Mais bien sur!
Stardate 9/11/06! Five years ago today, I arrived at Heathrow in London and made my way to a grungy old hotel near Russell Square to settle in for a semester abroad. I met Stef Juhasz (sp) there and we turned on the telly in our room, just minutes after the first plane had hit. We saw the second strike happen live. It was surreal for us, as it was for everyone else. Later that day I met with my friend Adam Blanchard and we drank at the End Of The World Pub in Camden Town. I wish I could say things have improved since then in the world; all I can really say right now is thank God for Amendment XXII of the US Constitution.
On a lighter note, 4 days ago, my sister-in-law Christina gave birth to her first baby: a boy named Ryan John Patrick O'Neill! She had to be induced and it was 17 hours of labour, but he is healthy and all is well with Jack & Christina in Calgary. I'm Uncle Kev! I've seen some pictures and videos and he is super cute. Can't wait to see him at Christmas time. Here he is in my brother's arm.
So, I made a narrow escape from Seoul on August 31st! My flight was at 10am so I was set to board an airport bus at about 6:30am. I packed everything the night before and trucked everything over to Downey's pad in the Haebongchon part of town. Met with a great crew of friends at the Orange Tree for farewell drinks just around Midnight. They sang me happy birthday and the beer was flowing like wine. (It wasn't my birthday). Irish Mark bought me a delicious Jameson's on the rocks. Needless to say, it quickly became clear that I wouldn't be getting any sleep that night. We made our way to The Loft in Itaewon, and then to The Old Town to polish off the night. The Old Town is a degenrate bar reserved for forgotten expats, weirdos, and those who still haven't had enough partying when 8am rolls around. Then back to Downeys to grab my stuff and of course he made me take one last shot of soju before heading off. I don't recall the 1 hour bus ride. I was absolutely drunk at the airport; not fun. The check-in lady informed me I had overweight baggage to the tune of $550 US, then kindly knocked off $300 for me. (Must've been my drunken charm!) I'll spare the rest of the details of travel, but I'll say that the 12+ hour flight and then transfer from DeGaulle to Orly in Paris was a bit of a wreck! Orly is a terrible old airport. I missed my connecting flight but made it to Biarritz.
Biarritz is a surf town in the south-west corner of France. Spain is only a 20 minute car ride away. I've visited this tourist-oriented town many times, to visit my friends the Cazalets. I came here from Korea to attend the wedding of Martin Cazalet. I got an 8 hour sleep before getting up and heading off to his wedding -- cutting it close but I made it. The wedding reception was held at this olllld restaurant out in the Basque countryside with a view of the Pyrenees. An oyster bar, escargots, lobster, foie gras, cured and thinly sliced Basque ham, 250+ bottles of champagne, red wine, delicious and pungent cheeses, baguettes, it was amazing!! A far cry from the kimchi express, thats for sure.
Since then, for the past week, I've been doing some touristy stuff with my parents (who also flew in for the wedding). We went to St. Émilion, an ancient little village east of Bordeaux that produces a lot of wine. Visited a winery there and toured around. We also went to the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, Spain. What a cool building! It was designed by Canadian architect Frank Gehry, and there isn't a straight line on it. In there we saw a Max Beckmann exhibit and an exhibit on Russian art from old to new.
As for the surf, there have only been two days of good
waves so I haven't gotten out on a board yet. The past 5 days or so, the ocean has been flat. The first two days though, there were really big waves. A bit too big for me to start out on. I went for a swim and had to get out after10 minutes cuz the ocean was kicking my ass! I sort of forgot how massively powerful the ocean can be. And of course, I guess it could be that lazy KevO is still somewhat out of shape.
My parents leave today. Its been great to see them and spend some quality time with them. However, the life of a 60 year old just isn't the same as that of a 26 year old. I'm meeting my friend Sophie tonight in Toulouse. Looking ahead, I'll be spending a few days in Paris before flying out to Bangkok on September 25th. I updated my flickr site with a few more pictures, check it out! Peace out.
On a lighter note, 4 days ago, my sister-in-law Christina gave birth to her first baby: a boy named Ryan John Patrick O'Neill! She had to be induced and it was 17 hours of labour, but he is healthy and all is well with Jack & Christina in Calgary. I'm Uncle Kev! I've seen some pictures and videos and he is super cute. Can't wait to see him at Christmas time. Here he is in my brother's arm.
So, I made a narrow escape from Seoul on August 31st! My flight was at 10am so I was set to board an airport bus at about 6:30am. I packed everything the night before and trucked everything over to Downey's pad in the Haebongchon part of town. Met with a great crew of friends at the Orange Tree for farewell drinks just around Midnight. They sang me happy birthday and the beer was flowing like wine. (It wasn't my birthday). Irish Mark bought me a delicious Jameson's on the rocks. Needless to say, it quickly became clear that I wouldn't be getting any sleep that night. We made our way to The Loft in Itaewon, and then to The Old Town to polish off the night. The Old Town is a degenrate bar reserved for forgotten expats, weirdos, and those who still haven't had enough partying when 8am rolls around. Then back to Downeys to grab my stuff and of course he made me take one last shot of soju before heading off. I don't recall the 1 hour bus ride. I was absolutely drunk at the airport; not fun. The check-in lady informed me I had overweight baggage to the tune of $550 US, then kindly knocked off $300 for me. (Must've been my drunken charm!) I'll spare the rest of the details of travel, but I'll say that the 12+ hour flight and then transfer from DeGaulle to Orly in Paris was a bit of a wreck! Orly is a terrible old airport. I missed my connecting flight but made it to Biarritz.
Biarritz is a surf town in the south-west corner of France. Spain is only a 20 minute car ride away. I've visited this tourist-oriented town many times, to visit my friends the Cazalets. I came here from Korea to attend the wedding of Martin Cazalet. I got an 8 hour sleep before getting up and heading off to his wedding -- cutting it close but I made it. The wedding reception was held at this olllld restaurant out in the Basque countryside with a view of the Pyrenees. An oyster bar, escargots, lobster, foie gras, cured and thinly sliced Basque ham, 250+ bottles of champagne, red wine, delicious and pungent cheeses, baguettes, it was amazing!! A far cry from the kimchi express, thats for sure.
Since then, for the past week, I've been doing some touristy stuff with my parents (who also flew in for the wedding). We went to St. Émilion, an ancient little village east of Bordeaux that produces a lot of wine. Visited a winery there and toured around. We also went to the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, Spain. What a cool building! It was designed by Canadian architect Frank Gehry, and there isn't a straight line on it. In there we saw a Max Beckmann exhibit and an exhibit on Russian art from old to new.
As for the surf, there have only been two days of good
waves so I haven't gotten out on a board yet. The past 5 days or so, the ocean has been flat. The first two days though, there were really big waves. A bit too big for me to start out on. I went for a swim and had to get out after10 minutes cuz the ocean was kicking my ass! I sort of forgot how massively powerful the ocean can be. And of course, I guess it could be that lazy KevO is still somewhat out of shape.My parents leave today. Its been great to see them and spend some quality time with them. However, the life of a 60 year old just isn't the same as that of a 26 year old. I'm meeting my friend Sophie tonight in Toulouse. Looking ahead, I'll be spending a few days in Paris before flying out to Bangkok on September 25th. I updated my flickr site with a few more pictures, check it out! Peace out.
posted by kevO at 12:55 AM
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