European Vacation - At Sergios Work

I wanted to visit his job because he works at one of those Waste to Energy Plants and I had never been to one...

High up in the mountains the dump trucks come and drop off the refuse, they go through an incinration process and then power a turbine, if I am not mistakedn the produce about 5MW of energy here at peak capacity! Very impressive and they even sell some back to the grid when the plant does not require using all of it!



He seems to like to as well... just below us is a metal grating that shows you how far the drop is, and I was not even scared!

I wonder if we have these in the states?

European Vacation - Drive to Andorra

So we got back in the car after lunch and were headed for the mountains! The drive out of Barcelona could not have been prettier! Great day and soon we would be with some good friends!

The drive itself was not bad at all, even after driving on the right hand side since Aug. it did not throw me off at all when I got back on the left side....

There was some great scenery along the way and here are just some shots to share...

The cool thing was all the little towns we came across on our way up! Not sure how to explain it but I always find those places the most fascinating becuase I imagine their history and how everyone knows each other and well, when I am long gone form this town their life goes on...then I think back and wonder what is happening in that little town I passed by, my guess not much!

anyhow...

This was the last turn into the final tunnel we had to take Cadi I believe was the name...On the other side Andorra!

European Vacation (Part 1)

My good friend Sergio was getting married On Friday Nov. 25th 2011, I had not seen him since Germany 2006 world cup when we parted ways after the defeat against Germany! I just had to go and see him and be a part of this wonderful occasion, plus I would have the chance to take Steph to Europe and I thought it would be fun. I took a few days off from work and we left Wed. night and after a decent flight we mdae it to Barcelona (ouor first stop)

I should back up and say the Air France flight was good except for CDG airport! What a nighmare, I do not recall it being so bad and hard to get around anyways! We were glad to be in Spain. We rented a car, with no GPS (living on the edge) but really who needs one when you got Steph...

Studying the map at one of the lights she managed to get us to "Las Ramblas"
We parked off on a side street and started to walk!

Here is the first official European Vacation Picture :)

On las Ramblas I cam across the Barca ticket sales office (or one of them) too bad we could not stay until Tuesday because they were going play Rayo!!

It was a beautiful day and what struck Steph and I the most was the amount of people out and about, either shopping, eating or simply sitting down watch others go by. Yes there were a fair share of tourists but these wer no doubt locals just enjoying the day!

I just love the colors here and had to take a picture for my collection of World Graffiti!

We cam across "La Boqueria" and had to walk in and see what the specials for the day were...


Full of people again shopping and eating and just having a great time....what economic depression?

We were starting to get hungry and soon we had to leave for our 3 hr journey up the mountains to Andorra...

Here at the plaza towards the end of the peatonal



We stepped into a tapas place and just had a great feast, a bit pricey but deicious none the less! For the record it was , patatas bravas, pulpo, pan con tomatillo, jamon, ensalada rusa, gambas al ajillo, and tortilla!! Yum Yum Yum!

First weekend together

It was nice that Steph came in on Thursday because then we had the weekend to catch up and get her use to the environment and things that were nearby (i.e. Fair Glen hiking trail) so she could get around the following week. When I was last here with Sasha we just climed up to the top of the hill, this time we did the hike, and it was fun! About 5ks in all we did.

There are 4 different trails you can do and it is literally about a 20 min walk from our house so it is a nice option to have and especially for Sasha, he loves it!

We even had to cross a little river...


Then the following day we drove our to Walkhaven, the off leash dog park that is about a 40 min drive from our house. On the way there we saw this bike race and wondered what it was, later we found out it was the Momentum 94.7 Cycle Race...it is in fact a 94.7 km race

At walk havebn we also walked around and played with Sasha and he made some friends, and then we had a bite to eat...

As you can see it is always interesting to mix food and dogs, Thank God Sasha is not like that :)

Then on the way back we had to re-route but got a close up of some of the racers and cheered them on. It was a great start to the forst weekend in SA together!

My Steph!

It was hard to believe as I drove to the airport that it had been 3 months without having seen Steph. We had experienced with this a bit but never this long. When we first got married she was working in Sprinfiled and I was obviously in Chicago (I almost forgot about this) we made it work and saw each other on weekends! This is no comparison...although I was getting use to my routine and being all alone, it was tough and I was happy that she was here and that I was on my way there...to pick her up

In fact I took this picture while driving to document the time and realized she was about to land in a few minutes! Time to speed up :)



I stood there as most do wondering if she made it okay and when would she come out, all around me were reunions of families and couples and I could not wait to have mine!

I saw here from a distance looking around and was getting my camera ready, the old man next to me said I needed to get a close up :)

She was in great spirits and had made it fine, we caught up on all the events of the last few days and went home...

The next big moment was between Steph & Sasha she had not seen him for 2 months more or less and was very excited to see him. I think at first he was confused and as you can see from this shot had his ears back in a submissive yet confused look and reaction.




After a few minutes he figrued it out...Mom was here and the party began!!!

From now on the family is together and the real adventure begins...also Steph will contribute to the site in the near future.

Sasha in the Pool

It has not been easy since Sasha is very timid when it comes to water. It took as a while for him to be comfortable going into Lake Michigan and towards the end he would go in no hesitation. Not very deep but he would do it. So now I was determined to teach him how to swim so when his Mom arrives we could suprise her. I figured I would get him comfortable with the first step of the pool so I let him play there for a bit.

He is enjoying it but not sure why I got out?

Brought him the ball he lovs playing with it in water, I am convinced he is doing some sort of experiment with the ball. (He was a Russian physicist in his past life)

Ok so now it was time to see if he would go to step # 2 I made him drop the ball


But he just watched it float away he tried to paw at it a few times but he would not do it, so I tried to grab him under his belly to see if he would swin and he just started flailing his legs around and was scared even though I had him tightly. I think I will have to wait till mom gets here to see if she can help :)

More to come...

Our Stuff Has Arrived!!!!!

So I got a call this morning around 9:40 am saying they were here! I had been waiting at home since 9am since they said between 9-10am so I went outside to look for them and nothing...so I asked "where are you?" it was clear they were lost because they were not in front. I tried to explain to him how to get here but I could tell he had no idea what I was saying so the closest main street I could tell him was glennwood, I told him to go there. He said ok and hung up??? after 10 minutes went by I called back and said where are you again he said I am at your place....I said no you are not, he said I am on glennwood! I told him again how to get here but he clearly did not understadn me he said he was at a gated community. I knew exactly where he was so I got in my car and drove and sure enough I saw the big blue truck! I told them to follow me and they finally made it :)

It was strange opening the boxes and seeing all this stuff again, way too much stuff I might add, makes you realize how much one collects! I think I might have to leave this all behind not in the mood to pack it up ever again :)

Trying to think back to packing day in July it was hot then too and the workers and I were sweating! Not complaining just funny. Bulls logo, I thought hmmm so much for the NBA this season :) who will be moving out next? I found some hidden gems I left in some boxes including my IPod connection for my car!!! now I can play my tunes as I drive, love it :)
Also Sasha has some of his toys now and he was looking at them with interest...

In reality we did not bring a whole lot over so the place may still look empty but I am ok with that minamalist look :) Do not want to do too much since Steph will be here next week and she may want to re-arrange.


This is the best part! The BED!!! My back was starting to give out on me using the inflateable bed and well it will be nice to have this plus the other items we shipped over, did I mention the Wii ! Game on for sure :)

All in all a good day even if I still have a lot of unpacking it will be nice to see these things in a different place and it will for sure bring back great memories of home....more to come once the house is in order....

We also brought an extra bed for all those visitors that said they would come ;)