Acceptable Reasons For Getting Up At 0-Dark-30

Saturday night I went to bed sometime after midnight-30, after spending the entire day celebrating Merrow and C's wedding.

Sunday morning the alarm went off at 3:45, and I (mostly) willingly dragged my ass out of bed at 3:49 and got dressed. Those of you who have ever seen me upright before 10AM know that I am NOT a morning person. So what made me get out of a comfy bed at the ass-crack of dawn?

The opportunity to watch the sunrise under perfect conditions from the highest point in New England, Mount Washington. The Mt Washington Auto Road opens early 3 times a year. Serendipitously, the last one for 2013 was the day after the wedding. J told me about it several weeks ago. I blew it off as an insane idea at the time - 3 hours of sleep to wind up socked in a cloud with freezing temps? No thanks. As the weekend got closer though, the forecast kept getting better and better. By Saturday night, the sunrise forecast called for 100+ miles of visibility, temps in the mid-40s, and "light" winds of 15mph. That's about as good as Mt Washington gets - EVER. We couldn't pass it up. 

So. Early morning alarm - check. Significant grumbling on Kate's part - check. Driving fast on dark twisty roads - check. Being on of the first 300 people to see the sunrise in the US - check and CHECK!

Two Days Left In Paris? Merde!

I have reached the frustrating part of vacation where my brain is at "See All The Things!" while my body is at "Nope! Tired! Gonna ignore the alarm and sleep in!" Sadly, the body is winning. Which yeah, I know, there was no was I was going to be able to do everything I wanted to anyway, and it's a great excuse to come back sooner rather than later, and Paris isn't going anywhere (unlike Venice, which will probably sink completely before I manage to return), but dammit, I feel like I'm wasting so much time!

My museum pass is used up. I still have one day extra on my rail pass. I am a little overwhelmed with trying to prioritize what to do.

Things checked off the list so far, successfully or otherwise:
- Climbed the Eiffel Tower and drank Champagne
- Climbed the bell towers at Nortre-Dame, but did not see Quasimodo
- Visited the Louvre, saw the Big Three (Mona Lisa, Manley's horses, Winged Victory) and plenty of other art
- Visited the Musée de l'Orangerie (Monet's Water Lilies)
- Visited the Musée d'Orsay (Impressionism)
- Took a cruise on the Seine
- Spent a day at Versailles
- Visited Chateau  Fontainebleau
- Drank wine and read books in cafés
- Hung out at Shakespeare & Co, the iconic English-language bookstore in the 5th
- Wandered around the Center Pompidou (modern art)
- Stared at some gorgeous furniture and tapestries at the Musée des Arts Décoratifs
- Took lots of artsy-fartsy color photos with the 35mm SLR

Still on the list for this trip:
- Monet's house and gardens in Giverny (tomorrow)
- Wander around in Pére Lachaise cemetery
- Montmartre and Sacre-Couer
- Street shopping along the Seine
- Drag ass out of bed early and go take pictures of the great neighborhood I am staying in

Potentially still on the list, depending on if I decide to buy another 2-day museum pass:
- Go back to the Orangerie and stare at the Water Lilies some more
- Go back to Musée d'Orsay on the night they are open late and hopefully actually get to see the art, not just glimpses of it from behind other tourists' heads
- Go through the Paris sewers (yeah, I know, I'm weird. Blame it on too much listening to Les Miz as a child!)
- Climb the Arc de Triomphe
- Go to the Musée de l'Armée and Napoleon's Tomb (again, weird, blame it on growing up in a military family!)
- Head over to Chartres to take pictures of the stained glass windows in the cathedral in late afternoon
- Maybe, maybe go to Chateau Vincennes in the Bois de Vincennes, a large park on the southeast corner of Paris

Totally going to have to wait until next time:
- Side trips to either London or Brussels (what was I thinking?!)
- Side trip to Strasbourg (sorry cute Israeli coworker who lives there now, I just can't fit visiting you in!)
- Champagne tours in Reims and Eperney, kind of disappointed on this one, but know that I'd have more fun doing it with a friend
- More chateaux, specifically the Chateau de Chantilly, which was also on my museum pass and I totally should have gone there instead of Fountainebleau
- Taking artsy-fartsy black and white photos of Paris with the 35mm SLR

And with that.... On y va! Let's get going, because it's noon already!

A Caprese Kind of Day

What does 14.98€ (around $19 with the current exchange rate) get you at the corner market? Well, this for starters.

