Goodbye Europe!

Wednesday, July 20, 2005:

6:15 a.m. wake-up call. Breakfast at 7:00. Leave for the airport at 7:45. We had to deal with long lines everywhere so luckily our flight time wasn't until 10:55. We flew out of Amsterdam and made a stop in London. We then flew out of London at 12:55 p.m. It was a 10 1/2 hour flight. Ray watched Million Dollar Baby, Sahara, part of Fever Pitch, Hitch, and Shameless. I watched Hitch, Sahara, Fever Pitch, and Shameless. We had to deal with a screaming devil child. That kid would not shut up and the mom was doing nothing about it! Him and his two slightly less devilish sibilings were running up and down the aisles when he wasn't screaming bloody mary. Ugh! I thought that maybe flying made him nervous but noooooooo, he was screaming like a madman in customs too!

Chak, Ray's bro-in-law, was nice enough to pick us up when we landed at 3:45 p.m. even though we accidentally told them we were getting back on Thursday NOT Wednesday. We got back to my house around 7 p.m. and made it our goal to not sleep until at least 9 so we got some McDonald's, threw the ball around, and watched CSI. By 8:30 we were total zombies but we made it to 9 and totally crashed! And that folks is the end of our 2005 European adventures!

Late start

Tuesday, July 19, 2005:

This was the first day on our trip that we didn't get up before 8:30 and it felt great! Since we weren't jonesin' to go to any of the museums (aside from the Erotic museum, of course!) there was no need to get up early. We rolled out of bed around 10:30 and found the day somewhat windy and chilly, which was perfect for bike riding. Ray had read about this really great pancake place so we decided to go there for breakfast/lunch/brunch. We found the Pancake Brewery ("The best pancakes in town") around 11:30 and discovered it didn't open 'til noon. So we ended up sitting on a bench along the canal for 1/2 hour. It was nice having another lazy day because sometimes you gotta have those days in between the crazy days when you're on vacation, you know? Anyways, I digress....So we finally were able to sit down in the Pancake Bakery I had a banana pancake and Ray had a bacon, mushroom, and cheese pancake. We decided to split each pancake so it was sort of like main dish and dessert. They were soooooo good! It was unbelievable! And believe me, it is the best pancakes in town because 1/2 hour into opening the place was almost packed!

After breakfast/lunch/brunch we headed to the flower market to admire all the pretty flowers and then went shopping at H & M. I bought a couple tops and a skirt that were on sale. Yay! We then went to Dam Square and hung out there. We checked out a department store there. They had some interesting things there. Like a book on how to do air guitar and a toy smoking monkey that actually simulates puffing a cigarette. Afterwards we returned our bikes and walked back to the hotel. We met with tour director Rob to tie up some expenses and then went to dinner with Tom, Tyjuana, Rob, and Laura. We ate at Coco's Outback. Ray had the ribs and chicken and I had the ribs only. It was pretty good, but not as good as Outback's ribs where the meat literally falls off the bones. After dinner we went back to Jamin's to have our very last European ice cream, we said our goodbyes (we had different flight times), and went back to our rooms to pack.

Pimps, hoes, and Anne Frank

Monday, July 18, 2005:

So begins our second day at Amsterdam with our first Dutch breakfast buffet of pretty much the same thing as London and Paris! We joined the group to go see Anne Frank's house. We didn't do our traditional bus tour since the streets are too small and narrow for a tour bus to go through. Anyways, so the building that Anne Frank and her family lived in a hiding during the war was turned into a museum. We got to walk around and look at artifacts and watch testimonials of people who knew the family. It was very sad and fascinating at the same time to hear the stories and see the living conditions they had to deal with for years.

After touring the museum Ray and I decided to become a local and rent bikes for two days. It's crazy how many bikes there are in this town. I swear, there's more bikes than cars! We were a bit apprehensive (or maybe it was just me) since drivers there drive just as crazy as the ones in London and Paris. What we found though was that it was a lot better than walking. It felt as though the drivers were more in tune and aware of bicyclists than they were of pedestrians! I had no problems manuevering through the streets. The only issue we had were the oblivious tourists who didn't know how to get out of the way when you're ringing your bell incessantly!

