Ryland & Amy in London

Vienna Blog

2008-06-08T03:56:00.000-07:00

Hello All,

We posted a Vienna Blog, but didn't show up where it

was suppose to.

Basically, if you want to see it scroll down.

It's after the snow in London Blog.

cheers,

Visit with friends & random London pic's

2008-06-03T12:56:00.000-07:00

Our friends Greg and Sue were visiting last week and we had a wonderful time sightseeing and just catching up with them.

Here we were at the Royal Festival Hall about to enjoy the London Phillharmonic.

Taking in a little more culture at the British Museum . . .

And a different kind of culture at Piccadilly Circus . . .

We live just a 5 minute walk from the National Theatre which, in addition to housing some fantastic theatre, is also a terrific space in and of itself. It constantly has various musicians playing in its main lobby and right now it has this great giant's livingroom type display outside its main doors. It is totally open to the public and people are loving it - us included! There's Ry on the right . . .

This is Neil's Yard - a fun little spot just a few minutes from LSE. It is a bit dangerous because it offers fantastic ice cream cones which can be an excellent distractor on sunny days.

This was a children's festival we stumbled across on a walk one day by Covent Garden. Ry especially loved the puppet shows!

Here is one of my favourite views on my daily walk to school.

We're trying to be better with the blogging, so we'll try to keep these little random posts coming - but no promises :-)

We'll also catch up one day on our adventures in Prague, Vienna and Amsterdam - stay tuned!

Snow in London!

2008-06-03T11:30:00.000-07:00

This post is now way out of date - but we thought we would post it anyway since it was such a neat experience. This picture was taken on April 6th and it was the first snow London saw all winter. It was amazing - the kind of thick, white heavy snow that begs to be made into a snowman. In fact, people were doing just that in parks all over the city. You should have seen how excited they all were! I guess if we Canadians only got snow once every few years, we'd be pretty excited as well. As we were on our way to the airport to catch our plane for Vienna, we didn't get a chance to really enjoy it - but we did manage to get this picture for proof.

Vienna

2008-06-03T08:20:00.001-07:00

Vienna

This post should have been up long ago, but we wanted to get the pictures up for all to enjoy.

Ted and Tracey came overseas and we had an absolutely fantastic trip with them.

First stop, Vienna.

On the tower of one of the Cathedrals...Stephansdom.

She's pretty happy.

The Gates of the Hofburg I believe...

The problem with blogging way after the fact is that you lose all of the details.

The thing that struck me about Vienna was how clean and beautiful it was.

The Architecture is amazing. Everywhere you turn, something else gorgeous is in front of you.

Except for here...

This is the former residence of a very famous composer... I give you all 3 guesses

This is the front of...the Parliament building? Where is that Rick Steve's book when I need it now...

A building at the beginning of Stadtpark...you can listen to symphonies here

This is the Rathuas
Me standing at the Rathaus with the National Theatre of Austria (called the Burgtheatre?) behind me.

Just a cool shot...I give credit to Ted for seeing it.

This is the WWII memorial

Street level view of the Stephansdom

And This was crazy...we were just wandering around the streets, literally getting lost, and we stumbled upon the cathedral that looked like they had a film crew inside...so we popped our heads in and found the Vienna Boys Choir being set up to shoot a video of some kind.

We got a free concert...it was awesome.

the trip was great.

Sardinia

2008-04-18T09:03:00.001-07:00

Sardinia

we are soooooooooo far behind. We apologize...we do...but it takes forever to upload the pictures. London Internet is lame. But I digress, for this is to show you Sardinia!

Sardinia is an Italian Mediterranean Island situated west of mainland Italy and just south of Corsica.

it is awesome.

For some reason the cut all of the branches off of their trees (some of them) I see this in many European Cities. I don't get it.
Us on a Beach! The weather the first two days was fantastic. We burned a little even.
better than the pasty quality we began with I suppose.

The City is walled. Big walls = cool
Sun and Beach.
Me contemplating the destruction of tree branches whilst sitting by the harbour

Go Figure - We met Canadians in Sardinia. Amy and I decided to take a boat to Neptune's Grotto ( the thing to do when in Alghero).
Also known as Grotte di Nettuno.
I was talking about randomness, as I often do, and came upon the topic of Beer, as I often do.
Can't remember the direct quote - but it was something to the effect of "life in general is better with beer"
The couple in front of us heard my remark and agreed.
They were from Canada - Calgary to be exact.
Candice and Noah - we don't know their last names, and I lost their contact details...we liked them a lot and hung with them for two days straight.
if any one knows a Candice and Noah who are touring Europe for the year...please let us know, we'd love to get in contact again.
Anyways - they took this photo of us.

Cliffs
More Cliffs + Amy...and I think that is Candice in front of her...our only pic with them.

