Ramble with me...

Welcome to my rambles!

2012-03-12T10:24:00.009-06:00

Funny, one minute I'm relaxing on my vacation/unemployment in Edmonton, the next I'm moving to London, England! I ended up living in Harrow/Wembley. Yep, a half hour out of central London. What an adventure it turned out to be. I met so many great people, grew tremendously in my faith and I travelled all over the world. And then, four years later, I returned to good ol' Edmonton! You can take the girl outta Alberta but you can't take the Alberta outta the girl...I'm sure am glad to be back in Canada! Bring on the memories, and new destinations...

UPDATED!!!

*Vancouver (July 2010)

Vancouver

2010-07-19T18:57:00.000-06:00

Tuesday July 6, 2010
I flew out to Vancouver tonight to visit with my friend Dorothy and her family (who actually live in Burnaby). They have a full house of people, so I'm staying in the 'formal living room', which is fine because it's super hot here and it seems to be the coolest room in the house at the moment!

Wednesday July 7, 2010
Lazy day today. I watched the World Cup semifinal between Spain and Germany (yay Spain!!) and then walked to the grocery store for breakfast supplies. After dinner, Mrs. Chan drove us the the 200+ flavours ice cream place. I had gingerbread - yum! It was super hot here again today, so ice cream was most welcome!

Thursday July 8, 2010
Today Dorothy and I wandered around Metrotown, a really good mall in Burnaby. Yay for air con during a heat wave! The taro bubble team I had and the Chinese buns I bought from Maxims bakery were delicious!

Friday July 9, 2010
I went into Vancouver around dinner time to hunt down a Japadog vendor, with no luck. Boo! I wandered down Robson street before eating dinner at Subway (how un-exotic) and then headed down to Stanley Park. I set my camera on close-up mode and took a bunch of photos of the flowers before wandering over to the aquarium. On my way I heard a rustling in the bushes, turned around, and saw a racoon and her two babies! How cute! I've never seen a raccoon for real before!

I met Dorothy at the bus loop and we went to the Malkin Bowl to see the Theatre Under The Stars outdoor production of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. It was a different version - about a group of children trying unsuccessfully to put on the play, until a group of hippies show up to help them. It was...different. Some of the jokes were lost on the younger segment of the crowd, but the songs were all there. Mostly the singing and dancing was good, except Pharoah was Tina Turner instead of Elvis which was a bit lame. They picked a child volunteer from the audience to be Benjamin, so it was interesting to see how they incorporated her. Mostly the just led her around by the hand and go her to do certain things like ride a camel or dance. It was cute. Overall it was a good production, though I prefer the regular version better.

** So depressing - I somehow managed to lose my clip-on sunglasses today!! I wear glasses so it's not like I can just go buy a cute pair. It sucks so much. They are over $100 to replace. I'm not sure what to do now. It makes me want to cry.

Saturday July 10, 2010
We were going to go to Seattle for the day today, but settled instead on driving just over the border to Bellingham to go to the Bellis Fair Mall. It was a good decision because Seattle is much farther and would have involved getting up much earlier! It's too bad I wont get to see my American friends this year either, but there's always next year.

The mall was mostly American stores, so it was fun to look through. We also went to Costco. It was interesting to see that some prescription drugs in Canada are available over the counter in US Costco's. I didn't buy anything though.

Sunday July 11, 2010
Today I spent the morning/afternoon watching the World Cup final between Spain and the Netherlands. And Spain won!! How very exciting!!

I also went to a couple greenhouses and grocery shopping with Dorothy's mom. Then, while Dorothy went out for dinner with some friends, Mrs. Chan and I went to Aberdeen mall in Richmond. They had this huge Japanese $2 store called Diaso full of lot's of cool crap. When I get a house, I'm totally going to come back to buy junk for it. We then went out for Malaysian food for dinner, before picking up Dorothy.

Mrs. Chan dropped us off at the Richmond Night Market. It's a whole bunch of food and 'stuff' vendors behind this warehouse in a parking lot. The 'stuff' vendors were mostly all the same: cheap socks, imitation handbags, cell phone covers, pirated DVDs, cutesy stationary. There was one booth with a couple snakes where you could pay to get your picture taken with them!

The best part was all the food vendors. It was too bad I was so full because I would've like to try lots of things like squid-on-a-stick, or the different dumplings or meat or deepfried stuff. There were lot's of fancy bubble tea drink places, special ice cream and desert places. I did try wheel cakes, which are like thicker pancakes stuffed with filling. I tried Nutella, red bean and custard - the custard was my favourite. It was neat to see the Night Market, and I would come back to try more food another time.

Thankfully the heat wave is over. Now I can finally tour around without dying of heat stroke!

** And as if it wasn't bad enough I lost my sunglasses, my sandals broke today!

Monday July 12, 2010
I had a Vancouver adventure today!

First I went to see the Science World building (a neat looking dome) and the Winter Olympic Athletes Village. The Athletes Village was a big let down because now they are just normal looking condos.

Next I went up to Waterfront Station, and walked through Gastown to see the steam clock. Both were nothing special, though I can see why the clock attracts tourists as it's kind of neat to see. Gastown was full of pubs and shops selling cheap touristy and Olympic stuff.

I then walked along the waterfront to see Canada Place and the Convention Centre. Behind the Convention Centre is the Olympic cauldron! It was actually really neat to see, as it brought back lots of memories. Douglas Coupland also has a sculpture near there called 'Digital Orca', which is this huge pixelated looking killer whale. Seeing these two monuments, right by the water with it's pretty view, was probably one of the highlights of the day.

Following that I walked up Burrard to have a Japadog (finally!) from a street vendor. I love Japadog! I had an edamame terimayo, which was a bratwurst sausage stuffed with edamame beans, and topped with onions, teriyaki sauce, Japanese mayo and seaweed flakes. Yum!! And I didn't even have to share with the seagull.

I walked up the street to Christ Church and went in. It was a pretty little church right in the middle of downtown. It looks out of place amongst the skyscrappers, but plays a necessary role downtown. I walked past the art gallery, taking a few photos of the Olympic countdown clock, which reads all zeros, and then through Pacific Centre, the downtown mall. I also went through the downtown library, taking a few pictures because it's cool looking, like the colosseum in Rome. I walked down Robson again, but past the Japadog store in favour of a Beard Papa cream puff. It wasn't fantastic - though I liked the filling better than the pastry. I kept wandering down Robson, but didn't really shop anywhere.

I walked down Denman too, all the way to English Bay. It was sooo windy, I don't know how all those people were sunning themselves on the beach! Though I was tired of walking, I walked along the beach until I got to Stanley Park, where I found myself a nice bench near the Lost Lagoon. There were ducks, geese and swans to look at, plus another raccoon! I read for awhile and helped a lady bandaid up her blisters, then headed back to Denman for some great Japanese ramen for dinner. Then, after a quick frozen yogurt stop, I went back to Stanley Park for the Theatre Under The Stars production of Singing In The Rain. It was quite good. The singing and dancing were well done, and it even rained for real on the stage!!

All in all, my adventure was worth a couple painful blisters!

Tuesday July 13, 2010
Today Dorothy and I went on an adventure.

First we went all the way to the University of British Columbia. It's a nice campus to walk around, and I took pictures of a couple libraries and the long house. Our main goal was the Museum of Anthropology. It's a nice looking museum. The great hall is filled with totem poles and other Aboriginal artifacts. There was an art exhibition, and then a huge gallery filled with Aboriginal and cultural 'stuff' from all over the world. It was mostly well done, except nothing had dates on it, and it was a bit of a maze.

After our eyes hurt from looking, we went all the way to Richmond again to go to another mall. I have more awesome mint chocolate bubble tea and thick toast. Thick toast is just as it sounds, it was so fluffy and yummy!

We stopped again at Japadog before heading home, and then continued what has become a tradition for my visits: watching anime.

Wednesday July 14, 2010
Today was my day off so I could rest my poor blistered feet. We watched more anime and I walked down to the grocery store again for some fresh air. Later that evening, Mrs. Chan drove Dorothy, Natsuko (their Japanese student boarder) and I to some outlet store, where I got some great deals. It was a nice lazy day.

Thursday July 15, 2010
Another adventure day today! I decided to check out the hype that is the Capilano Suspension Bridge. They run a free shuttle from downtown, so between that and the two interpretive walks I tagged along to (one explaining the totem poles, one a nature walk), it was almost worth the $27 (and that's the student price, it's $35 regular price). I thought the park area would be really big, worthy of a couple hours of walking, but instead it took a couple minutes to get over the bridge (and back) and then I think I could've probably walked the whole thing in half an hour if I hadn't tagged along to the nature walk etc. It was real pretty though.

I took about a hundred pictures though. I really was beautiful.

Over all I reckon it's worth the trip once but not twice. Apparently the Lynn Canyon Suspension Bridge is shorter but free, and Grouse Mountain has some fun stuff to do (ziplines!), so I reckon I'll be back to the area next time I visit Vancouver!

After getting back to downtown, I walked through Gastown to buy some souvenirs for friends, then up to and down Robson to get another Japadog. I took the train to Metrotown again and bought a few things on sale, then went home. I watched/learned/helped Mrs. Chan with dinner, then we watched anime the whole night.

Friday July 16, 2010
Today was another rest/anime day. We went for dinner to a Japanese restaurant in Port Moody so I could have tempura and yakisoba. Luckily, we got to sit at the sushi bar and the whole fun of the dinner was watching the chefs put together all the different types of sushi.

After dinner, Dorothy and I headed back into Vancouver so I could try a cupcake from the shop that had a reality show on the food network. I hated the show because the ladies were bitchy and annoying, but my pineapple-coconut cupcake was decent. I'm really not a fancy cupcake person, but it was neat to see the colourful 'Alice in Wonderland' shop. We ended the night with another bubble tea and a quick wander down Robson before heading home.

Saturday July 17, 2010
For my last Vancouver-food outing, Mrs. Chan and I went out for Dim Sum and the did the greenhouse route again. I packed, realized my flight was two hours earlier than I though - and then basically headed to the airport and home.

All in all, it was a great trip, with just the right mixture of touristy adventures and relaxing in front of the tv/computer. The food, as usual, was yummy - I always enjoy what I can't get at home like Japadogs, and Chinese/Japanese food. I know I'll be back in Vancouver visiting Dorothy soon, and then I can do it all over again!

Jasper

2010-05-16T23:15:00.002-06:00

Oh wow, what a weekend!

April 29 - May 2 marked my first ever Alberta Library Conference in Jasper (as put on by the Library Association of Alberta with the help of a whole lot of other groups). This conference is for libraries of all kinds (mostly geared towards public though, with a smattering of academic and general topics) and for librarians, library technicians/assistants, directors, board members and trustees etc.

Let's skip to the end. It's was sooo much fun and I totally want to go back next year!!

Ok, back to the beginning...

I was a bit apprehensive about the whole thing. It was my first library conference, actually my first conference in ten years. Plus, of the four recently graduated library students going, I was the only one without a 'real' job (beyond my usual part time/short term contract positions). What was I supposed to wear? What would it be like? Could I really bear more people talking at me after all that time I had just spent in school? Would I really learn anything, considering I'm not public library focused? Would those partying librarians accept me despite the fact I don't drink? Plus, could I really afford to stay at the Jasper Park Lodge?

A fellow librarian gave me some advice on twitter:

"My Jasper advice is don't expect to learn much, drink lots (vendor parties), go to the dance, enjoy the view."

I'm going to subsequently quote my tweets from the event, the hashtag of which was #alc2010jpl if you want to follow along. Not many people were tweeting though.

I really had no reason to be nervous, it was significantly awesome.

The road trip out was pretty, and the company was lovely. We arrived at gorgeous JPL, with it's fantastic view of the mountains. I do know (personally, professionally and by appearance only) a lot of librarians, so it was nice to spot familiar places, even though there would be over 700 attendees. We got settled, then headed into Jasper (like a 5 minute drive from the lodge) to get supplies (nylons, snacks, warmer clothing...). I've never been a huge fan of the town of Jasper, it's quite small, but quaint. Jasper's real draw is the outdoorsy stuff, the views are fantastic!!

"Made it to jasper. I have a feeling these librarians know how to have a good time!"

Later that night, we managed to consume platefuls of food (gotta get your moneys worth out of the gourmet buffet). The food was really good. There was always a lot of options, and salad and dessert with every meal. I actually ended up eating a lot of the vegetarian options as they were really tasty too. And yes, three desserts with every meal has likely lead to an extra 5lbs around my middle. Oops.

The first night, there was a first timers reception (which included free drinks and door prizes). We also wandered around the vendors section (which meant not much to me as I don't have a regular type job yet, but I appreciate the free bags and pens). The evening closed with another reception (aka free drinks) and some schmoozing. I'm not a great schmoozer or a drinker, but I did chat to one of my librarian heroes, and that marked the point for me where I left behind the nerves and just went with the flow of the whole event.

"Met a lot of people I know and some new people. The food is good, the company better. And the view is amazing. Yay Jasper!"

A word about the dress code: there was none. It's a casual conference, so jeans are ok. Some people dressed down, some people dressed up. It didn't seem to matter either way. We used one of our library heroes as a barometer, and ended up dressing to code.

And how about a word about our accommodations. Three of us stayed together in slumber party central, which was your regular hotel room, but in a row of joined cabins instead of a high rise hotel. One lucky member of our group was put up by her library in one of the more private cabins that included a sitting room and fireplace. Jealous much?

After too little sleep and much annoyance with the 3-girls-one-shower-no-ventilation-damp-bathroom-no-mirror situation, it was back to the main lodge for more food. And the first keynote speaker. Evan Solomon (of CBC fame) was the perfect opening speaker. Though links to libraries were tenuous, he was humourous and charming and generally a very entertaining way to start the day.

"Culture is a set of instructions and the library is where we keep the manuals for future generations"

"Evan Solomon is an entertaining speaker. are his CBC shows that entertaining too?"

"Schools and are where ideas begin. Simple but profound message."

"Social ingenuity must come before technical ingenuity."

"Let's have a gathering place for great ideas that tell who we are in a language everyone can understand."

"Leadership is caring about the nobodies - libraries welcome all."

"Parliament is like high school with money."

The rest of the conferency bit of the day consisted of two hourish long sessions, with another filling lunch in the middle. The first session I saw was about open education (sharing resources etc online for free), which was interesting in itself, though more could have been said about practically applying this to libraries.

"Just used an ipad!"

After lunch I went to a session put on by two library directors from two faith-based university colleges in Edmonton. I was particularly interested in this session, as one of the speakers was my practicum supervisor (and likewise one of my heroes) and the other speaker was one of the people I wanted particularly wanted to speak to (librarian hero in the future?). The session was great, they used a Mythbusters theme to bust some myths about Christian colleges (ie. they are not bible colleges, instead they provide quality undergraduate and graduate education in a slightly different atmosphere than the university, and no, you don't have to be spiritual to work or attend classes there). I also met a really inspiring librarian at the session. Indeed, our paths crossed the again that evening and will likely again. Librarians rock!

After the sessions, I went for a beautiful walk around Lake Beauvert (and yes, it is indeed beautifully green!). It's a 3.6 km walk, and I went pretty slow, stopping often to take (121) photos. How many photos of mountains do I need? It was soooo beautiful and sooo quiet and peaceful. I felt like I was the only person in the woods. This walk was one of the highlights of my entire weekend. **

"Great sessions today on open education, then mythbusting Christian colleges. And I went for a walk around the lake. Beautiful!!"

After chilling for a bit (including reading the complimentary Edmonton Journal and using the free internet, yay JPL), we had dinner, the highlight of which was our tablemates, a lovely older couple from the board of a small rural county library system. Then my fellow library students headed to the pool while I teamed up with a couple other younger librarians and we once again walked around the lake. This time we saw deer and elk around the lodge both before and after our lovely walk.

And then one of librarians convinced me to crash a party. There were always parties going on in the cabins, some were open, some weren't. Oops. It was thrilling and most interesting to glimpse what the important librarians did at the conference, though it was quite uncomfortable for a lowly student dressed in their hiking attire. This falls under the category of 'what happens in Jasper stays in Jasper' but I will say it was quite interesting to be a fly on that wall for half an hour!

The next morning, the speaker was Max Valiquette, who discussed youth demographics and culture. I have to say, I wasn't initially interested in the topic but it was quite fascinating! What another excellent way to start a Saturday morning bright and early!

"Max valiquette is teaching us about youth culture. So far - fascinating..."

"Modern library is not about books - it's about learning, experiencing, understanding."

"Self directed learning, media literacy, libraries need to/are changing (I'm so excited to be a part of it!)"

"Less need for central branch - they want info now and where they are - don't need knowledge repositories now - need gateways"

"What libraries do is more important now than ever!"

That morning, I also had the chance to talk to an old high school teacher who I spotted the first day (who is now a rural board member), and a guy I went to junior high with (who is director of a rural library). Libraryland is a very small world!!

My first session was about facility planning for an electronic information literacy (teaching library skills) classroom. I had actually heard this talk as part of a class last summer but didn't realize it until it had already started. I could've left, but I actually enjoyed the presentation and learned from it. After lunch I learned a bit about copyright, and then saw a session about roving reference. That session was particularly interesting because I happened to be visiting that particular college library when they had just started roving reference in 2008, so it was neat to see how the experiment turned out. I'm still not sold on the idea, but principles from it are relevant and very important to incorporate in regular reference (such as you don't have to be chained to the desk, go to the students if they need you!).

"Interesting sessions on electronic classroom facility planning, then copyright, now off to roving reference. Too cold for a walk."

"Well look at that, my 2000th tweet was about interesting speakers at the Alberta Library Conference in beautiful Jasper!"

I relaxed for a bit, then joined my friends for the final banquet. We had dressed up a bit, and the food was a bit fancier. As usual, our meal company was superb and it was a great time. After some photo ops, we headed into the dance.

** Remember my gorgeous walk around the lake? Well, I had heard from a bunch of other guests that there was a mother bear and two cubs wandering around the golf course part of the grounds near the lake. One of my librarian heroes saw me walking and taking pictures (I had indeed noticed a runner on my walk but didn't know it was her). At the final dinner, she asked me if I'd seen the bears that were a mere 100m by me. Um. No. I missed seeing the bears!! I walked right past them and didn't notice!! Regretful for sure, but I was by myself and bears terrified me as a child so likely that would have made me quite anxious. Imagine, 100m from bears and I didn't even realize it!

"Apparently walked right by three bears on my walk around the lake yesterday. Yikes!"

Now I know people think librarians are boring, but let me tell you, set up a dance floor, turn down the lights, crank up the music and provide free alcohol, and well, look out! It was sooo much fun. I also had the chance to introduce myself to a famous local Edmonton blogger, and chatted with Stephen Abram, a VIP and very well known man in the North American library scene. We had a very interesting discussion about librarians and library technicians and how awesome all the library staff of Alberta was. For the rest of the evening, we danced the night away, and got to share the dance floor with many of our librarian heroes. It was a good time, well worth the blisters and sore knees the next day!!

Sunday, after little sleep, we checked out early, ate our final gourmet breakfast and headed home.

I didn't think I would enjoy ALC, but I did. I didn't think I would learn anything, but I did. I got to have fun with librarians I knew, librarians I just met, and the VIPs of library land. I certainly met many awesome people. I got to know my fellow students a bit better. I got to walk and wander in amazement through beautiful places.

Would I go next year? Yes, most definitely. It is a bit pricy, and who knows where I'll be working (and thus if they'll pay for it or give me the time off). One of my librarian heroes and I pinky-swore we would do a session next year, and I have faith it'll happen one year if not next year.

It was a great weekend. I highly recommend the Alberta Library Conference in Jasper.

"Ok so the Alberta Library Conference in Jasper was awesomely fantastic. See you all there next year!!"

Me Welcome 2 Slideshow

2009-05-01T17:17:00.002-06:00

Victoria2 Slideshow

2009-05-01T16:39:00.003-06:00

Victoria1 Slideshow

2009-05-01T16:38:00.002-06:00

Vancouver3 Slideshow

2009-05-01T16:35:00.002-06:00

VancouverAQ2 Slideshow

2009-05-01T16:34:00.002-06:00

Vancouver1 Slideshow

2009-05-01T16:32:00.002-06:00

British Columbia

2009-04-30T00:05:00.003-06:00

(Scroll down for more slideshows)

Sunday April 19, 2009

Holiday time!! Vancouver bound…

My mom and I picked up Dorothy at her place, and we headed to the airport. After wasting time doing nothing, as one does in an airport, we boarded the flight, which thankfully was short and sweet. Dorothy’s mom picked us up at the airport and drove us to where they live in Burnaby, which was the perfect opportunity for me to look out the window and enjoy the scenery. The vegetation and foliage around here look very much like England did, which I guess is something I never noticed about BC before. The houses look like Seattle houses though. There definitely is a different sort of architecture around here. The like to use colour on the houses, and boxy, modern architecture, if that makes any sense. And glass, my goodness, the new apartment complexes are all glass! I wouldn’t want to be here during the impending earthquake!

A woman named Jin lives with the Chan family, so we dropped off our luggage and headed out to this Italian pasta place called Amarosa for her birthday dinner, where we were fed huge portions! After that it was back home for cake and cookies. Dorothy and I chatted to her sister, Gloria, for awhile, and then it was off to bed in my own little basement suite.

All in all, a lovely first day. The Chan’s are fantastic hosts!

Monday April 20, 2009

After sleeping in a bit, Dorothy and I took the skytrain downtown. First she showed me the Vancouver Public Library main branch. It’s pretty famous because it looks like the Roman coliseum. It’s very nice, quite new and modern, and of course huge. Apparently they blow it up in movies sometimes. They film a lot of tv/movies here, Dorothy even showed me the lot they film ‘Smallville’ on, as it’s right on the train route.

We walked into the old Bay building, and browsed through all the Olympic merchandise (tons!) before cruising through the downtown mall (Pacific Centre). Next, the tour continued past the art gallery, home to a strange sight! It was 4:20 (April 20), so the area in front of the art gallery was packed with people and food/crafty tents. Apparently, it was a protest or something to raise awareness about legalizing marijuana, and at 4:20pm they all light up joints (which we didn’t stick around for!). Strange. I just couldn’t figure out why the police let them get away with it!

Lunch was at Japadog, a corner hot dog cart with a twist! It was Japanese of course and oh so yummy! My Terimayo dog had teriyaki sauce, Japanese mayo and seaweed on it. It was fantastic! Then we walked down Robson Street, wandering into a few shops, and Dorothy made sure to point out all the Starbucks. I guess Vancouver’s downtown is way better than Edmonton’s of course, much more like London, or any big city. It was certainly vibrant, with shops and food and people milling about, so it was a fun afternoon.

Next, we took the bus to this gelato ice cream factory place that had 218 flavours!!! It was so hard to decide what to buy, but luckily the place was fairly quiet and we could sample a lot of different flavours. I settled on eggnog with peanut butter and jam on top. It was yummy, well worth the bus trip into the ghetto for! Following that we took the bus and skytrain back into Burnaby, visiting the public library to get a book for Dorothy, before walking around Crystal Mall (a Chinese mall) and Metro Town, the big mall in Burnaby. Dorothy’s mom bought us sushi for dinner at Sushi Garden, and wow it was good. I’m not a huge sushi fan but quite enjoyed the California Rolls (best I ever had), Dynamite Rolls, and Crab and Papaya Rolls. I also tried surf clam and of course gobbled up the tempura. It was the best sushi I’ve ever had. We topped it off with green tea ice cream at home, and then hung out on our computers for a laptop slumber party (I love my new desktop pic!) before going to sleep.

