home sweet home

We're back at home with the kitties -- more pictures to be posted very soon...stay tuned...

avoid cheap Cologne

First of all, Colmar is a beautiful, picturesque town and unlike the swiss, they do not hide their souvenirs so we bought lots of things! After lunch (we wisely figured "when in rome..." or france, as the case may be, and ate at noon) where cindy had quiche lorraine in alsace-lorraine and said it was the best she ever had -- we hit the road for germany. It was a long dull drive full of graffiti, power lines and construction. It seemed to take forever to get to cologne, where we were only staying because dusseldorf was all booked due to (I kid you not) a plastics exposition. I don't know what that is either. But when we got to cologne we found sketchy, confusing, constrction filled one way streets and finally our "hotel.". I put this in quotes because what we were actually met with was a storefront of some sort of internet/ cell phone company (and yet no computers were visible anwhere). Though we were dubious the man assured us we were in the right place and the store was indeed the reception for the hotel. We paid up front, and got our keys and instructions. As we headed two doors down on the questionable street, we faced a dark, creepy staircase with some old toys lying about and graffiti on the moldy walls. Uh-oh. The room itself was clean but bad bad juju abounded and cindy thought we were going to turn into a bad lifetime movie so... What to do? Cindy was so panicked that nothing less than five star american chains would be considered. After numerous calls to what limited options we had info on in the eyewitness germany book (clearly my germany on a budget book was out of the question), we found one room left for 250 euros at the sofitel bonn resort half an hour south (the opposite direction of dusseldorf). Naturally, that is where we are now, enjoying room service and a suite on our last hours here. But I better get some sleep as our ten-forty-five flight will now cause us to leave at 6:30 am... Oh and by the way, we had one problem once we booked our new luxury hotel... What to do with our room key? We were all paid up so that wasn't a problem but the key we were supposed to lrave in the drop box when we checked out. So, thinking of alice and her babushka, I covered my head with my scarf - I thought this would be a great disguise - ran up to the drop box, dumped the keys and made a mad dash for the car, where cindy was waiting, like an accomplice, to zoom off as the bewildered hotel owner watched. Crazy? Or perfectly reasonable response to the situation? You be the judge.

quick update

Hearing all about the fires in L.A. It's been major news even here - every hotelier, shopkeeper, etc who asks where we're from asks about the fires. It sounds like a mess. If anyone from home can report from there how things are, that would be awesome...

That said, far away from anything remotely warm, we're in Colmar right now - we had Lebanese food for dinner last night (no comments from the peanut gallery on that one) which was really good, though they were completely thrown off that Cindy wanted coffee her dinner. I'm telling you, these Europeans and their rigid customs. She was trying to tell me in French that the coffee comes after dinner and I was like, I know, she wants it now instead. I think she thought we were completely insane for the rest of the night. But we did have a good dinner and served my purpose of boycotting French food for the duration of the trip. And seriously -- we passed a restaurant that served KANGAROO. Yes, people, Kangaroo. These people will eat anything that lives. Hide your pets.

Anyway today's our last real day, I can't believe it. We're headed through some wine country back to Germany to Cologne for the night and then tomorrow it's just the airport and home... that is assuming LAX is still visible through all the smoke...

swiss time

We were excited to go to switzerland for the day today, in part because there is a real live border checkpoint. Most of europe is in the EU so the borders are more or less irrelevant - funny when you think about the wars that were fought over those very borders not that long ago. But switzerland maintains its neutrality as ever and this is not in the eu, hence the border checkpoint. I thought maybe they would even stamp my passport! But when we got there, no one even looked at our passports or asked why we were coming to switzerland - all they wanted was for us to pay for a sticker indicating we had paid the tax and they were glad to take our money even in euros, the equivalent of like fifty bucks. As long as you pay up, the swiss are happy to let you in. Anyway we drove into switzerland and I was shocked at how much graffiti I saw in this, "cleanest" of all countries. It's everywhere, even more than in avignon and arles, certainly more than los angeles. I am half saddened by it, half intrigued by the "art form" associateed with it. But mostly it makes it look less clean and gang-ridden. But anyway first we went to lausanne. And in a country known for its banks I had a heck of a time finding one to get me some swiss francs. But I did... And realized I had no idea of the conversion rate. Figured it out thanks to the bbery, though of course I thought of that after I took out the cash. A little more than I planned but I guess I can exchange all the leftovers for dollars at the airport even though it all kinda looks like monopoly money. Overall, not too impressed with lausanne - did a little shopping but didn't find much in the way of souvenirs but we figured there would be more in bern. So we headed there - and were very pleased to walk right into a little street market where we found some gifts and some yummy freshly made caramel. We looked for souvenirs but seriously it's like the swiss are hiding them. The only stuff they have is like, at the back of the store, as if they're trying to keep it unnoticed. Bizarre. But we found a few goodies and we enjoyed walking the streets of this pretty little town. Coming out of switzerland gps routed us via germany, which was interesting because they did stop us at the border and made us wait for them to run our passports and germans in uniform make me nervous. I think it's a racial memory thing. Or maybe I have seen Shining Through one too many times, right, Jill? I can't believe our trip is winding down. It's been a whirlwind. We're headed for colmar tonight in the heart of the reisling wine country, france, and then it's back to germany to home.

