4 Years Ago, I Proposed

This is a repost from December 27, 2006. For all pictures, click here.

This will be a long post. I've been busy the last week.

I'm engaged. To Lindsay. Just so we're all on the same page.

I proposed in Central Park at The Lake. I think she said yes.

We flew to NYC on Tuesday after Christmas with her family. We got to Newark and took a shuttle to our hotel. More than two hours later in that rush-hour traffic, we got to see some of the best views of the city from our room.

That was the first night. I had planned on proposing the next day, Wednesday, mainly to prevent the expectations from making the trip have a weird vibe to it. Lindsay had to be clueless if she didn't think I would propose in NYC. (I did tease her a bit by dropping hints all during the time with her family before we left. I wanted to have some bit of surprise.)

On that Wednesday, we went to the Museum of Natural History after a quick bagel and lox breakfast (remember this part). This was my favorite museum as a kid and used it as an excuse to get us to Central Park.

My plan was to propose somewhere in the Park. I just needed a way to get her there without tipping my hand.

After the museum, which was slammed with people (part of a trend during our entire stay), we walked into the Park. Lindsay was being a bit of a pill and I had to insist we walk into the Park. Luckily, it's one of those clear, crisp East Coast days. I was concerned as I didn't want to propose anywhere with crowds or in any overtly public way. And, the entire time, I had the ring box in my inside jacket pocket, wedged under my armpit so I knew where it was.

We finally get to The Lake.

I mumble something sweet. I honestly don't remember the exact words. Something about how we love to walk outside together and how special she is. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I was sweet and romantic.

I start to fumble for the ring box but it's in that weird inside pocket. And I had never worn that jacket since I bought it. So, there we are. Lindsay looking at me as I grope around my armpit like I want to make fart sounds.

I get the box out and get down on a knee.

She starts to cry.

I ask her to marry me. I opened the box to show her the ring.

I think she said yes. I gave her the tissues I had brought with me. Yes, I'm that prepared.

So she can put it on and look at it (for the first time- she might have designed it but she never saw the entire ring all together), we walk over to a nearby gazebo. As soon as our ass cheeks hit the bench, some people sit across from us and ruin the moment.

It's hard to be romantic with a family of three sitting across from you.

So, we walk to The Lake's edge so she can finally put it on.

This picture turned out pretty well. Very sparkly.

Then we started calling people. I had previously asked Lindsay's Mom and Dad for permission so they knew it was coming. Just not when. So it wasn't a surprise as Lindsay told people.

From there, we went to Jean Georges, near the Park. I reserved this place to celebrate. We had a great lunch (my tuna appetizer was amazing) where Lindsay kept flashing her ring at me. I think she was happy with it.

Jumping ahead a bit, after lunch and that lox bagel for breakfast, Lindsay began to get sick. Needless to say, she had some trouble keeping food down. It was either the bagel and lox (I had the same) or the chicken she ate from Jean George.

Regardless of the culprit, for the rest of the trip, Lindsay would be sick. One might suggest that the ring made her sick. Lindsay assures me this is not the case. I just know what I saw. She got a ring. Then was sick the rest of the time.

The rest of the trip was fun but somewhat limited by how close she could be to a bathroom.

For all pictures, click here.

We saw one horrible show (Company) and one very good show, Spring Awakening.

I saw the big Cal win (thanks to Lindsay's illness, or was she just being sweet?), had some overrated meals (Veritas, which was practically empty), had a great set of desserts at a Japanese dessert bar (Kyotofu), had lunch at sushi place that Lindsay enjoyed much more than me, Sushi Yahuda, and walked around pretty much all of lower Manhattan.

It's time to leave NYC so we head to Newark. We get there and try to check in. (The plan was to get there early to avoid the New Year's Eve traffic, and catch the end of the Jet game.)

The kiosk won't let me check in. We get help. Long story short, Orbitz cancelled my reservation. Why? No one knows. I had tried to upgrade my ticket before we left but for some reason, known only to the assholes at Orbitz, we had nothing. We're at Newark Airport, scheduled but not ticketed on a flight that is now full.

Luckily, the ticket agent took pity on us (Lindsay subtling mentioning,several times, how we just got engaged) and got us seats on another flight. At Kennedy.

But this time, we were upgraded to Business Class using our miles.

So, after a $120 cab ride through Staten Island (one more borough for Lindsay), we get to Kennedy. We board and are happy.

We're seated in one of those reclining leather chairs, with plenty of room ahead of us. We had a burger at the airport before boarding, which sucked, as we were wined and dined the entire flight. They even gave us personal DVD players with movies to play at our seats. It was exactly what I wanted to celebrate our engagement. It was a round about way of getting there but we got there.

We got back to SF in time to celebrate the New Year by conking out soon after 2007 started.

Iceland: Shark, Puffin, Black Sand Beaches, Volcano, Glaciers, Geothermic Pools

Instead of writing about Iceland, I think it's better, and easier, to just show some of my favorite pictures and videos.

We stayed in Reykjavik and took day trips to the north, east, and south from there. I ate shark, puffin, a great hot dog, and bad Mexican food.

