Arrival: London (April 26th)
Well after nearly 2 years of talking, fantasizing and stealing on April 26th, 2006 Rohit and I finally began our Euro 2006 Trip!!!
And what better place to start off than
London, England. We could barely understand what they were saying and everything was incredibly expensive... sounds like a great place to start a vaction to me :D
We arrived in
Gatwick Airport around 11am and quickly adjusted to European Culture.
After checking into our hostel we started to explore the sites of London. It was quite interesting to start off the tour. Some of them were a bit sleepy...
Yes, that is a real person sleeping! And of course Rohit managed to meet his usual fruity friends.
[Aside Funny Story: We asked a Police Officer at the tube station how to get to Pariliament. I for the most part understood what he said. However, when we started heading towards the platform Rohit said, "What did he say about my mama"!!]
But eventually we got to the good stuff.
No it's not me I'm talking about. That's
Big Ben in the background!! And of course Big Ben is right next to Parliament.
You'll be pleased to know that we actually went into Parliament and saw a rousing round of REAL British Parliament. Unfortunately our visit didn't last for long as we got kicked out for repeatedly yelling, "Hey
Tony!!!"
GQ Shot on the
Thames River!!
You may have noticed in the above picture that while I'm staring off towards a peanut stand the
London Eye is staring right back @ you. As you can guess that's where Rohit and I headed to next. And apparently we weren't the only ones eager to get there either :P
Here's a nice shot of Big Ben and Parliament from the side of the river where the London Eye is.
And here is Rohit trying to make it Portrait of a Brown Man (and guest) in line at the London Eye.
But after establishing some ground rules about guest appearences in P. of a B.M. shots we eventually got up there. It was here that we developed this weird habit of taking candid shots of each other.
But we stuck to the basics as well.
London actually has a ver expansive skyline. It stretches as far as the eye can see. But I think the most striking feature of its "skyline" is the number of cranes. It is a bit difficult to see in the photo below, but trust me they are there.
After becoming overly excited with the bird's eye of London we took it easy and walked around
Leicester Square and discovered that London appears to be an alternate universe to Toronto.
And when we got back home we also saw a little bit into the future
Next up: Camilla and the live episode of 24 in Manchester! Adios :)
Welcome Back!
Oh Canada! It's great to be back in the land of 110V electrical system :P Hahaha.... don't worry that wasn't the only thing about Canada I missed. There was also the Tim Horton's :P
It is weird being back. When I walked through the doors of Pearson Airport I half expected to be faced with the challenges of a new country: an unfamiliar language, adjusting to a new set of customs and values that make up the culture, figuring out where the nearest McDonald's is. But it wasn't like that at all. Everything was familiar: I could speak english, no drinking outside or smoking indoors and McDonald's is about 2mins down the road.... Weird how being in a familiar place was such a foreign feeling.
I guess it was an indication that the trip was amazing. I enjoyed every minute I spent in Europe and I can't wait to go back. First stops will be Italy and Greece!!!
The last few days were spent in London. We met up with Karam and Aliya. And Camilla came to join us as well :) London was filled with shisha, some interesting (i.e. sometimes really stupid) modern art @ Tate Modern, clubbing UK styles, changing of guards (no I didn't go for a peep show) and of course cider :)
Now I know you came here just for pictures (ahem, Sarah) and I will put them up. What I will do is put some pics up of the last couple of weeks of the trip and then soon after that I will do proper blog entries of the entire trip, starting from Day 1 (April 26th) @ Pearson Airport.
Well Europe, you were awesome. I hope I did you right. In 7 weeks I experienced a lot more than I could have imagined: both in terms of actual arventures and emotions. I had a great travel partner who made such a rigorous trip that much easier with his terrible hair styles, obvious Bollywood style moves and excessive homosexuality! Hahaha, jk Rohit. It was a great trip with you and I couldn't imagine doing Europe with anybody else.
For now, there's only one last step before my student life is officially closed. Convocation :S It is tomorrow in the afternoon. My parents have come down from Winnipeg to make sure I graduate so it was nice arriving in TO and seeing them :) After that though I'll be watching some football, having a few pints and participating in siestas. In otherwords, living it up Euro styles ;) Ciao...
Top o' the mornin' to ya
That's right... we are off continental Europe and back to the english speakin' world;
Dublin to be exact. Not that we minded the other languages. Actually I fully intend on learning
Italian when I get back to North America.
We just came from Paris where we met one of our good Systems buddies, Preya, and spent a couple of days with her. From seeing the
Mona Lisa, rowing in the Gardens of
Versaille, climbing the
Arc de Triomphe eating bread & cheese underneath the
Eiffel and then watching the sunset from the top, Paris was BEAUTIFUL!! I can't wait to go back :)
The trip is almost come to an end but there's still a week of ol' fashioned debauchery left. I will try and post some photos tomorrow... before we go on the
Guinness tour ;)
Ola!!
In
Valencia right now. We experienced a real Spanish
siesta today.... as in all the shops were closed when we were trying to buy souvenirs :P
Tomorrow we´ll be in Madrid. GO OILERS GO!!! See you soon ;)
