Simon in 2003:
Simon after winning the Apprentice:
Tuesday, July 31, 2007
Simon the Apprentice
In the UK, they have a version of the game show The Apprentice. In the US version, contestants vie for a chance to work for Donald Trump, one of the most successful business persons around. In the UK version, it's Sir Alan Sugar. Today, I've just been informed by a friend of mine that this guy Simon Ambrose, who we were hanging out with for about a week or so in Cape Town back in the fall of 2003, was the winner of the latest show in UK. I thought... what a small world. Too bad he wasn't one I'd kept in better touch with. What's more unbelievable tho, is how unexpected someone like him would win a show like that. Basically, my friend describes our last memories of him as being "pissed and moon walking in the bar in Cape Town." Actually, that's all we remember about him... being drunk at the Ashanti hostel just about every night. Crazy world....
24
This year there is no summer in Holland. It's been rainy and cold most of the days. Given that and the fact that I've just about seen and done everything I want to in Holland, I'm not ashamed to admit that I've managed to spend yet another week watching TV. This time, the show is Fox's hit show 24. I just finished watching season 1 and will begin season 2 soon. Considering they're about to air season 7 in January, I am waaaay behind the bandwagon and an intro to the show probably is not necessary. For those who aren't aware, however, the show is about a day in the life of Counter-Terrorist Unit (CTU) Agent Jack Bauer. Each episode represents an hour in the day, and there are 24 episodes in a season, one for each hour in the day.
Season 1 was mostly about preventing an assasination attempt on a presidential candidate and saving Jack's family from the same terrorists who try to kidnap them for leverage. It's got a totally unexpected ending and I'm looking forward to season 2.
Season 1 was mostly about preventing an assasination attempt on a presidential candidate and saving Jack's family from the same terrorists who try to kidnap them for leverage. It's got a totally unexpected ending and I'm looking forward to season 2.
Monday, July 16, 2007
Heroes
I just finished watching Season 1 of Heroes. I was so hooked it took me just about a week to finish watching all 23 episodes (42 minutes each). The show is about these people who begin to discover that they have super powers. Naturally, some try to take over the world while others save the world. Yeah, it sounds like it should be a comic book but hey, did you not like the movie version of Superman, Batman, or the X-men? Heroes is also much better made with its complex plot cleverly revealed in each episode. Not to mention there are several hotties in the show. Yeah, the above is my fav - Milo Ventimiglia, who plays Peter Patrelli. He also played Rocky's son in Rocky Balboa.
Sunday, July 8, 2007
The 7 New Wonders of the World: Results
Here they are: http://www.new7wonders.com/index.php?id=633. It's Chitzen Itza, Petra, Christ Redeemer, Great Wall, Machu Picchu, Colloseum and the Taj.
Monday, July 2, 2007
Switzerland
Right after France, we drove onto Switzerland for a week. (Pictures here.) The objective was to get as much hiking in as possible. Unfortunately I'm not so fit these days and I think I got about all I could handle:
Day 1: Zermatt & the Matterhorn
We arrived in Zermatt on Saturday, 23 June after parking our car in Tasch and taking the 15 minute train in. Zermatt is car free, so once there, we had to take an electric bus or taxi to our hostel. Our initial plan was to stay here 3-4 days, but bad weather was supposed to roll in on Monday so we decided to stay only two nights. On Sunday, we paid 85CHF to take the cable car up to Kleine Matterhorn where we nearly froze to death. We also stopped at Schwarzsee Paradise where there is a lake. Since we'd seen most of the great views from top of the cable cars, we did a 3 hour hike (2 up, 1 down) between Furi and Schwartzsee for the sake of exercise. And boy did I need it.... I was struggling a bit and was quite sore the next day. A rest day off the bat :P but fortunately it was a travel day for us anyways with the crap weather that actually rolled in.
Day 2: Locarno
Since Switzerland was a small country, we thought it would be hard to escape the rain that was expected over the next few days. Christian had a great idea though, to go to Locarno. Locarno is a town off of Lago Maggiore in the Italian part of Switzerland. It supposedly gets 2200 hours of sunshine a year, most out of any place in the country. While the weather this day wasn't good, it was supposed to be fine from Tuesday. Most of this day was spent enjoying views from the high mountain passes. While most people, or guys, probably would enjoy the driving on the tight turns along the mountain edge, I often had thoughts of the car sliding off down the cliff.
Day 3: Valle Verzasca
We found a beautiful, and easy :) hike for today in the valley of Verzasca. It could have been a 4.5 hour hike, but because we couldn't be inconvenienced to work our schedule around the limited bus times (once every 2 hours) for the trip back, we parked somewhere in the middle of the route (around Gerra) and did a round-trip of the last half of the route to Sonogno and back. It ended up being only 1.5 hours each way, but it was a nice hike. My favorite part of the route was a walk through an old abandoned village or something where the houses were made of stone.
