Rather than go directly to Paris from Amsterdam, he flew to Geneva and took a car to Chamonix.  It’s about 75 minutes drive. The big difference from Colorado is how close you are the mountains.  Here, you’re very close to the highest points.  In Colorado, the mountains are bigger and spread further apart.  The highest points are far in the distance. The skiing was very nice.  The runs aren’t terribly steep or bumpy.  It made for a great casual day at the slopes.

The mountains surrounding Chamonix are stunning but the village is showing it’s age.  Most of the buildings are worn down.   At the end of the day, food was the number priority.  The first place that had “restaurant” in it’s name was nice but the waiter said “No Food”.  Ok, weird for a ski resort.

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The company has me staying out near the office, south of downtown. Today, I went into the city to do laundry. After dropping off my clothes, I went to the Rijksmuseum. It’s super cool. They have some amazing pieces of art.

Walking around the city was nice too. The canals are everywhere with lots of flowers. I even stumbled upon a large market that sells every type of tulip bulb you can imagine.

Amsterdam is nice with lots of History. However, it’s not nearly a clean as Stockholm.

AND it’s no fun without Lynn.

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On my second day, we stayed in the Sogeti office in Solna all day except for lunch. We had chinese for lunch, Ha! After work, I went for a walk in “old” Stockholm. It’s the center of Stockholm on a little island where the grand palace sits and most of the government offices are around this too.

To get there, I had to take a short subway ride. What amazes me most is how clean the city is. Its very similar to other european cities Lynn and I have visited. On my walk, I only visited in a couple shops. I bought an ice cream and headed back. The visit was way too short but at least I got out for a couple hours.

Lynn and I have to come back here together.

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They brought us by bus to a Cistern which has been converted into a restaurant. We arrived on a red carpet and were greeted with Champaign. A lady was on a swing, high above the room, singing opera. After a few appetizers, they brought us to our tables.

The first course was a nice salmon salad. Of course, Lynn had to point out that it was raw salmon. No more for me, thanks. The dinner also included spinach ravioli, beef medallions, and turkish delights. Throughout the dinner, a band played live music. Between each course, they had turkish dancers. They were very good.

We arrived back at the hotel by midnight. The bad news is, our plane ride home leaves at 2:30. So, I’m still awake.

GREAT TRIP!!!

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Today was boat cruise day. We took the boat from our hotel to the largest of the paradise islands, on the continent of Asia. It was very small and reminded me of Mackinaw Island but more crowded. We walk around for a while and had a drink in a cafe.

During the boat ride back, we had a great lunch with traditional Turkish foods. Not Bob’s favorite but pretty good.

We then went to the Grand Bazaar for some shopping. What a crazy place that is. Everything you could possibly want in a single location. To buy anything, you must “haggle”. I found it funny that I was haggling with both the shop keeper and my wife. He said “$150”, I said “$90”, Lynn said “OK $125”. hahaha

We are now heading for dinner with the company. I’ll send more posts later.

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The day started with breakfast (everything you could want) in the hotel We had a brief introduction to the history of our host city. The entire group then went to see the Sultan Ahmed (Blue) Mosque and the Hagia Sofia temple.

Lunch (Sea Bass and salad) was at a great Cafe. After this, Lynn and I split up. She went back to the hotel and I continued on with the tour. We visited the Sultan’s Palace which was huge and beautiful. It has over 400 rooms and the outside wall extends over 5km.

Finally, I went to visit the Cisterns. This is where they held the water from the aqueducts about six hundred years ago.

After a full day of site seeing, I had only 45 minutes to shower, dress and make the bus for dinner. The meal was excellent. The appetizers where enough of a meal but then they brought two more courses that were very heavy meals themselves. The selection of desserts was great too. Lynn especially liked the belly dancers; both male and female.

Thanks,
Bob and Lynn

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The flight from NY to Turkey was difficult. A passenger got sick about half way across the Atlantic. We had to turn around and land in St John’s Newfoundland. Without being allowed to exit the plane, this added almost five hours to our flight because:

• 90 minutes to turn around and land
• 90 minutes to refuel, submit a new flight plan, get the passenger’s luggage out
• * 90 minutes to get back on track

Once at the hotel, we took a quick nap and went to dinner with Sogeti. That was awesome. The three course meal with salmon, lamb and a great desert.

Very nice so far.

Talk to you soon,
Bob and Lynn

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The pictures are on Facebook in two albums:
1. Seville Pictures
2. Madrid Pictures

Professional Flamenco dancer.

Lynn doing the Flamenco dance.

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