Back from Mombasa

Got Back from Mombasa on Sunday... ran a bunch of errands on Monday and dropped Naomi, Marni and my sister to the airport at night... going through a ton of email and trying to get back to everybody... but now I'm starting to fall asleep... it's only 2pm... gonna go get some grub and deal with this sunburn ;)

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In Nairobi

I'm in Nairobi, internet here sux  just got back from a 5 day safari!!!  off to Mombasa tomorrow.  Will update as soon as I have a free moment where i'm not tanning :)

Ah...Paree

Rush Rush Rush,

Woke up late today. Just made it down in time for breakfast. mmm.. croissant..and butter, and cafe au lait... Checked out of the hotel,these guys are really nice.. Hotel Belfort, like I said, looks sketchy at first, but I am impressed, will for sure stay here again. It's close to the metro and everything else... heck, it even has a rotten ronnies around the corner.

Paris is pretty cool. Had a bit of a rushed day today, checked out of the hotel and headed over to La Louvre to see Mona.. she's alot smaller than I expected.. they herd people by and you can't take pictures, but people still do. La Louvre was free today, wandered around a bit, but was short on time so said Whassup to Monna and took off... If you ever go the Louvre, go on Wed or Fri night (it's cheaper) or plan a good few hours.. it's not something you can do effectively in an hour or two.

TIP: It's free the first Sunday of every month, but if you walk by the main entrance, there are hordes of people. There are several other entrances, just go in one of those... voila no line up... I stumbled upon the passholders only entrance, and just walked in there.. it's free so no one checks your pass.

Then headed over to see La Defense, which is pretty much the downtown office area of Paris. Very nice, the have this massive cube built out of Marble, it's pretty breathtaking, and the elevators to the top are way cool. It's a bit of a ripoff because they advertise Panoramic Views, but you can only walk on one of the 4 sides of the cube when you're at the top. So I went back down the really cool elevators... if you're afraid of heights... like I am, even ever so little, take this elevator.. it's a really cool experience..

Went from La Defense to go see the Eiffel Tower, got off on the wrong stop on the train, but figured I was close enough anyways.. WOW what a view from that place.. the stop is called Trocadero. Unbeleivable, I think better than getting off up close. It's up on a hill facing the tower and wow, C'est Magnifique. A must see if you're ever in Paris. I didn't even bother to go to the tower itself.. it was a little bit overcast and figured I won't be able to see much or get any good pictures... plus I had already done two high buildings...what's another one?

Left Trocadero and headed for Sacre Couer, a basilica in Montmartre and wow another unbeleivable sight. The girl I met from Victoria recommended it highly and boy was it worth it. There are these masive steps leading up to it, a panoramic view of most of the city, old cobblestone steps and shops.. I had to spend a bit of time there.. .if you go, plan an hour or two at least... if you can't do steps, there is a tram thingy that will take you to the top (that damn bus pass came in handy.. you can use it on the Tram :)

There is an art market there where people will draw your portraits.. stay away from the freaks on the street that walk around with clipboards... just around the corner are the real artists... Met one of them, Omar from Uruguay... WOW this guy is so talented, I wish I had the cash for one of his portraits... 5o Euro was what he was gonna charge me instead of the normal 70, but of course I'm not gonna torture him to look at me for that long. But he did have one that he did from a picture of Uma Thurman... great, this guy knows how to draw.. the features, the attitude, everything... it truly gives you an appreciation for art when you see all these different artists and compare their works and the intensity and attitude and just plain talent that shows in their work, some of the portrais were dark, solemn, others were comical or serious, and some were very good, but none of them stood out like this guys work.. If you are evern in Paris.. please go see him and if you like... get a portrait done.

I'm back at the Internet Shop now http://www.zeidnet.com/ uploading my pictures.. this guy has a card reader, is super friendly, and has a world class setup, the prices are reasonable as well. He's right down the street from the Notre Dame Cathedral, a white sign and red letters... INTERNET.

Gonna go get some paintings from the corner stores.. they have really cheap ones.. and then off to London again. I think I have really grown attached to this place, I'm gonna miss it. Must come back one day for at least a week...

Au Revoir

Late night... berry berry tired...

What a crazy ass day.... Went to Versailles to check out the sights... my god this palace is amazing... now I know what they meant by living like a king. The house is bloody huge, with this amazing pond, green grass, water fountains. There is a room called the chamber of mirrors that is full of mirrors that reflect art and light..wow....met Randy and Nicole from Chicago, they are here studying architecture and get to go and see all of these sites...as part of school!!! now thats what I call getting an education..

