European Honeymoon 1999: Introduction
The year was 1999. It was November, and Lane and I had been married almost one year. We hadn't yet gotten Pitter or Grits - Lava and Edie were our only responsibilities (they were obviously both still alive then) - and Lane was still working freelance. My (former) office had a nifty policy of comp time (now long eradicated), and I had worked enough overtime to acrue quite a bit of it, enabling Lane and me to take an extended, late, honeymoon. We had long planned with a large group of friends (somewhere in the neighborhood of 14 people total) to spend time together in Amsterdam for their annual Cannibus Cup. (Later, we decided not to attend the festival. We were told that Amsterdam was basically the same all year 'round, only that during the festival it was more crowded and that most of the people were obnoxious Americans. Pass.) Anyway, for many various reasons, it ended up that only a tiny portion of those friends went that year: JR & Michael; Loyd & Whitney. (In fact, JR and Michael had just started dating - which is how, every time JR says "oh, Michael and I have only been dating for three years [or whatever]" we can all prove him wrong.)
Lane and I spent a full month in Europe. We started by flying into Paris, then leaving for London that very day, then spending almost a week in London, then going BACK to Paris, renting a car, driving from Paris to Germany, spending a week in Germany, driving back to Paris, spending a week there, then ditching the car and Eurrailing it to Amsterdam for a week, then back to Paris to fly home. I kept a very simple daily diary of our travels, and I'll be entertaining you with quotes from it as we go along.
I will begin by saying that I do not travel well. I like my house. All my stuff is there. I get homesick very easily. One month in Europe turns out to be roughly one to one and 1/2 weeks too long for me. We should have cut it short (in fact, I was lobbying to skip Amsterdam altogether), but since Amsterdam was actually the only place Lane really wanted to go in the first place, I thought we should go. I did, however, have an attitude about it. :)
It's taken me roughly five years to get these photos online, mostly because this was PDC: "pre digital camera" and I had about a zillion photos to scan, clean up, and get online. Not an easy task. Frankly, I think my friends in Germany had given up on me. But, no, a MIRACLE, they are NOW ONLINE for your viewing pleasure. I will say that I regret deeply not haveing had a digital camera at the time, as I would have taken more, and much, much better, photos. As it is, we shot something like 10 rolls of film and still didn't get the results I would have liked.
We did Europe a little differently than a lot of folks. In both Germany and in Paris, we were staying with friends, or friends of friends. We didn't do so much of the standard touristy stuff, but we actually LIVED with people, you know, saw how they lived day by day. I went to markets and walked kids to kindergarten and helped make breakfast and do dishes and hung out and drank wine and drove through hometowns and generally saw and did stuff that not many Americans get to see, I think. I really enjoyed doing our trip this way, and I felt we had a much better experience as a result, and a greater understanding of how different, and yet how similar, our lives are....
I hope you enjoy the photos and thoughts from our romp through Europe. (Unfortunately, probably more thoughts than photos!!) If you just wanna look at the photos, just breeze on through! I don't put this stuff online for you anyway! ;) It's so that when I get old and don't remember any of this, I can look back and say, well, that must be true; it's on my website. :)
European Honeymoon 1999 - London
(only one page - few photos, lots of words)
Prelude: the flight
It was long, cramped and boring. I slept some, but not all of the way.
Quotes:
- "These movies suck. Good thing I'm sleeping. Four hours left."
- "Wake later. Red mark on nose from sleeping mask. No mascara. PRETTY!"
- "Can finally see out window. WAY above clouds, flying into the sunrise - 1:20am for me! Clouds look like snowscape below - soooooo pretty, like a landscape below us."
- "I froze by window; Lane too hot on aisle! Landing soon; LONG line for bathroom."
Arrival: Paris airport
A horrible woman at Air France treated us like crap when we tried to buy a ticket to fly to London. I swear, she jacked up the price just for us. We ended up taking the Eurostar where a SUPER nice guy got us a wonderful rate. I rode the Eurostar Chunnel backwards and fell asleep but had weird dreams and talked in my sleep.
Quotes:
- "$800!?! NO WAY! ps. woman was bitchy and rude"
Arrival: London
Arrived and bought one week tube passes and also tickets for ART and for West Side Story. Rode a crowded tube to our stop (we were staying in a friend's empty flat), went to something they called "Superfoods" that was about as big as our "Sac n Pacs" and bought supplies. Hardly ate dinner. Took a bath in their huge, sunken tub.
Quotes:
- "BEST BATH EVER!!!!!"
