Rome

Bongiorno. The following entries on Rome, The Vatican, and Florence are the last in the Adventures of Dre on his sojourn in Europe. Never fear, for more adventures are bound to be around the corner.

Rome was one of the highlight places that I was interested in visiting during my journeys. I've been fascinated with the Roman empire for some time including their military might, long lasting dynasty, and extraordinary technology for the time period.

The Coliseum was pretty incredible. It is not in quite the condition it was shown to be in the movie Gladiatorbut was impressive nonetheless. Gladiatorial games were in fact held there. I actually got to go inside and take a look around. There is no longer a floor and one can see the various basement infrastructures where combatants and animals were kept until their time.

Quite a few objects around Rome are labeled with the initials SPQR (Senatus Populusque Romanus) which mean property of the Senate and people of Rome. For those who have seen the movie Gladiator, Russel Crowe had a tattoo of this on his shoulder and subsequently scraped it off.

Interestingly, the president of Italy resigned from office and then came back all within the time that I was in Rome.

The Circus Maximus was a massive hippodrome which was used most commonly for chariot races. It is an enormous structure but is little more than a massive oval track now.

One fun thing that I did from time to time was simply wander the streets with no particular end goal in mind. This allows a good feel for the city streets and the
musicians, street vendors, and people there. One thing encounter during such an expedition was a wood working shop in the style of Gepetto with Pinnochios and even a life size wooden motorcycle.

I also walked down Via Condotti, the premier shopping street in Rome located just in front of the Spanish Steps. There are fine apparel stores such as Prada, Gucci, Armani, Cartier, Ferragamo, etc.

The food at all times was of high caliber and being a lover of Italian food, I much enjoyed my culinary experiences there. One interesting thing that restaurants/outdoor cafes do is have someone stand by the door or menu and if you slow down to look at the menu they promptly invite you inside and encourage you with very persuasive salesmanship. It is a bit endearing and all a part of the culture.

I partook of an ice-creamlike (but better) substance called Gelato on an almost daily basis. This tasty desert has the consistency of something between ice cream and custard with a smoothie thrown in the mix. If you ever get to go to Italy, you must try some. There are a plethora of Gelaterrias around the streets so ample opportunities avail themselves for consumption.

There were random orange trees in various gardens throughout the city. They looked quite tasty but I resisted the temptation to sample some.

The Pantheon, not to be confused with the Parthenon in Athens, Greece, is an ancient structure built originally for the worship of pagan gods but now utilized as a Christian church. The building is fairly impressive in architecture and contains a nice circular skylight in the roof.

The Roman forum was kind of neat and was basically a set of ruins which much of the nobility lived in during ancient times. When entering it, one felt as though entering a hidden and secret city. The Imperial Forum was another area which competed somewhat with the Roman Forum in majesty.

I'm convinced that hitting pedestrians is a competitive sport in Rome and Italy in general. Italian drivers drive with fairly aggressive tendencies and don't tend to yield to the poor souls who travel on foot. In his book The Broker, John Grisham noted the seeming paradox in the culture, and I concur, of enjoying a leisurely meal of several hours then jumping in the car and driving at break neck speeds. Pedestrians are advised to bring their running shoes and a healthy dose of bravery when crossing streets.

Check out the Bath entry for previous Roman information.


Coliseum

Roman Soldier

Arch by Coliseum

Andrew at Coliseum

Inside the Coliseum

The Pantheon at Night

Inside the Pantheon

The Italian President's House

Roman Road

Trevi Fountain

Gepetto's Motorcycle

Orange Trees

Roman Forum

Roman Forum Fountain

Roman Forum 2

Rome

Chamonix Pictures

Here are a few pictures from the beautiful French Alps. See here for the original commentary.

Geneva, Switzerland Pictures

Here are a few pictures from Geneva, Switzerland. See here for the original commentary. To see a larger version of the picture, simply click on it.

Geneva Flower Clock

I'm pretty sure this says something to the effect of the Red Cross was started here. If there are any French scholars out there, feel free to post a translation.

