Road Tripping

Montreal, Canada!

2008-05-25T23:53:00.000-04:00

Saturday, May 17th 2008

For our 2nd anniversary, we wanted to take a trip out of the US that wouldn't break the bank. Last year, we went to Europe but with the Euro kicking the Dollar's ass, that was pretty much not an option. So, Canada, eh? Montreal would be like Europe lite.
It took almost 8 hours to get to our hotel. An hour and half of that just to get out of the city.
Here's how I look after sitting in traffic:
Thankfully, my face didn't get stuck this way.

Hooray! The Canadian border!
For a nano moment I hesitated whipping out the camera. What were they going to do? Arrest me? Ship me to an island, never charge me or give me a trial or let me talk to a lawyer? Well, I'm safe - this border checkpoint was stocked with Canadian agents.
It took a loooong time getting across the border. When we finally drove up to the checkpoint, we were asked why we came to Canada (I pouted until Bryan agreed to tell the agent we came for our anniversary instead of just vacation. Then when we finally talked to an agent, he was all confused when Bryan told him about our anniversary. He was like, yeah, big whoop, just say vacation. HAHAHAHA), if we had weapons, and if we were carrying the equivalant of $10,000 Canadian dollars. Bryan turned to me for this last inquiry. Apparently I'm known to carry this much in Canadian money.

We stayed at Chateau de L'Argoat:

The first night we stayed in a room with two beds (one was in a seperate room with a door. Oooo!) Room 4:
The hotel was perfect. Only 26 rooms, very friendly staff, free breakfast, free internet, old fashioned keys, big bath tubs, chandaliers in each room. Situated right off Rue Saint Denis, a cool yet slightly-gouda-in-a-St-Mark's-sort-of-way part of town, we were in walking distance to Rue Saint Catherine, Rue Saint Lawrent, and Old Montreal. The next two nights we stayed in Room 25.
http://www.hotel-chateau-argoat.qc.ca/
We got to the hotel around 8:o0pm, checked in and then out to find some yummy food. We didn't have to search far - about a block away we found a vegetarian chinese restaurant, Yuan.
Bryan lapped up the miso soup but was wary of the pink coral topped salad. I took a bite of the pink coral-like vegetation and found it delightfully bland.

Sunday May 18th 2008

Please acknowledge the pretty french door behind us (and no, Bryan did not wear out the oh-so-French scarf).

The day was gorgeous and we decided to walk the 2 miles (what's that in kilometers?) to Jardin Botanique - Botanical Gardens, since the hotel and the gardens are on the same street (hard to get lost that way), even tho the Sherbrooke metro station was right across from the hotel (another plus!). The walk was long but it was cool to walk through Montreal.
Pennisdium de China (can you guess why Bryan wanted to take this photo? Yup, we're that mature):
The Insectarium was our first stop inside the gardens.Coolest exhibit ever - there are millions of ants in this living colony. On one side is a flowering tree that provides food. The ants collect the food, then tightrope across to their nest in the other tree. Absolutely fascinating to watch them work - no glass between us and them!
Bryan met a huge beetle:
Insects rule!
We wandered out into the Japanese Gardens and came across a band of drummers:
The photo below is actually slightly different than the first one!
One day I hope to be in a Sears catalog:
We wandered into the peaceful First Nations Garden to get to. . .
. . .the Chinese Gardens:
We thought this weird spaceship housed the Biodome:
Bryan did not get abducted.
Turns out it had a swimming pool and other sportly adventures inside.
The Biodome was on the other side of it, where we saw. . .
Penguins!
The Biodome was awesome. It had a tropical forest, a laurentian forest (mix of deciduous and coniferous trees), a marine ecosystem, and an arctic/antartic area.
There were beavers and diving birds and bats and large fish and monkeys and parrots and a whole slew of other awesomeness.
We had a long day of walking around so it was time to check out the metro!
I liked the metro in Montreal. Reminded me of D.C. with the simple color coded train lines and the grimy stations and train cars made me feel at home New York-style.
Down on Rue Saint Denis, we ate a few times at Commensal, a yumtastic multi-leveled restaurant serving an entirely vegetarian buffet. They offered just about every cuisine - Asian, Italian, Mexican, soups, salads, Indian, Mid Eastern. Plus a ridiculous dessert bar - chocolate mousse cake, carrot cake, fruit tart, date bars, brownies, cookies, I could go on and on (which apparently I did, judging from the photo below).
This is the second of two meals we had at Commensal in one day (the first was much more impressive with amount of food we had on our plates):Interestingly, Rue Saint Denis had a lot of gutter punks and homeless kids. Bryan said it's kind of a joke how Montreal is supposed to be 6 years behind the U.S. in fashion. Seemed a much bigger gap than that - think mid-90s fashion of the mall punk/neo hippie variety.
We were planning to get champagne to have in our hotel room, but forgot that Sundays outside of New York would be hard to find an open liquor store after 6. So we settled on some fine Quebec ale. We classed it up with champagne glasses:

Monday May 19th 2008

We woke up to pouring rain, which delayed our crepe tour.
When we finally ventured out, the hotel gave us umbrellas - tres utile!

Time to get some money!

Our first stop, Une Crepe?:Oui - une crepe, sil vous plait!
We got one dark chocolate and pear crepe and one apricot crepe.
We decided to wait a while before making out next crepe stop.

To get out of the rain, we dashed into Sucre Bleu, a candy shop. Bryan found New York brand candy cigarettes:
We filled a small bag with gummy coke bottles, sour gum balls, watermelon gum balls and gummy blueberries. We couldn't stop there however.
Soap gum!
The wrapper actually says, "It still tastes like soap!"
And now in French: "Toujours la meme gomme savon!"
Hey look! It stopped raining and we happened to be in front of our favorite spot, Commensal. . .
Thankfully, the rains stopped for good because I really wanted to walk to Old Montreal.
Old Montreal was very pretty with cobblestones and interesting buildings.
Can you spot Bryan in the photo below?
Follow the red arrow. . . there he is!
While Old Montreal had a certain charm, I didn't find it as romantic as all the guidebooks and online reviews say. Mainly because every 5 feet (what's that in meters?) there was a souvenir shop and lots of touristy-looking tourists.
Finally, we got out of Vieux-Montreal and walked a few really neat sidestreets.
This building had a rocket ship blasting off it's corner:
New England representing:
Who needs an art museum when we got the streets?
For dinner we had Chu Chai, where we experienced their appetizer named Love Bags:
Our view from Room 25:
Pont Jaques-Cartier (the bridge on the left) and the Molson brewery!
After many hours, we continued our mini crepe tour at Cafe Creperie:
We ordered the chestnut which tasted much like Nutella. YUM

Tuesday May 20th 2008 - Happy 2nd Anniversary to us!

We walked down Rue Saint Herbert (below) to Rue Saint Cathrine to pick up snacks for the trek home.
We didn't leave the city right away.
We had to check out another veggie joint, Pushap La Faim du Monde, next to Chu Chai on Rue Saint Denis.
Unfortch, they didn't open until noon and we really wanted to hit the road sooner.
Below is the Montreal Dome. Seemed like it hovered toward us as we drove. Creeptastic.

Montage of street signs! Woo!
Canadian lake!
Last stop before we crossed the border:

Crossing over to the U.S. took us only about 20 minutes and our ride home was only about 5 1/2, maybe 6 hours. Pretty nice drive. I'd definitely drive to Canada again.
Perhaps Toronto next time. . . .

Addendum to Portland Post!

2008-05-25T23:52:00.000-04:00

Unbelievably, I completely forgot about finding a dead body on our trip to Portland.
Ange, Becca, Bryan and I had just taken off from our late night snacking at Montage when we stumbled upon a man laying in the street. We called the police, who came pretty quick and made us leave immediately. Yeah, I forgot about coming upon a dead man. Just slipped my mind. Apparently, didn't have a big impact.
Yet another reason to get out of New York.

Portland, Oregon!

2007-10-30T09:44:00.003-04:00

Friday Oct 19th, 2007

We got in around midnight on Thursday. Brad and Ben (who was also visiting from NYC) picked us up and due to our lack of food on the plane, we went promptly to Dots Cafe for some greasy, filling food.
Cheese fries: yum.
The morning after: yugh.

The first few photos - up until the hike - were not taken by us because we forgot to get batteries. Sad face.

This is Brad's place.
At the door is his roommate Steve and Steve's dog, Jim.

