Amy's Random Musings

As I depart Delhi

2011-02-19T18:45:00.000-08:00

I left Delhi just over 48 hours ago. I so glad to be home. Coming home has made me so appreciative of what I have here in Canada: clean water that I can drink from the tap, space to move, not having to haggle every time I go into a shop.

The Delhi international airport is lovely...it is everything that Delhi is not! Spacious, clean, relaxed. I'd forgot to mention that when I first arrived in Delhi, that the customs hall was so pretty! I spend a fair bit of time in airports, so let me say that if I know one thing, it is airports! The Delhi customs hall has this massive wall with discs that are convex and concave, a copper colour. And these hand sculptures on those discs, in gestures, typically "Indian". Parna told me they are the hand movements from an Indian dance of welcome. Departing gave me the opportunity to see more and I can say - it was the most relaxed I was in Delhi the entire time I was there. Soaring ceilings, quite spaces, good food.

I'd said in my first post that people were almost deferential. Well, the longer I stayed, the less this was so. Example: I needed an ATM so I could get cash for the rest of the week. It was after 9.30 at night, so quite dark. I asked the gal at the front desk where I could find one. She didn't even look up at me - said there was just a short walk away - 2 or 3 kms "over that way" vaguely waving her hand.

Let me set the scene better, so you really understand how completely inappropriate that answer was: It was dark. There are no street lights around. The roads, as I have mentioned, are kinda crazy with drivers and stray dogs. The location of the hotel is set across from a field of garbage with shanty huts on it. And she is telling a female tourist to just walk across that field to get out cash - probably alot of it, given that most Indian purchases start with a minimum of 100 rupees - and walk back by herself.

Example #2: I tried to get internet connection in my hotel room. I called to the front desk and asked how I got this. I was told I had to buy a card. "Ok, where do I buy a card?" "Oh, around, m'am." So I asked Parna when we were out, and she had no idea what the hotel was talking about. So, when we got back that night, I stopped in person at the front desk and asked again. And they had the cards there for purchase. ??????? Why didn't they tell me that when I called and asked originally?

____________________

I ended up seeing cattle eating garbage on the side of the roads, alongside hogs and dogs. No elephants, though. Tons of those motorized rickshaws, men pulling carts both on foot and bicycles. Women in saris of all colours. Food stands on the sides of roads. How the weather impacts the traffic so dramatically, like rain and fog. The smells - not all unpleasant, but definitely a different smell.

I am thankful for the adventure and thankful for the generosity of Parna, who spent pretty much every day with me for 8 days. But I am so thankful to be home.

Delhi, Day 2

2011-02-19T17:47:00.001-08:00

Today Parna took me to see the Red Fort, which was built by Shah Jahan in the mid 1600's. It is named the Red Fort, because, well, it is a fort and the stone used for the exterior walls and main public buildings are red. It is known as "Lal Quila" to the Indians.

There is alot of history to the Red Fort that I won't go into here. It was in use until the mid 1800's when the British used it for a Military base. In 2007 it was classed as a UNESCO World Heritage site.

I thought I would be bored because it would all be red and fort-like. But it wasn't like that inside. The private buildings, for the most part, where all white, dotted amongst vast grounds with pools. Because the stone is so old and porous, they don't fill the pools with water and run the fountains anymore, but Parna said when she was younger, maybe as recently as 20 years ago, she visited with school and all the pools were filled and the fountains running. She remembers monkeys all over the place, too. Sadly, no water and no monkeys now.

Originally, the ceilings of the small buildings, especially the private quarters of the queens, were ornately decorated, sometimes with jewels. The carvings and tile work that remains is still beautiful - I can only imagine what it must have looked like "back in the day".

It was hot today, 28c, and by this point, I was running on three hours sleep. So I wasn't up to my usual perky self.

The drive into Old Delhi was slow. We did not see any cattle, camels or elephants. The difference between New and Old Delhi was apparent almost immediately. The streets of Old Delhi are what you'd expect from a city developed over 500 years ago: tiny. To exacerbate the already crowded roads, today was market day, so part of the road was filled with people selling stuff and pedestrians walking all over. The stray dogs, of course, added to the general mayhem. In all, it took us over 2 hours to drive the 30 kilometers from the hotel to the Red Fort, in traffic that at some points was mostly stopped. Which only gave the beggars who saw me more time to stand in the road and pound on the car window. We arrived at the Fort early, though, and once through security (full pat down by female guards and thorough purse inspections), the grounds were calm and quiet - and I needed it by then.

Observation day 2: I described Delhi as a "jumbled city" in yesterday's post. Today, I'd describe it more as a city constantly under construction, re-construction and destruction. Seriously. We were driving down one road, before we got into the old city, and there were all these large building that were clearly being deconstructed. I remarked that there seemed to be alot of building going on. Parna told me that there had been a period of illegal building going on by land owners. The particular stretch of road we were on was once the hub of Haute Couture - many of the major fashion designers had once had illegal shops and workrooms in those buildings, and because of the way the buildings were built, and where, they weren't paying taxes and were taking the free water and electricity that was meant for the small farmers right across the road. So the gov't kicked them out and started - but never competed - the process of tearing the buildings down so they couldn't be used any further. It gives the landscape a horrid look, though - as if there was a major war just recently and the buildings had all been hit by shrapnel.

I used to work with a gal on one of my projects who moved to Hyderabad - much further south - to train call center staff on North American standards of handling customers. She met and married an Indian man and now lives there full time with their 2 year old daughter. She warned me that I was in for a shock, and she was right - but I'm not sure there is any way to be prepared for the reality of it all. It was crowded when I lived in London, but this.....is a whole new crazy.

As type that last line, I realize I may be sounding negative about my experiences so far. I'm not. I am so thankful that I've had this opportunity and extremely thankful for Parna's hospitality.

Well, jet lag has hit me hard. As I mentioned earlier, I had looked forward to a full night's sleep last night - but woke up at 3 a.m. and tossed and turned after that. So I finally got up and showered, had a leisurely breakfast and read a bit. That means by now - at almost 10.pm., I am exhausted, and that includes a 3 hour nap. So, a late dinner and off to bed for me....there is not likely to be any more site seeing stuff, as it is work, work, work for the rest of the week, and then a 28 hour day of traveling back home...no business class to look to this time 'round. :(

First Impressions: Delhi, India

2011-02-19T17:46:00.000-08:00

Delhi is not a pretty city. It is a jumbled city, where you find new buildings, like the hotel I am in, right across the street from empty lots filled with rubble and shanties on them.

Stray dogs are everywhere and pretty fearless. I fear for them, but my hostess assures me they are generally not killed or moved away.

Cars, cars, cars, some of the older models still spewing fumes that choke the air.

Traffic, even at 2:00 a.m., is horrid. Lanes are a just a suggestion, horn blowing is required, whether to say "watch out" "don't get in my lane" "I'm moving", or, presumably, just to say "hi". I never know why the horn, so I am surmising.

Beggars who see you in a car and literally bang on the windows so hard, you fear it might break. My hostess tells me it is only because they see a tourist in the car.

All kinds of people. Delhi has 18 million people in it. There is no escape, and the concept of personal space is completely alien to them. People bathing in the mud puddles. I only hope they don't drink it as well.

Security checks for vehicles are everywhere: to leave the airport, to cross state lines, even to get into the hotel parking lot/drop off area we had to stop, open the trunk, have a mirror stuck under the car to see if there was...what? Bombs? People? I'm not sure and afraid to ask. My hostess says this has been par for the course since the Mumbai bombings.

The understanding that you will be charged more just for being a "tourist" whether you are there on business or not. Seriously - they have separate (and mostly marked) prices for "Indians" and "Tourists". Indians will pay 10 Rupees to enter the Red Fort, Tourists pay 250. At least they don't hide it.

___________

Still.....people are nice. Polite for the most part....no, that's not the word....deferential. But there is no escaping that as a female tourist, I attract alot of attention, not all of it good. I see a few female tourists wandering about on their own, and wonder how they feel. Maybe it doesn't bother them, like it probably wouldn't have bothered me 20 years ago.

I have been fortunate enough that my India colleague has been so gracious to spend most of today showing me around, and will do so again tomorrow. Today we started late - about 3.30 - and we went to a crafts shopping area. So lovely! Beautiful cloths for saris, bed covers, table linens, silk scarves, wooden and brass Buddhas, elephants, Hindu gods and goddesses...a riot of color everywhere I turned. My colleague, Parna, loves bargaining - she says it relaxes her! and so I was able to get most things at half off the price being "suggested" - there were only a few items I walked away from. I only spent about 2,000 Rupees - that's maybe $50.00 We ate in another section of town, an area called Khan. I have no idea where the crafts market was, but it was huge.

Tomorrow, she is taking me to the Red Fort, one of the oldest settlements in Delhi, in the heart of Old Delhi. It is a Mughal fort, built by the first Mughal Emperor, Shah Jahan. If we have time, we may go to Humayan's Tomb, which looks like a smaller Taj Mahal (it was built about 100 years before the Taj, and is commonly believed to have served at the model for the Taj, although, unlike the Taj, it is built of red sandstone and not white marble). Parna tells me that on the road to the Red Fort, we are likely to see cattle and camels on the highway with the cars, and "if we are lucky, an elephant". Now that would be a site to see!

I am tired. It's been 15 years since I've traveled 25 hours to get someplace, and I've forgotten how much it drains you, especially when you yourself are 15 years older. If you are curious - Delhi is 10.5 hours ahead of EDT. It was odd calling Colin to tell him I'd arrived safely and going to bed shortly and it was just the start of his day...

Vatican City: St. Peter's and the Museums

2010-05-31T08:59:00.000-07:00

I am not a religious person, but seeing St. Peter's for the first time brought tears to my eyes. It is overwhelming!

You need to time your visit early. R. and I were in the area on a Saturday afternoon, and the line up was wrapped around the piazza. This is in early May when tourism is *not* at it's highest! We had no intention of wasting 4 hours on a sunny afternoon standing in line, and so resolved to come back on a weekday morning.

The piazza is attributed to Bernini, but others, including Michelangelo, have contributed to it's design. Bernini completed it and it is his design that stands today. If you look at an aerial view of the piazza, St. Peter's is approached by a large piazza, with two semi-circular colonnaded porticoes. It was meant to be a welcome into the heart of St. Peter's. I described it as a "hug" to R. This is the outside area where the Pope addresses the faithful. It is a massive space.

We came back at 8:00 a.m. on a Tuesday morning, and this proved to be the correct timing. We walked right up to the entrance, went through security and continued up to the area where you can get audio guides. We ended up taking an English tour, instead, and I'm glad we did. The guide was able to explain things that I'm sure we would have missed otherwise.

I was really not fully prepared for the size of St. Peter's. It is HUGE. Every surface is decorated and it is a tradition of each pope to add something, be it small or large. There was so much to see. My favorite was Michelangelo's "Pieta", so beautifully sculpted. You don't have to be religious to find the subject of a mother grieving her child moving. The walls are all covered in massive art. Our guide explained that while originally, these would have been actual paintings, all the original works have been removed for conservation and replaced by mosaics. I was astonished. I like mosaic works, in general, but these were done to a standard I have never seen before. You cannot tell they are mosaics - every nuance of shading and color is so precise. Absolutely astounding.

I also loved Bernini's huge twisted baldachino, and the stained glass with the dove in the centre. Try as I did, my camera would just not capture the dove image.

What moved me the most, for some reason, was the realization that this is still a church in active use today. The day we were there, a wedding was taking place in one of the side chapels for the Swiss Guards (the area was covered off with curtains, but we figured it out when the bride and groom came out as our tour finished), and a baptism was also occurring. These two events really touched me.

The Vatican Museums are a must see. We arranged our tickets for a Friday night. I figured there would be fewer people and the lighting would offer a different perspective and I was right on both counts. When you come into the Museums (again, through security) there is a large patio that overlooks some of the grounds. Although not yet dark, they had large oil candles burning. The view of the gardens, lit by candles looking towards the dome of St. Peter's, was a serene scene.

The Museums house some of the worlds best art. As an art history major, I suspect my degree would be pulled if it were discovered that I went to Rome and did not visit the Museums. We wandered through gallery after gallery of art from all the ages. We saw tapestries from the 1500's, mosaics of what I think are the different geographies of Italy, the Raphael Rooms, the modern art collection (which I found fascinating, despite some guides which claim that it is horrendous - not true!), all on the way to the Sistine Chapel. The chapel is beautiful, it really is. To think about how this was painted by one man over 10 years - and took twice as long to clean, restore and conserve - is humbling. Most of us are familiar with some of the famous images from the ceiling - God creating Adam (the fingers touching), some of the muses (Ikea had a poster for years of one of the muses). Seeing it all together is simply....beautiful and humbling.

I did enjoy the modern art collection. Some of the art is gifts, some has been procured. All of it is religious in nature. And it comes from all over the world, so it almost serves as an ethnographic collection as well. There were some gems in there: a small painting by Salvidor Dali, a sculpture of what looked like small blobs of metal clouds, connected by one or two points, ascending upwards, a clay sculpture of Jesus leading a flock of sheep, a stained glass of Madonna and Child in black and white.

All in all, it was worth the visit no matter what your religious or spiritual background to see the jewels of Vatican City.

Final Stop: Rome, the Eternal City

2010-05-26T11:24:00.000-07:00

We boarded our plane to Rome via Frankfurt from London on 6 May. R. was introduced to the wonderful world of duty free at Heathrow, but mostly just wanted hot chocolate.

We arrived in Rome about 5:30. After picking up our luggage and making our way to the train that takes you into town, we bought our tickets for the train. No one told us these had to be further validated, nor were the boxes very prominent, nor were there signs advising this, and so we ended up paying a 100 Euro fine by the very nasty conductor - who then let off all the other travellers who also didn't know they needed to validate the tickets further. There went our planned trip to Pompeii, between that fine and the extra tickets for the Eurostar, it blew any money I'd planned to use to get to Pompeii. Nice little racket, the Italian train system has going there. And not a pleasant welcome to Rome.

We made it to our rented apartment not far from the Termini train station. I'd heard this wasn't the best part of Rome to be in, but really, the only issue I saw was that it was an ethnic area. Our apartment was nice and cool and we were pretty central to everything.

We managed to find some dinner that night and tucked into bed early for our first day of sightseeing.

I'm not going to go day by day here, as quite frankly, I don't remember the chronological order of sites. I remember our first day, and then, after that, it's just a blur of archaeological sites, museums and walking, walking, walking!

We started the next day deciding to do one of the walking tours in my Lonely Planets guide of Ancient Rome. We set out with a detour to Santa Maria Maggiore, one of the 4 official churches of Rome. It has beautiful mosaics and the tomb of Bernini, which is very understated for such an important figure in Roman art and architecture. The decoration was primarily Baroque and really lovely.

Next we stopped for our first ice cream on the way down towards what is called Ancient Rome. We eneded walking past this building behind an old wall, and realized it was a museum. We decided to go in and then realized it was the museum and site of the archaeological ruins of the Imperial Forums. Not "the" Roman Forum, that came later. Click this url to read more about the imperial forums... http://www.aviewoncities.com/rome/imperialforums.htm

What fascinated me about this site is that apparently, it was used as housing for people into well past WWII. There was an accompanying photo exhibit that showed kids playing soccer amongst the ruins, on ancient marble floors. All I could think was what people thought living amongst the ruins.

