so, I´ve tried to blog 3 times and been shut down by some technology or another. Once it was the delete key getting jammed and erasing a whole, once it was TV internet in the hotel, and finally, it was Kelly´s wifi phone. i´m in London now and here´s a fast recap:
Rain - every day at some point
Metz & Strasbourg France: rented a BMW, drove fast on autobahn (120 mph), spoke French poorly, ate spaetzle, saw beautiful cathedrals
Copenhagen, Denmark: more bikers than I´ve seen in any city in the world. they even have turn lanes for bikes. women wear rubber boots - all the time. Beer price= $6 in restaurant, $2 on the street means that you can drink on street everywhere here. rented bikes and saw a whole bunch of stuff. little mermaid statue is lame - I can see why they cut off its head at one point. best Vietnamese food ever. Carlsberg brewery puts all others to shame.
overnight cruise to Oslo, Norway: like a real cruise ship, with cabins, bars nightclubs, movie theater. dinner buffet was great if you like fish & shellfish. woke up early to see us arrive into the fjord of oslo.
Oslo: rather plain. most expensive place Ive ever been. ex. beer = $8-12 at a restaurant. coke is $2.50 in the convenience store. sandwiches are $12. hotel is beautiful. very turn of the century. has a huge library bar and a stuffed bear. His name is Olaf (probably not). again, city is plain. nice, safe, clean, but rather dull. met up with Katharine & Brand (KK´s friends from home). had great dinner at a cafe and a few beers around town. took boat to viking ship museum. pretty cool ships. well preserved. city hall is odd here, very 1930´s looking. go to wikipedia and look at it. strange. took 4pm train to Bergen on the W. Coast.
To be continued - need to go into town. Have to buy dress shirts & drink pints.
Wednesday, July 11, 2007
Saturday, June 30, 2007
june 30: things you learn in a Swiss movie theater
so after a day of wander around the uber-expensive city of Zurich, I decided that the lowest cost thing I could do tonight would be to see Die Hard 4. As with most of the rest of Europe, seats are assigned here. I like that. buy the ticket early, show up when you want. other things I noticed:
1: commercials before movie. not too strange except there was a commercial that said something about hillary clinton being president and us leaving Iraq. it was for the newspaper. Isnt this a neutral nation??
2: they have intermission. not a bad idea, but it makes long movies longer.
3: they force you to exit into the alley. hopefully you know your way out.
other random observations:
* to encourage people to bring their own bags to the grocery store, the only free bags are tiny. like the size of 4 apples.
*they actually card minors to buy alcohol here. I watched it happen
*they have advertising on their creamers. you know, the little things for coffee. ive seen ads everywhere, but on breakfast items? i wonder if America is aware of the untapped ad revenue at meal time....
1: commercials before movie. not too strange except there was a commercial that said something about hillary clinton being president and us leaving Iraq. it was for the newspaper. Isnt this a neutral nation??
2: they have intermission. not a bad idea, but it makes long movies longer.
3: they force you to exit into the alley. hopefully you know your way out.
other random observations:
* to encourage people to bring their own bags to the grocery store, the only free bags are tiny. like the size of 4 apples.
*they actually card minors to buy alcohol here. I watched it happen
*they have advertising on their creamers. you know, the little things for coffee. ive seen ads everywhere, but on breakfast items? i wonder if America is aware of the untapped ad revenue at meal time....
june 25: Pisa is dead to me. Go To Lucca!!!
boring ride out of La Spezia. It was seriously 10 miles of beachfront restaurants. couldn't even see the beach from there. then we made our first mistake. we listened to Graeme. he convinced Ben that he needed to see the leaning tower of Pisa. Ben half heartedly aagreed. I was overruled. Turns out that Pisa is a huge tourist trap with bad food in the area around the tower no surprise there) and the tower is not all that different from the one in Niles. Really. Plus, they stabilized it and it doesn't even lean as much as it used to anymore. turns out G just wanted to skip riding over some mountains, he didnt really want to go to Pisa that much anyhow.
