A few weeks ago, Ian convinced me to meet him and a few of his friends for a Sunday afternoon game of touch rugby. I made a bit of a fool of myself the first time playing it, but would like to think I've improved a bit over the past few weeks, and have had fun in the process!
After a game yesterday, I was standing around talking with everyone, when someone asked me about running a 10-mile race today. My initial reaction: "sure, why not?" Knowing this group, though, I quickly followed that with "wait... what type of a race is it?"
Let's just say that it's a bit muddy. It's called the Turbo X Pure Filth Challenge. I've done a bit of trail running, but nothing quite like this before. The video here is from last year, but pretty accurate (it gets really fun from about 1:45 into it). It was the same course... 55 degrees or so and cloudy when we started, but we had complete downpours with hail in the middle of it, while running through mud and streams that came up over my waist, before getting to the finish line where the sun came out again!
I'm exhausted and have quite a bit of laundry to work through this evening, but definitely glad I made the trip out there this afternoon!
Sunday, 22 November 2009
Updates -- Life, the universe, everything
It's been a while since I've posted -- life's been a bit busy here!
As mentioned in my last post, I've now left the employer with which I came to London and started a full-time role with the American investment bank that had been my client for the past year. Day-to-day, little has changed in my work duties. I'm on the same project, in the same role, with roughly the same responsibilities. I'm no longer involved in sales activities or other stuff beyond my immediate role, but that's okay for now!
I've done a bit of travel, despite my thoughts that I'd be staying local after a rather hectic summer --
Oslo
Back in September, Ben and Katherine had visited London. Katherine was going to be in Norway in early November over a weekend as part of a work trip from the States, so I ended up booking a flight to visit. Due to schedule changes, she arrived in Norway a few days later than originally expected. As I had a non-refundable ticket, I ended up still visiting Norway on my own. Lots of fun, but definitely a different dynamic being a solo traveler. I've posted a few photos of the Kon Tiki museum, the opera house and other sights here.
I have a Canon PowerShot camera that I'd gotten shortly before moving to London. It's worked well... decent photos (all the ones on Picasa...) from a small camera. Unfortunately, I'd been carrying it around in a pocket while walking through Oslo. At some point, it powered on in my pocket and the lens extended. It twisted about 20 degrees and now won't extend or retract the full way... the camera's dead. Time to go shopping when I return to the US over Christmas...
Dublin
The weekend after Oslo, I ended up visiting a former colleague for the weekend in Dublin. We stayed in town right near Temple Bar, went to the Guinness brewery, the old jail, Trinity college and all the other sites -- a great weekend and definitely more Guinness than I've had in a long long time!
On the way back from Dublin, I took a 6:40am Monday flight to London City airport. It's a 12-gate airport that's only 15 minutes from the office on public transit, so I figured if we landed on schedule at 8:10, I'd be in the office by 8:30-8:45. Much to my surprise, I woke up on the flight at 8:15 as we were in a holding pattern -- LCY was closed due to fog. We waited for a bit before diverting to South End airport, about 50 miles southeast of London. This is a small private airfield, but on this morning it had at least 25 BA and Air France regional jets lined up with miffed business travelers. At least there was a row of chartered buses lined up out front and they took us back to LCY, but I ended up getting into work on the second Monday of my new job at 11:30... not quite what I'd originally intended!
Apartment hunting
When I first found my flat in Islington, I was looking for something central-ish and easily commutable to London Bridge. As I've been working in Canary Wharf almost since I moved into that flat, and will now be for the indefinite future, I figured it was time to look at what else I could get in more of a renters market, closer to work. Following a friend's suggestion, I looked at www.spareroom.co.uk. I lined up six flats for viewing in and around Greenwich on a Sunday -- the first one near Deptford, then several in and around Greenwich, then two just north of Greenwich on the Isle of Dogs.
The first two near Deptford were in an area where I absolutely didn't want to live, after walking around a bit that afternoon -- a bit too grungy and not feeling like the safest place in the world. The next few were in much nicer areas, but I wasn't really excited about living with the potential flatmates that I met. I finally ended up looking at a place at Burrells Wharf, along the water, just across the foot tunnel from Greenwich. My now-flatmate co-owns the flat with a friend who just moved elsewhere in London. For about the same rent as before in Islington, we have nearly double the space, much nicer furnishings, two bathrooms rather than one, and a 10-minute commute to work via bus. So far, no complaints!
I moved in last weekend, and have more or less settled into the new place quickly. It's working out well so far! As my camera's dead, I don't have any photos, but we're on the second floor of the building on the right, on the back side of the building, facing a courtyard rather than the river.
As mentioned in my last post, I've now left the employer with which I came to London and started a full-time role with the American investment bank that had been my client for the past year. Day-to-day, little has changed in my work duties. I'm on the same project, in the same role, with roughly the same responsibilities. I'm no longer involved in sales activities or other stuff beyond my immediate role, but that's okay for now!
I've done a bit of travel, despite my thoughts that I'd be staying local after a rather hectic summer --
Oslo
Back in September, Ben and Katherine had visited London. Katherine was going to be in Norway in early November over a weekend as part of a work trip from the States, so I ended up booking a flight to visit. Due to schedule changes, she arrived in Norway a few days later than originally expected. As I had a non-refundable ticket, I ended up still visiting Norway on my own. Lots of fun, but definitely a different dynamic being a solo traveler. I've posted a few photos of the Kon Tiki museum, the opera house and other sights here.
I have a Canon PowerShot camera that I'd gotten shortly before moving to London. It's worked well... decent photos (all the ones on Picasa...) from a small camera. Unfortunately, I'd been carrying it around in a pocket while walking through Oslo. At some point, it powered on in my pocket and the lens extended. It twisted about 20 degrees and now won't extend or retract the full way... the camera's dead. Time to go shopping when I return to the US over Christmas...
Dublin
The weekend after Oslo, I ended up visiting a former colleague for the weekend in Dublin. We stayed in town right near Temple Bar, went to the Guinness brewery, the old jail, Trinity college and all the other sites -- a great weekend and definitely more Guinness than I've had in a long long time!
On the way back from Dublin, I took a 6:40am Monday flight to London City airport. It's a 12-gate airport that's only 15 minutes from the office on public transit, so I figured if we landed on schedule at 8:10, I'd be in the office by 8:30-8:45. Much to my surprise, I woke up on the flight at 8:15 as we were in a holding pattern -- LCY was closed due to fog. We waited for a bit before diverting to South End airport, about 50 miles southeast of London. This is a small private airfield, but on this morning it had at least 25 BA and Air France regional jets lined up with miffed business travelers. At least there was a row of chartered buses lined up out front and they took us back to LCY, but I ended up getting into work on the second Monday of my new job at 11:30... not quite what I'd originally intended!
Apartment hunting
When I first found my flat in Islington, I was looking for something central-ish and easily commutable to London Bridge. As I've been working in Canary Wharf almost since I moved into that flat, and will now be for the indefinite future, I figured it was time to look at what else I could get in more of a renters market, closer to work. Following a friend's suggestion, I looked at www.spareroom.co.uk. I lined up six flats for viewing in and around Greenwich on a Sunday -- the first one near Deptford, then several in and around Greenwich, then two just north of Greenwich on the Isle of Dogs.
The first two near Deptford were in an area where I absolutely didn't want to live, after walking around a bit that afternoon -- a bit too grungy and not feeling like the safest place in the world. The next few were in much nicer areas, but I wasn't really excited about living with the potential flatmates that I met. I finally ended up looking at a place at Burrells Wharf, along the water, just across the foot tunnel from Greenwich. My now-flatmate co-owns the flat with a friend who just moved elsewhere in London. For about the same rent as before in Islington, we have nearly double the space, much nicer furnishings, two bathrooms rather than one, and a 10-minute commute to work via bus. So far, no complaints!
I moved in last weekend, and have more or less settled into the new place quickly. It's working out well so far! As my camera's dead, I don't have any photos, but we're on the second floor of the building on the right, on the back side of the building, facing a courtyard rather than the river.
Sunday, 11 October 2009
London
Much has changed since I first came over to London for an 18-month experience. I've been able to do quite a bit of travel, explore Europe, meet some new friends, find a great client where I've been working, and substantially settle into life here.
Over the summer, I slowly realized that the stability of traveling only for fun rather than weekly for work was great for my sanity. It's allowed me to settle into a city and have a more consistent and sane life than when I'd been spending 100+ nights/year in hotels for work.
After much debate, I decided to stay here in London on a more-permanent basis, rather than returning to New York in January 2010. In making this decision, I've also resigned from my firm and accepted a job with the primary client I've worked with for the past year.
Assuming my application for a new work permit goes through on the expected timetable, my last day with my current employer is going to be 23 October, and I'll be continuing on my current project as a permanent London-based employee rather than as a consultant from 26 October.
Oktoberfest
Last year, a few of us had looked into going to Oktoberfest shortly after we arrived in London, but it was ridiculously expensive to do it last-minute. Instead, in January this year, we booked a weekend trip that we took two weeks ago.
Friday night, the group of us sharing two hotel rooms were on the same 5:30 flight to Munich. We crammed into a cab, dropped everything off at the hotel, then went to the Hofbrauhaus. We found an open table in the beer hall, stood up on the benches and got right into the experience!
Despite a late Friday night, we were up at 7am Saturday for breakfast and into town by 9, to buy our outfits for the rest of the weekend! As you can see in the photos, we all ended up getting authentic outfits for the weekend!
We spent the afternoon outside at a Paulaner tent, where you can see the next set of photos. A few liters later and after an amazing half-chicken for dinner, we ended up moving over to the Hofbrauhaus tent -- the one with the green roof with all kinds of stuff hanging off of it -- and taking that in for the evening.
Let's just say that Sunday morning was a bit of a challenge to get up and about. Eventually, as I got a few glasses of water and some coffee into me, I felt better. Two hours later, we were back at it, with 20 of us sitting at two adjoining tables in the Hippodrom tent.
Now, the other tents that we'd seen had completely rowdy and out of control people everywhere, whereas this was a bit more sane -- table service, a full menu of amazing German food (you can see me with the wienerschnitzel in one of the photos) and the like.
I left midafternoon, as I had a flight back to London late Saturday evening. I went back to the hotel for a shower and to change out of the lederhosen before the flight, and then went to the airport a bit earlier than I normally would have. I figured I'd find a corner somewhere with a bottle of gatorade and a book, read a bit, and maybe get in a quick nap before the flight.
I cleared security at 6:45 or so and saw a sign directly in front of me at a gate: "BA 955, LHR, 1730 flight, delayed departure 1840." As the door was still open, I walked up to the gate agent and asked if he'd let me on it. He said yes, gave me a new boarding card, then closed the jetway door behind me. About 30 seconds after I sat down, the plane pushed back and was airborne. This absolutely shocked me and has to qualify as one of my very few "I had a good flying experience" stories... I got home more than two hours early!
All in all, a great weekend! My voice is slowly recovering from the experience, but just about back now!
Friday night, the group of us sharing two hotel rooms were on the same 5:30 flight to Munich. We crammed into a cab, dropped everything off at the hotel, then went to the Hofbrauhaus. We found an open table in the beer hall, stood up on the benches and got right into the experience!
Despite a late Friday night, we were up at 7am Saturday for breakfast and into town by 9, to buy our outfits for the rest of the weekend! As you can see in the photos, we all ended up getting authentic outfits for the weekend!
We spent the afternoon outside at a Paulaner tent, where you can see the next set of photos. A few liters later and after an amazing half-chicken for dinner, we ended up moving over to the Hofbrauhaus tent -- the one with the green roof with all kinds of stuff hanging off of it -- and taking that in for the evening.
