Of our fancy meal in Budapest. (thx Dad!)

Artistic Rendition

Posted by Charles at 06:17 PM | Comments (1)

Here are my photos. [PHOTOS] And here are Karen's PHOTOS They're unlabled, but havn't had time to organize. Hurrah!

Posted by Nick at 01:26 PM | Comments (1)

Glad to hear Charlie and Karen made it back to Vienna with the bikes. It has been a phenomenal trip, and special thanks must go out to Valeria here in Budapest, who has been a fabulous connection here, and shown me the best things Budapest has to offer.

We've been hanging out at various pubs and restaurants, and she introduced me to the fabulous Tokaj wine which I must get a couple bottles of before I return. I couldn't ask for a better host! And I must also mention world famous weblogger Nick Denton who connected us with Vali and here friends and helped make Budapest 100 times more interesting than it would have otherwise been!

Oh yes, and thanks Valerie for correcting my English in some of the glaring typos on this page. My only excuse is that I'm a hasty American. I'll correct the grammer later. ;-)

Today I'm flying back to London, and if luck is on my side, I'll figure out a way to get these photos up online!

Posted by Nick at 11:44 AM | Comments (0)

We took just about every type of transportation there was available in Budapest: arriving by bike, and getting around the city by bus, on foot, the metro, the tram and finally the train back to Vienna to return the bikes and an overnight train tonight to get back to Munich to hop on the plane.
Charlie and I left Nick in Budapest this morning with the three bikes and successfully delivered them back to the rental place after biking all over Vienna for about an hour trying to find our way.

So the biking officially ended and I have to say i really enjoyed the trip though it was a bit hard for me at first not being used to biking all those miles, even our bums got used to it. I am by no means an expert biker as Nick and Charlie will attest to after seeing me tripping all over curbs and cobblestones. but hey, i didnt get hit by any cars or fall into the river and biked 6 days straight. Oh, no one mentioned this yet i dont think but the second to last day we took our host from Eztergom's advice and took a back road which was SUPPOSED to be flat, instead we climbed about 10km over the hill! It was kinda tough but nice, good excercise.

And no, I dont think any of us have a sleeker physique judging by the way we have been eating. I can dedicate a whole post on the pastries and cakes in Hungary and the meat stews cooked in lard and all the candy bars and capaccinos we consumed.

Anyhow, I think i can speak for Charlie and Nick that we had a grand ol' time and are plotting a sequel. Nick, hope you are enjoying the naked baths. We gave your bike to some gypsy kid. He said he would bring it back.

I am off to Barcelona tomorrow and Charlie is back to wonderful Reno for work. I will try to keep up with the bloggin on roundtheworld

Hallo!!

Posted by Karen at 03:22 PM | Comments (0)

Well, we all toasted to a faboulous success of a bike ride last night, in the Buda hills over looking Pest. Yes, we cut out a half week of snow and rain from the ride, but we had 6 glourious days of biking. Nice feeling of acomplishment. A gypsy band played some classical music to our requests and we had a full bottle of wine in addition to venison, perch, and goose on Castle Hill. Goose because we spied so many en-route and they looked delicious. Anyway, toured the parliment building, Hungarian muesuem, and we're off to wander the streets and drink capuccino. We're also planning a proper wild night out in the city. Which for this trip would mean anything past 11 oclock. Karen and Nick have started a war with the internet providers so I'll be leaving you now. Ciao

Posted by Charles at 04:42 PM | Comments (2)

I may only have seconds to write this before this internet connection conks out again. Here in a shopping mall in Budapest. Can't get the phones to work either, but then again, I can't get the phones to work anywhere in Europe.

Anyway - fabulous final day of biking. We rode all the way into Budapest, straight to the Chain bridge, despite being advised not do by several people, and it really was no hassel at all!

We found a phenomenal place to stay, and are supposed to go out with a friend of a friend of mine's tonight to see the town. Anyways, brief and largely uninteresting post, but we are alive and well! Budpest is fabulous.

Posted by Nick at 04:28 PM | Comments (0)

Hallo, seems to mean "see you later here". I'm not sure if it's a hungarian word, or the only English work people know. But when saying goodbye, we are invariably waved 'hallo!'.

Anyways, last post till Budapest! We're only an hours ride away.