Photo by Ben Haberland

Brad cleaning his livingroom

Photo by Ben Haberland

On our way to go hiking, Jim had to sit in the trunk.
She decided she rather hang out in the back seat with us and made a break for it.

Photo by Ben Haberland

The Goonies rock at Cannon Beach!

All beach photos by Ben Haberland

Ah, nature. . . .

The producer of Cops fell to his death here.

So, we took a picture in front of it.

Later that night, Bryan and I met up with his uncle, Marc, his aunt, Faustina, and his two cousins, Cole and Simone. We went to this really good vegan restaurant in North Portland called Nutshell.

www.yelp.com

The restaurant is in an old warehouse space. Very cool, but the space could be utilized better. We waited for an hour on a long couch at the back - where they definitely could have fit at least 10 more tables. The staff were really friendly and comped us appetizers, desserts, and I think Marc's drink, because we were such good waiters. Some interesting art hung on the white walls and large murals of sasquatch watched over the diners in booths. The menu was inventive, not the standard processed soy.

I had the Jamaican bbq:

Grilled onion, eggplant, corn fritter balls, black beans, mashed sweet potato baked in an orange.

We also got a free shot of cold soup while we waited. Not enjoyable to me.

Marc, Faustina, and Bryan liked it.

And here's a pic from Flickr!

After Nutshell, we went to Pix - quite possibly the best place ever for chocolates and drinks. I tried Faustina's hot chocolate with spicy tequila. So good.

Saturday Oct 20th, 2007

Here I am with Bryan's cousin Simone in front of her house.

Bryan's aunt took us on a grand tour of Portland.

We got a good feel for all the different neighborhoods.

The famous Rose Garden

Me and Bryan's aunt, Faustina

Relax - that's just a straw in Simone's mouth.

We went to a thrift store and Simone found these awesome pom poms.

The art of hangman

Later we met up with Ange and Becca.

Here we are chillin' on Hawthorne.

First we went to this really cool bar, Horsebrass.

Then we got our mac n' cheese on at Montage.

Very fun, yet I could never eat here a lot. The kitchen staff randomly yell out, cursing or sputtering (what sounds to me as) nonsense. Pretty funny. Loud music punctuates the screaming. My old ears couldn't handle that all the time.
(and I ended up vomiting later that night - but maybe the mac n' cheese was too good for me)

Sunday October 21st, 2007

Our trip wouldn't be complete without giant pancakes.

We got these at Paradox cafe.

Then it was off to the Hytime Equine Rescue where Becca volunteers.

This is Chip.

Below is Becca's project horse, Hope.

Becca's helping Hope learn to trust people again. She was used in quarter horse racing and then thrown to a slaughter house when she deemed "not good enough".

Bryan and I took turns leading Hope in from pasture so we could groom her.

Below is Fifi, an Arabian.

She was an absolute sweetheart - I wanted to smuggle her back to New York!

These beautiful draft horses were used to make Premarin (well, their urine was).
PREgnant MARes' uRINe - yup

Later that night, we had some more fun in Stumptown. . .

Then we went back to Becca's apartment so Bryan could try out a long black wig he found at his cousin's house.

Throw in some cat ears and it's a party!

Next up: Montreal, Canada!

Amsterdam! Berlin! Prague!

2007-05-31T18:53:00.000-04:00

Friday May 18th, 2007

Finally, our long awaited trip to Europe!
We took a Thursday night flight from JFK to Schiphol Airport in Amsterdam and arrived super early Friday morning.

FYI Almost immediately after exiting the plane and sitting on a bench, a local man sat down next to us and sparked up.
Welcome to Amsterdam.

The best way to quench thirst? Weniger Zucker.

We were very tired, but we had a lot of time to kill before we could check in to the Hotel Y Boulevard, so we hopped on Bus 58 to spend the morning at Keukenhof - the famous tulip park of the Netherlands.
Turns out, the park was closing for the season on Sunday. We made it just in time!

The Dutch make the best shoes!

Dutch ducks (say it ten times fast)

Organ music is annoying no matter what the language.

Giant chess pieces translates into giant nerds.

Fire tulips! Awkward pose!

