Chapter 3: Copenhagen (July 15):

We arrived in Copenhagen at 8:00 a.m. for our first port of call. Mom & I didn’t have any pre-booked shore excursions and walked the mile from the ship into the center of the city. The most famous landmark of Copenhagen is the mermaid statue and we still don’t get it? Its weather worn brass and about three feet tall, you’d have thought it was the Mona Lisa as the crowd to get a picture was a mob scene. On the way back several tour buses were lined up to letting off tourists to get a picture. If you’re reading this before seeing the photos I’m sure you’ve already jumped ahead to get a peek at the masterpiece! We walked to a 16th century castle called the Rosenborg Slot where Denmark’s royalty lived whilst ruling the nation. Several armed (machine-guns) guards were posted at the basement treasury where crowns and other jewels were displayed. I apologize for the glare in the pictures as our new camera is smarter than I am and I left the book in California. The good news is I figured it out for the following sites (who’d have thunk it, a lightning bolt icon would mean flash)! The rest of the day we toured the center city visiting several churches and statue sites. In the absolute center of the city was an open air market where we spent the few kroner we had on Ben & Jerry’s Ice Cream for lunch. All the streets are cobblestone and our feet were killing us by day’s end. Most of the townspeople get around by bike and every major thoroughfare has a bike lane. We saw women in dresses and businessmen in suites biking to work, now that’s something you don’t see every day in So Cal! Copenhagen was nice but truth be told it was a little underwhelming in terms of things to do (which probably explained why the most popular shore excursion was Tivoli Gardens – an amusement park). The meaning behind today’s musical vibe was the fact we got lost going back to the ship and after a brief panic attack got our bearings straight and headed in the right direction (no thanks to the street signs, or lack thereof). After a long day of walking we had dinner and skipped the late show for bed and a 5:30 a.m. wake-up call to catch the train for Berlin.

Musical vibe for the Chapter: U2: “Where the Streets Have No Name”
Towel Fun: Seal

Chapter 2: Sailing Away (July 13-14):

The bus ride from London to the port of Dover was uneventful (a good thing) and I must give Carnival its props as the embarkation process at the port was the best of any cruise we’ve ever been on. We dropped our bags outside our hotel room in London and never touched them again until they were delivered to our stateroom onboard BEFORE dinner. We cleared the queues at the terminal and boarded immediately with the entire process taking less then 20 minutes, why isn’t it like that all the time? Mom and I took a nap before the always popular Muster Drill and then booked our spa appointments. Some people cruise to booze it up, some to gamble, we cruise to spa! Here’s a picture of our ship the Carnival Splendor which is on its inaugural voyage (which we keep hearing on an hourly basis from our portly Cruise Director). The ship is now the largest in the Carnival fleet and is really quite nice as you can imagine being brand new. The White Cliffs of Dover send us on our way…bon voyage!

Mom & I did a seaweed wrap and full body massage, absolutely fabulous, I’m actually starting to feel like I’m on vacation! We’re sitting on the deck in our stateroom overlooking the sea, it late afternoon and we’re in our robes, me blogging and mom reading a book. If there was an illustration in the dictionary for the word contentment our picture would surely accompany it!

Later in the afternoon we did an art auction and they had a hand signed Picasso up for bid…I was only $130,000 short of owning that baby! Who comes on a cruise to buy a piece of art like that? They also had original Salvador Dali and Peter Maxx works, lots of folks looking, nobody buying but the free champaign disappeared pretty quick.

Musical vibe for the Chapter: Robin Trower: “Sailing”
Towel Fun: Dog & Elephant

Chapter 1: London (July 10-12):

And so it begins…over a year in the making and after countless hours of personal and collective preparation the day of our departure had arrived…July 10, 2008! Jo & I had managed to pack into two large suitcases and one garment bag for our 15 day adventure when the first incredible event took place, ALL the luggage fit into the MINI Cooper! So it’s off to LAX with the allure of London and the Northern Europe awaiting.

