Wednesday, January 28, 2004

Must Read

I email article links to friends, on occassion, when I think it would be something of to interest them. I rarely, if ever, send out mass emails without explanation of why a particular article is worthy of reading. Here is a case where mass distribution is a MUST. If you do not read this, you will be missing out on the best newspaper series EVER! I'd recommend getting a soda or cup of coffee before reading all of the articles, but you'd spit it all out laughing. Don't eat or drink anything while reading. I'd prefer that my readers NOT choke while reading. Unintentional Comedy Scale: Off the Charts.

Rather than say more, I'll just quote Bill Simmons, The Sports Guy:

Finally, I'd like to introduce you to the greatest newspaper series of all time. And yes, I know what I just wrote. This is the greatest newspaper series of all time. Except, of course, the idea was swiped from ESPN.com's own (and better) "Blue Chip Diaries" from last year.

Anyway, the Miami Herald has been following around All-State high school linebacker Willie Williams -- he's checking out various colleges and reporting back on his recruiting trips. I couldn't possibly describe what's happening here. I'm just going to give you the link, and you need to read all three of these features. And please read them in sequence. I don't ask for much.
Here are the articles. As instructed, read them in order. I'll add all future articles in this series right here.

Enough!

I was going to post a final, touchy-feely wrap-up on Europe, but you know what? I'm sick of writing about it. I'm sure you're sick of reading out it. So there. Done!

Monday, January 26, 2004

The Backstory

So my friends have been bugging me about telling what really happened during our Europe trip...that's not to say I've been lying in all my previous Europe musings. Let's just say that I've been selective in my story telling. So now, due to popular uprising, you can find the seedier aspects of our trip. Of course, everything won't make it here, but this is just an idea of the trouble we talked ourselves into. You can imagine the rest, since there is quite a bit left unsaid:


  • Porn - Ahhh yes, everybody's favorite subject. Obviously, you don't talk about porn, watching it or reading it, in open public. Unless, of course, you think that nobody around you will understand what you're talking about. Safe to say, that enough people know English to you shouldn't talk about porn even in non-English speaking countries. We were scolded at least once while talking taboo in public. Of course, we were scolded by a mother of two children who appeared to be at least 17 or 18. C'mon, what high school kid doesn't know what's up? The best part of it all? The kids seemed like they were on a miserable family trip and our conversation about porn stashes were perking up their ears. Probably the most fun they'd had since leaving the US. We were all quite tempted to ask the mother of these innocent children if she thought her children had never heard of porn.

  • Porn, the remix - Being the immature fools that we are, we were quite amazed that they show full nudity on European TV. Of course, I'd been there before so I knew it would come on TV, but get six people together with some wine and bacardi, and watching the stuff on a 13 inch TV is loads of fun. Try it, you'll like it! Safe to say, we laughed, we cried. Until the cartoon porn. That really freaked us out. I'll just say that eliminating the laws of reality takes porn to another dimension. We all learned something new. Perhaps people can give it a try once humans have stations on Mars and such. For right now, I think too many bones would be broken.

  • Music to your ears - Following up on the English-speaking thing. Everybody seems to know English! Who knew?! Take this as a warning. Don't talk ish about anyone or anything out loud. Do it huddled up with each and silently laughing - like the immature children that you are. Of course, being the immature children that we are, we dared speak out loud. We didn't get scoldings most of the time, but we said quite a few things which would have turned many people's red with fury and embarrassment. Suffice it to say that, even though we spoke French when needed, we loudly contributed to the stereotype of useless American fcuks.

  • Theivery - Okay, so we didn't participate in stealing anything, but we sure scared the hell out of a gas thief in Paris on our last day there. The guy snuck over to the gas pump using our SUV to hide himself from the gas attendant. He proceeded to fill up his portable gas can and then slowly walked off. As soon as he was far enough, he ran. We, being the upstanding citizens that we are, honked loudly after him trying to shame him into submission. Dude kept walking intentionally ignoring us. We kept slowly following behind him in our SUV. Of course, we didn't bother telling the gas attendant about the theivery, but we did scare the ish out of said thug. Fun was had by all.



That being said, if you're looking for any other details, just yell and I'll fill you in.

