West Coast Catch-Up

Delays sometime happen. Especially in IT projects. So hopefully you'll excuse my tardiness in getting the blog entries written for the Jan/Feb trip to the US west coast.

As an enticement, I thought I'd show you this:

I guess you know where I'm talking about.

And then for the other part of the trip we headed inland a bit and saw lots of these:

So, no need to hold your breath for too long now, the updates for this trip are coming very soon (and will be post dated to get some order in this chaos).

Colombian Gold

The British Museum is such a wonderful place. There is so much to see, that despite the numerous visits, I still haven't viewed all of their collections.

This is made even more difficult when they have special exhibitions for a limited time. Some of them are not of much interest to me, but the others require another trip to London (which I don't mind at all) in order to see them before they move on.

This time it was a collection of Colombian Gold, some of it from the Museo de Oro in Bogota, and some of the items from the British Museum's own collection.

This we had to see.

So although photos were difficult to take inside (quite dark) we did thoroughly enjoy the experience.

A few photos from other areas of the museum we saw are below.

Of course we didn't just go to the museum, we also walked past the new (-ish) BBC building.

All Souls Church still stands tall next door:

And of course the obligatory pictures of the Houses of Parliament:

What luck to live so close to such a city !

Carnival Time

Once again we have reached that time of year when certain places around the world dress up and party for days on end.

Having partaken in the Carnivals of Barranquilla (once) as well as Mainz (too many times to count), I thought I would start off by giving you a brief comparison between the two types of carnival, so that you can decide for yourself which one you prefer:

The Weather
Mainz: Usually about 5 degrees Celsius, but ranging from -10 to +10. Invarioubly it snows or rains during these days.

Barranquilla: Around 30 degrees Celsius, ranging from +25 at night to +35 during the day. Occassionally there is a cloud.

The Bands
Mainz:

Barranquilla:

 

The Costumes
Mainz:  

Barranquilla:

The Floats
Mainz:

Barranquilla:

The Dancers
Mainz:

Barranquilla:

The Unusual
Mainz:

Barranquilla: 

 So which one do you prefer?

Unlucky for some

Some people believe that the number 13 brings bad luck. You will find hotels with no 13th floor, aeroplanes with no 13th row, and roads with no house number 13.

Some people still have bad luck despite this, and some people are fine despite being aged 13 years old, so I'm not entirely sure this is sufficient proof that this number causes such bad luck.

However, for you, dear reader, the number 13 has meant a year without updates on this blog (this is not entirely true, as some of the 2012 posts were actually written in 2013, but I digress).

So why is 2014 going to be any better? Well, I have been collecting my thoughts over these last 12 months, so have the ideas, the photos, and the will, so I am just looking for the time now to actually write them down for you to be able to consume them.

What better way to start this off than in the midst of the carnival season.

Lookout for my post on this coming very very soon...

The Hills of Brill

When a day of sunshine comes along, it would be rude not to make best use of it. Especially after all the rain we have been having across the country.

So I cleaned up my bike (got a bit muddy after the abandoned trip on the Banbury Route from Woodstock last weekend), and headed off towards Brill.

This village is on top of quite a steep hill. In fact it is so high compared to the surrounding area, that they built a windmill on the top.

I have done this trip before (one way) on the way to Aylesbury, but this time I wanted to make Brill the destination and come back a different route to Kidlington.

Mostly on low-traffic roads, it's quite a nice ride with lovely views across the fields, especially when you get higher up. Also it helps a lot if there is some sun...

Starting off via the old town of Kidlington, I passed through the fields behind St Mary's Church which were still flooded. Cycling through nearly a foot of water made the start of this trip a bit difficult, but on the plus side, did clean off the rest of the mud from my bike.

The route took me through Islip, Oddington, Charlton-on-Otmoor, Murcott, Boarstall and finally on to Brill.

The hills are also a bit deceptive one must say. The route takes you around the side of the climb and you think you're going steadily up, only to find the road dips down again. Then you start a bit of a climb to a main road. Once on here you realise it's a very long steady climb, testing your endurance.

Getting to the end of this stretch of road you see the actual climb in front of you. Not giving up, you gather your remaining strength and put it all into the pedals on your lowest gear to labour up this hill.

As you round the bend hoping for the final flat, the road suddenly goes near vertical just to make sure you didn't think you had beaten it. Succeed here, and you will be greeted with an amazing view from the windmill, and a pub a stone throw's away.

Of course, it would have been good to know that the pub stops serving food on a Saturday at 2pm, and arriving at 2.30pm means you are going to go hungry.

Brill doesn't seem to have any sort of cafe. One pub, one gastro-pub, and a newsagents is all I could find. When asking locals they looked bewildered, possibly wondering what this new type of establishment could possibly be.

So a hungry biker decided to follow his (different) route home and hope one of the villages he passes through would have somewhere that could give him a much needed energy boost.