Tuesday April 21, 2009

Unfortunately, it seems the birthday pasta made Gloria and Mr. Chan a bit ill! This does not bode well…

Today was a full day. First we had dim sum, which was really good and I ate way too much as usual! The Lychee jelly was good for desert but I was actually too full to finish it! Then we took the train and bus to Stanley Park. It was beautiful and green, and the cherry blossoms are out so that was lovely to see, as I’ve never seen cherry blossoms bloom before. There are also tons of magnolia trees, which I’ve never seen before either.

The whole point about going to Stanley Park was to visit the Vancouver Aquarium, which did not disappoint! First we saw the frogs, the tropical fish, the Amazon section and the reef shark show, and then we also watched the dolphin show (not bottle nose dolphins for once, but Pacific West Coast) so that was cool. We watched the sea otter for awhile, and also the belugas. There was a new baby, so the tank was pretty empty, with just the mom and the grandma in there with the cute grey baby. They were so majestic, very mesmerizing. We headed back inside to see the jellyfish and octopus. I’m not normally an aquarium person but it was really cool; I definitely enjoyed it.

After finally finding some vegetable juice, we took the bus down Main St. to go to Voltage Land, a shop that sells cool ‘toys’ and clothes, and then went to another VPL library to grab a book for Dorothy. We walked down Broadway, past all the sport shops and the provincial streets, before settling into dinner at Sushi Bang. I had a bento box and it was fantastic, although the California rolls weren’t as good as Sushi Garden’s. Next we took the bus to the University of British Columbia, where Dorothy gave me a quick tour before the rain started and it got dark. The coolest things were a Millennial camera obscura carriage, just displayed in the middle of nowhere, and the main library. The main library had some really cool glass decorations, and was much more modern than the one I work at at home. They also have an on site warehouse called ASRS (Automated Storage Retrieval System), and I took a cool picture of the machine that picks books off the shelf.

Once we got home we spent some time figuring out our Seattle trip for tomorrow.

Unfortunately, part two, around midnight I got soooo sick, with food poisoning too. It was probably our Japanese dinner (me thinks the shrimp tempura?). I was really sick until 5:30am, when I finally fell asleep.

Wednesday April 22, 2009

Because I was so sick, we decided we couldn’t go to Seattle today. Boo!! I’m so disappointed! Honestly I could’ve cared less about the shopping, but it would have been nice to see Angela and Peter. I think Dorothy was disappointed too: she wanted to go shopping.

Instead we spent the day hanging out in the computer room on our respective computers, Dorothy, Gloria and I. It was a nice day in the end though, a fun laptop bonding day.

Thursday, April 23, 2009

We slept in today, and then headed back into Vancouver. First we stopped at True Confections for cheesecake, and then we walked around Granville Island and the Markets. I could see how this would be a big hit for tourists, but mostly I was unimpressed. The views of downtown and the boats were kinda cool, with the mountains in the back, but it takes more than over priced artsy stuff and food markets to impress me. The venue was nice though.

Following that, we trekked to another mall to checkout a purse for my neverending-handbag-quest. It was disappointing (stupid red stitching) so we went to the Cactus Club for some appetizers before heading home for dinner.

We spent the rest of the evening watching this anime show the girls got me into yesterday. It’s weird, but well done and clever, and culturally intriguing.

Off to Victoria tomorrow!

Friday, April 24, 2009

We set off for the bus depot early, and then enjoyed the trip all the way to Victoria (no stress, no fuss - take the bus!). It’s always fun driving in random parts of new cities, and I think I’ve seen quite a lot of Vancouver by now! The ferry was also alright, blessedly short with lovely scenery of all the islands to look at.

After arriving in Victoria and grabbing lunch, we wandered around the Royal BC Museum. It is quite a good museum, with the prerequisite fossils, stuffed animals, environment and native stuff. The native gallery was well done, and very different from the types of artifacts you’d find on the prairies (thus what I’m used to). The historical section was good too, they transformed the gallery area into a street, with store fronts and rooms, including a mine, lumber mill, fishery and ship. It was interesting and overall quite neat!

Dorothy and I then wandered around downtown, taking in the parliament buildings, Empress Hotel, waterfront, and touristy shops. We found some bubble tea and then met up with my cousin Kelly. It was so nice to see my cousins!! We had dinner (world’s best veggie lasagna) at their lovely place, then sat in the awesome garden around the fire pit just chatting. It was a really great evening.

Saturday April 25, 2009

After breakfast, we took Dorothy on the world’s longest walk through Victoria, much to her dismay! First we all walked through the neighbourhood to Craigdarroch Castle for a few pictures (too bad they’re tearing up the yard!) and then moseyed around the BC Lieutenant Governor General’s residence gardens. There are tons of gardens here, everyone grow interesting and pretty things, it’s refreshing! Matt left us to go play Frisbee so the girls and I kept walking to the coast. We walked along the beach for awhile and then rested for lunch at a yummy pizza parlour.

Following lunch we headed downtown, looking at a few quirky shops and Monroe’s bookstore before heading to Fisherman’s Wharf. It’s a dock area full of boats and floating houses, and has two fat resident seals! It was worth the walk just for the seals. We then walked all the way home. I really enjoyed walking through Victoria, it’s definitely different from back home, and is pretty and quaint.

We spent the evening snacking and gossiping, and played four rounds of ‘7up7down’, a new card game.

Sunday April 26, 2009

After breakfast, Kelly and Matt drove us to the bus depot and we headed back to Vancouver. It was really lovely to see my cousins, catch up on all the family gossip, and get an insiders view on Victoria (hippy house and all). I learned a few things; hopefully I can put that into practice when I get home!

Dorothy’s mom picked us up at the skytrain station and we went to Queen Elizabeth park for a short walk. The flowers were certainly lovely, and the place was crawling with people and their cameras! Plus there was a great view of downtown too. We had dinner at home (I’m loving the authentic Chinese food!) and then watched more anime. Only a few days, and a few episodes left!

Monday, April 27, 2009

Lazy day today. I slept in late, then walked to Metrotown Metropolis Mall. FYI, it takes 45 minutes to walk from Dorothy’s to the mall. It was a nice walk though, good weather. And I had a nice lunch of apple salad, fruit salad and a turkey and brie wrap. I just wandered around a bit, bought a few things, and walked home. It was nice to have an afternoon to my own thoughts, and to get a bit of exercise.

This evening the whole family went to this Bio-Feedback presentation from some company called Quantum something-or-other. We just went to get a free naturopath health session thingy, but mostly the presentation was a sales pitch/pyramid scheme thingy. The bio-feedback session I got for free was interesting, mostly about stuff I already know, like I need to get more sleep, eat better, take vitamins etc. It did pick out (sort of) my earlier food poisoning, and said I have an aversion to eggs and peanuts. Who knew. Interesting, but hokey.

Tuesday, April 28, 2009

Up late again this morning, I do love lazy mornings! Gloria and I then went downtown to rent bikes and rode around the seawall. It was fantastic! The weather was gorgeous and blue, the scenery lovely, company good and the bikes a great workout. We stopped by the totem poles, saw the Navy reserve, the mountains, woman in a wetsuit statue, Lion’s Gate Bridge, and of course the ocean. We ended our ride at English Bay Beach, and then grabbed lunch before heading home.

I went out for a last supper with Dorothy and her mom, and we did some shopping. Dorothy and I finished that anime series (grief, does that mean I have to get into manga to read the continuing saga??) and that was that. I’ll see her again in four months when school starts, what I’ll do in the meantime I don’t know (who will tell me what is fashionable??).

Wednesday, April 29, 2009

I packed, watched some tv, pottered on the internet, and then headed home. Ah Alberta, where the grass is brown, and leaves are nonexistent. Gosh I love being home! It was a great holiday though, so great I’m thinking I might have to go back soon…

Las Vegas Slideshow

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Grand Canyon Slideshow

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PNE Slideshow

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US Road Trip

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(Scroll down for more slideshows)

July 26, 2008

I flew into Seattle, Washington (it turned out to be cheaper and quicker for Jo, who was coming from the UK, even with the 3 hour drive to Portland, Oregon, after) and was met by Stacy and Angela. Yay! It was so nice to see them and catch up, especially with Ang since we probably wouldn't get to chat much at her wedding later in the week. After a good chat we met Jo (yay again!) and Ang parted ways with us.

Next came the marathon 3 hour drive to Portland. It was nice though, we all had another fab chat. Bonus: License Plate Game 2008 has started! It's my favourite and just makes me happy; I'm sure we'll get bigger totals than last year! We got in late and pottered around for a bit before crashing for the night.

July 27, 2008

After meeting Stacy's roommate (and her mom) and loitering around on computers and in showers, we headed out to lunch. Panera Bread is my new favourite lunch restaurant! Yummy strawberry poppyseed salad!

Stacy gave us a quick tour of trendy Portland and then we went to her church. It's called 'Vibrant' and is a small church affiliated with Covenant. Everyone seemed very honest and sincere and you could tell they were a strong community. Stacy really loves it.

We headed to Target and did some grocery shopping. After watching a great movie (Once) it was hangout and then bed time.

July 28, 2008

Shopping day today! We went to Washington Square (same as last year) which was actually a bit disappointing (well, Victoria Secret and the Apple store anyways). Apparently we're getting a Bath & Body works in Edmonton soon so even that wasn't very novel. Oh well, we made some good purchases anyways and then headed off to Beaverton.

It was Stacy's dad's birthday BBQ so we hung out with the Croft clan for the evening. Stacy's niece and nephew, Maddy and Connor (2 and 7) were super cute and 'Bub' and Meridith put on a lovely meal, complete with 'wacky' cake a la Stacy's sister Jennifer. I really enjoyed the evening with the family, and capped it off with a cuddle from Lil' Kitty. Ah bliss. Tomorrow: Vegas!

July 29, 2008

Oh wow.

We headed off to the airport on 'MAX', the light rail system, after a mile walk in the rain. Thankfully the flight was short because landing made me feel hot and nauseous. And Las Vegas made me quite anxious.

Las Vegas was quite overwhelming. It's big. It's tall. It's noisy. It's bright. It's busy. And it's freakin' hot. We took a cab over to our hotel: Excalibur, the castle. Initially all the people and the noise, yeah, it was bewildering. We gained our bearings in our room for an hour and then ventured out for dinner.

It's was so hot. Scorching, +40 every day. Too hot, but at least it's a dry heat, and everywhere is air conditioned. This place is like a giant adult amusement park. The hotels are huge and crazy! Everyone looks so different and just so out of this world. They all have a casino and shops and bars and restaurants in them, and the decor - oh my.

We stopped at Planet Hollywood (no, not that one, the hotel not the restaurant) to eat. The Ocean Grill was a good restaurant, and a great place to watch the 'rain storm' in the shopping mall (no kidding). We did some shopping and then continued down the strip to the Venetian, stopping in to see the indoor canals and gondolas.

The heat has caused us to take up a random routine: walk outside until you can't stand the heat, and then walk through the casino/mall to cool down in the a/c. Hot.

We took in the Bellagio fountain show (very cool!), bought much needed drinks and snacks at the pharmacy and trudged home to rest our aching feet and cool down. Vegas is crazy. Sex and girl hawkers everywhere. Bright neon lights. People everywhere. Escalators and bridges outside. Heat. Crazy. I don't feel quite so overwhelmed now that I know the lay of the land and have walked the strip though. Sleep time.

July 30, 2008

I didn't sleep at all. I was grumpy and I think I annoyed the girls. Oh well, they spent most of the day in the hot scorching sun by the pool which annoyed me so we're even. I hung around the room, went to grab breakfast and eventually the pool girls returned. We took a cab to pick up the rental car (free with my airmiles, yay!) and then Stacy drove us just south of the strip to the Las Vegas Outlet Mall. It was a bit ghetto, but the girls bought a few things and got some great deals.

When we got back to our castle, the girls went back to the pool and I went for a solo wander. I walked up in the heat to the Forum because I thought it would be cool, but it wasn't really. I also went into Paris. It's really neat how all the interiors are themed and done up. Crazy. I could've done without the 'Girls to You in 20 mins' prostitute hawkers lining the roads with their business cards though. I popped into the Mile shops (where we ate last night) to cool off and properly saw the inside rain storm, which was cool.

The main point of my wander was the M&M store. I guess my parents and sister talked about it a lot so I really wanted to go. You can buy anything you'd ever dreamed of with the M&M logo on it. It was four floors and a bit insane with all the paraphernalia. The 'choose your own colour' wall was cool though, over 22 colours to choose from. That's a lot of unique M&Ms! I also somehow wandered into the 3D movie, which was kind of cute. I definitely satisfied my curiosity and it was a fun store, worth a visit.

My last stop was the MGM Grand to see the Lion Habitat. It was so cool, a highlight for me! There were just three lions, sleeping, but you could stand underneath them in this covered walkway. I suppose it was just neat to see a whole lion enclosure actually in a casino! Vegas is so crazy

For dinner we met up with Greg, a college friend of Stacy's. He was really cool and there was a lot of PLU reminising. His wife Ashley joined us and we had a filling Indian meal and chatted. He got us cheap tickets to Cirque du Soleil - Mystere, and drove us to Treasure Island after dinner to see it.

We got into this long queue for the show, and when we got in it was just so amazing. I was so excited! A clown in a suit entertained us for a bit and then the show started. It was amazing! The acrobats were excellent, so strong and talented, unbelievable. I really enjoyed the whole show (even the clown, and her 'Papa'), the entire atmosphere was awesome. My eyes hurt because I wasn't blinking, too much to see! So cool. I would totally see another Cirque show in a heartbeat. Unfortunately I felt quite sick as we left. Too much sun and Indian food, not enough sleep I think.

July 31, 2008

I slept, yay, but we were up super early because today is road trip day!! Soon we were out of Vegas and driving through the desert, so gorgeous. We stopped briefly at the Hoover Dam to get a few pictures, but it wasn't quite as cool as I thought it would be. At Kingman we swapped drivers and I drove down the I-40 through Arizona, very exciting. The terrain changed from the Nevada mountainy desert to scrub cover, to green low trees, finally to loose forests. Usually there were mountains somewhere in the view.

It took almost 6 hours (with stops) to get to our destination - the Grand Canyon. The Grand Canyon is awesome! It's so huge! You just can't fathom the length, width or depth. It was just amazing! First we went to the South Rim visitor's centre and saw a couple elk, then we walked along the edge, stopping often for photos! It was just so pretty! Awe-inspiring!

Next was the long drive back, Stacy and I sharing the duty. We got in late and went straight to bed. I haven't slept much at all, the room is pretty noisy (our beloved a/c!). I'm actually looking forward to tomorrow night sleeping on Stacy's couch!

August 1, 2008

Another early morning, this time for an IHOP breakfast stop. Yummy pancakes! We returned the rental car and took a cab to Fashion Show, one of the strips 'huge' malls. It wasn't all that impressive. We had lunch in the food court and then Stacy and Jo went back to hang out by Excalibur's pool, leaving me (no bathing suit or desire to sit in the scorching heat) to amuse myself for 4 hours. Ho hum.

First I hung out in the small Border's bookstore in the mall, then decided it was time to brave the heat. I walked through Treasure Island and the Mirage, then checked out the Forum shops again. I walked through Caesar's Palace (maybe my most favourite Casino, oh so very tacky) and the Bellagio, then crossed back and mosied round the Mile shops again. I went back to the MGM Grand and watched the sleeping lions for a bit before going to the Luxor for a few pictures. I met back up with Stacy and Jo and we headed to the airport. Our flight got in late and it was back on the couch for some sleep.

Vegas was cool (ha ha, hot!) - but overwhelming and not my kind of place with all it's gambling, drinking, partying and expensive shopping. The Grand Canyon was beautiful though, worth the road trip through Nevada and Arizona. All in all, a curiosity satisfying side trip.

August 2, 2008

Lazy day today. We all got up late and moved quite slowly (Vegas detox maybe?). Eventually we made it to downtown Portland. First stop was 'Coffee Crutch' for a yummy bagel and hummous. Next stop: Powell's - world's biggest and best bookstore! Powell's takes up an entire city block and is multiple stories (it's a bit of a maze really). It's unique in that it shelves new and used books side by side. I could wander for hours, but only had one before meeting the girls in the coffee shop. The place was packed. It was great fun browsing and I did buy a few things (yay!). I'll miss Powell's.

We did a bit more shopping downtown, then stopped at Panera Bread and Fred Myer to pick up dinner and snacks. We spent another lazy evening watching a movie (The Darjeeling Limited) and then drifted to our rooms, or couch to sleep. Tomorrow: the wedding!

August 3, 2008

Up, shower, pack, potter around, drive up to Tacoma! This was the last chance to play the license plate game, so sad! Till next time!

After a quick change at the hotel we headed to Puyallup for Angela and Peter's wedding! The church was lovely, lot's of dark wood, and the service was lovely too (very short!). Ang looked beautiful! Her dress suited her so well, and the bridesmaids looked great also. Her parents actually remembered me from last year's boat trip. It was a nice, simple service, totally perfect for Ang and Peter.

The reception was nice too. We sat with Ang's learning assistant from school and chatted a bit to Brian Green (who I'd met in Berlin while traveling with the American girls) and Ang's sister Gina (who had come to London for a bit too). The food was yummy, the speeches funny and heartfelt and the venue at the Yacht Club gorgeous (great views of Puget Sound). Ang and Peter looked so happy!

For me it was a great 'full circle/closure' kind of thing. Five years ago I met Angela and Stacy and today we all went to Angela's wedding. It was also my last day with Stacy and Jo. My holiday is over. It started well, had some rough patches in the middle, and ended well with the wedding. So long USA!!

Finally tally for the License Plate Game (2008 version): 37 states, 4 provinces, 1 Mexico, 1 US Air Force, 1 US Army - Total: 44!!

Rate-A-Zoo

2008-01-13T15:01:00.003-07:00

Welcome To My RATE-A-ZOO page!

I've been to some amazing cities and have gone to some amazing attractions. I'm partial to zoos and am quite opinionated, so here it is, my comprehensive guide to the best zoos around:

Four Stars

Toronto Zoo - My most favourite zoo ever. I used to watch the reality tv show they used to do, and once knew all the names of the monkeys. This zoo is huge, and requires the whole day. It's got everything you'd ever want to see and then some. One day I'll go back...

San Francisco Zoo - This zoo is quite big, and gets bumped up a level because of their cute meerkats and the big cat feeding we got to see. They've had their fair share of problems lately though, which is sad for everyone involved. Still, worth a visit nonetheless, but maybe stay away from the big cat feeding.

Calgary Zoo - As an Edmontonian and Calgary rival, I'll admit this zoo is great. It's also really large and the themed areas are set out nicely. I love the tigers, and the dinosaur park!

Three Stars

Stanley Park, Vancouver - I'm not sure it's still the same as it was fifteen years ago, but back then they had killer and beluga whales and that was just so cool!

London Zoo - This zoo is actually alright, though tends to get a bad rap. The monkey walk-through is fun and they've got tigers, and that's all it takes for me to enjoy a zoo really!!

Two Stars

Edmonton Storyland Valley Zoo - Our zoo is small, but still has lot's to see, especially for the kids. Lucy the elephant is an Edmonton institution!

Montreal Biodome - I'm not much for the humidity of the tropics, but the idea is neat, the Antarctic part was clever too. And they have an anaconda, creepifying but an attraction nonetheless.

One day I'll go to San Diego...

Toronto Slideshow 2

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Toronto 1 Slideshow

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Toronto 3 Slideshow

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Me Welcome Slideshow

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Toronto

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(Scroll down for more slideshows)

December 27, 2007

When I first visited Toronto, five years ago, I thought it was dirty (and warm, it was a July heatwave) and smelly (there was a garbage strike on ). Downtown no longer stinks, but it is still kind of dirty. And the subway is dingy. But it's the same as I remember, and that's comforting. Once you get past the exterior, Toronto really has got character.

I got off the subway (once I figured out the ticket procedure) and tried to find MuchMusic, but didn't so I turned back and headed towards Yonge Street and the Eaton Centre mall. The Bay holiday windows were neat (all robotic Christmas scence) but the mall was packed! The neatest thing about Eaton Centre (wich is so not as good as West Ed, I love that mall) was the glimmering Swarovski crystal Christmas tree. Seriously, it was shiny! I walked up Yonge St. (3 hours later!) and wandered around The World's Biggest Bookstore (which is now owned by Indigo and has been replaced by Powells as my favourite bookstore anyways) and then took the subway to Melissa's work.

I was about to spend a lovely evening enjoying my book but got my first ever migraine. I thought I was going to either throw up or die. It was not pleasant, but it passed at 1am and I got some sleep.

December 28, 2007

Melissa was working again so I once again wandered and shopped by myself downtown. First I headed down Queen Street West, past trendy/eclectic shops. As I walked by the CityTv building (ha, found it!), some interview was being televised, but alas, nothing was going on in the MuchMusic window.

I turned up Spadina and walked through Chinatown, reliving the memories (minus the stench). On Dundas, I turned up Kensington Ave and boughta nifty pair of mitts from one of the vintage shops, then wandered through the market. On my way back to Yonge, I met a girl going home to Bobcaygeon (like the Hip song!) and we chatted for a few blocks, then I continued up Young (through the seedy and trendy bits) to Bloor. I walked down Bloor for a bit, looking at the posh shops, and then took the train home.

Melissa made me burgers for dinner and we saw the movie 'Walk Hard'. It was pretty funny as a parody, even though I usually hate those kind of movies. The music was good and folksy though, I reckon that helped. Off to Niagra tomorrow!

December 29, 2007

After a leisurely morning, we headed out to Niagra Falls, which is only about 90 minutes away. We stopped at the falls for awhile and took some pictures. It was just how I rmembered it, except the blue sky and stiffling heat was replaced by cold, windy drizzle, surrounded by brown and grey slush. I thought it would be frozen, but it wasn't and there was barely any snow. But they are beautiful; the falls are amazing!

We walked up Clifton Hill, which is also how I remembered it: a disgrace to Canada. The whole street is full fo restaurants, casinos, arcades and flashing neon lights. Risht beside a majestic wonder of nature, it's pathetic. Melissa and I had lunch at Boston Pizza for old times sake and then headed home. She wouldn't let me go to Marineland (sniff) but I had fun playing the license plate game: total - 16.

We got halfway through a Pirates of the Caribbeann marathon, now off to bed before another full day!

December 30, 2007

Melissa and I went to the Onario Science Centre. I remember it being this huge, fun, interactive museum. Well, it kind of was. It was expensive (and we had to pay for parking, stupid Toronto) and not as big with as many exhibits as I had imagined. There were galleries for space, the environment, the human body, the mind and perception, forces and sports. One of the exhibits told me I was 1 of 16 out of 140,000 with my uniqueness. The water tasting challenge was interesting (see, I told you Evian was gross and tap water was underrated), and the coral reef beautiful. There defintiely were a lot of interactive things to do, but some needed repair and many had huge lines. The whole thing seemed a bit outdated and old.

Except for the Weston Family Innovation Hall and Challenge Centre. I felt like I was transported back to London's Science Museum. It was hip and techie, with lights, screens, space, and stuff to make and touch. If this is the sort of stuff that gets people learning, I'm all for it. We should've paid extra to see an Imax movie (ona curved roof) or the Titanic exhibit (I'll probably regret that one). Cheapo.