Wednesday, January 21, 2004

More Drinking in Europe

Of all things, I forgot to mention the most ubiquitous drinking we participated in while in Europe: Mineral Water

Beware.

Don't touch the stuff!

Get drunk off wine & beer all day if you have to, but stay away from the mineral water.

I expected this problem with mineral water (eg, Evian) since I had the same problem the last time I visited Europe. At first, it's not so bad especially if it's ice cold, but after a a couple of days, mineral water just leaves a wierd taste in your mouth. After a week you just gulp the stuff so as not to taste it. After two weeks you just go thirsty. The one thing I wanted to do when returning to the states didn't involve a shower or a bed, it involved a bottle of Aquafina. Nuff said.

Drinking in Europe

So at some point I'll really get to the end of the story about Europe. These posts have been going on longer than the actual trip!

First of all: Guinness.

Second of all: Guinness Ice Cold. I Said, what's cooler than being cool?? Ice Cold!!

Now, onto the other less earth-shattering stuff:
Mulled Wine - First time I had the stuff was in Bath (beautiful city by the way). While doing a walking tour of the city by night, we really just need to sit down and warm up. So we headed into a cool little wine & coffee bar. Alcohol in general is great when it's cold since it really warms you up. Warm, spiced alcohol in the form of mulled wine? Even better. The bar was a great spot also since a two-piece band was playing. We were impolite enough to barge in just as they were starting their set, but it was well worth it. They started out sounding like REM, and near the end of their set, proceeded to play "The One I Love" by REM. Of course, they sounded more like REM when they weren't playing REM songs. Go figure.

French Wine - Stuff is cheap. Everywhere we went we couldn't believe that we could drink wine for less than water or coke. Plus, everything we tried was enjoyable. We really don't know too much about wine so it's nice to pick a random bottle and find that it's actually good.

Shandy - While this is rather revolutionary, it's not quite earth-shattering. Apparently, a British thing, it's definitely worth a try. Shandy is not a brand of beer, it's a style of beer, like a Black & Tan. Basically, take any light ale, pour in some lemonade or 7-up and you've got yourself a shandy. Very light and refreshing. If you don't like beer, stay away from the wine coolers, cider, zima, etc and give this a try. It's a good way to work yourself up to Guinness. Yes, long road, but you gotta start somewhere. Also great when you're stuck in the "I wanna drink, but I don't really wanna drink" rut.

Belgian Beer - While the stuff is good, I enjoyed the shandys much more.

French cocktails - This should really be titled Buddha Bar cocktails since that was the only place we had actual cocktails. The drinks were generally good (mainly because they were loaded with sugar and/or fruit juice). My only problem? What's with the straws? Here, cocktails come with a stirrer, if that. The Buddha Bar drinks were sporting straws bigger than the glasses themselves. Plus they were bent into wierd shapes. As Seinfeld would say...what...is...up...with...that?? While the Buddha Bar and the music played at the place was cool, the decorations on the drinks just didn't fly with the ultra hip vibe the place had.

Rum straight from the bottle - Yes, we're reverting to our college days. What do you do when you're near the end of your trip and you've got 1/2 a bottle of rum, but no coke to mix it with? Obviously, you can't throw it away. Drink it straight! Quite enjoyable and completely refreshing. Try it, you'll like it. Don't mind the burning sensation in your esophagus.

Monday, January 19, 2004

Groovin at Work

So in looking for inspiration at work, I've been trying to find just the right music to get me grooving while actually getting ish done. I have a large MP3 collection, but it's easy to get tired of that stuff right quick. In the past, I've found some Shoutcast radio stations which are great here and here and here (links require WinAmp). If you've never heard of Shoutcast or are wondering how to get these stations, just download WinAmp and then find the stations you like at their website. Alternately, you can just click on the links above and get to grooving right away. Basically, these stations have huge playlists and are on all day long.

But, of course, I'm always looking for something new so when my friend directed me to the BBC's Asian Network I quickly got to grooving on the bhangra sounds of Adil Ray (which I talked about before). I've just started listening to another show on BBC's Radio 1 put on by some guys named Bobby Friction & Nihal. If you're more into the breakbeats with Asian fusion (ie, Asian Massive), then this is the station for you. A weekly show highlighting some great grooves. And since the BBC is kind enough to archive the shows, you can listen any time you like!

