HERE WE GO AGAIN!

BARBADOS, HERE WE COME!


It's time once again to get away from NY and recharge the batteries. I can honestly say, that the last two months have been brutal for both of us! Mir's been pulling late nights at work and weekends at BT and I'm up to my ears in studying for the CFA (December 6th), projects at work, and non-profit event/initiative planning. Add house hunting to the mix.....and you get the "perfect storm" of stress.

We're at the step just beyond exhaustion but just before a complete nervous breakdown....where everything is a blur and we're numb to the pain.

But it's nothing a week on the beach won't cure!

We had a great time in DC this weekend (pictures to be posted soon). It was a mini-vacation before the big one. We ran way to Maryland to get out of the city for a while and spend some time with Mir's childhood friend, Sharna. She and her BF were amazing hosts....we spent Saturday afternoon w/Sharna walking around Annapolis...the weather was amazing...and after a long lunch break w/pleasant conversation, we settled on a bench and did absolutely nothing...which is EXACTLY why we went.

Later on that night we went out to a seafood spot in DC for dinner and a Jazz club in downtown DC....up early the next day for some friggin awesome pancakes and eggs Sharna made....church and then a brief walk around the various DC monuments before having a late lunch and a drive back to NY.

FYI:

Same rules apply from the last vacation: Here are a few things you WON'T be hearing about on this blog; Budget, Work, Finance, Conference Calls, NSHMBA, ALPFA,(or any other Non-Profit for that matter), Fordham, Mentoring, Networking or House Hunting.

All of the: "I want, I need, Can you and Will you" requests can wait unless they involve food, the beach or a combination of both.


Flights - check
Hotels - check
Travel gear - check
Bags packed - TBD

Slide Show Summary - Zurich

Slide Show Summary - Paris

The End of our European Vacation

Zurich - Days 2 and 3

We had to pay for internet in Zurich (and we’re broke) so, I'm posting the last few days of our trip in one final entry.

Zurich day 1 was pretty uneventful. It was the first opportunity we had to catch up on sleep and recharge the batteries…it was also rainy and cold, so just looking out the window was reason enough to get an extra hour or two of sleep.

The only real plan for the day was to head to the train station to pick up our Swiss “Flex” pass that granted us unlimited tram, train, rail and bus access for 3 days and then meet up with my colleagues from the CS office in Zurich for dinner and drinks. After a light breakfast we headed downtown to the Bahnhofstrasse, which is the Zurich version of 5th Avenue with its high-end stores and 12th century architecture.

After walking around and validating our train passes, we got a little hungry but still had an hour or so to meet the team so we headed into a really nice food shop in the train station…Now, when I think of train stations, I’m thinking of Port Authority or Grand Central…well, not here. These cats had stuffed lobster tails, fresh fish, octopus and other gourmet foods. But we kept it simple and ordered some nuggets, only to find out when we ate them that they were fish nuggets, and they were GREAT. McDonalds ought to get in on the Mc Fish Nuggets…I should pitch the idea and make millions! Who knew I was a marketing guru??

We headed to meet the guys at the office and after a few kinks in the plan, like forgetting the address and telephone number in the hotel room, we found the place only we were an hour early. Ok, so I CAN’T READ MILITARY TIME and my watch is still on NY Time…so between the manually subtracting hours and converting them to military time, I was a little confused. But, I got to see our Zurich office and got a few of the guys to leave a little early and join us for drinks.

Dinner with the team was at a restaurant called Zeughauskeller, which dates back to 1487 and was once an arsenal. The place looked like a huge tavern with vaulted ceilings, mobs of people and tons of food flying around. The food was really good, I got a sample platter of 7 Swiss sausages and Mir had some ribs that were really tender and fell off the bone. I was told I couldn't leave Switzerlans without sampling the sausage. Some of the other stuff on the menu like calves liver and veal in a white cream sauce.....not so appealing. But we were happy with our orders and had a great time with the guys. Ah, and a footnote....Swiss beer is friggin great!

