Milan

I realized a few months ago that my time in Amsterdam is growing short, and that I still had a lot of cities on my list of places to go. I started searching immediately for cheap tickets and booked trips to a few of the places that were left - Milan, Oslo, and Venice so far. This past weekend was Milan. What I had hoped to turn out to be a pretty cheap trip really started adding up... the day before I was supposed to fly out, I got an e-mail from the hotel I had booked telling me that they were closed! The problem was that I had already pre-paid the hotel two months ago when I booked it. :( I booked another hotel, but not sure if I'm going to have to eat the money or not... I had already paid my credit card bill for that month, so I'm not sure how the credit card company will handle it. Oh well!

I got in late on Friday night, and, I'm proud to say, did not get lost finding the hotel on the journey to my hotel... actually, I didn't get lost the WHOLE weekend! Wahoo!! Since it was late, I just wanted to get a good night's rest, so I went to bed in my tiny little room. I've travelled enough to know that I need to bring a few necessities, earplugs being one of them. Thank goodness I brought them this time - my room was right on the street, and SOOOO noisy. They were a lifesaver! :)

I woke up pretty early to the sound of hammering... lovely! Decided to get on with the day, so I laced up my running shoes and saw the city my favorite way - via a long run! I meant to only run for about an hour, but ended up being out for two... I always take my camera with me, so it wasn't exactly a hard core run because I kept stopping to check stuff out and take pictures. It was a super great way to start the day! :)

Here are some of the sights on my run:


Sforza Castle - one of the few buildings that isn't new - the city was largely bombed during WWII, so not a lot is left... loved the reflection on this one...



Self-photo of yours truly with the moat in the background

After all this exertion, I went back to the hotel and figured out the day... Milan isn't famous for being a great cultural city, but it IS known for its shopping and opera. I wanted to get tickets to the opera, so I went to the ticket center to buy some. Story of Italy, I tell you, something is ALWAYS broken or closed. I got to the ticket center at 11:45, and they opened at 12... well, they WOULD have opened if their computers were working... I waited around until 12:30, and they finally got the computers to work. I was so happy to finally get to my turn... until I found out that the tickets were 187 euros each! No thank you... I was pretty bummed that I had wasted so much time for nothing, but, oh well. I started my shopping extravaganza next... which began with - the Galleria.

This is the shopping mall right off of the main town square... the original Prada store is in this building. It's gorgeous inside!

KP with her purchases... I got a sore elbow from having such heavy bags! :)

After dropping off all of my purchases at the hotel, I decided to venture out to see the National Monument Cemetery... I love sculpture, and this cemetery was supposed to have some nice ones. I have to say, Italians do death dramatically... all kinds of super sad sculptures and huge monuments in memory of loved ones. It was nice to be in such a quiet place in a busy city - I enjoyed it, if one can say such a thing about a cemetery!

Sad Sculpture

This one was called "Last Kiss"... heart wrenching...

I loved the light on this one... it was a split second in time, and when I came back, the shadow was completely different.

After the cemetery, I walked around some more high-end shopping (seriously - 5000 euro Versace dresses?!?), bought nothing, and then had a lovely dinner at a place called Paper Moon. It was absolutely amazing. A lot of people tell me that they wouldn't want to travel alone because of having to eat alone... to be honest, it doesn't bother me at all... I really enjoy savoring every single bite of these amazing meals. No pictures this time, folks... the setting was intimate, and you already get enough strange stares when you are by yourself, let alone taking pictures of your food. But, I assure you, it was amazing! :)

Sunday began very early for me, as I had tickets to see da Vinci's "The Last Supper" at 8:15am. I got the tickets 2 months in advance, and this was the ONLY time that I could get in. Since the da Vinci Code came out, it's been super popular. Basically, 25 people get in at a time, and you get 15 minutes to view the painting. It was amazing for me... my parents have had the painting in our dining room for my whole life, so, to see it in person, I was blown away. First of all, it's WAY bigger than I thought. Second, it's painted on a wall, al fresco, not on a canvas. Third, it's in a monastery, and the monks had a need for a door at some point, so they CUT OUT the bottom of the painting to make room for the door! It was amazing! I am so glad I got to see it. :)

After that, I went back to Sforza Castle, and got to see Michaelangelo's last sculpture of "La Pieta". It's not commonly viewed, so I had the unique experience of being all alone with the security guard in the room with the statue. It was beautiful. Evidently, M. didn't like the original position of Christ, so he moved him back... he didn't have time to remove the arm that he had already carved, so it is kind of dangling there in the front. Awe-inspiring!