Gulls at lake in Geneva

Jet d'Eau

Return of the Jet d'Eau

Andrew with Jet d' Eau in background

Some cool looking trees by the lake side

There were quite a few of these massive chess sets in a park in Geneva

Island where Rousseau hung out

Place where Calvin lived

Place where Calvin sat

Place where Calvin preached

The Pale Horseman by Bernard Cornwell

The Pale Horseman by Bernard Cornwell

Uhtred is a warrior during the 900 AD time frame who fights mainly for Alfred The Great. Interestingly, he was raised by Danes and still holds some loyalties to them though they are the enemy of Wessex. Through a variety of battles and tremendous craftiness, strategy, and a bit of luck, Uhtred and his fellow Saxons drive the Danes from their land, which eventually becomes England. It is written in the genre of historical fiction. I've found that I enjoy these types of books. One can get a feel for the time period, pick up some history, as well as read a good warrior story. I seem to identify with the warrior mindset as I'm guessing many fellows do.

The Testament

The Testament by John Grisham

When a wealthy billionaire dies and leaves a controversial will, it has his six known children in an uproar. These progeny are fairly useless members of society who were spoiled throughout their lives and would likely squander the fortune. The will indicates that the vast sum of his estate should go to a previously unknown child who happens to be a Christian missionary in the jungles of Brazil. The executor of the will dispatches one of his lawyers to find this heir. The lawyer goes through adventures flying in small planes, going down little known tributaries of rivers in Brazil, and interacting with native Indians there. He eventually finds her but she is uninterested in the inheritance having come to peace with living with the indigenous people there and sharing Jesus with them.

Grisham succeeds in making her a sympathetic character whom the reader might like to meet in real life. The lawyer goes through a process of re-evaluating priorities in life and healing from past addictions and mistakes. One would consider him to have become a born again Christian. This is evidenced in his change in attitude and interests in helping a neighbor pastor and talking with God as well as reconnecting with his broken family. I'll not give away the ending but recommend the book as good fiction in addition to being a good way to examine priorities in life.

How To Make Money with Digital Photography

How To Make Money with Digital Photography by Dan Heller

Being a photography hobbyist, I wouldn't mind some day picking up a little extra dinero with pictures someday and so took a look at this book. (note internal rhyme, unintentional) It provides a good high level view of the various components of professional photography and gives warnings as to the challenges as well as tips on how to be successful. It doesn't necessarily give step by step instructions for every element of the business but focuses more on the strategy and how one should approach things and define their purposes.

The Broker

The Broker by John Grisham

This story is that of a man who was once a powerful lawyer/solicitor in Washington D.C. but then got caught up with power and greed and consequently got in some major trouble with both the US government as well as those of several other countries. He went to jail for many years then as a president was going out of office, received an unexpected pardon. The CIA sent him to Italy to find out who would try to kill him to help them know more information about what he was originally involved in. (He of course does not know this part)

He then proceeds to become immersed in the Italian culture and begins learning Italian. The CIA leaks his whereabouts and it is a race to escape. Through a series of spy like maneuvers, he eventually makes his way back to the US using someone else's passport. The book proceeds in thriller fashion with a decent amount of Italian culture incorporated. I read it just before going to Italy so it provided a nice primer to the culture. A blog entry on Rome and Florence will be forthcoming.

Dans Le Noir

I went to a restaurant called Dans Le Noir (French for In the Dark) in London with some colleagues whose basic premise is that everything is in the dark. Guests are walked into the dining room by a blind guide and enter pitch black darkness. You are then seated at your table with a plate, fork, knife, and glasses in front. Prior to entering, a dinner selection is made such as Meat, fish, or vegetable but you do not know what it will be. This helps to increase the experience of utilizing senses other than sight to taste and smell the food. Conversation is also a bit different since you cannot see anyone else and base everything on the sound of co-dinners voices. It really heightens your sense of hearing as well as taste and smell. I ended up having a lamb and potato dinner followed by some kind of wildberry pudding. (learned this following the meal) It was a unique experience which I recommend. Alternatively, one could blind fold themself to get a similar experience.

