Las Vegas

I’ve got some friends who’re trying to get me to go holiday in Vegas this winter, but I’m not buying it. It’s kind of a cruise to get out there, even starting in Santa Barbara instead of San Diego (not that the drive is such a huge deal in itself—it’s a longer trip across the Atlantic, with less to look at, and I’ll always jump at that particular chance) and it’s in the middle of the desert (but the scenery is admittedly pretty satisfying to look at).

My biggest objections, though, are this: (#1) I’ve already been there, and (#2) everything that makes Vegas such a great getaway can be done almost anywhere else. Santa Barbara is for partying. We can catch shows in L.A. or San Diego. UCSB has pools and perfect weather to lounge in. Chumash has gambling.

Now, admittedly, Caesar’s Palace looks pretty cool. Luxor, too. I just returned from north Las Vegas yesterday and wish I’d had a chance to wander around those two resorts a bit just to look at the decorations. Maybe Excalibur, too, though I sort of remember it—my family stayed there for a few days back when I was closer to ten than twenty.

Vegas is an interesting city, though, and sort of reminds me of eastern Europe in a few respects. The parts that everybody sees (downtown Prague, Budapest, and even Athens’ plaka district) are gorgeous and glitzy and enchanting. The rest… not so much.

Vegas was hit very hard by the recession. It’s got the worst housing rates in the entire country—oops, the rental houses that were supposed to pay for university/retirement/whatever are underwater!—and unemployment is high. The population has dropped by more than 35% in the last decade as people scrabble to escape.

All that shows. It’s visible the moment we step off the strip. Neon lights dim, the dust that seemed like such a trifle at the poolside bar suddenly chokes, and everyone around us is sunburned and slouching under the weight of this month’s rent.

Money troubles look the same across the world, I guess.

Riverfront view

View of the riverfront and Hungarian Parliament from a bridge just under halfway across the Danube.

Buda, Pest, Bridges and Lions

This is a view of Budapest's castle from across the Danube the evening after I first arrived. I landed in the afternoon, found my hostel (which took a while--I got lost, and getting directions in Hungarian was a lot harder than I was expecting. It's impossible to pronounce anything properly!), and went for a walk down the river, across the bridge in the picture, and back down the other side of the river.

It's not the greatest picture I took, but one of the only ones of the whole front of the castle. The bridge, I figure, is an added bonus. There are lions standing guard at both ends.

It was quite dark by the time I got back to the hostel. A little nerve-wracking as I had some difficulty getting around a construction site without getting lost, but I worked it out, found the bridge, and got back to the hostel before my exhausted feet decided to mutiny.

Czech Puppets

There were puppets all over Prague. I'm embarrassed to admit that I have no idea why--all I can figure is that it's a traditional thing that kind of gained momentum and turned into puppets of naked mermaids, Jack Sparrow, Michael Jackson, and Charlie Chaplin.

Prague's cathedral

The cathedral was even prettier than the castle, which was nice enough of its own accord. The above photo is of the outside--part of it. It's in the middle of Prague's castle district, surrounded by tons of other buildings, so I couldn't back up far enough to fit the whole of the outside into one photo.

The inside of the cathedral, to give you a vague notion of how big it was.

Zoomed-in photo of the stained glass at the far end. Tickets were required to go about thirty or forty feet past the entrance, so I didn't bother. There was still plenty to see, particularly the stained glass. I genuinely can't think of any stained glass I've ever seen that might be prettier, or as pretty, as the enormous, twenty or thirty foot tall windows in that cathedral.

Prague's famous clock

The famous astrological clock in Prague, Czech Republic.

Not as impressive as most would think. Mostly it's just pretty and kind of complicated-looking. The best part, I'd say, is when the groups of confused tourists gather around it at ten or eleven at night waiting for it to ring--it quits ringing at 9PM, and starts back up at 9AM.

Oxford, England

Oxford, England.

Oxford was nice because I didn't really know what I was doing. I just wandered. Turns out there's a castle to tour, complete with with horrific stories from when it was turned into a jail and a tower to climb (the top of which is where the above picture was taken). I went to the biggest bookstore I've ever been in--three stories tall (four for Americans)--and that was just the store where they kept the books. There were completely separate buildings for music, for posters and art, and for--something else. Can't even remember anymore, because the book one was the building I cared most about. I had a wonderful dinner at a nice little restaurant that turned out to be a chain, and I was only there for about thirty hours. (You can do a lot in thirty hours, especially in any English town or small city.)

England's Lake District

England's Lake District (without any lakes. Just awesome mountains).

England's Lake District

This video made me laugh. I'd forgotten I made it, and found it as I was going through some more of my photos. Enjoy my silliness!

Eight hours

I was sunning myself in the backyard just now and it occurred to me--hey, it's almost four in the afternoon. That means it's midnight in Edinburgh.

Eight hours is kind of a big time difference. I'm lying in the sun, outside, in the middle of the afternoon whereas if I was in Scotland, I'd probably be thinking about going to bed soon. I certainly wouldn't be wearing a bathing suit.

San Diego really is a world away. Or, I guess at this point, Edinburgh is.