Back in the states

The 8 hour flight is over! Now just a short flight that is usually under 4 hours to go.
The line through immigration was really, really, long and it took almost 20 minutes to go through. Then it was over to wait for luggage, pick that up, then on to customs with another line, then drop the bag back off at Delta and into another 10 minute security line. Into the Delta Sky Club for a double espresso to keep me going until i get on the plane.

On the plane for flight to the US

7/23/11 09:00 Amsterdam

On the plane in Amsterdam and the flight attendant is coming around taking pre-flight meal orders, the man in the window seat on the other side of the aisle tells her he does not want any food because he is feeling sick. Airlines are very sensitive about bringing sick people to another country. So now because he is a dumbass he has the potential to get tossed off the plane and put on a flight tomorrow. He has talked to the flight attendant, purser, and now the captain -says he has a sensitive stomach and this happens to him all the time, he will be better when he gets home. Well if it is not unusual then be quiet and don't cause a scene.

Finished the trip with a flourish

Had a great last day and an excellent time for my last night in Amsterdam- got to bed at 4:00am and then up at 6am for the ride to the airport. Sitting in the KLM lounge and hoping I do not fall asleep and miss my flight this morning. There is a small pub across the dock from our boat and we spent the last three nights visiting there with last night being the best and closing it out this morning. This sounds like a setup to a joke but there were 3 Irishmen on holiday, a local Dutchman, a transplanted Scotsman, an ex-pat American who has spent the last 12 years in Russia and then South Korea, and myself. The Irishman were having a grand time of it- problem is you could not understand half of the stuff they were saying, but they were laughing and kept themselves in stitches.

Had great evenings here drinking fresh Heineken on tap and making new friends.

(check back this evening for more pictures- slow connection here in the KLM lounge)


Started the day with an omelete and a  pancake a the "Pancake Corner"- only it was not so much a pancake as it was a crepe but it was still good.  Also on the menu were Brussel waffles vs what in the states think of as Belgian waffles.

Spent the day walking the city again with a couple of trolley rides thrown in as needed.

Toured the Van Gogh Art museum which was incredible for both the history and the art work on display.

Had lunch at Beems Brasserie with an excellent Kobe beef burger and a Warsteiner bier.

After lunch visited the "House of Hagenius"- a 180 year old purveyor of fine cigars and pipe tobacco.  Of course it is also a museum, it really seems that everything here is a museum of one sort or another. Must get a tax break if they call themselves a museum.

Walked the red light district (during the day) which was hysterical when you realize that in the midst of it is a large catholic church. The shops stores and of course "window" fronts were quite amusing, definitely glad visited this area during the day as I can only imagine what it is like at night.

Finished the official touring part of the day with a boat ride on the canals and went under bridges where the boat cleared by inches- both at the roof level and on the sides- very impressive handling of the boat by the captain.

We had a very eclectic dinner on the boat of shimp, salmon, cheeses, crackers, and olives.  I needed to finish up a couple of Heineken's while Julie had work to do on a bottle of red wine.

Incredible trip.  Will begin working on slide shows for posting on the way home- maybe- after I get some sleep.  Who knows, I may finally get some sleep on a flight.

Birthday in Amsterdam

I had a great birthday, walked all around Amsterdam today with Julie (about 6 miles worth) with frequent stops at sidewalk cafes for Heineken replenishments.  The architecture and canals are really beautiful and the people are so friendly and as Julie noted the waitress at dinner sang Happy Birthday to me in Dutch.  Stopped at the pub across the street from the boat we are renting and the bartender bought me a shot of Jameson's and Julie and I a round of Heinekens. She remembered us from yesterday when we had dinner there and waved to us as we walked by- so of course we had to be polite and stop in.
There are so many bicycles in Amsterdam it is truly mind boggling, they have so many that it is a problem with parking.  They have special bike parking barges and underground bicycle parking garages along with just streets filled with parked bicycles.  They ride them year round- during rain and snow as for most people it is their only mode of transportation other than the excellent buses and trolleys.

