Dumping Grounds

Things I’ve learned

• Europeans LOVE Johnny Depp. He’s everywhere. I mean everywhere. You cannot step on the street anywhere without looking ol’ Johnny in the eye somewhere. It’s like God… that whole “He’s everywhere, and is always with you” kind of thing.
• The smoking bans in Europe have made the restaurants MUCH more livable, but has stopped EXACTLY no one from smoking. They just do it outside. How they afford it at almost $13 a pack is completely beyond me.
• Internet is not easy, or cheap to come by in Europe.
• Blogging time is more difficult when you are not traveling alone. For those of you who wanted more frequent updates, I’ll get to it when I can. Or ask me when I get back.
• ADDEDWell, we know what you people are worried about… Send out a link to the Flickr page… neato-pic of the Eiffel Tower, check. No click throughs. Awesome pic of the moon setting rising over the Seine. Check. Two click throughs. Pic of the ring? 13 click throughs. Wow. You people ought to be ashamed (Let’s be fair… Ames sent out a big spam email, and I’m sure all the click throughs were her girlfriends. Girls don’t know art when they see it. They are blinded by sparkles.)
• ADDED I have absolutely no idea why, but the French really do make croissants better than anyone else.
• Like I said last year, the French are not rude, they are, however, sometimes quite insistent that you accept their help, even if you don’t need it at that moment.
• French pronunciation guide: completely remove every third consonant. Slur all other letters as much as humanly possible.
• London children do not go to class. they spend all their time on field trip. Paris children do not go to class, either. They spend all their time at the Louvre.
• The Louvre is hot. Really hot. Like Africa hot.

To those who were wondering

Yes, I did, and yes, she did. See the pictures. Happened at St. Chapelle (the pics with ALL the stained glass, early in the set posted yesterday.)

Well, here’s an update. Big headlines first.

• Internet in Paris was very hard to come by without spending massive amounts of Euros.
• Parisians are not nearly as rude as their reputations.
• One must be very careful when buying Eurostar (train) tickets, as they are on a 24 (not 12) hour clock.
• The French country-side does not honestly look that different than the Texas countryside. It really doesn’t.

The last two days have been in Paris, and I have had a good time. I already know of some vantage points I would like to take pictures from when I come back. The weather the first day was abysmal, the worst I have endured (even including the windstorm in London, which KILLED 18 people throughout Europe). It was a spectacularly uncomfortable combination of wind, rain, and a gray, dark sky that just seemed oppressive. Today could not have been a bigger contrast, as it was sunny, still cold, with a manageable breeze and not a cloud in the sky. I’m writing this from the chair of the Eurostar train from Paris Nord (North) to London Waterloo station. I hope I got some good pictures, I have been unable to look at them as of yet on anything larger than the 2″ screen of my camera. (Note: I have had a chance to load them on my computer… upon review, I am extremely hard on my own photos, and I have to admit that I am very pleased with the results from Paris)

While I said that what they say about the people in Paris I have not found to be true, what they say about the food unquestionably is. Rich, fattening, and completely wonderful. I have continued to try everything placed before me in every place I have gone to on this trip. The only thing I have found that I simply found inedible was mushy peas. Take perfectly good green peas, mash them like potatoes to bob them of every bit of texture they might have had when they were picked, and them plop it onto a plate beside fish and chips. That’s mushy peas. Didn’t care for them. However, during my time in Paris, I tried a variety of pastries, crepes (with chocolate, with ham and cheese, and even with Grand Marnier), ill-tempered sea bass with a laser beam on its head (ok, maybe there was no laser beam), scallops, escargot, more crepes, and a little delight called crunchy chocolate cake. Yes, it was. Crunchy that is. It is true that Parisians do not seem to eat anything that is not smothered in butter. Oh, and as Leah just pointed out to me, we also had a toasted ham and cheese sandwich with a twist that made it distinctly European (I’m not quite sure if this is French or not) as the cheese was on the outside. I’ll be happy to make one for anyone who wants one upon my return. And I also have had French Fries. In France. And yes, that is what they call them.