Clockwise from top left: 2L milk, 2.52€ - Sauvignon Blanc from Pays d'Oc, 3.95€ - fresh baguette, 0.90€ - fresh basil, 1.35€ - fresh mesclun salad greens, 0.70€ - fresh tomatoes, 0.51€ - fresh mozzarella cheese, 1.12€ - cucumber, 0.70 € - Reblochon cheese (OMG, love!), 1.95€ - tabbouleh salad, 2.04€ 

To be fair, the baguette did not come from the corner market. It came from the corner boulangerie where they have fresh, hot, crunchy-on-the-outside, chewy-on-the-inside baguettes twice a day Monday through Friday. They are kitty-corner from the corner market and even closer to my apartment. Dangerous - and delicious!

The Reblochon I am very excited about. It's a cheese I fell in love with when I was in France in 2009, staying in Haute-Savoie for work with Connectors R Us. As far as I can find out, Reblochon is not available in the US. At all. It's made from fresh, whole, unpasturized raw milk - which according to the USDA is a huge no-no. So no importing, and I'm not even sure that the right ingredients could be found to make it, nor the right storage conditions to cure it. I will just have to enjoy it while I am here.

The baguette, tomatoes, mozzarella, and basil combined to make four incredible caprese sandwiches. Two I wrapped up and took with me today for a picnic lunch. The other two became dinner, pictured below. I was too hungry to bother with picture-taking at lunchtime, but rest assured, it looked very similar! Just substitute a green bench and the gardens of a former royal hunting lodge for the table and nighttime Parisian backdrop.

Caprese dinner. With wine. Of course.

Those of you linked to me on the Book of Face may have noticed my earlier comment about hordes of unsupervised teenagers being annoying in any language. Today's trip to Fontainebleau was definitely a mix of good and bad, leaning more heavily towards the bad, so for now let's just savor the food and wine, and I'll revisit that story in a later post.

Climbing the Iron Lady

Things my guidebooks tell me: How much it costs to take the elevator from the ground to the first level of the Eiffel Tower, how much it costs to take the elevator from the ground to the second level of the Eiffel Tower, how much it costs to take the elevator from the ground to the third and top level of the Eiffel Tower, and how much it costs to climb the stairs from the ground to the second level of the Eiffel Tower.

Things the English version of the Eiffel website tell me: How much it cost to go to the second floor or the top by elevator, and how much it costs to climb the stairs to the second level.

Things that NOBODY seems to tell you: That even in the middle of the week in "off" season, you need to book your elevator tickets from the bottom to the top a month in advance, unless you want to take your chances standing in an hours-long line to maybe get a spot. Oh, and also that you can climb the stairs to the second level, where you can then buy an elevator tickets that goes just from the 2nd to the 3rd, with little-to-no line.

Yeah.

Merrow and I started off the day by sleeping in, which was much needed after 3 increasingly early mornings in Iceland. We had planned on this as our non-museum day, so our only real plans involved climbing the Eiffel and wandering around in the city. Now, Merrow was in Paris last summer and didn't make it up the Eiffel; they didn't check far enough in advance to book tickets. And in retrospect, I'm pretty sure she's mentioned that to me before, but it didn't register and so I didn't look at getting elevator tickets until this morning.

First available trip to the top in the elevator is September 27th. No, that is not a typo.

So we resigned ourselves to climbing to the second level (which was kind of on our plan anyway) and taking fantastic pictures from there. We finally got ourselves ready and made it all the way to the café on the corner where we stopped for lunch - wine, bread, and huge salads.

After lunch, we headed over towards the 7eme arrondissement and stood in the short line to climb up. Twenty minutes later we were ticketed, security screened, and ready to begin our butt workout.

Only 700-something stairs to go!

Going up and up, 360 steps to the first level, which has a restaurant, a café, and shops. Over my shoulder is a view of the Parc du Champ de Mars and the École Militaire from the first terrace.

Northeast view from the first terrace

We walked around the first floor for a bit, taking pictures from all directions, and then it was time to go up some more. Another 350-something stairs to the second level, which is actually two stories.

Merrow on the lower level of the second floor.
The red-roofed building in the back is Stade Émile Anthoine.

Looking southwest along the Seine towards the Allée des Cygnes.

