I walk a crooked path - don't step on my feet.

Miguel arrives! Montpellier & Arles

2007-07-24T06:06:00.000-04:00

On July 19, Miguel arrived in Montpellier! We spent two nights in town before heading off on our Provence tour.

Miguel in front of fountain, Antigone, Montpellier.

Denis and me in Jardin des Plantes

Miguel in Jardin des Plantes

Denis and me in Le Heaven bar.

After a couple of fun days in Montpellier, during which we managed to sleep through the highest profile event happening in the city all year (namely the arrival and departure ceremonies as the Tour de France passed through the city), we left for our Provence tour. We spent Saturday afternoon at L’Espiguette beach, then continued on to Mas du Petit Grava, a small guesthouse just outside Arles.

Miguel and I loved Mas du Petit Grava! It's a converted centuries-old farmhouse in the countryside near Arles, owned and operated by an incredibly friendly and welcoming couple, Jim & Ike. We really felt like we were staying with old friends who just happened to have a gorgeous home in the heart of Provence.

Miguel in front of Les Arènes, the 1st Century amphitheater in Arles, where they still host bullfights each summer.

Me in old Arles

Miguel in Arles

Nighttime street scene in Arles, the inspiration for many of Van Gogh's later paintings.

One of the best meals Miguel and I had on our trip was sidewalk dining at a pizzeria in Maussane les Alpilles, just a short drive from Arles.

Having evening wine, cheese & fruit -- and good conversation -- with our hosts and some of their friends.

Miguel with a new friend at the Mas.

Ike, Jim, me and Miguel just before we left Mas du Petit Grava for our drive to Avignon. I really hope to return for another stay in the near future. :o)

Next stop: Avignon!

Salon-de-Provence & Montpellier

2007-07-17T12:33:00.000-04:00

Over the weekend of June 29 - July 1, I paid a visit to Sandrine and Michael in Pelissanne, France, just outside Salon-de-Provence. It was so awesome to see these guys, who were of course the ones responsible for me winding up in Montpellier in the first place! (I'm not sure whether I mentioned this on the blog or not, but back in February in Pipa, Brazil, on the same day I found I had been accepted to HEC, I asked Sandrine and Michael where they thought I should spend the summer in France to take language courses, get acclimated, etc., and they recommended Montpellier. So even though I had never visited before, I took their advice and here I am! (And quite glad about it to boot!))

Sandrine and Michael in Salon. In addition to putting me up for the weekend in their home, cooking for me and generally being totally awesome people, Sandrine and Michael also took me into Salon-de-Provence on Saturday for the "Reconstitution Historique" festival, during which the whole town embraces its medieval roots.

The Reconstitution Historique had all sorts of exciting things on offer, including:

...big, scary bulls running loose in the streets (well, more ambling than running, but those horns are scary, no?), and...

...traditional medieval music complete with lutes and bagpipes and tights, oh my! ...and...

...silversmiths working in the traditional method (kinda makes you wonder what this guy is up to when there's no "Reconstitution Historique" going on, you know?) ... and...

...goose charmers... (see video below) ...

Have you ever seen such well-behaved geese?

We dined al fresco at twilight, and then strolled around a bit more...

...enjoying the acrobatics and saffron drapery.

Michael unleashing his inner paladin.

After having a fabulous time catching up with Sandrine and Michael, it was back to Montpellier for my final 3 weeks. Here are some snapshots of the city

St. Pierre's Cathedral

St. Anne's Church

Part of the monastery at Maguelone, about 15km south of Montpellier, right by the beach. This was part of a 6-hour bike ride I took all around the seaside nearby. Good stuff. :-)

Sunset over the Arc de Triomphe in Montpellier.

Inside of PopArt (again) -- one of my favorite haunts for daytime people-watching and web-surfing, and nighttime high jinks.

Laurent and me

Me and Nico

On Bastille Day, Denis and I took a trip to Sete.

Denis and me in Sete, with the Mediterranean behind us.

As night fell, we found the perfect sidewalk cafe for watching the fireworks:

Bastille Day fireworks in Sete, France.

But sadly, it seems that all good things must come to an end, and so it is with my sojourn in Montpellier. Next up, Miguel arrives and we tackle Provence!

Barcelona, Spain!

2007-06-27T10:24:00.000-04:00

My first French course at the Alliance Francaise in Montpellier ended on Friday, June 22, and my second course would not begin until Monday, July 2. Since I had the week free, I decided to hop a train down to Barcelona to hang out for a few days and pay a visit to ESADE, an MBA school with which I'm toying with the idea of doing an exchange while I'm at HEC.

In honor of returning to People Lounge for the first time since I was there with Miguel last September, I had my first cosmopolitan since arriving in Europe. Sadly, it wasn't very good, and made me long for those fabulous $6 Ketel One Cosmos at Therapy on monday nights.

While I was in Barcelona, I popped down to the beach at Sitges for a daytrip. Here I am wearing a characteristically subtle outfit, with the Mediterranean behind me.

Me in Sitges with the church and LaPunta stairs behind me.

Then it was back to Barcelona for my visit to ESADE. ESADE was the only other European MBA program that really appealed to me as I was applying to HEC (where I have now committed to attend starting this fall). But given the fact that I speak a a little bit of French but no Spanish, I thought France would probably be the more logical choice. I was really torn about the decision, however, and after sending in my tuition deposit to HEC, I started percolating on the possibility of pursuing either an exchange or dual degree between the two schools. So I decided to embark on a little reconnaissance mission and check the school out. I visited the campus and met with representatives from the admissions office, and was very impressed and got a very good vibe of the place. The school's reputation and curriculum both sound great to me, and the facilities and location and views from the school are all pretty fab. And of course Barcelona is extremely appealing in its own right. So there you have it. I'm definitely strongly considering the possibility of a dual degree or exchange between HEC & ESADE, but fortunately it doesn't look like I would need to do anything concrete until the very end of the year in terms of applying, so I have some time to mull it over. (One rather intimidating aspect of such an undertaking is that it would probably require becoming proficient in not only French, but Spanish as well...)

One thing Barcelona has in spades is innovative architecture, and ESADE is no exception. Here's the entrance hall to the MBA building. (It was even more George Lucasy in person...)

After my ESADE visit, I did a little sightseeing around Barcelona, riding in my very first topless bus:

Here's the topless bus I took to tour around Montjuic.

View to the Mediterranean from Montjuic.

Here's a shot of me taken at Castell de Montjuïc, with the city of Barcelona in the background. The views from up there, overlooking the city and the sea, were incredible. Of course it was also pushing 100 degrees and I was -- as usual -- dressed inappropriated in black jeans.

One of the odd things about Barcelona was that there were a number of splendiferous fountains -- such as this one -- in the large central plazas. What's odd about them is that they appear to be filled with urine. (Maybe it's to discourage someone, such as myself, who might be jonesing for a quick cooldown in the intense heat. )

The only eventful part of my trip back to Montpellier was that our train broke down in La Franqui, a tiny village 1.5 hours west of Montpellier. It was mid-day, well into the 90's, not a cloud in the sky, and for all of these reasons, unbearably hot. We were all forced to get out of the train, cross the bridge to the other platform, stand in the sun for an hour and change, then cross back to the other side, stand in the sun for a while, then cross back, wait a bit, then cross back again. Everyone tried to huddle under whatever little shade there was, but there just wasn't enough, and in the end we waited about 3 hours before a train finally arrived to bring us the rest of the way to Montpellier. Kind of a pain in the tuchus, but given other folks' reactions, it clearly was not that much of an anomoly.

Stranded in La Franqui.

Next up, a visit to Salon-de-Provence and final weeks in Montpellier!

More on Montpellier, France

2007-06-23T14:47:00.000-04:00

When we last left our hero, he was snarfing some puffy pink barbe de papa during gay pride. Despite this, we rejoin him anyway, as he continues to savor every fantabulous moment of this fantabulous summer in the fantabulous city of Montpellier.

Denis and me at Nicholas' apt. This is an absolutely horrendous photo of me, but Denis, of course, is adorable and I'm smitten, so I'm including it anyway. :-)

In honor of the end of my French class at the Alliance Francaise, a bunch of us got together for a farewell dinner on June 20.

Nicola and me at dinner

Me and Antonio, who turned into a great friend over the 4-week course. He and I both resided at the Protestant Theological School (yes, I know...) and got to hang out quite a bit. He was also horrified by my preternatural daily consumption of cereal, and insisted on making me authentic Italian lunches from scratch more times than I can count. After our French course, he was going to head back to Italy for a week before going to London for an English course, all in preparation for his bright future career in international relations. I hope we get to hang out again sometime soon, which seems likely, as I'm learning Europe is a very small place. :-)

Some more Alliance Francaise folks, representing USA (duh, that's me), Hong Kong, Brazil and Italy. I was really impressed with the diversity at the school, and was surprised that I always seemed to be the only American (but I suppose that's a good thing, as it just forces me to really only speak French).

The next day was perhaps the biggest party night of the year for Montpellier: the Fete de la Musique. In honor of Summer Solstice, the whole city becomes a massive dance party with every type of music imaginable, most of it live, being performed in the streets, in the plazas, in the courtyards, etc. If you're not a huge fan of what you're hearing, just walk a few feet further on and you'll hear something completely different. Evidently, this goes on in lots of cities around France, but I'd never seen anything like it. I hit the streets with Denis and his awesome rocker-chick friend, Christelle, to take it all in. We were soon joined by Nicholas and another friend of ours, Laurent, and basically had a blast until the wee hours. Here are some pics from the evening:

Denis and Christelle

Nicholas and Laurent

VIDEO

Here is a little video I took of a particularly trippy corner of the fete, at the Tour de la Babote in Montpellier.

Christelle, Denis and me at Fete de la Musique, ushering in the summer in style! (Apparently, we all felt the need to smush our heads together for fear of not making it into the photo.)

Next up, trips to Barcelona and Salon-de-Provence!

Gay Pride in Montpellier!

2007-06-10T13:11:00.000-04:00

The week of June 5 - 10 was Gay Pride here in Montpellier, highlighted by a big march on Saturday, June 9 (see photo above). It was actually an amazing event -- I was in shock at how huge the crowds were for a city this size!

The other fabulous thing that happened that week was that I met a totally adorable French guy named Denis (pronounced "Deh-nee"), and was immediately totally smitten. (So much so, I've nearly completely forgotten all about Harvey.)

Me and Denis the night we met. And no, he is not sitting on my lap! (He's sitting on the arm of the chair, and I'm kneeling alongside.) Anywhoosie, the low-down on Monsieur Denis is that he grew up in Uzes, in the south of France, and just finished up his studies to become an accountant. And did I mention that he is totally adorable and I am totally smitten? Well, that just about covers it. :-)

Me and my friend Nicholas, the same night. (Doesn't my thigh look ginormous???) I met Nicholas the first week I was in Montpellier and he has been totally awesome in introducing me to lots of folks (including Denis) and having me over for drinks many an evening before hitting the town. The other great thing about Nicholas is that even though he is French, he speaks perfect English, so it's nice for me to be able to be lazy and slip into my native tongue every now and then.

Anyways, back to the Gay Pride March:

The march kicked off from the Arc de Triomphe...

And the throngs just grew and grew...

...and grew...

...until there was quite a crowd assembled in the Place de la Comedie, where the mid-march rally was held. This quick video clip gives some sense of the size of the crowd:

But if you're interested in seeing a short photo montage with far better production quality, check out the clip my friend Antonio (you saw Antonio in my last blog post) put together. (I'm sure if I had an iBook, I'd be able to do something like this, too!):

As could be expected with a gay pride march, the day was marked by:

...completely outlandish outfits, like this guy in the orange plaid -- I mean, you have to be crazy to leave the house wearing that -- and...

...really shocking and militant signs like this one. We're clearly dealing with some particularly uppity queers here. :-)

The Pride float for Le Heaven, the Montpellier bar where I probably spend a little too much time.

Folks choose to show their gay pride in many different ways; I, for one, like to eat lots of puffy pink cotton candy (or Barbe de Papa -- literally, "Poppa's Beard" -- as they call it in France). Here's me with Nicholas and Denis and some small portion of the total quantity of cotton candy I consumed that day, because, yes, I'm 5 years old.

Next up, more on Montpellier!

Day trip to Sete, France

2007-06-03T08:16:00.000-04:00

On Saturday, June 2, a bunch of us from the Alliance Francaise took a day trip about 35km west of Montpellier to the small city of Sete. I sort of lead the group on the walking tour of the city, as described in the Michelin guide, but I don't think everyone was entirely happy with me, as the walking tour proved to be miles and miles long and involve hiking up the rather steep Mont St-Clair. Oops. At least we all got our exercise for the day...

View of Sete and the Mediterranean Sea beyond, from the summit of Mont St-Clair

Our motley crew on the summit of Mont St-Clair, representing -- from L to R -- the Czech Republic, Sweden, Italy, Germany, Hong Kong, England and Switzerland. A mini-UN!

View down the steep steps from Mont St-Clair towards the village of Sete.

Dancers in the city center. I assume this was some sort of traditional dance of the region -- which is why I took the photo -- but I didn't stay long enough to find out...

The marina at Sete

Back in Montpellier, that same evening, having a drink at Place Jean Jaures: myself, Antonio (from Italy) and Nicola (from Germany).

Miriam (from Sweden) and me at PopArt in Montpellier the same night.

Next up, Gay Pride in Montpellier!!!

Montpellier, France

2007-06-01T10:40:00.000-04:00

I arrived in Montpellier on Friday, May 25, 2007. To be completely honest, my first impression was that is was not quite what I expected. I had this image of a charming little city in my head, but Montpellier seemed to be big, congested, and radiating urban sprawl in every direction. (Ultimately, my opinion of Montpellier would change dramatically, but more on that later...) My French class at the Alliance Française would be starting Monday, as would the housing that they had arranged for me, so I checked into a hotel for the weekend and took stock of my surroundings. I wasn’t alone for long – Robert decided to take a drive down to visit Montpellier over the weekend with Brian (another guest from the Lotus Tree) and Jean-François (a Canadian guy was working at the Lotus Tree).

Brian, Me and Jean-François over dinner in Place Jean Jaurès in Montpellier.

And of course, before the weekend was out, the barstaff at my two instantly-favorite watering holes, Le Heaven and PopArt, all knew me by name as well as my favorite cocktails. How welcoming is Montpellier?!?! And while we’re on the topic of drinks, remember the various accoutrements adorning the Smirnoff Ice bottles throughout South America? In France, dressing up the Smirnoff Ice is unnecessary, as it simply radiates with an inner glow:

Smirnoff Ice at Le Heaven

Other cocktails, however, can be downright tacky – but deliciously so – such as this concoction at PopArt.

I won’t do the full overview of Montpellier just yet, but suffice it to say I quickly became immensely fond of the city. Here are a couple of snapshots to tide us over:

L’Arc de Triomphe

Tromp l’oeil just outside the city center. There are a few really impressive examples of this type of art around the city.