Michaelangelo's "La Pieta"

Mother and son

After this, I went to the famous Duomo to check it out... it is the 4th biggest church in Europe, and quite impressive in its marble Gothic features. It supposedly houses one of the nails from the cross... wonder how many churches claim that?? :)

Exterior of the Duomo

Interior - mass was being said...

When I got outside, they were having a Ferrari festival! :)

After the Duomo, I really was getting bummed that I hadn't seen the opera house, so I paid the admission to the museum just so I could see the inside of the opera house... surprisingly, it looked almost identical to the opera house in Vienna that I visited last year. I was happy to get to see it, even though I didn't actually get to see an opera.

Inside of la Scala Opera House

My camera died after this (poor planning on my part), but I finished up the day with a visit to a museum about the history of Italy (learned about Napolean's rule there - that guy was everywhere!), and a climb to the top of the Duomo, which was amazing.

I was feeling super sick after this, so I went to the airport on the early side to relax. I think it was a combination of too much good food, shopping, and sunshine. Nothing to compain about, really! :)

Looking forward to a visit from my sister next weekend! We're headed back to Italy (in case you were wondering, I have established that Italy is pretty much my favorite country in the world aside from the good ol' US of A!) :)

Still laughing, but... WHAT A WEEK!!!

Oh my goodness... let's just say that it's a good thing that I have a pretty good sense of humor. This week has been trying at best...

I got in from Portland at 7am on Tuesday after the nearly 10 hour flight. I had really good company on the flight - a really nice girl from Switzerland that lives in Portland now. It was nice to talk with her about her perspective as a European living in the US v. my perspective as an American living in Europe. Living abroad has certainly opened both of our eyes - for better and for worse. The flight went by quickly, and I got in to the airport only to discover that the taxi that I had arranged had come on MONDAY morning instead of Tuesday. No big deal, I just went outside and got a ride with one of the many taxi's that were waiting outside. Had a great time chatting with the driver - he was an immigrant to Holland from Tunisia, which I didn't really know anything about before meeting this guy. A nice welcome home.

As I had been out of the office for two weeks (even though I was working in Portland), I thought it was pretty important that I give my team a little face time, so I quickly showered, found my car (kind of a miracle to remember where I parked it after being gone for two weeks), and boogied on down to Hilversum. I think this was actually a great idea - when I don't have to go into work the day I get in, I usually give in to the jet lag and crash on the couch at some point. There is no sleeping at work, so this was a great way to get over the jet lag. I'm so blessed to have good friends on both sides of the ocean - I was greated with lots of hugs and Dutch kisses. It was so nice to have such a warm welcome, because it was so hard to leave all my loved ones on the other side. I started feeling better nearly immediately.

So, after the small taxi issue, my next issue of the week was that while I was gone, my whole team moved into the brand new "Paula Radcliffe" building. (which is really cool BTW... I'll take some pictures soon!). I had packed before I left, but somehow, only one of the two crates I had packed made it to my desk. I was kind of freaking out, because the crate that was missing contained one of my most prized possessions - my magnet collection from all of my world travels over the past 10 years! I was super bummed to think that this would go missing... and no one really could help me. :( Finally, after two days of getting no answers, I just started going around the building looking through every box I could find... and, guess what?? I FOUND IT! That totally made my day. It's the small things in life that really matter, and my magnets, though they are kind of silly, make me so happy! I love to look at them and reflect on all the amazing places I've been fortunate enough to see. :)

