Ready for "Home"

Germany is absolutely breathtaking for me. Historically. Because of family roots. Stunning. I spent my birthday, yesterday, wandering the streets of Berlin, soaking it all in, snapping photos of a church which had been decimated by the allied forces in World War II, the remaining section standing as an eerie reminder among modern shopping centers made entirely of glass and steel. Also a sobering moment was spent at the Berlin wall, or rather what is left of it. I walked slowly along the length of one section left intact, complete with large displays depicting the history and horror of a time we'd all like to forget but shouldn't. In between these briefs moments of focus, my mind remained on my wife and daughter, praying for their safety, for their sanity in the absence of the other member of our family, me. I thought that I could power through this trip, stay focused on shopping the market, studying and consume myself with my work at hand. The first week went well, jumping from country to country, airport to airport, store to store. Daily, I checked our family blog for new posts, but then it got to the point of checking it to secure my sanity in missing seeing them, missing hearing them.

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Now, I have only a couple of days left on the trip, the last leg, the kick, the sprint. Just powering at this point, trying desparately to reach that light. Desparate to reach the "home" that is my wife and my daughter. The comfort. The community. The family. The love.

Thurenger Style

First of my family to set foot back on the soil of the motherland. First from my family to eat Thurenger Style Brauts. Thurengen is the town where my dad's side of the family is from and the Brauhaus that we went to for dinner, serves their sausages and brauts in styles conventional to certain areas in Germany. So very cool. Very proud of being able to cross some more things off the to-do-before-30 list. Squeaked that one in there just in time.

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So glad to be towards the end of the trip. Very excited to be in Germany, but definitely looking forward to getting home. I've looked forward to getting back ever since I've left, but never before have I missed my life as much as now. I miss my wife and baby girl. Missing everything that is what surrounds me on a daily basis. I feel very forunate and blessed to have been able to go on this trip. However, I am looking forward to holding Paisley and kissing Traci. Until then, more shopping in yet another city.

London-Day 1

Charming. Quaint. Just like I imagined it to be. Freaky. I guess all of those viewings of 28 DAYS LATER and 28 WEEKS LATER stick with you. Imagery that sears itself into your brain, just ride the tube from Heathrow to downtown and you'll know what I'm talking about. Freaky.

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Kicked the bug's ass. Got it good. So glad to be over that stomach-whatever-the-hell-it-was sickness. Redeemed myself in burger choices today...had the third best burger ever, only to Solly's, WI, and A's burger Dana Point. Had to reclaim that mishap in Barcelona. Proper! Rallied around our hotel and found some really cool shops, Big Ben, Parliament Houses and tons of little corner pubs. Every corner, there's a pub. Every one! Lots of shopping to do in the next couple of days. Taking notes. Taking tons of notes.

Bonjour, Merci

Gone are the radiant mediterranean sunsets. Welcome, grey, rainy skies. Paris. After hopping into a taxi at Charles de Gaul Airport, I sat wondering, when does Paris end. How large is this city? Large rectangular boxes run the length of the streets, adorned with ornamental design which is both quaint and overpowering all at once. Chimney stacks reach humbly for the depressed sky.

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Still trying to kick this stomach bug. Not sure what the heck is going on. Might have been a fated dinner. Might have been the water in Barcelona. Might have been, might have been. Powering on. Going to kick some ass. Mosied around the city about yesterday. Found the Eiffel Tower just where they said it would be on the map. Found alot of other cool, abnormally large buildings with crazy details in gold. Such a deep sense of history over here. Brings back memories of exploring civil war battle fields with the pops. Cool stuff.

Visited the famous French boutique Colett. Crazy, minimalist design, very sparse. Karl Lagerfeld was there, in all his obscure glory, complete with assistant and personal fit model. Checking it out. After that, attempted to get something in my stomach, definitely fared better this time, but still not quite right. Figured I'd go a safe route and order a club sandwich. Leave it to the French to put egss on there.

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More shopping today. Because Paris is so big, everything that we have on our hit list is so spread out, making for a very long day. Hopefully my box of Maalox holds up.

Bread, Butter, and Street Performers

Day 3-Travel
It's about a quarter till 4 am here in Barcelona. Had a little bit of a rough run towards the end of the day yesterday, something definitely not agreeing with my angry stomach. Got a great nights rest, though, after an hour of very strenuous activity. Thanks, stomach. Muchas gracias, mi estomago! At least I have plenty of time to get my things repacked, together, categorized and downtstairs.