Don't worry, I've got my (nearly) last post about Europe coming soon...and I'll be focusing on the drinking! In the meantime, get yer asses shaking to the groove.

Thursday, January 15, 2004

To Boldy Go...

A quick pause in my musings about our European holiday for a few words about the future of space exploration. President Bush made some bold statements about what American science should focus on for the next few decades in space. In short, he wants to shut down the shuttle program in 2010, put men back on the moon by 2020 for more than just a few days, and even send men to Mars.

So I've admitted to being a space junkie a couple of times already, and I'll say it again. The idea of a frantic push to new frontiers excites me, but I'm not really sure what to make of this just yet. The moment a person sets foot back on the moon or on Mars for the first time, we'll probably look back in hindsight and think very highly of Bush and his boldness. Right now, however, there are many questions yet to be answered.

So while I've got some politically cynical thinking behind this, I'll reserve that for the moment. Looking at Bush's proposal more closely, and you realize that most of this bold move is setting up future adminstrations to fund it. For the time being, only $1 billion more dollars will be pumped into NASA. While that's a lot of money that could used for many other things, it's not really much when you consider that a "simple" robotic explorer can cost $500 million. The rest of the funding for this program would be shifted from existing programs. Most likely, money will go from programs supporting robotic exploration. So things like the Mars Explorer would be put to the side in order to develop not just a mission to the moon, but a new space vehicle.

I personally am amazed by the unmanned missions that NASA has been sending out. It's mind blowing to consider the amount of information that can be gathered from so far out with a few robotic instruments. Manned missions are clearly more about ego than about scientific discovery, but they're still quite important achievements in the progress of mankind.

So I've got some reservations about this. I'll be interested to see what falls to the wayside in order to fund manned missions. I'll also be interested to see what shape the new manned vehicles take. We may no longer has re-useable spacecraft like the shuttle; we may go back to rockets and men packed into pods - 21st Century versions of the Apollo rockets. Who knows. I'm definitely interested to learn more.

Wednesday, January 14, 2004

BBC Asian Network

So after returning to the States, I've been listening to the BBC Asian Network just about every day. A friend had recommended it to me and I'm glad he mentioned it. The Asian Network isn't just a portal of Indian related news, it's the BBC's radio channel for anything and everything Asian (Indians to the rest of us). I've been listening to Adil Ray mostly.

What I still can't get over is the accent. I'm used to desis with a certain accent (either American or Indian) and British Asians sound like every other Brit out there. What throws me for a loop through is when they bust out some desi slang. In any case, Adil Ray has an enjoyable show. It's a mix of bhangra, hip-hop, and Asian culture along with lots of humor. Above, what interests me most is getting a feel for young Asian viewpoints in the UK. I feel like I know what many of the American Desi and the Indian Desi POV's are, but I've only got assumptions about the British Asian POV. These radio programs have definitely helped get a deeper insight into the young British Asian.

The Asian Network has a lot of radio programs available for listening, both live and archived. In general, the Beeb has a tremendous amount of programming available with a few mouse clicks. So if you're looking for interesting radio programming, go to the BBC Radio Website to see what they've got running.

This post, will, of course, lead me into some words about England and our time there. As I've promised, I'm trying to keep things short(er) so I'll leave those musings for a another post.

Tuesday, January 13, 2004

Movie Backdrop

So I realized that my post-by-post account of Europe is taking longer than the actual trip. So I promise to wrap this stuff up sm">PoucoHumilde@htomail.com e diga em 10 linhas porque você merece 1 dessas 6 vagas. Boa sorte!milde@htomail.com e diga em 10 linhas porque você merece 1 dessas 6 vagas. Boa sorte!

Scheming Our Way Across the Border

So I realized that my post-by-post account of Europe is taking longer than the actual trip. So I promise to wrap this stuff up soon. A few more posts and I'm out. Promise.

