8/27/2013

The Carnival Miracle

WOOT!

I think that may sum it up, really.  Perhaps I should just stop there for today.  I mean, really, the rest is sort of fluff, isn’t it?  Yadda yadda yadda… big boat! … yadda yadda yadda … sailing in the ocean! …

I sense, however, if you’re reading this, there may be a certain desire for details…

Or more probably, you’re just really bored and killing time… no one twittering anything interesting, eh?  I feel your pain….

Or actually, I DON’T BECAUSE I’M ON A CRUISE!

Early this morning, we made our way, via shuttle, to the Port of Seattle, where Carnival’s “The Miracle” awaited us (well… maybe not just us… perhaps a few others… say 2500 or so…) to set sail.  Now mind you, you’ve seen pictures of these massive cruise liners… and you have an idea of how big they must be in real life… but when you’re truly right up next to one… WOW!  Pretty amazing.  Also a little scary… I mean, the damn thing looks so… well…. Tall… maybe a little top heavy… like it could spill a little this way or that and drop off a few hundred people and really… who’d know? 

Anyway, we did the whole customs… bag checking… yadda yadda yadda stuff and finally made our way into the ship! 

And really had no idea where we were going.  It’s a big ship!

So, a few questions later, we found our way to the room… a room that really wasn’t quite as tiny as I thought it would be, with a Queen bed for my parents and a wee little twin for me.  A nice size window gives an excellent view of the passing scenery and there’s most of what you might want handy…

Except…

Ok!!  Damnit!  There’s this horrible print that hangs above my little cubby-bed… and aside from the fact that it’s poorly done and the colors are definitely watercolor a la 1985, the nightmarish thing is crooked inside it’s matting!!  ARG!!

It’s a shame the window doesn’t open… Otherwise it would swim with the fishes.  Concrete shoes on those cheap, plastic frames, baby! 

Ok, I must stop looking at the print… it’s obviously upsetting me…

Aside from that!  While my parents settled in, I ventured to the top of the 10 story  behemoth and went a little crazy with the photos.  Amazing views of Seattle from the upper deck, with swirls of clouds (in various shades) making the scenery all the more spectacular.  This was pleasant until a terribly upsetting, mandatory safety something or other drug me back down to the 3^rd deck.

My advice… hide from these.  Find some quiet, cool little corner and wait it out.  Yes, they are required by law… no, I really couldn’t see the point.  A safety card in my room would have told me as much and with far less annoyance. 

In brief: long waits while everyone is grouped into 4 sections… you’re pushed together so close you find yourself getting’ friendly with someone’s grandma… then piercing, repeated wails from a loadspeaker above your head… again… and again… and again… a few banal words… long pause for some tender loving moments with gramma, who is still pressed up against you… long piercing wails again… then the long, shuffled trek towards the door… the memory of your unwanted, illicit tryst with gramma still a fresh open wound in your now aching head… which, by the way, has now rediscovered that migraine you thought forgotten back in Seattle’s downtown shopping district….

Ah well.

Dinner was actually good.  Our “dinner area” is in the “Bacchus Restaurant”… a name which prompted a bit of a giggle from me.  After all, the average age of the person on board this ship is probably around 70… and that’s even factoring in the variety of grandkids… so the idea of a Bacchanalia was a bit entertaining…. And perhaps a bit nauseating… But the dining room itself! 

OMG!  So, of course, it has this vine/grape motif all over, including the railings and the ceiling panels.  What really cracks me up, though, are these clusters of purple globes all over the ceiling, walls, and … well… most everything else… that serve as both the lights as well as (of course) the “grapes” in the Hedonistic Orgy of a Dining Room we were to eat dinner in…

Still, at least the food was pretty good.

Afterwards, I toured the ship some more, listening in on bars with sad little guitar players doing 80’s covers (oh god… that’s classic rock now, isn’t it?... bleh)… piano bars with even more depressing live music… and a karaoke bar staged in this truly bizarre little place called ‘Mad Hatters’ that made the ‘Bacchus Restaurant’ look near austere and refined… Yea, don’t make me talk about it…

I wonder if I could put the crooked print under the bed?  I think it would fit…

Other entertaining things caught my attention as I ventured my way through the ship after dinner… but alas, exhaustion has found me out and I believe I’ll bring this to a close tomorrow. 

