Open Mic

A little while back I went to see my brother perform at an open mic night he helped organize at work. While I can't say I was impressed by everyone's performances, I can say that they certainly had balls. I don't think I could ever get in front of a group of people and sing let alone sing and play an instrument, and they probably wouldn't want me to anyway. So check out my lovely iphone photos of my baby bro jammin at Cool Cafe downtown. Isn't he precious! Happy Birthday Joe!

Home Sweet Home

So I've been home for about a week and am still feeling uncharacteristically sluggish: can that still be jetlag? Anyway, I made it back in time for some much needed rain in the Alamo City and lots of Literacy-related meetings. Oh yeah, in case you don't know I work on this: Literacy San Antonio. It's all very nice and the women I work with are in one word: awesome but it can really beat you down to know how dysfunctional this city can be. I swear it's getting better....

Anyway, today is kind of a sad day. A local institution is semi-closing it's doors: Olmos Pharmacy, lately known as the "Bharmacy" as they now offer adult beverages with your pharmaceuticals. Actually they stopped selling drugs a while back, but you know, it had a real historical presence as an independent pharmacy for many years, so the name kinda stuck and got morphed. I remember going there when I was little to sit at the counter for a grilled cheese sandwich with ruffles chips and a chocolate blue bell shake. Truth be told the food was always pretty mediocre, I mean I make better grilled cheese, but the shakes were heavenly. So, we went there for lunch to toast to its farewell. Turns out they ran out of food. Which was kinda smart, nothing to throw out. But we did manage to get ahold of an old-fashioned chocolate milkshake. I was pretty disappointed by the fact that it was delivered via styrofoam cup instead of the traditional metal shake canister and glass/mini brown glasses. But it was still good. Anyway, I hear good things about the new restaurant that will be moving in and we look forward to some new activity in the neighborhood! We moved on to another local institution for lunch: Chris Madrid's. Gotta love that Cheddar Cheesy! If you've never been you're truly missing out! So go and expect a line, but don't worry they move with expert speed.

Paris Bike Ride @ Night

Probably the best way to see the city, period. Fat Tire Bike Tours holds day and evening bike rides led by American Expats in Paris. The company itself is based out of, where else-Austin, TX! It's such a neat alternative to the walk-abouts that everyone goes on and you can catch all the major sites you saw during the day-but also at night, which I have to say gives the city a whole new dimension. So I went on the ride very spur of the moment. I was actually at a wine tasting hosted by Olivier at O Chateau, enjoying the company of fellow travelers and 5 types of wine. A word about the tasting: funny as hell! Olivier is good-natured, good-humored and good-looking! What else could you want from a wine tasting in France? I highly recommend it! Plus, he's considering moving to Austin, which only adds to Olivier's awesomeness-I told him he should totally do it! Anyway, I was sitting next to two women, Sheila and Julie, who were going to go on a bike ride after the tasting and they invited me along. I am so glad they did because not only was the bike ride beautiful and our guide, Seth, a great guy, but we also got to ride a boat along the Seine with free-flowing bottles of wine at the end of the ride! Also, we had another lovely treat in store: as we rode through Ile de Cite we passed over the bridge to the smaller island of Ile St Louis where we had Berthillon ice cream: the most decadent ice cream you'll ever have with flavors like: pistachio, dark velvet chocolate and Grand Marnier. At this time my dinner consisted of 5 types of wine, some baguette and ice cream but they were the bests French wines a truly fresh french baguette and the most delicious ice cream in France. The best part: taking a few laps around the courtyard of the Louvre: so surreal and such a once-in-a-lifetime experience. The only hitch was this: on the boat we pass under several footbridges, which was normally lovely, as the people walking ont he bridges would wave and smile. Normally. We passed under one bridge where a groups of teenagers thought it would be a good use of thier beer to pour some of their drinks onto the boat. Mind you, not much, but enough to make some people pour out their wine since it was contaminated. There was a huge cultural difference right there: I doubt you would ever see a Texan dump out a beer, much less on people just passing by. Not only because it's rude but hell, why waste a perfectly good beer? I was lucky and missed the spillage, but it was an unfortunate tale for some tourits to tell. Too bad too, since the French were behaving so nicely up to that point. Anyway, we all got over it and kept our hands over our wine whenever we passed under another bridge. Plus, the view helped. It was also a fabulous way to see the Eiffel Tower. I don't know why I hadn't thought about it before but I know every time I've been on a trip and took a bike ride/tour it's been a highlight. So, thanks again to Sheila and Julie for making sure I didn't miss out on this lovely evening!

London Calling

I went to London the other day, just for the day, to visit a friend from college (Betsy) who just moved there. She was sweet enough to meet me at the train station at what was insanely early in London. In fact, we had to walk a while before anything opened just to grab a coffee/tea. I had no real idea what I wanted to do for the day and she was new in town so she whipped out two guide books each equipped with some very useful maps and we were on our way!

First stop though, Betsy found a flat, yay! So we met up with her new roomie, who we no doubt woke up to sort out some paper work. While the letting company was not much help, we did have a pleasant walk through the neighborhood and Victoria Park. A bit more walking and sme tube hopping and we fund ourselves in the Saturday morning Borough Market where vendors were selling everything from fresh fruits and veggies to poem recitations. One orator had a particularly large selection of Yeats, but not many takers. We made our way through the market and had lunch at sunfilled sandwich/pizza place I can't remember the name of, it kind of reminded me of Panera.

After lunch it was on to the Tate museum to check out some art. We got the audio guides, which helped us navigate the spaces efficiently but found the most curious pieces lacked any commentary, leaving us to contemplate things like why is a 30+ foot piece of rope on the floor considered art? Then it was out to walk the Thames before hitting up Parliament and Big Ben. We tried to go by 10 Downing Street only to find it crowded and roped off. Westminster Abbey was absolutely beautiful and a perfect stop for a refreshing ice cream.

Buckingham Palace was next, and though we missed the changing of the guard they two on duty did give us a little bit of action. The "real" guard dressed in military garb, with the automatic rifle seemed annoyed that this was his post...It was quite the sunny day in London so alot of my pics ended up being a bit back-lit; I guess we just walked right into the sun without realizing it, but it turned into a really nice day. Warning: London mornings are a bit frigid.

It was back to St. Pancras train station via St. James park, which was brimming with wildlife (ducks, geese, squirrels, etc).It reminded me alot of Central Park and made for a relaxing end of day stroll. At the station Betsy and I grabbed a pint before boarding our respective trains and when I returned to my flat in Paris I just crashed. Great day, great company-thanks Betsy!