To Korea and Beyond!

So two flights in one day and multiple terminal transfers and taxi rides are exhausting to the extreme. I was motion sick and tired by the end of the day and fell asleep well in advance of Ekitzel flying in. And since I wasn't awake, Dad didn't stay awake and Ekitzel ended up having to wake up April to let her in. I'm sick and Ken and April are also both sick, so we've been having fun. I've been dosing up on medication to do stuff around Seoul. We went to the temple Saturday morning and then went to the Gyeongbokgung palace after I got lunch and medication. We arrived just as the guard was being changed with drums and flags and colorful costumes. It was exciting and I liked it.

We wandered around the palace just as it was beginning to snow. So we slowly got more wet and cold as we wandered in the snow and eventually ended up in the Folk Museum, which was awesome. Then we wended our way back to Ken and April's to see when The Hobbit was showing. Unfortunately we can't buy tickets online since we aren't Korean and you really need to buy them ahead of time to get tickets at all. But just then as we were flipping channels, Fellowship of the Ring just started. So, I watched that as Dad and Kitz got me food with directions to a good place for food from Ken. More cheese pizza for me since that has no meat but it was quite good. Then Kitz got more sleep since she hadn't slept much the night before.

Today we got a bit lost trying to get to church, but I was feeling better before we walked around a frigid Seoul for 40 minutes or more. After that I started to feel hot with a fever again (everyone else was cold) and my head began trying to give me enough pain to stop me from walking. But we made it to church halfway through sacrament meeting where Kitz met her old boss from the BYU library and a guy I had a German class with recognized me (since we all know I have problems recognizing people). But we stayed for the meetings and wandered over to have lunch near the statue and museum for King Sejong. He established the Korean alphabet as different from using Chinese characters. There's a whole museum for him and it is next to a very large bookstore, which we browsed (they had a great philosophy section all in English including tons of Zizek and even a few Butler). After doughnuts and hot chocolate at Dunkin Donuts, we went back and watched the television which is where I am now - being very unproductive.

A Great Wall and Guilin Christmas

One of the few man-made structures that can be seen from space is the Great Wall of China and I have now been to it. We went to a portion of the wall that was not as crowded on a day that was supposed to be very cold and windy. It snowed the night before and there were very few people on the wall that morning and it was not very cold in the sun since the unexpected wind did not arrive until later. So we all wandered and climbed, joined by an Aussie family with four little girls. There was a chute to slide down from the wall on our section and we took advantage of it. Sliding down a concrete chute on a metal platform with wheels and few if any safety constraints just makes the sliding more fun. Just like rocking the unsafe ski lift car which only has a bar holding you in over a long drop is fun. I did that on the way up to the wall. But the wall was beautiful even absent the Mongol hoards. We climbed past a sign telling us not to walk further (or a Chinglish version of that) since it was unsafe. Trees and shrubs were growing and had helped the slow process of time erode the wall-top. We walked along that section until it really looked dangerous to go further. Then we went back to the chute. Samily and her cousin we left very far back waiting for us sitting on the cold stairs by the snack stand. After that we got some lunch at a really nice place nearby and began the long drive back to the city and the traffic. Lots of insane traffic. We went to begin the food shopping for the Christmas party at one of the foreign food shops and then went home to watch the television.

Sunday happened with not much going on then Monday Dad and I were left on our own to get a few more things for the party and presents for people. Christmas was Christmas and we had the party and watched movies all day long. Frankly, Dad and I stayed up way too late for our early flight the next day. I've been having problems sleeping anyway, so I got up early (4 am) like I had been the last couple of days I'd been in China. Then packed and showered we found a taxi to the airport and flew off to Guilin.

While some people were still celebrating Christmas, Dad and I climbed to the top of a karst where there was a Buddhist shrine. Guilin is in the middle of a range of karsts, a geological formation of mountains from an ancient mountains on the sea floor. Over thousands of years in the air they have eroded and now sharply stick up into the sky high above the plain. They are also covered in ferns an foliage appropriate to a semi-tropical climate. Dad and I got a cab to the hotel and walked around. Just around the corner we found one of the places I wanted to visit - Jingjiang Prince's Palace. It used to be a palace but is now Guilin Normal University. Inside the compound there is a karst with a shrine on top and carved around the karst are many many engravings, some hundreds of years old. There is also a cave where an ancient Bhuddist retreated from the world and a reading cave. Yeah, a Reading Cave. A cave dedicated to reading. My dream come true. Unfortunately it

wasn't so great to look at, but the fact that other people want caves for reading gives me hope. But the peace cave was nice and the karst was amazing to climb and see the city and mountains surrounding it. Frankly though it was fun to just wander around in the cool wet air (non-polluted). Dad and I got warmer clothes before we did the serious wandering (after pizza of course). While we were in the University compound, we saw a barber pole and Dad stopped to get a much-needed haircut. Luckily, my limited Chinese was enough to negotiate this. I can also handle orders at a restaurant and cab instructions if I know the Chinese name of where we are going. One phrase I use quite a bit is "too expensive" but then they assume I can understand anything they say when I really don't know much. But I have also been using the phrase "Don't want" excessively as well whether the person who wants to sell me something speaks English or Chinese. I really hardly buy much for myself. It feels wasteful.

Anyway, Dad got his hair cut by the barber on campus then we wandered and found a Spanish restaurant. It was run by a northern Chinese man who studied in Spain for a number of years. My dad loved it. The food was Spanish and good and he could speak to someone in Spanish. Considering Dad leaves me to do most of the speaking in Chinese, he misses communicating with people. The next day on a river cruise on the Li River he got to speak with many of the foreigners on the boat. Of course he talks mostly about business but it is quite interesting. But enough about my very interesting an communicative father since he reads this blog upon occasion. I can only hope he learns tonal languages in the next life.

But back to the river cruise. We had to get up early to get picked up by our guide and wandered over to the Sheraton to get a breakfast, but it was mostly Chinese and not very good. But at seven am in the morning in Guilin, beggars can't be choosers. Since it was pouring, we both dressed warmly and brought umbrellas. Martin, the English-speaking guide who had called the night before arrived and on the drive to the wharf, the rain let up. It still sprinkled on and off all day with a few downpours, but not too bad. We were seated with a newly-wed Swiss couple who were very nice. But for the first few hours we were out taking pictures with breaks to go inside and warm up. The Li River winds through a range of karsts and the scenery is breathtaking. It had me replaying the Jurassic Park theme in my head and imagining we might be about to meet King Kong (scenery

from Peter Jackson's version). We had some atrocious lunch and saw the landscape from the back of the 20 yuan note. After a four hour boat ride, we ended in Yangshuo and took a car out to some village and farm area. We were supposed to bike but with the occasional downpour still threatening, Martin decided driving was better. Then we drove back to Guilin and saw some pagodas on the way.

We walked over to the pagodas after we got back to take pictures since there weren't many left after the Cultural Revolution. While we were doing that a Chinese English teacher began to talk to us. He was from Yangshuo where we visited earlier in the day and talked with us (mostly my Dad) for about half an hour as he walked us over to his favorite restaurant. This was not nearly as good as the Spanish Restaurant we ate at the night before but we had been wandering around in the cold and my medicine had run out so I stopped feeling good and wanted to be in the warmth and then get to bed. So I ordered for us both and we ate and then went back to the hotel. We have been watching this series from the BBC called Parade's End. My dad started to watch it because it was based on the books by Ford Maddox Ford, written by Tom Stoppard, and had Benedict Cumberbatch starring. But the pirated DVD  he had stopped working after only two episodes. So I found it for him and we have been watching it. It is quite good. The night before we watched the fourth episode and The Dark Knight Rises (I gave it to him for Christmas since he hadn't seen it yet.). That night we watched the fifth and final episode of Parade's End and a little of a movie of the play of Much Ado About Nothing with David Tennant and Catherine Tate. Unfortunately, a miracle happened and I figured out how to turn the heat on in the hotel room. The previous night, as many

buttons as I pushed, I could only get it a barely-tolerable 15 degrees Celsius. But I pushed enough buttons and it got up to a toasty 20 degrees, which was warm enough to send Dad right to sleep only about 20 minutes after Much Ado About Nothing started. We went to bed but I actually woke up at around midnight because it was too hot and I had to turn the temperature down. I stayed up to download all the Lijiang and Yangshuo photos so I could clean off my SD card then slept again when it got cool enough.