I must break from my extended love-letter about French food to point out that at this very minute, I am inside the Chunnel. That’s right, I’m underneath the English Channel (and no, I don’t know if that’s what the French call it). I can’t say much for the scenery, as it’s dark, and I can’t see a darned thing outside the train. So, lacking anything interesting to say about the Chunnel other than what a wonder of modern engineering it is, and the fact that I am at the moment in it, I’ll return to the travel update.

Paris questions: Yes, I saw the Eiffel Tower. No, the idea that you can see it from anywhere in Paris is not true. there are plenty of places that you cannot see it. Yes, I saw Notre Dame, walked not only to the top but also around inside and got to take pictures. (Side note for photography geeks: Stormy European cities and gothic cathedrals are dark, dark places. Never got the camera off ISO 1600, and even with that, and an Image Stabilization lens, I expect the vast majority of pictures to be quite blurry when I review them tonight.) Saw the Arc du Triomphe, and walked up and down the Champs - Elysees where the Tour de France ends each year. Quite impressive. Yes, I did tour the grounds of the Louvre, but did not go inside, as I am sure any description would not adequately convey how large that museum complex was. Definitely comparable to the Smithsonian in Washington. No, not the Air and Space museum… ALL of the Smithsonian. the Louvre just went on, and on, and on… building after building. Took many pictures of the outside.

Contrasts between London and Paris:

• Much more driving space in Paris. However, while I am sure it is governed by rules, the rules are beyond the comprehension of a simple traveler such as myself. The roundabouts in particular seemed to be a land governed by “he who has the most guts wins.” London, despite driving on the wrong side of the street, seemed to make (slightly) more sense. for my part, I’m not driving in either place. Thanks.
• For the most part, Londoners do not smile. Parisians do much more often.
• Most disturbing: I have previously discussed the fact that London schoolchildren do not seem to have classrooms. They are always on field trip. there are lots of London schoolchildren. Walking in London, one must always be on the lookout for the rampaging new mother with a stroller, as she is probably looking to take you out. In short there are LOTS of kids in London. However, I never saw a single pregnant woman. Not one. I did see children in Paris, but comparatively few. More along the scale of the number of kids one would see in the United States. In a much shorter time, however, I saw 2 pregnant women. I used my keen deductive reasoning skills to conclude that England must be raiding France for children. I see not other logical possibility.
• There are no Hilton sisters named London.

I have just exited from the Chunnel, and it appears as though I will live to see the sun another day. I didn’t really have any doubt, but then again, I was consciously not thinking about the amount of water that was on top on me while I was hurtling along in my (non-watertight) train cabin.

When on the Eurostar… announcements are always made FIRST in the native language of the country you are currently in. While in France, announcements were always French, then English. Now that we have crossed back over, is is English, then French. Cute. Not only am I running out of battery, I’m running out of things to say. I do have a couple of things I need to add about TERRIBLE table manners, but that may warrant an entry all its own.

As always, photography highlights have been posted to Flickr.

Nope, I’m not going to make 3,000 pictures, but I have taken quite a few so far.

Well, the bad news is that I seem to be catching a cold. I’m going to dose up on vitamin C and try to stay warm. I really don’t want to get a full-blown head cold. Right now it’s just a runny nose. I came home today and took a nap, and I am feeling better this evening.

Yesterday was a new record for walking. I took the tube over to Westminster, and after touring the Abbey, I just walked all the way over to St. Paul’s. So I guess yesterday was my “church” day. Both churches respectfully request that you not take pictures inside (not that there are any services going on, I think it’s to boost the postcard trade) so, despite the fact that everyone else ignored them, I did not. Hence, no pictures from inside either of the big churches.

