Author: chappyshi

Dalyan, Turkey, Day 1

Posted on by chappyshi

20120702

I woke up shortly before my 0430 wake up call so I finished packing and getting my poop in group.  Once my call came in I jumped in the shower.  Five hours later I was sipping coffee poolside at the Aydos Club Hotel in Dalyan.  My shuttle driver was running a bit behind schedule.  I debated whether or not I was going to have to cab it when I remembered I had printed out the hotel’s contact info.  Before I could even get that out of my backpack, the driver showed up.  30 minutes or so later I was at the hotel.

Since my family was not going to get in for about six hours, I took the short walk along the river path in to town. There are a number of hotels with riverside cafes along the way that are pretty low key. The closer one gets to town, after about a 10 minute walk, the busier it gets with more densely packed hotels and restaurants.  There is a lot of mostly tourist boat traffic on the river for trips to the beach downriver and the lake upriver.

In town are many more restaurants, tourist shops, and convenience stores.  There is a small town square with a kid’s playground and the mandatory mosque.  I did a quick recon for necessities such as beer and water and returned to the hotel.

Chilling around the pool and/or the pool side bar is the order of the day at any time of the day so that is what I did until my family got in at about at 1530.  I greeted them and we all had a quick catch up before they took the time to get settled in.  Afterward, they all explored the hotel grounds and we all met up for drinks by the pool before dinner. We ate a traditional Turkish dinner consisting of a selection of mezes and meat dishes, including kebabs and fish, by the pool. It was a very nice, relaxing meal which made for a great way to wind up our first day here at the Aydos Club hotel in Dalyan, Turkey.

Istanbul, Turkey, Day 5

Posted on by chappyshi

20120702

It is my last day in Istanbul.  I am leaving for Dalyan, Turkey, tomorrow for a week on the Aegean Sea with family.  I have greatly enjoyed Istanbul I am not sure that will miss it.  After 4.5 days of doing the tourist thing, I am ready for a break.  I remember asking my Uncle Cliff, who will be in Dalyan with us, whether he was interested in seeing Istanbul with me.  His response was that he was not much of a city person which I realize but it was worth asking.

Looking back I realized Cliff would have gone nuts in this city of 17 million natives and God knows how many tourists.  My hotel is at the heart of the tourist district.  All I have to do is walk 200 meters to insanity that lasts from about 0800 until 2000.  The fact that I have seen everything I wanted to see in four days and still have not been in a vehicle is a testament to the location but I am done.  I do not need to see another mosque for quite a while and I look forward to not having some many cool thing to take pictures of if that makes any sense.

I am still an overweight beer swilling slob but at least I got another good day of walking in today.  If ever I could use and enjoy a hot tub, now would be the time.  I think if I were flying home to D.C. today, I would have to be paraplegic so I could manage the flight without my legs driving me nuts. I walked from the hotel to the Mosque of Suleymaniye the Magnificent which was awesome but, as I said, I am starting to feel like a character in the “Red Mosque of Death.”  I am no longer minaready!

From the mosque, which was built on of the seven hills of the city, think Rome, I walked down to the Spice Market and across the street to the Galata Bridge, famous for being a hot fishing spot for locals and a so so place for seafood for tourists.  On the way, I came across yet another huge mosque, the New Mosque.  The fisherman do their thing from both sides on the top of the bridge and restaurants are located underneath with a break in the middle for boats to get through.  My intent was to cross the bridge and go up into Galata tower which was reputed to have the best view over all of the city.

The tower lived up to its reputation but I am lucky I lived walking up to it.  Thankfully there was an elevator that took you up nearly to the top.  There were the usual tourist traps near the top, a restaurant and a night club that no one was really using.  I can see where the club might have been cool, at night with a 360 degree view of the city, including the Golden Horn and Old Districts. I cannot imagine getting down the hill from there after a few drinks though.  Talk about rolling drunks….