climbing the alps...or at least the stairs

Today was mainly a driving day as we had a lot of ground to cover to get up here. We walked around Nice this morning wishing we had more time in the south - but the time we had was great and we headed up north for annecy. We were going to stop for lunch in avignon but when we got there the town was depressed and yucky and we couldn't find a place to park and it was getting close to the 2 pm food cutoff so we abandoned that plan and hit the highway. Thought we'd try out french fast food so we stopped at the autogrille, kind of a roadside souplantation as it turned out - totally decent for what it was - I got lots of veggies and fresh grapes and stuff. Anyway we then drove pretty much straight to annecy with just one pit stop. We literally went through the alps in a tunnel that looked like the disneyland matterhorn ride. Or at least the part of the people mover that goes through the matterhorn. Like I could ever survuve the actual matterhorn ride. Ha! Our hotel is nice but of all the staircases we have had to encounter this one was probably the most daunting. We are on the 3rd floor which effectively means 6 flights of stairs. Thankfully the hotel man brought our luggage up...anyway we settled in, caught our collective breath and then went to dinner. Fortunately we had some options. Ended up with Italian which I have definitely liked better than french though this Angelino sure could use a chinese chicken salad... Anyway that's about all for today - tomorrow we are switzerland bound!

nice is nice

I love the south of france. Love it. This is the only place I have really wished we could spend a whole week in. Maybe next trip! Anyway, didn't write last night because I wanted an activity to occupy myself on the long drive to Annecy away from the sun and the beach and into the Alps. You can imagine how excited I am about that lol. But we are getting to see a lot and now I deinitely know where I want to come back to. Yesterday we woke in Arles, which is a kind of run-down town and actually it was freezing. But we didn't stay long because the beach was just an hour or so drive away and that's where we were headed. We stopped though in salon de provence and cindy was hoping to see nostradamus' house or his burial place - but the house (now a museum) was closed till the afternoon and we had the beach waiting for us. Tried to go to the burial place but a baptism was going on inside the church which didn't stop cindy from popping in and taking a picture. I pretended not to know her. Anyway from there we drove to the beach and were overwhelmed by the gorgeous scenery. I think it might be the most beautiful coastline I have ever seen. We stopped for lunch in a town called Frejus where we walked through town and it was warm enough for me to take my sweater off and walk around in my tank top. But lunch was a bit of a problem - one thing I have learned about france is that lunch literally ends at 2:00. It is crazy, every restaurant we would walk into around 2:15 would greet us with a resounding "fin!". Sure, it's on the late side for lunch, but it's a crowded town full of people. I can't believe none of them want to eat after 2. Something I have learbed about the french per the newspapers and the people is that while americans think "if I work more, I'll make more money," the french think, "if I work less I'll have more time to sit around mocking those crazy workaholic americans.". It's fascinating. Everyone's on strike all the time because they want more money for working less and anyway it means a day off. I read that the french inherently see working at all as exploitation. Different culture I guess. Or not so different from some of my genx buddies come to think of it... Anyway we managed to find a chinese place which I dubbed "le panda express" which was willing to serve us after 2 pm. All hail the chinese work ethic. Food was okay, but what more than made up for it was the yummy incredible gelato place with tons of unique flavors. I got meringue flavor which came with a meringue cookie in it and cindy got a flavor simply calle "bleu" with a picture of a smurf next to it. Tastes like bubble gum, turned her tongue blue, cindy was happy, and we went down to the beach and sat on the rocks and ate our yummy ice cream. I could have stayed there forever doing just that but Nice was awaiting us. We took an amazing drive along the coast which basically to me looks like Utah and Santa Barbara had sex and created this place. I can't describe it, you will just have to see the pics when I can put them up. Anyway we dropped off our luggage at our excellent, perfecly located Hotel Regence in Nice. Then we drove to Monaco for dinner, which was another adventure. It's one of the prettiest places you can imagine. We went to see the Palace, and it was almost empty so the whole town looked like an empty movie set. We once again had trouble finding a restaurant open and this was even more puzzling since it was 7 pm. It seemed the entire town (all the merchants etc) were watching the grand prix races on tv. We did find a restaurant - we were literally the only ones in there and I am officially sick of french food. But now I have been to monaco! We then headed back to our hotel and crashed. This morning we explored Nice and the area around our hotel was total 3rd street promenade but I've been away so long I missed it :). Now we're on our way to Annecy but we were both sad to leave this area as there was plenty more to see and do. Hey mom, does your timeshare work in Nice?

co-20000 bc

There is a whole bed and breakfast culture out there that is basically like staying at your friend's aunt's house. I mean it is literally someone's home with a couple bedrooms that they rent out. We've done this a few times before and did last nite. The upside is that personal touch and you really do get to meet people and see how they live. The downside is worrying if you're arriving too late, awkwardly choosing the room with the double bed ("hi, we're lesbians.") And feeling like you're supposed to make conversation. Anyway that said our hosts were very nice and non intrusive. Of course, where the house was located was confusing and I wound up knocking on a random neighbor's door by accident. Very embarassing. But further shame was yet to come. This morning we headed first for grotte de pech-merle, a site way in the middle of nowhere with prehistoric cave paintings... That is, if you can remain conscious enough to see them. We were warned before the tour began that there were high levels of co2 down in the cave but unless you have a serious heart condition it should be fine. You'll feel a little lightheaded but that will go away. Well the second we got into the grotto I felt lightheaded. Tried to tell myself it would go away but as soon as she closed us in I started to feel dizzy and like I was about to pass out and we had to be taken back up and out of the cave. We got our money back but nothing could give back my pride. How mortifying. I have got to stop this fainting thing. At least in public places. Cindy was very nice about it. She was like, "I got to see one of the paintings. It was cool!". Anyway I am retarded. After that calamity we went to rocmadour, a (thankfully above ground) city that is essentially built into the side of a cliff. We took lots of pics but I am still stuck with the damn bberry so I can't put them up right now. Anyway it was amazing but lots of stairs. At least we are getting our exercise here. (Robynn are you reading this??). Tried to get some lunch but it was like 3 pm and all food had seriously shut down. We had to go into a souvenir store and buy some medieval. "roc-amadour" cake which turned out to be delicious and is made out of some fruit I can't translate but which is apparently full of protein, fiber and vitamins, though it mainly tasted like butter and brown sugar. Yum!! Anyway after that we had to head for arles which was a long but beautiful and scenic drive. It is starting to look more like the southwest than the great plains, funny. Arles however, cindy says feels kinda like Rome. Tiny streets, crazy drivers, and lots of pizzerias. We ate at one, we both got pasta which was a nice change since we were getting sick of french food. Anyway now we're in our hotel which has a strange smell to it and is not my favorite. Cindy would like me to add that we drove over a really big bridge, thus facing one of her phobias though unlike me she did not have to be escorted off. It was a beautiful bridge and the countryside was incredible. And we're tired. Bon soir.

