tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-355831202024-02-07T20:38:50.243-05:00AKA-StudentThe general events and issues in my lifejalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17462568738523079492noreply@blogger.comBlogger51125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35583120.post-14100254061939833562009-11-03T01:17:00.002-05:002009-11-03T01:20:48.209-05:00Halloween<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgd_zK6tUwUEiBQnpb7l6QoktPiW5LWgWBFX2LSFy6su2vJpH8z-RbEFIWyVLXp-K5_EbAcwq7Yl-0qixN6nbsKpQYutSOcFvQXIMANZ9jmJxl2YC7j7mEITFF1j9yMQIc1zcmZBQ/s1600-h/IMG00031-20091101-0113.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgd_zK6tUwUEiBQnpb7l6QoktPiW5LWgWBFX2LSFy6su2vJpH8z-RbEFIWyVLXp-K5_EbAcwq7Yl-0qixN6nbsKpQYutSOcFvQXIMANZ9jmJxl2YC7j7mEITFF1j9yMQIc1zcmZBQ/s320/IMG00031-20091101-0113.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5399758407580449634" border="0" /></a><br />Ended an amazing Halloween weekend by answering the age old question...<br /><br />Yes! Zombies do enjoy Jumbo Slice.<br /><br />The only thing that has always bothered me about jumbo slice is the fact that you wake up still feeling full from it. Kinda creepy and probably exceedingly unhealthy...jalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17462568738523079492noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35583120.post-12343737621008017182009-11-03T01:14:00.003-05:002009-11-03T01:24:21.838-05:00Finally! Finished Stairs<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLy_8lEgbA81RhflPw4vFTH_vsUtwIE9j4h9ZP-NMWrNiJN6XLUGWD1EgO7VO-FasruO-KwNNvR3GE9pZiBTP2rv5qXQFAyT9aPT_MZU2qeTcb7SWZkHLI99CefB67NXi7_mGF-A/s1600-h/IMG00026-20091030-1305.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLy_8lEgbA81RhflPw4vFTH_vsUtwIE9j4h9ZP-NMWrNiJN6XLUGWD1EgO7VO-FasruO-KwNNvR3GE9pZiBTP2rv5qXQFAyT9aPT_MZU2qeTcb7SWZkHLI99CefB67NXi7_mGF-A/s400/IMG00026-20091030-1305.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5399757357085359554" border="0" /></a><br />Started last December, and finally completely finished. A small victory in the battle with my house...<br /><br />special thanks go to my father who helped with the base construction and to Charlie who's miter saw made the finishing touches a cakewalk :-)jalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17462568738523079492noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35583120.post-16259277885449159622009-11-02T23:14:00.023-05:002009-11-28T11:14:32.829-05:00Croatia and Montenegro Trip, part 2: MontenegroLeft Dubrovnik by bus and after a ride down the coast crossed over into Montenegro. Got my passport stamped and then my first sight of an authentic <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">Montenegrin</span> was a the woman herding cattle down the middle of the street, stopping traffic. The main road to Podgorica wound all along the coast and passes through many of the coastal towns before switch-backing its way up the mountains and inland to the capitol. I arrived well after dark and almost got off the bus at the wrong stop, but luckily made it safely to the main bus depot where Tim met me.<br /><br />Tim and Lexi had an amazing apartment in the heart of the town, but we spent very little time there as we were too busy seeing the sights of the country. We went out in town and got a late dinner of the great <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">Montenegrin</span> delicacy of cheese wrapped in meant, smothered in cheese, rich and delicious, not very good for you but who cares on vacation.<br /><br />Each day of the trip always began the same. A stop at the one and only indoor shopping mall to hit up Costa Coffee for Tim's coffee fix and my <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2">burgeoning</span> mini-muffin <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_3">obsession</span>. Sometimes the chain stores are <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_4">worthwhile</span> after all.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiR_BavfB7tyQN18hHOtLLbPvr2bXHeRLONkFe9ezc6NA1J5zzG9-_SPd5WxUbWmc30ybegPif7bcf1QyPyVSW7M3s1HJOQuJuzM42RTCZDtvSkx1j2CqkHs7R0GzcfnGiMkGR57g/s1600-h/IMG_0492.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiR_BavfB7tyQN18hHOtLLbPvr2bXHeRLONkFe9ezc6NA1J5zzG9-_SPd5WxUbWmc30ybegPif7bcf1QyPyVSW7M3s1HJOQuJuzM42RTCZDtvSkx1j2CqkHs7R0GzcfnGiMkGR57g/s200/IMG_0492.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5399730349733903794" border="0" /></a><br />The first full day in Montenegro we went to city of <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_5">Cetinje</span>. This was the original capitol of the country when it had a brief period as an independent kingdom. We walked around a bit and saw the old king's palace. It was a nice compact city and a good way to start the day.<br /><br />We then drove into the nearby national park and drove to the top of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lov%C4%87en"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_6">Lovćen</span></a> mountain. The views are spectacular and the top of the mountain has the <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2JGIc1OCUcYPb7yab88bOETwdoMRHhNzPsVQV5olLkhFYnjn5FeUpoU0OIDPMJSwW9erKT8MbLZEci9vwn5RDELSfruv1CVEX5Mn2Cf8iZiZOp5hzh5xSeLPlpac6-fuC3s5vjg/s1600-h/IMG_0521.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 150px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2JGIc1OCUcYPb7yab88bOETwdoMRHhNzPsVQV5olLkhFYnjn5FeUpoU0OIDPMJSwW9erKT8MbLZEci9vwn5RDELSfruv1CVEX5Mn2Cf8iZiZOp5hzh5xSeLPlpac6-fuC3s5vjg/s200/IMG_0521.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5399731020585147922" border="0" /></a><span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_7">crypt</span> of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Petar_Petrovi%C4%87_Njego%C5%A1"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_8">Njegoš</span></a> a famous <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_9">Montenegrin</span> poet and ruler. Even driving most of the way to the top there was still a significant staircase to be surmounted before reaching the pinnacle of the mountain. The picture to the left shows the view from the bottom of the stairs, and the path leading off the top of the parking area is actually the original Austrian road that was used to travel to the top of the mountain, and even to transport heavy equipment to the summit during times of war. The picture below shows the view from the top of the neighboring peak that is still used as an active military base.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqXMckihT0P_7LrDAmwQNhrhjHQN5XFsw66ewINN_WMMQy1p6NlJ14SPa4ffuJ12f1_JpawR4vHkDAbPEV_rAtGfNYEHhN77KPUoh2Dme0RBQaicOs_Lj1swr15fxW8yuSwTfU7g/s1600-h/pana+Lovcen+2.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 81px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqXMckihT0P_7LrDAmwQNhrhjHQN5XFsw66ewINN_WMMQy1p6NlJ14SPa4ffuJ12f1_JpawR4vHkDAbPEV_rAtGfNYEHhN77KPUoh2Dme0RBQaicOs_Lj1swr15fxW8yuSwTfU7g/s320/pana+Lovcen+2.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5399732081425477746" border="0" /></a>Following this, we then drove over the ridge to the coast and visited the city of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kotor"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_10">Kotor</span></a>. <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_11">Kotor</span>, like many of the coastal towns still has the original walled city center <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6FjyzKLe5K2q99Ps2ONSz9D3mD7SuuGX7bTQHHVMwPki-TSTNGGWlCHOXw_6ujko4NgVvZS9dEcejXXFSSNtVXCjy8yQzxmnIg2mEgq6prOGtTPcsYAOuIOfpJ8whljDS1I9lzw/s1600-h/IMG_0575.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6FjyzKLe5K2q99Ps2ONSz9D3mD7SuuGX7bTQHHVMwPki-TSTNGGWlCHOXw_6ujko4NgVvZS9dEcejXXFSSNtVXCjy8yQzxmnIg2mEgq6prOGtTPcsYAOuIOfpJ8whljDS1I9lzw/s320/IMG_0575.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5399734710569452322" border="0" /></a><span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_12">intact</span>. Had a good lunch there and then hiked up the old fortifications on the hillside behind the city. Was a great workout and well worth it for the views. Many, many steps, all protected as a world heritage site (like Dubrovnik). The ruins at the top are amazing, and well worth the climb. Overall it was an amazing day. We had perfect weather and traveled roads where we were eye level with the clouds and wound through dozens of switchbacks. The roads are a bit harrowing there and require some driving skill, but well worth it for the sights you see in the many pull offs along the way.<br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAhnVbHoZrNTlRL94rV0YN7rYpp2e6SuPv-sWkmWpgZW1KZBVvI2NNaIe0KbXm1tf20JuScVy_PI45IaFLjaVBEeOJCVUmtoP_XOtTCRzF-oP2-JX12kpcfjuUcrHTVkuSwrxNeg/s1600-h/pana+road+to+Kotor+4.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 182px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAhnVbHoZrNTlRL94rV0YN7rYpp2e6SuPv-sWkmWpgZW1KZBVvI2NNaIe0KbXm1tf20JuScVy_PI45IaFLjaVBEeOJCVUmtoP_XOtTCRzF-oP2-JX12kpcfjuUcrHTVkuSwrxNeg/s400/pana+road+to+Kotor+4.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5399736793265469074" border="0" /></a>I couldn't resist taking a video of one of the <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_13">switchbacks</span>, thank goodness the Mini Cooper has excellent handling.<br /><br /><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dxft-yeUunIZworKl9HZw7nkT3ztCj5CKt4CHpJizlI_jDfxolHNulMgFOa27w9df8uL0wfxTBZICc' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' frameborder='0'></iframe><br /><br />The next day we went to <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_14">Kanjon</span> <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_15">Mrtvice</span> (Canyon Death) for a day hike. <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQjIItHMF2ipqbeUqYxSyYxA1toqphhY94fhE_XQt5XBL-soXiAXzLmocVUkqb36_CkuC5IUHJ1vApV5OstUuIXRTAZDnAZSK-_TtMZUhuJ56UgU3ZWq_7yznyoO6xd_0vInB6yQ/s1600-h/pana+Kanjon+Mrtvice+1.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 171px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQjIItHMF2ipqbeUqYxSyYxA1toqphhY94fhE_XQt5XBL-soXiAXzLmocVUkqb36_CkuC5IUHJ1vApV5OstUuIXRTAZDnAZSK-_TtMZUhuJ56UgU3ZWq_7yznyoO6xd_0vInB6yQ/s400/pana+Kanjon+Mrtvice+1.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5399739810424520034" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWwAvRq_SnzFQz0v1JJhrSPc93c8a3h2WQHur03_iBab2ceyLM-b6cZsreU8pANq849esXtJiaLzF8CGB0O39fPXwcsjsyaHuanD2sCCZ0CAeR-BkPf-6a-ZJqIHIUpOPCOCHAuA/s1600-h/IMG_0648.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWwAvRq_SnzFQz0v1JJhrSPc93c8a3h2WQHur03_iBab2ceyLM-b6cZsreU8pANq849esXtJiaLzF8CGB0O39fPXwcsjsyaHuanD2sCCZ0CAeR-BkPf-6a-ZJqIHIUpOPCOCHAuA/s320/IMG_0648.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5399740513169607266" border="0" /></a>This place was spectacular. We hiked into the canyon from a non<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_16">-descript</span> pull of of a country road. We hiked a distance in and had lunch by the stream side. Even in the height of Summer the water is ice cold as it comes directly from springs inside the mountains. Cold but delicious. We had a basic lunch and continued our hike further on. The trail runs on a ledge along the mountain side, and when that ledge runs out ambitious Serb engineers carved out a trail in the side of the cliff face. the mineral rich waters of the stream were the mos amazing blue-green color. The pictures barely capture how beautiful it was. (It is times like these that I wish I had Paul's camera and his expertise to work the digital SLR). The below picture is the view from the trail of one of the old Austrian roads that <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_17">criss</span>-cross the countryside and are still useful and beautiful.<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggHc_9Pc0_Uyy5dQBmAz5b2GhPW9aH22Q8EQNzv6iU-9EwsSJSHc-8wMlmYelIQMT_Dn-z-o-eRTR9B0sGRF5KBx00hoyV3Smoc0e8oYbpLghR-isplZJkVd2K7clu1va6pCARWw/s1600-h/pana+Kanjon+Mrtvice+6.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 172px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggHc_9Pc0_Uyy5dQBmAz5b2GhPW9aH22Q8EQNzv6iU-9EwsSJSHc-8wMlmYelIQMT_Dn-z-o-eRTR9B0sGRF5KBx00hoyV3Smoc0e8oYbpLghR-isplZJkVd2K7clu1va6pCARWw/s400/pana+Kanjon+Mrtvice+6.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5399741717396792242" border="0" /></a>After the canyon we went back downtown and had an amazing Italian dinner, and went out on the town. The Europeans love to promenade (the best word I can think of for it), where they just walk in loops through the downtown through the evening on the weekends before settling on a place to spend the night. Seems similar to cruising Main St., but without the car. Provides for amazing people watching from the patios of the downtown cafes. The people of Montenegro love their glitter and <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_18">sequins</span>, I must say. We even had a few drinks at a cafe called Cheers, where it looks like they found the logo on the <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_19">Internet</span> and just photo-shopped it for their own purposes.