Other than that we got lost, then finished Pirates once we got home. Drink up, me hearties, yo ho!!

December 31, 2007

I met up with Keith, a fellow Leahy fan, for coffee. It's always nice to chat face to face with people you've met online, and we passed the time with plenty of conversation.

Then came the New Year's Eve Thrilling Nightmare. Melissa and I went down to Nathan Philips Square for the festivities. It wasn't too crowded and we managed to perch ourselves on a bench by the skating rink. We sat and listened to a few 'mini' bands I'd never heard of, and watched the people walk by. Once the headliners (never heard of them either) came on at 11pm, we stood up. We now found ourselves in the midst of 40,000 people, pretty much dead centre. It was so squashed we couldn't move. We were content where we were but then we got cold and it started to snow. Worried aobut how we'd get make it out later, we started to make our way out at about twenty to midnight.

Bad idea. Very bad idea. We should've stayed where we were, but hindsight is a bitch. We got separated. It was so crowded and squashed, I just couldn't move. I latched onto some guy who had lost his friends too and we tried to move together as a team, with not much luck. He was pretty stressed. It was insane! Then someone passed out and the paramedics had to get through. I had visions of Notting Hill Carnival my first week in London. The rish of getting trampled was definitely there. Then the countdown started, then the fireworks. For a few minutes I was in awe. Then the crush turned into a mini stampede.

I finally got out of the crowd and onto the street where cars were helpless against all the people. I didn't know what to do, there were just so many people and I had no idea what had happened to Mel. I figured the best way to find her was to go home, where there would be fewer people. I waited at her local subway station for awhile, then thought she might be ahead of me so I jogged through the ghetto in the still falling, soggy snow, to her place. She wasn't there and she had the key. I waited a minute, then worried some more and jogged back to the subway station. I waited there, too scared to walk home again on my own at the quickly progressing hour, praying my heart out she was ok. At about 1:30am we were reunited, just exstatic we were both ok, too happy to fret over what had happened. She had been waiting for me at the subway station downtown.

Happy New Year 2008!!

January 1, 2008

We watched the enitre first season of How I Met Your Mother, and ate junk. I read a book. We didn't even get out of our pj's.

January 2, 2008

I stuck close to home today, pottering with my blogs and then grabbing a few groceries at 'No Frills' (seriously ghetto). Later that evening we went to see the movie 'Juno', which was brilliant (well written, great music...). It's gotten really cold so I wont be making it to the zoo, sniff.

January 3, 2008
I went to the Royal Ontario Museum (ROM) today. First, I waited in line for an hour and15 minutes, in the cold! Crazy! Serves me right though for going during school holidays. The museum has a fancy new 'crystal' building facade and interior, and a lot of new redone galleries or galleries under construction. I remember the ROM as bein huge, full of great exhibits, and this still holds true.

I remember the armour, the European style rooms and the totem poles. They've got a great Ancient Egypt gallery (who doesn't - Alberta I guess) and a lot of greek artifacts. There's loads of nature hands on stuff for kids, including birds and a Bat Cave. The Dinosaur exhibit just reopened and it was packed with people, and kids. It's quite well done; they sure packed in the bones! The First Peoples gallery is the best I've seen (including the sad Shapeshifter exhibit) and rivals the Royal Alberta Museum's. There's also early Canadian furniture and a large Oriental/Asian collection. In the Collector's exhibit downstairs I saw Trudeau's canoe, a wheel from the AVRO Arrow, and an Anne of Green Gables manuscript!

The Rom is great, just as I remembered. My only complaint is the floor plan of the new galleries. I like to follow a straight, clear route, but in the new areas it's like they crammed in as much stuff as they could, in any haphazard way, which led to a lot of doubling back, zig zagging, and missed viewing. Oh, and I could've done without the line to get in.

I had some 'Street Meat' as Mel calls it (a yummy hot dog from s street vendor, you've got to do it if you're in T.O.) and then headed past the university and the Ontario Parliament. I walked down University, past the Hospital for Sick Children (I used to watch the 'Little Miracles' tv series). I took a few pictures of the CN Tower and then found Canada's Walk of Fame. Now this could be an excellently displayed idea, but it's not. No one cares or notices the panels inset into the sidewalk. There's no advertising and they spelled Jann Arden's name wrong. Plus it's set up over three streets. Stupid.

Funny, just as I was getting on the subway train home, who should pop up behind me but Keith! Crazy, because I only know a couple people in town! That was freaky timing for sure!

January 4, 2008

Melissa got home from work and dragged me over to the park near her house. There was a huge gaggle of Canadian Geese. She started feeding them bread and they went right for her! It was a bit crazy, and they are mean birds! There were just so many, and then an hour later they were gone...

I'm Alberta bound today. I just happened to meet Melissa's dad in the airport at our gate. He was in town for a conference and we happened to be on the same flight home. He managed to get himself, and then me an upgrade to business class! Sweet! I've never flown first class before, it was like it was my birthday! The seats are bigger, there's more leg room, the flight attendants are pleasant, and the food and drinks are free! Mostly it was just nice to have some company on the way home, and thankfully the good conversation caused the flight to just fly by! The Edmonton airport was a mess when we got in quite late in the evening. There were about 200 people in the lost luggage line and tons of people milling about everywhere. I've never seen it like that before, it is just the Edmonton airport. Thankfully my luggage arrived. Unfortunately Melissa's dad's didn't!

I had a nice, low key trip, revisiting old memories, hanging out with an old friend. Though it's not the world's most pretty city, I'm sure I'll find myself in Toronto again, and I'm sure I'll enjoy my time then too.

"Marineland..." (Melissa wouldn't let me go see the whales.)

"Is this the line to get in?" (at the museum line, two blocks long.)

"Please God, let Melissa be on this train..." (NYE'08)

My Blogs

2007-12-31T09:32:00.007-07:00

make it known

A collection of the random bits of knowledge that I learn or the occasional discoveries I think you should know about. Also included are a Music Monday feature and a healthy dose of curling content.

Ramble With Me

My travel blog extraordinaire. Follow along as I travel the world.

Disclaimer: These are personal blogs for the purposes of sharing information. The opinions expressed in this blog represent my own, not those of my employer(s) or any association(s) I belong to.

PNW Slideshow 2

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PNW Slideshow 1

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Eng 07 Slideshow 4

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Eng 07 Slideshow 3

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Eng 07 Slideshow 2

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Eng 07 Slideshow 1

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Pacific Northwest, USA

2007-09-09T15:15:00.000-06:00

(Scroll down for another slideshow)

August 23, 2007

So Emily arrived, and after some confusion, Angela picked us up at the airport. We drove throught the Seattle suburbs to her cute town house. Seattle really reminds me a lot of Vancouver, just the way the houses look and the space and the nature. And downtown reminds me of Calgary. It;s also much bigger than I thought it would be!

First we went to Alki beach and chilled (on the sand brought in from elsewhere). We hung out for a bit then went for a Mexican dinner downtown (the Americans love their Mexican food!). We drove around for a bit, saw a great view of downtown and the Space Needle, and went to Target. Off to hike up some mountain tomorrow...

August 24, 2007

So Ang, as usual, made me walk up a mountain today. We drove just out of Seattle to the Cascade Mountains and climbed up Mount Si. It was four miles and 4000ft to the top. I'm not in the best of shape so I stuggled up for sure. The forest was mostly fir trees and reminded me of the X-Files! Everyone we met was friendly, lot's of hard core hikers with dogs.

An yes, the view from the top was amazing and it was worth it. Very green, surounded by blue sky. The walk down was quicker and easier on my lungs but boy were my muscles sore the next day! We ended the day with Oreo Mcflurries and Arbys. Excellent, expecially the shower afterwords!

August 25, 2007

After a drive downtown, we stopped at the 'original' Starbucks, where the girls got coffee and I listened to the gospel busker. We walked through Pike Place Market, which was really nice, full of flowers and food and fruit and crafty things. Oh, and the fish. We stopped to see the guys yell and throw the fish. Quite quirky. We walked to central Seattle. There was a fun fair and of course the Space Needle. Emily went up the tower and I went to the museums.

The Science Fiction Museum was better than I expected. It was very new and well displayed. There were a lot of props and costumes: Captian Kirk's chair, Donatello the Nija Turtle, lot's of weapons and models, like the Death Star. The videos were good too, and the Alien queen was scary! The best bit was the special exhibit of movie costumes. They were showing: the Terminators coat, Indiana Jones' coat and whip, T-1000's metal effects, the Wicked Witch of the West's hat, George Clooney's batman suit, the Riddler's costume, one of the old Superman outfits, Luke Skywalker's orange jumpsuit, Darth Vader's costume, Luke's severed hand and lightsaber, a Storm Tropper helmet, Obi-Wan Kenobi's cloak and Dan Akroyd's Ghostbuster get up, along with some Star Trek costumes. Oh so very cool!!!

I also went to the Experience Music Project. The Sky Church screen in the lobby was great, huge with light effects and video. There was a hip hop section, a guitar museum and a tall sculpture with over 600 stringed instruments. There was a Northwest Gallery, with a guitar of Kurt Cobain's (and a sweather), Dave Grohl's drum kit ans some Pearl Jam and Sound Garden stuff. I watched a Jimi Hendrix video for awhile and wandered around the Disney Gallery, where they had lots of interactive things, videos, sound effects, music and a costume from Babes in Toyland, Belle from the Beauty and the Beast Broadway show and Mufasa and Sarabi costumes from the Lion King show.

There was a place where you could pretend to be a rock star and a sound gallery where you could play a nd perfom instrument. It was quite busy so I never got up the courage to have a go on the drums, but I did see Johnyy Cash's coat! I spent some time listening to some video stories (mostly Mary Stuart's) and then watched a video of some performers for awhile (Dick Dale was good), mostly guitarists. The museum building was very cool, all sheet metal in loud colours and very wavy, and wierd.

After that we went shopping, had a nice Italian meal with Peter, Ang's boyfriend, then played catch phrase for a bit before bed. A good, busy day.

August 26, 2007

Another fun, busy day in the states. I got woken up early (from a strange dream with a tsunami and high school?!) and we headed to Tacoma. Ang showed us around her parent's house in Puyallup and the we headed to the marina and met her parents at the boat house (yacht garage). We went out on the boat, over to Tacoma. We saw the glass museum, the Lady Washington, the '10 Thing I Hate About You' school and had a nice lunch with nice conversation. Ang's parents were really great and Tessa the dog was cute too!

Stacy came out on the boat too and after some saop buying, we swapped cars and said goodbye to Ang. Sad! We then drove to Portland and toured downtown, which really reminded me also of Calgary, with it's shops and fly overs.

Powell. Powells, how do I love thee, let me count the ways...Powells is the biggest, bestest, new/used book store I've ever been too! It was so big and had just so many books. Gosh, I loved it. I could stay there forever. Powells rules!

August 27, 2007

We started out early today, first stop - IHOP. It was just your regular greasy spoon but I'd never and had a nice apple cinnamon pancake plate. Stacy drove us into Oregon and out to Mount Hood. It was another beautiful solitary mountain. We drove up to Timberline Ski Resort for a cool view. We then drove to Hood River, kinda criss crossing the Oregon Trail and Lewis and Clarke's route. We stopped for McD's then headed west along the Columbia River Gorge, with a nice view of the green Columbia River, which bisects Oregon and Washington.

We stopped at Multnomah Falls, which were lovely, and enjoyed the view from the bridge. Emily climbed up and Stacy and I hung out (saw a snake!). We continued back to Portland, stopping at a mall, then headed to Stacy's parent's place in Beaverton. They bbqed and we chatted and went in the hot tub. It was nice and cosy.

August 28, 2007

We relaxed this morning, then headed into Washington, up I5 to Mount St. Helens. It looked cool from the highway for sure. We stopped at Cold Water viewpoint and listened to the ranger talk about the geography and rebirth of the land since the erruption in May, 1980, which was very interesting. He pointed out the clear cut zones and the zones with fallend trees, and the hummocks which were mounds created when the mountain blew off. First there was an earthquake, which triggered a landslide, which released enough pressure to trigger a sideways explosion. Crazy!

Next we drove down to Johnston Ridge Observatory. We saw an excellend film about the explosion, which was a bit IMAX like and truly took us on a ride with the erruption. And at the end the screen went up and the curtains opened to the real mountain top! We listened to another ranger give a fascinating talk about the erruption and the subsequent build up of the new glaciers and lava domes. The whole time of course the mountain is steaming away in front of us. I was totally in awe! It was awesome. We hiked a bit to see the toppled trees and the crater, then drove down. Mount St. Helens was probably the highlight of my trip. It was excellent.

So we hung out at the hotel Stacy's work had put her up in (she had teacher training the next few days). Then it was off to the airport (after a mega annoying cancellationa dn super long delay) and back home. It was a great trip. It was so nice to see Angela and Stacy again. And I like the Pacific Northwest, so I'll probably be back!

Final tally for the License Plate Game: 26 States, 3 Provinces, 1 US Gov't = 30 plates! Whoot whoot!!

" Do I have to call my flying monkeys?" (souvenir at Multnomah Falls)

"If I'm not asleep in ten minutes..." (then I'll get up and pee.)

"Does your dad have a yacht garage too?"

Rate-A-Museum

2007-08-07T19:44:00.003-06:00

Welcome To My RATE-A-MUSEUM page!

I've been to some amazing cities and have gone to some amazing attractions. I'm partial to museums and am quite opinionated, so here it is, my comprehensive guide to the best museums around:

Four Stars

The Louvre (Paris) - The Mona Lisa, Winged Victory, Botticelli, Ancient cultures, Napoleon Rooms, a glass pyramid and so on. It never ends! Definitely a must see.

Auschwitz (Poland) - An intensely sad and moving experience. See 2004 - Poland.

Anne Frank Museum (Amsterdam) - A fantastic restoration, right down to the original movie posters and growth chart on the wall.

British Museum (London) - My favourites: Ancient Egypt, Elgin Marbles, Easter Island man, Natives, Aztecs, Collection Gallery, Celts, Lewis Chessmen, Bog Body, Mummies Ginger and Bones, Asia...worth a few hours and multiple visits!

Natural History Museum (London) - Dinosaurs, stuffed Mammals, Whales, Rocks and Meteorites, Earth Galleries, Volcanoes, Earthquakes, Evolution...so much fun! The building is old, and new, so there is a nice contrast, and plenty to see.

Imperial War Museum (London) - Besides the weapons, machinery, interactive experiences and original war galleries, it houses the best Holocaust gallery I've ever seen, besides actually being there of course.

Royal Tyrrell Dinosaur Museum (Drumheller) - Dinosaurs, dinosaurs and more dinosaurs, nestled in the scenic environment where they were dug up.

Royal Ontario Museum (Toronto) - This place is huge and has everything you'd ever expect to see in a top museum, right in the heart of the city. There's Native Americans, Canadian and Oriental artifacts, Dinosaurs, Armour, Egypt, Greece and a cool Bat Cave!

Canadian War Museum (Ottawa) - An unbelievable museum with all kinds of well displayed artifacts. I can't wait to go to the newly renevated museum!

Museum of Civilization (Hull-Gatineau) - Natives, music, tons to look at, all in a modern setting.

Science Fiction Museum (Seattle) - A post modern gallery in a post modern building, this place has all the original weapons, models, costumes, books, and videos from all the best movies and tv series. It gets bumped up a level because of the fantastic special exhibit I saw with original movie and tv costumes. Awesome.

Ontario Science Museum (Toronto) - Tons of interactive stuff to keep every kid at heart busy, and an IMAX on the ceiling too! The galleries are a bit dated but the renovations look very high tech and modern.

Three Stars

Royal British Columbia Museum (Victoria) - This is a really nice museum, similar to the Museum of Civilization (Hull-Gatineau). There's a good environment/stuffed animal exhibit about BC, with a huge mammoth and some live fish, a great native gallery, and a huge history space with buidling mock-ups. Worth a visit, though it's a bit small so go for a special exhibit too.

Musee de la Civilisation (Quebec City) - A nicely redone, modern building, with free internet (gold to a backpacker) and China's Terracotta Warriors on special exhibit. A great way to beat the rain.

Royal Alberta Museum (Edmonton) - I'm sure we went every year in elementary school, but it is a good, albeit small, museum. The Native gallery is excellent, the dinosaurs a childhood memory and the stuffed animals my absolute favourite!

Odyssium Science Centre (Edmonton) - I'm sure we went every year in elementary school. The space gallery is legendary and the new exhibits good too, the crime scene one was fun. And the Imax will always be my favourite.

Academy of Science (San Francisco) - Mostly I remember the awesome aquarium, but this place has it all too, worth a trip up the hill just to see the grounds!

Exploratorium (San Francisco) - There is so much interactive stuff to do in this huge warehouse, most definitely a great way to spend the afternoon.

Vatican Museum (Vatican City) - Maybe more of an art gallery, but an awesome one at that. The stained glass, the ceilings, the Sistine Chapel, it was so surreal to be there.

Tate Modern (London) - One of the few art galleries I've ever liked. I'll always remember the scary dark room and the piano on the ceiling. Worth a weird wander.

Museum of Musical Instruments (Brussels) - The coolest thing was that the earphones you wear are connected to sensors, and when you move around in front of the cases, you get to hear music from whatever instrument is in that case. What an awesome concept!

Dynamic Earth (Edinburgh) - The time line concept it refreshing, and you can really feel the rooms, like the artic or submarine one. They've done a great job.

National Museum of Scotland (Edinburgh) - The older part is full of stuffed animals/birds etc, and Ancient cultures. The newer part is full of Scottish history, and is really well done.

Museum of Anthropology (Vancouver) - A small museum, this one has a lot of Aboriginal artifacts, including a great hall full of totem poles. Besides this great hall and special exhibits, there's only really one other large room full of cultural artifacts from global cultures. Lots to see, minimal reading.

Two Stars

Glenbow Museum (Calgary) - The Edvard Munch exhibit was cool, and the rest well displayed, but forgettable.

Science and Technology Museum (Ottawa) - Normally I enjoy science museums, even though they are mostly for kids, but this one is really mostly just for kids. They'll have a good time though.

Museum of Archaelogy and History (Montreal) - The coolest part was that it is down in the sewers, but the singular subject matter just made this museum a bit boring.

McCord Museum of Canadian History (Montreal) - There's lot's to see in this museum, artifacts and clothes, but also, a bit boring.

Science Museum (London) - Partly modern/partly dated, this huge place is full of stuff, but never quite managed to capture my curiousity (sorry Jo!).

Experience Music Project (Seattle) - The building is really cool (outside and in). The entrance gallery is weird but kind of enjoyable (just music, lights and images), the guitar sculpture cool, and the interactive playing studio and rock band concert was a cool idea, but the lines were too long to get anything out of this place. And I really wanted to play the drums!

One Star

Victoria and Albert Museum (London) - Imagine anything you've ever seen in a museum, then throw it all together. That's the V&A. It was just too random for me.

Art Galleries (Everywhere) - I don't like art galleries. 'Nuff said.

Rate-A-Musical

2007-08-07T17:36:00.009-06:00

Welcome to my RATE-A-MUSICAL page!

I lived in London for four years, so had tons of opportunities to see some great theatre. I'm partial to musicals and am quite opinionated, so here it is, my comprehensive guide to the best musicals around:

Four Stars

Joseph And The Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat - My favourite, absolute favourite. I've seen it five times already! I love it! It's so cheesy it's actually fun and the songs are great. I would see Joseph every day if I could. I even saw Andrew Lloyd Webber there once! Plus don't forget the moral of the story, hey it is based on the bible!

Fiddler On The Roof - I suppose this makes the top because of my amazing front row centre experience (see England 2007- July 19). But besides that, it's a great story with great songs and dancing. And because it's a serious story, you can really get drawn into it emotionally. Definitely worth a viewing, or two!

The Phantom Of The Opera - I saw this twice when I was a kid. Then I went when I was in London, to the original theatre, and the when the chandelier went up I had tears in my eyes. Maybe it was nostaligia. The show is great anyways, the music and effects excellent. I would go again, and again...

The Lion King - Yeah so I've seen this a couple of times too. After the first five minutes I had tears in my eyes, both times. It truly is a beautifully staged show. The costumes are amazing. And I actually liked the new songs (which are usually rubbish), especially 'He Lives In You'. Just beautiful.

The Wizard of Oz - The Citadel did it right this time! This musical was fantastic! The costumes were good, acting up to par, singing great, set and staging interesting and colourful, so all in all it was a fun night. Of course, the whole show was upstaged by the dog and the munchkin kids, so cute!

Three Stars

Stomp - This show is a bit different (no talking) but I love it because it's just very 'musical'. It's fun and cool to see how they can make different music with ordinary stuff. And they really get the crowd involved.

Avenue Q - This was the musical about my life. Ok, so maybe it's about a bunch of puppets but with songs like 'It sucks to be me', 'There is life outside your apartment' and 'I wish I could go back to college' could be my life too. This show is so funny and totally relevant to my generation. Warning, it is be a bit crude (but did I mention oh so funny?!).

Wicked - Oz, from the wicked witch's side. Coming out of it I was like 'I want a black hat and a cape!'. It's different than the book though, which is quite dark and erotic, the musical is very family friendly. Go on, defy gravity!

The Sound Of Music - The mountain set was pretty cool and the kids were quite fun. The new songs are a bit crap though, but it was still quite enjoyable.

Billy Elliot - I loved the movie and the musical is a bit different, but just as good. The kids were excellent and the dancing great to watch.

Mary Poppins - It was a bit different from the movie, more based on the book I guess. The story wasn't fabulous (two stars) but the kids were excellent, and the set, wow. The set was absolutely incredible. The house was so detailed and everything moved so smoothly. 'Step in time' was really fun.

Mystere - I saw this Cirque du Soleil show in Las Vegas, and it was amazing!! The clowns were shockingly not annoying, the acrobats etc were awesome (so talented) and the staging was really good as well. There's just an atmosphere about a Cirque show, definitely not to be missed.

Singing In The Rain - I love the movie, and the musical is just as good. This is a great one because there's a lot of dancing, and it's funny, plus you've got to love it when it rains for real on stage!

Two Stars

Riverdance - The show is the same as the dvds, but the atmosphere is pretty cool, especially for the big numbers where they are all in a line - that sounds cool.

Cirque De Soleil's Dralion - Once again the show was the same as one I'd seen on tv, but the atmosphere was pretty cool. It was neat to see it live, without camera angles distorting the view. I'd see another Cirque show in a heartbeat.

Les Miserable - It was a really good production, the music was great and the set neat, but I'd recently seen a high school put it on. Since the high school production (three stars) was the first time I'd ever seen Les Mis, I was pretty awestruck by it. For some reason the real thing didn't quite live up to the kids. Strange that.

Blue Man Group - Who knows what this is about. All I can say is it is really entertaining. And the finale is a-mazing!

We Will Rock You - I'm not a huge Queen fan but I do know the songs. This started out weird, but really picked up once I got into it. And Wembley is in it and I used to live there so that was kind of neat. They really integrate the songs into it seamlessly. And the encore song is fantastic.

Rent - I don't remember this one too well. So it must not have been super. But it wasn't bad or anything. It gets bumped up because the movie was decent and the songs were good.

