Houston - Day 1 of..............

ummmmm, back in Houston. over the last 20 days, most of the time i was waking up early (before 8:00am) only if i was rushing to an early museum opening, beating the queue at some popular tourist attraction, trying to meet a tour group, or rushing to catch a flight...but today, i have to wake up early, to go to work! that's right, today i head back into the real world - the rush of the American work world, no extended hour breaks for coffee, no afternoon siestas, nothing!

i still owe my blog a final post from Madrid and a quick splash on my one night stand with the city of London (rode the London Eye, Big Ben, and saw the Tower Bridge...that's about it) during my overnight layover. maybe i will get that up in the next few days. if you kept up with the blog over the past few weeks, thank you! it was nice to know some people were keeping up with my travels back home and i really enjoyed writing it all every few days.

that's all for now! gotta go put on that work suit and head to the office....

-zack! the working man

Madrid - Day #2 - "pizza", the Apple Store Madrid, and the green part of Madrid...the beautiful parks

I made my way back into the city on the Metro and headed to an area with a lot of retail shops and retaurants. I actually had some Italian food, though it had its own Spanish flare to it. I had a "pepperoni" pizza, where the "pepperonis" i believe were actually applied to the pizza after it exited the oven and were similar to the "chorizo" (sausage) that you get at most Tapas bars. Still quite a good pizza.

Just after leaving the restaurant, I noticed the local Apple Store! Being the apple dork I am, I popped in and checked out the recently released new iMacs and Macbooks - unfortunately, the new "Magic Mouse" was not on display, so I will have to wait until I return to the States to play with that new gizmo.

I kept wandering through this area until I found myself at one of the larger park areas that included El Parque del Oeste and El Parque de Campo (maybe one more too, they were all right next to each other). It was such a nice, breezy and what felt like summer day (temps in the 60's to 70's degrees F) that spending some weekend time in the parks was very relaxing and nice. They were Spanish people napping, picknicking, and strolling all around, as this is a typical weekend activity for most Spaniards - (Americans most of the time spend it on the sofa in front of the TV).

During my stroll I saw a monument from 2nd century B.C. Egypt (Temple of Debod -given as a gift by the Egyptians to Spain for their help in the 1960's in saving some of their temples), which was pretty interesting, considering how large and heavy it looked to move so far a distance.

After another 5 - 10 minute walk in the park, I got to see Spain's best rose garden, with dozens and dozens of different rose varieties, all of which were in bloom since the temperatures were still very nice and mild. They have a competition here annually to decide on the most beautiful rose variety - chosen by the people.

The flowers, a stone female nude statue, and the small fountain in the garden all made excellent photo subjects to appease my snap-happy nature, so I spent quite a bit of time in the garden.

Just another five minutes walk and I got to the Teleferico, a cable car that took you on a round trip, 30-minute ride over Madrid's largest park, El Parque de Campo. The views from the cars were fantastic!

You could see the entire city in a all directions, the Sierra mountains in the distance, and you could even reach your hand out of the car and take some candid shots of yourself! There was also an audio recording that detailed the sites you were passing as the ride took place...but it was in Spanish, leaving me to decipher myself as to what I was viewing.

Once I got back to the station where I originally departed, I heard a guy say real loud "DON"T CALL ME WHITE!". I had no idea if this was directed at me or someone else, but the guy just continued walking along as if nothing happened. I wasn't sure if he was Spanish and had just been called white, or what, but then I turned around and saw this graffiti, which is likely what he was referring to: Kind of pointless graffiti if you ask me...but I did take a photograph of it, and another guy read it aloud, so maybe the original "artist" got his wish.

-z!

Madrid Day #2 Photos:

Madrid - Day 2

Madrid - Day #2 - morning breakfast & "futbol" stadium tour

Day #2 in Madrid started with something I have come quite accustomed to here in Europe - a simple breakfast of a croissant with a spread of some sort (Nutella, Jam, Butter, or sometimes just plain) and a cup of coffee and juice. While the croissants were not nearly as good as the ones I picked up in France, they were still a bit better than what we have in the States, and they were provided free by the hostel along with the black coffee and juice, so I had no complaints. I really wish I could somehow have a fresh, warm, flaky croissant delivered to my house in Houston each morning - such a good start to the day!

