Events en Route

I went to sleep last night thinking I wouldn't have anything to write about at the end of the day today, but boy was I wrong.

We ended up not going to sleep last night. Just stayed up until it was time to head to the airport, which we decided would be 4:30am. As we were walking up Damrack towards the train station we were stopped by two guys wanting to know where a good place to hang out was (at 4:30 in the morning I would like to add). They claimed they were from the US and had just arrived. One said he was from New York (though his accent clearly indicated this was not the case), the other said he was from Orange County.

I'm not exactly sure why one would pick the two girls with no makeup on walking down the street with massive packs strapped to their backs to ask for partying advice, but they did. Unfortunately we couldn't help them. They kept trying to carry on a conversation and I finally had to explain that we needed to go catch our flight (we had plenty of time, but the packs were really heavy and we just wanted to reach our destination).

Later on we were in the airport, and wouldn't you know, the same two guys are hanging out at our gate. I had made the mistake of telling them we were headed to Geneva. They had followed us to the airport! But luckily we lost them after that.

Flying in to Geneva was different than flying in to the other cities. Not only was the descent much steeper, they also descended in a spiral motion. I guess they didn't really want to run into any mountains along the way.

Immigration consisted of showing the guy our passports. No questions, no forms to fill out (like in Canada or London), nothing. He didn't even stamp my passport - and I was looking forward to a stamp from Switzerland. Customs again consisted of walking through an empty room.

Next it was off to the train station. Unfortunately the train we had intended to take was full, so we had to choose an alternate route, meaning we would arrive at our final destination at around 10pm, rather than 9:30pm. First was Geneve (Geneva) to Milano (Milan).

The countryside through Switzerland and Northern Italy is just amazing. Absolutely beautiful. I wanted to just tell them to let me off right there. I could have just lazed around and read my book for hours. We went through a section of the Alps where the clouds above were clinging to the sides of the mountains, completely white but so solid you couldn't see the sky above them. I felt like I was in that Heidi movie.

When we arrived in Milano we checked the board that indicated we should wait for our next train (to Bologna) on platform 15. We had about an hour and a half, so we hung out on the platform for awhile. Some guy that had been sitting there almost the entire time we had asked us to keep an eye on his bag for a short time, and when he came back he asked if we were going to Bologna as well, then informed us that they had switched the platform to 13 rather than 15. If I had not agreed to watch his bag for 2 minutes, we would never have figured that out and would have completely missed our train.

The train we got on in Bologna (to Arezzo) was set up differently than the others we had been on so far. Rather than an open space with many seats, this train was split into 6 person rooms (similar to the train in Eurotrip with the creepy Italian guy). We chose a room with an Asian guy who spoke no English but helped Jessica and I put our bags up. Just before the train started moving, he got up and headed off to the bathroom. Two other people joined our room (both of whom spoke Italian and no English whatsoever), but as soon as the train took off, we heard the sound of someone puking in the bathroom, which we were right next to. This guy wasn't just throwing up, it sounded as if he were actually trying to dislodge his stomach. This went on for about an hour. Then he came back to the room, looking like he had just ran 30 miles - soaked with sweat from head to toe. He laid down accross two seats and began moaning. After a few minutes, he passed out. One of the officials on the train came by, as well as about 8 onlookers. They then proceeded to poke him awake and try to talk to him in Italian. He ended up waking up, just in time to yak on the floor of our room. Jessica and I grabbed our stuff and headed to another room. They called an ambulance to meet us at the next stop and carted him off to the hospital.

All this meant we were running a bit late, which led me to panic a little, since we only had 15 minutes between trains at the next stop. I called my bro to have him look up the next train, just in case we missed our connection. But the train we were on booked it to Arezzo, arriving only 2 minutes late. But then our next train was running 20 minutes late. We ended up making it to Cortona at 10:30pm. Only an hour late.

After saying hello to Porter, Keith, Tania, Jessica and I headed down to the local wine tasting shop for dinner. We had some amazing meat, cheese and bread with some nice wine and good conversation. Last but not least we walked down to the local English Pub for some drinks with some locals.

Nature, Nazis, Sex and a Tour

Today was our last day in Amsterdam. I finally got some sleep last night, woke up rested and ready for another long day. I think I'm actually getting used to all this walking. My legs don't hurt nearly as much as they have the end of the last two days.