Keukenhof had really interesting pathways.
This guy tried to get his son to take this pathway, but the kid refused. The kid had the right idea since on the other side of that ladder is a shaky bridge that sinks into the water. The father got his pants wet. (Cue wha wha trumpet sound)

Obligatory windmill shot.

Passed out on the train we didn't purchase tickets for.
Woo! Criminals!

And passed out in our hotel room. Woo! Jetlag!
Please acknowlege that instead of one big bed, we had two twin beds pushed together.
This is how they roll in Amsterdam.
Our room had a huge private bathroom and a tv that got Dutch MTV! Interestingly, a lot of Dutch tv shows had English words interspersed in their dialogue.
Sleep overtook us about 4 and we napped until about 7, then decided to take a stroll thru the surrounding neighborhoods: Chinatown and the Red Light District.
We also ate some good, spicy Thai food by a canal.

Yummy waffles covered in yummy waffle coatings:
chocolate, dark chocolate, white chocolate, chocolate with nuts, banana, strawberry, custard

Double-fisting waffles and donuts by a canal.
Feel the excitement!

Saturday May 19th, 2007

Some sort of Tibetan parade.

Amstel Canal: tastes just like the beer.

Amsterdam was actually much chillier than we expected. At the open air martket in Waterlooplein, Bryan got the above comfy jacket - made in Nepal!

Behind the giant letters (spells out I amsterdam) is the Rijksmuseum.
We did not visit this museum.

This odd triangular grassy knoll, wasn't so grassy.
Cigarette butts and bottle caps littered it.
However, it was sort of fun walking up the incline.

A few meters away (yes, meters) is the Van Gogh Museum. I don't think we saw any Van Gogh paintings, but we did munch some mushrooms and soak in the Max Beckmann exhibit.

That round building on the right is part of the Van Gogh Museum which houses the Beckmann exhibit. We had trouble finding the entrance and kept walking around and around and around the building. Other people did this too. Then we realized there is no entrance on the round building. We had to enter the building across from it and walk through an underground hallway.

The Beckmann exhibit was wonderful, albet many of his paintings are rather bleak. Understandably bleak - Beckmann lived in Germany during the rise of the Nazi regime and Hitler hated modern art. And when Hitler hates something......well, you know the rest.
Here's a blub-o from Wikipedia:

His fortunes changed with the rise to power of Hitler whose dislike of Modern Art quickly led to its suppression by the state. In 1933, the Nazi government bizarrely called Beckmann a "cultural Bolshevik" and dismissed him from his teaching position at the Art School in Frankfurt. In 1937 more than 500 of his works were confiscated from German museums, and several of these works were put on display in the notorious Degenerate Art exhibition.

For ten years, Beckmann lived in poverty in self-imposed exile in Amsterdam, failing in his desperate attempts to obtain a visa for the US. In 1944 the Germans attempted to draft him into the army, despite the fact that the sixty-year-old artist had suffered a heart attack. The works completed in his Amsterdam studio were even more powerful and intense than the ones of his master years in Frankfurt, and included several large triptychs, which stand as a summation of Beckmann's art.

After the war, Beckmann moved to America, and during the last three years of his life, he taught at the art schools of Washington University in St. Louis (with the German-American painter and printmaker Werner Drewes) and the Brooklyn Museum. He suffered from angina pectoris and died after Christmas 1950, struck down by a heart attack on 61st Street/Central Park West in Manhattan.
His late works mirror the landscapes, skyscrapers and the populace of mid-century America.

Here's a piece entitled The Actors:

This painting is very large in person and is on three panels.
It was accompanied by a cool interactive screen. You could click on different areas of the virtual painting and it would give you the significance behind each character.

This gallery contained really cool functional art. That lump of drawers is a dresser and the bench just inside the window was filled with marbles. On top of the marbles rested two big plates which are seats. We sat on them and rolled across the marbles. Everyone should have one in their home.

Sunday May 20th, 2007 -- Happy First Anniversary to Us!

"Excuse me sir, which way to the Smartshop?"

