Duty Free!

Another reason why I love traveling so much: The duty free shops at the airport. Where else can you get a candy bar larger than your arm with the leftover foreign cash at the end of your trip?

Norwegian adventure

Just got back from our trip to Norway on monday and it was unbelievable. The 10 of us flew into Oslo friday afternoon, walked around for a while and got something to eat (I had shank of reindeer and it was awesome), then spent the night in a hotel. We had to catch a flight to Tromso in the morning, where our guide picked us up and drove us 90 minutes north to some place I can't spell or pronounce. We got there, put on our snowshoes, and hiked for about 3 and a half hours, mostly uphill. On the way back we got to slide about 70 or 80 feet down the side of a hill. Now that was some fun. We then arrived at our camp for the night, which consisted of 3 tipis. Two of them had stone fireplaces in the middle, which didn't really keep us as warm as we hoped in the -24 degree weather unless you stood directly in front of it. The other tipi where we slept had a big nest of twigs on the floor with reindeer skins and a tiny little "heater" in the middle. The heater didn't do shit and none of us really slept very well, but it was still a great experience.

After snowshoeing, they cooked us some reindeer stew over the open fire and we roasted some marshmallows and drank hot cocoa. Then we got in our swimsuits and ran to the sauna. After sitting in the sauna for a while, we ran barefoot through the snow (-24 degrees, mind you) down the hill into the hot tub. We stayed in there for a while, did the jump out and roll around in the snow thing, then ran back to the tent to get changed. By that time, the Northern Lights were out and in full effect. They were absolutely amazing. I had no idea how fast they changed and moved around all the time, which was really cool to see but made it a big pain in the ass to get a descent photo. I only got two shots before the coldness took it's effect and killed my camera. I had fully charged both my batteries the day before we got there, and just one of them should've lasted the entire trip, but the cold completely drained them both. And there was no place warm to store the camera, so that was all she wrote until we got to a hotel the next night and the batteries recharged themselves. 

The next day we took a dogsled tour through the fjords. Each sled had room for one driver and one passenger, with 5 dogs pulling. We were all surprised by how small the dogs were. We expected them to be big huskies, but they were all different breeds from Spain. But they were incredibly strong. I learned that first hand at the end when it took three of us to get one in his cage, who obviously was not ready to be locked up just yet. The trip was awesome. I started driving while Kim rode in the sled. We were going to switch about every half hour so the driver's fingers wouldn't get too cold, but Kim was having so much fun driving that I just let her do it for the last hour and a half. I had fun, but Kim was really having the time of her life, so I was happy to let her keep going. 

After that they cooked us some more lunch on the fire, then took us back to a hotel in Tromso. We spent a little time wandering around and I was able to get some pictures again after my camera warmed up in the room for a while. The next morning we flew back to Oslo and had about 5 hours to wander around before heading back to Warsaw.

It was a great trip and I was really excited that I finally got to see the northern lights. I've been wanting to see them for as long as I can remember and they were so much better than I had hoped. We got really lucky, too. The guide told us that this year has been the worst to see them since 1938, but that weekend was the best they've had so far. They were mostly green, but I got to see a reddish-purple streak for about 5 or 10 seconds.

Fort Piłsudskiego

There is an old fort down the street from us that was built in the 1880s. Kim and I stopped in there once to get a quick look, but I've been meaning to go check it out more thoroughly for a while now. It's kind of like a peninsula with a moat all around it and a big hill in the middle. The fortress is built into the hill and has a bunch of rooms, some connecting to others, but most of them are individual. The flat ground all around is covered with these old storage spaces. Some of them look like they're garages for working on cars because they have compartments in the floor with steps leading down them. There is trash EVERYwhere. And most of it looks pretty new, so apparently this is where people come to dump all their unwanted shit. I don't know if that's cheaper than paying for trash service or what, but it's pretty messed up and apocalyptic-looking. The number of baby strollers is somewhat disturbing.

I spent 2 hours wandering around taking pictures. It was a great place for photography and I can see myself going back later for more. Just not at night. I went in the middle of the day in the middle of the week for a reason. There are ashes, graffiti, and beer bottles everywhere, so it's obviously a place for drunks and hooligans to hang out. Luckily a couple of the fortress rooms are dark enough for me to do a little light painting during the day. I'll be putting the pics up on flickr soon.

Does anyone even read this thing?

Haven't posted anything in a while. Not because there hasn't been anything exciting happening, but I just haven't been in the bloggin' mood. I don't know if I'll keep it up or not. But in the meantime, I'll just give a quick summary of what we've been up to.

Went back home to the states for 3 weeks around the holidays. Flew into DC, rented a car, drove to OH, then to MI, then to another part of MI, then to another part of MI, then back to OH, then back to DC and flew back to Warsaw.

Had a fun little shindig at Ed's place and got to see all the people I've been missing. Thanks to everyone who showed up! Even got to do a little light painting because Ed's the shit and made me a couple neon green light wands.

