Happy Anniversary Ma and Pa

I can be the first to say this since I'm 9 hours ahead of everyone else we know. The sun is shining here through one of those brisk clear mornings that reminds me of camping in the Sierras as a boy. It's 8:45 on Sunday, and for the past 15 minutes the monestary next door has been pleasantly chiming its bells, I can only assume in celebration of your 29 years of marriage. I can remember when you first told me that you were getting married, I never thought that 29 years later I'd be preparing to move back in with you.

I hope you two are enjoying your holiday. I hear it's clear and cold, but hopefully that made for great views of the valley and the sights. Thanks for everything, and I'd wish you another 29 years, but then I have to think about being 53, which I'm not really ready to do yet.

Here's a picture of where I am. Though this computer doesn't have USB, so it's not one of mine.

Theres so much that we share, that its time we're aware

Here's a Friday story to freak you all out.

So I'm in Prague (pictures of various things to come soon) and one of my dorm mates is from Ireland. She's moved here to do a year of law school and is staying in the hostel while she and her friend (who is down to the mannerisms an Irish version of Jed) find a place. She mentioned in conversation that she lived in San Diego this past summer, then today said something about when she was working at a surf school. So I ask, having partaken of and researched into a lot of San Diego surf schools, which one she worked at. Pacific Surf School she tells me and if I was being overly dramatic, I'd say I froze at the kitchen sink and dropped, in slow motion of course, the cup I was washing.

Really I say ef off (I swear a lot around the Irish) and tell her to log onto the web site real quick, cause I'm sure that's the one I went to (she has her laptop since she now lives here for a year). As she logs in, I tell her that I remember an Irish girl checking me in. I remember because she wasn't an Aussie, like I would have expected, and as many of you know I love and often adopt the Irish accent. Before the page loads I remember in vivid detail that she was the girl who checked in people, down that little street, two doors from the beach. I can almost picture the T-shirt she wore. The orange page comes up and it's confirmed. That's the page I used to book my lesson. She asks me who my instructor was, a Brazilian I say, then in unison we both say, 'Freddy.'

And the cup is now spinning on the ground and the camera zooms in on the manufacturer. Kobayashi. Kobayashi. Kobayashi. After which Chaz Palmentari chases after me and I get into a really nice Jaguar.

Does that not just blow your mind?

I reallz hate this computer

It's expensive (€3.50 an hour), the kezboard is German so it switches the y and z, and I got pictures on the computer, but can't open them to post for zou to enjoz. Oh well. Thez'll get up eventuallz.

I'm in Fussen and it's great. I hiked up and around Neuschwanstein Castle for some great pictures, which zou can't see.

Berlin was fantastic. I met some great people and had a lot of fun, and would post picutures of them and I, having fun, but I can't.

Sigh. More later. Oktoberfest tomorrow. I went zesterdaz, but had no beer.

"What do you think of the wall?"

I can't believe how much I love Berlin. We're leaving tomorrow and while I'm ready for the next place (Munich and Fussen!) this is the first place I've been that I said to myself 'I could live here.' Even though I don't speak the language. Though I do know the word for cheese.

I just GChated with Jared and told him that it's so cheap here, yet so rich in culture. I've seen live music here almost every night, been to museums and sights that chronicle the history of the world in the 20th century, and ate so much good, cheap food. I'll take a picture of the €1.19 bottle of German wine we bought at Aldi, the world's cheapest gro sto.

I don't know if I'll be online anytime soon because I'm going to rural Fussen till Tuesday, then I'll be busy drinking liters of beer in Munich with some of my new friends I've met in Berlin. I may post in the morning if I can't sleep. Have a nice Friday everyone, mine's almost over.

It's a start, Germany

This picture is boring. But every day, in front of Humboldt University they sell books. This is the sight (or rather over my shoulder from where this image was taken is the sight) where the students of the university decided one night to enforce the Nazi banning of certain books. It is commonly seen as the start of the Holocaust, as they were trying to stop people from thinking. The memorial in the square is very powerful in person, but I won't post it here. It is underground, through glass and hard to see, but there are rows of empty book shelves.

So this is a step in the right direction. Especially since it's a, you know, school.