We biked all over Amsterdam just enjoying the scenery and getting great exercise. We eventually stopped for lunch at Peking Restaurant where we ate decent Chinese food for a reasonable price. We dined on an appetizer sampler of shu mai, egg roll, skewers, and fried wonton, and we shared a plate of rice and bbq pork. I was so stuffed!

After lunch we headed to the Red Light District because that's where it's AT! As usual there were a lot of sex shops, sex shows (for $30 and you don't even know what you're getting into!), peep shows, but alas, no Sexodrome! We eventually found the area where all the prostitutes were after spending forever looking for it! You hear all the stories about how you pretty much "window shop" for a prostitute there but it doesn't really prepare you for the reality of it. We walked down a little alley where the buildings had tall windows. In each window there was a girl in a bikini either sitting on a stool lounging about or just standing there staring out the window, trying to lure some horny, pathetic person. Surprisingly the girls were normal-looking! I was actually expecting hot blondes with flat abs and big boobs topless, but they were actually normal-sized women that could easily be your friend, co-worker, whomever.

Once we were finished gawking and being shocked we decided to check out one of the many museums Amsterdam had to offer. After much discussion, comparison of prices we finally decided on the......Erotic Museum! Ahahhahahaha!!! The museum was five levels of naked people. They had a lot of paintings, statues, etc. They even had cartoon porn! Yep! Cartoon porn! It was soooo funny. Not only was it cartoon porn, but it was cartoon porn with animal characters. So imagine a Bugs Bunny look-alike doing it with a girl. ahahhahaha!!! I thought that was pretty funny until I saw the larger than life (and beyond) penis!

After our adventures in the Red Light District we headed back to the hotel to figure out dinner. After chaining up our bikes we ran into Tom and Tyjuana at a cafe nearby. We ended up joining them for dinner. Ray had a pepperoni pizza and I had a spinach cream pasta. It was soooo good! Tyjuana had pizza too and Tom had this teeny tiny chicken dish. It was so funny! He didn't realize how small the portion was so he ended up having to eat some of Tyjuana's pizza. After dinner we walked over to Jamin's to have some yummy ice cream. Yes, we are craaaazy for ice cream! We then joined them and another familiar for a canal cruise. It was really nice. It looked like it was going to rain but luckily it didn't. We then went back to the same cafe and had some drinks. We had a horrible waiter. He took forever (longer than usual in Europe) serving us and he wasn't very nice. We were literally there for almost 2 hours and all we had were drinks! We didn't get back to the hotel until after 11 p.m.

Castro Central

Sunday, July 17, 2005:

We arrived at Gare du Nord around 9 a.m. to catch the 10 a.m. train to Amsterdam. It's crazy how much luggage some people brought on this trip. Ray and I each brought two pieces of luggage. One carry-on and one check-in, just like it said in our tour info. Some people, particularly a certain group of people, brought way more than that. For example, one girl brought 2 gigantic suitcases, a backpack, a purse, and another smaller bag. It was rumored that this particular group were headed somewhere else after the trip. Honestly, I don't give a s-h-i-t whether they were headed home or to Timbuktu. The company stated that we are to bring only 2 pieces of luggage. It's not our problem if they need to bring more things than we do. If they are planning to go somewhere after this trip they need to make prior arrangements to store their extra luggage elsewhere. Because of their inability to think of others aside from themselves we were unable to store all the luggage under the bus TWICE. This meant that a lot of the luggage had to go inside the bus and that caused a HUGE inconvenience. VERY ANNOYING!

