Back in the Buj

So the return to Abuja was a bit uneventful. Just trying to get back in the swing of things. Cooper has been pouting since we took him away from Harvey. Tough noogies for him.

The harmattan is starting and the dust is starting to blow in. Allergies are starting to creep up and I am looking for starting up the humidifier. It should alleviate some of the dryness in the house anyway.

Since being back my time (Nyree's too!) has been swamped with the employees association. We have placed, through different vendors, a liquor, beef, turkey and bacon, and dry goods orders. It has been the devil trying to keep it all straight in my head. Not to mention making sure that all the money is done correctly!

The association also has just gotten a new school bus which was WAY overdue! There are big things happening around here and my staff has been performing well.

Just got attached to facebook and it is pretty nice. Been able to get hooked up with friends around here so it will be easier to stay in touch. Nyree is ready to go and counting the days. Can't say I blame her.

Well it is back off to the proverbial grind.....*sigh*

VERSAILLES!!

Versailles!!!

I have always wanted to see this place. To see the opulence, mystic, grandeur, and all those words was incredible. Well it didn’t disappoint!

This place was big! And not only that, but the decoration was incredible and frenzied. It was everywhere. Another thought was how these people just seemed to sit back and dream up things they wanted and forced people to produce. Almost strange things like “The Hall of Mirrors”. Which is almost exactly that, a hall of mirrors. LOL. It was this hall that was about 100-150yds and it had huge mirrors on the walls facing the huge windows overlooking the gardens. Truly impressive.

I also got to see the King and Queens bedrooms. They were lavishly appointed as well. You could even see the little doorways that were just outlines on the wall. They led to secret parlors and other rooms that the royalty would just hide and relax.

Nyree was not too interested in the palace itself but the gardens were a must!

The gardens went on FOREEEEVVVVEEERRRRRRRR. It was crazy. They actually showed on the map that if you started at the palace and walked to a certain spot it would take you 60 min. That is with direct, no stopping, no picture taking, I am going here, walking. And the funny thing is it wasn’t even the furthest point!

There are several parts to Versailles. There is the palace and then other little areas in the garden. The Grand Trianon, Petit Trianon, and The Queen’s Hamlet. Marie Antoinette had a whole estate in the Petit Trianon with her Hamlet being a miniature village for her to go play and frolic in. Literally. The Hamlet still grows vegetables and one of the houses is still lived in today by the guards. I took los of photos of the whole thing (almost 200 to be exact) so you will see what I mean about them all.

The train ride is a long one (about an hour), so we made our way back home after about 5 hours of walking and photo taking.

That’s about it. We have created a Flikr account for all our photos and photos from family and friends too. We will be sending the links and info out soon so HEADS UP!

Paris on a Wednesday

It was really late last night when Nyree and I got home so I didn’t have a chance to write a blog post.

We went to 3 different museums yesterday and all were incredible. We finished the night with a visit to one of Nyree’s friends that lives in the city. It was a good time and really capped off a whirlwind day.

We started in the Rodin Museum. It was once a house for his mistress and in the garden there were many of his sculptures. The 2 he is most famous for are “The Kiss” and “The Thinker”. Both were there and it was amazing to see them in person. You always seem to read about or see pictures of these things but to see them in person is amazing. The interesting thing about Rodin’s’ work was how he would put such detail and “flair” in his busts of people. There was a couple that were TOO close to real.

The other thing about his work was how he seemed to finish BIG or not completely finish. As if to say that the work was going to meet the standards or was pretty enough the way it was. As if it was coming out of the rock like smoke from the water. Either way it is impressive how smooth and detailed he could work the stone.

