Europe 2010

OK. Here goes.

We left Houston and flew to AMS on a PrivatAir 737. These flights are contracted to KLM and carry only 44 passengers. They are wonderful. Great seats. Plenty of room. Tons of folks to make the flight good, and all around a nice way to do things. Got into AMS late morning, rested and ready for the city. As soon as these PrivatAir folks get internet across the Atlantic, they will be the only way to go. One caveat: They are the smaller planes, so it can be a little rougher than the flights on the 747 monsters, but hey – that oughta rock you to sleep, right?

In Amsterdam, we stayed at the Pulitzer. Nice hotel run by the folks at Westin.Typically European small rooms, and a pitiful attempt – but at least an attempt!! – at air conditioning. The hotel is a compilation of Amsterdamese row houses which are now connected together; I think they put us in the attic, and there were some bad-ass beams which threatened to bonk me every time I walked across the room, but we all survived unscathed.

In any event, the hotel was nice, and it is smack dab on the 3rd canal, so a great location. My son and I got to see the wonderful ladies of the red light district (“C’mon over here, honey“) and the coffee shops, and we all got to see the Rijk, the Van Gogh, and the canals and harbour – nice. Harry and I also spent a little time on the Dam, which was as good an education as it gets. Where else are you gonna see Darth Vader and Jim Carrey as The Mask, as well as fellows who portray The Scream, all in one place? (Oh, yeah, Montrose. Street festival. Never mind.)

The only problem with Amsterdam is that it is really made for folks under 40. I don’t fit that definition, so after a few days it was time to go.

So, off we went from Amsterdam to Brussells (curiously, no sprouts; however, plenty of waffles) and then on the Luxembourg. Brussells has an OK train station, but the KEY POINT for you future travelers – AND WRITE THIS DOWN: The Red Light District is to your LEFT as the train is coming in to town. The „purveyors“ of these services advertise in their apartment windows which are literally yards from the train as you come in to town. Pay attention.

Anyway, Luxembourg.

Lux started off pretty bad. The hotel I’d booked (but, thank God, not paid for) was little more than a hostel for adults. Memo to TripAdvisor: Not everyone thinks that is cute. Us Old Guys like REAL mattresses with REAL carpet which is LESS than 30 years old and with OUT fake crappy paneling. Jeez.

So, there we were, stuck in the Gare area of Lux and no place to stay. What did we do? To Lisa’s credit, we walked into the old city (about 10 minutes by foot), to look for SOMETHING. We were prepared to pay whatever the hell it cost, but fortunately that was not too obvious to the hoteliers, for when we found one – the Cravat – they charged us 1/3 of what their Internet site said they’d charge. So, we got lucky. Not too lucky, though – no a/c.

All in all, a great time in Luxembourg party with the Grand Duc while the plebians huddled around a HUGE big screen monster at Plaza de la Guerre or something almost-french-sounding like that watching the Game between The Netherlands and that other place which lost; incredible noise (WHO thinks those stupid horns are a „good thing“?) and a reminder - once again - to NEVER travel in Europe while the World Cup is going on, even if all of the action is thousands and thousands of miles away.
Had some good times, then, in Lux, and frankly Rome-quality spaghetti carbonara and spaghetti putanesca, with a wonderful evening (BEFORE the „cup“ started) in another plaza watching a high-school-type-but-actually-adult-musicians orchestral performance which was WONDERFUL.

All in all, the Duc did good. We spent a TON of times in the old city and Harry and I walked the Case Mates (yes, I spelled that right – look it up before you screw with me), and we all saw some truly beautiful things in this special city.

Basel was next and it was bliss, even with all the noise over Spain's victory (why in the WORLD do the folks of Basil want SPAIN to beat their neighbor, Germany? I think there is a little acrimony at play here – the Basilaneans wanted Spain to win; is this a sign of things to come?); best hotel yet - the Euler (hint to Texans and other Stupid Americans: It's pronounced "oiler" not "youler").

GREAT air conditioning and – as planned – spent Basel having a great dinner and then sleeping in (to the point of risking missing our train out). Turns out a great Starbucks is connected to the hotel, so rescued the morning with some great latte and then a short – half block – walk to the railway station.
Next: Interlaken.

Beautiful train ride from Basel to Interlaken, which by the way makes Mackinac Island look like a backwaters when it comes to being Fudgie. Got here early afternoon. Hotel only a few blocks from train station, with beautiful view of the Alps. Spent the afternoon learning the town, figuring out our options to Vienna on Sunday, watching the crazy parasailers spend hours hovering over the mountains and the land in the town fields, and finding a grocery store so as to keep Harry from running up a triple digit minibar tab for coca cola. Had the obligatory fight over who is the bigger shit, ending with an agreement that I am the biggest shit, followed then by some wine and CNN.