This is the Grotto! So Freaking cool...the pics don't do it justice. Breathe-a-bleeping-taking.
It felt like it was a film set...So incredible how nature can produce such amazing formations. It's something like a 70 million year old cavern.
I'm glad I enjoyed it so much...it's a bit of a scam operation they got going on to increase revenue.
If you hoped on a boat that charged you a fair sum of money to take you to...oh let's say...Neptune's Grotto, would you think the admission cost to the Grotto would be included?
If you said yes, you have less business sense than the people running this place.

But like i said, it was incredible.

It's full of atmospheric lighting...so purdy

me enjoying the view.
Candice and Noah are touring Europe via car, so we went for a drive through the country side of Sardinia. It is a beautiful beautiful beautiful place.
look how happy it made Amy.
country side

Day after Noah and Candice adventure.

Me in front of a very old colony. This was awesome...but I already forget the details. I do know that the bus driver dropped us off on the side of a road with no directions and we had to walk half an hour to get here. Bad side - we was lost, good side - so out of the way we were the only two there.

Got the timer to work. It amazes me how some of this stuff still survives. We can't even build stuff that lasts 50 years...let alone 2000+
purdy tree inside the walls of Alghero.

cheers,

The Big Move!

2008-03-24T12:37:00.000-07:00

the old flat tour.

start the day off by plugging the electricity meter.

use the new found electricity to make a nice cup of coffee and enjoy in the open dining area.

Uh Oh! spilt the coffee...time to do laundry.

Saved by the phone which can be used in the Entertainment area!

Coffee moves quick...time to unload. Also a good way to catch up on some reading. lucky that sink operates as an elbow rest.

New flat tour.

Bedroom

Storage in Bedroom

living room/ kitchen

Kitchen
Living room

much more space to play in!

Plus a more central area means 1 hr less commute time.

YAY!

Portobello Market

2008-02-22T14:57:00.000-08:00

I know, I know - we are so far behind . . . but here are a few pictures from Portobello Market, a great outdoor/indoor market that stretches for blocks and blocks and blocks, just a short walk from our current flat. These were taken in January, just after we got back from the Christmas break.

Did I mention these were taken in January? Isn't that amazing? I think London weather has an unfair reputation. We certainly aren't complaining!

Gotta love these signs . . .

This picture is for you ladies who might remember my endless search once upon a time for the perfect pocketwatch . . .

This little guy was keeping a very close watch on all the action - from the vantage point of his owner's shoulders. Too cute!

Melbourne

2008-02-22T14:48:00.000-08:00

Last weekend I spent a wonderful Sunday in Melbourne with some of my cousins. After a delicious and traditional Sunday roast, we spent some time walking it off while they showed me the lovely sights around town.

Isn't it amazing - the trees are in bud and the daffodils are coming up! In February!!

I just love thatched roofs. They tell me I have to go to Cornwall because then I'll get my thatched roofs and stone cottages (which I also love). We'll be adding it to 'the list' . . .

Oxford

2008-02-22T13:43:00.000-08:00

A couple of weeks ago we went to Oxford for the day with a couple of friends. We had a great day of exploring and came home feeling much smarter than when we left :-)

This is the site the greets you as you step off the train.

I always like looking in old cemeteries. Must be the Irish in me. . .

This is Carfax Tower. We climbed to the top and got a great view over the city.

I'm not sure what happened with the layout of these next few pictures, but hopefully you just think it looks artsy.

Not a bad looking life, hey?

There are so many beautiful spots around the river and tons of quiet corners just calling out for a picnic.

Unfortunately, February isn't punting season, but I definitely want to come back in the summer to float down the river in one of these boats!

We went for a stroll through the Botanic Gardens which are apparently the oldest in Britain and date back to 1621.

We stopped for lunch at the Turf Tavern which, as you can see from the sign, has had some illustrious visitors.

This sign says "An Education in Intoxication". We didn't take advantage of that offer, but we did enjoy a tasty Sunday roast.

This beautiful church is the Church of St. Mary the Virgin.

The building below is the Radcliffe Camera. It is a circular library that was built between 1737 and 1749 and apparently is Britain's 3rd largest dome.

Next we visited Magdalen College which was founded in 1458.

The College has extensive grounds including a riverside path and, yes, a deer herd. Why you may ask . . . we have no idea but it certainly gives all new meaning to potential procrastination options while studying.

This is the dining hall in the College; it's a bit different from the sorts of school cafeterias we are used to.

This is a sculpture of Christ and Mary Magdalen, for whom the College was named.

Here we are outside of Christ Church College.

This is the dining hall in Christ Church, which some of you may recognize from the Harry Potter films. Thankfully, no flying owls made any appearances during our visit.

Lewis Carroll was the pen name of Charles Dodgson, who was a teacher at Christ Church, and who drew inspiration for Alice in Wonderland from many of the people and places around the College. Some of the stained glass windows in the dining hall have characters from Alice in Wonderland peeking about.

More Christ Church . . .

Below is a picture of Oxford Castle.

So, all in all, we really enjoyed our time in Oxford. In many ways it is a bustling little city but of course it also has so many beautiful buildings and a really tangible sense of tradition and history. It was a great day trip with terrific company!

