More time today spent as a tourist, again this trip was solo.
First I went to the tower of London, this of course is an old castle with way too many buidlings attached to it to ever manage to see them all in a single day unless you've got a really high boredom threshold. Not that the place isnt' fascinating, it is, you just start to get a little immmune to the concept when every room contains something just as fascinating as the last. The biggest downside to the Tower of London is that in many areas you're not able to take pictures. . . these of course include all the most fascinating areas. I did get to see the crown jewels while I was there as well as an impressive number of graves. Plus there were weapons, armour and all sorts of interesting stuff from various eras there.
Tower of London Pics Here!
The best part was that I arrived just in time to land myself a guided tour and our tour guide was perhaps one of the most amusing people I've ever listened to. He had obviously done this a number of times and obviously loves his job, it was a real pleasure to see him at work.
Next I walked myself over to the Tower Bridge which was really fascinating. Very controversial at the time it's proven to be one of London's most recognizable landmarks and the engineering that went into it was spectacularely impressive for the time, in fact it's still working away today and I managed to get myself some video of it in operation. There's a tour you can take that gets you down into the mechanical and engine rooms and it's really quite worth it if you get the opportunity.
Tower Bridge Pics!
After the bridge I stuck with the water theme and treked over to see the HMS Belfast, it was pretty cool but I've got to admit that by now my wow factor is starting to wear out. The part that made the Belfast somewhat disappointing is that they're moving from one tour strategy to another so you really have no idea where to go. I missed out on a few sections of the ship as a result because I had no idea how to get there and the signage and the map couldn't agree and neither one seemed to be predominanlty right so I finally gave up. Still, it was worthwhile and I quite enjoyed it, plus hearing stories in the voices of the crewment who experienced them really adds to the tour.
HMS Belfast Pics!
Finally I meandered over to the British War Experience which is pretty interesting. I think it would be a lot more interesting if I could relate to it better but I'm too young and hope never to be able to relate to that sort of experience. Still, I enjoyed it though due to the lighting and the smoke they use for effect pictures are difficult and so I have very few.
What will tomorrow bring? Who knows. . .
Till next we meet. . .
Friday, October 19, 2007
Thursday, October 18, 2007
Here there and Everywhere
So today I decided to do some touristing. . . I have no idea if you can turn the word tourist into a verb or not but that's never stopped me in the past and I see no reason it should now.
The first place I started was at the Museum of London, it was pretty cool. They had an exhibit on about what happened on the site before London made it's appearance two thousand odd years ago and pretty much carried it through Roman times and Medival times as well. All in all it's pretty interested and some of the amazing items that they have on display definitely make the visit worth while.
Museum of London Pics!
After that I headed over to St. Paul's Cathedral which is so absolutely amazing it should be a must see for anyone who comes to London. Unfortunately you're not allowed to take pictures inside but I will admit to snapping a few before I learned this, I also snagged some while up in the galleries overlooking London. I apparently need to do more cardio because hauling my ass up 450+ steps was killer.
St. Paul's Pics!
St. Paul's is a beautiful place and seeing all the tombs is really quite moving, realizing that you're just feet away from Admiral Lord Nelson among others is really quite something.
Finally I had some more time to kill so I headed over to the London Aquarium, it's pretty cool and really worth checking out. Petting a ray is really cool, they're kind of like aquacats. . . at least the attitude toward being petted seemed about the same. I will say too that this is the hardest attraction I have ever tried to find. There is no signage, there are no directions, you actually need to pass through unrelated businesses to get there. . . bizarre.
Well, that's about it so.
Till next we meet. . .
The first place I started was at the Museum of London, it was pretty cool. They had an exhibit on about what happened on the site before London made it's appearance two thousand odd years ago and pretty much carried it through Roman times and Medival times as well. All in all it's pretty interested and some of the amazing items that they have on display definitely make the visit worth while.
Museum of London Pics!
After that I headed over to St. Paul's Cathedral which is so absolutely amazing it should be a must see for anyone who comes to London. Unfortunately you're not allowed to take pictures inside but I will admit to snapping a few before I learned this, I also snagged some while up in the galleries overlooking London. I apparently need to do more cardio because hauling my ass up 450+ steps was killer.
St. Paul's Pics!
