Mediterranean Coast

We are in Nice. Do I dare to say it is nice? I do.

The scenery on the train from Barcelona was incredible. Mountains, fields, cute villages, sea-side, power stations, cliffs, castles, Cannes, Antibes and little churches on the top of coast-side peaks. This would be a good coast on which to own a holiday home.

We had a great time in Barcelona. Yesterday morning we took the metro to the Olympic Park on the top of Montjuic. It is basically on top of a mountain. We were tired after reaching the top, but we got to see the Olympic Stadium. It was built in the 30's for an Olympics that they didn't get to have until 1992. The main stadium was shockingly small. A lot smaller than either of us expected. Our lunch there was a huge rip-off, but we got to feel Olympic.

We then headed over to the Museu d'Olimpic, and it was closed on Mondays. Louvre flashback. This was really annoying, partly because we had looked up the opening hours that morning (and it should have been open), and partly because we had just climbed a mountain.

We then headed to the Beach. Thanks to my awesome navigation skills we got off at the wrong station and walked through the Marina district to get to the Beach. It was very pretty, but we were tired. We eventually collapsed on a grassy knoll to watch the beach bums.

Then it was off to El Corte De Ingles to experience shopping in Spain (and practise a bit of our Spanish). Unfortunately because everyone around Barcelona speaks Catalan, a lot of things are not labeled in English or Spanish. So a lot of our learning was not able to be put into practice.

We then had a salad buffet for dinner and had an early night, because today we were travelling on the train for about 12 hours or so.

Tomorrow in Nice we plan to go to the Beach. And swim in the Med.

Here is some stuff I forgot to include on earlier blog posts:
- We went to the Louvre. It is HUGE! We went straight for the Mona Lisa. Here it is:

They had set up a D barrier, and given that it is only about A4 in size, it was even less impressive than I expected. We liked the paintings by a guy called Guido Reni. They were all religious, and there was one with an Angel and Mother Mary that had great lighting. Then we left the feeding frenzy that was the Italian Masters of painting to go and check out Ancient Greek, Roman and Egyptian artifacts and sculpture (including the Venus de Milo - which was assembled from two halves). We then looked at the ancient foundations of the Louvre (when it used to be a castle), and finished up in Mesopotamia, Ancient Sumeria and Persia (which was abandoned compared to the rest of it).
- Here is our view from our Paris hotel:

I am not sure I mentioned it, but Paris is the land of the midgets. Everything was tiny and I was constantly stubbing my toe, or hitting my head or shin. I think it was all built for Napoleon.
- In New York we were on TV. There was a sports show doing a bit on baseball, and we could stand behind the hosts and be visible through the glass. Everyone else was just waving, but then I started jumping up and down as high as I could, and we started a little moshpit which was clearly visible on the screen.
- Also in New York we randomly wandered into the Magnolia Bakery and got some of the best cupcakes ever. They are world famous, and the icing was in-cred-ible.

More pictures to come!

Cameron Out!

Barcelona!

Barcelona has been fun! However there is no wireless here, so I have to type this up on a common room computer.

We are starting to get to that point of the holiday where we need a little break from it all. Maybe 6 weeks is long enough. Instead of 8 weeks away, next time I will do 6 weeks away, and then 2 weeks in front of the TV watching Oprah and Dr Phil back at home.

Today we went and saw a bunch of Gaudi stuff. The Casa Batllo, and the Sagrada Familia. Really cool buildings designed by a really cool man. I liked the mushroom room the best. But the audio guide was a little pompous.

I had a Spanish Omelette for lunch today which was incredible, and last night we went out with a couple of American dudes and had some drinks at a little bar. Quisiera Un Jarre San Miguel y Un Vodka Y Fanta Naranja, Por Favor. I think I still speak broken Spanglish, but at least I can order drinks, with enough pointing.

Buenas Noches.

Quick One: For the fans

We have spent the last two days in Bordeaux. We head to Barcelona today. We will be on the train for 7.5 hours. Luckily we have comics, books, magazines, iPods, DS's, and a laptop (which can play our Always Sunny In Philadelphia and X-Men DVD's) to distract us.