Let's just say that Sunday morning was a bit of a challenge to get up and about. Eventually, as I got a few glasses of water and some coffee into me, I felt better. Two hours later, we were back at it, with 20 of us sitting at two adjoining tables in the Hippodrom tent.
Now, the other tents that we'd seen had completely rowdy and out of control people everywhere, whereas this was a bit more sane -- table service, a full menu of amazing German food (you can see me with the wienerschnitzel in one of the photos) and the like.
I left midafternoon, as I had a flight back to London late Saturday evening. I went back to the hotel for a shower and to change out of the lederhosen before the flight, and then went to the airport a bit earlier than I normally would have. I figured I'd find a corner somewhere with a bottle of gatorade and a book, read a bit, and maybe get in a quick nap before the flight.
I cleared security at 6:45 or so and saw a sign directly in front of me at a gate: "BA 955, LHR, 1730 flight, delayed departure 1840." As the door was still open, I walked up to the gate agent and asked if he'd let me on it. He said yes, gave me a new boarding card, then closed the jetway door behind me. About 30 seconds after I sat down, the plane pushed back and was airborne. This absolutely shocked me and has to qualify as one of my very few "I had a good flying experience" stories... I got home more than two hours early!
All in all, a great weekend! My voice is slowly recovering from the experience, but just about back now!
Monday, 31 August 2009
Budapest
I’d gotten a text from Cecilia a few weeks ago asking “want to go to Budapest?” Needless to say, I was interested in hearing more, so I called. That night, Cecilia, Mike and Trine booked flights for the bank holiday weekend (this weekend) to Budapest. I did the same…
We left this past Friday morning, spent the afternoon exploring the town and a few of the key tourist sites, then found a restaurant recommended by one of my colleagues for dinner.
Saturday morning, Cecilia and I explored a market near our hotel, then met up with Trine and Mike at a bath house. Apparently Budapest is known for its thermal bath houses, so we figured we had to give it a try.
For the equivalent of about £10, we got day-long admission to a bath house. Now, there are some that are traditional with separate male and female facilities and an expectation of being, ahem, “natural.” This was (intentionally) not one of those. We relaxed through the different pools, each had a 30-minute massage for about another £10, swam a few laps, and eventually dragged ourselves out in late afternoon.
After a night out on Saturday, we spent Sunday touring the sites of Budapest. We went to the national gallery, toured a church overlooking the city, rented a four-person bike on a small island in the middle of the Danube and found the Parliament building on our explorations of the city.
The goulash, also, was amazing!
My photos from the weekend are posted here.
I’m now back in London and have a few weeks here before our trip to Oktoberfest in late September… I’ve definitely been trying to take advantage of the travel opportunities nearby here, but it’ll also be good to spend some time in one place for a change!
We left this past Friday morning, spent the afternoon exploring the town and a few of the key tourist sites, then found a restaurant recommended by one of my colleagues for dinner.
Saturday morning, Cecilia and I explored a market near our hotel, then met up with Trine and Mike at a bath house. Apparently Budapest is known for its thermal bath houses, so we figured we had to give it a try.
For the equivalent of about £10, we got day-long admission to a bath house. Now, there are some that are traditional with separate male and female facilities and an expectation of being, ahem, “natural.” This was (intentionally) not one of those. We relaxed through the different pools, each had a 30-minute massage for about another £10, swam a few laps, and eventually dragged ourselves out in late afternoon.
After a night out on Saturday, we spent Sunday touring the sites of Budapest. We went to the national gallery, toured a church overlooking the city, rented a four-person bike on a small island in the middle of the Danube and found the Parliament building on our explorations of the city.
The goulash, also, was amazing!
My photos from the weekend are posted here.
I’m now back in London and have a few weeks here before our trip to Oktoberfest in late September… I’ve definitely been trying to take advantage of the travel opportunities nearby here, but it’ll also be good to spend some time in one place for a change!
Northern Ireland
Two weeks ago, I spent Sunday night at Chris’s flat in Greenwich. We woke up at 4am, drove a rental car I had to Heathrow, returned it and hopped a 7am flight to Northern Ireland. There, we met up with John for a week of camping and boating.
John had taken his car across to Northern Ireland on the ferry several days earlier with our camping gear, so he met us with that and we headed off into the wilderness.
Our first two nights were at a campsite near a National Trust historical mansion 40 miles or so south of Belfast. We set up camp, did some hiking and explored the area a bit.
We started the trip eating well and continued throughout… our first night’s dinner consisted of chicken fajitas, rice, refried beans and all the fixings, prepared on a single burner camp stove. We subsequently successfully did eggs and bacon for breakfast with that stove, before moving our cooking to a boat.
On our third day, we drove across to the west of Northern Ireland to pick up a 22’ boat with a small diesel motor, to go exploring the locks and rivers throughout the area. We moored it near an Asda (Walmart’s UK brand) in the nearest town and picked up food for the remainder of the week.
It was a great time to just catch up with two friends without any computers, phones or other distractions, out on the open water. Each of the three nights we had the boat, we moored at public docks on the rivers, with no other people within sight anywhere.
One day, we moored at a four-star hotel for a quick 9-hole round of golf. It was a great time, but we had a bit of a challenge with the “quick” part of the round… I’d been on a golf course maybe twice in my life and to a driving range only a few more times. Chris had taken lessons at a driving range. John had never before driven a golf ball on the range, a course or otherwise. Between the three of us, we had respectable scores… had it been an 18-hole course.
To continue the food thread here, we prepared steaks, sausages and barbecue ribs on disposable charcoal grills. We had pancakes for breakfast, cooked in the galley. We had apple pie, cheeses, and plenty of tasty beverages to last us for the three nights on the water.
After a quick drive to the rope bridge up near Giants Causeway along the northern coast of Northern Ireland, we spent the last day in Belfast and returned back to the UK late on Sunday.
A few of my photos from the week are here.
John had taken his car across to Northern Ireland on the ferry several days earlier with our camping gear, so he met us with that and we headed off into the wilderness.
Our first two nights were at a campsite near a National Trust historical mansion 40 miles or so south of Belfast. We set up camp, did some hiking and explored the area a bit.
We started the trip eating well and continued throughout… our first night’s dinner consisted of chicken fajitas, rice, refried beans and all the fixings, prepared on a single burner camp stove. We subsequently successfully did eggs and bacon for breakfast with that stove, before moving our cooking to a boat.
On our third day, we drove across to the west of Northern Ireland to pick up a 22’ boat with a small diesel motor, to go exploring the locks and rivers throughout the area. We moored it near an Asda (Walmart’s UK brand) in the nearest town and picked up food for the remainder of the week.
It was a great time to just catch up with two friends without any computers, phones or other distractions, out on the open water. Each of the three nights we had the boat, we moored at public docks on the rivers, with no other people within sight anywhere.
One day, we moored at a four-star hotel for a quick 9-hole round of golf. It was a great time, but we had a bit of a challenge with the “quick” part of the round… I’d been on a golf course maybe twice in my life and to a driving range only a few more times. Chris had taken lessons at a driving range. John had never before driven a golf ball on the range, a course or otherwise. Between the three of us, we had respectable scores… had it been an 18-hole course.
To continue the food thread here, we prepared steaks, sausages and barbecue ribs on disposable charcoal grills. We had pancakes for breakfast, cooked in the galley. We had apple pie, cheeses, and plenty of tasty beverages to last us for the three nights on the water.
After a quick drive to the rope bridge up near Giants Causeway along the northern coast of Northern Ireland, we spent the last day in Belfast and returned back to the UK late on Sunday.
A few of my photos from the week are here.
Race the Train
A few months ago I’d been talking with a few people at the pub after a Wednesday night run with the running club, when Race the Train came up as a good idea for a weekend trip. This was the first I heard of it, but what I heard was interesting, so I ended up signing up along with Christie and a friend from the Serpies.
We committed to running the race before actually working through the logistics of lodging. Christie spent a decent amount of time researching B&Bs, hotels and other options within a reasonable drive of Tywyn, mid Wales, where the race is hosted. She found a few great places, but they were near larger towns, at least an hour drive from the race start.
This was about the time we realized “uh oh, there are some rural areas in Wales… this looks like it is a REALLY rural one.”
As a last-ditch effort to see if there were some secret lodging options that weren’t readily visible on the web, I sent a message to the Serpentine club email list asking for any suggestions. A runner responded saying he was planning to do the race as well, and that he has a vacation home in a town about 10 miles up the coast from Tywyn, where we could stay in the spare bedrooms for free!
Needless to say, we were quite excited by this option!
I managed to get out of work at about noon on Friday, went home to change, then we met at Kings Cross, picked up a car and pointed north up the M1. It was the better part of a six-hour drive, as it’s a 220 mile trip with very urban streets until you get outside the M25, then very rural narrow roads for the last 40 miles or so as you approach the Welsh coast. This was also my first time driving a stick shift right-hand-drive vehicle. The clutch took a bit of a beating as I got used to the feel of it and yes, the car might have stalled a few times (through no fault of my own, of course… whistle…) but overall it worked well!
We actually met Adrian, our host for the weekend, for the first time when we showed up at his place at 7pm or so on Friday. He was in the kitchen preparing a chicken, turkey and pasta dinner for the four of us… quite the reception and much more impressive than the “simple pasta dinner” he’d alluded to when we talked through the preceding week.
On race day, Christie did the 5-mile run, followed by Adrian, Desiree and me running the 14-mile route in the afternoon. It was overcast at race time, but had been raining rather heavily overnight. As the name of the race suggests, we runners were on cross-country style tracks as we raced a narrow-gauge train up and back down a hill.
The train finishes the course averaging about a 7’30” pace… something I could definitely do over that distance on flat surfaces, but which was well beyond my reach on the actual course. There were narrow sheep trails cut into the side of hills, with runners following each other in single file, and with footprints trailing off to the side where some of us had slipped in our attempts to navigate the mud.
There’s a great video of a prior year’s experience, from a spectator’s view, here.
Sunday, we drove up to Colwyn Castle along the northern coast of Wales, before driving back to London. Rather than returning to reality on Monday morning, though, I had another trip lined up: a week of camping and boating in Northern Ireland. I dropped off Christie and Desiree, unpacked my muddy stuff from the race, and threw my stuff for a week of camping into the car, drove to Chris’s flat in Greenwich and slept there before the beginning of the next trip.
My photos from the weekend are posted here.
We committed to running the race before actually working through the logistics of lodging. Christie spent a decent amount of time researching B&Bs, hotels and other options within a reasonable drive of Tywyn, mid Wales, where the race is hosted. She found a few great places, but they were near larger towns, at least an hour drive from the race start.
This was about the time we realized “uh oh, there are some rural areas in Wales… this looks like it is a REALLY rural one.”
As a last-ditch effort to see if there were some secret lodging options that weren’t readily visible on the web, I sent a message to the Serpentine club email list asking for any suggestions. A runner responded saying he was planning to do the race as well, and that he has a vacation home in a town about 10 miles up the coast from Tywyn, where we could stay in the spare bedrooms for free!
Needless to say, we were quite excited by this option!
I managed to get out of work at about noon on Friday, went home to change, then we met at Kings Cross, picked up a car and pointed north up the M1. It was the better part of a six-hour drive, as it’s a 220 mile trip with very urban streets until you get outside the M25, then very rural narrow roads for the last 40 miles or so as you approach the Welsh coast. This was also my first time driving a stick shift right-hand-drive vehicle. The clutch took a bit of a beating as I got used to the feel of it and yes, the car might have stalled a few times (through no fault of my own, of course… whistle…) but overall it worked well!
We actually met Adrian, our host for the weekend, for the first time when we showed up at his place at 7pm or so on Friday. He was in the kitchen preparing a chicken, turkey and pasta dinner for the four of us… quite the reception and much more impressive than the “simple pasta dinner” he’d alluded to when we talked through the preceding week.