<br /><br />Sunday was a welcome break from the constant hiking and climbing of the past several days. Instead it was my upper body that got the workout <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_20">kayaking</span> all day on Lake <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_Scutari"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_21">Skadar</span></a>. The lake is on the border between Montenegro and Albania. From where we were you could just make out the distant mountains of Albania on the horizon. My camera didn't do so well with <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_22">stitching</span> the pictures on the water, but still the views were very impressive.<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1beEW0HcdUZjCkgBT_G5MwxPZTNw0yQFxDOkQkUGlQEliI4q2lKjHvgUvaINZ2wel37riJHZoNkdMXdwFdJjaGH-P23axe060XsvENephflMprjZRqrlapZYwzzD41uIrt8CauQ/s1600-h/pana+Skadar+Lake+3.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 212px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1beEW0HcdUZjCkgBT_G5MwxPZTNw0yQFxDOkQkUGlQEliI4q2lKjHvgUvaINZ2wel37riJHZoNkdMXdwFdJjaGH-P23axe060XsvENephflMprjZRqrlapZYwzzD41uIrt8CauQ/s400/pana+Skadar+Lake+3.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5399745079897211234" border="0" /></a>The lake is one of the largest, healthy wetland environments in all of Europe and crucial for many migrating species on the way between Africa and Europe. I'm not much of a bird watcher so I just enjoyed the natural environment. The tour guide was awesome. He was a Scot who had lived and worked in southern California before picking up and <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_23">headi</span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhswSWxoUQruIUa_gzjFn-yEIRxSKeSSHOkYJCr-ZZgiGk7z1LPmj6ulvKUxSYpwlRo8zit04Tu6HZSiaG99ZpxYbr2VBWOLBNNEbdoTpvNWZ9yB0msbFKh0pXb7GMT_9BhIk1Hiw/s1600-h/IMG_0703.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhswSWxoUQruIUa_gzjFn-yEIRxSKeSSHOkYJCr-ZZgiGk7z1LPmj6ulvKUxSYpwlRo8zit04Tu6HZSiaG99ZpxYbr2VBWOLBNNEbdoTpvNWZ9yB0msbFKh0pXb7GMT_9BhIk1Hiw/s200/IMG_0703.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5399747500543426674" border="0" /></a><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_24">ng</span> to Montenegro. Since I was the only solo <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_25">kayaker</span> he hung out with me at the back made the trip amusing by telling me many the most hilarious stories (many of which might not have gone over well with some of the couples on the trip...). Once we were beyond the outskirts of the village where we put in, the natural environment ruled, with only a few isolated houses on that portion of the lake. Hopefully it will stay much the same as the whole region is protected wilderness. Finally, we had a small meal while watching the sunset in the farming village where the trip began and ended. It was a great weekend overall.<br /><br />Sadly my last day in <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAPHbyfUNx7RhM5MXb83hq9dIMA5ePC_uk5aRNIXSpZb3ceOWAb3xXUPbne_l4fcxdH-V_zLHYa3JNDZMNBhyphenhyphen7c44ucogdoQJp4Bj9IAfqsGFoakTyLXq0yfOfVsPM72KsAOoe7g/s1600-h/IMG_0731.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAPHbyfUNx7RhM5MXb83hq9dIMA5ePC_uk5aRNIXSpZb3ceOWAb3xXUPbne_l4fcxdH-V_zLHYa3JNDZMNBhyphenhyphen7c44ucogdoQJp4Bj9IAfqsGFoakTyLXq0yfOfVsPM72KsAOoe7g/s200/IMG_0731.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5399749338478129186" border="0" /></a><span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_26">Montenegro</span> arrived on Monday. We drove down to the cost and stopped in several more cities. We did a driving tour of Bar, where we saw a 2000+ year old olive tree. This is a little more of an industrial city, being the main port for the country, and not quite as touristy as most of the other places we went. Much of the city was rebuilt since World War II, and the old town portion is mostly a ruin as a result of earthquakes and neglect (we didn't have the time to visit the ruins unfortunately so it will have to wait for my next visit...).<br /><br />Following Bar we drove up the coast to <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_27">Budva</span>. Th<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLQiU40GGhqzOJ8HfRghUoOTiK2FhayjbUktf1XohWgjfe-HvHVrtPTz9L5Z3C7LAqWa89pnSVOPTCFGZ9ctg-D_ovxM4INJR-6rZfu7GJCrIIeGXbp-GssIitzfJ1PkjFGAPvIA/s1600-h/IMG_0746.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLQiU40GGhqzOJ8HfRghUoOTiK2FhayjbUktf1XohWgjfe-HvHVrtPTz9L5Z3C7LAqWa89pnSVOPTCFGZ9ctg-D_ovxM4INJR-6rZfu7GJCrIIeGXbp-GssIitzfJ1PkjFGAPvIA/s320/IMG_0746.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5399750719945480322" border="0" /></a>is is the touristy heart of the coast, and I would have loved to have spent a night here to sample the night life and the promenading locals. To appeal to the tourists the town has reconstructed the old town and its walls to a reasonable imitation of authenticity. We wandered the town, had some lunch, and did a lit<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_28">tle</span> <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_29">souvenir</span> shopping in some of the tourists traps. <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWY0TP_3z6G_1pWwHlXzLgONaVrgoclJ6JcW1cTP8-yzpYvyKXER59kfExUofoOaIEd3XPnFZ3j6MSwMaA_Uv_HxxJU0xOoreRLLYTc33xVOqbVeV-9yIbi8_uFz2d77WVc3OFvw/s1600-h/IMG_0753.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWY0TP_3z6G_1pWwHlXzLgONaVrgoclJ6JcW1cTP8-yzpYvyKXER59kfExUofoOaIEd3XPnFZ3j6MSwMaA_Uv_HxxJU0xOoreRLLYTc33xVOqbVeV-9yIbi8_uFz2d77WVc3OFvw/s200/IMG_0753.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5399753394432738386" border="0" /></a>Apparently <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_30">Budva</span> is usually packed with tourists, but luckily I was there in the off-season but just before the rainy season so still had some great weather. I <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_31">especially</span> loved the Costa Coffee here, it had an amazing, vine-covered courtyard.<br /><br />The next morning I took off from the Montenegro airport. It is <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_32">surprisingly</span> nice, even if they do treat checking and boarding times as the same thing on your ticket (luckily I got there nice and early). This airport was my first stop outside America where I had an actual <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_33">Jetway</span> to the plane.<br /><br />My biggest complaint from the whole trip was the airport induced starvation. European airports are all devoted to the duty free shops. Often the best you can do is a cold sandwich to eat. Maybe it is just their international terminals but the American airports have much better food.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLBfq59kTcJGdZxR7_9eeRhdkUwyDv3wpiVQ-0HGN8yeLpw_WG8x82jmvV7hxrkCg8yq3shXpieiqpCWT90BcXQUbI3xVQMDt3hZwACT8MxYqtgeT4P_SgK3x1rBmF6mzvmHUAGA/s1600-h/pana+Road+to+Podgorica.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 190px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLBfq59kTcJGdZxR7_9eeRhdkUwyDv3wpiVQ-0HGN8yeLpw_WG8x82jmvV7hxrkCg8yq3shXpieiqpCWT90BcXQUbI3xVQMDt3hZwACT8MxYqtgeT4P_SgK3x1rBmF6mzvmHUAGA/s400/pana+Road+to+Podgorica.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5399754015623686786" border="0" /></a>Overall my trip was amazing and I hope you check out my pictures on <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_34">flickr</span> (http://www.flickr.com/photos/studentlohn/sets/72157622449491305/), where my "Best of Croatia and Montenegro" set is chronologically ordered so you can tell where many of the pictures are from base on this blog until I possibly put more captions on the pictures I have. I took many pictures so it is a slow process. The full size pics do a bit more justice to the beauty, sorry there are so many to flip through.jalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17462568738523079492noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35583120.post-56906564047909593262009-10-12T23:10:00.003-04:002009-10-12T23:10:39.724-04:00Croatia and Montenegro Trip, part 2: MontenegroThe remaining 5 days of my vacation coming soon...jalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17462568738523079492noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35583120.post-5708041832367515232009-10-12T20:07:00.023-04:002009-10-13T01:12:26.492-04:00Croatia and Montenegro Trip, part 1: DubrovnikLast month is made a trip to Eastern Europe to visit Tim before he and Lexi moved back to the States.<br /><br />Getting There<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHP05TPnlo_a2AobfitlUDc_M1kM6eSvD_Is3iQFf2J4avrTcDKi-LKbOzQ1RifPaAJKTripnhpbarTCEzLNNf32VXMrs7G92dTPQAk7APL6iY4fZJi7o_ccyEIZg5DgRupydxyg/s1600-h/IMG_0188.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 193px; height: 140px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHP05TPnlo_a2AobfitlUDc_M1kM6eSvD_Is3iQFf2J4avrTcDKi-LKbOzQ1RifPaAJKTripnhpbarTCEzLNNf32VXMrs7G92dTPQAk7APL6iY4fZJi7o_ccyEIZg5DgRupydxyg/s200/IMG_0188.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5391896698073805570" border="0" /></a><br />Left my house, took Metro to L'Enfant, bussed to Dulles (always get this bus at L'Enfant and not <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">Rosslyn</span>, gets very crowded at <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">Rosslyn</span>), flew to Paris, transferred and flew to Zagreb (chill and damp outside transfer that involved a 20 minute bus ride from the terminal), Croatia, passport control and transfer to local jet to Dubrovnik, Croatia, bus from airport into town, cab to Hotel <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2">Kompas</span>. Total travel time 24+ hours.<br /><br />After a quick shower I was out to see the town. My hotel was pretty much built into a cliff. The Lobby was off the street entrance, on the 9<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_3">th</span> floor, my room <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4XKw5TFQzwwcEosvZBuSRqANkGbgHyyUE7M7yeAA4KrN_YfyORHncJfBN0gWbsedGcpSGYMJUFSYyuko6Vo4fJb4MSmMqhLruvRmgT2rgw0MrwUEhMRvIMUjaLRronHp5bzM9uQ/s1600-h/IMG_0189.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4XKw5TFQzwwcEosvZBuSRqANkGbgHyyUE7M7yeAA4KrN_YfyORHncJfBN0gWbsedGcpSGYMJUFSYyuko6Vo4fJb4MSmMqhLruvRmgT2rgw0MrwUEhMRvIMUjaLRronHp5bzM9uQ/s200/IMG_0189.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5391897847647736146" border="0" /></a>was on the 5<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_4">th</span> floor (view from my window in the picture on the right), and the seafront promenade was on the 1st floor. The Hotel <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_5">Kompas</span> was as the end of a long pedestrian road lined with <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_6">restaurants</span> leading from the bus stop to the beach. Great stretch for people watching. Every table along the road has a swinging bench on the side of the table facing the street. In the evening these are full of couples sipping drinks and just observing the people walking. No real "beach" though, just pebble beaches in this area.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMBz7pIqqAcc2lB-12Ptl79IpJZMCtVkVTRPifbACHxKxo_EGcbfdo7ka-MO8ykUeZA_Px6HRRwvlsWigw7wRZ86yireJ7S5Nix61ZJ7C2KvBsRz7OaOLNLncv2pcDodQxt2tpZw/s1600-h/pana+Kompas+Hotel+Patio.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 460px; height: 139px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMBz7pIqqAcc2lB-12Ptl79IpJZMCtVkVTRPifbACHxKxo_EGcbfdo7ka-MO8ykUeZA_Px6HRRwvlsWigw7wRZ86yireJ7S5Nix61ZJ7C2KvBsRz7OaOLNLncv2pcDodQxt2tpZw/s400/pana+Kompas+Hotel+Patio.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5391901576571020370" border="0" /></a><br />I walked down this stretch and hit up the ATM for a second time, the first ATM hit was completely spent on the bus and cab ride, half hour bus was 25 <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_7">kuna</span> and ten min cab was 75 <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_8">kuna</span>, I really should have looked up conversion rate before this (later found it was about 7 <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_9">kuna</span> to the dollar). Hopped on the bus and took my first trip into the walled city of old Dubrovnik.<br /><br />The Old Town is very touristy, as I would discover later, but not too bad this first evening. Apparently in the off season they only get two cruise ships a day, but still enough to fill the town with plenty of day trippers. Tried to get a bite to eat, but refused to e<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFH-APW0kGuCllTUIQBVJ0Y-L205wUosvlKRi1NnCDupUxt6zui_xCXCIFNS4ahMC7V-i91jV3wLB1QWT76HkaDv-qQxB1xgU33GwFqLbyovS2-F4To5Skt4Uglo3dDK8ER5FZTA/s1600-h/pana+Dubrovnik+Walls+11.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 80px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFH-APW0kGuCllTUIQBVJ0Y-L205wUosvlKRi1NnCDupUxt6zui_xCXCIFNS4ahMC7V-i91jV3wLB1QWT76HkaDv-qQxB1xgU33GwFqLbyovS2-F4To5Skt4Uglo3dDK8ER5FZTA/s200/pana+Dubrovnik+Walls+11.