As we strolled along the second level, we saw the exits for the elevators coming from the ground level, and the entrance to the elevators that go all the way to the top. And just outside that entrance, we noticed a ticket window. At which point we looked at each other and said "Can we really buy tickets to the top from here?" And the answer is yes, yes you can. We stood in a line that was maybe 5 people long, snagged our tickets, waited another couple of minutes for the elevator, and headed up.

Second level to the top baby!

There is a Champagne bar at the top of the Eiffel, and our plan was to have a celebratory glass there. In true French fashion, though, just as we got there the bar closed for 45 minutes. We decided not to wait around that long, that Champagne from the café on the first terrace would taste just as good. But we spent some time walking around, admiring the view, and checking out the exhibits on Eiffel history on the third level. I think my favorite was a pictogram of the tallest buildings in other countries, plotted against the height of the Eiffel and located in the approximate direction of said countries from Paris.

Clearly thrilled to have actually made it to the top of the Eiffel!

So much for not being able to reserve a time to go to the top until September 27th! I still don't understand why in all of my research I never found anything that said climbing to the second level and THEN taking the elevator to the third was an option. And it definitely was an option, when we bought our tickets we did not have to prove we had previously come up on the elevator, and we did figure out that the signage at the ticket window at the base of the Eiffel (kind of) showed that option. Poorly. In French. Still, we wound up feeling like climbing ninjas AND super sneaky elevator-goers, so I think it worked out quite nicely in our favor.

After about 20 minutes at the top, we elevatored back to the second and then climbed down to the first level. Where we immediately got our Champagne, found a quiet table that overlooked the edge, and chilled out for a few.

 

Happy Kate and Merrow...

...with tired feet.
And yes, we DID climb the Eiffel in sandals.

Back on the ground, with some more random Eiffel shots. I may be slightly obsessed with the Iron Lady.

We headed back towards the Métro stop in the 15th, and grabbed dinner at a sidewalk café before heading back to the apartment. We both had quiche. It was delish. Served with a green salad and, of course, wine. Because Merrow and I can't go anywhere without wine.

So that was our "free" day in Paris. Plans for tomorrow are to go get our museum passes. Six-day pass for me, 2-day for Merrow since she leaves early Saturday morning to meet C at the airport and head off on their own adventure. The museum passes are for consecutive days, so I'll be a whirlwind of museums for the next week. Can already see that I'm not going to accomplish half of what I'd like to do!

Goodbye Reykjavik, Hello Paris

4AM is a really horrifically early time to get up, particularly when you are on vacation. Necessary, though, to get picked at your Reykjavik hotel, dropped off at the bus station, and bussed to the airport in plenty of time to make your 7:30 flight.

Bad news: I should know better by now than to buy the $25 el cheapo suitcase, but I did, and leaving the hotel it fell and threw me off balance which caused me to trip over who-knows-what, and I totally wound up going ass over teakettle onto the cobblestones. Luckily part of what threw me off balance was my backpack swinging around (note to self: use BOTH shoulder straps!) and so I mostly just landed on that. Result: scraped the back of my left hand pretty good, scraped up both ankles, good bruise potential on my shins, and a wicked beating to the pride. At least I stood up laughing!

Got to the airport in plenty of time to check in and hit up the Icelandair lounge for breakfast. Seriously, the Economy Comfort tickets were the best splurge EVER, and will definitely be a consideration when traveling back to Europe! It was actually Second Breakfast for us, as the hotel put out a spread for the early birds that was almost as full (and just as yummy!) as their normal breakfast. I would also like to point out that we did NOT avail ourselves of the free alcohol at the airport lounge. We waited until we were on board and ordered sparkling wine and OJ for mimosas.

And suddenly we were in Paris! The less said about arriving at Charles de Gaul and taking the Métro to the apartment, the better. I got to attempt to dredge up the remains of 4 years of high school French to explain to the non-English-speaking temporary Gardienne of the building that she needed to give me the key and it would be great if she could show me where the apartment was too. And then....we were in! Great apartment. Huge sliding glass doors for windows in the living room and bedroom. It's on the 10th floor, overlooking the courtyard and facing towards the Père Lachaise cemetery. Nice and quiet, very safe building (we need 3 keycodes to get in, plus have a crazy-ass key/deadbolt setup!), and a great residential, non-touristy neighborhood. The only "problem" is that there are too many corner cafés, so I will probably not manage to settle on a local in only 2 weeks' time!

