While we hadn't planned to spend a night in Denver on our journey it really worked out great! By "great" I mean it really sucked the will to live from my existence. We got in to Denver International only to wait for "mechanical problems being taken care of" to "mechanical problems that cancelled our late flight to SLC. By 1:00am I was about ready to scream and strangle someone, actually a few someones, before they finally had us line up to get vouchers for hotels and new flights for today. Actually, some people won't be going home until Thursday or Friday. Lucky for us they put us up in a really nice hotel, way better than anything we had in Europe. Wait, no, it was worse and dirtier than any of our hotels on the trip. I hate dirty hotels. But, we didn't have much choice since we didn't get there until around 2:00am and I was tired and grouchy. (Actually true, ask Rach.)
So now I am sitting in the DIA, waiting for a flight to SLC so I can go home and shower and actually sleep in my B-E-D. After that, maybe I will do a final post for all my readers (all three of them, counting Mom). I know I need to finish off my epic journey with a thematically matching closure of what I learned on my journey, chances are that it wasn't what I thought I would learn when I started out though, because that's what happens to heroes who go on epic journeys.
Wednesday, August 15, 2012
Tuesday, August 14, 2012
Philadelphia Freedom, not just a great song by Elton John
My last post will probably be from the Philadelphia Airport since that's our first stop back in the states. I thought it might be appropriate to announce the winner of the European Vacation Theme Song Contest. We spent our last night in London paying tribute to one of music's finest establishment, the original Hard Rock Cafe. I had the traditional English fish and chips, Rach had fajitas (somewhat less traditional as an English meal). The judges listened to all of the songs and debated the finer merits of theme, sound, vacation related-ness, band origins, etc. and ability to appropriately set the mood for just such a trip. The entries were as follows:
Kenzie: "Vacation" by the Go-Gos
Chris: "Walt Grace's Submarine Test" by John Mayer
Annie: "Living in the Moment" by Jason Mraz
Mom: "You Really Got Me" by the Kinks (a fantastic entry related to the Olympics opening ceremony)
Grant: Some song I can't remember, but he sang it to me! by Justin Bieber or Justin Beaver which he calls him and we all know is actually much funnier.
While we appreciate all the entries, there can only be one winner.
Drum Roll Please:
"Living in the Moment" texted in by Annie!
Congratulations Annemarie, you can collect your prize as soon as I find it at the bottom of my suitcase, possibly under some dirty laundry. We have prizes for all of the entries!
All of the songs on the European vacation playlist can be seen on my phone, mostly because I am too lazy to type them in. There were some that were theme related, some were selected for their ability to appropriately match the playlist creator's mood at any given moment on the trip, for example:
"Shake it Out" by Florence & the Machine
"Holiday Road" theme song from the Vacation movies starring Chevy Chase
"Where the Streets have no Name" by U2
"Talk You Down" by The Script
"Save Yourself" by Seether
"Made in England" by Elton John
"If Ever I Leave this World Alive" by Flogging Molly
"I Might have been Queen" by TinaTurner
"Good as Gold" by The Beautiful South
"Danny Boy" by Harry Connick Jr.
"Airplane" by Indigo Girls
"All American Girl" by Melissa Ethridge
"Everything to Everyone" by Everclear, not Everclean, that's a totally different band... from a movie.
& many more.
Kenzie: "Vacation" by the Go-Gos
Chris: "Walt Grace's Submarine Test" by John Mayer
Annie: "Living in the Moment" by Jason Mraz
Mom: "You Really Got Me" by the Kinks (a fantastic entry related to the Olympics opening ceremony)
Grant: Some song I can't remember, but he sang it to me! by Justin Bieber or Justin Beaver which he calls him and we all know is actually much funnier.
While we appreciate all the entries, there can only be one winner.
Drum Roll Please:
"Living in the Moment" texted in by Annie!
Congratulations Annemarie, you can collect your prize as soon as I find it at the bottom of my suitcase, possibly under some dirty laundry. We have prizes for all of the entries!
All of the songs on the European vacation playlist can be seen on my phone, mostly because I am too lazy to type them in. There were some that were theme related, some were selected for their ability to appropriately match the playlist creator's mood at any given moment on the trip, for example:
"Shake it Out" by Florence & the Machine
"Holiday Road" theme song from the Vacation movies starring Chevy Chase
"Where the Streets have no Name" by U2
"Talk You Down" by The Script
"Save Yourself" by Seether
"Made in England" by Elton John
"If Ever I Leave this World Alive" by Flogging Molly
"I Might have been Queen" by TinaTurner
"Good as Gold" by The Beautiful South
"Danny Boy" by Harry Connick Jr.
"Airplane" by Indigo Girls
"All American Girl" by Melissa Ethridge
"Everything to Everyone" by Everclear, not Everclean, that's a totally different band... from a movie.
& many more.