No beating around the bush in Europe

I also grabbed someone's discarded carton from Amsterdam. It says 'smoking kills' but in Dutch so there are way too many Js and Rs.

Biking Berlin

We took the free bike tour in Berlin after we had a great time on the Free New Amsterdam Tour (same company). The guides work on tips (and actually have to pay the company €2 for every person on the tour) so they really have to sell the tour and can't phone it in like so many UCLA tour guides do (myself occasionally included).

The dude (and he was a dude, not a guy) in Amsterdam was great. Kind of a Mike Stephenson tour crossed with a Jed Levine tour. The girl in Berlin was also good, but I was less impressed with her. But she's not a native English speaker, so she wasn't able to pull off the clever wordplay. Either way, still a great tour that I highly recommend. And I know good tours, I used to give them.

That's what she said about waffles

If you get the title of this blog, congratulations, you've seen the Pumaman episode of MST3K. This is a true Belgian Waffle. We stopped in Brussles for about 2 hours en route to Amsterdam and had to partake. They're sweeter than the US version of the Belgian Waffle, and oh so much better. On Lisa's recommendation, we also had some fries, which were also fantastic. The best I've had in Europe so far.

Shit. I don't speak German

Don't get me wrong, I knew that before I came here, but I never realized how much I don't speak German until we got off the train in Hannover (a non-tourist area that was our first stop in the country). We stayed the night there in a super cheap hotel with pretty sweet bunk beds, but it was a humbling and frightening experience getting to the hotel, which was about 18 km away from the train station in a very poorly lit area. And by poorly lit, I mean pitch black in the woods, with only a hint of a McDonalds sign peaking through the leaves.

Sure, all the signs in Holland are written in Dutch (which is why I got us lost while on our bike ride) but EVERYONE speaks English. It was foregin language lite. Luckily, here in Berlin, when I ask, "Sprecken sie English?" people say "Not so good," which I feel is similar to when a Spanish speaker asks me if I habla Espanol and I tell them, "mas o menos." They at least know that I want change for a 5€ note, which is more than I can say for all the employees at the main train station in Hannover.

But it's nice to be stationary for a week here in Berlin. I unpacked a little, and actually went to the gro sto just now so I'm able to get my first home cooked meal in a few weeks.

(Special note: The keyboard here is way different. For starters the y and z are switched. Also thez have ö ä ß µ and §. I know what ß is; it's an ess tset, and it sounds like a double s. So Straße is pronounced Strass-eh, and means street to you and I. Look at me, Eich bin ein Berliner.)

God built the world: The Dutch built Holland

And they did it well. Though they lose points because all the buildings are leaning a bit sideways. Spell check says I spelled every word wrong. It thinks I'm Dutch.

Me, getting political

Me: Shouldn't there be something on top of the Parthenon here?
British Museum: NO. They belong here. Not in Greece.

I love England!

This is a traditional English breakfast, otherwise known as a lazy fry up. There is a fried egg, baked beans, sausage, bacon (more like Canadian bacon really) a grilled tomato that was halved before grilling, and grilled mushrooms. I got about halfway through with this one when I realized I hadn't taken a picture of it. Kate said "I was surprised you didn't."

It's pretty much the best part of the trip so far. I've had two now, this was my first and it was the best. I didn't think I'd like the mushrooms, or the beans, but I did. There was never anything left on my plate. Family, I will make this first weekend I get back to the states. I already miss it, more than I miss some of you. My true love. So delicious. Does want!

Me, respecting history

At Dover Castle. A 12th century castle that was converted into a WWII stronghold. It's as close as you can get to continental Europe without swimming. Or, I suppose, getting in a boat.

Drinks: a photo essay in three images

This is me drinking Bath water. 114 degrees, out of the hot spring that supplied the Roman bathhouse for thousands of years. It tastes like blood (cause of the iron).

This is me drinking a Coca-Cola with Orange. The soda is colored like Coke. It tastes like you combined Coke and orange soda. Or, pretty much like you'd assume Coke with Orange would taste.

This is Kate and I, in a pub in Finsbury (London neighborhood). The cask ale is good. I prefer it to the other two drinks on this page. Not pictured, my pint of ale.

