Pictures From Paris

It's like monsoon season here in Chicago. The past few days have been extremely rainy and I thought what better time then to try and migrate some of my older pictures onto FlickR. I created a set of pictures of Brian and I walking the streets of Paris back in 2004. We were there for about 4 days and we got to see pretty much everything we wanted to. Below are some of my favorites with the rest located on this link: Click Here .

Sleepy Marvin

BFFs

Lucy and the Lemur

Yum! She not only makes moppin sauce anymore!

Lucy's Future Pimp Mobile!

Schnappschuss aus Amerika

OMG, I was famous for a day in Germany a few weeks ago. A picture I took during my visit to the Bingen Garden Show was published in the Bingen-Am-Rhein zeitung!!! How cool is that?

Blue Heron Farm Resort

I just want to give a shout out to Reynalda and Juliano for inviting Brian, Theresa and I to stay with them in a cabin for the weekend in Ohio. The cabin was absolutely beautiful. It sits on a lake with fantastic views of the surrounding woods. I was able to canoe for the first time in my life which was super cool! The canoe was a bit difficult to maneuver at first but after 10 minutes I was a pro! Juliano and I also hiked around the area one day and discovered some pretty nice rock formations and what appeared to be caves along the headwaters of the Cuyahoga River. During our last day at the cabin the weather turned a bit colder and we were able to experience the first snowfall of the season in Northeast Ohio. It was a perfect end to our weekend. You can see more photos of the trip by clicking here.

Art is not meant to be pleasing.

Happy Halloween!

It's my pumpkin ya'll!

Early Voting

I decided to vote early this election and apparently most of the other people in DuPage county did the same. I was in shock when I saw the long line but I did my duty and voted after standing well over an hour. I'm just glad it's over!

Happy Diwali Ya'll

My friend Shalini invited me to the BAPS Hindu temple so I can witness the Indian celebration of Diwali, which is also known as the Festival of Light. The lights signify good over evil within an individual. As you can see the pictures below, the grounds were beautiful. The temple was washed with different colored lights and indoors was just amazing. People aren't allowed to take pictures indoors for some reason but everywhere you looked there were little multicolored Italian lights decorating the walls and ceilings. It was a very interesting experience. It almost felt like I was in India.

Where In The World Is Brian G?

The oil pipeline might give it away but if you still don't know where Brian is, click here.

Where In The World Is Brian G?

Is it me or did Brian copy the lizard's pose? :-) If you want to see where he is, click here.(Photos by Russel)

Battle of the iPhones

A World Premiere Movie Event!

Tschüss Deutschland!

Our last two days here in Germany was fun. We traveled to Koblenz and did a little shopping, took a ride on the last paddle steamer on the Rhein called the Goethe, and hiked up to Schloss Ehrenfels. It's been a great two weeks sharing this experience with Brian, Jeanie, Renee and Jules and hopefully we can come back again soon. Thanks to Jeanie for her hospitality! To see all the pics of this trip click here: Germany Trip 2008. Bis spater Deutschland!

Deutsches Eck
The Goethe
Schloss Ehrenfels

Die Toilette In Burg Pfalzgrafenstein

First of all, I can't believe Brian, the king of all germaphobes, actually sat on the toilet. Ha ha! One can only imagine what the mess looked like below when it was actually used back in the day. Talk about durschfall! BARF!

Germany Trip - Day 17-19

The weather has gotten considerably nicer over the past few days and we took advantage of this and Genie, Brian and I drove south to Weisbaden one day and visited the Greichische Kapelle. The domes of the chruch are supposedly covered in gold and they looked absolutely stunning when the sun hit it! Another day we drove up the Rhine to the Loreley. On our way we stopped and toured Burg Sooneck, Schloss Reichenstein, and Burg Pfalzgrafenstein. I can never get tired of looking at castles. Each one is unique in its own right which makes them all so interesting to explore. Tomorrow we are planning on taking the train to Koblenz to do a little shopping and sight seeing. Tschüs!

Griechische KapelleBurg SooneckSchloss ReichensteinBurg PfalzgrafensteinThe Loreley

Walk Through the Grape Vines

Since everything is closed on Sundays in Germany, we decided to chill a bit and hike up the hill behind Mrs. G's house. We went past an old Jewish cemetery. It was rather eerie and seemed like it had been forgotten after many years. We made our way to the very top of the hill where grapevines greeted us. We secretly ate some of the sweet and delicious grapes used for wine. They were lecker! We also befriended a lovely horse by feeding it some apples from a nearby apple tree. The horse probably ended up having durchfall (diarrhea) after the number of apples we gave the poor thing.

Oberwesel Wine Parade

Yesterday we traveled to the small town of Oberwesel and lucky for us they were having their Wine Festival. This was a special treat for us as we were able to experience the celebration along with the locals and see the wine parade!

Köln ist ein Gefühl

How do you say, Cologne is a feeling, yes? Renee, Juliano, Brian and I took das Deutsches Bahn to Köln today. We went to the cathedral and afterwards had some Berliners and coffee and did a little shopping. The Berliners were delicious! I also found the Puma Euro jacket that I've always wanted! Below are pics and video of our excursion into Cologne.

Burg Rheinstein

Yesterday we woke up to rain. We were thinking about staying in but decided to head on out and visit a castle with Renee and Juliano. We drove to a nearby castle called Burg Rheinstein which is just minutes outside of Bingen. The rain stopped just as we got there which allowed us to explore the outside of the castle. Althought small in size, this castle is one of my favorites because it comes complete with a chapel, gargoyles, courtyard garden and watch towers. The stained glass windows is also very interesting to look at.