Spring Vacation, 2013

Another Lovely Wife™ video production of our trip.  Much nicer than my photo albums, but it does not contain my urbane, witty commentary...
A link to a movie from our trip. (Warning, its 13 minutes... Sorry).

http://vimeo.com/64995955

Hope you enjoy.

I love New York...Especially In the Evening!

It was the Lovely Wife's™  first visit to New York, and the city lived up to its reputation.  We walked our asses off but had a grand time!

You need more than three days, but we gave it out best shot.  From the Staten Island Ferry dock at Battery Park to The Met, and all the highlights in between...

                                           An Affair To Remember Where Harry Met Sally.

Where to next?

The Nation's Capitol

While driving up I-95 from Rocky Mount to DC, we passed many Quebec license plates.  Must have been the snow birds migrating north.

A tip about car rentals in DC - if you ever have to drop off a car, DO NOT plan on doing it at Union Station!  The rental return ramp is not marked and if you miss it, you have to circle the station and deal with all the traffic!  Sheesh.

Here are a few photo's of our stay, captions included of course.

Just to add interest, here is a video from atop the Newseum - highly recommended.  It is conveniently located next to the Canadian Embassy:

And here is a shot of me next to the OC Register Pulitzer Prize winning photo.  I did not take it, but my magic made it look great in the Newspaper, before color was as common as it is today.

LA Olympics, 1984.

Rocky Mount, NC - 21st Century Mayberry

Just returned back from a jaunt along I-95, from NC to DC to NY. Had little to no time for updates or postings.  Covered a lot of ground in 9 days.  For my non-Facebook followers, here are a few pictures of the North Carolina segment.

After a red-eye to Raleigh, landed in what felt like a hurricane, then drove about an hour to Rocky Mount, NC. Beautiful country side and while I have no problem with 90% humidity - not so for Cathy - I would need to get used to having allergies, I think!
There was enough pollen falling from the strangest Pine Trees that I think I could have used it for a base for a stew! It completely covered our rental car in just a few hours. 

Enjoy the sounds of the Tar River.

London, con't.

Actually, this is the start, as the previous post explained.  Here is the start of our Journey to see Bennett, Carolyn, and Hugh!

Got a ride to the airport from a friend at work - thanks, Mark.  Cathy road the Disneyland Express to LAX.  At check-in, upgraded to a seat with a little more leg room - or knee space as Virgin Atlantic calls it.  What a good call!

Went for a drink at The Endevour Restaurant, that funky structure at LAX that many people think is the control tower.  The recent re-do is nice, although after all that time, you would think they could have also done the Lift (sorry, speaking London now).
Has anyone ever heard of Plane Watchers?  Me either.  The two blokes we met from Manchester had visited 11 cites in 12 days.  Well, actually 11 airports.  They liked LA because of the restaurant has great views of the take-off and landing of every flight.
They record the tail registration numbers; then when home they update their database and look for planes they have seen before - and where.  Some people collect stamps…

Flight was fine. Slept a little, watched Bridesmaids - good, not great; started out slow for me, but got better.  And a dark British Comedy called The Guard, also good.

Landed in London without a problem.  Terminal 3 in Heathrow is another story.  With local cutbacks, the average wait time at customs is 60 minutes.  We were more like 90 minutes.  Our ride from the airport had to wait two hours for us.  Thankfully he waited!  Thank you, Carlos.

We left Friday night, arrived Saturday afternoon (10 hours flying plus 8 hours over PDT) and it is now Tuesday morning.  Saturday evening was a quiet evening with the Sanderson’s, a nice local pizza from Princess Di’s favorite place, some wine and cheese and then off to sleep to try and adjust to the time change.

Next day was a full day of walking, taking in the sights and sounds of London. Through Hyde park, past castle’s, through SoHo, Covent Garden, and several other places whose names I now forget (it is already Tuesday morning, local time).
The National Gallery is an amazing museum of paintings - for our OC friends, saw a few Pageant of The Master’s artworks! Enjoyed the food there for a light lunch.  Unlike most museum food, this one is quite good, and reasonably priced.  Worth doing.

On this walk, we also experienced our first ride in the double-decker bus.  Thankfully, the Brits have come to their senses and are bringing them back.  Not only are they cool to ride in, they look great and work perfectly on the narrow streets here.  Those long, extended buses just don’t work.

