On Friday the Fearsome Foursome (Dad, Chad, Aunt Sandy and myself) took a road trip to Montepulciano and Cortona - both medieval hill towns in the Tuscan Region of Italy. One of the twenty regions of Italy, Tuscany has an approximate population of 3.6 million people and a seemingly endless supply of beauty. Town after town, each built on top of the areas hills, are full of Etruscan and Roman history and all offer inimitable views.
As much as I hated to break up the Beatles, on Saturday I took a solo excursion to Pisa. I figured it would be wrong to be in Italy and not see one of the worlds most famous landmarks, the Leaning Tower. I was not aware, however, that the Tower (actually the Cathedrals campanile) was only one quarter of Camp dei Miracoli (Field of Miracles). The wide area, enclosed by a great wall, includes the Duomo, the Leaning Tower, the Camposanta and the Baptistery, and includes some of the greatest medieval art in the world (thank you Wikipedia).
As usual, check out the photos here.
Saturday, 21 July 2007
Tuesday, 17 July 2007
Down Time
Not a lot to report from the past few days; just taking it easy and enjoying some much needed R&R. I could get used to the Italian lifestyle. Everything seems to move in half-time, and everyone takes 'siesta' or 'reposo' from 12:30 to 4 in the afternoon. Almost as if on purpose the American financial market hours (3:30pm to 10pm local time) seem to fit in perfect with the Italian schedule we have adapted to.
Today Dad, Sandy, Chad and I went to see the Etruscan Catacombs in (or under, to be more precise) Chiusi. You can check out those pictures as well as some pictures of Chiusi and our new home, Il Castello, here.
Today Dad, Sandy, Chad and I went to see the Etruscan Catacombs in (or under, to be more precise) Chiusi. You can check out those pictures as well as some pictures of Chiusi and our new home, Il Castello, here.
Sunday, 15 July 2007
Country Number 5
We arrived safely at Il Castello in Fighini at around 3:30 AM this morning after 40 hours of grueling travel. Getting out of Pamplona was a task to say the least since all of the trains to Barcelona (and connecting trains) were sold out. Chad took control of planning this escape, and we eventually ended up taking a route that included a 3 hour bus ride from Pamplona to Irun, a 14 hour train ride from Hendaye to Nice, a 7 hour train ride from Nice to Milan, a 3 hour train ride from Milan to Florence, and an hour and half cab ride from Florence to Chiusi. The 8 hour layover in Nice was a good break and allowed me the chance to fall in love with the French Riviera. It was a short affair, but I promised that I would return.
As great a job as Chad did with the arrangements out of Pamplona, there was one detail that we just couldn't work around. Our train arrived in Florence at 10:50 PM - 2 hours after the last train to Chiusi. We contemplated a few different ideas, including renting a car, taking a bus, and/or spending the night in Florence and catching the earliest train. Once we arrived we discovered we missed the late bus, there were no car rental places open, and a hotel was gong to cost 80 Euro. A little Hindu man named Riveen asked us what we needed and we told him he could help us find a hotel room. After he made a call (worked out his commission) and started walking us to the hotel, Chad, somewhat jokingly, asked him if he could drive us to Chiusi (about 123 km) for 80 Euro. He looked like he was going to overheat his brain was working so hard trying to figure out the expense/possible profit ratio. He eventually decided that he needed to consult his GPS to figure out exactly how far it was. He didn't know it, but the fact that he had a GPS unit was a huge selling point to us. He eventually decided that 100 Euro was what it was worth to him (what he thought he could take us for), and Chad and I, although knowing we could talk him down a little, were too tired to hastle with him. 100 it was.
The ride to Chiusi was about an hour and a half and on the way Riveen gave us a quick lesson in Italian. He spoke 6 languages: Italian, French, Spanish, English, Hindi and Creole. For what he knew in international languages, he lacked in sense of direction and ended up dropping us off about 4km from where we were supposed to meet Whitney and dad. My cell died in the middle of trying to give Whitney directions and Chad and I suddenly found ourself in the middle of a small Italian village, at 1 in the morning with no phone and all of our luggage. Riveen's Italian lesson came in handy and I was able to ask for directions to the train station, although not able at all to understand the answer given to the question. Chad minded the luggage while I went in search of la stazione di treno. Everyone I asked would point down the hill so I just kept walking down the hill. I eventually reached the bottom of the hill, realized that our ride was no longer there, and that I would now have to walk the 4km back up the hill. No fun. We were now in survival mode. We stashed the luggage as best we could and went on a search for power so that we could get a charge to my cell phone. We eventually found one in the middle of old town Chiusi, placed a call to Whitney and eventually got picked up. It was the appropriate ending to our 2 day voyage.
This morning was my first true chance to really appreciate the beauty of the Villa. The views are breathtaking, and the serene atmosphere is a great counter to what we have been experiencing over the past two weeks. It will be nice to be able to unpack completely, do some laundry and just unwind for a few days. I have posted our final pictures from Pamplona as well as pictures of the Spanish Countryside and the French Riviera. Remember, you can access all of the pictures here.
As great a job as Chad did with the arrangements out of Pamplona, there was one detail that we just couldn't work around. Our train arrived in Florence at 10:50 PM - 2 hours after the last train to Chiusi. We contemplated a few different ideas, including renting a car, taking a bus, and/or spending the night in Florence and catching the earliest train. Once we arrived we discovered we missed the late bus, there were no car rental places open, and a hotel was gong to cost 80 Euro. A little Hindu man named Riveen asked us what we needed and we told him he could help us find a hotel room. After he made a call (worked out his commission) and started walking us to the hotel, Chad, somewhat jokingly, asked him if he could drive us to Chiusi (about 123 km) for 80 Euro. He looked like he was going to overheat his brain was working so hard trying to figure out the expense/possible profit ratio. He eventually decided that he needed to consult his GPS to figure out exactly how far it was. He didn't know it, but the fact that he had a GPS unit was a huge selling point to us. He eventually decided that 100 Euro was what it was worth to him (what he thought he could take us for), and Chad and I, although knowing we could talk him down a little, were too tired to hastle with him. 100 it was.
