Bavaria day three (Rothenburg): funf wurst (five bratwursts)...sadly, that's the last of Bavaria.
Munich (Munchen) is great, and cheap - go there if you can. Since Gena isn't the most practiced bike rider, we didn't do that in this very bike friendly town (or Amsterdam, which may be the Western Hemisphere's bike capitol). Not that we needed to, as Munich is very walkable.
Leaving Munich, we stopped off at Rothenburg o/d Tauber (like Springfield in the USA, Germany has many Rothenburg's so you need some suffixes to make sure you end up in the right one). This Rothenburg is pretty much what you envision when you think of olde timey Europe at Christmas. It was beautiful in the heat of August, so it has to be tremendous with some snow in December.
Then we headed up to Bacharach, a little Rhineland burg. Bacharach is tiny, with good food but not much going on. Using it as a cheap home base, we toured the Rhine's castle-row by boat and hiked the town of St. Goar and it's massive castle remains. This length of the Rhine between Bacharach and St. Goar (about 90 minutes by boat) has (from memory) six castles...physical testiment to Germany's feudal system past.
The Rhine has for centuries been a key trading transportation hub - some say it sees more annual trade traffic than any other river in the world. The castles would be set up (one literally in the middle of the river) to block boats from passing until they paid a fee. Would sorta be like all of Ohio's counties along Lake Erie assessing their own pass-through fee for every boat headed to/from the Upper Great Lakes. Some of the strongest supporters for doing away with feudal principalities in favor of a stronger/larger Germanic nation-state? Would you believe....the merchants who utilized the Rhine?
After this foray into the Rhineland, our train pulled into Amsterdam. We really only had one day - which I thought may be too little time, but now I'm not sure you really need much more than that. First, if you're planning on going there in the next three years, the train station is under heavy construction. So, just kinda follow the crowds for the way out of the station and onto Damrak (the city's main drag). Second, English might as well be the national language. If you were hoping to practice your Dutch, better find another location.
In many ways, Amsterdam is Europe's Las Vegas. Obviously, there is the, ahem, reputation for ill repute in both cities. But in my mind's eye - they are unnatural settings for human existance. Vegas is in the middle of the desert. Amsterdam is in the middle of, well, the ocean. Without tremendous human engineering, neither town would exist. As such, to me, both cities are a little silly, if not preposterous.
A ton of federal and state taxpayer dollars go into keeping Vegas supplied with sufficient water supply. On the opposite end, Amsterdam has to pay dearly to keep their city above water. The buildings are on top of thousands of pilings, that are hundreds of years old. As those pilings fail, the buildings get a shade slanty. Hopefully we can post some pics, because it's like people are living in the Leaning Tower of Pisa all over town. Trouble is, the townhomes are right up against one another...so as one starts to lean...
The buildings are beautiful, but if I lived there, I would definately stay a renter.
Thankfully, the Anne Frank house is not one of the slanty houses. It is, however, one of the saddest homes you would ever hope to visit though. The world owes Anne Frank much. Perhaps because she was a child, when her diary was finally published many readers could identify with her. As a result (and a few other works like Night), it became ok for other publishers to print material from Holocaust victims/survivors. Without the chord that her diary struck across the world, we may not have widely published works from other survivors. Check out Primo Levi if you can.
Gena & I agreed the house itself was larger inside than we had previously imagined, with the steepest stairs we'd encountered. But we were only inside for a couple hours...Anne and her fellow hiders were there for years, of course. Though the house is unfurnished (intentionally), some of her personal effects remain such as the posters she hung on her shared bedroom wall to daydream herself out of the house. Heartbreaking.
Altogether another form of daydreaming can be done at the Van Gogh museum, which is also excentally presented. While it does not currently have Starry Night (perhaps his biggest crowd pleaser), it's collection is stellar. From Potato Eaters to Sunflowers to Wheatfield with Crows, the museum is excentally laid out including his influences, life chronology, and stylistic development. I was previously unaware of how crucial his sister-in-law was to ensuring his works were protected after his death.
I found cruising the canals of the city (more numerous than Venice) underwhelming, though there are worse ways to spend an afternoon. It is a nice view of the city's pretty architecture, but the canals themselves are fairly littered with debris, taking away from the experience.
As for the Red Light district - not as dirty and seedy as I had anticipated, but still pretty sketchy and surreal (especially when we would see a customer duck into a door...or worse, come out). We cleared out before darkness fully fell, though, so it could be a bit ranker then.
But let me tell you about the fully modern hotel room we had in our last night in Europe - best thing ever! Citizen M...trippy cool lights with matching music soundtracks, separate freestanding/circular enclosures for the toilet and shower, and all electronics on a PDA-like remote control. And about 1/3 the cost of a traditional place in Amsterdam, with walking distance to the airport (which we found quite difficult and frustrating to navigate). They have an expansion plan across Europe in the next couple years - so if you're making the jump across the pond, check to see if they're in the city you're planning on going to.
Friday, August 21, 2009
Monday, August 17, 2009
Hello You-Woo Photo and other random ruminations
So we are in Munich and I am not going to lie I am not in love with this place. I think I am just tired but it is making me cranky. To avoid sinking too far into a bad mood I thought I would share a few more random thoughts from the trip thus far.
1. Hello You-Woo Photo - This little gem comes to via Paris. While in the City of Light we decided to take a night boat cruise on the Seine. Like manz tourist traps this place wanted to take a commermative picture to sell zou at the end of the cruise. But they used the world´s worst method to achieve this goal. First they had not one but two photogs. The first took random pictures of you on the ship´s gangplank. But he didn´t tell you he was just sort of in a corner snapping random pictures as folks walked on. The result was that no one was looking at him and sometimes people were only half in his pictures. Now if you can believe this the second photographer was actuallý even weirder. He was walking around the boat and he would come up to a group of people (sometimes they weren´t actually together as a group just happened to be sitting togehter) and he would yell Hello, You-Woo Photo and then immediatelz snap a picture. The result was everzone had one of two expressions -startled or confused. Again not a good business model.
I thought I would be smart and out smart him. I saw him coming and grabbed Mike and we posed. We got off the boat and went to the thing to see the funnz startled or confused expressions. Must to my surprise was our picture. Yes we were posed and smiling but my tank top had slipped while I leaned forward. These crazy people printed a full color 8x10 picture of us and one entire half of mz bra is out. Lovely.
2. Cliff Diving - In Murren, where we stayed in Switzerland the big thing is cliff diving. Now for those not familiar with this ´adventure sport´ allow me to explain it. You are given this skinny parachute and then thez shove you off of a cliff. The goal is to see how far you can free fall before you decide to pull the parachute cord. Of all this is down of course while attempting to not hit the cliff face. People were doing this is droves and paying around 200 bucks for some one to push them off a cliff. I believe there are wards and drugs for these folks. Mike wanted to try it. I told him he had good life insurance through the state so to go ahead I´d collect the body.
3. He can walk its a miracle - So today we saw the crippled walk. What caused this miracle you ask? A holy relic at an ancient church perhaps, nope 2 beer cans that were thrown in the trash. That´s right we were at a train station waiting for a connection and there was a young boy there in a wheelchair. Two girls finished two tall boys and put them in the trash can. The wheel chair bound boy got up out of his chair, walked to the trash can, fished out the two empties, crushed them and put them in his backpack. I wanted to yell it is a miracle he´s cured. Mike just said the German´s take their recycling seriously.
4. The former royal family is bad at screwing tourists - Today we went to visit Neuschwanstein castle. For those who don´t know click the wikipedia link. But basically the two castles are built around a village whose whole purpose in live is to soak as much money as possible out of tourists. These places are for the most part owned by family to the former royal family. They are so serious about soaking tourists here that they force you to have downtime between tours in their shops. Once again I am forced to point out the flaws in a tourist traps business model (though maybe I shouldnät make suggestions on how to take more of mz monez). This town had 1 ATM which was out of service, no money exchage and no shop or food place took credit card or any kind of money but a euro. We had a grand total of 8 euro which we needed to pay for the public transportation to and from the train station. Now we were hungry and crankz but reallz the parties truly hurt by this are the businesses themselves since they can´t fully bilk tourists under this system. Mike says he is buying a stand there and selling food and beer while accepting credit card and exchanging money at a horrible rate. But it won´t matter because we have no competition.
I think that is it for me for today. I am exhausted. We have walked and walked. Also who knew but Munich is miserably hot with terrible humidity. It has been 90 the past two days yet nothing has AC. I kind of want to curl into a little ball and die.
1. Hello You-Woo Photo - This little gem comes to via Paris. While in the City of Light we decided to take a night boat cruise on the Seine. Like manz tourist traps this place wanted to take a commermative picture to sell zou at the end of the cruise. But they used the world´s worst method to achieve this goal. First they had not one but two photogs. The first took random pictures of you on the ship´s gangplank. But he didn´t tell you he was just sort of in a corner snapping random pictures as folks walked on. The result was that no one was looking at him and sometimes people were only half in his pictures. Now if you can believe this the second photographer was actuallý even weirder. He was walking around the boat and he would come up to a group of people (sometimes they weren´t actually together as a group just happened to be sitting togehter) and he would yell Hello, You-Woo Photo and then immediatelz snap a picture. The result was everzone had one of two expressions -startled or confused. Again not a good business model.
I thought I would be smart and out smart him. I saw him coming and grabbed Mike and we posed. We got off the boat and went to the thing to see the funnz startled or confused expressions. Must to my surprise was our picture. Yes we were posed and smiling but my tank top had slipped while I leaned forward. These crazy people printed a full color 8x10 picture of us and one entire half of mz bra is out. Lovely.
2. Cliff Diving - In Murren, where we stayed in Switzerland the big thing is cliff diving. Now for those not familiar with this ´adventure sport´ allow me to explain it. You are given this skinny parachute and then thez shove you off of a cliff. The goal is to see how far you can free fall before you decide to pull the parachute cord. Of all this is down of course while attempting to not hit the cliff face. People were doing this is droves and paying around 200 bucks for some one to push them off a cliff. I believe there are wards and drugs for these folks. Mike wanted to try it. I told him he had good life insurance through the state so to go ahead I´d collect the body.
3. He can walk its a miracle - So today we saw the crippled walk. What caused this miracle you ask? A holy relic at an ancient church perhaps, nope 2 beer cans that were thrown in the trash. That´s right we were at a train station waiting for a connection and there was a young boy there in a wheelchair. Two girls finished two tall boys and put them in the trash can. The wheel chair bound boy got up out of his chair, walked to the trash can, fished out the two empties, crushed them and put them in his backpack. I wanted to yell it is a miracle he´s cured. Mike just said the German´s take their recycling seriously.
