Equal

If I were a better person, I would probably be talking about rights. Alas, that's another blog another time. This time I'm talking about the sweetener - the one that will probably give me cancer. I miss it. I've always turned my nose up at Sweet n' Low and real sugar. My morning tea just doesn't taste the same without it. However, I have found comfort in another. I am having a brief affair with a new sweet sensation. The Choco Liebniz. Not since the double-stuff Oreo has there been such cookie perfection. And they come in Dark chocolate.

Sorry for the trite diatribe. I would love to bore you with my weekend in some exotic place where I was the only blond for miles and high fashion is a grass skirt, but the extent of my travels this weekend were Richmond and Chelsea - and neither lacked blondes or exotic fashions. Although I didn't see much of Richmond because of the prime and proximate restaurant locale to the train station, it was lovely having dinner with Greg and Nicola. I think I followed the story of how they met, but I might need to see a visio doc showing the common friends so I get the story straight:-) Thanks for dinner - can't wait to see the markets or Mick Jagger's house.

Chelsea was nice and I had breakfast at a wonderful, but very yuppie, place called Baker & Spice http://www.bakerandspice.com/. It was much like being on the upper east side in Manhattan. It was also "Mum's Day" here on Sunday - so a belated shout-out to my Mum (although I really have until May, so please don't ask where your card is...postage is expensive here and the pub tab doesn't pay itself:-)

You might have noticed that I'm going on a bit without a whole lot to say. I am ever so slyly trying to conceal the fact that work has overwhelmed the last week and left me a bit too tired to do much exploring. Warning - brace yourselves for a lack of posts over the next few weeks as work will become all consuming. You like how I say that as if anyone is going to notice the lack of posts. Technorati doesn't even know I have a blog:-)

April 2nd is almost like a mantra that I and others in my company's marketing departments keep telling ourselves. "April 2, April 2, April 2" That is the launch date of this project I am working on and it can't get here soon enough.

Anyway, that's sadly all. If the next post proves to be as boring, I promise to just make crap up.

Luckiest girl in the world

City I most wanted to visit: Amsterdam
Concert I most wanted to see: Dave Matthews
Preferred venue for afore mentioned concert: Small, renovated church that seats 1,000
Preferred format: accoustic

Despite all of the trouble I have gone through in the last few months, it is offically all worth it. Anything else from here is gravy. I had, by far, the most serendipitous experience while here in Amsterdam. After arriving Friday night, I heard that Dave Matthews was playing at a small venue on Saturday night, but that it was also the fastest selling ticket in Amsterdam history selling out in 5 minutes. I thought carma owed me a few favors for the last few months and since I had no real plans Saturday night, I thought I would walk over to the Paradiso and see if I could scalp a ticket. Now by nature, I'm an optimist, but I really didn't have any false expecations of getting a ticket - they were going for $450 on ebay.

For some of my older friends and family who might be wondering who Dave Matthews is, he is the Beatles of my, and many of my generation's, heart. If you replace the name Dave Matthews with Beatles when reading the entry, you might understand what a big deal this is. He sells out 60,000 seat venues across the U.S. every summer. He isn't a pop star by any means though since he's 41 and I have been listening to him for at least 12-13 years.

And I got a ticket. There were only 1000 to start. And I got a ticket.

Not only was it my first Dave Matthews show (even though I have been trying for years, albeit half-heartly, and never been able to go to one) but it was the perfect place in the perfect city and it was accoustic. Just Dave on stage with Tim Reynolds and their guitars. I was about 50 feet away from the stage. If this were a major venue, it would have been like being row 10.

This beats going to a Scottish ball any day of the year.

Let me preface with what an understatement the next sentence is going to be. It was awesome. One of the best experiences in my life.

If you are ever in Amsterdam and one of your favorite musicians of all time happens to be there playing accoustically for an intimate audience, I highly recomend you go.

I keep thinking of the word serendipity. I once heard that serendipity is a berry 1000 times sweeter than sugar - that is what last night was. "Life is short but sweet for certain"

My video of the show didn't turn out great, but here is a great clip someone else posted on youtube...

P.S. It happened. I was outside the Paradiso waiting to get in and was talking to some people from Michigan and Florida. One of the women made a comment about how bad the food in Amsterdam (which is amazing compared to London - sorry London). She said "the hamburgers are awful, like sausage patties." And that's when I thought it... "That's so American."