Let's just look at pictures and videos.


Icelandic Ponies necking and rolling the dirt.


Eating shark.

The shark is on the toothpicks.

Skogafoss and a rainbow.

The smoked puffin is at the bottom. It was hard to get a true flavor since there was so many blueberry items on the plate. They were in season so they went blueberry crazy.

Blue Lagoon, where I relaxed in this geothermic pool and algae.

Best meal in Iceland: Icelandic Fish and Chips.

Bæjarins Beztu Pylsur dog. Delicious with raw onions and crispy onions and a remoulade.

Icelandic Street Art.

Viking Sculpture.

Where Ronnie and Gorby met to sort out the Cold War.

At the Pond.

Not photoshopped.

Down in a hole...

Eyjafjallajokul, the volcano/glacier that caused all that trouble.

Need more pictures?

Get the flash player here: http://www.adobe.com/flashplayer

Scotland: Haggis, Rod Stewart, Slaraffenland, Blood Sausage and Ox Tongue

We took the train from London to Glasgow. I had high expectations for Scotland since we were over jet lag and feeling well rested.

From the station, we cabbed to our hotel and were very happy with what we saw. Blythswood Square was situated 10 minutes from the shopping district and close enough to the West End to see less touristy areas. We enjoyed our stay and the included breakfast each morning.

The room

The highlights were the meal at The Ubiquitous Chip Restaurant, the tour to the Highlands, the lunch in Edinburgh at The Grainstore Restaurant, and the bands we saw (Slaraffenland and Social Services).

We had agreed to have one fancy meal in each place we stayed. This would be the get dressed and look presentable night. For Glasgow, we picked the The Ubiquitous Chip . The menu read well so we were excited. By far, this was my favorite meal of the trip.

Haggis!

I started with the The Chip’s Own (since 1971) Venison Haggis, Mashed Potatoes, Carrot Crisp and Turnip Cream. Amazing dish. For main, I had the Aberdeen Angus Fillet Steak au Poivre, Potato Gratin, Cherry Tomatoes, Spinach and Wild Mushrooms. The only let down was the wine pairing. I let the sommelier pair for me and he picked a super jammy Aussie Shiraz that was just too much for me.

The meal was worth every pence.

The next day, we toured the West Highlands. Mike, our guide to the Scottish Highlands (Oban, Glencoe, West Highland Lochs And Castles) was personable, fun, and informative. He took unscheduled stops to show us waterfalls and offer tidbits on what we were seeing. He would answer any question and was a genuinely nice guy who enjoyed his job.

The only minor issue we had was the music he played during the tour. It was a tad annoying to hear Rod Stewart over and over but I'm sure if we chimed up, he would have stopped playing it. It was a case where we didn't want to offend since he was such a good guy.

The sites were stunning and it was a small enough group where we didn't feel like cattle. Great day.

And, we learned that you can make a 4 day hike through it, with nights in b&bs. Next time, if Lindsay is game.

The day trip to Edinburgh the next day was enjoyable up until to the downpour and the expensive and crowded Castle tour. I was cranky on all accounts. Then lunch. That saved the day.

Still wet, at the Castle.

The Grainstore Restaurant was near the Castle and provided a break from the rain and a palate cleanser (pun intended) from the Castle. I had the Stornoway black pudding with apples and watercress and then the ox heart for main.

How Scottish is that? The black pudding didn't have that overpowering iron taste. The ox tongue was just ok but still very tasty.

We ended our stay in Glasgow by seeing a few bands. I had bought the tickets to see Slaraffenland but it was Social Services who were much better. It reminded me how much I miss going to hear bands where people don't talk during songs (as much as the States).

Here are the rest of the pictures.

Get the flash player here: http://www.adobe.com/flashplayer

London: Strike, Offal, and Indian Food

(I'll be posting more about the trip as I have time this week.)

We began our trip in London. We wanted an easy place (ease of transportation and language) to start our trip.

The flight on Virgin was pretty bad, marred by talkative passengers who chatted loudly through a redeye and by repeated on-board announcements telling us that the entertainment system was still broken. Yes, they already got their letter.

The hotel, Athenaeum Hotel, was nicely located in Mayfair and close to Green Park. The hotel was fine: not great, not bad. Our room had a welcome teddy bear that we were pitched to bring home (at a hefty cost). I took a picture and left the bear.

London was mellow: we met with some friends of mine from the Camino, enjoyed some museums, and ate some pretty good meals. For all the pictures, click here.

The noteworthy meals were St. John and Dishroom. 

St John was memorable for a few reasons: it had earned  a Michelin star and it cost us $50 to get there and back. Thank you, Tube Stikers! (I'm glad you're being replaced by vending machines!) My highlight was the roasted marrow with parsley salad. Amazing. They are known for their nose to tail dining but the more exotic dishes weren't as compelling. We weren't wussy (as you will learn from the other stuff I ate later in the trip.) It was good to try but no need to go back.

