MAMBELS!!!

Well where to begin... nine days with the Mambels, need I say more???

Okay, I'll say a little bit more. Big Al himself showed up early on Saturday morning, and we hit the ground running the only way Alan knows how... with a nap.

After spending the first weekend out and around London. I was back to work on Monday and Alan, to be honest, I think mostly slept (although he claims to have seen some museums, if you know the Mambels, you know the man loves his naps).

By Thursday, I'd had about enough of the rat race, so we hopped over to Ireland for the weekend. Unknowingly, we ended up in Dublin on the biggest weekend of the year- no not St. Paddy's Day, 6 Nations Rugby Ireland v. Scotland. If you can close your eyes for a minute and envision a city overrun with rugby-luvin' Scotsman in Kilts crawling around the city- pub to pub (boy let me tell you, it was really windy).

On the advise of my boss, a good Irish lad, we found a few locals to spend some time in- anybody ever heard of a stout beverage- Guinness I think the locals called it. It's quite delightful. Sans Kilts, we did our best to fit in...

Apart from the obvious, I have to say my favorite part of the weekend was driving on the 'wrong' side of the road! That's right, we rented a car on Saturday and went out to see the country. "Tim, left, left, TIM LEFT!" (to be fair that only happened once).

Man the country roads on Ireland are narrow, and ever where you look there are sheep, 1000 year old abbey ruins and stone crosses.

So, we stumbled on to a place called Nauen au Brau- an prehistoric pagen sun worship thingy. It was pretty impressive- we got to walk inside a stone cave build over 5000 year ago (that's older the the pyramids).

These guys built the mound such that on the winter solstice each year the cave lites up from the sun for 17 minute, then it goes completely dark the rest of the year. It's a light show that's been happening every December for 5000 years, that's pretty impressive consider the site took 2 generations to build. That's some serious dedication...

Who do you think they're trying to rent bikes to here...

Ireland is pretty awesome- can't wait to go back!

Yo, Shepard- thanks for a great week- see you in Virginia in the fall.

Quiero Espana!

To continue my whirlwind tour of Europe, I spent last weekend in San Sebastian, Spain (on the north coast near the French boarder). Clearly undaunted by the deep feeze weekend in Stockholm last month, Annie saddled up (leaving the backpack behind) and jumped on the plane. To add a little excitement (and challenge) to the trip, we decided to rent a car! After a raining friday night, we opened the patio doors on Saturday morning to find blue skies and sunny weather. Lucky us!

Well we decided not to waist the day, so we climbed (yah climbed...) the mountain outside town and got a glimpse of the amazing setting of San Sebastian!


Not a bad view, eh?

The weather on Saturday was amazing, considering the last two trips were in sub-zero Sweden and Prague. We definitely made the best of things and enjoyed the opportunity to walk on the beach.

It's pretty sweet to leave the grey and gloom of London and spend a weekend in the sun and fun of Spain...

Sunday the rain returned and with it we jumped back in the car and road tripped the northern coast of Spain, making frequent potty breaks and picture stops...

It was really fun having a car. You get the chance to see and visit places you wouldn't if you counted on trains and buses. Despite the fact that if life depended on it I wouldn't be able to find a freekin' gas station in Spain, I'm a huge fan of having wheels.

I'll be the first to admit, there was a time I was a little lost, okay not just a little lost, like not on a 'real' road... but with a some optimism and complete lack of respect for posted traffic signs everything seemed to work out...

Truly an AMAZING weekend! (my feet)

London Boroughs:

Well, I've been in London the last few weekends and doing a little bit of exploring. I'm beginning to realise how big and diverse London is... for example.

Notting Hill- home of the Hugh Grant / Julia Roberts love-affair and a market selling antiques, produce, and all types of books...



On the opposite side of the spectrum, but the same side of the river, Camden- home of the London punk scene (apparently not just an 80s thing) and a massive market where you can buy anything imaginable that's made of leather and get tattoos and all sorts of piercing...


So, the dudes in the last picture- The one's holding a sign that says "Pictures £1." It seems that they stand on the bridge over Camden Lock and 'let' people pose in pictures with them. One of the guys was not exactly happy that I took a picture of the bridge without paying his toll...

Czech it out!

So, I was in Prague last weekend, and I'll tell you one thing, it was cold! I'm mean there's Stockholm cold, and then there's Prague- really- cold. Sure, it looks warm and sunny- sunny sure, but 'could I BE wearing anymore clothes!'

I flew from London to the land of the 30 kc beer on Thursday night, and met up with my friends Tina and Alex- who are living in Prague and working as English teachers. I had a wide awakening while visiting one of Alex's classes on Friday morning when I realised the people in Prague know english better than I do. I mean really, what the hell is a past perfect participle? Sorry Mr Verver.

Friday night- a real Eastern European hockey game! It's great to know that half way across the world, hockey has three universal qualities...

Ice-

Fights-

and Zambonies-

Hey, Hey, Go Slavia!

After a healthy breakfast on Saturday morning we were off to see the city! And what a city.

I mean it was really cold (-10 Celsius during the day) and it's been so long since it was above freezing that well- just have a look at these steps...

My favorite thing about Prague you ask... this guy-

and these guys...

Stockholm in January:

There's a reason why traveling is so inexpensive in Sweden during the winter months... it's FREEZING!!! And I'm pretty sure I can think of three people who are going to ask a few more questions before they sign-on for the next adventure...

So we landed in Stockholm at about 11 pm on Friday in a virtual blizzard... I guess you could say we were lucky the plane was allowed to land (perhaps lucky it stayed on the runway). Based on the recommendation of my close friend, Rick, we booked 2 nights on the AF Chalpman... a boat!

Talk about a room with a view...

Lucky for us the heating worked in both the room and the showers (sometimes...) When I said it was cold, I really meant it, on Saturday it was -8 degrees Celsius (17 degrees F). But I'm happy to say the troops rallied, and we got out and saw the city- Stockholm is AWESOME!

Funny thing about those crazy Swedes- as if it wasn't cold enough outside, we found a little place called the Ice Bar. And they weren't misadvertising at all... Literally a sub-zero ice cave. Possibly the most cheezy tourist trap I've ever seen, good times none the less- even the glasses were made of ice!

I have to admit, I was definitely a man on a mission Saturday, no way I was going to leave Sweden without eating some proper Swedish meatballs. And I'm happy to say I found them! And I'm also happy to report that true Swedish meatballs don't hold a candle to mom's, grandma's or TP's!

Lucky for us, the sun came out on Sunday and the temperature, well, stayed really cold. But, I can't even begin to describe how unbelievably awesome Stockholm is! Definitely an awesome weekend... and I'm pretty sure Annie, Monica, and Chris would agree!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!

So, my new years celebrations started with good friends, good food, good drink, and the hoofed-leg of an animal (from Spain courtesy of Almu).

The meal preparation duties were delegated- Jorge: "I'll make spanish torteia, hey girls make dessert, Patel- make duck, Jorandro- pour drinks" "Tim, you carve the jarmon!" Okay... I may have missed my calling... When the desk job falls through- I'm becoming a butcher!

Well dinner and drinks ran a bit late, and at 11:50 pm it was starting to look like we were going to celebrate New Years on the tube...

With about a minute to spare we made it off the train and celebrated in the streets with fireworks and about a million other crazy wankers!

Good times! and Happy New Year!