17 August 2009 - London, England

We got up around 9.30am, a little ahead of our alarm. We ordered room service for breakfast (what a good way to relax on our last day of being in London). Breakfast arrived closed to 10am and was pretty good. I had eggs with toast and hash browns and Cin had an omelet with rolls and hash browns. We both had some good, fresh, English tea and it was all quite good. After the breakfast, I showered off while Cin took some of the stuff we had purchased on our trip down to the concierge to see about shipping it home as packing all of it would be difficult. She spent a good amount of time down there, as shipping is a lot more than we thought so she needed to figure out what really needed to be shipping and what we could being home ourselves. After packing all of that up, she came back to the room and packed in a rush. Noon came and we were out. We got a taxi from our hotel direct to Heathrow and the ride was quite relaxing and nice. While we were perfectly willing to take the Tube from the airport to the hotel when we arrived, we just wanted a relaxing ride back at this point, being very tired for jamming so much into the past two weeks or so. Money well spent.

We checked in with no issues and then went thru security. We ate some snack-style food and got some fresh drinks (Gaymers Cider for Cin, which is a new one, and a pint each of Carling and Guinness for me...first Carling I have ever had and was decent, if somewhat unremarkable). Then we went to the gate, I got an iced tea at the Starbucks (they didn't seem surprised with my order, so lots of Americans must come by there, as iced tea just is not popular in the UK but Starbucks will happily make it for you if you ask) and then we boarded the plane. Off we went.

Odd flight. We spent a long time at the gate and then on the way to the runway, due to Heathrow being down to one runway for some reason. I watched Star Trek (again) and, towards the end of the movie, they came on the speaker asking if there was a doctor on board. We could not see what was going on. About five minutes later, they came on again and asked for anyone with medical training. No one else seemed to be getting up, so I went to the back of the plane (I was an EMT years ago, something that has expired but much of which is still fresh in my mind). It seems someone had passed out and was unresponsive when the flight attendants had gotten to her. She came to quickly and had been given oxygen by the flight staff and seemed to be fine, even improving during the few minutes I was there and talking to her. I advised her to drink some water (slowly) and eat a roll or something similar (again, slowly) as pretty much anything can cause this type of spell but water and some carbs/sugar can do some good. She seemed OK at that point and I learned that this had happened to her a few times before and her doctor believed it to be caused by dehydration. Anyway, she seemed OK and the flight attendants kept an eye on her for the rest of the flight, during which she felt much better, which is very good.

The rest of the flight was pretty uneventful; I did watch two episodes of Scrubs (which had the xray slide at the end of the credits replaced with one that read "Docs;" must be a UK version or something) and most of Star Trek again (one viewing on the way out and two on the way back...still awesome!). We arrived at Newark's Liberty International Airport, got off the plane, cleared passport control, and picked up our luggage. We went thru customs with no issues and then rechecked our luggage (this still seems really weird to me...when you arrive on an international flight, you need to pick up your luggage, walk it thru customs, and then recheck it to your final destination).

We then found ourselves outside of security in Terminal C, with our flight leaving from Terminal A. We got on the train to take us to that terminal and then we had to go thru a security checkpoint for a certain subset of A gates, which took some time but was not bad (some folks ahead of us and behind us were very close to missing their flights, however). Once we got thru, we found that our flight had moved gates and was now leaving from a different gate with a separate security checkout. Ugh. While we were struggling with this, an airline captain heard us and told us we could get to the new gate using a shuttle bus without leaving security, which was very nice...he was also the pilot for our flight back to BWI. Cool beans. Being very hungry, we contemplated eating at the bar in this area before leaving on the bus, but decided time was not the best for this so we got on the bus. At first, we were quite happy as there was a bar in the new area...but then we found it was closed. Everything in this small area was closed, saved for a Hudson News shop that had a fruit and cheese plate that we shared (some dinner). Crappy services available at Liberty International at 9pm! The flight back home was uneventful and our luggage popped up at BWI baggage claim very quickly. DrMo picked us up and we were home.

London vacation complete.

16 August 2009 - London, England

We woke up late, having no immediate need that would require us to get up early. After some cleaning up, we headed off to the London Zoo. We rode the Tube to Baker Street Station, where they have some pretty awesome Sherlock Holmes decorations on the wall. Right outside of the station, we found 221B Baker Street, home of the famous detective. The location is home to the Sherlock Holmes Museum and looked pretty cool from the outside. Right next door is a place with an Elvis theme that had three Elvis impersonators outside singing; they attracted quite a crowd on both sides of the street. Pretty cool. After some confusion, we picked up the bus that would take us to the zoo entrance, as it would be about a 45 minute walk from the Tube station. After we went for a short bus ride, we arrived at the zoo and went in.

The London Zoo is pretty good and well worth a stop. We saw pretty much every animal exhibit and it took us a little more than three hours, something that was largely due to the compact space the zoo occupies and is quite nice. We saw the usual assortment of animals and some that I had never seen live before, including a red panda (also known as a firefox)...that guy was really cool...and a seventy year old tortoise, who was huge. The zoo had a big kids area that looked really good and had ample attractions to make it worth the price of admission. Pretty cool.

We left the zoo, picked up the bus, went into the Tube, and got off at London Bridge station. We were heading to Shakespeare's Globe Theater as we had tickets to the 6.30p showing of Troilus and Cressida. This is a less-well-known play and tells the story of the death of Hector at the hands of Achilles, the love and then tragedy of Troilus and Cressida of Troy, and some infighting within the Greek camp outside of Troy. The Globe Theater is a fantastic place to see a Shakespeare show as it is a recreation of the actual theater where Shakespeare himself put on the plays (if you believe he existed ;)). While the theater had burned down twice, the current version looks very much like it did back then, with wooden bench seats, lots of obstructions (I had a great view of a pole right in front of me), and plenty of standing-only tickets, where the collection of people filled the floor. The standers, right up to the stage, are supposed to back able to heckle the actors freely and I was very disappointed when no such heckling was performed at our show. Oh well. The play itself was somewhat hard to follow, but enjoyable none the less. The show did last just about three hours, and, luckily, included an intermission. If you have any interest in Shakespeare and want to see one of his works in an arena that is close, if not the same, as the way they were originally presented, this is one stop that is not to be missed.

After the show, we walked along the Thames to meet up with Anne and her boyfriend Tyler, the friends of Cin's who were now living in London and that we met up with before at the Sherlock Holmes Pub. We found an Italian place that was not only open but very lively and headed in there, as many things close early in London and we (Cin and me, anyway) needed food. We both got dinner and Anne an Tyler just got drinks. I had a Pizza Bufala, which is like a normal pizza but with fresh buffalo mozzarella instead of normal mozzarella and Cin had a pasta with pesto-type sauce. Both were good, although my pizza could have used some more sauce (and the promised plum tomatoes on top were missing). Oh well. We ended up there until we were among the last two tables left, so we said our goodbyes and then Cin and I walked back to our hotel. So ends the last full day in London. Tomorrow, it is off to the States, and then home.

15 August 2009 - Mottingham & London, England

We got up at a decent hour and hit up the breakfast for a light meal (meaning, for me, a roll and some juice). We then walked over to the Charing Cross train station, about a seven minute walk from the hotel, and caught a train to Motthingham, a suburb of London southeast of Greenwich. For there, it was a short ten minute walk to the aquathlon we were competing in, The Clash of the Tritons. We had decided to do an event here to keep us used to competing and make sure we kept up on the training. So far, I have done an amazing amount of walking during the trip, but nothing else, so this race would be interesting since all of the aspects of this vacation have me feeling very much not a triathlete.