The night ended with a quick walk through the rain, to our lucky 13 tram and a 5 minute ride back to the hotel.

Zurich Day 3

We got up early enough to have breakfast by 9am and be on the road for our mini-excursion to Lucerne.

I don’t know what it is with trains in Europe. Everything was according to plan. We caught the right train, it left on time and we got half way to Lucerne…when the train stopped at a small town called Zug and then turned around! We swear that the final stop on this train was Lucerne - I promise you that. But we still found ourselves heading back in the direction from which we came! Ughn! We got off at the next stop and asked the ticket agent, when the next train to Lucerne was coming and the told us the next train wouldn’t be for another half hour because the next train that was supposed to go there directly was cancelled, only the boards were indicating that it was running 5 minutes behind schedule.

Either way, the train WAS 5 minutes late, was NOT cancelled and we were only set back about 45 mins.

Lucerne was AMAZING. Dating back to the 13th century, the town is surrounded by these towering mountain ranges. We left the train station and our Frommers book (yes, we’re dorky tourists) recommended that we take the main road out in to the Swan Square. We looked around for street signs but didn’t need to look far. The lake was teaming with swans and ducks! I guess they don’t really need a sign, just follow the swans. We did a lap around the center of town and Mir just had to stop at Starbucks for a Chai Tea Latte. I think she’s been suffering from withdrawal the entire vacation.

The most prominent feature of the town was the covered bridge. Built in 1333, it had 122 paintings depicting every day life in 1599 only some moron burned down 2/3 of the bridge with a cigarette in 1993. Don’t even get me started on the smokers. EVERYONE out here smokes and while I respect the right for them to kill themselves in any way they see fit….it irks the crap out of me when some inconsiderate jackass blows smoke in my face while I’m trying to do something. Sorry, back to Lucerne.

We toured the plazas called platzs and cobble stoned streets before heading to a smaller bridge a few meters away. This one was special though. It has drawings dating back to the 17th century commemorating the plague that swept through the city. This one, was a bit morbid. Each painting had skeletons either decapitating or torturing people throughout the country. From the bridge, we made our way through the narrow streets until we got somewhat side tracked.

Now, let me just begin by saying that Mir has never met a hill she has not wanted to climb. When in doubt, head up hill I guess. I was having flashbacks of the stairs in the Bahamas. So, we climbed this mini mountain and just when I thought I reached the top, you guessed it, another path heading even further up the hill. Finally, the top….or maybe not. We inadvertently found the 9 fortification towers of Lucerne, dating back to the 1300’s. The view was amazing. We got a clear view of the entire city and if not for the low cloud cover, would have had an amazing view of the lake and mountains. We got some great shots, before heading down the mountain and making our way to the famous Lion Monument.

One of the main reasons for even going to Lucerne, was the Lion Monument and it was definitely worth the trip. I couldn’t believe how big it was and the level of detail in the stonework. Mir and I were blown away.

Meercat vs Lion - My money is on the Meercat.

We finished up the day at Lucerne with some souvenir shopping before picking up a few sandwiches and heading back to the train to Zurich.

We ended up walking through the “Old Town” section of Zurich, buying more souvenirs and heading back to the hotel with 180 pictures in the camera and bags full of plunder.

Zurich – Day 4

Our last full day in Zurich was bittersweet. The people are friendly, the city is beautiful and although the forecast called for rain every day, the sun found a way to poke through when we needed it.

That being said, we’re getting old. Our tired bones find it more and more difficult getting up in the morning. The alarm rang at 8:30 and as much as we wanted to get up and catch the hotel breakfast, in my half sleep delirium I convinced Mir to go back to bed by promising her Starbucks. Sure, enough it worked. We got up about 2 hours later and made our way to Starbucks on the main Bahnhofstrasse.

We’ve also been on the hunt for an elusive object since Lucerne…we found that Credit Suisse branches have been giving away free CS Soccer balls commemorating its role as the lead sponsor for the upcoming Euro Soccer championship. We’ve seen hundreds of tourists with these balls and every branch we’ve gone into had already run out. So we spent most of day 4 hopping from branch to branch looking for free soccer balls, with NO luck.