Anyhow, after exiting the elevator, you go up two more stories on a spiral staircase…more on spiral staircases later.  The staircase is adequate for one person, one way but had to handle multiple people both ways including those individuals who thought for some dumb reason that they needed to take pictures of each other on the staircase.  Slowly we turn and all that.

The capper, pun intended since we were at the top of the tower, was the instruction to go around the outside viewing area passage way, which was about as wide as the average back street in the Old District, two feet.  The sign clearly said to go around to the right, clockwise. There was no clock wisedom for about half the crew.  As I worked my way around to the right, I battled the idiots that didn’t get the picture.  Oh, and speaking of pictures, did I mention that getting around the viewing area was made difficult not only because of the wrong way Randy’s but because of…wait for it…the people that had to take pictures of each other while on a narrow walkway 100 feet off the ground.

Before I forget, I have to mention that today seems to be the driest day I have had here with a wicked nice breeze blowing off the water.  I have been up on the rooftop terrace for about three hours and am just loving it, Laughing Gulls notwithstanding.

And so, after a lotta Galata, I headed back down from the tower and back across the bridge.  I stopped at a seafood restaurant for lunch which was good but expensive.  I ordered the grill swordfish with a salad.  That came with bread and spices and herb in oil to dip it in.  I only ate have the bread and half the salad but the swordfish came out grilled on a skewer with only five or six pieces on it.  At 55 TL with tip I thought that was pricey but it was recommended.  Once again, I wish I could have had a doggy bag.  I could have cut my meal expense by a third if I could have taken my leftovers with me.

After lunch, I generally followed the tram line back up to Hagia Sophia from where it was a short walk back to the hotel.  As usual, I washed up, read, and cooled off for awhile.  Since then I have been on the rooftop terrace writing and talking to Craig and Karen, the Aussies.  I wanted to work on photos but the brilliant sunshine made viewing the laptop screen difficult enough that doing so was nearly impossible.

I think it is time now to get some grub.  I might see about getting a small pizza so I can save half of it for breakfast tomorrow. Since I am heading off to the airport at 0500, I am not sure what my eating opportunities are going to be in the morning.

I ended up going to the Sultan Hostel Cafe where I had a couple of brews and ordered a the pizza.  I ate half of it and saved the rest for breakfast as planned.  While there there was a woman who I assumed was Turkish.  She looked very pregnant and apparently felt very pregnant.  One of the waiters at the place appeared to be the father of the child.  She was riding him unmercifully.

First she demanded candy and after he brought it to her, she chowed down on 2 or 3 chocolate bars and a bag of gummy worms. Then she ordered some salad that she just shoved into her gaping maw complaining about the food the whole time.  Meanwhile, the future father sat with her to eat a pizza out of which he got only about two slices.  It was pretty funny to watch his coworkers come over and steal slices when he wasn’t looking!

Last night was the Euro Cup soccer final featuring Spain vs. Italy..only a moderately huge rivalry.  They had three wide screens in the place and the manager was, in a very biased manner, giving out the best seats to his cronies.  Eventually he asked ne if I would move over join the pregnant monster at her table.  I was afraid but I agreed.  Come to find out the woman is from Swansee, Wales, and has been teaching preschool for five years in Istanbul.  She was not as far along in her pregnancy as I imagined.  She was at 6.5 months and preparing to head home to have the baby in Wales before she lost her National Health coverage.

She got all excited when told her we were going to Dalyan noting that she had been there a couple of times and really enjoyed it.  I bailed out of the eatery shortly before the soccer match.  It was really filling up w/ spectators and I had no interest in the match so I gave up my seat for someone that cared.  Oddly, I noted on the way back to the hotel that after one block there were hardly any lights on.  I stopped at my usual corner store to get some water where the proprietor told me that power was out all over the district.

That did not seem to be the case because lights were still on in some places. The desk clerk at my hotel told me that power outages are common enough that some places, including hotels were required to have generators.  Of course mine did not have one. Thankfully, as per my custom, I had a flash light with me.  I went in and packed up my bags then went out and chatted up the cabal of desk clerks in the area and the the Aussies, Craig and Karen.

