I think I'm more than due to write another installment, its so easy to get blog-lazy!
Getting to Paris was a lot easier than I thought it would be. We caught a tube to the station were the Eurostar starts from, sat down and had a champagne and waited for Ben and Richard. Once they arrived, we all boarded the Eurostar and found our seats. We were off!
The journey takes about two hours travelling, at times, at 300kph. I felt quite sick most of the way there and was very happy to see the lights of Paris draw nearer and the train start slowing.
Stepping out into France was quite a thrill.A sense of adventure fizzed in our spirits. Just being in Paris brings about the feeling that you're doing something awesome, before you even do anything.
We found our hotel, checked in and put our bags down, and went to find a place to eat something. It was too late to find anything fancy, so we had a long walk and then got takeaway before turning in.
The Eiffel Tower
The line was very long but moved quite fast. Waiting in line we were approached by beggars, saw the French militia with machine guns, the French police and got rained on lightly. Once at the front of the line, we caught the lifts up to the very top. The view was amazing!! The thing that the view from the Skytower is missing is an amazing cityscape. Towering over Paris gives you a clear view of how old the city is. There are many clear landmarks to see with the river running through it all. Paris stretches to the horizon! It is truly breathtaking.
The Louvre
Just walking towards the entrance of the Louvre, we entered an ancient setting and were surrounded by historic buildings. The glass pyramid ahead. Descending into the Louvre was exciting. The place was packed with people all moving around freely. In here you are allowed to take photos of everything. The walls and roof are as much artworks are the framed pieces hanging on them. There are statues and sculptures at intervals all through the gallery. The Mona Lisa was sectioned off so that we could only get so close (which wasn't very close) and had UV filtered glass covering so that the pics didn't come out very well. Also there were a lot of people scrambling to get a look. Still, it was good to finally see the smiling lady. After soaking up the enriching centuries of art spanning through the massive building, we walked through the Ancient Egyptian section. This was pretty cool as well. I like all the hieroglyphics! The mummy's were spooky!
Arc de Triomphe and Champs Elysees
The Arc was massive and beautiful close up. The sculpture was magnificent and came out of the walls of the Arc with movement and vigour.
The Champs was a long street of all the French designer shops. From cloth brands to car brands, it was a nice walk full of window shopping. I saw a number of spy shops with weapons and infared goggles and bug sweepers and spy related devices. I bought a nice pair of DC shoes, and Nicola bought some clothes from a store she really liked.
Notre Dame
This was an awesome church inside and out. In the queue, just looking up at the building in all its architectural glory was enriching. The magnificent detail to the walls was truly something to behold. Once inside, the awe continued to unfold. The stained glass windows were beautiful, so finely detailed. The religious statues populated every little room off the main hall, complimented by hundreds of candles. The ceiling was a brilliant canvass of religious expression, the sheer size of the artwork was almost surreal.
Sacre Coeur
This Church on a hill was easily visible in the distance from the Eiffel Tower. We climbed the many steps and dodged the aggressive beggars to get to the base of the church. The view was very impressive, looking over the quaint rooftops of thousands of French people. We then proceeded to climb another 350 steps spirally upwards in a tiny chamber - round and round, constantly upwards. It was very uncomfortable, tiring and dizzying. Once at the top of the towers, the view and experience was worth it - just ;)
After going back down the seemingly endless myriad of stairs, we walked through some quaint french cobbled streets in search of some food. We settled upon a little diner across the road from the Moulon Rouge. After lunch we walked up and down the sex district before setting back.
The River Seinne
We decided to go all out on the French experience, which had to include a river cruise.
A boat that was basically a nice floating restaurant took us slowly up and down the Sienne River. Along the way we saw Paris at night, the most impressive of which was the Eiffel Tower all lit up and shimmering on the black canvass of the sky - a lovely sight. The food was very good and the whole river was beautiful. The whole experience wasn't the cheapest, but I definitely recommend it.
Apart from the tourist attractions, we had a wonderful time just walking around Paris. The streets are overflowing with European charm. A lovely quaint city I'd definitely visit again.
On the way back, we saw Roy, the main character from the IT Crowd series on the tube.
Wednesday, 27 August 2008
Monday, 28 July 2008
Ye oldeTower
On Friday night Nicola and I went to a very nice Italian restaurant in Wimbledon. Apart from that it was a quiet night after a long day.
On Saturday we set out to London Bridge to see the Tower of London.
The Tower of London is not so much one tower, more a castle like scene with many towers and courtyards and lookout points, lots of old buildings containing ancient memorabilia. We saw some magnificant suits of armour with detailed full bodyd engravings lined in gold - very impressive. We walked up lots of staircases to see old feasting rooms, priveys and archer defence points. In one tower, there were lots of carvings in the walls from prisoners of olde times. There was even a re-enactment of a battle to watch, and demonstrations of an old catipult and battering ram. All in all, it was a lot of walking in the hot sun, and up lots of stairs... worth it though.
