We started out heading south from Dublin, and made a stop in Glendaloch, a valley with an ancient ruined monastic settlement on the banks of two deep lakes. From there we headed towards the center of the island, and explored the mysterious, crow-infested castle ruins of Cashel. To complete the day's experience, we landed a room in a hotel that was a castle - a converted stone keep that (of course) had a great pub as well.
The next day - now well-seasoned Irish drivers - we struck out early towards the West coast. Our first taste of the Irish coastline was the Dingle peninsula (which was of course at the butt end of many a joke along the way) in Kerry. The drive around the peninsula was spectacular. The roads were extremely narrow and winding, with more than a few sheer treacherous drops off the side, but that just added to the experience. We got to take in some amazing vies of the coastline, eat lunch right on the beach and romp around some prehistoric "ring forts" and "beehive huts" (old stone ruins). We stood along the rocky shoreline that makes up the farthest Western point of Europe, and discovered a creepy set of monastic ruins just inland.
Dingle is known to be one of the most beautiful regions in all of Ireland, and it definitely didn't disappoint. Of course, I very nearly gave Skick a heart attack with some of my extreme driving, but deep down I'm sure she saw it as just pat of the whole experience.
We stayed as long as we could afford, and then struck out North towards our next stop, the Burren. After hopping a car-ferry (cool!) and a bit more driving, we pulled into the town of Doolin to spend the night. Doolin is more like a village than a town, but is well known for its world-class traditional Irish music sessions, or "trad sessions". The owner of our bed and breakfast summed up the town very well, by saying something like, "Ok, so to your left is the town. All you need to know about is that there are two pubs, McCann's and McDiermotts. Both are excellent, and both have great music."
Sure enough, we ate some excellent food (including local salmon) and spent a couple of hours listening to some fantastic Irish music over pints of Guinness. There isn't a more Irish experience to be had (outside of being conquered repeatedly by foreign invaders, I suppose).
The next day we set out to explore the Burren - a stretch of land just south of Galway on the West coast. Although it is not far at all from Dingle, this peninsula was a stark contrast in every way.
The Burren is a rocky, very sparsely wooded, windswept expanse that many consider to be the quintessential "real Ireland". It is an extremely difficult land and climate to live in, but various clans have been managing for thousands of years. It's still very sparsely populated, though, and much of it appears just as it was 3000 years ago. We experienced the Burren under perfect conditions - lashing wind and rain. The entire region is littered with ancient ruins - literally everywhere you look. We stopped at a handful of spots to explore old forts, graveyards, prehistoric stone monuments, cairns and winding rock walls. Some of them saw more tourists than others, so we were able to read up on ancient Irish history a bit as well, which this region is obviously full of given its age.
Right on cue, the rain stopped just as we were leaving the Burren, and we headed further North to Galway. A small but bustling city on the coast, Galway is also known for its music. So, again with the help of our bed and breakfast host, we found ourselves in a local pub listening to a more informal trad session. Instead of any sort of stage setup, this type just starts up right in the middle of the pub, wherever there is room for a few musicians to sit. They sit in a circle and take turns picking the song. Whoever knows the selected song (or at least what key it's in) joins in. It's a great tradition that should definitely be picked up in America.
The next day we headed out in the direction of Belfast - pretty much all the way across the country in the Northeast. We stopped along the way at a couple of neolithic sites - one of them especially was extremely interesting - a 1.5 acre massive stone and earth tomb from thousands of years ago. You could walk inside part of it as well as on top of it, and around the 17 scattered tombs - the whole thing was pretty amazing. Right around there we also almost ran out of gas - this time it was Skick's turn to convince me that it was all just part of the experience...
More to come soon!
9.03.2009
Road Trippin'
Neither of us had ever driven in another country with the exception of short jaunts into Vancouver, and we definitely hadn't ever tried our luck on the other side of the car/street. Needless to say, we didn't know what to expect in the slightest.
I made a cautious and white-knuckled turn out of the rental car lot in our Nissan Micra, and madness ensued. We were thrust into a crazed mass of roundabouts and construction around the Dublin airport that didn't calm down until we were well outside the city limits.
The next five days were an exhilarating, fast-paced road tour of the island country, complete with extremely narrow country roads, pot holes the size of sheep, hairpin turns atop ocean-facing bluffs and more than our fair share of close calls. All with speed limits of 80-120 kilometer/hour. It was awesome.
The countryside itself is an absolute wonder - massive, sweeping bluffs, rocky, windswept barrens, rolling pastures a brighter green than I've ever seen, an endless supply of ancient ruins, winding cobblestone streets and villages tucked into deep valleys. It is a driver's paradise (although not for the faint of heart), and really is the only viable way to experience the country. The public transportation is infrequent and rarely will take you to the more interesting spots, so wheels are the only way to go.
More details to come...
I made a cautious and white-knuckled turn out of the rental car lot in our Nissan Micra, and madness ensued. We were thrust into a crazed mass of roundabouts and construction around the Dublin airport that didn't calm down until we were well outside the city limits.
The next five days were an exhilarating, fast-paced road tour of the island country, complete with extremely narrow country roads, pot holes the size of sheep, hairpin turns atop ocean-facing bluffs and more than our fair share of close calls. All with speed limits of 80-120 kilometer/hour. It was awesome.
The countryside itself is an absolute wonder - massive, sweeping bluffs, rocky, windswept barrens, rolling pastures a brighter green than I've ever seen, an endless supply of ancient ruins, winding cobblestone streets and villages tucked into deep valleys. It is a driver's paradise (although not for the faint of heart), and really is the only viable way to experience the country. The public transportation is infrequent and rarely will take you to the more interesting spots, so wheels are the only way to go.
More details to come...
Dublin at last
After finding our way through customs and immigration, grabbing a city map and catching a bus to our hotel, there wasn't much time left in the day for exploring. We grabbed a quick bite to eat at a nearby pub (more on the food later) and crashed. The next morning, finally showered, rested and clean-shaven, we set out on our first adventure.
Dublin is an interesting city - exciting, international and cultural but at the same time quaint, cozy and intimate. All that aside, though, Dublin is really all about the beer. It is a challenge to find a full-sized city block without a pub in this town, and half of them double as historical landmarks of one sort or another.
The people - rarely met without a pint of Guinness in hand - are warm, witty and bright-eyed. We had plenty of opportunities to banter with the locals, and - as is the case with most everywhere else we ended up visiting in Ireland - they proved to be some of the most sociable people we've encountered.
Still, large swaths of the city have turned into tourist traps of an interesting nature. Many visitors come for the pub experience, so pubs have popped up everywhere with claims of "Traditional Irish Food & Music" that are as thin as the building walls. We quickly learnined that about 90% of the pubs in Dublin are basically worthless for food - bland soup, dry bread and watery stew. The food that is worthwhile - strictly found by recommendation - is fantastic, though. By and large, however, it wasn't until we reached the countryside that we wre able to experience real Irish food.