First we went to the Botanical Gardens here. Some of the plants there are really amazing. We saw a lotus (I think, it was early, I don't really remember) that had some huge leaves. They can actually hold up 40kg without sinking the leaves. I took pictures, I'll post them in a few days. There was also a butterfly room with the biggest butterflies and moths I have ever seen. There was a terrarium looking thing with some caterpillars inside on a table. Jessica leaned on the table without paying attention and you could hear the table shift off balance so I made her stop leaning on it. When she moved, we realized she had leaned on a caterpillar. He was struggling, but we think he made it through.

Next we headed off to the Dutch Resistance Museum. There are a bunch of exhibits telling the tales of Dutch citizens and their response to the Nazi occupation during WWII. It was really moving. Did you know that at one point nearly the entire town of Amsterdam went on strike to protest the treatment of the Jews durning the occupation. There were tales of all these children that went into hiding with non-Jewish foster parents. When the occupation ended and they finally had to go back to their parents, the children had often become attached to the foster parents and didn't want to leave. Then for those whose parents had died there was the question of who do the children stay with - the foster parents they have grown to love or Jewish families so they can maintain their culture. There was also the story of people running illegal newspapers and one guy's father, who was a policeman, would tell him who they were going to target next so he could go warn them. But that wasn't enough WWII drama for us this day...

Next up was the Anne Frank House. This was powerfull as well. You basically walk through the building that the family was hiding in. It was Otto Frank's (Anne's father's) business. You walk through the downstairs as well as the hidden rooms that the 8 people lived in. It was small to fit 8 people. And the floors and stairs creaked so much it is hard to imagine how carefully you would have to tread to not make any noise. They basically had to hold still the entire day. Only one of the 8 survived.

Then, this evening, we checked out the Damrak Sex Museum. There is some crazy stuff in there, definitely only for open minded individuals. They basically have displays of pornography and sexually inspired items starting as far back as ancient Rome. They had some photographs from the 1800s, both amature and professional and it was clear which was which. Educational and entertaining.

Last for this evening was a canal tour of the city. It was more relaxing than anything else. I did learn that the Amsterdam harbor is actually a freshwater harbor, rather than saltwater, due to the lochs that surround it. And they pointed out when we passed two houses right next to each other that were actually exact copies of one another. Great that that is something worth noting on a tour.

We fly out early tomorrow, so we have to actually check out at 5am. So instead of trying to make sure I get up at that time (because we all know I can never get up on time), I'm just going to stay up the whole night. Only four hours to go...

Bikes, phones, fine art and stairs

If we keep this kind of activity up throughout the trip, between all the walking and stairs, my legs are going to fall off. They are actually shaking right now as I sit here. And I've been resting for 4 hours.

The city is great! I like that there are so many people walking and riding bikes everywhere. It is so social. I'm so used to places where people just go in their houses and don't talk to one another. There are more people riding bikes and walking around than there are cars and trams and buses. And yet if you wander down some of the streets lining the quieter canals, it is so relaxed and peaceful.

I made the mistake of not taking a sleeping pill last night. Jessica too. We both thought that with as tired as our bodies were at the end of the day we would have no problem falling asleep. Wrong. We were both up all night. I think we each slept around two hours. So we finally got up at around 6am and started getting ready for the day.

The breakfast at the hostel was actually fairly decent. Cereal, yogurt, bread, cinnamon raisin rolls, oranges, milk, hot cocoa.... So we got something to eat and headed out.

First we rented some bikes. I haven't really ridden a bike in I don't even know how long, and all the bikes were too tall for me. I got the shortest one there and I still couldn't touch the ground when I was sitting on the seat without seriously tipping the bike. It was really rather pathetic, I looked like I'd never ridden before (but I never fell down or crashed!). We ended up returning them after about an hour. It was a nice idea though.

After picking up our Museum pass, we headed to the local mobile phone provider and I got a prepaid SIM card for my phone, so now I have a Netherlands mobile phone number. I finally feel connected again. Ahhh, peace. I can't stand being this disconnected. Must have contact with the outside world. I know, pathetic, isn't it?

First on our sightseeing agenda was a self guided walking tour from the Royal Palace to the Van Gogh Museum. I really like the buildings in this city. The Royal Palace (there is apparently a queen even though this has been a democracy for a long time) is fairly impressive from the outside, but we weren't allowed inside. We wandered down some shop filled streets and stopped for a late morning snack at a little courtyard hidden between there and the Amsterdam History Museum. We also saw Mint Tower, which used to serve as part of the wall around the medieval city. Everything past that is newer.

