Welcome To My World

So I last left you in Dublin, where we were having a great time. We got a ferry back to Holyhead and then took the train back to London on Canada Day. We spent the whole day travelling, and we were looking forward to the Canada Day celebrations but, as it turns out, they celebrated on the 29th. What is wrong with these people??? (took me a second to find the ? key so I had to make use of it) Anyways check out canadadaylondon.com (i think) they had quite the time of it, and Johnny Reid was there, and street hockey and in Trafalgar Square no less. The Next Day dave and I went back to Tate Modern to take the rest of it in, last time we were pretty much zombies wandering around trying not to decompose. This time we got cultured. Then we went to Camden and shopped! yay! Got me a nice shirt and Dave got something or other. Then for the grand finale, we met up with David, Sara and Rebecca at the Royal Court for the evening. Last time I got in on an opening night play, this time it was a first ever experiment. They called it Rough Cuts, and basically it was two half hour shows, but they weren't finished yet. The idea was, the audience fills out an evaluation about if they should develop this into a full length play or not. Very experimental stuff. The first one had Sara's sister in it, and it was about death and dying of cancer. Quite cheerful really. Thankfully the second was a comedy, and I tell you it was awsome. It was rough and they had the script in their hands, but it was just great. Then we headed back to the house for some foosball and wine. Forgot to mention that we had the most amazing dinner courtesy of the most wonderful people in England at the theatre. Also forgot to mention that David made us the most incredible breakfast I've ever had, there are pictures. Oddly it was served the night before at about quarter past midnight. Where was I? Foosball? yeah good times, then we had to say goodbye to London! I cried. well not really, but inside.

The Ryan Air Chapter: Crazy times, i'll go into more detail later, but suffice it to say that I don't know how they stay in buisness. And that we were lucky and made it to Roma with our luggage and relatively on time. We heard things like: "We have confirmed that we have found a plane for flight RA1205 your new estimated time of departure is now four hours later". No joke. And our gate was moved twice, but other flights got shuffled around up to 5 times in one hour. It was insane.

We did get to Roma around midnight, checked into the Hostel and went to sleep. It's hot here, did you know that? Anyways today we treked all over the city, went in the big arena, saw the parthenon and walked up to some beautiful park. Nice place, but yeah, dirty. Not in Engish land anymore. Tonight, we're having a pizza party in the hostel apparently, so that's cool. Tomorrow, we plan on seeing the Vatican and maybe some museams and stuff, who knows. Then on to Venice. I'm gonna leave you with that, ciao!

Well this marks another country I've never been to before, but I tell you it's great. Yesterday we got up early and caught the 9:00 train from Euston (London) to Holyhead, which is in Whales. The train was nice, and we got some excellent views. I'll tell you, this country isn't very big at all, we did the whole width in about three hours. In Holyhead we got on the Ulysses, an Irish ferry. Biggest ship I've ever been on, it was pretty nice too, shopping mall, two small movie theaters and an Arcade. It was a little choppy, 6 ti 8ft waves I'm guessing, and whitecaps everywhere. But the ship was realatively stable, but it was fun walking around with the ship moving about. I don't know if I'd get sea sickness, I rather liked the feeling. Anyways the ride was about three and a half hours and we got some nice views of... Gotta run! Being kicked off!

mmmmm kay, so i'm back. The room i was in was getting closed up, so I was rudely interrupted from my writings. So Dublin is about the friendliest place I've ever been. We got on a bus from the dock to the bus station and a woman on the bus was telling Dave all sorts of wonderful things about the city, and I chatted up the driver. So then, the driver gets to the bus depot, which is the end of his run, and he's all "hey stay on a while I'll get you closer to your hostel!" So he drives us a few more blocks and gives up perfect directions to Avalon House. Which by the way, is an amazing hostel, I'd highly reccomend it. We just relaxed around Avalon that night, but also cruised the shopping district. It's suprisingly nice here, busy, lots of people, lovely shops. Today we went to St Patricks Cathedral, which turns out was really cool. The girl at the from gave us a student discount, NOONE gives student discounts here unless you have a student card. Noone. Some amazing stained glass in that place, I'll tell you and the coolest staircase I've seen in a while.

Next we wandered through the Dublin Castle area, which really isn't that big, but there was a very cosy little park behind it, and a very cool museam. So there we are walking into the museam, there is a ticket que. "Come on in, it's free!" us: ummmm ok. "you can't take your bags in, but you can use the lockers" naturally we're thinking that's where they get you right? "Go ahead they're free too!" "holy crap, this place is amazing." Turns out they have a full essay written by Da Vinci, the actual manuscript. Bill Gates liberated it from a private library, and restored it to the public eye. There was also a rooftop flower garden, and a display on the world's religions. Quite interesting.

