Good news everybody! I'm on a boat! If only t-pain were here to make a bad song about it to be aried on SNL. (See "I'm on a boat" on youtube if you don't get it.)
Bud despite the terrible pop culture references, I have to say that I am relieved.... Wait no... side note while we're still kind of on the subject of pop culture. I meant to mention this a couple of times now, but Michael Jacksons death is headline news here, so I couldn't imagine the caliber of it there. And as a final pop culture note, I actually do kind of regret the death of Billy Mays. I read an article on him in the in flight magazine on the way here and he actually seemed like a kind of cool person. Plus with him dead there will be no one to fight the terrible scientology based ads of the ShamWow guy. Such a shame.
Back to business. It's about 1:00 AM here and I'm hanging out in the lobby of the ship that we successfully boarded yesterday. This whole sleeping bussiness isn't really working out for me right about now, though I am feeling a bit drowzy, so if somewhere later in the post you see a "itiobyniu56b8" type word it's probably just me falling asleep on the keyboard.
Really catching up now. so here is the abridged version. Everything went fine getting on the boat, but now a couple of other problems seem to have arisen. If you recall that very expensive hotel room in amsterdam that I was going on about the other day, well I think that we have it for a day later than it should be, meaning that we might not have anywhere to stay the night that we get off of the ship, but such is life. The other main problem is that my camera is broken. I don't know what could have happened to it, but I went to take it out of the case for the first time in 2 days (yesterday wasn't that interesting) and it wouldn't come on. The screen shows those vertical bars of death and the lens wouldn't pop out, so I'm thinking that I need to do something about that.
Just as another quick interjection, If i'm still mixing up my z's and my y's it's because this computer of course has an american/english style keyboard and I was all used to the german one. So sorry 'bout that.
As for the rest of yesterday. I made quite a few friends here on board, though I'd have to say that the average age is about 50 years old on this boat, and I'm pretty sure that I'm the youngest one aboard. Meals have been good etc. It's a cruise, so nothing that you wouldn't expect. Though there are two things about the boat that are a little bit out of the ordinary. the first is the gigantic chess set on the roof of the boat. It's about 8' x 8' and the pieces range from about 1' to 3' high. It's a lot of fun, and I've played two games on it thus far. The second interesting thing is this one guy's accent. His name is Walter and he is sort of the head honcho on the ship. He's from holland and listening to this guy talk makes me laugh every time inside. Really nice fellow though.
As for the trip today. It was fun. I got up early after staying up late (always a good combination), and we went out. I tried to arrange a wheelchair for Oma, but she was too subborn and wouldn't let me bring it. As it turns out it probably would have been a good thing to bring, seeing as there was plenty of walking, but she finally did get through it. When we got back to the boat at the end of the day she fell asleep right away, and was so tired that she hasn't really gotten out of bed since. They even brought her dinner in the stateroom, because she was too tired to get dressed up and go down to the dining room.
Details on the trip itself: Today we went through quite a chunk of france. I can't remember for the life of me where the first place the bus took us was, but I do remeber that it is nicknamed "little venice" and that we walked a lot on that tour at faster speeds than Oma can go. I guess that older cars have something in common with older people aside from their birthdays. Neither of them go fast enough not to hold up traffic.
Interjection again! One of the funniest and simultaneously most frustrating things happened when we were in "little venice" I took a picture using Omas camera, because mine was broken when it said that the card was full. So naturally I opened up the bottom of the camera to take the SD card out to see how bit was and exchange it with the one from my camera when Oma looks over at me and starts freaking out and yells at the top of her lungs (which granted isn't very loud) "What are you doing! You can't expose that to light" I feel like if I died the moment after she said that, I would have had no regrets in life whatsoever. It was terrible and hillarious. Of course I tried to explain that digital cameras didn't work like that, but she was still flipping her lid, and saying how terrible it would be if she didn't come home with any picture's again. I eventually calmed her down, and told her that things would be alright, but still it was something.
So we went on that little trip (previous to the interjection) took a taxi back to the bus b/c oma couldn't walk aymore, and went to the next little french town. It was a sweet town in the middle of the wine country called Riequewihr. We walked some more and had some sauerkraut and Munster cheese, which they are famous for in those parts. Then we got back on the bus and went to another little town called Obernai, which is also in the wine country. We essentially just walked 10 block to a church sat down for 15 minutes and walked back. Granted, it was a beautiful church.
Interjection 3 here! Unbeknownst to me it turns out that Oma is very religious. Maybe even catholic I don't know. I could see this being a pooint of arguement between the two of us, so I'm just going to try to avoid the subject altogether.
Post interjection ending is this: we walked back to the bus, got on and drove to Srasbourg on the german french border (where the rhein is) and retired for the night. Well at leas oma did. It looks like I'm going to get to bed arout 2:00.
To do that I must stop writing now at 1:36.
Anyways
Love you all, especially you Billy Mays
-esseJ
Monday, June 29, 2009
Saturday, June 27, 2009
The important differences
Nothing has really happened since last time I wrote. It is sunday morning here and I decided to use this computer one last time before I leave. But of course since nothing but sleep and breakfast have happened thus far I decided to write a small list of the things that are just different here than in america
1. Most elevators don't have their own doors. Instead they have doors that swing like you have in your house. After you press the button the door locks and there is one moving wall in the elevator
2. Drinking fountains aren't the same. They are like real fountains here. Like a fountain of a demon spitting water and you just drink from the stream. It's cool, the only problem is that they are hard to come by.
3. They count the floors on buildings differently here. For example I am staying on the 4th floor of the hotel right now, but really the 4th floor is the 5th floor. The lobby of course is on the ground floor, or erdgeschoss, and the floor above that is the 1st floor, so they essentially just start counting floors from 0 not 1 like we do in america. However it gets more confusing in buildings like the museum I visited the other day where they had a ground floor and then above that there was a mezzanine and then there were another 3 floors above that, so despite that fact that the highest # on the elevator buttons was 3 it was really a 5 story building.
4. There are even fewer black people here than in boulder. It's crazy. I didn't think that it was possible.
5. It turns out that it's true that they are stuck in the 80s here. They only listen to 80s american music (they have hotel california playing in the backround right now) and contemporary german music. Also there are discos all over the place.