We had to get up early for an early flight to Beijing and then on to Seoul. I had requested a taxi the night before since we didn't see any when we got up early the previous morning to find breakfast, but the taxi was fifty percent more expensive than the taxi ride from the airport to the hotel because early morning rides are more expensive and we had to pay in advance to assure him we would be there and assure us he would be there. So we rode off through the dark mist and the mountains back to the airport (which was mostly closed that early except one desk to check in the two early flights).

China craziness

So, after a long and strange semester I finished my last paper on land and labor within the medieval English economy and Piers Plowman. Then in a fit of euphoria enhanced by Dayquil, I proceeded to pack and clean with record speed. But I did take a break to party with my roommate, Ann, and her friends and then to go see Lincoln. These necessary breaks meant that I stayed up the whole night before going to the airport. Maybe it was the lack of sleep or the insanity of finishing a long paper, or just my usual insanity, but I decided I was from Australia when I began to talk to my seat companion for my 12 hour flight. Kept it up the whole time. I told him I was from Perth and described it. I had no idea Perth was so boring but homelike until then. It really was more fun getting to know two people instead of just getting to know one. Anyway, after I arrived in Beijing, slept, and sobered up a bit, I realized I may possibly be the craziest person I know. Well, I guess I'll have to live with myself and whoever else is inside. At least it stopped me from talking too much about medieval English economics, since that only interests my father as he can talk with authority about economics. Anyway, my father and his driver easily spotted me at the airport, since I am always easily spotted in a crowd in China (blonde hair). We drove to the apartment and I made Dad watch a Canadian comedy (instead of another drama) after he figured out (with help from me) how to order pizza online and took me to his favorite food store and the nearby mall. I think I was helping him order the pizza because he needed someone to tell him what to order. Like myself, my father dislikes making decisions. So, despite the fact that I was not hungry, he made me decide what pizzas to get. I ended up angering my sister since I forgot she doesn't like olives and ordered a pizza with olives. Then Dad proudly showed me the local market and the many different kinds of juice he liked. I don't know if there was a purpose to us going there except to show me the cool places around. No idea why he took me there since I wasn't hungry, but he seemed to like going out to buy juice. Also, the trip to the mall was strange, but we walked around at which point I noticed that my painful shoulder muscles were not loosening up or getting less painful.

As a side note, my back and shoulder muscles have been really tight with the stress of writing papers and while carrying a very heavy duffle down the length of Denver Terminal B (about a mile), I believe I strained it. I didn't notice much on the flight to San Francisco, though it hurt carrying the bag in the airport. I definitely didn't notice much of anything on the twelve hour flight, but couldn't sleep much the first night in Beijing because of pain and jet lag. So, I am currently wearing a smelly Chinese medicine patch that seems to be reducing the inflammation. But I smell like minty Bengay and I hate the smell of Bengay. Worth it though.

After Ekitzel got home from work, she got to see all the goods I brought with me for consumption. These included massive amounts of Nyquil, contact moisturizing drops, toothpaste, salt and pepper shakers, a 7 pound tin of hot chocolate mix, and lots of Christmas cookies and chocolate. Dad began pretty quickly on Kitz's favorite Dutch caramel wafers. They will be gone soon. I hope she gets some before he eats them all. He also had some Gelt, though Hanukah ended last week. I now see that he ate my two bags of potato chips from the plane, made inroads into the Kinder Schokolade, and started with the Lebkuchen. I forgot this about my father - he never admits he's hungry, but if you leave food out he will eat it in his own time. Or like our Halloween candy, he will just taste it, everyday, a few pieces at a time. I hid my candy hoard every year from my brothers and sisters, but also from my Dad.

So after a very interrupted night last night, I got up to see the Beijing smog, took a shower, and rushed to try to get ready in time to go with Dad and Kitz to the metro station. It wasn't until the elevator that I realized I forgot my phone. So, they left and I went back. Then I went downstairs except I forgot what floor the entrance was on. I pushed E because it was lower than one and I thought it was like Europe. That was a strange floor with equipment. Then I thought maybe it was -1. Nope. For all the education I have, I still struggle to get out of buildings. It was floor 1, but they all have a similar looking elevator hallway as an excuse. I made it to the metro station on the other side of the mall, which I found with Kitz's directions. All these times though I was using a back entrance to the apartment complex which you needed a key card to get back into. I had only gone out with my Dad before, who had a key card, but I didn't have one. This will be relevant later on.

I was planning on going to Tiananmen Square today and seeing Mao's Mausoleum, but that didn't happen. It was right across the street, and I thought about going over, but I was following all the other people and they headed right to Tiananmen - Gate of Heaven Peace, leading to the Forbidden City. Not being capable of much coherent thought (blame finals, pain, cold medication, and being tired), I followed the crowd, figured out how to get my sister's camera to work with my SD card, and began taking pictures. No one asked me to be in a picture and I think it is because of the aura of crazy that seems to be currently generating from me. But I did get asked directions (in yet another place I am a stranger to) but that is because I look like I speak English and this Italian or Spanish lady must not have spoken Chinese. Anyway, I got my ticket and wandered around the Forbidden City for about four hours. The air was really bad today and the mask I borrowed wasn't working and steaming up my glasses, so by the end of four hours I was feeling very sick with a bad headache. So, I went back to the apartment.

Or I tried to. I got to the metro station on the other side of Tiananmen and transfered and got back to home station. Then I took the wrong exit to the street and couldn't see the mall. I knew I needed a key card to get in the back way, so I was going to have to go around. I found the Phoenix City apartment complex, but had to walk a ways to find an entrance that didn't require a key card. So, I got in and started looking for building F, though we live in building G (Kitz told me this later). I couldn't find anything above building E, and kept getting lost walking around the compound (it is very maze-like with gardens and playgrounds and covered walking trails). At this point I had been trying to find the building and wandering around for about 30 minutes. So, I texted my sister. Many times. She got back to me. I was in the wrong compound but then I couldn't find the door I came in since all the doors going out also needed a key card to get out of. Eventually, I got out and she directed me to the other compound, where I found the building waiting for me with clean air in the apartment and food and juice. Then I needed a nap. I uploaded photos while I waited for the painkillers to work. And they did and it was wonderful. And then I slept for an hour and a half and that was wonderful. Then I had to get up, get turned around on the metro, and go shopping with some of Kitz's friends which was not as wonderful. But then we had dinner and though I wasn't hungry, it was wonderful. I also saw some stretch cords I want at Uniqlo, and that was wonderful. Then we took a motorized pedicab home, which was wonderful (okay - maybe not so much).

Driving in the United States

More than a week ago, I drove from Provo to St. Louis in one go. I had only been back in the country (and time zone) for about a week at this point, but I felt my hours were still crazy enough to pull it off. And they were. Or I am still crazy enough to pull it off, which is inarguable. Anyway, I decided to finally drive through all of Colorado in the daylight. The last couple of times I have driven across Colorado, it has always been at night, and while I love to imagine gaping black holes of mountains and forests on either side of me while I drive, I decided it might be nice to see the whole thing again. The last time I saw Colorado in the daytime was more than a decade ago when I was driving the Ford Aspire aka "Ping" while my father was driving the airport bus aka "The White Whale" caravaning as we moved from Kansas City to Seattle. Memories of the landscape are vague. I most vividly remember losing my father (before the days when we both had cell phones) and both making long distance calls to my mother to find out where the other one was. Elinor was riding with me at that point and we got to stop in beautiful Idaho Springs, Colorado. I also remember when my tire blew out on a narrow two lane road down into Utah. I got to drive very slowly on the spare and there was a very long line of traffic by the time I got to the town in the valley.