Ok, back to Starbucks…this is so cool. The Starbucks here give you the coffee in a real mug and serve your food on a real plate. Not plastic, real plates! How long would something like this last in NY before the branch had all of their logo mugs stolen?

It was at that moment that I had an epiphany. While here, we’ve seen people drop their bags in the train station and walk away and leave laptops unattended while their owners went to the bathroom among other acts of what Mir and I consider sheer lunacy (stupidity in NY terms). But acts like these served as a gentle reminder of the kind of animals we really are! Skipping ahead briefly, we just got back from the movies. The theater had large comfortable (padded) ASSIGNED seats. The ticket agent showed us a digital layout of the theater and asked us which seats we wanted to sit in! Ah, and the kicker…the seat numbers were EMBRIODERED! Are you kidding me?? The entire place was carpeted, clean, without spillage, drippage or vandalization. Half way through, we even had an intermission! Try giving New Yorkers a 10 minute intermission in the middle of a movie and see what happens. This place is like a multi-million person small town.

Ok, so back to our day. We decided against taking the 2 hour train ride to Geneva, in favor of a mini-excursion to a mountain look-out overlooking Zurich and the surrounding area.

We took a mini tram more than half way up the mountain and hiked up the rest of the way. When we got to the top, we couldn’t believe the view. We were on the top of the hill with a view of Zurich, the entire length of Lake Zurich and the surrounding cities. We were already at 3,000 ft above sea level but to top that, we climbed half way up a lookout tower on the top of this mountain for a completely unobstructed view of the area. We got only half way up because the wind chill was crazy and it was REALLY high. The entire tower shook as the wind blew, so…we wussed out and went only half way.

We took our time walking down, enjoying the view and the fresh air while Mir entertained us with songs from the Sound of Music along the way.

Edelweiss, Edelweiss

Every morning you greet me

Small and white clean and bright

You look happy to meet me

Blossom of snow may you bloom and grow

Bloom and grow forever

Edelweiss, Edelweiss

Bless my homeland forever.

Try getting that stuck in your head for a couple of hours. I don't even know what a friggin Edelweiss is.

We took the tram back to the main railway station for fish nuggets and chips before walking down the Bahnhofstrasse to finish up with the last of the souvenir shopping. Then we did one more lap around the “Old Town” before dropping the bags off at the room and then back out for dinner and a movie.

We walked back through the brisk Swiss air, back to the room to finish packing and attempting to get some sleep before an early flight tomorrow.

And so, our European vacation has come to and end. Deep thoughts, after this commercial break.

Below are the Swiss Alps from the air.

Paris - Day 4, Zurich - Day 1

There is just no way we’re ready for the Amazing Race.

Maybe if we quit our jobs and trained non stop for a year….but we’re bankers, who has time to even go to the gym?

Today, I’m writing from the rainy and cold Zurich….catching up on our last day and a half in Paris and first night in Zurich. Actually, today is day 6 but we have to pay for internet access (total scam) at the hotel so, I’m writing this all out in Word and posting them separately.

Now that all of the administrative stuff is out of the way, on to Paris….our vacation package included a “free” (but not really because we’re paying an arm and a leg for the trip), bus tour of Paris, an hour cruise on the Siene River and a pass to the 2^nd level of the Eiffel Tower….the Mir and J supplemental package also included Notre Dame.

Let me just tell you how much I hate touristy stuff. As a New Yorker, I’m constantly being annoyed by the tourists walking down the street looking up, blocking street corners, slowing your commute or being just plain in the way. Today, I was that dork on the bus with the head set on and on the tour boat with the glass ceiling….yes…complete dork….but definitely worth it.

The bus dropped us at the foot of the Eiffel Tower, where we took the tour boat up and down the Siene River. I gotta tell you, there are A LOT of bridges in Paris and each one has a story. I got some great shots from the boat before the heavens opened up and it began to POUR like you wouldn’t believe.