L’Opera de la Comedie

Place de la Comedie, with the Fountain of the 3 Graces

And here’s a photo of (most of) my French class. Being the only American wasn't enough -- had to stand out even more by once again wearing my colorful floral-print shorts.

Next up, a day trip to Sete and more on Montpellier...

Montclus, France

2007-05-25T21:28:00.000-04:00

I spent the nights of May 23 & 24 at the Lotus Tree Resort, located in a rural area near the Ardeche Gorge, about 2 hours north of my final destination, Montpellier. The Lotus Tree is a small gay guesthouse run by a British couple in a converted centuries-old farmhouse and related outbuildings, with a view out to the medieval city of Montclus.

The view of Montclus at twilight from my bedroom window at the Lotus Tree.

Although pretty much in the middle of nowhere, and traveling alone, I had the great fortune of meeting a really cool British guy at breakfast my first morning at the Lotus Tree. Robert was also traveling solo, so we decided to spend the day exploring the Ardeche Gorge together. The Ardeche Gorge is a really scenic gorge (obviously!) formed (appropriately enough) by the Ardeche River. Here are some snapshots of our little driving tour:

Arch on the Ardeche River. Canoeing seems to be a very popular way of seeing the gorge – I’m hoping maybe Miguel and I will be able to do this when he comes to visit in July…

Me standing on the road that runs through/along the Ardeche Gorge.

Ditto

The Ardeche Gorge. Pretty, no?

I’m not really sure why I thought this was an appropriate sight-seeing outfit, but it was hot as hell that day and these were my lightest clothes.

It is forbidden to throw Pierre’s into the gorge. Fortunately, I don't know any.

Close up of all the gorges on my face.

Just to break up the monotony of gorgeous scenery, there are a number of impressive caves along the way. We decided to stop in for a tour of the Grotte de la Madeleine. It was actually awesome, but the tour was in French and I basically understood nothing. But it was very pretty and a welcome respite from the intense heat of the day.

Robert in the Grotte de la Madeleine. Unlike me, he was actually dressed respectably.

More of the Grotte de la Madeleine

Me in the Grotte de la Madeleine

Another view of the Gorge from the Grotte de la Madeleine

Me and Ditto.

Back out on the road.

Yet another view of the Ardeche Gorge

For lunch, we stopped at this cute little outdoor restaurant, the Auberge du Pouzat.

Robert and me at the Auberge du Pouzat

Back out along the gorge – I decided to climb up for a better view.

Later that same evening in the nearby town of Barjac, where we had dined al fresco.

It was so great hanging out with Robert and seeing the beautiful countryside around Montclus, that I was a little bummed to have to get up the next morning to continue my journey to Montpellier. But of course, very excited to finally see the city where I’d be spending nearly two months of the summer taking French classes.

Lyon, France

2007-05-23T11:50:00.000-04:00

On Tuesday, May 22, I left Paris in a rental car and drove back to HEC for my “official” campus visit. This had become somewhat superfluous after already having spent so much time on the campus the week before, but I wanted to meet with a few folks from the admissions and career offices to see what they had to say. The thing that stuck out most for me was some remark about all students receiving an iPod through a partnership with Apple, and all of the lectures being available as podcasts. Just when I thought the university experience had hit some pinnacle of technology, there’s yet another new development. In college, it was the rollout of duo-docking laptop systems and the World Wide Web itself. Then in law school it was fully “wired” classrooms. Now podcasts. I can’t imagine what universities will be like in another ten years…

Anywhoosie, after having lunch with a couple of current students and some other prospective students, I hopped back in my Renault and moseyed on down south to Lyon. Since the increasing strength of the Euro against the dollar is causing the cost of my MBA program to grow progressively more expensive week after week, thereby wrecking my rather unforgiving budget, I decided to economize and camp out in Lyon.

Me, my car and my tent. It was a great campground just outside Lyon, but oddly I was the only one tent-camping. Everyone else was in a winnebago.

Once I was all poled out and staked down, I made my way into Lyon. This was my first visit to the city, and I really liked it: beautiful architecture, friendly locals, and a pedestrian-friendly historic center. Here are some snapshots of the city:

The requisite equestrian statue of Louis XIV. Does every French city have one of these?

Buildings and fountains in the city center.

I forgot what this building was. Actually, I don’t think I ever knew. But it does bear a striking resemblance to the Hotel de Ville in Paris, so maybe it’s the Hotel de Ville of Lyon. Yes, let’s go with that.

Fun with light and shadows.

At the very top of my list of things I love about Lyon is the fact that they have a circus supply store right in the heart of the city. Just in case you need to pick up a unicycle or a red clown nose on the way home.

Another thing I loved about Lyon is that they have these self-service bicycle rental depots scattered around the city.

Equestrian Louie at night.

But alas, the magic couldn’t last forever. The next morning, as I groggily opened my eyes, this little beast was staring right back at me inside my tent:

Accordingly, I decided to break down camp a day early and head out for my next destination: Montclus.

Le Blog Is Back!

2007-05-22T11:13:00.000-04:00

Ohmigosh! I can't believe I arrived in France on May 15, and I've been so horrendously bad about updating my blog! :-( I have had only limited internet access here and there, but I hope to be much more on top of it going forward. Anyways, here's a quick recap...

After I arrived mid-May, I spent a few days in and around Paris. This is a photo of my room at the Centre International de Sejour de Paris. I'm still not clear on what this residence facility is; it's rather inexpensive and seems aimed at large conventions and groups of students or athletic teams. While I was there, there was a 9-day Esperanto convention going on, if you can believe that. (I thought that language movement died out about 20 years ago...) This is also the same residence where I will be staying for most of August when I return to Paris for the 3-week langugage course organized by HEC.

Anywhoosie, I didn't spend much time in my room. I was much too excited to finally see the HEC campus, where I'll be spending an awful lot of time in the upcoming months. I left my dorm at CISP to take public transportation the 15 miles or so to HEC, and about 2 hours and 45 minutes later, I finally arrived. (How happy am I that I will have a car when I arrive on campus this fall???)

Stepping off the train at the station in Jouy-en-Josas. Jouy-en-Josas is a small town of about 8,000 just a few miles south of Paris. It's also home to HEC. After I got off the train, I wandered a bit through the town. Then it started to pour. Then I began the 2-mile walk to the HEC campus. Carrying all my stuff. In the mud. In dress shoes. Uphill. Good times!

Here are a few snapshots of Jouy-en-Josas:

Jouy-en-Josas Train Station

Church of St-Martin

Typical street in the village of Jouy-en-Josas

Somebody's house in Jouy-en-Josas

Finally, I arrive at the HEC Campus

The HEC MBA Building. This is where it all goes down (and where I will be spending all my time). All the administrative offices and classrooms for the MBA program are located here.

A slice of the HEC campus. Perhaps they'll let me use this building as my dorm?

Actually, this is the MBA dorm. Expansiel. It's quite a bit nicer than I expected, but I still got a little twinge of nostalgia for my cute little Manhattan apartment with the Central Park view in a full service doorman building. I guess home is where you hang your hat, right? :-)

The first day I visited the HEC campus was actually the opening night of the MBA Tournament, which brings together participants from most of the top-ranked MBA programs in Europe (plus NYU-Stern!) for three days of competitive sports, networking and drinking. This annual event is a really big deal and everyone at HEC works hard all year preparing for it. Fortunately for me, HEC had already assigned me a "buddy," Vincent, who happened to be the chief cameraperson for the MBAT, and who let me tag along as he dashed from event to event capturing all the excitement on film. Somehow, I made it through 19 years of schooling without attending more than 2 or 3 sporting events total (except, of course, for all those horse shows I actually competed in back in college), so this was very new for me. I stayed at HEC for a couple of days, and happily spectated at volleyball games, soccer matches, a particularly vicious badminton contest, and hours worth of pétanque -- simply riveting!

The pétanque field on campus.

Finally, it was time to return to Paris. Here is a shot of Les Halles at sunset. While in Paris, I took a little time to check out some neighborhoods I had never visited before, register for my Augutst language course which will take place in the Marais, meet up with another future HEC MBA participant who's currently working in Paris, and generally experience the city through the lens of someone who's going to be spending a lot of time there. All in all, it was a very reaffirming visit and I'm actually really looking forward to the MBA program this fall.

Next up, we head south!

White Winged Doves, Tambourines, Lace & Chiffon!

2007-05-13T04:46:00.000-04:00

Sadly, I was only able to spend a couple of nights in New York, but wow, what a couple of nights they were! On Thursday night, I met up with some close friends at Le Zie Bar in Chelsea and had a fabulous time!

Um, shouldn't these guys be feeding me grapes??? Miguel, Erin & Christine & moi at Le Zie.

And then on Friday night, Miguel and I turned it out for the 17th Annual "Night of a Thousand Stevies," at the Hiro Ballroom in the Maritime Hotel.

Night of a Thousand Stevies (hereafter, "NOTS") is an annual event where hundreds of mildly unhinged Stevie Nicks fans don as much gossamer, chiffon and lace as humanly possible, come together in some subterranean space in New York City, and spin and twirl and sing along to "hauntingly familiar" music all night long. Seeing as this was the 17th annual NOTS, this year's theme was -- appropriately enough -- "Edge of Seventeen." And indeed, every time that particular song was played (on average 4 or 5 times per hour), it seemed the entire crowd rose and swelled in some mass rapture. (Not one to want to feel left out, I shrieked and swooned with the rest of them.)

VIDEO
"Welcome to NOTS!" As frightening as this guy looks in this video, he was much more so in person...

Miguel and I are totally cute, but we just didn't measure up to the inspired ensembles put together by Miguel's friends, Richard and Michael #2.

Miguel with Richard and Michael #2

Men and women and everything in-between came from such far-flung entertainment meccas as Asbury Park, New Jersey and Reno, Nevada to do their very best to channel the White Winged Dove herself up on the stage, with varying degrees of success. Some performances bordered on the sublime, others were total trainwrecks, but all were captivating in their own unique way...

An audience favorite. I captured this video just moments before this guy started whirling like a dervish, knocked over the microphone stand and generally made a mess of things. I was just hoping his head wouldn't explode.

Here another performer demonstrates that signature lip-synching move: walking away from the microphone in the middle of a vitally important lyric. Perhaps we are now combining lip-synching with ventriloquism?

What were the other highlights of the evening? Well obviously the aforementioned feathers, lace, chiffon, and generally speaking lots of layers of lots of different kinds of white fabric...

Stevie fan caught from the, um, front.

Another Stevie fan caught from behind.

...and of course lots of tambourines...

The distribution of dimestore tambourines from the stage, as seen in this video, worked the crowd into an absolute frenzy. No one was immune, least of all Miguel, who body-checked several pocket Stevies to secure his very own "NOTS" tambourine, which survived precisely 4 hip slaps before disintegrating into a shower of tiny jingling disks onto the floor.

Miguel proudly displaying his NOTS tambourine.

And of course, there were white winged doves everywhere! Overall, it was an amazing experience, and the enthusiasm of a thousand other Stevies is totally contagious. I obviously wasn't the only one affected by it; just as a landslide was bringing down my reflection from the snow-covered hills, I turned around and this was the face staring back at me on the dance floor:

Guess who will be organizing "NOTS 18"! :-)

Don't ask me why I own a poet shirt. As soon as we left the party, I folded it neatly and placed it in the nearest garbage pail.

Well, just when I thought I

couldn't handle any more chiffon for the weekend, I swung out to Bayside, Queens on Saturday for a family party celebrating my cousins Annie and Maya making their first communion. This is chiffon done right! ;-)

Annie

Maya

My sister MaryBeth and I spent Mother's Day at our parents' place. Here we are with Mike and Marie, who were visiting from next door. (Doesn't my old couch look great in my parents' house, by the way??) We had a fun afternoon, though I was in a bit of disbelief that I would be leaving for Paris in less than 24 hours, not to return again until Christmas!

Next up, France!

Kerri's Wedding

2007-05-06T22:10:00.000-04:00

On May 5, my kick-ass cousin Kerri Ann tied the knot with her beau, Robin. I was still slightly deranged from only having just returned from Australia, but that may have only added to my enjoyment of the wedding. ;-)

The happy couple at the reception.

Me, my cousin Laura (Kerri's sister), Aunt Maureen and cousin Terence

As much of my immediate family as could make it: me, Kim & Tim, MaryBeth, Dad & Mom, and Tommy. Unfortunately, Tommy's wife Malgosia couldn't attend, nor could my brother Patrick make the trip from Michigan. (I'm pretty easy to pick out in this bright purple shirt, aren't I?)

Terence and me

MaryBeth, Tommy, my uncle Denis and me

Tommy, Timmy and me. 3 of 4 the brothers -- hopefully, next time Patrick will be able to make it, too.

Here are me and Tommy in the foreground, with some of our cousins standing behind us: Bryan, Jackie, Eddie, Jamie & Karen.

As always, it was great to see everyone, but the time goes by so fast!!!

Final Days in Australia

2007-05-03T22:45:00.000-04:00

I'm sure gonna miss Australia -- not least of which because of signs like this:

On May 1, the "Fab 5" made a day trip via ferry to Manly Beach. It was awesome, and the weather was gorgeous just like us.

Me, Christine, Steph, Elliot and Jay on the JetCat Ferry en route to Manly.

View of the Sydney Harbor Bridge from the ferry. I love this photo because Elliot and Jay are engaged in synchronized photo-taking, and judging from the foreground, Christine and I must be as well...

Can't get enough pics of the Sydney Opera House, right? This one's from the ferry...

View of Manly Beach

Christine on Manly Beach

Elliot, me, Steph and Jay on the boardwalk heading to Shelley Beach

Christine and me at the Hero of Waterloo, an Irish pub with great live music and lotsa friendly folks.

The day after our Manly outing, Christine and I explored "The Rocks" a little bit, then finally walked over the Harbour Bridge.

Christine and me crossing the Sydney Harbour Bridge

View of the north shore ("Kirribilli") from the bridge.

View of the south shore (Opera House) from the bridge.

Me and Christine in Milson's Point on the north shore just after walking across the bridge (behind us in the photo, obviously).

All in all, I had a fabulous time on my first visit to this wacky continent/country. Especially after having traveled solo for so much of my South America trip, I really appreciated being able to share so many experiences in Oz with Christine (obviously) as well as Stacy, Patty, Elliot, Steph and Jay! It was so awesome that we could all be there at the same time!

View of the sunset out my airplane window on my way back to the US from Sydney.

Sydney Aquarium and further hijinks...

2007-05-01T03:55:00.000-04:00

On Monday, Christine and I hit the fabulous Sydney Aquarium! ("Fabulous" because they actually let you bring ice cream right in with you -- my kind of place!)

Christine being swallowed by the aquarium's entrance.

Can we just take a moment to appreciate how adorable and frolicsome the platypus is???

