Daniel and I are on our first "work" trip ever (the AZ Academic Decathlon competition didn't really count - we were there for all of 24 hours) - we're in Oro Valley (near Tucson) in Arizona hosting (he's hosting, I'm helping) the National Finals for the World Scholar's Cup.
It's stressful, but very amazing to see these schools coming from all over the country to compete in the competition, and the teams who score highest will be going to Korea next month for the World Finals.
We got discounted food (I was disappointed to not get food outright donated, but we got pretty good rates for the food we did get), and about 60 students.
We're doing some last minute planning tweaking right now. Be back later with more.
Tucson is very very pretty, but the roads and highway system is the most ineffective I've ever experienced (believe it or not, LA actually makes sense compared to Tucson).
Saturday, April 19, 2008
Friday, April 11, 2008
Finishing the journey
After getting stranded in Dallas for a few hours because American Airlines canceled many flights, I'm finally home, and hoping Daniel has a non-eventful trip back home tomorrow from Korea.
We'll write more later, but here are some more pictures.
(http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2123635&l=dab8b&id=2401926)
We'll write more later, but here are some more pictures.
(http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2123635&l=dab8b&id=2401926)
Wednesday, April 9, 2008
Atop a tower top
We've successfully climbed the cologne cathedral, which is a blend of
your average Italian duomo and a maximum security prison. We did this
on three lungs and nine layers of clothing between us. Five hundred
and nine steps below us, red-clad cardinals are gravely collecting
donations in boxes hung around their necks.
your average Italian duomo and a maximum security prison. We did this
on three lungs and nine layers of clothing between us. Five hundred
and nine steps below us, red-clad cardinals are gravely collecting
donations in boxes hung around their necks.
Sent from my iPhone
Tuesday, April 8, 2008
Breaking News, and the Developed Story. Really now.
***Cynthia lost her wallet in Cologne. She was being very stupid and left her backpack open, and it must have fallen out at the train station. But all relevant cards have been canceled, and she has an appointment with the DMV on Friday morning at 11am to get a new driver's license.***
Where did we leave off?
Ah. Yes. We should finally explain the speeding ticket incident.
After spending the morning in Rijeka and cavorting with a giant bottle of Fanta (there was a promotional event going on for Fanta's new Brazilian flavor - we even got free samples), we were quickly (and quickly indeed) on our way through Senj to the Plitvice Lakes, then to Bosnia.
However, the fates (or the Croatia police) wouldn't let us get away with the "quickly" part. We were stopped at a speed trap, going 89km in a 60km zone. But EVERYONE was going that fast. So, like the good drivers we are, we pulled over.
The fine was 300KN (kune, the official currency of Croatia - about a 7:1 ratio to US dollars). We had 240KN on us. Hm. Problem. So, I pulled out a credit card. The police officer shook his head. We pulled our some Euro, some USD. He wouldn't take any of it, and insisted it had to be in Kune.
"Where can we make an exchange?" we asked.
"The bank," he responded. I could have heard the unspoken, "You idiots."
Huh. "We mean, for this situation now, we don't have enough Kune on us. What would you recommend?" ("You idiot," we responded in our heads)
He still insisted on the 300KN.
Finally, Daniel opened his wallet again, and withdrew 2,000 Korean Won. At that, the police officer burst out laughing, asked us where we were headed, and waved us on our way, with no fine.
This was right before we stopped by the little roadside restaurant where the owner, who didn't speak much English, asked us if we wanted "Fish or flesh?"
We finally made it to Plitvice. Cold, but very beautiful. And Daniel made me climb all the way up to a sightseeing point - I cursed him the entire way up, but the view took our breaths away. No more breath for cursing. It was beautiful.
Pictures posted here.
(http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2122773&l=c8bc6&id=2401926)
Where did we leave off?
Ah. Yes. We should finally explain the speeding ticket incident.
After spending the morning in Rijeka and cavorting with a giant bottle of Fanta (there was a promotional event going on for Fanta's new Brazilian flavor - we even got free samples), we were quickly (and quickly indeed) on our way through Senj to the Plitvice Lakes, then to Bosnia.
