You Just Got Served!

A dish of new info, that is.
So in the past few days, I've hit up Tate Britain, Tate Modern, the National Gallery, the National Portrait Gallery (all art museums), the Science Museum (they have mechanical differential calculators!), the British Museum (archeological stuff), the Museum of Natural History, and the Victoris and Albert Museum. All were excellent, and all were free. I saw Trafalger Square, Westminster Abbey and Westminster Cathedral. I can't post pictures of everything, because I can't flip my images right now, but here's a few just to satiate your appetites.

The National Gallery






Victoria and Albert Museum

Cleopatra

A Crystal Skull

The front of a Greek Temple (the British Museum actually has tons of stolen stuff, including half of the decor of the Parthenon out of Athens).

And before I forget:

You Just Got Served!
(by a monkey)

Guess That City!

Time for a game of Guess That City! Here's a hint:

Still no too sure? Here's another hint:

If these don't clear things up, you need to get out more.

I tell you, London is a whole lot of city, it's kind of overwhelming, but amazing at the same time. Lots of shopping for those interested. Just remeber, at any time, there is no loading at any time.

I Have Arrived

Hello everyone, just posting to let you all know that I've arrived safe and sound in the big city itself. After a 5 hour flight delay and 2 complimentary meals, I'm pretty exhausted, so no pics or anything for now. London has got personality, if nothing else, and it's nearly impossible to get around. But it's really neat, and if you get a chance, I think you should check it out.

So Long, Folks

So, tomorrow's the big day: I'm flying out at 9:00 PM. I'll wake up on Sunday in London, and I've gotta say, I'm so excited I can't sleep. I was going to post some action shots of Julie removing my beard and mustache, but unfortunately, they accidentally got deleted by yours truly. Hopefully I can avoid making that mistake again.
Anyway, talk to you all on the other side of the pond. A special shoutout to my little sweetheart, I'll miss you Julie.

Return to the City

Yesterday, Julie and I made one final treck into the big city. We made a stop at the gorgeous public gardens and wandered around there for a while.

After our stop at the garden, we wandered around the city, walked along the waterfront, ate some Sushi and did some shopping. We had Sushi at a place called Mamoyo, and it was to die for. Below our some pictures of the Harbour Hopper, (a bus that can go in the water and gives tours) some cool houses we saw (most of Halifax is made up of old Victorian style houses that are huge and really nice). There's also a statue of Samuel Cunard, noted for his very large feet.

While we were in the city, we made a stop by MEC, and Julie bought me an early birthday present: it's a watch, but it's also a compass! On top of that, the watch has an internal calendar for storing upcoming events/appointments, it can manage three time-zones, has tons of timer and alarm settings, is waterproof to 100m, and has a really neat indiglo feature, where only the numbers light up instead of the whole watch face. In short, the watch is awesome.



That's all for now, I'll be back for one final update before I head out across the pond. Take care, y'all.

We're Here, We're Queer, We Don't Want Any More Bears!

Hello folks, it's been a while, and I've got some new news. First things first, Julie's mom gave me a backpacking haircut, as seen below. Maybe this week, I'll shave my beard?

Since my last update, there's been a lot of rain, so we haven't done a whole lot. We spent a day in the city, spent a day swimming in Julie's neighbours' pool, and we went to Shubenacadie wildlife park.

To start things off, here's a couple of photos of Halifax. The city's got a really great downtown, with lots of local businesses and restaurants, serving pretty much anything you can think of. For example, the Freak Lunchbox specializes in old, hard-to-find candies.

We met up with Julie's friends Ashley and Jeffrey, and had some Cows Ice Cream, which was excellent. Wandering down around the harbour, we ran into Theodore the Tugboat, which blew my mind a little.

Shubenacadie Wildlife Park was pretty neat. It's mostly just animals from in and around Nova Scotia, but most of the animals you don't see all that often. Just as some examples, we saw:

Peacocks

Raccoons

Bobcats

Skunks

Groundhogs

Eagles

Horny Birds (This one peacock was chasing other birds all over the park)

Cougars

Whatever This Thing Is

Evil Owls

Caribou (check out the rack on this thing)

Reminders Not To Touch The Waterfowl

And of course, Bears

We had a great time, saw plenty of animals, and Julie found her distant cousin Wilbear.

That's all for now. Signing out from Nova Scotia, this is Christian van Someren.

The Halifax Explosion

An explosion of new info, that is. I've been in the Fax for about a week now, and I've got tons of new stuff to write about. Despite a bit of rain, Julie's family have been busy, busy, busy showing me around the province. First things first, though, I had to shave half my beard to keep Julie from fussing.

Last Tuesday, we hit up Point Pleasant Park, on the very tip of the Halifax Peninsula. Just last week, it was declared that the water in the harbour was safe to swim in for the first time in 30 years. So of course, we had to try it out.

The park is really nice, despite extensive damage caused by Hurricane Juan 5 years ago. There's a few old forts and a cool seal/tree trunk sculpture, pictured below.

This past weekend was really busy. We went to Peggy's Cove, Lunnenberg, Grand Pre and Blomidon. Peggy's Cove is gorgeous, I guess there's a reason it's the most photographed lighthouse in the world.

There's a bunch of neat tidal pools around, and the waves crashing into the rocks around the lighthouse is a sight to behold.

The town itself is so quaint, I don't know how to describe it. I guess it's the essence of the maritimes.

While we were in the area, we had to stop by Paddy's road, and the Swiss Air Memorials. There are two memorials (below), which triangulate on the crash site of Swiss Air Flight 111, which crashed unexpectedly 10 years ago.

Unfortunately, I didn't get any pictures of Lunnenberg. Needless to say, it's one of those things you just have to see. The village is entirely Victorian, with those big old houses packed onto tiny old streets; it's something else.

Our next day consisted mainly of Grand Pre, an old Acadian settlement, and Blomidon, which is in the Bay of Fundy, with tides up to 15 meters high (the highest tides in the world). Just as an example, check out these boats, which can sail away only during high tide or with lots of effort.





Grand Pre is a neat little place, where you can learn the Acadian tragedy. There's some nice grounds, with a statue of Evangeline, a fictional character symbolizing the Acadian people. The Acadians won most of their farmland by building dykes out into the Bay of Fundy. They also wear Sabos and build windmills, leading Julie and I to believe that the Acadians were secretly Dutch.

While we were there, we also saw the rare yellow-billed white duck, now with affros.

Blomidon itself is a gorgeous spot, right on the edge of the Acadian valley. The red mud flats are totally covered during high tide, but when we went, the ocean was half a kilometer away. Julie was very happy to be reunited with her ocean roots.

That's all for now, take care folks.