Digital Madness at the Pet Shop Boys

I usually leave concert reviews for my other blog but at the rate I am going I won't get to this one for a while. This is not really a review anyway but a moan of sorts.

So yesterday a friend and I saw the Pet Shop Boys at the Hammersmith Apollo. The show itself was great - Neil Tennant sang just like he does on the discs, the light show was simple and elegant but not too obnoxious, the dancers a bit corny but talented, and the music infinitely danceable as always.

Unfortunately where we were there was not much dancing going on at all. Primarily because almost everyone around us were trying to capture the show on their digital cameras and mobile phones.

At the risk of sounding like an old fart, when I was younger we had to smuggle in our regular film cameras, try to force our way to the front and then snap a few photos when we thought we might not get noticed by security. Trying to get away with the camera was a bit like the drinking, something that we were not supposed to do but it was cool to see if we could do it anyway. But none of us were obnoxious (or stupid) enough to risk taking more than a few choice shots and for the most part we spent our time at the concerts listening, watching and dancing, which is what you are supposed to do.

Last night these people had their cameras up for perhaps half or more of the time during the show. Which is annoying on so many levels. I am short to begin with, so it is hard enough to see over tall people standing in front of me. But at times I was actually getting a better view of Neil Tennant from the cameras. Also, these people are standing there the entire time with their arms up in the air holding the cameras and so in a close crowd, their pits were almost directly in my face. And when you are trying to dance in close quarters like that, it is more fun when everyone is doing it, because you then have room to move around. I kept bumping into the woman's arm behind me because she was holding her camera almost directly over my head. I have to admit that a couple of times I intentionally waved my hand in front of her camera to block her shot. I could not resist.

I imagine today these people are posting their pictures and/or digital videos all over the web, so perhaps PSB don't really mind because they get a lot of publicity that way. I can't imagine that any are really all that great though and the friends who didn't go to the concert probably are not going to want to look at these fuzzy, far away images of the band on stage.

I think that bands should go back to banning cameras (and now phones) so that we can all have a good time, and keep the images in our heads as memories, where they belong.

One of the New Seven Wonders

We recently went for a week's holiday in Cancun, Mexico. Cancun is not the first place I would have chosen to go, especially from London, but I was pleasantly surprised. The hotel was very nice, the service superb and we had some really good meals as well.

We spent most of our days lounging on the beach, but we did get a couple of adventures in, one in particular to Chichen Itza, famous Mayan ruins a bit more than two hours' bus journey from Cancun. A lot of people I know have made the trip out there and it was highly recommended so we found ourselves a tour and signed up, even though we had to leave our hotel at 7:30 a.m.

The place is quite a surprise as I imagine it must have been when it was originally discovered. It is in the middle of nowhere in a tropical, humid forest and I guess at first the big pyramid was completely covered in vegetation. Our guide has been doing these tours for 35 years and it was impossible not to be as captivated as he was about the whole place. After seeing famous ruins in Greece and Italy it was also pretty neat to see a very active archelogical community around the place. It sounds like they are studying it and making new discoveries all the time, and tour guides like ours need to do 100 hours of coursework a year to keep their guide certification and to keep up with all the latest theories.

One thing that was like Greece and Rome (and perhaps more obnoxious) was the amount of junk for sale at Chichen Itza. People are lined up along the entrance so you have to walk a gauntlet of people trying to sell you t-shirts, fake mayan gods, embrodiered hankerchiefs, etc. A few even follow you on your tour but our guide warned us right away not to encourage them or we would be hounded for the entire time.

We couldn't climb the big pyramid for some reason, evidently it will open again in July after the Seven Wonders competition is over. That was fine with me since it was unbelievably hot and muggy and we were lucky to be there on an overcast day.

On the way back we stopped at a cenote or sinkhole, which was a cool cavern underground where you could take a dip in very pure water that flows eventually from the ocean. We didn't go in but were glad for the respite from the heat. A couple of days later we got to swim in another one anyway. I guess there are thousands all over the area.

After visiting Chichen Itza I would like to learn more about Mayan culture and history - seems a shame I spent so much of my life so close to it but never really learned anything about it.

You can vote for Chichen Itza and other of the 'new seven wonders' at this website. Not sure what the point is, but they will announce the winners in on the 7th of July in Lisbon. I was happy to have visited 7 of the 21 finalists - and interestingly enough, two in the last month.

Pictures are posted here.

Istanbul was Constantinople...

Now it's Istanbul not Constantinople...you must know the words.

And I do as well. And I had the words running through my head for almost two weeks after my weekend break to Istanbul. But it was definitely all worth it. This was one of the most interesting places I have visited in quite a while.

I was lucky to join AM and her friend for a bank holiday weekend in Istanbul. C had just spent two weeks in Turkey on an intrepid tour so by the time we got to Istanbul late Friday night, she was already an expert on the city (well, from our perspective anyway) and knew how to navigate the public transportation and the old town of Sultanamet.

We flew from Heathrow on was for me a surprisingly long flight. Of course if I had bothered to find Turkey on the map I might not have been so surprised. Three hours and two time zones later we landed at the Istanbul airport past 11 pm, with our hotel-hired driver waiting for us.

Traveling is all about changing your assumptions and my first assumption shattered was that Turkey was a poor country. Istanbul is quite cosmpolitan and its airport is not really any different from other European airports. My other assumption proved correct though was that the people were very friendly. When we arrived at our hotel the staff welcomed us warmly and when we asked if there was somewhere we could have a drink, they said most things were closed but they were happy to serve us, which they did until nearly one in the morning. I always remember my father telling me that Istanbul was by far his favorite place from all his travels, because the locals were so nice. He told me that he was forever being invited into people's kitchens and served tea and even though they could speak very little english, he had a great time visiting with the people he met there.