Brill doesn't let go that easily though, and some steep downhills followed by a couple of steep uphilss, I was finally out of the clutches of this town.

Unfortunately nobody told the route planner that. The route back wasn't quite so scenic. Passing through the county prison at Bullingdon reminded me a bit of Florence, Arizona but with live grass.

Eventually, after leaving MoD land and turning shortly after Blackthorn, I found a post office in Ambrosden that also had some sandwiches and drinks. After an "Full English Breakfast" sandwich, I was ready for the rest of the journey back.

Passing through Merton, there were signs for a real ale festival this very day. I did consider it, but still with a few miles to go I thought better not risk it. Next time...

Through Islip and it was a home straight back to Kidlington where I could finally hang my shoes up and rest.

West Coast Diary: The Wrap-Up (Day 11)

Final day in Arizona. We packed our bags (checking there were no scorpions there in the process) and said our goodbyes to Martin, Sibylle, Philipp and Julia.

Back to the airport and a short flight to San Francisco where we dropped off our bags at the Comfort Inn by The Bay, mainly because there was some conference on and nearly all hotels were booked out (note to self: check there is no conference going on when visiting next time - prices jump and availability goes low).

We then went off to Japantown to have a look around in the daylight and then for some dinner. Walking around Fillmore (where we had previously met up with Amir and Kirsty) we found a Mediterranean place called Cafe Troya where we had a very tasty dinner.

Back to hotel for some sleep before getting the flight the next morning back home.

To see all the photos from San Francisco, please click here.

To see all the photos from Arizona, please click here.

West Coast Diary: The Breakfast Club (Day 10)

We had been in the US now for over a week, yet we had not eaten a proper American breakfast. This was to be resolved today.

We all packed up our hungers into the minivan and went off to Scottsdale's Breakfast Club after having read the recommendations online.

Upon entering we realised how this was the right place to be. It was packed, which is always a good sign (as long as there are no chains around their ankles and the chair legs).

After a little wait a table was set up for us and we sat down and took a look at the menu. In fact, we spent most of the time looking at what other people were eating, as it all seemed to be huge portions.

After weighing up all the options, I went for the strawberry pancakes, and Olga the spicy omelette. When Martin was ordering his waffles, he had to ask for no bacon (apparently you always put bacon on your sweet waffles...), and they nearly took offence. The plates that came out were immense, and it was a tough job to finish them off. Check out their menus to get a feeling of what we were put through.

Now that we could hardly stand, we decided to do the next best pastime over here - we went to the mall. Here we looked into Bath & Body Works, Clarks (much more expensive than in the UK) and some other good looking shops.

Back home for a bit of relaxing (and letting the food go down) and Jorge came over asking about dinner. So off we went to Fry's supermarket and picked up some more food. Olga did us a nice rice with guacamole and salad, and we had frikadellen (so that Martin didn't feel left out).

What a filling day.

West Coast Diary: The real Tombstone (Day 9)

Wild West time. We set off to Tombstone via Lost Dutchman, Florence (not as nice as the Italian one - this houses the state prison) and Tucson (this place is huge!). The landscape on this trip was very different to around Scottsdale, as we passed cactus fields then green desert before passing through hills.

The town of Tombstone is quite touristy - you see that as you get close. However at this time of the day (4pm) and this time of the year, it was not very busy at all. In fact, it seemed like a piece of tumble weed would blow across the street at any moment.

There is lots made up just for the tourists, with people dressed the part, shoot-outs and old fashioned bars, but you can imagine the films being shot here for the buildings were all typical wild west.

As most things were closing at this time, we wandered around the streets, Olga popped into a bar to use their facilities and came out with a frozen yoghurt. Still not sure how she did it.

So we headed off back home, feeling slightly disappointed that we hadn't gone tot he cactus museum instead. Getting stopped by border control meant that Martin (with no resident documents) had a bit of explaining to do, but luckily Jorge wasn't with us, so they let us pass.

Finally got home late and collapsed into bed. 200 miles each way took its toll on us.

West Coast Diary: Wurlitzer Time (Day 8)

Martin had to work today (or so he claimed) so we decided to do an outing with Sibylle and the kids to the nearby-ish CostCo (as the Americans drive everywhere it could have been 100 miles away and it would still be referred to as around the corner).

We thought we had seen everything done big already in the US, but this was ridiculous. There were palettes of products everywhere, including blueberries in 5kg bags, biscuits in 20kg boxes, ice cream and yoghurt in 10 litre tubs. No wonder you need a big car out here, that's just to fit in the groceries...

After some bagels for lunch, Martin came back and we set off to Mesa to visit a pizza restaurant (Organ Stop Pizza). We were not going to eat here however (although it did smell good) rather we were going to watch the show.

This place has a huge Wurlitzer (the largest pipe organ in the world) with over 6000 pipes, and numerous percussion instruments. Whilst the musician plays, there are all sorts of contraptions in the walls and on the ceiling that move, dance, make sounds and flash lights. Quite an experience.

