Search for our absolute distinction...

Well, I've walked around Red Square... BRIEFLY... because it felt like I would freeze to death if I stayed outside longer than half an hour at a time.  After I shrink some photos, I'll put them up.  I think I might bundle up better and try it again on Monday, now that I know what I'm expecting.

Also, I did a photo shoot ... no, *I* didn't do the photo shoot ... I was *at* the photo shoot.  Mark and Irina were the subjects.  I can't put up any photos until January though.  Boo.  I'll have to remember the name of the magazine it was for ... starts with L'O but I forget the rest.  There were two Infinity cars too.  And Russian Dumplings.  A cute little woman who was the caterer.  She was nice enough but kept trying to speak Russian to me because I thanked her every time I went to the table for tea or water or a snack.  (We were there from 7am until 3pm... long day.)

Other than that, Moscow is cold and gray.  Looks like it will snow at any second.  The kind of weather where you just want to stay in bed and watch movies and have pizza or play video games and drink hot chocolate.  Not get out of bed, go to the gym, bundle up in layers, walk to the metro, be thrust into many Russians who don't really smile in transit underground, and walk through the grayness to work.  At least I'm working in the 54 now!  (Which is our Technical area, for those who don't know.)  That's cool!  I'm wedged in between Claire and Jo in Props and Doug (what does he do?  something with Electronics and small bits and bobs of wiring and stuff) with Robby in Automation and JP, Roy and Dany on my one side in Sound.  It's quite a pleasant location, I must say.  And I still get my usual dose of artist visitors/therapy patients... lol!  Mark, Leysan, the Santos boys... all still come and perch for awhile to gossip and chat.  And now so do the Tech boys.  Especially because I'm next to Props and they can just sit and watch us all at the same time.  It's like being behind the plate glass window and having people watch you working.  Except that you know them.  And they make rude comments and noises.  Which are usually funny.

Anyway, tomorrow is my day off.  And I think I need to spend some time with my explosion of suitcases.  My room has literally been hit by an unnatural force and I need to deal with it before housekeeping visits again!  That's what happens when you work 80+ hours in one week.  Your living arrangement suffers.  But no excuses after tomorrow, right?  At least that's what I'm telling myself now.

I'll put up some of my very shaky photos soon.  I really will redo the Red Square ones because they came out kind of crap.  Not really  happy with them... bah...

Be well keep smiling!  :)
...Stacy

Current Location: Moscow...
Current Mood: awake
Current Music: just housekeeping across the hall

Okay, I know it's been a VERY long time since I've done anything on here, but since I'm in Moscow now, I thought it would be a good time to start this up again!

There's been all this hype about security and how unsafe it is here and all these warnings, etc.  So far, I honestly think this city is just like NYC, Washington DC, Montreal... any of the big, bustling cities!  Maybe it's not as diverse as far as races (at least to the onlooking eye) but I'm sure it's got a mix.  It's felt a lot like any other big city we've been to, except for the fact that I cannot for the life of me read ANY of the signs in Russian!

I guess the biggest event was walking home.  The site is set up next to a huge football stadium (soccer for us Americans!) but I will have to tell you the team name later... don't know it yet.  And there was a game today.  So, walking back to the metro station with the tail end of the football crowd was... interesting.  The crowd was surprisingly calm and uneventful.  And then I realized why.  The walk to the station had metal barricades lining the walkway... for most of the walk.  And there were Militia (whether they were police, military, guards, I don't know) every 100 meters or so.  That was not out of the normal for me.  What made me stop and actually realize that I was in Russia was when the metal barricades stopped and there were (probably) a couple hundred Militia lined up almost shoulder to shoulder down each edge of the pathway.  The path they left open was wide enough for about 4 - 6 people to walk side by side.  And there were SOOOO many guards!  And behind the two lines of guards were the (I guess) higher ranking guards, walking about and inspecting everything.  It was quite an intimidating feeling... I wish I had my camera with me.  But I don't think they'd like that if I took a photo.

Anyway, this was just a quick update.  I'll go into more stuff as it happens, I'm sure.  But for now, set up is underway (done for a lot of people) and the artists come in tomorrow.  Should be good times!

I'll try to at least write something, even if it's small, every day... wish me luck!
Til then!
...Stacy

For your viewing pleasure, The Raising Of The Big Top In Moscow!!!

