Copenhagen couldn't be better situated as a stopover point between Amsterdam and Oslo, sitting smack in the middle of a 16 hour drive between the 2 points. We rolled into Copenhagen in the mid evening, but with our northern location it was bright as 3pm outside. It was tricky finding our hotel due to the hotel's sign being on top of a tall building down the street from where it actually is. I got out, ran around the building looking for the entrance... nope. SO, we followed TomTom, which instructed us to turn down a side street and go a few hundred meters. There it is! Not sure why they have their sign on a building that's NOT where they are located, but there you have it. Found a place on the street to put the car after checking in. The room was almost like a ship cabin I was in during a high school trip to the Bahama's! Beds and tables folded up to the wall for maximum space, the bathroom... man, hard to explain that one. Let's just say you could clean it by just spraying it down with a garden hose (you know, how they do it at Hee-Haw Junction). The room was clean, convenient, and comfortable... the important "C's" when it comes to accommodations. You can throw in "cheap" as a 4th "C", but that doesn't really exist in Scandinavia!
With plenty of light left, we jetted out and walked towards what we considered city center. It took a while to get our bearings, but we made it, and in the process figured out the best direct route to take later. Copenhagen is a clean, well-spaced city, pretty much like Oslo. Every European city we have visited maintains it's cleanliness very well, with the exception of Amsterdam!! Figures. But I believe I have come upon the reason. Amsterdam is a very small, densely populated city, where the others are less populated and/or spread over a larger area. Also, people from poorer areas of the world where litter isn't much of a consideration have made Amsterdam their new home. These 2 factors, I believe, make Amsterdam a messier place. But to be fair, since coming back from Norway, Amsterdam does look a little cleaner. Brad and Natalia say that NY City has more litter, and we said "No way!". I was just in Manhattan, and one of the first things I thought was "They are CRAZY if they think Manhattan has more litter on the street then Amsterdam!" Come to find out when I returned to Amsterdam, R told me they had visited Manhattan during their recent trip back to the states and felt the EXACT opposite, that Manhattan IS more littered then Amsterdam! Oh... what do they know?! ANYWAY, back to the trip. We are in the shopping district of Copenhagen, and the prices of clothing at some stores are actually less then what one would pay in Amsterdam. That was a pleasant surprise. We walk, sight see, people watch (people STILL falling for sidewalk shell games!!!), and grab a bite to eat, sitting outdoors at an Italian restaurant on a plaza. It was quite nice, but got a little chilly (it IS May AND Scandinavia). We head back to our hotel a little after 11pm when it is finally dark.
Friday morning comes, and I go down to the front desk to see if any of the limited number of parking spots in the back of the hotel have become vacant overnight, as they instructed me to do the day of check in when none were open. There were a couple, so I quickly went to where we had parked the car on the street because it had to be moved by 8 or it would get ticketed, and parked it in the hotel lot. There it would stay until we left tomorrow. We headed to the city center around 10am, walking along a canal and past a nice park. The sun was out and it was warm, so people were out and in seemingly good spirits. We went to a small art gallery and then visited a cathedral, going up a tower with a spiraling ramp that Peter The Great supposedly rode his horse up early in the last century. We grabbed a bite to eat for lunch and then visited the plaza and vendor stalls looking at what was being sold. Radhika bought herself some fine earrings and then we went down to the waterfront. After we visited another cathedral, walked through another large plaza, past some beautiful fountains to where the famous statue of "The Little Mermaid" could be found along the waterfront. We eventually made our way back to the center via another pretty park, going to the shopping district to eyeball all of the people who were now out on an early Friday evening. We ate a nice dinner outdoors at an Italian restaurant and walked back to the hotel at 11pm.