Tomorrow, a day of sailing!

8/26/2013

August 26, 2013

Seattle, WA

Song of the day…. ‘Uniform Gray’ by Sarah Harmer

It's perfectly suited

This uniform grey

There are no bearings

To the day

I came down from the air

And i'll leave by boat

Let me just say… migraines are all kinds of sucky.  And I mean, not that BIG GULP on a hot day in July that’s 90% ice/10% soda and the ice has melted so much that the Coke (because who drinks Pepsi, anyway?  Phooey… ick!... Bleh!) and the water have mixed into this undrinkable, semi-sweet mess… kind of sucky… but that Magna Cum Sucky of being force fed “Everyone Loves Raymond” episodes in marathon doses with no commercial breaks…

Yea… they’re just that sucky…

And if ONE is that bad, imagine what 3 in a day in a half would be like…

Yea, well, that’s pretty much been happening to me.  Imitrex seemed to have little effect on these knife stabbing, nausea laced, vice grip tightening monstrosities… but by this afternoon, they finally seemed to let their pincer like grips loosen a bit on my poor beleaguered head enough for me to actually enjoy myself a bit.

You may insert sympathy at any point you feel so moved… really… go for it… feel the movement!.... whoosh!.... that was the air passing you by as you were quickly moved to sympathy…

Anyway, what might have contributed to my head blah blues was a very short night of sleep… actually, several very short nights of sleep… but who’s counting?  Or could count, really, when you’re running on fumes… I mean consecutive numbers that keep going and going… infinite craziness!

Yep, we got into the hotel around 1am PST (that’s 3am CST for those ‘in the know’) and finally got into bed an hour later.  7:30 am found me wide awake and considering what I wanted for breakfast… oh the joys of time zone changes!

Still, after a short breakfast, we we

re off for the 3 block walk to the infamous Space Needle!

So what is the Space Needle, anyway?  Apparently, Wikipedia (and the chick in the elevator who talked all the way up) seem to agree that it was built for the World’s Fair back in 1962.  Since the theme that year was all “Space!  The Final Frontier!” and stuff… well, you can figure out how it got the name… this was the age of the Swank Daddy and his Space Age Bachelor Bad, after all.  At the time, it was… like… the tallest thing in the West.

Now, it’s like the 7^th tallest… in Seattle…

Ah well, time moves on.  It’s really just a tall observation deck with elevators… but that being said it was pretty wicked cool.  Awesome view of the Misty City (just guessing at Seattle’s moniker… what is it, anyway?) as the day was relatively bright and beautiful. 

Side note: the top of the Needle has ONE restroom… for EVERYONE!!... so should you visit in the future, be sure to cut down on the liquids and caffeine prior to venturing up or you may (like me) find yourself spending far too long in a very tiresome line.

So!  We did the Space Needle, had  a wonderful time, and took the mono-rail from the Space Needle into the shopping district of downtown.  Alas, we were all pretty tired at this point due to our lack of sleep, so a little shopping later and we were heading back to the hotel.

A brief work out (yep… pretty proud of that… I worked out on vacation… I rock!!), some photo editing, and a blog entry later, I’m winding down for sleep and preparing for our cruise tomorrow!  WOOT!

Oh, and on a melancholy note… today was Sydney’s 3^rd b’day... I hate that I missed it, but have every intention of spoiling her rotten when I return home… Would have been perfect if I could have had my little puppy with me today, though =).

8/25/2013

The Alaskan Cruise

Seattle, WA

August 25, 2013

Once upon a time, in a land far far away (well, at least a few hundred miles at this point as I’m currently in the air, riding First Class… woot!... on my way to Seattle) in a time, long long ago (ok, about a year, actually… but that’s, like, 365 days!... Let’s not even count hours and seconds… crazy… I’m just sayin’…) a lovely, perfect little family made a big, wonderful decision to make a legendary journey to the wilds of Alaska!