This was a unique event. The swim was put on in the pool of this College gymnasium, which was quite nice (note: College means High School in this context). There were only six lanes and 240 or so athletes, so everyone had start times and ours were 10.45a and 10.55a (so we got way more sleep than I thought we would...thank goodness!). Once we arrived and set up our transition area, we headed to the pool where we got our timing chips and then we discovered that they were ahead and we could start very shortly (we got there quite a bit early so we started about 45 minutes ahead of schedule). Cin started a few minutes before me and shared a lane with a guy who swam much slower than her, as she is an amazingly fast swimmer, whom she had to pass twice during the 500m swim. Yep, they did two to a lane with circle swimming. Well, for everyone but me apparently as no one else joined my lane during my swim. The swim itself was fine and I put up a decent time (nine minutes and change). Out of the pool and on to the run. My transition sucked, as it always does, and then I started the two loop, 5K, run. The run was twice around the field area of the school and felt a lot longer than the 5K distance, most likely due to my lack of training over the past two weeks...5K should not feel as tough as this did! Anyway, I finished and was surprised to see that my time was 23:17, which is a PR for me (this works out to about a 7:30/mile pace, which is really fast for me). Wow. Since my legs felt like crap the entire time and I felt like I was standing still, this is really good. PR for Cin too. Cin got a cupcake thing without realized we had to pay for them (we got the money and went back to pay) and the announcer called us our for being American, which was fun. We then picked up our stuff, hiked back to the train station, and were back in London shortly thereafter.

This was a pretty cool event. It seems that it was mainly geared for the various triathlon clubs in the London area to compete and was put on by the Greenwich Tritons. I had emailed ahead and asked if it was appropriate for us to sign up and was told yes and that we would receive a warm welcome. All of this proved very true. Everyone there was very nice and helpful and we think very highly of the event. We both especially liked how the marshals and volunteers out on the run course had a list of everyone's numbers and names so they called out to encourage you by name when you ran by. We did not know if the athletes would be very fast and competitive or slower and more relaxed and found some really high quality, very fast, athletes here. All were equally nice and polite, which we have found to be true of triathletes everywhere. Overall, we had a blast. Hats off to the Greenwich Titans for putting on a great event.

Once we got back to the hotel, I took a long, hot, relaxing shower and Cin went to the included fitness center for a while. Afterward, we headed downstairs to the champagne bar for tea. Tea is something of a fourth meal in the UK, typically happening between 2.30p and 5p, with dinner being later, typically starting around 7p. We checked out the menu and decided against ordering the "traditional" tea service, which included a big range of pastry/dessert dishes. For the price it cost (22GBP per person), I needed something more substantial since I had not eaten all day. So, I got some Earl Grey tea and a Caesar salad and Cin got a cheese & cucumber sandwich and champagne drink. All was very good. We then checked with the concierge for dinner reservations. Attempts to secure a reservation at the steak-themed Gordan Ramsey restaurant had failed, so we asked for recommendations of a high-end steak place. The person we spoke to, the Head Concierge, was very knowledgeable and told us of a place he ate in a few days ago that was a London chain that specialized in Argentinian steaks, called the Gaucho Grill. There was also a location very near (10 minute walk) from out hotel. We made a reservation and then went back to the room to read and relax for a few hours before dinner.

Dinner was amazing at the Gaucho Grill (webpage is here and the TripAdvisor page is here). All of the beef here is from Argentina. They have all of the usual cuts of steak (filet, rib eye, sirloin) and each cut is available in 225g, 300g, and 400g sizes. The atmosphere is very posh and the place very high end. The chairs, which are probably the only thing we did not like, were decorated in cow hide material, which was not the most appealing. Anyway, I had a 400g (about 14oz) filet with a tomato salad (many tomatoes, including some delicious yellow ones, cut up into halves) and Cin had a 225g filet with spinach with lemon & garlic. Everything was awesome. The tomato salad was delicious, especially with the yellow tomatoes in there (I love yellow tomatoes). My steak was one of the best I have ever had and I have been to some high end steak locations. The bread they serve beforehand, especially the cheese biscuits, is delicious. I also had a Bavarian-style wheat beer (well, two actually) that was brewed in Greenwich just for this restaurant and it was amazing. Perfect meal. If you are in London and want a high-end steakhouse experience, I highly suggest Gaucho Grill.

After dinner, we hiked back to the hotel, got some drinks and free Internet access in the Executive Lounge, and headed back to the room to read and relax some more. To bed somewhat early, as tomorrow is our last full day in England.

14 August 2009 - Windsor, Stonehenge, & Bath, England

We got up early and got the free breakfast in the Executive Lounge, which was quite good. We then did a short hike over to the Strand Palace Hotel, where the bus for our tour would pick us up. The Strand is a major road thru London and the Waldorf is just off it. It was only about a five minute walk to the other hotel. We waited there for a bit and the tour driver came and got us. We then traveled to the Victoria Coach Station, which is like a train station except for buses. Lucky for us, the coach that picked us up was the one for our tour, so we just stayed put while many others got on board and found their seats. A short time later, we were on our way.

On the way to Windsor Castle, we passed by the house made famous in the chimney-sweeping scene from Mary Poppins, which our tour guide pointed out. We got to Windsor and found it a nice little town. After our tour guide got into a bit of an argument with another guide in Italian, we got our tickets and made our way in. Our guide gave us a brief overview and instructions on when to report back to the coach. Windsor Castle is very much like Buckingham Palace. We did the tour of the State Rooms, which look very much like the State Rooms over there. Queen Mary's Dolls' House was cool...this is a huge dollhouse with everything in it working properly...it even has working plumbing! Very cool. After touring those sites, we walked over and saw where Henry VIII is buried in the Cathedral and then watched the beginning of the Changing of the Guard, which was pretty cool. We then left the Castle, picked up a snack, Cin went shopping in an oil and vinegar shop they had, and then we boarded the bus to head off to our next destination.

And that destination was ... lunch. We preordered food on the coach and then it was ready when we got to The Bell, which is a pub near Stonehenge. It was pretty good food. I had roasted pork, which is unusual for me but I was having stomach issues and it seemed safest, and Cin had vegetable lasagna, which she seemed to like. I order a lager while filling out the form on the bus and was disappointed it was a Fosters, but it was very cold and good so that is OK. I did buy a second pint while there, this time a London Pride ale, which was good but not nearly as cold. We also started chatting with the couple sitting in front of us on the bus (we sat with them at lunch) and found they are also from the Baltimore, Maryland, area. We figured we would run into at least one person from our neck of the woods while over here, so here it was. They were very nice and were only on their second day in London, so we provided them a rundown on what we had done (that we could remember) and what we recommended. They were also planning to do Paris for a couple days, so we helped out there too, as best we could. After lunch, we were off to Stonehenge.

I really wanted to "feel" something at Stonehenge. I have heard plenty of stories about how people get weird sensations, have religious experiences, and similar things, while visiting. I didn't feel anything. It was a very impressive monument and the configuration was very unique. The properties of how it is organized lead to the conclusion that Stonehenge is a calendar and I think that is very possible. But it is amazing to see and we both enjoyed that opportunity very much. It would have been nice to bring a lunch and sit there for a while, taking it all in and trying to see what it meant when you spent some time on the site. But the tour approach did not allow for that, having only forty minutes on the site. We got some good pictures, hit up the loo, and got back on the bus.