Stonehenge: Pretty much rocks

Gaelic signs

I know what this sign is going for - same message in two languages. But doesn't it seem like it says "something something except trams"? Oh Dublin. Just speak English.

Splish splash

I'm staying in Bath. This morning at about 7 we hopped a train from Waterloo (in London) to Salsbury (an hour and 45 minutes away). This was my first train ride that I can recall, and I quite liked it. You know how on BART (or whatever your local mass transit subway system is) when two trains pass in opposite directions there's that boom? It didn't happen as we passed another train. Probably because we were outside in the English countryside and not in a tube under the San Francisco Bay.

The train was a Southwest Train, which amused me to no end. It's almost like a Mel Brooks joke, cause it's the cheapest possible train, and also the cheapest possible airline.

From Salsbury, we took a 20 minute bus ride to Stonehenge, which, of all the piles of rocks I've seen in my life (and that's a lot given my experience in construction) this one is certainly the most orderly. So British. The freeway is literally feet away from one of the stones. That's so L.A.

After that we mozied around Salsubury for a few hours - a very cool town. It's Saturday, so there was a farmers' market and a lot of cool stuff to see and eat for free. The bus ride to Bath was surprisingly fun. I got to ride through the English countryside (on the wrong side of the road no less) for two hours, sitting amazed at the Robin Hood-esque buildings and empty fields. Also, the Moby/Depeche Mode soundtrack made it like a music video. I'm trying to stick to artists from the UK or popular in the UK. The other day in Dublin, I heard a Mika song in a grocery store.

Tomorrow I'm going to go see some old Roman baths (thus the city name) and then hop a bus back to London for a few nights. The YMCA I'm staying at tonight (it's not all that much fun) doesn't allow USB hookups, but the Internet cafe aught to by my London hotel so there should be some art soon.

It's weird to be in a place so old. We saw one of four surviving copies of the Magna Carta today (hand written on lamb skin in 1215) in Salsbury Cathedral and realized that it's 4 times as old as our country. So, there's that.

I'll send emails and hopefully pictures from London tomorrow night (and I bet you all only ever read this at work anyway).

Beer Answers for Gwynne

Yes, the beer is a little bit warmer here than in the States (though not quite room temperature, just a few degrees warmer) and the cask style ales are pumped out, so they're a little flatter than typical American beer.

Honestly, I prefer the flatter, and because of that, I don't mind the warmer. It's pretty delicious.

First buzzed (drunk?) blog

It's 11 pm. I'm on about 2 hours of sleep for the second time in a few days and am now blogging after having a few pints (only like 3) at the bar next door to our hostel. I like Dublin. It's a pretty small city, so you can walk everywhere (at least we did today) the people are pretty nice (one guy gave us directions to the place we were going without even asking us if we needed directions). Also, Tor, I'm going to try to post a picture of Mr George Bernard Shaw's birthplace tomorrow at some point, but I don't know if I can a) find it; and b) post the image (though I'm pretty sure I can).

I'm going to take a little walking tour tomorrow (self guided) of an area I haven't been yet, and then that's it for me in the land of my people (or, my father's father's people) as I fly out in the evening for London. I am for sure going to one of those heraldry places, cause why not? How often am I in Ireland (so far 1 out of over 8,760 days of my life).

As for those of you who want a postcard from everywhere, despite my seemingly infinite resources, I don't know if I can swing that. Pick one. Or two. I'll see what I can do.

I've continued to jaywalk, which I hope will help me blend in with the locals. And let me tell you about the Guinness in Dublin. It's good. Though I think I can spot the reason why. In L.A., a bartender will pour you a "slow pour" Guinness for like, $12. That's where they pour a little more than half of a beer, wait a few minutes (not moments) and then pour the rest. Every bartender (including the one at Gravity Bar at the top of the factory) in Dublin pours it that way. They just know. I may have found the secret. Though, in all honesty, I didn't think the first Guinness I tasted was better than U.S. Guinness. It was good, and different, but not normal. Then I saw it wasn't normal Guinness. It was some new-fangled type (image to follow soon). Then at Gravity Bar, I had the best Guinness of my life. I didn't believe the hype, but it still got me.