Science Experiment

What happens to a potato left undisturbed in a dark cupboard for 6 months? This is a question, we'll try to answer by pointing to evidence compiled through intensive investigation. On the first weekend of my stay in London, I purchased a couple potatoes from the grocery store, placed them in a cupboard, and promptly forgot about them. Later in the term, they were discovered anew and for the good of science were preserved to assist in this agricultural experiement. Though still recognizable as potatoes, they've got some spikeyness such as that seen sometimes in the creature known as the teenacus agerus.

Football (soccer)

I went to my first Premiership Football game on Sunday. The two teams playing were West Ham United and Tottenham. The British take football very seriously and are rabid supporters of their teams. My seat ended up being right in the lower section on the corner between West Ham and Tottenham fans. They really went at it at times. In order to maintain the peace, there was a large quantity of police and security personnel stationed especially in this section. Any time a goal was scored, everyone went nuts jumping around and began chanting, singing, and taunting the other team's fans. It was a really neat experience that I'd recommend to anyone who is remotely interested in sports.

Wales

On Saturday, I forayed into the arena of driving on the left side of the road and went to Wales with my brave friend Faith. I'm pretty sure that we followed most of the traffic rules and only got honked at twice. It was about a 2 1/2 hour drive west of London and the English countryside on the way there was quite nice. Once there, we saw a 900 year old abbey called Tinturn Abbey as well as a castle, daffodils, green grass, and lots of sheep. Some of the towns we made brief stops in were Chepstow, Monmouth, and Abergavenny. They had kind of a feel of York or Bath but on a small scale. As a side note, St. David's day was on March 1st and is the Welsh equivalent of St. Patrick's day for the Irish. Woe be it, I'm told, to the gardener whose daffodils are not blooming on March 1st. A famous person you may know of who is from Wales is Catherine Zeta-Jones.

Welsh is actually a completely seperate language from English and while most people in Wales speak English, there is a strong culturual pride in maintaining things in both languages. It is similar to Barcelona in Spain with the main language of Catalon spoken but Spanish being the language spoken by the rest of the country. In case there is any confusion, Wales is definitely still a part of the United Kingdom.

Welcome to Wales

Driving on the other side

Welsh Sign

Rules/Relationship

I thought this video was quite insightful on the subject of rules vs. relationship done in the style of Mac vs. PC commercials. Plus it was produced by the University of Georgia Baptist Collegiate Ministries and you know that means it's going to be good.

Homeward Bound and Happy Birthday

"I'm sittin' in the railway station
Got a ticket for my destination
My suitcases and guitar in hand
And every stop is neatly planned
For a poet and a one man band

Homeward bound
You know I am
Homeward bound
Home, where my thought's escaping
Home, where my music's playing
Homeward bound"
-by Simon and Garfunkel with slight modifications by Andrew Allen

I am homeward bound and will be returning to Kansas City on March 9th after 6 months (+ some change) in London and various other parts of the UK and Europe. My new project management role will be similar to that which I've been doing in London. Overall, I've really enjoyed my time here. The opportunities to experience living in another country and travel around to the many places in Europe were quite enjoyable. God definitely showed me my need for community no matter where I'm at in life. Being a lone ranger can be just that at times, lonely. As a whole, I'm very happy I took this opportunity.

We'd also like to pause for a moment and celebrate the 1st birthday of The Wisdom of Dre's home on Blogspot which occurred on February 28th. TWOD existed in a past life at http://www.xanga.com/aallen820. This is additionally the 100th edition of TWOD. We've had fun, wisdom, musings, and engaged in miscellaneous other pursuits during this time. We look forward to the future and what lies ahead in the ever after. Keep tuning in for more of the same quality programming.

Metropolitan Tabernacle

This evening, I went to a prayer meeting at Metropolitan Tabernacle which Charles Spurgeon once pastored back in the mid 1800s. The church is alive and well today and the prayer meeting was especially powerful. One could really sense the Holy Spirit and God's power through the prayers of the people there.


