Tour de France In Paris!

Back when I lived in California, I watched the Tour de France every year. Often, I'd Tivo it (remember that?) and catch the highlights at like 3x speed. It's always been on that loose list of things I'd like to see in person one day.

Well sometime in late June, our friends in Paris said their kids would be with their grandparents and that we should come for a visit. When I noticed the dates coincided with the last day of the the Tour and, oh, that Diana's brother would be in town, I blurted out to Diana that we HAD TO GO! It took me about twenty seconds to buy airplane tickets once Diana confirmed with her brother that he was interested.

I decided that this would finally be the trip where I'd pack super light and actually use every single item in my bag. In the photo below you'll find every item (except my flipflops) that I'd have with me. One pair of shorts (that I wore on the plane), a plain T-shirt and undies for each day, my toiletries, camera charger (why can't I charge my camera with a my phone charger?), my lifeguard hat, and my backpack. That's it, super lightweight and I even had space for the jamon Iberico I picked up for our hosts!

Monica met us at the bus station and we headed into central Paris to walk around for the afternoon. Here we are about five minutes after arrival in front of Notre Dame:

Our first day in town was spent seeing the city center as Diana's brother, visiting from Colombia, had never been to France. We walked through the Marais (the Jewish quarter), had lunch in the Sorbonne (the Latin quarter), and then went to visit the Louvre, which is something I've never done.

First off, if you've never been there, it's MASSIVE! So big that I have no idea how actually big it really is. The plan was to stay for a few hours and see some of the important works like the (copy of the) statue of David and, of course, the Mona Lisa.

We passed by these two sculptures on the way into one of the museum's wings. They're sort of like before and after images. On the left, you can see the guy's holding (what looks like) a bottle of wine up to his head probably thinking to himself I probably should stop now and not drink the whole thing then, on the right, you see the same post-full-bottle guy pawing some chick and biting one of her nipples while she seems to be thinking oh great he's drunk again. I'm sure the artist intended some lesson here.

I had heard that the Mona Lisa was a bit of a let-down from more than one person so I didn't expect much. I figured that it'd be super crowded with selfie-taking masses and, on this, I wasn't disappointed. It was way better than I had expected and it was great to see something that's such a part of world culture. Oh, and about those other paintings in the room with the Mona Lisa? They could have been the most amazing works of art but, like the not-to-be-missed Casa Amatller next door to the Casa Batllo in Barcelona, they get NO love at all.

Apparently, in the entire Louvre, there are no (working) fountains. It was getting to the point where I would have drank from a random bottle in a trash can. The only choices you have are to pack in your own water, go all the way back to one of the shops in the lobby and pay like five euros per tiny bottle, or do what I ended up doing which was to drink from the faucet in one of the bathrooms. I get that this is a total first-world problem but, really, no water anywhere. So, take heed weary Louvre visitor, pack in water. It's a loooong journey through the desert!

Other than the Louvre desert, Paris really is one of the all-time-best cities. I'm not sure how it'd be to live there as I'd imagine, like London or San Francisco, it's best if you're a millionaire but some things you encounter really are very cool. On our way to meet up for dinner, we saw this orchestra playing in one of the metro stations. Talk about impressive public art/performances:

Another only-in-Paris item we saw was this public fountain located along one of the river walkways. Public fountains usually don't get much attention (although it'd be nice to have one in a certain museum) but this one offered not only 'regular' water but also sparkling water! At a public fountain on the street! Love it!

Dinner that evening was at the Boullon Chartier, which is a popular French restaurant complete with traditionally dressed waiters and typical cuisine. I opted for the steak tartar because, well, it seemed the French thing to do. Our group, which included some of Monica and Olivier's local friends had a great time sharing travel stories and more than a couple of bottles of nice French wine.

The three of us were on our own for day two so we decided to visit Versailles where I had also never been. Wow - talk about crazy! The serpentine line out front reminded me of our visit to the Vatican with Diana's parents a few years ago. I'd guess there were more than a thousand people waiting with us.