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5391902164859117122" border="0" /></a>at Mexican food or pizza after traveling halfway around the world. Of course I later found that pizza and pasta are as local as you get in Dubrovnik. The town is amazing, the streets are narrow and lined with <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_10">restaurant</span> tables. Many old buildings that had been repaired to authentic conditions, following centuries of war and earthquakes. Just spent the day exploring the streets and climbing the narrow stairways. Finally ended up at "cold drinks", the best place in the city to get a drink and watch the sunset. It is a small bar perched on a cliff outside the city wall. The only way to find it is to locate the small wooden signs with "cold drinks" painted on an arrow. The view is amazing, but eat something before. I hadn't eaten since that small breakfast on my Air France flight and the effect of three beers was substantial.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgiISyy-oFbTCmj5TGaNenqK2zrTo3Hh3C-GQWDMj0fXO9rVZ8POE9p7wc_PB4_UdquMbNDdNZL3FTHo-KozXwAXTjHZTVhNL0vBh2NrcS24FvGnceoK57nPK8FGtg4SdxlqfLraQ/s1600-h/IMG_0211.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgiISyy-oFbTCmj5TGaNenqK2zrTo3Hh3C-GQWDMj0fXO9rVZ8POE9p7wc_PB4_UdquMbNDdNZL3FTHo-KozXwAXTjHZTVhNL0vBh2NrcS24FvGnceoK57nPK8FGtg4SdxlqfLraQ/s200/IMG_0211.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5391902724727715954" border="0" /></a><br />I spent several wonderful hours watching the sunset and sipping beers. I even met a nice couple from England who I shared my table with. After departing the bar I went in search of food, ran into the English couple again, and accepted their invitation to dinner as they were helping me find the correct bus back toward my hotel and realized they were going to dinner just down the street from it. They were older, 50s, and were meeting up with another couple as well, in their 60s, but it was a great dinner. The older couple was a Finnish husband and English wife. The grilled me on Obama-care since the health care debate is on the news there all the time but they didn't really understand how the American health care system worked. After dinner, much helped to sober up by the food, it was off to some much needed sleep.<br /><br />The next day I slept till at least noon.<br /><br />Spent this day walking the old town walls. The views were amazing, even if my fear of heights did arise from time to time.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSkzTApkmICUw0-esPr2DPed1GliAvSu8plUaPYVbTCuEfEI02zPjEv_6CXXS_wmmnClA1WnOp1edpnDp7rZV_Rr3r-P2ZtlkeRBljokrMRni8_hxkmHRJzOU-C_avx1gwcUqLpA/s1600-h/pana+Dubrovnik+Walls+7.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 464px; height: 142px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSkzTApkmICUw0-esPr2DPed1GliAvSu8plUaPYVbTCuEfEI02zPjEv_6CXXS_wmmnClA1WnOp1edpnDp7rZV_Rr3r-P2ZtlkeRBljokrMRni8_hxkmHRJzOU-C_avx1gwcUqLpA/s400/pana+Dubrovnik+Walls+7.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5391903577451564194" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQAsoppQ1oO6FgBG-JBdN8kwI7ORCNM5vZjw5EkeuO0B_hncnu9EVYL9RfSWvHvFYmuCh_qdLG4ihblmHbhxcHj69JgI4vc7C5mr8OmdOOPDMJgrEqdBkGruSnIe3WnxEbjgVzZA/s1600-h/IMG_0311.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQAsoppQ1oO6FgBG-JBdN8kwI7ORCNM5vZjw5EkeuO0B_hncnu9EVYL9RfSWvHvFYmuCh_qdLG4ihblmHbhxcHj69JgI4vc7C5mr8OmdOOPDMJgrEqdBkGruSnIe3WnxEbjgVzZA/s200/IMG_0311.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5391905929493965330" border="0" /></a>After the wall hike I took a boat road over to the forest preserve island of <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_12">Lokrum</span> (the island at the top left of the above picture). The island is a park with an abandoned <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_13">monastery</span>, botanical gardens, and abandoned forts. All in the typical <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_14">Mediterranean</span> climate beauty. Grabbed lunch here as well as a large beer to set the proper mood for a long hike. I really enjoyed walking around the entire island. <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgXirGMDGVxv5Pgx5BsgnS78RCcYRicY8_DTDq-rr0EgevIqS28J0HrgZ3BZMcu5a9LVF_-HeC73GAH1v91n5lszAcYIEwlhUk2pRqQxJu4rfnn32HwzeJ5mJQb1eK422AJ-IDyw/s1600-h/IMG_0363.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgXirGMDGVxv5Pgx5BsgnS78RCcYRicY8_DTDq-rr0EgevIqS28J0HrgZ3BZMcu5a9LVF_-HeC73GAH1v91n5lszAcYIEwlhUk2pRqQxJu4rfnn32HwzeJ5mJQb1eK422AJ-IDyw/s320/IMG_0363.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5391905578369902578" border="0" /></a>The views from the top of the old fort at the <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_15">highest</span> point of the island were breathtaking. There was also an abandoned dock and an old <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_16">quarantine</span> hospital.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEieeL4veEFiVidZv5Bv1DA-mqHVLgWhrN3BlUtqZSbWLDk1fh1EtC_H2Uy0j27akukmrYIuX8UTt5sB-hK6KfaMykil0pvoo7AcIlHp5eAnJuhv0Vqi-j6wP_FFc_SeCjOU3R2qsg/s1600-h/IMG_0226.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEieeL4veEFiVidZv5Bv1DA-mqHVLgWhrN3BlUtqZSbWLDk1fh1EtC_H2Uy0j27akukmrYIuX8UTt5sB-hK6KfaMykil0pvoo7AcIlHp5eAnJuhv0Vqi-j6wP_FFc_SeCjOU3R2qsg/s200/IMG_0226.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5391914230490179362" border="0" /></a>Between the hiking and the morning on the city walls I had a nice workout. I returned to the old city and spent the evening chilling at <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_17">Oliva</span> pizza making notes on the trip, eating and drinking a few beers while people watching. The old town gets beautiful after sunset with the lights reflecting off the foot polished flagstones and the chirping of the bats flying all over the town and keeping the <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_18">mosquitoes</span> from existing in any numbers. Luckily I didn't notice my <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_19">Mediterranean</span> poison ivy equivalent rash that had broken out on my ankles from the day hike until the following day so had a fun evening. It was just amazing how many people live in the walled town and go about their day without the use of cars or even bikes to get around. A lifestyle to be envious of for sure.<br /><br />I spent several of the evening hours walking around town when i noticed an Irish pub. I was excited to find this place where i could just chill in town for the evening. The people of the Balkans <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_20">lov</span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDb-wSg9CI8KadA7JofkfaEhmTZdyqvssNAabqpi0wpoMxC43yaPv641NGnzAkjNalo6NhyphenhyphenWfI7iLVJ-Om6uCYysYbA8ChUQmyw3iW90xmtgmUwogI5xiwumgDZ06HO9niZ6iZYw/s1600-h/IMG_0418.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 150px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDb-wSg9CI8KadA7JofkfaEhmTZdyqvssNAabqpi0wpoMxC43yaPv641NGnzAkjNalo6NhyphenhyphenWfI7iLVJ-Om6uCYysYbA8ChUQmyw3iW90xmtgmUwogI5xiwumgDZ06HO9niZ6iZYw/s200/IMG_0418.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5391908391646076066" border="0" /></a>e their cafes for hanging out, but the whole concept of a bar/pub is completely lacking. So the Irish pub run by an Irishman was a nice find. I hung there for most of the evening and maid friends with a nice Irish couple my age. We had a lot of fun, even if they did drink me under the table. Those .5L beers really sneak up on you.<br /><br />The next morning was my final day in Dubrovnik. Rather than waste time on the bus ride into the old town I spent my morning walking along a seaside trail near my hotel. Wonderful vistas and a relaxing way to spend my last morning. I then took a taxi to the bus station. The taxis here are really nice. Usually <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_21">luxury</span> cars that hide the time and distance meter behind the stereo faceplate when not in use. Why can't DC cabs get down with such things! The bus station has a complete lack of seating, 20 seats for 10 bus bays isn't enough, luckily my large suitcase makes significant seating for one.<br /><br />Below is the view of the bus station being dwarfed by one of the many cruise ships that dock there on a regular basis. This was picture <span style="font-weight: bold;">244 </span>of my trip so far, only a small selection of which are provided here. I have all 550 or so of them, the good and bad on <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_22">flickr</span>, but have made a "best of" set that takes a couple hundred off that, still a good bit of time to get through them all at <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/studentlohn/sets/72157622449491305/">http://www.flickr.com/photos/studentlohn/sets/72157622449491305/</a>. And as always find all my pics at <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/studentlohn">www.flickr.com/photos/studentlohn</a>. Part two coming soon.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIILdmdVWVoZ4MFEn6L_i4MCa5Tt3xn_2Wma2ylC8x7t92q4ZuEaOuVzq7SsW0_8ZPR_v6Uh0brKnUk3ItwQhrJtmxdrcs7bHJOWhkLIuxzF2qNvqAtTMkJqUyPCrbxxMp5icvtA/s1600-h/IMG_0465.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIILdmdVWVoZ4MFEn6L_i4MCa5Tt3xn_2Wma2ylC8x7t92q4ZuEaOuVzq7SsW0_8ZPR_v6Uh0brKnUk3ItwQhrJtmxdrcs7bHJOWhkLIuxzF2qNvqAtTMkJqUyPCrbxxMp5icvtA/s400/IMG_0465.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5391910892494450290" border="0" /></a>jalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17462568738523079492noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35583120.post-23748704364233241482009-10-12T20:03:00.003-04:002009-10-13T01:33:52.366-04:00Back at itfinally going to post some new things since i've been up to something other than work lately. Of course noone reads this anymore so mainly blogging to myself...<br /><br />Also i need something to keep me entertained when i can't sleep since i'm on steroids and antibiotics for my probably swine flu induced sinus/lung infection. I'm suffering all the fun side effects like sleeplessness, vertigo, headache, and indigestion. The swine flu isn't all that bad, but beware secondary infections (they say that is what kills people, not the flu necessarily).<br /><br />Later all.jalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17462568738523079492noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35583120.post-25216736104230982672008-09-18T22:54:00.001-04:002008-09-18T22:54:25.928-04:00TestTesting and setup of mobile blogger<br>Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerryjalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17462568738523079492noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35583120.post-19832971594280982632008-05-04T22:59:00.003-04:002008-05-04T23:12:05.996-04:00Homeowner<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3167/2465895629_d8737f90eb.jpg?v=0"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 320px;" src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3167/2465895629_d8737f90eb.jpg?v=0" alt="" border="0" /></a><br />I'm finally house poor like all my friends. I'm also abandoning lovely Arlington and moving into Washington DC. I am very excited and can't wait to move, just booked the uhaul for next week.<br /><br />I will be living in the Columbia Heights neighborhood. This is a great neighborhood that is getting better. I will only be three blocks from the Metro station. Next to the metro a Best Buy, Bed Bath and Beyond, and Target all just opened. As well as a half dozen new restaurants. There is also a wonderful neighborhood bar just around the corner called Wonderland, nice little Alice In Wonderland theme.<br /><br />Below is also a map of the house location so you can satisfy your curiosity and see where I am. I'm going to miss the bike trail right down the street, but that is the price you pay to have ownership, I guess. The pictures that are currently up on my Flickr are from before they finished with the kitchen and basement, I will have some new pics up once I get the place cleaned up.<br /><iframe marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" src="http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=3120+Sherman+Ave+NW,+WAshington+DC&sll=38.930504,-77.029223&sspn=0.007762,0.013947&ie=UTF8&ll=38.937848,-77.022142&spn=0.007762,0.013947&z=14&output=embed&s=AARTsJqFABIIJbG00uJgLIDG4cb_i5fy8w" frameborder="0" height="350" scrolling="no" width="425"></iframe><br /><small><a href="http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=3120+Sherman+Ave+NW,+WAshington+DC&sll=38.930504,-77.029223&sspn=0.007762,0.013947&ie=UTF8&ll=38.937848,-77.022142&spn=0.007762,0.013947&z=14&source=embed" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 255); text-align: left;">View Larger Map</a></small>jalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17462568738523079492noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35583120.post-4975293791272240942008-03-02T15:40:00.003-05:002008-03-02T15:46:22.446-05:00It must be that time of the month for Mother NatureMother Nature sure was a moody <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">biotch</span> this week. The week started with some beautiful weather in the 50s and sunny (after having a near 70 degree day the week before). I was walking to the always delicious Pot Belly's to get me some lunch and I even saw the first leaves popping out of a tree. I love that first vibrant green of spring it so beautiful.