Mont St. Michel

We had to stop about 5 miles away from Mont St. Michel so we could take a picture of the entire island and the abbey. Groups previously did this at the causeway liking the island to the mainland and, it caused so many traffic jams that police put a stop to it. Even at 5 miles away, you could see that Mont St. Michel is BIG. The second thing you notice is that it is all by itself. The island is located in a bay which goes out for miles. There is one smaller island close by but that island is dwarfed by Mont St. Michel. Our guide told us how the initial abbey came to be built. Around 700 A.D., a bishop claimed to receive a vision from the archangel Michael telling him to build a church on the island. The bishop ignored the vision. He received it a second time. He ignored it again. The third time, he saw himself in the vision with a hole in his head. He was so frightened, he promptly arranged for a building of a church on the island. This church was considerably smaller than the abbey you see now. Over the years, through generous donations and from the sale of books the abbey made, it grew it size to the colossal structure you can see now. One of the reasons Kings and Dukes of Normandy would donate to the abbey was it increased their prestige. It helped show how great they were. I suspect it didn't hurt that the abbey and island are very impressive.

One downside of seeing the abbey is that it is a major tourist attraction. Bus loads of tourists come to see it. When our group arrived, there were already 7 buses there. By the time we left, 6 more had arrived.

For this tour, we used a local guide named Helen. She was wonderful lady full of interesting facts and a good sense of humor. She offered 2 routes to get to the top of island. We could take the fast route which had over 300 steps or the short route which had 120. Our group chose the short route. The route was filled with twisting turning alleyways and small homes. At one time, over 400 people lived at the island not including the monks and sisters who worshipped in the abbey. Now, only 20 people or so live there. I thought that sad. The tides that go in and out of the bay are so great that the causeway we walked on to get to the island is completely covered by water during the night. Also, to prevent the silt from building up, the French government is allegedly considering tearing down the causeway and building a bridge to the island.

One of the highlights of the tour without a doubt is when you reach the top of the island. The views from up there are stunning. With the abbey as a backdrop, you can easily imagine yourself at the top of Minas Tirith with the exception you're looking for miles over a bay versus fields. After taking plenty of pictures, we entered the cathedral. It was stunning for its sheer size. Supposedly, in its day, it was far more ornate but, it still awes. From the cathedral, Helen showed us other rooms where guests staying at the abbey would dine or pray. Only monks or sisters were allowed in the cathedral. There were 2 massive fireplaces in the room where guests were dined. The monks figured out a way to keep rainwater from coming down their chimneys. Eventually, this system failed from wear and tear. Modern builders haven't been able to figure out how the monks did it so now rain comes in through the fireplace chimneys.

We entered dimly lit rooms with massive pillars to support the cathedral above. During the French Revolution, the abbey was used as a prison. There was a system where a wooden sled would be lower to the lower parts of the island and loaded up with supplies. Prisoners would pull ropes tied to the sled to bring the supplies up to the abbey. This would've been quicker than carrying them up all the steps to the abbey.

The abbey was generally cold. This was the way the religious orders wanted it as the monks and sisters were to live an austere life of religious study and contemplation. There was one room in the abbey however that was kept warm. This was the room where monks copied books by hand. The room had to be warm in order for them to be able to use the ink they used to write the books. The books they made at the abbey were a major source of revenue for the abbey for years.

We spent a short 2 hours at the island. By the time our tour ended of the abbey, it was time to head back to the bus. I would've liked to have checked out some of the shops to see if they had any neat souvenirs but, there wasn't time. This was one place I'd definitely like to come back to.

Once everyone had boarded the tour bus, we had a short drive to our hotel. There we had another group dinner. The next morning, we would head for Tours, the chateau country of France.

Bayeux Tapestry

There aren't any written accounts written shortly after the Duke of Normandy's invasion of England and his victory over Harold Godwinson. There is however one pictorial account of the event. That is the famous Bayeux Tapestry. Through pictures, the tapestry tells of events prior to the invasion, preparation for the invasion, events that happened after William landed, the battle at Hastings and the aftermath of the battle. Part of the tapestry is missing. No one knows what happened to the missing part. For that matter, no knows who commissioned the tapestry or what its purpose was barring being a record of the events that took place. The tapestry is clearly meant to inform people who were illiterate of the events that took place. This was a common practice during that time as the overwhelming majority of people were illiterate. Through the pictures on the tapestry, a person could figure out just what happened as well as the reasons for the invasion.

For me personally, I was surprised by a couple things on the tapestry. For starters, I had no idea how big the tapestry is. The remaining bits are over 90 feet long! Pictures in history books don't convey the size of the tapestry. Another thing that is interesting about the tapestry is that it shows Harold Godwinson in a good light. King Edward the Confessor sent Harold over to Normandy to inform William that he was making him his successor since he didn't have any children. While visiting with William, Harold joined William in fighting against the Duke of Brittany. At one point, the tapestry shows Harold saving a Norman soldier. Later, during the battle of Hastings, Harold is shown fighting valiantly. The tapestry portrays Harold as a good man who violated sacred oaths of allegiance he made to William which ultimately cost him his life.

The tapestry is stored in temperature and light controlled cases to help preserve it while also enabling it to be displayed so people can see its magnificence. It is a stunning work and a great credit to whoever made it. The museum offers use of automated audio guides which tell of the scenes in the tapestry as the viewer walks along. Lastly, the museum offers a movie in different languages that further explains scenes in the tapestry and explanations for those scenes. When you leave the museum, you are left with a very good understanding of a fascinating record of a monumental event in history.

After seeing the Bayeux Tapestry, Harvey and I walked around Bayeux a bit. Harvey decided to try a French hotdog while I enjoyed an ice cream. Afterwards, we saw the outside of the Bayeux Cathedral and a wall commemorating French men who may have been resisters who were sent by the Germans to concentration camps where they died.

Finally, we walked back to the parking lot to board our bus. We did stop to admire a small dam that was built to power a mill in Bayeux. The mill had been converted into a decent looking restaurant. When it was time, we boarded our Globus bus and headed to another sight I'd been greatly looking forward to seeing: the Abbey of Mont St. Michel.

September 18th, 2008 Part I

It was going to be a busy and exciting day. We were going to see some of the D-Day beaches, the American Cemetary, the Bayeux Tapestry and the Abbey of Mont St. Michel. It started with would be become routine. Wake-up call at 6:15 a.m., bags out and breakfast at 7:00 a.m. and departure at 8 a.m. First, we drove by Sword beach which looked like any normal beach. Then, we drove to Gold beach (Arromanches) where the Allies built a temporary port. You can still see 15 of the breakwaters they sank there. We saw the monument that was erected in memory of what they did. The beach itself was very pretty and peaceful. It was hard to believe a terrible bloody battle had been fought there. Barring the breakwaters, there weren't any traces of it. Life truly goes on and those that remember the great battle fought there are dying off. It was very sad to think about that.

It was more sad to look at row upon row of white marble crosses and Stars of David at the American Cemetary at Colleville-sur-Mer. The cemetary is right next to Omaha Beach. A number of those buried in the cemetary may have died on that very beach. I walked along and read unknown names and dates when they died. A few had no name and were known only to God. The cemetary was beautifully maintained. Our guide told us they employed 6 gardeners and it showed. It was right that it should look so beautiful as this was hallowed ground. It would've been a disgrace if it had been otherwise. I could only hope we wouldn't forget what those brave souls that were buried there did. It was truly epic and noble. It is ironic that people now a days call them naive but, I think they were otherwise. In my opinion, I think they were far better people than we are today.

Our last D-Day stop was Pointe du Hoc. The name itself doesn't mean anything. It was just a name assigned to a point that the Allies felt they had to take. German guns at Pointe du Hoc over looked Omaha and Utah Beaches. If the guns weren't knocked out, Allied losses would be far greater and the landings at those beaches could've failed. 225 Army rangers were given the task of scaling 100 foot high sheer cliffs and knocking out the guns. It would be an incredible task. When the battle was over, only 90 rangers were left alive. To their dismay, the Germans had moved the guns before the attack making the attack pointless. Unlike Gold and Omaha Beaches where virtually nothing remains of the battle, Pointe du Hoc was left as it was on June 8, 1944. As far as I know, it's only part of the D-Day landings that is as it was on those fateful days. You can see bomb craters and shattered pill boxes. You can look out over the English Channel. The only you can't do for safety reasons is look down the sheer cliffs. Looking around, you can get an idea of the desperate battle that was fought here. According to Wikipedia, underneath the monument the French people built to honor the rangers is a casement that still contains the remains of some of the rangers.

As we left Pointe du Hoc, our guide told us a story. I mentioned previously William the Conqueror. Those invading Normandy in the D-Day beaches were not ignorant of history. Our guide told that at the British War Cemetery in Bayeux, an inscription says "We, once conquered by William, have now set free the Conqueror's native land." It was a beautiful closing remark on the sights we'd seen concerning D-Day. It would also lead to the final sight we would have concerning William the Conqueror. Stay tuned for Part II.

Road Part of Tour Begins - September 17, 2008

The road part of our tour began. Everyone got on the bus and we departed Paris for Rouen. The bus itself was fairly comfortable. I liked the fact that my legs weren't squeezed. Globus hired a bus for the Montmartre excursion and I had to see sideways in the seat.