From there we walked around the corner and Ta-da! There is Trajan's column. Oh, there is main road to the Colosseum! Oh, there's the Roman Forums! And that was pretty much how the rest of our trip went. We essentially threw out the guide books after that, because we knew that in the heart of Rome, we were going to find something of interest at almost every turn.

The funny thing is, we didn't miss what we didn't see, because we came across such little gems along the way. One of our favorites was on our way to the Pantheon. We saw this pit with ruins in it, which was clearly still being execavated, and in it were several cats lounging around. There were (typically, I'm sad to say) no signs stating what this site was, and then another tourist told us that attached to the ruins was a cat sanctuary that was open to the public. So, R. & I had to go! We go down the stairs to a narrow area filled with plants and flowers and trellis' to offer shade. And CATS everywhere! R. had fun taking photos of the cats, and I sat on a bench under the shade - and within two minutes, a small cat came and sat on my lap, eventually settling in for a snooze. We realized this place ran on donations, and so decided that since we had enjoyed our time, we had to donate something, buying t-shirts to commerate the occasion. We ended up getting a tour of the facility, which accepts all cats, no matter what their condition. Some of the cats which are not allowed out have neurological problems, or have had amputations, or are blind. Rome has a "No-Kill" law, but sadly, this doesn't mean you have to care for the cats. The care and love these cats - all these cats - receive from the volunteers is amazing, and I have to say, in a city that often seems not to care, it was heartening to see this softer side.

The official website for Gatti di Roma (Cats of Rome) is here http://www.romancats.com/ . The diary is quite cute to read, as they talk about the cats and some of their habits.
As a matter of interest to those of you who enjoy Roman history - the ruins in which the Torre de Argentina cat sanctaury is next to is the site on which Brutus had Julius Cesaer killed. Sadly, they weren't running tours that day, but I would have liked to learn more about this site.

So in a nutshell, what did we see?

The Imperial Forums - one of my fav's, I have to say
The Colosseum- It was intersting, but I preferred the iconic exterior architecture to the interior site.
The Roman Forums - disaapointing, we didn't get audio guides, but from a friend who went just a few weeks earlier, it apparently wouldn't have mattered. The site is a just a jumble of stones with no explanation of what you are seeing - very little in Italian, even!
The Pantheon - I was astounded at how big it was and that it is open air. Too bad some much of it's original interior decoration was removed to be used in other sites....still cool to see, though
The Capitoline Museum - where the big bronze statute of the She-Wolf feeding the baby twins, Romulus and Remus is. And the Palazzo du Nuovo in front of the museum was designed by Michelangelo
Trevi Fountain - ok, nice, but...is that it???? Yes, I did throw in one coin, to assure I'll come back to Rome one day. Two would have meant I fell in love and three woud have meant I fell in love with an Italian and moved to Rome - wasn't sure Colin would appreciate that, though, so hence, just the one.
Santa Maria Maggiore
The Vatican Museums
St. Peter's Basicilica
Hadrian's Villa in Tivoli
San Callisto Catacombs

I've probably missed a few, not even realizing we saw them. The sad thing about Rome is that even some of the major sites are not well signed, so sometimes, you just had to go with your gut.

I'll post about the Vaican City and Hadrian's Villa in separate posts.

Our last day we went back to Trevi fountain so R. could take some more pictures, then we decided to go visit one of the Catacombs along the Appian Way. We found one of the hop on/hop off buses, called the Archeo-bus, which took you to some of the archaeological sites and along the Appian Way. It was hot that day, so perfect not to walk. The catacombs were interesting, but not really much to see. What was interesting was that the oldest tombs were at the top...as each layer was filled, they dug deeper for the next grouping. The bus ride took us up and down the Appian Way, and it was pleasant to see the reletive quietness of Rome. It also took us past the Circus Maximus, which I am glad we didn't go out of our way for, as all that is there now is a grassy field.

Stop 2: Paris

2010-05-21T06:58:00.000-07:00

I like London. There is something about it's tiny, twisted streets and small alleys that beg for exploration. But, it does become claustrophobic after awhile and I start to crave wide open boulevards and open sky. And this is why I love Paris.

If these two cities were human siblings, Paris would be the glittering one, full of flair and frivolity, while London would be the practical one. Both are wonderful in their own ways, but even the most practical soul needs to get out and have some fun, and this is the role of Paris.

So, I'd decided early on in the planning stage that I had to bring R. to Paris, even if it was just a short trip. I knew she'd appreciate that glittery city as much as I do.

We left on a not-too-early Eurostar that got us into Paris Gard de Nord before noon. I booked us using my free Hilton Honors rewards at the very nice Hilton Arc De Triomphe, we checked in and thus started the fastest trip to Paris I've ever done.

What does one prioritize in a city when you have essentially one day to see it? We started by taking a walk down to the Arc de Triomphe, which was just a 10 minute walk away along leafy streets. R. took lots of very good photos, despite the dust choking her. Then we walked down the Champs Elysées, and over to the Louvre via the metro. Wandered in the courtyard of the Louvre (it was closed that day, but we wouldn't have had time to see it properly anyway).

From there, we walked along the Seine to Notre Dame. I was happy to see that the line ups I've come to associate with the cathedral were essentially non-existent. I wanted R. to see this church - sadly, most of the front exterior was covered in scaffolding for restoration - but the inside is stunning anyway. I lit a candle for Colin' parents (R.'s grandparents) and thanked them for their generosity to their children and grandchildren. Both were very devout Catholics, and I knew the family would value this.

From Notre Dame, we crossed the bridge to the Left Bank and wandered through the Latin Quarter, before we took the metro back to the hotel in time meet with my Aunt Anne.

We had an enjoyable dinner with my Aunt, and afterwards, she came with us to the Troccadero, where she left to go home and we walked to the Eiffel Tower. I've never seen it up close at night, and it was really lovely! We stood in line to go up to the main level. R. had, perhaps, harboured ideas of going up to the top level, but I've warned her all along that she would be doing that trip on her own...as I get older, my vertigo is not improving - besides, I've done it 4 times now and the thrill is gone. The decision was taken from her, however, as by the time we got to to the ticket booth (the line up was only 45 minutes!), the top had been closed and we could only go as far as level 2.

The next day, we had a date to go to Versailles. At my party in London, my friend, Anouska, said that like me, she had been to Paris several times but never to Versailles, and when she finally went, it was well worth it. So we hopped on the metro/train to Versailles and spent what little of the day we had left. We had to stand inline for over an hour to get tickets to go into the Palace, and given the time restrictions we had, opted for a guided tour later that afternoon. In the meantime, we walked though the gardens and I'm sure saw less then a tenth what was there!

We were so far away from the Palace at the far end of the garden that we barely made it back in time for the tour, but we did make it and so the palace tour started. For me, the highlight were the Chapel, which is still beautifully preserved, and the Hall of Mirrors. But the tour ran over, and we forgot that our cell phones had *not* adjusted for the 1 hour time difference...and well, to make a long story short, we did not make it back Paris in time to collect our overnight bags and make it to Gard de Nord for our train back to London. It was an expensive mistake, but what do you do? I wouldn't have traded our time at Versailles for anything, but if we'd known we weren't going to make it back in time, we'd have stayed an extra hour at Versailles instead of rushing for a train we missed anyway.

All I can say is: Kids, Don't miss your Eurostar back to London, or the last-minute 1 way fare will cost more then your return fare booked weeks earlier. You have been warned. :)

We made it back to London that night and enjoyed a lovely home-cooked meal with Cath. We packed and booked a taxi to Heathrow the next day for our next leg of the adventure: Rome.

European Vacation: First Stop - London

2010-05-20T06:08:00.000-07:00

My stepdaughter, R., didn't really seem focused on London during our planning talks. Maybe it was because she knew that since I'd lived there, I'd take her to what I wanted her to see. Maybe she just didn't realize how cool the city is, I don't know. I confess to not really "planning" London for her...I figured it was my opportunity to go see and do the things I enjoyed and she'd enjoy them, too. And in the end, that's pretty much what happened.

After the longest flight R. had ever been on - and one during which she didn't sleep at all - we were met at the airport by my wonderful friend, Catherine, who had taken an entire day off work for our arrival. And we just about needed it to get through the morning traffic back to her East side flat! All the things I'd come to take for granted were things that amused R. : the right hand driver seats, the kids in the school uniforms, the motorcyclists zooming in and out of the traffic. And the route did take on us past some iconic landmarks, like Parliament, Big Ben, along the Thames, etc....so she managed to get some great shots from the backseat of the car. Eventually, sleep overtook her, and she curled up against her bag in the backseat.

I introduced R. to my "arrive in London" routine that I'd developed over the two years I was there: Arrive at your destination. Drink some water. Go to bed. For her sake, I eliminated the "unpack" step - as there really wasn't anywhere to unpack. Tucked nicely into our bed, we slept for a few hours, and then I dragged a weary R. out of bed to get some daylight time.

Jet-lag has several "remedies", but I've found that some combination of a little sleep, lots of water and some walking in the daylight helps immensely. So that afternoon, Catherine & I took R. down Liverpool Street, introducing R. to London buses and crowds. Big crowds.

I'm quite used to big cities now. I grew up in the Detroit suburbs, so while I appreciate small towns and quiet lifestyles, cities are what I am used to, all the good and the bad. So I cannot quite imagine how R. really felt coming from Middleton, Nova Scotia (population: <5000) to London, England (population: >10,000,000). But, she was stunned. We procured our Oyster cards (oh, how I wish I had not given mine away when I left!) and were now, I announced to R., Ready To Travel!

But remember, this is day 1, and we are still jet lagged, so we walked instead. We wandered through the Spitelfields Market. We looked at girly stuff, like the Benefit store. We found a GBK and this made Amy a happy lady. I drank cider....sweet nectar from the gods....R. found a Krispey Kreme outlet at Liverpool Station. And we all went to bed early.

I won't go through a day by day account here. It would take too much effort and space, and really, I'm not convinced anyone cares to read that much. I knew we wouldn't be able to see everything, and told R. that. Heck, Catherine has lived there for over 10 years and she hasn't seen everything. That's the way it is when you live someplace - reality steps in and you take for granted what is around you (I still have never seen most the tourist attractions in Ottawa and I've lived here over 12 years now). But I made sure R. had the highlights and I didn't go see things I've seen 100 times.

We saw - in no particular order:

A walk past Parliament and Big Ben, down Whitehall, pass the PM's pad to Trafalgar Square
Westminster Abbey (new for me)
St. Paul's Cathedral (new for me) where R. took covert shots of the dome from the whispering gallery...sssshhhhhh
A London Walks tour around Rotherite and the Brunel Museum, where the entrance to the original tunnel under the Thames - the world's first underwater tunnel - has been opened for the first time in over 80 years. The technology served as the precursor to the all the world's metro and tube lines. We stopped for a drink at the Mayflower Inn - I don't think R. appreciated it as much as Cath & I did. But it did drive home the point that London is an old city and has the centuries of grime to go with that distinction.
We did a London Walks tour of the British Museum and while waiting, saw the "May Day" Labour parade/protesters.
We did a Ghost Walk with London Walks and at the end, took R. to see Buckingham Palace lite up at night.
The Globe Theatre
The Tate Modern where I gave R. her 5 minute art history lesson.
Oxford Street shopping, down to Piccadilly Circus, via the very, very sexy Ambercrombie & Fitch store. Ladies.....worth the visit.....although I have never felt so old and fat in my life! Ah, to be young, slim and sexy again.....those shirtless boys with the abs-to-die-for would not stand a chance.....
The Tower of London and the Crown Jewels
Borough Market and the George, over in my old 'hood....

I feel like there is more....but I can't recall it all now....

Cath arranged a party at her place one night and I was able to see some of my friends again, although sadly, not again during this trip....it was great to see team J2 (Jean & Joe), Rickey-Dean, Jose, Anouska, Toni....I miss you all already!

Cath - special kudos to YOU for taking R. out that evening. Poor things was dying to see London nightlife but I was just too tired to do it. At any rate, how would it have looked if some cute guy came up to her and she had to introduce the table: ".....and this is my stepmom...." yeah, cool, huh? LOL

Next stop: the fastest trip to Paris I've ever done, and, teaching R. the value of making sure your cell phones automatically time adjust.

Back from the European Vacation

2010-05-13T11:48:00.000-07:00

Last night I returned from my vacation in Europe with my stepdaughter, R. We had a really great time, but are both exhausted!

We left just over 2 weeks ago, landing first in London. Since this is R.'s first overseas trip, I thought the culture shock might be a little less extreme by visting London first. We stayed with my friend, Catherine, and had a great 6 days recovering from jet lag and introducing R to her first really, big city. I had fun showing R. around my second home for 2 years, and introducing her to big city essentials such as the tube and how close walking to highlights really is. We walked along the Albert Embankment and Thames walkway, toured the Globe Theatre, explored the Tower of London, went shopping on Oxford Street and Covent Garden, visited the British Museum and did a few of what I still think are the best bargins in London, taking a few of London Walks walking tours.....

Then we jumped over the pond to Paris for a *very* quick trip! Spent the afternoon of day one exploring the city highlights: the Louvre courtyard (closed the day we were there), the Left Bank, the Latin Quarter, Notre Dame, dinner with my Aunt Anne, and the Eiffel Tower at night. Day 2 we took the train to Versailles. I'd never been and it was beautiful! The Hall of Mirrors in the Palace was stunning!

Back on the Eurostart to London for our last night with Catherine, and then off to Rome for 6 nights. I'd never been to Rome before, and this was where R. most wanted to come.....it did not disappoint. Everywhere you turn are some sort of major ruin of history.

I'm still recovering from jet lag back - we flew Rome/Toronto/Ottawa, and it was a looooooong day of travel...so will write more of our adventures and post pictures soon.

WE'RE IN!

2010-04-05T15:34:00.000-07:00

Last weekend we moved back into our "new" house. It feels so good!

The space is everything we wanted and more. I sit each morning at the granite island and do my work. The atmosphere is so relaxing. I feel lighter and happier being able to look out the windows and see the trees starting to bloom and the family of cardinals coming back.

We still have boxes upon boxes to unpack and sometimes it seems that we still don't have enough space. We are still purging...I think we have enough furniture to furnish a small one bedroom apartment! We'll contact the Canadian Diabetes Association soon enough and donate it to them. Most of it is still in fine shape!

Photos to come - as soon as I find the cable to the camera!

Be Careful What You Wish For....

2010-03-10T12:54:00.000-08:00

You know the old saying: Be careful what you wish for? Well I realized that I haven't been on a plane in over a year, and I was starting to get itchy feet again. So I threw it out there to the universe: "Gee it would be nice to do some travelling again". And.....WHAM!

My first trip to London & Paris was with my step-mum, Evelyn. Actually, my first trip outside North America, to Australia, her homeland, was with my step-mum. I have always considered myself fortunate in this regard, and it really helped me to create an adult relationship with my step-mum. It was time for return on that karma.

I called my step daughter - who is 20 - and asked her: "If you could go anywhere in the world, where would you go?"

"Rome", she replied. "I don't know why, but I really want to see Italy."

"Ok - let's go!" I said.

The desired effect being achieved (shock! awe! excitement!) we started planning. I said we would cash in my frequent flier points (some of them) and take off!

I decided that we would first stop in London. This is R.'s first trip overseas - she's really had limited travel to date - in fact, the only time she's been outside of Canada has been to visit my family in Michigan - so I thought it would be helpful to stop in London first. At least they speak English and it might be a little less overwhelming - if you can call a city with a vast international population of 15 million "less overwhelming" then the tiny town in Nova Scotia she lives in now. Of course, the primary motivator for me is to see my old friends!