We spent maybe three hours visiting the impressively-detailed palace. I was telling Diana how it reminded me of the palaces (like Hohenschwangau and Ludwigsburg) we visited when we lived in Germany and she laughed at me (definitely not the first time!). Ah, yeah, she said, they were copying this one. Oh. Okay.

A note about visiting Versailles. A friend of mine said that we should stay to see the evening light and music show so booked tickets for both in advance. After spending the better part of the afternoon visiting the palace and surrounding (amazing) gardens, we hung out for a couple of hours in the park waiting for the gates to reopen (they kick you out around 5pm and reopen around 7 or so). When the time came, we went to the gate and...they said sorry, this is a daytime ticket, which is no good for the show. Argh! Well, it seems we're not the first to have this happen. Turns out the company that runs the show is completely different and it needs to be booked separately.

So, we bailed on paying an additional like 20-something euros each and went for dinner at the nearby Notre Dame (not the church) Market where there's a bunch of outdoor, cafe-style restaurants.

La Creperie. So very France!

And so came the big day! Sunday, the final day of the Tour de France when the peloton arrives for a mostly ceremonial run through the cobbled streets of Paris!

I had read that a good spot to see the action was, surprisingly, right out in front of the Louvre. I had my doubts but our group headed that way and arrived just as the parade was going by. The spectacle of floats, funny costumes, and freebies is every bit looked forward to I'd image in the same way that people watch the Super Bowl to see the commercials.

When we arrived there was still about an hour or so until the peloton would pass by and we were able to claim a spot opposite the museum right up against the railing. Woohoo! All the sudden a line of fast-moving cars with advertising on the side and bicycles on the roof went rushing by. Not more than 30 seconds later, the first rider went by. FAST! Like a rocket. Then, 20 seconds or so later, the peloton arrived! There's this year's winner, England's Chris Froome, in his yellow jersey (just above the photographer):

Diana was excited to see Colombia's Nairo Quintana who's been tearing it up and finished second this year. Not only is he from Colombia, he's from Boyaca, which is the state where Chiquinquira and Villa de Lleyva are and where Diana's parents are from. You can see Nairo with the blue jersey and yellow helmet just at the bottom left corner of the pyramid:

The disadvantage of our amazing viewing spot was that the peloton only passes once. We decided to head over to the other side of the Tuileries Gardens where the peloton disappears into the tunnel. The riders passed by twice in the short amount of time we hung out there. Actually, it's amazing how fast they go up to the Arc de Triomphe and back. I would guess it was like 10 minutes but it has to be more. They move so fast; that was probably the biggest surprise of the day.

From there, we walked over to another of the park's edges and watched the riders go by a couple of more times. After the final lap and it was clear Froome had won, we found a nice place to get a bottle of Champagne to celebrate. Oh, and one of the last surprises, they served those amazing peanut butter flavored (cheese) curls I love from when we lived in Germany!

Thanks to Monica and Olivier for hosting us at their new Paris place! Last time it was Istambul, Turkey. Like whereisdarrennow, I wonder where they'll end up next! Something I do know, if they do go somewhere new, we won't be far behind! :)

Colombia 2016

We got back to Bogota after our trip to Cartagena and spent only one night before loading up the car with our stuff and Diana's mom and dad to go to Chiquinquira. If you're not familiar, this is the small town about a three-hour drive north of Bogota where Diana's parents are from and where they still have a small farm house and a some milk makers.

It had been about a year-and-a-half since my last trip and I was excited to be back. A few minutes after arriving, I wanted to see the family's donkey, Pepe, who sometimes acts like a big dog. Being that so long had passed, I figured he wouldn't remember me. Umm, I was wrong.

As I walked around the house, I saw him up on the hill. He took a quick break from eating and glanced my way and actually did a double take before running down towards me while making that donkey hee-haw sound. The family was a few steps behind and couldn't believe it. Apparently, this wasn't standard Pepe behavior; I was honored.