6. Everybody smokes... everybody. All of the bars/room/clubs are all smoking. I guess that that just goes to prove that they really are stuck in the 80s. That part kind of sucks.
7. There is a significant amount of electric cars here, and aside from that all of the cars are smaller than they are in america. The big SUVs here aren't much bigger than say a VW rabbit or a subaru outback.
8. There are a lot more people with brightly colored hair here. Aside from that one crazy woman that I described yesterday i've seen at least 15 others, mostly adults with either bright green, blue, white, red, or purple hair.
That is about all that I can think of for now, so till next time
-Seanathan Guacsauce
1. Most elevators don't have their own doors. Instead they have doors that swing like you have in your house. After you press the button the door locks and there is one moving wall in the elevator
2. Drinking fountains aren't the same. They are like real fountains here. Like a fountain of a demon spitting water and you just drink from the stream. It's cool, the only problem is that they are hard to come by.
3. They count the floors on buildings differently here. For example I am staying on the 4th floor of the hotel right now, but really the 4th floor is the 5th floor. The lobby of course is on the ground floor, or erdgeschoss, and the floor above that is the 1st floor, so they essentially just start counting floors from 0 not 1 like we do in america. However it gets more confusing in buildings like the museum I visited the other day where they had a ground floor and then above that there was a mezzanine and then there were another 3 floors above that, so despite that fact that the highest # on the elevator buttons was 3 it was really a 5 story building.
4. There are even fewer black people here than in boulder. It's crazy. I didn't think that it was possible.
5. It turns out that it's true that they are stuck in the 80s here. They only listen to 80s american music (they have hotel california playing in the backround right now) and contemporary german music. Also there are discos all over the place.
6. Everybody smokes... everybody. All of the bars/room/clubs are all smoking. I guess that that just goes to prove that they really are stuck in the 80s. That part kind of sucks.
7. There is a significant amount of electric cars here, and aside from that all of the cars are smaller than they are in america. The big SUVs here aren't much bigger than say a VW rabbit or a subaru outback.
8. There are a lot more people with brightly colored hair here. Aside from that one crazy woman that I described yesterday i've seen at least 15 others, mostly adults with either bright green, blue, white, red, or purple hair.
That is about all that I can think of for now, so till next time
-Seanathan Guacsauce
UGGGHHHH!!!!
JUST AS A HEADS UP I'M GOING TO WRITE THIS WHOLE ENTRY IN CAPS LOCK!
AS THE TITLE SUGGESTS TODAY WAS JUST ONE OF THOSE DAYS. I GUESS THAT IT WASN'T UNBEARABLE OR ANYTHING BUT IT WASN'T WHAT IT SHOULD HAVE BEEN.
AFTER I WROTE MY ENTRY THIS MORNING (IT'S ABOUT 7:30 RIGHT NOW) WE HAD QUITE THE LITTLE ADVENTURE. FIRST WE WENT BACK UP INTO THE ROOM PACKED OUR 100+ POUNDS OF STUFF AND WENT ON OUR WAY. WE HAD THE HOTEL DESK WORKER GUY, HIS NAME IS JEROME, CALL UP A CAB TO PICK US UP, AND IN THE MEANTIME WE WALKED DOWN TO THE ATM AND GOT 100 FRANCS OUT OF OMAS ACCOUNT, WHICH TURNED OUT TO BE ENTIRELY NECCESSARY. WE GOT IN THE CAB AND WENT TO THE PLACE THAT THE GUY TOLD ME ON THE PHONE EARLIER, DIE DREILÄNDEECKE, AND IT JUST SO TURNS OUT THE THE BOAT WASN'T THERE. SURPRISE!!! WAIT! NO! THAT ISN'T THE KIND OF SURPRISE I WANTED AT ALL! WELL WHETHER OR NOT I WANTED IT WAS THE CASE, AND THAT BEING THE CASE WE HAD TO FIGURE OUT EXACTLY WHAT TO DO ABOUT IT. THE TAXI DRIVER WAS A REALLY NICE GUY AND TALKED TO SOMEONE ON ANOTHER BOAT FOR US. I COULDN'T UNDERSTAND WHAT HE WAS SAYING SO WELL BECAUSE HE HAD A REALLY HEAVY FRENCH ACCENT. BUT ANYWAYS THE GUY ON THE OTHER BOAT CALLED UP THE SWISS POLICE WATER DIVISION AND ASKED WHERE THERE WOULD BE SUCH A BOAT. WELL IT TURNS OUT THAT A UNIWORLD BOAT WAS SUPPOSED TO BE AT THIS OTHER DOCK NOT SO FAR AWAY...TOMORROW. THE PROBLEM IS THAT THE POLICE DIDN'T EXACTLY MENTION THE TOMORROW PART OF THE SENTENCE, AND SO WE HAD THE CAB DRIVER DROP US OFF AT THIS DOCK IN THE MIDDLE OF THIS BF NOWHERE PART OF TOWN AND WAITED JUST IN CASE THE BOAT WAS JUST LATE (WE STILL THOUGHT THAT IT WAS SUPPOSED TO BE HERE TODAY). WE WAITED THERE FOR ABOUT HALF AN HOUR (GOOD THING I BROUGHT A TRAVEL GUITAR) AND THEN A SWISS WATER-POLICE OFFICER SHOWED UP ON A LITTLE SCOOTER (WHICH ARE VERY POPULAR HERE) HE GAVE ME THIS LITTLE SPREADSHEET THAT HAD A LIST OF ALL OF THE COMMERCIAL BOATS IN THE CITY AND THE TIMES THAT THEY WERE SUPPOSED TO BE THERE FOR THE WHOLE MONTH. HE EXPLAINED THAT THE ONLY PLACE THAT THERE WOULD BE ANY BOATS TODAY WAS DOWN RIVER QUITE A WAYS. SO THIS POLICE OFFICER WHO WAS ALSO A PRETTY NICE GUY CALLED A CAB FOR US SO WE AREN'T JUST WAITING AT THIS ABANDONED PORT WITH 100 LBS OF CRAP. THE CAB COMES AS PLANNED, AND HE TAKES US TO THE OTHER DOCK. I NOTICED THAT HE DROVE US A COUPLE OF BLOCKS OUT OF THE WAY AND WAS RIPPING US OFF A LITTLE BIT, BUT OMA DIDN'T NOTICE SO I DECIDED TO JUST LET IT SLIDE THIS TIME. AFTER ALL WE HAD BIGGER PROBLEMS LIKE NOT HAVING A BOAT.