ou est le corpse de leonardo?

Okay, we are on a long drive from tours to cahors (actually from amboise to puy-leveque) which is, apparently, a longer drive than we had thought. Everything seems to be. But I figured I'd make use of the time and write in the blog while we're both awake. At least I hope cindy is awake since she is driving. By the way we really don't like this car. I know, it's a fancy mercedes and all that but it is not at all fun to drive or comfy or spacious. Of course all cars are tiny in europe... Can you tell I am homesick today? I called paul at like 12:30 am his time last night (sorry paul) because I hadn't gotten an update on my cats in a couple days... I am losing my mind. But the loire valley is gorgeous and lush and green and we saw the chateau de chenonceau this morning and the chateau d'amboise which is where leonardo da vinci is buried (note: cindy made me go into the tourist office to ask where leonardo's body is). Anyway that was neat and we walked through the town of amboise which was really cute and I have been buying presents and souvenirs for everyone :). The pagoda de chantaloupe (which I like to call the pagoda of canteloupe) was closed and we ended up in a cute town called loches where we got some snacks and took a pee break. Speaking of peeing, as you all know, I do this often - and every bathroom is an adventure here. I swear they are all set up differently. They all seem to have different contraptions for flushing, you literally have to search for the flusher like it's a game of bathroom where's waldo. And the there are the sinks. There was the one where the sink, soap and dryer were all in a tiny row and automatic and if you moved your arm too close while drying your hands the sink popped on again. Then there was the one where the water comes out of this lion statue mouth that is operated by a foot pedal. But at least most of the toilets have toilets. I say most because when we stopped at a gas station today I went into the bathroom and three out of four stalls had like, holes in the floor. In the women's! Plus the mens was closed for cleaning and so they were just walking into the women's! But it is all loads of fun and now it's magic hour here so I am going to watch the sun set over the valley :)

strike one...or, one strike

Just when it seemed our transportation luck had improved... We hit the metro this morning only to see that most of the lines were down, including the train we would need to get to our car at orly airport... Yep, the books were not kidding around when they warned that the french go on strike all the time. Lucky us they decided to strike today. The french are so blase about it too, like, we were like, "the metros aren't working, and our cute blonde hotel girl (the one who forgot to call us the cab) was just like, "yeah. It's a strike.". We were horrified but they don't pay much mind there. Buses were out too. The driver from the hotel was able to take us though, for 45 euros. Great, this after we spent 17 euros on a now useless all day metro pass, plus the 30 euros to get the car out of parking brings it to like 100 euros worth of transportation all before leaving paris... Cities are expensive. Before we left though we did have breakfast at ma bourgogne in the places des vosges. Chuck and karen are you reding this?? Went just for you. Actually it was the best hot chocolate I have had so far. Plus the waiter asked if I was belgian and said I was very pretty. At least I'm not coming across as an obnoxious american tourist. They are always surprised here that I am american and can speak any french at all.
Anyway, explored the rest of the marais this morning since clearly we weren't going anywhere else. Went to the jewish museum (also for you, CR) which was interesting. Asa, there were manuscripts there like the ones you study but in hebrew. Went to the pompadou center to see the famous fountains but they were not operational, bummer!
Anyway many euros later we were at our car at orly and heading for amboise. Drive down was smooth and beautiful, but we literally spent like 2 hours driving around trying to find the hotel, but here we are in a mini-chateau type place with a nice, spacious room. Very tired now, gotta get some sleep. More later...

"speaking of dreams"

I’ve had this Joan Baez song (“Speaking of Dreams”) that no one besides me (except MAYBE Emily) knows in my head all day because she sings about walking around on the Rue de Rivoli which is where I was today  which of course makes me happy because one of my goals in life is to go everywhere in the songs I like. SO, anyway, for those concerned, Cindy’s health still on the upswing, though feet have been hurting from all the walking around. I am trying to get her to do some yoga, you can imagine how that’s going… My other challenge with her is trying to get her off that blackberry with the work crises… Anyway, I am feeling great, other than feeling overstuffed from eating too much great food. Walking around all the time makes me CONSTANTLY hungry plus the food has been so good everywhere that I keep trying things and of course I have to have dessert. But anyway I’m hoping the walking is offsetting some of these extra calories…

