With this entry I will be caught up on the composition of this travel blog, and theoretically our Wifi equipped hotel room in Amsterdam tonight will allow me to post the last several entries I’ve just composed. With any luck I can rig the date on the “Blogger” page so that the entries correspond with when they HAPPENNED rather than when I wrote them. And then won’t YOU feel silly for not having kept up with our journey?!?!?
It’s 11pm and we’re pulling into Rotterdam. Last night it was European Daylight savings time, and today we crossed the channel and lost an hour due to the time zone. That’s two hours we’ve lost in one day, and Jenn and I feel distinctly cheated. It’s a HUGE travel day for us, hopefully our largest on this trip, but not definitely.
Here’s another little travel tip:
DON’T forget that train times that are listed for the week don’t necessarily run on those schedules on SUNDAY. This is especially important when making a train connection to a channel ferry to another train or trains on the continent. We had to do some mad scrambling last night on a pound (ish) per hour (ish) internet hookup at a convenient youth hostel, and that resulted in a one boat, four train, six city, eight station extravaganza which is getting us from London to Amsterdam in a mere ten hours (only 45 minutes to go!). We’re both a bit tired. My own guilt and embarrassment for screwing up the Sunday schedule thing has made me a bit more grumpy and sensitive than I might otherwise be, but we’re both having fun on our London-Dover-Calais-Lille-Brussles-Amsterdam jaunt that was SUPPOSED to be a London-Harwich-Hoek Van Holland-Amsterdam jaunt.
We’re getting used to the Eurail pass, and we were both proud and relieved that my high school French has gotten us through upgrading our Lille-Brussles train to a necessary TGV (translate to “Very Fast Train”) ticket for only 6 Euros. That’s about nine dollars to you and me.
Or at least to you.
More from Amsterdam.
No, probably not.
Probably more from Hamburg.
We’re meeting Hidden Shakespeare there and are very excited for the Clown Reuinion!
Sunday, March 30, 2008
Les Miserables
While I was picking up a couple of tour guides back home, I decided that for a train-fiction book, it might be fun to pick up “Les Miserables”. Something French to gear me up for our week in Paris. Thus far the train rides have combined interesting foreign country sides with updates and edits for blog entries.
All right, the country sides certainly aren’t foreign HERE. I’m the foreigner. Not The Foreigner by Larry Shue, just someone who’s too interested in watching ancient church towers and flocks of sheep rolling by to read my book.
Here is my synopsis and review of Victor Hugo’s work thus far:
A man enters a town. The man is Jean Valjean.
And now my review:
Victor Hugo brilliantly captures the feel and emotion of a strange man entering a town. Never have I read such a compelling and historical treatise of what it’s like for a man to be unwelcome, for some reason, in a town. I only hope the first two and a half pages of Hugo’s “The Hunchback of Notre Dame” have such a compelling introduction to the introduction of a character.
All right, the country sides certainly aren’t foreign HERE. I’m the foreigner. Not The Foreigner by Larry Shue, just someone who’s too interested in watching ancient church towers and flocks of sheep rolling by to read my book.
Here is my synopsis and review of Victor Hugo’s work thus far:
A man enters a town. The man is Jean Valjean.
And now my review:
Victor Hugo brilliantly captures the feel and emotion of a strange man entering a town. Never have I read such a compelling and historical treatise of what it’s like for a man to be unwelcome, for some reason, in a town. I only hope the first two and a half pages of Hugo’s “The Hunchback of Notre Dame” have such a compelling introduction to the introduction of a character.
Saturday, March 29, 2008
Oskar's Edinburgh
Oskar’s Edinburgh
Travel to a new land is like looking at the world through the eyes of a child. So what better guide to a new city can there be, than an actual two year old child?
It’s apparently easy enough to pick up a toddler at Edinburgh’s Royal Botanic Garden. They’re quite numerous and their fees are quite reasonable. Our guide was two year old Oskar. A Swedish / American who’s lived in Scotland for his WHOLE LIFE, so clearly he knows the area. His reasonable fees included the drawing of fire trucks and hands, an ongoing game of “that’s MY pillow”, and a local “peekaboo” derivation centered around the phrase “BOOGADABOOGADA!”