NOW WE'RE AT THE OTHER DOCK, BUT NEITHER OF THE BOATS THERE ARE OURS, WHICH IS KIND OF A PROBLEM. I CHECKED WITH THE MANAGER OF ONE OF THE DOCKED BOATS, AND SHE SAID THAT SHE HAD NO IDEA WHEN A UNIWORLD BOAT WOULD BE AT THE DOCK. SO WE WENT BACK TO THE TAXI, TO THE SAME DRIVER THAT RIPPED US OFF THE FIRST TIME, AND HAD HIM DRIVE US BACK TO THE HOTEL. AND AS YOU MIGHT HAVE GUESSED HE DID INDEED TAKE A LONGER ROUTE. WE CHECKED BACK INTO THE HOTEL AND GOT OUR SAME ROOM BACK. BUT HERE IS THE KICKER:
I TOLD THE WHOLE STORY TO JEROME AT THE FRONT DESK, AND HE TOLD ME THAT HE HAD GOTTEN A CALL FROM UNIWORLD CRUISES SAYING THAT THE WEBSITE AND OUR INFORMATION WAS WRONG AND THAT THE BOAT WOULD BE HERE TOMORROW (SUNDAY THE 28TH). HE ALSO TOLD ME THAT HE HAD TOLD OMA THIS INFORMATION, BUT THAT SHE WALKED AWAY. OMA OF COURSE REFUTES THIS ENTIRELY AND I'M SAD TO SAY THAT I BELIEVE JEROME THIS TIME. I ONLY BELIEVE HIM BECAUSE OMA HAD MENTIONED SOMETHING ABOUT THIS ONCE, BUT I JUST THAT THAT SHE WAS BEING CRAZY. SHE ALSO DOESN'T REMEMBER MENTIONING ANYTHING TO ME, WHICH JUST MAKES ME BELIEVE JEROME MORE.
SO AFTER TALKING TO JEROME FOR QUITE AWHILE I FINALLY GOT UP INTO THE ROOM, PUT OUR STUFF DOWN, AND CALLED THE OFFICE IN BASEL TO SEE EXACTLY WHAT TIME WE SHOULD BE AT THE DOCK, BUT OF COURSE THE OFFICE IN BASEL IS CLOSED ON WEEKENDS. SO I CALLED THE OFFICE IN LA, BUT THEY WERE CLOSED BECAUSE IT WAS STILL TOO EARLY IN AMERICA AND THEIR OFFICE WASN'T OPEN YET, SO INSTEAD WE JUST LEFT TO GET US SOME EATS.
WE WALKED 1/2 A BLOCK AND FOUND A PRETTY COOL AUTHENTIC SWISS/GERMAN PLACE TO EAT. I HAD A REAL SCHNTZEL, AND OMA HAD A BRATWURST. ON A SCALE FROM 1 TO 10 WHERE 1 IS THE BEST AND 10 IS THE WORST, THIS SCHNITZEL WAS A NEGATIVE 8. IT WAS REALLY GOOD. I KIND OF WISH I HAD MY CAMERA ON ME TO TAKE A PICTURE OF THE WOMAN THAT SERVED US. SHE WAS THE MOST REDICULOUS PERSON I'VE EVER SEEN IN MY WHOLE LIFE. IN FACT SHE WAS SO REDICULOUS THAT I'M GOING TO HAVE TO HAVE TO START A NEW PARAGRAPH JUST TO DESCRIBE HER.
YOU KNOW THOSE OLD LADY TYPES THAT TRY TO LOOK YOUNG. AND I DON'T MEAN LIKE 60 YEAR OLDS WHO WEAR HIP TRENDY YOGA PANTS AND MODERN BLOUSES THAT DON'T ACTUALLY MAKE THEM LOOK YOUNGER. I MEAN LIKE 70 YEAR OLD WOMEN WHO LOOK LIKE HELL NORMALLY, BUT THEN TRY TO DRESS LIKE A 20 YEAR OLD FROM THE 80'S TO MAKE UP FOR IT BUT FAIL HORRIBLY. THIS WOMAN WAS ONE OF THOSE PEOPLE. SHE HAD ON SOME SORT OF SKIN TIGHT MATCHING ROYAL BLUE PANTS AND SHIRT THAT IN NO WAY COMPLIMENTED HER FIGURE, WITH A BLINDINGLY BRIGHT WHITE UNDERSHIRT THAT SHOWED THROUGH THE COLLAR THAT HURT TO LOOK AT. SHE HAD SHORT SPIKED HAIR THAT WAS JET BLACK WITH RED TIPS AND THE BRIGHTEST RED LIPSTICK I HAVE EVER SEEN IN MY LIFE. IT WAS TOTALLY CRAZY. ASIDE FROM THAT SHE HAD THOSE DESIGNER SUNGLASSES WITH THE BUG EYS THAT REALLY BROUGHT OUT HER BAGGY CHEEKS PRETTY WELL I MUST SAY, AND A VOICE THAT SPOKE GERMAN WITH ALL OF THE GRACE AND BEAUTY OF NAILS ON A CHALKBOARD MIXED WITH A CAT IN A BLENDER. SHE WAS A CHARACTER.
ANYWAYS SORRY BOUT THAT LITTLE RANT.
AFTER DINNER WE WALKED BACK UP TO THE ROOM AND OMA WENT TO SLEEP. I OF COURSE SIEZED THIS AS A PHOTO SAFARI AND CITY EXPLORING OPORTUNITY. SO I WALKED TO THE MARKETPLACE THAT WE WERE AT YESTERDAY AND TOOK A LOT OF PHOTOS, MOSTLY OF STORES AND THINGS THAT I JUST FOUND FUNNY OR INTERESTING. I'LL POST THEM WHEN I HAVE TIME.
