London (May 28-30 2005) (3)

Because of the delays leaving Barcelona, by the time we got from the airport to downtown London the subways had stopped running. Also, the buses take exact change only. And nothing around us was open save for a sandwich shop with a lineup wrapped around the building, and a newsstand with a surly vendor.

Despite the various hurdles we faced whilst traipsing through Europe, most notably, the language barriers; England proved to be the most trying experience of all. We were simply unable to convey our need for change to the surly vendor, even after purchasing something. Truly frustrating.

Later that day we met up with Aasthaa & Raeka and a various assortment of Waterloo peeps that were over in England/Ireland for co-op. We did some sightseeing. Some clubbing. That's about it. Nothing eventful. Absolutely nothing else to that story.

Two of Aasthaa's friends, Jeff & Cip, invited us to crash at their place the next evening, and the merriment continued as I celebrated my birthday in my birth city[ish].

Here are some various shots along the way

For D$:



The beginning of the end, not going on the London Eye.



The next day at Generator; part-hostel, part-star trek.



London Bridge



Random stuff including passing through some medieval faire, covert experimental jazz dancing footage, and just some lazy comedy.

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Camden Markets



Bah?



The crew minus 2.



As a mark of respect, please keep off the monument [Nice Parenting]



Green Park, near Buckingham Palace.

---

It was an amazing trip, start to finish, and now I can write the final paragraph.

179 days. ~67000 km. ~50 cities. 15 countries.
And I can't wait to get on the road again.
I just wanted to say thanks to my sister, my parents, my relatives, and my friends that helped make the trip possible.

We now return to the regular blogging, already in progress.

Fin.

about England, from Canada

Barcelona (May 27 2005) (0)

Because of the unintended stops in Biarritz and San Sebastian, we basically had 6 hours to wander around Barcelona before our flight back to London. Surprisingly, we managed to see a bunch of the sites that we planned on seeing...but it's definitely a city I'll come back to spend more time.

One of the most famous buildings is the Sagrada Familia. Perpetually under construction.




With no time to change, our beach attire was decidedly uncool.




If I was ever going to attend church, it'd be one with a pond and geese in the center. The Cathedral of Santa Eulàlia




Poor Zorro.




Hip hop Culture


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Hip hop Culture Pt. 2: The Remix.
On the way to the modern art museum.




Outside the airport.

about Spain, from Canada

Madrid (May 26-27 2005) (1)

By the end of the trip, photo-phatigue had set in and despite spending a full day and change in Madrid, I only have 8 decent shots to show for it...there was no shortage of impressive sites, but, well, meh.

As soon as we got out of our hostel and made our way to the metro, we saw a gaggle of Spaniards milling about. There was some sort of commercial being shot there, which gave us the opportunity to see our first real-live matador-actor.



The real, Real Madrid.



Like Rome before it, Madrid does not allow thumbs ups in the subways.



Possibly the greatest train station in the world. There's a tropical jungle in the middle of the station!



Worst. Recap. Ever.
But we're [I'm] so close to the end. Barcelona & London on Sunday.

Today's gonna be a busy day. Congrats Brian & Liselle!

about Spain, from Canada

San Sebastian (May 25 2005) (0)

We arrived in the morning and despite having spent less than 24 hours with us, it was clear Ben was not keen on traveling much further with us. But he reluctantly followed along for some reason.

While waiting for Ben to buy a guitar in a music shop, I wandered around and saw that some of the rooftops had full out lawns and trees on 'em. Interestingly, they did not have shingles on the ground. Opposite land indeed.






I missed a great shot of the kid crying and curled up on the steps. Dunno what the fuss was about, but it was loud.



The cut-off jean shorts are the next throwback style. I'm calling it now for Summer '06.



After walking around the city, Hal and I climbed Urgull mountain cause it seemed like the thing to do, and I figured, "hey, my calves are fine now; i should climb more mountains."
There's a statue of Jesus at the top. This is that statue as you may have guessed.



The north of Spain/south of France region is Basque Country. It's easy to forget the differences between Basque and Spanish (or rather: Castilian, Catalan, Galacian...), but there are subtle reminders that linger about.


