The Last Days of the Incas

While we were on the trails, Brian had stuffed into his pack the hard cover copy of The Last Days of the Incas by Kim MacQuarrie which he had taken out of his library. He carried the oversized volume and read it throughout the hike. I am sure I could not have handled the extra weight at the time but he recommended the book, saying it was very well written.

When I got back here and settled in I found a copy of it at my local book store and have since finished reading it. I am basically putting out my endorsement for it here. Although the book has created an increasing hate with the Spanish, especially of that era, it is a very well written historical narrative of the period starting from the rise of the very short-lived Inca empire through their subsequent demise at the hands of their Spanish conquerors. It also treats the discovery of some of their ancient ruins through the modern era.

Typically I don't read a lot of history books. I see them as fiction based in a bit of fact. In all likelihood so is The Last Days of the Incas as too much of the documentation of the time was written by boastful Spanish conquistadors, deluded Spanish clergy or in very small amounts from eventually literate natives. The information is therefore always suspect but at least it can provide the groundwork for what happened which is mostly what MacQuarrie tries to do while inserting his editorial where needed.

I can say I probably would never have read the book without the visit to Peru, but I am very glad I did both. Even if you never visit Peru it is a very worthwhile read.

Insect Bites and Such

Ok, so getting into a couple weeks later here and at least the itchiness of the mosquito bites is over. I did want to point out though, that I still have all the marks from the bites. For their teeny size those things sure pack some punch in their bites.

Cindy's Pictures from Peru

Cindy sent me a link to her pictures from Peru and I asked her if she minded if I link to them. She said I could so please take a look at them. She is a much more fantastic photographer than I will ever be. Of course there are pictures from around Peru that I have not been to in her collection but you will also find the Inka Trail and Machu Picchu in there as well.

I figured I might take this post as an opportunity to add a couple more thoughts about Peru. Since it was my first trip to a country where more people are poor than not, I was concerned about what things would be like. Admittedly, I was in touristy areas for almost the entire time I was there but I was able to see some of the less polished areas in and about where I was staying. I did not feel that I was unsafe at any point in time during the trip which I think was a very positve thing. Certainly, not being able to flush toilet paper down the commode was an unusual experience and I was not fond of being unable to drink the local water for the expectation of dysentary but overall I would visit Peru again and I think it eased some of my fears about visiting third world countries. I am not about to run straight out to any war-torn African countries but some of the other place I have been considering seem a bit less dubious. Of course, I know to still be wary in any of my travels and to not try to find myself in dark alleys at midnight in general but it was a small hurdle I had to jump at some point to visit a third world country and I think it was a pleasant enough experience.

Kyoto Hotel Selection and Such

Ok, for the time being I have reserved and have everyone reserving rooms in Kyoto Garden Hotel for our time in Kyoto. I have not gotten a confirmation from Marina but the review sites I have found list it as a clean place with good service and a reasonable price in a good location for tourists if nothing spectactular otherwise. Since we are mainly looking for places to sleep rather than a resort spa it seems like a reasonable gamble for me.

If we get commentary from Marina that the place is awful we will cancel and find another place but for my on paranoias I would prefer to have something reserved now so we aren't left with no place to stay when we get there. I did get a vibe that she is not nuts about staying around the palace area but it would make more sense for us to be there as complete tourists rather than to be on the outskirts and have to do a ton of travel to see the sites I think.

Aside from still having to order our rail passes in January I will be keeping an eye out here for our chance to reserve a tour for the Kyoto Imperial Palace. Like the Imperial Palace in Tokyo they provide tours if you reserve through their website. The Kyoto Palace tour is 60 minutes so a bit shorter than the Tokyo tour and I am sure it is provided in English by a headset but all the same I am sure I will enjoy it. Unfortunately they only have dates avaiable to February so far which means I have to wait a bit longer to do so.

Fast Turnaround To Japan 2010

Just before leaving for Peru I purchased an airline ticket to Japan for March/April 2010. The price suddenly bottomed to $840 the day I was preparing to fly out and I couldn't pass on it as it was a discount of around $300 compared to prices I had been seeing. I have checked since and it has gone back up. I had intended to deal with purchasing the airfare after coming back and sorting out how much I had spent in Peru but circumstances worked differently. The tickets were purchased through United. We'll unfortunately have to fly out through O'Hare but will be returning through San Francisco. It will be the first time I've touched California in my life.

This, of course, will be my second trip to Japan. The first being in October/November 2007. The main intention of this trip is to see Japan during the cherry blossom season of early spring. It will still be a little bit cooler there but spring should be sprung. The intention is to stay a few days in Tokyo and a few days in Kyoto. So far there are 3 others who have purchases plane tickets for the trip. Brien will be returning with his girlfriend Cathy. Our friend Ronni will also be joining us. It will be her second time out of the country but first time to Japan. Scott unfortunately will not be providing his comic relief on this trip as of yet, and may be unlikely too. George has signed on in name but may not be able to attend either. He of course would have to arrange separately anyway for being in Denmark.

I'm working with our contact on the ground Marina to make some preparations. So far the likely hotel we'll be staying at in Tokyo is Hotel Villa Fontaine Hamamatsucho which is in a similar area to the Shiba Park where we stayed last time. We did like the location and it will keep us near to visiting Kaji one day if he is still open! We'll be staying in Tokyo for March 28, 29, 30 and then from April 6 to the morning of April 11 when we fly back home. The in between days will be based out of Kyoto. In total the trip will be two weeks again. We will end up being out of the country for Easter this year.

I am still working out the details of a hotel for Kyoto. I have one in mind but am checking some logistics on it. As soon as I have that sorted out I will be posting that information.

I think I am already excited for this trip. I loved Japan the first time around and sort of made a small pact with myself (similar to the pact to always be out of the US for my birthday, or at least away from home) to return to Japan every couple years or so. I know after cherry blossom viewing I want to get back to Japan in the summer to climb Mount Fuji soon enough.

Pictures for Peru Day 8

The pictures for Peru day 8 can be found here.

Pictures for Peru Day 7

The pictures for Peru day 7 can be found here.

Pictures for Peru Day 6

The pictures for Peru day 6 can be found here.

Pictures for Peru Day 5

The pictures for Peru day 5 can be found here.

Pictures for Peru Day 4

The pictures for Peru day 4 can be found here.

Pictures for Peru Day 3

The pictures for Peru day 3 can be found here.

Pictures for Peru Day 2

The pictures for Peru day 2 to can be found here.

Pictures for Peru Day 1

The pictures for Peru day one can be found here.

Peru and Machu Picchu Day 9 and Epilogue

The morning started at 5 with a shower and getting myself completely squared away. The hotel was supposed to have a ride to the airport ready for me at 5:50 but the driver wasn't able to get there and they paid for my taxi back, which was nice. The drive is about 10 minutes and there wasn't that much traffic that early on a Saturday.

The airport was fairly confusing and I tried to use the self-service check-in but it wouldn't work. I then waited through the baggage check where they fortunately gave me my boarding passes and I had to pay another airport fee before going through security (this is something to remember, you cannot get through a Peruvian airport without paying a fee). The wait to board the plane wasn't long and the flight was very quick and easy.

In Lima I again had to again pay another airport fee and rescreen security but had plenty of time to get rid of the majority of my soles on a tiny bit more shopping before boarding and being on my way. The flight from Lima to Miami was completely uneventful. I watched Ice Age 3 which I didn't care for that much, then No Country for Old Men, which I didn't see what the hubbub was about and finally didn't get to finish watching Flushed Away.

In Miami I had 3:45 to clear passport control and get my baggage and clear customs then cross the airport to gate D from gate J where I landed, so of course everything went completely smoothly (my bag was second on the carousel). I had what should only have been 3 hours or so to get dinner and hang out before I would have to board but they pushed my flight to Boston back from 8:50pm to 10:30pm which I was very unhappy about. I really didn't want to sit in Miami airport for over 5 hours at all. All the same I had to. Eventually we took off and the flight was uneventful back to Boston where I think I got to the car by about 1:30am (12:30 with the time change maybe) and got my ride home.

Some observations after all is said and done. Peruvians in the highlands don't seem to smoke at all. Perhaps it is because they chew coca, but I really only saw French and Germans smoking. They are also very short. I think the average Peruvian highlander is shorter than the average Japanese by a couple inches. It is the second area where a guy who is 5'7" could feel like a giant I have been to. Peruvian food is overal very enjoyable and if you like eating you can always find good food there.

The people both that live there and the tourists seemed very friendly and certainly on the hike there is a lot of comeraderie which is refreshing compared to my visits to Europe where people seem a bit more standoffish. I was a bit iffy about visiting a third world nation but the experience was certainly much more pleasant than I could have ever expected. The areas I visited were admittedly tourist based areas and seeing some of the more residential areas proved the poverty level however. The guide from the city tour said that 41% of all Peruvians are unemployed.

This trip has the odd occasion where most of what I bought for gifts was actually made in their own country and not China. The labor there is as cheap as Chinese labor I guess. I don't know what it means for the quality but we'll see...

Justino said to tell everyone that, "The Inka Trail is very easy!" This way everyone will come down through his tour company and try it yourselves. I will say one hundred percent the sense of accomplishment when you finish the trail is gigantic and beyond compare of anything I have tried. Cindy said it was the most difficult trail she has hiked which I believe really means something. I would advise anyone who has though of doing it to do so but be aware that carrying your own stuff will definitely make things a lot more difficult. I am glad I tried to do it that way even if it made Dead Woman's Pass very difficult.

That's it for the rundown. I will start to post the pictures fairly soon I hope.