At some point we made it back to the house, had a nice dinner at home, bored the Sanderson’s with our stories some more until Hugh could not take it anymore and he went to bed!  Actually not true.  Unlike us, he is not on vacation, so he had to say goodnight as Monday morning would be here shortly and he had a job to be ready for. 
Around 10 PM, Cathy made a run across the street to Partridges.  They sell Hot Cross buns year-round in the UK.  Who knew.  Plus, they don’t sell English Muffins here.  They are simply muffins.

Monday, up early-ish.  Time to take the city tour on the Hop On - Hop Off DD bus.  Includes a bonus ride along the Thames, pronounced tems.  Once again thankful for the drivers and quite happy I did not foolishly think I could drive here.  Wrong side of the road, wrong side of car, other side of The Pond.  An Oyster Card is the 'pay as you go' way to go.

Next up, a ride on the Tube.  Will let you know how that goes.

Guided tour around the city is the way to go to see it all.  We hopped off for lunch on Fleet Street, at Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese Pub - Thanks, Terry.  Nice lunch of a Half w/ Fish and Chips.  Very British.  The place is old - people were not only shorter then, they had a tiny ‘arse’.  Could barely stay on the seat.

Back on the bus for a ride to the Tower of London pier to hop on a boat up to Greenwich.  We did not really have the time for a visit to Greenwich - it was getting late - but wanted the full ride along the Thames.  Beautiful waterfront these days.  Plenty new construction, while pieces of the history left in place, such as the original dock of The Mayflower - yep, THAT Mayflower.  Next to the Mayflower pub, no less.

At Greenwich, we did not venture far as we only had thirty minutes - but with our time pieces not having the correct time, we missed the first return boat.  How ironic, in Greenwich, of all places!  GMT, my ass.  Plus, the attendant was a bit of a pill.  Killed another 20 minutes and then hopped on the next boat. 

Finally, the threatening sky opened up and it rained like the Dickens for about 15 minutes - but we were prepared, so no harm, no foul.  Me thinks it might rain often in London.

Back on the 'hop on' bus, we learn that they won’t be taking us back to where we started - off season they shorten the day.  Time for a nice walk in the beautiful London evening.  We have a torn, soaking wet map, but we shall make our way!  This is the home of Churchill after all, so we shall endure.

It was a great walk, with nice assistance from a young lady living here only a year.  She confirmed we were going in the right direction.  Not sure where she was from, so I will just say North American.  Next, a stop at Nicolas for some wine.  Young French clerk was very excited to hear we were from Los Angeles - seems he has this thing for Venice Beach and since I work next door to Venice, he was quite pleased.

Finally made it home, after Cathy walking past Harrod’s and not going inside.  It had been a long day and we needed to get home to change and rest.  And what a nice home we returned to - the smell of  home cooking in the air!  Baked chicken and scalloped potato’s, and wine of course.  Time to go, the Queen called and would like to meet us.  More later.

Across the pond, London.

It is Wednesday evening here in London.  We arrived Saturday afternoon.  Have been trying to post something here to update anyone who cared.  Time is not only fleeting, it moves at the speed of neutrinos, sheesh!  I will follow this post with what I wrote yesterday morning.  Details of our first days here.  Cheers. 

Observations on Paris - the end; Taxis and the WSJ.

This column from the Wall Street Journal Weekend Edition reminded me that I did not post my final comment on Paris.

If you will be in need of a taxi in Paris in the morning – rush hour time – be sure and order it the night before. Otherwise you will be out of luck. We awoke early, hoping to get to the Montparnasse station early for breakfast before our mid-morning departure to St. Emilion.

When we asked the front desk to call us a taxi, the look on the woman’s face clued us in that we made a tactical error. In all of our reading and research, no one mentioned that everyone in Paris ordered a morning cab the night before. You would not guess it, but it seems there are not enough cabs to go around.

View from out taxi of a taxi.  Get it?

Our only option was our first metro ride. And we had our luggage to carry, during rush hour no less. To prove my point that the French have an unwarranted bad reputation, allow me to explain otherwise. The night desk person was just leaving, and going on vacation to Cyprus. He volunteered to walk us to the Metro station, and then he spoke to the attendant for us so we could speed through paying the fare. It was a very generous act of kindness, and although we thanked him profusely, I never got his name.

Thanks to him we made it to the train station with enough time for coffee and a shared baguette. I hope he had as good a vacation as we did.