And now a moment to appreciate just how creepy and primordial the crocodile is? Here are a couple of close-up pics of a pretty good-sized "salty," as they call 'em here.

My apologies for intermittently turning this blog into some kind show-and-tell on marine life, but I just can't help myself. Especially now that I've gotten into SCUBA diving, it seems like a good idea to learn about these critters I might be encountering on my next dive. Anywhoosie, here are a couple of video clips from the aquarium:

Long-necked turtle

Jellyfish -- aren't they totally hypnotic?

One of the really cool things about the Sydney Aquarium is these long tubes which pass under massive pools, one of which is home to a beach of seals and the other is full of sharks, rays and other fish.

Christine and me in the seal tube

Videoclip of seal tube

Videoclip of shark tube

Really big sea turtle

Okay, I'm almost done with the aquarium, I swear! ;-) But first, a short video of my new favorite fish, the clownfish. We already saw a couple of orange ones in the Great Barrier Reef, here are a couple of black ones at the Sydney Aquarium. I just love how these guys adopt a sea anemone and basically never stray more than a few inches away from it and will defend it against any intruders. (I'm totally cheezy when it comes to clownfish.)

Videoclip of clownfish

Lastly, here's a video of a shark ray -- how crazy is this thing???

Videoclip of shark ray

Okay, enough of the aquarium -- I'm clearly documenting too much of our visit there. Moving on from daytime Sydney to nighttime Sydney...

Cockle Bay Wharf at twilight

Brian and Richard are a couple from Seattle whom Christine and I first met on the Opera House tour, then we were randomly seated at the same table at Varla Jean, then of course I ran into them out on the town. Here we are at Stonewall. The guy in the black shirt is Brian and the guy in the white shirt is Richard, and the guy with the crazy eyes on the left is an "actor" in Sydney, but I don't remember his name. :-(

Jay, Stephanie and Elliot in their apartment in Sydney, getting ready for a big night on the town.

Stephanie, Elliot, Jay and me out in Kings Cross, Sydney.

Next up, last shots of Sydney! My Oz tour is nearly over! *sniff*

Reunion in Sydney!

2007-04-29T00:25:00.000-04:00

Finally! After months of heart-wrenching separation anxiety, I finally got to meet up with Elliot and Stephanie and their friend Jay in Sydney! The entire blogosphere must be rejoicing as all the blogkeepers I've linked to on my blog and I have actually met up in the flesh! :-)

Immediately upon meeting up, the five of us went to see the film "300" in IMAX in Darling Harbour. (Apparently, Elliot and Jay had already seen it twice, and Stephanie once, but you just can't enough of ridiculously well-developed Greek bodies in tiny leather codpieces and maroon capes!) It was an amazing film, but I can't help but be a bit disappointed at the continuing "queerification" of villains in movies (in this case, Xerxes) and the undercurrent of homophobia (e.g., King Leonidas of Sparta deriding Athenians as "boy lovers," which is ironic since what he is presumably referring to was, in fact, an integral component of Spartan military training), especially since this movie's target audience is most likely young straight men. But even these misgivings couldn't take away from the sheer spectacle of it. Sydney claims to have the largest IMAX screen in the world, and I guess I didn't really appreciate how an eight-story tall screen could truly showcase hundred of male torsos, thighs and the aforementioned codpieces until now. What would we do without modern technology??? :-)

After the movie, we caught a drink overlooking Darling Harbour, then some dinner at an Irish pub, then visited the great variety of nightlife on offer here in Sydney. In keeping with the randomness of the evening, we somehow wound up at the Taxi Club along the way, which I can only describe as a tranny pokie bar. (Pokies are what they call slot machines here, and to say the Aussies are infatuated with pokies is an understatement. Every bar seems to have a "pokie room" full of entranced patrons robotically feeding these festive and voracious machines.) Here's a photo of Jay, Elliot and me with Melissa, a new friend we made visiting from Kuala Lumpur.

I'm slightly worried about the fact that we have another 4 nights here together -- I'm not sure I can handle this much fun... ;-)

Next up, Christine and I are about to take a ferry over to Manly, so I'll be reporting back soon...

Sydney!

2007-04-27T03:04:00.000-04:00

Ohmigosh!!! I'm in Sydney! Christine and I saved the crowning jewel in the Australian crown for the end of our trip. (Well, end of my trip anyway; Christine is continuing on to Perth after I desert her to fly back to New York on May 3.) Here I am catching my very first glimpse of the Sydney Opera House, which even more visually stunning in person than in all the photos you see of it before you arrive.

Frankly, everything about this city is visually stunning, as perhaps you can tell from some of the following photos. I think Sydney benefits from one of the most beautiful natural settings for any city in the world, perhaps second only to Rio de Janeiro...

Like the lemmings we are, Christine and I arrived and made a beeline for the Opera House, the #1 tourist destination in the city. We took an awesome tour of this architectural wonder (which sorta made me feel guilty, since I spent the last 3 years living a stone's throw from Lincoln Center, walking past it every day, and stopped in perhaps once in that whole time--but really, there's no comparison, right??).

The Concert Hall, Sydney Opera House's largest and most impressive venue. Its acoustics are amazing, it seats 2,676 and that organ in the back goes another 27 feet or so in the wall behind it -- that's a huge organ!

View of part of the Sydney Opera House from another part of the Sydney Opera House.

View of the Sydney Harbour Bridge from inside the Sydney Opera House (the bridge isn't actually rippling apart -- I took this photo through thick panes of glass...)

Sydney Opera House Veranda

Another view of the Sydney Harbour Bridge

View of Circular Quay and Sydney Cove from Sydney Opera House

Christine in the gorgeous Victorian-era Strand Arcade, opened in 1892 :-)

Christine and me in the lobby of the 4 Seasons Hotel. We're not staying here, but Patty and Stacy did. And we wanted to feel close to them. And we needed to tinkle.

Nighttime view of the Sydney Opera House

Nighttime view of the Sydney skyline

Nighttime view of the Sydney Harbour Bridge. (If you look really closely under the bridge towards the right, you can see Sydney's Luna Park on the opposite shore.)

On Thursday night, Christine and I caught a drag show by Varla Jean Merman at the most intimate (i.e., smallest) of the Sydney Opera House's 5 performance spaces. It was fabulously bawdy -- I loved it, and was really excited to see Varla Jean again after only having seen her once before (in Provinctown with Miguel, back in 2001). Be sure to catch this show if you love hearing popular songs rewritten with new lyrics about various parts of the human anatomy!

Litchfield Park!

2007-04-24T02:04:00.000-04:00

After finishing up with our Croc Cruise, we continued on our tour to Litchfield Park, about 130km south of Darwin. (The rest of the pics in this post are from within the park.)

Massive termite mound. Thousands of termites work together for decades to build mounds like this. They gather up nearby sand, mix it with their saliva and just keep building upwards. The finished product is hard as cement (or at least seems that way to the touch) and is impervious to rain, etc. This particular style is called a "cathedral mound." (Sorta looks like a cathedral Antoni Gaudi might design, no?)

Another view of the termite mound.

Christine and me in front of the cathedral mound, so you can get a sense of scale.

This sort of looks like a graveyard, but it's really a huge number of magnetic termite mounds, all perfectly aligned towards magnetic north. (No one knows how the termites are able to do this.)

Wangi Falls. Gorgeous, but closed for swimming on account of the crocs.

Florence Falls. Open for swimming, but required quite a trek down into the gorge.

Here I am swimming at Florence Falls. I'm not skippy dipping, I swear! My swimsuit (or bathers, as they call them here) just didn't make it into the picture frame...

Christine at Florence Falls

My foot. I can't believe I'm sharing this, but... I've pretty much inherited my mother's extremely delicate Irish skin, which means that I'm doing constant battle with eczema, psoriasis, rosacea, etc. (Thanks, Mom!) And oftentimes, when I'm subjected to a sudden and extreme change in temperature or humidity, my skin peels a little bit. Just a little. Sometimes on my foot. A tiny bit. Maybe you can see in this photo. Anywhoosie, the point of the story is that I stepped into the water near Florence Falls, where a bunch of other folks all seemed to be blissfully enjoying a refreshing dip, and within seconds, I felt a bite on my foot. Then another. Then another. I tried everything: shrieking like a schoolgirl, flapping my hands around in the water like a schoolgirl, batting my eyes coquettishly at all the handsome, well-built Aussie studs nearby like a schoolgirl. Nothing would make the incessant biting stop. I was then informed by our helpful tourguide that the checkered rainbowfish had taken a liking to me, and that I probably had a bit of dry skin on my feet. How mortifyingly embarrassing! Apparently, these little fish make it their life's work to groom other fish by biting off dead skin, etc. They get a meal and the other fish gets cleaned. Everyone's happy. Apparently, they saw me enter the water and summoned the troops for a massive concerted effort at cleaning me up. I was really touched by their effort, but it still totally freaked me out -- I didn't stay in the water at Florence Falls very long.

Me at the next swimming opportunity: Buley Rock Hole. No checkered rainbowfish here. And I swear I'm wearing a swimsuit.

Christine at Buley Rock Hole.

Me diving into the river at Buley Rock Hole -- excuse the horrendous form, please.

Christine getting washed down the falls at Buley Rock Hole

Back in Darwin after a long day of crocs, termites and rainbowfish! Our tour group toasted the sunset at Fannie Bay with sparkling wine and prawns.

Another gorgeous Darwin sunset.

Next up, Sydney! (My last stop in Australia -- *sniff*)

Crocodiles on the Adelaide River!

2007-04-24T01:12:00.000-04:00

On Monday, Christine and I took a day excursion with Wallaroo EcoTours (highly recommended, btw!) south of Darwin to Litchfield Park. The first part of our tour was a boat ride down the crocodile-infested waters of the Adelaide River.

Here I am holding Snappy, a saltwater crocodile. He's not nearly as cute as Harvey was. :-(

Christine settling in for some serious crocodile feeding.

Me on the boat. Not sure why I'm leaning back like this -- I must have been practicing my defensive maneuver in anticipation of crocodiles lashing out of the water at me...

The banks of the river were just littered with these guys. How creepy is that?

In order to lure the crocs to our boat, our tourguides tempted them with chunks of meet suspended by a piece of twine from a tree branch. It was a highly scientific procedure. Flop the meat on the surface of the water a few times, and once a croc approached, flop the meat on the croc's head if necessary. Things did not look so promising in the beginning, as several crocs simply didn't seem particularly hungry:

And then others made a little bit of an effort, but apparently didn't want to play our game so they gave up:

But then others actually came back for seconds:

Here's a still photo of a croc taking the chunk of meat from us. (This was pretty hard to capture, because it all happens so fast!)

Here's another video of a croc who doesn't wind up getting fed, but it gives you an idea of the macabre commentary we were all subjected to for hours on the cruise:

Another croc did get the food, and was quite energetic about it, as you can see in these photos:

But then he sort of lurched for the front of our boat. This video can't quite capture how it actually transpired, but it was pretty scary for us croc novices:

Afterwards, the croc glared at us menancingly (as you can see in this photo), while we hightailed it out of there.

This cute little guy came along for the ride. As I've said before, this being Australia and all, I can only assume he's deadly if he touches you, spits or tinkles on you, or if you stare at him too long.

But the highlight of the whole Croc Cruise was feeding Hannibal, the king of the river, so named in honor of the character from "Silence of the Lambs." Hannibal is the biggest croc in this section of the Adelaide River, and he really is huge: about 18 feet in length. Here are 3 videoclips showing Hannibal, but again, it's really hard to capture what it feels like to see this massive primal killing machine circling your boat, then disappearing under muddy water, only to reappear somewhere you don't expect him.

Next up, the rest of the Litchfield Park tour!

Darwin!

2007-04-22T07:54:00.000-04:00

We arrived in Darwin, in Australia's "Top End," around 1:00am Thursday night. We got to town, checked into one motel, slept a few hours, checked out, checked into another hotel and then went out for breakfast, all by around 10:00am. (We bounced from one hotel to another to save money -- it's a long story. We have to switch hotels one more time before we leave Darwin late Wednesday night.) :-)

The crazy thing about arriving in Darwin, by the way, was having to set our watches back half an hour. Isn't that wild?! I had never heard of time zones differing by 30 minutes before.

Having breakfast at Ducks Nuts on downtown Darwin's main thoroughfare, Mitchell Street.

Darwin is hot. It's been well into the 90's the entire time we've been here. This makes it a little difficult to do much stuff outdoors. Nevertheless, we rented bikes and rode through the Botanic Gardens to the Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory. This was a great little museum, with a cool exhibit on Cyclone Tracy, which essentially destroyed the entire city of Darwin on Christmas Day 1974. The museum also featured the preserved 17-foot body of Sweetheart, a large saltwater crocodile who attacked several boats in the 1970's and was eventually captured but was accidentally drowned when the captors were trying to pull the massive croc out of the water. (Apparently, the capture was not particularly well thought-out: the team didn't realize that the sedative they planned to use would shut down all of Sweetheart's involuntary life functions, such as breathing, nor did they have a plan for how 4 men were going to lift a crocodile weighing nearly 1,800 pounds out of a river and into a boat.) In addition, the museum had a whole room of stuff found all over Australia that can kill you: box jellyfish, cane toads, snakes, plants, sharks, rays, etc. It was awesome, but since no photography was permitted, I don't have any pictures to show you. :-(

Another fun thing we did in Darwin was take a dinner cruise in Darwin Harbour aboard a 100-foot schooner, the Alfred Nobel. The dinner was great, but the sunset was totally spectacular. So much so, that I sort of went crazy taking photos. You'll have to indulge me here -- it was one of the most picturesque sunsets I've ever seen!

Christine and me at our table on the Alfred Nobel.

Me posing on the back of the boat -- I don't think a human foot is supposed to twist that way...

Christine at the back of the Alfred Nobel.

A view of the Darwin "skyline" from our cruise. All the way to the right, you can see the Parliament House, a really beautiful example of "tropical architecture" (I didn't even realize that was a design category) and the home of both the Northern Territory legislature and the public library. (The library, incidentally, offers free internet access and has views over the harbor. I've spent a good amount of time there, and am, in fact, sitting in that building right now, updating my blog.)

Me on the dinner cruise.

All of the remaining photos were taken during the Harbour Cruise. I wouldn't ordinarily include so many pictures of a single sunset, but I just couldn't help myself...

Not a shabby view for the chef, huh? This is what he gets to stare at each evening while he cooks up dinner.

View from the prow of the boat just after sunset.

Me on the prow of the boat.

Snapshot of the other diners. Is that a crazy sky or what?!?!

As we returned to the pier, a gorgeous crescent moon was rising in the sky. Of course, my crappy little digital camera couldn't quite do it justice, but I included it anyway...

Next up, a day excursion to Litchfield Park!

More Brisbane!

2007-04-20T03:51:00.000-04:00

I thought Brisbane was a really beautiful city, so I was kinda bummed we only had a couple of days to spend there. After visiting Surfers Paradise one day, we spent the next touring around the city and just sort of taking it all in...

