Foosing In Warsaw

June 22nd, 2004 • Comments Off Marshall Memorial Fellowship

The last few days have been pretty interesting. We’ve hit some sights like the Polish Parliament and I had a sit down with an analyst from the Polish Ministry of Security (or perhaps it was Defense). We had a good discussion about events in the Middle East.

On Monday evening, a bunch of fellows and I went on a quest to find a foosball table in Warsaw. We hit one pub and it was a bust. But they pointed us to another one that did have one. In fact, we ended up playing foosball in an Irish pub in a Polish city. Go figure. Unfortunately, like all bar foosball tables, this one was poorly maintained, wasn’t level, and was a table with goalie ramps. Not an ideal table by any means. Regardless, whoever played with me either always won or at least tied. There are some benefits of having a foosball table at work. :-) We might have to find one in Paris - but I’m not holding my breath.

Krakow in June

June 21st, 2004 • Comments Off Marshall Memorial Fellowship

Krakow is a wonderful city. The people are fairly friendly. In addition, the prices are amazing when you convert to dollars. Pretty much every lunch and dinner I’ve had has cost about $15. That includes wine and multiple rounds of food.

The first night we actually went dancing in a famous Krakow club. I must say that the DJ was not that good. Song would have a few seconds between them and the weirdest songs would be played (like “Stairway to Heaven” and “We Will Rock You”). But then there were some great classic songs (mainly from the 70s and 80s) that kept me going.

On Sunday (which was appropriately a cloudy, rainy day) we went to visit the Auschwitz concentration camp. I can’t actually talk about it too much. If you’ve not been there and you’ve ever been to a museum about the Holocaust then you just don’t comprehend the scale. Other museums often show the horror through pictures and videos. The Auschwitz camp does the same thing through other exhibits and the sheer size and scale of the site is unimaginable. Although it isn’t an uplifting visit, I highly recommend a visit at some point so that you can try and understand what happened and the scale of the atrocities.

Airport From Hell

June 21st, 2004 • Comments Off Marshall Memorial Fellowship

So on Monday I travelled from Bilbao, Spain through Paris, France to Krakow, Poland. I was travelling with one other fellow which turned out to be the best possible cure for the horror of the Paris airport. None of our checked bags (1 for me and 2 for the other fellow) didn’t make it to Poland. Big surprise. I actually called it well in advance. We finally got everything by Tuesday afternoon. Fortunately I had clothes in my carry on. The other fellow was not so fortunate and he almost had to do a trifecta with his clothes.

The Paris airport itself is a nightmare. I’m pretty sure that if there is a airport in hell, the French run it. There are no signs (or at least that we could tell) to tell you where you should go. There is some insane passport control desk that regulates flow between two sides of check-in counters (yes, check-in counters not gates). The gates themselves have no restrooms, food services, or anything else. In addition, I think line jumping is a recognized sport in France and it doesn’t matter how long the line is to execute this maneuver.

If you ever have the opportunity to land in, leave from, or connect through the Paris airport, don’t take it and run away as quickly as you can.

Randomness

June 17th, 2004 • Comments Off Marshall Memorial Fellowship

I have a few minutes so I thought I’d mention a few things.

I’ve actually got a number of stories and events that have happened here in Europe that I haven’t had time to write about. Expect an ongoing discussion about these stories after I return to the U.S.

Also, it seems highly likely that my class of Fellows is going to work on and participate in publishing a blog about the transatlantic relationship. Obviously, I’m going to handle the technology end of it. What a surprise. I’ll talk more about this project when it gets ready to launch. Hopefully within the next month or two.

I’m off to a meeting and (as usual) a very long (but entertaining, I’m sure) dinner.

Bilbao and the Basque People

June 17th, 2004 • Comments Off Marshall Memorial Fellowship

My PDA is in and out of usefulness. Fortunately, the hotel (which is quite nice BTW), has a great business center and flat screen computers. Doing entries on this is WAY better than on a fully functioning PDA.

My ankle continues to heal although I’m sure if I was actually resting instead of what I’m doing, I’d be close to 100% by now. I’m probably at 75% but the pain is sometimes rough. It’s mostly muscle pain at this point.

Bilbao (and the surrounding cities) has been a great part of this trip. So far we’ve gone to the Peace Museum in Gernika, the Guggenheim in Bilbao, and we did a boat trip on the river.

Gernika was the first civilian population to ever be targeted by bombs from planes. The city was absolutely devastated by the attack from the Germans and the interesting point of the whole affair is that it was bombed because it was a strategic stronghold - there is a port, a connecting bridge across the river, and there were two weapon manufacturing plants. Interestingly, the plants and the bridge were intentionally untouched so the occupying force could use them.

The Guggenheim in Bilbao was designed by Frank Ghery and is made of titanium, glass, and stone. The building is quite impressive and very interesting in terms of the fit with the surrounding architecture. Which is to say, it doesn’t fit at all but that is what makes it interesting.

Finally, we had dinner last night at the Basque cultural center. I can’t say enough nice things about our hosts. We visited their radio station and watched some native Basque dancing. I met one of the journalists from the radio station - Jabi Zabala - who has his own blog. You have to be able to read Euskara though. The entire group of folks that we met were unbelievably hospitable and I think they were trying to make us explode from eating too much. I was about to pass out by the time my main dish arrived. Also, I’m not exactly sure how they walk around without being drunk all the time. I’ve had wine with every meal so far except breakfast and I’m sure they would fix that given the right opportunity. The countryside here is absolutely beautiful as well. If you ever get a chance to come to the Basque country and Bilbao in particular, take it. You won’t be disappointed.

I’m off to Poland tomorrow. Krakow and Warsaw are calling and unfortunately my time in Bilbao is coming to a close.