Next stop, Bath. This is now a fairly small UK town, with shops and (a limited supply of) pubs. It is, however, the discharge area for heated water that has collected over many thousands of years and is where the Romans built an elaborate set of public baths, where folks could sit in the heated water, drink it, and so on. The concept is really similar to a modern spa. We wandering around the town a bit and then hit up the tour, which had a very funny and very cool introduction by a chap dressed up as a Roman solider, who acted every bit the part. We saw a lot of what had been uncovered in the area and saw the water flowing thru the system that was still in use. We ended the tour at The Pump Room (TripAdvisor page is here), which is a restaurant next door that serves a glass of the water for 50p. We split a glass and it tasted pretty good, honestly. We then got back on the bus and enjoyed the 2.5 hour trip back to London, where we said goodbye to our Baltimore friends, got on the Tube, and went back to the hotel. We stopped off for dinner at a modern Italian place on The Strand called Zizzi (webpage is here and TripAdvisor page is here), which was pretty good (this restaurant also apparently has an odd history). My body was craving carbs (I think that was what we causing my stomach issues earlier that lasted thru most of the day) and the pizza I got here was really good, as was Cin's dinner of pasta and salad. We went back to the hotel, relaxed a bit, and then hit up the bed, ready for our race the next day, an aquathlon (swim/run race, think a triathlon without the bike).

This was the first organized, bus, tour that Cin and I have ever done. There are some real positives and some real negatives. The positives are that we got to see three really interesting places that were quite a bit outside of London, all in one day. Should we tried to do this ourselves, we would have needed to rent a car and would have seen only one or two of them, with a high price due to the car rental. The tour guide was very friendly and very knowledgeable. The downside is that we did not get enough time at the sites. Windsor Castle was probably enough time, as much of that castle was not open to the public, but we could have taken hours more at Stonehenge and Bath. But, this was a really good way to see the sights and then decide what you want to do more of later (very wide but not very deep). For example, we learned that the next time we come back to this area, we want to spent a few hours at Stonehenge. Without the tour, we would not have been able to determine that. So, for an overview, this is a good idea, just do not expect a huge amount of time at any of the sights, just enough to see it and move on. For the record, we used Premium Tours and found the guide, the bus driver, and coach itself, and pretty much everything else about the tour, very well done. If you are going to do a bus tour leaving from London to see English sites, this is a good company to do with.

13 August 2009 - Paris, France

We got up in time to get our free breakfast at the hotel (this is a perk of my Hilton HHonors status and would have cost 33euro per person without it), which was awesome. They had an amazing spread that was delicious...we ate a lot. We then went back to the room, showered, and got ready for our second, and last, day in Paris. We checked out and stored out baggage with the hotel, as even the day bags were quite heavy. We then went to the Louvre, which was fun. When we got out of the Metro, there were directions for tickets, which led to a long line. Cin got in the line and I went exploring. Sure enough, you do not need to wait in the line as it appears. One level up from the end of the Metro stop, there is an automated ticket machine that had no line. I bought tickets, pulled Cin out of line, and we went into the museum.

When you enter, you pass thru security and then hit the main lobby, which is right underneath the I. M. Pei designed pyramid. You can buy tickets there, with all the counters having less lines than the outside one. So, the lesson here is, do not buy tickets right when you get off the Metro. We entered the museum and walked down the Grand Gallery, saw the Mona Lisa, and then hiked over to see the Venus de Milo. Cool stuff. We then found the basement for the Medieval Louvre exhibit, where you see the castle walls that are under the museum. This is a really good part that many people miss...go see it! They also have a temporary exhibit here that is a photo essay of the Louvre during WWII and how the artworks were evacuated, less they be destroyed. Very cool.

We left the Louvre and headed back to St Germain-des-Prés. We found Les Deux Magots (webpage is here, Wikipedia article is here, and TripAdvisor page is here), which is a famous cafe that is right around where we stayed the first time we were in Paris. The chocolate here, which is melted pure chocolate, is amazing and is one of the key reasons we chose to come back to Paris for this brief stay. We ordered a carafe, which was enough for three cups, Cin got a cheese sandwich, and I got a beer. All was really good and the chocolate was as amazing as I remember it. If you're in Paris, even for a day, go here and get some. The rest of the menu is also good and the service very good. Afterward, we secured some additional Metro tickets (word of advice...not every Metro station has a ticketing machine that accepts paper money) and back to the hotel. We got our bags, freshened up a bit, picked up some ice for Cin's water bottle (very much needed as the weather is hot!), and headed back up the Metro to the train station, Gare de Nord. The Hilton Arc de Triomphe is a really good hotel. The service is unmatched, the hotel beautiful, and the rooms very comfortable. This is one of the finest hotels we have ever stayed at. There was also a collection of very fancy (and expensive!) cars, belonging to guests, outside, including a gold Ferrari and a high-end Bentley sports car, that were awesome to see. The walk to/from the Metro is a little long, but not too bad. All-in-all, a good place to stay.

We found the departure area for international trains at Gare de Nord (following the Eurostar signs that lead upstairs) and went thru passport control and security again. This time we went thru French control, who stamped us out, and the UK control, which stamped us in. We then went to the waiting area, where I got some chocolate ice cream, waited a bit, and got on our train. We ended up being the only two in a four seater (two seats on each side of a table), so that gave us a good amount of space. Off to London and our third and final hotel for the trip, the Waldorf London.

The train ride back was very smooth and relaxing. We picked up the Tube and headed to out new hotel. The Waldorf London (webpage is here and TripAdvisor page is here) is, very possibly, the nicest hotel we have ever stayed at (and we have stayed at some really swanky hotels!) We have an Executive Room, which is a result of our Hilton HHonors status again (very nice!). The room is beautiful, with a comfortable king bed, a heated towel rack, a leather couch, and many other very cool things. The do-not-disturb signal is not a hanging sign but a light controlled via switch. They also have normal UK 220V electrical outlets, standard European 220V outlets, and some US 110V outlets (sweet!). We have access to the Executive Lounge, which has free breakfast (many of the same items from the place in Paris, just less), newspapers and magazines, and wine/snacks in the evening. Very posh. We cleaned up and then had dinner at a small Italian place nearby that was decent, but nothing amazing. This hotel is located on Aldwych, which is right in the center of the theater district, so all of the restaurants stay open late for post-show crowds. After that meal, we headed to bed since we had to get up early for tomorrow's adventure, a tour of Windsor Castle, Stonehenge, and Bath.

12 August 2009 - Paris, France

We got up really early (5am, which is 12m EDT...ugh) and checked out of our hotel. The Holiday Inn Express Limehouse was pretty good to us. The hotel itself is fairly new and the rooms are comfortable, if a big sparse. The shower was really good. The location is mixed, as it is not really near anything else but it is close to the DLR stop (once you figure out how to get from one to the other) which puts you near central London and the Docklands area without much hassle. So, if you do not mind being a little out of the way for your home base in exploring London, you should be good with this hotel. The free breakfast is also more than serviceable.

Anyway, we checked out with no problems and picked up the DLR to the Tube to the Kings Cross Saint Pancras station. We went to Kings Cross, which handles domestic trains and found Platform 9 3/4 from the Harry Potter books and movies (it is somewhat undramatic, but still kinda neat) and then crossed back to Saint Pancras for our train to Paris. We found the ticketing office and secured our tickets, with very much an airport feel (check passports, etc). We then found some breakfast (I had a basic roll thing and Cin had a mozzarella and avocado sandwich that was really good). We then checked in, again with an airport feel. We had to go thru security with metal detectors and bag X-rays and then thru French passport control, where they examined our documents and stamped us into France. Cool stuff. We then got some Euros out of an ATM, bought some water for our journey, and got on the train for Paris.

I did not even realize it when we went thru the Chunnel. It is not well marked and the inside looks just like any other tunnel, dark. Very undramatic. Oh well. We traveled thru rural France and then into Paris. A cool thing is that they sell Paris Metro tickets (one ticket = one ride and you can buy them in packs of ten) on the train. That and normal food and drinks, which proved useful. I got a good organic apple juice and marveled at those drinking beer and wine at 8am...even I don't drink that early. :)

We got to Paris and walked right out of the train platform with no further border control...doing it all at the origin saved a lot of time and hassle. We picked up the Metro out of the Gare du Nord station and got to our hotel, the Hilton Arc de Triomphe (webpage is here and TripAdvisor page is here), in short order. Being 11am or so, I was hoping we could check in since we both were exhausted from a late night and a very early wakeup but I did not have too much confidence. But the room was ready and it was nice, just as we remembered the hotel from our previous visit. We seem to tend to use this hotel as our one-night-in-Paris hotel, staying here before, also for one night, on our journey from Nice back to the US thru Paris. We got to our room and then decided to take a nap, as we did not feel we could do too well in the city without one. We slept for one hour, showered, and then headed out.