Today, I decided to go take a tour of "El Estadio Santiago Benabeu", the futbol (soccer) stadium and home of Real Madrid (pronounced Ree-Al, meaning Royal). I really wish I could have taken in a game there - they actually played the night before I got into town and lost to AC Milan 2-3, and it was supposedly quite a match according to my dormmate Marcus from Australia.

They are the most succesful futbol club in the history of futbol, and they recently (2009) picked up some of the biggest names in the sport in Ronaldo and Kaka.

The tour was mainly self guided, leading you through designated points throughout the stadium including: the upper deck, the middle deck, the trophy room, and small history section, the locker room, the field boxes, the area where the players sit ready to enter the game, and the press room. As you will notice in the photo above of the field, they actually put articifial lighting on the grass that is shaded by the sun to make sure it continues to receive light nourishment and stays green, a practice I did not know stadiums ever undertook.

 

I managed to have a few people take my picture along the way at the other stops as well.

They also had an Adidas Real Madrid gift shop at the end of the tour where I picked up some new shorts, to add to my ever growing array of athletic shorts at home. It's only 11:30am, now what?....

-z!

Madrid - Full Day #1 - walking tour, art, and FLAMENCO!

I have likely mentioned this in another post, but I will reiterate it here - there is nothing better to do on your first day in a new city you have never visited than taking either a bike tour (Fat Tire Bike Tours if your city has it) or a walking tour. The prices are usually pretty reasonable, especially when you consider the wealth of information you learn in just 2 - 4 hours. After one of these tours, I usually know which sights I want to focus on and how much time to spend on each one. I took a walking tour in Madrid verus the bike tour because it worked with my schedule a bit better.

The tour began in Plaza Mayor and went down the main street stopping every few blocks for 10-15 minutes where we learned some history of Madrid. At one of the stops our guide mentioned that in our walk from the previous stop, he spotted no less than 4 pickpockets and to keep an eye on our belongings.

Side Note - pickpockets & cash
I will use this opportunity to say, I did not encounter any pickpockets (that I know of) and had nothing lifted from my body in my first 4 cities...hopefully my one night in London continues this luck. I actually didn't even use the money belt I brought as it really doesn't feel that comfortable unless you an old man with elastic pants who tucks his shirt in (doesn't work with Diesel jeans and a t-shirt). I did keep my wallet and camera in my front pockets the entire trip and I am really looking forward to returning to the states and putting it in the back where it belongs, so if you want to steal my wallet when i get back, that is where i keep it, so have at it! Another thing, I always did have quite a bit of hard cash on me at all times since it is rare places accept credit cards for small amounts / meals. In the States, there hardly is ever any money in in my wallet since the American way is just to use Check/Credit cards everywhere, which I am also looking forward to doing again soon.

...Madrid - Full Day #1 Continued
At the conclusion of our tour, it was about 4:45pm, leaving me 1 hr, 15 mins to visit the nearby Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum, and 2 hrs, 15 mins to visit the, also nearby, Prado Museum. By about day 15 of my trip, museum time was actually starting to bore me, so I decided to knock out both back to back. Even the lady at the Thyssen ticket museum told me "You only have an hour which is not enough time to see the full exhibit" - I finished in 45 minutes. No I didn't stare at each painting for a great length of time, but I took in the important paintings and since, unlike Paris, you could not take photos, I was able to breeze through the rooms with great speed. By the time I made it to the Prado Museum, it was actually free because it was so late in the day and it only had an hour left open. So day one, I completed not only the walking tour, but two of the three art museums. If there is one thing you should know about Spanish art, is its size - it is BIG! Compared to most of the works I observed at the Orsay and the Louvre in Paris, each piece in the Madrid museums was 2 - 4 times the size!