Our stay: London
We were sick for several days and generally felt like crap. Whether it was just plain old jetlag or actually some sort of illness, I don't know. Whatever it was, it prevented us from actually doing a lot of what we wanted to, so we did the following:
- Tate Gallery - don't miss it. What I always remember each time I visit a museum is how totally INEPT any reproductions are at capturing the actual colors of the paintings. That goes double for any Monet. Here are my favorite paintings at the Tate:
- Saw ART and West Side Story. Both ROCKED. "Anita" was actually played by the understudy, Debbie Kurup. I think she was probably better then the headlining lady, but I can't really say, as we didn't see the other girl. But Debbie kicked serious Anita ass!!
- Bought cheesy souveniers at the Theatre District, that might as well have been Bourbon Street, only with London-themed tchotchkes.
- Visited Madame Tussauds (photos below) & the Planetarium (unfortunately, I fell asleep during the latter)
- Visited St. Paul's Cathedral (photos below)
- Had the most expensive steak dinner of our lives. This was during the "mad cow" thing and they thought we were CRAZY for ordering steak, but Lane and I had to have it!!
- Visited the Museum of London
- Had what was doubtless the coldest ride of our lives (since it it was the middle of November and FRICKIN COLD) on the top level of a double-decker red tour bus through London. They drive like MANIACS, be forewarned! I thought we were doing to die several times. Like cabbies in NYC, only with HUGE buses to drive!
- Marvelous fish and chips at the Globe Tavern. Claim to fame: dates from the 1700s, and really famous authors used to gather there, only I couldn't tell you who they are right now. :) LOL!
General observations about London:
- People walk on the "wrong" side of the sidewalk
- Lots of available meds over-the-counter
- Cellphones and smokers abound!
- All the girls have panty lines
- High, HIGH heels and short skirts. Long, long scarves.
- Total lack of public trashcans (resulting in a lot of trash, especially in the Tube area)
- Lots of men alone with babies
- Best French onion soup I ever had - Cafe Rouge - but in generally, really bad food
This is my favorite photo from our trip to London. You can see so much of the city from here. It was taken from the top of St. Paul's Cathedral, my hands-down, number one place we visited in London. The rays of light streaming down to the left feel like God touching the earth that grey day, especially after our visit to the Cathedral. I was so very moved by our visit there. A holy site has been on the spot of the Cathedral since 604 AD. I swear, you could FEEL the prayers of all the people who had prayed there, poured out their hopes and fears to their God over the centuries. It was something you could actually, tangibly, feel from the moment you walked in.
We were very fortunate, as we arrived on a day when they were doing special services, and Lane and I were allowed to take communion in an area where tourists (people!) weren't normally allowed. It was very beautiful. We sat in seats that dated from the 1600s!
I didn't know much about the Cathedral before I visited it, but I was especially struck by the protection it received during WWII, and how brave the men were who watched over it during the air raids. They had a very moving letter written after a particularly harrowing bombing where an unexploded bomb fell right by the Cathedral. You could see the fear in the gentleman's handwriting, and I sat and cried and cried.
There was a beautiful section of the Cathedral called "The American Memorial Chapel" there dedicated to the Americans who helped defend London and to those who died during the fighting. A beautiful book, the Roll of Honour, held each of their names, written in illuminated text, over 28,000 of them. I cried a lot that day. I couldn't help it. This photo was taken during WWII, where, like a miracle, Se. Paul's escaped serious damage on the worst night of bombing, December 29th, 1940, when a large part of London perished in a fire bomb raid. (I didn't take this photo - just fyi, in case you didn't already know that!)
We also happened to be in London during their Armistice Day, equivalent, I think, to our Memorial Day, only they take it WAY more seriously (rightly so) than we do. There was a two minute silence observed, with 85% of the adult British population participating. Red poppies, symbolizing the dead, were everywhere. You'll see one on my jacket through all of the photos here.
Some sobering statistics: A total of 8,538,315 servicemen from all nations were killed during WWI. A total of 16,699,775 servicemen from all nations were killed in WWII. This doesn't even count the civilians.
There was a quote there:
"I pray that future generations are mindful of the great sacrifice which was offered that they might live in freedom, and that these memorials of the fallen in war will speak to them not only of the heroic devotion to duty in conflict, but of the need for finding the way to peace based on justice, so that never again will the fiery trial of war put the human race and its highest values in deadly peril." - The Very Revd. Walter Matthews, Dean of St. Paul's 1934-1967
Me and then Lane from the same view. We climbed about a zillion stairs to get there. TINY stairs. And it was so cold, you can't even imagine. But I love the photos!
And now onto lighter things at Madame Tussauds. Lane is blessed by the Pope, and then....
....poses as one of the great thinkers/artists with Einstein and Picasso! :)
I'm knocking over Manuel, from Fawlty Towers, one of my family's favorite shows. ("Is no rat...is hamster!" - if you understand that, you automatically get "cool points" from me.)
Please note the HUGE coat I'm wearing. I mentioned it was FREEZING, right? That coat (and that kick butt backpack) saved me during our travels. I used them constantly.
- Help Me Keep My Site Afloat!