This time was much less eventful. But very beautiful. I'm not sure how vistas of just trees and mountains can pull the breath out of you as you try to say anything relevant. Millions of years of geological and biological forces result in something that our petty version of aesthetics considers beautiful and there is nothing I can say to even describe the grandeur of these rooted rocks reaching up through soil, humus, and forests, all barely covering their surface. Anyway, after all this intense nature, I stopped in Denver to see The Dark Knight at a movie theatre. A nice break with some wifi to check email and facebook. Then the trip in the dark through Kansas. I stopped to nap twice and it was daylight by the time I recognized some exits around Kansas City. Before I left Utah, I was staying in the house I used to live in and camping on the bed I used to sleep on. I had been course marshaling the Tour of Utah bike race for the week before so I hadn't had a chance to see any movies or even sleep much the night before I began to drive. I needed those naps. I wasn't until afternoon that I reached St. Louis with a hotel reservation waiting. People entering Nirvana could not have felt as I did entering that hotel room. By the time I was driving into St. Louis, a massive hail storm was inundating the cars and road with sheets of rain designed expressly to make driving nearly impossible. After many many hours of driving, this was the last obstacle in my obstacle course across the states. And then I arrived in the largest hotel room I had stayed in in a very long time. Much larger than any in Europe - even the really nice ones. So nice and spacious. I immediately explored the hot tub to work out a stiff back before the heavenly collapse into bed.

But then the jet lag returned with a vengeance. Ever since returning from Europe, I had been encountering problems with experiencing a restful night. But now it was happening after driving across the country. Maybe it was because it was too easy. This wasn't like driving in Europe where I was constantly stressed about tickets being mailed to me if I was a couple kilometers per hour over the speed limit. I'm sure Switzerland is waiting to send a stack to me. This was just so easy. I just drove. No cameras, and if there were they wouldn't be mailing me a ticket from them. Maybe that was it. The long drive across the country wasn't hard enough. So, I wasn't tired enough to sleep in this beautifully soft bed. Maybe I should have stayed in Colorado under the mountains. Even if I couldn't sleep there, I could sit next to the unsleeping rocks, always awake and moving on a microscopic level or less. Watching the fast world that needs so much sleep.

The beginning of the end: Trieste and Venice

Well, after a beautiful drive through Slovenia, Google Maps and the directions involved ceased working as soon as we got to Italy. Somehow I directed us through Trieste to parking near the hotel only to discover upon check in that there was no internet. We have been pretty heavily relying on internet, so this was a blow. But the hotel was right down the street from the ocean and within walking distance to a lavanderie, so there were benefits. We washed clothes that night and fell into an exhausted slumber. Upon waking we set out in search for a beach. We started the search at about 8 am and didn't find it until 10 am. We used Google maps on Kitz's iPad. Despite these setbacks, it was a gorgeous day at the beach. We laid around, bought some granitas, swam some, and laid around some more. I could already feel the vacation fatigue taking me over a few days before when Kitz and I got into an argument because neither of us would make a decision about what we wanted to do in Vienna. I've done and seen so much, I'm not sure I want to do and see anything anymore. It is all beautiful, but I stopped planning. I stopped caring. I'm still loving it, but how much vacation can one person take?

Even on the beach, I was reading some Walter Benjamin to wake up my mind a bit. I've been reading him off and on, but I have started to really need him. Vacation is not something I do much of and until this summer, it has never been long term. So, I am here in Italy and enjoying it, but even more glad it is coming to an end. The beaches in Trieste are not sandy, but rocky. We went to a beach club and hired two lounge chairs for the day under the awning, though we pulled them in and out of the sun throughout the day. There were steps carved in rocks leading down to the sea, and the water was so cold and perfect. I love swimming in the sea with the waves and the salt water. I swam out nearly to the floating barriers so I could look at Trieste and the castelo right by the beach. Boats kept going into the harbor then out to the Adriatic. It was so perfect. I love days that seem so perfect because they are so perfect. That was one of them.

We visited the square of Trieste, ate some seafood, and poured on the apres soleil cream that night. Then we went to sleep quite late. This did not help the morning. Kitz woke up in a particularly nasty mood, caused by the beginnings of illness and being unable to find church that morning or use any free wifi in Italy because we didn't have an Italian phone number. I stopped talking to her until she cheered up, which wasn't for a while. We started out drive over to Venice early and (a miracle) I somehow directed us to the hotel without directions or a map of the area. We had a large map of Venice and environs, so I knew the approximate area, but with all the problems we have had in finding anything in Italy with directions, this was a miracle and appropriately called such. As soon as we got to the hotel, Kitz slept, and including breaks to eat, slept through the next day. I was fine with this day of doing very little, and proceeded to do very little. If she wasn't going to be better by the next day, Tuesday, I would be going to explore Venice myself. But after her very long sleep to stave off illness, she was better enough to explore. I had found a nearby market, so she was still eating, though not up to her standard.

We got to Venice by bus, and commenced the wandering. That's all I really wanted to do. When Kitz found out I was fine with getting lost in Venice (it's an island) with absolutely no goals of what to see, she was a bit upset. Well, that's what she gets if she leaves me in charge and I am vacationed-out. I didn't feel like making a single plan or even read much about what to see. If you have ever vacationed with me, my time is usually tightly scheduled and there are usually trails I want to hike, or things I want to do. This is the new me. The me who has had too much vacation. I really loved wandering. We went into some churches and shops. We stopped for lunch. Kitz used a map and we found some nice tourist-y spots, but for the main, we wandered. I would stop, take a picture. Kitz would try to figure out where we were. Eventually Kitz wanted to go to the Jewish Ghetto, so we did. We got to tour three of the original synagogues from the Ghetto. I also learned that the "Ghetto" or "Getto" in Venice is the original ghetto. The Jews were forced to move into an area by the foundry, which is why it was called the Getto, which means metal cast. The Germans naturally mispronounced it, and thus areas that were segregated and nominated "Jew areas" became "Ghettos." It was an awesome tour. It was quite small. A Spanish family was on it, but left half through, which left just us and four elderly French Jews. It was in English, but you had to be on a guided tour to see the synagogues, so I don't think they understood much, but they wanted to see. Very nice people.

Anyway, we wandered and then went back for the night to rest. The next day we went out to the "Garden Island" of Sant'Erasmo. Kitz was hoping to rent bikes so we could bike around this tiny island, but we never found the place to rent them. This island is quite small and very few people live there. I don't think you can ever drive full-size cars on the tiny roads here. They had some mini-trucks with three tires and I think a single cylinder engine. We walked to the beach and spent a few hours there, wading and sitting in the shallow water, then laying down to dry. I listened to To The Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf and read an interesting book called Wolves and Peasants 38% Notes 38% No Title 19% Dreamers 4%. I picked it up in Bologna at the modern art museum and liked it enough that Kitz insisted that I buy it. I have not regretted the purchase at all. I also stole Kitz's Economist to read when she wasn't looking. I've been listening to Virginia Woolf on and off, usually when Kitz is asleep since she and Virginia don't get along. I've read the book, so it is nice to just listen to it. After the beach, we wandered around the island. Kitz really wants to live in a little house with a garden. She wants to live on this island and if she ever comes back to Venice, she is going to stay at the one hostel there, even though the only way to get there is by waterbus. I just liked walking after laying down all day. I'm definitely getting fat, so we walked and eventually we found our way back to the waterbus to go back to Venice. Then another waterbus took us to the bus dropoff, then the bus took us back to the hotel. We got some food at the coop and I got yelled at by an Italian lady. They definitely have the crazy side to match the relaxed side.

Back at the hotel, I was done. I had to book some rooms for our drive back, but that was the end of my vacation.