Current Location: Moscow!
Current Mood: tired
Current Music: Nothing... just quiet

Just a few more random shots from walking around Vienna and my visit with April and Dany to the Schmetterlinghaus!  Um, it's much easier to say in English... Vienna Butterfly House!  :)
( Click here for hidden photos! )

Current Location: still in Vienna... 3.5 more weeks
Current Mood: okay
Current Music: just a clock ticking

...or so it seemed!  I had to publish part two of my day out in Vienna on an entry all to itself.  It deserves that!  After I left Freud's home, now museum, I found my way over to the Hundertwasserhaus.  Please don't ask me to phonetically say that.  It sounds like a sneeze, in my opinion.  But the man, Friedensreich Hundertwasser, truly had a unique vision and was not afraid of expression!  I took an obscene amount of photographs of this place, but none of them can quite do it justice.  It is truly something to see in person.  And, instead of making up my own ramblings about it, I'm including two links with information...

( Read more... )

Current Location: Rennweg... Vienna :)
Current Mood: happy
Current Music: some tv show in the background a million miles away

So, I decided, after much advice from many, many people, that it would be best to seek some professional therapeutic help.  And, since I'm in Vienna, Austria, who better to seek advice from that Prof. Dr. Sigmund Freud!  Yes, it really lists that as his title "Prof. Dr." on his name plate!  I strolled on over to Berggasse 19 to see if his couch would be open for an appointment. 

( My Doctor visit... )

           

                                                                                                            pen, spectacles and monocle      

          

Servitenkirche and some church that I have to find out the name for!
   

Current Location: ready to jump into bed for sleepies!
Current Mood: sleepy
Current Music: silence... and it's golden!

Can anyone help me out with the <lj-cut> command?
I'm using the Rich Text section and I've tried to click the button and enter text in the grey square... it just isn't working for me!  :(
I'm feeling completely idiotic over this!  I've got some long posts and I just want to shorten them up on the Friends Page!
Ta much!

Current Location: still Vienna
Current Mood: confused
Current Music: ...little monkeys ...little monkeys

Well, this post is going to be all about pictures, really.  There was a small group of us that decided to just do the Vienna Sightseeing Bus on the first Monday we had off... small group being me, Drew (Head of Security and fellow UMBC grad!), Daysha (Head Physio), Mark ("Net Boy", as we sometimes refer to him), Jo (Props Tech) and Charley (I dunno if he has an 'e' or not, but he's a new Tech guy). ( It's a long one... read it all here! :) )

      

     

       

       

       

   

   

   

               
     Jo and Mark on the bus                                The Opera Toilet (what?!?)                    Mark doing self portraits
       

   

   

"The sun always shines on tvee!"

Current Location: Vienna... Rennweg :)
Current Mood: good
Current Music: nice and quiet evening

So, as most people know, Oberhausen, Germany isn't the most happening city in the world.  That being said, we had the most amazing Wardrobe team of locals in quite some time!  Aleks and Anja were our dressers and Anke was our right hand with prep and maitenance... AAA+ for short, eh?  These gals were so much fun to work with and we had such a sad parting with them... hopefully our paths will cross again with them.  I had suggested to Gen (our Head of Wardrobe) that we get them a good-bye gift.  I picked out three of the figurines from up in the front because I adore these figurines.  I have a collection of them and I just think they're adorable and wonderful!  Well, what a surprise to get an email from Anke that she had made a little movie with the chair!  I thought it was so cute I had to share it with everyone...

Current Location: Vienna
Current Mood: amused
Current Music: cars on the street

Okay, so I went to my first "football" match ever...

Now, I saw "football" in quotes like that because I've been to a handful of what *I* know as "football" games before.  American football.  Grid iron.  (Go Cowboys!)  Anyway, this is not the type of game that I went to recently...

I went to what we Americans call "soccer"... but, since I'm in Europe and it's like more valuable than gold sometimes, I will call it "football".  Now that we have all that straightened out... I went to the Northern Ireland vs. Czech Republic match!  Hurray!  I went with Nat, her brother and her Dad... all three of them bleed green and white, I think.  Which is fine... I was dolled up *cough* in my Norn Iron scarf and polo shirt (and later baseball cap, which I had to buy because A) I'm a tourist and B) it was raining and C) why not?) so I fit right into the sea of blue, green and white all across the Windsor Park stands.

Now, I'd been briefed on the possible cheers, songs and "bouncies"... yes, I said "bouncies"... but I really didn't know what to expect in person.  Wow.  You Tube does NOT lie.  Let's just say that.  I think I will have to find some You Tube-age of some of the Norn Iron match supporters.  These people are SERIOUS about their sport and they love their team!  So, I'm including some of my favourite things from the match...