<br /><br />But I was being <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">naive</span>. I should have know winter wouldn't go calmly. The very next day the high was around 28 and the wind chill was so bad on the Metro platform that I wanted to curl into a ball and huddle in a corner until my train came.<br /><br />Then just a days after that we are back with temps in the mid 50s and constant sun (even possible to get into the 60s this week). I can't wait for spring, it should be here shortly, but until then I'll be skiing in Maine much of next week, where the weather only knows how to do one thing, be cold... very, very cold.jalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17462568738523079492noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35583120.post-29188595563887739522008-03-02T15:01:00.002-05:002008-03-02T15:39:16.802-05:00A Long Night<div><div>I was pleasantly <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">surprised</span> to discover a few weeks ago that my current favorite DJ would be coming to do a show in DC. I've been following <a href="http://www.atb-music.com/"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">ATB</span> </a>for the last three years and even traveled up to NYC to attend a show. So when I found out he would be at <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn?node=cityguide/profile&id=1097113">Fur</a> I <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2">immediately</span> bought a pair of advance tickets and convinced a friend to tag along.</div><div></div><br /><div>I'll be the first to admit that I'm not much of a club person. I'm that guy who just leans on the wall sipping a drink and enjoying the music. I feel no need to jump out in the middle of the dance floor and get all crazy and sweaty, which will lead to problems shortly.</div><div></div><br /><div>When I arrived at the club the lines were predictably long, but moved fine. I was inside in no time. Even the coat check was nice and quick so I decided to avoid the hassle of carrying my coat all night (mistake). I arrived at 10, so quite a bit of time to kill be fore <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_3">ATB</span> came on at 1am (I'll never understand why clubs can't bring the headliner on earlier, would it be so bad to only have the crowd dancing until 3 as opposed to the 4 or 5 completion due to the late start). Got a nice spot leaning on the front of the raised VIP dance floor, nicely located toward the rear of the dance floor but with a view of everything (another mistake).</div><br /><div></div><div>Things started getting bad around midnight. I've never seen so many <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_4">peop</span><a href="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3185/2288869229_c9d4d591c5.jpg?v=0"><img style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; WIDTH: 200px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3185/2288869229_c9d4d591c5.jpg?v=0" border="0" /></a><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_5">le</span> packed into a club before. I assumed that NYC would have had the big crowds but the club up there had so much free space to move around in that I know I was spoiled by it. So I spend the next hour waiting the headliner and trying not to get knocked over or crushed into the wall by the sheer mass of humanity that is trying to fit on the dance floor.</div><div></div><br /><div>All the discomfort seems to be worth it as <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_6">ATB</span> takes the stage and performs an enjoyable set. At about 2:15am I'm feeling a little worn, the Jungle Party being the day before, and decide to call it a night so I have time time to get my coat and catch the metro. I had only had one drink and was wishing I had driven since it is such a long metro ride, but that is still better than the 30 dollar cab ride it would be to get back to Arlington.</div><div></div><br /><div>This is where the night takes a downward turn. The <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_7">coat check</span> is off a room with a different DJ. Not as crowded, but still full. The coat check line runs in front of some VIP seating and then turns the corner to go to the actual coat check room. The line when we enter it is about 4 couches down from that corner. It takes about 20 minutes to make it down the first three couches, but another hour and ten to make it past the last couch, turn the corner and get our coats. You heard correctly, an HOUR AND A HALF in the coat check line. We were entertained by an inexperienced VIP guest, vomiting all over himself and his friends coats, and a helpless bouncer shouting into a megaphone trying to restore order to the coat check line. My friends in the line around me were all in the correct line from the beginning (I call them my friends because our shared <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_8">trauma</span> brought us closer together :-), however about twenty minutes after we got in line the DJ in that room stopped playing and everyone there decided to disregard the line and just try to walk straight into the coat check room. I still get a little shaken up just thinking about it, I still have a bruise on my elbow from being crushed into a wall about an hour into the line.</div><div></div><br /><div>I witnessed the lowest state of humanity this night and vow never to return to Fur wearing a coat. Consider yourselves warned. </div><br /><div></div><br /><br /><div>BTW. <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_9">ATB</span> rocks! I'll just stick with seeing him in NYC next time he is in the country.</div></div>jalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17462568738523079492noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35583120.post-47943929274405857402008-02-14T13:37:00.003-05:002008-02-14T14:01:57.732-05:00VotingFor the first time in my life I got to vote in a primary election that mattered. Apparently everyone else in my prescint was just as excited because i hadn't seen lines this long since the last presidential elections. I have a complaint with how they do the primary here, though. Instead of the usual splitting of the line by alphabet they split it by which party's primary you are voting in. In Arlington, that means that only about 1 in 30 were voting in the Republican primary so to be fair they had everyone wait in the same line and just declare party when they finally made it to the front of the line, which took about an hour. So the whole time in line I would keep looking over and there was never more than one of the 4 voting machines in use, mainly since there was only one question because of a lack of local primary decisions to be made.<br /><br /><br />So I finally arrive at the front of the line and state my name and address for the whole room to hear and get my little paper to vote. They start up the machine and enter the party for me. But then I just stand there staring. In the weeks, days, and hour in line I am still undecided about who to vote for. In the end I just go with Obama, since he is listed first. But, as we saw, it didn't really matter since Obama won the state with sixty-some percent of the vote.<br /><br /><br />I can't wait till November, I might just have to take off on election day so I don't have to spend two hours in line to try and vote before work...jalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17462568738523079492noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35583120.post-21097472988595720872008-01-16T19:05:00.000-05:002008-01-16T19:17:16.471-05:00look at me!I know, it's amazing. I am actually doing a blog post. Many of you may ask why (that is if anyone is even reading this after so few posts), but the simple answer is that i don't feel like working. Pretty pathetic since i just spent the last week and a half not working, but a reality nonetheless.<br /><br />What I've been up to:<br /><br />Christmas. A <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">surprisingly</span> fun time spent with the family. The best part about the little niece and nephew is that as long as they are around the family drama is kept to a minimum. Nobody can get pissed when you have a three year old girl running around shouting "I have the power". He-Man is just too cute.<br /><br />New Years Eve. A fun party, even with a less than expected turnout. My new <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">weakness</span> is officially the ice luge. It makes shots <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2">waaay</span> too much fun! But I think i managed to maintain my dignity, and stayed awake until <em>most </em>of my friends left (and provided entertainment for those who hadn't left yet). Overall a good way to welcome in the new year. The following day was another story. Plush carpeting and vomit, left to sit overnight, do not mix all that well, and cause an all day cleaning effort. That is the price paid to the party gods for our many vomit free events of the past.<br /><br />Work, Work, Work. The last thing <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_3">i've</span> been up to, mixed in with all this fun, is working. One can not truly appreciate two full months of slacking until one has spend three fifteen to seventeen hour days in a row in the office. I <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_4">admit</span> I only have my self to blame, but that doesn't change the fact that I suck.<br /><br />Now I look to the new year ahead. The NYC triathlon looms ahead at the mid point, and condo/house shopping should keep me busy in the near term. I hope I have all kinds of fun adventures to share along the way. I leave with my annual wish that this year will be better than last year, and hopefully the best one yet.jalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17462568738523079492noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35583120.post-22080321651568853942007-12-18T00:34:00.000-05:002007-12-18T00:38:33.960-05:00Who needs ecards<a href="http://www.jibjab.com/sendables">JibJab Sendables</a> are my new love.<br /><br /><object id="A5698632702452988928" quality="high" data="http://llnw.jibjab.com/content/player.swf?content_url=http://www.jibjab.com/sendables/api/remote/jfJq7hX2noCisbBoC8FpOVLv.xml" pluginspage="http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" height="369" width="435"><param name="wmode" value="transparent"><param name="movie" value="http://llnw.jibjab.com/content/player.swf"><param name="scaleMode" value="showAll"><param name="quality" value="high"><param name="allowNetworking" value="internal"><param name="FlashVars" value="content_url=http://www.jibjab.com/sendables/api/remote/jfJq7hX2noCisbBoC8FpOVLv.xml"><param name="allowScriptAccess" value="never"></object><div style="text-align: center; width: 435px; margin-top: 6px;"></div><br /><br />Hopefully i'll have some good things to blog about after the holidays. Right now i just have a ridiculous amount of work to get done (wish me luck).jalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17462568738523079492noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35583120.post-41304911816821531742007-11-10T14:54:00.000-05:002007-11-10T14:57:36.223-05:00wow......that was a long post. So long that i think i broke Blogger, it won't let me go back and edit it to fix some problems.jalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17462568738523079492noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35583120.post-58345755760021825322007-11-08T15:35:00.000-05:002007-11-10T14:49:57.444-05:00DeutschlandOctober 5<br /><br />Arrive in Frankfurt around 9 pm. Was nice that their customs goes a thousand times faster than at <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">Heathrow</span>, probably helped by the late hour.<br /><br />The fun started immediately at the Alamo rental counter. The rental agent, upon pulling up my reservation apologized that they no longer had any midsized cars available with GPS. "No midsized," I though, "didn't I reserve a compact car?". As she is finishing the paperwork she notes my look of confusion and informs me that the car isn't <span style="font-style: italic;">that </span>big. She assures me that the <a href="http://www.volkswagen.co.uk/new_cars/touran"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">VW</span> <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2">Touran</span></a> is a nice car, and that it is nice and new. So through all this my apprehension was growing, I had never heard of a <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_3">Touran</span> and just pictured driving some giant SUV though narrow old town streets and<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2093/1568621947_649f4868ab.jpg?v=0"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 320px;" src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2093/1568621947_649f4868ab.jpg?v=0" alt="" border="0" /></a> not being able to park anywhere. So I was less than happy to put eyes on my rental minivan (I didn't even know Volkswagen made a minivan).<br /><br />After finally getting in the car, I quickly realized that a European 6-speed is clutched completely differently than an American Toyota 5 speed. Not to mention the ridiculous push down and slide to the left reverse requirements.