Still recovering from my Kettlebell workout yesterday. My traps, back, thighs and arms are still incredibly sore. It actually feels good.

I am <slowly> recovering from my first workout with Kettlebells.

The workout consisted of a series of swinging and overhead pressing movements, done in sets that must be completed within a specific period of time. Between each set we would jog for about a minute.

We also did some pull ups, push ups and ab-work to round things out. As an added bonus, we carried the kettlebells about 1/2 mile to a nearby park. This was one of the hardest parts of the workout!

1. Pyramid Super Set: Do 1 clean and press with each arm using a kettlebell, followed by 1 pull up. Repeat with 2 of each. Repeat with 3 of each. A clean involves swinging the weight up and holding it close to your chest, and then pressing towards the sky.

2. 2 Sets of 10-15 snatches with each arm using kettlebells. A snatch involves swinging the kettlebell directly in front of your body and holding it overhead in one smooth movement. In between each set you jog for 1 minute.

3. 2 Sets of 50 swings with kettlebells. A swing is a movement where you squat and lower the kettlebell between your legs, and swing it up to about chest height. The goal is to finish each set in a minute or so. If you finish in less than a minute you jog around a bit.

4 . 1 minute each of twists, sit ups and push ups. The twists are a sit up movement where you just twist the body from side to side. For this exercise and the sit ups you are holding the kettlebell.

By the end of this workout, I was nauseous. My traps, upper and lower back, biceps and thighs are incredibly sore right now. I have never done much rowing before, but I would imagine this is how it feels. It was nice to get a solid strength training workout outside of the weight room. This was much more fun.

I just got done with a wicked hard kettlebell training session with Jeff and Tara. My first.
I can barely type right now…in fact….writing this post was a bad idea.

I think I’ll stop now.

Just arrived home from The Big Apple. A few observations:

•  If the traffic on 5th avenue is any indication, people are drowning in cash, or at least acting like they are. Maybe they just know something I don’t? I have a great job and am fairly well off for my age, but I wouldn’t dare step into one of those boutique’s. I guess there’s one thing Walmart and Armani have in common, they both take credit cards.
• There are lots of little cafe’s all over the place. They are not as cute as what I saw in Cologne, but the wall of pastries at a Cafe Europa in midtown did look similar. The difference? I actually saw lots of people in Cologne enjoying the desserts, breads and croissants…and sipping their espresso at a leisurely pace. In New York, I didn’t see a single sweet-tooth (despite the options), and most people were grabbing stuff on the run.
• The city is surprisingly clean.
• Cabbies have a sixth sense…really….it must come with the job.
• $420 a night buys you a shoebox for a hotel room, with a half-decent view. I stayed here (on Lexington Ave.).
  
• The service culture in New York has a lot to learn from Europe. When someone pays you for a service, don’t make it seem like you are doing them a favor…it’s the other way around.
• The lobby of the Trump Tower is stuck in the 80’s.
• The city is really beautiful during the summer.
• The Apple store is one of the biggest tourist attractions in the city (judging from the number of mass tour groups I saw walking into the place)….and quite possibility the busiest “internet cafe” in the world!

Here for work through Saturday. Took the red eye and actually managed to sleep on the plane, despite a rousing 5am pit stop in Detroit. Staying in midtown. My hotel is super swanky (The W Hotel, Lexington), but my room is a shoebox. The bed takes up about 90% of it.

On the bright side, they do have a great gym, techno music 24/7 in the lobby, and all you can eat granny smith apples (I think they’re just for decoration but I’ve been eatin em).

For some ungodly reason Apple has decided  iTunes requires Mac OS 10.4.7 to run. I currently run 10.4.4.

iTunes loaded fine yesterday. Now I can’t even open it without upgrading my entire freaking OS.

Last time I attempted this upgrade it fried my hard drive.

Really, I had to install a new one and lost gigs of data, including thousands of photos I will never get back. And if you tell me “Ravi, you should have backed up your shit” I’ll reach out and slap you across the face…twice….at least.

Whoever said Mac’s “just work” and never cause problems have never owned one.

Yesterday was a lazy day in Cologne. Outside of business meetings I had in the evening, I spent a few more hours in the Dom Cathedral, really soaking it up. Normally when I visit new places, I try to squeeze in everything in a short period of time. Since I am in Cologne for over a week, I can do what I want when I want without pressure. Everytime I walk by that Cathedral I just stare for a good minute. In fact, I am staring at it right now as I type!

In the evening last night, we went to a traditional Cologne Beerhall. This was the place where locals go, not the typical tourist spots. We arrived just before closing, had a few drinks and called it a night.

This morning, I took the train down past Koblenz to Bacharach. This is an old (I mean really old…founded in 1100 AD), sleepy town with some amazing buildings and a huge castle looming over it. From here, I caught a boat and glided up the Rhine back to Koblenze, a 3 hour trip, enjoying over a dozen castles along the way.

You really gotta see these castles to believe it. Impressive is an understatement. Unfortunately, only three castles on the Rhine are originals, the others had been demolished to a large degree by French invaders over the years. Many of the demolished castles have been restored (and are still charming) but are surely no match for their original grandeur.

What’s intriguing is the story behind how and why these castles got built. Essentially, once people figured out that the Rhine was an important waterway for trade, wealthy folks began to make claims on the land around the riverside and charge tolls for any cargo passing by. In this way, little settlements began to develope along the rhine to support the trade, and a few families became disgustingly wealthy. With the wealth, became the need to protect themselves, their land and their money from jeaoulous neighbors or locals who were sick of paying outlandish fees to use the waterways.

Castles were built both as status symbols and for actual protection in the case of siege, which according to the pamphlet I read on the boat, actually happened on many occasions! We’re talking AD 1100-1400. If you had a beef with your neighbor, you just laid siege to their castle with a 1000 of your closest friends. If you win, you get their stuff. If you lose, well, you don’t want to lose. Pretty brutal.

 Anyway, here are a few of my favorites:

 

Today I decided to repent for yesterday’s oversleepiness and catch a morning train to Dusseldorf, another quaint German town on the Rhine. The German train system is highly efficient, with the station a mere 10 minutes walk from my hotel. Cologne it a hub of sorts, with a train going by every minute on average. I also gotta say, that the entire city is incredibly clean. Back alleys, main thoroughfares, even the train station is spotless.

There were 2 trains per hour going to Dusseldorf. Walking into the station there was an info desk with English-speaking folks to help you find the right ticket as well. The train was super-quiet, and 25 minutes later I arrived at my destination.

Walking out of the train station in Dusseldorf, the city looks like any other modern city. Within 10 minutes, however, you are transported back 300+ years as you enter ”old” Dusseldorf. It amazes me what “old” really means. In the US, anything pre 1950’s is considered old. Here, we’re talking 3-500 years or more!

What’s nice is that the city has recently renovated the waterfront boulevard. This would be a great place to rent a bike and ride around. I was going to do that but the bike shops weren’t open when I got there.

Which brings me to my next point. The whole city seemed to be asleep until 11am. I’m not just talking about the waterfront and tourist areas, but even the “downtown” area near the train station. It all seemed deserted. It was hard to even find a cafe open until 10am! I need to find a job here. 

By noon, however, the streets were bustling. I walked around a bit, checking out most of the old churches. I also walked down “Ko” strasse, Dusseldorf’s version of Rodeo drive. Gucchi, Cartier, etc. It’s known as the place to see and be seen. The street is lined with outdoor cafe’s near the road, with the sidewalk sandwiched between the cafe seats and the storefronts. What’s odd though, is all the seats are turned to face the sidewalk. It’s clearly the place for people watching.

In the afternoon, I caught the train back to Cologne, went for a run, and now I am sitting behind a 1 way mirror waiting for our first focus group to begin.

With that, I’ll leave you with yet another parting shot of The Dom. You’ll notice this one matches my evening shot from yesterday’s post. Time to go to work now.

I woke up at 2:30am today thinking it was 8am and then woke up at 12:30pm thinking it was 9am! Suffice to say, my jetlag is now kicked. My oversleepiness officially thwarted my plan to take a boat ride far down the Rhine. I settled for Plan B.

I headed across the river from my hotel to walk around and have a late breakfast. It looked like so….

Followed by….

I enjoyed a second espresso while watching the world go by. I had a great vantage point, from a small cafe outside the Dom Cathedral. It is amazing how many couples are wandering around in Cologne. It must be the newlywed capital of the world! Everybody is holding hands, and literally making out in the streets…ok not everyone…but way more than I have ever seen in The States. Everybody also seems to be incredibly attractive. Maybe it’s the espresso?

Lucky me, the weather decided to cooperate, for most of the day. The weather here seems to be more unpredictable than Seattle. It rained three times today, but for no more than 20 seconds each time! The rest of the time, the sun was shining. Pretty odd, but I’ll take it over a downpour any day.

I headed over to the river to catch a 2 hour cruise on the Rhine around Cologne. It wasn’t terribly exciting, but it was relaxing. I also got some more pics of the city from a different vantage point. On the boat, I met a few girls from Boston who were interning in Brussels (lucky!). They recommended I climb the staircase to the Bower in the Dom. Sounded like a good idea to me. After disembarking, I checked it out. For 1 Euro, you get to climb the 509 narrow and steep steps (past men holding their crying kids and kids holding their crying parents alike).

The view from the top was worth it. You also get to check out the intricate carvings on the top of the spires of the cathedral in more detail. The Dom took over 6 centuries to build. That’s right. I don’t know how long the pyramids took to build, but I would guess this thing took a lot longer. I don’t think modern society has the patience to build anything that would take even 1/100th of that time. Seeing this thing up close is worth the trip to Cologne alone.

After my stair-stepper workout, I put on my running shoes for a jog along the Rhine, heading northward, through a big park to this place where they have there to cable cars running across the river. I really don’t understand the cable cars, since they run right above a bridge (which provides easier and cheaper means for cross the river), but who am I to question the logic of the highly logical German cable car builders?

Finally, I headed back over to the city for a late dinner. Tomorrow, however, I am committed to make it an early day, and head up to Dusselldorf via train. It should be a 30 minute ride. On the flight over, the Northwest in-flight magazine had a 3 page spread on Dusselldorf. It sold me. I gotta go.

Oh yeah, I ran into Wladimir Klitschko’s posse today. Apparently they are staying in my hotel. I saw them all hanging out in the lobby wearing matching sweats (with “Klitschko” emblazoned on the back in 1000 point font). I didn’t know who that was, but they sure did look important. I ran into one of the guys in the “posse” later and he seemed nice enough. They are on my floor it turns out!  Vladimir (Wladmir for your German’s) is in town fighting Lemon Brewster. Remind me not to pick a fight with this guy.

I’ll leave you with another parting shot from right outside my hotel.