On race day, Christie did the 5-mile run, followed by Adrian, Desiree and me running the 14-mile route in the afternoon. It was overcast at race time, but had been raining rather heavily overnight. As the name of the race suggests, we runners were on cross-country style tracks as we raced a narrow-gauge train up and back down a hill.
The train finishes the course averaging about a 7’30” pace… something I could definitely do over that distance on flat surfaces, but which was well beyond my reach on the actual course. There were narrow sheep trails cut into the side of hills, with runners following each other in single file, and with footprints trailing off to the side where some of us had slipped in our attempts to navigate the mud.
There’s a great video of a prior year’s experience, from a spectator’s view, here.
Sunday, we drove up to Colwyn Castle along the northern coast of Wales, before driving back to London. Rather than returning to reality on Monday morning, though, I had another trip lined up: a week of camping and boating in Northern Ireland. I dropped off Christie and Desiree, unpacked my muddy stuff from the race, and threw my stuff for a week of camping into the car, drove to Chris’s flat in Greenwich and slept there before the beginning of the next trip.
My photos from the weekend are posted here.
Matt's Visit
Several weeks ago, a friend from CMU visited me as part of a ten-day trip through Europe. The first weekend, we toured London: On Saturday, we walked south across Tower Bridge, along the South Bank, then back over to St Pauls Cathedral and the West End. We came back up to Angel for dinner at the Narrow Boat along the canal, before crashing for the evening.
That Sunday, we met a few others for brunch in Angel, before heading off to the Shoreditch Music Festival and then onward to the Proms. Talk about two different experiences! The Shoreditch festival was a large outdoor venue with all the normal fried foods, expensive drinks and the like, occasional rain, a university-aged crowd and music that was a bit too edgy for all of us, I think. Afterward, Matt, Christie and I met John and Laura at the Royal Albert Hall, where Laura performed with the BBC National Orchestra in the evening’s Proms concert. We got last-minute, £5 tickets for standing immediately in front of the orchestra… definitely a different way of experiencing it, and a great time!
Matt was back for the following weekend and had suggested doing something outside of London to get a taste of “the rest of England.” On Friday that week, I saw someone on the DLR with a copy of The Times, featuring the 100 best walks in the UK. I found that article online and found one of the hikes in the Cotswolds, about 60 miles north from London.
I’d committed to meet Matt at Heathrow when he landed early Saturday afternoon, but needed to finalize a plan beforehand. At about noon Saturday, I picked up Rick Steves’ UK travel book and started calling down the list of B&Bs in the Cotswolds. The first five places I called said they were booked for the night. I was starting to think through other possible alternatives when one of the women I’d called ended up calling me back. She said she “just remembered” that they had space for the night, if we were interested.
Matt and I met at Heathrow, picked up a rental car and drove up into the Cotswolds. We showed up at the B&B in the late afternoon, then went back to the “Ducking of the Mayor” in a nearby town. We’d seen a huge banner sign over a pub on the way through the town earlier and wanted to see what we were missing! By the time we got there, we’d missed whatever the ceremony was… apparently it’s an annual festival where a mock mayor is selected from the village elders and dunked (yet it’s the “ducking” of the mayor… don’t ask) into the river that runs through town. We stayed for a bit as a band started the evening’s entertainment, then headed back to the town near our B&B for dinner and an early night.
Sunday, we did an 11-mile hike through the rolling countryside. We had a few challenges at first understanding that yes, it really is okay to walk over the steps near fences, to walk past sheep and other livestock in active fields, and to open gates as long as they weren’t actually padlocked.
The original Times article is here.
As we deviated slightly from the intended course, we mapped our our actual route on MayMyRun here after returning to my place that evening.
It was great to get away and see a bit more of England, outside of the cities… definitely a weekend we couldn’t have experienced as fully without a car and willingness to venture off the motorways!
That Sunday, we met a few others for brunch in Angel, before heading off to the Shoreditch Music Festival and then onward to the Proms. Talk about two different experiences! The Shoreditch festival was a large outdoor venue with all the normal fried foods, expensive drinks and the like, occasional rain, a university-aged crowd and music that was a bit too edgy for all of us, I think. Afterward, Matt, Christie and I met John and Laura at the Royal Albert Hall, where Laura performed with the BBC National Orchestra in the evening’s Proms concert. We got last-minute, £5 tickets for standing immediately in front of the orchestra… definitely a different way of experiencing it, and a great time!
Matt was back for the following weekend and had suggested doing something outside of London to get a taste of “the rest of England.” On Friday that week, I saw someone on the DLR with a copy of The Times, featuring the 100 best walks in the UK. I found that article online and found one of the hikes in the Cotswolds, about 60 miles north from London.
I’d committed to meet Matt at Heathrow when he landed early Saturday afternoon, but needed to finalize a plan beforehand. At about noon Saturday, I picked up Rick Steves’ UK travel book and started calling down the list of B&Bs in the Cotswolds. The first five places I called said they were booked for the night. I was starting to think through other possible alternatives when one of the women I’d called ended up calling me back. She said she “just remembered” that they had space for the night, if we were interested.
Matt and I met at Heathrow, picked up a rental car and drove up into the Cotswolds. We showed up at the B&B in the late afternoon, then went back to the “Ducking of the Mayor” in a nearby town. We’d seen a huge banner sign over a pub on the way through the town earlier and wanted to see what we were missing! By the time we got there, we’d missed whatever the ceremony was… apparently it’s an annual festival where a mock mayor is selected from the village elders and dunked (yet it’s the “ducking” of the mayor… don’t ask) into the river that runs through town. We stayed for a bit as a band started the evening’s entertainment, then headed back to the town near our B&B for dinner and an early night.
Sunday, we did an 11-mile hike through the rolling countryside. We had a few challenges at first understanding that yes, it really is okay to walk over the steps near fences, to walk past sheep and other livestock in active fields, and to open gates as long as they weren’t actually padlocked.
The original Times article is here.
As we deviated slightly from the intended course, we mapped our our actual route on MayMyRun here after returning to my place that evening.
It was great to get away and see a bit more of England, outside of the cities… definitely a weekend we couldn’t have experienced as fully without a car and willingness to venture off the motorways!
Saturday, 18 July 2009
Edinburgh
As a graduation gift, my brother Dave ended up visiting for two weeks. We spent the better part of a week together in London and he also did an 8-day trip through the UK to visit a friend at Oxford, see other parts of the country and meet me for a weekend in Edinburgh.
So, last weekend, I left work a bit early on Friday and headed to Luton for the flight up to Edinburgh. I need to do another post at some point about my first (and possibly last) experience with EasyJet, but that's another post for another day...
Dave and I found a pub with a singer / guitar player after I got into town on Friday night. It's the first I've heard a guy with a synthesized backing band, where he actually had talent! Any other time I've heard someone do that, he tried to hide behind the synthesized recording and more or less failed... but this guy was good!
Saturday, we explored town, toured the castle, did the whiskey tasting experience, and ventured up to the top of Holyrood Park. A few of Dave's photos are on http://picasaweb.google.com/trenshaw/... I never actually took my camera out with us.
Saturday night, we met up with three of my friends from London who had also traveled up to Edinburgh for the weekend. We did dinner together, then a ghost tour through town, and then found a few pubs. It seemed like every single pub had live music... and they were good!
We toured the National Gallery on Sunday morning and then did an underground tour of the old city in the afternoon, before heading off to an airport and back to reality. Definitely a great weekend and an amazing opportunity to catch up with Dave!
Now, this weekend, I'm back in London and have little planned, for the last time in a while. A friend from New York will be here the next two weekends, I'm doing a 14-mile race in Wales after that, then a week in Northern Ireland, then have two other friends from the States visiting for a weekend. The next free weekend at this point is in mid September, the weekend before going to Oktoberfest. Where's the time going?!?
Sunday, 5 July 2009
Maui
For years, my family had been talking about going to Hawaii after my brothers graduated from college. Sometimes it was a serious plan, sometimes it was half-joking. Either way, though, it was something we were thinking of doing for quite a while. Last summer, when air tickets were first made available for this June, I broke down and cashed in all of my airline miles and credit card points to get a round trip ticket: Friday morning, I was to fly Heathrow to LAX, where I could spend the evening of my brother's graduation in Pasadena with the family, before continuing on to Maui the next day. After a week in Maui, the tickets were for a flight to Newark, a stopover so I could get to a friend's wedding in Pennsylvania, and then back to London the day after the wedding. This seemed a bit crazy, but it was going to give me the opportunity to see the family, be in a friend's wedding and also celebrate the brothers' graduation.
Fast forward 11 months, and it was time for the trip to happen! After the 10-hour flight to LA, I had caught up on four movies, a few hours of sleep, and was ready for the day! We took Dave in his cap and gown and, for some reason, me with a wig, up to the Observatory overlooking the Hollywood sign for a few photos, before a graduation dinner back in Pasadena.
Saturday, I went to Maui via Honolulu, while Dave and our parents were on a different flight. Unfortunately, Jeff wasn't able to join us on this trip. His new job had just started and he was out partying it up (or so we think... he hasn't confirmed this for me yet) in Worchester, Mass.
Sunday was the first of two days Dave and I attempted surfing. Well, I'll give him credit for going surfing and me for attempting to do so. I was able to catch a few good waves, but not quite consistently. Clearly, this is a sign that I just need to spend more time working at this!!!
We took a two-day trip on the road to Hana. On the way, we stopped at waterfalls, beaches, banana bread shops and the like, before pulling in to a quiet spot along the beach where we had a place booked for the night. It was absolutely amazing to get out in the open air, away from everything, with real sunshine! On the second day of this trip, we hiked up to a waterfall through the rainforest, found some pools to swim in overlooking the ocean, and drove up to the top of the main volcano!
We spent a day snorkeling, an evening at a luau, an evening out at a piano bar and magic show, and even grilled out on the beach! It was great to spend some time with the family and to totally disconnect. Even though we had wireless internet access and cell phone access, I have to admit that I just shut down... I didn't look at voicemail and tried to avoid the computer for the full week. It was such a great feeling to not know what was going on in the wider world, not particularly care for a bit, and just be completely disconnected.
I left the evening before everyone else was planning to do so, to get back to Pennsylvania for a wedding. After the drive down to Pennsylvania, I got to catch up with the groom and a few other friends that night, catch a movie, go for some sushi and reminisce on old times. The following day was the wedding -- it'd been raining for a few days previously and was forecasted to do so that day as well, but it was PERFECTLY sunny and a great day for an outdoor wedding!
As I was leaving the wedding reception that evening, I received a callfrom my project lead in London, asking if I would be willing to work the week in New York rather than in London. Now, this meant that I had to buy work clothes for the week, but it was a great chance to catch up with a few friends and to meet the other half of my project team face-to-face for a few days rather than just as voices at the other end of a conference bridge...
I'm starting to think that 9-10 hour flights are actually easier on my body than are 6-7 hour flights. Both of the long legs on this trip (LHR to LAX and HNL to EWR) didn't tire me out at all, and I was able to arrive rested, but the short leg from Newark to London at the end of the trip just left me exhausted -- even though I slept two or three hours, that just wasn't nearly enough for one night. Then again, maybe it was just jet lag catching up with me for going +11 and then -11 time zones within 10 days...
All in all, this was a great trip! Yes, it was a bit exhausting and the week after I returned to London was a bit tough on the body, but it was absolutely worth it!
A few of the photos from California and Maui are here.
Warsaw
No, I haven't fallen off the edge of the earth. Yes, I do exist, even if it's been forever since I last posted here.
As my previous post mentioned, I did a last-minute trip to Warsaw over the bank holiday weekend at the end of May. A few of the photos are online here.