Berlin

2008-02-07T11:17:00.000-08:00

Sorry about the horribly long delay in our blog. We've been pretty busy for the past while. There are other entries we were going to submit but due to popular demand we are going to go straight to the Berlin Blog.

We were both really excited about visiting Berlin! So, as soon as we were off the plane I (Ry)started taking pictures...or at least I wanted to. The previous week I had kinda sorta dropped our brand new camera. I thought it was fine but then I tried to take a picture and this is what I got.

If you look really carefully you can sort of see funky pattered seats on the S-bahn. But more importantly you cannot see much else. It seemed to me that the camera could only take pictures from certain angles. Mainly low angle shots...and it was making a very bad rattling noise in the lens part. I was very very sad.

I may have pouted a bit...and for good reason! New camera, broken, no more pics...no more blog. It made my heart ache. It seemed like I could still take pictures but only from low angles and I couldn't use the zoom feature without the camera going "click click click scurrrr chink vilp" and then shut off. Man was I upset. But never fear, me being the expert handyman from Saskatchewan that I am, I was determined to fix it. Unfortunately, I had no duct tape...so what could I do? That's right, I shook the hell out of it and gave it a smack...go figure the zoom started to work again. This bike was about 100ft. away. when I took this picture.

Boy was I happy!
It even worked at different angles!

Enough of that for now. The camera was working and I could now take photos.

We got in quite late on Thursday night, but managed to find a 24 hour restaurant just a few doors down from our hostel where Ry enjoyed a schnitzel and Amy had her first spatzel. We felt it was an appropriate way to begin the weekend. The restaurant was actually really nice, although we suspected its purpose was to serve the customers of the many 'red light' establishments that surrounded our cheerful little hostel. Yes, we picked quite the neighbourhood! However . . .

On our first day we took a walking tour of the city that was absolutely amazing. Our guide was incredible and it was a terrific way to get a feel for the city and to brush up on our history! For any members of Ry's family that may be reading this, our guide reminded us so much of Guillaume that we're convinced the saying that everyone has a twin must be true.

Berlin is an awesome city that has a whole lot of not so awesome history. Being the capital of Germany it naturally is filled with constant memories of the war. You can tell which buildings survived the war and have not been rebuilt because they are heavily marked with bullet and mortar marks.

This is the Holocaust Memorial.

The Holocaust Memorial was something else...I've never really had an experience like it before. It was very moving. From the outside, it doesn't look so bad. Nothing overly moving about it...but then you walk into the memorial and the pillars start getting higher and higher until you are surrounded. The ground is uneven and rolls up and down giving a sensation of the ground dropping out from beneath your feet. Without realizing it you are surrounded, and isolated, and very cut off from the rest of the world. Some say it is an interactive monument that gives you the sensation of what being in Nazi Germany was like. Creeped me out.

Not all of Berlin is morbid.

Humboldt University was the center of some of the most influential thinkers of the world.

But then again, the Bebelplatz square in front of it was the very famous site of the Nazi book burnings on May 10, 1933, when books by authors such as Heinrich Heine and Freud were destroyed.

This is a plaque which has the following quote on it. "Wherever they burn books, in the end will also burn people." - Heinrich Heine ...again...creepy.

Here is the memorial for the book burning...it's a bit more literal. A room full of empty shelves measured to hold the same number of books that were burned. It is a clear reminder of the knowledge that is gone and cannot be replaced.

Berlin's history is powerful and very present, both in these kinds of memorials scattered around the city and also just in its 'feel'. It is a beautiful city though, with sharp contrasts between gorgeous buildings that have been restored to their post-war glory, like those below in Bebelplatz Square, and empty lots that have yet to be re-built. Fascinating.

This is the Berliner Dom, which is a massive Protestant Cathedral, and behind it you can see the Fernsehturm. You will see more of the Fernsehturn below as it was one of our most useful landmarks for navigating the city.

There is kind of a funny story around the Fernsehturn. It is a TV tower that was built with the intention to boast about East Germany's technological prowess. Unfortunately, they needed the assistance of Swiss engineers (who were reportedly brought in under the cover of darkness) to build it. The really funny part is that when the light hits the dome, a crucifix appears. Apparently the GDR did everything they could to make it go away, but failed. People call it "Papsts Rache" - the Pope's Revenge.

Below is one of the five museums on Museumsinsel (Museum Island). This was where our tour ended and where our guide told us the incredible story of how the Wall fell.

Once the tour ended, we embarked on our own adventure for the evening.

Below is one of the many theatres in Germany. We stopped in to see if we could catch a show, hoping perhaps for a dance or musical piece, but alas - it was all serious theatre and all in German. We took a pass. We did however manage to see a show later in the weekend by the Berlin English Theatre Company. It wasn't playing in quite as grand a theatre as this one, and we had to brave several odd and somewhat sketchy back alleys to find it, but it was fun to see nonetheless.

