A Kominar Chronicle

Thanks to all of those who recently helped celebrate my birthday.  Supposedly turning twenty-six isn’t a very interesting birthday because your life doesn’t really change much with no significant milestones.  Somehow I have found myself in the middle of a mid-twenties crisis. 

I’ve been accused of entering my late-twenties prematurely by close sources.  (Guess: It’s neither me nor the mysterious man in leather pictured to your left.)  I submit the following age demographic breakdown of the twenty-somethings for your consideration. 

• 20-23 = Early Twenties
• 24-26* = Mid Twenties (I’d also be open to considering 23.5 - 27.5)
• 27-29 = Late Twenties

Feel free to share your prejudice in the comments.

T-Shirt Adventures

With that reality nicely dealt with I’d like to share a quick tale of my birthday celebration.  As you may have noticed in the photo above, Nadine and I are wearing similarly heart-themed t-shirts.  They are in fact the 8-bit dynamic life shirt from ThinkGeek.com.  When near another shirt all six of your hearts light up, when apart only two and a half. 

This novelty has not worn off all-day and has garnered us attention at work and abroad including numerous potential workplace harassment incidents due to intrigue (inappropriate touching and the like)!   I’ll keep you apprised as the cases develop.

Flower in Sauce

The art you see on your right is my latest food-art creation Flower in Sauce.  I laboured over its creation after a delicious sushi-lunch.  Its medium is remnant chicken skewer sauce, and was painted with a single chopstick.  Some have relegated it to the lower class of “handy-work” rather than “art”.  This piece us that while sushi is certainly delicious it is not without its thorns.  (Some side effects have included: mysterious sushi regret and full-belly)

Art? Handy-work?  Certainly Art.

So I’ve actually been home for quite some time now.  Regardless, I thought I should post some pictures from the final leg of EuroZack.   I returned from Amsterdam to stay in London again for a spell.  My final days were not without adventure.  However, I’ll let the pictures tell their own stories. 

All said and done EuroZack was the trip of a lifetime.  Thanks to everyone who made my journey so memorable and to those who continue to support my adventurous spirit.  Please enjoy the last memories of my trip.

• Leaving London (See full photo-set)

Tags: EuroZack

As you may have noticed these past few days the site is undergoing some maintenance.  I’ve switched servers to a friend’s hosting provider and am getting reacquainted with wordpress theme modding. I hope the new design will tweak well and freshen things up a bit.  I was accused of being stuck in the 80s with my previous site design, so here’s to the future.

Thanks for reading!

En route to Amsterdam via Eurostar from Brussels immigration busted into our train car and asked for everyone’s passports.  They had some sense of urgency about them which made the atmosphere a little more intense.  As it would turn out they escorted 4 gentlemen off the train at Rotterdam.  One of them was hiding in the bathroom right next to me and I saw the guard posted outside waiting for him to emerge.  Exciting times.

Time in Amsterdam seems to slow down just a bit.  The pace is very relaxed and the people are exceptionally friendly.  I was staying in Sacha’s Bed & Breakfast which was within 5 minutes walking to everything in Amsterdam. I thought I was lost when the taxi first dropped me off because it is very unassuming and appears to be rooms in his house that he rents out.  A simple buzzer on the front door encourages guests to call for service.  I had a moment of panic when the taxi was telling me that this was the address and to get out of the car into the rainy night.  With an establishment like this I should have heeded the registrations notice to contact Sacha with arrival times as I showed up at 8pm for a 2pm standard check in time.  I would absolutely recommend this place to anyone looking for a nice single bedroom place in central Amsterdam.  At 30 euros a night it was quite comfortable.

Within an hour I had discovered the Cafe de Fles whose fine proprietor had spent some time in Canada and had a large flag hanging in the corner of his pub.  He furnished me with the most delicious short-ribs and kept the libations liberated throughout the night.  If you find yourself lost in Amsterdam, find yourself here to get acquainted properly.

