McKenzie's Summer Tour

Uh... Is this thing still on?

2006-12-06T18:45:00.000-05:00

Sorry everyone, long time no post. At the prodding of my older brother I deem this blog to be re-open for posting. It's been approximately 10 months since this thing has been updated. When I say that a lot has happened, I truly mean A LOT has happened. Well first off, I now have a beautiful girlfriend named Helen Marie. We have survived for approximately 7 months together and still going strong. I survived my first busy season and surprisingly I am still employed. Only 1 more year untill CPA license (Nice!). My adventuring trips have decreased significantly although we did make it up to Montana for the second straight year. Since the name of this blog is "McKenzie's Summer Tour," I feel it is my duty to pass along some photos from the aforementioned trip.

Enjoy!

Videos

2006-03-21T14:36:00.000-05:00

Snow Patrol at The Loft

2006-03-16T15:09:00.000-05:00

Made it back out to the Loft last night to see Snow Patrol. I bought tickets about a month ago based solely off name recognition and venue. I knew they had toured in Europe with U2, therefore they must be good, and the venue they were playing was the Loft, a small upstairs club that may hold 300 on a good night.

Met up with a few friends for dinner at Baraonda, a small Italian place downtown around 6:00. Great dinner, mushroom pizza, and great conversation. Headed to the show around 8:00. When we got there the doors had not opened, so we waited in a line that went halfway around the block. I had a couple extra tickets that I had to get rid of. Found a scalper who wanted $25 for both. Talked him up to $40, pretty pleased about that one.

Finally, we got in the club and found a spot about 5 rows deep from the stage. The cool thing about this show is this was the start of the 5 city American tour for the band. They have a new album coming in April, so that meant we would be the first on this side of the pond to hear the new songs.

Overall, it was a great show. I really hadn't heard too much of their stuff, but I was impressed by everything I heard. If you're not too familiar here are some songs to check out: Chocolate and Run.

Pics:

The Strokes

2006-03-09T10:09:00.000-05:00

Made it out to see the Strokes last night. Great rock band. Great venue (the Tabernacle). Oh and we took Marta down there to see them. Here's some pics:

The Fray

2006-02-19T15:47:00.000-05:00

It's concert season!!

We had the official kick-off to concert season with The Fray headlining a 3 band show at the Loft in midtown last night. Personal note: this is coming at a great time for me b/c I have one week left of "busy season" (I survived...amazing)

First off, thoughts on the Loft. It was my first time to attend a show here. Walking up is a great feeling, you're in the middle of downtown Atlanta, tall buildings all around. Helping in the mood setting was the chill in the air and the line at the door. Yes, I know everyone hates waiting in line. But, sometimes lines are good, they force you to stop and savor the moment of what you are about to experience, thereby increasing the anticipation of just entering the theater 10-fold. Anyway, walking in the, Loft is a small, small place. I'm guessing there were no more than 300 people there last night and the show was sold out. I'm a big fan of small venues. They make you feel like you're in on a big secret that nobody else knows about. Also, the interaction between the crowd and the band plays a much larger role on the performance. Good crowds can turn an otherwise dull performance into something amazing.

The show kicked off with a local guy named Tim Brantley. Tim plays the piano and he was supported by your typical rock band. Very cool voice, easy listening at times, and rocking out at others, all in all I'd compare his style to a Gavin Degraw, which is a good thing. I will definitley be on the lookout for future shows in the future.

Cary Brothers came on stage next. His claim to fame is a spot on the "Garden State" soundtrack with his song "Blue Eyes". He gave a great performance of that song, which every girl in the crowd sang along too, but other than that I wasn't feeling him too much. Granted, if I knew a few more songs, I might have dug it a little more, but honestly, I feel his show would have been great sitting at a coffeehouse providing background to a good conversation. And I wasn't looking for that last night.

The Fray took the stage last. Probably one of my top 3 concert experiences ever. Great band, big on vocals, piano-influenced, and small venue creating good crowd interaction. Not sure if they will officially make the leap to Mtv-level cultural icon status, but for last night everything just worked for them. All in all, it was a great night and I look forward to many more of these in the next couple of months.

Here's the shows I'll be checking out over the next few months. Drop me a line, if you'll be hitting up any of these: Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, The Strokes, Snow Patrol, and Death Cab for Cuties.

5 days till 10-K sign-off....

Traveling Videos...

2006-02-13T22:26:00.000-05:00

To combat the winter blues, I've been taking a look back at some of my travel videos from the past year. And I have finally found a way to put these videos online. Here's a link:

McKenzie's Travel Videos

Busy Season

2006-01-18T22:00:00.000-05:00

It has finally arrived. A time that I have been dreading for the past 2 years. My first official busy season is upon me.

Public accounting can be a great field. You work with some truly outstanding people. You learn some cool business related thing everyday. And you are extremely challenged by the work you are performing and the environment you are placed in.

