Blogs from North America - page 6776

So, today is the day of farewell parties: my coworkers took Sandy (who's leaving the company to go on a personal quest as well) and I to Tres Agaves for lunch. Jason and I will meet our friends at ChaChaCha tonight for dinner. We are putting his stuff in storage on Saturday and we fly out Sunday at noon! Here is our itinerary: Sunday, July 20: Leave San Francisco for Tel Aviv, Israel Sunday, August 3: Fly from Tel Aviv to Riga, Latvia Thursday August 6: Overnight train to St. Petersburg, Russia Monday August 11: Leave Russia to ???, and back to Riga Sunday, August 17: Riga to Paris We will spend 10 days in Paris and then rent a car and travel to Southern France, Spain, Morocco, etc. Friday, October 24: Paris to Mumbai (Bombay), ... read more

On the streets of San Francisco After being processed by SFO airport, we fell out onto the sidewalk and were scooped up into a black Lincoln towncar by a Turkish (I think) driver who knew how to type an address into a SatNav. No criticism due there though, he delivered us promptly and in a timely fashion at the front steps of the Beresford Hotel in Sutter St. First impressions of SF were that it is more built up than I (Mark) had assumed, and also that there are far more steep streets than I was prepared for. We checked into the Beresford and went up to our room, being simultaneously surprised by a) how small the rooms were and b) the fact that it seemed to smell of a mixture of musk and wax. Or, ... read more

Margo & Buckys~for the Rehersal Dinner Kristen went all out, to put on with Margo right by her side, an amazing Rehersal Dinner for B&T. We don't venture into these in NZ or in the UK, but I have to say, I am sold! K prepared, their family Christmas meal, which made it even more special. Paella - with chorizo, chicken, prawns, mussels adn who knows what else! with a Layered Salad (not for the faint hearted) and gallons of Sangria - far too damn good. Margo, magically (aided by Bucky and Marie - with Bobby on yard duties) transformed her pool area into 3 beautiful tables, topped with flowers. Too much talent in one place! I bumbled around, unpacking hireage gear, and re-arranged Margo's entire house into a pseudo catering venue. Patient paitent lady :) ... read more

Ahoj, zdravim vsechny, kteri sleduji me kroky. Kdyby to nahodou nekdo nevedel, tak jsem se rozhodl toulat se sedm tydnu po aljasce s batohem na zadech. Ted jsem tu a podelim se s vami o prvni dojmy. Predem se omlouvam za chybejici diakritiku, ale mam jenom sedm tydnu casu. Den 0. (19.7.2008) Z Ruzyne pres Frankfurt a Cincinnetti me donesla postupne tri letadla do mesta Anchorage, ktere je pry nejvetsi na Aljasce. Let trval v souctu 19 hodin, s 4 hodinami cekani na letistich. Diky smeru letu na zapad jsem prozil nejdelsi den sveho zivota, jelikoz zacal probuzenim ve 3 rano v Praze a skoncil usnutim v 11 v noci v Anchorage. Mezi tim ubehlo 31 hodin pri neustalem svetle. Dramaticky jednohodinovy prestup, ktery se mel odehravat v Cincinnetti, dramaticky byl. Protoze jsem sedel skoro na ... read more

Cat was a bit worse for wear this morning and our 'guest' was still sleeping too so I left them alone and went to have breakfast myself, meeting others from tour in the kitchen. After breaky Cat was still struggling so was going to make her own way to the zoo. I went in with Contiki and Barb, Jo, Donny & Tanya all explored the zoo together. We totally sucked at trying to find our way around. Our goal was the Pandas & tigers and despite us following, or trying to follow the signs, it still took us lots of other exhibits before we found what we were looking for. The zoo was great. I'm glad we chose to to both the Zoo and Seaworld. A male orangutan was right up the front of the glass. ... read more