This is a shot of the river Spree which cuts through the city on a roughly east-west heading. There are all kinds of barges and river cruises dotting the river, one of which is shown below.

We followed our guide's advice and explored a really fun area in East Berlin for our dinner and drinks that night. We ended the night in a great little spot he had told us about where you pay 2 euros for a glass and help yourself to wine all night. Then, at the end of the night you pay what you think is reasonable for what you had. The bar is filled with different sizes and shapes of tables, couches, lounge chairs, etc. - but the best part of it was that we met a really interesting group of people from around the world and had a ton of fun muddling through with a combo of English, German (not us so much), Spanish and French. It was great!

Day Two - the sun was shining and we were ready to set out and explore some more!

This is the Schlos Charlottenburg. It is a huge Baroque palace not far from where we were staying. We didn't tour the inside, but the grounds were amazing and would be truly incredible in the summer.

This is the palace Mausoleum, now the resting place of members of the royal family.

This is the Belvedere (still in the grounds of the palace). It was built as a tea house and now holds the royal family's porcelain collection.

After leaving the palace, we continued our wanderings, heading for the Tiergarten which is the huge park in the centre of the city. The broken cathedral you see here is the Kaiser-Wilhelm-Gedachtniskirche. It was shattered in WWII bombings and has been left as is as a reminder of the war. We found it to be one of the most poignant reminders because it really brings home the kind of destruction that swept the city. We heard one stat that says 70% of Berlin was destroyed in the war. Many of the historic looking buildings are actually new because they have been re-built, while other areas have incredibly modern, cutting edge design. It is a really interesting mix.

Below is one of the many bears that dot the streets of Berlin. Berlin's maskot is the "Berlin Bear" -and they are everywhere!

The next few pictures are of the Sony Centre - and talk about modern cutting edge design! Neither of us had ever seen anything like it! It is hard to describe, but is a complex centered around an indoor/outdoor square covered in a massive fan-like roof that can be seen from around the city. The centre houses all kinds of bars and restaurants, the Sony centre (of course), several entertainment centres and a lot of high level offices!

This is a random statue. Ry loves statues.

Day Three - another beautiful sunny day. Man were we feeling lucky! At this point, we felt as though we had seen and experienced a good portion of the city, but had a few more key sites we wanted to hit.

Below is the Dokumentationszentrum der Berliner Mauer. It is a documentation centre and memorial of the Berlin Wall. The Centre has an unbelievable documentation record of the events leading up to the raising of the Wall, of the period of the GDR and of the Wall's fall. The record consists of hundreds of photographs, secret documents, audio records, broadcast recordings and more. It really was overwhelming and so many of the personal stories were truly heartbreaking.

The picture below shows all that you can see of what was the Wall, in most of Berlin. There are only a few spots in the city where parts of the Wall still stand, but this stone ribbon cuts its way across the entire city - through streets, parks and buildings - to mark exactly where the Wall once stood.

This is the Todesstreife (death strip). It shows the space between the two Walls where countless people died trying to cross. It is a somewhat controversial memorial to "victims of the communist tyranny". This view is from the platform of the documentation centre.

This is the part of the Wall that remains in front of the documentation centre. It truly was incredible to see and there really are no words to describe how it makes you feel, especially when you can so clearly imagine the way it divided the city, neighbourhoods and families.

On a lighter note . . . in East Berlin, they have different traffic markers than in West Berlin. This sturdy little guy has a name (that we can't remember), and was a product of GDR times that remained after reunification because former East Berliners couldn't bear to see him go.

Standing on both sides of the Wall . . . you can see how the marker really does run through whatever is in its path.

Just an interesting bridge . . .

These next pictures are of the East Side Gallery. It is the longest remaining portion of the Wall (about 1.3 km) and is also apparently the world's largest outdoor art gallery. Artists were originally brought in from around the world in 1989 to celebrate reunification by decorating the slabs of the Wall with their art. Grafitti artists subsequently covered their work and the artists were brought back in 2000 for touch ups. The graffitti has moved in again, and it is now a crazy mix of all kinds of work with more messages than you can imagine. It was quite the sight to absorb!

From there we went on to the Pergamon Museum which has an amazing ancient history collection.

This is the Alter of Zeus (180 BC).

This is the Ishtar Gate of Babylon (575 BC).

Below is the very famous Brandenburger Tor. It is the gate that was originally built as a tribute to peace in the 18th century, it later became a tribute to victory after the defeat of the French, then became a barricaded gate to nowhere when the Wall came up right behind it, and finally which served as the backdrop for the massive celebrations that followed the Wall's collapse. It is now said to be the most poignant emblem of reunification.

Here we have the Reichstag - rebuilt of course, as the original was destroyed in the fire that allowed Hitler to declare a state of emergency and seize power. It is now once again the seat of government and its most amazing feature is the glass dome top which is open to the public to climb. From the dome, you can see right down into the government chamber. The theory is that it represents the transparent nature of Germany's government and allows the people of Germany to supervise their leaders. We climbed the dome at the end of our last day in Berlin, and what a way to end the trip! The views were incredible and we were able to catch the sunset.

