FRIENDS, FOOD, AND FELONS

Really quickly... some non-vacation stuff ...

Sunday was an awesome Sunday... until the very end. I slept in, went down to Costa Mesa, and had lunch with Shivaji. Afterwards, we go to Fashion Island to walk around and enjoy the weather, where we spot Kobe Bryant with his two kids.

Meanwhile, I had gotten a call from my friend Harvey who was visiting from Taiwan. I meet up with him at Dennis' place and it's just like old times, except Sam and Patti have kids now. That's right, we sit around, play video games and make fun of each other.

Afterwards, I meet the girls for our dinner. We are going to exchange pictures and we just plain missed each other. So we meet up at Cheesecake Factory in Fashion Island. That place sucks. I had bought a hardback journal in Salzburg. Not super expensive, but more than you'd probably pay if you were at home on an ordinary day. It has sleeves to put stuff in, so I use it to put my picture cd's in, since I didn't have any actual CD sleeves. We exchange CD's, Vuong gives me a check for some vacation stuff, and I put them in the journal. All of our purses and my journal are on a chair. The restaurant closes at 9. We are the last to leave at 10. We walk around the mall, then are about to head home when I remember about my journal. I ask Gina if she has it in her shopping bag. She says no. We go back to Cheesecake Factory. No one's turned it in.

Gina and I both called the next day. They told us, it hasn't turned up, but why would anyone want to steal it. Well, obviously someone did, as it wasn't there when we came back soon after. If there are no customers, that leaves staff. Anyhow, that night I'm annoyed as heck when I go home. Later, I feel ill. That's right. Not only did those thieving bastards take my journal, they gave me food poisoning. I'm up until 4:30-5 a.m. just enduring the pain and discomfort. I'll spare you the details of that experience.

I should have known it would be a bad idea to eat the food, when they hand us each a plate, and they're ALL dirty, as is one of my forks. Plus, the ladies' room is absolutely filthy. Both Vuong and I comment at separate times on how ghetto the bathroom is and Gina was like, wow, that's exactly what she said. So we are now officially boycotting them.

Anyhow, back to the happy stuff. Food.

Today, I found a really good red velvet cupcake. Weeks ago, Monette had sent me an article about good places to get the red velvet cupcake. One of them was in Long Beach not 10 minutes from my house. Jongewaard's Bake & Broil on 37th and Atlantic near the Bixby Knolls area of Long Beach. I decide I am finally going to give it a try, as Gina and I were talking about red velvet cupcakes earlier. It was good. It was moist and tasty and the frosting was yummy. AND it's only $1.95 unlike Sprinkles where you have to pay for top dollar for a little cupcake. So for now, this is my new favorite red velvet cupcake. I also want to try the one at Doughboy's up in L.A. as it was Oprah's favorite.

Also, if you're in the area anyway, you might as well go down Atlantic Ave. a little further (away from the 405) and hit Alsace-Lorraine across the street. Excellent French bakery with wonderful desserts. I actually chose that bakery for my grandma's big 90th birthday cake five years ago, and about 300 people really liked it. They can't all be wrong.

Also a good deal: Hokkaido on Cherry Ave right off the 405. All you can eat buffet. Yes, I don't frequent these places because I really can't eat that much all in one sitting (I prefer to just eat all day)... we tried it out on Saturday. It was $14.99 (all day Saturday and Sunday). They had crab legs, soft shell crab, and a variety of sushi (with actual Japanese sushi chefs!). They had lots of good food Asian food and a smattering of American. They had korean bbq, but get this... they don't cook it until you ask them to, so it's not sitting underneath some heat lamp turning into rubber. They can also stir fry whatever combo you toss at them. It's almost Vegas-like (high complement for a buffet if you ask me). The only thing I did notice was their desserts were a bit lacking compared to other buffets, but when you've eaten that much regular food, who can eat dessert?

AUF WIEDERSEHEN AUSTRIA

Ok, last full day in Vienna, and we have a plan. We are going to Schonbrunn, the Imperial Summer Palace, and we are going to Stephansdom, the huge catheral five minutes from our hotel. We get up, have breakfast (we never miss a meal), and grab a cab to Schonbrunn, as it is a bit further away. About 20 minutes away from the regular Imperial Palace. There must have been a much bigger temperature difference in the old days. Damn that global warming. We arrive at Schonbrunn and walk through the gates, and I am instantly reminded of Versailles... without as much flourishes on the building. We sign up for the super duper tour. I think maybe it was the Grand Imperial Tour. It gets you into 20 more rooms than the regular tour. We figure, heck, we came all this way, let's see it all! So we ventured through the palace rooms, as well as the gardens and the terrace. We even have access to the giant maze, but get too lazy to care. Lazy you say. What could be more important than enriching your mind, acquiring some culture, being a part of history? LUNCH. Yep. We were hungry. Time to go folks.

