I was not disciplined enough to blog on a daily basis during this trip, so this one will be a quick retrospective. All in all, we had a fantastic journey, and each day seemed to have its own defining moment or two.
Buenos Aires is absolutely huge. There aren't skyscrapers like in Manhatten and Chicago and the Asian cities, but just lots and lots of really massive, tall buildings and even more 50's-style skinny semi-high-rise apartment buildings as well as plenty of impressive ultra-modern new construction. We did alot of walking, exploring the fantastic night-life in the Recoleta neighborhood where we had dinner at a micro-brewery, as well as the impressive recently established Puerto Madero area along the water where we shared an ice cream at one of the omnipresent Freddo's. With the city being so enormous, and our limited time there, we thought it would be wise to do a bus tour, and thus got to experience a number of other neighborhoods including La Boca, Retiro, Palermo, San Telmo, and of course El Centro where our hotel was. We walked across the widest boulevard in the world (Avenida 9 de Julio) a number of times, and walked Avenida Florida many times as well with it's famous Pacifico Gallerias mall and shopping district. One night, we ventured out for a Tango dinner show at "Señor Tango's" and not only was the food fantastic (Argentinian Bife Chorizo for me and Trout for Vee), and the venue, service, and costumes spectacular, but the Tango show was absolutely extraordinary...HIGHLY RECOMMENDED! The city is a glutten's paradise with eaterie after eaterie, block after block. However, as has been my experience thus far in S.A., the regional beer breweries have monopoly control of their respective markets and thus, there is no beer selection: Pilsen and Quilmes are it; and in Uruguay, it's only Patricia, Zillertal and Pilsen. On the downside, the city has absolutely heart-wrenching slums, and is quite dirty. The people we encountered everywhere were for the most part very polite and friendly, and took very good care of us.
Montevideo, a 45 minute flight across the river from B.A., has a more romantic feel to it, being more prominently waterfront on the mouth of the same Rio de la Plata. It is located in yet another time zone though, making it two hours ahead of Cochabamba, Bolivia, and one hour ahead of Buenos Aires. The neighborhood where we stayed is called Pocitos, and is a special place for us, since this is the city where Vee spent the first year and half of her professional career abroad, and also the place where we "met" through the Internet. Pocitos is beautiful with it's tree-lined streets, mid-rise apartment buildings with long rectangular terraces, and corner shops and cafes. The action though, is on the beach, where there was no end to the fútbol, and volleyball games in the sand. We walked all over the city, down the main avenue with shopping and street vendors, to the market area, and visiting some of the wonderfully green little plazas with fountains and sculptures. Many of the people in Uruguay, and Argentina for that matter, carry a thermos of máte (a tea-like drink) under their arm while sipping it through a metal straw in the bulbous "mug" that they're holding. One night we had a delicious waterfront dinner at a place that Vee used to frequent with her fellow consultants, and another night, we ate at the place that was her favorite restaurant while she was working there. The people of Uruguay are fantastic, as they were always very attentive, friendly and would even speak English with us when they found out we were visiting from the U.S. It is a VERY windy city though.
Lastly, Punta del Este, Uruguay, was our final destination, a 2 hour bus ride up the coast from Montevideo, and my (our?) favorite of the 3 cities. The beaches were neverending in all directions, the water on the Atlantic side was a beautiful blue green, the reddish-brown rocky coves were awe-inspiring, and the progressive architecture of the surrounding homes, resorts, condos and apartment buildings was extraordinary. There were plenty of restaurants to choose from, and lots of surrounding "pueblos" to explore, which we did on a rented "moto". One night, we got caught in a horrible rain-storm, and attempted unsuccessfully to wait it out under a little kiosk, but had to eventually make a mad dash for a fancy restaurant across the street, arriving soaked through, but happilly attended to regardless, and were treated to an exquisite meal (...and a dry shirt). Another night, we just drank wine and ate cheese and chocolate, and watched the sun go down on the beach. Another night, we walked the port/marina area and had a delicious (but way overpriced) seafood meal. The weather was sketchy but for one day, where we spent the whole day cruising the coastline on our rented moto-scooter and exploring little coastal nooks and crannies. The other days, we spent our time walking the downtown area, etc. We discovered a few places serving our favorite "Illy" coffee so of course we had to partake a few times. Again, the people were fantastic, everywhere. Especially the guy at the front desk of our hotel, of Russian descent. The hotel was a wonderfully intimate place, and despite being a descent hike from downtown, was only a block from the beach. The problem with PdE, is that it is too far away from everything, and too expensive and involved to travel to. And, so I understand, in high-season, it is absolutely mobbed and pretty nuts. We were lucky, as it was still not high-season and thus everything was quiet and just how we like it. A wonderful place we'd enjoy visiting again, hopefully when we can get there and return home more directly and less-expensively. Absolutely beautiful, but not a year-round destination due to it's latitude.
Tuesday, December 19, 2006
Friday, December 8, 2006
Bolivia - Beautiful Graduation Amidst a Hellstorm
In 1990, when my senior high school graduation ceremony was cut short by rain, it was if nothing else, a memorable occasion. Last night was Vanessa’s graduation (Vee’s youngest sibling/sister), and the storm that engulfed that ceremony made the recollection of my own graduation rain storm seem like a light summer drizzle.
Things were going wonderfully, with the parents ceremoniously walking their proud newly graduated sons and daughters down the center aisle to accept their diplomas, have their tassel flipped from one side of their cap to the other, frozen momentarily for the obligatory snapshots, and then directed to have a seat next to their other cap-and-gowned pals. We the friends and family members were comfortably seated in rows of white plastic chairs happily chatting away, people-watching, popping up and down and moving around to navigate the best angle for our digital cameras and video cams. It was a very pleasant atmosphere outside beneath the sturdy yellow steel-pillar and silvery corrugated aluminum roofed canopy where during the school day, the students probably played futbol(soccer) or baloncesto(basketball).
Then, the dark night sky began to flash. The soothing breeze soon intensified into gusts of wind that blew the decorations hanging from above back and forth while the curtains behind the stage whipped at the legs of the administration folks seated there. And, like a bugle call to a cavalry charge in battle, a piercing crack of thunder announced the onslaught of a storm sweeping in from the peaks of the Andes above. Only moments later, just as the caps were being tossed into the air, all hell from above broke loose.
The wind grew stronger still, and the rain that initially, somewhat harmlessly, pelted away at the metal roof quickly turned into sheets of frozen buckshot that blasted away at what now seemed like a flimsy layer of aluminum foil over our heads. The ferocity of the storm continued to build and with the graduation ceremony now officially over, the graduates, the audience and the white plastic chairs formed one clotted mass of confusion and bewilderment with nowhere to go, trapped by a canopy of ice and rain. The water began to break through the roof and drove the mass of people and plastic into slightly more defined smaller herds huddling to stay dry. By then, an inch or two of water was washing over the concrete floor and many of the “mujeres” began to stand on top of the chairs while the wheels of solution-engineering turned in the minds of the “señores” who were trying to formulate escape routes for their families.
Gradually, packs began to break away from the crowd, making desperate runs for the relative comfort of the vehicles parked outside campus on a steep slope pointing skyward. We finally decided to make a run for it and were immediately drenched as we navigated icy concrete and mud-slicked rocky sidewalks covered with sleet. Rivers of rainwater gushed down the hillside through crevices and spilled into the street where people were cramming inside the rapidly opening-and-slamming doors of foggy SUVs, pick-ups, Bugs, and Brasilias. With the rivers of muddy water came rocks, walls of them, blocking roads and re-routing water and debris to make every way out impassible. The narrow road where 9 of us were stuffed into Papi’s brand new white Montero was jammed for over an hour before cars finally begin picking their way down the hill. The first road we took was blocked by rushing water and newly dislocated layers of rock that tumbled down from the mountains in angry torrents of mud and sludge. The 2nd and 3rd roads were blocked too. Papi was communicating intermittently with Chris and Juber via cell phone to see what kind of progress they were making in their truck.
Finally, after numerous attempts at various routes, we made it out and eventually home. Lines of industrial looking trucks were queued where previously passable roads had existed, and people stood around outside, displaced, trying to make sense of what was happening. Upon arrival at the Delgadillo home, there was no electricity, so we burned candles and huddled together sharing delicious food that Mami had cooked, and drinks of whiskey, dulce de leche liqueur, and white wine that Juber and Papi were jovially serving up. At 1 in the morning, Papi safely delivered Vee and I to our condo where the elevators were non-functional but all else seemed intact. The rain had stopped, but the foreboding approach of morning lay ahead, and we knew that when the sun came up, the true destruction of the storm would be revealed. Exhausted, we slept.
In the morning, we learned through the online version of Los Tiempos that so far, 4 people have been killed, and numbers more are missing. It is being said that last night’s storm was the worst here in twenty years, and the third worst in the last 50. And of course, it was all perfectly timed to coincide with the South American Community of Nations Summit that Evo Morales is hosting next door at Hotel Portales where the most important leaders and ambassadors from all of South America and abroad are congregating. The city is awash in water, mud and rock, while hundreds if not thousands of workers hired to clean it up are busily trying to get things back into shape for the important visitors who will be here the next few days. Vee tried to go to the gym, but it was flooded. The nice restaurants on the boulevard where foreign dignitaries will be wanting to dine this weekend are attempting to dig out from the mud. It was only a few days ago where the same scene unfolded, and that was a far less violent storm. Let’s hope the worst is over. Tonight, for Vanessa’s graduation “prom” party, we are keeping our fingers crossed for clearer skies…conejitos!
You can see pictures from graduation here. And a few shots of the area around our condo the morning after here.
Things were going wonderfully, with the parents ceremoniously walking their proud newly graduated sons and daughters down the center aisle to accept their diplomas, have their tassel flipped from one side of their cap to the other, frozen momentarily for the obligatory snapshots, and then directed to have a seat next to their other cap-and-gowned pals. We the friends and family members were comfortably seated in rows of white plastic chairs happily chatting away, people-watching, popping up and down and moving around to navigate the best angle for our digital cameras and video cams. It was a very pleasant atmosphere outside beneath the sturdy yellow steel-pillar and silvery corrugated aluminum roofed canopy where during the school day, the students probably played futbol(soccer) or baloncesto(basketball).
Then, the dark night sky began to flash. The soothing breeze soon intensified into gusts of wind that blew the decorations hanging from above back and forth while the curtains behind the stage whipped at the legs of the administration folks seated there. And, like a bugle call to a cavalry charge in battle, a piercing crack of thunder announced the onslaught of a storm sweeping in from the peaks of the Andes above. Only moments later, just as the caps were being tossed into the air, all hell from above broke loose.
The wind grew stronger still, and the rain that initially, somewhat harmlessly, pelted away at the metal roof quickly turned into sheets of frozen buckshot that blasted away at what now seemed like a flimsy layer of aluminum foil over our heads. The ferocity of the storm continued to build and with the graduation ceremony now officially over, the graduates, the audience and the white plastic chairs formed one clotted mass of confusion and bewilderment with nowhere to go, trapped by a canopy of ice and rain. The water began to break through the roof and drove the mass of people and plastic into slightly more defined smaller herds huddling to stay dry. By then, an inch or two of water was washing over the concrete floor and many of the “mujeres” began to stand on top of the chairs while the wheels of solution-engineering turned in the minds of the “señores” who were trying to formulate escape routes for their families.
Gradually, packs began to break away from the crowd, making desperate runs for the relative comfort of the vehicles parked outside campus on a steep slope pointing skyward. We finally decided to make a run for it and were immediately drenched as we navigated icy concrete and mud-slicked rocky sidewalks covered with sleet. Rivers of rainwater gushed down the hillside through crevices and spilled into the street where people were cramming inside the rapidly opening-and-slamming doors of foggy SUVs, pick-ups, Bugs, and Brasilias. With the rivers of muddy water came rocks, walls of them, blocking roads and re-routing water and debris to make every way out impassible. The narrow road where 9 of us were stuffed into Papi’s brand new white Montero was jammed for over an hour before cars finally begin picking their way down the hill. The first road we took was blocked by rushing water and newly dislocated layers of rock that tumbled down from the mountains in angry torrents of mud and sludge. The 2nd and 3rd roads were blocked too. Papi was communicating intermittently with Chris and Juber via cell phone to see what kind of progress they were making in their truck.
Finally, after numerous attempts at various routes, we made it out and eventually home. Lines of industrial looking trucks were queued where previously passable roads had existed, and people stood around outside, displaced, trying to make sense of what was happening. Upon arrival at the Delgadillo home, there was no electricity, so we burned candles and huddled together sharing delicious food that Mami had cooked, and drinks of whiskey, dulce de leche liqueur, and white wine that Juber and Papi were jovially serving up. At 1 in the morning, Papi safely delivered Vee and I to our condo where the elevators were non-functional but all else seemed intact. The rain had stopped, but the foreboding approach of morning lay ahead, and we knew that when the sun came up, the true destruction of the storm would be revealed. Exhausted, we slept.
In the morning, we learned through the online version of Los Tiempos that so far, 4 people have been killed, and numbers more are missing. It is being said that last night’s storm was the worst here in twenty years, and the third worst in the last 50. And of course, it was all perfectly timed to coincide with the South American Community of Nations Summit that Evo Morales is hosting next door at Hotel Portales where the most important leaders and ambassadors from all of South America and abroad are congregating. The city is awash in water, mud and rock, while hundreds if not thousands of workers hired to clean it up are busily trying to get things back into shape for the important visitors who will be here the next few days. Vee tried to go to the gym, but it was flooded. The nice restaurants on the boulevard where foreign dignitaries will be wanting to dine this weekend are attempting to dig out from the mud. It was only a few days ago where the same scene unfolded, and that was a far less violent storm. Let’s hope the worst is over. Tonight, for Vanessa’s graduation “prom” party, we are keeping our fingers crossed for clearer skies…conejitos!
You can see pictures from graduation here. And a few shots of the area around our condo the morning after here.
Sunday, December 3, 2006
Bolivia - Wilstermann Campeones!!!
Today, was the futbol Super Bowl of Bolivia. The Wilstemann, of Cochabamba, beat an excellent team from Potosi, 2 goals to 1 in a dramatic final full of scary injuries, a few yellow cards and lots of emotion. Vee's father and brother Chris tried to buy tickets for the game, but it was sold-out, so we all got together to watch it at D'Kaffe downstairs. This is the first championship the Wilstermann have won in about 10 years, and the city is celebrating like mad. Outside, I hear the cars passing beeping 3 times for "Wil - ster - mann" and everyone is wearing their team colors of red-white-and-blue, including Vee and I of course. We are so excited to have been here for such a huge victory and to have experienced a few of the games this season "en vive" against Santa Cruz, and La Paz. Now, if we could only get those Philadelphia Eagles to follow-up with an NFL Super Bowl victory...
Sunday, November 19, 2006
Bolivia - Magazine Article Translation - What an Exercise!!!
A few weeks ago, we were in the supermarket, checking out, and just like at home, there were alot of magazines in racks next to the counter. I saw one that looked interesting, and was prominently displayed in front, called "America XXI". On the front cover, it had headlines that read “Zionism – The Nazism of Today”, “Uruguay Extensive Front – Crossroads”, “Bush encourages a blow in Venezuela”, “The Church that Conspires in Argentina”, so needless to say, it caught my attention. A few days later, when I finally had time to flip through it, I found an article that I thought if I could translate, would provide me with a formidable exercise for my slowing improving Spanish knowledge, and also give me a chance to learn about the views of the U.S. from down here. Once I finally begain my translation project, I was about mid-way through when I realized that what I had in my hands was Venezuelan propoganda, obviously. Or, as it is known in the U.S., the news. Anyway, it became obvious that this magazine, and specifically the article I had chosen to translate, were from a VERY Venezuelan paradigm. So, here it is, in its verbose entirety: "The South Facing Zionism and the Bellicose Imperialist", By Luis Bilbao:
America XXI – From Venezuela for the whole continent – September 2006
Headlines include:
“Zionism – The Nazism of Today”
“Uruguay Extensive Front – Crossroads”
“Bush encourages a blow in Venezuela”
“The Church that Conspires in Argentina”
The South Facing Zionism and the Bellicose Imperialist
By Luis Bilbao
War: Israel was defeated in military terms in Lebanon. But the United States, seen by
the entire world as responsible for the aggression, suffered a political rout of enormous
strategic meaning: Washington as the capital of democracy and the future has finally
been buried in international opinion. These reversals do not stop the military machine.