First stop...Champs-Élysées. We found a street-side brasserie, the Montecristo Cafe (TripAdvisor page is here), and ate there, me getting pizza and Cin pasta with salmon. Mine was OK but not great and Cin enjoyed her pasta but found the salmon not very good and did not eat much of it. The service was also very poor and the server pretty clearly attempted to short me 10euro on the change. Oh well. We then did some shopping along the street and then got back on the Metro to the Eiffel Tower. We waited in line for a long time and ended up climbing the stairs to the main levels. This was a good climb of about 600 stairs up. It was a good workout and very cool to do (the last time we visited, we bought tickets for the lift). We then bought tickets for the lift to the top (no climbing allowed) and it was very crowded. The line for the lift to get down was about the same size as to get up and it was quite long but it did move fast. So, pretty cool. The view was really good and we enjoyed ourselves very much. We also looked at the menu for the Jules Verne Restaurant, which is on the platforms of the tower and remembered why we choose not to eat there before, with its limited menu (that includes fresh pigeon, for some reason). Oh well. We then walked down. This was a good visit and we enjoyed our tower experience very much.

We then picked up the Metro and traveled to St Germain-des-Prés. We found a place we ate dinner at the last time we were in Paris, Le Petite Zinc (webpage is here and TripAdvisor page is here), and got a table there. They did not have any outside tables so we got an inside one since we remembered it being fantastic. We got the prix fixe menu, where we both started with a salad (goat cheese & vegetables for Cin and mixed greens with vegetables for me) and a main course (beer tartar for me and chicken for Cin), all of which were wonderful. We split a bottle of sweet white wine and splurged on a bottle of still water (the wine was cold but not the water). All was wonderful and the service was good as well. This place is a little expensive, but well worth it for a good, gourmet, meal. Afterward, we bought a crepe Nutella from a street-side vendor, which was amazing. We then headed back to the hotel, cleaned up a bit, and went to bed (after watching an episode of Family Guy that UK Channel Five had on :)).

11 August 2009 - London, England

We got up pretty late and hit up the end of the free breakfast in the hotel. We then walked over to the DLR and took it over to Canary Wharf. This is a somewhat new area in the Docklands, which is somewhat outside of central London. Basically, the government passed a law restricting the building of skyscrapers in central London, so the business community moved to an outside part and built a huge assortment of fancy buildings there. There are many large, tall, glass buildings and it is quite a site to see. The tallest, One Canada Square, was used as the base of Torchwood One in the Series Two finale of Doctor Who. Very cool.

We wandered around for a while and then hit up Jamie's Italian (webpage is here and TripAdvisor page (forum only as it is so new) is here) for lunch. This is a brand new restaurant opened by Jamie Oliver, one of the UK's best known chefs and a host of some shows on the Food Network. The food was amazingly good. I had what was probably the best mozzarella and tomato salad I have ever had and some really good pasta. Cin really enjoyed her food too. I had two different Italian beers, Castello and Messina, both of which were very good. Really cool place.

After lunch, we got back on the DLR and took it to Greenwich. We walked thru the very cool old-school town and then headed up to the Royal Observatory Greenwich. We straddled the Prime Meridian and saw some excellent exhibits about timekeeping and position measurement, which I loved. Very cool place and highly recommended for anyone with an interest in navigation or timekeeping. We picked up some ice cream on the way back to the DLR and then headed back to the hotel. We then packed up all of our stuff, except for an overnight bag, and then headed back into London via DLR.

We took the DLR and Tube to the location of our second hotel in London. We dropped it off as they were going to hold our luggage for us while we spent the following two days in France. No issues with the drop off. We then headed down to the Sherlock Holmes Pub (webpage is here and TripAdvisor page is here), where we met up with Anne and Tyler. Anne grew up with Cin back in the States and she is in London studying the business side of art, which sounded really cool. The four of us had a number of pints and food over the following hours and had a great time catching up. I had a number of pints of Sherlock Holmes Ale, which is pretty hoppy and quite good, and also a pint of Abbot Ale, which is served colder and is also very good. Note that this place advertises a good menu but that menu is only available upstairs in the proper restaurant...the pub downstairs has a limited, and rather lame, menu.

After our visit, we headed back to the Tube, the DLR, and then the hotel. We cleaned up our room, relaxed a bit, and then went to sleep. Tomorrow is a early wakeup and off to Paris!

10 August 2009 - Oxford, England

We woke up and I went down to the lobby to pick up some breakfast for Cin so she could sleep in a little longer. Once we ate and showered, we took the DLR and Tube to Paddington Station and got our tickets for a train ride to today's destination, Oxford. One short and uneventful trip later and we were there.

We walked around central Oxford for a while and found what looked to be a decent location for lunch, The Grapes, a small pub. The food and drinks were quite good. I had a burger and Cin a salad and red pepper risotto; I had two pints of Greene King IPA (pretty good but not as hoppy as I would expect from an IPA) and Cin had a pint of Strongbow. This place has a good menu and they have a Monday thru Friday deal with two food entrees for 9GBP that is really good.

After lunch, we headed down to Christ Church College (webpage is here and Wikipedia article is here), one of Oxford's largest colleges. This is also the location where many of the scenes from the Harry Potter movies were filmed. We saw the great hall and the large, impressive, staircase leading up to it, along with many large hallways, some impressive green areas known as quadrangles, and more. This was a really cool visit and really makes you see how university in UK (well, at Oxford anyway) is much different than in the US. After our visit, we wandered around for a while and then attempted to find a pub that was recommended to us. We found the street it was on but it looked like a big hike to get there thru some narrow roads, so we bailed and just caught the train back to London.

After the ride, which was much busier than the morning's, we did a bit of shopping at the Paddington Bear shop and then walked around near Paddington Station to find a place to eat dinner. We settled on Sawyers Arms (TripAdvisor page is here), which had table service on the upper level. We sat down and had a fairly small dinner, salads for each of us and a shared order of garlic bread. The salads were pretty good and the bread was fantastic. I had a pint of John Smith's, which is a very smooth and dark ale that is quite good. After our dinner, we got back on the Tube and headed back to the hotel. Since we have no more Torchwood to watch, we put some TV on and just relaxed. Good day.

9 August 2009 - London, England

Today was a little off schedule as Cin took ill at breakfast. We, therefore, spent all of the morning and some of the afternoon sleeping (and reading, for me) in the room. We think this may have had something to do with how hot our room was. When we checked in, it was holding at 20 degrees C (68 degrees F) but had been up to 25 degrees C (77 degrees F) and would not get colder. So, after we had rested up, we moved rooms within the hotel to a much cooler room. Nice. Cin felt better by the early afternoon, so we decided to head out.

We went to the Tower of London (webpage is here and Wikipedia article is here) and went in. We waited a bit for a Yeoman Warder to begin the provided tour. This was cool...the Warders are carefully selected individuals that have to have a minimum of 22 years of British military service before they can apply for this posting. The Tower of London is an active palace and the Warders are officially in charge of protecting the Crown Jewels, which are located here. We got a tour of the place from our Warder and then explored on our own, seeing the chapel Anne Boleyn is buried, the Crown Jewels themselves (amazing!), and writings on the walls made by folks held as prisioners in the Tower. Very cool place that we could spent hours at. Cool stuff!

