Pizza, Pasta and So Much More!!

(by Peter Hoskin)

So three days after getting home from Berlin, I was boarding a plane to Italy, Pisa to be exact. I mean, when in Europe I may as well see everything I can, right? And I was going with my two best traveling buddies Jae Han and Brendan Coady!

Italy had been on our radar for a few months, but it was a bit too far to reach by train or car and flights were expensive. Then one day Jae found a deal on Ryanair for 8 Euros each way from Nürnberg airport to Pisa. By the time we booked, the price had gone up a bit, but was still super cheap! The plan was to arrive Thursday in Pisa, make our way to Florence and back and fly home on Sunday afternoon.

I let Brendan do the planning for the trip since he had been to Italy on a high school trip. He also had a friend who was living in Florence for eight months who could show us around.

It was only a three day work week, but it seemed really slow. Finally, Thursday finished and I met Brendan and Jae at the airport. Inter-Eurozone flights are so simple! Security was a breeze and there was no line up. Ryanair is pretty cheap and they pack as many seats as they can into the Boeing 737, so I felt a bit cramped. Jae was ok though. It was only 1.3 hours which went by fast.

After landing, we were able to walk to our hostel (Pisa is not very big). That was an interesting night, I wish I had had a better sleep but it was a bed for only 8€ so I couldn't complain. The shower was a bit of an adventure though :(

We got up early on Friday to get to the Tower of Pisa before all of the tourists crowded in. We snapped some classic pics and went to the ticket office to see how much it was to go up the tower. The damage was 18€, but we went for it. How many times will we have a chance to climb the leaning tower of Pisa? Well, two if you are Brendan Coady!

Climbing those steps to the top was quite unique. Going around and around was really cool! And the view from the top was great, and we snapped some more pics.

The tower was pretty much the only tourist destination in Pisa and the weather was not great, so we moved on to Florence by train.

After getting a bit lost in the big city, we found our hostel which was only a stones throw from the Duomo, a huge cathedral in Florence. We checked in and then asked the manager for a recommendation of a good pizza place in the area. He said the Clubhouse was nice. And oh man, it was good!

Then we had some gelato, the first round of many!

We looked around the Duomo, quite an amazing building if you ask me! It was the first cathedral I had seen that had a coloured exterior. The inside was really nice too.

Brendan messaged his friend Lindsay and she met us and took us to, in her opinion, the best gelato shop in the city.. and it was pretty good. Then we went for some more pizza. I was so full after that, but it was all I imagined it to be :) We also climbed up a hill to get a good view of the city:

Since Friday was filled with pizza, Saturday was going to be the pasta-and-so-much-more day! We got up early, hoping to beat the tourists to the Uffizi art gallery, but the line wasn't moving at all, so we bailed. We agreed that it was better to enjoy the great weather than to be inside anyway. We checked out the San Lorenzo market and Brendan negotiated like a pro to get us some nice scarves and ties at one of the vendors. We had pasta for lunch at a place called Za-Za's which was really nice.

We had gelato number 3 of the weekend and a place we stumbled upon. I think it was better than the first two, and the server heaped the stuff in the cup instead of only just filling it to the rim. We liked it so much we went back later in the day for number 4!

We met up with Lindsay again and she showed us her art studio where she had been in show the previous Thursday. In my opinion, art is a million times better when the artist is there to explain! Her studio was definitely a highlight of the trip, and she showed us her classmates' pieces as well. Super cool.

For supper we wanted to experience the best of Florence so we went to a restaurant called La Madia and ordered spaghetti and the bistecka Firenze and the house wine. This was all really good, but totalled to be a bit more than we had thought. I don't want to talk about it. But the food was fantastic! Here's the slab of meat that we got

Sunday we got up early to catch the train back to Pisa. We walked past our favourite gelato place hoping for another taste, but it wasn't open yet :(

The flight home was uneventful, though we were all pretty tired. One thing that was funny at the Pisa airport was when we lined up at the gate and then boarded a bus to take us to our plane. We thought it was taking us a few kilometres away, maybe to a different terminal. But then it stopped less than fifty meters from the terminal and let us out at the plane we could all see from the terminal!