However, the fates (or the Croatia police) wouldn't let us get away with the "quickly" part. We were stopped at a speed trap, going 89km in a 60km zone. But EVERYONE was going that fast. So, like the good drivers we are, we pulled over.
The fine was 300KN (kune, the official currency of Croatia - about a 7:1 ratio to US dollars). We had 240KN on us. Hm. Problem. So, I pulled out a credit card. The police officer shook his head. We pulled our some Euro, some USD. He wouldn't take any of it, and insisted it had to be in Kune.
"Where can we make an exchange?" we asked.
"The bank," he responded. I could have heard the unspoken, "You idiots."
Huh. "We mean, for this situation now, we don't have enough Kune on us. What would you recommend?" ("You idiot," we responded in our heads)
He still insisted on the 300KN.
Finally, Daniel opened his wallet again, and withdrew 2,000 Korean Won. At that, the police officer burst out laughing, asked us where we were headed, and waved us on our way, with no fine.
This was right before we stopped by the little roadside restaurant where the owner, who didn't speak much English, asked us if we wanted "Fish or flesh?"
We finally made it to Plitvice. Cold, but very beautiful. And Daniel made me climb all the way up to a sightseeing point - I cursed him the entire way up, but the view took our breaths away. No more breath for cursing. It was beautiful.
Pictures posted here.
(http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2122773&l=c8bc6&id=2401926)
Gatwick
We're sitting here in the food court at Gatwick Airport waiting for our flight to Cologne. We're finally realizing why all the airlines in London advertise their move to Heathrow from Gatwick. Gatwick has to be the most inefficient airport ever.
First of all, the Easyjet queues to check in were less line and more blob. And apparently computer problems run rampant.
Second, the Gate system is just plain stupid. From where we are, it takes 20 minutes to get to any gate. They close the gate 20 minutes before boarding. It is currently 45 minutes before our flight, and they still have not posted which gate our flight is flying out from.
In any case. Daniel is searching for tea.
So, where did we leave you off last time. Ahh, I think Florence.
We left Florence the morning after our last long blog, and took a train to Venice. We didn't stay long in Venice (about 20 minutes). All we did was pick up our rental car from Avis, and drove out of the city - north along the coast to Trieste.
The drive took most of the afternoon, but was very pretty. We stopped by this little roadside diner and got some sandwiches and tea, and a really good lemon tart. After the really good lemon tart, we incurred injury #5...Daniel smashed his head in the toilette.
After driving though a thunderstorm, we reached Trieste near evening, and watched the sun set over the ocean, over a plate of pizza with a raw egg cracked over the top. We'll post pictures of this later. Our goal was to reach the town of Rijeka right inside the Croatia border that night. We drove through Slovenia to get there. Slovenia we will come back to later.
We reached Rijeka pretty late that night, and checked into our hotel. The lobby looked like a hail-back to the Communist regime. But the rooms were comfortable enough (though we found a couple of bug bites on Daniel's back)
We're going to look for our airplane now. The Gate system is still not showing which gate we're leaving from.
First of all, the Easyjet queues to check in were less line and more blob. And apparently computer problems run rampant.
Second, the Gate system is just plain stupid. From where we are, it takes 20 minutes to get to any gate. They close the gate 20 minutes before boarding. It is currently 45 minutes before our flight, and they still have not posted which gate our flight is flying out from.
In any case. Daniel is searching for tea.
So, where did we leave you off last time. Ahh, I think Florence.
We left Florence the morning after our last long blog, and took a train to Venice. We didn't stay long in Venice (about 20 minutes). All we did was pick up our rental car from Avis, and drove out of the city - north along the coast to Trieste.
The drive took most of the afternoon, but was very pretty. We stopped by this little roadside diner and got some sandwiches and tea, and a really good lemon tart. After the really good lemon tart, we incurred injury #5...Daniel smashed his head in the toilette.
