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My BIG 30 . com
Never ending celebration of my 30th birthday in Europe (19 cities, San Sebastian), New York, Killington ...
By: Matchek Grego
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| Friday, 20-Jan-2006 12:00 |
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absinth madness continuess in Killington, VT
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although i've enjoyed czech absinthe in the past ... after "freaky prague" episode, i didn't feel the green fiery this weekend & decided to show my yankee friends how to properly prepare this ancient drink (sugar, fire => carmerilze, stirr => serve). well it caught on & boy did it go wild from there ...
i remember being a trouble maker in the house last year, but at least i had general consideration for others present ... especially at 3am in the morning ... well, here's the post from my house email list:
Heather to springfieldSki. Jan 17
Happy Birthday Stephen 
So, we woke to rain on Saturday morning, therefore most people were forced to start drinking by noon. As you can imagine, most people did not make it out to the clubs that night. I personally didn't get out of my jammies until around 6ish.
Sunday, we woke to 5 or 6 inches of powder. And most of the access road was without power. Thermometer read ZERO. It was FREEZING at the mountain. Windy. Josh and Ted almost fell out of their lift chair it was so windy. Their chair actually hit one of the towers!! (That's a whole other story how they wept for their lives like little girls - Derek, Grace
and I witnessed this from the chair directly behind them.) The new powder quickly gave way to the glacier below. We probably lasted 3 or 4 hours max that day.
But at least we burned a few alcohol calories from the day before.
Monday. Same as Sunday. But with power. Friggin cold. So windy, we were all just sails on the trails, being blown backwards, or just being held still in one spot.
But I'd do it all over again.
& here's my "addition":
Maciek to Springfiled.
wow, Heather as I'm reading your PG-13 report, I'm almost wondering if we stayed in the same house .... > - let me fill in the blanks (which I have plenty of myself, so Ted/other partners in crime feel free to fill in as well):
- the Texas girls (jeanie & parker) ... I thought, I liked my music loud ... but couple of times shelbyville (the "calmer" side of the house) heard something that sounded like an earthquake coming from our side ... if you were in the house last year & you've complained about country music by Luke & Vinny ... imagine female version of those two ... yes, rowdier and louder - i was actually thanking allah that the electricity went out on sun nite & i was able to get some sleep (yeah ... i know i'm getting old) - seriously, can we pls take it down a notch after 2am ?
- so you think that lee is a big, tough guy, huh? well, whatever you do ... don't get in the way of parker. when she tackled lee onto the ground .... we were actually worried about him for a sec.
- "party girl" Tracy (i remember her looking so innocent & lost last year, when she 1st came to the house ... prepared an absolutely incredible & filling "super duper" pasta feast! the guys in the house are still having that pasta for dinner today ... that's how much of it was made - thank you, we're not worthy!
- "did I screw you guys?" - (I had to Grace! - was the most worthy quote to mention (that i remember) - now, off course i'm taking things out of context ....
- if you must know, hook-ups tradition continued on its healthy track (gideon what's that link to the leg cramps at 5am?) - but what happens in SnowHo, stays in SnowHo 
.... k, back to work & i can't wait for the pix
PS: I'm down for another, this weekend baby! (this time i'm bringing the kielbasas, so we'll need a bit of re-fill on booze people
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| Friday, 6-Jan-2006 00:00 |
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the freaky Absinth episode in Prague
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Edyta and Monika in 1st Pilsner bar
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ohh yeah ... it's Absinth ...
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the morning after ... notice the big bottle of water
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beautifull prague ... let's just say it will never be the same for me again ....  (yeah, we _partied_ hard ... well, Edytka (of course) to be more specific ... )
1st we met with Monika, who took us to the oldest Pilsner bar in the city. Then I found my favorite Travis bar. That's when it started "i want absinthe" my biaby said ... so she had one there, another one somewhere else, then another one .... but that was not enough, 'cause we were looking for a different type of mind relief . so just to top it off - Edytka has a shot of beherowka (vodka) on the way home & i get a bottle of wine. as we get to our hotel the night person ends up being this cool czech/spanish guy who not only finds a wine bottle opener for us but decides to share exactly what we were looking for with us! as i'm trying to practice my casteliano with him i see Edyta wandering off into space ... announcing she has to go to the bathroom & then "i have to go" ... then she gets up & proceeds to the room ... ? - although well intoxicated by then i realized i needed to assist her A.S.A.P. - "ohh what a night ..." - as the song goes ...
next day we had some good little sandwiches for breakfast & went of to sight-seeing. prague is truly beautiful and even on the wintery, not so sunny day it can mesmerize you in just few hours. yep - it happened to us too. we walked & walked around with this yellow umbrella tour (1 of the better ones) and went as far the Karol's bridge. then strangely as we were looking for "something different" to eat (by then Edyta had every iteration of east european food) - we found .... (yeah, i couldn't believe it either) an american restaurant, called cowboys ... it was very up-scale, the manager tired hard to speak with american accent, the freaken couches had cow skin leather on them & it was all in the typical old easter european basement with the arches we saw in Krakow. the prices were decent for us, but 3 times more then anywhere else in the area. well I _am_ recommending this american restaurant in prague .... it was f***en good! had an excellent beef tatar & Edyta has stake along with few local variations of veggies.
again exhausted & having to wake up eaaaarly in the morning we bit the dust.
early in the morning, the old communist block showed me how americanised i am those days .... i had the pleasure of being lost for 1/2 hour on the way to the airport .... YES, airport - in my international travels i haven't seen an airport with such bad directions to it as prague - so take my advise & just take a cab there .... it's cheap anyways
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| Wednesday, 4-Jan-2006 00:00 |
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Krakow ... the birthplace of poland
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they do have black manequins ... :)
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old curved basment jazz bar ... only from 15th century ...
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the head ... some modern art piece
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although Krakow is the most beautiful city in Poland and I hold big sentiment for it, this time around it didn't seem as magical as usual. yes we saw Wawel - the birthplace of my culture & the burial spot for all of my kings, yes we walked around, yes we saw some cafes & a jazz bar, but ... to be honest we were very tired & needed some rest by this time of our trip, so that's why Edyta didn't get a chance to experience the "old spirits" of Krakow ... and this city is usually more alive in the summer time anyways. but i did finnaly get a chance to eat real "street" szaszlyk (shysh-kebab) & Edyta got a chance to shop crazy for her amber
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| Tuesday, 3-Jan-2006 00:00 |
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new 2006 year in white paridise :)
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Happy New Year everyone!
we end up back at the "angel bar", but this time the cream of the crop of Ustron was there (new year's party). although we had tons of fun it was because of our friends hanging with us. to sum it up ... we were the youngest group there & of course with more diversity at our table that in the entire town ... we were the talk of the night. but i only allowed one old fart to dance with my ... fiance (yep still getting used to saying that). the theme for the night was "lata 20-ste, lata 30-ste" = 20s - 30s - so ... veeeeeery old - but again we made the best of it. the food was good & i was so high on life that it didn't really matter were we were
ohh yeah just to show you how small this place is ... while resting on the balcony, we were aproached by the security and questioned about ... what exactly _were_ we doing up there ... 
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| Saturday, 31-Dec-2005 00:00 |
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it's the end of the beginning :) - got engaged
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on the way to the top of the world
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the moment i never thought would come :)
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clear skys ... nature aproved
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as planned (& hidden from Edyta 'till the last moment ), today on top of the Rownica mountain with a beautifull view of Beskidy mountains ... i proposed to my love & ... she acepted!
click here to see Maciek and Edith engagement video ... (u can even put it on your ipod - if u forget the link just go to video.google.com & search for "maciek" or "edith"
. . . ok, so I finally get a chance to write this story (my good friends had to listen to this 1st hand ).
So after passing the security at JFK & whispering to the security guy "please don't show this ring to her - it's a surprise" & tons of other obstacles it finally was the 30th of December, 2005 - but destiny had a different date in mind for us ... it snowed so hard that my best friend Rafal & his wife Andrea couldn't make it to the top of the Rownica mountain to join us for this special occasion. I did of course, but when we did get there ... Edyta didn't even want to leave the car! "today is not the day" - I though to myself & waited patiently for the next day.
"Every Good Marriage Begins in Tears" - a Kyrgyz saying goes (scroll alllll the way down). Well, in Poland EVERYTHING closes at about 1-ish on "sylwester" = new year's eve. So when she found that out, while slowly sipping coffee at 12 she started getting ... agitated. Well Edyta didn't have New Year's Eve shoes to match her dress ... (yes I _did_ assure her she'll be able to find them with no problem when we get to Poland ...). We did find this .... "goldish" looking sneakers ... that "matched" the dress, but to say the least Edyta was not pleased - "why are we going to this damn mountain again?? We _need_ to find another store with shoes!".
To make matters worse I get a call from Rafal that the damn "Czarcie Kopyto" = Devil's Hoof (this sentimental restaurant / shack on top of the Rownica mountain I had in mind for the occasion) is ... CLOSED (new year's, poland - figures). But I could not wait a day longer, it was as if this ring I held in my pocket for the past 2 weeks has been burning a whole . "i don't care we are doing it today" - I told Rafal on the phone in Polish. But since the road to the top is so slippery we had to take them into our car mid-way (you can see that on the video). Gave the camera to Rafal & proceeded to the top. Restaurant or not the weather seemed to be on my side & you can see the whole region for miles ... it was a perfect present from mother nature (later on we found out that such weather is very rare on top of this foggy mountain).
So we finally get to the top of Rownica & start walking further to the top. "this is it" I think to myself & as we're waling I give Edyta headphones to my ipod with Bob Marley - "I wana love you" (which she could not hear because of the snow machine in the background anyways ...). "this is where I was born, in this land and those mountains. that's why I brought you here and my friends to ask you to spend the rest of you life with me" - as I mumble my proposal, I get down on my knee .... & she says "yes" . (tune into 3:00 min. into the video)
"kocham cie szalenie" = I love you insanly / "ja tez" - me too says Edyta
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| Friday, 30-Dec-2005 00:00 |
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cieszyn high-school reunion
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seems like a blur now (writing this moooonths later), but whenever in Cieszyn memories of high-school & good friend come back (especially after the 2nd drink). Of course went to our favorite cafe - AgorArena on the old square & hanged with Wiesiu & Renia (owners) ... I remember when they 1st opened the joint, we were still in sophomore year of high school (?) ... then the liquor license came (although we celebrated _with_ alcohol way before that ) ... ohh memories. Well, organized mini-high-school reunion again - although only Magda, Ela & Remigiusz were my class-mates. We still partied hard. Edyta gave us a little violin concert - stole everyone's heart (as usual). But good times always finish early, so we somehow crawled back to our hotel minds beautiful snowed-in city of Cieszyn.
Ohh can't forget the "wall of fame" ... where you can find embarasing pictures from when I was 18-TEEN - if you can find me that is - I was like 100 pounds lighter
Next day we saw our cousin Gaga - funny as usual.
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| Thursday, 29-Dec-2005 00:00 |
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kulig = horse slay ride ... polish style
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kulig [coolyg] - the old polish tradition, so well maintained by our, new generation ... wasn't sure what to expect, since i've attended both the "behind the tractor" (as a kid) and the "beautiful under the moon horse slay ride" (with some friends in zakopane) versions of this old tradition.
at first Rafal was stressing me the whole day about getting there on time ... i'm not sure what the rush was, but in the end we end up _waiting_ at a bus stop in Wisla (2nd pick up spot) & was getting text messages from Remi on the bus "have u been 2 1 of those b4? lots of people r asking about u here" . when the 43 seatter bus pulled up, i had to admit that "i haven't been to one of those before" - it never was organized on such big scale.
as soon as the bus did move, i felt right at home, the vodka shot glasses on the string ... where briefly hanging on people's necks. briefly, 'casue 5 minute into the bus ride we've opened 5 liter "debowa" vodka & the "good ol' party" started. there were bunch of Rafal's friends, but also Remigiusz, Bartek Sadowski, Przemek Godycki, Lechu Gogolka, Studencka and many more i've met before.
once we got there, the good news where the real horses, but behind them, there were those looong sleds for 12 people ... but soon as we got on them & the sun set, vodka kicked in, people started singing & i forgot why this was a problem to being with. we had so much fun & of course continued drinking "debowa" with some "zoladkowa" vodka as a chaser for some strange reason, i was bugging about how "this is a very good disney ride, look at those trees ... they look so real" "and the sky ... wow disney people have skills those days" ... (don't ask).
we got to this place up the mountain road, where there were few camp fires setup inside, along with hot wine, plenty of kielbasas and ... yes, you guessed it ... more vodka so we grabbed sausages and started roasting them over the fire. some (not so old actually) local highlander ("goral") started playing on his accordion and singing folk songs (which we all of course knew from our childhoods). it was cold, winter wonderland everywhere you looked, but we were all laughing and having fun ... we all grew up together, went to college, etc. now, we've all grown up, but we still have fun like the good old days.
all good things come to the end, but 1st we had a great slay ride back to the bus. i felt 18 again ... the air, the smell of the trees, horses, we carried torches and sang all together ... it was incredible. some more singing on the bus and the laughter from przemek's jokes and we end up at this jazz place in ustron, called ... "angel bar" (yes in english
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| Wednesday, 28-Dec-2005 00:00 |
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los spaceros de parkos (walk-os the park-os)
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yeah Poland is fucken great ... not only it's great to see good old friends, but meeting new faces even after traveling for ... over 88 hours ... and being welcomed with "southern hospitality" is incredible. Every house, we've passed so far: "hi", "vodka?", "food?" & all over again.
The weather has been amazing as well - everything is white - just as I ordered ... feels like we've just stepped into a real version of Narnia.
But ... in case - you've missed my previous post - read don't fly with AA drama post 1st
So on our 2nd day here, we've travelled to our good friends Marcin and Kasia's apartment in Gliwice. Their apartment is an amazing fruit of architectural education in Poland (check out the pics of the place on the bottom). They basically took an old, Communist apartment in a gray, boring building & turned it into modern, wood / dark cherry walls extravaganza - but who cares about this anyways ... of course we've got completely trashed with vodka "bon, bons" (a new nick name for shots of vodka) and went for a wonderful walk in Gliwice, where my & Edyta performed romantic dance in the middle of tound's square, while it was snowing
On the way home, we all sang "dancing in the rain" but while it was snowing (ohh yeah, Andrea lost her cell, phone so I went with her back & ... she found it with some physic powers ... berried in the snow)
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| Tuesday, 27-Dec-2005 00:00 |
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somehow we arrived safe in Cieszyn!