The journey to Rouen was uneventful. Rouen itself is perhaps most famous for being the place that Joan of Arc was put to death. The French built a cathedral in her honor and placed a huge cross where she was burned to death. When I saw the cathedral they had built in her honor, my first reaction was "that's a cathedral?" It really doesn't look like one. I thought it might be some kind of Nordic memorial or something as it has a number of tiles that looked like dragon scales to me. I didn't go in the cathedral so I have no idea what it looks like inside. The cathedral is alongside a square that has some nice old buildings. A street leads from the cathedral to the medieval clock which tells time and the date. It was an impressive clock. The street ends at the Rouen Cathedral. The cathedral took damage during World War II and it shows some. Still, it is an impressive cathedral and has statues inside of Richard the Lionhearted and Rollo, the first duke of Normandy. I believe there was also a small chapel dedicated to Joan of Arc.

After Susan, our guide finished showing us the Cathedral of Rouen, we were free to find a place to have lunch, shop or check out other sights. I didn't feel like having a full lunch so I found a place where I could get an ice cream. I managed to speak enough French so the person in the shop understood what I wanted. After that, I wandered around taking some more pictures. When it was time, everyone returned to the bus and headed to our next stop - Caen.

Caen has the Memorial Museum for Peace. This museum tells of the events leading to World War II and the battles that were fought in Normandy. It has a number of excellent exhibits. It used genuine articles from the war, models and first hand accounts to give visitors an idea of what the battles were like. After seeing the exhibits, the museum showed a film that showed film footage shot during the war. It was a very good film and gave a better understanding of what took place in Normandy. After we were done seeing the museum, we headed to our hotel the Mercure Centre in Caen. Along the way, we learned some more of William the Conqueror.

William was determined to marry his cousin Matilda. However, there were issues because they were related and the fact that William was illegitimate. Matilda (I hope that's the right name) turned down William's marriage proposals 5 or 6 times before finally giving in. Because of their close relations, the Pope censored William. In order to make amends with the Pope, William promised to do 2 things. First, he would commission 2 monasteries to be built in Caen: one for men only and one for women. Second, when he and Matilda died, they would be buried in separate graves in the 2 monasteries. Apparently, this pleased the Pope enough to where he forgave him. Part of the men's monastery can still be found in Caen and we got to see it as we drove to our hotel.

Our hotel was located next to a small marina which was very pretty. The hotel itself was comfortable and had nice rooms. One thing I would noticed during the tour was the rooms were more spacious than the ones in Scandanavia. I would really appreciate this fact. That night, our group had its second group dinner. The food was good and everyone had a nice time chatting with their new found friends in the tour. The next morning, we would leave for Mont St. Michel.

Tour Truly Begins - Part II

After a nice little rest, I took the elevator down to where those going on the optional Montmartre excursion were to meet. Our bus driver took us to the base of Montmartre. Susan, our guide, wanted to show us the only vineyard in Paris. It's something of a curiousity. The vineyard inhabits a space of land that otherwise would probably hold 2 shops or houses. Grape vines are carefully grown in the small plot of land. Because of its small size, not much wine is produced and, it is very pricey. A bottle will cost you 2,000 Euros. That's over $2,800 in U.S. dollars!

After seeing the vineyard, we walked the rest of the somewhat steep way to Montmartre. Montmartre is known for 2 things. Its basilica and the artists that sell their paintings there. We got to see the artists first. They inhabited a square that also had a number of restaurants and shops. A number of the artists did portraits for people as they sat. From what I could see, they were very good. I have no idea however what one of the portraits would cost.

Susan walked us up to where the basilica was and where our meeting point would be, the incline rail station. She also made sure we knew the departure time. After that, we were free to look around and have some dinner in one of the restaurants.

I decided to check out the basilica. It is called the Basilica de Sacre Coeur. In English, that means the Basilica of the Sacred Heart. It's a beautiful church and is on top of a hill that overlooks much of Paris. The views of Paris from the base of the church are awesome. The church itself is a relatively new construction built I believe in very early 1900. When I entered the church, a service was going. I quietly watched. A man who may been a bishop gave a sermon in French. Sadly, I couldn't understand a word of his sermon. After watching the proceedings for about 15 minutes, I quietly left. Harvey was accompanying me and we debated what to do next. Neither of us were starving thanks to the big lunch we had at the Hard Rock Cafe. We opted for some ice cream. We found a shop that sold ice cream and I got to try out my French trying to place my order. I guess my French wasn't disastrous as I got what I wanted ice cream wise.

After that, we wandered around the square and admired some of the artist's paintings. Then, we walked back up to the base of the basilica and listened to an unknown busker perform various songs. He was very good and at times, the crowd joined in on some of the songs he sang.

After what seemed like a long wait, the rest of the group showed up and prepared to take the incline rail down to the base of the hill. I looked at how far down we had to go and decided to walk down. I thought the incline car was a waste going down. I could see how some might want to use it going up.

Once everyone was re-gathered,we walked to our bus which took us to the second part of our excursion that night, a boat ride on the river Seine. The boat was big and had a lot of seats. Unfortunately, we were the last ones to arrive so we got the dregs of the seats which was annoying. I opted to stand so I could get better views. The boat gave a talking tour in 4 or 5 languages of what we were passing as we went down and up the river. The river was lined with nice looking buildings and the 2 islands that formed Ile de France. It was from one of these islands inhabited by the Parisii tribe that the city got its name.

The cruise was nice and lasted over an hour and a half I think. After the cruise, we re-boarded our bus and headed back to our hotel. The next day, we would depart Paris for Rouen and Caen.

Tour Truly Begins - September 16, 2008 Part I

Wake-up call at 6:15 a.m., breakfast at 6:30 a.m. and departure at 7:45 a.m., the tour had truly begun. This is how it is every morning during a Globus tour with the addition having to put your bag outside your door by a set time on days when you're departing for another city. It isn't a bad routine and, you get used to it. One of the things we listened to keenly from Susan was these times for the next morning.

This day, we would spend half the day sightseeing Paris. Before we got started, Susan handed out what she called whispers. Whispers are radio units that the tour participant carries on them with a single ear phone in one of their ears. It enables the guide to tell the entire group things about a church or sight without having to yell. It also enables the guide to easily shepherd the group through a loud noisy city. Harvey had used these on his Globus Italy tour but, this was the first time I'd seen them. We were issued them for the duration of the tour and, we'd use them repeatedly.

For specific cities or sights, Globus uses local guides vice the tour guide. The reason for this is the local guides can be more knowledgeable about a city or sight and more up to date. Our tour guide had to be knowledgeable about 15 different cities in France. I suspect it's hard to stay up to date on so many cities but, it would be easy for a local guide to stay up to snuff on one. Our local guide this day was a lovely lady named Isabel. She would give us an indepth tour of Notre Dame with plenty of photo opportunities. Also, she would take us to the Eiffel Tower and provide us with tickets to get to the 2nd level. For those going on the optional excursion to Versailles, she would be their guide for that too.

I'd been to Notre Dame Cathedral before but, it was nice to see this breathtaking Gothic cathedral again. It is really stunning with its rose stain glass windows and soaring buttresses. Plus, it's located right next to the river Seine. Everyone took tons of pictures of this magnificent church. After driving around in the couch and being told about various interesting buildings as we drove by, we arrived at the Eiffel Tower. The Eiffel Tower has become synonymous with Paris. Sydney had its opera house, London had Big Ben and Paris has the Eiffel Tower. Interestingly, when it was first built, a number of Parisians decried it as an eye sore. But, public opinion is ever quick to change and no one can imagine Paris without the tower now. The tower offers some of the best views of Paris. It had 3 levels and the price admission depends on what level you want to go up to. The higher the level, the more expensive the ticket. If you want to go up to the 3rd level, you have to change elevators as they use smaller ones to take people up to the top of the tower. I couldn't remember if I'd ever been to the top of the Eiffel Tower so, I asked Isabel what I had to do to get a ticket for it. She very kindly showed me where the ticket booth was and then, she helped me find a shorter line that saved me at least 20 minutes. Isabel would be typical of the outstanding local guides Globus uses. During our tour of France, we'd use 2 other local guides who were equally fantastic.

Sadly, at the Eiffel Tower, I had to say good-bye to Isabel. I'd seen Versailles at least 3 times and while I think it is definitely worth seeing, I didn't have any desire to see it a 4th time. We said our good-byes and I got in line to take the elevator to the 3rd level of the Eiffel Tower. The wait was worth it as the views from the 3rd level were stunning. You could see for miles from up there. I must've been at least 20 minutes shooting pictures. Finally, I was done and it was time to make my way back to earth. I took the elevator back down to the 2nd level, changed elevators and make it back down to the ground.

I collect Hard Rock Cafe t-shirts. I make it a point to get one at every city I visit that has one. Paris has a Hard Rock Cafe but, I didn't know where it was. Who would know? Isabel! I went in search of her and found her. Sure enough, she knew where it was and, it turned out it was an hour walk each way from the Eiffel Tower. Ah, but what is an hour walk for such a great treasure as a Hard Rock Cafe t-shirt (I say this sarcastically). I grimaced and decided to foot it anyway. Little did I know that it would help prepare me for some interesting walks to come on the tour. My friend Harvey decided to join me. To compensate him for this ordeal, I promised to buy him lunch there.

The walk was long but, we had chances to stop and take pictures of various places we'd driven by that morning such as the obelisk in the Place de la Concorde and the stunning Opera House. Finally, we arrived at the Hard Rock Cafe and sat down for an enjoyable lunch. After lunch, I bought myself and my sister Eloise Paris Hard Rock Cafe t-shirts. Then, Harvey and I faced the task of walking back. Both of us were inclined to skip the walk and we checked a metro (subway to us Yanks) station to take the metro back to our hotel. Unfortunately, it looked like we'd have to change trains 4 or 5 times and that was too complicated for us. I offered to spring for a cab but, my friend declined so we footed it back to the hotel. Once we returned, we decided to rest in preparation for the optional excursion to Montmartre and the night river cruise. Stay tuned for my next blog on my France adventures.

