Christy's first post!!!!!!!!!!!

Chris and I are sticking to a tight budget, but we have been spending less money than expected everyday so far. I have been really impressed with Chris’ budgeting skills. Those of you that know me well, know that budgeting is not my strongest suit, but Chris is “skooling” me. We have been eating for fifteen Euro a day for both of us, including wine from the local market. Fortunately, we have a kitchen in our studio on the outskirts of Paris, close to Chateau De Vincennes pronounced “Vose-Ay”. Cooking in is key. So far we have cooked an egg scramble for breakfast and pasta for dinner. Due to our copious wine drinking we have been very careful not to exceed our budget of 40 Euro a day, about $50 US. We have had an extraordinary and super fun day as Chris mentioned earlier.

I have already lost about 5 pounds. I call it the Euro-Diet, consisting of wine and protein. I may have purple teeth but my bum is looking awesome! We were working out like crazy for weeks before our departure to Europe and Chris was looking like a Greek statue of Hercules and I was, well, just looking Greek. So I decided to cut my portions to 1/3 and let Chris’ Greek god body have 2/3rds and I have been dropping weight like crazy. So if you are exercising and not seeing results…trying cutting back on your portions. I know this is common knowledge, but sometimes it’s good to hearJ It’s really made a difference for me.

Today, we sat on the steps of the Basilique Du Sacre’-Ceur De Montmartre. There was a musician playing American music right there on the steps. Do you like American music? Well, many people do here. The lyrics may be met with a generous ear, but it was really fun. Not to be ethnocentric, but America really does lead in the area of entertainment. There were tourists and locals sitting on the steps over looking one of the highest points in Paris, enjoying the music and the incredible cityscape. Around the corner from the Basilique, or beautiful Catholic Church, was the rest of Montmartre, also known as Artists Alley. Artist like Picasso, Monet, and Dali have resided in the quaint and character-rich hilltop roads and steep staircases of Montmartre. Hip cafes, fabric stores, and art galleries fill the unique cobblestone streets. It’s a creative haven, a sanctuary, for those seeking creative stimulation. Even the metro station entrance is designed in a beautiful art Nouveau style which is my favorite because its era symbolizes independence and innovation.  
A magical evening to top off a magical day. My mind is rushing and my body vibrating with excitement about whats to come. Stay tuned in:)

Right up your artist alley

Montmatre, Montmartre, Montmartre…. Today was possibly the best day of my life. I know I have many things in my life to be thankful for, and accomplishments to be proud of, but today had my breath by the throat.  I currently sit here in complete sensory overload.  We started today with a workout, because Christy and I will be dammed if we are going to let our vacation spoil our health, but the gym did bring some funny moments.  First off, I couldn’t find a 45 pound plate to save my life, they don’t work with weights that big around here, on top of the fact that everything was in kilos, so that took a bit for my brain to process, they don’t open till 9 which was another adjustment, and if everyone thought that ‘ In Motion’ was full of people just trying to meet people, go to a gym in Paris. I had to remind myself where I was several times because Frenchmen couldn’t stop making remarks about my girlfriend. Yeah I don’t know French, but ogling inappropriateness is universal. Plus they make you pay for water … I might as well wait for it to rain and stick my mouth towards the sky.

Since we left off half way through ‘Louve County’ yesterday, we decided to start back up there again. I will admit I am a statue whore, and the outside of this place is a personal heaven. Once again, your eyes cannot look anywhere without seeing immense detail everywhere, there has to be easily over a thousand statues on the building itself not to mention the hundreds surrounding it. You really can start to get a sense for the book, ‘The Da Vinci Code’, and the symbolism that places itself on basically every square inch of the museum.  Still after spending at least two full hours just walking the perimeter I have not truly looked at half of what I would like to. The park to the south of the museum has me spinning circles of elaborate statues of the most famous people to have made their stamps on culture throughout history.

