London! What an amazing city! So much to do and see! Buildings, monuments, museums, winding little streets, palaces, incredible architecture everywhere, history everywhere, pubs everywhere, traffic, people, parks! Just mind-boggling and impressive at every turn. Had a pint the other day in a tiny, tiny, tiny pub called The Jerusalem, which has been around since the 1700s. Turns out where I'm staying at Sue's is about a 20-minute walk from Abbey Road, in St. John's Wood. I ambled over there yesterday and took some photos of the outside of the studio where the Beatles recorded pretty much all their music, and, of course, the famous cross-walk. Did a Beatles walking tour the other day, through several Beatles-related sites, including Paul McCartney's offices in Soho (MPL Communications), Carnaby Street and 3 Saville Row, the former Apple Records HQ where the concert on the roof for "Let It Be" took place. Neat to see all these places that I'd only read about.
Explored a bit of the south bank of the Thames tonight, walked across Waterloo Bridge. Tomorrow I'll go see the Tower of London, the Tower Bridge and St. Paul's cathedral. Hope to get to see Shakespeare's Globe theatre, the Tate Modern museum and maybe take a trip up in "the Eye". Sunday evening we're doing a "Ripper Walk" in the east end, guided by the foremost Jack the Ripper expert, which is supposed to be quite entertaining.
Weather has been outstanding. Mostly sunny and temps in the low-to-mid-20s. People walking about in t-shirts. I actually have a sunburn! Everyone here can't believe how great the weather's been all week, and it looks like it'll continue through the weekend.
Off to Dublin on Monday for 4 days, then back here for the weekend, then home. It's been the most amazing time I've ever had, and it's not even half over. Dublin awaits!
Will share photos when I get back--I've got a ton of them!
Friday, June 23, 2006
Friday, June 16, 2006
"Leavin' on a jet plane..."
Today was my last day at work before my vacation, and MAAAN, did it drag on. I didn't get out of there until almost nine o'clock. But now...I'm FREE! My flight goes Friday night, so I have the day to get my shit together and maybe even decide to pack at some point. I have to do laundry first, though. I feel that's a sound strategy. Laundry first, then pack, as opposed to the reverse.
But I'm very excited! My flight gets in to London Saturday morning just after 10. I'll spend the first week in London, staying at my friend Sue's place just north of Notting Hill, then I fly to Dublin on the morning of Monday the 26th, returning to London the following Thursday evening. So that gives me a full eight days to explore Londontown, then the better part of 4 days in Dublin, 3 nights accommodation (which suits my budget), then back to London for the last weekend, returning home Sunday July 2, giving me the holiday Monday to recuperate.
Only snag is, while I have the London-Dublin flight booked (70 GBP return, not too bad), I haven't yet secured a place to stay while I'm there. Been doing lots of research on the Web, and have contacted a few places to get rates and availability, so I'm sure I'll get something settled before I leave tomorrow night. They're just waking up there as I type this, so when I get up (I'm about to hit the sack) I should have a few email replies to my inquiries. I think I've narrowed it down to a couple of hotels/guesthouses. One right in the Temple Bar area, a couple on the northside of the Liffey but still in the core, and one off a park near Trinity College. Customer reviews on tripadvisor.com were pretty handy. Some of the places in the Temple Bar area got some pretty bad reviews, but I have a hunch some of that was from people staying there on the weekends when the bars are all rockin', the hotels were packed with partiers and their rooms were noisy. Probably won't be that bad Mon-Thurs. I think the ideal would be to find a place just outside that area but still close to all the city centre attractions. Seems like a lot of places are within easy walking distance.
I may try to get a few blog entries in while I'm over there, so stay tuned.
Toodles.
But I'm very excited! My flight gets in to London Saturday morning just after 10. I'll spend the first week in London, staying at my friend Sue's place just north of Notting Hill, then I fly to Dublin on the morning of Monday the 26th, returning to London the following Thursday evening. So that gives me a full eight days to explore Londontown, then the better part of 4 days in Dublin, 3 nights accommodation (which suits my budget), then back to London for the last weekend, returning home Sunday July 2, giving me the holiday Monday to recuperate.