London's Calling
We finally made to a fully English speaking country, which was really awesome. We were lucky enough to get a hotel for all three nights in a suburb of the center of London. It was actually very nice and a fair enough price for England during the olympics. We were worried we'd have to go clear up to Manchester or out to Kent. We wandered around Saturday night, plenty of fun things were going on all around the city because of the Olympics. It was the weekend so everyone seemed to be on Oxford street shopping, eating, hanging out. It was a lot like SLC during the olympics, plenty of places for people to gather.
We got up Sunday morning to go hit some museums and sites and just by accident walked onto an avenue with a bunch of people crowded up and down the street. It was about 10:30 am. The women's marathon had been last Sunday morning, I had checked the race on internet. But we were in a pretty good spot to see the men's marathon so we stuck around. They passed us at Hyde Park corner about seven minutes after the start at 11:00. They were still mostly in a pack and moving pretty fast. I think my run in London that morning had looked very similar and nearly as fast (minus the large cheering crowds, the actual speed, the official bibs, and of course the extended length they did 26.2, I did about 2 - both have "2" in it), other than that it was just the same. It was actually pretty exciting. They passed that point again later, but we had a date with Buckingham Palace and the British Museum so we missed that. We got to as many things as we had time and energy for, then we took a ride in London's Eye (big ferris wheel). It's a beautiful full view of every direction over London and goes much higher than the one we rode in Paris. We usually eat ate a big breakfast at the hotel and then found somewhere to eat a late lunch or early dinner. Other than that we were on the move all the time. Monday was about the same, and we finished up dinner, wandered down to Picadilly Circus for more shopping. There were a lot of shops with olympic gear going on sale by Monday. We were both nearly exhausted, our feet especially. But, by far, London was the most exciting destination on this trip. It was nice that it worked out to be there at the end of the games.
We got up Sunday morning to go hit some museums and sites and just by accident walked onto an avenue with a bunch of people crowded up and down the street. It was about 10:30 am. The women's marathon had been last Sunday morning, I had checked the race on internet. But we were in a pretty good spot to see the men's marathon so we stuck around. They passed us at Hyde Park corner about seven minutes after the start at 11:00. They were still mostly in a pack and moving pretty fast. I think my run in London that morning had looked very similar and nearly as fast (minus the large cheering crowds, the actual speed, the official bibs, and of course the extended length they did 26.2, I did about 2 - both have "2" in it), other than that it was just the same. It was actually pretty exciting. They passed that point again later, but we had a date with Buckingham Palace and the British Museum so we missed that. We got to as many things as we had time and energy for, then we took a ride in London's Eye (big ferris wheel). It's a beautiful full view of every direction over London and goes much higher than the one we rode in Paris. We usually eat ate a big breakfast at the hotel and then found somewhere to eat a late lunch or early dinner. Other than that we were on the move all the time. Monday was about the same, and we finished up dinner, wandered down to Picadilly Circus for more shopping. There were a lot of shops with olympic gear going on sale by Monday. We were both nearly exhausted, our feet especially. But, by far, London was the most exciting destination on this trip. It was nice that it worked out to be there at the end of the games.
Sunday, August 12, 2012
The Paris Marathon
We got into a Paris train station around 9:30am and managed to figure out how to get the subway to our hotel by noon. We got cleaned up and went out to find our way into the center of the city. We went to the Tower, but decided to come back in the morning before going up. We wandered around for a couple of hours. Finally we decided to get something to eat. We opted to go to the Paris Hard Rock Cafe, which worked out great, I really wanted an hamburger. (An actual hamburger, not a fake one like many local places offer.) Don't judge me! I couldn't remember where it was so we took a taxi. Apparently he didn't know where it was either, so I know we went a little out of our way. I argued with our driver that he might be "taking us for a drive" and his English was not great (nor his French) and he didn't really understand me. He had told us it would be around 10 Euros and it was double that. He said he'd only charge us ten, but I paid him the whole fare. I wasn't trying to cheat him, I just thought that we went there the long way. He had tried to get directions from several other taxi drivers before we actually got there. Totally worth it when I got my hamburger. We wandered around some more before finding our way back to the hotel. Paris is a good city for walking, especially because it is a night life city. There are lots of people out on the streets and in the parks. There's a bar or a cafe every other block and they are usually crowded before and after dinner.
Friday felt like we were running everywhere we went. It was like running a race, then pausing every few miles to stand in a line. We got up Friday and went straight to the Eiffel Tower only to stand in line for a while. We went to the top of course, the best wifi reception we've had on the whole trip was at the tower so you got those posts in real time. The tower was supposed to be dismantled after the fair in 189?, but it has been used as a telegraph connection, then radio, then television - so it has been saved several times. Now, I'm sure they make so much money from tourists that it's fate is not in question, in addition to it having the best wifi in the whole country.