But it doesn't end there. Does it? Driving back was another adventure. We somehow ended up driving through the Dolomites to Austria. Seriously, Google image search Dolomites. It was so beautiful. Kitz was a bit upset at all the shifting and her leg had a cramp by the end of the day. (I did offer to drive.) We got through them to Austria, then drove through the Alps. Also gorgeous. We were headed to this little Gasthof between Ulm and Stuttgart in the town of Wiesensteig. We finally got there and our entrance seemed magical. Though the freeway was nearby, you had to descend on a switchback paved road past sheep to get to the town and once you entered, you had to fall in love it was so adorable. The Gasthof we stayed in was just as cute. They had an old wooden dollhouse in one corner, fully loaded with furniture and dolls and all their other decorations were just as quaint. It was a beautiful end to a beautiful day.

We finished The Return of the King, the movie, that night. We still have to finish the audiobook, but we will not with only seven hours left in the car. And that means that I will have to read the last couple chapters myself so I can remember the souring of the Shire. I much prefer the book to the movie in the case of The Return of the King. We did get very close to the end though for the audiobook. Maybe I will read it tonight before going to sleep next to Charles de Gaulle Airport. Maybe I won't. Soon I will be back on familiar territory and back to a life that I am used to, even if that includes moving very quickly to Saint Louis. It is all at an end and another chapter of life is beginning. I hope it includes me becoming a wizard, but I will be happy with anything.

Seegrote: Gollum's Cave

The mysterious Internet informed us that Europe's largest underground lake was just outsideVienna and with advertising like that, who could resist? Obviously, not us. On the way out of Vienna, we decided to have a visit. It was a little out of the way, but totally worth it.

As you may have heard, we have been listening to the audiobooks of Lord of the Rings while we have been driving around Europe. We have also been watching the movies. But we had no notion when we went to Seegrote that we would find Gollum's cave.

It really is just a flooded gypsum mine, but it looks so much cooler than that. They used it to film parts of that Disney Three Musketeers movie. But they used it to be underground waterway in Paris and as a jail. But Andy Serkis could seriously be hanging out there in a green suit.

The mine was used as a place where prisoners of war assembled plane components, but after World War II, I'm not sure what they did with it but some guys decided to stick a Christmas Tree in the water and leave it there for two years. I guess they got bored. Needless to say it was completely calcified. They had it on display. I haven't been so cold since Orkney Island as in that cave.

We had a nice boat ride around the mine and Bilbo Baggins could have been waiting on the shore, hiding from orcs. But we had to return back to the shore and back up the mine shaft to the hot and sunny weather outside. Then before we left Austria, we drove to the next town and wandered around the town of Mödling. In the town square, they seemed to be having a town garage sale with some food stands. We stopped for some food for the car and started the drove through Slovenia to Trieste.

Slovenia was one of the most beautiful countries to drive through. We entered there, having very few expectations, but it was so beautiful. It had the green hills and mountains of Austria and Switzerland with the onion-topped church towers of a more Eastern Europe. Also, it was so clean. In most countries, there have been houses that are dirty, falling down, or decayed. But Slovenia had mainly older, well-kept houses. There weren't even that many buildings in a modern style. It was like we went back in time on the motorway. Seriously, we only saw it from the car, and it was still so beautiful, I actually considered how nice a rural life would be. Hiking through such a landscape would be as nice as hiking through Switzerland. It would be the best life of leisure.

A love letter to Vienna

Vienna -

I wanted to tell you how much I loved you. Your transportation system is great, and your weather, though it rained a bit, was much better than the norm. I understood most things people were saying because they were speaking in German. I was even mistaken for a native speaker myself because of my apparent fluency.

In case I forget to mention it, I loved the Schönbrunn Palace. You may just think I am saying that and hyperbolizing an already hyperbolic praise note, but in truth, I loved it. After Versailles and the Prague Castle, I was a little hesitant. But then my sister made me watch Marie Antoinette the night before to try to prepare me for more palaces, and it worked. It wasn't off-puttingly gilded and large like Versailles. There was just enough gilding and the enormous size seemed pleasant instead of something that makes me want to start a revolution just looking at it. The grounds were also nice and not too large. The Privy Garden was nice and small, and the maze was awesome. The games in there for kids were just as much fun for me, though I may be almost 30 (though I usually only admit to 25 at most). So much fun. It was like that toy store in that ski town in the Alps that made me want to turn 7 all over again. It was just a perfect day at the Palace. We even bought tickets for the concert in the Orangerie, where Salieri and Mozart had their big face-off. The Classical and Operatic pieces were very nice and the lighting was nicely done. On the whole, the only downside was how crowded the Apple Strudel demonstration was and it was late. It was very entertaining once it started, but that wait was not fun in a crowded hall. The demonstration and strudel made up for it though.

I didn't love the Belvedere as much. We didn't visit the lower, just the upper for the art, and while it was a nice collection, it was a bit blah after the Kunsthistorisches Museum. The Klimt exhibition was quite nice and worth it, but the rest was unimpressive for the most part. The Modern Art was the best, especially the Van Gogh you had, but maybe it is my lack of affinity with the Baroque and Romantic Austrian painters that left me a bit underwhelmed. The Belvedere grounds were also nothing the scream about, though the Botanic Garden next door was enchanting.

But then we found the Hundertwasser Museum. Nice work on bringing that man into the world. He may be a little crazy and eccentric, but exceptionally interesting art and architecture. Everyone should learn about this guy. Frankly, I agree that all houses having flat floors is a bit arbitrary and inorganic. Why can't all buildings have floors more bumpy and in line with nature? The Man probably likes straight lines too. Anyway, I would definitely encourage studying Hundertwasser in all school cirriculums.

I would also encourage more theatre study in school as well for obvious reasons. I went to tour the Vienna Opera House and while I can allow for a certain amount of ignorance among tourists who are on this tour because they can't see the opera since it is their holiday, but some of the questions these people asked could have been easily answered by Wikipedia. Our poor Italian guide spoke some English, but it wasn't the best and she could not project, so she tried but sometimes these questions were ridiculous. She did a good job with the relevant questions and by the end I think everyone appreciated how much work went into every piece performed. Now, I may be harsh, but some of these people were quite nice. The family from New Orleans was nice, but they did just need a bit more general theatrical knowledge. I know you, Vienna, as a city can do nothing about any of this, so I will just be appreciative of the tour that lets people know just a taste of what knowledge they are being deprived of because they prefer tax refunds to education. Anyway, enough of my rant and on to more about you, Vienna.

I would like to complement you on the historical center. So often in the center of town, I feel crowded, but with so few vehicles allowed in and the main area for pedestrians, it was so open and friendly. The Hofburg, splendid as expected. Karlsplatz and Karlskirche were magnificent. Stephansdom was nice if under construction. I am an understanding person, so I do realize construction has to be done even if it seems like a lot is being done at the moment. But we went to a organ concert for free at Peterskirche and it was amazing. The atmosphere of the church and the wonderful sound of the organ was right on. Keep up the good work with those organists!

Now the Rathausplatz was not under construction but was completely obstructed by the Film Festival. I usually love film festivals, but after looking at the schedule, there seemed to be more concerts and musical events than films. That is not a film festival, which includes mainly films. I know you probably have little control over the artistic types who run the festival, but you may want to mention the extraordinary lack of films at their film festival. Just something to keep in mind. The Rathaus was obstructed with a screen which seemed to serve very little purpose and could probably have been re-set-up for the few films they were showing so in the meantime it did not continually obstruct views of the beautiful Rathaus.

Nice use of green space. There were so many parks I often felt like I wasn't in a city at all, which is the highest complement I can give. They were beautiful and never too crowded, except with pigeons, which I consider rats on wings. But unless you are going to shoot them all, there are few humane ways to get rid of them. I would suggest signs telling tourists not to feed the pigeons. I saw many of these people feeding the pigeons as if that was a good idea and encouraging their children the feed these pests. Now I am sure, Vienna, that you agree with me about the pesky, destructive nature of pigeons. Therefore, since parents are obviously enabling future generations to increase the possibility of being overrun by these vermin, signs would be appropriate to police these idiotic parents. London has signs everywhere, so don't feel like you would be the only city trying to halt the growing pigeon population.