The "bouncies"... um... I don't know if I can describe this... but "Let's all do the bouncies... Let's all do the bouncies..." should say more than enough, I think.
To see an example of the bouncies:
www.youtube.com/watch

This is one of my favourite, favourite things!  This song cracked me up!  Talk about serious pride!  Love it!
To see an example of a song saying "We're not Brazil, we're Northern Ireland":
http://www.youtube.com/watch

Um, I think you have to ask Nat about this one... it's done when the goalie is kicking the ball back into play.
To see an example of the fat bastard chant:
www.youtube.com/watch

There are a few other chants too... I had to keep asking Nat what the heck people were saying... I think she laughed at me a lot that night.  Not about the fact that I wasn't really sure how soccer... sorry football... is played, but because I didn't understand what people were singing or yelling or chanting!  But I tried!  :)

And the match ended up in a draw... I think that's what it's called... when neither team scores.  Apparently, this is very good for the Green and White Army (that's Northern Ireland for those of you who aren't football savvy) to have against the Czechs because the Czechs are ranked number seven... hopefully I remembered that correctly...

And now for the photos!  :)

A lovely wall mural outside Windsor Park and the entrance to Windsor Park:

    

The field view from our seats and the teams during the national anthems (look closely and you'll see a fantastic sign about midfield that is green and yellow and says "NOT BRAZIL / NORN IRON")
:
    

Of course, one shot from the game and ending the night with Nat and me:

    

We're not Brazil, we're Norn Iron...
...but it's all the same to me!

Maybe next time I'll get to yell GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAL!
...Stacy

Current Location: Vienna physically, but living in my memories
Current Mood: amused
Current Music: The You Tube version of "Not Brazil / Norn Iron"

So, I decided that one of my days off would be to follow the lead of the notorious Hansel und Gretel!  (I thought I would be much more authentic if I said "und" instead of "and"... just go with it...)

Now, since we're in Oberhausen (known to pretty much everyone on site as either Nowhere-hausen or Ober-where-hausen), I haven't really expected much.  But the two day trips I did by myself were so amazing and I wish that I could do them again.  I'll post about my first alone day trip another time.  Right now, I want to focus on my second one because it just happened on Monday!  Hurray!

Well, Triberg is a kind of sleepy little town in the heart of the Black Forest.  After doing a little bit of reading online, I decided that Triberg would be my destination.  It has an amazingly tall waterfall (billed as the tallest in Germany, but I've also read that it's not... whichever, it was still beautiful) and incredible cuckoo clocks (now, I've *always* wanted an authentic cuckoo clock from the Black Forest) and let's not forget BLACK FOREST CAKE!  WOO HOO!!!

Here's some links if you want to do some reading...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_forest
(Rod, check out the Animal Life section in that link!)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Triberg

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Forest_Cake

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cuckoo_clock

Okay, enough of that background stuff... on to the photos, eh?

My day started off ridiculously early... I had to be on the 5:43am train!  Yikes!  After about three hours sleep, I got up and hopped on the tram outside of the hotel at 5:29am to get to the Hauptbanhof (Central Station) to start my really long journey.  (I shouldn't tell you that I was just being lazy by taking the tram... it's only about a 10 minute walk to the Central Station... but c'mon... it was WAY too early...)  And, about five hours (yes, kids, FIVE HOURS) on four different trains, I finally arrived in Triberg!  HURRAY!!!  It sounds horrible to be on the train that long, but honestly, I sort of slept or read for most of it on the way down there and watched some dvds and read on the way back and it was not that bad at all!  The trains here are VERY nice... even if you're not in first class!  The seats recline, they're quite comfortable and have headrests, plenty of leg room and there are nice bathrooms and even dining cars!  Who knew?

Getting out at the Triberg station was really something... you immediately feel the weight of whatever just lift from you.  The air is so clean and filled with woodsy scents... like pine and that wonderful smell of the country side...  Just standing and looking around at the Black Forest surrounding you is breathtaking... the trees are ginormous!  (That's kind of like gigantic and enormous rolled into one.)  And the absence of noise is almost deafening, if that makes any sense.  There's an occasional car or truck or moped and the train leaving.  That's it.  You can hear the wind in the trees and the sky is a bright, rich blue with huge white clouds.  I wish I could bottle that moment up and open it when I'm most stressed.  I have to try to keep that memory at the front of my mind...