I arrived midafternoon on Saturday, ventured through the streets of the Old Town section and explored a bit. That evening was spent with a few others I met at the hostel, after they decided I needed to learn the virtues of the various different Polish vodkas. Let's just say that there is quite the selection available!
Sunday morning, I went to mass, which was quite the adventure given it was all in Polish! I then ventured through a market to find a kielbasa and some pieroghi for lunch, before heading into the city to tour the war memorials and the New Town area.
Monday, I watched the city come to life from the first story window of a coffeeshop, while reading a book, before heading off to the airport.
I'm glad I took the trip and visited Warsaw, but it's not on the list of places to which I must return. It's definitely a bit of a culture shock, as the city has never fully rebuilt following the bombings from World War II. Many of the parks in the city are located where portions of the city were just never rebuilt. Likewise, those areas that were rebuilt tend to have large concrete block buildings from the Soviet era.
Friday, 22 May 2009
Plans
Last week: "Yeah, sure, let's maybe try Ireland."
Tuesday: "Okay, no worries, I'll find something to do."
Friday 3:30pm: "Uh oh... I have a three-day weekend coming up with no travel booked. Where can I go, cheap?"
Friday 4:00pm: "Hrm... Krakow or Barcelona?"
Friday 4:30pm: "Ooh, I can get direct flights to Warsaw, cheap!"
Saturday 10am: I leave Heathrow for two nights in Warsaw. Should be fun!
Tuesday: "Okay, no worries, I'll find something to do."
Friday 3:30pm: "Uh oh... I have a three-day weekend coming up with no travel booked. Where can I go, cheap?"
Friday 4:00pm: "Hrm... Krakow or Barcelona?"
Friday 4:30pm: "Ooh, I can get direct flights to Warsaw, cheap!"
Saturday 10am: I leave Heathrow for two nights in Warsaw. Should be fun!
Sunday, 17 May 2009
Selcuk, Ephesus and Izmir
We had originally booked Thursday through Saturday nights in Izmir, the town from which we were flying home on Sunday. Alex, the guy who helped us reunite with our tour group in Eceabat, had recommended that instead of staying in Izmir and doing day trips from there, we instead stay at a place called Atilla's Getaway that was about 60k further south in Selcuk. After looking up the place online, we decided to change our reservations to spend Thursday and Friday nights there, then just Saturday night in Izmir.
On Friday, we walked up the mountains behind his place to the Virgin Mary House, where she spent her last days. From there, we walked down to Ephesus. The ruins of a 250,000 person city, millennia later, can be phenomenal to walk through! We spent some time on the common walkways and around the major reconstructed sites, but then walked off on some trails into less-crowded areas where it was much less well-trodden. Somehow, over the course of that afternoon, I took more than 200 photos. A selection of them are available at http://picasaweb.google.com/trenshaw/turkey.
In all, this was a phenomenal trip! I was able to disconnect from work and mostly from technology overall. Meandering for hours on end through ruins, losing myself in my thoughts while on a long bus trip, seeing ridiculously grandiose mosques next to abject poverty... no regrets whatsoever about taking the trip!
On Friday, we walked up the mountains behind his place to the Virgin Mary House, where she spent her last days. From there, we walked down to Ephesus. The ruins of a 250,000 person city, millennia later, can be phenomenal to walk through! We spent some time on the common walkways and around the major reconstructed sites, but then walked off on some trails into less-crowded areas where it was much less well-trodden. Somehow, over the course of that afternoon, I took more than 200 photos. A selection of them are available at http://picasaweb.google.com/trenshaw/turkey.
In all, this was a phenomenal trip! I was able to disconnect from work and mostly from technology overall. Meandering for hours on end through ruins, losing myself in my thoughts while on a long bus trip, seeing ridiculously grandiose mosques next to abject poverty... no regrets whatsoever about taking the trip!
Gallopoli and Troy
On the Tuesday of our trip, we met the tour group outside at 7am. We had a 20-person bus with only six of us on it... it was great to be able to breathe, have plenty of space and meet a few others doing similar travels!
We went first to ANZAC beach. Now, I'd heard of ANZAC Day and the battles that took place in Gallopoli during the Great War, from having lived in Sydney during ANZAC Day several years ago. This was a nation-defining moment for Australia and for New Zealand, yet we do not hear much of it in the States. Chris and I got quite the history lesson from one of the Aussie guys on the trip... he was infinitely more knowledgable of the events than was our tour guide.
That night, the tour guide dropped us at our hotel in Eceabat, a small town across the water from Canakkale. She told us that another tour bus would pick us up outside at 7:30am the next day. Knowing that, we checked in, looked around town, and promptly decided to take the ferry across to Canakkale to have dinner over there where there looked to be a bit more activity.
We sat on the second level of the ferry, looking out over the bow toward the approaching city. While we were sitting there, a group of kids about 12 years old came over and sat next to us. They started talking amongst themselves in Turkish, laughing a bit, pointing at us, giggling and just generally seemed amused by two tall English speaking guys. After a few minutes of this, the group pushed one kid forward who stuttered nervously, "Where are you from?" in English. Chris and I both responded. He clearly understood, but the others started laughing at him and whispering other questions they wanted him to ask us. He ended up translating between the group and us for a while, until we got close to the shore and the group had to go back to get on their bus to continue its trip.
The next morning, Chris and I went downstairs for breakfast in the hotel lobby. We were two of four people staying in the entire place... the other two were a mother and daughter from Australia who were also in the breakfast area. We talked a bit then, before checking out. The hotel owner walked them over to the ferry right after we went outside to wait for the bus to pick us up. Like throughout the rest of the trip, there were stray cats and dogs just about everywhere. This is a shot from where we were standing on the street corner. Unfortunately, I didn't get a shot with the roosters who were also in the street.
At 7:45 or so, when we still hadn't seen the bus, we decided it'd be a good idea to try to get ourselves across to Canakkale on the 8am ferry. I wrote a note and was about to leave it with the hotel proprietor in case the tour group showed up. As I turned to go back into the hotel, though, the ferry left. Apparently that one is at 7:45 instead of 8, so locals can get to work in town by 8am. Oops. We tried calling the tour company office in Istanbul, to no response. I then emailed them with our situation and our mobile numbers, and then we sat down at a coffeeshop nearby, figuring we'd get on the 9am ferry if we didn't get a response or see them before that.
Now, throughout this, the hotel proprietor wasn't particularly useful, as he had very limited English fluency and we had absolutely no ability to speak Turkish. One of his friends walked over and found us at the coffeeshop a few minutes after we sat down. We chatted for a bit, then he told us that we'd been supposed to be on the ferry and that the tour guide had been calling the hotel asking where we were. Um, oops! It would have been great if we'd actually been told that...
This guy went back into the hotel, called the tour guide, then drove us down to a faster ferry that left at the same time as the 9am we'd been waiting for. By the time we got across the water, the tour group had been waiting there for more than an hour for us. Oops...
Later that day, we went up to Troy to see the ruins, then walked around town in Canakkale. We had (another) phenomenal kebab for lunch. Now, kebab (kebap, sometimes) in London is usually from a dense conical thing that you might guess was meat several years and processing steps ago. It's one of those things that sounds like a good idea only at 3am while waiting for a night bus home. In all of Turkey, though, you could actually tell what the meat was, and it tasted amazing!
We went first to ANZAC beach. Now, I'd heard of ANZAC Day and the battles that took place in Gallopoli during the Great War, from having lived in Sydney during ANZAC Day several years ago. This was a nation-defining moment for Australia and for New Zealand, yet we do not hear much of it in the States. Chris and I got quite the history lesson from one of the Aussie guys on the trip... he was infinitely more knowledgable of the events than was our tour guide.
That night, the tour guide dropped us at our hotel in Eceabat, a small town across the water from Canakkale. She told us that another tour bus would pick us up outside at 7:30am the next day. Knowing that, we checked in, looked around town, and promptly decided to take the ferry across to Canakkale to have dinner over there where there looked to be a bit more activity.
We sat on the second level of the ferry, looking out over the bow toward the approaching city. While we were sitting there, a group of kids about 12 years old came over and sat next to us. They started talking amongst themselves in Turkish, laughing a bit, pointing at us, giggling and just generally seemed amused by two tall English speaking guys. After a few minutes of this, the group pushed one kid forward who stuttered nervously, "Where are you from?" in English. Chris and I both responded. He clearly understood, but the others started laughing at him and whispering other questions they wanted him to ask us. He ended up translating between the group and us for a while, until we got close to the shore and the group had to go back to get on their bus to continue its trip.
The next morning, Chris and I went downstairs for breakfast in the hotel lobby. We were two of four people staying in the entire place... the other two were a mother and daughter from Australia who were also in the breakfast area. We talked a bit then, before checking out. The hotel owner walked them over to the ferry right after we went outside to wait for the bus to pick us up. Like throughout the rest of the trip, there were stray cats and dogs just about everywhere. This is a shot from where we were standing on the street corner. Unfortunately, I didn't get a shot with the roosters who were also in the street.
At 7:45 or so, when we still hadn't seen the bus, we decided it'd be a good idea to try to get ourselves across to Canakkale on the 8am ferry. I wrote a note and was about to leave it with the hotel proprietor in case the tour group showed up. As I turned to go back into the hotel, though, the ferry left. Apparently that one is at 7:45 instead of 8, so locals can get to work in town by 8am. Oops. We tried calling the tour company office in Istanbul, to no response. I then emailed them with our situation and our mobile numbers, and then we sat down at a coffeeshop nearby, figuring we'd get on the 9am ferry if we didn't get a response or see them before that.
Now, throughout this, the hotel proprietor wasn't particularly useful, as he had very limited English fluency and we had absolutely no ability to speak Turkish. One of his friends walked over and found us at the coffeeshop a few minutes after we sat down. We chatted for a bit, then he told us that we'd been supposed to be on the ferry and that the tour guide had been calling the hotel asking where we were. Um, oops! It would have been great if we'd actually been told that...
This guy went back into the hotel, called the tour guide, then drove us down to a faster ferry that left at the same time as the 9am we'd been waiting for. By the time we got across the water, the tour group had been waiting there for more than an hour for us. Oops...
Later that day, we went up to Troy to see the ruins, then walked around town in Canakkale. We had (another) phenomenal kebab for lunch. Now, kebab (kebap, sometimes) in London is usually from a dense conical thing that you might guess was meat several years and processing steps ago. It's one of those things that sounds like a good idea only at 3am while waiting for a night bus home. In all of Turkey, though, you could actually tell what the meat was, and it tasted amazing!
Istanbul
As I mentioned in my previous post, Chris and I booked a trip through Turkey during the first full week of May. Prior to leaving for this trip, we had booked only our flights and lodging, with little planning for what we'd actually be doing on the trip. I bought a tour book in Heathrow on the way out of town on Saturday morning, knowing Chris also had the Lonely Planet Turkey book. Between those books, we figured we'd have everything we needed to make the trip happen.
The H1N1 flu scare began about a week before we left for this trip. As of when we began our travels, there had been several confirmed cases in Western Europe, including the UK, but none in Turkey. All of the ground crew at IST had masks. Granted, as you can see in the photo, not many of them were using these masks particularly carefully.
Shortly after taking this photo, I got a text message from Chris. I'd booked us into a two-single bed ensuite room at a hostel in Sultanahmet, but they didn't have a room available. He was at a hostel down the street, where he'd been able to find us a place for the night. As we found out later, the hostel's reservations system was, um, lacking. I'd initially made a reservation online for four nights. However, when I realized we only wanted to be there for three nights, I tried to modify the reservation. The only way I could do so online was to cancel the existing one and create a new one. I'd done this several weeks before the trip and thought nothing of it. Apparently their reservation system was keyed off of arrival date and last name, not a unique reservation, so they ended up cancelling both of my reservations for arrival (the three-night and the four-night ones). Oops.