However, there are those 2+ months every year, where public accounting will just eat you alive. I'm of course speaking of "busy season." A brief explanation I feel is necessary. My main purpose as an accountant is to provide an opinion on the numbers my client is providing to the world. The numbers the client is providing become available at December 31 every year and we have about 2 months to say that we are "cool" with them. In those 2 months we perform tests over everything. It's insane the amount of tests we perform. We need an explanation for almost every dollar that goes through the company. That can be a lot of work when the company you are working on makes $20 billion that year.

Honestly, I've been quite surprised by the amount of hours I've worked so far. Granted, it's only Wednesday and I've already put in 45 hours this week. But, I really felt it would be a lot worse than it is. 8:00 in the morning to 9:00 at night really isn't that bad, if you like the people you work with.

Anyway, the main purpose of this post is just to let everyone know what I am going to be dealing with over the next few months. And if there is a drop in my exciting, adventurous posts, that is the reason.

But, I promise that I will be making up for this lack of excitement as soon as busy season concludes. We have several adventures in the works. You will just have to stay tuned....

New Year's in Orlando

2006-01-03T21:11:00.000-05:00

It's been a long, long, weekend. I am so tired right now, I've gotten 4 and half hours of sleep in the past 48 hours, but it was so worth it....

Alright, let's go ahead and get this part of the post over with. Yes, Auburn played Wisconsin yesterday. And, as I'm sure many of you reading this are aware, we lost. No, we didn't just lose, we were destroyed. One of the ugliest ballgames I've ever seen. Only 195 days, till next season's kickoff.

As far as the trip to Orlando. Overall, I had a blast. The people you go on the trip with always determine how good the trip will be. I could spend a weekend in Lafayette, Alabama and still have a good time, if I go with the right group. For this trip, I was extremly lucky, about half my family and 4 or 5 fraternity brothers ended up making the trip with us. We were lucky enought to stay at the team hotel, which was extremly nice and decorated with Auburn stuff everywhere. Also, the 3 rooms we stayed in were all connected, so it was pretty much one big party in the rooms.

We spent New Year's at Universal's CityWalk. Crazy, crazy night. Some of the highlights:
AC/DC cover band at the Hard Rock Live
Huge Firework Display
Cigars at midnight
Dixon playing DDR
Best mullet ever
Didn't spend a dime on bar cover
Losing to a junior high girl in a 3-point contest
Walking over an interstate bridge
Beautiful Florida palm trees
And of course, Ding Dang Doo

Here's a few of the pics:

We spent the next day at Universal's Islands of Adventure. Great, great theme park. I had forgotten how much I love roller coasters. And this place had some great coasters. We rode the Hulk at least 3 times and the Dueling Dragons twice. Other highlights, definitley the Jurassic Park ride, seeing people get soaked who don't want to get wet is so funny to me for some reason.

We ended up spending the rest of the day at Universal. Ending up at Pat O'Brien's in citywalk. Yes, many, many good memories in this place. Nothing to memorable about this last trip. But, it just has a familiarity about it that I love.

The next day was a rough one. Auburn lost, Tate's car was broken into, my flight was 5 hours late, and I got 4 hours of sleep. Great trip overall, just didn't end on a high note.

Happy New Year

Heading down to Orlando...

2005-12-30T15:51:00.000-05:00

Heading down to Orlando tomorrow for the Capital One Bowl. Definitley looking forward to it. Hoping for a repeat of last year's amazing Sugar Bowl Experience. Key returnees for this year's trip will be Bobo and Tate. However, we will be missing one of the key players from last year's team, the incomparable Richard Scott. Looking to some new players such as Thomas "Batman" Crockett to fill the loss. We are also staying at the Renaissance, the offical Auburn hotel for the game. Yeah, that's right we'll be partying with McClover.

Not too worried about the actual game itself versus Wisconsin. My prediction....pain. Er, sorry, Mr. T flashback, actual score will be 42-17.

Happy New Year

WDE

Peanuts Christmas 2005

2005-12-26T17:03:00.000-05:00

source: unitedmedia

Davenport Family Christmas

2005-12-26T12:30:00.000-05:00

Alright, with Christmas time upon us. I thought I would let everyone in on what Christmas is like with the Davenport's.

First and foremost, Christmas is about tradition and familiarity within this family.

Every year, for as long as I can remember, we head down to our cousins in Opelika for our Christmas Eve celebration with my mom's side of the family. This party is great, it starts with just me and my first cousins, doing a small Christmas together, but then my second and third level cousins show up and it gets kind of nuts. Huge family gatherings are essential for Christmas time. I'm talking about gatherings where you only see each other once a year, and you're not sure of everyone's name, so you have to ask your mom who gave you your present.

