Argentina: Buenos Aires es muy bueno

4 days in Buenos Aires, slept about 7 hours total. I was there for work, and despite the long hours, I didn't want to leave. I'm still thinking of opening an office that accepts payments in bottles of Dulce de Lece, the truest thing to edible nirvana on this earth. Of course I would wash it down with an Argentinian steak....muy, muy bien.

Before heading home, we went to a game at the Yankee stadium of Argentinian soccer to see the home team Boca (Diego Maradona's club) defeat San Lorenzo in the most electric atmosphere I've ever seen for any sporting event in my life.

Here's a 30 second video of the madness of a true south american soccer match:

From Argentina WK

Niece Alert .... welcome Madi!

Huge news in the Jacobson family .... we finally have a grandbaby, a niece, a daughter! Chels and Randy welcomed sweet baby Madison Frances to this world on Halloween Eve, she weighed in at 6 pounds, 13 ounces. Chels was a rock star and somehow managed a short labor, in which she was talked to me both 30 minutes before and after giving birth. She needs to be the new postermom for convincing other women it really isn't that bad.

Jazz phenom...from Portland?

Letterman called 23 year old Esperanza Spalding "the coolest guest he's ever had on his show", but what compelled us to buy tickets to see her preform at a sold out show at the famous Bimhuis is the fact that she is from Portland. We even chatted with her after the show and she lives in our neighborhood. Unfortunately, I don't think she'll be asking us over for a jam session any time soon.

The Hiding Place

If you enjoyed reading The Anne Frank Diary, and haven't read The Hiding Place: The Story of Corrie Ten Boom, pick up a copy. Then, when you come to visit, you can see it for yourself in nearby Haarlem. The picture to the left is a preview.

Grits Blitz: Maw n' Paw's 10 day tour

On a phone call prior to their trip, my dad told me he "didn't want to be sittin' around on their visit" he wanted to see as much stuff as possible. I made sure his request was fulfilled. Amongst the six bags of my mom's luggage and thirteen pairs of her shoes, the only pair they really needed were their Nikes. (shameless plug for the swoosh) The 10 days consisted of visits to; Delft, Gouda, Madurodam, Schreveningen Beach, Amsterdam, Antwerp, Bruges and Haarlem. Note: Willie Adventures charged them no commission seeing as they are my parents n' all. Click here for the pics.

Boda en Espana!

Our very smart British friends (living in Amsterdam) decided to tie the knot in the lovely beach town of Moraira, Spain. They initially thought the distance would be tough for folks....uh, they had like 99% Yeses. As you can see in the pics, the bride was stunning, the groom not half bad either ... and the views coupled with perfect sunny weather made for a magazine feature story.

While everyone was well behaved during the sit down dinner (all centered around a pool) ... we all became fast friends by night end ... proceeding to toss nearly all the cool kids in the water. Even the bride (although they let her change out of her dress!). Click here for pics.

Run baby run

We hit London to visit good friends Holden and Katie and their 2 super cute girls. Actually enjoyed the brilliant sun for one day... but sadly the rain pummeled us the next day during our 10K Human Race. But we all sprinted the race and came out with decent times, and plenty of limping legs for the following week.

Floating Concert

Once a year there's big "Grachten" (Canal, your Dutch word for the day) Festival that ends with international symphony stars performing on a floating stage in front of a nearby fancy pants hotel. Big boats line up all day (pic) for the evening event and everyone gets the "shhh" when the musicians come out. So we went ... and managed to sneak through the back of the hotel and somehow wound up on the red carpet ... with several friends. Not too big on security here. Good times.

Here's a blurry video:

Croatia ...and we're broke

I gotta clear my conscience for a moment to justify why our blog is covered with what appears to be a year of competition for "Amazing Race". The thing is, when we moved to Europe, we told ourselves, this will likely not happen again, so assuming I land job (phew, thanks ABN), we're spending our money on travel.... and that we have done.

That said, onto Croatia! (Our final big trip for the year) Croatia was an adventure on many levels, mainly because we found 2 souls brave enough to join us. Yes, travel friends. And we're still friends! Turns out it was a perfect match as Sue and I were able to gossip beachside while the boys risked their lives jumping off absurdly high rocks into the Adriatic. We all gave huge props to Geno as he planned our entire 8 day itinerary, really. The 3 us just followed and handed over money...we loved it.

We covered the Dalmatia Coast (passing 10 minutes in Bosnia), including the city of Dubrovnik, which was bombed in 1991 by the Serbians. Miraculously, they've preserved the city miraculously well, which is surrounded by a light tan brick wall, buildings with red tiled rooftops, and that little thing called the Adriatic, which we called heaven.

