'Life's a Beach' or ‘La tragedia de la bola roja’

SPECTACULAR!
I mean really SPECTACULAR!
Boy I tell ya, I just had a weekend where the magic word was definitely, spectacular. I was in Mallorca- the biggest of the island off the east coast of Spain- with Tina and Alex. We had an amazing set-up. A charming villa in the tiny spanish village of Santayni.

The perfect setting to enjoy an orchestra of crickets (and one really confused rooster) while drinking wine on a roof top terrace under a brilliantly stared night's sky.

We stayed quite a ways out from the hustle and bustle of Mallorca's only city, Palma, so there wasn't much more to do than drive the island for coast to coast to coast in our Nissan Micra beach hopping all day...

Each beach was so unique. Some large stretches of sea and sand and others were rocky coves with pint-sized strips of beach, but each of them had the most vibrant turquoise water I’ve ever seen. Was it warm? Not really, but it didn’t matter I was having a great time!

(that's me in the water!)

Mallorca is amazing- unbelievably diverse for such a small island. On the south side of the island is a low-land plane with rolling hills like you’d expect in Arizona and to the north are Sierra de Tramuntanas- a dramatic mountain range with peaks raising nearly 5000 feet on the edge of the sea.

I don’t really know what else to say, to be honest I’m kind of speechless- hands down the most spectacular place I’ve been on my whirlwind tour of Europe. Thank you Tina and Alex for sharing such a SPECTACULAR weekend!

After 4 days in paradise, I was plesantly suprised to return to London to find the weather to be, well, perfect. After 8 months of gloom with occasional sunbreaks, it's perfect...

Movin' out!

Okay, not completely out, I'm still in the Hope Villa, but I did move two doors down the hall. And even though I'm only sleeping 25 feet away from where I used to be, it feels like a whole new world.

Gone are the nights in my sub-8x10 cell and single bed with traffic noise for Southgate Road... I've SIGNIFICANTLY upgraded to a much larger room. Now, I'm relaxing in the luxury of an atleast 15x15 suit- complete with double bed and garden view! Like I said, a whole new world.

In case you were wondering, yes that is my pink tie hanging in the window. Why you ask... because when I where it to work people say things like, 'does that thing come with batteries?' I really like the tie and think I'm pretty fashionable with it, so I decided, between appearances to hang it in the window for a while to give it an even fade...

Okay, once more for comparison incase you forgot what the old room looked like...

Hello friends...

So, I've been getting a few emails the last couple days about another post, so here goes... to come, I promise a dramatic update on my living situation... stay tuned!

But in the mean time I'd like to share a story about how pathetically ridiculous I am. My colleagues here in London town were completely appalled to find out that despite an ocean and thousands of miles my mother was still doing my shopping... I relate a recent email...

"...What color of shirts would you like and do you want button down collar or not? There are many styles in the catalog. Go on line and put in JCPenney.com. Click on Mens, then dress shirts, then wrinkle free then look at those and see what colors you like. One that I think you would like is on end... Mom"

Mom, you're too good to me...

On a somewhat related note, I've learned that anything goes here in london... I've got this pair of pants that I love- there at least 4 years old, grey and from the gap- I think (right mom?). Anyways, they went missing once a few years back and I was devastated. I even called a hotel in Vancouver hoping I had left them there... good news I found them a few months later- mind you after my mother had bought me a replacement... so the story continues, anything goes in london, so I decided- I love this pair of grey pants, but I also love this pair of brown shoes, so I put them together, and believe it or not I was even complemented on 'my style.'
Bloody english...

Somebody today said I was becoming Anglo-sised... and they also make fun of the way I pronounce things... like 'yogurt'.

Oh, and I broke my left pinkie toe again...

SPRING BREAK!

WHOO HOO, okay, I realise I'm getting a little old to get excited about SPRING BREAK, but that's one of the advantages to having a sister who's a teacher- you get to go to Spain for SPRING BREAK! Although this spring break wasn't exactly what I remembered- I mean it's Spain, they've got to have a mechanical bull somewhere, right?

Well, what I found out was that in Spain they really celebrate Holy Week. Each night in Granada there was a massive celebration in the streets with parades, bands and floats- till 2 am. A different, perhaps more wholesome, spring break party...

These pics are from 1 am, even the little kids were up for the procession...

The weather was outstanding, a bit nicer than what London has to offer. In five days we only had a brief morning shower and the rest was nothing but wine and sunshine...

