Tacky Tour Groups

And now a special message for all the tacky tour groups who are experiencing Paris in their own special way. Do you think you could take a minute to appreciate the art that is on display? Maybe teach your kids a thing or two about great painters and artists like Leonardo da Vinci? It was absolutely painful to watch tourists jostling for their pose next to the painting and having their bored kids recite "it's the Mona Lisa thingey" to the video camera. They might as well have been next to a picture of Britney Spears. I doubt they even bothered to look at the painting and probably only care that they got their picture taken next to it.

Worse, their obnoxious behavior makes it impossible for art lovers to really experience the presence of genius. There are lots of places in Europe where photography is not allowed. This should be one of them.
Hey people! Take your kid's picture outside the Louvre at the pyramid to prove you were there, and then spend some time actually looking at a few of the masterpieces inside.

European Tour 2008

The crazy Anzur Clement family hit the road in Spain and Portugal with a stopoff in Paris on the way home. Andrew and I are now heading to Maldives to coach the national TV station for election coverage.

But first, a look at some of the vacation highlights:

Sagrada Familia and the amazing architechture of Gaudi in Barcelona...

An Indiana Jones

experience at the Monasterio la Piedra, a ruined monastery that is now a hotel and a private park filled with waterfalls and grottos.

Staying in a former archbishop's palace that is now a Hilton Hotel in Toledo. How many hotels have their own private art museum?

Walking the medieval walls of Avila...

Enjoying a sangria break in Salamanca's Plaza Mayor.

Touring the cellars in Porto and sampling LOTS of port... then relaxing on the beautiful Atlantic coast near the medieval walled town of Obidos.

The long uphill climb in Sintra to a Moorish fort and the storybook castle of Pena...

Catching Eurocup fever in the square near our apartment in the Alfama district of Lisbon.

And two mother-son days in Paris, including a bicycle trip to Versailles and the grand tour of all my favorite spots from Stanford-in France days....priceless!