At this point I was incredibly grateful that I had decided to suck it up and go with the building with an elevator, because there was no way in hell I wanted to haul my stuff up any more stairs than I had to. Merrow and I explored the apartment (separate toilet room! teeny dishwasher! 2-in-1 washer/dryer! open up the windows and get a fantastic breeze!) and unpacked ourselves a little. Around 5 we headed out to see what we could do about food and wine before heading to the Seine cruise and Illuminations bus tour I had booked for us.

We found wine at one of the many corner cafés on the way to the Métro. Along the way, we passed so many little local places that just make European city living so different from my normal suburban US-ian life. We had our wine and opted not to order dinner as we were running tight on time. Instead, we went to the local supermarket and bought a container of tabbouleh and some emergency forks (which will live in my purse for the rest of the trip!). Bench picnic for 2 coming right up!

We headed off to our tour, which started with a sunset cruise on the Seine, and then finished with a bus tour around Paris to look at some of the major sites and memorials all lit up at night. Figured it would be kind of cheesy and kind of overrun with middle-aged tourists (right on both counts!) but we also figured it would be a nice way to chill out while still seeing some stuff on our first evening in Paris.

We climbed on a bus for the short drive to the boats. I saw the Eiffel in person for the first time:

First view of the Iron Lady, through the bus window. Merrow says "you'll get much better pics of it later!"

We got to the boat, which was a much more "serious tourist" deal than either Merrow or I were up for. They were taking photos of each group as they boarded the boat, which you could buy after. We knew there was no way in hell we were spending money on that, so we did devil horns and KISS faces. Really, we should probably not be allowed out in public. As we were sitting on board, waiting for liftoff (wait, wrong mode of transport...) we checked out the houseboats moored to the banks of the Seine. I can think of worse places to live!

Me and my houseboat and the Parisian sunset

We cruised up and down the Seine for about an hour. And our expectations were met - relaxing and got to see some cool sights!

Pont de la Concorde

One wing of the Louvre with the Pont Royal

There were lots of Parisians lining the quays of the river, picnicking, drinking wine, and just generally hanging out. Merrow and I took one look at that awesomeness and decided we'd cram that into the schedule too.

Picnicking at the tip of Ile de la Cité

Notre-Dame, in case you couldn't tell by the flying buttresses

We wound up the tour just as it was starting to get dark and so just as the Eiffel Tower lit up the night sky.

Obligatory tilted-to-fit-in-the-frame Eiffel pic

After the cruise was the bus tour. Honestly - not nearly as impressive. But a good chance for us to completely chill out while seeing some sights. The best part though, was the Germans in the back of the bus. The audio guide to the tour had French music playing in between the descriptions of the sights. The Germans decided to accompany said songs. At which point Merrow and I lost it. Our conversation went something like this:

"The Germans are drunk."
"The Germans are singing!"
"The Germans are singing Frère Jacques."
"Badly."
"And in French."

It may have been less amusing if we hadn't been awake for 18 hours at that point.

*Insert Jaw Drop Here*

Words do not describe how epically cool today was. We had a windy, rainy, chilly day, and I thoroughly enjoyed every second of it! I'm truly not sure either my words or my pictures can do it justice, so here's what you need to do.

Go to Iceland. Look up Sterna Travel in Reykjavik. Book their Golden Circle and Kerlingarfjöll Highlands tour. Try to get Gunnar as your tour guide, though I hear Cippy is also excellent. Do NOT wuss out of ANY of it, no matter what the weather conditions. Dress warmer and pack more dry clothes than you think you need, lest you wind up like me with souvenir wool long johns and wool socks! Eat the lamb stew at Gullfoss. Hear lots of stories of trolls and elves. Hike in some incredible areas and mud-ski back down. Touch a glacier. And maybe, if you are very lucky, your tour guide will sing you Icelandic drinking songs on the way home.

In Which the OMG I'm 35 Trip Turns Into the F*#% Yeah I'm 35! Trip

Sunshine in Iceland!

Today was another fantastic day. We wound up getting to bed earlier than originally planned last night - it was cloudy and the Northern Lights tour was cancelled. Made it much easier to get up early this morning!

We had a quick breakfast at our Guesthouse - cereal, fruit salad, homemade bread, cold ham and cheese, and coffee/tea/OJ. Delicious! Then we got picked up for our next tour, Reykjanes Peninsula and the Blue Lagoon.

