Charlie's perspective

Charlie stayed with my dad while I was in Europe. Here was one of his blog posts:

So what happened today?

On my morning walk my right paw started hurting at the end of the walk, and I started favoring it.   The Keeper tried to look at my right paw but I wouldn't let him look very closely.   It felt like I might have stepped on something that might have bruised it.

The Keeper is not running any more, so I have to maintain a slower walk, even when I might trot a little faster.

I had the regular walks today.   I tried to stalk a rabbit on my late night walk, but the keep messed it up and spooked the rabbit.   It was fun for a little while.

Other than that, things have stuck to the pattern mentioned in my first blog.  The keeper has been taking ridiculous measures to keep me from getting into the food.   DRAT!

I am doing well.   but am looking for an opportunity to sneek some more snacks.

bye for now...
Charlie

Homeward bound

We're in Toronto nearly ready to board a plane for raleigh. I am getting a little punchy, but it has been a great trip with many memories and new friends.

I am not kidding in my previous post, when I said I hope I can still speak english tomorrow. I suspect you will be hearing grazie and merci from me for a few days.

Le Louvré

Ok, so we all know that the Louvre is HUGE, but you don't fully appreciate that until you start walking through it. This used to be the royal palace, and each successive louis added on.
I couldn't navigate this with a map. I cannot imagine living there.
We saw a selected group of artwork, starting with michaelangelo's slave sculptures, moving to the coronation of napolean, and on to the wedding feast at canaan. This painting napolean stole, but it's unclear how one steals a painting that is bigger than my house.
The reason most people see this painting is because it is in the room with the mona lisa. We heard all the different theories of this famous work by da vinci. I only learned on this trip that the mona lisa's eyes appear to follow you. Our guide in italy explained that da vinci was more a scientist, and figuring out these angles is what intrigued him, not necessarily the painting.
Of course, if you believe Dan Brown, these paintings are all concealing the blood line of jesus. We also saw the place where the murder that begins the book takes place. It was hard to imagine without the gates down, as the rooms in the museum are just huge, all open with tall ceilings.
It would take more than 3 weeks to see all the works in the Louvré, and we had only a few hours. We enjoyed the works we saw and now have several thousand reasons to come back.

The picture worth a thousand words

Though my previous post was about that long.
This is mt. Stanserhorn in switzerland.

Lions, angels and (cow) bells. Oh my!

Our stop near lucern became a trip up the mountain to Engleberg, thanks to an overbooked hotel. The small Swiss town had plenty of clothing, bike and ski shops.

Being named Engleberg, the city paid tribute to its heavenly name with painted statues of angels throughout the town. Outside of out hotel was one covered with large mirrored tiles. By the furniture and home goods store, a red angel with a present for her head welcomed shoppers. A figure painted like the mountain sky watched over the town platz, lit by a street light that appeared to give her a halo.

Most of us would have been satisfied with a quiet day in this small town. Only a view from the top of a mountain could top this. So up mt. Stanserhorn we went.

I'll send that picture shortly, as we could see peak after peak of the alps. The green hills to the valley below were dotted with houses surrounding a serene lake, the lake around which Lucerne is built. If you ever have the chance to got up one of these mountains, it is worth every penny. The enduring memory of my trips up the mountain are of vast expanse and enduring peace.

All the way up the mountain and around our hotel were herds of cattle. They all wear bells around their necks that make the nicest symphony of sounds. I bought an antiqued one for my souvenir. I wonder if it will sound as good on my door.

Finally, we made a trip to the Löwendenkmal, a return  trip I had much anticipated. Carved into a sheer stone cliff above a reflecting pool is the monument to the swiss guard members who, at the order of their French king, laid down their weapons to face an angry mob. They were slaughtered, and the lion (representation of the swiss guard) lies dying next to his weapons, a broken spear in his back and his paw protecting a shield with a fleur de leis (the french throne).

We didn't spend much time here, but Mom and I returned later in the day. It is a peaceful place infused with honor and respect,

A full day to say the least, seeing the lions, angels and bells.

