Rome all to myself

With working days and pretty tired at night, my sightseeing in Rome is limited to early morning. There is something special about walking a town and not seeing another sole out, especially one as busy and crazy as Rome. I had planned to go running a couple of times, but it has been way too cold to run in the shorts and t-shirt that I brought. So instead, I have been going for walks. One morning was around the Coliseum, another morning around Circo Massimo and over to the Mouth of Truth.

One morning I actually managed to get up even earlier and take a long walk. I started at the hotel and worked my way to Trevi Fountain going through Piazza Campidoglio. There was not another sole there. I had it all to myself. From there to the Spanish Steps where I saw my first car of the day (imagine, Rome without any cars, it is almost hard to believe). I continued to walk to the Piazza del Popolo where I turned around and headed back to the hotel walking back by Piazza Navona and the Pantheon (which has to be one of the coolest buildings in Rome). Arriving back at the hotel just in time for my morning espresso and fresh oranges from the orange trees outside my room.

I did do a couple of tourist things though. Went to the Vatican and had a walk through that. Also, one night after pizza I found myself walking into the church Saint Maria in Trastevere. Right when I was about to leave, service started and I sat down, sung some hymns (in Italian, or course) and got my card stamped. Now I just have to bring M back for a romantic weekend (meaning kid free).

More pictures on www.DnMAdventures.com later today

Eating my way through Rome

One thing about Italians, they know their food. The first time I went to Italy was in ’95 (sounds, and feels, like such a long time ago) and we got perhaps the best introduction possible to the country and specifically Rome. We ate at all the local places and were introduced to all the food that we needed to have. This time was similar. All day is spent with Romans at work and I just pester them to give suggestions on where to eat. Thus far, we have not been given a bad suggestion.

The best, with no doubt, is Renato and Lusia. The table was booked for 8:30, which is when they opened, and it was a good thing we got reservations. Every table in the house was reserved and full. In the entire room there was only 3 non-Italian speakers, two at our table and a German speaker sitting with four Italians. I let the waitress pick my food and it was excellent. I started with goat cheese balls covered in crushed walnuts, honey and parmesan flakes. It melted in my mouth (helps that I am a sucker for goat cheese, my mother would have hated it!). Main course was wild duck with a chestnut sauce which had whole chestnuts which were marinated in some sort of sauce. My mouth is starting to water just thinking about it. For dessert it was fresh berries over fresh ricotta cheese. All of it was wonderful.
One thing that I have been taking advantage of almost every night has been the gelato. Why can all ice cream be as good as the gelato? Sadly, I did not make it to my favorite one, but I have managed to have some almost every night. The pine nut flavored one is the best, followed by chestnut and then lemon.

Here is a shirp brachetta, which looked so good!

My goat cheese starter. I am getting hungry looking at the picture.

Lastly, my fresh fruit ricotta. My gelato photos, but I can still taste it.

All Roads Lead to Rome

Work trips are usually not fun. Part of it is that you have to work while you are on work trips, which is always a downer (hence the name, “work trips”). The other part, at least for me, is that I always go to the same two spots. Not this time, this time I get to go Rome. I have been to Rome before. I fact, Rome is one of my favorite cities I have traveled to. I had a great introduction to it. In 1995 I traveled here and a local, of sorts, took us around. We ate at all the local places and were treated like we had been living there our whole lives. So I have always had fond memories of Rome.

The trip itself was uneventful…for the most part. The first flight was empty, well the seats next to me were empty and that is all that matters. A small layover and then a second flight on a smaller plane. Here is where the trip became a little more eventful. The guy next to me was a bit weird. Firstly, he smelled really, really bad. I had to cover my nose to be able to breathe. I would have moved to get away from the smell, but the flight was totally full. So I attempted to hold my breath for almost 3 hours. The other thing about this guy is that he was just weird. You could tell he was nervous about something. Plus he continued to touch himself (and I do mean touch himself). I was so ready to get off that plane and was thankful when I finally got to.