Yes, we did visit coffee shops (what the Dutch call places to smoke/purchase marijuana; bars are called cafes here). We only went into three and we stayed away from the places overrun by tourists (ps Stay away from any coffee shop with Bulldog in the name - expensive and filled with drunken idiots).
I really liked Old Church on Oudekerksplein. It's located on a cobblestone street across from a pretty church. Good place to get away from the Red Light District without actually leaving the Red Light District. We went there twice and sat at the cute outdoor tables adorned with tiny flowers. There's also a lounge upstairs which we didn't check out.
On our last day, we made it over to the famed Greenhouse Tolstraat. It's located in the Old South district, which is considered "off the map". A lot of nice nooks to sit with pillows, beautiful mosaic stone tables, and there are photos of all the famous people who visited the shop.
I can't remember the name of the third one - it had the colors of Jamaica (surprise surprise) and I got really good hot chocolate there.
I might be one of the only people to visit Amsterdam and not smoke weed - I did share a "space" muffin with Bryan at the rasta coffee shop - but it was quite refreshing to be in a country that realizes the stupidity in criminalizing marijuana (ps Germany and Czech Republic decriminalized it too). The feeling of freedom took a bit to get used to, since it's not ingrained in us (ironic no?).
My thing was definitely the mushrooms. Only Smartshops carry them and how strong visually and physically are outlined on each package. You know exactly what you're getting - unlike in America.
Same with weed. Coffeeshops have menus that describe what kind of bud, how potent, if it's organic, etc.

Interesting sidenote: Coffee shops are not allowed to serve alcohol, cafes cannot sell weed.

As progressive as the Dutch are, they disappointingly still eat a lot of meat. There were few vegetarian places or even veggie options. Above are apple pancakes (Bryan's plate) and cheese pancakes. The pancakes were more like crepes, but yumtastic none the less.

Here is the famous vegetarian Maoz falafel & Belgian fry place, right across from the train station and conveniently located a few blocks from our hotel. We ate here several times. This place was always busy - for good reason: Maoz is fan-frikkin-amazing! Some of the best falafel we've ever had. The two guys behind the counter are gruff and fast. Beautiful.
(Sidenote: there is now a Maoz by Union Square)

I'm excited because my phone actually gets service in Amsterdam (it also worked in Berlin and Prague). Below is a close up of the screen. Instead of "cingular" it says "vodafone NL". Pretty rad. I was tempted to call people, but thought better of it when I realized how much it might cost.

The Anne Frank house is across this canal (Prinsengracht). We toured the house but felt taking pictures inside would be inappropriate. Goes without saying how unbelievably sad the tour was. We used the actual hidden door behind a bookcase. All the furniture is gone - the nazis took it when the house was raided - but the magazine clippings are still up on the walls in Anne's room. At the end of the tour there's a room with her diary in every language pressing and a video of her father, the family's only survivor. He talks about Anne and the living situation. There are also heartbreaking footage of concentration camps and people being rounded up in the streets.

These egrets were so calm and beautiful.

Here's Bolhoed, one of the few sit-down vegetarian places we found.

Incredible food, fun, quirky interior, and friendly staff.

Monday May 21st, 2007

Our last day in Amsterdam. We took a late afternoon flight to Berlin. Which left time for a last jaunt around the city!

Anyone know the names of these buildings? Cause we sure don't.

This gentleman seems to be deciding between two bathroom options (three if you count the canal). On the left is a semi private single urinal made of metal. On the right is a wide open four slot urinal made of plastic. I'll have you know Bryan went in a plastic one on another street. I give him credit because many girls on bikes whized by as he was, well, whizzing.

The above photo was taken in the famed red-light district. Very um, interesting. The store fronts, shall we say, showcasing women were all sort of grouped together. One woman per window. Every shape, size, and ethnicity can be found. They waved sometimes and I always waved back. Nice ladies.

These are the happiest musicians in all of Amsterdam. They're seated right outside the train station and must get tons of drugs thrown in their case. People don't want to take chances leaving Amsterdam and these guys reap all the benefits. Bryan gave them a nice chunk of hash.

We had a bit of a wait at the airport. We got chatted up by a nice older English couple who we will never see again (nothing ominous - the probability of seeing them again is extremely low).

Touch down in Berlin!

Tuesday May 22nd, 2007

Our hostel, BaxPax on Skalitzer Strasse, had a room with a bed inside a VW Beetle.
Our room only had four Canadians (sad face).

Obligatory Berlin Wall shot.

