BeerSnob

I know. I live here. Octane is a very hip little coffee shop on the westside. It is home to pretty much every cool artist or musician in town. There is a featured artist every month so the decor is always changing. And the staff are kick-ass.

Did I mention beer? Yeah, they have it. But not just any beer. Handcrafted Belgian beer. Beer brewed by monks who believe that they are doing God’s work. The have a selection of about 30 high-gravity beers, and it is one of the best places to chill and have a few.

Oh, and handmade sandwiches. If you go, ask for The Landwich (it’s not on the menu).

I almost forgot: Free WiFi.

I was in Pisa for 3 hours. We had time between trains and we decided to run see the tower. It’s a shame that we did, because Pisa looked really pretty cool. But, no. We went to the tower. If the touristy-ness of it wasn’t bad enough, the tower itself is really just a letdown. I don’t know, maybe if I was an engineer I would find it fascinating, but I thought it was just pretty lame.

I went when I was in college, but I’m going back in May. I loved it before (some of the nicest folks), so hopefully it will be just as fun the second time.

Certainly my favorite place in Spain. Very light on non-Spanish tourists, so bone up on your spanish. Stunningly beautiful, blue waters, great history. The best seafood I have ever had, and one of the most fun nights of my life. Great bars and clubs. Oh, and everyone there is beautiful.

Because you will be out until dawn. That’s how they roll in Madrid. I for one, like it like that!

All of Spain has a fun nighlife, but Barcelona is right near the top!

On my trip to SA, we only had 2.5 days for a safari. So we knew we couldn’t really have a proper one. I found this place and one of the things that drew me to it is that it is in a Malaria-free zone. So we wouldn’t have to mess with that. But I really wasn’t prepared for what we ended up with.

For starters, it is the most lavish place I have ever stayed. The setup is that it has a main lodge and then this little house a few miles away. There were 6 of us, so we stayed in the house. I figured we would be sort of second-class citizens and have to go to the lodge to eat and such. I couldn’t have been more wrong. We had our own chef, cleaning crew, ranger, and butler (butler!). Lenox was my very first butler. Most likely my last.

The service and food were of course, sublime.

But the safari, which I was expecting to be “safari-lite,” did not dissapoint. Because our time was limited, we got to do a night ride after dinner. Uhhh…yeah. We came upon a den of lions. I shit you not, we were 3 feet from a den of lions. Just sort of watching them. Next thing I know, our ranger says “holy shit! I think they are going on a hunt!” In fact they were going on a hunt. The lions are tearing across the bush and we’re in hot pursuit (all six of us were shitting our pants to be sure). What we came upon was the father teaching his cubs how to hunt. He had trapped a young zebra, waited for the cubs, and then set the zebra free for the cubs to kill. Yes, the whole thing was a little sad, but fascinating. We sat there for 3 hours, 10 feet away from 9 hungry lions killing and eating a zebra.

In the next 3 rides we saw the remainder of the Big 5 (lion, leopard, rhino, buffalo, elephant), every other animal imaginable, and had a great time. I highly recommend.

http://www.ccafrica.com/reserve-1-id-2-8

I spent 3 weeks in SA, and about 1 week of that was in Capetown. First, it’s breathtaking. Second, the nightlife is great (stay out of the major hotels and such or it will seem like every other city with a Hard Rock). But the best part about SA is the people. Sort of a cross between Aussies and Brits. Kind of the rugged party style of Aussies, but all of the class and sophistication of Brits. Every domestic wine there is good. Capetown is among the safest parts of South Africa, which is to say you’ll still be a little nervous…