I crashed at about 0030 which was stupid because I had to be up at 0430.  Thankfully it had been a fairly cool day with a strong wind so I opened up my balcony door which made for a comfortable, albeit short, sleep.  the off to Daylan.

On a final note for this entry, if I never see a another spiral staircase again in my life I won’t regret, after repeatedly climbing the spiral staircase up and down three flights between my room and the roof top terrace in my hotel, I am done with them.  They were narrrow and dark and since I was drinking beer on the roof I kept having to go down three flights to my room to use the bathroom.

Istanbul, Turkey, Day 4

Posted on by chappyshi

20120701

Well, again I sit on my balcony at 0600. I hit the fart sac at about 0030 this morning and still woke up at about 0400. I shut off the AC and opened the door to the balcony since the temperature was 70 degrees or less.  Of course the gulls were raucously laughing like drunks at a Robin Williams show but by now I just block them out.  I managed to cheese out a another hour and a half of sleep before succumbing to the avian comedy show.

I spent some time last night on the rooftop terrace chatting up some of the other guests in the hotel.  It was the first time anyone hung out there in the evening other than myself.  I had intended to work on my photo collection, which continues to grow, but that was a wash.  Instead I learned a bit about Jason and his wife, whose name escapes me.  They are both living in Bahrain and stopped here in Istanbul en route Sweden where the wife is from.  Jason, who hails from near Whitefish, Montana, teaches ancient history but I am not sure what his wife does.  She’s been in Bahrain ever since her Dad, who is a tennis pro, moved there.

Craig, who needs to take a chill pill…talks incessantly, and his wife Karen are from Melbourne, Australia.  Craig is an HVAC tech but I am not sure what Karen does.  Her family emigrated to Australia from Holland in the early 1950’s.  They are on a crazy trip that took them from Australia to Holland, Ireland, here in Istanbul for eight days and then they are stopping in Dubai on their way home.  On another human interest note, while having a brew at the Sultan Hostel and Restaurant, one of the waiters saw me reading the Washington Post and asked me where I was from.  I said Washington, D.C. of course. He asked me if I knew where New Jersey was and when I told him I was born there he got all excited.  He had lived in central and norther Jersey for 12 years.

Speaking of the Sultan Hostel and Restaurant which is on the strip hotels, bars, and restaurants near my hotel where I have been hanging out when not seeing the sights, I must address the silly traffic on that road.  Yesterday, early evening, on my fourth day of hanging out there, and enduring the traffic, including tourist bus after tourist bus blowing nasty, hot diesel dike fumes on me, I realized that the level of traffic could not be normal.  There is no way all those eateries almost everyone of which has outdoor, roadside tables, could have survived.

I know from having walked it that the only place that traffic could be going was the coastal highway to which the only route was through a two lane underpass that the tram passed over.  It was no wonder the traffic got so backed up.  I found out from the waiter who had lived in Jersey that, due to road construction, all the traffic including every stinking tour bus, from the tourist area that included Hagia Sophia, the Hippodrome, the Underground Cistern, the Blue Mosque, and Topkapi Palace has to take this route out of the area.  What a buzz kill!

As mentioned in the previous paragraph, I learned a bit more about the area I am staying in.  I misread the directions to Topkapi Palace, my first destination yesterday.  Instead of what should have been a ten minute walk to the Palace entrance, I took an hour walk all the way around the grounds of the palace on the coastal highway path.  As one should have inferred from my previous notes, I needed the exercise.

The morning was beautiful, people were jogging and biking on the path and even at before 1000 in the morning, men were fishing and, apparently, swimming in the, what I have read is not very clean, water.  The landward side of the path consisted mostly of the ruins of what I assumed were the old city walls.  I managed to get all the way back around to the entrance to the official palace grounds by walking through a lovely, shaded stretch of parkland bordered by the palace, a military compound, and the Museum of Islamic Technological History.