We'll be staying with my dear friend, Catherine, for our stay in London.

I'm hoping if the French family responds in time, we can take the Eurostar to Paris for a couple of days. I do love Paris! And I find it a real contrast to London.

And then - off to Rome for 5 days. I found a great website that identifies B&B's and small private apartments. It is run by a couple who run one of the best hostels in Rome, The Beehive, according to my Lonely Planet bible. The Beehive acts as a booking agent for B&B's and private apartments in Rome and some other cities in Italy, Spain & Paris. Cross-pollinate is the website. Apartment secured, we can now start to decide what sites are on our "Top of Things to See" lists. Mine includes shoe shops - I know that shocks so many of you. :)

Once all these travel plans were decided on, the universe decide I wasn't done. It threw two more opportunities at me. I take off to San Francisco this weekend for some product training - and it is so close to my brother and his family, that I am able to stay with them and visit instead of a hotel. Then, the week after I get back, I head off to Calgary for a short visit, for a client workshop. I'll be able to meet up with some friends one night before I leave. I do like when I am able to mix business with pleasure!

Update on the House Reno

2010-03-08T16:15:00.001-08:00

We still aren't in.

:(

It's the Little things....

2010-02-07T15:14:00.000-08:00

We'd hoped to that the house would be returned to us by now, but there have been delays - little things like quarter round trim against the baseboards and patching holes and such....Sometimes it seems like just as we see light at the end of the tunnel, the drywall gets resanded and covers everything in a thin white dust again....

But... The granite is installed. The kitchen cabinet doors are installled. The kitchen sink and faucet are installed. The bathrooms have the tubs, toliets, sinks and such installed, with all their hardware. The basement floors with their underfloor heat mats are installed. So I am hopeful that they will soon be ready for us.

Here are some of the latest photos:

Colin & Kristian in the basement with the floor down.

Me peeking out from behind the new shower door.

The kitchen cabinet doors installed

The granite!

Granite detail

Me & Kristian outside the house

We're getting warmer!

2010-01-19T17:05:00.000-08:00

My last post was newsy but no photos. This one will be the reverse.....

Update: the electricians were in today and now we have electricity in every room. Most of the potlights are installed, adding twinkle to the rooms.

One of the electricians installing a potlight.

Potlights in the kitchen and great room.

Lights in the basement "man cave".

The light in the master closet. May I remind you it is 15x5 feet.

All the rooms except the dining room have been painted.

The bathroom, showing Benajamin Moore's "Mt. Rainer Grey"

The bedroom, master closet and hallway are Benajamin Moore's "Chantilly Lace" - a nice clear, bright white.

The kitchen foyer, stair well and great room are all painted Benajamin Moore's "Smoke Embers". This will be the color of the dining room, too.

The doors are all installed now. Trim is up. Bathroom fixtures installed.

Yea!!!!!!!

New Year - Almost a New House!

2010-01-04T13:19:00.000-08:00

Well, things have really progressed over the holidays! The hardwood has been put down and coated with the initial finishing. We elected not to stain the oak floor, and I am so glad we left it natural. You can really see the grain and variations of color in the oak - it has areas of almost a red tone, others white and others blonde. Really lovely.

Al, our neighbor and cabinet maker, has done a spectacular job on the kitchen cabinets. The base cabinets are installed, in readiness for the granite countertops to be templated and installed. The cabinets will be a dark, almost chocolate, color. The doors will all simple Shaker style. The granite is a green wave. Most granites I've seen look like crushed stone - little bits and blobs - but the one I've selected looks like you are looking down from space at the waves in a deep green sea.

This was a very interesting part of the process, because it is no longer "empty space" but is taking form as a proper kitchen. The island has been installed - yes, it is as huge as we thought it would be, but it doesn't overwhelm the space, as I had started to fear it might. Lots of room to get around (we allotted extra space between the base cabinets and the island).

The new appliances have been delivered and have been slid into their new places. I am very happy with how it will look - so beautiful. After 10 years of living in a white kitchen, I was nervous of going to a dark color, but because the overall space is so big and the appliances are stainless, it is as bright as I wanted it. I'll never go back to a white kitchen again - it gets dingy fast!

We also had fun at an auction the other day. Colin wanted a pub table and chairs for his man cave, and we have long been tired of the mismatched and cheap bedroom furniture we'd been living with for over 12 years - some he brought into the marriage, other peieces I brought - so even though many designers hate the idea of a matching bedroom suite, we found one we love. A solid headboard we can lean up against while reading a bedtime book or the weekend paper; matching bedside tables - the highboy chest and the "ladies dresser" will both go into the large walk-in closet. We found everything we wanted at the auction - hey - where else can you find a pub table (larger then standard) and 8 chairs for $700.00?? The bedroom suite was a great deal, too.

The other furniture we had ordered also arrived over the holidays. We've stored everything in the new dining room for now - I am anxious to get it unwrapped and in place soon!

The contractor says it is just a matter of weeks now.....some things will need to be held-off until spring, like removing the pile of dirt left behind when the basement was dug out (it's a frozen mountian now) and building the new front porch. But wow - hard to believe moving day is a matter of weeks now and not months!

It's beginning to look alot like a house

2009-12-15T12:10:00.000-08:00

This weekend (!) they came in and put up all the drywall. What a difference it makes! I can really see how this defines the rooms and brightens the space.

This shot shows the wide open feel between the great room and the foyer. I can see our Christmas Tree over where the stair rail will be next year.

This is the view in the basement. Colin wants everyone to know that where the drywall is stacked on the ground is about where his pool table will be - regulation size, of course.

This view is from the foyer towards the great room and the patio door (sans patio until next summer).

This view is from the foyer looking into the new dining room (yellow walls) and kitchen.

And, they have completed the new exterior stucco. We decided on a two toned finish with some design detail. The house will definitely stand out on the street....check it out!

This last photo is for those of you who don't think you have much snow....come take some of ours.

So close, I can Taste it

2009-12-07T10:20:00.000-08:00

The good weather has allowed the team to get caught up after the various illnesses slowed them down, their subs down and even suppliers down. The roof is now shingled with a 40 year, 3-D effect and most of the siding on the back and side of house is up (photo is the rear of our house...they've now added some temporary stairs until we build the deck next summer):

They have almost completed insulating the house.

This is me and the contractor in the basement, looking towards what will be Colin's billards area.

The bathtub is installed - an airjet tub big enough for two!

They will start to drywall this week, and this will really change the feel of the space. So far, we have been looking through walls but that is about to change! They might even start to tile the entryway this week.

...and it continues

2009-11-19T15:15:00.000-08:00

The walls are up!

The roof is up!

The garage is built!

Now that the framing has been completed, we can start to finalize our kitchen design. They re-used a window, but in took it from another room - and it was bigger then we realized. So we've had to redesign some elements. Where to put the microwave now that it won't fit next to the 'fridge? And now that the 'fridge is 27 cu ft....how much space will we really have for the double pantry????

Colin is thrilled with the new garage. He had it built taller then it was before, and my gosh -what a difference!

One thing we noticed that is a strange trick of the eye. When they dug out the basement - we thought OH MY! It's HUGE. Then they built the foundation walls and it seemed smaller - we expected that. But what I didn't expect was once they built the main floor, the basement seemed larger again. On the main floor, from one angle, I saw the new walk through closet and it seemed really large - larger then the bedroom. I was starting to regret the decision - and then, once I walked around, I realized it was smaller then it looked when I was actually standing in the bedroom.

One can always question size when you build. On plan, the entire space looked about 1.5 times bigger then it seems now. But I think if we had seen the plans on paper to reflect the size we saw in our minds, we would have balked - after all, this isn't meant to be a palace. It is, and always will be, a bungalow, and I sure don't want to clean a palace!

Week 3 of the Renovations

2009-10-28T11:38:00.000-07:00

The foundation base went up last week and the foundation walls went up earlier this week. They have completely removed the front porch and steps. I watched the garage come down Monday morning - it took about 30 minutes to completely come down - walls and roof.

We've approved the electrical layout and plan. I want to cry every time I see what used to be gardens.

Now that it is getting wet and cold, they are starting to do things inside like change the direction of the stairs to the basement. And the site lead advised us that because there will be a new hallway in the basement, we need to rethink where the laundry room will go. Right now, it is in the unfinished part of the basement. He's suggesting that it be moved to the room that I'd intended to use as a gym, because then the water pipes will all be on the same side as the basement bathroom. But that then means two things:

1. We have to remove all the books that are currently stored in that room into the unfinished part of the basement - and will have no where to store them once the work is all done.

2. Since the unfinished part of the basement is remaining unfinished, the home gym won't be a very inviting place to work out.

Sigh. At this point, selling the old dear and moving to a bigger place sounds like it was the way to go.

The Renovations Begin!

2009-10-16T18:05:00.000-07:00

Colin spent two weekends clearing out the asbestos by removing the stucco and the drywall in the old addition.

To do this, he also had to take down the kitchen cabinets, lighting fixtures, etc. I spent two weekends digging up & moving the plants that I could, but some I couldn't dig up, like the iris', and so have to leave it to fate.

On Tuesday, the crew came and tore down the old addition. It was....stunning. It really hit for me that now it is official, now we really doing this, now we will have a beautiful new home.

On Wednesday, I got a call that they had found an old septic tank encased in concrete. It was empty, fortunately, but it had to be removed - at extra cost, of course! Still, it had to be done, and I have decided to throw it to the universe that this is the last of the nasty surprises - only good surprises from now on! Old IBM stock from the 1940's....bags of gold...a lost masterpiece...you know, that sort of thing.

On Thursday, they had dug out the basement and had removed the last of the septic tank. And today, they smoothed the dirt walls in readiness to pour the concrete foundation and cut the new entryways that will link the old and new basement.

Next week, they will rip out the old concrete front porch & stairs and pour the new foundation. They might start something with the garage.

What was I unprepared for in all this? The absolute MESS of our front and backyard. But the lawn and gardens had become so weed infested, I've decided to try to stay positive about this, too, and will spend the winter drawing up new, simple plans.

I've been having fun with paint colors, too. I've decided to neutralize the space, so that my love of changing colors can continue with easier items to change up, like soft accessories. I've also found that after years of living with alot of tone-on-tone, I crave some contrast, too. The main floor paint color will be a Benjamin Moore color called "Smoke Embers" (1486, I believe). It is a soft grey with some taupe in it - it looks great with the entryway porcelin tiles that look like slate, the old honey colored hardwood in the front room (to become the new dining room) and the natural finished hardwood in the new kitchen/great room.

For the master ensuite, we have porcelin tiles in a similar slate effect, but softer tones with taupe, blues and greys. I've selected a Ben. Moore paint called Mt. Rainier Gray - the softest blue grey color that really changes in the light.

Colin selected the laminate for the basement - based on Koa wood, it looks almost like a tiger pelt, very cool. For the basement bathroom, I've selected a greeny/grey floor tile and will add a light wall with a tinge of green to it.

We will be painting some rooms ourselves: the new dining room, our bedroom, the basement bedroom, which Kristian wants a deep, kahki green, and the billards room. Our bedroom will be a neutral color, some shade of white, because I've decided I like the peaceful atmosphere and the flexibility it gives me to change the colors of the bedding and curtains. We are installing a new window in the bedroom, so it will be a light filld room. Colin wants a deep color on the billards room/family room downstairs. I've no clue what to paint the dining room - it is currently a soft buttery-gold yellow, with a large fireplace mantal in white and silver. The new dining room set is darker toned wood.

Summer Vacation

2009-09-16T10:13:00.000-07:00

This year, I had the opportunity to do something I haven't done since I was 14 years old: I went to Bayside, Maine with my family.

Bayside is a tiny community that is part of Northport, ME. My stepfather's family used to own cottages there, and he has had regular summer vacations there since he was a child. He learned to sail there, at the Bayside Sailing Club - in fact, it was his godmother who first set up the school and he & his brother were the mascots before they were allowed to sail.

It really hadn't changed at all since I was last there. The cottages are still tiny and some sort of ramshackle - most were built in the late 1800's and are protected to some extent. But this is what makes it charming.

The whole family was there, for a change: My mom & stepdad; me, Colin & Special K., my sister & her family, my brother & his family. And special guests included: My grandmother - who will be 97 in December - and the youngest of my grandma's grandchildren, Ginny and her family. There were also some family from my step-dad's side: his half sister Anne, and a nephew, Laurien, both visiting from France; Aunt Shirley & Uncle Al.

Days are pretty relaxed in Bayside. My typical day went thus:

I would wake up and take the dog for a walk. Besides my mom & step-dad, I was the only one she allowed to walk her.
I would have some coffee and breakfast on the front porch and talk to my parents.
I'd walk down to the pier and have a wander on the rocky beach.
I'd wait for my sister to wake up so we could go have some fun.
Eventually, I'd have dinner with the whole extended family and go to bed early.

You quickly learn to enjoy the simple things in life living like that.

We did some touring, too. One day, Colin & I went to the nearby town of Belfast, which is now voted as one of the 10 coolest small towns in the US. It is filled with little art shops and we were able to buy some art for our home. Another day, my sister, Leslie, and sister-in-law, Ruth, went to Camden, a larger small town and wandered the streets.

One the drive into the Bayside, we stopped to visit my friend, Jean, from the UK, at her mother's "camp" (as they call cottages and cabin sites in Maine) near Lovell. Jean was with her man, Joe, and his two daughters, who live in Europe with their mother. The day we left, Joe proposed to Jean, and now that we know it is just a 6 hour drive to Lovell, we are looking forward to seeing them next summer - hopefully for their wedding!

It was great to see everyone and to live those memories again. Colin & I decided that in a couple years, we'll go with his family and rent a cottage, too.

Renovation Diary #1

2009-09-10T10:55:00.001-07:00

The financing has been secured. The detailed drawings submitted to the city for the permits. We have found a house close by to live in for 6 months, closer to Special K.'s high school then we are now.

We selected our kitchen and bathroom fixtures, including the special faucet that turns on just by touching it with your skin (Colin is thrilled).

And they found asbestos in the house.

So, now we have to pay for specialist removal and are awaiting for the quote to do that. Which means the upgrades we wanted are all on hold.

To make matters worse, the basement bathroom, which had mold on it because of a leak in an upstairs bathroom, turns out to be the bad stuff. So we have to include removal of that, too.

I know in the end we will have a safe, healthy and beautiful home....I just wish it wasn't such a trial to get there. Hopefully, this will be the worst and rest will go much smoother. That's what I tell myself!

2009-07-02T07:35:00.000-07:00

Well, the design for our renovation is done and the plans are with the bank. Now we wait. And wait. And I worry while Colin keeps saying "everything is going to be fine".

We are ripping down the existing addition, because it is an indeterminate number of years old (20+, at least) and is sinking. Yes, sinking. It seems so wasteful to rip down something just rebuild it again, but it is necessary, sadly. It will give us 740 sq ft of new living space, a reconfigured floor plan for most of the house, and a full basement. They are changing the stairs, opening up the entry way to become a proper foyer with large closet, converting one of the 4 bedrooms into part of the master suite, as the en suite and walk-in closet.

