The Left Coast

European Travelogue

2005-06-06T19:51:00.000-07:00

Well, I tried to keep a written record of our days for this blog, but I kinda lost my way at the end. I know what we did - it's just a matter of writing it up for this....should be done within a week or so with links to pix!

Here it is!

European Travelogue
Day 1
Vancouver - Amsterdam

Well the day has finally arrived for it to happen!
Got to the airport with plenty of time to spare, checked in, and began the process of waiting. After about an hour (and a latte) later we boarded. Sat down, and to both our amazement, we had 6 feet of legroom! The only drawback was the proximity to the washrooms, meaning at times there were a lot of people hanging around our seats.That, and screaming babies. We had a quick leg to cow-town to pick up some rednecks, and got back under way. Not much to tell about the flight except that they played crap fllms, the babies got restless and that its hard to sleep on a plane.

Day 2

Landing at Schipol was a little bumpy for some of the people on the flight - people applauded after the plane thumped on the ground.
As we sat next to the door, we got off fairly quickly and began the process of getting bags, doing the customs thing, etc. Once we got out into the world, it took us a while to figure out the transit system. 0ne of the first things I noticed were 4 airport security guards rolling with MP-4's. Interesting.
One train and one tram later we were checking in at our hostel. Funny thing about our room is that its up a converted fire escape. Fun.
We wanted to get in line with Europe time asap, so we dumped our gear had a shower and looked for a canal boat tour. Found one in no time (there's like 10 of them) and had a floating introduction to the city. 1 hour later we were hungry, so the search for food was on. Found a cute little Irish place, and had fish and chips (with Heiniken of course). By this time we both were running on empty sleep-wise. Headed back to the hostel, and crashed out. Funny thing about Amsterdam on a Sat. night: Get pretty rowdy. Got woken up 5 or 6 times, but was so tired fell right back asleep.

Day 3

Got ourselves up with the aide of an alarm to make sure we cashed in on the breakfast provided. An interesting mix of meats and cheeses, granola & coffee. after brekkie, we hit the streets and started checking out the local neighbourhood (pubs, patios, restaurants mashed into a largely residential downtown area). 10 to 12 hours and 30 kms later (or so my feet were telling me) we arrived back at our room. After a brief rest we headed across our square for some drinks & local bad cover bands. Off to bed for a largely restless night. Certainly we were both tired, but come 5am we were both contemplating starting the day. Fortunately for us both, after about an hours reading, we both fell asleep.

Day 4

After having checked out a lot of neighbourhoods the previous day we decided to start the day by visiting the Anne Frank house. A 20 minitue walk and we found ourselves in quite the lineup. Apparently this place gets 900000 visitors a year. Eventually we made our way inside. The house itself is quite big on the inside, which is how they managed to hide. Lots of history in this house... a weird feeling too. After making our way out, we bought some postcards and made our way to the Van Gogh museum. Had a hotdog to keep the engines running and headed in. Quite a big place, with many works of art - and not just of VanGogh. Also displayed are works of his contemporaries and those that he admired. It took us quite a while to get through them all - well worth it. Once outside, we spent some time relaxing in the Museumsplein overlooking the Rijksmuseum. Cute. After a nap back at the hostel, we walked off to a different neighbourhood for dinner and a waffle for dessert. By this point it was raining pretty good outside, so we headed back to the hostel and started packing for Paris.

Day 5 - Trans Europe Express

Travel day for us. Off to the city of lights for 9 days. For us it was a matter of hurry up and wait. The bags were packed the night before so, we had our last brekkie and checked out of the hotel veteran. Caught the tram to the central stafion, and then the train to Schipol Airport. Apparently you have to take the train to the airport to catch the train. Still had an hour and a bit to wait, so I sent a couple of postcards. Wandered around a bit, had a coffee, and just generally killed time. The train arrived on schedule, and we jumped on. Stowed our gear and began our 4 hour tour of the countryside. Not much to tell about most of this trip, the scenery is fairly agricultural - with the odd city thrown in. But once we were done with the milk run side of things, the train picked up speed to the tune of about 200-220kmh! Quite a feeling that is. Arrived in Gare du Nord around 5 pm. From there, we caught the metro to our temporary home for 2 nights. Hungry and looking to check out the neighbourhood, we set off to find the pantheon via les jardins de Luxembourg. I really can't express how impressive rhe architecture is here. Rather humbling. After a bit of wandering, we found ourselves in a a nice italian joint. Turns out we were sitting in tourist row, as Mel and I got chatted up by the the table next to us. A nice couple from Victoria they were. Taljed about many things for about an hour, then headed back to the hotel for another night of unsuccesful sleep.

