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.

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)

Thanks for reading!

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

• 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!

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

During my first few hours in town I ventured to the mean streets of Paris to see what adventures I could shake up.  A chance encounter with one of the only Parisians who speaks English who also happened to be lost and ask me for directions,and I was on my way to dinner with her friends waiting nearby at a restaurant.  Please note, although I am a gentleman, I did ‘not’ purchase the flowers in her hand, they were given to her by the restauranteur!

Dinner was delicious and we each ordered the fancy cheeseburger after overhearing others in the restaurant rave about it.  We shared a bottle of wine over our meal and I had the pleasure to interact with some France natives.  I learned a lot about French culture and the region, but probably the most culturally important thing I learned was that when toasting it is very important to look each person in the eye as you toast their glass.  It is considered very rude to “cheers” at the middle of the table as the North Americans might be prone to do and to never cross arms when toasting.   We spoke on many subjects throughout the evening,  French-elitism in schools and business, the French people’s lack of optimism, and of course of Canadian weather.    

The next day I had breakfast at a cafe on Pont Neuf catching a glimpse of the Eiffel tower for the first time.  My boat tour departed shortly after and I thought it a good way to get a sense of the city from the water.  As I approached the dock, there was a large gathering of people wearing white robes with a strange symbol on them.  They were holding a ceremony of some sort and no one nearby knew what it was about.  There were about 10-15 different countries flags represented as well.  If you recognize any of the markings let me know, I’d be very interested to know who they were.  Bag pipers played the procession onto a private boat and they cruised down the river after the ceremony. 

I visited Notre Dame the day before the protests were taking place.  The pope had recently visited Angola and some people had died in a stampede to see his holiness. Its also possible that they were protesting his ridiculous message of abstinence as the only solution to AIDS in Africa.

After a quick bite of a hotdog in baguette (Toronto listen up, you need better street foods), I ambled my way down to the Louvre.  Being too massive to appreciate in my time span, I took to idle wandering and a few key pieces.  La Jaconde, or the Monna Lisa as she is known, was actually not that busy and I had no trouble viewing the one on display.  (Note: the real painting is in storage in the basement I have heard).   I also stumbled upon the Venus de Milo, is it bad that my first thought was of Homer Simpson’s famous gummi de milo?  I made my way out of the museum after viewing some more famous paintings and Greek artefacts.   

As if my feet weren’t sore enough, I decided to keep walking all the way down Champs Elysees to the Arc de Triumph.  Along the way I made a few stops at some shopping locations, Nadine you are spoiled!  About an hour later I found myself at the famous roundabout.  I was unaware that it was actually a mini-museum and visitors were permitted at the top.  Upon exiting, I was ushered round the roundabout by the local police force.  They were preparing the area for a ceremony of some kind.  I had a conversation with someone nearby, and I think it was some sort of cadet ceremony but cannot be sure with my French skills.

To finish off the evening I walked down to the Eiffel Tower.  I stayed for the light show at 20h but was a little disappointed when all it did was flash white lights on and off.  I think I have been spoiled by other light shows around the world and was expecting something more.  Although, I was reminded that they probably have a better show for special occasions.  C’est la vie.

The weather finally turned grey for the first time the next day.  A bit of pathetic fallacy as I had chosen to visit the Pere Lachais cemetery where Jim Morrison was burried along with a host of other famous and un-famous people.  I then made my way underground to the catacombs beneath Paris.  Historically the spaced was used as an ossuary when Paris was running out of space for its bodies a few centuries ago.  I would recommend a visit to anyone who also fancies Pere Lachais.

On my final night in Paris I decided to get a little adventurous and order a fancy meal of Beef Tartar at a local restaurant.  The dish comprised of prepared raw beef spiced, prepared, and shaped into a pyramid surround by onions, a raw egg, and other fix-ins.  I made it through half of my pyramid but think that I’ll be sticking with sushi for the future.  

• View all of my Paris Pictures (lots)

Borough Market is London’s oldest food market. It was established on the south bank of the Thames when the Romans built the first London Bridge. It has occupied its present site for 250 years.  The market is rich in variety and vendors are constantly pushing free samples at you.  Despite wanting to eat every snack on offer, I settled on strawberries infused with apple juice, yum.  I found some delicious, cold raspberry apple cider that complemented my Boar Sausage pretty well.  The English have a thing with cutting sausages in half when they serve them, I think I like it.

Back to the honey story.  That’s pretty much the end of it.  You’ll notice that we never found any.  Turns out half of the market is only open on weekends, and Craig’s honey supplier wasn’t in.   Don’t worry, the day gets much more exciting and maybe even a bit educational.

London Bridge is falling down, falling down, falling down… Have you ever seen that iconic, two-towered bridge that dominates the Thames and just screams London?  Well, I learned a most important bridge-identifying lesson today in that the bridge I speak of is actually Tower Bridge.  We took a tour of the bridge towers including the elevated walkways, and the engine room.

After the bridge we took a stroll down Canary Wharf the fancy banking district, also where much of where the TV show Hustle is filmed. We were en route to Greenwich to see the beginning of time.  The Royal Observatory in Greenwich is the centre of the universe for time-keeping.  It was founded by Charles II in 1675 and is, by international decree, the official starting point for each new day, year and millennium (at the stroke of midnight GMT as measured from the Prime Meridian). Did you know that China spans 60 degrees of latitude but only uses one time-zone?

It was time for my Fish and Chips.  We found something that didn’t look too much like a chain restaurant and ate at the Spanish Galleon Tavern.  Upon entering we encountered a most peculiar and curious man.  He would later introduce himself as Mr. Beard but first asked us if we knew of a hospital nearby that could help his case of gout.   After explaining our green-ness of Greenwich and that we didn’t know and hospitals we ordered at the bar and sat down in the corner of the pub.