Took a taxi to the hotel, which was super easy from the airport. My hotel is placed perfectly in the historical center of Rome. From the front door you can see the forum and the coliseum. I am ready for food, being a tourist and more food!

Machu Picchu Rescue

It was almost 9 years ago that M and I were at Machu Picchu. We had rain, but not as much as they are getting right now. Here is a picture from today's Metro of the rescue "mission" of the thousands of people who are standed there or at the city below. Though a helicopter ride over Machu Picchu would have been cool.

Sime08

A while ago work sent an email out to everyone and asked if anyone would be interested in attending the Sime08 conference in Stockholm. I took a quick look at the proposed agenda and said that if there was space available, then why not. As it got closer and closer, I started to question my decision to attend. Work was/is busy and the more I looked at the agenda, the more I wondered if it would really be worth it.

It is a two day conference (the first of the two days is today) dealing the tech. Basically it is a nerd’s conference. That is not really fair, a Star Trek conference is a nerd’s conference. This is dealing with real issues and real things, so it is actually the Super Geek’s Conference. The website says that on the days of the conference, “the smartest people in Sweden will go missing.” I almost hate to admit it, but I enjoyed almost every speaker today (the first day) and I actually got motivated to do something with www.DnMAdventures.com. I mean, I get motivated all the time, but I mean actually motivated. That is hard to believe.

The highlight was actually two different speakers. Joi Ito was excellent. His presentation was a mixture of entertaining and yet it was very informative. He started a company called Creative Commons, which allows people to share information/photos/music (you get the point) legally and to the benefit to all parties. The highlight though was Dave Sifrey. He presented a new business of his called Off Beat Guides. It is very frustrating to a certain extent, but it is an amazing idea. It is personalized guidebooks. It is brilliant (and has officially made Christmas shopping a whole lot easier), but I talked to M about this very idea 6 months ago. I just did not have a clue on how it could be done and now it is.

Train Week!!

This week is suppose to be dedicated to trains (and specifically the train weekend we just took), ironically the train into work yesterday was over an hour late, so I am running late with everything. Anyway, today is a simple one, this is the postcard that we bought on our train weekend and sent to Grandpa and Grandma. It is actually one of my favorite postcards I have seen in a while.

Post Cards from the Edge

Here is a lovely one we got from the Rock (taken from the Spanish side). If you look close enough, you might be able to see some monkeys!

Gum Tree/Wall

I saw this in Metro the other day. It is a tree outside a night club in Mexico.

It reminded me of the gum wall in San Luis Obispo that we saw when we took our California Road Trip in March this year. Both of them are pretty gross.

Airplane Seats

It is of my opinion that airlines should advertise fairly and responsibly, especially in there inflight magazines. Here is what they should actually look like:

The Lidingöloppet

Stage one of the Swedish Classic is over for me… again. It should have been stage three, but it did not happen as planned (just in case, the Swedish Classic is 4 sporting events that a participant has to complete within a calendar year. They include skiing, biking, swimming and running). This time around I started with the one that I was the most worried about- the Lidingöloppet. It is “only” a 30km trail run, though it is known as the toughest footrace in Europe. To me, the idea of running for 30km sounds miserable, though it is something that had to be done and now that it is over, I hope to never do it again.


It started easy enough. My start time was at 1:30 (I was under the impression that it was at 1:00), so I got there way too early. After waiting around for several hours, I ended up seeing a couple of people I knew. We turned in our bags and then walked to the start line a couple of kilometers away. Before the race, I had done a fair amount of training. I had run two times per week on average, at least one of them around 15km, though nothing ever more then 15km. To be honest, it felt as though I was ready. My body was feeling good, I felt pretty sure about myself, but I still was a little nervous about the race. The idea of running 30km is scary, or at least it should be a scary thought and for sure a scary thought to me.