After two days in Granada, Kim and I headed to the coast to the town of Nerja. Sun and beaches, a very nice combination- it's about time my pastey white skin saw a little sunshine.

So the big news, I joined the man-bag revolution. Get on board now, I'm telling yah, it's sweeping the globe. Okay, so here's how it happened: Kim was commenting that dudes are always asking girls to put stuff in their purses- cameras, books, etc- when traveling. So I say, 'well it's only fair because you'all get to have purses.' So she says get yourself and man-bag... and the rest is history. I think it's okay for two reasons: 1. I can say, 'I got it in Spain and all the Spanish dudes are doing it' and 2. I'm only going to use it when I'm traveling (neither of which is completely true to be honest). The only reason I think it might not be okay is well, it's a purse. Kim thinks it's as masculine as man-bags gets. Stay tuned for pictures...
Kim- Thanks for a great trip, glad you were able to make it out. Next time I'm expecting you to bring the Bago...

Demain nous faire la greve!

Now I don't speak a lot of French, but I'm starting to think 'En Raison D'un Mouvement Social Le Musee Est Ferme Toute La Journee' means 'Welcome to France' because each time I've been in Paris I've seen it everywhere. Honestly, the world is full of stereotypes- many of which aren't true, but the French being lazy- that's spot on! Seriously, three years ago I tried to go to the Museum Orsay and a 'mouvement social' stood between me and Monet then as it did now.
Why I love the French; a true story- On Monday shortly after arriving in Paris I really had to you know, go. So, I walked into a public bathroom. The first thing I notice inside was that there was a sign that said something something 'Free' but there was also a little table where people were leaving money so I thought, 'sure, I'd leave a little something something on the way out.' Walking towards one of the stalls apparently set off the attendant and she started shouting at me in French. I knew I was in trouble, but I really had to go, so I kept walking towards the open stall. Just before I was able to shut the stall door, she burst into the stall with a gust of furry, continuing to yell at me in French, she proceeded to smack me across the back of the head. Absolutely astonished I attempted to respond in French by clearing my throat as loud as I could while mumbling- she didn't understand. Needless to say, I didn't leave a tip.

Well since the city was on strike, we decided organizeise a little 'sit-in' of our own- a little wine and cheese 'mouvement social'. Now, I'm not sure if the open container is entirely on the up and up in Paris, but since all of the policia were either bagging rioters (or playing pinochle), I figured it was safe.

All in all, a good trip. Paris would have been great, if it wasn't for all the French people.

Venice

Short and sweet, pink ties and pigeons. That about sums up my weekend in Venice. Well, a bit more... Flew into Venice late on Friday night and after a boat ride and a short walk we found the nearest wine bar. Very cool place. The owner was a old man with curly grey hair and big smile. He wore a checkered vest and bow-tie with mismatched red and yellow sneakers. We were a little ways off the beaten trail, so it really felt like a local place. We didn't exactly blend in, but we were able to meet some of the patrons. We were told that the owner was famous in the region for his refined wine pallet. So customers, instead of tasting the wine themselves before accepting the bottle, asked the owner to taste it for them. Needless to say, by 12:30 am when we met him, he was a little goofy from a long night of work. Such a cool place, we couldn't help but visit again on Saturday.

I've never been too hip with the fashion. Though I can't help noticing that in men's stores all over London, and in Venice, pink has become the new blue- it's everywhere! I'm happy to say, I've jumped on the band wagon. I bought myself a pink tie- and man, it's really pink! I'll let you know if I get up the nerve to actually wear it. After my big purchase, I made myself one with nature and joined the pigeons in St Marks Square.

Venice truly is an unique one of a kind place- glad Annie got me to go...

Edinburgh- the other Dublin.

Caught a train up to Edinburgh this weekend, Friday night was St. Paddy's Day and honestly it was impossible to get into, let alone served at a pub. It was kind of crazy, definitely glad I wasn't in Dublin this weekend... what to say, well spent saturday scoping out the castle and walking along the Royal Mile.

Check it out, on either side of the gate statues of Robert the Bruce and William Wallace. FREEDOM!!!! The Edinburgh Castle was just like I remembered it- really windy and really cold. Not sure why, but I tried to climb inside a cannon.

The castle is pretty impressive- a very cool backdrop over the city.

Sunday, went on a little hike to get a good view over the city...

Next weekend: Venice

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.