The view of Rancho Grande and its immense herd of cows as seen from Pepe's favorite hang out:

Pepe is now retired. Normally, on a farm, animals have a very short "retirement" (read: maybe one day), which, while I understand the cost and upkeep, especially for older animals, is still sad. Well, Diana's dad had decided that, because Pepe means so much to the family, he would get a nice long retirement instead. Thanks Juaco!

Happily hanging out with the farm's new pet "dog":

Pepe's pre-retirement job was to cart cans and other supplies at milking time. Diana's dad mentioned during a call a few months ago that he had hired Pepe's replacement. Breaking with family-donkey tradition, he contracted Lucero who, as you can see, is...a horse. Gasp!

Maybe it's farm life, or maybe being in Chiquinquira, but Lucero is every bit as mellow and friendly as cousin Pepe. It was funny to watch Pepe watching Lucero get tied up to the cart at milking time as if Pepe was thinking, "hey, that's my job" before turning back to his current position of watcher-of-all-things-going-on and maintainer-of-short-grass.

One of the things that's great about being out at the farm is how time changes. No longer are we controlled by the every-15-minute ringing of Barcelona church bells, but rather it's the twice-daily milkings. Other than that, nothing usually happens. Usually.

But we woke up one morning to some excitement. Diana's mom was on the phone yelling, which is HIGHLY unusual. It took me a minute or two but she was clearly upset and was "telling" whoever was unfortunate enough to be on the other end that they needed to immediately come out and resolve whatever was going on. Diana, still with pajamas on, was already putting on her farm boots so I did the same.

On the hillside above the house, not far from Pepe's hangout, we found the following scene. Apparently, one of the neighbors from the other side of the hill had contracted with someone to do some work with a digger on their property and, as they had come sometime overnight, the digger went off the side of the road. They already had it secured to another backhoe and were waiting on a large tow truck to arrive.

It took them much of the day to recover the digger and, by the time we went back later, they had repaired the road. For a place where basically nothing ever happens, it was a big deal.

After the excitement died down (and a nice lunch), I put my boots back on and went to visit the cows. While taking pictures, I noticed one of the cows seemed to be in a bit of distress. She was making usual noises so I went to see what was wrong.

As I got closer, it looked like she had a small blue bag stuck to her backside. Figuring maybe she had eaten some plastic or something, I moved in to see if I could help. When I was about three feet away, I could make out a cow nose and hoof inside the "bag". Being a city boy, it took a few seconds to process. Yes, this cow was having a baby! Right there and right then. In front of me!

It was amazing. And scary. Was she okay? Should I help? There's always a blanket and water in the movies. Should I get those? No, better to get Diana. She's smarter than me; she'll know. I yelled up to the house and Diana came running. We immediately told her parents and called her cousin and his wife who are the part-time caretakers and keepers of the cows.

We kept watch, both not really knowing what to do - oh well. Her cousin arrived about five minutes later just as the calf was almost fully out and just as it gained consciousness, an moment which, on its own, was quite a surprise. He tore the placenta and both mom and baby looked around.

The only thing faster than your baby growing up and heading off to university is the speed at which the calf managed to get up, wobble around a bit, and start nursing. Total time, maybe five minutes. Again, amazing.

Baby's first steps:

Postpartum photo with Diana's cousin, his wife, and some locals:

What excitement! Between that, a bunch of Colombian coffee, and a couple of Arepas Boyacenses, it was a day I won't soon forget. The next day, it was back to Bogota to spend my last few days in town with Diana's family.

Dual-birthday celebration for Diana's dad and nephew:

Diana's nephew asked me to take a photo of him and his grandfather (Diana's dad), which I did. The problem was that her dad's always wearing some sort of hat so his face was all dark in the first photo. I went to take his hat off and, for some random reason, turned it around like her nephew. The result is one of my favorite photos I've ever taken.

