Zurich and Milan

So we flew to Zurich on British Airways on Friday and spent a beautiful weekend there. Switzerland is a beautiful country. It’s very clean and organized. I think the train system is as efficient as Japan, which I did not previously believe to be possible. The weather continued to be gorgeous and O and I walked all over town. Our hotel was a newly built Courtyard by Marriott and very nice. When we arrived back at the hotel on Saturday night, we found fire personnel and ambulances had the whole thing blocked off. There had been an electrical fire! I felt really bad for the hotel staff who had only been open for two weeks and already had a big crisis on their hands. So, as we walked around to the back of the hotel where most of the guests were waiting, we could hear loud East Indian music and began to see a lot of people in bright costumes. Turns out, there was a huge banquet at the hotel that night and about 50-75 people were in full costume and outside the hotel continuing on their party. One of the partygoers had pulled his car up, opened all four doors, and blasted Indian music. The rest of the group carried on with the party even though they were in the middle of a parking lot. It made for some cheap entertainment while we waited for the all clear from the fire department. The saris were so bright and colorful and all so different from each other, it was like watching a flock of exotic wild birds.

On Sunday, we packed up and headed to the main train station to catch our train to Milan. The trip takes about three and a half hours and it was one of the most gorgeous rides of my life. I am overwhelmed by the natural beauty and geographic wonders of Switzerland. You pass by these beautiful lakes and then shoot through a mountain tunnel only to emerge on the other side surrounded by towering mountains with beautiful waterfalls cascading down the sides in a sea of green. The houses are all stunning and the roadways and railways are even more impressive given the terrain challenges they face as a country.

We then entered Italy and arrived in Milan about half an hour after crossing the border. The first night, we checked into our hotel near the Central Station and strolled about town. We had dinner and then strolled over to the Duomo, the largest cathedral in Milan and a beautiful towering sight. Along the way, I couldn’t help myself and stopped twice for gelato. Ok, I thought I was a gelato fan from the US, but hell no. The gelato over here is AMAZING. I have vowed I will only try 2 different places a day. I could eat it all day hands down. It is so rich and creamy, yet light and delicate at the same time. I have found my new master and his name is gelato.

So yesterday, the rain came pouring down. Milan is notorious for clouds and rain. When the rain gets tough, the tough go shopping! We hit the retail outlets hard and did some major damage. Oziel was much better behaved than I. We did get some amazing clothes however and now we don’t have to do laundry for a few more days. See how nicely that worked out.

Today we are renting a car and driving to Lake Como for a couple of quiet days. Wish us luck.

Cuidate all! We miss you and wish you were here.

London Report

So the wireless internet scheme has not quite gone according to plan. In San Francisco, we are blessed with wireless internet hotspots everywhere. They’re a bit harder to come by over here. Still, I am undaunted and will post as much as possible.

The O man and I flew over on Monday on British Airways. I was very impressed. I don’t think the flight attendants were any better than the ones at United, but the food service was definitely a notch above United food and we all got a lovely pouch with socks, eye shades, and a travel toothbrush and toothpaste in economy. We used to give out socks and such at United, but bankruptcy and such nixed all of those freebees. The entertainment system was really nice as well. 18 channels of video and audio plus the Airshow and games like solitaire and poker. BA is also in the midst of installing video and audio on demand, so they definitely have a leg up on American carriers. Lest I forget my boyfriend's favorite part of the flight, booze is still free too.

We arrived in London about 30 minutes early on the 19th. We took the tube to our hotel near the Queensway area and settled in. Our hotel was definitely on the cheaper end of the scale. One person could fit in the bathroom at a time. Barely. The pound is really high against the dollar, so everything was expensive. Still, we had a great great time. My boyfriend conked out immediately upon reaching the hotel. I got out to the store and picked up some food and drinks before returning the hotel. Even though I was fighting it, I too fell asleep. We both woke up at 2 AM wide awake. Grr… We watched a movie and then slept for a couple more hours before getting up early to hit the town. Our hotel had a lovely breakfast spread – fresh fruit, cereal, yoghurt, cheese, poached eggs, juice, coffee, tea. We ate and then headed out to be tourists. This is Oziel’s first trip to Europe, so it’s been a lot of fun showing him around. We started with Big Ben, Westminster Abbey, and the Houses of Parliament. We then walked across the Thames and bought tickets on the London Eye, the Ferrisferris wheel that was erected for the Millennium celebration. I have to say, it was one of the highlights of our time in London. We were blessed with gorgeous weather all of the days we were here and you could see a good 15-20 miles from the top. Here are some of the pictures we took.