Dishoom was the best meal in London. Indian food tapas. A little of this, a little of that. All flavorful and well done. We also had the best service of any place in London.

Kudos to Stephen who explained that London waitstaff will treat us badly and to not expect anything more than them bringing the food to you.  (When we had lunch with them and their kids, Stephen asked the waitress to bring the kids' meals first. She replied, “You’ll get the food when it’s ready.”)

In all, we had an enjoyable time in London. It was a transition and felt that way. We probably stayed a day too long but it was a good place to get our feet under us after the redeye from SFO.

First picture together from the trip.

Eating paella at the Portobello Market.

Taken by Golda and Stephen's son.

That one does.

With Golda and Stephen.

Sassy at the Victoria and Albert Museum.

At tea.

My non GF goodies.

How dainty.

The best combo of food? Lindsay refused to eat here.

Here is the slideshow of the UK pictures:

Get the flash player here: http://www.adobe.com/flashplayer

Why Won't They Let Us Get Home?

I'm writing this at Seatac on Saturday morning.

We should have arrived at 545pm in Seattle, Friday night, for enough time to make the 759 flight to SFO. I should not still be in Seattle.

We left Iceland at 745pm their time. Friday. It was supposed to be at 5pm.

We still don't know why. They were vague and mentioned only "missed connections".

We got through the very odd, free for all boarding process and sat in our isle seats in the back of the plane. We had high hopes after flying this airline from Glasgow to Iceland.

It was a clusterfuck this time.

Loud passengers talking over rows, slamming overhead compartments by flight attendants, getting clipped by the fat assed flight attendant every time she passed our seats, Lindsay getting her hair pulled by people grabbing her seat, Lindsay having someone lean over her (while she was just about to doze) in order to talk to her seat-mate. It was comical. We got to the point we we so flabbergasted by the staff and passengers that we gave up caring. We were defeated.

Am I so old that I remember that flying used to be more civil than a Muni trip?

It was also bright the entire time since we were pretty much going with the sun. No real chance for sleeping since the cabin lights never dimmed.

Even before we left Iceland, we knew it would be tough getting the connection to SFO so I tried to get info before we left Iceland.

Priceline said to call USAir, USAir said to call United, United said to call USAir. Thanks to Skype, I just had to buy wifi to get this gobblygook.

So I hoped the folks at Seattle would help once we arrived.

Customs was manned by only 2 guys so we knew that would hurt our chances of catching a later flight. We were told weather delays in SF would give us a chance if we hustled.

We got the the USAir desk but they said to go to United.

When we finally got to United, we were told that we missed the delayed flight. We were stuck in SEA.

Icelandic Air gave us a hotel voucher (admission of guilt!) so we stayed right near the airport to try for a late morning flight. Today.

The hotel was what you would expect.

I hope we are both just psychosomatically itching.

As of now, we are in limbo. The flight we're re-booked on shows "delayed", weather in SF is foggy and we can only wish for the best.

I'm still hopeful we will get home within 24 hours of when we were supposed to.

Pictures will be posted tomorrow after I decompress at home with some off the scotch I bought.

Serenity now!

Puffins, Waterfalls, and a Volcano

In the last 24 hours, I saw a black sand beach, the volcano that caused all the trouble earlier this year, ate puffin, and an amazing waterfall with a rainbow.

We rented a car and drove a few hours to Vik, on the south coast. It's a very sleepy town, with one open restaurant (another burger). Getting there was fun.

We saw a few waterfalls, glaciers, the famous volcano, and an ash cloud from all the ash being blown around. It was bad. I can only imagine how bad it was with the eruption.

The volcano did some damage. We saw construction guys still digging out the streams from ash build up. There are miles of dead zones as you drive past. It looks so harmless now.

Tomorrow, we head north to see cliffs and more some waterfront towns.

Sone pictures from the phone:


You can barely see the rainbow. I have better pictures on my camera. For context, the volcano is right behind this waterfall. We saw a postcard with lava flowing near this same waterfall.


Famous iconic church at Vik.


Black sand at Vik.


The puffin from last night's dinner. There's some puffin arranged at 6 o'clock. It was ok, a bit rubbery but a nice bit of smoke and salt. But, when mixed with the other stuff on the plate, mainly blueberries, it was lost. Done and done.

A few more days left....

The Golden Circle

Today started with a walk along the water and then finished with a tour to see the world famous "golden circle" of three sites.

Very pretty sites but the tour sucked. Maybe 40 minutes of cool things to see and the other 7 hours were just driving around (still pretty but not as pretty from a bus with wet and grumpy passengers) and stopping at gift shops. How many stuffed puffins do you need to see? The correct answer is 2.

Some pictures from the day:



Before the tour, we walked along the water. This is the famous meeting place of Gorby and Ronnie.




Magic mushrooms?




Gulfoss, a badass waterfall.




Geysir, bubbling.




Tourist crap for 8.50US.
Insane.

Tomorrow is the Blue Lagoon to relax in hot springs and algae.

Then, we're renting a car for 2 days for some day trips on our own. That tour today soured us big time. Freedom from tour people!