Peru and Machu Picchu Day 8

Day 8 was a little bit of a rough start due to my stomach problems overnight that were continuing through breakfast. I ate little in the morning and borrowed some drugs to help with such problems.

We headed out for the train at 8 and I got eaten alive in less than 5 minutes so I had to apply deet really quickly. The train left basically on time and our car was less than half full so we got to spread out rather than all be jammed together which would have been the case if it was full, probably banging knees with the person sitting across from you.

I think I slept through most of the ride until Ollantaytambo. That was the stop where Bill and Cindy and Steve and Kelly got off and we said goodbye. They were going to visit the area and probably stay the night. I am sure each of them had further things to do in Peru and they said so but my brain couldn't retain that much information about what they all were going to do next.

Brian and I rode a bit further to Pacha where we paid 15 soles each for a shuttle bus ride back to Cusco that took almost as long as the train ride. The driver was mostly insane and I had to hang on to the seat in front of me most of the way to keep from being tossed around. He also picked up some locals who didn't smell so good which added to the uncomfortable nature of the ride. Still 15 soles is about 5 bucks and I can't give too much of a complaint about a 5 dollar hour and a half bus ride where I didn't actually get maimed or die.

Brian and I parted at the end of that ride because he was flying out today. I basically got organized at my room and ran to the SAS office to take the city tour just barely in time to get included (the tour started at 1:30 and purchased my way in almost exactly at that time). The tour started with a visit to the Santo Domingo Convent which was built on top of the Inka ruins of Qorikancha. Our guide's name was Odelia and she had a very Indian spin on the tour which was more fun than just a standard explanation of things. She tried to make it seem like we were getting in on a secret rather than just the everyday stuff that is told. I think it worked for me pretty well.

From there we visited the cathedral which was as gaudy as I would expect from Latin influences. It had a lot of gold and such and was built from reclaimed Inka stones. They had to use mortar to build it though and it has been damaged in earthquakes due to its construction. There are some interesting things to see in there though. As I said, she was giving the Indian spin show she showed us all the things the Indians put into the church that were secret representations of their own religion mixed into the Catholic idols and decoration. It did make visiting another church more interesting than just seeing the basics.

Next up was the ruins of Sacsaywaman (it is easier to say it sexy woman) which was a really big site on the edge of town. There are some really gigantic stones here all cut from limestone a bit of a distance away. Some may have been cut into shape in place as well. It is impressive just to see the size of some of them. She explained to us about the 3 planes of life in Inkan religion, the upper, middle and lower. The Condor, the Puma and the Snake. Sort of Heaven, Earth and the Underworld (maybe not hell so much). You could see this aspect through many of the ruins (it was also seen in Machu Picchu by the way).

We followed that with Qenqo which was also very interesting. Qenqo was also very much an evidence of the 3 planes of existence in Inkan religion. They are still digging up most of the ruins in the region and though some are faily large there is yet more to see. Qenqo should have had a statue of a puma but the Catholic Spanish destroyed all the Puma idols they found because they did not like them as being against Catholic ideology.

Next up we looked at and she explained Puca Pucara which was an Inka hotel basically. People had to check in and check out if they stayed there on their travels and they were given food and shelter but they at least did not need to pay.

We then hit the last site which was the temple of water, Tambomachay, that had 3 fountains. It was a fairly brief stop but the fountains are run out of a natural spring and if you look at the wall above them you can see a hand shape pointing to the source built into the wall.

That was the last real stop but we also visited a textile factory on the way back into town and got a short lesson on spotting true baby alpaca wool sweaters as opposed to the fakes.

After the tour I took a brief stop at the hotel then got dinner at Papillon overlooking the main square. I had minute soup which was a noodle and ground beef soup and was good to start. Then I had the cuy which is South American Guinea pig. The skin had a musky odor that carried over to the taste which I couldn't continue eating and had to peel away. The flesh itself had a good flavor but it was a real fight to get what was there off the bones. There really wasn't that much there. It brought a literal meaning to the term, "All skin and bones." All in all I wasn't that impressed but Cusco is not really the right town to get it I am told. I followed up with a coffee and apple pie. The apple was shredded and I quite liked it. I finished off the night with some gift shopping. I found myself haggling over prices though the cost of things were about 10 bucks per tee shirt, much much less than anything I have bought in Europe. Still it is apparently the way you should do things. Never take their first price. All in all though I wasn't terrible fond of their organization (or lack thereof, most things were piled up without heed to size or pattern/color) and I didn't really buy all that much. I then headed in to get packed and get some sleep, which came quickly and it was morning before I knew it.

Peru and Machu Picchu Day 7

Day 7 was the actual day to Machu Picchu. It was also my birthday and Justino knew so he had Reynaldo bake me a birthday cake (or perhaps he chose to himself). We had that at breakfast which was at 4:30am. We had toast and pancakes too. They made me bite the cake directly after blowing out the matchstick candle. I was amazed how good a cake he could make with just camping equipment. He even did intricate piping of the frosting which seemed a bit overmuch for me. He did spell my name Tomas instead but I was fine with a more Spanish spelling.

After breakfast we had to hit the trail for its opening time at 5:30. Basically everyone at Winaywayna all piles up in line to get to the last part of the trail which is opened by a checkpoint with park officials. No one can enter the trail to Intipunku (the Sun Gate) until 5:30am. We did not get to the very front of the line because Justino said we would wait far too long that way.

It was about an hour's climb to the Sun Gate. Justino had promised me that the view to Machu Picchu would be cloudy in the early morning but it was totally sunny which I had promised to him instead. I explained to him how a made a trade with the sun god for the rainy day 2 days before. We didn't stay long at Intipunku, mostly just to snap a few pictures, and finished the rest of the hike in under an hour. Justino gave us a 2 hour or so tour of Machu Picchu, explaining history and the purpose of many of the buildings, after we checked our bags at the main entrance to the site (which we had to cross through the site to get to).

Machu Picchu is truly amazing and gigantic. It is unbelievable unless you see it for yourself. When he finished his tour he wrangled us tickets to hike Wayna Picchu (only 400 tickets are given each day but we apparently "gave offerings" of 5 soles per person to get tickets though the day's allotment was apparently already given out) which was very steep and at the very top I had to stop for how narrow the steps were. I saw people climbing the last set of steps to the very top hand over hand and I just couldn't do it with my dislike of sheer drops and high ladders. The rest made it up there but I started down before them because I knew that the some of the steep points of the climb were going to get me a bit and wanted to take my time through them rather than rush to keep up with them. At the worst point a Venezualan couple were coming up and the wife, Mary Carmen, decided her knees couldn't take any more and we decided to travel back down the rest of the way together. She was very nice and funny and actually she was born in Peru but had lived in Venezuala for the last 30 years or so. She said it was her second trip to Machu Picchu but her first time trying to do the Wayna Picchu hike. They took the bus up rather than hiked the Inka Trail. Brian passed us on the way down but near the end anyway and we met back at the starting point where Brian and Cindy eventually caught up with us. They all said the top of Wayna Picchu was very crowded and it was probably just as well that I didn't go to the top because the view was as good at the base tier as it was up there.

We wandered Machu Picchu a little bit more then caught the bus to Aguas Callientes to Hostal Viajeros to shower before the last provided lunch. I don't think I've ever felt this gross on a vacation before. The day turned out very hot and I was covered in sunscreen, deet, sweat and dirt. I actually believe this shower was even more welcome than the shower on day 3 of the hike.

After cleaning up we met downstairs for lunch provided by the tour. Lunch was a buffet which had some really good looking food but for some reason I wasn't very hungry so ate lightly. We gave Justino his tip and he started on his way back to Cusco. He would have 2 days off then he was doing a 2 day Inka tour. After lunch we split up for a bit with the thoughts of going to the hot springs later which we ended up doing and meeting Bill and Cindy's friends Steve and Kelly there. By coincidence it was also Kelly's birthday and they went to Machu Picchu too, but by bus instead of the hike. It was my first time to any sort of hot spring. The water was cooler in most of the pools but we found what was probably the warmest of them and settled there. As the afternoon got later the tourists began to vanish and the place was overrun with Peruvians, especially kids. We made an exit at about 6:30 when the place was becoming far too crowded.

We got back to the rooms and I showered again before we headed to dinner. The hot springs water didn't have a full on sulfur smell but there was obviously something there. The long soak was nice though and I was happy we did it after all.

We went to dinner at Inka Wasi (which means Inka House) but I still wasn't feeling fully hungry so I had a bacon pizza and we all split a couple pitchers of sangria. Some of the dishes had ornate garnishes cut in the shapes of animals. We think they may reuse them since no one ate or destroyed them at any of the table s though I tried to convince Steve to destroy his to see what happened. Since it was also Kelly's birthday they got the waitress to get each of us a piece of cake with candle and sang happy birthday. All in all it was a terrific birthday to have, and one I'll remember for a long time.

I was very exhausted by the time I got back to the room and went to sleep immediately. I did however wake up a couple times in the night with stomach problems unfortunately. It probably explained why I wasn't so hungry during the day. I am usually not prone to such things but I woke up about every two hours to visit the porcelain. I suppose many people get it worse than that though.

Peru and Machu Picchu Day 6

Day 6 was the easiest of the 3 real days of hiking. It started with breakfast of banana porridge and an omelet pancake type thing. From there we had a fairly short climb where we should have been able to see the Inka ruin of Sayamarca which we passed the night before but we had a lot of cloud cover. All the same we got glimpses of it.

