After wranging with management, coordinating with friends, and generally chewing my fingernails to the quick I’ve finally resolved the outstanding issues that were preventing me from getting this sabbatical planning going. I now have a skeleton in place as to what I’m going to do and where I’m going to do it. Over the coming month(s), I plan on filling this out where question exist.
| Dates | Location | Company |
|---|---|---|
| 7/30-8/6 | Turkey | Will, Tiffany |
| 8/6-9/1 | Greece Czech Republic, Luxembourg, Austria, Belgium | None! |
| 9/1-9/9 | Switzerland | Matt, Hilary |
| 9/10-9/24 | Holland, France, Germany | Rich |
I may have some company for part of that five-week block in the middle of the trip. However, I’m hoping to leave at least a couple of one- or two-week blocks in unplanned. That gives me the option to travel spontaneously. Cities that I might see during that time include the European Capitals of Culture.
A little note on the European Capitals of Culture:
I spent this past weekend in the current ECC, Cork. Now, it’s a pretty laid back city, and a bit more diverse than Dublin, but I found it difficult to find the “culture.” Sure, they have a theatre, which is currently showing “Art.” Oh, and there’s pubs. Quite a few pubs. Actually, I did notice that there were a number of new pubs. Some were quite posh – in one I actually thought I was transported to New York and was self-conscious about my lack of black attire. Other than that, I found little to do. We ended up going to Kinsale, which is a coastal city south of Cork…and sat in a pub.
That’s umm…pretty much it. In fact, there is so little to do there, that even the locals with their sing-song accents leave town on the weekends. Every place we went seemed half-full and stayed that way.
My recommendation: Don’t buy into the EU hype and stick with cities that are known for their culture. Amsterdam, Rome, Prague, Athens, Barcelona – just to name a few – these places didn’t have to install their culture with a title granted by a coalition of states so insecure in their position that the presidency has to change locations every 6 months.