Chris's Travel Blog

Watermarking

2009-11-29T18:57:00.001Z

Check out this application for watermarking, it's pretty sweet! Easy, who needs photoshop when you can use this :-)

www.easysector.com

Enjoy!

Day 8 - cont

2009-05-28T12:55:00.003+01:00

It was now nearing dinner time but we were still stuffed from the burger at lunch so we went straight for desert. We found the choco cafe which we'd spotted earlier and got involved. We grabbed a fruit smoothie after the waiters recommendation which was great. Then the huge towering ice creams turned up. All chocolate and full of Nesquik like chocolate balls, it tasted great.

We grabbed the bags from the hostel where the hostess had suddenly changed her tune. Attempting to become my best friend, maybe she'd realised she had over reacted originally, who knows. Arriving at the station the night train looked grim from the outside, curtains hanging from a single thread and graffiti everywhere. A member off staff looked at our tickets then lead us onto the train to our cabin. It was actually pretty good, we had a lock on the door and a set of bunk beds. What a result, hopefully we'll get a good nights sleep.

Day 8 - cont

2009-05-28T12:55:00.001+01:00

Popping into the hostel before going over the bridge was my idea so we could try and resolve the confusion over payment. There'd been a miss communication about paying for the additional night. I'd understood it to be free of charge whereas she'd expected us to have to pay for it. It was bound to get complicated as the language barrier was an issue to start with. Upon entering the hostel the hostess was in her office, ready to pounce. Before i even opened my mouth she attacked saying i'd accused her of telling lies acting very irate. "Calm down love" were Laura's words! Eventually after me calming her down we agreed to meet halfway, as neither was in the wrong it was just an issue of interpretation.

The hostel issue resolved we headed over to the park over the bridge and walked along the river. There were many docked boats with would burst into live in the evenings as floating bars and clubs. We settled down in front of one dormant club to relax in the shade. 10 minutes later the boat sound system erupted into life, blaring out stupidly loud music for 5 in the afternoon. It was incredibly loud and the bass sucked the air from our lungs and we were over 75m away. Whilst this was going on an old guy stripped down to his speedos and started limbering up in front of the boat beating out the heavy phat beats. It was quite comical, but he appeared to be enjoying himself. Further down the river the looked to be many failed clubs and bars. Boats left to rot littered the river, so just rusty, others half submerged under water. I sat climbed across the grass to climb aboard one of the many unusual sculptures lining the river front, in this case it was a melon!

Day 8 - Laura's smelly socks

2009-05-28T12:54:00.001+01:00

We woke fairly late today after the noisy storm the night before but as usual were hungry. Cornflakes weren't an option as the kitchen was completely full of kids so we abandoned the cereal and went to our usual haunt, sandwich king. Today we opted for just a toasted sandwich as the role two days ago was simply too big. Whilst sitting outside Laura took the chance to dry her socks on one of the chairs.

We didn't really have to much planned today only wander around until our night train began it's journey. We walked towards the main square with intention of going to the museum. It was closed, rubbish. Apparently it was closed for refurbishments, and not just a week or so, but for several years! Instead we just sat outside on the steps relaxing and chuckling occasionally as the odd tourist tried the doors like us. A local approached us lookin to borrow a phone. I wasn't into handing over my phone to a random, instead though we ended up talking about Serbia and how she wants to one day visit England. She was only young but had high hopes for the future.

It was nearing lunch time so we wandered over to the bohemium center once more to take a few pics and get some lunch. We grabbed a burger each but it was massive and neither of us could even manage half. They really do love their meats over here.

Day 7

2009-05-25T19:49:00.011+01:00

Having brought Cornflakes the night before it was refreshing to eat a "proper" breakfast Until now we'd enjoyed mostly hot dogs or bits of bread. The "Kitchen" wasn't a kitchen at all though. It was simple a room with a fridge and a hotplate on a shelf. There wasn't even a sink. So after enjoying our cereal we then had to wash our bowls in the bathroom sink.

First stop today was to secure our train tickets to Sofia which we would be taking tomorrow night. I was chuffed to find that our train was definitely running and what was even better was that they had two birth sleeping compartments. That meant we had a good chance of a good nights sleep before arriving in Varna. The train was expected to run from 21:15 to 07:15 so we'd be shattered if we were kept up all night by randoms.

waking down the street we came to realise that today was probable the hottest and most humid day we'd had so far. We were slowly making our way towards the castle and park towards the north west of Belgrade. The heat intense and the humidity was made even worse by the constant smog pouring out of poorly maintained vehicles. We found ourselves needing to take additional stop in the shade just to escape the heat. We were also suddenly very hungry, it was around 13:00 after all. We found the castle grounds but opted to head into the city to grab a bit to eat. That bite ended up being a pizza, which we enjoyed sat under an umbrella outside. A lot of the restaurants had fans blowing cool misty water under the umbrellas, there were particularly refreshing.

Unfortunately there is a still a big issue with beggars in and around tourist areas, particularly restaurants. A woman beggar was bothering a table of men opposite us, she tugged on their clothes and was stroking their arms trying to persuade them to hand over some money. Laura then caught the same woman harassing a guy in the street who'd just been to the cash point. She grabbed onto his t-shirt and hung onto him, following him always in his face. He still had his wallet in hand having just retrieved some money so was in a difficult position. Eventually he caved handing over some money, and just like that she vanished.

After our lunch we felt recharged and headed back to the castle and park. It's quite strange to notice the lack of safety rails around dangerous edges. It certainly doesn't bother me, but can't imagine they'd get away with it back in the uk. There however a lot of people wearing black shirts with the word "Gordon" printed on the back. We assumed these were some kind of security team. Where's Gordon? At around 6 we found a bar with the castle grounds and grabbed a couple of drinks. The courtyard was very nice and offered great views back at the city and surrounding parks. Strangely the bar was pretty empty but had about 6 members of table staff. Most were standing around doing nothing whilst one lone guy was serving all the tables. In fact one of the waiters was dancing to tunes more than he was waiting. Still exploring the castle we found a collection of tanks and guns, acting as children decided we would be a good idea to climb all over them. Further round i was standing on an edge taking a picture only to be told off by not now Laura but a Gordon as well. I was being a donut apparently!

After the castle we headed back to the Bohemian quarter for some dinner. An Italian restaurant stood out for us so we went there. The main street in the quarter had come to life a night with busy restaurants and lots of live music. The musicians wandered through the tables playing to guests whether they liked it or not. One guy particularly stood out playing a Constantina particularly well, with such a casual amount of efort.

Later we returned to the hostel narrowly avoiding being soaked once again my a lightning storm. The hostel had become infested with children probably from a school trip. Screaming everywhere particularly in the girls showers Laura tells me. The storm had picked up and lightning was very frequent as the rain beat against the window. Me being the big kid that i am gazed out the window spotting the odd fork of lightning as Laura tried to get some sleep.

Day 6 - cont

2009-05-24T10:48:00.001+01:00

We finally found the bohemium center, Laura's convinced it was her great navigation skills. We sat back in the old cobaled street just doing a bit of people watching. We saw a woman stamping and telling off a naughty stone which had caused her daughter to trip over. The we saw a small boy chasing a dog before the dog turned around and the boy ran away scared.

We then based on the hostel receptionist's advice went to find a restaurant named "?". As we were just double checking we were on route a local snatched the map from Laura's hands and tried to work out where we were. We (Laura) already knew but being brits just stood there while he thought he was being helpful. We found the restaurant a few minutes later and it was very posh and swanky, but thought hey "we're on holiday!". The starter courses were great and large. With loads of leaves, bread and cheese. For main we thought we'd take a gamble and order "The Royal Special", a meal for two apparently. We had fears over what it could be, from squid to monkey brains (indiana jones anyone?). Anyway it arrived, it was a huge dish just full of a variety of meats. Lamb, chicken, pork, beef and just so much of it. We gave it our best shot but probable got half way. After the meat overdose we walked back to the hostel and crashed out.

Day 6 - cont

2009-05-24T10:47:00.001+01:00

There were a few churches near where we were staying so we visited them first. The first church we saw was huge,apparently the largest it europe, it was very old although we overheard that the interior wasn't. We then walked up the road to visit the Tesla museum, it took us a while to find it as it's quite tucked away. Upon entering we found that a tour had already begun in Serbian and were advised to return at 16:00. That was only 40 minutes away so we took this time to wander to a nearby park to relax and spy a couple more churches.

Returning to the Tesla museum we were just in time for the english tour. It was quite amazing at how much Tesla contributed to the world. How he had dreams of a super tower to provide wireless electricity and services to the people. However the tower lost funding during the american depression so production stopped. Worse still the germans believed that the tower was attacking submarines so it was destroyed. Since the documents have been lost and noone to this day knows how it would have worked. The nearest we have is a few meters of wireless electricity compared to the planed miles. Based on tesla's plans there could have been wireless tech much earlier than it was achieved had it not been for the tower's destruction. We also saw first hand some light bulbs held in our hands light up powered completely wirelessly.

Day 6

2009-05-24T10:46:00.001+01:00

Today was our first day properly in Belgrade and Laura took charge of navigation. For breakfast we stopped into Sandwich king and ordered a large roll each. The filling options were representing a different country, we decided to go for a London. The sandwiches were huge and filled to the brim with egg, bacon and other ingredients, much like a subway.

Day 5 - cont

2009-05-24T10:43:00.001+01:00

Waking a few hours later we were hungry and began a search for food. We couldn't find anything anywhere that didn't look like a run down dump. We were starving so grabbed a mcdonalds cheeseburger whilst we consulted the map. The road names on the map didn't use the serbian alphabet, instead only the english alphabet. This made it almost impossible to match the map to road signs. We couldn't find the famous bohemium quarter (known for its many restaurants) despite spending 2 hours looking for it.

We eventually found a butchers with a restaurant underneath it and settled there. The restaurant was empty and i had to go and find the waiter in the kitchen so we could order some food. I grabbed a steak, Laura got a chicken kebab then we headed back for sleep as we were both still shattered.

Day 5

2009-05-24T10:40:00.001+01:00

We had set our alarms for 04:00 as we had to be at the bus station for 06:00 and wanted to make sure we didn't cut anything too close. The hostel was locked so i had to wake the clerk on duty. He was shocked to hear that i wanted to check out at 4am, but it made sense considering when our bus was. We left around 04:30 and headed towards the station as the sun rose. It took around 40 minutes before we were sat waiting at the platform for our bus. Whilst waiting for the bus i wandered off to take some photos of the sun rise against the mountains. As i was standing behind a rail i was completely soaked by a car passing through a puddle. I was not impressed by this at 05:30 in the morning but it was too hot and i was too tired to care.

The bus arrived and we slept most the journey on the back seats. It was hard to sleep fully as the roads were so windy which meant any pillow i managed to make simply fell apart on a sharp bend or bump.

Arriving in Belgrade around 13:00 we were both shattered. The blistering hot sun only made things worse as we tried to navigate our way to our hostel. A taxi driver tried to convince us that we needed a ride to our hostel, even though i knew it was only 200m away. It was hot and sweaty and smelt bad due to the heavy traffic. Our first impressions so far weren't great. We found the sign to the hostel and wandered into the building below it. This turned out to be infact a bookies! We backed out and looked again. It was next door, so we checked in and had a well deserved nap.

Day 4 - cont

2009-05-23T09:31:00.002+01:00

We walked back along the river, fighting the humid climate of the city. We reached the bridge were Franz Ferdinand was assassinated, starting world war one. The bridge is bizarrely named after the assassin Princip, as such named Princip`s bridge. Laura was suffering from smelly feet so we had to pop into a chemist to purchase some spray, apparently it did the trick. As this was our last night I decided it would be nice to work through the brochure and get in some of the sights, including mosques and churches. As I was taking a picture of a mosque a homeless guy kindly smiled for the camera laughing, I do have the picture so I’ll be sure to put it online when I get home. The mosques were decorated well inside with lots of detailed designs and gold leaf.