Historical sites are of course littered throughout the city as well; we explored old dusty libraries, historic book collections, high-arched cathedrals and sweeping stone Universities. All with a backdrop of steel-gray skies and flickering Guinness signs, Dublin was a pretty cool spectacle.
With one less day to explore than expected, we were packing our bags soon and preparing for perhaps the most anticipated part of the trip - the rental car. More on that to come...
Dublin is an interesting city - exciting, international and cultural but at the same time quaint, cozy and intimate. All that aside, though, Dublin is really all about the beer. It is a challenge to find a full-sized city block without a pub in this town, and half of them double as historical landmarks of one sort or another.
The people - rarely met without a pint of Guinness in hand - are warm, witty and bright-eyed. We had plenty of opportunities to banter with the locals, and - as is the case with most everywhere else we ended up visiting in Ireland - they proved to be some of the most sociable people we've encountered.
Still, large swaths of the city have turned into tourist traps of an interesting nature. Many visitors come for the pub experience, so pubs have popped up everywhere with claims of "Traditional Irish Food & Music" that are as thin as the building walls. We quickly learnined that about 90% of the pubs in Dublin are basically worthless for food - bland soup, dry bread and watery stew. The food that is worthwhile - strictly found by recommendation - is fantastic, though. By and large, however, it wasn't until we reached the countryside that we wre able to experience real Irish food.
Historical sites are of course littered throughout the city as well; we explored old dusty libraries, historic book collections, high-arched cathedrals and sweeping stone Universities. All with a backdrop of steel-gray skies and flickering Guinness signs, Dublin was a pretty cool spectacle.
With one less day to explore than expected, we were packing our bags soon and preparing for perhaps the most anticipated part of the trip - the rental car. More on that to come...
8.30.2009
A reflection on the airline industry (or, day 1)
To say that the excitement started within the first hour of our trip would be an understatement. We rounded the corner to our gate at 6:30AM Pacific Time on the 21st to find a 2 hour delay slapped onto our first flight. Thunderstorms in Dallas wouldn't be that big a deal, but we had 3 planes to catch today and all of our connections were instantly in jeapordy.
We haggled with the attendant for a while, after which she assured us that all of our connections were also delayed so we would be just fine. Intuition (aka my gut) was telling me otherwise, but we opted to take her for her word and let things play out.
Fast forward a few hours - we landed in Dallas 1 hour and 45 minutes late, rushed off the plane and were informed that our connection was leaving any second. A mad dash across the Dallas airport left us confronted by a closed gate - we had missed it by 5 minutes.
And the next flight to Chicago had been cancelled.
And there were no alternate flights to Dublin that evening.
So we waited on stand-by (with 60 others trying to get to Chicago) for the following flight and crossed our fingers. The attendant must have taken some pity on us and bumped us way up on the list - after a harrowing wait, our names were called. The next wait had begun.
We landed in Chicago "on time", which meant that if our flight to Dublin left on time, there was no way we'd catch it. We crossed our fingers again and ran across yet another airport. We were both wearing sandals, and the "flip-flop" of our feet on the tile echoed pretty amazingly - they'll surely be telling stores of our flat-footed sprints across the world's airports for years to come.
Of course, we missed the flight by 5 minutes.
Being the last flight to Dublin of the night (it was now 8PM Central Time), we had 2 options: the option the airline gave us (spend the night and next day in Chicago and try catching the next evening's flight), or the option we hoped was possible (re-route through another city). Either way we were shaving off time from our stay in Dublin, but anything was better than losing a whole 24 hours of vacation. So, we picked up the customer service phone and gave it a shot.
The attendant on the phone worked some magic and after a bit of nail biting we had ourselves booked on a flight leaving for London in just a couple of hours, with a connection that would have us in Dublin by 2PM or so. We allowed ourselves to relax a bit and patted each other on the back...way too soon.
After boarding 30 minutes late due to a "restocking issue", we proceeded to sit on the runway for one and a half hours waiting for an "electrical issue" to be resolved. Now generally I'm pretty understanding about that type of thing, but my patience was waning rapidly. There was another plane of the exact same type at the next gate over, going nowhere, doubtless in top electical condition, and meanwhile we got the "just another 30 minutes" treatment a few times.
Long story short, we finally got off the ground, but of course missed our connection in Heathrow. Our flip-flop sprinting had become an international phenomenon.
They had already booked us on a flight 2 hours later, so we did a bit more waiting. Our next flight was - you guessed it - delayed, but this one was really a bit of salt in the wound. We sat and watched as the flight scheduled after ours was boarded while ours had not yet arrived. No amount of cajoling or arguing succeeded in getting us onto that flight, and as I watched it take off, with us on the ground, in the 4th airport of the trip, after having been booked on a total of 8 flights, I took a moment to reflect on the airline industry.
I'll omit the exact words of that reflection for the sake of the faint of heart, but the bottom line is I find it hard to believe that an industry - any industry - can be such a mess. I know there are a lot of factors involved, some of which are beyond anyone's control, but I'm willing to classify that as a bullshit excuse at this point. A major overhaul may be in order.
Fast forward another 2 hours, and we land in Dublin at 6:20PM. Stepping off the plane, I realized this was all just an underappreciated effort of American Airlines at giving us a grand entrance - and a grand entrance we had. We hadn't slept, eaten a real meal or showered in a very action-packed thirty-something hours, were bleary-eyed and stunk to high hell. We stumbled down the stairs, onto the tarmac, and into the wonders of Ireland. Time for a Guiness!
We haggled with the attendant for a while, after which she assured us that all of our connections were also delayed so we would be just fine. Intuition (aka my gut) was telling me otherwise, but we opted to take her for her word and let things play out.
Fast forward a few hours - we landed in Dallas 1 hour and 45 minutes late, rushed off the plane and were informed that our connection was leaving any second. A mad dash across the Dallas airport left us confronted by a closed gate - we had missed it by 5 minutes.
And the next flight to Chicago had been cancelled.
And there were no alternate flights to Dublin that evening.
So we waited on stand-by (with 60 others trying to get to Chicago) for the following flight and crossed our fingers. The attendant must have taken some pity on us and bumped us way up on the list - after a harrowing wait, our names were called. The next wait had begun.
We landed in Chicago "on time", which meant that if our flight to Dublin left on time, there was no way we'd catch it. We crossed our fingers again and ran across yet another airport. We were both wearing sandals, and the "flip-flop" of our feet on the tile echoed pretty amazingly - they'll surely be telling stores of our flat-footed sprints across the world's airports for years to come.
Of course, we missed the flight by 5 minutes.