It was a great way to end a terrific trip!

We've had a few more excursions since Berlin and promise to try to get them up ASAP. Thanks to all of you for your 'gentle reminders' about updating the blog - it makes us feel harassed but loved!

Christmas Sights

2007-12-09T09:49:00.000-08:00

Over the last week or so, Ry and I have been doing our own little London Christmas tours to take in some of the festive sights around the city. The Londoners love their skating and there are rinks everywhere. The one below is at the Natural History Museum and is accompanied by one of the many mini-carnivals that are also all around the city.

This is a picture of London tobogganing - so funny! They build a big ramp, cover it in white carpet and send kids down on inner tubes.

Ryland enjoying his first mulled wined at the German Christmas Market, which is part of the Hyde Park "Winter Wonderland" festival . . .

Christmas shopping on Oxford Street - absolute insanity!!

There are beautiful Christmas decorations on every corner.

Ry and I at Covent Garden . . .

There are aerialist performances at Covent Garden on the hour and they are amazing!

This walk across the Thames from the South Bank is one of my favourite views in London. It's not particularly Christmassy, but I just love it!

You can't really see it in the picture, but they have Christmas trees lit around the base of Parliament.

This giant tree is in Trafalger Square. Every year, as a gift to Britain, Norway picks one of its best Christmas trees to cut down and send over. They just lit it on Thursday and it really is amazing - the picture doesn't do it justice.

So - that's a quick review of some of the London Christmas sights. I have to admit, it still feels a bit strange to have all the Christmas stuff without any snow - not that I'm complaining! (especially when I know the temperatures all of you back home have been enjoying) Ry is already back in Canada and I'll be following next weekend. This will likely be the last post of 2007 but hopefully we'll be catching up with all of you in person very soon!

To anyone we don't see over the break, we hope you have a wonderful holiday season and a very happy new year!!

Barcelona

2007-11-25T09:00:00.000-08:00

Barcelona

Ahhh Barcelona...palm trees, beach, bloody cold! I don't want to seem negative so that is the last negative aspect of the weather i will mention because as you can see from the photos the sun was a shining bright for our brief visit to this gorgeous city.

We have no photo's of Friday, we got in pretty late, went for dinner and drinks and then went to sleep in the zoo that was named Santa Maria Hostel. Seriously, there were two dogs, two or three cats, a symphony of birds. I slept fine, as gravol and sangria make a beautiful sleeping potion, but Amy no sleep so good...birds squawking equals no sleep for Amy.

Saturday started off with a walk down Las Ramblas (the main drag) to check out the sights and sounds. We found this super-neato market.
Tonnes of fresh seafood and produce. The market had all things fresh; meat, fish, veggies, fruit, Spanish men...it was pretty cool.
Crazy Giant Fish Head! It reminds me of a song by Barnes and Barnes entitled fish heads, I think they must have been a Spanish band.

Las Ramblas. It is a great street. This is a giant boulevard that goes down the entirety of the street made specifically for pedestrian traffic, cafes, human statues, and mini businesses.

Pet shop. Lots of pets shops on Las Ramblas, I figure this is where the hostel was getting their mascots from.

Spanish things are crazy...like this crazy lobster thingy...it seemed pretty happy though.
I love the Architecture of Barcelona. Every building around the core of the city was worth looking at. I took a photo of this building because people on a tour bus were taking photos of this building. I am guessing it is famous - I blame my lack of Spanish for being unable to figure out what it was.
Me in Barcelona in a winter coat. It may not look it but I was quite sick. Visited a whole lot of Farmacia's to get me better.
Giant Statue of Christopher Columbus, the Spanish believed he was from Spain...I think they got it wrong. They then decided to build a giant monument in honour of him pointing to the new world. The guide book informed me he is actually pointing towards Libya not the Americas...I think they got that wrong too.
pretty circle things near the port.

Big bridge in the port. We really liked this bridge and took some time hanging out on it.
We looked at boats.
And giant buoys. talk about a brown noser...
Amy was actually sitting like this! It isn't a set up pose.
Amy's boot and tonnes of fish.

After walking around Las Ramblas and the Port for awhile we decided to head to the La Sagrada Familia to check out some Guadi Architecture. Photography can't capture it fully...one of those things better seen in real life. Felt really blessed to see this first hand. It is so crazy!

Being here and trying to get a photo makes me understand how Gaudi could get hit by a car trying to get a good look at it. I almost did the same thing.

We felt inspired and decided to walk around finding more of Guadi's architecture. I love it. Could see why some hate it though.

For the rest of the day we decided to to a tapas crawl and ate our way through the city. We had a lot of really good food and really good drink. Photos became sparse and blurry as did my vision.

Next morning on the way to the bus we passed by the Arc De Triomphe. Every big European city seems to have one. I liked the red brick of this one quite a bit.