The police appeared to be blowing the whistles for no reason at the traffic, often waving in a way suggesting “carry on as normal”. I think all the fuss was because Vice President Biden, of America was visiting to try to help solve the political issues that currently still exist.

We looked around a preserved old style house that has been maintained since it’s construction many years ago. I apparently tried to break a door as was quite keen on opening unexplored doors.

Further down the road we spotted two cats one on a ledge much higher than the other. The lower cat was almost singing to the cat above, Romeo and Juliet anyone? Although the singing cat had a strangely deep voice, and the Juliet of the cats was static like stone, strange!

I was continuing my mission of hunting for the last remaining sights of the area, meanwhile Laura’s feet were dieing! After finding the emperors mosque I we spotted one of the mass grave yards used to burry the dead from the siege. It was on the top of a huge hill, and we were at the bottom. Laura’s feet were shattered so she waited at the bottom whilst I ran up the top and had a quick look around. I think the most rewarding thing were the views more than anything else; you could look back across the whole of Sarajevo. As I was returning down Laura mentioned that a kid had just ran the whole way up the hill without stopping, this was quite impressive as the walk had me quite out of breath at the top. We crossed the road to city hall which was under mass reconstruction trying to repair the sides which faced the hills and as such were attacked heavily. The design of the building was very impressive with intricate designs all around.

The typical meal here appears to be very meat orientated and as expected our dinners were loaded with a variety of meats. We each enjoyed a completely overloaded plate of meats which we as usual stood no chance of finishing! We then headed over the road to try one of the many cakes on offer in cake shop. Laura grabbed a chocolate heard filled with moose and jam on a biscuit base, whilst I had a chocolate cake moose. As Laura said “Chubtastic”! What was strange though that smoking still appears acceptable in restaurants, even for the staff. One of the waiters was leaning against the counter cigarette in hand waiting for the next customer.

On the way home we were ambushed by a heavy storm once again, only this time we had brought our raincoats so it wasn’t as bad. A quick shower then as we had a very very early start tomorrow for the bus to Belgrade. Shared dorms too, only it was on as everyone was well behaved so we got to sleep with no problems. Zzzz

Day 4 - History lesson

2009-05-22T11:11:00.004+01:00

We’d arranged to go on a small tour with Harris from another youth hostel, foolishly we’d agreed with him that 09:00 would be a good time to meet. So we staggered out of bed at around 08:15 and sat in the common room. Whilst Laura was in the shower I decided I’d give the free cornflakes a try that were sitting in the hostel kitchen. I wish I hadn’t, the warm long live milk was disgusting and covering them in sugar only delayed the horrible aftertaste that was due to come.

We wandered downstairs and met Harris outside the hostel in his mini-van; the tour was small and only consisted of one other tourist, a guy from Australia. As we drove through the streets towards the tunnel museum Harris told of how we’d experienced first hand the chaos of the Serbian attack. We eventually broke away from the main road, and appeared to be heading through a small residential estate. The estate was surprisingly close to the airport, and I couldn’t imagine such an estate existing in the UK as surely there’d be concerns about security.

We ground to a halt outside what appeared to just be someone’s house, however judging by the bullet holes littering the walls you could tell it was more than just a house. The tunnel was hidden entrance was hidden inside this house, and I can’t imagine how any tourist would have found it without the help of a guide. Inside all 3 of us sat in a dark room and watched a “documentary” about the tunnel. It wasn’t really a documentary more a video just showing lots of homemade clips of the chaos of the attack. From projectiles launched from the hills, to explosions and sniper attacks in the center. The Serbian forces completely surrounded the city of Sarajevo and as a result there was no way for the residents to flee to areas outside the city. Not only was the perimeter surrounded blocking civilian movement, but also all supplies were cut off to, including food and water. The tunnel under the airport provided a way for the residents to either flee to the mountains and possibly Croatia, or get supplies in to help those residents who didn’t want to leave their homes. The tunnel took four months to construct and needed heavy defending as such many residents of Sarajevo built homemade weapons to defend both areas. The army of Bosnia wasn’t much use since over 80% of it was Serbian, a mistake that clearly was costly. All that remained of the tunnel was a 4m stretch that ran under the house and into the garden. The rest had caved as the airport refused to allow it to be maintained due to security risks. The tunnel was only 50cm wide and 1.6m high, contained power lines, communications lines, and rail lines to ease transport of goods and weapons.

Harris told the deeply moving story of how Sarajevo stood no chance against the heavily armored Serbians, and considered it more of a genocide as the Bosnians had no ways to defend themselves. They called upon the support of the UN but they could only act impartially, and as such only offered to provide weapons to both sides, which the Bosnians didn’t want since they were already in trouble. The siege was eventually ended by the agreement of having three presidents in Bosnia this however has since created more problems as now any decision takes months, sometimes even years before everyone is in agreement. Not only this, but much of the wealth of the country isn’t distributed fairly to the residents. Although the story told by Harris is expected to be slightly biased he is accepting of the Serbian residents living within the city, and expresses that his anger lies purely with the politicians not the civilians. Having said this, he feels uncomfortable having Serbian friends, and says his only acquaintances with Serbians are professional. For Harris he experienced it first hand, losing his home during the attacks only 15 years ago. He finds it difficult to forgive and forget considering how and his fellow city residents lost. After the tour we were dropped at the natural history museum so we could have a look inside and also pop over the road to book our bus tickets for our onward journey.

Inside the museum we were greeted by a few fast lip speaking woman, who told us the rough layout of the museum. There was a botanical garden in the center of the museum which was beautiful, however our enjoyment was cut short as it was simply boiling and we just had to get out of the sun. We had a look around the museum and found the under garments shaped exactly like a T amusing. There was little history of the country there, as the Serbians during the siege specifically targeted the museum and libraries in an attempt to wipe out all history of the country. Most of the history was lost, and can never be replaced.

Day 3 - Waterfall Hike

2009-05-21T10:56:00.003+01:00

After finally getting a good night sleep, without the noise outside our room keeping us up we had a little bit of a lay in. Eventually emerging at around 10:30 we walked towards the old town looking for breakfast. We couldn't find anything better than what we'd had the day before, so opted for some hotdogs again!

We looked through a couple of tourist guides and decided to try and visit on of the waterfalls in a surrounding area of Sarajevo. Tourist information gave us much needed directions and we headed for the bus stop. The hike was around 2.5hrs including seeing a waterfall along the way, and was a 20minute bus ride out of town. As we reached the bus stop we deciphered the bus time table and worked out that we had just missed the bus by about 20 minutes. This was annoying as they were every hour, so we now had 40 minutes to kill. We ate some omelet sandwiches (cheese and mushroom) as we watched a guy standing on a 4th story window ledge try to remove that very window that he was standing over. 25 minutes later the bus arrived, we eagerly jumped on only to find we'd be stuck there sat in the heat for 15 minutes before it set off. The bus took us high up into the surrounding mountains following a incredibly steep road offering fantastic views of the city. There were many houses dotted along the road, and families with children got off periodically walking the last stretch the their house.

The bus reached the end of the line and we got off, I guess this was Skakavac. It''s worth noting that no one was left on the bus so it was only us, left alone. We saw a sign pointing towards Skakavac, so began walking up the steep windy cobbled roads. 1 hour into the climb we crossed paths with a guy who was also staying in our hostel, he gave us some navigational tips and also let us know we had a good way to go yet. We continued up the mountain for another hour before finally seeing a sign informing us that Skakavac was 3k away? This wasn't the good news we were hoping for but we continued none the less, stopping to look back and enjoy the long clear views of the surrounding mountainside. Anotehr 45 minutes later we reached another sign, specifically guiding us to the waterfall at only 1k away! We entered woodland at this point and Laura became increasingly worried as she saw signs for bears, and even spotted a scary looking squirrel. We were getting close now and began descending down a series of steep windy paths and rail guided steps.

We made it, the waterfall was amazing and offered a nice spray of fresh water to cool us down. It was nearing 17:30 and we'd reached half way, so a few minutes later we continued. The fellow hosteler had told us to carry on going rather than head back the way we came, as undoing the steel decent didn't appeal to me on bit. We crossed the slippery bridge in front of the waterfall holding onto the slimy rail and headed back into the woodland. 40 minutes later and we were still amongst the trees and it was getting darker. Since we hadn't come in this way we had no idea how far we'd have to go to at least get back to the entrance of the park. We descended a little which made us nervous as we'd come down so much to see the waterfall we knew we'd have to make this height up again at some point. Laura became increasingly worried about bares, thinking they'd come out more at night. I was considering if we'd have to camp, as didn't really want to wander around in the dark in case we lost the path. Laura was hyperventilating as it was a physically challenging hike, she imagined me as Ray Meres and wondered how I'd play out my survival skills.

Finally we found the entrance, and the hostel guy was right it certainly was a lot easier than all those steps would have been. Just as well we didn't head back the way we'd came, although we'd both been considering it. As we began our decent we realised we had just escaped dark and were startled by a cow which mooed from behind a closed door.

We reached the bus stop at around 20:30 and sat waiting for the bus for about 40 minutes. Whilst waiting we heard singing from the nearby mosque broadcast over speakers attached to it's spire, as locals sat outside a shop opposite enjoying a friendly drink. On the bus we'd realised that the hike was hugely under estimated and no one had included the 2hour climb to the beginning on the hike in any brochures. Instead of 2.5hours, it was more like 6.5 hours, including the 2 hours each way from the bus stop to the beginning of the hike. We drove back into the city as a thunderstorm broke out over the mountains, before grabbing a quick chicken kebab for dinner.

Day 2 - the springs cont

2009-05-19T21:02:00.001+01:00

It wasn't long before i could smell a bbq, so we went looking for it. Surrounded by small stalls selling tat basically was a woman standing over a big grill. We ordered a lamb kebob/kebap each. Unfortunately due to the language barrier we ended up with a large kebob each. These tasted good but were very greasy and salty.

On the return journey we passed a couple of quad bikes back to back connected by wire. I had hopes of a game of tug of war, unfortunately one was only being jump started. Further down we found an unattended stall selling water, we wanted some but weren't comfortable with just helping ourselves. As we peered over the counter we heard a cry from the distance as a chubby man came running to his unattended counter. A thunder storm broke out but there wasn't much rain, it looked like the storm was over the mountains.

Soon the rain caught up with us so we took shelter in a restaurant. We grabbed a small pizza each and just relaxed. The rain had stopped so we paid the waiter and took a few minutes before getting ready to leave. Just as we did the heavens opened once more. We waited 10min, but thought we might as well get a hot chocolate whilst we wait. Getting the waiters attention was tricky as he thought we'd finished. So when Laura smiled, he only smiled back, not getting the hint.

After the chocolate we dodged the rain as we headed back to the hostel. The hostel rep was shocked to hear that we'd been out all day, since 9:00, it was now 22:00.

Day 2 - the springs

2009-05-19T20:58:00.001+01:00

It was absolutely boiling through the night, so i got up to open the skylight window at around 5am. Laura thought she'd heard rats running around on the roof so was worried some might fall into the room, turns out they were only birds. As we staggered around we bumped into the hostel guy, he asked what we were doing today. We had no real plans so he suggested that we go to the springs at Vrelo Bosne. We visited the tourist information and found loads of brochures, however most appeared the same with only different pictures. A crafty trick to make it look like there is tonnes on offer.

We headed towards the tram stop with takes us to the springs, but not before getting some breakfast. We grabbed some mini-pizza and a hot dog each. We liked the hot dogs so much that we brought a couple more for lunch later. Boarding the tram we realised we had no idea which stop we were at, nor which stop we were heading too. We only knew it was the last stop.

The tram ground to a halt and everyone got off, i guess this was us. The springs were apparently 3km from the stop, but there were no signs. Laura had a gut feeling that we should head directly away from the stop, so we went with that. After 25mins we finally saw some life. The park entrance was lined with shops, cafe's, bike hire shops and horse and carts. The entrance contained a map outlining the walk to the springs, 3km. I guess the guide didn't take into account the initial walk to the park entrance. We started walking and grabbed an ice cream on route. As we walked we were constantly overtaken by horses and people on those four person bike type contraptions. 40mins in and we'd made it. Greeted with beautiful clear fresh springs, with plenty of chilled out visitors. Small bridges passing over the water with the occasional waterfall here and there. We found a nice spot on the grass and enjoyed the atmosphere, whilst a percussion band played some soft music.

