The Redwood Highway

World Famous Paul Bunyan
World Famous Tour-Thru Tree
World Famous One Log house

We're on a big road trip now- just like when you were a kid. We actually saw all these world famous things in ONE DAY! We flew up to Medford Oregon (airport like a bus station) on Dec 22 (holiday crowds, lost luggage, squealing babies), picked up our rental car and immediately headed for California Highway 101, the Redwood Highway! We spent the first 2 nights in Trinidad, CA and I fell in love. It's a wonderful, picturesque, authentic fishing village. It's the first time I ever experienced massive redwood forests that come up to very edge of the sea. We stayed in a cabin among the trees, it drizzled the entire time and it was just perfect. We hiked for 2 days among the redwood forests, had dinner at the Seacoast Cafe right off the fishing pier, where the crabs were being hauled in right then. At night we were back in our little cabin by 7pm. Almost no other tourists around and trust me, they like it that way.

Next we drove up to Mendocino along Highway 1, hugging the coastline for hours. Mendocino is another charming little village in an unbelievably picturesque location but this one is all about the tourists. In summer it must be utter hell. But now, on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, it was quiet and friendly. Almost everything was closed, except for the B&B's. They were all full of people from San Francisco. And us. The Mendocino Headlands separate the town from the sea with dramatic cliffs and trails with incredible views. We stayed at the Sea Rock Inn, on the edge of town, overlooking the rocky coast. Lots of walking, chatting with other gay couples.

Now, Wednesday, we came down toward the wine country and I can see we're leaving paradise behind. Lots of traffic and strip malls and cranky people. We just checked into the Kenwood Inn and Spa and I'm guessing we won't be leaving here the rest of the day. It's pretty spectacular. We're killing a bottle of wine in front of the fireplace right now.

Whale Watching

Today I cancelled all my vital appointments and we took Diane whale watching from San Diego Bay. Neither Hector nor I had ever done this. Huge boat, but only 10 guests. It was quite cold out on the high seas and Di and I got a bit queasy. Saw no whales-- just lots of dolphins and sea lions. There were more guides than guests on board and by the end we were hiding from them so they'd leave us the hell alone.

Now I've taken her to the airport to go home and we have a dinner party to go to. I'm just tired from all this hosting and partying. I'm really looking forward to leaving on our driving trip on Saturday.

Hector's International boss called him last night at home. Ostensibly to personally let him know about upcoming changes but clearly she was fishing for info about his interest in working overseas full time. Actually, she is leaving the new company in 6 months and wants to start a consulting biz in the Arab Emirates. I think she was fishing about his interest in doing that. But I'm not sure that's his cup of tea, although it would certainly be mine.

Welcome to Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishers

Hector got his official welcome in the mail, so apparently he has a job. It was nothing but a form letter, full of legal mumbo jumbo. Today there was a company-wide conference call announcing new executive positions, everybody congratulating each other. But the good news for us is that the new president wants to do an international expansion to spread the business worldwide. (This is Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, Inc-- not George Bush) Like the sound of that. Maybe we'll be going somewhere after all.

UCSD Library

And now I'm a college student, yet again. I enrolled at Univ of Cal at San Diego Ext. for their TESOL (Teaching English to Students of Other Languages) Certificate Program. I begin Jan 15 and it should take about 6 months. So if we really do get to move out of the country I should be able to teach English. The first thing I'll teach them is to say nuclear instead of nucular.

Wait A Minute Mr Postman

Al and Marc from London paid us a surprise visit. Since Al lived here 7 years ago before he became a Eurogay, he wanted to show S California to Marc, a Eurogay from birth. We dragged them to several Xmas parties and they continued their pub crawls into the night. The verdict is that bar life in San Diego isn't what it once was. Listening to them talking about London, their plans to move to Spain etc really, really puts a fire under us. I wanna go. go. go.

We're having cold and rain. Most unusual. More parties the next 2 weeks to contend with, then we get the hell out at last.

Hector finds out this week, via mail, whether he has a job with the new owner of the company, who is a direct competitor. I'm watching for the mailman even as I write this.

Full-on Christmas. The tree is up and the carols are wailing. At least I have a litle insulation since Hector does virtually all the gift shopping and wrapping. The malls are already hell.

Our neighborhood is all torn up with termite repairs. The association is going house to house replacing rotten wood. We're last on the list. The young couple who was renting next door have moved and we've been fearful of another house full of college kids moving in but the owner, Ernie, tells me he's going to rent to "two women" who have an 8 year old daughter. Sounds like Heather has two mommies.

