Europe recap 2003, Day 5: Reintroduction to London

Thursday, November 6th, 2003 - this was my first full day in London for this particular trip. Time to get reacquainted with an old favorite city.

The hotel, Melia White House, is within walking distance of three different Tube stations, with access to five different lines in total. Very convenient. Just as convenient were Harts the Grocer and Prêt à Manger located very close by, so that I can grab munchies quite easily. I found myself utilizing them while waiting for 9:30 AM, when I could start using the discount 1-Day TravelCard; at £4.10 at the time for unlimited rides in Zones 1 and 2, it was an excellent value, since a single Zone 1 ride was already a stiff £1.60. (Almost all of London's sights are in Zone 1 anyway - but some are out there, like Kew Gardens at Zone 3, and Heathrow Airport at 6.) A morning rush hour TravelCard was £5.10 for Zones 1 and 2, but for the same price, I could buy a discount TravelCard after 9:30 AM that would allow me to go all the way out to Zone 6.

I am starting at a crossroads of sorts - Piccadilly Circle, where several thoroughfares and Tube lines converge.

London's international character is evident here, both from the Gap location and from the multinational companies' signs. Also, standing here is a good way to remind myself that yes, I am in London again, a few years after financial ruin had left me feeling that I'd never come back.

I decided to backtrack to an old favorite of mine - Madame Tussaud's wax museum. I had visited it in 1996, but this time, I came back hoping to find a likeness of my idol Jennifer Aniston, which had been chosen as one of the museum's visitor favorites.

A Sherlock Holmes statue is standing just outside. His address, 21 Baker Street, is just around the corner.


After paying a rather steep £19.95 admissions - in a town where most of the greatest museums are completely free, at that - I entered Madame Tussaud's. This touristy wax museum chain calls London its main branch, and at this time in 2003, operated four other branches around the world, with Amsterdam being the only one I had visited (and not all that much to my liking). I'd eventually visit other branches - New York, Las Vegas, and Hong Kong - later, as well as a new branch in Los Angeles.

The previous month had seen the State of California recall the hugely unpopular and incompetent governor, Gray Davis, in a special election. With a free-for-all field of hundreds of replacement candidates, the star power of action hero Arnold Schwarzenegger proved decisive.

I am now looking at his likeness, with only one more day remaining until he takes over from Gray Davis as the Governor of California. Both men had been busy working together late in October, as wildfires flared up all over Southern California. (In fact, a week and 5,500 miles later, I am still coughing up the ashes from those wildfires.)

Schwarzenegger, a social liberal who would NOT have survived a standard-issue California Republican primary, went on using his power of incumbency to be re-elected in 2006, though term limits prevent him from another term in 2010, which now will be a duel between billionaire Meg Whitman and former governor/current Attorney General Jerry Brown.

England is the birthplace of proper football, the most popular sport in the world outside the US. And England's most popular footballer is David Beckham, whose likeness is portrayed here. His popularity increased even more thanks to his marriage to Victoria Adams, better known as the Posh Spice during her stint at the Spice Girls in the 1990s.

No luck seeing the Spice Girls here today. And no luck seeing Jennifer Aniston either - the only Jennifer I could find was Jennifer Lopez, who was designed to blush when a visitor touched her world-famous derriere.

Another pop culture phenomenon of the early '00s: reality TV. Pop Idol was one of the more popular, turning no-name vocalists into pop superstars overnight. Simon Cowell was the caustic judge - and his likeness is to the left. Pop Idol was also exported to America as American Idol, and Simon Cowell was a judge there too.

Another British reality TV show that was exported to America at the time was The Weakest Link, part quiz show and part bullying, and led by the same host on both sides of the Atlantic. I hated the American version due to the commercial breaks, but the British version, which I would end up watching later this day in the hotel, was much smoother thanks to the lack of those commercial breaks. Also noted that the five-question final round between the two last surviving players was run in a format much like a football penalty shootout.

Moving on to more worthwhile sights, being disappointed between the high admissions charge and the lack of Jennifer Aniston over at Madame Tussaud's.

I am now at Sir Christopher Wren's masterpiece, St. Paul's Cathedral, in the old City. That domed architecture is certainly unusual for London, though it would be right at home in an American city. I didn't enjoy the cathedral too much, even though I did note that Wren himself was buried inside. But having never checked this sight off before, I had to check it off now - if only to remember the photos of it defiantly standing during World War II, when German blitzkrieg had destroyed most neighboring structures.

A straight shot west on the Central Line of the Tube brought me over to Oxford Street, where I am now doing some window shopping. There is no way I'll actually shop here, thanks to the lack of room in my luggage, as well as a rather limited budget. What a shame - since Londoners are very fashion forward, and I am already running into some funky hosiery trends that I would not find back home in Los Angeles until 2-3 years later.

The narrow streets of Central London feel very stifling, compared to the Haussmann-designed wide boulevards of Paris. And they are so stifling that now there is a £5 congestion charge per day in order to drive in Central London. I know about the stifling part too well - I had driven in Central London myself in 1998 (before those charges). Not exactly the best place to practice shifting a manual transmission, but that's how I did it.

Actually I ended up doing shopping. The flagship Virgin Megastore, where I had picked up a Sir Elton John compilation in 1996 before its US release, drew my attention again. This time, I walked away with another Londoner - Dido, with her second album Life for Rent. This album was same as the US version, only with a higher price tag, but given Dido's London roots, I wanted to buy her CD in London.

I wrapped up for the evening with late nights admissions at the British Museum. I had found it so intriguing back in 1996 that I went there twice during my week in London then - so a return visit was more than well deserved.

This is one of the star exhibits - the Rosetta Stone, which allowed archaeologists to decipher Egyptian hieroglyphics. Unlike back in 1996 when it had been in the open air, I now see it encased in a protective glass box.

The British Museum's collections often come either from loots of former colonies, or from artifacts acquired by near force from weaker countries. The Elgin Marbles from Greece are an example of the latter.

As I love cats, my favorite collection would have to be those of cat mummies. As Egypt considered cats to be the real-life manifestation of Goddess Bastet, cats enjoyed a sacred status. Many British traders a few centuries ago used numerous cat mummies for fertilizers and other purposes, so many cat mummies were forever lost.

And here is a Bastet statue, another star attraction of the British Museum.

I would leave the museum with two miniature plastic statues - one Bastet and one cat mummy. I also ended up buying a men's necktie with Bastet statue icons all over.

The British Museum also publishes a book on cat art and history, but I had already bought it in 1996 and it hadn't been updated, so I skipped it this time.

Though sometimes the best museum experience doesn't involve dead relics, but live performances. Two volunteers are showcasing some old English and European songs in an upper story corridor area.

Time to turn in. I spent the rest of the evening listening to the new Dido CD, as well as watching The Weakest Link of course.

The next day would see me cover new territory, starting with the Royal Gardens at Kew, moving on to the Natural History Museum and Covent Garden, before finishing up with a West End musical for the evening. London had won my heart twice before, and November 2003 is seeing it win my heart a third time just as surely.

Vegas...

Just spent a quick weekend in Las Vegas, attending a sales presentation for additional rights to my existing timeshare.

However, what I enjoyed more (despite my continuing sore throat) was the ability to experience Cher's Caesars Palace residency in person. That means I have seen all four residencies at Caesars - Celine Dion, Sir Elton John, and Bette Midler being the other three. (Though with Celine Dion slated to return in 2011, I may have to check her out again.) Despite her age, Cher was awesome as ever, with the show giving a lot of emphasis to her early days (with the late Sonny Bono) and her crazy exhibitionist costumes (yes, she looks good in them even today). The historical footage included even a photo where Cher and Sonny were seen with their baby daughter Chastity (who is, of course, now a transman named Chaz). This was, based on presentation, my favorite Caesars show to date (even though I personally did enjoy Sir Elton more, since I am actually a fan of his).

But more important was a change in my road trip paradigm. The last time I took a long drive like this, in a plain four-cylinder car, was back in my teens, using a carbureted Toyota Corolla, because that's all the car my family could afford. All my stateside drives in the past 15 years or so involved used at least six cylinders - and in recent years, I went ever more posh, relying on such luxuries as outside temperature gauge, as I insisted on using a BMW 3-series, then a Hyundai Genesis, for my long drives. But this time, I was back to a plain-jane four-banger - specifically, a beater Honda Accord from work that is now legally mine. The car had had some mechanical issues due to previous improper maintenance and repairs, but I've had them all worked out in the past month, and now it runs like a dream. This was the first time I roadtripped in a car over five years old (this car is 8 1/2 years old) or with odometer reading over 50,000 miles (135,000 in this case), but even on those long, steep inclines between Baker and the Nevada state line, I did just fine. I didn't save too much on fuel costs, as the Accord's fuel economy isn't significantly better than the Genesis's, but I am still happy, since the Accord is cheaper to maintain, and I'd rather save the Genesis for much longer drives (i.e. to Seattle and Vancouver) where I can really use its quietness and comfort.

