Euros Obtained - Happy New Year

Went to the bank today and grabbed some euros. Funny looking things, but foreign money usually is. The different bills are all different sizes, and they decided to use monopoly money colors. I only got enough to hold me over for a little while, since I plan on getting cash from ATM's most of the time.

It's New Year's eve. I'm still worn out from Christmas so I'm probably staying in, but you never know. 2007 has been an interesting year, and I don't see why the last 6 hours of it should be any different.

Cell Phone Post Test #2

Apparently, my blackberry has two different web browsers: one that doesn't work, and one that does.

I think I am now using the one that does.

cell phone post test

9:07 am Christmas Eve

It's 0907 hours on Christmas Eve and I'm eating breakfast with spiked egg nog (Silk nog in my case, but it's remarkably close to the real thing). Merry Christmas!

Final French Lesson

Well, I've gotten as good as I can get before the trip. Busy with Christmas next weekend and then I have a lot of friends home for the New Year, so tonight was my final french lesson. I'm not quite back to a conversational level yet, but I can understand it pretty well. Actually, I can understand it better than ever. I still have some Berlitz CD's that I will listen to for a couple weeks and a few more movies to watch in french, so that should help a little before I leave. I think I may continue taking lessons here and there with my tutor after I return. I think it would be a waste to forget french again.

Radio Shack had the transformer I wanted, so I'm all set with that. I put it under my spider plant Christmas tree as a gift to myself. New phone will be here tomorrow or the next day. Taking some vacation this week to spend time with a friend. I'm off to the Fastnet for whiskey...

Merci beaucoup, Julia!

Solidification Level 1

General idea for the trip thus far:

1. Leimen and Heidelberg in Germany with Gramps and Joel for about a week
2. Possibly Ischgl, Austria with Joel and friends for a few days
3. Aix-Les-Bains, France for three days or more
4. TGV to Rennes, France, rail to Portorson, France
5. Walk to Mont Saint Michel, stay on Mont St. Michel for a day or two
6. Walk along coast for a day or two to St. Suliac? Stay in St. Suliac for a day or two
7. Train to Paris, stay in Paris one night
8. Fly home from Paris (have to change my return flight origin from Frankfurt to Paris)

Or.... just play it totally by ear after Aix Les Bains depending on the direction of the wind, and the alignment of the stars.

Must start buying stuff...

Might buy a new pack this weekend. Should probably figure out just how much stuff I'm going to bring before doing that. Just ordered a new cellphone... well, a Blackberry 8800 to be precise. I can't believe I'm going to own one of those things. I'm getting it because it has a built-in GPS and will automatically work in Europe. I will also be able to update this blog with it, which is another good feature for the trip. Other than that, it's an over-designed, over-complicated, 85% unnecessary object. It was only $130 to upgrade to it, and seeing as it's $350 retail, it didn't feel like a bad deal. Maybe people will think I'm cool when they see me using it, too lol.

Also heading to radio shack today and buying a 220 V - 120 V transformer so I can charge the phone in Europe. They probably won't have one in the store and I'll have to order it, that is, if they even know what I'm talking about. "Radio Shack -- You've Got Questions... So do We."

Pop Pop's War Diary

Thanksgiving was great in NJ. I brought my great grandfather's WWI war diary home with me so that I can take some notes about where he was in France while he was in the 104th Army Engineers. Already found out that he was at the battle of Verdun and helped make many roads there for the allies. Will go over it in more detail and hopefully find some of the exact places he was 90 years ago and then visit them when I'm there. It has also further inspired me to keep a written journal of my own during the trip. I will, of course, use this blog to post many things during my days in Europe, but a real journal should be where I write everything first.

Happy Thanksgiving

See subject.


Heh, it's funny for me to post this. No one at all has started reading this thing yet.

Passport In!

Well, I got my passport in the mail today. Quite a fast process, that expedited renewal option. My thanks to the lads and ladies at the U.S. Dept. of State. Well worth the extra $60. Actually brought the priority envelope in from the mailbox a couple days ago and realized only now what it might contain. So, that's out of the way, and I guess I can start preparing for the trip.

Still need to bolt together some more concrete plans with a hotel reservation or two, etc. Need to look into "Ryan Air" I think. That's a European regional air service that I may use rather than the TGV to get to England/Ireland. I met someone at a bar in Newport who said I should most definitely visit Kinsale, Ireland if I head over that way. Apparently, it is the official sister city of Newport.

Need to start going over my preliminary list of supplies and gear and then figure out exactly how I'm going to pack for this trip. So far, it looks like I need to fit everything I'll need for three weeks into a single pack. Then there is a money belt, traveler's checks, the new cell phone... I swear I won't be finishing the last details the night before my flight. I did get a new knife already, though. Gerber AR 3.0. Great damn knife. Same as the one I lost in San Fran, except it's all stainless. Of course this means I must check my bag at the airport. Probably better anyway because I may go ahead and buy a new, larger pack for this trip and it will be too big for carry-on anyway.

Still debating whether or not to bring my great-grandfather's WWI compass with me. He was in France during the war, I think. And I just think it would be amazing to navigate through a bit of the french countryside with it about a hundred years after it was first there in his hands. But the thought of losing it or having it stolen makes me think twice. I will have Houdini with me, of course.

I'm heading to my dad's in NJ tomorrow for Thanksgiving, and he is holding on to Pop Pop's war diary for me, so maybe I'll at least look up some of the specific locations where he was and be sure to set foot there in respect of him and the country of France.