The ride to Chiusi was about an hour and a half and on the way Riveen gave us a quick lesson in Italian. He spoke 6 languages: Italian, French, Spanish, English, Hindi and Creole. For what he knew in international languages, he lacked in sense of direction and ended up dropping us off about 4km from where we were supposed to meet Whitney and dad. My cell died in the middle of trying to give Whitney directions and Chad and I suddenly found ourself in the middle of a small Italian village, at 1 in the morning with no phone and all of our luggage. Riveen's Italian lesson came in handy and I was able to ask for directions to the train station, although not able at all to understand the answer given to the question. Chad minded the luggage while I went in search of la stazione di treno. Everyone I asked would point down the hill so I just kept walking down the hill. I eventually reached the bottom of the hill, realized that our ride was no longer there, and that I would now have to walk the 4km back up the hill. No fun. We were now in survival mode. We stashed the luggage as best we could and went on a search for power so that we could get a charge to my cell phone. We eventually found one in the middle of old town Chiusi, placed a call to Whitney and eventually got picked up. It was the appropriate ending to our 2 day voyage.
This morning was my first true chance to really appreciate the beauty of the Villa. The views are breathtaking, and the serene atmosphere is a great counter to what we have been experiencing over the past two weeks. It will be nice to be able to unpack completely, do some laundry and just unwind for a few days. I have posted our final pictures from Pamplona as well as pictures of the Spanish Countryside and the French Riviera. Remember, you can access all of the pictures here.
Thursday, 12 July 2007
12th de Julio
Boy we sure know how to pick 'em.
The day we picked to run, Thursday the 12th, turned out to be the nastiest el encierro of the 2007 San Fermin festival, and maybe for the past few years. A bull got separated from the pack early (right at our chosen starting point, a stretch called Ayuntamiento) and had to run the entire course by itself, confused, taking 6 minutes to make it to the ring (the average running time is around two and half to three minutes). In the ensuing chaos seven people were gored, and another 6 were injured and taken to the hospital - three in critical condition. The separated bull severely messed with our plans to join the run after the bulls had passed, but we still ran - almost running into the bull (named 'Universal') as he started running the wrong way up the course. It was the adrenaline rush that we were looking for when we spotted the runners in front of us turn to run towards us. We safely made it to an exit fence and waited until the trailing steer came by. We made it through the chaotic 5 minutes with only one minor injury; Chad hurt his hand slapping the shit out of one of the steer. I think he will survive, but I'm worried about the steer. Unfortunately we have no pictures or video because believe me - when you run with the bulls you want all of your faculties available to you.
I once read that you can't be male and between the age of 18 to 40, and attend the festival without running el encierro, as your machismo inevitably takes over. Well, I have to disagree. I came to San Fermin with the intent on running and after watching one time it wasn't my machismo that took over but my common sense. The event has changed dramatically over the last few years as the popularity continues to grow. Seeing it first hand I can tell you that the real danger is not just the 1500 pound horned beasts running at you, but the 1500 plus crazy assholes running with you - half of them drunk and hungover. The good thing about the run is that you are able to choose your own level of danger and risk (to a certain extent). We decided to play this round on 'beginner' level, but hey, you only have one life in this game. Here are 13 good reasons not to play at all.
Now Chad's report:
I spotted a high point for which we could watch, we quickly moved passed the crowds to the climbing point. Iron bars covering the window of an old church about 10 feet of the ground is where we were perched. From here we could see the complete full bend of the first turn. The process of this show works like this: A lot of warnings in other languages, that took at least 30 sec in Spanish and two sec in English. All it said was "To run safely, watch safely", "that's it" I thought. I came all this way about to watch the craziest thing ever and the warning was sum up to " watch your ass."
The next step was the bells, If Spain had a "Rocky Balboa" theme it would have sounded like these bells. The crowd roars with nervous excitement, a hand full of people bailed at that moment running quickly to safety. The next step was the 1st of three rockets, the 1st one lets everyone now that it's on, the 2nd lets everyone know it's to late and the last one tells us that it's over.
Imagine a sea of red and white, running in madness. They ran down the street, up the street, they would try to run and jump over the fence only to be left out in the way of bulls running at them with an angry pace. I saw the Bull Kase talked about slam into four people pinning them against the wooden fence. The Bull quickly trusted it's head upwards hoping to catch the face of a drunken spainard with it's horns but only left a permanent carving in the wooden timber post, as to say "Bull was here and I almost killed you". I watched all this and I thought, this is the dumbest thing I've ever seen. I came here thinking that this would make me more of a man, and realized I was a man....with a brain. If were to run and get gored in the testicles Whit would never forgive me, we would have to adopted Chinese babies named Nooni and Nooni. This is not what it takes to be a man, I was not impressed with this tradition.
IN SPAIN THE MULLET IS BACK!!!
The mullet is huge in this place, and there are so many veration of the mullet. You have the, 80's rocker mullet, the Byan Bosworth side spike mullet, the Micheal Bolton balding mullet, the baby mullet, the multi color mullet, the curley mullet, strait mullet, pony tailed mullet, layered mullet, old mullet and the twin mullet. If you can find a place with more mullets don't tell me about it. I swear I wanted to order a Crystal Pepsi and go to a barber shop and say "a little of the top, let the back go".
Our greatest journey yet is ahead of us. We got here but now we can't leave. I feel like were in the movie Trains, Planes and Automobiles, only in Spanish. Our plan it to take a bus to Irun, then a train to Milan and form there....well thats as far as we gotten in our planing.
I can say I'm glad I came to Spain, we came, we saw, we left with our goods. On to Italy to see Whit and the rest of the family. I hope we make it.
The day we picked to run, Thursday the 12th, turned out to be the nastiest el encierro of the 2007 San Fermin festival, and maybe for the past few years. A bull got separated from the pack early (right at our chosen starting point, a stretch called Ayuntamiento) and had to run the entire course by itself, confused, taking 6 minutes to make it to the ring (the average running time is around two and half to three minutes). In the ensuing chaos seven people were gored, and another 6 were injured and taken to the hospital - three in critical condition. The separated bull severely messed with our plans to join the run after the bulls had passed, but we still ran - almost running into the bull (named 'Universal') as he started running the wrong way up the course. It was the adrenaline rush that we were looking for when we spotted the runners in front of us turn to run towards us. We safely made it to an exit fence and waited until the trailing steer came by. We made it through the chaotic 5 minutes with only one minor injury; Chad hurt his hand slapping the shit out of one of the steer. I think he will survive, but I'm worried about the steer. Unfortunately we have no pictures or video because believe me - when you run with the bulls you want all of your faculties available to you.