Tour Begins - September 15, 2008

I rode the escalator down to the lower reception area of the hotel. It was 5 till 6 p.m. and I was finally going to meet the guide for the La France tour I'd signed up for with Globus. I was wearing my Globus name pin so people would be able to see what my first name was. When I arrived at the reception area, I saw a number of strangers who were wearing similar pins. A blonde haired lady in her 40's or 50's was walking around with a clipboard meeting people and checking them off her list. Eventually, she made her way to Harvey and I. She introduced herself. Her name was Susan (she never gave a last name), she was going to be our tour guide for the entire tour (Globus also uses local guides who cover just a specific city or site) and she needed to confirm our information. I asked her how many people were going to be on the tour and she said 42. It was going to be another large group. Interestingly, there were people from Australia, New Zealand, Canada and the U.S. This was going to be the most international group I'd ever been with on a Globus tour.

Once Susan had accounted for everyone, she led us to a restaurant that was somewhat close by called the Le Bistro Champetre. This was our first group dinner and a chance to get to know fellow members of the tour. For the next 2 weeks, we'd travel over 2,000 miles together. During the meal, Susan told us what optional excursions were going to be available. Globus includes a list of possible excursions with each person's travel documents but, you find out what ones will actually be available from the tour guide. I went through the list again and figured out what ones I wanted to take and what it would cost. All totalled, I settled on 7 excursions which included an illumination drive of Paris, a visit and dinner in Monaco and a visit to the medieval town of St. Paul de Vence. We also received our wake-up, breakfast and departure times. The wake-up time was the time Susan would arrange for the hotel to give us a wake-up call. The breakfast time was the time the breakfast buffet would be open so we could have breakfast. Our tour included breakfast every day we were on tour. The departure time was the time the bus would leave to begin the morning city tour. On days we were departing for another city, this would be the time we'd leave the city. On days we departed for another city, there was also a bags out time which was the time we had to place our suitcases outside our rooms so they could be picked up and taken to the bus. It became a routine that Susan would give us these times sometime during the afternoon each day so we would know when to be up, have breakfast, be packed and be ready to depart.

Dinner was good though the portions were smaller than what I was used to in the U.S. This would turn out to be standard throughout France. After the dinner, we walked back to the hotel. It was then that we had the chance to do our first optional excursion. It was an illumination drive of Paris. What that means is you get to drive around Paris at night and see all the lit up places in the city. Paris is really stunning at night. One special treat we received was a special illumination of the Eiffel Tower. For 6 months, France would hold the presidency of the European Union. To mark this special occasion, France attached 12 gold stars to the tower representing the 12 original members of the union, back lit the tower in dark blue light and created a shimmering waterfall of white light that ran down the tower. It was incredibly beautiful and everyone ooo'd and awed at the sight. After driving around seeing all the beautifully lit buildings and monuments, we drove back to the hotel. The next day, we would get to see various sights in Paris.

Getting There - 14 September 2008

This is the first post in my France tour series. I'll be putting a date with each one so people can understand I'm talking about past events.

I didn't sleep terribly well but, that was normal just before a big trip. I did manage to pack everything I needed though I got 1 surprise when I found out one of the shirts I wanted to wear during the tour had 2 big stains I didn't know about previously. I packed the shirt planning to find a dry cleaners in France where I could get it cleaned.

I was out in front of my apartment early waiting for the airport shuttle. My biggest concern was getting to the airport. Once I made it there, events were out of my control. It was up to the airlines to get me to Paris. To my relief, the shuttle arrived on time and, I was its last pick-up. The drive to the airport took only 20 minutes or so. Traffic was light as it was Sunday.

I had no problems checking-in and found the departing gate. I had over 2 hours to do something before the flight. I checked out the airport shops but, they didn't have anything I wanted. I played a game of level 2 Sudoko which took care of 45 minutes. My flight ended up being late getting in due to mechanical problems. Our departure got pushed back over 30 minutes. However, once the airplane arrived, the American Eagle staff were quick to turn around the aircraft and I was soon on my way to JFK.

I had to change terminals at JFK which was something I'd never done before. I followed posted signs and managed to find the airport terminal tram. It took me to the next terminal but, I wasn't thrilled that it left the secure area so that I had to go through security again. I managed to find my friend Harvey and we proceeded to explore terminal 7. There wasn't much to explore. Compared to other terminals I've visited, JFK terminal 7 was small. After checking out the terminal, we went to the British Airways lounge. We found an excellent selection of snacks and drinks. I was starved by this point so I tore into the small sandwiches they had. I figured I would have some of those till dinner time on the flight. After we'd finished our snack at the terminal, we decided to wander around the terminal some more and see what shops they had. The shops didn't turn out to be terribly impressive. Also, I was leery of buying anything as that would mean I'd have to carry it with me for 2 weeks. When we returned to the lounge, we found out they were serving dinner in the lounge for the flight. They wouldn't be serving dinner on the flight. I wasn't thrilled with this news as I was pretty full from the small sandwiches I'd eaten there earlier. We decided to have the offered dinner in the lounge. It turned out to be excellent and was one of the finest airline meals I've ever eaten.

Finally, it was time to depart for London Heathrow. We made our way to the gate and didn't have any problems boarding. The Business Class sleeper seats were very high tech but, they weren't as wide as I expected. I opted for a window seat and enjoyed watching as pulled away from the gate. We promptly got stuck in a queue that was on hold. We ended up waiting over 45 minutes before we were able to finally take off. This turned out to be standard for JFK.

The flight to London Heathrow was very nice. Unlike my flight to Copenhagen, Denmark, I managed to get at least 4 hours of sleep which would serve me well later. By the time we arrived at Heathrow the next day, the airplane captain had managed to make up 30 minutes which was invaluable as we had a short layover in Heathrow. We still thought we had plenty of time to get to the gate as it was also located in the same terminal the new terminal 5 building. We got a shock when we had to go through security again. This turned out to be standard too. I don't understand why if I'm staying in terminal 5 and I don't leave the secure area that I have to go through security a second time. This ended up seriously delaying my friend and I and we had to hurry to get to our gate.

The flight from Heathrow to Charles de Gaulle International (CDG) was a very short puddle jumper. We arrived at CDG within 45 minutes. I was surprised to find out I didn't have to fill out a landing card. French customs was a breeze. We kept checking our watches as we were anxious to catch the Noon Globus shuttle to our hotel. To our delight, a man named Louis from Globus appeared outside the luggage area showing a Globus sign. We let him know we were there for a Globus tour. To our dismay, my friend Harvey's suitcase didn't arrive. Considering the short time we had between flights at Heathrow, it was understandable. A lady with British Airways summarily took all the needed information and assured Harvey his bag would be on the next flight to CDG. After that, we made out our way out of the baggage claim area and met Louis. He directed us to the assigned waiting area where we met our first fellow tour members. They were a couple from Australia which I thought seriously cool. I loved their accents. Louis summarily lead us to our coach where we met our driver who would drive us the entire tour barring mandatory days off.

The ride into Paris was uneventful though interesting to me as it was the first time I'd seen the place in over 6 years. We said good-bye to Louis at our first hotel and, we never saw him again. Apparently, he works out of Globus's Paris office and is something of a jack-of-all-trades. Our hotel, the Novotel Paris Tower Eiffel was just off the river Seine and down the street from the Eiffel Tour. We found out that we would get to meet our tour guide Susan at 6 p.m. in the lower reception area. This seemed to be the standard meeting area for tour groups as there were signs for our group and 2 others. Once we received our keys from the reception desk, Harvey and I dropped off our bags and decided to go see the Eiffel Tower. It turned out the Eiffel Tower was farther away than we thought. It took us over 20 minutes to walk to it though it was an easy walk as we just followed the river and road to the tower. To my delight, I was able to find a BNP Paribas ATM machine at the tower. BNP Paribas has a deal with Bank of America where they won't charge you a fee for using their ATM machines. I planned to use their ATMs to get Euros (the European Union currency). After that, we walked back to the hotel where we waited for our first group meeting and the beginning of the tour.

Home Again

Yesterday, I arrived back in Maryland. My British Airways flight from London Heathrow to Baltimore Washington International Airport was very nice. I'll talk more about that when I start posting blogs about the trip. When I got home, I was relieved nothing was stolen. I'm leery about leaving my place for long periods. I haven't forgotten that other apartments where I live have been broken into. Thankfully, mine was left alone while I was gone. Now, I get to work on getting adjusted back to the local time. There is 6 hours difference between Paris and Baltimore time zones. Also, I get to hand out presents I bought for various people. I gave the Baldons their's yesterday. Modestine enjoyed her small purse from Chateau Chenonceau and Tami liked the candy I bought for her at London Heathrow. I hope to mail my sister Ellie's and my mom Kay's presents sometime soon. I can be really bad about mailing things. Work wise, I'll go back Wednesday and deliver Express Mails though that's always subject to change. Work schedules at the Post Office are subject to repeated change. I am curious to see what has happened while I was gone. The Post Office where I work is like a long running soap opera. Personally, I don't care for soap operas but, I'm having to learn how to deal with real life ones. Lastly, there will be things I have to do like grocery shop. I tried to use all the food that would go bad before I left and I succeeded. So, I have to buy more.