Although we didn't hike there, we did make a stop in Lavertezzo where we saw the popular bridge Ponte dei Salti. It was indeed a beautiful area, but a bit over run by a tourist. There is also a big dam on the way into the valley. There is also the Froda waterfall. If you get a chance, definitely do the entire hike. I wish I did.
Day 4: San Gottardo
On this day we were heading up to the Interlaken area, but we decided to do a hike along the way on the moutain pass of Saint Gothard. It started in Saint Gothard, a place that had like 4 buildings. We had a rocky start, not knowing exactly where the trail was. Probably we should have invested in a real map rather than the cheap trail guide we had. Then again, it wouldn't have mattered because we lost it about half way through the hike. Not even an hour into the hike, we started to notice some dodgy looking clouds and thought about turning back. The hike was meant to be 4.5 hours and it could be damn miserable at 2500 meters if bad weather struck. We decided to take our chances and kept on trucking though. It seemed like a rather long climb for me to go up 400 meters in 2 hours over the first ridge. Once over the ridge tho, the rest was not so bad. The trail took us around few more lakes and some snow covered areas. We weren't really sure if we were going the right way, but we saw another couple coming the opposite direction and was able to confirm we were going in the right direction. It was a good thing because there were some snow flurries by now. By the time we got to the last 30 minutes of the hike at a lower altitude, it was full blown rain. But it felt sooooo good when it was all done. I liked this hike a lot too.
Day 5: Jungfrau region (Stechelberg - Oberhornsee)
Today we decided to tackle something close to where we were staying in Stechelberg. Fortunately, there was a trail that started right behind our hotel. Turned out to be a pretty good one too. It was a few hours climb to Obersteinberg where we had lunch with a fantastic view of the alps (above) and a waterfall. The trail then continued onward to Oberhornsee, a pretty blue lake, and then back down. We made some bad decisions on the way down tho and took the steepest way down I think. That was rather painful. This day we walked for at least 7 hours.
Day 6: Jungfrau region (Allmend-Klein Scheidegg)
Today we did a short hike, but it was a really nice one. We took the train from Lauterbrunnen up to Allmend where we began a 3 to 4 hour hike to Kleine Scheidegg via Biglenalp. Aside from great views of Jungfrau, Monch, and Eiger, there were lots of trees, wildflowers, cows, and other little variety in the trail that made it an interesting hike. It was not such a difficult one either, tho after the last couple days it was difficult enough for me. The only bad part were the flies - they were everywhere. From Kleine Scheidegg, we took a train back down (I hate going downhill) and had an early finish.
Day 1: Zermatt & the Matterhorn
We arrived in Zermatt on Saturday, 23 June after parking our car in Tasch and taking the 15 minute train in. Zermatt is car free, so once there, we had to take an electric bus or taxi to our hostel. Our initial plan was to stay here 3-4 days, but bad weather was supposed to roll in on Monday so we decided to stay only two nights. On Sunday, we paid 85CHF to take the cable car up to Kleine Matterhorn where we nearly froze to death. We also stopped at Schwarzsee Paradise where there is a lake. Since we'd seen most of the great views from top of the cable cars, we did a 3 hour hike (2 up, 1 down) between Furi and Schwartzsee for the sake of exercise. And boy did I need it.... I was struggling a bit and was quite sore the next day. A rest day off the bat :P but fortunately it was a travel day for us anyways with the crap weather that actually rolled in.Day 2: Locarno
Since Switzerland was a small country, we thought it would be hard to escape the rain that was expected over the next few days. Christian had a great idea though, to go to Locarno. Locarno is a town off of Lago Maggiore in the Italian part of Switzerland. It supposedly gets 2200 hours of sunshine a year, most out of any place in the country. While the weather this day wasn't good, it was supposed to be fine from Tuesday. Most of this day was spent enjoying views from the high mountain passes. While most people, or guys, probably would enjoy the driving on the tight turns along the mountain edge, I often had thoughts of the car sliding off down the cliff.
Day 3: Valle Verzasca
We found a beautiful, and easy :) hike for today in the valley of Verzasca. It could have been a 4.5 hour hike, but because we couldn't be inconvenienced to work our schedule around the limited bus times (once every 2 hours) for the trip back, we parked somewhere in the middle of the route (around Gerra) and did a round-trip of the last half of the route to Sonogno and back. It ended up being only 1.5 hours each way, but it was a nice hike. My favorite part of the route was a walk through an old abandoned village or something where the houses were made of stone. Although we didn't hike there, we did make a stop in Lavertezzo where we saw the popular bridge Ponte dei Salti. It was indeed a beautiful area, but a bit over run by a tourist. There is also a big dam on the way into the valley. There is also the Froda waterfall. If you get a chance, definitely do the entire hike. I wish I did.