The ride into Lucca looked beautiful....from the train that is. the city has this huge earthen wall to protect it from medieval invaders or the French. not sure. all the walls were turned into walking paths & parks and inside the walls, it is almost exclusively bikes and scooters. amazing city to get lost in. which we did before dinner. stumbled on a gelateria run by a brit who directed us to a place called Trattoria Leo. had to actually make a reservaation and come back, so you know its good. had great primi piatti pasta, soup, etc) and decent main dishes. free limoncello drinks after dinner were the highlight I think.
come to Lucca. It was a top 5 city on this trip w/ Avignon, Girona, 5 Terre and Florence. that is my pitch.
The ride into Lucca looked beautiful....from the train that is. the city has this huge earthen wall to protect it from medieval invaders or the French. not sure. all the walls were turned into walking paths & parks and inside the walls, it is almost exclusively bikes and scooters. amazing city to get lost in. which we did before dinner. stumbled on a gelateria run by a brit who directed us to a place called Trattoria Leo. had to actually make a reservaation and come back, so you know its good. had great primi piatti pasta, soup, etc) and decent main dishes. free limoncello drinks after dinner were the highlight I think.
come to Lucca. It was a top 5 city on this trip w/ Avignon, Girona, 5 Terre and Florence. that is my pitch.
June 23, 24 Good News: Cinque Terre still the same
another delayed blog:
took train into 5 terre to avoid the evil mountains. someone wouldve died. train had a specific bike rack for us and it was only 10 euro for a 3 hour ride. we messed up though. after being so train savvy in France, we forgot to stamp our tickets on the train platform. the conductor tried to fine us €25 each, but we talked him down to €5 each.
decided to stay in the last of the 5 towns, called Riomaggiore. no real beach here, just rocks, but it is a less touristy alternative to Monterosso where I staed in 99. we've been relying on the Routard door stickers to determine if a place is ok, and the hotel we found was certified by the Routards in 07, so it was a go. note: we have no idea who Routard is, but we'd like to meet him someday. Ben had a sweet bunk bed. he even made a tent like Pete Blanton did in college. not sure why...
got some wine to go you can do that everywhere in Italia, according to the lady at the restaurant) and walked up to the next town. all 5 towns are connected by footpath as well as train. we walked btwn the 5th & 3rd towns before settling in for dinner. ben was brave and ordered something heäd never heard of. it was fantastic. he won the dinner prize that night. later found out it had pig's ear in the sauce.
next day, G and I took a train to Monterosso to rent an umbrella & chairs and enjoy the Med. Ben went all tough and chose to do the remaining hike btwn towns 3 & 1. It took him 4 hours, but he got great photos and seemed to enjoy it. on the flip side, I enjoyed killing off some of this wicked farmer tan and reading my book.
on the way home, we stopped at opur favorite gelato place in Riomaggiore and G had grapefruit gelato. it was incredible, so he went back for seconds. good thing we bike for 4 hours a day because we eat and drink about 4000 calories.
we tried to eat cheap, but just couldnt bring ourselves to eat with the backpacker crowd. instead, the pizereria/tratorria/bruchetteria in town had the stragest pasta pancake thing that G had them cover in cream pesto sauce. he won the dinner prize that night.
while eating, the catholics had some sort of eerie procession with half the town marching uphill and the priest chanting over wireless loudspeakers. the candles everwhere made it even odder.
took train into 5 terre to avoid the evil mountains. someone wouldve died. train had a specific bike rack for us and it was only 10 euro for a 3 hour ride. we messed up though. after being so train savvy in France, we forgot to stamp our tickets on the train platform. the conductor tried to fine us €25 each, but we talked him down to €5 each.
decided to stay in the last of the 5 towns, called Riomaggiore. no real beach here, just rocks, but it is a less touristy alternative to Monterosso where I staed in 99. we've been relying on the Routard door stickers to determine if a place is ok, and the hotel we found was certified by the Routards in 07, so it was a go. note: we have no idea who Routard is, but we'd like to meet him someday. Ben had a sweet bunk bed. he even made a tent like Pete Blanton did in college. not sure why...