The next morning we sleep in, then head out a little before 11am. It's Saturday, so the streets are bustling. We catch the changing of the guard at the Royal Palace and then have a nice meal at a street side cafe. We go to the center and waterfront areas checking out people, sidewalk markets and vendors seeing their crafts and wares, and around 3pm stumble upon a pipe and drum band putting on a concert in a plaza. We enjoyed that a lot, but that was the end of our trip as we had to make the 8 hour journey back to Amsterdam. We walked back to the hotel to pick up the car in the lot and headed out of Copenhagen by 4pm, arriving in Amsterdam shortly before midnight. It was good to be home only due to having the long drive behind us, but we were bummed that yet another adventure was behind us. But now we prepare for the next one in a couple of months - - Oktoberfest and southern Italy!!!
Wednesday, July 9, 2008
Monday, July 7, 2008
Oslo
Well, we were back in Oslo and happy about that. We were looking forward to our return, even tweaking the schedule to get an extra day there because we felt it held so much promise when we spent the 2 half days there. But we were a little bummed knowing that it was our last stop in Norway and we had enjoyed ourselves so much. We got our room and then took the bus to the center of the city. From there we walked to the waterfront as I wanted to visit the castle on the water. Much less a castle then a fortress, we walked around and into it after watching police horses being trained in a nearby stable. The fortress afforded great views of the waterfront, the city, and up into the hills. While we were there we watched for what was probably hours, a submarine come into harbor and then met by 2 tug boats that pulled it along side of 2 other naval vessels. We enjoyed the gardens in the fortress and a museum on the history of Oslo and Norway. We went back to the city center and caught the changing of the guard at the royal palace. We went to a very nice park, found a bench to have a snack and people watch for a while. We then took the car into the hills above Oslo to check out the huge ski jump that you could see from the waterfront fortress. It was very cool, but closed for the day! Having seen these on TV usually during the winter Olympics, I was quite impressed by how much larger and longer it is in person. We couldn't get to the top unfortunately, and I like to think that I still have that "risk taker" in me that used to jump his bike over garbage cans as a kid, but that shit looked nuts!!!!!!!!! No way I would do that!!! And that's without getting the view from the top. I would love to see this event in person one day. I think it would blow my mind. We drove back to the city and walked it's streets for a while doing a little urban sight-seeing. We found a nice place to eat where we had a nice, tender, juice, cut of "Rudolf"... or was it "Prancer"? Doesn't matter, the reindeer was delicious! That's right Muffy and Skip, no Santa this year unless he comes driving a hybrid!!!
The next morning we checked out of our B&B and visited the Viking Museum on our way out of Oslo. I was fascinated by them and their boats as a young boy, and it was cool actually seeing and touching unearthed viking craft from a millenia ago. The ships were seaworthy, but buried because they were holding the remains of someone very important to the tribe or community they came from. The boat was needed to help them get to the next destination after death, and many other trinkets, crafts, and tools were found on the boat for this purpose, as well.
We hit the road by mid afternoon, headed for Copenhagen which is 8 hours away. Leaving Norway was quite a bummer, and it too, goes on the list of places we wouldn't mind visiting again. Hopefully, some day.......
The next morning we checked out of our B&B and visited the Viking Museum on our way out of Oslo. I was fascinated by them and their boats as a young boy, and it was cool actually seeing and touching unearthed viking craft from a millenia ago. The ships were seaworthy, but buried because they were holding the remains of someone very important to the tribe or community they came from. The boat was needed to help them get to the next destination after death, and many other trinkets, crafts, and tools were found on the boat for this purpose, as well.
We hit the road by mid afternoon, headed for Copenhagen which is 8 hours away. Leaving Norway was quite a bummer, and it too, goes on the list of places we wouldn't mind visiting again. Hopefully, some day.......
