September Update

I realized this week that it has been forever (over a month) since I posted a blog.  So I thought I would update my loyal readers (LOL) with some things that have happened in my life.

A.  I went on a terrific trip to NYC with my long time friend AL.  It was a great trip and I got to see and do many new things.
     1.  On our first day we took a cab to Harlem to have lunch at a Soul Food restaurant.  We gave the address to the cab driver and he had a general idea of our destination but he didn't know the exact location.  So...he dropped us off at the entrance of Columbia University and said we should walk to our right.  OK??  But,  we did have a nice walk through campus and then through a little park before we found the restaurant.  It was a good thing my GPS was able to give us directions otherwise we would have never found the restaurant.
     2.  We also walked through the infamous Hells Kitchen and AL had terrible dinner of fried octopus while I drank Sangria.
     3.  We visited Bloomindales and I gawked at the very expensive clothing.  BTW...the plus size clothing section was awful. 
     4.  The great plague started while I was on this trip.  Ugg...the sickness slowly descended upon me over the four days I was there.  The first major indication of being sick was that I was never hungry.  AL would go into a bakery and I would wave my hand and say I didn't want a cupcake or Cookie.  SERIOUSLY....when do I ever turn down a sweet?  A few months ago I would have said NEVER but now I say only when I get the great plague.
     5.  The best part of the trip was the musicals.  Basically, seeing multiple shows was our main objective in NYC.  We planned them all in advance and purchased them online.  Neither of us was interested in waiting in Times Square to get the cheap half price tickets as we both do better with a specific plan.  I made a list of my favorite to least favorite shows...but honestly the were all great.

          A.  Memphis
          B.  Billy Elliot
          C.  How to Succeed in Business without Really Trying
          D.  Catch Me if You Can
          E.  Phantom of the Opera

B.  I caught the plague while I was in NYC.  Sigh...basically I was really sick.  I cannot recall ever being so sick for such a long period of time.  I was seriously sick for a week, moderately sick for the next week and and mildly sick for two more weeks.  However, I don't really think I am fully recovered yet and the sickness started over the Labor Day holiday.  When DM picked me up at the airport she was hesitant to let me in her car because I looked so awful.  She told me that she sprayed the entire car down with Lysol as soon as she got home.  In week three of the plague I was in a meeting at work with three of our executives and I had to excuse myself twice because I began to cough so hard it sounded and felt like my lungs were trying to exit my body via my mouth.  Not cool.  After the second time I didn't even try to go back to the meeting. 


C.  I learned that Unicorns suck.

D.  Biking season is slowly winding down with darkness coming earlier and earlier each day.  The BGI weekly rides have ended and we had a great group dinner to celebrate.  About 12 people showed up for the dinner and it made me so happy to look around the table and realize how many new friends I made over the summer.  Not just acquaintances but new friendships that have grown beyond biking.  It was a good summer.

E.  I did some cool events in September.  I visited the Propylaeum and painted a picture with a good friend.  I went on a chilly but fun bike ride in Carmel.  I helped my brother move.  BTW...two story homes suck!  I attended my first baby shower in at least five years.   I made a new tradition of biking and eating dinner with friends every Wednesday night.  We often stay out to late talking and drinking beer.  Good times.  Also, I got another root canal.

F.  It is now October my favorite and least favorite month of the year.

G.  I am going to Europe over Christmas.  Woo Hoo!!!!  AL and I just made our lodging reservations for Dusseldorf and Paris.

Europe 2009 - Wednesday May 6th 2009

We got up early to take the Eurostar train to Paris on Wednesday morning. We had assigned seats on the train and they were set up like airplane seats and fairly comfortable. I think the train ride was a couple hours long and everyone except for me and Marcus took the opportunity to take a nap. I decided to talk to Marcus and hold my book in my lap the entire train ride. I had the illusion that I was going to read but I much preferred a conversation over a solitary activity. Marcus is moving to Paris this summer for a job and we spent a long time talking about how that would work. I then spent some time fantasizing about how great it would be to get a job that paid for international travel. Perhaps one day it will come true.

After we collected our luggage and grabbed a quick lunch (a hard....a very hard...baguette sandwich with Salami and butter with a Coke) in the train station we got on our bus for a quick tour of Paris. They drove us up the Champs-Élysées and pointed out all of the expensive shops and stopped for some photo opportunities at the Arc de Triomphe and the Eiffel Tower.

While we were at the Eiffel Tower several street Gypsies came up to us and tried to sell us trinkets. I was standing next to Steve and he told them firmly to go away. The gypsy took offence and they had a bit of an altercation on the street. There was yelling and male aggression. There was no punches but I felt like it came close. I walked away as I don't like to see people in these tense situations and it made me uncomfortable.

We got back on the bus and the tour guide drove us all over the city. They were just giving us a general orientation so we could choose where to go on our free time. The tour ended with the bus dropping us off at our hotel, The All Seasons. This was my favorite hotel of the entire trip. It was very modern, bright and aesthetically pleasing. The best part was that the beds were very soft and comfortable.

This was Gretchen's bed and mine was right next to hers, literally toughing it. It was just really a king size bed split in half with a small partition dividing the upper 1/3 of the bed. Don't you love the colors.

Look at this...the bathroom sink has some character.

This is the shower area. There was no curtain just this orange plastic partition covering the first half of the tub. I was amazed to find that very little water escaped the tub area.

This is the lobby area.

That is Naph acting all sorrowful in the lobby. Don't you love the chairs.

This is the ceiling in the lobby.

After we got settled into our rooms, Gretchen, Naph, Rogers, Jason, Marcus and I headed out to find dinner and to visit the Louvre Museum. We ended up picking up various items from street vendors. I stopped by a bakery and started my meal with a scrumptious strawberry tart and then I went next door for a mixed salad and coke. I love having dessert before my meal.

After our food we got on the tube and headed over to the Louvre museum. Yes, THE museum from The Da Vinci Code. I had visited it once when I was in there in 2000, but I was excited to see it again. Before we even entered the museum we had some fun on the grounds. We took some very funny photos. I kind of think that the time we spent there was way more fun than the time in the museum. Part of that has to do with the pain in my ankle increasing as the end of the day nears. It is about 7:30pm when we arrived at the museum.

OK, I don't know what we were doing in this photo. But it appears that Jason and Naph are about to become engaged. The background is the museum building.

The famous Louvre pyramid.We decided to create our own pyramid to have in front of the actual pyramid. Yes, Gretchen is feeling me up. I was told later that I had my left arm in the wrong place, I guess it should have been on my hip. I am not properly schooled on pyramid making techniques. Of course Rogers was worse. When we asked him to get down and be on the bottom of the pyramid he got on his knees facing the wrong direction. We eventually got him fixed. I was very impressed that the boys were so willing to participate in our silliness. The two photographers are tired after our fun.

When we finally entered the museum it was set to close in an hour so we had to strategically decide what to see and do it very quickly. We headed up to see the Mona Lisa and a few other things and we got lost a few times. We even ran into other people from our group. By the middle of the museum my ankle was just totally wore out. I decided to leave my group and head back to the hotel by myself. I was glad I did as I was no longer feeling fun and I just wanted to put my leg up and ice my ankle.

I arrived back at the hotel without incident and conned the bartender out of some ice and went to my room to relax. Everyone else went back to see the Eiffel Tower lighted up at night. I don't feel that I missed much as Gretchen brought me back photos.

I felt like I had a very good first day in Paris.

Europe 2009 - Tuesday May 5th 2009

This day was a blur for me. I think that the pain in my ankle was catching up with me and I couldn't locate any photos taken this day.

This was our business visit day. We visited the Bank of England. We went through their museum and were shown a film on how inflation works. This topic was very interesting to me but I think that I zoned out during the film and I had a hard time engaging.

After the visit our bus took us to the Harrods area of London and we had an hour for lunch. We wondered around for a bit but it was hard to find a place that we all agreed on for lunch. We ended up eating in a big shop that had several different small shops. I think I had a salad and a some sort of weird local pop.

After lunch we wondered down the street and found a local coffee shop. We sat in there until it was time to meet the bus. While we were there Gretchen made friends with this old local man who ended up giving her several small gifts. These gifts included a rose, perfume samples and lotion. It was funny.

Our next stop was a business visit to a brewery. I was in excruciating pain so I decided to stay on the bus and rest. I tried to read but I ended up lying on the back seat and taking a short nap. The bus driver wondered on and off of the bus during this two hours and we had some dialog. He showed me how the bus company tracks his driving with this little card that he inputs into the bus and it tracks his time and speed. He also told me a bit of his dissatisfaction with working and his company. I guess work dissatisfaction transcends the world.

After the tour we went back to the hotel and Naph and I decided to eat dinner in the pub. There was a football (soccer) game on TV and the pub was packed and noisy. Every now and then a big cheer would go through the room.

I felt that it was a wasted day for me as I was unable to concentrate all day.

This photo was from Monday but I just found it on Gretchen's Facebook page.

Europe 2009 - Monday May 4th 2009

Monday, May 4th 2009

My second day in London started off on a very good note. Naph, Gretchen and I decided to go for a morning walk in this little park that was a block from the hotel. We all got dressed in our athletic gear and headed off to the park. Gretchen is super athletic so she wanted to go for a run, while she was running, Naph and I took a leisurely stroll through the park. We had great conversation and he would occasionally walk and do leg squats while we were talking. Gretchen lapped us several times and we eventually gave up and sat on a park bench engrossed our conversation while Gretchen finished her workout. I am not sure if this was considered "encouragement" or not.

After we had breakfast and got dressed for the day we headed off to the British Museum for a quick hour visit. We were able to see some of their highlights and the most notable was the Rosetta Stone. I kept us on a strict time line and after our hour we started walking towards the tube. We all were in need of a beverage and snack so so we stopped in this quaint little coffee shop. When we finished we again headed toward the nearest tube and then splat.