The next museum was L’Orangerie. It housed mostly impressionist paintings. The best part was on the second floor there were two oval rooms. Not that the rooms weren’t impressive enough, but they had the “Water Lilies” By Monet. It took the guy 30 years!!! to complete the work. It was his masterpiece and it is awe inspiring. He painted it of a pond near one of his homes and showed the different times of day in each of the paintings. You sit in the middle of this big beautiful oval white room and soak in this splash of rich colors. You can almost hear the birds, the ripple of water as a fish breaks the surface, and feel the cold of the marble bench you sit on basking under the soft spring day. OK enough of that.

There wasn’t much other to speak of in that museum so we moved on to the granddaddy of them all.

The Louvre.

The Louvre is immense. It was huge. Like…….ok really big. Inside we decided to hit mostly highlights. We went straight for the Mona Lisa and saw that slight little smile. It is beautiful and sublime. The thing that stands out the most is how small it is compared to the other portraits and paintings it is hung next too. In the same room is “The Wedding Party” which is MASSIVE. The other thing is how you can go right up to other paintings but can only get as close as 30’ or so to the Mona Lisa. Very disappointing. It is also covered in a glass case of sorts. Understandable but makes for bad pictures. Oh Well. I saw it first hand so there!

We moved on the Venus de Milo. It was stunning and almost glowing in its light. With it being snow white marble, this is not a stretch to pull off I am sure. As I stood there in awe a thought struck me. What if this was, in it’s time, a simple little statue posted in a random place without much pomp and circumstance surrounding it. Like it was posted outside a bath house, and the arms (now gone) were outstretched holding towels for the guests. What a bit of irony that would be.

The next stop was the coronation crown of Louis the XVI. On the whole they were terribly UNimpressive and ugly. To think that in a country where fashion is fore front, you would end up with those hideous things. I also got a few pics of other items in the room.
It was starting to get kinda late so we skipped the rest of the museum.

After a walkover one of Nyree’s favorite bridges, we made our way to Xander’s house for a late dinner. The dinner was good and the company was great. We met Xander’s girlfriend named Pascal. She is also the one that set us up with her dentist to deal with my tooth situation. That is going well now by the way.

After a good dinner and bad alcohol (by design), we decided to call it a night and headed home. We stumbled into the house and right into bed. After all, tomorrow is Versailles!!

Paris Day 2 (and the tooth verdict)

(The pics above are a few from day 1 that I put up. I am only able to add 5 pics and I haven't loaded any from today.)

So I went to the dentist today. The news is good. I only had an infection behind my wisdom tooth. The good news is that I don't have to have my wisdom tooth pulled for a bit. If my luck holds out I can make it til we get out of Abuja and get Dr. Vernon to take it out for me. The same thing happened to my other side and I had those pulled.

One cool thing about the visit, other than the doc beeing funny and cool, was the xray machine he had. It actually took digital pictures of my mouth and we didnt have all the radiation and stuff. We also could see th eresults in less than a minute. It was pretty high tech.

Since the appointment was in the middle of the day we didn't get to see too much today. We went to see Sacre Cur. The hike up the stairs was tough but worht it. We almost forgot the camera but luckily Sacre Blue (or however it is spelled) is close to the apt. Did I mention th esteps in the building are steep?

We took our time got something to eat at a cafe and I had my first Croque Monsieur. It is like a grilled cheese sandwich with ham in it but better! Once we finished our late lunch we made our way to a park bench overlooking the city and had our desserts we got. They were great!

After our moment overlooking the city, we made our way through a small neighbohood that had an unexpected art museum. It was a museum dedicated to the artist Salvador Dali. His work was interesting and odd sometimes. He really prided his work on images within images. Really strange but neat stuff. He was very much an excentric and funny fellow. I think that he might be an intersting guy to meet if he werent dead. LOL !! This is is most famous picture I think. It is really cool and interesting. I have to admit to being a bit of a closet art dork. I like ot look at these things and think about what it means sometimes. Then I also like the classics and seeing the life of the times and the skill. Truely impressive sometimes.