The Reykjanes Peninsula is at the southwest corner of Iceland. Relatively flat, mostly covered with ancient lava fields, and very few houses or settlements. We saw a few "villages", some of which consisted of about 8 farmhouses. Very desolate area, even though I know this is one of the more populated parts of Iceland as it's less than an hour drive from Reykjavik. It was overcast when we started out, but the sun came out and we had such a beautiful day! Driving along the Atlantic coastline was just amazing. Again, pictures are coming (or if you know me, you can check the Book of Face) but the upload speed from the hotel is just really slow right now.

We got dropped off at the Blue Lagoon Spa around 11:30. Merrow and I were starving, so we hit up the cafe for lunch - Caesar salad and wine - before spa-ing it up. After my experience at the Dead Sea, I was expecting it to be much more sulfuric than it was, but the water was mostly just salt and calcium. The locker rooms open out into a huge thermal pool area. Some parts are warmer than others, depending on how close you are to the steam vents. We did silica mud on our faces, and then just chilled in the water for a couple of hours. It was sunny, the sky was bright blue, and it was probably about 55-60F outside. You can stand up and cool off when you get too warm, and slide back down into the water when you get chilled. No extra spa treatments for us, but we did partake of the swim-up bar. The white wine was good, but the strawberry champagne was better!

After the spa, we headed back to Reykjavik. Wandered through the local flea market, grabbed cold (non-alcoholic) beverages, poked through a few shops, and grabbed an early dinner at a place called Cafe Paris. Seemed fitting. We both had burgers, which we pretty much inhaled - long day! Unfortunately, as we were eating, the clouds started rolling back in. So strike 2 for trying to see the Northern Lights. One last chance tomorrow, which doesn't look good. Ah well, I will just have to come back!

And come back I will. Iceland is just incredible. The people are so nice and friendly, and the scenery is just amazing. Completely out of this world. Merrow and I were saying to each other tonight that we've run out of words to describe it - pretty unusual for either of us! So one photo for now, and good night.

OMG 35 day 1 and 2

Update, 9/23/12: Now with pictures!

Flight over yesterday was fantastic. If this is how the rich and famous travel by plane, sign me up! With our Economy Comfort tickets (which were essentially Business Class), we got lounge access pre-flight, free wine for the entire flight, and when we dropped the fact to our flight attendant that this is my birthday trip, she gave us the First Class gift bags with refreshing toiletries, socks, eyemasks, candy, and More Wine.

Merrow, demonstrating that the third seat between us is not so much a seat as it is our own personal drinks table.

Announcements in English and Islandic

Moonrise over the Atlantic. Full moon Friday night!

We entertained ourselves with wine, and more wine, and food, and wondering what the story behind the "Happy Marriage Cake" on the menu is, more wine, and Strategery on Merrow's iPad.

World domination is always more fun after a couple of drinks!

Today was a slightly slow start to the morning (see above re: Wine, Too Much), but we rallied by 10ish and wandered around Reykjavik for a while. Weather was overcast, cloudy, foggy, drizzly, and partly sunny - in about the space of 10 minutes time. A quick stop back at the hotel, a little snack of cheese and crackers, and we headed off for our first tour - lava cave exploration!


We wound up in a small tour group of 6 and headed out to some ancient/cooled lava fields about 45 minutes outside of Reykjavik. At some point in time, the lava made tunnels and caves, and we were able to crawl inside for about an hour. We probably walked about 3/4 of a mile total, in a figure 8 pattern. Coolest. Thing. Ever! Fantastic experience.

For dinner we headed to a local bistro where we split an appetizer of traditional Icelandic meats - cured beef, double-smoked lamb, and puffin, all served with blueberries. Puffins are cute - and DELICIOUS.

Now we are getting ready to head off and hopefully see some Northern Lights. Though, doubtful, as it's pretty cloudy right now.

Pictures tomorrow!

Ambitious To-Do List - La Version Parisienne

So many things to do in the 4 months before my OMG35 trip. Time for a (very) ATDL again.