Breakfast at one of the cafes on the Pedestrian Mall in the CBD.

Here I am sitting along the riverfront in the South Bank recreation park.

Christine in the same spot. I decided to mix it up by adding some flowers to the pictoral composition.

One of the City Cat ferries that form part of the public transport system in Darwin. These sleek boats dart back and forth from one bank to the other as they zigzag down the Brisbane River.

View of the CBD from South Bank.

We decided to just hop on one of the ferries and take a spontaneous tour of the city from the river (for under US$2 -- not bad, huh?).

View of the city from the ferry.

Me on the ferry.

Going under Brisbane's Story Bridge

Hanging out the ferry's window and hoping there aren't crocs in the river...

Sunset in Brisbane as viewed from Kangaroo Point, where we were staying.

One of the coolest things about Brisbane is that the city has earmarked lots and lots of cliffs along the river as a free rockclimbing opportunity for anyone who's up for the challenge. It's a very social affair, with spectators laying out campchairs and having drinks while they watch their friends and total strangers try to scale what appeared -- to me anyway -- to be a rather intimidating rockface. After watching these climbers for a little bit, we caught our shuttle bus to the airport for our late night flight to Darwin...

Up next, Darwin!

Brisbane and Surfers Paradise!

2007-04-19T04:31:00.000-04:00

On Tuesday, April 17, Christine and I flew from Cairns to Brisbane. Brisbane was a fantabulous surprise! I totally loved this city! Even though it's not all that popular as a tourist destination, it's got a great vibe with tons to offer visitors and residents alike!

Here I am on the riverfront walkway in Kangaroo Point (where our hotel was), with a view over the Brisbane River towards Brisbane's Central Business District ("CBD").

Another view of the Brisbane skyline from Kangaroo Point.

Christine at Jo Jo's, a great 2nd-floor terrace restaurant overlooking the pedestrian zone in the CBD.

Me in Brisbane's Chinatown (on a rather quiet night, obviously)

Cocktails at the Bowery Bar. These babies took the resident mixologist about 10 minutes to make, but they were well worth the wait!

The lengths we will go to to update our blogs!!! Christine on the counter in the only corner of our motel room where we could pick up a stray wireless signal.

Me and Christine on the clifftop walkway in Kangaroo Point the next morning, with a view of the Brisbane skyline behind us. We were strolling along the riverside to the train station to try to make a trip down to Surfers Paradise.

Having successfully navigated Brisbane's rail system, we succeeded in arriving at Surfers Paradise, a famous beach town two hours south of Brisbane. (That's two hours of travel time for us, since we were using a series of trains and buses and pavement pounding to get there -- if we had a car, I think we would have been there in under half an hour...)

Lunching al fresco in Surfers Paradise.

Indulging in our daily ice cream quota. I think I've averaged at least one sundae per day since we arrived in Australia. I'll be regretting this severely as I try to squeeze into my AussieBums on Bondi Beach. :-(

Here I am enjoying my ice cream sundae on the beach itself. Surfers Paradise was judged Queensland's Cleanest Beach in 2006 by the "Keep Australia Beautiful Council." You don't get a better endorsement than that!

How silly do I look on the Surfers Paradise throne???

Back in Brisbane that night at Press Club, a really fun nightspot featuring live bands and wildly entertaining spasmodic body convulsions on the part of other patrons, intruducing instantly classic dance moves such as the "My Hands Are Cuffed Together Behind My Back, But I'm Happy About It," and the "Don't Mind Me While I Stomp Out All These Invisible Cockroaches Under My Feet." We could barely tear ourselves away when it was time to go home!

Next up, more Brisbane!

Back to Cairns and the Tropical Rainforest

2007-04-17T22:21:00.000-04:00

On Monday, April 16, Christine and I made a day trip to the tropical rainforest village of Kuranda a bit north of Cairns. We traveled a good part of the way via the the Skyrail Rainforest Cableway, which was until very recently the longest gondola cableway in the world, spanning 7.5km over a tropical rainforest canopy.

Here I am during the first leg of the trip on the Skyrail, leaving the valley far below.

Climbing up into the rainforest.

Video of Skyrail

An exceptionally large "Golden Orb" spider we spotted on our first stop along the Skyrail. This beast was nearly 8 inches across. Again, seeing as this is Australia, I can only assume it's deadly.

Christine and me at a lookout at Red Peak Station, the first stop-off point along the Skyrail.

Our view out over Barron Falls

Back on the Skyrail for the next leg of our journey.

Christine in the gondola

Me and Christine at the Barron Falls Station, our second and last stop-off before reaching Kuranda.

Another view of Barron Falls (gorgeous, no?)

Supremely uneventful video of Barron Falls

At Barron Falls Station, we spotted this cassowary in the shrubs. A cassowary is a large, flightless bird very similar to the emu. I did not know this at the time, nor did I know that the Guiness World Records lists the cassowary as the world's most dangerous bird. To further illustrate this point, here's an excerpt from Bill Bryson's "In a Sunburned Country," a book I just finished reading about his travels in Australia. In this passage, Mr. Bryson is discussing Daintree National Park, located a little bit north of Kuranda (where we were at the time):

“This is one of the few remaining places where you can hope to see cassowaries. They look much like emus except that they have a bony growth on their head called a casque and the infamous murderous claw on each foot. They attack by jumping up and striking out with both feet together. Fortunately this doesn’t happen very often. The last fatal attack was in 1926, when a cassowary charged a sixteen-year-old boy who had been taunting it and sliced open his jugular vein as it bounded across him. The reason attacks are so few is that cassowaries are exceedingly reclusive and now, alas, very few in number. No more than a thousand of them survive.”

What is particularly troublesome about this report is that the reason attacks are uncommon is not because they're unlikely to occur, but rather because this bird is so exceedingly rare so interactions with humans simply don't happen. Needless to say, I exercised no prudence whatsoever in getting ridiculously close to this potentially lethal bird and capturing the following video:

Happily, we survived the encounter and continued our journey to Kuranda. I don't actually have any worthwhile photos of this village high in the rainforest, as the rain poured down on us for most of the time we were there. At least we got the authentic "rainforest" experience. ;-)

Next up, Brisbane!

The Great Barrier Reef, Part II

2007-04-14T04:05:00.000-04:00

Remember "Finding Nemo"??? How cute was he?!?! Well, I actually found him and some fellow clownfish living in this sea anemone. I think my approach freaked them out a little bit as you can see from the following video. Don't you love how clownfish will not, under any circumstances, leave their sea anemone and will actually try to defend it against trespassers?

Another blue-spotted stingray and video of same.

I'm not sure what this is, but I assume -- this being Australia and all -- that it's probably deadly.

Christine with the rest of her SCUBA certification class, just before their first night dive.

Videoclip of one of the many sharks spotted off the boat just before Christine jumped in. This one is about 6 feet long. :-)

Videoclip of Christine entering the water for her first night dive. How creepy is it how she just disappears into the blackness and all you can see is her flashlight, and then that, too, is gone...?

Videoclip of Christine resurfacing after her first night dive. We were all glad she made it back in one piece.

Christine boarding the boat after her first night dive.

Back to SCUBA diving in daylight -- Christine passing through a narrow opening in the reef.

Reef landscape

Really large fish -- about 3 feet long -- but I forgot what type. I think it might be a barramundi.

Giant clam. This is about 3-4 feet across. You could lose a leg in this thing.

Reef Quest. This was the boat that shuttled us to and from Cairns to the bigger boat, Ocean Quest, that we stayed on for both nights.

Back on Reef Quest, approaching Cairns harbor.

Back in Cairns, a couple of photos of the sunset from our hotel room.

Playing pool in Sapphire Bar.

Dinner al fresco at Perrotta's.

Next up, exploring the rainforest north of Cairns, then on to Brisbane!

The Great Barrier Reef, Part I

2007-04-13T17:49:00.000-04:00

Christine and me on Thursday morning, about to embark on our 3-day/2-night liveaboard SCUBA diving adventure with Deep Sea Divers Den. Over the next few days, Christine would complete her Open Water Diver certification and we'd both get in quite a few dives along a section of the Great Barrier Reef called Norman Reef.

The first night of our trip, I went SCUBA diving at night for the first time ever.

Even though I look totally relaxed and dashingly handsome in these pics, I was more than a little nervous about the whole thing. I was jumping into pitch-black waters that I knew were full of sharks (I had just watched several sharks swimming off the back of the boat, where I was about to submerge myself). Even though I had it on good authority they weren't the type of sharks that posed much of a threat, it was still really unsettling. Not to mention the overall fear factor of submerging yourself in the ocean far from any landmass when it's completely dark out, with nothing more than a feeble flashlight. And with memories of the film "Open Water" running through your head...

Here I am about to jump in. I have tried for several days to upload a videoclip of my actual submersion, but it has been extremely problematic and after many hours of effort, the only part that appears to be viewable is a 7 second clip of me adjusting my mask strap. But since I invested all that time, I had to include it here. You'll simply have to use your imagination to envision with what sublime grace I stepped off the platform into the black waters... :-)

The next morning: Christine suited up for one of her certification dives.

I can't decide whether I look like I'm about to rob a bank or join the USS Enterprise.

One small corner of the Great Barrier Reef

I don't know what kind of fish this is, but he's kinda cute, no?

Unflattering self-portrait.

My fins...

View of our boat from the water, just after I surfaced from my first dive of the day.

Christine and me, getting ready for our first "fun" dive together!

Here's a video of Christine jumping in:

Me underwater, sans regulator.

Christine, also without her regulator...

Coral clam (sorta gross, if you ask me)

Lionfish (apparently very venomous, which I did not know at the time...)

Video of Lionfish

Blue spotted stingray.

Christine giving the double A-OK.

Me again.

Christine, back on the boat between dives.

Coral bouquet

Gosh, I sure am swimming with a lot of crap attached to me, aren't I?

Video of Christine swimming along close to the surface.

Our first (and only) sea turtle sighting! Watch the video here:

More Cairns!

2007-04-11T19:24:00.000-04:00

Is this just the cutest photo EVER or what?!? The koala doesn't look too bad either, does he? :-) Here I am with Harvey, who has officially confirmed my status as a bear chaser. Stacy, Patty and I stopped by the Cairns Rainforest Dome, which is essentially the roof of the Reef Hotel & Casino. They've thrown a bunch of birds, koalas, kangaroos and one large crocodile up there and covered them all with a big glass dome. Unfortunately, Christine was busy putting in full days at her SCUBA certification course, so she couldn't join us. :-(

Stacy, Patty and me molesting a fiberglass emu at the Cairns Rainforest Dome.

A pretty white bird at the Dome. A cockatiel, perhaps?

Another koala, almost as cute as Harvey.

Some kind of mean-looking bird I've never seen before in my life. It's basically all head, and not too pleased about it.

A large black bird, who just before this meal had a long, deep and personally revealing conversation with Stacy, as captured in this video:

Goliath, the very large saltwater crocodile mentioned above.

After Harvey refused to leave Australia to be with me, I had no choice but to drown my sorrows in a few drinks at the swankiest bar we could find in Cairns, Sapphire Bar.

Stacy helping me get over Harvey.

The girls looking sultry outside Sapphire Bar

Me and Patty at Sapphire Bar

Sadly, this would be our last night together. The next morning, Patty & Stacy packed up and flew off to Sydney, and Christine and I headed off for our 3-day trip to the Great Barrier Reef aboard a dive boat. *snif* I'm not sure whether I'll ever see Stacy or Patty again, but somehow I know in my heart that I'll be reunited with Harvey.

Next up, the SCUBA diving on the Great Barrier Reef!

Reunion in Cairns!

2007-04-10T19:50:00.000-04:00

On Monday, April 9, Christine and I flew from Melbourne to Cairns where we were looking forward to meeting up with Stacy and Patty. Stacy and Patty just happened to be vacationing for a couple of weeks in Australia, and had just arrived in Cairns the day before us. Thus, we were relying on them to have scoped out all the hot spots in town. Obviously, they didn't let us down...

Patty and Stacy in front of P. J. O'Brien's, where the competition for Australia's next top pole dancer was fierce!

Fortunately for us, P. J. O'Brien's recognized that after consuming precisely 4.7 beers, all male twentysomethings feel an irresistable urge to take off their pants in public, so they allowed the boys to compete on the poles as well.

We also hit the Reef Casino, but sadly, photos were prohibited inside, so here are Stacy, Christine and me doing our best Vanna White impressions just in front of the entrance.

Stacy, Christine and Patty in front of MetBar.

Patty, me and Stacy just after finishing dinner at Barnacle Bill's. Little did I know that this dinner would lay me up with some nasty food poisoning that would have me worshipping the porcelain goddess all night long. Good times! At least, I should be a little bit closer to squeezing into some tight AussieBums on Bondi Beach now... ;-)

Patty and me at the same dinner.

By the way, somehow we all wound up staying at the same hotel, the Shangri La, a shnazzy five-star affair. Christine and I snagged some awesome discount through Australia's last-minute hotel-booking website, wotif.com, and had a fab room overlooking the marina. Here I am on the balcony of our hotel room.

Another view from our hotel room in Cairns.

Next up, more Cairns (including koalas!!!)...

Last weekend in Melbourne: St. Kilda & the Zoo!

2007-04-08T21:18:00.000-04:00

April 6-8 was our last weekend in Melbourne. On Saturday, we popped down to St. Kilda, a seaside suburb about 5 miles south of Melbourne's "Central Business District" or "CBD," as they call it here. (Our hotel was in the CBD and that's where we'd been spending most of our time.)

Here I am on the pier in St. Kilda. St. Kilda is very picturesque, located right on Port Phillip Bay, with views back towards downtown Melbourne. It was first settled by the city's elite, then it became Melbourne's red light district, and now it's sort of bohemian trendy.

View of Melbourne CBD from St. Kilda

Christine in St. Kilda

Semi-artistic photo taken in St. Kilda

Here I am, still on the pier.

Christine and me on the pier in St. Kilda

Christine's head being eaten by the entrance to Luna Park, the Coney Island of St. Kilda.

Riding back from St. Kilda on the tram.

Another semi-artistic photo, this one taken in the South Yarra neighborhood of Melbourne, of miniature water fountains along the walkway (these are only a few inches tall).

On Sunday, we decided to hit the Melbourne Zoo. Here's Christine, waiting for the tram to take us there. (If you click for a bigger photo, you can see traffic and stuff reflected in her sunglasses, heehee.)

Christine in front of the Melbourne Zoo

One of the lions just before the feeding frenzy depicted in the video below.

Giraffe, obviously.

Giraffes and zebras, obviously.

Okay, but seriously, how funny are these kangaroos? They totally look like they're just hanging out in the park or something.

He caught me staring at him.

Video clip of the same kangaroo.

After visiting the zoo, it was such gorgeous weather that we decided to have a drink on the balcony of the Westin lobby bar back in CBD.