To top off the weekend, we flew over the Alps and could see the mountain tops peeking through the clouds! Jae said that this view made the plane ride worth it, even if we hadn't gone to Italy!

So that was a pretty sweet weekend, during which the three of us mastered the "power nap" so we could maximize our day and night times :) Ask Brendan about this if you get a chance!

At the moment, we have returned from co-op and are in our first week back at school. I would still like to write about our trip to Amsterdam, but it could be a week. Stay tuned!

Thanks for reading!

Peter

Note: "at the moment" is a phrase that Germans speaking English use all the time! At first I resisted using it, but now I like the sound of it.. though it looks weird written down.

Frohe Ostern (Happy Easter!) in Berlin

(by Peter Hoskin)

Again, my apologies for the delay of posts.. I have no excuse.

Wow. Berlin. What a weekend! I think it was agreed between Brendan, Jae, and myself that Berlin is a city and a weekend that we will never forget. Ever. Particularly Jae, but you can ask him about that :). We spent this past Easter 6500 kilometres away from home, in one of the most unique and cultured cities in Europe!

We had literally been planning this trip since day one. We said that on Easter weekend we would go north to Berlin and meet up with Stefan who is from the capital (Stefan is one of the Germans who came to Canada last fall). Finally the end of March was near and plans were forming. We decided not to take the super-high-speed ICE train, but take the slower "regional" trains. This saved us a fortune (about 200 Euros!), but the trade off was it took an extra 3 hours to get there.

Jae had high expectations for Berlin. I caught this quote from him during the train ride: "My expectation for Berlin is Munich multiplied by 3 plus total Switzerland multiplied by 2 plus Prague multiplied by 0.7." So the bar was very high, and we were about to find out just how awesome Berlin really is!

Brendan and Jae came over to my place on the Thursday night and we got an early start on Friday morning, intending to catch the 5:59 train towards Nürnberg. Of course that was the train that had technical problems and just did not show up. So we caught the next one 20 minutes later, and therefore missed our connection in Nürnberg. Not the greatest start to the weekend, but we weren't even mad.

So 9 hours later we rolled into the Berlin Hauptbanhof (main station), which is actually a really amazing building! We made our way to our hostel, the Industriepalast (I highly recommend this one), located in the east side of the city, very close to the East Side Gallery. The building was an old warehouse that had been renovated and was actually quite modern-looking inside. Jae and Brendan had heard of a good Vietnamese restaurant so we went for some pho. The place was called Monsieur Vuong and I think this was my first time having Vietnamese cuisine. It was pretty good! It may also have been my first time using chop sticks.. but I bailed early and used the fork :) I need to work on that skill!

That night we met up with Stefan for some Berlin nightlife. While hanging out, Stefan drew a walking path for us and labeled some of the things to see on a map that was given to us at the hostel. The rest of the night was off the record (but you should ask us about it :)

Saturday was an early morning and we intended to follow Stefan's plan along the main street in Berlin. Major hits of the day included the East Side Gallery, the Brandenburg Gate, and a Volkswagen show room, just to name a few. We walked a lot that Saturday. A lot. Here is a picture of us in front of the gate (the fourth guy is Adrian, a friend of Jae's from Eurocopter who joined us for the day).

This is a funny picture of a guy in a lederhosen-morph-suit standing in front of a beer-table-bicycle. Only in Germany!

We also found the Canadian Embassy and Jae pulled out his flag for this pic. We were rocking the Canada gear the whole weekend!

By supper time we were ready for a good hearty German meal. But the restaurant we chose based on a tripadvisor recommendation was quite expensive, so we moved on. Then we found a super hipster restaurant which was also expensive and walked out of there as well. Then we found an authentic German restaurant but it was packed with people, too bad. So we settled on an Argentinean steakhouse where we had some steak. Jae was unimpressed by the portion size, but I enjoyed my turkey steak with mozerella and pineapple (a weird combination, but it was good!).

