ruth Stakehouse)*
• 8407 Kitchen Bar (hip to the max)*+
• The Urban Butcher (Cuban owned exquisite)*
• Jackie’s and Sidebar (coolest place to hang out)*+
• Fire Station #1 (sports bar)+
• McGinty’s (Irish pub)+
• Sergio’s (serious Italian)*
• Vicino’s (cheap Italian – African owned)
• Roger Miller (African hole-in-the wall)
• Pacci’s Pizza (awesome)
• Pete’s Pizza (awesome too)
• Mandalay (Burmanese)
*Recommended for Valentine’s Day – BUT, make sure you make a reservation!
+ Night spot. Worth going to have a drink. Or two.
- If you like movies, Silver Spring is the home to The American Film Institute. Big deal. Check them out.
- If you like regular movies, we have an Imax as part of the Regal Theaters.
- If you like music, we have The Fillmore Silver Spring. Mostly new music. Standing room only.
- If you like live theatre, there’s Round House, an innovative ‘black box’ community theatre.
- If you like Starbucks, there are three nearby.
If you like to connect with your hippie days, make sure you visit nearby Takoma Park, a nuclear-free zone where 16 year olds can vote in local elections and diversity and tolerance rule the day. (And the location for an awesome restaurant called Republic.)
If you like to connect with your Latino side, make sure you venture into Long Branch, the location of El Golfo and Gavilan, two of many MANY (mostly Salvadoran) restaurants and hang-outs.