I once read that you can't be male and between the age of 18 to 40, and attend the festival without running el encierro, as your machismo inevitably takes over. Well, I have to disagree. I came to San Fermin with the intent on running and after watching one time it wasn't my machismo that took over but my common sense. The event has changed dramatically over the last few years as the popularity continues to grow. Seeing it first hand I can tell you that the real danger is not just the 1500 pound horned beasts running at you, but the 1500 plus crazy assholes running with you - half of them drunk and hungover. The good thing about the run is that you are able to choose your own level of danger and risk (to a certain extent). We decided to play this round on 'beginner' level, but hey, you only have one life in this game. Here are 13 good reasons not to play at all.
Now Chad's report:
I spotted a high point for which we could watch, we quickly moved passed the crowds to the climbing point. Iron bars covering the window of an old church about 10 feet of the ground is where we were perched. From here we could see the complete full bend of the first turn. The process of this show works like this: A lot of warnings in other languages, that took at least 30 sec in Spanish and two sec in English. All it said was "To run safely, watch safely", "that's it" I thought. I came all this way about to watch the craziest thing ever and the warning was sum up to " watch your ass."
The next step was the bells, If Spain had a "Rocky Balboa" theme it would have sounded like these bells. The crowd roars with nervous excitement, a hand full of people bailed at that moment running quickly to safety. The next step was the 1st of three rockets, the 1st one lets everyone now that it's on, the 2nd lets everyone know it's to late and the last one tells us that it's over.
Imagine a sea of red and white, running in madness. They ran down the street, up the street, they would try to run and jump over the fence only to be left out in the way of bulls running at them with an angry pace. I saw the Bull Kase talked about slam into four people pinning them against the wooden fence. The Bull quickly trusted it's head upwards hoping to catch the face of a drunken spainard with it's horns but only left a permanent carving in the wooden timber post, as to say "Bull was here and I almost killed you". I watched all this and I thought, this is the dumbest thing I've ever seen. I came here thinking that this would make me more of a man, and realized I was a man....with a brain. If were to run and get gored in the testicles Whit would never forgive me, we would have to adopted Chinese babies named Nooni and Nooni. This is not what it takes to be a man, I was not impressed with this tradition.
IN SPAIN THE MULLET IS BACK!!!
The mullet is huge in this place, and there are so many veration of the mullet. You have the, 80's rocker mullet, the Byan Bosworth side spike mullet, the Micheal Bolton balding mullet, the baby mullet, the multi color mullet, the curley mullet, strait mullet, pony tailed mullet, layered mullet, old mullet and the twin mullet. If you can find a place with more mullets don't tell me about it. I swear I wanted to order a Crystal Pepsi and go to a barber shop and say "a little of the top, let the back go".
Our greatest journey yet is ahead of us. We got here but now we can't leave. I feel like were in the movie Trains, Planes and Automobiles, only in Spanish. Our plan it to take a bus to Irun, then a train to Milan and form there....well thats as far as we gotten in our planing.
I can say I'm glad I came to Spain, we came, we saw, we left with our goods. On to Italy to see Whit and the rest of the family. I hope we make it.
Wednesday, 11 July 2007
The Sun Also Rises (when it doesn't rain)
Hemingway's novel The Sun Also Rises helped to popularize San Fermin and el encierro. This monument sits outside the Plaza de Toros on Paseo Hemingway and is inscribed, "A Friend of These People and Admirer of Our Fiestas."
El Encierro (running of the bulls) dates as far back as the 14th century, when the bulls to be used in that afternoons bullfights were herded through the streets from their pen to the stadium. At some point, the drunken fools decided to run with them and the tradition was born.
Tomorrow we run.
Scouting Our Spot
Today I ran with bulls.... sort of.
Chad and I woke up early to make it to the center of town at around 7am so that we could scout out our starting position and path for tomorrow. On the bus I decided that I was going to try and run today because I just couldn't handle it any longer. I wasn't necessarily planning on running as much as just being on the street as the bulls ran by so that I could get a feel for everything. I gave my jacket to Chad, entered the gate and waited the longest half hour of my life; Adrenaline pumping, heart pounding, muscles burning. I took up a position at one of the widest points of the course and right next to an exit fence. About 10 minutes before 8 (when the bulls are let loose) a prick de policia saw me shooting video with my camera and told me to leave the course. It was a strange mix of anger and relief all at the same time. I can't say I argued with him much. I exited the course and took a position behind the second fence (there are two fences setup along the course and they keep the area between them clear so that the runners can make a quick exit if they need to). The first rocket sounded meaning the bulls had been released and before I knew it the bulls had run by. I didn't see them as much as hear them and the crowd. A guy got slammed pretty hard right by where I had been standing and the crowd gasped. The medics were quick to get to him.
After the big boys had passed I entered the course again and started taking video. I noticed that some people in front of me started running so I turned and saw more horns coming. Thinking that I had just made a horrible mistake and entered the course before all of the bulls had passed I quickly ran to the side only to see three steer run by. As somewhat of a goof (and an excuse to run the course for practice purposes), I ran about a third of the course with them.
I will post more (including pictures) later.
Chad and I woke up early to make it to the center of town at around 7am so that we could scout out our starting position and path for tomorrow. On the bus I decided that I was going to try and run today because I just couldn't handle it any longer. I wasn't necessarily planning on running as much as just being on the street as the bulls ran by so that I could get a feel for everything. I gave my jacket to Chad, entered the gate and waited the longest half hour of my life; Adrenaline pumping, heart pounding, muscles burning. I took up a position at one of the widest points of the course and right next to an exit fence. About 10 minutes before 8 (when the bulls are let loose) a prick de policia saw me shooting video with my camera and told me to leave the course. It was a strange mix of anger and relief all at the same time. I can't say I argued with him much. I exited the course and took a position behind the second fence (there are two fences setup along the course and they keep the area between them clear so that the runners can make a quick exit if they need to). The first rocket sounded meaning the bulls had been released and before I knew it the bulls had run by. I didn't see them as much as hear them and the crowd. A guy got slammed pretty hard right by where I had been standing and the crowd gasped. The medics were quick to get to him.
