Sunday evening both Lauren and I were in need of some American food, so we treked over to the Hard Rock Cafe. Their Legendary Burger and a cold Bohemian beer really hit the spot. All the fish and croissants have been really good, but at times the inner carnivore really needs feeding.Famous the world over: Ten ounces of fresh Certified Angus Beef, topped with seasoned bacon, two slices of Cheddar cheese and a crisp fried onion ring.
The Vinho Verde is an unique product in the entire world with a blending of aroma and petillance that makes it one of the most delicious natural beverages!
Medium in alcohol, Vinho Verde has great digestive properties due to its freshness and special qualities. It is a highly regarded wine, specially for Summer drinking. The malo-lactic fermentation gives it a distinctive taste and personality. The reds are full-bodied wines with an intense colour and a rosy or light red foam. The whites usually present a lemony or straw colour.
The strong distinctive character and originality of these wines are the result of soil and climate characteristics and social-economic agents, on one hand, and of the grape varieties and the vinegrowing methods, on the other.
Friday, after I got back from the conference, we went to lunch at the Frog Cafe. Then we relaxed until the evening when we ventured out to dinner at a sidewalk cafe on Avenida da Liberdade. We both had a rice and meat dish. The sausage in it was tasty. The next morning was overcast and dreary. (Note: Dreary in Lisbon is almost equivalent to a sunny day in London.) Lauren wanted to see Alfama, so we walked in that direction. On our way, we detoured to the waterfront. The water is in fact the Rio Tejo and not the ocean. The ocean is in actuality about 15 kilometers away. The picture is of the City Municipal Building taken from the commercial square (Praça do Comércio) which was built on the site of the former royal palace which toppled during the earthquake of 1755.
We then continued up to the Castelo de Sao Jorge which offered some spectacular views of the river and the city below. The castle was originally built in the fifth century and then enlarged some 400 years later by the Moors who settled in the area. The walk to the castle takes place on narrow winding streets that rise in elevation at every step. It is quite an exhilarating workout. The Alfama area has many buildings and wall murals that are completed in the famous blue and white tile. They are quite breathtaking and many of the local artists sell the tiles as souvenirs.
Sunday is a day of rest in Lisbon. There is not much that is open. Lauren and I walked to the park near our hotel (Parque Eduardo VII). It was built for Edward the Seventh when he visited Portugal. For lunch we went to A Brasileira. This cafe was a former haunt for many of Lisbon's great poets and intellectuals. The picture shows Lauren sitting with Fernando Pessoa. This was apparently his regular chair in the cafe.There is ample metaphysics in not thinking at all.
What do I think about the world?
How should I know what I think about the world?
If I were ill I would think about it.
What idea have I about things?
What opinion do I have on causes and effects?
What meditations have I had upon God and the soul
And upon the creation of the World?
I don't know. For me, to think about that is to shut
me eyes.
And not think. It is to draw the curtains
Of my window (but it has no curtains).
From The Keeper of Sheep
~Fernando Pessoa
After I got to Lisbon, I took a taxi to my hotel. The hotel staff not only allowed me to check in early, but they upgraded me to their sister hotel, a five-star wonder right on Avenue de Liberdad (see picture). For a map of Lisbon, click here. Most of that first day I spent snoozing in my room and exploring a little bit of the city right around my hotel. I found a wonderful little shop called Picasso's Cafeteria located right around the corner. It is a local haunt that serves up great pasteries. They also serve the world's tiniest cup of coffee that packs quite a punch. They don't have any tables or chairs, so everybody stands at the counter. It is a pretty cool little place.
Afterwards we got lunch at a little croissantery and then walked to the castle. We got lost in the Alfama district (the picture shows the view over the Alfama district) and eventually stumbled upon a local artisan's ceramic shop. He was very kind and spoke pretty fluent english. He gave us many suggestions, as well as directions to the castle...take a left and keep going up. These actually were quite accurate. We must have climbed 7000 stairs. We did eventually get to the castle, which had some great overlooks of the city, but decided against taking a tour.
On Friday I traveled by bus, taxi and train back to London and then to Surbiton to spend a few days with Ann Ooms. She was a wonderful hostess showing me around the area and providing lodging. On Saturday - after some much needed sleeping in - we took the train and tube to Notting Hill where the street market was in full swing. After a morning stop in a pub, we took a side street to the travel bookshop made famous by the movie titled after and set in the area in question.