At the end of the day we headed for our last couchette ride of the trip, en route to Madrid.

about Spain, from Canada

Biarritz (May 24 2005) (0)

Finally, real-time [minus one year] blogging... Due to the leg cramps I was feeling, we ended up stopping off in the south of France to have a day on the beach (this would eat into our Barcelona time significantly). We got to the hostel before it opened and had to wait around for a bit. This is the neighbouring lake where we killed some time before getting settled into our room and meeting our new roommates (Hal and Ben??).




We borrowed some of the hostels' bikes, which was an adventure of it's own, and headed off to town.




After a day on the beach we decided to get back on course and head to Madrid, but it turned out we wouldn't be making the connecting trip in Irun in time. Having seen all we needed to see of Biarritz, we decided to head to San Sebastian the next day with our new traveling friends, Hal and Ben.

about France, from Canada

Paris (May 20-23 2005) (4)

All the major Parisian site photos I took are in the Gallery to peruse if interested, but the real Paris -- the seamy underbelly, that's what I'm going to blog about. And by seamy underbelly, I mean the glossy touristy stuff that I found funny.

Suicide Booths?



Okay, maybe I don't get jokes. Entirely possible. But reading this brochure left me scratching my head...



From the Jardin des Tuileries, on the way to the Louvre.






Ram mentioned to me last week of his dislike for people taking photos of photographers. I, on the other hand, love it. Cause of the rare times you get stuff like this. [there was supposed to be a link to a couple who met through flickr because one took a picture of the other taking a picture. but i can't find that link. but imagine the beauty of that.]



I know how you feel dude, I know how you feel. That's why Paul and I split up in Paris. I had enough of the museums and art galleries and whathaveyou so the Louvre was my only major stop.



On a mission for a late night shawarma we saw this guy drive up to a spot to parallel park. I made a comment about how fast he was going and how in awe I was about European drivers being able to whip into those spots so elegantly. On cue, he accelerates into the spot, hitting the car behind him, then pulling forward into the car in front, and finally, for good measure, backing up again into the car behind him to straighten out the wheels.




This panorama was taken across from the Montparnasse Tower, the tallest building in Paris.



Seriously? Could he be any more French?



Jardin du Luxembourg



Paul took a nice shot from the top of the L'Arc de Triomphe.



The city was amazing, and 4 days wasn't enough, but it was time to move on if we were going to see Spain at all. Also, it should be noted by this point of my trip, my calves were seizing up on a regular basis; this was likely due malnutrition from my chocolate pastry & falafel based diet. Stupid delicious train station pastries.

I'll leave you with some soothing segway action and a 360 view of the area around the Eiffel Tower. Can you imagine if downtown T.O. had green space like this?

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about France, from Canada

Milan (May 20 2005) (0)

From Rome, we took an overnight to Paris, and there was a brief two hour stop over in Milan. Unfortunately it was at 7am, but despite the early hour, Will offered to give the abridged tour of Milan. Here's his pic from last year.

We met at the magnificent Duomo di Milano. Well, I imagine it looks magnificent. The wikipedia link has a better shot of it.



Then we hustled over to the Castello Sforzesco, and factoring in the time for breakfast and purchasing train station sammiches, that concluded our stopover in Milan.

about Italy, from Canada

Rome (May 18-19 2005) (0)

As a result of the stop off in Florence, we had a serious mission ahead of us: 24 hours to tour Rome. It was ridiculous to keep such a tight schedule, but we did need to be in Barcelona by the time our flight left...

"It couldn't be done," it was said, "Rome wasn't seen in a day." But by this point in our travels, we had really refined our appreciation skills and could soak in the sights and culture whilst walking a brisk 8 km/h.

The first thing I see when we arrive at the train station? The new location of Mr. Panino.



We made a beeline for the ancient ruins, and along the way found out it was museum week or something. Pretty much every major site had free admission. There's a video & story that goes along with this at the end of this post.



Omg, Ronald Weasley! And he's trapped!



You may have to click to put it into context



La Bocca della Verità, the "mouth of truth", has a rich history that was unknown to us at the time of this photo. For all we knew, this was a bizarre Roman marriage ceremony. However, everyone in line was putting their hands in the mouth so...when in Rome...