I met some local chaps in the pub that night and learned many things of local ways and customs.  They’re both students who lived nearby and worked in the bar part-time as well.  They showed me the ways of the town that night including their shoe-boat which was unfortunately not sea-worthy at that particular moment.  I was invited back to their house on the canal to listen to some euro-beats and keep the party going because everywhere in Europe seems to close way too early.   

I took a boat tour of the canals and port to see the city from the water and try to get better oriented.  There aren’t too many landmarks to orient yourself if trying to navigate blindly, so its important to pay attention to which canal your on and which way you’re heading.  The boat cruise only added to the confusion, and my best guide was definitely the map and street signs.

The Torture Museum was recommended to me by my father so I found my way there first to see what the fuss was about.  Although short, it was a great display of torture implements and some fascinating history. I particularly enjoyed the Bad Musician’s torture implement and guillotine. 

I walked around town mostly and saw a lot of the shops and canals.  Of course there were visits through the red light district and the coffee shops, but there was also some other quirky sights to the museum of bags and purses; collections of juices; fancy buildings.  I even found another Australia store, although this one wasn’t serving alcohol!

The Van Gogh Museum had the most amazing exhibit on called Colours of the Night which was highly inspirational.  It was the history and inspiration behind Van Gogh’s passion for painting a starry night.  Another culturally significant site was the Anne Frank Huis which was a living story of the famous Jewish diary-writer of WWII. 

Towards the end of my stay I noticed a significant increase in the amount of kilts flowing through the city streets.  As luck would have it, the Scottish were in town to celebrate their eventual defeat to the Netherlands in a World Cup qualifying match (3-0).  I say this because I spoke with many a Scotsman who were  all forth-coming that although they fully expected to get smashed in the match, they were there to support their fellow countrymen.  Someone told me that there were only 8000 tickets for the match reserved for the Scots but that they estimated 20,000 were in town.  I caught a glimpse of the celebrations in Dam Square before the match including a few notable characters and animals.

• See the rest of Amsterdam Photo-set

Tags: EuroZack, Zack

If you had 24 hours in Brussels what would you do?  They mainly speak French, but the people here are much better versed in English than France and they are all very friendly.  Here’s what I managed to accomplish in from 17h to 17h. 

• Get lost and find my way many times
• See the Mannekin Pis including a humorous wardrobe change
• Watch Van Gogh’s Mime
• Find Gargamel’s genetically-modified black Smurf for sale in a toy shop
• Seek shelter in Brussels Central metro station during a torrential downpour
• Yearn for a giant Yop!
• Let the Brussels Casino pay me 10L for my roulette winnings on 00
• Enjoy some local Leffe beer and delicious salmon w/ bearnaise
• Wander aimlessly at night
• Go antiquing in Sablon
• Visit the Palais du Justice, Grand Place, Royal Palace, Kathedral, Opera House, parks and other small sights

• Take a listening tour of the Museum of Musical Instruments and enjoy a nice lunch at the rooftop cafe with a beautiful view of the city
• Discover a new instrument
• Talk with local shopkeepers about Canada the “dream country”
• Purchase some fine Belgian chocolates
• Devour a sugary-sweet Belgian Waffle
• Take a lot of pictures (see my complete Brussels photo-set)!

And with that Brussels is gone in a flash.  See you in Amsterdam!

Tags: EuroZack, Zack

En route to Brussels I made an afternoon stop-over in the town of Lille, France.  My cousin Thomas is living there temporarily while he tutors English to the young and old.  It’s a great place and far from little when you consider what region is technically counted as Lille. 

I wanted to post a note about one bizarre feature of Lille that might draw your attention.  One of the main streets of the town is adorned with giant statues of black, bat-like babies.  Some of them had spikey tails ready to attack pedestrians, and others were just squatting looking ready to defecate.  Apparently they are remnants of a recent festival in the city and are sticking around for a while. 

Enjoy.

• More pictures of Lille

Tags: EuroZack, Zack