One Destination Finalized

I will be spending three days with Uncle Joel and friends in Ischgl, Austria. I just got an e-mail from Joel saying that he needed to know if I was in, because he and some friends are renting an apartment there for a short ski trip. I doubt that I will ski, but it should be great fun regardless of that. The pictures I've seen of Ischgl are wonderful, and several of Joel's party will not be skiing either, so I will have some people to hang out with during the day. Prepare yourself, Austria. I am coming back.

Passport Application Away!

Well, it only took me a month to put the renewal form in an envelope with my old passport and drop it in a mailbox. Sent it two-day priority so it's nearly there already, and since I'm using the expedited service, they should be done printing out my new passport by Thanksgiving. Hopefully there won't be any complications and I will find it in my mail box before the trip. Now I have to start buying some gear and fine-tune my virtually non-existent itinerary. Going to need to look into getting a new cell phone, too, because I want one that will work internationally and also have GPS. I'm leaning toward a Blackberry, and also puking at the same time, because I told myself I would never EVER buy such an unnecessary technological device and become one of those people. They're too big to fit in your pocket comfortably, for one thing, and that makes them ultra stupid. But... it would solve my cellphone and GPS problems simultaneously.

I've changed the location of my France trek from the eastern side of the country to the western. Specifically, Bretagne (Brittany). It seems it won't be quite as cold as the eastern provinces, which will help. Looks like the daily temp will swing between 5 and 10 degrees C. That's an average of about 46 degrees F. Another bonus about this is that I'll have to cross the whole country to get there from Germany, so I'll see a lot more of it. This will also open up the opportunity to incorporate Paris into the trip. According to my french teacher, I simply must go to Paris. She lived there for the last two years, so I will trust her advice. And after all, it is Paris.

Passport pictures

I still haven't sent in my passport renewal form (pretty typical of me) but there is still plenty of time as long as I use the "expedite" service, which is an extra $60. It would still get here in time if I used the regular service, but just barely, so I'll spend the extra money to make sure I get it in time.

Went to Kinko's last week to get the pictures and they actually came out okay:


Now if I could just attach the pictures to the renewal form and somehow put it all into the padded envelope I bought and SOMEHOW put the envelope in a mailbox, then I'd be much better off. We'll see how long it takes me.

Also had my 3rd french lesson on Saturday which went really well. My tutor is letting me borrow a french textbook that happens to be the exact same book I had in high school. The strange coincidences about this trip keep adding up. I'm back to reading the language pretty well, and I think I'm making progress with the lessons. I even downloaded a french song that she suggested: 'Ne Me Quitte Pas', by Jacques Brel. And it's pretty good. I might check out some more, since it will probably help with the learning. I've also been grabbing some movies out of my sparse DVD library and watching them in the French language mode (if they have it). So far I've watched A Series of Unfortunate Events, and the classic Bruce Campbell movie Evil Dead in french. Tough going. Don't get much but the basic words because the speech is so fast, but I'm going to keep trying. I still have Wyatt Earp (that movie rules), Donnie Darko, Army of Darkness (the third Campbell classic), and Young Frankenstein (that's Frahn-ken-steen) to go through in french.

2nd French Lesson

Had my second french lesson tonight. I used to speak french pretty well after taking classes for four years in high school, but I haven't really spoken it in 12 years. I figured it would be a good idea to re-acquaint myself with the language to make my immersion into France a little more real. I looked up "french tutor" on craigslist.com and found an ad, so I replied to it and one week later I was sitting at a cafe in Providence struggling through french sentences I thought I had forgotten with a beautiful french-italian girl. She's great and I think I'm going to learn pretty quickly with her. We sit and drink tea or jus d'orange and simply talk in french, with the occaisional grammar lesson here and there. It's really cool. Hopefully three months will be enough to get back to a conversational level. We met at Pastiche on Federal Hill in Providence tonight. I ordered a camomille tea and she ordered something called a Virtual Buddha. I've been to Pastiche once before, a while ago, with my good friend Sean R. Apparently, they have great desserts.

So, tomorrow I have to send out my passport renewal form. I've gone to Europe only once before, 15 years ago, with my younger brother, to visit my grandfather. I had to get a passport for that, obviously, but it's interesting to note that I'm renewing the very same one after 15 years (which is the deadline for renewals on passports) to go back to the exact same place. Heck, I'm landing at the exact same airport in Frankfurt, Germany I think. And get this, I'm flying over there with my grandfather too! He offered to pay for half my air fare as a birthday present if I accompanied him to Germany to visit my uncle Joel, and thus this trip was born. God bless my grandfather. He is a great guy, and it will be such a wonderful thing to spend some time with him back in Germany. I owe this trip to him.

Once I figure out how to add pictures to this "blog", I'll start posting pictures of some of the routes I've considered taking through France. So far, I plan on walking from town to town in eastern or southeastern France where there isn't much but hills and fields. The general schedule right now is: Germany with gramps and uncle Joel for about a week, France alone for a week or longer, and then possibly London and/or Ireland. Will be interesting to see how the plans develop. It's going to be a little cold over there in January, darn it.

I think a blog is stupid, but...

...it could be a really great way to have a fairly real-time account of my upcoming trip to Europe. I'm in Newport, RI right now (where I live and work), starting this blog. I'll be here for about three more months, preparing for the trip, until I leave from Providence on January 6th.

It's a little interesting to note that I'll be leaving the US at the age of 30, and landing in Germany on January 7th at the age of 31.

There is a storm with lots of lightning approaching, so I'm going to post more tomorrow.