It seems like I've failed to complete the story of our trip last summer... I still intend on finishing it, but I really wish there was some way for me to stop failing myself and others like this. I'm not upset just because I missed a few blog posts, this is just symptomatic of a much larger problem I've had with being unable to budget my time and get things done.
'til next time.
Tuesday, September 2, 2008
Thursday, May 1, 2008
Taking a Bath
(Bath, Day 1 - August 27, 2007)
More posting! Will wonders ever cease?
We woke up before dawn and grabbed the breakfast that Ursula had kindly left us on our doorknob. It consisted of pastries and juice and it was really good, and I can't help but say thanks again for making our stay an excellent one, and if I can help it we will be back! So yeah, before dawn. We have to catch our ridiculously-early-in-the-morning flight, so we hop the bus into town and then catch the airport shuttle (yay for buying return tickets when we got here). We wake up somewhere along the way and take a quick and uneventful flight into London.
We take the tube from Heathrow back into town and transfer our way to Paddington Station. I still can't quite get over the ridiculous amount of pigeons in this indoor space, I'm sure I saw one ordering a coffee at one point. But, that aside, it's almost lunchtime and the Yo! Sushi stand is just getting ready to open! Our friend Bernard would be jealous I'm sure :)
After bumming around the station for a while our train finally arrived. I've never really ridden on a train before until now, and it was a great experience. I realize it's just a mode of transportation, but we got a great view of the countryside along the way and all of the different train stations, much like the varied tube stations in London, were pretty interesting as well.
We arrived in Bath in the early afternoon and walked from the train station to our hotel. It was a fairly short walk but the central area in Bath is full of all sorts of great sights and things to explore, as we come to discover. We arrive at our hotel, the local Travelodge, which is fairly spartan but it was inexpensive (yay!) and clean, however Eva didn't care very much for it. I insist it's just a place to sleep when we're not out exploring. My only serious complaint would have been the lack of internet access, however I think they were installing WiFi soon.
Once we drop our stuff off, we head out towards the town square near the Roman Baths and the Abbey as a starting point. Unfortunately for Eva (though I consider this ample revenge for all the little tourist shops she insists on stopping in) there is a camera store near here and I, of course, feel the need to check things out. They have a decent selection of Pentax gear so I try out the 21mm limited lens (really sharp!) and new DA* 50-135mm (also sharp and a beast of a lens!). Fortunately for my wallet, the prices in pounds for these lenses are similar to the prices in dollars back home so that quickly dashes any ideas of making a purchase.
After the camera store we just start wandering around, heading vaguely to various notable landmarks. After poking around the Abbey and nearby side-streets we head for the Pulteney Bridge, apparently one of only four bridges in the world lined with shops on both sides. It's pretty cool and the shops are interesting too! From here we check out the River Avon (or the River River, as Avon is derived from the Welsh word for river) which is very beautiful. After a while we decide to check out the Circus and the Royal Crescent, along the way we pass through Queen Square where a mobile French Market is set up. There are all sorts of fresh produce and baked goods, as well as a plethora of hand-made goods and such. It's on it's last day, but we buy some awesome pastries before we continue on.
The Circus is a really interesting architectural feature in Bath, basically it's your standard road circus, with a stand of huge trees in the middle surrounded almost completely by buildings that follow the circumference of the circle. Visually it's very impressive, and thankfully I took the time to do a series of shots with making a panorama later in mind. I finally managed to use the program Autostitch to finish this up and the results are very cool. From here it's a quick walk to The Royal Crescent.
The Royal Crescent is situated overlooking Victoria Park, and it's another architectural marvel. The sweeping curve of the buildings makes for yet another lovely panorama. Eva and I take some time to enjoy the park and it's surroundings. It's very easy to see why Bath receives many awards for its beautiful scenery and flowers.
Our final destination for the day ends up being the Roman Baths. It's essentially a museum documenting the Baths, originally built in Roman times, as they evolved over the centuries. There are all sorts of awesome sculptures and artifacts around, and the history of this place is really fascinating. For example, people used to put their written wishes in a fountain here, though often instead of wishing for good luck or what have you they would wish ill-will and doom upon their contemporaries. We hooked up with a guided tour part way through, and I have to say our guide was excellent. He entertained us with various stories and it was much more fun than the audioguide I think.
I think my only real regret was not trying the mineral water here. They only suggest you try it once, as apparently it tastes like rusty nails, but it's one of those things you should try once at least in my opinion.
Once we finished touring the baths (it was getting on closing time) we grabbed a quick bite to eat for supper and then we headed back to the hotel to get ready for our second day.
More posting! Will wonders ever cease?
We woke up before dawn and grabbed the breakfast that Ursula had kindly left us on our doorknob. It consisted of pastries and juice and it was really good, and I can't help but say thanks again for making our stay an excellent one, and if I can help it we will be back! So yeah, before dawn. We have to catch our ridiculously-early-in-the-morning flight, so we hop the bus into town and then catch the airport shuttle (yay for buying return tickets when we got here). We wake up somewhere along the way and take a quick and uneventful flight into London.