<br /><br />I got on the road, and immediately realized that my ten minute perusal of the European road rules and street sign meanings was not nearly long enough. But i managed to get on the highway with only minimum confusion, and managed not to go the wrong way up any on-ramps or anything.<br /><br />I, of course, had to live out the stereotypical Autobahn experience. So I scanned through the radio stations and found some good techno music to blast as I cruised along at 160 km/h (about 100 mph). Not quite the same as the sports cars you see in the movies, but I saw plenty of those blowing by me like I was going 40. My favorite part of driving in Germany has to be that it is illegal to pass on the right on the highway, can even loose your license for it. The drivers are very courteous and allow for you to merge and move over to let you pass, such a welcome change from Washington DC.<br /><br />I traveled for three hours to get to <a href="http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&time=&date=&ttype=&q=bad+neuenahr,+germany&ie=UTF8&ll=50.544963,7.121201&spn=0.050834,0.11982&z=13&om=1">Bad <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_4">Neuenahr</span> / <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_5">Ahrweiler</span></a>, where i was staying with Marcus, Megan, and his parents. It was about 1am when i finally got there, I was very lucky that the GPS navigation (navigation, but no maps, which kinda sucked) was able to get me there. Huge thanks to my parents for giving me a handful of Euros, and even some change for the trip. This was very important because I was staying in a timeshare type rental apartment, not a hotel. This place locks the front door at 10pm, so I didn't know how to get in. I began wondering around town looking for a phone booth, encountering many drunk teens on the way. I found out why there were so many drunks when I found the town festival was just wrapping up for the night, but there was a phone booth right next to the festival and near the train station. I had the phone number for Marcus's room so I gave him a <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_6">wakeup</span> call and got let into my room. The room was nice, with a bathroom easily as large as my London hotel room. The TV in the room was also about as old as I am.<br /><br />October 6<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2413/1568494089_f5b8768596.jpg?v=0"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 200px;" src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2413/1568494089_f5b8768596.jpg?v=0" alt="" border="0" /></a><br />The first full day in Germany. We started the day by walking around <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_7">Ahrweiler</span>, the next town over from Bad <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_8">Neuenahr</span>. The city still has its original encircling wall from the middle ages, even though it was somewhat reconstructed after World War II. It was a nice little town.<br /><br />After <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_9">Ahrweiler</span> we left and drove through some wine country, mostly Rieslings apparently, on the way to <a href="http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&time=&date=&ttype=&q=nurburg,+germany&ie=UTF8&ll=50.346008,6.951942&spn=0.051048,0.11982&z=13&om=1"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_10">Nurburg</span></a>. <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_11">Nurburg</span> was a nice little town with both a ruined castle and a Formula 1 race track, an interesting dichotomy seeing the race track from the top of the castle tower.<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2253/1568545871_79499dfb7d.jpg?v=0"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 200px;" src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2253/1568545871_79499dfb7d.jpg?v=0" alt="" border="0" /></a> After wondering around the castle we went back down the hill to grab some lunch at the <span style=""><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_12">Schnitzelhaus</span>, where they have a different Schnitzel for each letter of the alphabet. Nothing like delicious, extremely unhealthy German food. This was only the first of many greasy fatty meals, I still don't know how German people aren't all morbidly obese, probably because they eat a lot of foreign food and very little authentic German cuisine.<br /><br />Spent the rest of the evening just wondering around the town festival. I had to quit calling it a carnival because in German carnival has a specific meaning of only The Carnival at the end of Lent. Had my first of many <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_13">Kolsh</span> beers back at the hotel that night.<br /><br /><br />October 7<br /><br /></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2107/1569544430_ebb03a34c7.jpg?v=0"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 200px;" src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2107/1569544430_ebb03a34c7.jpg?v=0" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="">Today we hit up the mineral springs that make Bad <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_14">Neuenahr</span> a popular tourist destination for the older types. Didn't taste as bad as Marcus's dad said it would, but at least now I'm ten years younger...<br /><br />After that we took the train into <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_15">Koln</span> (<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_16">Ameri</span></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2005/1569625308_edeae63798.jpg?v=0"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 200px;" src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2005/1569625308_edeae63798.jpg?v=0" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style=""><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_17">canized</span> to Cologne). We hit up up the Dom cathedral. Took the 500 some stairs to the top and got to check out an amazing view. Got some nice pictures, even saw the finish line for a local marathon. We also took the tour of the lower levels of the cathedral, which was a museum full of religious relics.<br /><br />After the Dom we went next door to the German-Roman </span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2234/1569654362_7eeecac6e2.jpg?v=0"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 200px;" src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2234/1569654362_7eeecac6e2.jpg?v=0" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="">museum. This museum was built after digging for a subway line discovered a large Roman mosaic tile floor. So they decided to relocate the line and build a museum around the floor. It was pretty interesting.<br /><br />We followed up the German-Roman museum by heading down the river to the <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_18">Lindt</span> chocolate museum. Nice to have some delicious <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_19">chocolate</span> that was <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_20">manufactured</span> that very day and at the height of freshness.<br /></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2155/1568822239_d743e96be0.jpg?v=0"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 200px;" src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2155/1568822239_d743e96be0.jpg?v=0" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="">After the museums we went to the <a href="http://www.sion.de/"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_21">Sion</span> </a>Brewery. Had some of their <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_22">delicious</span></span><span style="">s <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_23">Kolsch</span> beers and enjoyed one of the largest sausages I have ever seen. I still can't believe I ate the whole thing.<br /><br /><br />October 8<br /><br /></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2055/1568847701_24bca8d712.jpg?v=0"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 200px;" src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2055/1568847701_24bca8d712.jpg?v=0" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="">Started the morning by hitting the train to <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_24">Koln</span> once again. This time we just wandered around the shopping district watching Megan spend money. I bought a nice jacket there, but all of it's buttons fell out within a few weeks (I still haven't gotten around to getting them reattached). <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_25">Koln</span> has a wonderful pedestrian zone full of shops and department stores, apparently it is something to behold during the Christmas shopping season. Discovering that the latest trend is to use walking sticks (like ski poles) when just going around town. This evening we ate at the <a href="http://www.frueh.de/main.html"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_26">Fruh</span> <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_27">Kolsch</span></a> brewery, and even bought a case of their glasses to give out as <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_28">souvenirs</span> (12 glasses were only 11 euros, cheapest <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_29">souvenirs</span> yet).<br /></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2215/1569723462_b38d482ae9.jpg?v=0"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 320px;" src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2215/1569723462_b38d482ae9.jpg?v=0" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="">Of course the highlight of the day had to be the Spaghetti <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_30">Eis</span> (spa</span><span style=""><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_31">ghetti</span> ice cream). It is by far my favorite <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_32">German</span> speciality dessert, all the ice cream parlors here have it. They make it by having a pile of <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_33">vanilla</span> ice cream in tendrils that look like <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_34">spaghetti</span>, covered in a strawberry sauce that looks like tomato sauce and sprinkled with chunks of white chocolate that look like grated <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_35">Parmesan</span> cheese, all around a core of whipped cream. I like it, I like it a lot.<br /><br />One thing I learned shopping in <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_36">Koln</span> was that German people have some sort of mental block when it comes to forming/standing in lines. At first Marcus thought it was funny, then it just became frustrating as more and more people kept cutting into the checkout line in front of me at the department store. I had thought his dad was joking when he made a comment about it, but turns out it is true.<br /><br />On the way back to Bad <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_37">Neuenahr</span> we had an hour layover so we decided to check out a local bar in <a href="http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&time=&date=&ttype=&q=remagen,+germany&ie=UTF8&ll=50.609824,7.259216&spn=0.203057,0.479279&z=11&iwloc=addr&om=1"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_38">Remagen</span></a>. It was an <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_39">eclectic</span> atmosphere. It was an old time type of bar that looked like it had been there for at least a hundred years, however they had a DJ playing techno music and flashing light strips. Still it was a nice place to have a few drinks and kill some time, we later went back to the town festival. Getting a few nights into the festival and the c</span><span style=""><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_40">rowd</span> is starting to have some fun, got to see a few teenagers falling down drunk and another getting put in an ambulance. Another enjoyable day in Germany comes to an end.<br /><br />October 9<br /><br /></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2374/1568880571_fda266eb15.jpg?v=0"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 200px;" src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2374/1568880571_fda266eb15.jpg?v=0" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="">Today we went on a drive down the Rhine river. We first checked out the <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_41">Marksburg</span> Castle. Took a nice tour, couldn't understand the guide since all in <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_42">German</span>, but they gave out good <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_43">fliers</span> with an <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_44">English</span> tour. This is the only authentic Rhine castle remaining. Apparently all the others are reconstructed from ruins and tend to be heavily influenced by fairy tales and other fantasy stuff.