Sunday was not an early morning, but we were able to pack a lot into the day. First stop was the Ritter Sport Schokowelt (that's Chocolate World for all you non-German-speakers). I have never seen so many chocolate bars in one place! We took some cool pics and each picked up 2kg of chocolate goodness. I have never purchased so much chocolate at one time in my life! Here's Jae with the bag of chocolate:

And some other chocolates that we found.. like I said, a lot!

As a side note, Jae said that he has consumed more chocolate in the three months since he's been in Germany than in the rest of his life combined! It is so good and so cheap :)

Next on our list was the German national history museum. We scored a sweet student discount and said we would only spend 2 hours in the building. This was one thing Jae was really looking forward to, as I have discovered he is a big history buff. The museum explained German history from Roman times right up to the present. Therefore, there was a lot of stuff to look at and read. What I found interesting were the old maps of Europe and the world and how the countries (and continent proportions?!) changed through time. Two hours came and went and we were approaching three. Jae was only a quarter of the way through, but we called it at that. He even seemed relieved that we came to get him! It was time for some currywurst!

Currywurst is basically cut up sausage with ketchup and curry powder, but it is a classic Berlin food. There was a stand selling it hot, just outside the museum so we each got some. We later went in search of one of the famous Berlin currywurst restaurants, but it was closed :(

Another unique tourist attraction from Berlin in the Buddy Bear. Actually there are hundreds of them around the city, and Jae tried to take pictures of them all. We must have seen close to twenty!

There were a few more things on our list and we wanted to enjoy the beautiful weather (not actually, it was cold the whole time). We visited the holocaust memorial which was quite solemn. And also Checkpoint Charlie, another historic location from the Cold War. That night we went out to Andel's hotel and went up to the Skybar where we could watch the sun set on a cloudy Berlin skyline, and watch the city light up.

Monday was an early morning as we wanted to grab some breakfast before our train home. We also each picked up a Berlin t-shirt at a souvenir shop. Then it was time to go back to the Hauptbanhof where we searched all over for the 'Berliner' doughnuts but came up empty handed. But we got to look around the big station! A short (read 'long') eight hours later we were back in Nürnberg and going our separate ways. I was home at 9 I think and had been on the rails since 11:30.


[extra info here!] For those of you who didn't understand Brendan's last post, let me explain. 
I think the first three or four times I saw Jae after he arrived in Germany he would tell me a bit about his town of Donauwörth. It was usually a few fun facts and history tidbits. But it seemed that he would always include something like "... and Donauwörth is the smallest city that has ICE stop..." The next time I saw him he was telling us about the monestary where he lives and I came in with "Did you know [pause] that Donauwörth is the smallest city with ICE?"  Brendan and I burst out laughing. From then it became an ongoing joke between us. Now you know :)

DID YOU KNOW

... that Donauworth is the smallest city with an ICE train station?

It is because it is a train hub - it is between Augsburg, Munich, Stuttgart and Nuremberg.

Now you know.

A Weekend in Stuttgart

Hello there!

It has been quite some time since I have written anything on here, but I want to try to catch you up on last weekend.

So my two other compadres - Jae and Peter - had planned a skiing adventure to go to a small mountain in the south of Germany. Having already been skiing once with my German twin Tobi, I thought I might sit this one out and try to save some money for some of the other exciting adventures we have planned.

So I voted to head to Stuttgart for the day. I had not been to Stuttgart other than initially when flying over from London, but the only thing Peter and I were able to see what the train station and underground. First impressions of a foreign country where nothing is in English were not so great, but I thought I would give it another go.

I loved Stuttgart. What a city. This is a city that has been brought up on the back of the automotive industry, has continually strived to be a renown European hotspot for travellers and locals alike, and promises much more than simply a historic car museum or two - although they are very nice.

I wanted to see as much of Stuttgart as I could in one day - particularly the things that I know Peter and Jae would not be quite as keen on seeing. Things like the Mercedes museum and the football stadium I decided to pass on, because I know Peter and Jae would want to see those things too, so I ended up wandering mostly through churches and into art galleries.