Being the last flight to Dublin of the night (it was now 8PM Central Time), we had 2 options: the option the airline gave us (spend the night and next day in Chicago and try catching the next evening's flight), or the option we hoped was possible (re-route through another city). Either way we were shaving off time from our stay in Dublin, but anything was better than losing a whole 24 hours of vacation. So, we picked up the customer service phone and gave it a shot.
The attendant on the phone worked some magic and after a bit of nail biting we had ourselves booked on a flight leaving for London in just a couple of hours, with a connection that would have us in Dublin by 2PM or so. We allowed ourselves to relax a bit and patted each other on the back...way too soon.
After boarding 30 minutes late due to a "restocking issue", we proceeded to sit on the runway for one and a half hours waiting for an "electrical issue" to be resolved. Now generally I'm pretty understanding about that type of thing, but my patience was waning rapidly. There was another plane of the exact same type at the next gate over, going nowhere, doubtless in top electical condition, and meanwhile we got the "just another 30 minutes" treatment a few times.
Long story short, we finally got off the ground, but of course missed our connection in Heathrow. Our flip-flop sprinting had become an international phenomenon.
They had already booked us on a flight 2 hours later, so we did a bit more waiting. Our next flight was - you guessed it - delayed, but this one was really a bit of salt in the wound. We sat and watched as the flight scheduled after ours was boarded while ours had not yet arrived. No amount of cajoling or arguing succeeded in getting us onto that flight, and as I watched it take off, with us on the ground, in the 4th airport of the trip, after having been booked on a total of 8 flights, I took a moment to reflect on the airline industry.
I'll omit the exact words of that reflection for the sake of the faint of heart, but the bottom line is I find it hard to believe that an industry - any industry - can be such a mess. I know there are a lot of factors involved, some of which are beyond anyone's control, but I'm willing to classify that as a bullshit excuse at this point. A major overhaul may be in order.
Fast forward another 2 hours, and we land in Dublin at 6:20PM. Stepping off the plane, I realized this was all just an underappreciated effort of American Airlines at giving us a grand entrance - and a grand entrance we had. We hadn't slept, eaten a real meal or showered in a very action-packed thirty-something hours, were bleary-eyed and stunk to high hell. We stumbled down the stairs, onto the tarmac, and into the wonders of Ireland. Time for a Guiness!
8.20.2009
Ready to go
I hardly have enough time to stop and write a quick introduction post for our upcoming trip, but I figured it would be a bit sudden to just resurrect this blog in the middle of a foreign country without any warning. We haven't even really started packing yet, I'm wrestling with a ton of last-minute work projects and trying to take care of a million odds and ends around the house, so it definitely feels like a regular start to a vacation. But no worries - by this time on Saturday, we'll be drinking a Guinness in Dublin!
So here's the tentative itinerary - this will doubtless undergo a number of transformations over the course of the next 2 weeks, since we don't have many reservations except for the important ones (flights). We're planning on starting in Dublin, trekking around Ireland, then flying to Edinburgh and hopping around central Scotland. All the details are pretty much in the air, which is the only way to travel :-)
We're not sure how often we'll have access to internet cafes and the like, especially in the back-country of Ireland, but I'll do my best to keep this updated every few days with details of our travels and maybe a few photos here and there.
Ireland
View Ireland 2009 Planning in a larger map
Scotland
View Scotland 2009 Planning in a larger map
So here's the tentative itinerary - this will doubtless undergo a number of transformations over the course of the next 2 weeks, since we don't have many reservations except for the important ones (flights). We're planning on starting in Dublin, trekking around Ireland, then flying to Edinburgh and hopping around central Scotland. All the details are pretty much in the air, which is the only way to travel :-)
We're not sure how often we'll have access to internet cafes and the like, especially in the back-country of Ireland, but I'll do my best to keep this updated every few days with details of our travels and maybe a few photos here and there.
Ireland
View Ireland 2009 Planning in a larger map
Scotland
View Scotland 2009 Planning in a larger map
8.09.2008
Tatuaggi time!
Well, after over a year of searching and deliberation, both Skick and I have finally gotten our next round of tattoos. We found some exceptional artists at this year's Seattle Tattoo Expo (still running through the rest of the weekend, for any of you Seattlites), and got inked right there on the spot.
Skick's tattooist of choice was Mike from Smiling Buddha, an artist all the way out from Savannah, Georgia for the event. She ended up in quite a...compromising position due to the location of the tattoo in relation to her existing two, but it was well worth it.
The third rose is equally perfect as the first ones, as you can see. Here's the finished product (a little blurry because of how close the camera had to be).
I ended up going with a sister tattooist pair out of Milan, Italy called Stigmata Tatuaggi. They barely spoke any English so I was a little doubtful at first, but their portfolios were definitely impressive so I gave the one sister, Raffaella, a shot. The sketch she came back with was better even than the image I had in my mind, so I of course said "Let's do it!"
Here's a close-up of the finished product - I'm very pleased (and if you can't tell what body part that is from the photo, it's my shoulder).
All in all a smashing success!
Skick's tattooist of choice was Mike from Smiling Buddha, an artist all the way out from Savannah, Georgia for the event. She ended up in quite a...compromising position due to the location of the tattoo in relation to her existing two, but it was well worth it.
The third rose is equally perfect as the first ones, as you can see. Here's the finished product (a little blurry because of how close the camera had to be).
I ended up going with a sister tattooist pair out of Milan, Italy called Stigmata Tatuaggi. They barely spoke any English so I was a little doubtful at first, but their portfolios were definitely impressive so I gave the one sister, Raffaella, a shot. The sketch she came back with was better even than the image I had in my mind, so I of course said "Let's do it!"
Here's a close-up of the finished product - I'm very pleased (and if you can't tell what body part that is from the photo, it's my shoulder).
All in all a smashing success!
7.30.2008
Mac Application Development, Initial Review
I'm about 30 days or so into what I'd consider the "exploratory" phase of learning the Mac OS X programming system, and I have to say it has been quite interesting so far. I'm far from any sort of in-depth understanding of Mac's wide range of core technologies, but with a fairly solid background in C++ as well as a variety of UI-heavy systems like Flash and Flex it was surely easier than it could have been. Even despite all of that, the learning curve in certain areas is unexpectedly steep (and not always necessarily so, from everything I can figure).
First and foremost, the documentation leaves a lot to be desired. One might say, in fact, that it downright sucks. That's not to say that it doesn't define every method and property, but its definitions are rarely more than a brief, enigmatic sentence, and (more importantly) there literally isn't a single example in any of the class documentation. I, as most developers I know, am a 95% learn-by-example kinda guy, which has made the going slow. Incidentally I've even been a bit hard-pressed to find good examples via other sources online, which is probably the most surprising part. Admittedly I've been spoiled from years of web development, but I've definitely gotten used to being able to find examples of even the most obscure sub-class out there in some forum or another. Cocoa development doesn't seem to operate quite the same, however - there are plenty of simple examples but I haven't found more than a handful of advanced code snippets, particularly regarding the UI components. It suffices to say that I have been hammering through these early days on a heavily trial and error basis.