“May I join you gentlemen?” he inquired while approaching the table a few moments later. Never one to turn down a meeting of the minds, we invited him to join us.  I shared some of my fish with him but decided against any beer after he told us that someone gets killed every time he drinks (he was a recovering alcoholic).  His skills included all disciplines of martial arts and he had trained under Bruce Lee’s trainer but didn’t spar with him because it was not necessary.  Those skills probably came in handy when he was kidnapped for 30 seconds in the middle east while he was not busy pleasuring a harem of 200 women.

Trying to learn of his past he told us that he lived in Greenwich which was great because we were looking for some directions around town.  “I do all maps” he told us. “Could you tell us where we are on this map?”, pointing to a map on the wall.   “No, I don’t do this map.  I don’t waste my time with maps.” The conversation digressed into the ridiculous and soon we were being invited to fly away in a giant peach.   I reminded him that a giant peach would be hard to navigate and we would likely get lost, where would we go? With such an important question to ponder, we agreed to meet back with him in 5 years at the same location to resolve this, he was grateful for the company, and the fish…

We headed down to Leicester Square to meet a University of Guelph alumni, Tony.  As fate would have it there was a UK movie premiere of Fast & Furious and the square was packed.  We really weren’t that interest in seeing the stars so we didn’t stay long.  The stars must have been aligned because just as I started taking video Vin Diesel appeared and I caught a great video of him on the carpet.  We left quickly and headed towards the Edinboro Castle, a Camden-town pub I discovered online while watching 10 quirky things to see in London.   On the way to the pub, I stopped and asked directions of Suggs, the lead singer of Madness.  To his credit, the directions were spot on despite not being towards his own pub.

To finish the evening off, we went back to London Bridge area to Shunt Lounge and Theatre company.  If you ever get the change you should check out this establishment.  It is pretty unique and very artsy.  We got lost in a maze, saw a number of weird art exhibits, contributed to their limerick corner, got kicked off of an empty stage, and heard some good music all in side a series of massive underground vaults.  The place is apparently shutting down in the summer so make your way there soon.

(Ed note – I’ll have to clean this article up later. Way to much to say/do with way too little time.   sketchy connection at my hotel doesn’t help things either.)

Cheers

• See a lot more pictures of London

Morning brought adventures closer to home.  I explored Woking, one of the commuter towns in the London suburbs; coincidentally it’s also where I’m staying at night in a friend’s flat.

One of the town’s largest claim to fame is that it was the first town to be destroyed in H.G Wells classic “War of the Worlds”.  An alien invader statue lies in the town centre as a constant reminder of a future yet to come.

The train ride into London was only 20 minutes, and it was nice to get off my feet for a little bit longer before today’s adventures.

On my way into London, I stopped off at Picadilly Circus, the “times square” of London as I have dubbed it.  I spent a beautiful, sunny afternoon in Soho on Carnaby Street with friends visiting eclectic clothing shops and Peter Gabriel’s lawyer’s office. 

We settled in for a quick bite to eat on a sunny street-side table, at Veg a thai/asian buffet.  I probably would not return to this particular establishment, the food was rather cold and just not that enjoyable. Company was exceptional and we met two other gents who were about to start new gigs as owners of a new MTV Club in Copenhagen and another establishment.  All the best to them in their new ventures!

Soho used to be a pretty scummy part of London but has been cleaned up as of late.  Although, there are still plenty of shady back alleys to spend some time in should you be so inclined.  On my way out of the district I stumbled upon Walkabout, an Australian bar. Tick another one off the scavenger hunt Nadine!  I wonder if I can find some in Paris, Brussels, Amsterdam?

In the evening I power walked it down to the London Eye to catch the sunset.  On this day I noticed that London appeared to be on fire! Large thick plumes of black smoke were coming from the roof of a building near the Thames.

It turns out that a fire broke out in a building used for immigration advisory tribunals and no one was hurt.  The news has some closer pictures than I do, and a full report, read Sky’s coverage of the London Fire.

To close the day out we ventured out to Brick Lane for a taste of London’s best curry.  I must admit that it was out of this world.  The sampler platter, the papadoms, and the curry were all well executed.  Competition is fierce in the curry business and you can expect that most businesses will have people at the front luring you in with offers of 30% off the menu and 2 rounds of drinks free, at least ours did anyway.  Enjoy Masala if you’re ever in the region.

See you tomorrow.

I’ve landed safely in London and had one very long first day.  While sitting in Pearson before we took off I befriended Rob, a rock star/movie producer type and we hit it off.  It turns out he had enough sway to get into first class when our seats were oversold but I was stuck with the cattle, not for a lack of trying to persuade!  We were flying a new 777 plane as well and the sky-beds were taunting me as I head to the back of the plane.

We landed and Rob was nice enough to let me relax at his hotel before my afternoon rendezvous with friends.  Accommodations in London are very scant on space, too bad they’re not as innovative as Japan with space-saving technology.  Regardless, I was thankful to be able to leave my luggage and have a shower after traveling.

Here are some other snippits of adventure…

• Had the unfortunate experience of being delayed on a tube because of a person “under the tracks”
• Saw Icelandic “Terrorists” protesting and marching towards Parliament
• Paid £5 for a poorly crafted flower to some woman who was trying to take my money “for the children”.  Which children you ask? “the ones that need help”
• Consumed more beer in one day than I have for all of 2009 to date
• Did not lose my camera, passport or wallet.  Only my lunch the next morning while recovering.