Anyways, so we left Paris around 10 a.m. and arrived in Amsterdam at 2:05 p.m. Thank goodness the weather in Amsterdam was a lot cooler than it was in London or Paris so I was able to wear my pants and jeans a lot more. We stayed at the NH Caransa located in the Rembrandt Plein (Plaza). Unfortunately we didn't have a balcony but the room was nice. The tub was very interesting. It had four knobs on it. The bottom two hot and cold were for the actual faucet and the top two hot and cold were for the shower head. There was also a lever in between the four knobs that when turned a certain direction the stationary shower head turns on and when turned the other way the removable shower head turns on. Soooo weird! A funny story we heard that just has to be shared is about a couple of the people in our group who went to their room, opened up the door, and walk in on the previous guests having sex! Yikes! What were they still doing there, you may ask? I'm wondering what position they were in! I mean, how much did the two guys see!!

After taking a little nap we joined the group for dinner. We had to walk a bit to the restaurant, which gave us the chance to check out Amsterdam. It's a very quaint looking town. Very small with a lot of charm. At dinner we had fish, fries, veggies, wine, apple pie (no ice cream :-( ) and coffee. After dinner Ray and I roamed around the city. A really nice thing about Amsterdam is that it's small enough that if you venture too far it's really not that far. So we walked around a bit and actually ended up in Amsterdam's version of SF's Castro. Aside from the gay pride festival I have never seen that many gay men in one place! It was pretty cool!

Lazy day

Saturday, July 16, 2005:

One of the things that I like about this tour group is that we get a lot of freedom on what we want to do on our trip. Aside from the 3 groups dinners and 3 morning tours we are free to make up our own schedule. So today Ray and I decided we were going to have a lazy day. We went to the Louvre museum around 9:30 and roamed around it until 2:00 p.m. We got to see the Mona Lisa and Venus de Milo. There were so many things to see in that museum. We did a quick scan of the museum but wasn't able to go through the whole place. What sucked was that the placards next to the art work were all in French so we had to make guesses as to what we were looking at.

After our museum visit we walked around the Jardin Tuilieres and had lunch at an outdoor cafe there. We both had a tuna fish sandwich. We then walked around a carnival nearby. Nearby was the Colonnade, which is this big statue so we walked over there and looked at all the fancy shops that were in that area.

We returned to the hotel around 4 to rest a bit before dinner. We then joined some other GoAhead folks to have dinner and go on a river cruise. We went to this nice restaurant where I had fish with some weird veggies, Ray had chicken with scalloped potatoes, and we both had wine and 3 scoops of ice cream. Yum! After dinner we went on a cruise down the Seine. It was very romantic despite all the other people there! By the time we reached the Eiffel Tower it was dark so we were able to see the lights on the Tower blinking. It was really pretty. After the cruise we had to deal with some pushy people, but it wasn't too bad.

The steps of hell!

Friday, July 15, 2005:

Our morning began with the hotel's French breakfast buffet. They had really good yogurt. I had the pear that had bits of pear in it. Sooooo sweet and yummy! They also had sausage, eggs, various breads like croissant, and cereal. We went on our morning tour and saw Notre Dame, the Eiffel Tower, Arc de Triomphe, the Louvre, and many other attractions.

We met up with Malika around noon. Malika is an old friend that came to work at the Tech during the summer of 2000. She was part of this program that sponsored folks outside the US to work here for the summer. She's originally from Bordeaux so it was really nice of her to come to Paris to hang out.

We took the metro to the Latin Quarter and had lunch at a Greek eatery. We each had falafels with fries. It didn't hit me for a while that it was lamb and normally I can't stand lamb. I literally feel ill when I look at it, but surprisingly it wasn't that bad. Regardless, I still gave Ray some of my lamb to lighten the load! After lunch we visited Notre Dame. We took a few pictures outside and then went inside. I'm always in awe at the greatness of cathedrals in Europe. They do NOT compare to the churches I've visited in the US. They have so much history and life.

After Notre Dame we went to eat Paris' famous ice cream at Berthillion. Malika treated us to two scoops of oh so good ice cream! We then went to this huge department store that had a stained glass dome. Amazing! We then took a break at a nearby cafe. It was nice just to sit down, have a cup of coffee, and talk.

