Our Tour de France

The incredible Mont St. Michel

Hey everyone -

We've had bad internet during this trip (shocker) so I haven't been able to upload the blog as much as I'd like, so instead I've just thrown a few pics up on facebook and now am shooting this update to the world.

Everything is great with us on our own little "Tour de France" - we've had a fabulous trip so far and have been so impressed by this country. The people, food, and culture have all been first class. Rural France had always intrigued me, and it has been very interesting seeing the "real" side of the French people as opposed to the hustle and bustle of Paris and the glitz down in the South of France.

St. Emilion, Bordeaux countryside

Our flight over went smoothly (other than of course our luggage once we got to the budget carrier headed for France.) WHEN WILL WE LEARN! We landed there late on Saturday night and grabbed a hotel. Of course, the hotel we had booked on the internet decided to randomly close on Saturday with no phone number and no one there speaking English, so we audibled and found a decent one on foot with luggage in toe. Sunday we picked up a car and drove 45 minutes out of Bordeaux (the city) to the countryside and found a tiny little village named St. Emilion that came highly recommended. It was heaven... small stone buildings in a valley surrounded by vineyards! We walked the city, tasted free wines, and enjoyed a picnic in the city square before finding our accommodation - a small 18th century farm ran by a nice woman and her husband. It was so incredible, just plopped amongst thousands of acres of vineyards. We relaxed that day and walked through, enjoying what a proper "getaway" should be. That night, we decided to try out French Cuisine and feasted on a ridiculously good (albeit foreign) dinner of eggplant cakes, salmon tartare, fresh trout, roasted duck with sea salt potatoes, and finally Creme Brulee & Chocolate Fondant cake. It really was as good as it could be.

Christie with our lovely host and her dog, Vanilla! We were served a classic French breakfast in the vineyard and enjoyed the sunshine.

Nothing like a purple Vespa

The following day (Monday) we attempted to go wine tasting at a few of the over 860 chateau's in the region, but soon came to find out (after striking out at 5 in row!) that reservations were required. WHERE WERE YOU ON THAT ONE RICK STEVES!!! Can't fault Rick - overall he's been amazing on his recommendations -- so much so that we decided to bolt out of Bordeaux that afternoon, and drove the 300 km up to the Loire Valley where we spent the evening touring a pair of medieval chateaus -- Azey le something and Villandry, which boasts the most ridiculously nice garden I've ever seen.

Late that evening we made our way to the city of Angers (one hour to the west) where we were staying with our friend Aurelie's parents. She is the girlfriend of Swarco Raiders receiver Andi Proeller, and one of Christie's best girlfriends in Austria. They were so accommodating... only they didn't speak a LICK of English. It was so nice of them to let us stay there! However, this meant that even "Hello" in English was beyond them, and we didn't fare much better! It didn't matter, as they were WONDERFUL hosts -- preparing a delicious three-course meal that included a salad comprised of tomato, crab, and egg along with a baked cheese-filled bread. For dessert - in an unlikely yet delicious twist - MORE CHEESE!!! (They said that French people enjoy cheese 365 days per year. Can't argue with that!) We enjoyed all of this while using hand-signals and Christie's French that she hadn't used in years, along with a trusty French-English dictionary and a list of English sentences that Lili had printed out for her parents. Awkward at the time, funny looking back :-) But a serious example of great hospitality - Merci Remi and Paulette!

French for "House"

On Tuesday, we woke up early and headed north to Brittany to catch one of the wonders of the world -- the island of Mont St. Michel. It sticks out into the Bay almost 6 km and is completely surrounded by sand in one of the largest tides in the world. It was breathtaking from afar and made for some incredible pics... however the inside was a touristy nightmare filled with cheap nicknacks and too many stairs. My favorite part was when we walked way out onto the sand to get photos, and upon returning found that the tide had created a large pool that I carried Christie across on my back! Good times! That day we also discovered Rick's two gems in the region, the cobble-stone lined village of Dinan (lunch) and the Castle By the Sea town of St. Malo (dinner). What an incredible day!!!

