12/30/2010
geneve
safe house
U ever have a feeling that you are in a spy movie. Vienna to Budapest to Prague to Geneva. Lots of castles, rivers and bridges. Throw in some mist and snow and russian embassies. Maybe u get the picture. Anyways the plan continues to develop at the geneva safe house. Commencing, naturally, with artisanal raclette paired with a Swiss Fendant.
Less obviously, we have made contact with our people in berlin. Arrangements have been made and we will fly under the radar (the Russians have our passports). A Berlin document drop is scheduled for jan 13th if there is a folded copy of the International Herald Tribune placed face down on the third park bench...
-Jill wonders how the Buscher brothers are doing.
-Enzo is pleased that we have not burned down his house.
-ACS has not skyped back.
-the fingerling potatoes are fully roasted and raclette is immanent.
-the bottle was dusty but the...
-free museum of natural history today
Thursday, December 30, 2010
Wednesday, December 29, 2010
happy birthday bro
12/29/2010
geneve
punching the clock. went to the russian embassy again. the dude recognizes us, or maybe just clare's hat. Miraculously all our ducks were in a row. they took our passports, several forms in triplicate and 560 chf and said that we could pick up the visas on the jan. 11. We are in Berlin at that time. You go figure. Without a passport u gotta stay 2 steps ahead of interpol. Latest plan has us renting a mitsubishi lancer(?) and leaving geneva on new years day in search of powder, jills friend (konstanze) and some jamming in berlin.
Went to the flea market today and came home with a Wu Tan Clan cd and Mel Brooks' "History of the World Part 1" dvd for about 6 bucks--score.
Happy Birthday Mr. Schick.
geneve
punching the clock. went to the russian embassy again. the dude recognizes us, or maybe just clare's hat. Miraculously all our ducks were in a row. they took our passports, several forms in triplicate and 560 chf and said that we could pick up the visas on the jan. 11. We are in Berlin at that time. You go figure. Without a passport u gotta stay 2 steps ahead of interpol. Latest plan has us renting a mitsubishi lancer(?) and leaving geneva on new years day in search of powder, jills friend (konstanze) and some jamming in berlin.
Went to the flea market today and came home with a Wu Tan Clan cd and Mel Brooks' "History of the World Part 1" dvd for about 6 bucks--score.
Happy Birthday Mr. Schick.
fondue and visas
12/28/2010
geneve
yesterday more ice skating into life size chess into fondue. One of the bizarre things about skating in europe has been rink etiquette--or lack thereof. All 8-11 year old kids skate the wrong way while pushing hard plastic sawhorses and try to take unsuspecting skaters out at the knees. Nobody says anything about this.
Finally got ben to the life size chess game which we had been promising since salzberg. He and clare had a good game at dusk which thankfully ended due to parental declaration of "darkness". Then started the saga of us trying to be on time for our dinner reservation at Café du Soleil. This entailed a desperation cab ride and haggardly sitting down in the wrong restaurant (next door) much to the amusement of the locals. Then we were told that someone had called to cancel our reservation but fortunately that parties name was Benson so they thought it fitting to insert hanson. somewhat confusing. But culminating successfully with assiette viandes sechees, a flowery white, salade paysanne, and the best fondue i have ever had which magically maintained a perfect consistency throughout the meal. Some secret ingredient is clearly involved (not nutmeg). speaking of grub (see pictures below).
geneve
yesterday more ice skating into life size chess into fondue. One of the bizarre things about skating in europe has been rink etiquette--or lack thereof. All 8-11 year old kids skate the wrong way while pushing hard plastic sawhorses and try to take unsuspecting skaters out at the knees. Nobody says anything about this.
Finally got ben to the life size chess game which we had been promising since salzberg. He and clare had a good game at dusk which thankfully ended due to parental declaration of "darkness". Then started the saga of us trying to be on time for our dinner reservation at Café du Soleil. This entailed a desperation cab ride and haggardly sitting down in the wrong restaurant (next door) much to the amusement of the locals. Then we were told that someone had called to cancel our reservation but fortunately that parties name was Benson so they thought it fitting to insert hanson. somewhat confusing. But culminating successfully with assiette viandes sechees, a flowery white, salade paysanne, and the best fondue i have ever had which magically maintained a perfect consistency throughout the meal. Some secret ingredient is clearly involved (not nutmeg). speaking of grub (see pictures below).
I feel a little better. Supposedly it is easier to get a russian mail order bride than a russian visa.
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| 3 dolla fish sandwich in istanbul |
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| all the tea in turkey |
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| big tea pot, bacheseray |
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| big cabbage, turkey |
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| dessert cafe central, vienna |
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| red berry tart in chamonix |
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| chocolate crepe, samos |
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| fried mussel sandwich in bodrum turkey |
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| gooseleg in budapest |
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| grapes off the vine in greece |
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| greek coffee situation |
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| happy hour in paros, greece |
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| greek honey on the train |
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| hungarian water fountain |
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| ice cream boat bodrum, turkey |
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| the pause that refreshes |
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| mastic picnic, chios, greece |
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| frothy coffee samos, greece |
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| tea and games selcuk, turkey |
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| colors |
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| turkey tea |
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| octopus drying in samos |
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| olives, mardin |
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| our spot in salzburg 3 nites ion a row |
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| color of the day is pomegranate |
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| big pig roasting over the open fire, praha |
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| pig knuckle @weinstein's restaurant |
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| ubiquitous anchovies |
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| best kebap in urfa, turkey |
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| s'nice |
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| jill getting in the spirit |
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| traditional dinner Harran, turkey |
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| citrus cart Tokat, turkey |
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| we all scream |
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| when in doubt...soup. |
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| dondurma preparation |
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| world wide phenomenon |
Monday, December 27, 2010
the trans mongolian express is back in play
december 27th 2010
geneve
happy birthday pop!