We take the tube from Heathrow back into town and transfer our way to Paddington Station. I still can't quite get over the ridiculous amount of pigeons in this indoor space, I'm sure I saw one ordering a coffee at one point. But, that aside, it's almost lunchtime and the Yo! Sushi stand is just getting ready to open! Our friend Bernard would be jealous I'm sure :)
After bumming around the station for a while our train finally arrived. I've never really ridden on a train before until now, and it was a great experience. I realize it's just a mode of transportation, but we got a great view of the countryside along the way and all of the different train stations, much like the varied tube stations in London, were pretty interesting as well.
We arrived in Bath in the early afternoon and walked from the train station to our hotel. It was a fairly short walk but the central area in Bath is full of all sorts of great sights and things to explore, as we come to discover. We arrive at our hotel, the local Travelodge, which is fairly spartan but it was inexpensive (yay!) and clean, however Eva didn't care very much for it. I insist it's just a place to sleep when we're not out exploring. My only serious complaint would have been the lack of internet access, however I think they were installing WiFi soon.
Once we drop our stuff off, we head out towards the town square near the Roman Baths and the Abbey as a starting point. Unfortunately for Eva (though I consider this ample revenge for all the little tourist shops she insists on stopping in) there is a camera store near here and I, of course, feel the need to check things out. They have a decent selection of Pentax gear so I try out the 21mm limited lens (really sharp!) and new DA* 50-135mm (also sharp and a beast of a lens!). Fortunately for my wallet, the prices in pounds for these lenses are similar to the prices in dollars back home so that quickly dashes any ideas of making a purchase.
After the camera store we just start wandering around, heading vaguely to various notable landmarks. After poking around the Abbey and nearby side-streets we head for the Pulteney Bridge, apparently one of only four bridges in the world lined with shops on both sides. It's pretty cool and the shops are interesting too! From here we check out the River Avon (or the River River, as Avon is derived from the Welsh word for river) which is very beautiful. After a while we decide to check out the Circus and the Royal Crescent, along the way we pass through Queen Square where a mobile French Market is set up. There are all sorts of fresh produce and baked goods, as well as a plethora of hand-made goods and such. It's on it's last day, but we buy some awesome pastries before we continue on.
The Circus is a really interesting architectural feature in Bath, basically it's your standard road circus, with a stand of huge trees in the middle surrounded almost completely by buildings that follow the circumference of the circle. Visually it's very impressive, and thankfully I took the time to do a series of shots with making a panorama later in mind. I finally managed to use the program Autostitch to finish this up and the results are very cool. From here it's a quick walk to The Royal Crescent.
The Royal Crescent is situated overlooking Victoria Park, and it's another architectural marvel. The sweeping curve of the buildings makes for yet another lovely panorama. Eva and I take some time to enjoy the park and it's surroundings. It's very easy to see why Bath receives many awards for its beautiful scenery and flowers.Our final destination for the day ends up being the Roman Baths. It's essentially a museum documenting the Baths, originally built in Roman times, as they evolved over the centuries. There are all sorts of awesome sculptures and artifacts around, and the history of this place is really fascinating. For example, people used to put their written wishes in a fountain here, though often instead of wishing for good luck or what have you they would wish ill-will and doom upon their contemporaries. We hooked up with a guided tour part way through, and I have to say our guide was excellent. He entertained us with various stories and it was much more fun than the audioguide I think.
I think my only real regret was not trying the mineral water here. They only suggest you try it once, as apparently it tastes like rusty nails, but it's one of those things you should try once at least in my opinion.
Once we finished touring the baths (it was getting on closing time) we grabbed a quick bite to eat for supper and then we headed back to the hotel to get ready for our second day.
Tuesday, March 25, 2008
Castles in the Sand
(Edinburgh, Day 5 - August 26, 2007)
I'm going to post about the rest of our vacation before it's been a year even if it kills me... which it probably won't... hopefully... but anyway.
We started the day with the usual Scottish breakfast, greasy and delicious as always. We headed into town with the intent to explore some more. We spent most of the morning going in and out of shops around Princes Street.
Around noon we headed to the Scott Monument, paid the entry fee, and began the somewhat harrowing climb to the top. From the outside it's sort of difficult to tell but people can actually climb to the top of the monument. It gets very narrow so this leads to very narrow spiral staircases going up. Let me tell you, it was quite a memorable experience climbing this thing. Passing people on the stairs was exciting as well, as you had to sort of grab on to the ceiling of the staircase and push yourself against the wall so they could squeeze by. Nearest the top you couldn't even do this so you had to either retreat or hope the person coming down the stairs would get out of your way. I got some amazing shots of Edinburgh from the tower in the end, I think it was definitely worth it.