Oskar’s tour began in the Botanic Garden itself, or “Tanic Arrrenn” as the locals seem to call it. A tour of the “Duck House” turned out to be a beautiful Asian pagoda bordering a pond which housed a variety of the promised waterfowl. The Scottish accent is a bit rough on American understanding, and one might have thought that our guide was referring to said waterfowl as he demanded we visit the “Wafaaaa”. But that attraction turned out to be a pleasant artificial waterfall. Our wonderful tour of the gardens ended where the Royal Botanic Garden is in the early stages of building a new visitor’s center. At that site we saw a variety of “Digger” that Oskar was quite delighted with. Apparently the Scottish “D” is a bit soft, and until I saw the heavy machinery, I was afraid that our tour guide was quite an outspoken racist. Particularly with the frequency and vehemence by which he repeated that word.
With a “Bye Bye! Ocah sweep!” we realized the main part of our tour had come to an end. The Toddler Tour isn’t long, but it’s intense and our guide left us with some sage wisdom with which we could explore some more of the Scottish Capitol:
“Beep Beep!” Oskar reminded us that though we were in Britain, only SOME of the residents walk on the sidewalk as if they were driving on the left side of the road. This made navigation a bit difficult, especially as we were loaded up with out big rucksacks.
“Hewecopa”. Though it took a bit of demonstration and game playing to realize our Shirpa-baby was declaring “Helicopter”, it was wonderful advice that we ought to climb the hill to the Castle and get some height over the city. I’d been inside the castle previously, and an additional “Beep Beep” from Oskar assured us that it wasn’t absolutely necessary for us to brave the throngs of fellow tourists and high entry fee.
“Wob dwink!” Indeed it was necessary for Wob to sample a bit of the national brew. Wob isn’t typically a Scotch drinker, but it’s not called Scotch here, it’s just whisky. Or is it just whiskey? Hmm, there’s a point I’ll have to check in with my guide about. Apparently Wob is most fond of the single malts from the Islay region, when it’s imperative to drink scotch, but I’m not likely to make a habit of it.
I did actually just email Oskar to get a clarification on the “E” in whisky / whiskey. Unfortunately his typed response is as follows:
U;ouihioioiooujujfujiwsiojdklj;lnksijopsdipjsdaf34
777UJHN JHUYJHNJHYUHJN HYHN HYHNHYHN HYTGHJKJUYTRFEDWSEDRFTGYHU.
I’ll have to double check that in a book.
Travel to a new land is like looking at the world through the eyes of a child. So what better guide to a new city can there be, than an actual two year old child?
It’s apparently easy enough to pick up a toddler at Edinburgh’s Royal Botanic Garden. They’re quite numerous and their fees are quite reasonable. Our guide was two year old Oskar. A Swedish / American who’s lived in Scotland for his WHOLE LIFE, so clearly he knows the area. His reasonable fees included the drawing of fire trucks and hands, an ongoing game of “that’s MY pillow”, and a local “peekaboo” derivation centered around the phrase “BOOGADABOOGADA!”
Oskar’s tour began in the Botanic Garden itself, or “Tanic Arrrenn” as the locals seem to call it. A tour of the “Duck House” turned out to be a beautiful Asian pagoda bordering a pond which housed a variety of the promised waterfowl. The Scottish accent is a bit rough on American understanding, and one might have thought that our guide was referring to said waterfowl as he demanded we visit the “Wafaaaa”. But that attraction turned out to be a pleasant artificial waterfall. Our wonderful tour of the gardens ended where the Royal Botanic Garden is in the early stages of building a new visitor’s center. At that site we saw a variety of “Digger” that Oskar was quite delighted with. Apparently the Scottish “D” is a bit soft, and until I saw the heavy machinery, I was afraid that our tour guide was quite an outspoken racist. Particularly with the frequency and vehemence by which he repeated that word.
With a “Bye Bye! Ocah sweep!” we realized the main part of our tour had come to an end. The Toddler Tour isn’t long, but it’s intense and our guide left us with some sage wisdom with which we could explore some more of the Scottish Capitol:
“Beep Beep!” Oskar reminded us that though we were in Britain, only SOME of the residents walk on the sidewalk as if they were driving on the left side of the road. This made navigation a bit difficult, especially as we were loaded up with out big rucksacks.