We grab a cab and make a pit stop at the hotel. Then we head out in search of food. We're at a loss, so instead of being adventurous, we go back to a winner, Zum Figlmueller. Once again, the salad queens get their salad, and I get a chicken cordon bleu. Amazingly enough, I don't think we hardly ever ate chicken on this vacation. You'd think it'd be easy enough to find, but this is central Europe, land of sausages and potatoes. It's all about packing it on and keeping it warm in those cold winter months. I subscribe to this philosophy, which is why I'm bracing for the cold California winter as we speak by having a red velvet cup cake, but that's another story (soon to follow).

So, we get our most excellent lunch along with Zweigelt, the local wine, which the girls drink half of and pass on to me. I hate wasting good wine, so I drink them, and we go drunk shopping. OK, I go drunk shopping. They're just shopping. We step outside and go to the first neighboring shop where I buy Lin a big calendar as a souvenir. Oh, a big calendar of naked girls. The great thing is, this calendar was so long, it wouldn't fit in my 26" suit case, so Vuong had to haul it around for me the rest of the trip. (thanks pal). If only she had gotten stopped by customs, it would have been fun to see their expressions. Oh well. Then we hit all sorts of shops on the way back towards the hotel, including Swarovski which originates in Austria. This is where I do the rest of my souvenir shopping. Too bad I never got my VAT back to save $75. Regardless, the gifts went over well, so it doesn't matter.

Amazingly enough, it's now time for dinner! By now it's raining, so we duck into a nearby Asian place. I know, what a bunch of fobs. I go for the sushi because I miss it, Gina gets something with rice, and I'm sure Vuong had something with salad. I think maybe she got korean bbq. After dinner, we stop in a nearby market to stock up on water and snacks for the plane. Once we drop our stuff off in the hotel, we go back out to see Stephansdom.

Upon arriving in Stephansdom, we realize we can't actually go in, as they are getting ready for the Pope who will be there the following Sunday. Vuong decides to exact her revenge by changing the time on the visiting hours clock. Yes, she is a bad girl. I stood far away for fear of lightening. Although we weren't able to really see the church, we were fortuitously located near... Zanoni & Zanoni. That's right, one last Topfen gelato for the road. So what if we're sitting outside, bundled up in rain coats and scarves. So what if it's cold and raining. I'm leaving tomorrow so I am going to have my fill darn it. And it was GOOOooood.

The next morning, we hurriedly have breakfast before the cab shows up and head out for sunny Dubrovnik. Heh.

IN SEARCH OF STRUM

Sunday, we have decided, is museum day. Partly because everything else is closed. That's right, everything is closed on Sundays, even some restaurants. We start off by getting up somewhat early and going for a run. That's right. Aren't we the picture of health, squeezing a run in here and there between all the drinks and dessert? After the run, we grab some breakfast and then get ready to start our day.

Fortunately for us, we are staying near the Hofburg, so we walk the five minutes over and take a tour of the Kaiserappartments and the Sisi Museum. You actually begin by tourin the Imperial Silver Collection where you get to see a wide array of very expensive silverware, culterly and other table settings. From there, you venture into the Sisi Museum. No, not a museum about wimpy boys, but about Empress Elisabeth, a woman who was reknowned during her time for being very beautiful. She was also ahead of her time as she actually had her own work out room since she was very self conscious about her looks and weight. At some point during the tour, we all got a bit tired and decided to sit down and have some coffee and a snack, then we made our way through the Imperial Palace rooms. They had some very interesting rooms, as it seemed they were interested in other cultures besides their own.

Anyhow, after the museum, we walked back to our hotel, where we ended up taking a nap. We had grand plans to go see the Imperial Treasury, but instead fell asleep. We never did make it to the Treasury. Now we're wondering what we should do. We've essentially been walking every day for about 12 days now and we're tired. So we decide to take the funnest way around the city... a carriage ride.

After the carriage ride, we decide to grab dinner at Zum Figlmuller (http://www.figlmueller.at/), a place famous for its schnitzel. The schnitzel was good - reminded me of a katsu without the sauce - but even better was the salad. Yes, even I am enamored of the salad, which is what Vuong got (surprise). I also tried a local wine, Zweigelt, which was really tasty. All in all, a good meal. After dinner, we're walking back towards the hotel, and we pass a sidewalk wine bar where I notice they have strum on the menu. Gina's been searching high and low for strum, so we stop and have a glass.

