europe, chapter 1
Mar. 20th, 2006 08:12 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
swingchickieit goes without saying that i was incredibly psyched to go on this vacation. what made me even more psyched was the fact that it was in the 60s on the day i flew out, so i was able to drive home from work with the top down on the car. woo hoo! on the way home i stopped at my bank to exchange some cash for euros, but my bank didn't have any... so i planned to do the exchange at the airport, and headed home to grab my luggage.
to save a little bit of money, i had booked a shuttle to take me to the airport... $50 round trip on a shuttle, vs. $200 in airport parking, sounded pretty good. plus one of the shuttle stops was right down the street from me, which made it even better. what i didn't count on is that the shuttle drove all over god's green earth, picking up passengers at 6 other stops, before heading to the airport. it took almost 3 hours to go the 28 miles to the airport, in a van packed with pissed-off business travellers trying to get home on a friday afternoon. and the van... sweet baby jesus, the van... once we got out on the highway, we started driving the whole way down the rumble strips at the side of the road... after a few minutes of it, i was about to ask the driver to pull back into the lane a bit, when i realized that the noise and vibration was actually the darn van! for the next half hour, we buzzed along, and i swear i didn't know if i was going to vomit or have an orgasm. thank god i did neither, and got to the airport completely green but safe.
the flight itself was uneventful. i had a crappy airplane dinner (whenever the flight attendant describes it as just "beef", not "steak" or "hamburger" or such, you know it's going to suck), then slept fitfully for a while instead of watching the in-flight movie... but after only a few hours of tossing and turning, the sun was back up (gotta love that 6-hour time difference) and they were giving us donuts and coffee before we landed. even though i was tired running on such a small amount of sleep, i have to say, flying overnight is the way to go. from now on, all my long flights will be overnight, it made the long trip so much more bearable!
amsterdam's schipol airport looks like a giant ikea. it's this huge open warehouse-y looking place with some brightly colored modern furniture thrown in every so often. i found my way through the international arrivals area, and after about 20 minutes of panic when i couldn't find my peeps, i saw![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
dj_zen and T searching the crowd. off to the parking garage, where we threw my bags in the little opel they'd rented, and off we were to paris!
dj_zen planning our route
windmills!
the drive was peaceful, we played some jazz and showtunes (the soundtrack to "we will rock you", the queen musical) and i caught up on a bit more sleep. about halfway there we stopped for gas and snacks, and it really hit me that i was in another country... the gas station convenience store, while it looked like any other mini-mart, showed that this certainly wasn't the U.S. : there were rows and rows of x-rated movies on a rack next to the cookies, crepes in the refrigerator case, and violet-flavored candies in the candy aisle. and the pre-wrapped sandwich that i got to go was actually GOOD. like, really good. mozzarella and pesto on a baguette, and it was as good as any sandwich i'd pay $10 for in the states. hee!
we got in to paris around 4:30, which gave me a little bit of time for more napping and a shower before we met up withthe_cook for dinner. the hotel (the paris hilton -- insert jokes here), while rather old and boring looking from the outside, was just a stone's throw from the eiffel tower, which meant a gorgeous sunset view from my window as i dressed for dinner:
dinner was a blast.the_cook had chosen one of alain ducasse's restaurants, a bistro called Aux Lyonnais, which was just phenomenal. we spent the next several hours eating ourselves silly, drinking plenty of wine, and laughing way too much for our own good. quite a celebration for dj_zen's birthday! Z even got to check out the kitchen later in the evening, after the_cook told them he was a chef in the states.
the_cook and T over dinner
me and Z, the newlyweds (the hotel desk clerk thought i was his wife)
after dinner, we headed upstairs to a little lounge area for espresso and aperitifs and cigars.