Blood Brothers - This show is very English, but was interesting to watch since the end is actually the beginning. The Angel of Death was a nice touch but couldn't sing. And it was a bit weird watching adults play children. But fun.

Lord Of The Rings - The story is terribly patched together, the acting rubbish and the songs pathetic (except the Prancing Pony one). But the set and the staging were really cool, expecially the Balrog bit and the orcs. I guess there just wasn't enough baddies. And they combined Theoden and Denethor, how can you do that? And the elves were just weird, and too much Galadriel. But the staging, yeah that was amazing.

Beauty And The Beast - A bit smaller than the full-on Broadway show would've been, but the Citadel did a good job with this Disney musical. The costumes were good, the singing was good, the story was good, and the set was ok. It was very sweet; Belle is my favourite princess so I quite enjoyed it.

Anne of Green Gables - Done by a local musical theatre group, I'd say they put on a pretty good show. Anne was fantastic (three stars) and the costumes and set were pretty good. A couple of the characters couldn't sing, but the songs were pretty fun. It was comical and overall enjoyable.

Annie - The set was a bit ho-hum, and the ending very twee, but the songs were fun. And more importantly, the girls were all amazing, quite fun and decent singers (in between the times they were belting it out with too much force). More Molly and Sandy would've been fun.

One Star

Jesus Christ, Superstar - Not at all what I expected. It was wierd, the bit about Mary Magdalene creepy and the whole Herod thing unnecessary. Jesus reminded me of the LOTR musical elves (trust me, not good) and while Caiaphus' voice was cool, he couldn't keep it up, which in turn became annoying. I just didn't get into it, and felt uncomfortable about the whole thing. And people were weeping??

Miss Saigon - Madame Butterfly, but set in Vietnam. They got rid of the real helicopter, the CGI one just wasn't the same, and a total let down.

Dirty Dancing - This was exactly like the movie, but cheesier, and the set wasn't anything special. The last song was really good though.

Chicago - Too raunchy and blah for me. It needed some razzamatazz and more costume coverage.

Fame - To crappy to comment on.

Musicals I Still Want To See:

Into The Woods (Winter 2010)

Mamma Mia

Turkey Slideshow 4

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Turkey Slideshow 3

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Turkey Slideshow 2

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Turkey Slideshow 1

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Scotland 3 Slideshow

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Scotland 2 Slideshow

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France Slideshow

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Eng 06 Slideshow 2

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Eng 06 Slideshow 1

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N Ire 3 Slideshow

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N Ire 2 Slideshow

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N Ire 1 Slideshow

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Paris 2 Slideshow

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Eng 05 Slideshow 2

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Eng 05 Slideshow 1

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Eng 04 Slideshow 3

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Eng 04 Slideshow 2

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Eng 04 Slideshow 1

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London Slideshow 03

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York Slideshow 03

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High School 1 Slideshow

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High School 2 Slideshow

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High School 3 Slideshow

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Ontario Slideshow

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Quebec Slideshow

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San Francisco Slideshow

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Scotland 1 Slideshow

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Ireland Slideshow

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Belgium 3 Slideshow

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Belgium 2 Slideshow

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Belgium 1 Slideshow

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Greece 3 Slideshow

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Greece 2 Slideshow

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Greece 1 Slideshow

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Paris 1 Slideshow

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Germany Slideshow

2007-03-04T08:31:00.001-07:00

Poland 2 Slideshow

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Poland 1 Slideshow

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Czech 1 Slideshow

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Wales 1 Slideshow

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Wales 2 Slideshow

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Italy Venice Slideshow

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Italy Pompeii Slideshow

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Italy Rome Slideshow

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Italy Vatican Slideshow

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Hungary 2 Slideshow

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Hungary 1 Slideshow

2007-03-04T06:36:00.001-07:00

Egypt 3 Slideshow

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Egypt 2 Slideshow

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Egypt 1 Slideshow

2007-03-04T05:45:00.001-07:00

Amsterdam Slideshow

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Spain Slideshow

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Northern Ireland

2006-06-01T13:18:00.000-06:00

(Scroll down for more slideshows)

May 30, 2006

After an early start, Stacy and I got our rental car in Dublin and set off for one last adventure, before she returned to the States for good. We set off for the North of Ireland.

First we stopped at the Hill of Tara (the fabled seat of the ancient kingdom). The circled hills were winday but the view was fab. There was also and old church adn some cheeky cows. Next we headed up a windey road to Lough Crew. We climbed up a tall windy hill and marvelled at the view. Eventually we came to the Megalithic tombs.They were built by people of the New Stone Age. It was very cool! There were about four mounds lined with stones, some etched with patterns. Very cool. Oh and there was this cow who blocked our road. Scary!

We stopped at Enniskillen for lunch (KFC), then drove through Omagh to Londonderry. At first glance tit was a pretty town but was actually a bit dull. There was a nice church (Guildhall), city walls with cannons and tons of shops. Some of the buildings were painted colourful (Irish style!) and there were plenty of pubs but Stacy and I opted for a quiet night in front of the tele. Of course we both had colds but weren't up for night life anyways.

May 31, 2006

We set off and after an Egg McMuffin break, we headed off to the North Coast. First we stopped at Dunluce Castle, which of course has extra meaning for a girl who grew up on Dunluce Road, in the neighbourhood of Dunluce and who attended Dunluce Elementary School! It was in ruins but still made for some pretty views!

Next stop was the Giant's Causeway. How cool! The rock formations (camel, granny, organ, hexagons) were so cool, unbelievable that those could form naturally. We took tons of pictures then hiked back. Close by was the Carrick-a-Rede rope bridge. The views on the way of the coast and Larrybane (old limestone quarry island) were gorgeous, beautiful greens and blues and rocky hues. The rope bridge wan't too long or scary but once again the views were fabulous and we took tons of squinty eyed pictures.

We took the twisty coastal route to Belfast, passing thogh tons of 'Bally' towns and nice stone houses. We passed another quiet night once we reached Belfast with more tele.

June 1, 2006

Belfast isn't a town we wanted to or had the time or inclination to explore so we took one of those bus tours. It was actually pretty good, very informative. First we headed to teh 'Titanic Quarter', a part of the harbour. The building where the Irish architect designed the ship is till there, as are three cranes used to build it. Who knew the Titanic was built in Belfast?! We rode around town, saw the elaning Albert Clock tower and a few pretty churches.

Then we headed to where the troubles were. We drove through Crumlin, Shankill and Falls Road. Parts of it were run down and there were a lot of big murals on building walls, depicting peace and conflict. There was also a high peace fence and a few memorial gardens. It was interesting learning more about the religious/nationalist issues.

We continues past Queen's University and more pubs before ending where we started at the downtown shopping district. After lunch (the Irish really love KFC, you shoulda seen the line!), we mad ethe long journey back to Dublin. Besides and ice cream stop in Dunleer, it was a pretty, green and uneventful ride home.

Stacy and I managed to get through our last holiday together without some tragic incident. And it was lovely. I really like Ireland. It's beautiful, green and friendly. I hope one day I can come back again!

About Me

2006-03-10T13:21:00.013-07:00

Born and raised on the Canadian prairies, I'm an Alberta girl through and through. I am truly blessed to be working at my dream job - I'm a Reference and Instruction Librarian at a local university. In my previous life though, I taught elementary school in London, England, thus began my travel blog! I hope you'll travel along on all my adventures!

England 2007

2006-02-06T09:17:00.000-07:00

(Scroll down for more slideshows.)
August 5, 2007
Well, I never did go to New Wine. I was feeling pretty sick and just couldn't face a week on an air mattress in a tent. And I was planning on working with the special needs kids again, and I didn't want to pass my flu/cold onto them. And my mom brought up a good point, I needed to get well and not worse otherwise I wouldn't be able to get on that plane home! So it was a hard decision, but I stayed home.

I spent a few days on the couch, not able to do much else. Actually, it was nice in a way. I got caught up on some tv and rinally got to relax. I probably got run down, going from school to friends to New Wine. Doing nothing was just what I needed. I had no food though, so had to drag myself to Asda, one last time. Good ol' ginger ale and rice cakes.

I eventually began to feel better and spent the rest of the week meeting up with people, some friends from church and some of the teachers. I went to a couple shows too. First was Blood Brothers, which was good, very english. Second was Mary Poppins. The story follows the book more than the movie so was a bit different but the kids' performance and the set were a-mazing!! That really elevated my enjoyment, that's for sure!

Sunday was my leaving lunch at church. I was terrified but it went really well. At one point I had just gotten hold of a friend's baby and then the associate vicar started to make a speech! Everyone was looking at me! It was a bit nerve raking, thank goodness I had that baby to hold onto! It was very sweet though, the speech was so heartfelt and they also gave me a book with photos and messages. It was really touching. They prayed for me at church too. And that's it. The end of an era.

And tomorrow I get on a plane to go home. Forever. It really is the end. Very bittersweet. But I can't wait. There really is no place like home.

July 25, 2007
I'm sad. My Canadian friends have come and gone. It was fun. I forgot how freeing and easy it is to be in the company of people who have known you for a decade or so. I just got to be myself.

I took Melissa, Lindsay and Jayson on my infamous four hour walking tour of London. It was a bit 'moist' but we got some good pictures and it was a good chance for me to say good bye to bits of London. The lot of us went to see The Lion King, which again caused me to tear up in the first five music because it is just so beautiful! It was really good, it's just a really beautiful musical. I don't usually care much for new songs in the shows but I do like the 'He Lives In You' one in the second half.

We walked a ton, even after my walking tour to end all tours (which may be the reason Lindsay and I got sick?). Another day we wandered around the British Museum, then down Oxford and Regent Street, through Leicester Square and Covent Garden. Melissa and Jay went to Stonehenge and Bath one day and Lindsay and I went on a Harry Potter tour. Well, first we went up to Camden Town (I reckon she thought it was a bit wierd, but I'm gonna miss it). Next came the highlight of the day: a photo opportunity at King's Cross - Platform 9 3/4! Ha ha, Harry Potter rules. Basically they've just stuck this sign up and attached a trolley to the wall. We weren't even the only ones there taking pictures. It was pretty nifty I tell ya! We then went down to Leadenhall Market, which was used in the Diagon Alley scenes. It was a nice Victorian covered street. We continued along the Tower of London, across Tower Bridge (my fav) then past City Hall. We stopped here to wander around the painted and autographed guitars on display, Paul McCartney and James Blunts being my favourites. After taking a few more photos of Tower Bridge and the HMS Belfast, I dragged Lindsay to Southwark Cathedral for a few pictures of the Golden Hinde (Sir Francis Drake's ship, well replica anyways, it taught the kids about it.). We also snapped a few photos of Westminster Abbey (I refuse to pay to go in!) and then headed to Wagamama to meet Emily for dinner.

The three of us went to see Dirty Dancing in the West End. Really, it's way to hyped up because it's not fabulous. The set is unspectacular, the dancing ok, but really it's just the same as the movie, except on stage. The final song was good though. I'm glad I went (not sure about Lindsay, she had a migrane) but wouldn't go again. It certainly didn't compare to Joseph or Fiddler! We had a nightmare getting home though due to a body on the tracks but did make it home eventually.

And now the Canucks are gone. And I've got the flu. And I've got 1001 things to do but can't make it off the couch. And I'm meant to go the New Wine and camp in a tent for a week. Oh joy. Can't wait to go home!!

July 21, 2007
Well, it's over. I will never again enter Pinner Park Middle School. Never again will I walk down the corridor or descend the stairs to the staffroom, I wont ever joke with the office staff again, or walk my route to the train station.

It is sad. I'm not sad I'm leaving teaching. I do like kids, but nothing else about the profession. There are plenty of volunteer or other opportunities to work with children. I will most definitely miss the staff though. I'd been there three years. I finally had reached a stage where everyone knew me and was used to me, I really felt I could be myself amoungst them all. They were all like my mothers or aunts or sisters (well, not the guys but anyways...). I really enjoyed their company.

We had a staff bbq on the last day. It really was sad to think I would never see most of those people again. And I did get tearful and cry (Laura joked someone owed her 5pounds!). We also had a rocking leaving party the next night and the Home Guards club. There was eating, drinking, chatting and dancing. I will always remember watching everyone boogie to 'Love Shack' and 'I've Had The Time Of My Life'. Many people said many nice things to me, about me. It was bitter sweet. We all said we'd keep in touch, but really, will we? I'll always have the good memories though. I'll miss them. God bless 'em.

July 19, 2007
Wow. I'm in awe. I think I just saw the best musical of my life. Or rather I've just had the best musical experience of my life. (No worries, Joseph is still top on the list).

On a whim (see previous post) I decided to go see Fiddler On The Roof, which recently opened. I love that song 'If I Was A Rich Man...' and quite enjoyed the other music from the movie, so hey why not. I got a cheapish ticket from lastminute.com, restricted view. I wouldn't've minded being stuck behind a pillar, as long as the seat is cheap. When I picked up the ticket it said 'This seat has a restricted view. It is a high stage so you will have to look up.' Great, so I'm thinking I'm in the orchestra pit or something.

Turns out...first row!!! Right in front of the orchestra pit! Dead centre!Yeah ok, so the view was restricted but the seat was amazing!!! I could peak into the pit (cute orchestra boys) and watch the conductor, who was very animated and had to walk in front of my seat to the pit gate. He had a phone that he used, I suppose to call backstage. And there was a camera pointed at him, I suppose for the cast to see him on the screens in the pit and on the balconys. It gave me a whole new persepective on that part of the show.

Oh, and the play was fantastic. Magnificent. Amazing. The acting and singing was brilliant. I was so close, I could see the facial expressions, the hair/wigs, the microphones taped to their foreheads, the stitching on the costumes! I could see them sweat, and in the really dramatic parts, I could see the sparkle of tears welling up in their eyes. I could tell who was playing what part and how many parts they had and when they swapped characters. I could see the spit flying out of Tevye's mouth (he yells and screams and stamps his feet a lot). The man who was playing the lead was wonderful, so full of expression. The look in his eye...good grief I spent the entire time with my mouth open, in awe of how fabulous the whole experience was! Captivated. Enraptured. Those might be better words to describe it. It was kind of like they were performing for me, my own private real live cinema. Unbelievable!

I just can't express how wonderful the night was. I will never, ever forget what it was like to sit from row centre for such a powerful and moving musical.

"If I was a rich man..."

July 15, 2007
My wild ride of expensive fun continues! Last Thursday I went to see We Will Rock You. I never intended to see it but figured I might never get the chance. First though I wandered around the British Museum again. I really am going to miss that place. I managed to finally get my hands on a set of Lewis Chessmen, and they've always been my favourite bit of the museum so I'll always have the memories. Anyways, back to Queen. So right before the show started this girl goes to sit one seat away from me and I recognized her, we had gone to Europe in high school on one of those organized trips! So bizarre! I had to say something, turns out she's been teaching in London for two years but is going home this year too! Crazy, like our lives were mirroring each other! It was a bit awkward but kinda random nonetheless! (They left after an hour, I guess she didn't like it?)

Shortly after it started I was kinda figuring what have I gotten myself into, it's all a bit futuristic and bizarre. It really picked up though once I got into it, I actually knew more Queen songs than I thought. They were so cleverly woven into the story. And Bohemian Rapsody at the end was so fun. It was a pretty good musical I reckon, worth seeing, even if you're not a Queen fan.

Friday and Saturday were taken up by school, a few movie and a wedding (my 6th since I've been here, thus my new saying "Start a trend, be a spinster" slogan. Ok, so the new Harry Potter movie is good, it gets rid of all the annoying parts of the 5th book.

Sunday Nadia and I motored through the Natural History Museum. Good bye Albertasaurus, good bye Edmontonasaurus, good bye blue whale, good bye Brudeheim meteorite, goodbye Earth galleries. The NHM is also a fab museum, I'm totally going to miss London's (free) museums!

Then we went to Finsbury to the Rise Anti-racism Festival. It was kinda a dodgy area and kinda a dodgy festival but our fav K'Naan was playing. And once again he didn't disappoint! He played a great set, and we managed to get right up front and even got a Somali translation for a line. K'Naan is wicked awesome. I hope one day I'll get to see him again.

So a fun week of fun. But sadly today I finished my work experience/volunteer job at Gayton Library in Harrow. Gosh, I really loved working there. It was such a nice break from teaching and being at school. The work was doable and the people really great to work with. I'm gonna miss it, but it has taught me there is life after teaching. Only four more days and I'll be finding out what that really feels like!!

July 9, 2007
Since I’m leaving soon I’ve been packing in events and fun stuff and this weekend was no different!

Friday night Emily and I went to go see Joseph and the Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat. Joseph is one of my favourite musicals, I saw it three times previously last time it was playing in the West End (not bad for someone who thought it was cheesy and didn’t want to see it in the first place!). For the past three months or so BBC was showing ‘Any Dream Will Do’, which was an audition show where they were singing off to become the next Joseph. Of course Andrew Lloyd Webber had a lot to do with it, and it was brilliant so we watched it faithfully each week. I was cheering for Lee from the beginning, he has gorgeous blue eyes and a curly mop of brown hair, that’s my kind of guy. Anyways, he won so it was extra exciting to see him in it. And gosh, the new show is fantastic. I was a bit worried they might change the staging I loved so much but it was absolutely wonderful! I still miss the inflatable sheet but they did modernize it a bit. The children’s choir were more involved and the finale was really good, lot’s of street dancing and fluorescent black light colouring. And pharaoh has a new song, which really has no place in the story but sounds very Elivis-y. There was no angel Joseph but he did battle a funny cobra so that made up for it. Of course Lee got loads of applause and did a fab job of it all! It was the first showing of the previews (of everything really) and the coolest bit was that Andrew Lloyd Webber himself was sitting about five seats away from us in the sound booth!! We kept looking at him after all the songs to see his reaction. He didn’t give much away but it was a really neat distraction! One of the other judges from the tv show was there and was mobbed for autographs but it was way cooler to say I’ve seen Andrew Lloyd Webber, in real life!! So my goal is complete, I’ve always wanted to see someone really famous in a musical and I reckon the Lee-Andrew combo makes up for it! Gosh it was a great show, I want to see it again now…

Saturday night a bunch of girls came over and we watched a bit of Anne of Green Gables (in between Live Earth of course, which I enjoyed. The best acts were James Blunt, Metallica, Foo Fighters, and Beastie Boys.). I finished watching the sequel Sunday and the whole thing just made me feel incredibly homesick and lonely. I want to go back to Canada and find a Gilbert!!

But Sunday night made up for it all. I’ve been living a stones throw from Wembley Stadium for two years. I never saw the old nation football stadium but have watched the new one get built over the years. And I’ve watched the crowds head into and out of the concerts, events and matches. I just wanted to go in, see what it was like, feel the atmosphere and be part of the crowd. So I got myself a scalped ticket…to Metallica!!! Mike and Jerrad used to listen to them all the time when we used to hang out in grade 12/university. So I got to know the songs. And I’m quite musical, meaning I care little for lyrics but love the beat and the music. And I do enjoy a bit of noise every once in awhile (better than that pop crap). Once I found out they were playing Wembley, I just had to go. I could see the stadium, go to a heavy metal gig, and say I’ve seen Metallica all in one go!

Oh gosh and it didn’t disappoint. First of all I was in awe as I walked up the bridge to the stadium with the crowd. Seriously awestruck. It is a massive piece of architecture, all shiny glass. Then I walked under the arch, and wow, I’ve seen it lit up a hundred times but to walk under it, so cool! Inside it just looks like your regular sports venue, fast food and beer stalls. The interesting thing I noticed was all the toilets! There are loads of men’s washrooms and women’s too. And it being a heavy metal gig, the line for the men’s loos were huge, while I just walked right into the women’s. That’s the first time I’ve ever seen longer lines for men’s washrooms at an event! Must’ve been the beer. Oh, and the music. Everyone was in dark, black, many wearing Metallica or other concert t-shirts. I must admit, I was a bit intimidated. But I needn’t have been, everyone was friendly and I saw no trouble going on.

I went to my seat and immediately realized it was complete crap! It was really low down but right behind a sound booth and the view was totally blocked. I actually wished I was down on the pitch with the die-hards! The guy who sold me the ticket showed up with a friend but left immediately to try to get on the floor and I never saw him again. These two other guys showed up and were well pissed off about theirs seats. I got to chatting to them and discovered they weren’t told about the view when they bought the tickets. Not like I could complain as mine weren’t sold online. They moved up a half dozen rows to some empty seats. I joked they should save me one. And when the show started, everyone in the entire stadium, all 65,000 people, stood up and cheered like mad! I turned around the my two friends pointed to an empty spot and I climbed over the seats to join them, where the view was much better but it didn’t really matter as there were large screens which showed all the action.

Oh man, what a show. It was crazy! I’ve never been to a metal gig like this one. People were well into it! Everyone was just ‘bopping’ around and bobbing their heads, shouting the words, fists in the air. It was awesome! I got so into it. There were 65,000 people there, the atmosphere was insane! I knew half the songs (though they all really sound the same) but rocked out anyways. Those guys (and they are getting on in age!) totally know how to put on a show and get a crowd going. For ‘Nothing Else Matters’ the lighters and mobile phones came out and since it was darkish by then, the crowd was sparkled with orange and blue lights. It was amazing. For ‘One’ and the finale of ‘Enter Sandman’ there were pyrotechnics and fireworks and I reckoned Wembley thought we were being attacked by terrorists (seems to be happening a lot lately). Walking home I was so excited and just generally feeling up about everything. I had to call Melissa, I knew she’d understand. I though a lot about her and Mike and Jerrad, old times. It was wicked awesome, I’m so glad I went. I probably wont ever get to a stadium rock concert again, but man, I sure enjoyed my first one!

How am I going to top that in the next month before I go home?

July 3, 2007
Well it was an eventful weekend!

A teacher friend and I went into Trafalger Square Friday night for the Canada Day Concert. Yes it was the wrong date but we take what we can get in jolly ol'England. It was really fun! There weren't tons of people but it was a bit rainy and there was another bomb threat nearby that morning (such is life) but everyone was friendly and in good humour. We walked around the booths for awhile grabbing free stuff then went on the Tourism Ontario simulation ride (over Niagra Falls was cool but made me a bit queasy). We spent the rest of the night drinking Moosehead beer (yes, me drinking, shock and awe) and listening to the music. Sam Roberts closed the show and was pretty good (I only knew 'Brother Down' though). We even saw the drummer after the show by the porta toilets!

But the highlight was by far K'Naan. I'd seen him at last years Edmonton Folk Fest so knew I'd like him and he didn't disappoint. Plus it was fun to know the songs! He really got the crowd going with his lyrics and beats. Seriously, google him and then go see him live, the show is awesome. So Canada Day was pretty fun.

Saturday night a bunch of the teachers went out for a fellow teacher's hen night (think bachelorette). It was so fun! I drank a bit and everyone was well happy. We went on a boat cruise complete with dancing, and she is East Indian so some of the music was Asian, like Bangra and Bollywood. It was so neat just watching everyone dance and party it up! After the cruise (dancing stopped my usual sea sickness) we went to a similar styled club. By this point I was well tired (I'm too old to party like that anymore) but we didn't end up getting home till the sun was coming up and the birds were singing! It was a riot!

Sunday, after sleeping for ages, I joined a friend from church and her sons and we went to St. Albans to see her husband sing in a choir. The concert was all love songs from musicals and was really enjoyable. This was a great weekend for music.