Day 1 - cont

2009-05-18T13:14:00.002+01:00

The driver asked a local for directions to the hostel and sent us on foot down a small street. We couldn't find it so we went wandering around trying to work out where we were. We went up and down a street 3 times and couldn't find it, and with no road signs to be seen it was getting tricky. On the forth pass we finally found it, it was only marked by a small plaque. No flags of huge signs for this hidden place. We were buzzed into a empty shell of a building with only a spiral staircase in front of us. As we climbed up with no idea where we were going we heard a voice shouting hello down! We were greeting with a very friendly guy, who kept teasing us that this hostel was to be hostel 3 the horror movie! We laughed, and enjoyed his humour.

We took his suggestion on board and headed for the old town for some dinner. I grabbed a mixed grill, laura went to a traditional stuffed pepper dish. Mine looked and lasted great, if a little greasy. Laura's looked a little suspect, but was actually really good! There were lots of child beggers about, approaching tables and people in the street. I often wander where they come from, and where they go at night.

On the way back to the hostel we stopped to watch some locals enjoy a giant game of chess in the park. About 20 gathered, with everyone offering their advice, whether the player wanted it or not.

Day 1 -

2009-05-18T13:11:00.001+01:00

Going through security my bag was stopped as usual, probably because of my tripod. Although this time it was also swabed for explosives. We'd actually made good time compared to our sweden rush late last year so we took a few minutes for a bacon sandwich.

On the screen it showed no sign of which gate we should head too, only a "please wait" against our flight number. Boarding closed on our flight an 9 and it was 8.55 with still no sign of which gate we'd need. Then at 8.59 a gate number appeared only to be followed ¹minute later with a gate closing announcement. Time to run, again!

On landing Laura revealed that she didn't enjoy the turbulance and hoped our connecting flight would be a bigger plane and a smoother ride. It was 13.00 and we had 45min before our connecting flight took off, as it turned out our departure gate was adjacent to our arrival one, result! Against Laura's wishes our connecting plane was even smaller, and fitter with two prop engines. It was surprisingly smooth, although the landing was a little abrupt.

Getting a taxi to the city was easy enough, although taking two fares at once was a little cheeky. If spoke in broken english of places to eat and visit, every now and then saying "understand". We're not sure whether he was saying he understood us, or asking if we understood him? As we drove through the city we could clearly see reminders of the recent conflict. Bullet holes lined many buildings, as well as chunks missing from some buildings.

Day 1 -

2009-05-18T11:46:00.001+01:00

Go on the sandals!

2009-05-16T05:18:00.001+01:00

Right lets go clubbing!

Day 3 - cont

2008-12-22T22:14:00.001Z

After the show we entered a fake iglu to find a woman making an ice sculpture, whilst staff handed out soup made from rose buds. I didn't like it personally, but Laura finished hers. Outside the museum there were great views of the city as it was now dark, so we hung around there before popping into the gift shop. It was really expensive inside, some woman clocked up a bill of 4000 sek, that's about £400 by our calculations!

Heading back to old town for dinner we stopped by the coca cola toy shop only to be disappointed finding it closed once again. We passed the royal apartments spotting a stern female guard positioned outside an entrance. We wandered another street in search of a ice gallery, but it was no longer there. It looks like it has since been converted into something else, we still managed to see lots of other interesting art displays though.

We found another Italian place for dinner and each ordered a pizza. The pizza according to Laura was Moosehohive! So much so that she actually wore her little fingers out on her knife and fork trying to eat it, as well as getting a lot of it on her clothes! Sitting on a table near us was a very chavy girl, making a lot of noise and chomping on gum loudly. She even managed a cockny accented "fuck off you" despite being obviously Sweedish. This irritated Laura incredibly and i had to often tell her off for giving evils in their direction. After dinner we headed back to the hostel grabbing a Ben and Jerry's sandwich on the way.

Day 3 - cont

2008-12-22T22:13:00.001Z

It became overcast again, so we headed back to the main square for some chips. As we ate them we noticed how everyone is less paranoid about safety, with kids running around lake edges unwatched.

Apparenty there was a zoo somewhere so we went off to find that. We found some Wolvarines, Wood peckers and an Owl. There were enclosures for bears and wolves but none could be seen, probably as it's too cold. We were both quite pleased to find some Reindeer though and it must have been feeding time as they were chomping away. We also caught some seals who were loving the attention showing off as people walked past, making people jump. We also spotted a fountain made of baby dummies, and trees covered with them, random!

We'd heard about the fire and ice show and that started at 4, by which time it was completely dark. It was very unusual, with two characters (one who looked like the scary guy from home alone) hacking at ice blocks throughout the show whilst dancers and live music filled the stage. There was lots of fire quick dancing and poi, all looking very impressive. The music was amazing too with an almost dark metal feel to it, with a hard heavy drum beat. A chubby girl resembling Vicky Pollard in a leotard entered the stage. She was amazingly flexibale given her size bending in all kinds of strange ways. As the beat picked she climbed into a ring suspended from the stage, tossing the safety cable away as though she didn't need it. Although very impressive she didn't quite have the grace of a slender gymnast, and the performance felt quite clunky. The show finished with a guy wrapped in bangers staggering around the stage!

Day 3 - 20th

2008-12-22T22:11:00.001Z

The plan today was to spend most of the day in the open air museum Skansen. We set off around 10 and made our usual breakfast stop at the 7/1¹getting some fruit and sandwiches. On route we popped into the tourist office to book our places on the archipelago ferry tour tomorrow. This would spend 3hrs cruising around some of stockholm's tiny islands. We also found the spot where the ferry left and saw the ship. It looked really nice and luxurious with a food buffet, varnished finishings and tasteful xmas decorations.

We're both getting very familiar with the area finding navigation easier and spotting landmarks quicker. We found our way to Grona Lunds Tivoli, the winter theme park, just to pop in and see what was around. There were some really cool rides and it was full of life compared to yesterday. We needed to get tickets for the rides so we'll do that either later or tomorrow. We did decide to pop into the mirror fun house though as this was free! I think we had more fun there than many of the children!

We left the theme park and made our way to Skansen, only around the corner. It is a recreation of old times in Stockholm with people acting the roles of old folk. We were quite hungry so headed off towards a cafe. It was stupidly busy so instead we went to a bakers and bought some gingerbread hearts. While we were chomping we were each given a tiny xmas tree in a brown bag? We then continued our wandering taking a few photos and popping in and out of various buildings.

Sometime later we were hungry again so headed to the center market stalls and invested in a reindeer kebab. It tasted ok but somehow felt wrong to be eating reindeer around xmas. There was live music playing and according to the cooks they had been playing the same single song all morning!

Laura and i decided we'd start requesting photo dares just for our own amusement. Ranging from climbing sledges to posing with locals, great fun!

Day 2 - cont

2008-12-22T22:07:00.001Z

Now on the hunt for some dinner so headed towards what we thought was the Old Town island. Got a bit confused with bridges and ended up on Skepsholmen island where there was a huge sailing ship, which was actually a hostel. Chris decided he was now a viking and wanted to erm steal the ship!

Turned round and headed for the island Gamlastan where Old Town apparently was! Finally found it and a huge xmas tree but no food. Ventured up a street and there was Old Town. Nearly completely missed it! The streets were tiny, full of gift shops selling Moose trinkets and giant lollies! Finally found a nice little Italian place and tucked into some spag bol.

After we had a quick look round the town. Chris (still in Viking mode) tried to break the glass of a closed shop as he'd seen a coca cola truck and wanted it, he even treated me to something that sounded like the 'holiday's are coming' song! Managed to prize him away and we got lost!

Now the only reason we got lost was cos I knew the way but chris was certain he did...thankfully a very very nice man directed us back...my way. Needless to say the viking took the defeat badly!

Finally we found the bridge back and picked up a Ben and Jerry's 'wich-ice cream sandwich yumalicious!
Then it was off to bed zzzzzzz

Day 2 - 19th Dec

2008-12-22T22:06:00.001Z

The alarm went off at 8am, but so dark outside the snooze button was abused until 9ish. Took a quick look through info leaflets and decided we'd play buses and walk the bus route.

Left hostel at 10ish and grabbed some rather addictive parma ham rolls from 7/1¹munching them on the way down to the boat tours leaving dock, to see when they left and where they went. Popped into this weird glass box thing where a very nice lady recommended a train, bus, boat, trip to a little island.

Kept wanderering along river heading towards Djurgarden island via a bridge...one of many. Stumbled upon Norduisku Mussett which was an amazing building, like a huge fairy castle with big old wooden doors and turrets either end. Was a museum all about the culture. Had an exhibition of dresses from different eras all hand made from traditional paper!

Further on in the main hall was a huge guy, literally, made out of marble sat on a thrown...the old king perhaps?!

The exhibitions further up were random for example a pig's head with tongue out and little food items on it! Also saw how the upper classes once dined, had the front of a real swan with the roasted meat as it's body...interchangeable!

After a lunch of yesterday's rolls made from nothing less than parma ham we headed towards the Vasa museum...where Chris started his obsession with Vikings?! As it was quite late we decided to take a look inside another day.

Walked a bit further into the island and found Grona Lund, a theme park converted into a xmas fun fair park. We went in, then out, then in, then out! Before realising it was only all open at weekends.

Randomly carried on walking up and saw some cool lights intricatily wrapped around a few trees, which turned out to be the entrance to the open air museum. Found out that tomo it has an xmas market, scandanavian animals and a fire and ice show, interesting!

Day 1 cont...

2008-12-19T20:51:00.001Z

We rushed through the airport, grabbed some cash then onto the bus to Stockholm. Is it 10 sek to £1? Sounds about right! Arriving in Stockholm we found our hostel easily only about 10mins from the station. As we checked in we were asked to remove our shoes, apparently the done thing around here. We also had key codes for everything, main entrance, room block and our own room. The hostel didn't offer much in the way of brochures so we headed for the tourist information.

As we headed through the decorated streets full of large shops we felt as though we were in a cleaner and less hostile London. We found a food market down the road with stalls offering cakes and cheeses. We tried a few as you do, we were even convinced to buy some ourselves. We looked for somewhere nice to eat but after about 30mins we got too hungry and settled for Tgi Fridays, it was good!

Day 1 - Yay we made it!

2008-12-19T20:49:00.001Z

Waking up at 0530 never gets any easier, and is made harder knowing that you have to be out within an hour. At 0630 we left for the station to catch the bus to the airport, so we'd arrive with time for some breakfast. A bacon roll with hash browns for me and scrambled eggs for Laura. Not bad for airport food.

We left with 25mins to get to the gate, less that i would usually but the queues for security were tiny. However what we didn't count on were the unprepared people who somehow didn't realise they can get ready before the reach the security gate. Not only was this holding us up but somehow people were cutting in front of us? Apparently having priority boarding means you can speed through security at our expense. Needless to say we were running out of time, i mean how can you budget for the unprepared at those who paid their £10 for priority tickets. By the time we finally had got through security it was 1minute until the gates were due to close. At was at this point we started to panic and run. 1min to find the gate number and get to it via the train. After much running we reached the gate 10 minutes past gate close time. Luckily Ryan Air were running late as usual and had just started boarding let alone finishing it! As we boarded the plane Laura noticed she had lost her scarf from all the running, rubbish, guess that's an excuse for a new one.

During the flight some kid chucked up. This wouldn't have been the end of the world had Ryan Air decided not to cheap and save money by not including sick bags. What a mess, and the customer was made to clean it up too! During the flight the mother of the sick child was arguing with the steward and eventually reduced to tears. Not sure what happened exactly but some swearing was involved and threats of calling the police. The steward was defo a ball buster and was taking no shit from anybody! Some guy tried her patience by standing up before she'd said you were allowed too after landing, she ripped him a new one!