"The truest lengthening of life is to live while we live, wasting no time but using every hour for the highest ends. So be it this day." -Charles Spurgeon

A Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious Day

The day began by a quick stop at the US embassy in London to pick up a ticket to Parliment and the House of Commons. I then made my way to Big Ben's home and was fortunate enough to get in to hear the Prime Minister's question time which occurs on Wednesday's at noon. This was a neat experience and quite entertaining. The British government is structured in two houses the House of Lords and the House of Commons. The House of Commons tends to have more interesting and rowdy debates. It was pretty cool to see Tony Blair going at it in person. Members of Parliment raise questions and then he responds to them. At times, they really have a go at each other and it can be almost of thing of school yard style "Your mama's so fat..."

Interestingly, there are red lines on each side of the room which people are supposed to stand behind. The original reason for them was members of Parliment would carry swords into sessions. The red lines were the length of two swords plus some extra room to help ensure that the opposing sides not actually come to blows when passionately speaking.

The Prime Minister's question time only lasts for 30 minutes and then they move into the more relaxed pace of introducing new legislation and deliberating. Things are structured very much to allow debate and encourage discussion between varying veiwpoints.

It was then on to a quick tour at the Bank of England museum. There was a sample bar of gold weighing 28 pounds which was available for visitors to pick up and try out the weight.

The evening brough us to another musical in the West End which contains the above mentioned exra long word in a song within. (hint: the musical has two words that start with an M and a P.) I especially enjoyed this stage production of the classical story. Special effects included in it allowed for the somewhat realistic looking flying of kites indoors and airborne approaches and departures from the much beloved and precocious Mary. Quite a full and satisfying day.

Chamonix, France

After checking out the sites of Geneva, I took a 2 hour bus ride to Chamonix, France to go skiing in the Alps. This was my first on ground experience with the Alps. (had one previous in air viewing of them) They were spectacularly beautiful. Snow capped enormous and truly inspiring. Brought to mind the verse "He who formed the mountains, creates the wind, reveals Himself to man, He who turns dawn to darkness and treads the high places of earth- the Lord God Almighty is His name." -Amos 4:13

Skiing was fun. After a 4 year hiatus, several runs down the slope had me performing with relative success. The tough part was the ski lift. As opposed to traditional benches with a bar to keep you from falling, they had these things which I would describe as similar to a tire swing that you sat on and would pull you up the hill with feet still on the ground. I never really got the hang and at one point got frustrated enough to take off my skis and walk back up hill. The experience gave me appreciation for a saying of possible future usage: "as hard as skiing uphill." You really don't want to try this. The town of Chamonix was a neat little ski town with lots of shops and restaurants obviously catering to the ski crowd.

After taking a bus back to Geneva, I caught a flight back to London and arrived a bit on the late end of the evening. I then took a train back to Central London and planned to transfer via the underground train system back to my home base of Paddington. Just before getting on the underground, a small set of tourists from Norway asked if this was the train to Paddington and I answer in the affirmative and assured them that I was going there. Unfortunately, the underground system does not run 24 hours a day and as I arrived to the station around 12:30, I mistakenly took the incorrect train which I did not realize until too late. The first few stops were the same as I would expect and then we hit a stop out of the customary path. By this time, I investigated and discovered that I (and the Norweigan tourists) was on the wrong train and needed to turn around. The train did not cooperate but actually went all the way to the end of the line without stopping at any more stations and since Murphey reigns in these situations, it was the last train of the night. Mind you, the end of the line is way, way far away from where I live and walking was certainly not an option. It was either try to navigate the London Night bus system or taxi it back to Paddington. The bus system being somewhat confusing even in the light of day, I chose the later and brought my crew of Norweigans along with me. It had all the feelings of adventure and frustration packed into one. Seems kind of comical now.

I promise to post pictures of these last two adventures but am preparing for an early depature for the next destination of Italy in the morning. Stay tuned.

Geneva, Swizerland

The most recent excursion involved a trip to the land of watches, chocolate, and banks. Chocolate was consumed, watches were observed, however no shady business transactions were conducted in banks. I spent a day checking out the city, wondering around the lake, saw an enormous water fountain which jets about 138 meters in the air (called the Jet d'Eau). It is supposed to pump water out at a rate of 132 gallons per second. Pretty spectacular. The area around the lake was quite nice with lots of gulls, ducks, swans, and boats.