The hostel is pretty nice. The neighborhood it's in is a cross between Chinatown and 3rd Street. We'll see how well I can sleep I guess before I make any final judgements on it.

So you guys are all at work (except Rima, who left about 30 minutes ago) and I'm about to go to bed. The roundness of the world kind of freaks me out. Every hour one of us mentions how weird it is that our friends are "just waking up," or "just getting to work," or "eating lunch," while we're already yawning and falling asleep during historical AV presentations.

Peace out.

Dubliners: The people that will run me over

So they jaywalk here. A lot. Also, I almost got hit by a car (not really) because I didn't realize that our usual American red hand is, in Dublin, a red man, which looks an awful lot like the guy that usually tells me to walk.

Our flight was delayed while we were sitting on it for an hour in Philly. The reason? The toilets wouldn't work. So we took off at 10, EDT and landed at 9 Dublin time (and of course, I only got about 2 hours of sleep again). The shower I just took felt really amazing... like a camping shower.

More from London later.

RDU has free internet... kind of

I'm in the CNBC store, they want me to check my MSN mail (which I don't have, silly bastards. I actually had to do a search for blogger.com since there's no place to type in direct URLs). We are no longer going to Charolotte. The women at the ticket counter were very helpful and got us on a 1:30 flight direct to Philly. This way, we only have two flights today, and we'll have 5 hours of waiting around in Philly to eat, relax, get bored, then fly to Dublin on our original flight.

Kate is happy because she's heard some bad things about US Airways (I never had, but I'm less inclined to do hours of research on things like that) but is thus far pleasantly surprised with their customer service. She hopes it's this great the rest of the trip. I'm sure it will be. Also, one of the women was British, so she said something about our "holiday." Yay for Britishisms.

Hey, can you water the plants in America for me while I'm gone (aka: London Calling)

This will be my final US-based post for a while. Leaving the hotel tomorrow morning for Dublin, but I probably won't see a computer until I'm in London, or even after next weekend. I don't know, we'll see. I really enjoyed my time in Raleigh. The south is cool (well, hot actually) and I may have to visit again some day.

But so begins the foreign adventures. I hope this whole crazy thing works out. I think the over/under for us getting mad at each other is about 6 hours, but I'm sure it will be something stupid like she's walking too fast or I'm being too bossy. It hit me today when I woke up that I'll be NOT in the US tomorrow (or at least, I'll be on my way to not being in the US tomorrow) and I'm getting really excited.

That's it for now, I'll post as soon as possible. Thanks for your interest (if you're interested).
-Zac

Go Bruins

My hotel does have Fox Sports Network so I am watching UCLA at Stanford in the season opener. I'm happy that I can see one game this season.

Oh yeah, I'm in the South

This is out in front of the North Carolina capital building.

This is the North Carolina capital building.



And this is just reassuring to know.

Mishap No 1

The first luggage-related incident has happened. There have been other mishaps of course, but this is the first travel-specific one. My two travel-size bottles of body wash (which we will henceforth refer to as the more masculine "soap") were in my toiletries Ziplock baggy (BAGGY! shout out to Sachin and Jared) along with my toothpaste, laundry soap and whatnots. One of them (the smaller one) busted open and got all-up-in everything. What had happened was, the screw cap and the stump it screws onto were severed off. Luckily, it was mostly contained in the bag, and also luckily, soap washes off pretty easily.

I'd take a picture, but I can't imagine a less interesting image. In more interesting image news, I had an East Coast beer yesterday. America's Oldest Brewery, Yuengling, which the label says has been in service since 1829. It was almost more than this California boy could handle when I saw it in the liquor store (note: this is also one of those states that have special stores for booze. God bless California, which lets you buy vodka when you buy raw meat and fresh produce.)

I'm likely to post a lot today and tomorrow, as Monday, Chris' parents (who are both really cool) will be heading back home with my suit and Kate's laptop, so I'll be out of touch probably until my second day in London, some time on Friday (as I don't want to waste any precious Irish moments writing to you people.

I can only hope that my posts will be more exciting once I hop across the pond — a hop that doesn't seem as imminent as it should at this point. 11 am local, 8 pacific, 4 Irish time.