IT WAS ON THIS LITTLE EXCURSION THAT I LEARNED A VERY IMPORTANT AND VALUABLE LESSON: WHILE SWISS CHOCOLATE IS BETTER THAN CRACK, IT IS ALSO SIGNIFICANTLY MORE EXPENSIVE (I THINK). I STOPPED INTO THIS CONFECTION STORE, AND TO GET THE REAL HADMADE SWISS CHOCOLATE IT WAS 10 FRANCS A GRAM. THAT'S RIGHT THAT'S ABOUT $4313 PER POUND. WHICH IS REDICULOUS. SO ANYWAYS I BOUGHT A LITTLE BIT OF CHOCOLATE FOR OMA AND I. I ALSO BOUGH A GERMAN BOOK THAT I'VE BEEN MEANING TO READ FOR AWHILE CALLED "HEKTORS REISE"
THIS IS ABOUT THE TIME THAT I WALKED BACK, TOOK SOME MORE PHOTOS, AND ARRIVED AT THE HOTEL. I STARTED TO READ MY BOOK BUT IT TURNS OUT THAT IT'S ACTUALLY REALLY HARD TO CONCENTRATE WHEN OMA IS IN THE SAME ROOM SNORING AT 80 DECIBELS. THAT'S ABOUT THE TIME THAT I DECIDED TO COME DOWN HERE AND BLOG/RANT.
SO THAT WAS MY DAY FEEL FREE TO LEAVE ME A DERP (COMMENT) AND RANT ABOUT YOURS.
TILL NEXT TIME
-JESSE
P.S. I'M REALLY NOT SURE WHEN I WILL BLOG NEXT, CAUSE I REALLY WON'T HAVE A COMPUTER TOMORROW.
AS THE TITLE SUGGESTS TODAY WAS JUST ONE OF THOSE DAYS. I GUESS THAT IT WASN'T UNBEARABLE OR ANYTHING BUT IT WASN'T WHAT IT SHOULD HAVE BEEN.
AFTER I WROTE MY ENTRY THIS MORNING (IT'S ABOUT 7:30 RIGHT NOW) WE HAD QUITE THE LITTLE ADVENTURE. FIRST WE WENT BACK UP INTO THE ROOM PACKED OUR 100+ POUNDS OF STUFF AND WENT ON OUR WAY. WE HAD THE HOTEL DESK WORKER GUY, HIS NAME IS JEROME, CALL UP A CAB TO PICK US UP, AND IN THE MEANTIME WE WALKED DOWN TO THE ATM AND GOT 100 FRANCS OUT OF OMAS ACCOUNT, WHICH TURNED OUT TO BE ENTIRELY NECCESSARY. WE GOT IN THE CAB AND WENT TO THE PLACE THAT THE GUY TOLD ME ON THE PHONE EARLIER, DIE DREILÄNDEECKE, AND IT JUST SO TURNS OUT THE THE BOAT WASN'T THERE. SURPRISE!!! WAIT! NO! THAT ISN'T THE KIND OF SURPRISE I WANTED AT ALL! WELL WHETHER OR NOT I WANTED IT WAS THE CASE, AND THAT BEING THE CASE WE HAD TO FIGURE OUT EXACTLY WHAT TO DO ABOUT IT. THE TAXI DRIVER WAS A REALLY NICE GUY AND TALKED TO SOMEONE ON ANOTHER BOAT FOR US. I COULDN'T UNDERSTAND WHAT HE WAS SAYING SO WELL BECAUSE HE HAD A REALLY HEAVY FRENCH ACCENT. BUT ANYWAYS THE GUY ON THE OTHER BOAT CALLED UP THE SWISS POLICE WATER DIVISION AND ASKED WHERE THERE WOULD BE SUCH A BOAT. WELL IT TURNS OUT THAT A UNIWORLD BOAT WAS SUPPOSED TO BE AT THIS OTHER DOCK NOT SO FAR AWAY...TOMORROW. THE PROBLEM IS THAT THE POLICE DIDN'T EXACTLY MENTION THE TOMORROW PART OF THE SENTENCE, AND SO WE HAD THE CAB DRIVER DROP US OFF AT THIS DOCK IN THE MIDDLE OF THIS BF NOWHERE PART OF TOWN AND WAITED JUST IN CASE THE BOAT WAS JUST LATE (WE STILL THOUGHT THAT IT WAS SUPPOSED TO BE HERE TODAY). WE WAITED THERE FOR ABOUT HALF AN HOUR (GOOD THING I BROUGHT A TRAVEL GUITAR) AND THEN A SWISS WATER-POLICE OFFICER SHOWED UP ON A LITTLE SCOOTER (WHICH ARE VERY POPULAR HERE) HE GAVE ME THIS LITTLE SPREADSHEET THAT HAD A LIST OF ALL OF THE COMMERCIAL BOATS IN THE CITY AND THE TIMES THAT THEY WERE SUPPOSED TO BE THERE FOR THE WHOLE MONTH. HE EXPLAINED THAT THE ONLY PLACE THAT THERE WOULD BE ANY BOATS TODAY WAS DOWN RIVER QUITE A WAYS. SO THIS POLICE OFFICER WHO WAS ALSO A PRETTY NICE GUY CALLED A CAB FOR US SO WE AREN'T JUST WAITING AT THIS ABANDONED PORT WITH 100 LBS OF CRAP. THE CAB COMES AS PLANNED, AND HE TAKES US TO THE OTHER DOCK. I NOTICED THAT HE DROVE US A COUPLE OF BLOCKS OUT OF THE WAY AND WAS RIPPING US OFF A LITTLE BIT, BUT OMA DIDN'T NOTICE SO I DECIDED TO JUST LET IT SLIDE THIS TIME. AFTER ALL WE HAD BIGGER PROBLEMS LIKE NOT HAVING A BOAT.