After dinner in Chinatown, we spent a crazy amount of time trying to hunt down "The Croft Institute," a bar we had heard good things about, but knew it to be next-to-impossible to find, located, as it was, down a labyrinth of alleyways.

We finally found the bar at the end of this totally foreboding alley. Of course, it was closed. :-( I guess we'll have to hit it next time...

Next up, Cairns!

Back in Melbourne!

2007-04-07T23:55:00.000-04:00

Back in Melbourne, Christine and I popped into Chocolate Buddha, a highly recommended noodle restaurant right in Federation Square. We really liked it, though it didn't quite measure up to the Peking Duck we would later have at the Bamboo House Restaurant in Melbourne's Chinatown.

View of Federation Square from Chocolate Buddha.

A church we passed on our walk from downtown to the southern suburb of South Yarra.

At a sidewalk restaurant in South Yarra.

That same evening (Thursday), we finally managed to push through our 7:30pm bedtime and endeavored to have a proper night out on the town. We wound up at Pugg Mahone's, a pub we actually thought was pretty much okay, and then after a drink or two, we ventured forth again but couldn't quite find any appropriate venues for the rest of the night. We kept winding up in backpacker bars full of teenagers, or in line at Goth clubs, also with tons of teenagers, so we ultimately ceded defeat and returned our hotel.

Fortunately for us, we received much-needed professional help the next day in the form of Alex. Alex lives in Melbourne and is a friend of Christine's friend Sara, who made a connection for us and the next thing we knew, we were sitting in our hotel lobby at 1:00pm on Friday afternoon waiting for a total stranger to come pick us up and show us around town.

Sara neglected to warn us, however, that Alex is just ridiculously attractive. This proved to be very distracting and made it difficult for us to really appreciate any of the other highlights of the city he was so graciously pointing out for us. As soon as he heard that we had wound up at Pugg Mahone's the night before, however, the tour was unceremoniously truncated, and he whisked us off to a series of watering holes for the rest of the day to try to correct our skewed impression of Melbourne's nightlife.

Alex and Christine at Windsor Castle (despite the very regal name, this was actually just a bar with some fab outdoor space, but it was really fun). He's pretty hot, right? Did I also mention that he's like a former Olympic pentathalete or somesuch, has got a great job and is totally sweet and funny, to boot? Thank goodness he doesn't have my blog address -- if he knew I was saying all this, I'd be slapped with a restraining order...

Do you know anyone else who looks this good while talking on the cellphone? I didn't think so.

Alex with his childhood friend Kirsten. Kirsten is pretty darn kickass herself, and graciously co-helmed the "Christine & Rob Nightlife Orientation Tour" as the evening wore on. Although originally from Melbourne, Kirsten currently lives in London. Since I'm moving to Paris, that will make Kirsten and me "Eurostar Buddies," as I may have drunkenly mentioned to her about 47 times over the course of the evening. Anyway, she totally rocks, and I hope she doesn't think I'm a stalker if I come visit her in London. (Maybe these guys can get a volume discount on the restraining orders?)

Christine, Me, Alex, Kirsten and Talbot. Talbot is a friend of Alex and Kirsten's who is visiting from Sydney. He was also quite a looker himself (I guess these hot people travel in packs), but had his eyes closed and a bit of a funny face on for this photo. Clearly this means Christine and I will have to track him down on Bondi Beach when we're in Sydney and force him to go out with us again so we can take some better pictures. I'm sure he won't mind...

The requisite self-portrait of the evening.

Kirsten, Me, Alex & Christine at our last stop for the evening. A fabulous time was had by all. (Next time, perhaps we can squeeze in a goth club...)

Next up, our last weekend in Melbourne!

The Great Ocean Road, Part III (12 Apostles)

2007-04-06T11:59:00.000-04:00

After Cape Otway, we continued along the Great Ocean Road towards its most famous attraction: the 12 Apostles.

The 12 Apostles are a collection of limestone columns left by erosion just off the shore in Port Campbell National Park. The name is a bit of a misnomer, as there were only 9 to start with, and the collapse of a 150-foot tall Apostle less than two years ago left only 8 behind. But it's quite a sight, nonetheless.

Christine in front of the "12" Apostles.

More shots of the 12 Apostles.

These little squatty rock formations aren't part of the 12 Apostles. This is the view looking in the opposite direction along the shore. But they're cute, too.

Another view looking east towards the squatties.

Me and Christine back in front of the 12 Apostles.

The boardwalk along the shore with the Apostles in the background.

Loch Ard Gorge, also part of Port Campbell National Park, a few miles west of the Apostles. This was the site where the clipper ship The Loch Ard sank in 1878, causing the death of all but 2 of the 55 people on board who had just completed a 3-month journey from England. Apparently, the ship sank within 10 minutes of striking the reef. :-(

Me and Christine at Loch Ard Gorge.

Christine in front of the Island Archway at Loch Ard Gorge.

The sun sets on our little road trip.

Next up, back to Melbourne!

The Great Ocean Road, Part II (Cape Otway)

2007-04-05T20:50:00.000-04:00

After leaving Maits Rest, we continued along to the Cape Otway Lightstation, the oldest surviving lighthouse in mainland Australia.

Views along the path to the lighthouse.

Christine in the telegraph station where they first linked Tasmania to the mainland (the cable apparently only worked for a few months before failing permanently).

Me and Christine and the Cape Otway Lighthouse

More shots of the lighthouse...

Atop the lighthouse

View to the water down below...

Our first koala spotting in Australia! This little guy waved goodbye to us as we were leaving the lighthouse.

Next up, more of the Great Ocean Road and the 12 Apostles!

The Great Ocean Road, Part I

2007-04-04T10:04:00.000-04:00

On Tuesday, April 3, Christine and I headed out for a 2-day driving tour of the Great Ocean Road. This is one of the most scenic coastal drives in Australia, and in the world, really. It starts about 1.5 hours south west of Melbourne and stretches along the coastline for nearly 200 miles, offering great views of the Southern Ocean.

Christine with our sexy rental car.

Stopping for lunch in Lorne, one of the first towns along the coast

Some snapshots along the way...

They drive on the left-hand side in Australia, and of course that means the steering wheel is on the right. It's so disorienting for the first few hours. I was just glad we had an automatic...

Another photo of the coastline

Twilight in Apollo Bay, the town where we stayed after our first day of driving. You can see the Apollo Bay lighthouse on that little slip of land jutting out into the ocean.

The next morning we got up and continued our drive, stopping first at the Maits Rest Rainforest Walk. It was a pretty nifty half-hour stroll on a wooden boardwalk through the rainforest, with helpful little informative signposts along the way.

Christine and me on the Maits Rest walk.

Rob as hobbit.

Isn't this photo sorta cool?

Next up, more Great Ocean Road!

Only 24 hours down under, and already in the slammer!

2007-04-03T21:44:00.000-04:00

Our second day of themepark-going in Orlando consisted of a visit to Universal Studios. This was fun, but really paled in comparison to Islands of Adventure the day before. The one thing most notable about the day was the fact that I was sporting a full-on handlebar moustache. This was the first -- and most likely last -- time in my life I've ever had a moustache, and I think Christine was thrilled to see it go the next day. Here's a photo of me with the handlebar, though it doesn't really capture how it looked in person very well:

I guess this is what happens when you hang out in one too many biker bars down south...

After Orlando, we made our way down to my sister's condo in Naples, where we finally unpacked the Commander, did some laundry, took a quick tour of the area and then headed off to Miami for our flight to Melbourne!

We landed in Melbourne on Sunday, April 1, and immediately fell in love with the city.

Christine in front of Flinders Street Railway Station

Me in front of Federation Square, the main pedestrian gathering place in the city, complete with galleries, performance space, cafes, and utterly wacky architecture. You can actually send text messages from your mobile phone to a certain number and they'll be displayed on the scrolling message boards embedded in the exterior of the building behind me. Those crazy Ozzies!

Breakfast down a narrow cobblestone alleyway

Melbourne has a completely free tourist tram that circles the entire downtown area, as well as a completely free tourist shuttle bus that takes a more irregular path around the city, stopping near all the major tourist attractions. How thoughtful are these people?!?! We made use of both during our visit, stopping first at the Old Melbourne Gaol.

Me and Christine in the Old Melbourne Gaol. This former jail was opened in the mid-1800's and was the setting for 136 hangings, most notably that of Irishman Ned Kelly, still a folk hero of sorts in Australia. (He has been played in movies by both Mick Jagger and Heath Ledger, among others.)

Once we had some of the history of the place under our belts, it was time to lock each other up in some of the prison cells:

Christine as inmate

Rob as inmate

Does this cell make my thighs look fat???

Last shot of Old Melbourne Gaol

After serving time at the jail, we headed over to the Melbourne Museum.

Australia's largest museum is also home to the world's largest 3-D IMAX screen, so we took in a viewing of the documentary "Deep Sea 3D." That should be good preparation for our SCUBA diving next week off the Great Barrier Reef. ;-)

The museum was also having a special exhibit on the Great Wall of China, and after visiting it, now I'm really itching to visit China and hike a substantial portion of the Great Wall. Not sure how I can fit that into my plans. Hmm...

The musem had an amazing quasi-indoor rain forest...

...as well as some nifty outdoor gardens and architecture.

Dinner at Il Primo after a day of sightseeing.

Up next, the Great Ocean Road...

I'm in Oz!!!

2007-04-03T19:43:00.000-04:00

Christine and I landed safely in Oz on Sunday, and we're having a fantabulous time! I should bring the blog totally up-to-date by Friday! :-) Here's a pic of me on the Great Ocean Road, a couple of hours outside of Melbourne. (You'll all be excited to know the beard is gone!)

Orlando & Universal Studios!

2007-03-27T03:10:00.000-04:00

After Atlanta, we made our way down to Orlando where we spent a couple of days visiting the Islands of Adventure and Universal Studios themeparks.

We hit Islands of Adventure first, and it was incredible, blowing away all my expectations. The rides were so well conceived and executed, it was just amazing. Lots of content, lots of detail, lots of thrills. The park was beautiful, and food and drinks were much cheaper and of a much better quality than those at 6 Flags (as were the rides). :-)

Here I am in front of the entrance to Poseidon's Fury, a simulated archaeological expedition gone terribly awry, complete with fireballs, lasers and a tunnel of spinning water. It all sounds totally corny, but it was really cool.

Exiting from Poseidon's Fury.

Next up was Dueling Dragons, my favorite ride of the day. Two separate but synchronized roller coasters on interlocking tracks representing a ferocious battle between a fire-breathing and an ice-breathing (?) dragon. This may have been the coolest roller coaster I've ever been on, and I think we did it about 5 times...

Then we got completely drenched on Dudley Do-Right's Ripsaw Falls.

Video highlight from Ripsaw Falls

Then we got even more drenched on Popeye & Bluto's Bilge-Rat Barge...

Christine getting cozy with the locals...

Here I am at the gate to Islands of Adventure at the end of the day

Christine and me on the Hulk coaster, one of the highlights of the day.

Hotlanta & Six Flags Over Georgia!

2007-03-24T00:03:00.000-04:00

The morning after Flamingo’s, we got up and continued our drive south to Atlanta, making sure to fulfill our daily quota of IHOP’s and malls along the way.

This was the first time in Atlanta for each of us, and we both really loved it. People were really friendly and really hot and I'll really be back.

Me and Christine at Frog's, an outdoor Mexican place in Atlanta

But enough about that. Atlanta was all about visiting Six Flags Over Georgia, just a few miles outside the city in Austell.

Six Flags Over Georgia

Me & Christine at the entrance

We decided to splurge on the Gold Flashpass. This was the best $85 dollars we've ever spent. It allowed us to bypass all the lines at all the popular rides all day long. I think the longest we waited for anything was maybe about 5 minutes. Going on so many rides in such quick succession without the natural check of waiting in line was nearly more than our poor brain stems could handle. But we loved every minute of it. :-)

Here we are just before getting on the log flume.

And here we are getting drenched on the log flume. (And yes, that's me you can hear screaming like a schoolgirl...)

Here we are with a new friend we made along the way.

Then we took the skyway across the park to Acrophobia, easily the scariest ride of the entire day.

Video of Acrophobia -- it doesn't quite capture the heart-pounding, white-knuckle sensation of being suspended so high over the ground and dropping free fall for what seems to be an insanely long time...

Splashwater Falls. My second favorite ride at the park (after the "Goliath" coaster).

Here we are at the end of the day. Mission accomplished. We seriously regressed.

More regression to come: Orlando next!

Give My Regards to Broadway...

2007-03-22T21:33:00.000-04:00

This is it! The last photo of me taken in my totally vacant apartment at 2025 Broadway. *sniff* Lots of good memories here, but it’s reassuring to know that Asli, the new owner, totally rocks and that the apartment will be well taken care of. :-)

Packing the whole place up was definitely a challenge, and of course I had to up the ante a bit by wearing dress shoes for the entire move. Since we had to park our Budget Truck rental on a snow bank outside my building, I slipped more than once getting in and out of the back of the truck and slid clear underneath the vehicle with all the requisite theatricality. Good times.

But we managed to get it all done, and as soon as I closed on the sale on the afternoon of Tuesday, March 20, Christine and I took off for greener pastures. I felt a bit like St. Nick, making pitstops at my parents’ place in New Jersey, then at my sister’s, then at Christine’s parents’ home in Virginia, dropping off all sorts of goodies along the way: a couch here, a table there, etc.

Christine in the back of our truck…

Note the fastidious organizational system in place.

Once we were in Virginia and had lightened our load a bit, we swapped out the truck for a bad-ass Jeep Commander SUV to carry the rest of the stuff to Naples, Florida.

Me and Christine about to leave her parents’ home in Virginia.

In the spirit of stopping to smell the roses and all that, we decided to take the scenic route south through Virginia and drove nearly the whole length of the Skyline Drive.

It was really scenic and very relaxing, as there were very few other cars on the route, though it was obviously off-season, as all the rest areas were closed along the way and the trees were bare for the most part. But we still had great views and there was a rather stark, otherworldly beauty about the place that grew on you after a while. :-)

After finishing the Skyline Drive, we then drove a good part of the Blue Ridge Parkway until around sunset, when we switched to highways to finish our drive to the motel in Fort Mill, South Carolina where we would be spending our first night. We couldn’t retire, however, without first popping out to the neighborhood watering hole and bonding with the locals. The front desk person at the Motel 6 knew there was a bar called “Flamingo’s” nearby, but recommended asking the guy sitting on a bench near the motel for directions, etc. I think Christine will mock me forever for walking up to a total stranger (who apparently has no affiliation with the motel and is perpetually sitting on that same bench on the street out front) and asking, “Pardon me, but are you the gentleman who knows about flamingos?” The important thing is that we eventually found the place and totally loved it.

I think I missed this shot (despite my amazing form).