Already, aggressions are in motion against Iran and Syria, as always with the Zionist
State as the arrowhead. Meeting in Havana from Sept.11-16, the Non-Aligned Movement
assumed the responsibility to impede a war that plants incalculable risks to humanity.
“I feel a light shake in the airplane, when the bombs free themselves. A second, and
that’s all. That is what I feel.” It is with this repugnant cynicism that the commander of
the Israeli air force, Dan Halutz, responded when a journalist inquired about his feelings
after an F-16 bombarded a building in Salah Shehadeh in the early morning of July 22.
The operation was supposedly destined to destroy a Hamas base, nevertheless it killed 15
civilians, 11 of them children. It was only the beginning of five weeks of bombardments
from the air, land and sea on the civil population of Lebanon.
An editorial from the New York Times - hypocritical, yet eloquent - it added key data: in
Palestine and Lebanon, Israel utilized fragmentation bombs, manufactured by the United
States. These arms, said the NYT, “are utilized against tanks, massive conventional
weapons and other strictly military objectives. But never should they be used in
populated areas. Naturally, they kill indiscriminately. Because some bombs do not
explode on impact, the victims continue to be killed long after the fight ceases. These
apparently inoffensive objects, often no larger than a battery, explode when you touch or
move them. Children confuse them with toys, with tragic results.”
Despite everything, Dan Halutz has his sensitive side: hours before initiating the
invasion, in the same moment that he was sending his own soldiers to death, this high
military leader occupied himself with selling stocks on the Tel Aviv stock market to
avoid the financial loss that would result from the war.
Summarized in Halutz, is the predominant moral degradation of the Israeli high
command, that explains in good measure, the humiliating of an army with a reputation of
being invincible. After a month of unmatched savagery against the civil population,
Israel discovered to its amazement that the military operation in itself had been an
extraordinary blunder: "We did not we have water. We forgot to bring food. For several
days, we had only a slice of bread. It was the worst experience of my life", explained
Alon Gelnik, an infantry soldier accustomed to being before the mass media.
It is not about anecdotes. This alienating conduct expresses a political reality and an
ideology. It explains the character of the war unleashed in the Middle East and the role
that the United States has bookmarked for Israel in this chapter that has recently begun.
With society divided down the middle, and under the double emotional impact of the
atrocities committed by its armed forces and the impossibility of defeating Hezbollah,
Israel has already assumed a debate that presses. The people of Jewish origin or religion
have before itself a reality that does not admit subterfuge: the Zionism of the 21st century
is Nazism. For its brutality, certainly, and for the absolute contempt of all humanity, but
above all, because it is the ideology with which imperialism goes to a war that plants
risks of world catastrophe.
To The Search for Justification
Hamas has never gone to war without ideological justification. In the most recent period,
the Department of State appealed to the defense of democracy and world peace,
supposedly threatened by "international terrorism", to invade Afghanistan and Iraq. The
exposition of the lies manufactured by the Goebbels-ian apparatus of American
propaganda, added to the situation for the occupying troops with no way out of Iraq, has
demolished that framework in little time: in a turn losing control of the situation, the
planetary network of informative intoxication mounted by the imperialist, shown by
television to thousands of millions of people, the true role U.S. in Iraq, in Palestine, and
in Lebanon: the bombardment of cities, the death of children and unarmed civilians, the
forced evacuation of hundreds of thousands of people. "The war in Iraq has cost some of
the popularity of United States" the secretary of State Condoleezza Rice admitted in
Germany. She explained that in the future we will work harder so that American politics
will be understood. "We have to speak with the people in Middle East and not offer
monologues. We need to have more contact with the people, particularly with the youth"
she said with her habitual grimace.
But there is no way to justify the militaristic dementia of the U.S.; to nobody, and much
less to the youth in Middle East or wherever.
It is here where the role of Zionism comes into play: the supposed defense of territory for
the Jewish settlement is the imperialist instrument to go to the war in the 21st century.
And if in the past there was space so that people of democratic and progressive
convictions confuse the defense of the Israeli State with the cause of the Jewish
settlement, from now own the delimitations will be categorical, because it has remained
clear in the last month, the methods employed by the Israeli authorities rival the Nazi
atrocities during the second world war.
End of the Regressive Phase
With the fall of the Soviet Union an ideological regression that came from long before
took over and did not leave any ideological position safe. On the threshold of the 21st
century the world seemed to enter into a second medieval period. While astute
booksellers announced the end of imperialism, the loss of meaning of the fight by the
political power, the expiration of the political action and of course of the parties, the
unfathomable victory of capital over any other historic variation, all in name of the last
modernity, the "condemned of the land" grew in number and resorted to the instruments
they had at hand in each case to resist. Forms of extreme religiousness reappeared,
presented as mere fanaticism by skeptical, aseptic intellectuals and, of course,
progressives. The current unfeasibility of the revolution was declared in shrill paradoxes
and contradictions difficult to disentangle.
That period has ended, or at least it has taken a qualitative leap forward. The surprise of
the world by the military capacity of Hezbollah, the perplexity of Israeli society before
the evidence of an unexpected fiasco, the phenomenon of aggregation that the war
produced in Lebanon joining with Muslims, Christian and lay-socialists in a unique
victorious front, permits us to measure at the same time the magnitude of the lack of
understanding regarding what occurred in the world during the last 25 years and the
distance crossed after an alternative history.
Although barely intelligible in the muddled surface of international reality, already under
way is a re-composition of the dynamics in all the plans. The logical terms are invested:
Before a social confrontation is used to go without organization, without politics, without
strategy and of course without ideological identity. Far from condemning the rationality,
nevertheless, this picture presents the profound coherence of two forces in a head-on
collision of global scale, each one trying practical and theoretical axes of re-composition
for the action. The motor that moves both to the structural crisis is the world capitalist
system.
In this unpublished historic conjuncture, the meeting of 116 member countries and 20
observers of the movement six decades behind called "the non-aligned" constitutes a
formidable point of support to draw the courses of a new phase. The need to impede the
war will be a powerful point of union in that assembly of extreme heterogeneousness.
The reappearance of the Mnoal, in an anachronistic sense and in another original, is a key
fact of the world political future and the results that are obtained will be determinants.
Yet it is not known if Fidel Castro, the architect of this encounter, has been present in the
sessions. But nobody doubts that its ideology and its socialist proposal are again on the
horizon of a world that seeks answers.
America XXI – From Venezuela for the whole continent – September 2006
Headlines include:
“Zionism – The Nazism of Today”
“Uruguay Extensive Front – Crossroads”
“Bush encourages a blow in Venezuela”
“The Church that Conspires in Argentina”
The South Facing Zionism and the Bellicose Imperialist
By Luis Bilbao
War: Israel was defeated in military terms in Lebanon. But the United States, seen by
the entire world as responsible for the aggression, suffered a political rout of enormous
strategic meaning: Washington as the capital of democracy and the future has finally
been buried in international opinion. These reversals do not stop the military machine.
Already, aggressions are in motion against Iran and Syria, as always with the Zionist
State as the arrowhead. Meeting in Havana from Sept.11-16, the Non-Aligned Movement
assumed the responsibility to impede a war that plants incalculable risks to humanity.
“I feel a light shake in the airplane, when the bombs free themselves. A second, and
that’s all. That is what I feel.” It is with this repugnant cynicism that the commander of
the Israeli air force, Dan Halutz, responded when a journalist inquired about his feelings
after an F-16 bombarded a building in Salah Shehadeh in the early morning of July 22.
The operation was supposedly destined to destroy a Hamas base, nevertheless it killed 15
civilians, 11 of them children. It was only the beginning of five weeks of bombardments
from the air, land and sea on the civil population of Lebanon.
An editorial from the New York Times - hypocritical, yet eloquent - it added key data: in
Palestine and Lebanon, Israel utilized fragmentation bombs, manufactured by the United
States. These arms, said the NYT, “are utilized against tanks, massive conventional
weapons and other strictly military objectives. But never should they be used in
populated areas. Naturally, they kill indiscriminately. Because some bombs do not
explode on impact, the victims continue to be killed long after the fight ceases. These
apparently inoffensive objects, often no larger than a battery, explode when you touch or
move them. Children confuse them with toys, with tragic results.”
Despite everything, Dan Halutz has his sensitive side: hours before initiating the
invasion, in the same moment that he was sending his own soldiers to death, this high
military leader occupied himself with selling stocks on the Tel Aviv stock market to
avoid the financial loss that would result from the war.
Summarized in Halutz, is the predominant moral degradation of the Israeli high
command, that explains in good measure, the humiliating of an army with a reputation of
being invincible. After a month of unmatched savagery against the civil population,
Israel discovered to its amazement that the military operation in itself had been an
extraordinary blunder: "We did not we have water. We forgot to bring food. For several
days, we had only a slice of bread. It was the worst experience of my life", explained
Alon Gelnik, an infantry soldier accustomed to being before the mass media.
It is not about anecdotes. This alienating conduct expresses a political reality and an
ideology. It explains the character of the war unleashed in the Middle East and the role
that the United States has bookmarked for Israel in this chapter that has recently begun.
With society divided down the middle, and under the double emotional impact of the
atrocities committed by its armed forces and the impossibility of defeating Hezbollah,
Israel has already assumed a debate that presses. The people of Jewish origin or religion
have before itself a reality that does not admit subterfuge: the Zionism of the 21st century
is Nazism. For its brutality, certainly, and for the absolute contempt of all humanity, but
above all, because it is the ideology with which imperialism goes to a war that plants
risks of world catastrophe.
To The Search for Justification
Hamas has never gone to war without ideological justification. In the most recent period,
the Department of State appealed to the defense of democracy and world peace,
supposedly threatened by "international terrorism", to invade Afghanistan and Iraq. The
exposition of the lies manufactured by the Goebbels-ian apparatus of American
propaganda, added to the situation for the occupying troops with no way out of Iraq, has
demolished that framework in little time: in a turn losing control of the situation, the
planetary network of informative intoxication mounted by the imperialist, shown by
television to thousands of millions of people, the true role U.S. in Iraq, in Palestine, and
in Lebanon: the bombardment of cities, the death of children and unarmed civilians, the
forced evacuation of hundreds of thousands of people. "The war in Iraq has cost some of
the popularity of United States" the secretary of State Condoleezza Rice admitted in
Germany. She explained that in the future we will work harder so that American politics
will be understood. "We have to speak with the people in Middle East and not offer
monologues. We need to have more contact with the people, particularly with the youth"
she said with her habitual grimace.
But there is no way to justify the militaristic dementia of the U.S.; to nobody, and much
less to the youth in Middle East or wherever.
It is here where the role of Zionism comes into play: the supposed defense of territory for
the Jewish settlement is the imperialist instrument to go to the war in the 21st century.
And if in the past there was space so that people of democratic and progressive
convictions confuse the defense of the Israeli State with the cause of the Jewish
settlement, from now own the delimitations will be categorical, because it has remained
clear in the last month, the methods employed by the Israeli authorities rival the Nazi
atrocities during the second world war.
End of the Regressive Phase
With the fall of the Soviet Union an ideological regression that came from long before
took over and did not leave any ideological position safe. On the threshold of the 21st
century the world seemed to enter into a second medieval period. While astute
booksellers announced the end of imperialism, the loss of meaning of the fight by the
political power, the expiration of the political action and of course of the parties, the
unfathomable victory of capital over any other historic variation, all in name of the last
modernity, the "condemned of the land" grew in number and resorted to the instruments
they had at hand in each case to resist. Forms of extreme religiousness reappeared,
presented as mere fanaticism by skeptical, aseptic intellectuals and, of course,
progressives. The current unfeasibility of the revolution was declared in shrill paradoxes
and contradictions difficult to disentangle.
That period has ended, or at least it has taken a qualitative leap forward. The surprise of
the world by the military capacity of Hezbollah, the perplexity of Israeli society before
the evidence of an unexpected fiasco, the phenomenon of aggregation that the war
produced in Lebanon joining with Muslims, Christian and lay-socialists in a unique
victorious front, permits us to measure at the same time the magnitude of the lack of
understanding regarding what occurred in the world during the last 25 years and the
distance crossed after an alternative history.
Although barely intelligible in the muddled surface of international reality, already under
way is a re-composition of the dynamics in all the plans. The logical terms are invested:
Before a social confrontation is used to go without organization, without politics, without
strategy and of course without ideological identity. Far from condemning the rationality,
nevertheless, this picture presents the profound coherence of two forces in a head-on
collision of global scale, each one trying practical and theoretical axes of re-composition
for the action. The motor that moves both to the structural crisis is the world capitalist
system.
In this unpublished historic conjuncture, the meeting of 116 member countries and 20
observers of the movement six decades behind called "the non-aligned" constitutes a
formidable point of support to draw the courses of a new phase. The need to impede the
war will be a powerful point of union in that assembly of extreme heterogeneousness.
The reappearance of the Mnoal, in an anachronistic sense and in another original, is a key
fact of the world political future and the results that are obtained will be determinants.
Yet it is not known if Fidel Castro, the architect of this encounter, has been present in the
sessions. But nobody doubts that its ideology and its socialist proposal are again on the
horizon of a world that seeks answers.
Wednesday, November 8, 2006
Bolivia - The U.S. Election
I don't see anyone dancing out in the streets of Cochabamba today, but I feel like heading out there myself and doing a happy jig of my own.
In my opinion, today is the best day the United States of America has had in 10 years.
It was in November 1996 when the Presidential election results confirmed Bill Clinton's victory over Bob Dole. Since then, we've had the Lewinksy scandal, the Whitewater scandal, a grueling dishonorable impeachment of our President, a financial market implosion and economic meltdown, a stolen Presidential election, unprecedented levels of corporate corruption and felony, an unthinkable terrorist attack on our own soil, a squandered budget surplus, an inept statement and adoption of foreign policy, fiscally irresponsible tax cuts, blundered war campaigns under false pretenses, horrific natural disasters, political scandals of all kinds, energy crises, and an environmental timebomb all of which are resulting in an unimaginable 8 year term for an administration having some of the lowest approval ratings ever recorded, an expensive, tragic, quagmire of a war in Iraq, an economy very possibly running on fumes, and depressingly, our country's severely eroded stature in the eyes of the world.
Today though, there is hope. There is a reason to celebrate. There is change, and it should be clear to all who care to notice, that change is needed. I really couldn't care less if Democrats control the House and Senate, or if Independents would. But, to continue down the path that the Republican party has torched since the Congressional Republican revolution of 1994, most noticeably under Bush's leadership(?), would certainly lead us deeper into the ditch we've already dug ourselves into. I have no idea if the Democrats will do any better. However, I feel that they couldn't possibly do any worse, and it seems there are alot of people out there thinking the same way.
I am happy, and I am hopeful about our country, today. It will take a while, if we so desire, for our country to right the wrongs of its recent past. But, with the clear message our voters sent today, there are reasons to believe it can happen.
We need to lead the world in developing profitable technologies, and personal and business behaviors that reverse and nullify the catastrophic environmental impact our country has had on the world. We need to recognize and embrace the notion that there are other countries having larger populations than us, having similar or greater global impact than us, having sometimes conflicting interests and/or values than ours. We need to set the standard for ethical governance, business practice, and cultural behavior at home and abroad so that our presence on the world stage is welcomed again without cynicism.
Nothing our country needs to do is impossible. In fact, I'm confident it's all been done before. We just need a re-fresher. Today is that day. Be excited, very excited. I am.
In my opinion, today is the best day the United States of America has had in 10 years.
It was in November 1996 when the Presidential election results confirmed Bill Clinton's victory over Bob Dole. Since then, we've had the Lewinksy scandal, the Whitewater scandal, a grueling dishonorable impeachment of our President, a financial market implosion and economic meltdown, a stolen Presidential election, unprecedented levels of corporate corruption and felony, an unthinkable terrorist attack on our own soil, a squandered budget surplus, an inept statement and adoption of foreign policy, fiscally irresponsible tax cuts, blundered war campaigns under false pretenses, horrific natural disasters, political scandals of all kinds, energy crises, and an environmental timebomb all of which are resulting in an unimaginable 8 year term for an administration having some of the lowest approval ratings ever recorded, an expensive, tragic, quagmire of a war in Iraq, an economy very possibly running on fumes, and depressingly, our country's severely eroded stature in the eyes of the world.