After the big boys had passed I entered the course again and started taking video. I noticed that some people in front of me started running so I turned and saw more horns coming. Thinking that I had just made a horrible mistake and entered the course before all of the bulls had passed I quickly ran to the side only to see three steer run by. As somewhat of a goof (and an excuse to run the course for practice purposes), I ran about a third of the course with them.
I will post more (including pictures) later.
Sunday, 8 July 2007
Great Art, Good People and Notre Dame at Night
The link to the Paris pictures in the previous post should be working now.
Thanks to those of you who are leaving comments, it's good to know that there is an audience out there (even if 75% of them are Kelts). To answer a few of your questions - yes, my phone works and I can get calls and texts, but it costs an arm and half of a leg so I probably will not reply if you text me something stupid (Scott). I am still following the Dodgers. My mlb.tv subscription has never been worth what I pay for it until now. The home games come on at 4am local time so I watch them as soon as I wake up and can get through a game in about an hour, although with the current losing streak I think I might need to mix something up. The current Dodger-with-Landon-out-of-the-country W-L record is 4-6. The All-Star break can't come soon enough. It's nice not having to worry about accidentally seeing a highlight of the Dodger game before I get to watch it. It's like living in some alternate universe where baseball doesn't exist and people really give a shit about cricket.
So yesterday (Saturday) we spent the majority of the day at the Louvre and then about an hour in the Musee de Orsay. The Louvre is impressive, but Chad and I were left a little underwhelmed. The building alone is worth the price of admission and the collection itself is massive. The Mona Lisa, Venus de Milo and other highlights are great, but the art collection is not necessarily 'diverse.' That is why we went to the Orsay because I wanted to see some Monet and Degas and Chad wanted to see some Van Gough. Unless they were in some hidden basement, we did not see any at the Louvre. That's not true, we did see 2 Monet's in a special exhibit but that was it. The Orsay did not disappoint, and there were even some unexpected surprises like 'Whistler's Mother.'
Our new travel mate Jarad met up with us at the Louvre (he spent an extra day in Amsterdam), and after the Orsay he suggested that instead of going back to the hotel to take a power nap and then journey out again later, that we should just go find a bar and start drinking right then - at 5pm. Sounded good. We looked in our travel guide and decided on a bar in the Marais district named The Lizard Lounge. This turned out to be a great choice as we met some really cool people and were there until midnight. Jarad and I tried (somewhat successfully) to hit on two French girls, but there is only so much you can say using hand signals so we moved on to the American girls who were in great abundance surprisingly. We moved to a second bar, Stolly's and when that one closed, our new drunk friend Val led us all to his favorite Irish pub, Le Galway. On our trek somebody motioned for me to look up and when I did I was staring right at Notre Dame. It was a cool moment. It's not every night you drunkenly stumble upon a historic landmark like Notre freaking Dame. Usually I just stumble. I tried to take some photo's but they didn't turn out. Tired and very inebriated, we made it home safely sometime Sunday morning.
Sunday morning we decided that we still needed to see more art, so we went to Musee de l'Orangerie to check out it's main attraction Monet's water lilly series (Nympheas). We didn't do it on purpose, but we definitely saved the best for last. One of main goals for the Paris section of our trip was to see some great art and I can say that we definitely succeeded there.
Tomorrow we board a 3:50pm train for 9 hour train ride to Pamplona via Irun. This trip has always centered around Pamplona and San Fermin, so it will be nice to arrive in Spain. There was a great article on cnn.com today about the Running of the Bulls, but don't read it if you are one of those that are 'concerned' about us running.
Anyway - here is Chad with his latest:
He fell asleep - he will write later today.
Thanks to those of you who are leaving comments, it's good to know that there is an audience out there (even if 75% of them are Kelts). To answer a few of your questions - yes, my phone works and I can get calls and texts, but it costs an arm and half of a leg so I probably will not reply if you text me something stupid (Scott). I am still following the Dodgers. My mlb.tv subscription has never been worth what I pay for it until now. The home games come on at 4am local time so I watch them as soon as I wake up and can get through a game in about an hour, although with the current losing streak I think I might need to mix something up. The current Dodger-with-Landon-out-of-the-country W-L record is 4-6. The All-Star break can't come soon enough. It's nice not having to worry about accidentally seeing a highlight of the Dodger game before I get to watch it. It's like living in some alternate universe where baseball doesn't exist and people really give a shit about cricket.
So yesterday (Saturday) we spent the majority of the day at the Louvre and then about an hour in the Musee de Orsay. The Louvre is impressive, but Chad and I were left a little underwhelmed. The building alone is worth the price of admission and the collection itself is massive. The Mona Lisa, Venus de Milo and other highlights are great, but the art collection is not necessarily 'diverse.' That is why we went to the Orsay because I wanted to see some Monet and Degas and Chad wanted to see some Van Gough. Unless they were in some hidden basement, we did not see any at the Louvre. That's not true, we did see 2 Monet's in a special exhibit but that was it. The Orsay did not disappoint, and there were even some unexpected surprises like 'Whistler's Mother.'
Our new travel mate Jarad met up with us at the Louvre (he spent an extra day in Amsterdam), and after the Orsay he suggested that instead of going back to the hotel to take a power nap and then journey out again later, that we should just go find a bar and start drinking right then - at 5pm. Sounded good. We looked in our travel guide and decided on a bar in the Marais district named The Lizard Lounge. This turned out to be a great choice as we met some really cool people and were there until midnight. Jarad and I tried (somewhat successfully) to hit on two French girls, but there is only so much you can say using hand signals so we moved on to the American girls who were in great abundance surprisingly. We moved to a second bar, Stolly's and when that one closed, our new drunk friend Val led us all to his favorite Irish pub, Le Galway. On our trek somebody motioned for me to look up and when I did I was staring right at Notre Dame. It was a cool moment. It's not every night you drunkenly stumble upon a historic landmark like Notre freaking Dame. Usually I just stumble. I tried to take some photo's but they didn't turn out. Tired and very inebriated, we made it home safely sometime Sunday morning.