Hector and I are still discussing our desire to relocate. We have to wait to hear how it all turns out with the sale of his company. No one is going to know anything about their jobs until right before Christmas so speculation is rampant. Every day Hector hears another wacky story from a co-worker. I don't really care where we go I'm just ready to do something different. The fantasy, of course, is to move to a different country but I'd gladly move to another city (within certain parameters) in the US. Here's my wish list in order of preference:
Europe or "over there" somewhere.
Central America
New York City
Chicago
Santa Fe
South America

New Mexico

Hector had a little conference in Albuquerque but really it was an excuse to get our needed Marriott points for the year and to visit Santa Fe. I couldn’t tell you what the conference was even about. We stayed at the Marriott Pyramid North. That name may sound promising but really it’s just one of those 1970’s hotels that have an indoor atrium that goes up ten floors and some tacky fountains and things. It’s in dire need of a remodel. We had a cave-like suite with battered furniture.

Albuquerque has a nice little historic district, with a plaza and some cool old buildings around it. Nothing like Santa Fe, of course. We drove up and had a few meals there, took a hike in the Santa Fe National Forest and drove around looking at gorgeous houses we can’t afford. We still haven’t given up on our fantasy to live there some day.

We saw Kent and Bob last night. They are well, fit and slim (bastards). And busy as usual. We all had dinner at a restaurant named Trattoria Nostrani and just as we were lamenting that we hadn’t seen any celebrities this trip, as we normally do, in walked Jeremy Irons. He sat alone, dressed like a homeless person, and had dinner reading a magazine. Nobody knew what he was doing in Santa Fe but clearly he wasn't hiding.

Hector and I, in our shallow way, collect our celebrity sightings. The best are at restaurants because it's something a bit more than just passing them in the street. My all time fave is dinner with Paul McCartney and Heather Mills at Kampa Park in Prague.

Home from Puerto Rico

We left Rincon on Saturday and not a moment too soon! By Friday the place was filling up with--of all things-- tourists! At least we had a couple of days of solitude. I barely got out of the water the entire time and by Friday afternoon was feeling a little waterlogged and parboiled.

We drove back to San Juan on a different route, through Ponce on the Southern Coast. The landscape was very different. A lot like California with green rolling hills instead of the lush jungle of the Northern Coast. Checked back into our Marriott for one night and believe it or not we went to the local mall to see a movie-- Lions for Lambs. It was good. But the Spanish subtitles were a bit distracting, and the other viewers were a rowdy bunch. Lots of cell phone talking, bags rustling, people coming and going. I didn't do my usual huffing, puffing and throwing dirty looks because we were most definitely in the minority.

Now on the way home, business class San Juan to LA (7 1/2 hours) but we're in an old American Airlines 757 bucket so there's no glamour. Except that sitting in the seat behind me is a pop star named Nick Lachey and he and his girlfriend are both very pretty, in that overdone Hollywood way.

We're home for one day then we leave again for Albuquerque on Tuesday. This is one of my favorite things to to do: take a long trip, then come home for a day or so then take off again. It's like a little vacation from vacationing. I can do laundry, sleep in my bed, check the mail, but I don't really have to let anyone know I'm here.

Here's Where I Am, Where Are You?

In lovely Puerto Rico now. We're basically recreating the trip we made here at Christmas of 2005 (?) but this time with Mark and Arturo in tow. We spent 4 days in San Juan, lots of walking, eating, gambling at the hotel casinos, splashing in the surf. We took a hike one day in the Bosque National Forest, known as El Junque. It's a rainforest and very beautiful. And wet. Lots of waterfalls, huge dripping ferns, noisy animal life.

Now they have gone home and Hector and I have come to Rincon, on the western Caribbean coast, to a nice little beach hotel (see foto) with spectacular views and a gorgeous warm surf to play in. We came at the right time of year because the place is pretty quiet and we got a better deal this time than before at Christmas. Maybe 25 people here at most. The poor employees are bored to distraction.

We just took a drive into "town" to buy some water and alcohol and, God, is it poor. The grocery store looked like something in Communist Russia, with empty shelves and a few sickly vegetables. No shortage of alcohol, naturally.

One more day then back to San Juan for a night and home again.

The fires are mostly out now, the air is clear, the millionaires have all gone back to what's left of their homes. Hector and I fled for a few days to Palm Desert to stay at the JW Marriott there.

