Unfortunately I was never able to do the Ferrari tour. Tragic loss, and also probably more unfortunately but definately close is that we didn't get to go to a Moulin Rouge show either. We left it to late and the shows were booked out. I seem to think we've been far to unorganised with the majority of things in this trip. Somehow we still manage to see just about everything we want to see but its not usually very well planned. I'm certainly not trying to say it's not my fault. I think it was just so different in the South East Asia trip last year. Made me really enjoy having rough plans to follow because, no set deadlines; if you like a place you stay a bit longer if not you move on. In the rest of the world however it's far more expensive and often booked out to do it this way. It's so cheap around Thailand that you can leave everything last minute, it's all so well set up for tourists that you can get just about anywhere in the day, even if the bus trips might well kill you.
So it's been challenging hoping to have that same freedom with deadlines and things, for instance we've been hoping to get to Scotland to see Pete, Jai and Graeme hopefully, amazingly we might even be able to just through luck. But the fact that we've left these things so late is I think a curse of the convenience in Asia.
So on the last day in Paris we went to a flea market which is apparently one of the best Antique markets there is. At first it was very difficult to believe this. All you can see are the dodgy stalls trying to sell their counterfeit designer products and all those kind of cheap stalls that exist everywhere. But at some point you turn a corner and the crowds deminish and the stalls are all fantastic. They've got many old antiqueties(hard word to spell) and alot of it is quite interesting stuff. Alyson was very happy because she found herself a lovely old coat. ITS FUR!!! Strangely contraversial subject isn't it. I can't help but feel a little bad about fur; but then I wear leather, and obviously eat the meat which seems worse. Can't figure out how fur got the worst wrap. It's a very nice old coat though and i helped pay for it as her present. After thus we delighted in some of the Boulangeries fantastic cakie goodies. In all we tried a large percentage of the available pastries and cakes that the patisseries have to offer. On the last day we found the best one, I don't remember what it's called, but it's the one Alyson had on the train trip to London. I think it could rival the Magnolia bakery products in NY. Shame though really, would have assumed the French products to destroy the competition. Very high quality foods though, tasty.
During the evening we intended on walking to Sacre Couer. It is the church on top of a hill in Paris. I was following the maps and everything seemed to be going to plan, we found a park that was on a hill and kept walking up assuming we'd be near it once we reached the top. Well we had to ask a man who turned out to be very nice and had visited Australia and enjoyed it. Well he pointed out that it was quite some way in the distance. Anyhow at least we found that park which was very pleasant and otherwise we would not have seen, I made Alyson walk there because I only wanted to catch the Metro home, and it was our last night and we could enjoy some of the sights on the way. It wasn't a very good area we were walking through must admit but it didn't take to long to get there. It's a beautiful church with such a nice view. You can see over Paris with the Eiffel Tower sparkling in the distance. We had a beautiful smoked salmon pizza because Alyson had said she'd had the best Pizza she's ever had last time she went there. We think it might have actually been the same place because it was pretty awesome, not sure about best ever but certainly up there. There was a little fair on in a small park where Alyson got herself a nutella crepe, I opted for the hot red wine which we always called Gluevine or something when we used to make a big party of it at home; Mum would host large parties and the scent of the Wine and the cloves and things was very similar to the hot wine. So I had to try it because of that... It tasted rather terrible I thought.
Our train up to London was not bad, quite uneventful except for the fact we missed the first one but they got us on the following one which is good. We had some nice cakes that we'd brought along for the ride, as I said Alysons was particularly fantastic. It's not that bad a train ride because it only goes under the Channel for about half an hour max. I fell asleep for a while. The worst part was we didn't have any books to read. They're smooth and fast trains though, and it was nice to differ from planes for longer travel, however we did end up catching about 7 trains during the day, with our suitcases.