Marry me Amsterdam

Do you remember when you were a little kid and you would say "I love ice cream" and then your smart-ass friend, brother, sister, etc would reply "why don't you marry it then?" Well, that's how I feel about Amsterdam. Not the smart-ass part, but the marrying part. I want to marry Amsterdam. I love this city!

By far my favorite European city so far and hard to imagine another I will fall for as hard in my future travels. I can't explain exactly why - it just has an essence about it that makes me want to sell all of my things (except of course my shoes - that would be crazy talk), put the dogs on a plane, and move here. Most Americans just think of Amsterdam as the epicenter of legal vices, but that isn't it at all. (Ok - maybe a teeny,weeny little bit of it).

It is a beautiful city with a live and let live attitude. Without being even more dramatic, it was a bit like finding "the one." You don't know why they're the one, you just know it. That's how I felt. The only problem, of course, would be that it would feed my little addiction problem. My close and personal friends know the one. No, not the shoe one. The french fry one. The best french fries/pomme frites I've ever had were here (sorry I topped them with ketchup Stephen - I know I looked like an American).

They also drive on the right side of the road, but if I move here, no car for me, I'm buying a bike and a rowboat. Now I've found the city I love, I just need to find a cute Dutchman with a big enough houseboat for me, Ithaca, and Avery. UK immigration has nothing to worry about now... If I were going to illegally migrate, it would be Holland all the way.

Some of the highlights: flower markets, the canals, red light district, pomme frites and pancakes, Dutch masters, houseboats, and liberals.

Check out my message at the Van Gogh museum (although the end got cut off)
http://vangoghen.bitmove.tv:80/bitmove/vangoghen/index.jsp?uid=32E02F21B518F666377ADB68AD8307BA&format=WMV

Funky Cold Medina

My first night in Amsterdam. To protect the reputation of all parties involved, here what I have to say about it:

No Comment.

If you want to know anything more, buy me a beer. I can't share the stories with anyone I wouldn't share a beer with.

Update to this post and to answer any future inquiries...despite the blurriness of this pic and the possible misconception this image might convey, the only vice I had partaken in was a couple of beers.

Thee..ah..ter

For some reason, I feel that just saying theater the normal way is inappropriate when talking about the London theatre scene. I have the need to say it like "thee...ah..ter". Regardless, I had the wonderful experience of going to see a show in the west end on Tuesday. I saw "Blood Brothers" http://www.theambassadors.com/phoenix/ which is the story of a set of twins separated at birth and have very different lives. My review, which I'm sure will make or break this 20-year running hit, is that all of the actors had wonderful voices and the musical part was better sung than the acting pieces were acted. Some of the acting looked liked acting. The story was really good, although predictable. And despite finding out hours before hand that it was written by an author that Neil loves and I couldn't get past page 12, was well-written. Sorry for the smart ass comments the other day Neil, I was wrong. Thanks for being my date Budgie - it was fun and I loved seeing the Soho area for the first time.

Despite many entries to the contrary, I'm trying to keep this one is short and sweet. I have to finish packing for my weekend in Amsterdam this weekend.

The American Woman who went up a mountain and came down a Hill

It is very nice to get out of the city center when visiting a new city, at least as time and transportation allows. Sometimes it is hard how to do that, but with lovely Edinburgh, it was quite easy.

After I arrived at the Waverly train stop. BTW- Thanks Allan for chatting with me on the second half of the train ride. I hope you and your fiancée had a lovely time at the ball. Had I been brighter, I would have asked if she had any single colleagues who needed a date as angling my way into a Scottish Ball would have made a helluva story.

I digress. After checking into the hotel, I promptly went straight for the City Sightseeing bus. I know bus tours are a bit cheesy, but I have found they are a good way to see a lot of a city quickly, get a sense of geography and direction, and occasionally meet other travelers. This one was bit disappointing, but functional. I jumped off at the Castle.

Aaahhh, the castle. I had been hearing about for ages. It was beautiful. And surprisingly huge inside. Aesthetically, it kicks the Stockholm castles ass. One thing I have been getting from being in places that are centuries old is a sense of humility - kings and queens and religious leaders come and go, and yet they barely scratch the surface of history. It takes some of the pressure of worrying about the day to day stuff away. It appears that I will have to order a beheading or poison my brother (sorry Chris) to make any real legacy.