There was a huge flower market where they were selling bulbs for tulips, amarillos, narcisses, and other bulb plants (it took up an entire city block!), and a courtyard with a beautiful fountain and an large chess board, complete with knee high peices. Most of the Rijksmuseum is being renovated, but they had some of their artwork on display in the Philips Wing around the back. Some of the art in there is really amazing. I was able to take pictures as long as I didn't use a flash, so the pictures aren't that clear.

Behind the Rijks was what looked like a park with a beautiful, knee-deep pool of water. We stopped for about a half hour here, soaking our feet and reading. It was an absolutely beautiful day. People that were riding or walking by with their dogs would stop so thier dogs could take a dip or play fetch in the water. (I love that there are so many animals here, clearly well socialized and trained to follow their owners when off their leash!). There was also a huge grassy area where people were napping and reading. It was so peacefull. If we didn't have so little time in the city, I probably would have spent the rest of the afternoon just lying around there reading.

The Van Gogh Museum basically told the story of his life and grouped the peices together by where he was in life, explaining major events that influenced his work. I knew about his paintings, but I don't recall seing any of his drawings before. His stuff is really amazing. The museum is 3 stories. Lots of stairs (my legs are so tired).

After the Van Gogh Museum we were exhausted, and tired of walking and stairs, so we took the tram back as close to the hostel as possible. We had intended to go to the Anne Frank House between then and dinner, but decided we were too tired to walk that much more. We rested for a bit at the hostel and then headed out to dinner where we shared (very good) pasta and soup. Next we came back to the hostel, hiked back up the 6 flights of stairs to our room (yes, it's quite a workout) and passed out. For about 4 hours. I decided to get my internet fix and then I'm going right back to sleep (with a little help this time).

One more full day here, then we fly out early Friday morning...

Late and Lost

Today was a crazy day....

So we woke up this morning in London after a great (sleeping pill induced) night of sleep, enjoyed a great shower, then ran out the door at 11am to make our 2:30 flight. We almost missed the 11:40 shuttle to Stansted Airport but when we told the lovely woman behind the counter the time of our flight she ran out the door, grabbed someone's walkie talkie and told them to hold the train. She is one of our new favorite people. Then it was an hour and 20 minutes to the airport (I had no idea it was THAT far). But we made the flight, no harm done.

I sat next to this lovely Dutch grandmother for the 40 minute flight. She was in London to visit her sister, she likes flying, she thinks it's just terrible what's happened to New Orleans, she's never been to Anaheim but she's been to LA, Santa Barbara, San Francisco and Palo Alto (I think she's seen more of California than I have). She also thought the pilot's english was teriible. I learned all this and more in just 40 minutes. She was very nice though.

Getting out of the airport was pretty quick this time. Going through customs consisted of walking through a room. I don't think there was anyone there at all. Buying a train ticket was kind of a pain though. There are all these kiosks that you can do it yourself, but you have to pay with a card, and they expect you to have a pin for your credit card. Jessica even tried her debit card but it didn't work, so we had to wait in line.

Next we had to find our Hostel, so what did we do? We just started walking in the general direction I knew it was (we knew it was a mere 1.5km away, so how bad could it be?). We stopped at a shop and bought a map, which was apparently the largest map of Amsterdam ever. We unfolded the thing and I think Jessica could have hid behind it. There was a man inside the Hotel Reservations place just laughing at us, then he offered to help. We unfolded our map on the counter this time (instead of just trying to hold it in the middle of the street) and he pointed us in the right direction, then he gave us a smaller (better) map free of charge (because we were so entertaining).

But since we didn't know the street signs are actually on the side of the buildings rather than on posts on the side of the street, we turned down the wrong street and wound up walking all the way back up the wrong street, which just happened to be the heart of the Red Light District. When we got the the right street number, it was a porn shop instead of the hostel. It was ok though, because the lovely man in the doorway pointed us in the right direction.

We finally made it to the hostel after walking around for about 2 hours. That is a long walk to make with 17kg pack (we weighed our bags at the airport so I know for sure how much mine weighed) strapped to you. By the time we made it there, I was pooped. And late. I was supposed to be at the Anne Frank House walking around by now. All my plans have now been upset! What was I to do?