I enjoyed the tour of each of them, in different ways. I thought both of them were more tasteful than St. Peter’s in Rome, but my sister disagrees on Westminster Abbey. All three are quite elaborately decorated. St. Paul’s is unquestionably the prettiest, unless you are into gaudy displays of gold… which, come to think of it, some people are.

I do wish I had a little more notice that I was coming over, and I would have read up on more of the history of the monarchy. I probably would have appreciated the tour of the churches more (because I would have known precisely who that monarch was that was buried there, etc.)

the other unique thing about St. Paul’s is that you can climb to the very top of the dome, and while I did not take pictures of the inside, I most certainly did when I was outside on the ledge. London, like just about any other big city, doesn’t look all that great from above.

On the way back, I had the pleasure to make the acquaintance of a self-professed crackhead named Paul. You see, he wanted to trade me hats (I was wearing my fedora). He was quite pleasant, and claimed to have a cousin who was a chauffeur in Dallas. He was explaining to me that he had been off drugs for 13 days (apparently a new years resolution). Well, except for alcohol, you see, his girlfriend had just walked off to go get some alcohol. Alcohol was fun, so that didn’t count against his pledge of no drugs. Crack was not fun, he explained. “Ah, so you have sworn off drugs that are not fun?” I asked. “Yes, so those hits of marijuana don’t count either, mate. Because that’s minor stuff. Yeah, marijuana is fun.” So he has been off of “non-fun” drugs for 13 days. I wish him luck. I also got the scoop on the magazine he was selling. Apparently there is a publisher over here who, as an attempt to put the homeless (or nearly homeless) to work, he publishes a magazine for that purpose. He sells it to people for 70p, then they can resell it on the streets for 1.50. Paul was quite proud that he was not begging. Sounds like a good idea to me, and it obviously made Paul enough money to keep him and his girlfriend in alcohol.

No, I did not trade hats, and no, he did not steal (nor attempt to steal), my wallet.

Today was spent at the National Museum, and my main task was to answer a question posed to me by my friend Lisa at work… “Why do the vast majority of the Greek statues left in museums in Athens have missing heads and genitals?” Apparently virtually all of these statues have signs on them, indicating that the remainder of the statue was in the British National Museum in London. (Begging the question, “Is there a room full of nothing but heads and genitals from Greek statues somewhere in the National Museum, and if so, can you tour it?”)

Well, my guess is that those signs in Athens are to gig the Brits a bit, because they want their statues back. And the Brits won’t give them up. (More on this below) Because guess what?

The statues in London are missing heads and genitals, too!

So, ever the interested scholar, I walked right up to a curator and asked. “I know that this is an odd question, but I am serious… where are all the heads and genitals? The Greeks say that you have them.”

Here’s the story.

Apparently, rank and file soldiers in the British armies did not have the same level of respect for history and art that their leaders did. While the leaders were loading up the statues for transport back to England, the soldiers where breaking off what they could to take as souvenirs. It doesn’t take too much imagination to guess what would be the most popular souvenirs. So the majority of the missing heads/genitals are missing, presumably lost forever. But the British museum is not hoarding them. I believed him. He seemed like an honest chap.

And it was fairly obvious that I was not the first one who had asked.

I will close today with some observations about British society:

• As far as I can tell, British schoolchildren do not have classrooms. Because they are always on field trip.
• There cannot be more coffee shops in Seattle than there are in London. There are several spots (with limited views, even) where you can see 2 Starbucks, and an assortment of other one-off shops.
• There was as much propaganda within the Allied troops in World War II as there was directed at them. From watching documentaries over here, looking at memorials, etc… Gen. Mongomery damn near won the European theatre himself, and may have done so more quickly if Eisenhower had listened to him a bit more. (For those who are not WWII buffs… that’s not exactly the same story that Americans have been brought up to believe)
• The British are cultural snobs to the core. There is a quite obvious display (with take home flyers) in the National Museum as to why they will not give the Greeks their statues back. It boils down to: We take care of them better than you could have, anyway. I am not denying the truth of this statement. The British have some reasons to be cultural snobs. It’s an impressive history, an impressive culture, and an impressive society. But c’mon… you stole their statues.