The Palazzo Venezia is about as grand as they come.





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The next day we awoke bright and early after an uneventful night on the town to head to the Vatican. The Sistine Chapel was the highlight of the tour, but you weren't allowed to take photos inside. Weren't allowed to, but the endless stream of covert photographers didn't seem to care. You'd think the Vatican would develop a better system than just the plaintive cries of a security guard. The ceiling was amazing, especially considering the other Ninja Turtles didn't even help with this one.




St. Peter's Square and Basilica



The guides all warned of gangs of Roma people, especially children, that would swarm and rob people. Never saw anything remotely like that, and in fact the only time we saw any Roma was outside the Vatican. We saw these two kids playing music for the patrons of this restaurant (not as employees mind you, but freelancing). Later as we were leaving, I saw the little girl again with her family. It was an odd sight, and an almost unimaginable life. I didn't expect to see children this young, evidently not in school during the weekdays, raising money for the family. There's a lesson in there somewhere...






Finally, here are some random shots, and more swank signs.

If you have to ask...



Super happy fun slide?



Blurry, but the subways in Rome do not allow a thumbs up. Ever.



Back to the free admission story; The coliseum and surrounding areas were free, but the Roman Forum was only free for EU nationals. We walk up to the ticket office to pay and the following conversation transpires:

Attendant: What nationality are you?
Paul: Canadian
Attendant: Okay, British
Paul: Nope! Canadian!
Me: Quiet you...

A very nice gesture almost thwarted by Paul's inability to detect a freebie coming our way.

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About the post office reference in the video...In Florence, I forgot to give back the keys at the hostel we stayed at. (and as a further aside, the hostel owner was very nice, and let us in later than she normally would have and gave us a deal on the room). So we called her up from Rome, and I ended up mailing it from the Vatican.

about Italy, from Canada

Florence (May 17-18 2005) (2)

Florence was probably the most random stop on our trip. Being completely ignorant, we assumed Michelangelo's David was in Rome. It's not. But we only figured that out after receiving an invitation to visit from a interesting Egyptian/Italian/Norwegian character we met on the train from Prague to Rome.
Paul and I were settling into our cabin when a guy breathlessly runs in, checks the seat number, and then announces:

I have a disgusting surprise for you,

and then runs off.

At this point, Paul's thinking he's bringing on fish or something smelly, and I'm worried this guys is going to just drop trou and leave a mess on the floor. Turns out it was none of the above. As we helped him with his 11th bag, the disgusting surprise was just a cabin full of bags.

Anyhoo, we get to talking and he tells us about the things to do in Florence (where he's settled down now) and combined with the train delays, we decide to jump off before Rome.

One of the many duomos in Italy.




I'm not a big "art" aficionado, but out of all the artsy things I saw in Europe, the David was probably my favourite. I don't know what it was exactly, but it was incredible. The detail, down to the veins on the feet, just jumped out at you. And I suppose to enhance the effect, there was a modern art piece nearby that really struck home how crappy modern art is. This is a replica of the David.

about Italy, from Canada

Prague (May 13-16 2005) (2)

We arrived in Prague (from Berlin) at the tail end of the World Hockey Championship. The gold medal game was Czech Republic vs. Canada! What better time to show our national pride than to proudly march through the town square with our Canadian flags waving. There are better times apparently. The Czech team was slaughtering Canada 3-0, and the fans were throwing bottles at us. Salt in the wounds isn't just a phrase, it's a Czech way of life.




The next day there was a big party and the Czech team was on hand to take part. This video captures some of the evenings' hightlights, and about 2 seconds of the Czech team as they left the square.


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We took a walking tour of the city and visited Prague Castle, walked by the National Musuem, and went to the old town square again and saw the "Orloj"










It turns out that what these arrows were pointing at was not that impressive.




In Prague, the office gossip around the water cooler is on a whole other level. I really want to see Miss Saigon.




It's weird seeing an American car here.




Paul and I had a system to deal with our conflicting tastes in music. I'd choose the theme one night, and he'd choose the next. Prague's indie-hipster scene wasn't bumping when we were there, but the Reggae night was off the hook. Possibly the creepiest club ever.


