Camp Champions Blog

We have loved being in London.  After 7 weeks of living in apartments and rented rooms, we are staying with dear friends.  I was shocked to learn that we have not seen these friends in person since 1996, yet we picked up as if we had not missed more than a year or two.

Some friendships simply transcend time and place.  I am not sure what creates fundamental compatibility, but we have it with this couple of Londoners.

I am writing on a train to London, so this is a wordier blog than normal that does not have as many pictures.  As a result, I will throw in a few shots from after our arrival before I go further.

I love unexpected surprises.

Not Again!

I feel like a technological failure.

We went to the Eiffel Tower today.

As a lifelong iconoclast who has eschewed touristy locales, this was a trip I took reluctantly.  I lived in New York for 2 years and never visited the Statue of Liberty or the Empire State Building.  I like the unexpected discoveries rather than the road most traveled.

But my girls wanted to see the Tower and I am more a daddy than I am an iconoclast.

I am glad we went.

I enjoyed the visit not only because it is a ridiculous feat of engineering, but also because I learned a critical lesson.  When you are 46, the lessons come less frequently than when you were a teenager, so I appreciate insight when it happens.

Before I describe my insight, let me share a few interesting facts about the tower.

Gustave Eiffel - A Serious Overachiever

Gustave Eiffel was a bridge builder that won the competition to create the centerpiece of the 1889 Worlds Fair, which was also a celebration of the 100th year since the French Revolution.  One of the designs he beat out - a huge guillotine.  That would have been a bit awkward I think .

In any event, Eiffel was a very focused and intentional individual.  He designed the tower in-house and built the parts in-house as well.  He delivered the Tower on time and under budget.  It was over 1000 feet high.  Prior to its construction, the highest structure in the world was the Washington Monument at roughly 550 feet.  The US had wanted to be the first to 1000 feet, but they were beaten by an entrepreneurial Frenchman.  On the top of the Tower during the Fair, he met with Thomas Edison who was promoting the phonograph.

[Note: I will be getting serious in this one.] Over the course of our careers as camp professionals and as parents, Susie and I have become somewhat obsessed with learning about youth development and helping every child realize his or her potential.  Because we have the pleasure of working with so many children and families, we have an opportunity to see a wide swath of educational and parenting strategies.

The good news is that we have learned a lot.  We have then taking what we learn and modified our camp program and philosophy to focus on growth opportunities for our campers.  The bad news is that we still have a lot to learn.

We spent a full day walking Madrid.

We visited two museums today: the Prado (considered by travel-guru Rick Steves and many others as the greatest museum for paintings in the world) and the Museo de Jamon.  OK, the second (the Museum of Ham) is actually a restaurant, but it was quite a good restaurant and after 5 hours in the Prado, it was much appreciated.

Yesterday, my posting initially failed and gave me a blank page rather than the blog.  I hope you like this offering more than the blank page!