NOW WE'RE AT THE OTHER DOCK, BUT NEITHER OF THE BOATS THERE ARE OURS, WHICH IS KIND OF A PROBLEM. I CHECKED WITH THE MANAGER OF ONE OF THE DOCKED BOATS, AND SHE SAID THAT SHE HAD NO IDEA WHEN A UNIWORLD BOAT WOULD BE AT THE DOCK. SO WE WENT BACK TO THE TAXI, TO THE SAME DRIVER THAT RIPPED US OFF THE FIRST TIME, AND HAD HIM DRIVE US BACK TO THE HOTEL. AND AS YOU MIGHT HAVE GUESSED HE DID INDEED TAKE A LONGER ROUTE. WE CHECKED BACK INTO THE HOTEL AND GOT OUR SAME ROOM BACK. BUT HERE IS THE KICKER:
I TOLD THE WHOLE STORY TO JEROME AT THE FRONT DESK, AND HE TOLD ME THAT HE HAD GOTTEN A CALL FROM UNIWORLD CRUISES SAYING THAT THE WEBSITE AND OUR INFORMATION WAS WRONG AND THAT THE BOAT WOULD BE HERE TOMORROW (SUNDAY THE 28TH). HE ALSO TOLD ME THAT HE HAD TOLD OMA THIS INFORMATION, BUT THAT SHE WALKED AWAY. OMA OF COURSE REFUTES THIS ENTIRELY AND I'M SAD TO SAY THAT I BELIEVE JEROME THIS TIME. I ONLY BELIEVE HIM BECAUSE OMA HAD MENTIONED SOMETHING ABOUT THIS ONCE, BUT I JUST THAT THAT SHE WAS BEING CRAZY. SHE ALSO DOESN'T REMEMBER MENTIONING ANYTHING TO ME, WHICH JUST MAKES ME BELIEVE JEROME MORE.
SO AFTER TALKING TO JEROME FOR QUITE AWHILE I FINALLY GOT UP INTO THE ROOM, PUT OUR STUFF DOWN, AND CALLED THE OFFICE IN BASEL TO SEE EXACTLY WHAT TIME WE SHOULD BE AT THE DOCK, BUT OF COURSE THE OFFICE IN BASEL IS CLOSED ON WEEKENDS. SO I CALLED THE OFFICE IN LA, BUT THEY WERE CLOSED BECAUSE IT WAS STILL TOO EARLY IN AMERICA AND THEIR OFFICE WASN'T OPEN YET, SO INSTEAD WE JUST LEFT TO GET US SOME EATS.
WE WALKED 1/2 A BLOCK AND FOUND A PRETTY COOL AUTHENTIC SWISS/GERMAN PLACE TO EAT. I HAD A REAL SCHNTZEL, AND OMA HAD A BRATWURST. ON A SCALE FROM 1 TO 10 WHERE 1 IS THE BEST AND 10 IS THE WORST, THIS SCHNITZEL WAS A NEGATIVE 8. IT WAS REALLY GOOD. I KIND OF WISH I HAD MY CAMERA ON ME TO TAKE A PICTURE OF THE WOMAN THAT SERVED US. SHE WAS THE MOST REDICULOUS PERSON I'VE EVER SEEN IN MY WHOLE LIFE. IN FACT SHE WAS SO REDICULOUS THAT I'M GOING TO HAVE TO HAVE TO START A NEW PARAGRAPH JUST TO DESCRIBE HER.
YOU KNOW THOSE OLD LADY TYPES THAT TRY TO LOOK YOUNG. AND I DON'T MEAN LIKE 60 YEAR OLDS WHO WEAR HIP TRENDY YOGA PANTS AND MODERN BLOUSES THAT DON'T ACTUALLY MAKE THEM LOOK YOUNGER. I MEAN LIKE 70 YEAR OLD WOMEN WHO LOOK LIKE HELL NORMALLY, BUT THEN TRY TO DRESS LIKE A 20 YEAR OLD FROM THE 80'S TO MAKE UP FOR IT BUT FAIL HORRIBLY. THIS WOMAN WAS ONE OF THOSE PEOPLE. SHE HAD ON SOME SORT OF SKIN TIGHT MATCHING ROYAL BLUE PANTS AND SHIRT THAT IN NO WAY COMPLIMENTED HER FIGURE, WITH A BLINDINGLY BRIGHT WHITE UNDERSHIRT THAT SHOWED THROUGH THE COLLAR THAT HURT TO LOOK AT. SHE HAD SHORT SPIKED HAIR THAT WAS JET BLACK WITH RED TIPS AND THE BRIGHTEST RED LIPSTICK I HAVE EVER SEEN IN MY LIFE. IT WAS TOTALLY CRAZY. ASIDE FROM THAT SHE HAD THOSE DESIGNER SUNGLASSES WITH THE BUG EYS THAT REALLY BROUGHT OUT HER BAGGY CHEEKS PRETTY WELL I MUST SAY, AND A VOICE THAT SPOKE GERMAN WITH ALL OF THE GRACE AND BEAUTY OF NAILS ON A CHALKBOARD MIXED WITH A CAT IN A BLENDER. SHE WAS A CHARACTER.
ANYWAYS SORRY BOUT THAT LITTLE RANT.
AFTER DINNER WE WALKED BACK UP TO THE ROOM AND OMA WENT TO SLEEP. I OF COURSE SIEZED THIS AS A PHOTO SAFARI AND CITY EXPLORING OPORTUNITY. SO I WALKED TO THE MARKETPLACE THAT WE WERE AT YESTERDAY AND TOOK A LOT OF PHOTOS, MOSTLY OF STORES AND THINGS THAT I JUST FOUND FUNNY OR INTERESTING. I'LL POST THEM WHEN I HAVE TIME.
IT WAS ON THIS LITTLE EXCURSION THAT I LEARNED A VERY IMPORTANT AND VALUABLE LESSON: WHILE SWISS CHOCOLATE IS BETTER THAN CRACK, IT IS ALSO SIGNIFICANTLY MORE EXPENSIVE (I THINK). I STOPPED INTO THIS CONFECTION STORE, AND TO GET THE REAL HADMADE SWISS CHOCOLATE IT WAS 10 FRANCS A GRAM. THAT'S RIGHT THAT'S ABOUT $4313 PER POUND. WHICH IS REDICULOUS. SO ANYWAYS I BOUGHT A LITTLE BIT OF CHOCOLATE FOR OMA AND I. I ALSO BOUGH A GERMAN BOOK THAT I'VE BEEN MEANING TO READ FOR AWHILE CALLED "HEKTORS REISE"
THIS IS ABOUT THE TIME THAT I WALKED BACK, TOOK SOME MORE PHOTOS, AND ARRIVED AT THE HOTEL. I STARTED TO READ MY BOOK BUT IT TURNS OUT THAT IT'S ACTUALLY REALLY HARD TO CONCENTRATE WHEN OMA IS IN THE SAME ROOM SNORING AT 80 DECIBELS. THAT'S ABOUT THE TIME THAT I DECIDED TO COME DOWN HERE AND BLOG/RANT.
