Month: November 2003

Orange County Pictures

I have also posted the pictures (after long delays) of my trips to Orange County. Laura was with me for part of this time and appears in some of the pictures.

“Wow.” you must be thinking. “Wow. He’s posted 3 times in the same day! That’s never happened before!” You are right. It hasn’t. I am feeling the pressure of missing so many posts and have some spare bandwidth while I answer technical support questions (not mind-numbing except for the boredom).

It’s not all that bad, but I really don’t want to be so far behind that I don’t get the Dive Turkey IV pictures posted (once they’re taken, of course). Speaking of: I really need a vacation.

European Tour Pictures

European Tour Part I: I now have some pictures from the European Tour Part I posted. Part I of the tour consisted of London, Windemere, Barrow in Furness, and Bracknell in England. I did work for my customer most of the time, except for the weekend, in which I proceded to get sick. However, sick as I felt, I still managed to see the countryside. Here are pictures of lakes, hills, friends, etc. which we saw while there.

European Tour Part II: European Tour Part II consisted of the Netherlands: Haarlem, Amsterdam, Edam and Zaans (where the windmills are). We visited various places in and around Amsterdam and I worked in Haarlem.

Greenville II

You know, this picture is kinda funny. There are only 12 gates at the airport, two baggage claim belts and a rental counter but there, in the middle of the baggage belts is this BMW Z4. Nothing else. Nothing to explain that all BMW Z and X series cars are manufactured in Greenville – and shipped back to Germany, no less.

I don’t have many pictures of Greenville as I have been working here from dark to dark. I haven’t seen much of the city except the road between the office and the hotel. And the local sushi restaurant.

Jet-Lagged

I’m back. I’ve been in the US for four or five days, but I still feel like I’m getting up way too early and getting sleepy way too soon. That’s what 3 weeks in Europe will get you. I wish it were more fun, but the trip’s over now.

I don’t like Amsterdam nearly as much as I liked England. Next time this customer calls me to go back, I’ll stay at a hotel closer to the work site in Haarlem and not even bother with Amsterdam. That city is way too crowded and just too gritty. Trams going everywhere at all hours, impossible one-way streets around and through the canals, the ubiquitous bicyclists… quite a dificult city to relax in. There was good food, though. While we were there, Laura and I had Thai, Indonesian, Italian, Greek, and even Dutch food. All was quite good.

For fun, we took some tours on the weekend to the countryside surrounding Amsterdam. We went to Edam and walked around the town (quite a lovely little place), then to a place where there were old windmills still working. We even got to go inside one while it was running. Then, we watched them make some wooden shoes and cheese. (We brought some cheese home with us, of course.) That night, we went out for “Museum Night”. It started at 7pm and went until 2am. For one fee, you could visit as many museums as you could manage, ride free trams and canal boats and go to the zoo and aquarium. We did as much as we could, but were exhausted by 2am.

On Sunday, we went to church at an English-speaking church in the attic of an old house in the city center. They had awesome music and there was even good food there (American style…). We got to hook up with one of Laura’s old classmates from SFA.

But: it’s really good to be back. This weekend was so relaxing. I never realize how much I miss home until I’ve been gone for so long. The only thing that kept me sane is that Laura was with me. Of course, now that I’m back, I’m gone again. I’m now in Greenville for the next few days until I come back to head back out again for Cozumel. But that… is another story!

Speaking of Changing…

Originally, my European Journey was to last through November 6th. However, I am now staying until the 13th.

England was beautiful. The leaves are changing color for the fall and the view is breathtaking. It was mostly sunny the entire time we were there. We saw friends in London and got to attend services at our favorite London church, London’s Victory. Laura also attended several meetings and events with them and others. We didn’t do much sight-seeing as I was working so late and it got dark so early.

So, for the weekend, we drove up to Cumbria to visit some more friends. That day, I happened to get sick with some sinus thing. Took me down a notch or two… We stayed in a little bed and breakfast (Laura was really craving the “Full English Breakfast” so she got one here!) where I tried to get lots of sleep and get well. Later in the morning, we went out to take a boat ride on the lake. Later, for dinner, we met with her friends Wayne and Cora and had good conversation and food. And found out that Wayne had just that day bought a new M3!

Sunday, after attending Wayne’s church, we drove to see more friends and then went back to the London area. Instead of taking 5 or 6 hours to return, it took us over 9. The traffic was awful. There was much road work…

We stayed out the remainder of our stay in England in a secluded manor house converted into a Hilton. I know where I’m staying next time! On Tuesday, we flew to Amsterdam and we’re here now. Not much has happened since then except me going to work…

I assume I’ll write more about the Netherlands later.