Thursday, July 3, 2008
Bergen To Oslo
WOW! What a difference a route change makes!!! On the way to Bergen we took a "northern" route to hit Flam and Fjaerland. On the way back to Oslo I wanted to go a different way to hopefully see different scenery. Boy, did we! We took a southern route and ended up on mountain tops with sub-freezing temperatures and snow to the horizon and beyond! Norway has more tunnels then any other country we've visited. Some mountainous regions we were going through tunnels every few miles. One of the craziest tunnels we encountered was the one that deposited us in the winter wonderland. It was a "cork-screw" inside the mountain... pretty much a spiral staircase with a right turn that went on forever! I would have to guess that we went around perhaps 6 times - - going in we were in fairly warm weather, but when the tunnel finally dumped us out we were speechless at the sight of the blanket of white covering everything! It was as if we went a great distance to different regions of the world in a matter of minutes. Buildings so deep in snow you could only glimpses small sections of their rooftops. Now I had to take pictures in this environment, but inside the car it was a balmy 72 to 78f degrees (what's that... about 23 to 25c for you metric lovers?), so I'm wearing shorts and a comfortable short sleeved shirt. It wasn't too bad for quick hits, but at one place R wasn't too comfortable with me stopping on the road (there was no place to park on either side), so I had to pull off to the side a fair length from my subject, so I jumped out and ran to the spot. Man, talk about your exposure. My matchstick legs were about to snap... I believe the ONLY time I have ever wished for more hair on my legs. The cheesecloth-like t-shirt I was wearing felt like it MAGNIFIED the cold wind. There's not a single coed in Daytona during Spring Break that I couldn't have trounced in a wet t-shirt contest, without the water! By the time I ran back to the car I was numb in places I've never even considered important let alone areas of vital interest. I don't believe I've ever been so cold while the sun was shining! After driving through this area for quite some time, we began to descend and were soon back in temperate weather and back at our B&B that housed us when we came through Oslo on our way into Norway.
Fjaerland And On To Bergen
So the next morning we pay the toll and head to Sogndal, which required 30 minutes discussion between us on how to pronounce it. Is the "g" silent? Reversed with the "n"? Do you awkwardly pronounce the "g"? Anyway, we got there (the most important thing) and found a tourist office and found where to go for local scenery. We drove along Sogndalsfjorden and then up to higher elevations to get spectacular views of the largest glacier in Europe! It was beautiful, but I must admit to being spoiled by Mendenhall Glacier in Juneau as the most beautiful I've seen so far. The city is the perfect size in my opinion for the environment. Large enough to support tourism, but small enough as to not overwhelm what the real attractions are. We had a marvelous dinner there in Sogndal before heading back to Fjaerland. It was our last night there, as we were to head to Bergen the next day.
We woke up to (surprise!) mostly cloudy skies and drizzle. Today was the 17th, Norway's National Day... their equivalent to our July 4th. There were parades all over the country and they were televising the ones in Oslo and a few other larger cities in the country. Fjaerland was having it's own parade, and we decided to stick around for it. How cool was it to witness and experience small town pride and patriotism in Norway!! And what great pictures!!! Did I mention great, ethnic food after the festivities? They donned ceremonial Norwegian dress, had a marching band playing, and went up the main road of town, circled back, stopped in the town cemetery at the church to honor and entertain the deceased (in the rain!) and returned past the school to a community center where speakers would make their speeches and people would eat their traditional food. Radhika and I stayed long enough to eat, but did a "cut and run" on the speeches (no offense to you Republicans). We made our way to Bergen on the west coast of the country, which was only a few hours away. TomTom tripped us up and took us to the wrong address, but luckily I had the phone number of the place, so we gave them a call and the woman gave us directions. We weren't far so we were there in no time. The cabin I reserved was REALLY small, so we asked what options we had for a larger one. She cut us a good deal, we looked at it, liked it, and we settled in. There's a lot to be said for going "off-season"!! Another cabin with 2 floors, a full kitchen, and TV. We decided to kick back seeing as how we had a full day already, and rest for tomorrow.