Only snag is, while I have the London-Dublin flight booked (70 GBP return, not too bad), I haven't yet secured a place to stay while I'm there. Been doing lots of research on the Web, and have contacted a few places to get rates and availability, so I'm sure I'll get something settled before I leave tomorrow night. They're just waking up there as I type this, so when I get up (I'm about to hit the sack) I should have a few email replies to my inquiries. I think I've narrowed it down to a couple of hotels/guesthouses. One right in the Temple Bar area, a couple on the northside of the Liffey but still in the core, and one off a park near Trinity College. Customer reviews on tripadvisor.com were pretty handy. Some of the places in the Temple Bar area got some pretty bad reviews, but I have a hunch some of that was from people staying there on the weekends when the bars are all rockin', the hotels were packed with partiers and their rooms were noisy. Probably won't be that bad Mon-Thurs. I think the ideal would be to find a place just outside that area but still close to all the city centre attractions. Seems like a lot of places are within easy walking distance.
I may try to get a few blog entries in while I'm over there, so stay tuned.
Toodles.
Tuesday, June 06, 2006
Thursday, June 01, 2006
Snap snap wink wink saynamoah
In anticpation of my trip to London-Dublin, I finally went out and got myself a digital camera. That's right, no more disposables and discs for me.
After some research on the Internets, I settled on this one, which also happened to be on sale at Future Shop. The Canon Powershot A620. Seems like a pretty good one. Lots of handy features and settings (including manual), and it does video, too. I didn't want one of those ones that tucks into your pocket. Not ergonomically satisfying. I picked up a 512MB card and some NiMH rechargeable batteries, so I'm good to go.
This past Saturday was a beautiful day, and I had to replenish my coffee supply, so I took a hike down Queen Street, through the beaches, and took the cam with me for a field test.
Sauntering down toward the boardwalk, I spotted this scene and thought the colours might provide some interesting results.
Then I took a series of shots as I walked down the boardwalk itself. Nothing to brag about from a compositional perspectice. Some bad light and shadows.
Then I spotted this kayaker...
And this couple walking with their dog. I like how she's all decked out in bright colours while the four-legged companion stays closer to earth tones...and just closer to the earth, period.
Sign of the times...
Then, when I got home, I took a few pics of objects around the apartment, mostly so I could test the zoom on smaller, close objects
Bottles in my window, against the blinds.
A small skull I've had for ages. It's about the size of a billiard ball. The zoom caused quite a bit of camera shake here, but I kind of like the result. Gives it an ironic sense of motion. I call this one "SpeedSkull".
This is the front of a box I have in my living room. Like most of these shots, I cropped it in iPhoto.
And of course, the obigatory Mini-Gumby and iStick.
Maybe I ain't no Annie Leibowitz, and I doubt if I'll turn jimbuck2 into a photoblog, but I expect to have some fun with it. You can bet yer sweet aperture that you'll be seeing more stunning visual snapshots here in the days and weeks ahead. L'aventure commence.
After some research on the Internets, I settled on this one, which also happened to be on sale at Future Shop. The Canon Powershot A620. Seems like a pretty good one. Lots of handy features and settings (including manual), and it does video, too. I didn't want one of those ones that tucks into your pocket. Not ergonomically satisfying. I picked up a 512MB card and some NiMH rechargeable batteries, so I'm good to go.
This past Saturday was a beautiful day, and I had to replenish my coffee supply, so I took a hike down Queen Street, through the beaches, and took the cam with me for a field test.
Sauntering down toward the boardwalk, I spotted this scene and thought the colours might provide some interesting results.
Then I took a series of shots as I walked down the boardwalk itself. Nothing to brag about from a compositional perspectice. Some bad light and shadows.
Then I spotted this kayaker...
And this couple walking with their dog. I like how she's all decked out in bright colours while the four-legged companion stays closer to earth tones...and just closer to the earth, period.
Sign of the times...
Then, when I got home, I took a few pics of objects around the apartment, mostly so I could test the zoom on smaller, close objects
Bottles in my window, against the blinds.
A small skull I've had for ages. It's about the size of a billiard ball. The zoom caused quite a bit of camera shake here, but I kind of like the result. Gives it an ironic sense of motion. I call this one "SpeedSkull".
This is the front of a box I have in my living room. Like most of these shots, I cropped it in iPhoto.
And of course, the obigatory Mini-Gumby and iStick.
Maybe I ain't no Annie Leibowitz, and I doubt if I'll turn jimbuck2 into a photoblog, but I expect to have some fun with it. You can bet yer sweet aperture that you'll be seeing more stunning visual snapshots here in the days and weeks ahead. L'aventure commence.
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