The Tipsy Crow: home to the Drink Exchange. It is a happy hour stock exchange where the more a drink is bought the more expensive it is. So, buy low.

The Bareback: Kiwi establishment with Kiwi hospitality.

Dick’s Last Resort: prides itself on its rude staff and poor hospitality. You are expected to  join them by returning the same level of hospitality.

Stout: Irish/Canadian hockey bar. Enough said.

Entrance to Gaslamp Quarter going up 5th Avenue

our hotel, Hilton Bayfront.

Anwen enjoying the free party hat created by our server named Fluffy, dressed as a gay Fred Flintstone. If you can’t read it it says, “seen more crotch than fruit of the loom”. He also explained how to properly roll up napkins to throw at great distances to hit nearby tables.

Our relocated LA friend and a south west Ireland born Bartender that relocated from New York. Both will never be going home after spending several years in San Diego. Both put us to shame when it came to hockey stats.

You may notice that the events of the Big Ass Tour 2010 are no longer here. That is because they have found their own home at www.bigasstour.wordpress.com. It should be fully updated with all the Big Ass Tour blog posts within the next 24 hours.

In the meantime Thad and I are dreaming of weather that, while not balmy, is considerably warmer than our current -31 (gross).

Gross

Civilized

Neither of us have been to San Diego and we are not there for long, but we have a long list of things to do and stuff to eat. If anybody has some “must dos” please let us know.

What do you think he said to Anwen? And what did she reply with?

Leave your comment.

Word of warning though, we both had debit and credit cards that have the chip and it doesn’t work over here. Our debit cards were read as invalid accounts and the credit card was pin blocked which might have been partially our fault. The debit card still works in cash machines but not point of sale. Just FYI. Talk to your bank. Ours thought they had it sorted out with the international thing but they were “telling us porky pies.” They will receive an email shortly.

The physical part was that we ended up walking to the west end and checked out Leicester Square, Hyde Park, Piccadilly Circus and everything in between. On the way back to the hotel we had to partake in our own pub crawl only to survive. We did the numbers and we walked over 20kms in 30 degree London sun and only stopped at 4 pubs. London is definitely one of the greatest places to do anything.

Our feet are blistered and our minds are full. Tonight we revel with all the BBC TV that we can’t get at home (it is amazing what BBC iPlayer in the UK has to offer).

Old Town Square is an old world cobbled square fed by a number of winding side streets and filled with charming (but overpriced) cafes. The square is surrounded by three enormous churches and a palace. The Jan Hus memorial is circled by benches where you can people watch all day long. Where there are no cafes the souvenir shops abound selling Czech crystal and Garnets along with the typical tourist bits and pieces.

Wes Square, on the other hand, is marked by two long streets filled with shops, sausage stands and 24 hour “Non-Stop” bars and crowned by the National Museum. This is the square where many of the anti-Communist demonstrations took place. There is a memorial to the victims of Communism including Jan Palack and Jan Jajic who both sacrificed their lives to fight communist rule by setting themselves on fire in the square.

Thad walking into Old Town Square

Jan Hus Memorial statue in the middle of Old Town Square

 

National Museum at the top of Wenceslas Square

Looking down Wenceslas Square

 

 

Memorial to the victims of Communism

 

On Geoff’s first full day in Prague we took a walk down the Vtlava River bank and ended up (shockingly!) at a beer hall called U Flecku. We took over a picnic table in the beer garden and were immediately presented with three pints of dark pilsner – no ordering necessary! As the afternoon went by three pints turned into 30..yes, 30. The pics say the rest…we can’t really remember LOL!

What we can say though is that there is no better way to spend a Sunday afternoon in Prague then to drink beer in a lovely garden with good friends and an accordian player playing “Home on the Range” when he finds out you are Canadian!

Anwen helps perform "Home on the Range"

U Fleku courtyard

Thad enjoys beer

Geoff really enjoys beer!

Anwen loves the beer

Anwen & Geoff try to figure out how to get out of beerhall

Tried to upload pics from here at Starbucks but was unsuccessful. Talk to ya’ tomorrow.

Today we slept in until about 12:30 missing our acting class. Sad to say. We have determined that the warm, soft bed and the constant, gentle rocking of the ship takes us back to being a babe in mums arms causing massive amounts of easy sleep. It’s wonderful…unless you have appointments. After that we walked over a mile on deck and then enjoyed a Harrison Ford-narrated planetarium movie detailing how incredibly small our universe is and how much we, as humans, need to get over ourselves.