In London we had a Sausage Roll! It was mighty fine and we have had another 3 or 4 since. We had time to get ourselves out to Kidbrooke station which is where Crissy's friend Kevin lives. He's been incredible kind to us and is letting us stay in his room! And then for Christmas his family invited us to go there for the day. It was bliss. So much food and champagne and we played on the Nintendo and Xbox for a very long time. Santa even remembered us this year, more found us as opposed to remembered I guess. They gave us Stockings with lots of awesome little things, heaps of chocolates and little mind games and little polysterene plane that flies pretty well, even a couple of pieces of fruit. Very kind. The dinner was fantastic, Turkey and Pork and lots of nice potatoes and veges. Best meal we've had in a long time now. During the night Kevin and I accomplished something big. We finished every song on the new Xbox game they got Lips. It's a karaoke game, it had 40 songs, Alyson didn't find it impressive.
Another amazing thing has happened in that today is a Sunny day!! Crazy. I think we're pretty lucky to see one, particularly in winter from what i gather.
In London so far we've seen the Buckingham Palace and came across heaps of the streets on the Monopoly board around the city. Also we were walking along and found a Rolls and Bentley dealership, saw another Bugatti Veyron! Fantastic, Kevin has told me that theres a McLaren dealership around somewhere, I think he might be thinking of the Mclaren- Mercedes though but i'm gonna search hard because if there is a McLaren F1 in town that would be incredible.
We're trying to organise going to Scotland, we might be able to get a lift up with Kevins parents which would be great, just have to find out about flights back and so on.
Also the streets, I think around Oxford St and Regent St. in the city were the busiest streets I've ever seen, apparently it was a little more than usual due to christmas shopping but crazily they say that it's not that different to that ordinarily! For a small section it felt like a mosh pit it was that tightly packed with people.
Friday, December 26, 2008
Saturday, December 20, 2008
More from Paris Francais
Bonjour! Paris sure is an amazingly beautiful old city with more history in one street than in all of Australia. We have done a lot of walking, on the first day we found the Louvre and the Notre Dame; might I say it is the most beautiful church I have seen, very nice on the inside. I find it difficult not to use the word beautiful as the description for everything, there aren't enough words along the these lines that do justice. Brilliant or spectacular seem to miss something, most other synonyms add too much personification. Beautiful seems all that will do, I bet the French have more words with enough emphasis to provide a worthy alternative.
On wednesday we ventured inside the Louvre, spent a good number of hours following our handheld tour guides around, they're fantastic little gismos. We saw the three masterpieces, funnily enough I can't even remember the names of two of them, I never knew them before and they don't stick with me now. Both were rather good statues of woman. Then there was the Mona Lisa, I simply don't know why its the most famous of all the paintings. Its a good thing though, to have such famous items, it gets you to go and you see many incredible works of art which all help to make these famous ones look mediocre. My favourite thing about the Louvre is the Louvre itself. The meticulous furnishings carried out by these stupendously wealthy men way back when. You've never seen so much extravagence or craftsmanship.
Unfortunately we did get a rather large dose of jet-lag. It affected me a little worse because I slept so much on the plane i think, Alyson would have done better were it not for here ongoing cold which has woken us all up to coughing fits during the night. Usually I was already awake though as the max amount of sleep I could pull off was 4 hours; I know you seem to live with that somehow mum but that's not so normal. It gave me ample to time to read my book sitting in the bathroom usually so as not to disturb or using my headtorch sometimes. Unfortunately on completion of the book I discovered I wish i'd never read it, its the first completely disturbing, depressing book I've ever read. It's like watching a horror movie, except you can't really cover your eyes as well as I thought it was going to be more a psychological investigation as opposed to a nasty tale with terrible insights. Least I can start on something else now. The book was 'We Need to Talk About Kevin', don't really recommend it. I'm overreacting to it but i thought it was going to have a very different ending.
Friday was our first and thus far only sunny and good visibility day. We captured on this and headed up the 'Tour Eiffel'! It's a fantastic structure, really holds up to its expectations which is quite an effort. We took the stairs up the first two floors though from their it was decided an elavator to the top was Alyson's only option, must admit i didn't mind too much as I was in a tired wave from the lack of sleep and we'd walked some distance to get there. The view from the top is nice, obviously your there so you have to go all the way up, but its not really any better than the 2nd level, from there your already high enough to see everything and your closer to it.