So, as soon as we get confirmation from the bank that we can proceed, we have to:

find a new place to live for 6 months - harder then you think in Ottawa, as the average leases are 1 year and we don't need that long
clean out the house of junk and pack to move elsewhere for the time being
start to select kitchen cabinets, counter tops, appliances, flooring, bathroom fixtures/cabinets, paint colors, etc....

And next year, we will need to build the new deck, too.

whew. I'm already tired and we haven't even started to demolish the house yet!

Renovation post, Part Deux

2009-05-27T08:30:00.000-07:00

Tonight our project manager for the company we selected to design our new addition and construct it, comes in to show us the design they have come up with. I am so excited! And also scared.....what if we don't like it? What if we like it and can't afford it? What if they start and find all sorts of nasty things that have to be fixed before they can complete it?

Renovation part deux is me...I have finally admitted that I am not able to lose weight by ignoring my diet and have joined Weight Watchers. It is week one and I am still adapting to the whole program, so I feel hungry most of the time. But it has slapped me into reality - I didn't think I was eating as much as I am...I was worried about eating all my points alloted in a day - and instead, am going over each day! So clearly, I need to pay more attention. But I have lots of support from friends and family far & wide, so I am sure I figure it out.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM!

2009-04-30T06:16:00.000-07:00

Today is my mom's birthday! Sorry for all that birthing drama I put you through - hopefully I turned out alright.

My mom has three kids. This seems a strange way to say I have two siblings, but this is a post about my mom, after all. She had a blonde, a brunette & a redhead. Now she has three red-heads, but that's a post for another day. Anyway, we all tried to be born in different ways and my mom once said she had a theory that the physical way in which a baby tries to be born influences how they approach things in life.

One of us was born feet first - and jumps into things fete first and then thinks it through.
One of us tried to be born sideways - that had to be corrected, obviously - and mom says that baby always finds themselves in the middle of things, whether planned or not.
One of us was born head first and is widely known in the family as the thinker and the smart one.

I'm not telling which is which. :)

The Theme of this Post is "Renovation"

2009-02-19T11:51:00.000-08:00

Colin & I have been talking about renovating our home for a few years now. Our house is a 1955, 1,500 sq.ft bungalow, which sits on a lot size 151 x 153 ft wide - just between a 1/3 and 1/2 an acre. We love our street and our neighbors, and when this happens, it makes it hard to consider moving.

We loved our house when we first moved in - we still do, actually. But we want a bit more space, so we can entertain at our house year round. Currently, we do most of our entertaining in the summer, as we have a large deck. Our house is L-shaped, so we are going to square off the back of the house, which will give us the open space we want - which means we will have to reconfigure the main living space of the house, plus our master bedroom, which sits off the kitchen. We really have to rebuild the garage, because it is falling down, and we want to attach at least some of it to he house, so we can have a new breeze-way/mud room that will become the primary entrance - especially for winters.

We've finally secured our loan at the bank, and have had meetings with architects and builders, so we can see what we can get with the amount we have to spend. So we are excited now.

And, I've restarted my exercise program, so I am renovating me, too! If only I could get Colin to start....

Since I've been home....

2009-01-15T08:24:00.000-08:00

It is now mid January, 2009, and Ottawa is in the midst of a deep cold snap. Today and yesterday, the temperatures have hovered around -25, with wind chills in the -30's. Really, after it gets below -15, I just don't care anymore - it is just too damn cold!

I went back to the London for one final week in early December. I only had planned two nights out, but it turned into every, single night out. Yes, it took that long to say goodbye to people, and after all of it, there were still people I missed saying farewell too.

I'll miss - in no order:

Catherine
Jean
Anouska
Carol
Julia
Cath S.
Stephanie
Barbora
Neil
Andi
Richard
Paul
Ken
Lisa
Jan
Mike
Ruth
Carlos
...
I'm sure I've missed a few names off this list.

So when I came back home to Ottawa, I had a few days work to complete for a mini project, then went on vacation until the end of the year. We drove down to Troy, Michigan, to visit my family, just after XMas. It was the first time I had seen them in 4 - 5 years! How did I let that happen? My niece & nephew are so grown up now (being 8 & 5, after all!), and my mom getting along rather well after her hip surgery. I met the famous Miss Kitty, the little cat my mom rescued from Florida a few years back, and got reacquainted with Maisie, the border collie. I visited the mana of mana's for me - DSW (Designer Shoe Warehouse for those who don't know). I ate. And ate some more, and am now regretting it, as I feel like a balloon!

My new project in Ottawa keeps having a delayed start, as the powers that be finalise the contract, but will start up in a couple of weeks for sure. So I continue to stay warm, at home, and dream about my future and about the times I had in London.

Re-adjusting to Canada

2008-11-30T10:33:00.000-08:00

I've been home since I got back from Greece - almost 10 day snow - and it has snowed at least half that time. That alone has been an adjustment. The temperature isn't all that cold - hovering around zero - but it is colder then I have been used to. Funny how quickly you can acclimatize to a different climate so quickly, that going back to what is normal for you is such a struggle.

I head back to the UK for my final week 5 Dec. My friends have some fun, post meeting day events lined up: leaving drinks on Thursday, "Winter Wonderland" in Hyde Park, with skating; a true Brit pantomime on Friday. It will be hard to leave them all "forever".

Impressions of Athens

2008-11-21T13:44:00.000-08:00

Hills
So many ancient sites, you get overwhelmed
cats & dogs
whitewashed houses with red tiled roofs
friendly people...but...
...sometimes they talk to each other like they are yelling and arguing - but they aren't
very confusing streets, not helped by inconsistant English translations...

Day 4 - Things Do Not Turn Out as Planned

2008-11-21T13:32:00.000-08:00

I wake up to another sunny day in Athens. I decide that today I will take the tram down the coast a bit to see some of the famous beaches around Athens.

Except:

it starts to rain while I am on the tram
most of the beaches are pay beaches and closed for the winter
the public beaches have no amenities - but at least the water is sort of clear

So I decide to come back and go to the Benaki Museum, which I'd missed before. I get to the Benaki, and the ticket counter tells me it is closing early today "because it is 17 November". I tell her I don;t know why that is important. "well", she says, "today is the day we celebrate our release from the dictatorship, except that it always gets out of control and riots start. Everything is closing early, including the metro and the trams and buses."

Hmmmm.....the hotel didn't tell me that when I told them I was going to take the tram down the coast - in fact, they told me how to get there! If it:

hadn't been rainy; and
the beaches had been open

I'd have been stranded down there because the trams would have been shut.

The lady lets me go up to the restaurant for some food before they close, so at least I get to see some of the collection on my way up. I then make my way back to the hotel to ask them what I should do about dinner - on my way, I pass increasing police and military presence, all equipped with riot gear. It was not a pleasant feeling.

The hotel assures me that I will be alright, as the street we are on is blocked off at both ends by the police. And, they tell me, the Plaka is usually not impacted by the riots. Given how the day has gone so far, can you blame me for not be reassured by this?

I grab a book and go read. And while I am reading, the heavens open up and the rain comes down for 5 hours solid. It turns out this is a good thing, because it dampens the rioters spirits (sorry - pun fully intended). I am able to go get some food about 9:00 p.m., stopping at the Internet cafe for a bit and then packing up for my return flight to London the next day.

Day 3 - The Hills of Athens

2008-11-21T12:55:00.000-08:00

Today was bright and sunny. I took my breakfast out on the terrace and let the sun warm my bones. I decided today would be a good day to visit the hills of Athens.

Athens, near as I can tell, is built in the basin of number of hills which surround it. The 2 most popular hills are Filapaplou [Fill - a - pop - low] and Lykavitos [likka - vi-toes]. But first, I wanted to visit another ancient site that was closed the first day I toured the ancient area, Kerameikos [kera -me-koes], the ancient cemetery. The walk to Kerameikos takes me through the open market on the big day - the Sunday flea market. So the walk was very interesting, and very busy - I think all of Athens was there. I cannot imagine what it must be like in the high season, with the hundreds of thousands of tourists as well as all the Athenians. The flea market has a little bit of everything there; stalls have everything from old used car parts to antiques.

I finally made it to the cemetery. It wasn't quite what I expected. I knew it was in ruins and had been heavily excavated, but I had no idea it held public buildings and the main gates to the city as well. It makes sense, in many ways, because traditionally, the dead were always buried outside city walls. Two main gates into the old city were here and very important gates they were, too. The Dipylion Gate was the start of the Panathenaian Way, an annual procession honoring Athena. The Sacred Gate marked the entrance to the sacred city of Eleusis (hence, the Eleusian Way). What I liked about this area was that nothing was blocked off, so you could really wander into the ruins.

There is a little museum on the grounds, which holds the different types of stele found during excavations in the area. These are basically the different types of tombstones. The area is also known for the tortoises that roam the ruins - and I was luck enough to see two - a larger one and a very small one, warming themselves in the sun.

From the cemetery, I walked to Filapapou Hill, the ancient "hill of the muses". The archaeological grounds are also home to the Pnyx, which anyone who lives in a democratic society should be fascinated to see - it is the original democratic meeting place of the ancient Greek representatives. Pericles used to speak here from the Orator's bema. Today there are 2 retaining walls and the Orator's bema, but the rest is hard to interpret - I wasn't sure if there were seats carved out of the rock, or if the reps just sat on the ground. But it was the birthplace of democracy and that's pretty cool.

From here, you climb a series of confusing paths and switchbacks until you reach the summit. At the summit is a tomb with a huge frieze depicting one Carius Julius Antiochus Philoppous (hence Filapapou), who so loved Athens that he was granted honorary citizenship - this allowed him to build his tomb here. It dates from 116 AD. The main reason to climb this hill is to see the breathtaking views of the Acropolis, and that's why I climbed the hill. Today, because the pollution wasn't too bad, I could see straight out to the sea - the Saronic Gulf.

I hiked back down the hill, walking towards my hotel, where I drop off more shopping I had done on the way. Then I head the opposite direction to Lykavitos Hill.

The walk there took me about 1/2 an hour, past the Parliament buildings and National Gardens. I knew the approach would take me up one of the famous "stair streets" of Athens, but I was still unprepared for what this actually meant. What it meant was easily another 1/2 hour climb up terraced steps. I have to confess, I had to stop and take a break more then once. I nearly gave up, but I'm glad I didn't.

When you get to the top of the steps, you still aren't at the summit of the hill - you are only about 1/2 way. From here, you can continue to walk up winding paths or you can take the funicular. I took the funicular.

At the summit, there is another small Byzantine church (have I mentioned that there are literally hundreds of these in the city?) and the views are spectacular! I arrived as the sun was setting on the sea and out over the city.

I walked back down, then down all those stairs. I met a retired couple at the bottom, who decided after speaking with me not to climb to the top. They told me about a famous restaurant, called Psaras, which means fisherman in Greek. It was perched on the side of the Acropolis. So I made my way there and had a really lovely meal. It was only 7:00 by the time I finished dinner, but all that fresh, sunny air and walking made for one tired girl, so after reading a book for a while, I went to sleep.

Day 2 - Museum Day

2008-11-21T12:44:00.000-08:00

I woke up to aching feet and rain - a perfect day to visit the museums. I had 2 key museums on my list: the National Archaeological Museum and the Benaki Museum. I decided to go to the National museum first.

I was overwhelmed.

There was so much to see and all of it dedicated solely to Hellenic artefacts. I saw Cycladic, Mycenaean, Minoan; vases & pottery from all eras, gold masks, frescoes from Akritori - before I knew it, 4 hours had passed. this meant I had no time to go see the Benaki.

It had stopped raining by then, so I wandered the streets of Monastiriki (a famous flea market) and the Plaka to buy souvenirs - mostly small bronzes - and Christmas gifts.

At dinner, I made a new friend - a small cat, maybe 1 year old. A light brown tabby. I fed it some of the meat from my plate (I couldn't eat it all anyway) and while sipping my wine, kitty crawled into my lap and went to sleep. What interested me most about this was the reactions of the people around me. the Greeks - including the staff - did not care and smiled at the scene. but other North Americans were not impressed. The couple behind me kept pushing it away when it had come up to them earlier, and the woman said - upon seeing the cat in my lap that I'd "catch fleas". I told her humans don't actually catch fleas (we get bit, but not infested with them) and no one had actually died from it. Sadly, I had to let kitty go - being a Greek kitty, I doubt he'd have adjusted well to a Canadian winter.

Day 1- The Ancient City

2008-11-17T05:19:00.000-08:00

I do right away what I came here to do - go to the Acropolis. It isn't far from my hotel, maybe 15 minute walk, taking me through the back streets of the Plaka. The little shops are all just starting to open (they open later here, some not until 11:00 a.m.).

I buy my ticket and start my ascent. I know now this won't be a quick hike up, and it will be steep in places. After all, I saw the night before just how high the hill actually is. The lower part of the hill that you start at is the South slope, and it is mostly under excavation. I see two theatres, the smaller, the Theatre of Dionysos and the larger Odeon of Herodes (the Herodion). Next, a bit further up the slope is the Temple of Asklepios (the Asklepion).

After a somewhat gentle and winding path up, there is no escaping the final ascent up to the top. They try to grade it as easily as possible, but I am sweating a bit by the time I get there and my legs are screaming at me. I tell them to shut up and push on up the steps which come after and take me to the main entrance, the Propylaia. It is under conservation, but you still get to see the basic layout. It must have been an awesome sight to the ancient Greeks - it still is, even under scaffolding. It is essentially a gateway, with triple rows of columns on each side of the walkway. Tough looking girl guards are posted here to make sure you pay attention to the signs not to stray from the path and not to touch the ancient marble.

Once through the Propylaia, you come to the Temple of Athena Nike, which was completely covered in scaffolding, as it is also being conserved. Despite my disappointment at not being able to get a clear view of the temple, I have to confess it was very interesting to see the work that the conservers are doing. I was fortunate to be able to chat with a few of them - they were quite happy to talk to me. Most of the work involves stabilising the buildings, filling cracks, etc, as well, of course, as cleaning them of the infamous Athenian pollution that is eating away at them. Another conservationist was carefully piecing together bits that had come off a large marble block, like working a giant puzzle.

The next big building you come to is the Parthenon, the largest structure on the hill. It is another temple dedicated to Athena, patroness of Athens. The largest ever known statue of Athena used to be in this building, but it is long gone. I can only imagine what it must have been like to enter this space: sadly, you can't enter any of the temples on the Acropolis any longer, so my imagination will have to suffice.

On the north side of the hill is the Erechtheon, which is best known for it's porch with the Caryatids - statues of women who support the porch roof. Originally, the building was built to house and protect immovable objects:

A snake pit
a rock that Poseidon struck with his trident
a saltwater well
an olive tree, supposedly from Athena herself as a gift to the people of Athens

I climbed down the hill and wandered around the North East base, where I found a trio of caves dedicated to Pan, Zeus and Apollo. Cults used to met here and make offerings to them.

Finally, I leave the hill completely and walk to the ancient Agora (the marketplace). It's a little difficult to interpret this now, as it is a jumble of stones, but at least you can get up close to them. There is a lovely little Byzantine church on the site, too. The overall space is massive. The Stoa of Attalos has been rebuilt as truthfully as they think it was, and it now houses the tiny Agora Museum, which is filled with artefacts and statues found in the agora excavation. It is arranged chronologically, so it was fascinating to see how small items, like oil lamps and vases, had changed over the centuries.