Next time we go out that way, we'll go up the Tower Bridge to see the view from up there, and visit the floating Naval meuseum.. and perhaps pop into the ancient Church that's around there too.
On Saturday we set out to London Bridge to see the Tower of London.
The Tower of London is not so much one tower, more a castle like scene with many towers and courtyards and lookout points, lots of old buildings containing ancient memorabilia. We saw some magnificant suits of armour with detailed full bodyd engravings lined in gold - very impressive. We walked up lots of staircases to see old feasting rooms, priveys and archer defence points. In one tower, there were lots of carvings in the walls from prisoners of olde times. There was even a re-enactment of a battle to watch, and demonstrations of an old catipult and battering ram. All in all, it was a lot of walking in the hot sun, and up lots of stairs... worth it though.
Next time we go out that way, we'll go up the Tower Bridge to see the view from up there, and visit the floating Naval meuseum.. and perhaps pop into the ancient Church that's around there too.
Monday, 21 July 2008
Culture
On Friday Nicola and I went to Cafe Rouge, a French Restaurant in Wimbledon Village, with John and his girlfriend Rachael. The French cuisine was very good. I had pate for starters, some form of chicken casserole for my main and a Crème brûlée for desert. A bottle of wine and a coffee liquor went well with a great meal and great company. After the meal we went to a bar for a drink. I think we were all ready to call it a night before the first drink was finished, and thats what we did. John and Rachael are really good to hang out with I hope to do it again soon!
On Saturday we woke up and pondered what to do. After much thought (enough to while most of the day away) we decided to go to Trafalgar Square. We made our way there via the tubes and walked out to a beautiful scene of history in concrete . The architecture here was pretty awe-inspiring. After a short walk I noticed that we were on the doorstep of The London National Gallery. Of course we went in! Inside manifested the years of art history and theory I had been raised on as a boy. The art was more impressive and humbling than I imagined. I was reminded of many people and things in those historic rooms. The walls and roof were regal and magnificent. I liked all the greats, but also really enjoyed a lot of artists I hadn't heard of before. we ran out of time before we had seen half of it. I will return to continue my education!!!
I rested on Saturday night and did absolutely nothing.
On Sunday Nicola and I went to the London Comic Convention. It was awesome! So many big pop culture names. We talked to Patrick Stewart and got him to autograph a picture. He signed it "To Mike and Nicola - Patrick Stewart". We also heard him speak in an auditorium as well as Jason Mewes. Nicola got her picture taken with Charlie Weber, and I talked to and shook Claudia Black's hand. They were both cool! Patrick Stewart was awesome! So down to earth!
I bought some new toys - a cool Wolverine figurine of him with his bone claws out, surrounded by a pack of wolves. There was a lot of toys I wanted to get but didn't :(
I saw the guys that draw the cartoon "Cyanide and Happiness". They were so cool! Dressed like the Blues Brothers with wicked accents. They asked what I wanted them to sketch so I said "A pig and an atom bomb?". They sketched it for me and signed it! I'm going to frame it and put it on my wall. Yeah! What a fantastic pop culture filled day.
All in all a well balanced weekend of culture across the scales. I feel enriched because of it.
On Saturday we woke up and pondered what to do. After much thought (enough to while most of the day away) we decided to go to Trafalgar Square. We made our way there via the tubes and walked out to a beautiful scene of history in concrete . The architecture here was pretty awe-inspiring. After a short walk I noticed that we were on the doorstep of The London National Gallery. Of course we went in! Inside manifested the years of art history and theory I had been raised on as a boy. The art was more impressive and humbling than I imagined. I was reminded of many people and things in those historic rooms. The walls and roof were regal and magnificent. I liked all the greats, but also really enjoyed a lot of artists I hadn't heard of before. we ran out of time before we had seen half of it. I will return to continue my education!!!
I rested on Saturday night and did absolutely nothing.
On Sunday Nicola and I went to the London Comic Convention. It was awesome! So many big pop culture names. We talked to Patrick Stewart and got him to autograph a picture. He signed it "To Mike and Nicola - Patrick Stewart". We also heard him speak in an auditorium as well as Jason Mewes. Nicola got her picture taken with Charlie Weber, and I talked to and shook Claudia Black's hand. They were both cool! Patrick Stewart was awesome! So down to earth!
I bought some new toys - a cool Wolverine figurine of him with his bone claws out, surrounded by a pack of wolves. There was a lot of toys I wanted to get but didn't :(
I saw the guys that draw the cartoon "Cyanide and Happiness". They were so cool! Dressed like the Blues Brothers with wicked accents. They asked what I wanted them to sketch so I said "A pig and an atom bomb?". They sketched it for me and signed it! I'm going to frame it and put it on my wall. Yeah! What a fantastic pop culture filled day.