AUG 3

Holy crap, is it ever easy to sleep on the ship. We woke up at 2:30pm this day. NICE!! We woke to find an invite to the Captain’s table tossed under our door. We thought that this was a blanket invite and thought that today would be better spent doing laundry and doing our own thing instead of sitting in a room of a couple hundred rich people at a black and white dinner. So we did our laundry, had chinese buffet and went to watch “Leatherheads” at the big screen cinema on the boat. Entertaining George Clooney movie and since we didn’t pay anything for it, it was the right price. Do not pay money for this show. At midnight we went to the KIngs Court for another buffet. The late night snack buffet lasts from midnight to 4am. Crazy but fun to see people awake and pigging out at this time of night.

In a future blog I will explain how we learned that not responding to a VIP invite can be bad.

AUG 4

We forced ourselves out of bed this morning so that we could have breakfast in the Britannia room at least once. It was definitely worth it. As it was out last day in the ship we thought we should do any last bits of exploring (still don’t think we have seen the whole thing!), buy some Queen Mary 2 swag and make some final rounds of the promenade deck. We could tell we were closer to Southampton than New York as the air was cool and refreshing and there were very few people out sunning themselves! We also saw other ships for the first time in days – including some very brave sailing ships which seemed scarily close to our monster of the seas! While we enjoyed our final pub lunch in the Golden Lion we were informed that the load roaring noise that seemed to be circling the ship was in fact the dull roar of two F-15 fighter jets. Apparently one of the jet pilots was related to one of the ship’s passenger and arranged for the display as a “Welcome to England” message. Good gawd!

We spent the rest of the day doing mundane tasks like ironing and packing. We had decided to attend the final Britannia dinner and say farewell to our table mates Todd and Lisa. It was apparent when we first sat down that T & L were a bit more anxious than usual. It soon came out that they wanted to hear all about how we managed to get an invite to the Captain’s Table. As it turns out the invite that had been slipped under our door the day before was an actual (and quite exclusive) invitation to dine at the Captain’s Table. We had assumed the invite was just a general “the captain will be in the general vicinity of your table tonight” sort of thing and ignored it. No…not so much. Only about 8 people are invited to dine…oops. We still have no idea how they decide who gets to sit there – lottery, most drinks consumed, loudest laugh….? In any case we have learned our lesson and will pass it on to you – if you get an invite to the Captain’s Table it is really an invite to the Captain’s Table. All in all it may be good that we didn’t show as we couldn’t quite get over the fact the Captain’s full title was Captain Master Nick Bates (no, I am not lying!). For those of you who are too innocent…take out the Nick part!. Superhero indeed!

You will all be thrilled to know that we did not escape the Cunard without a complaint about my (Anwen’s) laugh. It took until the last night, but it happened. A grumpy little troll of a man not only complained to me (and I politely apologized) but then went to the Purser’s office and complained that the bartender was out of order because he had made us laugh. I knew there was trouble  when a guy in a uniform showed up. All was well though – turns out that the complaint was a source of mirth for all at the Purser’s desk.

AUG 5

Butts were dragged out of bed as we had to vacate our room by 8 am. We had a final breakfast and then made our way from the ship with our luggage – turns out that what we thought was tons of luggage was the equivalent to carry on for most so we didn’t have to wait for Porter service.

Uncle Bob picked us up at the dock which was something of a miracle after the week he had just had. In addition to his mobile phone dying (our only way of communicating with him), their landline, washing machine, freezer and plumbing were also all on the outs. I am surprised he didn’t just leave us to fend for ourselves!

We spent a lovely day and evening with Uncle Bob and Auntie Jan (and Jasper!) which included supper in a former library and Pims on the patio with their friends Freddy, Jen and Abby. Lots of laughs as they are all great storytellers with a wicked sense of humour.

We had a wonderful sleep that night (are you noticing a theme?) and woke up to these beautiful views:

AUG 6

Uncle Bob, Thad, Auntie Jan

Thad and Jasper (aka Jappa)

After a breakfast treat for our digestive transit we got into our private car driven by our professional driver (aka a Rover driven by Uncle Bob) and we headed to Heathrow. After a tearful goodbye with Uncle Bob (bit o’ sniff) we went through security and enjoyed a bevy of retail distractions until our flight. Anwen even managed to find a $10 dress which she suspects will be worn LOTS in Prague as the weather forecast is hot and sunny.

Our British Airways flight was wonderful. Not only did we have lots of leg room we were also served a yummy sandwich lunch – on a 1.5 hour flight. The bathrooms also smelled good – something which can rarely be said about airplane toilets!

Upon arrival in Prague we were pleasantly surprised to find a number of information desks complete with helpful staff. For 26czk (about $1.50) we bought a transit ticket for a 45 min bus ride followed by a 15 min train that brought us to within a block of our hotel – hurray!