Day 6 - Paris by foot

Quite a sunny day, so we decided to make the most of it. Started by taking the metro to the Eiffel tower after a Parisian brekkie of cafe and croissant. Once there you notice it's quite a cool thing. It's the only stucture with any height to it in it's area, so it really stands out on the skyline. Paid our 3 or so euros for the privilige of walking up the stairs, and checked out the view from the first terrace. Quite nice, there are gardens running up to it from one direction, and a bridge crossing the Seine from the other. They have placards marking on the skyline all the famous buildings, monuments, etc. Headed down to an ice cream, and a quick chat with lady from Cali. Headed across the bridge to check out a palace and garden (name?). From there we walked to the Arc De Triomphe. Quite a renarkable sight this thing for 2 reasons. One, the most obvious - beautiful. 2 because of the absolute chaos the traffic circle around it is. K-OS. From there we walked down the Champs Elysses. Stores and people everywhere! Quite a sight. That lead us to the Tullieres, a large garden outside the louvre. The Louvre! Huuuuuuuuuge building, bigger than one can fathom. Cant wait to see what is inside. After a bit of a rest and some picture taking, we then headed off to see Notre Dame de Paris via the pont neuf. We got to stroll by some book resellers on the way as well, a long tradition in this area. Notre Dame, is quite something to see. Old, Gothic, beautiful. A lot more to it than pictures will allow. We made our way to the courtyard at the back of the church, and had a better look at the flying buttresses. Good times. We started to head back to the hotel from there via a place for dinner (mice and all) and a pre-emptive walk down Mouffetard - the road where our hostel is on.

Day 7

Checked out of the hotel today to move into the young and happy hostel. Packed up our belongings that we left out from the night before. Checked out and walked our bags up to the hostel. Dumped our gear, and then headed out to visit the city. Took a cruise around the Museum de moyen age - basically a middle ages museum. The place was crawling with kids, and we already had a plan of sorts - so we added this to the to-do list. We were on the way to the Eglise St. Etienne - the oldest church in Paris. That took us by the Sorbone - the university in Paris. Back underway to St. Etienne - arrived and took some pics of the outside, and then went inside. My first time in something this old and grand - very cool. Walked about and took some more pics, then headed off to see St Germain Des Pres, another old church. Big and old it was. Pictures to prove it too! Feeing hungry after this, so found ourselves some baguette sandwiches, and ate them in the church courtyard. From there we headed over to place Bastille. Once the we stopped and had a drink at a local pub overlooking the Bastille monument. From there we walked up Rivoli past hotel de ville (city hall) to the centre Pompidou. Unfortunately we couldn't find the bloody thing, so we headed back to the hostel by metro. Getting out where we thought our hostel was near, we then discovered how neat our area is. Checked in and crashed out.

Day 8 - All about Jim
Today was the the day that we made the pilgrimage to the cematary that houses the grave of Jim Morrison to lay the candle out for Mom on his grave. Because the area where we are is quite the marketplace area, we bought a bag full of sandwich stuff to take with us. Because the french thought that the corpses would harbour disease, the pushed all the cemetaries out to the poor ends of town. What this means to us is a longer train ride. We got there around 11:30ish, and went in to see Jim. The thing about Jim is that his current residence is a maze. So it took us about an hour of walking and bactracking to find him. Once there, we were held back by a fence so I had to put the candle on an adjacent tomb. I'm sure they wouldn't mind. Snapped a couple pix to prove we were there, and then headed off to see a few more. Checked out Rossini's and Chopin's tombs. You could see who the people loved more ;). There really wasn't much in the way of benches so we went out to the street to sit and eat. Really good food, but as we found out while buying it - it's cheaper to buy sandwiches from the street vendors. Checked out a mall on the way back - picked up a cool shirt. Mel didn't have any luck so after a bit we bailed. Nap time! Woke up ad had some real good Greek food. Farted around a bit, and then went to check out Star Wars. Bad idea - totally sold out. With that - we headed back to the hostel to relax.

Day 9 - Versailles

Today being a reasonably good day outside, we decided to check out Versailles. Had our route all planned out, ut ran into a snag halfway through it. There was track maint. going on so the direct line was cut off. Meeaaaning we had to find another way. This seemed easy enough - except that we are dealing with the french here. I wont get into the details, but lets just say that I was a little pissy by te time we got into Versailles. That all got swept aside once we got a look at this place. Opulence at its peak. The pictures dont quite do it justice unfortunately. Mel and I spent about 4 hours wandering around the place, listening to audio tours, looking at architecture, walking a bit of the gardens. A trip that was worth it in the end I feel. We hopped back on the train, and headed back into town. Feeling a bit tired out from the day, we turned in early after we had dinner.

