Pioneer on the Internet – Sean Gursky

San Diego was the trip we didn’t expect to take, but when Jenna was presented with the opportunity to go there for a conference I was more than pleased to tag along. We arrived on a Thursday and left on Sunday, and we tried to pack as much time in for sight seeing as we had.

While planning for the trip we looked up Cafe 222, a restaurant featured on “The Best Thing I Ever Ate“, which had a breakfast that I loved so much I recreated it at home. It turned out that Cafe 222 was in San Diego and for all of those times you watch the Food Network you think “Man, if I could eat that it would be great” we finally had the opportunity. The restaurant wasn’t close to where we were staying but we made a point of getting there.

Cafe 222 had incredibly high expectations in my mind and it may have been the atmosphere of being in the birth place of the peanut butter banana stuffed French Toast that made my breakfast taste better but something did taste better. It may not have been the best meal we ate in San Diego but to have something I saw on TV crossed an item off my bucket list that I never knew existed.

While Jenna occupied for eight hours with her conference I spent the afternoon at the San Diego Zoo. I was worried about how much fun I would have looking at animals alone but it was a great way to pass time and I found it entertaining and enjoyable, even while solo.

Our only full day together in San Diego wasn’t actually spent in the city. We took a ferry across the bay and spent the afternoon in Coronado. We walked along the path, enjoyed clear blue skies in +22 weather and finished it off with a delicious meal looking across the bay at San Diego as the sun set and the lights came alive.

With the exception of a cab to and from the airport our primary mode of transportation was relying on buses and light rail transit. We planned our trips through Google Maps, and it worked to a point, but there were a few incorrect recommended stop’s so we just walked to the nearby transit center and took the bus we needed there.

An all day travel pass was $5.00, and for days where multiple transfers and buses were taken it was a pretty cost effective way of getting around. After London, Paris and Marseille transit in San Diego was pretty simple to figure out but the frequency of some routes could have bee increased as some wait times for buses in rush hour exceeded 30 minutes.

Some random observations from the trip:

• Christmas without snow feels weird. Christmas music and decorations were everywhere but I just didn’t feel it. I dislike being buried under snow in freezing temperatures but there is something about the snow that puts you into the Christmas spirit.
• People wore scarves, toques and mittens like it was below zero. When the sun set and a wind blew I wished I had a thicker coat but people still wore clothes and brands I normally associated with cold Canadian winters.
• Fahrenheit, I don’t understand you. 74? 50? Those are just numbers.

We found San Diego to be a very beautiful and clean city, two things I didn’t expect. As the second largest city in California I had low expectations and was pleased when they were met and exceeded. The few people we interacted with were friendly and pleasant, one guy on the LRT even commented on the fact that I was “drinking the fuck out of [my] coffee”.

The atmosphere in San Diego was very relaxed and if California shares even a little bit of that attitude I would gladly live there.

All in all it was a fun trip and I’m glad we had the opportunity to go and experience a new part of the continent.

For those curious, you can view the rest of the San Diego photo gallery here.

Sometimes I forget we’re going to Iceland next year. We booked the tickets in August, we have decided on a tour group to book the accommodation and car rental through and I am spending less time researching on Trip Advisor or reading Icelandic news articles.

Then Gizmodo posts a time lapse video someone just released from their trip in June and I get all sorts of excited again and wish that May would get here faster.

There is still a lot to take care of before we leave, and right now I’m looking into travel insurance, specifically trip cancellation. There has been a lot of seismic activity in Iceland this summer and with regards to an eruption from Katla it’s a matter of when, not if. It would be a really big disappointment if we couldn’t make our trip because of flight interruptions over Iceland but so far AMA and American Express Travel don’t have coverage for such events prior to departure.

There is no point booking travel insurance until we reserve the car and accommodation from our tour operator, but it’s good to know what insurance options there are.

I am also starting to see what conversion rates are for our credit cards. Most of Iceland accepts payment by plastic so it wouldn’t make sense to carry more than a few thousand Icelandic króna. My American Express, BMO and CIBC flavor of credit cards all have a foreign currency conversion of 2.5%, and if you live on the card for two weeks paying for gas, meals and souvenirs 2.5% could significantly add up.

Some Capital One cards do not have foreign currency conversion charges so it may be worth looking into one just for the sole purpose of vacationing.

Even though our airfare has been booked for several months now I still subscribe to daily emails from Kayak alerting me of airfare cost. When the amount increased over $200 what we paid I felt pretty confident in our decision to buy early, and then the cost decreased, and then it rose…and then it decreased again. I really should stop receiving these messages () but it’s like a surprise every morning to see if the cost is up or down.

Since our 16 hour layover in Iceland last October I have been thinking about returning. I always wanted to visit Iceland but being there for that brief moment made me want to return as soon as possible. A few months passed and I got a little more serious about planning a trip for 2012 at the start of this year. Traveling to Iceland isn’t easy or cheap so if we went there we had to do it right and see the entire country.

Before any serious plans could be made I had to determine the best time to fly there. I must have spent hours using Hipmunk, Kayak and Icelandair looking at flight paths, layover locations all in an attempt to determine the best day to fly on. From there I looked at weather, off season rates, sunrise and sunset times and settled on May 15-30, 2012 as our travel dates. This will give us optimal day light (18.5-20 hours of daylight), access to roads that are closed until the middle of May as well as the opportunity to take tours such as Jökulsárlón Glacier Lake boat tour.

After watching May 2012 airfare for the last month I noticed a trend in the cost increasing every day. I went to the Icelandair website and saw limited seats available for the dates I wanted. I was surprised that a flight would be filling up 10 months in advance but not wanting to have a kink in our plans we bought the airfare, thus solidifying our plans for travel.

Over the next few days airfare cost increased but the Icelandair website no longer showed the limited seat availability. Perhaps I was seeing things or there were additional seats released. No matter, we have our flight there and back and now the next step is planning how we spend our two weeks.

