Paris

- On our last morning in London we walked through Hyde Park and saw this Bugatti 3B



















- Our Paris hotel room, roughly 1/3 the size of our London room









- After checking in, we went to see Moulin Rouge, the most bare breasts I have seen at any one time




















- After climbing the 400 steps of the Notre Dame Cathedral, we were rewarded with some fantastic views of Paris below


















- Paris Opera
































- Shawn at the Arc de Triumph










- The pandemonium that takes place within the world's largest traffic circle. We observed many near misses and were amazed at the way traffic seems to flow through the intersection, even without lines painted to differentiate lanes.











- Grand Palais







- One of the doors to the Grand Palais












- Petit Palais









- The painted ceiling of the Petit Palais










- It's inner garden where we enjoyed a quiet lunch; a nice break from the city outside

London 2

- Tate Modern Art Gallery... free and worth the price








- Gate to St James Park outside Buckingham Palace







- The Throne room (not the bathroom) on the Royal Staterooms tour of Buckingham Palace








- Walking along the most famous bridge in the world; Tower Bridge












- White building is the Abbey Road Studios. On the side of the red brick building you can see the Abbey Rd street sign








- Shawn at the famous street crossing by the studio







- Although not on our original itinerary, we decided to go on the Millennium Wheel or London Eye





- London and the Thames from the London Eye
























- St James park and Buckingham Palace from the London Eye








- The BBC television studios tour was a big highlight for both Shawn and I





- Took a boat tour from the London Eye all the way to Greenwich which afforded a wonderful view/perspective to see the city from. We came back via a double decker bus (sat on the top in the front row) which was an adventure unto itself. In one day we traveled by train, bus and boat.






- The Greenwich Observatory where Greenwich Mean time is determined. This is also where East and West meet!







- London taken from the top of the hill at the Greenwich Observatory

London

Monday morning I arrived in London for the first time in almost 12 years! With 5 hours to kill before Shawn's arrival, I decided to go to the Dali museum. It was interesting, but mostly concentrated on his drawings, sculptures and water colours.

I walked along the Thames to the Millenium bridge which led up the hill to St Paul's Cathedral. Feeling like a bit of a walk, I continued along until I found myself at Euston Station almost 2 hours later. I now have a good feeling for the scale of this city!

The hotel we are staying at (Columbia Hotel) is on the Nothern edge of Hyde Park. Literally, across the street from an entrance to the park. It was a lot nicer than we expected, both in decor, comfort and upkeep.

Yesterday was our first full day. We took a hop-on, hop-off bus tour of the city which enabled us to see many of the attractions Shawn wanted.

We went into the National Gallery, Tower London, St Paul's Cathedral and Westminster Abbey. Then in the evening we joined a historic walking tour of London's pubs. We drank in Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese where the likes of Dr Samuel Johnson and Charles Dickens used to drink. It seemed fitting as we had seen Dickens' grave in Westminster Abbey earlier in the day.

As that was the last stop on the tour, we stayed for a few hours with some of the other people we met. It was a long day (15 hours) but a great introduction to the city.

Prior to the pub walk, we needed to find a place for supper. We found an Australian pub where I had kangaroo! It tasted a lot like tender beef.

For the duration of the trip I think I am going to do away with writing about what we are doing and will basically just upload pictures with captions.







- London taken from the top of St Paul's Cathedral (365 feet above the city















- St Paul's Cathedral, from the viewing platform at the base of the dome


















- Trafalgar Square behind me, I am facing the National Gallery, the first gallery Shawn had ever been in. There he was introduced to Van Gogh, Goaghan, Cezanne, and many other painters from the last 500 years.

They say you can never go back home again

Last weekend was an unexpected free weekend. Dad was scheduled to come, but due to Elliott’s arrival, his trip was understandably postponed. And with Nina feverishly studying for an exam, I had the weekend to myself. So Marc and I made good use of it.

Friday evening we went to a trendy cocktail bar where I enjoyed one of my new favourite drinks — caipirinha. This is very similar to a mojito, except there is no mint, instead they use muddled limes with soda water and sugar. And instead of regular rum, you use Cachaça; a sugarcane alcohol similar to rum.

It’s a Brazilian drink which has become very popular in Holland and Germany. I think if it makes it over to Vancouver, it would be huge.

Saturday afternoon Marc and I joined my meet-up expat group for some street photography. We met up the group and walked through the some seedy alleys on the way to the Jordaan district, taking pictures of anything intriguing along the way. We were in the minority with our point-and-shoot cameras. Many of these people are serious photographers and they had the equipment to prove it.

It was a pleasant way to spend an afternoon. But after a couple of hours Marc and I broke away from the group and found a little neighbourhood bar in the heart of the Jordaan district. This area used to house the blue-collar workers in the 1700 and 1800s. Now this neighbourhood, which hasn’t changed much, is very popular and quite expensive.

Sunday was also a beautiful day, so Marc and I hopped on our bikes and headed to Amsterdamse Bos (Amsterdam Forest). I have been there a few times now and have posted pictures, but Marc hadn’t been in ages and had hardly explored the park.

It’s so big, it is the one place I have found where you can actually go and feel like you are not always around people. That is one thing I have really started to notice, here you are never alone. It never feels like Holland is as over populated as it is, but it kind of dawned on me recently that there are always people around.

We found a large field of grass that hadn’t been mowed in ages. The grass was almost as high as my waist. We walked to the middle of the field and laid down staring at the sky. The sky was blue with scattered wispy clouds and the grass was surrounding us like slim trees.

With one week left before my trip and one week left in the pay period, I worked hard this week and ended the week/month as my best yet. I had a friendly chat with Stefan one evening this week and he told me he would like to me to continue with this job regardless where Nina and I end up. I was really glad to hear that as I want the same thing. And if there were still any doubt about my position within the company, he has now updated the company website mentioning me as their in-house technical writer.

Tuesday was the season-end cruise terminal party. As the terminal is a modern building built to be multipurpose, it easily transferred into an open special event space. They hired a DJ and a catering company who supplied an open bar and an Indonesian buffet. It was a great night and the first time I had spent time with some of these people outside of work. Afterward we walked into the centre of town and found a pub on one of the small alleys.

Who knows, perhaps I will work there next summer as well. Nina received an Email from the professor at UBC and he had decided to take one of his master’s students for his PhD vacancy. Meaning the chances we will be coming back to Vancouver in the next 4 years has just dropped dramatically. In fact, it’s now negligible. We know what our options are, but we won’t know where we are going to end up until the late spring/early summer. So I might plan a trip home in the spring.

But now I am on the eave of my trip with Shawn. I am very excited and will do what I can regarding sending updates along the way. I will have access to the internet, but our days are very full and I don’t know if I will have the time to put into it.

Seeya!