Today though, there is hope. There is a reason to celebrate. There is change, and it should be clear to all who care to notice, that change is needed. I really couldn't care less if Democrats control the House and Senate, or if Independents would. But, to continue down the path that the Republican party has torched since the Congressional Republican revolution of 1994, most noticeably under Bush's leadership(?), would certainly lead us deeper into the ditch we've already dug ourselves into. I have no idea if the Democrats will do any better. However, I feel that they couldn't possibly do any worse, and it seems there are alot of people out there thinking the same way.
I am happy, and I am hopeful about our country, today. It will take a while, if we so desire, for our country to right the wrongs of its recent past. But, with the clear message our voters sent today, there are reasons to believe it can happen.
We need to lead the world in developing profitable technologies, and personal and business behaviors that reverse and nullify the catastrophic environmental impact our country has had on the world. We need to recognize and embrace the notion that there are other countries having larger populations than us, having similar or greater global impact than us, having sometimes conflicting interests and/or values than ours. We need to set the standard for ethical governance, business practice, and cultural behavior at home and abroad so that our presence on the world stage is welcomed again without cynicism.
Nothing our country needs to do is impossible. In fact, I'm confident it's all been done before. We just need a re-fresher. Today is that day. Be excited, very excited. I am.
Monday, October 30, 2006
Bolivia - First Entry - Waaaay Late But Better Than Nothing
So we're here!!! And, actually, at the date and time of this blog entry, today marks my (Cliff) 4th week here, and Vee's 7th week.
Why has it taken soooo long for us to write anything, and why don't we have any photos, nor any videos up on the website yet?
Hmmmm...good questions. Uh, I think it's because we got somewhat burnt out from all the blogging, picture-taking, video-making and editing that we did in Europe. But I think mostly it is because our lifestyle here in Cochabamba Bolivia is much different than when we were hustling around Western Europe earlier this year. Then, we were living out of our backpacks, on the run each day, taking trains, planes, buses, boats, taxis and rental cars to a new village or city almost daily. Here, in Bolivia we are "tranquilo". We quickly got into a routine and settled. We are comfortable. And travelling is not really part of our agenda, at least not right now. Without the constant bombardment of new places and constantly changing stimulae, we've grown lax about taking pictures, videos and writing blogs, for now.
What is our agenda? Me = learn Spanish. Vee = re-connect with family. And lot's of other stuff. Our days are like this... In the morning, we have a huge healthy breakfast, or at least mine is huge. Vee prefers cereal with milk, fresh fruit juice, maybe an apple, and green tea. For breakfast, we sit down together in our kitchen, drink green tea, and eat and talk about the coming day. Vee has taken over breakfast duties though, getting me two hard-boiled eggs, a piece of bread, an avocado, and fresh fruit juice. At 9:30, my tutor, Jeanette, arrives, and for the next two hours we sit in our office (spare bedroom) and do Spanish lessons. We've moved along quite quickly already, since I had Spanish in high school, but now we're slowing down a bit because of all the new material. My vocabulary is expanding, but I make tons of mistakes, especially when speaking, and I still have a really hard time comprehending what people are saying to me if they are speaking at their normal pace. However, I am definitely getting better. And as a result, my connection with the family is getting stronger. Especially, "Papi" or Fernando, who is Vee's father. I love talking with him, even though I only understand about 30% of his ideas. I understand most of the words, but by the time I actually extract the meaning, I fall behind, and have to play catch-up, missing much of everything else that is said. It is not just Papi, it is anyone speaking at their normal pace. Hopefully, this will not be the case by the time we leave in January.
My Spanish lesson is 5 days/week, two hours each morning. During this time, Vee catches up on house stuff, personal stuff, sometimes food shopping, sometimes food prepping, and lots of life-organization stuff since we are constantly juggling multiple family itineraries as it is a big family, and we want to spend as much time with them as possible without totally sacrificing our own privacy. After my daily lesson with Jeanette, Vee and I head down to the cafe downstairs called "De'Kffe" where they all know us now. We sit and talk, sipping our cortados or cappuccinos, and then head off to the gym just down the street for a lunchtime workout. We've been really good about this, going 4-6 days/week. Usually once per week, I'll meet with Chris and sometimes Juber to play racquetball too. So after our lunchtime workout, we come back to our apartment, eat some fresh fruit and maybe some dinner leftovers, etc. for lunch, get cleaned up and then spend the rest of the day working on our business, reading books, spending time with the family, etc. At night, sometimes we go back downstairs for a coffee, or go explore the city of Cochabamba for coffee, beers and/or food.
On Saturdays, we walk to "El Mercado", or the open market, to buy our fresh fruit and vegetables for the week. Many times, we'll chop most of the fruit up when we get home, and blend it into fruit smoothies that we drink all week long. Normally, our bill, for everything, is about $10. For that, we get a huge papaya, a huge pineapple, a whole watermelon, oranges, apples, avocados, mangos, lemons, tomatos, bagged lettuce, chopped carrots, nuts, bananas, onions, and cucumbers. For other staples, like milk, chicken breasts, beer, water, cheese, bread, condiments, etc., we walk up to the local "supermercado" named IC Norte.
We got set up with Internet access, via "Comteco". It's a hair shy of 500kbps and costs $100/month. OUCH!!!!!!!!! The speed is about a 1/10 of what we get in Philly with Comcast, yet costs twice as much. We first went with a cheaper service, that was faster, via "Entel", but after a huge fiasco, and damaged telephone lines, they couldn't deliver. To get our current Internet service, Vee's father had to call in a favor with a friend of his who got us into the company offices that afternoon, an account set up, and an installation date more or less set. Here, that phenomenon is called "muñeca", which means wrist, or "to have influence"...absolutely essential here to get things done. Other things here are expensive, and or difficult to acquire too. Locating a simple "S-Video" cable, an Ethernet computer networking cable, and eventually a Wireless Access Point, was a HUGE production. In total, we probably had to visit nearly 60 stores to finally buy these 3 things, all of which, can be bought at a Best Buy in under 10 minutes back home. Honestly though, the adventure of shopping is fun, for the most part, as long as your expectations are set accordingly, and you are not in a time-crunch. Now, you have to go to "La Cancha" for everything, which is the HUGE "popular market" in the old city where mostly indigenous folks have little shops set up selling everything from fruits and vegetables, to meats, clothes, furniture, pets, music equipment, CD/DVDs, cars, hardware products, textiles and fabrics, you name it, it's there, unless you are looking for it.........
Thursdays, we have lunch with the family. Typically, Papi or Chris picks us up in the family's red extended cab Datsun pick-up truck around 12:30, and since it is a short ride, we are usually quickly seated in the Delgadillo living room or kitchen sipping some sort of sweet coffee-flavored liquer, and then eating a delicious "almuerzo" of "soup and seconds" soon thereafter. The whole family tries to be together for lunch, but with everyone's work and school schedules, it is not always possible. On Sunday, we do lunch as a family again, but usually out somewhere. It is a really fun time, where we exchange stories, talk about nostalgic subjects, and/or politics. Vee's Mom, or "Mami" to me, always cooks delicious meals, full of vegetables, rices and meat, usually ending with a bit of ice cream.
Last Wednesday, Papi, Chris, Sandra, Vee and I went to the "Wilstermann" futbol match, and ooooooooohhhh mannnnnn what an experience that was. The Wilstermann are THE pro futbol (soccer) team for Cochabamba, and it is getting to be crunchtime as the league championships finish in December, and they are currently in first place. The match was against those nasty "Cambas" from Santa Cruz, and it is historically a huge rivalry, since the "Coyas" of Cochabamba are proud to NOT be Santa Cruceños. I had on my official Wilstermann team shirt, and other than being the only tall, white, blue-eyed, blond-haired gringo in the entire stadium, I fit in quite well. The match was AWESOME with a capital A baby!!! At kick-off, Santa Cruz tried to catch us off guard by charging straight at the goal and shooting without hardly any setup; they missed, and the Wilstermann charged downfield in response and scored a GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOLLLLLLLLLLLLL!!!! What a way to start the game!!!! And, it only got better. We ended up winning, 3-1. I was treated to 2 red cards, riot police securing the field to mediate a bench-clearing brawl, fireworks, thrown bottles, tear gas, the wave, penalty shots, booing the refs and visiting teams' players as they were ejected ("FUERA"), etc. Afterwards, we stopped at "Frankffurt" for hot dogs and burgers. What a night! We are going back this weekend for the HUGE game against our main rival, La Paz. Can't wait!!!
Two Thursday nights ago, we went out with Chris, Juber, and Chris’ best friend Julio (who is REALLY nice, and is a computer programmer here in Cochabamba) to a live music club to see a local cover band play music from one of my favorite bands ever: “Iron Maiden”. It was unbelievable. These little native guys up on stage, mostly expressionless, and timid, dressed in normal everyday street clothes, and no attitude, absolutely BLEW US AWAY!!! They played the songs almost flawlessly, and the crowd (probably not even 100 people) were going nuts towards the end. They didn’t even get on stage until 11:30, and we did not get home until close to 3am by the time they finished playing. It was so much fun!!! Our tickets cost $3 U.S. each.
Our apartment is fantastic. It is a furnished apartment in the "Recoleta" neighborhood where we have easy access to all of downtown Cochabamba within walking distance and all the conveniences closeby, the most important of which are excellent restaurants, arguably the best cafe in the city right downstairs, a supermarket a block away, and our gym practically right across the street. Spoiled...you betcha, and loving it. Really the only problem is with noise. Alot of popular dance clubs and bars are on our block, and thus on Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights, it is complete mayhem out there. The taxi drivers and other young punks have those super-loud mufflers installed so you can hear them coming a KM away. And, of course, with the youth being poisoned by the most horrific of U.S. exports, "Hip Hop", we are blasted all night long with that sonic trash booming from their car stereos as they tear up our street. I wear my earplugs every night though, so I sleep soundly now, unlike our first week here.
The weather has been fantastic, in my opinion, although I am sure most Cochabombinos would disagree. Today, many of them were bundled up in jeans, thick coats, long sleeve shirts, etc., while I was wearing my usual cargo shorts and t-shirt. It is "primavera" (Spring) here now, and that means warm sunny mornings, cloudy cooler afternoons, and sometimes rainy nights, with daytime temperatures in the 70's F. Not bad considering back home, it'll be snowing soon, while here, Summer is right around the corner. Here, they complain some about the dust, and yeah, I can see it, but I don't think it's THAT bad. I see mostly blue skies.
Polution is a huge problem here, as is poverty. We are begged daily by lots of "niños" (little kids) and some wrinkly older folks too. It is just so sad and we want to be able to help all of them, but can't. Sometimes we give them something, a few coins, some food, whatever, but ALWAYS show them respect, no matter what, even when saying no. Polution-wise, the automobiles, busses, motorcycles, etc. are almost all from a prior generation of noxious-fume spewing menaces that you just have to deal with. And water here is "interesting", and of course, we drink nothing out of the tap, but then again, I don't in Philly either.
We eat out fairly frequently (aside from our daily coffees) because with U.S. dollar exchange rates, you can eat like a king, and spend hardly anything. For example, two Friday nights ago, we took Chris and Mami out for dinner, and it cost 185 bolivians, or $23 U.S. dollars. Vee had two trout fillets, Chris had a huge filet mignon, Mom had a giant sirloin steak, and I had an even bigger Argentinian sirloin, plus we each had the salad bar, lemonades and a plate of fried bananas. The restaurant is one of the best in the city.
Beer: As you can imagine, the choices here are not anywhere near as plentiful as they are elsewhere (U.S., Western Europe). But, I am thoroughly enjoying my "Huari" pilseners, "Taquiña" stoudts and "Paceña" Extra Tropical pilseners and porters. All are produced here in Bolivia. You can also buy Heineken, Corona, and maybe Budweiser, but why?!?!?! I really want to brew my own, but the expense of shipping a few home-brew recipe kits and a few pieces of brewing equipment would cost over $150 to have it shipped here, in addition to the cost of the materials themselves, so that has been crossed off my list of to-dos.
We are having a fantastic time, and are keeping quite busy despite the relaxed nature of our lifestyle. We are happy, not doing anything all that exciting, but enjoying life. There is lots more to write, but this is plenty for now. Hopefully soon, we'll get some pics and videos up.
Best love to all our family and friends! Ciao-ciao.
Why has it taken soooo long for us to write anything, and why don't we have any photos, nor any videos up on the website yet?
Hmmmm...good questions. Uh, I think it's because we got somewhat burnt out from all the blogging, picture-taking, video-making and editing that we did in Europe. But I think mostly it is because our lifestyle here in Cochabamba Bolivia is much different than when we were hustling around Western Europe earlier this year. Then, we were living out of our backpacks, on the run each day, taking trains, planes, buses, boats, taxis and rental cars to a new village or city almost daily. Here, in Bolivia we are "tranquilo". We quickly got into a routine and settled. We are comfortable. And travelling is not really part of our agenda, at least not right now. Without the constant bombardment of new places and constantly changing stimulae, we've grown lax about taking pictures, videos and writing blogs, for now.
What is our agenda? Me = learn Spanish. Vee = re-connect with family. And lot's of other stuff. Our days are like this... In the morning, we have a huge healthy breakfast, or at least mine is huge. Vee prefers cereal with milk, fresh fruit juice, maybe an apple, and green tea. For breakfast, we sit down together in our kitchen, drink green tea, and eat and talk about the coming day. Vee has taken over breakfast duties though, getting me two hard-boiled eggs, a piece of bread, an avocado, and fresh fruit juice. At 9:30, my tutor, Jeanette, arrives, and for the next two hours we sit in our office (spare bedroom) and do Spanish lessons. We've moved along quite quickly already, since I had Spanish in high school, but now we're slowing down a bit because of all the new material. My vocabulary is expanding, but I make tons of mistakes, especially when speaking, and I still have a really hard time comprehending what people are saying to me if they are speaking at their normal pace. However, I am definitely getting better. And as a result, my connection with the family is getting stronger. Especially, "Papi" or Fernando, who is Vee's father. I love talking with him, even though I only understand about 30% of his ideas. I understand most of the words, but by the time I actually extract the meaning, I fall behind, and have to play catch-up, missing much of everything else that is said. It is not just Papi, it is anyone speaking at their normal pace. Hopefully, this will not be the case by the time we leave in January.
My Spanish lesson is 5 days/week, two hours each morning. During this time, Vee catches up on house stuff, personal stuff, sometimes food shopping, sometimes food prepping, and lots of life-organization stuff since we are constantly juggling multiple family itineraries as it is a big family, and we want to spend as much time with them as possible without totally sacrificing our own privacy. After my daily lesson with Jeanette, Vee and I head down to the cafe downstairs called "De'Kffe" where they all know us now. We sit and talk, sipping our cortados or cappuccinos, and then head off to the gym just down the street for a lunchtime workout. We've been really good about this, going 4-6 days/week. Usually once per week, I'll meet with Chris and sometimes Juber to play racquetball too. So after our lunchtime workout, we come back to our apartment, eat some fresh fruit and maybe some dinner leftovers, etc. for lunch, get cleaned up and then spend the rest of the day working on our business, reading books, spending time with the family, etc. At night, sometimes we go back downstairs for a coffee, or go explore the city of Cochabamba for coffee, beers and/or food.
On Saturdays, we walk to "El Mercado", or the open market, to buy our fresh fruit and vegetables for the week. Many times, we'll chop most of the fruit up when we get home, and blend it into fruit smoothies that we drink all week long. Normally, our bill, for everything, is about $10. For that, we get a huge papaya, a huge pineapple, a whole watermelon, oranges, apples, avocados, mangos, lemons, tomatos, bagged lettuce, chopped carrots, nuts, bananas, onions, and cucumbers. For other staples, like milk, chicken breasts, beer, water, cheese, bread, condiments, etc., we walk up to the local "supermercado" named IC Norte.