V: damn girl, look at you go.

G: I loooove strum.

After the strum, one of us is a little buzzed and decide to stop for gelato at Zanoni and Zanoni (www.zanoni.co.at). They had one of THE BEST gelatos ever. It's called topfen pot. I think Gina only saw the "pot" part of it and asked for it thinking it was something else. It turns out to be something akin to cream cheese and it is YUMMY. I had cravings for weeks after getting back. Unfortunately, you can't get the stuff here as topfen is specifically an Austrian thing. booooo. (I've had to slake my cravings with Golden Spoon & Coldstone's cake batter flavors). We stand on the street eating gelato while cardiac surgeons run amok around us (there was a European cardiologists conference in Vienna - no, didn't meet any hot heart surgeons).

VISIONS OF VIENNA

We arrive in Vienna late Saturday afternoon. One of the first things we notice in the train station: Chinese take out called Quick Lee. Clever.

So guess what? Most stores and stuff close at 7. That means we don't have much time. We check into the Pertschy Pension. What a great location. It's only a block from the main shopping street Kohlmarkt and a block from the Hofburg Imperial Palace. Afterwards, we go in search for food. We locate a Chinese restaurant. Uh oh. Again? Have we not learned our lesson? Apparently not.

OK, it's not exactly a Chinese restaurant. More of Asian food restaurant. Vienna actually had a lot more Asian restaurants, being a bigger city. I do not recall the name of the restaurant. Quite possibly I subconsciouly hold a grudge against them as my food took an extra 20 minutes to come out. That's right, Gina and Vuong were already done with their dinner before mine came out. I have no idea what took so long when all I ordered was the shrimp tempura bento box. The food was ok. Nothing special, nothing Happy Feasty.

Afterwards, we just walk and walk and walk all around town to get our bearings. We locate the beloved H&M, home of our future clean socks. We stop for ice cream (me) and salad (Vuong). Yes, I went on vacation with the salad queens. Nothing makes you feel more like a cow than, "Oh, we're going to split the salad (them)... and I'll have the sirloin steak with roasted potatoes, please. (me)" We also stopped at a wine bar that night in search of strum. Yes, Gina was in love with strum and determined to get more of it. Unfortunately, the wine bar was fresh out (literally). The bartender told us that they don't bottle too much of it as you cannot keep it for very long, so he had run out earlier in the evening. Bummer.

So we head back to the hotel to relax since, well, everything's closed except bars and cafes, and we're pretty full.

SALZBURG... THE SAGA CONTINUES

Who's Rudy you may ask? He's the bartender/concierge at the hotel. We met him on our first day in during tea. He was very nice and friendly and provided us with some very good restaurant suggestions. He also told us we should check out the Farmers Market on Thursday morning, as it was a great event, where they sold some special chicken and almonds you could only get in Salzburg. Cool. We are totally going. Now, don't get me wrong, he was very helpful. But over time, every time he'd offer suggestions of where to go, it was always in terms of distance from his apartment. At one point, he actually suggested we check out the lobby in his apartment building... for the great architecture of course. Anyhow, eventually that just became the running joke with us. We're going to check out the Fortress... which is about 10 minutes from Rudy's apartment, or maybe Mozart's house... which is only 5 minutes from Rudy's apartment. I think maybe he should get maps made up, where there's a big star that indicates *Rudy's Apartment Here. hehe.

Nevertheless, Wednesday night, Gina and I took Rudy's suggestion and checked out Shrimps restaurant (www.shrimps.at), just off the Linzer Gasse. Vuong stayed in and it was a good thing, too. OMG. This place was a 5-8 minute walk from our hotel, but dorks that we are, we completely started off in the wrong direction and took the long 30 minute route. I think part of the reason is, we were reading the map as if we were staying in the main hotel, but were actually staying across the street. Therefore, we turned right coming out of our building, which would have been correct had we been staying across the street, but from our building, the totally wrong way. Oh well. We finally made it and the food was good.

The next morning, we enjoyed a nice full breakfast that had real scrambled eggs! Woohoo. Yes, a big deal, as we were growing tired of bread, cheese and jam. Then Gina and I went off to this famous farmers market. Yes, it was fun, as it's a bit different from ours as they sell a lot of fresh meats and cheeses, but we did not see any rare almonds there.

