Home Sweet Home…for one of us

I am in Canadaaaa, woo!

My flight was delayed and the drive from the airport was awful but I made it! I don’t have any idea what time it is but I’m sure that’ll come. I’ve been home for 24 hours now, so as you can imagine I haven’t been up to too much. There’s a lot of snow and it’s cold, but at least it isn’t raining!

Last week, before leaving London, Chris and I did some fun things. I was working on writing my last paper, but I took some time out to go to a publishing forum discussing the new copyright laws that will soon be implemented in the UK. The laws are being updated to better encompass technological changes that have occurred in the publishing industry in the last few years, but some of the proposed changes could be detrimental to publishers. Anyways, it was quite interesting and one of the speakers wrote one of my textbooks so that was cool.

Friday night, after everyone in my class had handed in their assignments, we all went out on a Christmassy/celebratory pub crawl which was a lot of fun. Then on Saturday night Chris and I went to see The Nutcracker at the English National Ballet. It was amazing. The London Coliseum is a beautiful building and the ballet was great. Neither of us had ever been to the ballet but we both really enjoyed it. I’d go back again in a heartbeat. And afterwards we went out for dinner. Thanks to Charles and Laurie for the early Christmas/birthday present!

Sunday we went with our friend Libby (from Glendon) to Brick Lane. We finally got that poutine and it was pretty great. We chatted with the owners. One is from Toronto and the other is from Sweden (which was extra interesting because Libby’s parents live in Sweden). Then we walked around Brick Lane and Spitalfields markets doing some Christmas shopping. It wasn’t as busy as I expected which was nice, but it was still packed. Libby’s off to Tobago for the holidays and we should all be jealous of her.

Monday night we went out for Christmas dinner with all but one of our flatmates, and one of our former flatmates. Sadly Serena had to work, but the rest of us went to our local pub for a really great dinner to say goodbye to each other before the holidays. Sadly Nadine is moving home to Austria this coming Monday because her work contract is up at her job in London and she’s going back to Vienna to finish her master’s degree. We’ll both miss her a lot.

I took lots of pictures on Friday and Saturday buuuut I seem to have misplaced my camera cord? This is why all cameras should be cloud-enabled, because I can’t keep track of these things. As soon as I locate it (I’m pretty sure it’s here in St. Marys) I’ll post them up. For now, here are some others from my phone…

Brick Lane poutine:

Guy carrying a full Christmas tree in the tube:

London Coliseum before The Nutcracker:

Oxford Circus decorations, advertising a movie. They go on for as long as the eye can see:

Shopping mall in White City. Indoor skating rink with live band playing the whole time the mall is open:

Found this all-Canadian pub in Covent Garden. It was packed with Santas so we didn’t venture in this time:

Rudolph in Covent Garden, taller than two storeys:

Tiffany in Chelsea for Paola:

King’s Cross:

St. Pancras hotel:

Decorations near Leicester Square:

Complete with fake snow blowing out the windows:

Lego snow-globe:

Leicester Square Christmas carnival. They seem to dot the city:

All throughout the city:

Home!:

If you’re in Ontario, I’ll probably be seeing you soon! If you’re on the west coast, now we’re only three hours apart instead of eight! And if you’re in the UK, see ya next year.

Love, Meg

Sheepish

(No, this will not be a post about Scotland.)

If you could see my face right now, I think you would understand how guilty I feel for not having been more dedicated to this blog. I had every intention before I left of posting once every week or so, and I still do. This odd I-really-should-write-something-on-the-blog-but-never-seem-to-do-it thing first resulted from a pretty frustrating job search. Having a job for the sake of having an income was a pretty important thing for this little adventure of ours. My priority, obviously, was in landing a job for the sake of developing my resume for my eventual return to Canada, but I knew that I had to jump at any paid opportunity. At first, nothing, and then, out of desperation, I landed a job at a restaurant.

The restaurant was wonderfully located on the top floor of a brand new mall in a very nice part of London, with unrivaled views of the surrounding area. Menu was good but expensive because of the location; you paid for the view. Most of the people were nice. And that’s the end of the nice things I have to say. The hours often required trips home at 1 am on the night bus, the money was pitiful, the payment system was even worse, and the attitude of management towards staff was awful. I was working 40+ hours a week, almost constantly tired, and so I didn’t come here to write or share.

After our trip, I was fortunate enough to be able to meet someone a colleague of my father’s who works for URS, and he was able to offer me a position here in London on a design and build project on an upgrade of one of London’s busiest and most congested tube stations, Bank Station. I promptly quit the restaurant job, spent the rest of the week relaxing, and began the following Monday. This was three weeks ago. Since then I’ve not really had any excuse for not writing. Sincere apologies on that. My hope is to get in to a better routine of writing every Sunday.

(As an aside, I called yesterday about picking up the last cheque that is owed to me and learned from the receptionist that since I quit the restaurant has since gone bankrupt and is being administered by a bank or some private firm. As I understand it, none of the current or former staff can be paid out until an audit has been completed, so that sucks though I am not owed much. I have yet to speak to a manager about it and don’t know how or if I will ever get the bit of money that is owed to me. But thank goodness I got out when I did.)

In spite of the fact that I landed this new job with URS here in London through my father, and all the moral complications that go along with that, I could not be happier with my new gig. I know Megh mentioned briefly that I am doing document control. If you have an image of some guy sitting at a desk surrounded by a veritable castle of documents that need to be distributed to various people, then you’ve pretty much got it. Only there is no castle because all the documents are digital. Just me and a laptop. It’s not glamorous in the slightest but I really am enjoying it. I’m busy constantly, I’m being challenged (there is a surprising amount of procedural problem solving that goes on), I’m relatively autonomous in what I do (I’m the only doc controller for URS and in these early stages I seem to be left to my own devices), I work with a great group of young guys doing doc control for the other companies working this same project, I’ve got a great vantage point to learn about project management, and the skills I’m developing are going to be an asset for me and any future employer.