This morning we went to the Louvre. Saw Mona. Saw some old Egyptian stuff. Saw the “Winged Victory.” Mostly looked at the shoes that other people were wearing trying to decide what kind of boots I would buy because I was intent on buying boots in Paris, which is exactly what we set out to do after I had been culturally enhanced to Cindy’s satisfaction. We headed to the area around the Forum des Halles and I actually bought TWO pairs of boots without any approval from Sharon or Katie, my shoe goddesses, so I really hope they are reasonably stylish… but I like them a lot! We walked around and shopped though that was the main purchase, so we came back to the hotel to drop them off -- then we headed back out over to Notre Dame (nice) and the Crypts Archaologique (waste of time) and the Flower Market (Sharon, you won’t believe this, but we saw Oreo there. He came all the way to Paris without you knowing it… photos forthcoming... Oh, and we also saw Flayva-Flave (sp???) getting (i kid you not) on a tour bus while a small crowd of teenage fans took cell phone pictures and shouted "I love you Flayva-Flave!" Once again, feels like home... By the way, Cindy is insisting I add that I’m communicating very well in French. Anyway, after that we walked all around the Latin Quarter, feeling assaulted by every maitre d’ trying to get us to eat at his restaurant, finally picked one and had a very cute prix fixe menu dinner. Though why it is so hard to find CHICKEN in Paris mystifies me. I’m being so good and trying so many unusual and different foods -- but the one thing I won’t do is eat weird meats. I’m this close to giving up meat entirely though Europe is not the place to do that… Duck appears to be the poultry of choice here and no way am I eating duck.

Anyway tomorrow we will further explore the Marais, hit a couple more museums, and then we’re headed on the road to Tours…

BY the way, I have to PAY for this internet connection, so I typed this in advance -- but I’m hopefully going to get some more pictures uploaded now…

cindy's birthday!!

Back on the blackberry. Wireless is more elusive than one might think. Hey, today is cindy's birthday and it sure was a memorable one despite mercury retrograde's attempts to wreak havoc. Woke in ghent - good news, cindy's miserable ailment has rounded the corner and she is on the road to recovery. We explored ghent briefly before heading out of town, I finally boght some belgian chocolates and we went to st baaf's kathedral, an ancient and beautiful catholic church - asa we saw the van eyck painting there. Then we hit the road for paris. Thank god cindy was back behind the wheel - ghent was a disaster to get out of. Construction everywhere. Gps literally gave up and mrs. Garmin (the gps voice, per sharon) was basically like, you're on your own. But we did make it out. Interesting thing about europe. It might as well be one big country at this point - not only is all the money the same now, but border crossings are nonexistent. There's just like a sign that says France. Not even a guy waving you through. There's more ceremony at the ag inspection by the ca/nevada border. Anyway I found that interesting.

So we got to france where we promptly stopped to pee at guess what, mcdonald's. And they actually print the nutrition info on all the packaging... Nice!AND I actually communicated in french for the first time in like ever and it was fine. I seem to know more than I thought. Anyway so then the road we were supposed to take was closed due to "a truck that completely burned up under a tunnel at chaes de gaulle airport.". Fortunately we were parking the car at orly not cdg, but it caused a major detour and we ended up on a very pretty drive through te french countryside and a town called soissons which was cute. But a drive that should have taken 3 hours took 5. Finally got to orly, parked the car and took the train into paris but it was insanely crowded and for some reason moving very slowly... Got to the metro and to our hotel with literally just enough time to get dressed for our dinner cruise on the seine, so I asked the girl at the hotel to call us a taxi as we ran up to change. We came downstairs only to find she forgot to call the taxi, then she called and none were available so we had to run outside and hail one. I was so scared the boat was going to leave without us but we made it in time! The cruise was just beautiful. Great food, wine (katie- I drank a whole glass!!), stunning views. Cindy loved her bday cruise and I had much fun too. Though paris is getting a lil too dineyfied, I think, no wonder cindy likes it so much. But even she had to admit the colored illumination, search lights and yes, giant flat screen tv plastered to thre eiffel tower took something away from it I think. Still and all the city is stunning and I am totally frenching it up to anyone who'll listen since I felt so guilty not knowing a word of dutch or german... Anyway our hotel is tres cute and it is after midnight so I am going to crash. Sorry I haven't put up more pics, as soon as I get a decent connection, I will...

"speaking of dreams"

I’ve had this Joan Baez song (“Speaking of Dreams”) that no one besides me (except MAYBE Emily) knows in my head all day because she sings about walking around on the Rue de Rivoli which is where I was today  which of course makes me happy because one of my goals in life is to go everywhere in the songs I like. SO, anyway, for those concerned, Cindy’s health still on the upswing, though feet have been hurting from all the walking around. I am trying to get her to do some yoga, you can imagine how that’s going… My other challenge with her is trying to get her off that blackberry with the work crises… Anyway, I am feeling great, other than feeling overstuffed from eating too much great food. Walking around all the time makes me CONSTANTLY hungry plus the food has been so good everywhere that I keep trying things and of course I have to have dessert. But anyway I’m hoping the walking is offsetting some of these extra calories…

This morning we went to the Louvre. Saw Mona. Saw some old Egyptian stuff. Saw the “Winged Victory.” Mostly looked at the shoes that other people were wearing trying to decide what kind of boots I would buy because I was intent on buying boots in Paris, which is exactly what we set out to do after I had been culturally enhanced to Cindy’s satisfaction. We headed to the area around the Forum des Halles and I actually bought TWO pairs of boots without any approval from Sharon or Katie, my shoe goddesses, so I really hope they are reasonably stylish… but I like them a lot! We walked around and shopped though that was the main purchase, so we came back to the hotel to drop them off -- then we headed back out over to Notre Dame (nice) and the Crypts Archaologique (waste of time) and the Flower Market (Sharon, you won’t believe this, but we saw Oreo there. He came all the way to Paris without you knowing it… photos forthcoming…) -- all on the Ile de la Cite. By the way, Cindy is insisting I add that I’m communicating very well in French. Anyway, after that we walked all around the Latin Quarter, feeling assaulted by every maitre d’ trying to get us to eat at his restaurant, finally picked one and had a very cute prix fixe menu dinner. Though why it is so hard to find CHICKEN in Paris mystifies me. I’m being so good and trying so many unusual and different foods -- but the one thing I won’t do is eat weird meats. I’m this close to giving up meat entirely though Europe is not the place to do that… Duck appears to be the poultry of choice here and no way am I eating duck.