got some wine to go you can do that everywhere in Italia, according to the lady at the restaurant) and walked up to the next town. all 5 towns are connected by footpath as well as train. we walked btwn the 5th & 3rd towns before settling in for dinner. ben was brave and ordered something heäd never heard of. it was fantastic. he won the dinner prize that night. later found out it had pig's ear in the sauce.
next day, G and I took a train to Monterosso to rent an umbrella & chairs and enjoy the Med. Ben went all tough and chose to do the remaining hike btwn towns 3 & 1. It took him 4 hours, but he got great photos and seemed to enjoy it. on the flip side, I enjoyed killing off some of this wicked farmer tan and reading my book.
on the way home, we stopped at opur favorite gelato place in Riomaggiore and G had grapefruit gelato. it was incredible, so he went back for seconds. good thing we bike for 4 hours a day because we eat and drink about 4000 calories.
we tried to eat cheap, but just couldnt bring ourselves to eat with the backpacker crowd. instead, the pizereria/tratorria/bruchetteria in town had the stragest pasta pancake thing that G had them cover in cream pesto sauce. he won the dinner prize that night.
while eating, the catholics had some sort of eerie procession with half the town marching uphill and the priest chanting over wireless loudspeakers. the candles everwhere made it even odder.
Friday, June 29, 2007
Ben & Graeme likely airborne
a break in the delayed blogging to bring you an update on my fellow travelers. G left at 5am this morning and Ive gotten text messages saying he made it to Frankfurt. At 10am, I took Ben and the largest bike box you have ever seen to the airport. I didnt stick around to make sure the plane took off, but Im assuming it did. he was supposed to call if anything strange happened.
btw - when G & Ben read this they should know that I had lunch at the Central Market again and got gelato from our place on the way home. They just put out a fresh batch of pistacio and it was amazing.
btw - when G & Ben read this they should know that I had lunch at the Central Market again and got gelato from our place on the way home. They just put out a fresh batch of pistacio and it was amazing.
Thursday, June 28, 2007
june 22...savona?
I'm blogging this without my notebook, so I'll have to wing it. first off, cafe is much better in italy. instad of the french or spanish drip coffee (like home), you get a choice of cappucino or latte at breakfast. I opt for latte, since you get twice as much. plus, you get to MYOL. Make Your Own Latte. they give you two containers....1 is steamed milk, the other is expresso. you get to play strabucks and scoop one into the other. it's fun.
*******LONG RIDE I DON'T REMEMBER******
we established rule #1 in Italy: just go....and hold your line. meaning, cars will seem to want to hit you, they won't. in fact, they probably won't even honk. it's like a ballet of potential destruction and mayhem. I don't know how it works, but the cars, scooters, motorcycles and bikes all manage. also, there are a ton of cyclists in this country. many in team gear, all without helmets. maybe that's the key: traffic darwinism. the dumb ones get run over.
stayed in an incredibly random swiss hotel in Savona. it had floor to ceiling carpeting. with the company logo on it. why? why? nice shower though and it had yogurt for breakfast, which has become or tipping point on whether we'll pay for it, or get a bite on the road. although, lack of yogurt can be made up by the presence of multi-vitamin juice. ask a german about that, they'll know.
couldn't find a decent looking dinner place, but located a gelateria. prebably the nicest looking one in my life. G tried the spicy chocolate. it's dark choco with pepper flakes in it. the dude wouldnt even sell it to hit without forcing him to taste it. it starts out smooth then hits you like a sot of tabasco. why?
got a reccomendation for a pizza place where I had the lemon veal cutlets. Graeme cried for the baby cow. I ate its delicious goodness.