More pictures up (at least a few) in the same location:

London Flickr set

Did a lot more walking around yesterday, and then spent the evening watching Spamalot, the musical based on Monty Python and the Holy Grail. It was quite funny, although, like the movie, I thought it lost a bit of steam after it was about 2/3 over. I give it a 6… maybe a 6.5.

Today, however, was remarkably interesting as I walked through Hyde Park, saw the touching Diana memorial fountain (which is quite well done), the Albert memorial erected by Queen Victoria, and.. the event which I can only describe as incredible… Speaker’s Corner.

In 1872 (I think, I’m doing this from memory), Parliament established a location within London where free speech was absolute. As long as you did not incite a riot, you could say whatever you wanted. All I can say is that the idea has obviously caught on. I was treated by angry anti-American diatribes (which were interrupted by another “Free Hugs” man who felt that Americans were great and a rousing rendition of the Star Spangled Banner which didn’t seem to take the wind out of the old biddy’s sails one bit. She didn’t have much of an argument, she just hated Americans.

I also had the honor of meeting a man who didn’t seem to respond to anyone, but stood under an Israeli flag and sang “Rock of Ages.” There were a variety of (let’s call them non-mainstream) religious views represented, a man who was arguing on behalf of a world government, and a man with a horn on his head and an Arnold t-shirt that read “The Governator” who yelled at the top of his lungs that what the world needed was more beer.

It was awesome. It was a collection of heartfelt views and nutjobs like I had never seen before. I had a blast. Except for one, all of today’s photos are from Speaker’s Corner.

From there we headed to Greenwich, for lunch and to see the Royal Observatory. Lunch was great, and I have now been in a pub, downed a pint, and had fish and chips. Despite the warnings of my father, it was quite good. In keeping with my plan to try new things (especially food) I even ate the peas that came with the chips… not bad.

After that, I did all the touristy stuff that one is supposed to do in Greenwich. I had my picture taken in front of the “official” atomic clock. I had my picture taken straddling the Prime Meridian. I toured the museum that the Observatory has become (because, if you think about the weather… London may not be the best place for astronomical observation).

Upon returning from Greenwich, my sister and I were both beat, so we called it an early evening, called some friends, and am going to bed soon… although the slowest washing machine in the history of mankind may keep my up for a while.

Well, it appears as though the internet problems are at least temporarily gone.

So here’s a very quick recap…

• Had a nice lunch of noodles at a place called Wagamama
• Had a very nice talk all up and down the Thames
• Walked through Picadilly Circus and some other square I don’t remember the name of
• got the internet fixed
• walked an old lady across the street, and did what I could to enhance American-British relations
• had a very nice dinner of seafood
• planned tomorrow

There are some pictures up at Flickr. Just a few, but I’m not a pro member, so I’m trying to manage my uploads.

Yes, I’m safe and having fun.

Unfortunately, the internet in the flat is unbelievably slow. I would kill for a 300 baud modem.

Posting of photographs, unfortunately is out of the question until the connection improves or I come home. I do have some good pics from day 1, and I will post them as soon as I can.

ADDENDUM: I may have figured out some of the problem… but pictures will have to wait until later, I’m heading out into the spitting rain again

After spending far too much time messing with color management strategies… (I thought all the earlier photos I posted looked washed out) I have finally collected some highlights from the rest of my trip, including a bird that almost got away, a deer that didn’t seem to want to get away, and a lot of Texas doing its very best New England impersonation.