Day 10
Today we started our travels heading into the area of Montparnasse, where the Eglise Sacre Cour resides. Sitting on top of thr higest hill in Paris is this huuuuge church made of white marble. It was a sunny day as well, so we tourists were there in force. Thing is though, the churches are all still used for worship. We went in and had a look around like every other tourist up there, but it felt a little more weird than usual. Walked down the front side of the hill where they've terraced into a park. Couldn't stop turning around to have a look back at Sacre Cour. We made our way through sex shop row, to the Moulin Rouge. Snapped a photo and carried on. We found quickly that France still shuts down on Sundays as we wandered down empty streets. Window shopping as we go we run across a few monuments on the way, some we've seen, some we haven't. We finally made it it back to 'home' and picked up some local dinner stuff - veggies, roasted chicken roasted potatos......very yum. Went out for a walk afterwards and relaxed....:-) I bought a copy of the French comic XIII. Trés cool.

Day 11 - Louvre!!!
Well I have to admit, I was blown away by the sheer size of this museum - no matter how much I was told of it's size. We spent about five hours there, and scarcely touched the surface. We of course saw all the big things:
Mona Lisa or La Jaconde as the French call it, Venus De Milo, Madonna on the rocks... the list goes on. We looked at Roman and Grecian artifacts, Egyptian artifacts (saw a mummy!) tons of art. What impresses me most was the artifacts though. It seems I've had my fill of religious filled art. We had our lunch at one of the cafés at the Louvre, and spent some time in the store. Still with some day left we made our way to the Museé Picasso. This place was all Picasso, with a little Bacon on the side. Francis Ford Bacon, and artist inspired by the man. I really enjoyed the exhibits, and our time there. The sculptures I enjoyed the most. A lot of fun they looked like to create. Another trip to the museum store, and our feet were singing a familiar tune. Back for a rest and clean up, as we were meeting Marc Antoine at Les Ancètres Galouis, a restaurant recommended by Gagnon. A lot of fun it was, they drown you in food and wine. Your pour your own wine jugs right from the barrel! It got pretty loud in there, so that effecively annexed me into Angleterre. I still cant do french with a ton of ambient noise. Still a fun, long night, capped off with a befriending of an Austrian, and a drunken walk past Notre Dame. Not bad.

Day 12
Due to the volume of wine that we drank the previous night, sleeping in was the order of the day. We met Mel's bro at at cafe near his friends place around 12ish, and had brunch. Eggs were there order of the day, as was recounting the drinking stories. After an expensive omlette and coffee, we walked down St. Germaine towards Les Invalides and the Dome. After walking past quite a few expensive shops, we walked through some sort of diplomatic area. A few consulates were having some sort of thinger, and of course we walk right through it. The Gendarmes didn't seem to mind at all. As Les Invalides is still a working millitary hospital, we had to walk a bit before getting there. But once there in front of this dome, you really are blown away by the size of it all. Like all monuments in Paris, opulence at it's height. Marc-Antoine and Alex decided to continue on with their walk of Paris. Meli and I took our tour through the Dome, checking out all the tombs of the various Napoleons that seemed to have existed. After that we toured through the French war museum. The WW2 bit was especially interesting, as it focuses on what the French went through during occupation. After a good beer and cake episode at the cafe we headed back to the hostel. Meli still had a headache, so we decided to take it easy. Good thing too, from the sounds of what her brother and co. went through (car broken in to, 5 hours in police station) we didn't miss any excitement.

Day 13
D'Orsay
The Louvre is the repository of all things ancient - D'Orsay picks up where the Louvre stops off. Modern sculputure, the impressionists - it is literally an old train station filled with art. Meli and I mainly kept to the impressionist. We even snapped off some great pix! We bailed for lunch and headed to near the Pompidieu ctr. Did some shopping at some cool stores, scored some gear. This had getting close to supper so off we went to 'home'. We ended our Paris leg by having a wonderful french dinner. I even had escargot!

Day 14
Trans. Europe. Express.
Paris to Köln via high speed train. Still cool by my books. We got there early to make sutre everything goes smoothly - and it goes sideways from there. Everything worked out in the end, but the added stress of travelling and learning new language and systems took it's toll on the fun factor. Poo.

Day 15
Today started with collecting up the rental car we had set aside for the day before. Funny thing about them closing early on Thursdays that got overlooked. Anhoo, after some initial confusion everything got sorted out and we made off driving a Mercedes. For some reason my spirits lifted soon after. This car came with a navigation system, so we plotted our course and opened sails for the Nurburgring. A bit of a slog once we made it to the track, but the scenery there was breathtaking! Old castles rolling hills and "Racing is out!". Apparently people like to race around the countryside there. We got ourselves parked and in the stand for the end bit of the early Friday practise. What really gets your attention is the sound of these things. Crazy. Pretty damn hot and sunny so we tried to stay in the shade as much as possible (a theme for the whole weekend). A pretty quick day, all done by 2pm. There were more events going on, but we decided it's best to take it easy our first day in real sun. The drive back was a little nutty - I was still getting used to the idea of real speed. It's a foreign concept that the min speed to get your place in the passing lane was at times 220kph. I found a way to acclimate though. ;-) I mentioned earlier about being on a fast train as quite the feeling, well when you're at the controls it's quite another. We made it back to the hotel safe and sound, and lucked into a parking spot. Relaxed for a bit, then went to the center part of town and checked out some local food. Turns out, it’s made for the locals, so we had to learn German on the spot. Fortunately the word for beer is universal, and we wound up eating not great food but decent food.