Next, I walked down a street called Adrianou to the ruins of the Roman Agora and a building called the Temple of the Winds. The Roman agora seems alot smaller then the ancient agora, but is easier to interpret. The Tower of the Winds was once a complex building that had a massive weather vane, sundial and water clock, but none of these seem to be in existence any longer and sadly, you can't even see into the tower any longer.

One of the things that struck me as I walked around were all the cats & dogs roaming. I have come to refer to them as the temple cats & dogs. They were all over the Acropolis, and both Agoras. They didn't pay most people any attention - except me - I must have a face animals like. I didn't have any food, so it wasn't that. In the Roman Agora, two of the dogs came up to me and nuzzled my hands. I decided to let them be my guides and they seemed happy to be the guides, as I followed them on their tour of the agora. The animals are obviously cared for by someone - I saw a small cave in the Roam agora with a blanket and bowl with water in it; there was a wood structure that had been built for the cats with a soft covering on the floor and some water nearby, too. They are very well tolerated.

I decided to locate two more sites: the Anafiotika and the Bath house of the Winds.

The Anafiotika was settled by Aegean craftsmen, despite a ban on building in that area in 1834. Previous to that, it had been declared holy ground by the Oracle at Delphi. Today it is a picturesque part of the Plaka, quite well maintained, with whitewashed buildings set on the side of the hill.

The Bath House of the Winds is a Turkish bathhouse (hamman). Apparently, it is in very good repair and you can see how it operated when it was built. sadly, it was closed the day I went to see it and I never did get in.

So I continued to wander in the Plaka, taking in the atmosphere, until I found my way back to the Hotel - easier said then done. For dinner, I located an Asian noodle house. yes, yes, i know, this is hardly taking in the Greek culture, but it was cheap and quick and very yummy. Then I located an Internet cafe and sent emails to my husband to let him know I was safe & sound.

Athens, Greece - Arrival

2008-11-17T04:54:00.000-08:00

I'm here. And I'm not sure what I expected, so I can't be sure if my expectations have been met or not.

Let's start.

On the plane, I read up on my history of Athens. What interested me were the words...for example, in Greek, tyrannos meant a person who grabbed power rather then inheriting it or being appointed by his peers. They may well have been a benovelant leader and brought about many positive changes, as happened. Of course, this is the root of the English word tyrant, which pretty much has a negative connotation.

Prague was a challenge to read signs in - Greece is almost impossible! The character sets are completely different - I can now truly say "It's all Greek to me". There is alot of English - I credit this to the Olympics.

Visually, it's a complete mix of ancient and modern. The metro from the airport was very mod and very clean. I get off at Syntagma Square, where Parliament sits and very close to my hotel in Plaka, the old town, which sits at the foot of the Acropolis. The square around Parliament is a bustling center of activities and people, even well after 8:00 p.m. when I arrive. It has buskers and hustlers and dogs chasing cars on the busy streets. Yes, dogs. They didn't seem to belong to anyone, but they were macho dogs, not the small toy dogs you see in London. I must have smelled foreign, because a few decided to follow me for a while. No one seemed worried about this, so I decided not to either.

My hotel is tucked inconspicously on Mitropoleous street, right across from the Athens Cathedral, which I later learn is the seat of the Orthodox faith in Greece. This is something else I see alot of - Orthodox clergy in their long black robes and some wearing tall, squared hats on the streets all around. My hotel promises some rooms with views of the Acropolis, but as I expected, mine is not one of those. This turns out to be a good thing, because it means I am protected from the street noise, although I am still awoken every morning from the sounds of church bells starting at 6:00 a.m. The room itself is clean and basic. The building it is in is a historic 19th century former home, so I have 15 ft ceilings and the window faces the central courtyard. On the top floor is the breakfast room with a terrace, and it does indeed have spectacular views of the Acropolis lit up for the night.

So, it's my first day - what to do first? Well, eat, of course. I ask the hotel receptionist to point me in the direction I need to go and then promptly get lost, because this is the Plaka area, and the streets may be the most confusing I have ever come across. But it also means there is no shortage of restaurants and I find one with a pleasant and spacious outdoor patio. The house white is good and the lamb souvlaki is good, too.

Last Weekend in London

2008-11-09T10:23:00.000-08:00

So, it's my last weekend in London. What a whirlwind 20 months!

I have been so fortunate to have had this opportunity, but I confess, I am looking forward to coming back to Canada. I realize each time I come back how much I miss the open spaces, the sound of crickets in summer, the colors of the seasons.

London is great in many, many ways, but there is no getting around the fact it is a busy city. The good things about this are that there is always something to do. the bad thing about this is it always feels crowded. I've discovered that I am a Canadian big city gal, not an international sized big city gal. I would never have guessed that prior to this experience!

I am so looking forward to:

sleeping in my own bed
looking out into my large back yard and watching the birds and rabbits and squirrels and chipmunks
watching spring bloom
NOT getting on a plane anytime soon!
Reconnecting with friends and family in the same time zone

I won't miss:

hearing drunken people shouting on the streets after they've left the pubs,
the seemingly constant sound of sirens on the streets
the constant crush of people, people, everywhere
Oxford Street & Oxford Circus - insane

I will miss:

Being able to stop for a drink on practically any street corner and being able to take my drink outside if there are no seats inside or of it is too loud and no one cares
Wandering through Covent Garden and into Soho
Drinking coffee and talking and walking with friends along the Albert Embankment
Seeing a play in Shakespeare's Globe
A really efficient subway system (although I won't miss the crowds and the frequent delays and breakdowns)
being so close to Europe (I wish I had been able to take further advantage of travel there)

So, it is with mixed emotions that I prepare for my return to Canada - but first - Athens, Greece for 5 days!

5 November - Musings

2008-11-05T13:29:00.000-08:00

Today is the 5th of November - Bonfire Night in the UK. This is also known as Guy Fawkes Day - the day the English celebrate that Guy Fawkes did not successfully blow up parliament and the day the Scots - so it told - celebrate that he at least tried.

It is celebrated by fireworks and bonfires and traditionally, the burning of an effigy. I was suppose to go with some gals from work, but we all cancelled, because it is that chilly, wet weather London is known for. Besides, I can see the fireworks from my flat, across the city.

Today there is also happiness at the results of the US presidential election, so part of me thinks it seems the fireworks are in celebration of this, too.

I just have to say, as a native born American, I feel proud again to be reminded of what makes my birth country great.

Chester, UK

2008-11-05T12:56:00.000-08:00

I decided to spend the weekend in Chester last weekend (1 - 2 November). I heard it was a lovely Tudor town. In my mind, it was north of Manchester, so I could't figure out why websites often mentioned going into Northern Wales. I finally set myself straight - Chester is SW of Manchester and almost due south of Liverpool.

Part of the reason I chose Chester was because I wanted a small town that was easy to do in a day and a half, and because I had never been to this part of the UK before. Chester seemed to fit the bill.

Chester is best known for it's Tudor "Rows". "The Rows" are Tudor and Tudor styled (Victorian built) galleried buildings which are filled with shops. I'd read that there were a number of independently owned shops, but I found mostly high street shops that are found everywhere in the UK. The few independent shops I saw were good, though, and I confess, I left with 3 new pieces of jewelry.

My train didn't arrive until early afternoon, so I only had a few hours to wander the Rows before I my scheduled spa appointment. Three hours of quiet bliss! I had intended to go on the Ghost Walking tour, but 2 things prevented this: one, the location to meet the tour and pay was not where it had been advertised, and two, after 1 hour of a full body massage and 1 hour of reflexology, I was a puddle of goo. I ate dinner and slept well.

The next morning, I wandered down to the Roman amphitheatre, which was once 4 stories high and large enough to seat 70,000 people. It is only about 25% excavated. Next was a walk around Saint John the Baptist church - a lovely Norman Church, part of which is in ruins. One very interesting feature of the eastern ruins is a wood coffin set high in the stone walls, with the words Dust to dust written in it. I don't think it was ever used, but there doesn't seem to be any known reason why it was put there.

Next, a walk along the Walls. The Walls are the original walls of the old Roman city and are the most complete anywhere in the UK - about 2 miles of walls. I didn't walk the entire circumference, but enjoyed the views of the Welsh hills and the River Dee. Finally, a tour around Chester Cathedral, which used to be a monastry.

I continued to wander and then walked to the train station to go back to London.

Glastonbury

2008-11-05T12:29:00.000-08:00

When I mentioned that I was going to spend the day in Glastonbury to some work colleagues, I got various wrinkled noses and negative comments about it being just a big field. And certainly, nowadays, it is best known for the grand-daddy of all UK outdoor festivals, the Glastonbury Festival. "Glasto" as we know it today has been around since the early '70's, but as early as as 1914, there was a classical music festival in or near Glastonbury.

Over the years, Glastonbury has developed a reputation for new age/pagan/wiccan tolerance, but the truth is, it has been a place of spiritual significance for years. It is the intersection of several ley lines and the Tor - a steep hill - has been used a place of worship since early man.

Knowing all this, I wasn't sure what to expect, but Catherine, my friend from work (and probably a distant cousin, we have determined!) used to work near the town, and offered to drive there. It's a bit of a pain to take trains and buses there, which is why I hadn't gone before - so I happily took her up on the offer. She came to get me at 8:00 a.m. on a Saturday morning and off we went.

Catherine & I like to talk, and so it shouldn't be a surprise that the combination of that and my poor understanding of the atlas' finer details, meant we ended passing the turn off to Glastonbury. This took us about 1 hour out of our way, but it took us through tiny hamlets where the walls of gardens were literally inches from the passenger side of the car.

In Glastonbury, we walked up the steep steps to the Tor, where only the tower of a former church remains. It was built on the site of an ancient worship site. the Tor is one of the most iconic symbols of Glastonbury and the views - despite the cold wind - were wonderful. Back down the hill, we next went to the Chalice Wells Gardens, a beautiful 4 acre garden, where sulfur springs bubble. It's a a lovely space and very peaceful. We filled our small containers from the Red fountain, which is reputed to have healing properties.

Next, we went to Glastonbury Abbey. The Abbey is now in ruins, as it was torn down in the reign of Henry VIII in the Dissolution of the Monasteries. The ruins show a Abbey that must have been a significant sized place of worship - I think it might rival the size of Westminster.

We had something to eat and after walking up & down the streets, filled with shops dedicated to wicca, druids and other spiritual beliefs (North American Indian was oddly popular for this area), we went back to the car and drive back to London.

It doesn't sound like much, but it was a thoroughly enjoyable day and all the walking and fresh air did my soul a world of good. One thing I don't like about London is how crowded it always seems - so spending the day in a quieter part of the country was beneficial to me. I think it helped me in the mental shift to prepare to come back to Canada.

Impressions of Prague

2008-09-30T13:14:00.000-07:00

Architecture - Gothic, Renaissance, Baroque, Art Nouveau and Art Deco, plus a good dose of 1950's communist neo deco revival..and a few Cubist buildings, too!
Bridges
Mosaics on the side of buildings
Churches, churches everywhere
Contemporary art on buildings and on the streets

Amy's Good Travel Karma Goes Bad

2008-09-29T15:37:00.002-07:00

I have always considered that I have "good travel karma". I travel alot - in the first 6 months of this year, I travelled 62,000 miles - and I rarely am plagued by delays, lost luggage or cancellations. In fact, I was just talking to a colleague last week about my good travel luck, while she complained about hers.

So you can imagine how frustrated I was Thursday night as I tried to get to Prague.

My flight was scheduled from Heathrow's Terminal 5 at 6:20. I arrive in plenty of time and treat myself to Gordon Ramsey's Plane Food restaurant. After that I go into the nearest bookstore, for my usual supply of a magazine or book. At Heathrow, the gate is not assigned right away, it is published on a screen about a 1/2 hour before you need to go to the gate. At the time my gate should have been displayed, the message displayed instead is "See Airline for information". I make my way to the suggested area as an announcement declares that all flights between 5:00 and 6:30 have been cancelled! It turns out the central Air Traffic Control, which directs the flights for Heathrow, Gatwick and Stanstead has had a systems failure.

I make my way to the directed point for customer service to rebook my flight. I stand in line for 2 hours and move maybe 10 ft. We are finally given a sheet of paper that provides a phone number to call, which i take advantage of.

I have to make it to Prague that night. You see, my niece, Emma, was in transit by car pool from Dresden to Prague to meet me for the weekend. I had no way to contact her, she has no mobile phone to call me. I explain this to the reservations agent and eventually, after 1 hour, she manages to book me on a flight on another airline that might leave Heathrow that night. By this time, all flight sup to 8:00 p.m. have been cancelled - this flight is scheduled to leave at 9:30. I decide to take my chances and take it, knowing that if that flight is cancelled too, my chances of leaving before Friday afternoon for a weekend trip are slim.

I call the hotel and explain my situation - and tell them my overriding concern is to ensure that my niece is let into the room they have for me. I have to say, they were exceptional.

I have to make my way, in less then 1 hour, from Terminal 5 to Terminal 2, get my new boarding pass and find the gate. I didn't need to rush, however, because it turns out that flight is delayed by another hour and a half.

the flight finally takes off about 11:00 at night - which gets me into Prague at 2:00 a.m. This is bad, because all the public transport stops at 2:00 and taxis are notoriously bad in Prague. So I call my exceptional hotel and they send one of their staff to pick me up. By the time I check in, it is after 3:00 a.m. and I have been travelling for 11 hours for a trip that ordinarily takes 2 hours.

I've mentioned the hotel was exceptional. Turns out they booked me into a suite on the club floor, which provided us access to a free breakfast each morning in the stunning lounge. Now, I'm not talking presidential suite here, but it was two separate rooms - living and bedroom, as well as a bathroom bigger then the one I have at home (London or Ottawa), a king sized bed (unheard of in Europe!) plus views over the hillside. I have no idea if this is because they took pity on me or if it was just a part of the corporate plan I booked the hotel through. I've checked in though, and so my weekend is not ruined.
___________________

But does my bad travel karma end there? No - remember, I still have to get back to London at some point.

Due to a comedy of errors, I end up having no idea what airline or what time I am flying out on on Sunday. So Saturday night, I use the free Internet access to get the local number for the airline I think I am booked on, based on the last information I had. I ask the lounge concierge to help me, because I'm pretty sure the English on this airline's customer service might not be great and I expect to need an interpreter. She calls - and the airline says they have my name but no other information. I need to call the original airline. But here's the problem - it's a British airline, and has no local number in Prague on weekends, and the only number available on weekends is good only if you are in the UK - which is hardly helpful when you aren't in the UK on a weekend.

So I have a brainstorm - I'll call my husband in Ottawa - they are 6 hours behind, and surely there will be weekend service in North America for this airline. Colin agrees to call them, et voila! calls back to tell me my booking reference number and departure time. Which, considering it was three hours earlier then I had thought, was a good thing I managed to get it sorted out.

Of course, that flight ended up being delayed by an hour. And then - after the quickest trip ever through UK customs - I get on the Heathrow Express train into central London. Usually, this trip takes 20 minutes from Terminal 5. Tonight, of course, it took over 1 hour, due to a faulty train on the track in front of us.
__________________

I sincerely hope this ends my bad travel experiences for awhile....I much prefer my previous good travel karma - Come back! I miss you! I'll never take you for granted again!

Prague Day 1

2008-09-29T15:37:00.001-07:00

I wake up about 9:00, despite my late arrival. But I want to get started and see this city. Emma & I get ready and go upstairs to the Sky Lounge, the special area for club members (I am one of these with the Holiday Inn chain). It is stunning, two levels at the top floors of the building, with panoramic views of the city. From here, we can see the hills nearby covered with the trees just starting to turn yellow and red. We have a good breakfast before we set out for the day.