After that brief stop we had more climbing to the 3rd pass. We had a brief stop there then it was steep downhill for a while. The downhill was kind of rough on the legs but I used the poles to help out. The slope gradually lessened and we came to the next ruins of Intipata. These were awesome ruins with lots of terraces and great views. We spent about half an hour at the site before finishing the short distance to Winaywayna where we dropped our stuff in our tents and had lunch and a couple well needed cervezas at the restaurant building. I had the Cusquena negra which was much better than the standard Cusquena beer to me. Lunch was a vegetable soup and stuffed chicken (stuffed with cheese and hot dogs) with rice, beans, yucca and a salad.

We then had a couple hours of siesta and to organize and relax. We all took our first hot showers in 3 days for the cost of 10 soles apiece. The facilities were a bit scary with the electric water heater right on the shower head with wire held together by electric tape but it really felt good to be clean again. Unfortunately the heater on the shower I used was inconsistent and I got hot then cold rushes throughout the shower. All the same it felt the best...

After siesta we met with Justino to visit the ruins of Winaywayna which was a scientific farming site for the Inka. They experimented with growing different kinds of crops at different altitudes on the terraces due to the idea that each terrace changed soil temperature by 1C each. Mainly they grew corn and potatoes there. The site was spectacular and Brian even admitted to choking up a bit as we explored it. It is sort of sobering to see something so incredibly advanced for over 500 years ago and realize the Spanish came in and pretty much aimed to destroy things without learning remotely as much as they could from the Inkas based on the ideas that they were just savages and couldn't be nearly as advanced as a Catholic nation.

We got back as it got dark and played cards through happy hour then had dinner which consisted of a small veggie pizza, chicken with rice in a tomato base, fried rice, stuffed potato dumplings, stuffed hot peppers, oh and noodle soup. It was finished with a peach in syrup.

After dinner we had our celebration and tipped the porters and chef then headed to bed. We gave generously to both the porters and the chef. I added a bit more for Reynaldo because he carried some of my stuff up Dead Woman's Pass.

Peru and Machu Picchu Day 5

Day 5 is the really tough day. Though the end of day4 had us climbing a steep climb at the end to the campsite it was nothing compared to the climb to Dead Woman's Pass. The pass is named such because the profile looks like a woman lying down. It is not because anyone died on their way up there. The pass is the highest point of the hike at almost 13000 feet.

The sun was out and the heat was brutal. I started to really lag behind the rest of the group during the hike because they were just far better at it than I am. Justino took some of my stuff and gave it to the chef to carry for the rest of the day when I was more than half of the way up but really starting to falter. The lightened load helped me to get to the top but after the rest had already started on their way down.

As soon as I started down the rain and some hail began and basically continued through the day and night to probably about 11pm or so. Justino said this is not typical. Normally it rains for 2 hours then stops. The downhill was much harder due to the treacherous and slipperfy footing but I did eventually make it to the lunch site which is where most tours finish for their day 2.

Lunch had us eating a pumpkin soup and Aji de Gallina along with potatoes and rice and of course all of it was excellent. After lunch was another climb but much shorter, maybe an hour. This came to the ruins of Runkuracay half way up where we each gathered a rock as an offering to the mountain at the top of the pass. Justino had us all blow 3 times on 3 coca leaves and then offered them to the mountain. Unfortunately it did not stop the rain for the but in some respects this made me more confident for the following days.

We then hiked downward for about another hour. It was very steep. This brought us through the mountain forest which I am sure would have been even more beautiful if it wasn't covered in clouds and rain. We made it to the camp site ahead of schedule and got settled in then went to happy hour to have popcorn and tea. Dinner was roasted chicken and mashed potatoes with rice and vegetables after a vegetable soup. Then we finished off with a spiced tea that sort of tasted like mulled cider and each added a shot of Peruvian rum to the glass. It was very good.

For the record, I have officially used a squat toilet now...

After settling in we did what little bit we could to keep ourselves dry, which was very difficult with the sheer amount of rain, and slept for the night. I personally slept like a rock.

Peru and Machu Picchu Day 4

Day 4 started at 5:45am with an 1:30 ride to breakfast where we had a bagged breakfast with instant coffee and teas. The breakfast was some fruit and and ham and cheese sandwhiches. This is where I got to meet Bill, Cindy and Brien for real. They are really nice people and all athletic or avid backpackers. Bill and Cindy are married and they basically are just finishing up taking a year off from work to travel the world. They've been all over the place. It is very impressive. Cindy keeps her own blog at The Blonde Wanderer.com and it would be better for you to go there and see what they've done than for me to explain it for you. She's obviously a much more professional blogger than I am so I should probably take some pointers. All the same I guess plain and simple is my own style so I may as well stick with what I know. By the way they are from San Francisco but I believe Cindy is originally from Phoenix and Bill is originally from Chicago. This segues in to Brian who is Cindy's friend from Phoenix. Brian is very athletic (both Bill and Brian have run marathons) and has hiked the Grand Canyon Rim to Rim several times. He was definitely the powerhouse of the group and was well ahead of time on getting to each of the destinations. Even on my best I could never have expected to keep up with him. He works for Intel and was on the end of a sabatical, lucky him. The three of the them are similar age to me though of course Cindy is younger. They were very supportive of my only halfway in shape self. All of us carried all our own gear which was different from the vast majority of the hikers along the trail.

After this stop it was another 1:30 or so ride to the entrance to the park at KM 82. All along the ride there were lots of incredible mountain views and we even got a few glimpses of the various glaciers up in the very high mountains. You will only see snow and ice on the mountains over 15000 feet tall in Peru because of their proximity to the equator. The ride was long but still interesting and fortunately the driver felt very safe even with the winding mountain roads.

We signed into the park with our passports and basically started to hiking right away. The first part of the trail is very much a dirt path with occasional stones and was Peruvian flat as Justino put it, which means that it was a bit of up and a bit of down, wash, rinse, repeat...We hiked for the better part of a couple hours with some minor stops along the way. We hit the ruins of Llactapata where Justino gave us a bit of history about the location and we got a bit of a rest.

After that stop we had longer hike to our lunch location where the porters had to set up a camp. We had asparagus soup as a starter then chicken in a light tomato sauce with spaghetti and a stuffed avocado, which was very impressive, as sides.

After lunch the remainder of the way was mostly climbing. It was tiring but this set us up to start ahead of most of the other tours on day 2 of the hike. The majority of other hikers actually stop for the day where we had lunch. The climb was a couple more hours and even then we made both the lunch and the evening camps ahead of the porters so had to wait a little bit for things to be set up. The rest was very welcome and since we were far ahead of the other groups the camp site was mostly quiet. There were two tour groups that traveled as far as we did. One was an Australian couple and the other was a much larger group, probably the full 16, that was mostly Australian as well oddly enough.

At about 6pm we had happy hour where they served teas and coffee and we played cards for the better part of the time with Justino. It was fun. Then they served dinner which was Lomo Saltado (again but it was much better than the same meal from Paititi) with rice, potatoes vegetables and cauliflower, all in all a very impressive spread. The chef is apparently trained in culinary school though I am not sure how you get trained on a camp stove so well in class.

After dinner we basically got ourselves prepped up and headed to bed for the night. This was only my second time sleeping out of doors (the first being a trip to Sacco, Maine where we were beset by mosquitos for the entire trip). Our tents were on a slight downslope and my sleeping bag would slip down on the mattress pad every so often but all the same I slept well enough. I think it might have been about 40F or so for the night and I did wear my winter cap but I am not sure if it was necessary. During happy hour and dinner I was the one guy not wearing a jacket or extra layers at the least but I really didn't find it to be cold being from up here around Boston I guess.

I am going to apologize for what I've missed because I will be writing these posts from notes I took on my iPhone.

Inka Trail Trek

Yes, I made it through the trek. I will be posting all the info and photos when I get back.

Peru and Machu Picchu Day 3

This will be the last post for a few days. Sorry, there's no internet in the jungle...

Today I had to take it sort of easy so I opted not to try any tours or anything. I got up and had a quick breakfast then headed to the main square, Plaza del Armos. They were having a large festival which I wasn't certain if it was common for Sundays or something special was going on. They had a parade and a ceremonial raising of the flags and a lot of military show during the course of the morning until about noon. They entire plaza was packed solid with people. I walked around that a few times and watched some of the spectacle at times too. I also walked both up and down hill a bit and got to see some more of the city. Overall it is an attractive city though some of the third world nature does show the further away from the main square you get. I wandered for some time then opted to have a beer and lunch at Norton Rats Pub right on the square. I had a cheeseburger and a pint of Abbot Ale. Being there gave me a chance to look at a bit of the show from their balcony.

After lunch I came back to the hotel and checked football scores to see the Patriots won, which was nice to find out and then relaxed in the room for a bit. I took one more small walk around town to decide on a place for dinner then headed back to the room to relax until it was time for the pre-trek meeting.

At 6pm I met my guide an other trekmates. The guide is named Justino and he spoke English well enough and seemed to have a sense of humor. My trekmates are all together and 2 from San Fran and one from Phoenix. Brian, Bill and Cindy (I made a mental note that is the BBC). The orientation was fairly quick and informative. This hike does sound like it is going to be difficult at times but I am sure I will make it.

After the meeting I walked down to the square and had dinner at Paititi, which is a Quechua name for a lost Incan city in the jungle. I had Lomo Soldato which was a beef dish with tomato and onion and peas served with a side of french fries and rice. It was good. I coupled that with glass of red wine and they gave me a free pisco sour. Pisco is like their version of tequila. I finished off with fruit and ice cream for dessert. While there I met a nice Peruvian woman from Lima who apparently works for their version of the IRS and travels their country giving anti-corruption training courses to the local officials. She was very nice. She went to University in Austin she said and her English was very good. She told me the festival was for the "Black Christ" who protects the region from earthquakes. I guess it is a yearly festival, so what I saw in the morning was not common.

After dinner I came back to write this and get packed and crash early because the initial bus ride to the trek starts at 5:45am.

