Wednesday, June 29, 2005
BizTrippin
Well, I am here to do work, right? First biz trip since I've been here. Met Tami in Munich (Kirchheim actually), then to Madrid & Amsterdam. Good news is that it went well and created a bunch of opportunities.... some photos of the fun times on the trip.
10 June 2005
10 June 2000 - where were you? Me? I was getting married... yes, 5 years, can you believe it?.
Since we are so close to Athens, we thought we'd pop over for the weekend and make the most of it. Posted some pics, so take a look. Athens is a huge city, 14 million people, and not the ugly, polluted place of yesteryear. They made a huge effort to clean it up, and it's worked. We had a lovely time walking around the Acropolis, seeing the Parliment & changing of the guard. I now know why the Cypriots would like to think they are Greek.
We had a great time at the National Archaeological Museum, eating and drinking ouzo.
Wonder where we will go for #10???
Since we are so close to Athens, we thought we'd pop over for the weekend and make the most of it. Posted some pics, so take a look. Athens is a huge city, 14 million people, and not the ugly, polluted place of yesteryear. They made a huge effort to clean it up, and it's worked. We had a lovely time walking around the Acropolis, seeing the Parliment & changing of the guard. I now know why the Cypriots would like to think they are Greek.
We had a great time at the National Archaeological Museum, eating and drinking ouzo.
Wonder where we will go for #10???
Thursday, June 02, 2005
Memorial Day 2005 :: PARIS
Ah! The City of Light, the City of Amazing Food, the City of Superb Art, the City of my Dreams and my Heart...
Mark and Tre' were in South of France/Spain for a holiday in May, so we were able to arrange a quick trip up taking advantage of the Memorial Day weekend. Unfortunately, Nikki was required at a wedding in the English country-side (very nice hat!), so we were only able to share a Ricard and a metro ride. We crashed at her flat, which made it much more affordable (Thank you!).
We flew up on Friday, had drinks and saw Nikki off and headed straight to Vietnamese food. Yes, that's right, the first meal was Vietnamese... there is NO good ethnic food on this island so we have attend to cravings when possible. And it was pretty good! After all, the French were in Vietnam for a while.
Saturday morning we started with a proper petit dejuner at Cafe Hugo in Place des Voges we visited Musee Marmottan Monet -one of the largest collections of Monet, and I have to say very impressive. It was the first time I saw some of his fauvist paintings, amazing use of purples!
Then we met with Mark & Tre' and their friend Andrea, who was in town from Rome, then just about all we did for the rest of the weekend was eat, talk, walk, eat and then eat some more, and then talk a little. I don't know the names of most of the cafes, all I know is we hit 2 before dinner on Saturday night. Dinner was at the lovely and always divine Auberge Bressane, where we were able to spy on Mr. John MacEnroe at the next table, and in town to announce 2005 Roland Garros.
Sunday was, of course, started off with the obligatory chocolate chaud. This time we tried Angelina's Tea Room. Knowing that Les Deux Magot and Cafe des Flores are among the best, but starting to be overcome with those damn American tourists. And it was lovely. Of course, had more eating and more cafes, too many to mention. At some point we went on a tour of Des Egouts... the Parisian sewers... quite... unique. And bad, bad weather, and a bad, bad vote on the EU Constitution. Ended in a dinner at Chien qui Fume, thank you Mark! And that was it... Mark, Tre and Andrea were off EARLY on Monday. Ralph and I slept in, trying to recover from the over-indulgences, and then of course had crepes for lunch! Off to CDG and back to this rock.
We have NEW PICTURES for you to view... for directions on how, go here.
Next trip is to Athens, 1st time for both, and to celebrate our 5th (yes, fifth) wedding anniversary... more soon!
Mark and Tre' were in South of France/Spain for a holiday in May, so we were able to arrange a quick trip up taking advantage of the Memorial Day weekend. Unfortunately, Nikki was required at a wedding in the English country-side (very nice hat!), so we were only able to share a Ricard and a metro ride. We crashed at her flat, which made it much more affordable (Thank you!).
We flew up on Friday, had drinks and saw Nikki off and headed straight to Vietnamese food. Yes, that's right, the first meal was Vietnamese... there is NO good ethnic food on this island so we have attend to cravings when possible. And it was pretty good! After all, the French were in Vietnam for a while.