After our Tower of London visit, we walked over to the nearby Tower Bridge and walked across. This was most impressive and a real engineering marvel. Plus, they are currently cleaning and repainting one side of the bridge; the other side, which is already completed, looks awesome. After we crossed over and took some good photos, we walked down to the Thames and walked towards the London Bridge Tube station. We passed a free theater performance of Jason and the Argonauts, which looked pretty good, and then got a snack at a large mall-like complex. On the Tube for us and we then got off at Hyde Point Corner to seek out our dinner location, the Hard Rock Cafe.

We got in line for a table and after the 20 minute wait to get to the front, we got a pager and a 1.5 hour wait. Ugh. Cin went over to the shop and I headed up to the bar. There were about three chairs and five stools and some limited standing room. I got a pint of Boddingtons and stood around watching the very talented bartender do his thing. Cin then joined me and we waited for remaining time (the 1.5 hour estimate was right on). I ended up having a total of four pints of Boddingtons (very good...and even better on draft in England!) and Cin some Coke. We finally got seated and had dinner. I had ribs and Cin had a veggie burger, both of which were pretty good. I don't know if it was worth that wait, but it was good.

After dinner, we took the Tube and DLR back to the hotel and watched the last episode of series three of Torchwood. I don't know how they can continue this show after that ending, but it was really, really, good TV. Torchwood started off pretty slow in series one, but by the middle of series two, it got really good. Series three continues that trend and I highly recommend it. We finished that and off to bed!

8 August 2009 - London, England

We got up at a decent hour, got some breakfast at the hotel, and rode to DLR to the Tower Gateway station. We walked over to the Tower Hill Tube station but it was closed. It seems that in addition to the announced closure of the Circle Line, the District Line was closed in central/eastern London, so we did not have much in the way of Tube access. We got directions as to which bus to take to get us to our destination, Buckingham Palace, and rode on two buses, one on top and one on the first level. Pretty cool. We ended up getting off the bus a little early as traffic was a nightmare and walked the rest of the way to the Palace. We found a spot along the gate to watch the Changing of the Guard, but we then learned that it only takes place every other day, and today was not one of those days. We did see the two sentries that were on duty do some marching and patrolling and that was pretty cool. We also saw a contingent of guards arrive via horseback, but did not really see much of them or what they did.

We then waited in line for an hour or so to buy tickets to visit the Palace and then went in. The State Rooms that are included as part of the tour were all very cool to see. Lots of history there and lots of rooms with many different functions. What stood out for me is how small and somewhat-none-impressive the thrones are. As these are really ceremonial anyway, I guess that makes some sense, but it was surprising to me. We spent a little more than an hour inside. This was a pretty cool tour and is conducted via the audio headsets where you type in numbers based on where you are and the guide explains it...much the same as Westminster Abbey.

After the tour, we headed back to the Parliament area and stopped off for lunch at a small Italian place we found called Bon Gusto. I got a pizza and Cin a salad and pasta with meat sauce. Both were pretty good and the price was decent...not bad for a quick and tasty lunch. We then walked back and came across the WWII Cabinet War Rooms (webpage is here and TripAdvisor page is here). This was something I have been looking forward to seeing so we bought our tickets, got our audioguides again, and went around. It was really cool to be down where all of the British military leadership worked during the war and gave a really good sense for what life was like for them back then. The attached, and included in the admission, Churchill Museum is also pretty good and has some good exhibits with bits of his life. All-in-all, a good way to spent two hours or so. We left the museum, saw the Horse Guards who stand at attention while folks take pictures of them all the time, and then found Downing Street, where the Prime Minister has his offices. We road is blocked off and you cannot see the famous door of 10 Downing Street, but it was neat to see anyway.

We then tried to get on the Tube but were hit with the weekend shutdowns again. The goal was to make it to Shakespeare's Globe Theater. After having some difficulty finding the correct bus stop, we decided to walk and headed out down the River Thames. There were a TON of people walking around the Parliament area. While walking down the river, we saw multiple boats converted into restaurants, bars, and nightclubs. Interesting. We eventually found a bus stop that would let us pick up a route that would get us close to our destination, so we hoped on. When we got off, we headed down a small street to get to the Globe and found a blue post that used to have a police telephone on it, much like the TARDIS-like call boxes. This post was even labeled Police Public Call Post. Sweet.

Moving on a little further, we found an Irish bar that looked to be part of the same group as the one we went to while in Dublin a few years back, O'Neill's. We hoped in for a pint and I got a Grolsch (hard to find on draft in the US) and Cin had a Strongbow. We checked out the menu and found many good deals on a lot of really good looking food. We departed, crossed the Thames, and found the Globe. While this theater stands on the same location at the original, it has been redone and the box office/shop/toilet building is new and modern. We purchased tickets for Troilus and Cressida for the following Sunday, which was the earliest show we could get, and close to our departure date!

After purchasing tickets, we walked over to the Millennium Bridge and walked back over the Thames. We saw a cool boat in the river with a big banner on it that read "I Eat Rubbish" - the boat collects trash from the river, cleaning it up a big. Very cool.

We then walked back to O'Neill's to take advantage of the good-and-cheap menu. I had a sirloin steak with chips and Cin had salmon skewers, both of which were very good. We also split some cheesy garlic bread; I had two pints of Guinness Red and Cin had another pint of Strongbow. The Guinness was poured expertly, with a shamrock appearing in the head due to the craft of the bartenders (I had two pints, one from each of the bartenders, and both had this)...very cool. This was my first experience with Guinness Red and I found it very good..very smooth and easy to drink. Even Cin liked it a bit.

After dinner, we walked back to the Bank Tube station and picked up the DLR back to the hotel. We got back, planned out the following days, and then watched two episodes of series three of Torchwood. This show has gotten so much better than series one...and I cannot wait to watch the last episode. After that, off the bed!

7 August 2009 - London, England

Today we got up at 8.30a and made it down to the free breakfast. This was quite good, with a selection of rolls, pastries, toast, yogurt, cheese, and other things. We ate a good amount and then headed into the city on the DLR. We got off at Westminster and headed to the Houses of Parliament, where we bought tickets and went on the guided tour. This tour lasted a little over 75 minutes and was really, really, good. We learned a good deal about the British system of government and about the building where almost all of the work is done. Top notch.


After the tour, we headed across the street from Parliament to Saint Stephens Tavern, where we had lunch. I had a pint of Badger ale and Cin had a Blackthorn cider; both of which were quite delicious. I had some chicken wings (very good) and Cin had a Cobb salad, and then we split an order of "messy" garlic bread that was quite good. I then got a second pint, this time of Lemony Cricket, another Badger-labeled ale that tasted similar to the previous one but with a bit of lemon flavor to it. After lunch, we walked up to Westminster Abbey (webpage is here and Wikipedia article is here) and did the tour there. This one was a self-run tour with audio headsets and was very long and involved. We learned a lot about the Abbey and the many people buried there (Mary Queen of Scots, Isaac Newton, and Sir Charles Darwin stand out the most to me). This tour - and the Parliament one - are good values for the money!


After the Abbey, we hit up the Tube to take us to Earl's Court Station. Outside this station is the only current blue Police Public Call Box in London. As big fans of Doctor Who, we simply had to seek out the TARDIS in all of its glory. After a brief overlook, we found it. And it was fabulous...I was amazed at how cool it was to simply stand on the street beside a blue Police Box. Very cool stuff. We took some photos and then went to the local McDonald's so Cin could try the mozzarella sticks they offer here...not bad at all.

Here's us in front of the TARDIS...


The top looks a little different; chameleon circuit working again?


Dedication/construction plaque...