On the surface it looks like, and going in it felt like, an administrative position, and it is, and that is good for me. That old adage about being young, paying your dues, and pushing paper rings true because it is also digital information management. Whether I apply that to media, charitable work, or politics it is hard not to see how this is going to be of value to me moving forward. What’s more, information management appeals to me on a very basic level. From obsessively organizing Lego by piece type, to collecting entire sets of hockey cards, to compulsively managing my digital music library, and to the any number of professional experiences managing contact databases, this is right in my wheelhouse.

That my dad helped me land this job is a complication I could do with out. As appreciative as I am to be able to work, make money, gain valuable experience, and find myself in a position that I enjoy, it still doesn’t sit right. You can call it networking if you want but it’s not. I’m more than qualified for the position I am in and I don’t believe I’d have gotten the position if my resume didn’t reflect that. And in a way it’s motivating because I have to work extra hard to prove to myself and the people that took a chance on me that this is going to work, that I can do this. But it still makes me uneasy. As impersonal, distant, awful I have found the modern job application and interview process to be, this is not the way it should work. I wouldn’t want anything drastically different for myself during my time here except I wish I’d been able to earn it on my own.

I’m sure you noticed, but while I was being bad and not updating this blog, Megh has been updating like crazy. I mentioned to a close friend of mine who wrote to me following my last update asking about the lack of photos in my post that I was completely happy with not being responsible for taking and posting photos. Megh is perfectly happy in that role and is knocking it out of the park with her fancy camera. She’s done a fantastic job posting updates about our travels and all those pictures and I can’t say how much I appreciate that. Honestly, it’s a little selfish, but I love being here (again) and not having to see everything through a lens. I’m absolutely sure part of what motivates Megh is that she wants to capture the things we see for sharing and for herself, which can feel like a chore, but I also know she loves playing with her camera and photography in general and seems to thrive in that role

The trip we took was a really great experience. I was visiting Geneva for the first time, Nice for the second, and Paris for the third time. It sounds cliché, but not looking at certain things through a camera lens means you see more, it means your eyes are free to wander, your brain is free to process what you are seeing instead of constantly thinking “I should really take a picture of that.” I don’t mean to sound anti-camera: when I was traveling Europe before I was completely obsessed with capturing every cool looking thing from every angle I could find. As a tourist, I do want to capture my memories to film. The same part of me that loved collecting hockey cards wants to collect all the special things we are seeing. I just don’t feel compelled to do it this time around because I’ve done it before and Megh seems quite content to do it. Being without that compulsion has been a positive experience for me.

Megh, for her part, seems much better at ignoring the compulsion than I was the first time round and seems quite capable of stopping to take everything in. On the other hand, she also seems quite capable of stopping abruptly to whip out her camera without signalling to me. I don’t know if the sampling she’s chosen to post here reflects it, but there are countless photos of me off in the distance with my back to her because I’ve just kept walking, oblivious that she’s stopped. There are also a number of photos of her capturing the exact moment I realize she’s no longer walking with me, spin around, peering back, with an exasperated look on my face that reads “not again…”

So many people have bad things to say about Paris, but I just don’t see it. It’s a world class city and it never fails to disappoint. I won’t go through in detail what we did because Megh has already done that, but I really loved Paris. I didn’t even see much at all that I had not seen before and was completely overwhelmed with how spectacular it is. I’d been up before but the Eiffel Tower at night was pretty special. Geneva was a completely new experience for me and reminded me how frustrating being a tourist can be. Poor weather and poor planning left me feeling like we didn’t get the most out of Geneva. Two stops in one day where things were closed when you are only there for two days can do that. None the less, as the first new place I’ve visited since arriving, I was not disappointed. Small but beautiful and picturesque old core, weird mix of pre-, post-, and cold-war architecture elsewhere which feels right at home in the same city as the UN, surrounded by mountains, gorgeous countryside, and dominated by a big lake. Reminded of how expensive Switzerland is (equivalent of $20 Canadian at Starbucks for two hot drinks, I’m sorry, what?).

Nice was by far my favourite part of the trip and may just be one of my favourite places on the continent. Time will tell. We had enough time in the city not to rush everywhere, phe-no-min-nal weather, and better company. Nice is where the French come to vacation, so it’s touristy without being kitschy and very relaxed. The coastline is stunning, great views from pretty much anywhere. Vieux Nice is one of the most charming places I’ve ever been. Bustling narrow streets with tourists there for the sights and the shopping but also with locals come to buy artisan meats, breads, cheeses, pasta, chocolate, fish, produce, etc. Easy to get lost in the winding streets and see how the locals live but be surrounded by tourists the next. The last time I was in Nice the huge pedestrian walkway and tramway that cuts through the centre of the city was under construction. The whole city has been revitalized with art installations, parks, shopping, fountains, statues, transit, and big open green spaces in the seven years since I was there. It’s modern and bright and welcoming. Lots of local sights, second in number of museums in France to Paris, lots of available day trips along the coast to Marseille or Cannes as well as inland. I would recommend Nice to anyone.

Traveling with Megh has been pretty special. Traveling alone was challenging and rewarding because it was challenging; being forced to rely on yourself and process your hardships makes you learn quickly. But having someone to share the experiences with is completely different. Pace is certainly different. When you’re alone, you can’t be still, it is always on to the next thing. When you’re still the stimulus stops and it’s easy to remember that you’re alone or that you’re tired or that you’re ready to move on even though the train ticket isn’t until the next day. When you’re traveling with a partner or even with friends as we were in Nice with Adam and Annika, you have the time to stop and appreciate what you’re doing and you get to appreciate it with someone. Sometimes this is out of necessity because one of you is tired and you have to slow down but mostly sharing and relaxing just seems more important than rushing around like maniacs.