Next we took the metro to Moulin Rouge. It was very cool to see it although we couldn't go in. Moulin Rouge is in the red light district so there were a ton of sex shops and of course, the Sexodrome! What is the Sexodrome you ask? The Sexodrome is apparently a huge-ass place with sex shows, peep shows, etc. Did we go in? Unfortunately, no.

After marveling at the greatness that is the Sexodrome we headed to Sacred Heart Cathedral, otherwise known as the cathedral on top of the huge-ass hill! The journey consisted of going up a slight slope and then climbing about 200 steps. Once you've regained consciousness and wiped the sweat dripping from your clothes you can enjoy the magnificent view from the top of the hill. Sacred Heart is located in the area called Montmarte. For the Moulin Rouge freaks like me you are very familiar with the Montmarte area. This is where all the artists use to live and hang out to live the bohemian life. It was a very cute little community they had with the narrow, cobbled streets. We had dinner at a little restaurant in Montmarte. After dinner we headed to the Champs Elysees and the Arc de Triomphe. We walked around and took pictures. The one great thing about Europe is that it doesn't get dark that early. It actually doesn't get dark until after 10 p.m.! So it was nice walking around with it still bright outside. By the time we were done walking the Champs Elysees we called it a night at 10:30 p.m.

Bastille Day

Thursday, July 14, 2005:

We took an early train ride to Paris via the EuroStar. We arrived in Paris around 1:00 p.m. We checked into the Holiday Inn next to a sex shop. Interesting........Our room was very cool. It had a blue theme to it and we had a balcony, just like in London. We started our day in Paris by trying to get a calling card so I could call my friend, Malika, and my family. We went into this store and thought we bought a calling card but it turned out that we bought minutes for a cell phone! Word to the wise: Don't just blindly point at a sign that looks like it's selling calling cards if you can't understand the language too well. Just ask for a calling card! We had to have this guy at the drug store nearby write us a note explaining we wanted a calling card. We ended up wasting like 7 euros since it was non-refundable.

Our dinner with the GoAhead group was at Chez Clement. It was sooooo hot! We purposely sat next to a window (I was actually sitting in front of the window) and we were still sweatin' like pigs! Dinner was really great, especially the ice cream!! (am I already sounding obsessed with ice cream??? hehhehehe....) We had chicken (very juicy) and mashed potatoes (yum!)

After dinner most of the group went with Rob to the Eiffel Tower. Today was Bastille Day so there were going to be fireworks over by the Tower. We were hoping to go up to the top of the Tower but it turned out that they had that area closed off so we went to the park right next to it. A lot of the people in the group were a little apprehensive about staying for the fireworks and then trying to get back to the hotel along with the thousands that were there. So a majority of us decided to head back before the fireworks began. It would've been nice to have watched the fireworks but having experienced large mobs on the metro before I know how stressful and scary it can get. Even with Ray there I would've felt uneasy. When we arrived back at the hotel I got ahold of Malika and we made plans for the next day, then we joined Rob, Laura, tour director Rob, and another guy for a nightcap.

Free day

Wednesday, July 13, 2005:

Today was a free day where we could go off on our own. We had our usual buffet breakfast at the hotel and headed off on our day of adventures. We decided to be a lot braver and took the London tube (subway). We took the tube to Westminster and saw the House of Parliament/Big Ben up close. A little history we learned on our tour the other morning was that Big Ben actually refers to the bell and not necessarily the tower, itself. It was named after the maker who wasn't actually a very big guy. Go figure!

We then went to Westminster Abbey, which was another cathedral that had the tombs of kings, queens, and other well-known peeps. I actually was under the impression that there would be an actual graveyard but the tombs were actually under the floor of the Abbey. The only famour person we found was Charles Darwin.