A few words about the hotel. It is one of the Crowne Plaza hotels in Prague (not the one near the castle) and was built in the 1950's for the communist elite. So it is quite elegant, decorated with polished marble and tapestries. It is built in what I can only describe as a neo art deco, if such an architectural style exists. The roof of the tower is topped by a star budding from what looks like a lotus flower.

We walk down to the nearest metro station, Dejvica, which is about 10 minutes walk away. The day is sunny and warm. We take the very clean subway down to what ends up being Wenceslas Square, although it takes a couple of days to realize this. In case you are wondering, yes, this is the same Wenceslas referred to in the Christmas carol "Good King Wenceslas".

We head for the Old Town Square, walking through an old open air market filled with typical Czech crafts - wooden toys and marionettes, painted eggs, etc., until we reach the Old Town Square. The square is crowded and a feast for the eyes. I see buildings with exterior painted frescoes, sculptures and the famous Astronomical Clock. We wander around the square, into little side streets and stumble across one that is truly delightful. This street had the most incredible marionette shop in it. Each marionette was hand made by different artists and were stunning. See the photos I took inside the shop. Next was an artists shop, the major attraction of which was a Pinnoco marionette that the owner controlled so Pinnoco painted! It is listed in the Guinness Book of Records. The artist is also an art restorer, and he directed us down the street to the basilica he is involved with restoring. It is closed during this restoration work, but we could peek through the windows and are astounded by how beautiful the Baroque interior is. Next we wander up another street back towards the square and pop into an antiques store, where I buy a piece of jewelry - a copper art nouveau concoction that I know I'll never find a twin of.

I have to explain some of the typical Czech crafts that you are likely to find and Czech is known for: (1) Eggs - you may associate these with the Ukraine or Poland, but they are traditional across Eastern Europe. Truly traditional eggs are made of hollowed out eggs, but now you often find them made of lightweight wood. (2) Marionettes - I've mentioned these before, and if you only ever saw the toy ones made for kids, you wouldn't quite get it. But, as we saw in the artisans shop, when you see how they can be, you will be truly amazed as well. The ones used for collecting - and these can run into thousands of dollars, really are works of art in their self. (3) Crystal - all kinds. Colored, cut, traditional, modern art glass. (4) Glass beads - really lovely, you can find these in most bead stores anywhere now. (5) The nesting dolls - you know, the kind where one is inside of the other and so on and so forth. The average number is 5, but you can get some with as few as 3 or as large as 10 or higher. (6) Beech wood boxes, delicately carved so they almost look like lace. Apparently, these were traditional gifts to lovers.

So now that I've told you about the traditional crafts, you can imagine my delight to find the merging of some of these traditional crafts - eggs and nesting dolls - married with the art styles of Alfons Mucha and Gustav Klimt, both Prague sons (although Vienna likes to claim them both too). I debated and finally bought a wooden egg decorated with one of Klimt's iconic redheaded ladies. I probably spent more then I should have, but it is, after all, a special memory. I feel justified by my purchase as I never saw those particular decorations anywhere else at any other store.

Next, we walked into Joesfov. This is the traditional Jewish Quarter of Prague and is very important to the Jewish faith. It dates back to the 1200's. The oldest synagogue in Europe, the Old-New Synagogue, has been in use since 1275. There are several sites in this quarter, including the Old Jewish Cemetery. It was in use from 1439 to 1787, and has over 12,000 headstones and an estimated 100,000 graves, stacked sometimes 4 or 5 deep. The sad history of this quarter is that in WWII, Hitler planned to keep this quarter as evidence of the extinct Jewish race. The good news is that this has preserved the quarter and today it is still a moving and vibrant place.

After a long day of walking, Emma and I have an early dinner and go back to the hotel. I think we are both asleep by 9:00.

Prague Day 2

2008-09-29T14:13:00.000-07:00

Day 2. It is a sunny day and will be warm. Emma & I enjoy another great breakfast in the beautiful lounge at the hotel and map our day out.

We decide today we will go to Prague castle and Mala Strana (Lesser Town). I am well over the allure of metros, tubes and subways, especially when it so lovely out, so we decide to take one of the trams to the castle. We jump off (not literally) in Hradcany and walk through quite streets and leafy parks until we end up - quite by chance - at the Royal Gardens. This is a nice way to walk to the castle proper.

Prague castle is the largest castle grounds complex in Europe. It isn't really a "castle" as we would think of it - it is actually a complex of buildings, churches, palaces and nobles houses. It was built as a defensive fortress, as castles are (this is what defines a castle from a palace) as early as the 800's. The Old Royal Palace was built in the 1000's, originally as the home for the Bohemian Princesses. In the Great Hall of the Old Royal Palace, there is a painted date of 1029, but I don't know if that was the date it was built or a date commemorating something else.

Also in the castle grounds are two churches, the Church of St. Vitus and St. George's Basilica. One is Gothic and the other Romanesque. We visited both. St. Vitus has lovely stained glass, and when we were there, the sunlight was coming in at just the right angles to scatter the colors across the church walls. One thing Emma and I noted that the churches we visited all had clear glass towards the rooflines, so that more natural light could come in. I liked this feature.

Next, we wandered to Golden Lane. This has the original houses and looks outs of the 16th century castles servants and/or marksmen. The houses are tiny and all still host their original beam work and stairs. They were occupied as late as WWII. Now they host souvenir shops that are not too exciting, but at least it means you have a reason to wander in and get a sense of what it must have been like to live in one.

After we finished touring the castle and grounds - which took most of the day - we walked down to Mala Strana. We were pretty tired by this time, so we sat outside in a sunlit courtyard and had a drink....Czech beer, of course, light and flavorful. Czechs love their beer and are very, very proud of it. The average consumption in CZ is over 170 litres for every man, woman and child - by comparison, the Australians and Germans - considered to be the worlds most prolific beer drinkers - only average about 130 litres each, so clearly, the title rightfully belongs to the Czechs.

We wander towards the river again, and Emma gets very excited by the little tour boats on the rivers and the canals. So we decide since our feet hurt anyway, we'll take one of the boat tours. It was a pleasant way to see the city and even more so, since we weren't on one of the big boats. The canals are lovely, too. We would have loved to have taken dinner along the river, but it was out of our price range - the most expensive restaurant in the city, Kampapark, is located there and you would be lucky to get away with spending less then $150/per person for dinner there. So after the boat, we walk across the famous Charles Bridge back to mala Strana and look for a more reasonably priced restaurant which also suits Emma's vegetarian diet.

Prague, Day 3

2008-09-29T13:47:00.000-07:00

Today is day 3 in Prague - mine & Emma's last day in the old city. We decide that we will follow a walking tour in the Lonely Planet guide book of Prague. This walk will take us through the old fortress, Vysehrad.

It is another lovely day, sunny and warm. The leaves are just starting to turn. Emma, nature girl that she is, is in heaven, and I have to confess, so am I a little bit. After the hurry and crush of the crowds, it is wonderful to go off the beaten track and see lovely vistas of Prague along the Vlatava river and to see the old walls of the original fortress of Vysehrad. The walk takes us along the southern battlements and into an old cemetery by the Basilica of Saints Peter & Paul. The cemetery has been the resting place of many Czech composers, artists, sculptors, writers and intellectuals since 1869. It is filled with Art Nouveau tombstones and ringed by an absolutely lovely arched pantheon for the elite of the era. The mosaics on some of these are astounding. The best known Art Nouveau artist and Prague native, Alfons Mucha is buried here, but I didn't find his grave site.

We continue the walk to take a peek at the beautiful Basilica of Saints Peter & Paul. We couldn't go in, as they were setting up for a concert - or so it seemed - we couldn't quite make out what we were being told, but the exterior doors were lovely. Then we walked through some of the gardens and nature trails to go down to the river side. We walked by one of the few cubist villages, which really just looked like more angular buildings then normal (I guess I was expecting a building that looked like a Picasso or Braque painting). Then we continued along the river up to one of the best known of the old coffee houses in Prague, Karina Slavia, which has been home to writers and radicals (Vlaclav Havel was a frequenter of this coffee house before he became President of the Czech Republic). We enjoyed a great dessert with coffee. Then we had to part - I back to London, and Emma to wait for her share ride to Dresden.

So ends my weekend in Prague.

Impressions of Seville

2008-07-23T03:14:00.000-07:00

The color is yellow.

The Virgin Mary everywhere.

Twisty, tiny streets

A relaxed pace.

Birds

Tiles

The sound of bells.

Ladies fanning themselves.

Eating very late at night and taking naps in the afternoon.

Seville - Arrival night, 17 July

2008-07-23T03:05:00.000-07:00

I arrive in Seville about 7:30 at night. I take a taxi to the Hotel Alminar, on a pedestrian street in the Barrio Santa Cruz. It is after 8:00 when I arrive at the hotel and still hot.

The hotel is very friendly and small - only 12 rooms - and I am the last single guest to arrive, which results in a warm "You must be Amy, welcome to Seville" from Francisco, the receptionist. I have room 2, on the ground floor at the end of the hall. It overlooks a lovely Sevillian townhouse with wrought iron balconies and lush plants.

I unpack and go out to talk to Francisco, who identifies some excellent tapas bars nearby. He tells me that I might get some food at 9:00, but this would be "optimistic" and not to expect much before 9:30 or even 10:00. He identifies a small bar called La Estrella, which I recognize from some of my research.

I am the first customer in for the night and I'm not sure what they said exactly to me, but I was sat down at a table and given a menu that I managed to order off of. Failing to identify the correct word for "beer" por favour, I managed "sangria" and this seemed to work. The food is delicious.

After dinner, I walk down near the Cathedral at night and take some photos of the buildings lit up at night. It is a very different experience, I know, then what it will be the next day in the heat of the full sun and the tourists.

My first 4 hours in Seville are complete and I am in love.

Seville, Day 1 - 18 July

2008-07-22T16:03:00.000-07:00

I woke up to the sound of the Cathedral bells ringing and breakfast being prepared down the hall at my hotel. I decide over breakfast that today will be the big sites: the Cathedral & the Reale Alcazar (the Royal Palace). But first to find a cuandera (notebook). Despite Francisco's directions, I never do find the store that sells notebooks and get hopelessly lost on the narrow streets of Seville. But I'm not scared, because there are so many interesting things to see, like the tapas restaurant that tells you what they are serving that day by the items displayed in the window, like the whole fish in ice and the ham legs hanging. And I do find where all the shoe shops are! I head towards the Plaza Nueva and realize it is the wrong direction, figure out where I am and head back towards the cathedral - where I find a little notebook in the Cathedral shop.

The Cathedral & El Giradella - The cathedral actually life as a Mosque. The Moors ruled in southern Spain for 800 years. When the Christians "conquered" Seville, they did so peacefully, and so they came into a "clean" city which had not been damaged by war. As a result, they retained many of the original buildings and re purposed them to new uses. In Seville they were so impressed by the art and architecture, that they merged it into a new artistic style, the Mudejar (mood - ha- jar). The cathedral was consecrated as such in the mid 1200's and construction began in the 1300's and essentially was continually added to until the 1800's. It is the largest Gothic Cathedral in the world, and apparently was the largest in the world until St. Peter's in Rome was built. It is filled with stained glass from the centuries, finely detailed plasterwork, silver & gold. The silver alter is absolutely astounding, and the gold leafed High altar an awesome site.

The only remaining Moorish structure is La Giradella, the Tower. You can climb to the top of it using a series of ramps - no stairs, as they used to ride their horses to the top of the tower for some reason (I never found out why). From here, you have the most spectacular views of Seville.

From here, I went to the Reale Alcazar, which is still used as the royal palace for the King & Queen of Spain when they visit Seville. It was started as the al Caliphe's royal palace in 844, and extended by the Christian kings, Pedro the I and Carlos the V in the styles of the day. And so you have the most wonderful blend of Moorish style with Renaissance ceilings, Gothic arches and Baroque plasterwork, tiles from the 800's to the 1800's and gorgeous gardens. It is huge and it is beautiful.

I took many photos and then...the camera battery died. I wandered some more and decided I would come back the next day after I resolved the battery issue.

After I cooled down and located a new battery and a charger, I bought tickets to a Flamenco show right next door, at Auditerio Alvaraez Quintaro, right next to the hotel. Then I meandered down to Calle Sierpes, one of the pedestrian shopping streets. I went into a store selling art and crafts from around Seville and walked out with a hand painted fan and a necklace. I watched the artist, Concha, finish off the fan I wanted and we chatted in a combination of her good English and my very rudimentary Spanish. She told me the necklace I purchased was made by her sister, and had been used in several of the articles and advertising campaigns (and so it was, as I saw). I spent far more then I intended, but these will remind me of Seville each time I look at them or wear the necklace.

Just a word about Spanish fans. Do you think these are mere tourist trinkets? No, ladies in Spain use them frequently. If you ever experience the heat, you will use them, too.

Next, I went to the Flamenco show. This is a small venue and not one of the large Tablaos that have 2 or 3 professional shows a night and cater to the tourists. There are more and more smaller venues popping up and they have very good shows as well, often with the performers coming from the penas - the clubs and schools of flamenco. In Seville, the Tablaos are not considered real flamenco, because the whole story of flamenco is about passion, and they feel that after 2 or 3 shows a night, you lose that passion. Flamenco is the Andalucian country dance and song. It is not just the dancing, but the whole package. The singer and the guitar player are integral to the story, usually a story of longing for love, or a lost love, so kind of like American Blues, in some ways. There were several locals in this place, which I like because you get a different flavour for the performance. Tonight, the singer would start, and sometimes, you'd hear comments from the audience (in Spanish, of course), like a "right on" or "I hear you", encouraging him on with his story. Then comes the dancer, adding visual interpretation to the song.

The dancer was great, of course, but I have to confess, it was the singer who completely blew me away. I should have turned on the video of my camera to capture both the sights and sounds of this show.

After the show, I walked around the corner to Robles tapas. Casa Robles, the parent restaurant, is very famous in Seville, as the king & queen eat there when they are in town. I can't afford the meal prices there, so the tapas bar next door is better bargain. I sat outside, drank sangria, ate tapas and enjoyed the night.

Seville, Day 2, 19 July

2008-07-22T15:40:00.000-07:00

Today I resolved to go back to the Reale Alcazar to finish taking the photos I missed after my camera battery malfunction the day before. I reasoned if I went first thing in the morning is would be (a) cooler and (b) less busy and I was right on both accounts.

When I walked into the Patio de Leon, I found a white dove's feather, so I knew it would be a good day. Doves are everywhere in Seville (joke: What is the difference between a dove & a pigeon? A: Doves have better PR.). The day before, I saw a small cat who had caught a dove and was carrying it across the Patio de Banderas - the dove was almost as big as the cat! Anyway, I like doves and pigeons and I have always believed that when you find the feather of a bird you like, it means good things, and this was true today. When I needed someone friendly to be nearby so I could have my photo taken, there was someone there. When I didn't want anyone else in the photo, there was no one to disrupt my view.

I spent another 2 hours at the Alcazar and still didn't manage to see all of it. Truly a massive space.