Having been to Paris and Nice before, the familiarity I have going in has been interesting. I know where things are out of memory and an uncanny intuition. In Nice Megh and I were wandering the pedestrian street rather aimlessly and I sort of gestured and said “I think the hostel I stayed at is over there.” On our way back to the flat we’d rented, which took us through the area I had gestured to, we turned a corner and I knew we were close. It was dark and I can’t even identify what it was I recognized, but I had this feeling that it was right down an adjacent street. And it was. In this sense, even though I was seeing a lot of things for the second time, it’s nice to be able to lead to way, nice to say “I know where that is” and feel like the place is familiar even though you’re a tourist

Last thing before I wrap up. I will not be back in Canada over the Christmas holidays. Megh will be, but I’ll be staying here. Or rather, I’ll be going to visit an old nanny of mine, Lucy, in Wales and her wonderful family. I had the chance to visit with them the last time I was here and had a great time. Really looking forward to seeing them and getting out of the city for the holidays, almost just like I’d be doing back in Canada. Going to miss being with my family for the first time for Christmas and miss the time I get with Megh and her mom Judy. I’ll also miss the time the holidays allow to catch up with new and old friends and extended family. Today I’m missing an annual Wheeler gathering. Thinking about you all.

Chris

Nice!

Switzerland by air: Alps!: The towns between the mountains and the roads through them looked really cool: Nice!Place Garibaldi, the area directly outside our apartment building, where we got breakfast after we landed:View of the Place Garibaldi from our apartment:

This is for Kevin W.: Our friend Adam and his ladyfriend Annika:

Church in Nice we discovered on our walk back from the train station: Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art: Beachy: So I was watching Sons of Anarchy on my laptop in the airport waiting for our delayed flight and DAN FROM GOSSIP GIRL (Penn Badgley?) WAS THERE!:
Nice from the air at night: This looks like absolutely nothing but it’s actually Paris: The BEST sight to happen upon when we finally got to Stansted airport (but still had quite a ways to go to get home):The old city, basically a massive market on narrow, cobblestone streets: The best gelato place in the world, according to Chris, was closed for the season. He was devastated: Cathedrale Sainte-Reparate: Palais de Justice: Sunset on our first night (there was something on my camera lens – apologies): There is a giant median that runs the length of the main tramway and it’s sectioned. Each section has a different art installation or use: Big jungle-y park for children as part of the median, across from where I had the best crepe of the trip: Pedestrian shopping street:Saleya Flower Market: A good number of people on our flight home did this marathon, with winds so strong they delayed our flight: ICED TEA IN A GLASS BOTTLE: Musee des Beaux Arts: Monaco, Monte-Carlo:

The casino: Back in the train station: The train from Moscow to Nice takes 48 hours, nearly non-stop, and the cheapest ticket is 14,000 Russian rubles (only $450 CAD – ViaRail take note): Our apartment, in Place Garibaldi: Ancient Nice Archaeological Museum: Ancient Nice was called Cemenelum:
Last bit of time before our flight, spent at the beach:

 

Finally, that’s it!

 

Love, Meg

Geneva, Switzerland

Eiffel Tower from the plane window: In the Aeroport Geneve: Oddly tall, skinny cans: Lac Leman: The ceiling in one of the conference/debate rooms at the UN: 5 franc coin: and a 1/2 franc coin: RBC!: Sad we didn’t get up 😦 : TOBLERONE MCFLURRY: We were feeling pretty ballin’ with our 200 franc note. Also the notes are so pretty, and not monarchy-related!: Pounds, euros, and francs, oh my!:Water skiing allowed on Lac Leman:
Jet d’eau: THIS is what London needs on the gates to its parks!: All the parks have these cool Hobbit-esque doors in their brick perimeters:The chair:United Nations: Old U.N. building:
New U.N. building. Seems backwards to me, too: The various marbles were donating by different countries: Really awful picture, but the doorhandles are from the League of Nations, donated by Switzerland I believe: Geneva museum: Museum of blown glass. Absolutely gorgeous on the inside but no pictures 😦 :Notre Dame Basilica. Wanted to compare it to Notre Dame Cathedral. This is a little more modest: Bright signs for watchmakers and banks abound: Christmas came VERY early to Geneva: Woke up on day two to a rainbow: Winery in the Swedish countryside: It’s hard to see, but on the top of that mountain there’s a thing sticking up. It’s the telepherique du Saleve: Tree growing around the bars: The little town that the Bodmer Foundation is in: From Martin Bodmer Foundation, looking over to Geneva: The walk back over to Geneva:

Interesting weather:Old Geneva, the bit that survived all the fires:
St. Pierre’s Cathedral:

Cool thing spotted in a courtyard:
Creepy artefacts at Maison Tavel:

St. Pierre’s miniature: Ancient city replica: Cartier’s gift-wrapped building:

Le Saleve: The Swiss/French border: Chris, standing in two countries at once: The little French town that’s at the bottom of Le Saleve is the prettiest:

The bell tower tour: Oldest toilet on planet Earth?:
Ominous:

And finally, our flat, 3D TV included!:

Europictures

Paris continued…

Our building, we were on the top floor:

McCafe macaroons and cheesecake:

Someone beat me to carving my name into the Eiffel Tower:

Versailles!!:

Dinner afterwards in the town of Versailles:

Notre Dame:

Little event platform that we assume is open during the daytime to celebrate 850 since the groundbreaking of the cathedral:

City hall:

Conciergerie:

Saint-Germain l’Auxerrois

The Louvre:

Publishing day…Here’s where Hemingway and Stein used to hang out… :

Roland Barthes’ niece talking to us in Hermes:

300 euro collection of books from Hermes, on the history of the brand:

Inside Hermes. This location used to be a hotel, and the main floor of the store is in what used to be the swimming pool:

On to Switzerland…

P.S. Clicking on the photos will make them bigger.

We’re back in London!

Hey everyone!

We are safe and sound back on English soil after a fantastic ten days on the continent. We did and saw so much that I’m sure I’m missing important details, but I’m going to give a recap a go!