After driving though a thunderstorm, we reached Trieste near evening, and watched the sun set over the ocean, over a plate of pizza with a raw egg cracked over the top. We'll post pictures of this later. Our goal was to reach the town of Rijeka right inside the Croatia border that night. We drove through Slovenia to get there. Slovenia we will come back to later.
We reached Rijeka pretty late that night, and checked into our hotel. The lobby looked like a hail-back to the Communist regime. But the rooms were comfortable enough (though we found a couple of bug bites on Daniel's back)
We're going to look for our airplane now. The Gate system is still not showing which gate we're leaving from.
Monday, April 7, 2008
Fish or Flesh?
We know, we owe everyone a huge huge post. We've been having computer issues ever since Florence (when I was able to blog that huge long blog)
But the huge post isn't going to happen right now. Daniel is shaving, then we're going to be heading into London. I'll try to wrestle the computer away from him in a coffee shop at some point to blog and post pictures, but no promises. :)
In any case, one fun anecdote came from when we were driving from Rijeka to Zagreb in Croatia. We actually took a U-shaped approach to Zabreb so we could stop in Bosnia and have dinner there. On the way, we stopped by a seaside family-owned restaurant. Of course, no one spoke English, and there was no menu. The owner came up to us and asked "Fish or flesh?"
Daniel and I looked at each other.
"What the heck is flesh?!"
We got both. They were delicious.
But the huge post isn't going to happen right now. Daniel is shaving, then we're going to be heading into London. I'll try to wrestle the computer away from him in a coffee shop at some point to blog and post pictures, but no promises. :)
In any case, one fun anecdote came from when we were driving from Rijeka to Zagreb in Croatia. We actually took a U-shaped approach to Zabreb so we could stop in Bosnia and have dinner there. On the way, we stopped by a seaside family-owned restaurant. Of course, no one spoke English, and there was no menu. The owner came up to us and asked "Fish or flesh?"
Daniel and I looked at each other.
"What the heck is flesh?!"
We got both. They were delicious.
Sunday, April 6, 2008
Developed Story
As evidenced by our continued blog posts, we were not imprisoned by the Croatian police officer. Then again, we haven't really had much time to blog either, owing to a mixed .....
Daniel is getting our car returned.
We'll come back to this later.
Daniel is getting our car returned.
We'll come back to this later.
Returning a car
Is much harder in Slovenia than it is in the United States. Apparently we parked in the wrong place, and now the Avis lady is going to find our car. The wrong place was, of course, marked "Avis" and "Rental Cars".
This is in a country where there are 5 different signs and directions for getting one place...and multiple names for the same place.
Off to London. Yay! Things will make more sense there, except maybe the whole everything-flipped-around-on-the-road thing. There are no rental cars in our future there.
This is in a country where there are 5 different signs and directions for getting one place...and multiple names for the same place.
Off to London. Yay! Things will make more sense there, except maybe the whole everything-flipped-around-on-the-road thing. There are no rental cars in our future there.
Saturday, April 5, 2008
Friday, April 4, 2008
Bushnia
We are cohabiting a city with president bush tonight. First, though,
we must return to croatia from Bosnia, where we are presently enjoying
a very hearty meal of cream, meat, mushrooms and potatoes.
we must return to croatia from Bosnia, where we are presently enjoying
a very hearty meal of cream, meat, mushrooms and potatoes.
Sent from my iPhone
Korean won
Pulled over for a speeding violation in croatia. Insufficient funds to
pay fine. Developing story.
pay fine. Developing story.
Sent from my iPhone
Wednesday, April 2, 2008
Injuries to date
Injuries: 2 (Cynthia jammed her right index finger into the table today during dinner) plus 1 (Cynthia's jacket zipper just took a chunk of skin off Daniel's forehead)
Hidden injuries: 6 cankersores in Cynthia's mouth. 4 are slowly going away, the 2 on the tongue are most painful. Urgh. Lots of Listerine and Anbesol.
Other hurties: Sore legs from walking. A lot. My calves hate me.....
Also, pictures are up here.
Hidden injuries: 6 cankersores in Cynthia's mouth. 4 are slowly going away, the 2 on the tongue are most painful. Urgh. Lots of Listerine and Anbesol.