Getting over it was apparently my only option, so I did. We put our stuff in our lockers, changed, and headed out the door. We walked all the way accross Amsterdam to the Jordaan District for dinner, then took the long, roundabout way back. We basically walked for 5 hours today. I may weigh less when I come back.

Dinner was good. We ate at this little hole in the wall in Jordaan. There was a cat in the restaurant that perched himself on the seat next to me while I ate. He probably just wanted me to feed him, but I would like to think he just like me, so I pet him the whole time I was eating. There were actually quite a few cats meanering the city, perched next to tables in restaurants. I saw a dog in the doorway of a pub, just chilling, greating the guests. Made them all seam cozy/relaxed.

Amsterdam is a neat city. The buildings are old, and there are canals all over. I love that most of the streets and all the walkways are brick. There are people everywhere, walking around, riding bikes.... I'm hoping it was trash day though, cause there was trash piled up in front of people's houses and businesses. Not in trash cans or anything, just piled up. It really smelled too.

So now its like 11:30 and I'm tired. I might want to go out and do something else, but I don't think I could walk any further. That's ok though, because tomorrow we have a long day of walking around and visiting museums (and now I have to fit the Anne Frank House in another day, because I really want to go). And Thursday night I don't think we are going to go to sleep, since we have to check out at like 5am so we can make it back to the airport for an 8am flight.

Air Canada to London

Well, we made it to London so far... tomorrow it's off to Amsterdam.

I love flying. Ok, really I like taking off and landing and turbulence, cause then it's actually kind of exciting, but the long stretches of just sitting there on your ass could make me crazy. I really like thinking about how amazing it is that we can fly halfway accross the world in less than a day. I think we take that sort of stuff for granted a little too often.

I have to say good things about Air Canada. Both flights left right on time and arrived early. The food sucked, but it's airline food. Not much can be done about that. We had a connection in Toronto... that airport is HUGE. We had to walk through this maze, get onto a shuttle, walk through another maze, go through the x-ray/metal detector thing, get on another shuttle, and then go through another maze to get from one flight to the next. Have to say I'm glad our connection was in Toronto and not Heathrow, though. The customs/immigration line was so short in Canada that all that walking around and taking shuttles still only took about 90 minutes.

But once we stopped in Heathrow (at 8:50, 40 minutes ahead of schedule) we had to hike for about 15 minutes to get to the immigration line...and holy crap was that a long line. It took us an hour just to get through there. After we finally picked up our luggage there, we walked through the area labeled customs without having to stop to talk to anyone. I'm not sure they had a customs checkpoint up at all. The we had to wait 40 minutes for the shuttle (that is supposed to come every 20 minutes) to take us to the hotel. We checked in at 11:30 (for all of you bad at math, that is over 2 and 1/2 hours of lines and walking and waiting for shuttles, etc.)

I only slept about an hour on both flights combined, but I'm still wide awake. I'm going to go take a sleeping pill after this so I can get some shut eye. Jessica, however, slept most of both flights and still looks as though she is about to pass out. She's actually probably already asleep. I just needed to come get my internet fix. I don't like being without my cell phone or email for this long. I feel so disconnected.

No pictures yet, even if I had taken some (they would only be of airports at this point) I have to wait until I get to my bro's before I can upload them. I'll probably have some up by Monday.

I'm Off

My vacation officially began at the end of my workday yesterday. Hard to believe I don't have to go to work for over 3 weeks. I haven't taken time off like this for years. Usually a vacation for me means taking a four day weekend or something.

I'm leaving for my trip tomorrow night and I haven't even packed yet. Don't know if I'm really ready to leave yet. This is really going to be a totally new experience. Up until now the only trips I've taken have been with people that knew exactly where we were going... I never had to take control. Other than an evening in TJ, this will be my first time out of the country. And aside from some trips to Vegas, this will be my first travelling experience without my family.

This time I feel like I'm entering uncharted waters. I've planned most of the trip, and I'm good with maps (thankfully), but I'm feeling a bit intimidated. At the same time, I feel good about embarking on an adventure. I spend too much of my time doing the same things I always do. Gotta try new things and go new places and meet new people every once and awhile.

I'm really excited to see some of the places we are going too. The Van Gogh Museum, Anne Frank's House, the Louvre, St. Peter's Square, Oktoberfest, Notre Dame... just to name a few. And I'm really excited about the food and the wine and the shopping.