“Hewecopa”. Though it took a bit of demonstration and game playing to realize our Shirpa-baby was declaring “Helicopter”, it was wonderful advice that we ought to climb the hill to the Castle and get some height over the city. I’d been inside the castle previously, and an additional “Beep Beep” from Oskar assured us that it wasn’t absolutely necessary for us to brave the throngs of fellow tourists and high entry fee.
“Wob dwink!” Indeed it was necessary for Wob to sample a bit of the national brew. Wob isn’t typically a Scotch drinker, but it’s not called Scotch here, it’s just whisky. Or is it just whiskey? Hmm, there’s a point I’ll have to check in with my guide about. Apparently Wob is most fond of the single malts from the Islay region, when it’s imperative to drink scotch, but I’m not likely to make a habit of it.
I did actually just email Oskar to get a clarification on the “E” in whisky / whiskey. Unfortunately his typed response is as follows:
U;ouihioioiooujujfujiwsiojdklj;lnksijopsdipjsdaf34
777UJHN JHUYJHNJHYUHJN HYHN HYHNHYHN HYTGHJKJUYTRFEDWSEDRFTGYHU.
I’ll have to double check that in a book.
Constantine in York
We're not in York anymore. In fact we've done a whole country SINCE
York! (We're now on our way back down to London from Edinburgh) But
alas, our blogging is currently a step behind our actual travels.
Off to Am'dam tomorrow!
You might not hear from us again until we're in Germany.
York! (We're now on our way back down to London from Edinburgh) But
alas, our blogging is currently a step behind our actual travels.
Off to Am'dam tomorrow!
You might not hear from us again until we're in Germany.
Thursday, March 27, 2008
Travelling DOs & DON'Ts
Newcastle, Old Wall
Since I’m here doing a travel blog, it seems like I should be giving a bit of travel advice based on our trials and tribulations. But giving advice about travel implies that I know something about how you travel and what you’re interests are. Therefore I have to make certain assumptions that are beyond my specific set of interests and travel styles.
LET’S ASSUME that you, my average reader, has a greater than average interest in the Roman Empire. Pretty safe assumption, no?
LET’S ASSUME that you’re traveling to Scotland from somewhere in England, (not the specific album Somewhere In England, that would be silly). Ok, let’s say York. But it wouldn’t HAVE to be York, just because that’s where I happened to be traveling from, it can be any English city with a rich and well preserved history of occupation by Roman Forces. It could have been Bath, for example.
But it wasn’t, it was York.
LET’S ALSO ASSUME that you’ve dismissed the necessity of doing a thorough examination of Hadrian’s Wall* in light of already having seen a good amount of Romance ruins.
However, LET’s FURTHER make the ASSUMPTION, that in your travel up to Edinburgh from York, you have a good number of extra hours to kill, since you’re being hosted in Edinburgh by an old high school friend of your girlfriend, and she works a regular job and wouldn’t be able to begin really hosting you until the evening anyway. So we’ll CONTINUE to FURTHER ASSUME that you were able to find an internet hotspot in the Newcastle train station and find the most likely, most appropriate museum featuring the remains and layout of a Roman supply fort and excavated section of Hadrian’s Wall**
So this hypothetical is a good start for a typical traveler, right? You can see yourself in that position? Good! Here are a few DO’s and DON’Ts for that very common situation:
DON’T forget to check the closing time of said museum. Many outdoor attractions run by the British National Trust *** close at 3 pm before April. You can TELL them that there’s plenty of daylight left, but they won’t keep the museum open for you.
DO look up some info on the Newcastle Metro line and figure out how to NOT do a huge circle around the entire coast of England before visiting “Wallsend”. I thoroughly believe that the solution to this problem lies in boarding from a platform different from the one we utilized, but that’s as specific as my advice gets.
DON’T forget to eat lunch at a nameless**** café next to the Wallsend Metro station with an Italian design theme. No worries. Despite the theme, the Jacket Potatoes are thoroughly English.