SO THAT WAS MY DAY FEEL FREE TO LEAVE ME A DERP (COMMENT) AND RANT ABOUT YOURS.
TILL NEXT TIME
-JESSE
P.S. I'M REALLY NOT SURE WHEN I WILL BLOG NEXT, CAUSE I REALLY WON'T HAVE A COMPUTER TOMORROW.
The first day
So I finnally made it through the first day of actually doing things and let me tell you: Basel is a cool place to be. It's not quite a power sucking beast of a town, but at the same time it is a busy little city. It has the really comfortable and homely aspect to it. If I were to describe it in German I would have to say that it is very gemütlich. There are always people doing things, there are about 100 churches that all have amazing archetechture, every other shop is either a coffee shop or a health food store, and everyone is friendly. Its crazy like it's from a whole other world entirely foreign to me... Oh wait, that's probably because it is.
By the way I am writing this on the morning of the 27th here.
Here is the lowdown on yesterday.
Right after I wrote the last post Oma came downstairs from the room, and we had some awesome breakfast. The hotel has a breakfast buffet, and I have to say that I have rarely had a breakfast as good as that one. There was some delicious granola (which people eat like cereal here), frosted flakes, unfrosted flakes, nutella, honey, jam, milk, bananas, apples, apricots, all sorts of teas, swiss yoghurt (far superior to it's american counterpart), croissants, breakfast rolls, non-breakfast rolls, rye bread, cold cuts, and some really bomb swiss cheeses. I was certainly impressed and I had a little bit of pretty much everything.
Anyways during breakfast we met some really cool people from Köln (a city in the northeast corner of the country) who were really friendly and excited for our journeys. Neither of them were native Germans (One was russian, and the other Croatian), but they both spoke the language very well and it was a good chance for me to practice. Their names were Dimitri and Kristina. They left the Hotel Münchener Hof (Where we are staying) yesterday, but there is a chance that we might get back in touch with them again if we end up going to köln.
After breakfast we made a plan to go down and see a van Gogh art exhibit at the museum. So we hopped on the Strassenbahn (trolli). We missed our stop the first time and continued to ride the train, which ended up being a good thing because it let us get a better look at the city and it gave me a chance to give me some bearings of where we were. After missing our stop we got off at the local farmers market, where they have all sorts of delicious fruits and vegetables, but weren't able to buy anything because neither of us had yet exchanged our money yet. Which brings me to a little side note: Switzerland aparently doesn't use the Euro yet. they still use swiss francs. Anyways, at this little farmers market there we found a bank, exchanged some cash, and found a coffee shop. Oma had some coffee and a piece of cherry coffee cake, and I had some water and 2 scoops of Ice cream, and it totaled to a little over 20 francs. Little known fact #2 the swiss franc is almost exactly equal in value to the US dollars, leading me the to the conclusion that the biggest problem with this city is that it seems to like eating $20 bills.
Anyways after coffe and ice cream we started to walk to the museum, which was very very slow because Oma can hardly walk and if she sees something that gets her attention she stops to look at it. It turns out that this fact remains true when crossing streets and more than once I found myself trying to get oma out of the dead center of a road that she had stopped in.
Also on the way to the the museum we stopped into a travel office and booked a hotel in Amsterdam for when we get there later on down the line. I'm not quite sure how she didn't notice that she was getting totally ripped off by the office, but she didn't. So now we have 2 nights at a 2 star hotel in amsterdam that we paid almost 600 dollars for. I guess I can't be that upset about it, seeing that I'm not personally painting, but I still find it to be a little unreasonable.
After that we continued walking. After 2 hours of walking from the market we finally made it to the art museum 5 blocks away. I'm not really going to elaborate on the museum so much. It was just an art museum just like any other, but it was something to do and there were some cool things there.
After that we took the train back to the hotel, and slept for about 3 hours from 5 to 8. This is about the time that Oma realized that she had no idea where the ship that we get on later today docked. This was a problem. We went downstairs and got something to eat at about 8:30 and then I looked up a number on the internet. We had to call the offices in LA to figure it out, which I am sure will be a hefty phone bill, but eventually we got it all squared away. Though there still is one more problem, which is this: Oma's travel agent from the cruise company never actually sent us the tickets. The guy in LA told me that we would still be able to get on, but I'm still skeptical. I guess I'll just have to wait and find out.
Now back to the story though. After dinner we went on another little stroll. It turns out that every store in a one block radius form the hotel is either a bar, strip club, or bondage sex shop. Which I find hilarious. After walking about 3 blocks away however, we found a little park, sat down, and walked back. I didn't even know, but it turns out that we got back at 1O'clock in the morning.
When we got back, we went to bed and then woke up here about 2 hours ago and had breakfast. Which was again delicious. And then I came over here and started blogging on the Hotel's computer in anticipation of the coming day.
As a final note I to say that i'm not sure when I'll be able to write next, because we are leaving this hotel, and I'll have to find a different computer to use.
Till next time
-Sir Jesse of Caldwell IV
By the way I am writing this on the morning of the 27th here.
Here is the lowdown on yesterday.
Right after I wrote the last post Oma came downstairs from the room, and we had some awesome breakfast. The hotel has a breakfast buffet, and I have to say that I have rarely had a breakfast as good as that one. There was some delicious granola (which people eat like cereal here), frosted flakes, unfrosted flakes, nutella, honey, jam, milk, bananas, apples, apricots, all sorts of teas, swiss yoghurt (far superior to it's american counterpart), croissants, breakfast rolls, non-breakfast rolls, rye bread, cold cuts, and some really bomb swiss cheeses. I was certainly impressed and I had a little bit of pretty much everything.
