Bad Times In Detroit

Well, the city didn't fail me. I went to get my car from the valet on Sunday morning, and it was gone. Stolen.

I can't believe what a pain in the rear it is to have your car stolen. Long story short, I rented a car, drove back to Cleveland, discovered the next morning that I had to go back to Detroit to deal with some police paperwork, they found my car, it's all jacked up, it's being fixed in Detroit, and I'm in Texas on tour.

I really wish the thieves would have just kept it.

Really?!

I woke up this morning, and for some reason my first thought was... did I REALLY write edition instead of addition on my last blog? So I checked it, and why yes, I did. Apparently I was thinking of the 80's band, rather than the new baby.

Good Times In Detroit

We were in Detroit last week, which I was totally NOT looking forward to. I had a bad experience the last time I was there with some ghetto folk, and the negative feelings kind of stuck. However, The Fox theatre is my favorite theatre in America, so I was excited to go back there.

I decided to drive my car to Detroit from Cleveland for the week, which made my entire week so much better! I did some research on a few places I wanted to check out in the suburbs, and had a really busy week.

The first day I was there, I went to downtown Birmingham, which is a small cute area of town with shopping and stores. I found a few Christmas gifts, and had lunch at a place called 220, in some old Edison building. It was actually a really nice afternoon by myself, which was exactly what I wanted.

On Thursday, a few of us went to Meadow Brook Hall, the home of the Dodge family. Or more like mansion. It was quite a debacle finding the place, but we eventually made it. It was 88,000 square feet! Who needs all that space? The architecture was beautiful, and the interior design was amazing. The Dodge family donated the home and all of their land to Oakland University. Just gave it to them. It was worth tens of millions! Friday, we went to the Henry Ford Museum and Greenfield Village. Little did I know that this place was a city. We did the Village first- it was kind of like a colonial town, and each building was set up to demonstrate a trade from the times. We watched glass blowing, weaving, printing, etc.

There was a restaurant in the Village called Eagle Tavern, and they served food that would have been served in the 1850's. And they dressed like it was 1850. And acted like it too. These people were really into it. But the food was good! For some reason everything seemed to have apples in it. Including the mulled cider we all indulged in.

The museum itself was unreal. I had no idea how much stuff would be in there! Everything from trains to cars to furniture to carriages to 80's memorabilia.

And the Oscar Mayer Wiener.

On Saturday, my dad and my friend Debbie both came up to visit. My dad hung out for the day and watched the show, and Debbie and I watched the OSU game and went to the CASINO that night! (However, this is not my friend Deb in the picture, it's my friend Molly). We all lost.

I kept myself so busy in Detroit that I barely spent any time in my room, and I was exhausted every night when the day was over. If you just get out of the downtown area, the city really isn't that bad!

A New Edition

I have been waiting for my cousin Heather to post some new pics on her blog of her newest little bundle of joy, but I can't help but share these ADORABLE pictures of little Brooke! (Sorry Heather)!

She is the second baby in the family, and the first girl- we are so happy to be able to buy pink and ruffles and butterflies! I was in town for a few days, and was able to go visit her when she was just five days old. So tiny! I can't wait to see her in a few months to see the difference! Can you believe how cute she is!?

Halloween 2009

This is a little overdue, but I couldn't not post some pictures from our Halloween party!

We were in Atlanta, and I took on the task of putting together a last-minute party for about 70 people, at our hotel. I really enjoy doing things like that, so all of the running around didn't bother me. I literally had a flat bed at CostCo of food and alcohol! And I of course had to make Jell-O shots and Apple Pie shots. And, we had a Karaoke machine (which the kids totally took over). It was a GOOD TIME!!!

So creative, especially for being on the road!

The kiddos of 101

Who doesn't like a little Karaoke??

The best idea ever- teams had to dress a guy up as a girl for a contest, with what we had in our rooms!

A Few Photos You Didn't See

What really goes on in a European hostel late at night: The way I had to charge my computer (bobby pin not included):

The way we had to chill our wine at the hotel in Dijon:

The way we drank wine on the train:

Why do three of these four photos have to do with wine?! When in Rome....

Beaune, France

The second full day we were in Burgundy, BA and I went to Beaune (pronounced "Bone" in our world). Our grandfather was there years ago, and recommended we give it a go. It was just a quick train ride from where we were staying in Dijon.

The big thing to see there is the Hospices de Beaune, or the hospital. It was so beautiful! It opened in 1452, and is now a museum. The Chancellor built it to house all of the poor sick people in the town. Minus the fact that they had The Plague, it didn't look like a bad place to stay.

The square at the hospital that connects all of the rooms

The poor people's room- the ceiling is shaped like the hull of a ship!

Not too shabby.

After the hospital, we went to a place called Dame Tartine for lunch. The restaurant was full, so we told the dude that we would just wait outside for a table. I think he thought that was weird. They don't seem to do that there- there are not "waiting lists" for tables. But eventually he came and got us, and we chowed down. We both got a goat cheese salad, chicken and veggies with fat-free cream sauce, cheese plates, and apple pie. All for 13 Euro! That's like $20 a person. And wine. Don't forget the wine.

Next on our list was visiting the Caves des Cordeliers. More wine. We did a tasting of five wines from the region, and the guy working there had excellent English and was really nice. We thought we were going to be able to take a tour of the caves, but there was a Do Not Enter sign above the entrance. Luckily for us, the guy trusted us (silly him), and let us go down to check things out. I hope they don't have surveillance cameras down there.