Despite the construction, Kunsthistorisches Museum was beautiful and I was very pleased that your docents knew their jobs in stopping illiterate patrons from taking flash photography. Some city's docents get lazy at their jobs or even give up (Paris comes to mind), but yours were firm and did not let any one person get away with disobeying the rules. As a firm believer in obeying the rules, I find it horrifying that so many people believe that rules are only in force if someone is there to enforce them. This underlying lack of integrity for the much of the human race (including parents rearing children to disobey even their own rules if they are not present to enforce them) makes me quite sure that situations like the financial crisis of a few years ago will happen again and again. Lack of ethical integrity has become common and will eventually (I predict in a somewhat far-fetched fashion) lead to the disintegration of civilization as we know it. For what is society and civilization anyway but living by rules so that people can live harmoniously together without resorting to the rule of the strongest? These people may just be disobeying a small rule, but it is only one instance of a global epidemic. I am glad, Vienna, that your docents are not shirking their duties, but rigorously policing those who lack integrity, at least in the domains you control.

Lastly, I am going to again mention your public transportation and road signage. Having recently returned to Italy, where Google Maps cannot function, I greeted your road signage and city setup as a paradisiacal. Signs were there and mostly legible! Also, there was adequate parking. Italians seem to believe that double parking is normal and has no effect on blocking traffic at all. Your foresight and planning in the ways of traffic and parking, all assisted by an excellent public transportation system. Frankly, your well laid-out city is a work of organizational genius comparable with SimCity while many Italian cities are still made of legos. Now, I do admit some Italian cities have definitely started to work on city planning and Florence and Venice have adapted considerably because of high volumes of tourists, but they are nothing on the level you are at. London is comparable, but even Paris does not come close to your level.

Vienna, while this note is and shall remain hyperbolic, it attempts to express my true feelings about my visit to you. Do not discount these words, even if they are meant in some levity, but think of the underlying emotion that had to be present for me to write them at all.

I remain a sincere admirer,
Alexis

Bohemian Rhapsody in Prague

We arrived in Prague with very few plans. The first day we woke up very late after our long drive and then got lost trying to find the train station to tale the train into Prague. We finally found it before Kitz killed anyone and got to Prague. Then we bought a map, bought some very nice lunch (Kitz had to have some borscht and boy was she nicer after that) at the Mona Lisa Cafe. We had asked some questions at an info booth in the train station but the lady there answered no questions and seemed very put out that we had asked her anything. We then wandered to the old part of the city past a demonstration against Syria, through alleys, and to Charles' Bridge. We had very little planned for Prague, so we just wandered taking pictures of things like the astronomical clock and Charles Bridge. Kitz saw an advertisement for a concert that night in the Mirror Chapel in the Klementimum and after looking at the list of pieces we decided to do it. So in this glorious old chapel painted throughout with frescoes, we listened to some Bach, Pachelbel, Motzart, and Vivaldi. It had been raining much of the afternoon and when we got out it started again. It was also getting cold with the onset of the night, so we decided to stop and get some hot chocolate. We went to this chocolate shop that had some advertised and bought so chocolates from the display and two cups of hot chocolate. The chocolate was hot chocolate, but not really a beverage. We received two little cups of melted chocolate. Rich? Yes. Good? For eating straight chocolate it was sweet but good. Did it fill us up? Yes and we didn't even eat all of it because it had solidified. So our dinner was melted chocolate.

The next day we got up late and left late, so I actually had some of the chocolates we bought for breakfast too. Kitz was not amused. Neither of us is a chocoholic. We like it when there is good quality but won't eat a ton. I think we ate more chocolate in Prague than during our entire vacation thus far. We did get some truffles and a box in Brussels and a small bag in Liege. I'm sure we had some in Switzerland though I can't really recall. I can't remember having chocolate in Switzerland though we did have caramels and I had chocolate ice cream. But we did have quite a bit of chocolate in Prague.

I would also like to mention the man who sold us the tickets to the concert. Kitz communicated with him in Russian mostly and he thought we were Russian though I looked English. In Italy, I looked Polish. A little later this man asked where we were from guessing Russia, Poland, and Lithuania. I just got asked today if I'm Russian. In Florence a waiter asked if we needed a Russian menu but Ricky said I look more Russian than Kitz. I'm not really sure I look like anything. I'm mostly English, Irish, and French with some Native American and Germanic thrown in, but somehow I can also sometimes look Eastern European. Well until I find people who look like me, I will just assume I look like no nationality. In the US, we don't really care about this since we are a big melting pot, but since I have come to Europe many people keep guessing the wrong nationality, so I am now more aware that some nationalities have a look.

Anyway, after the chocolate breakfast we went to the Strahov Monastery with an extremely old and orate library. We wandered through the rooms and were treated to more Eastern European hospitality as we were kicked out 10 minutes before closing time. There were 15 minutes left and we had two Roman rooms left to see but they were now closed so close to lunch time. Fine. We will spend more time at the castle. We didn't need to see those rooms we paid to see anyway. So, we walked out our frustration to the castle. It wasn't very far away, but we had to stop and have lunch since Kitz hadn't had chocolate breakfast like I had, she was in a bad mood.

The castle was more of a palace, which is not a castle. My main problem is that it was constantly being renovated, but the main cathedral, St. Vitus was left unfinished for 400 years. They began construction in 1344, but didn't finish in time for all work to cease with the Hussite War. They didn't work on it after the war then a fire severely damaged some things in 1541. So they forgot about it for a while (tall structure in the middle of Prague and very visible until some guys in 1844 wanted to finish it. But it wasn't until 1929 that it was finished. Almost 600 years. And you think you have problems leaving things uncompleted. Besides that the castle was nice and we bought some music from this group of Bohemian Funfest musicians outside the castle to listen to as we drove through Bohemian countryside o the morrow. Really fun stuff, similar to Klezmer but not the same at all. Anyway, we wandered the castle and learned about the exciting and crazy history of Prague and all the Bohemian kingdom. Then it was finally time for a Ikea to get some new luggage. I got a duffel and Kitz got a hard suitcase to put all the photos and watercolors of Prague in. My dad loves Prague since he loves most former parts of the Hapsburg Empire, so now he can decorate the Beijing apartment with European pictures. He hasn't been to Vienna, but I bet he'd love that too. He actually grew up in Germany and we passed the place he used to live in Germany on the Autobahn. Kitz was asleep.

In the castle complex, there is this little part called the Golden Lane. In essence it is a row of tiny houses (three rooms at most) that are backing against the wall that used to be defensive. They are these preserved houses that the government bought that all shared a toilet and spout once they had running water. Yeah, not superb conditions but romantic. Many artsist and painters lived there for inspiration before the government bought them all up, including Franz Kafka. It is now a shop, but I got to stand if Kafka's former house. There was a fortune teller who lived there, but the Germans killed her because she predicted the end of the Third Reich, and an avid film collector, an herbalist, and many more all recreated or preserved for tourists. Above the houses is a long wall with a narrow room to shelter the guards with holes to shoot crossbows out of. They filled it with hundreds of suits of armor and helmets, weapons, and much more. They also have a cross bow shooting game to win prizes at up there too. Loved it there. It was like a recreated made-up world. We bought my Dad a shirt with Kafka in Prague there.

After this high adventure, we finally made it back to the eastern European hostel where our clothes were still drying hanging in the room after we washed them last night. We packed and got ready to leave in the morning. Late (as usual) we woke and had breakfast then drove slowly, avoiding the highways, through Bohemia. We eventually crossed into Austria and stopped at Käsemacher Welt, which begins another adventure for another day.