After my whirlwind of a day, I retreated back to the hostel, grabbing a quick bite along the way and was intending to spend the rest of my hight at the hostel, but on my way back I was flipping through my Madrid guide and noticed that the best Flamenco place in all of Madrid was actually located just 3 doors down from my hostel. Since the local futbol (soccer) club, Real Madrid, did not have a game scheduled during my stay, and bullfighting was done for the year (both activities I really wish I would have planned better around), I decided to take in a Flamenco show - one of the other Spanish unique entertainment events.

True to Spanish culture and their late hours, the show actually started at midnight. Luckily, I had made reservations as soon as I decided to go (around 8:00pm) because it was a full house. When I walked in, there were many small round tables arranged around a small raised wooden stage. My name "Zacharias - 1" was scribbled on a card and assigned to a table which I went and sat at. Luckily, I was seated next to 3 girls who were studying abroad and about the only other young people in the entire room. They were studying in Italy but were on break from school and were going to a few cities in the meantime - I still regret never studying abroad in college, what an opportunity missed! The show started and was about 1.5 hours with a short intermission, just enough time to grab another glass of sangria and use the restroom. The whole show was amazing and something I am really glad I decided to do as it turned about to be one of the cooler single events I did on my trip. You can check out the videos included in one of my previous posts if you are curious. That was it for my first full day in Madrid.

-¡zacharias!

Madrid Day #1 Photos:

Madrid - Day 1

Madrid - Night 1 - Cat's Hostel

I got into town too late this day to catch any of the sights, so I mainly hung around the hostel. Of all of the hostels I stayed at, this one definately had the least amount of ameneties - no kitchen, no "ensuite" bathroom (it had community bathrooms and showers, glad I brought some flip flops), no individual lights for the beds (necessary because there are ALWAYS people sleeping at hostels at all hours of the day), and no power outlets to charge your camera and/or laptop. All that being said, it still definitely had cool vibes (thanks Kirk for the recommendation).

Cat's Hostel in Madrid is in an old converted palace (of what/of whom i'm not sure) complete with a beautiful stained glass roof, tiled walls, old wooden floors/staircases etc. It also had a basement they called "The Cave" that had a really cheap bar (1 litre of Sangria for 3,50 euro), chairs to hang out in, and music. People usually came down here at night to hang before going out to the bars or Pub Crawl, I never went on one of the pub crawls as I learned my lesson in Paris on that, but it was fun to have drinks with people down there before they went out. The average time people "go out on the town" in Madrid is 1:30am which is when the clubs start getting busy. I actually didn't visit a nightclub in Spain (something that I would like to do in the future) because I only had 3 full days in the city, and with so much to see, I didn't want to spend my days asleep or hungover. So back to the hostel, if you ever visit Madrid, I definately recommened Cat's Hostel - not the cleanest and not feature rich, but I think you meet way more people at these kind of hostels because people tend to hang out in the common areas versus retreating to their suites in their rooms.

-z!

Madrid Spain - not much to read, not much time

Sorry guys (if anyone is even reading this thing), I have not posted much from Madrid as I have been on the move almost the whole time while in Madrid, mainly because, the way my arrival and departures worked out, it really only gave me 3 full days in the city instead of my normal 4-5 I have had everywhere else. I also had to work through an airline strike situation which consumed the better part of this afternoon (you can read about the strike here) but luckily, after going to the airport and talking face to face with some people, I have a new flight and will still be returning to the United States soon.

I fly from Madrid to London (now on British Airways instead of Iberia airlines) at 2:00pm local time on Monday, and then depart the following day around 2:00pm for Houston, TX (direct flight with British Airways). I will have less than 24 hours in London but will try to at least see a few of the sights and snap a few photographs along the way.

As I mentioned earlier, I have been pretty busy in Madrid and have seen quite a bit here. My favorite two things about Madrid? All the beautiful park space they have here and TAPAS! I am convinced that Tapas and the Spanish way of eating is the only way to go. I wish the US could adopt this - so fun, so social, so delicioso! I also did one of the coolest things here on my whole trip which was attend a Flamenco Dance show. The #1 rated show in town is located just 3 doors down from my hostel, so I went there the second night and took in a show which was awesome! I haven't uploaded all my photos from Madrid, but I did upload some photographs (pretty dark and blurry, no flashes allowed) and videos from that night. When I get home, I will try and edit the video a little better to just show the highlights, but for now there are some slow parts included. Try to find the video where the dancers are really getting into it! They go crazy! A spontaneous commotion of clapping, tapping, and spinning. It was really fun.