We got set up with Internet access, via "Comteco". It's a hair shy of 500kbps and costs $100/month. OUCH!!!!!!!!! The speed is about a 1/10 of what we get in Philly with Comcast, yet costs twice as much. We first went with a cheaper service, that was faster, via "Entel", but after a huge fiasco, and damaged telephone lines, they couldn't deliver. To get our current Internet service, Vee's father had to call in a favor with a friend of his who got us into the company offices that afternoon, an account set up, and an installation date more or less set. Here, that phenomenon is called "muñeca", which means wrist, or "to have influence"...absolutely essential here to get things done. Other things here are expensive, and or difficult to acquire too. Locating a simple "S-Video" cable, an Ethernet computer networking cable, and eventually a Wireless Access Point, was a HUGE production. In total, we probably had to visit nearly 60 stores to finally buy these 3 things, all of which, can be bought at a Best Buy in under 10 minutes back home. Honestly though, the adventure of shopping is fun, for the most part, as long as your expectations are set accordingly, and you are not in a time-crunch. Now, you have to go to "La Cancha" for everything, which is the HUGE "popular market" in the old city where mostly indigenous folks have little shops set up selling everything from fruits and vegetables, to meats, clothes, furniture, pets, music equipment, CD/DVDs, cars, hardware products, textiles and fabrics, you name it, it's there, unless you are looking for it.........
Thursdays, we have lunch with the family. Typically, Papi or Chris picks us up in the family's red extended cab Datsun pick-up truck around 12:30, and since it is a short ride, we are usually quickly seated in the Delgadillo living room or kitchen sipping some sort of sweet coffee-flavored liquer, and then eating a delicious "almuerzo" of "soup and seconds" soon thereafter. The whole family tries to be together for lunch, but with everyone's work and school schedules, it is not always possible. On Sunday, we do lunch as a family again, but usually out somewhere. It is a really fun time, where we exchange stories, talk about nostalgic subjects, and/or politics. Vee's Mom, or "Mami" to me, always cooks delicious meals, full of vegetables, rices and meat, usually ending with a bit of ice cream.
Last Wednesday, Papi, Chris, Sandra, Vee and I went to the "Wilstermann" futbol match, and ooooooooohhhh mannnnnn what an experience that was. The Wilstermann are THE pro futbol (soccer) team for Cochabamba, and it is getting to be crunchtime as the league championships finish in December, and they are currently in first place. The match was against those nasty "Cambas" from Santa Cruz, and it is historically a huge rivalry, since the "Coyas" of Cochabamba are proud to NOT be Santa Cruceños. I had on my official Wilstermann team shirt, and other than being the only tall, white, blue-eyed, blond-haired gringo in the entire stadium, I fit in quite well. The match was AWESOME with a capital A baby!!! At kick-off, Santa Cruz tried to catch us off guard by charging straight at the goal and shooting without hardly any setup; they missed, and the Wilstermann charged downfield in response and scored a GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOLLLLLLLLLLLLL!!!! What a way to start the game!!!! And, it only got better. We ended up winning, 3-1. I was treated to 2 red cards, riot police securing the field to mediate a bench-clearing brawl, fireworks, thrown bottles, tear gas, the wave, penalty shots, booing the refs and visiting teams' players as they were ejected ("FUERA"), etc. Afterwards, we stopped at "Frankffurt" for hot dogs and burgers. What a night! We are going back this weekend for the HUGE game against our main rival, La Paz. Can't wait!!!
Two Thursday nights ago, we went out with Chris, Juber, and Chris’ best friend Julio (who is REALLY nice, and is a computer programmer here in Cochabamba) to a live music club to see a local cover band play music from one of my favorite bands ever: “Iron Maiden”. It was unbelievable. These little native guys up on stage, mostly expressionless, and timid, dressed in normal everyday street clothes, and no attitude, absolutely BLEW US AWAY!!! They played the songs almost flawlessly, and the crowd (probably not even 100 people) were going nuts towards the end. They didn’t even get on stage until 11:30, and we did not get home until close to 3am by the time they finished playing. It was so much fun!!! Our tickets cost $3 U.S. each.
Our apartment is fantastic. It is a furnished apartment in the "Recoleta" neighborhood where we have easy access to all of downtown Cochabamba within walking distance and all the conveniences closeby, the most important of which are excellent restaurants, arguably the best cafe in the city right downstairs, a supermarket a block away, and our gym practically right across the street. Spoiled...you betcha, and loving it. Really the only problem is with noise. Alot of popular dance clubs and bars are on our block, and thus on Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights, it is complete mayhem out there. The taxi drivers and other young punks have those super-loud mufflers installed so you can hear them coming a KM away. And, of course, with the youth being poisoned by the most horrific of U.S. exports, "Hip Hop", we are blasted all night long with that sonic trash booming from their car stereos as they tear up our street. I wear my earplugs every night though, so I sleep soundly now, unlike our first week here.
The weather has been fantastic, in my opinion, although I am sure most Cochabombinos would disagree. Today, many of them were bundled up in jeans, thick coats, long sleeve shirts, etc., while I was wearing my usual cargo shorts and t-shirt. It is "primavera" (Spring) here now, and that means warm sunny mornings, cloudy cooler afternoons, and sometimes rainy nights, with daytime temperatures in the 70's F. Not bad considering back home, it'll be snowing soon, while here, Summer is right around the corner. Here, they complain some about the dust, and yeah, I can see it, but I don't think it's THAT bad. I see mostly blue skies.
Polution is a huge problem here, as is poverty. We are begged daily by lots of "niños" (little kids) and some wrinkly older folks too. It is just so sad and we want to be able to help all of them, but can't. Sometimes we give them something, a few coins, some food, whatever, but ALWAYS show them respect, no matter what, even when saying no. Polution-wise, the automobiles, busses, motorcycles, etc. are almost all from a prior generation of noxious-fume spewing menaces that you just have to deal with. And water here is "interesting", and of course, we drink nothing out of the tap, but then again, I don't in Philly either.
We eat out fairly frequently (aside from our daily coffees) because with U.S. dollar exchange rates, you can eat like a king, and spend hardly anything. For example, two Friday nights ago, we took Chris and Mami out for dinner, and it cost 185 bolivians, or $23 U.S. dollars. Vee had two trout fillets, Chris had a huge filet mignon, Mom had a giant sirloin steak, and I had an even bigger Argentinian sirloin, plus we each had the salad bar, lemonades and a plate of fried bananas. The restaurant is one of the best in the city.
Beer: As you can imagine, the choices here are not anywhere near as plentiful as they are elsewhere (U.S., Western Europe). But, I am thoroughly enjoying my "Huari" pilseners, "Taquiña" stoudts and "Paceña" Extra Tropical pilseners and porters. All are produced here in Bolivia. You can also buy Heineken, Corona, and maybe Budweiser, but why?!?!?! I really want to brew my own, but the expense of shipping a few home-brew recipe kits and a few pieces of brewing equipment would cost over $150 to have it shipped here, in addition to the cost of the materials themselves, so that has been crossed off my list of to-dos.
We are having a fantastic time, and are keeping quite busy despite the relaxed nature of our lifestyle. We are happy, not doing anything all that exciting, but enjoying life. There is lots more to write, but this is plenty for now. Hopefully soon, we'll get some pics and videos up.
Best love to all our family and friends! Ciao-ciao.
Friday, August 25, 2006
Adirondacks - 5 days 4 nights - August 2006
| Monday August 21, we threw together our clothes and cleaned up the Perryville condo and were on the road around 9:30. We drove through Elkton so we could stop at a Jiffy Lube, a drive-thru coffee place, a Wachovia, and finally on to 427 E. Allens Ln where we loaded Monty up with camping gear. Vee had to run upstairs to retrieve a few things but luckily managed to avoid any awkward encounters. We were on the road by 12:30 and were detoured by construction on Rte309 but made it onto 276, then NJ Turnpike to 287 and 87 with a stop for gas and pizza at Sbarro then on to Warrensburg where we stayed at the Dagget Lake Campsites for $27. I called earlier to make sure they'd have a tent site for us and when we arrived, we had the pick of 3 sites. Jeanine was real sweet and explained all the rules to us. We unloaded, built the tent, and then took a walk around the grounds and discovered the beautiful lake where we hung out for a while listening to the silence. With the sun going down, we left to explore the area some more and find something to eat. Having seen Warrensburg on the way to the campsite, and already picking out a place for breakfast, we decided to drive out to Bolton Landing on Lake George and see what that was all about. It was about a 25 minute drive but well worth it as it was a nice little village, with a handful of restaurants and shops that were open late. We walked the length of the strip and decided on an unassuming little homey restaurant that had the Cowboys-Saints game on. We weren't hungry enough to order separate entrees so we ordered a bunch of apps: spring rolls, bbq riblets, and chili. They also had ice cold Spaten, so I enjoyed two of those. Happilly stuffed, we made the trip back to our tent. Using the spotlight, I tried finding the bathhouse, but couldn't do it in the pitch black night. We both must have fallen asleep pretty quickly. Tuesday August 22, I woke up early, and couldn't get back to sleep, but felt fairly well rested. Only my back was beginning to hurt. I waited until almost 9am before I shined the flashlight in Vee's eye to wake her up. We made our way to the bathouse, showered, tore down the tent and packed up the truck all within an hour and then drove into town for a hearty breakfast in the local diner with a mounted wolf-fish-head on the wall. Vee had blueberry pancakes, and I had the Hungryman breakfast of eggs, bacon, toast, pancakes and we each had coffees. We agreed on heading towards Blue Mountain Lake so we could stop at the Adirondack Museum and then continue on to Tupper Lake for an overnight. The museum was excellent and had all kinds of fantastic exhibits, a film and numerous buildings to explore plus a wonderful deck view of the lake below and beautiful pond and landscaping. Uncle John called on the mobile phone just as we finished up and were perusing the gift shop. We pointed ourselves to Tupper Lake which was another 32 miles away and travelled a newly paved picture perfect Rte30 through the wilderness lined with lakes and mountains and bogs. Using our newly acquired Adirondacks map, we pulled into the Blue Jay Campground and had a pick of any tentsite we wanted. We decided on #53 and built our tent, more quickly than last night, but for some reason, not as well as last night. It was raining a bit so maybe that caused us to lose focus a bit. With the tent built, we drove up to the town of Tupper Lake and found a restaurant that looked just right. It had neon beer signs in the window and "Smokehouse" in the name. There was a pool table and electronic dart board and we shared a gigantic plate of nachos topped with smoked pulled pork, and a house salad. I enjoyed a Saranac Pale Ale and another rather bland local Ale. We were stuffed and drove back to the campsite where we unloaded our bedding and got comfortable. The spotlight was losing power so Vee wasn't able to read, but I was able to blog. The drips from the trees above us are pelting the tent, but at least it isn't raining anymore, or if it is, it is very light. Wednesday morning of August 23, we both woke up around 7:30, showered, packed everything and were on the road by 8:30. We drove through Tupper Lake and pointed the truck towards Saranac Lake where we ended up parking and walking around for a while. It was a cozy authentic little Adirondack village with all the conveniences. We had breakfast in the Blue Moon Cafe where Vee got a bagel with smoked salmon and cream cheese and I got a flour tortilla layered with scrambled eggs, monteray jack cheese, pico de gallo, tomato salsa and a dollop of sour cream. We picked out our own coffee mugs and coffees, which were bottomless. We were quite impressed with the food, coffee, and friendly family service, especially the little girl who couldn't, have been older than 5 years who was bussing tables. After breakfast, we walked around town some more and ended up in the gallery of an artist whose paintings of the Adirondacks we really enjoyed. We talked with him for a while, learning that he went to school at Temple in Philly, then moved to West Palm Beach with his wife for 17 years where he taught art in elementary school. His wife worked at the Tupper Lake Adirondack natural science museum and said that it was an amazing place well worth a visit. We both really enjoyed the town and continued on toward Lake Placid. The morning views were beautiful and at one point, I pulled Monty over onto the shoulder, and started backing up to get in better view to take some pictures when we started to slide off the shoulder at a steep slant and came close to rolling over. A park ranger in a Jeep and another guy in a pickup truck pulled over within seconds to make sure we were okay. Once in four wheel drive, Monty had no trouble getting us out of danger, but it was a bit hairy for a few seconds there. Once in Lake Placid, we parked in the municipal parking lot for one doller per hour prepaid. We walked around for another few hours, visiting the conference center and skating rinks where the Miracle on Ice happened in 1980 where the U.S. beat Russia in hockey by one point, and we got to see alot of kids and adults practicing their ice skating skills. Vee really liked Lake Placide, and so did I, but it was a tad bit too touristy. Beautiful though, especially right there nestled alongside Mirror Lake and amongst all the mountains. In the tourist center we picked up some more brochures and learned about a hike up Mt.Jo nearby so we drove there and made the somewhat challenging ascent to a breathtaking 360 view of the high peaks including Mt.Marcy, the highest peak. At the top, we snapped some pics and then made our way down, again passing almost everyone we encountered since Vee is quite the trailblazer. At the bottom, we enjoyed the beautiful Heart Lake where Vee finally "got" the Adirondacks. No development, just pure crystal clear water with a soft bottom surrounded by large forested mountains. This was the kind of place Vee could love, and me too. The water wasn't even that cold so I got in up to my calfs and it felt wonderful, and we shot some more pics. We were hoping to find a campground on the way towards Elizabethtown, but no luck, so we had to head north a bit past Lewis and found the Magic Pines Campground where we had our choice of any tent site for 16 bucks. We pitched tent and with the help of our campsite manager, found the Mountain Shadows restaurant and enjoyed a delicious dinner. Vee had the baked salmon and I had the NY Strip special, wings and two Labbatts. The little busboy was fun to watch as he too couldn't have been more than 5 ot 6 years old and told us we could sit anywhere we like. After dinner, we drove into Westport where the views across Lake Champlain were amazing. The varying grades of blue-gray mountain ridges were gorgeous, and the boats moored in the little inlet set quite the scene. I forgot our camera cover here though, so that was a bummer...I left it on top of the truck and didn't realize it until we arrived back at the tent site. We took a different way back, using route 10, so that was fun. We washed up in the bathouse and called it a night. No rain, and total silence except the wilderness and distant cars. Thursday the 24th of August, we woke up around 7, quickly showered and packed, but still did not know what we would do for the day. After spending a bit of time in the truck looking at maps and proposing ideas, we decided that we'd spend another night camping out, rather than heading home. With that agreed upon, we chose an itinerary that would take us up to Plattsburg first, and then Southward ultimately into the Ticonderoga area. The weather was perfect, cool, blue skies with some fluffy white clouds. We left the Magic Pines Campground behind and quickly found ourselves in a not too impressive Plattsburg, where we got out to explore, but within a block or two found that we had already covered what there was to see. Across the street from where we parked there was a rustic looking coffee place called Camp Coffee, and we were greeted by the proprietor, a nice middle-aged woman alone inside at a table reading. She fixed Vee a capuccino and I had an organic blended coffee, each delicious, and we shared a wonderful warm cinnamon roll oozing with a molten white sugary sauce. While we continued enjoying our drinks, we sat on a large couch and read through some magazines and books that were there on the shelves. We left before completely finishing our drinks, with just enough left to take on the road for a few more sips. We stopped to re-fill the gas tank, and use the surprisingly clean bathroom facilities at a gas station before getting onto 87 South. We didn't stay on the throughway long because of a sign describing something called the Ausable Chasm, which I was convinced must be something interesting. I had seen references to Ausable river in many of the beautiful photos we saw in the Adirondack Museum and thought maybe there would be a connection. Though it was very pricey, at $16 per person, the chasm was a fantastic way to spend a few hours. We got to learn about the interesting rock formations and the horrible flood damage that devastated the chasm in the mid-90's. Vee took alot of pictures, and we walked the full length of the lower and upper trails out and back. At one point, we almost stepped on a snake in the path, but high-stepped backwards until the snake had moved to a safe distance away from the trail before we proceeded. There were beautiful falls, rapids, shear cliffs and amazing views all around. From there we continued South, passing through a number of towns including Keeseville, Port Henry, Willsboro, Westport, Hague, Ticonderoga, finally ending up in Schroon Lake. The topography during the drive along Lake Champlain through all these towns was absolutely astounding. The Green Mountains of Vermont in the distance, with their alternating layers of blue and gray frame the silvery water of the lake on the East and to the West, the magnificant rolling lush green mountains of the Adirondacks, and in between a patchwork of lakes, rivers, farms and fruit/veggie stands, and vast meadows of green, yellow and purple. The dark rain clouds rolled in and threatened to spoil the evening, but the rain didn't last very long. We tried a few campgrounds before finally pitching our tent in the Paradox Lake Campground, site#10, near the bathouse and nicely secluded with heavy foliage and tree cover and a gravel floor. It took us no time to get the tent up, use the facilities and head back into the nice little village of Schroon Lake where we had dinner at an Irish pub. I had a local IPA that was quite tastey and another local ale with a slight smokey flavor. For dinner, Vee had a chicken sandwich, we shared a dozen excellent hot wings, and I had a delicious french dip sandwich. Afterwards, we caught the 8 o'clock show at the theather across the street of Al Gore's "An Inconvenient Truth" which we had been wanting to see for some time. It was very well done, and horrifying. We're so screwed. Then in a sort of sad guilt-laden silence and intermittant exhasperated conversation about what the heck we could do about the looming environment crisis we were just reminded of, we drove back to the tent to try and get some sleep. A perfect day; even with the near fatal snake attack:-) Friday August 25th, we were up before 7 and on the road by 7:30. There was no one at the campground entrance, again, so we ended up not having to pay for last nights stay. We stopped in Lake George at Cafe Vero for coffees and pastries before continuing southward. The rain was heavy at times but despite that, our driving time to Philly was 5.5 hours and 365 miles. Dropped off our stuff and continued onto Perryville to meet up with Mom and Dad for a nice dinner by the Bay. | |
Friday, June 30, 2006
Dublin - A History Lesson Before Going Stateside
Tuesday June 27th, we had an extremely engaging conversation with a nice Irish couple during breakfast and learned more about how and why things have been booming here in the last decade. They also told us about a movie to see, called Ryan's Daughter, part of which was filmed at the Inch, where we were just this past week. After our delcious breakfast, and paying Mrs.O'Conner, we loaded the car in the light mist, and made our way back to Dublin. The drive was uneventful except for the atrocious traffic in the city, and we quickly found our hotel which was right close to the airport so we could easily drop our rental car off in the morning. For the third time now, the hotel did not have a record of our reservation, and I had to print off our confirmation from email. However, they got us into a room, even though we were quite early. After dropping off our bags, we took the #4 bus into the center of Dublin, visited a large department store, and then relaxed in an Insomnia Cafe where we talked, sipped our drinks and read our books. Our goal for the afternoon was to find a movie theater showing a new movie called The Wind That Shakes the Barley, which was about the divisive and sad history of Ireland's fight for liberation from England. We found a theater closeby that was showing the movie, and it was excellent. We then decided to stick around and also see "Thank You For Smoking", another excellent film, a satire about the sickening world of lobbying. In between movies, we grabbed a few goodies to eat, and did again afterwards, then took the bus back to the hotel and checked the World Cup scores. Brazil beat Ghana, and France beat Spain. Tomorrow is our final full day in Europe. Unbelievable.
