Paris!

I left off leaving Amsterdam on a Coach bus and arriving in Paris at 6am. We had slept most of the way although the sleep was not a good one. After arrival at the bus station, there was the Metro a short walk away, which was connected to the station. So after a short walk we arrived at the station and the map that the Metro travels all around Paris. Having our address of the hotel we just needed to find the station that was closest. After we arrived at the station after 45 minutes of transfers and travel underground, we emerged into a sleepy Paris that was just waking up. The next problem was where to go? The hotel was nearby but we had no idea where. After guessing and being wrong after walking a half a mile, we finally were able to discover the location of the hotel. We were way to0 early to check in, so we left our bags and headed to find breakfast.

We found a restaurant that served an absolutely amazing French breakfast. Bread that they buttered for you, a Croissant, Eggs served on top of Ham, two pieces of toast, Orange juice and a hot chocolate. It was amazing.Now it was off to the main event, the Eiffel Tower. Seeing this in pictures and on tv did it no justice. Once I saw this amazing structure I was awestruck.

Poses were in order...
I did a Clare pose just for good measureAnd then I got closer....
It is HUGE! I had to go up. My friend John is terrified of heights, so he was going to wait at the bottom. After buying my ticket up I went. I climbed the steps to the 1st and 2nd levels.


Then there is an elevator to the very top!
Amazing views up there and such an amazing structure.
Also they have bathrooms up there and I peed at the top of the Eiffel tower!!!

From the top I spotted my next location. The Arch de Triumph! Can you spot it?
After arriving, we sprinted across the busy street. Little did we know there was an underground walkway. The Arch is not much at all and I really do not know what the big deal is all about.
If you asked me to describe the Arch in one word....BORING. This is supposed to be about their triumphs? How about getting their asses kicked in WWII and then stomped again in Vietnam(Thanks to my sister for the correction). But I guess this was built during Napoleon was ruling so whatever.

After leaving the arch the proper way which is under the street, we headed to the Louvre!
Lots of triangles and people oogling over old paintings.
We headed straight for the main event, the Mona Lisa.... There were 300 people huddled around the damn thing. There is a 20 foot perimeter away from the damn thing and it is behind glass. There are so many beautiful works of art there yet people want to see this stupid crap. After getting close and taking some pics, we left to go see other things.... I really do not know what the big deal is over this stupid thing.

Then we went to see the Venus de Milo....
Again I have no idea what the infatuation is with this stupid thing....

After the Louvre, we headed back to the hotel like zombies. BUT as we walked I spotted a French bakery!!! I had to stop and get something.....We got two chocolate eclaires. They were delicious.

We got to the hotel with the metro....Oh and speaking of the Metro, they have this stupid symbol on all of their subway trains and buses and crap....I mean what the hell is this stupid thing? A baby in the womb? Some lady sleeping? A lady emerging from the depths of Paris? What is this supposed to make me feel like as I am watching the subway pull into the station. Stupid French people...So Stupid.

So anyways we got to the hotel and passed out immediately for about 3-4 hours. Remember we had been running on about 4-5 hours of sleep that was on a coach bus so we were out. After waking up and showering we headed to dinner. We went to a restaurant right by the Eiffel tower so we could catch the evening light show that happens every night on the hour. After having an amazing French meal we saw the show. I put the video here. It is just 3 minutes of the same crap. However the dialogue is pretty humerus.


Here were some photos...

After the show we headed back to the hotel to head to bed and prepare for the next day in London! That post is coming up after this one.

Oh and on a closing note, if anyone is wondering why I am wearing the same clothes....I forgot to pack extra pants before leaving for Amsterdam, so I had one pair of Jeans and one pair of the adidas pants. So I have been wearing the same thing for the last few days. But whatever..
Next post is LONDON!

Amsterdam day 2

Day 2 in Amsterdam was another great day. It was much colder than the day prior however which made walking around not as enjoyable. Today we spent time just seeing things and taking our time in no rush. We had a coach bus to Paris to catch that night at 10pm. We went to the Rijksmuseum which houses many paintings. They had works from Rembrant who I never knew was Dutch. There was also a Van Gogh museum but we did not go there.

I did some touristy pictures like the I amsterdam thing.
Can you spot me? Well lets zoom in a bit then...
Then there was the big park where the amsterdam thing was facing

I then remembered Clare telling me that I should take pictures that she had taken 8 years prior when she traveled to Europe. I was game..