I had fallen down on the cobblestone sidewalk. I let out a huge scream and I found myself lying on my right arm with my left ankle in extreme pain. Gretchen and Naph immediately came to my aid and started probing my ankle to determine if it was broken. I sat on the sidewalk for a few moments stunned that this had happened to me. I got up and was happy to discover that I could still walk. We hobbled forward and I tried to decide if I should go back to the hotel or continue on our day. With encouragement from my friends and Motrin I decided to say FU to the pain and we continued our journey.

We decided to head off to the Knotting Hill section of London to visit a Winston Churchill museum. We got off of the tube and started wondering around looking for it. We kept consulting the map but the museum was nowhere to be seen. We ended up at another large park and we saw a cute boy playing soccer. Gretchen wanted to get a photo with a local boy, so we walked over to him and tried to make friends. He was young and very muscular. We said Hi and found out that his name was Edwardo and he was from Brazil. The local boy we approach turns out to be a tourist. Just our luck! We pose and take a couple photos of him. As we were posing with the soccer ball I grab on to his muscular arm when I almost fall over. Naph was very impressed over my groping of this boy.

We say our goodbyes and head out to find the museum. We start to walk up and down these very lovely streets that have very nice buildings. We encounter an older local man who has lived on the street for the last thirty years and he has never heard of the Winston Churchill museum. We realize that we are going to have to give up soon. We try one more avenue. We spy a small hotel and decide to step inside see if they have any information. After a fifteen minute discussion and Internet search we left with no more answers and decided to give up. This was very difficult for me as I like to accomplish what I set out to do.

We couldn't resist taking a photo of this storefront.

It was time to eat again so we stopped by the local McDonald's and grabbed some fatty but tasty lunch. While I was waiting in line for my food a local women asks me if I know how many zeros are in one million. I am sad to say with my fancy accounting degree and MBA it took me three tries to get it right. FYI, there are six zeros.

Our next destination was to visit the inside of Westminster Abbey. We caught the next tube and headed in that direction. We arrived and wondered around for a bit and found the church at 4pm. As we got closer to the sign we realized that the church closed at 3:30pm. I was so disappointed as I really wanted to see the inside. A passerby said that we could go inside if we wanted to pray so I went up to the guard and asked him if we could go inside to pray. He told me that the next church service started at five pm. We were denied! We did feel a bit guilty trying to lie to get inside of the church as we had no intention of praying.
We decided to give up for the day and head back to the hotel. I was in a great deal of pain and I was over it. We got back on the tube and traveled to our exit. I am sad to say we got lost on the walk back to the hotel. My ankle was throbbing but I think that we took a two mile detour. It was very annoying to get lost at that time.

When we finally arrived back we took a half hour rest period and went to dinner with some of our new traveling friends, Marcus and Jason. We ended up at a French restaurant and found many of our other traveling companions eating in the same restaurant. We had a lovely dinner and great conversations. We headed back to the hotel and ordered some drinks at the hotel bar. I thought alcohol would help dull my ankle pain. It did! But, we were soon kicked out of the bar as it was closing, so we smuggled out our glasses of beer and took them to Marcus and Jason's room to hang out for a while.

Even though I sprained my ankle and we missed out on two of our major destinations, I had a terrific day wondering about London.

Europe 2009 - Sunday May 3rd 2009

While in Europe I felt that every day was an adventure. Every day felt like a week back home. I always tried to pack in as much fun as I could.


Our group left Indianapolis on Saturday evening about six pm. It was nice to leave later in the day so I wasn't so stressed about leaving and I could take care of last minute items. As usual I didn't sleep on any part of the plane journey so I was very tired when we arrived in London on Sunday.


We were transported to our crappy hotel and were given an hour to freshen up and eat lunch. Since our room wasn't ready we decided to eat lunch at a pub attached to our hotel. I started out my London experience with the classic Fish and Chips with a pint of Stella beer. It was all tasty and delightful.


After our break the group headed out on a bus sightseeing tour of London. We had a very funny Scottish tour guide that often called out the back portion of the bus for talking and not paying attention. He was also obsessed with kittens and referenced them all through the tour. He was a very odd character.

This is the famous London Bridge. Do you see how the road is going directly through my head.



I couldn't resist trying to drink from the water fountains. BTW...it was fairly cold at this time and everyone else is shivering and huddling together for warmth and I am playing in the water.


This is GH and me in front of Buckingham Palace. We couldn't get any closer to the building.



This was a sculpture that was in the square outside of Buckingham palace. We were going for our inner foot fetish.

After our city tour we had a group dinner at the hotel and we had two guests come for a visit. They were a married couple from Finland and working in England. The lady was an exchange student in Indianapolis and had lived with the a mother and daughter that were in our group. They told us a bit about their jobs and positions as well as some of their work benefits. They get an incredible amount of vacation as well as a huge amount of maternity leave. I wish the US would emulate this bit of the European culture.

After dinner I went promptly to bed only to awake at 1 am and stay awake for the rest of the night. I wish that I didn't have such a hard time with the sleeping and jet lag when I travel. I have never been able to beat this on any of my international trips. O well...I just tried to get over it. Gretchen did wake up and talk to me for about an hour, but she went back to sleep so I laid there trying to sleep but I never actually managed it.

This concludes my first day in Europe...Look for upcoming posts for more fun stories of my travels.