We hustled to the Eiffel Tower and got some more amazing shots of the city. We did a lap around the tower, getting some panoramic pictures and left the tour early to get to Notre Dame before closing.

Now, believe it or not….we checked the map and found that our favorite train, the C line, ran directly from the Eiffel Tower to Notre Dame….risking another adventure like that of Versailles, we hustled to the train and made it in no time flat. Without getting lost….see, we’re not completely brain dead. 2 MBA’s can read a map and not get lost!

We got off at Notre Dame and snapped some photos of the famous rose window and on the way in, saw a sign for the Notre Dame crypt so, Mir and I decided to detour before heading into the cathedral (for once, we were slightly ahead of schedule). The crypt was an archeological dig, showing the original Roman retaining walls and the foundation of a church that preceded Notre Dame…a quick loop, some more shots and out we were into Notre Dame. I can’t emphasize this enough…..I’ve seen it in books, seen it in pictures, read “Pillars of the Earth” and “Kingdom of Heaven”…but to be in there, looking up at the stained glass windows….while the organs played and mass was conducted (it was a Sunday)…..I found it to be one of the single most beautiful buildings I have ever been in. It really does leave you speechless….I even lit a candle for Papa in one of the small chapels and said a small prayer…and then took a picture below:

We decided not to climb the 300+ steps to the top because of: A) Fatigue and B) What more was there to see after seeing the inside?? So, we found a nice restaurant to hide from the rain and have a pleasant dinner before going to shop for souvenirs and heading back to the hotel.

By the time we were done, the weather cleared up and we decided to walk through the Latin Quarter, back to Haagen Daaz (yes, for those of you who know Mir)…we took a mini detour but found that it closed 10 mins before we got there! Dangit!

We walked back to the hotel and I got some great shots of the Louvre at night before passing out and oversleeping the next morning…..which was nothing new because we overslept every morning. Our old bodies can’t move as fast as they used to and we were walking a lot! Which leads us to Zurich – Day ½.

The plan was to get up at 7am, breakfast by 8am, at Sacre-Coeur by opening at 9am and back at the hotel, checked out and at the train station by 12pm…ambitious, I know. How many of you think that’s how the morning actually went??? If you said yes, then you must not know us very well and aren’t our friends. HA HA. The day began as it should have, a wake up call at 7am….but I knew the plan was total crap when I saw the look on Mir’s face. She was done and the only way she was going to be able to get there, was if I carried her on my back the entire way. ….I knew she had her heart set on Sacre-Coeur…she’s been talking about it for days, but there’s always next time. It was the only major disappointment and one of only a few places we couldn’t fit into the schedule. So, we had a leisurely breakfast, slept another hour and were at the train station on time. Only to find out that our train was 50 mins late! We just can’t win!

The train ride was nice…but getting on the train was a problem. One train conductor pointed us to the opposite end of the train, telling us we were in car #3 at the front…so we hustled to the end, only to get turned around. The friggin guy meant the 3^rd compartment of the first car! We hustled in, just as they closed the doors and we were on our way to Zurich. I gotta say, first class is the way to go. We had big cushy seats that reclined back at the push of a button, cup holders and even outlets to plug in the laptop. We watched as we sped through the French country side, passing through small towns and plenty of farms out in the middle of nowhere, slept, played Age of Empires on the laptop and pulled into Zurich about an hour behind schedule.

We checked in, walked to a nice restaurant a block or two away, checked out a shopping mall and came up with a plan of attack for tomorrow….walk around Zurich and meet my colleagues from Credit Suisse for dinner and drinks tomorrow night. Wednesday, we go to Lucerne.

Paris Day 4: Versailles- Quel jour de transporte desastre (Versailles- What a transportation nightmare!)

So its your girl, Meercat getting in on this blogging of our Parisian adventures!