On Wednesday night, I FINALLY got to see Coldplay after booking tickets all the way back in February! I drove down with some friends, which ended up being bottleneck #3 of the week... what was supposed to be a one hour drive took over three hours! We were so sad... we thought we were going to miss the concert! We were so funny... we kept telling each other "Postive thoughts, positive thoughts", and, believe it or not, every time we made up something crazy about Chris Martin waiting back stage for us or Gwenyth Paltrow (his wife) holding our drinks at the entrance, traffic started moving. We made it to the park just in time for the concert to start! The park held NINETY THOUSAND people! And, it was standing room only... which makes it mighty difficult to see in the country with the world's tallest average people! But, the music was fantastic, and they had great screens, so it sort of felt like we were actually seeing them. :) It was truly a great concert. Now, the problem with a large area filled with 90,000 people is getting 90,000 people OUT of a very large area. Which leads to the next bottleneck of the week... the four hours that it took us to get out and get on the road back to Amsterdam. Oh yes... good times. The first problem was getting 90,000 people out through ONE exit (thank goodness for fire code in the US - this is what would happen if there was no fire code, which I'm pretty sure is the case here). Then, getting 90,000 people over a small pedestrian bridge going over the river nearby (I seriously thought about swimming!). Then, transporting 90,000 people by BUS back to the parking areas. Then, getting 90,000 people out of the parking garages. The situation just got more and more humorous to me, as there was really nothing I could do... or maybe it was just the extreme lack of sleep and jet lag. ;) I finally made it to bed by 3:30am. I guess that's one way to get over jet lag! :)

Birthday girl Nagwha & Claudia with some yummy fritjes! :)

The sea of tall Dutchies in front... um, so you see anyone on stage? Yep, me neither! ;)

Well, at least I could see the screen! :)

Okay, so Thursday, no issues. I was super excited on Friday, because I had scheduled the delivery of my new car. Okay, it's not really mine (in Europe, many employers provide cars for their employees), but it's mine for now. I have sort of a strange predicament here - I don't know how to drive a stick shift, which is about 95% of the cars here... so there were very limited cars for me to choose from... actually, there was only ONE left at the lease place. Luckily for me, it was a BMW one series. Yeah, I'm not complaining! :) It got dropped off at 3:30, and I was SO SO SO excited to drive it home. I drove immediately to the parking permit office, since I park on the street and needed to register this new car so I wouldn't get tickets. Got there at 4:45, and it closes at 4:30. Oh boy. :( I hung out at home for a while, and then went to pick up my friend Christa so we could go to Ikea for a few things. On the highway, the "check engine" light comes on, and the car stars shaking. I thought a wheel was falling off or something. We got to Ikea, and I called the BMW help desk. They sent out a tow truck... turns out the engine wasn't firing on all cylinders. Oh, what luck! I was able to get an automatic rental car, which I then had to go to the parking services place to register on Saturday morning. Oh, what fun! :)

Getting the new car towed at Ikea... bye bye, new car!

Saturday, I had made plans to go and meet Karyn for "Monumenten Dag", when all the older buildings in Holland that are usually closed get opened up to the public. My bike was making pretty strange sounds as I was riding it, and it was SUPER hard to pedal. I was covered in sweat by the time I met her. So, after seeing a few sights, we went to a bike rental place to see if I could get a quick tune up. When I got to the store, the guy kind of laughed at me. He said, "You've been riding THIS????", and basically said it was not repairable. So, he showed me a few bikes, promised me that the one he sold me was a very high quality bike, and off we went... I couldn't believe how much easier it was to pedal the new bike! I felt like a new woman!

Bye-bye, old bike! :)

Yeah, I felt like a new woman until the PEDAL FELL OFF!!! Seriously, we weren't more than 3 blocks away when the pedal just fell off of the bike! I took it back, and the guy felt really bad. Thirty minutes later (this was not an easy repair!), we were back in business. Not sure what the universe is trying to tell me with all of these transportation issues... need to have a think on that one.

KP with the new bike and the new bike's pedal...

Despite all of the craziness of the week, I'm still smiling and still enjoying my time here. I guess you have to see the humor in life - otherwise, you'll go crazy. :)

Home Sweet Home... sort of...