Observations on Paris – Pt. 5

Want to ride the Metro or one of the trains? Watch your step. Some of the trains and Metro cars have either a big step over or quite a jump up/down to get on/off the car. Easy for the young, not so much for the young at heart, or the less agile.

Speaking of the Metro and the rail system, they are great. You can go almost anywhere in Paris by Metro and you are never more than a couple of blocks from one. Once you are in the subterranean netherworld, however, pay attention.

Many routes share the same tracks, so you need to know first what the final stop is on your line – there are 14 lines, numbered 1 through 14, oddly enough. They have nice color maps showing the routes, fairly easy to read. Make sure you are getting on the right direction, and then make sure you are on the correct line.

There are monitors showing which line will be arriving next, and how long of a wait. They usually show the next two lines and the ETA. Just try and remember to look at the sign on the front of the car as it enters the station, just to be sure. They have been known to arrive out of order.

Same goes for the RER train line. While fast and efficient, there are peculiarities that only a local would know.


Gare Bordeaux, France.

 On the Metro stations themselves, did I mention the, um, odor? Most prevalent is the urine smell. I know I don’t love the smell of urine in the morning – or afternoon or evening for that matter. Some are worse than others, but they all have something you will remember.

It appears many homeless live in the Metro stations, so when the weather is bad, I expect it might even be worse. Thus, taxis are also very popular, and most drivers are great, but like anywhere, some are better than others.

I am certain that there is elevator / lift access to all stations, I just did not see it at each one we used. So plan ahead if stairwells are an issue.

On the bright side, everyone uses the Metro, so you are in good company. No worry that you will ever be alone, or with only strange people.

Observations on Paris - Pt. 4

Some things that are okay in Europe - would not fly in North America. For example, you may have heard of their small buildings and hotel rooms. Also the small elevators, or lift as they call them, using the British term. One of ours was frightfully small. So small I was unable to stand sideways in our lift. Well, I could, but my shoulders touched the front and back wall. The lift restriction was 3 persons or 225 kg (about 500 lbs). Were I to live in Paris and eat like I did, I may not be able to share a lift with any one in short order.

Although the lift was an OTIS, I don’t think it would pass OSHA standards on this side of the pond.

It is also not easy to get around if you are disabled in Paris, and I don’t simply mean the cobblestone streets. Of course there are improvements for wheel chair access, and I don’t mean to say that they are not doing anything.

Because so many of the buildings are from the middle ages, there is only so much retrofitting that can be done. Many restaurant restrooms are in the basement, down very narrow stairwells, often curved, with tiny stair steps. Tough not only for handicapped, but rough on the elderly as well.

St. Emilion, France.

Observations on Paris - Pt. 2

Ahh, the French and their cigarette’s. Yes, many people smoke, but other than the butts along the roadside curb’s, it did not seem to bother me at all. Maybe because I am an ex-smoker.

But the streets are full of cigarette butt’s. And they have a unique way of cleaning it up in some locales. They open the floodgates of a water pipe at one end of the street street, letting the water flow like a wild river. Meanwhile, a city worker walks along with a broom/rake, aiding the butts along.  Then scooping them up and putting them in the green trash bag.

Effective, but not very ‘green’. Unless they are using the Seine River water, and recycling.


La Rive Seine by me.



Observations on Paris - Pt.1

‘Observations on Paris’ – things that they don’t tell you, or that need to be updated. These are not criticisms or critiques, really. Just random observations on things in Paris that make it what it is. And just to be clear, Paris can be fantastic. It can easily be hated by many people, but for those same reason’s, others often love it.

To that end, I will be periodically posting these observations. Feel free to post a comment, just play nice. And remember, I love Paris in the morning…
~
It is much dirtier than I would have expected. It must have been much worse when all the trash bins were removed. They were removed because they were being used by mean people to hide bombs.

There are more of these than there are Cafe's.

They have since been replaced by ‘green’ (get it?) transparent bags that are now ubiquitous. And people use them, but the city still has a seamy, gritty, dirty side that I had not expected.

And it is not just the multitude of cigarette butts on the streets.

The city does clean the streets and pick up the trash. At least in the tourist area’s. Sometimes twice a day, as you will find out when you sleep with the window open. They start very early in the morning – lucky for us we are morning people.

I actually think the trash collection and street sweeper is a government make-work program, but that is just me.

I have heard that dog droppings were a problem in the city. While we saw a few samples, and actually ran over one with luggage, it was not a big issue. We even saw locals picking up after their pooches.