Back in "the States"

So, I returned to "the states" on Tuesday (3/11). My taxi left the hotel in Amsterdam at 4am. This would be the beginning of another long day of travel. Amsterdam to London, 2 hour layover in London, London to Dallas, 1 hour layover in Dallas. Then back to Austin.

Interesting topic for the return trip: In Amsterdam, I ran into a group of guys. They were clad in black tees, tight-ass black jeans and black hats. Run of the mill emo band gear. My immediate though was that these guys were taking the exact same route I was, and heading to Austin for South by Southwest. Low and behold, the group practically followed me from Amsterdam to London to Dallas to Austin.

I ran into them again when I picked up my bag in Austin. They seemed as surprised as I was. The entire London to Dallas plane seemed to migrate to Austin. This seems to qualify the fact that SXSW is a pretty big deal internationally. The Airport was packed with noticeable band members and A&R types.

A few minutes later and I was on a Supershuttle to my apartment. I assumed that would not be an ordinary Supershuttle ride. My suspicions were validated when the driver stopped at a convenience store to pickup a 12 pack. The riders which included myself, a chick from Alberta in town for SXSW, an old dude from Austin and a a dude from Japan in town for SXSW. We all drank and chatted until we reached our destinations. This seemed like a fitting end to an interesting trip.

Interesting to say the least.

Another day in the Dam

Not much to report on the last day in Amsterdam. We did some sight-seeing. It rained, but at least I had this oh so fabulous umbrella courtesy of the hotel counter staff:









Oh yeah, Red Light District. Ho-hum.

Dude...It's Amsterdam.

So, to preface this post: I did nothing in Amsterdam that is Illegal in the U.S.

With that said, we reached the Amsterdam Dock, Hoek Van Holland (that's just cool to say) at about 8am. A train ride later and we were in Central Amsterdam. To say the least, at this time of year, Amsterdam is cold. Damn cold! It was colder and rainier than London (and that's saying a lot). Unfortunately, our hotel was outside of the city center. Once we arrived, we pleasantly surprised by the contemporary but spacious accommodations.

If you look closely at the pic above, you will see something that is not customary in hotels. Yes, a glass bathroom. The shower, tub and sink were in a glass room. The toilet was in a room off the side of the bedroom. Strange, but very nice.

On the first day, we headed to Anne Frank's House.

It was nice to see how she and her family lived, but the house had no furnishings. It just kinda felt like an old empty house.

Ferry to Amsterdam???

I was skeptical, but we decided to take a ferry from London to Amsterdam. One train ride to the The Harwick Docks and we were on our way. We left port at about 11:45pm and got to Amsterdam at about 8am.









Harwick Port









Our Ferry









Bar/Restaurant
















My own room!

Clubbing in London

On my last night in London, I broke away from the pack and went to Pacha. Pacha is a huge club in the central London area. It was an easy tube ride and the club was right outside of the station. The main room DJ kinda sucked, but the upstair DJ was nice. It was a good night, but 5 pound jack and cokes suck.

Here are some pics:









Main room









Upstairs









No, I don't know these people
















Boots wit da fur!

Last Day in London

On the last day in London, we went to the London Gallery. I would provide pics, but pics are not allowed in the London Gallery.












The gallery is an extensive collection of art from the 1400s to today. Most notable from the museum, is the original Van Gogh's Sunflowers.

After that, we went to the British Library. The library also has an extensive collection of works. Most notable was 2 of the 4 original copies of the Magna Carta. It was interesting to see this in person and to see how much copy the exhibit had about it's influence on the American Constitution.

The library also had some other works like a Guttenberg bible, the original Canterbury Tales and some of the original writings of the Beatles (Hard Day's Night, Yesterday and Help! to be exact).

London, Day 2

So, on day 2 in London, we went to the British Museum. This place has a great deal of of history (aided by the fact that Britain invaded nearly every part of the world in it's heyday. The museum takes up a great deal of space. You could walk around this place for days and not see everything.