The touring agenda yesterday was Topkapi Palace and the Grand Bazaar.  Both were a bit overpowering. As previously mentioned, what should have been a ten minute walk to the palace turned into an hour.  By the time I got there the madding crowd had already arrived.  I had to bypass the kitchen area because that was already closed.  Some of the interior parts of the complex had lines so long that I just did not have the patience to wait.  Accordingly, I ambled about, saw what I could, which was a lot, learned a bit about Ottomand history and took lots of pictures.

As has become my routine, I came back to the hotel to rest, read, and cool off for a while before heading back out.  It was recommended that one take the tram to the Grand Bazaar but it was only about 400 meters to the tram and then another 400 meters to the bazaar from there so I hoofed it.  Let me say before I forget that hoofing it around here is not unlike most places I have been in Asia.  The tourists are clueless stopping everywhere and anywhere to take pictures of the sites and their travel mates.  Digital cameras have done for tourism what the Nazis did to Europe.  The locals, probably immune to the rudeness, barrel through the crowds like bulls in Barcelona.

Nonetheless, I made it to the bazaar intact which might have been strange.  Since the bazaar is reputed to be pickpocket hell I didn’t carry my usual load of cameras, binos, accessories, etc., but just took my point and shoot and my travel guide.  The travel guide, which has a suggested tour of the bazaar, was virtually useless.  Once you get inside that maze of corridors in the bazaar you might as well just give up the plan. Having to stop every 30 meters to consult the map and the signs made it pretty difficult to enjoy and get a feel for the place.  I had no intention of buying anything so I did not really need to get anywhere in particular.

As it was I just rambled about totally lost, took some pictures to record the feel of the place, had some lunch and somehow miraculously exited the labyrinth at exactly the point the guide said I should.  800 meters later I was back at the hotel for round two of rest and relaxation, cooling off, reading, and showering up. The best part of the bazaar was stopping for a late lunch at a restaurant recommended by the Rick Steves Istanbul travel guide, Kardeslar (Brothers) Restaurant.  It was tucked up two flights of stairs in a han.  There was a party of Israeli’s eating there with a Texan who obviously live here and one very Oriental looking Turk there when I arrived.  The dining area sat only about about 25 people on an open terrace protected from the sun by an arbor of grape plants.  Speaking Turkish would definitely have helped because I wound up eating what the waiter recommended; stewed meatballs and potatoes, a variety of mezes, and beans.  The food was awesome and, since there was enough food for two people, the price at 29 TL was quite reasonable.  Wish I had a doggy bag…or maybe not…

After that I had intended to have a couple of brews on the rooftop terrace and work on my photos but ended up doing some maintenance tasks such as backing up the photos and wiping the flash disk so I could have a fresh start.  It was then that I met the folks from Australia and then later the folks from Bahrain came up so it turned into social, instead of anti-social hour.  Much later I ended up at the Sultan for a night cap before returning to the hotel for much needed sleep.

And breakfast starts in four minutes.  I have to enjoy this morning since it is my last in Istanbul.  Tomorrow I will be up early again but headed of to my flight to Dalaman and road trip to Dalyan.  More news from there!

Istanbul, Turkey, Day 3

Posted on by chappyshi

20120629

The day was a busy one.  I woke up at the up at the ungodly hour of 0400 and may have dropped off a bit before getting up at 0530.  I ended up on my balcony IM’ing w/ Linda back in Vermont, cleaning up some photos and working on this log.  Not to be confused with taking my morning constitutional…

It is now wonderfully cool without a cloud in the sky.  But if I could change anything about my location it would be to eliminate the Laughing Gulls.  They just never stop!  The occasional tram going by is a pleasant distraction….

I went to the Blue Mosque, Aya Sophia, and the Underground Cistern in the morning.  I got to all the sights early enough to beat most of the crowds thankfully.  As I departed the Blue Mosque and Aya Sophia, the masses were really queuing up.  Words cannot do justice to either of these holy sites and pictures seem inadequate also but they will have to do.  I will post up a few in my blog and add more later in my photo album.