Switzerland came highly recommended by many people. The problem was that most of these rec's came from our parents and friends' parents. Figuring that the old folk would be more into the strictly tourist thing, we kept out stay in Switzerland to a day and half. Little did we know that everything we had heard about the country was true...and more. Seriously, the place looked surreal. Just too perfect. Every city seems to be situated on a lake and the vistas are just unbelievable.

Of course, things are always too good to be perfect so here's the deal: Save up before you go to Switzerland. We're talking US$20 for a medium Pizza Hut pizza. We're talking US$10 for a value meal. And believe it or not, we're talking an extra 10 cents for every ketchup package. And that's just the fast food! Sticket shock doesn't even describe how all of our jaws dropped when we saw how much everything costs. But we were there for a short time so we dealt with it. We found a great place which is also found in Canada and on the East Coast: Marché. Great buffet with a wide range of items to let us get a feel for swiss cooking.

So the thing that's too good to be perfect? Border Crossings.

As I mentioned earlier, we had a Mercedes M-Class rental. Now, this SUV is a phat ride and fun to drive, but it's a 5-seater. And there were six of us. We had originally requested a "people mover" (that's what they call our mini-vans over there) which could seat 7. That would leave more than enough room for us and our voluminous luggage. Even though we had confirmed this people-mover the day before, we ended up with this Mercedes. We managed to fit luggage and bodies into the car and got moving. While crowded, the luxury and the slightly-more-space-than-expected made it manageable. We realized that our SUV even had a text-based navigation system. Sweet!

Until we reached the Swiss border in Geneva.

The border patrol agents immediately pulled us over and asked for our passports. At first it seemed like a cursory check since we didn't speak French very well and our SUV was packed. But then they asked for the car's registration. Uh Oh. Luckily we found the registration. But then agent immediately honed in on the fact that our car was meant for only 5 people, not 6. I didn't even think that car registration listed that information. But in Germany, cars come with that info. And in Switzerland it matters.

So Gustaf (or Pierre or whatever the dude's name was) asks his boss about this. They go into the office and in the meantime, we start scheming about what to do. The whole time, the apprentice agent is standing right next to the car listening in. Anyways, Pierre tells us we can't pass, we try to make him understand that it wasn't out fault that we got a 5-seater, yada, yada. End result, he makes us turn back and we're worried.

We wander around town for a while trying to find the local rental office as well as the tram to cross the border on foot. We figured we'd fool the agents by having two of us cross the border on foot then following behind in the car. Then we'd meet in Geneva proper. Even though the border agent had suggested two people stepping out from the car and going by train, we still felt like we'd be getting away from something by just meeting up in Geneva and driving illegally with 6.

So the whole maneuver took 2 hours of planning and it turns out the border agents didn't really care too much. They asked the walkers a few questions. They looked inside the car a couple of times to make sure there were no more than 5 inside. And that's it. No running for safety across the border. No arguing. No bullets. No worries.

Our only remaing worry: Getting back across the border into France on our way back to Paris! We figured we'd scheme our way back into France, but it turns out that our lovely Mercedes lead the way. The nav system in the car was so perfect (most of the time) that we even named the girl: Sophie.

We figured out that Basel would be a good city to cross back into the border since the city itself exists in France, Switzerland, and Germany. And if there's any walking across the border, it would be better to do so in a town rather than on the freeway. After programming Sophie to find a border crossing she not only found one for us, she found a tiny one where there were no agents. No agents=no fuss. Good stuff.

So even though I promised to wrap things up quickly, I've written a hell of a lot...really, I'm trying. I'm just to wordy!

Monday, January 12, 2004

A Little Bit of Ireland In...France's Chateaux Region??

So it's pretty common to find Irish Pubs in odd places. Afterall, the lore of Irish beer and drinking makes it an easy theme to choose for a pub. Of course, finding one in the middle of Tours, France is something I never thought I'd write about.