We ended up spending that first night in a 30-person dorm at the other hostel... not quite what we'd expected or hoped for, but I at least got a few hours of sleep. The following two nights in a two-bed, two-person room were MUCH better, though!
During our three days we spent in Istanbul, we walked all through the touristy areas, saw the Blue Mosque, Ayasofya and the other normally crowded tourist destinations.
Ayasofya Cami
Blue Mosque
The night before I left London, a friend here had told me "I know some guys who were in Istanbul earlier this spring. They said you absolutely HAVE to go to the Roman Sewers... they're unbelievable!" As I'd done little substantial research of the sites to see in Istanbul, I took the pointer and figured I'd look them up online at the airport or when we got to Istanbul. Needless to say, I couldn't find anything about them, anywhere. However, on our second day there, we did go into the Roman Cisterns. These were absolutely huge underground structures used to store drinking water for the city millennia ago. Slightly different term than originally expected, but definitely a good recommendation!
On our last full day there, we started thinking about logistics for getting ourselves to Canakkale, our next destination. According to Lonely Planet, the best bet was to just go to the bus station outside of Istanbul and find one of the bus companies that has multiple trips per hour. Before doing this, we decided to stop by a travel agency next to our hostel and see what they recommended. After a few minutes of discussion, we signed up for a two-day trip that included the bus to Canakkale, tours of ANZAC beach and other sites in Gallopoli, then also a tour of Troy.
These photos and a few others I'd taken on the trip are posted to http://picasaweb.google.com/trenshaw/turkey/. If you want full-res copies of any of these or want to see the full set of 600 or so photos from the trip, email me!
The H1N1 flu scare began about a week before we left for this trip. As of when we began our travels, there had been several confirmed cases in Western Europe, including the UK, but none in Turkey. All of the ground crew at IST had masks. Granted, as you can see in the photo, not many of them were using these masks particularly carefully.
Shortly after taking this photo, I got a text message from Chris. I'd booked us into a two-single bed ensuite room at a hostel in Sultanahmet, but they didn't have a room available. He was at a hostel down the street, where he'd been able to find us a place for the night. As we found out later, the hostel's reservations system was, um, lacking. I'd initially made a reservation online for four nights. However, when I realized we only wanted to be there for three nights, I tried to modify the reservation. The only way I could do so online was to cancel the existing one and create a new one. I'd done this several weeks before the trip and thought nothing of it. Apparently their reservation system was keyed off of arrival date and last name, not a unique reservation, so they ended up cancelling both of my reservations for arrival (the three-night and the four-night ones). Oops.
We ended up spending that first night in a 30-person dorm at the other hostel... not quite what we'd expected or hoped for, but I at least got a few hours of sleep. The following two nights in a two-bed, two-person room were MUCH better, though!
During our three days we spent in Istanbul, we walked all through the touristy areas, saw the Blue Mosque, Ayasofya and the other normally crowded tourist destinations.
Ayasofya Cami
Blue Mosque
The night before I left London, a friend here had told me "I know some guys who were in Istanbul earlier this spring. They said you absolutely HAVE to go to the Roman Sewers... they're unbelievable!" As I'd done little substantial research of the sites to see in Istanbul, I took the pointer and figured I'd look them up online at the airport or when we got to Istanbul. Needless to say, I couldn't find anything about them, anywhere. However, on our second day there, we did go into the Roman Cisterns. These were absolutely huge underground structures used to store drinking water for the city millennia ago. Slightly different term than originally expected, but definitely a good recommendation!
On our last full day there, we started thinking about logistics for getting ourselves to Canakkale, our next destination. According to Lonely Planet, the best bet was to just go to the bus station outside of Istanbul and find one of the bus companies that has multiple trips per hour. Before doing this, we decided to stop by a travel agency next to our hostel and see what they recommended. After a few minutes of discussion, we signed up for a two-day trip that included the bus to Canakkale, tours of ANZAC beach and other sites in Gallopoli, then also a tour of Troy.
These photos and a few others I'd taken on the trip are posted to http://picasaweb.google.com/trenshaw/turkey/. If you want full-res copies of any of these or want to see the full set of 600 or so photos from the trip, email me!
Sunday, 19 April 2009
Decisions
I've now been here in London for eight months, although it doesn't seem like it's been that long. During those months, my opinions of the city have continued to evolve. As you can tell from a few posts I've had, I'm not impressed with the unreliability of public transit or the ridiculously short days during winter. However, there are many more things that I've been noticing recently that make me like the city more and more.
In talking with a friend back in the US last week, I realized that this eight months is the longest I've actually fully lived in a single place since graduating. Yes, I paid rent on my Jersey City apartment for two years and also rented from Kai for over a year, but it'd be a stretch to say that I genuinely lived in either of those locations. I'd been working in other cities, generally spending at most weekends in New York and sometimes not even that. That was a phenomenal experience that I don't regret in the least, but I think it's going to be a challenge to go back to that type of travel and transient life... I've gone from 54 round-trip flights, mostly for work, in the year before moving to London to now having taken only two work-related flights in the past eight months.
I had no idea how much spending three or four days of the week in a hotel affected me... I'm actually able to go home every night now in London, plan events in the evenings with friends without having to wonder whether or not I'll be in town, and not spend half of the weekend unpacking and repacking for the week's travels. Granted, there were some perks that came along with the travel, but I'm not sure that long term they make up for the instability caused by it.
I'm not saying I necessarily want to stay here long-term, although that's certainly something that's gone from "why would I ever do that?" to "well, it certainly is tempting..." over the past few months. The biggest drawback to doing that would be the distance and time difference between me being here and friends and family being in the States. There are also career decisions related to this... what the different opportunities are in each country, if or how I would consider grad school in either country, and the like.
No, I don't need to make a decision for a while regarding what happens at the end of my currently 18-month commitment, but this does affect what I want to do during the remaining portion of the 18 months. I'm actually settling into living here and am developing a life with friends and colleagues in the area. If I'm going to be here longer term, I'd like to spend more weekends in London and with friends here. If I'm only here through next winter, though, I feel like I need to do as much travel as possible, as it's going to be my best opportunity to see parts of Europe I'd probably never get to while living in the States.
No answers here yet, but I did just book a trip with Chris, who's now living in Zurich, through Turkey. We're meeting each other the Saturday of the May bank holiday weekend in Istanbul and returning our separate ways from Izmir a week later. We have yet to plan much more than that at this point, but will do so over the next week or so, as this trip is quickly approaching!
In talking with a friend back in the US last week, I realized that this eight months is the longest I've actually fully lived in a single place since graduating. Yes, I paid rent on my Jersey City apartment for two years and also rented from Kai for over a year, but it'd be a stretch to say that I genuinely lived in either of those locations. I'd been working in other cities, generally spending at most weekends in New York and sometimes not even that. That was a phenomenal experience that I don't regret in the least, but I think it's going to be a challenge to go back to that type of travel and transient life... I've gone from 54 round-trip flights, mostly for work, in the year before moving to London to now having taken only two work-related flights in the past eight months.
I had no idea how much spending three or four days of the week in a hotel affected me... I'm actually able to go home every night now in London, plan events in the evenings with friends without having to wonder whether or not I'll be in town, and not spend half of the weekend unpacking and repacking for the week's travels. Granted, there were some perks that came along with the travel, but I'm not sure that long term they make up for the instability caused by it.
I'm not saying I necessarily want to stay here long-term, although that's certainly something that's gone from "why would I ever do that?" to "well, it certainly is tempting..." over the past few months. The biggest drawback to doing that would be the distance and time difference between me being here and friends and family being in the States. There are also career decisions related to this... what the different opportunities are in each country, if or how I would consider grad school in either country, and the like.
No, I don't need to make a decision for a while regarding what happens at the end of my currently 18-month commitment, but this does affect what I want to do during the remaining portion of the 18 months. I'm actually settling into living here and am developing a life with friends and colleagues in the area. If I'm going to be here longer term, I'd like to spend more weekends in London and with friends here. If I'm only here through next winter, though, I feel like I need to do as much travel as possible, as it's going to be my best opportunity to see parts of Europe I'd probably never get to while living in the States.
No answers here yet, but I did just book a trip with Chris, who's now living in Zurich, through Turkey. We're meeting each other the Saturday of the May bank holiday weekend in Istanbul and returning our separate ways from Izmir a week later. We have yet to plan much more than that at this point, but will do so over the next week or so, as this trip is quickly approaching!
Easter
A while back, John and I had considered going sailing over Easter weekend. He has a small-ish sailboat that we could have taken out in a regatta off the south of England each day... the plan was originally to do that and to camp somewhere nearby each night. Alas, the weather decided to complicate our plans.
On Wednesday, two days before we were planning to leave for the trip, the forecast called for heavy winds (too heavy for us to sail) and rain on Friday, Saturday and Monday of the four-day weekend. After a whole string of messages back and forth that night, we decided to cancel the trip and find something else to do.
I frantically looked for alternatives... could I book a last minute flight to somewhere in France or Switzerland, find a hostel with an open bed and ski for the weekend? Were there affordable flights to Ireland, where I've been considering for a while now that I want to spend at least a long weekend off in the countryside? Whenever I had a few minutes that Thursday morning at work, I was on travel websites trying to figure out possibilities. As you'd expect, everything was much more expensive than I wanted to consider paying, but I wasn't about to spend the weekend at home.
John and I ended up talking later on Thursday afternoon and decided to go to Wales instead. His girlfriend plays in the BBC orchestra in Cardiff and had just recently moved there... so we had a place to stay as a base for the weekend, and it was only a few-hour drive to get there.
We drove up there Friday afternoon (yes, it took just about the whole afternoon... it took more than 90 minutes to get from Lewisham just to Heathrow), cooked dinner, then explored town a bit at night, playing with night photography... a few of my photos are here: http://picasaweb.google.com/trenshaw/Cardiff
Saturday morning, walking through town, we found that there was a Cardiff v. Toulouise rugby match that afternoon, with tickets still available! Of course, we had to go! Great time, great tickets, and I'm actually starting to be interested in the game... maybe not yet a fully hooked fan, but definitely interested and much more readily able to follow it.
Sunday, we drove up into the Brecon Beacons, went on a short hike, drove through the hills, explored a bit and eventually made our way back into London that night. It was a great way to get out of London for a few days, relax and see Wales!
Now, for the fun part... it'd been raining when we left London on Friday. By the time we got to Cardiff, there wasn't a cloud in the sky. The weekend was a perfect spring weekend... warm, sunny and great for being outside. We saw sailboats out on the harbor in Cardiff and had this nagging feeling that we may have missed a great weekend of sailing. As we crossed the M25 coming back into London on Sunday, though, it started raining again. Apparently the weather had been miserable down here all weekend. It may have been dumb luck, but no complains here!
On Wednesday, two days before we were planning to leave for the trip, the forecast called for heavy winds (too heavy for us to sail) and rain on Friday, Saturday and Monday of the four-day weekend. After a whole string of messages back and forth that night, we decided to cancel the trip and find something else to do.
I frantically looked for alternatives... could I book a last minute flight to somewhere in France or Switzerland, find a hostel with an open bed and ski for the weekend? Were there affordable flights to Ireland, where I've been considering for a while now that I want to spend at least a long weekend off in the countryside? Whenever I had a few minutes that Thursday morning at work, I was on travel websites trying to figure out possibilities. As you'd expect, everything was much more expensive than I wanted to consider paying, but I wasn't about to spend the weekend at home.
John and I ended up talking later on Thursday afternoon and decided to go to Wales instead. His girlfriend plays in the BBC orchestra in Cardiff and had just recently moved there... so we had a place to stay as a base for the weekend, and it was only a few-hour drive to get there.