I've read on several websites (journals, mainly, from people who have visited Triberg) that it's a LOOOONG uphill walk to the waterfall and that you should take the bus.  But, it's a beautiful day outside, I've been couped up on a train for five hours and I've got about five or six hours to spend in this little town, so I decided to just walk.  When they mean an UPHILL walk, they certainly knew what they were talking about.  Wow.  It's about two kilometers (about 1 1/4 miles) and it is a steep uphill hike.  But I took my time (didn't seem like it because I walked it in about 15 - 20 minutes) and stopped to look in a few windows and take some photos.  I tend to take a ridiculous amount of photos.  But, hey, we're in the digital world now, it's not wasting anything!  :)

Finally I saw the sign for the Waterfalls ahead!  Hurray!  The houses and shops along the main road are so picture perfect.  I don't know if it's done like that because Triberg is a tourist hub or because they're authentic.  Quite honestly, I don't mind either way!  But, to add to the quaintness of this little town, right at the entrance to the Waterfalls was this little old man playing the most amazing musical instrument!  Very Austrian influence...  The instrument looked like an antique sewing machine from far away.  But as you got closer, you could see the intricate carvings of some animals and nature and there was a crank that did um... something... and he blew into one of the pipes... the sound was kind of like if you cup your hands together and blow between your thumbs (see the photo below of him doing just this).  I can't do it.  Heck, anyone in my family (especially my little sister) will tell you I have a hard time even whistling!

Here comes more uphill hiking!  Hurray again!  The waterfall breaks into about seven tiers and they only let you up to about halfway... just so you know, the waterfall is almost 500 feet tall, so even at about halfway, it's still quite the uphill walk!  Then, you have the option of taking the "Historic (or maybe it was Culture)" trail or the "Nature" trail or stay on the "Cascade" trail.  Well, to get the best photos of the waterfall with plenty of sunlight, I took the Cascade trail up and opted for one part of the Nature trail down.  All in all, I spent about four hours wandering through this part of the Black Forest and the waterfall area.  The nature is simply breathtaking!  I can't even tell you how 'other-worldly' the trees are!  Not dark like Lord of the Rings, but still twisty and rocky like that kind of terrain... but so, so green!

I even bought two bags of peanuts at the ticket kiosk (50 Euro cents, if anyone wants to know) to feed the squirrels.  Okay, I walked for quite some time and never saw a single squirrel.  A bit buggered that I had two bags of peanuts and no squirrels to feed, I started to break some open in a small clearing in the woods and toss them to the small birds twittering around.  Sure enough, as if it were magic, here came the squirrels!  Hurray hurray hurray!  I really just wanted to get a crackin' photo of one for Nat because of our adventure in Central Park!  Mission accomplished!

After exploring around nature for a long time, I made my way back down to the town.  I've read on a few blogs that if you want to get a tourist cuckoo clock, go to House of 1,000 Clocks but if you want to get a wonderful authentic clock and a lesson behind the tradition of them, look up Oli's... which I did!  It's just around the corner from the waterfall and the House of 1,000 Clocks.  Very traditional looking outside... white walls with the dark timber beams... windows filled with wood carvings, clocks and various walking sticks/canes.  I went inside and paused for a moment because there are SO MANY clocks inside!  Of course I started looking at the ones that are at the immediate entrance.  Within two minutes, a tall, slender man approached me and asked me I spoke English... obviously I have "tourist" written across my forehead.  He tried to guess if I was from the military base... I threw him off a bit and told him that originally, yes, I was (I was born in Frankfurt where we lived on the military base... but that was *cough* awhile ago) but now, no.  His next question was, "What do you know about clocks?"  And my reply was, "They tell time."  He said it was a good thing that I didn't say more because he'd either be out of a job or have to prove me wrong!  Well, at least 45 minutes later, I was much more enlightened on how to look for a proper, authentic cuckoo clock!  It's amazing how you can overlook small details if you don't know about them.  It kind of reminds me of theatre... if you're a technician, your best compliment is people not noticing your work... most people don't notice the light changes (unless it's supposed to be noticed, of course) or the subtle background sounds like clocks ticking or a door shutting... same thing with these wonderful clocks.  Unless you know what you're looking for, you won't notice the wooden hands or the extreme details or that the windows are real carvings instead of a piece of paper glued on.  I think my favourite thing that Oli pointed out was that the manufactured cuckoo clocks have baby chickens for the cuckoo birds!  I scratched my head and he showed me a real cuckoo bird that was stuffed and mounted on the wall.  "Now, look at the difference... this is a chicken... this is a cuckoo..."  And boy, there certainly IS a difference!  Also, in order to be called "Hand Carved", only FIVE carvings have to be made into the wood... just five!  The wood is way too polished and smooth on the manufactured ones... no rough hand carving details...  Oli is part of the Master Carvers Club and therefore his clocks have the MCC engraving on it.  (Not all of them are noticeable though.)  If you want to know more, I'll be happy to go into more detail, but for now, you get the idea...