DO ignore your assumption that the attendant closing up the shop to the museum simply MUST have a good idea of where to take a walk and see the best local bit of Hadrian’s Wall *****
DON’T feel overwhelmed by your sense of anti-climax when you find the five foot long piece of wall which apparently had even been moved from it’s original location and subsequently replaced for reasons which aren’t made clear by the informational plaque.
DO ogle the ridiculously huge shipbuilding cranes in the Wallsend Ship Yard.
And most importantly DON’T
This one is important: DO NOT be afraid to engage the rough looking, barely understandable Newcastle Dockworker ****** walking his rough looking pit bull. He’s full of useful information including the fact that those huge cranes you’re ogling have recently been sold to Korea, and will be disassembled by a still larger crane. Oh, and by the way, there’s a much better section of wall ******* one can see through a National Trust ******** gate.
I hope this section of DO’s and DON’Ts will be helpful to yo along your travels. If you go abroad, and have more than an average interest in the Roman Empire, and you find yourself with a few hours to kill on your way from England to Scotland, You might find this handy. *********
NOTES
--------------------------
* Hadrian’s wall was an actual stone barrier, commissioned by the Emperor Hadrian to effectively define Roman Britain from the Scottish North. It lies somewhat south from the modern Scottish border and was actually less to defend against attack than it was to control immigration into the Roman Empire. Much like the Arizona / Texas Mexican border fence today.
Not too long after Hadrian, the Roman Empire stretched further north, annoyed by their own barrier which immediately became irrelevant. Much like the Arizona / Texas Mexican border fence will be when the U.S. invades and conquers the small part of Mexico it neglected back in the Spanish-American War.
** This is really the same “Hadrian’s Wall” note as above and really should have had just one “*”. I just wanted to seem smarter by requiring multiple footnotes.
*** I can’t see or write the phrase “National Trust” without having “Happiness is a Warm Gun” stuck in my head for a while. If you’re a White Album fan, hopefully I’ve done that to you now too:
…”a soap impression of his wife which he ate
and donated to the National Trust”
**** Nameless only because I’ve forgotten the name.
***** See note **
******He LOOKED like a Dockworker, but I’m making an assumption. For all I know, he might have been a doctor or Librarian.******/*
******* See Note *****
********See note ***
********* No you mighten’t.
******/* No he mighten’t have.
Since I’m here doing a travel blog, it seems like I should be giving a bit of travel advice based on our trials and tribulations. But giving advice about travel implies that I know something about how you travel and what you’re interests are. Therefore I have to make certain assumptions that are beyond my specific set of interests and travel styles.
LET’S ASSUME that you, my average reader, has a greater than average interest in the Roman Empire. Pretty safe assumption, no?
LET’S ASSUME that you’re traveling to Scotland from somewhere in England, (not the specific album Somewhere In England, that would be silly). Ok, let’s say York. But it wouldn’t HAVE to be York, just because that’s where I happened to be traveling from, it can be any English city with a rich and well preserved history of occupation by Roman Forces. It could have been Bath, for example.
But it wasn’t, it was York.
LET’S ALSO ASSUME that you’ve dismissed the necessity of doing a thorough examination of Hadrian’s Wall* in light of already having seen a good amount of Romance ruins.
However, LET’s FURTHER make the ASSUMPTION, that in your travel up to Edinburgh from York, you have a good number of extra hours to kill, since you’re being hosted in Edinburgh by an old high school friend of your girlfriend, and she works a regular job and wouldn’t be able to begin really hosting you until the evening anyway. So we’ll CONTINUE to FURTHER ASSUME that you were able to find an internet hotspot in the Newcastle train station and find the most likely, most appropriate museum featuring the remains and layout of a Roman supply fort and excavated section of Hadrian’s Wall**
So this hypothetical is a good start for a typical traveler, right? You can see yourself in that position? Good! Here are a few DO’s and DON’Ts for that very common situation:
DON’T forget to check the closing time of said museum. Many outdoor attractions run by the British National Trust *** close at 3 pm before April. You can TELL them that there’s plenty of daylight left, but they won’t keep the museum open for you.