St. Paul's is a beautiful place and seeing all the tombs is really quite moving, realizing that you're just feet away from Admiral Lord Nelson among others is really quite something.
Finally I had some more time to kill so I headed over to the London Aquarium, it's pretty cool and really worth checking out. Petting a ray is really cool, they're kind of like aquacats. . . at least the attitude toward being petted seemed about the same. I will say too that this is the hardest attraction I have ever tried to find. There is no signage, there are no directions, you actually need to pass through unrelated businesses to get there. . . bizarre.
Well, that's about it so.
Till next we meet. . .
Big Pile of Rocks
Pictures of Stonehenge trip!
Holistic Navigation - I may not get where I'm going but I'll always get to someplace I needed to be
It's a term I first learned from reading the works of Mr. Douglas Adams, particularely his Holistic Detective Agency series. While this was the first time I had seen the idea put in print in such an eloquent format it's an idea that I have subscribed to most of my life.
As a result my plans for yesterday of viewing St. Paul's cathedral and the London Museum were easily derailed whilst eating breakfast. I was talking to a pair of fellow hostel dwellers over breakfast and asked what their plans were for the day, those two ladies indicated that they planned to head out and visit Stonehenge. . . at which point I decided that it was time for some holistic navigation and attached myself to them for the day.
We started by taking the tube to Victoria Station where we proceeded to get dumbfounded looks from the ticket clerks as we asked for bus/train tickets that would get us closes to Stonehenge. . . fortunately the kind fellow in line behind us heard our requests and decided to strike up a conversation with me and shortly we had our tickets to South Hampton! 3 hours later we arrived. . .
As it turns out the gentleman had set us on the right path but we actually needed to continue on to Salsbury so we picked up some more tickets and an hour later found ourselves in Salsbury.
the thing of it is that we arrived in Salsbury at about 2:45, having started our journey at 10 am on the tube and 11am on the first bus. You wouldn't think this to be a big concern except that there's another half hour bus to Stonehenge and the place closes at 4. With that same bus leaving right away and being the last one back.
Being of an adventurous type we headed out on the bus anyway figuring that we would find out way back one way or another. I was confident that with two attractive girls with me we would get a ride even if I had to hide while they negotiated a lift.
So we arrived at Stonehenge, ran around madly taking pictures for about 10 minutes and dove back on to the bus. The wonderful driver had fallen prey to the batted eyelids and heaving bosoms of my compatriots and decided to wait an extra 15 minutes for us so we could get a ride back to Salsbury.
Stonehenge is cool . . . big pile of rocks. . . just like in movies and pictures. . .
We proceeded to walk around Salsbury looking for dinner and discover that for some reason nobody was serving food. Apparently many places don't serve food during the fair. . . fair? Whoever heard of a fair in Salsbury? Bah!
We did finally find a place to eat then proceed to head back to London on our return tickets. 12 hours after we first climbed on a bus we arrived back at our hostel, somewhat tired but glad we made the trip. I was thrilled to have made two new friends, one of which is Canadian and the other an Ausy. I'm meeting up with the Ausy again when I hit Scotland so that should be fun!
Today?
I'm moving to yesterday's plan of St. Paul's and the Museum. I'll try to upload some pics to facebook later too.
Till next we meet. . .
Holistic Navigation - I may not get where I'm going but I'll always get to someplace I needed to be
It's a term I first learned from reading the works of Mr. Douglas Adams, particularely his Holistic Detective Agency series. While this was the first time I had seen the idea put in print in such an eloquent format it's an idea that I have subscribed to most of my life.
As a result my plans for yesterday of viewing St. Paul's cathedral and the London Museum were easily derailed whilst eating breakfast. I was talking to a pair of fellow hostel dwellers over breakfast and asked what their plans were for the day, those two ladies indicated that they planned to head out and visit Stonehenge. . . at which point I decided that it was time for some holistic navigation and attached myself to them for the day.
We started by taking the tube to Victoria Station where we proceeded to get dumbfounded looks from the ticket clerks as we asked for bus/train tickets that would get us closes to Stonehenge. . . fortunately the kind fellow in line behind us heard our requests and decided to strike up a conversation with me and shortly we had our tickets to South Hampton! 3 hours later we arrived. . .