After the farmers market, we go back to check on Vuong. Girlfriend is not doing well. The meds her dad had shipped to her were stalled in customs. At this point, it was time to take some real action. We tell her to give us a list of the meds she needs so we can go out there and score some drugs. She's a pharmacist, so she knows what she needs. We go to the pharmacy, where the nice pharmacist informs us he cannot give us drugs without a prescription, but we can have her doctor fax it in and they can fill it. Cool! We get her some ibuprofen Austrian-style (which is now one of my souvenirs) and let her know. Luckily for her, Vuong's brother is a doctor. He tries to fax over the meds she needs, but it doesn't go through, so we walk back to the pharmacist, which is only around the corner from the hotel. We tell them we're trying to fax, but it's not going through, and we've got the doctor on the phone. After a lengthy discussion between pharmacist and doctor brother, the pharmacist gives us all of the necessary meds. Get this... only 52 Euro for 3 prescription drugs for someone without insurance. How awesome is that? You know in America they would have completely gouged you. Vuong takes her drugs and gets more rest. We head out once again.

This time, we visit the house Mozart lived in, "Mozart Wohnhaus," which is different from the house Mozart was born in, "Mozarts Geburtshaus." It's very interesting with letters and diaries and musical instruments. I'm a big Mozart fan since I used to play violin and piano and thoroughly enjoy it. It's not very big, but still very captivating. Imagine, you're standing in a room that Mozart used to walk around in! How cool is that? Yes, I am a big nerd.

After Mozart's House, we stop by St. Sebastian's which is a church on the way back to our hotel. Mozart's family is buried there. I love these old church's with their own little grave yards. They have so much character and are so much more interesting to look at than the cemetaries we have here, which essentially look like flat fields of grass. I like looking at the names and dates on the stones and wondering what these people were like. Gina was a bit freaked out, but since it was so well kept and orderly, it wasn't too creepy and I think the place grew on her. She didn't realize I was interested in seeing stuff like that, and then I told her that I've actually gone and visited Pere Lachaise cemetary (www.Pere-Lachaise.com) in Paris, where so many famous people are buried (i.e. Jim Morrison, Oscar Wilde, Chopin, etc.), that it is a real tourist attraction.

Once we finished taking a look around at St. Sebastian, we went back to see how Vuong was doing. She was much improved already! Gotta love drugs! Actually, she ran for the potty and barfed, but after that, she was much better! So we went off to get dinner and let her rest up a bit more. This is when we decide we're going for Chinese food. It'd actually only been 8 days that we'd been on vacation, but when you don't really get a variety of food choices, you feel like it's been longer. Anyhow, it was probably the worst decision of our trip. Yes, even worse than pulling out only $10 in Prague. The food was bad, the service was blah, and it was pricey. So be warned... Happy Feast... not so happy a feast.

We decide to take Rudy's suggestion of checking out the Hotel Sacher for dessert. Thank good ness we did. The desserts were so good, they nearly made dinner nothing but a distant memory. Gina had the famous Sacher Torte, I had some raspberry chocolate dessert. Excellent stuff. Not too rich, not too sweet. Just right. Even her tea and my cocoa were wondeful. We were able to end the night on a happy note - Vuong was better and we had just had some good food.

Friday morning, Vuong was well again, so she joined us for breakfast, and we decided to go on the 9 a.m. Sound of Music Tour (www.panoramatours.com). Yes, it sounds horribly cheesy, but I'm in Salzburg, and I'm going on it darn it! Well you know what? It was one of the funnest things on our trip! They send a shuttle to pick you up from your hotel quarter to 9 and take you to tour headquarters. Then you get on a huge bus full of people. We were among the last to arrive, so we are in the very last row. I'm smack in the middle of the five seats. If the bus driver were to hit the breaks really hard, I would have gone rolling towards the front.

Our bus driver Markus and our tour guide Peter are HILARIOUS. They take us to look at the various sites where they filmed the movie and give us all sorts of background info about the movie and the real Von Traps - did you know they own a resort in Vermont? We also head out into the countryside where we get to go bobsledding! They put a wheeled seat on the bobsled track and tow you to the top then let you go. It's so much fun! Unfortunately, they'll only let you do it once before the bus leaves. On the way to the town of Mondsee, we get to see the international headquarters for Red Bull. Did you know it was invented in Salzburg? Me neither. No wonder it was everywhere.