There is a DIY approach where you handle everything from car rental to accommodation, or you can reserve a self drive tour from one of many tour operators in Iceland. As in any situation, there is money saved by doing it yourself but the benefits of paying extra could prove to be invaluable.

After calculating numbers the additional cost of having a tour operator watching your back is helpful in a country where glacial floods from a semi-active volcano can wipe out the only bridge on the only road and you need to make quick alterations to your travel plans. Such things would be possible on your own but it’s reassuring that if the country changes your itinerary the tour group will assist you in dealing with it.

Volcanic activity is always a concern in Iceland and between Katla, Hekla and Grímsvötn it’s been a busy few months in Iceland and could be better or worse by next year so it will be nice to have someone to help us navigate the country if things do go awry.

What’s there to do in Iceland? You’d be surprised but it has it all. Glaciers, volcanoes, mountains, black beaches, barren dry lands with no soul in sight, beautiful and haunting scenery at every turn. As an added bonus, it’s an opportunity to see a place that many people pass over when flying between North America and Europe.

There is a 1300 km ring road that circles the island and it takes a week to do the majority of the county and another few days for the isolated Westfjords. Major attractions such as waterfalls, geysers, volcanic pools and fjords are accessible from the road so there will always be something to see when you pull over.

Plus Iceland has hot dogs, like really good hot dogs. I could be wrong but I’m sure a typical Icelandic lunch goes like: fermented shark, followed by a delicious hot dog and then a shot of Black Death.

The next step will be to reserve our self drive tour. I have been in contact with a few tour outfits and there is a lot of options available for visitors like Nordic Visitor, GrayLine, Discover the World and tour.is to name a few. I have a preference but I want to look over proposed itineraries a little bit longer before making the next major purchase in our trip in 2012.

In August 2010 I registered for Groupon. There were a few interesting deals that showed up in the weeks following my registration but in September a deal appeared for Photobook Canada. Incidentally that deal remains as my only purchase on Groupon since I registered six months ago.

The coupon was for $35 purchase that got me a $110 credit to be used on any photo book order from Photobook Canada. With our England/France trip coming up in a month I thought this would be a good way to create a scrapbook from our trip without having the hassle of printing photos, buying extra sheets and plastic covers and, most importantly, finding a photo album that we liked and could expand in size.

In December we got serious about creating the album and put a few days of effort into putting it together, here are my thoughts on the Photobook Canada process.

Software
I was intimidated by the software at first but after a bit of time experimenting with the features I became quite comfortable and still never utilized all of the capabilities of the program. Once you have added your images to the album you can select different page templates for each page, alter the background color, apply borders to items, manipulate images, add text and shapes.

We didn’t know where to begin and we feared our inexperience with the software would produce a poor quality album but we took it slow, started by adding images we wanted onto a page (no layout or theme, just the straight images) and worked our way through the trip.

The page templates are incredibly useful and I feel the pages we used a template on were the strongest of the book, but they only serve as a guide and could be modified and adjusted. I never felt restricted with the software or that it was holding me back from doing something I wanted to do. We were able to lay images on top of each other, scan brochures and other mementos we picked up on our trip and still give it a hand made scrapbook feel without the glue or double sided tape.

On my 15″ MacBook Pro running a 1440×900 resolution I never found the interface to be too cluttered or crowded. I was able to see both pages I was working on and still access all the tools. I was able to “Preview” the photo book and flip through the pages, but if I wanted more control I could export the album as a “Proof” and look at the pages as images. This gave me a good feeling for what the final product would be and it didn’t disappoint.

Ordering
Through the Photobook Canada software I was able to upload my order to their website. I had a few connection issues with their server so I had to try uploading a few times but on the third attempt it completed. This created some confusion on Photobook Canada’s side as I had someone from the company email me a few days after I uploaded my order (I uploaded it on December 23 so a few days to catch the issue and write me is expected) saying they couldn’t find my images and I would need to upload them again. However, a few minutes after that message I received another one saying they located my order and would begin the printing process.

From the time of placing my order to receiving the product () was 23 days. This was longer than I expected but the Photobook Canada website talked about delays around the holiday season so I expect if you don’t order during a busy time the turn around time would be faster.

One thing that stood out is that once my order was put into “In Production” the status never changed. Even a week after delivery it hasn’t been updated. I’m compulsive about order tracking, but for others it may not be important.

Final Product
The book was packed extremely well. It was covered in plastic, bubble wrap and a tight cardboard box. The box would need to be cut in half in order for any damage to come to the book and the final product looked flawless.

I ordered a “15×11 Large Landscape Imagewrap Cover – ImageWrap Matte Lamination” with 46 pages. Including shipping and paying for the additional pages I paid $22.05 over and above the original $35 Groupon order. For $57 we got an incredible product and an even better deal. If I had to pay full price for the album I probably would because the cost of materials to create a photo album on your own would come close to $100 (or more), plus the time to create it would be far greater than the hours we spent on this.

For value and final product I would highly recommend Photobook Canada. We will keep their name in mind the next time we have to create a photo album.

When we weren’t in London we were exploring other parts of the English countryside. First off was a trip up to the north.

York
Three trains and three hours later we made it from Bishops Stortford to York (). York is known for the York Minster, one of the oldest churches in England complete with an incredibly large stained glass window. This was the first church we went into on the trip and it was hard to compare the glass at Sainte-Chapelle when the York Minster had so much throughout.

We paid the fee to walk up to the tower at the Minster and the tight staircase with the worn out steps had just enough room to stick out your elbows for support. The view from the top was amazing and it was neat to see the sprawl of the town with Leed’s off in the distance. We explored the Minster for a bit more and then went out into the town.

We went down to The Shambles, walked a bit of the original Roman walls and then went over to Clifford’s Tower. With six hours of travel to and from we were tight on time so what we saw after the Minster was from the outside. However, we felt like we got a good feel for the city and could see why it was highly recommended to tourists.