PARIS

Day 1: We didn’t realize just how far Luton airport is from London. We were sitting in our flat taking our sweet time packing and cleaning (as our friend Chelsey from Burlington was staying in our flat while we were away) when we had the bright idea to look up how long it was going to take us to get there. After seeing that it was going to take us two hours, we realized we needed to leave in 15 minutes. Anyways, we made it with time to spare. I’d just like to say that Blackfriars Underground and National Rail building might actually have the best view of London. The building extends out over the Thames, and from one side you can see Big Ben and the Eye, and from the other side you can see Tower Bridge. It’s almost unfortunate that London-area commuters see the most of it. Luton is in the middle of no where and there aren’t any direct shuttles or train services. If you have to choose between Stansted or Luton, go with Luton, but otherwise we don’t recommend it.

Our flight was a bit turbulent but arrived on time. We left sunny London for wet and freezing Paris. We had pre-booked a shuttle bus to get us to within a 10 minute walk of the apartment we’d let in Paris. When we got to Charles de Gaulle airport, there was supposed to be a 10 minute wait for the next bus. Unfortunately, that bus broke down right outside the airport, so we ended up having to wait nearly an hour before we could get another one. The poor woman we were letting the apartment from waited for us the whole time, we felt awful. And it was raining so hard, harder than I’ve seen it rain in London, we were soaked down to our undies by the time we got there.

The apartment was nice and cozy though. Small bedroom with a desk and lots of storage, with a toilet directly across the hall and a kitchen/shower a few doors down the hall. Fabulous view of the Eiffel Tower and Arc de Triomphe, and 5-10 minute walk to the metro. Great location and the landlady was very helpful, she left us lots of maps and information about how to get to and from the airports.

Day 2: So we got to the apartment around midnight and just slept. The next day we got up and had the best pain au chocolats ever, walked to the Arc de Triomphe (where Chris famously lost all of his photos on his last European tour), walked down the Champs Elysees (where Chris famously recovered all his photos), had lunch, walked to the Eiffel Tower and went up to the top, got crepes at a street stall on the Seine. On our way back to the metro to go home, it started raining sideways. If possible, we were even more soaked than we were the night before. My umbrella was utterly useless, everyone took cover up against the sides of buildings, and it lasted no more than five minutes. We hopped on the metro and were in for the night.

Day 3: The following day we again had the best pain au chocolats ever, followed by a train ride to Versailles. I had visited Versailles once before but didn’t get to see the town then. It’s small and very cute with the palace on one edge. To our surprise, it was free! Museums in Paris are free on Sundays, but we didn’t think Versailles qualified, so we were happily surprised. We toured the inside including Marie Antoinette’s bedroom and the hall of mirrors, and then headed to the jardins. The gardens really are the most magnificent part of Versailles. We were there at a bit of an odd time of year, so the flowers weren’t abounding but the leaves were gorgeous and many of the fountains were still running. We spent the afternoon wandering around the property and had a great time. Once we arrived back in Paris we went to Notre Dame and then walked to the Louvre. It started to rain towards the end of our time at the Louvre so we headed back to the apartment.

Day 4: I had a school trip this day. A group of ten students from UCL’s MA in Publishing got to spend the morning meeting with the head of rights at Le Seuil at a place called Labo de l’edition. She spoke to us about how the publishing industry works in France and the differences between the industry in France and the UK. Labo de l’edition is a lab where anyone can go and use the facilities there whenever they choose (mostly computers equipped with desktop publishing software), but they also run a program where start-ups can live-in there for one year while they try to get their publishing-related business off the ground. It’s a government-funded operation. In the afternoon Roland Barthes’ niece took us on a walking tour of the “publishing” arrondissement in Paris. We visited Gertrude Stein’s favourite hangout and visited many unconventional bookstores and publishers (did you know Hermes and Louis Vuitton run their own publishing houses?). While I was doing this, Chris visited the Louvre again. Then we headed off to Orly airport for our flight to Geneva.

GENEVA

We landed in Geneva with no real plan about how to get to the apartment from the airport. To be fair, we also didn’t have a good plan on how to get to Orly from Paris but that worked out just fine. I was a little disappointed we didn’t get Swiss stamps in our passports to be honest. But we made it to the apartment in Geneva successfully, and luckily no one had to wait at the apartment for us this time. We got in without incident. The apartment was lovely. It was a one-bedroom (image!!!) with an entirely separate living room. This blew our minds. It even had a 3D TV. I was enamoured already.

Day 5: We walked from our apartment, which was a little south of Cologny, through Parc de grange-canal along Lac Leman to “downtown” Geneva where we grabbed some lunch and did a currency exchange. Swiss Franc coins are all the same colour and similar sizes making them difficult for us foreigners used to colourful money, but they have five-franc coins! And their bills are far more colourful than Canada’s. Also, I didn’t think anywhere in the world could be MORE expensive than London but damn, Geneva (or Switzerland maybe?) takes the cake when it comes to food and beverage. Anyways, after lunch we walked to the other side of Lac Leman and headed to see the UN. Unfortunately it was really cold (about 0 degrees C and we had not brought hats or mitts or winter coats) and it poured rain all day long. The UN isn’t exactly in Geneva, but we decided to walk anyways. Along the way we stopped in at a blown glass museum that was beautiful. We made it to the UN just in time for the last tour of the day. It was really cool, and the frozen hands and wet jeans were totally worth it. After the UN tour we took a tram back into Geneva and went to Basilique Notre Dame and had dinner, followed by an early night.

Day 6: We walked to the Martin Bodmer Foundation, about a 20 minute walk further (in some more rain) out of the city, through Swiss countryside. It was about 11 am when we arrived, and they didn’t open until 2 pm. We were bummed. It’s a museum that chronicles the life of writing starting with drawings on cave walls. We left the Foundation and found ourself in this little town (I don’t think we ever learned its name) that was the stereotypical Swiss town: Swiss cottages with old iron gates and brick walls keeping all the homes secure, with mountains all around. It was beautiful. We walked down to Plage Geneve to catch a bus into the city. Once there we went to Old Geneva that has cobblestone roads and narrow streets. First we went to the church there, St. Pierre’s. There’s an archaeological museum in its basement that we passed up because we wanted to go to Maison Tavel. Maison Tavel is a free museum that boasts housing the oldest Swiss artefacts. It was really cool.