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about the Czech Republic, from Canada

Berlin (May 12) (5)

Hey, remember last year when I traveled around a bit and said I was gonna keep an online travel log of my journey? Well, I don't. Rewriting history with truthiness is fun. But I suppose before all memories fade of my time in Europe, I should pen something. Here it goes:

We had a few hot spots to hit in Berlin, and first up was the Reichstag. We heard the lineups were insane, and true to form, they were. Paul's in line somewhere here.




Inside it was an open-concept design for their Parliament. Transparency in government or something like that I'm sure. Up top was this mirrored structure, inspired no doubt by the shawarma, whose vendors were seen far and wide throughout Germany.




As we exited the Reichstag there was a demonstration by the Yes side for the ratification of the EU Constitution. Paul & I exercised our rights and joined in, although at the time we were unsure of our support for the Yes side. They did have large balloons which swayed my vote that day.




Oh yeah, on our way to the Reichstag we had to walk through the Brandenburg Gate which had a large panoramic shot of the gate after Allied bombing.




The happiest organ grinder in Germany.

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We also wandered around the Pergamon museum for a bit before heading off to see the wall and Checkpoint Charlie. The museum at CC contained an impressive collection of artifacts that chronicled many of the escapes over, under, and through the wall.




Spotted: An Enzo.




Also spotted: This huge, either offensive or brilliant, billboard.




While in the train station on our way to Prague, Paul stopped for more art appreciation.




There were more than a few surreal moments when I traveled. This ranked wayyyy up there. I had bought a magazine, I think it was an India Today, in Sri Lanka. Never got around to reading it but I carried it with me in case I got bored on a plane or train. While on the train from Berlin to Prague, I flip the page and see the picture of a buddy of mine from Waterloo. I couldn't quite wrap my head around it at the time; if ever the world was a small place...an idea that's so clichéd and yet never more true to me than on that day.

about Germany, from Canada

Dachau (May 11) (0)

Exactly 200 days have passed since I visited Dachau. It seems like a lifetime ago.

Dachau was the first concentration camp used by the Nazis. To contrast that, it's hard to describe how peaceful it was there when we went. It was early May and there were white petals from the surrounding trees floating ethereally all around us. It's in small and unassuming town. You just can't imagine the absolute nightmare that this place represented 60 years ago.




They were in the process of digging out this road that had gone unnoticed. I wish I spoke German; it seemed like that old man would have had a story to tell.




This was inside one of the bunkers that housed the interrogation and torture rooms, and where the "special prisoners" were housed too.




This monument shows bodies twisted into a barbed wire fence. I didn't see that at first until I overheard a guide talking to his group. It was interesting to see the school groups out and their reaction to this site. In grade school we went to the Nestle factory on one of the only field trips I remember. I think it's important that these kids visit Dachau, but judging by their expressions, I don't think they appreciated the importance of this memorial. I could barely comprehend it myself.




When we went back to Munich we tried to make our way to the house that Hitler had lived in. It's now a police station. The door was locked and as were beginning to knock two police officers approached us and mentioned that there weren't any tours to be had here...

about Germany, from Canada

Munich (May 9-11) (3)

So where was I...riiiight, traveling around Europe. After Bonn & visiting my relatives we hit up Munich. Paul's favourite stop of the trip I think. By this point we had successfully figured out the details of the Eurail pass and opted to head straight for Neuschwanstein as a day trip. This where Krazy King Ludwig built the castle that would later be the inspiration for the Disney castle.




Now remember, this was early May and my last stops had been Sri Lanka and Australia...so imagine the shock to my system when it started to snow. Also, this is a terrible picture.




Back in Munich there were platz(es?) as far as the eye could see. Basically these big open squares, really nice and allowed us to map the city mentally pretty well.




A running theme for our trip was playing oversized novelty chess. Well, never actually playing, but posing for pictures. Paul can thrash me at chess, although I'm intrigued by Fisher-Random chess (aka Chess960).