One big difference between the Lidingöloppet and other races is that the start time is determined by when you registered for the race, not how fast you think that you will run it. That means that even though we were one of the last groups to start, the potential winner of the race may start right next to me (or the person who would be the slowest of the race might be there as well). So when the race started, I hung back a little. I knew that I did not want to run with the fast guys, so I stayed in the middle of the pack. Boy am I glad that I did. After about ½ a km, the trail broke off to the right and to the left. Of course by this time, the fast people were up front. Right as I was reached the Y in the trail, several people behind me started to scream. Everyone had turned left, when we should have turned right. I quickly turned around and was back on the right trail, but every person who hurried to the front of the pack, were now in the very back and had to run an additional kilometer. I laughed so hard, that I am sure that I my energy level dropped. I went from the middle of the pack to one of the front ten people.

The first couple of kilometers were tough, though the first couple of kilometers of running are always tough. At the end of first 10km (59min 52sec), I was feeling good. The pace was good, slow enough that I thought that perhaps I would be able to keep up with it. After the first 10km, the track started to get smaller and smaller. At some points during the race, the track was barely large enough for two people to walk next to each other, let alone 30,000 people run together. At 15km, the trail was more up and down and pretty narrow. Even with that though, I had managed to maintain the same pace (1hr30min26sec) and was feeling pretty good.

That all stopped at kilometer 17, my knee locked up on me. I pulled over to the side for a minute to stretch it out and it helped instantaneously, but it was not long before it locked up again. Both knees were sore by the time I reached 20.2km (2hr14min06sec). I rested for a couple of minutes to take some additional water and snacks, but most importantly to stretch out both knees. I did not want to stay too long, because I knew it would be tough to get back going if I waited. So I pushed forward, still running some, but walking a whole lot more. The sad part is that my body felt good. I really did not feel tired, it was just that my knees had given up on me. The hardest part of the race began after 25km mark (2hr52min21sec). The biggest hill was after that point, and everyone walked up it (I wanted to crawl). It was grueling, to put it lightly. From that point until the final 500 meters, I pretty much just speed walked. Walking, I would pass people that were running. Then on the downhill, if my knees would allow for it, I would run as best as I could.

When the final 500meters were posted, I started to run as fast as I could. This is a difficult thing for me. My nature is to take it slow towards the end, needing additional motivation to continue running. My motivation was simple, I wanted to look good. I finished with 3 hours, 36 minutes and 27 seconds. I am happy with the final time, though I am not overly impressed. People who run the entire way, or almost the entire way, are more impressive to me. Even if they have a slower time then what I had.

At the end of the Vätternrundan (bike), they were asking people if they thought that they would ever do it again. The overwhelming response was no. I knew at the end of that race that I wanted to come back and do it again. I am not so sure about the Lidingöloppet though. I like the idea that I am finished with it, but I do not think that I will ever do it again. I would consider running another long race, like a marathon, but never the Lidingöloppet. Maybe it should be the Athens Marathon or the New York Marathon. First I have to get ready for the Vasaloppet (skiing)- only 138 days remaining.

Hot Air Ballooning

I actually have never been in a hot air balloon. It is not from a lack of trying though. We have been very unfortunetly. We were planning on doing it in San Diego, but the wind was not right. Then in Stockholm, but it rained (big shock there), so it is still on my list to do. Though I have a "New Hope". I saw this in the paper yesterday morning, it is from Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta. I really want to go in the Darth Vader Balloon, way too cool.

Sore Legs and Weak Knees

Sore legs and weak knees, that must mean that I just did the Midnattsloppet again this year. My goal for running it was under one hour (last years time was 59 minutes and 57 seconds), though I have done almost no training for it. So it was not for sure if I actually would reach/beat my goal. It was also a first for a couple of things- the first time running with music and the first time running with a knee brace. Last year when I got to km 8, ny knee popped and it hurt for days after. So I wanted to protect it as much as possible.