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The trade show was packed. Various languages, various styles, various points of view. One thing is for certain, they like to smoke cigarettes. Didn't see anything earth shattering, nothing that really blew my mind. Definitely some really cool stuff, though. Lots of notes. Filling up my field notes notebook real fast. (Thanks Draplin and Field Notes)

5 things that I could do without for a very long time:
1. Cigarettes (Not like that's going to happen anythime soon the way this trip is going, smoke stacks!)
2. Dirty Mustaches
3. Shiny Down Jackets
4. Faux-Hawk/Mullet Hybrids
5. Rainbow Dude In a G-String (Enjoy those mind altering substances and tourist Euros!)

Barcelona Day 2-Work Station

Day 2, the start. Got another decent nights sleep last night, not much on TV over here except for the odd fire alarm over the economy back home, the politics and which blind person is leading which, and of the course the "extreme" weather and the state of "global warming". All funny stuff in my opinion.

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Even though I am over 5,000 miles away from home, without the two loves of my life, my wife and baby girl, and without all the comforts of home, this hotel is surprisingly warming to the soul. In a town that consistently blends historical architecture with avant garde design, the AB Skipper Hotel is a minimalist marvel blending clean geometric architecture with warming hues of dark reds and dark greys accented with a sublte cream and beautifully thought out sections of wood grain. Wonderful stuff. Definitely a "must stay" on my list of hotels.

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Part one of two of Trade Show Extravaganza. Off to breakfast.

Barcelona Day 1

After almost 16 hours of travel logged, I finally got to stretch my legs. Curb and I galavanted around the Gothic district for a good eight hours today, zig zagging down narrow streets that can't even fit the width of a car. The alleys dart this way and that, with no apparent rhyme or reason, every corner twisting you and turning you. Very easy to get confused and lost in the old town maze that is Gothic Barcelona.

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1. Ate the absolute worst hamburger in the history of mankind this afternoon.
2. Got a huge blister on the ball of my foot (jet lag affects more than just your sleeping).
3. Smelled every smell in the olfactory spectrum.
4. Drank my first Guiness in Europe.
5. Kicked the stomach bug that has been ailing me since Tequila Sunday with Traci and Pais.

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Tomorrow, off to Bread and Butter. Should be a good show, looking forward to seeing the best of what Europe has to offer. Interested to see the various points of view presented and who will be showing. Chad gets in tonight. Off to dinner. If it was anything like lastnight, should be good.

Three days and counting. I am really excited about my trip across the pond, but I have to say that I am most excited about doing some junking in Germany. Old type face books, discarded treasures, trinkets...other peoples junk. My gold mine. Packing real light to save the room for all the goodies.

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This is how the trip's going down.
1. Barcelona
2. Paris
3. London
4. Berlin
5. Munich

About three days in each city. In and out, surgical strike-style. Can't wait to experience all the culture and history. Get back to my roots.

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Sending the wife and grom back up to Oregon for the duration of my trip and then some. Traci will get some time on the mountain with good friends (and god-parents to Paisley) Reuben and Shirlyn (Congrats on the engagement!). Should be a good time for her. Paisley will stay the weekend with Poppy and Nana K. Gonna miss the fam, huge amounts!

Lot's of revamping. Lot's of work. Lot's of parenting.

Had a little bit of a hiatus. Took some time for myself and the family. Sometimes you just have to slow down a bit. Tap the brakes. Seems a little like the world is pedal to the floor at all times. We're 10 months out from election day and it's already a media circus. Christmas was biting on Thanksgiving's heels before I had my plate cleaned while the TV's shouting at me to buy buy buy! The economy is slumping. Oil prices are through the roof. Everyone's going green just because it's now deemed to be a cool color to have on your pallete. Visual lies. Not sure where I stand yet. That's what a couple of months will do to you.

Been stockpiling reference images for a little project I got going on with Miles Lauridsen. Super top secret. Sketching commencing soon. It's always so fun working with Miles, that is when we stay on track. That's where I found the little gem from the Soviets. Always been a huge fan of what was behind that iron curtain.

Leaving next Monday for Europe for two weeks. More on that as the week progresses.