Long European Drive into Night

On a Wednesday night we left Milan. It was really a Tuesday morning at about 2 am. We had to be in Paris by sometime the next morning to exchange our rental car with a new one. We had put about 8000 kilometers on that little car. I was going to miss our little 2-door VW Up! I hadn't even named it so I didn't get too attached. It didn't even have cruise control. But first we had to get to Paris. Kitz took the first few hours of the night while I slept. Since I was the navigator, I told her to wake me up at a town before we changed our course. I woke up before that when she stopped at a small Italian Alpenhorn town to find a 24 hour ATM that would take her card before we got to the Mont Blanc tunnel. We had taken the Frejus tunnel to get to Italy but we would take Mont Blanc to get back. We were in the mountains when I woke up though I could not clearly see them. When we drove through the Swiss Alps, we could clearly see the stark, green mountains resplendently bowing over us. But that was during the day. The French Alps during twilight slowly faded into dark shapes on all sides as we drove to Italy. I love driving in the night for this mysterious moonscape. There are fewer vehicles and we were able to see lit castles perched on the sides of the mountain, sometimes almost right above us. These valleys we sped through seemed enchanted when we were the only car in sight. Like an historic amusement park ride, we were shown small towns, crosses, chapels, and castles either lit or in vague outline from the streetlamps. Then came the Mont Blanc tunnel, followed by Mont Blanc lit by moonlight. Soon I took over driving so that Kitz could sleep. I had my iPod with the directions and things to listen to as I drove through the rest of the night and rising sun showing France.

I love the quietness of cross-country driving during dawn wether it is in Wyoming, Utah, California, Pennsylvania, Kansas, Wisconsin, or France. I love to watch how the color of the light slowly changes as it washes the land. The land keeps changing until the light is clear but the changes are all to swiftly moving to capture or define. The fields change from lavender to peach and finally to grass with all the colors in between. As an echo the sky also slowly transformed from secretive and warm night to clear day as all the pastels in the world were thrown out into the brightest of sun and shaken through the painted air.

Kitz slept and I used my iPod to keep me driving to Paris. As more cars joined the highway and the day was completely clear, there was no more magic, just driving to Paris. Kitz woke up and took the wheel to drive to the Europcar outside Gare de Lyon. We emptied many things from the car and back into our backpacks. Then we went and saw all the fine people at the Europcar desk. Ibrahim took care of our car rental again and upgraded us to a car with a nav system and cruise control. This really raised our spirits as we began the long drive to Prague. Kitz got us out of Paris and close to the edge of France then she slept while I drove us across Germany to the Czech Republic. While I really did like driving on the autobahn, it did involve lots of speeding up and slowing down. There were certain zones where there were speed limits and only two lanes with slow trucks and Cars going 200 km/hr. But it was still nice to not have tolls. I'm really hoping Germany will be added to Italy and France ad a country we do not get sent tickets from. I'm sure we will get some from Switzerland, the rest I can just pray not to get tickets from. Because we are hiring the car, the tickets may take many months to be mailed to my US address. I am not looking forward to that. In addition to vignettes, there are speed cameras and you are only allowed about 2 km/hr over the speed limit in Switzerland before you get a speeding ticket according to the Internet. So around Christmas or a little after, I may be getting presents from Europe.

So we left the countries where I understand the language: Germany and France and returned to a country where everything is a mystery. Italian and Czech have very little familiarity to me which is humbling. But we made our way to Praha with some diacritical marks, or at least the outlying town of Ricany with an upside-down tent over the c. My iPod doesn't have these marks which has only ever bothered me when trying to spell Zizek with two upside down tents over the z's. But we made it to Ricany and then struggled to find the hostel. We finally did find the hostel and it reminded Kitz of Russia and Eastern European buildings but it was cleaner on the inside. She somehow communicated in Russian with the lady to check in and we finally got to sleep after 17 hours of driving and this threadbare but homey hostel seemed like heaven.

The Mosquitos of Milan

After a nice and quick two days in Florence, we went to church Sunday morning (getting lost again) then drove to Bologna. I assumed that this was the place where bologna (pronounced boloney by the uneducated American public) was created. Not something I would want to be known for. We arrived quite early at the hostel on the edge of town and they told us how to drive into town. It was Sunday and this was cheaper than the bus since parking was free. So we drove in, parked, and wandered. Bologna is actually very well known for their culinary expertise, so we eventually sat down in one of the few open cafés and ate a two plate meal. We each had two courses. Stuffed is a word to describe it. During this trip I have started to feel sick with the amount of food. I usually graze through the day, so meals, especially large meals is something my body is not used to. We had just planned on wandering around town and skipping dinner. But that was before we met up with Ricky. Ricky lives in Bologna and is a friend of Leti, Kitz's best friend. So he walked us around and we did get some amazing gelato and ended up in the Modern Art Museum of Bologna. Ricky works in fashion and specializes in pattern making. He and Kitz hit it off like a rocket. We spent most of the day talking and walking.

A quick break to mention how awesome the modern art museum was. It was quite amazing and I may have that opinion since I love modern and classical art. One of my favorite exhibits was this room of large panels done by Mossimo Kaufmann. He uses an eyedropper to administer the paint to the panel and I loved it. Some of them looked like magically enchanted computer boards and some looked like twinkling stars. It was a beautiful museum. After that visit, Ricky tried to find us a restaurant he recommended, but we went to three and none were open. So eventually we found a supermarket that was about to close and ran in for some ingredients that we took back to Ricky's flat and he made us dinner. I was not ready for it. After lunch I would have been fine fasting for the rest of the day. But I ate more, enough to make me feel sick. It was good, but too much food is too much.

So we returned to the hostel and slept before the drive to Milan where I met the mosquitos. We drove and arrived in Milan early enough to still go out and do things like see the Doma. We drive to Leti's apartment and dropped off our stuff then hit the town. We had already done some shopping in Florence, but now we got even more. With Leti and her friend Aida, we hit the town. Aida was crazy, and even more so than usual because she just had an amazing job offer while we were standing with her. So we shopped then had aperitifs. In Milan the way aperitif goes is you pay for your drink then help yourself to an all you can eat buffet. It was good food but nothing spectacular and since I don't drink alcohol, I got this drink that was the most subtly flavored milkshake I have ever had. I can't even remember what it was, but it was amazing.

A break to talk about ice cream or gelato in Italy. When we first got to Florence, we both got gelatos. But we were used to the small servings we had been given in France. Small but tasty. Now we were given enormous amounts of gelato in hot weather. Kitz got a cone, but I got a cup. Nevertheless our arms were both covered in melted gelato by the end. While we got a small serving of gelato the next day and some excellent gelato in Bologne, we were still cautious after the first gelato adventure. We ended up pouring water from my water bottle over our arms to clean up. But after that milkshake and the gelato we had in Crema two days later, Italy satisfied my ice cream needs. We did have some gelato in Milan the next day, but it wasn't anything that blew me away. We met Leti's sister for aperitifs that night after doing laundry and wandering. We went to this small vegetarian restaurant and the buffet had amazing food. By this point I counted my mosquito bites. Sixteen on one leg and twelve on another. The total eventually reached 33 and I was wearing insect repellant this whole time. The first day we were there we all sat it some grass because we were in a park, but after this short sit-down, the mosquitos followed us and never left me. I've never had so many close friends.

Our final day in Milan, we actually left and went to Crema, where Leti grew up. We got up a bit late and then drove to Crema, had lunch and took naps. Kitz slep for most of the afternoon which was good since she was going to be driving most of that night. We finally got outside and had some amazing gelato and then saw an old church. We got back to Milan just in time to meet Leti's brother and sister for a Napolese pizza dinner. The pizza was amazing even for a 4 am breakfast and it was our final goodbye to Milan before we started to drive back to Paris that night.

