Ciao, Italia! April 24, 2007
Posted by Niels in : Personal , 2 comments
I’ve been in Florence for a day already and I still don’t know whether Italians drive on the right or the left side of the street. Apparently the rules are flexible.
I checked into my room, turned on my computer. “No wireless networks in range.” I’m in the third world! So now I’m sitting in the Piazza Dell’Unita Italiana, paying for access to a wireless access point that’s so weak that I’m practically sitting in the street. I’m literally sitting on the ground next to a roadblock as people walk by, stare at what I’m writing, and mutter things in Italian. So if it takes me a little while to respond to email, bear with me.
On the bright side, the gelato here is fantastic.
Your thoughts?Work’s done, off to Italy! April 23, 2007
Posted by Niels in : Dating coach , add a comment
Florence, Venice, Rome. Can they compete with Paris? Stay tuned to find out…
In the meantime, I’m exhausted. We had an amazing workshop. A 36-year old who’d never had a girlfriend ended up kissing a cute pedicab driver. A college student who’d approached a stranger once in his life got a number from a hot Brazilian girl and smooched a couple others. Our students gave it their all and did things they didn’t think possible.
This is why I love my job.
Your thoughts?How much would you pay to party? April 22, 2007
Posted by Niels in : Personal , 4 comments
I met a lot of people out tonight who come into London from the suburbs so they can go out Saturday night. A cab from London to the suburbs costs a few hundred dollars. My God. You’d have to take a second job just to be able to GET to the bar at night, let alone buy a drink.
If you’ve ever wondered what a $500/night Holiday Inn looks like… April 20, 2007
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it looks a lot like a $50/night Holiday Inn, just located in London. Holy cow, London is expensive.
The Paris Catacombs April 19, 2007
Posted by Niels in : Beauty and the Geek, Personal , 7 comments
Every visitor to Paris should see the catacombs. They are an incredible sight. There are over 200 miles (350 km) of tunnels beneath Paris from centuries of quarrying. When the graveyards became too full, thousands upon thousands of bones were moved to the catacombs. Skull and femurs are stacked artistically in a solemn homage to the dead.
My visceral emotional reaction was that something was wrong here - that the bones of the dead shouldn’t just be put on display for visitors to stare at. But as I walked through the catacombs, it was clear that was just a cultural preconception. The catacombs are a respectful memorial to the dead and treats their memory is a far more dignified manner than, say, “Bodies: The Exhibition”.
Oh, and the Canadian couple that recognized me from TV and asked me to pose for photos did so before we entered the consecrated area, so that’s cool, too.
Your thoughts?