We hit up the Deutsches Museum, where I saw the greatest hologram ever. I never knew it was possible, but you could use a holographic pair of glasses to read an unfocused holographic book. Click the image for a link to the video which does a poor job of trying to capture that effect. Also, there was a musical instrument that played based tones on your relative position to it...the video can explain that one better.




Also seen at the museum at an exhibit about the human body (click to read it):




As we traveling along, we took shots of pictographic signs that struck us as funny. Usually we'd try and come up with an accompanying tag line to go with it. For this one, mine was along the lines of "Pink Panther Zone: Please Tiptoe." Funnily enough, I recently found a site that caters to this kind of humour. Ahh the internet...what niche doesn't exist?




Of course no trip to Munich is complete without seeing the magnificent Glockenspiel. The telltale atonal clanging is music to the ears, and the hoards of Japanese tourists can't seem to get enough. We had a handy free guide from Mike's Bike Tours, that said the Glockenspiel was crap, but you're gonna go see it anyway. Mike was really quite helpful. We visited his internet cafe and somehow got free drinks with a pub crawl tour (even though we were boarding a train for Berlin an hour later). I kinda wish we went on his bike tour instead of just exploiting his generosity.




Paul loves him the art galleries, and in Munich there were pinakotheks as far as the eye could see. I don't know what a pinakothek is, and frankly it sounds more Aztec than German, but this is a shot from inside one of 'em.

about Germany, from Canada

Bonn (May 6 - 8) (3)

Let me preface this by saying I did indeed attend the Skydome screening of the series finale of Star Trek: The Next Generation. I freely admit I enjoyed the show, and many other sci-fi shows, movies, etc.

But I never, ever, thought I'd go to a convention. Paul however had an idea brewing. Early in our route decision making process he pitched the idea of going to FedCon in Germany. It turned out that Bonn, the site of FedCon 14, was really close to my relatives place. Well, close enough I suppose.

I really didn't want to go. I appreciate the shows on a TV watching level, but I couldn't justify traveling to Germany to sit in a convention centre listening to people talk about science fiction. And watch them dress up as their favourite characters. It smacked of a medieval fair. But he was very keen on going. And when it turned out that going for one day wouldn't cover the discussions with all the actors he wanted to see, he had the tougher task of convincing me that the weekend-long, €75 pass was the way to go.

After digging through the FedCon site, I did finally find a tiny reason to go. Parker Lewis.
Corin Nemec was going to be at FedCon!
I didn't know why he was going to be there, but knowing that Parker Lewis was gonna be there, it seemed like fate.

Why fate? You know how things happen in threes? Well the first incident was when I was writing in my journal while in Sri Lanka. For some reason, the names of the entire cast of "Parker Lewis Can't Lose" started speeding through my head. Completely random, and extremely bizarre. The second incident was when I started reading a book I had on screenwriting a few weeks later. One of the blurbs recommending it came from the creator of PLCL. Now at this seemingly unconnected BiMonSciFiCon, Corin Nemec was gonna appear?

How could I not go? Well, pretty easily; it's 75 Euros to mill around with sci-fi nerds! I can do that for free at in the Comfy Lounge. But then Paul said he'd subsidize a portion of my ticket if I agreed to come so I said a'ight.
Once we reached a compromise we headed off to the convention. This is me posing in front of a hardcore vending machine along the way.




Spargel is white asparagus. It's a rare treat in Germany, in season only two months of the year. And they go bonkers over it. We had it on several occasions with my family, and it's quite delicious. Really simple dishes too. Boiled spargel drenched in hollandaise and served with homefries and salty pork. Paul really took a shine to spargel.




As I traveled I started taking more photos of people taking photographs. I dunno why. There was this statue outside the Bonn train station of a guy taking a photo. I took a picture of it. Then Paul suggested taking a picture of me taking a photograph of it. While the picture and its less cluttered followup are neat in concept, I think the stares from the passersby in this one make it way more interesting. Or maybe not. Both the meta-meta shots (03,04) are Paul's, as well as pic 31.




We eventually got to FedCon and of course, this is a family affair.




There were all sorts of individuals in attendance, and as far as I could tell, were all simply congregating to hawk their sci-fi or celebrity wares. Apparently the correct nomenclature for such wares is "merch," as in merchandise. Wheee, money well spent so far...