Finding Florence

The first thing I should mention about Florence is that Google maps does not work there. Like much of the rest of Europe, street signage is nonexistent or extremely hard to locate. So whenever we were trying to locate a street, it would never be found. So when we arrived in Florence at 5 am after driving from La Toussuire, we spent an hour driving down unnamed streets looking for our hotel. There were one way streets that never ended or turned around, but seemed to continue forever into another time and place. This was at 5 am when no one else was awake, and the empty streets really helped this feeling. Of course we were both exhausted and upset at the time, but we finally found our hotel's street by chance, and then finally found our hotel. Three hours of sleep later I woke up to figure life out, including where the Internet was (broken at the hotel) and how I could print ticket reservations off to see museums later in the day. I finally figured it all out and went back to the hotel at about noon to wake Kitz up.

After a fairly frustrating morning, the rest of the day made up for it. We wandered around Florence and went to the Uffizi. Art just relaxes me and it did again. By the time I left, I wanted to think about life and wander the streets forever. But Kitz wanted to have good Italian food, so we found a nice restaurant with pizza. After seeing a Michelangelo, a Donatello, some Leonardos, and many Raphaels, I decided this was Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles day. Splinter would be proud. But that was a nice day after all the confusion and getting lost and figuring out buses.

The next day we were up earlier to get to the Galleria Del'Acedemia to see David by our ticket time for 11 am with menthe and Coke granitas for breakfast to cool us down. With all this heat there come the inevitable mosquitos. I have never had more bites even when hiking and camping in the deep woods as I got in Milan two days later. Florence was not as bad and only had a few. After seeing and being amazed by David, we wandered. David is something that has been appropriated by pop culture for the most part, but the statue itself is amazing to behold. While at first I considered the head to be too large in proportion to the body, I eventually realized despite that fault, this was one of the most perfect statues I had seen. I have seen many statues, but my real love is painting/ two-dimensional art forms. I have not studied many statues with the time and intensity I thought David deserved. It was reminiscent of the ancient Roman and Greek statues' musculature but the balance and the preserved perfection of the statue is what makes it memorable. Just like the Mona Lisa, I think it has had a bit too much hype, but it still is beautiful.

Our wandering took us to Santa Croce, the oldest Franciscan Abbey in Florence. After marveling at that, we wandered over to the home of Michelangelo. The best part about that hot and stuffy house was the complete lack of people. There were three or four other tourists at most in the whole house. More people worked there. After that we did a bit of shopping then found another cafe just before the 20 minute rain shower. The same accordion player who was near our cafe last night was far too close tonight and talking was hard without raising our voices.

When we first decided to go to Florence, I couldn't help thinking about the movie & novel of A Room With A View by E. M. Forster. This may seem a bit strange but I love this movie. It may not be a very serious film but it is Merchant and Ivory at their best. But I didn't see anything from the movie in Florence, though my mind kept playing the soundtrack. The Florence from a movie is very different from a modern Florence, but still lovable in it's own way. It wasn't the winding narrow streets or getting honked at by Italian guys when I was looking scrubby in cut offs and an old t-shirt I had divested of collar (though these helped) that made me like Florence. It was the difference from France. I had been in France and northern Europe for so long, Italy seemed like another world and I liked the heat and the otherness as I adjusted to excellent waiters, hot weather, and a dream-like haze of antiquity.

Sitting in traffic on the side of a mountain

After a lovely mountaintop finish of the Tour de France, we have been sitting in bumper to bumper traffic in the Alps between La Toussuire and St. Jean-de-Maurienne. It is a very picturesque spot to be stuck in but we are stuck nonetheless and not as capable of appreciating the beauty. We are driving all the way to Florence tonight and thus can't stop and just wait a few hours until everyone clears the road. It has been a blisteringly beautiful day though. Yesterday, we checked out of our mountain ski lodge hotel and set up our tent on the side of the race route for tomorrow. We were next to some Dutch guys and some Norwegian girls. Kitz slept most of the day while I read. This peaceful laziness was disturbed when we tried to get dinner in town. I felt sorry for this poor lady who only spoke French and Italian and clearly had no training as a waitress. She was clearly filling in and had no knowledge of the menu or table numbers. But after waiting an hour and 10 minutes to get water am eventually food, mostly I just wanted to get out of there. Some Italian men camped down the road from us wanted us to join their feast but after sitting outside for two hours, we just wanted to get warm and sleep.

Many times I have slept in many awkward places, positions, and times. This had led to the belief that I could sleep anywhere. I think that supposition is entirely based on how sleep deprived I am because I could not sleep well in that car.

Despite sleep deprivation, Kitz and I got up. She got her hair cut and we were sitting near the finish line (80 meters away) before 11 am. We were sitting next to some South Africans and some Americans. On the other side of them was Marco, the drunk Belgian. Now one thing many people will tell you about me is that when I am sleep deprived I am more fun than when I'm not. Such was the case that morning. They were all going through wine bottles like Cookie Monster goes through cookies. It was great and it wasn't until later that I started to come down from the high and began to stare at things, like the ground or nothing. But it was still great. I got lost for about 45 minutes looking for a toilet and ended up in a cow field somehow, but it was still great. My sweater got wine spilled on it and it was still great. These finish line events turn into parties as soon as you find someone who speaks a language you know. Some more Americans joined us later. A couple from Washington D.C. added to the intense merriment and some people they had met earlier joined in. Even Scott, Dave, and Zack from the stage on Monday were about 50 meters away, so we visited. They had met Brian and Richard (the two American guys) and the South African chicks at a party Tuesday night waiting for the stage on the side of a mountain, though no one had a clear memory of the meeting because of some Danish guys and the large amount of beer they brought.

That was our last stage of the Tour de France. Most of the other people will be following for another stage or so, but this was our goodbye. And even Marco's songs and recounting his life story to me couldn't take away the enjoyment. Frankly, I even enjoyed Marco's drunk ballads. I may never meet any of these crazies again, but I will remember that stage fondly. Even now we have been sitting in traffic for an hour and a half trying to get off this mountain. Some Slovakian guys in the car behind us kept running up and down and we blasted some K-Pop and all danced while the cars all just sat there. Some crazy Norwegian guys came by too.

Despite cycling being a team sport, when most people cycle they do it on their own. But suddenly here we all are at the top of a mountain shouting, yelling, singing, and getting drunk together. I may not have gotten drunk, but there was such a sense of communitas for even just a moment as we all gathered to cheer Pierre Rolland to the top of the climb, and then every other of the 173 riders after that in the forty minutes it took them to get in. You want the day and the race to just continue forever. But it won't. Even as we said goodbye to the Dutch guys we camped next to and folded up the tent, even as we told the Italian men we couldn't have dinner with them because we had to get to Italy, and even as we said we would try to keep in touch, we all will drive our separate ways and never will we have a day like that again. Just like those days where a domestique cyclist will leap out of the pack and solo to the finish minutes ahead of the peloton, days like that do not come often and are very precious. As we drive now faster down the mountain, it all begins to fade away and we will now behind all these people and the Tour to continue our lives, our ride, our trip.

Sitting on a mountaintop

I haven't written much lately because I just didn't want to. Following theTour de France takes some logistics and time planning. There are thousands of people who want the same space ad you to shout encouragement to the same people you do. It is a bit crowded and uncomfortable with tons of planning. Without is probably a major inconvenience with little reward. So after the insanity of the time trial in Liege, we followed the tour for the first four stages and then we took off for foreign parts. We visited some friends of my sister outside of Brussels and I spent most of the day listening to people speak Russian. I brought a book but still got to watch an hour of Mikael's dance recital recorded on a Blackberry and explained to me by Mikael in Dutch. Mikael is a 6 year old boy and we cemented our friendship by playing football (soccer) with a balloon. At least his Dutch was easier to understand compared to Russian. That was a very interesting day.

We found a Laverie to wash our clothes the day after the stage ended in Boulogne-sur-Mer. On getting to the hotel: we went to the start and feed zone that day and tried to get into the city and avoid the finish. But one of the roads we needed was closed for the Tour. Without a small map (only a large one) I navigated us through many many country roads that seemed to have no names to the freeway our hotel was off of. Life success of the day.