The next morning we started our day with breakfast at the rooftop terrace of our hotel, with an amazing view of the entire city - agia sophia and the blue mosque on one side and the bosphorous and the modern city on the other. After our meal AM and I ventured out to visit the Hagia Sophia, an amazing site that started as a Catholic church during Constantine's rule, was converted to a mosque by the Ottoman empire, then most recently has been turned into a museum. The Ottomans had painted over most of the original mosaics inside the dome when it was converted and they have been trying to restore them recently, so some look pretty good and others are still mostly rubbed off. What I thought was unique about the mosaics is that the Holy Roman emperor at the time had himself put in the mosaics, once with his queen. Seems pretty presumptous that he could be pictured hanging out with Jesus, like they lived in the same time. But I guess when you are the emperor you can do whatever you want. The dome and the colors inside were unbelievable and we spent a while getting close up to many of the different patterns and colors.

After the Hagia Sophia we went across the street into the cistern, that was the original water source for the ancient city. It was dark, cavernous and filled with water - a pretty neat place. I wish my photos came out a little nicer. Everyone goes to visit the medusa heads, which are upside down pillars with medusas on the bottom. One is turned on its side and no one really understand why they are there.

Next we went back to the hotel to pick up C and then hit the Blue Mosque. The Blue Mosque looks kind of like the Hagia Sophia but instead of a museum it is an actual working mosque. We could hear the call to prayer from the blue mosque (and probably other mosques near us, there were dozens) five times a day. But unlike the little mosques this one is a big tourist attraction and thousands of visitors go in every day. It was the first (and only) Mosque I have ever visited and it was quite an interesting experience. First we had to go around to the visitors side and queue up with the other tourists. There was a door in the middle where all the muslims could go in for prayers. We had to remove our shoes and cover our heads (though not all the tourists did). Once we got inside the first thing I noticed was the distinct odor of stinky feet. All those bare feet on the carpets take their toll. But the decor inside outweighs the smell - absolutely beautiful detailed ceilings in vibrant blues and reds. We stayed for a while and spied on a tour, watching the men praying towards the front of the mosque, towards Mecca. The women were relegated to the back on not so comfortable looking stone benches, without much view of the ceilings.

Later that afternoon we took the ferry over to the Asian side of Istanbul (Istanbul is in both Asia and Europe) and met one of our co-workers who lives and works in Istanbul. He took us on a great tour of this side of the city, which is the more residential area. First we went to the major shopping street, where I was shocked (and a bit dismayed) to find it was just like any other big city shopping street, with gap, body shop, zara and at least 8 starbucks we counted. It actually reminded me most of NW 23rd in Portland. But it was fun to wander around the western and Turkish shops and see who was out on a Saturday afternoon. The starbucks were packed too, with everyone sitting outside and enjoying their lattes and frappuccinos. Afterwards we went to an amazing restaurant right on the waterfront and had an amazing meal, complete with two very nice bottles of turkish wine. Afterwards we went to probably the nicest coffee house I have ever visited, a gloria jean's that had taken over an old turkish mansion, while our friend watched the football match in the bar. Turns out it was a deciding game between the two Istanbul teams and the entire area was watching it. When the local team, Fenerbahce, won, the whole area went bonkers, honking horns, signing, shouting, etc. It was infectious and a great atmosphere. On the way home we saw the police lined up at the other stadium, there were something like 4,500 police for 3000 away supporters. I guess Turkish sports fans have quite a reputation.

The next day we took a boat cruise on the Bosphorous, the strait that divides Europe from Asia and connects the Black Sea to the Sea of Marmara. We saw beautiful views of the old homes, the different sides of the city, and a bunch of 'summer' embassies of various countries. We spent a couple hours in a small village at the end of the tour where we had another amazing seafood meal then headed back into town. The ferry itself was not really a tourist boat but a regular transport ferry, and people got off and on at different destinations.

After our ride we went over to Taxim Square, which is the heart of modern istanbul (and turkey for that matter) and another area full of shopping and coffee shops. After seeing so many different coffee shops, chains and non-chains, it began to occur to us that in a country that is 99% Muslim, maybe coffee shops are more appealing than bars. They were certainly all full of people. We got to Taxim via the Funicular (the third oldest underground railway) and the streetcar, which dropped us off at the square. There has been a great deal of political unrest in Turkey lately, due to the tension from the very secular government and miltary and recent elections and this square is the center of it. Kemal Ataturk, considered the father of modern Turkey, changed Turkey to secular state, banning headscarves from government areas, encouraging everyone to wear western clothing and in general trying to modernize the country. Just a few days before we visited about a million Turks demonstrated against the election of a Muslim president and you could still feel the tension in the square - with snipers on the walls surrounding it. For a while we just sat enjoying coffee and watching the different kinds of locals walk by - from young girls in jeans and t-shirts and boys with what seemed to be the standard Turkish cut (kind of a standing faux-hawk with sideburns) to young girls and women in various grades of muslim dress, wearing brightly patterned scarves or plain ones, sometimes with regular clothes, sometimes with full-length light coats, rarely actually with full on burkas. I think I see more burkas in London actually.

Finally, on Monday, we rose early to get a chance to shop in the Grand Bazaar. My plane left early so I had limited time to shop, probably a good thing, but I did manage to get a very nice orange leather bag and of course some Turkish delight to take home. The Bazaar itself is a huge mall-like maze of shops - selling mostly rugs, pottery and leather goods. The charming merchants are always flirting with you to try to get you in and once you are in they are dying to sit you down, serve you tea and sell you more than what you bargained for. I think you could probably easily spend an entire day there and not see half of the place.

All in all it was a great trip and I would love to go back someday and seem more of Turkey, especially the mountains and the coastline. Photos from the trip are posted here.

Monaco is nicer than Nice

I had to go to Nice for a conference last week, so M and I decided to take advantage and spend the previous weekend in town and check it out.

I had never been to the South of France and I was pretty excited about it. I was imagining crystal clear turquoise water, spotless white beaches, beautiful homes with beautiful people to match. Well, with Nice, it wasn't quite what I expected.

I should be fair. The water is definitely gorgeous as fitting the Cote d'Azur. When you fly into the airport it looks just stunning. But once you get to the airport and out to the town it goes downhill pretty fast. The city reminds me a lot of the older parts of San Diego, with a lot of run down oceanfront hotels and condos that were perhaps once brightly pastel. Now most of it just looks tired. The convention centre and the area around it where we were staying was a bit sketchy, not too different than my own little neighborhood of holloway road with kebab shops, little markets and tacky bars. The convention center itself was probably built in the 70s and looks like it attracts some pretty upmarket events (Tissue World had just left town) and the beachfront, made up of stones, had a large encampment of homeless folks there.