Photos will upload in a few days.

Update - Disneyland

I want to mention that I visited Disneyland in Anaheim this past weekend, though its photos won't be uploaded right away.

This was a logical extension of my visit to the Walt Disney World back in 2008. Of course, Disneyland is only a short drive from me, so I could go at will, but my last visit had been in 2002, so a repeat visit was due. This particular visit was prompted by the revival of Captain EO, a 17-minute 3D movie starring Michael Jackson that had initially run from 1986 to 1997, being revived now as a tribute to Jackson after his death last year. Another consideration was Star Tours, a Star Wars-themed motion simulator dating from 1987 that is now set to close for refurbishment and reprogramming.

Of course, I've also made mentions of Walt Disney's far right politics and his inability to tell any stories in an authentic manner. But I also find that every trip to a Disney park is a great look at how Disney could turn his pile of crap into an alternate reality that everyone, regardless of beliefs or age, could easily soak themselves into. That was what Disney was good at, and why the name Disney is more than just an entertainment company or a theme park, especially to children and their parents.

Again, photos will upload once I finish the Europe recap and also upload the photos from Tucson last month.

Europe recap, Day 7: Brenner Pass into Venice

This post recaps my Halloween 2009, which saw me halfway into a two-week tour of Europe. It was my first introduction to Italy, as I entered via Brenner Pass and the Dolomites, and headed for the famed water city of Venice. Italy became the seventh European country I get to check off.

As noted in the Day 6 recap, I ended up not visiting any of the salt mines near Salzburg. I simply took the shortest route out to Autobahn 1, then headed west back into Germany; even though the approach to Brenner Pass is via Innsbruck in western Austria, it is actually faster to dip briefly into Germany, due to lack of Autobahn connections between Salzburg and Innsbruck. After driving on German Autobahn 8 toward Munich for about 30 minutes, I found the Autobahn 93 turn-off, with clearly marked "I" oval, denoting access to Italy.

Autobahn 93 followed up the course of the Inn River, and before long, took me back into Austria, becoming Austrian Autobahn 12. Surrounded by old castles and snow-capped Alpine peaks, I made sure to enjoy the drive to the fullest. The CD player played the soundtrack to The Sound of Music movie from 1965, and I followed up with my modern-day favorite from back in California, Anna Nalick.

I am now taking a brief toilet break in Innsbruck, as Autobahn 13 splits off from the 12 to climb up the Brenner Pass and take me to Italy.

Innsbruck ("Bridge on the Inn River") is a very scenic town, best known as a ski resort, particularly attractive to those who live in countries without steep mountains (think England and the Netherlands). Unfortunately, between my need to continue to Venice and the difficulties I would certainly experience driving into town and parking, this will be all the Innsbruck I end up experiencing. Having to mind my mother's constant concerns regarding possible damage to the car is really piling on my stress level.

And here is an obligatory shot of the car against the Alpine peaks.

Austria has the strictest motorist regulations among the countries I am driving in. In addition to a toll sticker for the Autobahn system, I am also required to carry a safety vest inside the passenger compartment, to be worn in case of a roadside emergency; the vest was provided free of charge by Mercedes-Benz back in Sindelfingen. And more importantly, I am required to use winter tires between November and April, but that is also taken care of, since (1) I am leaving Austria for good on this October 31st, and (2) this car's all-season tires, thanks to their Mud + Snow designation, meet the requirement. Austrian driving in the winter on performance summer tires is not only dangerous, it is outright illegal, with a fine of €5,000.

Brenner Pass is only 30 minutes from Innsbruck, but in order to drive this short distance, I am required to pay a supplemental toll of €8 in cash on top of the toll sticker. Before long, the obligatory border slowdown took place, and in the midst of outlet stores, I could see a sign - European Union flag with the word "ITALIA" in the middle. I entered Italy. Shortly following were the default speed limit sign, showing Italian speed limits at 50 km/h urban, 90 rural, 110 on blue-signed free motorways, and 130 on green-signed toll motorways (Autostrada); the days of German-style unlimited Italian autostrade were long gone.

The initial drive through the rugged terrain was kept at 110 km/h, despite being a green-signed Autostrada. This 110 would persist throughout my drive on Autostrada 22 (the Italian extension of Austrian Autobahn 13). Soon, a toll booth issued me a magnetic toll ticket; Italian autostrade use a thruway-type toll collection system using tickets or transponders.

Autostrada 22 heads south from the Brenner Pass, through the lovely, rugged Dolomite Mountains, known for their stunning marble cliffs like this photo. This photo is just a tiny hint of all the gorgeous cliffs I could spot while driving, but couldn't photograph due to my need to put driving first. This photo is from a rest stop about 30 minutes north of Verona, where I would take the eastbound Autostrada 4 toward Venice (marked as Venezia on signs).

Up to this point, I am in the region known as Alto Adige, and as this region is historically populated by the Germanic people, all placenames have Italian and German versions, and all road signs and messages are in both Italian and German. Indeed, I am reminded that back when Germany's national anthem was sung as "Deutschland über alles," its lyrics included the phrase "From the Meuse to the Memel, From the Adige to the Belt" - a swath of territory that is now lost through losses in two World Wars. The Brenner Pass has historically connected this region to the rest of the Germanic world, and this road is dotted with castles - tollbooths back in the day, complete with accommodations for tolljumpers.

But make no mistakes, this is Italy. I am actually finding the Autostrada system to be better built and maintained than the German Autobahns; thanks to the nicer Italian climate, the road surfaces are in even better shape than the already excellent ones in Germany. Aside from acceleration and deceleration lanes which are mere afterthoughts drawn onto the shoulder, the autostrada is built to higher standards than the autobahn.

But I have to say that the real reminder of Italy comes from the reckless drivers. In Germany, I could count on all drivers obeying the strict regulations, such as no-passing-on-right and adherence to any mandatory speed limits. But here in Italy, I am finding that traffic regulations were meant to be ignored. Speeding and lane changes without signaling were very common, and while passing on the right was nowhere near the epidemic levels I see in California, I could still occasionally see it. I could also count on a mad flash of the high beams from behind if I did not vacate the fast lane in a microsecond, and a frustrated honk if I decided to treat stop signs (i.e. at this rest stop) as a full stop rather than a California stop.

I found that the worst a-holes on Italian autostrade were Audi drivers, filling in the niche occupied by BMW drivers in California. The worst slowpokes, just like in California, were Toyota drivers. Van drivers, be it the Central American theocrats in California driving a Chevrolet Astro, or brutes in South Korea driving a Hyundai Starex, used to push my buttons a lot, but they are less of a factor in Europe; the Astro is nonexistent, and drivers of the Starex and similar vans are well-behaved in Europe (aside from an occasional tendency to speed). Another demographic that used to push my buttons in South Korea - drivers of Ssangyong SUVs - also drove pretty well in Europe.

I refueled at this rest stop before continuing my way. Italian gas prices are similar to Austrian levels and much cheaper than German levels; I could expect to pay €1.00 per liter, and I only needed to pay for regular unleaded, which was already 95 octane (91 US octane), making premium at 98 octane a useless splurge. While Autostrada 22 continues south to Modena, home of Ferrari, I was more than happy to transfer to eastbound Autostrada 4 once in Verona, enjoying its 3 lanes all the way to Venice as well as consistent 130 km/h speed limit. It went through a flatter landscape surrounded by rolling hills, farms, and even an American military base. As I approached Venice, I stumbled into a "KARTE" lane at the toll booth, and paid with a debit card; the toll came out to be €21, definitely not cheap, and I had intended to pay at a cash lane, whose money icon I couldn't recognize right away. (Good thing I didn't use the TELEPASS lane for transponders.) Thanks to European distances being delightfully short and motorway speeds being fast, I arrived in Venice ahead of schedule - something that happened on every major driving day for me.

Once in Venice, I proceeded through Mestre before getting on the 2.5-mile Liberty Causeway to the water city itself. I parked at the enormous Tronchetto Garage, which I appreciated for its American-scale ramps and parking spaces, and fumbled my way to the vaporetto (water bus) stop, for a ride on the No. 2 water bus to Rialto Bridge. My mother was thinking "Harlem slum style decay" rather than "a former powerhouse" as the water bus made its way into the Grand Canal, and upon reaching Pensione Guerrato (Rick Steves' favorite hotel) and finding that the €130/night room I had booked was an attic room above fourth floor (sixth floor if counted American style) with no television, she was fuming. I fumed right back too, telling her to shove it with her Asian-American model minority materialism and excess. This trip was at its breaking point.