In Mondsee, we get to visit the cathedral in which Maria and the captain were married in. We also get to try some apfel strudel with vanilla sauce. The dessert was good, the wasps hovering over us were not. Yes, we ran around and screamed like the girls we are. After the SOM Tour, we visited the Mirabellgarten (where they filmed the Doe-A-Deer scenes), and the Festung Hohensalzburg, the big fortress atop the hill. Afterwards, we trek over to the Mullner Kirche and Augustinerkloster und Brau. You have to love a church that has a brewery beneath. If my church had one, I'd attend mass more regularly:

After the the brewery, we grab dinner at Republic (Anton Neumayr Platz 2), where we saw our unanimous vote for the hottest hottie of all vacation. We attempted to take a photo without being too obvious, but unfortunately it came out a bit blurry, and the photo does not do him justice:

When we're done trying to get a photo of McHottie, we head back towards the shops because I thought I saw a place to get schnapps that I had seen on Rick Steve's travel show...so we check it out. Sporer's on Getreidegasse 39 (www.sporer.at). It really is the same place as on Rick Steve's and apparently the family's been making schnapps for over a hundred years.

We go in and ask for a shot of whatever he thought was a good fruity flavor. He gives us apricot. SO GOOD. We ask for another flavor. And another. Oh yeah... we wuz getting drunk without knowing it, because that stuff is strong. Now, granted, we really are louder than most Salburgers. And we looked different from them too. So we figure that's why everyone's looking at us. We're loud and different looking. No, they were probably waiting for one of us to drop. Or maybe wondering why we're shooting the schnapps as apparently you are supposed to sip it.

We have at least 4 shots in succession. A veritable fruit salad of alcohol. Pear, apricot, apple and strawberry. Then we make the acquaintance of the others in the bar. A very nice couple, their son and his girlfriend. They buy us schnapps shots and strum. Strum is like the first distillation of wine. Not as strong and not as bitter, but just as tasty. So now we're at six shots of schnapps and two glasses of strum. We are beyond happy and having the greatest time with these very friendly and kind people:

We each buy a couple bottle of schnapps to take back. Then head back towards the hotel and engaged in one of the funnest past times ever: drunk shopping.

The next morning, we're a bit tired. Yes, a little from the alcohol, but mostly from a loud crowd of hopefully-not-Americans singing Sound of Music songs on the street at some ridiculous hour. We haul all of our dirty laundry down stairs since we plan on doing some laundry at the laundromat on the corner. We get there and she tells us we're too late. Apparently, they close at 10 a.m. WHAT? Didn't you just open? Crazy Austrians! There go our grand plans for clean clothes for the last two countries. Well, we have clean clothes, but they're all for warm weathered locales, which apparently we weren't going to be in, as it rained everywhere we went.

We drag all of our dirty stuff back up and head to breakfast, then do a bit of last minute shopping before taking the train to Vienna. Goodbye Salzburg! I had a FABULOUS time.

RAIN SCHMAIN

OK, for days now, they have been talking about this HUGE storm we are supposed to have. Yesterday, the brunt of the storm was to hit tomorrow, which is now today. Today, it's now supposed to thunder down tomorrow. Uh, yeah, ok. I was already for the rain tonight. Made no plans, except to stay home, enjoying a glass of wine and a trashy novel. Thus far, it sprinkled on my car on the way home just enough to get it dirty. Then on the way home from dinner, it rained enough the last five minutes to wash away the spots from driving home.

As I sat here surfing tripadvisor, I heard what I thought was the beginning of torrential rains, only to hear it stop about 5 minutes later. At this point, I don't want it to rain anymore. The wine is gone, the book's a re-read and tomorrow I want to play tennis so I can work off my Coldstones and then watch the Trojans beat the Cougars on nice dry grass. Then on Sunday, I meet up with the vacation buddies, whom you'd think I'd be sick of, after 16 straight days of 24/7, but apparently not. I miss my buddies.

SHOWERS IN SALZBURG

Yep, that's right, it showered nearly every single day we were in Salzburg. I suppose it's a fairly normal occurance for them, but still, we weren't expecting it in August. Plus, we're from California. Rain? What's rain?

Anyhow, we arrived in Salzburg by train from Prague, which took about 8 hours. The first part of the trip, from Prague to Munich, went by pretty quickly. We had one of those semi-private compartments that can seat six. We got on the train with our humongous luggage and found a compartment with only one girl in it. We thought, GREAT! We don't have to worry about some lecherous smokey smelling guy molesting us through tunnels. (Scusi, scusi...ever see Eurotrip?)