The worst part of Nice is the dog culture. Don't get me wrong, I have nothing against dogs, in fact, I like most of them. However, there is a limit. And in Nice there is no limit to the little doggie reminders left for you on the sidewalk. By Tuesday it was starting to become like a game to avoid ruining your shoes. Then, like a miracle, Tuesday night the streets were cleaned. I guess the promotion should be 'poop-free Wednesdays.' Ironically a few restaurants were closed Wednesday night. Dogs were everywhere, inside without leashes. Once morning I ate breakfast with a dog on the bench with me at the restaurant. I thought the lady next to me was sniveling and whining - I was a bit relieved that it was her dog instead.

Several good things about Nice - the ice cream was really good with a lot of unusual flavors. Bubble gum was a big hit with my friends though I didn't try it myself. The old town is beautiful and bustling at night. The food in general was quite good - we had a few really nice meals and no real bad ones. The people were also very friendly and forgiving of my awful attempts at French.

We took a 15-minute train ride up to Monaco on Sunday and Monaco was pretty much all I expected Nice to be. The town is spotless and reeks of money everywhere. Lucky for my credit card all of the stores were closed. Pretty much everything was closed except for the casino, the hotels and the palace.

The city is pretty small really, but built up onto a big rock. To make it easier to get around the city has installed a huge network of tunnels and public elevators to get up and down the different streets. They came in pretty handy, especially on the return back. We walked around the town all day but it took us about 15 minutes to get back to the train station from the palace, which looked like a really long walk on the map.

We had to go to the casino of course. Well, not really, but the coffee shop there was open and we were starving. I found it quite ironic that I went all the way to Monaco to eat in a casino coffee shop. It was nicer than the Carson Nugget though, and definitely more expensive. We didn't go into the casino itself because they charged a 10 euro entry fee, and I just couldn't see paying that to see people gambling. We did go over to the little free casino area and play a bit of video poker, just to say we had. They had all the same machines as Nevada (made by IGT even) and they were all in English. The gardens around the casino were not bad, but in general Vegas blows Monte Carlo away - but they cannot duplicate the ocean view.

In a way it was nice we picked a Sunday to go. It was so quiet and pleasant to walk around. We saw virtually no residents, not sure where they go on Sundays but all the homes and apartments seemed to be pretty empty. I guess it is early season and all, but felt kind of odd. The Palace and the gardens were beautiful and fairly busy, though it was hard to tell if the Royals were home or not.

Pictures from both places are posted here, including a few really memorable signs.

St Patrick's Day in York

Last weekend my friend AM had to go up to Harrogate for a conference, so we made the most of it and spent the weekend in York. It was a bit ironic to spend St Patrick's day in the quintessential English town, but we managed.

York is a small little town in the north of England, about two hours train ride from London and a big tourist destination for folks all over the UK. It was a great little town to visit - so small it was impossible to get lost but with lots of great sights to see in a couple of days.

After we arrived at the station, we found our little B&B hotel and braved the cold for a guided walk around Roman York. Turns out York was one of the main areas settled by the Romans and ruled by them for several hundred years. The wall surrounding the city was started by the Romans then built up over the centuries - most of what you can see and walk on now is medieval, but you can still see lots of Roman remnants around the town. Pretty amazing to me that we can still see construction from the year 100. As part of the tour we walked on a good portion of the wall, seeing into people's backyards as well as a nice view over the rooftops of the city.

We were quite cold after our walk so we of course needed to warm up with some Guinness. We found a great little pub, the Punch Bowl, and settled in there for a few hours and many pints of Guinness. Their St Paddy's day promotion was a free hat with four pints purchased. It was easy to get one hat, but if we wanted to walk out of there drinking four pints each was a bit tough. Luckily some nice local guys gave us their extra tickets and we scored two hats, as well as some other Guinness souvenirs.

After several hours at the Punch Bowl we got the bright idea that we should go to a real Irish pub and went to O'Neills, where we queued up for a nasty, smoke-filled, sticky floor experience. At one point we were pegged in by a filthy ashtray on one side and a couple in need of a room on the other. So we decided to forget it and went back to the punch bowl for the rest of the night.

York is evidently full of ghosts and I thought we were visited by one at the pub. After all, it was 400 years old. However, I think I just drank too much beer and was tricked by my pub-mate!

The next day we had a lovely breakfast and saw more York sites. Unfortunately I talked AM into going to Jorvik, the Viking site in town. The woman working at the hotel tried to politely dissuade us, but I thought it sounded pretty neat. Avoid it at all costs - unless you are dying to see a Viking latrine in action! Easily one of the tackiest tourist attractions I have ever visited. I guess people queue up for hours in the summertime. I feel sorry for them.

After Jorvik we got literally blown into the York Minster. I didn't realise this before, but evidently a Minster is the seat of the church in the diocese. It is also a cathedral. Not all cathedrals are minsters and not all minsters are cathedrals, but this one is both. In terms of a tourist experience, I think this is one of the best churches I have visited so far in Europe. You pay one fee to see the inside of the church, climb up the tower and go to the crypt below. The tower was quite a haul up, but the views were well worth it. The church itself is beautiful, sparkling clean and with nice stained glass all around. And the crypt comes with an audio tour that was very well done. I learned a lot about the history of the minster and more about York.

After the Minster, we finished up our time in York with a traditional tea at Little Betty's (big Betty's is in the town centre and always has a long queue). Scones, tea and yummy lunch.

Photos from the weekend (including several with hats on!) are posted here.

A Visit to Flanders

The first week of March I had some good friends in town and we all took a weekend trip to Bruges, Belgium, in what was once Flanders.

We took the Eurostar in on a Friday evening which was a bit of an adventure in itself. We upgraded to 'Leisure Select' which meant we got fed a pretty nice meal and were kept in wine, water and coffee for the short trip to Brussels. This was the first time I have gone beyond the regular coach class on the Eurostar and I would highly recommend it, especially if the ticket difference is only 10 pounds like it was for us.