View with morning coffee from the fantail of the boat on the canal

The central train station

Homes along one of the canals

Homes along one of the canals

Commemorating the original Santa Clause who was a cardinal here 

The royal residence

The flower shops are on the left and a bike barge on the right

No vehicle traffic, only bikes and trolleys

Boats along one of the canals

The architecture is beautiful

Houseboats lining the left side of this canal

Sunset at 9:30pm, does not get fully dark until about 10:30pm

Morning from Amsterdam

Woke up to the sounds of waves splashing against the boat, took my morning coffee and sat on the fantail and watched the city and river come awake. A good start to the day.

Lunch in Brussels, Belgium

We took a detour into Brussels to have lunch and do a drive through the city.

Having lunch at Les 7 Saveurs in Brussels, going to have the Big 7 cheeseburger meal which is a cheeseburger, frites, and coke zero.
The city itself is very old world with all the trolley's going down the center of the street and the rows of apartments above the businesses at street level.

The hamburger was really a falaffal burger with a lot of spices, very good. The frites (French fries) were excellent.

You get a french fry fork so your fingers do not get greasy

Relaxing in Luxembourg

We Left Milano this morning about 11:00am and did a side trip to Lake Como- and sorry ladies we did not have any George Clooney sitings there. I can see why he would have a summer place there, beautiful area with incredible views. We sat by the lake shore and enjoyed a gelato and watched a seaplane take off and another one land about 15 minutes later.

Not sure what I have ever done to the Alps but we had rain for the whole drive through them again today. The big difference today though was that we took the more direct and less windy route versus the route taken by Hannibal. The route included a 17km tunnel that goes straight through a mountain at an elevation over 3000ft up. Still had many spectacular views and saw countless waterfalls that drop 100's of feet, just incredible.

Had lunch in a little town in Switzerland called Buochs on one of the lakes as we were taking a lot of backroads through little villages. When you leave Switzerland and keep heading north you weave back and forth across the German/French border many, many times. Often the only way you know which country you are in is based on the road signs- and even then you cannot be sure.

We stopped at a Pizzeria in Avolsheim France for dinner, very cute local place where everyone said hi to us when they were leaving. While we were having dinner the heaviest of the rainfall stopped which was really appreciated since we still had 4 more hours of driving. Needed to gas up the car so we pulled into a self service station that is open 24/7 but does not have anyone there in the evening, not a big deal except the machine would not accept foreign credit cards. Luckily a local resident pulled in to fill up her car, asked if she could help- which she did by reading the messages that were in French for us. She ended up using her credit card to purchase our gas and we then gave her cash. I have a very good impression of the French following this trip.

We made it to our hotel in Luxembourg at 11:30pm- long day of driving and eating. We ended up having 3 deserts today so it was a good day.
1- Gelato on Lake Como
2- a fruit type cake in Buochs
3- Tiramissou in Avolsheim

The tally for this trip is 7 countries and 2 principalities. We have driven over 1300 miles and crossed the Alps twice.

Breakfast in Luxembourg

Drove through the center of Luxembourg, very nice mix of old and new. Striking how clean the city is, and even though the buildings are old they look nicer without the grafitti that marred Milano.

Afternoon musings from walking Milano

Sitting in the Giusto Guto sidewalk cafe on the via Broletto. Sipped an espresso and a pastry- the pastries are everywhere and incredible. I have gone from eating very healthy in Tokyo- a lot of fish rice and vegetables to the car capital of the world. Finished the pastry and espresso and now enjoying a Cuban Cohiba Maduro 5 with an Italian beer Cisk XS, which is an extra strong beer at 9%.
Sites today included the Duomo Cathedral square- incredible detail on the cathedral.
The architecture in the city center is just breathtaking- the buildings have intricate detailing on them and you can spend hours on them alone. One thing that struck me though on the cathedral at Duomo was the graphic violence on the reliefs- boiling oil being poured over people, a man being clubbed, very spiritual.
We ended up walking 9 miles today and my ankle is letting me know it is not happy.