We then took the tube to St. Paul's Cathedral where we bummed around and walked down to the Tate Modern to pretend like everyone else that we were interested in art. Afterwards we went back to Surbiton and relaxed at Ann's flat. Sunday morning - again after snoozing late - we took a bus to Kingston and walked about 4 miles along the Thames River to Hampton Court, the living place of King Henry the VIII.
They had some wonderful statues lining both sides of the drawbridge. The dragon (pictured at right) was one of my favorites. Hampton Court is also home to the well-known hedge maze. We didn't go in, but we did walk along at least one side of the perimeter. After stopping in the gift shop - I bought a book on the six wives of Henry VIII - we began our walk back to Surbiton. After many wrong turns and directions from 5 to 6 people, we eventually made it back to Ann's flat. 
England has redeemed itself! A pub on every corner indeed. But before I get ahead of the story, allow me to tell a tale or two about the rest of our journeys in Warwickshire. On Tuesday, we visited the city of Coventry. We began our tour of the berg by departing the bus at Coventry Cathedral. We were then given the option of taking a guided tour of said cathedral or roaming Coventry. I chose the latter since you can only see so many old buildings and again hear things such as, "...it had been a small Benedictine monastery (endowed by Earl Leofric and Lady Godiva in 1043), but shortly after this time rebuilding began and by the middle of the 13th century it was a cathedral of 425 feet in length..."
We then had a meal at a trendy restaurant/pub called Dogma. I dined on succulent chicken breast slices with a rich blue cheese dressing, fine beans, bacon crisps & toasted sesame seeds and a cool, frothy Guinness. The picture at left is of the taps at the Dogma bar.
Wednesday evening, we traveled to Hook Norton, a small town with predominately narrow streets and cute thatched roof cottages in the Cotswalds (said to be one of the most beautiful places in the world). We first visited the Hook Norton Brewery. Our tour guide dutifully told us about the whole beer making process and explained in detail each and every piece of equipment in the whole place. She then filled, re-filled and re-filled (ad infinitum) our beer cups in the sample room. I sampled several beers, but the Hooky Dark was magnificent. Alas, it is not available in the United States due to their quirky bottling guidelines. We then proceeded to the Sun Inn (one of something like 37 pubs in the small village of Hook Norton. Note to Ed: I think Hook Norton might be a expatriate Wisconsin City.) At the Sun Inn, we played Skittles - a kind of indoor bowling type game - right next to the table we dined at.
Thursday was our last evening in Warwickshire, and we again journeyed from the university by coach, this time to the city of Birmingham. In Birmingham we took a boat tour through some of the canals (Birmingham has several more miles of canals than Venice, and in fact you could travel much of England by canal if you had weeks and weeks with nothing to do.) After the boat ride, we had an hour or so before dinner, so several of us naturally found a pub....the Prince of Wales. (See picture - The Prince of Wales is most famous for hosting visits from J.R.R. Tolkein, who used to be a regular.) Here I tried the John Smith Ale. Not bad, but I still prefer Guinness. We then found our way to Strada - an Italian place - for dinner and wine.
Arrival in London happened after I managed only a couple hours of sleep on the plane ride over. Unfortunately for me, the arrival occurred at 7:00a.m. London time. This meant a long day before I could consume myself in a deep sleep.
The next day we walked down to the south bank of the Thames - see the photo - and then left London for Coventry. (For a map of England, click here.) Now this is normally about a two hour jaunt by bus. The bus we got on, however, had no air conditioning and then broke down. After waiting for a very long time, another bus eventually came to get us and took us a little further, where we transferred to yet another bus without air conditioning. About five hours after our start we got to our final destination via taxi...the University of Warwick! So, what, you may ask, have I learned about London from this experience...