This morning we met Ziggy Marley. I think.

Au Revoir.

Belgium and France

We took a train from The Netherlands to Belgium. I read my book, listened to my iPod, played Advance Wars on my DS and just chilled while looking at the scenery. I am really enjoying this train thing. Cara slept a little, and kept an eye out for interesting things.

We were a little nervous about Belgium. We had heard that half the people speak Dutch, and half the people speak French. We decided that it was time to practise some French. So I pored over the phrase book on the train. Je ne parl pas Francais. Bonjour. Parlez Vouz Anglais? .

When we got to the train station, I asked the guy selling bus tickets Parlez vouz Anglais?, and he replied, in perfect English (and with a quizzical look on his face), "Yes I speak English". I think he was wondering why I didn't ask him in English. Meanwhile I was just chuffed that I was understood.

We got to our Youth Hostel, after being dropped off a stop or two too early by our helpful bus driver, and it was great. The guy there gave us a map of things to do in Bruges by Day, or by Night. He gave us a bruges card (which got us discounts), and a voucher for a free sampler of three beers at their restaurant that night. Cara and I went to our room, and tried to use the internet, which was intermittent at best. We then went and had dinner.

Cara had Beef Stew "Flemish Style", which was basically stewed with a dark Leffe Ale, and I had a ham and mustard dish, where the boiled ham was served on the leg bone. It had some crazy Belgian name, and was delicious. The three beers we got were very reminiscent of the Belgian Beer Cafe: Hoegaarden, BelleVue Kriek (cheery) Bier, and LEffe Dark Ale. Cara tried all of them and ended up drinking all of the Cherry beer and some of the Hoegaarden, and I finished of hers and mine. We then explored the town and went on an impromptu pub crawl. We especially enjoyed a student bar that had vinyl on the walls and record covers on the ceiling. I had some Jupiler and Brugse Zot beer. We also were caught up in a fevered crowd watching their home team Cercle Brugge take a victory. It was a good night.


The next day in Bruges we:
- climbed the famous brick spire of the old Belfry in the main town square. It is 400 steps, each of which gets progressively steeper and narrower. We were knackered once we finished. We barely made it in before it closed too, as we had been too busy doing other things earlier in the day.

- went to the Tintin store. It was cool, and Belgian, and I nearly bought a Tintin tin, but it was exorbitantly priced.
- went to the Frites museum. This was really interesting, with a history of the potato and the "French Fry". We got to eat some chips afterwards too, and they were good. The tips they gave us for cooking the perfect frites were to use Cow Fat with some Horse Fat mixed in. Cook the chips for around 4 minutes at 137 degrees, then remove them from the fat and let the oil drain away a little. Then cook them for a further two minutes (or so) at 167 degrees. I am writing these instructions a few days later, so who knows if I have remembered them exactly, but that was the gist.

- We also ate and drank a lot of very Belgian things. Belgian chocolates, Belgian Waffles, Belgian Frites and Belgian Beer. It was awesome.

On our final day in Bruges we got up early and took the bus to the train station. We booked our train from Brussels to Paris (the Bruges to Brussels part was free), and it was going to cost 52 Euros each in booking fee to travel first class, or 26 Euros each if we travelled second class. And this is on top of our expensive rail passes that cst us an arm and a leg. We went with the second class option. At the station we saw some CaraPils:


As we entered Paris we knew that we were not in such an English speaking place anymore. Less of the signs are in English, and when I say Bonjour, Parlez vouz Anglais? the most common response is a wiggle of the hand along with the words, "a little". But it has been fun.

We decided to book our trains to get to Bordeaux and Barcelona first thing in PAris, and the guy who helped us got us First class seats for three different trains for both of us for only 30 Euros. This seemed so cheap compared that one Brussels to Paris train, and so we were ecstatic.