Day 16
Up at dawn’s crack to get back on the highway and race Hans and Franz to the racetrack. Racing is out! Me and my silly fake German accent entertained us on the way there. Made it in time for the last half of the 1st practise session, and the 2nd was soon after. Loud. Fast. Hot. Meli and I spent most of the time under some sort of shade, as the first day’s sun had given each of us our own case of Nurburgring. Except ours was around our necks. I looked silly. After the second session we checked out the retail circus, and has some ice cream. The German word for ice cream is eis. It’s pronounced as “Ice”. That’s a tough code to break. Bought a couple of things, pens mostly and just generally took in the chaos that is the F1 retail craze. All things Ferrari with these German fans, but the other teams have some cool gizmo’s as well. Time for the qualifying round, and back we go. The action is a little lame for qualifying now, as they do only one lap. You can pretty much guarantee that the last 5 cars will be on the 1st 5 positions, unless the blow up. At least with the (now) ancient system of an open hour and 12 laps at your disposal, any car could (theoretically – don’t expect a Minardi to do this) go out in the last 15 mins and bang out a hot lap. Still, neat to watch. Again, Meli and I hit the road soon after,just to minimize the exposure.

Day 17
Race Day
Again…we got up early to “beat the rush” but as it would seem, everyone else have the same idea. No worries though, we have our seats, and loads of time to get there. We even made it in time for morning practise. Took a final cruise around the retail grounds, and then made our way to the seating area. Was a good race, though the start was a little messy. I won’t make much of a report on the race, except that it’s fun to watch all the battles live.

Day 18
The Dom, and walkabout of Cologne

Day 19
The Rhine and cute castles

Day 20
Cologne – Amsterdam

Day 21
Rembrandt House

Day 22
Nothing much – shopping

Day 23
Time to go, or is it?

Day 24
Home, finally!

MMMmmmm.....gaaadgets.

2005-03-02T17:28:00.000-08:00

http://www.mobilepcmag.com/features/2005_03/top100gadgets.html

So....I've lost track of it all

2005-02-28T20:57:00.000-08:00

My stuff....it comes, it goes. I lose something for 2 weeks, then find it with my whatever. Of course seeing it there sparks the memory of me putting it there for "safe keeping". I think what keeps it safe is having it out of my line of sight, or out from underfoot. It's driving me mad, ask Meli. I start to now, understand why the men with the pegboard have all the tools outlined. It's a constant visual reminder that something is amiss. I know now why women take care of the children:

dialogue from the stone age:
Mrs Gronk: "Where is little gronka?"
Mr Gronk: " We had girl?"

I need the pegboard system for e v e r y t h i n g in my life:

Picture on the wall of Melissa with the caption "Your girlfriend".
A slot for every piece of clothing categorized by the teir (A-list clothes, B list and so on), type, colour and lastly mood.
A pegboard for every item of gadgetry that I own, from watches, binocs, knives to tie clips.
A defcon system for bills. Defcon 1 = bad. Defcon 5 = good.

The list goes on.... all automatic, all a reminder of me forgetting something. Actually...that would be a little depressing seeing all the things that slipped my mind lined up in a row....

Ok...enough whining...I eventually found my gloves and belt....but I tells yah...I looked there before, and they weren't there!!!

Tuck

A walk in the park

2005-02-20T23:09:00.001-08:00

So, for the past few (10-14) days it hasn't rained a drop. Nor will it for the next scheduled 7 days. What does this mean? Well....lots of spare time to go wander about. So....the past two weekends we've spent some time out of doors in our fair city. Rough life. We've officially booked the tickets to Yurrup! May 13-Jun 04 will be spent off continent. Way cool. So basically the next 3 months or so will be spent saving money for the trip of trips. Not a worry, there is nothing else to waste money on, now that the snow season it completely gonzoed. Well...I'm sure there is a good day or two left in it... but that is about it. I tells yah...next year I'm making a sacrifice to the snow gods or something. Anyhoo, this weekend was spent walking around Stanley Park. Looking at the seabirds and the rocks. Good times. Sunday brunch with the clan, and groc shopping and all that fun stuff.

Woot.
Tuck

Springtime in Vansterdam

2005-02-08T21:23:00.000-08:00

So, the flowers are starting to show themselves... the sun stays up past 3pm...people are wearing sandals again(did the ever stop though?) and I am thinking again now of moving. On top of that, Melissa and I are in the process of trying to get the whole Europe trip sorted. We're a step away from booking tickets! Life is rough. Will be my first time there...really looking forward to paying 10 Euros for a sandwich ;-) The rough plan is to fly into Amsterdam train it or drive down to Paris...then train it or drive to Cologne...then back to Amsterdam and back home. A 3 week jaunt that will surely fly by.

meeout.