All in all a well balanced weekend of culture across the scales. I feel enriched because of it.
Friday, 18 July 2008
Here comes the weekend
Its friday afternoon and Ive just finnished work. Sitting here at my desk getting ready for the weekend. I worked a 14 hour day yesterday and am very happy that I get to rest for a couple days... well not work anyway :p
I just bought an Ipod Touch 16G online! Trying to use myt phone as an mp3 player was too much frustration, especially on a busy moving train. I'm going to have too many gadgets to carry soon!
It gets delivered tomorrow, I cant wait. I always look forward to the toys arriving *feels like christmas*
I've been eating a lot of Thai lunches with workmates recently. Thai red curry is my fave.
Oop, looks like Im needed across the office. I'll let you know how the weekend goes!
I just bought an Ipod Touch 16G online! Trying to use myt phone as an mp3 player was too much frustration, especially on a busy moving train. I'm going to have too many gadgets to carry soon!
It gets delivered tomorrow, I cant wait. I always look forward to the toys arriving *feels like christmas*
I've been eating a lot of Thai lunches with workmates recently. Thai red curry is my fave.
Oop, looks like Im needed across the office. I'll let you know how the weekend goes!
Tuesday, 15 July 2008
tubes, zoos and shoes
Lately on the tube Ive been reading about local knife crime and the situation in Zimbabwe and listening to audio books. The audio books solve the problem of getting travel sick from reading on the tube... great stuff. Perhaps I should invest in an ipod. My phone isn't designed to be an mp3 player and is annoying to operate as one.
We have a place now by the way. Its conveniently located in Wimbledon and has 3 floors. The top of which is ours. The attic serves as quite a nice room really. A good size and private, noise free and self contained.
Ive been working late every Thursday, doing things that I cant do during work hours. Hopefully my paycheck comes as a nice surprise. Ill be staying in late again this Thursday. Work is ticking along nicely. It looks like I will be getting an underling to come and learn from me for an hour a day, who may eventually move into the IT team. I have to find stuff for him to do, and train him up in anything before letting him touch it.
On the weekend just gone, I went out to the pubs around my work and had drinks with Nicola, Jarrod and Clem. We didn't really get too drunk, but stayed low key on Saturday in preparation for Saturday night. That was quite a good night, met up with a few groups, who all got on well, and had a blast of a night. The club we ended up in was pretty cool, although small. The people there made it fun!
On Sunday, we went to the London Zoo. I always like going to the zoo. It always puts things into perspective and reminds me that theres more to the earth than these concrete jungles we stick to. Favourites were the snakes and frogs, the African hunting dogs and the monkeys. All the walking to, from and at the zoo made me realise I need new shoes.
We have a place now by the way. Its conveniently located in Wimbledon and has 3 floors. The top of which is ours. The attic serves as quite a nice room really. A good size and private, noise free and self contained.
Ive been working late every Thursday, doing things that I cant do during work hours. Hopefully my paycheck comes as a nice surprise. Ill be staying in late again this Thursday. Work is ticking along nicely. It looks like I will be getting an underling to come and learn from me for an hour a day, who may eventually move into the IT team. I have to find stuff for him to do, and train him up in anything before letting him touch it.
On the weekend just gone, I went out to the pubs around my work and had drinks with Nicola, Jarrod and Clem. We didn't really get too drunk, but stayed low key on Saturday in preparation for Saturday night. That was quite a good night, met up with a few groups, who all got on well, and had a blast of a night. The club we ended up in was pretty cool, although small. The people there made it fun!
On Sunday, we went to the London Zoo. I always like going to the zoo. It always puts things into perspective and reminds me that theres more to the earth than these concrete jungles we stick to. Favourites were the snakes and frogs, the African hunting dogs and the monkeys. All the walking to, from and at the zoo made me realise I need new shoes.
Sunday, 6 July 2008
aww'right guv
Its been a while since my last post, so hopefully I remember everything.
Works been cool. Lots of day to day work to get through as well as a bunch of cool projects to design and implement. Theres enough brain-testing work to keep things very interesting. I've had more linux experience here than ever before. I like the fact that we're using a lot of technologies in combination with each other. Everyone at work are quite friendly and social, they often have drinks after work and so on. Good company!
Since the day at the Polo, we went and saw the London Aquarium.
It wasn't the best aquarium Ive seen, but it is always good to see cool sea creatures!
There were cool looking jellyfish, lots of the cast of Finding Nemo, turtles, piranha's stingrays and sharks!