We’re HERE…Heathrow airport in London, and yes it’s every bit as bad as you’ve heard. After 11 hours in the air, minimal sleep on the cross-continental red-eye, small seats (and I heard the Virgin - Atlantic was a great airline - travel agents an honest lot they are) horrible airplane food and some unsettling turbulence the LaBoskys have landed! Oh well, we’re officially on vacation so let the fun begin…hey where’s the Carnival Agent to meet us outside customs? Three hours later, no cell service, no Carnival Agent, $70 US and a communal bus ride we hit our hotel in central London.
Good thing we packed all those summer clothes for our vacation as its low 60’s and raining but that doesn’t stop us from going out and exploring. We are staying at the Park Plaza Hotel – County Square which is absolutely dead centre (catch my British accent) downtown, a block from the River Thames and a courtyard away from the London Eye. I’d love to show you a bunch of really cool pictures from our first day out but I forgot the camera in the hotel room. We walked around for about three hours to get the lay of the land and plan Saturday’s activities, ate some awful “authentic” Italian food, got rained on and hit the hotel for some much needed sleep.

What a difference a day (and a little sleep) makes! Before the adventure details I must digress into English breakfast (at least that’s what they call it) fare; baked beans, do you believe it, baked beans for breakfast, I could go on & on about runny eggs and raw bacon and sausage in form only but let’s talk about something much more appetizing, the sights and sounds of London!

Mom & I started off by walking to Buckingham Palace for the ceremonial changing of the guard. We got there early enough to get a position against the fence and as you can tell by the pictures it was a good thing we did as the crowd was large and energetic. The palace itself will be opened up for tours starting in August (maybe next time I suppose) but the grounds and building itself were truly incredible. Check out the gold coat of arms on the rod iron fencing. We then walked down Pall Mall Street through the Admiralty Arch (see picture) to the National Gallery. Jo & I spent the next three hours taking in the paintings and sketches from the 1200’s-1900’s. Really incredible pieces, Monet, Van Gogh, Rembrandt, da Vinci, they’re all here. No photography allowed in the gallery and we saw a security man make an oriental tourist clear his camera memory, hilarious, go figure a Japanese man with a camera! By this time we’re completely exhausted and sitting in Trafalgar Square with our stomachs growling but what to our wondering eyes should appear but a Subway restaurant (woo hoo real American food)! So $30 and after watching a crazy man get arrested inside the adjoining internet café we sit down in Trafalgar Square to enjoy lunch with the pigeons, did I mention how much your mom HATES birds, I think it’s her fascination with that Hitchcock movie but her shrieks and attempted kicking of the flying turd-houses was worth the price of admission! The odd picture later in the blog of mom “tapping her toes” near a pigeon is the best recreation I could get her to do for all of your entertainment!

After lunch we walked back past Westminster Abbey, the Churchill Statue, Parliament Square and Big Ben towards the London Eye. It’s all so beautiful and the pictures really don’t do it justice. We get to the London Eye which is a HUGE Ferris-wheel looking structure composed of 32 capsules each able to contain 25 people. If it’s one thing the English have down to an art form its “queuing” (for us ugly Americans that can best be translated into “waiting in line”). So we queue 45 minutes for our 30 minute trip around the London Eye but it was certainly worth the wait as the views (and pictures) were incredible.

We arrive back at the hotel just in time to get ready for a night out at the theatre (catch that British accent again)! I love Dudley Moore’s character in Arthur: The best thing about waiters is you ask them for things and they bring them to you, isn’t it GREAT!
Well our hotel concierge scored us 6th row center seats for “Wicked” so with plenty of time to spare JoAnn & I take off to the Apollo Theatre in the Soho district. It’s about an hour from curtain when we arrive at the Apollo only to discover that “Rain Man” is playing there and not “Wicked”. So with the thoughts of killing the concierge after eating $300 worth of prime “Wicked” tickets we find a gentleman in a currency exchange window who tells us to cross the street and take the 38 bus to Victoria Station and the Apollo-Victoria Theatre is across the street. Well, we made it with 20 minutes to spare and the show was every bit as good as we heard it was in LA where it has played since last Fall in Hollywood. After the performance we walked back to the hotel and stopped for a romantic dinner at McDonalds before retiring for the evening. Amazing how good McDonalds tastes when there is nothing else available…off to bed!