The day and night ended with it starting to rain, and us deciding to go to a simple little pizzeria for diner. It was a simple dinner but one of the best pizzas I have had in a long time!! 2 factors come into play wiht that statement. 1. I have been eating pizza in Nigeria for almost 2 years now. NOT exactly known for it's cuisine. 2. Sometimes the simpliest things are the best. Sometimes the simplier it is the better the flavor because it is unmasked or over layered. Just my humble thought.

Tomorrow we go to all the museums and some serious tourist stuff. The past fews days have been kinda slow and relaxing. Well, with the exeption of the tooth. Here's hoping the rest of the trip is uneventful!! (atleast in the pain department)

The days in Paris start roughly

So we got to Paris in about 4 hours from Amsterdam. We took a train and it was really a smooth ride. It was a good thing we took the train instead of flying because the wind was terribly strong. It would have been like triding a roller coaster. I would not have minded it so much, but with Nyree getting motion sickness easily, it would not habve been a good ride for her.



Paris is beautiful and very interesting. I found myself feeling like I was in NY again. We got off the train and hopped a cab to the apartment we are renting for the week. I will take a couple of pictures of it and post them as well but for now you will just have to imagine it. The entrance is tucked down the side of the building that opens into a little courtyard. We are on the 5th floor with no elevator and the tightest winding staircase you could imagine. Did I mention it was steep too? We managed ot carry our suitcases up the stairs and meet the guy who runs the apartment. Did I tell you how steep the steps were? They are steep.



We didnt do too much but we did find a nice little cafe to eat at for dinner. The coolest thing about the cafe was the bulldog at the entrance. (not to mention the really good food) He literally stood in the doorway and looked at everyone that walked in and out. He was a cool dog that just sat there as though he was standing gaurd against an invisible foe that was standing just outside the doorway. Only later did we discover that he belonged to one of the patrons and was waiting patiently for her to finish her dinner. Side note: You see lots of people walking with their dogs off leashes and they are SO well behaved. They just walk beside their owners without a word from them. It is impressive. Nyree asked me if I thought Cooper would ever be able to do that and I just looked at her with a funny look. She laughed.



I have always heard about the free healthcare system and how it would work in America. Well I am here to tell you first hand that it is a good system. I developed an infection/toothache on Friday night on the flight over here. It had gotten so bad I wasn't sleeping for the pain and my face started to swell. Today we called a dentist and he emailed us a prescription for some drugs and we went to the pharmacy and just picked them up. The medicine that would have cost an arm and leg in the states cost us about 35 bucks. Not to mention they seem to be some kind of wonder drugs!! I take them and in 15 minutes I am feeling 100% better. It is amazing. Usually drugs dont work like this on me in the States. Well anyway, tomorrow I go to the dentist so he can see if I need to get a tooth pulled or if it was just an infection. I am hoping it was just the latter.



We also went to see the Eiffel Tower tonight. It was impressive and we went to the second level. There was only a 30 minute wait to get to the top but we decided to just stay where we were. The wind was picking up and it was getting cold so we decided against pushing further. When we were on the second level it hit 10pm and the whole tower lit up with the stobe lights. I took a few pics of that above. Apparently it does that on the hour every hour til midnight when ALL the lights go out. It was cool.



We then walked all the way to the Arc De Triumph. It looked good all lit up the way it was. I got a couple of good pics there too. Nyree keeps telling me that we need to get more of both of us in them so people would want to see them more. Maybe she is right. I think I am getting this marriage thing down.



Now we are home (and climbed those steep steps all the way up. did I mention how steep they were?) and it is 1am and we are wide awake. Maybe I should try to get some sleep. The struggle with jet lag has been rough mainly because of my mouth hurting. I wake up and that wakes Nyree up. Then she can't go back to sleep because she ius worried about me. Maybe I'm NOT getting this marriage thing down. :)

Married and in Amsterdam!!

Well we have arrived in Amsterdam safe and sound!! We had a great wedding weekend last weekend and it went off without a hitch. We were worried for a bit that week as a huge storm settled over South Carolina that week. It looked like we may get washed out and then at the last minute evrything ended up beautiful!! 