The jellyfish were cool to see up close in the water. The stingrays where awesome!! They swam up to the surface to greet anyone who walked up and stuck their wings up out of the water as if to wave. Piranhas are kinda scary looking..they all just 'sit' and wait in the water... placid and calm with deadly patience. The turtles where super cute in their wicked enclosure. Sharks as always held me in awe for quite a while. All in all a good day out.
Since then we went to an event called The Church! Quite an experience.
Its a big building full of people drinking and dancing to rock music. We got there at about 12 mid day and lined up to get in. In the line you could buy beer coupons to turn in at the bar. Once in we got our beers and went to the massive dance floor and hung out for a bit.
In the rafters, there were camera men scanning the crowds like snipers. Every time they saw something interesting or weird looking, the images would appear on the big screens around the place with comments and jokes written in text underneath them.
The music went on for a while until the stage shows began. There were strippers and magicians and comedians.. all with music and dancing filled intervals. Everyone was in a good mood, there were no bad vibes or fights or anything like that.
At about 3pm, it finished up and we poured out onto the street. By 3, it felt like we'd been in a club all night, and coming out into the sunny afternoon was pretty crazy.
We had a kebab in true UK style and moved on to some bars for more drinks. By that stage I was pretty much ready to go home, so we did. Man I had such a headache by the time we got home! But the experience was a blast.
Going to the pub is a culture thing here and I've done it a lot. I will often get lunch or dinner or drinks or any or all of the above!
I've been going out a lot and havent found any time to catch up on games or tv shows yet. Perhaps things will quieten down at some point.
Works been cool. Lots of day to day work to get through as well as a bunch of cool projects to design and implement. Theres enough brain-testing work to keep things very interesting. I've had more linux experience here than ever before. I like the fact that we're using a lot of technologies in combination with each other. Everyone at work are quite friendly and social, they often have drinks after work and so on. Good company!
Since the day at the Polo, we went and saw the London Aquarium.
It wasn't the best aquarium Ive seen, but it is always good to see cool sea creatures!
There were cool looking jellyfish, lots of the cast of Finding Nemo, turtles, piranha's stingrays and sharks!
The jellyfish were cool to see up close in the water. The stingrays where awesome!! They swam up to the surface to greet anyone who walked up and stuck their wings up out of the water as if to wave. Piranhas are kinda scary looking..they all just 'sit' and wait in the water... placid and calm with deadly patience. The turtles where super cute in their wicked enclosure. Sharks as always held me in awe for quite a while. All in all a good day out.
Since then we went to an event called The Church! Quite an experience.
Its a big building full of people drinking and dancing to rock music. We got there at about 12 mid day and lined up to get in. In the line you could buy beer coupons to turn in at the bar. Once in we got our beers and went to the massive dance floor and hung out for a bit.
In the rafters, there were camera men scanning the crowds like snipers. Every time they saw something interesting or weird looking, the images would appear on the big screens around the place with comments and jokes written in text underneath them.
The music went on for a while until the stage shows began. There were strippers and magicians and comedians.. all with music and dancing filled intervals. Everyone was in a good mood, there were no bad vibes or fights or anything like that.
At about 3pm, it finished up and we poured out onto the street. By 3, it felt like we'd been in a club all night, and coming out into the sunny afternoon was pretty crazy.
We had a kebab in true UK style and moved on to some bars for more drinks. By that stage I was pretty much ready to go home, so we did. Man I had such a headache by the time we got home! But the experience was a blast.
Going to the pub is a culture thing here and I've done it a lot. I will often get lunch or dinner or drinks or any or all of the above!
I've been going out a lot and havent found any time to catch up on games or tv shows yet. Perhaps things will quieten down at some point.
Monday, 9 June 2008
Polo
This weekend we went to the Polo with Alex and Jo. It was such a sunny day, bright and hot. On the way to the park we picked up all sorts of picnic goodies to go with our picnic blanket.
We found a little patch of grass to put the blanket down and spent the day munching on cheese and olives and crackers and chips.
The horses where great to watch thundering down the field after a ball flying towards the goals. It must be so hard to hit that little ball at that speed with a little mallet whilst on a horse with other horses coming toward you at ramming speed! But these guys did it well.
For me the best thing about it was the food and sun and company. But the polo was a good backdrop I must say.
Drinking a few beers in that sun really hit us. When we got home we all had a lie down.
A good day out.
We found a little patch of grass to put the blanket down and spent the day munching on cheese and olives and crackers and chips.
The horses where great to watch thundering down the field after a ball flying towards the goals. It must be so hard to hit that little ball at that speed with a little mallet whilst on a horse with other horses coming toward you at ramming speed! But these guys did it well.
For me the best thing about it was the food and sun and company. But the polo was a good backdrop I must say.
Drinking a few beers in that sun really hit us. When we got home we all had a lie down.
A good day out.
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