I surprised this guy from the balcony.




Yes! In all his glory, Parker Lewis was there. I found out that he was on Stargate for one season, and that's what qualified him for this convention. Regardless, it seems as though he hasn't aged a bit; this TV moment would have been truly complete if Neil Patrick Harris had been there too. The emcee of the night twice referred to Corin as Ferris Bueller; this was after Corin made it painfully clear that Parker Lewis was conceived before Ferris.




The word 'round the playground was that Leonard Nemoy was behind one of those doors. So a mob of geekerazzi assembled and waited. I got distracted by a lil' guy wearing a Geordi visor, and followed him for a picture but I lost track of him.




Remember how I said the idea of a convention reminded me of a medieval fair? Well, there was a "play" where people just showed off the costumes they had made or bought. There was no discernable storyline, just a clash of various pop sci-fi icons assembling on stage. It's dress up, and that's cool. On Halloween.




Jolene Blalock was one of the top tier draws at this convention (alongside Spiner & Nemoy). Her Q&A/storytime session started off awkwardly cause she didn't really know what to do with her time. But eventually she found her stride, yet remained quite nervous. To put her at ease, possibly the creepiest sounding guy in the world said "Don't be nervous Jolene...you're amongst friends." I was kinda freaked out by that, dunno how she felt. Shortly thereafter was an example of fine questions being posed to her.

GuyInStarTrekUniform: um Jolene, are you going to do another Star Trek movie?

Jolene: another Star Trek movie?

GiSTU: yeah, you know after Star Trek: Lost Contact

J: you mean ST: First Contact? I wasn't in that one

GiSTU: no! not First Contact, Lost Contact!

J: Last Contact??

GiSTU: no! Lost Contact! <chuckles to self>

J: is that a movie you wrote?

GiSTU: yes! ha ha! I have another role for you if you're interested

I can't remember how that dialogue resolved, I was crying from laughing so hard.




We ended up seeing Spiner twice and both times I was surprised how funny he was. He managed to hold the audience captive for his hour, and I did really enjoy that part of the convention. Not enough to ever go back to one again, but it didn't make it seem like a complete waste of time. Nemoy closed out the show on the last day and he as well had an interesting hour.

On Sunday after the convention finished, Paul grabbed a picture with a random klingon and we headed off towards our next destination, Munich.




A shot of the metro station outside the convention hotel.




We transferred trains in Cologne to get to Munich, and with a couple hours to kill we wandered the streets. The price of free has certainly gone up a lot.




Finally, if you've made it this far your reward is a poorly edited video montage of a couple things that happened at FedCon. It's about 4 mins & 13 mbs long, in Xvid format (should play with the DivX codec I used previously I think, but you may need to get the Xvid binaries to make it work)

about Germany, from Canada

Kaarst, Banneux (May 4 - 5) (0)

You might remember I stopped off in Germany on my way over to Sri Lanka back in December. Well, I decided to visit my family there again whilst Paul and I attended a "conference." They live outside of Dusseldorf, fairly close to the Belgium border, which is where we headed for a nice lil' day trip.

Our destination was the Banneux Notre-Dame Sanctuaire. It houses a shrine to the Virgin Mary who according to legend appeared in Banneux back in '33. It was a really busy yet simultaneously peaceful place; the surrounding landscape stood out as stereotypically European.




Just outside the sanctuary we stopped for a quarter-chicken meal.




This is that European countryside I was talking about before.




In Kaarst we just hung around the house a lot, a well timed 'rest' portion of our trip as I came down with a terrible cold, and promptly passed it on to the rest of my family there. During that time though we were able to catch up on our carrom skillz. And no, those aren't electric pants in the forground.

about Belgium & Germany, from Canada

Amsterdam (May 1-3) (3)

From London we took a bus & ferry & train combo to Amsterdam. To catch the morning bus required catching the earliest Underground from Rayner's Lane over to Liverpool Station. I did not factor in the train line being under construction and having to take a bus part of the way. Without going into specifics, I discovered something important that morning: backup plans when you don't have cell phones, are critical. With that auspicious start we were on our way, with Paul driving:




Apparently this was a funny picture. How else can you carry two backpacks? If you can think of a better way, let me know.