Posted by Nick at 10:21 AM | Comments (1)

is the sign we follow when we get into a new Hungarian town for a Free Room. And so far, we have luckily stumbled upon two lovely homes with great hosts. I even got a new name, Caroline, from Edith in Komarom (read nicks post). oh, and i made it through 4 dazs of biking!!!! it gets easier, more enjoyable and hurts less everyday. I almost had to take the train yesterday but the thermal baths the night before did wonders and my knee hadnt felt better.
We are in Eztergom 'The Rome of Hungary', a beautiful town. We stayed with Lazlos and his wife in their lovely home (built in the 1600s!) with the basilica up the hill as a backdrop. An hungarian omelette breakfast completed our stay there this morning.
We are trying to learn some hungarian words but its not easy. All we can say that people could understand is Közsönöm which means thank you. Thats one more word than we know in Slovakian. Off to Szetendre todaz, a supposed artist colony, and onto Budapest tomorrow!!! Unfortunately we still havent been able to find a USB port to upload our photos but we will soon, i hope.
ÜÁéúû these hungarian kezboards are driving me crayz, till next time...

Posted by Karen at 11:19 AM | Comments (2)

Well, in the hustle and bustle of daily life on the bike path, there is hardly time to describe every nuance and bump in the road. So I thought I would describe I morning fare over the last few days.

Sunday in Bratislava we were greeted with a sumptuous feast at the Radisson SAS. Everything from pickled herring, local cheeses, every kind of egg imaginable, breads, juices, meats -all laid out on marble floors in silver platters. We ate well, and several hard-boiled eggs and one orange were pilfered. We amped up our loud American laughs to mock an English bloke who was pitifully complaining that the water wasn’t hot enough and the woeful inadequacy of Slovakia in general.

Mondays breakfast was consumed in the solitude of our ex school dorms in Gabcikovo. Two apples and one pear, cut three ways, and water. Bread from the previous nights dinner, which was slightly stale but passable, and cheese.
Our dorm/pension had not one single sign pointing to it, and for all the world resembled a completely abandoned building. We had considered sleeping on the floors in the halls out of desperation before finally finding the pension desk. And another surprise awaited us, when the bar in the same hulk of a building had a high-speed internet access, which allowed us to produce nicks Gabcikovo
post.

Mondays breakfast was similarly non-spectacular.... although the Zimmer Frei in Komarom was by our calculation only three times the price of the Slovakian dorm at 4 to 5 times the quality. The breakfast consisted of cheese muffins and water. The muffins were so good we ended up buying a double allotment and they served as lunch. We bought them at the bus station after finding out we could not send Karen and her bike by train for a planned day of rest for her knee. She ended up biking all the way to Eztergom, with the less knee pain than any day on the trip. Nick and me are duly impressed by her resilience.

Today, however, wins the breakfast prize by far, which is perhaps what prompted this obscure subject. Eztergom in general is a beautiful town... and our lodging of the highest quality. We descended this morning from our attic lodging, to the smell of bacon. Homemade jam of what we assume is plum (no sugar - and we couldn't determine the ingredients even after a long German-Hungarian-English conversation with our host), fresh tomatoes from the garden, coffee, bread, butter, and the most delicious omelet containing bacon, sausage, chives and at least 12 eggs. Yum. Since our rides are getting successively shorter and easier, it’s a tough call on weather we'll need all those calories but they sure tasted good.

Posted by Charles at 11:18 AM | Comments (3)

We rolled across the bridge into Hungary on Monday afternoon, into the town of Kozonom, and found a nice Zimmer Frei, or guest house, to stay at. The proprietor was Edith, who has shed a lot of light on the nature of Hungarian motherliness, which I had only experienced before with the mother of an old friend of mine. Needless to say, she verifies the theory that there is nothing more doting than a Hungarian mother. She spoke German, so I tried to communicate with marginal success, and our conversation of over an hour, went something like this, in English translation...

Edith... 'and if you would like coffee, here is the coffee machine, and if you would like sugar, here is the sugar, would you like to see how to put the sugar into the coffee? Yes? Ok. this is the sugar dispenser. See? Take sugar dispenser like this, and one, two, see how that works? yes? Ok, I have light bulbs here. and here is the switch. How does it work? Like this. on off. Yes? (proceeds to show us 6 more light switches)

ME - ok, very good, thank you, very good. Wonderful.

Edith.. yes, ok. You would prefer Tea? Yes? Hot water. Here it is. This is how you make the tea. Teabags, yes? Hot water, yes? (meanwhile, her husband was in the backyard the whole time stirring an enormous oil barrel full of recently squeezed grape juice fast on its way to fermantaion, and largely ignoring the goings on upstairts).

