A friend of ours was passing through Ireland for a vacation with his family, and we decided that it was much too close to just let it pass, so over we went to Dublin for a whirlwind weekend. . . Read More...

Tags: europe,ireland,dublin,city,museum,church,library

A quick weekend trip out to one of the most iconic of English cities - Oxford. Read More...

Tags: england,cityscape,museum,garden,cemetary

Catching up on life events. . . Read More...

Tags: museum,art exhibit,rambling,visitors,theatre

Aside from the fact that this day started WAY TOO EARLY (up by 3:15am to catch at 6:00am flight), but I got a good amount of sleep on the plane, and it turned into a beautiful day, raining yesterday instead of today. =) Yay.

We took lunch in Mountain View where Branson lives at this really fabulous (and cheap!) Japanese place- Bento boxes for everyone! Man being a Catholic during Lent is way too easy in this town- the fish is so tasty that it's not really penitent, but hey I'll save the guilt for something else. *wink*

Then we headed to San Fran, and started off by spending a good 3.5 hours in the Asian Art Museum across the street from the recently famous City Hall. Talk about an great museum!! Not only does it have some amazing pieces & is arranged very well, but the building itself is also really interesting, being cobbled together from one very old building with new, very modern glass additions onto some of the sides. So visually appealling inside and out. We didn't get all the way through, but will probably finish it up tomorrow.

Afterwords, we walked towards the shopping distric. The guys let me do my girly thing picking up some bath bombs from Lush and then walking through Union Square toward China town, where we grabbed some very tasty Dim Sum and tea. That's the great thing about Asian places--good tea.

Overall, San Fran is a really odd city; kind of a cross between Singapore with all of the ethnic diversity and New York City with all of the buildings and the odd street crazy elements. Needless to say that it twisted with my perspective. Granted, I'm more than a smidge naive about these things, so it's probably good for me. It is a fabulous city though, and I'm looking forward to getting to see more of it tomorrow. The agenda is looking something like: Finishing the museum, Golden Gate, Japanese Tea Gardens (mmmmm tea), Japan Town, and the Castro (just for Pyrex & our Monkey--that should be an eye opener for sure!), and whatever else happens to come up. There is also talk of a bonfire on the beach tomorrow night, so that should be especially promising. It's a kind of Zen weekend with some of my favorite people.

Tags: usa,california,san francisco,museum

I got all the rest of my Aberdeen seeing done! One thing I discovered, the churches are significantly more impressive from the outside than the inside. The outsides will be beautiful Granite Gothic structures, while the insides are usually plain plaster painted a solid color with very little other interior decoration. Not ugly, not pretty, just blah.

I stopped by the tourist information bureau to get information on the castles, and it looks like I will be able to see two before I leave! More info on that later.

I also got to see the Maritime Museum, which turned out to be much cooler than expected. 5 floors divided into two parts: One dedicated to offshore oil and the other to clippers and history of Aberdeen harbor.

The Offshore oil bit included a *huge* model of a rig complete with moving parts, and detailed explanations of every level, as well as the processes involved with getting oil out of the sea floor and to the refining plant.

I enjoyed the history side much more. Each floor had its own theme pertaining to Aberdeen harbor history.

The top floor was the advent of the clipper and the tea trade.

The fourth mostly on sailing ships: navigation tools (that you got to play with!), particulars of making sails, how a sailboat is rigged (complete with mast and boom to show how the pulley systems worked, that one could also play with), and diary exerpts from notable Aberdeenians.

The third floor talked about fishing, all the different methods and what types of fish they're best used to catch, and how the techniques have developed over the years. It also included a pretty detailed explanation of how catch limits are determined in Scotland.

The Second Floor was recent developments including a display on a type of training procedure for offshore oil workers that was developed in Aberdeen. So pretty cool.

Kind of wish you were with me Dad, you would have loved it! Especially the sailing bits.

Later that evening I took Brett and Kaz out for dinner as a thank you for putting up with me. We went to a little place called The Illicit Still. The food was pretty yummy, and the cider was awfully tasty.

The beer here is mostly all lagers, and the one thing I've learned is that I generally like those labeled "Ale" better. Don't know what the difference is; perhaps it's time to learn.

After that, I let Brett talk me into watching his choice of a movie. Brett and I's taste in film rarely coincides, and this one was no exception. This one turned out to be a wretched little piece called Meet the Feebles, evidently by the same director as Lord of the Rings.

Should bode well right? Let's just say this director has come a long LONG way if that's where he started. I only found one bit funny, and I was the only one who caught it. I won't go into anymore of it, frankly because it isn't worth it. Leave it to say the vast majority of the movie was just plain bad taste.

One of the things I've been noticing about my choice in movies is that I really don't appreciate excessive violence or sex. Especially torture. Mostly because I can't comprehend how one human being could do that to another, even with hate running deep. I just can't fathom it. This naturally leaves many really good movies outside of my comfort level. Titus comes to mind. Amazing film, incredibly well done. I couldn't get past the physical abuse neccesary for the progression of the story. Literally couldn't stomach it. *sigh* Perhaps I'm still much more innocent than previously thought.

Don't be mistaken, however, Feebles was NO Titus not by a long shot. So don't run out and rent it thinking you're going to be seeing good film, even from an artistic appreciation, because you would be horribly disappointed.

Then we finished "24". The last four episodes. That was a cliffhanger of a series, with some suprisingly good acting, and the kind of attention to detail that makes or breaks the show. I was really impressed. Too bad the second has already started, otherwise it might be the first television program I would have actively followed.