Christine on Biker Bitch Drive

We played some pool and chatted it up with the mother/daughter pair working the joint (mom as short-order cook, daughter as bartender). Well, actually the mom was already off shift and downing one beer after another and sharing with us her fantasy that one of these guys pulling up on a big motorcycle every few minutes in front of the bar would finally sweep her off her feet and drive her off into the sunset. She was actually a riot – up until she had to be cut off and then stumbled out of the bar, presumably to go home. We left shortly thereafter, so we could rest up for our drive the next day to Hotlanta!

The Journey Continues…

2007-03-19T23:39:00.001-04:00

After my brief sojourn in New York City, I was planning to drive down to Naples, Florida to bring some stuff from my apartment to my sister’s new condo down there. Then I was planning on flying from Florida to Australia to continue my travels. But the exciting new development is that I won’t be doing it alone! :-)

My friend Christine decided she would take a short leave of absence from the same law firm I was last working at, and she will be joining me for the drive to Florida, as well as the trip to Australia, in addition to doing a bunch of stuff on her own for the next few months.

And in order to get ourselves into the proper mindset to really enjoy Australia, we decided to christen our Florida road trip “The East Coast Regression Tour 2007,” stopping by a bunch of amusement parks along the way. Then we will fly from Miami to Melbourne and spend about 5 weeks in Australia, visiting Melbourne, Cairns & the Great Barrier Reef, Darwin and Sydney. To make this all even more serendipitous, we will be meeting up with our friends Stacy and Patty in Cairns, and Elliot and Stephanie in Sydney! I will be flying back to New York on May 3 to attend my cousin Kerri’s wedding in New York and hopefully visiting a few folks in the tri-state area, before flying to Paris on May 14 to stay until my MBA program starts in September. Whew!

In honor of Christine taking a leave of absence and spending some time away from NYC, her friend Sara organized a little going-away party for her at Absolutely Fourth in the village.

Jamie, Sara and Christine at Christine’s going-away party

Unfortunately, I don’t have any more photos from the party, because I was way too busy having a great time hanging with Christine and Sara and catching up with some friends from Wilmer (Sarah & Joanna, Rebecca, Alexis, etc.) and all the other intrepid souls who braved a particularly nasty and blizzardy March night to give Christine a proper send-off!

Final weeks in NYC...

2007-03-19T20:51:00.000-04:00

Please excuse my long absence from the blogosphere. I had less than 3 weeks in New York City, and it was all a total blur. Aside from catching up on 3 months’ worth of unopened mail and paperwork, I had to do the final packing up and moving out of my apartment before closing on the sale March 20. I was also laid up with back and neck problems for most of my sojourn in the city, due in no small part to my first car accident ever in NYC. Sadly, I didn’t get an opportunity to meet up with nearly as many friends and family as I had hoped. :-(

Let’s start with the little traffic incident. I caught up with Sharon, Rachel & Tom for a drink in Chelsea about a week after I got back to New York. Rachel, Tom and I were then sharing a cab uptown. As we were heading west on 19th Street, a station wagon apparently ran a red light heading southbound on 9th Avenue and crashed into the right-rear corner of our taxi as we were passing through the intersection. We actually spun nearly 270 degrees and finally hit a parked car and came to a stop. It took a bit of time for police officers and others on the scene to get the taxi door open so we could get out, and the three of us all seemed to be in shock and banged up to varying degrees. I had quite a bit of pain in my neck and hips, and an ambulance took the three of us to the hospital.

Really, though, we were all very lucky. I think if the car had hit us just a second sooner, it would have collided head-on with the right rear door (next to which I was seated), as opposed to our right rear fender, and it would have been much, much worse. As it was, quite a bit of damage was done to our taxi, and our rear bumper was sent flying south down 9th Avenue, while we were sent spinning west on 19th Street. As you can see, the trunk lid was torn off the car and a good part of the trunk was shredded. (In this photo, you can also see my favorite blue hat on the rear dash -- it obviously flew off my head in the accident, never to be recovered. *sniff*)

The taxi Rachel, Tom and I were riding in, just after the accident

I spent a few hours at the hospital, where they insisted on taking x-rays, etc. Fortunately, for the most part, it seemed like I was okay, and I managed to see Dr. Jeff (my chiropractor) about 12 hours after the accident happened. I had some whiplash, as evidenced by the “shearing” between vertebrae in my neck, as well as “cervical straightening” in my neck, and my pelvis was a bit dislocated, but hopefully nothing that will give me too much trouble long-term.

Me at St. Vincent’s Midtown just after the accident, waiting to have x-rays taken. :-(

Never one to let some minor spinal issues hold me back, I made it to my brother Tommy’s place a couple of days later for his 42nd birthday. I couldn’t believe how much my niece Maya and nephew Michael had grown since I saw them last!
My mom and niece Maya at Tommy’s

Me, Tommy, my parents, my nephew Michael, Malgosia and Maya

I took a trip out to Long Island to see my brother Tim and his wife Kim and their son Timmy Jay. As you can see from the following pics, Timmy Jay is simply the most adorable child ever. J

Timmy Jay at Ruby Tuesday

I also managed to catch up with Kerry and Stacy over a couple of drinks at O’Hurley’s. Our favorite bartender Mr. Will took this photo of us – note my freshly-poured cosmo on the rocks.

I made a few trips down to New Jersey to move some stuff to both my sister’s place and my parent’s house in Monmouth County. While I was driving in the express lane on the Garden State Parkway, I noticed this rather unfortunately labeled van driving down the local lane. I snapped this photo, and then later found out from my mom that “Monmouth SCAT” stands for “Monmouth Special Citizens Area Transportation.” Somehow, I think they could have come up with a better acronym…

While in New Jersey, I visited a bit with Mike & Marie Steven, my parents’ best buds from too many decades ago to count. They were minding their beautiful granddaughter Autumn, so I got to meet her for the first time as well.
My sister MaryBeth and little Autumn

And lastly, just before I left New York, Rachel & Tom hosted a brunch at their apartment where we got to catch up with our old friend Richard and finally got to meet his new main squeeze, Shelley. We had a really great time, and it was nearly impossible to pull myself away to go back home and keep packing up my apartment.
Shelley, Richard, Me, Rachel & Tom

Alas, I didn't get to see a whole slew of folks I had hoped to catch up with while I was in New York. So sorry about that! Definitely hoping to have a little more time to do so on my first visit back, in early May! :-)

I'm Back!!!

2007-03-07T11:11:00.000-05:00

Can you believe it?!?!?!? I'm back in New York City! But only for a couple of weeks. :-( I'm busy trying to get caught up with stuff and pack up and move out of my apartment so I can close on Tuesday, March 30 and head off for a road trip down to Florida before flying to Autralia... ;-)

When My Baby Smiles at Me I go to Rio...

2007-02-28T00:40:00.000-05:00

After Lencois, I returned to Salvador for a few days before flying to Rio. I loved the view from my hotel room in Salvador. (At right.)

While still in Salvador, I decided to bump up my return flight to New York City by a few days. This meant I would only have 3 days in Rio. I decided to make them count by doing absolutely nothing cultural whatsoever.

Rio was the only place on my whole trip where I had been before -- twice, in fact. So I had already done Corcovado, Sugarloaf, etc., and therefore didn't feel remotely guilty about planting myself at the beachfront Sol Ipanema Hotel and basically hanging out on the gay beach for 3 days, sipping caipirinhas and taking in the, uh, sights.

My hotel is the tallest building in the photo above, and obviously the gay beach is marked by the rainbow flag.

Here's me on the roof of my hotel. (Somehow, I inadvertently grew a beard in between Lencois and Rio.)

To the left is the view from my hotel room. (I faced towards the back, rather than towards the ocean, but it was a pretty view nonetheless.) The tiny little speck on the peak of the mountain all the way to the left is Christ the Redeemer. (You might need to click on the photo to enlarge it.)

Here are some views of Ipanema beach from the rooftop pool & bar of my hotel. (I was hoping these pics would fit three across -- but they didn't, so you'll just have try to merge them together in your mind.)

There are very strict regulations in effect on the beach in Rio.

This is definitely where I'm staying when I come back.

Copacabana Beach

Me and my friend Rislei, whom I met in New York City a couple of years ago, but who is now back living in Rio.

Me and Anilson at the rooftop pool bar.

This is a typical meal for under $4 total -- chicken breast filet, beans, rice, mixed vegetables, a little salad -- not a bad deal, huh? :-)

Me just leaving the beach at Ipanema. Not a remotely flattering picture, but unfortunately the only one of me on the beach. :-(

And of course, the entire time I was there, I had Peter Allen's song "I Go to Rio" stuck in my head. But it's catchy, no?

The Boys from Ipanema

2007-02-27T01:30:00.000-05:00

Well, there have been some grumblings out there that my blog lacked "sizzle." Fortunately, the boys of Ipanema are happy to oblige in that department. Brace yourselves...

(Why do I suddenly feel compelled to return to Rio asap for one of those "Brazilian Butt Lifts"???)

Parque Nacional da Capada Diamantina

2007-02-20T18:49:00.000-05:00

Some more shots from the summit of Morro do Pai Inacio...

OrchidsMe squinting.
View from the summit of Morro do Pai Inacio

Christian, Fau, Beau & Me on Morro do Pai Inacio

After scrambling down Morro do Pai Inacio, we made our way to Gruta da Lapa Doce, a huge cave formed by a subterranean river (now dried up, of course).

Fau & Beau just before we descended to the cave opening.

The cave opening

A little video of us making our way into the cave...

Some shots from within Lapa Doce. The one below is -- for obvious reasons -- called, "The Angel."

Parque Nacional da Capada Diamantina, Part II

2007-02-20T10:34:00.000-05:00

Some more photos from Lapa Doce...

Fau, me and Beau in the cave. This would have been a really cool photo if my flashlight hadn't been trained right on my face with the long exposure.

More funky cave formations. (I think this one looks like a Portuguese Man-of-War)

Even the stalagmites were excited to see us...

Coming out of the cave at the other end...

After the Lapa Doce, we headed over to the Poco do Diabo ("Devil's Well") waterfall on the Rio
Mucugezinho.

Lençois Road Trip

2007-02-19T10:40:00.000-05:00

So I arrived in Salvador on February 17. This was right in the middle of Carnaval, but I had decided to skip the festivities and take a little trip to Lençois instead. Lençois is a small former diamond-mining town in the mountains about 6 hours west of Salvador. My plan was to stay with Fausto -- a very friendly Salvador native I met through an online travel forum -- for one night, then take off for Lençois by bus the next day. Fausto was also hosting a gay German/American couple in his apartment for Carnaval, so I definitely didn't want to overstay my welcome and crowd his apartment.

When I arrived at the Salvador Airport on Saturday afternoon, Fausto was there with his houseguests to pick me up. The four of us then went to the bus station to get my ticket to Lençois, but the bus I was planning to take was sold out. Then first Fausto, and then Kristian and Beau all decided they would go to Lençois for a few days as well. And thus a road trip was born.

Since we weren't leaving until the next day, I got a chance to pop over to the parade route on Saturday night to check out Carnaval. And it was definitely a lot of fun. I don't have any photos, partly because everyone impressed upon me how incredibly dangerous Carnaval was, and that I shouldn't even wear my cheap Swatch, no less bring a camera with me; and partly because I wore shorts with no pockets and didn't want to carry around the camera. Sorry about that. But it was definitely fun, and I definitely had a good time, and I definitely didn't need to do it for more than an evening, so I was very happy I had decided to go to Lençois instead. :-)

On the road, headed to Lençois.

The outside of our pousada ("Pousada d'Angela") in Lençois.

Praça Horacio de Mattos

Street in Lençois

This is why you shouldn't taunt a street dog.

The day after we arrived in Lençois we made a long excursion into the huge Parque Nacional da Chapada Diamantina, which surrounds Lençois. We started with a hike up Morro do Pai Inacio, a 1,120 meter peak giving some stunning views of the park.

Approaching Morro do Pai Inacio

Making our way up Morro do Pai Inacio

Views from the summit of Morro do Pai Inacio

Next up: More Parque Nacional da Chapada Diamantina!

Recife, Brazil

2007-02-17T00:35:00.000-05:00

Recife is famous for three things: (1) a rocking Carnaval, (2) having the highest murder rate in all of Brazil, and (3) having the most fatal shark attacks of any city in the world. Most of the attacks -- some in only waist-high water along the shore--involve the particularly aggressive bull shark, which is why so many result in fatalaties. (That, and the fact that pollution and over-development along the shore has decimated the sharks' natural food supply and they are basically starving and majorly peeved.) Above is one of the warning signs that line the entire beach.

I actually had to do a fair amount of paperwork in connection with the MBA program, so I booked ahead and made sure I got a reasonably priced hotel room with high-speed internet included in the price of the room. To make a long story short, there was a snafu of sorts, whereby after I arrived, the Golden Tulip Hotel repeatedly confirmed that there would be in-room internet access for free. Hours later, they changed their minds and informed me that they would have to run a cable into my room and the cost of internet access would be about three times what I was paying for the room. Nice.

Fortunately, I know my way around a snafu. I gave a delightful little performace at the Golden Tulip, then stormed out during the city's busiest tourism week of the year (it was the eve of Carnaval, after all), and booked myself into a 26th floor beachfront suite at the swanky Beach Class All Suites hotel. (Budget, schmudget--right?)

The Beach Class is the left of the two highrises in the photo on the right.

Once I checked in, I did a little work on my laptop in the south wing of my suite, before retiring to the balcony, where I scrutinized the shoreline for hours, hoping to see some shark activity. No such luck, but I really can't knock the view (below).

Somehow, I think I managed to spend 5 days in Recife and not take a single photo of myself. I met up once again with Tiffany, who had taken a detour to Joao Pessoa for a couple of days before coming to Recife. We enjoyed some fabulous homemade caipirinhas on my balcony, and after the 4th or 5th, we were sure we were seeing sharks in the ocean...

After finishing up in Recife (and avoiding the beginning of Carnaval altogether while I was there), I headed off for Salvador. As far as Carnaval is concerned, this is the equivalent of jumping right from the frying pan into the fire...

Last glimpse of Recife.

Next up, Salvador!

A bit more Pipa...

2007-02-12T21:45:00.000-05:00

Okay! So I've been a little deliquent on the ol' bloggy! Sorry about that. Let's get up to speed, shall we?

I was in Praia da Pipa with my peeps from February 8 to 12. After all the anxious anticipation before--and massive relief after--receiving the good news from HEC Paris, I settled into a few days of chilling by the shore.

Above you can see me at a pizza place obviously right on the beach. (You might need to click on the pic for a bigger version, just to see how blue my eyes are!) Below are some more shots of Pipa. I think they make it quite clear why I'm hiding out down here while all you guys are battling snowstorms in the Northeast. ;-)

By the way, props go out to Tiffany, who took some of these beach pics. ;-)

Pics of Praia da Pipa

Here's the Fab Four getting ready to dig into some Pipa pasta. That's Tiffany on the left, and Sandrine and Michael (remember them from Fortaleza?) on either side of me. Gosh, we're an attractive bunch!