After all that excitement we headed home to eat the Lamb and beef steaks that we had bought at the CostCo. Very tasty, and so much better than the ones we find in the supermarkets back in Europe. This could easily continue...

West Coast Diary: Waking up at the Grand Canyon (Day 7)

The hotel breakfast was a buffet, so there were no issues with service, thankfully (see previous post). We drove in the two vehicles to the Grand Canyon where Jorge then got his car looked at (not that they could do anything about it) and went to Verkamp Point.

Following the path towards Trailview Outlook was a tricky business, and in fact we ended up having to turn back as the ice became impossible to walk on. It really was a matter of two steps forward one slide back.

Despite this, we managed to get some great views of the deep canyon and the levels of rock colouring that are beyond belief. Many a photo later, and the children has started to get cold so we decided to start our journey back to Scottsdale.

We stopped off at Flagstaff where Jorge got some glue to fix the split coolant tank. As we had to wait a while for it to dry, we headed off to a local brewery-restaurant  to have some lunch (what a coincidence).

I had some raspberry ale, which was very tasty indeed, and a good burger to accompany it. Olga also had a very nice salmon. I was too busy with my food and drink to notice what the others ate, but they were all happy afterwards, so it must have all been good.

The trip back along the I80 was very scenic, with views of mountains and snow turning into cacti and desert. Of course, we got to enjoy it more as we couldn't travel fast in case the pressure split the tank again. We also crossed the historic Route 66, but we didn't get any kicks.

We eventually reached home and Olga made us all a lovely lasagna before we went off to bed.

West Coast Diary: Snow in Arizona (Day 6)

Jorge arrived soon after we finished breakfast, and so we loaded up his car with Olga's and my bags, whilst Martin and family filled up their minivan with their luggage.

Off we went on the journey up to the northern part of Arizona. As we checked the weather forecast beforehand, we knew it was going to be cold, so we decided to stop at one of the outlet centres nearby. We all ended up buying winter jackets from the Columbia store (and some hats and gloves too). Before setting off we went and grabbed some food (Chinese for our car, McD's for the minivan).

Full on food we headed off to the colder side of the state. We noticed that the landscape was becoming less populated by cactus, and was getting a more mountainous and pine-tree feel. Before long we were seeing frost on the ground and then came the thick forests of snow. Were we really still in the same state that borders Mexico?

It was quite spectacular the difference in scenery up here, and we noticed immediately the necessity of those newly bought jackets.

Upon arrival at the hotel we noticed that the engine of Jorge's car had started to steam. We opened her up and found that the coolant tank had split open from the freezing temperature. What a great start.

Once the minivan arrived, and we had all checked in, we all got into the vehicle and headed off to the canyon. We headed for Mather's Point, were we saw a glorious sunset of colours across the canyon. Very impressive.

One thing to note for trips here at this time of the year - the paths are covered in ice, which, when you are near a 6000 foot drop, can be a little worrying. Careful use of available handrails and branches of nearby trees allowed us to move around and get some great views of the canyon's colours.

The north side of the canyon is actually closed at this time of the year as it is so cold and dangerous, so I suppose it's lucky we could visit it at all.

Once we got back to the hotel, we dined at the hotel restaurant (lamb for Olga, elk steak for myself) which was actually very good, except for the extremely slow service which considering the fact that it wasn't even half full was very surprising. We then went downstairs and played some billiards (or pool for us) in the bar.

Heading off to bed we checked the temperature outside, and it was -20 degrees Celsius. Luckily there were heaters in the rooms. Unluckily, ours was so noisy we had to turn it off to get some sleep, and therefore the room got freezing overnight.

West Coast Diary: For the love of Cacti (Day 5)

First morning in Arizona, so after breakfast we headed out with MSP&J to the hiking trail just up the road. This led us around the hills for about an hour, where we saw cactus after cactus after cactus. Apparently there were different types of them, but all I saw were different size prickly green things. At least we got the exercise...

We then drove around Scottsdale, looking at all the posh houses there, before ending up at a Chipotle for lunch. Olga's burrito was good, my taco wasn't. The kids were happy though, so approval all round.

We then headed off to Phoenix to take a whistle-stop tour in the car. Being the capital of the state, we were expecting a lot of badly run-down areas similar to Detroit, but apart from the wooden houses on the outskirts of the city, the city centre was pretty nice. There were lots of new skyscrapers, green parks and a tram system.

After seeing the areas of the downtown, we headed back home so that Olga and Sibylle could prepare a lasagna, whilst the men hung out in the outdoor hot tub with a few beers. Martin's work-friend Jorge (the token Mexican one needs when living here) came over and so there were many heads around the table tonight. We also discussed plans about the upcoming trip to the Grand Canyon where we were leaving for tomorrow.

Off to bed for an early start.