Tours is the traditional starting point for any sightseeing of France's famed chateaux. It's at the heart of the Loire Valley, which is where most of the most famous palaces are. It's also very close to the Loire River. We got in rather late to Tours due to a little trouble getting our rental car in Paris and some extra sightseeing in Orleans (from Joan of Arc fame). So after checking into an Etap Hotel for the first time (read about the hotel chain in a previous post) and driving through Tours for a bit, we decided to eat at the first decent place we could find that was still open (keep in mind it was Christmas Night). We ended up at an Irish Pub/Restaurant. The food (all French) was all right and the beer wasn't really Irish. There were more Belgian brews and not a single Irish one on tap! Nevertheless I braved Guinness from a non-draught bottle (not BRILLIANT!) as well as a pretty decent Beligan wheat brew. I'll go on at length about Guinness when I write about our London happenings. For right now, I'll just mention that the drop off between an EXTRA-cold Guinness draught and a non-draught bottle of the same is litterly stunning. I'm telling you, even the Raydahz didn't have such a steep drop off this season.

What topped the night off though was that the place was playing the latest U2 live DVD and had it pumping on TVs and speakers all over. What's more, the proprieters were really into the DVD and were grooving to it as much as we were. So even though the food and drink weren't Irish, at least their heart was in the right place.

With that we headed back to our first night at an Etap Hotel with visions of Bono over dinner and palacial estates over the next day.

The Chateaux are truly amazing. Even in the overcast, windy, and generally dreary conditions in which we saw them, they were still quite a feast for the eyes. Granted, nothing we saw was as awe-inspiring as walking through the entrance to the grouds of the Taj Mahal. But the intricacy of work, the meticulously cared-for gardens, and the sense of history in the buildings was worth the journey to France. I can only imagine how impressive the chateaux are in better weather. The only consolation we had during our viewing was that the grounds were fairly empty. Going during peak tourist season must be a madhouse. We only had the chance to see three estates: Villandry, Azay-le-Rideau, and Chambord. Villandry was quaint yet impressive since it was filled with replica furniture and the gardens were beautiful (in the winter no less!). I think Villandry was my fave since it's kept in good condition and the stream they had going through the gardens was really novel. Azay-le-Rideau is one of those fairy-tale type castles which you could imagine in a bedtime story. It's pretty small, yet with the moat around it, quite beautiful. The ground were open, but the inside was not, so we did a quick walk around the grounds and headed off. Chambord was just immense and freezing cold since it lacked any furniture or decoration inside - the stone architechture made the cold all the worse.

In any case, driving through all the side roads and little towns along the way made the trip all the more unique. Renting a car to drive around was definitely worth the trouble. If you're ever visiting Paris and have a couple of days, Tours is only a 2-3 hrs drive away and the chateaux are all over. It's definitely a unique weekend journey if you have the time, especially if you've seen most of the touristy Paris sites.

Thursday, January 08, 2004

Paris and The Da Vinci Code

As I had mentioned before, this was the third time I've been to Paris. The previous two times had been for business, but I had still done many of the touristy things in the evenings. This time we were able to spend all day out without anything to worry about except the cold and our health. I've been in Paris enough to have a visual memory of many of the places throughout the city including the crepe stands I like as well as the shops with the best souvenir prices.

So reading The Da Vinci Code was interesting since much of it is set in Paris. Throughout many parts of the novel, you can find exacting details about specific spots in Paris. I only began reading the novel after we had already left Paris for our driving trip around France and Switzerland, but I remembered enough to visualize the spots and try to double check whether the author was referring to spots correctly.

Other than the Paris connection, The Da Vinci Code is a pretty engrossing novel. It's far from the "great literature of our times", but it keeps you interested. I suspect much of the popularity of this work arises from its fact-based criticality of the Catholic Church and its opression of women. Now, I don't know how much of the history presented about the Church in this novel is exactly true and how much is "based on a true story" (the forward mentions that all of the information is factual), but just the idea that so much effort could be put into hiding facts so that The Church can retain its power is quite intriguing. I'm sure every other reader has been engrossed by this as well. And depending on one's ties, reading the novel means getting all worked up about its blasephemous nature, getting all excited to see a "scientific" and historic approach to debunking the Church, or it means shurgging with a little smirk. I was of the smirking kind while reading. Interesting stuff, but I don't have much vested interest in either debunking the Church or supporting it. I am always intrigued by historical/factual connections to religious texts so The Holy Grail is usually something I'll perk up for, but in the end I don't really care either way about what it means for "believers"

In any case, it's quite easy to see why this novel has been so popular. Religious controversy, a romantic city, and "made for movies" style of writing.