Highlights from the party:
Uncle Hugh is 99 years old and still makes it out everywhere. 99 years old is insane. This man was born in 1906. Think about what has happened since then. 2 world war's, airplanes, space shuttles, moon landings, tv, internet. If I live to be 99 like him, I don't even want to imagine what all will take place in my lifetime.

Uncle Alex's egg nog. This stuff is great. Finally got the recipe this year, and surprised how simple it is. Sorry, I can't repeat it on the blog. Much too secret. Also, really helps with the party for some reason, not too sure why.

Catching up with the cousins is always fun. We had a new addition to the family this year. My cousin Edward got married in July, so he had his new wife at the party. I always feel bad for outsiders coming in to the family. I'm not really sure how they will handle the madness of the family. But, she held up surprisingly quite well.

Marshmellow gun toys are great. Especially when given, with a large bag of marshmallows, to a 6 year old. Yes, the bag was empty in about 20 minutes and yes, my cousins will be finding marshmallows all throughout their house untill about March.

Sidenote: Greatest Christmas song ever: Alvin and the Chipmunks "Christmas Time is Here" Heard it on the way down to Opelika for the first time this year. Never, ever gets old, especially if sung in Chipmunk voices.

After the party wraps up we make the long drive back to Lanett, 30 minutes, (my daily commute in Atlanta). Get back around 11:00. And then it's time to wrap presents, I am a huge slacker when it comes to wrapping presents. My presents are not placed under the tree until about 5 minutes before the start of Christmas day. I have also still not mastered the artform of wrapping presents. Maybe one day.

Christmas Morning
Yes, Virginia, we still have a Santa Claus in this household. Santa Claus is great. My brothers and I wait at the top of the stairs, without peeking, every Christmas morning for my mom and dad to set-up the video camera to record our exuberant faces as we race down the stairs to see what goodies Santa has brought. Even though last out of bed, I am always first down the stairs. This year was a nice haul. Got a couple pictures and items framed from all my trips over the summer. Some great tailgating gear for Auburn football games, and a blanket for the bed. Grown-up gifts are a lot less fun than kid gifts, but I still appreciate them all the same.

After Santa's gifts we had a quick breakfast, then headed off to Church. Church is so different back home. It's great being there with the family, but I know that this specific one is not the place for me. Lots of old people, I counted maybe 4 people in the 18-25 range. I can't wait to get back to the Buckhead Church in Atlanta.

After church, headed back to the house for the big breakfast. Breakfast is my favorite meal of the day. And Christmas Day breakfast's are by far the best. Eggs, bacon, grits, pigs-in-a-blanket, sausage balls, cinnamon rolls.

After breakfast, we open the presents from each other. I was pretty excited about this year's gifts. For the first time ever, I actually had some money to spend on other people, so I was able to give some good gifts to the family.

Later on that day, my dad's side of the family makes it in town for Christmas Dinner. We always have a huge Christmas dinner. Yes, I am still stuck at the kids' table. But, I don't mind it. It's a lot more fun.

After dinner, a long night of board games is in store for us. Risk and monopoly are two of the selections. These games typically last till 1 in the morning. And I usually just get frustrated with how long the game is taking and give all my money/armies to my youngest brother and let him disrupt the game.

After a couple of days of gorging ourselves on left-overs. (Green bean casserole is so good as a left-over.) The family heads off. My younger brother and cousins will head back to Auburn for another semester at Auburn. And this year, for the first time ever, I will head back to work in Atlanta for busy season. I can't wait!!!

That in a nutshell is the Davenport Family Christmas. Hope everyone else out there is having a great holiday season. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!

Images of 2005

2005-12-24T14:30:00.000-05:00

Here's a collection of Reuter's Top 40 pictures from 2005:

Top 40 Images

Some truly great, awe-inspiring, crazy pictures in this collection.

My personal favs:
Soccer ball to the face guy
Saddam in court
Flaming tire jumping man
Pamplona bull run (personal experience for me)
Mud Race

Iron Bowl 2005

2005-11-20T12:20:00.000-05:00

Made the final trip of the year to Jordan Hare stadium yesterday. Auburn versus Alabama. The Iron Bowl. Alabama's own version of the Civil War. I love this stuff.

Thoughts on the Game: uhhh.... Auburn is good, Bama is bad.

A little more in depth analysis: Auburn's defensive line set the tone for the game. Auburn has several players on the d-line who have a future playing on Sundays, Bama has several players on the o-line who shouldn't have advanced past playing on Fridays.

Beyond that, Cox played a great game, going 12-15 in the first half. Very composed, didn't make any mistakes with the short field position he was given, and led us to a touchdown each of the first 3 possessions.

It was a beautiful day as well.. as you can see by the pics:

28-18
War Eagle!

U2

2005-11-20T12:07:00.000-05:00

Wow...

Greatest concert of my life. It was a long journey getting here. But, I saw U2 for the second time last Friday night.

I bought the tickets way back in February and after 9 months of waiting the night finally arrived.