Windsor Castle
Windsor Castle is the opposite of what the Royal Pavilion in Brighton was. The Royal Pavilion was a summer retreat for royalty, a party house that was decorated in different themes. Windsor Castle is proper, orderly and very regal.

It was a beautiful castle with a lot of history, and I was glad to have an audio tour to help me appreciate where I was and what I was seeing. They were preparing the 150 person table in St George’s Hall for a formal dinner the following week. It would have been quite the sight to see it all laid out as rulers were used to ensure precision on the placement of everything on the table.

We got to Windsor Castle in the early afternoon so my energy levels were low but it was worth the trip to see this iconic place. I would have taken more photos but there was no photography allowed indoors and the exterior of the Castle is so large you can’t do it justice in a picture so my camera was by my side for most of the trip.

You read about these places and what famous events have happened or will happen and it’s nice to understand what it means to have a wedding at Westminster Abbey or how a reception dinner at Windsor Castle would look like.

Cambridge
After two trips to Cambridge in 2009 we were no stranger to the city and quickly found our way to the shopping areas. After surviving Oxford Street, Covent Garden and Paris without spending any money on myself my purpose was shoes. Wrong colors and a limited size collection affected my search so I left without adding to my shoe collection.

We went to Cambridge the day after we returned from Paris so we were tired and had to take frequent stops. We explored all the shopping areas, walked and then walked some more, ate too much food at Nannamexico and slowly made our way back to home base. We didn’t have the experience we thought we would at Cambridge, but if the shopping had been successful and we weren’t going at the end of our trip I think our mood would have been better.

I think it’s pretty telling that there were no photos from Cambridge either, I wasn’t feeling it enough to take the lens cap off.

Reykjavik, Iceland

Iceland is now the world’s #1 exporter of volcanic ash. Previously our main exports were reindeer bones and giggles.

Bjork on the April 17, 2010 opening to Saturday Night Live

Without a doubt one of the highlights from the trip was one didn’t plan for.

Our departure from Gatwick Airport on October 30th was delayed for an hour due to a medical emergency. After things were sorted out we were bound for Calgary. An hour into the flight the flight crew asked the infamous question if there was a doctor on board. You could tell people stiffened in their seats and chatter started. Shortly after the pilot announced that we would be making an emergency landing in Keflavik.

The fuel was dumped and we made a quick decent down to the barren island. I have always wanted to see Iceland and was pretty excited to see what I could from the airplane.

Once the medical emergency was dealt with we were preparing for take off. The safety instructions were quickly run through by the flight crew again and then the pilot announced there was a tire pressure gauge issue and he couldn’t resolve it from the cockpit. He called for an engineer from the airport to assess the situation. A little more time passed and the pilot announced that the engineer was not trained with the Airbus A330 we were on and the nearest engineer who could remedy the problem was in Glasgow.

The plan was to fly someone en route from a Toronto – Glasgow flight or fly someone in, but that wouldn’t be for another twelve hours. They were making travel and hotel accommodations for the passengers and we would be let off the plane shortly. We slowly filed out of the plane into the baggage claim area and waited for signs of our luggage.

It would be easy to criticize how Canadian Affair (Thomas Cook) handled this situation but seeing that they had to make quick plans for the passengers they did a fantastic job. However, a little more information on what was going to happen next would have helped. While waiting for our luggage a lot of us broke off into groups and talked about what we heard or knew of the situation (medical, mechanical, where we’re going). It was interesting to see that the groups that were formed were based off of where people sat on the plane.

Slowly our bags appeared on the conveyer and we went through an empty airport and into an awaiting bus. For the next 30 minutes we were travelling from Keflavik to Reykjavík. The sun was setting as we drove so the mountains became silhouettes and the water became dark but we were in Iceland, something that made me chuckle when I thought about our situation.

Our bus dropped us off at the Grand Hotel and it was the nicest hotel we’ve been in in years. The staff at the hotel was incredibly accommodating, they handled a good portion of the passengers (some went to another hotel closer to Keflavik) and the stress of going from minimum occupancy to full was taken in stride. The supper they gave us was amazing and the dinner really showed what this experience meant for everyone.

People were inconvenienced and put out but everyone was generally happy and smiling about it. We shared a dinner table with two ex-pats and someone who was moving to Red Deer for work. Complete strangers only hours ago we were talking about Tim Hortons, life in London and how unique this experience was. When supper was over I returned with my camera to take photos of the hotel and lingered around the Reception area when we heard that the buses would be coming at 3:30AM to take us to the airport.

It was nearly 11:00PM and at the end of a long day it was time for a quick sleep. At 2:50AM we received a wake up call, packed up our bags and headed downstairs for a nice breakfast. Again, the staff at the hotel did a great job accommodating us and I saw the same faces serving us dinner helping with the breakfast.

When we arrived at the airport the friendly atmosphere we experienced at supper carried on. The usual rush to get on the plane was gone, people were talking to each other asking how their night was, others were offering their overhead luggage space to people a few rows down who had none; we all went through a fun experience and were no longer strangers on a plane.

We may have only been in Iceland for 16 hours but I had my passport stamped and bought a shot glass (standard procedure when we travel to a country) and now want to return and travel this amazing country properly. As for the medical emergency, when we left on October 31 the passenger was still in Intensive Care in Reykjavik but their outlook was good.

That’s it! That was our big trip for the year. We have talked about our next destination and have discussed an all-inclusive somewhere warm but Iceland was bumped in priority and we will try to get there sooner than later.

We enjoyed our trip to Marseille last year, but wondered if the negative points (smell, Gypsys and filth) would appear in Paris and affect our experience. In a word: No. Paris was amazing and we would gladly return.