We drove up there Friday afternoon (yes, it took just about the whole afternoon... it took more than 90 minutes to get from Lewisham just to Heathrow), cooked dinner, then explored town a bit at night, playing with night photography... a few of my photos are here: http://picasaweb.google.com/trenshaw/Cardiff
Saturday morning, walking through town, we found that there was a Cardiff v. Toulouise rugby match that afternoon, with tickets still available! Of course, we had to go! Great time, great tickets, and I'm actually starting to be interested in the game... maybe not yet a fully hooked fan, but definitely interested and much more readily able to follow it.
Sunday, we drove up into the Brecon Beacons, went on a short hike, drove through the hills, explored a bit and eventually made our way back into London that night. It was a great way to get out of London for a few days, relax and see Wales!
Now, for the fun part... it'd been raining when we left London on Friday. By the time we got to Cardiff, there wasn't a cloud in the sky. The weekend was a perfect spring weekend... warm, sunny and great for being outside. We saw sailboats out on the harbor in Cardiff and had this nagging feeling that we may have missed a great weekend of sailing. As we crossed the M25 coming back into London on Sunday, though, it started raining again. Apparently the weather had been miserable down here all weekend. It may have been dumb luck, but no complains here!
Paris
When I'd been in the States last month, I'd had dinner in DC one night with Ros and Alison. We talked about them visiting London, meeting me in Ireland for a long weekend, or picking another city somewhere in Europe to meet. We didn't decide anything at the time, but they'd said they would go and look at what flight options existed.
The next day, Alison forwarded to me their itinerary: they were flying into Paris overnight on a Friday two weeks out, staying there until Tuesday. Needless to say, I booked a Eurostar ticket and met them there.
Now, I've been to Paris twice previously. Both times had been fun, but I can't say that I particularly loved the city. This time was completely different. I'm by no means ready to live there, but it's gone from "eh, I'll go back to visit friends if they're there" to "this really is a fun place!"
I think the difference is that the first two trips ended up being "how much can we see and do and visit in as short a time as possible" whereas this one was more "let's avoid the mobs and actually experience the city itself." We walked through the Luxemberg Gardens, got attacked by a hailstorm walking past the Louvre, found some absolutely phenomenal croissants and wines, and just generally had a more relaxed, sane weekend.
A few of my photos are posted here: http://picasaweb.google.com/trenshaw/ParisMarch2009 and Alison's are here: http://picasaweb.google.com/nosila/Paris2009FirstPass
And yes, it's amazing to be able to wake up in London and be at a hotel in Paris by 10:30am Saturday, have a full weekend there, leave at 8:30 Sunday night and still be home well before midnight. I could get used to this proximity to Europe!
The next day, Alison forwarded to me their itinerary: they were flying into Paris overnight on a Friday two weeks out, staying there until Tuesday. Needless to say, I booked a Eurostar ticket and met them there.
Now, I've been to Paris twice previously. Both times had been fun, but I can't say that I particularly loved the city. This time was completely different. I'm by no means ready to live there, but it's gone from "eh, I'll go back to visit friends if they're there" to "this really is a fun place!"
I think the difference is that the first two trips ended up being "how much can we see and do and visit in as short a time as possible" whereas this one was more "let's avoid the mobs and actually experience the city itself." We walked through the Luxemberg Gardens, got attacked by a hailstorm walking past the Louvre, found some absolutely phenomenal croissants and wines, and just generally had a more relaxed, sane weekend.
A few of my photos are posted here: http://picasaweb.google.com/trenshaw/ParisMarch2009 and Alison's are here: http://picasaweb.google.com/nosila/Paris2009FirstPass
And yes, it's amazing to be able to wake up in London and be at a hotel in Paris by 10:30am Saturday, have a full weekend there, leave at 8:30 Sunday night and still be home well before midnight. I could get used to this proximity to Europe!
Tuesday, 24 March 2009
TfL
Today marks the third consecutive weekday when Transport for London has been incapable of running both the Jubilee Line and the DLR during rush hour. Is it really that tough?
Sunday, 22 March 2009
A whirlwind
As a part of my rotation here to the UK with my firm, I'm encouraged to take a one-week networking trip back to the States, to spend time with others from the office and/or to participate in training.
Two weekends ago, I left for this trip -- I was in NYC Saturday afternoon through Tuesday evening, DC through Friday evening, and then Harrisburg with the family for the day on Saturday.
New York was great -- I caught up with Kai, Leon, Sam, Brice, and a whole group of others on Saturday night. Sunday, Greg met me for brunch... we didn't have anything in particular planned, but ended up finding an absolutely amazing Polish restaurant. It was about 55 degrees and sunny, so when we saw the sign for the beer garden and the other sign that they were serving breakfast, we figured we had to give it a try. After a kielbasa omelette and raspberry pancakes, we just spent some time there, catching up. After a few hours, we had to continue through their menu and try the pierogies (incredible!) and some Polish beers. A great find!
I also met up with Matt, Michelle, and others while there, but still felt like I had too little time. Whereas I'd hoped to spend some of the time during the day Monday and Tuesday in our office, I ended up spending 12+ hours each day in the client's offices. It was useful to be there rather than in London that week, but not quite what I'd intended.
The second half of the week was at a conference, training session, and exam in DC. I spent some time with colleagues from our DC-based privacy practice at the conference, and also got to catch up with Ros, Al and Dave. In trying to convince Ros and Al to come over here, I got them to look at flights, and we're now going to be meeting next weekend in Paris!
After an exam that ended at 7pm Friday, I drove up to the parents place in Mechanicsburg, for just over 24 hours there. Saturday was a bunch of errands, and I also met up with Jared, Andy and Bill to get fitted for our tuxes for Jared's wedding this summer. That night, my parents invited the grandparents over to join us for dinner and we had steaks from the grill... something I definitely miss over here!
In all, it was a great trip and amazing to catch up with a few friends. It was exhausting, though, as I feel that it should have taken at least two weeks to fit in everything that I did during that one.
Two weekends ago, I left for this trip -- I was in NYC Saturday afternoon through Tuesday evening, DC through Friday evening, and then Harrisburg with the family for the day on Saturday.
New York was great -- I caught up with Kai, Leon, Sam, Brice, and a whole group of others on Saturday night. Sunday, Greg met me for brunch... we didn't have anything in particular planned, but ended up finding an absolutely amazing Polish restaurant. It was about 55 degrees and sunny, so when we saw the sign for the beer garden and the other sign that they were serving breakfast, we figured we had to give it a try. After a kielbasa omelette and raspberry pancakes, we just spent some time there, catching up. After a few hours, we had to continue through their menu and try the pierogies (incredible!) and some Polish beers. A great find!
I also met up with Matt, Michelle, and others while there, but still felt like I had too little time. Whereas I'd hoped to spend some of the time during the day Monday and Tuesday in our office, I ended up spending 12+ hours each day in the client's offices. It was useful to be there rather than in London that week, but not quite what I'd intended.
The second half of the week was at a conference, training session, and exam in DC. I spent some time with colleagues from our DC-based privacy practice at the conference, and also got to catch up with Ros, Al and Dave. In trying to convince Ros and Al to come over here, I got them to look at flights, and we're now going to be meeting next weekend in Paris!
After an exam that ended at 7pm Friday, I drove up to the parents place in Mechanicsburg, for just over 24 hours there. Saturday was a bunch of errands, and I also met up with Jared, Andy and Bill to get fitted for our tuxes for Jared's wedding this summer. That night, my parents invited the grandparents over to join us for dinner and we had steaks from the grill... something I definitely miss over here!
In all, it was a great trip and amazing to catch up with a few friends. It was exhausting, though, as I feel that it should have taken at least two weeks to fit in everything that I did during that one.
The Southwest
Several weeks ago, my parents came over to visit for a long weekend. After I left work on Thursday, we met for dinner at Gordon Ramsay's The Narrow. I'd previously gone to one of his other gastropubs... this had equally amazing food in a great setting. It's located on the Thames, out toward Limehouse. My venison special was remarkably tender and delicious!
Friday afternoon, we left town for a trip out into the countryside. We stayed at a B&B just this side of Bath. Saturday, we took a walking tour of Bath, went through the original Roman baths, and then explored the town a bit more.
Sunday, we went off to Avebury, Stonehenge and Salisbury, before returning to London. I'd heard from several people that Stonehenge was underwhelming, but it didn't really come across that way to me. Yes, it was a bit smaller than I would have expected, but it was still powerful to see such a substantial monument that was built there 5000+ years ago, without any of the support, tools, or the like that we would use today.
I didn't have my camera with me, but a few photos of the trip are posted here.
This was my first experience driving on the left side of the road -- in many ways, it was easier than I expected. I had no issues with turning, merging, traffic circles, or the like. However, on two lane country roads, it was counterintuitive to maintain the appropriate spacing. Having oncoming traffic on the other side of me was fine, but I still felt like there should have been four feet of car to my right, so it was definitely a conscious effort to not flinch with the cars coming so closeby.
In all, this was a great weekend -- both as an excuse to get out of London to explore the countryside and also for having spent some time with the parents!
Friday afternoon, we left town for a trip out into the countryside. We stayed at a B&B just this side of Bath. Saturday, we took a walking tour of Bath, went through the original Roman baths, and then explored the town a bit more.
Sunday, we went off to Avebury, Stonehenge and Salisbury, before returning to London. I'd heard from several people that Stonehenge was underwhelming, but it didn't really come across that way to me. Yes, it was a bit smaller than I would have expected, but it was still powerful to see such a substantial monument that was built there 5000+ years ago, without any of the support, tools, or the like that we would use today.
I didn't have my camera with me, but a few photos of the trip are posted here.
This was my first experience driving on the left side of the road -- in many ways, it was easier than I expected. I had no issues with turning, merging, traffic circles, or the like. However, on two lane country roads, it was counterintuitive to maintain the appropriate spacing. Having oncoming traffic on the other side of me was fine, but I still felt like there should have been four feet of car to my right, so it was definitely a conscious effort to not flinch with the cars coming so closeby.
In all, this was a great weekend -- both as an excuse to get out of London to explore the countryside and also for having spent some time with the parents!
Thursday, 12 March 2009
An observation
I need to update this with everything that's been happening for the past month, but here's an observation:
You can tell where the power has shifted within the States over this past year. A year ago, a weeknight hotel room in NYC would have cost 40-50% more than one in Washington, DC. This week, one in Times Square cost 25% less than one near the White House. Go figure...
You can tell where the power has shifted within the States over this past year. A year ago, a weeknight hotel room in NYC would have cost 40-50% more than one in Washington, DC. This week, one in Times Square cost 25% less than one near the White House. Go figure...
Tuesday, 17 February 2009
I'm confused
A sign at my gym this morning:
"Now offering: Group personal training sessions!"
Anyone else confused by this?
"Now offering: Group personal training sessions!"
Anyone else confused by this?
Sunday, 15 February 2009
London Frustrations
So, I've made it a habit recently of doing the week's grocery shopping late on Sunday afternoon. I'll usually end up walking down to the Tesco Metro sometime shortly after 4:00 when I realize "uh, oops, it's about to close!"
What I can't understand: This store is in a pedestrian-friendly area, near a tube and rail stop, and is absolutely packed. Today, all of the checkout lanes were at least six people deep in queue at 4:45, yet the store closes at 5. You'd think if there's that much demand for purchasing groceries on a Sunday afternoon, they'd figure it out and actually stay open at least another hour or two... I just don't get it.
What I can't understand: This store is in a pedestrian-friendly area, near a tube and rail stop, and is absolutely packed. Today, all of the checkout lanes were at least six people deep in queue at 4:45, yet the store closes at 5. You'd think if there's that much demand for purchasing groceries on a Sunday afternoon, they'd figure it out and actually stay open at least another hour or two... I just don't get it.