After a brief cool down - have I mentioned it was about 44 C every day??? (That's close to 100+ F) - so I took a fair number of those cool down periods - I walked down to the river, the Rio Guadalquivir to catch the bus for the city tour. it lasted about 1.5 hours. Sadly, it spent more time then I thought necessary at the site of the 1992 world expo, which has not been well maintained. When I completed that tour, I went on a short tour of the Plaza de Toros - the bullfighting ring and museum. the short tour was interesting and thankfully, out of the sun. The Plaza de Toros is very famous in Spain, mostly for its acoustics. I always pictured a bull fight to be a loud, noisy affair, but apparently this is not the case. They are generally quiet, and in the Plaza de Toros, you can hear the bull snort and the swish of the matador's cape. There was also a museum under the ring which concentrates on the history of the fight, and that was quite interesting too.

I hadn't eaten much during the day & the ever helpful hotel staff recommended tapas at a nearby place that actually served large portions, Habanares Colonanies. Good tapas, large portions, happy staff. Then I wandered around the Barrio Santa Cruz area towards Santa Teresa.

Seville on a Saturday night is a vibrant place! People out in the evening, enjoying the cooler air and each other's company. All the little bars and restaurants packed. Young men dressed up in costumes busking on the streets and smiling and laughing. People enjoying life. This is what I enjoy about Seville - the simple pleasures of living.

Seville, Day 3 - 20 July

2008-07-22T15:18:00.000-07:00

Today is my last day in Seville. It was destined to be a quiet one, because pretty much everything in Seville is closed up on a Sunday. careful planning of your visit is important if you will be here on a Sunday.

I woke up about 9:00 - late for me - and wandered down to the Sunday art market in the Plaza de Museo, right in front of the Museum of Fine Arts. the art market had an interesting mix of art styles, but sadly, nothing I could buy that would fit into one carry-on bag.

Next stop: the museum itself. It is suppose to be on of the best in Spain, with art from the medieval to early 20th C. The University of Calgary's Art History programme doesn't spend much time on Spanish artists, apart form the biggies like Goya & Picasso, so the fun thing about this museum for me was discovering names I've never heard of that are clearly famous in Spain. Most of the collection was religious art, so I did find it repetitive after a time. Sevilla is the city of the Virgin, so there were alot of paintings, reliefs and sculptures of the Virgin, certainly more then I have see in one place before. later art periods did focus on more every day themes: flamenco dancers, vistas of Seville, etc, and I enjoyed those as "snapshots" of Seville's past.

Next, it was time to get ready for my treat - 2 hours at the Banos Arabes - the baths. These are timed appointments and take you through 5 diferent baths, as would have happened not just in Roman times but also in the Muslim Hammans, and as is still done in countries like Turkey. 1st- the tepid bath, like a warm bath. You stay in that as long as you like. 2nd - the hot bath, recommended for 10 minutes. Ok, I could do that. 3rd - the cold bath, recommended for another 10 minutes. Yeeeee-ah, just a dip for me, please. 4th - the salt bath. Stay in that as long as you like. It was lovely to float in the water. 5th - the jet bath, essentially a giant hot tub. Stay as long as you like. Then you can go into the steam room if you want, as I did. And finally, a 15 minute massage....then some time in the quiet room drinking cold tea and water....

After drying off, I went up to the tea room and struggled with the menu. Nothing on that menu was in my little Spanish-English dictionary, so I was about to give up and to the point and hope for the best option. A gal who was in the tea room asked if I spoke English and if I needed assistance with the menu, and of course I did. We ended up chatting for awhile and I showed her photos of the Alcazar, which she hadn't been to yet. I offered to walk her by it, since it wasn't too far from the bathhouse. We ended up having tapas together at Las Teresas and wandering the near deserted streets of Seville on a Sunday night. Her name is Nikki Rowley and she been travelling for 4 months.

Finally, back to the hotel to pack. I leave Monday from this wonderful city - it has been a trip to remember!

Upcoming Trips!

2008-07-06T13:18:00.000-07:00

I decided to use some of my travel in lieu of trips, since I realized that I have not used all my entitled leave trips home. So I booked a trip to Seville, Spain! I am very excited - I have never been to Spain at all, and it was hard to choose a destination. I knew I wanted to be in Southern Spain, so I could see some of the history of the Moorish influence - and once I settled on Seville, and started to do some research, I am pleased to see the choice looks like a good one: It is suppose to have the best tapas in Spain, the best Flamenco & is the home of bull fighting (although I will probably give that a miss....)

My husband and stepson, Colin & Kristian, are coming out for a visit at the end of July. It's Kristian's first trip outside of Canada and he is very excited - well, as excited as a 16 y.o. will express. I've booked us a trip to Paris for the first weekend in August. We are going to take the chunnel over - so we will be in downtown Paris in just under 2 hours! I haven't been to Paris since my honeymoon in 1998, and it is one of my favorite cities, so I am very much looking forward to that.

Finally, I have two trips in the fall on plan: one, a weekend in Dublin with my Canadian colleagues, travelling with an Irish colleague of ours; the second is a trip to Marrakesh, Morroco. I've been wanting to go to Marrakesh since I've got to London, and after some research, decided to go alone, since no one else seems too interested in going with me.

Stayed tuned, as I publish my away trip logs!

Taxi Drivers in London

2008-06-24T14:52:00.000-07:00

Tonight I took a taxi home from Southbank, after meeting some friends after work for dinner. I decided to take a taxi home.

London taxi drivers are interesting characters. My favorites are the ones who can tell me some history of the area we are driving through. Tonight the cab driver told me that he had grown up in the area I now live in, the Borough area, in WWII. .

He was just 6 when the bombs started dropping over this part of London. He remembers hiding in the Underground stations during the bomb raids. His father was in the service, an infantry man, and his mother worked in the neighborhood armament factory, making tents. He was only in school for 3 months when a bomb destroyed his school, and because there was no money to repair it, he didn't go back to school until after the war ended.

He told me that if I walked down Great Dover Street, right next to a pub called the Robuck, which still stands, you could see a building that still had old brick work. There is an archway, built in now, which is where he & his siblings used to go wait for their mother to get off work. Sometimes, he said, she was too tired to cook and as a treat, she'd take them for a pub meal at the Robuck.

I felt privileged to have this man share his story with me. I cannot imagine what it must have been like to experience living through that war as a little boy. I wonder sometimes if other passengers even bother to listen to what he has to say.

First post from London

2008-06-02T17:31:00.000-07:00

(Originally posted 19 March 2007)

Hello all. Greetings from London. I am slowly acclimatizing to the UK. The spring flowers were out in full force in Hyde Park on the weekend - and then we got hit by a freezing rain storm today. Probably the same one that hit the East coast of N. America on the weekend. I was just confirmed last week that I will be here until the end of the year. My new schedule will be 3 weeks here, one week at home and then back for another 3 weeks. I currently "live" in a hotel and although I have the option to find rental accommodation when I return in April, I probably will elect to stay in hotels again - I have become used to someone cleaning up after me on a daily basis - and when you work 10 - 12 hour days, this is needed.

The first weekend here, I went to the British Museum and walked along the Kensington High Street (anything called a "High Street" in the UK is a shopping area). This may not sound like much, but if you have never been to London, the Museum alone is a few days effort to see all there is to see! Last weekend, I was recovering from a head cold, so I took it easy on Sunday and got caught up on reading the newspapers. Saturday, I went to Oxford Street, host of any and all types of stores one could desire. I found the one I needed. The one really sad thing about being in London is being a shopaholic in London when the exchange rate is so cruddy. If the Sterling pound symbol was just replaced by a $ symbol, Amy would be a much happier gal. Oh well.

London, First weekend (1 of 2)

2008-06-02T17:29:00.000-07:00

(Originally posted 24 March 2007)

Today, 24 March, I went on a walk on the Southbank, which is so called, because, well, it is the south bank of the Thames. This area has become quite built up since my last visit to London, on my honeymoon in 1998. This part of town is where you will find the best views of the House of Parliament, and is where the "London Eye" - that giant Ferris wheel that dominates most cityscape's of London now, is located. I haven't been up the Eye yet - saving that for visitors.

I actually work on Southbank - both the IBM offices and the client offices are right in the heart of Southbank - so it felt strange to be there on a Saturday. But I'm glad I did, because now I know what's around. For example: the Tate Modern.The Tate Modern is the offshoot of the Tate, and houses their massive collection of all art since 1900. It is housed in an old Turbine factory, and is really geared towards families, with lots of activities for kids, which I think is just great. I saw Claude Monet's "waterlilies" (one of them anyway), Alexander Calder's mobiles, Giacometti, Miro, Arp, Dali, Rothko, etc....all the artists I grew to love and appreciate when I studied art history (I confess I still don't really "love" Dali - but I've grown to appreciate him). It was packed. I must go back one evening after work to look more in depth with fewer crowds...

The next thing I did today was go on a tour of the Shakespeare Globe Theatre. That was very interesting! This Globe theatre was a work of love for Sam Wannamaker. It was researched and built as close to what they believe the original looked liked. It has the first thatched roof in London since the 1660's - properly fireproofed, of course - and has an open roof (the thatched roof covers the balcony seats only). Even the costumes are created as originally as possible, using as much nature materials and construction as possible. The tour was very interesting, as it explained what the atmosphere was like in the 1590's England entertainment scene. Certainly not "Theatre" as we know it now. The stage sets all use the same backdrop, as it would have been done in Shakespeare time. The guide explained that this was part of the reason that William always set his plays' location in the first line or two - so that the audience could imagine in their own mind and not be distracted by details from the actual play. The season starts in May, with "Othello". You can get buy a ticket for as little as 5 GBP (about $10.00) to stand in the pit right in front of the stage - but if it rains, you get wet - no umbrellas allowed! And no sitting down either.

London, First Weekend (2 of 2)

2008-06-02T17:23:00.000-07:00

(Originally posted 25 March 2007)

Today, 25 March, I went to the National Gallery in Trafalgar Square (right next to Canada House, incidentally!). It has been cleaned up considerably since I was last in London - for the better - as no traffic runs right in front of the building any longer. There are still some pigeons, but not as many as I remember. I got a great photo on my camera-phone of people amongst the pigeons. I have a soft spot for those birds.

I have always loved the National Gallery. It is filled with art from the 1200's to the impressionists and just after. I didn't even try to do it all today - I focused on Italian art from the 1500 - 1600's, mainly so I could see Caravaggio, Leonardo, Michelangelo, Raphael, Titian, etc. My absolute favorite painting in this collection is by Sassoferrato, titled "The Virgin in Prayer" (http://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/cgi-bin/WebObjects.dll/CollectionPublisher.woa/wa/work?workNumber=NG200) . It is luminous and clear; the colors jump out on this dark background so all your eye focus' on is the Virgin Mary. It made an impact on me on my first ever visit in '94 and it still does. Photographs/web sites do not accurately represent the intensity of the color and its impact.

I also went to a special collection titled "Manet to Picasso" of Impressionist art up to early Picasso, with all the greats, Cezanne, Gauguin, Van Gogh, Monet, Manet, Degas, plus Seurat & Pissaro. Impressionist art was what first captured my heart and ultimately led to my college major, so it was like visiting old friends again. And you know what is best about it? IT'S FREE!!!!!! Can you believe it????

London Bomb Scares, summer 2007

2008-06-02T17:20:00.000-07:00

(My mom, after the summer 2007 bombing in London at the night club, posted a thread on the family website asking if I was OK. This was originally published 7 July 2007)

It's been mostly uneventful, actually. The first bomb was north of me, in "the City" and was aimed at a nightclub, which opened two days later. The Glasgow car bombing was the worse of the events. The Brits pride themselves with "getting on with it", and the papers have been rife with "we won't let them stop us from going about our business." The most I've been inconvenienced is that the pedestrian bridge between my office & Waterloo station is closed, so I actually have to cross the street to get to the shops in Waterloo. Most distressing. Apart from an definite increase in police presence, armed with bullet proof vests and big, mean looking guns, life is pretty much the same as always in the old town. Today is the last day of Wimbledon, and the start of the Tour de France, which this year, starts in London, not far from my flat. My flat, mum, is between Victoria station and Houses of Parliament/Westminster Abbey - south of Piccadilly Circus, where the first car bomb was found.

Le Grande Depart

2008-06-02T17:17:00.000-07:00

(Originally posted 8 July 2007)

This weekend is the start of the Tour de France - and for the first time in its history, it started outside of France, in London.I missed it.Not because I wanted to. No, I had great ambitions to go down to Westminster Bridge and see them scream by...and I did make it to Westminster Bridge - but missed them by 10 minutes.But sometimes things work out. Because I discovered I missed it by another tourist asking a policeman...she & I got to talking, and discovered we were both here on extended business, and decided to spend the afternoon together. A very nice young woman named Amanda, living in New Jersey, but originally from Haiti (I told her about your time in Haiti, Aunt Joanne).We decided to take the ferry down to Greenwich, which takes about an hour, then wandered the village of Greenwich, straddled the Meridian - so for that brief moment, I was one foot on both the Eastern & Western hemisphere (I'll try to post a photo) - ate at a nice pub and chatted... .So, I missed Le Grand Depart, but made a new friend, which is probably a more lasting memory anyway.

My Hubby Visits!

2008-06-02T17:15:00.000-07:00

(Originally posted 17 August 2007)

Just to say that Colin came to visit me for two weeks in London. He just left today, so I'm a little sad, but have posted some photos of our 4 day weekend (I took the Friday & Monday off work to spend more time with him).On the Friday, we went to Bath, which I first visited 15 years ago. The city has changed a bit, and not for the better, I'm afraid, but the Roman Baths still entice, as does the Abbey with some lovely sculptures, such as angels climbing up & down ladders.Saturday we stayed in London and did some touring. I managed to awe Colin by navigating the tube system like a pro and we did a walking tour about the "lost" Fleet river now 18 feet under Fleet Street.Sunday we went to Hampton Court Palace. Again, I had visited 15 years ago, but the lovely gardens were being reconstructed, so I had never seen them.Monday we made an last minute change of plans and went to Canterbury instead of Brighton. We didn't regret it. We were both fascinated by Canterbury and the Cathedral there is truly spiritual. The town itself is full of history and old, 17th century buildings that one tends to think of when you think of an old English town.

Hamburg, DE, Post 2

2008-06-02T17:13:00.000-07:00

(Originally posted 8 September 2007)

Day one, after I was finished at the client's, I changed hotels and then walked down to the Art Museum (the Hamburger Kunsthalle). The building was started in 1869, and has been added on to and rebuilt after damage during WWII. I didn't go in, because it was closing in an hour and I hadn't exchanged my British pound notes for Euro's. I regret this, because I never did get in - and it is suppose to have the best collection of art in Germany.

The walk to the art Museum took me along Leine Ringhe, though a district called St. Georg. This is a trendy little area filled with cafes and small independent shops. I stopped in a few, including one called "Everest", which I went in to purely because my pet rabbit's name is Everest. It was filled with Amy type trinkets (read: silver semi-precious stone jewelry), so I was doubly happy with my decision. I walked around the Kunsthalle and back to the hotel via the Aun der Alster, a footpath along the Aubenalster (pronounced Aussenalster, or "Outer" lake Alaster). The path is 7 km around the lake and goes along some of the most expensive real estate in Germany. It is said that there are more German millionaires in Hamburg then anywhere else in Germany, and they sure do have some lovely houses! I stopped on a park bench to watch all the water activities: rowers, scullers, sailors and commuters of all sorts on the path going places after work.