Timing of the event was horrible. A couple friend that we have called on Thursday to say that they were in town from Australia and wanted to meet up, so I had to miss the first night with them. The race was colder this year. As I was standing there waiting for our time to go, I was freezing. The positive side was that this year I did not have to go pee before the race started (learned that lesson last year). Eventually our number got to start.

For some reason, the first 3km is the hardest for me. Part of me wanted to stop there and just call it a day. The nice part about running in a large group like that is that I control my speed. Normally I would try to run faster then I should, but in a group, I keep it under control. By the forth km, I was feeling good. Around 7km is the big hill. I do well running up it. I don’t know why I can run up a hill. The sick part is that I enjoy running up the hills, it feels good. By the 8th km, I was feeling great and it only got better. I actually finished strong and could have “easily” gone on. I guess in reality I did go on further, since I had to get to the train station. In the end, I managed to complete the 10km loop in 55min 20sec, over 4 minutes faster then last year.

I am using the Midnattsloppet as a training for the Lidingöloppet. The first of the Classic for me (I had to start over, typical). A 30km race that is off road the entire way. Sounds like a pain, so I am not sure why I am doing it. They say it is harder then a marathon. It is only 29 days until the race and I have not really trained that much. My goal, right now anyway, is less then 4 hours. Maybe, with some additional training, I will be able to do it.

A Finnish Sauna

Every once in a while a traveler gets the opportunity to take advantage of a truly unique cultural experience. One of my best friends married a Finnish girl this weekend and we went over for the wedding. It was a beautiful service, with the two of them over looking a lake while reciting their wedding vows. After the dinner, this was itself a cultural experience, those who wanted to could partake in a Finnish sauna. I have taken plenty of saunas in Sweden and in other countries, but Finland is unique.

First of all, it is hot, real hot. It was well over 100 degrees. So when you walk in the door, it hits you like a brick wall. It is of course a wet sauna, meaning you can pour water on the element to create steam/heat. Which means it gets even hotter. The thing about a Finnish sauna though, is that you are not suppose to sit in the sauna just because. You sit in the sauna for a short period of time, say 5 to 10 minutes. Then you get out and hop in a lake.

The unique part happens when you get back in the sauna. Sitting in a bucket of water will be some green birch branches. Basically, after setting the wet branches on the coal for a few moments, you beat the living crap out of yourself or the person next to you with the branches. It, surprisingly, feels really nice. It opens up your pores…supposedly. It relaxed me at least. In the end, the sauna takes about 1.5 to 2 hours to complete. It was brilliant, a must if you find yourself in Finland. It should not be too hard to find a place with a sauna. Finland has 5.3 million residents and almost equal number of saunas. They even have public saunas. Though if you go to one of these, be careful. It is like the local bar, people have there seats that they always sit in.

Cadbury Chocolate Factory

We have been trying to find things to do while we are in England. It is easier said then done really, since our kids are so young. So when M found the factory tour of the Cadbury Chocolate Factory, we decided that it was a “must”. In my mind, it was going to be a cross between Willy Wonka’s Chocolate Factory and the Coke Museum in Atlanta, Georgia. My fear was that it was going to be closer to something like the tour of a box factory (Simpson’s episode). In the end, it was closer to the first two, just without the Oompa Loompas. I guess they did something close to Oompa Loompas.

When we found it, it felt a little overpriced. If it ended up being good, then it wouldn’t be. If it was excellent, then it was a value for the price. When you pull up to the factory, you are not really sure if it will be good. We walk in (actually we ran in, since it was starting to rain) and got the tickets. The tour is in two parts. The first part is the actual tour of the factory and a little history of chocolate/Cadbury. It was alright. The kids were not interested in it at all, other then the snacks that they gave to eat on the way. It was not until the Disney like ride through Chocolate Land happened that the kids were interested in the tour part. Here you got to follow like drops of chocolate on the way to the Cadbury Factory. N thought that it was great (here is where the kind of like Oompa Loompas happened). I actually liked the factory tour. It always amazes me how much gets produced and how it is produced. I loved watching the video on the Cadbury Egg production.