Wednesday June 28th, our final full day in Dublin Ireland, and the last full day of this entire European experience, was most significantly spent learning more about the history of Ireland through a guided walking tour of Dublin. But first, in the morning, we drove the rental car to the airport and dropped it off at Eurocar no problem. We took a bus from there to Connolly Street in the city center and stopped into the tourist information center to get some ideas for walking tours, then made our way to or usual hangout, the Insomnia Cafe, where we looked at our brochures and made a plan for the day. We read and had our coffees, then walked to the Trinity College campus where we met up with our friendly tour guide, a young lady from London who was finishing up a PhD in history at the College. For the next two hours, we followed her to various important places in the city, amongst our group of about 15 people, while she explained the complicated history of Ireland along the way. We visited the main square in the College, then a large bank across from Trinity College, that once served as the parliament building, then on to Dublin Castle, Christ Church, and ultimately to the Temple Bar area where we paid up for the tour at another information center. We inquired about some plays and found one that sounded interesting, but first we needed something for dinner. First trying a really cool microbrewery, we left after about 15 minutes of sitting there with no service, tried an Italian place across the street with no tables available, and finally, just down the block, another Italian place where we had a delicious dinner, wine, dessert, and excellent service is an authentic quiet romantic setting. We then took a long walk to find the theater where this play was going to be put on, and found out that they offered no same-day discounts, and decided not too spend the money on tickets, and instead took the bus back to the hotel, filming the ride from the top level along the way, and pretty much called it a night.
Thursday June 29th, our last day, we woke up around 5:30 checked out and took a taxi to the Dublin airport. The driver was super-friendly and we chatted the whole way. On AerLingus, we flied into Shannon airport, where we waited a bit before re-boarding our plane that flew us ultimately into JFK in NYC. Once there, we got our bags and asked the information desk person how we could get from the airport onto a train to Philly. We took the "AirTrain", then the subway, then an Amtrak train, then a SEPTA train to Mt.Airy where we made the strange walk back to the house, thinking how just 4 months ago, we had had made the same walk in reverse, full of excitement, anxiousness and anticipation of the unknown. This time, it was a mix of sadness, melancholy, and nostalgia plus excitement to see family and friends and the Bay. We didn't bothered to look around the house much, and just grabbed a bunch of stuff, threw it all into the truck, and drove straight down to Perryville, stopping at Weavers to select some tastey brews, for our first quiet night along together back in the States. We toasted our arrival with a cold beer and stayed up late going through our huge box of mail. So it ended. And begins again. A fantastic life abroad so quickly morphed back into life at home, and the inevitable yet welcome near regularity that it brings.
Wednesday June 28th, our final full day in Dublin Ireland, and the last full day of this entire European experience, was most significantly spent learning more about the history of Ireland through a guided walking tour of Dublin. But first, in the morning, we drove the rental car to the airport and dropped it off at Eurocar no problem. We took a bus from there to Connolly Street in the city center and stopped into the tourist information center to get some ideas for walking tours, then made our way to or usual hangout, the Insomnia Cafe, where we looked at our brochures and made a plan for the day. We read and had our coffees, then walked to the Trinity College campus where we met up with our friendly tour guide, a young lady from London who was finishing up a PhD in history at the College. For the next two hours, we followed her to various important places in the city, amongst our group of about 15 people, while she explained the complicated history of Ireland along the way. We visited the main square in the College, then a large bank across from Trinity College, that once served as the parliament building, then on to Dublin Castle, Christ Church, and ultimately to the Temple Bar area where we paid up for the tour at another information center. We inquired about some plays and found one that sounded interesting, but first we needed something for dinner. First trying a really cool microbrewery, we left after about 15 minutes of sitting there with no service, tried an Italian place across the street with no tables available, and finally, just down the block, another Italian place where we had a delicious dinner, wine, dessert, and excellent service is an authentic quiet romantic setting. We then took a long walk to find the theater where this play was going to be put on, and found out that they offered no same-day discounts, and decided not too spend the money on tickets, and instead took the bus back to the hotel, filming the ride from the top level along the way, and pretty much called it a night.
Thursday June 29th, our last day, we woke up around 5:30 checked out and took a taxi to the Dublin airport. The driver was super-friendly and we chatted the whole way. On AerLingus, we flied into Shannon airport, where we waited a bit before re-boarding our plane that flew us ultimately into JFK in NYC. Once there, we got our bags and asked the information desk person how we could get from the airport onto a train to Philly. We took the "AirTrain", then the subway, then an Amtrak train, then a SEPTA train to Mt.Airy where we made the strange walk back to the house, thinking how just 4 months ago, we had had made the same walk in reverse, full of excitement, anxiousness and anticipation of the unknown. This time, it was a mix of sadness, melancholy, and nostalgia plus excitement to see family and friends and the Bay. We didn't bothered to look around the house much, and just grabbed a bunch of stuff, threw it all into the truck, and drove straight down to Perryville, stopping at Weavers to select some tastey brews, for our first quiet night along together back in the States. We toasted our arrival with a cold beer and stayed up late going through our huge box of mail. So it ended. And begins again. A fantastic life abroad so quickly morphed back into life at home, and the inevitable yet welcome near regularity that it brings.
Thursday, June 29, 2006
Ireland - Kilkenny, Kinsale, Glengarriff, Dingle and Killaloe
Friday June 23rd: In the morning, I enjoyed a delicious full Irish breakfast and Vee was quite happy with the continental. We needed to get cash to pay for our room, and therefore needed to find an ATM in town. It was far enough away for us to decide that we'd go ahead and tour Kilkenny Castle too since it was just right around the corner. We waited for the first tour of the day to begin, and were shown a short video about the infamous Butler family who lived there for generations, and a good background about the castle restoration before we were lead through the castle for another 40 minutes or so. After the tour, we stuck around for a bit and took pictures in the gardens and huge lawns, then went across the street to the old stables that have since been converted into artisan shops, as well as another Butler estate, enveloped in green ivy, its grounds and gardens. We walked back to the B&B and paid John, one of the hosts of the B&B, and had an insightful conversation about how so many people come back to Ireland from the U.S., Canada and Australia, hoping to trace their roots. He had many interesting first-hand stories to tell. And one was that his mother is the last living person to have worked for the Butler family in the castle that we had just toured that morning. They allowed us to park the car in a small spot on the sidewalk adjacent to their B&B, and we walked back into town to explore some more and find a cafe. The night before, it seemed like every other shop was some soft of cafe, but in the morning, we didn't come across as many, but we did find a nice little one where we shared capps and pastries. I asked our waitress where we could go to get a music CD, and she said there was a music store right next door...duh. After we finished, we went to look at CDs, but the prices were outrageous, with most of them being at least 18 EUR. Quickly giving up on the idea of buying a CD for the road, we went across the street to a huge department store to load up on some snacks and water for the next few days of driving. Bags in hand, we hiked back to the car and pointed ourselves to Kinsale, a cute fishing village with a marina and huge multi-colored rusty old fishing boats. We parked the car in a lot up the hill a bit, and walked around trying to find our b&b. We asked a lady in the pharmacy, and she pointed us back up the hill, where we asked another gentleman for help, and he told us exactly where we'd find it, and we did. We met John and Carroll of the Golden Gate as soon as we pulled in, and Carroll showed us to our room. They were real nice, and John seemed like a character, like a kid in a man's body. We unloaded our stuff and since Vee wasn't feeling well, I went into town to walk around some, and came home with some goodies too enjoy while watching World Cup.
Saturday June 24th, Vee felt better in the morning, and after a hearty breakfast, I went into town and got some cash to pay for our room, and while I was gone, Vee overheard another couple checking out, and the guy was explaining to John and Carroll how Bolivia was his favorite place to travel in the world. This got Vee quite excited and she ran out of our room to tell them that she was Bolivian, but the guy could hardly believe it. When I came back, Vee was still all wound up, and when we checked out, we had a really nice long conversation with Carroll and John about Bolivia and all kinds of other stuff, including the Irish sport of hurling. He even got into his truck and pulled out his old hurling stick to show me what it looked like. Its alot like field hockey, but rougher. He said there was a huge tournament going on the next day and that it would be televised. We said our goodbyes and parked the car in the lot down the hill, and walked around the little village of Kinsale until the afternoon. There were so many cool little curvy streets and funky shops, and we walked all the way out along the water by another boat marina, and back again where we stopped into a cafe to watch some Irish rugby and share some coffees. It was a beautiful morning and the sun was shining warm through the cafe's large windows. After we had our fill of rugby and coffee, we continued wandering around town a bit, then hopped back into the car to continue our journey to Glengarriff. As we got closer, the terrain got more interesting; much more craggly and rocky yet deeply green. We found the turn-off to our b&b before getting into town, and this place was AWESOME. The owner, Kathleen was a little angel, syrupy sweet, and showed us to a room that absolutely blew us away. Not only was it huge, and have an amazing view of the mountains and bay and pastures and gardens, but it was beautifully decorated with all the comforts of home. We could hardly believe it, especially given the price. We watched Germany win their match in the very nice common area, and had a nice conversation with a super nice and reserved older German gentleman who was a regular visitor of the b&b. We needed to get more cash to pay in the morning, as well as something to eat for dinner, so after the game, we drove into the tiny village of Glengarriff and found a convenient parking spot right in front of a little Celtic shop. We looked for an ATM, and found none. We stopped for dinner at a little pub, but they didn't accept credit cards and the waitress said that the only place that did was an Inn across the street, so that is where we went next, and had a delicious pub meal. The waitress there explained that we had two options for getting cash, 20 minutes in one direction, or 35 minutes in the other. So, after paying, we drove back out past our b&b to another town, and got money out there, and looked for an off-license to get some beers, but none were open. Back to the b&b for the night.
Sunday June 25th, we enjoyed a delicious breakfast and spoke some more with our German friend about where he was going for the day, and what our plans were. We still had not made reservations to stay anywhere, and were hoping to get some input from Kathleen and/or some other folks so we could make a decision on where we should plan to go for an overnight. Our German friend reiterated that Killarney would be virtually impassable because of a huge motorcycle rally and parade. So, after breakfast, we spent some time analyzing maps and our b&b directory and decided to drive an indirect route to Dingle, by taking the long way out and around the peninsula on N70, instead of the direct route on N71 which would take us right through Killarney. We packed the car and said our goodbyes to Kathleen, who was such a sweetheart, and as we pulled out, we all frantically waved at each other, like family, as we made our way up and then down the long gravel driveway. It was a wonderful start to our day, and it just kept getting better. When we left, we decided on today's travel plans mostly as a way to avoid the anticipated congestion around Killarney, even though we really wanted to see the city, as it comes highly recommended. But, what we didn't know, and would soon find out, was that the driving route we chose was actually one that people do on purpose, and is known as The Circle of Kerry. Absolutely amazing!!! Glengarriff itself was amazingly beautiful, and as we made our way through a number of really nice looking towns, especially Kenmare, the terrain through the sweeping green mountains, and alongside bays and inlets, was breathtaking. I couldn't help but to keep stopping alongside the road to take pictures, probably 5 or 6 times. We stopped for a little break in a small waterside village called Waterville, where we took a nice walk on a sidewalk alongside the water, and then popped into a little cafe for some capps and Internet access. The town was loaded with Harley riders, from all over, including the U.S., France, Italy, Germany, etc. We also called a b&b in Dingle, and made a reservation at the Ard-Na-Mara house with Mrs.Ann Murphy, and got some directions on how to get to her place once we arrive in Dingle. We jumped back in the car, and continued on our way, continuing to take video, photos, oohhing and aahhing at all the green splendor. Another stop, at the last second, was at the "Inch", a strange but awesome stretch of beach among the surrounding moutains where you can drive your vehicle onto the wide flat beach, and do all the normal beach activities that we would do at home. It reminded me of what the Outer Banks might look like, minus the huge green mountains and the Red Cliffs. After enjoying some beach time, we continued onward and long before our expected arrival time, we landed in Dingle. It was not immediately that we found the b&b, but after a few attempts, we found it, and Mrs.Murphy was a sheer delight as she showed us the rooms we could choose from; we chose the one with the view to the Bay, instead of the larger room with a view of the pasture. Tough...heheheee. After unloading the bags, we drove back into town and took a nice long stroll throughout, stopping in a few shops, and then wandering up the hill around the backside of town, into a new development, and back along the water into town from the opposite side. For dinner, we looked at a number menus, and walked into one with definite "criag", but there were no seats or tables available. Finally, into a pub called Murhpy's where we had a delicious meal, where Vee had an opened face chicken sandwich and I had a cajun chicken and vegetable dish. After dinner, I tried to find an "off-license" for a few beers, but they were all closed. Back to the b&b for a nice early night of reading and downloaing our pictures.
Monday June 26th, we arose in the quiet solitude of Dingle, cleaned up, and headed down for breakfast, where we ended up having a really nice conversation with a really sweet young couple from Turino Italy, Simone and Guliana. Having been in so many places has opened up opportunities for connecting with people so much more easily than before. Guliana and Simone shared all the things they knew about Philly (The movie "Philadelphia", the "Philadelphia" cream-cheese, "Rocky"), and we in exchange told them about our impressions of specific parts of Italy. We exchanged contact information and offered our homes for any future visits in Italy/U.S.. Mrs.Murphy made sure we were well fed and happy, and we were, as I had scrambled eggs and smoked salmon, and Vee had smoked salmon over toast. With the car packed, we paid Mrs.Murphy, and got some last minute advice on where to stay for the night, and decided on Killolee, rather than Limerick or Adare. Our road trip in the morning took us around the Dingle peninsula, where we stopped a number of times to enjoy the spectacular views. One was at a super long and wide beautiful beach where cow pastures had the best ocean front location and the development was sparse to almost non-existant. Another was a view from above, of another wonderful beach. Another spot was at the top of the Conner Pass, where we climbed to the peak and stood on a pile of rocks from 360 degree views, including Brandon Mountain and Brandon Bay on one side of the mountains, and Dingle and the Dingle Bay on the other side. From the top, we rang a b&b in Killolee and were successful on the fourth dial. We had to shimmee the car down the one lane pass, avoiding a few oncoming cars and a bus or two, but luckily, it opened back up to two lanes and was actually quite a nice road beyond the construction. We stopped in a little town called CastleIsland for capps and pastries in the late afternoon, then on through Adare and Limerick and lots of other smaller towns before arriving in Killoloe. We mistakenly crossed the bridge into the adjacent town, after sitting in traffic forever, then had to reverse coarse, and sit in traffic again, but were able to right ourselves, and found the b&b soon after. We were greeted by Bryan, the owner's son, at the front door, and he showed us our room, gave us the keys and explained what the keys were for. We dropped off our bags and on the way out met the very friendly owner, Anne O'Conner, on our way out for a walk into town for dinner at Gooser's where I had a burger and Vee had a veggie baguette and we shared a scallop app and a chocolate mousse dessert. We walked back to the b&b where Vee showered and I washed some clothes in the sink with the Switzerland-Ukraine game on the tele. Probably just do some reading before bed.