Ok, now that we’ve established a portentous beginning…. And stuff…

A year ago, we (Mom, Dad and I) decided to take a cruise in celebration of Mom’s retirement.  Somehow, the choice was left up to me to choose where we went and… after much consideration… I choose Alaska!  After all, it’s gorgeous, it’s beautiful… and… er… it’s one of the 5 States I’ve never been to…

I’m sorry, were you looking for more auspicious reasoning?  Really… and you’re reading this instead of the manuscripts of the Dhali Llama because… ?!?  Yea, that’s what I thought…

Anyway… so we booked this!  YAY!  And after much time passed, I’m finally on the plane to Seattle!  Oh, so… guess I’ve not worked my way around the details… sigh… Ok, so we’re flying to Seattle, spending a couple of days there (thanks to blackout days with my airline points), and then sailing to Alaska (and back) from there. 

How fun is that?!?!

Well, so far it’s pretty darn stressful, actually.  But that’s only because finishing up work in preparation for 2 weeks without e-mail, packing for a vacation (instead of a business trip) and helping ease my parents into such a trip has proven quite the challenge.

All of this is ok, however… as peace, joy and eminent satisfaction is just on the horizon!  At this very moment I’m enjoying the comforts of First Class… a glass of white wine… a rather crappy buffalo chicken salad… and Iron Man 3 on the video screen… does it get any better than this?

Hmmm… so really that’s all I have to say at this point. 

Why are you still reading this?

Really… isn’t there a Wiki you could be looking up?  A FaceBook status you haven’t commented on?  A Twitter you haven’t… well, twittered… or something…  that’s just so weird… how can you really say anyting with so few characters, anyway?  And isn't it just a little creepy that people are so interested in exactly what you're doing... eating... drinking... thinking... at just this moment?  I mean really... just stalky weird, that Twitter stuff...

And you’re still here?  Wow… that’s kinda weird, too…Just sayin'...  =)

04/14/2010

April in Paris!


Today I’ve had that song going through my head constantly!! Can you believe it? The first time I’m in Paris and it’s April! How cool is that? Ok, so as I write this, I’m not actually in Paris yet… I’m currently on the train, having just come out of the Chunnel between England and France. A very odd experience as your ears pop constantly from the pressure.

I’m very excited about arriving in Paris! Although, to be honest, I’m also getting very excited about going home, also. 3 weeks on the road is a long time! And I miss James terribly. Due to the back to back meetings, I’ve had almost no time to call him on this trip, and thanks to AT&T being complete idiots, the text package I had bought to text him turned out to be bogus (that turned out to be an ugly fight… I was pissed! Still, they reimbursed me for the package and all the charges they tried to stick me with…). I’ll just be really really glad to see him…

So, I approach Paris with mixed emotions. I look so much forward to seeing it, but also hope it goes by quickly… C’est la vie and all =).

** hours later**

So, things didn’t work out so great upon my arrival into Paris, alas… First off, Craig and I got a bit lost in the Paris Underground system… this would be a little less daunting if there were less stairs to have navigate with luggage… after all, there are NO escalators in the Paris Underground… ack!

So, after we made what turned out to be a rather large circle around Paris on the Underground, we finally found our hotel… only to discover Microsoft’s booking agency had, for some unfathomable reason, canceled our reservation week’s before… er?!?

I really need to stop beginning sentences with “So…”…

-_-

Ok, (hey, it’s not “So”, right?), at this point, we have no hotel, I’m tired, Craig is on the phone, and I can SEE the Eiffel Tower right outside the hotel window… it’s right THERE! Just outside! Oh, sweet torture! And yet, our new hotel is way outside of town… so off we go… and I see the Eiffel Tower recede into the distance… sigh…

Ah well, thankfully, we did return to it. I was bound and determined to see it the first night!! What else do you do in Paris for the first time? And what was my first impression of it? It’s frickin’ HUGE!! For some reason, I just didn’t think it was that big! Really, I thought it was smaller than that… But no… it’s really really big!

As you approach the 4 legs of it, you are immediately assaulted by a gang of people trying to sell you souvenir trinkets, attempting to entertain you for coins, and begging (the ones begging are all dressed in peasant garb… dirty faces and all… no kidding). You can go up the Eiffel Tower from any of the 4 legs, and each has a line, although we noticed that one line was substantially shorter. “Why not take that one!?!” thought we…. Silly, silly tourists that we were…

I’ll tell you why… that line was the one with no elevator.