Sunday morning we decided that we still needed to see more art, so we went to Musee de l'Orangerie to check out it's main attraction Monet's water lilly series (Nympheas). We didn't do it on purpose, but we definitely saved the best for last. One of main goals for the Paris section of our trip was to see some great art and I can say that we definitely succeeded there.
Tomorrow we board a 3:50pm train for 9 hour train ride to Pamplona via Irun. This trip has always centered around Pamplona and San Fermin, so it will be nice to arrive in Spain. There was a great article on cnn.com today about the Running of the Bulls, but don't read it if you are one of those that are 'concerned' about us running.
Anyway - here is Chad with his latest:
He fell asleep - he will write later today.
Friday, 6 July 2007
Amster-Damn that's a fun place
We took a train from Amsterdam (photos) to Paris at 7pm last night, arriving safely at our hotel at around 12:30 this morning. It took some good picture reading to be able to make it out of the train station, but everything went well on the cab ride to our hotel thanks to my limited French (which consists of Bonjour, si vous plais, parler vous anglais, and thanks to my trusty Lingo translator - combien. I can definitely understand now how the best way to learn a language is to immerse yourself in it. We have found that most people in the service industry speak English, but I have decided to attempt to speak French first and if need be resort to the 'parler vous anglais.' I butchered the phrase 'pourrais-je avoir la carte' at lunch, but was able to successfully purchase our tickets to the Louvre for tomorrow. I really wish I would have paid attention in French class now. I am amazed at how smart the children are here. Today as we were walking to the Arc de Triomphe we were behind a French family. The little boy was no older than five years of age and was already speaking fluent French. ;)
So today we checked out the Arc de Triomphe (which was much, much larger than I had expected), and of course the Eiffel Tower which surprisingly also exceeded my expectations. You can see a million different photographs and every movie ever made about it or including it, but they will never do it any justice. It is simply breathtaking. So breathtaking that you end up taking way too many photos trying to capture it's beauty. Such photos can be seen here, along with our other photos from the day. We then spent the rest of the afternoon at Musee de l'Armee Hotel des Invalides, which includes the Dome Church that houses Napoleon's Tomb. Tomorrow we are spending the entire day at the Louvre.
Now, for your reading pleasure - here is Mr. Osborne with his version of the last few days...
Amsterdam. Before I get into how ascetically pleasing Amsterdam is, I think I should turn back the page a bit and fill you in on how we got there.
We awake on an English morning. Take a taxi to the Holland Park Ave Tube, there we ate a very nice quiche with ham and cheese French sandwiches, and Coca-Cola light (diet coke). Our last meal in England before we left on the tubes to head quietly in the airport terminal. England was a place where you should see the country before you see the city. The walks in the park were pleasing, the wind entrains the smells of the restaurants with blooms as we walked past tress that seemed a thousand years old. But once we left the park we were sadly reminded that we were in a city....London. Which is why for me, I would love to see the country side for a bit. At last we were on our way to the airport all our luggage with us. Check. Passports and wallets. Check. Airport open and ready for us to leave because we want to go to Amsterdam. NO CHECK!
We arrive from the underground up to terminal No. 4 where we see all the future passengers walking the other direction. Kase was in front he turned to me and said, "They are evacuating." "Why" I said, he shrugged his shoulders and said, "Hell if I know". We walked with other passengers to the outside parking lot. The lot was a large half moon with a big muilt-level circle in the middle connected to the moon by three small bridges. Me and my heavy ass luggage walked across this bridge to the circle, while Kase stayed to see if he could find out what was going on.
I noticed large clouds forming in the distance. I would say that there were 2 to 3 thousand people there. All waiting for the same two answers. Are we safe and when can we go. An hour passes and by this time Kase was next to me and we were looking across the gap from the moon and circle. We could see they were handing out water to drink. A large, but friendly African woman said "I don't want water I want wine, I want a chicken plate and some red wine." And I immediately thought to myself, should you drink white wine with chicken? As my thought ended we were struck by a rain storm. I was alerted by people screaming from the cold rain. We quickly duck down behind a small wall we were standing against. With the aid of a small car parked in a handicap zone we found a dry spot. Kase quickly pulled out his trusted umbrella, a cheap make otherwise it would have been blown out of his hands by the winds, instead it dramatically inverted itself, which was funny. He fixed it quickly as we layed low watching everyone get rained on, especial an attraive 30 something french woman in her black tights and gray sweat shirt she had blond French wavy hair and she was listening to her iPod singing "....mellow yellow...oolala....mellow yellow.." in the rain. The French.
The rain soon passed and we heard an announcement telling us to go to the lower floor out of the rain and then they said that we should have food in 45 minutes.
Kase thought that we should get out of here. After a bit of thought and remembering Whit saying ..."he's a lucky little shit" I said lets go.
Now leaving the airport on foot was a strange feeling. Not to mention we had no place to go, so we kept on walking. We saw cars on the horizon and walked down carrying our "already to give away to the salvation army because it is to heavy" Bags.
The temperature changed from cold to hot. And we began to sweat. I pulled out the umbrella and mind the luggage while Kase went to find us a cab. After some work we found a cab and he took us to the nearest tube station. When we came to the station we had no more sterling. The taxi driver was kind enough to take USD.
This was now 5o'clock pm. We quickly got onto the tubes headed for Waterloo Station. When we arrived it was raining and lighting. There were so many people running for the trains I've never seen anything like it. I bumped into a woman in a hurry she yelled out "bugger" and I thought I just gave that lady a sliding door. Creepy. Boom thunder echoed though the station and the people began to run even faster now, a sprinters pace. I grabbed my camera and began to shoot when I head a voice from behind me. It sounded like the fat rat in Flushed Away. I turned to see and it's a man who is very small and a woman twice his size. "Do you want to tell me why your filming the boards?" She said. I was startled. "Do you speak english?" the rat man said. "yes". "Can I see some identification?" I gave him my passport. He asked me a question about where I was going and then gave me a ticket. "What do I do with this?" I asked. "Keep it for your prosperity." So I did.