All in all it was a great day and a half. I highly recommend it as a city to visit, but I'd visit in spring or summer cause it was seriously chilly. But even with the cold the sights, sounds, and smells were amazing.

Girona

2007-11-25T05:34:00.000-08:00

Girona

We loved this place. We arrived at the hostal (via Amy's fantastic navigational skills) and decided that the city was much more interesting than the room. It was a beautiful day! Cold - I was only in Spain for three days, and it was in November, but if someone was to ask me what the weather is like in Spain I would say cold. However, there were beautiful sunny skies as well.
Girona is a surprisingly difficult city to photograph. It is like two cities combined in one, half medieval town, half modern city. The medieval town is brilliant - tiny little pathways intertwining through the city in a circuitous manner with cobblestone stairways leading up and down and all over the place. It was fantastic to explore and get lost; but, as I said it was very difficult to capture via photographic means.

The heart of the medieval area is a stunning Cathedral (again the photos don't do it justice)

Cloisters and garden inside the Cathedral.

Leading out from the Cathedral is a medieval wall that surrounds the town (the medieval portion of the town) which you are able to walk along the top of.

A view of the back of the Cathedral from the wall.

On top of the wall with Cathedral in the background.
p.s. I'm not wearing lipstick but the cold medication I was on dehydrated me to the extent that my lips would crack at the hint of a smile. very sore lips indeed.

I managed to catch a view of a very hot girl on top of the wall. I had to take this photo when she wasn't looking to prevent creeping her out.

A Medieval Toilet! This is like a 50 foot drop. Makes me think there were numerous poo like practical jokes performed in medieval times. I took a lot of photo's of this toilet but Amy would only allow for one to be uploaded. Boo Amy!

I forgive her cause she's so darn cute on this wall. This is actually a great shot! If you look close you can see how the wall winds it's way through the city. It's a really big wall. It also displays all of the "murder holes" that lined the wall as a form of defense. There would have been the ability to have an archer ever four to five feet along the entire length of this beast. Methinks archers must have been very short.

Girona from the inside of town. An example of winding streets. I believe this is the University there.

A river divides the city, medieval to the right modern to the left. Although it doesn't look like that in this photo, that is the way it works.

There are around 5000 birds in this photo but again didn't quite capture it. Amy really liked the friendly birds (the birds might have prevented us from exploring a couple of streets).
We finished off the day with a beautiful sunset. Perfect end to a perfect day.

The only thing that I would advise to future travelers is to go to Girona on a day that isn't a Sunday. Lot's of very cute shops and stores that we couldn't explore because the city is pretty much a ghost town on Sundays. It made for great exploring, but I think we missed a certain amount of the vibe of the City.

Market Day, the Tate Modern & Random Exploring

2007-11-11T11:54:00.000-08:00

Since we haven't posted in a while, we thought we'd share some pic's of one of our random weekend days. Saturday and Sunday are great market days in London. There are dozens of different spots, all of which are terrific for people watching and drooling over all of the delicious smells and fabulous looking food. On Saturday we went to the Borough Market and then wandered along the Thames and ended the day at the Tate Modern. Here are some of the sights along the way . . .

Sound delicious, don't they?

One strange but great thing they do here is use light installations to make what would otherwise be somewhat creepy passage-ways between and underneath buildings and bridges less creepy. At this spot, the lights travel with you when you walk - so cool!

As part of one of the festivals that took place earlier this fall, they imported a bunch of new sand along the south banks of the Thames for sand castle building contests. Now people just work on random pieces like this one.

The leaves are still beautiful here. They are mostly gold and orange, but every once in a while you see the brilliant red shown here, crawling up the side of the Tower of London.

Mom - the pansy picture is for you!

It's hard to believe it's November.

These next pictures are at the Tate Modern. There is a new installation - a giant crack in the floor. It's actually pretty amazing and we can't figure out how they did it. There is also a new giant spider piece that stands just outside the main doors to welcome everyone in. And yes - I still went in!

We're off to Spain next weekend and will share our adventures once we're back. Hope you're all having wonderful long weekends!

Reading & Henley

2007-10-21T13:39:00.001-07:00

Last Sunday we went to Reading to spend the day with some of my Polish/English family. It was wonderful to see them and they toured us around Reading, where they live, and Henley, a near-by town on the water. It was a beautiful day and the turning leaves were gorgeous.

Henley has a long pedestrian bridge crossing the river which has a small island in the middle of it with all these great little houses that you can only get to by boat. The surrounding hills have lots of great, not-so-little houses that apparently house some of Britain's rich and famous.

We went for a really long walk along the river, got caught up with each other and enjoyed the sunshine.

The London Eye

2007-10-21T13:12:00.000-07:00

As part of mom's visit, we took a ride on the London Eye and it was incredible! It takes about a half an hour to go all the way around and they say you can see for about 40 km on a clear day. The views from the top were absolutely breathtaking and made us feel very, very small!

Paris

2007-10-21T10:47:00.001-07:00

We have finally gotten around to the much anticipated Paris post! On a technical note, we have yet to totally master this whole blogging thing, so the pictures end up being out of order and somewhat random - oh well!