I had heard before that Bruges was a nice place but I really didn't know that much about it. Turns out that Bruges was originally part of Flanders (as was Amsterdam and most of the Netherlands) and most people there speak Flemish. Silly me, I thought most people in Belgium spoke French. When I heard people speaking Flemish, I was really confused - I thought, well that is not German, it is definitely not French, what is that??? I guess it is quite close to Dutch. I found myself getting confused as to whether or not to say Merci or Danke but the Flemish is close enough, Dank U, so not sure if they could tell anyway, since I am a dumb english speaking american.

The first confusion with the different language though came when we were looking for the train from Brussels onwards to Bruges. JIm was asking for Bruges, but the lady in the station was saying Brugge (sounds like bru-ga). We were talking about the same place, but were saying it in three different languages. Luckily we found our train and onwards to Bruges without a problem.

Once we made it to Bruges, we stayed in a very charming B&B that Cathe had found on the web right near the town centre. After a snack (including a lovely Belgian beer) we settled in for the night.

The next morning we awoke to what we thought was a very miserable storm coming in - the wind and rain sounded so horrible I think we all thought we were going to stay in all day. Luckily it didn't rain much on us on Saturday, though I have to say it was definitely colder than I expected. We made the most of it though, we saw some great art including some Flemish primitives, explored a lot of of the city's major sights on foot or during a bus tour, and of course, sampled from many of the 47 chocolate shops in the area. Sunday Cathe and I also got the opportunity to endulge in Moules and Frites - Belgian Frites of course, not French.

While we were there, there were crews filming a new movie, In Bruges, due out in 2008 and starring Colin Farrell and Ralph Fiennes. Unfortunately we did not see them wandering around, but we did see a lot of cameras and the Christmas decorations that were up as part of the setting.

To say that Bruges is charming is quite the understatement - it is a gorgeous city surrounded by canals - a very clean, smaller version of Amsterdam. I would definitely recommend it for a weekend. Photos are posted here.

Passport woes

I must rant today about renewing my passport while living overseas.

One of the real hassles now is that I not only have to worry about a passport, I have to worry about the associated work permit inside. I had wanted to renew my passport over the holidays, but my employer would not authorise the expense to renew the passport itself, and without the immigration attorney's support, I did not feel comfortable doing it myself in the US for fear that I might not be able to get back into the country.

So the day I came back to the UK, I sent my passport in to be renewed, in the hope I could get both it and my work permit transferred before having to leave for the US tomorrow.

Well, no such luck. I am flying out tomorrow to california, and I just received my passport today, at 4:35 p.m. The whole process is really irritating. You cannot go to the embassy itself to renew your passport. You can go there to get an emergency passport if you make an appointment, but otherwise you have to send your documents via mail or special courier service. After you have sent in your application, you can no longer apply for an emergency passport. The passport office itself is only open until 12:30 p.m. every day and if you try to call, they put you on perpetual hold til the phone finally disconnects you. The messenger service is equally un-user friendly - when you dial they give you three options - if you want to schedule a pickup, if you missed a delivery, and number 3, which gives you a recording and disconnects you. I did have better luck communicating with the embassy via email, though I have to say they were nonchalant about the whole thing.

The most irritating part was the fact I sent in the wrong size photos. Silly me, I just assumed that all passports are the same size so I never worried about measuring the actual dimensions. But no, I got a letter back that my photos were the wrong size and I had to rush down to get new pictures taken and send them special delivery back to the embassy. My cheeks are rosy in the photo from moving so quickly that day. The frustrating bit is that my head is actually the same size, it was just the physical dimensions of the photos were different - they were not 2 inches by 2 inches. Considering they scan them in to the computer now anyway, this seems ridiculous.

I guess I can't complain too much - a friend of mine had to renew his passport over the holidays in Greece and wound up picking it up on the way to the airport, 40 minutes before his flight. At least I got mine within 12 hours of departure.

Photos from Fall 2006

I realize I traveled quite a bit in the last few months of the year. Between October and December I went to Munich (and Regensburg, a nearby medieval town), Paris, Milan, Siena, Rome and Austria for various work and fun trips, including my first skiing experience in Europe. Too bad there was not more snow! I posted my random pictures from the trips here - not many of Paris since I was not feeling well and have been there plenty of times in the past.

Racism Row on Celebrity Big Brother

All I have heard about on the news this week is the ongoing saga about Celebrity Big Brother. On the BBC radio in the morning, on the television news, on every tabloid headline. Until this week, I didn't know a thing about the show itself other than it is yet another boring reality thing.

I guess the gist of what is going on is that Jade Goody, one of the people on the show who's claim to fame is being on the regular Big Brother, supposedly made some racist comments to Shetty, a Bollywood super star who is also on the show. The local broadcasting authority has had a record number of complaints, Gordon Brown has had to deal with it during his visit to India this week, and in the meantime, the ratings for the show have skyrocketed - making people speculate that it is just a big publicity grab.

Whatever is really behind it or whether it is racism or not, it got brought a bit closer to home for me when a random guy got in my face about it when I was waiting to use the ATM the other day. He stopped on the street, mumbled something incoherent at me, then told me that in reality, Indians are the superior race.

I'm not sure what bothered me more - that he thought I was racist or that he thought I watched Celebrity Big Brother.

More tube antics

It has been quite a while since I posted, so I figured it was time for a new look. Blogger has completed its first big upgrade since the Google acquisition, so I decided to take advantage.

Also, I think i must have rested my arm enough so that I feel better now typing for fun. Back in October I thought I had seriously injured myself due to too much technology in my life, most specifically, typing on one of those tiny keyboards on my PDA. After switching to mousing on the left, changing my workout, three weeks of holiday, and probably most importantly - cutting way back on the use of my iPaq, I am ready again to face the world with new blogs.

Disappointingly, this post is going to be very similar to my last. Yesterday while riding the tube I watched a young girl making her eyelashes beautiful. She went through the entire process - first she curled her lashes with one of those torturous looking metal devices, not just once, but several times, holding it for 20 or 30 seconds at a time. Then she applied mascara very carefully to her lashes, darkening each one until they were all uniformly colored. Then she cleaned up any leftovers that got around her eye. The whole process took about three tube stops.