In journeys around the city, I got to see a clock made of flowers which keeps accurate time. (being in Switzerland, one would expect accuracy of this caliber) There was also an island at the edge of the lake where the philosopher Rousseau of the Enlightenment period used to hang out and philosophize. Another stop along the way was a museum of the Protestant Reformation located in close proximity to the former home of John Calvin.

A fine meal of perch, salad, fries, and Coca-Cola was consumed at a local restaurant for lunch. The afternoon consisted of further wandering of the city and seeing the location where the Red Cross organization was founded.

Tide to Go

The Wisdom of Dre can now officially recommend Tide To Go Instant Stain Remover, 0.34 fl oz After initial skepticism, this nifty little "pen" did a nice job of removing a strawberry jam stain with only the esoteric and very discerning eye able to identify anything out of the ordinary. This would be a nice addition to the purse of female readers. Male readers are advised not to carry a purse but rather to find more manly alternatives of storing this handy tool (i.e. gym bag, trunk of car, toolbox).

Your Own Personal Board of Directors

Imagine yourself as the CEO of your own company. As CEO you will have various people who work for you such as a V.P. of Finance, V.P. of Information Technology, V.P. of Legal Counsel, V.P. of Marketing, etc. Each of these members of your staff serve an important role in advising you and guiding the company. Their past experience in the specialty areas uniquely equips them to provide this guidance on proper management of the company.

This analogy can very accurately be transferred to your own personal finances. You are the CEO of Me, Inc. Regardless of whether or not you work for someone else, ultimately, you are your own boss when it comes to financial matters. Similarly to the executive team of a company an individual should arrange a "board of directors" for their own personal finances.

This team of individuals may consist of an accountant, a lawyer, an insurance agent, a banker, and a financial planner. Each of these are important areas in which to have solid financial advice. While one may believe themself to be intelligent and of the do-it-yourself mindset, it is important to consider that these professionals have experience in the specific areas in question and that the money spent will likely be well worth it. This is of course provided that you do some shopping around for good references.

Your personal board of directors will provide advice in a variety of financial and life issues that you may encounter. Some people within these areas may already be within your present group of friends and family. If so, that is great but be careful to remain as objective as possible in business matters and make certain that they explain things in a simple to understand manner. You want to learn and become more savvy financially as life progresses. Those with "the heart of a teacher" as Dave Ramsey says, are most ideal.

The board members will create a sound structure for you whether you have basic dealings or more complex financial transactions. Solomon the wise said it best, "Plans fail for lack of counsel, but with many advisers they succeed." -Proverbs 15:22

I Dared to Call Him Father

I Dared to Call Him Father by Bilquis Sheikh

Bilquis Sheikh was a traditional Muslim woman living in Pakistan during the 1960s. At the age of 52, after discontent with life she began examining the Koran in more depth to try to find greater purpose and hope for life. During her search, she noticed the prophet Jesus mentioned within the Koran and thought perhaps reading more on his teachings would be interesting.

As one who came from a well respected and wealthy family, she had many resources and servants at her beckon. She instructed one of the servants to obtain a Bible for her and began to read it. Though it was in a difficult to understand version of the Urdu language, she became intrigued and had a couple dreams relating to John the Baptist and Jesus. She had not read about John prior to her dreams. The dreams struct her so vividly that she had to learn more and so cautiously approached a local Christian missionary.

Over the next weeks and months, God revealed to her that the Jesus of the Bible was the true message of hope for life. She struggled tremendously with the decision to follow this Jesus of an aberrant religion and the implications of intense persecution/ostracization that she would experience if turning to Christ. However, she was continuously brought back to being at peace when dwelling on the things of the Bible and when she talked with God as if He were her father. She eventually surrendered to God and placed her full faith in Him and the promises of the Bible.

