long overdue

attention! this blog is from 3 days ago but because of internet problems, i am giving it to you NOW. enjoy!

to all my loyal readers (i am talking to you, Jen, and maybe my mom. mom, do you still read this?) i apologize for my complete lack of updates over the last week and some days. since my post about London i have been in 4 different cities in 3 countries. in this order - 4 days in Amsterdam, 3 days in Paris, 2 days in Milan, 2 days in Florence. and that's where i am now - Florence - reclining on my bed in a downtown hostel, my new friend Fernando watching horrible Italian TV. sidenote: why does every single show on Italian or Spanish TV feature a really weird looking middle-aged man in a suit and at least two young female co-hosts with HUGE breasts? i mean, i'm not complaining, just wondering.

here we go...after London time was done and i had eaten more than my share of fish and chips i took the train to Amsterdam. there i stayed with my good pal Sam (that's short for Samantha not Samuel). crazy times were had. the thing i loved the most about Amsterdam was that over 1/2 of all traffic is on a bike. a lot of the streets were so peaceful and kept that way by the lack of roaring engines. the Dutch know a thing or two about pollution control. and chocolate. and as they say, when in Amsterdam make sure you eat a lot of chocolate and ride a bike. so i did.

the glorious canals of Amsterdam

my buddy Sam and the rooftops of the city

the graffiti hallway in the modern art museum

from Amsterdam i returned to Paris and rendevoused with Hannah (see London post) and my second cousin Eugene. i know, second cousins everywhere. to be honest, i have never understood the second cousin concept but i know Eugene and i are related in some ridiculous way, so there it is. Hannah and i stayed with an old couple who are friends of her father. the stay was incredible for several reasons: they are amazingly french - served us croissants and jam every morning, they are both professional violinists - so hanging out in the house while they were practicing was like a free concert, and their apartment was overlooking the Miro Gardens in the Latin Quarter - an interesting area for sure but having meals on the balcony overlooking the garden made it. Hannah and i had a lot of cheese and walked what can only be described as an eternity.

Notre Dame
the Louvre at night. so great.

the Tour de Eiffel at night. also great.

who's that lady?

Hannah trying to get me out of Paris with the
all-french speaking Eurorail Train staff.
by the way, this is taken from the balcony of the violinist's flat.

from Paris i took the overnight train to Milan to visit my cousin Maggie who is studying to become a mad scientist just like her dad. i think she told me her PhD is in Mad Scientistry. i could be wrong on that though. Milan is the capital of fashion for Italy and as far as i am concerned the WORLD. walking around in that city was like being on one giant catwalk. everyone, and i mean everyone, had designer sunglasses and tight pants. well, i guess for the girls it was more of a mini-shirt type season so that's the exception. once again, i am not complaing, just pointing it out. i did feel quite underdressed for what i guess is a 24/7 fancy occassion. you will all be proud to know that i didn't bother with the original Gucci store or the Luis Vuitton crap, i stuck with my jeans a t-shirt (which has been my uniform since i was 3) and went to all the old churches i could find. a lot more peaceful than trying to convince everyone around you that you are a bazillionaire.

the Duomo. probably the coolest building i have ever seen.

mr. da vinci

the frescoed interior of San Maurizio (built 1503)

completely italian guys fixing a completely italian scooter.

what i was really looking at in Milan.

i don't want to completely overdue it on this one post so i will just give you a teaser photograph. i think this is one of the best ones i took in Florence:

Florence at sunset.

and that's that for now. at some point in the next 2 days i will deliver you Florence, Nice, and Barcelona. caio and all that!

apologies

i am sorry for anyone who has been checking the blog this last week (mom) and found NOTHING. i have written 2 entries in that time and taken somewhere in the neighborhood of a trillion photos but the photo upload portion of blogspot has been down and it is impossible to find a good Wi-Fi place in Nice. so here i am, alive - i am sure you are all relieved - and i promise a MEGA BLOG once i get to Barcelona (monday). take care, and buckle your safety belts.

all about London

- before i get into London, i wanted to tell anyone reading this that if you click on 'The Shalimar' link on the left side of this page you will see most of the reviews of our show and some brilliant behind-the-scenes tomfoolery that took place in Edinburgh. check it out, its worth it. -

ah, foggy London Town. after the full month in Edinburgh came to a close, marissa and i took a 9-hour bus ride through the beautiful countryside of Scotland and into the relatively flat landscape of England. for the first 2 days marissa and i stayed in an excellent little hotel in Kensington, a pretty posh neighborhood southwest of Hyde Park. in the evenings we met up with my second cousin John Brady who is working in London for the summer. by day we walked the streets for hours on end and saw every stereotypical tourist stop along the way. here are a few highlights:

a 'guard' outside of the Cavalry Museum

Westminster Abbey

Big Ben

Buckingham Palace

the last 3 days of my trip i stayed with a young actress from london by the name of hannah. her mum was on holiday so we stayed in her glorious little house in north london, ate nachos, and watched weird movies. while hannah was at work i walked about and tried to catch some things that i missed along the way at a more relaxed pace.

St. Pancreas station

harry potter anyone?
(Kings Cross Station)
221b Baker St.
Office of Sherlock Holmes

geese in Regents Park

some bob marley on the south bank

the last night in town me, hannah, and my cousin john met up with hannah's sister and a couple friends on a boat on the River Thames for some drinks and chips. we were lured in by the London Eye and the potential for some great views. check it out.

Ben at night

London Eye

at the top of the Eye.

back to my favorite place

Craig, Marissa, and i made our way up to Arthur's Seat again...at NIGHT. treacherous, frightening, and breathtakingly awesome. check it:

the red glow is a combination of city light and the
sun's glow over the horizon.
since Edinburgh is so far north the residual sunlight
sticks around until a bit before midnight.

the 2 dark parts are a park and a golf course. i think.

marissa and craig's feet

craig on the moon.

