A Fond Farewell to London at Christmastime

I can't believe its finally here...time to head back across the pond...for good. My cousin said that this is the end of an epic chapter of our lives, and I couldn't have quoined the term better!

I'm somewhat sad to go, but to be honest, I believe we've made the best possible experience with our time here in UK (and Europe) and it was the best decision we ever made. We are also very excited to start new adventures in New Zealand, Australia, and beyond when we return to T.O.

But for now, I thought I would share some pictures and final observations of London with you. London at Christmastime is really pretty. I don't think it has the grandeur of New York, but in a simpler manner, it works.
First off, the picture above is from a window in Selfridges. Basically its a drunk santa surrounded by vodka bottles and wine glasses. They are so open about drinking here. Bet you'd never find THAT kind of window at Macy's! ha ha!
I personally liked the one above. They actually constructed a tube car in the window that opened and closed with santa inside. Brilliant. Loved it! There were many more, but these 2 were the best and most typified London.
There were a number of German Christmas markets around town (and in pretty much every European city including Bruges, Belfast, Edinburgh, Prague, Vienna, etc). Its the quintessential European Christmas to have a Christmas market in your main square. They serve mulled wine, German sausages, gingerbread, and crepes, and typically sell wooden toys for gifts. I will definitely miss the markets next Christmas...unless Toronto suddenly picked up the tradition when we've been over here!
And lastly, while its no Rockefeller tree, Trafalgar Square was quite festive with a tall pine tree (albeit a little thin) and lovely carollers to ring in the Christmas spirit.

So, without further ado, let me end this post with final observations, and some things I'll miss...

Observations and Misses:

They aren't very religious about Christmas here. Instead of saying 'Merry Christmas', 'Happy Christmas' is most popular, which I guess in itself doesn't make it less religious than NA, BUT, there are many satirical songs (such as 'Christmas my Arse'), and they even have a very slang term for Christmas called 'Crimbo'. This latter term is only used in certain company and not on tv commercials but it's still very non-PC.

I will miss the fashion. Anything goes here, so you never feel out of place - from big belts, to big necklaces, to skirts with tights and uggs... Plus, it made for very entertaining people watching!

I will miss the TV commercials. They are hilarious, and a bit more risque than we would have at home. I won't miss the plethora of bad reality tv though (think getting up close and personal with people's embarrassing body image issues).

It goes without saying that I will miss the travel and exploration opportunities. We loved that we could get in a car, and explore anywhere in the UK, and each place (from Southhampton, to Bath to York to Cardiff to Edinburgh) has an old-world feel to it, cobblestone and wood/thatch homes, and lots of castles! Also, being 1-2 hours away from anywhere in Europe at cheap flight prices can't be beat!

I will miss working at London Bridge. An old part of the city in its own right, with cobblestone pedestrian streets, the thames walks, the pubs galore, and the fun people I worked with.

I think this list could be pretty endless and I'm sure I'll add to it, but for now I have to help Syd finish packing before going out for our last night of drinks in Canary Wharf.

Farewell London. We love you!

Blimey Ol' Belfast

What better way to spend a last weekend in Europe than with my good friend Danielle in a fun city of Northern Ireland? We decided about a month ago that we wanted to go away when we found a seat sale on Ryanair to get a return flight for £35 each! Unfortunately to get that price we had to catch a flight from the east side of the city (Stansted) at 8 in the morning, so it meant getting up a 5 am to catch a 1 hr bus to the airport. Ah, what we do for budget flights! Thankfully the bus journey was easy and flight left on time and so we were on our way!

We chose a great weekend to go. The weather was sunny and brisk, the Christmas markets were abundant, and the city was full of Christmas revelers. We were also staying at a hotel right near the bus station so no expensive commute after a £1.50 bus airport transfer (sweet). Danielle and I epitomized the entire weekend as 'fortunate timing'. The timing of everything we did was 'just right', from the timing of buses, perfect timing to get exit row seaon thets plane where there were no assigned seats, early check in at the hotel (at no charge), to getting a special on mincemeat (mince) pies at the castle, good weather all weekend (including avoidance of rain during the time we were in the castle) and leaving the pub at just the right time on Saturday night to meet some fun locals who showed us the 'real' Belfast nightlife.