One thing that did not really surprise me is the inconsiderate attitudes of so many people going to the mosque.  Everywhere one reads that you should cover your legs and not wear tank tops, mini skirts, and/or sleeve less shirts inside the mosques.  At the entrance was a pile pile of blue clothes that the infidels wrapped around their uncovered bodies.  It was humorous to see grown men in the mosque wearing what was basically a sarong around their lower bodies.

Since I am so terribly out of shape being the lazy, overweight, beer swilling, arm chair computer warrior that I am, I came back to the hotel for a breather then went out for a lunch of Lamb Shish and rice which was quite tasty.  I got it at the Sultan Hostel and Restaurant which is nothing special but serves a variety of food and the local Efes Pilsen.  While sitting there I ran into the Greek couple I met on the Bosporus tour the day before.

After lunch I went to the Museum of Islamic and Turkish Art which is off the Hippodrome.  The museum holds a variety of Islamic arts including rugs, pottery, calligraphy, and Koran’s. Also featured were a few dioramas of Islamic life such as a yurt and classic country and city home living.  Last was a mixture of paintings by modern Islamic artists interspersed with classical paintings in books of Islamic historic tales.

Speaking of being out of shape, even though everything here is within reasonable walking distance, my legs muscles were screaming by the end of the day.  When I got to the museum and walked up the stairs to the display level I was sweating like a cold beer on a hot, summer day.  The displays were either on a terrace, the windows of which were blocked off by heavy curtains, or in close, airless room.  It took me some time to cool down.

I have never seen so many security guards in a museum.  It seemed like their was one guard for every patron. Someone was always watching you which was a bit eerie.

I debated going to the Grand Bazaar after the museum but by the time I left the museum it was about 1600 and I was still hot and tired.  I walked back to my hotel, turned on the AC, and relaxed with a couple of Op-ed sections of the Washington Post.  After feeling rested, I retired to the rooftop terrace to look at and work on the pictures I had taken so far.  They are adding up quickly.

At about 2100 I headed out for beer and some dinner.  I inadvertently stopped at the wrong restaurant but was more than pleasantly surprised.  I had told the host earlier in the day that I would stop in and he hailed me as I passed by so I stop in I did. There I met a Danish guy who was a traveling on business and taking a few days of time on his own after having concluded his business.  He was a civil engineer specializing in hydrodynamics and seemed to have traveled extensively for his work.  He told me he had been at meeting in a town near Dalyan the name of which escapes me.

We chatted for a bit so I ended up having another beer before I ordered my dinner. The dish was what the menu referred to as an Ottoman Special and consisted of lamb (yes, twice in one day), rice, tomatoes, dried apricots, almonds, and a bit of cheese.  Of course in came with the standard flat bread.  It was delicious!  I can hardly remember a dish I have enjoyed so much.  I’ll have to make sure I get the name of the restaurant as well as others I have enjoyed.

It was nearly 2330 by the time I got back to the hotel.  As seems to be normal, the Turkish guys that work in the hotels on the street, hang out together having tea, coffee, soda, etc, and talking the night away.  I chatted a bit with the guys outside my hotel including the desk clerk who is an English student at a university east of Istanbul.  He is on his summer breaking working and making money for school.  Other than the the aggressive styles of some of the merchants, the Turks seem to be very easy going and friendly.

That’s a wrap for the day.  It is now 0700 on Saturday.  I am enjoying the 70 degree temperature with cool breeze of the Marmara Sea.  Time to work on some more pictures and clean up for breakfast.  Oh great, there is a monster cruise ship coming into port. That should make for a few thousand more people hitting the sites today.

Istanbul, Turkey, Days 1 and 2

Posted on by chappyshi

 

20120627

I arrived in Istanbul from Washington, DC, at about 1630 local.  We parked on the tarmac and disembarked onto buses to the terminal.  Terminal services were generally good but I definitely recommend going to the second visa point which is about 100 meters past the first.  The line was only about 20 people vice 200 in the other.  The walk was well worth it.