Favorite moments:
City of Blinding Lights: Opening the show. Bono rising from the crowd, confetti falling from the ceiling, lights and sound going everywhere.

Where the Streets of No Name: Such a powerful song, with a great rising opening. The crowd was jumping with the song. And the crowd response afterward was deafening.

With or Without You: Great love song. Didn't play it the first concert I went to. Great rendition.

Here are some pics:

Skydiving!!

2005-10-03T08:35:00.000-04:00

Long time no post. Yeah, it's been awhile since the last post. Work will do that to you.

Went skydiving for the first time this past weekend with a few fraternity brothers. Pretty amazing thing. Probably the dumbest thing I've ever done, but pretty amazing nontheless.

Here's a few pictures:

The Shave

2005-08-04T21:12:00.000-04:00

All good things must come to an end. With the start of my new job, I felt it was time to shave the beard. We had a lot of good times together, but it was time to move on. I will miss you.

The Full Beard

The Goat

The Fu Manchu

And back to a babyface

Massive Picture Update

2005-07-28T16:01:00.000-04:00

Long time no post. Yes, we are back in the states now. We survived London, barely. The second bombing day occurred on the day we left, luckily we were already at the airport.

Flight back was long, or at least seemed that way. We did have two movies though, and yes one of them was Hitch, great movie by the way.

Arrived into Atlanta around 8:00 pm and were picked up by the padres. And just like that our trip was officially over.

Closing thoughts.... hmmm.. Definitley the trip of a lifetime. Going back over all the photos right now, really reminds me of all the crazy, wonderful experiences we had. I would do it again in a heartbeat.

I plan to put all pictures online soon. I will let you know what that happens.

I start work in the ATL on Monday, 3 days away. 3 days of freedom left before the real world hits.

Next travel plans: probably next summer, I'm thinking South Africa or Tibet...

Back in the U.K.

2005-07-20T17:40:00.000-04:00

Back where it all begin. After our long travel day, about 6 and half hours, we got back into London around 8:45. Took the tube over to St. Christopher's hostel, checked in, then headed out to the London Eye.

Alright, this was definitely a trip highlight. We are over 100 meters above London, beatiful sunset over the Thames, Big Ben and Parliament are all a glow. I will remember this sight for a long time. We are able to see pretty much all of London, from Big Ben in our west to St. Paul in our north and the Thames flowing in between. Also, the moon was rising at this time, so we had a beautiful harvest moon to our east.

We are staying once again at the party hostel and there is a huge kareoke party going on right now. Don't know if I can get Alex and Ley to join in, but I will try. Also, I have one pound left and I don't know if I should spend it on a fine San Miguel beer or save it for a cheeseburger tomorrow. Decisions...

Next update: Arrival back in the states

Last Day in Amsterdam / Travel to London

2005-07-20T04:49:00.000-04:00

This trip has gone by so quickly. It's officially our final full day before our flight back to the states. Amsterdam has been nice, not great, just nice. Seeing the canals and the Anne Frank house were amazing, but I could have done without the some of the other stuff. Like the offers for cocaine every five minutes while you are walking around at night.

We are about to head out to the Pancake Bakery for breakfast/lunch. I'm starving right now. After that our train heads out around 2:30 to Brussels, arriving there around 5:30. Then we jump on the chunnel to London at 7:00 arriving there around 8:30.

Tonight we are staying at St. Christopher's Hostel, which is pretty cool since that is where we kicked this trip off. Should be a nice full circle effect.

I am actually really excited about heading back to the states. I can't wait to know what bed I am going to sleep in every night and not have to pay $4.00 for water.

Munich/Amsterdam

2005-07-19T11:36:00.000-04:00

Yeah, I know I am a bad blog keeper upper. It's been like 3 days. We survived Munich and are now in Amsterdam. Pretty much New Orleans on steriods. There have been a lot of eye opening times in this city. 2 days is plenty. Don't think I will ever come back though.

The Anne Frank House was nice, very moving. Saw the Van Gogh Museum. More Van Gogh's than I ever wanted to see. Saw Sunflowers, which was great.

Alright, almost out time on this computer. Going to a comedic improv show tonight. Should be our last full night out for the trip. Will be a lot of fun.

Hope to update more thoroughly soon...

Mike`s Bike Tour in Munich

2005-07-16T10:42:00.000-04:00

Just got back from Mike`s Bike tour. Awesome time. We had kind of a late night last night, so we rolled out of bed around 10:00 and headed to the start of the tour. We got our bikes, which were old school California cruisers, then headed off. We were able to see a lot in a short amount of time.

Munich got pretty much destroyed by bombings during WWII, but a lot of the buildings were able to be faithfully recreated thanks to prewar pictures. Saw a cool church. Also, saw the gestapo headquarters and the secret headquarters of the Third Reich, very interesting.