XCode itself, Apple's project development environment, seems to be very well put together. The user interface was extremely intuitive for me from the start, and you really can crank out an app in no time at all without having any prior experience. That is of course to be expected (being an Apple product), as is the solid and simple functionality of the Interface Builder. XCode/ has some similarities in structure to many other recent coding environments such as Eclipse (and thus Flex) and MS Visual Studio, which I'm sure adds to it's accessibility, but I'd have to say overall it's one of the best coding environments I've worked with to date.
And then there's the code itself. I'm pretty torn on first impressions towards Objective-C. In a nutshell it's an object-oriented offshoot of ANSI C, but shooting off in a different direction entirely from C++. That means that it has more in common with C than C++, and has a radically different syntax for about half of anything you may want to do in standard ANSI C. It's definitely simpler than C++, which is a plus most of the time. There are, however, some really weird syntax differences between Objective-C and pretty much anything else I've ever worked with before. I've worked in over a dozen different programming languages over the past decade and a half, and I have never seen anything like this:
[txtOutput setDoubleValue:[numComponent doubleValue]];
That's not to say that there's anything wrong with that, just that it is initially a bit of a maze to decipher what should be a simple line of code. Ok, I take that back - there are a couple of things wrong with it, primarily just that: deciphering it. I don't see any advantage to breaking the left-to-right reading object-method/property system that is used in nearly every other programming language. I am, admittedly, pretty green in this area, and may soon stumble across some hidden advantages yet. In reality, though, I probably won't even notice it after a couple of months (just like every language's quirks).
Lastly, the wide array of built in functionality is truly unbelievable. For example I threw together a quick test app that interacts with (retrieves, updates, the works) a user's iCal in just a few hours, and that's really just the very tip of the iceberg. The frameworks are very well put together and generally speaking (aside from that whole documentation bit) quite easy to use.
All in all, I'm going to reserve judgment for another couple of months of experience, but I'm definitely hooked. I'm generally not as interested in desktop development as I am web development, but there really are some pretty exciting possibilities here that I can't pass up.
Back to work...
First and foremost, the documentation leaves a lot to be desired. One might say, in fact, that it downright sucks. That's not to say that it doesn't define every method and property, but its definitions are rarely more than a brief, enigmatic sentence, and (more importantly) there literally isn't a single example in any of the class documentation. I, as most developers I know, am a 95% learn-by-example kinda guy, which has made the going slow. Incidentally I've even been a bit hard-pressed to find good examples via other sources online, which is probably the most surprising part. Admittedly I've been spoiled from years of web development, but I've definitely gotten used to being able to find examples of even the most obscure sub-class out there in some forum or another. Cocoa development doesn't seem to operate quite the same, however - there are plenty of simple examples but I haven't found more than a handful of advanced code snippets, particularly regarding the UI components. It suffices to say that I have been hammering through these early days on a heavily trial and error basis.
XCode itself, Apple's project development environment, seems to be very well put together. The user interface was extremely intuitive for me from the start, and you really can crank out an app in no time at all without having any prior experience. That is of course to be expected (being an Apple product), as is the solid and simple functionality of the Interface Builder. XCode/ has some similarities in structure to many other recent coding environments such as Eclipse (and thus Flex) and MS Visual Studio, which I'm sure adds to it's accessibility, but I'd have to say overall it's one of the best coding environments I've worked with to date.
And then there's the code itself. I'm pretty torn on first impressions towards Objective-C. In a nutshell it's an object-oriented offshoot of ANSI C, but shooting off in a different direction entirely from C++. That means that it has more in common with C than C++, and has a radically different syntax for about half of anything you may want to do in standard ANSI C. It's definitely simpler than C++, which is a plus most of the time. There are, however, some really weird syntax differences between Objective-C and pretty much anything else I've ever worked with before. I've worked in over a dozen different programming languages over the past decade and a half, and I have never seen anything like this:
[txtOutput setDoubleValue:[numComponent doubleValue]];
That's not to say that there's anything wrong with that, just that it is initially a bit of a maze to decipher what should be a simple line of code. Ok, I take that back - there are a couple of things wrong with it, primarily just that: deciphering it. I don't see any advantage to breaking the left-to-right reading object-method/property system that is used in nearly every other programming language. I am, admittedly, pretty green in this area, and may soon stumble across some hidden advantages yet. In reality, though, I probably won't even notice it after a couple of months (just like every language's quirks).
Lastly, the wide array of built in functionality is truly unbelievable. For example I threw together a quick test app that interacts with (retrieves, updates, the works) a user's iCal in just a few hours, and that's really just the very tip of the iceberg. The frameworks are very well put together and generally speaking (aside from that whole documentation bit) quite easy to use.
All in all, I'm going to reserve judgment for another couple of months of experience, but I'm definitely hooked. I'm generally not as interested in desktop development as I am web development, but there really are some pretty exciting possibilities here that I can't pass up.
Back to work...
3.26.2008
Snow in Springtime
I'm a big fan of snow, generally - I think it's pretty and tragically Japanese and all that. But in spring, in Seattle? I'm not sure what to think of this...
Regardless, my third week of business planning is well underway, and goddamn this isn't as easy as they say...ok, never mind, I guess nobody said it would be easy. I haven't even lifted a finger to start up the big business plan project, and I'm already tired. I've plowed most of the way through my first official business book, and have just started trudging through my second - a more concise workbook of sorts. I've got budgeting, market research, financial planning, executive summaries, promotional ideas, taxes and sales tactics coming out my ears. I can confidently say that I have the utmost respect for everyone who has ever attempted this, even if they failed repeatedly (maybe especially so). 'Cause some of this stuff is a real bitch. I'm sure it doesn't help that I'm trying to squeeze all of this into a three hour stretch every day after my regular 9 to 10 hour work-day, but I know that's no excuse.
Next month I'm looking at some trips to the local chamber of commerce, a couple of business schools (hopefully), and my first dive into the wide, somewhat phony world of networking. I hope all of the real business people don't suck the soul out of me before I'm done with all of this...
Regardless, my third week of business planning is well underway, and goddamn this isn't as easy as they say...ok, never mind, I guess nobody said it would be easy. I haven't even lifted a finger to start up the big business plan project, and I'm already tired. I've plowed most of the way through my first official business book, and have just started trudging through my second - a more concise workbook of sorts. I've got budgeting, market research, financial planning, executive summaries, promotional ideas, taxes and sales tactics coming out my ears. I can confidently say that I have the utmost respect for everyone who has ever attempted this, even if they failed repeatedly (maybe especially so). 'Cause some of this stuff is a real bitch. I'm sure it doesn't help that I'm trying to squeeze all of this into a three hour stretch every day after my regular 9 to 10 hour work-day, but I know that's no excuse.