Michelle breaking her chair

2008-11-11T12:43:00.001Z

After chin wagging to her mum, Michelle began leaning more and more, until the chair broke.

Day 9 - cont..

2008-10-26T03:19:00.001Z

Next stop was High Park, it was raining again but you just gotta roll with it. I decided this time i'd take the subway, as it wasn't even on my map. So $2.75 gets me one token, but what does one token get me? After much confusion i just got one token and figure i'll just blag it. It was about 15mins on the tube, so glad i didn't walk. When i arrived so did the sun, the park was really nice and pretty huge.

After a good walk around i headed back to the city for dinner. I had less time than i thought until the game so got a quick burger before rushing to the Air Canada center. I had planned to drop my bags and camera off, but in the rush didn't have time, and i nearly got refused entry because of it. They have a policy refusing any good zoom lens cameras, so you don't try and sell the pics i assume. After 5mins of explaining that although my camera lens looked big it was only a wide angle lens, i got in. My lens was 17-70mm, and anything over 75mm wasn't allowed in.

My seats were amazing, i could see the floor easily and didn't need to look at the screen once. I was really pleased since the ticket was only $40. This was a heated game, and a fight broke out in the first 50 seconds. Gloves off and plenty of punches thrown. The Maple Leafs were the underdogs but scored in the 3rd period to win 3-2. I was there for 3hrs even though play was only 60minutes. There was plenty of advertising, and things like hug and couples cam to keep people amused during breaks of play.

Day 9 - A warning to you all.

2008-10-26T03:16:00.003Z

Day 9 - cont..

2008-10-26T03:16:00.001Z

Arriving at Casa Loma about 2hrs later, it was a long walk! The sun was out again, so i had a good look around. Strangely there were loads of kids in fancy dress. It's it a little early for halloween? I ditched the audio tour after about 2mins. It wasn't hands free so i had to walk around holding a phone to my ear, jeeze what it this? The dark ages?

Day 9 - The new way to say lanes merge.

2008-10-26T03:15:00.001Z

Day 9 - cont..

2008-10-26T03:14:00.001Z

On route i found one of the coolest shops i'd seen for a while. Named A&C Games, is specialised in vintage computer games. A shop full of basically some guys collection essentially. I found a chain saw controller for resident evil! How often would you even get to use this?

On my walk some homeless guy shouts to some guy "Hey Mr. biceps". The big guy stops and seriously asks "Hey, do i know you?", but said in a way such that he actually meant the question. Made me laugh anyway. I also had some guys make random noises from their car at me while i was photographing some graffiti, i looked it them and we both just laughed. Nutters.

Day 9 - Bad date?

2008-10-26T03:11:00.003Z

Day 9 - 25th Oct

2008-10-26T03:11:00.001Z

The roomie woke me at around 07:30 as he left for his conference. I was quite tired so rolled over and went back to sleep. Got up around 10:30 to find my roomie had completely cleared out. Hmm. Do i snore that badly? Random, oh well. I felt a lot better than i did yesterday morning, completely recharged.

I started walking towards Casa Loma, it was quite a way but i fancied it anyway. It was raining and dull, so wasn't the best day to view a castle and park, but what can you do. I decided to give the CN tower a miss again today since i couldn't even see it for the mist! I walked through Chinatown again as it's on the route anyway. What i've noticed is that all shops in Chinatown are random, with no specific theme in mind. Each one reminding me of a car boot sale stand. Went into a couple of Chinese malls, only to get a bit disorientated and leaving via a random exit. I carried on walking for 10 minutes or so before i realised that i'd come out a completely different direction and was now walking the wrong way. Just as well i double checked the signs otherwise who knows how long i'd have walked for.

Day 8 - Have you seen this man?

2008-10-25T04:46:00.005+01:00

The description reads..
"This man has been spotted on campus offering genuine Microsoft Office Ultimate 2007 software to students for 91% less than the estimated retail price"

Day 8 - The Great Wall of China

2008-10-25T04:46:00.003+01:00

Day 8 - Joe Mamas from the night before.

2008-10-25T04:46:00.001+01:00

Day 8 - cont..

2008-10-25T04:45:00.003+01:00

It was at this point i wandered what to do this evening. Having net no randoms i was a little lost, so headed to the box office to see what was on. As it turned out there was a show on not far from the hostel. "Barack to the Future". A comedy sketch show with a big reputation, or so the box office clerk said. I thought why not and got a ticket. It wasn't due to start until 20:00 so i headed off in search of dinner. I remembered Sarah mentioning a place last night, however i had had a few drinks so my memory was a little hazy. All i could remember was a neon "open" sign. I wandered down where i thought we went the night before and after about 15min found it (i think?). Début was the name of the place, and it had good food and was cheap, so a good shout after all. I grabbed a roast chicken wrap thing and got that inside me.

I now had a roommate and i invited him to the comedy as well, but he had to study. Oh well, just me then, so off i set. I was sat on a table with two couples, talk about awkward! As it turned out i got chatting to one of them Chris and his wife. They travel to the Uk a lot and were telling me some stuff about Canada, like did you know an average Canadian worker only has 10 days holiday a year, with the chance to if you're lucky get 15. That sucks, and to think i moan about only 25. Anyway, the comedy show was amazing, some brilliantly funny sketches. I wonder if a DVD exists? I felt a lot better after the comedy, having spent most the day hung over and wondering alone, it was nice to have a good laugh!

Day 8 - cont..

2008-10-25T04:45:00.001+01:00

After the market i headed towards old town, but first i had a craving for a hot chocolate. I went to "The Main Squeeze" and ordered a large chocolate. It was terrible, so much so that after 3 attempts to just bare with it i decided to ditch it. I was gutted, but continued on. Then suddenly relief as on the horizon i spotted a friendly Starbucks, one grande please put a smile back on my face. Old town was nothing special so i headed towards "Bloor Yorkville" via Yonge st.

On Yonge st. I came across the rough area of the road. Surrounded by groups and sleazy stores i obviously kept on walking. One guy clearly not intimidated pushed through a group dodgy looking guys shouting the words "Get the fuck out of my way". I was surprised, as were the group but he'd already disappeared into the crowd.

Later i ended up at Kensington market, and followed a similar route to that i took last night. So many diverse shops, each bringing their own charm to the area. Nearby was Chinatown so i wandered through there before returning to the hostel.

Day 8 - 24th Oct

2008-10-25T04:44:00.001+01:00

I was woken up by my alarm at 09:00, realising that i was shattered i reset it for 10:00. I woke again to my alarm and decided i had to get up as not to waste a day in bed. I wondered how the girls were feeling, i knew they had to get a taxi to the airport around 08:00 and must have both been shattered.

As i staggered to the shower i regretted the "Barry White" drink (double vodka with a slight twist of something) that i'd ordered the night before at Joe Mamas. But what can you do where you're being seduced by funk. I remembered last night saying "i was too funky for security" as i accidently forced open the hostel door without using my key card. It was funny at the time, maybe, hey i'd had a few anyway.

I left the hostel around 11:30 and was on a quest for something to fill the void in my stomach. I grabbed toasted ham and cheese sandwich, then stood staring into space chomping it. I wandered over to the CN tower and found that it was $25ish. Since it was a little cloudy i think i'll go up another day.

On my way to St. Lawrence Market i noticed a woman offer a homeless person an apple. He politely declined, stating that he didn't much care for apples. The woman was shocked and i found it all a little amusing. Further down i witnessed a guy removing his shoes beside a water fountain in a park. I was curious so stopped to see what he was doing. I was then shocked to see him walk around in the water picking up coins, being quite selective, probably only picking up coins over 25c. Arriving at the market i was overwhelmed by the volume of fresh food on offer. The whole building was full of meat, cheese, fish, if you could buy it fresh it was there. I'd love to have one of there places local, the food looked gorgeous.

Day 7 - cont..

2008-10-24T17:00:00.005+01:00

After a shower and a brief sit down we re-grouped and headed out for a wander around the city at 19:00ish. The wander turned into a mini pub crawl. We all grabbed some dinner and checked out some cool bars.

On our way back to the hostel we head some seriously good live funk spilling out of a bar. We just had to go in and my god was it worth it. We each grabbed a seat at the bar whilst enjoying some of the coolest characters playing funky music i'd ever seen. The atmosphere was brilliant and they clearly loved what they were playing. One woman even shouted during a breakdown "one, two, three, four, let's go" which was brilliant. Another guy jumped in to ring 'get on up' by James Brown, only to find another guy walk in with some crazy sax solo. The singer even ended up dancing with some random girl whilst singing a funky version of 'Gold Digger'.

All in all it turned out to be a great night, unplanned as always the best ones are. We got back to the hostel around 02:00 a little drunk. Sarah and Katie were off tomorrow morning so we said our goodbyes and went to bed.

Day 7 - Borat!

2008-10-24T17:00:00.003+01:00

The real one!

Day 7 - cont..

2008-10-24T17:00:00.001+01:00

We arrived at the falls around 13:00 and had until 16:30 before we'd set off back. We all headed straight for the 'maid of the mist' boat tour along the bottom of the falls. We all got a bit wet despite doning our bright blue ponchos. It was worth it though to see the true height of them and to get as close as possible. Once off the boat we walked along the top and soon realised the error of throwing away our ponchos. The mist covered the street and it was like being in a rain storm. I'd brought my mac but Sarah only had a woolen coat and got drenched. Again it was worth it to find yourself standing only a could of metres from water rushing over the top of the falls. The current was so fast, and it was just incredible to see gallons of water disappearing over the edge. I also met a real life Borat, this guy was jokes and wanted me to take his picture and email it to him. He was very fussy, and literally pushed someone out of the way as not to ruin the shot. Still undecide whether i'll send the pic, maybe...

We headed up the street to the Vegas part of Niagara. It was horrendous, bright lights, tacky tourist attractions, a real eyesore. It was just as well all this tack was hidden behind a row of trees, meaning you could appreciate the falls without knowing what horror lay behind the trees. We grabbed a pizza between us, some mini doughnuts (the middle bits apparently) and a couple of hot chocolates. We then had one last look at the falls before heading back to the bus.

Day 7 - 23rd Oct

2008-10-24T16:59:00.001+01:00

The moose tour was set to leave at 08:30 sharp so i was up early, showered then staggered down to the front desk. The tour wasn't that busy so i was a little nervous about the chance of meeting people. I everyone looked in pairs except 2 but they turned out to be French and spoke no English. I grabbed a seat on the bus and off we went on the 2hr journey to Niagara Falls.

We stopped off at the 'Reif Estate Winery' for some wine tasting. I wasn't expecting this and hadn't eaten or drunk anything all morning and it was now around 10:00. We all had a half glass of white, red and ice wine. After shown how to taste wine, the smelling, swirling, they actually weren't that bad. I got chatting to a couple of English girls for Leeds, they were pretty sound. Sarah is studying politics over here until the new year, whilst her sister Katie is visiting.

Next stop was Niagara-on-the-lake, a small town just outside the falls. It was a great little place, nice small shops each bringing some charm to the area. We grabbed some lunch there, and had a little wander into the shops. There was a shop specialising in dips, Sarah and Katie had great fun tasting pretty much every sample on offer. A few minutes later we headed back to the bus, where we a helicopter flight over the fall was plugged.

As we arrived it the flight centre i decided what the hell, i'll do it. I've never been in a helicopter before so i might as well do it over something interesting. Needless to say it was amazing, the views were fantastic taking you right over both falls offering a perspective you could never see from the land. The flight itself was amazingly smooth, i didn't really notice the take off, although my stomach did end up in my throat a few times as we descended.

Day 6 - cont..

2008-10-23T13:50:00.003+01:00

I found the hostel pretty easily and checked in. I'm in a 4 bed room, sharing with one other girl presently. I forget her name, obviously, but she's swiss and off to London (Canada) tomorrow. She was also asleep at 18:00, apparently after a heavy night

i booked into the Niagara tour with the hope of also meeting some fellow travellers. I then headed out for dinner, i wanted some steak to make up for the night before. Philthy McNasty's Bar and Grill looked good enough so i headed in. Wow, it was just like the set of 'waiting', only i didn't see any references to 'table 12'. After my well deserved steak i headed out for a wander around the city, before heading back to the hostel.