The resulting persecution was very real both emotionally, materially, and socially. However, God grew her faith and continuously taught her and utilized her testimony for His glory throughout the rest of her life. This book provides good insight into Muslim society and the meaning of accepting Christ in that society. Not only is it a good read but also a true story.

Everybody Wants to Go to Heaven But Nobody Wants to Die

Everybody Wants to Go to Heaven But Nobody Wants to Die by David Crowder and Mike Hogan

This book was written by the the eponymous member of a certain rock band and his fiddler compatriot in same said band. It is largely about grief, dealing with loss, and a smattering of Bluegrass music history interspersed. The premise behind including the music history is that Bluegrass has an implicit understanding of grief. Crowder and
Hogan have personally experienced tremendous loss in their lives with multiple family members and close friends passing into the sweet by and by. The book is partially an account of them working through their grief over the loss of their friend Kyle Lake, former pastor of University Baptist Church in Waco, Texas.

In typical Crowder fashion, elements of humor are strewn through out the book making a serious subject more readable.

As only God could orchestrate, their album A Collisioncontained many elements within it dealing with death, the Christian response to it, and ultimate victory over it. This album was recorded and released several months prior to Kyle's electrocution in the baptistery. It ended up ministering as much to them as it did to their audiences.

The format of the book takes a bit of getting used to. It incorporates traditional prose but also a short story listed in 3 parallel parts as well as IM conversations and various illustrated examples. At times, the flow of the book can feel disjointed but the end result seems to be an effective presentation of how we deal with grief and the application of Bluegrass.

Tech Tip# 2

One of the best short cuts Microsoft ever invented, in my opinion, is the alt + tab functionality. This nifty trick can save significant time switching between programs. For example, if you have several sessions of Internet Explorer open, a couple Word documents, Excel, and Outlook you can easily move from the active screen to another application by pressing alt + tab. This saves the necessity of taking your hands off of the keyboard to use the mouse. I would estimate this saves me several minutes every day.

Cotswolds/Oxford

After lunch, we drove through the Cotswolds, which is a nice and scenic piece of the country full of bucolic fields and populated by sundry sheep and a llama farm. Following the passing of the Cotswolds, we made a brief visit to Oxford. This was my second stop,(see here for the first) but I learned a new theory on the origins of some elements in The Chronicles of Narnia. There is a lamp post closely adjacent to a door with the picture of a lion's head and a mantle decorated with a fawn. Since C.S. Lewis lived and taught in Oxford, it is very possible that he saw these and used them as inspiration for The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.


Narnia Lamp Post

Narnia Lion

Narnia Fawn

Check back tomorrow for additional pictures.

Stratford

We then made a stop in Stratford to see the birthplace of one William Shakespeare. The tour guide said he wrote a bunch of famous stories or something. (tongue planted firmly in cheek) I would have welcomed more time in the town since it had the feeling of a mixture between Oxford and York. Stratford was followed by a stop for lunch at a pub called the White Hart. They had a very nice chicken dish topped off with apple pie.


Shakespeare's Birthplace

"The fool doth think he is wise, but the wise man knows himself to be a fool." As You Like It -Shakespeare

Warwick Castle

I took a tour of 3 separate sites on Saturday. The first stop was Warwick Castle. This was built as a defence mechanism, as most castles tended to be, back a long time ago. It was also used as a residence as recently as the early 1900s and a young Winston Churchill was known to have attended parties here. The castle itself is quite large and expansive. Going up on top of the walls was fun and provided a nice view of the surrounding village. Interestingly, there was a component of the castle which included fancy furnishings for hosting parties and the like. As with any good castle, it came equiped with a dungeon. (not a place I would have wanted to stay) The day turned out quite nice (a rarity in England) and the blue sky provided a nice backdrop to an assortment of geese along the bank of the river.


Warwick Castle

Warwick Village

Warwick Castle Wall

Another unique feature of the castle was the presence of a peacock garden a short walk from the castle walls. There were around 10 peacocks either napping or walking about.

Football

This evening I had the most enjoyable opportunity to play football with the lads. That's football in the European sense. They're very serious about it here and it was good fun to represent for the States.

