The second half of the world

Ah! I know, I haven't posted in almost a month. It has been rather crazy since the last post. We picked up our daughter in Taipei and then traveled to the US with her. The days were a lot busier than expected and not much of anything got done that did not include feeding, chasing or cleaning a kid. If it wasn't one of those it was catching some rest.

Then, after the US, I completed my around the world trip and arrived in Frankfurt after a 5 hour delay in Philadelphia. I had about 4 hours to get home, unpack, repack and get back to Frankfurt for a 3 day meeting in Prague. I was then home for Saturday and most of Sunday and then back out again for 3 days in Paris, from where I just returned.

So, here are the stories you only get here...

After being in Taipei for a little less than a week, we learned we could leave 6 days early. Unfortunately all of the flights from Taipei to anywhere in the US were sold out until 4 days early. Even then, the flights that we could get had a 9 hour layover in Seattle before flying to Spokane. We thought about it a little bit and figured it was only a 5 hour drive with stops. So, when we checked in we convinced the ticket agent to only check our luggage to Seattle. She objected saying it would be a hassle to have to check it back in and get tickets again. I said, "I have two kids to take care of and 9 hours to kill. I am sure I can work it in. (he he he...)"

So we arrived in Seattle and hopped in a minivan. The first 2 hours of the ride were beautiful. The mountains and the lakes were just spectacular. The last 3 hours, flat baren, open and boring. It reminded me of driving across Indiana and Illinois on I-70.

Now, fast forward to this week. Most of you probably know I am a Jeckyll & Hyde when it comes to Paris. The tourism committee didn't decide to play off of the stereotype of the rude Parisien for no reason... For me, if I can avoid a lot of locals, I usually like it, but if I have to deal with a lot of them, well, my wife can fill you in on thosse phone calls.

The part I love is the food and the architecture. The buildings are just amazing! Well, this week I discovered a new way to see a lot of the city and quick. They have installed Velib', a network of a few thousand bicycles that you can rent really cheap and ride through the city. What you do is subscribe for a day 1 Euro($1.37) and then you take a bike from it's electronic lock with your pin code. Your ride it to another (or the same) station and put it in the electronic lock. The first half hour is free and then each half hour is another Euro.

So, at about 8:00 last night, a colleague and I picked up two bikes at Gare du Nord and then rode through the Opera, to the Louvre, along the Champs Elysee and then to the Eifell Tower to the 7th district. It was a great fall evening. A little cool, the smell of falling leaves, just nice. And some of the side streets that we rode through were just great. Buildings from when Napoleon was ruling.

Finally we locked them up and found a really good Japanese Resturant that had a great Sushi menu. I topped the night off with a taxi ride along the Sienne to get back to my hotel. The way the buildings were lit up and reflected off the river was great.

Around the world in 24 Days

The trip around the world has begun!

I am blogging from a free internet terminal in Singapore Changi Airport. The journey so far has been a trip, pun intended. I missed my connection in Singapore so now I have an extra flight. If you are following my trip, here it is:

Aug. 23 - Frankfurt - Singapore - Hong Kong - Taipei
Sept. 6 - Taipei - San Francisco - Seattle - Spokane
Sept. 10 - Spokane - Phoenix - Philadelphia - Frankfurt

More to come!

Blog Tracker

Ok, I admit, I am not the most reliable blogger. I keep the blog so that I can write about new exciting things going on over here in Germany or where ever in the world I may be, that way friends, family and anyone else can live vicariously through me. :) But this means that if I am staying in Bonn for an extended period of time, chances are, I do not update the blog at all.

In addition, I like reading some blogs, but I don't check them all every day, mainly because there are others like me that do not post every day (sometimes every week). If I haven't looked at it recently, I usually forget to look at it.

But, I found something that helps me and wanted to share it with you, to help you avoid looking at my blog and realizing, I didn't write anything recently. I use Blogarithm, you sign up, give it the URLs of the blogs you want to follow and it sends you an e-mail daily for any of your blogs that have been updated in the previous 24 hours. There are probably other similar services out there, and they may be better, I just settled on the first one I found that did what I wanted. The can be found at www.blogarithm.com

Single Again (updated)

So, for the first time in many years, I am (un)technically single again...

I drove my wife and son to Frankfurt Airport today to send them on their way for the beginning of what is just short of a three month trip. First they are going to her parent's house to drop off luggage and set the house up for the baby. Then I will meet them in Asia to pick our daughter up and return to the US with them. Then, if we want to continue to eat and have a place to live, I have to return to Europe to work while they wait for certificates and passports. Which leaves me on my own in Europe for most of the next three months.

To be fair, it works out, especially as it has enabled me to over schedule implementation projects for work. Normally, I wouldn't have scheduled so much because of the travel required, but since they aren't going to be here, might as well make sure the target objectives for this year are met and exceeded [finally bonus eligible this year:)]

Well, it was sad to see them off, but the bachelor life beckons... catch up on e-mail, go for bicycle ride, defrost the freezer... Oh yeah, the good ol' days.

UPDATE:

So, for the first meal, I figured nothing says "family is gone" like fries, chicken nuggets and a Kölsch Beer. Speaking of Kölsch, I am going to miss this stuff when we move back to the States... I used to like Sam Adams and Yuengling Lager. On recent trips to the US I have had both, but they just don't compare to the German Beer...