Then headed into the English Gardens. This place was huge. Great bike paths and a nice river flowing through, where we actually saw some surfers.

Stopped for lunch at a Beer Garden. Had half a chicken, mashed potatoes, and a liter of beer. Then jumped back on the bikes for the end of the tour.

All in all, a relaxing day. Tonight: Insomniac Tour

Arrival in Munich

2005-07-15T12:47:00.000-04:00

Left our great Mountain Hostel in Gimmelwald early this morning. On trains all day to Munich. It`s around 7:00 and we just now got in to the hostel. The hostel is great though. Very nice and a big upgrade from our rustic accomadations in Gimmelwald. Thanks KG for the recommendation.

Heading out to get some German food right now. Maybe a beer garden or two, we will see how the night moves.

Tomorrow: Mike`s Bike Tours

Mountain Hostel, Schillterhorn, and the Hike

2005-07-14T11:58:00.000-04:00

Today was another amazing, beatiful day. We slept in kind of late by our standards to about 8:30. Got up to an amazing cloudless view of the mountains rising up right by our hostel. Check this link to see what it looked like: www.mountainhostel.com

We then took the gondola up to the Schillterhorn. This is the spinning restaurant, where part of the James Bond movie, In Her Majestys Secret Service, took place. Some of the most amazing views I have ever seen. We walked around the terrace taking dozens of pictures and video. We then sat down to the James Bond breakfast, far and away, the best breakfast of the trip. I had scrambled eggs for the first time in about 3 weeks. They were great. We also sipped on some oj, hot chocolate, and champagne.

After relaxing at the top for about an hour or so, we started the arduous trek down. It was straight out of Lord of the Rings. Walking along this rocky ridge about 5 feet across, with 100 foot drops down on either side. Breathtaking. The descent became a little easier after the first 20 minutes, but it was still pretty steep nonetheless. I think the instantenous death factor decreased a little bit.

We ended up down in a grassy meadow, straight out of the Sound of Music. And we walked through several herds of cows grazing several hundred feet up in these meadows. The cows were great, not spooked at all by our presence. I think they were just enjoying the view too.

The hike ended up lasting about 5 hours or so. But was definitley a highlight of the trip.

We leave for Munich tomorrow at 9:00 and arrive around 6:00.

Florence War Eagle, David, and the Swiss

2005-07-13T12:07:00.000-04:00

Crazy dazy yesterday. We ran into some fellow Auburn students in the middle of a open air market in Florence, Italy, Laura and Britney a couple of ADPis at AU. After that went and saw Michelangelos David, which was very impressive. It dominates the entire museum. We were lucky enough to see it when the museum was free. So, we walked in, stared at it for about 15 minutes then headed out.

After David, we met up with Laura and Britnez and went to dinner at Il Latini. This was by far the best dinner we have had the entire trip. Every appetizer they had, a huge bottle of wine and veal and rabbit all around. Then afterwards dessert wine and dessert drinks. We ended up staying for over 3 hours. The atmosphere was great, very friendly, very family like. If I ever come back to Italy, I will be coming back.

Today was another travel day. Took about 7 hours to get to the Mountain Hostel in Gimmelwald. It is the idealic Swiss village. I love it. Huge mountains everywhere. We are heading up to the James Bond restaurant tomorrow.

Night in Florence and Danny Bonaduce

2005-07-12T05:23:00.000-04:00

Yes, the trip just reached a whole new level last night. We met Danny Bonaduce of the Partridge Family. He and his wife sat next to our table at dinner. Great guy, shared some laughs and some wine. It was awesome.

After dinner we headed over to a square and listened to some great Italian and African music. And some more wine. We are so cultured right now.

Arrival in Florence

2005-07-11T12:39:00.000-04:00

Since last post:

Had a great final night in Cinque Terre. Met up with an Australian and Floridian while doing laundry for the first time on the trip. Went out and watched the sunset over the ocean. Beautiful cliffs and great orange sky. Had another great dinner last night. Italian dinners are great, they last for hours, with so much food and wine. They are an event unto themselves.

After dinner went and heard a band play along the terrace. Thought they sounded a little Neal Diamondish, very nice. Finished up the night at a street side cafe and turned in for the night.

Got up late, around 9:00 this morning. Then packed up our stuff and said goodbye to our great apartment. Jumped on a train to La Spezia, and then down to Pisa.

Jumped off the train in Pisa. Had a Big Mac for lunch, it was so good. Ley had the McNuggets. Alex went for the local fare. Walked about 20 minutes to the Leaning Tower. I was actually impressed with just how much it leans, it really looks like it could topple over at any time. Took some great pictures. Did not go to the top however because the line was around 2 hours.

Jumped back on a train to Florence and here we are at this internet cafe. We have decided to change our itinerary a little bit. Darn terrorists. We are cutting out Rome and Naples. I am sure I will be back another time though. Anyway we are here for another full day, which means we will not be rushed tomorrow and we will also have more time at our other stops.