Cooler heads eventually prevailed, as I gladly let my mother know that I've myself been let down by another European city that other visitors rave about - namely, Amsterdam and its Surinamese thugs. Now the goal has become salvaging the Venice experience somehow, even if Venice falls way short of the sanitized/romanticized depictions in the movies and as seen at the Venetian Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas.

From the hotel near the Rialto Bridge, we are walking in the general direction of "Piazza San Marco" (St. Mark's Square). And every time a pedestrian path goes over a water canal, I am treated to views like this, an alleyway accessible only by water, served by a gondola. The path crosses the canal in the form of an elevated bridge, with a few steps up and down on either side, and that gets tiring after a while walking around Venice.

The primary method of getting around Venice is by walking through very narrow pathways, as this is a water city without any land vehicles, and land area is at a huge premium. In particular, the pathways between the Rialto Bridge and the St. Mark's Square, the two tourist magnets of Venice, can be extremely crowded.

And with all the tourist traffic passing by, the stores often sell very catchy items, like this chess set made up of cats and dogs. I almost wanted to buy one.

Now this is a bit more like it - an open expanse. This is St. Mark's Square, with the Campanile and St. Mark's Basilica standing proudly as ever.

I would quickly learn that open spaces like this are at a very huge premium in Venice, and that I would need to enjoy every moment I spend in one.

As it's sunset already, I am not planning on doing any sightseeing this day. I am supposed to stay in Venice for two nights, and that gives me all of All Saints' Day as a full day to explore the city. I will now walk back toward the Rialto Bridge.

Another store, selling masks that are a good reminder of Venice's past decadence in the form of masquerade parties. I am loving the fact that many of the masks are cat-shaped.

It's dinnertime. As Venice is now a place where tourists outnumber residents, getting into a non-touristy restaurant is wishful thinking in many parts of town. And since I am still on the main paths between St. Mark's and Rialto, I need to duck into a touristy eatery - and entered a spaghetti joint run by an East Asian immigrant.

This joint's walls are covered with photos of international movie actors who have attended the annual Venice Film Festival. And I am lucky to be eating under the photo of my favorite - Calista Flockhart and Harrison Ford. I'm always fond of Calista Flockhart for her portrayal of that neurotic skinny miniskirt-suited lesbian lawyer Ally McBeal; glad to be reminded of her here in faraway Italy. I am also realizing that in just eleven days, Calista would turn 45; when Ally had first aired, Calista was only 33, and Ally was supposed to be merely 28. Certainly, a key part of looking young is having a geriatric boyfriend, in the form of Harrison Ford.

Continuing past Rialto toward the northeastern portions of Venice, the one part of the city that actually still has residents.

I don't know what the significance of this community theater is, nor who the namesake, Carlo Goldoni, is, but I had to take this photo for the lovely lighting on the sign.

In Venice's labyrinthine path pattern, navigating by street names is impossible. One's sense of directions completely melts away after a few minutes of walking. The only way to keep going is to refer to yellow signs pointing to the direction of a major landmark (S. MARCO for St. Mark's Square, P. RIALTO for Rialto Bridge, FERROVIA for train station, etc.), and use that landmark as a reference point to get to the final destination from. I'm actually walking toward the train station at the north end of the water city.

I am looking at some lanterns lit to mark All Saints' Day the next day.

I am walking on a rather wide pathway - wide enough to handle two trucks easily, if trucks had a way of getting there. This is the residential part of Venice, complete with a grocery market and other services catering to residents rather than tourists. And this being Halloween, I am seeing costumed children out trick-or-treating. While Americans tend to treat Halloween as a commercialized holiday, Europeans give it the same treatment AND celebrate the very reason for Halloween's existence - All Saints' Day the next day.

I'm actually liking the fact that I am spending Halloween in Venice, a city known for masquerades and other disguises.

I am now next to the train station. I am inside the Church of St. Mary of Nazareth, which I am not visiting for any particular reason, but because I needed a place to take a quick breath - and to photograph some lovely interior elements.

And now I am outside, crossing the Grand Canal via one of only four pedestrian bridges spanning it.

To the right is the Church of St. Mary of Nazareth. Toward the back is what is referred to on the signs as "Ferrovia" - Santa Lucia train station, where trains terminate after coming in from the mainland over the Liberty Causeway. Needless to say, the presence of the train station makes this place a transportation hub. In front of the train station are docks that serve as water bus stops, and indeed a couple of water buses are operating. In front of the church, smaller docks serve water taxis. Even a water bus ride in Venice is expensive - €6.50 for a ticket good for an hour - and a taxi ride is prohibitively expensive. (However, passes can bring the cost of water bus rides down significantly.)

Within walking distance, behind the train station, is Piazzale Roma, where Venice residents have a parking garage to keep their cars in. Piazzale Roma is the only part of Venice accessible to land vehicles, and is served by land buses from the mainland.

While my hotel is on the west side of the Grand Canal, most of the sights covered above are on the east side. Now that I crossed back west at the train station, now I am wondering again through a new set of labyrinthine paths to attempt to get to Rialto Bridge (and the hotel).

This open square is an example of Venice's traditional water collection systems. As Venice sits 2.5 miles off the coast and has no source of fresh water, residents used squares like this as water collection systems. Rainwater would pool toward the center of the square and lower into a well below, collected there for the residents' use. This system remained in use until the 19th Century, when an aqueduct was built to the mainland, bringing water from the Italian Alps.

Toward the back is a typical bridge going over a narrow side canal. After dozens of those in an hour or two, walking around in Venice can get very tiresome, fast.

Eventually we stumbled back to the hotel and retired to the attic room. The windows remained open for ventilation - but my mother continued to complain, primarily thanks to the Halloween revelers' noise outside. She simply was NOT liking Venice, period, and a decision was made to leave the next morning - a day early. I'd have to cancel the second night's reservation, and would have to try to find a place to sleep on the way to Switzerland. Driving hotshot through Europe without a confirmed hotel room - that in itself could be exciting!

Europe recap: Day 2, Stuttgart

October 26th was my arrival date in Stuttgart, to prepare to take delivery of the Mercedes-Benz the next day.  The train ride took me through flat terrain at first, but eventually through lovely, hilly terrain covered with wineries; this was the first time I was looking at European hills, as my previous trips had covered only very flat areas. After checking in at the hotel, I took a nap for the rest of the afternoon, as the jet lag was still clobbering me.

In the early evening hours, I decided to take a stroll on the long pedestrian street next to me, Königstraße ("King Street"), to get a bit of workout and get acquainted with Stuttgart.

Königstraße stretches about a kilometer, heading southwest from Hauptbahnhof. I'm about halfway down, at the corner of an open space called Schlossplatz ("Castle Place," located in front of a palace), where I am coming across a temporary ice skating rink. Due to the lighting, it looks quite pretty, and I am loving the German fashionstas' military-inspired looks as well. I didn't do any skating, however.

Continuing on. While evening shopping after work is normally an unheard-of concept in Europe, I am finding it fortunate that stores remain open until 8 in the evening on Königstraße. That is actually giving me some thing to do, as I window-shop some of the stores. In fact, store hours on Königstraße run to 8PM every day, six days a week - only Quiet Day Sunday can bring the street to a standstill. Some restaurants remain open even later - there is even a McDonald's that remains open until 5 the next morning.

Königstraße is considered the greatest pedestrian shopping street in Germany, and I believe it.

The "buchhaus" on the right is obviously a "bookhouse" - a bookstore. I have zero command of German - and at this point, I am still having trouble blurting out "Sprechen Sie Englisch?" much less count numbers or do anything else - but due to the German language's logical, building block nature, sometimes guessing at the meanings of strange words can be surprisingly easy.

Another store. And yes, if that word "schuhe" sounds like "shoe," that's correct. This is the place to pick up those equestrian leather boots that are a must-have for the German fashionista.

Prices are somewhat higher than US prices, but not by too much, and only because of the strength of the Euro. In addition, the 19% value added tax (sales tax) is built into the price. Also refreshing is that the goods I can find in Europe are as likely to be from local manufacturers as to be from some sweatshop in China; while manufacturing a given product in Europe is much more expensive due to labor costs, that can be more than made up with superior quality and durability.

An old church tower, surrounded by newer buildings. This kind of architectural mix is typical of German cities, as many ordinary buildings were destroyed during World War II by the Allied air raids, and had to be rebuilt, often hastily without regard to traditional architecture. Sturdier buildings, like churches, usually survived. Germany is normally not the European country to go to if traditional architecture is desired.