The sad news is we've had to put Fergus down as he was getting really ill. Poor guy. It's all very sad. It was for the best though, we gave him a good last two years of his life and I loved him dearly and he did the same for me. I miss him already.

June 27th, 2007
It's been another week of entertainment. I'm leaving soon so am pretty booked up with fun stuff like musicals, concerts and parties. Oh goodie, a social life for a month!

Last Friday I went with some of the other teachers to see the musical 'Chicago'. Honestly, I wasn't impressed. The set was blah, the costumes skant, the accents attrocious, the songs and dancing boring. There just wasn't any razzamatazz. Blah. I was counting the minutes until it was finished. I suppose I'm glad I went but wouldn't rush to see it again. Ever. It comes in at second to last on the musicals list (narrowly beat Fame).

Last night however, I had a wicked good night out! I went to this small club in Kilburn to see Corb Lund and the Hurtin' Albertans (again, gosh I love 'em!). The Blazing Zoos opened, and were forgettable (music and lyrics ok, voice rubbish). Then came a trio, one guy on pedal steel guitar, one on upright double bass and a polite cowboy on vocals and guitar. They were enjoyable actually. And both bands stuck around to see Corb's set, now that's professionalism.

Of course Corb Lund and co were awesome! His lyrics are superb and spot on with their prairie life references, the guitar pickin' and music rockin' and general atmosphere friendly and funny. He can tell a good story and played up a few times to the 'seven' Albertans in the crowd. I danced a little, drummed my legs and little and sang a lot! He did three new songs which means a new cd is out in the fall which means I'm well pleased! There wasn't a bad song in the whole set (plus one encore). The guys looked like they were having fun (mud on everything, they were just back from Glastonbury) and were entertaining to watch play. I had a great time. Nights like this make me remember that there's more to life than miserable jobs and social anxiety. Be happy, sing a Corb Lund song!!

Song excerpts (apologies for the language, but hey, it works!):

Expectation and the Blues
Well you know I over-intellectualize
When really what I'm feelin's a lot of shit inside
But Jesus it's hard to self-actualize
When you can't stop thinkin' about going home
You can't really ever go home like they say
And if you do it's all messed up anyway
And besides the shit they tried to tell you back there
Gets in your hair and messes up your head everyday

CHORUS:
And that's why I'm here to tell you that there's nothin' left to lose
Except for maybe all the expectations and the blues
And I've come to tell you that you've nothin' left to prove
Most especially not to expectation and the blues

Prairies of Alberta
CHORUS:
The prairies of Alberta, they ain't never hearda
The things that are keepin' you down
And the short native grasses don't care that the ashes
Of your dreams match their dry shade of brown

June 18, 2007
Another fabulous weekend in Leicester with Sam at the Big Session Festival! After last years great festival, I decided to make the trek up to Leicester again, and as usual, it was worth the effort!

After a long, delayed bus journey, I arrived just in time for Uiscedwr. This was the third time I've seen them and they always put on a great show. Anna, the fiddler, is fab (and sweet and funny) and Cormac, the percussion dude, is well fun to watch. I heard a bit of Martin Stevenson's set and listened to the Mekons for a bit too, before heading to the main stage for Waterson:Carthy. They were really good, a family based band with a chirpy fiddler and a mom you'd want to have round for tea. It was a fun set. After that was Alabama 3, who were good (very country) but swore a bit too much so we headed back to the tent for Colvin Quarmby and his crazy hands. All in all, it was a nice evening.

The next day was jam packed with music. By now, due to the rain, the site was a mud bog. They'd tried to sop it up using straw but it really didn't work. The grass was pure muck and everyone had trapsed it inside to the hall. It was everywhere! Lisa Knapp was first up, and she really did have a lovely voice, then Instinkt, this cool rockin band from Denmark. The highlight of the day (maybe even whole festival?) was Show of Hands, who I'd seen last year in Edmonton. They really can write great songs, and the combo of a fiddle, cello and bouzuki was amazing. We listened a bit to The Men They Couldn't Hang (typical folk rock) and Tunng (wierd) before settling in for a long set by the Oysterband. Ok, so maybe they're not the best muscians and the frontman is a little eccentric, but gosh, do they ever put on an entertaining show. They had the crowd eating it up. It was great!

Sunday was a nice lazy day, starting with James Maddock and Dan Donnelly (who I'd seen before also, his 'David Gray' song is classic and he's hilarious!). Will joined Sam and I for the flutes and whistles of Flook and we also listen to Rory McLeod for a bit before settling in for another great finish by the Oysterband. They were joined by Show of Hands, Rory McLeod and to my surprise, James O'Grady! I do love that piper!! It was a fab set, too short with not quite enough J O'G but still really good.

After the festival, for the first time in as long as I could remember, I actually was sad I wouldn't be in the UK next year. I really would have made the Big Session Festival and annual thing. Oh well, it was fun while it lasted!!

June 11, 2007
My goodness, what a morning! I was walking to school around 8am and had just crossed the street at a busy intersection. About a minute after I had crossed, I heard a loud bang and turned around in time to see a car flip on it's side and skid past the spot I had just crossed!! Crazy!! Two people got out of the car that had hit the flipped car and a few people got out of their cars (by now the intersection was blocked on one side). I actually called 999!! That's the British version of 911. It's the first time I've ever done that. And you know what? I was on hold for 3 minutes! My goodness, someone could have died! People were talking to the person trapped in flipped car and the windshield wasn't smashed so I reckon they weren't majorly hurt. A police car and fire truck arrived while I was on hold, and the operator said an ambulance was on the way. I stayed around a bit but had to got to work. The accident totally caused delays but thankfully the person wasn't too injured. I tell ya, what a morning!! I've never seen anything like it!

May 19, 2007
Last night we went to see the Lord Of The Rings Musical. We were up in the back corner, last row, but the view was actually pretty good. However, it was a bit of a joke. Now, I'll admit the staging was very good, and the set also worth a look, but mostly it was cheesy. Of course it's hard to cobble together three huge volumes of literature (or 12 hours of film, depending how you looked at it) but they could've done a better job. The first half was actually ok, pretty impressive with the whole Gandalf/Balrog thing, though it didn't look like a Balrog, the wind was still cool. But the second half? One they combined the characters of Theoden and Denethor, I was like, yep, nope, not believing this. The end wasn't very spectacular, like it should have been either and the whole shire reckoning/ending, yeah, no, laughable. The best characters were Gollum, the black riders and the orcs, and they weren't in it enough for my liking. Not enough orcs or baddies!! Legolas kept doing these tai chi moment thingys with his arms and Gandalf couldn't deliver a line if his life depended on it. And Galadriel, way too much Galadriel. No, didn't much like the singing either. The only good songs were the folksy-fiddle dance at Bree, the Sam/Frodo campfire song and the first Lothlorien one. The rest were unnecessary. To much elf woman singing, not enough cool action (like the 'Helm's Deep' bit, which was neat).

Um, so yeah. If you like the books or films, you will be disappointed. It doesn't make the top five. I wouldn't have paid much more than balcony pricing.But it was entertianing in itself. I'll give it that much. It was a pretty three hours anyways and I was into it. Now, bring on those extended dvds...

April 28, 2007
Ok so not much is new but I did get my eyebrows threaded for the first time and let me just say, yipes it was painful! But it looks real nice, and I've never had an issue with my eyebrows (suprising, yes I know, since I've an issue with almost everything else!) but really, they look nice. Might even be worth the pain to do it again. Oh no, I'm becoming a girlie girl!!!

April 24, 2007
I went to watch Emily run the London Marathon on Sunday. It was crazy! It was so hot and totally crawling with millions of people! I zoomed around the tube in crowded trains with the other gagillions of marathon watchers but only managed to see Emily once, near the end. Seriously, it was manic! She did real well though! She had a great time and more importantly raised loads for charity (Anthony Nolan Trust, a leukemia charity so very fitting. I'm proud of her, but still think she's nuts!

Last night Emily and I saw the Sound of Music musical and it was excellent! The staging was amazing, they did the mountian on this huge tilting disk and used a conveyor belt for furniture etc, and the house and abbey, really, the set designers earned their wage, it was amazing. At the end these banners came down and it was like we were sitting in the audience during the Nazi period. And the kids were so cute, seriously sweet!! The music was great (though we didn't think much of the two new songs). Even though we were high (and steeply) up in the last row, it was great!

April 18, 2007
Well, I just got back from Edmonton. It was wonderful!! I didn't do too much, saw friends/family, went shopping (West Edmonton Mall rules!), ate gorgeous Canadian food (pierogies, lasagna, Vietnamese, home cooking, Boston Pizza and loads of Tim Hortons!), and watched curling. Seriously, I watched A LOT of curling. The World Men's Championship was in Etown, so my mom and I went down one afternoon. Live curling was cool, but a bit distracting. We also ended up watching a dozen games on tv. Canada seriously slaughtered the competition (which wasn't much at all). It was great. Gosh, I love that place. It took me four years but, yeah, I'm defintiely ready to go back.

So I'm well addicted to facebook. I need a life!

March 24, 2007
Well, a good entertainment week, kinda is helping to offset March Madness. Last Sunday I went into London (no luck finding Rocketdog Sugar Daddies in black size 7, apparently they stopped making them, man I loved those boots!) and stood in Trafalger Square with the masses, watching the St. Patrick's Day concert. I only saw three acts, but quite enjoyed myself. Kila was your typical traditional Irish band, very rockin and good for dancing to. Paul Brady was your typical singer-songwriter but Sharon Shannon closed the show with more rocking dancing. I've seen her before at folk fest so it was nice to hear a familiar tune. London was in the deep freeze again but the music was great!

Then on Tuesday we went to Les Miserable. I'd seen the Hatch End High production, so knew the story. I really enjoyed the high school play and kept comparing this one to it, but nevermind, it was really good. The revolving stage was kinda cool and the music fabulous. I've been singing 'Master of the House' all week. Considering I've only just seen Les Mis this year, I'm kind of regretting not jumping on the band wagon earlier. It was a really good musical.

Top Five Musicals I've Seen:
1. Phantom of the Opera
2. Joseph and the Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat
3. The Lion King
4. Stomp
5. Avenue Q

Ok, so Les Mis and Wicked are tied at 6.

Last night I went with a few teacher friends to see a BBC Radio taping of this Victorian period drama story, Bleak Expectations. Think Dickens on gin. It was super funny, I'll have to catch up with it on the radio. It was a bit different than a tv taping. The studio was all black and the voice actors sat on chairs and then came up to the microphone when it was their turn, reading off scripts. There was also a sound effects girl, who was fun to watch. I quite enjoyed it.

The best bit though was that the guy who played Giles on Buffy the Vampire Slayer did one of the parts. He's probably the most famous actor I've seen. I've also seen H from Steps play Joseph and one of the guys from S Club 7 do Marius from Les Mis. I suppose I've also seen Sharon Osbourne, Louis Walsh, Ray and Leon from X Factor, Dermot O'Leary, Ruby Wax and Ant and Dec but really, they are only like B/C listers. My goal is to get to see a really famous person do a show...like Daniel Radcliffe in Equis (apparently he gets naked!).

March 16, 2007
Another bad week. Ingredients - Start off with a funeral. Quite emotional. Continue with a roaring head cold. Stick in another parent's evening meeting at school. Top up with a massive tube delay, which totally put me in a foul mood. Spice with a string of stuffy, sleepless nights. Then finish with previously mentioned head cold which has in the meantime gotten progressively worse. TGIF. You know, I never do write about all the depressing crap on this blog. I really should start. Of course then y'all would figure out I'm a depressed freak! Wouldn't want that, now would we?

March 9, 2007
Yikes, really bad week. Deaths in threes this week. One friends dog, one co-workers brother in law, and one kid in my class. He had Leukemia and hasn't really been in my class as he's been ill for quite awhile. Very sad. The kids were a bit shocked. No one really knows what to do with this whole situation. There have been tears (on the list of things I don't cope very well with...). I even did a bereavement assembly. So far in England I've been to five weddings, never did I think I'd go to a funeral.

February 26, 2007
I should so be in bed right now, it's a big week at school, the one where I spend two of my own evenings lying to parents about how wonderful their naughty little brat is. Yeay.

Anyways, I am so proud of my self for sorting out something on our computer. Who needs techie boyfriends? Not me, I did it all on my own. Which really has only resulted in me watching more tv et al. But I just spent two hours watching the live stage show of Dave Gorman's Googlewhack Adventure. Seriously, the funniest thing I've seen in ages. I was laughing throughout and clapping for an encore (looking like a right idiot to that guy who hangs out his window across from us and smokes and stares into our living room). Hilarious!! You must give this guy a few minutes of your precious time, he earned two hours plus of mine! http://www.davegorman.com/

I've been spending quite a lot of time this week watching Criminal Minds (I'm in love with Dr. Spencer Reid/Matthew Gray Gubler, I'm not picky), and pottering on http://www.facebook.com/.
Very addicting. It's being hyped as the new myspace. There's a few people I know on it and one girl just posted a pic of my in high school. How funny! I though I'd buried those memories long ago, but they're back. Now I'm wishing there was a reunion! Better work on getting hitched or in the family way! (Oh, just kidding, really, don't take that seriously, I'm still happily single and miserable. Have I mentioned how lovely my cat Fergus is?).

February 15, 2007
Wow, amazing! I saw the coolest musical tonight, Avenue Q. It's got puppets and real people, think Sesame Street, for adults! It was a bit rude and controversial but oh so funny and totally relevant. The whole thing (minus the sex bits of course) were like 'Yeah, that's my life.' Example: the song 'It sucks to be me'. Totally funny! And 'How do I go back to college?', me too. Seriously, it's being billed as a musical for the iPod generation. Everyone must go see it (ok, except maybe the very conservative, it was a bit rude in parts). It totally rocked! I've got to get the cd...

February 8, 2007
I don't recall ever having a snow day as a child in Edmonton, however, now that I'm in London, I've had two in the past year alone. Now let me explain. A snow day in London is three inches of fluff. Seriously. Everything goes to heck. No one can drive (through brown slush?!). The trains (THE mode of transportation) stand still. It's chaos.

A few weeks ago we had a snow day. It was the best day of work I've ever had (Not counting the day before Christmas when the staff put on a pantomime of Snow White for the school. Hilarious. I was head dwarf.). I actually did get in. In fact all the teachers got in. But when the head teacher found out that over 1000 school were closed so far in London, we followed. Never in my life have I had so much fun. All the staff and the few remaining kids (we legally had to send them all home) had a huge snowball fight and built snowmen for an hour. Then I got a lift home and spent the rest of the day watching day time television. Really, school days don't get much better. For one day I felt like I was back in Canada. Bliss.

February 6, 2007
Well, I've been off work for a couple days and have spent some quality time at the Royal Free Hospital. Today I had an endoscopy to see if I really do have an ulcer (I've suspected so since the fall, it's sometimes quite painful and I've put on ten pounds!). So this was the whole camera down the throat thingy. It really was not the most comfortable thing. Seriously, not nice. But it only lasted five minutes, so that was a blessing. Turns out I have dyspepsia, which is basically a high level of acid which was likely caused by these pills I used to take for my neck/arm pain a few years ago. It could also be exaserbated by stress (duh) and bacteria, which they sampled for so I just have to wait for the results. So it all comes down to stress, since that was the cause of the neck/arm pain etc. Stupid job. Hopefully the percription they gave me will clear it up. I just have to destress now.

On a more interesting note, on my way out of the hospital, I stopped to buy a drink and saw this commotion in the canteen, cameras and people and men in suits. Turns out it was Prince Andrew. So, I saw Prince Andrew. And I had two days off work, so worth it I reckon!

January 27, 2007
It's been a great month of entertainment! Near the beginning of the month Emily and I went to see the Phantom of the Opera. I've seen it twice before, when I was a kids, but man, I was blown away. There's that part at the beginning when the do dododo do organ music starts and then the chandelier goes up. Seriously I was crying, it was so amazing! And the rest didn't disappoint. The songs are familiar, the costumes great. We had watched a tv documentary on the making of it over Christmas and it was fun to see the backstage opinions played out on stage (like fog in the orchestra, the crazy remote controlled boat and the masquarade stair manneqins). It was an excellent evening. Gave me chills, I was so sad when it was over!

Last week we went to the Russian Winter Festival. The folk music was really good. There was some dancing and a few really good bands, one funny brass band and a really neat folk ensemble, Nadezhda Babkina and the Russian Song Folk Ensemble (Russkaya Pesnya). I really want their cd but haven't had much luck finding anything on the internet. It was all so familiar, I loved it, being surrounded by great music and Russia people. I really want to go to Moscow now. I just need to find a way. Oh, and the borchst was excellent!

Just last night, at the spur of the moment, I ended up going with a couple at church, to Hatch End High School's winter play. The put on Les Miserable. It was great! Who knew the kids had voices like that! It was just so great, like being part of something special. I was totally in a good mood after, on a buzz anyways. I can't wait to see on the West End.

Near the end of the month I saw Bruce Cockburn and Anna Lewendowski. Ordinarily I wouldn't of bothered but I just wanted to see some live music and crave anything Canadian. It was good though. I saw Alana in the ladies loo before the show talking to someone. She was very down to earth. Her set was short but haunting. Bruce was good too, I only recognized one song (Tree in the forest? or something like that) but I enjoyed it. There were these annoying Canadian ladies behind me though who just complained the whole time. A bit annoying. Anyways, a good night of music. I don't have anymore concerts planned at the moment, boohoo, I must find something!

France

2006-01-21T06:45:00.000-07:00

December 29, 2006
Emily and her mum and I left early this morning, drove to Dover, hopped on a ferry and hopped off at Calais, then drove about five hours to Saumur, in the middle of France. We are staying at a family friend's flat. It is a cute french town and a cute flat as well.

December 30, 2006
This morning we wandered around the French market in the town square. They were selling veg, cheese, eggs, fruit, meat and live chicken, ducks and rabbits. After a fresh lunch, we drove to a wine stop, then mosied around E.Leclerc hypermarket (think big supermarket) and a sporting goods outlet. We wandered around the windie cobbled streets and shops. The Christmas decorations were still up so it was nice. After dinner, a movie and some reading, it was off to bed.

December 31, 2006
Anne drove us to Abbaye de Fontevraud, an old abbey. Building started in 1105 but it was fabulously restored. It was used as a nuns abbey and a prison, a hospital and now a cultural centre. The coolest thing was that Henry II, Eleanor of Acquitiane, Richard the Lionheart and other royals were entombed there. As usual the cloisters were lovely, the Roman kitchen likewise. It was nice to wander around. On the way home we wandered into a village and saw some of the 'cavs' built into the rock wall where they made wine or grew mushrooms. Cool.

Once back in Saumer we walked up to the Chateau de Saumur, but couldn't get very close a sthey were restoring it after a recent landslide. We spent the rest of New Year's Eve relaxing, reading, cooked a posh dinner, cleaned, watched a movie then went to bed just after midnight. Apparently the party started at 2am in this sleepy town so it was a restless night.

January 1, 2007
Today we drove home. France was nice, the town quaint, people nice, birds nests in the trees amusing, and the company good. I'm glad I'm home though.

England 2006

2006-01-05T11:04:00.000-07:00

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December 22, 2006
Wow, saw the Blue Man Group tonight. How do you describe them? I've been and I still can't say what they are about. Art? Music? Technology? Fun? Yes definitely fun. Especially the last bit with all the toilet paper. Want to know what I mean? Just go see it. It's a guaranteed smile. Unbelievable!!

November 25, 2006
I went to Reading today, a lovely town, and did some Christmas shopping. Then I saw Spiers and Boden, and Oysterband. The concert was great, good atmosphere and familiar songs. All in all a good day. I could have done without the stress of the trains though. Can't wait until the next gig...

October 22, 2006
Today Emily and I had another adventure. I got tickets to see the filming of 'Cirque Du Celebrite'. It's this new celebrity-in-need-of-money reality show where g-list celebs try to learn circus trick so they don't get voted off. First it took us 40 minutes to get out of Wembley, then another 40 minutes in the rain to get to the Racecourse where it was being held. We waited in the blustery rain but eventually got in to the big top. The biggest celebs were'Handy-Andy' and Kenzie but it was actually quite entertaining. The tightrope event was quite tense, though we reckoned the voting was rigged. Anyways, in the end it was fun. I'm loving this sort of thing!

October 21, 2006
I've got a new goal: one gig/concert a month. This months was Bellowhead at Bush Hall. I really didn't like the venue and probably wont go back (why can't we just sit and watch a show in comfort and not have to strain feet and necks just to catch a glimpse?). The band was good though. Fronted by John Boden (quite enigmatic to watch), Bellowhead is a large band with brass and strings and English sailor folk a plenty. They were good. Not quite good enough to get me to buy the CD, but close. They reminded me a lot of La Bottine, except english of course.

Emily and I saw 'Wicked' the musical last night. I read the book previously, which was of course a bad idea. It was very different. The book was dark and complicated, the musical colourful and peppy and quite family friendly. It was good, the set and costumes and lighting was amazing. The songs were good and the story held your attention. The ending was a bit too fluffy but on the whole, I reckon they did a good job of it. After, Emily was all like "I want a blue sparkly puffy dress like Glinda" and I was like "Nah, it's all about the cape and hat and black. Bring it on!". That sums it up. I'm just as miserable and freaky like the Wicked Witch of The West. That explains a lot.

I'll get you my pretty!!

September 9, 2006
Another television program taping, show number 4 (I'm trying to forget number 2 though, it was the Album Chart Show and we went in and thought it sucked because the bands were nobodys, but now they are pretty famous. Jokes' on us!). This was another game show and was being filmed at out neighbourhood studio. Dermot O'Leary was hosting (aka Big Brother's Little Brother). He was quite funny, and nice to look at of course. It was just a pilot, so no worries about looking nice for the camera (after Sharon, yeah right!). Acutally, I found myself really getting into the concept, it was kind of like 'Millionaire'. I quite enjoyed it. I might actually watch it when it's on. And like I said, Dermot is quite nice to look at!

August 27, 2006
Hee hee, another really fun 'big city' story to tell! Yesterday a few of us went to see the taping of the new television program, 'The Sharon Osbourne Show'. We were the last ones to get in but I was pretty excited, it's always fun to watch a television show being taped! There were few seats left so I had to sit on an aisle, which meant when Sharon went into the audience to talk to a guest, I was totally in view for like 30 seconds! Totally exciting but embarrassing a little too! At least you couldn't see how frizzy my hair was. And man, sometimes, I just have a goofy smile. Actually, it wasn't so bad, I'm sure no one will watch the series anyways. She's a lovely woman but a bit over dramatic and all the guest were obscure Brits I've never heard of. It was a good laugh though, and hey, I was on British tv!!

July 30, 2006
Oh wow! What a New Wine experience!

So it all started when I was complaining (me, no!) how much I didn't really enjoy the seminars last year. It was suggested that maybe I should help out at Our Place, the special needs venue. I sorta said I would do it in the afternoons, but somehow agreed to be on the team full time (that woulda been God's push through the door!). I wasn't even looking forward to it.

It was amazing. At first I was a bit intimidated but eventually got right stuck in. The team was awesome. We had our own worship and teaching and everyone was super supportive. It was a great atmosphere.