Mid morning snack- cannoli and espresso

Street view in Milan

Lunch- a little carb loading

Ice cream sandwich- Italian style

Milano Shopping center- tile floors, stained glass windows

Prada on one side and Louis Vitton on the either, luckily not my kind of stores

The cathedral at Duomo

The front of the church was filled with these types of happy carvings

Street view

Afternoon pastry time- along with a Cuban cigar and an extra strength Italian beer.

Walking Milano

Julie and I are sitting in a sidewalk cafe enjoying some pastries and espresso, the city looks much different during the day. It is a robust city, you can see the aging beauty coming through and picture how it looked in it's younger days. We are going to continue our walk to the the city and shopping centre, I am under strict orders from Julie to not let her go in any of the hundreds of shoe stores we are passing.

Drive to Monte Carlo in Monaco

After a lazy morning and leisurely breakfast we headed out on the road. Drove through the heart of Milano and I have to say that even though I realize it is a very old city- it is not aging well. Just looks and feels haggard and used.
By appearances I would not feel safe walking here at night- which is the total opposite of the areas I was in in Tokyo and Paris. My last night in Paris I walked around until 2am- ok maybe the last hour was at a pub, but I still walked back to the hotel and felt safe. Anyway, the drive to Monte Carlo......
The beginning of the drive is about 9 KM's through Milan to get to the main highway which is a beautiful toll road which takes you right into France and the doorstep of Monaco. Upside is you can set the cruise at 100mph and just go for the first 200 kilometers or so of the ride. Downside is the toll is 25euros or about 37 dollars- EACH way!
You drive through the mountains separating the coast from the interior and hit a peak elevation (for the road, not the mountains) of about 1300ft. As you come down the Mediterranean side you begin to have incredible views of the water and countryside. The final 50 kilometers along the waterfront is very interesting indeed as you are always 600-700 feet up in the air. The roadway is a four lane affair that is either a bridge or a tunnel blasted through a mountain. You are never at sea level for any of the drive, so they finally got me to slow down as I really do not like heights. When you come around a curve you see Monte Carlo laid out below you and you realize that the building you see far, far below you is a 40 story building- and you are more than double it's height up in the air on a tiny road. It is very similar to the road to Jerome AZ, where it is all switchbacks and rapid descents.
Monte Carlo has money. The boardwalk along the waterfront is paved with marble, or travertine tile- could not tell which it was. The streets were very clean, the

Dinner in Milano

Arrived in Milano shortly after 8:30 pm and got my first taste of driving in italian city traffic, i will say though that Boston driving has done a decent job of preparing me for this. One of the things I have noticed, first in Paris and now here is that most roads lack identifiable lanes, and even if they do they are mere suggestions and routinely ignored. it makes for very interesting drives, particularly at traffic light stops where you get the added bonus of motorcycles and scooters filling in whatever tiny gap there are between cars.
Dinner was at a local place a block from the hotel that offered a full range of items from pizza to full multi course dinners. Shortly after sitting down they deliver what at first looks like a pizza but it is covered with a little tomato sauce and herbs, we ordered a bottle of chianti which was served with another "pizza" with olive oil and herbs. To keep the carb fest going they deliver a basket of bread big enough for 4 people! Good thing we ordered pasta for dinner, would hate to spoil the carb load we have going on.
Disclaimer- we did have a BOWL of salad before the entrees were served. For dinner I had the thin pasta with shrimp and zucchini while Julie had the flat pasta with mushrooms. Both dishes were cry good, as was the Chianti.
Great day- three countries, one Principality and an exhilarating drive through the Alps. No wonder I fell asleep while trying to write my blog entries last night.

Day trip to Monte Carlo, Principality of Monaco.

After a lazy morning and leisurely breakfast we headed out on the road. Drove through the heart of Milano and I have to say that even though I realize it is a very old city- it is not aging well. Just looks and feels haggard and used.
By appearances I would not feel safe walking here at night- which is the total opposite of the areas I was in in Tokyo and Paris. My last night in Paris I walked around until 2am- ok maybe the last hour was at a pub, but I still walked back to the hotel and felt safe. Anyway, the drive to Monte Carlo......

The beginning of the drive is about 9 KM's through Milan to get to the main highway, a beautiful toll road which takes you right into France and the doorstep of Monaco. Upside is you can set the cruise at 100mph and just go for the first 200 kilometers or so of the ride. Downside is the toll is 25euros or about 37 dollars- EACH way!