<br /><br />The highlight of the tour was the fa</span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2313/1568929967_d317c596d6.jpg?v=0"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 200px;" src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2313/1568929967_d317c596d6.jpg?v=0" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style=""><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_45">ntastic</span> river views up and down the Rhine. If only it hadn't been so foggy I'm sure the views would have been even more amazing. I also enjoyed the luxury bathroom just off of the main <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_46">dinin</span></span><span style="">g hall. The bathroom was built into an indoor balcony that hung over the outer wall of the castle and consisted of a bench with a toilet seat. The seat opening over a hole through the floor that would dump any refuse over the side of the castle. I just hope there weren't any paths that wandered under that balcony. There was a cool path that ran off into the woods near the castle. Apparently you can go on a hike through all the historic sites along the Rhine, that would be something fun to try on some future trip with nicer weather.<br /></span><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2303/1569890976_67076a4c20.jpg?v=0"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 200px;" src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2303/1569890976_67076a4c20.jpg?v=0" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="">After this we decided we were going to go a little further down the</span><span style=""> river to the </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lorelei">Lorelei</a><span style=""> and see where the mystical maidens lured ships to there doom. Unfortunately this side trip showed the limits of map free GPS navigation. We wound through many country roads on the way there, but the last road into the town nearest the Lorelei was closed. We later found out that the signs we saw were for a detour and to indicate local traffic only. We tried to be local traffic, but turned around once the road got narrow and we feared an inability to pull a U-turn with my minivan.<br /><br /></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2330/1569017367_be3ec77f1a.jpg?v=0"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 200px;" src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2330/1569017367_be3ec77f1a.jpg?v=0" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="">After abandoning the side trip we went back into Bad <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_47">Neuenahr</span> to catch</span><span style=""> the final night of the festival. This night we met up with Marcus's parents and had a few drinks. I even one some money in the slot machine (just about every bar I went to in <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_48">europe</span> had at </span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2098/1569028569_4a0ee4a28a.jpg?v=0"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 200px;" src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2098/1569028569_4a0ee4a28a.jpg?v=0" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="">least one slot machine, crazy). We ate our fill of crepes and potato pancakes, rode the rides and watched the finishing fireworks. The </span><span style="">rides were all a lot of fun. We met some nice German kids that </span><span style="">wouldn't believe we were <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_49">Americans</span> because Marcus could speak decent German. The only problem was that I lost my room key on one of the upside down flipping rides and had to spend my last night in Bad <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_50">Neuenahr</span> sleeping on the couch in Marcus and Megan's room.<br /><br />October 10<br /><br /></span><span style="">Slept in a little late on the couch (drank way too much at the previous nigh</span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2168/1569051159_4f4520523f.jpg?v=0"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 200px;" src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2168/1569051159_4f4520523f.jpg?v=0" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="">t</span><span style="">s festival), and upon waking was able to get a replacement key from Marcus's dad to get in my room and pack up for my trip to <a href="http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&time=&date=&ttype=&q=Hann+munden,+germany&sll=50.609824,7.259216&sspn=0.203057,0.479279&ie=UTF8&ll=51.425865,9.654922&spn=0.049879,0.11982&z=13&iwloc=addr&om=1"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_51">Hann</span> <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_52">Munden</span></a>.<br /><br />The trip to <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_53">Hann</span> <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_54">Munden</span> took much longer than I thought it would, lots of construction traffic and stuff, so it was over 3 hours to get there. It was nice to see <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_55">Torsten</span> and his family, Leonard and <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_56">Wibke</span>. His son loved the Hot Wheels i bought him as a gift, and he and his wife enjoyed the Jelly Belly assorted set i got them as a random piece of Americana.<br /><br /></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2205/1569962978_da38e355f7.jpg?v=0"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 200px;" src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2205/1569962978_da38e355f7.jpg?v=0" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="">We walked all around town for a bit and had a nice dinner and a </span><span style="">few beers at a local brewery in the basement of the old <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_57">Rathause</span> (town hall). Really wished i had planned for more than a day </span><span style="">in <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_58">Hann</span> <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_59">Munden</span>. But now I have a reason to visit again.<br /><br />My favorite, completely German, thing</span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2104/1569082309_d6f4cccf4d.jpg?v=0"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 200px;" src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2104/1569082309_d6f4cccf4d.jpg?v=0" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style=""> in their house was the water <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_60">carbonator</span> (white appliance in the middle). When they want a drink </span><span style="">of water they fill up a bottle from the tap and hook it into the machine which carbonates it so</span><span style=""> that it is suitable for consumption (for them at least).<br /><br />October 11<br /><br />Return trip time. This can be summed up with a big huge UGH! The day started out foggy, but the drive to Frankfurt airport was much faster than i thought it would be. Frankfurt airport itself was so time consuming. The long check-in line, followed by the security line, followed by a passport line, all to get into the terminal, then ANOTHER security line to get into the gate. Then waiting at the gate with no food and little drink/snack selections. I was still there two hours early and tried to get on an earlier flight to make sure I had plenty of time for my <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_61">Heathrow</span> connection (I must be psychic), but they said i would have to pay for an entire ticket to do so. So i settled in to wait the two hours for my flight, which would be come three and a half hours due to the heavy fog causing rippling delays all day. Finally I got on my flight for the quick trip over to <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_62">Heathrow</span>.<br /><br />This is where the day turns downhill. <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_63">Heathrow</span>, how do I hate thee, let me count the ways. First there is the complete and utter zoo of insanity at the connections security line. Second was a half hour wait just to get into the area where the security line was. Thirdly was the 45 minute wait in the security line (only two of the four lines were open, WTF). The fourth hatred was the following 20 minute line to catch the shuttle to the terminal for my flight, followed by a fifth annoyance in the form of a 20 min wait at the airline checkin desk for Virgin Atlantic.<br /></span><br /><span style="">After all this it was already boarding time for my flight, and the desk staff informed me it was too lat to check in. They also said they can't put me on another flight for free since it was Lufthunsa's fault that I missed my connection. So I once again made my way through the connections security line, another hour, and at the checkin desk for Lufthunsa I am informed that there are too many people trying to reschedule so I had to go to the main ticketing desks at the main terminal. So now I get the pleasure of the 15 minute line for passport control followed by a 20 minute walk between terminals to find that all the Lufthansa ticketing people have gone home and only the customer service counter, with it's two employees, is still open.<br /><br />This line is the best yet, an hour and a half wait. This wait is followed by the information that i will not be able to fly out that day, as I've now been in Heathrow airport for seven hours and </span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2007/1569976674_0a22fb794f.jpg?v=0"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 200px;" src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2007/1569976674_0a22fb794f.jpg?v=0" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="">there are no openings left. The next Virgin Atlantic flight I can get on is two the next afternoon, but fortunatally there are European passenger rights, so the airline has to put me up in a hotel. So I get to spend one more night in London, at the Heathro</span><span style="">w Park Inn, a nice four star hotel nearby with complimentary dinner and breakfast. (I lost count, but i think there are at least a dozen reasons why i hate Heathrow airport.<br /><br />I met some nice people in the last line and we all had dinner together at the hotel. So i got to learn a lot from the search engine optimizer and electron beam venture capitalist from Boston, and the academic from Germany. In</span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2301/1570021452_30d792dba0.jpg?v=0"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 200px;" src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2301/1570021452_30d792dba0.jpg?v=0" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style=""> addition I got to have one more good British beer to finish out my trip.<br /><br />The hotel was nice. The late night TV even has the same "Sweep and Mop" informercial as in america, only dubbed in German. I still don't understand the infatuation with the late night call in word games. You rarely see anyone win, but they were available in three diffrent languages at the hotel, English, German, and I think Arabic (check it out yourself). I even got to amuse my self with the hotel's automatic window blinds and half dozen different lights to play with.<br /><br />The following day was uneventful. Got up plenty early, which was good since i had some ticket confusion. Luckily the ticket confusion was fixed within half an hour or I just might have lost it, i was definately at the end of my patience. Finally, after only an hour and a half of ticket and security lines i was on my way home, where the passport line at Dulles was one of the shortest lines I had in my entire trip.</span><br /><span style=""><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Overall Trip Locations</span> (so much left to see)<br /><br /><iframe src="http://quikmaps.com/ext/46715?w=552&mh=483&t=1&ln=0&sn=1&zb=1&zs=0&d=1&it=0&icd=0&lat=50.84757295365389&lng=4.74609375&zl=5&mt=0" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0" frameborder="0" height="508" scrolling="no" width="554"></iframe><br /><br /><br /></span>jalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17462568738523079492noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35583120.post-25531134800228106442007-10-23T16:57:00.000-04:002008-12-13T01:39:47.032-05:00Traveling Good TimesDestination London!<br /><br />Oct 2-3.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2341/1555422691_61004f8117.jpg?v=0"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 200px;" src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2341/1555422691_61004f8117.jpg?v=0" alt="" border="0" /></a><br />Very glad to have spent the extra 40 dollars for a Virgin Atlantic flight. The huge variety of on-demand programming was amazing. My flight was from 7pm to 7am, so i should have been sleeping, but instead i watched Fantastic 4: Silver Surfer, two episodes of Doctor Who, and a couple episodes of Flight of the Concords (must see if you never have before). Arrived in Heathrow a few hours early, so still dark and no sight of anything but fog. I though I would walk forever through the endless herding and underground tunnels, but finally made it through customs and got my first sight of the city from the train to Paddington.<br /><br />Oct 3.