Poor Sister

So I can't really tell the whole story, but my poor sister has been having such a stressfull time the last two weeks I really feel bad for her. First she's trying to get her living situation figured out (she's moving for like the 8th time in the last 2 years). She's basically moving in to storage until we come back from Europe, so she's a nomad right now, and will have to move all over again when we get back. Then she throws a party (which is stressfull in itself). She had everything all planned, but didn't expect Stater Bros. to give us the wrong kind of tap for the keg - twice - or her toilet to start overflowing during the party. She dealt with that just fine, but the next day when she was cleaning up, she was returning something she had borrowed for the party when it went flying out of her truck and shattered all over the road. Stressed out as she was, she immediately went to the store and spent the $300 to replace the item. Next day however, she pulls in to my parents driveway, forgets to put her truck in park, and runs it right in to my parents brand new garage door. Poor thing just sat down and cried.

I told her it was just fate getting back at her for all the fun we are going to have in the next three weeks, but hopefully this is the end of the bad luck.

Up Early

I think there is some cosmic force out there that does not want me to sleep in. Ever. Anyone that is around the morning after a night out can tell you that I am the first one up. Doesn't matter if we went to bed at 4am, I'll be up at 7:30. I'll crash later - usually hard around 3 in the afternoon - but I will be up early, trying to be quiet so I don't wake anyone else up. Thank god for books.

But even when I specifically try to make sure I'm in a place where I can sleep until like 8 or something? Just a little extra? On the weekends? No, no sleeping in for me.

Friday I was looking forward to sleeping in the next morning. I stayed at my parents because I had some shit to do out here, thinking no one would be home, I can sleep in as late as I want. Then at 5am in the effing morning my parent's alarm clock goes off in the other room. I had to get up and struggle with turning off an unfamiliar alarm clock and then try to go back to sleep. Then my sister shows up to feed the dogs at 7am. Banging around making all kinds of noise. It was over, there was no way I was sleeping after that.

Then I was up late at my sister's party, and I came home, again thinking I would get some sleep. Wrong. My mom comes in at 6:30 in the morning because she needs some clothes from the room I'm sleeping in. She was in and out for like a half hour. At that point I was not going to be able to get back to sleep. C'est la vie.

Return of the Brother

So my little brother went to Oregon for the summer. He left 2 months ago, and we've heard little from him since. Everyone in my family left the kid messages never to hear a response. I could kinda understand why he didn't call my parents back, probably needed space, but he didn't call me or my sister or my brother back either. That was really weird.

Well, he came home today (rather unexpectedly, I thought he was coming home next weekend) and I learned that the cell phone tower in the town he was staying burned down in the same fire that took out the mill he was supposed to be working at. Said he hasn't been able to check his messages the whole time he was gone. Explains why he didn't call me back, or know that my sister was having a party tonight that he just happens to be home just in time for.

I'm glad he's home. I'm glad he's safe.

Crazy Fun Weekend

This weekend was awesome! First my company took everyone to Vegas (we left work midday Thursday and flew back yesterday at noon), then I spend yesterday and today milling around in Santa Monica.

Unfortunately I didn't make it past 3am either night, but I still had an awesome time. Thursday night we ate an amazing sushi dinner at Nobu at the Hard Rock (accompanied by a lot of excellent sake), then we went out to Rum Jungle and partied it up. Friday I got an awesome facial, sat in a cabana by the pool for 5 hours, ate a fantastic meal at Boa (a steakhouse) at Caeser's Palace, then had bottle service at Pure. The Pussycat Dolls were doing a burlesque show at Pure the night we were there, and we got some pictures with some of the girls. We also saw Chuck "Iceman" Liddell of UFC fame. We basically partied like rock stars - one of us actually almost missed the flight home yesterday. I feel like we bonded too.

After I flew home yesterday, my sister and I drove out to my aunt's house in Santa Monica for the rest of the weekend. I love it down there. She has a place two blocks from the Third Street Promenade. I think I walked more this weekend than I have in years. We had an awesome sushi dinner at Akwa and then sat up all night chatting. Today we rented bikes at the pier and rode them to Venice and back, then wandered the promenade. Afterwards we walked to this theatre that plays old movies and saw Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan. The director of the film was in the house and he had a little Q&A session after the credits. The movie is totally dated and a lot of the acting is completely over the top, but it was still entertaining and the director was really interesting. They are playing some neat films there I would love to see (like Dune, Rear Window, Breakfast at Tiffany's, Sabrina, and Some Like it Hot) if I get the chance.