Since arriving at the university, I have been living in a dorm room. We have gone on a couple outings. Sunday evening we went to the village of Royal Leamington Spa. We took a walking tour of Leamington with a guide that was a very funny man. Imagine a character from Monty Python crossed with a very short history professor and you start to get the picture. He was quite informative, telling us about almost every building. It sounded something like the following:The Pizza Hut came to Leamington in the year 1987. Before that it was the residence of Tim the Gardener who of course was personal gardener to King Greg the Third. Then of course you recall the great fire of Leamington - it was mentioned by Ed the historian in his famous book Leamington for Twits which he wrote during the venerable year 1980 - this burned the Pizza Hut to the ground, or very nearly to the ground since back in those days the ground wasn't really the ground but two to three inches more than the ground. The Pizza Hut was then rebuilt by Kathy and Angela, two nuns of Bachus, who lived in that house across the boulevard - the one with the Ionic columns. Those columns were of course first built in the more traditional Doric style by Lauren the column builder but were renovated in the turn of the century by JC the fifth - who as you may remember in your school days as the son of JC the fourth.
Monday afternoon, we took a coach to Stratford-Upon-Avon home to one Bill Shakespeare. We visited the Mary Arden house, which saw the birth of Big Bill, and also saw his grave. We also saw the grave of Anne Hathaway - his wife. We then had dinner at the Dirty Duck also known as the Black Swan (see photo at left).
I can't believe Chili is almost six months old! Where does the time go? They grow up so fast. She is now an uncontrollable 43 pounds. What is new in her world you ask? She has been working with a dog walker three days a week. Sometimes better than other times. She walks Deb, our dog walker, for 30 minutes every Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday.Chili has also discovered the excitement of playing Ball. When asked, "Where's your ball?," Chili will run around inquisitively until she locates said ball (An Air Dog Squeaky Tennis Ball), which is generally either under the dining room table or on the couch. Our games of ball usually consist of the following sequence of events (sometimes in mixed order):
Chili has also grown an affinity for the Monday Night Football Theme Song. If this piece (Note to Dr. Wirth: Sorry I called it a song in the previous sentence...I should have used "piece" since there were no lyrics associated with said ditty.) is whistled, Chili will immediately attack the whistler with a bevy of kisses and wipe out anything unlucky enough to be anywhere near her tail which will be wagging at roughly 300 miles per hour. Her display of affection is almost pornographic in nature.
We just got back from the Joint Statistics Meetings which were held in Seattle this year. What a great city. The weather was wonderful, cool and a nice mix of sunny and dreary. We stayed at the Marriott Waterfront which was on Pier 66. We had a beautiful view of Elliott Bay out our balcony. Pike Street Market was about 3-4 blocks from the hotel, and I walked through it to the convention center every day. We did a lot of walking (which was fantatic in the cool weather) and a lot of eating (dining itinerary to follow) in the 5 days we stayed. We visited a gallery of dog and cat art (The Studio of Ken Bailey) which is where the pictures come from.
Chili is growing up. She is now almost 30 pounds. She is actually heavy when you pick her up now. And, when she uses your leg as a pillow, her weight can put your leg to sleep.Since her last trip to the vet, where she was boarded for two days, she has become quite unmanageable when it comes time to crate her. She essentially turns into Cujo when she nears the crate. We have tried feeding her in the crate, and that has helped some, but she still hates the crate. Since she is better about not peeing in the house (at least not as much), we have begun leaving her out for short trips away from home. So far she has done pretty well.
She has also learned a few commands (or as she sees them, suggestions)
All of these commands go out the window as soon as a cat walks through her field of vision. And, when there is food involved, she will go through all she knows in no partcular sequence. We have tried to teach "off", but that only works about 10% of the time.
The other big event in Chili's life in the past couple of weeks was the purchase of a Gentle Leader Head Collar. This contraption came highly recommended by pretty much everybody in the world of pets (Humane Society, vets, etc.). You put this deal around the dog's head and also part of it goes around their snout. Then the leash attaches to the part that is around their nose, so that when they walk too far ahead of you or pull on the leash, their head gets turned around. It is supposed to work miracles. It lasted under two seconds. She pulled it off immediately. After re-tightening the leader so that she was essentially muzzled, we tried again. This time she fell over on her side, paws working at the leader like mad, and the thing came off in under a minute. We tried several days, thinking that she might get used to the dumb thing. Didn't happen. When I mentioned this to the guy at Bone Adventure in Edina, he recommended the Gentle Leader Easy Walk Harness as an alternative. This worked like magic. She doesn't mind the harness, and it turns walking a 30 pound maniac into a breeze.