The trans-siberian express appears to be back in play. Jill just yelled: "chinese trains are cheap." Ben just yelled: "i don't want to go to russia. I want to go to india!" Decisions--decisions. On the lonely planet travel forum one writer describes the Mongolian steppes in January: "if you wear all the clothes you own, you might be comfortable." Thankfully, the train itself is supposed to be very warm.
Yesterday we made a crisp forced march to Carouge. The town was sunny and almost completely shut down. Many businesses are not opening until Jan 3. We did the free ice skating thing and had coffee at the one cafe that was open. We seem unable to make the 8oclock bus to the mountains. We might need a snow stop on the way to munich.
geneve
happy birthday pop!
The trans-siberian express appears to be back in play. Jill just yelled: "chinese trains are cheap." Ben just yelled: "i don't want to go to russia. I want to go to india!" Decisions--decisions. On the lonely planet travel forum one writer describes the Mongolian steppes in January: "if you wear all the clothes you own, you might be comfortable." Thankfully, the train itself is supposed to be very warm.
Yesterday we made a crisp forced march to Carouge. The town was sunny and almost completely shut down. Many businesses are not opening until Jan 3. We did the free ice skating thing and had coffee at the one cafe that was open. We seem unable to make the 8oclock bus to the mountains. We might need a snow stop on the way to munich.
Saturday, December 25, 2010
merry christmas
christmas 2010
geneva
still in bed @ 11:31am
A merry Christmas to all and hopes for a peaceful healthy new year. I will be making french toast for the critters and gearing up for a snow day tomorrow. How will we get up early enough to make the bus? Jill is plotting a serpentine path from the head of the Mekong Delta to Phnom Penh. So i made a technological breakthrough and, by myself, added a pictoral postscript ("Twins in Formation") to yesterday's blog entry. Ali G. says: "check it!"
geneva
still in bed @ 11:31am
A merry Christmas to all and hopes for a peaceful healthy new year. I will be making french toast for the critters and gearing up for a snow day tomorrow. How will we get up early enough to make the bus? Jill is plotting a serpentine path from the head of the Mekong Delta to Phnom Penh. So i made a technological breakthrough and, by myself, added a pictoral postscript ("Twins in Formation") to yesterday's blog entry. Ali G. says: "check it!"
Friday, December 24, 2010
plan a? plan b? no plan?
dec 24th 2010
geneve
9:07am and snowing hard
laying low in the geneva safe house and developing new tradecraft protocol for the coming months. the final mission in phnom penh requires clear thought. Pain chocolat and strong espresso are needed immediately as europe stretches out before us. we must fondue and fait du ski in the next few days as munich, berlin and kiev are on the horizon. We look to be on the free lodging trail east and the trans mongolian express and st petersburg are now a long shot.
clare has found a beverly cleary book, ben has fully embraced twitter as his medium of choice, and swiss tv features some english cartoons so the critters are relatively happy. it seems that homeschooling includes a winter break. who would have thought? The artiste claims that she will post some "people pictures" soon.
post script. 2:40 pm.
still pounding snow. i believe i have decoded the classified photo loading technique previously used only by the agent known as the artiste. TWIN MOMENTS:
geneve
9:07am and snowing hard
laying low in the geneva safe house and developing new tradecraft protocol for the coming months. the final mission in phnom penh requires clear thought. Pain chocolat and strong espresso are needed immediately as europe stretches out before us. we must fondue and fait du ski in the next few days as munich, berlin and kiev are on the horizon. We look to be on the free lodging trail east and the trans mongolian express and st petersburg are now a long shot.
clare has found a beverly cleary book, ben has fully embraced twitter as his medium of choice, and swiss tv features some english cartoons so the critters are relatively happy. it seems that homeschooling includes a winter break. who would have thought? The artiste claims that she will post some "people pictures" soon.
post script. 2:40 pm.
still pounding snow. i believe i have decoded the classified photo loading technique previously used only by the agent known as the artiste. TWIN MOMENTS:
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| air guitar, athens |
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| Aleece, selcuk, turkey |
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| twin moment, amorgos |
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| wall art, athens |
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| beach style, amorgos |
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| buddies in vienna |
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| campos, ikaria |
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| double trouble on the way to tokat, hungary |
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| dune buggy, pythagoras, samos |
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| flowers meteora, greece |
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| flowers, mesta, chios |
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| hand line fishing, river otel |
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| games in selcuk |
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| going arabian, cappadocia |
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| arm placement, river valley, turkey |
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| cappadocian dondurma session |
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| ill-conceived late night ferry plan, ikaria sidewalk |
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| midnight swim, limnionas, samos |
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| left luggage, prague- all of our stuff fits in this size! |
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| small door with animals inside, chios |
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| measuring, levrossos, amorgos |
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| nemrut dagi, turkey |
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| ikarian beast of burden |
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| post boot, ferry from piraeus |
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| prater, vienna |
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| salzburg skating, place de mozart |
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| salzburg first snowballs |
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| hair appointment at the music museum in prague |
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| twin castles, chios, turkey |
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| little minnows redux, seychelles beach, ikaria |
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| ikarian shallows |
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| tabak, turkey |
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| twin concern, mardin, turkey |
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| salzburg skating session |
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| twin goat moment, prague |
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| I can like those big flakes, geneva |
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| tourguides, cluj napolca, romania |
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| limestone waterfall, on the way to bacheseray, turkey |
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| windmill amorgos |
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| on the yellow submarine, prague |
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