Stuttgart has an incredible art gallery. Some of the artwork in there is world class to say the least. Picassos, Andy Warhols, even a few modern exhibitions. On Saturdays the main gallery is free, but I was really interested in seeing the Modern Art gallery they had recently put in called Fluxus. It takes a group of artists in the 1960s who are convinced that creating the opposite of what is conventionally considered "art" and producing anti-art pieces is the future of the profession. Although their message paved the road for modernism, post-modernism and many other spectacular artists, including my personal favourite - street art - I found the exhibition rather dull and overdone. If given the opportunity to see it, probably pass on that one, unless you are a real art history buff and like that kind of thing.

Next I visited the Opera House which I was lucky enough to get a good look inside while no one was there to stop me. I really wanted to get tickets to that evening's performance of Romeo and Juliet by the Stuttgart Ballet School, but I was too late to make it to the box office, which closed at 2pm on Saturdays. Apparently, it is possible to get student rush tickets for 8 Euros, and considering Stuttgart has a world-class ballet school, that sounded pretty good to me. I am not a huge fan of ballet, but considering there is very little dialogue, I feel it is one of the few things I can watch and understand, as the German barrier is still alive and well.

I ventured through the old town and saw some very elaborate churches. I wandered down the shopping district, and though some of the stores looked very nice, I think I may have to come back when I have a REAL job, and maybe some money in the bank.

I did manage to go to the Porsche Museum, which was really inspirational and made me fall in love with Mechanical Engineering again. I think I may have been born one generation too late, because a lot of the designs are things that I think I could make, if given the opportunity. The passion and degree of quality that goes into a Porsche is above and beyond what I expected. There is more than just an expectation of greatness when you say you are buying or designing a Porsche - there is a passion to be better than everything else. Where there is passion and hard work, there will inevitably be success, and seeing how well Porsche does, they are a testament to a generation-old tradition of being excellent in everything they do. Some cars are inevitably nicer than others, but I love that Porsche has never really made a "bad" car. They are consistently excellent, and I love that. I think maybe for my next co-op I would like to work for Porsche. One can dream, right?

I still have not seen a football match in Germany, but we hope to change that next weekend. I will update you then.

Thanks for reading!

- Brendan

PS: Sorry there are no pictures - my camera wasn't working. I think I have it fixed now, so I will take some more the next time I go!

der Schweiz

(by Peter Hoskin)

Sorry for the delay on this post.. perhaps you have already seen some photos on facebook, but I want to take a few minutes to give you some background stories :)

I went to Switzerland two weekends ago for four days with my four great pals: Jae, Brendan, Chris, and Stefan. Chris is also an engineering student from Waterloo working at Eurocopter and Stefan is his German "twin" and we got to know him during last fall term at school. For this trip, Chris did the planning of what cities we would see and which hostels we would stay at. Here's a map of our adventure:

This was the weekend of February 9th and 10th. I took the Friday and Monday off to make it a four day weekend so that we could see all we wanted to see. So, I left home on Thursday after work and met Jae and Chris in Donauwörth and then we found Stefan and Brendan. That night we didn't do much, and tried to get to sleep early since it was going to be an early morning.

On Friday we were on the road by 5 am in our sweet BMW. The driving was a slow at the start because it had snowed about 15 cm in the night and not all the roads were plowed. We drove south and crossed into Austria and then shortly after, into Switzerland and drove to our first stop: Zurich. At the train station we found a map of the downtown area and some Swiss Franks at the exchange desk. The map included a suggested route to walk around the city which we followed roughly. We saw some old buildings and churches and went up the tower at one of them it had a nice view. We also walked down one of the main streets and did some window shopping, some of the watches were really expensive, in the ball park of 150 grand! We went in some chocolate shops and bought some really expensive macaroons called Luxemburgerli. These are famous treats from the company Confiserie Sprüngli in Zurich. They were pretty good but not maybe worth what Jae and I paid. We walked back to the car and headed to Lucerne for the evening.

We arrived in Lucerne in early evening and dropped our stuff at the Jugendherberge Luzern, our accommodations for the night. We met an Australian named Paul, a journalist staying at the same hostel. He was very friendly so we asked if he wanted to join us for supper. We found an Italian restaurant and had some pizza and pasta.