Yesterday we also made it to the Arc de Triomphe. It's pretty great as well, the street that we walked up to it from had all the exclusive label shops as well as some car dealerships. In the Renault and Peugeot dealerships it was very interesting because the majority of the cars they're displaying are concept cars. I liked this concept. Most of them were hideous interpretations of unfortunate future cars, though some did ok. Also they had a couple of X-Box 360's in the Renault store because one of their cars is on the new Need For Speed game, Alyson was determined not to let me on but I broke her strong line of defence.
On the walk back home that night we saw a magnificant (just realised thats a word with a bit of the extra oomph that beautiful has) sunset which was made more majestic with the Eiffel Tower in the foreground. It glows blue at night at the moment, however I got to see it for a few seconds when it lights up in sparkling lights which really looks stunning. Apparently when Alyson visited 5 years ago it was always lit like that at night. There is a hotel down near Notre Dame that is lit up like so and the effect is awesome.
Today,
We ventured off to Versaille to see the Palace. It is where 5 generations of French Kings and Queens spent their time spending their peasants money. Its simply incredible. So much history layed out so beautifully. They really had far more style back then. The worst thing about it was throughout a number of the rooms they displayed the artwork of Jeff Koons I think his name was. He is my most hated artist. His work is ridiculous, and displayed at this beautiful historic Palace it only achieves making the French in charge look like they have the worst taste of all people in the world, period. Perhaps they should let the Monarch rule again, just to bring some more class back. It is such a contradictory portrayal of history, to go through these incredible, insanely incredible structures and learn of these Kings and Queens. You hear about how it was basically all started by King Louis the 14th XIV and he sounds like a really good guy. As you move further through the Palace, head out to Queen Mary Antoinette's estate which is very lavish, her main building is actually slightly modest, bigger mansions these days aren't uncommon, but then you wonder her grounds and find the monuments, the gardens, the petting zoos it would seem and finally the Armenian village that were all built for her when you discover just how insanely prepostrous it all was. They spent every penny of the publics money. That's why eventually they gave her husband king someone the guillotine and 9 months later she recieved the same treatment. Obviosly the French revolution was inevitable with the kind of leadership they were showing, but what they left behind was perhaps the most beautiful craftsmanship around in all the planet. Certainly up there to rival the greatest.
Thats why their seems to be the mixed feelings even among the French people towards these cruel and selfish royals, they made such exquisite buildings that will remain as perhaps the most beautiful memorials ever to what must have been an excruciating few centuries to live in.
Now tommorow I've found for myself one of the best christmas presents possible, it's from Alyson though so its alright. Its a sightseeing tour of Paris in a Ferrari 360 Spider, apparently driven by a racing professional which I can only hope means hard and through tunnels.
Unfortunately they haven't replied to the email so I'm going to have to try and call them to organise it. Alysons sleeping so I've happily taken to organising it. Hopefully it will happen.
On wednesday we ventured inside the Louvre, spent a good number of hours following our handheld tour guides around, they're fantastic little gismos. We saw the three masterpieces, funnily enough I can't even remember the names of two of them, I never knew them before and they don't stick with me now. Both were rather good statues of woman. Then there was the Mona Lisa, I simply don't know why its the most famous of all the paintings. Its a good thing though, to have such famous items, it gets you to go and you see many incredible works of art which all help to make these famous ones look mediocre. My favourite thing about the Louvre is the Louvre itself. The meticulous furnishings carried out by these stupendously wealthy men way back when. You've never seen so much extravagence or craftsmanship.