See you all when the trek is over.

Peru and Machu Picchu Day 2

I decided that I should try the Sacred Valley tour that SAS offered this morning. I got up early, got cleaned up and had a quick breakfast at the hotel coffee bar which was basically a continental breakfast except they would cook you eggs. Since I don't eat breakfast I mainly had a couple rolls and a lot of fruit plus some coffee and juice.

After breakfast I tried to go to the SAS office but they didn't open until 8am and it was still just 7:30. I did a couple wandering laps around town until it was sufficiently 8am and then headed back to the office where I purchased the tour for $15USD. I then waited a few minutes to be brought to the bus because the tour started at 8:30. The tour was an all day bus tour so I figured it would be a good way to get through a day.

The first stop was a small village that basically was a tourist stop to try to make people buy stuff at a small flea market. The stop was short and fairly unmemorable. I believe the name of the village was Ccorao. From there we traveled to the town of Pisac and saw the Inka ruins there. They don't know what the Inka name for Pisac was but the ruins were very impressive, sporting a farming terrace and a temple to the sun amongst other things. There was quite a bit of climbing and I found myself huffing in the thin air at any of the climbs. These ruins were very cool, but the rain storm that came in just about the time we got to the temple was kind of rough. There was a small thatched roof shelter that we all hid under for the 15 to 20 minutes it took to pass then continued the tour. The rain threatened again by the time we were heading back to the bus but it didn't start up until we were already riding again.

The next stop was the town of Urubamba where we had lunch. Apparently the different ways that people booked the tour got them different restaurants. Those that booked like I did pretty much got dropped off at the Inka House which had a buffet for 38 soles but it didn't look like what I wanted so I ordered off the menu. It was interesting trying to get this across with the tiniest amount of Spanish I know. I seem to always want to revert to my minimal French when trying to speak to someone in Spanish. It is an odd phenomenon. Anyway I had Pollo Champione which was a breast of chicken with a cream sauce that had ham and mushrooms. It was decent but maybe not 30 soles decent (that's about $10). They picked everyone up and we headed to the next stop.

Ollataytambo was a very impressive Inka ruins. There was probably more climbing than in Pisac but it was definitely worth it. The stay here had a small bit of drizzle and a lot of wind but I was very impressed with what I saw. The main purpose of this ruin may have been astronomical on the upper levels and the lower level was a tambo which is a storage point for provisions for travelers. The mountains across the valley had grain silos. The upper sections of the ruins appeared to have walls built for military protection. The guide told us the story of the giant rocks that were cut and moved from a mountain 7km away down ramp. They had to cross the Urubamba river and to do that they diverted the river with a canal, moved the rocks past where the river was and then rediverted the canal back to the river. Apparently because Ollataytambo was never finished the river still is diverted into their artificial canal. There are more stones that were in transit found along the way. This all is testament to what people can do without heavy machinery. As a note, the Spanish destroyed a lot of the carving in Ollataytambo because they were trying to convert the Inkas to Catholicism.

From Ollataytambo we again got on the bus and rode to our highest point in the tour. The village of Chinchero which was about 12000 feet altitude. This was a small village again mainly meant for tourist shops but they did show us a demonstration of how Inka textiles were made. It was interesting but the star of the show may have been the small child strapped to the woman's back as she ran the presentation. I am sure the children lovers out there would have loved it. After the presentation we had a small amount of free time and I visited the church which was impressively gaudy. I had to pay a sole for them to let me out though. From there we rode back for quite some time in the dark to Cusco. On the tour I met Hank, Orlando and Paul along with 2 Scots and the son's Dutch fiance. It was fun talking to all of them.

When we got back Orlando, Paul and I decided to get dinner together. They wanted to go to the Inka Grill which I had already gone to but said sure. We all decided to get cleaned up then meet at about 8:15 (the tour got back at 7). I was finished early so walked to the square where a sort of festival was going on. I watched them set off these crazy firework contraptions they had built, wondering how many people would go home injured. After about 15 minutes of that I met Paul and Orlando and we ate at the Inka grill. Orlando is Peruvian and married to Paul's sister. They picked some Peruvian style appetizers. Trout in a spicy citrus sauce. Beef heart skewers and a concoction of shrimp, avocado and mashed potatoes and we all tried those. I had the Aji de Gallina which is shredded chicken in cream sauce with leeks and rice on the side. It was good and I ate it but I totally forgot to take pictures of all the food. I tried a Cusqenia beer too. Was very Budweiser. From there we all headed our own ways and I basically crashed for the night.

To point I should mention a couple things I haven't. The plumbing in Peru is not so good so they tell you not to put paper in it. Instead you have to put it in a bin. Definitely different. So far I have had to buy all my water. I typically drink from hotel tap but it is better not to here. It means I have been drinking less water than I normally would. So far however I have not experienced anything like altitude sickness. I have a fairly good sunburn from the first two days here.

Peru Day 1 Part 2

I went back to the room and relaxed for a while and watched a couple soccer matches. Neither were South American. One was European premier league and one was MLS. Anyway, that killed enough time that I was ready to search out dinner. I walked back downtown (which isn't far) and did a loop of the main square. On the first pass I saw a place called the Inka Grill which had a couple people in it. I did the second loop around to there and decided that was where I would eat. I ordered the alpaca medallions with quinoa as a side. By the time I started eating some more folks came in and the couple next to me who were a brother and sister pair who were native Peruvians from Lima that grew up in England and now the sister lives in Montreal and the brother in NYC asked me what I was eating and I told them it was alpaca. She decided to order it too. Due to their makeup it was impossible to tell their accents. Sitting just beyond them was a pair of women probably in their 50s from Montreal. So for the rest of the evening we all talked about various things. All four of them were very nice people and it was fun to talk hockey in Peru out of nowhere.

To the food. The alpaca was very tender. It had a slightly gamey taste but not overpowering. They didn't ask me how I wished it cooked but I got it basically almost medium rare leaning a tad bit more to the medium side. I really liked the taste. The quinoa was interesting. It was sort of like a fibrous couscous. I suspect it was cooked in a broth. I went against suggestions and had one solitary glass of merlot. I ended up having their dulce delice for dessert as well and it was very good. Not too sweet with sauces of strawberry and pineapple on the side. Paired with a decent coffee it was altogether a very meal.

From the restaurant I got back to the roo at about 8pm and watched boxing for about a half an hour before I decided I was passing out and went to bed.

Oh, I almost forgot to mention this. One of the stations on TV is NHK which is Japan's national television station. I thought it was funny.

Peru and Machu Picchu Day 1

Today was the first day I have been in Florida in over 20 years. Definitely more. I have also never been to Miami before. Of course I had to cross the entire airport to get to my connecting flight. The airport was nothing special and entirely in Spanish it seems. The flight to Miami was uneventful with only a little turbulence. The flight to Lima was a bit over 5 hours. I watched the second Transformers movie sort of and passed out towards the middle. I did manage to get a bit of sleep on the flight which surprised me. In Lima I had to go through customs and rescreen for security for a 3rd time. Things went ok though. I had more than 2 hours to get to the connecting flight to Cusco. The wait for the last flight was longer than the flight itself.

I arrived in Cusco. There was supposed to be someone from the tour company to pick me up but he was late and I ended up taking a taxi to the hotel. When I got there they told me he was waiting for me. I did give him 20 minutes. Oh well. The Hotel Marqueses is an old mansion converted into a hotel. The room is bigger than a European room but of unusual layout. They have computer with internet connection and a half dead Spanish keyboard that I am typing this on. I decided to sleep until noon because I was exhausted and chasing a cold then I got up and cleaned up and walked around the main square. Perfect timing. It started to downpour. I ended up getting lunch at a tourist trap Italian restaurant that had only non-Peruvians in it. I had spaghetti al pesto. It wasn't bad but the pesto was more pasty than I was expecting. No alcohol they say it is no good starting out in the altitude with it. I did have a coffee. Oh, and the hotel gave me my first coca tea as soon as I got here.

Everyone around the town tries to sell you something. Pictures, ponchos, massages, you name it. It is sort of tiring saying no thank you so much but I suppose they have to attack all tourists or they will never make any money. I wandered around a bit and talked to one of the locals trying to sell me small paintings for a few minutes and then took a bunch of pictures of the area.

After that I visited SAS Travel and settled up for my tour. Every trip this week is a full 16 people but for some odd reason the tour I am on is actually only going to be 4. I am sort of psyched about that. I may even end up having a tent all to myself. Anyway, I am doing the extra night in Aguas Callientes and have opted for a single room for the hostal there. After settling I wandered some more then headed back to the room where I tried to quickly type this. I will relax a bit then try to get some dinner maybe. I should be able to post each day until Monday when I am on the hike, but this keyboard is going to really test my patience.

Airport Bars

Why is it that no airport bar has a clock?

Leaving for Peru Today

My plane departs today at 7pm. My hair has been shorn into a buzz cut type thing. I am not happy with it but I am sure it will be much easier to deal with on the trails. I am really at the hyper point of wanting to get on my way but I still have a couple of hours of work to go. I will make it though.

I will try to get whatever posts I can while I am there but they will be brief if at all. I won't be posting pictures until I return for certain. I am going to try to carry my pack the whole way though I've been told to get a porter by two different parties who have already made the hike. I am stubborn though and it is a challenge to me.

Hopefully the Bruins will find some consistent winning ways and the Patriots will take the game in the UK while I am gone. I suspect I won't be seeing any American sports for the duration.

As a side note, due to a sudden and unexpected price drop the airline ticket for Japan in spring has been purchased today as well...