Many of Nyree's family came to the event and it was the first time I had meet most of them. They were all nice and got along well with my family which is ALWAYS a nice thing. Sure does take away from some of the stress of the "in laws". 

We are working on getting a fliker account to post all the wedding pics we compile on. It will be open to anyone to see and get pictures from. I will post about it here when it is done and I am sure we will be sending out a bunch of emails about it too.

Amsterdam has been coild and rainy. Nyree did a great job picking out the hotel as we are close to many things. We are only here for today then we travel to Paris tomorrow. 

Since we were only here for one day today we tried to do the most we could in the little time we had. We got to the hotel around 730AM local time and our hotel room was not ready needless to say. We had some coffee, sprayed water on the face, pulled up our pants and went out in search of adventure. We took a few pics walking around and took a canal cruise for more pics. We also went to the Van Gogh museum and fought the crowds to see some beautiful art. 

Jet lag started to hit us around 1, as did the hole in our stomachs! We went to an Irish pub and got some beer (Nyree even had one!!) and some sandwiches. After that we headed back to the hotel hoping our room would be ready. It was and we hit the sack for some much needed shut eye.

When we got up we found our room had shrunk!! Well not really but we had not rfeally noticed the size before because of the fatigue. This place is TINY!! The bathroom does not have a stand alone tub or shower. It just has a curtain and a drain in the floor. I am not complaining but it caught me off gaurd at first. 

Once we got cleaned up, we went out in search of Indoneasian cuisine. I have never had it but Nyree just had to have it so we did. I think I am getting this marriage thing down. :) 

It was interesting  but not anything I would order for myself. Nyree was thrilled and enjoyed it imensly which is all that matters in the end.

I posted most all of the pics on my face book page and those of you who can, should check the pics out there. I will load a couple here and will try to keep up with the travels . So enjoy and I will see you all when we get back to the states!!

RAIN!!

I know it has been a REALLY long time since I last posted anything so HERE GOES!!

It rained last Sat. for the first time since last Sept. at least. It was a big storm and it hasn't rained again since then either. The great thing is it washed most all of the dust out of the air and we are getting clearer and bluer skies then I have seen in a while. The past 2 days have been overcast and cooler. I would say low 90s high 80s. Which is down right chilly really. The past few months have nothing but hot hot sun and 105 temps. It has been a tough go for a while but the rains are coming! The rains are coming!! (I feel like Tatoo from fantasy island)

Nyree posted on her blog some pics form our trip to the Nike (nee kay) cultural and art center. It was neat to see some art and how they made textiles from scratch with a loom and everything. I will let you check out Nyree's blog for more details on it all. (the link is on the right side of my page)

I have been EXTREMELY busy with the AEAA job. It is a good thing I guess because it makes things go by faster. I am only 3 weeks away form going on R&R for the first time. I am SOOOOO looking forward to it but I am dreading the flight. Part of me doesn't want to fly out unless it is for good!! Then again I ain't complaining about getting out. It is time.

I have been trying to get several projects going with this job and have made lots of headway. The biggest thing is information on how to get things going. It is amazing how much info you can piece together when talking to people about stuff. Alot of people have different little pieces that when put together make projects not a dream but a possibility!! It can be really cool sometimes. Other times it is a real pain because you end up going in circles chasing your tail trying to get things done. Nigerians aren't exactly known for their efficiency or quality workmanship!

The baseball season has started and I am really excited about it. Of course my Braves have lost their first 2 games in epic fashion. But it is only the first 2 games with 160 to go!!!

We got some part time household help that started this past Tuesday. It was really cool to walk in the door after work and see everything cleaned and ready to go. I think I could get used to this!!

I am glad more and more of family and friends are finding this blog. I do promise to improve on the frequency of writings. Even if it is about nothing much.

I guess that is all for now. Laters!!