Anyways during breakfast we met some really cool people from Köln (a city in the northeast corner of the country) who were really friendly and excited for our journeys. Neither of them were native Germans (One was russian, and the other Croatian), but they both spoke the language very well and it was a good chance for me to practice. Their names were Dimitri and Kristina. They left the Hotel Münchener Hof (Where we are staying) yesterday, but there is a chance that we might get back in touch with them again if we end up going to köln.
After breakfast we made a plan to go down and see a van Gogh art exhibit at the museum. So we hopped on the Strassenbahn (trolli). We missed our stop the first time and continued to ride the train, which ended up being a good thing because it let us get a better look at the city and it gave me a chance to give me some bearings of where we were. After missing our stop we got off at the local farmers market, where they have all sorts of delicious fruits and vegetables, but weren't able to buy anything because neither of us had yet exchanged our money yet. Which brings me to a little side note: Switzerland aparently doesn't use the Euro yet. they still use swiss francs. Anyways, at this little farmers market there we found a bank, exchanged some cash, and found a coffee shop. Oma had some coffee and a piece of cherry coffee cake, and I had some water and 2 scoops of Ice cream, and it totaled to a little over 20 francs. Little known fact #2 the swiss franc is almost exactly equal in value to the US dollars, leading me the to the conclusion that the biggest problem with this city is that it seems to like eating $20 bills.
Anyways after coffe and ice cream we started to walk to the museum, which was very very slow because Oma can hardly walk and if she sees something that gets her attention she stops to look at it. It turns out that this fact remains true when crossing streets and more than once I found myself trying to get oma out of the dead center of a road that she had stopped in.
Also on the way to the the museum we stopped into a travel office and booked a hotel in Amsterdam for when we get there later on down the line. I'm not quite sure how she didn't notice that she was getting totally ripped off by the office, but she didn't. So now we have 2 nights at a 2 star hotel in amsterdam that we paid almost 600 dollars for. I guess I can't be that upset about it, seeing that I'm not personally painting, but I still find it to be a little unreasonable.
After that we continued walking. After 2 hours of walking from the market we finally made it to the art museum 5 blocks away. I'm not really going to elaborate on the museum so much. It was just an art museum just like any other, but it was something to do and there were some cool things there.
After that we took the train back to the hotel, and slept for about 3 hours from 5 to 8. This is about the time that Oma realized that she had no idea where the ship that we get on later today docked. This was a problem. We went downstairs and got something to eat at about 8:30 and then I looked up a number on the internet. We had to call the offices in LA to figure it out, which I am sure will be a hefty phone bill, but eventually we got it all squared away. Though there still is one more problem, which is this: Oma's travel agent from the cruise company never actually sent us the tickets. The guy in LA told me that we would still be able to get on, but I'm still skeptical. I guess I'll just have to wait and find out.
Now back to the story though. After dinner we went on another little stroll. It turns out that every store in a one block radius form the hotel is either a bar, strip club, or bondage sex shop. Which I find hilarious. After walking about 3 blocks away however, we found a little park, sat down, and walked back. I didn't even know, but it turns out that we got back at 1O'clock in the morning.
When we got back, we went to bed and then woke up here about 2 hours ago and had breakfast. Which was again delicious. And then I came over here and started blogging on the Hotel's computer in anticipation of the coming day.
As a final note I to say that i'm not sure when I'll be able to write next, because we are leaving this hotel, and I'll have to find a different computer to use.
Till next time
-Sir Jesse of Caldwell IV
Thursday, June 25, 2009
Still haven't slept much
So as of yet I still haven't slept much as the title may lead you to believe. It's about 5:30 in the morning here and I slept for about 4 hours last night. Little known fact: Oma snores very loud. I even took a video, but I can't upload it from this computer. Which reminds me of something that I forgot to mention last night (The uploading problems reminded me, not the snoring. There was one more travelling bummer. On the flight that I slept on from London to Basel I had my headphones in but no music playing to keep the noise down, but I think that I left my Ipod on the plane :( , or rather I think that it fell out of my pocket on the plane, because I didn't have it out. I know I had it then, but when I checked last night all I had were the headphones. Well you win some you lose some I guess. After all I am going on a killer 6week trip, so in relation I'm not really very upset.
Anyways I'm getting ready for breakfast now, which is in 10 minutes or so. I'm really really hungry. We never ate last night so it's been about 18 hours since our last meal.
I guess it just sounds like i'm complaining a lot. I really don't mean to, i'm actually having a lot of fun. I just want to start doing things that aren't traveling.
Well I'm looking forward to a fun day anyways. And it's time for a little Frühstuck (Breakfast)
Love you all
-Jesse
P.S. Sorry about any typos, particularly ones where I put z's in for y's and vice versa. The german keyboard is a little different and I'm not quite used to it yet.
Anyways I'm getting ready for breakfast now, which is in 10 minutes or so. I'm really really hungry. We never ate last night so it's been about 18 hours since our last meal.
I guess it just sounds like i'm complaining a lot. I really don't mean to, i'm actually having a lot of fun. I just want to start doing things that aren't traveling.
Well I'm looking forward to a fun day anyways. And it's time for a little Frühstuck (Breakfast)
Love you all
-Jesse
P.S. Sorry about any typos, particularly ones where I put z's in for y's and vice versa. The german keyboard is a little different and I'm not quite used to it yet.
And so it begins...
So I finally got here after 25 hours of traveling. I'm running on about an hour of airplane sleep right now typing in the lobby of my hotel. For those of you who don't know: I am traveling with my grandmother (Oma) for the time being until she goes back on the 11th of July. I however am staying until the 4th of August.
Anyways enough exposition, on with the story.
Getting here was exciting to say the least, and more happened than I have enough energy to write about but here is the abridged version of the the past 28 hours.
