Swarm... In this case it's swarms of winged ants I think, although they could also be moths. Either way, they don't bite, so it's not that bad - just annoying when they hit you in the face. They're just attracted to the bright lights around the race track.
happy thanksgiving it was then! the hospital sounded great! and so glad j's all better now. that reminded me of my hospital here in london. it was quite like a hotel rather than hospital but the one j was at sounded even better!!! ;)
movie theatres that theatre sounds fabulous!!! how fun is that! plus different flavored popcorn!!!!! great! i heard the bond movie's good too! we'll have to see it someday soon.
hope you had a fantastically merry christmas!!! happy new year if i don't get a chance to tell you later also!
BFF (aka: best friends forever) I too am glad that Salty and Riley are best buddys! Riley just told me he looks forward to a time when he and Salty can walk and hike again!!! He also said he really misses Salty. Bella has no comment at this time... HA
Nice Photos So . . . . . you're finally getting caught up with your photo blog! You must be having a good time! I can't wait to see the Bumrungrad photos on-line!
Driving on the Right or Left Found this article on Wikipedia, the story behind driving side is quite interesting: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Driving_on_the_left_or_right
Muhle - 9 Men's Morris Thanks for the help! Based on the name, I found a full description of the game on wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nine_men's_morris
The game ist called Mühle. The aim of the game is to get three of your figures in a row. So for instance: the red player already has three of is red figures in a row. If he manages to put another stone/player at the open gap where already two read stones are laying besides each other than he ist the winner.
Frontal Shots... The background around the car was really bad, and busy, so I couldn't find a good angle from the front. I do have some but don't like how they turned out. I should have at least got a closeup of the logo though... I will be posting a long series of high res photos when I get back home, so I'll see what I can do. As for the road driving, only the UK we've seen drive on the left. In general, most "island nations" drive on the left, although Thailand drives on the left as well.
Space Bags... The space bag is really useful, as is reducing the number of shoes you bring. They're pretty much the bulkiest to pack. My latest idea is to go on a trip to Thailand with no supplies but camera. I think you could completely outfit yourself for a month in the tropics for about $200 in Chiang Mai, Thailand. Then you could take it home, or just donate it when you leave. How crazy would that be? Just leave for Southeast asia with the clothes on your back and some expensive camera equipment!
Americans and Vacation... American vacation time is totally ridiculous. We're the only remaining superpower, and our great impact on the world with foreign policy really should mean that Americans travel more and take our role in the world more personally. We're on this trip, which is basically unheard of for any working American, and Europeans think it's cool, but aren't that amazed that we're doing it. We spent 10 days driving around Europe, and couldn't even imagine that normally that would be our entire time off for the whole year!
Toledo Redux... I can see how the history of Toledo would be fascinating. It's been controlled by many different civilizations. I think we were just dissapointed that it had not been taken care of well, and was really touristy. Kind of like the people forgot what was important about the city in the first place. It's worth seeing if it's a nice day and you have more time, I just ended up enjoying the street life in Madrid more.
Feeling California... Spain definitely feels a lot like California. I can see why the Spanish worked so hard at keeping Mexico and California. I too would totally love the Spanish schedule, and it's good to know that there's a place where I wouldn't be considered a lazy outcast with my sleep patterns!
Picture Lamer... The really annoying thing was the Euro guy that said no was with two Americans that stared at us and didn't offer to help either. We ended up getting these two kind of skeezy looking punk kids to take our picture, and they ended up being really nice.
Communal Table... We like the communal table a lot. Inevitably we end up talking with someone sitting next to us (and in Europe this talk quickly goes to politics). I don't know how well it would work generally in the states though. Not only are people used to be seperated, but usually lunches and dinners are pretty quick affairs, and I can't see people taking the time to just chat over a 2 hour lunch and espresso. BTW, I've heard of Salumi's but I thought it was just kind of a salami sandwich kind of place. Will have to check that out when we get back.
Navigation in Venice... It's true navigation in Venice doesn't really benefit from a map. We just used the map to remember the names of where we wanted to go, so we could ask locals. The funny thing is that for a lot of the main sights, every single corner will have a sign saying "this way to St. Marks." After a while we figured out that it was probably just shop vendors trying to create more traffic on their little alley way!
Dirty Water Actually it was like pulling teeth to get tap water in Europe, so we drank only bottled water and even brushed our teeth with it in Venice. As you'll see later, this isn't my only bout with getting worn out and sick on the trip. 4 months of no more than 3 nights in any place is apparently really tiring. :-)
Refills... No, they're not free, but they're cheaper than anything else you can find in Switzerland, and they brew it there themselves. It's something like $50 for the pitcher and $10 to fill it or something. I asked the guy at the restaurant whether we could get it filled and drink it there, but of course no, it's only for "takeaway".
In 2008, 2009 and 2010, we travelled mostly in the Caribbean, US, Canada and Hawaii. We were just too busy to post travelblogs, and Facebook has been easier to post pictures to, although not as good as this site. Hopefully we'll get back to posting our world travels to this site!
We've returned from our Fall 2007 trip to Europe, visiting Switzerland, Côte d'Azur, and Italy.
We've returned from our 2007 trip to Argentina, Chile and Uruguay. As usual, we haven't completed all the posts, but will work on finishing them up.
We've returned from our 2006-2007 four month around the world t... full info
CM and J
CM and J
Swarm...
In this case it's swarms of winged ants I think, although they could also be moths. Either way, they don't bite, so it's not that bad - just annoying when they hit you in the face. They're just attracted to the bright lights around the race track.