Bar-the-lo-nah!

Janet and I had a weekend off. So, we decided to go on a mission in search of good weather. After surviving the one big snowstorm that we have had in Germany this year we needed some time at the Ocean. We are a coastal people and we really dig places where saltwater meets the sand... or something to that effect.



Plus Janet wanted to hear a language that she was familier with, for once.

So we took a flight out to Barcelona.

When we landed it was pouring rain.
Damn

We decided to rent an apartment instead of stay in a huge hostel dormitory. We got to the agreed meeting place below the flat which sat between two small cafes and promptly waited for 20 minutes staring at everyone who walked past assuming them to be the room renter. Eventually Chris showed up on a Vespa. He was an American who was living in Barcelona and it turned out he was from Olympia, Washington. We began chatting and Janet and I told him what we were doing with our time and he told me some stories about a women's field hockey team he helped coach that was both amateur and semi-pro. I later quizzed him about cool places to go and eat in Barcelona and he happily pulled out an enormous map and began writing all over it for us. Unfortunately, we were unable to follow his advice on where to go to eat, but I will get into that later.

After we said goodbye to Chris and moved into our room we promptly passed out. We woke up a couple hours later and decided to walk 1 block down to Las Ramblas in search of culture and food. Las Ramblas for those who don't know is a long street full of outdoor vendors and lined by shopping on either side. As you head southeast (downhill) you notice the colors and smells cast by the famous flower shops that have been operating for decades and also that there are markets and shops placed in the interstitial spaces all down the road. Janet and stepped into the open air market that boasted fresh fish that could rival Pike's Street Market in Seattle, wonderful fresh produce, and a collection of gummy treats and chocolates that the shop owners practically force down your throat, hoping for you to buy. After an hour of walking around, our appetites got the best of us and we dove in to the first place serving a reasonably priced Paella dish. I went for the seafood Paella and Janet tried a black bean special and we shared a bottle of wine to celebrate the start of our mini-vacation and the crap weather we had flown into.

The next morning, the sun rose overhead and it was simply beautiful outside (18 degrees C ~65F). The sun was shining and Janet and I were excited to go exploring. Janet had been to Barcelona before, her sister actually had studied abroad at the University of Barcelona and she gave us some great pointers for our visit, thanks Michelle! We decided to hit a grocery store near Placa Catalunya and pack a lunch, which comprised a baguette, some turkey, chips, 3 liters of water and a large container of tzatsiki... which in Janet's opinion could be the world's perfect condiment. The weather was so nice that we decided (perhaps with hubris) to walk the entire way. I had purchased a guidebook the previous night which suggested we could start a tour at the University and finish up at Park Guell, which is precisely what we did. The University is tightly packed into a large city block and was a surprisingly narrow facade, covering roughly one city block. We briefly walked inside and toured the campus. As you walk inside you instantly notice the vaulted ceilings and the classrooms that surround a central quad area.

You can actually walk through the quad into the rear part of campus with a beautiful and calming garden that offers a quiet place to eat lunch or grab a coffee and serves as home to I would estimate over 50 cats.


We unsucessfully searched for a bookstore and then continued on our tour down the huge thoroughfair Gran Via de las Cortes Catalanes and passed by the Placa Tetuan and the Placa de Braus Monumental (the only Modernist Bullring in the world), en route to the Sagrada Familia.