After that, beware of getting in the passport line for Iraqi’s only and then be sure to get into the non-Turkish nationality line.  Processing was fast, efficient, and generally friendly.  Customs was non-existent.  Of note, I was surprised to find that someone filched my Turkish phrase book along w/ 5 crips U.S. twenty dollar bills from my backpack which I left stashed in the overhead on the airplane.

I had shuttle service from the airport to my hotel which was convenient….dude was waiting for me with a sign at the arrivals area!  The drive into Sultanamet was mostly along the shore of the Marmara Sea which was nice.  On the shore side were mostly parks and eateries.  The trip took about 30-45 minutes.

Upon arrival, I checked out the room which is nice albeit small.  It has AC, Wifi, TV, mini-fridge, and a terrace w/ a reasonable view of the Bosporus Straits and, on the other side, the Asian side of Istanbul.

So I settled into my room and headed out about 1830 or so.  I walked around and caught glimpses of Hagia Sofia, the Blue Mosque, and the Hippodrome.  In the process I got roped in by a couple of rug merchants which was annoying in a way but interesting in other ways.  It was cool to talk to the people get a feel for their schtick.

I ended up hanging out at the Sultan Hostel and Restaurant which had good tunes on the stereo and soccer on the wide screens.  Most of the crowd was into the football, Spain vs. Portugal, which did nothing for me.  I was drinking Efes Pilsen, which at about 7 TL for a 16 oz glass, was quite tasty and reasonably priced. I chatted up a few Malaysian college dudes, two of whom were going to school in Cardiff, Wales, and one of whom was going to school in Melbourne, Australia. They were interesting chaps.  We shared a hookah which I paid for.  They were on tight budgets and also,  since they were Muslim, they were not drinking.

I was worried that there would not be any night life in this district but that does not seem to be the case.  There is a street full of bars and restaurants right around the corner from my hotel and all the prices seem reasonable.  It is definitely a lower rent district w/ lots of backpackers but works for me.  Plus it really sucks sitting on my balcony overlooking the Bosporus straits enjoying a cool breeze, a beer, and listening to some tunes…wrong!

20120628

Today did not end up exactly as I planned.  Oddly, I woke up and got out of bed at shortly after 0600 which is about 2300 back home.  Probably powering down a few Efes Pilsens after having half a leftover sandwich at about 2215 DC time, breakfast on the plane before we landed at 1630 Turkey time, and nothing thereafter to contributed to an uninterrupted night’s sleep.  Thankfully the Turkish music that seems to start up at afternoon prayer behind the hotel had stopped.

So again I am sitting on the rooftop terrace of my hotel with the Blue Mosque and the Hagia Sophia looming over me.  It is about 1730 and reasonably comfortable out of the sun with the breeze blowing off the Marmara Sea.  I can see a few of the Prince’s Islands and the the far shore beyond them.  Gulls are flying around at eye level laughing and pooping their asses off.

I ended up taking a Bosporus Straits tour which as nice but not as good as I think it could have been.  We only went up to the second bridge on the straits and did not stop for lunch as I expected.  Considering we left at 1130 or so, lunch would have been nice.  I went on the recommendation of Erdal who is one of the hotel managers.  He said it would be good because two others from the hotel were going.

I am not positive but I think the two others, who were Swiss females, were a couple.  That bothers me not at all but they didn’t have a word to say to me or anyone else on the trip.  I did sit next to a Greek woman on the bus to the boat who was funny and interesting.  She was with a guy.  I don’t know whether they were married or not but when I offered to switch seats so they could sit together, she said she was okay and could use a break from him.  We had a nice chat on the ride.  I would have enjoyed meeting her under different circumstances.

I am not sure what we were supposed to do when we disembarked from the boat but I ended up following some people to the Spice Market which was pretty cool.  What wasn’t cool was that I was loaded up with camera gear and paranoid about getting ripped off.  It is probably less of an issue than the tourist guides make of it but you can’t be to careful.