DO look up some info on the Newcastle Metro line and figure out how to NOT do a huge circle around the entire coast of England before visiting “Wallsend”. I thoroughly believe that the solution to this problem lies in boarding from a platform different from the one we utilized, but that’s as specific as my advice gets.
DON’T forget to eat lunch at a nameless**** café next to the Wallsend Metro station with an Italian design theme. No worries. Despite the theme, the Jacket Potatoes are thoroughly English.
DO ignore your assumption that the attendant closing up the shop to the museum simply MUST have a good idea of where to take a walk and see the best local bit of Hadrian’s Wall *****
DON’T feel overwhelmed by your sense of anti-climax when you find the five foot long piece of wall which apparently had even been moved from it’s original location and subsequently replaced for reasons which aren’t made clear by the informational plaque.
DO ogle the ridiculously huge shipbuilding cranes in the Wallsend Ship Yard.
And most importantly DON’T
This one is important: DO NOT be afraid to engage the rough looking, barely understandable Newcastle Dockworker ****** walking his rough looking pit bull. He’s full of useful information including the fact that those huge cranes you’re ogling have recently been sold to Korea, and will be disassembled by a still larger crane. Oh, and by the way, there’s a much better section of wall ******* one can see through a National Trust ******** gate.
I hope this section of DO’s and DON’Ts will be helpful to yo along your travels. If you go abroad, and have more than an average interest in the Roman Empire, and you find yourself with a few hours to kill on your way from England to Scotland, You might find this handy. *********
NOTES
--------------------------
* Hadrian’s wall was an actual stone barrier, commissioned by the Emperor Hadrian to effectively define Roman Britain from the Scottish North. It lies somewhat south from the modern Scottish border and was actually less to defend against attack than it was to control immigration into the Roman Empire. Much like the Arizona / Texas Mexican border fence today.
Not too long after Hadrian, the Roman Empire stretched further north, annoyed by their own barrier which immediately became irrelevant. Much like the Arizona / Texas Mexican border fence will be when the U.S. invades and conquers the small part of Mexico it neglected back in the Spanish-American War.
** This is really the same “Hadrian’s Wall” note as above and really should have had just one “*”. I just wanted to seem smarter by requiring multiple footnotes.
*** I can’t see or write the phrase “National Trust” without having “Happiness is a Warm Gun” stuck in my head for a while. If you’re a White Album fan, hopefully I’ve done that to you now too:
…”a soap impression of his wife which he ate
and donated to the National Trust”
**** Nameless only because I’ve forgotten the name.
***** See note **
******He LOOKED like a Dockworker, but I’m making an assumption. For all I know, he might have been a doctor or Librarian.******/*
******* See Note *****
********See note ***
********* No you mighten’t.
******/* No he mighten’t have.
Old York
3/26/08
On the train from York to Edinburgh
Well, we’ll probably actually stop in Newcastle to catch a bit more
Roman History at Hadrian’s Wall, but that’s only if we feel like it.
York is touristy.
For anyone looking for an “off the beaten track” UK experience, skip
York.
Not as touristy as New York, but still pretty touristy.
On the other hand, it’s touristy for good reason. With its
well-preserved city wall built by William the Conqueror,
Roman ruins,
and the newer gothic York Minster cathedral (newer relative to the
Normans and Romans)
it’s an ideal illustration of how a European city
grows in its various stages when being conquered by various peoples
through the various ages.
I love stories about various peoples being
conquered by various peoples through various ages.
Plus, I love to play castle:
I actually got this bit wrong. The York city wall, in its current state
was actually built by William the Conqueror, a Norman. So nobody on
THAT wall would have been frightened by Normans invading. There would
be plenty of SAXONS on a previous, slightly crappier wooden wall who
would be PLENTY frightened by the Normans invading! Asshole Saxons
should have built a better wall!
Finally I have to note that we stayed in a typical English Bed and
Breakfast.
http://www.ashtofts.com/index.html
It was perfect in it’s quaint, English style and actually family run as
the propaganda suggests.
My only complaint was that the wardrobe
simply held our clothes, And
was absolutely lacking in any fantastical Christian allegory. Unless
you count the fact that I was completely in the dark once I entered.