Saturday June 24th, Vee felt better in the morning, and after a hearty breakfast, I went into town and got some cash to pay for our room, and while I was gone, Vee overheard another couple checking out, and the guy was explaining to John and Carroll how Bolivia was his favorite place to travel in the world. This got Vee quite excited and she ran out of our room to tell them that she was Bolivian, but the guy could hardly believe it. When I came back, Vee was still all wound up, and when we checked out, we had a really nice long conversation with Carroll and John about Bolivia and all kinds of other stuff, including the Irish sport of hurling. He even got into his truck and pulled out his old hurling stick to show me what it looked like. Its alot like field hockey, but rougher. He said there was a huge tournament going on the next day and that it would be televised. We said our goodbyes and parked the car in the lot down the hill, and walked around the little village of Kinsale until the afternoon. There were so many cool little curvy streets and funky shops, and we walked all the way out along the water by another boat marina, and back again where we stopped into a cafe to watch some Irish rugby and share some coffees. It was a beautiful morning and the sun was shining warm through the cafe's large windows. After we had our fill of rugby and coffee, we continued wandering around town a bit, then hopped back into the car to continue our journey to Glengarriff. As we got closer, the terrain got more interesting; much more craggly and rocky yet deeply green. We found the turn-off to our b&b before getting into town, and this place was AWESOME. The owner, Kathleen was a little angel, syrupy sweet, and showed us to a room that absolutely blew us away. Not only was it huge, and have an amazing view of the mountains and bay and pastures and gardens, but it was beautifully decorated with all the comforts of home. We could hardly believe it, especially given the price. We watched Germany win their match in the very nice common area, and had a nice conversation with a super nice and reserved older German gentleman who was a regular visitor of the b&b. We needed to get more cash to pay in the morning, as well as something to eat for dinner, so after the game, we drove into the tiny village of Glengarriff and found a convenient parking spot right in front of a little Celtic shop. We looked for an ATM, and found none. We stopped for dinner at a little pub, but they didn't accept credit cards and the waitress said that the only place that did was an Inn across the street, so that is where we went next, and had a delicious pub meal. The waitress there explained that we had two options for getting cash, 20 minutes in one direction, or 35 minutes in the other. So, after paying, we drove back out past our b&b to another town, and got money out there, and looked for an off-license to get some beers, but none were open. Back to the b&b for the night.
Sunday June 25th, we enjoyed a delicious breakfast and spoke some more with our German friend about where he was going for the day, and what our plans were. We still had not made reservations to stay anywhere, and were hoping to get some input from Kathleen and/or some other folks so we could make a decision on where we should plan to go for an overnight. Our German friend reiterated that Killarney would be virtually impassable because of a huge motorcycle rally and parade. So, after breakfast, we spent some time analyzing maps and our b&b directory and decided to drive an indirect route to Dingle, by taking the long way out and around the peninsula on N70, instead of the direct route on N71 which would take us right through Killarney. We packed the car and said our goodbyes to Kathleen, who was such a sweetheart, and as we pulled out, we all frantically waved at each other, like family, as we made our way up and then down the long gravel driveway. It was a wonderful start to our day, and it just kept getting better. When we left, we decided on today's travel plans mostly as a way to avoid the anticipated congestion around Killarney, even though we really wanted to see the city, as it comes highly recommended. But, what we didn't know, and would soon find out, was that the driving route we chose was actually one that people do on purpose, and is known as The Circle of Kerry. Absolutely amazing!!! Glengarriff itself was amazingly beautiful, and as we made our way through a number of really nice looking towns, especially Kenmare, the terrain through the sweeping green mountains, and alongside bays and inlets, was breathtaking. I couldn't help but to keep stopping alongside the road to take pictures, probably 5 or 6 times. We stopped for a little break in a small waterside village called Waterville, where we took a nice walk on a sidewalk alongside the water, and then popped into a little cafe for some capps and Internet access. The town was loaded with Harley riders, from all over, including the U.S., France, Italy, Germany, etc. We also called a b&b in Dingle, and made a reservation at the Ard-Na-Mara house with Mrs.Ann Murphy, and got some directions on how to get to her place once we arrive in Dingle. We jumped back in the car, and continued on our way, continuing to take video, photos, oohhing and aahhing at all the green splendor. Another stop, at the last second, was at the "Inch", a strange but awesome stretch of beach among the surrounding moutains where you can drive your vehicle onto the wide flat beach, and do all the normal beach activities that we would do at home. It reminded me of what the Outer Banks might look like, minus the huge green mountains and the Red Cliffs. After enjoying some beach time, we continued onward and long before our expected arrival time, we landed in Dingle. It was not immediately that we found the b&b, but after a few attempts, we found it, and Mrs.Murphy was a sheer delight as she showed us the rooms we could choose from; we chose the one with the view to the Bay, instead of the larger room with a view of the pasture. Tough...heheheee. After unloading the bags, we drove back into town and took a nice long stroll throughout, stopping in a few shops, and then wandering up the hill around the backside of town, into a new development, and back along the water into town from the opposite side. For dinner, we looked at a number menus, and walked into one with definite "criag", but there were no seats or tables available. Finally, into a pub called Murhpy's where we had a delicious meal, where Vee had an opened face chicken sandwich and I had a cajun chicken and vegetable dish. After dinner, I tried to find an "off-license" for a few beers, but they were all closed. Back to the b&b for a nice early night of reading and downloaing our pictures.
Monday June 26th, we arose in the quiet solitude of Dingle, cleaned up, and headed down for breakfast, where we ended up having a really nice conversation with a really sweet young couple from Turino Italy, Simone and Guliana. Having been in so many places has opened up opportunities for connecting with people so much more easily than before. Guliana and Simone shared all the things they knew about Philly (The movie "Philadelphia", the "Philadelphia" cream-cheese, "Rocky"), and we in exchange told them about our impressions of specific parts of Italy. We exchanged contact information and offered our homes for any future visits in Italy/U.S.. Mrs.Murphy made sure we were well fed and happy, and we were, as I had scrambled eggs and smoked salmon, and Vee had smoked salmon over toast. With the car packed, we paid Mrs.Murphy, and got some last minute advice on where to stay for the night, and decided on Killolee, rather than Limerick or Adare. Our road trip in the morning took us around the Dingle peninsula, where we stopped a number of times to enjoy the spectacular views. One was at a super long and wide beautiful beach where cow pastures had the best ocean front location and the development was sparse to almost non-existant. Another was a view from above, of another wonderful beach. Another spot was at the top of the Conner Pass, where we climbed to the peak and stood on a pile of rocks from 360 degree views, including Brandon Mountain and Brandon Bay on one side of the mountains, and Dingle and the Dingle Bay on the other side. From the top, we rang a b&b in Killolee and were successful on the fourth dial. We had to shimmee the car down the one lane pass, avoiding a few oncoming cars and a bus or two, but luckily, it opened back up to two lanes and was actually quite a nice road beyond the construction. We stopped in a little town called CastleIsland for capps and pastries in the late afternoon, then on through Adare and Limerick and lots of other smaller towns before arriving in Killoloe. We mistakenly crossed the bridge into the adjacent town, after sitting in traffic forever, then had to reverse coarse, and sit in traffic again, but were able to right ourselves, and found the b&b soon after. We were greeted by Bryan, the owner's son, at the front door, and he showed us our room, gave us the keys and explained what the keys were for. We dropped off our bags and on the way out met the very friendly owner, Anne O'Conner, on our way out for a walk into town for dinner at Gooser's where I had a burger and Vee had a veggie baguette and we shared a scallop app and a chocolate mousse dessert. We walked back to the b&b where Vee showered and I washed some clothes in the sink with the Switzerland-Ukraine game on the tele. Probably just do some reading before bed.
Tuesday, June 27, 2006
Dublin - A Full Day in the City, and Then on the Road
Wednesday June 21st would be a full day in the city center of Dublin. Fighting the rain, and very nasty wind, we walked down into town where we found the tram. We ended up running into, and talking with a guy from Lancaster, PA who does website design and was here in Ireland to visit his deceased wife's grave. We talked for a while on the tram into the city, and after parting ways, we made our way to an Insomnia Cafe for some capps, sandwiches, etc., and then continued onto various city destinations including the Dublin castle, a tour of St.Patrick's Cathedral, many of the shopping districts and into the Guiness St.James Storage tour which was very fun, informative, and tastey. Outside, the wind and rain continued it's abuse, but we persisted, and continued walking and exploring alongside the river and back towards some of the shopping areas where we stopped to get some refreshments to take back to the hotel, and then took the tram back, ordered a delivery pizza from Four Star, and watched World Cup football. We would both agree that Dublin is a really cool, vibrant, unprecoscious, young city with tons of energy and bustle. We are amazed at how tied people are to their mobile phones and their iPods, but that just seems to be the way things are going, and these young folks are leading the charge.
Thursday June 22nd, we began embraced the open roads of Ireland. In the morning, we checked out of the IMI Residence, missed the bus by about 5 seconds, and rather than waiting 45 minutes for the next one, we hiked down to town and caught the tram into the city center of Dublin (St.Stephens Square). We walked towards O'Connell Street, from where the airport bus runs. After locating the stop for our bus, we walked back to Henry Street and found an Insomnia Cafe where we enjoyed some capps and eats and a lively conversation about globalization, it's impact on the U.S. versus Europe, as well as how identifying oneself with a religion and/or political party influences one's paradigm of the issues of the day. Soon after a waitress accidentally dumped a mug full of hot chocolate down the steps right next to us, we gathered our bags and walked back over to the bus stop. A taxi driver pulled up and said he'd charge the same rate for a ride to the airport and so we and another couple took him up on the offer. At the airport, the young lady at the Europcar rental desk got us all set up and before long we were outside getting into our little light blue automatic Ford Focus hatchback. We took our time getting prepared before I pulled out onto the highway, but once we both got familiar with the roads we'd be taking, we went for it. I was jittery, and Vee was apprehensive, but after a while, we finally escaped the worst of the traffic, and found ourselves cruising the highways without issue. Driving on the left side of the road became less of an issue as more time went by, but the roundabouts, intersections, exits, and narrow streets were nerve racking. We got a bit screwed up in Kilkenny, but with Vee's navigation skills, we righted our way and found the Celtic House B&B without too much trouble. Traffic is bad though. We were greeted by our hosts and we pulled the car into their gated parking area. We brought our bags inside, and soon went out to find a bit of dinner. We walked this fabulous town for a while, and eventually went into a great little family pub for a delicious meal; I had a beef and Guiness stew and Vee had a chicken in creamed mushroom sauce plate. Our waitress was fantastic, and after we paid up, we walked around town some more, admiring the old buildings, pubs, cafes, shops, churches, the castle, etc., and popped into and off-license for some beers to bring back to our room for the night. We caught the end of Brazil's 4-1 win over Japan, and that would pretty much complete the day.
Dublin - Through Glasgow from Edinburgh
Monday June 19th,
(Vee reporting): This was our last day in Scotland. We left our Euro-hostal bedroom by 9am, and headed inmediately towards St.Andrews Square (next to the scottish monument), where the visitors center is located. After speaking with one of the agents we learned that the bus station was only 2 blocks away. Thirty minutes later we were seated on our Bus with destination to GLASGOW.
The trip was very short (only 1 hour), and the glasgowian bus station was conveniently located in the heart of the city. After locking our bags in the station, we headed inmediately towards the main streets of Glasgow, and despite all the comments we heard about it being a not-so-nice city, we were gladly surprised. Glasgow is probably the biggest shopping city we have seen so far, surpassing Milano, Seville, Barcelona, Rome and Berlin. It is filled with wide pedestrian streets full with busy stores of all sizes, prices, brands and types. Glasgow (like every other big city we have visited) was crowded with people in the middle of the day (we keep wondering if people actually work!), which gave the city an energetic vibe.
After a quick Costa-Cafe break we continued our walk south and then east, covering the main areas of the city.
By 3 pm we felt ready for lunch and decided to stop at an italian restaurant where we had one of the best bruschettas we have ever had. We also shared a delicious pizza and a tasty dessert. The waiter was especially nice. He was a very friendly italian gentleman who recently visited Philadelphia. He was very excited to learn that we were from Philly, and made sure to give us his full attention and service.
A nice tip and 2 full bellies later, we were back on the streets of Glasgow. Cliff and I have not watched a movie since early February, and after confirming that we had in fact covered most of what Glasgow is known for (with the exception of its beautiful National Museums), we felt guilt-free to enjoy a movie at the theather. "The Da Vinci Code" was better than we thought it would, and did the trick. Luckily it finished right on time for us to take the bus to the airport, where we were flying off to Dublin.
The flight to Dublin was only 45 minutes! However the waiting line for inmigration took close to 2 hours! We were happy when we finally picked up our bags and were on our way to the Hotel that we had booked for the first night in Dublin.
The taxi-driver was super friendly, and made sure to recommend a few places to see and visit while in the city.
The Hotel was such a nice relief. It is an almost new construction and our bedroom was beautiful, and super comfortable...a nice break from the euro-hostal we had been enjoying in Edinburgh.
Cliff had to have a guiness, but shortly afterwards (around 2:30 am), we were in bed and very much asleep.
Tuesday June 20th, since the hotel was fully booked, we had to check into another one, and so spent the day making the transition from one to the other. Our intentions were to spend the majority of the day exploring the city center. But, with the time and effort it took to get from our hotel, into downtown, onto the next bus and to our new hotel, and then finding our room hooked up to free always on wired Internet, we decided to use the rest of the day as a work day. And besides, the weather was windy and rainy, and that wasn't exactly a motivating factor. We actually REALLY needed a down day since we both had sore feet and were a bit tired of the hustle of having to check in and check out of a different hotel room each night for the past two weeks or so. Vee worked on videos, I wrote postcards, did laundry, and then ventured out to find a store and a post office, with complete success, and then while Vee worked, I continued to read and watch World Cup football. We nibbled on bread with nutella, and chips. Not much else to report.
(Vee reporting): This was our last day in Scotland. We left our Euro-hostal bedroom by 9am, and headed inmediately towards St.Andrews Square (next to the scottish monument), where the visitors center is located. After speaking with one of the agents we learned that the bus station was only 2 blocks away. Thirty minutes later we were seated on our Bus with destination to GLASGOW.
The trip was very short (only 1 hour), and the glasgowian bus station was conveniently located in the heart of the city. After locking our bags in the station, we headed inmediately towards the main streets of Glasgow, and despite all the comments we heard about it being a not-so-nice city, we were gladly surprised. Glasgow is probably the biggest shopping city we have seen so far, surpassing Milano, Seville, Barcelona, Rome and Berlin. It is filled with wide pedestrian streets full with busy stores of all sizes, prices, brands and types. Glasgow (like every other big city we have visited) was crowded with people in the middle of the day (we keep wondering if people actually work!), which gave the city an energetic vibe.
After a quick Costa-Cafe break we continued our walk south and then east, covering the main areas of the city.
By 3 pm we felt ready for lunch and decided to stop at an italian restaurant where we had one of the best bruschettas we have ever had. We also shared a delicious pizza and a tasty dessert. The waiter was especially nice. He was a very friendly italian gentleman who recently visited Philadelphia. He was very excited to learn that we were from Philly, and made sure to give us his full attention and service.