We then made our way past the Egyptian Obelisk which is right behind the Ferris wheel, which when you ever visit makes for a good joke. I Saw some police whistle, yes I said whistle at a guy on a moped over to give him a ticket.. Once again I said whistle, when is the last time you seen an episode of ‘Cops’ when they got a criminal to come over from a whistle. I mean you can’t even get those guys to admit it’s their drugs when the cop pulls it out of their mouth. We then walked to like 5 different huge buildings, which I will tell you what they are once I look in my travel guide, or actually go in them when my Paris pass starts Monday. After a quick stretch from a walk that seemed like Red Bluff to Chico, we hopped over to the Eiffel Tower, it was actually more like a pilgrimage. You could tell by our pictures because we took a bunch of them from two miles away and then by the time we got there, we had to rest and only took two up close. Oh, sidebar; I am sick of all the pushy people trying to sell me foolish little mini statues of the tower, or any other trinket that no one wants.. However, I will give one guy credit for just coming up and saying, ‘ Hey, you want to give me some money?’ I almost did for his honestly but I have been taken too much already and didn’t.

Christy knowing me so well then took me to Montremar.. Yeah, so the artist there made me feel like a kindergartener who draws his skies with just a line of blue, and his trees with just one piece of wood going all the way up to the bubble of green leaves. It truly does remind me of Berkeley: laid back, young, character, and a lot of cool things going on. I could only imagine it being close to what I will see in Prague a few months from now. I truly hope to come back to this place someday and spend a few months there. It really is that amazing and I was only there for a few hours. We plan on taking one full day of our trip there to just hang out with the crowds and drink wine. God, I love Paris, God, I love Christy, and God Bless Montremar.

Whiskey a go-go

‘Kuuuuurrrplutt’. Yes, that was the first sound I heard as my mind, as well as half the passengers on the planes minds were buzzing when the pilot decided to probably have two too many shots of whiskey before we took off and landed like he was flying a plane full of chickens landing on a dirt road in the middle of Timbuck Nowheresville or possibly Columbia. So that was fun. Besides all that, the entire trip over here was absolutely easy and a little fun. Being boxed into a tin cylinder like a sardine wasn’t all that special but hey when you are given a half shot of orange juice and a Signorny Weaver/Jamie Lee Curtis movie life can’t get much better. 

So we have officially been here a day, and I am already ready to cancel my ticket home!  But before I get to the good stuff there are a few minor details that need to be hashed out…

1.    Make sure your bank is aware of international travel or your card will be blocked. (We did but still had problems)

2.    No matter what it will probably not work anyways because it doesn’t have a special Euro hologram that makes it usable anywhere other than an ATM (which will charge you 3% percent of your total withdraw )

3.    Get a map of the rail lines or you will get lost, but getting lost is fun…sometimes.

4. The French are amazingly nice ! ( not being sarcastic )

So, now for a couple observations, Bill Byrson, said in his book ‘Here Nor There’ that the city’s  outskirts are full of trash and people take pride in their lack of parking and driving skills here. I understand that this city has been ravaged by war more than a few times, but that left a defining mark that was difficult to ahake, but when I got into the city center, lets just say, it became an unimportant fading thought. Oh, and I will be taking a picture of the first truck I see here, just so you know there is one, but I am sure they are not that fond of them considering it does make it hard to park backwards and on the curbs with such a large vehicle.

So, we finally made it over to the hotel, and got acquainted with the room’s humongous spider, took showers and decided not to waste any time. We immediately headed for downtown.Our Paris Pass doesn’t start till Monday so we thought it would be best to just explore and get our bearings in the city.  I then realized I could spend weeks just trying to soak in the exteriors of the buildings, they were so elaborate and exquisite. There were no tin buildings, that would blow over with a strong wind, anywhere the eye could see (yeah that’s a slight at you America.) So, after being conned out of two Euro's from a girl who supposedly couldn’t speak, but had to hold her mouth shut tight, I'm sure, to keep from laughing at the gullible American…we went everywhere. We walked by the woman trying to tell me she was from Bosnia and was going to die if I didn’t give her cash, but somehow found it important to hold on to her gold teeth, to the guy that somehow found an 18k gold ring on the ground and was just happy to give it to a nice face, but then two seconds later harassed the hell out of me till I gave him two Euros… God, get me to a new country and I become Mr. Easy... I guess you have to be jaded all over the world or everyone will take a shot at taking your money.