Anyways, Edith was very sweet, and we had a very nice evening in Kozonom, soaking in the baths with the local senior population. Anything bad that happens in Hungary, you can blame on the Russians too, which makes things easy. I tried to put a cup in the garbage at the baths, and the garbage can fell apart. Two guys looked at me and laughed at the can, pointing and saying 'ha ha, Ruski'.

Yesterday's bike ride was a bit less tranquil than days past, as we had to go along the highway dodging large trucks and holding our breath as they passed. We made it to Eztergom alright however, and found an even nicer Zimmer Frei here. The proprietor was Lazlo, a multiple Phd from the University in Budapest who seems to also have a keen interest in UFOs, judging by the bookshelf. Very nice guy, incredible place. Just under the Basilica which looms over this town in immensely grand style.

Today, at the recommendation of Laszlo's wife, Eva, herself an accomplished painter, and maker of the best omelet I have ever eaten, we are taking a little detour away from the River to get to Szentendre. Hopefully we wont get too lost, as this road is partially off the map. After Szentendre, we roll into Budapest tommorow. I cant wait. (that deservers an exclamation point, but I've been trying to find it for 10 minutes on this keyboard.)

Posted by Nick at 10:56 AM | Comments (0)

Another higly successful day. Check this map. We're in the town of Gabcikovo, next to the dam shown on the map. Two days biking from Vienna. The weather is sunny and glorious.

Tonight we are staying in what seems to be a defuct University building on the outskirts of town. It's a run down high-rise with a shopping mall in the middle of it. Various stores and activities appear to be inside, such as a cinema, a banquet hall, and a bar. But by the looks of it, this place hasn't seen visitors in a while.

Today was the first time in my life I set off into a country with absolutely no idea how to communicate. I don't even know how to say hello properly. After a flawless bike ride, we managed to get into town and started approching people who seemed a combination of scared and suspicious. I didn't want to appear as a jackass American who expects everyone to speak english (not a soul here does), so I just smiled and said, "hello! Gabcikovo (badly mis-pronounced) ein Zimmer haus? ein Pension?) and people were ultimatelyu quite friendly and polite pointing us ultimately out of the town to this strange complex.

Slovakia. I like it here. It seems poor, but honest. And, despite betraying my desire not to appear as a jackass American, I must mention the prices: 6 dollars for more food than the three of us could eat, plus beer. It's staggering. It's cheaper here than in Peru. It's an economic mystery.

Tommorow, we're off to Komarno. Then we'll cross the river into Hungary and stay there for the night.

Posted by Nick at 07:12 PM | Comments (3)

Though Nick already already noted the victory rally that when on all day and has just terminated in an incredible Slovokian feast, I thought a word or two about the true trials and tribulation that were faced today was in order.

Imagine this - Nick rolls into your room at 6am after a raucous night that reportedly involved five level disco's and a series new Austrian friends. Several hours later we enjoyed the free breakfast from our pension, and trudged through a two train change ride to the bike store with our full gear. Rented the bikes (cost more than the rental car!-but nice bikes anyway) , and proceed to head the wrong direction out of town. Turned around in a fit of panic and begin our now 65K++ planned trek in the right direction. Nice, wide asphalt bike trails with plenty of signs are all they are cracked up to be. The Danube is a muddy power stream oozing history from the last 2000 years of human ocupation, but still surrounded by plenty of tree's, swans, and surly fisherman. Unfortunately we didn't seem to read enough of the signs, because soon we were stuck on a peninsula with a 5k backtrack. That was after Karen took a spill on the bike and received a full bruising. After that and about 10k we came to a flood damaged part of the trail. Tried to make a end run around the dyke but that was foiled. Nick boldly suggested trying the flooded trail via wading... across about 200 feet of water at least. Somehow he guessed perfectly, never went above his knees. Next thing you know, we all had our pants rolled up or off, and were wading and carrying our bikes across the muddy Danube. It was an amazing accomplishment, involving victory dances and pictures.