Well, that's all I got for tonight, need to get some sleep so that I can wake up early and pack. Gonna be tought as I picked up a few items here in Madrid since it was towards the end of my trip. This might be my last post, but do not worry, Zack! Harris in the flesh will be making his return to the USA soon enough. Feed me Mexican Food (tex-mex please) now! HANGRY!

-Zack!

Flamenco Dance Show photos and videos:

Flamenco

Palace of Versailles (catch up post from 2 days ago)

hope you all enjoyed the Paris pictures in my previous post, if you didn't get a chance to check them out, make sure to scroll down and view them, you don't want to miss them! i did want to send out my Versailles pictures and take you through a little bit of that day.


i woke up early on Wednesday to take a hot shower at my hotel and get ready for what was about to ensue - an all day, rainy bike ride in cold temps to the palace of Versailles. I got to the Fat Tire Bike shop around 8:45am for the 9:00 trip, and there were only 4 other people there...and that is all that showed up. the Sunday bike ride had 26 people on it, but a lot of folks either decided to stay home or flat out didn't decide to sign up because of the 70-80% chance of rain...but luckily it was not yet raining as of 9:00am.


our tour guide Adam addressed our group of five and made the statement "as I look up at the [dark, black, gloomy] sky, I'm feeling good about today, I don't think it's gonna rain on us." it proceeded to start raining just 5 minutes after this optimistic statement and continued the rest of the day. i had worn a t-shirt, a long sleeved shirt, a jacket, a rain coat, and 2 pairs of gloves, but it was still pretty darn cold and miserable.

the trip is supposed to go something like this: bike from paris to the RER train station, load your bikes on the train and take a short 20 minute train ride out to Versailles. then bike another 20 minutes or so to the large Versailles marketplace to purchase goods for a picnic lunch in the Versailles Gardens later in the afternoon. we did all of that, only it was raining on us the entire time, not an all out drenching downpour, not a drizzle, but just a constant rain that never quit.


on our trip was a newly married couple (old guy married to a girl way to young for him, neither of them that attractive - AKA ugly, oddly matched couple) and a Dutch woman and her 12 year old daughter (i do not comment on the looks of moms and/or their underage daugthers). before entering the Versailles market, we were asked to take a vote - either eat in a Versailles cafe, or proceed with the normal tour and purchase goods for a picnic in the Gardens, as the two other groups really couldn't make up their mind (I was indifferent), our guide, Adam, decided we would picnic as normal. i proceeded immediately to the wine shop and purchased a full bottle of wine, then went and got the obligatory french baguette and some cheese from a fromagerie.

we were the ONLY people that actually were in the Gardens (except for one bad french jogger who passed) and we leaned up against some trees to try and shield us from some of the rain and to keep our asses dry from the soggy ground. i polished off over half of my bottle of wine (hey, i was trying to keep warm) and ate about 3/4 of my baguette. honestly, even though it was raining and i was freezing cold, who all can say that they had a picnic in the rain in the gardens of Versailles? pretty neat.

we then finished off the rest of what was to see around the gardens (the Hamlet, the king & queens apartments, etc) and then biked back to the famous Palace of Versailles to take in the sights of the glorious palace - gold everywhere, perfectly manicured gardens, perfectly squared-off trees, the Hall of Mirrors, dozens of chandeliers, etc. it was also nice to get inside and warm up. after the audioguide tour and about 1.5 - 2 hours, we were back on the bikes on our way home. the end.