The funny bit is that then she got up and left the tube and because she had only finished one eye, she looked like Malcolm McDowell from Clockwork Orange. It seems silly to me to go through all that effort only to look freakier than when you started.

One can only hope she did the other eye on the next leg of her journey - without dislodging her eye with that curling contraption when the tube made a sudden lurch.

Tube Rudeness

I haven't posted for a while, partially because I have had some symptoms of RSI in my arm and am trying not to do so much computer work. However, I saw something gross today and had to share it.

This morning on the northern line I saw a woman clipping her fingernails. And no, it was not like she had a hanging nail and had to quickly address it, she was full on giving her nails a trim right there on the tube.

It was a funny moment actually, when I heard that tell-tale clicking, I looked up from my book in horror to see the guy sitting next to her look up from his book in horror at the same time, and we exchanged grossed-out glances. This is actually quite an unusual event on the tube as everyone usually pretends others don't exist. Maybe that was the woman's excuse.

A weekend in Oslo

I just returned late last night from a whirlwind trip to Oslo, Norway. I have a personal goal to try to see the major Scandanavian cities before the end of the year - not sure if I will make it before it gets too cold and dark, but we shall see.

I was not sure what I expected out of Oslo, but I have to say I was quite pleased overall. It is a very clean, well planned and vibrant city. They especially seem to be into art, literature and coffee, all which score high with me. The seafood, even at the airport, was fantastic. The only drawback is the high standard of living - good for norwegians but not for tourists. A simple dinner at a restaurant on the waterfront set me back the equivalent about 42 pounds, or approximately 81 dollars - without coffee and dessert! Pretty much everything is expensive - I find it hard to believe that Oslo is not higher up on the most expensive cities list - but perhaps they make more money there.

I got to see lots of cool artwork - in a day and a half I hit four different art museums. A favorite son of Oslo and a favorite of mine is Edvard Munch, so I went to both the Munch museum and the National Gallery, which has some of his most famous works. My timing couldn't have been better - both The Scream and Madonna have recently been recovered and put back on display at the National Gallery, under what looks like bullet proof glass, less than two weeks ago. The security was really tight at the Munch museum, with metal detectors, bag screeners and a very conspicous camera over their rough version of the scream.

I have to say, Mr Munch had some serious issues. The Scream is probably one of the least disturbing of his paintings (well, except for the landscapes). There were some pretty grim looking murder scenes and some haunting self portraits, but all in all it is pretty original and certainly thought provoking.

I also hit the modern art museum and the Astrup Fearnley museum, where i saw a cow and calf sliced in half and preserved. Mmmm.

Norwegians are also obviously big seafarers. There were a couple really cool museums in Bygdøy, which is a 10 minute ferry ride across the Oslo Fjord. The Viking museum has two big ships from the 900s, well preserved because some important vikings were buried in them. The nearby Kon Tiki museum has some more modern (in time) but more ancient boats built and sailed under the vision of Thor Heyerdahl. He wanted to prove that the ancient civilisations of South American and Africa could have sailed on balsa and reed rafts, so he built a few and went on these crazy voyages. He and his crew sailed the balsa Kon Tiki from Peru across the Pacific for 101 days, with only a radio. I guess the documentary won an oscar in the early 50s.

I also wandered around the open-air Norwegian Folk Museum - where they have collected dozens of original Norwegian buildings and assembled them in different areas to show what life would have been like, including folks in the appropriate outfits.

Finally, I saw the Nobel Peace Prize museum, the newest in town, which has lots of neat exhibits on world peace and nobel prize winners. The award is presented in Oslo every December.

My favorite site by far was the Vigeland Sculpture Park, with more than 200 sculptures by Oslo sculptor Gustav Vigeland. The sculptures were all amazing - from the bronze models on the bridge to the stone ones at the other end - I could have taken thousands of pictures there. The monolith in the center is a huge obelisk like sculpture made up entirely of human figures in various stages of life.

All the photos from the weekend, including one of a particularly good latte, are posted here.

Andorra

After we left the Dali triangle, we drove up into the Pyrennees, through France and a big tunnel into Andorra, one of the most intriguing places we visited.

Before we decided to go on this trip, I had never even heard of Andorra. It is a small principality nestled in the mountains, in between Spain and France. One of our friends here recommended it to us because it has a reputation for being a tax haven and shopping mecca. It is an odd place, I guess it was closed off to the outside world really until the 50s, and recently it has started undergoing a tourist boom. You can see why, the mountains are gorgeous, prices are cheap and it is still relatively undiscovered. People speak mostly Catalan Spanish, which makes sense since Spaniards outnumber native Andorrans, and they use the Euro for currency, even though they are not really in the EU. Another odd stat (thanks wikipedia!) is that they have the highest average life expectancy of 83.51 years. Must be all the clean mountain air and exercise.

We arrived fresh out of the tunnel at Soldeu, and we were stunned by a bunch of large, and very nice looking hotels. I was exhausted after a long stressful drive and determined not to go any further, so we stayed at the first place we stopped to rest. That hotel was okay, but a bit too crowded with children and questionable food, so we moved to a different spot the next night, the Sport Hotel Village, which was amazing. It had a three story spa, amazing food, and a great location right in front of the mountains. I bet it is a great place to visit in the winter to ski. We would have stayed another night if they hadn't been full - which we thought was odd given it was off-season and pretty quiet in town - but there were still tons of families as well as a bunch of mountain bikers around so I guess it makes sense. We did get to do a bit of hiking, even though it was cold, and the views were spectacular all around. Photos from Andorra are here - towards the end of the set.

After we left Soldeu we headed across tiny Andorra and through Andorra La Vella, where we thought we would have lunch and maybe do a bit of shopping. Yuck! What a mistake. This is the kind of place that makes me shudder - tacky shops all over, totally unplanned, horrible traffic, and trashy people swarming all over trying to get a good deal. Kind of like a low-rent outlet mall in the US, the ones in San Ysidro near the border with Mexico come to mind. In sort of an ironic protest, we ate at McDonalds...where M got beer with his value meal.