Our first order of business (as it was only 10 am) was to find a place that would make us a good ol' Ulster fry up (aka Irish fried breakfast). After passing many closed pubs and Belfast's answer to the London Eye (the Befast Wheel), we found a pub called Oscars Champagne Cafe where we both had bowls of cappucino (yes, bowls - no handles!) and a cooked breakfast. The brekkie consisted of deep fried soda bread, potatoe pancakes, sausage, bacon and eggs - no beans in Irish breakfast - that's an English thing. When we met locals later they totally made fun of me when I said I missed my baked beans in the morning - they didn't doubt I was from London from then on!
After filling our bellies we checked out the christmas market next to the city hall and then grabbed a bus (and a hike) to Belfast Castle. It really wasn't much inside as its basically just a wedding venue with beautiful gardens and a great view of the city, so didn't make my top 10 castle list. It was still well worth the hike to sit in the cavern tavern in the cellar of the castle and have our first pint of guinness, 2 mince pies for £1 and get in the Christmas spirit with Christmas tunes and a fire place with stockings hung.
By the time we got back into the centre of town we were quite knackered from a short sleep the night before, we ended up grabbing a snack at the marketand heading back to the hotel for a nap so we could be energised to head out on the town and check out local historical pubs on our own pub walk! Our pub walk started at the Crown Liquour Saloon, which is supposedly the oldest and best known pub in Belfast, and also the most bombed. It is covered in Mosaics and there is a crown on the tiled entrance to the pub. Inside it is very ornately designed from the gilded lion architecture to the serpentine scale-like columns, almost to a tacky nature. The interesting thing we noted about the pub is the signs everywhere saying that football garments are banned and people wearing them will be kicked out. This goes back to the 'troubles' when supporting different teams (the Celts vs the Rangers) would result in serious violence. So most pubs have banned any football on the telly to contribute to the peace efforts over the last decade.

Following that bar we went out for a quick bite and then hit another 'classic' pub called the Kitchen Bar. It was a popular night for Christmas parties and we felt like we were crashing one at this pub. It didn't really feel like our scene so we hastily finished our pint and as we exited the bar a couple local blokes (age 40+) asked us how we liked it. We said that we didn't so much and were going to try and find somewhere more authentic. They said they were heading to one such place that they always go to called Kellys Cellars and so we tagged along. We didnt' in the least feel threatened by these guys as they were married and just looking to show some Canadian ladies how the real Belfast should be remembered. Built in 1720 it is actually Belfast's oldest pub and it really did feel like we stepped back in time. The first room had dingy white walls with the words Caed Mile Failte (meaning 'A Thousand Million Welcomes') across the archway, and a ceiling that was a fishing net with buoys tangled in it.
The second room was another dingy room with white walls and celtic sayings, with a bar and some booths, but its ceiling had a conglomerate of knick knacks like kettles, and pots & pans, fire puffers, and irons. It was so neat, and everyone was super friendly. Then, to top it off, in a corner booth there was a pick up band of people just playing irish instruments - a hand drum with a brush, a little guitar, a banjo and other percussion like hand instruments. It was soooo neat!

We hung out that chatting with the blokes (Jon, Connor and Tony) and their lady and man friends about Irish, English and Canadian life. They all later invited us out to an after bar called 'BX' or Belfast Exposed...which was essentially a photo gallery by day, and closed up with steel garage doors by night, unless you had the right knock, then the doors would open! It felt very underground-scene like, but once we got in, it was just like an artsy-fartsy lounge, and they served free chili (to get past insurance problems with the cops of serving alcohol after hours they need to serve food), which was actually quite tasty. We didn't stay at that bar long before heading back to the hotel nearby but we appreciated our first 'after hours' experience! ;o)

We had an educational experience with the Titanic and 'the Troubles' the next day, but that's another story....

Rockin' in London Town

This past weekend we had a rockin' time in London for one of our last weekends here. I learned about a cool karaoke event where you get to sing with a rock band, and so I thought, what better event to plan a 'farewell to the Milletts' party for us and 20 of our closest London friends than at Rockaoke? ;o)
The band started at 8 after we liquored ourselves up on 2for1 drinks. We all put in song requests before they started but there were so many! There must have been at least 150 people there! Syd's colleagues Carmen & Craig were the first to go up, they sang a good ole' Canadian song - Summer of 69! It was a good song to get the crowd started. That was soon followed by Simon doing 'Under the Bridge'...he wasn't that great a singer but he was super funny that the crowd were totally eating it up!

Of course I HAD to get up and sing. And so me and 2 girlfriends got up to sing Amy Winehouse's "Valerie". We didn't sing well either, but it was good fun...and I think people were dancing!