Back to Schlossplatz and a look at a gazebo, with the palace in the background. I had to take this photo - in fact, it was posted on this blog on this very day - for a reason. One of my Facebook friends, Saniye McFadden, is a Turkish-German, and back in the day, she had had a photo of herself taken at this gazebo; she has since married an American soldier and moved to Virginia. I had to take the photo just to share with Saniye and give her a pleasant surprise.

I am visiting another "buchhaus" - where some DVDs are for sale as well. And yes, I can pick up a copy of Marley & Me, starring none other than Jennifer Aniston, my favorite Greek Goddess. The packaging is in German, but the DVD can be played in German or English - though I will need a code-free DVD player with PAL capability if I am going to play this Region 2 DVD outside Europe. (I do have a cheap code-free DVD player at home.)

As it was 8 and shops started closing, I had to start heading back to the hotel. A call of nature, however, necessitated that I duck into a 30-cent self-washing toilet. It was a nice experience, however.

The jet lag meant that I got up at around 4 in the morning on Tuesday the 27th, and walked around the hotel's lower floors to pass the time, before the breakfast buffet opened around 6. I noted that the German word for breakfast was Frühstück - another handy word to remember for me. (Rührei, what I previously had at McDonald's, would simply mean "scrambled eggs.") It was imperative that I got out to Sindelfingen and its Mercedes-Benz Customer Center early, in order to avoid any lengthy waits. The cab ride to Sindelfingen (free, thanks to Mercedes-Benz provided vouchers) would allow me to get more familiar with the hilly Stuttgart cityscape. The factory and delivery photos will be my next installment.

Europe recap: Day 2, Munich

These are photos from the morning hours of October 26th, 2009, as I wrapped up my Munich itinerary and moved on to Stuttgart. My brief Munich fling was only a mere teaser, little more than time to lose the jet lag, but Munich nevertheless managed to impress; I will certainly be back.

I started on a sleepless morning, by taking a walk around my hotel area in the southern part of the city. With the fresh air and the rain-dampened streets, it was quite pleasant.

Automotive observations continue, since this trip IS automotive in character. And again, drawing my attention are small, spunky cars, like this Kia cee'd, that I cannot find stateside.

Back when American car companies ruled the world, they marketed completely separate lineups of vehicles for North America and Europe, with very little commonality, if any, between them. Then the Japanese rose to prominence, and while they eventually started to differentiate their American and European models to fit market tastes and needs, they kept more commonality in. Now that the Koreans are rising to their own prominence, they are following the Japanese example; this cee'd, designed at Hyundai-Kia's European research center in Germany, is made and sold only in Europe, but it is related to the Hyundai i30, which is available throughout the world outside North America (and in case of the wagon, even in North America as the Elantra Touring) as well as the Hyundai Elantra (primarily for South Korean domestic market and North America).

The Koreans do have a sizable presence in Europe. Daewoo used to do well before its bankruptcy, and even now, Daewoo-built models, like the Matiz microcar and the Captiva SUV, continue to sell well, though now that Daewoo is part of General Motors, they now make up the European Chevrolet range. SUV builder Ssangyong also manages to move a few of its light trucks in the European market as well, though its raised-wingspan logo is different from the Korean domestic market double-oval logo. Hyundai-Kia offers most of its lineup, including commercial vehicles, but does not offer the bad-ass Genesis luxury sedan, which is just way too big for Europe.

I also want to note the German license plate format. A standard plate, like the one above, has a blue nationality band on the left (EU stars and "D" for Germany), and letters/numbers to identify the vehicle. The first batch (GM in this case) identifies the registration office that processed the car's registration; since Munich is just M, this car is an out-of-towner. My Mercedes-Benz won't get the standard plate, but a special temporary plate reserved for export vehicles driven by tourists.

Now on to pop culture observations.

I am looking at a pole being used as an advertising board, featuring various concerts. While most are of interest to locals primarily, I am noticing a very familiar name: P!nk. Yes, the bad-ass punk girl with very catchy songs - and I especially love her confrontational lyrics - and someone I would definitely love to see myself.

P!nk's Munich performance will be on June 6th, 2010, taking place at a venue in the eastern suburb of Riem.

Continuing my walkaround, now I spot this street scene.

The signs indicate that I can either walk down the stairs to take the U-Bahn, or stay on the street level and take a streetcar (Stadtbahn). I can even do a "park-and-ride" here, judging from the bike rack.

In the background, I see a Deutsche Telekom store, with the familiar pink T. Deutsche Telekom's mobile phone division is known as T-Mobile, and it is a major player not only within Germany, but in the UK and the US as well, though very few Americans ever realize that T-Mobile is really a German company. Deutsche Telekom also operates pretty much all pay phones in Germany, so this is the company to talk to if I need calling cards to use the pay phones.

And that "Einbahnstraße" sign can only be Onewaystreet. German is a language constructed like building blocks, where complex concepts can be described using a compound word made up of simpler words. It is also very logical in its grammar and syntax. For someone who is logic-obsessed (read: me), German is a great language to learn and speak. Unfortunately for me, German is not all that useful in my everyday life; even my French has pretty much gone to waste, and what I really need to speak are Spanish and East Asian languages.

Back to automotive observations. Here is a Fahrschule, or a driving school, where the window shows some of the international traffic signs that are standard in Europe and the rest of the world outside North America. I will need to get familiar with them before I hit the road; at least, they are vastly preferable to anything written out in verbose German that I cannot comprehend. Fortunately, verbose words are not used in Europe, unlike the US where trying to drive without understanding English can be REALLY dicey.

In fact, I would indeed find that there were only 6-7 words of "traffic German" I needed to understand, in order to navigate. I had already studied up on European traffic regulations, so I knew that the primary means of navigating into/out of towns was signs written as "town center" or "all directions" in the local language ("Stadtmitte" and "alle Richtungen" in German respectively), and that I would need to follow numbered routes using destination cities, rather than a cardinal direction.

If I were to move to Germany permanently, I would need to enroll in a driving school like this, and spend a fortune studying for the written exam, as my first step in getting a German driving license. It would then be followed up with an exhaustive behind-the-wheels program and a thorough health exam. And yes, I would need to do the whole thing; while Germany has reciprocity agreements for drivers from within the European Union as well as Canada and major East Asian nations, its treatment for US drivers depends on the state, and drivers from states notorious for cut-rate driving (that means California and Nevada) must start over from scratch.

Another European car worth a look. This is the current European Ford Focus.

The Focus was the first Ford that truly was a global car. The 1981 Escort was supposed to have been that global car, but massive bickering between North American and European engineers resulted in completely different cars. The 1994 Mondeo was almost a success in being a global car, but while it was an upscale family car in most of the world, it was marketed as a cheaper personal car in North America (where it was known as the Contour, with some external differences), and cost-cutting to fit the target North American market resulted in severe quality compromises for the Contour (something I know too well personally, as I used to drive a '99 Contour which I really hated).

And while the original Focus was identical across the world at last, it eventually diverged. The European version got a full redesign in 2005, and this is the redesign. The American version only got a facelift, before getting its own 2008 redesign, and now the two cars are no longer identical. The 2012 Focus will once again be identical across the world, however. In any case I hate the styling of this Focus; I vastly prefer the original.

The tighter streets and parking spots of Europe necessitate that a Focus-class car serve as a mainstream family car, a duty usually left to much larger cars like the Toyota Camry in North America. High fuel costs also necessitate the smaller size - and smaller engine displacement as well (also since engine displacement is a common basis for taxation). Despite being smaller and underpowered, the European versions of a given car often come with high-end options and higher price tags, to fit their higher-up market duties.

Another concert poster. This one features a familiar Irish name - U2. I can expect to see them at the Olympic Stadium on September 15th, 2010, according to the poster.

It's fitting that the poster is located at the entrance to a subway station, which is served by none other than the U2 line. The U2 line, in fact, will terminate at Olympic Stadium, so yes, someone in this neighborhood will ride the U2 to see U2.

Due to my presence in Germany, I am missing out on a U2 concert back home at Rose Bowl in Pasadena. I am making up for this with another U2 show in Anaheim, on June 6th, 2010 - the same day I can expect to find P!nk here in Munich.

At this point, I checked out of the hotel, and stored my bags at the pay lockers at Hauptbahnhof (the central train station in a given German city). Due to frequent train service to Stuttgart (twice an hour on InterCity-grade trains), I had not reserved seats in advance; I went to a vending machine to make sure to buy a pair of tickets, and to also buy reservations just in case, for a departure close to noon.

Now I am walking around one of the pedestrian shopping streets that fan out from Marienplatz. It's about 10 in the morning and the shops are starting to open up. These are my first moments on a German shopping street during normal business hours; my only previous German experience, a day trip into Cologne from Amsterdam, had been a Sunday too.