Less than 1 Week to Peru

Technically by this time next week I will be in the town of Cusco, Peru. I should land at about 7:30 and I don't think it's that long from the airport to the hotel. The hotel/tour company is supposed to be sending someone to pick me up, so I don't even have to worry about that aspect of the trip. The flights will be overnight flights and in the dark the whole way which may give me a chance to get some sleep though historically I have not been able to sleep on planes. I at least won't have that person that opens the window to the sunshine every 10 minutes.

I am basically packed for the trip at this point. I have to borrow a couple more items from my brother which I will be getting tomorrow and I have to do some laundry to get a couple more clothing items ready but overall the majority of what I need is already in the bag.

I have never packed into a hiking backpack before. Every trip I've taken I have brought a backpack, but one that is meant to hold a laptop. This backpack is a tad bit bigger than my laptop bag but I am hoping they won't give me a hard time with its size. I think with it being under packed I should be ok though. I hope so anyway. The remainder of my gear is going into a suitcase which will make the trip in the belly of the plane.

I've managed to do a lot of walking/running/hiking over the past few weeks even in the bad weather and I have worked out almost every day except a couple where I went out with friends after work and think I'll be in proper shape for the hike. I have dropped almost 10 lbs since the trip to Denmark in which I gained 3 due to the excessive eating. I think it will be better for me to have less of me to carry through the mountains.

Less than 1 Month to the Inca Trail and Machu Picchu

Today marks the 4 weeks to go point before my trip to Peru. Since I am doing the 4 day hike of the Inca Trail I have been spending my weekend mornings walking/running and hiking reasonably large distances to prepare myself for the trek. I have spent some of that time carrying fairly heavy weight in a backpack as well to see if that is much of an issue for me. So far I feel like I should be ready for the hike though I cannot say how bad the thin air will affect me.

The highest altitude I can say I have been for certain was the 5th station of Fuji. We rode up their by bus and only spent an hour or so at the location. I believe it was in the 7000 feet above sea level range or so. I did not notice any issues with breathing but again I was not there long though I did a lot of moving around and searching for good photo spots. Basically it will be a mystery until I am actually in Cusco how I will handle the the altitude. I am going to hope for the best and do what I can to make it easier on myself.

The story goes that increasing altitude in stages will give you the best chance to acclimate. I don't particularly have that option however as I have already booked my trip I will have to deal with the fact that I am going straight to Cusco's altitude.

The next thing they say is to do very little on your first day at altitude, to drink lots of fluids and to eat light with a good amount of carbohydrates in the meal. I arrive fairly early in the morning so I hoped to just unpack and then take an easy look around the city of Cusco looking for photo opportunities and just taking stock of the location. They say drinking alcohol is bad until you get accustomed to the air. I am arriving 3 days before I am actually doing the trek. I get there on Friday morning and won't be setting out until Monday morning for the hike. Hopefully this will give me enough time to survive the altitude. They say 2 to 3 days is usually enough. Some people advocate taking a drug called Diamox as a preventative to altitude sickness but I am not really much of a drug taker and will opt to not do so unless I really need it.

Aside from the prep for hiking and the altitude I have a very different packing setup than I normally have on trips. I won't be bringing a laptop as I am not carrying anything like that on the trek. It is just too unwieldy and unnecessary. My backpack will not be my laptop bag but rather my trek bag. I will have to have a sleeping bag and a lot of other things meant for the hike that I would not normally consider bringing on a trip. For example I purchased a light weight acrylic mirror so I can put my contacts in while out in the boonies. I have been wearing contacts for several years now but still am not good at putting them in without visual aid. Also, I've never brought along a headlamp (or flashlight for that matter), trekking poles, my own toilet paper or even a towel. I am sure I will need this stuff though so it has to come with me.

The next prep item I am going to commit to is my haircut. Since I have started traveling regularly (read as at least once a year) I have gotten haircuts within two weeks of departing to make sure I look presentable. I am not really a fan of haircuts as I think they are generally a waste of money. The practical reason for them is more that I have less to bother with when getting ready in the morning during the trip. For this trip I want to have even less to worry about so I am going to get my first ever buzz cut. There are a couple reasons for this. In camping we aren't going to get real showers. The shorter my hair is the less water I need to keep it clean is the main reason. The likelihood that I will be wearing or taking off a hat a lot during the trek is also a factor. Plus it means not needing to bring hair gel or anything like that. Truth be told I am not looking forward to this but I see the concept as inevitable.

I believe I've mentioned I will have to post everything when I get back. I am fairly certain I will be out of range from the internet even in the hotel before and after the hike. As such I also noted I will not be bringing a laptop. As the international data plan for the iPhone doesn't cover Peru I cannot connect via 3g to do anything large and not expect to spend hundreds of dollars on it, so that is not an option. If I can find wifi spots I will be able to post smaller updates. My goal is to voice record my notes and then write things up when I get back. I intend to bring a bunch of SD cards for the camera so I have an easy time sorting out the days when I post them. We'll see how it goes.

Anyway, that's the preseason. I suspect I'll post a pregame report just before I leave at the very least.

Next Trip Machu Picchu

My next trip is already around the corner and less than 2 months away. This past Denmark trip was sort of a bonus that I could indulge in because I didn't have to pay for a hotel along with the other expenses and the flight was very cheap.

I had actually planned Machu Picchu before I planned Denmark though I think some of the finishing details fell into place after I bought the plane ticket for Denmark.

The trip to Machu Picchu should not be terribly expensive, especially in comparison to some other trips. Obviously the flight is an expense and I have a couple nights of hotel to pay for plus the cost of the actual hiking tour. Still it should be a fraction of the cost I spent, say, going to France.

I found out through some research that SAS Travel Peru is considered the top choice for Inca Trail tours. I was mainly using them on the advice of a friend of a friend who said they were excellent. I got to speak to her in Denmark and she gave me some advice about what to pack and things I would need. I am going in late October as my birthday trip so the timing is a bit different from hers. She went in August last year. The weather should be a bit warmer overnight for me but there is a greater chance of rain on any given day according to Inca Trail Peru which is an independent site that gives information about the Inca Trail. I am already set up to go, but if you were ever thinking about going it has some good information about what to expect as well as the various ways you can experience the location.

I have obviously chosen to do the 4 day hike through the Inca Trail but there are shorter hike options as well as train and bus routes that get you to Machu Picchu without having to do all the fun stuff. I realized when I decided that I was going to take this trip I wouldn't have been satisfied in just riding a train to the site so I really didn't have an option to go the easy way. I am sure that I really don't understand how strenuous all the climbing is going to be but I am also fairly certain that I will be able to survive it and enjoy it.

As it is I have already started doing more strenuous workouts in preparation for the trip. On weekends I am trying to walk significant distances while carry somewhere in the tune of 40 lbs of books. It is certainly not happy on back and I have to be a bit careful about it but it does get my lungs and legs tired which is what I am looking for. The backpack I carry will be significantly lighter than these books and also have a much more comfortable feel on my back I am sure. I really need to find some stairs to climb as well. Gone are the days of working in the Prudential where I could climb from the 3rd to 25th floor in one run.

I gained weight coming out of Denmark due to the beer and food but I am sure I will not be gaining weight in Peru.

Denmark 2009 Day 10 Pictures

Ok, so they're just a couple pics of George's place but they are here.

Denmark 2009 Day 10

Though my flight was departing at 12:30 I got up early because we had to drop off the rental car and all that, plus I still had some sundry packing to do. It wasn't much. I got most of it done the night before but there's also the scan to see if anything is missing.

The drop off of the car went smoothly and checkin was quick as well. I bought some candy at the duty free and did a circuit of the airport shops and then just waited for the plane. The odd thing was you had to check into the waiting area and the didn't open it until they were ready to board so you had to stand the whole time which kind of sucked.

The flight to Schipol was easy, however I was landing as boarding time for the next flight was already started and I had to go through passport control so I had to rush. Of course the gate was across the airport a huge distance. I had to run it. It was thoroughly full flight though and things were a bit delayed so I ended up having to wait to board anyway. They screened security there. The flight took an extra half an hour longer than projected due to a strong headwind. This flight was to Detroit. I watched in order: Gran Torino, Watchmen (thankfully the blurred the blue thing), Monsters Vs. Aliens and most of a Japanese movie called Honkoaa Boy which I wished I watched all the way through instead of Watchmen ('cause I had seen that in the theater). The meal was passable.

In landing in Detroit we were late so I had to again rush, I needed to get through passport control, get my checked luggage, customs, recheck luggage and rescreen security. When I made it to the plane it was calling last boarding. They were getting ready to assign my seat to a standby but I managed to board and get back on time. Getting out in Boston was fairly easy and my checked bag was whole and early on the carousel.

Denmark 2009 Day 9 Pictures

The pictures for day 9 can be found here.

Denmark 2009 Day 9

Today we started out by visiting the Deer Park and Bakken. The Dyrehavn is a large park that actually does have deer in it and is used for royal hunting still. Attached to it is the oldest amusement park in Europe (supposedly, why would they lie?). We did actually see some deer in there but the pictures didn't come out spectacular with the zoom distance and the shadiness of the woods and my shaky hands but you can definitely tell we saw some. The amusement park was just beginning to open up but we had to leave to head to Lyngby to meet up with Ditte for lunch and also poke around Lyngby for a bit beforehand. We were sort of worried about getting parking because there isn't a lot in the town but we managed to get a space in a parking garage pretty quickly so things worked out there. There appeared to be some sort of open air market, flea market, festival thing going on so we walked about the area for a bit and went into the mall there where I bought a couple of suspect Danish music CDs before heading out to meet up with Ditte.