Headed back pretty late back to Paris, wanted to go to the Louvre...but the damn thing closed early...grr... so I headed back to the hotel. Freshened up and got ready to go out again... ended up meeting Jen from Victoria... she's staying in the room right next door to mine... small small world..she's in Paris studying international business..not a bad deal either.... I didn't really have plans other than to eat and check out some sights, so we hung out for a few hours...grabbed a drink at a cafe and some dinner... it's a great thing in Paris, all the patio chairs face the streets... all people do is chat, people watch and drink...craziness. It was good to actually speak canadian again... I have this bad habit of talking differently to people differently when I'm in another country for some reason...

If you're ever in Paris, check out Cafe Indiana, great food, great atmosphere... and their prices are reasonable. Its a chain, they have a few locations around.

I did get in trouble at the hotel for not leaving my key when I left... I'm not sure why they do that, but I left it with them before I headed out again to see the Champs D'Elysess and the Arc de Triomph.

Jumped on the Metro and headed to check out this strip...wow, so busy and crazy, lots of people all decked out and roaming the streets. Clubs pumping music, cafes with people... def an experience... if you thought bouncers in canada were big and scary, you aint seen nothing yet...these guys were either scary nigerians, or these big thick european guys that must have been at least 250lbs plus... all muscle... don't wanna fuck with them at the front of the line, these guys could eat most canadian club bouncers for breakfast...

So I figure it's getting late, should get on the Metro before it closes... jump on a train and realize that I got on the wrong one, so I got off and transferred onto the train going the other way,... got off to get the right train...oops.. they're closed now... shit.. now what... so I walked... at 1:00 in the morning, from the Arc de Triomph all the way to the hotel which is near Bastille... took me an hour and a half to get there... but the streets were so safe...there were all sorts of people wandering around.. but I was hurting pretty bad from all the walking... :( Saw some lineups for clubs... 15 Euros to get in... I don't think so...that's a lot of money. Saw a ferrari and a sweet ass mercedes parked outside...like hell I'm getting in there... looked pretty upscale and exclusive...they're all scattered all over the place.. litle ones here and there.

Got back to the hotel and crashed...I was pretty damn tired... I leave soon :(

brrr... tunndi

It's cold in Paris... lots of clouds... need the sun to show up at some point here.

I wandered around the streets of Paris last night, it's very nice.. lots of lights and nice (but expensive) places to eat.

The Metro in Paris is very dirrty and confusing compared to London. But it takes a couple of hours and it kinda starts to make a little sense. Make sure to get a map if you ever come by... there's so much to see, and lots of it is within walking distance, which is nice.

Met some people from Alabama (check out www.constructionchannel.tv), China, and Malaysia last night at the hotel.. It seemed very dodgy (THE word for London, everybody uses it) at first, but it has a very nice atmosphere. I renewed my stay there for tonite instead of finding another place. It's close, I know how to get there, and you get a free breakfast.

There was a girl there that was applying for a job with KPMG in accounting or something like that. Well, I got to help her with her online test.. that thing is bloody insane... you'd think it would be something fairly simple.. but nooo... "Assuming the ratio of Members to Non members is the same for Group A as it is for Group B with no increase in total membership. What would the gross sales for period 4 be" oh yeah did I mention that period 4 has 5 weeks in it (written in small print on the bar chart) WTF??? aargh..no wonder I suck at math... give me like 5 minutes per question...maybe... expect someone to do 25 of then in 20 minutes... ya, no wonder they get paid the big bucks.

Well it's almost 12 now, I'm gonna finish up here, brave the cold and head out for more sightseeing. I'm realizing that I really enjoy wandering and taking pictures of things... if anybody knows of a job that is available where I could travel and take pictures... please, seriously, please let me know..

oh and I'll put up pics of Bird Man.. this guy was so cool, all the pigeons were flocking to him and sitting on him and he was kissing them and feeding them and wow, it was a sight to see.

Oh boy.. Exercise day

So here I am in Paris.. figured why not, being so close, I should go there... and here I am... and it's bloody expensive... and nobody speaks english..really.. should have paid attention in French class...Polley voos francaise?

left London this morning, jumped on an Air France flight and got into Paris. Took a while to find the Train when I got out, they really rob you here on the travel pass. It's even looking like I don't need the damn thing, walking from the hotel is good enough.. 3 days... 37 Euros...like 50 bucks a nite..for 3 stinkin days... oh well, what can you do... Looking for another hotel or something... something cheap..Sill Voos Plate

As for the exercise..went Ice skating infront of some museum or hotel.. walked up to the top of the 422 steps on the towers of Notre Dame Cathedral...the views were breathtaking...or maybe it was just the 422 steps to get there.. ;)

Ate Lunch at Rotten ronnies... the europeans have an affliction for putting hasbrowns on top of burgers... personally I think it's great.. but at first glance, catches you off guard.