Catalonia and the Dali Triangle

We began our Pyrenees trip by flying into Barcelona and spending two nights at the Mas Pau, in Catalonia, near Figueres. Once we found the hotel it was quite beautiful and pleasant, a nice restoration of a historic farmhouse. The restaurant there was fantastic and I had possibly one of the best meals I have had in my life, in a beautiful setting, half inside and half out, looking over the gardens.

What I didn't really realize until we got there was that this area is in the heart of the Dali Triangle, where Salvador Dali was born, returned to live with his wife and eventually died. Figueres is the home to an amazing Dali museum, that he designed himself and is also his final resting place in the basement. We tried to visit it during the day, but the queue was so long we decided to come back for the late night opening at 10. It was still crowded then, but it was worth it - the experience of seeing it at night was so unique and almost magical at times. I did not take nearly enough pictures there, mostly because it was dark. We were not able to make it to Cadaques, where Dali and his wife Gala lived and where their old home is now also a museum. I guess it is so small you have to book far in advance and we would have had to stay at least two more days for us to get in for a tour. The third part of the triangle is Gala's Castle in Pubol, which we did not see either. I did get a nice book though at the Dalicatessan and I am pleased I did get to visit the home of one of my favorite artists, a nice surprise.

Another very memorable part of Catalonia for me were the Caganers, a very odd Catholic tradition in the region. You have to read the link to believe it - I didn't believe it when I read it in the guidebook - but we did see some of these for sale in Figueres, in many different incarnations - George Bush, Saddam Hussein, Jesus, you name it. I wanted to buy one or two, but the ones we saw were very expensive, and I couldn't see myself paying 50 or 100 euro for a tiny squatting statue. I guess another thing I should have taken a picture of...

I guess this region and the nearby beaches on the Costa Brava were some of the first in Spain to be overrun with British tourists, and you can tell by the city of Roses (which doesn't smell so good, incidently) that we drove to one evening. It might have been beautiful once, the ocean still is anyway, but the town itself was an overcrowded dump with a number of shops and restaurants that rival my nearby Holloway Road.

Holiday in the Pyrenees

It has been a couple of weeks since I returned from my holiday in the Pyrenees and I still haven't gotten around to writing about it. Unfortunately I came down with a nasty cold/sinus infection that is just starting to subside in the last few days, and I haven't really had energy for much since then.

Anyway, we did spend the last two weeks of August in the Pyrenees, a beautiful stretch of mountains straddling Spain and France, with a funny little country called Andorra in the middle. It was quite an adventure - we flew into Barcelona and picked up our rental car with just two nights booked in a hotel and almost two weeks to fill. There are quite a few places to mention, so I will do them in separate entries.

A few overarching comments though - Spain is booming! Almost every little town we passed through in Spain had cranes building more and more hotels, vacation homes, etc. It was a bit strange, but considering the number of tourists, I guess not surprising. I did get a sinking feeling that maybe they are going a bit too fast too soon, but hopefully not. I was pretty impressed with the construction too - they are building a lot of neat stone covered buildings that kind of blend into the older stuff, and it looks like really good quality - not like those slapped up condos that seem to be so prevalent in the US. France, well not so much. The smaller towns we drove through in France seemed to be more desolate and sparse of restaurants and accomodations - and driving through France one evening was the only time we had difficulty finding a place to stay.

Also, we saw almost no Americans on this trip and hardly any English speakers, until we got to Bilbao. We did meet a Scottish couple in Andorra who seemed to be doing a similar trip to ours, but for the most part the tourists were Spanish or French families. There were many times where it was almost impossible to communicate - in the nicest hotels they spoke good English, but for the most part I had to stumble out my few words of Spanish or French. Even though I studied French in high school, I think I did much better speaking Spanish - I was getting fairly confident towards the end of the trip. But it was quite different from most of my recent travels, when you can usually get by with English (or at least pointing). In Spain you can't even get food at McDonalds in English. Although it was challenging, I did enjoy the vacation from Americans and English. It made for a very different experience.

Funny though, even with the lack of Americans, American culture certainly pervades even these areas. From American shops to pop songs to Nike shirts and trainers- it is everywhere. Even at the festival in Bilbao, a very Basque event, there was American music blaring all the time.

Another challenge was food. Dining was certainly a challenge for us during the entire trip. Most of the time we had breakfast included with our rooms, so at least that was one meal taken care of, but it was really hard to adjust to eating other than that. Not only was there a communication barrier, there were the odd eating times. Restaurants don't really open for lunch until after 1 or 2 p.m. or so, and people don't eat dinner, especially in Spain, til 9 p.m. or later. Once we got to the Basque country, it was just hard to find restaurants in general, and when we found them, they were closed or full. There were these places where you could go and get snacks and sandwiches, which were fine in the early evening before they got too crowded, but later they were full of people smoking with their cigarretes hanging over the food - which tends to not make it so appetizing. I have always enjoyed Basque food and culture, especially growing up in Nevada with all the Basque restuarants, so I was disappointed. Embarassingly we ate at McDonalds a few times - though I have to say, McDonalds did taste much better there - not sure if it was because we were desperate or their quality was better - maybe a bit of both. Bilbao in particular is known for its fine restaurants, so I hope I get to go back there someday without 100,000 people in town for a festival, so we would have a chance at getting in to try some local dining. We did have a few excellent meals though and we certainly didn't starve.

And then, there was the driving. Lots of it and at times quite scary. One time in particular, going around a tight curve with a big truck coming at us, I thought we were dead for sure. I had to pull closer to the mountain on the tiny shoulder to avoid it. There was one point in the trip where my right arm and shoulder just gave up and demanded to be rested. It could have been much worse though - one thing they have done is build a number of different tunnels, one 7 miles or so long, that cut through the mountains and spit you out on the other side. Without that and what definitely looked like brand new roads in a few places, it might have been a much more grueling trip. Because of insurance, I was the only one who could drive the car - ironically when we turned it in it turned out they had put it on the wrong credit card - so thankfully I did not get hit by the truck or anything else during the trip.

All the pictures are here, and I will continue blogging on about some of the more interesting places we saw during our trip.

Film Four is Free

That is what the adverts say. I had never watched film four before it was free, so I don't know if I ever paid for it.

Anyway, I digress. I was just watching Four Weddings and a Funeral on Film Four, which was much better than I remember, even if I do not like Andie McDowell.