It's always a bit of a come down when I return from a trip like the France tour. Two days ago, I was enjoying a kebab in Paris. Today, I'll be visiting Sam's Club to buy some of their roasted chickens. Big difference in routine. This time, I do have one pick me up. In 5 months, I'll be leaving for Egypt. When I got back yesterday, I started checking into that. There'll be things I have to do in preparation for that. I need to get my Egyptian visa from their embassy in D.C. I have to make sure I have transfers to and from the airport. I need to buy a current travel guide. To my annoyance, I found out the one I had for France was out of date. I knew about that but, it slipped my mind about getting a new one. I had plenty of time then. I didn't when it came time to leave for France. So, I have that to look forward to.

Also, I plan to get with Alliance Francaise and start french lessons again. I really enjoyed them and, I only stopped because there wasn't time for them in my military life. Hopefully, I can find time in my Post Office life. The only drawback to the lessons will be the hassle of getting down to D.C. to do the lessons. I suspect I'll have to do 1 on 1 tutoring vice taking a class with them. We'll see. I'm looking forward to those and doing even better with my french when I return to France in 2010. Pour maintenant, au revoir.

Tour Update

Greetings my faithful readers. I thought I'd fill you in on what's happening at my end of the woods. The tour of France that I've been on the past 13 days ended last night with a nice bang. I got to see the famous Moulin Rouge for the first time. I can't say I was very wiped out with it. A lot of the ladies were very model looking which means they had very little top side. Also, some of them were heavy with the fake eyelashes which I think is ugly. Because of those 2 factors, I wasn't impressed with their female dancers and singers. They had some acts between the dance and song routines which were very good. There were 2 gymnasts who were incredible. The man part of the duo must have some killer muscles considering some of things he did in regards to lifting his female partner. Also, the had a hilarious ventriloquist. He managed to make it look like his dog was talking and his dog had some witty quips. Lastly, they had a juggler/drummer/golf ball extrordinaire. The guy could juggle golf balls so fast he beat a drum with them. He could also juggle them with his mouth firing them over 5 feet straight up into the air. He must have some killer lungs.

After the show, our tour guide got us back to our hotel and I said my last good-bye to her. I thought she did a fine job. I was sorry to say good-bye to her.

I didn't much sleep at the hotel as I had an early departure. I left the hotel around 5 a.m. I got to Charles de Gaulle International and had to wait to see a British Airways rep as I couldn't check in for some reason. I found out why when they checked into it. It seems British Airways had a flight change that made it impossible to catch my connecting flight to New York JFK. They never told me. It looked bad for a bit but, things unexpectedly worked out for the better. They were able to get me on a straight flight from London Heathrow to Baltimore Washington International saving me a layover at JFK. I was delighted.

As my flight flew in, it flew over London. I got to see London Bridge, the Tower of London and Westminster Abbey. Also, I got to explore the new terminal 5 at Heathrow. It is impressive. I posted this entry from BA's lounge which is even nicer than the one at JFK.

Concerning my trip to France, I took copious notes and will post a number of entries detailing day by day what I got to do and see. There was some seriously cool stuff. The American Cemetary was beautifully and enormously sad. There were almost 10,000 crosses and stars of David there. Mont St. Michel was mind blowing. I could easily imagine I was at Minas Tirith. The vineyards around St. Emilion seem to go on forever. Monaco was very classy. Some of the yachts were unreal. I got to go to my first wine tasting in Beaune and, I ended up buying 2 bottles which made it necessary for me to buy a new travel bag.

I enjoyed France so much that I hope to go back in 2010. Also, I'm going to look into picking up French lessons at the Alliance Francaise. I enjoyed trying to speak french in France and, I feel my french improved considerably thanks to the tour. If I get back with Alliance Francaise, I'll continue to improve. Funilly, I did such a good job making myself understood that people promptly replied in french. Unfortunately, my ability to understand spoken french was far worse than my ability to speak it. This left me struggling to figure what the person responding said. That'll come with practice.

That's all for now. Stay tuned for entries on my France tour. They should be interesting. Cheers all!

Tour Almost Over

Greetings my faithful readers. My apology for not posting more but due to high costs to getting on-line and having to hunt and peck on French computer keyboards, I haven't been posting much. I plan to post a lot of interesting blogs when I return to the U.S. telliing about my travels. Currently, I'm in Dijon, France but I'll be leaving for Paris this morning. Tomorrow, I fly back to the states. Cheers!

Travel Update

A fast update. Today, I got to visit 2 of the beaches they landed on D-Day, the American Cemetary, Pont du Hoc, see the Bayeux Tapestry and see the abbey at Mont St. Michel. I found it surreal that the beaches could be so peaceful considering the deadly combat that had taken place there. The American Cemetary was sad as there were row on row of white marble crosses and stars of David. The Bayeux Tapestry was fascinating and bigger than I thought. Mont St. Michel was awesome! If Minas Tirith were ever to exist it would look like Mont St. Michel. I was in awe walking all the walkways and seeing the various rooms of the abbey. It's been an awesome day. I can't wait for the next.

France

Greetings my faithful readers. I've made it to France. I had a nice couple flights with British Airways. Business Class still rocks. Paris seemed the same. Still very pretty. There are 42 people on my Globus tour. All of them seem very nice. One interesting item is that we have 3 couples from Australia. I bet they had some killer flights. I can't say anything super exciting has happened so far. However, tomorrow I visit Mont St. Michel. That should be awesome. I'm looking forward to it. That's all for now. I'll try to post updates as the tour progresses. Stay tuned.

OkCupid Update

I finally gave up on OkCupid. I got tired of them trying to match me up with women older than I am or women that were terminally ugly. Also, the site is rife with liberals. While most of the time this didn't cause me a problem, I got tired with the Sarah Palin bashing that is raging on the site. In my opinion, she is a wonderful woman and a very smart pick for Vice President by John McCain. I never would've thought he would've picked her. She has done wonders for electrifying the conservative base in the Republican Party as well as caused a serious dilemma for Barack Hussein Obama. Obama passed over Hillary Clinton for his V.P. pick as well as some other qualified female Democratic Party members. I'm sure the women in the Democratic Party are giving him no small amount of grief over that.

Anyway, maybe, I'll give Conservativematch.Com another try once I get back from my trip to France. We'll see. Cheers all!

Post Office Update

It's been a busy week for me at the Post Office. I got tagged to do a full route 5 days and to deliver Express Mail/packages a 6th day. I should make some good money this week though I won't see it for a while as I'll be leaving in a couple days for France. I hope things go all right for my boss. The notorious single moms continue to play their stupid games. Considering how tight we'll be people wise while I'm gone, my boss will just have to suck it up and hope they show up.

We got a new sub who is a TRC which I believe stands for temporary rural carrier. Unlike me, he never took the rural carrier exam. Because of that, he was able to get hired on quicker however, he'll get paid $5 less an hour than what I get. So far, he seems to have a good attitude. We'll see how long it lasts.

The Postmaster informed every one that the Post Office plans to bring flat sorting machines to our Post Office. What is a flat sorting machine? It's machine that sort what we call flats in the Post Office. Flats are catalogs, newspapers, magazines, large card mailers and fliers. By bringing in these machines, the Post Office hopes to save money by cutting the number of clerks they need and the number of hours the mail carriers need to case their mail. Currently, carriers get their flats unsorted and it can take a while to case them in their mail case. Another way the Post Office plans to save money on the machines is since the carriers won't spend as much time casing the flats, they'll be able to spend more time delivering the mail which means they can make their routes longer. That means there won't be any new routes for a while which means I'll be a substitute mail carrier longer. That doesn't cause me any heartache but it would make it tough for other subs who don't have benefits like I get from the military. I do wonder if the union will go along with the flat sorting machines. We'll see.

That's all from the Laurel Post Office front. Cheers!

Lost Users Manual

Last year, my friend Harvey introduced me to the game called Sudoku. It's a logic game where you have 9 blocks with 9 squares in each block. Every square in each block is filled with the numbers 1 to 9. The part where this game gets challenging is that you can't have the same number twice in any of the rows or columns of the larger 3 by 3 block grid. While flying back from Oslo, I found out Continental Airlines had an electronic version of Sudoku for sale. I bought one and I was very pleased with it. Then, I had a brain fart. I threw out the user's manual for the game. I didn't realize it was for my electronic sudoku game until it was too late. Subsequently, I looked for another game console so I could get another copy of the users manual. To my surprise, I couldn't find the same game any where on the Internet. Also, I couldn't find a webpage for the company that makes the game unit. Finally, I wrote the company that distributes the game asking them if I could buy a new users manual or game console so I could get the users manual. To my delight, Mr. G. Pollard of Scorpio Distributors Limited, Lowfield Heath, United Kingdom sent me a users manual for free. Many thanks to him and his company. I promise I won't throw that one out.

Hanover Five Guys Restaurant

Earlier this week, I had a nice chat with my friend Harvey. He mentioned that he'd gone to a Five Guys restaurant within the past week and really enjoyed it. It'd been a while since I visited a Five Guys restaurant so I decided to check out the new one that had recently opened in Hanover, Maryland. This review is about that restaurant.

The Five Guys restaurant in Hanover, Maryland is very easy to get to. It's located just off Arundel Mills Boulevard when you take the Arundel Mills exit off of Maryland-295 (Baltimore Washington Parkway). It's located in a small shopping center called Arundel Preserve.

The restaurant is like other Five Guys restaurants in that the decor is a bit spartan. The most noticeable thing about the restaurant was the copies of articles that had been written about the chain and how many times it had various awards for the best hamburger restaurant or cheap eats.