Anyway tomorrow we will further explore the Marais, hit a couple more museums, and then we’re headed on the road to Tours…

BY the way, I have to PAY for this internet connection, so I typed this in advance -- but I’m hopefully going to get some more pictures uploaded now… Check the shutterfly site, there should be new ones from Bruges, Ghent, and Paris!!

the fine line between flemish and phlegmish...

Okay, somewhat of a chill day since Cindy has been feeling so yucky. She's resting now in our room aboard the Hotel Boatel while I sit in the "breakfast room" with my laptop catching up on email and attempting to upload photos... Such a pain for some reason. Anyway a FEW are up now on Shutterfly. Hope to add more soon...

Anyway, this morning we went out and explored Bruges. Stopped by a pharmacy to get Cindy some euro-drugs which appear to be something with pseudoephedrine. And Michael Moore is right, it's awesome going to a pharmacist in Europe. You just walk in, tell him/her how you're feeling, and the guy hands you pills. Great. Then we went into town and I climbed to the top of the Belfry -- 366 steps!!! And Robynn would be impressed here... because let me tell you, that is a lot of steps and my legs hurt like hell after. Cindy naturally did not do this. Heh. We went to a little cafe which apparently had some historical significance which I can't remember at present but it was very cute and I actually had a Belgian Waffle IN Belgium, with bananas and chocolate sauce on it. If I ever manage to get the pictures uploaded, you can see me doing this. Cindy got some French onion soup and took her eurodrugs.

Then I dragged her to the chocolate museum, which was a bit of a silly tourist trap, but hey, we went. Then we said goodbye to this cute town and went to Oostend, which is a beach town not far away, just to kind of walk around and see it. Nice, sandy beaches, not unlike Santa Monica, come to think of it. But it was weird to think of all the World War II battles that were probably fought around there. Anyway, from there we drove to Ghent. And by WE, I mean I DROVE, for the first time in Europe because Cindy's sick and I was terrified of it and cars here are not made for people my size. I can barely reach the pedal with my foot even with the seat as close as it goes. I feel like a midget here. Anyway even with me driving we somehow made it to Ghent. And now I'm gonna try to wake Cindy up to drag her to dinner.

Oh, by the way, important notes (Em, are you reading this?) about the music here:

1) They really seem to like 80s Billy Joel here. Who knew?
2) At Vondelpark we saw some sort of youth group singing YMCA in Dutch. Note, the "Y" "M" "C" "A" dance moves are the same in both languages. :)
3) I was able to somehow find country radio here! (Needless to say, Cindy was thrilled by this. Haha.)

More later!

from amsterdam to bruges...

Finally we are at a hotel with real live wifi! Woo hoo! But as usual we're tired from the day so I don't know if I'll be able to write much more than I have been writing -- but it's a hell of a lot easier on the computer :) SO. This morning started off with disaster. After checking out of our hotel we decided to brave Amsterdam's public transportation system. Not that it's all that scary for normal people but for Angelinos like us, public transportation in general is very scary indeed. (Arwen -- think the teaser from BITCH lol) But, we studied the metro map and figured, how hard can it be to take a bus from the hotel to Vondelpark? WELL. First we were waiting at the wrong stop. Then when we got to the right stop, I was figuring out how much money I was going to need, and I thought I had to get on the bus at the front to pay, and as I approached the front of the bus, the door closed. I assumed he'd open it. After all, I was standing RIGHT THERE. But no. So I turned around to apologize to Cindy that I made us miss the bus when I realized... she wasn't there! She had boarded the bus, which was now speeding down the street, leaving me totally at a loss and worried because I was carrying all the Euros. I literally was picturing her getting carted off to Dutch jail for boarding a bus and not being able to pay. First I tried to chase the bus. Then I realized that was a dumb idea since it was going way faster than I was and I didn't know exactly where it was headed. You see, while I had the money, Cindy was handling all of that confusing directiony stuff... So then I figured, I'd wait for the next bus and that she probably got off at the first stop and I would meet her there. Next bus took forever and a day. Keep in mind, we only have one functioning cell phone here and it was in my purse. After what seemed like a terrifying eternity, the next bus arrived and I hopped on it, only to see Cindy hop on behind me smiling "Here I am." I couldn't figure out how she'd gotten there but apparently she DID get off at the next stop, but when the next bus failed to come she got worried and jogged back up the block to find me hopping onto the bus. At last, we were both on the right bus. But that experience took years off my life.

Anyway, we went to the Van Gogh museum first. Asa, I know this is your life's work, but man, I am terrible at art appreciation. People are just standing there staring at paintings and I'm kind of like, "it's not gonna do anything." Plus I was all excited to see The Scream, but Cindy told me that wasn't even Van Gogh, it was someone else! AND that it was stolen and no one even knows where it is. God, I'm art retarded. How did my brother get ALL the art genes in the family? Seriously, I think paintings are pretty, but I have no clue what else I'm supposed to look for. But the museum was nice, anyway.