Our main activity for the day, however, was to go to telepherique du Saleve. It’s a gondola-type ride up le Saleve mountain. So we hopped on a city bus that dropped us 100 metres from the French border. We walked over it (surprisingly easy) towards the base of the mountain. We got inside the building to get tickets, and were informed that the telepherique only runs on weekends in the fall. I’d checked the website the night before to make sure it was open, and it said it was, so we were really disappointed. It was still cool to stand at the bottom of the mountain though. So we hopped a bus back to Geneva and went back to St. Pierre’s to buy tickets to go up the bell towers. It was hundreds of narrow, stone steps up to the south tower, and then more up to the north tower. The view was incredible from the top. We had a panoramic view of the whole city and the mountains around it. After descending the perilous steps, we did some window shopping, had dinner and headed back to the apartment to pack up and sleep.

NICE

Day 7: We got up at 5 am to head back to the airport. We flew over the Alps into Nice. We grabbed our bus in Nice that dropped us off right outside the apartment. Sadly, we couldn’t get in to the apartment to drop off our luggage until 12:30 pm, and we arrived outside of it at about 10 am. So we grabbed some breakfast and just sat in Garibaldi square enjoying the sun and the people. The landlord came and let us in, and we promptly napped. This apartment was nice but painfully small. There was a loft that Chris hit his head on continually, and when the bed was pulled out it literally took up all of the floor space. We could not stand in the kitchen/living area without standing on the pulled out bed. But, luckily we didn’t plan on spending much time there. When we woke up we took a stroll through Vieux Nice to find the best gelateria in the world. To Chris’ dismay and heartbreak, the place he’s long claimed as the best gelateria in the world was closed for the season, so we had to settle for some other place. Then we walked along the beach where we stayed to watch the sunset. Then we started walking back towards the apartment but got distracted by pretty much everything. Nice has this boulevard that runs like a really wide median along the major street in Nice. It’s filled with various art installations and playgrounds and greenspace; it’s wonderful. We grabbed a dinner at a little restaurant on this street, then headed off along a pedestrian shopping street. After wandering around for a long time, we headed back to the apartment for the night.

Day 8: We got up and walked through Vieux Nice again (the apartment was located in the northernmost part of Vieux Nice, which was absolutely perfect), through the Saleya flower market, and then along Promenade des Anglaises by the water. We stopped for some Nicoise thin-crusted pizza, and then walked to the Musee des beaux arts. It was a gallery showcasing 19th and 20th century artists from the Nice-area. After that we walked through a pedestrian-only restaurant and shopping area, then went back to the apartment for a little rest. We grabbed some dinner, and then we met up with our friend Adam. We went to Glendon with Adam, and then while Adam was doing his MA at UofT we were neighbours in downtown Toronto. He’s in Barcelona doing an MBA right now. Sadly he was in London while we were in Paris and Geneva, but he came to Nice for the last two days of our trip, and he brought along his friend Annika. So they arrived in Nice from the airport, and we all went out to celebrate our reunion.

Day 9: The four of us went to the water and then went up this big hill thing (?) that overlooks the Mediterranean with a great view. At the top there is a beautiful park and a panoramic view of Nice and the sea. There was a couple having their wedding photos taken by the waterfall at the top, it was lovely. We then walked through the port and back towards our apartments, followed by the train station. We walked to the train station and took a train to Monaco for the evening. It was about a 15 minute ride down the coast. There was a carnival going on right in the port in Monte Carlo, so we took a stroll through it and grabbed some coffees. Then we went in search of some dinner, and found the Monte Carlo casino. Having never been to a casino before I have little to compare it to, but it was neat. Sadly (and understandably), no pictures allowed. We then walked back down the hill into the port, got some churros at the carnival, then went to the train station to grab a train back to Nice.

Day 10: We walked a bit out of Nice to go to an archaeological site that houses ancient Nice. There’s a free museum on site (free museums in Europe are the best) and we could go outside and walk among some ancient bits of Nice that had been unearthed. Then we walked back into Nice, grabbed our luggage and walked to the beach where we sat for awhile just relaxing. Annika and Adam had to head to the airport, and when they did we went in search of some dinner before our own flight. From the moment we arrived at the airport, things got a bit messy.

When we were in the baggage drop-off line, we were informed that our flight was delayed. No one seemed to know why or have any idea how long the delay would be, but we assumed it wouldn’t be too long since the found vouchers WestJet gave us were only for 4.50 euros. We were wrong. So we had to get to gate B, which was through customs. No big deal, we thought, we’ll go through customs and then use our vouchers to grab a snack or a coffee. Again, wrong. We went through customs, and on the other side (in gate B, where MOST of the international flights land at and depart from), there was one cafe. And that cafe was out of food, and that cafe’s coffee machine was broken. It was a Sunday night at 8 pm, so I had little hope for it getting fixed in the foreseeable future. I could SEE a Costa Coffee from where we were in gate B, but alas, no one was allowed back through customs.

So we sat and we sat and we sat. Our flight was supposed to take off at 9:05 pm, and around 11 pm we finally got an update and some information. We were informed that our flight would depart at midnight. Our plane was supposed to go from London to Nice to Brussels back to Nice (to get us) to London. But when it was coming to Nice the first time, it was so windy the plane couldn’t land, so it landed in Genoa. Everyone on the plane had to get off there, then our empty plane went to Brussels, picked up those passengers, and then came back to Nice. There was another flight to London Gatwick that was scheduled to leave at 9:25 pm, and it left on time, and we were unimpressed. We tried to get on it but the people directly in front of us in the baggage line snagged the last two seats on it.