We proceeded to head towards Shakespeare's Globe Theater. We walked on the Milennium Bridge to get to the theater. We arrived at the theater a little after noon and made it just in time for the last tour. We got to sit in the theater as they talked about the place. It was VERY cool because it was an exact replica of the theater that Shakespeare where a lot of his plays performed. If you've ever watched "Shakespeare in Love," the theater in the movie is how this one looked like. The guide told stories of how the poorer people would stand in the middle right in front of the stage in any kind of weather. There weren't any toilets so people would go wherever they pleased. I thought I'd add that tidbit in!

"Let's go east"

Tuesday, July 12, 2005:

We started off with our first buffet breakfast, English-style. It was pretty good. We had fruit, fried egg, sausages, cereal, bread, and of course the traditional English tea. We were suppose to be picked up by our tour bus at 9:00 but after about 15 minutes of waiting we found out that the bus had a flat, or as Rob called it, a "puncture." So unfortunately we had to wait about an hour before it finally arrived. As annoying as that was, it really wasn't anyone's fault.

We had a very dramatic tour guide that tried to put life into the tour, which she did really well. We visited Picadilly Circus (imagine Time Square), St. Paul's cathedral, Trafalger Square, Big Ben/House of Parliament, Buckingham Palace, and the guards with the tall fuzzy hats. My favorite dramatic phrase was, "Let's go east." We were in St. Paul's as she was telling us the rich history behind it. She kept telling how in the back of the cathedral, which was the east side of the church, was something very special for Americans. So at the end of her storytelling she solemnly says, "Let's go east." Ooooooo!!!

After the tour Ray and I went to have lunch at Pret a Manger. It was a chain eatery where they have ready-made sandwiches and such. We ate at the counter that was facing the street and marveled at the street culture outside. It's amazingly different how people drive in London. People calmly weave in and out of traffic and you rarely see any signs of road rage. I swear, if people drove like that in San Jose there would be a lot of horns honking and finger flipping! We watched in shock as this woman on a bicycle weaved her way through both sides of the traffic to park her bike, jaywalk over to the eatery to buy something, and then jaywalked back to her bike. All doing this without looking like she was fearing for her life. Amazing!

After lunch we were really feeling the heat so we got some yummy ice cream at Green Park and then took a nap on the grass for about 45 minutes. It felt so good to lie on the cold grass in the shade and just sleep. I don't know if that made our jet lag worse but we didn't care! We were sooo tired!

After our nap we walked around the park and eventually found Buckingham Palace. We took a few pictures then walked to Trafalger Park and Picadilly Circus. I did some shopping at the Gap. Long peasant skirts were soooo "in" there so I decided to buy one myself. We also checked out the Trocadero, which is sort of like a Funland place with video games, a bowling alley, and a bar.

We braved the double decker bus and rode it back to our hotel. It was very packed! There was a point where people were pushing to get out and I was almost pushed onto a guy's lap! We practiced being Londoners and tried to jaywalk like locals, or as Ray calls it, "suicide crossing!" We had dinner at Cafe Rouge where we dined al fresco (outside). Ray had salmon cakes with fries and I had penne a la creme et poulet (chicken in a creamy pasta). We shared a yummy dessert afterwards.

The beginning.

Monday, July 11, 2005:
We landed in London Heathrow around noon (a bit earlier than scheduled.) We get picked up by a GoAhead employee name Jen. She's really nice and very talkative. It's quite a long drive to the hotel. We got to experience what it's like to drive on the opposite side of the road. It's quite an experience and culture shock! We were amazed at how fast everyone was driving. I'm surprised that we didn't witness at least one or two accidents on the way to the hotel. I would have to say that the driving is like a dance. Very choreographed. It's like everyone knows what everyone else is thinking. They know where to move, what to do, when to stop.

We arrive at Thistle Kensington Hotel located right across from the famous Hyde Park. Rob, our tour director, greets us outside and helps us check in. We had a couple hours before dinner so we decided to roam around Hyde Park. It was a VERY hot day. We passed by the tennis courts, putting area, Prince Albert's statue, and the Serpentine Gallery.

