Swiss catblogging

Nala, who lives with our friends in Switzerland, gets snuggly with her stuffed chicken while it snows outside.

Madrid Photos

A Flickr photoset is here, for those who want more detail.

We've Failed You For The Last Time

We went a long time without posting, which is bad. Bad, naughty bloggers. Truth be told, last week was a busy week for me as I had some extra (paying) work to do. So it's money in the pocket, which is never a bad thing. But because I really have nothing to say, though, maybe I should ask somebody else, like maybe Heywood Banks, to entertain you:


Sing along: "Oleo Lord!"

Friday Catblogging

This charming fellow seemed to make his home in the gardens of Dublin Castle.

Dublin Scene

I guess the war isn't over for everybody.

(Photo by Mrs. W.)

Deep Thought

How is that hoteliers have mastered the art of installing multi-voltage, multi-plug outlets for men's shavers, but not for any other personal appliance?

Welsh You Were Here

Howdy. The Werbenmanjensens are in Holyhead, Wales, where we've spent the last couple of days. The Rough Guide to Wales describes it as "downbeat," which is true in its own way, but there is a bit of natural beauty out here. We've been to near the top of Holy Mountain to see a couple of dazzling views (we'd give you photos, but we're using internet cafe terminals right now so publishing photos is out of the question). The path up was a good deal easier than those Scottish mountains, and we had bright and clear conditions. We're hopping the ferry to Dublin today, although our fast ferry has been canceled because of rough weather out on the Irish Sea. We're now on the "cruise ferry" leaving at 2-ish. I'm happy to report that we have American-made Dramamine so we don't have a repeat of another rough ferry ride.

Monday Sunriseblogging

Sunrise over the Blue Ridge Mountains.

Big round of applause to Mrs. Werbenmanjensen for her blogging prowess over our recent break.

Friday Catblogging

Apologies for not posting much lately. The unpacking and organizing process has been more time-consuming than I care for it to be.

Happily, we have cat photos.


Swiss cats Nala and Greyboy make nice before bathtime.

Welcome To Liechtenstein

The Werbenmanjensens are just back from a journey to Switzerland, with a side trip into Liechtenstein:

Where the prince of the principality lives, or so we think.


Pretty church.


The pedestrian walk in the Vaduz city center.


This elevator makes you decide which floor you're going to before you board.


*Yawn* Just another castle-like building.

Friday Catblogging

The female tabby at the Russian Fort in Waimea makes friends with Mrs. W.

Kauai Sunriseblogging

Reader Schmutz took this from our condo in Poipu. Or was it a sunset?

Waimea Canyon

"At the birthplace of all waters, it rains and rains, and then it pours."

Kauai is home to the location that is, by reputation, the rainiest on Earth--or at least the rainiest that gets measured. It also is home to the only navigable fresh water in Hawaii. Dozens of large streams and rivers criss-cross the island, many of them originating in the ancient volcanic caldera that now is the Alakai Swamp.

Waimea Canyon was formed by one of these large streams, cutting down the western side of the island. The auto road that parallels it terminates at an overlook that drops down to the NaPali Coast.



With Middle Kid and MK's family, Mrs. Werbenmanjensen and I drove up the canyon and took a side hike to some waterfalls.



Beyond the falls, Mr. MK and I hiked to an overlook above twin falls cascading down the canyon wall.


As we drove back down, a cloud hung over the canyon, creating rainbows and even doubled rainbows floating below us in the canyon. I stopped at every opportunity to capture photos.


I now understand why the rainbow is the symbol of Hawaii.

Friday Catblogging

In the Allerton Garden at the National Tropical Botanical Garden, this cat seemed to be part of the backdrop. I think its name was Sweetie.

The Na Pali Coast

The Na Pali Coast is Kauai's northwest corner, a wild collision of waves and rock in the winter as the northern trade winds push the sea into cliff walls. Along with the family of Oldest Kid, Mrs. Werbenmanjensen and I took a boat tour along this raw coastline. (You can hike much of the coast, but from the water it looked like it might give even a Scotsman some pause.)

Our guide told us that when Captain Cook saw this coast, he couldn't believe people actually lived here. The Hawaiians did, however, sculpting the narrow valleys and rocky precipices into thriving agricultural communities. In some cases, he said, they used the gorges nearest the coast as their farm fields and hiked daily from their homes over the mountain using a system of ladders to work the fields.


Words can't do this place justice, so I won't waste too much time trying to do so.