On Day 3 we decided to tackle both Notre Dame and then Versailles. Well, since the day started at about 10:30am (rather than our original 8am- this was NOT my fault) we made the decision to go to Versailles and later return in the afternoon and go to Notre Dame. This seems like a very uncomplicated itinerary except we never factored in transportation meltdown! Now, we'd taken the local train (metro) the day before with no problems and figured that getting to Versailles would be a piece of cake. This would be true if not for the fact that you had a monkey leading a monkey.

We took the metro by our hotel (Rue du Bac) and got off at the Assemblee Nationale to then walk a short distance and catch the RER(kind of like the LIRR) Line C to Versailles. We found the RER with no difficulty and then as luck would have it, our train pulls in right at our arrival. We are about three stops into our journey when yours truly, Navigator Extraordinare decides we are going in the wrong direction and we jump off the train at Champ de Mars ( I want you all to start keeping count at this point). Justin looks at the map and determines that we were indeed on the correct train. I don't know people- I was having a rough morning, complete exhaustion after two non-stop days (did I mention that I was working 13-15 hour days leading up to the vacation), lost of perspective and direction could happen to anyone under these circumstances. Luckily, we didn't wait long for the next train. We boarded this train and determined that the stop we should get off is "Versailles Rive Gauche". Well, we had a pleasant ride and along the way, we see what appears to be Versailles while we were about to pull into the station "Versailles Chantiers". I wanted to get off but Justin says we should stay on and wait till we see the station that reads "Versailles Rive Gauche"(like I said, one monkey leading the other).

Anyway, we continue on our train and go from beautiful clearings and country-like homes, to industrial businesses and shabby residential homes until finally we pull into the last stop Saint-Quentin En Yvelines (if you are counting, we have now been on two trains). We asked a cute old man how to get to Versailles and he exclaims in true Parisian fashion that we should have gotten off the train two stops before (that's right, right where I thought we should have gotten off). In addition, the old man told us it was about a twenty minute walk to the Chateau. No fear we thought, we will simply catch the next train (since they come fairly quickly) and still get there by 1:30ish pm. Well, we got on the train and got off at Versailles Chantiers(Train number three); during this time, it began to rain and we didn't want to walk for 20 minutes. We looked at the train map and realize we could take another line that appeared to be an offshoot of the Line C to "Versailles Rive Gauche". We asked the token booth person which train track should we catch the train to Versailles and he told us Track E. The train would be pulling in about 8 minutes. We go downstairs at about the five minute mark and right then a train pulls in and we jump on like total idiots without doublechecking. What is worse, I looked up and saw that the train read Line L but I thought that like NYC subways, another train was being used on this line. Well, this train was actually Line U(so I was partially correct) and it hauled for about 15 minutes in an unknown direction and finally pulled in at Saint-Cloud(this would be our fourth train).

Now, we are completely confused and exhausted. We again consulted with our train map and found that we would have to go back to "Versailles Chantiers" to then get the correct train. We looked up the train on the board and couldn't find the station name we were looking for-thankfully two women confirmed the next train we would board(go figure, it was "La Verriere"-don't ask because it was all too confusing now).

This was the train that would take us back to Versailles Chantiers and it was coming in about 30 minutes!(Train number five). The train finally came and we took it back to Versailles Chantiers. Trying this again, we took Line C to "Viroflay Rive Gauche"(Train number six) to then get off and catch a train for "Versailles Rive Gauche (Train number seven). That's right, SEVEN trains before we even got to Versailles, which by then was close to 3:00pm. We spent almost three hours lost in the Parisian train system. All I could say was "Thank God, we finally made it"! The best part was that the rain seemed to be passing and the day would not be a total wash.


Well, I will rush through the rest of the blog since I've written a book on our travels to Versailles alone. I wasn't able to go to Versailles on my first trip to Paris so I was dying to see this opulent over the top palace that King Louis XIV built to commemorate.......himself of course!


We could have spent hours alone exploring every vein of the gardens which must be absolutely F-A-B-U-L-O-U-S in the latter part of the spring into the summer. By the time we made it into the chateau itself, we had exactly one and a half hour to closing.