A nice tip and 2 full bellies later, we were back on the streets of Glasgow. Cliff and I have not watched a movie since early February, and after confirming that we had in fact covered most of what Glasgow is known for (with the exception of its beautiful National Museums), we felt guilt-free to enjoy a movie at the theather. "The Da Vinci Code" was better than we thought it would, and did the trick. Luckily it finished right on time for us to take the bus to the airport, where we were flying off to Dublin.
The flight to Dublin was only 45 minutes! However the waiting line for inmigration took close to 2 hours! We were happy when we finally picked up our bags and were on our way to the Hotel that we had booked for the first night in Dublin.
The taxi-driver was super friendly, and made sure to recommend a few places to see and visit while in the city.
The Hotel was such a nice relief. It is an almost new construction and our bedroom was beautiful, and super comfortable...a nice break from the euro-hostal we had been enjoying in Edinburgh.
Cliff had to have a guiness, but shortly afterwards (around 2:30 am), we were in bed and very much asleep.
Tuesday June 20th, since the hotel was fully booked, we had to check into another one, and so spent the day making the transition from one to the other. Our intentions were to spend the majority of the day exploring the city center. But, with the time and effort it took to get from our hotel, into downtown, onto the next bus and to our new hotel, and then finding our room hooked up to free always on wired Internet, we decided to use the rest of the day as a work day. And besides, the weather was windy and rainy, and that wasn't exactly a motivating factor. We actually REALLY needed a down day since we both had sore feet and were a bit tired of the hustle of having to check in and check out of a different hotel room each night for the past two weeks or so. Vee worked on videos, I wrote postcards, did laundry, and then ventured out to find a store and a post office, with complete success, and then while Vee worked, I continued to read and watch World Cup football. We nibbled on bread with nutella, and chips. Not much else to report.
Edinurgh - Road Trip to Highlands, Loch Ness, St.Augustus and Inverness
Saturday the 17th of June,
(Vee reporting) We got up quite early compared to what we are accostumed by now (6 am), but we had a tour-bus to catch at 7:45 am to begin our 2-day "Highland Experience".
Our bus arrived right on time, and so we met our guide for the trip: "Big John", a tall, very friendly, animated and funny scottish guy around our age who obviously loves his job. "Big J" has 3 passions which he made sure to share with us for the following hours: Scottish outdoors sports, scottish history, and scottish whisky. This was just fine with us, since Cliff and I have come to LOVE learning about the history of these beautiful countries and treasure when this information comes freely and in such a fun way. With 15+ people or so comfortably seated in the bus, we began our ride north driving through the famous "Forth Bridge" to pass by St. Andrews (this is the very famous and privileged private university from which Prince William graduated last year!). After a 30-minute breakfast break in Dundee, we continued north driving through Pitlochry until reaching Dalwhinne where we were allowed a 45 -minute lunch break. We skipped lunch, but enjoyed the free-whisky tasting that was strongly recommended by big J. We also picked-up a very tasty and authentic scottish whisky for Dad, AND some "walkers" cookies as a snack. Once again in our bus, we continued our journey to the end of the first part of the trip for us: Fort Augustus, more known as the small little village next to "LOCH NESS". As most of you know, Loch Ness is mostly known as the official residence of "Nessie" the scottish dragon-like monster that some people believe to have seen in the waters of this lake for centuries. This is also the village where John dropped us off not before explaining us where our Bed & Breakfast is located.
Our B&B was only 2 blocks away from the lake, which I guess is quite far, considering that the whole village was 3 blocks long! The "Caledonian B&B" is a gorgeous 3 story-victorian home with a beaitiful garden, and lovely en-suite bedrooms full of character. Our host was a SUPER-friendly lady from London who had moved to this small area a few years back with her husband. She inmediately showed us our rooms and made us feel very comfortable and at ease.
After leaving or bags, and with still a half day ahead of us, we walked down to the center of town (all two blocks) and headed towards the tourist information center to inquire about the bus scheduled to "Inverness" (the town at the other end of Loch Ness). Thirty minutes and 22 EUROS later (ouch!) we were seated on the Bus to Inverness. The trip was only 1 hour long, but the views were all worth it....Sctoland is a BEAUTIFUL land, covered with green valleys, hills, mountains and lots of red-haired "hairy-coos(cows)". Inverness was a nice town to see, but for some reason it wasn't quite what we expected. We walked through most (if not all the city) and before we knew it, we arrived back to our bus station. We had only been 2 hours in town, yet we felt ready to go (we also wanted to catch the USA-Italy soccer match on time).
The trip back home felt quick, and so after quickly buying our beverages and snacks for the night we headed back to our B&B where we watched the incredible match that ended with 9 US players against 10 italians, AND with an impressive 1-1 score.
Sunday June 18th,
(Vee reporting) We tried to get up early for breakfast, but with our very late nights it's not an easy task to accomplish. I finally got out of bed afer hearing a small knock on our door. It was 8:30am and apparently we were expected for breakfast at the table by 8am.
Breakfast was simply DELICIOUS!! You should've seen Cliff's eyes when he saw his authenthic scottish breakfast arriving to our table. Our host was very entertaining as well. She asked where we came from and where we had been so far, then she told us more about the small village, and what people were like. Her hilarious sense of humour kept me laughing all through breakfast. When we finally asked her why scottish people were so openly against the british soccer team, and therefore against anything english; she told us about a unique answer she got from a scottish friend of hers :"If we didn't hate the english, we would kill each other!". Her perfect imitation of the scottish accent made it even funnier, and pleased our curiosity.
We still had an hour before catching our 11am FREE Loch-Ness boat cruise, so we decided to walk a little beyond the village. Only a few yards beyond town we found a beautful farm right next to the channel that connects Loch Ness with another Loch (lake). This is where we met "Henry the horny horse". Henry is a very good-looking blonde-haired horse who was happily eating some grass a bit far away from the fence where we stood. We invited Henry to approach us by offering him some grass in the hopes of catching a close-up picture of him. Henry did come towards us, but suddenly stopped before reaching the fence. I kept trying to persuade him to eat the grass out of my hands, but apparently I wasn't trustworthy. This is when Cliff and I exchanged roles by handing him the grass and me holding the video camera instead. Well, this proved to be a succesful idea. Right when Henry was approaching Cliffs hands, the close-up lense of the camera showed me something else that was quite unexpected and made Cliff retrieve his hands inmediately: Henry had suddenly grown a fifth leg; 5 (yes FIVE) legs, instead of four... when I told Cliff, we both retreated. Henry the horny horse, needed some time alone...
After laughing our way back to Loch Ness, we got there right on time to catch our cruise. If you ask us if we saw the monster, then you'll have to wait to see the pictures and videos of our cruise....for now, lets just say that we had an "interesting" experience.
Back on land, we inmediately met big J who had just arrived with the new group of people that came with his bus to complete the 2nd part of our "Highland Experience". The bus was a bit fuller than the day before, but we had no problem getting our seats, and the ride back to Edinburgh was pretty much uneventful, bus still very beautiful and interesting. We drove by Forth William while learning some interesting facts about this area, we later stopped in Glencoe and once again learned some fascinating (and tragic!) stories about some of the old scottish clans like the McDonalds and the Campbells. The McDonalds in particular, have many stories that are still remembered and celebrated in scottish history. The views at this point were absolutely incredible. The mountains of the highlands are so beautiful that I won't even try to describe them, and will only hope that some of the pictures and videos will do them a bit of justice. From here we continued our way south to Stirling, which is mostly known for the famous battles of Stirling that William Wallace lead and WON against the english of Edward the 1st. This is Wallace land, and after seeing it I can assure you that it is a place that I will not forget. The trip until this point was pretty much perfect, with the exception of one little annoyance we experienced in the bus on our way back to Edinburgh. Out of all the passengers, there were only 3 americans: Cliff, a girl and her boyfriend. The "boyfriend" kept interrupting John's stories by telling some of his own stories about the US and how much "cooler", "bigger","better", "expensive", "glamorous", everything in the US is in comparisson to what he had seen so far. Cliff was soo embarrased, since we assume that probably the rest of the bus thought that we either were with them, or we were just like them. Our guide (big J) showed his annoyance as well, but was able to handle the interruptions with class and peacefully.
An hour before arriving to Edinburgh we made our last stop on the road. It was time to meet "Haimish" a 13-year old hairy-coo(cow), who was hard at work ready to entertain the newcomers who were there to see him.
Shortly before 8pm we arrived back to Edinburgh, completely exhausted and very much ready for bed.
(Vee reporting) We got up quite early compared to what we are accostumed by now (6 am), but we had a tour-bus to catch at 7:45 am to begin our 2-day "Highland Experience".
Our bus arrived right on time, and so we met our guide for the trip: "Big John", a tall, very friendly, animated and funny scottish guy around our age who obviously loves his job. "Big J" has 3 passions which he made sure to share with us for the following hours: Scottish outdoors sports, scottish history, and scottish whisky. This was just fine with us, since Cliff and I have come to LOVE learning about the history of these beautiful countries and treasure when this information comes freely and in such a fun way. With 15+ people or so comfortably seated in the bus, we began our ride north driving through the famous "Forth Bridge" to pass by St. Andrews (this is the very famous and privileged private university from which Prince William graduated last year!). After a 30-minute breakfast break in Dundee, we continued north driving through Pitlochry until reaching Dalwhinne where we were allowed a 45 -minute lunch break. We skipped lunch, but enjoyed the free-whisky tasting that was strongly recommended by big J. We also picked-up a very tasty and authentic scottish whisky for Dad, AND some "walkers" cookies as a snack. Once again in our bus, we continued our journey to the end of the first part of the trip for us: Fort Augustus, more known as the small little village next to "LOCH NESS". As most of you know, Loch Ness is mostly known as the official residence of "Nessie" the scottish dragon-like monster that some people believe to have seen in the waters of this lake for centuries. This is also the village where John dropped us off not before explaining us where our Bed & Breakfast is located.
Our B&B was only 2 blocks away from the lake, which I guess is quite far, considering that the whole village was 3 blocks long! The "Caledonian B&B" is a gorgeous 3 story-victorian home with a beaitiful garden, and lovely en-suite bedrooms full of character. Our host was a SUPER-friendly lady from London who had moved to this small area a few years back with her husband. She inmediately showed us our rooms and made us feel very comfortable and at ease.
After leaving or bags, and with still a half day ahead of us, we walked down to the center of town (all two blocks) and headed towards the tourist information center to inquire about the bus scheduled to "Inverness" (the town at the other end of Loch Ness). Thirty minutes and 22 EUROS later (ouch!) we were seated on the Bus to Inverness. The trip was only 1 hour long, but the views were all worth it....Sctoland is a BEAUTIFUL land, covered with green valleys, hills, mountains and lots of red-haired "hairy-coos(cows)". Inverness was a nice town to see, but for some reason it wasn't quite what we expected. We walked through most (if not all the city) and before we knew it, we arrived back to our bus station. We had only been 2 hours in town, yet we felt ready to go (we also wanted to catch the USA-Italy soccer match on time).
The trip back home felt quick, and so after quickly buying our beverages and snacks for the night we headed back to our B&B where we watched the incredible match that ended with 9 US players against 10 italians, AND with an impressive 1-1 score.
Sunday June 18th,
(Vee reporting) We tried to get up early for breakfast, but with our very late nights it's not an easy task to accomplish. I finally got out of bed afer hearing a small knock on our door. It was 8:30am and apparently we were expected for breakfast at the table by 8am.
Breakfast was simply DELICIOUS!! You should've seen Cliff's eyes when he saw his authenthic scottish breakfast arriving to our table. Our host was very entertaining as well. She asked where we came from and where we had been so far, then she told us more about the small village, and what people were like. Her hilarious sense of humour kept me laughing all through breakfast. When we finally asked her why scottish people were so openly against the british soccer team, and therefore against anything english; she told us about a unique answer she got from a scottish friend of hers :"If we didn't hate the english, we would kill each other!". Her perfect imitation of the scottish accent made it even funnier, and pleased our curiosity.
We still had an hour before catching our 11am FREE Loch-Ness boat cruise, so we decided to walk a little beyond the village. Only a few yards beyond town we found a beautful farm right next to the channel that connects Loch Ness with another Loch (lake). This is where we met "Henry the horny horse". Henry is a very good-looking blonde-haired horse who was happily eating some grass a bit far away from the fence where we stood. We invited Henry to approach us by offering him some grass in the hopes of catching a close-up picture of him. Henry did come towards us, but suddenly stopped before reaching the fence. I kept trying to persuade him to eat the grass out of my hands, but apparently I wasn't trustworthy. This is when Cliff and I exchanged roles by handing him the grass and me holding the video camera instead. Well, this proved to be a succesful idea. Right when Henry was approaching Cliffs hands, the close-up lense of the camera showed me something else that was quite unexpected and made Cliff retrieve his hands inmediately: Henry had suddenly grown a fifth leg; 5 (yes FIVE) legs, instead of four... when I told Cliff, we both retreated. Henry the horny horse, needed some time alone...
After laughing our way back to Loch Ness, we got there right on time to catch our cruise. If you ask us if we saw the monster, then you'll have to wait to see the pictures and videos of our cruise....for now, lets just say that we had an "interesting" experience.
Back on land, we inmediately met big J who had just arrived with the new group of people that came with his bus to complete the 2nd part of our "Highland Experience". The bus was a bit fuller than the day before, but we had no problem getting our seats, and the ride back to Edinburgh was pretty much uneventful, bus still very beautiful and interesting. We drove by Forth William while learning some interesting facts about this area, we later stopped in Glencoe and once again learned some fascinating (and tragic!) stories about some of the old scottish clans like the McDonalds and the Campbells. The McDonalds in particular, have many stories that are still remembered and celebrated in scottish history. The views at this point were absolutely incredible. The mountains of the highlands are so beautiful that I won't even try to describe them, and will only hope that some of the pictures and videos will do them a bit of justice. From here we continued our way south to Stirling, which is mostly known for the famous battles of Stirling that William Wallace lead and WON against the english of Edward the 1st. This is Wallace land, and after seeing it I can assure you that it is a place that I will not forget. The trip until this point was pretty much perfect, with the exception of one little annoyance we experienced in the bus on our way back to Edinburgh. Out of all the passengers, there were only 3 americans: Cliff, a girl and her boyfriend. The "boyfriend" kept interrupting John's stories by telling some of his own stories about the US and how much "cooler", "bigger","better", "expensive", "glamorous", everything in the US is in comparisson to what he had seen so far. Cliff was soo embarrased, since we assume that probably the rest of the bus thought that we either were with them, or we were just like them. Our guide (big J) showed his annoyance as well, but was able to handle the interruptions with class and peacefully.
An hour before arriving to Edinburgh we made our last stop on the road. It was time to meet "Haimish" a 13-year old hairy-coo(cow), who was hard at work ready to entertain the newcomers who were there to see him.
Shortly before 8pm we arrived back to Edinburgh, completely exhausted and very much ready for bed.
Edinburgh - Harry Potter, Braveheart and Rosslyn Chapel
Thursday June 15th, we got cleaned up, extended our stay for a few more nights, and went over to the Elephant Cafe for coffees and something to eat. The Elephant Cafe is where J.K. Rowling was inspired to begin writing the Harry Potter stories. Also, according to the brochure that we received, it has consistently been voted the number one coffee shop in Ediburgh. We think that Vee sat in the seat that gave her the same view to the castle that Ms.Rowling must have had when she began writing her billion dollar books. We shared a massive croissant and a tuna sandwich, and coffees while I pecked away on the computer, and Vee caught up with the news. We took our time and enjoyed ourselves, then went to the Internet cafe where we made reservations for our first night's stay in dublin, and bought tickets on AerLingus to fly from Glasgow to Dublin. We tried to make reservations for our Megabus trip from Edinburgh to Glasgow, but my credit card was giving me a fit, and we decided, since there were so many scheduled departures, to just buy our ticket upon boarding on Monday morning. Once finished with the computer, we walked down the Royal Mile to the Edinburgh Museum, and toured it's entire exhibit from prehistoric times to last century. From there, we walked up the hill to the observatory and adjoining monuments for some really nice views of the city. Then, we crossed the city, walking over to Princes and Rose street to the FOPP store and bought the Braveheart DVD on sale, then to the grocery store for a little salmon and cucumber on wheat sandwich that we ate sitting outside in the gardens near the visitors center. Since it was still fairly early, and we felt that we had pretty much seen all that we could that was still open, we walked Princes Street all the way down into the residential areas, and then back up the entire length of Rose Street. Along the way, we popped into a pub and caught the end of the England vs Trinidad Tobago match which England won 2-0. The behavior of the cheering English fans in the pub put Vee in a foul mood, but that eventually dissipated by the time we stopped in the grocery store again to collect a light dinner of smoked salmon, cheese, and bread. Back at the hostel, we discovered the fully stocked kitchen facility which made our dinner scraps easier to eat, and we fully enjoyed our little meal before settling in for a night of Braveheart.