The second part started with a stupid video about how they came up with the idea of putting 1.5 glasses of fresh milk in each candy bar. I guess it was cute, but a little much maybe. After the show, you got to produce your very own candy treat- milk chocolate on top of your choice of treat. I picked popcorn, N had wine gums and M had cereal. Z loved it. She was covered in chocolate before it was over. Everyone was taking pictures of her. It was all over her.

The girls liked it, but I think that the highlight for them was a combo of the snacks around the factory and the playground with swings, probably more the other one. They were happy though, and we thought that it was excellent. They did have an elevator, just not a glass one.

On the Road Again

For over six weeks, we were on the road through 7 countrys, 5 ferry rides and unknown number of miles in our little Fiat Punto. All four of us and all of our gear fit in the car without too much problem. The Punto is a surprisingly roomy car for its size.

Back Home

After being on the road for over 6 weeks, we are finally home. Over the next month we are going to be blogging about all of our adventures, and we had lots of them. I will also (in theory) be posting some recipes and drinks on the 80 Meals blog as well, so you need to check that out as well.

Here are some of the highlights to come:

Camping in Denmark
Day Out With Thomas
Sea Life
Cadbury Chocolate Factory
Oxford
Monet's Garden
Disneyland Paris

and much more.

Road to England

The trip to England was a bit of an experience this time. It took three nights to get here, with the first night only a couple of hours away from the house. The second night was in a tent in Aalborg Denmark and the last night was on the ferry between Denmark and England.

The tent night was interesting. I was not overly interested in staying in a tent. I love camping, but I am guessing that I am going to get my fair share of it this summer. M was driving though, so she decided. It rained during the night...of course. The girls loved it though. They got sleeping bags for Christmas last year and thought that it as the coolest thing ever to sleep in their very own sleeping bags in a real tent. They were warm and happy all night. I wish I could say the same about M and I. We fought for the sleeping bags and were a little cold the entire night. In the morning we quickly put up the tent before it started to rain again (we failed).

The last night we took to the ferry from Denmark to England. M thought that the boat was a little small. It was not the biggest boat I had seen before, but it was not small. In reality, the boats to Åland have more things to do on them then this one and we were on this one for 18 hours. I guess it was a good thing that we did not have any alternatives on what to do- we slept for 12 of the 18 hours. While we were taking a little fika in the food area, we sat next to 3 couples chatting. They were all chatting about the different yachts that they own/have owned. Then they started to chat about the different places they took dance lessens- "I took a month long tango lesson in Argentina." "Well, I look a salsa lesson in Africa." The conversation went on and on. The joys of having way too much money.

We arrived in England with no problems and even got to the flat with out any problems. It is pretty nice and sits right on the Thames. So much so that I am going to have to be extra careful with the girls in the back yard.

Weekend's Training

Vätternrundan 27 days
Vansbrosimningen 56 days
Lidingöloppet 132 days
Vasaloppet 280 days

Saturday
biking 0
swimming 0
steps 10231
skiing 0
other hosted my inlaws for dinner, that counts for something...right

Sunday
biking 40 km (average speed of 25 km per hour)
swimming 0
steps 8,102
skiing 0
other 0

Steam Days in Didcot England

Swedish Classic Update

Vätternrundan 28 days
Vansbrosimningen 57 days

Lidingöloppet 133 days

Vasaloppet 281 days

biking 40km @ 27km per hour and 6km

swimming 0

steps 18,919

skiing 0

other 0

Yesterday's Training

Vätternrundan 29 days
Vansbrosimningen 58 days
Lidingöloppet 134 days
Vasaloppet 282 days

biking 0
swimming 0
steps 25,943
skiing 0
other 20 minutes of spin