Day 6 - 22nd Oct

2008-10-23T13:50:00.001+01:00

Well today i was on my way back to Toronto. My flight was at 08:00 as to allow plenty of time to find my hostel the other end. I was up and in the shower around 05:50 as we'd planned to arrive at the airport at 07:00.

Last night Peter accidently left his set of keys in the hire car after the rush of dropping it back. Which wasn't that much a problem since we'd be going there today anyway so he could collect them then. However it wasn't until we were about to get into the co-op that it dawned on us that the keys for this car were also on the set of keys left in the hire car. A slight panic for all of 5 seconds as we managed to get a taxi instead at 06:35. The taxi driver was a rapid driver literally weaving through lanes, as you can over take in any lane over here. We arrived, said our goodbyes and i was queuing for security by 07:10. Again i got stopped, searched by the world and even had my bag emptied. It's always that darn tripod, but they won't listen to me when i try and show them where it is. Instead they empty every single pouch until they find it themselves. They then make some pathetic attempt to re-pack my bag before i step up and do it myself.

The plane was probably only about 30% full this time, so i moved to have a whole row to myself. I even saw a girl laying across 3 seats, who needs first class huh? The view from the plane was amazing, the mountains went on for miles. Every now and then you'd see a small settlement and wonder how many hundreds of miles they were from anything else.

Day 5 - What is this?

2008-10-22T21:19:00.001+01:00

Found at the base of a few ski slopes.

The tube looks like a cover, which lifts off to reveal a conveyor belt which flows down. There's carpet along either side of the belt also.

Anyone know?

Day 5 - 21st Oct

2008-10-22T21:17:00.001+01:00

I was quite pleased to actually wake up early for once, around 8am. The weather looked good so i headed straight for the aquarium.

At the aquarium i felt like a child again, i've never seen half the animals there and it was great. The coolest thing was seeing this huge sea turtle just swimming around, memories of Finding Nemo came flooding in. I'd never seen a swimming turtle before so loved it. Round the corner was a jelly fish section, with huge tanks of them. I'd never seen them before either and watching them pulsate along was amazing. Outside i fortunately caught the dolphin feeding display, dolphins are great. The tricks they were doing were cool, from flips to racing one another.

After the aquarium i headed back to the city and into the local China town. I popped into a couple of shops before visiting the Chinese garden. A beautiful garden with many spiritual areas for relaxing. I couldn't stay for long though as this was my last day and i fancied a hike in north vancouver.

We drove up into Cyprus park, towards where the winter olympics are set to be held. There were countless snow makers around, must have been worth thousands, i want one! We parked up and went for a hike for a couple of hours. The air was a cool but very fresh, it was nice to be out of the city. The trees were huge and probably hundreds of years old. A few fallen giants were scattered around, probably from a storm a long time ago.

We stopped off to grab a snack before i headed back to the flat while Peter returned the hire car.

I tried to find a halloween costume online for the party but the one i wanted was sold out! I'll have to possibly reconsider. I also checked into my flight to Toronto and got packed.

We headed out for dinner around 20.00 to a cool little place on Broadway. After waiting 10minutes and sitting down i realised it was a vegetarion restaurant. Gone were my hopes of a steak. Oh well, i grabbed a burger and tucked in. It was alright, but i'd rather had the steak!

Day 4 - cont..

2008-10-22T21:16:00.001+01:00

I came across an area called The Lost Lagoon where i met a mob of racoons. They were being fed by some fellow tourists and gathered around quite happily. I started snapping away at some youngsters a litte further from the pack, they were very curious and came very close. Soon though the adults noticed me and their protective instincts took charge. They headed over growling and hissing, at least 10 or so of them. I took this as a cue to leave and headed back to drop my bike off. As i did there was a really vivid rainbow outside, it looked fantastic.

I decided i'd walk back to the flat, a chance to take in the surrounding area. It was a good 2.5hr stroll, but i thought why not. I popped into a 7/1¹to grab some snacks, and was shocked that 'regular anything' doesn't exist. It's only king size or mega size, i had to buy a litre of a soft drink as that's the smallest hand held bottle they had.

On my route home i walked past a stadium of some sort. As i walked through someone shouted tickets. At this point i thought i was headed for an entrance stuck with the flow of people. As it turns out it was a tout selling tickets. I made the mistake of engaging the tout, in case i could snap a bargain for the evening. He thought he'd reeled me in, offering solutions for every excuse i tried to use to escape. He'd walk me to the cash point, let me use his phone, anything to secure the sale. I eventually broke free once i found out the tickets were $150 for Celine Dion.

When i returned Peter cooked up some pasta. It contained no meat. I think it might well have been my first veg only meal for years! It was good though!

Day 4 - cont..

2008-10-22T21:15:00.001+01:00

On the way back to the city Peter dropped me at a bike hire centre near Stanley park. I hired a bike and after debating whether or not to wear a helmet, off i set ( minus helmet). The last time i'd been on a bike was over a year ago when i'd done the Lands End to John 'O Groats ride, but i got back into it soon enough. It was a great ride circling the park, and the weather held up most of the journey. I did notice my legs aren't what they used to be in terms of endurance but i guess that comes with no training. Towards the end of the route i came to a junction and nearly ended up adding 15k onto the route, fortunately i noticed the error only 1k in and turned around.

Day 4 - Sign in mall toilets

2008-10-22T21:14:00.003+01:00

I saw this sign just in time!

Day 4 - 20th Oct

2008-10-22T21:14:00.001+01:00

Last night i'd planned to be up early to make use of the sunny morning to complete the Stanley Park bike ride. At around 08:00 i woke to the sound of heavy rain, so i rolled over and re-set my alarm for 10:00.

Peter came round just after 11:00 and we headed for Richmond to have a look around the Chinese district. We cruised around Steveston dock and saw vast amounts of waste marshland. We drove on to Finnslough and saw the squatter community. Many here live rent free by erecting homes over the water or wasteland. However every few years they are cleared out by local enforcements.

Just down the road was a chinese temple, so we stopped in. It's open to the public so you are free to walk around, however photographing is restricted in some areas for religious reasons. The place is littered with statues, some very grand others a little tacky, ranging for giant golden budda's to plastic reindeers. After the temple we headed to a local mall (Kalson), for a look around and some food. Being in China town i wasn't sure why i was so suprised to find everything in chinese and hardly a non asian person in sight. We sat down in the food court and i ordered up a load of food. I think it was $5 for 3 items and rice, turns out that's a lot of food! As Peter and i sat down it dawned on us that we literally were the only white people in the whole of the busy food court! You can't help but feel slightly out of place.

Day 3 - cont.

2008-10-21T06:31:00.001+01:00

Next stop was the Capilano suspension bridge, located within a treetop adventure centre. This bridge was a lot longer and higher than the one at Lyn Canyon. However it wasn't quite as cool as the one in Northern Island i visited last year. The only reason i rate it lower was due to the extra safety measures in place, i mean, where's the fun in that. It was steel reinforced everywhere possible, unlike the rope one in NI. Despite this we did still manage to jump on it enough to cause a good wobble!

The adventure area of the park was great. Lots of paths up in the tall trees, everything suspended easily over 30 or 40ft from the ground. Some of the trees are simply massive and just seem to disappear into the skies.

After the park we headed for a light snack at a cafe called "crema". Chocolate fudge brownie and a hot chocolate sounded good to me! Later we drove to the shop i was looking for the other day, turns out it's only minutes from the flat. There also is some method to the numbering, 100 to every block.

We decided to grab some good Thai for dinner, then went for a late night visit to the anthropology museum. Although the museum was closed for refurbishments it was well lit from inside and with the large glass windows we could see most of it. It was actually quite a cool mission as it was pitch black with literally no one but us creeping around. After that, we headed back and called it a day.

Day 3 - 19th Oct

2008-10-21T05:35:00.001+01:00

Today we had plans to make use of the hire car and get to some of those places which are too far to walk. But before any of that we headed to i nearby diner for some brunch! A couple of poached eggs later and we were ready to roll.

We headed for Lyn Canyon first to have a wander around. There was a little suspension bridge and a couple of good walks. We headed down to a little stream which lead off a mini waterfall. The waterfall was quite tucked away and required me to get my feet wet in order to get a reasonable photo. It was apparently a lot deeper than it looked, 30ft i'm told!

We then drove onwards to Capilano in search of a few areas of interest. First stop was the Salmon hatchery, where Salmon jump up the ladders. They get bashed about a lot and are pretty jam packed, i'm unsure whether they jump out or whether they pop out due to being so squashed in.

Just up the road was the Cleveland dam. This connects to one of the main reservoirs, and has a controlled gate. This was used to effect the level at which water spilled over the waterfall like area, we're unsure whether this is necessary of just for tourism. The reservoir offered a fantastic view with the water being so still, great reflections.

Day 2 - 18th Oct cont

2008-10-20T06:47:00.001+01:00

Inside one of the brochures there was one particular shop i wanted to go to. It's address was 2400 granville st. That's one long road right, i headed for the nearest part to me. Great i was at number 500, so how far is 2400? I started walking down, about 20mins later i'd made it to 900. Man this was long (in all contexts) another 15mins later i found myself at a bridge. The bridge was long in itself so before heading over i consulted the map again. Great! The road goes on for miles past the bridge. At this point i tapped out, and headed back to the center. Roads as long as this almost make addresses useless, unless you also give the nearest intersection.

The weather was pretty good so i headed for the "harbour Centre" to make use of the 360 panoramic views. I also got lunch there whilst i had a look around. The view was really good with a long visibility.

Around 1600 I met up with Peter and we went for a stroll around the docks and China town. The chinese sell the most random stuff, including dried lizards on sticks. Weird!

Peter had arranged for us to meet with Megan for dinner at the "Wild Rice" chinese restaurant. I tucked into some Red cooked beef and shanghai noodles. Which comprised of braised pemberton meadows natural beef, snap peas, bok choy. It was pretty good!

I got a little lost on the way home and almost didn't make it to the show. Fortunately i managed to wave down a taxi which took me there in no time.

The show was interesting. It was set up in a similar way to "who's line is it anyway" with no scripts and lots of audience suggestions. It actually was quite amusing, and i did laugh out loud on a few occasions. Although i couldn't help but feel a bit out of place sitting on my own in the audience.

About 1hr in the had a break and it was it this point i decided to call it a night. Afterall it was about 2300 and i was shattered so the humor was having little effect. I jumped into a cab and headed home.

Day 2 - 18th Oct

2008-10-19T19:10:00.001+01:00

So considering how much travelling i had done i felt like i had slept pretty well. I'd set my alarm for 9, but i managed to snooze until around 9.30. I eventually sat up to realise that i was absolutely starving. I guess with the time zone differences i had slept through breakfast and lunch, i was now being punished for doing such a sinful thing. Peter had a huge jar of home made museli so i got involved with some of that!

At around 1030 i set off looking for a way into the city center. I did have a map, but it takes at least 4 roads to get your bearings so you know which way along a road you're heading. That sorted i headed for main street with the hope of finding a bus. About 15mins later a bus heading straight for Stanley Park arrived so i jumped on that then spent about 1min trying to work out the ticket voucher thing before the driver did it for me! Guess he was in a hurry :-)

i figured the tourist office would be a good start, so i went there and got a load of brochures. Since Peter had plans this eve i pondered what i should do myself. Hmm.. Not having a clue what was on i headed to the ticket office and asked them to recommend me something. 5mins later i ended up with a ticket to watch a live improvisation comedy show, called Theatresports. Sounds good to me.

As i sat at the marina planning the rest of my days here, i gave out directions to fellow tourists. Who knows why they asked me, guess i looked like i knew where i was going despite the confused face and map in hand? I even taught some italians how to say "woman", very random.

Day 1 cont.

2008-10-18T08:01:00.001+01:00

Turns our wearing jeans with a stupid amount of zips is hell for a metal detector! After being taken to one side and padded down by 3 people i'm finally allowed to leave.