Walking around a German shopping area like this is always a joy. In addition to Bavarian themed tourist souvenirs, there are lots of things to look at, and a department store is also a delight as well. Some shops are specific to Germany, while others are well known international chains, like Sweden's H&M or San Francisco's Gap. And even some familiar names carry surprises; Esprit, which I normally consider to be a women's brand, sells both women's and men's clothing in its German stores, while H&M tends to be spread out over 3-4 adjacent smaller stores, rather than one larger store as is often the case in the US.

I'm also noting the trends favored by the German fashionistas: leather equestrian boots, usually black, paired with matching-colored tights and coat. German women are businesslike and rather masculine in their presentation. Those equestrian boots did give me a case of shoe envy, in any case. If I were to pick a pair up, I could expect to pay around €100 for a good example.

In addition to shopping and window-shopping, I am also doing some minor sightseeing as well.

My chosen sight for this morning is Frauenkirche, the building with the twin onion-domed bell towers. I am still incensed at the Vatican and its hatemongering ways, so my policy during this trip is to visit cathedrals to take in the sights and the arts but refuse to support the Church in any form. The Frauenkirche, where the nave is free but the bell towers charge admissions, is my first application of the philosophy.

I am, again, reminded that Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, now Pope Benedict XVI, is a Bavarian, and was the Archibishop of Munich around 1980, being based out of this very church.

This footprint goes back much longer, however. It is from the legend that arose from the construction of the church between 1468 and 1488 (fast by cathedral standards). As the architect designed the church, Satan approached him, and offered to help with the construction if the church would be built with no windows. The architect took up on the offer, and upon completion of the church, brought Satan to this very spot, at the nave entrance. While the church does have many lovely stained-glass windows, from this particular spot only one window is visible. Realizing that he's been had, Satan stomped his foot in anger, leaving this footprint, before descending back into Hell.

And I have that view Satan had back in the day. Indeed, that's the only window I can see. The church's interior is also very plain.

And this wrapped up my Munich tour. I soon walked back to Hauptbahnhof, grabbing some lunch snacks on the way, retrieved my bags, and hopped on the EuroCity (that's InterCity with an international portion - this particular train, though German, had originated in Graz, Austria) train, which arrived 20 minutes behind schedule. Nevertheless, I was only 10 minutes late into Stuttgart, and before long, was relaxing in the luxury hotel next to Stuttgart's own Hauptbahnhof, where I had a two-night reservation that was paid for by Mercedes-Benz.

The first Stuttgart photos from that evening will be my next installment.

Mariah Carey - again!

Yes, again, just five months after my last time seeing her, and for the sixth time overall! I have to pause my European travelogue (which I haven't been diligent with anyway) for this. At least it's appropriate given that Mariah Carey is very well weaved into my travel memories.

After that mini-residency in Las Vegas in September and October 2009, as well as a visit of Asia and Europe for the promotion of her newest album Memoirs of an Imperfect Angel, Mariah Carey launched a new tour in North America, entitled The Angels Advocate Tour, starting off at New York's Madison Square Garden on New Year's Eve. And her Los Angeles stops are last night and tonight, at Gibson Amphitheatre at Universal Studios Hollywood.

When it came to Mariah Carey, I had some oddities with her; despite all my previous experiences with her, none of them were in Los Angeles, and I had not bought any tour merchandise from her either. But as of last night, both of that have changed, and I am glad to say so. The merchandise tally consists of a $5 keyring, a $20 tote bag, and a $20 coffee mug.

The concert, like the 2006 The Adventures of Mimi Tour and the 2009 Vegas residency, was built around her newer numbers, including the big hits found on her three most recent albums, such as "We Belong Together" and "Don't Forget About Us." The show was clearly targeted at the younger fans, no doubt about that; the crowd was racially well mixed but mostly twentysomethings, leaving me feeling a bit geriatric. But unlike the 2009 Vegas residency, which felt quite rough at the edges and left me less than happy, this time around it felt quite polished, very entertaining, and very satisfying.

I was a bit disappointed that Mariah chose to resort to lip-synching for a few songs with more complex arrangements, such as "Angels Cry." I do know that she needed to save her voice given her hard tour schedule, but still, when I listen to a first-rate vocalist in a first-rate concert venue, lip-synching is not what I look forward to. Fortunately, her live vocals in all other numbers were superb enough to allow me to forgive that shortcoming.

Back to the numbers, they seemed pretty well chosen, and while I didn't get the power ballads I prefer, the upbeat R&B-inspired numbers were more than entertaining enough for a good evening. Singing along to "Shake It Off" or "Touch My Body" is never a bad thing in my books. She at least  did save the best for last; the encore number was the one key power ballad, "Hero," which made sure to send me off in tears again - for the fifth time!

I had a very good impression of the performance last night. And reviews seem to confirm this. Professional reviewers in Vegas, and in the early shows of this tour, weren't too thrilled, but the two shows prior to last night - Houston and Phoenix - had glowing reviews.

Looking forward to even more Mariah Carey concerts in the future. She's now a 20-year veteran of the showbiz, so she has a lot of material to draw from for her shows; that's always a plus.

And I'm barely getting started. This weekend will have me enjoy Bon Jovi for the first time, while my second U2 concert looms on the horizon in June. I would also love to continue enjoying other great acts new to me, while continuing to revisit some of my proven favorites such as Sarah McLachlan.

Entertainment stuff...

So the 1980s teeny bopper idol Tiffany turned out to be my first major entertainer experience of 2010, after I had spent 2009 with some major names - Sir Elton John (for the fourth time), Billy Joel, BoA, Michelle Branch, Mariah Carey (for the fifth time), Jerry Seinfeld, and Bette Midler. It was an interesting surprise.

Actually I was intending Mariah Carey to be my first act of 2010. That'd be my sixth time seeing her. I was NOT happy seeing her last fall in Vegas - but if she sings "Hero" and I cry again, that's good enough I guess, so she's back on for me. Due to her delays putting her Vegas tickets on sale, I decided to stay in town instead (and save wear and tear on my car) and see her in Los Angeles - my first time seeing her in Southern California. Turns out that she couldn't quite get herself booked at The Palms again, but decided to take Caesars Palace's Colosseum instead, a much nicer venue. I love the Colosseum, so I'm a bit bummed to not be getting out there.

Though that very weekend, I do need to see another act - Bon Jovi. This is my first time seeing Bon Jovi, a 1980s legend that keeps going on strong. Since I know many of their songs, I should have a good time. This show will be in Orange County, and only a short drive from me; moreover, the ticket is dirt cheap at only $41 after all taxes and fees. It's kinda tiring for me to keep going back to the same few favorites over and over, so time for a change, and Bon Jovi will be a great change.

U2 at Angel Stadium is still far out in June - but that should be another good show. This will be my second U2 show. Though my enthusiasm is dampened due to Bono's latest actions - for example, his support of government surveillance of the Internet to cut down on file sharing. Looks like profits come ahead of his supposed principles. This may be my last U2 show if this keeps up - especially given that competition for U2 tickets is very fierce to start with.

I am determined to have a good time in 2010, and this is one way of ensuring that.

Life moves along

I am glad to say that I am now an official member of Neighborhood Unitarian Universalist Church of Pasadena. Tomorrow will be my first attendance as a member rather than a perpetual guest. Being a member means I have a greater say in the church's affairs - and I must also take responsibility for financially sustaining the church. I am pledging a modest amount for now, but will start stepping up soon, as I know how important the church is for me in terms of meeting like-minded people.

I am also stepping up my leisure activities and socializing. To make up for years of being forced away from the trans community in Los Angeles, I attended a memorial service this afternoon for Christine Daniels, who had written for the Los Angeles Times as a sports columnist named Mike Penner for a long time. Penner had come out in 2007 and started writing under Daniels' name, and the Times was very supportive of her, but the obnoxious transphobia of the sports world forced her to resume using a male identity against her will, and it proved to be too much, leading to her suicide over Thanksgiving weekend in 2009. I never got to know Christine - but I am grateful to now be able to connect with her valuable friends who continue to carry on her spirit. This also means my novel can finally start seeing some inspirations again - and resume its progress.

I'm also enjoying other activities - like exercise and shopping. It's also nice that some of my favorite looks during my teenage years are coming back one by one. In a way, I'm becoming a teeny bopper that I had never been - to a point where I still get carded if I try to buy a drink or gamble. To add to this teeny bopper theme, this past Tuesday I was at a fundraiser for the Matthew Shepard Foundation, which was done in the format of a drag pageant (my friend Calpernia Addams being one of the judges) - and the surprise guest was Tiffany! Yes, the late 1980s teeny bopper idol best known for "I Think We're Alone Now" (which she indeed sang that night). She was also auctioning off her signed shoes for the foundation - and while her archrival Debbie Gibson wasn't there in person, her shoes were being auctioned off too.