Irritatingly, there were commercials on during the programming - I guess that is why it is now free. They have to pay for those fancy commercials with Ewan McGregor, Judy Dench and Willem Dafoe after all. Those of you who do not live in the UK (which is likely all of you who read my blog) are probably very confused by now, so I will try to get to the point.

Many of the advertisements were promoting the next feature, A Clockwork Orange, which they billed as another in their series of films to see before you die. I thought to myself, well, not sure I fully agree with that, but I would like to see a list of other movies I should see before I kick it.

Unfortunately, no such list exists. But I did find this site instead. It is really interesting to see what Brits fancy versus Americans. If you look at the list of comedies, the AFI list doesn't have any Monty Python in their top 20; yet the British one has two in the top ten. And only the English would have Shaun of the Dead make such a list. Ok, it is very funny - but number 3 of all time? The list of the ultimate film is particularly puzzling to me. The first four are relatively expected, but Spring in Park Lane? Has anyone outside of Britain heard of that?

It's definitely amusing - though the 100 sexiest moments is a bit disappointing. I think it needs visuals.

Ye Old Cambridge

I lived in Cambridge, near Boston, for a summer a few years ago, and while I was there and afterward, I always had people getting it confused with Cambridge in the UK.

For instance I would say something like, I really like Cambridge, it is the perfect college town, and people would say, yes, it is a beautiful English town. And I would say, oh no, I mean Cambridge, outside of Boston...and they would say, oh, huh. Which always struck me as weird, in the US anyway. Of course I expect it living in London.

So we finally went there to check it out. It is certainly much older than the Massachusetts version. Some of the colleges date back to the 1200s or earlier. It was tough to really see a lot of the different campuses as they were closed off for the summer. I guess probably at all times of the year they don't especially like looky-loo tourists wandering about when people are trying to go to class. We did follow an open door though and walk around the interior of Queen's College, which was really beautiful. It must be distracting to try to study somewhere that is so amazingly old (I also wonder how comfortable it is - with the low ceilings and probably lack of proper air conditioning/heat).

We also went for a lovely punt on the River Cam. It looks pretty big in all the pictures, and you get this romantic image of gliding along a la Venice with your own private punter, but it is not really all that. For one thing, the river is full of punters - both literally and figuratively - many of them amateurs with a case of beer or bottles of champagne in tow, you can hardly go a few yards without one of them running into you. It is also rumored that if you fall in, you can get Cam Fever, a flu-like illness that can only be diagnosed and treated by local doctors. Luckily, we opted for a chauffered punt ride vs getting our own.

We shared our punt with another couple and a group from Taiwan. Luckily we were right under the guide so we could hear what he was saying. He got a bit frustrated over the din of the chatty Taiwanese and a few times asked them if they were planning to listen. I don't think they heard. The river is not really that long either. But the cruise gives you a great view of the Backs - like it sounds, the backs of all the old colleges - something you cannot see at all on foot. We also saw some of the most modern and ugly buildings on the river, brought to us by the inventors of Velcro.

We also climbed to the top of St Mary's, saw and heard the Bells, and got a spectacular view of the entire town.

The rest of the town was a bit diappointing - probably made worse by the throngs of tourists. We went looking for a nice place to eat, but all we found was a mall with a bunch of chain shops including a Subway.

All and all, I have to say I like the Boston version of Cambridge better - not as old, but a nicer town and certainly with better restaurants. And, of course, better proximity to the Red Sox.

All the photos are posted here.

Home of GMT

As usual, I haven't blogged in a while so I have a few pent-up posts from some new places I have seen recently. I'll start chronologically with the one closest to home, Greenwich.

Greenwich is pretty much the home of time. Greenwich Mean Time, to be exact. Running right through the town is the Prime Meridian, where every new day starts first, with the stroke of midnight GMT. There are lots of photo opportunities with clocks and standing on the line itself (you can find the requisite photos here.)

But other than the clocks, there is also a really interesting museum and exhibit at the original Royal Observatory, which eventually had to move further away from London because of the brightness of the city lights. And like most museums in London, it's free.

Oswiecim

I wanted to keep this post separate from my trip to Krakow, because I do not necessarily want to mingle my emotions in that way. Poland does not deserve to be treated this way.

Anyway, on the Saturday of my weekend in Poland, I went on an organized tour to Oswiecim, a small town about an hour outside of Krakow, and better known to the rest of the world by its German name, Auschwitz.

I joined a bus load of folks from my hotel early in the morning and we did the usual tour thing - picking up other folks along the way then grouping together at a major hotel to split up. Some were going to the salt mines, others on a city tour, but by far the most people were on their way to see Auschwitz. On the bus I sat next to a nice Irish guy and together we watched a depressing hour long documentary about what we were about to see. While that was grim in itself, I am not sure anything will compare to the rest of the day.

We started by walking through the gate, which in German says, Work will Set you Free. What an ironic way to enter such a place. The main part of Auschwitz, also known as Auschwitz I, is a a lot of original brick buildings that have been set up as a museum to educate folks on certain aspects of the experience. There were basically two distinct kinds of experiences at the camp - the prisoners, who were brought there to work, and the Jews, who were brought there to be exterminated, and we learned about both.

I guess at the beginning the first residents were mostly Polish political prisoners, after Germany invaded and occupied Poland. Once the first prisoners were there, they built up the camp - chasing away the nearby neighbors, destroying their homes, and using the materials to build parts of the camp. By moving out the surrounding townspeople they were able to create a buffer around the area, effectively isolating it from the rest of Poland and protecting it from outsiders. Remarkably, of the700-odd Poles who originally came to the camp, about 200 survived the entire 4 years it was in operation, I guess because they got the most cushy jobs and became indispensible to their captors.

Soon the other prisoners came in - basically anyone who was different, artists, gays, Jews, gypsies, etc. At first they were photographed and well documented, even though the average lifespan after arriving was about 3 months. We saw many photos of these folks on the wall of the museum. Then, because photos were so expensive, they started tattooing the people instead. In addition they had to wear little symbols identifying them - such as the pink triangle for homosexuals.