Then to the Guinness brewery, beer is tasty here. The gravity bar on the top floor is a 360 glass walled circle room, bar in the middle and fantastic views of the city. I swear it's the tallest building in Dublin, and it's only about 9 floors up. but they are really tall floors. Anyways that place was really quite cool, except finding it.... Then we played some frisbee for a bit in the park, what a nice break from walking all day. Then back to the hostel for some internet (now) and rest so we can go find some pubs tonight! Talk to you later.

Well time again for the journal of Chris. Published precisely whenever-I-feel-like-it however-I-like-it and wether-or-not-you-like-it. Today's quick preview: Yesterday was a bus tour to Windsor, Stonehenge and Bath. Today we took it all in around St Pauls th V & A and Greenwich. Tomorrow: DUBLIN.

So join me if you will on a fantastic journey back in time to the days of distant past.... yesterday. I we awoke to the buzzing of the alarm clock at precisely 6:15, and Dave got quite an earful. It was loud and beside his head. We got to the coach station a wee bit early and had to wait until half nine to leave. Then we drove down the motorway for about two hours and then arrived at beautiful windsor castle. That's where the Queen lives most of the time. We took a guided tour of the castle and saw some crazy stuff I'll tell you that. Then the Queen left, you can tell because the royal flag comes down and the union jack goes up. So that was kinda exciting. And we saw the changing of the guard, I'll tell you there was a band there and everything. Quite the show, guess what they were playing for the changing? We got a kick out of this: The Mission Impossible Theme. Seriously.

Next we journeyed to Stonehenge, which was (I thought) very cool. Although there isn't much there except the stones and a giftshop. We then got herded back to the bus where we then headed for lunch. The place was nice, and was opened especially for our bus, I had some fish and we had lunch with an American couple from St Paul. Close to home, but they knew nothing of Winnipeg, shocks me... almost. They were nice enough, however. We had some stingers there, which is a local beer made with Nettles, it was really good.

Then we felt dirty, but lucky for us, we went to Bath! Wow, sorry 'bout that one. Horrible really. This town was not however, in fact it was about the most beautiful little town I've been to in a while. Home of the ancient roman baths, and a uni apparently. The graduation was in full swing and the centre of town was nuts busy with graduates. We wandered the city for an hour or so then got a private tour of the Roman baths, very cool. Basically hotsprings, but they're untreated and apparently harmful to touch and drink so we looked and Dave touched. Then Dave read the warning sign. He may die. Or not. Hopefully not. Then we drove the long way back home, went by some famous peoples' houses and saw some insanely costed homes.

For the evening, I relaxed and had some fine English wine with Sara, whilst Dave got the driving tour of London with David. I was asleep before they even got home.

This morning we slept in a bit, but not too much. Just enough. First off I got to drag Dave to the top of St Pauls. Which is just about the most amazing place to view the city from, it's wonderful really. Dave was terrified. Horrified really. I mean we got to the top and I said "Dave, you're really sweating" He looked like he just saw a ghost. So he's afraid of hights, did I mention that? Yeah, that was fun. The view is absoultely gorgeous. Good times had by me at least.

The V & A was next, and I'm sure you've already been wondering what that is. It's the Victoria and Albert museam, one of the best in London, amazing collection. The architecture and glass sculptures were incredible. Worth going, and it's very close to the natural history museam too.
Next we sailed down the mighty Thames to Greenwich, which was a great trip. Went by the Maritime museam and walked up the hill to the Royal Observatory, and guess what is there? The prime meridian of course! That most famous of meridians, the place where the east meets the west and where the time is standardized. Famous place, it is. After that it started to rain, we went for fish and chips and a pint. Bombardier this time, good ale. We ate at the Yacht, and I'd recommend it to anyone visiting Greenwich.

Then we headed home, soaked and dripping. We rode the tubes for a while and by the time we got to waterloo, we were dry. We even got on the bus without it raining, thought we were safe, we did. Then the sky opened up. We ran through the rain from the bus to the house. I had a puddle in my hood by the time we got there, soaked to the skin, jeans twice as heavy and shoes soggy. Jolly good time. And now here I sit, Dave is playing some wonderful guitar, and the rain is gently providing the precussion, the hum of computers strangely compliments the scene. Now after all this typing, I'm almost dry. I think now is when I shall retire, tomorrow we have a train from Euston to Hollyhead, at which point we board a ferry cross the Irish Sea to DUBLIN. Can't wait. Tune in next time....