It’s a really cool ride and you can barely even tell you’re moving. I highly recommend it to anyone visiting London. After this, we headed over to the Imperial War Museum. I was more interested than in this than the boy. He headed outside and met up with a lost Japanese guy. They opted to visit the local pub while I was a nerd in the museum. We met back at the hotel around 6 or 7. Oziel passed out again due to his jet lag and I managed to fight off sleep for a couple of hours.

Thursday was our last full day in London. We had breakfast and then headed out to the Tower of London. When I was flying to London, I was never able to do a lot of these things as I only had 24 hours here and 12 hours were usually spent sleeping. The Tower turned out to be a lot of fun and we had a fun tour from one of the Beefeaters that still staff the Tower. The Crown Jewels were impressive and the crowds were light, so we were able to take our time and enjoy them. After this, we wandered over to Tower Bridge and took some photos. (The last time I visited Tower Bridge, David Blaine was in the box and it was quite a spectacle.)

We returned to the hotel and I went for a run in Kensington Park. We then headed over to the Victoria Theatre and caught the show Wicked which has newly opened here in London. They’ve improved the staging a bit and the Tony winner Idina Menzel is reprising her role as Elphaba for the first 90 days of the run, so it was very cool to see her.

Friday morning, we did some last minute shopping and then headed to Heathrow for our flight to Zurich.

That's all for now guys. I'll blog more as our trip goes on.

Cuidate.

I'm dating a 23 year old

I've been trying not to write this post, but the time has come. I will be 33 years old in 2 weeks. I have been dating my boyfriend for the past 3 months, almost 4 now. While I am the happiest I have been in quite some time, we are ten years apart and that is beginning to show itself more and more.

My boyfriend is still in party mode. He likes to go out to bars or parties on a regular basis and get drunk. I never hit this phase. Yes, I have been drunk before and I enjoy having a drink or two here and there. However, I do not like to get drunk and I'm thinking now is not the time to begin developing that habit. (I missed that stage somehow. I also missed out on the drug scene. I think I was shown one too many of those ABC After School Specials.)

Case in point, it is Saturday night and we are leaving for Europe on Monday. My boyfriend has a lovely habit of springing surprises on me like, "I'm going to party in Sacramento tonight, I'll be home sometime tomorrow." Whoa tiger... My response was , "WTF? When did you plan to do this? And better yet, when were you planning to tell me?" (He brought this up at 2 PM today after ditching me and our plans to go out last night.) It's not that I really care about him wanting to have fun with his friends and I am not in the same party mode for sure. My issue was him going to hang out with 20-40 gay men in Sacramento where drinking and partying were sure to be happening. I trust my boyfriend 100%, but I don't trust the other members of my tribe. (Note My boyfriend also informed me two nights ago that two of my friends slipped him their respective numbers and said, "Call me when Mark isn't around.") Also my boyfriend does not drive or have a car, so he was going to be dependent on friends of ours to drive him home. I feel like one should always have the ability to leave a situation if need be and Sacramento is an hour and a half to two hours driving time from our apartment.

I gave my boyfriend 2 options. Either bring me with him or don't go at all. My boyfriend was like, "You can't give me ultimatums like that." Uh, yeah, I think I can. So now my boyfriend is moping around the house and not speaking to me. Am I wrong on this one? If you're dating someone, don't you have the right to veto certain situations that you deem to be a train wreck waiting to happen?

Hope everyone has a great weekend. Cuidate.

NPR...My Guilty Pleasure

Ok, I know... I am a huge nerd. As I look over my blog entries, it reminds me of the hugeness of my geekdom. Anyhow, nerd alert.

I love National Public Radio. It makes such a huge influence on my daily life. I am listening to a program right now, even as I type. From All Things Considered to Fresh Air, from Car Talk to This American Life, from The World to A Prairie Home Companion, they produce such amazing programs day after day, week after week, year after year.

There is an evocative quality about radio, something that television does not have. Hearing the subtleties and nuances of the human voice without putting a face to them affects me in ways that television does not. Perhaps it's my ADD acting up, but when I am watching a person on television or in real life, my mind constantly wanders and thinks of other things. With radio, I am forced to concentrate harder because the visual stimulation is not there. (In my case, I suppose it would be dis-stimulation.) Another great thing about public radio is that you can listen to it while driving. If I am driving to work, I usually get about an hour to two hours a day of news and updates on what's been going on in the world.