Back to the poor girl. We probably frightened her so much that she got off the train before her exit. There she is, minding her own business, then in come three Asian girls with luggage that takes up nearly the entire compartment, and one of the girls looks ill. Could she be contagious? Bird flu, sars? Who knows?! And why is she wearing those Ponch sunglasses when it's raining outside? Maybe she's blind. Hmm...

Anyhow, after she gets off, we spread out and get comfy. Feet up, snacks out, everything. We're moving along, then come to a point where they check tickets and passports. (We got a cute choo choo stamp.) They also tell us that we have to move one train car down because the train is going to separate, and the half we're on isn't going to Munich. CRAP!

We send Vuong ahead to scout for an empty compartment while Gina and I deal with the luggage. Our bags are so heavy, that when we get into the new compartment, we just say 'forget it' about putting it up on the luggage racks, and just left them all in the aisle and put our feet up on or in between them. We eventually get to Munich and have to change trains. Wait, not trains. We hop on this two car thing that looks like a Disneyland tram. This is when the slow part begins. We stopped in every freaking city between Munich and Salzburg. Holy cow.

We were so happy when we finally arrived, especially as Salzburg had a nicer train station with those elevator things that Prague doesn't have. We take out an adequate amount of Euros at the ATM (unlike in Prague), then make our way out and hail a taxi. Cute guy in a full suit driving a Benz. Score. He starts packing the bags into the trunk. He rearranges the bags. He re-rearranges the bags. He starts unpacking the bags. He signals to the SUV taxi and tells him to take us. Bummer. =(

We arrive at Hotel Wolf-Dietrich (http://www.salzburg-hotel.at/). The hotel is located near a bunch of restaurants, a bunch of shopping, a grocery store, and luckily for Vuong, a pharmacy. Check in goes smoothly and we get a room in their building across the street. Let me tell you, Salzburg is a nice, clean, quiet town. I noticed it was quiet when the porter waived us over, just so he could tell us where the spa and breakfast rooms were in a nice low-decibel voice. We were the loudest people in that town. Anyway, back to checking in, so they tell us to go ahead to the room, the bags will be right up. OK, we're on the second floor, which is actually the third, because in Europe, the ground floor counts as zero. The porter, this skinny middle aged guy, hauls all of our bags up the four flights of stairs in two trips. OMG! He must be in excellent condition, because I would have died carrying them up two at a time.

Our room has nice big windows and satellite t.v. once again. (You should see some of the stuff they have on regular t.v. Wowwee) It also has these really cool automatic receding shutters for outside, so you can make it completely dark in the room. AND, even better, our hotel not only has breakfast from 7-11 - that's right, we can sleep in - they have tea time from 3-5 p.m. I love free food. We seriously saved money because we would load up on breakfast, walk back and catch tea, and only have to buy dinner and random snacks. So after we dump our stuff, we head back to the main lobby for tea. And that is where we met our pal Rudy.

Views from our hotel window:

COSTCO CRAVINGS

I don't go to Costco very often, which I'm thinking is a good thing. Every time I step inside, I am tempted to buy large quantities of food (which is of course, really the only way they sell them). Anyhow, we make a random family trip to Costco today, and just to give you an idea of why I am the way I am (a total dork)... as we are leaving Costco, my dad is "skating" the shopping cart. The shopping cart has bad alignment so he is veering right towards the curb, so he steps off to realign. This time he tells my mom she has to help him steer, so now he is "skating" along, while she runs along side and pushes him in the right direction. Meanwhile, I'm walking behind yelling, "If you guys get hit by a car, don't blame me."

After Costco, I made a run to Golden Spoon in an attempt to alleviate my Topfen Gelato craving. I get the cake batter frozen yogurt. It helped, but it did not eliminate the need. I shall one day have to return to Zanoni & Zanoni (www.zanoni.co.at) for the real stuff. I would consider making my own topfen gelato, alas, you can not get topfen in America. booooo.

MORE PRAGUE

So we arrived in Prague on Sunday night, used our whopping $10 to buy dinner, had dinner on the hotel roof, then spent Monday wandering around the old square and Mala Strana. One of Pasquale's recommendations was Baracnicka Rychta (Trziste 23, Mala Strana), a small restaurant hidden below the Prague Castle. OK, when he says hidden, he's not kidding. It is up a winding road, and is so quaint. It's also not completely overrun with tourists. But really, the great thing about it was that it was near the American Embassy. OK, the great thing about it was the beer and food, but it just happened to be near the American Embassy, where my uncle Patrick told me you could get a really cool t-shirt.

So, we go, we have lunch, and I have a decent salad, and some AWESOME ribs. The beer is pretty darned good too. Decent salad and darned good beer pictured below.