Aside: Just a bit of background, the reason we went to Switzerland this weekend was because of the carnival/festival that was going on. It is called "Fasching" and it's a Roman Catholic carnival celebrated in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. It runs for about a week, and involves everyone dressing in costumes and celebrating in the streets with music and events (usually late into the night). I've been told that something similar is Mardi Gras in New Orleans.

So this is where our trip became a little more of an adventure. While we were at the restaurant, Paul asked the waitress what we should do that night to take in some of the carnival, and somehow we got invited to hang out with her and her friend Tania before going to the old town. So we met up with them, but by the time we went down to the town everything had finished. It was pretty cold, maybe that's why it finished earlier than predicted. It was pretty late so Jae and I decided to head back to the hostel, and the others went to experience some of the Swiss night life. I was out like a light as soon as my head hit the pillow, nothing like a 23 hour day. The others didn't get back till 5 ish for a 25 hour day!

We planned to sleep in on Saturday but we had to check out by 10:00 so it wasn't much. Breakfast was included and it was pretty decent, cereal, fresh bread, and juice were good. Then we walked back to downtown Lucerne for some sightseeing. Because of the Fasching festival, many people were in costumes and there were bands walking around playing music. Check out these costumes!

We walked and walked and walked. We even met a girl who had red Canada mittens, but she was Swiss. Then we left Lucerne and took the road to Interlaken for supper, but stopped at Brienz for some pics along the way. This was our attempted timed-photo to have everyone jumping.. it didn't quite work out, but the view is nice!

Then we moved on to the small town of Lauterbrunnen where we found our hostel, the Hotel Jungfrau.  This town is in a valley between two mountain ridges and is a popular destination for skiers, tourists and hikers. Here's a picture of the hotel, the cliff in the background is actually a huge waterfall.

We woke up at 6 on Sunday and started the trek up one of the mountains, but not on foot... There was a gondola, a train, another gondola, and another gondola before we reached the summit of Schilthorn! It. Was. Cold. -20 Celsius plus wind chill at the peak but the weather was fantastic. Not a cloud in the sky and we could see for hundreds of kilometres. We had a buffet breakfast at this rotating restaurant and then took some unparalleled pics from the observation deck.  (btw, the breakfast had waffles with REAL Canadian Maple Syrup!! I was so happy, I hadn't had any in over a month!)

We watched an info video and saw a bit of the James Bond movie that featured the building at the top of the mountain. We stayed up for a few hours of the morning, bought some postcards and then headed back down. The pictures we took can barely describe the view we had from up there at 2970m, you'll have to go to find out :)
This pic to the right is of us showing of our Canadian pride!




In the halfway-up-village of Mürren we did some hiking and then said goodbye to Brendan who had to be back for work on Monday. The four of us remaining continued hiking and hiking and getting sunburned. The weather was fantastic, and by mid afternoon we had worked up a sweat and had to teak a break...

We went to a place called Hotel Bellevue for supper, and I had some authentic cheese fondue. It wasn't really what I expected since there was a strong white wine taste but it was a true Swiss experience. Then we had an hour before the train came so Jae "borrowed" a sled and we took turns sliding down a small hill on it.

This type of sled is quite popular in this area of Europe, and there were a lot of people (even grown-ups without kids!) sledding down the mountain. We caught the train back to the valley and there was talk of some après ski, but were too tired to go to the one bar in Lauterbrunnen.

On Monday morning we took the 100 year old train to the town of Wengen (the other side of the valley) to do some more hiking. The view was stunning, the trails were steep and there was so much snow!

And yes, I did jump off the path and land in a pile of snow... but props to Jae Han for taking this photo, well done. At lunch, I bought a loaf of bread and we went back down the mountain. We got back in the Beamer and headed back home to Germany.

Good trip :)

More than once during this trip we said that "next time" we have to do this and that. So the plan is to come back for the "next time." Actually, we talked about planning two next times, one in the winter and one in the summer. In the winter we want to go skiing or at least go sledging on the mountain. In the summer there is mountain biking and some hiking trails that aren't open in winter. But not this term, we have learned that the Schweiz is very expensive. Overall, I think the trip was worth it and I would recommend each place we went!