We ate the sushi and sticks and, surprisingly, had sushi. This was a bit fresher than the first night we had sushi and we just chose menu assortments. I enjoyed what I got very much and we followed up with some sorbets that turned out to be strawberry and mellon types. We talked for quite a while. Ditte has already been to Machu Picchu which is my next trip in October so she shared a lot of details and suggestions. She said with the stairs and climbing it was very strenuous and she thought it was harder than climbing Kilimanjaro, which she had been done before. She also said that the trip was very fun and the guides from the tour group she took were great and knew a lot of history and spoke English very well. I am using the same tour group at her suggestion so hopefully things will be like they were for her.

After lunch we drove her home then headed back to the apartment. We got cleaned up a moment then headed back into Copenhagen for a short souvenir shopping run then dinner which we had at the Reef N Beef, which we ate at my first night in Denmark my last trip. The food was good but our waitress was new and not so skilled at busy nights so the service was not as good as the first time. I had an emu carpaccio followed by a sirloin that made me choose it for the New Zealand pepper sauce which really ended up having no spice and was more like A1 sauce than anything. I was disappointed in that but the food was good anyway. Finished with an apple tart the whole meal was very tasty.

We walked around town for a while after dinner then headed back to the apartment where I had to get going on packing things for my trip home on Sunday.

Denmark 2009 Day 8 Pictures

The pictures for Day 8 can be found here.

Denmark 2009 Day 8

Today was sort of a take it easy day for us. We started out with a visit to Ikea to purchase some extra shelves for George’s desk so the books he had would settle more stably. From there we visited a couple other shops in the same strip mall but didn’t buy anything. I was sort of hoping to find a CD of some Danish death metal but the electronics store didn’t have music, only movies.

After the stores we drove to Roskilde where we had lunch at a brew house restaurant. I had a burger that was gigantic and I couldn’t finish it. George had the fish soup. The burger was very good. I ordered a Jacobson Dark but the waitress initially brought me a Guinness. No real complaint from me but she replaced it with the correct beer rather quickly.

From there we drove up the coast a bit and then stopped in Hundsted for a short bit to walk around and take a few pictures. It is apparently one of the very last actual fishing towns in Denmark. It was amazingly windy and the weather kept threatening to rain on us but it never really did.

After Hundsted we drove to Helsingor which is the town that has Kronborg Castle which I visited on the first visit to Denmark but we just basically used that as a starting point to drive back down the coast before heading back into the apartment. It meant that we spent a lot of the day driving up and down the coast. It was nice if a bit overcast with a few bits of rain here and there.

After a short breather at the apartment we headed into town to eat at Reinwald’s which is a restaurant that does a different menu every day. We ordered a bottle of shiraz and I got the beef carpaccio followed by the sirloin of beef with new potatoes and fried asparagus. It was perfectly rare and all of it was very tasty. For a dessert I had the fresh strawberries with orange and vanilla ice cream. The strawberries were in fact fresh and sweet.

After dinner we headed back in to the apartment for the night.

Denmark 2009 Day 7 Pictures

The pictures from day 7 can be found here.

Denmark 2009 Day 7

Today we spent running around Copenhagen. We started out by visiting Rosenborg Castle which is a smallish castle right in Copenhagen. It is actually not small at all but the area you are allowed into inside the building is fairly limited so it doesn’t give a great idea of size. They allow you on three floors and have it set up as a museum of what rooms were like in some cases or just displaying things in other rooms. The basement is their crown jewels tour so to speak, the treasury. This is by no means the size of the Tower of London and their crown jewels but there is certainly a fair amount of wealth in the area and even the current queen’s regalia is on display.

After Rosenborg we had lunch at an Italian restaurant. We both had lasagna which was ok if a bit plain and they served bread with olive oil and balsamic and some olives as a sort of started. I accompanied that with 2 glasses of Tuborg Classis. All in all it was a good meal if a tad plain.

From there we walked to the Danish armory and ran through that. The lower level was a selection of guns and artillery from various ages and places and the upper level was firearms and medieval weapons. They had a significantly larger sized collection than I expected and even a few really cool pieces that were very neat to see. The firearms and swords were all behind glass so I didn’t really take pictures of any of that because they don’t come out very good.

After the armory we went to Our Savior’s Church. I’ve taken quite a few pictures of it on both trips. It is the building with the staircase on the outside of the tower. The church itself was closed but the tower was open to the public still. Since the weather again turned out perfect it turned out to be a great day to do it. It was very hot getting through the inside part of the climb but at a point we exited the church proper and entered the tower it got significantly cooler. When you get out onto the main outside tower the breeze and cool air is very welcome. I am, as I’ve mentioned, not terribly fond of heights and this was another test for me. I did manage to get to the top of the stairs though I couldn’t really fit onto the last couple and had to touch the top stair with my hand. Either way I got to the top and did take a picture of the last couple steps to prove it. Due to the amount of walking and the heat, George did not go all the way up. It would be better if we chose to visit the church before visiting anything else because it was by far the most strenuous part of the day.

From the church we headed back to the apartment to get ready to visit Jesper at his house where he was preparing a cookout for us.

After a short rest we headed to Jesper’s house which was only about 5km away so it was a quick drive. Jesper’s house was very nice. More spacious looking than I would have expected and he had a very large back yard considering he is in the Copenhagen suburbs proper. He apparently has 3 cats that stayed in the basement to which my allergies were appreciative. He also has a long hair dachshund and a long hair Chihuahua both of whom were friendly though the Chihuahua was a bit skittish at first. Of course by the end of the evening she was sleeping on my lap so that I couldn’t move. Jesper made grilled shrimp and bacon wrapped scallops as a starter then moved into grilled steaks with a salad and corn on the cob on the side. He also grilled some sausages to go along. We had a bit of wine and beer as well. He’s actually a very good cook and the food was tasty and pleasant. We stayed and chatted for most of the evening until my allergies were getting the better of my eyes then headed back to the apartment for the night. Since it was really late I didn’t write this till the morning.

Denmark 2009 Day 6 Pictures

The pictures for day 6 are located here.

Denmark 2009 Day 6

Today we went to the Land of Legends in Lerje just outside of Roskilde where I rode the Viking boat before. It is an open air museum of the Viking/stone age times sort of along the lines of Old Sturbridge Village at home. The park is actually very big and there doesn’t seem to be a lot of rules about where you can actually go, including where most of the animals are. When we got there the lady at the desk told us that they were just starting the feeding time for the wild boars. We decided to get over there and see that. Unfortunately the feed company hadn’t actually brought the pig feed but the woman that tends them was giving them a little bit of corn to tide them over. She was very nice and answered a lot of questions about them and the other animals in the park. They apparently have one male boar and 5 female boars plus all the young they make each year. The male boar is white because he was scared during transport. He isn’t supposed to be white but since he isn’t very aggressive and makes things easier on them they decided to keep him anyway. They kill all of the young each year. Some die on their own of course. The boars eat them whether they died naturally or after they were killed. They eat everything right through all of the bone. Bricktop wasn’t lying. I am sure the PETA people would love it I am sure. Among the other animals they had the usual ducks and geese and they had some sheep, a lot of sheep actually, and some castrated bulls. None of these were penned off so you could technically walk right up to anything. The bad part of this was dodging all the land-mines on the ground.

They had several reconstruction buildings for various tasks as well as homes from the periods. They had exhibits to show how most of the stuff was done such as building homes or ovens or dug out canoes. The really interesting thing was that they had exhibits where you could chop the wood using axes or whittle other things with knives. There were a lot of children in this park and they were all allowed to use the axes and the knives. I found that particularly interesting we saw several very young children chopping wood with sharpened axes. I actually got nailed by the chips of wood when one of them was doing it. I am fairly certain we wouldn’t see this in America because the park would be afraid of being sued. I actually really liked it a lot.

The really only had a snack bar here so we just got something small to carry us through the day. Since the place was big we walked around a fair amount and the weather stayed pleasant and sunny throughout. The drive was less than an hour each way though of course we did see an accident on our way out in an intersection with a traffic light. We managed to squeeze past it before the official vehicles arrived, barely. Then we got stuck behind a bicycle race for probably about 7 kilometers which was really unpleasant. Fortunately, on the way out we didn’t encounter any such problems.

We returned to the room and relaxed for a bit before heading into Copenhagen for dinner. We had been expecting to meet his fried Ditte for drinks but she canceled on us because she wasn’t feeling well. We ate at Bombay. I had the chicken curry (chef’s special) and George had the Butter Lamb. We ordered extra spicy and they did actually put a reasonable amount of spice in. Both were decent and very filling when accompanied by some nan and some rice.

After dinner we walked out to the theater on the waterfront and had a couple drinks as it got dark. From there we walked around town a while then returned to the train station and headed back in to the apartment.

Sorry for the delay on this post. Connectivity issues. The pictures should be up later.

Denmark 2009 Day 5 Pictures

The pictures for day 5 can be found here.

Denmark 2009 Day 5

Today was dedicated to getting to and seeing Egeskov Slot. The best I can do in phoenetics is ehyezkoe as a sound. It has no G sound and no V sound at all in the pronunciation. Where Copenhagen is on an island, Egeskov is on another island closer to the mainland, named Fyn (Foon). The drive itself wasn't difficult but was in the range of 2 hours and we had to cross the very long and very tall bridge between the two islands. Crossing the bridge costs a toll but there weren't a lot of cars going through at the time we were there. They do have their on version of the fast lane but the rental car didn't have the transponder so we had to do it the old fashioned way.

By the time we got there it was basically lunch so we bought our tickets for the castle and grounds and then went to the cafeteria restaurant and had lunch. I had a local Odense Classic along with a chicken sandwich that had bacon, lettuce, tomato, yellow peppers, cucumber and a bit of mayonaise on it. It was obviously a cold sandwhich but it was pretty good.