And the kids were amazing. Playing with them was so rewarding. One night I played for forty minutes with a super sweet autistic girl and a blue slinky. I was even able to communicate with her. Blowing bubbles, kicking around a football and bouncing on an empty kiddie pool were also big highlights. One morning all the kids were lying on the carpet and we were wafting a parachute over them and praying for them. It lasted for such a long time and was so beautiful I started to cry. And that was just the beginning of the tears. During the workers celebrations the speaker got us to lie down on the floor while people prayed for us. I started to cry again because I didn't want it to end. I was so happy in that place. Even when I had time off I wanted to be with the kids and the team. And I was pretty emotional for the rest of that day and the next.

So I cried, something new. And I prayed. Something else new. Aloud and for people. I totally grew spiritually.

I was worried about not seeing people on site from our church but had some great chats with the families and older couple. They really inspire me and I always learn so much from people older than myself. And I learned from young people too. It was great chatting to a few of the teens before breakfast and I enjoyed have such a great breakfast date! Even though I wasn't part of the single crowd and their caravan parties, I did get to spend some quality time with others on site.

So it was amazing. I didn't want to leave. But all good things must come to and end. I hope I can use what I've learned for the rest of the year and beyond and I'm already looking forward to next year!!

July 1, 2006
Well, today is Canada Day. But it was gay pride day in London (not like Canada Day isn't an older tradition of anything but I guess we are still in England) so I went to the big celebration...yesterday. It was good actually. They had a few stands set up in Trafagler Square and a huge stage. There was one act from each province playing, the highlights being Mauvais Sort, The Ennis Sisters, Anna Levendowski and Ron Sexsmith. The all did a short set. It was quite enjoyable. The people watching was excellent and I met a couple of cool Canadian girls. All in all it was an evening well spent. Happy Canada Day!!!

June 27, 2006
Went to another tv program taping. This time it was for the Album Chart show. Actually, it was a bit anticlimactic. All the big bands had closed sets, so we had to stand through a bunch of no name (to Stacy and I anyways). Actually, Paulo somebody was quite good. It was interesting for awhile, but we left early. I've got to stop going out on school nights!!

June 18, 2006

What a weekend! It's always nice to get out of London and this weekend was no exception. I met up with my friend Sam and she drove us up to Leicester (2 hours North of London), where she happens to be living and going to university. And what else was in Leicester this weekend? A folk festival!!!!

And boy was it awesome. The Big Session Festival is organized by the Oysterband (saw them at the Edmonton Folk Fest once), and they did a great job. The venue was pretty small, with an amatuer stage, a bigger marquee stage and and indoor concert hall. There were a few market stalls and some food tents. Even though it was small, the atmosphere was great, really chilled out and relaxed. Everyone was friendly and you could tell they were all having a great time.

The music was fab!! Friday night we saw Nizlopi, a great duo who got the crowd dancing, June Tabor, Levellers and Spiers and Boden (a good looking fiddle/accordian duo). Saturday was huge for music with Seth Lakeman (one of my favs, y'all should google him!), Warsaw Village Band (strange Polish stuff) and Oysterband. Man the Oysters really got things going. You could tell the crowd were long time followers and really got into it, dancing and singing. They were great. It helped James O'Grady was playing uilleann pipes/whistles and fiddle, he's jumped to the top of my list!! Gorgeous! Sunday was pretty quiet and low key. We listened to Uiscdwr, Chumbawumba (yes of Tubthumping fame, though now very folksy) and more rockin' Oysterband. It was great!

I really enjoyed the weekend. Firstly it was great hanging out with Sam, I don't get to see her enough! And it was nice meeting her awesome friends and visiting her church (interesting Da Vinci Code talk). It was also nice to just unwind after a stressful week at school. The atmosphere was just so relaxed, I didn't want it to end. I sure hope I can go back next year and now I can't wait for Edmonton's festival this summer!

Top 5 Fab Things about Big Session:
1. James O'Grady rules!
2. Seth Lakeman leads a great band and plays with such enthusiasm (1 of 3 fiddlers I've ever seen to sing and play at the same time, and I've seen a lot of fiddlers in my day! Jim Boden did it as well, I've also seen a french guy do it)
3. Hanging out with Sam (and Ash and Emma!) and soaking up the atmosphere.
4. Watching the crowd dance during the cieldhi and Oysterband.
5. Have I mentioned how good looking the piper was!!!

June 13, 2006

Oh, what a super cool night! Emily and I got to be part of the audience at a television program recording! It was really neat. There is a tv studio right by our flat, and every so often we enter our names into a draw on a website. Well, finally, Emily won a pair of tickets! It was for 'Ant and Dec's Pokerface', a game show hosted by a pair of celebrities. Ant and Dec started off as child actors on a tv show, then tried solo singing careers, then they hosted a Saturday morning kids show and now they do a couple reality and game shows (Celebrity Island, American Idol kinda things). They are pretty famous I guess.

Anyways, the studio was actually pretty small, only a few hundred people in the audience. The premise of the show was answering questions for money, then bluffing your opponents or folding and taking away money or being the loser and walking away with nothing. Someone did walk away with £50,000. By the end it was pretty tense. It was just so nifty to be there. We could watch all the behind the scenes camera men and stage staff. We got entertained during breaks by this funny guy who insisted on picking on the 'chavs' in the audience (too funny!). We had to act like we were on camera the whole time so kept fixing our hair and smiling lots. At the end they did reshoots and screwed up quite a bit so there were some funny outtakes.

I've never experienced something like this. It was a rare opportunity I'd love to be able to repeat sometime soon. Very cool!!

May 29, 2006

Emily and I just got back from Whitby, where we were visiting her old friends. It was pretty up in the Yorkshire Dales, very green and hilly, babies breath growing on the side of the road. We passed the Hole of Horcum (a huge hole allegedly made by a giant!) and the morrs, full of brown heather.

One day we visited the ancient abbey. The ground had been taken over by Vikings, actors who battles and had set up camp. It was cool. Made me want to dress up too! We watched a funny Viking invader comedy the walked around the old parish church. The views of the coast were gorgeous. We walked down the longs steps to the town. It's a lovely place, the shops are cute and the weather was great.

Bryan then took us for a drive round the moors and dales, near the river Esk. We walked over the windy moors for a bit. We also walked into an ancient Norman church (1078?). Mostly we were blessed with the great hospitality of the couple we were staying with. And the views from their back garden! It was a lovely weekend away.

May 20, 2006

Well, the fab concerts keep on coming! I saw Corb Lund and Blue Rodeo again. Man, they are great! Corb is so down to earth (love the Hurtin' Albertan song) and I could stare at Jim Cuddy all day!

I also went to a spur of the moment Jann Arden gig. It was in this little club so was really intimate. And she was on top form! She is so funny. I really think this might be the best gig I've seen in London to date. Besides the great music and crazy crowd banter (including ladies recording her on their cameras and a hilarious chat on someone's mobile to a woman in Bragg Creek), I met some cool people. I got chatting to this Canadian couple. Weirdest thing was she was from Vermillion and he was from Two Hills! We totally bonded over Ukrainian names and small town stories. What a small world.

Another great show I saw was Josh Ritter. Who knew he had so many fans here? Everyone knew the words and we all sang along. It was wicked!

I love live music! What's next...

May 6, 2006

Just thought you might like to know how I got on with my 'career advisor' Jane last week.

Firstly, it was really interesting and helpful, thought provoking anyways. Jane was super kind and great to talk to.

Three things were quickly made apparent. Number one, so while I have an aptitude for teaching (explains why I can do it), the computer registered that I get 0% enjoyment and satisfaction from it. Jane was blown away, they were strange results, and totally true! Thus for my sanity I've got to get out of teaching!

Number two, that means I have to leave England (since I am tied into a teaching work permit, messy immigration paper work).

Number three, I have to go back to school.

It was really funny, the main cluster of jobs it spat out of the computer register were associated with Health Care. The top three were nurse, midwive and dental hygeinist. What was funny was that I seriously considered these three before I applied for teaching at university. It was weird. It's something to think about though. I'm not sure I'm quite cut out for them though. But it's go me thinking. Another job was Animal Health. Also one to think about.

And library, which I've been thinking about anyways, did come up. Apparently I am more suited for the library technician job with only requires a diploma and gets paid half of what the librarian (with a masters) gets. So that's interesting as well. I'm not sure what route I would choose.

So it was very productive. The meeting gave me lots to think about.

At least I get out of teaching. Maybe sooner than we all think...

So I'll be praying...

March 30, 2006

So when you're depressed and hate your job what do you do? Start taking omega-3 pills and book up lot's of concerts!!! So far I've seen James Blunt (souned like his cd, but was still cool), Nickelcreek, Corb Lund (good to see a proper cowboy in London!) and Seth Lakeman (only the second person I've ever seen to play fiddle and sing at the same time!!). And I've got Blue Rodeo/Corb Lund, Josh Ritter, Isambarde, the Tragically Hip and the Leicester Folk Fest still to come. I love live music!!!

February 2006

What did I do for my half term holiday? I sat on my ass and watched Canada kick butt at the Winter Olympics! Way to go Jennifer Heil (a distant relative) and the curling boys! Well done to all the Canadian atheletes. What a way to spend a week!

Paris

2005-12-21T11:14:00.000-07:00

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December 21, 2005

I've been to Paris three times thus far (see High School Europe for the first trip). The last trip was a gift to my friend Mattana. I played tour guide and we walked around and saw the sights. The coolest new thing was seeing a neat multistorey mall near the George Pompidue Centre. Other new sights for me were a huge wheel near the obelisk and seeing the Lourve all lit up at night. Honestly, I like Paris a bit more everytime I go. However, I still hate it and am not rushing back!!

April 4, 2004

It's a stange world I live in, when I can just pick up and go to France for the weekend. Now while you are all ohing and awing let me explain that. Being relatively unweathly and a person who tends to not make travel plans ahead of time, you can rule out taking the expensive train or plane. What does that leave you with, well the bus of course! Now I like riding the bus, really I do. I'm quite used to 10 hours bus rides around here and actually enjoy reading and listening to music and looking out the window at the fantastic European scenery. What I HATE are the overnight buses. They are the devil, no kidding. You are guaranteed to have either a snorer or a loud baby or a annoying child or a smelly person or a chatty person or a seat hog sitting either behind you or beside you or infront of you. Guaranteed. You will not sleep. Guaranteed. You will be disturbed numerous times to board and unboard ferries and to be interrigated by passport control. You will be on the bus with a faulty heater that works too little or too much and a drafty door and/or window. You will be tired and grumpy afterwords and will never really make up that sleep you lost. It is hell. So why do I keep doing it over and over again? Well it's cheap and saves traveling during a work day and you don't have to pay for the night's accomodation. Cheap hell really. And yes, I will take one again. Stupid.

Anyways, sorry for the ramble. After a loong night on the bus Mary and I arrived in Paris. Note to people soon to be arriving in Paris, yes it does smell like urine, it's not just your imagination. The city was how I left it seven years ago, and I was quickly able to orient myself and feel comfortable (tired and irritable but at least I knew what I was doing). We went to the Louvre and walked around for a few hours. Yes the Mona Lisa was still smiling. It was actually quite nice, I saw things I didn't see last time. I definitely recommend a trip (free first Sunday of the month!). Then we checked in to our adequately crappy cheap hotel room. They are never as clean as you would like but I'm used to that by now. At least the tv, hot water and the heat worked for once.

We then proceeded along a marathon walk (Note: please never take a person who has had a really hard week at work and then who has somehow survived an overnight bus and a 3 hour walk around an art gallery, on a marathon walk of a smelly city). First we went to Monmarte (where they filmed Amelie). It is actually a really nice place, tons of toursity and cheap clothing stores, then you walk up the hill and see Sacre Coeur, a gorgeous church. We walked up to it and inside, it was really nice, I would recommend a walk up there. It sort of saved my nasty mood anyways. Then we went to see St. Chapelle (another church with a long line to get in so we left) and Notre Dame which was awesome. The renovations look really good and we had a nice walk in. The stain glass is amazing. We then walked around some shops and took the looong route to Place de la Concorde. I had a delicious crepe with chocolate (not to be missed!) and then we walked up the Champs d'Elysse to the Arc de Triumphe. By this time I think my feet were ready to fall off and my head was pounding. After that we walked and almost got lost on our way to the Eiffel Tower. It is pretty impressive. And those stupid men who try to sell you stuff were there like last time. After the obligatory pictures, we finally made our way home.

Does it sound like I didn't want to be there? Yeah probably because I didn't. I've already been. It wouldn't be my city of choice for a holiday, you should spend a day there maybe, then get out before you start to smell too. How selfish does that sound, I didn't enjoy my trip, but that is that. You do what you have to do to be a good friend. And I hope I am, I think Mary had a good time. It wasn't a bad day. I did enjoy the ride home also. The French countryside is lovely.

Spain

2005-10-27T12:55:00.000-06:00

October 25-27, 2005

After a flight delay in London, Stacy and I arrived in warm(ish) Barcelona. The city reminds me of all the places I've been before, especially Rome, Budapest and Athens. It's an alright city, a mix of old and new, parks and shops, churches and traffic.

Our first day was 'Gaudi Day'. We walked up to his masterpiece 'La Sagrada Familia' (temple/church). It's been constructed for 100 years and it's not yet half finished. It was very cool. The Passion facade was very modern and the Nativity facade was very gothic. The arches, ceiling and stained glass were amazing. We climbed 340 steps up the towers for the amazing views of the city, and the construction site. It's a very strange, yet wonderful building.
We then walked up to the Park Guell, more Gaudi. There were two cool looking buildings, pillars and of course mosaics. The lizard fountain was cute and the windy bench was nicely decorated with mosaics as well. From here we rambled down past Gaudi's building La Pedrera, then onto La Rambla, where we browsed the shops.

Stacy and I both have colds so though our accomodation is good, I can't sleep and feel stuffy.

The next morning we wandered down to the port, which was full of sailboats. We made our way up Montjuic (Mountain) by bus then wandered around the 1992 Olympic stadium. We went down the mountain past the lovely museum building, by escalator! We walked past fountains and the trade centre, then walked through the city. We had a bite to eat, shopped, then wandered about Barri Gotic (Gothic Area). We went inside the old cathedral then back for a rest. After dinner at our 'taco place' we tucked in for another sleepless night (ah-choo!)

The last day we strolled and shopped for souvenirs in the Gothic area then spent some quality time at Starbucks. After a brief photo stop at the Palau Musici and Arc de Triumphe, we headed back to the airport for more hurry up and wait.
I'm glad to be home. Feeling so miserable didn't help. Spain was alright. I'm glad I went so I could tick it off my list but I'm not sure I'd go back anytime soon (not even for the tortilla patatas!).

After arriving back home late at night, I got a call from Stacy. On her way home she'd been attacked. The man got away with her purse, wallet, camera and passport. What a horrible end to a mediocre trip. They did catch him in the end. What an ordeal. Thank God Stacy is now alright!

England 2005

2005-07-02T05:10:00.000-06:00

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October 22, 2005

Ohhh! Guess what I did last night!! I went to the Backstreet boys concert!! I was listening to them Thursday, hanging out my window (yes we are that close to the stadium!) and it was so good so I was like 'I have to be there!' so I got a last minute just released ticket, middle centre behind the mixer. It was crazy. At first I felt like a loser but the whole crowd was full of 20 and 30 something women and then these crazy girls from Devon sat down beside me. They were fun and totally included me. They had seen the concert the night before and came back for more!

And it was so great, as soon as they came on, everyone stood up and screamed! And for the next two hours we (yes me included, I went nuts and had fun!) danced and screamed and sang and oggled the good looking boys on stage. It was so fun!! My throat hurt at the end but it was so great. I was actually in a good mood. I'm so glad I went, it was so fun!! Nothing like a little eye candy to sooth the soul!

September 10, 2005

Went to a great concert today. It was the last night of the annual Proms classical music festival so they had a special cocnert in Hyde Park. The opening band was none other than my Quebecois band - La Bottine Souriantte. They were excellent and definitely had the crowd jumping. The other acts were G4, and Andrea Botticelli, along with a few other little English bands. It was really good, despite the rain! It was the last night of the Proms so everyone was feeling particularily patriotic!

August 31, 2005

Ahem (clears throat). Pull up a chair boys and girls; it's time for a story! Once upon a time there was a lovely young woman named Lisa. She liked to travel and she sorta liked kids and she loved God. God told her to leave the safe word of Canada to move to London, England. So she did. She was a teacher and got lots of holidays, which was good because she stressed and worried a lot and needed the breaks!

One autumn week she went to Italy with her friend. It was lovely, except when they woke up in a hostel which had bed bugs! A few more sleep less nights later and they returned safe and sound to London. Except a week later Lisa found a forgotten travel gift...red spots on her arms and bed bugs behind the headboard! A nice man came out and sprayed her room, which got rid of the bugs but made it smell for the rest of her stay. She also had to move out all her stuff and wash all her clothes and sleep on an air mattress for a long time. But that was last November. Then she had a rotten Christmas and then developed a health problem (she stressed a lot remember). She also went to Hungary with another friend and suspects they had bed bugs there too. You shoulda seen them disinfecting their kit when they returned to London! The following spring she wasn't sure what God wanted her to do with her life, and she stressed a lot remember, so she got kinda depressed and miserable (well, she's always been miserable but you know how it is).

Life was looking up though! God led her into a full time job with a work permit and then she went camping with all her friends and found her smile again. She briefly went home to safe Canada and wondered why she'd ever left but she also felt the tug to go back to London. So she did. And she had just moved so she found all her stuff in a heap in her tiny room. There was also a strange piece of furniture. Apparently when the movers were picking up her housemates furniture from her old flat, they found an old desk in the corridor and thought it was hers so they brought it along.

Well, this old scruffy desk ended up sitting in Lisa's room for a whole month while she went to safe Canada. She thought nothing of it when she returned, except that it was ugly and needed to go! She calmly (yeah right!) unpacked all her belongings (well, most of those lovely books she owns are still in safe Canada but what can you do). As she was putting away some clothes that happened to be sitting on top the desk, she found a dead bug casing. It's a good thing she's not afraid of bugs. (Yeah, did I mentioned she's also lived with house moths while they infested a kitchen and wood lice while they ate through a bathroom window, and you should see the spiders in England!) She calmly (yeah right) threw it out and put the t-shirt away in her new chest of drawers. But...it did look suspiciously like a bedbug...

Se slept one night in her new (!) bed then went off with her housemate for the weekend. Then the paranoia started. She just knew it must've been a bed bug. Of course it would be. How much crap can this poor girl handle? Why would it happen twice in a year? That's not fair! So she started checking for bites. And yeah, she found them. But were they bites? Were they sunspots? Was it a rash from her new sheets? What about ingrown hairs? Was she imagining things and going crazy?

Eventually she decided to strip the bed a check for those pesky buggers (she's good at that, she knows the signs by now, she checks beds a lot). And what did she find crawling on the mattress? One lone beige bug. Was it a beg bug? What else could it be? She couldn't find anymore and she couldn't see any signs of anymore (though where was that flashlight?). She tucked it into an envelope, put the sheets in the wash and called the nice expensive bug man again. What did he think it was? Who can tell over the phone, so he arranged to come out tomorrow night with his smelly death spray. Well, isn't she excited to have her room smell again! She must be missing years off her life after inhalling that stuff for the better part of a year! The duvet and the fiddle case still smell from last time!

So now she waits for the man. And looks on the internet. And finds a picture of her bug which might just be a carpet beetle larvae? What do larvae bed bugs look like anyways? And inspects the flat. And finds a wood louse under the desk (which she has long since dragged out into the corridor). She doesn't mind them, they don't bite or live in the bed (so she thinks) and they crunch nicely when you kill them (they used to share a bathroom, remember). She put it into the envelope with her carpet beetle larvae/bed bug. And she does laundry. Loads of laundry. And when she pulls out the sheets to hang over the doors to dry (drat, no dryer!) she steps on a dead beetle thingy. Well goodness, this is a trend. She puts it into the envelope too.

And she waits for the nice man with smelly death spray and expensive advice. Has she lost her smile again? She waits...

September 4, 2005

She waited...and the man didn't show up. So she called the office and waited some more. And more. Then finally the nice man in the bug office said she would get free treatment since the other bug man didn't show up but she would have to wait till the weekend for a consult. So in the meantime she annoyed her housemate extensively and got no sleep. He eventually woke them up on a Saturday morning and inspected everything.

And the verdict...no bed bugs. Probably wood lice and some sort of storage beetle but everyone has those and they don't bite so it's all good. So yes she was paranoid. And insane. At least now she can get some sleep. If only the man downstairs would turn down his music...

December 26, 2005

Hmm, just when this lovely stressed out girl thought life was going well (well, not well but going anyways) she decided to change her sheets during Christmas break. Big mistake. She spotted a whole new type or bug crawling on her sheet. And under her sheet. And around her mattress. Tiny white maggoty worms with red heads. Disgusting!! They are obviously carpet beetle larvae. What can she do? New beds cost too much and who's to say they wouldn't come back anyways. So she kills them and covers the mattress as best she can. And she tries to sleep...as long as she doesn't think too much...

And one day while watching the crazy cleaning ladies on 'How Clean Is Your House' she sees her ugly white maggots. No, they aren't carpet beetle larvae, they are actually house moth larvae. Ah, that explains why there are moths in her room occasionally. Grrr, will it ever end?!

July 23-29, 2005

New Wine 2005. Wow! What can I say? What an experience!

New Wine 2005 was definitely a week I will remember. New Wine is a Christian camp/conference held every year in the summer over two different weeks. We went to Week A in Shepton Mallet, about 3 hours west of London. The showground/campground was huge and we were fortunate to have our village hosts extraordinaire negotiate the site of Red 3 for Christ Church. There were about 40 of us, young and old. Emily and I shared a tent, conveniently the smallest on site. It was well cozy! The weather was miserable, mostly rain or wind and muddy, with tons of cloud, not a lot of sun and quite cold. But that didn’t dampen our spirits at all! We were either in a seminar or meeting or hung out in the Christ Church marquee or in the boys’ caravan. It was such a good bonding week. We all grew closer as we chatted and laughed about this, that, and the other. We ate together, made food together, did the washing up together and went to the sessions together. It was great!

Every morning Emily and I would get up at about 8am, woken up by the early Rise worship. We would eat breakfast then head off to Venue 2 for the morning worship and teaching. The worship was always great at Venue 2! I leared many new songs, my favs being ‘How great is our God’, ‘Indescribable’ and ‘Lost In Wonder'. The morning teaching was done by Jay Pathik, a pastor from Denver, Colorado. He was awesome, very funny with a simple, easy to understand message. I really learned a lot from him and enjoyed listening to him very much. He told great stories!! The last morning was communion, which was very meaningfull after the week we spent in the presence of God.

Most of the day was taken up with sessions, if we could be bothered to go. I went to a few but didn’t really feel all that inspired by any. When we were free in the day we were usually wandering around the marketplace, drinking hot chocolate, taking showers or yapping in the caravan. It was all good fun. On the day off the girls and I went to Clarkes Village, this huge shopping clearance village. Great bargins, but it was nice to return to our safe Christian world!

After dinner we would go to the evening celebrations, either in the Big Top or Venue 2. The worship was always amazing and charismatic. The teaching was often good as well. I heard Matt Redman speak about worshipping God, even in difficult times and Andy Economides did a super funny and inspiring session on being free and unique before God and everyone. It was great. The last night was Jay Pathik again, inspiring as usual. I hope I can keep the joyfullness of this week in my heart forever and not be so miserable next year.