When we got into our hotel we found a lift on the bottom floor, and pressed the button to call it. Once it opened we realised it was probably actually a service elevator for baggage or room service purposes. A dumb-waiter if you will. The guy at the desk gave us a room on the top floor (7th), and we asked where the elevator was. He pointed at the tiny one and did not seem to understand our problem with its tininess. We had to go up one at a time with our luggage, because we could not fit more than that. How can I best describe it? It is smaller than most wardrobes. But the long wait for the lift was definitely worth it, because we have a view of the Tour Eiffel from our hotel room.


We walked there the first night, saw it during the day and at dusk. The top level is closed so we decided to not climb it. Lets leave that for another trip. We explored and found a relatively cheap cruise on the river Seine, and so we did that as the sun went down. We saw Notre Dame, the Louvre and lots of other stuff from the river. And then we wandered back to our hotel room.

And it sparkles at 10PM (maybe at every other hour too, we're not sure)


Yesterday we went to the Louvre with the plan of viewing that museums great works. But apprently it is closed on a tuesday! So we walked from the Louvre, through the Tuileries Gardens, past the Place de la Concorde, and up the Champs Elysees to the Arc de Triumph. It was an incredible walk. The gardens were so beautiful. The obelisk in the Place de la Concorde was so incredible, and it had etchings on its base describing how the frenchies stole it from Egypt. And I think the Arc de Triumph was bigger then I expected. We also checked out the Virgin Music Megastore in Paris, and Cara bought me a Croissant halfway up the Champs Elysees. We then headed to the Hotel des Invalides, and explored one the first large military Hospitals in Paris.

We had a great dinner at a place not too far from our hotel, and we talked about World History (and other things we learned about in high school Social Studies, and movies). My desert was a "Cafe Gourmand", which was basically a very small black espresso with a belgian chocolate, a macaroon, a coconut slice, a tiramisu and a creme caramel. It was possibly the best desert of the holiday so far, and the coffee kept me up and enabled me to write to you all last night while Cara slept.

Today we saw the Louvre, and relaxed a bit more, and tonight we head to the Moulin Rouge. I will give you a more detailed update for today at a later date.

Au Revoir.

Filling in the Gaps

OK, we have been so busy that I feel that I have been letting down an important group of people - YOU - my adoring public.

So, I plan on trying to fill some of the gaps in our stories, as I have not really told you guys much detail about our time in New York, London, Amsterdam, Bruges, or Paris.


****


I will start with NY. We had heard that if you go into Time Square and queue up at the red TKTS booth (under the red stairs), then you can get half price Broadway tickets to all the great shows. We headed there on our first day in New York, with the plan of buying half price Lion King, Chicago or Guys and Dolls tickets. When we got there at around 5:30PM all that was left were shows that we had never even heard of, although one had Angela Lansbury and Rupert Everett, but we thought we could do better and planned to do a show a few days later (when we next had a free night with no sporting events planned). Me in Times Square:


So, a few days pass, and Cara and I return to Times Square, this time just before the 2PM opening time for the TKTS booth. And there is a huge queue. I mean, really huge. We had been told that the line looks long but will move fast and so we joined it. It took one and a half hours before we got our tickets. In that time promising shows such as Chicago and Guys and Dolls (featuring Oliver Platt and the chick from Gilmore Girls) had sold out and so we bought tickets to a show called The Fantasticks. It was apparently a delightful musical. We went and checked out the outside of the Letterman Theatre and then got dinner.


It turned out that the show was in the Jerry Orbach Memorial Theatre (dedicated to the main police officer actor from the original Law and Order series). It had some cool photo of him on the wall. We then went inside, and while the show was OK, it seemed a tad amateurish. But one of the guys playing the father had a bit-part in No Country For Old Men, so we figured it was at least somewhat legit. And it was on Broadway! We got a milkshake on the way home, and were excited about our fun night.