A crash course in Italian and other parting thoughts.

Heading to Italy was both exciting and daunting - so much to see, but with no Italian vocabulary.

So as we rode toward venice I was learning how to say hello, goodbye and where are the toilets. Heading into rome, it was numbers, and how much does this cost. Practicing the words in conversation throughout rome and florence. Still can't pronounce rossi well enough to order red, instead of white wine!

At least I can order pizza i gelati...

I did very much enjoy my first visit to Italy. It is busy - that is part of the atmosphere. It is rich with history and tradition, and the number of tourists mean that english is spoken with expertise. I appreciated that, because I was able to understand why things could persist for 1000 years - or not. There is much to see in Italy, and I barely scratched the surface.

I hope to return to Italia (afterall, I did throw coins in the Trevi fountain ) after, of course, better learning the language.

The final destination

As we head toward the border of Switzerland and France, I have a minute to reflect on where I've been:

• Seven countries, when we get to Paris tonight.
• Four currencies, of which only the euro was easy for me to grasp. Canadian dollars are ok too.
• Five languages, and a sixth if you count English spoken the "right" way.
• Eight hotel rooms, and as many different showers to figure out. The one in Amsterdam takes the prize. Our room near Florence with exposed wiring in the bathroom was the iffiest.
• Several thousand kilometers on a bus.
• Several thousand miles in the air.

My European Experience was definitely that. Hopefully I will still speak English and be able to use American dollars when I land in Raleigh.

Pizza i Gelati

It doesn't take much to link italy with food, and this post is about eating. Sorry to all of you who hate posts about what others ate for breakfast. I assure you Italian pastries are worth tweeting about.

Shortly after arriving in italy, we stopped at one of our ubiquitous rest stops and got lunch. It was here that I had my first pizza,just tomato sauce and mozzarella. The crust on pizza in italy is the perfect combination of crispy and chewy, and the toppings aren't piled on. Our guide told us the secret of food in italy is simplicity,so maybe that's it. Anyway, my point was you can have awesome pizza even at a rest stop in italy, not that spongy, soggy stuff like you get at BJs in the states.

The next day, waiting within sight of the pantheon for the rain to stop, the perfect dinner came to mind - pizza and gelato. We found a pizzeria on a street off piazza navona, and munched on the plain pizza for dinner. (By now I could actually order in Italian, but that's another story.)

One thing about the pizza, you have to eat it hot. If you wait for it to cool, it is not as good.

The secret to gelati (ice cream, but better) is to order a small. If you order a medium, then the server gets mad and packs tbhe cup full, and you drip rich chocolate ice cream all over yourself. Mom and I had gelati every day in italy, and we hope to find some in pisa tomorrow early. Stores that sell it are everywhere, so that isn't a tall order.

Finally today in Florence, we were able to have a nice sitdown lunch. I got a penne pasta with a spicy sauce and glass of house red. The combination is molto bene, and achieved with much consistency through Italy.

We've done plenty of walking to justify our daily gelato. If I lived here, it would be tough to eat anything else. It'd be tough to refrain from shopping too...

Your favorite Italian food experiences? (I still remember Leslie B's pix of a latte from her trip to Rome)

Prelude to The Sistine Chapel

Before going to see the great masterpieces inside the popes private chapel, you can stop in the interior courtyard and see a smaller,closer version of the frescoes.

These slots are often crowded with tour groups, and ours muscled in front of a sign to hear our explanation. This picture, the final judgment (I think) was completed late in michaelangelo's life.

When hired to paint the ceiling, michaelangelo was sculpting for the popes tomb. The pope convinced him to repaint the private chapel ceiling, and even hired a teacher to help him learn to paint.
You know the outcome, and walking through the chapel and seeing it all is indescribable. It and st. Peter's basilica are a sight to see, and I hope you do if you haven't already.

Roma

We arrived mid afternoon in this historic city and judging by our entry, it was a city of grafitti. We saw some ruins and important buildings as we drove closer to the center city.