However, I would have to disagree about its claim to be cheap to eat at. The small burger as they call it costs $3.19 and comes with 1 beef patty and a large selection of toppings. It is the toppings where Five Guys separates itself from other hamburger joints. You can get fried mushrooms, fried onions, green peppers, A-1 sauce, jalapenos, hot sauce or the standard ketchup, mustard, mayo, pickles or lettuce all at no charge. As far as I know of, no one else offers such an extensive list and at no extra charge. The only 2 toppings that do cost extra are cheese and bacon. Those come at a stiff 60 cents each. I tried their regular burger with bacon, cheese, fried onions and fried mushrooms. The regular burger which has 2 beef patties costs $4.19. In my opinion, for an extra buck, you might as well get the extra patty. With cheese and bacon, my burger ended up costing $5.39 which wasn't cheap.

Five Guys also offers 2 types of french fries. They have Five Guys flavor and Cajun. They come in regular and large size. A regular will cost you $2.40 while a large fry will cost you a stiff $4.19. I tried their large fries and I did get a good portion of fries but, $4.19 isn't cheap.

Five Guys offers hot dogs and grilled cheese sandwiches if you're not in the mood for a burger. I didn't try either of these but, a friend at the Post Office has tried their hot dogs and he raved about them. For those who are vegetarian, they also offer a vegetarian sandwich.

Lastly, Five Guys offers the standard line of soft drinks such as Pepsi, Hi-C, and some kind of Root Beer. A regular drink will cost you $1.79 while a large will cost you $1.99. They also offer bottled water at $1.79. For those who dine at the restaurant, you can get unlimited free refills. If you are going to eat the restaurant, you might as well save yourself the 20 cents. If you're not, you should spend it and get the large drink. I tried the Root Beer and the lemonade and both were fine.

Overall, I found Five Guys a cut above your average hamburger joint like McDonalds or Wendy's. All the hamburger they use is fresh as are their french fries. They actually keep sacks of potatoes where customers can see them. Price wise, they are a bit more expensive than McD's or Wendy's but, their burgers are good and their service is prompt. If you want a better burger or want one with some of their excellent toppings, you should try them out. They are very good. Bon Appetit!

Renaissance Festival

I got to go the Maryland Renaissance Festival in Crownsville, Maryland yesterday. I try to go every year. The festival has good acts, excellent shops and decent food. I watched Fight School, The Rogues, the jousting and Hack and Slash. Fight School did the same routine with some new jokes thrown in. They were still good. The Rogues had a new fiddler and a new CD. They sounded nice. The jousting was all right. I didn't envy the knights wearing their heavy armor in the heat. It was in the high 80's or low 90's yesterday. Hack and Slash did the same routine and it was as funny as ever. I need to buy their Christmas show DVD sometime.

In regards to food at the festival, I had the mandatory turkey leg. It was very good though they raised the price on it a buck to $5. Also, I tried their sweet corn on the cob. The people running the food booth had a pot of melted butter that they could dunk the corn into. They also offered various seasonings. The corn was very good though a bit pricey at $2.50 a piece. Lastly, I tried their lemonade and their raspberry smoothie. I thought both stunk. The raspberry smoothie was little more than a weakly flavored icee.

Some of the shops had some very nice items for sale. I was sorely tempted to buy some new leather bracers for my festival costume and a hand bound journal. However, I'll be leaving soon for the 2-week tour of France I've told my readers about so, I decided it was wise to cool the spending. I ended up buying 2 t-shirts that I could wear when delivering mail.

Overall, the festival was really nice. I very much enjoyed going. One word of advice to any readers that may try to go to the festival. Make sure you leave so you'll arrive shortly before they open the gates. If you do, you should be able to get to festival parking without getting stuck in a line. If you don't, you could end up in a bumper to bumper line trying to get in the parking lot. Also, the festival is fully capable of handling large crowds. I heard one person say the festival could handle over 26,000 people! (It's possible considering how big the festival grounds are. Also, if you plan on going this coming weekend, the festival has a coupon that will get you $4 off the price of an adult admission as well as discounts on other admissions until September 8th. Ticket prices did go up a $1 this year for unknown reasons. Cheers all!

My End of the Woods

I thought I'd post an update on what's going on at my end of the woods. The biggest thing is impatiently waiting to go on the upcoming 2 week Globus tour of France. I'm impatiently counting every day. When I get within a week, I'll get to do more concerning the trip i.e. buy a bunch of Euros, put my mail hold request in and figure out what I'm going to wear. For now, all I can do is count the days.

Work at the Post Office goes well enough. I still have issues with the notorious single moms and I know I always will. I'm never going to accept their laziness or breaking of the rules. I count my blessings that I get along so well with my boss. Also, supposedly, the Postmaster is very pleased with me. I do whatever he asks without whining. He knows when he gives me a task that it'll get done. It's nice to know he's pleased with my work.

I've been considering buying a videocamera for the upcoming trip. My mom suggested it. Unfortunately, the timing is bad. I want to be able to pay all the optional excursions I plan to take at the beginning of the tour. I hope to avoid a big charge card bill when I get back from the trip. I haven't forgotten the Australia tour I did with Globus. I was paying on that for 3 months after I got back. If I bought the camera, I wouldn't be able to pay the excursions off before hand. I've decided to buy it in a couple months. I'll take it with me when I do the Egypt tour in March. That is something I'd definitely want to record on DVD.

I visited Dave & Busters today. They're offering a buy $10 worth of tickets and get $10 free coupon on their website (must be used by September 1st). It's a good deal. I suspect they're doing it to get you in the door. $20 with a supercharge will get you 125 tickets. That isn't much when you start playing the games. I'm partial to Spin & Win and that costs 8.8 tickets per play using a gold card. I suspect once you're there, you'll be more likely to recharge your card and play some more. I know I did today. I had frustrating luck on Spin & Win. I must've missed the 1,000 ticket light by 1 or 2 lights at least 15 times. I did finally hit the thing once. I now have over 63,000 tickets. They have a Zune MP3 player for 46,000 tickets. I want an MP3 player but, I don't know if I want to spend 46,000 tickets to get it. I'm going to keep thinking about it.

Also, I did a little bit for the environment today. I did a recycling run to the Glen Burnie Recycling Depot. It isn't much but, it is something. Also, I do try to not run the lights in my apartment unless I'm using them. That may have less to do with the environment and more to do with trying to keep my electric bill down.

On the subject of travel again, Globus looks to be getting more serious about their Journey club. It's a special travel club they offer that offers club only tours and access to their clothing shop. If you reactivate your Journey club membership, you'll receive a coupon that'll get you $75 off any tour that you book between August 2008 and December 2009. Also, they're offering a free extra night in a hotel providing you share it. Singles don't get to take advantage of this offer. Oh well. Also, it appears they going to come out with some kind of club membership number. The webpage to reactivate my membership asked for a card number. I had no idea what they were talking about. I'm curious to see if I get a membership card in the mail.

Lastly, I'm looking forward to the Maryland Renaissance Festival. It opened last weekend. Labor Day Weekend is a good time to go since the Post Office is closed on Labor Day. The only bummer to the festival is I'll make sure I get on the road early to get to it. If you take your time, you'll get stuck in a long bumper to bumper line. It'll be neat to check out the festival. They have some good acts and nice shops plus, the smoked turkey legs are delicious.

That's all that's worth telling about for now. Stay tuned for more updates as the France tour gets closer. Cheers all!

Trader Joe's Sparkling Pomegranate and Blueberry Juices Review

Recently, I tried Trader Joe's Sparkling Pomegranate Juice and Sparkling Blueberry Juice. This review in on those 2 products. I'd never had either pomegranate or blueberry juice so I thought I'd give Trader Joe's products a try. Taste wise, both juices tasted good. Neither have any kind of chemicals or preservatives which is another plus. However, there were some notable negatives with these 2 products. For starters, you don't get 100% pomegranate juice or 100% blueberry juice. The bottles say 100% juice and then in far smaller letters state that they are a blend of 4 juice concentrates. For example, their sparkling blueberry juice has blueberry juice, apple juice, pear juice and white grape juice. So while it's 100% juice, it isn't 100% blueberry juice. While Trader Joe's can technically say their being honest about the product, I feel they aren't being totally above board. Second, I had problems with the price. A 25.4 ounce bottle of blueberry juice cost $2.69 at Trader Joe's Columbia, Maryland store. That isn't a lot of juice for the money, especially when you figure in the carbonation. The pomegranate juice was a little cheaper selling for $2.49. In my opinion, these juices are a bit pricey.

Overall, while I thought the 2 juices had good flavor, I found them too pricey and not what they claimed to be. I feel they should call them in bigger letters some kind of juice blend vice stating they are a particular type of juice. If Trader Joe's is going to claim something is blueberry juice, it should be 100% blueberry juice. Because of their price and their labeling, I can't recommend either product. Cheers all!

Travel Documents

I received my Globus travel documents yesterday. I was delighted to get them. It makes the upcoming trip to France more real. I can't wait to go. I'm tired of the Post Office bullshit. Trips to Baltimore or D.C. aren't far enough. I need to get away from it for a while. 2 weeks in France will definitely do the trick. Concerning the documents themselves, I got a bit of double shock on them. To my surprise, my travel agent didn't catch that I didn't have airport transfers. After catching 3 flights to get to Paris, the last thing I'm going to want to mess with is getting myself to my hotel from Charles de Gaulle International. Also, my departing flight from Paris leaves at 7:25 a.m. I don't want to mess with trying to make arrangements to get to a foreign airport that early in the morning. I emailed my travel agent and he said he'd take care of it first thing. Also, I found that I was missing the documents for the travel insurance I purchased. I definitely want that information included. I hope I don't have to use the insurance but, it is nice to have it just in case. Now, I need to make a checklist so I can make sure I get done everything I need to do for my upcoming trip. I'll need to make sure the batteries for my digital camera are fully charged, that I pack a spare memory card for my camera, that I put my mail on hold, that I buy enough Euros and that I figure out what I'm going to wear during the trip. The clothes part promises to be hard because Globus limits me to one bag that can't weigh more than 50 pounds. The tour will be 2 weeks. Also, I'll be going to some events that'll be dressy i.e. the dinner and tour of Monte Carlo. Lastly, I have to make sure I have enough space in the suit case for souvenirs and gifts. It promises to be a bit of challenge figuring out what I'm going to take. Still, it'll be neat thinking of the upcoming tour. To get to see the famous beaches of Normandy where the D-Day invasion took place or see the stunning Mont St. Michel. It should be an awesome time. Stay tuned for further updates.