Next month I'm looking at some trips to the local chamber of commerce, a couple of business schools (hopefully), and my first dive into the wide, somewhat phony world of networking. I hope all of the real business people don't suck the soul out of me before I'm done with all of this...
3.19.2008
Starting up the start-up engine
I've been sorely neglecting this blog since - well, it seems since we got back from Germany, which has been quite a while now. Things of many varieties have been keeping me busy, mostly in good ways. I can't remember how many times I've written a post stating something about how "I'm really going to make an effort to start blogging again", so I'll just skip that bullshit this time around and get straight to it.
As some of you may know, I've been harboring a deep-seeded interest in starting my own business for as long as I can remember. My New Year's Resolution (yeah, I try to do those kind of things) this year was to make some serious forward momentum in that direction, so a couple of weeks ago I started hitting the books. I'll be taking some online classes over the course of the next few months, reading some pretty intimidating books (already cracked into the first 750-pager), and generally doing everything I can to get the ball rolling.
So that's that. One of the things I've read over and over again is to (A) Never pass up the opportunity to ask for advice, and that (B) Advice can be found in places you wouldn't initially think. So...
If any of you out there have any advice, even the slightest bit of information you may have overheard, I'm all ears. If you have anyone in your family, or know any friends (or acquaintances or classmates or people you met on the bus or whatever) that have ever started a business (even if it failed miserably), I'd love to talk to them, email them, or contact them in whatever way possible. At this stage, any information at all is pure gold to me.
Thanks in advance!
As some of you may know, I've been harboring a deep-seeded interest in starting my own business for as long as I can remember. My New Year's Resolution (yeah, I try to do those kind of things) this year was to make some serious forward momentum in that direction, so a couple of weeks ago I started hitting the books. I'll be taking some online classes over the course of the next few months, reading some pretty intimidating books (already cracked into the first 750-pager), and generally doing everything I can to get the ball rolling.
So that's that. One of the things I've read over and over again is to (A) Never pass up the opportunity to ask for advice, and that (B) Advice can be found in places you wouldn't initially think. So...
If any of you out there have any advice, even the slightest bit of information you may have overheard, I'm all ears. If you have anyone in your family, or know any friends (or acquaintances or classmates or people you met on the bus or whatever) that have ever started a business (even if it failed miserably), I'd love to talk to them, email them, or contact them in whatever way possible. At this stage, any information at all is pure gold to me.
Thanks in advance!
9.28.2007
There's nothing like a change of plans
I think it might be the best part of vacationing ;-)
Planned Trip:
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Actual Trip:
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Planned Trip:
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At Last...Pictures!
430 photos and videos...knock yourself out.
And if you're too lazy, here's an embedded slideshow.
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| Germany/Au |
And if you're too lazy, here's an embedded slideshow.
9.24.2007
The end?
I always like to think that there's really no end to a good vacation - just a long layover in between where you have to work for a while. That doesn't make it any easier to say goodbye to a wonderful place, and this time was no exception. It's Monday today - we arrived last night around 9PM after a long day of plane rides, bad food and a long layover in Jersey where we managed to catch part of a football game. The culture shock of returning to America was thrown in our faces twofold this time around, as we both had to muster up the strength to get into the office by 7AM this morning and deal with mounds of backlogged work.
But the memories are still fresh - just past the horizon, seemingly. Intermittently throughout the day, I found myself sitting back, turning to look out my window, and letting out a deep, whimsical sigh. It's hard to imagine we could have done so much in just two weeks. It's hard to imagine that just three days ago we were sitting in the shade of chestnut trees, eating pretzels and drinking liter-sized mugs of beer without a care in the world. It's hard to imagine that less than a week ago we were drifting, dazzled, down the most beautiful river in the world.
But the hardest part of all comes a bit later - where do we go next? :-)
But the memories are still fresh - just past the horizon, seemingly. Intermittently throughout the day, I found myself sitting back, turning to look out my window, and letting out a deep, whimsical sigh. It's hard to imagine we could have done so much in just two weeks. It's hard to imagine that just three days ago we were sitting in the shade of chestnut trees, eating pretzels and drinking liter-sized mugs of beer without a care in the world. It's hard to imagine that less than a week ago we were drifting, dazzled, down the most beautiful river in the world.
But the hardest part of all comes a bit later - where do we go next? :-)
Berlin, Part Zwei
Coming back to Berlin on Friday night gave us a chance to spend a whole extra day walking around and just soaking up the city. Since we're staying in the old East Berlin this time around, we set off in the morning on a casual stroll through that neighborhood. It's a very intriguing mixture of past and present, with almost every street containing bold, new apartments and storefronts intermingled with still un-restored, bombed-out remains of a painful history. All the while, a seemingly endless stream of graffiti lines the first floor of the wall-to-wall buildings - some beautiful works of art, others hastily sprayed political statements. The people, as in any place, bear little mind to these surroundings (as they see them every day), but for us it wove together a striking and beautiful cityscape with more visible history than anywhere I've ever lived.
Later on that afternoon, on our way to dinner, Skick noticed that a few streets were blocked off, and a helicopter was hovering a ways away above the city. Curious, we decided to take a detour and find out what was happening. It was a good 8 blocks away before we started seeing rows and rows of police vans converging on an area just around the corner. When we turned the bend, we were engulfed in the thumping bass and loud chants of a political protest. We decided to follow it for a while, and made our way through hordes of college students waving flags, throngs of riot-police standing at attention, and more than a few clusters of recently pepper-sprayed kids recovering on the sidelines. The protest wasn't out of hand at all (just a few small pockets of over-zealous participants, as per any such event), and was very interesting to watch. It was also quite fitting to see since Berlin, saturated in political strife for years, has been a center of such demonstrations throughout many generations. We watched the protesters drum off into the distance, and headed on our way.
Later on that afternoon, on our way to dinner, Skick noticed that a few streets were blocked off, and a helicopter was hovering a ways away above the city. Curious, we decided to take a detour and find out what was happening. It was a good 8 blocks away before we started seeing rows and rows of police vans converging on an area just around the corner. When we turned the bend, we were engulfed in the thumping bass and loud chants of a political protest. We decided to follow it for a while, and made our way through hordes of college students waving flags, throngs of riot-police standing at attention, and more than a few clusters of recently pepper-sprayed kids recovering on the sidelines. The protest wasn't out of hand at all (just a few small pockets of over-zealous participants, as per any such event), and was very interesting to watch. It was also quite fitting to see since Berlin, saturated in political strife for years, has been a center of such demonstrations throughout many generations. We watched the protesters drum off into the distance, and headed on our way.