-zack!


check out full pictures from my tour to Versailles below (complete with a few captions/comments):

Versailles Trip

The Paris Photo Albums - DISCLAIMER: lots of photographs, but well worth your time

my little Canon point-and-shoot camera defintely got put through its paces in Paris. really made me want a good digital SLR, but the simple fact is, i wouldn't have had near enough room for it on this trip, and my little pocket camera ended up taking some amazing shots that i was very happy with. i took well over 600+ photos while in Paris, which i deleted some of after review, and i tried to only post ones rated 6 and higher in the below albums, but as indecisive as i am, there are still tons of albums/photos to sort through. i did try to add captions/comments where i remembered what the structure was.

i tried to group them into some meaningful categories (Louvre, Eiffel Tower, etc) and once I get back to the states, i think i am going to make a highlight reel of all my favorite photos from the entire trip, but i simply don't want to take the time to figure that out at the moment here. I really like some of shots in the Eiffel Tower Album (my favorite photo subject thus far on the trip), some of the night shots at the Louvre are cool, and there a a bunch of neat photos of random things in the "General Photos" album. So grab a "Cafe au'lais", sit back and browse through the albums below. there are some real gems in each album, and i can't wait to get back home and blow some of them up for my house or office. let me know what you think!

-z!

Eiffel Tower

Louvre

Arc de Triomphe & Champs Elysees

Orsay Museum

Paris - General Photos

Paris - second roll

Paris - last night, last wash

Tonight is my last night in Paris and man have I done a lot here! Even with everything I have done, I know I have only scraped the surface of this wonderful city - you could spend a month here with no job and still be overwhelmed by how much there is to see and do. Today I took a day trip to the Palace of Versailles, which was quite a rainy affair (as expected). The picnic in the garden wasn't very pleasurable, that is, until I cracked open my bottle of wine! I bought a decent 12 euro bottle at the open market in Versailles and finished half of it on the tour and the other half in my hotel room earlier tonight.

Most of my night had been consumed with my least favorite vacation activity - doing laundry. I did most of it at the local laundromat (always one right around the corner and Europe) and then I came back to the room and even washed the clothes I was wearing, just to get every single bit clean so that I don't have to do laundry again the rest of the trip. Up next? Madrid for 4 nights and then 1 night in London before returning to the States. Now, to bed! I'm sleeping in!

Paris - checklist nearly complete

Sorry I have not had much time to update my blog these past few days. Paris just has so much to see and if you aren't out there in it the whole day, you could miss something. Yesterday I saw SO MUCH STUFF! The Moulin Rouge, Sacre Couer, Notre Dame, ate Amorinos Gelati...twice (thanks Kassie), the Orsay museum, the Rodin Museum (they have the sculpture "The Thinker"), the Arc de Triumphe, the Obelisque, the Tuileries Gardens, the Ile St. Louis, and a nightime trip up and down the Eiffel Tower...a rewarding but exhausting day to say the least. Today I am up early to wake up for my bike tour trip to the Palace of Versailles. We are going to take a train out there at 9:30, spend most of the day in Versailles, complete with biking most of the gardens (hard to see all of it without a bike so I'm glad I'm taking the tour), a tour of the palace, and a market picnic in the gardens! The only downer could be this 70% chance of rain...oh well, Berlin prepared me for rainy biking. Now I gotta finish this French energy drink, hop in the shower and get going! I will try to get some of my photos up here in the next few days...yesterday I took over 300!!!

Best,
Zack!

Paris - busy, camera batteries, and anti-rain dance request

about to head off on my third full day here in the city of lights. not much time right now for a proper update, but thought i would pop in for just a second and type a bit'o'words for ya. i have now been everywhere in the main-central part of the city, through both a night and day bike tour and also along a Seine river cruise. i also went to the Louvre, but my camera battery died just after a snap of the Mona Lisa, leaving me without a picture of the Ms. De Milo and her graceful (hot) figure (her face is kinda weird though). tomorrow i am taking an all-day bike tour and walking tour through the Palace of Versailles but it looks like the weather is going to turn quite wet starting tonight. gonna have to bundle up extra warm for that affair since my toes and fingers have been freezing over already. so far it has been cold, but at least sunny and dry during the day, but i guess all good things must come to an end.

right now i am heading out to the Montmarte area and the Sacre Coeur, which is supposed to have excellent views of the city. then i am moving from my hostel in this area into the Rue Cler area, really close to the Eiffel Tower for two nights in a hotel. should be pretty nice considering i might need to retreat there or to many of the nearby cafes once the weather turns wet. until next time...