4. The former royal family is bad at screwing tourists - Today we went to visit Neuschwanstein castle. For those who don´t know click the wikipedia link. But basically the two castles are built around a village whose whole purpose in live is to soak as much money as possible out of tourists. These places are for the most part owned by family to the former royal family. They are so serious about soaking tourists here that they force you to have downtime between tours in their shops. Once again I am forced to point out the flaws in a tourist traps business model (though maybe I shouldnät make suggestions on how to take more of mz monez). This town had 1 ATM which was out of service, no money exchage and no shop or food place took credit card or any kind of money but a euro. We had a grand total of 8 euro which we needed to pay for the public transportation to and from the train station. Now we were hungry and crankz but reallz the parties truly hurt by this are the businesses themselves since they can´t fully bilk tourists under this system. Mike says he is buying a stand there and selling food and beer while accepting credit card and exchanging money at a horrible rate. But it won´t matter because we have no competition.
I think that is it for me for today. I am exhausted. We have walked and walked. Also who knew but Munich is miserably hot with terrible humidity. It has been 90 the past two days yet nothing has AC. I kind of want to curl into a little ball and die.
Cinderella´s Castle
Just back from Neuschwanstein to visit King Ludwig II´s unfinished masterpiece (as well as his boyhood home castle) in the Bavarian Alp foothills. This is the castle that inspired Walt Disney to work up a home for Cinderella. Very pretty, with the best ceilings ever. Probably would have been better if we had done a little reading about Wagner beforehand, as Ludwig was obsessed with the guy and his opera´s, so pretty much every painting has something to do with a Wagner opera. Still, definately a sight to see.
Yesterday was a sad day at Dachau. This is a massive facility, that oddly was repurposed for a short time after the war to house "guest workers" that came for the Restoration construction work...walking down the wide gravel path between the former prisoner barraks was disturbingly pretty, a ruse the Nazi´s used to demonstrate to the Red Cross what kind of conditions prisoners were living under. It now houses a very well done (organized in typical German order) museum that traces the history of the facility and the country´s conditions giving rise to National Socialism (Nazi) power.
Proud moment though, when looking at the plaque dedicated to the U.S. Army unit that liberated the camp (actually two units converged at once, but one got hung up shooting it out with the Nazi tower guards, while the other unit circumnavigated the guardhouse to get behind the Nazi´s...at which point the Nazi´s laid down their arms posthaste, knowing they had been left behind to give up and knowing the Americans had overwhelming firepower).
Highly recommend this, as well as the Radius Tour company we hitched along with for interpreting the silent remains of this gruesome place, if you ever find yourself in Munich.
For something completely different, went to the famed Hofbrau House for dinner after walking the stunning town square (Marianplatz, or Mary´s Place, dedicated to baby Jesus´mother) with its jousting glockenspiel. Though touristy, it still maintains local cred with all of the tables that have been reserved for decades by local groups. Plenty of oompah music to enjoy our steins of beverages with. Still, sobering when considering that Hitler would give some of his major early speeches here to win over the locals, due to its ability to hold thousands within its walls.
So, the running tally would be -
Bavaria day one (Munich) - drei wursts, zwei breze (three sausages, two big pretzels)
Bavaria day two, so far (Fussen/Munich) - ein wurst, ein breze (one sausage, one big pretzel)...I cannot wait until dinner
To slightly continue the last post on energy policy - environmentalism has worked miracles here that we have witnessed with our own eye. At the train platform, a passenger we had seen wheeling around in a wheelchair noticed that someone had put two aluminum cans into the garbage bin. Like Lazarus, up he rose, walked (propelled by his singular commitment to the Earth), retrieved said cans to put into his chair´s bag to place them in the proper disposal container at a later time. The healing powers driven by the evironmental spirit have no boundaries. That, or the phenomenal exchange rate Germans must be given for turning in their cans. My knowledge of the German language does not allow for such mysteries to be revealed.
A random thing I forgot to blog about earlier - the Irish have no idea what "Erin Go Brah" means (nor do I), and detest the "Kiss me I´m Irish" business. Seems these are American inventions to include more people in the St. Patty´s Day festivities. We´re a bit more inclusive when it comes to celebrations, it appears.
Now, about that wurst count....
Yesterday was a sad day at Dachau. This is a massive facility, that oddly was repurposed for a short time after the war to house "guest workers" that came for the Restoration construction work...walking down the wide gravel path between the former prisoner barraks was disturbingly pretty, a ruse the Nazi´s used to demonstrate to the Red Cross what kind of conditions prisoners were living under. It now houses a very well done (organized in typical German order) museum that traces the history of the facility and the country´s conditions giving rise to National Socialism (Nazi) power.
Proud moment though, when looking at the plaque dedicated to the U.S. Army unit that liberated the camp (actually two units converged at once, but one got hung up shooting it out with the Nazi tower guards, while the other unit circumnavigated the guardhouse to get behind the Nazi´s...at which point the Nazi´s laid down their arms posthaste, knowing they had been left behind to give up and knowing the Americans had overwhelming firepower).
Highly recommend this, as well as the Radius Tour company we hitched along with for interpreting the silent remains of this gruesome place, if you ever find yourself in Munich.
For something completely different, went to the famed Hofbrau House for dinner after walking the stunning town square (Marianplatz, or Mary´s Place, dedicated to baby Jesus´mother) with its jousting glockenspiel. Though touristy, it still maintains local cred with all of the tables that have been reserved for decades by local groups. Plenty of oompah music to enjoy our steins of beverages with. Still, sobering when considering that Hitler would give some of his major early speeches here to win over the locals, due to its ability to hold thousands within its walls.
So, the running tally would be -
Bavaria day one (Munich) - drei wursts, zwei breze (three sausages, two big pretzels)
Bavaria day two, so far (Fussen/Munich) - ein wurst, ein breze (one sausage, one big pretzel)...I cannot wait until dinner
To slightly continue the last post on energy policy - environmentalism has worked miracles here that we have witnessed with our own eye. At the train platform, a passenger we had seen wheeling around in a wheelchair noticed that someone had put two aluminum cans into the garbage bin. Like Lazarus, up he rose, walked (propelled by his singular commitment to the Earth), retrieved said cans to put into his chair´s bag to place them in the proper disposal container at a later time. The healing powers driven by the evironmental spirit have no boundaries. That, or the phenomenal exchange rate Germans must be given for turning in their cans. My knowledge of the German language does not allow for such mysteries to be revealed.
A random thing I forgot to blog about earlier - the Irish have no idea what "Erin Go Brah" means (nor do I), and detest the "Kiss me I´m Irish" business. Seems these are American inventions to include more people in the St. Patty´s Day festivities. We´re a bit more inclusive when it comes to celebrations, it appears.
Now, about that wurst count....
Saturday, August 15, 2009
Let us talk about energy policy
Guess who is blogging.
First, the Alps are amazing. They are now going to be my top hiking recommendation in the world. After, of course, Hocking Hills State Park.
Second, it seems that much of Europe is very imposing. Obviously, the mountains (but I am sure the Rockies are as well). But the buildings here are just massive structures. It is like virtually every building was made with the thought of lasting a few centuries. This is, sadly, not the case in the U.S. How long will the cardboard shacks that make up Easton Town Place, Polaris Fashion Mall, and Dayton´s The Greene (or whatever absurd name they have given that Easton wannabe) last? Think they will be around 500 years from now? I would be generous in saying they may last 40 years. The whole reason for Polaris existing has already changed (remember the outdoor concert venue there?).
Which gets me thinking about energy policy, which, like the French drains I couldn´t stop noticing once I picked up on them, I cannot stop thinking about as we train through this string of really old human settlements.
We like to say that we can build these lame shopping malls all over the place because America has the room to spread out. The big secret is that Europe does too. There is farmland as far as the eye can see here, once you step out of the city walls (literally).
What is interesting to me is how they are adapting their old cities. Since touching down at Heathrow Airport, I have not used a urinal that uses water. That is two weeks, five countries and counting.
We passed commercial wind farms in rural Wales and Germany. Solar panels seem to be standard issue in Germany´s countryside homes. What was clearly a sophistically capped landfill was harvesting methane in Germany. Most of the towns we traversed in the Alps had a no car policy (because they simply were unnecessary). The trains we have ridden have been effecient, easy to negotiate regardless of the language they were issued in, and have always been clean.
Finally, when we were driving in Ireland, I noticed, since it was the only time I had to fill the tank, that gas was 1.10. Not bad, right? First, you have to convert that to Euro´s from American dollars. So, really that is 1.65. But then, you realize they are on the metric system (name that movie: "they wouldn´t know what a quarter-pounder was"), and the gas price is per liter not gallon. There are about four liters in a gallon. So, now you are talking 6.30 per gallon of gas.
While that hurt the travel budget, I am quite sure it drives travel decision making for the average European.
I know American´s love their cars - I know I love mine...but it seems that Old Man Europe can still teach the young kid a thing or two on best use of available resources. Like Bill Bryson said in his fun European trip novel - "We used to build civilazations. Now we build shopping malls."
Sorry to rant (you knew it was coming sooner or later), but it is just frustrating to see us lag behind folks who use words like "queue" and endless amounts of hair product on a regular basis.
Now that I am off that whole trip for now, yes I do love the location of our Munich hotel (per Gena´s most recent post).
Next up - some sadness at Dachau Concentration Camp (the first one Hitler created). Not sure I will be able to blog after that (especially knowing we are hoping to visit the Anne Frank house in Amsterdam).
The German is coming in handy - managed to get myself a poppyseed roll with dinner, anyway.
First, the Alps are amazing. They are now going to be my top hiking recommendation in the world. After, of course, Hocking Hills State Park.
Second, it seems that much of Europe is very imposing. Obviously, the mountains (but I am sure the Rockies are as well). But the buildings here are just massive structures. It is like virtually every building was made with the thought of lasting a few centuries. This is, sadly, not the case in the U.S. How long will the cardboard shacks that make up Easton Town Place, Polaris Fashion Mall, and Dayton´s The Greene (or whatever absurd name they have given that Easton wannabe) last? Think they will be around 500 years from now? I would be generous in saying they may last 40 years. The whole reason for Polaris existing has already changed (remember the outdoor concert venue there?).