- Renew passport since it expires less than 3 months after I'll be traveling and it would be great if the countries I'm planning to visit didn't refuse me entry.
- Make sure taking off the Friday before is ok with my boss.
- Research flights with the work travel agent and confer with Merrow that times/dates work for her too.
- Book flights.
- Research places to stay:
        -Iceland
        -Paris (one place or two?)
        -Alps
- Book lodgings.
- Research transportation options:
        -Airport transfers in Iceland
        -Airport transfers in France
        -TGV tickets/France rail pass/Paris metro pass
- Plan Iceland activities with Merrow.
- Book any Icelandic adventures that need to be pre-booked.
- Make a list of everything I want to do in Paris.
- Edit list to a realistic length since I will be there for 12 days, not 12 years.
- Determine what on list shall be done with Merrow and what will be done on my own.
- Book any Parisian activities that need to be pre-booked. Wait, do I really need to pre-book "sit in a café for hours on end with wine, crêpes, and a good book"?
- Plan Alps Side Trip activities:
        -Determine what dates to head to the Alps
        -Determine if there is enough time to make a side side trip to Other Alpine Town
- Make any Alpine reservations that are necessary.
- Start packing.
- Oh, and re-learn French.  :)

Luckily Merrow and I have plans to hang out and drink wine on Saturday (after running a 5k - this is going to be ugly) so hopefully we can nail down a lot of the plans.

In slightly over 7 months from now...

...I will be heading off on my big, extravagant OMG I'm 35 trip!

I stopped in Barnes & Noble on the way home on Friday to pick up a travel guide, and walked out with 3. Ooops. What can I say, I am a sucker for pretty pretty travel pictures.

There is still much planning to be done. Other than concrete plans of dates and where I am going, things are pretty up in the air right now. I need to start researching airfares, and I need to start looking into short-term flat rentals, because despite saving for over a year and a half (by the time I go, anyway) there is no way I can afford 2 weeks in hotels. Nor do I really want to. Merrow will likely be joining me for at least part of the trip, so a flat will give us a little more room to spread out. There is so much I want to do that I could probably fill up 2 years, but 2 weeks is a good place to start.

So where am I going? I'll give you a hint.

Here:

Photo used under Creative Commons, courtesy of dvpfagan on Flickr

With a stopover here on either the way there or the way back:

Photo used under Creative Commons, courtesy of taivasalla on Flickr

That's a thermal spring in Iceland, in case you were wondering.

Losing It

Somewhere along the way in the last 2 days, I lost my memory card reader. Which means no more picture updates from the road right now. Sorry!

We've had a productive 2 days in the north of Israel. Went to a winery tour and wine tasting on the way up to Tiberius yesterday. We had meetings yesterday afternoon and dinner at the hotel, and then I wound up at an Irish Pub with most of the Israelis. Also at the Irish Pub - about 50 18-year-old drunk Americans on a Birthright Tour. It was an interesting flash back to college days! I can't believe we were ever that young and stupid (though I'm sure we were, and then some).

Today was morning and early afternoon meetings, and then an offroad Landrover tour through the area around the Sea of Galilee. It was fantastic, though out of all the days of the year in an arid, desert climate, it was raining today of course. Still, we had good views (if not fantastic) and a little bit of rain made the offroad track slippery and fun to drive on with the Landrovers!

Tomorrow we head back to Tel Aviv in the afternoon, and I meet up with my mom for a few days of sightseeing. Can't wait! And just maybe, I left my card reader at the TLV hotel and it's still there in lost and found.

Tel Aviv

I haven't taken as many pictures yet on this trip to Israel as I did at the beginning of my trip in May. Partially because I haven't seen anything new yet on this trip, but also because as it is now winter, the days are shorter and it is dark by the time I leave the office. Here are a couple from when I arrived on Saturday.

View from my hotel room. I'm on the south side this time, so have a nice view all the way down to Old Jaffa. Surf is much higher that it was in May, too.

Saturday night dinner at Gordo's Beach Bar. Chicken escalope and steamed veggies. I ate at Gordo's several times back in May, and I figured they would probably be closed for the season along with all the other open-air beach cafes. Nope, they just put up temporary walls for the winter, invest in space heaters, and offer you a blanket if you are cold!

That Which Everyone In the Israel Office Would Like To Know

1) Why aren't you staying for the RTS meeting?
and
2) Your mom is coming to Israel for only 5 days? Why such a short time?

The answers being
1) Sigh. Ask my boss.
and
2) Yes, because I can only afford to stay that much longer after my work trip. Some of us only get a couple of weeks of vacation and have to use our days judiciously.

Some quick background on work. My official title is Applications Engineer. I work for the Customer Support department. There is one other Apps Eng in the company who also works for the CS department; he is in the Israel office. There are actually quite a few other Apps Engs around the world, we've got two in our office back  home, but they all work for the Sales Operations department. Basically, they are the technical applications resources up until the customer signs the purchase order; and I am the technical applications resource after installation. We also have 3 Regional Technical Specialists in our office who also work for the CS department. They deal more with the "my machine broke, how do I fix it" side of things. Ultimately, we do all collaborate together, but we each have our own special areas of focus. Clear as mud?