I just got back this week after two and a half weeks in what remains to be one of my favorite cities in the world, Portland, Oregon. It was fantastic to see friends and enjoy my old hometown. I was in town for a tri-fecta of weekends - first, the marriage of my friend Kristin to her husband Rich, then, my 7th (wow, am I really that crazy) annual running of Hood to Coast, and finally, Labor Day weekend.

I think most of my friends know that I am generally not one to sit around... and so trips to Portland put a whole new spin on the word "busy". I actually put together an excel spreadsheet of all of the people I was going to see, where, and when, to keep it all straight. Don't get me wrong - I loved every minute of it! :) I flew in on a Friday, and, despite the 9 hour jet lag, sucked it up to play in a couples golf tournament with Sean. I was SO nervous, because I am not very good yet, but we ended up getting paired with a super nice couple and got 4th place! Jet lag, smet lag! ;)


The victorious couple! :)

Saturday, I got to do one of my favorite things - run with my girlfriends! Our group has changed a bit over the years with various maternity leaves and injuries, but these girls have remained some of my favorite people in Portland. Michelle was actually the first one that I met... way back in 2003 when we were both training for our first marathon. I still remember seeing her and thinking "wow, that girl looks like she could be cool." Up until that point, I hadn't really made any good friends. I then met Raelee & Leslie, who, despite not running with us anymore for various reasons, still remain some of my closest friends. Cristina joined the group after the first marathon, and has been a part of us ever since. These girls just brighten up my day, and their kids add a whole new dimension to our time together! I am proud to say that I pushed Johonna in the Bob for about 3.5 miles and did NOT steer her into the river! :)

KP & Johonna - she loved running with us too - who wouldn't?!? :)



CB with Mateo - one hot mama! :)

That evening, Sean and I went to Kristin & Rich's wedding. It was a really intimate affair, and a beautiful celebration of their love. I was honored to get to attend. I especially enjoyed the taco truck! :)

Sean & KP at the reception


KJ & Rich (her friend made this cute apron for her) :)

I got to spend a few hours with my friend Leslie, her son Samuel, and the Granger family on Sunday. We went to the zoo, but I honestly think the kids liked playing in the sand more than they liked looking at the animals! :)


Samuel & Isla in the sand

The first week was a flurry of working, dinners with great friends, and trying to take care of all the errands I needed to run in the US (buying Pepto & Nyquil, for example! Oh, and peanut butter!)

That weekend was... HOOD TO COAST!! :) I was asked to be on the footwear design team this year, which was a super fun team! A lot of free spirits and creativity for sure. The time went by quickly for me... to be honest, after the 48 hour RoPa run, I think anything would seem short! :)

Leo starting out down Mt. Hood in his nice pink spandex!

I think every Porta Potty in Portland is rented out for this event! Thank goodness!

KP and Umbereen getting ready for KP's second leg on Highway 30

Van #1 at the beach! Waiting for Van #2 to finish!

Sunday after H2C, Sean and I had made plans to go to a golf tournament, but I had a minor freakout about all the other things that I wanted to be doing... every time I go to Portland, I get an itch to head out to Hood River... it is one of my very favorite places. Unfortunately, I don't have any pictures (they are on Sean's iPhone), but we had such a great day picking fruit, watching kite surfers, and hanging out at Full Sail Brewing. A perfect day!

The next week was more friends and more work... I feel so blessed to have so many wonderful friends and colleagues in my life. My smile sure didn't fade after the last blog update.

On Friday, Sean and I both took the day off and drove down to Sunriver, Oregon. We did this last year also for Labor Day weekend. It's just a magical place - beautiful nature, cool people, and lots of time to relax.

Our first night there, we took a bike ride along the Deschutes River

Who's who? ;)

Our home for the weekend

Saturday morning, we took a canoe trip - so fun!!

I loved the reflections...

Before we knew it, it was Monday and time for me to head back. It was so bizarre to come back this time... living in Europe seems like such a dream when I am back in Portland. Don't get me wrong - it's been an amazingly awesome dream, but Portland just feels so normal to me. It's hard to believe, but I've already been here for one year and a half. Time to begin the countdown to blast off...

Thanks to all my friends back in P-town for making me feel so welcome and loved. I miss you all so much and am thankful to have you in my life!! xx