After this we headed back to Portobello and Eva bought a pail and shovel so we could go to the beach and make a Sand Castle! We attempted to make an accurate scale model of Edinburgh Castle... it didn't quite turn out that way but it did get a moat and an esplanade! Some people who viewed our sand castle photos thought it was someone else's castle... may they regret doubting our sand-castle building skills D:
After cleaning up and getting a bite to eat, we took a bus back into town with the intent of walking up to Arthur's Seat. The scenery in Holyrood Park is absolutely breathtaking, and we picked a perfect evening to head up. The sunset was probably one of the most dramatic I've ever photographed, I'm glad for more than one reason we went here. The other reason would be that I chose this incredibly romantic place and time to ask Eva to marry me... and she said yes! I mean... I think she was getting ready to ask me herself or something if I kept dragging my feet any longer. But in all seriousness I wanted the moment to be special, and I don't think I could have picked anything better than this one.
We ended up talking to this nice German girl who was really happy to be the first person to congratulate us on our engagement and she took a few photos of the happy couple.
After spending some time enjoying the sunset, we headed down in the mostly-dark with a dinky little LED flashlight. It's dangerous enough in the light navigating some of these paths, let's just say we had a fun if harrowing time making our way down.
When we got closer to the ruins of St. Anthony's Chapel we heard the sound of drums echoing through the air. We had heard this earlier and thought it was a concert at the stadium in the distance, but it was in fact a group of musicians playing in the ruins. It was quite haunting and cool... though the effect was somewhat diminished when we rounded the corner of the ruins and interrupted some fellow answering nature's call... haha.
We made it back to Ardgarth in one piece and went to sleep knowing we'd have to be up before the crack of dawn to catch the shuttle into the airport to make our flight back to London.
I'm going to post about the rest of our vacation before it's been a year even if it kills me... which it probably won't... hopefully... but anyway.
We started the day with the usual Scottish breakfast, greasy and delicious as always. We headed into town with the intent to explore some more. We spent most of the morning going in and out of shops around Princes Street.
Around noon we headed to the Scott Monument, paid the entry fee, and began the somewhat harrowing climb to the top. From the outside it's sort of difficult to tell but people can actually climb to the top of the monument. It gets very narrow so this leads to very narrow spiral staircases going up. Let me tell you, it was quite a memorable experience climbing this thing. Passing people on the stairs was exciting as well, as you had to sort of grab on to the ceiling of the staircase and push yourself against the wall so they could squeeze by. Nearest the top you couldn't even do this so you had to either retreat or hope the person coming down the stairs would get out of your way. I got some amazing shots of Edinburgh from the tower in the end, I think it was definitely worth it.
After this we headed back to Portobello and Eva bought a pail and shovel so we could go to the beach and make a Sand Castle! We attempted to make an accurate scale model of Edinburgh Castle... it didn't quite turn out that way but it did get a moat and an esplanade! Some people who viewed our sand castle photos thought it was someone else's castle... may they regret doubting our sand-castle building skills D:
After cleaning up and getting a bite to eat, we took a bus back into town with the intent of walking up to Arthur's Seat. The scenery in Holyrood Park is absolutely breathtaking, and we picked a perfect evening to head up. The sunset was probably one of the most dramatic I've ever photographed, I'm glad for more than one reason we went here. The other reason would be that I chose this incredibly romantic place and time to ask Eva to marry me... and she said yes! I mean... I think she was getting ready to ask me herself or something if I kept dragging my feet any longer. But in all seriousness I wanted the moment to be special, and I don't think I could have picked anything better than this one.
We ended up talking to this nice German girl who was really happy to be the first person to congratulate us on our engagement and she took a few photos of the happy couple.
After spending some time enjoying the sunset, we headed down in the mostly-dark with a dinky little LED flashlight. It's dangerous enough in the light navigating some of these paths, let's just say we had a fun if harrowing time making our way down.
When we got closer to the ruins of St. Anthony's Chapel we heard the sound of drums echoing through the air. We had heard this earlier and thought it was a concert at the stadium in the distance, but it was in fact a group of musicians playing in the ruins. It was quite haunting and cool... though the effect was somewhat diminished when we rounded the corner of the ruins and interrupted some fellow answering nature's call... haha.
We made it back to Ardgarth in one piece and went to sleep knowing we'd have to be up before the crack of dawn to catch the shuttle into the airport to make our flight back to London.
Friday, February 22, 2008
A Long Time Coming
I really have to figure out how to keep myself motivated and focused. It's going to be hard, but I can't keep going like this.
Posted some shots of the lunar eclipse on my Flickr account.
First step in focus & motivation land is to finish the account of our trip to the UK this summer!
Posted some shots of the lunar eclipse on my Flickr account.
First step in focus & motivation land is to finish the account of our trip to the UK this summer!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)