Friday June 16th, we had to pack up and check out, because they were moving us again into another room. Once cleaned up and out, we got Vee set up at the Internet cafe, and I came back to do the laundry and finish reading a little book I picked up called "1914: Why the World Went to War". Two nights ago, upon learning that Robert Louis Stevenson was from Edinburgh, I read his tale of Dr.Jekyll and Mr.Hyde, which although I found the vocabulary and dated figures of speach a bit difficult for me, I did enjoy. Anyway, with clean laundry folded and packed, I collected Vee at the Internet cafe, and we walked over to another location of the Elephant Cafe where we enjoyed capps, stuffed bagels and a muffin. From there, we stopped into the office for the company that runs the tour we would be taking this weekend up to Inverness and learned that they cancelled the trip. So, they put together a custom trip for us, patching together a half-leg of their Saturday trip, an overnight in a cheaper B&B, and a half-leg of their Sunday trip, and a free boat ride on the Loch Ness, so it seems as if it will all work out fine anyway. Just kinda bummed about not getting up to Inverness, but maybe we'll find a way yet. From there, we descended upon the Visitors Center, and confirmed our information about how to get to Rosslyn Chapel via public bus, and then caught the 15A bus for the ride. It dropped us off pretty much at the entrance of the Chapel grounds, and we found quite a crowd already there, in addition to the large group that travelled on the bus with us. There was the usual hefty entrance fee to pay first, and then we got to catch most of the guide's explanation before we turned ourselves loose on the place. This is the now infamous destination for Da Vinci Code fans. It is a Knights Templar chapel founded by William St.Clair in the 15th century, and is said to contain an as yet unopened underground vault containing possibly the holy grail, the mummified head of J.C., and/or some other treasure. At the least, it is a wonderfully beautiful place, covered completely in ornate carvings, and is in the process of a long restoration. We walked the scaffolding above for nice views of the hills, and the chapel below. The bus ride back to the city was fun, and brief. We stopped in the Rose Street Brewery for a delicious pub meal (Vee=grilled salmon, Me=rarebit chicken) and then back to check into our new room at the hostel. Then, lastly, a short walk up to the quickie mart for our nightly refreshments and back to our room for the night.
Thursday, June 15, 2006
York to Edinburgh
Monday the 12th of June, we checked out of the lovely Quality Hotel York, and left our bags there while we headed out to see more of town. We stopped for a coffee outside of Cafe nero, and had some freshly made pastries from a little bakery next door. We sat on the concrete steps of a little sitting area across from the coffee shop and watched people go by as we enjoyed our breakfast. We next made our way to the spectacularly beautiful York Minster cathedral, paid our entry fees, and went inside to gawk at the insides of this enormous building. We went our own ways, and met up at the gift shop afterwards, then from there, walked towards the "Shambles" part of town where we each got a sandwich for a pound each, and a 7up, which we shared in a little park near a bunch of the little retail stands set up outside. With our tastey little sandwiches finished, we walked the rickety old streets and window-shopped. Vee finally found a clothing store that she absolutely fell in love with, and I kept busy looking into book stores, record stores, junk shops, etc. One of the shops was selling 3 books for 5 pounds, so I picked out a new book for Vee, and two for myself. We are both struggling somewhat with the big ones we are reading now, so these new books will be a bit of a relief for us. After a while, we walked back to the gardens near the cathedral and sat on the grass reading our new books, talking, having an ice cream, and a soda. I felt like I was catching a cold, so I mixed up some aspirin cold relief concoction with the soda and drank that. It was time to go see the big football match, USA versus the Czech Republic, and for that, we first went to the hotel to gather our bags, then marched over to a pub across from the train station and had a cheap pub meal too. Our food turned out to be the highlight of the night, because the US was AWFUL, and got the butts handed to them, 3-0. When the third goal was scored with maybe 8 minutes to play, we gathered our bags and went to the train station hoping to catch one of the earlier trains. The price for our two tickets from York to Edinburgh, which was to be about a 2 1/2 hour trip, just about knocked me out. For this one trip, we had to spend almost as much as we spent for our entire 7 day Flex pass in London...ouch!!! Anyway, turns out, the train we were trying to catch would be almost an hour and a half late, so we sat in the train station, read our books, and patiently waited, as the estimated time of arrival continued to slip, minute by minute. My nose was getting real stuffy, and I could feel the sicky aches start to set in. Eventually, the train showed up, we climbed aboard, and I started feeling sicker, so that by the time we arrived, I was cold, and shaky, and achy all over. Not to mention my back, which is totally messed up again. Vee, being awesome as always, and especially when my physcial condition renders me a useless old geezer, carried my daypack, while I just dragged my main pack behind me. Luckily, we hailed a cab pretty much immediately, as it was about 11pm already, and he took us right to the hotel. Although the guy at the front desk was friendly enough, he had no record of our room reservation, and was totally sold out. I took out our laptop computer and showed him our reservation confirmation, and he said he'd give us a room, and would just hope one of the other parties wouldn't show. And the cost for the room, at the rate I booked it, was less than a third of the standard rate, so that made the situation even more uncomfortable. Anyway, once up to our room, Vee stirred up another aspirin concoction for me, got me all bundled up warmly in bed, while my shakes eventually dissipated. We watched world cup highlights, and fell asleep. As for Edinburgh, from what we saw on the way to the hotel, it looked spectacular, one of the most beautiful cities we've seen, and we looked forward to getting out into it. And, despite the hotel mix-up, our room was wonderful, and it was exactly the comfort that what we needed at that moment.
Tuesday the 13th of June, the girls at the front desk of the hotel got our mix-up all taken care of and were very sweet about it. Once again, I pulled out the laptop to show them the PDF copy of our reservation from Bookings.net, and we were fine. We found a taxi just down the street from the hotel, and the driver seemed to be enjoying a lunch break parked along a little park-like setting. Since we were apparently out of the city center, and I wasn't sure how seen we'd encounter another one, I decided to get the drivers attention and see if he was available, and he was, as he wiped the crumbs away from his mouth and set down his paper-wrapped sandwich to say he'd be happy to take care of us. Once inside the taxi, he began what turned into a very nice long dialogue as he navigated our way down to the city center, explaining some of the city's highlights as we passed them. He dropped us off at the top of High Street since it was a pedestrian-only area, and we thanked him for the ride, and rolled ourselves over to the sidewalk to see about making a gameplan for the morning. I had identified a few hostels from our purple book that sounded good, and we started out to find ourselves some new accomodations. We walked to 3 different hostels, and all three, and their affiliated hostels were fully booked. The only thing they still had available were single beds in separate shared rooms, and we just weren't up for that. Finally, after a bit of frustration and friction, we made our way to an Internet cafe and booked a few nights at a hostel closeby that we found to be the cheapest available on Bookings.net. With our reservations made, we walked to the hostel to attempt an early check in, or at least drop off our bags. Well, they had no records of our reservations, and this turned into a whole new hullabaloo. Luckily, the nice young lady at the desk called in her manager, and they both worked on getting us taken care of, for the price that we were expecting, but instead of having a double room, we would have our own single rooms for the first night, and then a twin room for the remainder of our stay. Again, they were very friendly, and after some more thorough checking, they found our reservations through their online booking administration screen, and realized it was a problem with their system setup, and would work to resolve it. Anyway, we dropped off our big bags, and went out to see what Edinburgh was all about. Having nothing to eat or drink yet, we found a little pub and had a delicious lunch. Vee had a salmon sandwich with potatoes and salad, and I had a soup called Cullen Skink (smoked fish and potato cream) and another traditional plate of chicken breast with potatoes and some kind of brown mixed up something or other in a cream sauce with a side of mixed veggies, all of which was delicious. During our meal, I called a tour company, and booked a two-day weekend trip up to Inverness and back, which we are really excited about. With full bellies, we walked in and out of alot of shops on High Street, and eventually made our way up to the castle. We shared an audio tour, and went inside of virtually every building inside the castle walls. We saw the war prisoner rooms, the crown jewels, the well, the Queens quarters from the outside, the soldiers memorial, David's Tower, and the many canons. Outside the castle, we contined back down the Royal Mile (High Street) and popped inside a scottish kilt factory mill and museum. From there, we walked over to Princes Street and admired the starkly impressive Walter Scott memorial, and took some pictures outside the visitors center. In need of a coffee, we tried to get into the Costa Cafe, but it was closed, so we found a Cafe Nero, and relaxed there with some coffee drinks. Brazil was playing, so we needed to get to a pub and watch. The first one we went to was crammed full, and most were locals, and we couldn't get in view of a tv, so we left before ordering anything, and found another one closer to the hostel where we got comfortable around the bar, and watched the game there instead. Afterwards, back to our separate rooms at the hostel for an attempt at some sleep.
Wednesday June 14th, we checked out of our separate rooms, and left our bags in the locker room. We found a little cafe called the Bean and Grape where we had a bit of breakfast, talked, read, and made plans for the rest of our time in Edinburgh. We stopped inside Tron Kirk, which is an old church with a good bit of historical significance, and read a bunch of material on various tourist attractions in the area. After reading about one particular tour, the City of the Dead, we decided that although this city is loaded with supposedly paranormal activity and entities, we would not be partaking in this one, and maybe not any of them. The City of the Dead tour looked absolutely terrifying, with pages and pages posted of people's accounts and photos and newspaper clippings of people being physically attacked by the ghosts and poltergeists on this tour...NO THANKS!!! The one most active ghoul was at Grey Friars cemetary: the McKenzie poltergeist. YIKES!!! What a horrible story, and we certainly didn't want any poltergeists following us back to Philly. With that decided, we did find a few other things of interest, one being Roslyn Chapel, which I think we'll do on Friday. I think it plays a part in the Da Vinci Code story. Anyway, since it was right close by, we visited the St.Giles Cathedral and sat through their 15 minute noon church service, and then wandered around the sanctuary for a while before continuing on down the Royal Mile to the Palace. We paid up, and with our audio tour handpieces, toured the entire building and grounds. I think the most impressive part was the beautiful gardens in the back, as well as the temple ruins next to the palace. We took a bunch of pictures, and admired the beautiful flowers, trees, lawns, and brigh blue early afternoon sky. Then, outside we began what would be a full afternoon hike up the "craggies" (?) for amazing 360 degree views of the city, the water, and everything else within who knows how far. The wind was blustery, but not bad, and the views were amazing. Then, we hiked back down, and eventually back up High Street, to the hostel where we checked into our new rooms, dropped off our bags, and headed out for a chinese food buffet dinner. After a delicious gorge-fest, we stopped into a nice bookstore and picked up a few things, and went back to the hostel. We both read, for a while, and went downstairs to see what was going on with the Germany-Poland match, and got to see the end of it when Germany finally scored in the extension. That about wraps it up for the day.
Tuesday the 13th of June, the girls at the front desk of the hotel got our mix-up all taken care of and were very sweet about it. Once again, I pulled out the laptop to show them the PDF copy of our reservation from Bookings.net, and we were fine. We found a taxi just down the street from the hotel, and the driver seemed to be enjoying a lunch break parked along a little park-like setting. Since we were apparently out of the city center, and I wasn't sure how seen we'd encounter another one, I decided to get the drivers attention and see if he was available, and he was, as he wiped the crumbs away from his mouth and set down his paper-wrapped sandwich to say he'd be happy to take care of us. Once inside the taxi, he began what turned into a very nice long dialogue as he navigated our way down to the city center, explaining some of the city's highlights as we passed them. He dropped us off at the top of High Street since it was a pedestrian-only area, and we thanked him for the ride, and rolled ourselves over to the sidewalk to see about making a gameplan for the morning. I had identified a few hostels from our purple book that sounded good, and we started out to find ourselves some new accomodations. We walked to 3 different hostels, and all three, and their affiliated hostels were fully booked. The only thing they still had available were single beds in separate shared rooms, and we just weren't up for that. Finally, after a bit of frustration and friction, we made our way to an Internet cafe and booked a few nights at a hostel closeby that we found to be the cheapest available on Bookings.net. With our reservations made, we walked to the hostel to attempt an early check in, or at least drop off our bags. Well, they had no records of our reservations, and this turned into a whole new hullabaloo. Luckily, the nice young lady at the desk called in her manager, and they both worked on getting us taken care of, for the price that we were expecting, but instead of having a double room, we would have our own single rooms for the first night, and then a twin room for the remainder of our stay. Again, they were very friendly, and after some more thorough checking, they found our reservations through their online booking administration screen, and realized it was a problem with their system setup, and would work to resolve it. Anyway, we dropped off our big bags, and went out to see what Edinburgh was all about. Having nothing to eat or drink yet, we found a little pub and had a delicious lunch. Vee had a salmon sandwich with potatoes and salad, and I had a soup called Cullen Skink (smoked fish and potato cream) and another traditional plate of chicken breast with potatoes and some kind of brown mixed up something or other in a cream sauce with a side of mixed veggies, all of which was delicious. During our meal, I called a tour company, and booked a two-day weekend trip up to Inverness and back, which we are really excited about. With full bellies, we walked in and out of alot of shops on High Street, and eventually made our way up to the castle. We shared an audio tour, and went inside of virtually every building inside the castle walls. We saw the war prisoner rooms, the crown jewels, the well, the Queens quarters from the outside, the soldiers memorial, David's Tower, and the many canons. Outside the castle, we contined back down the Royal Mile (High Street) and popped inside a scottish kilt factory mill and museum. From there, we walked over to Princes Street and admired the starkly impressive Walter Scott memorial, and took some pictures outside the visitors center. In need of a coffee, we tried to get into the Costa Cafe, but it was closed, so we found a Cafe Nero, and relaxed there with some coffee drinks. Brazil was playing, so we needed to get to a pub and watch. The first one we went to was crammed full, and most were locals, and we couldn't get in view of a tv, so we left before ordering anything, and found another one closer to the hostel where we got comfortable around the bar, and watched the game there instead. Afterwards, back to our separate rooms at the hostel for an attempt at some sleep.
Wednesday June 14th, we checked out of our separate rooms, and left our bags in the locker room. We found a little cafe called the Bean and Grape where we had a bit of breakfast, talked, read, and made plans for the rest of our time in Edinburgh. We stopped inside Tron Kirk, which is an old church with a good bit of historical significance, and read a bunch of material on various tourist attractions in the area. After reading about one particular tour, the City of the Dead, we decided that although this city is loaded with supposedly paranormal activity and entities, we would not be partaking in this one, and maybe not any of them. The City of the Dead tour looked absolutely terrifying, with pages and pages posted of people's accounts and photos and newspaper clippings of people being physically attacked by the ghosts and poltergeists on this tour...NO THANKS!!! The one most active ghoul was at Grey Friars cemetary: the McKenzie poltergeist. YIKES!!! What a horrible story, and we certainly didn't want any poltergeists following us back to Philly. With that decided, we did find a few other things of interest, one being Roslyn Chapel, which I think we'll do on Friday. I think it plays a part in the Da Vinci Code story. Anyway, since it was right close by, we visited the St.Giles Cathedral and sat through their 15 minute noon church service, and then wandered around the sanctuary for a while before continuing on down the Royal Mile to the Palace. We paid up, and with our audio tour handpieces, toured the entire building and grounds. I think the most impressive part was the beautiful gardens in the back, as well as the temple ruins next to the palace. We took a bunch of pictures, and admired the beautiful flowers, trees, lawns, and brigh blue early afternoon sky. Then, outside we began what would be a full afternoon hike up the "craggies" (?) for amazing 360 degree views of the city, the water, and everything else within who knows how far. The wind was blustery, but not bad, and the views were amazing. Then, we hiked back down, and eventually back up High Street, to the hostel where we checked into our new rooms, dropped off our bags, and headed out for a chinese food buffet dinner. After a delicious gorge-fest, we stopped into a nice bookstore and picked up a few things, and went back to the hostel. We both read, for a while, and went downstairs to see what was going on with the Germany-Poland match, and got to see the end of it when Germany finally scored in the extension. That about wraps it up for the day.
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