-z!

Paris - my lateness finally bites me in the butt, but only a little

this morning i did sleep in a bit until about 9:30, but i think this is more than reasonable considering i stayed out until at least 3am last night. i showered and read a little of my paris book and then headed out to the Eiffel Tower area so that i could take the daytime Fat Tire Bike tour. i wasn't really keeping good track of the time and didn't end up leaving until about 10:30am to go catch this 11:00am starting tour. after 30 minutes of metro riding and a full sprint from the final metro station, i was 15 minutes late and the tour group was nowhere in sight! not only that, but I hadn't brought any materials, such as maps or books, so again, i really only knew what i had written down which is where the tour started. this turned out to be a blessing in disguise though because i just walked around the Eiffel Tower area while the sun was set perfectly behind the tower and got some really great "into the sun" shots of the tower! there was even a couple taking some wedding photos that i also shot which turned out to be a great photo with their shadows from the sun (see below):

i made the trek all the way back to the hostel, grabbing some croissants for breakfast on the way - delicious, so perfect, soft and flaky, better than the States' croissants. i also used this time that i was supposed to be on the tour to take care of something much more important actually, my laundry! a good thing because i had set out for this trip commando style (no underwear) this morning! probably not the smartest idea considering i would have been sitting on a bike seat for 4+ hours. all my laundry is now done, a task which really sucks to have to deal with on a trip, but i did get some reading done.

new plan for the day, catch the 7pm night bike tour tonight (includes a river cruise with free wine) and do the day tour tomorrow morning (no pub crawl for me tonight) - both trips with clean underwear and socks!

see some of my other shots from last night and this morning here:

Paris beginning

Paris - bit of a rumbly start, recovered with a pub crawl

the trip here on the high-speed train went flawlessly, though I am almost sad I paid for my ticket...it was not checked, not once! my bags were never searched, no one checked us on or off the train, kind of crazy for a trip that cost 110 Euro. anywho, on the train i had written down the exact information i needed to navigate on the Metro (pronounced "May-trockkkkkhhhhht {insert harsh spitting sound}") to my hostel. now i usually don't mind being lost in a city, or when there are troubles, but it is not convenient when you have just arrived to a city and you are burdened with your luggage, weighted down and not as mobile as you might like to be. where is this going? i will tell you.

when i arrived at the Nord train station, i was supposed to go directly to the "5 line" metro and ride that a few stops to my hotel. easy right? instead this is what I arrived at:

right next to this sign, was the entire "5 line" entrance gated shut! there were attendants that were handing out flyers (all in french) that were somehow supposed to help you. being that i had only written the specific directions assuming all rail lines were open, i really couldn't tell what i needed to do. long story short, what should have taken about 5 minutes ended up taking over an hour, and involved 2 buses and 2 separate metro line switches. like i said, i don't mind being lost, just kinda stunk that i was weighted down and was bulky with my packs.

when i arrived to the hostel, i saw the most awesome thing! college football and the texas vs. OU game at the hostel bar. i ended up watching the rest of the game with some fellow Americans who go to Emory. i was supposed to take care of some laundry (since i was out of clean underwear...and shirts...and socks) but this hostel didn't have laundry facilities and the local laundromat was already closed for the evening, so instead, i headed out on a pub crawl with Josh and Nick from Emory which actually was so stupid but so fun at the same time. this "pub crawl for 10 Euro which included free shots at every bar" was actually just 2 frenchies, one with a little France flag, the other with a pack of litres of "shots", who led you around and herded you in like cattle to some local pubs...and the free shots? the free shots were poured not by the bars you went to, but by these two guys, out of their backpack, into little cups! how shady! (i still drank plenty of them...hey, they were free).