Avalanche of beer

2005-01-31T19:59:00.000-08:00

So, beer is good for you. About time stories like this got out to the world. Here's to you Richard Kral, and your "this is not a deathtrap, but a problem of which only 60 beers can fix" thinking.

3 months and a few days later....

2005-01-24T19:59:00.000-08:00

Well...I had a very nice blog entry about my past little while since updates. Alas, due to bad karma - it got lost during the transfer. D'oh!

Needless to say, I've been up to stuff and I'm doing quite well.
I'll fill in the details later on ;-)

Tucker

A whirlwind 7 days

2004-10-05T19:33:00.000-07:00

So, since last I wrote I've been back and forth across most of the country, got kinda drunk, got into el-cheapo RC airplanes, auditioned for a Volkswagen commercial (they needed a tall guy), went to a football game (go lions!) and basically got sick from being run down, hungover and basically having empty batteries. Funny how your body finally says "Dear me, time for you to spend some time sleeping". From the looks of things, Summer is totally over with. We had another monsoon day here, streets flooding with all the gutters clogging with leaves and all.
Also to add to all the fun that is my life, now that the street reconstruction is finishing up in front of my place, a new wing to the Hostpital, kitty corner to my place is starting. Starting with excavation.

At 0730h soldier! Up and at'em! Nothing like the sounds of heavy machinery in the morning.
Needless to say that I'm now looking at looking into new apartments....I think it's time I graduated into a 1 bedroom apt.

But all is not doom and gloom. As much as October is the crappiest month in the calendar year, it's only 2 months away or so from Whistler's opening day!

Cheers,
Tuck

Hello from Ontarirario

2004-09-26T09:42:00.000-07:00

Wow...I made it to Sunday. Catching the 11:15 pm Friday flight to TO, driving to St Catharines, visiting with Grammie, Aunt Jan and Uncle Larry, meeting Norm (Gram's boyfriend), having Dad and Jordy come to meet me there...hanging out and then driving to London before I went to bed at around 11pm eastern all on about 3 hours of actual sleep since Thurday night means I was up for about 36 hours. Good times.

But, I'm home in London and the family is well.

Time to go eat their food. ;-)

Tuck

Well....it had to happen eventually I guess....

2004-09-20T16:41:00.000-07:00

I can now add myself to the ranks of those who's houses have been broken into. Fortunately, they "only" made off with the computer tower and my Xbox, plus a couple of little things that got in the way. (My glasses case, for crying out loud...why that?) Anyhoo, I learned a valualble lesson....renters insurance is worth the while. That, and ground floor apartments aren't really that good for security reasons.

In any event, what sucks the most is that all the files on the computer were worth more than the computer itself (in my mind at least). So for the SanFran end of things, there will be no more pix to be had....sorry folks.

Sooo....lack of computer aside, I always have access at work... so I can still plug away at this blog of mine.

The San Fran Experience

2004-09-09T21:59:00.000-07:00

Tucker's San Francisco Travelogue:

Saturday
So we wound up starting the trip at the crack of dawn. Melissa & I drove down to braine (Blaine WA) to visit momsie. Had brekkie and a nice visit...and then hit the road. Left moms house hit highway & got lost in Renton (a bit south of Seattle) looking for gas, a place to pee and Hwy 101.
We eventually got un-lost and made it to hwy 101 after some toing and froing and driving the wrong way down a one way street.

After that is was drive drive drive to see some more coastline in WA. Good times. Gassed up in Astoria, OR and hit the road once more. Got stuck in Seaside(I think that is the name of the place) with some sort of relay race going on, heavy traffic and a happy Tucker. We eventually got un-stuck and made it to Cannon Beach pretty quick from there...by then it was 6pmish.
Anna & Kimber(Co-werker of M's and her friend) weren't there yet so we set up camp & went for a walk around the town & beach, checked out Haystack Rock and the like.
A&K arrived and had set up camp by the time we got back, and we noticed that there were rabbits everywhere! Unfortunately, I didn't take any pictures of the cute-rats.
Dinner.
Beers & campfire.
Good sleep.

Sunday
got up to the sounds of " Bang Bang"!! The campground that we stayed at was a family friendly place. Needless to say, there were children. Since we were up at dawns crack, we all went into town for brekkie @ the Lazy Suzan cafe. After breakfast we walked up and down the beach. Mel & l took off our sandals and played in the surf...lotsa fun that...no pics due to the whole "wet" thing.

Idyllic.

With that done, time to pack up and go.

Said bye bye to the girls who were moving into thier cabin for the week. Quite cute.
Hit the road, pointed south and off we went.
Miles of rugged coastline & parched farmland later, we stop just across the CA border and check into a fleabag motel. We ate our mcfood and watched the comedy/cartoon networks on tv.
America has it right when it comes to cable tv.
Meli found an earwig on her pillow.