We found out the the station we were at "Waterloo" was indeed the wrong station so we moved backwards to a starting point to find the right one. We found where it was and how we should get there. We took this train. This train was London's version of the 405 Interstate in Los Angeles. It was packed. Damn, here we were with rain drenched clothes and nothing to eat since that nice french sandwich with all this, "I wish someone would push me in front of a train because it's so heavy", luggage.
We quickly packed ourselves in with local working class Londoners each with a suit, tie and each woman in a dress and coat. It was hot and the extra humidity from the rain made the smells come alive. I wished I was standing next to someone like me who had good taste in cologne, which I was not. This train was loaded down with so many people, I've never seen anything like it. At last our stop. We were off. Back to another train station. The name of it was lost before I knew it. I found a corner spot to cool off. The rain still coming down made the larger rooms much cooler then the stuffed trains. I removed my raincoat only to find that it looked like I had been dancing to "Sweatin' to the Oldies". A voice called out, was it Richards Simmons, no it was Kase. He said we had to run to platform 12, I looked up we were at No. 4. Damn. Off we were at drunk homeless mans' pace. My feet yelled at me " what the hell are you doing to us?" Sorry feet, daddy needs you to keep up.
On the train to some other places far east of London we were headed. I looked at Kase and said "where's the Mello Yellow girl". We laughed we were almost there. Just then we heard an announcement that we would be running late. Kase said this was not good because we only had 6 minetus to get to the next train. Almost I thought. Almost. "Well", I said. "look at it this way, we get to see the country side, with sheep."
The train arrived 50 minutes late. Kase yelled out something to someone I didn't listen because I thought my finger was bleeding. I thought, traveling is like going to the store for body aches. "I'll take a bad knee, sore back, two cases of plantar fasciitis and two tickets for the 'I Lost My Wallet' guided tour."
"Chad the train is this way"
This time I was running like the Elephant man. I wanted to cry.
We were on the boat before I knew it. I was amazed at how nice it was. Dammit we were sailors now. We were leaving England with the upper hand, she tried to get us down but we didn't let her.
Before we boarded the Ship we meet a nice man named Jared. I have a cousin Jared and I like him, so this Jared ought to do it for some conversation. He said he was from Illinois and that he was traveling to Europe after serving 4 years in the Armed Forces, two of which were in Iraq. I told him I'd delivered two babies and converted a man to Christianity just before I got on the ship. He was not impressed.
We ate. It was food, thats all I can say. But they had gambling, I played a little won 40 Euros in 10 minuets. This was good, I could buy 4 packs of gum with this in Paris. Kase played Black Jack. This is were he met Pete. Pete is from Yorkshire and he looked and sounded like Shrek. He wasn't green, but I thought any second there he was going to shout out "Donkey" or "I'm an Oger" which sadly he didn't. I leaned back took a drink of Heinken extra Cold and thought, "man did we just go though that?" I mean here I was drinking great beer with Kase, Shrek and an unimpressed Marine named Jared, headed for the Hook of Holland on a ship. Can I just say I felt like Leo in Titanic. Then it hit me, I hope there are no icebergs.
So today we checked out the Arc de Triomphe (which was much, much larger than I had expected), and of course the Eiffel Tower which surprisingly also exceeded my expectations. You can see a million different photographs and every movie ever made about it or including it, but they will never do it any justice. It is simply breathtaking. So breathtaking that you end up taking way too many photos trying to capture it's beauty. Such photos can be seen here, along with our other photos from the day. We then spent the rest of the afternoon at Musee de l'Armee Hotel des Invalides, which includes the Dome Church that houses Napoleon's Tomb. Tomorrow we are spending the entire day at the Louvre.
Now, for your reading pleasure - here is Mr. Osborne with his version of the last few days...
Amsterdam. Before I get into how ascetically pleasing Amsterdam is, I think I should turn back the page a bit and fill you in on how we got there.
We awake on an English morning. Take a taxi to the Holland Park Ave Tube, there we ate a very nice quiche with ham and cheese French sandwiches, and Coca-Cola light (diet coke). Our last meal in England before we left on the tubes to head quietly in the airport terminal. England was a place where you should see the country before you see the city. The walks in the park were pleasing, the wind entrains the smells of the restaurants with blooms as we walked past tress that seemed a thousand years old. But once we left the park we were sadly reminded that we were in a city....London. Which is why for me, I would love to see the country side for a bit. At last we were on our way to the airport all our luggage with us. Check. Passports and wallets. Check. Airport open and ready for us to leave because we want to go to Amsterdam. NO CHECK!
We arrive from the underground up to terminal No. 4 where we see all the future passengers walking the other direction. Kase was in front he turned to me and said, "They are evacuating." "Why" I said, he shrugged his shoulders and said, "Hell if I know". We walked with other passengers to the outside parking lot. The lot was a large half moon with a big muilt-level circle in the middle connected to the moon by three small bridges. Me and my heavy ass luggage walked across this bridge to the circle, while Kase stayed to see if he could find out what was going on.
I noticed large clouds forming in the distance. I would say that there were 2 to 3 thousand people there. All waiting for the same two answers. Are we safe and when can we go. An hour passes and by this time Kase was next to me and we were looking across the gap from the moon and circle. We could see they were handing out water to drink. A large, but friendly African woman said "I don't want water I want wine, I want a chicken plate and some red wine." And I immediately thought to myself, should you drink white wine with chicken? As my thought ended we were struck by a rain storm. I was alerted by people screaming from the cold rain. We quickly duck down behind a small wall we were standing against. With the aid of a small car parked in a handicap zone we found a dry spot. Kase quickly pulled out his trusted umbrella, a cheap make otherwise it would have been blown out of his hands by the winds, instead it dramatically inverted itself, which was funny. He fixed it quickly as we layed low watching everyone get rained on, especial an attraive 30 something french woman in her black tights and gray sweat shirt she had blond French wavy hair and she was listening to her iPod singing "....mellow yellow...oolala....mellow yellow.." in the rain. The French.
The rain soon passed and we heard an announcement telling us to go to the lower floor out of the rain and then they said that we should have food in 45 minutes.
Kase thought that we should get out of here. After a bit of thought and remembering Whit saying ..."he's a lucky little shit" I said lets go.
Now leaving the airport on foot was a strange feeling. Not to mention we had no place to go, so we kept on walking. We saw cars on the horizon and walked down carrying our "already to give away to the salvation army because it is to heavy" Bags.