Anywho, our flight took off around 12:30 am, and we landed around 1:45 am (but it felt like 2:45 am. Time zones, I tell ya). By the time we got our bag and through border patrol (the UK border agency really loves taking finger prints), it was 2:15 in the morning. There was no way to get from Stansted, even further from London than Luton, to London at that time of the morning. The next bus to London was leaving at 3 am. So we got tickets for it. It took an hour and a half to get from Stansted to Victoria tube station (and it was a direct bus, in the middle of the night). When we got to Victoria, we watched the night bus we needed drive away before we could get to the stop. The next bus wasn’t due until an hour later, so we bit the bullet and took a taxi from there. We got into our flat about 5:30 am, and it felt like 6:30 am. We slept until about 10 am. The ordeal was over.

We had a great time. Paris is so beautiful, the mountains in Geneva were humbling, and the sun and sea in Nice was perfect. It was great to see Adam and meet Annika. We were sad to be back in little old London.

Since getting back, Chris has landed a new job (woo!) working on an update that’s going on at Bank underground station. Soon the Wheeler name will be synonymous with transit planning (as if it isn’t already). The Ts are crossed, the Is are dotted and Chris starts on Monday. Our friend Chelsey has been in England for almost two weeks now, and she stayed here a few nights while were gone. And then Wednesday night she came back to London from Norwich and stayed with us Wednesday and last night. Yesterday while I was in class Chris and Chels did some sightseeing, and I met up with them and continued the adventure after classes. Today the three of us went to a Christmas market on Southbank which was wonderful, and then Chels had to head out, she is on her way to Amsterdam next.

We have had some roommates move out, some new ones move in, and one sort of move back in? It’s a weird time here in this flat but it’s good. Chris is staying here over Christmas, but I’ll be home from December 17th until January 10th!

I feel like there is so much more to say, but it’s picture uploading time!

Special thanks to our pal Joyce who’s living in Paris right now and who gave us Paris tips, and our girl Michelle who lived in Geneva for a year who gave us some great ideas for things to see in Geneva.

What’s new with you guys?!

Love, Meg

P.S. McDonald’s in France and Switzerland have McCafe’s that are separate from the restaurant part that sell lattes and cappuccinos and macaroons!

View from Paris apartment on the night we arrived: 

View the next morning:

Arc de Triomphe:

Champs Elysees:

Eiffel Tower:

Sadly, I’m going to have to leave the photos there for now. Bed beckons, but I’ll upload the rest tomorrow! Probably for the best since it’ll give me a chance to remember all the details I’ve forgotten.

Prince George is Christened

Hey everyone,

Another post filled with more pictures than words.

School is going well. I have my first paper due on Friday, so I’ve been frequenting the library trying to get it all wrapped up. It’s coming along nicely. Last week on Wednesday I went to a Digital Publishing Forum (held monthly at UCL) on the future of permissions in the industry. It might sound rather dull, but it was really interesting. Wednesday evening, we got to go see Basia Bulat play at The Islington. You’ll remember Basia from one of my earlier posts; we saw her perform solo at Rough Trade back in September. This time she had a small band with her, and she was phenomenal. She was kind enough to put us on her “VIP” list (woo). She released her third album a couple weeks ago, and it’s great.

Last night after Chris finished work I went to meet him at the shopping centre where the restaurant is located, right by St. Paul’s Cathedral. We went and had a good ol’ fashioned British “tea” of fish ‘n’ chips at a pub near our “flat”. This morning, I went and checked out the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace. I learned my lesson: don’t go on the weekend, and go early. It was cool, but I didn’t see very much because there were so many people there. I knew it’d be busy, but I was not prepared for it. I’d hate to see it at the height of tourist season. I’ll be going back on a weekday, and I’ll stake out a good spot.

Otherwise it’s just been paper writing for me, work for Chris, and a little bit of trip planning. We have booked a trip for my reading week. So we leave Friday November 1st and return Sunday November 10th. We’re going to Paris, Geneva, and Nice. And in Nice we get to see our friend Adam who’s in Barcelona doing his MBA. We’re really excited! And on Wednesday this week our friend Colin is coming down to London for Nottingham for a visit, so that’ll be fun. I’ll be sure to take lots of pictures while we’re away and post them when we get back (because we all know Chris doesn’t take pictures OR write on here 😉 )

Hallowe’en is coming up but it’s not nearly as big a deal here as back home. Kids go out door to door, but once you’re too old to do that, it’s sort of the end of Hallowe’en for you. Mom sent us some Hallowe’en candy to get us through the season though, so we’re all set, don’t worry. Also, we are expecting the storm of the century tonight, so I hope everything’s dried out for the little ones later this week. Calling for 180 km/h winds and a ton of rain overnight. We’ve finally had to turn the heat on.

Now for the fun part: pictures!

Basia! I have a really good video of her playing her autoharp but I can’t upload it directly to WordPress without paying, and Facebook is telling me the file is too large 😦 If you want to see it, email me and I can send it to you:

Buckingham Palace:

Westminster Chapel, the Abbey’s more modest cousin:

Some more flash-musicians in the tube:

Jeremy Bentham in all his glory at UCL. A researcher is about to put a camera inside his head as some sort of social experiment, something to do with facial recognition software, so Jeremy will be watching you watching him:

A gang of cyclists and skateboarders, many in Hallowe’en attire, shut down Tottenham Court Road on my way home from the library on Friday:

New Scotland Yard:

That’s about it! Downton Abbey is calling my name. I hope you’ve all had an enjoyable weekend and have managed to avoid the snow. Until Sunday, the time difference between here and those of you in Ontario is only four hours, not five! Our clocks went back last night. And if you’re in Vancouver, it’s down to seven! We’ll throw up some pictures once we’re back from our trip!

Love you all.