Musical vibe for the Chapter: The Clash: “London Calling”
Towel Fun: Not yet…good things come to those who wait!

Todd Rundgren...Key Club and Coach House

Mom & I went to the Hollywood show @ the Key Club on West Sunset Strip. I thought Jo would hate it but we stood center stage 2nd row and had a ball. Read on for Dad's adventures the following evening...

Set List (both nights):

Love In Action
Walls Came Down
Black Maria
Open My Eyes
Lunatic Fringe
I Saw The Light
Mad
Afraid
Mercenary
Gun
Courage
Weakness
Strike
Pissin
Today
Bardo
Mountaintop
Panic
Manup
_ _ _ _

Couldn't I Just Tell You
Just One Victory

Observations (Key Club):
* Small but energetic crowd.
* Morgansterns played a nice 7 song acoustic set and a fair bit of the crowd up front were there to see them.
* Minor sound / technical issues throughout (like that's something new at a Todd gig)!
* Jessie is a beast and really carried the set.
* Prairie Prince good as always, seemed disinterested throughout and absolutely no interaction with new bass player Rachel Haden.
* Rachel Haden was better than expected (although I had low expectations after reading previous posts).
* Matt Bolten, O.K., not much to say other than the keyboard part / intro to "Today" was taped while he played rhythm?
* Other than "Love In Action" same group of older material from the last few tours.
* "Lunatic Fringe", I don't get it...well played but really what's the point?
* New material was better than expected, best songs for me were: "Bardo", "Courage" & "Mad".
* "The Wheel" was on the set-list and not played.
* Todd said the new album was complete and would be released "electronically" soon, not sure what that means for releasing an actual CD with liner notes, etc.
* Would have been nice to have had CD's to buy at the show (like Liars).
* Todd came on at 10:10 and the encore ended promptly at midnight.
* Souvenirs = lame (Todd made some comment about it not being the last time he'd ask us to but some cheap shit from China) pretty funny actually!
* All in all a good evening of music, thanks to Todd (60 and still going strong)!!!!

Observations (Coach House):

* I showed up the night of the show without a ticket thinking it was festival seating only to walk into a clone of the C&W Bar from the Blues Brothers movie. The place is row after row of picnic tables with round bar stools surrounding and no "dance floor" in front of the stage.

* This "Billy Bob" who could have passed for Charlie Daniels twin brother (complete with cowboy hat) is seating folks.

* I lucked into a side table seven seats back from the stage and met three guys from San Diego and a couple from OC. As we looked around the room we noticed several rooms overlooking the stage from the second floor, one of which was empty. One of the "trouble-makers" from San Diego approaches Billy Bob and inquires as to how one procures such accommodations. He returns to our table and says for ten bucks a piece the six of us can have the VIP room - SOLD!

* The VIP room happens to be across the hall from the bands dressing room and the rest is history.

* The back-up band was a 3 piece from Wales called Freeman with an LP coming out soon (they weren't bad). My new found friend the trouble-maker befriends them (never underestimate the power of buying a young man a beer) and they squeeze into our VIP room for the Todd set.

* We got to met Todd and the band before and after the show which was pretty cool because we slipped in with the "paying" meet and greet guests.

* The new material was much better the second time around and being in an air conditioned VIP room didn't hurt the atmosphere either.

* So it comes time for the encore and the band leaves stage goes up the steps and are standing in the hall when I took my shot...I stuck my head out the door and kindly asked Todd for "The Wheel", and he kindly looked me in the eyes and said "No way!"....priceless I tell you....he laughed at me, oh well you can't blame a guy for trying.

This will be the last Blog entry until we return from our vacation in Europe...until then Love, Peace & Harmony to all!!!!