It seems I need to play catch up. Oh how I have neglected thee; my beautiful blog. What has been happening you ask? Well, I have been playing the role of single parent to Chili, Sigma and Secant. With Lauren in Chicago (or Tampa), I am left to raise the critters on my own during the week. Also, I have renewed my commitment to Six Feet Under. I had previously been stuck in Season 4 due to the boredom it was causing me. It did get significantly better toward the end of that season, and Season 5 is infinitely better. The World Cup is also taking up some of my time. However, I am actually a little bored with some of the games. Maybe after watching a season of Longhorn football, I can no longer watch any sport doesn't include illiterate athletes with criminal records. Who knows.
What else have I been filling my time with aside from old TV and sports? Not much...some reading (I'll get to that in the next paragraph or so), teaching (I can't believe how fast we cover material in the summer), and more than a few naps. The two big events in the last couple weeks have been Josh's Bachelor Party and the MN Advocates for Human Rights dinner with Laura (AKA the do-gooder lawyers dinner). All I will say about the bachelor party is that it involved (1) camping in the rain in an RV that looked (and smelled) a lot like a frat house, (2) a tubing trip down the Apple River in what felt like 30 degree weather, and (3) strippers that looked like they were about 40 years old.
Chili actually looks bigger this week. Her bark, however, is still quite juvenile. She accompanied Lauren and I to Starbucks this morning and promptly introduced herself to about 10 kids who walked by. In the last week we have found two lifesavers. Baby gates and rawhide bones. These save both our sanity and our arms. It also gives the cats a place to escape to.
She has also gone on several walks this last week. While walks are what most dog owners call it, with Chili it is more of a prance/drag/sniff/bound. A typical "walk" consists of her prancing happily for the first 20 feet, then we stop and sniff something and promptly sit down (or lie down). After that, there is a tugging in any direction except the one you would like to continue walking in, And finally, there is a bounding run past you that end abruptly when she stops to sniff a stick, look at the concrete, etc. If you continually repeat this process you will have an idea of walking with Chili.
The other book I mentioned in the last post was a fantastic little tome entitled Fargo Rock City. Written by Chuck Klosterman, this book is a must read for anyone who grew up on the musical interpretations of Mötley Crüe, Guns N' Roses, Warrant, Tesla and the like. Klosterman is a master of the pen (or word processor). He writes about hair metal with the same passion as Herman Melville wrote about whale blubber, with vastly different results. (Note: Herman Melville's 8 billion pages about whaling, entitled Moby Dick could put even the most insomniac person into a napping coma. If you haven't had the torture, I mean pleasure of reading this "classic," you can read a synopsis of it here). Anyway, Klosterman effortlessly weaves his tale, waxing philosophic about these 1980's icons. He actually makes you want to pull out those old W.A.S.P. and Dokken albums, let your hair down (at least what's left of it) and rock like you did in 1989. As he writes in the epilogue,Those sentences sum up everything that many of us in that generation still feel about this era of music. And, while most of our musical tastes have evolved, there are certain days where like Klosterman and Twisted Sister, we just want to rock!"I could never love Radiohead as much as I loved Mötley Crüe. I could never love Radiohead as much as Mötley Crüe because I'll never be 15 again. I can certainly appreciate Radiohead, but they're not an extension of my life. No rock band will ever be again. For 99 percent of the populace (myself included) that kind of mystical connection can only happen during those terrible, magical years when you somehow convince yourself that a guy like Nikki Sixx understands you."
Last Friday (May 26) we got a puppy. She is a rambunctious little golden retriever (at least when she is awake). She has joined our family with reckless abandon. She is the youngest member of the family and has two older "siblings," Secant (1 1/2 year) and Sigma (a little over 3 years). Both of the cats have accepted her (sort of), at least when she is asleep. They tend not to be too fond of her barking at them.
What does Chili do for fun, aside from chasing the cats? We have been to the dog park a couple times. She seems to really enjoy running around and playing with the other dogs. Last night she got run over by a giant poodle. No lie. She got broad sided by this huge, white, curly imitation of a bad 80's hairdo. Then she got slobbered on by another very large dog that looked like it had perma-saliva attached to and dripping from his jowls.