Leipzig
On the train ride from Munchen back to Berlin, we passed through Leipzig, one of the cities with the most remaining visible signs of WWII. Although we didn't get off and walk around, the sights from the train were truly powerful. Nearly half the city looked exactly as it had following allied carpet bombings, leaving behind an enormous carcass of a once prosperous industrial city. Entire city blocks stood in grim reminder of the war - half-standing factories with broken windows, charred walls and crumbling smokestacks. All I can really say, which does the sight no justice, is that war really, really sucks.
9.22.2007
Change of plans
Ok, so if you hadn't guessed by my description, we absolutely loved Munchen. After careful deliberation (ok, not that careful), we had decided by the time we arrived in Vienna that there was no way in hell we would end this trip without stopping by again on the way out. We ultimately figured that our time in Prague, sadly sacrificed, would be much better spent on a separate trip dedicated to Eastern Europe (Russia and the rest of the old Soviet Bloc.) This would keep the trips a bit more fluid, allow us to more fully understand each culture separately, and...oh, hell, we really wanted to go back toMunchen.
So, after our night stay in Linz, we were on our way back to Germany. We rolled into town on the late side, and had to stay in a different hostel on account of everything being booked with Oktoberfest on the horizon. I won't go into much detail about our (2nd) time in Munich, mainly because I've already (hopefully) explained the city well enough. Within 24 hours, we had kicked back, drank beer,played some pool and foosball and chatted it up with a New Zealander , an American, a Swiss, a Swede, some Germans (of course), two Australians, a Russian and probably a few I'm forgetting. We spent hours just strolling through the warm summer streets of the old town, without a care in the world. When I said this place is awesome - I wasn't joking. We could have easily done this for another two weeks straight. Suffice it to say, we had a good time, and our change of plans also gave us time for an extra day in Berlin to pick up some of the things that time didn't permit when we first arrived. But more on that later!
So, after our night stay in Linz, we were on our way back to Germany. We rolled into town on the late side, and had to stay in a different hostel on account of everything being booked with Oktoberfest on the horizon. I won't go into much detail about our (2nd) time in Munich, mainly because I've already (hopefully) explained the city well enough. Within 24 hours, we had kicked back, drank beer,played some pool and foosball and chatted it up with a New Zealander , an American, a Swiss, a Swede, some Germans (of course), two Australians, a Russian and probably a few I'm forgetting. We spent hours just strolling through the warm summer streets of the old town, without a care in the world. When I said this place is awesome - I wasn't joking. We could have easily done this for another two weeks straight. Suffice it to say, we had a good time, and our change of plans also gave us time for an extra day in Berlin to pick up some of the things that time didn't permit when we first arrived. But more on that later!
Ars Electronica
As many people know (Skick excluded - funny story there), Ars Electronica is a huge techie convention that takes place in Linz, Austria every year. They have a museum there now with the same name, chock full of high-tech interactive wonders. This place is like Seattle's Pacific Science Center meets the Smithsonian, but better. There's so much stuff to do inside, I don't know where to start.
Our experience started seconds after we paid for our tickets, when an employee dragged us over to a picture morphing machine. Skick and I sat down, they took our pictures, and the software morphed our faces together to form a couple of seriously hideous (but cool) combinations. Lev's just say thatSkick looks a whole lot better with her own face than with bits of mine thrown in!
We probably spent another half hour on the next exhibit - a beat mixing machine that used light and tactile sensors across a sort of looping timeline. There was a table where you put pieces of different sized and textured material, and a panning sensor slid across, making a beat with a different tone and feel for each one. We made some pretty bumping beats, as well as acacophony of high-pitched noise. Awesome!
The next great one was called something like the "Slot Machine Drawing Machine". This one was an ingenious mix of mathematical art and rhythm. It was a big touch-screen drawing surface, with all the normal computer drawing options - lines, circles, etc. The big difference was that it was on a slot-machine style scrolling loop, so everything that you drew scrolled around on a big loop before appearing again. It really did make the artwork that you created as much a rhythmic music experience as an art one, and was also very analytical and geometrical. Needless to say,Skick was much better at this one than me. She was able to produce some amazing triple helices of gradient color and texture, and I threw in some black and white blobs ;-)
Bz far the most intricate and advanced of the exhibits was called something like "Gulliver's World." I don't think an explanation willappropriately describe just how amazing this system is,but I'll try. There are a number of stations where you could create various parts of your "world" here, each one storing the part on a clear data card like the ones from Minority Report (or pretty much any other cool sci-fi movie.) The first one you made a 3-D rendered figure by building a model from play-do and putting it in a box with a webcam and a rotating base that captured a full circle image of the figure and mapped it out in digital 3-D.
you then took the data card to the next station, where you physically stamped out terrain, objects and your newly-created 3-D figure onto a virtual world surface, a textured half-circle dome. When you were done there, you took your data cards to a video-camera booth, whereSkick and I jumped around and acted goofy in front of the camera for a little while, then grabbed the data card and moved on. Now came the good part - putting it all together. There is a huge surface where you place all the data cards where you want, and a massive screen showing your newly created world in 3-D. One of our final products had an airport, a business park with a big billboard showingSkick and I acting goofy (fully animated), and tractors paving roads. A camera that you could physically move around showed you the city from a bird's eye view on the screen, and if that wasn't enough, there was a separate screen with a real-life scooter attached where you could literally scoot through your new world, and see everything you created in first person 3-D. Even more, slam your fist on the table where you've digitally created the world, and you create an earthquake - all the buildings crumble, your animated billboard cracks, and the roads are destroyed. I'm in the tech industry and all, but I have never seen anything this cool.
There were a ton of other exhibits, but it would take days to describe them, and I'm not even going to try. Well worth a visit, though, and you could easily spend a whole day or two inside.
Our experience started seconds after we paid for our tickets, when an employee dragged us over to a picture morphing machine. Skick and I sat down, they took our pictures, and the software morphed our faces together to form a couple of seriously hideous (but cool) combinations. Lev's just say thatSkick looks a whole lot better with her own face than with bits of mine thrown in!
We probably spent another half hour on the next exhibit - a beat mixing machine that used light and tactile sensors across a sort of looping timeline. There was a table where you put pieces of different sized and textured material, and a panning sensor slid across, making a beat with a different tone and feel for each one. We made some pretty bumping beats, as well as acacophony of high-pitched noise. Awesome!