Other hurties: Sore legs from walking. A lot. My calves hate me.....
Also, pictures are up here.
Bed and .... Breakfast?
I think we're spoiled by the really nice breakfast we had in Rome. Because this Bed & Breakfast in Florence we're staying at is not up to snuff in terms of breakfast. Though I think our standards are too high. They didn't have the cheese spread! I want the cheese spread! With jam! (says Cynthia)
Daniel says:
I could tell at once that breakfast would border on abysmal when Cynthia plucked a piece of bread from the basket-and it came plastic-wrapped. The owner was, however, very keen on her supply of peanut butter.
Back to Cynthia
However, the awesome people here and the place itself make up for the lack of cheese spread. The owner of this B&B knows all the best and cheapest places to eat in town (though we didn't do too bad ourselves - more about this later), and I met two singer-songwriters here - Susan Crowe and Cindy Church from Canada. We exchanged music and contact info.
And the actual B&B location is great - right in the heart of Florence. The river is a couple blocks down, L'Academie (where David is) is a 10 minute walk away (we took 15 minute because we got lost), and there are great eateries right around the corner. We're located right next to a castle, and have a private rooftop terrace that overlooks part of the city. And it's clean. And pretty. The only thing is that it is COLD at night (and after a shower - the hairdryer double as a heater), but there are plenty of warm heavy blankets.
So, what have we been up to?
We got into Rome on Sunday morning (REALLY early) and found wireless at the airport, whereupon we found our hotel location online (the Domus Romana), and made our way to the train to take us to the main terminal (Roma Termini) in Rome.
From there, we crammed (and I do mean crammed) onto a subway that took us two stops down, where we found the street our hotel was on. The hotel address was Number 113. When we looked, however, #113 was a closed down photo shop. What the heck?
Turns out the hotel is hidden into a little alcove next to the photo shop. Whew.
AND, they had given us the Matrimonial Suite. So we had a suite with 4 rooms - one bedroom, one living room with a pull-out sofa bed, a room with a refrigerator and a chair in it (yes, we were confused too), and the bathroom. Nice.
After finding some food, we conked out for a few hours, then managed to pull ourselves up and walk around the city. We went to the Fontane di Trevi and the Pantheon, then found a little pizza place to eat. Gelatto was in there somewhere too.
Because Daniel's in the middle of a huge project that needs to get our this week, one of the goals each day was to find a hot spot so we could sit and Daniel could work for a few hours, while I finish a Jeffrey Archer book (Prisoner of Birth) - it's really heavy and we wanted to leave it somewhere rather than lugging it around. (I just finished it last night)
Day 2 of Rome was busy. We got up really early (still a tiny bit jetlagged - and don't forget Daniel had just gotten back from Singapore the day before we left) to go to the Colosseum. Tickets were somehow free that day! But en route, we stopped by a random cathedral, and a random university. My shoes squeaked so loud on the floor of the cathedral that Daniel would look pointely at me every few seconds, and quietly go 'shhhhh!'
Then off to the Vatican. We saw the Sistine Chapel - though everyone seemed to be getting really confused as to where the actual chapel was - we must have walked two miles inside the Musei Vaticani to get to the Chapel. And fought our way through mills of tour groups and elementary school field trips. Which made me think of how lucky Italian kids are to have cool field trips like this.
And after a really crappy roadside tourist lunch (the reason this was worth it was because it seemed to have been located in the only hotspot in the Vatican, but totally worth it), we went to see St. Peter's. Very impressive. But here is where it gets mildly absurd. We wanted to get up to the cupola (at the top of the basilica). And we were all game for climbing. But, I guess, to get a quick buck off the tourists, they had closed their option of 5€ per person, and rather were charging 7€ for everyone to use the elevator. We had exactly 13.50€.
We joined the 4th graders in their tour of the tomb of the popes instead. That was free.
En route walking back from the Vatican, we stopped by this nice plaza for dinner, during which we wrote that last blog (or I did, while D snoozed). Oh, and I also started an interesting experiment on how couples hold hands (ie: boy's hand in front of girl's or behind?). So far the count is 39 male in front of female, 7 female in front of male. This leads to all sorts of psychological and sociological theories that I won't elaborate on here.