Checkpoint Charlie!
Here's a Wikipedia nugget on Checkpoint Charlie:

Checkpoint Charlie was the name given by the Western Allies to a crossing point between East Berlin and West Berlin during the Cold War. Checkpoint Charlie was designated as the single crossing point (by foot or by car) for foreigners and members of the Allied forces. Checkpoint Charlie became a symbol of the Cold War, representing the separation of east and west, and — for some East Germans — a gateway to freedom.

Neat!

Germans have such a great language. Look at this fucker.

The River Spree and Museumsinsel (Museum Island)

Reichstag

I'm having fun imaging this great big lawn filled with Nazis.

We kept getting lost in Berlin. Our map was not helpful and the Germans were not helpful. Well, one German was slightly helpful. But he wasn't German at all ... he was Italian.

Berlin has a huge park, Tiergarten.
We saw a lot of naked, older sun bathers.
We apologize for no photos of old, naked Germans.

This picture makes me look like a German maid.
This picture also makes me want to burn this dress.

After wandering around the park for hours, we were very hungry.
Thankfully, Cafe am Neuen See is located by a small lake inside Tiergarten!

Beir and brezel

Drinking German beer in a German beer garden blew my mind.

Forty-five Germans got out of this car.

This is how I look when I'm lost in Tiergarten.

I told you Germans have an awesome language.

Wednesday May 23rd, 2007

German squatters held a squatters' rights march in the bohemian (think 1980's East Village) neighborhood of Kreuzberg, where we stayed.
You can't tell from these pictures, but the exessive number of police made things extra fun and not tense at all.

Kreuzberg has great street art.
The building below is covered in fish plaques.

Our last meal in Berlin.
We had a crazy delicious breakfast at this Belgian cafe.
I think it was located on Oranien Strasse.
Apple waffles, nutella and banana crepe, and Orangina!

Our train to Prague was made up of different compartments (like in Orient Express!) which made us feel fancy.

At the German border, our door slid open and a policeman asked for our passports. He was only slightly intimidating (not an easy task for a German police officer). At the Czech border however, the military man who entered our compartment with a huge rifle, barked commands in Czech and when we gave bewildered stares, yelled, "PAHSSPORT". We complied.

We stayed at Hostel Sokolska.
It had really neat winding staircases and a backyard.

We had a three bed hostel room all to ourselves. The hostel was very energy conscious - the lights were motion sensitive in the hallways and the shower only stayed on for ten minute intervals (but you could press the level if you felt the pressure letting up and your shower would continue).

Thursday May 24th, 2007

Surprisingly, Prague (or as the Czechs call it, Praha) had the most vegetarian options of all the three cities.
We went to Radost FX Cafe on Belehradska a couple times since it was a few blocks from our hostel. It had an extensive "International" menu - soup, salads, pizza, pasta, Asian, Mexican, and American-style breakfast (omelettes, french toast, waffles) plus the portions are enormous!
It's connected to a cool music shop and has a nightclub downstairs.

We have no idea what this buildings is, perhaps something with government?

These guys were playing football (soccer).

On our way to the Old Jewish Quarter.
We strolled next to the beautiful Vltava River

You can't tell in this picture, but the Medival Torture Museum is in the building above the road.
We did not visit it.

This is the oldest synagogue in Europe still used as a house of prayer.
It's located on Maiselova Street.

The above photo is of Maisel Synagogue, built in 1590.
Maisel is on the main street in Josefov (Old Jewish Quarter).

Below is the newest synagogue in Josefov, built in the 19th Century.
It's called the Spanish Synagogue due to the Moorish-inspired design.

Kafka statue and a Kafka quote:
"Believing in progress does not mean believing that any progress has yet been made."

Wenceslas Square

This door leads to a secret hip-hop skater boy hang out.
We heard good beats and decided to take a chance.
A bit weird going down random stairs into a basement, but it was really fun.
Felt like hanging out in some kid's basement while his parents were away. There was a dj playing great music (thanks to the internerd, I'm sure. How else would they have heard some obsure Brooklyn rapper?) I was the only female there! Hooray!

Friday May 25th, 2007

Prague was very hot. Notice the clothing change (we were sweaty!)

This amazingly good vegetarian restaurant is Lehka Hlava (Clear Head).
It's located in a quiet alley a few blocks from Karlova mostu (Charles Bridge).
Interesting Asian-Mexican fusion (I know, right??) that was unbelievably delicious and huge portions. The staff is friendly and the interior beautiful.