Davos, part II
So, an email came out to the Serpentine running club email list a while back, recommending this event. I'm seriously considering it, especially if I can convince anyone else to join:
http://www.swissalpine.ch/cms/overview.phtml
Right now, I'm thinking I'd target doing one of the marathon distances, with absolutely no time-related goal other than "finish it."
http://www.swissalpine.ch/cms/overview.phtml
Right now, I'm thinking I'd target doing one of the marathon distances, with absolutely no time-related goal other than "finish it."
Greenwich
Yesterday, I met John and Chris for an afternoon of exploring Greenwich, before heading back to Chris's place to watch the England v. Wales rugby match. We found a great pub along the Thames, walked through the Maritime College, got my photo with a statue of Admiral Nelson and went up to the observatory to see the prime meridian. I definitely need to venture back here to go through the museums on a day when I have more time!
After a disappointing loss to Wales, we ventured back into London to meet a few others for a night out! Leaving the first bar, two of us randomly ventured upon Refuel -- it ended up being a great place to spend the rest of the evening, until our end-of-night crispy duck in Chinatown!
After a disappointing loss to Wales, we ventured back into London to meet a few others for a night out! Leaving the first bar, two of us randomly ventured upon Refuel -- it ended up being a great place to spend the rest of the evening, until our end-of-night crispy duck in Chinatown!
Klosters
Last weekend, I joined Christine, Simon and five of Simon's university friends for three days of skiing in Klosters / Davos. We skiied all day Saturday, Sunday and Monday, before taking Monday night flights back to London for reality Tuesday morning. A few of my photos are posted here.
On Friday morning, I took my skis, boots and other assorted stuff for the trip with me into the office. Remarkably, I didn't get any weird looks as I carried these huge bags on the tube, while wearing a suit.
I left the office and took the DLR to City Airport for a late afternoon flight. One of the other guys on the trip, whom I'd never previously met, was on the same flight from LCY, so we'd exchanged numbers via email and figured we would meet in the terminal. On the DLR, though, my phone rang, I saw it was "Ski Erik" (as I'd entered his number into the phone the previous night) and answered. He was standing next to me. Small world!
After we met the rest of the group in Zurich airport, the seven of us piled into two cars and drove up to Klosters. We found an authentic Swiss German restaurant for a late dinner, had a few beers and were off for sleep at a relatively sane hour.
Saturday morning, we had breakfast, bought tickets and were on our way up to the mountain before 9am. It was still snowing, but looked like the sun was going to break through. We got into a gondola to go up to the slopes, along with 100 or so others, and started the trip. No more than a minute after leaving the base, the gondola suddenly stopped, turning its momentum into a scary pendulum motion. This happened another two times, before we limped back down to the base. After a 30 minute wait, we got into the gondola again and had much better luck the second time!
The snow was great all three days -- we'd had about 6" of powder overnight Friday into Saturday, and the sun broke through the clouds shortly after we got onto the mountain Saturday morning. Through the afternoon, clouds rolled into the lower valleys, giving a really weird perspective -- you could see crystal clear blue skies all around, with the tops of clouds far below. It started snowing late Saturday afternoon and continued all through Sunday into the early morning hours of Monday. Skiing off piste was amazing on Sunday -- there were easily accessible places with at least 18" of nearly untouched powder! Unfortunately, though, the visibility went drastically downhill later in the day. Everyone else headed back to the base at 2pm or so, but I figured I'd get in "just one or two" more runs. It ended up being so foggy that I couldn't see the t-bar two in front of mine going up the mountain, and I had to basically snowplow marker-to-marker down a blue slope, straining to see anything other than just pure white. Monday, though, by far made up for any losses there -- it was about -10C, no wind, and not a cloud in the sky all day!
We went into Davos for dinner and drinks on Saturday night, meeting up with a few of Tony's local friends. Sunday night was much more low-key, but we found an amazing restaurant in Klosters that served fondue!
So, this was my first time skiing in Europe. It was a remarkably different experience than skiing in Colorado or Utah -- not necessarily better or worse, but definitely different. Lift tickets were cheaper than in the States, but everything else was substantially more expensive than it would have been at Vail, Aspen or any of the other largest US resorts. A simple lunch on the mountain cost at least US$20, and dinners were substantially more. As several people had told me, the mountain was also laid out substantially differently. Whereas the US resorts tend to have wide-open trails and large bowls, this resort covered at least as much area, but with more winding, narrow trails and fewer wide open areas.
The mountain seemed like it had much less capital invested in it than most in the States -- fewer lifts, less recently renovated lodges, and the like. Also, the towns had much more a feeling of old money -- whereas Vail, Aspen or many other ski towns in the west have an ostentatious feeling of new money, these towns felt much less showy and in many ways more authentic.
On Friday morning, I took my skis, boots and other assorted stuff for the trip with me into the office. Remarkably, I didn't get any weird looks as I carried these huge bags on the tube, while wearing a suit.
I left the office and took the DLR to City Airport for a late afternoon flight. One of the other guys on the trip, whom I'd never previously met, was on the same flight from LCY, so we'd exchanged numbers via email and figured we would meet in the terminal. On the DLR, though, my phone rang, I saw it was "Ski Erik" (as I'd entered his number into the phone the previous night) and answered. He was standing next to me. Small world!
After we met the rest of the group in Zurich airport, the seven of us piled into two cars and drove up to Klosters. We found an authentic Swiss German restaurant for a late dinner, had a few beers and were off for sleep at a relatively sane hour.
Saturday morning, we had breakfast, bought tickets and were on our way up to the mountain before 9am. It was still snowing, but looked like the sun was going to break through. We got into a gondola to go up to the slopes, along with 100 or so others, and started the trip. No more than a minute after leaving the base, the gondola suddenly stopped, turning its momentum into a scary pendulum motion. This happened another two times, before we limped back down to the base. After a 30 minute wait, we got into the gondola again and had much better luck the second time!
The snow was great all three days -- we'd had about 6" of powder overnight Friday into Saturday, and the sun broke through the clouds shortly after we got onto the mountain Saturday morning. Through the afternoon, clouds rolled into the lower valleys, giving a really weird perspective -- you could see crystal clear blue skies all around, with the tops of clouds far below. It started snowing late Saturday afternoon and continued all through Sunday into the early morning hours of Monday. Skiing off piste was amazing on Sunday -- there were easily accessible places with at least 18" of nearly untouched powder! Unfortunately, though, the visibility went drastically downhill later in the day. Everyone else headed back to the base at 2pm or so, but I figured I'd get in "just one or two" more runs. It ended up being so foggy that I couldn't see the t-bar two in front of mine going up the mountain, and I had to basically snowplow marker-to-marker down a blue slope, straining to see anything other than just pure white. Monday, though, by far made up for any losses there -- it was about -10C, no wind, and not a cloud in the sky all day!
We went into Davos for dinner and drinks on Saturday night, meeting up with a few of Tony's local friends. Sunday night was much more low-key, but we found an amazing restaurant in Klosters that served fondue!
So, this was my first time skiing in Europe. It was a remarkably different experience than skiing in Colorado or Utah -- not necessarily better or worse, but definitely different. Lift tickets were cheaper than in the States, but everything else was substantially more expensive than it would have been at Vail, Aspen or any of the other largest US resorts. A simple lunch on the mountain cost at least US$20, and dinners were substantially more. As several people had told me, the mountain was also laid out substantially differently. Whereas the US resorts tend to have wide-open trails and large bowls, this resort covered at least as much area, but with more winding, narrow trails and fewer wide open areas.
The mountain seemed like it had much less capital invested in it than most in the States -- fewer lifts, less recently renovated lodges, and the like. Also, the towns had much more a feeling of old money -- whereas Vail, Aspen or many other ski towns in the west have an ostentatious feeling of new money, these towns felt much less showy and in many ways more authentic.
Sunday, 11 January 2009
2009 Travel
So, it's the start of a new year. One of the primary reasons for moving to London was to explore more of Europe. Since moving here, I've been to Geneva, Zurich, Paris, Nice / South of France, Edinburgh, Cambridge, South coast of England / Isle of Wight, and a few different areas closer in to London. In addition to travel that I have planned back to the States during the remainder of my trip, I want to experience at least the following:
I'd also like to run a marathon over here this year. London's not going to happen for me this spring, as I would have needed to sign up with a charity by now. Paris had been a remote possibility this spring, but I'm leaning more toward a fall marathon at this point. Perhaps Berlin.
Given I used a substantial amount of vacation in the past few weeks and I'm planning to use more than a week in June for a trip with the family, I don't think any of these could be week-long trips. Rather, they will need to be weekends or long weekends.
My first possibility is skiing in the Alps. Nathan, a friend who studied over here several years ago, recommended several places about 40 miles away from Geneva. After looking online, they appear to be quite promising, and there are even ski-in, ski-out B&Bs with completely reasonable prices. I'm seriously considering booking a weekend trip either the weekend of January 24th or sometime in late February. I have no desire to coordinate a large group, and think it'd be fun to do either alone or with just a few friends. If you're interested in joining me, let me know in the next few days...
Also, any other thoughts or can't-miss places? Let me know!
- Ireland -- the cities and pubs, but just as importantly, the countryside
- Eastern Europe -- Possibly some combination of Hungary, Poland, and the Czech Republic
- Greece -- No ideas exactly where yet
- Egypt -- I know little about it, but why not give it a try?
- Skiing in the Alps
- Skiing in Eastern Europe
- Iceland
- Norway
I'd also like to run a marathon over here this year. London's not going to happen for me this spring, as I would have needed to sign up with a charity by now. Paris had been a remote possibility this spring, but I'm leaning more toward a fall marathon at this point. Perhaps Berlin.
Given I used a substantial amount of vacation in the past few weeks and I'm planning to use more than a week in June for a trip with the family, I don't think any of these could be week-long trips. Rather, they will need to be weekends or long weekends.
My first possibility is skiing in the Alps. Nathan, a friend who studied over here several years ago, recommended several places about 40 miles away from Geneva. After looking online, they appear to be quite promising, and there are even ski-in, ski-out B&Bs with completely reasonable prices. I'm seriously considering booking a weekend trip either the weekend of January 24th or sometime in late February. I have no desire to coordinate a large group, and think it'd be fun to do either alone or with just a few friends. If you're interested in joining me, let me know in the next few days...
Also, any other thoughts or can't-miss places? Let me know!
Tuesday, 6 January 2009
New Years week
During the Chicago Marathon weekend, a friend and I had somewhat joked about traveling to France at some point. Over the interim months, talking occasionally, we decided to actually book the trip. We had four days in the south of France, followed by two in Paris and two in London. I'm now back in London, back to the reality of work and everything here.
South of France
We flew into Nice on Sunday afternoon, after a layover at Heathrow. Our adventures began with Julie navigating with the GPS while I tried my less-than-professional manual skills with a compact diesel on very narrow, very hilly streets in Cagnes-sur-mer. We eventually got to the hotel without too much damage to life, limb, vehicle, or sanity. It was a probably six-room or so bed & breakfast in a small town about a 15 minute drive away from downtown Nice -- much quieter and further away from the crowds, but also further away from the activity. We found a great place for dinner that first night, just up the road, then crashed.
On our first full day in the country, we toured the Villa Rothschild, drove along the coast, had lunch in the village of Eze on the cliffs over the water, toured Monaco at sunset, and ended up in Nice for dinner along the Promenade.