Prince Albert's statue is a gaudy monstrosity that symbolizes the love from his wife, Queen Victoria. It is huge, gold, and tacky! Serpentine Gallery had an exhibit where the artist recreated his old New York apartment and people can actually go inside the rooms and just hang out. We saw people cooking food and watching TV. It was very weird! I wasn't sure what to make of it!

At 5:45 we met up with the rest of the group for complimentary drinks. Ray and I both had rum and coke. Considering I hadn't eaten in a while you can guess that I was feeling pretty good afterwards! We then proceeded to head to the restaurant, Bellini's. It was very hot inside! I swear there is NO concept of AC over there!! We ended up sitting at a table with two couples and a family. We made friends with the two couples. Rob and Laura are from Maine and were on their honeymoon. Tom and Tyjuana are from North Carolina and are veteran travellers. Dinner was fun. The two couples were really nice, funny, and just all around fun to hang out with. I immediately knew that these were the people that we would form a friendship with. You know how you can just tell? You can sit at a table with strangers and talk to all of them, but there will be certain people that you click with instantly. Rob, Laura, Tom, and Tyjuana were those people.

After dinner we went our separate ways for the rest of the evening. Ray and I had purchased a calling card so we decided to call our families to let them know we were ok. We got to use London's famous red telephone booths, which surprisingly (and yet not surprisingly), had a bunch of little ads showing strippers, hookers, whatever they may be. It was quite interesting talking to your parents while staring at a bunch of silicone! Afterwards we went back to the hotel to relax before bedtime. It was an extremely long day considering I didn't get much sleep and it was very hot and humid. We watched England's "Big Brother." It's interesting how different it is from the American version. The women can go topless and the people can swear, but it was a lot boring than the American one!

Happy One-Year!!!!!!

Are you lucky enough to wake up and feel the same way about a person as if it was still the beginning? As though you're still floating on cloud nine? Well, I am one of those lucky people. Ray and I celebrated our one-year anniversary tonight and I am so much in love with him, as much as I was at the beginning. It's an amazing feeling and I hope that everyone is lucky enough to feel that way at least once.

There and back again......

Heigh ho, heigh ho, it's off to Europe we go......

Sunday, July 10, 2005:

Ray and I flew out of SFO at 6:55 p.m. We flew on British Airways. It was really nice plane with the flight attendants and their British accent. We dined on chicken and veggies (me) and cheese ravioli (Ray). I watched "The Pacifier" and we went to bed around 10 p.m. We had the luxury of being assigned the seats in the middle of the plane. There were a lot of empty seats and our row actually had two empty seats so we got to stretch out while we slept. They provided us with our own sleep mask, socks, and toothbrush/toothpaste packet. It was a restless night for me trying to find a comfortable head position so I only had about 5 hours of sleep. We landed in London Heathrow airport on Monday, July 11, 2005 at noon, London time.

We're baaaaack!!!!

Stay tuned for a play-by-play of our fab European vacation!! There'll be daring London subway rides, sexodromes, and "coffeeshops!"

Oh happy days.......

4th of July weekend:
Had a BBQ with friends and some of Ray's cousins. I was really glad they were able to come. The kids are always oh so cute! Played my first vball game since H.S. I didn't pretty decent for a beg. I might say! I had some good hits and some not-so-good hits!

Rest of the week:
Finished up Tech summer camps. I'm kinda gonna miss it but I definitely won't miss early mornings and 1/2 hour lunches!

Saturday (7/9/05):
Went to Konrad's (Ray's friend)annual beach party. It apparently wasn't as hoppin' as it usually is due to the absence of Konrad's sister, a couple of recent injuries, and a lower vball player attendance. We left Santa Cruz about 5:30 since we were having a Bon Voyage/Meatfest BBQ. I bought too much meat last week so we had to get rid of the last of it, plus the 2 pies and part of a shortcake. Got back at 6:20 and got ready like mad. Meat wasn't completely defrosted so we had to nuke it. Ppl started arriving around 7ish. Real fun.

Sunday:
Off to Europe!!!!