Here we are in front of our Pripa pousada, the Pousada Praiana. I'm so glad my footwear doesn't stand out whatsoever...

While in Pipa, Sandrine, Michael and I mounted up and galloped across some dunes. (By "gallop," I obviously mean a painfully slow -- and bouncy -- trot.) Here is Michael swirling his cap dramatically in the air over his head. What you can't tell from the pic, however, is that his horse is practically standing still. Yee-ha, baby!

Here's the view from the driver's seat. Followed up by a video.

Last glimpse of Pipa from the bus as I head off for Recife. *sniff*

Praia da Pipa, Brazil & other news...

2007-02-08T17:44:00.000-05:00

Tiffany and I spent Tuesday exploring the Art & Cultural Center in Fortaleza, then doing some window shopping. The real excitement was going to come on Wednesday with a big group trip to Beach Park, a water park about 25km outside the city. We made it an early night on Tuesday so we could get up at 7:30am on Wednesday to meet the rest of the group and catch our bus to Beach Park!

Well, Beach Park turned into a rather Wally World moment for us, as we were on the road for 45 minutes when the guide got a phone call that the water park was closed for the day. Our souls were crushed, but we decided to make the most of the day by going to the nicest beach within the city of Fortaleza, Praio do Futuro. It was my first time in the Atlantic Ocean on this trip and the water was amazingly warm and it was a perfect beach day – sunny, warm and a light breeze. (Not to mention incredibly affordable drinks and food being brought to you all day long – fabulous!)

The whitest guy on the beach at Praio do Futuro!

Michael and Sandrine, the cool French couple Tiffany and I hung out in Fortaleza with. I think they’re planning on going to Recife for Carnaval and then Salvador after that, so we may be seeing a bit more of them. (They also gave me a great opportunity to practice my French a bit!)

After leaving the beach Wednesday evening, we collected our stuff and headed over to the bus station for an overnight bus to Natal, with an onward connection to Praia da Pipa. I wish I had an easier time sleeping on buses, because this was basically just sitting in a small seat for nearly 12 hours in total darkness, sort of zoning out but never really falling asleep. :-(

On the last leg of our bus journey to Praia da Pipa.

Just outside Praia da Pipa

Pipa is a hip beachtown of about 3,000 people in the Northeast of Brazil. In addition to Tiffany and the French couple, we’re also traveling with a couple of German guys and a Swiss guy. It looks as though we’re all going to be here at least a couple of nights before continuing down the coast towards Recife, where at least some of us will be for Carnaval (which begins next week!).

More shots of Praia da Pipa.

But the big news from today is that I just got word that I was accepted into the MBA in International Business program at HEC, a short distance outside of Paris, to begin this September. I’m incredibly excited, as this was my first-choice program. There are about 200 students from 55 different nationalities represented in the program, which runs through December 2008. Usually, the classes are all taught in English, but I am now toying with the idea of committing to a bilingual MBA, which would require me to complete about half the coursework in French. My French language skills are definitely not up to snuff right now, and I’m not sure they will be by September, so I need to think a bit more about that. But for now, the exciting news is that I was admitted!

I really owe a huge debt of gratitude to Lori and Sarah, who wrote amazing letters of recommendation on my behalf, thereby ensuring my acceptance into the program. They rock!

In other news, in exactly 4 weeks I will be flying back from Rio to New York City. The rhythm of my trip really seems to have suddenly changed, as I feel as though I am coming into the home stretch and feeling really sad about having so little time left in South America. It has been such an incredible experience, and there are so many places where I would love to spend more time (e.g., Chile, Argentina, Peru, Bolivia, etc.). I really hope to come back for a large block of time in the future at some point.

For now, I’m just trying to figure out how to spend my last 28 days. I think I will be here in Pipa for a few more days, then will continue on to Recife for a few days. Then Salvador, follow by Rio before flying back to New York. But, although I’m excited to see all these places, they are all on the coast, and I would really like to break that up a bit by traveling inland a bit – perhaps even to Brasilia. We shall see… ;-)

Fortaleza – The Reunion! (a.k.a. Instant Party -- Just add Cachaca!)

2007-02-06T09:27:00.000-05:00

On Monday, February 5, I flew north from São Paulo to Fortaleza, Brazil to meet up with Tiffany, my long-lost best British bud from Roraima. She had spent most of the intervening time in Venezuela and was now traveling south along the British coast and arrived in Fortaleza the same day. We met up pretty late in the evening, but didn’t let the fact that it was a Monday stop us from tearing the town to shreds.

Let’s set the scene for a messy reunion night. Fortaleza is a sprawling fishing port on the Atlantic Ocean, known for its wild party atmosphere and thriving prostitution industry. On the night in question, we first had a rather civilized dinner with Sandrine and Michael, a fun French couple Tiffany had been traveling with, who then retired early (i.e., around 1:00am). Tiffany and I then made the caipirinha circuit through the beachfront bar district, and ultimately found ourselves drawn to one of the more sedate bars that happened to be playing great music.

Now, I won’t make any suppositions about the professional backgrounds of the other patrons, but let’s just say there were about 34 rather young women wearing next to nothing and 2 somewhat older gentlemen. Oh, and Tiffany and myself.

Anywhoosie, as I mentioned, the place seemed a bit sedate upon our entrance – but didn’t remain so for long. Tiff and I followed the tried-and-true 9-point plan for turning any “boring bar” into “happening hotspot”:

1. Jump up on the bar and coerce fellow patron up there with you. Check.

2. Goad aforementioned fellow patron into mooning entire bar, while continuing to provide much-needed support and encouragement. Check.

3. Set the bar on fire. Literally. Check.

4. Cozy up with fellow patrons in front of resulting fire. Check.

5. Sneak behind bar and usurp DJ responsibility. Check.

6. Initiate “train dancing” throughout bar. Check.

7. Gyrate uncontrollably on top of the bar while holding up the ceiling. Check.

8. Fight off the inevitable swarm of paparazzi. Check.

9. Be sure to thank the doorman warmly for his hospitality. Check.

Tiffany and I slept soundly that night, basking in the sense of accomplishment of a job well done. Next time, we’ll have to also incorporate the “Bend…and Snap!”

São Paulo Walking Tour

2007-02-02T20:16:00.000-05:00

Well, I survived my two interviews, and now it’s just a matter of waiting and hoping for the best. Here I am in my new suit – hopefully I cleaned up okay:

After ambling about aimlessly for several days, I finally set out with a guidebook to do a proper walking tour of the historic center of the city.

Edifício Itália (Italy building) – one of the tallest buildings in the city. Over 5 million Paulistanos are of Italian ancestry.

Ladeira da Memória (Memory Hill). In the foreground you can see the base of the Piramide dos Piques, and in the background is a fountain where the city and cattle dealers were supplied with water. It’s now dry and these kids are using it as a soccer field instead.

The requisite street fight. Since all the shouting was in Portuguese, I have no idea what it was all about, but it went on for some time and was pretty vicious, actually.

Teatro Municipal. This baroque building is the pride of the city.

Me in front of the Teatro Municipal.

Steps down to Praça Ramos, with the Teatro Municipal in the background.

Me in front of the fountain in Praça Ramos.

Drama Queen in Praça Ramos.

São Paulo Walking Tour (Part II)

2007-02-02T18:48:00.000-05:00

View over Parque Anhangabaú.

In front of the law school this is one of Brazil’s most controversial works of art – a statue depicting a Frenchman kissing an indigenous woman. (Seems a bit odd this would be controversial in a city teeming with interracial couples, but there you have it.)

Catedral Metropolitana, in Praça de Sé. Can accommodate 8,000 people!

Inside the Catedral Metropolitana

View of Praça de Sé from the doors of the cathedral.

São Paulo Walking Tour (Part III)

2007-02-02T17:03:00.000-05:00

Solar da Marquesa, the last remaining residential structure in São Paulo from the 18th century.

Praça Patío do Colégio. The statue and column at right mark the site where the city of São Paulo was founded in 1554.

Street market.

Monumento a Mae Preta (Monument to the Black Mother), depicting an African slave woman nursing a white child, while her own children must go hungry. :-(

Intersection of Av Sao Joao and Av Ipiranga, considered the most famous in all of São Paulo, but I couldn´t figure out why...

São Paulo Metro

Also, during my last weeknd in São Paulo, Luis paid me a visit. Luis and I had been carrying on a torrid online love affair for over a month, and so it was nice to meet up in person. We had a great time walking around the city, doing some shopping, checking out some new neighborhoods I had not gotten a chance to explore on my own, etc. Luis was totally sweet and adorable, but unfortunately I won´t be able to see him again on this trip, and so I guess we will have to see whether our paths ever cross again. (*sigh*)

Me & Luis in Bela Vista, the Italian neighborhood.

Me & Luis in front of Spot Restaurant (São Paulo´s answer to Chelsea´s "Cafeteria")

Me & Luis

Next up, Fortaleza!

São Paulo, Brazil

2007-01-28T17:59:00.000-05:00

I just spent 12 nights in São Paulo, the largest city in the Southern Hemisphere.

My primary purpose in going to São Paulo was to have two interviews required for the MBA program to which I am applying. As an aside, it’s really a new thing for me to publicly talk about something like this. I hope to be admitted to the MBA program at HEC, about 15 miles southeast of Paris, to begin this September. But it’s a very selective admission process, and ordinarily I would never talk about the fact that I was even applying for fear of jinxing my chances of getting in. But I’m throwing caution to the wind in so many ways with this career change, with this South American journey, and with this blog, so I figure I should just run with it. ;-)

Anyway, I submitted the final part of my application for the HEC MBA program from Bogota, partly in an effort to have any potential interview coincide with my arrival in São Paulo. I knew that interviews were required as part of the admission process, and that São Paulo was one of only a couple of cities in South America where it was possible for me to have these interviews. I also knew that if my application were to be selected for interviews, they would probably notify me accordingly about 4 weeks after my application was complete. In reality, they notified me only about 2 weeks after completion of my application that I had been selected for interviews. This was why I wound up skipping Uruguay completely and rushing to São Paulo earlier than planned, so that I could hopefully have the interviews and get a final decision from HEC in this admission cycle.

The interviews required a fair bit of preparation, however. I had no appropriate clothing. And I needed to prepare a Powerpoint presentation to present at each interview. (This also meant I needed to learn how to use Powerpoint, since I had never created a presentation with the software before.) I decided it would be best to situate myself in a rather decent business-type hotel in a nice area of town, ensuring that I would have wi-fi in my room, etc. (Since São Paulo is easily the most expensive city I’ve visited thus far on this trip, this also meant I was really blowing my budget out of the water.) I managed to get a 50% discount off the rack rate at the Golden Tulip Park Plaza in the rather tony Jardim Paulista district, and made that my home for nearly two weeks.

I spent the first few days shopping for an interview outfit (suit, shirt, tie, shoes, belt, etc.), scheduling and preparing for the interviews, and strolling around the city. I think I averaged about 15 miles a day of walking the first few days. São Paulo not only has a population of over 11 million, but covers nearly 600 square miles. That’s huge. I tried to cover as much as I could, but the 90-degree heat, powerful sun, and hilly streets made it quite difficult.

Here I am sitting under the Museu de Arte de São Paulo (“MASP”) with the northern part of the city behind me.

Overall, other than with respect to scale, I found the city to be much less intimidating than I thought it would be. It seemed safer, cleaner and more relaxed than I expected. The biggest problem I faced was the language issue. Frankly, I had no appreciation for just how much Spanish I had learned during my two months in Venezuela, Colombia and Ecuador, until I arrived in Brazil and was completely paralyzed because I spoke no Portuguese. And, unlike in Rio de Janeiro where I have been twice before, hardly any Paulistanos speak English. I soon realized that if I spoke Spanish then generally folks would understand most of what I was saying, but I still couldn’t understand a word of what they said back to me. I guess I better buckle down and learn some basic Portuguese if I’m going to be in the country for another few weeks…

One of the first sightseeing-type things I did in São Paulo was check out an exhibit of work by nineteenth century Brazilian photographer Marc Ferrez. It was actually incredible – the most amazing photography exhibit I have ever seen (not that I’ve seen all that many, but alas…). Taking pictures was forbidden in the exhibit, so I cribbed a couple of shots from the internet below. Ferrez apparently innovated a lot of new photographic techniques and was very much ahead of his time. But what most amazed me was seeing the early development of cities and construction of historic landmarks and railways throughout the country, as well as seeing gorgeous panoramic shots of Rio before Christ appeared on Corcovado.

Once I had managed to buy a suit and leave the pants with a tailor to be hemmed (all of which was quite a challenge given the aforementioned language issue) and do some preliminary sightseeing, I felt that it was time to check out the local nightlife. The first thing I noticed was that beverages in Brazil dress differently than those in Colombia. Instead of the typical paper napkin shawl sported by cocktails in Bogota and Medellin, here my drinks generally arrived wearing a stylish neckerchief.

(I hope you folks are buying stock in Smirnoff Ice, by the way – demand has increased ten-fold on account of my arrival in South America…)

I also noticed that some of the names for drinking establishments in São Paulo are downright ridiculous, such as:

São Paulo is also the first city in South America where I noticed that I didn’t really stand out all that much. It’s an incredibly ethnically diverse city, and folks there run the full gamut of skin tone, hair color, facial features, etc. There were suddenly plenty of fair-skinned, blue-eyed people running around so – for good or for ill – it was no longer “all eyes on Rob” everytime I stepped into a bar or a restaurant or whatnot. (Obviously, I kinda miss the attention…)

Guayaquil, Ecuador!

2007-01-24T21:18:00.000-05:00

On Sunday, January 21, I left the Galapagos Islands to fly back to mainland Ecuador. I had originally planned to stay an extra couple of nights in the islands, but I decided 7 days in the hot equatorial sun was more than enough for my delicate Irish skin. When the boat dropped us off at the airport on the last day and I discovered there was no fee to change my return flight, I decided to hop on the next plane to Guayaquil. (There I am in the photo above, about to get on the plane.)

I spent three nights in Guayaquil, Ecuador's most populous city and its main seaport (it's located on the Guayas river which flows into the Pacific Ocean). To be honest with you, the city is hot, humid, dirty, noisy and not particularly attractive overall. But things are definitely getting better. An impressive riverfront promenade project, the Malecon 2000, was completed -- appropriately enough -- in 2000, and there's an amazing restoration/development project going on in the city's oldest neighborhood (Las Penas), which is going to be the next "Coconut Grove," as my new friend Ricardo informed me during a walking tour of the construction site.

Guayaquil also signalled the end of the "Reign of the Pocket Gays."

Given some of the emails I have received, I think this would be an appropriate time for a quick primer on pocket gays, to which I have referred in earlier posts. It seems not everyone is familiar with the term, and a little explanation might be in order.