A lot of these prisoners were further tortured and/or executed, and we saw the building where they were put in starvation cells, made to stand all night long, or simply shot in the yard for their supposed crimes.

After Hitler ordered the final solution, Auschwitz became the main center of the mass extermination of the Jews. At Auschwitz I, we visited the first of their experimental gas chambers, where about 70,000 people were summarily executed. It was a really creepy feeling to go in together and see the gas outlets on the roof, and the furnaces where people were stuffed in and cremated afterward. Of all the gas chambers, this is the only one that still exists. The Nazis realized they had to hide the evidence, so they blew the others up before the Russians liberated the camp.

Once the mass extermination started, the Nazis were less careful about documenting who arrived and who stayed. They tried to keep as little record as possible about who came in to Auschwitz for this purpose.

And came in they did, from all over Europe - as far away as Greece - more than a days train journey, without food, water or sanitary facilities. One of the most horrifying things to me is that some of these folks actually bought tickets for the journey - thinking they were moving somewhere to start a new life. They were allowed to bring 25kg with them - so they brought only their most valuable and precious things they needed to live, photos, jewelry, kitchen equipment, etc. I couldn't help thinking of my own journey on Ryan Air and my baggage limits.

The main part of the camp where the exterminations took place was at nearby Birkenau, or Auschwitz II. There were 300 barracks there and the remains of two large crematoria, as well as the original railway tracks where the victims arrived. We walked the same path as the condemmed did. Basically when they got off the train, a Nazi doctor evaluated those who could work vs the many who couldn't. One line walked to the gas chambers, while the other entered the main part of the camp. We walked the gas chamber side and saw the blown up remains of one of the main extermination points.

One of the creepiest things was the weather. When we got to the ruins of the gas chamber/crematorium, we started to hear rumbles of thunder. Then when we entered one of the original brick barracks, there was more ominous thunder and it started to pour. It was almost like someone was making as statement.

Our tour guide was a young Polish girl whose sad eyes expressed the horror of everything she described to us. I can't imagine how she can do that every day.

I did not take many pictures - you were not supposed to take pictures inside, though most people did. I tried to be respectful.

Almost a week on, it is still difficult for me to get much of this visit out of my mind. When I imagine what it must have been like to live in that time, I can't help thinking that if I was in Poland at the time, probably a lot of my friends would be sent to a place like Auschwitz. After all, most of my friends fall into these categories: artists, intellectuals, political dissidents, homosexuals, Jews. I have always gravitated towards the fringe without really going to far into it myself. But because I am really more conservative - what would have happend to me? Would I have been sent too? Would I have had the courage to fight back and to fight for my friends? It is all very disturbing to think about. Luckily my ancestors left Poland and Hitler was defeated.

Polish Weekend

I am trying to be slightly more timely with my posts - it is tough to write much about a trip when it was a month ago. This weekend I went to Krakow for my first solo weekend break. I figured since I have been here a year, it is about time I went to Poland. I am Polish after all.

One of my customers has an apartment in Warsaw and an old farm in the countryside and he spends most of the summer working from there, going to the office during the week and spending weekends on the farm with the family. I had heard him talk about it a couple of times now, including a couple of weeks ago, so I decided it was time to go check out Poland. So last week, I booked a package on lastminute.com and away I went.

This was my first cheap airline experience here in Europe. I had heard some horror stories about flying the budget airlines, but for the most part my experience was fine. I flew Ryan Air from London Stansted. They have very tight luggage restrictions - 10kg for hand baggage, 25kg for checked baggage - and basically if you check a bag, you pay a handling fee. I bought a cute little bag especially designed for the tight restrictions, and even weighed it downstairs at the gym before I left. It was perfect - 7.4kg and it fit in that funny little cage they have at the check in counter. It was funny - I did not see much fuss checking in at Stansted, but when I came home yesterday they were really hassling folks at the airport in Krakow. I got the tag of approval though.

The only annoying part of my flight (both legs) were the drunken (or soon to be drunk) groups of Brits going for their stag weekends. I guess it is a very popular place for cheap drinking vacations. And not surprisingly, when one beer is the equivalent of 70p. And its mighty good beer as well. I had several Zwieckes - though I cannot pronounce them I could drink them without a problem. There were many parties of these guys in my hotel too. I think I heard retching on Sunday morning. Yum.

When I first arrived Friday night - I have to say I was less than impressed. I took a taxi from the airport and mid-way noticed that he hadn't put on the meter. I had read in Time Out that a cab ride should cost between 30 and 60 zlotys based on the integrity of the driver. Well mine charged me 65, and then only gave me 30 zloty back from my hundred in change - assuming i meant to tip him extra on top of his rip off fare. I just let it go, because it is really only about 10 pounds, less than I would pay for most taxi rides around here. But I was disappointed to be immediately ripped off by one of my own brethren. Luckily, that did not continue and everyone else was on the up and up for the rest of the trip. Then, my hotel, the Chopin, was kind of a ways out of the town center, about a good 15-20 minutes walk rather than the 'steps' away as it was advertised, so after walking around for a while in the dark Friday night, I gave up on having a decent dinner, so I just had a drink in the hotel bar and went to bed.

The next day in the daylight I ventured out into the nice part of the town, and it was much, much better. The main market square is a combination of historic buildings, churches, modern shops, restaurants and bars, and is crawling with people at all hours of the day. The buildings surrounding the market in the old town are beautiful and colorful, reminiscent of Prague but nicer I thought. The nicest part of the city, I thought, was the lovely green belt that runs from the Wawel Castle to the train station, with a quaint shaded path and clear directional signs to all the major sites in the area. Very tourist friendly, especially in the stifling heat when I needed a cool path to walk. It seems locals and tourists alike spend a lot of time downtown.

Most everyone speaks English, but I did try to do a bit of Polish. It wasn't so bad. After all I do know that a W is pronounced like a V. Particularly amazing to me was a waitress who effortlessly switched from Polish to Engligh to German based on the customers in our little area, without any trace of accent.

Besides the yummy beer, I practically ate my weight in pierrogies. Mmm...spinach, cabbage and mushroom, and ruskie style - potato, cheese and grilled onions. Luckily I cannot get them all the time in London or I would eat them every day here as well.

Pictures from Krakow are posted here.