Long Overdue Update and Cinque Terre

2005-07-10T13:55:00.000-04:00

Sorry for the delay in posts. I think it has been since Thursday. Anyway, let me get started where I left off last post.

We left Pamplona and headed back to Barcelona for the night. The train ride was fine. We slept pretty much the entire way, which we defintley needed. We stayed in our third hostel in three nights in Barcelona. This one was great, right by the train station, so we got to sleep in a little later.

The next day was pretty much a travel day. We jumped on a train to Nice, which had a layover in Montpeleir. Total travel time was about 10 or so hours. Ley and I got some good sleep. Alex was lucky enough to sit with an elderly spanish lady, who spoke no english at all, but decided to talk with Alex for about 5 hours anyway. It was great.

Nice was beautiful. Great weather, beatiful people. Just a laid back beach town. The French Riveria is great. No sand beaches like Destin, rocks instead. But the mountains reaching down to the city and beach are amazing.

The next day we jumped on another morning train and headed to Cinque Terre. Got in around 4:00 and headed to the beach. This place is beatiful. Very relaxed and very friendly. Our apartment we rented is great. Private bath which is awesome.

Today we hiked the 12 km trail to the five cities. It could be pretty demanding at some points, but it was well worth it. Took some great pictures. I will write a little more on Cinque Terre tomorrow. Right now, I am at a bar and it is getting kind of loud and rowdy.

Da Bulls Da Bulls Da Bulls........

2005-07-07T04:15:00.000-04:00

Alex and I just ran with the bulls about 2 hours ago. It was by far the most intense thing I have ever done.

We got into Pamplona around 1:00 pm after getting up at 5:35 for the trainride out of Barcelona. The San Fermin Festival is the name of the festival surrounding the running of the bulls. It takes place over an 8 or 9 day span every July.

The festival kicked off an hour before we got into town. It´s New Orleans times 100. Everyone is walking around with their white shirts and pants and red bandannas and sash. Also, everyone is holding a bottle of Sangria, Champagne, or Wine. We definitely had a good time with the crowd. Met up with some Califorians, Australians, and Canadians. Crazy, crazy time.

That night we slept in the park. I think it dropped down to around 50 degrees and I was in shorts, not a smart move on my part. We probably got around 2 hours of sleep. Then woke up and headed to the Running.

Got in the gate around 6:30 and found our starting places. Met up with a guy we met on the train to Barcelona and his buddy from California. The crowd was nuts, everyone doing the oye, oye cheer. A couple minutes before the release of the bulls the crowd was allowed to start moving along the route.

We jogged ahead and jumped on a windowsill and got a great view. The bulls sprinted down the alley straight for the crowd. The crowd was insane, running with and taunting the bulls.

After a couple groups of bulls passed, we jumped down and headed for the stadium. We got separated and it was just myself and the guy from Barcelona. We waited around for the last group of bulls to head into the stadium at the same time as us. However, I jumped under a gate to get out of the way of the stampede and before I could jump back in the gate to the stadium was shut. Alex was able to make it into the stadium.

The adrenaline rush after the running was over was amazing. Just a big smile on your face, seeing all these frantic people running for their lives with huge bulls right behind them.

It was a great 24 hours. Our next stop is back in Barcelona tonight and then off to Nice, France tomorrow morning around 8:00

Barcelona Day Two

2005-07-05T13:43:00.000-04:00

Today was a good beach/relaxation day. First day of our trip with no museums or other historic spots. We got up early at our Gothic Point Hostel, which has been the worst hostel by far of the trip, cold showers, 30 man rooms, and warm milk for breakfast...mmmmmm..... And then headed to check in at our new hostel Sant Jordea or something like that. Took a while to find, but it was worth our effort. Probably the best hostel of trip so far. Nice, new, clean, and free internet.

After checking in we headed off to La Playa (the beach.) The beach was amazing, right off the city. Bought some sandwiches and ate those as we got some sun. We then headed up the cable car to the mountain on the south of the city. Great views of the entire city.

We then walked down La Ramblas again and bought some Cuban Cigars for very cheap. Then headed up to Gaudi´s Garden. It was a hike, but it was worth it. Another great view of the city looking out towards the ocean.

That´s pretty much been the entire day so far. Nice and relaxing. I hope it prepares us for our next stop tomorrow in Pamplona. Our train leaves at 7 in the morning tomorrow.

Not sure on next update. Probably not until Thursday after Pamplona trip.

Travel to Barcelona

2005-07-04T10:08:00.000-04:00

Today was a long travel day. Left Paris around 9:40 last night. We did have a sleeping cabin, so we had 6 bunks in there which was nice. It wasn't a direct train so we had stops pretty much in every small station along the way.