For 8 days we worked to turn our pale skin brown (success). Rather than a typical sandy beach, Croatia is unique because you have huge slabs of black rocks everywhere. Pretty cool as you don't end up with sand in your ears. We spent most of the week island jumping, including renting a boat for Geno to captain and scooters for zipping around more efficiently. Our days also centered around the viewing of EuroCup where we were devastated by the Holland and Croatia losses but rejoiced big time with Spain coming out the winner.

View the visuals by clicking here.

AND, we've also got another one of Geno's fun videos below!

I like Red Meat & Captain Gene

1) Brussels - 3 hour train ride to hear a honky-tonk band? This ain't any band, this is Red Meat, comprised of two of Geno's old work friends from SF (Jill & Owen Bly) along with lead singer, "Smelly", are all in a band that was touring Belgium. Super fun overnight trip for us - fabulous music (Hank Williams, Graham Parsons, and tons of originals) the whole crowd sang along to ... no matter the language. Yeehaa!

2) Boat - Geno got the deal of a century on a little boat for touring canals. We spent the first part of the summer touring around, only get hit with minor splashes of dirty water. Sadly, we now know why it was a bargian ... the engine is a bit sad these days. Nonetheless, good times are had on S.S. Goodtimes.

Shalom!

A blog update on Israel doesn't do our rapid 6-day tour justice ... which is why writing has been a struggle. Here's the deal, it's a beautiful country, with enough history, religion, culture and politics to make your brain beg you for a break. For those of you thinking we were crazy for taking a holiday in the Middle East, yes, it wasn't the most relaxing trip, but aside from a 90-minute drive through the West Bank where Geno wouldn't let me stop for a bathroom break, and the gunshots during the Palestinians walk toward the Jewish Quarter to commemorate "the day of tragedy" (i.e., the end of the six day war) - we felt safe. Or perhaps that was a result of
Bush staying in the hotel across the street from us in Jerusalem with the entire Israeli army and US secret service protecting him. We had to crawl on our stomachs to our room, but when else can you say you slept next door to the President?

Rather than fill a whole page with info, we've done detailed captions on the photos, mainly for our benefit so that 10 years from now we remember what we saw. Here's a quick recap of the regions we hit to give you a flavor of our adventure:

1) Tel Aviv - Israeli capitol and thanks to my co-worker hooking us up, we stayed along the local strip, eating delicious fresh fruits and fresh hummus while enjoying the Mediterranean beaches and touring the old city of Jaffe.

2) Sea of Galilee - Along the way, we stopped in Nazareth, Mount of Beatitudes, Capernaum, Jordan River and actually got to walk in Sea of Galilee, near the site where Jesus fed the thousands and walked on water.

3) Jerusalem - Brilliant decision by Geno to hire a local tour guide ... without him, we would've walked in circles. We started at Mount of Olives, continued down to Garden of Gethsemane, tunnel tour through City of David, Western / Wailing Wall, walked Via Dolorosa in the old city leading to Jesus' empty tomb. We also saw the Yad Vashem holocaust museum. An unforgettable day to say the least.

4) Masada / Dead Sea - Headed south where we hopped on a camel, then hiked up Masada and toured the city on a hill, followed by a dip in the waterfall at Ein Gedi. Finally, made the trip complete with a float in the Dead Sea.

Click here for pics!

VIDEO! Geno got a new toy ...a Flip camera ...it hold small videos, bit shaky, but you'll get the idea, click here.

New Digs and a Swiss Wedding

Thanks to our friend's hooking us up, we moved into a new apartment, and it's way cooler than we are. Pic of living room on left....with views of canal. Too much.

We then took in our first European wedding in Switzerland. Even better, my folks joined us for the celebration to see the bride, Annette (who lived with our family in CA as a foreign exchange student for a year) marry groom, Marc. Swiss weddings are 100% planned by the best man/maid of honor and have an onslaught of activities and games scattered throughout the day. Good thing because Swiss German is a language we've yet to perfect. It was a great weekend, and a beautiful wedding...we were honored to represent the good 'ol United States. Click here for pics.

April Action Jackson

1) We're moving ... 5 minutes away. Sad to report our landlords (and friends) are selling our cozy little canal apartment. But, in a huge stroke of luck, we found another cool spot nearby from a friend of a friend, as that's the only way to avoid highway apartment robbery.

2) Birthday Gene - I surprised Geno with a 24 hour adventure to Texel Island (about 2 hours away, one of the 5 or so islands in The Netherlands). Here's pics - beautiful spot.

3) Hello Today Show! - We discovered the NBC peacock van at the bottom of our canal last week ... turns out "Where in the World is Matt Lauer" hit Amsterdam. Geno managed to meet Matt in person, as well as another celeb, see pics.

4) Queen's Day 2008 - Another year, another crazy Queen's Day holiday in Holland where everyone is decked in orange and kids are providing clever entertainment in the park, click for more pics.

5) Copenhagen - So, with the extra public holidays, we decided to hit Scandinavia. Spent the weekend meeting local friends my dad met during his travels a while back ... who proved to be exceptional hosts and made sure we covered all the major sites. We even took a quick ferry to Sweden (sounds amazing but was really only 20 minutes away). Here's pics.