The next hour or so was much of the same, with other non-friends taking the stage and providing good songs to dance to (and drink more). The band sadly ended at 10, with Syd and Bryan (and 3 random girls) singing/shouting Bohemian Rhapsody. It was a riot! Syd's colleagues loved that their directors ad gotten up to sing. They are totally going to miss Syd when he leaves London.-------------------------------

On Monday of this week I did some more rockin' in London at my company's Christmas do (aka party). Brits (and especially those at my company) really know how to party. It was held at an arts studio near our office and was all dulled up in glitter and silver. There were blackjack tables and roulette in the corner of one large room, and in another room was a large dancefloor and rotating company djs. We enjoyed the chance to get dulled up too!
People (okay, me too) were dancing machines. Everywhere I looked there were smiling faces and twirling dresses. It was so great to know people all over the place. A company of only 500 is a welcome change to a large government office that I am used to!

There was lots of debauchery throughout the night including people 'dirty dancing', 'snogging', and even one guy splitting the back seam of his trousers! That's him (Will) below with my colleague Gemma. I only wish I had a small camera to catch it all, but alas, I had to settle on those that others took (which were limited).

On the last song I felt a little out of place because they were playing Last Christmas by WHAM and people were all slow dancing, and Syd wasn't there (as spouses weren't invited). I was about to leave the dancefloor when Astrid rescued me and we twirled around for the last two songs. She always comes through for me. I'm going to miss that girl!

Mmmmmmm Swiss Fondue

Ok, so in my haste I mailed this on Nov 9 to the wrong email and hence it never got posted in 'real time' as it was meant to. But I didn't want it to go to waste so I've reposted it below:

It's Sunday and we're sitting in a restaurant in Lausanne, Switzerland. We had an amazing fondue dinner last night in our hotel (Hotel Edelweiss, which is designed to look like a proper Swiss Chalet). It was 'all you can eat', though the initial portion was massive - we had 2 little pots -- one with 'half and half' (ie 2 cheeses) and the other was the house special (called Eldewiess fondue) which was made with 5 cheeses and also had mushrooms. We ordered a 3rd pot, mostly cuz it was free, but we barely made a dent in it.

The restaurant also had a live band (2 swiss dudes playing an accordian and guitar, with a little a bit of matterhorn thrown in), complete with yodelling (which Scotty, reminded me of UHF and the variety show scene!).

Despite being full, we made it out to a couple bars after dinner .... The first seemed to be the meeting point for Geneva's prositutes (they had live music, but we left after our one beer), and the 2nd was a pub where we got in several games of darts which was good fun.

Today we went around the lake on trains to Montreux, but that's another story.....

Syd.

Czeching out the Old Town of Prague

We spent the weekend on November 14-16 with our friends Ami & Danny in the city of Prague. Actually, we only saw the 'old city' of Prague, and are sure that more of Prague exists, we just didn't see it! Rumour has it that Walt Disney visited Prague years and years ago, and was so inspired by the buildings (such as the church below) that he created the 'disney castle' and disney world based on the city. I don't know if that's true or not, but it was certainly easy to get lost in the magic of the place.
There was a massive square called the 'Old Town Square' (I know, really original), which was basically tourist central. The main attraction (among all of the cafes, restaurants and hot dog vendors of course) was the astronomical clock. I guess it's famous for showing the locations of the sun, the moon, and the phases of the moon. To look at its nothing special really as it doesn't do anything fun, but apparently apostle statues appear in the doors above the clock on the hour. However, what is most interesting about it is that its based on pre-Copernican geocentric belief that the earth was the centre of the universe, and the earth is in the exact middle of the clock! During WWII the clock was nearly destroyed by Nazi fire. The townspeople are credited with heroic efforts in saving most of the parts. It was gradually renovated throughout the years. According to local legend the city will suffer if the clock is neglected and its good operation is placed in jeopardy.

What we liked best about Prague (and there's lots to like!) were the fantastic views and music on Charles Bridge. With Prague being such a musical city there were jazz bands and clubs everywhere. The band below was called the 'Bridge Band', and every once and a while the band would stop playing and the one guy 3rd from the right would just make funny faces and sing 'Boo di bee boo boo di doo' or something to that effect. I found it highly amusing and wish I had a video camera.