P.S. thanks for reading all the way to the end :)

If you order a London Fog in London, do you ask for a Fog?

So it has been a really long time since I have posted anything here, but in the promise to not miss anything, I am going to do a brief recap of London.

The adventure started with a brief 8 hour flight across the pond with my best buddy Pete. We met up at the airport, said goodbye to our families, and headed through security. I took my first few pictures in the airport and they are below!

This is a picture of my carry-on luggage. Why did I bring so much stuff!?

And of course, traveling like a Tough Mudder.

This is Pete and I in the airport, preparing for our flight!

We jumped on the plane and quick 8 hours, several movies and a quick nap later, we were in London!

This is Pete and I at Gatwick airport in London just after our flight! We were pretty tired, but definitely hyped up on adrenaline for our adventure!

One of the first things we noticed was the markings on the road - Look Right - since cars drive on the left side of the road. I guess so many tourists have been hit by cars because they weren't looking the right way that they decided to put markings on the road! Pete and I both thought this was hilarious.





This was a pretty neat art exhibit-type thing outside the Heathrow Airport - all Christmas themed, and pretty nice for an airport.

 



 

 

This was our room for the two days. High-class travel if I do say so myself!

 

The National Gallery - free when we went! There were some really cool paintings, but all-in-all I found it underwhelming. The massive frescoes were incredibly impressive however, but most of the paintings seemed to have more historic value than artistic.

 

This is a view from the Nation Gallery facing the large Christmas tree that is donated by Norway to England every year for their help in WWII. The moment in the background is also shown again further down.

 

This was some fancy gate we saw on our journey towards Westminster. It has some deep historical value, but I couldn't tell you for the life of me what that is.

 

London at night is pretty beautiful, I must say!

 

This is probably the best picture I have of Big Ben. I must admit, I thought it was taller, but it is much wider than I thought it would be. Pete and I both agreed that it would have been incredibly impressive in its day, but with skyscrapers being so common in major cities now, it is not as impressive as a large building as it used to be. However, the detail in the stonework, and the history of the building, put it near the top of my list of cool buildings.

This is a picture of a double-decker bus! They are actually everywhere in London!

 

This is a good picture of Peter with the London Eye. Keep in mind we are probably 150m back from it in this picture, and even still we couldn't fit it all in the picture.

 

I promised Pete I wouldn't put this picture up, but it is priceless. Nice one Peter, nice one. I am definitely showing this at your wedding.

 

Big Ben and Parliament!

 

This is a statue of Abe Lincoln. I know - I was thinking that too - why is there a statue of Abraham Lincoln in London? Well, I guess he was an influential person, and his influence did affect England in a lot of ways, but I wouldn't have put up a statue for that. Who knows - maybe he was secretly British.

 

Westminster Abbey at night!

 

The front of Westminster Abbey.

 

All of the pictures above were taken on or before New Years Eve. We managed to get a great spot on one of the bridges right next to the London Eye to watch the fireworks. It was definitely one of the most impressive things I have ever seen. Spending New Years in a foreign city is something I would recommend to everyone, because it really challenges you to make the following year the best one yet. Starting off the year with a bang (literally) was incredible, and doing it with one of my best buds was pretty great too! Sadly, I did not get any pictures of the fireworks (I was too busy watching), so you will just have to look it up on YouTube. Maybe you will see us!

The next day we did some traveling 

 

Her Majesty was a little busy this afternoon, so we passed on the tea invitation she gave us. Maybe next time we're in London?

 

Pete defacing British Public Property.

 

These gates were all around the Promenade next to Buckingham Palace, and laced with gold making them quite beautiful in the (rare) sunshine.

 

This is a guard holding a semi-automatic gun. British police take protecting the monarch seriously.

 

This is a building near Piccadilly Circus that I thought was really neat. It is right next to the building in the picture below, and combines a really interesting combination of classic and modern architecture in adjacent buildings. Piccadilly is full of this kind of thing - bringing old and new influences together - and is a really great place to just wander and get lost around.