As we had been super busy, I mentioned to Diana on my last morning that I hadn't eaten a Bandeja Paisa the entire trip. She immediately set about rectifying this extreme oversight by organizing family lunch at a nearby place with excellent BP.

If you don't already know, Bandeja Paisa, which means basically 'country tray', is one of my favorite Colombian meals. It has all the important food groups including such delicacies as chicharron, sausage, beans, eggs, ground meat, avocados, and fried plantains. Can you say 'yummy, yummy, I'm gonna' put you in my tummy'?

Sadly, it was once again time to say goodbye to Colombia and Diana's family. Thanks to Diana's mom, dad, sister, brothers, nieces, nephews, cousins, aunts, uncles, donkeys, cows, horses, and everyone/thing else that made it (as always) a great trip. Nos vemos pronto!

A small side story for this trip. I flew Air France and my return flight from Paris to Barcelona was canceled due to one of France's regularly scheduled labor actions. As compensation, I got three 'extra' hours in CDG, and a bonus six-hour layover in Amsterdam, which I happily took advantage of.

A few euros and a half-an-hour later, I was eating real Belgian-style french fries for breakfast while overlooking canals. The only bummer was that I, unable to think after my red-eye, ordered ketchup instead of mayo ensuring everyone knew I was an American tourist. Ha! Not important, I was, ten hours after leaving Bogota, in Amsterdam on my way to Spain!

Cartagena Colombia

My last trip to Colombia was mostly about hanging out at Diana's mom and dad's house and going to doctor appointments. It was nice but not as fun as past visits like when we went with her folks to the coffee area. We decided that this trip would be different and we wanted to go somewhere new (for me) to have some fun. With Fidu and Juaco back to their former farmer-strength selves, we chose Cartagena. A day after arriving in Bogota, it was back to BOG for a short flight with mom, dad, and one of Diana's brothers and, voila, we were in the Caribbean!

Cartagena was founded by the Spanish in the 1500s and part of the old town is inside a fortified wall. From the top of the wall looking towards Boca Grande where there's a lot of newer high-rise hotels and apartment buildings:

There were two different events going on the week we were there that gave it extra flavor; the anniversary of the founding of Cartagena and the Copa America futbol tournament. There were yellow jerseys for sale everywhere as well as on lots of people.

Fernando Botero sculpture, La Gordita, in one of the plazas in the old part of town:

Old town has two faces; during the day, it's a mix of locals going about their daily business and tourists taking it all in. We had fun checking out the old houses, public buildings, churches, and plazas but, it was hot! And humid! It's in the evening, after the sun went to bed that it was way easier to walk around to enjoy the relative peace and quiet and lovely scenery.

The historical part of town is divided into two, one inside the wall and another nearby but just outside the wall. We came across a plaza where they were celebrating the city's birthday with a musical variety show. It reminded me a bit of the first evening I lived in Merida, Mexico, and I watched the Noche Mexicana show, which was probably the single moment when I fell in love with traveling.

The Getsemani neighborhood (outside the wall) had a much more hippy feel to it. Lots of college students, most sounding like they were from the United States, hanging out in the streets smoking pot and drinking beer. It was like a fraternity party had been brought in for the evening.

So, if you still have any doubts about visiting Colombia, it's time to get over them and go visit this amazing country. It's safe, so safe in fact, that the discount travel folks have found a way-cheaper and more-authentic locale than the likes of Cancun. Until Cuba's open to us U.S. passport holders, we'll have to (happily) make do with scenes like this one:

...and this:

Our second day in town, we spent the morning at the Castillo San Felipe de Barajas, which is a large fort complex overlooking the city and bay.

Even after visiting the fort, I have my doubts if it was built on top of a hill or if the hill is the result of building the fort. My guess is that it was a hill first and they covered with what you can see. It's the impressive (and massive) series of tunnels, storage, barracks, and water tanks you can't see that give me my doubts.