To return to the relevant, we found a place to do laundry the next morning in Le Portel, next to Boulogne-sur-Mer. Our hotel was a block away from the sea, so we got to go explore the beach on the English Channel for a bit and hear the sea that night. We met some nice Brits following the Tour on bikes at breakfast and they were taking off for a few days too. I have really missed talking to people in English. My sister was sick (very sick) for a week around this time. She would still go do things but was definitely feeling horrible. She even had me drive that day. She never lets me drive. I drove in England, but that was it. She much prefers to drive than to watch me drive. To be fair, she is better at driving manual than I am. So I drove us out of Boulogne-sur-Mer with a car full of clean clothes.

I have been the navigator since we rented the car in Paris, and have slowly figured out all the signage failings of France, Switzerland, Germany, Belgium, and the Netherlands. I have figured out how to compensate as best I could. Ekitzel is not used to doing this and it wasn't until I had been going the wrong way on a highway for about 45 minutes that I asked her about our direction since we had crossed back over a motorway we had earlier used. She was so sick and not used to double checking directions, we had to turn around and go back. We were heading to Omaha Beach in Normandy and didn't arrive until 6 pm. We had dinner and found a room at the D-Day Hotel on the beach so we could see the cemetery in the morning and she didn't have to sleep outside. We had reserved a camping place at Mont St. Michel for that night, but the rain and her illness made that seem very undesirable. We did get to Mont St. Michel the next afternoon and camped that night. I explained the delay and checked us in entirely in French. Another life success. Then we went to Versailles.

I probably would have skipped Versailles and stayed in Normandy an extra day, but Kitz wanted to see it and see it we did. We had purchased tickets earlier online, but still ha to wait an hour and a half in line to get in then 20 minutes more for a girl to figure out why she couldn't find our ticket confirmation number. After experiencing her incompetence and the incompetently run souvenir stands at the Tour de France, I have decided that Germanic people should be in charge of running anything involving large amounts of people all trying to do the same thing. But I'm prejudiced. I like things to be run efficiently.

So Versailles was a palace and not really my thing. I only like palaces that are really old. Show me a good ruin r a catacomb any day. But it was fun despite the typhoon-like rain storm that soaked both Ekitzel and I despite all protection. We also both got dirty since the rain seemed to have absorbed some of the sand from the paths around the gardens and rained it down on us. We did get to see some nice fountains and all the Trianons, in addition to Marie Antoinette's fake English farm. It was so ridiculous, it was enjoyable. She had a fake lighthouse on a pond. I will upload pictures eventually of this very picturesque and very useless place. I was entertained by Marie's little version of a rural Disneyland. We finally rejoined the Tour on Monday in time for the Time Trial. We got to 25 m in front of the finish line at about 9:30 am and the Time Trial didn't finish until 5:30 pm. All day we got to watch one by one as the riders got their times. We were standing by some Americans all day and so got to know them pretty well. On our left was an antiques dealer from around Mobile and on our right were three guys who did IT and Engineering. They had slept in their car the night before and only one of the guys was really into the Tour. Dave knew about as much as I did about what had been happening and what was happening now. Scott rides, so he was looking at all the bikes. Zak slept during the entire trip, so really had no idea what was going on and no desire to figure it out. I ended up explaining things a bit, which is something I like to do a bit too much. But it was nice to hang with some Americans. On Omaha Beach we also met some Americans. We did go there on the fourth of July, so it was expected. We met these two older men, one Brit and one American. Both had fathers who had participated in the landings. These two men were best friends and on vacation together with their wives. They were driving with a trailer to pick up twelve cases of champaign for a friend's daughter's wedding. They were interesting guys and I hope I have friends like that if I ever want twelves cases of French champaign. There have been many interesting people we have met, but Dave, Scott, and Zak were the most entertaining. Scott started driving their rental car (a manual) without ever having really learned how to drive manual but since the other two went right to sleep he kept driving and the car still worked. Definitely the most entertaining people we've met.

After Monday in the sun, we stayed the night in Dijon, did more laundry and stocked up to spend a few days in the mountains. We had a hotel last night. It was a very nice ski lodge, so no complaints. It wasn't as nice as the one we had in the Belgian Dutch countryside, but very nice. Tonight though we are camping. The Tour de France is finishing at the top of a mountain tomorrow and they are closing the roads tomorrow, so we got here early and relaxed. On the way here yesterday we listened to Lord of the Rings audiobooks as we have been doing for a few weeks. We are in the Two Towers when Gandalf, Legolas, Gimli, and Aragorn come to Edoras. As we drive we usually joke about parts from the movies. But we drove from the plains to the Alps and finally up a mountain. We got stuck behind a herd of sheep for a bit as the baby lambs and their mothers were being herded up a road. We finally reached the summit with a car with two doors an a three cylinder engine. Today we just parked the car on the side of a mountain, next to the road and pitched the tent. Ekitzel is tired, so she is sleeping while I read and stare into the distant misted peaks. They were covered in mist when I started writing this on my iPod but now they are more clear in the afternoon sun. Tomorrow the bike riders will struggle to the top of this climb while thousands of people cheer them on. I will be only one of those people, but every person is important, even those who can't drive manual.

Tour de France

Tour de France. Do you know what this is? If you don’t, you obviously have never experienced the insanity of cycling fans. I have enjoyed my time in Amsterdam and look back on it fondly. Liege has confusing streets, is a bit smelly in places, has excellent food, bad restaurant service, and I have had to use my French. But none of this matters. I spent the day doing paperwork while many of the other fans staying here wandered around the exhibition and the stage platforms they constructed. I’ve seen all this before, but never with this many fans. I have been in crowds at many stages in the Tour of California and USA Procycling Challenge in Colorado. I have even been sworn at when I was a course marshal by a farmer in Utah when I wouldn’t let him pass. But this is THE RACE. All the other races were big, but none was so big. There are people here from all over the world to cheer on their favorite cyclists. We are bunking with a Brazilian and an Australian. There are many Australians here, probably to cheer on last year’s winner Cadel Evans. It is so exhilarating to be around all these people who love this sport as much or more than I do. We wandered out to get waffles in Liege and as we were walking back, I was thinking of how much people can be brought together through their idiosyncrasies. It is not the general character of the people but the little similarities that  can bring people together. Maybe it makes us feel less alone in the world if we see how similar we are to at least one other person. We can’t be alone if someone shares this quirky trait with us. I am definitely not alone in my love of cycling, though I generally watch races at home alone because I don’t know many other people who actually watch cycling, and if they do, I am usually more into it than them. But here, people are here on their bikes, in their kits (one lady never took hers off in the three days we saw her), ready to fly their crazy flags.

Except not enough. After having been at the prologue for the Tour de France, I have to say that people in California showed more spirit. Whenever a Belgian or French rider came around there were cheers, but there seemed to be much less excitement than when I was standing in a crowd in Colorado last year. Those people were crazy. They shouted for everyone and kept cheering. I figure if a rider is in the Tour de France, and I am there, they deserve a loud banging on the barriers with my hand. Now I realize that this time trial was two and a half hours long with a new rider every minute or so, but still I wanted to keep cheering them. The way in which they mold their bodies to the skinny time trial bikes and maneuver it with the fastest speed possible, is beautiful.  It is not the same as the delicate stone work I just saw in Le Grande Place, Brussels which hundreds of years ago was carved out of this stone and still seems to be living. But a rider on a bike and ancient stone lace are both beautiful in their own ways. Our bodies and the way they work is like the Hallelujah Chorus sung in a cathedral. So many elements work together to create a structure that is so useful and in that uses it can be dedicated to, is beautiful. These men are expending more energy than it takes to run a marathon every day for two weeks to takes themselves over thousands of miles of road as quick as they can. What goal is more simple? It is an extreme, but our bodies are these works of art and we can feel how precious every movement is as we walk down the street, yawn and stretch our arms, and type thousands of words trying to convey a feeling.