From the bullring, we progressed uphill towards the world famous Gaudi-influenced Cathedral, the Sagrada Familia. For those who are not in the know, the Cathedral has a Nativity (eastern pictured here) facade, a Glory (yet to be completed and southernmost) facade, and a Passion (western) facade.
The Romanesque Cathedral has 18 towers dedicated to the 12 Apostles, the 4 Evangelists, the Virgin Mary, and for Jesus. Antonio Gaudi, certainly Spain's most famous Architect was the chief designer for over 40 years. The building has been under construction for nearly a century and they hope to complete construction by the 100 year anniversary of Gaudi's death in 2026. The Cathedral is massive in scope and as Janet and I noticed that each of the walls, pillars, and archways seem to become infinitely more detailed as you approach. My eyes glazed over as I attempted to search for the details describing the Nativity scene and I looked towards the cubist influenced towers that shoot into the sky making this an unmistakable landmark in central Barcelona. After snapping a few photos we walked inside to see the incredible stained glass windows and the nature-inspired columns that support weight as tree limbs hold up a treehouse. We then donated our two euros each to take the elevator to the top (they do not allow you to walk the 170 steps to the towers at this point) so we could take photos of the Glory facade up close and take in the panoramic view of Barcelona.
We would not be able to make it up the hill to Montjuic (I apologize for my lack of accented characters) so this would be our one opportunity to be up high and look out to the coast line. Once we were finished fooling around taking photos during our descent we walked around to the more modern Passion facade and looked into the Gaudi Museum. I propose that the museum is a must see as part of the Sagrada Familia experience. Inside you can look at a scale model of the church and read about how Gaudi drew inspiration for design directly from nature.

Awesome.



After we finished we continued shlepping uphill towards the Hospital Saint Pau (after a Gelatto break, of course) and then on to the Park Guell.

It was a race against nightfall as we worked our way towards the Gaudi-designed public park. I apologize for the photo-quality, but you can get a taste of what it is like walking around in there. Apparently, the park closes to the public at 6 and a man with a cane barks at you to get the heck out of there if you are trying to get in the entrance. He was hovering by the gate, but when he got distracted, Janet and I ran uphill and managed to walk around for about an hour or so. There were still locals jogging and walking with their dogs, so we didn't feel too badly about it, but when we randomly saw the guard later that night as we walked Passieg de Gracia, I'll admit it, I was a bit nervous... he was waving a cane around... and he was barking Catalan at me...

But, once we were in the park it became clear that Dr. Seuss and Gaudi were in on some sort of a deal. I fully expected the Lorax to come out and speak to me about the advantages of butter-side down toast. The entire park is tiered, which gives it incredible depth and at the entrance you see the first of many lizards, which have come to symbolize both the park and it seems Barcelona in general. Here Janet and some random dude pose for a picture. The park was built as a public work and the benches in the photo were ergonomically designed for people to sit in. Pretty cool! And a lot more accomomdating than most park and bus benches that I have sat in, to be perfectly honest. We took in the views until the sun finally set and at that point we opted out of taking public transportation (because we are a little insane) and walked through Gracia on the way towards some more Gaudi-designed buildings. Gracia is a wonderful little pocket of Barcelona that boasts wonderful shopping (we stopped in a lot of shoe-shops, not gonna lie) and cafes for grabbing a coffee and some good conversation.

Later on Passeig Gracia we stopped by and snapped nighttime photos of the Casa Batllo (I still can't pronounce it) and the apartment complex Casa Mila which both provide wonderful examples of Gauidi's work. By the end of a trip to Barcelona trip, you cannot help but acknowledge what a profound ability architects have to literally give shape to a city. You can clearly spot when buildings have been designed with Gaudi in mind, but for whatever reason, you can also identify when something is uniquely Gaudi... it really was a pleasure to witness work by a savant whose genius is as unique today as it was when he was alive.

It had been an incredible day and Janet and I decided to dine on Passeig Gracia at a seafood restaurant that looked appealing. Unfortunately, this decision limited the rest of our trip because I think that I got a little food poisoning from my Dorada and potatoes dinner. The food tasted great on the way in... I will leave it there.

The next day, I wasn't in the best of spirits but the weather was amazing and Janet and I were determined to see the beach. For the whole day my diet consisted of Sprite. I am sure my Mom can attest to just how impressive that is.

In my state we were able to stop by La Catedral and then made a beeline for Port Olympica, which was built up for the 1992 Olympics. We made it to the water and were hanging out and I walked back to a hostel for my umpteenth bathroom break and Sprite. I walked back to the coast and there was Janet chatting with two Microsoft software engineers who were sipping on 1 euro boxed Sangria, on break from a nerd conference being held nearby. I swear to God, we met Michael Bolton and Samir Nagaheenanajar from Office Space... classic.