Don't let the clouds in these photos fool you. Like I said earlier, it was H-O-T hot! We stopped for frequent breaks and drank way too much water. Here's Diana's mom and dad taking advantage of an old canon, which was used as winch point to bring supplies up to the top, during one of our stops. Note Fidu representing Philadelphia by rocking the Phillies hat my dad gave her when he came to Colombia a couple of years ago. Way to go Fidu!

While we were at the fort, Diana's brother hired a driver to take us to our next two stops, the first of which, La Popa, is Cartagena's highest point. There's a monastery, which is nice, but it's the view of all of Cartegena, the bay, and the ocean beyond that takes the prize. If you look at the photo below up close, you'll see the Castilla San Felipe de Barajas, which is beyond the yellow building above Diana's head, and the old walled city just beyond that. Nice view!

We wanted to eat some good fresh seafood and the driver recommended a place he knew out at La Boquilla, which is a narrow island just north of the city. You get there by driving, along with basically all the other local traffic on the sand just up from the water. Lining the entire way is a series of covered "restaurants" that really aren't much more than tents where you can get some food made in nearby houses. As good as that sounds, our meal was just okay. We had better in town for pretty much the same price.

What made the visit worthwhile though was the setting. Diana and her family went in the water while I took photos and enjoyed the locals going about their business. At one point, a fishing boat came in and I watched the maybe twenty guys pushing the boat up onto the beach, bring in the haul, and tend to the nets. While all this was going on, a series of vendors sold mangoes and other snacks to the most-likely freshly flush fishermen. What a great experience! And the view's pretty nice too!

Another day trip was over to the beach at La Boca Grande, which is the more modern side of Cartagena. I'd imagine that most of the tall buildings have been built in the last few years with many still under construction. The beach itself is full of rental beach chairs and umbrellas, small restaurants, and an army of people trying to earn a living from anyone who's not a local.

We ate lunch at a place that had the appearance of being made from leftover lumber and may have lacked indoor plumbing. Depending on your style this may not sound appetizing but I can tell you that the view from the tables on the sand were first-class and the food. Well, let's just say, like when we ate on the streets in China, it was the best meal of the trip. The fresh fish was the size of my thigh and my pina colada, which was made with fresh coconut and pineapple by the nextdoor business, was also super yummy and I'd go back in a second! And, as a bonus, Diana and her mom got massages at the same time!

And about those views...

Diana and her family wanted to take a boat ride out to the nearby Rosario islands, which is supposedly one of the must-dos when visiting Cartagena. We woke up extra early one day and headed over to the docks full of energy.

That is, until I found that it was like four-plus hours in the boat between coming and going. If you've been reading my blog before, you may have seen I'm not the biggest fan of boats. It's not that I'm at all afraid or anything. It's just the idea of being on a boat for four hours is not my idea of a fun day. So, I opted out, gave some goodbye hugs, took photos of the dearly departing, and happily headed back into town to enjoy some alone time!

After stopping back at the house to drop off my stuff, I went to the highly promising Museum of the Inquisition, which is located in an old colonial-style palace inside the walled city.

A quick side story before getting into the museum. When we were kids and often when the whole family was gathered together like at Thanksgiving, my dad would lead a game he called Torture. Although I'm still not clear on what the rules were, it involved all of us jumping on him while he acted as the torturer. As games often say on the box, it was fun for all ages.

I fully expected a museum version of this game. Maybe a bit more hardware, a lot more raw flesh, and gobs more crying. With the exception of the display below, it was surprisingly short of torture. In retrospect, I foolishly confused "Museum of the Inquisition" with "Museum of Torture", which I'm sure exists somewhere I haven't yet gone.

Having said that, it was a good museum and I learned a lot about a topic that I probably slept through during my schooling. A nice extra was a few rooms filled with some more modern art done by (very talented) local kids. It included drawings of daily-life experiences like random things seen while riding the bus, times at school, and even family-time. And, no, there was no Torture game artwork. Maybe like comedy, the game doesn't travel well.