Egeskov is a fairly old castle but like most Danish castles it is built from brick because they didn't have stone. The castle is not very large and is privately owned. The owners use it as a residence so a lot of the actual building is closed off. The grounds are fairly big involving sculptured gardens as well as flower gardens. They have a motor museum which has cars, planes, helicopters and a very large collection of motorcycles. They have a maze formed from plants which we think were bamboo but are not certain. We did not go through the maze. There was also a treetop bridge walk that I tested my fear of heights against. I did not fair perfectly through this as almost the moment we got to the top of the platform a kid ran up the stairs and while we were taking a couple pictures of the grounds ran out on the to the bridge and started jumping up and down as hard as she could. The entire platform was shaking. Her mom yelled at her and they moved ahead of us. I then managed to get through the experience successfully. I was not fully happy about it, but I did challenge myself and succeed. Once up there was no turning back. While up there I didn't really take any pictures, though in hindsight I should have for the sake of it though nothing looked terribly great.

This is the point when we visited the actual castle. We got to go through 4 floors including the attic. Rooms were set up museum style rather than residence and there was a significant collection of hunting trophies as well a lot of toys and a very neat large dollhouse. The exhibits were interesting and there were a lot of red buttons for me to press activate passages of text or poetry being read in Danish. I didn't understand them, but I was compelled to press the buttons anyway.

When we were entering the castle I noticed the gift shop in the outbuilding and wondered if we should go in before the castle. I figured that having to carry extra stuff through the castle might be a pain so didn't mention to George the idea and decided to just go in. This is where I need to point out that today is a reasonably ok weather August Tuesday with no holiday to mention or anything else, yet a lot of the gift shops were closed and even the cafeteria seemed limited. The grounds hours are 10am to 5pm and yet when we exited the castle proper at a little past 3pm the gift shop which was opened not that long ago was no longer open. I am not sure why anything like the ice cream shops and such were closed at all, the place was fairly busy after all. I was even more confounded by the idea the gift shop closed so early. Accorging to George, that's Denmark. Anyway it was annoying but we had to trek back to the motor museum to a smaller gift shop there to get the magnet I wanted and a book on the castle. After doing this we headed out and drove back to George's apartment where we called his friend Jesper and waited for him to come over.

We went to dinner at an Italian restaurant up the street from his apartmet. I had ordered the meat lasagna but since they were out of lasagna ended up with spaghetti with meatballs instead. It wasn't bad at least. We stayed there through 2 drinks and then vacated due to the smoke from the outside seats coming into the building. From there we headed back and chatted a bit more before calling it a night.

Denmark 2009 Day 4 Pictures

The pictures for Day 4 are located here.

Denmark 2009 Day 4

George had to study in the morning so we didn’t really get going until a bit later than normal. This is actually the normal Scandinavian time to start up but who’s counting really. First we had to drop a package off at the post office. From there we set out up the street to Charlottenlund and saw the beach area and the old ruined fort and walked around for a while. After a bit there we drove further up the coast. George’s apartment isn’t very far from the coast at all. It probably takes no more than ten minutes to get there by car. We drove along the northeast coast of the island for a while where he wanted to go to a small café on the beach for lunch.

The lunch was decent. I had what was listed as the Beach Club which turned out to be more of a garden salad with toast and sliced grilled chicken and a piece of bacon on it. It was actually quite good. The café was fairly small and there isn’t a lot of parking for it so we had to park a bit up the street and walk. It was neat that it had a traditional thatch roof though. We sat outside anyway. There were a lot of the small birds that always seem to hang around eateries. George gave a bit of bread to a couple of them and all of a sudden there were approximately 300 of them. When one couple left the birds started cleaning off their plates. It was interesting.

After lunch we got back in the car and headed further up the coast for a few more minutes before heading back to the apartment so George could cram before his Danish language class then headed into Copenhagen so he could go to class and I could run around the city a bit.

After we dropped George off at his class I walked up to Nyhavn and took the canal tour. I took it last time I was here too but it was fun to be out on the water and the weather was really perfect for it anyway even at 4pm. This took about 1 and a half hours of the 2 and three quarters hours I had to kill while he was in class. The only negative I can mention was the chain-smoking Brits who sat behind me. Anyway, you get to see all the stuff along the canal including the now 3 headed Little Mermaid (since she lost her first 2). The actual tour is about an hour long but I grabbed a hot dog from a stand to finally try one and ate that before the tour and the next one left at 4:20pm. I checked the watch as I got off the boat and it was just a bit past 5:30.

I walked back to the Round Tower and did that again. It was a fun visit the first time and wouldn’t take a terribly long time while still using up enough to be worthwhile. I took a bunch of pictures along the canal tour and from the tower. By the time I was exiting the tower it was about 6:10 or so and I needed to kill another half an hour or thereabouts. I decided to walk back to Nyhavn and get a beer which killed off the time perfectly. I drank a Carls Special and people watched the remaining time in front of the French embassy. When I finished the beer I headed back to his school and got there just about the time he got out.

We walked up the street a bit and had dinner at a Herefords which is a local steakhouse sort of chain (though apparently they don’t all share the same menus). I had a local beer from Bornholm, which is actually a Danish owned island barely off the coast of Sweden that was fairly good Mork Guld it was called. I don’t have the energy to get the O with the line through it for the name, sorry. I also had the beef fillet which actually turned out to be a strip steak. It came with a béarnaise sauce and vegetables and French fries. They truly served it to me rare and it was very good. We finished up the meal with coffee and started heading back to the train station. On the main walking streets I bought a dulce delice cone of ice cream which was very good and caramelly. From there we got to the train station and got back to the apartment for the night.

Denmark 2009 Day 3 Pictures

Pictures from day 3 are located here.

Denmark 2009 Day 3

Today started out with about 2 hours worth of driving to the south. We went on another island but for the life of me I am not sure what the name was. The island that Copenhagen resides on is called Zealand. The island we went to is very small and to the south. There are some chalk cliffs along the east coast of the island called the White Cliffs of Moen. I think I am supposed to use an 0 with a line through it but don't have the symbol queued up. The cliffs are similar in idea and content to the Cliffs of Dover from what I can tell.

Again the weather turned out perfect as we had sun and something that felt akin to nothing more than the mid 70s all day. There were a couple points that we felt some humidity but as we walked the trails over the upper portion of the cliffs it was well shaded in the woods most of the time. We went a fair distance down the trail where we discovered stairs down to the beach level. There were definitely stairs from the beach level back at the point of the visitor center so decided to descend and walk the beach. The beach was a pleasant beach that mainly consisted of small rocks. What was disconcerting to me was that there was absolutely no sign of any sea life on the beach in the form of broken shells or any crabs or anything. Actually after a small bit we noticed that there weren't even any seagulls. I particularly found this disturbing but we assume there were no gulls because of the lack of shellfish. We finished the beach and climbed back up to the visitor center. Both sets of stairs were winding and had a lot of steps in them. The ones we descended were far steeper than the ones we climbed. The high point of the area is supposedly 130 meters so we have to assume that we climbed up and down somewhere in the 100 meter range.

At the visitor center we decided to just hit the cafeteria where we bought water and I had a small Carlsberg Special beer. We didn't stay long then we got back on the roads and drove to the main town just before we exited the small island where we found parking and then searched for a place for lunch. We found the Bryghus Mon which was a small local brewery that served lunch and dinner menus. We both ordered their burger which had carmelized onions, greens, tomatoes, bacon a special sauce and was served on a brown bread roll along with roasted new potatoes. The burgers were very good if cooked more than I like (which of course means actually cooked). I had the 6 beer sampler to try all of their various varieties. This amounted to about one full pint of beer I think. The pilsner and wheat beer were ok but what I finished off first. They had an American brown ale, an amber beer, a black beer and a regional beer that were all very good. There was definitely something like spice in the wheat beer. The black beer was not a stout but was interesting.

After finishing lunch we headed back to the car and drove off the island where we visited a small port area just on the Zealand side of the bridge. It has a nice docks area but there were very distressing signs of spider infestation. There was a Toyota Land Cruiser that at first we thought was muddy but was actually entirely webbed over. It proably hadn't moved in a long time. Walking around the rest of the area only revealed more of the same. Though we saw a gigantic spider in the town where we had lunch there were several dozen more visible spiders here. Either way there was a small shack we got ice cream from here. I had one based on a local candy bar called the Lion Bar. No idea what flavor it was but I liked it.

From there we drove back to the apartment where we relaxed for an hour and a half or so before heading into Copenhagen for dinner. Since the drive was long the late lunch and all that had us getting into town at about 8pm or later. We walked around a small bit then when we found the first choice restaurant is closed on Sundays went to Ristorante Almalfi and had Italian instead. This was a very nice if not busy restaurant. I suspect the issue is the Danes really don't go out to eat a lot and less so on Sunday. We turned out to be the only customers. We split a bottle of Valpolocello and an antipasto before he had a lobster and pasta dish and I had a cheese ravioli dish. For dessert I had ice cream with espresso poured over the top and George had a creme brulee that really looked like a failed attempt. There was no crunch in the sugar and he said he could tell the loose granules still there. He didn't finish it. My ice cream was very good. We also both had a grappa and even a second when the waiter offered us one more on the house. It was actually a very good grappa that had been aged in a wooden cask. It was surprisingly good.

From there we just walked up to Nyhaven a looked about a moment or two before getting a taxi back to the apartment and calling it a night.

Denmark 2009 Day 2 Pictures

The pictures from Day 2 are posted here.