*******LONG RIDE I DON'T REMEMBER******
we established rule #1 in Italy: just go....and hold your line. meaning, cars will seem to want to hit you, they won't. in fact, they probably won't even honk. it's like a ballet of potential destruction and mayhem. I don't know how it works, but the cars, scooters, motorcycles and bikes all manage. also, there are a ton of cyclists in this country. many in team gear, all without helmets. maybe that's the key: traffic darwinism. the dumb ones get run over.
stayed in an incredibly random swiss hotel in Savona. it had floor to ceiling carpeting. with the company logo on it. why? why? nice shower though and it had yogurt for breakfast, which has become or tipping point on whether we'll pay for it, or get a bite on the road. although, lack of yogurt can be made up by the presence of multi-vitamin juice. ask a german about that, they'll know.
couldn't find a decent looking dinner place, but located a gelateria. prebably the nicest looking one in my life. G tried the spicy chocolate. it's dark choco with pepper flakes in it. the dude wouldnt even sell it to hit without forcing him to taste it. it starts out smooth then hits you like a sot of tabasco. why?
got a reccomendation for a pizza place where I had the lemon veal cutlets. Graeme cried for the baby cow. I ate its delicious goodness.
june 21 - 3 meals in 3 countries
disclaimer: we've been in Florence for 2 days. bikes are boxed and I am blogging late as usual.
on june 21...we had breakfast in room and left nice. climbed into Monaco, which G says is one mile by one mile. had lunch overlooking the marina. not as many ships as in st. tropez, but two of them had helicopters, which is two more than st. tropez. also saw too many ferraris to count and a Z06 corvette with Illinois plates?!
climbed a monsterous hill up to the casinos. saw a $1 million Ferrari Enzo, a ton of Bentleys and a a $300,000 Mercedes. climbed an even bigger hill out of town. it was probably >15 degrees incline. crossed border into italy, which is really more like crossing from IL to WI. There is a vacent border station, but that's it.
Made it to San Remo for the night and scored a cool hotel room with a balcony facing the sea. The place had a great rooftop deck also.
went looking for dinner, but didn't see much that was open. did, however, find the old part of town that consisted of these little, tunnel-like passages similar to Venice. who knew? finally settled on some random place called 'Dick Turpin's' for dinner. turned out to be fantastic. G had a lemon rissoto that was out of this world and the sangria (yes, in Italy) was the best of the trip.
introduced Ben to the wonders of gelato (Italian ice cream). the key with this stuff is to only eat from a place that makes it on site. you can quickly tell by the gelato itself. if it is rough and a little unprofessional looking, it's probably the good stuff. if it is smooth and polishe dlike baskin robbins, steer clear. it would still be better than the crap at home, but not nearly what you came for.
on june 21...we had breakfast in room and left nice. climbed into Monaco, which G says is one mile by one mile. had lunch overlooking the marina. not as many ships as in st. tropez, but two of them had helicopters, which is two more than st. tropez. also saw too many ferraris to count and a Z06 corvette with Illinois plates?!
climbed a monsterous hill up to the casinos. saw a $1 million Ferrari Enzo, a ton of Bentleys and a a $300,000 Mercedes. climbed an even bigger hill out of town. it was probably >15 degrees incline. crossed border into italy, which is really more like crossing from IL to WI. There is a vacent border station, but that's it.
Made it to San Remo for the night and scored a cool hotel room with a balcony facing the sea. The place had a great rooftop deck also.
went looking for dinner, but didn't see much that was open. did, however, find the old part of town that consisted of these little, tunnel-like passages similar to Venice. who knew? finally settled on some random place called 'Dick Turpin's' for dinner. turned out to be fantastic. G had a lemon rissoto that was out of this world and the sangria (yes, in Italy) was the best of the trip.
introduced Ben to the wonders of gelato (Italian ice cream). the key with this stuff is to only eat from a place that makes it on site. you can quickly tell by the gelato itself. if it is rough and a little unprofessional looking, it's probably the good stuff. if it is smooth and polishe dlike baskin robbins, steer clear. it would still be better than the crap at home, but not nearly what you came for.
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