Island Five

Day 1 + day 2:

Well so far it really isn't a vacation but I'm in Frisco, Texas. Doing what? Finalizing the purchase of our new house and then getting ready to rent it out. At this moment I'm in our realtor's house using a Dell Inspiron 700m.... It's not so fast... xD We arrived in Texas at around 11:30PM local time and it was FREAKING HOT. D: It's like 20x hotter here than in Albany! T___T Luckily there was AC in the car and now in the house. More later. ^__^;;

Day 2 + day 3:

117 degrees F makes me feel like melting into the ground.

LOL! Texan Sushi is surprisingly good! Our realtor took us out to an Asian buffet twice and all I ate was sushi! XD XD XD

Our house is ownage btw. ^___^

Posted by Tansen at 9:17 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Oh wow... I have a LOT to share this time... This might take a few days.

FRENCH BAGUETTES AND BAGUETTE SANDWICHES OWN ANY CRAP WANNABES (xD) IN THE U.S.!

Aug. 3rd

Whoosh... I didn't get much sleep that night. After much delay we finally made our way to SFO where we met up with Gene's group just as boarding began. Hehe we read Foxtrot anthologies the whole way there... xD

Hotel: Home Plazza, Les Jardins du Marais

Aug. 4th

Les Jardins du Tuileres.

Who the hell plans a (very) boring bus tour the day you arrive in a country 9 hours ahead of you?! JET LAG FTL!

Aug. 5th

Musee du Louvre

Saw the Mona Lisa, Modonna on the Rocks, missed the Last Supper, etc.

Aug. 6th

The Notre Dame

Wow. Today was the first large mishap of my trip. Gene, Alina, and I got separated from our parents in a small accident when the stupid metro operator cut us off with the doors. Before the train departed Gene's dag signaled for us to go on one more stop. So we did, but what did our parents do? THEY DIDN'T WAIT FOR US! So my group headed off to the Notre Dame to look for them, but they weren't there either! We were going back to the hotel when the parents' group called my cell phone. They apparently waited for us THREE STOPS AHEAD! WHAT?!?!?!?!!?!?!?!?!?!?! We still got to see the Notre Dame though. ^__^

Sant-Chapelle

Departing for London with Gene's family

Hehe bullet trains are so fast... xD Got to London late at night, checked into a Sheraton SKYLINE (:D) and immediately went to sleep.

Aug. 7th

Took a tour all around London and got off to see the Tower of London! Hahahaha so cool. I have three movies of a mock tourney between two guys in full armor with real (possibly...) weapons.

I'll put links up later after I'm done uploading.

The Tower of London has a sweet armory. xD

Aug. 8th

Buckingham Palace

Weeee we got to see 80 of Her Majesty's dresses! She's only worn each of them once. ::lol!:: We also got to see the majority of the guard change.

Aug. 9th

Back in Paris, Versailles

In the morning we found out about the terror plot in London. ONE DAY AFTER WE LEFT! AT THE EXACT SAME AIRPORT OUR HOTEL WAS NEARBY!

The building was boring but the gardens were OMGWTFBBQ cool! After a little bit Gene and I got these HUGE ice creams w/ cones. Totally worth the 3 Euros each. Oh yeah, Euros > USD (both literally and figuratively).

If you ever go to Paris, you MUST eat at the restaurant by the name, Royal Turenne. And if you do, get the rib-eye steak with the parsley butter. IT'S THE BEST STEAK I'VE EVER HAD! D: Oh yeah, Orangina is so good... >.> I drank about 20 bottles of that stuff during my trip. Foie Gras is creepy. ::shudder::

Aug. 11th (I seem to be missing a day... Hm...)

L'Arc de Triomphe

Le Tombeau de Napolean

Musee de l'Armee

Ironic that they don't have much on their own troops. Mostly stuff about the Americans and the Axis.

Musee de Marine

w00t the Eiffel Tower light show is cool. xD ::seizures coming on::

Aug. 12th

Gene and I wandered around... Ended up in a Virgin Megastore and watching about two hours of King Kong without sound and with French subtitles. ::lol::

You know what SUCKS?! Right as we are going to the Eiffel Tower Gene, Alina and I get separated AGAIN in the POURING RAIN! We end up NOT GOING TO THE TOWER AT ALL!!!!! 'cause my mom told us to stay where we were if we got lost! SHE WENT UP THE TOWER TO LOOK FOR US 'CAUSE SHE FORGOT WHAT SHE TOLD US! ARGH!!!!!!!

Yes I know it's sad. Who the hell goes to Paris but doesn't see the Eiffel? Well at least I went right under it the day before when it was nice and clear.

Aug. 13th

back at home

Hehe Paris / London = fun! XD

Posted by Tansen at 11:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

=.=

Haha I'm so tired. >.> Here's something Alex showed me... What a freaky welcome mat...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I0yI2MQf8Tk

[17:37] typographr: YAR HAR FIDDLE DEE DEE.
[17:37] typographr: BEING A PIRATE IS ALRIGHT TO BE.
[17:37] typographr: DO WHAT YOU WANT, 'CAUSE A PIRATE IS FREE.
[17:37] typographr: YOU.
[17:38] typographr: ARE.
[17:38] typographr: A PIRATE.
[17:38] typographr: :D
[17:38] typographr: Kthnxbai.
[17:38] m4dn355X: O_O

Yeah..... Anyways, camping was fun I guess. We brought Gene's family this time. He hasn't changed since I saw him last year on our trip to Canada. xD Camping this year occured next to the beaches of Santa Cruz. The water is freaking cold but once you get used to it then you get to worry about the waves. :D I must have been tumbled head over heels maybe 20 times the two-and-a-half days we spent there. The raft that we brought was rendered useless (for this kind of water) when Gene and I failed to get it 20' past the shoreline. The waves kept flipping us. Zomg so fun... x]

What else did we do... Oh yes! Gene brought his dog, Taffy... we all sat around a smallish fire (lack of wood xD)... roasted 2.5 bags of marshmallows.... I finally rode my bike with no hands (it's not hard at all if you don't pedal :P)... and I got the satisfaction of stealing all the hot water on the first day when we all went to shower. Bahahahahahahaha.... On top of all that, Gene's also going with us to Paris. ^___^

I'm here for today and then tomorrow so catch me within this time. As I said in my last post international rates are a sword through the gut so I'll have my phone off most of the time. If you ABSOLUTELY need to contact me try my cell phone at least 20 times during the day and then if not, leave me a comment here and if I get internet access in France I'll try to get back to you. >:D

Sunday the 30th: camping in Santa Cruz and returning Tuesday the 1st. (COMPLETED)

Thursday the 3rd: going to Paris and returning Sunday the 13th. (COMING UP)

Thursday the 17th: living in our newly finished home in Texas and returning on Saturday the 19th. (NOT YET xP)

Posted by Tansen at 5:36 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

Ack. OK I'm going on vacation and for all of you readers' covenience, here's my general itinerary:

Sunday the 30th: camping in Santa Cruz and returning Tuesday the 1st.

Thursday the 3rd: going to Paris and returning Sunday the 13th.

Thursday the 17th: living in our newly finished home in Texas and returning on Saturday the 19th.

I'll be uber busy between vacations so I probably won't be available for talk. :|

If you must, call me on my cellphone (just like you would in the US) but note: while I'm in Paris the phone company will charge $1.29 when reception hits my phone and will continue to charge that amount per minute. International rates are rediculous I know. xD

Posted by Tansen at 11:19 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)