Westjet, who my connection was with have unusual methods in which they operate. Plenty of banter over the speaker, joking about having a sexy voice, and flirting between one another. Even during the safety demonstration onboard there were jokes and giggles. It didn't bother me at all, just found it was against the norm. The plane was probably only about half full, but it was in very good condition and i managed to scrape a couple of hours sleep.

Finally i arrive in Vancouver at 20.00 local time, Or 04.00 uk time. I was shattered, and had been travelling for nearly 20hrs! Peter met me at the airport, we drove back to his apartment. We did a brief bit of planning, before i settled in for sleep.

Day 1 - 17th oct

2008-10-18T07:56:00.001+01:00

Well today i begin my mission to Canada. I had a fair few days of annual leave and with this years current lack of exploring i decided i should just get on and book something. Since this trip was going to be solo from the start i didn't want to go anywhere too challenging just yet so i settled for Canada. Although only a short break i fancied getting a taste of both Toronto and Vancouver. Granted i will only scrape the surface with 4 days in each but it's a start and it gets me out of the country for a bit. Fortunately i have an uncle in Vancouver who has offered to put me up for a few days, and i'll spend the rest of the time in Toronto in a hostel.

So anyway i woke at 7 knowing that today would only be bringing a substantial amount of travelling in a squashed plane(s). The idea hardly filled me with joy, and at the time i'd much rather stayed in bed. However i wanted to go and i had a tight schedule to keep. I made it to the station at Col for 8, and decided on the heathrow express from Paddington in London. Some guy at Chelms had tried desperately to convince me to take the subway the whole journey but i opted against it since i had no idea how much longer this route might take. Turns out the heathrow express is rapid, getting me terminal 5 in 2hrs door to door.

I only like taking hand baggage when travelling it saves a lot of time both ends and it's just generally easier. My bag is typically too big for those "does you bag fit in here" test things, but i get away with it anyway. As i look around the departure lounge i can't help but notice how many people have bags clearly a lot bigger than the dimensions allowed. This makes we wander if the carry on rules are ever enforced?

We're allowed to board and as we wait for some lost passengers bags to be removed i tuck into some lunch.

I arrive at Toronto after 8 long hours. I left plenty of time for my connection, 3hrs! I somehow end up leaving the secure area and having to go through security again.

Day 15 - Sunday 17th May

2008-05-18T11:59:00.000+01:00

Lots of travelling today, although had a good chat with my seat buddy on the plane. liz was on her way back from a business trip and seeing her boyfriend in the states, she flies a lot for work which has its advantages. She had some 'herbal' tea to help her relax, apparently not strictly legal in the uk. One cup later and she was out cold so it did its job.

I chilled out with a movie and tried to catch as much sleep as possible.

Touch down at 11:00 and I'm back in the uk, and shattered :)

Day 14 - Friday 16th May

2008-05-18T11:53:00.000+01:00

Well sadly today was my last full day on my little travel adventure. Unfortunately it began with a nasty hangover from the night before. Flashbacks of exotic shots and various drinking contests filled my mind. I had to move my baggage into storage before 10:00 so i staggered downstairs and did that. Unfortunately a lot of who we met last night were leaving this morning, so it was just Sarah and me again today. We'd arranged to meet at around 11:00 for breakfast. Sarah looked how i felt, so i suggested we should get some fatty food from the diner. A couple of eggs and some bacon later and we were feeling slightly better.

We had no real plan for today so decided to wander down towards the piers via China town. We strolled around enjoying the nice weather and the cool sea breeze. There was a guy hiding between a fake bush who i'd seen a few days ago. However today i was unprepared and he sacred the life out of me much to Sarah's amusement.

At pier 39 we found of the guys we'd gone to the beach with. They'd just been on the alcatraz tour and were on their way to meet up with some friends. We'd already eaten so said we'd see them at the hostel this evening.

I left Sarah around 16:00 as she wanted to sit down and plan her week whilst i wanted to check out a few shops in the mall. I picked up a few bits and pieces them headed back to the hostel where i found the crazy German girl from last night. She asked about dinner plans so i invited her along with me and Sarah, the more the merrier. Before we left i had to move my baggage into my private room. I booked a private room only for the night before my flight to make sure i have a good nights sleep.

According to the bible that is the lonely planet guide there is a cheap Spanish place about four blocks away. We found it and sat down. On first inspection is wasn't that cheap at all, but hey we were here and all hungry.

After finishing the meal we headed back to the hostel. Sarah was going to the karoke show but i wasn't so enthusiastic myself. I decided to retire to my room after saying goodbye to those i'd met at around 22:00. I sorted my baggage and got an early night.

Day 13 - Thursday 15th May

2008-05-18T11:50:00.000+01:00

The tour started at 10:00 which was set to last around 4 hours. I knew no-one at the moment but hoped to meet some randoms throughout the day. The guy had a mini-bus and took about 15 people on the tour. I sat up front initially which gave me a good view but little chance to mingle. As we drove around it was amazing to see how many different communities there were within the city. Mexican, hippie, gay, China town, Japan town, rich and the poor were all separated only by a crossroad.

We drove over the Golden have bridge and headed up to the twin peaks. This gave a fantastic view of both the city and the bridge. It was the hottest day of the year today at 30 degrees, however because of the wind on the peaks you wouldn't know it. As we wandered around taking photos i met a German girl named Sarah. She was also a lone traveller and noticed that most on the tour were small groups, unlike us. She'd just spent the last year studying in Canada and spoke English very well. I'm almost feeling guilty for not knowing any other language than my own.

We all got back into the minibus and headed of to a nature park, also part of the tour. The park was host to some of the tallest trees in America and so worth a quick visit. Sarah and i stuck together and rounded up some more travellers to hang around with.

The tour finished back at our hostel around 14:00. The driver mentioned that he could give us a lift to the beach in about 10 minutes if anyone was interested. Sarah and i jumped at the chance and quickly got changed. We were joined by a couple of English girls both named Vicky and off we went to enjoy the beach on the hottest day of the year.

The beach was amazing, with great views of the bridge in the background. It wasn't too busy either since it was a weekday afternoon. Unfortunately i didn't pack expecting to go the beach so lacked a towel and swim shorts. Instead i just chilled on the sand attempting to go from white to an off pink colour. A few of the girls wandered off to the nude beach about 500 up the road. They returned about 30 minutes later disappointed after finding it full of old men and women. I guess they were expecting it to be full of 20 something guys.

We made our own way back to the hostel via bus getting in for around 18:30. There was a night tour of the city set to start around 20:45 so we needed some dinner before then. Sarah had read about a Thai place around the corner so we headed there. After dinner we grabbed a couple of beers and chilled in the lounge before the tour. I managed to convince my roommates to come on the tour and Sarah rounded up a couple of Australians, Jenny and Jennifer.

The actual tour was short lived and ended up being a pub crawl. A few bars and drinks in China town later and we were on our way to a club. The club was in a slighty dodgy area of town but the guides assured us it would be fine. 5 minutes after she said this some crazy guy started harassing her. There were a couple of guides with us so we broke into two groups to try and lose the guy. He actually started chasing the main guide, she claims she has history with him. I hope 'history' means something different to what it does in the uk, as that guy was definately on drugs and clearly a bit off. Anyway that drama aside we found the club and went in. It turned out to be an underground reggae club. It was actually a good laugh and we ended up having a few more drinks while attempting to blend in.

We left the club around 02:00 without the tour guide, apparently she'd disappeared earlier. One of the crazy German girls decided she was hungry so we looked for somewhere to eat. We found a place and she got a steak burger whilst Dave (my roommate) fell through a table knocking a load of stuff everywhere. After the food we headed back to the hostel to crash out around 03:30.

Day 12 - Wednesday 14th May

2008-05-17T06:32:00.000+01:00

I knew today was going to be quite a quiet day, travelling between cities alone was never exciting. I snuck out of the hostel around 07:50 and headed for the metro. I managed to find the queen star on the walk of fame so grabbed a snap of that. I wasn't exactly sure where the metro was, but had a feeling i'd know it when i saw it. Sure enough i found it and headed for the airport.

It was pretty plain sailing and in no time i was in the queue for security. I ended up chatting to a guy from the navy. He'd spotted my lowepro camera bags and was a part time photographer himself. A wedding photographer would you believe, perhaps competition for an up and coming uk rival!

The pilot of the plane was english and had a great sarcastic sense of humour. He regularly took the mick out of passengers and staff in a friendly way. Along the flight he even tilted the plane just so people could have a look out the windows better.

I found the hostel again pretty easily and checked into my shared room. No one was about so i just went for a wander around the shops. I found this supermarket making sandwiches to order. I saw the guy in front of me receive a massive beef sandwich. So i literally asked for 'what he just had'. The girl was slicing the freshly roasted beef and stacking it together. There was a little left over, too much for the sandwich but not enough for a new one. So she wrapped it up and handed it to me. So there i was in a supermarket eating slices of beef whilst having a sandwich made up for me. I found some seats in the mall, so i sat down and tucked in. It was great, literally the best sandwich i've ever had! So much so that i went back and ordered another for later!

It was getting on now so i headed back to the hostel. Passing through union square i heard some live music and popped over to have a look. It was the display from the 'School of Rock Academy'. There were kids from 7 to 16 playing rock music and they were good. There was a mini Slash, about 10 years old who was simply amazing at guitar. I stuck around for about 90 minutes before heading back.

Back at the hostel i finally had some roomies. Neil and Dave were both from Colorado and on a trip related to college. Adam arrived a little later and was from stoke in the uk. He infact was in Colchester not long ago for the last football match to be played at layer road. It was a shame we lost and he didn't hold back reminding me.

Day 11 - Tuesday 13th May

2008-05-16T18:30:00.000+01:00

Yesterday i had arranged to meet Aislan and Anna at 11:00 for the Hollywood sign tour. I woke up before that so wandered into town, got some breakfast and had a look around. So many tourist shops, probably every other shop selling the same thing just with a different store name.

I went back to the kitchen with some breakfast and could already hear Jacobidev shouting as i entered the hostel! She was off to universal studios today. I had been invited but decided i'd rather see more of the city and surrounding ones.

We all met for the tour and were joined by Damien and Sarah as well. The tour was led by the same guy who ran the Beverly Hills tour and was equally excited about this one too. The tour was going to lead right up and above the sign and expected to be a little challenging given the heat. We've decided the tour guide named 'Jimmy Hollywood' apparently, is a clone of Jack Black in both appearance and personality. There was a lone female traveller in our group and the tour guide immediately focused his attention to her. He was trying his best to seduce her with his charm much to our amusement.

We reached the peak of the hill we'd spent the last 45 minutes climbing to be rewarded with amazing views of the city. We were about 30m above the hollywood sign and could see for miles. We're told that you can no longer get very near to the sign due to countless pranks over the years. Motion detectors have been installed as well as a permantly manned security office.

We'd planned to head to the beach in the afternoon which was a long 2hr bus ride each way. I was telling an Australian couple this during the tour and they mentioned they also had plans to visit the beach, but they had a car. Pete and Jeanene offered me a lift there with them and said they could fit two more, so i rounded up the others.

By car Santa Monica beach was only 40 minutes away and a lot easier than 3 buses. The beach was fantastic with miles of sandy beaches set against a built up city backdrop. We walked up to Venice beach to have a look at the shops and market stalls. We must have passed about 20 tattoo shops, apparently demand is high. The path along the front of the beach was lined with homeless people selling things and performing acts, including a guy playing guitar on rollerskates. Most homeless sleep during the day when it is safer compared to the night.

We found a bar on the pier to watch the sunset whilst enjoying a nice cool beer. We headed more into town for dinner and found a typical sports bar. I ordered my beer as did Anna. Unfortunately Anna got asked for id, as although 24 she can look young. She didn't have any so i drank alone as the other 3 weren't planning on drinking. Pete and Jeanene are heading to Vegas for a second wedding after La and as it happens Aislan is going to be there also. They've invited him to their wedding and are going to pick his up from his hotel on friday in their limo, crazy!