On the train from York to Edinburgh
Well, we’ll probably actually stop in Newcastle to catch a bit more
Roman History at Hadrian’s Wall, but that’s only if we feel like it.
York is touristy.
For anyone looking for an “off the beaten track” UK experience, skip
York.
Not as touristy as New York, but still pretty touristy.
On the other hand, it’s touristy for good reason. With its
well-preserved city wall built by William the Conqueror,
Roman ruins,
and the newer gothic York Minster cathedral (newer relative to the
Normans and Romans)
it’s an ideal illustration of how a European city
grows in its various stages when being conquered by various peoples
through the various ages.
I love stories about various peoples being
conquered by various peoples through various ages.
Plus, I love to play castle:
I actually got this bit wrong. The York city wall, in its current state
was actually built by William the Conqueror, a Norman. So nobody on
THAT wall would have been frightened by Normans invading. There would
be plenty of SAXONS on a previous, slightly crappier wooden wall who
would be PLENTY frightened by the Normans invading! Asshole Saxons
should have built a better wall!
Finally I have to note that we stayed in a typical English Bed and
Breakfast.
http://www.ashtofts.com/index.html
It was perfect in it’s quaint, English style and actually family run as
the propaganda suggests.
My only complaint was that the wardrobe
simply held our clothes, And
was absolutely lacking in any fantastical Christian allegory. Unless
you count the fact that I was completely in the dark once I entered.
Wednesday, March 26, 2008
Monday, March 24, 2008
SO HOT!
Something I forgot to mention in the last post:
I'm putting these two videos up from the wifi connection on the train from London to York.
I didn't write too much, because I didn't assume the video upload would work.
Well, it worked!
It's not as fast as this train or anything, but it effing worked!
ain't technology hot!?!?
More from York presently.
Cheers
Rob & Jenn
I'm putting these two videos up from the wifi connection on the train from London to York.
I didn't write too much, because I didn't assume the video upload would work.
Well, it worked!
It's not as fast as this train or anything, but it effing worked!
ain't technology hot!?!?
More from York presently.
Cheers
Rob & Jenn
New York to London
It wasn't so long ago that a trip across the Atlantic would have lasted
weeks. It took us six hours, not counting the time spent getting to and
from the airports, sitting IN airports, and sitting on runways. All of
which is slightly annoying at the time, but nothing compared to
spending weeks crossing the ocean.
Here's that whole trip in just over a minute.
Bon Voyage!
Thursday, March 20, 2008
Old Country Itinerary
New Trip to the Old Country:
Spring 2008
3/20/08
(or in Europe: 20/3/08)
I’m very excited!
Anyone who has spoken to us in the past few weeks knows we’re about to take a trip to Europe.
Jenn is very excited!
We haven’t done a BIG trip abroad since our Southeast Asia journey in 2002:
http://southeastasia2002.blogspot.com/
Though I did a week (and Jenn just a long weekend) in Amsterdam in 2005, and we had a wonderful time, it didn’t quite qualify as a BIG TRIP ABROAD!
Ok, Jenn actually did a big trip abroad last year in England with her sister, but I wasn't on that trip, and this is a subjective blog.
We’ll at least be posting photos, updates, and perhaps a rambling or two of the trip via this blogspot. If we have the time and inclination, we’ll even add musings!
For those of you who might follow the trip,
And ESPECIALLY for any of you who will be in Europe and might wish to join us in any of the following cities, here’s our basic itinerary:
Mar 23
arrive London 3
Mar 24
Staying in York. Yes, we came from a York, but this is THE York, old York!
Mar 26
“I’m going to Edinburgh”
Yes, there’s only one person who will possibly remember that reference, and she might not even read this blog entry.
C’est la vie
C’est la guarre
C’est la plaisanterie intérieure
In Edinburgh, we’ll be staying with a friend of Jenn’s from High school!
London again for an evening on Mar 29
Mar 30, we’ll be chillin’ on the grocht!
An evening in Amsterdam!
Yes, I know we’re coming from New Amsterdam, but this is OLD Amsterdam!
And we’ve been there before, which is why we don’t mind just spending an evening there.