The next day (yesterday), we hopped on a train to Florence.
I love Florence. I like it so much better than Rome. Juliana had mentioned that Venice is such a tourist trap (which is why we are reducing our stay in Venice from two nights to 3 hours), but Rome really felt that way.
Climbing up to our room is a hike. It's about 100 steps (I think?) with steep stairs. But the B&B is worth it. And we had a nice lunch at this restaurant where they used old pews for seats, and we gave an alpaca to the couple sitting next to us. They were amused we were taking picture with them.
Yesterday afternoon, we went to see David (truly amazing in person). The B&B owner got us reservations, so we didn't have to wait in that line that wrapped around the block. We also caught an interesting conversation:
1: David is the image of the most perfect man.
2: Look at those perfect toes.
3: Yea, I want to touch them.
1: I want to touch his hand.
2: Look at his veins.
etc.
We found it amusing that none of them mentioned the most obvious part an overhormonized girl would want to touch......
Anyway. The B&B has wireless, which is the best discovery yet! We spent a few hours quietly in the B&B working and reading, and went out to dinner at this nice little trattoria.
We'r finding that people eat a lot here. The menu is as such:
Appetizer - usually what we'd think of it, but lighter.
First Course - pasta
Second Course - meat
And they'd finish with a dessert or coffee.
We split everything. So much food!
This morning, Daniel apparently spent two hours trying to wake me up. Then after breakfast, we took a long walk to a lookout point across the river, and walked to the other side of Florence, where there wer VERY few tourists. Found a little guitar shop where I got to play a Breedlove Atlas, which was selling for about 1,800€ - way too much for an Atlas. But it was fun. We gave them an alpaca as a thank you for letting us play.
Then we found this tiny restaurant where no one spoke English, and it clearly was not a tourist trap. The food was authentic and good, and for MUCH less than we had been paying.
Which leads me to say.... how perfectly horrible the conversion rate is right now.
Ok, Daniel is taking a nap, and I should relinquish this computer to someone else. Venice tomorrow, but only for a few hours before we head to Croatia and Slovenia!
Daniel says:
I could tell at once that breakfast would border on abysmal when Cynthia plucked a piece of bread from the basket-and it came plastic-wrapped. The owner was, however, very keen on her supply of peanut butter.
Back to Cynthia
However, the awesome people here and the place itself make up for the lack of cheese spread. The owner of this B&B knows all the best and cheapest places to eat in town (though we didn't do too bad ourselves - more about this later), and I met two singer-songwriters here - Susan Crowe and Cindy Church from Canada. We exchanged music and contact info.
And the actual B&B location is great - right in the heart of Florence. The river is a couple blocks down, L'Academie (where David is) is a 10 minute walk away (we took 15 minute because we got lost), and there are great eateries right around the corner. We're located right next to a castle, and have a private rooftop terrace that overlooks part of the city. And it's clean. And pretty. The only thing is that it is COLD at night (and after a shower - the hairdryer double as a heater), but there are plenty of warm heavy blankets.
So, what have we been up to?
We got into Rome on Sunday morning (REALLY early) and found wireless at the airport, whereupon we found our hotel location online (the Domus Romana), and made our way to the train to take us to the main terminal (Roma Termini) in Rome.
From there, we crammed (and I do mean crammed) onto a subway that took us two stops down, where we found the street our hotel was on. The hotel address was Number 113. When we looked, however, #113 was a closed down photo shop. What the heck?
Turns out the hotel is hidden into a little alcove next to the photo shop. Whew.
AND, they had given us the Matrimonial Suite. So we had a suite with 4 rooms - one bedroom, one living room with a pull-out sofa bed, a room with a refrigerator and a chair in it (yes, we were confused too), and the bathroom. Nice.
After finding some food, we conked out for a few hours, then managed to pull ourselves up and walk around the city. We went to the Fontane di Trevi and the Pantheon, then found a little pizza place to eat. Gelatto was in there somewhere too.