Bergen is a beautiful city and very historic. We parked and walked to the waterfront area where most of the "action" is. Very quaint, colorful, with a maritime feel, of course. We strolled through shops, outdoor markets, and the historic section along the water. We went up on the funicular to an overlook that was absolutely beautiful. This pretty much encompassed our entire day. We hiked around a pond, had a picnic there, and then hiked to an old stave church. Coming down the trail we came upon a woman who was lying on her side. I thought she was taking a picture, but she actually had taken a tumble and had hurt her knee. NO, it WASN'T Radhika. I am not protecting the innocent (or clumsy). She was from Finland and had hurt her knee. Her jeans were torn so I could tell she fell with some force. We helped her out and eventually up, with me dispensing care and medical advice (as you all know I am NOT a Dr. but play one on TV). Well, she turned out to be a NURSE, so I had to shut my mouth on the care of her bruised knee! We took our time the rest of the way and by the time we reached the city she was doing well. She was very nice and we hope to see her when we visit Finland. Radhika and I grabbed a bite to eat at an outdoor cafe that was nearby to where we ended our hike. We sat there for a long time in the sun and breeze just soaking up the atmosphere. We explored a fortress and a little more of the city, eventually eating a great dinner in a small local restaurant called Penguin’s. More salmon for me that was delicious! Today’s weather was quite nice, so we stayed in the historic section of the city exploring the back alleys and royal residency. We went back to our cabin thinking of going back into the city, but didn't make it back out. Having a long drive back to Oslo tomorrow, we packed tonight and got a good nights sleep on our last night in Bergen.
We woke up to (surprise!) mostly cloudy skies and drizzle. Today was the 17th, Norway's National Day... their equivalent to our July 4th. There were parades all over the country and they were televising the ones in Oslo and a few other larger cities in the country. Fjaerland was having it's own parade, and we decided to stick around for it. How cool was it to witness and experience small town pride and patriotism in Norway!! And what great pictures!!! Did I mention great, ethnic food after the festivities? They donned ceremonial Norwegian dress, had a marching band playing, and went up the main road of town, circled back, stopped in the town cemetery at the church to honor and entertain the deceased (in the rain!) and returned past the school to a community center where speakers would make their speeches and people would eat their traditional food. Radhika and I stayed long enough to eat, but did a "cut and run" on the speeches (no offense to you Republicans). We made our way to Bergen on the west coast of the country, which was only a few hours away. TomTom tripped us up and took us to the wrong address, but luckily I had the phone number of the place, so we gave them a call and the woman gave us directions. We weren't far so we were there in no time. The cabin I reserved was REALLY small, so we asked what options we had for a larger one. She cut us a good deal, we looked at it, liked it, and we settled in. There's a lot to be said for going "off-season"!! Another cabin with 2 floors, a full kitchen, and TV. We decided to kick back seeing as how we had a full day already, and rest for tomorrow.
Bergen is a beautiful city and very historic. We parked and walked to the waterfront area where most of the "action" is. Very quaint, colorful, with a maritime feel, of course. We strolled through shops, outdoor markets, and the historic section along the water. We went up on the funicular to an overlook that was absolutely beautiful. This pretty much encompassed our entire day. We hiked around a pond, had a picnic there, and then hiked to an old stave church. Coming down the trail we came upon a woman who was lying on her side. I thought she was taking a picture, but she actually had taken a tumble and had hurt her knee. NO, it WASN'T Radhika. I am not protecting the innocent (or clumsy). She was from Finland and had hurt her knee. Her jeans were torn so I could tell she fell with some force. We helped her out and eventually up, with me dispensing care and medical advice (as you all know I am NOT a Dr. but play one on TV). Well, she turned out to be a NURSE, so I had to shut my mouth on the care of her bruised knee! We took our time the rest of the way and by the time we reached the city she was doing well. She was very nice and we hope to see her when we visit Finland. Radhika and I grabbed a bite to eat at an outdoor cafe that was nearby to where we ended our hike. We sat there for a long time in the sun and breeze just soaking up the atmosphere. We explored a fortress and a little more of the city, eventually eating a great dinner in a small local restaurant called Penguin’s. More salmon for me that was delicious! Today’s weather was quite nice, so we stayed in the historic section of the city exploring the back alleys and royal residency. We went back to our cabin thinking of going back into the city, but didn't make it back out. Having a long drive back to Oslo tomorrow, we packed tonight and got a good nights sleep on our last night in Bergen.