We knew of the stereotypes of Parisians but we found people in Paris to be friendlier than in London. There was ample garbage cans and the city was incredibly clean, even in high traffic areas. Any evidence of the retirement age riots from a few days before weren’t visible and had nothing but good things to say about the store owners and people on the street. We encountered one typical French waiter, but we went out of our way to find a fancy French restaurant so the language barrier we had would definitely lead to some frustrations.

Leading up to our trip we did a lot of research on the various districts and the problems tourists had with them. We picked a hotel close to Gare du Nord but not too close that it was unsafe. We selected a hotel in the ninth district (Opera) called Hotel Mogador and were pleasantly surprised by it. By European hotel standards it was roomy, you could walk around both beds and the bathroom was spacious and functional.

The hotel was surrounded by weekday businesses so there wasn’t much night time activity by our room and this suited us fine. We were a 25 minute walk from the train station, multiple Metro stations were within minutes and we could walk to the Louvre. The staff was friendly at the hotel and had no complaints about the Hotel Mogador.

I used Google Maps to find the route from Gare du Nord to our hotel, but instead of creating a route and printing that out, I looked on the map for the nearest train station and used that. Unfortunately the train station I used as a reference wasn’t Gare du Nord so when we arrived in Paris all of my directions were backwards.

We had a few false starts trying to find the proper road, and after returning to the train station we found an actua map and headed off in the right direction. We found the hotel before dark, unpacked our bags and set out in search of food. We took baby steps to get comfortable with the area, never wandering too far off a main road.

Our first meal was at a restaurant chain called Bistro Romain. Thankfully the restaurant was pretty lenient towards English speakers so I was able to order and make it through the meal without issue. For dessert I had crème brulée, a trend I could continue for the next two nights.

Monday was going to be a big day, starting with the three hour tour from Photo Tours in Paris. Jenna found this activity on TripAdvisor and was immediately interested, but it took me a bit of time to come around to the notion of it. I spoke with someone who had recently taken the Photo Tour and their positive experience convinced me to go and I was glad I did. I know how the camera works and basic composition but I was concerned about what I would learn from the walk and in the end it was definitely beneficial and very enjoyable.

I learned how to take the skills I have and do things differently, to change the photo by making subtle adjustments. I was made more conscience of depth of field to construct a photo and was given advice on how I could apply different techniques in day to day photography.

Our tour guide was incredibly knowledgeable and provided a good mix of Paris history and fun on the tour. We went to areas of Paris we would have missed otherwise, specifically the lock bridge on Pont des Arts. I took more photos on this three hour walk than I did on the first week of our trip. I fell in love with Paris because everywhere you looked there was something amazing. Perhaps I am romanticizing our experience but the photo walk opened my eyes to the beauty Paris has and I kept seeing it for the remainder of our trip.

When our walk came to an end we had an overpriced lunch at La Coupe D’or and headed to Palais Garnier. We begrundingly paid the increased admittance fee, but once we entered the main area we regretted nothing. Palais Garnier was one of my highlights on the trip, and being in the place that inspired Phantom of the Opera was quite the experience. Everything about Palais Garnier was beautiful, but the Great Hall is worth special mention. The chandeliers, tall windows and gold made this a wonderful sight to see.

From here we took the Metro to the Eiffel Tower. In the scheme of things the Tower stands out. It’s big and metallic and doesn’t fit with the vision I have of Paris, but it was certainly impressive to be at the base of this huge building and looking up. The crowds were overwhelming and the lines to get to the stairs or onto an elevator were enough motivation to stay on the ground, we were glad we saw it and don’t regret not paying to climb any higher.

We still had a tonne of energy and wanted to find Les Invalides. We followed street signs and eventually walked up to the Gold Dome. Ticket sales were closed so we walked around the open air exhibits and then out towards Pont Alexandre III, the second highlight of our trip. This bridge is Paris beauty. The sculptures, decorations and lamp posts were beautiful. When the sun started to set behind the Eiffel Tower it felt like this bridge was made for this view.

We watched the Eiffel Tower get lit up and then headed back to the hotel in search of food. We were craving pizza and had some at a little place called Tivoli Pizza not far from our hotel. We also purchased a bottle of wine from a convenience store and had that to close out our first full night in Paris.

We awoke Tuesday morning sore and tired. We overdid it on Monday and were paying the price today. We wanted to spend the morning at the Louvre but were disappointed to find it was closed on Tuesday’s. We walked around the Jardin des Tuileries and then set our sites on the Arc de Triomphe. This meant walking along the long Avenue des Champs-Élysées. Landmarks in Paris are so big that as soon as you can see them you think you can walk to them, but you don’t realize that you will spend 45 minutes walking and your destination is still a small dot in the distance.

Eventually we arrived at the Arc and were amazed at its size. I was curious about the traffic circle and couldn’t figure it out. As soon as I thought I understood the pattern a small motorcycle would cut through traffic, causing traffic to stop on either side, and then I would be back to square one. Thankfully there is an underground walkway to the Arc as I couldn’t imagine how dangerous it would be to cross eight unmarked lanes of traffic.

Sadly access to the top of the Arc was closed that day as well so we looked around the Arc some more and then headed to La Sainte-Chapelle and Notre Dame.

Sainte-Chapelle is known for beautiful stained glass windows but we found it a little disappointing. There was an 8€ admission charge and we spent more time waiting in line than we did inside the building. The stained glass was undergoing restoration, and perhaps when it was completed it would look good; but it was a simple building and with only the basement and main room to see we felt that the admission did not justify the beauty.

We walked over to Notre Dame and felt better about our detour to Ile de la Cite. Notre Dame was free, and a little more crowded, but I enjoyed the look of it more than Sainte-Chapelle and was pleased to have seen such an iconic church.

After this we went to the Les Invalides to do it properly. Sadly, our exhaustion levels were pretty high and with most of the items were without an English translation I felt that I was dragging my feet looking at one French thing and another French thing.

We skipped over a good portion of the museum and jumped to the Golden Dome. The ticket cost for Les Invalides was expensive but at least we saw the decadent and grand tomb of Napoleon. We felt that we covered a lot of what we wanted to see so we headed back to the hotel to get ready for the night.