I've been waiting for this chance to rebloom, ever since my identity and life were taken away against my will by the Arizona theocrats in 2001. Finally glad to get my life and identity back. My next steps will be to start building a real support network. I will need to start attending some group meetings regularly, and also to start working with a shrink (I'm in touch with Lisa Maurel in Orange County). A social network is what I've been missing out sorely on, and it's time to build it at last.

When I have time, I'll have to start with some Europe travelogues (way overdue, and mostly done at Facebook), then move on to more recent photos.

Number Eighteen!

It's a karaoke term. Yes, my attention is turning back to Asia, for now, given how much I love karaoke.

In Japanese kabuki theater, 十八番 (pronounced "Juhachiban" with the u being a long vowel), or Number Eighteen, refers to an official list of eighteen best kabuki plays, dating back to the early 19th Century. There is also an alternative New Juhachiban list that consists of kabuki plays from the newer Meiji era. Today, some of the Juhachiban are no longer actively performed, but they are still being preserved for archival purposes.

In karaoke, Juhachiban refers to one particular song that a given person likes to perform at the microphone, in order to best showcase his/her vocal skills. So this Number Eighteen sounds more like a Number One.

Most people I meet at my favorite karaoke bars tend to have a very narrow repertoire. They may only stick to their one and only Number Eighteen, which can get boring really fast if I frequent the karaoke bar on a regular basis. In particular, the Righteous Brothers' "Unchained Melody" is the Number Eighteen of too many wannabe crooners, and especially gets tiresome. At my "home" karaoke bar (a lesbian bar in Van Nuys), I can name a number of regulars, and their Number Eighteens, quite easily.

My style is to change my songlist dramatically every time. As for Number Eighteens, I may actually have eighteen or so - or even more. If I absolutely must pull out ONE Juhachiban, I tend to use Anna Nalick's "In the Rough," since nobody else ever sings it anyway.

From now on, I'll be looking at taking on a different theme each night. The last time I went to my home karaoke bar, I had a lesbian theme - songs from lesbian singers (i.e. Melissa Etheridge), songs from rumored lesbians (i.e. Kelly Clarkson), and songs from heterosexuals that have a lesbian theme (i.e. "I Kissed a Girl" by Katy Perry). I'm hoping to change my theme dramatically and have fun with that; my next visit will definitely feature a Mariah Carey theme, as a shout-out to my last weekend in Vegas.

Wikipedia: Karaoke
Wikipedia: Kabuki Juhachiban

Looking back, and looking forward

Today marks the first anniversary of what I now must call "the mother of all my journeys" - my lengthy stint in Seoul. I have friends who suffer from a "reverse culture shock" whenever they return to the US from an overseas trip, and after this trip, I had one too - one that I have yet to recover from. My Facebook profile, among other places, now identifies my hometown as Seoul, rather than Los Angeles, and my current Southern California location shows up as something more akin to a reluctant reality.

Listening to Mariah Carey in person this past weekend was a good reminder of last year, while at it. I had started listening to her during my first visit to her hometown of New York City, and my subsequent trips/residencies in New York City and Seoul really involved her music. When I met Mariah in late 1994 in New York, I was talking about memories of listening to her in Seoul. And when I was driving along the Han River on Seoul's Olympic Expressway during last year's residency, Mariah was playing in my rental car's CD player - and the river view reminded me of driving on the Henry Hudson Parkway in New York. To be with her again in person last week, and to have her close the rather short performance out with "Hero," was a good reminder of everything.

According to Wikipedia, "Hero" has a very interesting history. It had been written as a soundtrack piece for a movie of the same name, to be sung most likely by Gloria Estefan, since Mariah didn't want to do anything with movies then. She only agreed to write the song, but when the song was finished, her then-fiance Tommy Mottola was so impressed that he asked her to keep the song for herself. In the end, a Luther Vandross song was inserted into the soundtrack instead, and "Hero" became the #1 hit for Christmas 1993 - and Mariah's eighth US chart-topper. It continues to be covered by many aspiring artists, and has become a sentimental favorite for many people, me included. I'm grateful that "Hero" remains the one song that must be included in all Mariah Carey concerts - even "Vision of Love" has lost that status now.

Wikipedia also has some info on "Without You," the 1970 Badfinger song that was made famous by Harry Nilsson shortly thereafter. Over 180 other covers of the song exist, and of course, the 1993 Mariah Carey cover is the best known. She recorded the song after hearing it at a restaurant - a modest start to another hit that's become yet another sentimental favorite of mine. It was much more popular in Europe than in the US. I've had tough luck listening to this song in person, however; the only time I could do so was way back in 1995.

Now it's time to carry the memories of my past, by looking forward. What happened to me in Seoul and Hong Kong last year serves an inspiration as I try to plot the most meaningful European trip possible, even with my time constraints. In just over a month, I will be on my way to Munich, the first destination. I want my two weeks in Europe to not pale in comparison to what I experienced in Asia last year, and in order to do that, I'll need to do some research. This blog took on a very heavy Korean accent last year and has yet to lose it, and Hong Kong added a bit of Cantonese accent as well; now, I need to inject some heavy German accent here as well, since the trip is about picking up a Mercedes-Benz, and Germany is indeed the country I am most concerned with.

I guess some discussion of Das Deutschlandlied ("The Song of Germany"), which is the national anthem of Germany, will get started. It has other alternate titles, such as Das Lied der Deutschen ("The Song of the German People") and the never-official Deutschland über alles ("Germany Above All"). Its familiar melody dates back to a Haydn composition in 1797, which was an anthem to Holy Roman Emperor Francis II, one of the Habsburgs; for the English speakers, the melody is familiar due to its frequent use as a Christian hymn, with John Newton lyrics.

The lyrics, written by August Heinrich Hoffmann in 1841, have a very interesting story. There are three verses. The first verse deals with the rise of Germany as a new nation, out of the hundreds of smaller countries of the Holy Roman Empire; it sings of Germany's territory stretching "From the Meuse to the Memel, From the Adige to the Belt," the territory much of which has been lost through two World Wars. Today, the first verse is unlikely to be sung by anyone other than neo-Nazis. The second verse is a drinking song, with the starting verses of "German women, German loyalty, German wine and German song." The third verse starts with "Unity and justice and freedom," the current national motto of Germany, and is suitable as a national anthem without the nationalist/fascist overtones of the first verse. During the German reunification, only the third verse was declared as the official national anthem; before then, because of the still-fresh memories of Nazism, the song had been banned right after World War II, and remained only an unofficial national anthem for decades afterwards.

I am intending to head for Germany with a good working knowledge of things that the average German ought to know. That will ensure that I will enjoy every bit of my time there. I want to enjoy driving a Mercedes-Benz in its native habitat as much as I enjoyed driving a Hyundai in its own native habitat. Driving along the Rhine shore ought to be as satisfying as driving along the Han - or the Hudson. The only difference should be that the Mercedes-Benz will be coming home with me.

Concerts, concerts...

I am in Las Vegas, having just walked away from a special Mariah Carey concert - my fourth time seeing her in a concert setting, and my fifth encounter with her overall. She becomes the fifth major act I see in 2009, and I don't expect to see another concert for the rest of the year, so I want to go ahead and do some recap.

Mariah Carey tonight. Her hair is curly - a throwback to her early days. This show, part of a special run of four at The Palms in Las Vegas, is in a very intimate setting, a departure from her normal big arena shows. Who knows, this may be a test run for a long-term headliner residence that Celine Dion pioneered back in 2003.

Most of the numbers performed were the catchier ones that Mariah's main fan base - twentysomethings - prefer. However, her last two numbers were to my liking. One was a remake of Foreigner's "I Wanna Know What Love Is," which is to be released in a few days as Mariah's newest single, and it sounded far better than my expectations. The absolute last number was "Hero," a very sentimental song that always leaves me in tears. Any Mariah Carey concert I walk away from in tears (that's all that I've been to so far) is a good one in my books.

Although no photos were allowed, many fans did sneak digital cameras in, and before the ushers started cracking down, lots of photos were taken during the first number or two. I was one of those fans - that's how I managed to have a photo at all.

A few weeks prior. The Grove, a posh mall in Los Angeles, likes to feature talented artists every Wednesday night in August for a free concert for shoppers. And Michelle Branch was there on the night I went to the Grove. Great show! I got a good mix of different numbers - some from her early pop days, one from her later work doing a country duo called The Wreckers (the other half of The Wreckers, Ashley Monroe, was present as well), and a few from a new album still to come that is country-flavored pop.