The Hills Are Alive...

with the Sound of Music. Or at least the streets of London are. I got to see this nice rendition of the Rogers & Hammerstein classic at the London Palladium. While they cut a few parts to make it fit into a tidy 3 hour space, it was still high quality. Maria was cast in a unique way. On BBC television, they had a sort of reality TV American Idol/X Factor styled competition in which around 10 actresses tried out. Each of them were amateurs much like the American Idol competitors. I personally rooted for Connie Fisher, the eventual winner of the role, throughout the competition. She did a quality job of portraying Maria. Here's the website of the musical.

Google Search

As a benefit to readers of The Wisdom of Dre, a Google search box has been added to the column on the right. Feel free to use this to search either The Wisdom of Dre or the web at large.

Brighton

Brighton is on the southern coast of England, about 50+ miles (1 hour train) from London. It's now a basic modern town with tons of shopping, a coast (rocks but no sand for the beach), and a place called the Royal Pavilion.

The Royal Pavilion was built in the early 1800s by the later to become King George IV. The architecture is constructed in the oriental style and one can easily imagine being in an old Chinese palace during the 1800s. Dragons play a prominent role in the decorations and architecture. George built the pavilion primarily for the means of entertaining and to impress people.

It certainly would have done just that. The building is enormous in size and has gilt gold all throughout as well as solid gold art/dishes/ornamentation. The dining room causes the visitor to immediately look upwards at the breathtaking chandelier and ornate decoration. The inside of Buckingham palace is similar in luxuriousness.

At the time it was built, the kitchen was a state of the art master piece. It is enormous with 5 spits to roast separate meats on, two huge preparation tables and a steam heating plate in the middle of the room to keep dishes warm.

I also had the opportunity to watch the sun set behind the clouds, out over the water, seagulls flying about, and an old pier in the foreground.


Brighton Sunset

Royal Pavilion

New Chick-fil-a in KC

I recently learned that there is now a "real" Chick-fil-a in Kansas City. Man, I've been waiting for this for 3 1/2 years. Now if only they'd open some north of the river. I'm hitting it up when I get back from London. Click here for details on the location.

Calculator Words

Have you ever spelled words on a handheld calculator? Next time you get the chance, type in the number 53045.3080. It has a musical instrument and a component of clothing in store for you. (Hint: turn the calculator upside down)

The Walk

"You can run with the big dogs
You can fly with the eagles
You can jump through all the hoops
And climb the ladder to the top
But when it all comes down
You know it all comes down to the walk" -Steven Curtis Chapman

Based on Micah 6:8 "He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?"

Good stuff to remember.

Squash

I played Squash for the first time this week. It's fairly similar to racquetball so my background transferred over relatively well. The biggest thing to adjust to was the fact that a squash ball does not really bounce so it kind of throws you off until you learn to gauge it. As with anything, I discovered muscles I was previously little acquainted with. Walking up and down stairs helped re-emphasize this.

Incidentally, squash, the vegetable, is not a favorite of mine. It's one veggie I have a bit of trouble getting down and actively try to avoid.




Squash the vegetable





Squash the game

Brugge

The day after seeing the sights of Brussels, I took a train to Brugge about an hour north of Brussels and 15 miles from the coast. This 13th century city was definitely the highlight of the trip. It was a beautiful all around. Traffic is very restricted so that makes it nice for pedestrians. A canal runs through the middle of the city with buildings coming right up to the water. It also has a basilica called Holy Blood Basilica which contains the alleged relic of a piece of cloth with the blood of Christ on it. Supposedly, it was used by Joseph of Arimathea to clean him up following crucifixion. I don't know what to think for certain about the veracity of this but the cloth has been there since at least the 1200s. There is also an authentic windmill which dates from 1770 within Brugge. Brugge seems to be a veritable lace capital of the world. Lace shops abound throughout the town in addition to the ubiquitous chocolate stores. Horse and carriage seemed to be a popular mode of transportation to check out the city but I declined in favor of my own hoofs.


Canal

Waffle

Brugge Canal

Brugge Street

It is highly recommended to check out additional pictures of this beautiful city here.