Our last night in Paris was devoted to a fancy meal at a restaurant called Le Vaudeville. It was total French submersion and I didn’t understand what I was ordering. When the waiter asked me “medium?” did I only realize I was ordering meat and hoped for the best. It was a unique experience and were both pleased with what we ordered, especially the crème brulée, which was the best of the three I had.

Jenna had a starter of caviar, confused the waiter and we had a bottle of wine to ourselves. How’s that for diving into the French experience? We headed home and finished the wine from the night before and let exhaustion take us in.

Near our hotel was a convenience store called Chez Jean. They had a small breakfast meal that worked well enough, but after two days of breakfast there we found their coffee to be forgettable and the consistency of what was available varied depending on how early it was. On the third morning we went elsewhere and literally right across the road was a small bakery that had delicious pastries that were cheaper and more delicious than anything we had a Chez Jean.

It felt that after a few days in Paris we got the hang of food and were getting better meals for cheaper, but we had to experience the tourist price gauging before we were motivated to look at alternatives. Some of the best food we had was from little bakeries we found while exploring the city.

Wednesday had a great breakfast but it was after a slow start to the morning. We packed our bags and waited in lines at the Louvre. Seeing a free bag check area made our day that much better as we weren’t burdened with our heavy and awkward packs. Surprisingly I was pretty interested at the Louvre. We got the Mona Lisa out of the way first and like everyones reaction: it was crowded and small. It was surreal to be in the presence of such an iconic piece of work that I felt like I didn’t truly appreciate it.

We wandered the Louvre for three hours and I had a good time. Some areas were more interesting than others, I was really moved by the Venus de Milo and it stood out as a Louvre highlight for me. The Sphinx and Moai (Easter Island Head) were other favorites. Near the end of our walk we ended up in a sculptures exhibit, and to spur some energy I switched lenses on my camera to the wide 24mm and photographed the sculptures. It could have been the freedom from the crowds, more light in the area or just posing a challenge to myself, but I had a lot of fun in sculptures and I think my energy level showed in the photographs.

We finished up in the mid afternoon and made our way back to the Gare du Nord train station. We stopped along the way for souvenirs and to act on some window shopping we did earlier, but we walked back to the station without issue and had plenty of time before the Eurostar took us back to the UK.

When we arrived in London it took a bit of time to get out of the Paris mind set we had, I was ready to use what little French I had if I stepped in someones way or was trying to get through a crowd. Eventually my barrier came down and I slide back into the British way of things. We miss Paris and would love to go back and see the things we missed. Our short list would be to visit the Catacombs, see Sacré-Cœur, take a day trip to Versailles and spend time wandering around. For now Paris will have to wait.

The final post will talk about day trips we made within England and our unexpected night in Reykjavik, Iceland.

I’ve been sitting on the review of our trip to England and France for over a month now. It also took weeks to trim the photos down before uploading them too. It’s not that we didn’t like the trip or there wasn’t much to talk about, it’s just been hard to make time for this when I know how much effort is involved. With that said, here is the short version: We had fun. There was mustard.

Let’s start with the long version: Having been to London last year we did a lot of the main tourist attractions that you should do, so our return trip was to see what we missed the first time. We wanted to go to places that were away from the tourist areas, a little more off the beaten path and try not to get caught up in the London rush.

We purchased a Rail Card with Underground access for seven days and to make the most of the card we went into London for all but one of those days.

Our trip started off with the Imperial War Museum. It was definitely a boys thing with tanks, missiles, rockets and airplanes. The exhibits were impressive and informative, especially to see how Britain suffered through the wars and what they did on the home front.

When we were learning about the World Wars in school I wish we could have seen a museum like this to connect everything together. I doubt I would have appreciated it as much as I did now, but putting real items of history to the education could have been a real benefit. Our enjoyment levels were knocked down a few steps when we entered the two level Holocaust exhibit. Any joy or happiness was deflated as our souls were crushed as we walked through the years of history the Nazi Germany were in power.

Our trip carried a morbid sense as we went to Highgate Cemetery. It isn’t the largest cemetery in London but it’s one of the most famous because of residents like Karl Marx, George Eliot and Douglas Adams. There are 170,000 people buried in around 53,000 graves across 37 acres of land. I don’t know how there are more people buried than graves, but that’s the information Highgate Cemetery provided us. The cemetery is split into an East and West side, but we only paid to access the East Cemetery. The West is a little older and has interesting architecture but we were content seeing the East.

From here we walked to the Hampstead and Heath park. There is a part in the park where you can look out and see the London skyline. You don’t get a sense for how far away the downtown area is, or how high the park is, until you have it put into context like this. It was a nice park, but the weather was a little chilly so our enjoyment levels were curbed as we walked along the site. There is a lot of grass and trees that this would make for a pretty amazing place to go in the summer time.

Our next day into London took us to the National Gallery. We were in Trafalgar Square last year and saw the Gallery but didn’t go in. I have a few hour tolerance for museums and I got tired quickly. There were some highlights like seeing a Monet or Picasso but the rest of the time felt a little tiresome.

Seeing how quickly I burnt out at the National Gallery made me worried for what would happen when I went to the Louvre in Paris. Because admittance into the National Gallery is free we didn’t feel like we had to stay there to justify the cost, and once we felt content we went from the quiet and calm of the Gallery to the busy and crowded Oxford Street to do some shopping.

Every time we go to Oxford Street we regret our decision and find it difficult to accomplish anything, so we left empty handed this time again. I had a side mission of finding Veja shoes but the ones I did find weren’t appealing so we struck out on all fronts.

One of our best days of the trip started with going up to the Dome at St. Paul’s Cathedral. Of the places along the Thames my favorite has to be St. Paul’s Cathedral. There is just something about how the Cathedral looks against the London skyline that appeals to me. The fact it survived weeks of consecutive bombings during WWII certainly give it a magical feel.