Day 4: San Gottardo
On this day we were heading up to the Interlaken area, but we decided to do a hike along the way on the moutain pass of Saint Gothard. It started in Saint Gothard, a place that had like 4 buildings. We had a rocky start, not knowing exactly where the trail was. Probably we should have invested in a real map rather than the cheap trail guide we had. Then again, it wouldn't have mattered because we lost it about half way through the hike. Not even an hour into the hike, we started to notice some dodgy looking clouds and thought about turning back. The hike was meant to be 4.5 hours and it could be damn miserable at 2500 meters if bad weather struck. We decided to take our chances and kept on trucking though. It seemed like a rather long climb for me to go up 400 meters in 2 hours over the first ridge. Once over the ridge tho, the rest was not so bad. The trail took us around few more lakes and some snow covered areas. We weren't really sure if we were going the right way, but we saw another couple coming the opposite direction and was able to confirm we were going in the right direction. It was a good thing because there were some snow flurries by now. By the time we got to the last 30 minutes of the hike at a lower altitude, it was full blown rain. But it felt sooooo good when it was all done. I liked this hike a lot too.
Day 5: Jungfrau region (Stechelberg - Oberhornsee)
Today we decided to tackle something close to where we were staying in Stechelberg. Fortunately, there was a trail that started right behind our hotel. Turned out to be a pretty good one too. It was a few hours climb to Obersteinberg where we had lunch with a fantastic view of the alps (above) and a waterfall. The trail then continued onward to Oberhornsee, a pretty blue lake, and then back down. We made some bad decisions on the way down tho and took the steepest way down I think. That was rather painful. This day we walked for at least 7 hours.
Day 6: Jungfrau region (Allmend-Klein Scheidegg)
Today we did a short hike, but it was a really nice one. We took the train from Lauterbrunnen up to Allmend where we began a 3 to 4 hour hike to Kleine Scheidegg via Biglenalp. Aside from great views of Jungfrau, Monch, and Eiger, there were lots of trees, wildflowers, cows, and other little variety in the trail that made it an interesting hike. It was not such a difficult one either, tho after the last couple days it was difficult enough for me. The only bad part were the flies - they were everywhere. From Kleine Scheidegg, we took a train back down (I hate going downhill) and had an early finish.I must say that while I love hiking, I got my fix to last me a while. In the meantime, I need to get back into the routine of working out and being fit again. It's summer so I have no excuses. A work out... everyday... well almost everyday... starting... tomorrow :P
Day 6: Bern
We decided to leave on a Saturday so that we didn't have to do the 10 hour drive all in one go. On this day we drove up to Germany through a stop in Bern. You'd never know this place was the capital of Switzerland. It's small and charming. We walked around the place for only an hour. Einstein's house might have been cool to see though. Maybe next time....
Versailles, France
The day after the air show we decided to go to Versailles. I had been there once before back in January of 1998, but I had wanted to see it during the summer for the gardens. The palace is beautiful, and so are the gardens. Unfortunately weather wasn't cooperating so half of the time we were getting wet. Still, there was enough sunshine at times to enjoy it all.
I find Versailles interesting mostly because of the history behind the place. If you're not already familiar with the biography of Marie Antoinette, I suggest checking out the story (and not the Hollywood version of it).
Paris Air Show
My boyfriend is big into aerospace and had plans to go to the Paris Air Show. I hadn't been to an air show in about 10 years, and since this was supposed to be THE air show, I thought I'd tag along. Luckily, after hitting up on every connection I know in the industry, I manage to score free tickets for the two of us, and then some. Good thing, because I was a bit disappointed. Don't get me wrong - the show is HUGE. There were tons of booths and displays from all walks of the industry. The disappointing part was the aerial show. The two that I remember from the U.S. had more interesting stunts and formation flying. These were mostly solo flights.
The highlight of my day was seeing Johnny, a.k.a. Mr. Travolta. I noticed a crowd of people gathering so naturally my nosy self had to go look. Then there comes this guy strutting along and posing in front of jets like he's a super model. I'm thinking... who the hell is this guy?? My eye sight is not so great. When he got closer, about 5 minutes later, I finally recognized him as John Travolta. By then I had missed some great photo ops but I continued to follow the crowd to play paparazzi and got couple of photos. I had this urge to yell out "I love you, Johnny!!", like the typical crazy American. However, seeing how reserved everyone else was, I thought I'd keep to myself. Besides, I wasn't ready to be escorted off of the premises just yet.
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