As for shopping... can't find a damn thing for guys.. but ladies... you'll love it out here... London and Paris.. nothing but shop after shop after shop with cool stuff..

Grillers in the Mist

Go figure a place like Nando's to have something like that written on a shirt.
At first it may not sound funny... but try it with an English accent.. then it really sounds funny.

So this morning, I go for some good ole rotten ronnies (I think I'm addicted) for breaky.. and make my way to catch my bus... but whadda ya know.. the tour is cancelled.. something about a river or something like that... so I got a discount (A whole £9, which isn't too bad if you think about it) off off http://www.astraltravels.co.uk/uk-london-tours/bath_stonehenge_tour.htm
This tour... Stonehenge, the important one was still there, so I went on it.

It was a good tour. The guide was excellent. I got to see the houses that Mary Poppins jumped and danced over in the first part of the movie. Further on, saw Windsor Castle from afar... it's pretty big yo... in the town of Lacock and supposedly stood on the road that the evil man runs across before killing Potters parents.. and some other scenes from the movie http://www.thesnitch.co.uk/site/index.php?class=The%20Snitch&page=Location%20::%20Lacock%20Abbey

Then it was off to Bath, where I saw the old Roman Bath... pretty cool place, kinda like the hot springs... but with a flair of royalty attached. Chilled and walked around there for a bit and then we were off to Stonehenge... but then I was pretty tired.. but walked around, gazed at these large stones that apparently were several tons heavy, and were moved like over 200 miles.. over 4000 years ago.. now that's what I call an accomplishment... mind you, they may have used helicopters... our Canadian Fleet has some that old don't we now?

anyways, pictures are almost uploaded, now I just have to find some time to sort and categorize and title them.

time 2 go check the upload again, looks like it crashed... YAY!!

POS computers

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Ooh, I got to sleep in

Today I got to sleep in, until about 8 or 9.. YAY!
Had breakfast, relaxed, did laundry, chilled on the 'puter.
Finally left around 11 I think and headed to Earls Court.
Managed to find the hotel I get picked up for my tour of Stonehenge tomorrow
http://www.astraltravels.co.uk/uk-london-tours/salisbury_bus_tour.htm
Looks like a lot of fun.... hopefully I won't get abducted by aliens or anything fun like that...beam me up snotty... :)

Got that done, grabbed a bite at Nando's... yup, the original Nando's... much better than that North American crap Y'allz get.

Went for a haircut, she did an ok job, not too shabby, and not very expensive either. I almost ended up at Supercuts.. but this was cheaper by 2 quid.

Tried to find an internet cafe to upload my pictures and for the life of me couldn't find a decent one that had a fast enough link... geez, haven't these people heard of USB and Broadband? anyways, after that adventure I went back to the ticket booth and gave the girl a hard time... I don't know, it's really difficult for me to be very mean to people... (and to those that disagree.. Shut the **** up!) anyways, so I got 5 quid back from her.. after some back and forth banter... 5's better than nothing in my opinion. that's like 12.50 Canadian!

Finally found an Icafe that let me USB and had a decent enough speed. But of course the damn thing had to crash... an hour and a half wasted... :( anyways came back to L'hostel freshened up and headed out for dinner with Cheryl.
Met up at Earls Court road and went to a really cool italian-ish place called Strada. Pretty cool place, the even sound italian. So of course I had to eat pasta (I was convinced that the first month of my travels can be considered vacation time... that way I don't end up gaining 400lbs in the 9 months that I am off...ok well technically the first month of International travel...yeh)
Had the gnocchi with beef..kinda like souped up KD and Mash.. it was really good... maybe even better than the sh!tm!x I made at Gav's place in Victoria. :)
It was good to catch up, can't beleive that I've known Cheryl for so long, yet this was our longest conversation to date. She used to work at Pan way back in the day as a summer student. And she's living out here now and working in Forensic Science...way cool. It was good to catch up on some of the old times and the new, compare notes on London and how good the quality of life is in Calgary.... I realize now that I took a lot for granted living out there with how easy everything is. London is a whole other can of worms.

I finished uploading some of the pictures...need to make room on the camera for more.. hee hee... I found a way around the system here at the hostel so that I can copy the files off of the camera and then u/l them to the website... only works on one of the computers...lol...I'm such a geek.