I also love the way it is connected to the South with the Millennium Bridge and to the Tate Modern Museum. I feel this is the epitome of the London style with new and old sharing the area. The view from the top of the Dome wasn’t half bad either and makes you appreciate how little of a city you experience.

From St. Paul’s we walked over to the Borough Market. This Market is unlike any Farmer’s Market I’ve been to. The variety of food available was incredible, and as Heather walked us around the Market she commented on which place had the best this and where you can have the best that. It was unoriginal but I had fish and chips, but on Heather’s recommendation they held true and were the best fish and chips I had.

When you are in the Borough Market area a stop by Monmouth has to be made for the incredible coffee. The coffee isn’t cheap but it is expensive for all the right reasons and is worth a visit. It’s probably good there isn’t a Monmouth on every corner because it would be quite easy to become dependent on it.

After the hustle and bustle of Oxford Street the shopping at Covent Garden seemed subdued, but it made for a better experience. It is also home to the prettiest Apple Store I have seen. We poked around the Transport for London Museum, partly to find a proper Cockfosters shot glass but also to look for souvenirs. I am fascinated with the Underground system, and if we had more time at Covent Garden I would have liked to go through the museum; but after a week of museums even the interesting ones start to tire you out.

On our way to Windsor Castle we saw the sunflower seed exhibit at the Tate Museum. I read about this exhibit opening up and immediately wanted to see it. Even after reading the news that it was closed for walking on I was pretty intrigued by the concept and seeing one hundred million hand painted sunflower seeds is a concept I still can’t quite grasp.

We enjoyed our days in London, we felt content with what we saw. Even though we tried to avoid the crowds and go at our own pace we still felt tired in the city, there is a hurried energy over the city that you can’t avoid. We were glad we had a chance to return to London, and will be okay if our next trip back isn’t for a few years.

We also spent three nights/four days in Paris as well as a trip to Windsor Castle, York, Cambridge and an unexpected night in Reykjavik, Iceland. Look for that to come shortly.

In a city of lights, gambling and open alcohol you can describe Las Vegas in many ways but the one word I have to sum up our trip is: awesome. The weather, the sights, the shopping, the entertainment…everything about the city (or rather the Strip) was great. Before we had even left we were planning our return trip and what we would do again or differently. The city may be fabricated but that doesn’t mean it can’t be a great place to spend some time.

The fact you can do something until 11PM and still be able to go somewhere, see something and continue your night is wonderful. We are so used to things closing down at a certain hour in Edmonton that it took a bit to remind ourselves of where we are and what it means to keep on going. There is no need to go to bed before midnight because you can always see and do more.

We did what people usually do in Vegas. We walked the strip, saw shows, gambled and went to a buffet. We stayed at the Venetian and during the check in I pulled the $20 trick to get a room upgrade. Bribing is not something I am familiar with but when I read that site I realized this was something I could try, and if it failed, I was only out $20. I did what the site recommended, put the money between my drivers license and credit card and asked if there were any complimentary room upgrades available.

The clerk was gladly checking but when she saw the $20 she smiled a big smile and worked a little harder for us. Because I don’t know what view our standard suit had before I don’t know if I ended up with a room upgrade or not but we ended up with a 37th floor view in the Palazzo tower overlooking the Treasure Island and had a view of Fashion Show Mall and north. It was a pretty incredible view and I will definitely try the $20 trick again when we return.

After surviving England’s public transit for two weeks we weren’t concerned about the Las Vegas bus system. The Deuce (Ride the Deuce!) was an effective way of getting around the Strip, except during busy hours or when the bus was full…which was often. There were times I thought it would have been faster to get out and walk then taking the bus, but when going from MGM Grand to Fremont Street having the bus was kind of nice.

On Wednesday and Thursday Jenna and I attacked the Outlet malls. Our first experience was at the Las Vegas Premium Outlets and we loved it. We had to change from the Deuce to another bus to get there but the brief moments of ‘are we going the right way’ were worth it when we arrived. This area is what South Common should have been: walking distance to everything, no need for a vehicle and a great selection of products. We spent hours walking around, slowly accumulating more bags.

On Thursday we went to the Las Vegas Outlet Center on the south end of Las Vegas Boulevard and walked the whole mall, buying as we went and spending a whole afternoon spending. We decided that both Outlet locations could be hit up in the same day assuming you start at the superior north Premium Outlets location and then ended the day at the Outlet Center.

We also saw a few shows while we were there. Courtesy of Tix 4 Tonight we were able to get a bit off the retail value of the shows we went to. We started off by seeing the Cirque du Soleil show “KA” and were floored. We left their MGM theater feeling amazing. Everything about the performance was inspiring and mesmerizing. Even the parts that weren’t interesting to me were still really well done. The stage was one of the biggest features to this performance, it added so much to the show that I often wondered how they were doing something or how it was possible. Seeing “KA” was the highlight of the trip, and that’s saying a lot because Blue Man Group and U2 were also in the mix.

After being unable to buy tickets for “Love” for several days we decided on “Blue Man Group”, which leads me to…

I Blue Myself
Jenna and I were in our seats at the Blue Man Group theater when a person from the show came up to me and asked if I would like to be a crowd participant in tonights performance. I didn’t need much more convincing and I was taken to a back office and briefed on what would happen and how I would be involved. They changed my shoes in exchange for black ones and I returned to my seat not knowing when the men with blue gloves would come for me.

The show was more humorous then I expected but the use of music and the pantomime was great. Every time the Blue Men stepped into the audience I was expecting them to come over to my section and pluck me out. Around the 3/4 mark of the show it finally happened and I was lead on stage and put into a white jumpsuit with the aid of the Blue Men. I am not sure how it happened but around this time I ended up with blue in my hair and on my face, Arrested Development references immediately ran through my head. I put on a helmet and was lead off stage.