I went down to the water and it felt amazing to be at the ocean again... I did get a little soaked though when I went in to grab a plastic bag that someone had let fly in to the water... no good deed goes unpunished.

Our last night in Barcelona was pretty uneventful. Janet ate, I got through a few bites of a sandwich, and we went to sleep, still tired from the first day when we walked easily 12 kilometers through hills for 10 hours.

All in all it was a wonderful trip and I thank you again for tuning in. Next time, I will be talking about Fastnacht... The German Festival that precedes Lent, which celebrates Schnapps, costumes, and littering!

Alex's Visit!

Okay, okay... so I have been busy. So busy in fact that I have totally neglected planet bloggery... again! But, there has been some cool stuff going down. To start, my friend Alex came for a visit. In short: He came, he saw, he ate more schnitzel then is humanly possible. He took a break from his third year of Law School to come see what life is like in Bühl--he enjoyed a few hefenwiezens, pilsners, and hell-biers, got to watch my team get dismantled by Russelsheim, the first place team in our league, and slept on my floor. Incidentally, the weekend he visited there were 10, count em, 10 people staying in our 4-bedroom apartment. Yes, we had a few adult beverages after we got embarrassed during the home game and got ourselves in trouble. Yes, our neighbors wrote a letter complaining to the landlord. No, we will not be throwing snowballs and fireworks off the balcony after midnight again... even if it is on a Saturday night.

It got a bit crazy to say the least.

A little background on Alex:
He was born on a warm August day 1979. He, like me, is the youngest sibling in a family of five. His eldest sister, Laura was in the same class as Kathleen (my sister) and Alex's middle sister Anna, worked at the Aquatic Center as a lifeguard with Kathleen. Alex and I met for the first time in Pre-first at Walnut Grove Elementary. I had just moved up to Pre-first from Kindergarten and he had taken a crack at first grade, but because he was the youngest kid in the class and a bit shy they decided to put him in the tweener class with me. On the first day he walked into class I invited him to sit down next to me. I was wearing a red Transformers T-shirt and we both were probably wearing some dirt from diving around on the asphalt at recess.
Alex and I hung out on and off growing up as we lived roughly one-mile apart—a long distance in the suburban neighborhoods when your friends tend to be determined geographically. But we were always friendly at school and competitive when we would play against each other in soccer and baseball. In Junior high, we even got to play together on a team (the A’s) with my older brother, coached by Alex’s Dad.
Fast forward a couple of years. Our junior and senior years in high school marked Alex’s political awakening and the crystallization of our friendship that has continued into our (dare I say it) adulthood.
In college I went to Davis and began my track searching for the meaning of life through volleyball and Alex headed out to Boston College. The commute did not deter our friendship and I managed to go out and visit a couple of times during undergrad and even spent the better part of a summer living with him in Boston. We have driven halfway across the states together, we have watched a ridiculous number of sporting events together, and we have even been confused for a gay couple (yeah… as if it happened just once). Now he is about to finish Law school at Colombia and sit for the Bar exam… crazy. Pretty soon I will have to grow up too and make a decision about whether I will go ahead and start grad/law school myself or if I will put it off for one more year of volleyball.

This photo pretty much sums us up. Note Janet's chagrin at her inability to pull us away from our conversation... Sorry babe:).

End tangent.

So, what did we do while he was here? Well, Alex’s agenda was not only to hang with me and Janet, eat several kilos of snausages, and drink his weight in beer, it was also a chance to briefly immerse in the language he studied in high school and explore the country that provides 50% of his heritage.

Alex arrived on a Thursday and we of course went out to celebrate.It was Pink’s birthday so we dressed up for the occasion and went down to our local the Quetch... I must say that we looked pretty dapper!



On Friday it was pretty cold and I had training at 6pm, so we were a bit limited in our activity. We decided to take a walk around Bühl and Alex took some amazing photographs off of our balcony at sunset.



Saturday was game day and although normally I try to stay mellow and take a nap mid-day, we decided to go to Baden Baden


so Alex could see the world famous home of the hot springs that lay only 12 kilometers from Bühl.