(Thanks to Gina for the photos.) After lunch, we decide against trying to make it up to the castle, and decide to go back down into town again, with a stop at the Embassy for the much hyped t-shirt. So I ask the guards outside if they sell t-shirts. They look at me like I'm a freak. I can't really say I blame them. They're Czech so they tell me to wait there while they go inside and check. They come back out and tell us to come in where we have to go through security. All this for a t-shirt. Well, Sgt. Ferguson of the U.S. Marines helps us out and shows us to their "store." A locked cabinet with coins and polo shirts which they apparently sell as souvenirs at all of the embassies. Hell, I'm already there, I'm buying a shirt. It's not even a cheap shirt, but I get my dad a nice long sleeved polo which he can wear to golf. He can wear it to golf on some American military base as it's got this HUGE marine corps/embassy emblem. Hehehe. Luckily, my dad's not picky. If it's free, it's his favorite.

After that, I think we walked around a bit more, then went back for a nap. Who knows. But definitely, for dinner, we try one of Jenn & Laryna's suggestions: Architektu (Betlemske Nam 5A). It was down in the basement and we had to wait an hour. Of course, we use this hour to down a bottle of wine and some really good baked brie. When we are finally seated, I decide to try and be healthy and order the salmon. Big mistake. I should've gotten what Vuong got. I'm not a big fish eater, I just do eat for health's sake, and the salmon was just way too fishy. I'm left eating 4 asparagus and a glass of wine. Yep, someone was gonna get really buzzed. We ordered dessert and it was excellent. Had something to do with walnuts I think. Gina actually didn't like it, but Vuong and I LOVED it. It was the highlight, I think, of dinner. Afterwards, we stumbled around town a bit more, found the Prague porn store (didn't go inside), and picked up some gelato.

On Tuesday, we spent nearly the entire day wandering around the castle. It's really more like a little town in and of itself. St. Vitus' Cathedral is absolutely beautiful, although I think we were most enthralled by the torture chambers. After all the walking, we had a late lunch at another of Pasquale's recommendations, Palffy Palac (Vladstejska 14, Mala Strana), where according to his note, "Madonna had dinner there when she came to Prague." It is actually a former palace and we sat out on the terrace to enjoy the scenery. We were the only ones there and a had a cute waiter with very blue eyes. He even fought the wasp for us. The meal was very good, we had a prixe fixe that included salad, beef filets, and dessert. I think the most memorable part was the roasted garlic they gave with the bread. So simple and delicious. This is us at the Palffy Palac:

Afterwards, we stopped for some coffee on the way back, then I think we took a nap. Can't be sure really. We had dinner at the Italian restaurant just a few doors down from the hotel (very good minestrone and lasagne by the way) then went to bed as we had to get up and leave early the next morning.

On Wednesday, we departed for Salzburg. Pasquale was kind enough to arrange the transportation and see us off! Considering we didn't even stay at his hotel, I think that was pretty cool. Then at the end, we realized he actually paid for the transportation too. How awesome was that?

KIT KAT DREAM

So last night, I couldn't help myself and I had my last English Kit Kat. Yes, English Kit Kat. I like their chocolates and it is different from the ones we have here. Their Cadbury is better too. Anyhow, last night, I had this really weird dream where I was driving along some remote road and lost control of my car. I crashed and ended up in the bushes of something that looked like a park. There were people there and they offered to help me, but I remember thinking they looked a bit sketchy. So they help bring my car up to the road, then pretend like there is something amiss, and pop open my trunk where there is a dead shark. Of course everyone is horrified that I'm driving around with a dead shark in my trunk, and I am unable to explain it, as I didn't put it there. Anyhow, I don't recall what happened with the crowds, but I do remember that I decided I'd try to sell the shark to a Chinese restaurant for their soup. =P

Oh, speaking of driving around, while I was gone, my car was serviced and the big "racing stripe" on the right side was fixed. It's like brand new! I ought to call Toyota and tell them about my wonderful Camry. 207,000 miles and still runs smooooth.

ASIANS ON PARADE

From London we travelled to Prague via Easyjet. First, let me tell you, what a fun ride. On the plane, they sell lottery tickets. Well, not quite lottery, as you only win some stuff from the airline, but heck, you do have the chance of winning a lot of money. Anyhow, we figure we'll just spend our pounds on it since we won't need the pounds. We buy two tickets each and each of us win one pound. Great. Well, with 2 pounds you can buy a cheapo bottle of airplane wine. We indicate our interest, but sadly can only afford one between the three of us. The nice flight attendant pitches in the last pound so we could have two bottles of cheapo wine and provides us with three cups! Score!