I’d like to pick up some noshes for Dalyan and also some tea, preferably Iranian.   I am not sure it is worth going back the market for that though.  I hoofed it back from there sans map which was interesting.  It is pretty hard to get lost in Sultanahmet though.  It is a peninsula w/ a hill in the middle of it on top off which sit two huge mosques.

This morning I enjoyed quite the nice free Turkish buffet breakfast on the roof terrace and chatted up some folks who were here from Portland, OR, with their young boys.  Traveling to Turkey from OR with children surprised me a bit.  After breakfast at about 0900, I still had plenty of time to walk to Hagia Sophia and the Blue Mosque and take some outdoor pictures prior to our 1030 departure for the Bosporus Straits trip.

Now I am watching a gull walk on the clay tiles of the roof next door.  Web feet don’t do squat for walking on flat, angled tile.  It is pretty funny watching it slide down the roof.

There are cats around here everywhere.  I don’t know if they are feral but they definitely don’t seem to be domestic cats.  I have been watching three down below me in a dumpster browsing for chow.  And another one has joined the fray.

I really need to focus on my core site visits in the next two days.  Tomorrow is the Muslim holy day which potentially puts a damper on visiting the mosques which are three out of four of my must sees.  If the mosques are all closed, then going to Topkapi Palace will be a zoo.  Sunday the Grand Bazaar is closed, how strange, so I have to fit that in in the next two days.

I have to reiterate that my room is small. It has two twin beds in it and getting around the room is hard enough for one person that I can’t imagine sharing it w/ someone else.  Still, for $60 US a night in within walking distance of almost everything I want to see, I can’t complain.  And who goes on vacation to hang out in their hotel room anyhow?  I have this wonderful rooftop terrace to hang out on and a myriad of places to get something to eat and drink w/in a five minute walk.

More tomorrow hopefully!  On a last note though…if Dalyan is anywhere as nice and relaxing as my location in Istanbul, the trip can only get better!

Mt. Vernon Pictures Posted

Posted on by chappyshi

These pictures are from last year but I never posted them.  My brother-in-law’s friend came down for the weekend from Vermont and somehow he and Ed and I wound up at Mt. Vernon…George Washington’s residence in Alexandria, VA, on the Potomac river, in case you wanted to know.  George’s dead so we didn’t see him.

Somehow, someone decided that the way to get to Mt. Vernon was down Rt. 95 south from Washington, DC.  After a wonderful tour of 95 and Rt. 1, which we eventually ended up on, someone, I won’t say who, figured we probably were not going to get to Mt. Vernon the way we were headed.  So we turned around and revisited the beauty of Rt. 1 with all it’s car dealerships and sundry, sordid businesses out to take a serviceperson’s money.  With Fort Belvoir and the Marine base, Quantico, in the area there was plenty of money to be made from the naive and unsuspecting serviceperson.

Anyhow, the whole reason for this post was to note that I had posted pictures from Mt. Vernon taken nearly a year ago.  Follow this link or the links under my Photography section on the right side menu bar.

Withering Heights

Posted on by chappyshi

It was in the high 70’s today in Northern Virginia…March 13.  Give me a break.  If these temperatures continue into the summer we are in for a scorcher.  I for one am not looking forward to it.  I just got home at 2230 and it is 80 in my apartment.  I have only had the heat on for two days out of the whole winter.  I should have my AC on!

Speaking of getting home from work….  It was another day at the mercy of the customer who is heedless of the support staff’s personal obligations and lifestyle.   Accordingly, my day went from a predictable 8 hours to 11.5.  I just love leaving the office at  2130 w/o having had dinner or a significant break all day.  I guess that is the price I pay for having a job in a society where the top 1% beats the rest of us into the ground and tells us we should be happy.

To cap it off, we fight hideous traffic in our commute.  If you try to work a bit of flex time, you have to fight the highway construction in the area.  Flex time in this area means leaving for work no earlier than 0900 and going home before 2230 or after 1930.  But no matter how many lanes the state adds to the highway, there is always some bottleneck that makes all the expansion basically worthless.