Yep, we had to walk all the way UP the Eiffel Tower… no small feat, let me tell you. You congratulate yourself for this virtue only until your legs start screaming in pain… Looking it up on Wikipedia, there are over 300 steps to the first level… and as much again to the 2nd level… over 600 steps, people!! That beat my record of 400+ for St. Stephen’s in London! Man, but I should have awesome legs after all this walking and stair climbing…

Anyway… The first level is occupied by a restaurant/café, observation decks, etc. Quite nice, really. You head up to the 2nd level and you have another café and store. Then there’s the lift (thank God there was a lift that our ticket actually covered for this part!!) all the way to the top.

Now, I’ve been rushing through all of this, but you have to keep in mind… there’s a line to get in. There’s an amazing line to get to the top… AND there’s an amazing line to get back down from the top… AND there’s a line to get from the 2nd level down to the ground level again… So if you intend to visit the Eiffel Tower, go ahead and devote an entire day to it… it’s certainly no afternoon fling… Oh, and dress warm! Damn it gets windy and chilly!

So, finally we reached the top! Wow! What an amazing view! You can see all of Paris in this vast panoramic display. It’s simply stunning! From here, you can see Notre Dame, the Louvre, Sacre Coure, and just about anything else that makes Paris famous. Definitely well worth the time and effort it takes to make the climb… sigh…

Afterwards, it was basically time to call it a day… but first, some impressions, thusfar:

• The French do not believe in disposable crap: utensils that would normally be made of plastic are made of bamboo. My yogurt came in ceramic containers (ceramic?? Is that even recyclable?). If my bottled water doesn’t come in glass containers, the plastic is often so thick you can knock someone out with it.

• Apparently ‘Do Not Disturb’, in French, means ‘Please, bug the living Shit out of me by knocking on my door every 15 minutes’. Thought you might like to know.

4/11/2010

Reading… um… yes… Reading…


Wow… what can one say about Reading?

Well, it has lots of shops. Not quaint little shops, but we’re talking ‘The Gap’, TK Maxx (nope, I didn’t mistype, here it’s TK, not TJ Maxx… I have no idea why), various other clothing, electronics, and sundries stores along with, of course, the obligatory restaurants.

It’s also really ugly.

Row houses populate a good deal of what can be seen in Reading. Graffiti abounds and trash litters public areas.

Add in the general gloom of the British weather and it’s quite the depressing little area.

Of course, the offices here were way better than ours in Charlotte.

What’s UP with that, anyway? A conspiracy? Are we the red-headed step children or what?

So anyway, Obviously there was nothing to DO in Reading, although I did walk around find a cute little park to take a couple of pictures of. Each night, we went out with various people from Microsoft and talked, ate and drank for several hours until it was basically time for bed. Not exactly what I would have in mind for an exciting trip to Europe, but ah well. There has to be such places in Europe, right? It can all be excitement and history…

Interesting fact here, you can buy Ibuprofrin with Coedine right in the pharmacy… but Dramamine has to have a prescription… er?

Too bad I’m allergic to Coedine…

4/10/2010

Cheers, Mate!

Many times, when visiting England, I’ve considered taking up the expression, “Cheers!”. After all, it’s so damn useful! In the USA, we typically only use it when toasting. And before visiting the UK, I really only thought of it as an expression of farewell for the British… something they say in parting and a way to end letters when signing them to those they are well acquainted with. Silly, silly, me! The word has a thousand meanings and a million nuances! It is a word of subtleties and inscrutable meanings for the uninitiated. It can mean farewell, of course… but it can also mean, “Thank you!” or “Cool!”. It can mean, “Wow, that was quite funny!” but it can also mean, “Ouch, you’ve crossed a line and hurt my feelings, buddy, but I’m going to be nice for the sake of getting along,”. It can have an ominous tone or a friendly tone, it can mean, “Pardon Me,” (sort of) and “Great job!”. Hell, I’m not sure I’ve scratched the surface of all it’s meanings… And it never seems to go out of fashion. Name me an American word that quite relates? After all, saying “Cool!”, now, just isn’t cool. It rather dates you. As do the expressions “Awesome!” and (need I go on?) “Wow!” and such. But more contemporary expressions may be too vulgar or seem like your trying to be “too young” if you attempt to use them in your 30’s.