When we were on the ground again, we went to the Louvre, which is the former royal palace, now a gigantic museum. There was a line, but it moved pretty quickly. We hit the big winners, The Mona Lisa (eh, she's ok), Napoleon's Coronation (which he called for himself), my favorites: the French's Lady Liberty (the cover to the Coldplay "Viva La Vida..." album if you're curious, and my personal favorite "The Wreck (rescue?) of the Medusa" and a bunch of others like the statue Winged Victory. We were lost for a while in the Greek Antiquities so we saw a lot of that. We walked through Napoleon's apartments. He had a lot of sitting rooms. Who was doing all that sitting?
What's the purpose of those chairs that are formed so three people are sitting together, but don't actually face each other? We were pretty tired by the time we left the Louvre so those are the types of questions I was working with.
From the Louvre we wandered over to the giant ferris wheel and that was fun. There is a really nice view from the top. Rachael did much better than the last time I took her on a ferris wheel. Last time she was about 5 and it was at Lagoon. I think she cried the whole time. She hardly cried at all this time, just like one or two tissues. Way to go Rach! We stopped for crepes on our way back to the hotel. They were good, but there is no crepe as good as Italian gelato.
We got up this morning and intended to get in two more things before catching the Chunnel to London. We made it easily to Saint Chapelle to look this Medieval church with enormous colored glass windows. Even without full sunlight, it's impressive. Mostly I am impressed that the windows have been in tact through so many wars. I was slow getting us to the Musee d'Orsay museum (my actual favorite) and we didn't think we'd have time to go in very far and get back to get our luggage so we went for an early lunch instead and then headed back. We made it to the train station without incident. Unless you count the British woman questioning why we were coming into the UK and threatening to keep us there all day if I didn't lose my attitude. She was the one with an attitude! Border patrol badges are not as intimidating as, say, the guys wandering the train station with AK 47s. Give me a break. Ok, I might have had a little attitude, but still.
Friday felt like we were running everywhere we went. It was like running a race, then pausing every few miles to stand in a line. We got up Friday and went straight to the Eiffel Tower only to stand in line for a while. We went to the top of course, the best wifi reception we've had on the whole trip was at the tower so you got those posts in real time. The tower was supposed to be dismantled after the fair in 189?, but it has been used as a telegraph connection, then radio, then television - so it has been saved several times. Now, I'm sure they make so much money from tourists that it's fate is not in question, in addition to it having the best wifi in the whole country.
When we were on the ground again, we went to the Louvre, which is the former royal palace, now a gigantic museum. There was a line, but it moved pretty quickly. We hit the big winners, The Mona Lisa (eh, she's ok), Napoleon's Coronation (which he called for himself), my favorites: the French's Lady Liberty (the cover to the Coldplay "Viva La Vida..." album if you're curious, and my personal favorite "The Wreck (rescue?) of the Medusa" and a bunch of others like the statue Winged Victory. We were lost for a while in the Greek Antiquities so we saw a lot of that. We walked through Napoleon's apartments. He had a lot of sitting rooms. Who was doing all that sitting?
What's the purpose of those chairs that are formed so three people are sitting together, but don't actually face each other? We were pretty tired by the time we left the Louvre so those are the types of questions I was working with.
From the Louvre we wandered over to the giant ferris wheel and that was fun. There is a really nice view from the top. Rachael did much better than the last time I took her on a ferris wheel. Last time she was about 5 and it was at Lagoon. I think she cried the whole time. She hardly cried at all this time, just like one or two tissues. Way to go Rach! We stopped for crepes on our way back to the hotel. They were good, but there is no crepe as good as Italian gelato.
We got up this morning and intended to get in two more things before catching the Chunnel to London. We made it easily to Saint Chapelle to look this Medieval church with enormous colored glass windows. Even without full sunlight, it's impressive. Mostly I am impressed that the windows have been in tact through so many wars. I was slow getting us to the Musee d'Orsay museum (my actual favorite) and we didn't think we'd have time to go in very far and get back to get our luggage so we went for an early lunch instead and then headed back. We made it to the train station without incident. Unless you count the British woman questioning why we were coming into the UK and threatening to keep us there all day if I didn't lose my attitude. She was the one with an attitude! Border patrol badges are not as intimidating as, say, the guys wandering the train station with AK 47s. Give me a break. Ok, I might have had a little attitude, but still.
Friday, August 10, 2012
Sad
Rachael was disappointed to find out that they do not let you climb the outside pillars. I want to know what happened to the one guy whose stupidity prompted them to hang these signs. 
Zinged
This morning we left early to get in line for the Eiffel Tower. On the metro had several stops to go through to get there. It was marginally crowded so when two guys in business suits left we took their seats. Just as we did an older French woman got on. After a couple more stops it was more crowded with morning commuters. I had noticed her giving us a dirty look. Then on the next stop she zinged us. She told us no one is sitting when it is crowded and we should stand up. We did! She had to reiterate her point a couple more times even though we listened the first time. When she got ready to leave she told us we could sit down even though it was still crowded. We continued to stand just in case, and by then we only had two more stops anyway. We had to wait until we got off to laugh about it, we didn't want a lecture on why we shouldn't laugh on a crowded subway. :)
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