This was my second time catching a free show at the Grove. The first time was in 2006, when I experienced another excellent singer-songwriter, Anna Nalick. While I hung out with Anna and walked away with an autograph, I did not bother to go that far for Michelle.

Backtracking to June and the San Francisco LGBT Pride. The San Francisco Pride has lots of great entertainment, especially at this stage located in Civic Center Plaza, and the entertainers are often supportive heterosexuals from out of the area, or even out of the country. And here is the proof.

BoA, the Korean pop sensation who's moved millions of records in Japan, is making her first US-market appearance at the San Francisco Pride. While she had performed in the US previously, those occasions were for the Korean-American community using her Korean singles, but this is the first performance for the general American public involving English-language singles specifically for US and worldwide consumption.

I loved seeing BoA in this setting. Anything that connects San Francisco's LGBTs to the good everyday people of South Korea who made the last few months of 2008 special for me, rather than the theocrats of South Korea's government and the Korean-American community who worked so hard to take away California's marriage equality at the same time, is a good thing in my books.

And backtracking even more to March. I am at Honda Center in Anaheim. This is a special double-feature concert featuring Sir Elton John on the left and Billy Joel on the right. It's my fourth time with Sir Elton, and first with Billy.

I loved this show - a friendly duel of two top-notch piano men! They often made fun of each other in unusual ways. For example, when Billy Joel sang "We Didn't Start the Fire," the overhead screens displayed whatever world event he was singing about, and when he sang "England's got a new Queen," which actually refers to the coronation of Elizabeth II in 1952, the screens showed a photo of Elton John instead!

As my previous Elton John shows were very recent - 2004, 2005, and 2008 - parts of this show felt like a routine to me, rather than something to be excited about, even though the show itself was top-notch.

And back to tonight, I walked away with that same "routine" feeling when it comes to Mariah Carey. Again, it was my fourth show with her as well. Even with new songs and playlists, there is only so much change a given artist, especially one with decades worth of hit repertoire, can do. While I will continue to attend shows of my proven favorite artists, I will have to look for some new favorites to enjoy as well.

The next few months

I am glad to say that things are looking up a bit in my life.

My folks have finally started the long-delayed move out of my place and into their new place. Most of their belongings have been moved, and all they now need is a bed. I should have my place all to myself before I know it.

They have also decided to order a Mercedes-Benz through the European Delivery program. However, only my mother will travel to Germany - her first European trip - for the vehicle pickup. Since there is no way she will confidently travel through Europe on her own (not to mention having the nerves to brave the Autobahn speed demons), I will be joining the trip. While my friends on Facebook are jealous that I get to become an Autobahn speed demon myself, I think that'll be the most mundane part of the trip. A bit more interesting will be finding that every Autobahn exit leads to the town of Ausfahrt (of course, Ausfahrt is simply German for exit), and far more priceless will be learning the quirks of European automotive culture, similar to my Korean road trip experience last year. I'm also happy because my trip will have to be on Lufthansa, offering a 2-for-1 special in conjunction with the car order, and this means my elite status at United Airlines will renew into next year.

While it'll be well into autumn before I head for Germany, I will be in Las Vegas much sooner than that, again. My occasion will be a Mariah Carey concert. This is my second Mariah Carey concert in Las Vegas, my fourth overall, and adding an autographing session, my fifth Mariah Carey encounter. This will be one of four special intimate concerts done at a cozy theater at The Palms. I chose to splurge on a mid-priced ticket ($200 after taxes/fees). I hope this will be an even better experience than the 2006 show at MGM Grand, which was a standard arena show and part of a nationwide tour. This trip will also mark the first time I am actually using my timeshare privileges; I can do 7-8 of these weekend trips to Vegas per year with my timeshare, though I prefer to use some of my privileges at affiliated properties elsewhere as well.

Looking forward to everything.

Michael Jackson dead

Word has just trickled in that Michael Jackson was found unconscious at his Bel Air mansion shortly after noon today, and that he was pronounced dead about 20 minutes ago.

Earlier today, fashion icon Farrah Fawcett passed away - and now Jacko, one of the greatest names in pop music, has died at only 50.

I don't even know what to say - I never was much of a Jacko fan but certainly listened to him more than I cared for in the 1980s and into the 1990s. His music is part of many people's memories from the era, and he will certainly be missed.

Politics through karaoke

I really enjoyed karaoke during my time in Virginia. And even in California, karaoke continues on - though for now, it takes the form of the Asian karaoke studios where I can get a "score" for my singing (and where, of course, I can sing hits of various Asian nations).

I was doing just that last night, and decided to make a political statement to be shared with my party. Thumbing through the Korean selections, I picked out two songs to be sung back-to-back.

One of them sounds like a love song, but is really about the failed May 1980 pro-democracy uprising against the military government of Chun Doo-hwan, which had risen to power via a December 1979 coup. Hundreds of demonstrators were gunned down in the southwestern metropolis of Gwangju, a traditional hotbed of left-wing political activities. Chun insisted, for years, that this was simply a Communist insurrection that had to be put down, and only with the 1990s civilian governments was this tragedy seriously revisited. The US was alleged to be doing some of the shooting alongside South Korean troops, and of course, from 1981 on, the Reagan Administration gave Chun tons of moral support, orchestrated by the Moonies. (When democracy finally came in 1987, the Moonies were the ones panicking the most.) The 1980 bloodshed made up for countless anti-American protests all over South Korea throughout the 1980s (and again, organizers would often find themselves in jail for trumped-up charges of collaborating with the northern Communists).

The other was a 1984 government propaganda song, which celebrated South Korea's continuing fast economic growth, the supposed freedom and opportunities of the society, and the upcoming hosting of the 1988 Summer Olympics, which was probably the greatest honor that the Chun government could boast. It did prove to be a huge hit in South Korea thanks to its cheerful lyrics - even among critics of the military government - and was revived for the 2002 FIFA World Cup as host South Korea's national soccer squad was having extraordinary success.

By singing those two songs, from the opposite sides of the political divide, back to back, I had a chance to share stories about South Korea's decades of military dictatorship, as well as its McCarthyist mentality that still lives on with the Korean-Americans.

For those who actually know Korean pop culture, the following are the actual songs I sang:

• 신형원, 불씨 (the song about the failed pro-democracy uprising)
• 정수라, 아! 대한민국 (the government propaganda)

In the future, I look forward to the opportunities to tell more stories via karaoke, regardless of which language I sing in (or which country the songs come from). Too bad my J-Pop knowledge is nonexistent, and I won't be singing J-Pop anytime soon! And on my next visit to South Korea, I will surely be visiting Gwangju, which now has a special cemetery and memorial dedicated to the dead protesters of 1980.

DC Wrap-Up

Things quieted down while my seminar was in progress, but picked right back up afterwards.

My sightseeing covered some major DC-area sights that I had missed in my previous visits. They included Arlington National Cemetery, where I was able to revisit the various wars that the US had to fight, as well as Jefferson Memorial. I also re-visited the Korean War and Lincoln Memorials, the former as a recap of/follow-up to my visit to the United Nations Cemetery in Busan last year.

The major sight out of town I covered was Mt. Vernon, the estate of George Washington. It wasn't as grand a sight as I thought, but on-site museum exhibits on the life of George Washington, and how his decisions have become precedents for all US Presidents to follow, were very informative, to say the least.

Walking around all the historical sights of Washington, DC area is always a good reminder of the lofty ideals that the United States of America was founded on. Sure, the US often doesn't do a good job of actually upholding them, but as I have pointed out too many times elsewhere, those ideals will live on long after the US itself is just a historical footnote.

I did some karaoke at Freddie's in northern Virginia for two nights, and did okay. First night, after a rendition of Katy Perry's "I Kissed A Girl," I ended up losing my voice and not doing well at all with the high notes. But the second night (my final hangout with Alexandra Beninda, my local friend) went much better. I look forward to more karaoke opportunities regardless of where I go - though I will not be able to just walk into a heterosexual bar and pull it off.

I also want to thank my longtime contacts, Karen Bradley and Richard Bell, for two nice dinner talks. Karen, who was extremely worn out from all the finals grading at University of Maryland, also reported that she is now Facebook friends with Gayle Brandeis. My two favorite CODEPINKers are friends, at last!

I will miss DC - in a few hours I'll need to start my journey back to Los Angeles. But I will be going home happy, and in less than a week, I'll be back in the air, heading for Toronto. That should be a great trip.

Photos will be uploaded whenever I can manage.

Back at it again

Somehow I decided to get back into the simulated airline business.

I'm in a new game world, running from March 1995 to March 2011. (Goddess help me when the fuel prices spike in 2008.) I am keeping the goddess theme - except that I'm now based in Athens, and I honor Athena rather than Kwan Yin. Athena is the goddess that I like the most (though Aphrodite is a close second).