Meg

London Bridge is Falling Down

Salut mes amis,

Just a little update. Not really too much new report. School for me, work for Chris. Two of our flatmates moved out so we’re down to six in the flat for the time being. It’s kinda nice. Tentatively planning our trip over my reading week but nothing solid yet since Chris is waiting to hear back from work about days off. Still don’t really have the hang of the grocery stores. I really can’t think of anything else new to report right at the moment, but I’m adding some photos below. I went to Hyde Park/Kensington Palace yesterday (Saturday) and Tower of London/Tower Bridge today (Sunday). There are lots more photos here.

Some Kensington Palace history (taken from Wikipedia so, y’know, take this with a grain of salt): Built in 1605, purchased by William III and Mary II for 20,000 pounds. William and Kate (and Prince George) were living here for a time, though I believe they recently moved into Princess Margaret’s old place. Prince Harry currently lives there. Much of the palace is open to the public, which seems weird but cool. I didn’t venture in but I could see tours going on inside. It’s much less impressive than Buckingham Palace.

Hyde Park and Kensington Palace:

Queen Victoria:

The Orangery, built in 1704 for Queen Anne:

The 900-year-old “Elfin Oak”, as seen on Pink Floyd’s “Umagumma”:

All kinds of elfin figures are carved into it:

Goose-duck hybrid?:

“Official” golden-gated entrance to Kensington Palace:

Part of our ‘hood right outside the park:

Just a little history about the Tower of London: it’s construction was started by William the Conquerer (1066, Normandy), and completed by his son. It was added to by pretty much every monarch. It’s made mostly of stone from Normandy. It’s served as a residence for the monarchs, as a torture facility, an armoury, the mint, and many other things. The battery is still used by firing squads when foreign heads of state are in London, and during the queen’s “official” and “actual” birthdays (what?). I haven’t gone inside yet (the cost brings tears to my eyes, so it’ll probably wait until one of you comes to visit), but the outside is phenomenal. Also happened to stumble on a re-enactment today, which was pretty neat.

Remnants of a gate that was discovered while the London Underground was being built. Allowed access into the city from the east:

“The Shard”:

Tower Bridge:

The Queen’s Stairs. This is where she and other highly important people would dock, then they’d cross a drawbridge into the Tower of London:

Nobody does Starbucks like London does Starbucks:

St. Katharine Dock, very nice area I stumbled upon with some swanky looking restaurants and condos along the water:

The Royal Mint Court:

The Tower from The Mint:

Tower Bridge:

And now for just some other fun things…

Australia vs. Canada football game at Craven Cottage:

The very kind security officer took our picture for us, unfortunately it didn’t turn out very well. But that’s us with a few of our flatmates:

And I was very lucky to meet Eleanor Catton (left), the winner of the Man Booker this year! The winner was announced this past Tuesday. She’s the youngest author to ever win it (at age 28) and her book (which is her second, called The Luminaries) is the longest piece to ever win it, too. She was born in London, Ontario (woo!) but moved to New Zealand at the age of six:

 

That’s all for now. If you don’t like photos, I’m sure you don’t like me either now.

Love, Meg.

 

P.S. Yes, I’m aware it’s now Tuesday. It took ages to upload the photos. I had good intentions.

Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving to our Canadian friends and families! I hope your weekends were spent with good food and good company. We were going to make a Thanksgiving dinner and share a meal with our roommates, but we quickly re-thought that idea once we remembered that a) we don’t have a kitchen table at which we can all eat together b) we don’t have any space in the fridges to store anything c) neither of us know how to cook a turkey d) we don’t have enough nor the right cookery. So we settled on going to a movie (The Fifth Estate) and picking up take-out. When in Rome.

Life here in London is pretty settled. Chris started a job as a server today at a restaurant beside St. Paul’s Cathedral. The job hunt will continue but we’re both glad and relieved he’s found something for the time being. The rest is pretty well old news at this point: my first week of classes went really well, we’re checking out the sights whenever possible, our flat still has all the same roommates (until the end of this week when two of them move out – they’re great and we’ll miss them). The only thing we still struggle with is grocery stores. Can’t quite master the layout, and because they’re so small they often don’t seem to carry things we’d consider staples back home (like bagels and popcorn and ground coffee and bleach).

We are trying to plan a trip or two for before Christmastime. I am going to Paris for a school trip in the middle of my reading week in November, so we’re trying to plan a little trip around that, possibly with our friend Adam who’s studying in Barcelona right now. Also, our friend Chelsey is coming to visit us in November and we are SO excited and counting down the days!

The weather has turned quite cold here. The rain stayed away for about two weeks which was glorious, but it’s been back for the past couple days and it brought cold with it. Neither of us brought winter coats with us (luggage reasons, and I didn’t think I’d need my parka in the land of the rain), so those are creeping towards the top of our to-find lists. (EDIT: I’m wrong. Chris brought his winter coat because he’s so smart.)

Saturday night we went to a housewarming party for a friend of Chris’ who went to Glendon but whom I miraculously escaped encountering. She is a teacher here in London, and the party was filled with other Canadian teachers and some Australian folks who’ve also come over to live for awhile. It was nice being in the company of others in the same boat as us. One of the girls we chatted with is headed back to Canada in November after two years teaching here, because her visa is expiring. Her next move is to Asia, she said. (EDIT: This seems like an odd story to tell. All that was to say, there are a lot of Canadians here which is nice feeling, and it’s really too bad none of the teachers can find work back in Canada.)

Every day I’m reminded of how small the world we live in is. We went to the movies with two of my classmates and one of them also brought along her significant other. Turns out, he’s from Macau but he did his undergrad at UofT at the same time we were at Glendon and living across the street from UofT’s St. George campus. He’s in London at Imperial in medical school now.

Tomorrow we are going to see Canada’s soccer (“football”) team take on Australia’s. They’re playing at Fulham Stadium, close to our flat. We’re headed with most of our roommates, and it should be a great time. We’re both really looking forward to it.

Apologies for the lack of exciting things in this post. Just a few little updates. Who knows, maybe Chris will grace you all with a lengthier, more insightful piece of writing soon. For now, see below for some pictures!