Before the fires we went for a few days to Portland, which I keep hearing is the new West Coast in place. Well, thank you, but I'll stay in Southern California. Oh, there's lots of nightlife and good restaurants. Art galleries, shopping, music venues. And they have better mountans than we do.

In fact, we took off one day to hike in Mt Hood National Forest. We drove for hours and the road kept getting smaller until finally it was about 4 feet wide and just dirt. So we got out, admired the view for a bit but then we began to notice that the ground was covered in little colored plastic tubes. Everywhere. Then it hit us. Shotgun shells. Thousands of them. As we looked around more we saw old beer bottles, condom wrappers, potato chip bags, all the signs of... the locals. I immediately thought of Deliverance. We had not passed a soul for many miles.

We couldn't find our trail so we just roamed around a bit, waiting for Freddy Kruger to jump out but he never did. As we left we did pass a pickup with a couple of hillbillies in it-- no doubt searching for us.

Back in town, I explored the Portland Japanese Garden while Hector worked. It's gorgeous, laid out on 5 hillside acres. We had some good food, did a lot of walking. Had dinner one night with Tere and Martin, in from LA for work.

Now, this week, I'm getting ready to leave for Puerto Rico. Mark, Arturo and I will meet Hector there on Saturday. We're staying a week, hurricanes be damned.

Too Darn Hot

No, this is not Kuwait after Saddam Hussein got finished with it. It's Southern California on fire and I'm in there somewhere. Things are not as bad as 4 years ago but I still have my box of valuables next to the front door in case of an evacuation order.



Just heard on the news that the relative humidity is between 0%-1%. About like the Sahara, except that it's raining ashes.

Home Sweet Home

We made it back home, upgraded all the way, thank you. No nasty immigration officers, no cancelled flights, no lost luggage. In short, a real travel success story.

The weather in San Diego when we left was hell but now it’s gorgeous and balmy, the days are shorter, and today we finalized our Christmas travel plans. We’re doing a driving tour of the Northern California coastline: Redwood forests, seaside spas, the wine country, and wrapping it up with a couple of nights in San Francisco.

And in March I’m meeting Hector in Istanbul for a week, then in May we’re doing an exploratory visit to Tuscany in search of places we might want to live. Yippee.

Bye Bye Brazil

Today is our last day in Sao Paulo. We have to check out of the hotel at 2pm but the flight doesn’t leave until 10pm so the luggage and I are in weird travel limbo while Hector works. Like most South American hotels the staff here is very helpful so I can hang out in the Executive lounge all afternoon and even take a shower before our flight if I want. So far, we have not been upgraded to business class and I’m uneasy. It’s a long way home in coach.

I can’t say I’d rush back to Sao Paulo but it’s been a nice visit. Of course, the locals are so eager for us to be impressed and they are rightly proud of their restaurants. They have none of that American shame about eating meat. At a restaurant yesterday we were sitting near an attractive young woman in her twenties and she ordered a filet mignon for lunch. I tried to imagine that happening in Southern California and burst out laughing.

Bom Dia from Sao Paulo

Yes, this is the view no matter which direction one looks so it's best not to look around. Down at ground level things are much nicer. SP is a very clean city, we took the subway yesterday and it was absolutely spotless- far better than anywhere I've seen.

The Paulistas are quite friendly. English is not as common as I expected but by combining Spanish, English, Sign language and Head nodding one can get by. On paper, Portugese looks similar to Spanish but boy when it falls out of their mouths it's more like Vietnamese.

Our hotel (Renaissance by Marriott, of course) is in a very upscale neighborhood called Jardim, with lots of trendy shops and restaurants. Meat features very highly here in the restaurants. I've had a great chateaubriand (all to myself) and a couple of sirloins. This would be a great place to do the Atkins diet.

Hector's working this morning at a nearby school, then this afternoon we're going to a local fleamarket to ascertain what the locals think of as junk.

Palm Springs

We just got back from our annual week in Palm Springs, or rather, Palm Desert, next door. But we spent a good amount of time in PS, which is more festive and definitely gayer, in every sense of the word. We went hiking one day in Indian Canyons, which has beautiful natural palm oases, saw a couple of movies, baked by the pool in the 112 degree heat, observed the locals (all of whom are 90 plus years old and also spend a lot of time baking themselves). It was very relaxing. We also celebrated our 10th anniversary and my 52nd BD.

