Reboot

It's been far too long since my last blog iteration.  Let's quickly what you've quickly missed over the last 6 months:

• I've failed to update you on the remainder of my European trip.
• I've failed to upload my pictures from Europe.
• I've been working.
• I've been applying to more career-related jobs.
• I've been riding.
• I've been buying socks. (false: I haven't bought any socks since Europe)

That's pretty much it--steadily progressive but otherwise, well...you get the idea.  Things need a reboot, let's go forward with it...



Fantastic!  Just another minute or 10...

Now that we've rebooted, what's new? I started off the bike racing season last weekend up in Boston at the Beanpot. It was the last dance in the GLV colors. Won the USAC TTT (there were only two teams, both GLV), but it was absolutely pitiful--don't want to talk about it. The crit on Sunday was equally as disappointing, which in itself was disappointing due to how great that course is. Despite the many shortcomings on the race course, it was a fun weekend.

Like I said, the Beanpot was my last go-round with Green Line Velo. There lies my other reboot. Since for the foreseeable future I'll be in the Philadelphia area, I've traded in the green for blue and will be racing with the Breakawaybikes.com-iFractal elite team.

My first race with them was yesterday--a Pro/1/2/3 crit.  We had half a dozen guys in the field of what may have been around 70 riders large by some counts (official numbers still aren't in).  The race was at the Philadelphia Naval Yard, and while the roads are nicely paved within the last two years, the roads bottleneck at each intersection.  In this first PA BAR (Best All-Around Rider), we were to do 35 miles of the flat 1.4 mile course, which had some interesting geometric features to it:

Yup, 8 turns including a 180. Interesting, to say the least.  It was tough racing not in New England: I don't know riding styles, teams, who to watch, who to ignore, who's wheel NOT ot follow because they're a giant sketchball.  I was completely clueless, and as a result I ended up racing a very stupid first half of the race.  That and my legs aren't quite up to par yet, so pulling out 20th place is acceptable for me.

More BAR races next weekend. Yay bike racing.

Paris, enfin

Preface: the Oktoberfest post will happen as soon as I don't have to compose beautifully smithed English on a BlackBerry.

I had studied French for who-knows how long. Middle school. High school. A short time in college. I've been lectured on France and Paris for years. Finally I had arrived.

After a much needed do-nothing/laundry day in Brussels at my host's house, I took the high speed train down to Paris. An hour and a half at blazing fast speeds was all it took. I dropped my stuff off at my hostel and set out ASAP (after some savory kebab for lunch).

I stopped by the national Opera house first to check on the spot of the home of the Phantom of the Opera. Definstely the most intimate concert hall I've ever been in; it didn't seat that many people relative to others but it was stunningly gorgeous.

Beyond being huge and having vast collections of art, what's the one thing people think of with reference to the Louvre? Long lines. Well I waited 5 minutes and got in without a problem. I decided to go the first night I was there. The museum was open until 10 that evening and I figured going during dinner time was a smart move. Turns out I was right. There were points in time where I was the only person in a wing of the Louvre - kinna creepy actually.

Beyond the typical Eiffel Tower and Arc de Triumphe I had some good times. I did a day trip out to Versailles and a bicycle tour in Paris another day. I also met a ton of cool people at the hostel I was staying. One even lives in Allston - Roxanne. Another, Lisa, I met up with in Geneva later by chance.

My last day and night there was perfect. It was a Sunday. I slept in a little strolled around the city for a little and got a darn good falafel for lunch, which I ate along the river in perfect weather. That night I bought a Guinness at the hostel bar with the intention of reading a little of my book. I ended up talking for hours with an Aussie, a Brit, a Kiwi, and eventually a Brazilian as well. After a few units of wine, the Brit and I eventually took up arms against one another in the form of foosball to settle that whole Revolutionary War thing. It was a fantastic game, but in the end I was the victor. 'merica!

Kyle Bruley

Blitz aktualizace ("Lighting Update")

Blitz means "lightning" in German. Aktualizace means "update" in Czech. Since Amsterdam, I've been in Germany and the Czech Republic. Tremendous amounts of fun!




Berlin

Berlin was a blast. I did a free walking tour when I got there that really showed you the sights of the city. It was then that the Australians started to infiltrate my trip. I met Olivia, an Australian on the tour finishing up her gap year, and we wandered about the city at various times throughout my stay in Berlin. Then I met more Aussies on a pub crawl Saturday night along with a few Scotsmen as well. We all emerged from the 6-hour crawl relatively unscathed.

The Berlin Wall



Potsdam

 I took a day trip to Potsdam, the "Versailles of Berlin" and walked through the enormous gardens and tours the palaces. The impending rain managed to hold off for my trek on the outskirts of Berlin.




Sunday was the Berlin Marathon. How does it compare to Boston. Boston wins hands down. The Berlin race snakes through the city - if you tire, you can stop. In Boston it's a straight line - you better make it or you’re stuck. Also, for public drinking being legal in Berlin, I was severely disappointed at the lack of public libation. Boston, again, wins.