We walked around for a few hours and needed to grab a bit to eat so we stopped at the Lowenbrau restaurant near Leopoldplatz, the central plaza of Baden Baden.


This marked the beginning of Alex’s sausage and beer fest!



Here is a picture of me, Eduard and Vladimir preparing for serve receive. The match was well attended, but we were overmatched and lost in less then an hour 3-0… sorry Alex.




On Sunday we headed out to Munich on the train. We arrived late Sunday night and headed immediately to the Augustiner Beer Hall. The next morning we woke up early enough to get the free breakfast from our hostel and went on a free guided English tour of Munich.

Our tour guide, interestingly enough, was an American guy named Isaac who grew up in Wisconsin.Now he lives in Germany with his fiancé and is attending graduate school near Munich. Our tour lasted roughly 3 hours and it was great. He openly discussed the history of Munich (which derives its name from Monks—think Monaco) up to and including the Beer Hall Putsch and the rise of the Nazi party. It was a really well done tour and Alex, Janet and I were all excited to be able to learn so much about Munich’s history and pick up some facts about WWII. We walked around Munich and did some shopping for the rest of the day and went back to the Augustiner Beer Hall for dinner.

On Tuesday morning we walked about, visited Munich’s courthouse, and sampled some Gulasch for lunch. That afternoon we hopped back on the train and headed back to Bühl so I could make it to training. Wednesday morning, Alex and I rode the train together and I stopped in Karlsruhe to go to work and he continued on to Stuttgart to catch his flight. It was a short, whirlwind visit, but we were able to see some great sights together, learn a bit, eat a ton of sausage and drink a few beers too! Thanks again for coming out man… I can’t wait to go visit Manhattan!

I love Paris in the Wintertime!

Janet and I went to Paris for Christmas.I highly suggest visiting this wonderful city during off times of the year. The lines were short, the streets were reasonably empty and the metro allows you to avoid the cold while travelling underground.

We arrived on a Thursday after a rough day of travel. Normally it takes 1.5-2 hours by train to get from Buehl to Stuttgart. Unfortunately, we took perhaps the slowest train on record and sat on the track for over an hour. This made us have to sprint to the ticket office and through security to find out that there was no line whatsoever, and we ended up waiting at the terminal for a half an hour. It felt very military to hurry up and wait like that, but at least we got onto the plane, right? Anyway, during the flight, Janet started to feel under the weather and the poor girl was pretty out of it by the time we got to Charles de Gaulle. Fortunately, Janet's friend Gina had supplied us with a wonderful set of directions from the airport to our hotel (Thanks Gina~) and I was able to piece together enough French to find the ticket lines, purchase our Carney (10 pack) of Metro tickets, and find our hotel.

We stepped out of our Metro Station and I saw our first Parisian monument, L'Hotel des Invilides, which lay two blocks from our hotel. We could also see the lit up top of the Eiffel Tower as we walked in our neighborhod. We decided to take a nap and then go hunting for a late dinner. After a short walk up Rue Cler (a famous open-air market a few blocks from our hotel) we found a local resturaunt and sat for dinner. It was by far the smokiest restaurant I have ever sat in. We also shared one of the best meals of our lives in there--I had a venison cream stew served with a salad and rice... unbelievable... Janet had a similar experience with her French Onion soup! After the smoke-infused meal we decided to take a walk and found the Eiffel Tower and explored the night photography feature on Janet's camera. It was pretty windy underneath the tower (as you can tell from Janet's wicked hair-do.