So. Even though I work for CS and not SO, I got myself invited to the annual SO Applications Worldwide meeting (which is why I'm in Israel right now). That's this week. There is also a RTS Worldwide meeting next week. Back in December when we got the dates for both of these meetings, I asked my boss what he wanted me to attend: Apps, RTS, or both. One of the Apps guys in my office had already forwarded me the agenda for the SO Apps meeting; it's pretty heavy on the sales side of things. Nevertheless, my boss said I should go to that as it would be a good chance to mind-share knowledge. He also said that the RTS meeting agenda was focused on hands-on "how to fix the broken machine" stuff, and I didn't need to plan to go to that one.

So I booked my tickets and hotel. My mom booked her tickets and hotel. And the following week, I got the agenda for the RTS meeting, which yes, has plenty of "how to fix the broken machine" sessions, but also has several theoretical and applications-based sessions. That I really should be at. But now it's too late. Argh!

And yes, Mom and I would both love it if we could stay an extra 2 weeks. However, I only could manage to take 2 extra days of vacation. Maybe next time. You'd be surprised how much you can see and do in 4-5 days though, especially in a country the size of New Jersey.

Shalom

Guess where I am?

I'll give you a hint. Today it was sunny and in the 60s, my body is still all jet-lagged, and now that the sun has set and Sabbath is over and all the restaurants are open, I'm going to go grab a quick dinner.

That's right, I'm back in Israel! Shorter trip this time; back in May, I was here for 3 weeks. This time I have a week of work, and then using a couple of days of vacation time to give me a 4-day weekend of sightseeing with my mom. She is flying over next week to join me, arriving on my last day in the office. Tomorrow I go into the office and meet with my Israeli counterparts in Customer Support. The rest of the week I am attending the Applications annual meeting - which oddly enough, looks to be focusing mainly on sales. Ah well, it is a good experience and good face time with some of the other guys as well. Plus, they are taking us off-site for a couple of days up to Tiberius, which will be cool as I didn't get to head north last trip.

The trip over wasn't bad, though didn't go exactly as planned. My flight out of NH was delayed an hour, and then we were delayed again after we boarded the plane and pulled away from the gate. I was supposed to have almost a 3:30 layover in Newark; instead I had about 45 minutes between getting off one plane and wheels-up on the next. It was just enough time to switch gates, go to the restroom, stock up on water, Pringles, and sleeping pills, and then go through the secondary security for the Israeli flight. By that point, most of the passengers had boarded the plane, so I got to scramble for overhead space and crawl over my two seatmates to get to my window seat. Although I was stuck in coach, my carry-on suitcase got to fly in business class, since there was not enough overhead space available in my cabin. Harumph. I hope my suitcase enjoyed it.

As usual, I forgot things. On the "still at home" list this time are both sleeping pills/melatonin, as well as workout clothes. Boooo. I picked up some Unisom in the airport and already had Advil PM with me, so fingers crossed that will work to get me on the right sleep schedule ASAP. As for the workout clothes - well, I may be the girl going running in a bathing suit top and yoga pants along the Tel Aviv beachfront. We'll see!

Israel By Numbers

10:15 PM Israeli time.

11 - number of days a 3oz bottle of contact cleaner will last
14 - number of showers I can take before I run out of shampoo and conditioner (also in 3oz bottles)
16 - number of days before using up a travel-sized tube of toothpaste

4 - greatest number of showers taken in one day
3 - number of those showers that included washing my hair
In my defense, it was the day I went to Masada and the Dead Sea, so one in the morning, one after getting out of the sulfur bath at the spa (no hair washing that time), one after swimming/floating in the Dead Sea, and one when I got back to the hotel in an attempt to not smell like sulfur any longer.