Villandry gardens - incredible!

Cobbled streets of Dinan, small village in Northern France

Today is Wednesday, our last in France. We had a goal of seeing two more famous Chateau in the Loire Valley on the way to Paris, but in the name of simplicity (and saving a few hours driving) decided to head straight for the City of Light. BIG MISTAKE!!! We arrived to pouring down rain, bad traffic, and our usual disappointment that is Paris. We know we sound completely jaded, spoiled, and snobby, but seriously this city SUCKS for us!!! Ugh... we're laid up now at an internet cafe, where I'm catching up on life (Lakers up 2-1 over the Celts!) Hopefully the weather will clear so we can enjoy the evening... but in the morning we're off to Sicily for nothing but Sun!!! (Oh yeah, a big Sicilian Wedding and the Italian League Semi's too!)

Ciao and Merci,

Jason and Christie

On the road again...

It's back - the Jump Picture! Christie is pumped here to be entering her home and native land of Canadia.

And they're off.

Jason and Christie's 2010 European Adventure (abbreviated from here on out as JC2K10EA) officially kicked off on Friday as we pulled out of our parking structure in Tacoma, Washington, USA at officially 9:02 am Pacific Standard time. Ahead of us lied thousands of miles, a handful of countries, and numerous once-in-a-lifetime experiences -- but first, a day and a half of travel to get there. This is the gritty part of being a traveler, for despite my love of the open road, I must break positological tradition and admit that getting to Europe is not all poppies and strudel.

Happy to have reached the train station in Manchester.

For us, this road required some fancy footwork as an easy direct connection from Seattle to Bordeaux wasn't available for less than the GDP of Andorra. Therefore, we made a four hour drive north to Vancouver to catch our flight to England, filled with it's own intricacies of a border crossing, dropping a car at a nondescript downtown location, praying that it would still be there upon our return, catching a train to the airport, and braving an airport line-up that harkened back to 1982. All of this went fairly according to plan, except the aforementioned line at Thomas Cook Airlines. Doing things "The Old Fashioned Way" might work for Smith Barney in the financial world and does provide interesting material for commercials, but this is not exactly so in the travel biz. Despite arriving at the airport nearly 3 hours before our flight, this English charter company still required an old school face to face meeting, and so no quick electronic check-in kiosks. It seemed everyone - including the 400 odd English bound passengers - knew to expect this and thus arrived at the airport last Thursday to catch this flight. I do want to go on record that my beautiful wife did tell me this, and two stress-filled hours later we were finally checked in and racing to the gate just moments before take-off. The good news is that this delay meant we were not sitting together and therefore I wouldn't need to hear about it the first three hours of the flight, the bad news is that we had the joy of deciding between Middle Seat Next to Crying Baby and Middle Seat That Doesn't Recline.

Street performers come in the soccer variety in the city that first gave us Beckham, Christiano Ronaldo, and Wayne Rooney. Ironically, Thomas Cook stands quietly in the background.

Upon arrival into Manchester, we had a six hour layover before our next flight to Bordeaux. We quickly dropped off our bags inside the airport and hopped on the train for a fifteen-minute train ride into town. The plan was nothing other than walking aimlessly through the city center, and I was curious to see the town that is home to one of the world's top soccer clubs, Manchester United. There was a Saturday market on, and the city buzzed with people looking through various shops and flower-filled stands.

The colors in this picture are a little to close to the Puyallup Vikings.

Yes, I can take pictures of flowers.

Travel guru Rick Steves advocates traveling like a temporary local. This means ditching your typical American attitudes and hang-ups, and making it a point to try new things and experience culture through the eyes of those that live there. This had me a little worried as I surveyed the folks filling the Manchester Piccadilly Station, who either were quite unfortunately dressed or were auditioning for the role of a Jesse James mistress. The over/under on tattoos per person hovered around 15. I know dressing "euro" is a buzz-word among hip Americans, but perhaps those had never seen the average 17 year old Manchesterite. Yes, we were no longer in Kansas.