Travel Update

As my trip to France gets closer, I am getting more and more excited about it. I'm definitely ready to go on another trip. It's been 5 months since I did my first ever cruise in the Caribbean. Later this week, I should receive my travel documents for the Globus France tour. I'll blog more about that when I get them. Also, I made the last payment on the Egypt tour. Now, I just have to pay the charge card bill for it. That should be an awesome tour. Lastly, my friend Harvey was supposed to put the deposit down for me on the Historic East tour. Globus was offering an early booking deal where you could lock in a pre-brochure price. I checked and it was only $80 higher than this year's prices. I don't see the tour being cheaper than that so I decided to go ahead and book the tour. I'm pretty excited about that tour too. It is going to be really amusing to catch the Metro (Washington D.C. subway system) to the tour hotel and start the tour in D.C. I'm very use to having to catch a flight (many times an international one) to do a tour. It will be a real trip to do one that is so close. Stay tuned for further updates.

Postal Service Loss

I read an article on the Associated Press this past week that stated that the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) lost 1.1 billion dollars this past quarter (http://govexec.com/dailyfed/0808/080608ap2.htm). I thought I'd offer my 2 bits on this. First, summer time is the worst time of the year in regards to mail volume for the Post Office. I've seen considerably less mail these past 3 to 4 months than I do during the rest of the year. This is the norm. Personally, I like the lower volumes as it means I can get my route done quicker and I end up giving the Post Office fewer free hours. Second, the price of gas is really clobbering the Post Office. The Post Office has one of the largest fleets of vehicles per a U.S. company in the country. On some of the routes I deliver on, you have to drive from box to box. It would take far too long to deliver the mail walking. I think I saw a statistic some where that stated the Postal Service loses 8 million dollars for every penny the price of gas goes up. Considering how much gas has gone up, you can see how badly the Postal Service has gotten clobbered. Lastly, the service is trying to keep costs down. I know on the city side at our Post Office that they are having more open routes i.e. routes that don't have a salaried carrier. These routes have to be carried by the other city carriers. Also, our Post Office is cracking down on mis-thrown parcels. If a parcel is shipped Priority or First Class, we must deliver it the day we receive it. Mis-thrown parcels by the clerks can make it necessary for us to send a carrier (at $17.98 an hour) out to deliver a $4 parcel. By cutting down on mis-thrown parcels, we're able to save money and parcel runs.

The Postal Service is facing some incredible challenges. On-line bill paying is really hurting the service. People prefer to email or text message vice writing letters. Also, competition from FedEx and UPS is tough. Ironically, the Post Office offers a great deal in Express Mail but, a lot of people still prefer to use FedEx or UPS. Postal work remains labor intensive though the service has tried and continues to try to automate as much as possible. There has been a serious reduction in the number of clerks because of automation. The service also has a real challenge getting people who can do the job. A lot of people in this country don't realize just how hard it is to deliver the mail. I know, I was one of them. We have a high attrition rate among new hires. One of the things I've had to do is encourage the newbes to stick it out. The job is very hard until you start to figure out where various addresses are on the mail case. Lastly, I think the Postal Service is a great bargain. You can still mail a letter across the country for just 42 cents. With high gas prices, competition and communication advances, the future promises to be very challenging for the U.S. Postal Service and its employees.

Jeff Foxworthy Beef Jerky Review

To my surprise, while shopping at Safeway, I found out that Jeff Foxworthy of redneck fame has come out with his own beef jerky. As I really like beef jerky, I decided to try it. I tried the teriyaki flavor. I found it to be bland. The jerky was also tough though that is how jerky is supposed to be. Jerky was meat that was salted and dried so it would last a long time. Since, it was dried out, it would be tough initially to eat. One plus for Foxworthy's beef jerky is that it DOESN'T have any Monosodium Glutamate (MSG). It really annoys me to see that stuff in various foods. In my opinion, it isn't good for you. I know it will hurt me wind wise, if I eat something with that and then try to exercise later. I've personally seen the very noticeable difference. Price wise, Safeway was selling a 4 ounce re-sealable pouch of the jerky for $6. That's comparable with other brands of beef jerky.

Overall, I can't rave about Foxworthy's beef jerky. It failed to impress though I do like that it doesn't have MSG. I plan to keep looking for some jerky that tastes good and doesn't have a lot of artificial junk in it (real jerky doesn't). Cheers all!

Dave & Busters

After wiping myself out on the elliptical machine yesterday, I decided to go to Dave & Busters at the Arundel Mills Mall in Hanover, Maryland. It's a fun place and I enjoy playing the super trivia game and Spin and Win game. I wanted to add to my ticket winnings and see what new prizes they had. I managed to win 3,156 tickets at a cost of $53. I had frustrating luck with the Spin and Win game as I missed the 1,000 ticket light by 1 or 2 light over 20 times. It hurts to get that close. A split second made all the difference.

In regards to prizes, I didn't see anything that really wiped me out. They had a DVD player recorder which seemed nice but, I'm terrible about watching movies. They had a shake mixer but, how often do I make milkshakes. So, I decided to hold on to my tickets. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that they'll get an MP3 player sometime. I'd have bought one myself but, I'm saving the money to pay off my future travels.

One other item of note I want to let folks know about. The parking situation around Dave & Busters is really bad on weekends. You can expect to spend at least 5 minutes trying to find a spot. You may have to watch for folks leaving so you can get their spot once they leave. This is the only problem I have with Dave & Busters. Barring that, it is a a fun place.

Change of Plans

My travel plans have changed for 2009. Previously, I said I was going to do a cruise June of 2009. I decided to nix the cruise. It was just too expensive. Because of the gap I have to do between major trips, I had to do the cruise in June. June is the beginning of high season cruise wise. High season is the most expensive time to go cruising. While I would like to do another cruise, I don't HAVE to do one then. So, I decided to do something else. On my wish list travel wise was seeing Yorktown, Jamestown and Gettysburg. Globus has a tour that hits those historic places. Funnily enough, it starts in Washington D.C. The tour will visit some places I've already been to such as Colonial Williamsburg, Monticello and Philadelphia. But, I won't mind seeing those places again. I really enjoyed visiting Colonial Williamsburg. I'm curious what kind of group we'll get for the tour. The tour lasts just 8 days total. I've never done such a short one before. Also, this will be my first Globus tour in the U.S. It'll be interesting to see what it's like. Stay tuned.

Badge

I forgot my rural carrier badge this morning when I went rushing out the door. Unlike city carriers (they wear uniforms), the only thing a rural carrier has to prove they are a legitimate mail carrier is their badge. Also, you need your badge when you set up your scanner in the morning. The badge has a bar code the scanner reads and matches to a name in its memory. If you forget your badge, you have to try to remember what your employee ID number is and enter it manually into the scanner. It's a real pain. The scanner is important because you use that to enter all the delivery confirmations, insured mails and accountable mails. If you don't scan those, you get in big trouble with the Post Office. Supposedly, they lose money if you don't do those scans.

After I turned left onto Russett Green Road, I realized something was missing. I looked at my chest and realized my Post Office pens and badge weren't there. I let out a curse and looked for a place where I could do a u-turn. I drove back to my apartment, picked up my badge and pens and headed to the Post Office AGAIN. I counted my blessings I didn't get all the way to the Post Office before realizing that I'd forgotten my badge. Thankfully, this wasn't a omen of things to come as mail was light and it ended up being an easy day. Cheers all!

Icelandair

I got some bad news from Joel, my travel agent, about Icelandair. To my total surprise, they don't fly out of Baltimore Washington International Airport anymore. Crap! They only fly out of Boston, JFK, Minneapolis and Orlando. JFK would be the closest airport for me and that would cost me over $300 to fly there to make a connecting flight with them. In my opinion, it wouldn't be worth it. So, I'm stuck with over 28,000 of their frequent flier points. I suppose I could exchange them for something at Points.com but, you don't tend to get a good deal doing that. I'm going to have think about this and figure out what I'm going to do. It bites that they left Baltimore.

Ok Cupid Update

I've continued to answer more questions and rate more ladies on Ok Cupid. The site has continued to surprise me. One of the ladies I had to rate was a real DOMINATRICE. That's a women who wears leather, treats you like crap, expects you to obey her and in the process some how you'll be sexually stimulated by that. I confess I can't understand how somehow could get off being humiliated but, the world is filled with lots of WEIRD people so it's possible. I'm not one of them so I quickly rated the lady a 1 (that being the worst you can rate someone) and quickly moved on. I suspect my readers would've had a good laugh at my reaction when the lady's bio first came. My eyes really bugged on that one.

I have no idea how well Christians are represented on this site BUT, I got another surprise by all the Wiccan practicers. What equally surprised me was how many of them apparently go the Maryland Renaissance Festival. Hm. I'd suspected as much but this site has confirmed it. It'll be a trip if I recognize some of them when I go to the festival this year.