Saturday morning we started with a proper petit dejuner at Cafe Hugo in Place des Voges we visited Musee Marmottan Monet -one of the largest collections of Monet, and I have to say very impressive. It was the first time I saw some of his fauvist paintings, amazing use of purples!
Then we met with Mark & Tre' and their friend Andrea, who was in town from Rome, then just about all we did for the rest of the weekend was eat, talk, walk, eat and then eat some more, and then talk a little. I don't know the names of most of the cafes, all I know is we hit 2 before dinner on Saturday night. Dinner was at the lovely and always divine Auberge Bressane, where we were able to spy on Mr. John MacEnroe at the next table, and in town to announce 2005 Roland Garros.
Sunday was, of course, started off with the obligatory chocolate chaud. This time we tried Angelina's Tea Room. Knowing that Les Deux Magot and Cafe des Flores are among the best, but starting to be overcome with those damn American tourists. And it was lovely. Of course, had more eating and more cafes, too many to mention. At some point we went on a tour of Des Egouts... the Parisian sewers... quite... unique. And bad, bad weather, and a bad, bad vote on the EU Constitution. Ended in a dinner at Chien qui Fume, thank you Mark! And that was it... Mark, Tre and Andrea were off EARLY on Monday. Ralph and I slept in, trying to recover from the over-indulgences, and then of course had crepes for lunch! Off to CDG and back to this rock.
We have NEW PICTURES for you to view... for directions on how, go here.
Next trip is to Athens, 1st time for both, and to celebrate our 5th (yes, fifth) wedding anniversary... more soon!
Wednesday, June 01, 2005
Our 1st Med dive (21 May)
On Saturday, 21 May, Ralph and I took our 1st plunge into the water in Cyprus while taking our 1st dive in the Med. Spoilt divers, we have been called more than once: Fiji, Maui, Channel Islands, Dominican Republic.... but we were really looking forward to getting under the water again!
We drove to Agia Napa, and went with Mike, who works with Ralph at AE. He's a very experienced dive master (over 4,000 dives!) and this was intentionally an easy 'familiarization' --to get to know each other and what to expect in Cyprus. We were down for 41 minutes and only to 9.2 meters.
Learned that there are NO coral reefs in the Med, anywhere: the temperature changes too much to sustain the needed environment to encourage coral growth. We saw nice sea grass beds, which have it's own little eco system around it and learned that these dives are great for those who like detail dives. I spotted an orange starfish small enough to entirely fit in the palm of my hand. Also saw: Turkish Wrasse (TONS!), Trumpet Fish, Bream, Double Banded Bream, Saddled Bream, Damsel Fish and a Fireworm --DON'T TOUCH!!
It was a good intro dive to the area and then we were told that we were at just about the worst on the island, so it's all up from here! Ralph wants to do the Zenobia Wreck before we go, I have a feeling he wants to do it more than once. I need to get Advanced Cert before I can do it because it's at 18-41 meters. Also have the hots to go to Sharm sometime soon... now that would be supercool!
We drove to Agia Napa, and went with Mike, who works with Ralph at AE. He's a very experienced dive master (over 4,000 dives!) and this was intentionally an easy 'familiarization' --to get to know each other and what to expect in Cyprus. We were down for 41 minutes and only to 9.2 meters.
Learned that there are NO coral reefs in the Med, anywhere: the temperature changes too much to sustain the needed environment to encourage coral growth. We saw nice sea grass beds, which have it's own little eco system around it and learned that these dives are great for those who like detail dives. I spotted an orange starfish small enough to entirely fit in the palm of my hand. Also saw: Turkish Wrasse (TONS!), Trumpet Fish, Bream, Double Banded Bream, Saddled Bream, Damsel Fish and a Fireworm --DON'T TOUCH!!
It was a good intro dive to the area and then we were told that we were at just about the worst on the island, so it's all up from here! Ralph wants to do the Zenobia Wreck before we go, I have a feeling he wants to do it more than once. I need to get Advanced Cert before I can do it because it's at 18-41 meters. Also have the hots to go to Sharm sometime soon... now that would be supercool!
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