At the airport, we are met by our hotel host, Pasquale, who informs us that he thinks it's too noisy at his hotel due to neighboring construction, so he has taken the initiative to find us a new hotel at the same cost. We can go take a look and see if it meets our approval, if not, we can stay at his hotel. Sure. Why not.

First, however, we need to pull out Czech money, so we're not completely without. Again, the girls let me go first, so they can decide how much they should pull out. Unfortunately, I can't remember what the exchange rate is. Pasquale tells me it is 20 to 1. However, with all the pressure of everyone watching me, I play it safe and pull out only 200 koruna, thinking it is $100, but is actually the equivalent of $10. We ALL pulled out only $10. Only in the van on the way to the hotel do I decide to re-do the math and discover that we are all idiots. Me for the bad panic math. Them for being lemmings. =P I am much better at calculating sale prices.

Anyhow, the new hotel, Hotel Dar, is great. Newly refurbished with an elevator and right in the old town, only steps away from the clock tower. The staff is also very nice and Pasquale, who runs Arcadia Residence, where we were going to stay, is so nice, he still provides us with information as to good locals' restaurants and places to find the necessities, such as ATMs, groceries, etc. We were very sad we didn't get to stay at Arcadia and try the breakfast trolley, as it is legendary on trip advisor. Maybe next time. Anyway, even though we didn't stay with them, he still arranged our car transportation to the train station for our departure from Prague (and paid for it!). What a nice guy!

Anyhow, the next day, we venture out to explore the city, and we notice that we are getting curious looks. Yes, we are Asians On Parade. No, there aren't very many Asian tourists in Prague at the time, but I'm assuming they've seen some, even if they're other tourists. Why everyone was so intrigued by us, I have no idea. Anyhow, since they were curious looks and not dirty looks, we took it upon ourselves to be good will ambassadors for Asian-kind and smiled a lot. At everyone. There are of course the usual questions, "Where are you from?" Followed by the usual answer, "California." bahahaha. We knew that wasn't what they meant, but it was the truth. Then we made everybody guess where each one of us was from since we are all different nationalities, yet none of us Chinese or Japanese, the favorite typical answers. Then we did our martial arts demonstration. bahahaha. j/k.

Anyhow, more about Prague when I'm not about to fall asleep. Pictures from Prague: http://picasaweb.google.com/kejercito/PRAGUE

I'M BACK!

Vacation was so much fun! We left on Thursday, 8/23 from John Wayne with a stop in Dallas before arriving in Gatwick. We have decided this is a good way to go because the plane isn't full, as it would be if you went direct from LAX to Heathrow, so you can spread your stuff out and have plenty of luggage storage space.

When we arrived in London, it was cold and raining. When we got to the hotel, the rain had stopped but it was still cloudy. By the time we were on the London Eye for our "flight," the sky was clearing up. We were lucky for the remainder of our stay because it was beautiful, absolutely gorgeous weather! That's right! Sunny and 85 in London. Who'd have thunk it?

Friday before our London Eye excursion, we walked all around and managed to hit a pub, where we met a couple of guys. A couple of OLD guys. Vuong picked them up while we were at the bar getting drinks. They were really nice, told us to go out dancing and meet some nice young boys. hehe.

Saturday we went to Buckingham Palace for a tour, which you can only do during limited time periods, as the queen generally resides there, so we were lucky she was away on vacation. We also hit Harrods to window shop, tea at La Duree in Harrods, a tour of Kensington Palace, the last home of Princess Diana, and dinner at an Indian restaurant called The Red Fort. That place was awesome. (pricey, but awesome). After The Red Fort, we got conned into going to a club called Anon, which you are better off skipping, if ever in the area.

On Sunday, we went for a run around St. James Park, Gina and I walked over to Buckingham Palace again, then through Regents Park (or at least I think that was Regents Park). Afterwards, we got cleaned up, and went over to Notting Hill to checking out the big Carnival. It was alright. It is nice to say I've seen it, but I wouldn't go out of my way to go back. If you go, be sure to watch out for the giant piles of horse poo that the horse patrol leave behind.

Anyhow, I don't think Gina and Vuong were crazy about London. I myself could do without that feeling like you've a layer of dirt on your face from when you were out walking on the street, but I love all the history in the place. So many cool old buildings to go to.

Pictures from London: http://picasaweb.google.com/kejercito/LONDON