The Louve is a big as Orland California…maybe all of Glen County. One thing that I need to say though, is that currently they are doing renovations and it looks like they are doing it with a modern style on the exterior, and personally, I hate it, but I am sure it will look breathtaking when it is done. I know I have been kinda poking fun so far at our first day, but that’s what first days are, learning experiences, and since I didn’t give ALL our money away, I am going to take that as a win. Really though, Paris is amazing. So much true innovative art everywhere.. My intelligence and vocabulary cannot do this town justice. Only the hands of the sculptures, painters, and architects have come close, and I am none of them. I cannot wait to soak in 13 more days here, and identify with the grand city of Paris for more than a place where I became a tourist.

Itinerary for the day: work out, get lost, drink wine, and enjoy life.....

real quick

real quick, we are alive and will be posting  a few blogs to keep you updated, and a ton of pictures. see you soon..

The end of days....

A little more than 12 hours from now we will be boarding a plane and hoping not to be like the thousands of other people on the east cost and actually have our plane land. We will be making one stop on the east coast for about an hour and then off to Pari... I think now that everything is finally pack wrapped and taken care of I am actually starting to realize I am leaving the country for the first time and doing it in a style that I only know how..There have been some last minute changes to our travel plans that Christy and I will start to reveal as the trip goes along ( I need to keep you guys reading somehow), and all it means is more adventures and experiences that we know we are very blessed to have and will be enjoying them to their fullest. So I am sure that all of you are tired of reading about anything other than us actually being there, so I promise that the next time you will be reading a post, it will be live from Europe. C.C's never ending world adventure emporium and elcletic wholehouse goods & bean tour of every where you can possibly imagine. Thak you, thank you and have a good night..

Sit Boo Boo, sit, good dog

'The Final Countdown'

"Na Ne Na Na Na Ne Na Ne Na, Duh duh Dah duh duh duh duh DaDa".. No I am not talking about the wee seconds remaining in the Colts, Jets game, which, by the way the Colts just kicked a field goal to go up  couple points, but if it wasnt for my internet I would have absolutly no clue about this becasue cable is gone and if you know me, then you know it is a major accomplishment  to not be watching these games.. Can you believe Seattle won! Holy crap! So, the final countdown actually has to do with the fact that we leave in 5 days! A mere work week worth of hours till We are gone! The last week as been zooming by due to the fact that we have been mass packing and attempting to clean at the same time. ( Side note: Jets just won on  last second field goal.) We have just the odds and ends remaining and are right on schedual to have everything ready and get on our way to Paris.
    So our first true update actually is the extended weather report that has us arriving with a day of partly cloudy skies Thursday, and light rain up until Monday. We purchased a Paris Pass that starts the first Monday we get there, so up until then we are free, so if anyone has any advice feel free to give it because we would love to hear it.  We are also going to try and post at least one video before we go to hopefully get everyone use to trying it out so you can experience what we are doing through the video portion of the blog..
  Oh, my first big mistake of the trip came with purchasing our Eurobus tickets.. I thought by getting a 15 days of travel pass I was purchasing !5 actual days of bus travel, but however it turns out that it is only 15 calendar days of available travel. That came as a big surprise, and one very loud curse at my computer. Luckily I finally caught on after I only purchased mine, so at least whatever we do we will be cautious of that.. $300 not wasted, but vastly misspent. 
 So now that I have told people across the world my basic intelligence level, we would really like to take the time to thank everyone who has helped make this trip possible for us along the way. From Randy and Carol (family) with all there great travel advice and amazing knowledge, you guys truly are the best travel agents anyone could imagine, and there will not be a time we don't go through you to do any traveling. My old friend Clayton, who has always given me a perception of possibility because he did this himself long before I imagined I could, and has been a constant positive influence in this experience as well as making me jealous every time he shares a new picture of his amazing world travels. Jana, who lets us know all the time that she has been to all 7 continents, but whose travel advice literally soars above anyone's I have read in a book or ever heard talk about any country. Christiane, who came out of no where to already become a great friend and an influence on our travels. Her advice has lead us already to a better journey and I am sure as days go along it will continue to be indispensable. I hope she will be one our many life long friends and travel companions we will meet along the way.. Plus, I am hoping she can get to a place where I can buy Birks that actually say 'made in Germany' in German. Emily, with Van Gooey Cakes who was like the energizer bunny, she came with boxes, trucks, travel advice, food and anything else this girl could possibly get her hands on.. I felt like she was my personal 'Red' from Shawshank Redemption.. I mean if you needed something this girl can get it for you, probably really even a rock hammer and poster of Rita Hayworth. There have been countless others who have helped us along they way and I appreciate every single one of you and hopefully you all will have some type of enjoyment with us along the way. Because while we may be physically going to these places, all of you will be with us in spirit because you have been pathways to greater knowledge on this journey and that is something that will be engraved in us and that is priceless. Thank you everyone and good night... Get em' next year Peyton.