Had lunch in the rain at a snack shop, consisting of a Mars Bar, and waifer type things and water. Delicious, hit the road again for an amazing 25k absolutely flat, absolutely strait bike ride. We kept a roughly 3 minute KM pace, through the light drizzle. Then the unbelievable series of flats on Karen's bike started. One flat, fixed it. Got to the next town, bought some more snacks, shockingly she had another flat. This time it was patched, we only had two tubes. Each patch/fix takes about 1/2 an hour and we're on a tight time budget. The Ride from ?Hiedsburg? to Bratislava was very enjoyable, with a long downhill section, old cold war bunkers, a altercation with the rude Austrian border guards, and incredibly!!! TWO MORE FLAT FIXES! The patch broke on one, we repaired the patch, that broke, and we used the last tube. Impossible you say? Nope it happened, 4 flats in one ride, one bike, and at this point it has not been proven conclusively that Karens tire caused the issue, no spikes etc found.

Anyway, Brataslava is my favorite European city by far... Young, full of life, we have a fancy hotel, sense of accomplishment and a sore ass. More...sometime, perhaps in Budapest.

Posted by Charles at 11:53 PM | Comments (2)

what a journey today! I'd never biked more than 20 miles a day ever before and we did about 45 today. i think that's quite an accomplishment and it was quite a way to travel. I am not sure if i can get off this seat right now cause my knees are so shot, hope i will be able to carry on tomorrow. Great thanks to Charlie and Nick for putting up with the novice biker and fixing my flat tires.

Posted by Karen at 11:49 PM | Comments (0)

Even though it yesterdays news, I have to dedicate a posting to our steady stead - the Opal station-wagon that valiant served us in the sunny Italian autobahn leg of our journey. 5 speeds, station wagon, roughly 45 miles to the gallon over a series of mountain passes, a still-stuck-parking-coin-thing-that-nick-carelessly-lodged-in-the-defroster-and-cost-us-ten-euros, one Italian citation, 1000 k's traveled, 175 kmh max speed reached, one hit and run with a parking lot barrier (I won't testify against Karen for this though, don't worry), excellent car. Anyway, it's back at EuroCar's Vienna station and we are happily and progressively pedaling our way for now.

Posted by Charles at 11:25 PM | Comments (1)

Bike tripping is officially on. We rode from Vienna to Bratislava today, and I am sacked tired. Among the trials of the trip was a portion of submurged pathway that would have required a 30km detour, and the loss of tonights festivities in Bratislava. But we actually took of our shoes and waded through 200 yards of swolen and freezing Danube to carry on with the journey. I feel redemption coming on.

Bratislava is incredibly beautiful. It is one of those places you show up at and immediately proclaim you could live here. The streets are clean and beautiful, with palpable bohemian hipness in the air. Not at all what I expected of the former eastern bloc. Though there are a lot of forbodining high rise districts in the distance. Pity we have such a short time here, I will have to return.

PS = Slovak keyboards are even more confusing than the German ones.

Posted by Nick at 11:16 PM | Comments (0)

Made it to Vienna today after a largely tireing car ride. Greeted by, what else? Rain! The forcast calls for this to end today, and I can see blue sky in the distance though, so things look good. Now it's time to run a bunch of errands and get this bike trip started. This is also the slowest internet connection I have used in ages, so that'll be it for now.

Posted by Nick at 03:02 PM | Comments (11)

I sure was glad that I drove most of the way from Bolzano, Italia to Klangenfurt, Austria, beacause I would have gotten car sick for sure. Luckily we didn't get smashed by one of those tour buses flying down the narrow windy mountain roads.
Don't get me wrong, it was one of the most beautiful drives we have ever taken. 5 hours of climbing up and down the Dolomites zipping through over 20 numbered hairpin turns each way, mulitple times (we deduced that the numbers are for emergency situations where you can call in and tell them your location??), each offering a spetacular view of the rugged, snowcapped mountains. Pictures will be coming soon..
We are now in Klangenfurt, a really nice town in the southeastern part of Austria. Thanks to my friend Heidi, we had a fantastic Italian dinner, a midnight walk around the town and a place to stay! Her friends who are also studies and teaches here gave us a fine introduction to the town's history and life in a town of 100,000 which still holds quite a bit of traditional Austrian characteristics, is nice and homey yet lively. It gave us a warm and fuzzy feeling. Thanks Heidi!!
Tomorrow we head to Vienna, keep your fingers crossed for nice weather!!

Posted by Karen at 02:20 AM | Comments (0)

So. Back in Austria. Klagenfurt, a truely charming little city where Heidi (Karen's friend) was kind enough to lend us lodging and a tour. Stage one of the resurection of the bike trip is underway, and we should be in Vienna by noonish tommorow to initiate our redemtion. Assuming it's not pouring.