While in London I got to see my Cousins Julie and Peter, which was great. It would have been nice to be able to spend more time with them, but after being delayed in the US, we suddenly didn't have too much spare time in the schedule. Cara and I got to say hello to Katie and all of the kids, and spend an afternoon relaxing and playing video games with Daniel. Then it was off into the countryside to meet up with Cara's Mum's cousin Lin. She and her husband Duncan were great fun, and we had a quick look at the English countryside before having a great meal at a pub originally built by King Henry VIII.

Other things we did in London included:
- Visiting the Science Museum and exploring. We saw lots of medical history and some steam engines.
- Going into the National gallery and enjoying all of the great free art there. We saw Van Gogh, Monet, Manet and a bunch others that I can barely remember.
- I took Cara to see London Bridge, Tower Bridge, The Egg, The Gherkin, The Thames and The Tower Of London. Here she is, looking great in front of the Tower Bridge.

- We went on the London Eye (although it was a little bit hazy), and it was more fun than I thought it would be. Followed by walking around all the things we had seen from the sky; Big Ben, The Houses of Parliament, Westminster Abbey, Buckingham Palace and Trafalgar Square.
- We had some pub meals and some beer. I programmed Belle and Sebastian "White Collar Boy", The Fratellis "Look Out Sunshine", and Muse "Starlight" into the video jukebox on our last night in town, me and Cara grooved a little. Ok, maybe a lot.
- We took the tube. A lot.
- Go to Harrods and explore. It is basically like a big Myers, but way bigger and with a lot more variety. We saw a crystal and precious stone inlaid foosball table selling for 80,000 pounds. That is ridiculous. But ferg would love it:



When we left London we had to fly out of Gatwick at 7AM. The last train from London Victoria Station to Gatwick leaves at 3:30AM. So we went to bed at 10PM and tried to sleep. Woke up at 2:15AM, caught a bus to London Victoria Station and got to the airport, we then had some serious time to kill, so we had breakfast. Good thing too, because the "legendary" British Airways breakfast was a festy looking ham and cheese roll with congealed buttercheese and stale bread. We got into Amsterdam and attempted to check into our hotel, however they had not yet finished building it, so we were ferried from our planned accomodation to a different hotel in the same chain. They are called Citizen M, and are a modular hotel chain. Each room arrives in a shipping container and is connected together like Lego. They also have giant beds, weird circular showers and toilets, and a "MoodPod" which controls everything in the room from the temperature to the blinds and the colour of the lights. Here is a picture of our ultra-modern room:


Amsterdam was so pretty, with its canals and cobblestones, and I was a little shocked about it. I was a little afraid that Bruges would not be able to live up to how picturesque Amsterdam had turned out to be. Cara and I ate at an Argentinean steak-house and had a few drinks at a bar before wandering around the cafe strip and a little of the red-light district. It is quite an eye-opener. Then it was back to CitizenM to sleep.

The next day we rode the train to Bruges, and it was great! Way more room than on a plane, and it takes longer so you have more time to relax, read, eat, sleep and listen to music. We spotted Windmills and Tulips, and everything you expect to see, except for the milkmaids with the upside-down, blonde, plaits and clogs on. A field of tulips (as seen from the train):


I think I will continue my story with Bruges tomorrow, but first I will give you a quick update on our current status; we are in Paris, Cara is asleep right now and it is late, we go to the Moulin Rouge and the Louvre tomorrow. And I need some sleep.

Au revoir.

P.S. And we can see the Eiffel Tower from our hotel room(I'll upload the photo next time).

Tired and short on time, but loving it

In the last 4 days, Cara and I have had two almost sleepless nights. One when traveling to the UK, and one when traveling to The Netherlands. We are now in Europe, however and enjoying it a lot. Amsterdam is such a pretty city! If we haven't been updating you all on our adventures it is just because we have been catching up on valuable sleep.

Today we ride the train to Bruges in Belgium! Yay!

Delays!

Damned American airlines! And by that I mean United Airlines (and American, and US Airways). It seems pre-ordained that all internal American flights will be delayed.