Language

I had a very personal revelation today, and I thought it would be best to share it. Just before I dozed off on my couch this afternoon, after a big morning of packing, I thought back to a clip that I seen in the movie "Hurt Locker" last night. I went back to a scene where the main character was sitting in the middle of a road screaming at a Iraqi citizen because he was driving on a closed  road. The citizen was sitting there staring at the main character with the blankest stare imaginable. That stuck with me, I wondered that evening, and then later right before a nap today about that moment. What were both those men thinking, what lead them to make the decisions they were making.  It brought me then to my own life, and the experiences I am about to embark on. I started to put myself in little everyday moments during our trip, specifically Italy. I don't use them for any other purpose than Christy took Italian in high school so she would obviously have more of a reference than I. So, I started to think of the moments of interaction with locals, the way it would go down, the scenarios, anything. One distinct constant was that Christy would obviously be doing a majority of the communicating while I tired to learn, (learn while doing of course) but still people need to know where the bathroom is, ya know?!
  So, I continued on with these scenarios to try and think how I would be looked at by the locals..Most likely, "Oh ignorant man, not cultured, doesn't even know how to get along here." How someone would feel knowing that would be a tremendous hit to a mans ego. Thinking that as a man, I am capable of anything, I can conquer the world, but now I cant even find my way around a town.. Humbling... That started to make me realize how are culture as a whole treats immigrants or minorities.( I will interject myself here and say that I personally know a high percentage of people who do not think this way and would find it personally offending to even be lumped in with that category, but the sad fact is that our history speaks for itself and we as a nation have been very intolerable towards difference.) So to bring it back to what I was saying, I started to get a real feel for the manifested ceiling of doubt and inequality that a person must break through to try and feel apart of our culture and to be an 'American'.  That through only simple movements of the mouth can walls be built up so wide between two people and the feelings they are trying to express can lead to so much pain. That finally brought me back to the scene in the movie. The two men only a few feet from one another, almost close enough to just lay a touch of compassion on the others shoulder as if to say it is ok, I am scared too. This wasn't the case, the citizen in the car I imagined was so struck with fear and self doubt about how to communicate that he may have only made a simple mistake by turning down the wrong street and was simply frozen with the fear of an American who is occupying his country and staring him down at gunpoint yelling at him with things he does not understand. Likewise, the solider yelling loudly only so that he can intimidate the man like a lion over his prey. But only knowing in his head that he is just a scared because he is a million miles away from his son, and doesn't know how to express that he cannot handle it anymore and jut simply wants any way to get out of here. Both these men so close physically, stricken with fear, but so far away from each other in understanding that. A virtual concrete wall of fear and unknown between then that cannot be broken.. This was an eye opening experience for me, because it makes me affirm the gestation period of this journey I am on. I am mentally accumulating the tools I will need in order to function and grow with everyday that we explore, and maintain growth periods. This will be something on going that I will be exploring and reflecting on as our trip unfolds, and I would thank you all for bearing with me through it, while you wait for movie clips of me  doing dumb things to embarrass us on our trip.. Have a good night and happy new year.