Paris was . . . well . . . incredible. The weather was spectacular, the company fantastic, the food (and wine) amazing and the sights indescribable. We LOVED it!!

It was a really fast weekend but we had a terrific time eating, drinking, exploring and butchering the French language, and we quickly fell in love with the city.

Our hotel was in the Latin Quarter and this is what the streets looked like on Sunday. There were people and food stands everywhere and tons of opportunities for terrific people watching. We picked up a delicious picnic with a baguette, cheese, meat, fruit and wine and then enjoyed it in the Luxembourg Gardens that were just down the street. I loved the fact that there were tons of other people doing exactly the same thing. The Parisians definitely know how to relax and enjoy life!

The Luxembourg Gardens . . .

When we say that there were a tonne of other people doing the exact same thing....I have noticed that Europeans enjoy McDonalds more than North Americans do. Everyone who was having a picnic was eating Micky D's.....it made me cry a little on the inside. sorry I have no photo as evidence. But the gardens were beautiful.

Out of order picture - but its identity speaks for itself!

The Pantheon . . .

Back to the Latin Quarter . . .

On Saturday night we took a boat cruise down the Seine and took in the beautiful lights of the city. It was a tad breezy - but so worth it!

The Eiffel Tower goes all sparkly on the hour. pretty neato!

More of our Saturday stroll . . . this is the Obelisque at the center of the Place de la Concorde.

L'Arc de Triomphe

The token 'must-have' Eiffel Tower picture

There was some kind of artistic installation in the grounds surrounding the Louvre, largely consisting of thousands of clay pots filled with wax - some sitting in arrangements on the ground while others were part of various sculptures like this one. We're not sure what it all meant, but it was very cool!

Ahhh . . . the Louvre. What to say other than 'wow'? (Except maybe that it was great to be there in October because there weren't any crazy crowds and we really could just relax and enjoy it all.)

A quick peek at Notre Dame . . .

One of the many beautiful bridges of Paris. Spots like this make me want to sit there for at least an hour with a coffee while thinking of absolutely nothing at all.

Le Centre Georges Pompidou . . .

Back the Louvre, courtesy of the picture order problem!

Sigh . . . it was a magical weekend and we are already trying to figure out when we'll go back. There are so many more things we have to see and do there - not to mention more time sitting in cafes, drinking red wine and enjoying the Parisian approach to life!

Dover

2007-10-01T13:17:00.000-07:00

Last weekend we decided to take advantage of the Community Rail Festival (ie. weekend when train tickets are only 10 pounds) to do another day trip. After some random flipping through our Great Britain travel book, we decided that Dover sounded like a great place to visit - and it was!

Dover is on the southeastern tip of England, just across the English Channel from France. You can even see the shady outline of France from the Dover shores. Dover is also the home of the white cliffs (aka. the Cliffs of Insanity, for those of us who grew up with the Princess Bride); it is a really cute port town and, on the top of its cliffs, houses an incredible fortress complete with "Secret Wartime Tunnels" that were first excavated during the Napoleonic Wars and then expanded and improved upon over subsequent wars, particularly WWII. For a large part of WWII, these tunnels housed Britain's key military personnel and intelligence. Neither words nor pictures can really describe what these tunnels were like, and even our imaginations could only go so far in picturing what life must have been like for the thousands of people who passed through the tunnels during the wars.

All around the fortress there are mounds like this one that reveal the tunnel paths beneath.

The fortress was built for defence, not as a pleasure palace. These 'murder holes' are everywhere and between them, the moat, the cliffs and the cannons, it is not the most welcoming facade!

Dover is now a bustling port with a huge harbour and dozens of ferries coming in and out - most heading to France.

The next shot took 25 or so attempts and is a major reason the camera battery died....I hope you all enjoy.

The views from the top of the fortress were breathtaking. On one side there are the stunning white cliffs, on another side there is the channel, and then surrounding the rest are these rolling hills and the town sites. Amazing!

This is one of the medieval tunnels that form an amazing labyrinth under the fortress and throughout the hills. Lots of them were not lit, were totally deserted and were very, very quiet. Not going to lie - we walked pretty quickly through some of them!

I like this tree

The fortress site has been in use for over 2000 years. This building is a Roman lighthouse which dates back to 50 AD and which, according to the guide book, may be the oldest standing building in Britain.

This is a view of the fortress from the town and yes - we did climb all the way up!

Aren't they incredible? There seem to be countless walks you can do on top of them and over the hills that surround them. The beach at the bottom is made entirely of black sand and makes for a really striking contrast with the brilliantly white cliffs. Unfortunately, our camera died before we really got onto the cliffs so this is the only picture we have - so sad. We decided it is one more reason we have to go back!

In real life this was one of the ugliest fountains I have ever seen. Obviously I had to take a picture. I'm really surprised how pretty the photo is.
Essential Daily Exercise....take a peek.....that's Amy up there...
Imagine what would happen if I owned this Castle....The Power!
Big Gun

It was a terrific trip and definitely a spot we'd love to go back to!