Flam To Fjaerland
These 2 places are quite close to each other, so the drive was quite short. Basically 2 places within the same wilderness area only one to the south and the other north (Fjaerland). Right outside Flam, we had to go through a tunnel that was reduced to one lane so we had to wait a bit outside to be escorted. On the way into Flam on the east side approach we came through the longest tunnel in the world... 24 miles I believe it was! That was crazy!! Anyway, we drove to Fjaerland, and right before we entered via the only road in, we had to pay a toll that we both thought was exorbitantly high. To compound matters, we discovered that many scenic sights were passed on the road in, and to see them we would have to pay toll in that direction, and then TOLL AGAIN to come back in. Yeah, live and learn I say for situations like this. R actually told the woman in the tourist office it wasn't worth staying in Fjaerland due to this. The woman was slightly offended, but R was right for the most part. The city we passed before Fjaerland was bigger and closer to these sights. If there's a "next time", we will forego Fjaerland for Sogndal. But moving forward, we got to our cabin and it didn't look as nice as the one in Flam. There was grass and weeds growing all over the roof! I mean, it suited ME if any of you have ever seen my yard! I can't keep astroturf green! But I came to understand that this was how they "did" roofs here. The area was also sparsely populated, but once inside the cabin we discovered we had water and a bathroom with this one, it was large with room to sleep 8, and a TV! We were quite happy with the accommodations if not the surroundings. We unpacked, and with the sun out through the clouds making for some nice lighting conditions, I started making pictures right away. We drove around the area looking for a place to eat. All of the places were closed for the day or the season still. We tried a Best Western hotel up the road, but it was like $120 for both of us and the attitude wasn't "warm", so we decided to "dine" in our rustic cabin. We had a full day ahead of us tomorrow, so we turned in around 11pm while it was still bright as 4pm outside. May 15th, and the morning was gray and drizzly. We decided to take the trip on the ferry through the longest fjord in Norway (already seeing the narrowest in Flam). The fjords are very pretty, but today it was quite chilly with the wind whipping up over the water and the sun playing peek-a-boo behind the clouds. We went to Balestrand, which is the ferry's last stop. We disembarked, finding out the time of the ferry we wanted to take back to Fjaerland. Balestrand is a larger town then Fjaerland, however most of it was still locked up from the off-season like Fjaerland. We walked around checking out the area. It was chilly and drizzly on and off, so it took a little out of the experience for us, but we always end up enjoying ourselves! After walking through local neighborhoods, stores, art galleries, and (yes!) a post card exhibit chronicling the history of the area, we boarded a ferry that would take us back through the fjord to Fjaerland. We discussed going back through the toll to see the other sights, but figured to wait until tomorrow so we could have a full day. We checked out the local glacier from a couple of vantage points, and that was our 1st full day in Fjaerland.
Flam And The Train Ride
The next morning, we visited the lookout first, where the weather was great and great pictures were taken. On the way up we stopped several times to make pictures of the beautiful scenery. With it being spring, the baby sheep were out bouncing, playing, and calling out in their high-pitched tones to their mothers. Radhika immediately thought of the sheep in the first "Babe" movie and started calling out to the little ones "Baaaaaabe". My girl has many hidden talents, but I did not know speaking "sheep" was one of them!!! She held a 5+ minute conversation with a baby sheep 50 feet away from the car window!! Back and forth they went... it was "Baaaa" for "Baaaa" for what seemed like an eternity!!! Eventually the "cuteness" wore out for me as it felt like both were a railroad spike in my ears! The next time you see or talk to R, ask her to say something in "Norwegian Sheep". She's quite the natural.