Not fun.

Monday
Awoke to a cold and foggy day (good call on the motel by Melissa) and hit the road via McD's brekkie (750 total calories for me, yikes!)and then drove south to the Redwood National Forest area and looked at all the pretty trees. Even drove through a pretty tree. (as evident by our vids. We kept going south on 101 till we hit the "Avenue of the giants". 33 miles of wonderful views of even prettier trees. Took our time through there, stopping at places of interest.

Quite cool.

After that, it was a straigt burn the rest of the way to San Fran. Winding highway, traffic jams, and the like all the way to the Golden Gate Bridge. It is Meli's 1st time here, so she is quite excited. Same here, as I really like this city. Big city driving once more(after all that coastal country), now with american flavour...good times. It takes a couple of tries to find hostel, but everything works out ok. Get checked in (after a bit of a hassle about the rate). Off to the room we go to find that they gave us someone else's room! Got that sorted, got moved in and unpacked. Had a bit of a rest, and went out for some sushi. Walked around a bit and checked out the neighbourhood which seemed a little more sketchy than I had hoped. Undeterred we got dressed up and checked out this live jazz joint down the road called Bruno's. Made friends with the barkeep and had a few drinks.

Tuesday

Got up early to grab the breakfast they serve in the restaurant/cafe downstairs in the Hostel, and to catch early transit to Golden Gate bridge. Funny thing here is that transit here takes a little getting used to(3 companies, and no one talks to each other) so we were a while getting going in the right direction. We finally talked to the nice black lady at the visitor info booth (nicknamed her the oracle) and headed on our way towards the bridge. Took bus to bridge.... was nice not to have to drive. Had a quick snack at foot of bridge to make sure we didn't faint and headed across a very windy bridge.

Nice.
Long walk though.

Walked back took bus through the Presidio and into Golden Gate park. Walked through the park (via the rose garden) JFK drive (past botanical gardens) to the haight. Checked out amoeba records (awesome!) and picked up a couple of things. Unfortuntaly we were quite tired from the day so the haight experience wasn't quite right. Headed home via the bus and crashed out. Got hungry and went back to this schwanky tapas joint up Mission st. called 'LeVende'.
Very very good food! Awesome wine selection called a 'flight'(3 complementing wine selections all for you). M has had them before, but for me, a first. Good times. Headed home on the bus, picked up some beer at the corner store (that was a little odd feeling, but very satisfying) and headed back to the hostel. Had a beer on the rooftop patio and then retired to the room.

Wednesday

Started the day in much the same fashion and headed out on transit towards 'fishermans wharf' and where our ferry to Alcatraz awaited. ferry was nice and quick, plus great views! We hit the docks at Alcatraz and listened to the park ranger's speech - a little jaded, but informative.
We checked out the movies and exhibits, then off to the main cellhouse.
We had the audio tour included, really added to the creepiness of the experience! Saw the hole, the courtyard, well pretty much everything! Quite the thing this rock of theirs, I must say.
Lots of bird poop.
After we landed back on shore we were famished, so clam chowder at this cheeseball italian joint was the order of the day. After lunch we went to go see the infamous sea lions at 'k' dock @ pier 39. Those animals i could watch all day.

The a walk up embarcadero past all the piers and shops to the 'powell - hyde' cable car!!
It being my first time on a cable car as well as Meli's, so quite excited about it! Good clean fun too! Busy though - 3 car waiting line - buskers kinda sucky too. Such is the price you pay.
Took it all the way to the end of the line at powell & market. What was across the street, but urban outfitters! My most favourite store! After about an hour in there, walked out with some very cool stuff - had to leave or I would have bought the whole store. Hopped onto metro and rode it to SBC Park where the Giants play. Got some cash and relaxed a bit by the water with Melissa.
Headed towards scalpers, and worked the magic. $60 worth of tix for $30, not so bad. Pretty good game, if you are cheering for the opposing team.
This night that we pick to watch the game just happens to be the COLDEST NIGHT EVER! Which prompted Melissa to buy a sweater.
They intentionally walked Barry Bonds twice, which kinda sucks...because every time he gets up to bat...things could get interesting around there.
Did I mention cold?

So headed home after the 8th. Game was quite decided, and us taking the bus...good to get a head start.
Cold.

Thursday

We slept in (finally) and had nice a brekkie at cafe downstairs. Around noon we headed to the shopping areaon Market street. Looked around...got some ideas..
Then walked to chinatown and had a greasy chineese food lunch. Yum Yum?
Kept going north through the chinatown are into the north beach/italian area. Walked to washington square and through north beach. Wrote some postcards in the park. Very nice.
Walked to coit tower from there teleqraph hill/great views/murals. Very nice.
Wallked down via wooden staircase through hilly neighbourhood to the F trolley. Took that to cable car and down to market street. Went froM there to the sfmoma. Pop art exhibit ongoing there as well as industrial design. Really cool. Bought gift for mumsie, as well as a pen for me.
Came out of there pretty hungry. Walked around like idiots for a while then got directed to the restaurant area by another traveller. Found Maxi's and both had big salads. Bus.
Hostel. Bed.