Not to spoil anything for those who haven’t seen the show but my involvement on stage had paint, a pulley, white canvas and a 40 pound block of Jello. A Google search on this gag can elaborate more but when people ask if actual audience members were used the answer is definitely yes.

U2 360 Tour
I love U2. They are the soundtrack to my life and their shows are like nothing I have ever seen before. With only Toronto and Vancouver dates on their second leg of the 360 Tour we set out to Vegas to see them perform in the smallest venue on the North American tour. Leading up to the Rose Bowl concert being filmed the last week of shows have had a fairly standard setlist while the guys got everything sorted out, and it did not disappoint, even if it was flawed with a few grievances.

Like mentioning the stage at “KA” you have to talk about the “Claw” U2 used on this tour. I knew it was big, but I had no idea it would be that massive. The “Claw” legs went right to the edge of the field and took up Sam Boyd Stadium. As the show went on I found myself staring at the “Claw” and taking the whole sight in.

The new material from “No Line On the Horizon” sounded great live. Songs I was unsure about on the album came to life on stage. The techno remix of “I’ll Go Crazy If I Don’t Go Crazy Tonight” was surprisingly good, superior to the album version, and reminded me of the U2 I knew on their 1997 PopMart tour. Prior to “No Line On The Horizon” Bono announced they were going to rock for a bit, and they did..for all of two songs.

Going from “Horizon” into “Elevation” got the crowd into it, but then all momentum of this rock train came to a halt when “In a Little While” was played. It’s a good song, a surprise from “All That You Can’t Leave Behind”, and it fit with the ‘rocket ship taking off in ‘Elevation’ and lyrically ended with ‘In A Little While’ but it ruined a great flow. Following that was “Unknown Caller” and I felt the energy get sucked right out the stadium. It may have been the encouraged sign along on the chorus to embarrassing lyrics but I got the impression that this song was not well received.

I try not to complain too much about setlists, I know that U2 will never play “Exit” or jump into a 40 foot lemon and come out rocking “Discotheque” but at least understand the flow of your songs and how not to put the brakes on a fun moment. Fortunately Bono and Edge made their way to the rotating arms of the stage and rocked “Until The End of the World” super hard. It may have been the strobe light from the stage or the arms slowly approaching each other but this song was a definite highlight.

The laser suit Bono wore during “Ultarviolet” was excellent. I am so happy this song is in rotation on this tour, it was a standout performance against all other songs I have seen live. The snippet of “In God’s Country” and the complete “Unforgettable Fire” were other stand outs. Compared to the past tours I felt the intimacy was gone, but going from an arena of 18,000 to a stadium of 42,000 can do that. To their credit U2 still tried to play to all sides of the stage, however the front audience got the majority of the face time (and rightly so). It was a fantastic show and I am eagerly awaiting their June 2010 performance when I can finally stay within my area code to see them perform.

That was our trip to Vegas. We accumulated over 4,800KM’s in distance on this trip and are looking forward to returning and seeing more of the things we missed this time around. Feel free to see the rest of the photos in the Gallery here.

Tube Steak Challenge
I had a single hot dog in Vegas…but it was really big. I don’t know if this means I can count it as a single hot dog or two? Here is a photo of the hot dog and my hand as a reference. Part of me thinks it should count as one, but due to the size of the dog I can also see how it could count as two.

Drinks are larger in Vegas and you don’t say “it’s really like the size of three drinks”, you say it’s one and move on. Further to this, Jenna was unable to finish her hot dog so was that 1.5 or a solid 2? Thoughts?

Nose Bleed Count
At the beginning of October I began a new challenge: to see how many times a year I get a nose bleed. It started off with several nose bleeds in September but I wanted to know the exact count so October began and immediately I had a nose bleed. Suddenly an odd thing happened and I was retaining my blood for two weeks…then I went the dessert and averaged a bleed a day bringing my count up to six. I even had the dreaded, and impressive, ‘double barrel’ where each nostril was bleeding, this has only happened to me one other time in recent memory.

Upon returning from Vegas I received another nose bleed so as October comes to a close my Nose Bleed Count is at an unhealthy seven. Will my Nose Bleed Challenge out pace the Tube Steak Challenge?

Where has the time gone? It feels like we just unpacked our bags following our England/France trip and are now packing up again for Las Vegas. There was a month between arrival and departure times but since jet setting life isn’t one we are familiar with it feels like a quick turn around.

We are heading to Vegas for a few days to shop, see the sights, drink in public and end the trip with U2. We are going into the trip mostly unprepared. We have a few things we would like to see but are just going to see what happens and make it up as we go.

We will spend all of our time on or around the Strip. We figured there wouldn’t be enough time to see Hoover Dam, Mead Lake or the Grand Canyon, so those excursions will have to wait for our return trip; but first we have to survive our first trip there…

“I spent a week in Marseille one weekend.”

On September 11th we flew in Marseille with Ryanair and stayed for the weekend. One member of our foursome went home on Sunday night (13th) but the rest of us stayed another day and returned to England on Monday…and this was our trip, starting with some random thoughts:

• The smell was bad at the best of times. People wouldn’t pick up after their dog, and it wouldn’t have surprised me if we stepped over human waste at time.
• The wind would pick up litter from the streets or papers from the restaurants and blow them about.
• All public toilets had no toilet seats or were broken.
• Gypsies, lots of them.
• The view was always worth stopping and giving a second look. Being on the Mediterranean certainly helped.
• Being the oldest city, and second largest in France, gave Marseille a definite culture
• An old city isn’t without its history and Marseille had plenty of that, even if we couldn’t fully read the ‘historical information’ signs posted around the city.
• Not a fake city, it wasn’t trying to hide what it was
• When you use the Marseille Underground Network the tickets are shot out after being validated. They would usually go half a foot in the air and get about a foot of distance This sort of tomfoolery would not stand in London when people are rushing you at the gates when you pull your ticket up. It was fun.
• All the vehicles in Marseille have damage () on them, in one form or another. Parking is also a nightmare, I would be terrified to own a vehicle of any value here because there is little regard for others property.