Unfortunately we did get a rather large dose of jet-lag. It affected me a little worse because I slept so much on the plane i think, Alyson would have done better were it not for here ongoing cold which has woken us all up to coughing fits during the night. Usually I was already awake though as the max amount of sleep I could pull off was 4 hours; I know you seem to live with that somehow mum but that's not so normal. It gave me ample to time to read my book sitting in the bathroom usually so as not to disturb or using my headtorch sometimes. Unfortunately on completion of the book I discovered I wish i'd never read it, its the first completely disturbing, depressing book I've ever read. It's like watching a horror movie, except you can't really cover your eyes as well as I thought it was going to be more a psychological investigation as opposed to a nasty tale with terrible insights. Least I can start on something else now. The book was 'We Need to Talk About Kevin', don't really recommend it. I'm overreacting to it but i thought it was going to have a very different ending.
Friday was our first and thus far only sunny and good visibility day. We captured on this and headed up the 'Tour Eiffel'! It's a fantastic structure, really holds up to its expectations which is quite an effort. We took the stairs up the first two floors though from their it was decided an elavator to the top was Alyson's only option, must admit i didn't mind too much as I was in a tired wave from the lack of sleep and we'd walked some distance to get there. The view from the top is nice, obviously your there so you have to go all the way up, but its not really any better than the 2nd level, from there your already high enough to see everything and your closer to it.
Yesterday we also made it to the Arc de Triomphe. It's pretty great as well, the street that we walked up to it from had all the exclusive label shops as well as some car dealerships. In the Renault and Peugeot dealerships it was very interesting because the majority of the cars they're displaying are concept cars. I liked this concept. Most of them were hideous interpretations of unfortunate future cars, though some did ok. Also they had a couple of X-Box 360's in the Renault store because one of their cars is on the new Need For Speed game, Alyson was determined not to let me on but I broke her strong line of defence.
On the walk back home that night we saw a magnificant (just realised thats a word with a bit of the extra oomph that beautiful has) sunset which was made more majestic with the Eiffel Tower in the foreground. It glows blue at night at the moment, however I got to see it for a few seconds when it lights up in sparkling lights which really looks stunning. Apparently when Alyson visited 5 years ago it was always lit like that at night. There is a hotel down near Notre Dame that is lit up like so and the effect is awesome.
Today,
We ventured off to Versaille to see the Palace. It is where 5 generations of French Kings and Queens spent their time spending their peasants money. Its simply incredible. So much history layed out so beautifully. They really had far more style back then. The worst thing about it was throughout a number of the rooms they displayed the artwork of Jeff Koons I think his name was. He is my most hated artist. His work is ridiculous, and displayed at this beautiful historic Palace it only achieves making the French in charge look like they have the worst taste of all people in the world, period. Perhaps they should let the Monarch rule again, just to bring some more class back. It is such a contradictory portrayal of history, to go through these incredible, insanely incredible structures and learn of these Kings and Queens. You hear about how it was basically all started by King Louis the 14th XIV and he sounds like a really good guy. As you move further through the Palace, head out to Queen Mary Antoinette's estate which is very lavish, her main building is actually slightly modest, bigger mansions these days aren't uncommon, but then you wonder her grounds and find the monuments, the gardens, the petting zoos it would seem and finally the Armenian village that were all built for her when you discover just how insanely prepostrous it all was. They spent every penny of the publics money. That's why eventually they gave her husband king someone the guillotine and 9 months later she recieved the same treatment. Obviosly the French revolution was inevitable with the kind of leadership they were showing, but what they left behind was perhaps the most beautiful craftsmanship around in all the planet. Certainly up there to rival the greatest.
Thats why their seems to be the mixed feelings even among the French people towards these cruel and selfish royals, they made such exquisite buildings that will remain as perhaps the most beautiful memorials ever to what must have been an excruciating few centuries to live in.
Now tommorow I've found for myself one of the best christmas presents possible, it's from Alyson though so its alright. Its a sightseeing tour of Paris in a Ferrari 360 Spider, apparently driven by a racing professional which I can only hope means hard and through tunnels.
Unfortunately they haven't replied to the email so I'm going to have to try and call them to organise it. Alysons sleeping so I've happily taken to organising it. Hopefully it will happen.
Monday, December 15, 2008
Getting to Paris + best day ever
Well we are in our very petite hostel in Paris now. Made it without to much difficulty. Our flight, I think it was 10 hours the first one, then a couple of hours stop in Zurich and a quick one over to Paris. It all went rather incredibly smoothly, yet i can't quite grasp what has happened with time. What happened in theory or on paper is all relatively simple but when I fall asleep intermitadly, outside its going between day and night, getting served breakfast heading into the evening, it all got really confusing. It's just not easy to follow when your up there breaking all the rules of time lines. From what I gather we are about 5 or 6 hrs ahead of where we were in LA making that13 hrs of travel turn into 20 odd, and by the time we got to our hostel after the most crowded train ride i've ever been on it was more than 24 hrs of travel. Somehow I feel the exhaustion as if I had lived through the whole time even though I had pleasant sleep and was fed regularly, my body felt very tired and hungry, it was just confused. Enough talk about the jet lag, or potential jet-lag i'm not sure yet, its too difficult.
Zurich seemed beautiful from what we saw of it. It was quite foggy so that you couldn't see anything much until your on the runway, though up in the clouds there were mountains poking through to join the space usually occupied only by the aircraft, always beautiful. As well we saw a special sunset on the Zurich to Paris leg, one of the beautiful ones that you just don't get at ground level.
We have eaten a little, nothing healthy funnily enough but it still felt better than the US food. Looking forward to exploring the bakeries tommorow, or the Boulangie I think they're called here, my French is ashamedly poor after two years of studying it. It's always depressing once you meet Europeans usually who are so very multi-lingual and you feel incredibly stupid. One of the air Hosts was fluent in 6 languages and he was learning his 7th. Incredible.
Now i must get back to Sunday in LA.
I think I had mentioned that i was going to search for a Bugatti Veyron because LA is the place to find such a beast. I had my research ready, looked at the maps and figured that i could make it their by foot, just might take a while. Well it ended up taking quite a long while, not made any easier by my socks giving me blisters and Alyson came along with me too... I know it couldn't be fun, or at least as fun for her, so she did well not to winge for the majority of the time however when she did let loose it was a biggen.
All worth it though, all so incredibly worth it. Not only was there a Bugatti Veyron, there were actually 2 of them!!!!! Each worth 2million Aussie dollars, each capable of reaching 407km/h a speed which still felt fast enough when we were doing it on our plane, and if we had good enough roads I say we shoud all convert to Veyrons for transport. But these cars were beautiful, very very special piece of engineering and craftmanship. This was not the end, this dealership was a joint venture, it was home to Aston Martin, Rolls Royce, Lamborghini, Bentley, there were a couple of Ferraris, a Maybach 57S and another of those most brilliant Mercedes-McLaren SLR.
Now this was definately a party, these cars all so special, and a lot of them were just parked outside gathering dust, literally, it was incredible. So this was a special day then obviously...
Well eventually I plucked up the courage and asked the receptionist, they'd been very nice and it was empty because it was a Sunday (and they know not to assume that even a young couple like Aly and I might not have a fortune of some kind or another, in fact all the salesman at Porsche in particular made sure to let us know they were there if we needed anything, its just that rich an area.) I asked if i could open the Lamborghini please. She said it was fine and all the cars should be open other than the Bugatti's!!!!! Well this did it. I went up to Murcielago roadster, popped its little door handle thingy and then, well tried to press the button which i'd assumed would open the door? It's not so easy, then Alyson joined in trying on the other door. Pulling and pressing away trying to figure out this marvellous contraption, not feeling bad in anyway because they couldn't see us and i was excited as all hell to be touching it. Then pop, Alysons door swung up allowing access to the passenger seat. Must say this hurt a little, I'd kinda hoped, assumed/expected I'd get it. But my excitement had made my head a little fuzzy i think. She had to show me how, but then, I closed the door. And then I opened for the first time ever the door to a Lamborghini Murcielago Roadster!!! HEaven. We went crazy and sat inside and I felt the seats hugging me, just like they had in my dreams haha, that sounds really obssessed, but i actually remember driving one in a dream and it was pretty much just like that, holds you very tight for those high speed turns, and everyone knew i was obsessed so i guess its ok.