1 - number of restaurants where I actually did see bacon on the menu
0 - number of times I ordered bacon. I figured I could control my cravings and be culturally sensitive for 3 weeks.
Eleventy-six - approximate number of times I craved bacon

$178 - amount spent sending laundry out through the hotel
$107 - additional price it would have been had I not washed socks, unders, bras, and 3 blouses in the bathtub
$4 - price of a can of Coke from the mini bar in the room
3 - number of cans of Coke pulled from the mini bar when I was either too tired to go elsewhere, or it was Sabbath and everything was closed

3 - number of glasses of wine I consumed the night before going to Jerusalem
1 - number of glasses of wine I should have consumed the night before going to Jerusalem
Probably less than 0.5 - liters of water I drank on a hot sunny day wandering around Jerusalem
3 - liters of water I drank on a hot sunny day wandering around the Dead Sea, after learning my lesson the hard way in Jerusalem (plus about 750mL of Coke, for extra liquid and to keep my sugar level somewhat up)

19 - number of days we teased the guy from CA about eating nothing but chicken here
1 - number of days I successfully goaded him into picking the beef dish at lunch. For the record, he said he enjoyed it.

4 - number of days I forgot my key card to get into the office and had to borrow someone else's every time I needed to go to the bathroom
1 - days when I discovered after getting back to the hotel that the key card was actually in my purse all along

3 - number of chicken livers I ate at our class "graduation" dinner. First time I've ever eaten liver. It was actually pretty tasty.

UPDATE, 6/3/11:
2.5 - number of hours it took me to get from being dropped off at Ben Gurion Airport to finally being inside security. They aren't kidding when they tell you to get there at least 3.5 hours early.

The Dead Sea and Masada - Day 15

10:30 PM Israel time.

Just a taste of today with some pictures, before I go to bed and pass out! Descriptions and other updates coming tomorrow.

IMPORTANT QUESTION: Can anyone else see the pictures below? My mom says she can't; I logged out of Blogger/Google and reloaded and I can see them, but not sure if there's a Picasa cookie buried somewhere on my laptop or not. Hit the comments below and let me know please!

UPDATE: I think I figured out what was wrong, and hopefully you can see pictures below!

Masada:

Self portrait from the Visitors Center at the bottom of the funicular.

Going up...

The Snake Path. This is how King Herod and the Jews accessed the top of Masada, and also why it was a stronghold against the Romans for so long. You can still climb it today; someday if I am back and not on a tour I'd like to do that.

Panoramic view of the funicular line from the top.

This was one of 29 storerooms for food in the complex. This provided enough food for 10-15 YEARS.

Looking down onto the three tiers of Herod's palace.

One of the cisterns (on the right) with what was probably a connected well/water gathering locations. By creating dams in the nearby hills, any rainwater was channeled into lower cisterns at the base of Masada and then hand-carried at night to cisterns at the top, ensuring enough water supply in a hilltop desert stronghold for not just drinking but to also supply three separate bath houses with steam saunas.

This room was once the synagog of Masada, and may be the oldest synagog in the world. Documents from before this time only discuss the Temple in Jerusalem, but no mention of other synagogs.

This is the ramp the Romans constructed (by slave labor) to breach Masada. It took them 6 months of building, during which time, the Jewish community at the top threw both water and food down on the Romans, to say "you will not force us out by starvation or thirst." When the Romans did finally break into Masada, they had found that the entire community of 1000 Jews had committed mass suicide rather than be taken as slaves by the Romans.

Dovecote

One of the original mosaic tile floors still in existence today. This was the dressing room for one of the bathhouses, which was entered by a stairway on the lower left corner of the picture.

Another view, showing the stairs to the steam room.

The Dead Sea:

Ein Gedi Spa, on the Dead Sea. Lowest point on earth, 420m (1400ft) below sea level. We spent 3 blissful hours here. I soaked for 15 minutes in a sulfur bath inside, rinsed off, went outside and slathered myself with Dead Sea mud, waited for it to dry, rinsed off in a sulfur shower and then a shower of fresh water, then went to the sea and floated for about 20 minutes.

Salt crystals that form along the shores of the sea. The bottom is not sand or stones, but is crystallized minerals. You do not want to go barefoot on this beach!

Relaxed after my swim/float! The Dead Sea is 34% solid, so you are much more buoyant than in even normal ocean water. The floating was amazing, but you really have to struggle to put your feet back down when you want to get out! Also, the water is so high in mineral content that you do NOT want to get it in your eyes.

There are a few sun shelters on the beach, and then a couple like this one built in about 2 feet of water. The salt crystallizes on the pillars and forms really cool shapes. Also, my pictures do not do the color of the water justice.

Panoramic of the Dead Sea from shore. The mountains in the distance are the Moav mountains in Jordan.

Other swimmers (saying "other floaters" sounds a bit morbid, but maybe I've just been watching too much CSI!)