Entrance to Karlova mostu.

The bridge leads over to Old Prague where Prague Castle is located and is lined with creepy religious statues, buskers, and vendors selling jewelery and sketches.
Built in 1357, the bridge was the only connection across the river into Old Town and made Prague an important trade route between east and west Europe.
The statues are all replicas and the originals are now in the National Museum.
Also, the video for Never Tear Us Apart by INXS was filmed on the bridge. I walked in Michael Hutchence's footsteps!

Kafka museum and another Kafka quote:
"Prague never lets you go... this dear little mother has sharp claws."

Saturday May 26th, 2007

We got up very early to catch a 7:30a plane back to New York.

We stopped in Belgium to change planes. The airport in Belgium is very nice.

Can't wait to go back!!

Coming up: Portland, Oregon!

L.A.! Big Sur! San Fran!

2007-02-28T14:47:00.000-05:00

Wednesday February 21st (Happy Birthday Dad!)
We left cold New York and headed west to warm(ish) California for a week of good times. The flight out was pretty uneventful and the “meal” lame.
But Bryan got very excited over the cookie.

We attempted (or rather, thought about) taking photos of Los Angeles road signs as we drove 110 to Bryan’s aunt’s place, but we didn’t.
Bryan’s aunt, Joy, lives right off Hollywood Boulevard, two blocks from the famous Groman’s Chinese Theatre, the Kodak Theatre (where the Academy Awards were taking place that week), and lots of other cool L.A. landmarks. Plus, you can buy hard alcohol in drug stores!

The Knitting Factory is on the corner of Joy’s block.

The lineup for tonight is Elliot Smith and N.W.A.!!

We walked over the stars with stars’ names

and ran into Chewbacca!

Apparently, many people dress up to finagle cash from tourists. We were tourists and gave up two whole dollars to get a photo with Chewy. There was also Homer Simpson, a silver-painted guy, and a super tall devil with huge wings. We did not give them money. However, joke’s on them because if you look closely at the far away pics of Groman’s, they’re in the photo!

The Hollywood sign is on the hills behind us, the real reason we took this picture. It's hard to make out the Hollywood sign, but the glorious "only-in-LA" Oxygen Bar shines behind us.
Randomly, we bumped into my cousins on Hollywood Boulevard who were enjoying their school break (they live on Long Island! And we in Los Angeles! When I was there! Crazy!).

Pretending to be glamorous movie stars, we walked the (plastic-covered) red carpet inside the Kodak Theatre and our struts were so fine, they gave all three of us Oscars!

I actually won two:

"Best Girlfriend" and "Best Body"

To celebrate, we took a nice hike through Runyon Canyon. Not showering and traveling on a plane for six hours makes me look like this:

At least the flowers are pretty.
When we got home, Joy cooked a most fabulous dinner.
Bryan and I underlined our party animalness by falling asleep around 11. But to our credit, our New York bodies thought it was 2 in the morning. And we traveled all day. And we didn’t get much sleep the night before. Oh, who am I kidding. We’re old.
Thursday February 22nd
Esta-Joy’s kitchen!

and porch!

It was rainy today. Los Angelinos cursed us for bring the crappy east coast weather their way. Still warmer than New York.
We had a fabulous breakfast at The Griddle, where the pancakes are the size of dinner plates.
We sat across from a short-haired now-blonde Selma Blair and I disappointed myself by not recognizing Ian Ziering (Steve from 90210). Joy said he's at the Griddle all the time. He seemed sweet as he helped his grandfather (father?) out of the restaurant. Joy wished him luck on dancing with the stars.

We drove around the spectacular Hollywood Hills and gawked at people’s homes. Sharon Tate's house doesn’t exist any more, but we speculated about the wooded lot where it would have been and got creeped out by the fact that Charles Manson once stood there with those weirdo girls, mulling over their devious plan.
We tried going to the Observatory, but you can’t park by it anymore. There are now buses that pick you up aaaaaallllll the waaaaaayyyyy dooowwwwnnnn the curvy drive, which you need reservations to get on. We decided against walking back up the drive since I was wearing extremely sensible boots.