We often went to the Rendevous for some of the evening entertainment. We saw Cathy Burton, Andy Flannagin and The Word on the Street, which was a drama group doing the bible in 75 minutes. Amazing! The best part of the weekthough, was growing closer to the people of Christchurch. I really feel it was a blessing to spend time with all the great people and families who were there. Truly, we were blessed. It was a bit of a shock coming back and though the real world is nice (well, the beds and showers mostly), I do miss New Wine extremely. I will never forget this week and hope that God works through me to bring out all the things I’ve learned. Amen!!

March 5, 2005

It was Mother's Day weekend so Emily kindly invited me back to her home in Beccles, East Anglia. We went to Norwich for the day shopping, and to peek into the cathedral. Then we enjoyed a lovely fish and chips supper at the local hall, where we were seranaded by her mom's choir and other local musicians. On Mothering Sunday we took the dogs for a walk on the beach. Look closely can you see Denmark (not!)? It was a lovely, relaxed weekend, they made me feel very much part of the family. Oh yeah, did you notice all the snow?!

February 27, 2005

Another life changing experience, I got confirmed today! Yep Bishop Pete came for a visit and laid hands on a group of us. He's the coolest bishop really, always wears purple shirts and a leather waitcoat/vest. He even told us to 'chill' and not be nervous. No reference to the baptisms I'm sure! I also took my first communion. Now that was really special. Usually I just sit and watch dejectedly but not today! I was really nervous but got talked through it and was just so chuffed at the end! Now I feel like a 'real' Christian. Amazing how far I've come. I'm very proud of myself really!

February 13, 2005

Well, it's been an interesting, painful and beautiful weekend. First the pain. Maybe you remember, I have sort of a back problem. It started two years ago and was probably caused by stress. A few times a year it make an appearance then it goes away. No big deal, just a few days of discomfort. That I can handle. Well three days ago it came back with avengance. Meaning I seriously thought I was having a stroke. I had shooting, deep throbbing pains travelling up my neck, back and arms. The next day I called the NHS Health Hotline and the lady said "I don't know what it is exactly, but since it has to do with your neck I suggest you get yourself to the emergency room. Now. Do you want me to call you an ambulance?"

"NOOOOO!" (That was me, now in full panic mode). She was sweet though. It was about 11pm on Saturday and I didn't know what to do. So I started calling around, though not many people were home. I got ahold of Richard who, bless him, drove me to Northwick Park Hospital. He was a star, seriously, because I was quite upset. It was a quick in and out to the clinic, which was about to shut. The doctor said I had strained up all the muscles in my neck, which were in turn pinching the nerves in my neck, which were causing all the circulating pain. He gave me a prescirption for pain killers (which by the way don't work) and told me to contact my doctor asap to set up some physio appointments. Great. Just what I need.

So a pain filled weekend. Then comes the baptism! The strange occurances continue. I don't know much about spiritual warfare but really... So yes, still in pain, I get to the church an hour early and I noticed the santuary looked a bit dark, thought maybe the others weren't around yet. We go in and while the lounge and the entrance foyer are all lit up, the main bit of the church was very dark, except for a row of candles up near the front. Emily and I walked in and Mark (the vicar) says to me "Well Lisa, your worries of having everyone stare at you are solved!" The electricity and heating in the santuary had blown a fuse! No lights. No heat. Cold. Dark. It was so strange. But I must say, very beautiful. Eventually they hooked up some spotlights and floor lamps on extension leads so you could see the front, barely, it was lite up very softly. And the band hooked themselves up on leads (Soul Survivor Band, so very rockin!). And we got way more candles. And for an hour people were filling up and boiling kettles and pouring it into the baptism pool! It was so strange.

It turned out all right though. I was nervous, terrified, in pain yes, but it turned out all right. The other two girls getting baptised were 13 and 17 and they felt the same. It was really nice having them beside me, they were sweet and it was just really nice to share it with such similar people. First of course we said some things, then one of the girls gave a short testimony. Then it was into the pool. Remember now, COLD pool. I got to go first (something about being the oldest?!). Mark and James (the youth minister) went before me and you could see them cringing. My first step in was so cold but maybe it was becaue I couldn't see with out my glasses but it was just over so fast I didn't feel it anymore. And they didn't drop me, which was another fear of mine. Anyways, after all of us walked out of the freezing church, sopping, we got changed in the bathroom. Denise kindly brought us hot coffees then we went back in for prayer and the rest of the service. Which was cold, and now we all had wet hair! But it was fine in the end.

So not as bad as I thought. It was actually extra special the way it worked out. And yes, I did end up doing the washing up, even after Richard's stern "Get out of the kitchen!" comments! I'm glad it's over and I can get on with it, but surprisingly I did enjoy it. What a cool story anyways!!!

January 17, 2005

Just thought you might like to know what we got up to at the annual retreat this year. A core group of about 15 of us went. A couple of the other girls and I drove out together and of course, no thanks to the internet directions, got totally lost in the dark back roads. We tried in vain to get ahold of anyone who was there already but couldn't, since they were all having dinner and didn't get reception in the dining hall! To top it all off the other two were feeling really ill. We were pretty stuck when finally a phone call saved us and got us to St. Katherine's Parmoor. It was the same place we had it last year, an old religious manor house in the beautiful countryside. There's lots of rooms to stay, a huge dining area and a few other comfy rooms to have group sessions in. Plus there's a really large, hardwood reception area. It is really comfortable, clean and the food was glorious!!! Proper roast dinners and apple crumble, plus loads of tea, biscuits and cake!

I was sharing with Emily and woke up at about 5:45am Friday to hear something rustling. I thought it was just Emily eating the chocolate that we found left on our pillows (me thinks it was Richard!). So I decided I might as well get up and got to the bathroom (like usual). I got back and she then asked me if I was eating the chocolate, we went silent and the rustling of chocolate wrappers continued. We finally had the guts to turn on the light and saw the chocolate wiggling out from the wall! Emily threw a pen at it and whatever it was went away. We found out the next day it wasn't a mouse, but a bat!!! Apparently the warden and the bat are on friendly terms. I still spent most of the next night freaked out it would crawl on my bed or I would step on it, but we never saw it again.

The best bit of the whole weekend though occured Saturday night. It was meant to be a 30minute worship session with Andrew on guitar and Steve of piano. Everyone was just so inspired. Andrew took over piano after about 20 minutes and we ended up singing for 2 hours straight, no kidding!! It was incredible! I've never worshipped like that before. Andrew was a star on the piano and Emily and I became the helpers, finding requested sheet music, clearing up the piano music holder when the mound of papers started falling off the floor. The music never stopped once, no one ever said anything, we spoke with our eyes and sang our hearts out! Everyone just got so into it. It was amazing, I really felt God was there. It was a really cool weekend. It was a good time of reflection and planning for what we want to do this year and about how God figures in to all that. We also had time for a long walk down some of the paths near the area, around the farms and in the Chiltern valleys. It was so lovely!

It was such a great opportunity to chat with people in a relaxed setting and I had loads of great conversations with people. I also realized a few things. One I need to try harder at spending time getting closer to God. Two, I'm a total Martha! Seriously, I had a tendency to pick up stray teacups and straighten chairs and put away rubbish and sweep up sponge, and then Emily and I alphabetized the Worship music book, after the tornado of Saturday night hit it. And I think it's a good thing, I am capable of being helpful and like to so why not help decrease the load of someone else's burden? Isn't that sharing the love of Jesus? So I'm pleased with that and will continue doing washing up at homegroup etc. I also decided to relinquish control of the my 'big issue': do I stay another year or go home? I'm going to try to trust that when the time comes to make that decision I will listen to and let God guide towards the right decision. There is no point worrying and stressing about it now, when the time comes the Lord will help me sort it out according to what He has planned. So that's that.

Turkey

2005-06-03T13:11:00.000-06:00

May 26, 2007

Emily and I decided, since it was my last opportunity for a trip before I go home to Canada, we'd go to Istanbul. I never really set out wanting to go there but I figured I'd never go from Canada so it was an opportunity worth taking.

It was a nightmare journey. Seriously. I hate airports to begin with. The flight was ok, but delayed. Then at the airport in Istanbul it turns out I had to pay £35 for a visa. Every other country (seriously e-v-e-r-y other country, like Malta and random Russia republics) paid less than half that. Canada was the most expensive fee. I was shocked. What a rip off. So then I was in a bad mood. And then we waited in Passport Control for over an hour, while others kept jumping the queue. And then to top it all off, when we finally reached baggage claim mine was nowhere to be seen. By now I was in tears. We went to lost luggage and about 15 minutes later the guy showed up with my bag. They'd put it in the hold underground or something because we'd taken so long and all the other bags were gone. Good grief. Total nightmare.

We got a taxi to our hotel (more stress and panic since it was a strange country). Too fed up to sort anything out we went to the nearest place to grab omlettes to eat (by now it was 11pm) then back to the stuffy hotel for a sleepless night. Tomorrow had to get better.

May 27, 2007

After a not so resful night we went down to breakfast (bread, cheese, cucumber, tomatoes, meat, olives, and thankfully cereal) then headed out to the piers. Very confusedly, we bought a ticket for the Bosphorus trip. It was quite enjoyable. The ferry left Istanbul then travelled up the Bosphorus to the mouth of the Black Sea. We watched the scenery go by. The coast was dominated by mosques and red topped, painted yalis (beach houses). We also saw a few palaces (Dolmabahce being the best), and the Fortress of Europe, before we stopped at Anadolu Karagi. This Turkish port was on the Asian side of the country so now I can say I've been to Asia! We stopped for bread circles (Simit, found all over Europe, I guess their version of bagels) and a hike up to Genoese Castle. The views from the ruins were stunning, you could see out to the Black Sea. On the return trip there was more lovely scenery including Khedive's Palace, the Fortress of Asia and both suspension bridges again. We also caught a glimpse of Leander's Tower before heading back to the pier.

We pottered back to the hotel then headed for the Haghia Sophia. Once a cathedral, then a mosque, and now it was a strange tourist destination. It was oddly beautiful, didn't feel like a church or a mosque or anything. Just strange. The remaining mosaics of Jesus were stunning, most in gold. The ceiling just was very islamic, painted in yellow with patterns, with windows and huge signs in Arabic. The outside is tunning as well. We wandered down to the Blue Mosque but decided to save it for another day. Instead we ate doner kebabs, drank carrot juice, check emails and went to bed.

May 28, 2007

Another earlyish day, we walked up to Topkapi Palace. The gate were tall with pointed tops and the grounds were beautiful, they really love their accurately placed flowers! First we went into the Harem, where the wives and concubines of the Sultan were kept. The most striking parts were the walls, all covered in blue and patterned tiles, with very colourfully painted domed ceilings. We wandered around a bit more and ended up seeing the Armor museum, kitchens and Treasurey. The treasures were amazing, covered with jewels, gems and diamonds. They made ordinary jugs and swords look amazing. There was also allegedly St. John the Baptist's arm and skull and Mohammed's coat. Between the buildings, grounds and treasures, it was a really nice place to visit.

On the way out and up to the Grand Bazaar we saw the Fountain of Ahmet III, the cemetary and Tomb of Sultan Mahmut II (take off your shoes and cover your head, hair and shoulders!), Constantine's Column (covered in scaffolding but supposed to have Noah's axe used to build the Ark, Mary Magdalene's flask of anointing oil and loaves of bread left over from when Jesus fed the masses) and also ate our compulsory bread circles and ice cream. Then we entered the Grand Bazaar. I was worried about the hasseling and haggling but it really wasn't too bad. Generally the men (and we rarely saw or ever had conversations with local women) were friendly. They were selling loads of stuff: gold, leather goods, scarves, pottery, fabrics and souvenirs. I picked up some blue eyes 'of protection', how very unchristian, and some lovely scarves. We eventually wandered into the Spice Bazaar and bought some goodies for people at home before grabbing a carrot juice and a flat bread snack.

After a quick stop at the hotel, we went to the Basilica Cistern. It was so bizarrely cool! Like being in the Mines of Moria! Underground, there were 336 columns standing in a foot or two of water. We walked along raised wooden platforms, listening to eerie music and dripping water. There were two Medusa heads supporting columns in the corner, both faces wonky directions. The reflections of the columns in the water was unreal! It was built in the 6th century and was just amazingly surreal.

We waited around the Hippodrome (where the used to race chariots) for a collegue (who actually had stayed in England!). There was an Egyptian obelisk (from Luxor) and another column of Constantine. We ended up going out for a posh-er dinner, then back to the back to bed. It was quite hot and humid, but not as bad as I thought. And so far Istanbul wasn't as dirty or scary as I thought it would be. It was turning out to be quite a nice city.

May 29, 2007

Our first stop was the Archaeological Museum. The first building had statues, stellas, wall pictures etc from the Ancient Orient (Egyptian, Hittite, Babylon). Then in the next, larger, building were sarcophagie from Sidon ('Alexander's Tomb'), excavations from Anatolia and Troy, relics from Trace, Bithyia and other Byzantine Collections, Syria, Palestine, etc. There was a collection from around Istanbul, a children's museum and a fake Trojan horse. Also there was a classical gallery full of Greek/Roman statues. The last building was the Tile Pavillion, full of those beautiful blue tiles, pottery and plenty of gold leaf. It was a nice museum to wander around for the morning.

Next came more bread rings, ice cream, and the Blue Mosque. I was a bit apprehensive about going in, but it was fine. The floor was covered by rugs and we had to take off our shoes (and cover our head/hair/shoulders). There were low rows of lights and high walls/domes ceilings which were colourful, as were the stained glass windows. No images or icons, just patterns and colour. It was a bit different, there was chanting and praying going on but also loads of tourists. It was interesting to see.

We went through the Grand Bazaar again to Suleymaniye Camii Mosque. First we went through the cemetary and intot he tomb of Suleyman (the Sultan) and his Roxelana (wife). The prayer hall of the main mosque was comparable tot he Blue Mosque with the same procedures as before (women/men separate, tourists behind the fence). Once again, it was quiet and serenly open and colourful.

Again we walked back through the Spice Bazaar, had more juice and some cheese bread, with corn on the cob to was it down (they sold it everywhere on the street corners, just like ice cream and those bread rings!). We poked away on the internet then rested before going out for one last dinner. Of course we went to our favourite 'sunflower' restaurant for salad, flat bread with meat and corriander and apple tea. Then we bought some baklava and fancy bowls. We spent the night packing, and eating baklava while watching BBC World. One more night (broken up by the early morning call to prayer) and then it was back home to the UK.

I liked Istanbul. I even would've stayed one more day, but as it is I've seen all I needed to see. It was a friendly, cleanish city with good food and plenty to amuse the tourists. So yeah, Turkey was worth the trip.

"A rug for your dowry?" - offered to me in the Grand Bazaar.

"You American? No? Good!" - heard as I walked past from a carpet/cafe hawker.

Egypt

2005-03-26T09:55:00.000-07:00

(Scroll down for more slideshows)

Egypt. Wow, what a trip! It was so amazing, interesting, and different. The history is incredible and the culture is unlike anywhere I’ve been. Emily and I had a great time and saw so much in just 14 days. It truly was a case of ‘the good, the bad, and the ugly’!

26/3/05
After an early start and a long flight, Emily and I arrived in Cairo. It was a bit manic getting Visas and meeting our tour rep but eventually we were shuttled into a mini bus and whisked off to the city centre. Crazy drivers in Cairo, they don’t follow any rules and there are no lanes, which equals lots of honking! After checking into our hotel all we could manage was going out for dinner. Cairo is a modern, busy city, with tall buildings and military or police at every corner (!?). We had our first meal of tehina and pita, falafel and oily veg. We wandered down the Nile, looking at the cruise boats, then tried in vain to get some sleep over the sound of a hotel party and honking cars. Just when you think you have fallen asleep, the local Muslim call to prayer booms out of the mosques at sunrise. It definitely is a different world!

27/3/05
We had bread rolls and hard boiled egg for breakfast (and would do for the next two weeks!), met our tour group (lots of Aussies as usual and a few Kiwis, South Africans and Canadians) and headed out to Saqqara. It was here that the first pyramid was built in 2700BC. It was a step pyramid, not smooth sided like the famous Giza pyramids. We went into the tomb under the smaller pyramid of Teti, which was a short but incredibly steep and crouched descent into stuffy, hot, empty rooms with rows of carved hieroglyphics. We also saw a temple with bits of coloured paint still left on the wall.

From here we went to Dashur. First we saw the red pyramid, know for it’s wide base, red graffiti interior and the first smooth sides. We went into the tomb here, down 76m into the dark, stuffy inner corridor where we stood directly under the tip. After we walked to the bent pyramid, which is, of course, bent. They got the angles wrong and before it collapsed they altered it. We headed back to Cairo then met the group for a Nile dinner cruise, including Egyptian food and ‘tourist entertainment’ which included ‘whirling dervish’ spinning dancers, and a belly dancer with a human horse who insisted on getting the crowd involved. Strange.

28/3/05
First stop: Egyptian Museum. So cool! There’s tons of antiquities to see, you wouldn’t know where to start, but luckily we had a great guide named Megget. We saw statues dating back to 3000BC and all the Tutankhamen treasures, including the famous gold death mask, beds, chariots, papyrus and jewellery. We went into the mummy room and saw the well preserved mummies, including Ramses II who sorta looks like Prince Phillip! We also saw some animal mummies of cats, birds and a huge crocodile.

From here we went to Ali’s perfume shop where we sat on ornate chairs and ate koshari (pasta, rice and sauce) surrounded by fancy bottles of liquid. We got to sample some proper Egyptian perfume (Lotus was the best) and many people made purchases.

Next up: Giza Pyramids. It was so cool to be standing in front of the huge pyramid. Incredible and surreal. It is massive! We climbed up a few levels of Khufu’s pyramid, which contains over 2.3 million blocks and weighs over 6 million tons! We got to go into Khafre’s tomb, the middle one. The descent down was longer than yesterday but not as stuffy. The entrance shaft opens into a huge bare room with only a stone sarcophagus at one end.

After this was the best bit of the day (and trip!): the camel ride! It was so exciting to be riding a camel around the pyramids. It was so fun! We then saw the sphinx and walked through the valley temple, where they mummified the kings. It was a very sandy, very hot trip but so cool!

We ended the day with a stop at a papyrus shop where we got a demonstration of how the made/make the paper. We rested at a resort with a pool for a few hours, had a huge Egyptian buffet meal (tehina, pita, falafel, kofta, hummous, veg…). You could tell we were about to take a long train ride, everyone was stocking up! We eventually got on the overnight train to Aswan. Have I mentioned yet the yucky state of Egyptian toilets?

29/3/05
I actually slept on an overnight train. Small miracle that! We arrived bright and early in Aswan and immediately noticed the heat: it was much hotter than in Cairo although also much further south. We went on a short boat trip to the island of the Temple of Philae. It was very tall, with tons of columns and walls covered in hieroglyphics. It was really neat, plus the views of the Nile were amazing.

In the evening we met Muhammed, a Nubian man, who then took us up river to his village. We were welcomed by Nubian children and Muhammed’s cousins. We shed our shoes and had the welcoming drink of hibiscus tea (tastes like red kool-aid!). He talked to us about Nubian culture and showed us around his house, which was made of mud bricks and painted blue, yellow, red and green. There were crocodiles being fattened up for dinner and the floor was just sand. The family was lovely. The food was hearty and the little nephews were very entertaining with their Nubian version of ‘Frere Jacque’. Fatima gave us henna tattoos and we sat around watching some of the others smoke the shesha pipes. It was a very chilled evening. We were then shipped back as we sat on the boat roof and gazed at the stars.

30/3/05
Wake up call this morning: 2:45am. Groggily we got on a bus and joined a large convoy; the queue of buses was huge for such an hour! Three hours later, after enjoying views of the flat desert, we reached Lake Nasser and the Temple of Abu Simbel. The temple, cut into a rock mountain had huge colossi statue of Ramses II. One was damaged in an earthquake but the others were massive. Inside were huge towering columns of Ramses II and tons of relief pictures. Not too far away was a smaller temple dedicated to his favourite wife, Nefertari. More columns and reliefs and tired tourists. Seriously huge! We were to learn that everything Ramses II did was huge and numerous, from children to wives to temples to tombs.

We were back in Aswan for lunch then went to the markets. Thus began my rotten mood. Yeah, ok, so the souq markets are cool, lots to buy and see, but they are annoying, aggravating and stressful. First you have to get through the men with their whistles and pick up lines. Then you have to survive the haggling. I hated it. We got ripped off twice, which bothered me tons. Yes I did get some neat gifts but really, not worth the trouble. We also tried to get into the Old Cataract Hotel (where Agatha Christie wrote Death on the Nile) but they wouldn’t let us in. Then we got ripped off again at the grocery store. Yesh! Anyways, dinner was on the roof and included more spinning dancers and drumming, this time with lots of audience participation. Then there was more haggling before bed.

31/3/05
First thing this morning a few of us hopped on Muhammed’s brother’s boat and headed to Kitchener Island. We leaped onto some camels and headed across the desert hills to St. Simeon Monastery, built in 70AD. The camels are so cool, the views, the relaxing walk (ok maybe not the smell!). We walked around the monastery then headed back for breakfast. Well fun! Until I tripped down the stairs with my pack on and badly bruised up my knee. Great.

Midday we boarded our feluccas. They are boats, with sails and rudders. The deck is covered with cushions and that’s where we sat, ate and slept. There’s a canopy to keep the sun out and shade in. It was very relaxing, just floating down (well up actually) the Nile. We read, played cards, listened to various Ipods and tanned. The felucca guys made up simple food: pita, falafel, salsa, beans, cheese, veg, kofta (lamb), and chicken. We docked for the night alongside a few other feluccas and came to appreciate secluded bits of riverbank. At night the Egyptians pulled out their drums and made a fire. Mix in a bit of firewater and you’ve got a pretty interesting scene, which included our tour leader, Andy, and lots of other dancing fools. It’s amazing none of them actually fell into the fire! Yeah so not a lot of sleep happened and we were up bright and early with the sun the next day, back on the river.

1/4/05
“Each time you leave the cosseted and hygienic world of towns and take yourself into the hills you go through a series of staged transformations – a kind of gentle descent into squalor – and each time it is as if you have never done it before. At the end of the first day, you feel mildly, self-consciously, grubby; by the second day disgusting; by the third day you are beyond caring; by the fourth you have forgotten what it is like not to be like this. Hunger, too, follows a defined pattern. On the first night you are starving for your noodles; on the second night you are starving but wish it wasn’t noodles; on the third you don’t want noodles but you know you had better eat something; by the fourth you have no appetite at all but just eat because that is what you do at this time of day. I can’t explain it, but it is strangely agreeable... And then something happens to make you realize how much – how immeasurably much - you want to revisit the real world.” Bill Bryson, A Walk in the Woods, p.169.

I just happened to be reading this passage while we were on the feluccas and yes it was just like this. The Nile was our hills, pita bread our noodles. Another day on the felucca. You sit, soak up the sun, read, chat, play cards, listen to more music, pop anti-tummy-ache pills (Antinal, good stuff!), stop for lunch and the nearest bush, and watch your fellow travellers get sick (alcohol, Egyptian food, Nile water, you name your poison).

We did stop once in the afternoon and headed into Daraw on the back of some rickety trucks. The city was pretty poor and dirty. We saw a group of camels with one leg tied up so they couldn’t run off, pretty sad and pathetic. We also visited the camel market, though it was pretty quiet. A camel goes for 4000-6000 Egyptian pounds (about £400-600 or $200-300). It was kinda scary being in town, since we had no ideal what the locals thought of the tourists. They all stared and a guy on our tour spoke a bit of Arabic and told us it wasn’t the first (or last) time we got sworn at and insulted. I was actually glad to get back on the boat.