The next great one was called something like the "Slot Machine Drawing Machine". This one was an ingenious mix of mathematical art and rhythm. It was a big touch-screen drawing surface, with all the normal computer drawing options - lines, circles, etc. The big difference was that it was on a slot-machine style scrolling loop, so everything that you drew scrolled around on a big loop before appearing again. It really did make the artwork that you created as much a rhythmic music experience as an art one, and was also very analytical and geometrical. Needless to say,Skick was much better at this one than me. She was able to produce some amazing triple helices of gradient color and texture, and I threw in some black and white blobs ;-)
Bz far the most intricate and advanced of the exhibits was called something like "Gulliver's World." I don't think an explanation willappropriately describe just how amazing this system is,but I'll try. There are a number of stations where you could create various parts of your "world" here, each one storing the part on a clear data card like the ones from Minority Report (or pretty much any other cool sci-fi movie.) The first one you made a 3-D rendered figure by building a model from play-do and putting it in a box with a webcam and a rotating base that captured a full circle image of the figure and mapped it out in digital 3-D.
you then took the data card to the next station, where you physically stamped out terrain, objects and your newly-created 3-D figure onto a virtual world surface, a textured half-circle dome. When you were done there, you took your data cards to a video-camera booth, whereSkick and I jumped around and acted goofy in front of the camera for a little while, then grabbed the data card and moved on. Now came the good part - putting it all together. There is a huge surface where you place all the data cards where you want, and a massive screen showing your newly created world in 3-D. One of our final products had an airport, a business park with a big billboard showingSkick and I acting goofy (fully animated), and tractors paving roads. A camera that you could physically move around showed you the city from a bird's eye view on the screen, and if that wasn't enough, there was a separate screen with a real-life scooter attached where you could literally scoot through your new world, and see everything you created in first person 3-D. Even more, slam your fist on the table where you've digitally created the world, and you create an earthquake - all the buildings crumble, your animated billboard cracks, and the roads are destroyed. I'm in the tech industry and all, but I have never seen anything this cool.
There were a ton of other exhibits, but it would take days to describe them, and I'm not even going to try. Well worth a visit, though, and you could easily spend a whole day or two inside.
9.21.2007
Paradise on Earth
This post is going to be far shorter than it could be, simply because the subject - our trip up the Danube river, is wholly beyond what written words describe. There truly is nothing that can compare to our experience, and I would say confidently that everyone should do this at least once in their life.
We picked up the ferry (a larger boat complete with two decks of restaurants as well as two outside decks) in Krems, a small industrial town at one end of the Wachau region of the Danube. We had three and a half hours before reaching Melk, stopping at a few towns along the way. The first hour and a half we were absolutely beside ourselves - we couldn't think of more than one or two places in the world that we had see that were as beautiful as this. We ran from side to side of the back outer deck of the boat, snapping pictures, pointing and saying "wow!" more times than I could count. Beautiful, forested rolling hills lined each side of the river, which was a deep, beautiful green (I think.) Interspersed through the forest, very small, old towns, castles, outposts and houses dotted the landscape. Utterly breathtaking.
After the first hour and a half, all we could do was sit back and soak in our surroundings. We stopped taking photos (we probably have over a hundred just from there,) and became enraptured - sipping a beer and smiling peacefully. By the time we got off, we decided not to do any of the sightseeing we were planning in Melk, because nothing could have topped our journey. So instead, we popped into a cozy restaurant and had an amazing apple strudel (Austria is famous for it) and mouth-watering wiener-schnitzel (not like the fast food in America - they're breaded veal or pork cutlets - wiener really just means "from Vienna".) It was the perfect end to a perfect day on the river. I really can't describe it any better than that.
We picked up the ferry (a larger boat complete with two decks of restaurants as well as two outside decks) in Krems, a small industrial town at one end of the Wachau region of the Danube. We had three and a half hours before reaching Melk, stopping at a few towns along the way. The first hour and a half we were absolutely beside ourselves - we couldn't think of more than one or two places in the world that we had see that were as beautiful as this. We ran from side to side of the back outer deck of the boat, snapping pictures, pointing and saying "wow!" more times than I could count. Beautiful, forested rolling hills lined each side of the river, which was a deep, beautiful green (I think.) Interspersed through the forest, very small, old towns, castles, outposts and houses dotted the landscape. Utterly breathtaking.
After the first hour and a half, all we could do was sit back and soak in our surroundings. We stopped taking photos (we probably have over a hundred just from there,) and became enraptured - sipping a beer and smiling peacefully. By the time we got off, we decided not to do any of the sightseeing we were planning in Melk, because nothing could have topped our journey. So instead, we popped into a cozy restaurant and had an amazing apple strudel (Austria is famous for it) and mouth-watering wiener-schnitzel (not like the fast food in America - they're breaded veal or pork cutlets - wiener really just means "from Vienna".) It was the perfect end to a perfect day on the river. I really can't describe it any better than that.
The Knights of...oops
Ok, so I have to admit, my planning skills aren't always up to par, which is why that's generally more Skick's department. So when I told Skick about this great old castle we were going to be heading off to in the middle of nowhere, I'm pretty sure she had doubts from the start. It turns out this place was really the middle of nowhere - the train dropped us off in a town of maybe a few hundred people, and the "map" was this old wood plank with either roads or hiking trails (no way to know) etched into it, and nothing in the way of labels. I was pretty sure I could read it, though, to which Skick only replied, "Uh, Derrick?" (a commonly heard expression of doubt that she uses) to which I replied (as always), "It'll be fine - trust me."
But after a bit of walking through the extremely foggy winding roads, I double-checked the book only to find that it wasn't listed as a 3/4 kilometer hike from the station, but a 3/4 hour one. Oops. That wouldn't leave us with much time at the castle, which by now Skick was obviously very doubtful of its mere existence. I assured her everything would be fine again, and onwards we trekked. When we turned off the road onto a small, poorly-marked and still foggy hiking trail, I have to admit that my doubts started to rise as well. I of course didn't admit as much, slipping into a rhythm of the occasional "I'm sure it's just a little bit farther."
Just about when I'm pretty sure Skick was ready to give up, I spied something through the fog - a tower, maybe? Could it be? By this point, I knew I'd never live it down if we didn't find this castle, so I hastened my pace and said confidently, "Aha, we're almost there!"
Sure enough, the castle was really there. It was an impressively massive and foreboding medieval structure, complete with moat, drawbridge and a slew of tall, arrow-slit laden towers.
The place was built by some knights a long time ago, but here's where my luck ran out. I had apparently also overlooked one other small fact in the book - it didn't open until 10AM, and we would already have to be heading to our train by then. So after a lengthy apology, I agreed to turn our backs on the castle without being dazzled by the dungeon, torture chamber, armory and mess hall promised within. Nevertheless, the hike and castle outer-grounds were well worth (in my opinion, at least...) the time. And maybe next time this'll teach me to pay a bit more attention to the details. Yeah right ;-)
But after a bit of walking through the extremely foggy winding roads, I double-checked the book only to find that it wasn't listed as a 3/4 kilometer hike from the station, but a 3/4 hour one. Oops. That wouldn't leave us with much time at the castle, which by now Skick was obviously very doubtful of its mere existence. I assured her everything would be fine again, and onwards we trekked. When we turned off the road onto a small, poorly-marked and still foggy hiking trail, I have to admit that my doubts started to rise as well. I of course didn't admit as much, slipping into a rhythm of the occasional "I'm sure it's just a little bit farther."