Got into Port Buo, a Spanish border town around 8:45. Had my first spanish meal, dougnut and a sunny d. Took a commuter train into Barcelona at 10:25, got in around 12:45. Stayed at station until 3:00 booking travel to Nice and Pamplona.

Not an outstanding day so far. But we are heading to La Sagrada Familia and then out to celebrate the 4th, Kareoke style. I'm sure the Diamond and the Boss will be making an appearance tonight.

Last Night Live 8 and Final Paris Day

2005-07-03T09:05:00.000-04:00

Last night was quite an adventure. After my last post, Alex and I went to a Tex Mex restaurant and had a couple bottles of wine, and yes they were of the Mexican region, cheapest wine on menu. Then headed back into the crowd. I said 150,000 people last post but it was probably upwards of 200,000. The crowd was amazing, by far most people I've ever seen in one place. Most bands were French, but they were still very good. The Cure closed out the show at midnight. Awesome performance.

We then attempted to head back to the train station. Getting 200,000 people on a metro system takes a while. We waited in line for at least an hour before even seeing a train. After boarding, we thought we were set for the hostel, nope. The train's last stop was a good 2.5 miles away from the hostel. So, we started walking. Paris is a beautiful city at 2:30 in the morning especially along the Seine.

We made it back safely around 3:00 this morning. Got up at 9:30, had breakfast at the hostel and headed out to Notre Dame. Did a quick tour of it, then headed over to Saint Chappel, very impressed by this one. Huge stained glass windows, light floods the church.

Had lunch, then went to a famous macarew? place for dessert. Ended sightseeing with Rodin's museum. Saw the thinker, the kiss, and the gates of hell. All very impressive.

Our train leaves for Barcelona at 8:40 tonight. Have a stop at the border, will be in Barcelona by noon tomorrow.

French keyboards are awful.

Live Aid Paris

2005-07-02T14:33:00.000-04:00

Alex and I are at Live Aid in Paris. There is like 150,000 people here. CRAZY!!!!! I can not wait for Shakira.

Paris Day Two

2005-07-02T12:45:00.000-04:00

Got up late this morning around 9:00. Wanted to go to the Palace of Versailles, but could't get out there because Live Aid is going on and we didn't have tickets.

Made it into a museum day today. Started with the Museum D'Orseyy (spelling?). Mainly impressionist painting. Liked it a lot better than London's National Gallery. Very nice museum. And not too crowded.

Standouts were numerous Monets, Whistler's Mother, and many Picasso's.

Out of time now will update later

Update:::

The Lourve is by far the greatest museum in the world. They have everything: Venus de Milo, Hammurabi's Code, King Ramses II, and of course the Mona Lisa. We spent a good 4 hours here today. Did it kind of quick, but I think we got all the highlights. Easily could have spent a week here.

Paris

2005-07-01T17:34:00.000-04:00

Early morning today. Got up at 4:45 to catch the 6:30 chunnel to Paris. First major train experience, very nice and fast. Was in Paris by 10:30. Took a while to get our bearings and figure out the metro but once we did we were fine.

The hostel is really nice. Much more upscale than London. Also, more relaxed, which is nice after a long day like today.

Walked a lot today. Saw Notre Dame, very impressive and large. Some old lady tried to take our picture outside Notre Dame and still it to us for 6 euros, but I talked her down to 1 euro, very impressive bargainging skills.

Also, saw Arc de Triumph and Eiffel Tower, both are huge. However, I have pictures of neither because my zipper pocket was stuck on my pants and that was the safe pocket i put my camera in. So, I will be relying on Alex's pictures for today.

After Eiffel Tower, went to dinner. Dinner was great, awesome pizza, nice cheese, and a couple bottles of wine. Very relaxing.

I better go there is a Dutchman waiting to use this computer.

Tomorrow we go to Versailles.

Day Three

2005-06-30T13:04:00.000-04:00

Started the day kind of late. Headed straight toward the French Travel Agency to book our train from Paris to Barcelona. Unimpressed with service would be an understatement. Waited an hour and a half just to speak to someone. Anyway, we got the cheap tickets we needed and also booked the return trip from Brussels to London, which was a huge relief.

Then headed off to the Tower of London. Very impressive, huge castle structure that was home to all English Royalty from 1078 to around 1500's. Also, site of many beheadings and other torturous stuff. Pretty neat. Our tour guide was awesome, learned the origins of many nursery rhymes, such as "3 blind mice" and "Mary, Mary Quite Contrary."

Oh yeah, the armory was also housed in there so we saw plenty of cool suits of armor and other weaponry. Crown Jewels were impressive as well, 520 carat diamond.

Next went to a pub for fish and chips. However, I decided to have a bacon cheeseburger instead.

Then went to St. Paul's. Largest church I've ever seen, dwarfs Westminister Abbey, however we got there 5 minutes too late for the tour.