As for Paris, well, we were able to get one day of sun when we returned to Paris after our driving trip. It was nice to see the streets lit up by a warming sun. It was also nice to see many streets decked out in Christmas lights the whole time we were there. Even though I'm not Christian, I still find that the holiday festivities bring a smile to my face.

As for our antics in Paris? Well, we were pretty tame while in the City of Lights. I think we were so busy doing the touristy things that we were too tired at the end of the day to really get into any trouble - even going to the Buddha Bar was a very chill experience. The real antics started when we got in the car (a phat Mercedes M-Class) and we had time to let our feet rest and our mouths run (after 5 days of it, we got pretty good at ghetto-speak). But while in Paris, I think we were all just trying to take in the romantic mood. Our friends got engaged on our first day there - a proposal on a walking bridge spanning the Seine and scheming by the group took the proposee by surprise. We still don't know what exactly she said, but we do know there was much crying and putting-on-of-ring. If that didn't make the rest of the time in Paris romantic, I don't know what could.

Of course, those romantic times were filled with wind chill, runny noses, smelly metro tunnels, lots of hot chocolate, and strong cafe creme. Romantic indeed.

Wednesday, January 07, 2004

I'm Feeling Lucky

Have you ever clicked the "I'm Feeling Lucky" button on Google? You get some interesting results for your search. Sometimes I feel like a lot of the people who end up on my blog are clicking that. The hit tracker I've got at the bottom of the page not only counts how many people visit the site, it also tracks where they've come from. So I can tell if someone came from my friend's blog or if they came from Google or Yahoo or whatever. If they come from a seach engine, the URL will usually tell what the person searched for. So since I'm such a geek, I look at all this stuff on the hit tracker website constantly and it's worth a few laughs and a few shrugs. I get a lot of "Narrator" or "What is a Narrator?" searches from Germany and France for some reason - they should use the Google glossary or m-w.com. Others, however, are more interesting...


  • "Donations Mandy Moore helps with or is involved with" - This makes me wonder about Google since I mentioned Mandy Moore's name only once many weeks ago and it had nothing to do with her charity work. Whatever else the case may be, tick one hit for The Narrator! :)

  • "cure remix Pictures of you HP commercial" - Besides the generic "narrator" searches, this is the most common search. I think I end up fourth or fifth on the results. Not bad!

  • "desi party studio 54 nyc" - Again, this makes me wonder about Google. I think I mention "Desi" a few times, but nothing about Studio 54. Hmm...maybe Google knows I walked by Studio 54 on New Year's night at like 3am in a daze while trying to stay up for our flight back to SFO?

  • "lyrics to lebron nike ad" - Google, google, google...are you really IPOing? Maybe I should wager against Google and spread the word about these crap search results. I don't think I've even mentioned Lebron and Nike...or have I? Again, Google may know more about me than I do.

  • "majic Johnson hiv" - This is how the person spelled Magic's name. Since I've written about Magic and AIDS, I'll let this one go. But I can't let the searcher off scot free. The person used ATT's website to search for this. Who the hell uses ATT to search?



I won't bore you with more searches. This is the culled list from just the past week. If you want more, holla.

Packing light

So rather than talk about each of our hijinx one by one, I thought I'd write a bit about things to consider when visiting Europe. One of the first things to think about when you get off the plane would be lodging. Obviously, you first want to figure out how the hell you're getting to your hotel, but let's leave that for another post, since we took just about every method known to man to get from the airport and back.

I think European hotels are the reason everyone packs so light. If the size of the rooms don't convince you, then the width of the hallways will. My friend wrote about not being able to enter a store in the UK because of the size of his backpack. The same thing applies to hotels.

Thay ain't no space in the mutha!

Going to Europe means rolling your clothes (literally) and wondering just how many pairs of socks and boxers you really need. Anything too big, and you'll be bumping into people at every turn. Forget about getting into elevators, walking through hallways, or finding space to unpack in your hotel room. Being that it was pretty cold, we had to take extra warm clothes, but we still somehow managed to pack everything for two into one roller bag. Of course, the laptop, camera equipment, and other junk added to the burden.