You drive through the mountains separating the coast from the interior and hit a peak elevation (for the road, not the mountains) of about 1300ft. As you come down the Mediterranean side of the mountains you begin to have incredible views of the water and countryside. The final 50 kilometers along the waterfront is very interesting indeed as you are always 600-700 feet up in the air. The roadway is a four lane affair that is either a bridge or a tunnel blasted through a mountain. You are never at sea level for any of the drive, so they finally got me to slow down as I really do not like heights.

As you come around one very sharp turn you see Monte Carlo laid out below you, it takes a moment for you to realize that the buildings you see far, far below include multiple 40 story buildings- and you are more than 2-3 times their height up in the air on a tiny road. It is very similar to the road to Jerome AZ, where it is all switchbacks and rapid descents although the European roads are in much better shape and have more guardrails. Did I mention I do not like heights? It was ok though as there was a traffic and the pace was reasonable.

Monte Carlo has money. It was first noticeable on the waterfront boardwalk because it is paved with marble, or travertine tile- could not tell which it was. All the streets in the shopping districts were paved this way and some stores had red carpets and ropes in front of them. We were also struck by how clean the streets were, it was like Disneyland with workers walking around cleaning. Another indication of the wealth- Ferraris's, Lamborghini's, and Maserati's were as common as Chevy and Fords in most other cities. The boats anchored in the harbor or just off shore were HUGE with one having its own helicopter on the roof- I would love to have had the 30ft boat one ship was using as a shuttle to get to shore.

The trip home was one I will never forget- it thundered, lightened, and rained throughout the whole ride back until we got to the other side of the mountains and at times it was a deluge with visibility down to a car length. There are no breakdown lanes on the coastal road, just little cutouts every kilometer or so, which meant that there was no pulling off to let the heavy stuff pass. Plus did I mention the road is always 600-700 feet off the ground! Driving had my full attention to say the least. It was still a drive I am glad I got to experience.

Zurich to Liechtenstein and then Milano

The drive from Zurich to Liechtenstein was quite beautiful, stopped in a little restaurant for some gelato and espresso. But the real fun drive was about to begin.
Driving through the Alps is an experience unlike any I have had before, and I have driven up and down several mountains. I have driven up the Mount Washington auto road in New Hampshire and driven from Phoenix to Jerome and while both were narrow winding roads without guard rails for the most part they did not include driving with aggressive European drivers who think nothing of creating a third passing lane on a curve- in the rain. This would take place on stretches of road where the drops are measured in thousands of feet. The drive down the Alps in Italy is a 8.5% downward grade, multiple 90 degree turns, tunnels that range in length from a 100 meters to over 5 kilometers long. Did I mention it started to rain just after we started our descent? The combination though of the Audi's Quattro all wheel drive and the six speed stick made the drive - crazy European drivers notwithstanding- a truly enjoyable ride. Don't get me wrong though, there was a bit of stress at certain moments- like going over a bridge that is literally a mile up in the rain. While the drive through Germany let the high speed attributes of the Audi shine, the mountains let the handling be the star.

Driving through the Alps you are are driving on roads that are incredibly high- when we thought to look at the car's altimeter it was showing elevations over 5000 meters. Driving along you realize just how small you are, the valleys are far below and yet you realize that you are only half way up the mountains, breathtaking.
We spotted well over a dozen different waterfalls that were thousands of feet high, snow was quite visible on all of the higher elevations. I know pictures do not always do justice to vista's but I hope they at least give a little bit of the incredible views that we experienced.

Lunch in Zurich

Had breakfast at the hotel this morning in Stuttgart, Germany before heading out. We did drive around a little bit to get the flavor of the area, very cool.
Speaking of flavor- I had a locally brewed Black beer and Julie had a Heffenweisen - both were really good.