I've been selected to write a weekly blog about travel tips for an online resource called onlineorganizing.com. I start in a couple of months so I better get busy and make up some stuff. No money involved, just the international recognition and deep sense of self-worth.

Summer Reads

Don't be alarmed, I'm not becoming a book critic, I'm not smart enough, though that hasn't stopped me with movies. But even though I've complained about the crappy summer movies, it has been a good summer for reads.






The Night Watch

It's World War II in England and lesbians are taking over. No, it's a story about a group of women whose lives intersect as do their war jobs in London. Great period detail, lots of surprises.


Gone With The Windsors
The cover makes it look sort of dry, but it's really quite funny. It's in the form of the diary of a fictional friend of Wallis Simpson as she recounts the affair that brought down the monarchy. Lots of name dropping, grand parties, scathing remarks. According to this he was a dimwit and she was a harridan, no big surprise.





A Share in Death

Abandoned because it was too stupid to continue. Murder at a time-share. If only.

Suite Francaise

More World War II, this time in France. It begins by following several families as they flee Paris as the Germans invade and ends with the tale of a love affair between a French woman and the German soldier assigned to be her boarder. The author, Irene Nemirovsky, was a Jewish writer living in France until she was taken to Auschwitz, where she died. Bleak story.

Middlesex

This was a great read. Oddly, the copy I bought doesn't say Oprah's Book Club on it, it says Winner of the Pulitzer Prize. I didn't know both could happen at the same time. It's a family epic, following the Stephanides family from Greece through several generations as they end up in Grosse Point, Michigan. The herione, Calliope, is an undiagnosed hermaphrodite and along the way she discovers and accepts the truth about herself.

Harry Potter

Bye-bye Harry. I really have a hard time accepting that there's no more. As with all of the books, it's overwritten, because who is going to tell JK Rowling to take out that bit please. But there's lots of tension and excitement. Of course, there's the final big showdown with Lord Voldemort. Ralph Fiennes is going to get several weeks work out of it when they do the movie. And contrary to rumor, no one particularly important gets killed here, Dumbledore died in the last one. But I salute JK Rowling for giving kids (and me) some good books to read. I had good books as a kid and it made me want to keep reading.

Summer Movies

Overall, this was a pretty unexciting summer for movies but fortunately I got past the real stinkers early. These I enjoyed.

Harry Potter & the Order of the Phoenix

They sure grow up fast, don't they? Harry is quite the young man now, and if you've seen any of the racier photos from his West End production of Equus, you know I'm right. If you have stayed a faithful Harry Potter fan, as I have, then this one is quite enjoyable. It's got all those rich production values and a wonderful cast as always. Imelda Staunton steals the show as Dolores Umbridge, the tight-assed new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher at Hogwarts. But now that I have finished reading the final Potter book [no one important dies, almost everyone lives happily ever after] my Hogwarts fever has abated a little and I need a Potter break.

Hairspray

I'm not sure why it was necessary to remake this movie but the songs are a lot of fun. I prefer John Waters' sick humor, though, to this scrubbed-up version. John Travolta is NOT good as Edna Turnblad. He just isn't clever enough. And poor Michelle Pfeiffer needs a good nights sleep and a hearty meal-she looks like the mummy of Hatshetsup. Queen Latifah is good as Motormouth Maybelle and Allison Janney is funny as Prudy Pingleton. If you need to go to the bathroom, leave during the scene between Michele Pfeiffer and Chris Walken in the magic store.


Ratatouille

Very cute, wonderful animation. Pixar beats Disney all to hell. Great scenes of Paris, and lots of fun French caricatures. It's about this French rat who dreams of becoming a chef... and... just go see it.

Sunshine

I'm still not sure what to make of this. I have to say I really enjoyed watching it, even though it got pretty fucking silly toward the end, with a monster on board the ship and our hero, Cilian Murphy, riding the back of a bomb into the sun, just like Slim Pickens in Dr Strangelove. But most of the time it's an engrossing sci-fi on board a cool spaceship with that interesting, just-took-a-Seconol feel of the first Alien. It seems the sun is slowly burning out so a group of astronauts are taking a big bomb up there to try to explode a new star out of it to save mankind. Gee, it sounds silly when I say it.

Las Vegas

Love



Citycenter Complex


Just to rest from our strenuous trip to NYC with kids in tow, Hector and I drove over to Vegas on Sunday the 15th. We got a good rate at Bellagio ($149 a night with an extra $50 upgrade for a lake view) and Vegas was the quietest I have seen it in years. All the local workers said it's always pretty quiet this time of year, but that usually just means 95% capacity as opposed to 100%.

When we drove in it was 109 degrees but I love that baking desert heat. We had a low-key few days by the pool, in the spa, ate at Olives and Noodles, I got a professional shave at the salon, we saw LOVE at the Mirage. It was a very fun show, this is the 6th or 7th Cirque du Soleil show in Vegas now and we've seen them all. They're very entertaining but they all tend to have pretty much the same expensive look, the same acrobatics, the same exorbitant ticket prices. I have to say, though, that the sound system was absolutely superb and the very best part was hearing the Beatles so loud and clear.

I kept myself on a tight gambling budget so I didn't really lose much. I wandered around, looking at all the changes. Wynn is building a 2nd tower, The Venetian is doubling its size, The Aladdin is gone and is now the Planet Hollywood Hotel. Serious work has begun on the Citycenter complex, next door to Bellagio. So I guess Vegas is still booming. There were a lot more foreigners this time: the standard Japanese of course, English, German, Arab. I like that.

New York

All-American Vanessa & Carlos at Battery Park



Eating NY Pizza with Uncle Steve (notice bruise on Carlos' left cheek where his Uncle Steve kicked him in the head on the trampoline 3 days previously)

New York

All of us made it back alive after the trip to NYC. There was no doubt about me and Hector but I wasn't sure about the kids. Actually, we all had a great time. We flew to Cincinnati where we spent the night (my first visit to this very middle American city), picked up the kids, flew in to La Guardia and were hammered by the heat the instant we stepped out of the airport. Remember that scene in Ab Fab when the girls go to Morocco? They've been boozing it up on the plane and the instant they step out into the heat, they both pass out.

Here's what we did: Statue of Liberty (the days are over when you can climb to the crown), Central Park featuring Hot Dogs and Ice Cream, Museum of Natural History, Times Square (countless times), shopped for junk in Chinatown, Ground Zero viewing (very uninteresting, don't do it), Double decker bus tour, we saw Harry Potter when it opened, went shopping at FAO Schwartz, Apple Store, Bloomingdales, saw Blue Man Group, had room service (amazing the mileage we got out of that) and a lot of aimless walking designed to wear down their little resistance quotients so they'd go right to sleep.

It took a couple of days to figure out that if you give a kid a soda, they go fucking nuts for about 2 hours, needless to say we clamped down quick. They were dying to ride the subway but the one day we did it there was a lunatic preaching on our car so they pleaded for taxis after that. And regardless of your feelings toward Starbucks, I thank God for them. At last, in New York there is someplace to pee every block.

I think I enjoyed the trip to the Statue of Liberty best. The ferry ride was fun, and I love all that old time Americana. Overall, a fun trip. We flew out on Friday, dropped the kids back home and continued on home to San Diego to find that all our luggage was scattered all over the country. It took 24 hours to reel it all in.

I Heart New York

Hector and I are taking his niece and nephew to New York for a few days. This was their choice after we offered to take them someplace fun this summer. How did a 9 and 11-year-old in Kentucky get the idea to go to Manhattan? It will be fun to see their reaction to the big city.

I guess we'll take them to all the usual stuff: Harlem, the Midtown Baths, Hell's Kitchen.

Happy 4th of July

In a move that surprised no one on the face of the earth, Monday George Bush commuted the sentence of old pal Lewis "Scooter" Libby, convicted of lying and obstructing justice in a CIA-leak case. This is not exactly the same as a complete pardon, but when asked if that might eventually happen, Bush replied, "I rule nothing in or nothing out."

In more patriotic news, Minnesota has passed a law stating that flags sold in the state have to be US-made but they stopped short of requiring all flag-holders to be Christian.

And locally there is still no agreement in talks between grocery store chains and union workers. I fear a strike is impending.

The grocery workers strike in 2003 went on for nearly 5 months and one risked harrassment if one went through the picket line to purchase some turkey sausage or shampoo/conditioner.

Seasons Greetings

We're expecting a really terrible "fire season" this year. May 1st signalled the end of the official rain season and the beginning of fire season, although there's usually very little difference.

Flying into San Diego it's completely brown, as we're having the driest 2-year period in a century. Already, areas around Julian are burning, even though I'm surprised there's anything left to burn after the fires there a few years ago. People forget that we're in a desert, even though we are sitting right on the ocean.