For our second full day, we set out with an itinerary with a set of five wineries for some tastings in Provence. In doing our research the previous night, we realized a peculiar thing about France -- whereas we are used to having specific addresses for anywhere we would go, they have at most a street name and a city posted on their websites -- not so useful for the GPS. Regardless, we got to Chateau de Berne, which was amazing -- they have a hotel, restaurant, and event center on site for weddings and the like in the summer, but we were literally the only people there for our tasting. The sommelier spent at least 90 minutes talking us through nine different wines, the region, and everything. Granted, we have essentially opposite tastes -- Julie was all excited by the rose and white wines, while I loved the fuller bodied cabernet / shiraz blends toward the end of the tasting. We then went to a smaller vineyard where the single woman there spoke limited English, but recommended a third place that we had not found online the previous night. It was similar to the first, and we joined up with a group of four Brits for a tour of the vineyards, 30m-deep wine cellar, and tastings. After this, we continued on to Cannes to explore the town and have dinner, before going back and crashing for another night.
On New Years Eve, we explored Old Nice, tasted olive oils, and visited the Musee Chagall. We returned to the hotel in the afternoon to begin planning our time in Paris and to recover a bit before dinner. Now, the B&B owners were staying there along with several other guests -- they put on appetizers, champagne, and the like beginning at about 6pm. We all just sat around a fire, talked, and generally relaxed for a while before heading off to an Italian place for dinner. This was at most an 8-table restaurant, right up the street from the hotel. When we had checked in, our hostess called to make our reservation. Stephan, the restaurant owner, came out to greet us, take our orders, cook the meals, and everything. It was a phenomenal experience! Just before midnight, we returned to the hotel to ring in the new year with the other guests and some more champagne.
New Years Day had a much slower start, followed by our flight to Paris. After we checked into our hotel there, we went out to see the Eiffel Tower at night and to have dinner nearby.
Paris
On Friday, we had by far our most energetic day to ate. We had an early breakfast at the Renaissance before getting to the Louve. We got into the museum shortly after it opened, saw the Mona Lisa, saw a few other sites, and were on our way to our next stop within barely more than an hour! Throughout the day we toured the Arc de Triumph, Champs Elysses, the Eiffel Tower in sunlight, the Latin Quarter (unbelievable bistros!), had the world's best macaroons, and toured the Musee d'Orsay, all before dinner! It was a fun whirlwind tour, but we definitely could have enjoyed another day or two there, as well.
On Saturday, we visited the Musee Rodin, before taking the EuroStar back here to London. We spent some time out with friends on Saturday night here, then explored Brick Lane on Sunday, before facing up to the reality of a new work week, with Julie returning to the States yesterday morning as I took the tube back to the office.
As we suspected, we are very different people -- I enjoyed the south more, while I think Julie was more a fan of the bigger cities. I had red wine every night, while Julie had white. I navigate by maps, whereas she does by GPS and next-step directions. We are definitely very different people who want different things, yet it was still a great, relaxing, fun trip that I'm absolutely glad to have taken!
South of France
We flew into Nice on Sunday afternoon, after a layover at Heathrow. Our adventures began with Julie navigating with the GPS while I tried my less-than-professional manual skills with a compact diesel on very narrow, very hilly streets in Cagnes-sur-mer. We eventually got to the hotel without too much damage to life, limb, vehicle, or sanity. It was a probably six-room or so bed & breakfast in a small town about a 15 minute drive away from downtown Nice -- much quieter and further away from the crowds, but also further away from the activity. We found a great place for dinner that first night, just up the road, then crashed.
On our first full day in the country, we toured the Villa Rothschild, drove along the coast, had lunch in the village of Eze on the cliffs over the water, toured Monaco at sunset, and ended up in Nice for dinner along the Promenade.
For our second full day, we set out with an itinerary with a set of five wineries for some tastings in Provence. In doing our research the previous night, we realized a peculiar thing about France -- whereas we are used to having specific addresses for anywhere we would go, they have at most a street name and a city posted on their websites -- not so useful for the GPS. Regardless, we got to Chateau de Berne, which was amazing -- they have a hotel, restaurant, and event center on site for weddings and the like in the summer, but we were literally the only people there for our tasting. The sommelier spent at least 90 minutes talking us through nine different wines, the region, and everything. Granted, we have essentially opposite tastes -- Julie was all excited by the rose and white wines, while I loved the fuller bodied cabernet / shiraz blends toward the end of the tasting. We then went to a smaller vineyard where the single woman there spoke limited English, but recommended a third place that we had not found online the previous night. It was similar to the first, and we joined up with a group of four Brits for a tour of the vineyards, 30m-deep wine cellar, and tastings. After this, we continued on to Cannes to explore the town and have dinner, before going back and crashing for another night.
On New Years Eve, we explored Old Nice, tasted olive oils, and visited the Musee Chagall. We returned to the hotel in the afternoon to begin planning our time in Paris and to recover a bit before dinner. Now, the B&B owners were staying there along with several other guests -- they put on appetizers, champagne, and the like beginning at about 6pm. We all just sat around a fire, talked, and generally relaxed for a while before heading off to an Italian place for dinner. This was at most an 8-table restaurant, right up the street from the hotel. When we had checked in, our hostess called to make our reservation. Stephan, the restaurant owner, came out to greet us, take our orders, cook the meals, and everything. It was a phenomenal experience! Just before midnight, we returned to the hotel to ring in the new year with the other guests and some more champagne.
New Years Day had a much slower start, followed by our flight to Paris. After we checked into our hotel there, we went out to see the Eiffel Tower at night and to have dinner nearby.
Paris
On Friday, we had by far our most energetic day to ate. We had an early breakfast at the Renaissance before getting to the Louve. We got into the museum shortly after it opened, saw the Mona Lisa, saw a few other sites, and were on our way to our next stop within barely more than an hour! Throughout the day we toured the Arc de Triumph, Champs Elysses, the Eiffel Tower in sunlight, the Latin Quarter (unbelievable bistros!), had the world's best macaroons, and toured the Musee d'Orsay, all before dinner! It was a fun whirlwind tour, but we definitely could have enjoyed another day or two there, as well.
On Saturday, we visited the Musee Rodin, before taking the EuroStar back here to London. We spent some time out with friends on Saturday night here, then explored Brick Lane on Sunday, before facing up to the reality of a new work week, with Julie returning to the States yesterday morning as I took the tube back to the office.
As we suspected, we are very different people -- I enjoyed the south more, while I think Julie was more a fan of the bigger cities. I had red wine every night, while Julie had white. I navigate by maps, whereas she does by GPS and next-step directions. We are definitely very different people who want different things, yet it was still a great, relaxing, fun trip that I'm absolutely glad to have taken!
Christmas week
After a snowy late night drive across New Jersey and Pennsylvania, I got home to Mechanicsburg and collapsed at 2am or so on the Sunday morning before Christmas.
Over the next few days, I caught up with family and friends, did all of my Christmas shopping, cooked for the family, read a bit, and just generally relaxed.
Sunday evening, the Renshaw family got together at my grandmother's, where we all had pizza, caught up, and I had the opportunity to meet Cassidy, my newest cousin! All of us cousins then ended up at Karen & Gene's (and Cashew's place, too...) for some Wii sports!
On Monday night, I caught up with Bill, Andy, and Jared for the first time since Bill's wedding. Now, for perspective, all three of them have purchased and moved into their houses within the past seven months, so I'd seen none of their places. This ended up being the Harrisburg area home tour! Andy and I met at his place when he got home from work, then we met up with Bill, Jolene, Jared, and Jen at the ABC for dinner, before visiting Bill & Jo's house, then ending up at Jared & Jen's for some amazing cookies and good ol' fashioned Monday Night Football.
We had all the normal family traditions for Christmas Eve dinner and mass, followed by the family gift exchanges on Christmas Day. It was great to see everyone again, spend time together, and yes, even to see Santa!
Saturday afternoon, after a week of relaxation and visiting with friends and family, I was back in a car, driving to New York before the next leg of the trip...
Over the next few days, I caught up with family and friends, did all of my Christmas shopping, cooked for the family, read a bit, and just generally relaxed.
Sunday evening, the Renshaw family got together at my grandmother's, where we all had pizza, caught up, and I had the opportunity to meet Cassidy, my newest cousin! All of us cousins then ended up at Karen & Gene's (and Cashew's place, too...) for some Wii sports!
On Monday night, I caught up with Bill, Andy, and Jared for the first time since Bill's wedding. Now, for perspective, all three of them have purchased and moved into their houses within the past seven months, so I'd seen none of their places. This ended up being the Harrisburg area home tour! Andy and I met at his place when he got home from work, then we met up with Bill, Jolene, Jared, and Jen at the ABC for dinner, before visiting Bill & Jo's house, then ending up at Jared & Jen's for some amazing cookies and good ol' fashioned Monday Night Football.
We had all the normal family traditions for Christmas Eve dinner and mass, followed by the family gift exchanges on Christmas Day. It was great to see everyone again, spend time together, and yes, even to see Santa!
Saturday afternoon, after a week of relaxation and visiting with friends and family, I was back in a car, driving to New York before the next leg of the trip...
New York
In early December, I realized that I had a unique opportunity. Half of the team for my current work project is based out of New York, and I work with them regularly enough that it made sense to spend time with them in person rather than on the phone for a few days. With that as my justification, I changed my previously booked Christmas travel plans to return to the States a week early. I ended up working out of my client's midtown office for the last week before Christmas, rather than from here in London.
Whereas I'd originally expected to see at most one or two people and spend all of 12 hours in NYC, Kai ended up being incredibly gracious and letting me crash at her place for a full week. I still worked during the days, but it was a great opportunity to catch up with friends over lunches, dinners, Christmas parties, and the like. We did sushi lunches in midtown, John's Pizza twice, Italian in the city, PF Changs with Kai, Sam, and Susan, a slice from Benny Tudino's after a beer at the Goldhawk, and a few other places as well.
Oh, and what would a week in New York have been without the obligatory Road Runners race? Thank you to Steve for driving me up to Central Park on a snowy, 20 degree morning to do our 15k run... the snow on the trees, the CNN sign showing 23 degrees during the race, the fact that they collected our chips before we even got to the start line... it was great!
After a dinner at a midtown bistro that Saturday night, I got into a rental car and drove down to Mechanicsburg to spend Christmas week with the family.
My most substantial realization during this week happened on an early Sunday morning run, my first weekend in town. As I was running through the quiet streets of Hoboken, I realized for the first time how much that area had started to become my home. In some ways, it felt more like I belonged there, having returned after six months abroad, than it ever had when I actually lived in the area. Much can happen in the next year, and it is by no means certain that I will be returning to New York following this time in London, but I did realize that as much as being in London now is the right choice, I will at some point want to be closer to home -- whether in the NY area or in another east coast city.
Whereas I'd originally expected to see at most one or two people and spend all of 12 hours in NYC, Kai ended up being incredibly gracious and letting me crash at her place for a full week. I still worked during the days, but it was a great opportunity to catch up with friends over lunches, dinners, Christmas parties, and the like. We did sushi lunches in midtown, John's Pizza twice, Italian in the city, PF Changs with Kai, Sam, and Susan, a slice from Benny Tudino's after a beer at the Goldhawk, and a few other places as well.
Oh, and what would a week in New York have been without the obligatory Road Runners race? Thank you to Steve for driving me up to Central Park on a snowy, 20 degree morning to do our 15k run... the snow on the trees, the CNN sign showing 23 degrees during the race, the fact that they collected our chips before we even got to the start line... it was great!
After a dinner at a midtown bistro that Saturday night, I got into a rental car and drove down to Mechanicsburg to spend Christmas week with the family.
My most substantial realization during this week happened on an early Sunday morning run, my first weekend in town. As I was running through the quiet streets of Hoboken, I realized for the first time how much that area had started to become my home. In some ways, it felt more like I belonged there, having returned after six months abroad, than it ever had when I actually lived in the area. Much can happen in the next year, and it is by no means certain that I will be returning to New York following this time in London, but I did realize that as much as being in London now is the right choice, I will at some point want to be closer to home -- whether in the NY area or in another east coast city.
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