-Meg

Nearby Bishop’s Park:

Two ballerinas in the window of a perfume shop on Oxford St.:

London is filled with these little, pretty pedestrian footpaths that don’t show up on Google Maps. A lot of them are much narrower than this one:

Fake tree decorating a construction site:

Leicester Square at night:

These, and the waffles that accompany them, just seem wrong:

And fiiiinally, some photos of the inside of our flat. Just the kitchen/TV area for now. (P.S. It’s in an almost-perpetual state of messiness because so many of us live here. Thank goodness for the hour or so after the cleaning lady comes on Thursdays that the place is actually tidy):

(That’s our door on the left!)

New Experiences

Hi all!

We’ve had some pretty interesting (read: surreal) experiences over the past few days.

On Wednesday, our friend Colin (the friend with whom we travelled here in September) came to London from Nottingham for the afternoon and evening. I met Colin and Chris near campus after class, we grabbed some food and then, around 7 p.m., we decided to take a walk through nearby Regent’s Park. This park is absolutely stunning. If you’ve ever seen the film Marie Antoinette, think the scene where she’s in the gardens with her daughter looking at the goats and bees. It’s mind-blowing. So, here we are, walking through is gorgeous park, and all of a sudden we can hear someone shouting way off behind us, and car headlights shining in through the gate we’d just come through. The vehicle and the person shouting had to be at least 200 metres from us. Anyways, we figured out he might be trying to tell us the park was closing or something? So we start heading back towards the gate, but as soon as we start heading back that direction the guy gets in the car and drives off. We arrive back at the gate, and it’s locked. And it’s very tall. And it encloses the entire park.

A person walks by on one of the paths nearby, and he tells us he just came in through a gate a little ways down, so we head off that way. We get to that gate, and it’s also locked. But, the gate isn’t as high at this part of the park, so we decide we have to jump the fence or spend the night sleeping in the grass. We very gracefully get over the fence, and just as I’m over the guy who was yelling from the vehicle drives past. He shouts at us, “The park is closed!” Now, I don’t think I’m easily angered, but I was less than impressed at this moment. I’m pretty short, you see, so getting over the stupid fence was no easy feat for me (a fact to which Chris would be more than happy to attest). So, naturally, I shouted back at him, “We know, you locked us in!” to which he replied, “Well make sure you get out by 6:00 then!” I was just a moment from pointing out to him that a) we went in a 7:00 and b) it does not state anywhere that the park closes at night, and certainly doesn’t state the time it closes. Perhaps luckily, Colin is even more averse to confrontation than I, and so he butt in to thank the guy in the vehicle, allowing him to drive off without getting a full glimpse of my anger. Thinking about it, it makes sense that the park closes, but perhaps that should be advertised somewhere. I dunno, call me crazy.

So that was fun.

Last night (Friday) we finally went out on the town. A smallish group of students from the publishing program were headed out, and we joined them. We went to Camden (the borough in which campus lies), which is one of the most popular places to go for a night out. First we went to a place called The Ice Wharf (Torontonians: think Tequila Jack’s), which is part of a chain called Wetherspoons. It’s cheap and there isn’t any cover, so you see the appeal. This place was over the top. We “queued” to get in, got patted down extensively, and then essentially had our retinas scanned and fingerprints taken before entering. (I’m only exaggerating a little). I asked all the Brits we were with if this was normal protocol, and none of them had ever experienced it before, so that made me rest a little easier. This club also had a staff dedicated to seeking out spills on the dance floor and coming around with rolls upon rolls upon rolls of paper towels to clean it up. I guess I get it: they don’t want to be sued if someone slips. I’ve never seen this before, though. After that we went to a pub called Joe’s that was just down the street. Turns out, they play swing music and early rock ‘n’ roll in the evenings. I’d never been anywhere that played that, and it was really fun. Our bus ride home was a bit dramatic: we were delayed by a car accident and police, fire fighters, and ambulances.

Tonight, we decided we’d check out a movie. We went to see Thanks For Sharing. First, when you purchase your tickets, you get to choose your seats (cool!) and every theatre has a VIP section. Then, when you order popcorn, you’re given a choice between salty or sweet. Third, the seats are leather and so so comfortable. Fourth, I didn’t think it was possible, but they have WAY more advertisements before a film here, but, they’re way more interesting than back home. Finally, a film that would’ve been rated 18A (at least) in Canada was rated 15+ here. Oh, and instead of having aisles on the sides and seating in the middle, the aisle was in the centre of the theatre. Finally, before the ads started, they played a constant mix of top 40 hits but lyric-less, piano-only versions. Was a little weird.

On our walk back home from the theatre, we noticed the Universal Music Publishing Group is literally right around the corner from our flat. So that’s cool.

Chris is still on the hunt for a job. I think Monday might be “hit the streets armed with stacks of CVs and pick some recruitment agencies” day. Right now he’s behind me watching the Leafs home opener. There might be some mild resentment. (I kid.)

School is going well. I start my regularly scheduled classes on Tuesday. The week-long module I just completed was incredible. In just one week I learned so much about every corner of the industry (even finance!), and every part of it seems so interesting. It’s got me really excited. Friday was probably the best day. We got to spend the morning at Faber & Faber’s head office, and the afternoon at Bloomsbury’s head office. We had more guest speakers than I can count, each of them phenomenal. Now I’m just looking forward to getting on with regular classes. We’re constantly getting emails about internships, so it’s my turn to get my resume turned into a CV.

There are some photos below. Sadly no photos of Regent’s Park (yet) because it was too dark. And I PROMISE to post some pictures of the inside of our flat tomorrow. We have a lot of flatmates, and they’re generally around and unwilling to be photographed 😛

Love to you all,

Meg

P.S. Special shout out to Roxy, if she’s reading this. Thanks for the beautiful postcard!

Wise words from TfL:

Platform 9 & 3/4s at Kings Cross!

These are all over campus. Lots of cool people lived in and about UCL, it seems:

Some publishing friends from The Ice Wharf: