Chris Brooks Newsletter 013
Julie and I are enjoying a “working” morning in Brussels before hopping on a train to visit the Waterloo battlefield. Tomorrow we fly back to the states where I’ll drive our van directly to Keuka Lake, and Julie will continue on to Melbourne FL where she’ll spend a couple of nights before driving the car back to NY.
1. 🚘 Where I’ve been traveling
My last update ended in Cinque Terre; here is a list of the major stops we’ve made since. I’ll link to the first post I wrote about each place.
- Florence, Italy
- Verona, Italy
- Venice, Italy
- Vienna, Austria
- Salzburg, Austria
- Prague, Czech Republic
- Berlin, Germany
- Amsterdam, Netherlands
- Bike Tour from Haarlem to Bruges
- Bruges, Belgium
2. 📖 What I’ve been reading
Some articles and quick blurbs:
- How Steinbeck Used the Diary as a Tool of Discipline, a Hedge Against Self-Doubt, and a Pacemaker for the Heartbeat of Creative Work
- Some insight into the logistics and costs for the Taylor Swift Tour, which I’ll sadly be missing. My sister and niece went to one of her Florida shows and claims it is the best show they’ve ever seen. And my sister, hard core music fan like I am (and expressely not a huge pop fan), has seen many many concerts. I think Taylor’s single tour will have a higher net profit in one year than all the software companies I worked at combined, over their lifetimes.
Books:
- Re-read The Great Gatsby (first time since high school I think) and it was better, shorter, and easier to read than I expected. Definitely worth a revisit.
- Re-read The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank in anticipation of our Amsterdam visit. I actually read the first half, and the final third, and Julie filled me in on what I missed. I’m a slow reader and wanted to finish before we went to the Anne Frank house.
- Read The Enchiridion by Epictetus for a quick refresher on stoic philosophy and self control. It is a short read and I captured notes this time, which I’ve been reviewing each morning to clarify and understand.
3. 🍿 What I’ve been watching
TV:
- Slow Horses, season two (Apple TV). Even better than the first season!
- Ted Lasso, season three. Julie and I seem to be the odd exceptions that are really enjoying this season.
Movies:
We’ve been consuming movie content like there’s no tomorrow, largely aligning with our travels. Here’s the list without links:
- Zeffirelli’s Romeo and Juliet (for Verona)
- Casino Royale (for Venice)
- The Sound of Music (for Salzburg)
- The Forgotten Battle (for the Scheldt estuary)
- Good Bye, Lenin! (for Berlin)
- The Hitman’s Bodyguard (for Amsterdam)
- In Bruges (for… Bruges)
4. 🎶 What I’ve been listening too
Some classical music in preparation for concerts. Some Rick Steves audio walking tours (highly recommended). Our tour guide in Bruges turned us on to Stuff About Things, an art history podcast that had a great two podcast set about Michelangelo’s Madonna in Bruges (episodes 10 and 11).
5. 👕 What I’ve been wearing
How do you travel for almost 7 weeks (47 days) with just a single smallish backpack? You where the same things over and over. Julie’s the only one who will notice, and she’s used to it. Oh, and she’s wearing the same things over and over too. Here’s my rough inventory:
- One pair of Kühl The Law jeans, the MVP of this trip. Best pair of paints I’ve ever owned.
- Rhoback joggers.
- Prana hiking pants, which were hardly used. I thought I’d wear them on the bike tour but the joggers were so much better.
- Two button down long sleeve plaid shirts: Mizzen & Main, Bonobos. Both darker colors to hide the inevitable dirt.
- Three pairs of Darn Tough socks.
- Five t-shirts, one of them long sleeve.
- 8 pairs of Uniqlo underwear.
- One set of Uniqlo Heattech long underwear.
- Uniqlo down jacket.
- North Face rain shell.
- Black Salomon trail running shoes: my every day wear shoes, running shoes, hiking shoes. Cleaned in the lodging sink a few times throughout the journey.
- Filson leather boots for evenings when I wanted to dress up a wee bit.
I promise to start playing some board games again this month.
-Chris