On Saturday night we hit the town, tried some authentic Czech food (sausages, and ghoulash, and I had the most massive ribs ever that I felt like Wilma Flintstone!), and tried a shot of authentic czech spirit - Absinthe. It is basically a bright turquoise colour, and they light some sugar on a spoon that drips into it. When you taste it you 'cough' it down as it it literally tastes toxic - like what you would expect anti-freeze or the like to taste. We only did the one, but that was enough! After dins we went to a couple jazz clubs that were based in the cellars of a number of buildings - it was cool to watch people on big instruments like cellos and pianos inside a cave of stone walls! Afterwards, Syd and I hit a bar that was too American for my taste, but was a chance to talk to a few different people. It was a nice time, and a long night, but we felt that we made the best of Prague nightlife.

The next day we walked around Prague again and in the grounds of the Castle. We saw great views of the city from above from here - lots of red rooftops. As most of us were nursing hangovers we just took it easy and went out for a nice dinner where Danny got a massive hanging brochette (aka shish kabob) before heading to the airport.

Prague Observations:

The Czech Republic are a smart nation when it comes to tourism. They have it all figured out. They kept the old city contained in one area of Praha, and they added modern elements to it (bars, restos, museums - including a sex machine one! - and even a 200 store shopping mall). That way the tourists have everything they need to stay in one part always, and the rest of the czechs in Prague work and live in the surrounding commercial area! Its like they built an invisible wall and said come tourists, this way to be blissfully amused in our fairytale disney-like city...and we happily oblige. ;o)

And what's with the puppet obsession? There were shops and vendors everywhere! And what's more - why did I buy into it? They are actually really cute and beautifully made though and will be good mementos... so I turned around and bought two! Doh.

La Belle Geneve

On Nov 7-9 Syd and I took our last Europe mini-break (just the two of us) to beautiful Geneva Switzerland. It was a very metropolitan city in that it had many languages represented (German, Italian, French and English), and with it being on the border of France, French was the language of choice. Our friend Astrid has lived there for years and highly recommends it so we thought we should check it out.

The first night we flew in late, but were instantly impressed with the fact that we got a 'free' train ticket to town, and the train ride was only 6 minutes! We thought we could really get used to this free travel stuff. As it turned out, we could! Because when we checked into our hotel, they gave us a free travelcard for use in all Geneva transport for the entire weekend! Very strange, but very welcomed! ;o)

On Saturday we spent the day exploring old town Geneva, and of course the main shopping street. We didn't buy very much as the Swiss Franc and the clothing prices were not very cheap at all, even against the British pound! We loved how the streets in the old town were in layers, some higher and lower than others. And there were many narrow stairways leading to different streets so it was quite neat. Oh, and did I mention the cafes and chocolate shops everywhere?
We loved the sights on the main lake - Lake Geneva (or lac leman). In the middle is a very famous fountain landmark called Le Jet D'Eau. Five-hundred litres of water per second are jetted to an altitude of 140m by two 500kW pumps, operating at 2,400V, consuming over one megawatt of electricity! Its quite facinating to watch - and makes a great picture opp! Some crazy people were even swimming in the lake! I mean, ya, the weather was 14 degrees, but the lake cannot have been warm! Though it was VERY clear - look at the swan underwater below!

We were really impressed how the pier was so people friendly though, and had swimming and diving docks off of it, and even beaches where people can feed the swans! My swan didn't look too happy, but they were the friendliest swans we've ever met.

That night we went to dinner in the cool restaurant in our hotel that looked like a real Swiss Chalet (no not the fried chicken place that Canadians know of!) - with St. Bernard dogs and mountain murals everywhere! We both got a tasty cheese fondue and some wine and I have never been so bloated in my life! But it was soooo good! They had a live band there that yodelled, played the matterhorn, and even played the bells!

The next day we took a train to the other end of the lake to a town called Montreux. It is a cute lakeside town with nice restaurants, and beautiful views of the mountains. We decided to walk along the lake to the castle, called Chillon Castle, and it actually ranks among my top 5 castles in Europe! It as first of all, one of the most picturesque. Right on the lake, right next to the mountains, had cool turrets, and so fun to explore! It was one of those castles where most of the rooms weren't finished, so were mostly bare stone, so it allows you to visualise what it was like back in the 1500s. The place was completely open, no areas were closed off, and you could explore different stairways, courtyards, passageways and even the keep!
The view from the keep was breathtaking. 360 degree views of the lake and the mountains. It definitely helped that we were there in the autumn and had the red, orange and yellow colours as a backdrop.
Definitely the best day trip ever! Felt way more 'Swiss' than just visiting Geneva alone. ;o)

Europe sans Euros

As you can see with our flurry of posts tonight, we've finally had a chance to catch up on some blogging.  Ami & Danny were in town the last couple of weeks and the visit has been great.  But we're a little exhausted after being in Geneva the weekend before last and just arriving back from Prague last night.  Both trips were amazing, and actually quite different.  2 more currencies under the belt, but only 1 stamp as those nice Swiss aren't interested in stamping my passport :)

Complete pics and blog posts to come soon...