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2308/1556304968_f5147f213e.jpg?v=0"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 200px;" src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2308/1556304968_f5147f213e.jpg?v=0" alt="" border="0" /></a>Was able to drop off my luggage at the hotel (couldn't check in until the afternoon) and started out sightseeing. First stop. The British Museum.<br /><br />The British Museum was awesome. It is the most amazing collection of Egyptian, Middle Eastern, and Ancient Greek artifacts I've seen at a museum. The wing dedicated to the Parthenon marbles was especially impressive. I was glad to have dedicated several hours here as this was my favorite museum I visited.<br /><br />After a short Underground trip I went to visit St. Paul's Cathedral, and a mere 400 some steps later i was at one of the more impressive views of London. You were able to walk around the circumference of the highest tower of the cathedral and see all aspects of the city, impressive even with the fog.<br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2146/1555559647_c6a63637ac.jpg?v=0"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2146/1555559647_c6a63637ac.jpg?v=0" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2069/1555686689_c852b50397.jpg?v=0"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 200px;" src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2069/1555686689_c852b50397.jpg?v=0" alt="" border="0" /></a>Following the views i took a stroll across the Millennium Bridge and walked eastward along the South Thames River Walk. This brought me past the reconstructed Shakespeare Theater (didn't feel like attending a show solo), the HMS Belfast, City Hall, and many views of the city and its bridges, ending at Tower Bridge, where I crossed over to the Tower of London.<br /><br />I enjoyed the Tower of London. The guided tour helped a lot, but included many obscure references to the history of royalty that you need an English upbringing to understand. Still it was interesting to see the Crown Jewels (even if they aren't as fancy as you would think) and the first castle built in London. I was lucky to make it there and see everything<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2001/1556681590_0a5126545d.jpg?v=0"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 200px;" src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2001/1556681590_0a5126545d.jpg?v=0" alt="" border="0" /></a> before closing time. There are many good stories there, but you'll just have to check it out for yourself (or borrow my guide book). This area also had a piece of the Roman era London wall and a plaque honoring the neighborhoods people, including William Penn (which i thought was pretty cool).<br /><br />I finished my night at a little pub down the road from my hotel. It was a little divey, but I now have an idea what football hooligans are like. It was quite a ruckus soccer watching crowd for a Wednesday night, but fun nonetheless. I managed to stay up until past 10, which did wonders for helping my system adjust, but i still slept till noon the next day, missing out on some sightseeing.<br /><br />My hotel was soo tiny. It was a converted rowhouse. The bathroom appeared to be modular, made entirely of plastic and raised a foot off the floor (to allow room for plumbing i assume). The bathroom in my parents RV is larger, I think. But for the affordable price of $120 a night, what could i expect (note the sarcasm)!<br /><br />Oct 4<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2044/1558852822_2dff2dc322.jpg?v=0"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 200px;" src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2044/1558852822_2dff2dc322.jpg?v=0" alt="" border="0" /></a>Started the day with a quiet walk through Kensington Gardens and Hyde Park. The Albert Memorial was quite impressive. The gold statue really shined as the sun finally came out to make the touring that much more pleasant. After the Albert Memorial (I think he was Queen Victoria's husband) I ventured through the park and stopped briefly at the very crowded Serpentine Gallery. I only stepped in to use the restroom, ans the art didn't look like my kind of thing. My kind of thing was outside where they have a tea house. According to the guidebook, they find an amature architect to design and build a tea house for the season that is an artistic and architectural work. It was a neat little structure, but nothing too special. I then ventured through the gardens to see the Serpentine lake and Princess Diana's memorial. Hers was a unique memorial, essentially a circular stream on a hillside meant to be enjoyed by the people, subtle yet impressive.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLvz7LBB4DisIrRgGBSmeuMLiBBwbLJBzZGkmrkqjCYW07HA8yECe0rcu6smGo1IJm6duJCip71SDJiQrkSymxNnyg982s2H3yicIQ0GRFoUQbgAUmI7OvQQkmOmavbnSN-_zOwA/s1600-h/buckingham_pana.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLvz7LBB4DisIrRgGBSmeuMLiBBwbLJBzZGkmrkqjCYW07HA8yECe0rcu6smGo1IJm6duJCip71SDJiQrkSymxNnyg982s2H3yicIQ0GRFoUQbgAUmI7OvQQkmOmavbnSN-_zOwA/s400/buckingham_pana.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5124705848248658914" border="0" /></a><br />I then walked across the city stopping to check out Buckingham Palace. This was a bit underwhelming, I didn't even get to see any of the standard palace guards with their big hats, only a handful of cops inside the fence, no idea why... I then walked by Big Ben and the houses of Parliment on my way to Westminster Abbey.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2071/1558894176_4976186c7a.jpg?v=0"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 200px;" src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2071/1558894176_4976186c7a.jpg?v=0" alt="" border="0" /></a><br />I think Westminster Abbey was my favorite part of the London trip. The audio tour was a must, otherwise you miss much of the history that is associated with the beauty of the place. If you are ever there, make sure you take the audio tour of the Abbey if you have even a passing interest in English history (especially the era around Queen Elizabeth, which has some interesting twists laid out in the abbey). I got an added treat since I came in the middle of the week. Tues through Thurs you can even go into the cloister attached to the abbey where the offices and residences of the higher officials are and even see where the school and housing for the choir boys is (I found the idea of children living in a church kinda disturbing, but that's just me).<br /><br />After the abbey tour I made my way north to Trafalger Square, with a brief stop off to try and see 10 Downing Street. Unfortunately you can't even get as close as you can to the White House. Trafalger Square was impressive, and contains the National Gallery, somewhere I will have to check out in subsequent visits. Stopped off for a quick lunch (was surprised at how quickly I eat when I'm by myself).<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2369/1558914950_57f075e1a8.jpg?v=0"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 200px;" src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2369/1558914950_57f075e1a8.jpg?v=0" alt="" border="0" /></a>I later went for a walk through the Soho neighborhood. I loved the mix of shops where every street had something different to offer. Even the alleys had numerous shops to provide entertainment.<br /><br />In the evening i took the Jack the Ripper walking tour. It was pretty interesting, even saw one or two locations that are still the same as at the time. Almost too much information, but was still an interesting way to spend the night.<br /><br />Went to another bar near my hotel this evening. Only had a few hours to chill, though, since the bars in London have an 11pm last call. I finally got to try some warm beer, it is actually the exception rather than the rule in London, and it wasn't bad. They like some interesting drinks there, like an energy drink mixed with a shot of port wine, and four different varieties of Aftershock that i didn't know existed (black, white, red and green, ugh). Also the bartender looked dumbfounded when I asked if they had any Hefewisen, apparently that is an American and Bavarian terminology.<br /><br />Oct 5<br /><br />A little more walking around the city was enjoyable. Glad to see that London's Chinatown, while being larger than DCs, still had a large Irish bar right in the middle. I planned this day's walking around having lunch at St. Martin in the Field basement, but they were closed for renovations. I later hit up the London Dungeon, which was more of a funhouse than a museum and would have been more fun with a group. Still i learned a good bit and had some fun there. I left there and went straight to the airport, feeling like I saw as much of the city as i could have.<br /><br />Random London stuff<br /><br />Being the mass transit junkie that I am, i enjoyed my trips on the London Underground. It was amazing how far the system extended. It is almost like seeing DC's future with ads plastering every surface in an effort to raise money. Cool that the window's open, but definitely miss the A/C when running slow through the tunnels. I also appreciated their faster escalators and frequent train service. But make sure to mind the gap ;-).<br /><br />Noticed that Europeans are not nearly as appreciative of personal space like Americans are (they are willing to stand RIGHT behind you in lines and on trains and elevators). But they are not nearly as courteous either, everyone looked at me like I was crazy for offering up my seat to an older woman on the train.<br /><br />Nice that London was also smoke free. Even cooler that it was ok to take your drinks outside. So the inside of the bar is empty while everyone stands in the street smoking and drinking.<br /><br />I feel like i walked pretty much everywhere around the city. To prove it I mapped it all out with google:<br /><br /><a href="http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=1409388">Paddington to the British Museum</a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=1409405">St. Paul's, to Thames River walk, to Tower of London</a><br /><a href="http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=1409725"><br />Walking around on the second day</a><br /><br />Also, my Flickr account has all the pics of everything I've talked about here, so check it out.<br /><br />That's it for London, next stop Deutschland!jalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17462568738523079492noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35583120.post-78244528961738188202007-09-26T18:17:00.000-04:002007-09-26T18:27:38.765-04:00Tri TwoI competed in my second sprint distance triathlon this past weekend, and <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">surprisingly</span> i really enjoyed myself. Still not sure why, but i had a smile on my face for much of the race.<br /><br />The most challenging part was the swim, of course. But it was challenging for more reasons than just the fact that <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">I'm</span> a horrible swimmer. The swim was in a bay on the Potomac River, but was relocated within the area due to excessive <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydrilla"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2">Hydrilla</span></a> in the area. The swim was supposed to take place by running down a boat ramp into the water, but from the boat ramps, all you could see was the yellow/green of plant life clogging up the water. So instead we swam a bit down the shore and had to jump off a dock to start the race in the water. <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_3">Unfortunatly</span>, upon jumping in, it was <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_4">immediately</span> clear that this area was also thick with <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_5">hydrilla</span>, but a foot or two down from the surface. As we tread water awaiting the start, the plants were constantly entangling arms and legs below the surface. This <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_6">entanglement</span> continued throughout the swim as tendrils of leaves would wrap your arms, legs, and <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_7">occasionally</span> face in the thickest areas. All this led to my swim time actually being a minute worse than my previous race.<br /><br />The bike was pretty straightforward. I enjoyed passing people on mountain bikes on nearly every uphill of the course. Some of the climbs were rather extreme, but the following <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_8">descents</span> more than made up for these struggles. I did well on the bike and set a faster pace than my past races. The run was interesting. The race site said that it was a simple out and back run, but this was not the case. The out part was there, but just after the turn-around the course took a turn into the woods. The entire second half was a shady run down gravel drives, dirt paths, and park access roads. This was a fun end to the race and kept the midday sun from being too much of a nuisance.