As for today. It was amaying. We awoke at the crack of dawn in Bolzano, and went downtown to see the iceman. (link here). He is housed in one of the better Anthopologic museams I've ever seen, and was one of the most amaying exhibits I've ever gayed upon, despite our only having a very short amount if time.

We then embarked on an all day car ride through the Dolomites, which exhausted all superlatives and any poetic ability I had within the first hour. Highely recommended. Much photography, but we still havn't found a computer with a USB port to upload them. Highlights included the Rosengarten, numerous Italian ski-towns, and a Helicopter which was being used to ferry kegs of beer suspended underneeth it in a cargo net to the top of a very high and snowy pass.

Now we're in KLagenfurt, which incidentaly was the subject of a rather amusing article recently about Ryanair, and their tendancy toward obscure destinations that no one really knows about. Anyways, top notch town, nice folks. Recommended. Out.

Posted by Nick at 01:32 AM | Comments (0)

Itallian Roulette may be more dangerous than the Russian variety, and all you have to do is walk down the road to experience it. I have never been so close to a speeding truck before. Still, I'm told this is only barely Italy. Most of the people here speak German, and this town Bolzano/Bozen, as the signs say in both Italian and German has a fascinating history.

Anyways, we're taking advantage of the good weather to go up into the Mountains today and do some hiking, then taking a long American style marathon drive to Klagenfurt, Austria, and ultimately to Vienna where we will attempt to resurrect the Bike trip.

If all goes according to plan, this will work perfecty and there is no rain in the forcast, just rather chilly temperatures, but nothing a nice hat won't fix.

First things first, gotta check on the Iceman here in Bolzano, then off to the Dolomites.

Ciao.

Posted by Nick at 10:16 AM | Comments (1)

Back online. Much thanks for the words of support and encouragement from the London crew! God knows it took a lot of effort to blow this bike trip into ´Euro-Road-Trip 2002'. If it's any consolation, I'm still carrying my belongins around in a pair of bike panniers, which requires significant effort, and these damn German keyboards are no picnic either.

Incidentally - as we cruised out of München in the torrential, relentless downpour, thankful to be dry, it began to snow. Yes, unseasonable as it sounds. And then it began to really snow hard. Then it turned back into rain, which was worse. Basically, that was the last straw in leading me to conclude the decision to abort was sound.

We went to Niewschwanstein Castle, which you couldn't see because of the low hung clouds and the snow. So we looked at a poster of it in the gift shop. Very nice. Then we decided to go to Innsbruck, which sound's like a fantastic place. But everyone I talked to wasn't planning on leaving their houses till Friday due to the charming rain.

I am now 'camping' in what basically amounts to a dismal parking lot full of German retirees in their RV's parked so close together you can hardly see the sky. Is this trip starting to sound utterly ill concieved or what? Let's chalk it up so far as a brilliant reconinsaince mission.

On a brigher note, I have been immensely impressed with everything I've seen here, except the camping. (which happens to be dirt cheap, so what the heck'). Every little village I have passed through is brimming with life. There is more going on in this little city of Bozano (population unknown, but assumed to be less than 100k) than in American cities of more than a million. And Munich blew me away with it's beauty, greenery, politeness, and the incredible bike network, which we took full advantage of on one of those cheesy bike tours aimed at backpackers (but still a rollicking good time).

Yes, now Italia! We made the right choice. The weather is perfect. Only the slightest hint of autumn is in the air, and the Dolomite Mountains are all around us, red in hue, with castles here and there. In fact it looks like there's one just down the road. We're going to go investigate it right now...

Posted by Nick at 06:58 PM | Comments (0)

Well, we're camping Italian style. Or rather European style? Which involves lots of RV's, assigned camping sub divisions, swimming pools and free internet access. And absoultely amazing views of the Dolomites - which are still dotted with snow from yesterday´s storm. We just explored Bozano, a hidden northern italian gem, which isn´t even viewable from the highway but opens to a bustling metropolis of at least 50,000 people, the most beutiful stone tile church any of us have seen, and the legendary much contended Ice Man. This is after full day of eating Wiener Schnitzel in Austria, and visiting a Swarovski Crystal muesem. In authentic american stzle we´re hitting a new country a day. Twinges of regret for missing the bike ride, but the weather is so much better here one can´t feel too bad. Tomorrow, hiking and perhaps another night of camping. Tonight cheese and wine and bread on a faux israel budget.