First was the sex museum
I took one with my hat on because my ears were cold.

Then there was the Anne Frank Statue
Not the same as Clares stance but it will do.

We went back to the Red Light District to see it during the daytime, and to try and sneak a picture of the prostitutes. You are not supposed to take a picture of them.
But I got one! She was awkward, just sitting there.

Oh also a random funny story. There was a retarded man that kept walking up and down the red light district. He would walk up to the women in the window and stare at them, and they would think he was a customer and open the door and try to get him to come in, then he would act all bashful and walk away but look back like he was still interested all the while the prostitute is trying to get him to come in. This went on for about 20 minutes up and down the district. How do I know this, well because I followed him and watched this take place. It was hilarious. Finally he relented and walked down another alley and my show had ended.

We got some dinner, and hung out at the hotel for a few more hours and it was time to get on the bus to Paris!

The bus was a coach bus and it was a 7 hour ride with stops in between. I slept most of the way there. When I awoke I was in Paris at 6am and the sun had not even begun to rise. More on my day in Paris in the next post!

Europe Day 3. Rotterdam and Amsterdam

Sorry for my delay. Things have been busy and hectic. I will try and post as fast as I can.

The ferry had arrived in Rotterdam, Holland. We departed the boat and headed for a coach bus. A short ride through Rotterdam to the train station took 45 minutes. Now those 45 minutes were used to get out of the port. The port is HUGE. It is the biggest port in Europe I was told. The 45 minute coach bus got us to the train station. Along the way I saw that there are wind turbines everywhere and they are enormous!

An hour on the train and we were in Amsterdam!

What a city Amsterdam is! It is full of energy and bikes! Yes bikes, they are everywhere!

After checking into the hotel, we dropped our bags, and headed to check out the city.

First thing we did was get on a boat for the canal tour which took us around the city on some of the many canals that Amsterdam is known for. It was a tour boat where it stopped at many places along the way and you can get on and off wherever you want. I saw a windmill!


When we reached the Anne Frank museum, we jumped off the boat and went to see it.

The Anne Frank museum is very creepy/sad. It is amazing that their family hid for nearly 3 years from the Nazis remaining absolutely quiet in the process.

After the Anne Frank museum it was time for a short nap at the hotel. After we headed to the Red Light District! Now the Red Light District is everything that you have heard about it.

There are prostitutes dancing in windows beckoning you inside. When they have a customer they close the blinds of the window. They are all over the place. And do not make eye contact with them or they will tap on the glass and open the door to tell you to come in. Also the amount of coffee shops all around Amsterdam not just the Red Light district is amazing. If you did not know, the coffee shops are places to buy marijuana, which is legal to buy in Amsterdam. Overall Amsterdam is very liberal and there is a relaxed feel all around the city. Also you can't go anywhere without smelling the weed in the air.
AND they have these sex shows everywhere. You go in after paying and you can watch people having sex, woman blowing bubble with their vaginas, women with snakes coiled up in there etc.. I did not go into a sex show if anyone was wondering.

We went to dinner and then headed to bed. Overall an exciting day.

Manchester day 2

So day two started off on a good note. I woke up and dressed up in my suit to go to the hospital for an interview in the Emergency department in Manchester Hospital. In the UK though they call it the A&E for Accident and Emergency. It is a bit different than the Emergency Rooms in the US. Immediately I noticed the difference as the waiting room had about 100 people waiting. The way the A&E works is that if you have an emergency, or a sniffle, or a tummy ache, you go there. And care is free. So you can imagine the amount of people. I did not want to take pictures of the place as I thought that would be rude, so I got some of the outside.

The interview went very well. The head of the A&E said she has never had an American work there and would love for me to join their team. I just have to pass a test called the PLAB. She said that she would hold a spot for me until I passed the PLAB. I got a tour of the A&E and we left. We then went back to pack for our Euro trip. For a snack, I noticed my friend John had something interesting for a snack. Hot Cross Buns!


After packing and our snack, we headed to the train station.

This was my first train station that I had been in. We found the train we needed. Which was to Hull on the East coast of England.

The train came from on track 1
We got on the train, the trip was about 2 hours with about 8 stops along the way.

Finally we arrived in Hull and said goodbye to our train.


I went to use the bathroom and to use the bathroom requires 30 pence. Then when I was washing my hands I saw this??
Then we got in a taxi and headed to the port of Hull.