As it turns out the gentleman had set us on the right path but we actually needed to continue on to Salsbury so we picked up some more tickets and an hour later found ourselves in Salsbury.
the thing of it is that we arrived in Salsbury at about 2:45, having started our journey at 10 am on the tube and 11am on the first bus. You wouldn't think this to be a big concern except that there's another half hour bus to Stonehenge and the place closes at 4. With that same bus leaving right away and being the last one back.
Being of an adventurous type we headed out on the bus anyway figuring that we would find out way back one way or another. I was confident that with two attractive girls with me we would get a ride even if I had to hide while they negotiated a lift.
So we arrived at Stonehenge, ran around madly taking pictures for about 10 minutes and dove back on to the bus. The wonderful driver had fallen prey to the batted eyelids and heaving bosoms of my compatriots and decided to wait an extra 15 minutes for us so we could get a ride back to Salsbury.
Stonehenge is cool . . . big pile of rocks. . . just like in movies and pictures. . .
We proceeded to walk around Salsbury looking for dinner and discover that for some reason nobody was serving food. Apparently many places don't serve food during the fair. . . fair? Whoever heard of a fair in Salsbury? Bah!
We did finally find a place to eat then proceed to head back to London on our return tickets. 12 hours after we first climbed on a bus we arrived back at our hostel, somewhat tired but glad we made the trip. I was thrilled to have made two new friends, one of which is Canadian and the other an Ausy. I'm meeting up with the Ausy again when I hit Scotland so that should be fun!
Today?
I'm moving to yesterday's plan of St. Paul's and the Museum. I'll try to upload some pics to facebook later too.
Till next we meet. . .
Tuesday, October 16, 2007
And we'll have some fun in the Underground
Well, I'm in London!
The flight was exactly what you would expect, that is to say I found myself trapped in a seat that was slightly too small for a 12 year old for about 8 hours. Really it was okay, the food was strangely tolerable and I didn't even bother with the in-flight movie. Rather I read, and slept as well as I can in a strange environment surrounded by people I don't know. Apparently I didn't snore. . . or I didn't snore sufficiently to overcome my fellow passanger's fear of waking me.
Upon arriving I picked up my bag, which had come around just as I got the carosel which was a strange and slightly unnerving occurance. Having arrived with such fortuitous timing I was expecting to find that not only had my bag been searched but that it had been raped and pillaged as well. . . strangely not.
I managed to make my way on the underground with great success and reached my hostel with no problems at all. This one was less luck and more advanced planning, in choosing my hostel I had intentionally picked one that was a direct ride on the underground from the airport and in fact is directly across the street from Hammersmith station, most convenient.
I did also score myself a pay as you go phone with a local number so if anyone would like that number either call or facebook me for it. It costs me a bit thought so don't be disappointed if I don't pass it along, it doesn't mean that I don't love you it just means that I love you less than I love other people.
Upon my arrival I disovered the first inaccuracy on the web site and was forced to sit and wait until 2pm until I could check in, this was okay as it allowed me to grab a burger and a couple of pints. . . it's not like I'm driving anywhere for the next 3 weeks so I can't see any harm in spending that time half cut.
When finally I checked in they sent me up to my room, 301. You would normally expect this to be on the third floor but apparently the "new" math is still too much for some people and its actually about four and a half floors up. There is no elevator, which is okay, but the staircase is this tight, twisting thing that I can barely fit through on my own. . . imagine me with a 72L, 50lbs backpack on. Suffice it to say that I have a whole new appreciation for the term "wedged in place".
After that I went for a wander and found myself an internet cafe in which to type this up. There are some strange differences here though. . . the keyboard is different and I must have hit the £ sign three times before I figured out that the @ was located somewhere else. The other problem is that the letter "n" is rather sticky. . . I'm working hard to convince myself that it's just some spilled coke and that it's all going to be okay.
Well, that's it for now folks.
Till next we meet. . .
The flight was exactly what you would expect, that is to say I found myself trapped in a seat that was slightly too small for a 12 year old for about 8 hours. Really it was okay, the food was strangely tolerable and I didn't even bother with the in-flight movie. Rather I read, and slept as well as I can in a strange environment surrounded by people I don't know. Apparently I didn't snore. . . or I didn't snore sufficiently to overcome my fellow passanger's fear of waking me.