Great buildings lead to...

... great squares and people watching galore.

Eventually we made our way down into the heart of town where modern gave way to historic and suddenly there were sunny squares filled with people. This was British culture we were looking for. We decided to cure our jet-lag with some time at Sinclair's Oyster Bar, an historic watering hole dating back to the first Gentleman's Club in Manchester, founded in the 18th century. There was fascinating people watching here! (Note -- be sure to ask before trying a local brew as it might be served warm!)

If it's England than it must be time for a pint.

Happy travels.

We spent the rest of the afternoon admiring the old buildings and people watching, which somehow never gets old in this part of the world.

Look this way!

Cool texture.

A little help here?

Manchester city square

On a sightseeing scale, Manchester was pleasant enough but not worthy of a special stop on any itinerary. Perhaps we're a little jaded having been to Europe consistently over the past few years, but I think the true joy in Europe is found in the small villages or in the few great large cities (Rome, Prague, Berlin, etc.) Four hours in the core was much more than enough, and we hurried back to the airport for our connection to France.

I do want to make the note to fellow Chelsea supporters that I did not go to Old Trafford while in town. Go Blues!

Safely in Bordeaux

There is no hiding what this region is about...

We touched down at sunset in Bordeaux, feeling relatively good for 36 hours of consecutive travel, and excited to now let the real fun begin!

~ J. Twice

New Backyard...

I always admire a nice cone.

I've always been an advocate of "being a tourist in your own backyard" -- well, our new backyard in Tacoma is the Museum of Glass. It features the Venetian-style blown glass of acclaimed artist Dale Chihuly, and a signature pyramid on the side of the building. After admiring said pyramid every morning for a month, I finally got off my butt when the light was right to get a stylish pic. So without further ado... the cone.

And in keeping with this Mantra... thought I'd show some of my Euro readers a little video of my hometown, as done by Seattle photographer Charlie Beck. Enjoy!

Seattle, WA :: The Best City in the World from Charlie Beck on Vimeo.

~ J. Twice

Still SAC...

A lot of people new to the blog might not be hip to all of my lingo, so I thought I'd post a couple updates before we got on the road to bring everyone up to speed. SAC is a concept I developed two years ago and has spread throughout Europe and much of Asia. It has been referenced across pop culture platforms, almost making its way into dozens of Hollywood movies and hit TV shows. And to be perfectly honest, with the growth of smart-phones and everyone's dangerous habit of texting while driving a Vespa one handed while balancing a small child on your lap (sorry - that's maybe only in Catania), SAC is as relevant and perfect today as when I first thought it up. So without further ado, let's start the show! SAC.

SAC: The New LOL

THURSDAY, JANUARY 24, 2008

We all have pet peeves. For some, it's bad drivers. For others (such as my wife), it's chewing with your mouth open, talking too loudly, or being against the socializing of healthcare. Or so I've been told. Oh yeah - one that really ticks me off is showers that have two knobs for water temperature -- hot & cold water knobs -- instead of just one! How many times have you been forced to dance around the slippery shower while getting scalded because you made a mistake on the ratio of hot and cold! But my own personal pet peeve is perhaps a little more far reaching -- touching all members of the growing community of text messengers that span the globe. I'm talking about a little acronym called LOL.

For those of you still "using CD's," "setting your VCR," or "unnecessarily using quotation marks," let me explain (although you do get bonus points for reading a blog.) LOL is an internet / text-message acronym that stands for 'LAUGHING OUT LOUD' and is commonly used as a response to a joke or witty comment. Let me give you an example:

FRIEND1: Yo, whattup?