Before we took off, Bryan paid homage to the George Harrison Memorial Tree.

It’s a bigger tree than what made it into the frame of the photo. That would be horrible (and slightly hilarious) had the tree been the weed-looking branch at the left of the stone.
There’s a great view of the famous Hollywood sign from here as well.

We also went down the Sunset Strip, passed by “hipster” neighborhood Silverlake, took in the Chateau Marmont (where all those Hollywood rendezvous take place). We had Joy point out all the spots that Swingers took place, since that movie is based on her breakup with Jon Favreau.
That night we had dinner at fabulous Pace (pronounced "pah-chay") with Joy and her friend Pat. Great conversation and incredible Italian food. We also drank Bryan's uncle's yummy wine, Antica Terra. Pat claimed he saw Madonna walk by. We didn't believe him.

Friday February 23rd
We drove up the coast on awesome Highway One!
Destination: San Francisco!

We stopped at Piedras Blancas to gaze upon the quite unreasonable elephant seals. Although it's elephant seal mating season, they're didn't do much besides lay on the beach. Sometimes the females let out odd shrieks. The wind was so strong, I had trouble opening the car door.

After about nine hours, we finally made it to my brother's house.
My brother, his wife, and son live in Discovery Bay, about an hour east of San Fran. The hundreds of windmills that power Discovery Bay and surrounding neighborhoods give the landscape a futuristic feel. There's also hundreds of cows milling around.
Saturday February 24th
We spent the day in San Fran. We lucked out on having beautiful weather. It had rained that morning but by the time we got into the city, the sky was sunny and blue.
Spending time with Caden was amazing. He's such a delight. He would point out the cows and say "Moo!"

We drove over the Bay Bridge and onto Treasure Island for a fantastic view of the city.

We walked around Fisherman's Warf.
There were cool metal people and sea lions.

I had Caden and Tim pose in front of Alcatraz! The Rock!
One day I will take the tour.....

Bag of candy!

We went to Ghirardelli Square (of course!) to get some awesome chocolate

Then we checked out some trolleys (insert Rice-a-Roni joke here)

We drove over the Golden Gate Bridge

Windy!

The bridge looks crazy close from North Vista Point

I was almost blown into the bay!

Good thing this tree caught me.

There was an old military fort from WWII

Tim and Bryan hung out with the buffalo in Golden Gate Park

Neat-O flower clock

Golden Gate Park is massive so we only spent a short time on the trails.

I'm a poser

We drove through the Haight, downtown, Nob Hill, Chinatown, and Cow Hollow.
Oh, San Fran, how you shame me with your cool.

The photos below won't do justice to famous Lombard street.
As we were driving up a big hill and stopped at a stop sign it felt like we would flip backward.
The curves going down were crazier than Big Sur!

Sunday February 25th
For the drive back to L.A., we decided to swap head gear.

The shortest route from San Fran to L.A. is Highway 5.
No ocean views, but interesting landscapes nonetheless.

We stopped at the Apricot Tree Diner in Firebaugh, which is right outside Fresno. The whole place was lined with awesome vintage lunchboxes and thermuses (thermusi?).
I recommend the apricot pie. Yum!

On the road again......

The last hour was rough. I wanted to stop driving!!

Since Joy lives right around the corner from where the Oscars are taking place, we decided to watch the broadcast at her friend's place in Pasadena and wait out the insanity.
This is the only photo we took in Pasadena.

We're a sophisticated bunch.
Monday February 26th
We veg out in style on our last day in L.A. and go see Bridge to Terabithia at El Capitan theater on Hollywood Boulevard. The movie is sweet, very well done, and makes all three of us shed tears. The theater is incredible, ornate ceilings, plush balconies, a giant organ. Joy said they sometimes perform live stage shows along with movies.
Tuesday February 27th
We had a 7:45am flight to New York. We got lost returning the rental car and missed our flight. We get booked on a 12:55 flight and spend the time eating crappy, expensive airport food, checking out tall women, and ruminating on how if a relationship can survive long roadtrips plus lousy directions plus airport frustrations, that relationship has reached a new, much stronger level. The tvs don't work on the plane we're on, but Bryan and I kick booty playing trivia against other passengers. I truly am the Queen of Useless Knowledge.

COMING UP: Amsterdam, Berlin, and Prague!