We took the Flam Railway train to Myrdal in the afternoon. This is the most famous train trip in Norway for it's scenery. It was fantastic!! We bought a round trip ticket, but decided to hike down from Myrdal, which was the last stop, back to Flam which was, I believe something like a 6 mile distance. Well, Myrdal was covered in snow even though the air temperture was warm. In places the snow was piled to what I estimate was about 15 feet!! We started down the path alongside the tracks which soon turned away from them and into the forest and a river running down to the valley. Snow and ice were piled up everywhere! I wanted to strip down and have R take a picture of me in the snow carefully using it to conceal "things" and turn a "XXX" image into a "G" one. She thought I was out of my mind (has she met me?) so we compromised and I just went shirtless. It was so warm in the sun, but that ice did get cold fast! It didn't melt on me at all, so my skin stayed dry. I know, Florida boy being entranced by this seldomly seen cold, fluffy, white stuff. It was fun! I was aching to nail her on the side of the head with a snowball!! With the amount of it there, we could've had our own "shock and awe" battle!! We walked about 15 minutes to a section of the trail that was steep and completely covered in ice and snow. I tried to follow the 2 sets of footsteps left by people I guessed were several days old. After slipping several times, I retreated back up to where R was waiting. At this impasse, it was decided it was the perfect time to have a picnic. So we found a dry place in the sun, I carefully position my behind on a pointy, black rock, and we ate our sandwiches, talking and thinking about our situation. We decided to try it, and we slowly made our way through this section of the trail. I would hear a noise, turn around, and see Radhika on her ass in the snow with a big grin. We made our way past several train stops and more beautiful scenery. It was getting late, and when we stopped at another train station, we checked the schedule and found that the last train down the mountain would come by in under 20 minutes. We decided to take it, seeing as how we had roundtrip tickets anyway, believeing we would get back to Flam really late by foot. When the train stopped for us, the guy who let us on didn't seem happy to see us. Radhika tripped and fell "up" the stairs, and he seemed more annoyed at her clumsiness then concern for it! We joked about it all the way back up and then down, that they were pissed having to stop the train for the "stupid Americans"..."Trippy", who was Radhika, and me, "Dopey". On the way up we were 1 of 2 couples on the train. At Myrdal, they got off so we had the train all to ourselves. It was cool! We made it back to Flam where the place was quite empty as the weekend was gone and the tourist season hadn't kicked in yet. Back to the cabin... a great day of vacation!
We took the Flam Railway train to Myrdal in the afternoon. This is the most famous train trip in Norway for it's scenery. It was fantastic!! We bought a round trip ticket, but decided to hike down from Myrdal, which was the last stop, back to Flam which was, I believe something like a 6 mile distance. Well, Myrdal was covered in snow even though the air temperture was warm. In places the snow was piled to what I estimate was about 15 feet!! We started down the path alongside the tracks which soon turned away from them and into the forest and a river running down to the valley. Snow and ice were piled up everywhere! I wanted to strip down and have R take a picture of me in the snow carefully using it to conceal "things" and turn a "XXX" image into a "G" one. She thought I was out of my mind (has she met me?) so we compromised and I just went shirtless. It was so warm in the sun, but that ice did get cold fast! It didn't melt on me at all, so my skin stayed dry. I know, Florida boy being entranced by this seldomly seen cold, fluffy, white stuff. It was fun! I was aching to nail her on the side of the head with a snowball!! With the amount of it there, we could've had our own "shock and awe" battle!! We walked about 15 minutes to a section of the trail that was steep and completely covered in ice and snow. I tried to follow the 2 sets of footsteps left by people I guessed were several days old. After slipping several times, I retreated back up to where R was waiting. At this impasse, it was decided it was the perfect time to have a picnic. So we found a dry place in the sun, I carefully position my behind on a pointy, black rock, and we ate our sandwiches, talking and thinking about our situation. We decided to try it, and we slowly made our way through this section of the trail. I would hear a noise, turn around, and see Radhika on her ass in the snow with a big grin. We made our way past several train stops and more beautiful scenery. It was getting late, and when we stopped at another train station, we checked the schedule and found that the last train down the mountain would come by in under 20 minutes. We decided to take it, seeing as how we had roundtrip tickets anyway, believeing we would get back to Flam really late by foot. When the train stopped for us, the guy who let us on didn't seem happy to see us. Radhika tripped and fell "up" the stairs, and he seemed more annoyed at her clumsiness then concern for it! We joked about it all the way back up and then down, that they were pissed having to stop the train for the "stupid Americans"..."Trippy", who was Radhika, and me, "Dopey". On the way up we were 1 of 2 couples on the train. At Myrdal, they got off so we had the train all to ourselves. It was cool! We made it back to Flam where the place was quite empty as the weekend was gone and the tourist season hadn't kicked in yet. Back to the cabin... a great day of vacation!
