Winter Trips

A new year has begun with two really great trips. In mid-January, I went with 36 other Mountbattens to Interlaken, Switzerland. We rented a large house that could fit 40 people, so things weren't too cramped. The skiing was great - it snowed a couple days before we got there and we had 3 days of perfect weather on the slopes. The runs were not too crowded because everyone was watching in Skiing World Cup which was taking place on one of the three mountains. About 50,000 people were in town for it! On the last day, we took the gondola up to the Schilthorn (above), which had great views of the valley and mountains around us. It's also where one of the villains lived in an old James Bond movie. We were able to ski all the way down the mountain from the peak.

Two weeks later, I went with 9 other Mountbattens to Iceland for three days. We stayed in a hotel in the center of Reykjavik with easy access to the town. The first day we took a coach tour that hit many of the natural wonders of Iceland, including geysers, hot springs, a continental divide that is slowly tearing the island apart, and a huge waterfall (pictured - those are people standing way out on the ledge to the left). That night, we booked a Super-Jeep tour and spent 4 hours chasing the Northern Lights. We finally saw them at around 1am. That was really the whole reason we wanted to go to Iceland, so I'm glad that we saw them. On the second day, four of us rented a car and drove around. The initial plan was to drive about 2 hours along the southern coast to a glacier, but that ended about halfway there when we got caught in a blizzard, and could barely see anything along the icy road. Thinking of our mothers, we decided to turn around and head south of Reykjavik to that coastline. We caught the sunset (the sun rose at 11 and set around 5) and then drove back into town in time for the Super Bowl. On the last day, we went and swam in a hot spring before heading to the airport. This was a great trip, but I would recommend coming in the summer - there really isn't much to do when the sun goes down.

I don't have any more trips planned until late April when I go to Egypt, but I'm sure something will come up over the next few weeks. Everything else is still great here with work and life in general. Can't believe it's almost been 6 months!

Italia

This last weekend I went to Italy with a couple of friends. We spent Thursday night and Friday in Rome seeing the Vatican, Coliseum, forums, Palatine Hill, and some other smaller sights. We managed to get a lot in because we did a 6 hour self-guided walking tour. In the Vatican, we paid a little extra and got a small group tour of the museums, Sistine Chapel and the Basilica. It was well worth it since we wouldn't have known anything from going around ourselves.

We took a train and spent Saturday and Sunday in Florence. One of my friends here knows someone who is studying there until December so we were able to stay in her flat. We hit all the major tourist spots and had some amazing Italian meals. On Sunday we spent about 4 hours in Pisa. Saw the leaning tower and walked around the town for a bit. Monday we were back in Rome seeing some more sights, like the Pantheon, Spanish Steps, and a church that told time on the floor from the sun coming through tiny holes in the ceiling. I had a great weekend - reminded me why I like Italy so much.

Weekends Away

The first weekend in October I went to Barcelona, Spain. I went with five other people, which was a pretty good-sized group. We traveled there by RyanAir, the JetBlue of European travel. I heard many horror stories about the airline, and so was surprised that everything worked out well both coming and going. We arrived late on Thursday night and had to find our way 70 miles from the airport to downtown. Our hostel was in a great location - just off of Las Ramblas, the main street through town, and central to most of the sights we wanted to see. We walked all over the town, seeing most of the important sights: Antonio Gaudi's Sagrada Familia, his home and park overlooking the town, the Olympic Stadium, Montjuic Castle and cemetary (four sections to bury Protestants, Catholics, non-Christians, and aborted fetuses), as well as the beach. We spent two of our four days just laying on the beach since the weather was so nice. Of course we also enjoyed tapas at midnight and we watched the FC Barcelona vs. AT Madrid football match on a small TV in a cramped bar with tons of rowdy locals. All-in-all it was a great trip - we couldn't have picked a better time to go either. My next trip abroad is to Rome in mid-November.

Tonight I just got home from a weekend in the English countryside. Mountbatten sent the entire group to an activity center in Dorset to do some team-building, and I will say that it was much better than expected. From early Friday morning to mid-afternoon today, we did things like rock climb on cliffs over the ocean, build campfires, play around on a high-ropes course (basically an obstacle course 40 feet in the air), play football (soccer), storm castle ruins at midnight (Corfe Castle), walk along a ridge overlooking the Channel on one side and Poole Harbor (Brownsea Island) on the other, and play with some cool dogs. The food was excellent as well: 3-course meal the first night and a BBQ with hamburgers, chicken, sausages and steak on the second. It was also a great opportunity to meet more people in my program - there are still people I have never seen before.

First Class

This Saturday I had my first class through Mountbatten. It was on British History, and was fairly boring to be honest. The morning was OK because we took a walking tour around south London. Our tour guide was pretty good and had lots of stories on just about everything. The afternoon was not so good - they attempted to cram 3,000 years of history into just under 3 hours, so not much was really learned. It was also a great day outside, so no one really wanted to be in a classroom that afternoon anyways.

The weather stayed good on Sunday, so a bunch of us went to Regent's Park and relaxed for a bit. Some of the girls wanted to do paddle boats, but they were too expensive, so we played some football instead. We also went to a mass at St. Paul's in the morning. It was a pretty good service, and it also lets you get into the church and explore for free. For dinner, we had a little taste of home - Domino's.

Work tomorrow, but the boss isn't in all week... Plus, looking forward to giving a co-worker grief for losing the Ryder Cup. He was very confident that the EU would win last week, and made sure I knew about it. I told him to just wait and see.

Camping

This last weekend, I reconnected with my old Scout troop and went camping at a site about an hour southeast of London. It was their "shakedown" campout, the first of the year, so there were a lot of kids who had never camped before. I think everyone had fun though - there was rifle and archery shooting as well as learning some basic camping skills. The weather was amazing as well... the first time I've worn short sleeves since being in the UK.

I completed my first big project since starting work at UBS today. I was a little anxious about getting it done properly, but everyone seemed to be pleased with it. The rest of this week looks to be pretty relaxing. We have our first "class" this Saturday with Mountbatten on British History. Should be interesting.

Globe

Last Friday we went to The Globe theater to see A Midsummer Night's Dream. We bought the cheap 5 pound standing seats just in front of the stage, and since there is no roof, we got soaking wet. It rained throughout the entire 3 hour show, except for about 30 minutes. The play was really good though and I enjoyed it.

Skype

If you have Skype, you can call me using the ID greg.ryan25

This will go directly to my cell phone. I am usually awake between 7:30am to around midnight.