The next morning (ahem, afternoon) we decided to have a culture day. We hopped westbound on the metro and 10 minutes later we were looking out over the Seine. From there, we turned, crossed the street, popped into Musee d'Orsay. I had been a little worried about long lines, but as I said, Paris was quite empty and we easily slipped in to the beautiful museum. For those who do not know, Musee d'Orsay was once a major train station in central Paris and it still has two massive clocks on its North-(Seine facing) facade. Some people (including Rick Steves) contend that Musee d'Orsay offers the most pleasing experience of all of the Parisian museums and I would certainly agree. The collection itself is breathtaking and includes many important impressionist pieces by Matisse, Manet, and Monet, as well as the post-impressionists Van Gogh, Henry Toulouse Lautrec, and my personal favorite Paul Gauguin. The vaulted ceilings, the luxurius and spacious layout, and the seperated impressionist section (which lies on the fifth floor) allows the museum-goer to enjoy the paintings and roman-esque sculptures on the main floor (pictured here)and then head upstairs for the impressionist "all-stars" wing. What was pretty entertaining about Janet's and my visit is that originally we were unaware of the scope of the impressionist wing. We spent about two hours on the first two stories of the museum and even went upstairs to look through the impressionist section, and then continued into the the gift shop. I noticed aloud that in the gift shop there were a rediculous number of Van Gogh prints, but wondered why we hadn't seen any in our tour. Janet and I simultaneously grabbed for the museum map and realized that we had skipped the crowned jewel of the museum. There were entire rooms dedicated to Lautrec, Monet, and Van Gogh, that we had skipped! We practically ran up the escalators into the halls and then spent another two hours in this section alone. Needless to say it was worth it and transformed what had been a very pleasant museum experience into my all-time favorite. Simply wonderful.

After we finished Musee d'Orsay we crossed the Seine, glanced over the Tuileries garden and walked over to the Louvre. After taking one look at the largest museum in Europe, we decided that we needed a to eat some crepes or we would die. One hour and two crepes later, we walked in the museum and bought tickets. While we were there we chose to take an English guided tour. I highly suggest it. In total, the tour took 90 minutes and walked us from the foundation of the "Castle of the Louvre" (the original walls of the castle built under Philip Augustus in the 12 century), up to the Grande Galarie, and eventually into the world famous Denon wing (which holds the Mona Lisa, among many other important pieces listed in "The Da Vinci Code"). We also were able to check out the roman-esque sculpture collection which includes Venus de Milo among others. After the tour, Janet and I were exhausted, but we powered through and walked all the way to the Place de la Concorde and then back to our hotel for a long night of sleep.

The next morning, I was feeling a bit under the weather and convinced Janet to sleep in. Although l'hotel des invalides was only 500 yards from our hotel, Janet and I decided to skip military history and instead go to the Rodin Museum. For those of you who don't know, the Rodin Museum Gardin is the single greatest museum deal in all of Paris. For only 1 euro you can walk the grounds, which contain more then 20 pieces by the French modern master, including Penseur (The Thinker), Parcae (The Three Fates), and the massive La Porte de l'Enfer (The Gates of Hell). When we were cruising around, the temperature hovered around freezing, so we went ahead and spent the extra euros and went inside the hotel that sits on the grounds. Inside there were a number of wonderful displays (sorry no photos allowed) including a Van Gogh painting, and an in-depth description of the process behind casting bronze and marble statues. Very cool. After we finished with the house we checked out the gift shop and headed back home out of the cold. Us California kids do not love freezing weather!

On Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, Janet and I had made plans to meet with friends. This was the first time for both of us to spend Christmas away from home and away from family. Unfortunately, Janet's good friend Sim who actually lives and works outside of Paris, was quite sick and was unable to have visitors. A second bummer was that my friend (practically relative) Jenny Cornet also was in town, but her flight had landed on Christmas Eve and jetlag meant that she could not meet Janet and I at our planned time at the Tomb for the Unknown Soldier. So, Janet and I cruised Champs Elysees, did some shopping, and looked at l'Arc de Triomphe. Unfortunately, we were unable to walk up the stairs to the top because the monument had closed early on Christmas Eve, but it was really amazing to see just how enormous the structure is. Also at sundown there was some sort of ceremony were 12 people wearing official military uniforms playing bugle music were walking around and looking very serious. We watched for a while and I took a few crap photos using the night setting on Janet's camera but because of the wind it was friggen freezing out there and we left. We had dinner at a "Rugby bar". I had half a chicken and some Freedom Fries. Janet had a salad with mealie tomatoes... it was SUPER romantic, but our choices were limited late on Christmas Eve, so we took what we could get.