Upon arriving I picked up my bag, which had come around just as I got the carosel which was a strange and slightly unnerving occurance. Having arrived with such fortuitous timing I was expecting to find that not only had my bag been searched but that it had been raped and pillaged as well. . . strangely not.
I managed to make my way on the underground with great success and reached my hostel with no problems at all. This one was less luck and more advanced planning, in choosing my hostel I had intentionally picked one that was a direct ride on the underground from the airport and in fact is directly across the street from Hammersmith station, most convenient.
I did also score myself a pay as you go phone with a local number so if anyone would like that number either call or facebook me for it. It costs me a bit thought so don't be disappointed if I don't pass it along, it doesn't mean that I don't love you it just means that I love you less than I love other people.
Upon my arrival I disovered the first inaccuracy on the web site and was forced to sit and wait until 2pm until I could check in, this was okay as it allowed me to grab a burger and a couple of pints. . . it's not like I'm driving anywhere for the next 3 weeks so I can't see any harm in spending that time half cut.
When finally I checked in they sent me up to my room, 301. You would normally expect this to be on the third floor but apparently the "new" math is still too much for some people and its actually about four and a half floors up. There is no elevator, which is okay, but the staircase is this tight, twisting thing that I can barely fit through on my own. . . imagine me with a 72L, 50lbs backpack on. Suffice it to say that I have a whole new appreciation for the term "wedged in place".
After that I went for a wander and found myself an internet cafe in which to type this up. There are some strange differences here though. . . the keyboard is different and I must have hit the £ sign three times before I figured out that the @ was located somewhere else. The other problem is that the letter "n" is rather sticky. . . I'm working hard to convince myself that it's just some spilled coke and that it's all going to be okay.
Well, that's it for now folks.
Till next we meet. . .
Thursday, October 11, 2007
Changes
Well there's been a lot happening in my life lately that I figure I should post about.
The first thing is that I quit my job with the City of Edmonton. Of course people are curious as to why I did and there are a lot of reasons but at the end of the day I quit because it was time to leave. It was a good job, with amazing people that I was blessed to supervise, be supervised by, and work beside but it was no longer the right job for me.
So what am I going to do now?
Well, I have an idea for a business I'm going to try opening. I figure I'll give it a run and if it works then great, if not I'll just pick something up to pay the bills until I have another career lined up.
In other news I'm going to England.
I leave on Monday (October 15th) and I'll be back on November 4th. The plan is to spend the first week or so in London seeing some of the sights. The second week I'm going to head up to Scotland and spend time with my family up there. This will also give me the opportunity to return some of my mother's ashes to that side of the Atlantic. The final week I'm really just going to head around the country wherever the wind, and Britrail, take me. The specifics have yet to be determined.
I will try to post regularly on here for those of you that read it (or read it on facebook when it's imported) to keep you all updated.
If you're interested there is a going away party for me on the 14th at 8:00pm at the Funky Buddha on Whyte. Feel free to come down and buy me a drink.
Till next we meet. . .
The first thing is that I quit my job with the City of Edmonton. Of course people are curious as to why I did and there are a lot of reasons but at the end of the day I quit because it was time to leave. It was a good job, with amazing people that I was blessed to supervise, be supervised by, and work beside but it was no longer the right job for me.
So what am I going to do now?
Well, I have an idea for a business I'm going to try opening. I figure I'll give it a run and if it works then great, if not I'll just pick something up to pay the bills until I have another career lined up.
In other news I'm going to England.
I leave on Monday (October 15th) and I'll be back on November 4th. The plan is to spend the first week or so in London seeing some of the sights. The second week I'm going to head up to Scotland and spend time with my family up there. This will also give me the opportunity to return some of my mother's ashes to that side of the Atlantic. The final week I'm really just going to head around the country wherever the wind, and Britrail, take me. The specifics have yet to be determined.
I will try to post regularly on here for those of you that read it (or read it on facebook when it's imported) to keep you all updated.
If you're interested there is a going away party for me on the 14th at 8:00pm at the Funky Buddha on Whyte. Feel free to come down and buy me a drink.
Till next we meet. . .
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