Wadjda/Enough Said

As much as I want to write about the bike/barge trip, life just gets in the way.  Other interesting things enter my life that seem to take precedence.  

WADJDA  Seeing this film makes me wish I were a better writer.  I wish I could somehow express how great the movie is and how much more it is than a story of a ten year old Saudi girl who wants to earn money to buy a bicycle so that she can beat her friend Abdullah in a race.  Wadjda and Abdullah are two Saudi children who never acted before this film.  Abdullah stole my heart in every scene.  Just a beautiful child and so obviously smitten with Wadjda.  But I loved the film not only because Wadjda wants a bike and will get into all kinds of commerce to save enough to buy it, but because she is a girl in a society where girls don't ride bikes and she doesn't seem to let it bother her.  The subplots about how girls and women are viewed in the Saudi culture at once angered me and gave me wonder at the ways the women work through the system.  See this film.

Okay, I love James Gandolfini, but that's not the only reason I loved this film.  Enough Said is a romantic comedy about two divorced people and their attempts to connect.  Gandolfini is superb with those soulful eyes that say everything.  Julia Louis-Dreyfus is terrific.  The premise of the film is that people come to new relationships with the history of their previous breakups.  Is the reason they broke up before a show stopper? Or do some characteristics spell doom for some relationships but not for others.  I loved the film.

How lucky is that?  Two GREAT films in two days.  Doesn't get any better.

Stressing and Decompressing

NOTE:  My 15 year old nephew left earlier this week, so I’ve been de-compressing for a few days.  Nothing out of the ordinary, or so everyone tells me, but I’ve decided to wait until the whole lot turns 25 or so before I spend a whole week with any of them again.  Teenagers.  I know I was not like this when I was 15 because I didn’t have a cell phone.

I still don't have the mind-set to work on describing the rest of the bike trip, not just because of the TEENAGER, but because of our illustrious leadership. I've got to stop watching the news and reading the Post, but it's like watching a train wreck.  Can't take my eyes off.

So this post will bring you up to date on what's made my blood boil besides TEENAGERS. 

Ted Cruz.  Where are the birthers now?  The Tea Party darling was born in a foreign country (at least I believe Canada is still a sovereign state), of a foreign born father (whose home country is COMMUNIST - bwaaa haaa haaa haaa haaa), and it appears he will be making a run for the presidency in 2016.  Hmmmmmmm.  Come on.  Don't we have any liberal birthers out there?

Dan Cuccinelli.  With all of the problems we have in this country (SEE ABOVE) and in this state, our attorney general (and aspiring governor) has a lazer focus on our bedrooms (or wherever else folks have sex).

Ken Cuccinelli Loses Bid to Re-Ban Sodomy 

World War II Memorial.  I agree wholeheartedly that the WWII vets should have access to the memorial.  BUT, if government is closed because you bozos can't get a budget together, whose fault is that?  Not the lowly Park Service employees.  And HOW DARE YOU make this a spot for your political grandstanding.  Get back to the Capitol and work on the GD budget.  You can't pick and choose what is open.  I don't see any bleeding for the folks who can't pay their bills or get assistance, for Head Start kids and their mothers, or families who can't get into medical trials at NIH,not to mention the Federal employees who have become your favorite punching bags.  Who do you think writes the laws that Federal employees must enforce?  

Republican Congressman Randy Neugebauer caught on camera yelling at park service ranger for government shutdown  

People of Lubbock Texas, you should be ashamed if this guy gets re-elected.

One bright spot in the week, however. 

Petula Dvorak of the Washington Post wrote a beautiful piece about Our beautiful city.   How sick we all are of hearing how "Washington is broke, how much THEY don't want to be associated with Washington (even though they spent loads to get here)."  Petula sets it straight.  We love Washington and the surrounding areas.  Best place in the world to live.

ZITS

My blessings to all of you parents who have either gotten through the teenage years or (even more blessings) still have them to "look forward to..."  My 15 year old extremely intelligent and nice nephew is visiting.  No one told me that "they" don't talk!  Yikes.  I'm talking non-stop like some middle-aged character in a cartoon.  

Oh yeah, that's why I named today's blog, ZITS.

He has been here for four days.  I'd been planning a three day trip to civil war battlegrounds.   We were going to Harper's Ferry, zip lining, and visiting Antietam and Gettysburg.  But thanks, Congress for shutting them all down!  I should send him to your place for a week.  Maybe that would shake things up enough for you to get something done.  Anyway, I digress....

So I've been punting.  Punting is kind of hard when you can't rely on your teammate to snap you the ball.  I had heard that teenagers don't talk, and in fact experienced a bit of this when my friend brought her 16 year old niece on our trip to New York.  But at the time, I just thought something was wrong with her niece.   Now I know differently.

If he didn't have his phone I'd wonder if he were alive, but the non-stop texting tells me there is some brain activity going on....just not directed at me.

Don't get me wrong.  I love this guy.  When he does talk, he has such a dry sense of humor.  He is smart, funny, and even witty.  When he was 3 years old he told my husband that he "liked his vehicle."  That's how he talks...like an adult....but then of course, I haven't heard him talk too much this trip...but I remember when he was little.....