 

The classic English Telephone booth!

 

Mind the gap.

 

So this picture, and a lot of the following ones, are from our little excursion to Emirates Stadium - home of my favourite British team, Arsenal - and I can safely say this was one of the highlights of my trip. Having watched Arsenal in their prime of 2003-2004, going to Emirates Stadium was a dream come true. We didn't manage to get inside because it was closed for the holidays, but just simply being around the stadium, you can feel the history. Located in a rather working-class area of London, the Gunners as they are known, are the working man's team. I like to think they represent the importance of hard work and community being in the area they are in, and though they are in a serious pothole right now, they have been home to some of the most dazzling football the world has ever seen. Their legacy goes on, and hopefully the glory days will come back some time soon, but I can say that I was there, and that is enough for me. Thanks Pete for taking all the pictures!

 

This was in Kings Cross Station, and is a pretty cool exhibit that the train station has put together. We would have gotten a classic Platform 9 and 3/4 picture, but the line-up was outrageous.

 

This is King's Cross Station - beautiful architecture and a Harry Potter Shop to boot!

 

And this is where the magic happened. Abbey Roads Studio - where the Beatles recorded and mastered arguably one of the best albums of all time. In my opinion, no single studio album has ever changed the world as much as Abbey Road did. It put the Beatles into an entirely different category of superstar, turned 4 simple musicians into international icons, and arguably, cemented their place in history forever. We were lucky enough to visit, and from a recommendation of my favourite uncle, we traveled a fair amount to get here - but it was totally worth it. It was unfortunately very busy with people trying to take the traditional Abbey Roads photo with their own touch on it, but we managed to get some great photos anyways. We even signed the gate. Who knows - maybe in 20 years you we can go back and see our signatures still there.

 

The Thames at night from one of the lookout docks.

 

Waterloo Station! Waterloo is a famous section of London that our beloved city was named after, and eventually the university we both attend, so getting a picture with the subway sign was a must.

 

The first London beer I tried - it was decent, but ultimately, underwhelming. It was local which was great, but unfortunately didn't pack all that much of a punch.

 

This is the Royal Opera House that we happened to stumble across on our way getting lost trying to find the Transportation Museum. It is a really interesting building that has several kinds of architecture all conjoined into one big complex. We didn't get the chance to go inside, and for anyone who has ever boughten an opera ticket you can probably guess why, but the view from the outside was still pretty good.

This is just outside the Transport museum and is a massive outdoor mall sort of thing. There were some cool street vendors and a few musicians, but it was nothing special I think.

The transport museum was pretty interesting - lots to see and some great history. Some of the old trains were fascinating! We even went on an old double-decker bus, which was definitely not tall enough for Peter or myself.

This was in the film museum that just happened to be nearby (and free!) so we took a look inside. It was rather small and not terribly comprehensive, but had some cool stuff inside!

Back into the heart of the city, we travelled towards Westminster to catch the boat tour to take us up to the Tower Bridge. The ride was pretty spectacular, and seeing London from the river is something I would highly recommend!

The next building is the Tate Modern - Peter's favourite part of London (not actually) - which houses the modern art gallery. It is apparently a world-renown art gallery with some of the most amazing modern art you will find anywhere. I guess I am just not all that artsy, because it was highly disappointing. Some of the art was... well... an experience to say the least...

 

 

 

This was in the London Tower exhibition. There were some amazing sculptures of people's heads. Go figure.

 

Now the following pictures are from the HMS Belfast. The HMS Belfast is a WWII warship that survived and is now permanently parked in the Thames near the Tower Bridge. It was a really cool exhibition, and probably the best view of the city you are going to get. If you get the chance, and don't hate WWII history, this exhibit will blow you away. I really enjoyed it more than I thought I would, and it was awesome to see how tight and narrow all the hallways and walkways are in a battleship, and how hard everyone has to work in order to make the ship functional. The view from the front of the boat is one of the highlights of my trip, without a doubt, and many a picture was taken.

 

I may upload more London photos later, but I think that is probably enough for now.

 

Until next time,

 

Cheerio!

 

- Brendan and Peter