Because Daniel's in the middle of a huge project that needs to get our this week, one of the goals each day was to find a hot spot so we could sit and Daniel could work for a few hours, while I finish a Jeffrey Archer book (Prisoner of Birth) - it's really heavy and we wanted to leave it somewhere rather than lugging it around. (I just finished it last night)
Day 2 of Rome was busy. We got up really early (still a tiny bit jetlagged - and don't forget Daniel had just gotten back from Singapore the day before we left) to go to the Colosseum. Tickets were somehow free that day! But en route, we stopped by a random cathedral, and a random university. My shoes squeaked so loud on the floor of the cathedral that Daniel would look pointely at me every few seconds, and quietly go 'shhhhh!'
Then off to the Vatican. We saw the Sistine Chapel - though everyone seemed to be getting really confused as to where the actual chapel was - we must have walked two miles inside the Musei Vaticani to get to the Chapel. And fought our way through mills of tour groups and elementary school field trips. Which made me think of how lucky Italian kids are to have cool field trips like this.
And after a really crappy roadside tourist lunch (the reason this was worth it was because it seemed to have been located in the only hotspot in the Vatican, but totally worth it), we went to see St. Peter's. Very impressive. But here is where it gets mildly absurd. We wanted to get up to the cupola (at the top of the basilica). And we were all game for climbing. But, I guess, to get a quick buck off the tourists, they had closed their option of 5€ per person, and rather were charging 7€ for everyone to use the elevator. We had exactly 13.50€.
We joined the 4th graders in their tour of the tomb of the popes instead. That was free.
En route walking back from the Vatican, we stopped by this nice plaza for dinner, during which we wrote that last blog (or I did, while D snoozed). Oh, and I also started an interesting experiment on how couples hold hands (ie: boy's hand in front of girl's or behind?). So far the count is 39 male in front of female, 7 female in front of male. This leads to all sorts of psychological and sociological theories that I won't elaborate on here.
The next day (yesterday), we hopped on a train to Florence.
I love Florence. I like it so much better than Rome. Juliana had mentioned that Venice is such a tourist trap (which is why we are reducing our stay in Venice from two nights to 3 hours), but Rome really felt that way.
Climbing up to our room is a hike. It's about 100 steps (I think?) with steep stairs. But the B&B is worth it. And we had a nice lunch at this restaurant where they used old pews for seats, and we gave an alpaca to the couple sitting next to us. They were amused we were taking picture with them.
Yesterday afternoon, we went to see David (truly amazing in person). The B&B owner got us reservations, so we didn't have to wait in that line that wrapped around the block. We also caught an interesting conversation:
1: David is the image of the most perfect man.
2: Look at those perfect toes.
3: Yea, I want to touch them.
1: I want to touch his hand.
2: Look at his veins.
etc.
We found it amusing that none of them mentioned the most obvious part an overhormonized girl would want to touch......
Anyway. The B&B has wireless, which is the best discovery yet! We spent a few hours quietly in the B&B working and reading, and went out to dinner at this nice little trattoria.
We'r finding that people eat a lot here. The menu is as such:
Appetizer - usually what we'd think of it, but lighter.
First Course - pasta
Second Course - meat
And they'd finish with a dessert or coffee.
We split everything. So much food!
This morning, Daniel apparently spent two hours trying to wake me up. Then after breakfast, we took a long walk to a lookout point across the river, and walked to the other side of Florence, where there wer VERY few tourists. Found a little guitar shop where I got to play a Breedlove Atlas, which was selling for about 1,800€ - way too much for an Atlas. But it was fun. We gave them an alpaca as a thank you for letting us play.
Then we found this tiny restaurant where no one spoke English, and it clearly was not a tourist trap. The food was authentic and good, and for MUCH less than we had been paying.
Which leads me to say.... how perfectly horrible the conversion rate is right now.
Ok, Daniel is taking a nap, and I should relinquish this computer to someone else. Venice tomorrow, but only for a few hours before we head to Croatia and Slovenia!
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