Well, I fell in love with three clocks there... one was a sort of mushroom shaped house (not an actual mushroom though, just the shape) with an older couple sitting outside the cottage whittling or sewing... it was so detailed and it really reminded me of my parents.  It would have been a wonderful Christmas present except that it (number one) would have just added to more stuff that my parents have (don't worry, I'm the same way) and (number two) cost about 550 Euros...  Enough said.  But it was still beautiful...  So, that narrowed my choices down to two.  One was a sort of chalet style house with the dark timber beams and had a wonderful clock maker selling his wares outside the house.  (For those who don't know, they used to carry their wares in a sort of L shaped backpack thing... here, just check out this link for a photo reference... it's not Oli's carving, it's just a stock photo I found on the web for a quick reference... http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/419AV0W2QQL._SL500_AA280_.jpg )  I was really torn between this clock and a very traditional clock... nice wooden face with a sort of neutral leafy kind of montage... simple and elegant and the cuckoo bird had an amazing sound.  I opted for the simple traditional one.  And now, ladies and gentlemen, I am the proud owner of an authentic 100% hand carved cuckoo clock from the Black Forest!  Hurray!  I'll show you a photo of it a bit later on... the photo is actually of the man who made my clock... it's not Oli though, but this man has been making hand carved cuckoo clocks for about 30 years and told  me that it only takes him about three hours to carve one like mine... perhaps I'll do a video of it when we get to Vienna and I set it up.  Yes, I want to keep it on tour with me... I love it and I think it will be a fantastic piece to have in my hotel rooms!  Don't worry... usually there are some sort of hideous prints on the wall that I can take down and use that nail in the wall... I've got it planned out...

I was just as pleased as punch with my purchase so I decided to grab a quick bite and then a Black Forest Cake to bring back with me so I could pass around a few pieces to people at work... because I'm nice like that.  I found a little pizza place called Pinocchio's and knew I had to eat there.  My Mother has a few loves in her life that aren't family... one's Noah's Ark, one's unicorns and another is Pinocchio.  I ordered a simple mushroom pizza and a Coke.  It was a bit salty, but still a nice, hot pizza.  I'd have to say that this place was more memorable for the Pinocchio marionettes and toys and figures rather than the pizza, but it was still worth the stop.  As I continued my long walk back down to the train station, I stopped at the Cafe Adler to pick up a Black Forest Cake.  AND THEY WERE CLOSED!!!  NOOOOOO!!!  But, I happened to see another Cafe down the street a bit and decided something was better than nothing.  This Cafe Adler was recommended by a few people in town and by doing some research on the web, by the way.  Here's where the fun started... continuing my long walk to the train station with my backpack (crammed full with my CdS jacket, my dvd player for the trip home, a book, 2 water bottles... you get the point), a large bag that had my prized cuckoo clock packaged extremely well and now a full cake box.  Nice.  And I had about five or six hours on four different trains coming up with this balancing act!  Suffice it to say, I did it and there were several people who were quite pleased that I managed!  :)  I got back to the hotel room around midnight and felt so completely zen... as if I'd spent the day at a spa, just relaxing and being pampered.  It was such an amazing day...

Now, here's the photos you've been so patiently waiting for... sorry about the long winded talk about the day, but I just wanted to share it all!  I've only put up a few photos this time, but I will certainly add more soon...

  
       
    

    

   

   

That last photo was especially for you Rod!  :)  Nat already hates me for it... lol!

Sorry if the watermarks are annoying, but I've found too many of my photos used in different things, so it's time to stop that...  On a side note, what do you think of the watermarks?  I think I'm quite proud of them!   :)

Thanks for making it through my very long entry!  Hope it was worth the read!

Take care and until next time...
(keep twiddling those dials!)
...Stacy

ps... Mom, Dad, Shana... bring back any memories?  Just wait for my Frankfurt/Hanau/Steinau entry!

Current Location: Oberhausen, Germany
Current Mood: relaxed
Current Music: silence, as usual here at night