Marseille was a fantastic way to break up our stay in England. The city was ripe with history (being the oldest city in France), had gorgeous sights being situated right on the Mediterranean and had plenty to occupy us in the immediate area. Unfortunately the city also had a definite and foul odour, was rampant with Gypsies and very dirty. There was always a wind from the Vieux-Port (Old Port) and napkins, wrappers and papers would litter the walking area. It is easy to talk down on the city, but we all had a fun time.

When we arrived Friday night I was overwhelmed with the language. I took French in Junior High and High School, but never fully committed to it and forgot anything worthwhile; so I was completely at the mercy of the broken French that Jenna and Matt knew. It was a very strange experience to be overwhelmed with another language, something that never quite happened on our trips to Cuba or Mexico.

Our first full day in Marseille started early with cafe () and bread. It was not a filling breakfast, but it was a start. We purchased a City Pass from the Marseille Tourism office, and it was the best money we spent on the trip. This book allowed us free admission into almost every attraction we saw, covered our transportation for two days and even allowed us to try free samples from local businesses.

We began the tour of Marseille by going up to Notre-Dame de la Garde. Notre-Dame is visible from anywhere in Marseille, and the views from the top were amazing. You really got a sense of how large Marseille was, and how very little we would explore in our weekend there. Like all Chapels we saw, the interior was immaculate and impressive.

Later in the day we took a boat ride () to Chateau d’If. The Chateau was originally a fortress and with the views it had out into the water, it is easy to see why (). You could look back and see all of Marseille. Even the Notre-Dame seemed small against the skyline. We heard conflicting reports that the trip to the Chateau wasn’t worth it, but we had to disagree because it was enjoyed by all of us.

After Chateau d’If we continued the boat ride to Îsles du Frioul. The area we got off at was simple enough, but when we walked away from the cafe’s we were in the Calanque de Morgeret (). It was an amazing sight. This little inlet of beach had boats out in the water, the new foreign terrain as it dipped into the Mediterranean. It was something we had only seen on postcards and we were here. After doing some sight seeing we all put our feet () in the water. The significance of doing it was greater than the enjoyment of doing so as the rocks in the water were pretty hard and made it uncomfortable to stand, but we can say we did it.

After a day of disappointing food we referred to the travel book to see what local restaurants it recommended and we pointed ourselves in the direction of La Port Des Anges. This was the French experience we were all looking for. It may have been the atmosphere but this was one of the best meals we ever had. Ordering from a menu written on a small chalkboard our waiter was patient when we attempted French, but was also able to speak partial English. After we made our meal selection he picked a bottle of wine from a local vineyard that would be appropriate for all of our entrées.

The perfect storm of senses was brewing and it was amazing. We were surrounded in a foreign world, eating great food, sharing a bottle of fantastic wine; the whole experience was intoxicating. Our two hour stay included another bottle of wine and for dessert we had cheese, as selected by Heather. At first the cheese was an unusual meal closer, but when the cheese was mixed with a little bit of jam and honey it was the perfect end to a great meal.

Sunday started off with more cafe and our first significant encounter with being exploited as tourists. Our simple crepe () and coffee breakfast was horribly expensive. It is possible that we really did eat 44€ worth of food, but it is easier to assume our neglectful and poor service providing waiter made the number up on the spot. This breakfast was also marred with a verbal exchange between Matt and a Gypsy…which was more the Gypsy talking to Matt. We think that she cast a curse on us, and the first indication of the curse was the expensive breakfast.

Undeterred by the Gypsy Curse we headed off into the city, ventured onto public transportation () and headed towards Palais Longchamp. This tribute to water came out of nowhere. We were walking down a plain enough looking area and as we turned a corner this large and impressive structure was before us. Even after Notre-Dame de la Garde and Chateau d’If, Marseille still had a few architectural surprises for us. It is tough to say what the highlight was from this weekend in France, but it can’t go without mentioning Palais Longchamp.

After walking around the structure and going into the Natural History Museum we skirted across the road and went into Musée Grobet-Labadié. This was a house () full of doinks, but really expensive () and old doinks. I didn’t know what I was getting into at the Musée, so most of their collections were given a casual glance from me, but it was an interesting stop in our day.

The surprises continued as we worked our way through the city to Cathédrale de la Major. Perhaps it was the dirty back road way we took to the Cathedral, but when we arrived we were impressed. I can’t say what it was that made this place stand out, perhaps it was the cardboard like appearance, open interior or simplistic decoration but I liked it. After seeing Notre-Dame de la Garde, Kings College, St. Paul’s and Westminster Abbey Cathedrals it is something that another Cathedral can still make me stand back and go ‘whoa’.

Our last night in Marseille had a giant bucket of mussels () and drinking many pints at an outdoor bar. Being surrounded by locals added to this experience as we ordered drink after drink. Even the homeless person sleeping on the cement meters away or the mysterious increase cost on our final round of drinks could not taint our final night send off to Marseille.

Our final day in Marseille was one that went on for too long. Our flight was leaving at night, but we had to check out of the hotel at noon and we had the burden of carrying our carry-on with us for the remainder of the day. To get a load off our back, and feet, we booked a Calanque Tour (map of Calanques and we went from Les Goudes to Cassis). Marseille may have been tainted a bit by the dirt, smell and general “I would like to be back home”, but getting on the Mediterranean and seeing these beautiful inlets changed our minds easily.

After being on the land side of a Calanque (from Saturday afternoon when we put our feet in the water at Calanque de Morgeret) these inlets were just as amazing from the water. Several times we wanted the boat to stop and allow us to explore, but I think it’s best they kept us on the boat because not everyone would have been so eager to return.

Between this and the two London (1, 2) posts that concludes our impromptu, and amazing, trip overseas.