And the really sad thing is that most of the time the authorities find out later that these really big fires were intentionally set, sometimes by pyromaniac firemen. Figure that one out.

God Save the BBC

My deepest, most fervent desire is not to be rich and famous, nor is it to retire to a gorgeous tropical island. I don't care about being young forever. What I really really want is to move to St. Mary Mead and become Miss Marple. Even as a kid I fantasized about solving murder mysteries and I tortured generations of neighborhood kids by forcing them to be in my detective squads.

So thank God for the English- they really know how to put together a good murder.

Midsomer Murders

Actually, this is little more than an English version of Murder She Wrote. It's pretty tame and often downright silly. But it's got great locations- all those little villages in the fictional county of Midsomer, and a much more interesting cast. John Nettles as Inspector Barnaby. He always has a good looking sergeant as his assistant. There must be about 50 episodes by now, adding up to hundreds of corpses.

Inspector Lynley

These mysteries are dark and realistic, from the books by American author Elizabeth George. Thomas Lynley is an aristocrat as well as a detective and his assistant, Barbara Havers, is from a working class background. This leads to lots of tension and snotty remarks using the word posh. My only complaint is that ex-wife of his. She needs to be one of the murder victims.

Foyle's War

Oh boy, is this good! It takes place during World War II and it perfectly captures the mood of the time. Hastings is a small coastal town, apparently full of smugglers and Nazi sympathizers and black marketeers. Inspector Foyle is quiet and retiring but don't let that fool you. He always, always catches the murderer. Honeysuckle Weeks is great as his nosy driver, Samantha.

Prime Suspect

What can I say? This is the best of the best. There will never be another Jane Tennyson, nor another Helen Mirren. She's an alcoholic, a terrible daughter, she's unashamedly ambitious, and she'll claw your eyes out if you get in her way. (Jane Tennyson, not Helen Mirren.) The writing and acting are without fail top-notch.

The Summer Blockbusters

Shrek 3


I always have a good time with Shrek. It's cleverly written. But like all the blockbusters this year, those same old jokes are getting a bit tired. And I honestly could not remember whether I had seen Shrek 2 or not.

Spider-Man 3

What a putrid excuse for a movie this is! We made it through an hour but just couldn't take any further punishment. So we left, which is almost unheard of for Hector. I'm so sick of that phony Toby Maguire I could puke!

Pirates of the Caribbean

Another stinker but at least it had a lot of fun action sequences. But I really really hope they're done with this one. I have to say my favorite part of the movie was the much-anticipated appearance by zombie Keith Richards. It's so jarring to see non-actors in movies because they stick out like sore thumbs. It's as if you're completely involved in a very serious movie and suddenly your Mom walks onscreen.

Patagonia

Hector is all hot to go to Patagonia. He's been talking it up for several years. I really like the theory of going because it is gorgeous. But every time I read anything about it there is lots of talk like: "breathtaking views"... "narrow trails leading up to Alpine peaks"... "we begin our ascent"... and very worst of all... "as we cross the suspension bridge"...

I only barely survived Machu Picchu without heart failure. For those who don't know the joys of vertigo or acrophobia then let me tell you that just reading about high places can work up a good sweat. And during the opening sequence of Casino Royale, my sphincter turned to steel.

Normally, when Hector mentions Patagonia I quickly counter with "or what about Morocco" or "let's do Turkey this year and Patagonia next year." But sooner or later I'm going to run out of diversionary tactics.

AMSTERDAM & LONDON

Amsterdam













Steve and Hector in Amsterdam
















Amsterdam















Nephew Pollard, Steve, Al, Hector at dinner in London




After Bruges we had another easy train ride to Amsterdam. I really loved all this train travel. It's so easy and relaxing, compared to all the revolting crowds and security nonsense at airports. Anyway, we got there and immediately stepped into the seediest part of Amsterdam, which was a bit of a shock to the system after little storybook Bruges. But eventually we learned to steer clear of the hash house/ whore district as I am well past my hash days and the whorehouse days are yet to come. We enjoyed 2 days of long walks along the canals and took a day trip to Haarlem, which is really cute and charming, unlike it's little step-sister in New York. We met Kaj for dinner, who lives in San Diego and was in Amsterdam visiting her sister. Our Marriott, actually a Renaissance, was okay but hovering on the edge of the Red Light District. Not sure I'd stay there again. All that stuff is fun to see but it's full of stoned kids and crowds of tourists. It's a bit like Bourbon Street. The next morning it smells like vomit and piss.