Here are some highlights: Museum Atrium














MUMMIES!!!














Rosetta Stone

God Save the Queen

On Wednesday, we traveled by plane from Florence to London. Seems simple enough right? As long as there are no aborted takeoffs. This was one of the strangest feeling I've had in a while. The pilot began to throttle up, then the brakes go off. The pilot then explained (in Italian first to add to the suspense) that there was an "indicator light in the wrong position." He then turned back to the beginning of the runway and we took off. This whole experience made for an interesting flight.

Once we reached London, we took a couple of trains to Earl's Court where our Hotel was. The room was...quaint (and by quaint, I mean miniature). The room was not big enough for one, let alone 3 (me, sister and brother-in-law).

After seeing our rather diminutive hotel room, we traveled to London Tower. This was the first castles in what is known as modern Britain. It sits along the River Thames. The day started off well when one of the guard-guides (also known as "Beefeaters") remarkably embarassed my sister and brother-in-law in front of the entire tour (about 50 people). Good stuff indeed.

























After this, we ran back to the hotel and did some pub hopping.

Last day in Florence

So, on our last day in Florence, we went to the Duomo. The Duomo is the 5th largest cathedral in the World, and it shows. The art and sculptures in the cathedral are cool, but the best way to take this place in is to climb the stairs to the top. The first 450 stairs get you to the balconies.
(this is f'n high)














Another 200 or so steps in narrow corridor get you to the top of the building. The views up here are awesome. Here are a couple of shots. (do not attempt if you are afraid of heights!)

Rome

On Monday morning, we took a train from Florence to Rome. Rome is one of the busiest and noisiest cities I've ever been to. The streets were packed and the cafes were crowded. All seemed to slow down when we reached the Colosseum and Roman Forum.














So much history has taken place in this somewhat small area. It was rather easy to take a seat and breathe in all that surrounded me. We did a paid tour of the Colosseum which included a tour of the Arch of Constantine and a tour of the Palatine Hill (where most of the emperors lived), Circus Maximus (made famous by Ben Hur) and the Forums. After that, we made our way to a sidewalk cafe for lunch. Take it from me, 3.50 Euro sprites are no fun. Water was even more expensive.














The day concluded with a trip to The Vatican (See my Photography skills below) the Parthenon and Trevi Fountain. All in all a good trip. I couldn't live in Rome, but I could spend more time there for sure.

I love Gatwick Airport. This place has it all. It has shitty service workers. My favorite example would be the chick at the flight information desk eating a pear and cleaning her teeth while talking to us. It has a mall with rediculously priced items and it has a duty free store.

There are some bright spots in this place though.

Lacoste:








Ferraris:















and last but not least!

Bon Voyage

Well, it's time for me to go.

Don't you just love airline food:

Getting Ready - Itinerary

Well, it’s a little over a week before I leave for Italy and the excitement is growing for me. I just spoke with one my colleagues in our London office. She has agreed to show me some of the sites when I get to London. This should be fun and drunken.

I also found out that I will be giving a presentation to 2 groups of my company's clients while at our Client Summit a couple days before I leave for Europe. Just another matter to be worried excited about before Europe. The summit is in Ft. Worth…yes Ft. Worth. Last year’s summit was in New Orleans…I’m just sayin’.

This brings me to my itinerary for Europe. I have some time to do some country hopping, so that’s my main focus. Here’s my schedule:

Itinerary

• March 2 - Pisa/Florence
• March 3 - Rome
• March 4 - Florence or Tuscany
• March 5 - London
• March 7 - Paris
• March 8 - Amsterdam
• March 12 - Austin

Hello Everybody

This is my first blog. I've set this blog up to chronicle my trip to Europe on March 1 - March 12. This will be my first trip across the pond, so I'm pretty excited.

Stay tuned for more chills, spills and suspense.