There was something strangely romantic about the city of Berlin that I had by no means expected. Its river is a fantastic little waterway. The Berlin Wall still stands. This city was the focal point of the Cold War for over 40 years. There was just something about it that struck me so unexpectedly. I loved it here.





Prague

On the way to Prague I took a break from Aussies - my cabin of 6 on the train ride to Prague was all Americans. Three were studying abroad in Prague coming back from a weekend in Berlin, and the other two were a mom and daughter (my age) on vacation. Julie, Katie, Emily, Casey, and Suzie. Yes, all "-eey"s. Julie, Katie, and Emily showed me a good first night when we all got dinner. Then they showed me another one after that when we were all out until 4 am...on a Tuesday night. That was a first.



I had met two more Aussies at the hostel bar, Bennie and Shane, that Tuesday as well. In addition to running into them that Tuesday night, we went out the next night as well to the largest club in Central Europe (on a Wednesday night). 4am night...take two.



Fear not, there was plenty of sightseeing done in Praha in between gallivanting about the cobbled streets at night: Prague Castle was fantastic; the celestial clock; Charles Bridge; Wenceslas Square; etc. The views from the Castle and the parks in western Prague were gorgeous.

Prague Castle at night

Oktoberfest

Let's be honest, this one deserves a post of its own...

Amsterdarn

Okay, I have another QWERTZ keyboard to do battle with, and 19...no 18 minutes left on the clock on the computer.

Amsterdam,  I cut my original stay in this city short by a day and decided to do an extra one in Berlin.  The 'dam wasn't really my bag, or at least not while traveling solo.  There's a lot to do in the city other than the smoking and Red Light District stuff (and while accepted, neither of which were appealing to me at all), especially when you consider how small it is, but based on what I got the feeling of, and what other people have told me, Amsterdam is for sure the type of city that you want to do with at least one other person.  Especially for taking advantage of all the Red Light District has to offer, that is, however much of the district one is willing to take.

So in one phrase of caution given to me by a local, what did I learn about the Red Light District?  Stay away from the blue lights.

The museums in town - first rate.  The Rijksmuseum, commonly labeled as one of the best museumsd in the world, was undergoing major renovations.  However, it did have a good sized section open to the public with what they labeled as their masterpieces.  The Van Gogh Museum was also fantastic. 

A museum that really knew what it was doing was the Heinekin Brewery.  It was fun, informative, and if anything the interactive computer tabletops at the bar at the end of the tour was totally worth it.

I got to all of these via bike.  Biking in Amsterdam, as you can imagine, was awesome.  After riding rust 10 minutes with them in their rush-hour bicycle traffic, I know know why the Dutch are so factastic at cyclocross.  14-year-olds to 80-year-olds handled their bikes better than I've seen many Cat 4 riders.

2 minutes.  Spell Check.  Publish.  Berlin.

...okay forget the spell check, it's in German.

Merckxland

I am, of course, talking about Belgium,


You'll have to pardon me in advance - I'm typing on a computer who's keys were designed for a pigme and whose keyboard is not setup in the standard QWERTY formation.  In fact, what I'm looking at can be described as a QWERTZ keyboard. Whatever, I'm over it (not really)

My trip has exclusively been in Belgium so far (minus the part where I'm sitting in Amsterdam right now).  Bill and Brenda, two family friends who have gratiously provided their house as Home Base, were more than fantastic hosts.  Upon landing after 7.5 hours in a plane seat - which is a total lie because it was actually 9.5 hours due to thunderstorms in Philly - I got settled at Bill and Brenda's.  Not long after, I was taken to the American School in Brussels where I gave a talk to two classes about life in college and what they should suspect in the college-prep process.

Saturday we drove to southwestern Belgium in preperation for the Orval brewery tour the next day.  Orval is one of the last Trapist (monk-run) brewerys in the world, making some fantastic beer. They only open up their brewery two back-to-back days to the public, so it was a treasure to be able to see.


In a not so strange turn of events I'm now writing this on my blackberry. Regardless, the brewery your was fun and we all received a bottle opener and a free beer at the end. We finished up the tour, grabbed our free beers and cheese and say down at a communal table that was setup with some Belgians who were already seated. After conversing with them , half in English, half in french, we found out that that were locals, knew the people serving the Orval, and were already on their third round. How this is possible, I don't know, because what I haven't told you is that this beer is at least 9% alcohol by volume. Soon enough, Bill and I had a free round in front of us. Next thing I know I'm staring at my second free Orval. My french was progressively getting better and better. Bill leaned in and suggested that we better finish what was in our glasses and promptly leave before they got us more beer. Sure enough, we get up and the old barkeep who was visiting the table asked where we were going because he was about to bring us another round. Merci, mais non.

After a day in Brussels, the next day I took a day trip to Bruges, or Brugge. It's a tourist town but it wasn't bad on a Monday. Below is my lunch from the day: a giant kettle of steamed mussels. Another number off Esquire's things every man should do before he dies.