It's the polar opposite of travelling to India. Going to India means tracking down the biggest damned suitcases in the state and somehow fitting 70 pounds of gifts in each one. It means weighing each bag to ensure you've filled it to the max. No sense in leaving an ounce behind, afterall, you've paid a grand for the ticket so you may as well take advantage of it. Anytime I pass by Indians at airline check-in counters I fully except to see trolleys loaded with 6, 8 or even more behemoth suitcases - two for each traveller, including the baby and the parakeet. Of course, I'm quite guilty of this too, but of late, our trips to India have involved a lot less luggage.

So back to the lecture at hand...

If you haven't gotten the idea yet, things in Europe are small. Very small. Of course the cars and streets are exceedingly small. But so are the hotels. A room with enough space to walk back and forth without bumping shoulders with your companion is a gift. Don't even ask about having room to feel at home. You'll only get that if you shell out a couple of bills a night.

Keep it in mind next time you're planning a trip to the Continent.

Monday, January 05, 2004

Tidbits

After clicking "Post & Publish" on my last post, some things that popped through my mind:

  • Mars - If you haven't been keeping track, Mars is the lastest hot spot destination for all things mechanical. We were in Europe when the British Beagle 2 landed (or more correctly, was lost) on Mars. It's funny because the chief of that mission was very much like the quirky Brit gentleman I had imagined. He really took pride in his work and was proper in a British way, but he didn't bother with being too professional at every moment. NASA's Rover just landed yesterday and the emotions are quite different. If you've read my blog for a while, you know how much of a space junkie I am. So seeing two completely different sides of space exploration was rather interesting for me.

  • Beer - I was lucky enough to enjoy some extra cold Guinness along with some other brews while in London. I was surprised not to find any Newcastle, especially since it's an English brew. In any case, if you're looking for a reason to visit England, the Guinness should rank high on your list.

  • Britney - Somehow, I imagine Britney is huddled up in the corner of her suite right now wondering what happened. I won't go on since the poor girl is obviously trying to figure out who she is and where she goes from here.

  • Etap Hotels - If you're looking to save money while traveling in Europe, Etap is definitely a good, albeit Spartan way to go. The rooms are clean, relatively comfortable, and easy to reserve. Of course, if you don't like using airplane bathrooms, then you're in for some fun. The toilet & shower are separate and they pre-fab so opening the door to either is like stepping into a 747 lavatory. At least they're clean though. We stayed in these hotels for several days while driving through France & Switzerland. Each time I was rightly amazed at the efficiency of these places. Quite the experience.



Obviously, there's much more to come.

Back in the Saddle

So I was expecting to post blogs like a madman once I got back, but I've found that blogging has taken a backseat to getting the rest of my life back in order. Not surprisingly, things like sleep, paying bills, and New Year's wishes have taken a higher priority.

In any case, hope you all had a wonderful holiday season. I had hoped to have a log of all of my antics in Europe already posted here, but alas, it'll take some time to put it up. I'll try to put up the choice moments over the next few days.

One comment before I move on...French people don't wish anyone a Joyeaux Noel (Merry Christmas) for some reason. They're remarkably un-merry. Considering that every small town in France seems to have street lights and xmas fairs, the people don't really wish you a Merry Christmas or anything. The most you get is Joyeaux Fetes (Happy Holidays) on signs, but nobody wishes anyone else, which seems about right since it's more generic and less religious. In high school French class, however, I was lead to believe that the French are all about Christmas with extra traditions, festivities, etc. Whatever the case may be, I found the Britsh to be much more openly friendly and the Swiss to be quite helpful when asking for directions. The French...well, there were a few times where we received the cold shoulder even though we attempted to speak in French.

Then of course, there's the elderly French ladies. I opened the door for a grandma type and I received the nicest "C'est Tres Gentile" I had ever heard. I guess she's holding out while the rest of the French scowl in the cold. Here's to old French ladies and their niceties! :)

I'll leave you with those tidbits for now. I'm working on a photo album so I'll get that posted online soon and leave the URL here. As for a minute-by-minute account of our European Vacation? Don't worry...it's coming, albeit in very condense format. Happy New Year!