The next morning was Christmas! Janet and I had a very small gift exchange because most of the stuff we had gotten for eachother related to warm weather gear and was needed throughout the trip since the temperature was in the 20s (Farenheit). Janet and I agreed that the one place that was guaranteed to be open on Christmas was Paris's most famous church...Notre Dame. We slowly toured through the incredibly ornate cathedral, purchased one of those pressed coins, and then went hunting for food. We found a place called Quasimodo's and were served by a small, snooty French guy wearing a Santa Cap who had a sign taped to his back that said "I'm Quasimodo". He was kind of a wierdy. He seemed to like Janet a lot more then he liked me and actually asked her where she was from when I was downstairs in the restroom... smooth operator. Once again I ate the half chicken and Freedom Fries combo that is offered at every other bar and supplies perhaps the most food for your buck. After we left 'modo's' we walked around a bit and realized that there was an International Quarter just around the corner from the Cathedral filled with Greek, Thai, Persian, Chinese, and every other type of food you could possibly imagine. Understandably, Janet and I felt a little sheepish. Soon after our feelings of insecurity melted with every sip of hot chocolate and with each bite of the Palmier (a super-buttery pastry...mmm). I should note that this was in fact Janet's 4th dessert of the day... she was LOVING IT!

So that was about it... finally!

We had a wonderful time on the trip. We didn't get to hit several of the tourist attractions that we wanted to see (Montmartre and Moulin Rouge, Jim Morrison's grave, the Catacombs, etc.) and we somehow neglected to go up high on any of the tall monuments, but I would definately do that again!

Art, Booze, and Culture... The ABC's of Jolly London Town

So, in a rash of good judgement I agreed to go on a trip with Matty, Dante, and our newest team member, Mr. Andrew Pink, to visit London the first weekend of December.
We flew Ryanair into London Stanstead and took the ridiculously expensive train to Liverpool St. Station. The reason that we decided to visit London was that Pink's grandmother's house was available for the weekend and we could stay for free. I must note that even for people who currently earn euros, a visit to Britain is only affordable with free accommodation. I highly recommend it! So anyway, we took the Underground out to Pink's Grandmother's house in Southwestern London (Chelsea United Country) just beyond the Thames river and parked our stuff. It was there that I learned a few lessons of British culture:
1. Tea is served at all hours of the day... not just during tea time (4pm-ish). In fact, it was standard for us to consume between 5-10 black tea's per day. For those of you counting that woud be equivalent to between 15-20 cups of coffee per day.
2. Heinz baked beans, bacon, HP Brown sauce, and fried eggs are the greatest breakfast of all time--particularly when served with black tea and cooked by Mrs. Pink who uses a 1940's era open-flame gas oven. Imagine if you will, a nice chef's oven...now subtract the nice part... then imagine that these ovens without a lighting function were no longer produced after the 1960s. Got it? Then you can see why she burns toast if she is having a conversation while cooking in it.
3. On British television product placement is still illegal. Interestingly, there is a "The Price is Right" equivalent show. However, since the prizes cannot be name brand, all of the prizes are generic store items and are literally described as, "this is a tea kettle"... moreover, the announcer has to sound excited about it. There is no description of the 5 speed Seeley micro-Dust Buster. It would just be "a hand-held vacuum!"

I warn you, these entries are in alphabetical order (rather than chronological) so I could have a clever mnemonic device in the title...

I. Art
Although each night of this trip seemed to result in a trip to the Local (a bar called GJ's that sits roughly 2 blocks from Pink's Gran's house), the purpose of the trip was not just the advertised "four day drunk". In order to rationalise our trip and the brutal conversion to British Pounds, we decided to visit several museums and points of interest including: The Natural History Museum, The Tate Gallery, The Globe Theater,and the highlight of the trip, The Somerset House. If you have not been to the Somerset House, it is really an incredible gallery and it is well worth the 5GBP cover. Not only because you get to see a wall filled with beautiful impressionists including Manet, Monet, and the dot paintings of Seurat, but also because they are displayed so casually. Literally, you will just walk into a room of this old mansion and there will be four paintings well displayed, and then if you are looking carefully you will see hiding behind the door in the corner, a painting by Manet worth hundreds of thousands of pounds... ridiculous.