We sprinted gingerly through the King's and Queen's apartments, the various State rooms and the Hall of Mirrors(dedicated to the monarchy's complete dominance and wealth. It was just sickening, I tell you when I think of how well the rich lived and the poor continued to suffer in Paris and all of France during this era-vive la revolution!).




The day ended with us seeing all the rooms available for viewing by the public, we had an uneventful ride home (yes, we finally mastered the metro and RER-Yeah, Team Reyes, hip-hip!).


Suffice to say, we did not make it to Notre Dame- since it was too late to see any other sites for the evening, we came back to our hotel and had a nice quiet dinner at the St.Germains (I think that is the correct spelling of the brasserie. I will never have anybody else's lamb anything except my mother's!) and ended our day on a high note except for the indigestion we both suffered through during the night into the next day(J will give more details of this on Day 4). Well, Meercat's out-stay tuned as J recounts Paris Day 4's many adventures.

Paris: Day 2

The one problem with Paris....everything is in friggin French.

I'm a day behind because after 7 1/2 hours in the Louvre and an aborted trip to the Eiffel Tower (more on that in a minute) on Friday.....we came back and passed out. Today was an epic adventure.....and that was just the train ride to Versailles, but you'll have to read about that tomorrow.

Friday, I fulfilled a life long dream. We spent an entire day in the Louvre. Those who know me, knowI am a HUGE history buff and art lover (and yes, total nerd). So, where better to be than one of the greatest museums in the world?? I was in my glory.....only 2 or 3 people on this earth will ever truly understand my fascination with our first leg of the tour; those being Mir, Mom and Andria.

We begin, as it should.....in ancient Egypt....

Let me get one thing out of the way....Dr. Zahi Hawass is a quack and I want his job.

I tried to make the exhibit as interesting as possible for Mir, which probably made it less interesting (borderline unbearable), but I quite literally to covered everything from early pyramid making to Akenaten and Tutankamon. It took us a while to find it, after getting lost a few times but I did it.....I finally got to see the famous bust of Akenaten. Many of you might not comprehend the significance of this.....but like I said, only 3 people will ever truly understand how I felt at this moment.


We went on through Egypt and took some amazing shots and had some fun on the way.

This is how I want to go.....



Mir wanted to break the case and steal this ring......


Mir, testing the Louvre's security systems......RUN!


My other passion after history and art....monkeys....but ancient egyptian monkeys?? Are you kidding me?
After ancient Egypt, we went on to Mesopotamia and were blown away. Again, I've seen them in text books, art books, posters, you name it....but to see the glazed brick work of "the archers" and the gryffins, was amazing.


My main reason for wanting to go, was to finally see the famous Code of Hammurabi.....it's all I could think about after finishing with Egypt and what do I get??? The friggin thing was moved to the temporary Babylon exhibit and I was not about to pay extra to see it! So, after roughly 3 hours between Egypt and Mesopotamia, we took a lunch break at the cafe under the glass pyramid and rested our legs, which were already killing us from the day before. After a brief lunch, we were recharged and ready to go....

We got lost a few times but managed to find the big 4; the Mona Lisa, the Venus de Milo, the Winged Victory of Samothrace and Michelangelo's "The Dying Slave" but aside from the Michelangelo, I was more impressed with the Caravaggio, Giotto, Rafael and Da Vinci's other works.


We ended the day in Napoleon's apartments and in the Apollo Gallery with the crown jewels of Louis the XVI...and wow....talk about over the top! These cats lived large! I was about to have my own revolution up in there after I saw all of that.....I'm telling you, those French peasants were on to something there!



And so, 7 1/2 hours passed and we gave a go at the Eiffel tower as the sun began to set.....but alas, our own fatigue and hunger caused us to turn around. We knocked on the door, but no one was home so we promised to go back another day......which will be Sunday when we take a boat tour on the Siene and a walking tour of the Eiffel Tower....next posting....Versailles.