We pulled up with the same boats that night, which ended up being pretty mellow. There was another fire but people mostly just stared and listened to some other boat’s drinking game. We tucked in pretty early and I actually slept well, missing the big dog fight that apparently happened in the middle of the night.

The feluccas were fun, for awhile, but eventually became grubby and tiresome. It’s amazing how soon you adapt to the life of squalor though. I mean, the first night we had a wall of girls and a towel for toilet breaks, and the last morning someone just shouted ‘Shut you eyes and turn around!’ and no one even cared who was looking! It was an experience, yes, but I wouldn’t do it for longer than a few days.

“Egypt is our rubbish bin, Egypt is our toilet.” Random Egyptian local.

2/4/05
Early morning wake up call, last visit to a secluded bit of riverbank, last felucca breakfast. Aah, God is good.

We docked and departed at Kom Ombo and visited the temple there. The columns were nice and we met a snake charmer. The best bit though was using a proper toilet with a sink and some soap!!

Next we bussed to Edfu and visited the temple there. It is massive and very well preserved! There were some cool bird statues and great wall reliefs. We got on another convoy then arrived at Luxor.(What’s the purpose of the convoy you ask? Well, due to tourist shootings a few years back, the Government/Police/ Military likes to know where you are and where you are going. They control everything and insist vehicles travel in groups at specific times. I suppose it’s a safety measure. But really, it’s just a way to make money.)

Luxor. Shower. Soap. Aah, God is good.

We wandered around Luxor temple, which is also huge. The row of Sphinxes, giant Ramses II statues, and a towering obelisk (whose twin is in Paris’ Place De La Concorde) were the highlights. They call it the temple of three religions: Pharonic (obviously), Muslim (there is a mosque built on top of it, when it was covered in sand), and Christian (who hid in the temple to escape Roman persecution and altered a room and scratched out the figures). The temple looked cool at night.

Andy walked us to the market. Have I mentioned I hate the markets? Lots of people got cartouche jewellery with their name in hieroglyphics. We wandered into a McDonalds (McArabia burger anyone?) for ice cream then to the supermarket for snacks (I am so sick of biscuits, crisps and bread, and I swear they just make up the prices), then off to bed.

3/4/05
What a busy day! Another (!) early morning start, and then off to the Valley of the Kings. Initially it just looks like a sandy, rocky valley. Then you notice the tomb entrances, 62 in all. I though they would be narrow, deep, small and dark like the pyramids but they were amazing!!! Huge, long, tall, spacious and absolutely covered in hieroglyphic reliefs with the full colour preserved! Amazing! We went into the tombs of Ramses IV, with it’s high, decorated roof, Ramses V/VI (VI recycled and decorated over V’s tomb which you could see evidence of in one part, and it also had a huge sarcophagus) and Ramses III (who ran into another tomb so they had to shift the tunnel). The tombs exceeded my expectations. We saw the entrance to Tutankhamen’s tomb but never went in. It is amazing to think about all the stuff they found in his tomb (not attacked by grave robbers, who were actually probably high priests) even though he was an unimportant pharoah, it is the smallest tomb in the whole valley, can you just imaging the riches that coulda been found. Mind boggling.

We then went to the Valley of the Workers, were you could immediately see the ruins of their living quarters. We saw two tombs, much smaller than the kings but with better and shinier preserved colours. The workers built them in their spare time so the reliefs are painted only, not carved like the kings. Very cool (actually hot and stuffy!).

Lastly we went to the Valley of the Queens. Nefartari’s tomb is the best preserved (Ramses II favourite wife, remember) but it was closed so we got to go into Queen Titi’s, which had gorgeous colours. The Egyptian guy on guard duty offered some random American tourist 5 million camels for me. Aaw, how sweet. Next we saw the tombs of Ramses II young sons, one even had a fetus mummy in it. They think that there is another hidden valley somewhere, since many royals are missing, wouldn’t it be exciting if they found it!

We stopped quickly at the Colossi of Memnon, two HUGE sitting statues of Ramses II (greedy, egotistical man he was!). They used to belong to a temple but it is gone now and the statues were reconstructed by the Greeks. Rumour has it they used to sing but it was only a whistling of wind going through the cracks, since the Greeks really didn’t try too hard in their reconstructions. Still very cool though.

The best bit of the day: donkey riding! They were so cute! Once we got on them we first had to negotiate through traffic in the village, which was a bit stressful and the donkeys really couldn’t listen to directions. They just followed the leader. Mostly we travelled through the fields and smaller villages. The donkeys were so funny, you couldn’t get them to go fast but once one started, the others all went to catch up and it was like a stampede coming behind you. I think my donkey was a bit scared of the others and obviously wanted to stay at the front because whenever I could hear the rest of the group stampeding along he would shoot off! We had a good laugh. And sore asses and legs. It was so much fun!

Later that afternoon we went out for koshari, our favourite Egyptian meal (macaroni, rice and tomato spiced sauce), then back to the markets for more souvenir hunting. We actually got some decent bargains and the haggling wasn’t as bad as in Aswan. We had another group meal, including our spinning entertainment then went back across the river by boat. I wasn’t feeling well so went to bed early. If only I knew what was to come!

4/4/05
This morning we visited Sunshine Orphanage. An English Lady runs it and she gave us a tour and we played with the kids a bit. It was a clean and cheery place. It’s amazing what God has called her to do, and she’s doing a great job. She really was inspiring, and the children were so happy!

We made our last visit to a temple and it was the biggest one yet: Karnak. It connected long ago to Luxor temple by the avenue of Sphinxes. It had high gate, huge columns, with some preserved colour, tall obelisks, statue and lots of hieroglyphics. It was really massive. General consensus after this though: we were templed out! We took caleches (horse drawn carriages) back, packed up and joined another convoy to Hurgahda, on the western edge of the Red Sea.

The outskirts of Hurghada were bizarre, like Las Vegas. It was just all tourist resorts with neon lights, cheesy facades and names like ‘Aladdin Resort’ and ‘Ali Baba Hotel’. Disgusting. There was tons of construction going on for new resorts too. Crazy. The town was full of tourist shops and bars but we had another early morning wake up so we went to bed early.

5/5/05
Strange, miserable day. First we took the ferry over the Red Sea. It was very rough. Very, very rough. Up until this point I was actually enjoying our daily breakfast of bread and hard boiled eggs. If fact that morning I was so hungry I had two eggs. Big mistake. It got sick. Very sick. Twice. It was terrible. After I threw up to the point where I could throw up no more, I stuck my head in between my knees and moaned for two hours. It was horrible. All I could hear was people being sick. At one point Emily said to me “There’s this poor kid sat between his mom and dad and all he’s doing is watching them throw up into plastic bags!” She was a star, putting up with me. It was rough. And the rest of the day I felt like the world was spinning. Not nice.

We arrived in Dahab, a seaside resort town opposite Saudi Arabia. It is quite clean, lot’s of seaside restaurants, shops, dive schools, etc. It is a relaxed place with a bright blue ocean and tons of Bedouin kids selling stuff. We had a few good meals and walked around. I still felt terrible and weak but couldn’t pass up what was too come next!

At 11pm we packed up our things drove for two hours, and through many police checkpoints, to Mount Sinai. Yes, that’s the mountain where Moses saw the burning bush then went up to get the Ten Commandments. I knew it would be hard and was worried all day because I still felt spinny. And it was hard, the hardest thing I’ve ever done. It’s 8000 feet to the top; the first 80% is upward sloping trail and the last part is steep rock steps. We started at 1:45am, in the dark with our flashlights. There were many people on the trek up, including tons of camel guys offering rides to the steps. That of course would’ve been cheating. There are also huts every so often to buy drinks and snacks at.

It was so hard. I know I’m not in the best of shape but we were packing sleeping bags, it was cold and I’m sure the events of the morning ferry didn’t help. Four of us girls hung back while the rest speedily ascended. I wouldn’t have made it up if it weren’t for those girls; I would have quit or taken a camel. We encouraged each other and stuck together. I was exhausted by the time we reached the steps at 3:45am. The steps were killer. I can’t honestly believe I made it up. Our group was a full hour behind the others and when we arrived at the top, at 4:45am, they were all tucked into their sleeping bags, snoozing and huddling together for warmth.

We only just took out our bags and warmed up before we got out again and perched on the rocks to see the sunrise. It rose at 5:30am and the view made it all worth it. A group of Eastern European/Russian hikers sang a hymn as we watched. It was all over at 5:45am and we headed down after taking tons of pictures, at about 6am. First I stumbled coming down the stairs and did in my knee. And the rest of the way down I just couldn’t make my legs move faster. The camels were passing me! I was the last to finish at 8am. A few of us went around St. Katherine’s Monastery and saw the burning bush and where it was. Well, not the burning bush, but it’s only known living relative. Very cool.

The whole experience was a lot harder than I thought it would be. I just couldn’t cope. I kept saying in my head “God, give me strength” and concentrated on putting one foot in front of the other. In the end I made it up and down so I’m proud of myself.

6/4/05
After arriving back at the hotel at 11am, I collapsed on my bed. I ached all over, especially my knees and back (I had had no back problems till then, and they continued until the end of the trip). It was all I could do to have a shower and go to town for food. I was absolutely exhausted.

7/4/05
Aah, a full nights sleep and I felt much better. I even slept through breakfast. No more bread and eggs though: they had fruit in Dahab!

We took Jeeps to Blue Hole, a popular diving spot, though we were snorkelling. I was really nervous: water, deep, bathing suit, yuck. Water in general is not my thing and I found it very hard. I had trouble breathing through my mouth into the mask and felt like I was hyperventilating. And I was claustrophobic and felt like I was going to suffocate, never mind drown! And I couldn’t wear my glasses so I couldn’t really see. But I’m glad I did it. It was different from anything I’ve ever done. There was coral, mostly dull green, purple, blue and brown and lots of fish: orange/white/black like Nemo, blue/yellow, green/purple/blue/silver and I saw a big shark like thing and swam through a school of fish. So it was cool, challenging but cool. I wasn’t the only one having problems so I did feel better about that.

After lounging by the hotel pool, a few of us went horseback riding on the beach. We walked through town then along the beach to see the sunset. It was really fun. We got to go quite fast a few times, which was a bit scary and bumpy since I can’t rise-and-trot very well. One of the horses actually stopped and sat down like a camel, with the rider still on top! Too funny!

During dinner Andy told us that a bomb had gone off in the Cairo market and killed a few tourists. It was quite shocking and scary. Everyone got real serious for a moment, and then went back to drinking and smoking their shesha pipes. Weird.

8-9/4/05
We went out for a lovely, fruity breakfast then checked out of our hotel. We wandered around town, shopping for a bit, and then I had the most glorious massage. It was so well deserved after the past few difficult days and I thoroughly enjoyed it. We had one last dinner together then got on a 7 hour over night bus to Cairo. I went right to sleep once we got to our Cairo hostel, slept through breakfast again, then joined everyone for good byes and our journey back to the airport. Then it was back home to London.

Our trip to Egypt was very cool. It was interesting, especially the historical excursions, and we got to do many new and exciting things. It was also difficult, I had lots of challenging moments, especially during the last few days. Egypt is the most different place I have ever been and on occasion it was a little too much too handle! But we survived and learned a lot about the world and ourselves and in the end had one amazing trip!!

Hungary

2005-02-24T12:08:00.000-07:00

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February 24, 2005

Angela recently came to visit and we took a short trip to Budapest, in Hungary. Now really, who goes to Hungary?! Budapest was lovely though. I really do love Eastern Europe, maybe it's becuase I'm Ukrainian by ancestry but I really just feel at home there.

After a VERY early flight, we arrived and immediately set off on a long walk. Really how could it be anything else with Ang around! First off I should mention the snow, the glorious snow! It’s been two years since I was back in Canada for the winter and I do miss the snow (surprisingly) so I was pleased to be out and about in it. It snowed for two days straight, which disrupted the view but it was too pretty for me to be worried about that. The first day we were there we walked across one of the bridges to Buda (the city comprises two amalgamated townships, Buda and Pest) to search out some lunch. Usually we make an effort to learn a few polite words in the language of the place we are travelling to but we just plain forgot this time. So imagine us sitting in a Hungarian canteen, sipping some sort of soup, which we had only managed to point to and nod and smile! Really quite embarrassing. After the authentic lunch we wandered over to Gellert Hill, where we walked into a church built into a cave and then up the hill to the Liberation Monument, a huge statue holding court to loads of umbrella holding tourist groups. From there we walked down to the citadel and posed by the WWII Russian cannons. Did I mention it was very snowy? We managed a hot chocolate in a decidedly American café before walking home past the pedestrian shopping district then off to sleep (hmm, memories of Italy kept us awake most of the night though!)

The next day we walked through the shops again (only window shopping, really) then back over the bridge to Buda. We hiked up Castle Hill (the tram cost too much for us skint people of course) then popped over to the Royal Palace. We had impeccable timing and caught a viewing of the Changing of the Guard (yes, the same in all countries really, just the uniform is different, gotta love the men in uniform though, regardles of what it looks like!). We saw a gorgeous cathedral then walked along the Fisherman’s Bastion (a fortification). It was lovely, all white stone with parapets and carvings, absolutely gorgeous. The view of the regal Parliament building was well worth the trip up the hill. We headed back over to Pest again, had Chinese (very popular in Hungary!), then up to the city park. We walked around another castle, watched the skaters on the frozen pond then headed up to the baths.

Turkish baths are very popular, must be the cold weather! It’s just like the hot springs back home: there are huge outdoor hot pools and a spa and treatments indoors. After sorting out the language thing (and realizing we had swimsuits but no towels or flip flops) we finally had a good soak. It was so nice and relaxing, with the snow falling on our faces and the sound of Spanish and American tourists in our ears! No really, it was quite nice. We were quite mellow on our walk home and barely staggered out for dinner.

On our last morning we walked around the shops again, went to our American café for real hot chocolate and wandered around a huge indoor market, selling sausages and spices and handicrafts. All in all it was a great trip. The scenery and buildings were lovely, the bath relaxing and the sites kept our attention. I highly recommend a trip to Budapest, and sooner rather than later. With Hungary now in the EU it’s bound to get touristy and expensive soon. Oh, and if you’re going, take me along!

Italy

2004-10-31T12:14:00.000-07:00

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October 31, 2004

Stacy and I just got back from Italy; it certainly was a lovely holiday. A real mix of old and new, good and bad.

First stop was Venice, where we arrived late in the evening and rode the waterbus through the beautiful and eerie canals at night. The city initially reminded me of Greece; of course the canals set it apart. I was so surprised that the doors bordering the canals were right on the water level. Yep the city is definitely sinking! We made our way to our dodgy hostel (which definitely smelled like cabbage) only to be sent to their two star hotel down the road (whom by the way has since charged my credit card without authorization) which was an improvement. We were so close to St. Marco Square!
We spent the next day wandering around. I was struck by the colour of the water, a bluish grey. Secondly there’s no cars or bikes or scooters. Just pedestrian pathways, bridges, tall buildings made of stone, green shutters and silence. The canals are full of boats and gondolas. And of course tourists! Seriously it was really pretty, every view from a bridge, the squares, the water. We walked through St. Marco Square, huge and not yet full of tourists. It was a bit flooded so full of these wooden raised walkways. And birds. At one end is Saint Mark’s Basilica. Inside was damp and dark and the floor is slowly sinking so it’s all bumpy. Apparently the body of St. Mark is inside. We then walked down the narrow streets to the ornate Rialto Bridge, then through the Rialto markets, where they sell food and touristy things. We walked up to the north shore then took a waterbus to the Cimitero (Cemetery), or San Michel Island. It is totally walled; all we could see from the bus (ok the boat) were the tops of trees. And inside was super quiet and FULL of gravestone and family tombs. Old graves yes (Stravinsky the composer) but most recent additions, all with fresh flowers. I was expecting something similar the Pere Lachaise but it was very different, much more modern. Later we went back to Rialto and shopped for masks and Venetian Murano glass, then out for dinner and gelato ice cream, followed by a stroll through San Marco Square, all lit up for the evening and full of classical musicians playing on restaurant patios. All in all it was a pleasant, pretty city.

“Frozen butter doesn’t spread” -Stacy

After a long, delayed, boring train ride we made it to Sorrento. We were staying in a converted convent which was clean and quaint with nice views. We didn’t come here to see the town, which a seaside cliff town full of orchards and boxes of flats surrounded by treed mountains, but to take a day trip to another part of the coast. We hoped on an awesome tour of Mount Vesuvious and Pompeii. Now if you’ll recall, Vesuvious is a dormant volcano which last errupted in 79AD covering nine cities with ash, mostly notably Herculaneum and Pompeii. Pompeii is most famous for it’s plaster bodies.

First we drove most of the way up Vesuvious then climbed to the crater at the top. The views were amazing, until the mist rolled in and reduced visibility to about six feet. It was beautiful, amazing to be where it actually exploded. The crater is sunk in and lush with moss and grasses. It was a climb but what an accomplishment!

Pompeii was seriously cool. It’s huge! Like 65 hectares, all of which were buried by seven feet of ash, then excavated (only about 70% has been dug out). It was all stone and columns, half destroyed houses, shops and temples. An earthquake had hit in 62 AD so it was still under construction when the volcano blew. We saw the theatre, main square, a house with cool frescos, shops, a bakery, baths etc. It was really neat. Our guide was super informative and fun (“Piano, piano. Slowly, slowly”) All of this in the shadow of the mist covered mountain. If you get a chance read Richard Harris’ book Pompeii. It’s spot on with the details.

“This is cool but where’s the bodies?” – Lisa

Of course we saw a few plaster casts. I thought the plaster was just a coating and the body was preserved inside but it is actually a full body mould, made by pouring plaster into pockets left in the hardened ash where the body had decomposed. Yes morbid but really cool in an eerie way. The whole place was just so neat. It was a nice way to spend a day, followed by huge fresh cooked pizzas for dinner and American TV in Italian.

So here comes the bad part. Our second night at the convent in Sorrento (note: second night), I returned to the room at about 5am after one of our routine bathroom breaks to find Stacy standing there with the light on. She had killed a bug in my bed (where I had been only minutes before, and for one night already). After inspection we found about a half a dozen bedbugs roaming around the beds and walls. Yeah SO gross. It was such a clean place, and we had unknowingly spent the first night with the bugs too! Eeeww! Needless to say we caught a really early train to Rome and saw the sunrise over the hills and heard the roosters crowing. Yuck!

So after an early start we arrived in Rome. First it was noisy and full of cars, scooters and tourists. And lots of buildings. That’s what I’ve noticed about this country. There is not a lot of countryside, just tons of flats and suburbs. On and on. We just walked around forever. We noticed tons of ‘polizia’ or police and military personnel. Most of the EU leaders were in town signing the new European Union Constitution at the ancient forum, so naturally all the ruins were closed to the public. So besides seeing groups of uniforms everywhere, even on random corners, we couldn’t go into much. We did go into San Giovanni in Laterno basilica, which was really beautiful with statues of the 12 apostles, an alleged piece of the Last Supper table and relics of the heads of St. Peter and St. Paul (??). It was pretty. Then we started our trek to the Coliseum. There are buildings, churches, obelisks and ruins everywhere.

The Coliseum was so cool, it’s massive! Inside looked cool (of course we couldn’t go in) and you could see the animal and gladiator pits. Just north is the whole ancient city, which we could see ok through the gates. This included the ruins of the Roman Forum, temples, basilicas and the whole town. There were lots of columns and arches. It was quite beautiful.

Next we saw the huge and magnificent Vittorio Emmanuel II Monument, all in white marble and built by Mussolini. It contains the eternal flame, tomb of the Unknown Soldier and gorgeous statues. We then walked through the high streets to the Pantheon (no not the Parthenon, that’s in Athens). It was also a highlight; the roof is a huge unsupported half sphere of concrete with a hole in the top to let in light (and rain). Very neat. We made our way to the impressive and crowded Trevi fountain and the Spanish Steps. All in all a very full day of touring but quite something. You just turn a corner ad there are more ruins. Very impressive. And we didn’t get hit as we crossed the streets, a major accomplishment!

“One, two three, GO NOW!” – Lisa

After another early start (and thankfully it was just us in the beds) we were off to the Vatican. You can first see St. Peter’s Basilica from way down the street and it’s very impressive. There’s an obelisk in front and a columned colonnade around the sides. It was so amazing inside. First to the right is Michelangelo’s Pieta, a gorgeous statue of Mary holding Jesus. There were tons of amazing statues inside, the ceilings were gorgeous, especially Michelangelo’s Dome, which is huge! Directly below it is Bernini’s baldacchino, a huge brass (pilfered from the Pantheon) columned altar. Below it is supposedly St. Peter’s tomb, which regardless of whether it’s true or not, is very moving. At the far wall of the church is a beautiful statue with a dove/sun stained glass motif. We also saw Death’s door, the tombs of many Popes and the Holy Door, which the Pope opens every 25 years with a hammer. The Vatican was really impressive; it definitely lived up to the expectations.

Next came the trek and the long line to get into the Vatican Museums. Inside we got on the fast track to the Sistine Chapel, along with the thousands of others and it still took like an hour! On the way we saw many sculptures, tapestries, maps and paintings, mostly with a religious theme. The ceilings were amazing! We saw paintings by Michelangelo and Raphael. Finally we made it to the Sistine Chapel, which was unbelievable! The entire surface of the walls and ceiling were covered in bright paintings (done by Michelangelo, who had a very sore back after doing those ceilings!) depicting scenes of Genesis, and other old and new testament stories, including the lives of Jesus and Moses. The altar wall is covered with the Last Judgment. The place was packed and quiet. It was just so amazing! Before leaving we saw some really cool swirling staircases and the Vatican Post Office (it is it's own country!). Very awesome!

From there we went to Castel Sant Angelo, a circular Castle of Angels with an angel statue filled bridge. Which would have been much cooler had it not been packed with men selling fake brand name handbags. We walked along the smelly dirty river Tiber to Tiberina Island, very pretty and quiet. Also there was the Bridge of Four Heads which is the ruins of the oldest bridge in the city. We saw the Bocca della Verita fountain and stuck our hand in it’s mouth (apparently it bites your hand off if you are a liar). Close by was the Circus Maximus, the huge plain where they held chariot races. The view was spectacular. We also saw a big purposeless pyramid then sat by the Coliseum and mocked the photo men who were dressed up as Roman soldiers to get money off the tourists. Walking back to the hostel we saw a huge protest in front of the nice white marble building, we think it was for peace. As usual lots of police and helicopters flying around. I liked Rome, there is lot’s to see, but besides the ruins and religious sites, the city is just dirty and noisy. Still cool though.

Italy was lovely. Canals and gelato in Venice. Pizza and Pompeii in Sorrento. Religion and ruins in Rome. The people were nice, scenery gorgeous and the sites amazing. I’m really glad we came, even after the bugs and annoying transport problems and cold showers. One day I’d like to come back again. Hmm, maybe mass with the Pope?

(Shame though, I brought the bed bugs back with me in my backpack. I only noticed a week later when I thought I had chicken pox. The nice bug man came and sprayed my room and it stunk for the next year. Stupid bugs.)