While strolling through the town, Harry and I saw an advertisement for this Uber-Cool Swiss-Army-knife type thing which has not a knife but instead a USB 64G device, a laser beam, a knife and a pair of scissors. Yeah, OK, sorta weird combination. But WHO CAN RESIST? We are currently shopping for the best deal. Current prices we’ve seen range from 75 Swiss Francs (why, Oh Lord, don’t the Swiss use the Euro?? Do they REALLY want to be so damned weird??) and 150. A lot. I’m thinking at Duty Free at Schiphol?

Meanwhile: A couple of lessons learned:

1. In Amsterdam, bicycles rule. Pedestrians always – ALWAYS – lose.
2. In Luxembourg, pedestrians SHOULD rule, but there appear to be a fair number of Amsterdamians in Luxembourg so: See Rule #1.
3. In Basil: Pedestrians Rule.
4. In Interlaken: Tourbuses Rule. Always. No exceptions.

Tomorrow: Trains deep into the Alpes.

Europe 2010

Gingerbread house

So, here it is:



She did a wonderful job. And, we also made gingerbread man cookies. I made a few of them anatomically correct; sadly and inexplicably Lisa will not permit their publication on this site. Tragic, tragic, for they are very artistic. Hmmmm.

OK, yes, it has been over a month since we posted, but no we have not been idle. Instead, as the observant have noticed, the Christmas Season is upon us. And that in Lisaland means: Decorating. Our attic breathes a sigh of relief as we approach T-giving and then enter December, as tons of supplies and decorations are hauled down the stairs, and down to the first floor for decorating.

I recall driving back from Santa Fe a few years ago and passing, going the other way, a caravan of 18-wheelers. It turns out the caravan was Paul McCartney's tour moving on from Dallas or Houston or somewhere in Texas to the West Coast. I thought as I saw truck after truck after truck pass by, "They have almost as much stuff as we have in the attic for Christmas. Only Paul has roadies. We have Brad." A sad observation indeed.

This process literally takes weeks, but it is (sort of) fun. And, in all fairness we could have accomplished it probably somewhat easier this year if we had not been interrupted by Lisa's appendicitis and then her Return of Appendicitis (Hello insurance company: They ARE the same medical illness so no you can't charge multiple deductibles!). But, it all came together anyway.

The front of the house at night?






The daytime show is pretty good, too, but unfortunately I am not capable of (a) taking a good picture under the best of circumstances, and (b) holding my stupid Blackberry still long enough to use it for a photo:



Front porch:



And check out the cupcake behind Mr. Gingerbread - hand made by yours truly. And it has a twin on the other side of the door (it was night when I took these and the other one didn't really turn out well on the photo):

The back yard was not overlooked (note the new grill cover - $46 from Sears, as opposed to the tons of money and time we invested in the cover we made earlier this fall):

And, let's not forget the garage wreath (the site of me climbing that darned ladder was probably not pretty; I don't know - I had my eyes closed):

A few inside:

Can you spot the inanimate object in the following dining room picture? Hint, there's a tree in the corner and a 12-year old boy sitting at the table.

That's it for now. This weekend was consumed with cooking for the holidays. Bolognese sauce for 20 Christmas night; enchiladas for 10 Christmas eve; Lisa baking dozens and dozens of cookies. AND Lisa making a gingerbread house!!! I will post that photo later.

Is it me . . .

Or is it STILL shrinking??? I believe it is alive!!

Duck Shrinks!!

Well, now more about the prior post. First, our plan for last Saturday had been to stain the concrete on the front porch. So, off to Home Depot to buy stain, only to find out that first the concrete needs to be etched. With acid. Since I have not handled acid since high school, and then with spotty results, it seemed to me (and Lisa agreed) that we needed to leave that project to the professionals. So, on to next projects: (a) replace back light with a new one we had ordered and promptly stored away about 2 months ago, and (b) build a new cover for our grill since the old one was hanging on by bare threads. So, that is what occasioned the two photos.

Anyway, for the new grill cover, we tried to find a perfect fabric, but were running out of ideas. Ultimately, we decided on duck - a canvas-type material which, as I recall, us commonly used as sail covers and boat covers. Surely that would work, right? So we bought our 8 1/2 yards of fabric, used the old cover (which we carefully took apart) as a template, and 3-4 hours later had the finished product posted earlier.

All went well, then, until it started raining last night and kept raining. Guess what? Duck SHRINKS!! Hence the new photos of our now over-taught, and far too short grill cover. Back to the drawing (or cutting) table, I guess.

OK. Today in the city, not on the island. Reason: Holidays approaching. MUST GET HOUSE READY! So, two project completed: New cover for grill; new outdoor light by back door. Pictures above. Explanation to follow.