Today we were taking a 45 minute fight from Newark in New Jersey to Washington DC. We were then going to wait a little more than an hour and fly from Washington DC to London where we would be met by my family. However our plane was delayed. At first it was delayed to leave at 8:25PM instead of 6:59PM, and it looked like we might make it. Then it was delayed until 9:00, then 9:55 and finally 10:30PM. We finally got into Washington Dulles Airport at around quarter to midnight. Our international flight to London had already left 2 hours before that. So we have now been booked into the 9:45 PM flight tomorrow, thus stranding us in DC for 24 hours. Right now we are in the Sheraton near the airport, and it is nearly 2AM.

Goodnight.

P.S. Here are a couple of photos:

Cara at a Hockey Game (Pittsburgh vs Florida, in Florida).

Me and Cara at Staten Island attempting to get a shot of us with the NY skyline and statue of liberty in the background but failing because the sun was too bright and the weather was too good. How can you possibly cancel and delay flights due to weather like this.

Me and some kind of Ankylosaurus.

Hopefully we don't get delayed too much tomorrow.

Celebrities

Last time I was in America I went to two NBA games in Miami, and I saw Enrique Iglesias, Anna Kournikova and Tara Reid at the games. Since we were going to 3 NBA games and 3 NHL games I felt sure that we would spot a ton of celebrities. Especially at the two games in New York.

At Oakland I saw no celebrities.
At San Jose I saw no celebrities.
At Orlando and Fort Lauderdale I saw no celebrities.

At the New York Knicks game I expected to see director Spike Lee, as he is famed for having courtside Knicks tickets and going to every game. He wasn't there. Who was? They flashed up a New York Rangers player in the crowd (Henrik Lundqvist I think), and then a couple of NY Giants players (Sean O'Hara and some other guy). Not exactly star studded. Later in the game they showed Chaz Palminteri! Woo! Biggest star we had seen at a game yet. I think he might have been the cop in The Usual Suspects.


And then they flashed up Kim Kardashian, who became famous for being in a sex tape, and then became a reality TV star.


We had some celebrities, but they weren't exactly A-List. I mean, Jack Nicholson always sits courtside at Lakers games. It doesn't matter that the Knicks suck, surely Al Pacino shoulda been there.

(The Knicks game, by the way was a massive blow-out and was not very entertaining at all. They were down by 25 within the first 7 minutes or so, and they ended up losing by about 30. It was cool to be at MSG though.)

Then at the ice hockey, the Rangers game at Madison Square Gardens we finally got someone who is somewhat famous. Someone who you could bill as the star of a film and not have it bomb (maybe). It was Gerard Butler, star of such films as 300. Yay!


Also, did I mention that I spotted the guy from Psych in Vegas sporting a beard and a cap?


(And the Rangers game was incredibly good. They were in eigth place, but needed this win to cement their position in the playoffs. They were playing Philadelphia, a team a few spots higher than them. And it was a super close game all-game. The crowd really got into it, and so did Me and Cara, chanting "Lets Go Rangers", and "Flyers Suck!", and "Hen-Rik", and "Goal!". It was fun to be part of a dumb mob. Probably the most fun sports experience of the trip.)

New York

We have been very busy here in New York. I will list our activities as I can't be bothered with detail. Sleep beckons:
- New York Knicks Game (at Madison Square Gardens)
- New York Rangers Game (at Madison Square Gardens)
- Greenwich Village
- Washington Square Park
- Staten Island Ferry (goes right past The Statue of Liberty)
- We went up to "The Top of The Rock" at the Rockefeller Center (it gives a better view than the Empire State Building, because you can see the Empire State Building.).
- We went to the American Museum of Natural History (I saw dinosaurs).
- We went to the NBA Store, the NHL store, the Nintendo Store, and a bunch of others.
- Times Square
- World Trade Center Ground Zero.
- Wall St. (we just randomly explored and happened to find it!)

We still need to do:
- Central Park
- Madison Square Garden Tour
- Broadway Show
- Letterman Theatre
- Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, New York Annex

I tried to get Stand-by tickets to a taping of Letterman and they are on Hiatus for the week that we are here. This sucks cause free comedian/band/famous people would have been sweet.