When last I posted we were still in Big Bend National Park. Upon leaving there, we headed north, through Ft. Davis, where we attended the star party at the observatory… wonderful as usual, to the Guadalupe Mountains National Park. But on the way, we found pretty much the stereotypical west Texas photograph…

We also happened across what appeared to be a very large Red Tailed Hawk, who seemed not very interested at all in having his picture taken. He was putting on a bit of a show, and we were not the only folks who stopped. This was as close to a good photograph as I got… and it’s not much.

Guadalupe is the home of a number of unique Texas landmarks. First and foremost, there is Guadalupe Peak itself, the highest point in Texas. Then, next door, there is El Capitan, probably the most photographed peak in Texas. i know that I contributed mightily to its total.

However, the most unique features of Guadalupe Mountains National Park is Devil’s Hall and McKittrick Canyon. They both house large numbers of maple trees, and because of that, are one of the very few spots in Texas that you can actually get spectacular fall color. (Well, colors other than the brown and rotting banana yellow that most of Texas gets) See for yourself.

All in all, one of the more impressive things I have seen in Texas.

Well, today was dominated by the climb up Emory Peak. Emory is the tallest mountain in the Chisos Mountain Range, the tallest in the Big Bend National Park, and at an elevation of 7,832 ft, it is the 10th tallest named peak in Texas.

The hike itself is not brutal and can easily be done in 5-6 hours. There is a tremendously convenient bear proof locker about a mile and a half from the peak (before the steepest part of the climb) where you can stash the heaviest things in your pack, taking only what you need to get to the top, and you can pick up the rest of it on your way back down. If I had not torn up my foot, it probably would have only been in the range of â??moderately challenging.â? With a twisted ankle and a nasty bruise on my heel, it was a bit tougher than that.

The last 200 feet or so are over some pretty large rocks and boulders, and it’s fairly vertical. It’s not life threatening, by any means, but it certainly does look mean. the winds when we were there were pretty fierce, and it was cold as hell for those last 200 feet, but then, very surprisingly, it suddenly gets warmer and the winds are fairly calm when on the peak. I cannot explain it.

I’ll even admit it… between the wind, the cold, and my foot, I nearly gave up 30 feet from the top. Alan convinced me it was warmer at the top, so I managed to climb on up. He was right. and I am glad he convinced me, because that was one of the most impressive 360° views I have ever seen.

Some examples from the top… (there is a radio antenna at the top, it shows in one of the pics)

On the agenda for today was not one, not two, but three separate hikes, to Cattail Falls, Tuff Canyon, and Santa Elena Canyon.

I’ve posted a picture from near the Cattail Falls area before. It’s right down from The Window, which is probably the most famous landmark in Big Bend national park.

I can only assume because of it’s proximity to a very popular spot, Cattail Falls gets overshadowed, and is not well known at all. Which is just great for those that do figure it out, as they don’t have to share the trail with very many folks.

Although it is somewhat dry in Big Bend right now (it is the desert, after all) the falls are not the huge roaring spectacles that you would see in Kauai, but they are pretty cool, nonetheless.

As you hike across barren desert, through the prickly pear cactus, ocatillo, and lord knows what else that wants to poke you with a needle, you continue to descend… and as you do, it gets cooler, darker, and wetter.

Until finally you come across the falls themselves. This was extra nice in that it let me practice one of my guilty pleasures… special effects photography.

There were even spots down in the canyon where non-evergreen plants live, and some of them had begun to show fall color.

After climbing back up into the heat, we headed to Tuff Canyon on our way to Santa Elena. I’ll admit it. I didn’t want to do this one… I thought the picture in the trail guide made it look like a hole in the ground only about 10 feet wide.

Well, let’s chalk that one up to bad photography. Tuff Canyon is a remnant of a volcanic event millions of years ago, that left large amounts of soft volcanic rock that has been carved out by flooding through the years (there was no flowing water at the bottom in October, there may be at other times of the year).

There were however, a few little pools that seemed to be somewhat permanent, and it was there that we found a resident, which, again, you would not expect to find in the middle of a desert… a green leopard frog.