We then headed back to the Tube and got off at Monument station. We walked past another bar with hundreds of suit-clad folks outside drinking and then walked across London Bridge. We were in search of a restaurant that our guidebook pointed out on top of a local market there, but could not find it. We did see huge blocks of cheese there that were very impressive. We then found The Thameside Inn in that area and decided to eat dinner there. We opted for the table service area (as oppose to the order at the bar and sit down area that we were just getting used to). I had a chicken sandwich with some awesome fries/chips and Cin had some roasted tomato risotto that she loved. I had a HoneyDew organic ale that was pretty good and Cin had a Magners cider, both of which were really good. After dinner, we headed back to the hotel via Tube and DLR and relaxed our feet, which we both needed.

After some relaxing and watching the second episode of Torchwood series three, we headed to the hotel pub for some drinks and to earn a free Internet session. We got some drinks but had an issue hitting the minimum required bill with our two rounds of drinks spread over two bills. The hotel manager fixed this, but that is a weird situation. If the hotel staff is going to close out the bill after each round, they need to make allowances for those that want to take advantage of the offer they post. Oh well, it is cleared up now and we know to hit the 7GBP criteria on one bill to minimize issues. Off from the pub and up to the room for some relaxing and sleeping. Much more to see starting tomorrow!

6 August 2009 - London, England

We did not set an alarm since we were both really tired when we went to bed, but hoped to be up before the 10am breakfast cut-off. We ended up getting out of bed around 12.30pm. Oh well...that is 7.30am EDT, so that really was not too bad. We walked to the DLR station, which is MUCH easier to find in the daytime, and took the train to Bank, which is a really big Tube station with lots of connections. We bought 7-day Travelcards (unlimited travel on the Tube, DLR, and buses), which come on Oyster (stored-value) cards that are pretty cool. We then headed to the Leadenhall Market (webpage is here and Wikipedia description is here), which is a big outdoor, but enclosed, market with lots of restaurants and shops. This is also where they filmed the Diagon Alley scenes in the Harry Potter movies...cool. The two big pubs we walked past had hundreds of suit-clad folks standing outside drinking pints...really cool. We settled on a place called Pizza Express (webpage for the chain is here and TripAdvisor page is here), which had gourmet pizzas and pastas. I got a basic pizza and Cin got a pesto chicken pasta, both of where were really good.

Here's Leadenhall Market.


After lunch, we walked back to the Bank station and took the Tube down to the station near the Eye of London, which is the really big ferris wheel on the bank of the River Thames. We signed up for tickets and waited about 45 minutes in the queue for the ride. It was really cool. We saw many sights and made use of an identification guide we purchased for 3GBP that proved to be a very good investment. This ride gave us a good grounding in where things were and was very helpful.


And here is us in the capsule looking out over the city.


After the ride, we went to Harrod's, the very huge shopping department store. We walked around for an hour or so and viewed their many diverse departments, ranging from Pet World to a gourmet market with any kinds of food you could want to a fancy art gallery. We had a snack at the Chocolate Bar, where I got a milk chocolate shake and Cin got a chocolate mousse pastry thing that was delicious A good snack, all around.

After a good long time at Harrod's (webpage is here and Wikipedia description is here), we ran thru the rain back to the Tube and got off at Bank again, trying to head to a tavern we saw earlier, Simpson's Tavern. It, however, proved to be only open for midday and was closed. We wandered around in the alleys for a bit and found The Counting House (TripAdvisor page is here), which was an super crowded pub that is a converted old bank. We ordered some beers, a Guinness for me and a Kronenbourg for Cin and then asked about food service. We have found that at most of the pubs here, all of the tables are open seating and you can drink there or order food and eat it there. If you want food, you order at the bar and tell them where you are sitting and they bring it to you. We ordered and found a table, which was a remarkable accomplishment due to the crowd. I got a steak burger, that proved to be more of a salisbury steak or meatloaf than a burger and was only OK, and Cin got vegetarian bangers and mash, which she loved. I then got a London Pride pint, which was a good, crisp, ale. The beer here is somewhat warmer than in the US when you get it on draft...this takes a little getting used to. All-in-all, this place was very cool and worth a stop...if you can find room within.

After eating and drinking, we went back to the Bank Tube station, with much less rain coming down, and headed back to the hotel on the DLR. We had to pick up a plug converter at the hotel's vending machine as the one I brought did not work (once we got here, I remembered that I lent this to my sister a while back and it came back not working...not cool). We went to our room and watched some Torchwood (IMDB page is here) on DVD. We finished out series two back home and saved the series three five-episode miniseries (Children of Earth - Wikipedia article is here) for this trip. We watched the first episode and then got ready for bed, pledging to get up in time for the breakfast tomorrow morning.

5 August 2009 - London, England

We got up nice and early, 4am, and our friend DrMo picked us up and took us up to the airport. We had no issues checking in, despite it being an international flight with a domestic connection. We got Auntie Ann's pretzels for breakfast (there was not too much available this early) and got on our flight to Newark's Liberty International Airport a little late. We made up the time easily and then spent a long time in Newark, which has a really nice international terminal. Unfortunately, the place that would have pizza did not have any since it was so early. Instead, Cin and I split a tomato caprese sandwich, which was decent. We boarded but then spent a lot of time on the taxiway, eventually leaving Newark about one hour late.

The eight hour trip over was not bad. Each seat had an individual TV, so you could watch movies & TV show episodes, play games, or listen to music. I chose to watch Star Trek (IMDB page is here), which totally holds up to the amazing review I gave it when I first saw it upon a second viewing. Very cool. I then watched some of Jurassic Park (IMDB is here) and then played a bunch of games of Sudoku. This passed the time quite quickly. Eight hours later and we touched down at London Heathrow Airport. We got off the plane, went thru passport control with a short wait and no issues, got out luggage, and found the Tube (London Underground - the subway) station.

We bought one-day tickets (called Travelcards) and picked up a train into town. We rode the train and talked to a fellow traveler that helped us out at the station buying tickets for a while. We transferred lines and ended up at Tower Hill station. We then left the station and walked over the brief hike to the Tower Gateway DLR (Docklands Light Railway) station. This is part of the Travel For London mass-transit station and the one-day Travelcards we bought afforded us passage on both systems, Tube and DLR. We took the DLR train two stops to the Limehouse station, which our hotel is near. We found both the Tube and the DLR to be very comfortable, easy-to-use, and efficient...very nice. Note that the London mass-transit system is extensive; plan your trip ahead of time.

We had been told that we could see our hotel, the Holiday Inn Express Limehouse (the hotel webpage is here and the TripAdvisor page is here), from the DLR station. This proved to not be the case in the middle of the night (it was about midnight when we got off the DLR train). We wandered around for a little while and then Cin asked some construction workers for directions, which they provided. We went around in circles some more and eventually ended up back near them again, after about thirty minutes. They tried again to direct us and one decided to walk us over, in a direction I did not figure out from what he had said. He got us to where we could see the hotel and all was well at that point. Many thanks to him! It would have taken us quite some more time to find it and he helped us out majorly. Limehouse is not a bad neighborhood, but it is not the best place to be walking around in the middle of the night, carrying luggage and not knowing where you are going. :)

We checked in with no issues, found our room acceptable but small (decent size for a European room) and then headed back to the lobby to visit the bar, which actually stays open until 2am. I got a Kronenbourg and Cin a Strongbow, both of which taste much better out here. We also like how when you spent 7GBP in the bar, you get a certificate for 1 hour of Internet access (you need to pay for it at this place). So, Cin and I worked out a great deal where I drink more so she can use the Internet. Sweet. After that, we headed back up and hit the bed. A long day of travel, indeed!