Went and saw my (current) favorite band, Chimaira, at the House of Blues in Cleveland. It was awesome except for the 2 assholes that ruined my favorite song by getting into a fight right behind us. All of a sudden a group of people slammed into us and pushed us 20 feet. The one dude shouted "YOU ran into ME, motherf*cker!". They were actually fighting over who ran into who in the middle of a sold out concert. 

Rented a cabin in Zakopane with 14 people from the embassy and had an amazing time. It's a ski town in the Tatry Mountains on the Slovakian border. Spent an entire day snowboarding for the first time since I moved from MI. There were 4 of us guys, and I was the only one who had ever tried it before. We met a cool Polish chick who went to high school in PA who gave us some lessons that really helped out a lot. I'm getting much better and can make it down the hill and stop at the bottom without falling now. You probably won't peep me in the X-Games any time soon, but I'm dying to go again. I think we'll take my dad there next winter.

Spent the last 3 days on the couch, sick as hell. Probably spend all day tomorrow there, too. But hopefully I'll be better by friday. This weekend is the last chance to see the Warsaw hockey team play, and I really want to go so I better be ok by then.

More paintball action

So last time there was about 20 of us from the American squad. This time there were 3. We should've had more, but some people (like the marine who called me for the details) never showed up. But a group of about 26 or 27 Poles were there so we just joined in with them. They were all super cool and most of them spoke perfect english. One of the guys said he usually plays at another place in town every week and gave us his card and said we were welcome to join any time. Some of them had their own guns, so it looks like I'm gonna have to take another trip to the paintball shop. It's called Mad Sheep. I don't know why.

We didn't bother with that capture the flag or VIP crap, we just played deathmatch the entire time and it was awesome. I don't wanna blow my own horn or anything, but I impressed myself with how many people I wasted. I got 2 dudes in a few of the games, 3 in another game, and I actually blasted 4 in a game. The sweetest kill of all was the dude that I rocked right in the lens of his mask. It was total vindication from when it happened to me (twice) last time out.

An Irish Thanksgiving

For Thanksgiving we spent 5 days with 3 of our Warsaw friends traveling all over the bottom half of Ireland. We flew into Dublin wednesday afternoon, rented a van and spent the rest of the time driving all over the place. When it was all over we had put 998 miles of road beneath us. What was really amazing was how polite and friendly the Irish people are. Quite a switch from the sneering faces we usually see around here most of the time.

Most of the first night was spent in a Dublin pub playing a drinking game with two locals. Knowing we wouldn't be seeing much of the city before going home, I left everyone else in the pub for an hour or so and ventured out to get some night time shots. I got a few, but I really wish we would've had more time, there's a ton more to see there and I would love to go back some day.

On the second day we drove to Kilkenny for a while to check out the castle. We took an hour long tour that was pretty cool, the inside was pretty cool. They actually used some of the rooms in one of the Harry Potter movies (not sure which one, since I hate HP).  After that, we hauled ass to Blarney Castle just outside of Cork. The castle was amazing, and we all (except one of us who shall remain unnamed) kissed the Blarney Stone. Then we headed for Killarney to find a hotel and some dinner. We got there just in time to see some Thanksgiving football at the hotel sports bar. The Lions suck ass.

Day three was spent driving around the Ring of Kerry, which is a beautifully scenic 112 mile loop through the countryside. We pulled off to the side of the road a bunch of times, there were plenty of things to take pictures of. There were ruins, churches, lakes, mountains, waterfalls, etc. After that we took a ferry across one of the bays and went to find a hotel for the night.

The next day we drove to the Cliffs of Moher and spent a while there. Standing on the edge of the ocean looking 700 feet below as hundreds of birds fly around was awesome. Next we drove to Limerick to see King John's Castle. The castle was pretty cool, especially the severely overacted 10 minute movie they showed inside. After the tour we started heading back to Dublin, stopping at a pub on the way for some delicious lunch and rugby watching. Speaking of rugby, the New Zealand All Blacks have the greatest pre game ritual war dance thing ever. If I was standing in front of them while they did the war dance, I would forfeit right there.

We got back to Dublin a few hours later, then went out one last time to pick up a few souvenirs (don't worry, Ed I got you a damn shot glass) and get dinner. We ate at a restaurant that had a stage with a tradition Irish dance group performing. And as much as I hate the Riverdance, these people were unbelievable. I didn't know a human could move their feet that fast!

The trip was amazing and there was so much more that we didn't see, so we plan on going back someday. If not to see the stuff we missed, then to drink more of Bulmers Cider. I'm not sure how many pints I had of it, but lets just say it's a good thing I wasn't the driver. Yummy!

I'm serious now!

I loved paintball so much I ran out today and bought myself a mask. It has dual thermal lenses that are guaranteed not to fog up like the ones they provided where we played the other day. And it looks pretty bad ass, too.