Philadelphia Airport

The plan today was to get up at 3AM, head to Fort Lauderdale Airport, catch a 3 hour flight to Philly, wait for 3 hours, and then fly for half an hour and get to New York at 1PM. This would have given us a lazy afternoon to acclimatise ourselves with the city before going out for dinner.

Instead we got into Philly almost an hour early at 8:10AM. We were ahead of schedule! But then the pilot told us that they were experiencing delays at Philly airport and we had to wait on the tarmac for about half an hour. Then we got into the airport, and after waiting for about 3 hours we saw that our flight was delayed. After a few more hours we saw that our flight was canceled. We managed to get to transferred to another flight, which was leaving at 4:45PM, and we were flying in a tiny propeller plane! We finally made it to our hotel at around 7:30PM. Suffice to say we explored Philadelphia Terminal pretty well in that time.

We also started watching It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia on DVD while in Philly. It was pre-ordained!

Now I am pretty tired! Tomorrow we explore New York!

Firsts!

Yesterday Cara and I drove down to the Florida Keys. Man that takes longer than I remember!

- I had my first lobster. It was delicious.
- I swam at a northern hemisphere beach for the first time (it may have been the Atlantic, Caribbean or Gulf of Mexico.
- I ate at a Pirate themed restaurant (in the heart of old-school pirate territory) for the first time.
- Cara went into a Walmart for the first time.

It was a big day!

Lovely Morning

Miami has been relaxing and great, especially every morning. Me and Cara wake up at Kristian's house in Miami and we have lazily had breakfast and relaxed.

Yesterday we left the house at about 1PM, and went to the Everglades Safari Park. We saw a ton of Gators, took an airboat ride, saw a gator show and saw some alligator exhibits. Cara held a baby alligator called Snappy, I did not as I value my fingers:


Then we headed to a Mall where I bought Knicks tickts and a Kevin Durant Jersey, and Cara got a Jaromir Jagr Jersey. We then played Boom Blox with Kristian and Adriana before heading to South Beach for Dinner. We ate at a pasta place, and it was quite tasty! We then sampled the nightlife at a club called Mangos where we tried to dance until the wee hours (but there wasn't a lot of room to dance).

Our Disney adventure was also amazing. I finally got to go to the EPCOT center at Disney, which was always one of my dreams as a little kid. Here is me close to EPCOT (standing underneath):

And here is me farther away:

Me and Rafiki:

We went and saw a pre-season baseball game between the Atlanta Braves and the Boston Red Sox at Disney. Here is our view:


We really enjoyed Disney a lot, but we were glad when it was finally done, because it meant that we would not be walking quite so much for a while. We picked up our rental car from the Doubletree resort at Disney (after a 45 minute wait for service), and then we drove our little Ford Focus to the Kennedy Space Center! However I had only written directions on how to get to the Sapce Center from the major highways, and not how to get to the major highways from Disney, so we spent a little bit of time "exploring" Orlando.


The Kennedy Space Center was just as amazing as I remembered it from my last visit, but they had now added an International Space Station experience that I didn't see last time. Here is me with a Saturn V rocket (the kind they used for the Apollo missions):

And Cara:

And here is a Space Shuttle sitting at launch platform 39A, all ready to be launched:


After enjoying the space center we sped down Florida's Turnpike towards Miami where we were greeted by Kristian and Adriana. They have been very gracious hosts.

Today Cara and I had planned to head down to the Florida Keys, but we slept in a little too much, and so instead we went to the Miami Seaquarium and South Beach. At the Seaquarium we saw Turtles, Sharks, Iguanas, Macaws, Octopi, Fish, Plesiosaur fossils, Seals and Sea-lions. There were also a couple of shows with animal trainers, dolphins and a Killer Whale. That was awesome. Lolita the Whale made some big splashes, and it was cool.


Tomorrow we will get up early and head to the Keys, followed by Fort Lauderdale and New York! Tonight we are staying in and Adriana is cooking us a traditional Peruvian meal! Woo!