Paris - Yeah it was tough

When I planned for my trip to Paris I was like "Finally!!! I can use my French" , "ooooh , when we get there it'll be a breeze", and Tamika's personal favorite "Oh don't worry , I'll get us around".

Well much to my dismay it went like this "Uhh, pardon, ou est le , uhh, la , uhh. F**k , where are the Catacombs?"

or

"Je voudrais les frites est the uhh , le , uhh..I want the fries and a chicken burger. Yeah , large Coke too"

Yup, that was Paris. If I was one of my many French teachers I'd probably give myself a D+.

Paris - January 2010 -


I was walking by the Eiffel Tower one night and it started to sparkle. Now before you start calling me soft, I'm being real with you. It really started to sparkle and it was pretty cool. I know what the big fuss is about.



The Louvre was cool man. Kinda pricey but geez, you don't go to Paris and try to see the sights on a budget. Well at least not all of them. The Mona Lisa was in there but you would probably miss it because THIS FONT IS LARGER THAN THE PAINTING.

Venice + Florence + Rome = 1

So when people ask me about Italy, I always reply "Oh yeah man , Italy rocked/kicked-ass/was the sh*t" . Then they ask me why and I reply "Uh, I don't know".

That's what Italy was for me. A trip of a lifetime but not life-altering. Pretty weird right ? It's like telling your friends you went out on a date with Alicia Keys and summing the evening up with "We had a good burger".

But I will say that I liked Italy ALOT. The people were nice and they know their football. That's all it takes to impress me. If I had to live there I would do it in a heartbeat. *ahem*

Venice, Florence, and Rome - May 2008 -

Venice was the first part of our trek through Italia. I kinda wish it was the last part of the trip. Not because the city sucked , because that is far from the truth. The city is great. The people are great and the food is great. But Venice is much better enjoyed as a chill-down spot. It shouldn't be the beginning of your 15 day romp through Europe.


Well what can I tell you about Florence ? I went there and ate pizza and took pictures and walked around with a courier bag. The picture says it all. Now before you knock me and say "Wahhh, there's great stuff to do in Florence".

I know this. I was there. I even have pictures to prove it.


Rome, Rome, Rome...what a cool city. Lions, gladiators, history, the Vatican...it's all here. If you grew up with parents who are history nuts (Mom studied ancient Roman history and Dad liked communists) then you know that this stuff was beat into my head as a kid.

Rome rocks though. It's just not all museums and limbless statues. The city has personality. You walk around and you just nod your head sometimes and say "Yeah, mammma-jamma, I'm in Rome".

One moment (ok, maybe two) - London, England

Excuse my foul language but I must get this out of the way first...I f*****g love London. No really, it's my favorite city in the world (well , next to Silver Spring,MD). It just "grabbed" me the first time I went and never really let go. I don't know what it is about the town...the football, the beer, the Tube, the diversity or all of the above. So because I really love London I have TWO moments that stand out the most to me when I think about the city.

London - May 2006 -
Oh my , how cliche' , Big Ben , whoopty-freaking-do. Yeah, well I agree.



On our 2nd day in town Tamika and I took the Tube around, made sure to Mind the Gap, and enjoy some of the hottest coffee in the world..it was like lava with espresso. For lunch we went to this Belgian restaurant near the Covent Garden station called Belgo Centraal. The food was pretty good and so was the beer (of course). Tamika was not impressed by the food though. But that guy in the picture is enjoying the beer.

One moment - South Africa

I do a shit-ton of traveling and take alot of pictures when I'm abroad (except for Ottawa, Canada which was EXTREMELY boring). Usually when I go places there is one particular moment or picture that sums up the whole excursion ie the giraffe walking around in Bloemfontein or my fiance staring into space blankly while someone enjoys a Pater Witkap.
Some of the pictures are in black/white because you know when you want to seem "deep" a black/white photo goes a long way in getting your point across.

South Africa - November 2005-



South Africa was my first romp overseas. At the time I had never been overseas before and my longest flight before that was 2 hours. A flight to South Africa was 10 times that length. The liquor supplied to us by the wonderful folks at KLM ensured that the flight went smoothly.
Upon landing I remember all of the horror stories about the crime in the country and I must say that they're right. Armored truck jackings, exploding ATM machines, hijacked toll-booths...you name it.

But it's a freaking beautiful country though. I love it down there. I'm going back this summer for a soccer tournament that you may have heard of. One of the days that I was down there we drove from Pretoria to Bloemfontein and made our way up this hill to an old observatory. Well you know how out here ( "out here" being the Washington,DC metro area) , we have to worry about deer and the such walking the streets. Well in Bloemfontein if you go far enough outside of town (2 miles) you'll run into a giraffe. I took my little crappy point-and-shoot and snapped this shot. Not back for a $100 camera from Tar-Jay.