Legend and Lore (part 1a)

a bit more on Greyfriar's Bobby...

my buddy Atticus went on a late night ghost tour to a spooky graveyard. they scared the crap out of him by leading the entire group into a mausoleum and having some guy in a ski mask jump out. quite lame. but the tour guide did offer some interesting tidbits about haunted places in Edinburgh and some frightening takes on Edinburgh myth. according to the crazy tour lady, Greyfriar's Bobby is not as precious a story as most believe. she claims that John Gray was a local loon and that while Bobby the dog did hang out in the kirkyard after his death, it was quite likely that the dog had no idea which plot was his masters and that he only stuck around to dig up the shallow bones and eat the last bits of human meat that may be clinging to them. here i am thinking that Bobby was an adorable and loyal companion when in fact he was a man-eating hellhound.

whatever. i choose to believe the cute story as opposed to the utterly disturbing one.

surrounding the statue of Bobby (see the picture in my last post) are several businesses that sprung up in homage to the fallen pup. there is a nick-knack shop and a few restaurant/pub type places. this one is definitely the coolest:

established 50 years before America
Bobby's gravestone. people leave twigs and doggie treats.
and to correct last post, it actually reads:
"May his loyalty and devotion be a lesson to us all"

Legend and Lore (part 1)

as you might guess, there are loads of olde stories around this magical place. spun together from generations of retelling, its hard to say what elements are complete truth and what are embellished. nevertheless these tales have weaved their way into the fabric of this city in such a way that no man woman or child who spends more than a week here can hope to avoid them.

holy hell, that was the most pretentious sounding start to a blog in the history of the internet. let's try this...

there are some ridiculous stories around here. i'll be writing about a few of them over the next couple days. here's the first:

The Legend of Greyfriar's Bobby

John Gray was a local man and a parishioner of Greyfriar's Kirk, a branch of the Church of Scotland in the oldest part of Edinburgh. he made his way with his wife and child working as a gardener in the early part of the 19th century. some time in the late 1860's, the harsh weather left the rocky Edinburgh ground unworkable and Gray became unemployed. to avoid the workhouses he became a police officer. the job required a Watch Dog so Gray adopted a Skye Terrier and named him Bobby. total companionship developed between the two and one was nary seen without the other by his side.

in 1856 John was diagnosed with tuberculosis. Bobby stayed with him all hours of the day, perched watchfully on the foot of his bed. on the 8th of February, 1858 John Gray died. friends, family, and members of Greyfriars Kirk took John's body and ceremoniously marched it through the center of town towards his final resting place, Bobby trotting along faithfully behind. they buried Gray in the churchyard of Greyfriar's Kirk with a simple stone and a small patch of flowers. after the service everyone left the churchyard and went back to their homes. everyone, that is, except Bobby. Bobby laid on his master's plot day and night, only leaving for food.

in 1867 it was pointed out that an unowned dog should be put down but the Lord Provost of Edinburgh, Sir William Chalmers (who was also a director of the Scottish Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals), paid for a renewal of Bobby's licence, making him the responsibility of the city council. And there Bobby sat for fourteen years until his own death in 1871. Bobby could not be buried in the kirkyard but was laid to rest just outside the church wall, about 20 meters from John Gray's plot.

the corner of Candlemaker Row and George IV Bridge.
Greyfriar's Kirk is off to the left.
the Bobby monument is at the intersection with the tall pole.

Greyfriars Kirk (this one is actually not my picture - it was dark when i visited here)

the Bobby monument. etched on both his gravestone and this statue are the words:
"may we all learn from his loyalty"

Arthur's Seat

ok. this might be my favorite place EVER. exaggeration? nope. it's Arthur's Seat.

in my last post i showed you some pictures of Edinburgh Castle, which is visible from the kitchen window i am looking out of right now. i have yet to discover the history of that castle's occupation, but once i do, i will let you know. about a mile east of this castle is a Holyrood Park. there are lochs, there are swans, there are thistles, hills, streams, old fort walls, grass greener than anything i have ever seen, and Arthur's Seat.

formed by volcanoes, the peak is nearly 850 feet and consists mostly of rocky crags. surrounding the peak are several more plateaus that are covered with the softest and squishiest grass i have ever encountered. from the top you can see the whole of Edinburgh, the Firth of Forth, the mountains in the far North of Scotland, and the ocean. glorious. many claim that the name 'Arthur' pertains to King Arthur and that this place once housed one of his many castle dwellings. the more likely scenario however, is that it is a corruption of the name 'Archer's Seat' because as you will see in these pictures, this would be a super awesome place to put your bowman in the Middle Ages.

i have already been to the peak twice, once during an epic 2 hour run in which my thighs were left tight and burning and once with 3 of my friends. i've nearly pitched myself off a cliff up there once or twice, but that's half the fun. these pictures are from the second time, the slower, yet no less vigorous hike. here's the blow by blow.

now approaching Arthur's Seat (from the southwest)
at the base of the beast (Atticus, Marissa, Craig)

a third of the way up. looks like Arthur's Foot.

the path was paved with stone steps
carved out centuries ago by former prisoners.
dramatic but true.

nearing the top with a golf course in the background (Marissa, Craig, Atticus)

this guy.

ah, the peak.

Atticus and the great Northeast. the inlet is the tip of the Firth of Forth.

Marissa and Craig checking out the Northwest view.

Edinburgh Castle zoomed in from the peak.
our flat is near the bottom left corner of this shot.

St. Margaret's Loch. those specks are swans.

picture of the day. this mighty dog made it to the top. what a stud.

the way down. near disaster. (Craig, Marissa, Atticus)