Pumpkins Pumpkins

Again another long overdue post, but the pictures in here are just too cute!

I love the "Please do not sit on pumpkins" sign in the background :)

Syd.

The Spooks of London Bridge

While I recognise that I may be a few weeks behind, I'm taking the first opportunity sans guests to sit down and describe the whirlwind that has been our lives to date.

The second weekend home from Canada was Halloween and we got together with Danielle to go out in scary style - as they do here in London (Syd dolled up as a creepy spider lord/lord death, I was a nearly-dead spider widow and D was an undead vampiress). We picked our costumes up at Fortinos (of all places) in Canada and when people saw us they thought we had gone 'all out'.
We went out to a Halloween pub event near London Bridge, the same fancy dress party event that Syd and Nyla and I did last year. When we first got there we felt overdressed as people in the UK still tend to do Halloween half-assed. One guy was walking around with a plastic bag on his head as a costume - puh-lease! When more people showed up within the hour we felt more at ease with all the other zombies, vampires and dead pirates.
We were actually quite impressed with one guy who dressed as a science experiment gone wrong - he was half werewolf half human - and used real theatrical hair to make the effect! I was quite impressed, but wouldn't want to be him later trying to remove all that glued on hair - ouch!
After Halloween we had some friends - Ami & Danny - come to stay with us for 2 weeks. They had their first European vacation and managed to fit in London, Paris and Prague! More to follow on that later.

London, like I've never seen it

This post is massively overdue.  First lets start with the background -- my 30th b-day fell on Sunday October 19th and as a gift to myself I arranged to be flying back to the UK on the red-eye, and going straight to work.  Some bday present :)  However, the day was fairly chill as we drove back from Fergus after June & Tyler's excellent wedding.  Unbeknownst to me, Astrid had arranged a surprise bday dinner at East Side Mario's where Doug & Penny, Josh & Robyn & Rowan & Joslyn, Nyla & Steve & Megan, and my mom, bro, and Isaac were all able to attend.  It was fantastic.

But the surprises didn't end there.  The following weekend (after a rough week of catching up after vacation) Astrid had another surprise for me.  She had booked us a private tour of London in a Helicopter.  How sweet is that?

I've flown a lot, but this was a real treat.  We were in a 4 seater but it was just the pilot and the two of us.  We were given Champagne when we arrived at the hanger, and got to checkout some of the other 'copters they had there.  We then did our 35 minute flight up from the south, across London (following the Thames from the West end over to Canary Wharf), then headed back South.  The pictures tell the true story:

West Minster Abbey, Big Ben, Parliament, The Eye:

Buckingham Palace:

Trafalgar Square.  Love those blue pools.

Canary Wharf, with O2 Center and Thames Flood Barrier in background:

Canary Wharf from the South, with our new flat marked on it :)

Astrid, thanks so much for such a thoughtful and fantastic gift!

Syd.

The Pond...

So I've crossed the pond twice in the past 2 weeks -- Astrid and I had a fantastic visit home for the Thanksgiving week.  We're sorry we couldn't catch up with everyone, but rest assured it wasn't due to a lack of effort!  In classic Astrid and Syd style, it was a whirlwind tour with us trying to get in as much visiting as possible.  Several friends have suggested we 'just stay put' when we go home for visits and have people come to us, but I think the control-freaks in us cause us to ignore this sensible approach.

The way back it was Astrid's first time going to work after a red-eye and I have to say I am very impressed with how awake she was to get through the day -- despite a sub-par sleep on BA.

After a short stay in the UK, I flew back across the pond on Sunday (Oct 26) to Los Angeles for the Microsoft PDC conference, which was pretty cool.  The universal studios party deserves its own blog post (can you say Canada's Wonderland Fright Night but _way_ better... AND free booze and food all night.  Crazy!). 

I was interviewed by the Microsoft Canada press there and you can see my quotes in an article in the nerd magazine IT Business here.  The flight to/from LA is quite long tho (10.5 hrs and 11.5 hrs, depending on direction), so although it was a red-eye on the way back, I didn't land until almost 4pm, so it didn't have the same 'get-through-the-day' challenges as usual.

In between the trips, Astrid gave me an awesome surprise bday gift that deserves its own blog post that is coming shortly!

Syd.