In addition to the awe-inspiring terrain, we also saw a school of spinner dolphins and a pod of humpback whales. Both were too challenging for this photographer to capture.

Longish Diary Of The Year's Shortest Day

We saw this twice yesterday, have yet to see it for the first time today

To celebrate the 2007 winter solstice, Mrs. Werbenmanjensen and I rose at roughly the same time to make ready to fly nearly halfway around the world: Ten time zones behind, so to speak, landing us in Hawaii sometime late last night local time. Our polar route took us through our first sunset around 1:30 or 2 p.m., only to greet us with a second sunrise a few hours later, somewhere over Canada. Even though we were in the dark, over the North Pole, with an outside air temperature of around -70 something Farhenheit, our British Airways 747 managed to keep the cabin at sweat-wearing-cotton-T-shirt temperatures. Then the hell of LAX, waiting forever for our bags, getting searched by Customs because we wandered the wrong direction, going out of the secure airport environment only to have to re-enter it (really, does that make any sense?) in another terminal, watching the Keystone Kops of the TSA handle luggage in a single X-ray machine, and finally being unable to sit together for our leg to Hawaii because BA and American Airlines can't manage to communicate. We watched our flight chase the second sunset across the Pacific. Warm breezes on Kauai blow the palm fronds into a single green arrowhead atop all the trees, calming my travel-addled and fatigued nerves. We called the taxi dispatcher, who wondered why we didn't want to wait for the shuttle to our hotel. It was an easy $15 for him, a mere seven-fifty in the Queen's sweet sweet sterling, which can't even get you from one side of the Square Mile to the other in a Black Cab.

As I type these words, my computer's clock tells me it's 4:30 p.m. in London, where the sun set 40 minutes ago. Outside our balcony, I can hear the white noise of the Pacific's surf, cheering for a Hawaiian sunrise. It's going to be a good week.

Postcard From Bali

Mrs. Werbenmanjensen sends greetings from Bali, where she is traveling for work. Here is a slightly edited version of a note she sent:

This morning I ate breakfast beside a man-made waterfall and pond filled with water lilies. Then I had a 20-minute walk or so along the beach. That was about as tranquil as my day will get!

I am sweating like a pig. My hair hasn't been this fluffy since the 1980s. It's summer here, just below the equator (my first time in the Southern Hemisphere). The air is either scented with flowers or, um, other scents, depending on where you are. People are friendly and many speak English. A lot of prices are in U.S. dollars, but those that aren't are a little scary -- 50,000 rupiah for a sandwich! (That's about $5.) I took 500,000 rupiah out at the ATM at the airport, halfway to being a millionaire!

I think I'm finally over the jet lag. Hope to send pictures when I return to London (I did take a few).

Fast Track To The Continent

I'm a little late on this, and you may already have read of it, but the new Eurostar terminal opened in London on Wednesday, on the "good" side of the river. Not a big deal, I suppose, other than that the trains will take a slightly different route to the Chunnel, on upgraded tracks that will allow them to spend more time at top speed. The Guardian:

The journey time between central London and Paris was cut to two hours 15 minutes today as Eurostar services from St Pancras began.

The train departed the station - which has been restored at a cost of £800m - on time just after 11am. It arrived in the French capital on time despite a national strike paralysing most public transport in France.

It is the first passenger service to use the new £5.8bn Channel tunnel rail link, known as High Speed 1, which allows trains along the full stretch of the British section to travel as fast as those in France.

There is absolutely no reason to fly to Paris, or Brussels, or any other destination that has a direct Eurostar link. You'll spend more time in airports than the time it takes to get there by train.

Jersey As A Second Language

Overheard at the Grounds for Sculpture, a conversation about the piece pictured above, titled "Eye on the Ball."

"Dis one's cwalled 'Oye on the Bwahl.'"
"'Oye on the Bwahl' or 'Oye on the Bwowl?'"
"'Oye on the Bwahl!'"

Americans Amuck ... In America

Howdy. A quick update ... Mrs. Werbenmanjensen and I have been in America for more than 48 hours now, in New Jersey. Yesterday, Sir Kevin and I kicked around Manhattan, visiting the Guggenheim Museum, Natural History Museum and Central Park. Today we were at the Grounds For Sculpture, an amazing sculpture collection on the former grounds of the former state fairground (insert jokes about Jerseyites winning blue ribbons for shivmaking and body-dumping here). Lots of photos from the sculpture gardens, but no way to actually get them on the web right now, so you'll have to wait.