A "pocket gay" is a rather small, portable gay man. The term is only ever used affectionately (at least by me and my peeps), and unlike in the heterosexual world, short men have a huge fan base among gay men. There's even a weekly party called "Runt" in NYC for short gay guys and their admirers -- it's held in a bar in the East Village with a very low ceiling. Seriously. And they give each patron a "Hello. My name is..." sticker with their height printed on it in lieu of their name. Fabulous!

I'm not sure whether the term originated on "Will & Grace" or not, but that's certainly when it exploded into the mainstream (meaning, that's when I started to use it).

JACK: Well, you see what you have there, don't you?
WILL: I see what I don't have, the other half of my date.
JACK: What you have... is a pocket gay.
WILL: A pocket gay?
KAREN AND GRACE [BOTH]: A pocket gay?
JACK: A pocket gay. The perfect travel-size homosexual. Just pop him in a man-purse, a briefcase, and you're good to go. In ten years they'll be making 'em all that way

Anywhoosie, getting back to my trip, partly because Colombianos tend to be rather short, and partly because Venezuelans and Ecuadorians tend not to be particularly tall, either, I had been encountering one pocket gay after another for weeks. So it was nice to mix things up a bit in Guayaquil and hang out with Cristobal, who I actually thought was taller than I am until I saw the photos. But regardless, he's definitely no pocket. And he's a native Guayaco, and really proud of his city, so it was great to have him give me a driving tour one night and a walking tour another. He is also a veterinarian, which I thought was totally hot. While he was pointing out the city's sights, I was imagining him at work in a white smock, heroically wrestling a ferocious pug down on the table to administer some life-saving injection or something. I found out later that he actually worked in-house for a big chicken company (like Perdue, but in Ecuador), trying to keep the chickens healthy until they are "put down." This sort of wrecked my fantasy, as being a "chicken vet" didn't carry quite the same sex appeal for me as "ferocious pug wrestler," but he was still adorable and very sweet and I had a lot of fun seeing the city with him. (Here's a photo of the two of us in front of the gardens on the Malecon 2000.)

Here is a photo of La Rotonda, also on the Malecon 2000, which commemorates the meeting of two Latin American liberators, Simon Bolívar and San Martin. (Bolivar, of course, was the famous Venezuelan who brought freedom from Spain to Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador and Venezeula, while San Martin was the Argentinean equivalent who freed Peru and Chile from the Spanish rule.) Frankly, it really looks to me like the two of them are exchanging wedding vows, which ironically, they could now do in Spain. It's sort of like coming full circle, but not really.

The other that happened while I was in Guayaquil was that I received notice from my top-choice MBA program that my application had been selected for interviews, which is the last hurdle in the admission process. Woohoo! I was very excited to hear this, but unfortunately it meant that I needed to hightail it over to Sao Paulo, Brazil for the aforementioned interviews, and skip my next destination (i.e., Uruguay) completely. The good news is that I was able to change my flight destination from Montevideo to Sao Paulo on Copa Airlines without any fee, and since the fare worked out to be less, I used the difference towards a flight on Gol Airlines for within Brazil. I found out about the interviews on Tuesday, spent the requisite two hours at the Copa office changing my flights the same day, and then flew to Sao Paulo, Brazil on Wednesday (Jan. 24).

Next up, Sao Paulo, Brazil!

Galapagos Day 7: Rabida Island and Chinese Hat Island!

2007-01-20T23:00:00.000-05:00

Our schedule for the day!

View of the Nemo I from Rabida Island

Me on Rabida Island (I look terrible in this photo, but it’s the only one I have of me on the island…)

More Sea Lion footage

Snorkeling off Rabida Island. Grumply little critter, ain't he?

View of reef while snorkeling

View from boat of Santiago Island

Rather long video of our submersion and initial descent near Sombrero Chino Island. Eric took this video using my camera, and you first see Peter, our guide, then Eric cuts quickly to me, then back to Peter, then there’s quite a long spell of chaos as we all submerge. Then you see me again – easily identifiable by my massive baldspot and red gloves. I decided to include the video, despite its length, because it sort of captures the experience pretty well.

Eric actually held on to my camera throughout this whole dive, so all of the following underwater photos and videos were taken by him. Gracias, Eric!

John (my Swedish cabinmate) with our new best friend. This sea lion put on an amazing show for us, stopping intermittently to return to the surface for area, then plunging right back down to 90 feet below the surface to do flips and rolls and check out our gear and look us right in the eyes through our masks. It was totally unbelieveable, and one of the most memorable moments of the Galapagos trip!

This video shows a little tidbit of the sea lion’s quite lengthy performance.

Galapagos Day 7: SCUBA Diving near Chinese Hat Island, continued!

2007-01-20T22:00:00.000-05:00

Again, thanks to Eric for taking these photos on this dive!

Poisonous stone fish

Sea lion and me

Galapagos Striped Damselfish. One of these fish actually charged me and nipped my finger as I was passing along the reef. They’re really small, but very aggressive apparently, and I could feel the bite right through my glove.

Not sure what kind of fish this is, but the colors are amazing, no?

Sea lion in motion!

Damselfish, Coral, Pencil Urchin, etc.

Me swimming through a canyon about 90 feet below the surface

Galapagos Day 7: Chinese Hat Island!

2007-01-20T21:00:00.000-05:00

Sea lion at rest

Me with sea lion pup

How cute are we here??? Why are my eyes closed? Drats! I’m actually squinting because the sun is so intense here…

I swear they’re so cute, I just can't stand it!

Galapagos Penguins are pretty darn cute, too!

Galapagos Penguins!

Galapagos Day 6: Isla Bartolomé!

2007-01-19T23:00:00.000-05:00

Our schedule for the day!

A caldera on the edge of Bartolome Island. There was actually a sea lion frolicking inside the ring, but you can’t see him in this photo.

Me on Bartolome Island. You can see our catamaran, the Nemo I, anchored in the bay just to the left of my head.

Me in front of the summit of Bartolome Island. You can see the trails left by the lava flow just to the right of me.

A view from partway up the summit, looking out over Sullivan Bay. You can see the wooden boardwalk built to make the ascent easier and to protect the island from excessive impact from tourist traffic.

Continuing our ascent. You can see the little red summit marker in the upper-right hand corner of this photo.

Me nearly at the summit, with a view out towards Santiago (a.k.a. Isla San Salvador). To the right of me, you can also see Pinnacle Rock

Lava Lizard on Bartolome Island -- pretty cute, no? ;-)

Me from the summit. You can once again see the Nemo I, as well as Pinnacle Rock.

Galapagos Day 6: Snorkeling off Isla Bartolomé!

2007-01-19T22:00:00.000-05:00

Galapagos Penguis

Whitetipped Reef Shark (you don't even need to go SCUBA diving to see sharks in the Galapagos!)

Whitetipped Reef Shark

Parrottfish

Sea lion

Sea Lion

Galapagos Day 6: SCUBA Diving at Cousins Rock!

2007-01-19T21:00:00.000-05:00

It wasn’t even noon yet on Friday, and we had already hiked to the summit of Bartolome Island, snorkeled off the shore and now we were struggling to get into our wet suits, hoping to see some seahorses near Cousins Rock. (We didn’t actually succeed in this quest, unfortunately…)

Blackstripe Salemas. There were an obscene number of these fishes swimming in humongous schools all alongside the reef. By descending, we were actually tunneling through them, and if there were more than a few feet between divers, we would be creating separate tunnels and not really be able to see each other – it was wild!

This video gives you a little bit of a feel for what it was like swimming through these massive schools of Salemas…

In the 6 dives I had completed before coming to the Galapagos, I had never descended deeper than 55 feet below the surface of the water. Earlier this week, I hit 85 feet in depth and really felt the difference. Before diving at Cousins Rock, Peter had told us we were planning to go to 60 feet below. Imagine my shock when I looked down at my gauge and saw that I was more than 120 feet below the surface. It was quite cold, hard to see, difficult to breathe, and I am sure the suddenness and depth of the descent really affected my mental processes. Nitrogen narcosis, anyone? Plus, it was easy to lose my fellow divers, because every time they swam into the salemas, the fish closed in behind them and they were gone.

King Angelfish

I'm still working on identifying this fish...

Marbled Ray

Here’s a video of my approach to the Marbled Ray – the thing is really huge, about 6 feet across!

Underwater landscape

Eagle Ray

Sea Lion & Seal (sorry I can't edit videos on my computer!)

Galapagos Day 6: Return of the Dolphins!

2007-01-19T20:00:00.000-05:00

Dolphin mid-jump

Dolphins off the front of our catamaran

Galapagos Day 5: Santa Cruz Island – Highlands and Charles Darwin Research Station!

2007-01-18T23:00:00.000-05:00

Our schedule for the day!

Exploring a lava tube in the highlands of Santa Cruz (Formed by the solidifying of the outside skin of a molten lava flow. When the lava flow stopped, the molten lava inside the flow kept going, emptying out of the solidified skin and creating a tunnel. Craziness!!!)

Giant Land Tortoise in the wild

Land Tortoise in the wild (you can hear our guide saying how they can live for 200 years)

Me at the entrance to the Charles Darwin Research Station

Baby Land Tortoises, being raised in captivity

Baby Land Tortoises can be pretty cute, too.

Lonesome George is famous. He is the only surviving member of the Isla Pinta subspecies of the giant Galapagos Land Tortoise. They have been trying for years to get him to mate with a female from another closely-related subspecies, but supposedly he has shown absolutely no interest in doing so. All reports are that he just ignores or chases away any females placed in his area. They've even been showing him tortoise porn with no luck. Imagine our shock when we came upon the following:

That’s Lonesome George on top, looking quite virile really… Maybe there's hope yet...

Galapagos Day 5: Charles Darwin Research Station, continued!

2007-01-18T22:00:00.000-05:00

Tortoises Galore!

Land Tortoise close-up

Another Land Tortoise

Yet another Land Tortoise. This one is feeling sorta randy, and comes on to a female, but she’s having none of it, as can be seen in the following video:

It's like "Night at the Roxbury"!

Land Tortoise profile

Yet another Land Tortoise – go figure!

I’m starting to feel a little better about my neck waddle after seeing this guy…

And now a word from our sponsor...

2007-01-17T23:32:00.000-05:00

I am mid-way through my 7-night tour of the Galapagos Islands, and without any exaggeration, I can honestly say it is the most unbelieveable thing I have ever done. Ever.

I finally got the blog entry regarding Bogota up, but in keeping with the proper chronology, I backdated it a bit, so you will need to scroll down to see it. I will do the same with Quito, and then there will be a bunch of entries regarding the Galapagos. I hope to update re: Quito by Sunday evening (the next time I will have internet access), and also get some Galapagos stuff up by then, as well.

In the meantime, here's some Galapagos stuff to get you going (I took all these pics in the last couple of days!)

Galapagos Day 4: Floreana Island! SCUBA Diving near Ederby Islet!

2007-01-17T23:00:00.000-05:00

Our schedule for the day!

School of Black-Striped Salema

Marbled Stingray drifting along the ocean floor

School of Pelican Barracuda

Guineafowl Puffer

Hogfish from the side

Hogfish from the front

Hogfish

Galapagos Day 4: SCUBA Diving near Enderby Islet (continued)

2007-01-17T22:31:00.000-05:00

Manta Ray swimming above me

This was totally crazy. When I was swimming along at about 90 feet below the surface, I saw this huge dark shadow above me, which I assumed was a boat. Then, as I came up a bit, I realized whatever it was was actually in the water, so then I thought it must be some mythologically huge whale shark or something. Upon closer inspection, I realized it was an incredbily dense and stationary school of fish. Salemas, to be exact. Maybe they do that to throw off predators, who might think that there's a gigantic creature in the water...

School of Salemas

Hogfish with part of the school of Salemas in background

Galapagos Shark (why does this photo look so fake? it's not -- I swear!)

Galapagos Sharks

Barberfish

I really like this shot looking up at the other divers with all the layers of different fish between me and the surface. Kinda cool, dontcha think?

Eagle Rays

Galapagos Day 4: SCUBA Diving near Punta Cormorant!

2007-01-17T19:00:00.000-05:00

Here I am, all ready to go!

Almaco Jacks and Bullseye Puffer

Red-lipped Batfish

Diamond Stingray

Diamond Stingray on the ocean floor

Diamond Stingray - you can see it breathing through its weird spiracle thingy behind the eye. Craziness!

Galapagos Day 4: SCUBA Diving near Punta Cormorant, continued!

2007-01-17T18:13:00.000-05:00

It's really hard to tell, but this is actually an octopus all rolled up!

White-tipped Reef Shark

White-tipped Reef Shark in motion

More White-tipped Reef Sharks

Some kind of funky blue starfish

Bluechin Parrotfish

Not particularly exciting video of a Bluechin Parrotfish

School of Surgeonfish

Galapagos Day 4: SCUBA Diving near Punta Cormorant, continued even more!

2007-01-17T16:52:00.000-05:00

Trumpetfish

Some type of moray/snake type of thing.

This was an extraordinarily friendly Bullseye Pufferfish. I was just hanging out, minding my own business, fiddling with my camera, when I looked over my shoulder and saw this guy swimming over towards me quite deliberately. I held my hand out and he actually landed right in my glove. Then I took this photo of him.

After I took the photo of the Pufferfish, I swam away to rejoin my fellow divers. I turned to glance around, and the little guy was hustling to try to catch up with me! Then I took this video of him (he didn't quite land in my hand this time, but came close!), and I am not sure whether you can hear it or not, but he actually headbuts my camera. Then he swims away for a second, turns right around and comes back! He really wouldn't leave me alone. It was kind of cute, in a stalkerish sort of way...

A couple of sting rays on the ocean floor (these things are pretty big -- about 5 feet across!)

Me with a Stingray (there it is on the lower left, near my foot, but quite a bit behind me -- I was a little skittish after hearing what happened to Steve Irwin.)

Manta Ray

Galapagos Day 4: Punta Cormorant, Floreana Island!

2007-01-17T16:00:00.000-05:00

Pink Flamingos on Punta Cormorant

I think this was a yellow-bellied warbler or something, but I'm not sure.

Lagoon and ocean behind, Punta Cormorant.

Me on Punta Cormorant, Floreana Island

Female sea turtle making her way up the beach to lay some turtle eggs...

Punta Cormorant, Floreana Island. Isn't it pretty???

Leaving Punta Cormorant

View towards Puerto Ayora after dropping achor. Puerto Ayora is the biggest town in the Galapagos and is located on the south coast of Santa Cruz Island. We were going to be spending the night anchored in this harbor and then visit the Santa Cruz Highlands and the Charles Darwin Research Station the next day. But first, we had pop over to town for a much-needed internet fix and the requisite appearance in the local watering hole: the Bongo Bar! Yeah, baby!

John, Me, Diane and Erica at the Bongo Bar in Puerto Ayora after a few caipirinhas. You would think we've never been off a boat before...