FRIEND2: Leaving 4 Italy in 3 dayz... cr8zy

FRIEND1: Sweet - eat lots of meatballs

FRIEND2: LOL. Fo' sho'

Now, is the 'meatball' comment witty? Yes. Is it funny? Yes. But is it LAUGH OUT LOUD funny? NO. And that my friends, is where my beef lies.

Comedians - or people like me who just tell lots of jokes - live for that LOL moment. We work for it. We strive for it. We are rewarded by it. Because let's be perfectly honest, it takes a LOT to make someone actually LOL. I'm talking hit-in-the-groin-with-a-ground-ball funny. I'm talking Bambulance or Felching funny. (Please Google both and LOL!) That's LOL... not meatballs. I mean, all it's doing is giving a bunch of mediocre comedians or not funny people a false sense of confidence. There are some very boring people out there that maintain a 58% LOL ratio. In fact -- LOL is the digital equivalent of the adult courtesy laugh (the one all people over the age of 18 give at cocktail parties and office water coolers after any joke/story told, regardless of its merit.)

And thus we come to SAC. SAC simply means SMILING AT COMPUTER. As you read this sentence, you are probably SAC. SAC is what happens 95% of the time – and that's ok. It's good. It preserves the authenticity of the LOL... while at the same time acknowledging the witty-ness of the sender. We all need to use SAC more often.* Here’s a good example:

FRIEND1: Hey thanks for the ride last night

FRIEND2: Don't be silly - it was no prob. What r u doing?

FRIEND1: Just gonna sit around and use Google Maps all day to look at my house, my parents house, and where I work.

FRIEND2: SAC. Holla at me later. And check out the Grand Canyon too.

Please -- do your part. Please help spread SAC worldwide.

KEY POINT: LOL is not a term to be thrown around lightly. When most of you say LOL, you really mean SAC.

And for those of you saying OMG or WTF, I know this chapter had nothing to do with Italy. SAC.

* SAC also applies to phone text messages or books as well... simply because to use different acronyms such as SAP or SAB for each instance is not as LOL. By the way, the 2nd most underrated punctuation mark is the asterisk. It's as under-used as LOL is overused... but don't EVEN get me started on that!

Sicilian Driving - Some things never change...

Anyone who followed our (mis)adventures through Sicily two years ago will be well aware of the perils of driving on the island.  Simply put, it is not for the meek.  You see, Italians in general like to make their own rules, and driving is no exception. Most Italians consider the traffic light as an insult to their own intelligence and decision making. "Who are you to tell me whether I should go?" I imagine many Italians saying as they approach a red light.  Needless to say, it's fun.

That being said, it is good to know that others share this opinion - and it's always best illustrated by a North American who just can't seem to grasp these non-rules of the road. Two years ago, it was our offensive lineman Brandon "Big Bianco" Bennett, who treated downtown Catania as his own personal demolition derby. By the end of six months, it was easier to count the parts of the car that were dented as opposed to what was still intact. This year, the honor goes to American Head Coach Mel Galli, who in his short time on Sicily has gone through a pair of cars at last count.  Here's the brilliant account of his latest encounter, as told by Mel's friend Larry Murname who happened to be visiting the Elephants for the month of May. 

"LET'S JUST START BY SAYING NO ONE DIED."

After a coaches meeting with the American players at the office of our team owner, Davide, Mel drove Luis and I to practice in our new Peugeot. Luis always gives me the death seat in front, purportedly so he can stretch his legs in the back, but we all know better. The Peugeot replaced the first car Mel wrecked on a trip back from Palermo when he missed about 5 miles of detour and speed limit warnings leading to the highway barrier that wedged itself under the car.

As we passed the Carne di Cavallo shop with a slab of horse ribs displayed on the sidewalk, and Mel once again describing the taste and texture of equineburgers, I could only sigh at the ultimate fate of those majestic, lean, beasts of burden seen trotting along the streets of Sicily with a rickshaw rider in tow. I returned my eyes to my window, only to see a motorcycle with 2 riders heading straight for me, about 10 feet away. In an instant, his bike slammed into my door and his helmet busted our windshield. The girl on the back, not wearing a helmet, began screaming uncontrollably while sitting in the street. A crowd quickly gathered, and I told Mel to call Davide, while others called 911. The riders were comforted where they fell, and I watched and listened in fear of a growing Sicilian lynch mob. 