Stay tuned for Paris pictures . . .

by Amy

and Ry

Our First Football Game

2007-10-01T03:03:00.000-07:00

Last Saturday night we went to our first 'football' game with a group of Canadians who are here on various work terms. It was fantastic! We saw Manchester City v. Fulham (at the Fulham stadium) and sat right beside the Man City section. Neither of us had ever experienced anything like it. The stadium was actually shaking and vibrating from the fans screaming, stomping and pounding the walls. It was incredible! The game itself was terrific and really exciting - a 3/3 tie. Football is my new favourite sport!

Buckingham Palace

2007-10-01T02:37:00.001-07:00

So, we decided that after two weeks in London, it was definitely time for us to check out Buckingham Palace. Both the Palace and the crowds were pretty impressive. Unfortunately, the Queen wasn't home at the time (the Union Jack was flying) so we didn't get asked in for tea. . .

A walk in the park

2007-10-01T02:05:00.000-07:00

Last Saturday we decided to explore some of the near-by parks. Kensington Park is just a couple of blocks away and you can walk all the way through it to Hyde Park which leads to Buckingham Palace. It was a gorgeous day and people were soaking up the sunshine in every corner of the park. The flowers are still beautiful here and there are so many tucked away corners with benches, fountains and statues where you can sit, relax and people watch! We walked for hours and didn't even come close to seeing everything there was to see. It's great to know there is such a fantastic space we can take advantage of if we need a little break from the city.

The British Museum

2007-09-30T12:08:00.000-07:00

The British Museum is cool...

so we quickly dressed in our sweaters and we were ready to go.

...first entry by ry, so get used to bad humour and be sure that Amy is right beside me giving me looks...

The British Museum is fascinating, it opens your eyes as to the power and size the British Empire once had.

The exteriour of the building is nothing to write home about(it's beautiful but so much of the architecture here is), however, the interiour is absolutely beautiful.

Once in the doors you are blown away by the size and beauty of the main "foyer" (for lack of a better term). Massive walls of white marble, an entire ceiling of sky light and priceless artifacts as decor.

Pick any direction and wander through some of the most precious pieces of history the world has to offer. It quickly became overwhelming and I had to stop taking photo's. Everything in there was beautiful or interesting or both.

There is so much to see, Egyptian, Roman, Greek, Aztec... the list goes on and on of artifacts from other civilizations.

It brings up interesting discussion points, who does this stuff belong to?

England because it was strong enough to obtain it?

The countries of origin because it is their history?

Would it still exist if it hadn't been in the care of a museum of all this time?

Really fascinating thoughts to explore while walking through...

London Sights

2007-09-24T11:49:00.000-07:00

After an incredibly eye opening experience in the London rental market, we found a little (keyword LITTLE) flat that we really love. It's in a fantastic neighbourhood and is in a great old building that has these terrific 12 foot ceilings, mouldings, stained glass windows, etc. We have a one-room studio (ie. bedroom, kitchen & table are all in one room), but we have our own shower and washroom and enough room on the floor for a blow-up mattress, so all is good! It's perfect for us, for now anyway and is all part of the experience! We'll post some flat pictures later . . .

We spent our first few days in London exploring and getting settled. We've also managed to connect with some old friends, acquaintances and friends-of-friends which has made for a great intro week and makes it feel even more like home.

Here are some pic's of Trafalger Square . . .

This picture was taken in the Kyoto Gardens, which are a short walk from our new flat.

This is the outside of our new building, on the day we found it!

Sommerset House

The Young Vic Theatre, where we saw our first London play - The Member of the Wedding.

More pictures to come later . . .

Leeds Castle

2007-09-24T05:15:00.001-07:00

The day before we moved into London proper, we took a day trip to Leeds Castle, and it is spectacular!! It is known as one of Britain's prettiest castles, and really is beautiful - especially its exteriour and the incredible grounds which include all kinds of gardens, a river, a maze and a vineyard. We had a fantastic time exploring and letting our imaginations fly!

Sidcup

2007-09-24T05:04:00.000-07:00

Our first destination was Sidcup - a small and charming town in Kent which, while still technically in 'greater London', is definitely removed from the action! It was great to have a place to call home right off the bat, but a combination of factors including the lack of anything to do after 5 pm, the general ickiness of the shared flat, its location in the middle of a hospital complex and the mouse that moved in, convinced us pretty quickly that it wasn't exactly what we had had in mind for our London experience! We had fun exploring the area nonetheless before braving the London rental market.

Arrival

2007-09-24T04:51:00.000-07:00

Well, we arrived safe and sound in the U.K. a couple of weeks ago. We're new to the blogging world, so we apologize for our slow start. Packing was definitely a challenge - trying to consider everything you might want over a whole year - and it didn't take us long to regret our choices as we tried to navigate through the train stations. I think we have definitely learned our lesson about packing lightly!