Just about when I'm pretty sure Skick was ready to give up, I spied something through the fog - a tower, maybe? Could it be? By this point, I knew I'd never live it down if we didn't find this castle, so I hastened my pace and said confidently, "Aha, we're almost there!"
Sure enough, the castle was really there. It was an impressively massive and foreboding medieval structure, complete with moat, drawbridge and a slew of tall, arrow-slit laden towers.
The place was built by some knights a long time ago, but here's where my luck ran out. I had apparently also overlooked one other small fact in the book - it didn't open until 10AM, and we would already have to be heading to our train by then. So after a lengthy apology, I agreed to turn our backs on the castle without being dazzled by the dungeon, torture chamber, armory and mess hall promised within. Nevertheless, the hike and castle outer-grounds were well worth (in my opinion, at least...) the time. And maybe next time this'll teach me to pay a bit more attention to the details. Yeah right ;-)
Strolling through Vienna
This city is amazing. I have never seen so many enormous things all in the same place in my life. Walking through the cobblestone streets of the old town is a truly humbling experience, and sadly nothing that can be truly captured with a camera. Royal palaces spanning three city blocks are bordered by majestic arches, rows of stone statues fifty feet tall, cascading fountains, and "normal" churches that dwarf most cities' main cathedral. All the while, around seemingly every corner is a live performer of some sort - and not your everyday guitarist that you would see in most other places. We heard beautiful renditions of Beethoven (including my favorite movement of the Moonlight Sonata), Vivaldi, Schubert and Mozart while sipping Austrian espresso, strolling through shopping plazas and staring dumbly at our surroundings.
The whole town is music oriented (not surprising to anyone who knows anything about Vienna) Our first night in town we stumbled into a live rock performance in a basement bar, and concerts, opera and musicals are running daily in the hundreds of venues within the inner city alone. We packed pretty much all of our sightseeing of the inner city into the first day there, wandering from cathedral to palace to garden with our jaws visible hanging. That evening we stopped for dinner at a real local wine tavern, and were treated to probably the best goulash I've ever had. Apparently Austrian and Hungarian goulash are a bit different, based on paprika and other spice proportions, but the details are lost to me. Regardless, it was unbelievable. We stayed for a few rounds of wine, which was also amazing. Vienna, actually, is known for its white wine, and although I normally don't like white wine, both times we tried it here it was very, very good. The atmosphere of the restaurant was fitting for the back streets of Vienna - lots of closely huddled intellectuals engaged in intense conversation about god-knows-what.
The next day we checked out the crown jewels, an enormous collection of the most over-the-top jewelry, Catholic relics, robes, crowns and swords I've ever seen. We were pretty dazzled. We also tried the famous Sachertorte - a chocolate torte made in a particular hotel that has become so popular worldwide that they sell something like 350,000 of them a year. It lived up to the hype in our opinion - a tangy dark chocolate served with whipped cream (which they put on pretty much everything in Austria.)
All in all, Vienna definitely lived up to its reputation - strolling through the city streets at night as got to be one of the (many) highlights of this trip. We headed out early the next morning on our way to an old castle before our trip up the Danube - but more on that later!
The whole town is music oriented (not surprising to anyone who knows anything about Vienna) Our first night in town we stumbled into a live rock performance in a basement bar, and concerts, opera and musicals are running daily in the hundreds of venues within the inner city alone. We packed pretty much all of our sightseeing of the inner city into the first day there, wandering from cathedral to palace to garden with our jaws visible hanging. That evening we stopped for dinner at a real local wine tavern, and were treated to probably the best goulash I've ever had. Apparently Austrian and Hungarian goulash are a bit different, based on paprika and other spice proportions, but the details are lost to me. Regardless, it was unbelievable. We stayed for a few rounds of wine, which was also amazing. Vienna, actually, is known for its white wine, and although I normally don't like white wine, both times we tried it here it was very, very good. The atmosphere of the restaurant was fitting for the back streets of Vienna - lots of closely huddled intellectuals engaged in intense conversation about god-knows-what.
The next day we checked out the crown jewels, an enormous collection of the most over-the-top jewelry, Catholic relics, robes, crowns and swords I've ever seen. We were pretty dazzled. We also tried the famous Sachertorte - a chocolate torte made in a particular hotel that has become so popular worldwide that they sell something like 350,000 of them a year. It lived up to the hype in our opinion - a tangy dark chocolate served with whipped cream (which they put on pretty much everything in Austria.)
All in all, Vienna definitely lived up to its reputation - strolling through the city streets at night as got to be one of the (many) highlights of this trip. We headed out early the next morning on our way to an old castle before our trip up the Danube - but more on that later!
Castle in the Clouds
Maybe it's the years of lost hours playing Dungeons & Dragons as a teenager, but castles have always excited me. Skick feels the same way, proclaiming that "There's no way we're coming back from Germany without seeing a castle!" We were thus obviously overjoyed when we set foot in our next destination - the town of Hohenschwangau, home to 2 of Germany's most famous castles.
The trek itself was pretty interesting - we had no map of the area and no idea where our hotel was. After stumbling in to the right little town (mostly by luck, no doubt= we were fortunate enough to meet some really nice locals that offered to give us a ride to where they "thought" the hotel might be. It turns out we never would have found it on our own - it was almost a mile up a winding side road. But more importantly - it turned out to be literally in the shadow of the most famous castle in Germany. Two steps out the front door and bam! There's an enormous castle. The castle itself was built mostly for bragging rights and luxury, not for any sort of military purpose, and happens to be what Disney modeled the castle from Sleeping Beauty after. It's nestled in the middle of the German Alps, and is pretty darned breathtaking.
With Munchen beer and Bavarian castles at our backs, we've just now crossed the border into Austria. We're cruising along in the dining car of another high speed train, this time towards Vienna - which is supposedly not so shabby a place either.
The trek itself was pretty interesting - we had no map of the area and no idea where our hotel was. After stumbling in to the right little town (mostly by luck, no doubt= we were fortunate enough to meet some really nice locals that offered to give us a ride to where they "thought" the hotel might be. It turns out we never would have found it on our own - it was almost a mile up a winding side road. But more importantly - it turned out to be literally in the shadow of the most famous castle in Germany. Two steps out the front door and bam! There's an enormous castle. The castle itself was built mostly for bragging rights and luxury, not for any sort of military purpose, and happens to be what Disney modeled the castle from Sleeping Beauty after. It's nestled in the middle of the German Alps, and is pretty darned breathtaking.
With Munchen beer and Bavarian castles at our backs, we've just now crossed the border into Austria. We're cruising along in the dining car of another high speed train, this time towards Vienna - which is supposedly not so shabby a place either.
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