Afterwards we hit Vondelpark which was really really beautiful and it was so nice to be outside -- we've just so lucked out with weather (so far... knock wood...) so it was a beautiful day. We were going to rent bikes here but we couldn't find the rental place and time was getting to be of the essence since we lost an hour with that whole transportation debacle. So we stopped for a snack (I FINALLY found a smoothie -- yay!) and headed back to our hotel. No bus problems this time. We collected our luggage and then had to decide how to get back to our car. Walk + bus? 2 buses? Bus + train? We wound up doing walk plus bus though poor Cindy fell twice. Did I mention she's sick, surprise surprise? And now on top of that her fancy new shoes which are great for walking, seem to have some trouble in uneven surface cracks. Yep. She's fallen four times today and is all bruised up. I am going to have to carry her through Bruges tomorrow I think!

Anyway we did make it back to our Mercedes, and trooper that she is Cindy hopped in and drove us to Bruges. The countryside of Holland/Belgium is kind of unremarkable. Sort of looks like Canada to me. Not like, pretty Canada, like, boring, close to the upstate NY border, brick houses, plain trees Canada. Anyway arriving in Bruges was fascinating. At first I was like, what is the big deal about this place? It seemed run-down and dull --- THEN we got inside the "walled city." Holy crap. Rumors of its beauty were not exaggerated. This place is amazing. You feel like you're walking around on a film set. Oh, wait, that was because of the FILM CREW that was there. Well, it's nice to feel like it's home away from home, right? Okay, so that picturesque fog over the canal was coming from a fog machine. So what? It added to the mystique of the surroundings! Anyway our hotel here is lovely, though I almost got us locked out of it because I'm retarded and I thought I had the code to get in memorized and yet... I didn't. But anyway we went out to dinner at a very Dutch, medieval restaurant that the hotel guy recommended. Actually it was the Jan Van Eyck restaurant, who apparently (stop cringing Asa) is an important, famous artist. Again, lacking the art gene, I wasn't aware, but there's a big statue of him and I feel I'll learn more about him tomorrow. Though mostly I'm looking forward to the chocolate museum!

More Day 2 (I just woke up)

So we were supposed to write together, but I passed out during the process. Less than five minutes in the room and I completely blacked out then waking up at 11:30 because Arika bonked me for snoring. I have been up since, but now she passed out. So I am writing my thoughts. I guess we are taking shifts.

So the all women nightclub Arika wanted to go to got skipped - one because I passed out, two because she passed out and three because it would mean we had to walk 14 blocks round trip. Oh well, I am sure you can imagine our disappointment as you know we are dopplegangers for Paris and Lindsay needing to hit the hip clubs across Europe :-P

Today was fantastic. The breakfast was quaint. The cheese is very good. And thanks Michele - told Ari about the purpose of the chocolate sprinkles in her REM state and she got all excited for tomorrow morning with a big smile.

After breakfast we went to the Anne Frank House which was just a few blocks away. No line at all, though there was a long one when we came out. It is a nice exhibition and extremely depressing. It was weird looking from the window she did and seeing the beautiful canal and row houses and knowing they were looking at a world gone mad. It is really freaky to remember that insanity all happened just several decades ago(Anne was like 11 years younger than my grandmother), and makes you ask yourself "how do things get that crazy and out of control so quickly in the modern world?". And then I went into a gift shop and saw the tin of "Embarass Mints" with GW's pix on it and quickly remembered how easy these things do happen. Also, I forget sometimes how many people are truly ignorant, as a 50 year old woman and her husband were in front of us looking at the display cases and she actually said to him "look honey, they made them sew those stars to their clothes." Of course she was American, and as she was in shocked that the halocaust really existed, I was shocked that she did. We then each placed a virtual leaf on the Anne Frank Memorial Tree insuring that we would get dutch spam for all eternity.

I really have to say we could not have asked for a more perfect day. It was clear, crisp, perfect temperature, and all of the trees lining the canals have turned colors for fall. Truly stunning.

The interesting thing about this city is how quiet it is. For as many people as there are here, it is almost silent because there are little or not motor vehicles. I never really thought about it before, but it is kinda cool not hearing the low hum of a thousand cars. The bikes are so quiet to their own detrament as you don't realize they are coming up behind you until you feel the breeze of them going past you four inches away. They are really brutal. It it amazing there are not bike accidents everywhere for as many times they have almost hit people. We are terrible peds here as the streets are as narrow as normal sized sidewalks and all cobblestone, so you don't feel like you are in the street when you actually are. Arika actually nearly got hit by a tiny golf cart size electric car as she was playing with a local cat in the street (not realizing it was a street) and not hearing it coming barreling 30mph towards her because it was silent. We have opted not to rent bikes in the city as we have both agreed that we would end up floating in the canal from an accident dodging other bike or people. We are going to try to rent bikes in the park instead.

Another thing is that nearly every store and restaurant only takes cash (including the hotel) and we have been standing in line from ATM to ATM. Let's all hear it for under the table tax evasion!!!

Mom, I am sure I will have a positive drug screen with as much passive inhalation we have had. It bellows from huge clouds as you walk down the street past bars and coffee houses. Ari and I agree, it smells better than the cigarette smoke. Europe is doing its part to keep the North Carolina economy strong fear not. These are times I miss LA and the no smoking laws...