The temperature changed from cold to hot. And we began to sweat. I pulled out the umbrella and mind the luggage while Kase went to find us a cab. After some work we found a cab and he took us to the nearest tube station. When we came to the station we had no more sterling. The taxi driver was kind enough to take USD.
This was now 5o'clock pm. We quickly got onto the tubes headed for Waterloo Station. When we arrived it was raining and lighting. There were so many people running for the trains I've never seen anything like it. I bumped into a woman in a hurry she yelled out "bugger" and I thought I just gave that lady a sliding door. Creepy. Boom thunder echoed though the station and the people began to run even faster now, a sprinters pace. I grabbed my camera and began to shoot when I head a voice from behind me. It sounded like the fat rat in Flushed Away. I turned to see and it's a man who is very small and a woman twice his size. "Do you want to tell me why your filming the boards?" She said. I was startled. "Do you speak english?" the rat man said. "yes". "Can I see some identification?" I gave him my passport. He asked me a question about where I was going and then gave me a ticket. "What do I do with this?" I asked. "Keep it for your prosperity." So I did.
We found out the the station we were at "Waterloo" was indeed the wrong station so we moved backwards to a starting point to find the right one. We found where it was and how we should get there. We took this train. This train was London's version of the 405 Interstate in Los Angeles. It was packed. Damn, here we were with rain drenched clothes and nothing to eat since that nice french sandwich with all this, "I wish someone would push me in front of a train because it's so heavy", luggage.
We quickly packed ourselves in with local working class Londoners each with a suit, tie and each woman in a dress and coat. It was hot and the extra humidity from the rain made the smells come alive. I wished I was standing next to someone like me who had good taste in cologne, which I was not. This train was loaded down with so many people, I've never seen anything like it. At last our stop. We were off. Back to another train station. The name of it was lost before I knew it. I found a corner spot to cool off. The rain still coming down made the larger rooms much cooler then the stuffed trains. I removed my raincoat only to find that it looked like I had been dancing to "Sweatin' to the Oldies". A voice called out, was it Richards Simmons, no it was Kase. He said we had to run to platform 12, I looked up we were at No. 4. Damn. Off we were at drunk homeless mans' pace. My feet yelled at me " what the hell are you doing to us?" Sorry feet, daddy needs you to keep up.
On the train to some other places far east of London we were headed. I looked at Kase and said "where's the Mello Yellow girl". We laughed we were almost there. Just then we heard an announcement that we would be running late. Kase said this was not good because we only had 6 minetus to get to the next train. Almost I thought. Almost. "Well", I said. "look at it this way, we get to see the country side, with sheep."
The train arrived 50 minutes late. Kase yelled out something to someone I didn't listen because I thought my finger was bleeding. I thought, traveling is like going to the store for body aches. "I'll take a bad knee, sore back, two cases of plantar fasciitis and two tickets for the 'I Lost My Wallet' guided tour."
"Chad the train is this way"
This time I was running like the Elephant man. I wanted to cry.
We were on the boat before I knew it. I was amazed at how nice it was. Dammit we were sailors now. We were leaving England with the upper hand, she tried to get us down but we didn't let her.
Before we boarded the Ship we meet a nice man named Jared. I have a cousin Jared and I like him, so this Jared ought to do it for some conversation. He said he was from Illinois and that he was traveling to Europe after serving 4 years in the Armed Forces, two of which were in Iraq. I told him I'd delivered two babies and converted a man to Christianity just before I got on the ship. He was not impressed.
We ate. It was food, thats all I can say. But they had gambling, I played a little won 40 Euros in 10 minuets. This was good, I could buy 4 packs of gum with this in Paris. Kase played Black Jack. This is were he met Pete. Pete is from Yorkshire and he looked and sounded like Shrek. He wasn't green, but I thought any second there he was going to shout out "Donkey" or "I'm an Oger" which sadly he didn't. I leaned back took a drink of Heinken extra Cold and thought, "man did we just go though that?" I mean here I was drinking great beer with Kase, Shrek and an unimpressed Marine named Jared, headed for the Hook of Holland on a ship. Can I just say I felt like Leo in Titanic. Then it hit me, I hope there are no icebergs.
Wednesday, 4 July 2007
Nieuw Bericht
I have a few minutes, so I wanted to add a few things. First, I am sorry that the blog is as dry as it is. There are two things you must have to be able to add to your blog: An internet connection and at least a few short moments to write and post your article. The last few days I have rarely had either. When I do find a minute or two, my first priority is to get down on paper exactly what we have done so that I don't forget anything. I rarely have time to be my usual charming and witty self (stop rolling your eyes, Em). I will try to spice it up for those of you using the blog as a sleep aid.
I wanted to give a 'review' (or Jerry's Final Thoughts) on London but I wanted to wait a while to give it a fair shake. Since it was our first stop on this journey through 5 countries, I only had America to compare it to and so I thought that it would be better to get to France first before I start ripping the Britt's. Just kidding. For the most part, London was exactly how I expected it to be. I will report later on if that is a good thing or not. Real quick, here is a video from Heathrow yesterday:
So far I am really liking Amsterdam. It is a unique place to say the least. I am still trying to convince Chad to write some, but I think he is too busy thinking up funny stuff to do for the video camera. Here is his latest masterpiece.
I wanted to give a 'review' (or Jerry's Final Thoughts) on London but I wanted to wait a while to give it a fair shake. Since it was our first stop on this journey through 5 countries, I only had America to compare it to and so I thought that it would be better to get to France first before I start ripping the Britt's. Just kidding. For the most part, London was exactly how I expected it to be. I will report later on if that is a good thing or not. Real quick, here is a video from Heathrow yesterday:
So far I am really liking Amsterdam. It is a unique place to say the least. I am still trying to convince Chad to write some, but I think he is too busy thinking up funny stuff to do for the video camera. Here is his latest masterpiece.