Air Athena's first plane was a 767, which I immediately sent to London and New York for some great cash flow; I hope it helps me build up a solid regional European network fast for a good, stable income. Later on, I'll squeeze in a flight to Los Angeles, if only to capitalize on the popularity of Friends and get my favorite modern-day Greek Goddess, Jennifer Aniston (who has qualities of both Athena and Aphrodite), on board for an advertising blitz. (As Greek Orthodox extremism, unlike Korean-American Christian extremism, is not an issue in Los Angeles, I won't have to pull Athena out from Los Angeles the way I pulled Mercy/Kwan Yin out.)

Currently it's late April 1995, and in addition to flying a BAe 146-300 on domestic routes (including Lesbos - I am one hopeless dyke), I'm about to start building a fleet of Fokker F100s to serve Continental Europe.

I hope the lessons I learned, when I ran the Airline of Kwan Yin into the ground the last time around, will help me with this game (and the real world).

Update 21Apr09 The game had a fatal bug and had to be reset (some people were getting 10 planes after ordering just one, ending up with 20-aircraft fleets when I was patiently waiting for my third plane). And the reset had to happen while I was at an all-day conference; by the time I could do a thing about it, three weeks had already passed, and I had already been taxed despite zero activity. I had to withdraw from the game - though I have full refunds. I'll return to a future game, where I do look forward to carrying the spirit of Athena or Kwan Yin again.

Happy 40th!

My favorite Greek Goddess, actress Jennifer Aniston, is 40. It only seems like yesterday that I was watching a 25-year-old Aniston portray flirty Rachel Green on Friends!

As an actress, a public figure, and an activist, Aniston is a huge asset to the society. I especially appreciate all the work she's done for a number of worthy causes, including St. Jude's Hospital and GLAAD.

Happy birthday!

Hollywood & Griffith Observatory

This post is a test of my Photobucket account. At the rate I take photos, I will run out of Blogger space before I know it!

My folks have returned from their Christmas/New Year's trip, so I have to put up with them for now. They are happy about my car swap - but NOT happy that I had to do it behind their backs. However, I still feel that I had no choice; not only did they force me to keep driving a cursed Ford Contour (and rack up unreasonable traffic tickets and repair bills) until it literally conked out, but they would've certainly done everything to ensure that the BMW would stay with me forever as well.

They did say that I could've sold the BMW to them - or to another acquaintance - for more than the pittance that I got. The BMW could've replaced some other, aging vehicle among my acquaintances. But that was not really my intention; my intention was to ensure that no BMW product would ever stay within my circle of acquaintances, period.

In any case, I won't be living with them much longer anyway. Time to move on to the family business and other more pressing issues. For now, however, here are the final batch of photos from the night before their return. I traveled to Griffith Park and Hollywood for some more photo ops, ensuring that both my car, Gwaneum One, and my camera, a Canon, would give me as much of the spirit of Kwan Yin as possible.

I've arrived at Griffith Observatory, which closed in 2002 for renovations, and re-opened in 2006 (though requiring advance reservations for a visit). The advance reservation requirement went away in late 2007, allowing me to drive Gwaneum One right up to the parking area. The renovations created many new exhibit areas while preserving the best of the old.

One of the older attractions is above. It's the third Foucault Pendulum I come across in just over two months.

Here's a newer area, dealing with the stars and the planets. This photo shows the relative sizes of the solar system's planets. Here, Pluto is still considered a planet (it was demoted shortly after the observatory re-opened). Some faraway bodies that challenge Pluto's planetary status are indeed discussed alongside Pluto itself, however. Under each planet, I may weigh myself and see how much I'd weigh on the corresponding planet.

Nearby is a globe of the moon, along with this actual moon rock. The violet lighting on the moon rock is overexposed in this photo. I haven't figured out how to adjust the ISO rating on my camera manually, however.

My moon weight is about 26.5 pounds.

My Earth weight is now 150 pounds. I did lose weight - and I am certainly out of the plus size territory. Thank all the good food and walking from my three months in Seoul and Hong Kong. I do weigh more than an average woman, but then, I have the extra weight of the male skeleton to deal with.

Here is a very nice periodic table of elements, with samples of each element. Of course, heavy radioactive elements can't be sampled here - some are so unstable, they can only exist for tiny fractions of a second anyway!

The element numbers go up to 111 now, and yes, all have proper names. The captions here say that the universe started out with just hydrogen, fusion power in stars create helium, then dying stars create all other elements up to uranium (92). Anything with higher element numbers must be created artificially.

Here is another old element that is restored: the rotunda above the Foucault Pendulum. Looks mythical but can't really tell what's up there...

The observatory is free, but I paid $7 to take in a planetarium show, detailing the evolution of astronomy from the ancient times through Ptolemy and Galileo to today. The narration was live, and the images lovely, but the planetarium projector didn't see much use...

Los Angeles city night lights. One feature of Los Angeles is that the gridlike street light patterns appear to extend forever. As much as I hate LAX, I love landing there at night, due to all the lights.

The downtown skyscrapers are on the left. On the right are some major buildings of the Mid-Wilshire District, which is now surrounded by the ever-growing Koreatown. I repeat my vow to avoid taking Gwaneum One to Koreatown as much as I can, as I drive her to carry the forward thinking of the South Koreans rather than the backward thinking of the Korean-Americans.

The ISO number goes only up to 400 automatically with my camera, which is why the lights are dimmer than they should be. Again, I need to figure out how to do manual adjustments.

A series of three Saturn photos. The top is from a Voyager mission three decades ago. The bottom is from Hubble Space Telescope above Earth. The middle, with Saturn blocking out the Sun completely, is from the Cassini spacecraft - and is completely new to me. I love the way the rings glow under the sunlight.

This is the public Zeiss telescope that makes this observatory famous. Unfortunately, it's having problems, and is not open tonight.

I did walk around and find two portable telescopes. One, next to the telescope dome, was pointed at the moon, for a good look at some of the craters. The other, on the lawn, was pointed at the Orion Nebula; my own telescope does show the Orion Nebula okay, but this larger telescope showed it in more detail. Of course, the nebula glows in a faint blue; those spectacular pink photos require hours of camera exposure.

On the lawn, north of the observatory itself, this monument stands to honor various astronomers over the past several centuries. Normally, the monument should be lit, but not on the night I visited; the light is from my flash.

And it's the gibbous moon overhead.

I didn't feel like returning home, so I took Gwaneum One over to Hollywood. I parked her on Hollywood Boulevard, across the street from the Egyptian Theatre. Of course, here is another night lighting camera test.

Hollywood and Highland - a very famous intersection, and for the past several years, home to a posh shopping mall and Kodak Theatre as well as a subway station.

I am looking west from the northeast corner. A bit to the west on Hollywood Boulevard is the El Capitan Theatre, which was restored by Disney. There is a Disney Store there. Also around me are a Frederick's of Hollywood lingerie store and an American Apparel store, as well as many tacky souvenir stalls.

This is probably the Los Angeles equivalent of San Francisco's Fisherman's Wharf - a place where the crowd is more likely to be tourist than local.

Two Walk of Fame stars. Great to know that they are Nicole Kidman and Charlize Theron - two outstanding actresses who will soon portray the world's first post-operative trans lesbian couple!

Sir Elton John. Can't go wrong with him either.

Here's someone whose handprints I had seen in Hong Kong - John Woo. Now, I am in front of Grauman's Chinese Theatre, where all the handprints are, some dating as far back as the 1920s.

The cast of Harry Potter.

Unlike the vast majority of transwomen, I am NOT a Trekkie. But I had to take this photo of the Star Trek cast handprints anyway, if only for George Takei, who got married last year during the short timeframe that gay marriage was legal in California.

Proposition 8 was a mistake, and more importantly, a grossly barbarian attempt by foreign forces (Catholic and Mormon Churches, the Vatican, the South Korean government, and various immigrant communities) to impose their primitive moral values on California. I'll support any and all efforts to overthrow it. I will soon order a bumper sticker to that effect, and put it on Gwaneum One. Putting that sticker on a Hyundai will further clarify that I carry the spirits of the fair-minded everyday South Koreans, rather than the bigotry of the Korean-Americans and the South Korean government that they helped install.

I need to watch this movie. Marley and Me - starring none other than my idol Jennifer Aniston.

The Hollywood United Methodist Church. This church is also committed to restoring marriage equality in California.

My feet hurt, as I was wearing heels (I had not counted on walking around Hollywood). Yes, I was again going for that sleek cardigan-tights "no pants" look. But I am glad to have gotten out and about one last time. Will continue to look for photo ops, however!