We arrived back at the hostel around 23:00 and said goodbye to Pete and Jeanene. It was stranger leaving Anna and Aislan since we'd spent almost 24hrs in the past 2 days wandering around together. I guess that's what happens when you travel, you meet cool people, have a good time with them, but then go you separate ways eventually.

Day 10 - Monday 12th May

2008-05-13T17:46:00.000+01:00

I wanted to get up early to ensure i got the most out of my 2 days here, so set my alarm for 08:00. I headed down for breakfast and it was clear everyone was taking advantage of the free pancakes. I just sat with a tea and had a look through a few brochures. About 20 minutes later Damien and Sarah joined me and we discussed plans for the day.

At 10:30 we began the walking tour of Beverly Hills and Bel Air. The tour guide reminded us of Jack Black in both his looks and personality. He was a complete celebrity junkie, getting excited just taking about the possibility of seeing a celeb. As i was on my own i tried my best to mingle with everyone and get to know as many as i could. After about 20minutes i found myself getting on well with Aislan and Anna, a short while later we were joined by Jacobidev. After the tour finished we stuck together and went for our own wander.

Aislan was a 23 year old guy from Brazil. He was pretty sound with a similar humour to me, despite having only been studying English for 11 months. Anna was a 24 year old girl from Sweden. She was quite nuts, stupidly full of energy and a bit scatty. Jacobidev was 24 and from South Africa. She was loud and probably the happiest person i've met in my life, the mere sight of almost anything was like Christmas for her. So overall we had a cool group and we broke away heading for downtown LA. Downtown was the industrial center of the city with huge skyscrapers dominating the skies. We wandered around for a few hours before heading back to the main strip.

Back at the strip we found the Chinese Theatre, home of many premieres and hand prints. We wanted to go inside but couldn't without a ticket. So we figured we might as well buy a ticket for a movie later tonight. Speed Racer was the only movie on the big screen so that saved us choosing one.

Before the movie we picked up some food from a super market. I've never seen anyone so happy about the purchase of a chicken wrap before. Jacobidev was literally estatic even taking photos of herself to remember the amazing occasion.

During the movie the other fell asleep for brief periods as it had been a long day and the cinema was pretty comfortable. I guess it had to be as it's used to premiere a lot of movies. The movie was pretty good fun, even though an obvious family film. After the movie we all headed back to the hostel for some well deserved rest.

Day 9 - Sunday 11th May

2008-05-13T17:08:00.000+01:00

I woke up early as i had prearranged to meet with Andrew at 08:00 to have a look at lombard street. Upon entering the shower i received a gentle reminder as to why sun cream is my friend. Yesterday was so windy at the coast we all didn't realise how sunny it actually was, i was only a little pink! Andrew knocked at 08:00 right on time, i opened the door to see a red faced character. It turns out he didn't notice the sun yesterday either, fortunately i had plenty of aftersun to go around.

I decided we should go via my hostel to lombard st so i could drop off my larger bag to save having to take it to LA. The hostel decided not to charge for keeping my bag, i only hope they actually keep it and not pawn the items within it. We scaled quite a few long steep hills on our way but after about 40mins we made it to the top of Lombard St. The road snaked it's way down the steep slope. It was still early so it wasn't that busy, although there was sometimes a two car back log of people wanting to drive down this rare hill. It must be quite frustrating to live on the hill as there are constantly tourists wanting to drive down it for no purpose other than to simply to say that they have done. This begged the question as to whether it is an expensive place to live or not considering the constant flow of tourists drawn to the area.

We basically couldn't be bothered to walk back to the hotel so instead we waited for a cable car, we hadn't been on one yet anyway. After about 10 minutes one turned up, we paid our $5 each and jumped on. As we travelled down the street one of the operators spilt a drink on the floor. This sparked a fit of rage from the other operator, you'd think he'd just broken the world or something. From them on there was lots of sarcastic comments back and forth as they moaned like a pair of old ladies. Andrew and i had to try really hard to maintain a straight face during the whole ordeal, as our laughter would probably provoke more moaning!

We met up with the others and headed to the diner for our last breakfast together. It was only brief as i had to run to the airport to catch my flight to la.

The united terminal at san fran was a mess. I'm not sure whether it was particularly busy that day or it's always like that, but basically no one knew what the hell was going on. Anyway i eventually made it through and touched down at la around 16:45. I had to get to the metro to the main strip, but it was completely empty. Maybe noone knows it's here? walking out the station onto Hollywood Blvd was crazy! I was attacked by flashing lights and floods of tourists, a huge contrast to the completely empty metro station just meters behind me.

I found my hostel around 17:50, checked in and rushed to get on the 18:00 tour destined for the hollywood sign. After about 2.5 hours of steep offroad climbing we reached the top of the park offering great views of both the sign and city. The view was fantastic and we had a few famous buildings pointed out to us, including the hotel in die hard. On the walk i met a guy called Scott, from Scotland funnily enough. He's only here for a few days like myself, then flying home having been away for a few months already. I'm planning on going to the beverly hills tour tomorrow morning so we agreed to meet up.

Back at the hostel my roomies all appear to be really cool or it least the 3 out of the 6 that i've met. Damien and his girlfriend Sarah from australia have just got here from Miami and have 9 months ahead of them. Leo doesn't speak much but appears pretty sound, despite his crazy hairstyle featuring optical hair and a beard platted into his hair? Damien and Sarah are also on the tour tomorrow so i'll catch up with them then.

Day 8 - Saturday 10th May

2008-05-12T17:39:00.000+01:00

Today was our first official day off and it has been an exhausting week. We are playing tourist today and wander through the tourist areas.

We headed up through China town towards the piers. It was market day today and the pavements were flooded with tourists as well as locals. As we covered the 10 or so blocks i still find it amazing at how straight the roads are, you can literally see for miles. The only issue with such a block like layout is the number of cross roads at every intersection. This makes walking very much a stop start affair, i can only imagine how frustrating running must be.

We made it to the piers and wandered down pier 33. Halfway down the pier there were seals, loads of them. It looked as though floating rafts had been purposefully placed for them, i guess this stops them blocking up the piers themselves. We caught a little bit of a scrap over one of the rafts, i assume a battle over territory, but this was resolved once one fell off.

This was the first part of tourist San Francisco i had seen so far, it almost reminds me of London. Street performers and the usual tourist tack flooding the streets, with your typical tourist with the i love the usa shirt. Although not usually a sucker for the tourist stuff i did stop to watch a break dancing display. They were actually pretty impressive and even obtained Eze's approval.

We headed on towards the start of the Alcatraz tour. Upon arrival we all posed for a photo in front of the island, well actually we stood in front of a printed back drop of the island. On the ferry it was freezing but fortunately Paul had warned us of this so we all came prepared with coats. As the prison came into view it brought back memories of various movies based around the island, such as 'the rock' and 'escape from alcatraz'. We took the audio tour which was surprisingly good and really helped take you back to how it once was. After the tour we had a debate over the clicking in the diner which calmed the riots. The story said that three shots were fired then a click was heard, after that everyone was silent and went back to their cells without question. I thought it was made by the gun ringing empty, Eze thought it was the bashing of cups and Paul thought it was the switch moving the tommy gun to automatic. We agreed Paul's idea made more sense, but still me and Eze took some abuse for our poor interpretations.

After the tour we looked for somewhere for dinner. We found this stupidly swanky place, but thought what the hell and headed in. Upon entry we realised we were hugely under dressed, suits and dresses everywhere, then us, jeans and t-shirts. I ordered my usual, a steak. It was great and came with loads of things i could not pronounce, so it had to be good right?

On the way back to the hotel we passed a large firework display, attended by hundreds. No idea what the occasion was, perhaps the end of one of many sporting seasons.

The fog was in and we could hardly make out the top of our hotel. From the bar at the top you couldn't see anything outside other than a solid screen of gray. There was some nice live music but unfortunately nowhere to sit, so i decided to call it a night.

Day 7 - Friday 9th May

2008-05-12T16:44:00.000+01:00

We headed downstairs to meet the others at the prearranged time of 07:30. Paul was very keen to see the key notes, so we made sure we were ready. We met only to informed that there has been some virus outbreak at the conference. Some sort of stomach bug is floating around and given the 15,000 attendence it could easily scale out of control. We're told it isn't airborn so as long as we take special care we should be ok. We figure we might as well go and at least see what it's like at 'ground zero'. We arrive and it looks like a normal day, i guess everyone had the same idea as us.

Whilst entering the main conference hall there was a live dj pumping out some quailty digitalised music. It sounded pretty good, but i was disappointed with the lack of turntables. The key note was all about gadgets and cool uses of java technology, basically big boys toys. There was a unpiloted car which could navigate a city, featuring the sick logo all over to Eze's amusement. Some cool mars software, but most impressive for me was the javaPen. It's hard to explain it speaks what you write as well as translates it, amongst other things.

We all met up at lunch and actually got to go outside for a bit to enjoy some sunshine. We got a photo of all of us outside the logo before heading into the town. We found a little toy shop, so wandered in and had a look around. Never have i seen such a selection of random toys, the funniest of which being a discoverer kit. Supplied is a block of gravel and a tiny hammer, and the promise of finding a treasure inside. I mean seriously who would buy that, and i assume it can only be used once, crazy!

We all met up at 18:00 to find some dinner. It was decided that a chinese from china town would do the trick. After fighting through the crowds we found a small shop with a restaurant above it and took the lift there. Although the shop front was a little tacky the actual restaurant wasn't. Wooden finishings, greenery and water features created a nice atmosphere.

After dinner we headed to Murphys for a couple of drinks. I got the first round from the bar, but with a combination of being tired and overall confusion i forgot to tip. Apparently this was shocking, and although i didn't notice, they were fuming. Fortunately Andrew made it up to them and all was well a round later. Note to self: in america you tip for everything.

Day 6 - Thursday 8th May

2008-05-09T19:08:00.000+01:00

We arrived at the conference for around 08:00 to once again take advantage of the free 'breakfast'. I managed to find a package containing a bagel and a croissant. So combined with lots of jam and cream cheese i was happy! Eze and i have been having a hard time finding any normal tea bags. I think javaone have become caught up in buying fancy teas. It's rare to find a tea bag not mixed with random herbs and spices. After about 10mins of hunting we found some. For fear of not finding any again, we shoved about 10 each in our pockets.

After a few hours of seminars it was time for lunch. I've found the way forward is to go for the salads. Guaranteed good quality meats with some fruit etc. Chinese chicken salad was on offer today, so i grabbed that.

One of the biggest subjects of conversation today was the 3 level architectures (mvc). This is something we're all interested in, as there are so many choices. Over lunch as expected we had a debate among ourselves too. Just before the comparison seminar was due to being i headed over to the pavilion to once again try and get a flying monkey. I had to give up 15mins of my time for a presentation on blackberries (the phone not the fruit). There was in total roughly 30 audience members, with about 25 interested in the monkeys, 10 in the blackberry prize draw and only a handful actually interested in the material. As it turned out the material was ok, and i was awarded my monkey, result!

At 17:30 we headed off to the jboss party with the hope of finding free beer and food. Upon entry were chuffed to find a completely free bar and plenty of free food on offer. Andrew, JP and Eze had a game of table tennis with Andrew clearly the better player. Eze was challenged by a random old guy who lost the first few points. However he turned about to be stupidly good, apparently he was a pro in his younger days. Eze was eventually defeated and Andrew stepped up to the plate. Unfortunately Andrew like Eze was destroyed, clearly the older guy had been a champ back in the day. I had a go myself, but being a tennis player at heart i struggled to adjust. I could be spotted taking full swings from the shoulder as well as unnecessary foot work. We played a bit of table football where JP introduced his 'rules', which included a rule somehow allowing you to pick the ball up in certain circumstances?

After the party we headed to an outside gig, again thrown by one of the sponsors. We heard one track from the band before we realised we'd missed most of the gig. Oh well, more free food and a couple of drinks later and we were on our way back to the conference to catch a 'meet the posse' type meeting. We missed that too, so decided to head back to the sports bar (fourth street) before retiring to the hotel.