Which gets me thinking about energy policy, which, like the French drains I couldn´t stop noticing once I picked up on them, I cannot stop thinking about as we train through this string of really old human settlements.
We like to say that we can build these lame shopping malls all over the place because America has the room to spread out. The big secret is that Europe does too. There is farmland as far as the eye can see here, once you step out of the city walls (literally).
What is interesting to me is how they are adapting their old cities. Since touching down at Heathrow Airport, I have not used a urinal that uses water. That is two weeks, five countries and counting.
We passed commercial wind farms in rural Wales and Germany. Solar panels seem to be standard issue in Germany´s countryside homes. What was clearly a sophistically capped landfill was harvesting methane in Germany. Most of the towns we traversed in the Alps had a no car policy (because they simply were unnecessary). The trains we have ridden have been effecient, easy to negotiate regardless of the language they were issued in, and have always been clean.
Finally, when we were driving in Ireland, I noticed, since it was the only time I had to fill the tank, that gas was 1.10. Not bad, right? First, you have to convert that to Euro´s from American dollars. So, really that is 1.65. But then, you realize they are on the metric system (name that movie: "they wouldn´t know what a quarter-pounder was"), and the gas price is per liter not gallon. There are about four liters in a gallon. So, now you are talking 6.30 per gallon of gas.
While that hurt the travel budget, I am quite sure it drives travel decision making for the average European.
I know American´s love their cars - I know I love mine...but it seems that Old Man Europe can still teach the young kid a thing or two on best use of available resources. Like Bill Bryson said in his fun European trip novel - "We used to build civilazations. Now we build shopping malls."
Sorry to rant (you knew it was coming sooner or later), but it is just frustrating to see us lag behind folks who use words like "queue" and endless amounts of hair product on a regular basis.
Now that I am off that whole trip for now, yes I do love the location of our Munich hotel (per Gena´s most recent post).
Next up - some sadness at Dachau Concentration Camp (the first one Hitler created). Not sure I will be able to blog after that (especially knowing we are hoping to visit the Anne Frank house in Amsterdam).
The German is coming in handy - managed to get myself a poppyseed roll with dinner, anyway.
Umm I don´t this is where I was supposed to end up
First, once again this is a German keyboard but has yet a different layout of keys, still the z and y reversal though so I imagine that will once again be an issue.
We left Murren this morning and headed to Munich. This was a ridiculous case of multi country you can´t get here from there. It took us more than 8 hours to make the trek and it involved going west to the border of France and Germany and about two hours farther north than Munich actually is to arrive here. To put it in context we took a train through the entire black forest region to cut back east to get to barvaria. It was so obscure that the conducter at the station at Murren felt bad and printed out a schedule for us with instructions to try to prevent us from getting lost. We didn´t get lost and arrived right now time.
There was some issue with us getting to Munich tonight because we weren´t actuallz supposed to arrive until tomorrow so we had no hotel reservation. The hotel we are staying out was full for tonight so we needed alternative arrangements. Tommorrow we are taking a tour of Dachau and the trip leaves from the Munich Central station so we just decided to stay close to the station since we didnät get in until after 8 pm. To find a hotel we consulted our handy dandy Rick Steves Germanz. He directed us to what he called the best value for monez in the area if zou donät mind the two strip clubs. We though whatever we will onlz be here a few hours.
What he neglected to mention is that it isn´t two strip clubs it is an entire street of strip clubs and sex shops -seriouslz like mazbe 5 blocks of nothing but adult establishments of some sort or another. And because it is Europe the sidewalk ads for these establishments are very descriptive if zou will. We just went out for dinner and
1. I swear we passed a prostitute
2. We walked towards places with food like names onlz to find out that thez were in fact more strip clubs or other such places
3. I was embaressed to look at all the men walking down the street because it was quite clear what thez were going to be doing tonight.
Finally we found a sandwich shop and grabbed something and brought ti back to the hotel. The hotel is quite nice and is probablz the nicest place we have stayed so far and is bz far the cheapest. Thez have a nice eating area with a free computer with internet access. We sat in the eating area and watched the street. Oddlz among all of this adult oriented businesses are throngs of tourists and oddlz families with reallz small children. It is completely weird. While I feel safe in guessing that our hotel tomorrow wonät be this nice I will happilz move into the old center of town awaz from whatever in the world this is.....again I donät think this is where we were supposed to end up.
We left Murren this morning and headed to Munich. This was a ridiculous case of multi country you can´t get here from there. It took us more than 8 hours to make the trek and it involved going west to the border of France and Germany and about two hours farther north than Munich actually is to arrive here. To put it in context we took a train through the entire black forest region to cut back east to get to barvaria. It was so obscure that the conducter at the station at Murren felt bad and printed out a schedule for us with instructions to try to prevent us from getting lost. We didn´t get lost and arrived right now time.
There was some issue with us getting to Munich tonight because we weren´t actuallz supposed to arrive until tomorrow so we had no hotel reservation. The hotel we are staying out was full for tonight so we needed alternative arrangements. Tommorrow we are taking a tour of Dachau and the trip leaves from the Munich Central station so we just decided to stay close to the station since we didnät get in until after 8 pm. To find a hotel we consulted our handy dandy Rick Steves Germanz. He directed us to what he called the best value for monez in the area if zou donät mind the two strip clubs. We though whatever we will onlz be here a few hours.
What he neglected to mention is that it isn´t two strip clubs it is an entire street of strip clubs and sex shops -seriouslz like mazbe 5 blocks of nothing but adult establishments of some sort or another. And because it is Europe the sidewalk ads for these establishments are very descriptive if zou will. We just went out for dinner and
1. I swear we passed a prostitute
2. We walked towards places with food like names onlz to find out that thez were in fact more strip clubs or other such places
3. I was embaressed to look at all the men walking down the street because it was quite clear what thez were going to be doing tonight.
Finally we found a sandwich shop and grabbed something and brought ti back to the hotel. The hotel is quite nice and is probablz the nicest place we have stayed so far and is bz far the cheapest. Thez have a nice eating area with a free computer with internet access. We sat in the eating area and watched the street. Oddlz among all of this adult oriented businesses are throngs of tourists and oddlz families with reallz small children. It is completely weird. While I feel safe in guessing that our hotel tomorrow wonät be this nice I will happilz move into the old center of town awaz from whatever in the world this is.....again I donät think this is where we were supposed to end up.
Friday, August 14, 2009
Finally what vacation is supposed to feel like
This is a joint Shelton blog here....we are pleased to announce that we are in love with the Alps and could franklz staz here forever. This is what we thought vacation would be like. It is beautiful, relaxing and peaceful. The other tourists are mellow.
We hiked an actual alp today. It was amazingly beautiful but exhausting. We met some fun fellow travelers and took a path that lead us from an alpine valley of cows to the woods and behind a waterfall. Here is some info on where we are and what we hiked. August no brown bears to speak of just a lot of cows. We took the train up the mountain and then took the north face hike down but split off at the bottom to go to the falls and Gimmelwald. It was lovely but we both are quite sunburnt today. We miscalculated the amount of sunscreen needed when you are at this altitude.
We leave for Munich tomorrow and will be sad to leave this behind. Mike has furthered his obsession with pretzel bread here and hopes that a German Village baker will take up the cause so he can feed this addiction upon our return to Cbus.
We'll see you all soon and look out for our German adventures to come soon.
We hiked an actual alp today. It was amazingly beautiful but exhausting. We met some fun fellow travelers and took a path that lead us from an alpine valley of cows to the woods and behind a waterfall. Here is some info on where we are and what we hiked. August no brown bears to speak of just a lot of cows. We took the train up the mountain and then took the north face hike down but split off at the bottom to go to the falls and Gimmelwald. It was lovely but we both are quite sunburnt today. We miscalculated the amount of sunscreen needed when you are at this altitude.
We leave for Munich tomorrow and will be sad to leave this behind. Mike has furthered his obsession with pretzel bread here and hopes that a German Village baker will take up the cause so he can feed this addiction upon our return to Cbus.
We'll see you all soon and look out for our German adventures to come soon.
Thursday, August 13, 2009
Est ist Michael.
Ahhh...Parieee, the City of Light, the City of Love...
Well, I guess. The Eiffel Tower is pretty amazing. It is fun to climb the stairs to the Arc de Triomphe and look down on the zany people driving from twelve different directions. The facade of Notre Dame is just about as intricate a building as you will ever see. The food is amazing, especially if you have the opportunity to pack a picnic after buying one thing from seven different stores, each with their own specialty. (And amazingly cheap, good wine to go with said picnic.)
But after that, Paris is kind of a dud. If you have been to Washington, D.C., it largely resembles the good architechture and city layout (including public parks) of Paris, for obvious reasons. The streets are narrower, giving a more intimate and neighborly feeling than D.C. But I am not sure if a quality structure has been built in Paris in the past two centuries. They are ugly, unfunctional eyesores in my opinion.
It is interesting to use their Metro, which was apparently the first underground subway system in the world. And to fully appreciate the term "French drain" as they are ingeniously employed everywhere.
What is odd, is I would think it would be more enjoyable to be a Parisian than a Londoner or Dubliner. Paris is certainly more relaxed, except for the throngs of tourists. Plus there seems to be more ways to enjoy the open spaces and many more restaurants with better food. However, I could never get along in that city...I am just not wired to take things as slow as the Parisians prefer.
For example, it is not uncommon to seat yourself at a cafe and then wait 20 or 25 minutes before you are acknowledged and asked if you want something to drink. Expect another 20 to 25 minutes before you are asked if you would like something to eat. This is not rude, this is because Parisians want to enjoy their time people watching when they go out to eat, so they want to show their customers that same respect. Trouble is, when I (like most Americans, probably), jump into a restaurant, it is because I am hungry now, and want to eat now. So, to live there, one would have to plan their meals...or readjust their bellies to not get hungry until 9 or 10 pm for dinner.
Also, Parisians do not care for things to be cold. Like water, or any drink really. I do not get that one, because it is pretty hot and muggy.
Oh...one cool thing about Paris is they love St. Michael...a major boulevard and statute thingy mark their love of him. In front of the statute thingy is where student protests against the machine usually start. So, I am pretty proud of all that.
Due to timing, and a desire not to lug our backpacks all over God,s Green Earth, we had to lopp off French items on the front end (WWII Normandy Invasion beaches) and back end (Burgundy region wine tour). I was pretty sad at missing the Normandy beaches, but perhaps another time when I have kinda forgotten about not really enjoying Paris/France as I thought I would.
We have arrived in the Swiss Alps, though, and it is truly inspiring. I am loving it here and we are only about three hours in. Huge ice capped mountains that our little chalet looks out on from the teeny town of Murren. Going to do some hiking tomorrow, and no need to be worried about being hit by a car because they are outlawed up this way. Probably best for everyone,s safety.
Plus, this gives me a chance to put that Cleveland Public educated German to use....
Like Gena said, we are using a German keyboard, so apologies if some things are typed incorrectly or there is weird punctuation (tried to find the best substitute possible).
Auf Wiedersehen...
Ahhh...Parieee, the City of Light, the City of Love...
Well, I guess. The Eiffel Tower is pretty amazing. It is fun to climb the stairs to the Arc de Triomphe and look down on the zany people driving from twelve different directions. The facade of Notre Dame is just about as intricate a building as you will ever see. The food is amazing, especially if you have the opportunity to pack a picnic after buying one thing from seven different stores, each with their own specialty. (And amazingly cheap, good wine to go with said picnic.)
But after that, Paris is kind of a dud. If you have been to Washington, D.C., it largely resembles the good architechture and city layout (including public parks) of Paris, for obvious reasons. The streets are narrower, giving a more intimate and neighborly feeling than D.C. But I am not sure if a quality structure has been built in Paris in the past two centuries. They are ugly, unfunctional eyesores in my opinion.
It is interesting to use their Metro, which was apparently the first underground subway system in the world. And to fully appreciate the term "French drain" as they are ingeniously employed everywhere.
What is odd, is I would think it would be more enjoyable to be a Parisian than a Londoner or Dubliner. Paris is certainly more relaxed, except for the throngs of tourists. Plus there seems to be more ways to enjoy the open spaces and many more restaurants with better food. However, I could never get along in that city...I am just not wired to take things as slow as the Parisians prefer.
For example, it is not uncommon to seat yourself at a cafe and then wait 20 or 25 minutes before you are acknowledged and asked if you want something to drink. Expect another 20 to 25 minutes before you are asked if you would like something to eat. This is not rude, this is because Parisians want to enjoy their time people watching when they go out to eat, so they want to show their customers that same respect. Trouble is, when I (like most Americans, probably), jump into a restaurant, it is because I am hungry now, and want to eat now. So, to live there, one would have to plan their meals...or readjust their bellies to not get hungry until 9 or 10 pm for dinner.
Also, Parisians do not care for things to be cold. Like water, or any drink really. I do not get that one, because it is pretty hot and muggy.
Oh...one cool thing about Paris is they love St. Michael...a major boulevard and statute thingy mark their love of him. In front of the statute thingy is where student protests against the machine usually start. So, I am pretty proud of all that.
Due to timing, and a desire not to lug our backpacks all over God,s Green Earth, we had to lopp off French items on the front end (WWII Normandy Invasion beaches) and back end (Burgundy region wine tour). I was pretty sad at missing the Normandy beaches, but perhaps another time when I have kinda forgotten about not really enjoying Paris/France as I thought I would.
We have arrived in the Swiss Alps, though, and it is truly inspiring. I am loving it here and we are only about three hours in. Huge ice capped mountains that our little chalet looks out on from the teeny town of Murren. Going to do some hiking tomorrow, and no need to be worried about being hit by a car because they are outlawed up this way. Probably best for everyone,s safety.
Plus, this gives me a chance to put that Cleveland Public educated German to use....
Like Gena said, we are using a German keyboard, so apologies if some things are typed incorrectly or there is weird punctuation (tried to find the best substitute possible).
Auf Wiedersehen...
These are a few of my favorite things
I am high in the Alps and even though really I am no where near Salzburg I can't help singing songs from The Sound of Music - sue me.
Disclaimer - I am using a German keyboard and well none of the letters are in the same place so forgive any weird misspellings particularlz z's insteand of y's thez are reversed on the keyboard.
Contrary to how some of mz posts have sounded, I am actually enjoying my trip. I realize I sound like a cranky old lady - but really I am just an irritable youngish person.
We hit the Alps today and it is beautiful and wonderful. There aren't many people to begin with and those who are here are low key. It is a blessing as if I had to spend one more day in Paris I might have hit someone. I am enjoying the sheep and cows though we are so high up we had to use a cable car. I don't care what anyone says they can't be safe. I am sure I am going to be the next CNN story "Ohio Couple Killed in Freak Cable Car Accident".
To prove that I am not completely cranky and mean I thought I would share some of my favorite things thus far.
1. London's Red Phone Booths - I wasn't sure if these famous booths had survived the cell phone era. They have and now are in one of two forms. The first is rather harmless. Thez are empty booths set up for tourists to take pictures. The second is not nearly as wholesome. They still have phones in them and are set up for phone sex. The walls are plastered with posters of naked woman advertising the equivelant of 1-900 in the UK. I love it because people still pose for this traditional familz photos yet there is porn clearlz visible in the background. We watched a father pose his young songs one night in a phone sex booth and we laughed and laughed. We are mean I know but so funnz.
2. Complete lack of open container laws - I am not sure why I enjoz this so much maybe because I feel like I am secretlz being bad but it is nice to just random drink in public places.
3. Trains - I love them and the people I meet there. I am that person who makes friends in airports I know it. But trains are quick and clean and you see things along the way I love it. I wish the US had a better rail system.
The trip is now more than half over and we are on the back end. The big cities are prettz much behind us so hopefully I can become less angry at mz fellow travelers : )
Disclaimer - I am using a German keyboard and well none of the letters are in the same place so forgive any weird misspellings particularlz z's insteand of y's thez are reversed on the keyboard.
Contrary to how some of mz posts have sounded, I am actually enjoying my trip. I realize I sound like a cranky old lady - but really I am just an irritable youngish person.
We hit the Alps today and it is beautiful and wonderful. There aren't many people to begin with and those who are here are low key. It is a blessing as if I had to spend one more day in Paris I might have hit someone. I am enjoying the sheep and cows though we are so high up we had to use a cable car. I don't care what anyone says they can't be safe. I am sure I am going to be the next CNN story "Ohio Couple Killed in Freak Cable Car Accident".
To prove that I am not completely cranky and mean I thought I would share some of my favorite things thus far.
1. London's Red Phone Booths - I wasn't sure if these famous booths had survived the cell phone era. They have and now are in one of two forms. The first is rather harmless. Thez are empty booths set up for tourists to take pictures. The second is not nearly as wholesome. They still have phones in them and are set up for phone sex. The walls are plastered with posters of naked woman advertising the equivelant of 1-900 in the UK. I love it because people still pose for this traditional familz photos yet there is porn clearlz visible in the background. We watched a father pose his young songs one night in a phone sex booth and we laughed and laughed. We are mean I know but so funnz.
2. Complete lack of open container laws - I am not sure why I enjoz this so much maybe because I feel like I am secretlz being bad but it is nice to just random drink in public places.
3. Trains - I love them and the people I meet there. I am that person who makes friends in airports I know it. But trains are quick and clean and you see things along the way I love it. I wish the US had a better rail system.
The trip is now more than half over and we are on the back end. The big cities are prettz much behind us so hopefully I can become less angry at mz fellow travelers : )
Tuesday, August 11, 2009
Just when I had convinced myself....
that I didn't actual hate people I realized nope I really do still hate people. This post will be short because it took my an hour to upload the stupid Eiffel Tower video and who knows if that even works.
But I knew I was coming to Europe during peak tourist season, I also knew I was going to tourist locations so there would be lots and lots of people who were all tourists. A great way to see amazing sights but not much of a way to soak up local culture. Again I was ready for this. I have even had some good interactions with folks (see M's discussion of our new friends from Ireland) to lead me to believe that I don't actually hate people anymore.
Today's jaunt into Paris has reaffirmed that actually I do. Multiple times I found myself quoting my Aunt Gerry and wanting to yell at people "to act like they have some fetchings up." First we went to Notra Dame which was beautiful. We got there about half way through a mass in Latin. Which was sad because we would have liked to participated. But it is rude to disrupt service so we kind of found some seats in the back and read/listen to info about the building until service was over. Apparently folks don't have fetchings up and felt it was totally ok and cool to treat the folks taking in Mass like zoo animals. People were jumping ropes to video tape the service (side note - people haven't started watching vacation movies have they because every other f-ing person we have seen is taping their trip 24/7) and taking pictures of the alter and the host. It was rude. We are in a working church and there were many people actual there to worship be a bit respectful.
Then we went to the Orsay which houses among other things an amazing Impressionist collection. Are people raised in barns? When have you ever been allowed to 1) take flash photos of old paintings or 2) eat gooey chocolate bars by unenclosed priceless works of our. But there were hundreds upon hundreds of people rushing to go to every single painting in the place to take a full color photo. Beyond my issues with their inability to follow the large posted signs of directions, I wanted to yell ACT LIKE YOU HAVE BEEN HERE BEFORE. They weren't even reading the signs with the painting so like they even knew what they had a picture of. I think they just assumed because it was in there it must be famous. I bet you could post pictures of poop done by a toddler and folks would take a picture, go home and then tell their friends abut this famous painting that they can't remember the name of.
Last night we also saw people who clearly have never been allowed out of their homeland either. We were sitting by a fountain to the north of the tower. As many older fountains are it was decorated with sculptures. This particular one had large sculptures of Romans bathing which meant they were nude. We were there about an hour and I lost count of how many people came over to pose in really lewd and inappropriate ways with one of the nude males. It was so bad I started taking pictures of the absolutely mental stuff they were doing. What is the matter with people?
Regardless of how it seems, I am loving the cafe and people watching scene here. The laid back vibe is just what I needed. Last night we had the best night just chilling in a street cafe with a carafe of wine and then in the grass by the Eiffel Tower. All and all it was a good night and I am sure tonight will be as well.
Now to drink more wine and eat some good cheese : )
But I knew I was coming to Europe during peak tourist season, I also knew I was going to tourist locations so there would be lots and lots of people who were all tourists. A great way to see amazing sights but not much of a way to soak up local culture. Again I was ready for this. I have even had some good interactions with folks (see M's discussion of our new friends from Ireland) to lead me to believe that I don't actually hate people anymore.
Today's jaunt into Paris has reaffirmed that actually I do. Multiple times I found myself quoting my Aunt Gerry and wanting to yell at people "to act like they have some fetchings up." First we went to Notra Dame which was beautiful. We got there about half way through a mass in Latin. Which was sad because we would have liked to participated. But it is rude to disrupt service so we kind of found some seats in the back and read/listen to info about the building until service was over. Apparently folks don't have fetchings up and felt it was totally ok and cool to treat the folks taking in Mass like zoo animals. People were jumping ropes to video tape the service (side note - people haven't started watching vacation movies have they because every other f-ing person we have seen is taping their trip 24/7) and taking pictures of the alter and the host. It was rude. We are in a working church and there were many people actual there to worship be a bit respectful.
Then we went to the Orsay which houses among other things an amazing Impressionist collection. Are people raised in barns? When have you ever been allowed to 1) take flash photos of old paintings or 2) eat gooey chocolate bars by unenclosed priceless works of our. But there were hundreds upon hundreds of people rushing to go to every single painting in the place to take a full color photo. Beyond my issues with their inability to follow the large posted signs of directions, I wanted to yell ACT LIKE YOU HAVE BEEN HERE BEFORE. They weren't even reading the signs with the painting so like they even knew what they had a picture of. I think they just assumed because it was in there it must be famous. I bet you could post pictures of poop done by a toddler and folks would take a picture, go home and then tell their friends abut this famous painting that they can't remember the name of.
Last night we also saw people who clearly have never been allowed out of their homeland either. We were sitting by a fountain to the north of the tower. As many older fountains are it was decorated with sculptures. This particular one had large sculptures of Romans bathing which meant they were nude. We were there about an hour and I lost count of how many people came over to pose in really lewd and inappropriate ways with one of the nude males. It was so bad I started taking pictures of the absolutely mental stuff they were doing. What is the matter with people?
Regardless of how it seems, I am loving the cafe and people watching scene here. The laid back vibe is just what I needed. Last night we had the best night just chilling in a street cafe with a carafe of wine and then in the grass by the Eiffel Tower. All and all it was a good night and I am sure tonight will be as well.
Now to drink more wine and eat some good cheese : )
Video of Eiffel Tower Twinkle Show
As Mike alluded to we took some bad video with our digital cameral last night of the Eiffel Tower twinkle show. For NYE 2000 they strung the tower with twinkle lights and they became popular so they left them. Now every evening on the hour for four minutes the tower twinkles. The pictures were not working so we did two short videos. One is from the 2 deck of the tower and one is from the park in front of the tower. Both contain bad narration by me as well as poor camera skills. Sorry if they are jumpy I just wasn't sure the best way to show the tower.
10 pm show from Deck 2 (approx 400 meters up)
11 pm show from park south of the tower
10 pm show from Deck 2 (approx 400 meters up)
11 pm show from park south of the tower
The Irish love Bruce
Given the title, bet you couldn't guess it was Mike, right?
So, after our last day of driving in Ireland (cross country again, but I was quite adept at this point, even speeding and getting mad at the locals for putzing around), we took a bus through Wexford, which seems to be America's little claim of land on the British Isles. I kid you not, there is a red-white-and-blue decked steakhouse called "Springsteen's" with a big guitar on the sign. Unfortunately, we were on a schedule to the ferry so we couldn't stop in for a greasy, American burger.
Then, on the train down to Paris, we chatted it up the whole way with a great young Irish couple, and the woman's brother is a huge Boss fan (having traveled to the States just to see him play live). Apparently, when Bruce does tours in Ireland, he goes out to one of three pubs that he's come to know the owners of. They always reserve space for him when he schedules a show in Dublin. Then, he normally plays along with the locals in their "sessions" - bascially, nightly jams where local musicians just get together to play for each other, and the whole pub joins in.
We did a little pub tour with some locals when in Dublin, and saw it unaided while in Dingle. The night in Dingle was serious fun, with a little band jamming some Irish tunes (throwing in some Johnny Cash and Willie Nelson) and the locals dancing along. The locals wanted to pull Gena into the dancing, but thankfully for the respect of American dancers abroad, they did not.
Some things I didn't expect while over on the Isles: absolutely zero billboards along the roads. In fact, a fair amount foilage along the roads and highways. This makes the driving experience pretty scenic and makes me wonder why USDOT and ODOT cannot adopt a similar policy. Of course, how could we possibly remember that we were hungry and had to go buy a Big Mac without those roadside billboards?
Also, the beauty of Ireland's rural areas caught me offguard. I was prepared for "green" pastures, but the horizon's are expansive yet almost touchable.
Now that we're in Paris, it's definately more European feeling that we're in a non-English speaking country. A simple thing like ordering food is a somewhat stressful experience. We struggle through it, and despite their claims otherwise nearly everyone we've encountered has spoken almost perfect English. It's incredible really. Thinking of my days as a waiter, I would have been totally lost as to how to help a customer if they didn't know English.
We saw the Eiffel Tower last night - a large, imposing, and impressive structure. As you walk out from under the base, the sky opens up to you and looks so big. It may even be prettier at night. Hopefully we can get the "twinkle" video loaded, and may do a picnic by the Tower for dinner tonight.
I will say this, after having toured Norte Dame, Sainte Chapelle, and Musee D'Orsey today - the Parisians do not do as good a job as interpreting their history for visitors as the English and Irish do. They kind of let the works speak for themselves. Which kind of works...but seems to leave much to the unknown.
We're here tomorrow as well, hopefully will check out the Arc and Louvre.
Oh, one more thing I wasn't expecting: our overnight voyage from Ireland to France (a bonus because we skipped having to pay for a hotel for the night) came with a "Caberet" show. Eeesh. First half was a mash-up of Broadway hits, Barry Manilow, and Dirty Dancing. Yes, you did read that correctly. They even reprised most of their Dirty Dancing songs at the show's finale. The second half was Michael Flately-style Irish step dancing. Strange? Yes. Embarrassing? Yes. Entertaining? I'd say so.
Besides, the overnight cruise gave Gena and I the opportunity to hip ourselves to this reality:
So, after our last day of driving in Ireland (cross country again, but I was quite adept at this point, even speeding and getting mad at the locals for putzing around), we took a bus through Wexford, which seems to be America's little claim of land on the British Isles. I kid you not, there is a red-white-and-blue decked steakhouse called "Springsteen's" with a big guitar on the sign. Unfortunately, we were on a schedule to the ferry so we couldn't stop in for a greasy, American burger.
Then, on the train down to Paris, we chatted it up the whole way with a great young Irish couple, and the woman's brother is a huge Boss fan (having traveled to the States just to see him play live). Apparently, when Bruce does tours in Ireland, he goes out to one of three pubs that he's come to know the owners of. They always reserve space for him when he schedules a show in Dublin. Then, he normally plays along with the locals in their "sessions" - bascially, nightly jams where local musicians just get together to play for each other, and the whole pub joins in.
We did a little pub tour with some locals when in Dublin, and saw it unaided while in Dingle. The night in Dingle was serious fun, with a little band jamming some Irish tunes (throwing in some Johnny Cash and Willie Nelson) and the locals dancing along. The locals wanted to pull Gena into the dancing, but thankfully for the respect of American dancers abroad, they did not.
Some things I didn't expect while over on the Isles: absolutely zero billboards along the roads. In fact, a fair amount foilage along the roads and highways. This makes the driving experience pretty scenic and makes me wonder why USDOT and ODOT cannot adopt a similar policy. Of course, how could we possibly remember that we were hungry and had to go buy a Big Mac without those roadside billboards?
Also, the beauty of Ireland's rural areas caught me offguard. I was prepared for "green" pastures, but the horizon's are expansive yet almost touchable.
Now that we're in Paris, it's definately more European feeling that we're in a non-English speaking country. A simple thing like ordering food is a somewhat stressful experience. We struggle through it, and despite their claims otherwise nearly everyone we've encountered has spoken almost perfect English. It's incredible really. Thinking of my days as a waiter, I would have been totally lost as to how to help a customer if they didn't know English.
We saw the Eiffel Tower last night - a large, imposing, and impressive structure. As you walk out from under the base, the sky opens up to you and looks so big. It may even be prettier at night. Hopefully we can get the "twinkle" video loaded, and may do a picnic by the Tower for dinner tonight.
I will say this, after having toured Norte Dame, Sainte Chapelle, and Musee D'Orsey today - the Parisians do not do as good a job as interpreting their history for visitors as the English and Irish do. They kind of let the works speak for themselves. Which kind of works...but seems to leave much to the unknown.
We're here tomorrow as well, hopefully will check out the Arc and Louvre.
Oh, one more thing I wasn't expecting: our overnight voyage from Ireland to France (a bonus because we skipped having to pay for a hotel for the night) came with a "Caberet" show. Eeesh. First half was a mash-up of Broadway hits, Barry Manilow, and Dirty Dancing. Yes, you did read that correctly. They even reprised most of their Dirty Dancing songs at the show's finale. The second half was Michael Flately-style Irish step dancing. Strange? Yes. Embarrassing? Yes. Entertaining? I'd say so.
Besides, the overnight cruise gave Gena and I the opportunity to hip ourselves to this reality:
www.youtube.com/watch?vR7yfISlGLNU
Saturday, August 8, 2009
The unspeakable drive
We have arrived in Dingle via a cross country adventure through the most rural part of Ireland. I am not 100% sure I can even talk about it. I know Mike just posted a blog but I feel like I need to express my point of view.
I should have known better. I truly hate to drive as a general rule and admittedly am not very good. I get bored and my mind wanders. But really I should have taken the keys from Mike once we hit rural/agricultural areas. Why I thought a city boy could manage I don't know. I really should have just taken the keys from him. First in addition to the whole left thing he kept losing it when the road narrowed down to not really 2 lanes and whenever farm equipment entered the road. For folks from home the roads were narrow but most were like 207 or 138 as you go towards Greenfield. The more rural were like Austin or Clarksburg/New Holland Pike. I really should have just driven but he refused to give me the keys and since I hate driving I didn't fight.
But the real problem came at Connor's Pass. The guidebook called it a more narrow than normal passage way into Dingle for the adventerous. By the time we got there due to get Garmin giving us goofy directions on unpaved roads which was awful it was dark, raining and windy. Now if we have just come through roads that are not a full two lanes wide and these are considered normal/main routes why would we want to take the narrow road for adventurers? Particularly at night in the rain and fog. We couldn't even see the pretty falls that are up there. The road forked and we took the wrong one so instead of highway we are now on the pass. Mike refused to turn around at a gas staion and plugged along. You couldn't see - the two lane road was barely as wide as our compact car. The only thing that made me feel safe was feeling the road reflecters under by butt that meant we were on the right side of the road and at least someone safe from dying in a head on collision. Mike just kept laughing like a fool - it wasn't funny.
But we have made it and I may drive the loop today because he should have restrictions put for outside of four lane roads : )
Apparently Mike should also not be allowed to blog as I have posted this one and the pictures he has posted 3 different ones. I have married a nut - a lovable nut but a nut none the less.
I should have known better. I truly hate to drive as a general rule and admittedly am not very good. I get bored and my mind wanders. But really I should have taken the keys from Mike once we hit rural/agricultural areas. Why I thought a city boy could manage I don't know. I really should have just taken the keys from him. First in addition to the whole left thing he kept losing it when the road narrowed down to not really 2 lanes and whenever farm equipment entered the road. For folks from home the roads were narrow but most were like 207 or 138 as you go towards Greenfield. The more rural were like Austin or Clarksburg/New Holland Pike. I really should have just driven but he refused to give me the keys and since I hate driving I didn't fight.
But the real problem came at Connor's Pass. The guidebook called it a more narrow than normal passage way into Dingle for the adventerous. By the time we got there due to get Garmin giving us goofy directions on unpaved roads which was awful it was dark, raining and windy. Now if we have just come through roads that are not a full two lanes wide and these are considered normal/main routes why would we want to take the narrow road for adventurers? Particularly at night in the rain and fog. We couldn't even see the pretty falls that are up there. The road forked and we took the wrong one so instead of highway we are now on the pass. Mike refused to turn around at a gas staion and plugged along. You couldn't see - the two lane road was barely as wide as our compact car. The only thing that made me feel safe was feeling the road reflecters under by butt that meant we were on the right side of the road and at least someone safe from dying in a head on collision. Mike just kept laughing like a fool - it wasn't funny.
But we have made it and I may drive the loop today because he should have restrictions put for outside of four lane roads : )
Apparently Mike should also not be allowed to blog as I have posted this one and the pictures he has posted 3 different ones. I have married a nut - a lovable nut but a nut none the less.
It's quite fascinating if you don't happen to live there
Mike again.
Quick note on the Burren, which we also toured while making our way from Dublin to Dingle. It's a barren but beautiful landscape. Funny thing: it's all karst geology underneath!
Also, like Stonehenge, seems to be a bit of a refuge for hippies, New Agers, and pagens. These are my peeps!
The visitor's center is a must for understanding what you're looking at (though a bit hokey and silly at times) - and was put together and maintained by volunteers who are clearly dedicated to their part of the world, and thankful we should be to them for that. This part of the world, as it seems most of Ireland, has a mystical and fantastic history as well as a tragic history.
While the landscapes are, by far, the most beautiful we have encountered yet, you can easily see how the Catholics who were sent to live here by the English would have a terrible time making a living off of the land. The potato famine ruined many.
Quick note on the Burren, which we also toured while making our way from Dublin to Dingle. It's a barren but beautiful landscape. Funny thing: it's all karst geology underneath!
Also, like Stonehenge, seems to be a bit of a refuge for hippies, New Agers, and pagens. These are my peeps!
The visitor's center is a must for understanding what you're looking at (though a bit hokey and silly at times) - and was put together and maintained by volunteers who are clearly dedicated to their part of the world, and thankful we should be to them for that. This part of the world, as it seems most of Ireland, has a mystical and fantastic history as well as a tragic history.
While the landscapes are, by far, the most beautiful we have encountered yet, you can easily see how the Catholics who were sent to live here by the English would have a terrible time making a living off of the land. The potato famine ruined many.
Finally some pictures part II
At the Cliffs of Moher - the wind is out of control.
This is Dublin at night after a pub crawl through my eyes. For some reason I had issues getting up early the next morning.
This is what we saw when we left the Mt. Snowden visitor center and looked towards the steps to the peak. We have a lot of expensive degrees between us yet we decided to go on up. Please note that it wasn't just the fog there was driving rain and gusts of wind.
These one and a half lanes will take us anywhere
Mike here.
West Ireland. Scenic. Very, very, very scenic if you use your mobile GPS unit rather than a map or follow the road signs. Perhaps we're too technology dependant. First, if you have not driven in Ireland before - like Gena says, it's like driving in Vinton County. Fair enough. Throw in the variable of being on the wrong side of the road. Throw in another variable of having stone hedges on your left side. And throw in the variable of Irish drivers, who are used to the roads and doing 100 km/hour (about 60 mph) along said roads.
After about 5 hours of driving, I actually got used to it and was moving along at a decent pace. You drive about 14 miles to make a mile of progress as the crow flies as a result of the winding roads and slowdowns to avoid oncoming traffic.
But the Garmin did us wrong. I think we can safely say we've been on roads(?) that no travel writer has ever been on. Making our way to catch a ferry over to Dingle Peninsula, we were on, essentially, tractor trails. If you're familiar with the alley's in Columbus (how they're really just meant to get your car into your backyard/garage), we'll then this little trip would be equivalent to taking the alley's from Clintonville (where we live) to the Columbus airport. Just to take in the scenery. Thanfully, the only car we encountered in this trip backed up to something of a grassed shoulder to allow us to pass. He had to go about 75 meters or so to reach that point.
All the travel guides say don't drive in Ireland in the dark. Well, we couldn't avoid that. What we could have avoided though was climbing Conor Pass in the dark. And on the road there, it started to rain. Then about halfway into our ascent, a heavy fog that made the brights useless.
This, I will fully admit was my mistake. We recognized when we didn't take the correct turnoff, and Gena wanted to turn around. In my defense, from the driver's side, it was almost impossible to see any turnoffs in the dark until we had passed them for quite a while after the turnoff. And, other cars were coming in the opposite direction so I figured they had lived to tell the tale, so we should be able to as well. Plus, I didn't want to lose the precious few kilometers we had gained since missing the turnoff.
Bad idea. We stayed pretty silent most of the way up. With the exception of Gena saying "we're going to die" a few times after we realized how close the passenger side of the car was to the mountain face. Though I kept driving at a snail's pace, I didn't disagree with her. However, my primary worry was what we would be facing on the descent, even as our little rental car was giving it the ole college try getting up this road in the rain/fog...windshield wipers clapping time.
As I expected, the way down was, um, scary. Inch by inch, I stayed in the middle of the road, straddling the "two" lanes to make sure I kept the car on the road.
I'm sure the view from Conor Pass is lovely. We'll never know, first hand, though.
What is a lovely view, though, is the Cliffs of Moher. All the pain of the driving was worth this experiece. It's where the country/island/continent ends and the Atlantic Ocean begins, in quite dramatic fashion. We took some pics, and Gena says they're all posted now, though I'm sure Google will turn up wonderful quality pics of the place (as well as Conor Pass). Pics won't do it justice though, I'm afraid.
Today we tour Dingle Peninsula. Dingle is a pretty seaside town. We're going to try to stick to sea level today.
P.S. No sheep on the roads so far!
West Ireland. Scenic. Very, very, very scenic if you use your mobile GPS unit rather than a map or follow the road signs. Perhaps we're too technology dependant. First, if you have not driven in Ireland before - like Gena says, it's like driving in Vinton County. Fair enough. Throw in the variable of being on the wrong side of the road. Throw in another variable of having stone hedges on your left side. And throw in the variable of Irish drivers, who are used to the roads and doing 100 km/hour (about 60 mph) along said roads.
After about 5 hours of driving, I actually got used to it and was moving along at a decent pace. You drive about 14 miles to make a mile of progress as the crow flies as a result of the winding roads and slowdowns to avoid oncoming traffic.
But the Garmin did us wrong. I think we can safely say we've been on roads(?) that no travel writer has ever been on. Making our way to catch a ferry over to Dingle Peninsula, we were on, essentially, tractor trails. If you're familiar with the alley's in Columbus (how they're really just meant to get your car into your backyard/garage), we'll then this little trip would be equivalent to taking the alley's from Clintonville (where we live) to the Columbus airport. Just to take in the scenery. Thanfully, the only car we encountered in this trip backed up to something of a grassed shoulder to allow us to pass. He had to go about 75 meters or so to reach that point.
All the travel guides say don't drive in Ireland in the dark. Well, we couldn't avoid that. What we could have avoided though was climbing Conor Pass in the dark. And on the road there, it started to rain. Then about halfway into our ascent, a heavy fog that made the brights useless.
This, I will fully admit was my mistake. We recognized when we didn't take the correct turnoff, and Gena wanted to turn around. In my defense, from the driver's side, it was almost impossible to see any turnoffs in the dark until we had passed them for quite a while after the turnoff. And, other cars were coming in the opposite direction so I figured they had lived to tell the tale, so we should be able to as well. Plus, I didn't want to lose the precious few kilometers we had gained since missing the turnoff.
Bad idea. We stayed pretty silent most of the way up. With the exception of Gena saying "we're going to die" a few times after we realized how close the passenger side of the car was to the mountain face. Though I kept driving at a snail's pace, I didn't disagree with her. However, my primary worry was what we would be facing on the descent, even as our little rental car was giving it the ole college try getting up this road in the rain/fog...windshield wipers clapping time.
As I expected, the way down was, um, scary. Inch by inch, I stayed in the middle of the road, straddling the "two" lanes to make sure I kept the car on the road.
I'm sure the view from Conor Pass is lovely. We'll never know, first hand, though.
What is a lovely view, though, is the Cliffs of Moher. All the pain of the driving was worth this experiece. It's where the country/island/continent ends and the Atlantic Ocean begins, in quite dramatic fashion. We took some pics, and Gena says they're all posted now, though I'm sure Google will turn up wonderful quality pics of the place (as well as Conor Pass). Pics won't do it justice though, I'm afraid.
Today we tour Dingle Peninsula. Dingle is a pretty seaside town. We're going to try to stick to sea level today.
P.S. No sheep on the roads so far!
Finally Some Pictures
Stonehenge at sunrise - beautiful.
Is this the way to a costume party? Nope its some pagens. 
Us at Stonehenge in the morning
Distance makes the heart grow fonder as I am in one hemisphere and Mike is in another during our visit to Greenwich and the prime merdian. Sorry I have no clue how to flip it.
From a cruise on the ThamesI have finally found an internet cafe with a working USB port so I have the camera attached and here come some highlights of the trip thus far. There is some kind of slide show feature for the blog if I can figure that out I may put up some more...but who knows technology hates me. The pictures uploaded backwards so we did these things in reverse order....again technology hates me
Thursday, August 6, 2009
I'm sensing a theme here
It is called being tired, hungry and cold. I swear we are sleeping yet every day I feel more and more exhausted. Like an old person I am hungry and want dinner at like 4:30. It is currently like 730 here and I can't wait to finish this post so I can go to bed. Again no USB drive at the internet place so no pictures but rest assured that there are 1) many and 2) most of you will be subjected to them when we get home. Slide show here we come.
We are now in Ireland. This is our last night in Dublin. Since leaving London we have had a lot of firsts. Let's see we took climbed the highest peak in Britain. It is where they trained to climb Everest. It was mountaining climbing as it is meant to be - a big steam engine took us to a visitor's center for coffee then we had the choice of walking the 2 min to the actual peak. Prior to leaving, Mike and I had laughed at the stories in the books about folks standing on cliffs looking out and suddenly being blown off by a gust of wind. We thought nope these folks must have been idiots and doing something stupid. You just don't get blown off the side of a cliff. Let me tell you I am now a believer. The weather was fine on the ground when we got to the peaks - dear god. The fog was so bad that you literally couldn't see anything - nothing. It was raining and the gusts of wind were insane. We were not dressed for this at all and got soaked in less than 5 min. The climb to the top was awful. Then we got to the top and got a picture and realized we had to climb the slate steps back down. I asked to stay on the peak. If there had not been 6 cute 20something guys there watching I likely would have sat on my butt and scooted down that way.
After scaling our first major peak we also hitch hiked for the first time. Now these was completely accidently but was an adventure. We didn't have a firm travel plan between the main train station and the national park. All we knew were there were some local buses. We then assumed it is the largest national park in the country there has to be regular transportation of some kind and there will be a sign, map, a TI, a brochure something. Nope none of these things existed. The buses run like every hour to 2 so not particularly good when you have on a 25 pound pack. We got a cab from the station but when we got done on the mountain the whole complex was just closed. I mean literally dark. Why it was closed while there were still multiple trains up the mountain who knows but no cabs, no buses coming, no phones open nothing. We were feeling kind of screwed let me tell you. We had ridden on the train up the mountain with a middle aged couple from S. Africa. They had a rental car and felt sorry for us so the came up and offered us a ride. It was a great little 15 min ride learning about someone else's world.
Dublin has been great but we missed Guinness. We went to the jail that held all of the political prisinors in the fight for Irish Independence first because well it seemed wrong to drink before that. But there was some kind of insane line and instead of an hour it took 3 to go through. It was amazingly interesting/creepy/inspirational though. Last night we did a musicial pub crawl. It was more of a class than a pub crawl though as two musicians took us around and taught us about the instruments used, jigs, reels, sets and other Irish musical traditions that are not normally paraded out for tourists. I have discovered a deep and abiding love of Bulmer's Cider. It is amazingly sweet like Mott's applejuice and because things aren't really carbonated here it is easy to drink without that miserable too much carbonation upset stomach. I indulged my love last night and was quite happy by the time we arrived back to our hotel : 0
Tommorrow we get our next car and are off for an adventure in the rural part of Ireland. Five bucks Mike flips the first time sheep block the road, city boy : )
We are now in Ireland. This is our last night in Dublin. Since leaving London we have had a lot of firsts. Let's see we took climbed the highest peak in Britain. It is where they trained to climb Everest. It was mountaining climbing as it is meant to be - a big steam engine took us to a visitor's center for coffee then we had the choice of walking the 2 min to the actual peak. Prior to leaving, Mike and I had laughed at the stories in the books about folks standing on cliffs looking out and suddenly being blown off by a gust of wind. We thought nope these folks must have been idiots and doing something stupid. You just don't get blown off the side of a cliff. Let me tell you I am now a believer. The weather was fine on the ground when we got to the peaks - dear god. The fog was so bad that you literally couldn't see anything - nothing. It was raining and the gusts of wind were insane. We were not dressed for this at all and got soaked in less than 5 min. The climb to the top was awful. Then we got to the top and got a picture and realized we had to climb the slate steps back down. I asked to stay on the peak. If there had not been 6 cute 20something guys there watching I likely would have sat on my butt and scooted down that way.
After scaling our first major peak we also hitch hiked for the first time. Now these was completely accidently but was an adventure. We didn't have a firm travel plan between the main train station and the national park. All we knew were there were some local buses. We then assumed it is the largest national park in the country there has to be regular transportation of some kind and there will be a sign, map, a TI, a brochure something. Nope none of these things existed. The buses run like every hour to 2 so not particularly good when you have on a 25 pound pack. We got a cab from the station but when we got done on the mountain the whole complex was just closed. I mean literally dark. Why it was closed while there were still multiple trains up the mountain who knows but no cabs, no buses coming, no phones open nothing. We were feeling kind of screwed let me tell you. We had ridden on the train up the mountain with a middle aged couple from S. Africa. They had a rental car and felt sorry for us so the came up and offered us a ride. It was a great little 15 min ride learning about someone else's world.
Dublin has been great but we missed Guinness. We went to the jail that held all of the political prisinors in the fight for Irish Independence first because well it seemed wrong to drink before that. But there was some kind of insane line and instead of an hour it took 3 to go through. It was amazingly interesting/creepy/inspirational though. Last night we did a musicial pub crawl. It was more of a class than a pub crawl though as two musicians took us around and taught us about the instruments used, jigs, reels, sets and other Irish musical traditions that are not normally paraded out for tourists. I have discovered a deep and abiding love of Bulmer's Cider. It is amazingly sweet like Mott's applejuice and because things aren't really carbonated here it is easy to drink without that miserable too much carbonation upset stomach. I indulged my love last night and was quite happy by the time we arrived back to our hotel : 0
Tommorrow we get our next car and are off for an adventure in the rural part of Ireland. Five bucks Mike flips the first time sheep block the road, city boy : )
The most famous man in Philly. You might even say worldwide.
Mike here...On the train to Wales from London to catch the ferry over to Dublin, we stopped at Snowdon National Park (largest on Britian, I believe) to climb to the highest point on the island. Turned out to be one of the most intense experiences of our lives. Up a mile in the air with the Welsh wind and rain in our face from every direction. On a point that was crowded with six people. Going up on the slate staircase, somewhat frightening. Going down, absolutely terrifying.
Anyway, on the train, we shared a table with a Welshman and a Dubliner who was headed home after holiday. The Welshman was a Mt. Snowdon volunteer rescuer. We said we hoped that we wouldn't need his services that day. Thankfully, we did not. But the Dubliner said he knew of Philly because that was 'where that man, Bruce...Springsteen, is from. The Boss, right?'
And you know this...man!!! The world knows and loves the Bruce. Associates him with Philly, which is a bit off, but pretty durn close.
Also, one of the carved ingravings from one of Ireland's many political prisoners above the Kilmainhiem Goal (Dublin Jail) cells was 'No Surrender'. Hopefully Ireland's political future is less grim than its past has been.
Anyway, Dublin has been great. More laid back to London's busybodies. Also, Londoners display their fashion sense through their clothes, primarily their shoes and stockings. Dubliners are more inclined to show their fashion through their hairstyles and colors.
Tomorrow, on to the west country. More driving (in five hour batches). Blech.
Anyway, on the train, we shared a table with a Welshman and a Dubliner who was headed home after holiday. The Welshman was a Mt. Snowdon volunteer rescuer. We said we hoped that we wouldn't need his services that day. Thankfully, we did not. But the Dubliner said he knew of Philly because that was 'where that man, Bruce...Springsteen, is from. The Boss, right?'
And you know this...man!!! The world knows and loves the Bruce. Associates him with Philly, which is a bit off, but pretty durn close.
Also, one of the carved ingravings from one of Ireland's many political prisoners above the Kilmainhiem Goal (Dublin Jail) cells was 'No Surrender'. Hopefully Ireland's political future is less grim than its past has been.
Anyway, Dublin has been great. More laid back to London's busybodies. Also, Londoners display their fashion sense through their clothes, primarily their shoes and stockings. Dubliners are more inclined to show their fashion through their hairstyles and colors.
Tomorrow, on to the west country. More driving (in five hour batches). Blech.
Tuesday, August 4, 2009
What day is this? Is this a, uhhh....
Hey all, it's Mike. I don't have an account, of course, so using Gena's. London has been great. Kind of like a mashed up version of NYC and DC, yet slightly cleaner than both with crazier traffic patterns.
Let's discuss traffic, btw. Driving here is insane. Don't ever do it. Especially don't do it when you're operating on three hours of sleep and haven't driven on the right side of the road before. Actually, you get used to that pretty fast (I only hit one curb!), but the traffic pattern is just crazy. Since I only ran one red light (endangering only a few pedestrians) out of sheer fear of being in the wrong lane, I consider the experience a success.
Also, learned that King Henry VIII would have been an ODNR stakeholder! Hopefully we'll get some pics up of that if we haven't already. Maybe he could call legislators on our behalf next budget...
Let's discuss traffic, btw. Driving here is insane. Don't ever do it. Especially don't do it when you're operating on three hours of sleep and haven't driven on the right side of the road before. Actually, you get used to that pretty fast (I only hit one curb!), but the traffic pattern is just crazy. Since I only ran one red light (endangering only a few pedestrians) out of sheer fear of being in the wrong lane, I consider the experience a success.
Also, learned that King Henry VIII would have been an ODNR stakeholder! Hopefully we'll get some pics up of that if we haven't already. Maybe he could call legislators on our behalf next budget...
And next stop
Today we are leaving London which is sad. We are heading to Mt. Snowdon National Park which is Wales. We are going to take a brief tour of it via the Mt. Snowdon RR which takes you up to the top of the highest point which shockingly is (drumroll please) Mt. Snowdon. From there we are heading to Holyhead to spend the night. We are staying in a cute little waterfront place. It is a shame we won't get in until like 10 tonight so no real enjoyment of the cute little waterfront place.
Tomorrow at noon we'll catch an Irish Ferry to Dublin to begin our exploration of that city. The plan is to do the Guinness factory tomorrow afternoon. Personally, I don't like dark beer and don't like Guinness in the U.S. Yes children pick your jaws up off the floor there is in fact booze I don't like. But I hear it is completely different from the plant. Apparently they change their recipes for the beer when it is shipped something like 60 miles from the plant. I am looking forward to tasting Irish Mother's Milk as it was meant to be tasted.
I am just exhausted - exhausted I tell you. I am lucky I didn't just collapse when I picked up my backpack this morning. It is a three hour train ride to the park so I think I may sleep part of the way.
Cheerio folks!
Gena
Tomorrow at noon we'll catch an Irish Ferry to Dublin to begin our exploration of that city. The plan is to do the Guinness factory tomorrow afternoon. Personally, I don't like dark beer and don't like Guinness in the U.S. Yes children pick your jaws up off the floor there is in fact booze I don't like. But I hear it is completely different from the plant. Apparently they change their recipes for the beer when it is shipped something like 60 miles from the plant. I am looking forward to tasting Irish Mother's Milk as it was meant to be tasted.
I am just exhausted - exhausted I tell you. I am lucky I didn't just collapse when I picked up my backpack this morning. It is a three hour train ride to the park so I think I may sleep part of the way.
Cheerio folks!
Gena
Monday, August 3, 2009
London - From Gena's point of view
Well we are wrapping up our stay in London. We are sorry that we are just now posted. Our flight out of Cbus was delayed so we missed our plane from Philly to London. The upside is that we ended up getting upgraded to first class for the transatlantic flight. Our seats laid down flat into beds. It was amazing. The downside is that we lost more than a half day of time here and we have been trying to make up for it with long, long, long, did I mention long days. Adding to the behindness was the fact that the Tube closed down while we were on it trying to get from Heathrow to our hotel. Someone left a bag on the platform at Kings Cross. Our backpacks were a godsend because we just got off the Tube. We were at Harrods so we went in and ate in the foodhall, looked at clothes I wanted but couldn't afford and saw the creepy memorial to Diana. All and all not a bad use of time while we were stuck. : 0
No pictures with this post because there is no USB plug on the computer at our hotel but don't worry I have already taken more pictures that I probably needed to.
I of course am loving London. I am particularly in love with the fact that this is the 500th anniversary of Henry VIII taking the throne. This was my major as an undergrad and is a complete fixation of mine. Instead of a lot of the more traditional London sites I have been dragging Mike through the surrounding area to see special exhibits set up for the event. All I can say is my love of Amy and Michael Gordon has been deepened and reaffirmed. It is so packed here with tourists that guided tours are impossible to deal with so with a guidebook and the voice of the Gordon's in my head I have been explaining the English monarchy and the Tudor court to my husband. Not sure if he cares as much as I do but still I am loving it. I bought a coffee mug at the war exhibit that has the helmet logo and I'd kill for a cuppa written on it. That seems to fit my feelings in the morning.
The city is jammed with tourists and they are making us insane. We are lost tourists and are finding them annoying. Yesterday at the crown jewels some 'ugly americans' decided to make everyone's life miserable. We were on an audio guided tour but there was also a video. The audio was shorter than the video and these folks went nuts that the rest of us would dare to watch the end of the video. So they yelled, then they pushed and then they go out of line. Some by walking in front of everyone else and blocking the screen and others by taking down the velvet ropes and making their own exit. Then tonight we went to church at Westminster Abby and this American man told off the family of the Jamaican High Commissioner. The HC and his family had come to the service to celebrate Jamaica's independence day. The lovely tourist thought they were cutting in line for seating (and if they were so what the Abby is huge and there were only about 20 people in line) so he put his arm out, blocked their way and started yelling at them that the line started in the back and they needed to turn around. It was three older women who responded that they were told to come to the gate. He continued to refuse to let them pass getting louder as it went on. When a priest came to let them through he then got huffy with the priest. We were going to church for goodness sake - no berating allowed. Rudeness gets you no where in life.
This is long so I'll wrap it up but we went to Stonehenge this morning. I am sure Mike will have a lot to say about driving there and back. We had to rent a car because we got special access tickets that let us into the actual center of the circle and we had to be there at 615 am. It was rough. The pictures are forthcoming but the best part were these crazy pagen women (or at least women who thought they were pagen) trying to perform some kind of ritual. First they were in halloween costumes and had kids toys as their instruments. But then they didn't actually know what they were doing so they kept having to stop and read from a book or a google printout. It was without a doubt one of the weirdest things I have ever seen. It was capped with them yelling 'I am proud of the woman that I am.' On that note we left. : )
Tomorrow we leave London and head for Wales. We are taking a train tour of Mt. Snowdon national park and sleeping in Holyhead. We'll then grab a ferry to Dublin to being the Irish leg of this journey. It's been great - just exhausting.
No pictures with this post because there is no USB plug on the computer at our hotel but don't worry I have already taken more pictures that I probably needed to.
I of course am loving London. I am particularly in love with the fact that this is the 500th anniversary of Henry VIII taking the throne. This was my major as an undergrad and is a complete fixation of mine. Instead of a lot of the more traditional London sites I have been dragging Mike through the surrounding area to see special exhibits set up for the event. All I can say is my love of Amy and Michael Gordon has been deepened and reaffirmed. It is so packed here with tourists that guided tours are impossible to deal with so with a guidebook and the voice of the Gordon's in my head I have been explaining the English monarchy and the Tudor court to my husband. Not sure if he cares as much as I do but still I am loving it. I bought a coffee mug at the war exhibit that has the helmet logo and I'd kill for a cuppa written on it. That seems to fit my feelings in the morning.
The city is jammed with tourists and they are making us insane. We are lost tourists and are finding them annoying. Yesterday at the crown jewels some 'ugly americans' decided to make everyone's life miserable. We were on an audio guided tour but there was also a video. The audio was shorter than the video and these folks went nuts that the rest of us would dare to watch the end of the video. So they yelled, then they pushed and then they go out of line. Some by walking in front of everyone else and blocking the screen and others by taking down the velvet ropes and making their own exit. Then tonight we went to church at Westminster Abby and this American man told off the family of the Jamaican High Commissioner. The HC and his family had come to the service to celebrate Jamaica's independence day. The lovely tourist thought they were cutting in line for seating (and if they were so what the Abby is huge and there were only about 20 people in line) so he put his arm out, blocked their way and started yelling at them that the line started in the back and they needed to turn around. It was three older women who responded that they were told to come to the gate. He continued to refuse to let them pass getting louder as it went on. When a priest came to let them through he then got huffy with the priest. We were going to church for goodness sake - no berating allowed. Rudeness gets you no where in life.
This is long so I'll wrap it up but we went to Stonehenge this morning. I am sure Mike will have a lot to say about driving there and back. We had to rent a car because we got special access tickets that let us into the actual center of the circle and we had to be there at 615 am. It was rough. The pictures are forthcoming but the best part were these crazy pagen women (or at least women who thought they were pagen) trying to perform some kind of ritual. First they were in halloween costumes and had kids toys as their instruments. But then they didn't actually know what they were doing so they kept having to stop and read from a book or a google printout. It was without a doubt one of the weirdest things I have ever seen. It was capped with them yelling 'I am proud of the woman that I am.' On that note we left. : )
Tomorrow we leave London and head for Wales. We are taking a train tour of Mt. Snowdon national park and sleeping in Holyhead. We'll then grab a ferry to Dublin to being the Irish leg of this journey. It's been great - just exhausting.
Friday, July 31, 2009
We're leaving on a jet plane - next stop London!
What do you take for 21 days in Europe? Not much if you are rock star packers like us! This is it folks. That is all of our luggage. How amazing/unbelievable is it? I am not going to lie- I didn't even think we would be able to accomplish it. But here is the photographic evidence.
Today's the day! We are finally off on our trip. I know that neither of us can believe it - we have been planning so long that it seems unreal that it is finally here. As you can tell Mike is ready to roll!
We arrive in London at 6:15 tomorrow morning. As most of you know, neither of us are what you would call morning poeple so this may be a problem. Mike said I should give a preview of each city/place we are visiting for everyone. So here it is.
First, London is hella expensive so we are not staying at any cute British bed and breakfast or inn. We are too poor. Instead we are staying Hotel Ibis which is farther out of the city center but literally right next to a train stop and most importantly we can afford it. Oh well, at least it isn't an American chain hotel.
We are not sure what we are doing on Saturday. We are going to make some plans on the plane. We'll have plenty of time that is for sure.
Love you all!
Mike and Gena
Monday, July 27, 2009
Packing
There are a lot of doubters out there as to whether I can actually survive in just a large backpack for 3 weeks. Today as I was not thinking about the coming bar exam I decided to pack. For you non believes I have included my clothing for the trip.
That my friends is a single 9 x 12 mesh packing cube. First it is not all the way full and second it includes all of my clothes for the 3 weeks except for socks/underwear and what I am wearing on the flight.
More to come as I put together the other stuff we need. But I hope I have made believers of you all. I will be traveling with a single carry on size backpack that weighs less than 20 pounds.
That my friends is a single 9 x 12 mesh packing cube. First it is not all the way full and second it includes all of my clothes for the 3 weeks except for socks/underwear and what I am wearing on the flight.
More to come as I put together the other stuff we need. But I hope I have made believers of you all. I will be traveling with a single carry on size backpack that weighs less than 20 pounds.
Saturday, July 25, 2009
It's Almost Time!
The book that started it all! Rick Steves Europe through the Backdoor was given to me as wedding gift from Mike. It was tucked inside a beautiful Coach travel tote. I married a great man!The countdown is on for the Shelton's European Vacation. A lot of planning has gone into this and we are hopeful to not be too much like the Griswolds. We will in fact be visiting many of their favorite locations though - including Stonehenge and while this will be our first day with a car we will try our hardest not to knock it down.
As many of you know, we have been planning this trip for about 18 months. The decision to take a big trip to Europe came when Mike and I were discussing our honeymoon. It wasn't feasible last year because of the election (yes we are political nerds) so we decided to combine it with a postbar exam trip. I finish the Ohio Bar on Thursday, July 30 at 12:15 and we leave Cbus for Philly at 3:41 on Friday, July 31 : ) Moss doesn't grow on a rolling stone. Thanks to cost savings days our trip has grown from approx 10 days to 21. When life gives you lemons, make lemonade.
To give you a rough idea of where we are heading here is a basic schedule for our 21 day trip. London, Dublin, West Ireland/Dingle, Normandy, Paris, Swiss Alps, Munich, Rhine, Amsterdam. It should be a whirlwind trip but we are looking forward to it.
For ease of communicating with our friends and family we are going to both be posting on this blog regularly while abroad. This will let us tell stories and share pictures as well go. I expect there will be a couple packing posts as well. We are going for the full 21 days with a just a big backpack a piece and well this should be interesting.
Gena
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