Then we flew to London and checked into our wonderful Grosvenor House on Park Lane. The weather was perfect and Hyde Park was crammed with locals enjoying the sun. On Sunday we took the train to Hampton Court, one of the palaces where Henry VIII lived. It has beautiful gardens and tours of all the royal living quarters and kitchens. Bought some tourist crap there.

My nephew Pollard was in town for his band, Archive, to do a concert so we met him and our friends Al & Marc for dinner. Then on Monday night we went to Camden Lock to see the Archive concert. It was very fun. Loved the music and went backstage to meet the band, just like groupies. The venue was small and crowded and smoky. Both Hector and I were keeping an eyeball on the nearest exit. I was formulating the next day's headline: Band Member's Uncle Trampled in Nightclub Melee.

So Tuesday we got up, took an hour and a half ride to the airport, got our seats in Biz Class and now we're home. We're still fantasizing about living somewhere in Europe.

BRUGES

Bruges Canal




















At the Pand Hotel

















Afternoon Latte

















Yet another postcard view




Oh My God, I can't believe this place! For years everyone has been telling me, "Oh you have to see Bruges, it's just wonderful!" So Hector and I caught the high-speed train from Paris and 2 hours later we arrived in Bruges, Belgium. After we got checked into our adorable hotel, The Pand, we went out for a walk and I just literally was dumbfounded. It IS the most picturesque place I've ever seen.

Centuries ago it was a very prosperous port city but as the canal began to silt up it sort of faded away and has remained unchanged. Now it's all about tourism and the place is one big postcard. Gorgeous old buildings, cobbled streets, winding canals, large parks and millions of tourists. While we were there it was some kind of 3 day weekend in Europe and the place was crawling with middle-class visitors from the UK (rowdy), Netherlands (fat), Germany (loud) and Belgium (fatter). It was fun. We just wandered and got lost and discovered great little cafes and wine bars. Every resident seemed to speak 6 languages.

We spent a lot of the time doing what most of the other tourists were undoubtedly doing: fantasizing about living in Bruges. We found our perfect little house for sale and decided what kind of cafe we would open. I guess I better start learning some more languages.

At 5pm on Monday the whole place went dead quiet as the tourists left, the shopkeepers went home, the canal boats stopped. It was like closing time at Disneyland. But we got to wander around by ourselves and enjoy the peace.

PARIS

Mark, Steve, Arturo at the Tuileries

Arturo & Mark being tourists

lunch in Montmartre

Okay, Paris, I forgive you. The first time I was in Paris, Christmas 1998 with Hector, it was so cold I wished I was dead. We were staying in Paco & Franck's empty little studio above their cafe and I was sick with a cold. All I remember is the all-night rumble of the Metro. The second time we went through, in 2001, Hector developed pneumonia in Prague and was so ill by the time we got to Paris we thought he would die. He was literally unconcious the whole time while I was so stressed I was hardly in the mood for the City of Lights.

So finally, with Mark & Arturo, this trip was just great. Our wonderful hotel, the Westminster, was located a block off the Place Vendome. How could you get a better location than that? We upgraded to a suite and had a gorgeous room with a balcony that overlooked Rue de la Paix with Cartier, Tiffany, Van Cleef & Arpels below. The four of us walked all over the place, spent a day at Versailles, hit the Louvre and the Musee D'Orsay. We had a great dinner at Paco & Franck's new restaurant, Le Reminet, on the Left Bank. Old friends Tom & Yoshi hosted us for an over-the-top French dinner (cooked by Mark) one night in their 18th century apartment right off the Champs Elysee.

For a whole week we shopped, we drank gallons of wine, we ate tons of bistro food and pastries, walked for miles and miles and, believe it if you can, even the locals seemed happy to have us.

Dinner at Tom & Yoshi's flat

It was such a pleasure to have some non-U.S. news to pay attention to. Since France has a new President there was lots of talk about Sarkozy but no riots, alas. People I talked to seemed willing to wait and see... Paco and Franck, as business owners, are disgusted by the atmosphere of entitlement among French workers. They basically said you can't get French people to work, so they hire mostly foreigners in their restaurants. EVEN BIGGER NEWS: Paris is going smoke-free later this year. Smoking will be prohibited in bars and restaurants. Never thought I'd live to see it!