After our long day in Beaune, we decided to take the bus back instead of the train, because it's cheaper. We didn't take into account it had been a long day of wine drinking, and there was no bathroom on the bus. You should have seen us get off that bus an hour and a half later, totally running for our hotel!

We weren't hungry for dinner, and we didn't want to go to a bar, so we decided to do what every person should do on their fabulous French vacation- go see the Michael Jackson movie "This Is It". Perfect end to a perfect day.

Semur en Auxois, France

Bethanne and I decided to go to the Burgundy region of France for a long weekend, and based ourselves in Dijon. I totally had this small town pictured in my head. Turns out it's a full-blown city. The great thing about it was that our hotel, the Hotel de Paris, was just a few steps from the train and bus station, and we had a few small trips planned for the weekend.

BA wanted to check out Semur en Auxiois. Just a small little town that she heard was pretty. Apparently, it's too small for a train station. The good news is that we were able to take a bus there and back for about $4.00. It was so cheap- loved it.

Once again, raining. Like, pouring.

When we were driving into the town, it really looked like there was nothing there. We drove through miles of vineyards, and tons of cows. Bethanne looked at me and said, "Shannon- we seriously cannot get off this bus". But we did. And we wound up very happy we did! First things first with BA and I- eating. We found a cute little restaurant, and both went for the famous dish of the region, Boeuf Bourguignon. Pretty much like a pot roast. And we of course drank wine from the region. It was still pouring out, so we figured we might as well sit around and eat and drink, right?!

We headed out to explore, and were still kind of skeptical of the the town. There was of course a church that was freezing and had tiny chairs:

And then, the sun came out. And then, we turned a corner, and saw what this place was really all about. We walked around for a few hours, enjoying the town, and soaking it all in. Enjoy the pictures from what turned out to be a great afternoon, in a beautiful small town!

We were totally beat when we got back to Dijon. I don't really know why, since we didn't really do anything to exert ourselves, unless you count lifting our hands to our mouths and taking a slow walk. And we weren't hungry, because we didn't finish lunch until around 3:00. So, we decided to get a bottle of wine for the room, play Boggle, watch Friends in French, and call it a night.

Interlaken, Switzerland Part Two

Thursday was my second (and last) day in Switzerland. I was kind of bummed about the weather on Wednesday, and had decided I was only going to go up in the Alps if it was nice out when I woke up. I had a plan B (to go to the Swizz capital, closer to France), but was really hoping to be able to go with plan A.

I woke up around 9:00 on my lovely hostel bed/piece of foam, and was thrilled to see it was sunny out! As I was brushing my teeth, I said hello to the girl who had slept in the bunk above me. And who had let me in when I locked myself out at 3am. Turns out she was only there for the day as well, from Ireland, and had no specific plans. I told her what I wanted to do, and we decided to figure it out together.

I wanted to go to the top of the mountains, and eat at a revolving restaurant at the top of the world, called Piz Gloria, at 10,000 feet. It was made world-famous by one of the Bond movies in 1969, and is designed like a big spaceship anchored in the alpine bedrock.

It wound up being quite the adventure to get up there! It took us two buses, one train, and four cable cars. About two hours, each way.

I cannot begin to explain what it felt like once we got on the cable cars and headed into the snow. It was just unreal. As we got higher and higher, the amount of people we were with got smaller and smaller. Many of them stopped in a traffic-free town called Murren on the way up, and didn't continue to the restaurant. By the last cable car, there were only four of us. I felt like a tiny little speck on this Earth. It almost brought me to tears. It was a mix of what I was seeing, and how I was feeling. Pretty incredible stuff.

I'm so happy that I found a nice, friendly person to share the day with. We agreed that while we are both pretty well traveled, that that was the most amazing experience either of us has ever had.

On my way up the mountainside

A view of one of the other gondolas on its way down

My Irish friend and I with the Piz Gloria restaurant behind us on top of the mountain!

A view from the top of the world!

Interlaken, Switzerland Part One

I just spent the last two days in Interlaken! I didn't know much of anything about it when I decided to go there, and I wound up very happy with my decision!

I took two trains, and it took about 3 1/2 hours from BA's place. I was quite proud of myself for figuring out as much French and German as I did along the way. The more you visit these countries, the easier it becomes. Bethanne might not say my French is that great though- I was reading her something the other night, and she told me that it actually hurt her ears to hear me reading. Hehe!

I decided to stay in a hostel for the first time, because Switzerland is crazy expensive. I mean, insane. BA promised me that I wouldn't get killed. I stayed at the Balmer's, pictured below, and it was so much fun! I met a lot of people, and might have drank too much wine with them late into the night. Get this though- I met a guy who lives in Lakewood, OH, which is 20 minutes from my house! You want to talk about a small world. We actually figured out that we were at the same bar on Halloween last year. His name was Buck. Very Ohio of him.
I took a few hours in the afternoon to just walk around and check things out. The water there is the weirdest color. It almost looks like there are blue and green chemicals in it, but obviously there aren't. A lot of the things that people do when they visit Interlaken were not up and running, because it's their off season. I guess that summer and winter are the times to visit. Lots of extreme sports going on there.

The part that I loved the best about the town was there there are just random cows and sheep around. And they all have bells on! You walk around and hear them in the background. And, it's super clean there, and everyone speaks English. You ask, "do you speak English"? And they say, "a little". And then you have a full blown conversation with them in English!
This is just the beginning of my visit- wait till blog number two. I just got back from the most amazing experience of my life!