Posted by Charles at 06:40 PM | Comments (1)

Debrah saved our ass at the airport in SFO. I intend to dedicate a website to her and her stellar service. She was single handedly responsible for getting us on the plane to Frankfurt, after we had been bumped off. That of course was after we waited three days to get a "confirmed" seat on the flight. For other stories in the airport category, we spent a full 3.5 hours booking our round the world trip in the Frankfurt airport. Presently we are across the street from the Muncih train station. So far this has been a travel center centric trip for me and Karen. On to the rental car in the rain portion. The biking has been cancelled.

Posted by Charles at 12:54 PM | Comments (4)

Major change of events. Festpest2002 is no longer a bike trip. The weather turned absolutely horrible yesterday and there is no sign that rain and cold will end by at least Friday. So... we have rented a car and we have a week to get it to Trieste Italy, where the weather is decidedly nicer. Now I just have to find a road map.

Posted by Nick at 12:33 PM | Comments (7)

Wow, I can't believe I'm not that hungover. I may actually still be slightly drunk. We had a riot of time last night in the Hoffbrau Tent. Met a lot of people, mostly Canadian, ate Wienerschnitzel and drank enormous amounts of beer. I'm not sure I can handle another night of this, but since Karen and Charlie are arriving today, I feel it's my duty. :-)

Posted by Nick at 12:58 PM | Comments (0)

Well, successfully made it to München! Tom and I checked out the fest first thing, and it was quite a sight to behold. 10 or 12 massive tents packed to the brims with people drinking gigantic beers and dancing and having a very grand time. Oktoberfest rules. Of course, lacking reservations, we couldnt sit in any of the tents, so we found a carosel with a bar on it and drank Weissbiers while going round and round. Needless to say we stumbled a bit getting off.

The highlight of the evening was the Hoffbrauhaus, however, which is in the center of München, away from the Oktoberfest. We drank some mighty beers, talked to a number of people, and clapped to the music, feeling quite merry.

Today, we'll take a bike tour I think. But first, gotta make those reservations for the Paulaner tent!

Posted by Nick at 10:50 AM | Comments (2)

Well, as Nick noted, Charlie and I are not on the plane and not in Germany, instead, I am sitting in my parent's living room in Mountain View, Calif. and I don't really know what to do with myself for two days. I was all ready to start my year-long jouney with a few beers in Munich after rushing around to finish the last minute stuff, how anti-climatic.
Ah well, we'll have one night in Munich before we head off on the bike trip. By the way Nick, I will be bringing my camera and cable so no worries about pictures along the way. well, hopefully the next time i write we would have started FP2.

Posted by Karen at 11:12 PM | Comments (0)

Well, it seems FP2 has suffered its first setback before getting off the ground, quite literally. Charles and Karen were thwated from their flight to Munich due to nasty weather at OHare. Looks like they won't be arriving until Monday, which meand a one day delay most likely! Nonetheless, I'm flying to Munich tommorow morning to meet Tom there, so we'll fly the torch together until Karen and Charles get there. Then probably spend an extra night for them to rest, and to let them have a night of Oktoberfest!

In other news, I lost the cable to my camera, so probably won't be able to update photos along the way, but hopefully someone else can.

Posted by Nick at 11:39 AM | Comments (2)

Excellent. One work day to go, then I'm off. Karen and Charles are probably on a plane to Frankfurt by now. I've decided that it'll be more convienent to rent a bike, rather then fly over with my own, so that'll save a lot of hassel. Weather report looks a bit cloudy, but no rain in the forcast, so things should be good.

Posted by Nick at 01:36 PM | Comments (0)

Awww right. I was hit with an easy sense of calm Monday, rounding the Harley building, where I work, in the Nevada sun for my daily work break/walk. No more code I thought.... certainly no more 1:30 meetings. No more 12 hour days, no more work dreams. No, a long planned, righteously fought for vacation will be the reality for the next few weeks. Mental pictures of cycling riverside in the most sophisticated European style. Flying back to the bay area tonight, and in roughly 28 hours we'll be on a plane to Frankfurt - and soon Munich.

Posted by Charles at 04:12 PM | Comments (2)

Fest pest is on. Possibly the most significant journey in history. Posibly. This entry serves to prove the system works!

Posted by Nick at 03:26 PM | Comments (1)