Finally, came back across the Millenium Bridge over the Thames River and walked into the Tate Modern Art Gallery. I've never really been a fan of modern art, and this was as modern as it can get it. We saw Warhols and Picasso's, which were great. There was also this room that was straight out of Willy Wonka.

It's been a long day so far, I'm guessing we walked at least 10 miles and were on our feet from 10 until 5:30 straight. Tomorrow we leave for Paris. Our train leaves at 6:30 in the morning, so I'm hoping to have an early night.

Next update from Paris.

Wimbledon

2005-06-29T11:07:00.000-04:00

Got up at 6:45 this morning to head to Wimbledon. Got there on the tube around 8:30. It's about 30-40 minutes of travel by subway. Waited in line for about an hour and a half, and then finally made it in the gates.

Alex, Ley, and I went for the ground passes costing 14 pounds a piece insteads of the 60+ pound centre court tickets. I think it was a good move, we were able to walk everywhere we wanted throughout the grounds and saved about $100.

Right after we walked in we headed over to check out some of the smaller courts and got to see Roger Federer warming up for his match. It was pretty amazing seeing the best tennis player in the world warm up for a Wimbledon match about 10 feet from you.

We then settled in on Court 3, where we watched Tracy Austin and Jana Novotna play a women's doubles match. I had never heard of who they were playing and that was evident in the score 6-0, 6-1. It was entertaining nontheless. We had great bench seats right along the edge of the court.

After leaving Wimbledon we headed to Westminister Abbey. Extremly impressive structure. However, seeing all the marble monuments of dead people you have never heard of does get kind of old.

There were also some non-nobles buried in the church. Some stand outs were Tennyson, Lord Byron, and Dr. Livingston, the missionary to Africa. After Westminster were all extremly tired and are now back at the hostel resting up for tonight.

Day One

2005-06-28T13:34:00.000-04:00

Yes!!!

We made it to London in one piece. The flight over was nice. I got a good 4 hours sleep. Alex didn't sleep at all and Ley had one of those eye cover things so he was out for a good while as well. We arrived into London at around 8:40 this morning. Got off the plane and jumped on a train to our St. Christopher's Village Hostel by London Bridge. Pretty much what I expected from a hostel, fun atmosphere, nice staff, and lots of things to doo.

Today was a pretty hectic day. We first had to book our Chunnel train to Paris, which took a good 2 hours and then had to find a tube station or subway station to travel about the city.

After we got all of our travel details worked out the day was great. We hit up Picadilly and Leicester Square, the National Gallery, seeing Rembrandts, Monets, Van Goghs, and Da Vincis, and finally the Underground Bunker for Churchill's War Cabinet. Oh yeah, Big Ben was nice too.

It's been an exhausting 30 hours, so we will probably get some sleep tonight, but not too much. We've got Wimbledon tomorrow...

Today's the Day

2005-06-27T15:05:00.000-04:00

In about 1 hour the trip officially begins. I am sitting here waiting on Alex and Ley to get up to Lanett. And then off to the ATL for the flight. The backpack is packed, plane tickets are ready, and my Visa is ready to receive a beating.

Excitement and nervous are two words that come to mind right now. The flight takes off at 7:40 pm and we land in London at around 8:00 am on the 28th about an 8 hour flight. This will be my first flight across the pond, so I don't really know what to expect. I'm hoping for a nice inflight movie, something of the Will Smith genre. Maybe Hitch, I'm told it's a great CPA movie.

Oh yeah, got my results in for the FAR of the CPA and I destoyed it. 75 baby!!!

Alex and Ley need to hurry up.

Next update: London

Countdown to EuroTrip 2005

2005-06-19T11:26:00.000-04:00

We are officially 8 days from the trip. We head out on Monday, June 27th. I have one week of classes left at Auburn. That's a total of 8 college classes remaining for the rest of my life. Pretty scary stuff.

It's Wedding Season

2005-06-12T12:55:00.000-04:00

The newlyweds on the trolley going to their reception at the Capital City Club in Montgomery, AL. Congrats Jeff and Blair.

The Montana Trip

2005-06-05T21:06:00.000-04:00

Avalanche Lake at Glacier National Park

2005-06-05T20:10:00.000-04:00

33 hours straight in a Dodge Neon does strange things to people. Thank you to the good people at Thrifty for making this trip possible. 6000 miles in 10 days!!!

2005-06-05T20:07:00.000-04:00

Jenny Lake at Sunset

2005-06-05T20:04:00.000-04:00

Me, Busbin, R. Scott, and Bobo in front of the Hidden Falls in the Grand Tetons

2005-06-05T20:01:00.000-04:00

Bobo, Busbin, R. Scott, and me in front of a herd of buffalo in Yellowstone National Park

First Blog Ever

2005-06-05T19:47:00.000-04:00

It's a Sunday night. I have a Cost Accounting test in 24 hours. I have spent a total of 4 hours prepping for it right now. So, I thought it would be a great time to start a blog.