I've scaled back our activities because he sleeps a lot.  We are having fun, I think.  My friend assures me that he will remember this time with me.  I hope he remembers it fondly.

I called today's blog "Zits" because he reminds me so much of this comic.  A 15 year old and his two parents trying to co-exist.  Check it out if you don't have it in your own newspaper....and think of me....five more days and counting.

La Magnifique

I had planned to blog day by day of the trip, but that won't really work out since some days we are in two locations, or in the same location over night.  So we are still in Brugge, but now on our barge, La Magnifique.  This barge will take us from Brugge to Amsterdam, but first we get another overnight in Brugge.  The barge has 17 cabins and approximately 34 bikers.The captain, Walter, is a great guy.  Ramon the chef is terrific.  We will spend 7 breakfasts and seven dinners with them and the rest of the crew:  Berber, Melissa, and Tom.  To give you an idea of what it looks like:

First deck - 

Our Room

Our Bathroom

Hallway

We arrived on La Magnifigue in the late afternoon, and immediately tried to stake out a dinner table for the nine of us.  In our previous trip on the Danube we were assigned a group table, and we just expected it was the same here.  

Unfortunately, I'm afraid we may have been seen as keeping ourselves separate from the rest of the crowd who were from Germany, Australia, the States, U.K. and New Zealand.  We just wanted to see each other and have fun with each other.  I think by the end, the rest of them understood, but it was a little weird at first.

 We spent that first afternoon unpacking, drinking beer on the aft (sailor's term for the back of the boat) and having a very good meal.  That evening Tom (the bike tour guide) explained what would go on the next morning.  To our surprise, the bike ride was assumed to be led by Tom as the tour guide.  On previous rides we were given a map and told where to meet up---and that's what we intended to do on this trip.  So, next morning we got our bikes and panier, put on our gloves and helmets and left the security of the Magnifigue with more or less directions to the next stop.

Points of Interest:
ON BARGE:
Beer - 4 Euros or $5.60
Wine - 4 Euros or $5.60
Wine (bottle) - $21.00

Gasoline (we weren't drinking this, but thought you might like to know):  $9.05/gallon (if my calculations are correct).

1 gallon = 3.78 liters
1 Euro = $1.40
1.71 euros per liter
1.71 x 3.78 x 1.40 = $9.05

Day Two: Brussels to Brugge (Train)

Try not to let the spelling get to you.  We were  in the country of Belgium where the official language is French AND Flemish or Dutch.  I'm not sure we ever figured out how to really spell the names.  Brugge, Bruges, Brussels, Bruxelles, ...... Thank god everyone here speaks English.

 We arrived in Belgium (on September 19) via the capital, Brussels, which is also the capital of the European Community.  Pam, Suzanne and I (and later Carolee and Kristin) arrived directly from Dulles Airport, Chuck and Kim flew in from California, via Seattle, Mike flew in from New Hampshire via Atlanta as did Cheryl from San Diego.  Nine good friends ready for an adventure.    Our itinerary was Brussels, Brugge, then on the barge, The Magnifique to sail/bike from Brugge to Amsterdam via Ghent, Antwerp and a number of other smaller towns, with the final days in Amsterdam (sans bikes).

Brugge is a beautiful town built on many many canals.  It is famous for the canals, and also the ancient art of bobbin lace.  Belgian chocolate, Belgian waffles, french fries and beer round out the other well-known commodities of the region.  More about these later.

After a Mike-led death march from the train station to our hotel, dragging what seemed like tons of luggage over cobblestone roads, we checked into our hotel (two flights up, no elevator---aren't these European hotels charming?---), and headed out for a look at the town and dinner.  And yes, it is this beautiful and quaint.

Brugge - Main Square

Dinner was a wonderful experience in a small restaurant off the beaten path.  However, it started what was to be an on-going discussion and quest.  The discussion at every meal remained the same---how much do you tip in Europe?  The quest was to drink and pay for beer and wine, but to drink and NOT PAY for water.  The Europeans have this quaint custom of drinking only bottled water and we learned the hard way that that water is sometimes more precious than wine.  This first evening we paid 6.60 Euros (translate to $9.00) per bottle.  We learned to swallow our pride after that and order tap water, much to the hardly disguised disapproval of our European hosts. 

Round Up?  To What?

 A short walk back to our hotel, grabbing a couple bottles of wine was all it took for a great end to our second day of adventure.

A canal at night

Pam at the scene of the crime the next morning.  I think we kept a few people awake that evening with our impromptu wine tasting in the hotel's courtyard.

Morning meant a canal tour before tasting some of the local beer.

 Culture can go only so far on an adventure, so before we boarded our barge, we headed out to sample some of the finer things....the oldest beer hall in town dating back to the 1500s (I think).

On the way, we saw examples of Brugge's artistry in lace and in chocolate.

Bobbins that are used to make the lace like you see here.  Don't ask me to explain how this works.  If you are really interested., look at this .video.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TiTqdr38tTU

Tomorrow (if I'm feeling like it), I'll continue on with our entry onto the barge.  Oh one last thing, can't forget the artistry of the chocolatiers.

I want to make a shout out to Dorian and Paul.  Dorian, who had major surgery while we were gone, was always in our thoughts.  And still is....

Oh, forgot to show you the luggage.  We took a taxi to the barge.