It quickly became obvious that the motorcycle driver ran a stop sign and struck our vehicle, and Mel had no culpability. (Fortunately, both vehicles had been travelling slowly.) In my medical opinion, as a juris doctor, neither rider appeared to sustain any serious injuries, though paramedics did put a neck brace on each of them before fumbling them onto stretchers and carrying them away in separate ambulances about an hour later. (We passed 2 other downed bikers later in the evening, and we see 1-2 per day on average; so these riders account for a large number of jobs in the emergency services sector.)

Because Mel had been driving without a license (not sure if he just forgot his wallet or ever had a license), which would apparently nullify the rental car insurance, Davide suggested maybe someone else might have been driving when the accident occurred. So, in the presence of about a hundred eye-witnesses, Mel informed me that I had been driving and he had to leave immediately to get to practice. I looked around, and Luis had already gotten the hell out of there, leaving just me, 2 bodies in the street, a wrecked car in the intersection, and a crowd of hostiles speaking gibberish and gesturing wildly. When Davide arrived, he confirmed I had been driving and then found and reviewed the rental car contract. When he determined the car had actually been rented in the name of Gustavo ("Goose"), a young Italian linebacker on the team, he quickly called Goose to advise he hustle to the scene of the accident, as the driver of our car. (Sometimes, you just have to admire Sicilian ways.) Happy to be off the hook, I informed Davide I must be on my way to practice, and left him there to address the police when they arrived. Hopefully, his newly designated driver would be there as well. (None of the bystanders seemed bothered in the least that all 3 people who were in the car had fled the scene.)

The good news is that we had a great practice (except for Goose and Davide), which is important because Milan has a solid team. Afterwards we walked back down the street in time to see the polizia wish Davide and Goose a pleasant evening. Mel and I then rode in the back of the car (the front passenger door no longer operable), and Luis drove us to get a kebab for dinner before seeking medicinal treatment at a new wine bar. Today, we will get a third car, if anyone will sign the rental contract...

Exhibit "A":

Thanks for the great story Larry!  You can read more about his month in Catania on his blog right HERE.

Sicilian Beach Planning

The turquois water of Mondello Beach between Trapani and Palermo - early candidate for our first stop in Sicily!

With our Sicilian vacation fast approaching, there comes the necessary planning phase that is often just as exhilerating as the road itself. There is nothing quite like wondering through the travel section at a cavernous bookstore, glancing from shelf to shelf in gitty anticipation over far off places with exotic sounding names.  While the French portion of our trip has required the most attention, there is always the joy of trying to find a new place on Sicily that we haven't yet explored. 

Now when it comes to Sicily, the first word I think of is BEACH. Obviously being a massive island helps in this classification, however nowhere else on earth have I found such a wide variety of beach types. Sand and Rocks. Calm and Waves. Blue and Blue-er. It cracks me up that almost every beach in Hawaii looks like Hawaii, and every Caribbean beach looks Caribbean. But in Sicily, you can drive five miles down the road and go from Mexico to Australia to Costa Rica to Greece!  It is quite amazing, and something we will sure to partake of completely over our 9 days on the island.

The Aeolian islands in the distance of this northside beach.

The fine white sand of "Fontane Bianche" near Syracusa. Perhaps my vote for best so far.

Cefalu has got the vote for most antique - and personality.

FINALLY, we come to the beach I have recently discovered on a Frommer's Top Five List of Sicilian Beaches - Mondello near Palermo.  George Contreras gave it a thumbs up, and even Claudio conceded that it is nice "when not overcrowded." This is officially going to be our first stop once Ryan Air delivers us to Sicily!

Giddy up.

I'm back... or should I say... OFF!