II. Booze
Night 1:
So, when we arrived on Thursday morning at about 10am, we got off the underground train and decided to skip the bus and walk to Mrs. Pink's house.Once we got to Mrs. Pink's house, she made us our first of six English Breakfasts we consumed in the four day period. Shortly after she fed us, she took off for the weekend to spend time with some friends, entrusting us with her place over the long weekend. Although we had a near-lockout incident, it fortunately turned out not to be a mistake.
So, I mentioned before that we were in Chelsea United country. Unfortunately, we were unable to get a tour in the stadium, but I picked up a fan scarf and got this sweet pic! Later that night we met up with a friend of Pink's, Anna, who met us at a pub near the stadium called The Slug. Reportedly, Thursday was the night to hang out there as it becomes "Coyote Slugly". After dinner though we decided to move on. We took the Undergound to Covent Garden, but we lost Dante who sprinted off because he was about to pee his pants. All he knew was that we would be at a pub called The Brewhouse near the Covent Garden exit. There we met up with a Stag Party where each member dressed in a fantastic costume (according to Pink, this actually occurs pretty frequently). It was straight out of a Jay Leno skit. Every minute or so a new guy would walk into the bar. First came Shrek. Then came Donald Duck. .Then came the Bavarian in Lederhosen, Followed quickly by the strongest Snow White I have ever laid eyes on... Matty was getting a bit fresh with her, but she didn't seem to mind.

We hadn't found Dante, but it became time to find the next bar. We took about ten paces and saw it... The only Canadian Bar in London. We had to go in. Thirty minutes later, Dante strolls in with a Santa Cap on.

Although Anna had to work the next day, the night went on in celebration of Dante randomly spotting my reflective jacket in the one bar that was showing live Hockey in London. The final push of the evening took us to a club called Tiger Tiger, where apparently, many reality TV stars were hanging out. I will spare you the details, but Dante was clearly the winner of the night! Congrats Dante! We made it home at roughly 5am and made the decision at that time that we were not going to cook breakfast the next morning and instead we would head half a block to a local breakfast establishment... in our states, it was the best choice we have ever madeDon't bother telling me how good I looked--I was there!

There were two other nights where we went out. The first night pretty much set the tone. On the second night, to Pink's chagrin, we started at an Australian Bar but inevitably wound up at the Local. On Sunday, we watched Chelsea United dominate a match against London rivals Arsonal, but barely manage to tie 1-1. Chelsea hit the goal post on 5 separate occasions, Arsonal scored in the 77th minute and Chelsea managed to equalise in the 85th on a wonderstrike by Michael "The Bison" Essien. Needless to say, the fans were relieved and the night was a good one. There truly is no football like English Premiership football, in my humble opinion.

III. Culture
Our trip lasted four days. We used day two to visit the main sights: Big Ben, Parliament, Buckingham Palace, The Millenium Bridge, Tower Bridge, Westminster Abbey... you get the picture. Pink was a wonderful tour guide and managed to inject little tidbits of useful information about the sights. One story in particular occurred in the barracks outside of Buckingham palace. Apparently, a friend of Pink's grandfather was in the military in spite of the fact that he was vertically challenged. In the barracks, the primary activites outside of guarding the queen were darts and beer drinking. In order to give him a hard time (in true to British form), his buddies built the pint shelf at a height over 7 feet, just high enough not to reach. Needless to say, for the next few years when he played darts his pint sat on the ground... bad luck. It is strikingly similar to some of the pranks my teammates play on yours truly, since I am the munchkin of the group. (sigh)

On the last morning we woke up at around 4:30am to take a cab to the Liverpool Street Station. From there we took the tram to a packed Stansted Airport and narrowly made it to our flight in spite of the fact that we arrived at the airport at 6:30 for a 7:45am flight. Airport security in England has become insane, and apparently, even the Monday morning pre-dawn flights have been affected. Crazy. But, we all made it home alive and in time to nap before training the following Monday. Be sure to tune in again for a description of Janet's and my trip to Paris, and a much-needed volleyball update. Until then, in the words of Ron Burgundy, "you stay classy, world!"