Catching up
We arrived safely at our Amsterdam hotel about an hour ago. Apparently an unattended bag caused the cancellation of 108 British Airways flights out of Heathrow yesterday; ours being one of them. We decided to cut and run after about 4 hours, walked a mile to find a cab to take us to the nearest tube station, and then took the underground to Waterloo Terminal. My blackberry was a lifesaver, as I was able to find enough information to plan our escape route as we rode. After Chad almost got arrested at Waterloo (I'll let him write about that later), we then transferred to Liverpool Street where we caught a train to Harwich - caught a ferry to Hook of Holland and then another train to Amsterdam via Rotterdam. And here we are. As crazy and inconvenient as it all was, I actually had a pretty good time frantically trying to put together a plan and enact that plan all at the same time. Chad mentioned that it reminded him of 'War of the Worlds.' and I have to agree.
So to update those of you who like to hear about where we've been and what we have seen, I will give a quick review of what we have been up to since I last gave a report. On Sunday we started at the Houses of Parliament, walked across Westminster Bridge and then north along South Bank checking out the London Eye, Jubilee Gardens, and Shakespeare's Globe. After a stop for some Fish & Chips, we then crossed Millennium Bridge to St. Paul's Cathedral and then took the underground to St. James Park and then to Buckingham Palace. All the photos can be seen here.
Sunday evening we went to a pub in Notting Hill called Prince Albert. We met some interesting characters, but I will save those stories for another time.
On Monday we took a train and a 20 minute bus ride to Stonehenge. Those photos are here.
Alright - I will write again later and have Chad write some as well.... Right now the Red Light District is calling my name.
So to update those of you who like to hear about where we've been and what we have seen, I will give a quick review of what we have been up to since I last gave a report. On Sunday we started at the Houses of Parliament, walked across Westminster Bridge and then north along South Bank checking out the London Eye, Jubilee Gardens, and Shakespeare's Globe. After a stop for some Fish & Chips, we then crossed Millennium Bridge to St. Paul's Cathedral and then took the underground to St. James Park and then to Buckingham Palace. All the photos can be seen here.
Sunday evening we went to a pub in Notting Hill called Prince Albert. We met some interesting characters, but I will save those stories for another time.
On Monday we took a train and a 20 minute bus ride to Stonehenge. Those photos are here.
Alright - I will write again later and have Chad write some as well.... Right now the Red Light District is calling my name.
Tuesday, 3 July 2007
Update..
So it is currently 9:30pm and we are in Harwich, UK waiting to board our 11:30pm ferry to Amsterdam. I am still using the BB to update so I won't get into the details just yet, but I will say that Mr. Osborne and I are happy to be in one piece. Check whitneys comment on the last post for more info on what went down.
Stay tuned...
Stay tuned...
Cool news, bad news
I am updating the blog from my blackberry, which is pretty amazing if you think about it. The bad news is I am doing so as Chad and I wait to check in for our flight to amsterdam from outside in the parking lot. They evacuated the entire airport just as we got off the tube. I'll keep you posted..
Monday, 2 July 2007
Running with the Trains
My travel mate sleeps too much and won't stop talking with a horrible english accent (it's actually closer to a scottish accent), but all in all he is a pretty good time. Here he is on the train back from Salisbury...
Sunday, 1 July 2007
Idiosyncracies
One of the great things about this city are its subtle differences. I have finally become used to looking right and then left before crossing the street, but the whole driver on the right, drive on the left thing is just plain wrong. Things are seemingly named quite literally here - an elevator is a 'lift', it is not an exit, but 'way out', you don't yield, you 'give way', and you don't wait in line you wait in 'queue.'
London Photos
London Photos
Saturday, 30 June 2007
Jet Lag
My first bout with jet lag has been a difficult one to say the least. A trip from the west coast to the east is nothing compared to this. As someone who has issues with sleep anyway, adjusting to a new schedule of essentially sleeping at 3pm (23:00 BST) and waking at 11pm (7:00 BST) can leave you feeling like you are in the middle of some weird drug hangover. Or maybe I am just having a weird drug hangover from the 'relaxation aid' that my mother so generously gave me for the plane ride.
Because of the jet lag, we crashed out early Friday night after a short walk around Kennsington and a quick bite at the Brooke Green Hotel bar. After waking up at 5am on Saturday, we took the 'tube' to Westminster to get a quick glimpse at the Houses of Parliament, Big Ben and Westminster Abbey, continuing past St. James Park to Picadilly Circus. Picadilly Circus is the main commercial center in the heart of London and one of the main thoroughfares. Today however it was blocked off and there were no vehicles being allowed through. What would be such a threat as to completely shut down this main artery? We of course had no idea so we began to ask around. That is when we first heard. The area was closed down for the annual London Gay Pride Parade. As eager as Chad was to wave his pink British flag, we instead jumped on the tube to the Museum of London. We decided to call it a day after we both nodded off during the 4 minute film about the great plague.
On a more serious note, we are trying not to let the seriousness of what is happening here affect our travels. We rode the tube all day yesterday fully aware of the failed car bombings the day before, and went out last night to a local pub after the Glasgow Airport incident and the raising of the terror threat level to critical. We are of course alert and observant and will probably stay away from public transportation today, but we both feel completely safe and plan on checking out Buckingham Palace tomorrow.
Cheerio..
Because of the jet lag, we crashed out early Friday night after a short walk around Kennsington and a quick bite at the Brooke Green Hotel bar. After waking up at 5am on Saturday, we took the 'tube' to Westminster to get a quick glimpse at the Houses of Parliament, Big Ben and Westminster Abbey, continuing past St. James Park to Picadilly Circus. Picadilly Circus is the main commercial center in the heart of London and one of the main thoroughfares. Today however it was blocked off and there were no vehicles being allowed through. What would be such a threat as to completely shut down this main artery? We of course had no idea so we began to ask around. That is when we first heard. The area was closed down for the annual London Gay Pride Parade. As eager as Chad was to wave his pink British flag, we instead jumped on the tube to the Museum of London. We decided to call it a day after we both nodded off during the 4 minute film about the great plague.
On a more serious note, we are trying not to let the seriousness of what is happening here affect our travels. We rode the tube all day yesterday fully aware of the failed car bombings the day before, and went out last night to a local pub after the Glasgow Airport incident and the raising of the terror threat level to critical. We are of course alert and observant and will probably stay away from public transportation today, but we both feel completely safe and plan on checking out Buckingham Palace tomorrow.
Cheerio..
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