Volos, Greece is by far one of the most beautiful places I have seen in my life. It was previously a small seaside village with history dating back past the Byzantine Empire but has become a hip school town butting up with a bustling harbor where fisherman still bring in their daily catch to sell off the bows of their boats.

No matter where you stand you can only take in breathtaking views. You see, the city is nestled in the foothills of Mount Olympus but they can easily be considered mountains of their own. The olive tree covered mountains fall quickly into a calm sea filled with the deepest blue ocean water imaginable. Words and Pictures cannot begin to describe the beauty here, but I’ll try!

Daily we have taken 1-2 hour road trips to locations found off of sketchy dirt roads stopping quickly at a remote farm house in the mountains to ask that they fill our bottles with fresh pressed olive oil, or to stop and pick wild flowers or exotic fruits growing on the side of the road.  From the back seat of the down hill drive, it looks as though each turn is eminent death if not navigated properly. What’s the true purpose of this unique experience? A small roadless seaside village called Mikro, Greece where Andrea and I were the only two people on the beach and picked fresh fruits and vegetables from the garden to our hearts content.

…And this paradise is the setting for the past few nights’ dinners of fish, squid, octopus, lamb burgers, and finally Greek pizza.

We have been lucky enough to share the table for various meals with Angelos Bastis, the brother-in-law of my great aunt and his wife. More importantly Angelos is an award winning photographer, an educated artist, and an ouzo lover (not in that order). He is 88-years-old by his count, but not nearly as old in his heart. He relentlessly flirts with Andrea and controls the table’s conversation even though he is very limited in his ability to speak due to a vocal cord removal many years ago. The resulting sounds are what you might expect from someone with a tracheotomy, but none of the noises take away from his charisma and charm. When he cannot speak he resorts to a chicken scratch that only his wife of 47 years can decipher or drawing images and pictures to describe his thoughts. Which brings me to the REAL reason for this post. Last night, unbeknown to me, Angelos began two very quick hand sketches of my likeness while simultaneously describing the proper way to frame a good photo, eating chef salad, a margarita pizza, and finishing a bottle of white wine. At the end of the night I had to steal them from the table and he refused to dawn his signature. I can only assume it’s because he doesn’t approve of the likeness. Needless to say this man quickly became one of my heroes. But I need your opinion. What do you think?  Do they resemble me?

After sleeping in this morning, and recuperating form last night’s marathon of Bikram Yoga, Dre and I took a short walk around Weesp, a small town outside of Amsterdam that is (according to wikipedia) “famous for Van Houten chocolate, windmills, the historical centre with its canals, its Weesper porcelain and the Weesper Mop cookie. The bastion and fortifications are also famous, because they are a part of the Defense line of Amsterdam and the Dutch Water Line. They were never used, though.”

It is a small, historic and friendly town to say the least. In a word, it’s quaint. We visited a few shops and picked out a few thank you gifts before discovering a wonderful cheese shop situated with both windows facing canals.

I believe the shop is a chain, but from the inside you would never know.  The cheese selection is larger than anything I’d seen before and the aroma was indescribable. After parusing the selection and some deliberation Andrea decided on a strong munster cheese and I selected some bite sized meats from the deli counter.

Neither of us are good with temptation so it didn’t take long before we broke down and decided to have lunch.  We found a cozy bench next to a quiet pond and cracked open our goodies. The cheese was stronger than we anticipated but still very tasty. The bites of chorizo and salami were just the snack to compliment the munster and sunny afternoon. The only thing we were missing was a bottle of wine. … Maybe tomorrow.

As you may infer in the video, Andrea and I were not in prime condition to be practicing yoga in a 105 degree room for 90 minutes, but we attended after a full day of hydration.

After all the worry and anticipation, we not only survived but couldn’t stop talking about it for weeks. That is why this afternoon, Andrea and I are headed to Bikram Yoga Amsterdam to contribute to the Michael Matthews Video series “Bikram Yoga vs. Chipotle,” subtitled “The International Bikram Experience”

Going into this, our concerns include:

1. Will the classes/instructions be in English or Dutch?

2. Does a Dutchman/woman sweat more or less than the average New York Bikramist (sp?)

3. Without the support of Matthews and Summer, will we be able to handle the intensity that is Bikram Yoga?

Please, wish us LUCK!

Follow up video to come…

More than a few months back, Tom Fletcher answered my desperate plea for musical enlightenment.  When Dre and I first started dating, I was indie rock ignorant. Other than the few bands that came across my Pandora, I was unable to hold a musical conversation with Andrea and her friends. (Specifically Schwa) Tom provided me with a proverbial sample platter of bands new in old in many genre’s. Most of these songs are on the HSPL, but some of our favs are below.

Arctic Monkeys

Black Kids

Brazilian Girls

Hot Chip

Les Savy Fav

MGMT

Modest Mouse

Q-Tip

Ra Ra Riot

Reefer

TV on the Radio

From the vast expanse that is Andrea’s music collection, she has introduced me to the below additions to the ever growing HSPL. Additionally, she has agreed to “pay forward” the Fletcher favor and burn some music for Esmeralda (my dutch cousin). A link to this playlist is coming soon.

Joni Mitchell

New Pornographers

Pela

M Ward

Ryan Adams

Bloc Party

Bright Eyes (Conor Oberst)

My 1990’s additions include…

Cake

Soul Coughing

WHO: Anyone who wants to say goodbye

WHEN: TONIGHT! 10:00pm-?

WHERE: Fontana’s Bar 150 Eldridge St. (map)

IF YOU’RE NOT BUSY TONIGHT, PLEASE COME DOWN TO FONTANA’S AND HAVE A DRINK WITH US. You can view the ping invite here and RSVP if you feel so inclined.

Collective Group: “Hi Mike…”

Me: I haven’t logged on in over 9 hours, but 8.5 of those were on the flight to Amsterdam. I feel like I have to sneak into one of these coffee shops  just to forget the internet is out there. It’s always begging me to search for information.

You get the picture, but the truth is, I’m very nervous about how I’m going to consume mobile media while I’m in Europe.  I’ve heard and read horror stories about people being slammed by enormous bills from the charges associated with using an American cell phone overseas. (not limited to the iPhone)

So what’s my plan?

Last month I worked out a deal with Verizon Wireless where I will pay a $15 fee and my contract will be suspended for the time I am away. When I return, they will reactivate my contract and add the # of months suspended to the end of my contract. THANKS VERIZON!

Now What?

I’ve crowd sourced Twitter looking for any advice on mobile service providers in Europe. My criteria are as follows:

• No contract required (I might only be there a month)
• Cheap data plan is more important than a cheap calling plan (Who am I going to call in Italy or Greece?)
• Good coverage area (I will be heal towing off the beaten path. I need Google Maps and mobile WordPress in the event I get lost)

What Have I Learned?

Having International friends is the best asset to have when you are traveling. Steven Davies of PRBlogger.com gave me the inside scoop. T-Mobile is the way to go! While I had little luck setting up international plans from the US, I was able to to view the coverage areas for the countries we will be visiting and the customer service rep I spoke to confirmed that my G1 has the correct frequency to be used internationally. One less thing I have to purchase for the trip.

I clicked around, unable to understand the Dutch T-Mobile website and realized that I really want the G2 Touch.

Do you think they’ll have Goodburger in Europe?

Probably not, but I will always have this….

FOR YOUR VIEWING PLEASURE