After checking into the port for our boat, we walked across a long tunnel to the boat.

The boat was like a cruise ship that had a huge hull that stored the trucks and cars that were headed to Europe. I had never been on a cruise ship before, but this was nothing like it I was told. We got to our room which was really small. But it had a bathroom!
I don't know why I cant spin these, as I was able to in my iphoto but you can get the idea.

Oh and there was an English newspaper that someone had left on the train that I picked up and was reading on the boat. It looks like a nice normal newspaper.

However once I turned the page there was this on page 3!!!
I was shocked! Turns out though that this is normal for British newspapers. It helps to sell them to the men. But I was quite shocked/amused.

So we had dinner, then went back to the cabin to sleep. When we awoke the next day we were in Rotterdam, Netherlands! More on that in the next post.

Europe!!!

Welcome everyone to my blog. I will be blogging about my Europe trip. Don't mind the previous posts about Insanity. I tried the Insanity workout and planned to blog about it but got distracted and only did two days worth. Anyways from here on out I will be blogging about my Europe trip. I will start with my first day.

My flight left Atlanta at 9pm. The plan was to take a sleeping pill so I slept the whole plane trip, however I wanted to try the dinner that they served about an hour into the flight. I had not had a meal on a flight in many years. After dinner I took my sleeping pills and passed out. I awoke just as we were flying over Ireland. 45 minutes later we had landed. My first sight out the window at Manchester airport.

My friend John was waiting for me after I got through customs. He dropped me off at his place and he had to get back to work. I took a short nap then went to take a walk. Along the way I spotted my first double decker bus.

And some stupid taxis.


I got some food and took a walk in the park. Where I spotted this sign.



So no fouling was allowed. Later that day after my friend John got back we went out to eat at some local British place. They had a section at the restaurant where you have the chef cut your meat for you. After asking for the turkey, he asked me where my "accent" was from. It is odd being asked where my accent is from.

I am still not used to people driving on the other side of the road. It is really confusing. I also noticed that the architecture of Manchester is just like the Harry Potter movies.



Stupid Chimneys.



Anyways I will make a new post for yesterdays events.

Insanity Day 2

Wow. I did not realize how out of shape I was until today. I did the day 2 which is the Plyometric Cardio Circuit. Started off with a warm-up which really gets your heart pumping. I expected a break after it but it just jumps right into the first circuit. After you complete the first circuit you then stretch. I was able to make it through fine until the second circuit after the stretches.

I think I stopped the video about 6-7 times to rest as I could not go anymore. Insanity is intense! I also recommend that when you do the workouts that you wear shoes. I made the mistake of going barefoot since it is in my living room, but some exercises put a lot of extreme stretch on your feet if you are barefoot. Also they will throw in some random exercises that you have not seen yet in there. For example on your third time through a circuit, the intensity is at the max and at the end they throw in a new random exercise that was different from what you did on the lower intensities.

My recommendation on the rests is to get through the 3 minutes of exercise and when you get to the 30 seconds of rest, that is where you pause and extend it. Do not pause in the middle of the circuit exercises otherwise you will cool down and it will be so much harder to get back into it.

My plan now is to eat a good meal and drink a protein shake that I made for recovery. I am thinking of doing day 3 later tonight since I got a Wednesday start, but I may rethink that idea later.

Will post again after I do day 3 video. Also will be posting before pictures tonight

Insanity begins!

I have decided to do the Insanity workout. It is put out by the company Beachbody, which is the same company that makes P90X. I picked Insanity because it is only 60 days and does not require weights or any equipment, and because the workouts are 30 minutes or less.

I started yesterday with the fit test and I was sucking wind after just the second exercise. These only last 60 seconds each with a 60 second break. I thought I was in good shape, but not good enough for Insanity. I had to constantly take breaks throughout the fit test.

I am very active playing sports 2-3 times a week mostly flag football and Australian rules football. I wanted to do Insanity to build up my core and increase my cardiovascular fitness. I will be posting pictures of my body before and every 2 weeks until I finish the Insanity course. The only roadblocks I think I will run into is the meal plan. I am not a big eater, and usually eat 1-2 meals a day. Insanity calls for 5-7 meals a day. I am hoping that with the increased exercise that my appetite picks up as well.

Today I start day 2, which is plyometric cardio circuit. I am nervous, but excited as well.