Walking in rome is an adventure in itself, passing through the narrow cobblestone streets where shops spillout onto the sidewalk, if a souvenir vendor hasn't taken that free space. Round a corner and suddenly you've found a fountain sculpted by bernini, or a building engineered by a conquering ruler 2000 years ago. One of our guides joked that anything 300 years old or less is considered modern.

I took just a couple pictures that I will try to post, but most will have to wait. I have used half the storage card on my camera.

Fields of tuscany

Sunflowers from a moving bus. Not too bad, eh?

Stupid technology

My work email just figured out how to sync itself. I am not even going into it long enough to turn it off. 794 messages can go enjoy themselves...

Venice: Majestical ... and Crowded

I've heard so many different opinions of Venice - it was gorgeous and wonderful, crowded and smelly, grand, filled with pigeons.

Yes it was.

From the truncator, or terminal where all big vehicles seem to stop, into the city is the more industrial side of the city, a little dirty.

From our point of disembarkation, the cobblestone walks and stone buildings, bridges over canals were all grand. St. Marks square was both filled with pigeons and grand. The mosaics and paintings on this church were wonderful to behold, and mark's winged lion guarded the square.

We walked through the crowded alleyways shoving through those gathered to look at the glass shop wares. We had a tour of the Murano glass company, which included a demonstration of blowing a vase and also molding a horse standing on its hind legs. I found a beautiful pandant here, and I'm hoping Julie will turn it into a beautiful necklace ;)

We ventured back to the main street, where we hopped onto a string of gondolas for a trip through the canals of venice. Here it is true, there are places that it smells. But the lapping of the water against the boat, the conversation between the gondolier and people on wet land, and the musicians playing italian classics made it a peaceful interlude for the day.

A short walk further out into the city brought many of the same souvenir stands and hordes of people, but our final leg of this visit achieved majesty. The Grand canal, with its houses hudred of years old, boat slips, gated, landscaped courtyards, piazzas, bridges, and even a boat with a couple getting married, certainly lived up to its name.

So whichever you think you will find in Venice, you will. Anyone else have adjectives to share?

Amsterdam

After leaving the ferry at Calais it was a mad dash across Belgium and into
 The Netherlands. I enjoyed seeing the new modern windmills dotting the
 landscape.

 The scenery was good but traveling with a tour group was difficult. I won't
 belabor that point, as I knew what I was getting into.

 The dutch are industrious, and originally used the windmills to power the
 pumps that cleared the water from the land. Amsterdam is a magnificent
 example of that and a canal tour showed it off nicely. The architecture
 evolved over centuries, as canals expanded the land area of the city.

 The city is also home to a wide range of museums of the odd - handbags, cats
 and the like. We saw the anne frank museum from the outside, after hours so
 we were able to get a picture.

 After our excursion we walked through the red light district. Mom did not
 like that. Amsterdam seemed to be a study in contrasts that either explains
 or is explained by the open attitudes in the city. I don't know which was
 the chicken and which was the egg.

 From city center back to the hotel was about a 20 minute bus ride. The hotel
 was hightech, but that's another post.

Vacation underground

Here's a snap of mom and me on our favorite mode of transportation - the underground. I believe this is tower hill.

Time fixed

Phew! I fixed the time stamp on my blog to be British time. Now you all know how screwed up my clock is!

Van Gogh

I don't know enough about art to have a favorite artist, but I do know that I've always enjoyed looking at Vincent Van Gogh's paintings.

It was more impressive than I would have expected to see the original painting A Wheatfield with Cypress hanging in the National Gallery in London.

The crude simplicity of the mountains.

The swirling, cloudy sky, deepened by the texture in the paint.

The golden field grasses, almost blowing in the wind.

So compelling that I didn't pay much attention to the cypresses, which Van Gogh said looked like Egyptian obelisks.

The Center of it All: Trafalgar Square

Some might argue with my characterization of this concrete plaza in the midst of London. Certainly there are markets, parks, buildings that could lay claim to that title.