I feel sttrangly comfortable here. I kinda know this city, more than I should for the amount of time I've been here. Today I was stopped for directions, and I knew how to answer all of their questions! I like the trains, the buses, the tubes, I just plain love London.

So yesterday. After I left off from that first email, we went to have some fish and chips, and ended up eating in Waterloo station, which wasn't all that bad, although we should've got our money back, there was a 20 minute guarantee. Then we headed over to see the Imperial War Museum, which I didn't make it to last time. Twas excellent, the front of the building has two 15 inch guns mounted in the garden. These guns are from battleships, they're huge. They're 100 tons each and fire 29 miles (I think). The rest of the museum was great too, plenty of tanks planes and other stuff. A V2 rocket, P-51, Spitfire and more. The WW1 and 2 exhibits were great and there was a trench 'experience' which we walked through, which was very different from what I'd expect. We wandered around the city a bit more after that, and ended up in a tapas bar near London Bridge. We shot some pool and we both kinda sucked over here. Had a few beer and headed back to the house. We made a few stops on the way back for some goofy pics.... you'll see. Let's just say it was a Goodgy good time. An escalating experience... We were goin to wait up for David and Sara to come home, but by midnight we both passed out and they still weren't home.

This morning we slept in a bit and didn't make it out of the house until noon, we're idiots. But we're idiots who are no longer sleep deprived. When we finally got going, we went to see the tower of London, in all it's glory and rain. I covered it last time, really not much more to add, it's still awsome and the crown jewels are still the most gold in one place you'll ever see. Then we walked to St Pauls, which was wet (did i mention it was raining?) but it was too late to climb up, so we didn't go in. Then we went to Harrods. Anyone heard of it? Girls? It's pretty much a shopping heaven. This store is 15 acres! It was the craziest place I've ever been in. Prada Hugo Boss Gucci and any other designer name you can think of. There was a room that was 'shopping by appointment only'. That was only in the mens suit department, I'm sure the whole second floor of womens fashion would have many of these exclusive shopping traps. They're motto is Everything for Everyone Everywhere. And the first floor reminded us of a certain famous chocolate factory, there were candy rooms chocolate rooms pastry rooms....... oh god it was wondrous. heavenly. expensive. Then we headed out to Hyde Park, the largest park in London, it's big. We rested our legs for a few down by the serpantine, a lake, and then Dave got himself some food before we headed back home for a rest. and boy do we need it, tomorrow is gonna be a long day. We're doing a bus tour, to Windsor Castle, Bath and Stonehenge. It's gonna take 12 hours. plus getting to and from Victoria station. So we're getting up at 6am and not getting home until about 10pm. Not to mention that Corb Lund is playing tomorrow night, and if I can make it, I will.

Tomorrow will be fun.

Here we go again! Well hello there and welcome to this episode of Chris's travels, today we'll be beginning episode two: The return. (Now with your daily reccommended amount of Dave) Thanks for tuning in and reading! Well wow, I really don't know where to start. Guess the beginning will do right?

I woke up at five in the morning on Friday June 22 2007 to the wonderful sound of an incoming text message. THANKS KIM! My alarm was not to go off for another half hour. Anyways I made it to the airport on time and met the whole Beacom clan at the airport on their way to Rome, best of luck to you and your whole family Colleen! I flew first class all the way to Toronto while Dave had to sit beside some "smelly large people". Totally worth the five hours I had to wait in Toronto. I made the flight to London alright and I'm pretty sure it was the EXACT same plane as last time, I recognized one of the flight attendants and the broken TV too. It was a long flight but I was rather lucky again, I had one of the very very few open seats beside me, so I slept on both! mwhahaha. Dave broke his headrest. We got into LHR at about 7:00am which is 1:00am pegtime, so we still had a long day ahead of us. Thankfully I got some sleep on the plane this time round, maybe a full four hours or so. Which happened to be the same amount of sleep I got the night before too, so I was still a little behind. Then we took the wonderful Picadilly line train into the big city, and I recognized a woman on it too! I swear she must be on her way to work that same time every saturday. Crazy eh? We found our way to the hostel we were staying in, which was only £10 pretty good, but the place was not the hottest pad in town I'll tell ya that. We left our stuff in the room and prayed they'd still be there when we got back.