To make things even worse,  most of the highway work around here is for new toll roads along side the normal  byways.  As such, the 1% can pay their way away from the madding crowd and theoretically avoid the traffic jams.  Meanwhile Juan, the landscape engineer and his household maintenance technician wife. Juanita, along with the rest of us can fight the traffic jams.

Well, it is after 2300  and time  for me to finish my after work beer and get some dinner!  Midnight snacks were never this good!

Lost Rhino Brewing Company Update

Posted on by chappyshi

I have been out to Lost Rhino twice in the last three days with great results.  They have seven beers on tap but are selling no food yet so you can only buy a sampler and/or take a tour.  The sampler option is great…you get six tasters for five bucks.  The beers are awesome.  They have an IPA, an Imperial IPA, a Pilsner, a Belgian Dubbel, an unfiltered Dunkel, a Christmas beer that still tastes good and a Belgian Gold that finishes like a Saison.

They will soon begin construction to create a brew pub environment in which they will sell a limited selection of food and be able to sell beer by the glass.  Right now the seating environment is a bit weird.  NTL, they were doing a booming business this afternoon w/ tastings and tours going on.

I highly recommend their beers.  The brewers came from Dominion Brewery which got raped by Budweiser and a brewery from Maryland whose name, maybe Fordham, escapes me.  The owners sold out.  I have read that one of the owners regrets doing so.  Some of the beers that Dominion brewed and sold are now brewed at other breweries under the their original names from Dominion.

Growler prices are quite reasonable particularly if you have your own growlers.  Lost Rhino sells the good growlers (not the screw tops) for $20 each.  You can find the same ones cheaper on the Internet.  NTL, for their mainline products, the IPA, Pils, and New River, you can get your growler filled for $8.  For the seasonals, expect to pay about $12 for a fill up.  You can also buy some of the beers in large bottles such as 22 ouncers.  They also have a great selection of shirts on sale including long and short sleeved T’s, hoodies, golf shirts, and button downs.

Unfortunately, Lost Rhino’s website needs some work.  They don’t post the beers on tap for the day nor do they post their expansion plans.

Work Is Too Much Like Work When I Cannot Get Any Work Done

Posted on by chappyshi

I started my new position 3 weeks ago so I am now in my fourth week.  I am not thrilled.  We spend too much time in meetings and I am now having to commute for three months to a location that is  far enough away that it sucks at least 1 more hour out of my personal time than it does to commute to the location that I signed up for.

Without going into the details for the sake of keeping my job, I got a promotion.  I lost the differential time I got for working nights when I could actually get some work done.  I now spend at least 1/2 my working week in meetings.  Therefore I  and those of whom I  attend the meetings with are probably in the same boat getting 1/2 the work done they’d like to get done.

Drive Me Snow Blind Crazy

Posted on by chappyshi

Pulling in to my apartment complex tonight I got blocked by a van in front of me.  The driver got the front wheels over the first speed bump but seemed to have a problem getting the back wheels over it.  Now take into consideration that we had a wintery mix going for about 30 minutes w/ an accumulation of perhaps 0.2  inches.  It was a moderately sized speed bump so of course I wasn’t surprised that the dumb ass had to stop before he tried to take his rear wheels over that Mont Blanc of an obstacle.

I figured he was going to get out and put on the snow chains but he was wise to that realizing that putting them on the rear tires of a front wheel drive van would have been pointless.  Accordingly, he put his vehicle in reverse probably figuring to return back over the speed bump, put the chains on his front tires, and then motor his way over the speed bump using his  chained front tires to pull both front and rear wheels over it like Hannibal crossing the Alps.

Dumb ass…I passed on the left and pulled into my parking  spot.  I was a bit breathless from the high altitude when I got out of my car and had to wade soul deep through the “wintery mix” to get to my lofty, snow graced apartment but after a strenuous 30 seconds was able to successfully make my way to warmth and safety.  Thankfully, I did not get stranded in a “wintery mix”  drift and have to chew my arm off and drink my urine to survive.

Wasn’t there a movie?