We visited a cat rescue boat. It was the dutch verion of valley cats, and the little ancient asian guy that ran it was very sweet and cute. Seeing identical twins of Libby and Rex, I am now thinking our cats are Dutch. Wait till you see the pix Mom, it will freak you out. It looks like I teleported them here.

We then stumbled upon all of the hookers in the red light district. It was interesting. There were different flavors of women together in different sections. All of the blondes were together in an area. Kinda outside the red light district and they seemed to fancy Arika waving to her as she passed by. There was even an area of octaroons. Which having done some research on Storyville, I found interesting that this was still an actraction. In fact I imagine a lot of this was a little like Storyville was like back in the day. They were behind glass and the rooms they were in where plush with chandeliers and red velvet. There were women as young looking as teens and other who were in their fifties. None were thin and they were all very much full figured. Very interesting and very sad. They all had a deadness in their eyes. As we wandered in the center of the red light district, it got eerie very quickly. There were not many tourist, a few dozen fifty year old couples, and packs of scummy looking men who looked like they where casted for "Heroes" as Peter Pettrelli's new gang members in Cork. Needless to say we got out of there quickly.

The boat was funny, though Arika fell asleep twice. It was nice seeing city from that vantage, but the canal water is definitely disgusting. The narrator sound just like the one from the Norway boat ride in EPCOT and I suddenly felt like I was at Disney. Also, we were here during some rowing. Race that followed us all through the tour. Very hot dutch men rowing beside us in teams - I know would have excited many of you, but it put Arika to sleep.

We also managed to find a 3 story mall and Amsterdam's third street promenade, so we did some shopping and got some cool stuff. Arika did not find new boots yet though. The hemp store took only cash - hmmm interesting. They sold seed there of 80 varieties of marijuana - who knew there were that many. It appeared like the stereotype is true, the dutch are good botanists. They had some fine tall plants in the window.

We tried to go in a few museums and churches, but they were closed. We did manage to go into this one exhibition in Neude Kierk - the church was nice, the exhibition was lame. It was abotu Dutch heroes. Though the 1000sqft mosaic of Lara Croft was interesting, especially seeing it on the floor of a church in front of the tomb of the 18th century architect. I think I did see some turning movement in his coffin.

Proof that everyone should get a pair of my new shoes MBT's. I walked many many miles out of the way because we took many wrong turns, and my feet are not dead. Let's hear it for the Swiss. They really saved me, and although my feet were dead from our lost excursion, they are not injured. Yay!

We ate indian for dinner - food was good - service was terrible, and if he is still alive a man that looked extactly and sounded exactly like Buster Poindexter was sitting next to us killing my lungs with his cigarette.

All in it was a great day. But I was exhausted after. I definitely recommend staying in the Jordaan for anyone coming to Amsterdam - it truly is the nicest area and we have seen them ALL today.

I am fascinated by the people and the language is hilarious. BTW-Ace, the "S" makes sense but what does the "C" mean in German. I was told on the US Mercedes that the toggle is S/W for summer/winter?

amsterdam day 2

More blogging from the blackberry. After a tiring, whirlwind day of sightseeing all over amsterdam we are trying to gather the strength to get a taste of amsterdam,s nightlife... We'll see. As we stall we thought we would try to put this day into words. Jetlag sucks. Slept last night from 9 till 2 then wide awake from 2 til 5, then slept till 8. Weird. Ate breakfast at our hotel - a hard boiled egg in a little egg holder, toast, cold cuts, and inexplicably, chocolate sprikles. Couldn't figure out what they were supposed to be for, maybe my hot cocoa but it was plenty chocolatey. Nor do I know if they call them sprinkles or jimmies or something dutch heh heh. Anyway after breakfast, we went to anne frank's house. Everyone who told us to go early to this, thanks. We just beat the queue. It was neat to see though obviously very depressing. People suck. anyway after that we did some shopping, went to a hemp store (there are many) and I bought a slightly overpricwd but cute shirt, some gifts, and a cannabis lollipop I have yet to try but the girl at he store said it will just relax you not ge you high but I haven't tried it yet. This might be the closest I get to trying pot. We also wandered through s fsrmers market and were impressed by all the cheese. Then we checked out the pozenboat - a boat inhabited by stray cats looking to be adopted. Super cute, onwe looked just liker libby (sion and bianca's mother). Then we shopped a little more, stopped in a cafe for a light lunch (more pancakkoken for me,) and made our way to a canal boat for a tour which I thought was way duller than the city itself when you're learning about it from a monotonous prerecorded voice, bleh. But cindy got some nice pictures on board which hopefully I'll be sble to post tomorrow. Then we headed this way via the red light district which was basically as it is described in all the books. Prostitutes wave from re lit windows, pot is sold (and bought) everywhere and sex shops line the streets. It was definitely interesting but I was glad we were staying in the quieter jordann district. We got turned around a couple times trying to get back here, scarfed down some indian food and came back here to do some stretches and relax. But now it is after 9 pm, we're still jetlagged, cindy fell asleep as I was writing this so I am not at all sure the nightlife is in our future. At any rate, hopfully pics coming soon, more amsterdam tomorrow then onto brugge! Stay tuned...

Day 1 from Cindy's perspective

So Arika said that I can post too on the trip - so here are my thougts on day 1 now that I have had a little sleep.

To add to the hilarity of the flight, when you got on the plane, the airline's theme song is a distortion of "Tubular Bells" which is the theme song to the Exorcist. A bit disconcerting I must say. Especially when I heard the unearthly scream curdling from the back of the plane. We thougth it to be of a human child, but we're both not sure. As for "Waitress" - Keri Russell should not be allowed to act as this performance was horrendous and an embarrassment to the profession. Her SAG card must be revoked immediately!