He was quite shy (he jumped into the water twice before we figured out what was doing the splashing), and while Alan scouted a bit, I stayed and scouted the pool, to see what would crawl out, and there he came. He knew I was there, and would not come any further out of the water than this while I was watching.

After Tuff Canyon (which I was glad we went to see after all) we headed down to Santa Elena Canyon, which I can say, without fear of contradiction, is hard to photograph. Walls 800 feet high tend to block out a lot of the sun.

Again, once inside the canyon, the climate becomes cool, dark and wet. As we hiked back, Alan and I both felt that the area had a real â??LOSTâ? feel to it, as we were surrounded by bamboo-like grasses that were 7-8 feet tall on both sides. The sun was beginning to set at we hiked back to the Jeep, and met our little friend, and today’s highlight critter.

That, my friends, is a Black Tailed Rattlesnake. I know nothing about this little devil other than what I learned from Google. While the larger, more famous Diamondback Rattlesnake is listed as â??toxicâ?, our friend here is listed as â??highly toxicâ? He was about two and a half feet long, maybe 3, and didn’t really seem to care much that we were there at all. He never got overly upset (he did raise his head a couple of times) and he never rattled. Alan and I took pictures and warned off the other hikers until the trail was clear, then we left him to continue his rather slow progression to the river. All in all, we probably hung around him for about half an hour. (And yes, I will confess… I wasn’t that close. I have a pretty good zoom lens

Well, today is the first real day of vacation, as yesterday was simply driving, and, all in all, was pretty much a butt-whip.

However, today is different. Today we got to Big Bend, got checked in at the lodge, and went on a short hike. The goal was to not do anything we had done at Big Bend before, and I am pretty sure we can reach that. I’m not sure that you could do everything in two weeks. I’m not even all that sure you could do all the marked, mainstream stuff in two weeks… and then there’s all that stuff that only the park rangers know about.

The hike for today was to Balanced Rock. I’d never heard of it, but it was a relatively quick little jaunt, and after we had driven in, checked in, made it to the Basin, dropped our gear, and left again, it was about all we had time for.

It also provided my first two â??critter shotsâ? which, hopefully, will become a theme.

These little guys were simply going about their own business, as most of the bugs in the area were either going crazy over the flowers (which were plentiful, as it had rained lately) or were simply looking for water, and they had far more important things to do that annoy us.

The hike back to Balanced Rock is pretty straight forward, little evevation change until the end, and is only about a mile to a mile and a half (maybe I’ll check my figures later, maybe I won’t). It’s right down the base of a canyon, so you are pretty much surrounded by rocks the whole time. I’ll spare you these photos, as I did â??Red Rocks Tour of the Southwestâ? last year. These looked a lot like those.

At the end of the trail is the Balanced Rock. It’s balanced. It’s a rock. It’s kinda cool, although after all the oddball stuff I saw in Utah last year (mostly in Arches National Park) it’s somewhat anticlimactic. The pictures don’t do it justice, however, as there is nothing to give it scale. It’s a big rock. The balanced part is probably 8-9 feet tall. You have to climb just a bit to get up to it, but it’s nothing hugely challenging.

And yes, I am perfectly aware that the rock on the right is, well, vaguely suggestive. Trust me, I had shots that made the resemblance far more… graphic.

the only real problem with climbing is looking where you put your hands and feet, as in-between any two rocks could be lurking…

Ouch.

We both escaped with our lives Although I did skin up my legs pretty good during a spill. But hey, it’s not vacation until I bleed, so I figured I would get it out of the way early.

Upon our arrival back at the basin, we had some company who didn’t really seem to care if we were there or not. Not one bit.

After this and dinner, we made our first ill-fated attempt to use my telescope. It was unbelievably windy, and it shook the scope so hard that it was difficult to keep anything in frame for more than a few seconds, and when it was there, it was awfully blurry. Strike one for the scope.