Anyhoo, gotta get up early in the AM, I purchased some eggs from the Tesco Express (supermarket on 'roids.... way cool concept though) and maybe I'll have some before I head off to the tour tomorrow...mind you now that I think about it, there is a rotten ronnies near by the station...mmm...Cholestorol McMuffin...mmm..mmm...come closer dear breakfast sandwich, my arteries are yearning for your sweet supple goodness...

see being abducted wouldn't be a bad thing...at least I'd entertain the hell out of them damned aliens.

anyways, off to bed... need to sleep so I can zzzzzzz..um.. ya.. whatever he said

What a long day. Lessons Learned

Another long day yesterday. Woke up and found my way to the Tower Bridge. I keep wanting to call it the London Bridge, but it's not. It's very nice.. got the student rate for the tour (hee hee) and got to walk across the foot bridge at the top. It's a very pretty view from up there. That took a bit of time. Met some dude from Tennessee (sp?) who was chillin out while his wife was working in town (now that's how to do it) . After the tour I just wandered and wandered. Ate one of those Cornish Pastries... they were really good. Had Rotten Ronnies and Starbucks as well... mmm.... and so I wandered, and wandered and wandered... ended up in a pretty ratty area of town near a train station called Elephant and Castle in South London? Reminded me of Scarboro... pretty scary, but entertaining. They had a mall there that I wandered through, for those of you familiar with Toronto, I felt like I was back in Thorncliffe. :) they had stores with all sorts of crapola for sale, from bling chains to lingerie, to cheap watches and wallets...flea market styles.
Finally got on the train and headed over to Leicester Square... found a place that set me in the right direction to get a battery for my camera. Wandered through stores on New Oxford Street, there is a place called Schuh... guess what they sell? Shoes...HA HA..
finally found Tottingham Road.. where all the computer and electronic stores are. Went from store to store to find the damn battery... finally find a place with an aftermarket battery, bargain with they guy and buy it... then I leave... I walk into the next store.. and they have the Real Deal battery, for 5 quid more... Feisal's officially a dumbass. So I buy it from them, and go and return it.

Lesson #1: Go to all the stores if you are looking for something, don't get excited and buy it from the first place you find it.

If I had started on the other side of the road, this would have been the first place.

Anyways, so back to Leicester Square to get tickets for the Phantom of the Opera... boy did I get ripped off. I bought from one of those half price ticket stands that they have all over the place. Ya...big mistake.. they sold me £15 tickets for £35... geez... again.. Feisals and Dumbass... so at this point I'm feeling pretty bummed.. Anyways, word of caution if you do go to London... buy your tickets from TicketMaster, the box office, or a place in the square called TKTS they are the only reputable authorized reseller. Needless to say I was pretty pissed.

Lesson #2: Just cuz it's on sale, doesn't mean it's a good deal.

So fine, I picked up me tickets and headed home. Did my hair and then back out to see the show. It wasn't as good as I would have thought. The seats sucked of course, I was waay waay up at the top with a blocked view of the stage... that and the idiots in front of me kept moving their heads...grrr.... so anyways, the performance wasn't that good, I guess I expected better. Not worth seeing in London for sure.

Almost out of time here...

Lesson #3: Look both ways before crossing the road.

I almost got taken out my a car in the morning, I looked, then walked... umm... dumbass... traffic comes from the other side of the road in this place... rest assured, thanks to brakes, I'm ok.

later

Markets'r'us

An update from Sunday, after leaving the internet Cafe, I managed to find myself in a place called Covent Garden. Very nice little market with overpriced shops and entertainment in the courtyards. One asian guy with a really cool looking string instrument that he played with a pick that was like a fingernail extension. The music was very good and had a lot of feeling in it.. until he stopped to check his cell phone...have you heard of handsfree?

There was this duo performance by http://www.charliethe2nd.com/ They were really good, took the audience in to play various parts. Had the cutest little kid help them out, they used him as a coat stand...I'll get the pics up when I have a moment. It was very cute.

Wandered around the market some more, still trying to find a wallet that has a chain on it.. I can find the ones that have eyelets, but they aren't very good ones. I'll keep looking...

So I kept on procrastinating about leaving, and finally find my way to the Toob station.. and lo and behold... I catch a glimpse of heaven....yup, you guessed it.. The French Connection Store...mmm....FCUK..Shopping!!! so I wander in to take a look around my favorite store.. nothing jumped out right away, but as I walked in the store, I see someone from Calgary...what a freakin small world eh? so we chat, a friend of hers is moving to Dubai and it was just so strange to run into someone like that...what a coincidence.

anyways, I left the store, couldn't find any decent shirts..they don't have that much of a selection. Came back, got ready and went to khane. Got the grand tour of the facility ... it's a very nice and beautiful centre. If you are in London, I recommend checking it out. It's At the South Kensington Tube station and they have tours during the day. The Ismailia Centre.

Ate at some dive chinese place with a cold all you can eat buffet... yech.. came home and passed out.