Mar 31, we’ll be in Hamburg! Watching our old “International Clowns” friends Hidden Shakespeare
http://www.hiddenshakespeare.de/
do a big show at the Schmidt Theater
Here’s when our schedule starts to get vague:
Sometime around April 4 or 5, we’re off to Berlin. We’ll be mostly tourists in Berlin, but we’ll certainly be checking out some of the Berlin Impro Festival:
http://www.improfestival.de/2008/index.php
Sometime around the April 6 or 7, we’ll go to Prague.
April 8, or 9 or 10… ish
It’s Munich!
Some more Germany in that time frame, probably Stuttgart.
We have to be back on schedule by April 14, where I’ll be teaching improv workshops with the company Eux, as well as the Improfessionals.
On April 17 it’ll be a public workshop with The Impro Academie, open to whomever is interested:
http://www.improacademy.com/
I’m also performing on April 16th with the improfessionals on a boat in Paris.
Yep,
A boat!
http://www.abricadabra.fr/index.html
After Paris, we’ll be eating and drinking in the countryside, around Dijon!
By April 24th. We’ll be back in London and thereabouts, until our 5/1 return to the Big Apple
NEW Amsterdam
NEW YORK CITY!
Now I have to go get packin'.
Literally, it's time to put clothes into my new backpack!
Have I mentioned that we're very excited?
Spring 2008
3/20/08
(or in Europe: 20/3/08)
I’m very excited!
Anyone who has spoken to us in the past few weeks knows we’re about to take a trip to Europe.
Jenn is very excited!
We haven’t done a BIG trip abroad since our Southeast Asia journey in 2002:
http://southeastasia2002.blogspot.com/
Though I did a week (and Jenn just a long weekend) in Amsterdam in 2005, and we had a wonderful time, it didn’t quite qualify as a BIG TRIP ABROAD!
Ok, Jenn actually did a big trip abroad last year in England with her sister, but I wasn't on that trip, and this is a subjective blog.
We’ll at least be posting photos, updates, and perhaps a rambling or two of the trip via this blogspot. If we have the time and inclination, we’ll even add musings!
For those of you who might follow the trip,
And ESPECIALLY for any of you who will be in Europe and might wish to join us in any of the following cities, here’s our basic itinerary:
Mar 23
arrive London 3
Mar 24
Staying in York. Yes, we came from a York, but this is THE York, old York!
Mar 26
“I’m going to Edinburgh”
Yes, there’s only one person who will possibly remember that reference, and she might not even read this blog entry.
C’est la vie
C’est la guarre
C’est la plaisanterie intérieure
In Edinburgh, we’ll be staying with a friend of Jenn’s from High school!
London again for an evening on Mar 29
Mar 30, we’ll be chillin’ on the grocht!
An evening in Amsterdam!
Yes, I know we’re coming from New Amsterdam, but this is OLD Amsterdam!
And we’ve been there before, which is why we don’t mind just spending an evening there.
Mar 31, we’ll be in Hamburg! Watching our old “International Clowns” friends Hidden Shakespeare
http://www.hiddenshakespeare.de/
do a big show at the Schmidt Theater
Here’s when our schedule starts to get vague:
Sometime around April 4 or 5, we’re off to Berlin. We’ll be mostly tourists in Berlin, but we’ll certainly be checking out some of the Berlin Impro Festival:
http://www.improfestival.de/2008/index.php
Sometime around the April 6 or 7, we’ll go to Prague.
April 8, or 9 or 10… ish
It’s Munich!
Some more Germany in that time frame, probably Stuttgart.
We have to be back on schedule by April 14, where I’ll be teaching improv workshops with the company Eux, as well as the Improfessionals.
On April 17 it’ll be a public workshop with The Impro Academie, open to whomever is interested:
http://www.improacademy.com/
I’m also performing on April 16th with the improfessionals on a boat in Paris.
Yep,
A boat!
http://www.abricadabra.fr/index.html
After Paris, we’ll be eating and drinking in the countryside, around Dijon!
By April 24th. We’ll be back in London and thereabouts, until our 5/1 return to the Big Apple
NEW Amsterdam
NEW YORK CITY!
Now I have to go get packin'.
Literally, it's time to put clothes into my new backpack!
Have I mentioned that we're very excited?
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