Friday
Today was the wine tour day. We did the Napa valley as l've been to the Sonoma Valley already. Meli was quite excited to go, so we had our Breakfast and hit the road. Bout an hour out of town is Napa and all it's wineries. Once we got ourselves oriented we headed to our first stop. Domaine Chandon. They do sparkling wines, and have quite the compound to themselves. Melissa hooked up a tasting, and the bartender(hostess?) edumacated us about the treaty that states that "Champagne" can only come from the Champagne region of France. Kinda interesting.
Spent some time there, and then headed over to Robert Mondavi and had a look around. Nothing too too exciting. By this point we were getting rather hungry again, so off to Niebaum-Coppola to see if they have any restauraunt action in there. Coppola has a neat movie museum section in the main building. Also up there is a "Tucker Torpedo", that car which bears my name. Big honkin thing that Torpedo. As there was no food to be found, and Melissa and I getting weak from hunger we pressed on to the next winery in the hopes that someone serves food with all this wine. Off to the Berringer estates, and more futility. Back into town, where we found 'anna's cantina'. They served some very fine mexican food. Yum! Now that we were nicely fed we then headed back to Berringer to get tickets for their wine tour. Now because Berringer closes at 6 and Mumm's Napa closes at 5, we then scooted over to Mumm's for their tour first.
I've been through a few wine tours now, and this one was kinda interesting, as I've never known how they get those little bubbles into that bottle. Quite fun, though a little long. Went back to their shop and tasting area, and tried some of their sparkling wines. Yum! Headed back to Berringer, and ended our day there with a bit of a relaxing walk around the grounds, a wine tour and tasting, and some shopping.

We headed back home for a bit of a rest and then had our dinner downstairs. As it turns out, the food was excellent! Both being kinda pooped, off to bed for us.

Saturday

Today was the loose ends & shopping day, and we started it at the Mission Dolores, where the oldest standing building (or oldest Mission, can't remember which) stands. We toured the grounds, and had an apple from the tree in the cemetary (mine had a worm in it).
Off to downtown via bart and then to nordstrom's. M scored some shoes, but I struck out. Damn.
Off to chinatown to score a new watch. Got one with a little bling, but not too much.
From there went to north beach to get some food. Had pannini sandwiches, and had a movie star (Don Cheadle from Ocean's 11) eating lunch right next to us.
Was so thirsty when we got in, I drank 3 glasses of water and a beer. The hottest day in a while around there apparently. Bus then trolley all the way to the castro district. Melissa went shopping for her bro. Got him a t-shirt. Checked out the rest of the hood, then grabbed a bus up to the Haight. Walked around for a while and took in the city. Did some more shopping (t-shirt and some toys) and then bussed it back to the hostel. From there it was some packing, a light dinner at the cafe downstairs, and off to bed? As it turns out, Saturday nights are "Sit ouside on the fire escape and talk loudly nights". But I guess that is the hostel experience.

Sunday.
Drive drive drive drive drive drive drive drive drive drive drive drive drive drive drive drive drive drive drive drive drive drive drive drive drive drive drive drive drive
drive drive drive. 16 hours later, we were home!

So tired I can't sleep

2004-08-18T00:14:00.000-07:00

Hmmm...I must say that this sucks. The so-tired-I-can't-fall-asleep thing. Drugs are the answer.
Sweet sweet codeine, here I come.

Buuut...today was hell day at work...things are sooo so busy that everyone is helping out, just trying to keep things afloat! A wonderful problem to have....but still a problem. Such is life.

Melissa turned 30 about 18 mins ago....so now she joins us in the world of the 30's. Fortunately for her, she's quite more cool about the whole idea than I was at that time. She too didn't have such a great day at work today, and to treat us overstress worker bees, and her vacationing bro...she took us to Steamrollers for some wraps.

Only 10 more days till I get to go on vacation....and a real vacation this time...not an extended weekend...or any crap like that. Can't wait!!

Good old summer....

2004-08-16T22:56:00.000-07:00

So...with Melissa's brother in town, I get to play tour guide in my own town again. Which I like cause I get to see the things that I may rather just not bother seeing. Melissa's birthday is tomorrow...the poor thing is turning 30. Thankfully, she isn't as devastated as I am about the whole "30" thing.

Anyhoo, quick note from me....it's too bloody hot in the office (read, largish closet where I have my computer crammed in with a bunch of other crap) to spend much time in here.

Tata!