Yep, I vote we adopt ‘Cheers!’. Really, it’s the only dignified thing to do.

So, now that I’ve ranted a bit…

Paddington Station is amazing! I love it! No matter how many times I’ve been there, I fall in love with it a little more every time I’m there. It’s the quintessential train station to me. I love the hustle and bustle. I love the domed, exposed support ceiling with filigreed windows on the either end. Even the name is fun, evoking that cute little bear in a blue overcoat and red hat.

We arrived early in the day and ate a rather bland meal across the street from the station. I have to admit, I was beat all to hell. So many days with so little sleep and so many time changes had finally caught up to me. Thus, although it killed me suggest it, I was the one who volunteered we break for a nap before venturing out on the town… I know! Heinous, right? One day in London and I’m napping? Still, it was worth it to have seen Munich…

Besides, I only napped for 2 hours, so chill…

Then, because Chuck had never been to London before, we purchased tickets on one of those double-decker tour buses that give you a guided, audio tour of London. On the top deck, it’s open air and it was actually a sunny day in London (will wonders never cease?), although chilly.

Thus, we toured around London, taking in the sites and (as I seen the sites before) I was free to only photograph what caught my eye as being exceptionally lovely. This was good since the bus was constantly in motion, not giving me much chance to take truly worthy photographs. It wasn’t too long, however, before it became outrageously cold and I wished, once again, that I had erred on the side of caution and brought warmer clothing… ack!

That night, it was off to Piccadilly Circus and Soho for food and walking around. God, but I love London at night! It’s just fun! The energy is fantastic! I probably could have hung out in that area for the remainder of the night and just mixed with the people, this being the heart of the nightlife in London, Chuck and Craig, however, wished to see Buckingham Palace, so off we went to there.

Alas, quickly the night reached an end the next day arrived… leaving the inevitable trip to Reading ahead of us…

4/9/2010

Day Two in Munich...

The 2nd day had us meeting the woman who hired Chuck into Microsoft, Carolyn, in Marienplatz for dinner. I’ll be honest… I was antsy and edgy, as I wanted to SEE Munich and waste as little time as possible simply sitting around talking, which I was afraid would be what we would do… At first, my fears seemed justified. I watched forlornly as the sun set outside (all that awesome, photo opportunity, sunlight gone! Ack!) while we ate what I must admit was fantastic food and talked and talked. The waitress then abandoned us to wait for what seemed an eternity for the check (there’s a reason you tip only 10% or less in Europe for waiters and waitresses… the service is definitely compensatory to the lesser percentage… bleh!).


Carolyn, however, a former resident of Munich, then offered to take us on a walking tour of Munich. A lovely night, this turned out to be a lovely tour of the city and well worth the wait.

The first stop on the tour turned out to be one of my favorites in Munich. Odeonplatz, a square consisting of the Odeon (a large concert hall), Feldherrnhalle (an incredibly impressive arch with statuary dedicated to Bavarian generals), and the Theatinerkirche (Theatiner Church) among other things, is something to behold! These are all impressive in and of themselves, but make an awe inspiring sight when placed together… perhaps especially at night with the soft lights making everything appear simply beautiful. I was in love with the place!

We then walked on to see the Palace… actually, I saw a big poster façade of the Palace posted up in front of it on scaffolding… oooohhhh… ahhhhhhh…. Right? Like all of Europe, they are constantly reconstructing, refurbishing and otherwise attempting to save all of these National treasures… and it just so happened this particular treasure was under the scalpel getting a facelift while I was there… ah well. I suppose I saw what it was supposed to look like, right?

In terms of history, we were also to see the plaza where Hitler did many of those speeches so infamously televised (it looks so much smaller in reality…) as well as the original gates of the city, cleverly built into a host of other buildings now.

Other than that, it was simply dozens of fountains, statues, obelisks and the like… you know how Europe is, you can’t spit without hitting an enormous monument older than your own country’s Constitution… sigh… very impressive indeed.

Eventually, however, much to my regret, the day had to come to an end. It was quite late when it did, as we had a drink and further conversation with Carolyn before departing on the rather long train ride back to the hotel, and we had quite an early flight the next day to London, so for the 3rd night in a row, I was set to get less than 6 hours of sleep…