I tried to sleep but could not - till I passed out in the room.

Getting the car was a bit of a drama because we rented off lot at the airport. But we finally got it and as a result of us needing an automatic we got a Mercedes. Nice. Unfortunately the car is in German and cannot be transleted by any of our resources. I am I am glad that we brought the gps, as this one that coms with the car in German. Yikes! Yes we would have been screwed. Does anyone know if the toggle switch on the gear shift should be on C or S. Have no clue what this is for and fear it is important? The car does not like to go slow and neither do the Germans, as I was going 160KM and they were passing me like I was standing still.

We determined that Germany looks like Greensboro, NC and Holland looks like Long Island, except for the giant windmills - which were cool.

There are so many bikes here in Amsterdam, it is like a traffic jam, and these riders are ruthless both day and night. They want to kill you if you are on foot or even if you are in a car. The temperature is great.

Foggy this morning. Last night we had crepes and these really awesome little batter cakes that were cross between Belgium waffles and beignets. Yum! Well, that's it for now.

arrival at last

Okay this will have to be a pretty quick update since we don't have wifi here and I am typing this on the blackberry. But after a looong day of traveling we are finally in amsterdam! The culture shock hit before we even got on the plane since LTU is primarily used by germans. Go figure. But really we had no complaints about the airline. There was a delay but it was less than an hour so no big deal. They announced something in german and there was a mad dash to the podium. At first I thought perhaps we were boarding but they were actually passing out what looked like german tabloids. Front page had a big pic of some blonde chick crying and the headline said something about nazis. I'm guessing it was their equivalent of "britney's babies being raised by nazis" or something. Anyway eleven hours let me tell you is one long ass flight. They did give us a whole four seat row all to ourselves but it didn't make the flight any shorter nor did it make that keri russell movie "waitress" any better. (Sha you were so right about that one!). Travel yoga book helped a little but when the flight staff poke to me in german I felt like saying "that lil language of yours is just so cute but you can just speak english.". Must work on ethnocentrism. Must learn new language during strike... Anyway made it to dusseldorf and wound up with a mercedes from thrifty rental car (english speakers, yay!) Because it was the only automatic they had left so we lucked out. But note to self, learn to drive stick during strike... Cindy the driving pro got us all the way to the amsterdam park and ride where we left our mercedes to come into the city. Our hotel is on a gorgeous canal and after getting through the day on nothing but plane food we got dinner at a pancake place which we walked to from the hotel...ahhhh feet moving not squished in plane or car (katie you were right it was still a bit too much luggage but at least this time it fits in the car!). Anyway pancakes (like crepes) were yummy and different and very dutch and now we are back in the room and I am tired of typing with my thumbs but wanted to upsate that we are here and okay. Can't post pics til I have a real computer internet connection but hope you enjoy text til then...crashing now...

The Itinerary

Day 0 LAX --> Dusseldorf (October 11)

By the time we arrive, it will be the next day already in Dusseldorf, Germany, so I didn't count this as an actual trip day.

Day 1 Dusseldorf --> Amsterdam (October 12)

In our usual style, we're up and running right away. Let's hope herbal remedies help us sleep on the plane... and well, if not, I suppose we'll have our pick of such remedies in Amsterdam...

Staying At: Hotel Van Onna

Day 2 Amsterdam (October 13)

Even we can't force ourselves to move too fast and risk missing time here. So much to see :)

Staying At: Hotel Van Onna

Day 3 Amsterdam --> Brugge (October 14)

I've heard amazing things about this city. And our hotel is super cute!

Staying At: Hotel Fevery

Day 4 Brugge --> Ghent (October 15)

Apparently the Ghent Film Festival is going on while we're there. Cool. And we're staying on a BOAT. Cooler.

Staying At: Hotel the Boatel

Day 5 Ghent --> Paris (October 16)

Happy birthday Cindy!! As she's aged out of the target demographic, she gets to wake up in Ghent and go to bed in Paris. We'll also be taking a dinner cruise on the Seine in honor of the big 35.

Staying At: Hotel St. Louis Marais

Day 6 Paris (October 17)

I haven't been to Paris since I was a teenager. I can't wait to go back!

Staying At: Hotel St. Louis Marais

Day 7 Paris --> Amboise (October 18)

Our drive through the Loire valley begins with a stay at a Chateau!

Staying At: Chateau de Pintray

Day 8 Amboise --> Cahors (October 19)

As we continue South, we're staying at a small B&B run by the Arnetts

Staying at: Maison Rouma

Day 9 Cahors --> Arles (October 20)

At last we reach the South of France. Here's hoping for warm weather along the Riviera!

Staying At: Hotel du Musee

Day 10 Arles --> Nice (October 21)

In the heart of the South of France - this drive will be amazing!

Staying At: Hotel Regence

Day 11 Nice --> Annecy (October 22)

From the beach to the Alps!

Staying At: Hotel des Alpes

Day 12 Annecy --> Colmar (October 23)

Our last night in France... au revoir!

Staying at: Hotel Turenne

Day 13 Colmar --> Cologne (October 24)

So, the plan is to drive to Dusseldorf, return the car, and train it to Cologne. Apparently the plastics convention has taken over Dusseldorf, thus we can't stay there.

Staying at: Kolner Pension

Day 14 Cologne --> Dusseldorf --> LAX (October 25)

Taking the train to Dusseldorf in the morning and flying back home to sleeeeep!