Denmark 2009 Day 2

Though the weather was supposed to be rainy by Friday’s forecast, things changed quickly and in the morning it was obvious that there was even going to be more sun than clouds. Our initial idea was to play for the rain and look to do something indoors based such as the Army Museum but with the good fortune we decided instead for Frederiksborg Slot.

The drive was about half an hour or so and with the help of GPS was pretty simple to navigate. There were a few odd clouds at the outset of our getting there but they seemed to melt away as the day went on leaving only the high fluffy stuff. We started by walking the gardens and paths through some of the exterior buildings. This took the better part of the morning. I think we got there around 10am or so. The garden area took maybe two hours or so which meant we decided to get lunch before going inside the castle. There was a small lunch place, outdoors only when we got there, that is right on the entrance to the castle that we ate at called Spisestedet Leonora. We tried a more traditional Danish lunch which means they serve you a basket of bread and a collection of toppings to make open faced sandwiches out of. I believe this is called Snorrebrot. The collection of toppings included curried herring, roast beef, fried fish, Danish meatballs and smoked salmon amongst the additions like minced onion, pickled beets, capers and a couple relishes. The majority of it was cold though the fried fish was still warm. I had a microbrewery beer that was fairly good. The bottle was wine bottle sized and it tasted good throughout the whole meal. We finished up with a some reasonably good coffee.

After lunch we headed into the castle. It apparently was Danish wedding day and we saw signs of at least 3 weddings happening in the castle church during the course of our visit. It meant that the church was not open to the public during the early portion of our visit but we went through the whole building and then hit the gift shop. By the time we were done with the actual castle they had opened the church and we were able to get in and visit that part as well. I can say that it does take a little getting used to the idea of the Danish brick castle. This happens because they really didn’t have enough stone to build castles around here. It makes them look very different from the typical medieval castle idea that you would see in England or France but they are from at least the 1700s if not a bit earlier. That all said, it really is a very nice castle and has a lot more to offer than Kronborg because it is still basically intact and the Swedes don’t own everything that belonged within it. The views are very spectacular in many locations outside the building and some of the outbuildings were very interesting, especially the small wooden structure on an island that looks old and is very uneven. It is definitely a location that I would very much so advise to visit if you are ever in the region.

The weather held up beautifully all day. The sun stayed out but for some high puffy clouds. It definitely turned out a lot better than the forecast suggested. I was very happy for that. After the castle George wasn’t really feeling well so we headed back in to his apartment for at least a breather.

Since George still wasn’t feeling well we decided not to go back into town but rather to walk up the street to a Turkish pizza place where we picked up a pizza and we brought it back to his apartment and I ate it. Then we watched a Danish computer animated film called Mission to Saturn which was very funny. From there it was time to call it a night.

Day 1 Photos

The pictures from Day 1 can be found here.

Denmark 2009 - Day 1

Ok, so, today was a day of work followed by a nice long trafficky drive to Logan. From there I found out that while my reservations say KLM Royal Dutch, I was flying NWA but really I was actually going to be on a Delta plane, go figure.

I got to the airport and managed my specific security screening quite well, just not the idiots in front of me. That said I really did get through all the check in and stuff fairly quick. I was at terminal A and the bar near my gate was a Boston sports themed bar. I ended up talking with some guy named Mike from Wisconsin about politics and World War I for a bit before getting on the plane. I bought myself 2 beers and he bought me one. Not bad.

The flight itself was uneventful if loaded with children. Took about 7 hours. No real turbulence, food was ok and even the bottle of wine was suprisingly free.

In Amsterdam, I found Schipol wasn't a terrible airport and I managed to find a T-shirt and a magnet. The short hop flight to Copenhagen was also very uneventful. I did score the emergency row window seat so I had quite a bit of room.

When I got in and got my bags I had to wait a couple minutes for George then we picked up the Kia rental car and headed back to his place where we hung out for a bit and I got cleaned up and such.

We headed in to Copenhagen and walked around for a while and I took a few pictures then settled on sushi for dinner. We shared a bottle of sake and they even had a creme brulee sampler. From there we walked around a bit more before heading back in for the night. I have been up for probably 40 hours or so.

I will start uploading the pics as soon as I can.

Flying to Denmark Today

Today is the day I will be flying out on my way. As I mentioned I am using KLM which is affiliated with Northwest. This means terminal A which then means no Hoolihans from terminal E so I won't see my bartender before the flight. Oh well, I guess I'll live. I assume I'll be able to find someplace in terminal A for a quick snack and a couple beers.

The flight departs at 7:05pm and I will be heading straight to the airport from work.

George has a full internet connection so I should be able to post my blog and pics every day.

I am borrowing my brother's camera which is a newer version of my own for this trip. If I like it I will likely buy one for myself by the April Japan trip. I will bring my own camera to Machu Picchu due to having already gotten my money's worth out of it should it be stolen. This borrowed camera is 10mp versus my own 5mp camera but I am going to try to set it for similar size pics.

Anyway, I won't be posting again before I leave work. I should be posting on Friday evening in Denmark which should still be early afternoon in the Boston area. Enjoy!

Denmark Weather

Ok, so it looks like I'll be moving into some sort of rain for the first couple days but may clear up after that. I will be getting there for early afternoon on Friday so the day isn't completely done. We should be able to get into the city proper and get dinner at the least.

Here is a website for Danish weather. It is in English even. It should be markedly cooler than it has been in Massachusetts for the past few days which I will enjoy.

One day to go before I am on my way.

Some Basics for Denmark

For my return trip to Denmark I am not really planning the itinerary like I would if I were both on my own and working mainly from train schedules. We are however aiming for a few highlights that I figured I would point out for the sake of mention, not listed in any order.

First off I really want to make sure we can visit Egeskov Slot. This is one of the trips that will definitely require the rental car to get to as it is off the island a bit. It is privately owned but still open to the public. It looks really nice and even has the functional moat.

Second would be Frederiksborg Slot which is within range of where George lives as well. I know he has visited the location but has not done the full inside tour. We should hopefully be able to do that.

Third is Rosenborg Slot. Rosenborg is right in downtown Copenhagen and I have pictures of the outside. We intend to visit it in full this time.

Last time I went we visited Roskilde but it was a holiday so the place was moderately closed down. Fortunately the Viking Ship Museum was open as was the ability to row a replica viking ship. Assuming the weather holds up I would like to do this again because I had a real lot of fun the first time but we might actually have enough people to fill the boat up as it will be true summer.

Beyond that we are going to wing the whole trip, these locations included. If we miss some of them I will not be too brokenhearted but those are the main highlights I'd appreciate.

Denmark Next in Late August

My second trip to Denmark is coming up in less than a month already. I again will be staying with George at his apartment but this time am flying KLM Royal Dutch as they had the best price for the trip. I had wished to be there for the timing of George's birthday but will end up being a week later due to pricing differences.

I am again going to Denmark with a less than fully set itinerary for a couple reasons. One, George technically knows the lay of the land and should have some good ideas of where to go on what days. I would like to try the viking boat ride again if the weather is reasonable and we have a couple castles we are planning to visit amongst other things. And two, we are renting a car so we can get around a lot easier and not be tied to specific schedules. We will of course take the trains into Copenhagen for those visits and so we can have a couple drinks here and there (looking forward to some more Tuborg Classic) and so we don't have to worry about obscene parking prices downtown.

The flight out is going to afford me a touchdown in another country I have not visited in the Netherlands. I have to admit I am not really nuts about visiting that country on its own but it will be nice to add another piece of earth to my visit list even if it is airport only.

I will be staying much longer than my last visit so hopefully I will have a better taste of the country overall. With the long weekend run from last time it was really over before it began in many respects though we did pack a lot into that short time. I still hope to pack a lot in but we should have less time constraints on what we do in general, especially with the addition of the car to get us to and from our destinations. That will afford us an entry and exit time we wish rather than being tied to the train schedules. I do like train rides around a country a lot and it is something I've experienced everywhere I have been so far (including the first run to Denmark) but the car is probably going to cost in a similar vein to any train passes and afford us more freedom. Additionally, since I don't drive stick, George will have to do all the driving... On that, I am going to force myself to learn manual by my 40th birthday so I can rent a car for my projected trip to Sicily. Still, I won't be learning in just 1 month without destroying someone's car so for this trip I am off the hook. Renting an automatic in Europe increases the price at least threefold so we would not consider that.

Anyway, that's my thoughts for now.

Jeep Jamboree Pictures

The Jeep Jamboree pictures are posted here.

Jeep Jamboree Day 4 - Epilogue

Today started with a very late morning by Jeep Jamboree standards. We had to meet everyone at 9am to start on the road back. In the course of heading back we were going to stop at Blanche and Bill's Pancake House, a place where we ate last year on our way home. We had to organize something like 10 Jeeps and the people within to get going.

After cleaning up and packing up we headed down to the lobby of the hotel to check out and then ran into some of the troop at the parking lot there. We ended up having 1 Jeep with a leaky tire, another that had to reconnect the sway bar and another that ended up dropping the front drive shaft as we were heading to the breakfast place so we really didn't get there before 10, maybe 10:30. I never really checked the time. When we got there with something like 13 people they weren't ready for such a large crowd and we had to wait a bit to get in and then wait a bit to get the food. All in all the breakfast was very good though. I think I had 3 cups of their coffee to accompany french toast with blueberry sauce, sausage and bacon.

After we ate we lined everyone up and took a few pictures. I ran into the restaurant and grabbed a patron to take a couple snapshots for us. From there we started the long convoy to our respective homes dropping people off along the way.

This Jeep Jamboree was a lot more fun for me than last year. I suppose the extra 2 runs under my belt and a very accurate set of choices in trails really made it an enjoyable experience. Before the runs I was teetering on whether I would do it again next year, but now I am pretty sure I want to again.