Superlatives for Easter Break

There are not enough superlatives to describe our heavenly trip to Sevilla, Spain and the Algarve Portugal over the Easter holiday. (good Friday and the Monday after Easter are public holidays, nice!) It was the BEST sun holiday we've had ... it's that simple.

Began with Semana Santa in Sevilla, where we watched the traditional Good Friday (well, 2 AM day before) procession of thousands of KKK looking guys called "Nazarenos" walk through the streets holding candles, carrying crosses, or lifting up huge statue floats (really gotta see the pics and read Geno's desciptions) ... all while being silently observed by thousands of adults and kids. These Narzrenos walk through the city from their neighborhood churches to the enormous Cathedral in the center of town. It was stunning. Aside from the traditions around holy week, we got the bonus of hanging out with my cousin Reagan, including her taking command of the restaurant where she works, leading the life every 20something year should experience.

We then picked up our reliable little rental car in Sevilla and head for relaxation in Portugal. Geno really outdid himself this time ...he picked amazing boutique hotels staggered along the Algarve. So for 5 days we hopped between 3 perfect spots, all close to the beach and superb seafood. While Amsterdam was hit with a blizzard, we soaked in the sun - it was 68 and perfect for relaxing and reading, golfing and Geno even surfed the waves in the Atlantic at the tip of Portugal. Oh and it was anniversary #4!

Here's the deal --we know we get fired up about everywhere we go, so we're not the best city critics, but we do agree that if someone says you've won 2 free tix to Portugal - take 'em.

Click here for the must see pics.

So Hungary

Turns out people really do wear those Russian fur hats in Eastern Europe cause it's just that cold. I mean ice ripping through your skin cold. But they've got sun, so it evens out. We landed in Budapest on Valentine's Day, just in time for Geno to keep our tradition of eating at an Indian restaurant on V-Day alive. (And it was legit!) Here's a few key facts you should know about Budapest (or "Budapesht" as the locals call it):

• Acutally two mini cities, "Buda" and "Pest", separated by the Danube River
  
• Broke free of Communism in 1989, so no way any of us were getting in before then
• Famous for Paprika and Goulash soup
• Good to know a few words of Hungarian or at least mimic the accent as Geno can do quit well
  

I hesitate to admit this, but, for our first time in our lives together, we did one of those "Jump On Jump Off" City Bus Tours. Smart move as the city is huge ... not so smart was chasing after the bus (picture Geno hobbling on a bad knee, another story) after we realized they really do only stop for 2 seconds. Anyway, we loved Budapest ...from the ancient, colorful buildings with crazy ornate details to the outdoor park ice skating rink with blasts of Michael Jackson music....it's a city not to miss. Check out the pics.

Rotterdam ... just a train ride away

I'd been getting serious flack from my co-worker for not visiting his 'city' of Rotterdam (about 45 minutes away). So, we decided to check out the largest port town in Europe for the International Film Festival. Turns out, Rotterdam is cool. Unfortunately it was mostly destroyed by bombs in the German invasion of 1940, but it's now a unique modern city with an appreciation for design and modern architecture. It was an action packed day trip, beginning with a Thai film that apparently wasn't edited (1 hour too long), crazy boat ride to the New York hotel (huge ships would sail off to America from here), lunch with my co-worker and his wife, walking tour and a pretty good Russian film to end the day. Here's pics.

'Merica: Operation West Coast

Success all around for our US West Coast Christmas ... well, perhaps not for the houses still recovering from our visits, but we experienced success. Good times were had relaxing, eating, and hanging out with folks in No. CA, playing with the nieces in Seattle and catching up with old friends and co-workers in Portland. Disgusting amounts of food were consumed, but tough to say no when you realize you're coming back to fried potato balls.
Here's our recap, or skip and get visuals here:

• Cities Hit = 4, San Francisco, Auburn, Seattle, Portland


• Transportation Used = 2 Planes, 1 Train, 1 Automobile


• Friends/Family that housed us and our disastrous luggage explosions = 4, Jacobson folks, McGee Crew, Miller Crew, Fallon/Schinder Crew


• Mexican Food Consumption = 4 nights of heaven
  
• Cupcakes made by mom and swallowed by Geno in a 5 day period = 18


• Time Geno spent on phone with IBM rep in India "Ahbubab" to fix Skype connection for parents = 3 hours


• Cutest question by 5 year-old niece Alexis = "Aunt Stef, what are people doing in Amsterdam right now?"


• Most awkward, yet amusing question by same niece = "Aunt Stef, why does my mom have children and you don't have any?"


• Largest TV screen for viewing american football = 110 inch projection screen at Schinders


• Suitcases Used = 3 filled leaving Amsterdam, 6 filled returning
  Here's the pics.