That sums up all the surprised I've had since my last post. I have enjoyed posting some comments on some of the member's journals (blogs) there. I like good conversation and the posts there are a form of conversation. I still have little hope I'll actually meet someone there I'd actually like to take out. I suspect my job at the Post Office doesn't help me any as I doubt any of the ladies there are impressed by my job. Oh well. Stay tuned for further updates on this too.

OK Cupid

I've been filling in my bio, adding a few photos and answering more questions on http://www.okcupid.com/. It's a free site where you can make new friends, find a possible date or maybe find someone to have sex with. I found the sex angle on the site somewhat shocking. They ask a lot questions about sex. I suspect there are some really weird people on that site. Still, it has its good points. I've been very impressed by how many single ladies it has in the Maryland, Washington D.C. and Northern Virginia area. I don't know what my chances are of meeting some of them. I will confess I'm picky. I want attractive and I won't settle for less. I'm content to keep going it alone if it means I have to compromise. I know a woman is more than looks and believe me, I take their personality into account too. I never forgot a date I had years ago with a stunner. Her personality stunk and the date was a massive dud. Another problem I suspect I'll run into is kids. I'm not real keen on becoming an instant dad because she has kids of her own. I think it's hard enough to make a relationship work without that addition of kids and ex's. Still, a lot women my age is likely to have them. Lastly, me and my gut are going to have to do battle. My job at the Post Office hasn't helped my weight situation. I'm subject to being called in on short notice and I can never be sure how long I'll have to work. That plays hell with my diet. I can eat a light breakfast and then not get home for 9 hours. By the time I get home, I'm starving and I overeat. My step-mom has suggested I carry snacks to re-energize myself but when I'm doing a route, I don't want to stop till I'm done. Also, after a long day at the Post Office, I don't feel like exercising. I hit the elliptical machine today for the first time in months. Boy, I was out of shape. I set it for level 5 and managed to last 25 minutes. My heart rate soared. Oh well. We'll see how it goes. Stay tuned.

Union Station

Per my previous blog on the D.C. Duck tour, I found myself with an hour and 45 minutes to waste before the tour left. I decided to explore Union Station. Union Station is the main train station for Washington D.C. All trains going through D.C. stop there. It is a very impressive building with beautiful statues, walls and ceilings. There are a number of Roman centurion statues that were designed by Louis Saint Gauden (I hope I have that name right). Each of the statues has a shield in front of it. The reason for this is that each statue is nude. When the statues were made back in 1908, people were more modest than we are today. As some people in those days would've been shocked at the sight of such brazen manliness, Gauden created was has come to be known as "modesty shields" which stand in front of the statues and hide each of the statue's manliness. I thought the story funny which is why I'm passing it on to you my reader.

The station has 3 floors. The bottom floor is filled with various restaurants. I can't tell you if any of them are any good as I've never tried any of them. The 2nd floor has a combination of shops, restaurants, Amtrak ticket counters and the gates for the various trains. I thought this part was neat as I checked out the various gates to see where the trains were going. A lot of them were going north to New York City with some going on to Boston. Some were going south to Newport News. To me, train travel is still pretty neat. You get to see towns and countryside on the train unlike in an airplane. You also arrive typically in the heart of your destination vice at some distant airport. My only complaint with the trains is their poor timeliness. I know airplanes are late too but, the airplanes have never been as late as some of the trains I've ridden on here in the states.

The 3rd floor on the station has some posh shops including Joseph Banks Clothiers. I've actually bought some very nice clothes here and I was very pleased with them. This is also where you find the connecting walkway to the station multi-floored parking lot. I've also used this parking lot though I don't remember what it costs.

Overall, Union Station is a very nice place. It's a great place to grab a bite to eat, do a little shopping, catch a tour of D.C. or take a train on a new adventure some where. If you're in D.C., you should check it out. Cheers all!

Washington D.C. Hard Rock Cafe

I had dinner at the Washington D.C. Hard Rock Cafe yesterday. After I finished a D.C. Duck tour (see previous blog), I took the Metro to MCI Station. From there, I walked to the cafe. The cafe was fairly busy. Since I was by myself, the cafe greeter wanted to sit me at some cocktail tables they have. I wanted a regular table. They granted my request but, I was seated in a corner where I was easily forgotten. My waitress Lori was also very busy with other customers so didn't have a lot of time to check on me.

I had their pulled pork sandwich and sinful sundae for dessert. The sandwich was nicely presented and came with 2 small sides of cole slaw and baked beans with a main side of french fries. Everything on the entree tasted good. Concerning my sundae, when you make a sundae, aren't you suppose to pour the chocolate syrup over the ice cream then cover it with whip cream and nuts? That's what I think and they didn't do. They poured it into this plastic glass and it went straight to the bottom of it. The ice cream itself was Haagen Dazs and was very good. They also did a nice job with the whip cream and sprinkles though I think they forgot the nuts they were supposed to put on the sundae.

Overall, the food was average and the service was below average. I wasn't pleased with this visit. The only thing I was pleased about was the waitress getting the credit right on my All Access Membership. For those of you who don't know, All Access Membership is a program the chain has where you can earn credit toward free t-shirts, pins or food. For every $200 you spend, you get $20 in credit. It's a nice program. I was very close to getting my next $20 credit which was why I really wanted to eat at the Hard Rock Cafe. At some of the cafe's I've eaten at, the waitresses haven't known how to enter the All Access information properly so I haven't gotten the proper amount of credit I was supposed to get for my purchase. Thankfully, Lori did know how to enter it and I earned my next $20 credit. Now, I have a $100 credit that I can use for whatever I want at any Hard Rock Cafe. I'm pleased about that. Barring that, I don't see myself busting my butt to visit this cafe for a while. I wouldn't recommend you do so either. Bon Appetit!

D.C. Duck Tour

I've wanted to do what is called a Duck tour for a while. I signed up for one during my March 2008 cruise but, it was cancelled and I couldn't make the morning tour as I had another tour scheduled during that time. A Duck tour for those of you who don't know is a tour of a city in what is called a Duck vehicle. The vehicle was created during World War II. It's purpose was to take supplies from a ship like a boat and then drive up on a beach and go to where ever the front lines were and deliver the supplies. So, it is a combination boat and truck or in the case of the tour bus. It's a pretty cool vehicle and is one of the draws of the tour.

The tour itself is reasonably priced. An adult ticket was less than $30. I don't know what a child's ticket would cost. The tour leaves from Union Station and lasts 90 minutes. The two duck drivers were called Captain Crunch and Captain Nemo. Captain Nemo was the one who drove the duck I rode in.

The tour itself was good. Captain Nemo was very knowledgeable about D.C. and pointed out the main points of interest and dropped occasional bits of trivia as well. When we reached the marina opposite the Pentagon, we entered the Potomac River and got to take a short river cruise. At this point, I was a bit disappointed with the tour because we didn't see anything of great interest on the river. The only thing that was some what neat was just before we exited the river. We crossed the flight path of jets that were taking off from Reagan National Airport. We actually had one fly right over us. Another nice thing Nemo was did was issue quackers. These are whistles that make a quacking sound. The rules were we quacked all buses we passed, all policemen and something else. It was goofy and it was fun. I know I looked stupid blowing my quacker whistle but, I enjoyed it.

Overall, I thought the tour was pretty nice. I thought Captain Nemo did a very good job. The tour itself is apparently very popular as they were able to fill 2 ducks for 2 p.m. when I made my reservation at Noon. The lady making the reservations told me they were nearly fully booked for the day. There is a duck tour in Baltimore and I plan to take that one too. I'm curious to see if that one will be more impressive on the water. We'll see. Cheers!

Impatient

I made my 2nd payment on the Globus Egypt tour I hope to take. I confess I'm a bit impatient about paying the trip off. I want it and the cruise I hope to take in 2009 paid off now. As it is, it'll take me another 5 months to pay the 2 trips off. 5 months is a long time and a lot of payments. Oh well. I'll just have to make myself be patient and wait. Thankfully, only 2 months till I get to on a Globus tour of France. Next month, I'll get the travel documents and my 3rd Globus carry bag. That's when the trip becomes more real. You get to see the tour itinerary, your tour number and you receive your name tag so every one in the group can know your name. It's pretty neat stuff. Plus, it's exciting travelling internationally. I can't get excited travelling in the states but I can when I travel overseas. To me, foreign travel is exciting and an adventure. Sometimes too, it has been a bit of a misadventure but those give me something to laugh about months later. I'll never forget my trip to Iceland because of all the mis-adventures I had there. 2 months to go till France and 2 months to go till the Egypt tour is paid off. I can't wait.

Show Review

Today, I saw "All Shook Up" at Toby's Dinner Theater in Columbia, Maryland. I decided to do my review on it while it's fresh in my mind. I'll cover ticketing/seating, food and the show itself.

As I had 1 more person than I had season tickets for, I had to pick up my extra guest's ticket at the box office. There was a little line but it moved well. When I got to the box office, the lady was prompt in finding my reservation as well as running up the charge so I could pay for it. Once I'd signed the charge slip, she gave me a card with our seating assignment which I gave to the seating assignment lady inside the theater. She promptly directed us to our table where we were able to be seated at once. The table was good one with excellent all around views.

Our waiter's name was Dave and he played the nerdy guy Dennis in the show. As a waiter, he did an outstanding job. As the nerdy guy in the show, he was great and he could sing! In regards to the food, it was plentiful and good. They had a full salad bar as well as cole slaw, pasta salad, green beans, potatoes, corn on the cob, spinach, tomatoes, some kind of pasta with cheese mixed in, shrimp, chicken, ribs, salmon, roast beef, ham and I think roast turkey breast. Each of the tables had fresh rolls. As you can see by the menu, if you didn't get thoroughly stuffed, you weren't trying. I made sure I had a light breakfast and, I didn't eat anything else the rest of the day in anticipation of their outstanding buffet.