Tags: europe,scotland,city,museum,art exhibit,architecture,church

Brett and I ended up walking into the center of the city to hit the museum first. But, we got distracted along the way by his favorite used bookshop.

Only a few minutes he said.

Liar. =)

For £10 I bought the entire Divine Comedy, a Collection of Short Stories by Voltaire, and the 2nd Part of the Gulag Archipelago (and it looks like a good translation to boot). After talking to the shopkeep, he said that he'll find the first part for me by Monday. Yay!! Not exactly light reading, but a necessary component for any Russian studies person.

Then off to the museum. We spent the rest of the afternoon there (4 hours), and still didn't get all the way through it. It's mostly modern art, but they have some really amazing watercolor and oil on canvas portraits as well. So that means we'll have to go back yet again. I'm loving this. =) They also have a Maritime Museum that I'm looking forward to attending sometime before I leave.

Then we headed off toward the harbor and this little fishing village right on the edge of Aberdeen. I got some great pictures. Then it started to downpour. By the time we found a cafe to warm up in, we were both soaked to the bone. But this cafe (Cafe Continental btw) had Lentil soup, which was awfully yummy and great to fill a wet, hungry me.

Then we called a cab and went back to campus and the flat to get changed and get dinner-- Chicken pitas. mmmmmm. So tonight will probably be another evening of either movies and reading, and probably another GO game. We'll see if some strategy changes will help turn the tables on Brett a bit, and maybe hand me a victory. We'll see, we'll see.

Tags: europe,scotland,aberdeen,museum

Well, it seems like I'm finally starting to destress, which to my body seems to mean sleep. 12 hours of it to be exact. That of course, leads to us getting a pretty late start on the day, but then again the whole point of this wonderfully timed vacation is rest, so no harm done.

We walked about the city after taking a bus into the center, and it strikes me that Aberdeen isn't nearly as old feeling as, say, Edinburgh. But the entire city being made out of granite is really cool, and they have some wonderful old cemetaries that date back into the 1600s.

Another really interesting feature are all the dance clubs and restaraunts that have been made from old abandoned churches. There's even one that features "Seven Deadly Sins Cocktails", and the inside is repleat with torture implements, aged wood, and themed menus. Yes a bit cliche, but really neat none the less.

We also stopped into the Modern Art Museum downtown, and saw some really neat pieces. One was a painting of a rumpled white sheet. Yes sounds dull, but really quite well done. The other was this nifty fountain thing with a cool interlocking copper sphere creation that the sprays of water echo. Quite cool. We didn't get to see all the exhibits though, and plan to go back tomorrow. So more on that later.

Pretty good day. I got some great pictures of the skyline and the statue of William Wallace with a seagull on his head. Right across the park from the Wallace statue was the one of Edward I, the king who executed Wallace. How's that for symmetry. I couldn't get a clear shot of it because of the way the streets and the buildings were. Too bad.

So the rest of today will probably be spent over a GO board after a film. I'm thinking Hamlet. For some reason my trip on the town has me in a Shakespere mood. Go figure. =)

Tags: europe,scotland,aberdeen,architecture,museum

So after my last entry I wandered the area around the hostel/B&B just to get a taste for the area, and came across Kensington Park. The sky was a bit overcast and it drizzled a good bit, breaking out into a full-fledged rain but not too heavy that a tree didn't make good cover.

The gardens were really beautiful, and all different kinds of trees. So it was nice and refreshing to get about and stretch my legs after nearly 12 hours in an airplane. Kensington Palace and the little art museum there in the park were both closed due to renovations, so nothing there to really explore.

Then back to the hostel/B&B to check in. I was only 5 minutes early, but they still didn't have the room ready, but they said they had a room with a private bath that I could take instead for an extra 6 GBP. So, I took it thinking that a nice lingering, steamy shower would feel wonderful after a good long walk in the drizzle and traveling. Well, it turned out that the entire "bathroom" was about the size of a standard bathtub: shower, toilet, and sink. I literally could not close the door while sitting on the toilet because there wasn't enough room. While showering I had to stand parallel to the wall so that all of me would fit in the shower at once.

So much for a lingering shower. But hey, I got clean, which was more than I was before.

I then picked up a little guide they had in the front lobby of all the sights in London, and since time was short I decided to hit the National Gallery instead of St. Paul's and the Tate.

On my way out, though, I had the front desk guy arrange transportation for the next morning at 4:50 so that I could make my flight to Aberdeen at 7:00. After making the reservation he gave me the name and phone number of the driver that he had arranged. Remember this for later.

Anyway, off I went to the National Gallery-- and yes, Branson you were right the tube system is really wonderful, if for no other reason that it has little Cadbury Egg dispensers all over the place. =)

I spent most of my time in the 1700-1900 section and in a special sculpture exhibit they had up. I think one of my favorites out of the paintings was Monet's 'Parliment at Sunset'. Its done in such a way that they shadow of the building on the water morphs into the building above as the red, purple and yellow streaked sky fills in the remaining space. The colors were so vibrant and the way he streaked the sky for sunset reminded me more of lightning at dusk than a true sunset. Really remarkable. I think I may become a fan of impressionism afterall.

So I stayed at the museum until it closed at 6:00pm, grabbed a rather dry and tasteless turkey sandwhich at a nearby cafe, and then headed back to read for a few hours before doing pre-check out (since I would be leaving so early the next day), and asleep by 9:00pm.

All in all a pretty good day in London, but definitely some place to come back to a spend a week or so seeing everything. For instance, they have a permenant collection of Dali at an extension of the Tate that I would love to see. Hopefully it will still be there in a few years time.

Tags: europe,england,london,garden,museum