After the castle and some wandering around the royal mile, I headed back to the hotel to take a quick nap and freshen up. I don't know about other single travelers, but what do you do with yourself at night? I think I'm pretty independent, but I'm a little lost what to do by myself in a new town on a Saturday night. Going to a pub by myself and just sitting there looking for someone to talk to is something I don't like doing. Any other suggestions?

I had seen some signs for a literary pub crawl, so I thought that would be right up my alley. Drinking with Lit geeks? Perfect! Unfortunately, it appears the other geeks couldn't put their books down and be bothered to show up. Not having found the other people for the tour, I moved on to plan B - a ghost tour. You see, Edinburgh has a dark history plagued with lots of crime and, well, plagues. It was jolly good fun hearing about the 9 layers of bodies in some graveyards as well as the fact that it is estimated that 2-5% of them were actually buried alive, and begot both the phrases dead ringer and saved by the bell. Overall, it turned out to be an entertaining way to spend the evening and I met some friendly locals.

Having gotten to bed at a reasonable time, I woke up refreshed and ready take on the day. On the city's edge was a huge hill called Arthur's Seat. On my tour yesterday I had seen people hiking to the top and I thought it seemed like a good idea at the time. I started at what I thought was the base and just started going up. Now, I have run marathons and although I am not in peak training shape, I think I would have no trouble. Hiking is just walking, right? Uhh, no. After ten minutes, my heart was racing and I was having some trouble catching my breath. But I'm prideful and I wouldn't throw in the towel so soon (and then I saw a man and his two-year old coming down the path.) I persevered. It was one of those hikes that you think the top is just around the corner about a dozen times. And then the path started going downhill. WHAT? Where was the peak I saw people on yesterday? Again, I persevered. After I had gone on another ten minutes, I was in a sort of valley between the two peaks.

That's when I saw it, I'll never forget that feeling of defeat. The road that went parallel to the steep ledge I had just spent the last hour traversing. All of those people had just strolled their way around. However, this only brought you to the steps at the bottom of the real ascent. As I have made this entry too long already, I'll just say that I finally made it to the top. As soon as I made it, I was promptly almost blown off by the wind. A few pics, and I headed down the other side where all of the children, families, and pensioners were casually making their way up the easy side.

Advice - if we are ever out hiking together, and I say "this looks like a good way to go" for the love of God, drag me the other way.

Stillettos vs. Cobblestone

I have some bad news for my European sisters aka Eurofashionistas. The cobblestone has been there for hundreds of years. It looks at you coming toward it and laughs. Girls, the cobblestone is going to win. Why do you insist on wearing the spikiest heels you own to tour a castle on top of an unpaved hill? Although princes live in castles, even I know it is unlikely a) he will be at home b) if he is, he'll scoff at your illogical choice of footwear and the funny, short, side-stepping stride you have and or c) that you'll want to have your first date in the emergency room. For the love of God, buy some trainers or at least some fashionable ballet slippers.

First Class

Okay- I know a week has gone by without any new entries, but it isn't for lack of trying. Last Sunday I spent a good 45 minutes adding a post about eventful IKEA trip and loading pictures. I hit a button and lost the whole thing and was then too disheartened to do the whole thing over. You will have to trust me that it was Pulitzer quality and the humor was side-splitting. I doubt any other entry before or since will be half as good. Sorry.

I also owe a post about my trip to Cambridge last weekend (I now know why you loved it Meg - I want to quit my job and live in the ivory towers of British academia).

But those will have to wait. I am on the train to Edinburgh. I can't believe how nice the trains are. I bought my ticket in advance and bought the "saver" fare, so I was thinking I would be in airline like coach, well something more like Metra. When I got on, I even asked the person next to me if I was in the right seat. I thought "wow, my seat assignment is in first class accidently (feeling like I'd gotten away with something. ) But then the conductor announced that the first class cars were K, L, and M and I was in A. It is the little things like this that make me like Europe:-)

So I type this on my Blackberry as I head out of. King's cross station. It occurred to me last night that I could write posts on my little friend here and just email them to myself. This will make it much easier to keep "thatreallyhappenedmichelle" updated. (Someone just came around offering coffee- I LOVE these trains - except for one thing... My ears immediately feel massive pressure every time we go through a tunnel )

Now for the funny part and another reason this blog is appropriately names. Just as I'm sitting here finishing up the previous sentence, the ticket taker came around checking tickets. When I showed him mine, he said "very well...20 pounds please." Of course, I looked confused so he said "to upgrade to this business class car will be 20 pounds.". Needless to say, I just gave him the money and ordered some humble pie.