1. Got to DIA via a shuttle van without a hitch and were even two hours early. I was really surprised.
2. The guy at the american airlines desk tells Oma that she can't fly with her passport because it has a different first name than the ticket. This is because she changed her name some years ago when she was in showbussiness
3. The guy ends up okaying it after looking through the whole passport.
4. A nice lady assists Oma in a wheelchair from the american airlines desk.
5. Oma stops at the bathroom before we get through security.
6. We skip right to the front of the security lines because Oma is in a wheelchair (sweet)
7. I send all of our stuff through the machine including the boarding passes and my passport.
8. Oma realizes that she doesn't have her purse and must have left it in the bathroom
Now this is where things get interesting because I'm up at the front of security with no shoes, no ID and my pants falling off without my belt on and Oma is freaking out because all of her money is in her purse and thought she had just lost some 1000$ cash and all of her credit cards. So we send the employee who is pushing oma's wheelchair back up to the bathroom. Naturally she comes back with nothing, and when she does she asks me to go over to lost and found. I walk back down the quick way that we came through security and ask the guy at the end if he'll let me back through if I just check the lost and found really quick. He says "no. You need a pass" So I go back to get a pass, and at the end of the line they stop me and say "I need to see you're ID" and of course I don't have one because it's on the other side of security with my shoes and my belt. So they send someone back to go get it. and then that person brings it back and walks with me back to the lost and found, and luckily the purse is there and it still has everything in it. So now I go back to security oma, which makes sense. But by this point my bags and my shoes and my belt have been sitting there an awfully long time and everybody suspects they might be dangerous or something (Oh noes) So they re-scan and send through all of our stuff, but it turns out that Oma is traveling with all of her toiletries in her carry on which is a definite problem. Luckily she had them all sorted out into bags though, so it was easy for DIA to make sure that they weren't actually explosives. And so we get through security and I can finally stop walking like I have a bad rash on my inner thighs to keep my pants up and put some shoes on.
I know it's out of order but i'll continue
9. After a bit of a struggle we finally get through securtiy and find Oma's purse
10. We get to the gate just in time to be the first ones to board. I guess sometimes it's a good thing to travel with a person who can't walk very well.
11. We get to Chicago for a 2 hour layover.
12. We eat lunch and chocolate
13. Oma makes a huge fuss and tries to get into first class on the flight to london as hard as possible.
14. Ugghhhhh! *Facepalm*
15. Oma doesn't get in and continues to elaborate on how comfy it would be if we were in it.
16. The flight leaves 45minutes late.
17. The flight goes fine and smooth.
18. We arrive in london at 7.30 local time (12.30am MST) and try to catch our connection to Basel.
19. The guy with the wheelchair in London (We have wheelchair guys in every airport btw) runs us as fast as he can to get to our terminal.
20. We get there too late and have to get rebooked.
21. We wait for 6 hours for our next flight.
22. The flight goes smoothly and we finally get to Basel around 5:30 local, around 9:30MST I slept for the whole hour of flight!
23. We get to the hotel after a very pricy cab ride
24. I start a travel blog
So that has been mz last 30 hours or so.
I hope that every day is this exciting, but not this stressful
Anyways. Love you all much I'll post pics after I have actually taken some.
Love
-Jess
Anyways enough exposition, on with the story.
Getting here was exciting to say the least, and more happened than I have enough energy to write about but here is the abridged version of the the past 28 hours.
1. Got to DIA via a shuttle van without a hitch and were even two hours early. I was really surprised.
2. The guy at the american airlines desk tells Oma that she can't fly with her passport because it has a different first name than the ticket. This is because she changed her name some years ago when she was in showbussiness
3. The guy ends up okaying it after looking through the whole passport.
4. A nice lady assists Oma in a wheelchair from the american airlines desk.
5. Oma stops at the bathroom before we get through security.
6. We skip right to the front of the security lines because Oma is in a wheelchair (sweet)
7. I send all of our stuff through the machine including the boarding passes and my passport.
8. Oma realizes that she doesn't have her purse and must have left it in the bathroom
Now this is where things get interesting because I'm up at the front of security with no shoes, no ID and my pants falling off without my belt on and Oma is freaking out because all of her money is in her purse and thought she had just lost some 1000$ cash and all of her credit cards. So we send the employee who is pushing oma's wheelchair back up to the bathroom. Naturally she comes back with nothing, and when she does she asks me to go over to lost and found. I walk back down the quick way that we came through security and ask the guy at the end if he'll let me back through if I just check the lost and found really quick. He says "no. You need a pass" So I go back to get a pass, and at the end of the line they stop me and say "I need to see you're ID" and of course I don't have one because it's on the other side of security with my shoes and my belt. So they send someone back to go get it. and then that person brings it back and walks with me back to the lost and found, and luckily the purse is there and it still has everything in it. So now I go back to security oma, which makes sense. But by this point my bags and my shoes and my belt have been sitting there an awfully long time and everybody suspects they might be dangerous or something (Oh noes) So they re-scan and send through all of our stuff, but it turns out that Oma is traveling with all of her toiletries in her carry on which is a definite problem. Luckily she had them all sorted out into bags though, so it was easy for DIA to make sure that they weren't actually explosives. And so we get through security and I can finally stop walking like I have a bad rash on my inner thighs to keep my pants up and put some shoes on.
I know it's out of order but i'll continue
9. After a bit of a struggle we finally get through securtiy and find Oma's purse
10. We get to the gate just in time to be the first ones to board. I guess sometimes it's a good thing to travel with a person who can't walk very well.
11. We get to Chicago for a 2 hour layover.
12. We eat lunch and chocolate
13. Oma makes a huge fuss and tries to get into first class on the flight to london as hard as possible.
14. Ugghhhhh! *Facepalm*
15. Oma doesn't get in and continues to elaborate on how comfy it would be if we were in it.
16. The flight leaves 45minutes late.
17. The flight goes fine and smooth.
18. We arrive in london at 7.30 local time (12.30am MST) and try to catch our connection to Basel.
19. The guy with the wheelchair in London (We have wheelchair guys in every airport btw) runs us as fast as he can to get to our terminal.
20. We get there too late and have to get rebooked.
21. We wait for 6 hours for our next flight.
22. The flight goes smoothly and we finally get to Basel around 5:30 local, around 9:30MST I slept for the whole hour of flight!
23. We get to the hotel after a very pricy cab ride
24. I start a travel blog
So that has been mz last 30 hours or so.
I hope that every day is this exciting, but not this stressful
Anyways. Love you all much I'll post pics after I have actually taken some.
Love
-Jess
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