Sunday, June 15, 2008
Back In Orlando, part 1
I came back to Orlando because Radhika was to attend a GE conference there from June 2nd to the 6th. Of course several days after paying for my tickets back and a roundtrip to NJ from Orlando to visit family there, the conference gets cancelled. So with both of us bummed, I came anyway on May 26th, figuring I could paint the house as it was overdue along with other things while there.
Our neighbor, Kevin, was kind enough to pick me up at the airport, especially considering I got in close to midnight after almost an hour delay in arrival. The very next morning I started hammering away at the lists R and I had compiled. Knowing my tendency to procrastinate at times, there was not even the hint of a thought such as "I have 30 days, let me play some tennis and grab some swimming pool time!" I picked up some things that were going back to Amsterdam and some food for my visit here so I wouldn't be tempted to eat all of Marc's groceries at the house. Speaking of which, did you finish that soy milk I left? Anyway, I met Dr. Bandy, one of Radhika's professor's from her UCF days and now friend and supporter of my photography for lunch to give him a print he purchased from my China show back in January. We also discussed the possibility of him and his wife being in Italy this fall at the same time Radhika and I make our trip. Unfortunately, our schedules didn't match up. I played some tennis in the afternoon after lunch, meeting Clide on the court at Barnett. Man did that feel great! But work was beckoning. My friend Jim said I could borrow his pressure washer, but with my car being donated to charity last year (I know, which charity was desperate enough to want my rolling coffin?), I had no way to pick it up as it wouldn't fit in the trunk of R's Honda. Jim figured how to get it in the front seat, so I brought it home. I used it to wash down the house, part of the pool deck and front walk way, and kill a rat, before going to NY to see family for almost a week on the 9th of June. Yeah, that's not a typo... I pressure cleaned a rat to death... and it wasn't pretty let me tell you. I've picked up turtles, cats, and dogs off the road as some of you know, and will pick up a snake and take it out of the yard to somewhere that's safe (uh, for both snake AND humans, I suppose) and let spiders chill out in the house unless they get too big (and that keeps the number of unwanted guests down too!). Rats are an entirely different story. More on this adventure later.
I had to pressure clean the entire outside of the house, make sure it was dry and then apply sealant for the new paint to better grip the house. Now I see why painters charge what they do. It's a lot of labor! I taped off a few things, but mostly I used the "big piece of cardboard" method, which did cause a little over spray here and there (okay, more then a little). I managed to pressure washed the house and apply the sealant before going to NY. That way it could all dry completely and I could start painting when I returned. I got to NJ and waited for Mom to come home from the city and of course I ate the most delicious food! The next day I worked on things Mom needed to be repaired and then drove to Seaford out on Long Island where Dolly (R's sister) and John live in the afternoon. Traffic was a NIGHTMARE!!! I don't know how they put up with that. So much wasted time and money just sitting there or creeping along. John had a gig that night with his band at a nice restaurant, so I went with him when he left. I took still and video images of a couple of their sets with their equipment, and stayed with John until they were done and pretty much had broken down their stage set up. Saturday afternoon we went into Manhattan for a graduation party. It was in a nice Mexican restaurant. Kind of unusual in my opinion... Indians throwing their son's graduation from high school/off to Syracuse in the fall party in a Mexican restaurant. But I was later said that was his favorite place, so it made some sense. Sunday, we went out on Dolly and John's boat before Mom and I headed back to New Jersey. I wasn't feeling well to begin with, and then we hit some rough seas when we made open water (Can you say "queezy"?). We headed back and then got stuck on a sandbar. John got in and pulled us off of it, but the engine wouldn't turn over. It looked bad.... Sea Tow was called and then cancelled when the engine finally started and we were on our way again. Mom and I headed back to Edison. The rest of my visit was doing some things for Mom, a little shopping, and of course eating great Indian food. I flew back to Orlando on the 14th, giving me 12 days to finish painting!