28 May 2009 - Orlando, Florida

We got up nice and late. The plan was to spend Thursday in the hotel, enjoying all of the nice things we paid for, and then to hit up one of the Disney parks on Friday before we needed to leave for the other side of Orlando for the wedding. We picked up some snacks/breakfast at the Marketplace in the hotel and then headed out to the pool. The pool at the Beach Club Resort was quite nice, consisting of multiple physical pools, some with sinking sand at the bottom, one with a lazy river, and a waterslide. The slide was very fun to ride and I enjoyed it very much. There was also a huge number of ducks in the pool, including a family with lots of little ducks. Very cool. We ate lunch by the pool after running inside for a brief period to avoid a nasty downpour and relaxed most of the day away by the pool. Nice points about it also included the towel service and the roaming waitresses who brought back food and drinks, including a number of good draft beers. A perfect way to relax for a day.

We got showered off and cleaned up for our dinner. Since the wedding we were going to was on Cin's birthday, we had to schedule our celebration of that day at other times and tonight was her birthday dinner. We went to Citricos in the Grand Floridian Resort (restaurant's webpage is here and TripAdvisor page is here and the hotel's webpage is here and TripAdvisor page is here). The Grand Floridian hotel is Disneyworld's most expensive and fanciest hotel and it truly shows it. It is a grand resort in every sense of the word (we plan to stay here when we return in January for the Disney Marathon and it is going to cost a small fortune!). The restaurant was amazing. We had really good first courses (romaine lettuce with feta and peppers for me and a goat cheese truffle salad for Cin), excellent main courses (braised short rib for me and chicken with polenta for Cin), and excellent drinks. We were not going to get dessert but saw this amazing looking lemon cheesecake with a big curvy cracker in it (about a foot high!) and decided we had to get that, so we did. It was amazingly good too. The service was fantastic and we had a wonderful time. We have been to many very good (and very expensive!) restaurants but this one was fantastic. Highly recommend for a good and romantic high-end meal.

After the dinner, we headed back to the Magic Kingdom on the Monorail to get the bus back to our hotel (to get from one resort to another within Disneyworld, you need to take some method of transportation to a park and then another to the other resort) and got caught in a horrible downpour trying to get to the bus station outside of Magic Kingdom. Oh well. :) Our original plan was to then go to Downtown Disney but it was raining so we passed on that. Cin went to the fitness room within the hotel and I just relaxed and watched some television and read my current book (The Diamond Age by Neal Stephenson - very good!). We relaxed a bit more and then went to bed, eager to hit up the park the next day!

27 May 2009 - Orlando, Florida

Cin and I drove to the airport after work today to head down to Orlando for the wedding of two good friends of ours. Since this is a decent length trip, we decided to leave early (the wedding is on Saturday) and get some mini-vacation time in. We got to BWI with no issues and sat down for dinner at the airport's version of The Greene Turtle bar. After some beers and food, we eventually headed out on our AirTran flight to Orlando, about thirty minutes late. No issues on the flight down and we picked up our rental car from Alamo just fine. We drove out with no traffic and found our way to our hotel for the next two nights, Disney's Beach Club Resort (webpage is here and TripAdvisor page is here). This is one tier up from the Coronado Springs Resort we stayed at last summer for our Disney vacation and it shows; this place is really cool.

We checked into our room and found it to be very nice and fairly large with a nice little garden balcony and a big, comfortable, king-size bed. After checking in, we walked over to the Disney Boardwalk area, where most things were closed. They had a dance club and a dueling piano bar, but it was already 10.45p and we just wanted some food. We found the ESPNZone bar and got some snacks while watching one of the NBA playoff games. After that, we walked back to our room and went to sleep. Long day and we needed the sleep.

10 April 2009 - Albuquerque, New Mexico

We got to the airport with no issues, including a stop in the rain at Starbucks to get some iced teas. When we got there, I wanted to stop at the Northwest (our carrier for the day) to reprint out boarding passes since the website had printed one boarding pass for both flights on the same document. Since I had never seen this before, I wanted to make sure all was well. We walked up to the Northwest area and saw six or so self check-in kiosks that were all empty and a line of fifteen people or so waiting for something. As the kiosks were all empty, I walked up to one and reprinted our boarding passes. About halfway through, some guy near the front of the line of people yelled out that we were cutting in front of all the people in line. I then told him that I assumed they were waiting for a person as all of the kiosks were vacant and apologized if I misjudged. He then yelled that someone told him to wait there. At that point, I pointed to all of the kiosks and told him they were all open and asked why he was not using them. If he was going to wait in line, why did he have an issue with me using the vacant terminal? He didn't really say anything. The lady in line behind him then said something about her thinking I was right and then the line of all the people behind this guy spread out to all of the kiosks and formed lines of two people or so and all of these people started checking in. Oh, the wisdom of crowds! Especially crowds that queue up behind someone who (1) was an idiot, (2) was a jerk, and (3) had apparently never been in an airport before and had no idea how check-in works in the modern world. Geez.

Anyway, the one boarding pass for multiple legs of one journey turned out to be correct. How odd that this is the first time I have seen this, as it is such a good idea.

We headed thru security and noticed that one family, the family of the guy who had made a fuss over nothing at the check-in counter, was having all of their bags searched and the TSA folks were pulling out full tubes of toothpaste and other prohibited items. The guy was looking quite confused, especially when he was about five feet away from the sign outlining the prohibition on these items. Geez again! Anyway, Cin got breakfast and we boarded our flights to Minneapolis/Saint Paul airport. We had the aisle and middle seat in a row of three with a polite and quiet guy in the window seat. All-in-all an uneventful flight and I started reading Anathem by Neal Stephenson. More about that book later, once I get thru this amazingly complex and very challenging read.

No issues getting to Minneapolis. We found a bar where we got lunch (buffalo wings for me along with a beer) and then got our connecting flight back to Baltimore with no issues. Once at BWI, there was some delay in getting back to our car as the Airport FastPark buses were slow to get us. Once we got back, all was well and we were back home. Excellent spring break!

9 April 2009 - Albuquerque, New Mexico

We woke up on Friday morning just as David was headed out the door to work. Marie took Liam to his tutoring session and Cin and I hung out with Chloe and caught some Doctor Who repeats on the Sci-Fi channel. Once Marie and Liam got home, we packed up for a day outdoors and piled into the car Off to Subway to pick up some sandwiches for lunch and we were ready to go. We headed to the volcano area of the Petroglyph National Monument. We parked the car and then hiked up to the top of one of the three extinct volcanoes there. This was a pretty decent climb and the view from the top was wonderful. After eating our food, we all hiked down and Cin and I hiked up to the top of another volcano while Marie and the kids rested up. We saw some more cool views, some odd plants, and then headed down to meet back up with them. Back to the car and off we went. The volcanoes were really cool and well worth the trip. Some good, but short, hikes here.

From the volcanoes, we headed to the petroglyph Visitors' Center and found a good trail that would provide a view of some good glyphs and a decent hike too. When we started the trek up the trail, Liam and I read a sign saying that rattlesnakes were sometimes in the area and this freaked Chloe out. Luckily, a nice guy coming down said that he had inspected the entire area and there were no snakes there that day. Hike saved...that will teach me not to read signs. :) We did the trail in about an hour with a really cool view at the top and lots of cool petrogylphs. Liam did a good job interpreting them. After the hike down, we piled back into the car and headed back to the house. This visit was also well worth the time. The hike was decent and the view at the top amazing. The petroglyphs themselves are really cool and it is amazing they have lasted so long. Makes one wonder about the people that created these so long ago, where they lived outside with the land, where now there is a planned trail near a Visitors' Center. Progress, huh?

Once home, we cleaned up a bit and Marie ordered dinner for the kids (pizza and chicken wings from Papa John's). Their babysitter came over and the three of us headed to El Pinto (website is here and their TripAdvisor page is here), way out on Fourth Street, for dinner. I remembered this place as being very good once I saw it and it did not disappoint. David was already there and we both had a few Alien Amber beers, which I had not had before. I had cheese enchiladas again as this would be the last time I would get to eat New Mexican food for quite some time. It was delicious and their red chili sauce is the best I had on the trip - fantastic! Cin was boring and got grilled salmon, but she really seemed to enjoy it alot more than anything New Mexican would have been. This was a fantastic dinner and I highly recommend El Pinto; check out all of the pictures on the wall with all of the famous people that have eaten there.