The World is my favorite program. It is a co-production of Public Radio and the BBC. The news updates are all in a fun accent from the UK and the stories are filed from all over the globe. From Siberia to Slovenia, from Madagascar to Mauritania, from Antarctica to Andorra, listening to this program every day gives you a sense of what is truly going on across the globe and how very very little news we truly get in this country. For example, one story that caught my attention was about our discarded clothes. When one drops off clothes at a local Goodwill or Salvation Army box, I never gave much thought to where they ended up. I assumed that people who were not as well off ended up purchasing them locally. Apparently, large numbers of the clothes we discard end up in Africa. I don't remember the particular country, but one of the reporters from The World was in a smaller Western African nation and reporting that she was seeing T-shirts from the U.S. all over large cities in Africa. Who knew? I never gave thought to the idea that my old junior high sweatshirt is now being worn by someone in Namibia. It gives you perspective on how such a small decision on my part could have a large effect on someone else's life in another part of the world.

National Public Radio gets about two thirds of their budget from public donations and a third or more from government funding. In the past few years, the Bush Administration has made several attempts to cut this funding from the budget due to their perception that NPR is a liberal institution. Thankfully the attempts have been rebuffed by Congress, but this does not mean that they will not try again in the future. If you are not an NPR listener, you can find a local radio station at www.npr.org and plugging in your zip code. It's a great way to stay informed about what's going on around you. It makes me feel a little less stupid everytime I listen.

Cuidate.

Quick Update

Hey all...

Sorry I haven't written in a bit. Been fairly busy as of late. We're leaving for Europe on the 18th, so I've been busy busy getting stuff ready for that. I suppose I am a bit of a planner, but that's not a bad thing, right? (Wink, wink...) It seems as if every time I feel slightly ready to leave, 2 or 3 more things crop up. I got an international drivers license from AAA the other day, so I will be able to rent a car in Italy. I'm now trying to confirm reservations for museums and other attractions that the guide books say must be booked in advance. (Anyone else been to the Uffizi?)

My friend Cal from Scotland is coming into town on Saturday. I haven't seen him in about 2 years, so it will be cool to catch up with him. He's currently living it up in Los Angeles and Vegas.


He wants to go to Alcatraz. Need I say more? (For those of you not from San Francisco, Alcatraz is a place that you only go when you have family or friends in town. I have not been yet and I have lived here since 1998, so I suppose it is about time to set sail. My parents went years ago and really enjoyed it, I have never had the time nor the opportunity. But now I do.) It will be fun to show him around our amazing city. Summer has arrived the past few days and, with it, amazing fall weather. Gorgeous days and then fog rolling in at night, right on cue.

I hate to admit it, but I am such the techno geek lately. It seems like every time I get a gadget, there's 3 more things that I add to my wish list. I tried order the black MacBook, but apparently, it is the hottest thing since sliced bread right now.


Ordering it online wouldn't get it here until 9/22, so that was no good. Tonight, we visited the Apple Store where I was able to obtain the same MacBook in white for $150 less than the black one that is sold out all over. So I won't be cool, what else is new? They're also running a free iPod promotion 'til the 16th with the purchase of a laptop, so we picked up the boy a Nano for the trip. (He's been using my video iPod lately and I have a feeling we must have tussled over it in Europe.)

I am very happy with the experience I have had with Apple products thus far. Both my iPod and my iMac have been terrific and very low maintenance and I am looking forward to using my MacBook around town and when I start back to school in a year or so. I was hesitant after being a PC guy for so many years, but I am a big Apple fan now. They do everything with such great style which seems to be sorely lacking in so many other industries across the globe these days.

I had a couple of days off this week and Oziel managed to get the same days off, so we have been able to spend a good chunk of time together which has been a lot of fun. It's so nice to be able to fall asleep with him and wake up with him, laughing and cuddling and, uh, other stuff. I also got to hang out with Eliot earlier in the week. I hadn't seen him in a long time and it was great to catch up with my pbf.

I am back to work today until Sunday. I just work one day next week for a girlfriend that needs a swap and then I am off. I'm going to try to catch up with everyone next week before I take off. (Suzanne, Kellie, Daniela, Kalin, you know who you are.)

I also saw An Inconvenient Truth on Monday. I am a big Al Gore fan, but I was not a big fan of this film. It's him doing a presentation on global warming. Yes, this is an important issue that we need to be focusing on. If this film is a spark that gets some discussion started, then by all means, press on. If Al Gore is trying to run for president again, I am 110% behind him. He's always impressed me as someone who is passionate, intelligent, and exactly the type of person we need at this point in our history to be leading our country. However, If you are fairly well read on environmental issues, then there is not much new information in this film.

Hope everyone is doing well. Cuidate and have a great end of the week.