Z picking out his b-day cigar
relaxin' after all that food, with a snifter of 100-year-old grand marnier (YUM)
M looking dapper
by the time we got back to the hotel, it was almost midnight... just in time to see the eiffel tower go all disco-y before bed! i hadn't heard about this before, but for the millenium they attached hundreds of white lights to the tower, and all night at different times it just starts sparkling like crazy. it's like a big freakin' bling monument, it's completely gorgeous.
actually, my photo doesn't do it justice... look at some video here to get a better idea!
to save a little bit of money, i had booked a shuttle to take me to the airport... $50 round trip on a shuttle, vs. $200 in airport parking, sounded pretty good. plus one of the shuttle stops was right down the street from me, which made it even better. what i didn't count on is that the shuttle drove all over god's green earth, picking up passengers at 6 other stops, before heading to the airport. it took almost 3 hours to go the 28 miles to the airport, in a van packed with pissed-off business travellers trying to get home on a friday afternoon. and the van... sweet baby jesus, the van... once we got out on the highway, we started driving the whole way down the rumble strips at the side of the road... after a few minutes of it, i was about to ask the driver to pull back into the lane a bit, when i realized that the noise and vibration was actually the darn van! for the next half hour, we buzzed along, and i swear i didn't know if i was going to vomit or have an orgasm. thank god i did neither, and got to the airport completely green but safe.
the flight itself was uneventful. i had a crappy airplane dinner (whenever the flight attendant describes it as just "beef", not "steak" or "hamburger" or such, you know it's going to suck), then slept fitfully for a while instead of watching the in-flight movie... but after only a few hours of tossing and turning, the sun was back up (gotta love that 6-hour time difference) and they were giving us donuts and coffee before we landed. even though i was tired running on such a small amount of sleep, i have to say, flying overnight is the way to go. from now on, all my long flights will be overnight, it made the long trip so much more bearable!
amsterdam's schipol airport looks like a giant ikea. it's this huge open warehouse-y looking place with some brightly colored modern furniture thrown in every so often. i found my way through the international arrivals area, and after about 20 minutes of panic when i couldn't find my peeps, i saw
dj_zen and T searching the crowd. off to the parking garage, where we threw my bags in the little opel they'd rented, and off we were to paris!dj_zen planning our routewindmills!
the drive was peaceful, we played some jazz and showtunes (the soundtrack to "we will rock you", the queen musical) and i caught up on a bit more sleep. about halfway there we stopped for gas and snacks, and it really hit me that i was in another country... the gas station convenience store, while it looked like any other mini-mart, showed that this certainly wasn't the U.S. : there were rows and rows of x-rated movies on a rack next to the cookies, crepes in the refrigerator case, and violet-flavored candies in the candy aisle. and the pre-wrapped sandwich that i got to go was actually GOOD. like, really good. mozzarella and pesto on a baguette, and it was as good as any sandwich i'd pay $10 for in the states. hee!
we got in to paris around 4:30, which gave me a little bit of time for more napping and a shower before we met up with
the_cook for dinner. the hotel (the paris hilton -- insert jokes here), while rather old and boring looking from the outside, was just a stone's throw from the eiffel tower, which meant a gorgeous sunset view from my window as i dressed for dinner:dinner was a blast.
the_cook had chosen one of alain ducasse's restaurants, a bistro called Aux Lyonnais, which was just phenomenal. we spent the next several hours eating ourselves silly, drinking plenty of wine, and laughing way too much for our own good. quite a celebration for dj_zen's birthday! Z even got to check out the kitchen later in the evening, after the_cook told them he was a chef in the states.the_cook and T over dinnerme and Z, the newlyweds (the hotel desk clerk thought i was his wife)
after dinner, we headed upstairs to a little lounge area for espresso and aperitifs and cigars.
Z picking out his b-day cigar
relaxin' after all that food, with a snifter of 100-year-old grand marnier (YUM)
M looking dapper
by the time we got back to the hotel, it was almost midnight... just in time to see the eiffel tower go all disco-y before bed! i hadn't heard about this before, but for the millenium they attached hundreds of white lights to the tower, and all night at different times it just starts sparkling like crazy. it's like a big freakin' bling monument, it's completely gorgeous.
actually, my photo doesn't do it justice... look at some video here to get a better idea!
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2006-03-21 02:04 am (UTC)Chapter one was lovely... did you smoke a cigar??
I had no idea about the eiffle tower "blingning either"
no subject
Date: 2006-03-21 09:49 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-03-21 02:59 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-03-21 09:49 am (UTC)no subject
Cool pics! [the Tower looked like it was being electrocuted when the white lights were flashing/flickering]
"M" looks like he should be in a James Bond setting or something.
I don't know why people complain about windmills... Hello! Free power!!
And, if I had to choose between vomiting and having an orgasm, I'd go with the orgasm - that way you can say you started your vacation off with a bang... LOL ;)
no subject
Date: 2006-03-21 09:50 am (UTC)