Like Mike.

I'm back.

With a single fax back in the '90s, Michael Jordan announced to the world that he was returning to the game of basketball from his brief hiatus in baseball. Well, Mike, times have changed and I'm now using this blog/facebook/twitter post to announce that "Jason Johnson's Blog Haitus" has official ended after 89 days. Yes, Really Playing for Pizza is back online.

The reason you ask? No, it is not because I have suddenly found my new domestic life in the Puget Sound area to suddenly be noteworthy (sidebar: blogs about living in America where things run according to plan are just not that interesting). And no, it is not simply to appease other prolific writers in the blogosphere (also see: Contreras, George). Rather, because of one simple fact:

WE'RE HEADED BACK TO EUROPE!

The world travelers in Berlin, 2009.

No, I'm not suddenly announcing a return from my own football retirement - although suddenly I just realized that this post could be taken as that. Rather, our good Sicilian friends Giuseppe Strano and Valeria Guglielmino are getting married on June 11th & 12th in Catania, Italy in what promises to be the wedding of the year! We are so excited for them and knew we couldn't miss it - along with a chance to reconnect with my two long lost best friends, gelato & cannoli. (Sorry Claudio, you'll have to do a little more to rank above gelato!)

'Peppe and Valeria

We met Giuseppe and Valeria in 2008 when I played for the Catania Elephants in Sicily - he a bruising tight end who caught many TD passes from me, and her a spark-plug female hockey player fresh off the Olympic games! We instantly had a bond, and consider them to be such a fun part of our lives. In September of 2008 Giuseppe and Valeria came to visit us in Seattle and we had an amazing time going out on our boat and taking in a Husky football game. I was looking through the pictures today, and I came across the photos below... when I realized that our new condo is in the picture! We live in the building just above Valeria's head to the right! What a crazy coincidence... or just foreshadowing?!

Valeria on our boat a couple years ago on the Thea Foss Waterway in Tacoma - and our NEW HOUSE IN THE TOP RIGHT CORNER! So funny!

Sicilian and Washingtonian sea captains

I do sincerely apologize for my "mini-break" and am excited to be heading back over the pond for a few weeks. But that in itself is a story - as for a while we didn't even think it would be practical to go -- for the volcano in Iceland and the general economic conditions had pushed the cost of plane tickets to Europe to well over $1000 per person, not to mention trying to get down to Sicily, rent cars, hotels, 10 daily gelatos, etc. We were a little bummed out, until suddenly out of the blue, or red I guess, came an angel:

REDTAG.CA! Killer DEAL!

Being the internet savvy travel planner I am, I made one last ditch attempt to find a deal, and located a ROUNDTRIP FLIGHT from Vancouver, BC to Manchester, England for only $149! There are taxes of course, but still... are you kidding me?! That's cheaper than dinner and a movie if you also order popcorn! We booked it instantly, and depart this upcoming Friday, June 5th. Our itinerary calls for five days in France exploring the wine country of Bordeaux and making our way up to Paris via Mont St. Michel before shooting down to Sicily on the 10th.

And in the REALLY PLAYING FOR PIZZA department, our trip coincides with a HOME-PLAYOFF GAME on Sunday, June 13th for the 7-1, league-leading Catania Elephants! Yes, my former squad is sweeping its way through the Italian Football League this season, led by the passing of good friend and former Arizona quarterback Richard Kovalchek.

Current Elephants QB Richard Kovalcheck #16 pictured with "The Italian Wes Welker" Claudio Mangano #28.

Last week, the Elephants knocked off the previously unbeaten Parma "Playing for Pizza" Panthers 52-31 in a classic IFL defensive struggle.

So you can all prepare yourselves for a whirlwind of wittiness, a sea-full of sweet pics, and of course, a healthy dose of self-absorption. In fact, there is only one promise I will make -- no fisheye. (The camera lens that made my 2008 journey so infamous...)

No fisheye in 2k10, I promise.