Tucker

Fartin around on a Saturday

2004-08-14T21:24:00.000-07:00

Well... here it is...another Saturday come and gone. Waiting for Melissa's brother to land at the airport for his weeklong visit. Hehe...get to play tour guide...again.
So...played with my new toy and took some pix of the walkabout that we had today. Went to the market and got a cold drink...cause it's bloody hot around here lately. Sat by the water and watched the world go by. Went to the boat area around Granville Isle...and drooled at the kayaks. After that..Melissa found some sandals at a beachy-type store, and then fed me beer. After some more wandering around the island, we realized that it was time to get out of the sun.

Anyhoo... the moral of the story is to just get the hell out of the house. ;-)

Thursday night!

2004-08-12T21:43:00.000-07:00

Cleaning the bathroom! Woohoo!
Actually...it needs it.
So....life here is flying by..work is...well...work, and play is well...play. I really can't wait for the end of the month so Meli and I can skip town and head south for our road trip to SanFran and area. Alcatraz and the drive to Monterey are what I'm most looking forward to. That and seeing the San Fran Giants play the Dimondbacks or the Rockies....hell, that Jeff Francis guy from Vancouver might even pitch! Maybe the trips into the Sonoma and Napa valleys will be nice. Unfortunately..I'll have to miss out on most of the wine tasting, being the driver and all. poo.

And hey that pic of the bathroom, take with this: Palm Zire 72

mmmmm....gadgetry.....

Anyhoo...meeout!
Tuck

Death Star?

2004-08-08T16:14:00.000-07:00

http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/gs2.cgi?path=../multimedia/images/large-moons/images/PIA05423.jpg&type=image

2004-08-06T23:53:00.000-07:00

Have a great weekend everybody!
That name again is Mister Plow

The Whirlwind month of July

2004-08-05T19:59:00.000-07:00

So, here it is - we're in August already. Crap!
July went by too too fast....might be because Melissa and I went everywhere. Okanagon, Sunshine coast, hiked Shannon Falls and the Grouse Grind. One outdoorsy month indeed.
Pictures below only a sampling of the cool things that we saw.....cows, ducks, loons, crazy noisy squirrels, crazy crazy noisy crows.....I'm sensing a theme here.

On a more indoorsy note, this homage to crappy late 80's early 90's PC games is the funniest thing I've seen in a while. Again, more homestarrunner, but they're just too funny.

2004-08-05T19:51:00.000-07:00

North view into Howe sound. Ferry heading west into Georgia Straight.
That name again is Mister Plow

2004-08-05T19:48:00.000-07:00

Melissa and Me near Shannon Falls
That name again is Mister Plow

2004-08-05T19:47:00.001-07:00

The gang at Dinner Rock Rec Site
That name again is Mister Plow

2004-08-05T19:47:00.000-07:00

Dinner Rock North
That name again is Mister Plow

2004-08-05T19:46:00.000-07:00

Dinner Rock South
That name again is Mister Plow

Work, camp, work, camp, work

2004-08-03T20:42:00.000-07:00

Camp.
Well...went again for another adventure to some place that I've never been to before.
Dinner Rock is the place, and the Sunshine Coast is where it's at. Went with (of course) Melissa, abut this time Dumb and Dumber joined along. They're also known as Stephanie and Janetta.
I've got some pictures of it and all that, but of course they're still waiting to be developed and scanned.

Full story of what we got up to soon. In the meantime, read Melissa's blog about it.

Meeout,

Tucker

My true geekness showing through

2004-07-27T19:17:00.000-07:00

Ok...but I get to blame a bit (well, most) of this on my Sister, Jordy.
www.homestarrunner.com

That website, you either get it....or you're left shaking your head..wondering what is going on.
Me, I get it.
Especially this!
http://www.homestarrunner.com/sbemail58.html
Now, they've gone one step further with this!
http://www.homestarrunner.com/pqtrailer.html

2004-07-27T19:15:00.000-07:00

Me again, out in the middle of nowhere.
That name again is Mister Plow

Pictures below...and above

2004-07-27T19:05:00.001-07:00

These pix are of Canada day's camping trip into the interior. We had a place all mapped out, but it caught on fire.

Fire bad.

This back up place that we found seems to be just as nice, and %100 less on fire. An added bonus.

2004-07-27T19:05:00.000-07:00

Lastly, what trip to the interior can go without a wine tour? Certainly not ours.
That name again is Mister Plow

2004-07-27T19:04:00.000-07:00

Had the whole lake to ourselves mostly. I think I was checking out a truck on the road on the other side of the lake.
That name again is Mister Plow

2004-07-27T19:02:00.000-07:00

Went to see the Kettle Valley Railway (now part of the Trans-Canada Trail). As you can see, it's very exciting.
That name again is Mister Plow

2004-07-27T19:01:00.000-07:00

View of Thone Lake in the Okanogan outback.
That name again is Mister Plow

The First Post

2004-07-27T18:40:00.000-07:00

Well...... this is the post that says this is the first post, no?
Rather that try and keep a website up and running and all that...this is a much easier way to slay that Dagron.

SSsssssssssooooooooooooooooo........look back here for more crap about me!

Tuck