along the way, we did get to get into a club with no cover (which would have otherwise been 30 Euro, so the 10 Euro pub crawl entry fee did prove to be worth it). i guess i am so used to Vegas clubs when i think of paying covers of that amount, so i was shocked when we went into this club. you could compare it to the worst Houston club, yet this place still had a line that went around the block which blew my mind! luckily, we didn't have to wait in line to go inside and watch a bunch of bad, white, dancing fools. we didn't stay at this club long and broke away from the pack to roam the streets tipsily (is that a word) and search for food. all in all, the pub crawl turned out to be hilarious because of how bad it was, and it was nice to hang out with some fellow Americans for a bit. but would i recommend it to anyone else? not in a million years.

to Paris...AT LIGHTSPEED!

i am now on my way to Paris after 4 days in Amsterdam. this morning was the best I have felt over the past few days and i think my body is now polishing off the rest of my cold. just a runny nose, slightly sore throat, and the occasional cough - nothing that a pack of tissues and some cough drops can't take care of. main thing, my energy is back up to full speed, which is nice because I am used to being able to scrape by on 4 - 6 hours of sleep and be pretty active, so this sluggishness had been bothering me. i guess i shouldn't expect to remain healthy when staying in crowded hostels and in close quarters, but i wouldn't have it any other way, all part of the experience!

the train we are taking is the Thalys High-Speed line, connecting Amsterdam, Brussels, Cologne, and Paris. at its  top speed, it hits 186mph (300kph). This thing is nice! I wish we had these all over the States. I am in second class which feels like first class to me. The chairs are plush, you have nice little desk/easting area just in front of your seat, you have WAY more room than you do on any airplane and do not feel cramped at all. There is a beverage/food traincar just next door you can walk to, but I don't need it, I already had my Dutch raw herring for the day. They even have WiFi on board, which is the only reason I am able to get caught up on my blog to everyone back home. It's funny, the ride from Amsterdam to Paris is 4 hours, but the first 3 hours you are constantly stopping  in small towns and going a slower speeds through some populated areas whereas the final hour (of which we are now in) you cover the same distance as the first 3 hours, mainly because the train picks up in speed a great deal. they even have a little map that you can monitor on your laptop that shows the trains location on the route and the speed (i got a shot here going top speed):

There is some ongoing excitement on-board, just a few rows away, but one that I cannot be a part of because I don't understand the language. There is a woman w/ 3 kids who apparently has some pretty serious issues with her ticket, as the ticket checkers have come and talked to her on at least 4 separate occasions, and everytime it has gotten heated. I know it's a big deal because everyone else on board has a side conversation about what they are saying each time, but I still can't figure it out. Hopefully at the next argument there will be some physical fighting between the two parties as a good visual fight transcends all languauges.

Only 20 more minutes on the train, this time has flown by! Tentative plans for the next few days are: Sunday - Fat Tire Paris Bike Day Tour (and maybe night tour). Wednesday - Versailles all-day bike tour - right now rain forecast is 60% for this day, but I have already paid for this event as reservations were required early, so i am hoping that forecast changes! Otherwise, some more rainy bike riding, oh well, Berlin got me ready for that. Temps continue to improve as I continue to squiggle my way down south through Europe.

Time to pack up and get ready to head to my residence for the next 3 nights, St. Christopher's Paris Hostel. -zack!

amsterdam - day 4 - Anne Frank Huis, the Jordaan and MacHouse

on my last full day in Amsterdam, i finally made it to the Anne Frank Huis (house). you got to walk through the entire house including the "Secret Annexe" behind the fake bookcase where Anne and her family stayed. i am glad that i brought the book along for the trip as it made it easier to understand exactly what i was looking at. it was a pretty sobering experience to say the least. it is hard to believe one could live inside for 2 years, with no sunlight, and being around 7 other people for such a long time and not go completely insane. sometimes we truly do not know how lucky we are.

i spent most of the rest of the day trying to dodge the rain while walking the city. at one poitn, i did find a MacHouse (the Apple Store). If you know me, you know why this was pretty cool for me. i am a macDork, what can i say? in the evening, i walked the lovely Jordaan area, where not too many tourists venture. it is a more residential area with smaller canals and the houseboats that line them. i walked in this area until the sun came down so i could grab some night shots. that's all for now...tomorrow, Paris!
-zack!

see all day four photos complete with captions by clicking on the album below:

Amsterdam - Day 4