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After AA drama, the actual flight was pleasant - except for the search I've got at the London airport, because I've had a wine opener, I forgot about ... well, we did make it onto a nice Czech Airlines flight & without any problems they changed seats for us & the only inconvenience there was the 40 min. passport line as everyone was trying to leave Prague airport. Well ... let me re-fraze - that was a "eastern european reality" check, 'cause after traveling for almost 88 hours (with little sleep in-between) - we were welcomed by "went for lunch - we'll be back in 1/2 hour" sign at the fucking car rental place! All I could do is laugh ... (yeah, I did check all the other _open_ rental companies - they did NOT have VW Golf & their non-Internet prices started at 100 euro more ...). The lucky star has shined upon us again & we were rewarded for the extra hour wait, by the stupid attendant (Marus ... something) - whom I just finished ripping a new ass whole - he've made a mistake and charged us $400 instead of 400 euros ... about $90 discount
No ... thanks to my "ingenious" planning of this trip - the trip was NOT over yet  ... we still had to travel from Prague to Cieszyn ... only another 160 miles (400 kilometers). Although i was very tired at times, I did not lift my foot of the gas & we've made that last part of the trip in another 3 hours - the Golf had the weakest engine on the planet & would not go faster then 110 mph (185 kph) ... down the hill. Only highlight of that part of the tip was ... McDonalds - they were the only people in Czech Republic ... that spoke perfect English & with a smile, gladly accepted our dollars (their Big Mac does cost $3 ...). We were lucky that there was no traffic or snow on Czech highway.
After we've made it safe to my friend's - Remi's house - we ... were off to a supper with some other friends of course! ("we won't stop", "we can't stop" - P Eddy has nothing on us ...) - where we were finnaly rewared with ... vodka, good rioja wine from spain, good cheeses from spain, patato cake (aka tortia) - plenty of food & 16 new friends, who would party with us for another 12 hours ... only if we had strengh
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| Monday, 26-Dec-2005 00:00 |
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88 hours + long trip to Poland - don't fly with American Drama
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our piece of shit Golf 1.6 ... only did 190kph ... :)
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Friday night - I've suddenly realized that my passport is not in NY ... but in Killington, VT. So although, I've tried to arrange for U(ooo)PS / FuckEx express delivery ... I was quoted $700 ... So there was nothing to do but after Christmas dinner with family, pack small bag, pick up Marcelo (my boy!) - who generously offered to take a ride with me & ... get my ass to Killington in 3 hours - yes it is 250 miles away from NY . In the morning had little time for 3 runs down the glades in my new boots (burton rules) & ... back to NY . This time there was not as much rush & ... I almost got caught by NY finest (lucky me ...), but 500 miles later - we made it back around 6pm - just in time to drop Edyta to the Phantom of the Opera.
Why this crazy rush for the passport you might ask? Ohh, yeah I forgot to explain that Monday @ 6pm me & Edy were leaving for Poland ...
OK, so this is where our trip starts (if you don't count "little site step to VT" yesterday). We got everything packed & we were good on time (2 hours before international flight) ... so we thought (I only forgot my camera). At first the check-in line seemed non-threatening. 1,2,3 & we were out of it - so I thought ... what I didn't know was that fucken rude biatch at the check-in counter not only did not check us on onto the flight, but only printed 1 set of boarding passes for Edy! And ... (to top it off) - American Airlines decided to separate out seats (although I've bought them next to each other ... don't fly AA). Well, not knowing the drama (who would bother to check their boarding passes right? ) - we saw a loooong, looong security line. It seemed to take forever for the 1st 1/2 hour, but I still wasn't worried when couple of people passed us trying to make the 6pm flights (10 min. to 6). But when they started searching Edy's bag for next 20min, I've realized that we only have 15 min left 'till the flight's departure ... (ohh, yeah they DID let us in through security with 1 set of boarding passes for Edy & not Maciek - thank allah for the negligence of security check-in staff).
We finally make it to the boarding counter & ... nice check-in lady tells us that we are NOT checked-in, the flight is full & we do not have boarding passes for Maciek ... but ... ... I hear Trinidadian accent in her voice, so I start to chat ... "u Trini?" - ohh, boy - not that the lady was not nice already to us - if she could, we would get upgrades to 1st class . She fixes everything for us (finds us 2 seats next to each other), prints my boarding passes, but apologizes that it's a middle seat ... let's just say we are happy after having a 3 sec. heart attack. But wait ... as the plain is about to depart, we see our nice lady come onto the plain & hand us 2 new boarding passes - "i found a nice window seat for you too" - wow ... knowing Trinin people goes a looong way!
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