For me yesterday, though, that place was Trafalgar Square. We walked up from the British Parliament and Westminster Abbey, passing a few pubs (to stop at a cafe) along the way. I saw one of the red phone booths as well. You could see the Nelson Column for nearly the whole way.

The square itself is designated as the place that all of London came to celebrate a joyous occasion. Now it's the site for demonstrations, protests and other public gatherings. Yesterday, an enormous truck - made even larger by the fact that it was in London where vehicles are generally smaller than in America - pulled onto the square to pick up some metal gates that had apparently been in use over the weekend.

I've digressed a little. The square seemed to be the center of it all to me because it had everything. It had presence, from the towering Nelson's Column (looks taller than Big Ben from the square) to the fountains, the bronze lions, all in front of a backdrop of the national gallery.

In front of the square was one of those roundabouts, and bus after bus after taxi after taxi after motorbike after motorbike sped around the curves on their way to their destinations. There were people everywhere. So it had activity.

And stepping inside the national gallery was a treat. As the green marbled columns, arching ceilings and windowed ceilings swept the eye upward, the masterpieces on the walls anchored your gaze. No more was this true when I turned a corner and saw some of Monet's water lillies, then another corner to see Van Gogh's chair and sunflowers, Pisarro's dancers and so many more.

The ride home was more stimulating from a people watching point of view, but Trafalgar Square gave me that intangible thing that I came to London for.

A sense of place and also a sense of grandeur.

Mind the Gap

I struggled with what to pick as my theme from my first day in London. With the whirlwind of arrival after a sleepless night, it was in a stupor that I first saw London.

Then it occured to me - this ubiquitous phrase heard every stop on the subway, sorry, underground. Mind the gap between the pavement and the doors. The phrase so common in London yet foreign to Americans.

I spent much of day 1 figuring out the Underground. From the fare machines not working at the airport, to making sure we were on the right platform to switch trains, to realizing that the train back to the city was not as advertised on the electronic sign above the platform.

Then there was the return trip from Trafalgar Square, where on our second train we were crowded into a car with a bunch of Italian teenagers. They might have been 20-somethings, but my perspective is shifting. I'm guessing they were Italians because the Brits traveling home at rush hour still left you a little personal space. This gang, not so much. They were fun to watch though - down one of the guys appearing to pick the other's nose through the clear plexiglass. (Makes you want to use lots of Purell, huh?) That's why I thought they were teenagers.

The trip was so much fun that my mom opted to walk an extra block or two to avoid riding one more train to our hotel.

Total for today - £15 for an all day transit card, £25 for lunch, and a few more pounds for postcards and a coke. 11,000 steps. And finally a good night's sleep.

Sitting in toronto's pearson airport and wondering ...

First, if american television was cobroadcast in english and spanish, what would happen?

Second, after seeing the cigarette warning labels in duty free, why are our attitudes toward them so different? These labels habe kids staring at you and say cigarettes harm children. The tv had a feature about a running club for smokers, and it showed cyanide and a black lung as part of the footage.

Third, can I stay awake until the plane boards?

Catch you from the other side of the pond!

All done but the shouting!

I just sent the last two e-mails, crossed the last things off my list, and am ready for the home stretch.

My plane leaves at 6:55. I have Charlie packed and ready to go. The house is clean. All my clothes are laid out. I've got to run Charlie to Dad's and pick up Mom, then come home and throw it all in a suitcase.

According to my plan, I have about 45 minutes to spare. Woohoo!

Holiday blog V2

I leave for europe in 3 days. This time i have technology at my disposal. I hope to blog my 14 days Starting in london going to germany, italy, switzerland And ending in paris france.

I hope you all follow along on my second trip of a lifetime.

Coming this fall

So in September 2008 I booked my mom and me on the European Experience tour to include Oberamergau and the town's famous, once-a-decade Passion Play. That seemed like forever ago. But now it is exactly 8 months away. We leave for London on September 12. We return the 26th.
	The Passion Play theatre on the left From European Trip 2007

Can't wait