<br /><br />That is it for the triathlon season, but I can't wait for next year. I'm going to set my goal of being able to handle an <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_9">olympic</span> distance by the NYC <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_10">tri</span>, so got to keep training!jalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17462568738523079492noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35583120.post-88663501824477910882007-08-27T21:20:00.001-04:002007-08-27T21:29:47.281-04:00CURSE YOU METRO!!As much as i love the metro, and am always extolling its virtues, i must say that it has let me down once a gain. My 30-40 min commute home from work today involved 2 hours to go from King St. to Braddock Rd (1 STOP!!!). Luckily i was able to get the roomie to give me a ride home once my train finally unloaded, which occured after 40 mins at king st., an hour outside the airport, and 20 mins on the way back from airport to braddock.<br /><br />Last night the metro had power problems and had to close a few stations for a few hours. But they said it was an isolated incident and would investigate further. Big suprise, it all happened again today. Every train that approached the airport lost power, but they didn't stop running trains for two hours, after 4 trains ahead of mine were taken out of service! Now that i have vented i can get something to eat and try and relax tonight. I need to save some anger for work this week, they love to screw me over...jalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17462568738523079492noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35583120.post-77595354896931638472007-08-27T21:15:00.001-04:002007-08-27T21:20:44.052-04:00Crazy Summermust say it was one crazy summer. Between Tim's wedding, with ridiculous debauchery, Tucker's many going-away happy hours and parties, the Virgin festival weekend, and Heather's birthday, it is no suprise that i haven't done squat at work or found the time to write in my lame blog. Check out my flickr site, the photos speak enough for the fun times.jalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17462568738523079492noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35583120.post-22486181400278394302007-08-02T19:04:00.000-04:002007-08-02T19:20:10.904-04:00San DiegoI was in San Diego about a month back, but didn't get around to writing anything here. But for myself, and anyone else who goes i have to share the good and bad of my trip. <div><div></div><br /><div>Good:</div><ul><li>the weather, always nice and pleasant<a href="http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1203/867408710_7609d5c0b0.jpg?v=0"><img style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; WIDTH: 200px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1203/867408710_7609d5c0b0.jpg?v=0" border="0" /></a></li><br /><li>the Gas Lamp district, and especially the Strip Club Steak Place. I had never really cooked a steak before, but this <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">restaurant</span> provides the steak, the seasonings, and you get to go to town on the <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">grill</span>. It was fun and <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2">delicious</span>, not to mention the speciality martini menu (i personally like the <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_3">Kahlua</span> and B<span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_4">aileys</span>, with <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_5">powdered</span> <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_6">chocolate</span>).</li><br /><br /><li>La <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_7">Jolla</span>, beautiful little town. Had a blast sea kayaking there.</li><br /><a href="http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1020/866577231_af0cd9caf4.jpg?v=0"><img style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; WIDTH: 200px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1020/866577231_af0cd9caf4.jpg?v=0" border="0" /></a><br /><li>Pacific Beach, another good town. Had a nice bar district on Garnet Ave., where i must mention Bub's Dive, which just happened to be the local <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_8">Steelers</span> and VA Tech bar for any fans out there. Also Pacific Beach had an awesome bar called the <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_9">Lahaina</span> Beach House right on the beach. Nothing like watching sunset while sipping pitchers of Blue Moon.</li><br /><br /><li>the zoo is a great way to spend the day, but i <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_10">recommend</span> the bus ride to get a feel for where everything is and save yourself backtracking up and down the big hills.</li><br /><li>all in all, it is everything i imagined it to be</li></ul><p>Bad:</p><ul><li>the parking, don't drive anywhere because even if the traffic is light there will be no parking when you get there.</li><br /><li>nothing else, this place rocks</li></ul><p>Hopefully more of my friends will have to go here for work and i can visit them :-).</p><p> </p></div>jalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17462568738523079492noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35583120.post-85626179681388037822007-07-06T13:58:00.000-04:002007-07-06T14:01:57.770-04:004th July<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1303/728619680_155bab1362.jpg?v=0"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 320px;" src="http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1303/728619680_155bab1362.jpg?v=0" alt="" border="0" /></a><br />Had a nice laid back fourth. Quiet cookout with only 5 attendees. Being in the American University neighborhood saved us from the worst of the sever thunderstorms that caused an evac of the mall a few hours before the fireworks, which i'm sure sucked for everyone who camped out all day for good spots. We then watched the fireworks from a downtown office building roof, thanks to a friends place of work. As when i did that last year, the mechanical towers on the buildings blocked the bottom most explosions. I need to find someone who works right on the mall sometime, and next year need to remember a boom box so i can hear the music the fireworks are set to. I did get to try out the "Fireworks" setting on my new camera, but it really needs a tripod to work well. Overall it was a laid back, easy going fourth, and not nearly as crazy as it could have been considering i wasn't going to work the next day...jalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17462568738523079492noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35583120.post-62079061452606588382007-07-06T13:41:00.000-04:002007-07-06T14:08:11.856-04:00Scavenging for CharityFinally, I wasn't out of town during a <a href="http://dcsmashed.org/">D.C. SMASHED</a> event, and boy am i glad. I had a ridiculous amount of fun. My team was me, the roomie, and his girlfriend, friends, and co-workers (kinda stunk that most of the team was his peeps instead of mine). In case you don't know, SMASHED stands for the Society for Mature Adults Seeking to Help, Educate, and Donate. The last saturday of June was the scene of their most recent escapades. This was the DC SMASHED Amazing Race Scavenger Hunt.<br /><br />My team decided to go with a theme from the movie Waiting, and called ourselves "Push The Fish". We dr<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1170/686071305_7de712d700.jpg?v=0"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 320px;" src="http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1170/686071305_7de712d700.jpg?v=0" alt="" border="0" /></a>essed up in aprons, with quotes from the movie written thereon, and wore nametags for our favorite characters. The theme went over decently well, at least with those that had seen the movie, and we were lucky to have accomplished it on such short notice. We spent the night before watching the movie twice through to get quotes and decorating our aprons.<br /><br />The weather was beautiful for the event. My only complaint was that the organizer said we could only turn in 25 items at each of the three checkpoints, when in actuality we were only allowed 25 points of items. This was frustrating in the end since we wasted time collecting more than 100 points worth of items that we could never turn in.<br /><br />More fun, was the tasks we needed to compete in. There were eight to choose from, and we managed to do four in the time, even doing four was difficult and required running from dupont to farragut to logan circle. We used squirt guns to shoot cups off of our teammate's head and passed around a greased up water balloon without our hands. My favorite task was in Farragut Square, where the team had to pitch a tent, then go inside while I pretended to be an attacking bear, and then take down the tent as quickly as possible. I really enjoyed the confused looks on the tourists as we did these tasks and ran down the streets. We also had some fun at a jousting task, where the roomie took a nice hit to the face from a roll of wrapping paper (hard to describe, so check out the before and after shots below).<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1131/686988682_aea9b1f4e2.jpg?v=0"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 200px;" src="http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1131/686988682_aea9b1f4e2.jpg?v=0" alt="" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1294/686130745_a11083d08b.jpg?v=0"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 200px;" src="http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1294/686130745_a11083d08b.jpg?v=0" alt="" border="0" /></a>Of course it wasn't all just racing around, we also had to by the task judges shots and beers to earn their respect and discretionary bonus points, because what is a race without a few drinks along the way ;-).<br /><br />The race wasn't all fun, we also provided a public service, which is the driving source behind the SMASHED group. Their goal is not just to hang out and have a few drinks, but to raise money for charity along the way. So the 10 dollar entry free paid by all 300+ people (in 45 odd teams) all went to a charity that is associated with the Sierra Club that takes urban children out on wilderness excursions. And as an added bonus the Front Page bar provided 10 free kegs of beer (in Dos Equis and Heine Light form) as an after party for all the competitors. The beer companies were also sponsors of the event and had their own team competing and handing out bonus material.<br /><br />So in the end, the day was Amazing fun and i can't wait for their next event! This time i'm going to try and get everyone i know to participate.jalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17462568738523079492noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35583120.post-54934181320284029592007-06-26T23:10:00.000-04:002007-06-26T23:14:06.058-04:00FlickrAm in the process of getting all my photos transferred over. I like Flickr thus far, sucks to have to pay 25 bucks a year for the necessary storage, upload, and access levels. I really think the mapping tool is neat and i can't wait to go through all my old albums and organize and mark up the map (should keep me busy for a couple weeks :-D). My new photo link is <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/studentlohn/">http://www.flickr.com/photos/studentlohn/.</a>jalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17462568738523079492noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35583120.post-41237860634187016382007-06-25T16:05:00.000-04:002007-06-25T16:16:01.055-04:00Battle Cry!Can't believe if forgot to share our OBX wakeup-call-cum-battle-cry. Especially stirring when played at high volume through the full house speaker system to the point where it was echoing back from neighboring houses intimidating our water balloon fight foes. It somehow only became mildly annoying, even though we were constantly playing or imitating it...<br /><br /><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/7HEF49nMsM8" width="425" height="350" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent"></embed>jalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17462568738523079492noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35583120.post-10331633836330372202007-06-25T15:27:00.000-04:002007-06-25T15:31:02.557-04:00R.I.P. Yahoo! PhotosThe writing is on the wall, Yahoo! Photos is soon to be no more. My account is currently in transition to <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">Flickr</span>, once the transition is complete, I'll have the new link provided and be able to post some pics to my last couple blog entries. My trusty Yahoo photo account will be missed, but hopefully the added functionality of <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">Flickr</span> will be worth the <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2">hassle</span> of setting up a new site. I'll let you all know how the transition goes. Too bad i couldn't switch to <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_3">Picasa</span> albums <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_4">through</span> <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_5">google</span>, but i just have way too many photos going back through the years...jalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17462568738523079492noreply@blogger.com0