Day 5 - Wednesday 7th May

2008-05-08T20:36:00.001+01:00

I woke up with a terrible headache, evidence of the night before. I remember waking up in the middle of the night thirsty, and craving a drink. Stupidly I was too lazy to open my bottle of water, even though it was less than 1m away from me. This is a mistake i have made many times, yet i've never learnt my lesson. In myself i felt fine, not even sleepy, perhaps i would fall victim to a lunchtime hangover, hopefully not.

As with most of my hangover mornings, i craved something fatty. I would have given my right arm for a bacon sandwich, but the chances of finding one at the conference was pretty unlikely. We skipped the alumni breakfast as this was just too far away from the main hall. The javaOne breakfast was the same as before, cakes and pastries. A banana and a glass of juice complimented my pre-packed oat bars nicely.

I went on the quest to obtain my free flying monkey, but had no such luck again. The flying monkeys appear to be highly sought after, maybe i'll have better luck tomorrow.

During the early key notes demonstration the presenter was displaying a game to explain a new technology. He got a bit carried away shouting 'ave it' as he blew up a rival player in the game. This provoked a laugh from our group, however the comment went unnoticed to the remaining 14,000 american audience members. We also attended a seminar with Gavin King on web beans. He successfully managed to make an audience member feel completely stupid after they asked a crazy question. His initial response was 'are you serious?!' followed by a 3 minute rant ripping him apart before asking again if he was actually serious then laughing. The poor guy sat down and slid under the chair in front.

We finished up around 17:00 and went for a wander around town. I'm actually quite freaked out by how stupidly enthusiastic all the shop assistants are. phrases such as 'Have a great day!' and 'you need any help? No? Alrightttttt!' are heard almost every 5 seconds. I actually ran out of footlocker because there were about 10 assistants dressed in referee outfits occupying a 10m square floorspace, all shouting stereotypical american phrases at me.

Whilst wandering around we stopped by post street to check out my hostel for next week. I was relieved to find it was not in the dodgy area we had walked through earlier in the week. It's on a nice main street and a very short walk from the underground.

We headed out looking for a steakhouse to get some good american steak. We instead stumbled upon a Mexican place named 'cherries', serving some tasty looking fajitas. Within 5 minutes from ordering, our sizzling platter turned up. Later we headed off to the Thirsty Bear for the eclipse party. We'd arrived too late to enjoy the free beer, but stuck around anyway whilst Eze enjoyed his Bacardi vodka drink.

Day 4 -Tuesday 6th May

2008-05-07T20:50:00.000+01:00

Although yesterday was the first day of seminars, today was the start of the JavaONE seminars. This unfortunately meant an early start, leaving the hotel at 07:00. Since we were all 'alumni's', on paper at least, we had access to the alumni lounge. This was our first stop for breakfast, providing the usual pastries and cakes. Does no one eat toast or cereal over here? I'm glad i brought a plentiful stock of oat bars to keep me going until later. We also noticed a few boxes of duplo lego blocks, literally no idea what they were going for there.

After our alumni breakfast we headed off to the javaone halls. We could then exchange our vouchers for our second wave of food. Again no sign of anything that could actually be considered breakfast food, just a selection of cakes and pastries. I grabbed a banana and a juice and settled with that.

Today was a long day of seminars with little time for anything else until later. But come 18:15 we had a break and headed to the pavilion for a look around. The pavilion was flooded with company stands trying their hardest to plug their product to anyone within range. In a bid to attract anyone passing by many companies were offering freebies. T-shirts, pens and flying monkeys were just some of the goodies on offer. We unfortunately feel victim to this collecting a couple of T-shirts and a slinky, but hey whats the harm in handing over a few personal details. We soon found the food stalls and grabbed a plate full of chicken and a plastic cup of 'wine'. Four cups later and i was on a mission to blag more free stuff, mostly it was the flying monkey that interested me! Sadly they'd run out, but i plan to return tomorrow! We had a late seminar at around 20:00 so we stumbled over to that. We all did well managing to stay at least partially awake.

Come 21:00 and we were done and made our way to the sports bar we had visited on Saturday. More margaritas and some KFC type chicken and we were all a bit merry, or at least i was. I threatened to steal some drinks from the waiter by challenging his ability to fend me off whilst maintaining balance of a tray of drinks. Eventually my constant abuse at the waiter paid off and he gave me a free drink to shut me up. Unfortunately for me it was a glass filled with three shots of tequila straight. I downed half of it and offered the rest around. That was it for me i was gone, fortunately we were ready to go. Just before we left i visited the gents only to be told the waiter followed me in expecting to see me with my head down the toilet, how disappointed he was to find me only washing my hands. We got back to the hotel and i was shattered and passed out within seconds of putting my head down.

Day 3 - Monday 5th May

2008-05-06T22:50:00.000+01:00

Today is our first day of seminars which start at 09:00. We meet at 08:00 downstairs before heading back to the diner that we visited yesterday. I figure if i carry on eating these fried american breakfasts i'm going to end up looking like one. I instead opt for some poached eggs on toast, hey, it's better than pancakes right?

So we head onto the seminars and 3hrs later it's time for lunch. It's surprisingly ok, and came paired with a piece of calorific chocolate cake which was stupidly sweet!

After lunch it was back for more seminars until around 3 when we left and made our way to the park. The weather is a bit strange with the air actually quite cold, yet in the sun it's really warm.

We wandered into the apple store and had a look around. To me it seamed more like a showroom than a retail store. Strangely all the computers were occupied by shoppers not considering to buy but rather taking advantage of the free internet access. What concerned me further was the users who were infact entering card details to make purchases, and checking emails. I was made to feel like i was being nosey when a user looked around from the computer she was using to send private emails.

The community one 'party' started at 18:00 and we arrived just after. Our sole motivation was for free food and free alcohol. Upon arrival we all showed our passes and were allowed in. Well apart from JP who had to go back to get his from the hotel. The hall was pumping out some heavy house and serving up nachos and eclitar, complimented with margaretas! Andrew and JP each had a go in the giant inflatible orbs, which was comedy in itself!

As with all conferences it's a known fact that everyone tries to grab as much free stuff as possible. We excelled in this area after cutting free one of six display balloons measuring about 1m across. This turned a few heads, however Paul did a good job by obstructing security on the esculator for us. On the street a random passer by requested a snap of Andrew with the balloon, Andrew of course would never disappoint a fan! We left the balloon tied up outside the 'thirsty bear', where it surprisingly remained until we left the bar some few hours later. We decided to set it free before wandering back to the hotel.

Day 2 - Sunday 4th May

2008-05-05T19:04:00.000+01:00

I woke to the harsh ringing of our hotel room phone at around 07:00. I decided to silently ignore the phone and pretend to be asleep, judging by eze's silence i assumed he was doing the same. Half an hour passed and i heard knocking on our door, clearly someone couldn't sleep, but again we both made the decision to sleep through it.

The phone rings again at 08:45 and we have actually overslept so are actually running late. It's Andrew, he's next door with JP and Paul, and they're ready to go. We're supposed to be meeting at 09:00 for breakfast, so quickly get ready and meet them next door at 09:15. Paul's signed up to the hotel internet so we all spend the next 40 minutes setting up our phones and psp's to use it.

Soon after we head out for breakfast, although my body is still confused with time zones it still accepts food whenever it's offered. Paul knows a good retro diner so we head there for some traditional american breakfast. The place is great and filled with the sort of furniture you'd find in a scene from 'Greece'. Most walls are covered with vintage radios and cartoon prints. Some of us manage to recapture our youth on some original retro arcade machines, including mrs pac man and asteroids and well as some classic pinball machines. 2 pancakes and lots of other fried food and we've refuelled and are ready to head out.

I decided to try and track down a US sim card so i could use my phone cheaply in the us. I wandered into a t-mobile shop and figured since my phone was already t-mobile it would be a simple swap, as did the shop assistant. 15 minutes later i was equipped with my new sim card and unlimited internet package, ready to connect. To our surprise the sim was not detected, great, apparently my phone is locked. We were steered towards an unlocking store about 3 blocks away. They charged $40 and would take 3 days keeping my phone in store. I wasn't into that so i headed back for a refund and was back to square one, oh well.

Whilst wandering around we found ourselves in the wrong area of town. Surrounded by groups of homeless covering the streets. I didn't feel particularly comfortable carrying my camera and weaving through the busy crowds. We obviously made it through fine but still it was a gentle reminder of how you can easily wander into the wrong neighbourhood.

We signed up to the conference and collected our freebies and ID passes, then headed to the cinema to watch iron man. After the movie we went on a quest to find food and beers. As it turns out not much is open after 22:00 on a Sunday, but fortunately we found an Irish pub. We got in a quick meal and a few cheekies before heading back for about 23:30.

Day 1 - Saturday 3rd may - London to San Francisco

2008-05-05T16:47:00.000+01:00

Well i've been woken up at 04:30 by my alarm but decided to snooze it a few times before i drag my shattered body to the shower in some weak attempt to wake myself up! 04:50 i phone the boss back after a missed call, he's nearly outside. I'm 'basically' ready i claim, only a few minor things to do, like getting dressed and showering.

So 05:00 and we're off, the beginning of the 20 odd hours until we arrive at the hotel. We make good time and are waiting for the bus to the terminal within a few hours. We overheard a couple who had decided it was a good idea to not only be stupidly late but also to randomly jump on the first bus they saw. The driver wasn't best amused, apparently they had to get a silly amount of connections now, oh well, more fun for them i guess!

Upon checking in it turns out that our seat reservations are not reservations at all, but instead only requests. Sadly our requests were not met, and since i booked separately from the others i sitting away from everyone else, oh well, i guess the tv will be my friend.

I go through security and set off the alarms as expected. I simply cannot be bothered to take off my belt and risk a wardrobe malfunction. I plead ignorance and claim i didn't realise by belt would set it off, i think they bought it. So after a quick belt loosening and swipe with the wand and i'm ready to go!

So i wander down the isles like some hot solo flyer and find my seat. Oh yeah it's not an isle seat, great, that means i'll have to hassle the poor person sitting next to me to let me out every time i want to go for a 'wander'.

My flying 'buddie' sits down and he's in his 60's but seams quite cool from the few mins we chatted. Although he gives off the impression he's not a frequent flyer. We are all forced to watch the safety video on the tv screens embedded into the seat infront. This provokes a loud laugh from me as some of the animations are simply ridiculous, and being narrated by vic reeves didn't help!

The tv's are activated after 30mins so happy days, and i quickly find a movie to watch. 10mins in i notice the old guy looking seriously confused with the controls. Granted it's rubbishly designed and i can see why he's struggling. I offer to help him out and get him onto sky news, so good deed done there! Anyway a further 20mins later i see him stuck again, but this time i'm half asleep and hardly feel like moving. He's managed to get the demo sequence on loop now, and after 10mins of this he's bored himself to sleep. Soon after i also nod off.

The food on the flight was pretty good to be honest, and we were fed very frequently. So much so that i was afraid to fall asleep for fear of missing out on some of it. We did have some chicken and musted wraps though which were horrible, i mean seriously if there was a lethal amount of musted to have in a wrap, that would have been it!

I now have all my details stored in the us now. Finger prints and photos are apparently the norm when entering the room completely flooded with us flags. I guess they want people to know for sure what country they are in!

There was a bit of banter on the bart (tube) where some woman was moaning about how she's been sitting on a train which hadn't moved for 20mins, even though she arrived 25mins before it was scheduled for departure! The conductor had the same view as me and told her essentially to sit down and shut up. Fair play if you ask me.

We decided to grab a bite to eat around 18:30 in the form of burger and chips, in a sports themed bar. It had about 20 tv screens, each showing a different sport with it's own rowdy locals cheering them on. We've devised a system for anyone discussing American sensitive subjects. I was awarded the first yellow card for describing basket ball as a glorified pe lesson, i challenged the decision but they weren't having any of it!

Later we crashed out at the hotel, with eze literally passing out after 5seconds of entering the room. Fully clothed after performing a salmon dive! I tapped out myself a bit after at around 21:00 local time, although 04:00 uk time.