I'll often have moments when I'm hyper-aware of the setting and me in that setting. I've tried writing about it before but I've never been able to really capture what I meant. As an example, I recently found myself standing and waiting on a street outside a post-wedding party I had just attended. The variety of people I was surrounded by, the number of languages being spoken, the setting of the street I was standing on, the random people passing by were mesmerizing. It was so much in such a compressed time and space that it really struck me and made me reflect on what path got me to that random spot at that random moment.

Other times, I'll be in the middle of something that could be a scene out of one of those movies where the director focuses on all the micro details of what's going on (like I said, this is a bit hard to explain). While we were walking around a random Cartagena neighborhood, the moment captured in the photo below, I had one of these hyper-aware moments.

The amount of traffic passing by, the mini buses packed with locals heading wherever, the guy talking on the phone at a way-too-high volume, the people selling items at the stand, the palm trees, the heat and humidity of the day, the smells of food cooking on the street, the modern shopping center, all the random folks walking by or just hanging out, and even the "mototaxis" between the bus and the curb (mototaxis are a lower-cost version of a taxi). It was all a bit surreal and made me stop and wonder for a moment how I had arrived at that specific moment.

I wonder if this is how people feel when the meditate; an awareness of everything all at once. Or maybe it's the opposite as meditation might be the hyper-awareness of nothing at all. In any case, it's moments like this when I can be found in one of my happy places.

The scene in the next photo was a surprise. While walking through the Parque del Centerio, old-town's Central Park, we came across a bunch of local kids practicing inline racing. All the kids had racing skates, spandex outfits, and the track was in great condition. I've been to Colombia before and have spent almost nine months in various parts of the country. I know it fairly well and I'm very comfortable there. But, this scene made me realize that, for some reason, I have some biases that are still embedded deeply in my brain.

Let's try something. Close your eyes and think about the idea of Colombia. What images flash into your mind? I can almost certainly guarantee that this is not one of them. All that other stereotypical crap, yeah that may have existed (and maybe somewhere still does) but this is real:

One of the more popular pastimes for locals and tourists alike is walking along the top of the city wall. Diana and I walked it at least once a day. It was a great place to people watch and just relax.

At one point along the wall, there are a series of openings that might have been where canons were placed. In the evenings, each of the openings would be filled with a single teenage couple pawing at each other while looking out over the sea. I joked with Diana one time that we should come early, stake out a place, and then sell our spot once all the others had been filled by sweaty teenagers in love. She thought it was a good idea, or so she says, and we spent maybe an hour one day just "hanging out" in our own little nest.

Another random Cartagena thing I enjoyed was the Portal de los Dulces, which is a small market area where people sell local-style sweets. There's lots of coconut and tropical-fruit-flavor candy some of which appears to be handmade and others that are definitely factory items. Diana and I stopped by one day to buy about $20 worth of candy (and sample another few dollars worth!) to take back to Bogota and Barcelona. Worth a visit if you're ever in town.

Our last morning in town was spent at the Naval Academy visiting with a friend of Diana's brother who is a naval officer at the school. We got the full tour, ate some coffee and sweet bread, and took a bunch of photos. It was interesting to see the facilities and learn about the history but, humorously, the thing I remember most is the cadets cleaning the statue below and the surrounding plaza. Some of them were hand cleaning the bricks and others were polishing the statue. It was hard work and it, again, was hot, hot, HOT in the sun!

Oh, and I need to mention that we stayed at an amazing, five-bedroom house that had a rooftop deck and a small pool in the courtyard. The house is colonial style with all the first floor rooms open to the courtyard, which is open to the sky. With the air conditioner on, it was very comfortable and pleasant to lounging by the pool drinking some Argentinian wine. This is the life!

Dinner on our last night in town:

It was nice to be back in Colombia with Diana's family and to be able to spend so much time with her mom, dad, and brother in such a beautiful house and city. Plus, it was way better than refreshing my knowledge of the Colombian medical system!