Took about 4 hours after leaving the hotel today to drive to Zurich and we began to see the cloud shrouded Alps off in the distance when we stopped at the last rest area in Germany. At the rest area also so picked up our highway pass for Switzerland. We had been advised that one was needed for Austria and come to find out we also needed one for Switzerland. They cost 31euros/45 dollars and are good for about14 months, and are non transferrable- nice way to tax tourists. The pictures below were taken at the last rest area in Germany, which are very clean, modern, and have a full restaurant, coffee bar, and store attached.

Zurich had a much different feel than Paris, it had a working feel to it- whereas Paris was all about the art work, museums, history, and old architecture Zurich seemed to just quietly go about it's day to day business. Very charming old world city though, had lunch at a side walk cafe near a trolley stop so the people watching was excellent. Enjoyed a local pilsner beer to accompany my bratwurst and grilled potato pancake, there was Starbucks next door so I got a coffee to go. I have forgotten how much fun it is to drive a standard shift in the city and drink a beverage at the same time.

Drive Autobahn in Germany- lifelong dream- check

Met Julie in Amsterdam this afternoon, picked up an Audi A5 with a six speed stick with the goal of spending the night in Stuttgart Germany. That I got to drive an Audi on the Autobahn made the day for me.

This car is made for high speed driving and the twisty mountain roads. Damn, do I love Audi's.

The crossing from the Netherlands into Germany was not even noticeable until I realized that even though I was doing about 120kmh (75 mph) we were getting passed routinely, then the limit increased to 130kmh and most cars were doing well past that. Finally settled in at 150kmh (100mph) and clicked on the cruise which was the "normal" speed. Did have a stretch of a sustained 200km/HR (125 mph) which was incredible to say the least. But even at that speed I still got passed. The three makes of cars seen routinely were Audi's, BMW's, and Mercedes. As you might expect at those speeds it is very important to Really pay attention, not only in front of you but also what is flying up behind you.

Moon rising on the way to Stuttgart, stayed light until 10pm which allowed the speeds to stay very high.

I bought some Cuban cigars in Paris today, now sitting in the lounge in a hotel in Suttegart enjoying one with a German Black beer. May take another beer for me to get over the adrenaline rush from driving the 6 hours today at the high rate of speed.

Fast driving all day, German beer and cuban cigar at night.   Yup.

Really looking forward to the drive down to Milano, Italy in the morning and going through the Alps.

Air France Business/First Class for short flights mini rant

I am on an Air France flight from Paris to Amsterdam and have a seat in business class- there is no first class on this flight. But the fun fact about business class with Air France is how business class is created. Technically there is only two across seating in business class BUT to create two across seating you do not get a bigger seat, just no one in the middle seat. They lower the back of the middle seat down- think arm rest in the backseat of most cars. Soooo, I do NOT have a bigger seat, just no one next to me. The final craptastic noteworthy item is that the arm rests are fixed and cannot be raised.
On the plus side there is a couple more inches of legroom, so now my knees are just grazing the seat in front of me instead of my doing the usual straddling the seat in front of me when riding steerage.

One more thing: yes Delta you have spoiled me- no water, pillows, or blankets available when you get to your seat. No pre-flight cocktail- and the French call themselves civilized (please note the sarcasm meter just went off the chart). This Will make having a short nap that much more difficult.

Addendum- Air France does make up by serving lunch. A herring and summer squash on a baguette- petite size; tomato and cheese salad, small roll, black olives with goat cheese, and for desert a cranberry cake. Delta does not serve food on flights twice as long as this one.

Dinner in Paris- for the foodies

Tonights dinner did not contain as many courses as the dinner in Tokyo, but it was still very good.

The restaurant was "Les Noces de Jeannette" on the rue Favart

It began with a bottle of Sancerre by Gerard Boulay, which is a lighter wine which would go well with the main course.

The first course was a marbled goat cheese with tomatos, pesto. and mesclun

The entre was a salmon fillet in olive oil.  Accompanied by a seared smashed potato, asparagus, and a skewer of grilled vegetables.

Desert was a chocolate cake with vanilla flavored custard/  And of course an espresso.
I liked how they dusted the chocolate on the plate and left an outline of a fork.

Now I am off to watch the fireworks at the Eiffel Tower in celebration of Bastille day which begin at 11:00pm.