The show were very funny and very well done. It was filled with great lines and the actors and actresses timing of the lines was smack on. The show has a number of great Elvis Presley hits. At times, they're used for comedic effect and other times for general audience pleasure. All the songs were well done. The show becomes increasingly Gilbert and Sullivanish as the love triangles get increasingly messed up. The biker Chad arrives in town and promptly falls for the stacked museum director. The grease monkey Natalie falls for Chad the biker who doesn't care for her and she decides to disguise herself as a man named Ed so Chad will get to know her/him. Dennis the nerd who became Chad's sidekick gives the job up to Natalie/Ed since he loves her though she doesn't love him. Dennis gives Chad a copy of Shakespeare's Sonnet 17 so he can capture the stacked museum director's heart. Chad has Natalie/Ed deliver the sonnet to the stacked female museum director and the director ends up falling in love with her/him. This is where things get kinky as you have the museum director in love with Natalie/Ed causing a potential lesbian romance though the director doesn't know it and Natalie/Ed isn't interested in her. She's still very much in love with the biker Chad. Things get more complicated and kinkier when Chad falls in love with Natalie's persona Ed causing what would look like a homosexual romance even though it isn't as Ed/Natalie is really a woman. Chad teaches his methods to Natalie's father who subsequently persues the same stacked museum director that Chad wants who doesn't want anything to do with Chad or Natalie's father. Natalie's father's friend Sylvia falls for Natalie's father and tries to get him to see that the museum director is going to leave him broken hearted. Sylvia's daughter Lorraine falls for the Mayor's son Dean who also falls for her and they have to hide their doomed love (he's white, she's black) from his mother. In typical Gilbert and Sullivan fashion, all ends well with a few surprises. I'll let you see the show to find out what they are.

My biggest complaint with the production was with the lead singer/actor who plays Chad but who we would recognize as the Elvis character. He can sing the songs BUT, he can't sing them like Elvis. He doesn't have Elvis's power and so really doesn't nail "Jailhouse Rock" down like he should. There were other songs where he is equally weak. In Toby's last show, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, they had an actor who sang like Elvis. He did a great job. I can only guess that the actor was too old for the part of Chad. It's unfortunate as he would've done a lot better job singing the various Elvis songs.

Overall, barring the lead actor/singer, I found the show really nice. The actors and actresses did an outstanding job. Their timing was smack on and they have some great lines. They were also superbly supported by the folks in costumes, props, lighting and music. The show is filled with laughs and should be enjoyed by everyone. If you like madcap comedy, good music (Elvis still rocks!) and good food, this show is for you. All Shook Up runs until August 24th.

Taper

Yesterday, I listened to my last cassette tape from R. B. Thieme Bible Ministries. Thieme's ministries decided to phase out the tapes. I suspect there were a number of reasons. Blank CDs would be cheaper to buy, to ship and you can put more lessons on them. My first MP3 CD from them had 35 lessons on it. In cassette tape terms, that would've been a box and a half of cassettes. I'm saddened to see them phase out the cassettes though. For all those who listen to Thieme's teaching, it was a badge of honor to say you were a taper. I've listened to Thieme's tapes since 1992 when Dr. Christopher Seidlitz, the head pastor of the base I was stationed at, recommended them to me. I've listened to over 1,500 of Thieme's tapes. Because of the tapes, I made a special effort in 1997 to get to see Pastor Thieme in person when he did a bible conference in Pensacola Beach, Florida. It was something to see the man in person. It saddens me that Pastor Thieme was struck with Alzheimer's disease. He was an incredible and fascinating pastor. Luckily bible teaching wise, his son Bobby took over the reins and teaches in the same manner as his father. On Sundays, I go to a church group where I listen to live broadcasts of Bobby's sermons. Some day, I hope to visit Thieme's church in Houston, Texas. I'd like to see the actual church where Pastor Thieme preached for over 50 years.

For now, I guess I'll be called a CDer as I'll be listening to the lessons on MP3 CDs. Today, I'll listen to my first lesson on my first MP3 CD. Also, I've sent in my order for my second CD. Still, I'll miss the tapes.

Rick Steve's France and Benelux DVD Review

I finished watching Rick Steve's France and Benelux DVD today. I bought so I could see some of the sights I'll get to see in France during the Globus tour of France I'll take in September. The DVD does show a number of highlights of various parts of France. You get to see the Musee D'Orsay (houses France collection of Impressionist paintings), the Palace of the Popes in Avignon, a Roman aqueduct that supplied water to Nimes for over 4 centuries, Nimes, the American Cemetery, the beaches of Normandy, the Bayeux Tapestry, Mont St. Michel, and Provence. In regards to the Benelux countries, you learn a little about Brussels and Bruges during the Belgium episode. During the Amsterdam episode, you learn about the canal cruise boats, eating raw herring, the notorious Red Light district (where they have legalized prostitution), coffee houses where you can buy marijuana and cafes where you can buy coffee, old fashioned and modern windmills, Haarlem as well as the Aalsmeer flower auction where flowers are bid on and shipped all over the world.

Benelux normally includes Luxembourg but Steve's doesn't include anything on at postage stamp size country. Steve's also introduces some of the tour guides who run Rick Steve tours in France, Belgium and Amsterdam. Quietly, he promotes his tours in the video while telling viewers of the various sights. He seems to encourage viewers to get out and see France but, I'd be leery of going off on my own unless I knew France pretty well and could understand some French so I could make myself understood there.

Overall, I found the DVD nice. I wouldn't care to take a Rick Steve's tour as I tend to like greater comfort travelling. It can give you some good ideas of places to see in the 3 countries. It also has some interesting information in it. I remember where he explained about the different level holes in the pool where the Roman aqueduct poured the water into in Nimes. The lowest level holes went to common wells throughout the city. Higher level holes led to pipes which carried water to the homes of the wealthy and to city fountains. Price wise, I believe the DVD cost me approximately $13 at Sam's Club. If you're going to France this would be a good DVD to buy to get some idea of the things you'll see there. Less so, if you're going to visit Belgium or the Netherlands. Cheers all!

The British Royal Family At Work DVD Review

As I've previously reported, I'm a bit of an anglophile. I'm fascinated with things British. Also, as I previously mentioned, I recently bought the BBC (British Broadcasting Corporation) DVD series Monarchy: The Royal Family at Work. This review is about that DVD series.

 

The series does what it says it does. It shows the British royal family at work. They promote hundreds of charities and causes. They recognize those who have done notable charity work. They promote British industry in the case of Prince Andrew. Lastly, the work to improve relations between various countries and Britain. They try to do all at an affordable cost to the British taxpayer. In the 5th episode, you learn that the British royal family costs each British taxpayer 68 pence ($1.34 U.S. at the current exchange rate of $1.99 U.S. to the British pound/Source of exchange rate: Yahoo Finance) per YEAR. To me, that seems very reasonable considering the hard work they do and the cache they bring to Britain.

 

However, some apparently don't agree. The series shows that some vehemently want to do away with the monarchy. They feel it doesn't serve any purpose. The BBC itself is said to have anti-monarchists working there which makes you wonder what their purpose was in doing the series. Were they truly neutral in the series or did they subtly try to convince people that the monarchy doesn't serve a real purpose anymore in Britain? In the series, the BBC isn't blatantly anti-monarch and yet, they fail to show the positive pound and pence impact they have on the charities they support. Princes William and Henry sponsored a concert which raised money for charities their mother the late Princess Diana of Wales previously sponsored. I don't know how much money the concert raised but the BBC definitely could've found out and told people just how much their efforts in pounds and pence helped those particular charities. They might've shown too the business that Prince Andrew helps generate for British industry. Scores of British charities seek royal patronage for a good reason. It helps them raise funds and it helps them raise awareness of their cause. In my opinion, the British royals do an invaluable job in this area alone.

 

The series does give a small idea of how hard the British royal life is. The royals themselves bring some of the difficulties up themselves. Prince Edward mentions that there isn't any training manual for what they're doing. Princess Anne mentions about how awful she must have been when she first started doing royal engagements. This would've been tougher for her as she was a bit shy at first. Prince Charles points out that he barely gets people to relax, have people see that he is human and begin to connect with him when he has to dash off to another engagement. It also shows the difficulty Prince Charles has in trying to show that the monarchy is relevant i.e. trying to actually do something about some of the problems the British people are dealing with. Lastly, you get to see the enormous press coverage that follows the British royals. The press coverage is a mixed blessing at best as it does help them promote the various charities and causes they support but, it also hounds their private lives and won't hesitate for a second to rip the royals if they make a misstep. The British royal family have had to learn about public relations and managing the Press the hard way. I think there is little question they have learned though their relationship with the media still can be difficult with their readiness to rip them for the slightest misstep.

 

Overall, I found the DVD series very interesting. It does a good job of explaining how the British monarchy works. The series composes of 5 episodes which last 6 hours total. There is an added 9 short bits of things they trimmed from the main episodes. An example was the Queen attending the opening of the James Bond film Casino Royale. Cost wise, the set cost me $65. You might be able to find it cheaper through Amazon or Ebay. If you're interested in the set, I would also recommend you read the companion book A Year with the Queen which I reviewed on February 17, 2008. You can find that blog under the tags Book Review and Queen Elizabeth II. Anglophiles and those just interested in the British royal family should find both book and DVD series interesting and help broaden their knowledge of just what the British royal family does.