The plan was that we'd head into town and just walk around so we wouldn't fall asleep. I'll have to be brief for now, maybe there'll be more tonight. We walked past Buckingham Palace, Westminster Abbey, parliment, down to trafalgar square. Where there was a rally for the Modern Jesus Army. Seriously. Kinda scary actually, they were putting on their Jesus warpaint. We walked through the national gallery and then headed down to the water. We then checked out Tate Modern, although we didn't go into the main gallery, there was a exhibit on a group of major cities around the would that was very interesting, so we checked that out then walked over the bridge. We wandered around St Pauls, and had some gourmet pizza with some Italian beer, we felt very classy. There was a choir in the church so we didn't get to go up to the top, but the sound was amazing. We'll be back to climb it though, it's too good to miss. We then wandered down to Covent Garden, which is quite alive on a Saturday night. Saw some great street preformers, and just wandered. Then to glorious glorious sleep! Fell asleep a few times on the tube down to the hostel, and then crashed like we were driving on the wrong side of the street. Asleep that is. In the hostel. To be specific. Got up this morning at about nine feeling quite adjusted to the time zone (YES!) then had some complimentary corn flakes and juice. mmmmmm cornflakes. Pretty much just headed over to drop off our stuff at the wonderful Grindall and Hanna residence, visited with Jo and had some coffee, I then had my first shower since Friday and now I feel amazing. Dave just got out too and now I think we're gonna run back into the city for some more sightseeing, as it's not even two yet. So this is me, signing off!
Cheers

1. What did you do in 2006 that you'd never done before?:
Europe! I'm sure there are a few other things too.

2. Did you keep your New Year's resolutions, and will you make more for next year?:
I don't think I did last year, but the two years before that, I made them!

3. Did anyone close to you give birth?:
Nope, get on it folks!

4. Did anyone close to you die?:
No, thanks for that.

5. What countries did you visit?:
:) :) :) ummm England, France, Spain, Switzerland, Germany, Netherlands, NOT America!

6. What would you like to have in 2007 that you lacked in 2006?:
more money? more focus I suppose would also be good.

7. What dates from 2006 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?:
you know, Ian, I do remember May the 6th too! Good night, but i have many memorable dates this year. Sunrise 11 km above Ireland was unforgettable, Sunset on the Effle Tower, My Birthday party bash.

8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?:
getting in better shape, exploring, my green belt.

9. What was your biggest failure?:
wasting too much time

10. Did you suffer illness or injury?:
I had food poisoning in Bern, that sucked. But it only lasted for about 12 hours.

11. What was the best thing you bought?:
hmmmm this year was a good shopping year for me. Digital Camera, iPod, Eurorail Pass, Some decent cloths.

12. Whose behaviour merited celebration?:
My friends, for the most part, rock.

13. Whose behaviour made you appalled and depressed?:
ha! I don't get depressed! but there are certainly people who make me appalled. Most of them are politicians. (none of them are my neighbors, however!)

14. Where did most of your money go?:
I wish I knew! Actually, i think i have some more than i was expecting after the trip.

15. What did you get really, really, really excited about?:
can anyone guess???? I bet you all know already.

16. What songs will always remind you of 2006?:
There have been many great songs this year, but I doubt i'll associate any of them with this year. Maybe: The Canadian Dream - Sam Roberts.

17. Compared to this time last year, are you:
i) happier or sadder? happier (each and every year!)
ii) thinner or fatter? i *think* i gained a bit of weight, but it's just muscle.
iii) richer or poorer? richer - barely

18. What do you wish you'd done more of?:
travel, yes really. spend more time with my friends. Camping. canoing, mountainclimbing, rafting, gaming, reading, learning, .... everything

19. What do you wish you'd done less of?:
sleeping?

20. How did you spend Christmas?:
with the big ole family. and some friends too.

22. Did you fall in love in 2006?:
Germany, London, Switzerland...

23. How many one night stands?:
none!

24. What were your favourite TV programmes?:
Heroes, the only one I've watched. www.dailymotion.com you can watch all the episodes.

25. Do you hate anyone now that you didn't hate this time last year?:
I don't know if i hate anyone. I dislike stupid people!

26. What was the best book you read?:
.... good question. Possibly Deep Survival, by Laurence Gonzalas. It's interesting. other good books: Cell - S King, neXt - M Crichton, State of Fear - Crichton. 1984, it's awsome!

27. What was your greatest musical discovery?
Wreckers, Lyle Lovett, Chris Knight, Mad Caddies, and the winner is: Charlie Robison.

28. What did you want and get?:
A great year

29. What did you want and not get?:
other stuff!

30. What was your favourite film of this year?:
V For Vendetta, Lucky Number Sleven, Blood Diamond, Casino Royal.

31. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?:
22 I think i had a big party, but i can't remember if that was right on my birthday or not.

32. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?:
dunno, more $$$? <- I agree with Ian

33. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2006?:
ha! do I have one?

34. What kept you sane?:
I keep me sane!

35. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?:
did i 'fancy' ? lol I don't really care about celebs, real people are more interesting

36. What political issue stirred you the most?:
sooo many pissed me off. Hard to list them all. I just dislike how masses of people are just plain stupid.

37. Who did you miss?:
Well I miss Jenna, even though she's in the same city, I miss Dave, who I see more of even though he's in Chicago, I miss... whoever is reading this!

38. Who was the best new person you met?:
Kim is pretty cool, and the good folk of Bamberg, hooray for new people!

39. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2006:
Just DO it! You only live once.

I just got back from trick-or-treating... never too old...

It's Halloween! And it's been snowing for a full 24 hours now! Yesterday before work, there was no snow. Guess I'll have to dress up as something warm this year... It looks beautiful out, if not Octoberish. I hear that this month we had 29 degree heat and right now it looks like this snow will stay for the winter, quite the variety. I know this is a little more boring than my Europe entries, believe me, it's hard to write this. "SO yesterday i was in Italy and now I'm on my way up to the alps, I hear they had a good dump of the white stuff, thought I'd hit the slopes..." I wish.

Being back is nice though, I get to see (most of) my friends, go back to karate, feel CLEAN, make money... have snow! I'm nuts, I know, but really if we have it for half the year, you might as well enjoy it. Otherwise you'll just be grumpy and bitter people. And bitter people don't taste any good!

I think that's about it for today, thanks for tuning in!

I'm Home, yay. I think it's kind of bittersweet. I like it here, but I also like it there... There are people I like here, there too. Well I'm here for now, might as well enjoy it, right?
So Wednesday: Near as I can recall, I woke up at about 6:30am (11:30pm night before) and got packed and ready to catch my train. I said goodbye to Amsterdam at about 8:09am (two minutes late) and grabbed one of the few non reserved seats. A few hours later I was back in Germany, going through Dusseldorf, Cologne and more. After Cologne, the train went on to a highspeed no stops track to Frankfurt, we got a bit faster than 300 kph. Very fun. I had some rather nice luck coming home, when I was looking for the trains to Frankfurt, I found that this one only had one transfer to get to the main trainstation in Frankfurt. So naturally I think this is alright, but as I was curious, I check where that transfer is.... it's at Frankfurt Airport. Yup, that rocks. So I cut off half an hour of travel time that I thought I would need. I got to the airport at 11:50am (4:30am) and caught my plane to Montreal at 2:20pm (7:20am for all you peggers). The flight was awsome, GOOD airline food, chicken, pizza and ice cream. The onflight entertainment system has greatly improved too. I watched a few movies and listened to some music. I got into Montreal at 4:30pm (Montreal time, 9:30pm in Europe) I then had to wait at that rather boring airport for a few hours, my flight home left at 8:30pm (1:30am Europe) flew on a small RJ, but it was relaxing. I got into YWG at 10:15pm, and met my whole family and it was very nice. By this time, it was ... 5:15 in the morning for me. By the time I got home, and went to bed it was about 1:00am, which is the next morning for me. What a messed up long day. But this is how I'd recommend doing it, because i didn't have (almost) any jet lag. It's Saturday now and no problems.

It's been a amazing trip, I can't wait to go again. For now, I'm happy to be home, and very very happy to see all of my friends coworkers and family. I've been back for three days, I've already seen snow, Paul Brandt, played frisbee and had a coffee and donut at Tims. I really do like Winnipeg sometimes. I don't know what else to say, when I see you, we'll talk.

Adios

That nothing thing, is a quote, but I loved it as soon as I read it. This is my last night in Europe (I hope) and I am ready to go home, but stuck with the feeling that I will want to be here again when I am. I miss you all. I miss home. But I'm stuck with the feeling that it won't be quite the same anymore either. Have you heard the song "Seashells" by Great Big Sea? You should, it's a good story. I can understand it better, even though I'm not in the same situation. It's a sad story, about moving away and coming home again. Enough of that though!

Amsterdam: I actually, for a change, did exactly as I predicted I would yesterday. I went to all three of those Museums and wandered the city a whole lot. Today I just mostly wandered, but I also did something that not too many people can say they have done. I watched "Hostel" IN a hostel. Beat that! I guess I should have done it on Friday the thirteenth... Oh well, always next year...
I'm not really gonna elaborate any more than that right now, you'll have to ask me for stories when you see me next.

Can't wait to be home,
Chris