Day 2, I decided to take a city bus tour, the kind that allows you to hop on and off at key places of interest. I find these are generally a good way to get to know the lay out of a city and soak up some history of the place, too. The tour first went north along the Aubenalster, through the wealthy neighborhoods along the lake. Even the mansions seemed dwarfed by the sheer number of trees everywhere and the parks that are all through the city. Then the bus took us through other neighborhoods, like Eppendorf, which is the artistic area of the city, before turning back to go into the city proper, past the Hamburg Alster-Arkaden, a lovely colonnaded area overlooking a...pond? lake? filled with swans and other water fowl. Swans are the symbol of Hamburg, because in the 1400's, the "Free Hanseatic State of Hamburg" allowed private citizens to own swans, usually only allowed by royalty to own, as a symbol of their freedom. Consequently, there are alot of swans and they are well cared for and protected. The tour then turned into the Rathaus area, which is the traditional market and the town hall center. Next, we took a turn for the worse, as we entered in to the infamous Reeperbahn, which looked pretty tame at 2:00 in the afternoon, but only because it was still asleep. The Reeperbahn is the pleasure district and filled with shops of a dubious nature and a red light district with ladies of easy virtues. It is also famous because the Beatles first received international attention by playing in one of the clubs in the Reeperbahn, which today is one of the "theatres" featuring, at it's most tame, table dancing. I will say no more on a family website. From the seedy part of town, we went to Altona, which was once a Danish state! As such, it has and always has had, a tolerance for freedom of religion and culture that still exists today. We went past the oldest Jewish cemetery in Germany, dating back to the 1600's. Today Altona is still ethnically and culturally diverse. The town hall (it is still officially a separate city, although now German) was once the train station which linked Altona to Copenhagen. Next, we went south to the port area, still a busy place. Of special interest is the Speicherstadt, or shipping warehouses, which are all built with their lower levels right against the water of the canals to store all sorts of goods, usually spices, oriental carpets, etc. It is still in use today. I got off the bus here and wandered around the area. I walked up to the Deichstrasse, which has the oldest houses in Hamburg left remaining, then back up to the Rathaus, where I did some shopping before catching the tour bus again to finish the tour. The tour took us past St. Michaelis, considered to be one of the most important Protestant baroque buildings. The steeple is over 132 meters high, and is also on one of the highest points in the city. You can walk up 432 stairs to the tower to have fabulous views of the city (but I decided not to).

The last day was this morning (Saturday). I only had a few hours, so I decided to take a boat tour of the lakes Alster (Binnenalster, or inner lake, and Aubenalster). It was a lovely cruise and the waterfront properties and numerous sailing and rowing clubs dotted the shore lines. When the tour was done, I tried to find some souvenir shops, but there didn't seem to be any. I would ordinarily think this a good thing - but it sure isn't so good when you want to buy souvenirs! I walked back to the hotel and caught a taxi to the airport.

Overall, I think Hamburg is a lovely city and well worth a visit. There is alot of business in Hamburg, so if you ever go for business, spend an extra day or two if you can to tour. You won't be disappointed.

Hamburg, DE, Post 1

2008-06-02T17:12:00.000-07:00

(Originally posted 8 September 2007)

Last Wednesday, I had to fly to Hamburg, Germany to facilitate a session for the client's next release, which is to the Germany business units. The session was only 1/2 a day, but as I have never been to Germany before, I decided to take the rest of the week off so I could explore Hamburg.

Hamburg is the 2nd largest German city, after Berlin, and Europe's second busiest port, after Rotterdam. My top 10 observations on Hamburg are:
1. It's CLEAN!
2. It's GREEN! Hamburg is reported to have 43.8 trees for every person - as there are over 1 million inhabitant's, this means there are alot of trees and parks.
3. I was amazed at the number of cyclists - and not on fancy new bicycles, but obviously well used and loved bikes from times past.
4. Second to cycling is walking - lots of pedestrians - and not the frantic kind we get in London, but a leisurely pace, even though I am certain they all had places to be.
5. Politeness - people were friendly and helpful, even if they couldn't speak English very well.
6. There is a great mix of old and new design and architecture. Hamburg was nearly destroyed by fire in 1842, and again in WWII, so there isn't alot of really old left - but what is there is treated sympathetically with the new.
7. WATER! There are canals, lakes and rivers never more then 100 ft away (or so it seems). Consequently, there are alot of bridges. The locals are proud to state that there are over 2,000 bridges in Hamburg, more then Amsterdam & Venice combined.
8. People are obviously proud of their town - not in boastful way, but it shows (see pts 1 - 7).
9. There is a lot of history in Hamburg. Veerrrryyy interesting place!10. Church spires are everywhere, and I have this image of spires poking up amongst trees and buildings. In fact, alot of these are just spires - because not all the churches were rebuilt after WWII. Somehow, it just adds to the overall charm of the place.

BTW, Hamburg is NOT were we get "hamburger" from, although people from Hamburg are referred to as Hamburgers. I suspect they'd get cranky if you tried to put ketchup and pickles on them and take a bite (although it's probably been done in the Red Light District and "theatres" that make up the Reeperbahn). I'll post my 2 1/2 day visit on a separate post, so as not to make this one too long, and try to post some photos, too, when I download them from my camera.

New flat in London

2008-06-02T17:06:00.000-07:00

(Originally posted 10 April 2008)

Last December I left my old flat in Westminster/Victoria, as there were some issues with the building maintenance that left me feeling unsafe. So the rental company gave me the choice of two flats, both with 24 hour concierge service. I chose the one in an area I didn't know very well, and it is "real London", not touristy at all. The area is in SE London, near the famous Borough Market, which is full of food stalls: honey's from France, exotic meats, etc...
Sometimes I take a taxi back from the City, and usually, the cabbies take me down a street called Marshelsea. They often tell me that this area of London is one of the oldest. Marshelsea, they tell me, used to have a debtors prison on it, Marshelsea prison, which is referenced in a Dicken's novel. A street near me is called Little Dorrit's Court, a Dicken's character (I have no idea if the lane was named after the character or the character after the lane...but I bet someone knows). The Borough/Bermondsey area that I live in is part of the Southwark Diocese, which is the oldest in London. Southwark Cathedral was built on the site of religious practices going back over 1,000 years. The Cathedral itself was built in the 1500 - 1600's.
The new area I live in is a 10 minute walk to the Tate Modern, the Globe Theatre and a 15 minute walk to St. Paul's and the Tower Bridge. I have a shorter walk to work and go right past the Old Vic Theater (managed now by Kevin Spacey), and a pub called the Stage Door, named because you can see the lamp that lights the Stage Door at the Old Vic. The interesting thing about this pub is it is believed that this pub was once called the Halfway House and was frequented by Samuel Pepys (I think it was him). Right up the Borough High Street is one of the oldest pubs in London, The George, which was rebuilt in 1637, and is the only remaining galleried Inn in London. The levels are sorta wavey now, given all the years it has been standing.
One thing I find fascinating about London is that in the older streets are named for something meaningful. For example, near the Spitalfields market, which is the old livestock market area, are streets named "Poultry Lane" or Dairy Street", things like that. These streets were literally named because one was where they sold the chickens, and the other where they sold dairy products.

Johnson Space Center

2008-06-02T17:05:00.000-07:00

(Originally posted 21 April 2008)

My job now has me flying from London to Houston to support a client there. Sometimes I have to stay 2 weeks, and so when I am there over a weekend, I am always looking for things to do that interrupt my shopping excursions (I do looooooovvvvvve my shopping! And Houston has a fab DSW Shoes near the hotel I usually stay at, so I have to plan what I pack carefully so I have room for it all coming back).
First of all, I have to say that I've never been to Texas before, and so, my idea of what Texas looked like was all based on Dallas reruns and old B&W movies. This means I thought it was all either dry & dusty or a concrete jungle. But Houston isn't like that at all: it has lots of water and green spaces. The arts community is thriving and there are interesting things to do. And most often, I *don't* eat red meat, but seafood - being so close to the Gulf of Mexico, they have seafood in abundance. And the men are so nice! They will see me getting out of cab in front of the office tower and stand there holding the door open for me until I get there! Definitely DO NOT get that in Ottawa or London - or anywhere else I've been!
Anyway, the first 2 week stint I did in Houston, I went to the Johnson Space Center for the afternoon. I was amazed at how close it was. I went with a UK colleague of mine, who was very excited, because she always wanted to be an astronaut. In 20 minutes, we were out of the downtown core and driving into the JSC campus.
It never occured to me that the campus would be, well, a campus, because it doesn't actually launch rockets from there anymore. So it isn't this big empty space in the middle of no-where. It is the home of 2 major things: (1) Mission Control, and (2) the astronaut training center.
If you have little kids who dream of space, then JSC will not dissapoint, as it is really geared towards kids ages 10 and under. Why? Because NASA openly admits that it is gearing its future space program to anyone under the age of 21, and specifically at kids 10 and under. They are actively recruiting the first Mars astronauts. Most of the presentations are directed to little ones and address such pressing questions like "how does one pee in space?"
This means that sadly, if you are an adult, there are only a few things that are of real interest, but they are great things.
1. The tour of the campus. It takes you into Mission Control and the Astronaut training center, where you can see the mock ups of the Shuttle, and how they practice using the Canada Arm (they use a balloon to simulate zero gravity).
In Mission Control (yes, the real one!), you can see the tracking of any shuttle or space station activity on the screen. One interesting piece of information: The space station travels around the world 19 times in one day. So the astronauts see 19 sunrises and sunsets. This means that every minute of their time in space is pre-determined before they even leave Earth. They revert to "space time" which dictates when they eat, exercise, go to sleep or get up, because it has no bearing on earth time.
Think about that.....space isn't so free....
If you go on a weekday, you can sign up for the level 9 tour, which takes you on the same tour, but in more detail, and also areas that are not part of the general tour. Sadly, it doesn't run weekends, so my colleague & I had to the general tour. The general tour lasts about 1.5 hours; the level 9 tour lasts about 4 hours, and they don't allow anyone under the age of 14. Plus, you have to sign up at least a week in advance and submit to security screening.
2. The Saturn V rocket building. This building holds the last Saturn V rocket. Now, I get it that rockets are big....but to be standing next to one is truly awe inspiring, and it gives you new appreciation that we ever get anything off the ground at all.
Saturn V rockets are the Moon rockets - the ones that took astronauts to the moon and back, so they are very important in the hoistory of American space exploration.
You get the Saturn V rocket building as the last stop on the general tour.
http://www.nasm.si.edu/exhibitions/GAL114/SpaceRace/sec300/sec384.htm
3. The Space Exploration throughout the ages exhibit has artifacts and models of the history of space exploration. It's pretty interesting to see how far exploration has come....
the NASA shop was fun, too. I particularly liked the t-shirts and ball caps that said: "It's not rocket science. ..................Oh, wait....yes it is!" Makes me laugh each time I think of the expression.
I'll post some photos another time.

Oxford University Library

2008-06-02T17:00:00.000-07:00

(Originally posted on 9 May 2008 on the family website)

I spent the day in Oxford with a colleague the first Saturday in May. We had an enjoyable day. We took a tour of the city centre and some of the colleges, including Merton College, one of the oldest colleges at Oxford. Some say it is the oldest, as they were the first of the original 3 colleagues at Oxford to get their charters and bylaws in order, which were then used as the template for other colleges not only at Oxford, but their arch nemesis, Cambridge.
Anyway, one of the interesting facts about Oxford University is that it has a copyright charter, which means that it has to, by law, hold a hard copy of every single book published in the UK. This is in addition to its historical documents and books. I forget the exact number, but there is supposedly in excess of 300 millions volumes of documents in the libraries. They counted about 10 years ago.
As a result, the university rapidly has run out of room, and so the solution was to build the libraries underground. There are now over 12 miles of tunnels under the city of Oxford, where the books and documents are stored. You can read any document in Oxford, provided you are either a student at one of the colleges, or a citizen "reader", but you cannot check the books out of the library. Another colleague, who attended Oxford explained the process as such:
"If you want to read a book or document, you first look it up on the electronic database, then you write your selection on a piece of paper, along with the room you are in or will be reading the book in. This is then sent to the librarians in the tunnels, who locate the book for you. Because the tunnels are so vast, they all use rollarskates or Rollerblades to get around. There are trolleys on tracks that carry the baskets with the books in them to the room where they are destined."
My colleague said she went on a tour of the tunnel library once and was fascinated by then system of moving the books. I imagine the trolleys to be a bit like old mine cars.

Houston Museum of Fine Arts

2008-06-02T16:57:00.000-07:00

(This was originally posted in May 2008 on the family website)

Today I went to Houston's Museum of Fine Arts. They have had an exhibit on Pompeii that I've been waiting to have some time in Houston to go see, and this trip was it.
It was, in a word, overwhelming.
The exhibit had two main themes: gold and remains. If you are squeamish, skip the following paragraph and focus on the next paragraph where I talk about the gold.
The remains were obtained as far back as the 1800's, when a French archaeologist pumped plaster into the cavities where the bodies had been. They use a similar method, but with a resin, now. The casts are very detailed - in some, you can see the details of clothes they wore. When you first walked into the exhibit, you were faced with a large cast of 12 bodies that had died at the beach at Pompeii, thinking that the danger was over and help was on it's way. And I'm sure that many of them thought they would be safe in or near the water, but, of course, that was not the case. The casts were so detailed, it was eerie. Another cast was of a dog that had been chained to the house - dogs were frequently used as guards - and either its owner forgot to unchain him, or died before he could - of course, we will never know. For some reason, that was the most disturbing cast of all. I could not help but be affected by the casts - it really drove home that this is not just an interesting period of history, it was real and people suffered.
Alot of the rest of the exhibit showed the gold jewelry, monuments and frescoes found in Pompeii & Herculaneum. I like jewelry and so am always fascinated by the styles that were common at that time. Many gems on rings were carved with tiny figures, either of animals or gods or goddesses. The detail was incredible. I also liked the tiny statuettes of gods or goddesses - and given my recent travels in the UK, it was interesting to see the same figure of Venus, for example, in this exhibit depicted in a very similar way to statuettes of Venus found in St. Alban's Roman Museum just north of London. I guess it is sort of like the generification of the world today, where you can find Big Box stores carrying the same items and designs throughout the world.
The next exhibit I saw, part of the permanent collections, was the gold of the Pre-Colombian world. I was astounded - it is probably the best collection of Pre-Colombian art and artifacts I have seen at any museum in my world travels. There was alot of gold, of course, but several tapestries and tunics made from feathers of exotic birds, and so still colorful after centuries. I was also fascinated to see the sophisticated level of craftsmanship that rivalled, quite frankly, what the Romans were doing.
If you ever go to Houston, be sure to carve out some time to visit this very excellent museum!

My First Blog Post

2008-05-30T07:47:00.000-07:00

I know the title isn't very creative, but I imagined it sort of like "Gulliver's Travels"...

I have been travelling for work for the past year, and have been posting aboout my travels on the family's website, but recently, friends have been asking what I've been up to and what I've seen. So my sister suggested I start a blog.

I have to confess, I've never thought of myself as a "blogger"...I much perfer to chat to people voice to voice (is there a techie term for that? like "snail mail"???). But as my work assignment has me travelling from London, UK to Houston, TX, and soon to places in South America, trying to arrange calls during mutually agreeable time zones is getting difficult. Sure, I use Skype (a life saver!), but even Skpye can't fix the fact that my brother & sister-in-law are -8 hours behind London.

So....this is my blog. Please be nice to me - I'm still just a blog newbie.