Our neighbor, Kevin, was kind enough to pick me up at the airport, especially considering I got in close to midnight after almost an hour delay in arrival. The very next morning I started hammering away at the lists R and I had compiled. Knowing my tendency to procrastinate at times, there was not even the hint of a thought such as "I have 30 days, let me play some tennis and grab some swimming pool time!" I picked up some things that were going back to Amsterdam and some food for my visit here so I wouldn't be tempted to eat all of Marc's groceries at the house. Speaking of which, did you finish that soy milk I left? Anyway, I met Dr. Bandy, one of Radhika's professor's from her UCF days and now friend and supporter of my photography for lunch to give him a print he purchased from my China show back in January. We also discussed the possibility of him and his wife being in Italy this fall at the same time Radhika and I make our trip. Unfortunately, our schedules didn't match up. I played some tennis in the afternoon after lunch, meeting Clide on the court at Barnett. Man did that feel great! But work was beckoning. My friend Jim said I could borrow his pressure washer, but with my car being donated to charity last year (I know, which charity was desperate enough to want my rolling coffin?), I had no way to pick it up as it wouldn't fit in the trunk of R's Honda. Jim figured how to get it in the front seat, so I brought it home. I used it to wash down the house, part of the pool deck and front walk way, and kill a rat, before going to NY to see family for almost a week on the 9th of June. Yeah, that's not a typo... I pressure cleaned a rat to death... and it wasn't pretty let me tell you. I've picked up turtles, cats, and dogs off the road as some of you know, and will pick up a snake and take it out of the yard to somewhere that's safe (uh, for both snake AND humans, I suppose) and let spiders chill out in the house unless they get too big (and that keeps the number of unwanted guests down too!). Rats are an entirely different story. More on this adventure later.
I had to pressure clean the entire outside of the house, make sure it was dry and then apply sealant for the new paint to better grip the house. Now I see why painters charge what they do. It's a lot of labor! I taped off a few things, but mostly I used the "big piece of cardboard" method, which did cause a little over spray here and there (okay, more then a little). I managed to pressure washed the house and apply the sealant before going to NY. That way it could all dry completely and I could start painting when I returned. I got to NJ and waited for Mom to come home from the city and of course I ate the most delicious food! The next day I worked on things Mom needed to be repaired and then drove to Seaford out on Long Island where Dolly (R's sister) and John live in the afternoon. Traffic was a NIGHTMARE!!! I don't know how they put up with that. So much wasted time and money just sitting there or creeping along. John had a gig that night with his band at a nice restaurant, so I went with him when he left. I took still and video images of a couple of their sets with their equipment, and stayed with John until they were done and pretty much had broken down their stage set up. Saturday afternoon we went into Manhattan for a graduation party. It was in a nice Mexican restaurant. Kind of unusual in my opinion... Indians throwing their son's graduation from high school/off to Syracuse in the fall party in a Mexican restaurant. But I was later said that was his favorite place, so it made some sense. Sunday, we went out on Dolly and John's boat before Mom and I headed back to New Jersey. I wasn't feeling well to begin with, and then we hit some rough seas when we made open water (Can you say "queezy"?). We headed back and then got stuck on a sandbar. John got in and pulled us off of it, but the engine wouldn't turn over. It looked bad.... Sea Tow was called and then cancelled when the engine finally started and we were on our way again. Mom and I headed back to Edison. The rest of my visit was doing some things for Mom, a little shopping, and of course eating great Indian food. I flew back to Orlando on the 14th, giving me 12 days to finish painting!
Thursday, June 12, 2008
Norwayticus Interruptus
Okay, so my trip back to Florida has put a delay on the Norway schedule. But I'll add my Florida and New York experiences soon. Sorry for the delay, but this blogger is busy! I'll get back to this business soon!!
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