After a shower and a change of clothes we wandered about and found a tavern where a pint of Pilsner Urquell cost $1.50 and a plate of traditional food cost about $5.50. We spent the rest of the evening walking about and enjoying the beauty that is Prague at night.

AUG 7

A typical street in our neighbourhood in Prague.

We went to a local restaurant called Nostalgie because we do not have internet in our room. Lame. There is a lot of wifi in the pubs, restaurants and fastfood joints. We have some funny pictures of KFC. Yes, KFC. There is also McDonalds everywhere. We did also see Subway and Starbucks. This city is western friendly making it less intimidating for the faint of stomach travelers. Depending on where you go you may find a slight language barrier that can be solved with a short list of necessary translated words such as: bathroom,  bill, yes, no, water, thank you, etc. Easy to learn and trust me…worth it.

Wandered across Charles Bridge in the afternoon today. All the guide books do not recommend it because they say it is busy and they are correct. There are a lot of vendors that sell a variety of stuff from posters to jewelry to local artistry. Really cool but you have to wade through bodies if you go at peak times (noon to 5pm). We walked past the Museum of Modern Art and witnessed giant baby statues that creeped us out. Check out the pics and let us know what you think.

We then walked back across the river and found Wes Square. This is the hotspot of Prague. A place where we can all come together regardless of race, color, nationality or career. Yes…I said career. This square is where everyone hangs out, including the police and the night ladies. They both occupy the same, very large square. Police don’t care what they do and they do not cause a scene so that everyone is happy. We stopped at a small “non-stop” just off of the square. A non-stop is a bar that never closes and smells like it too. It was home to a large flat screen TV that played Chuck Norris movies and Drew Carrey in Czech. Ourselves and another local were the only ones there and they did not speak a bit of english. So we communicated with gestures. Tip the glass for another pint and she showed us our tab amount with a calculator. It really is easy to communicate on a basic level even if you do not speak each others language. There are many non-stops in the city but most are not recommended for travelers during night time because of scamming and the language barrier.

Other funny facts: it costs 5czk if you want to use the bathroom in McDonalds. That is about 30 cents CDN. Considering there are McDs everywhere and bathroom breaks are huge in a culture that is known for its beer this is essential.

Czeck cuisine has been okay for us…kind of. If you are a type “O” blood, meaning a meat eater, then you will do well to eat whatever you want. The food is mostly pork, sauerkraut, and potatoes. Pack your imodium.

DAY 2:  We ventured out to plot out our eventual course to the cruise terminal. We got lost but remembered from our cab ride a public library in our course. We stopped at said library with great relief only to find that they did not know where the ocean was but the reference librarian had the reference skills of a dead fish. The library did not even contain a map of New York. We then proceeded to ask 6 different staff and one member of the public (suggested by staff members) where the frickin’ ocean was. No one knew and were left to find it ourselves. I don’t even think they knew they lived by an ocean. Frustrated and hot we left dumbfounded and cursing ourselves for not taking up offer of a map from our friend.

Travel lesson #1: never say no to a map. Rookie mistake.

Enough said and moving on.

We did eventually find our route to the cruise terminal and rewarded ourselves with an old style Brooklyn pub called the Brazen Head. Wonderful bartender named Rebecca served us well with a variety of pints, free cheese and bread and presenting a final bill, after an afternoon spent, at a whopping $34 dollars for 11 pints. She stated that she wanted to buy us two of the pints on the bills. Due to freak thunder storms she sent us off with an umbrella and a feeling that we need to come back to this great little pub.

DAY 3:  At the end of DAY 2 we did realize that there was a bus stop just outside of where we were staying and it went to the terminal. That said, the bus route was altered due to construction and there was a bit of a walk in the hot morning sun. This made getting on the ship that much better. Wonderful room with AC and champagne on ice waiting for us.

DAY 4:  Ordered a full english breakfast in bed. Joined a great morning acting class, which is the best way to wake up, and then cleared British immigration. Fun, fun, fun! Went for a swim followed by a pub lunch in the Golden Lion english pub and then attended a adaptation of Othello called the Spotted Handkerchief. The cast of the play was the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art players which were the same players that ran the acting class. Tonight is our first formal dining night so we be putting on our best duds and eating at the Brittania Restaurant.

Due to the fact that this post is being sent from our cabin sailing across the Atlantic Ocean we will not attempt to add pics or videos at this time.

This list was put out by Travel & Leisure Magazine.

I have only been to 2 of these cities. Tragic! I need to get out more.

How many have you been to?