After dinner, we went to Billy's Long Bar (PubCrawler page is here), which I had been to many times. This is a big bar with a huge draft beer selection and a really cool atmosphere. One of the coolest things about it is when you walk in after parking in the rear parking lot. When you get near the door, you can usually see men's faces through a long window in the wall an sometimes they look strained. It can be quite confusing. When you figure it out, you realize that you are looking into the men's bathroom; there are no urinals, just one big trough that everyone goes in and the window is at head-level. Really cool. We had some good beer, Marie had a sub-optimal margarita, and we all had a good time. After some time, we headed back to the house. Everyone being tired, that was the end of the day. I printed out our boarding passes for the following morning and we went off to bed. This was a really good last day in Albuquerque.

8 April 2009 - Albuquerque, New Mexico

We woke up nice and early for our first full day in Albuquerque, which means around 8am their time or 10am EDT. It is vacation after all. :) We woke up when Marie let us know that she was taking the kids to school and would be back later on. We stayed in bed for a while and then got up shortly before Marie got back. From that point, the three of us headed up to Sandia Resort and Casino, as Cin wanted to get some gambling in while we had access to a full casino, something that is not possible back in Maryland. The place was nicer than I thought, but not quite as nice as Turning Stone (website is here and previous experience is here) in upstate New York. All three of us played roulette for a little more than an hour, with me coming out $40 ahead, Cin $16 ahead, and Marie down $10 (this was her first time ever playing in a casino). We watched one guy play fairly high bets and frequently leave the table and come back with more cash. After counting, I figure he lost around $1500 in the hour or so we were there. Wow. I then promptly lost $20 of my $40 playing blackjack, but still had a really good time.

From there, we headed to Old Town Albuquerque for lunch. We ate at La Hacienda, a good New Mexican joint down there (TripAdvisor page is here). I had beef enchiladas with red chili and found them to be delicious. Cin got red chili for her lunch on the side and did not use much of it; at that point I simply drank the rest of her serving (which was fairly big), which amazed Marie. It was really good (and not super hot) red chili! We then walked around Old Town, looking at shops and the various Indian goods that were for sale on the walkways. We walked around an old church right in the main square of town and then got some iced tea and dessert (ice cream, which came in a huge cone that the three of us barely put a dent in). At this point, it was nearing the time to pick Liam up from school, so we headed back to the car and drove out to his school.

Liam goes to a charter school, which is a converted facility that used to be a strip-mall type place. It seemed really nice and all of the people there were great. We picked him up and then went to pick up Chloe. We got her from her (pre) school and then went to get some snacks for the kids as they both had gymnastics shortly thereafter. They got smoothies from a Jama Juice (I had a 1oz serving of wheatgrass juice - 1oz = the same nutrition as 2.5 pounds of vegetables!) and then we got coffees and ice teas from the Winning Coffee Company (website is here and the TripAdvisor page is here). This place was a decent local coffee place that had really good tropical-flavored iced tea. Delicious. The collection of "locals," ranging from typical college students to bikers to various hobos, was extensive and I got the feeling that some of these folks were there everyday and were likely chatting and getting along fantastically with others who would never be back here again, as if on some wandering journey. Very cool place (lots of eeePCs and MacBooks in use here, not many other laptops). Both of these locations are right near the UNM campus in Albuquerque. From there, we headed to a playground for a little while, Cin and I both rode the swings, and then we attended Chloe's and Liam's gymnastics practice which was somewhat interesting (the foam pit looks like so much fun!).

From there, we left and headed directly to dinner, at Los Cuates (webpage is here and TripAdvisor page is here). This night, I got cheese enchiladas again (notice a pattern?) and they were delicious. This place has some odd salsa that is served with their chips (It is red chili based but has something else in it that makes the flavor somewhat off and makes it very hot/spicy - some people like it but it is not for everyone. I am not a big fan and Cin hated it. The regular red chili sauce on the enchiladas was more traditional red chili and was great.). At this point, Cin was horribly sick of New Mexican food so she opted for a guacamole salad (really a pile of amazingly good guacamole and a little bit of lettuce) and a regular dinner salad for dinner. I do have to say that we have gotten guacamole at a few places out here and it is always amazingly good. It is fresh, chunky with avacado, and has few onions in it. It is so much fresher and more tasty than anything you can get on the East Coast...like all the food in Albuquerque, take advantage of it while you can!

From dinner, we headed back to the house and watched a little television before bed. We checked out Harper's Island, a new murder mystery show that was OK but not as good as I had hoped. Hopefully it will get better as it goes along (its very short planned season). We relaxed with Marie and David and the kids a bit and then went to bed, resting up for our full day with Marie and the kids (who were off from school due to the Easter/Good Friday holiday).

7 April 2009 - Albuquerque, New Mexico

Over Cin's spring break this year, we headed out to Albuquerque, New Mexico, to visit her sister and family (Marie, husband David, kids Liam and Chloe). I had been to Albuquerque many times for work in a previous job but Cin had never been there. We arrived at off-site parking (Airport FastPark) at BWI airport and took their shuttle to the terminal. They had a Baltimore Sun paper waiting for us and the ride to the terminal was pleasant and uneventful. We had already checked in for our flight online and had no bags to check, so we went thru security without any issues and found our gate. We boarded our American Airlines flight and, before I knew it, we were landing at Dallas/Fort Worth airport. Along the way we watched most of Madagascar 2: Escape 2 Africa, which was a crappy movie except the part with the really funny penguins and monkeys. Other than that, total crap.

We had a few hours at Dallas, so we walked over to the international terminal where the bigger restaurants are. On the way over, we saw a very well put together welcome home celebration at a gate for US armed forces members returning from Iraq and Afghanistan. Very well put on and looked incredible. We ate at the Reata Grill (TripAdvisor page is here), where Cin got a salad and a bowl of their chicken tortilla soup and I just had the soup. It was OK but nothing special. We then went back to our terminal, saw some birds walking around the waiting area, and then boarded our flight to Albuquerque. A short ride later and we landed and found Marie and the kids there to pick us up. A good way to start the trip.

Marie and company live in the Four Hills area of southeast Albuquerque. We got Chloe to give us a tour of the house (she is four) and did a little unpacking. By then, it was about time for dinner so we headed out. The one thing I really, really, missed about Albuquerque was the amazingly good New Mexican food, so I was really looking forward to this trip to catch up on what I've missed out on for the past three years. We headed to Sadie's (TripAdvisor page is here), which is one of the favorites. The food was just as good as I remember it and I had cheese enchiladas with red chili (New Mexico is the only state with an official question - red or green? - refering to the chili ... green chilis take some getting used to and alot of people love them, but I am still partial to the red). That and a few Corona Lights and I was in heaven. Right after we were pretty much done, David showed up, coming direct from work. He grazed on the kids' leftovers (neither one ate very much, as they filled up on chips) and then we all headed back to the house. I rode with David and we stopped at their Whole Foods to pick up some green chili bagels, since Cin had never had one, and some beer for us (we are both big beer snobs). We got back to the house and Cin and I watched LOST on TV while the kids did their homework for school (their spring break was earlier in the month)....really good episode! David and I split two good beers, both from England, and then Cin and I went to sleep, exhausted.

The Twenty Most Ridiculous Travel Complaints

Not a travel post by me, exactly, but quite funny. This is a list put together by a British newspaper of the 20 most ridiculous complaints about travel received by the travel agents they interviewed. Some are quite funny and some are quite sad. Wow.

The Twenty Most Ridiculous Travel Complaints