Getting out at the train station we realised we had no idea where we were and where we were going. The plan was to get a map and work from there. The helpful girl at the bookshop & map repository in the train station recommended a hostel close to the Rijksmuseum. After a long day of traveling we went off in search of food.




As this blog progresses, you'll be reading less and less information about the various structures seen in the pictures. Most of them are written down somewhere, or on occasion I had the foresight to record a memo with the pics, but for the most part they've all blended together into what I call the "Vast And Columnar Buildings, both Historical And grandiose"




At one of the old churches, let's call it Odenkirk, I saw my new favourite photograph at the World Press Photo exhibit.




Again, VACBHAGs are all around Europe, and this, is a shopping mall. It does kinda remind me of South Common...kinda.




This will appeal to one person, my "History of Mathematics" prof; I did a paper on Huygens and his crazy world of evolutes.




This is fairly self-explanatory.




Finally, Paul & I ventured into many a McDonald's in our travels. The justification of course is that while McDonald's is an American icon, there are regional specialities that piqued our respective curiosities. After a bad McCroquet, Paul opted for a tried and true happy meal, and the gem found inside was a little plastic stereo that played the following tune (mp3).




This little toy ventured all across Europe with us, in the hopes of starting a party with it. Unfortunately we kept forgetting about it. It is a catchy song tho.

about The Netherlands, from Canada

London (April 30) (4)

Backup. Backup. Backup.
Sifting through a faulty but very important harddrive that crashed while I was away turned out to be a fairly time-consuming process. Reminded that I could easily lose every picture I've taken while traveling in one simple power surge, I've subsequently spent a lot more time backing up everything I own. In duplicate.

But now that it's done, and now that I've gotten over the post-traveling-blues, it's time to update.

Starting with London.




My flight from Colombo was on Sri Lankan Airlines (owned by the excellent Emirates airlines), and I was notified that in accordance with British aviation rules, the standard metal cutlery has been replaced with plastic cutlery. They apologized for this inconvenience. I liked that. I was seated next to an older guy who I cheerfully helped with his in-seat video & gaming terminal. After showing him how to play the chess game, he proceeded to detail every move he made. And just in case I didn't hear because I had my headphones on and was trying to watch a movie, he would tap me on the shoulder and repeat what I had missed. Wheee, only 10 more hours of this...

In any case I was staying with some of my parents' friends outside of central London, but conveniently on an Underground line. I met up with Paul who had arrived a few days earlier and we headed into the city to take a walkabout.




During this time, I was introduced to Frommer's guide. There was a love/hate relationship with Frommer. He did have a star rating on the major sites, but other than that, it wasn't too useful. It turned into a running gag, with Paul assigning Frommer various titles depending on where we were at the time.




In the brief period we were in the city, we managed to get lost and ended up walking in a giant circle back Piccadilly Circus. We ended the night early as we had a morning ferry to Amsterdam to catch.

about England, from Canada

Quarter Century (3)

Well...25 years later and I've come full circle. Geographically at least. It was a fun weekend meeting up with old friends, and making new ones. The siteseeing portion has been really secondary. Paul & I are fairly museumed out. The greatest injustice to culture was probably our trip over to the British Museum. We wanted to see the Rosetta stone so we walked in, saw it and pretty much just walked right back out.

There is a ton of stuff to see in London, but I'll be back for sure. It's hella expensive though. Take the price in £, swap it with a $, and it's still more expensive than back home.

The last week has flown by, and I'm heading back to Canada tomorrow afternoon. Dragon boating season is well under way and I've got 3 weeks till the Centre Island meet to put on at least 10 pounds. Although as Paul has mentioned, if you don't care what kind of weight you put on, 10 isn't that difficult. When I get back home, I'll start staggering out posts of the last month, and when that's done, I don't imagine my blogging will be nearly as plentiful. But I love that I can keep in touch with everyone, wherever you are in the world. So I'll definitely make an effort to put something up now and then.

And whether you're up to something, nothing, or anything in between, feel free to drop me a line.

England