We went on from there to try the Gallardo, a score, then sat in an Aston DB9, pretended to be royals in the back of the Maybach with our kms of leg room and endless gadgets. Piloted a Bentley Azure, they have a very special interior they do, then a Ferrari 612 Scaglietti; this is unfortunately my least favourite Ferrari but it has an awesome interior and i could pretend it was any with the horse staring at me from the steering wheel. Unfortunately the Merc SLR and the Vanquish S were locked but it was so damn awesome to have free reign around those cars. It was seriously enjoyable, I mean at motor shows they usually only have a small portion of these cars, and they don't let you anywhere near them. Or at the dealerships in Aus they would keep them locked constantly, with good reason of course, they have to sell those things for serious money, thats what made that day such a blissful heavenly day. I think i've said enough, but very good times.
Also can't believe how small the hostel is here, the rooms are so minituare. It's in a pretty good location though, and was the best deal we could get, but we are very lucky in Aus to live so spread out in big houses, it is so much more comfortable. And they can't drive all that big cars.
Zurich seemed beautiful from what we saw of it. It was quite foggy so that you couldn't see anything much until your on the runway, though up in the clouds there were mountains poking through to join the space usually occupied only by the aircraft, always beautiful. As well we saw a special sunset on the Zurich to Paris leg, one of the beautiful ones that you just don't get at ground level.
We have eaten a little, nothing healthy funnily enough but it still felt better than the US food. Looking forward to exploring the bakeries tommorow, or the Boulangie I think they're called here, my French is ashamedly poor after two years of studying it. It's always depressing once you meet Europeans usually who are so very multi-lingual and you feel incredibly stupid. One of the air Hosts was fluent in 6 languages and he was learning his 7th. Incredible.
Now i must get back to Sunday in LA.
I think I had mentioned that i was going to search for a Bugatti Veyron because LA is the place to find such a beast. I had my research ready, looked at the maps and figured that i could make it their by foot, just might take a while. Well it ended up taking quite a long while, not made any easier by my socks giving me blisters and Alyson came along with me too... I know it couldn't be fun, or at least as fun for her, so she did well not to winge for the majority of the time however when she did let loose it was a biggen.
All worth it though, all so incredibly worth it. Not only was there a Bugatti Veyron, there were actually 2 of them!!!!! Each worth 2million Aussie dollars, each capable of reaching 407km/h a speed which still felt fast enough when we were doing it on our plane, and if we had good enough roads I say we shoud all convert to Veyrons for transport. But these cars were beautiful, very very special piece of engineering and craftmanship. This was not the end, this dealership was a joint venture, it was home to Aston Martin, Rolls Royce, Lamborghini, Bentley, there were a couple of Ferraris, a Maybach 57S and another of those most brilliant Mercedes-McLaren SLR.
Now this was definately a party, these cars all so special, and a lot of them were just parked outside gathering dust, literally, it was incredible. So this was a special day then obviously...
Well eventually I plucked up the courage and asked the receptionist, they'd been very nice and it was empty because it was a Sunday (and they know not to assume that even a young couple like Aly and I might not have a fortune of some kind or another, in fact all the salesman at Porsche in particular made sure to let us know they were there if we needed anything, its just that rich an area.) I asked if i could open the Lamborghini please. She said it was fine and all the cars should be open other than the Bugatti's!!!!! Well this did it. I went up to Murcielago roadster, popped its little door handle thingy and then, well tried to press the button which i'd assumed would open the door? It's not so easy, then Alyson joined in trying on the other door. Pulling and pressing away trying to figure out this marvellous contraption, not feeling bad in anyway because they couldn't see us and i was excited as all hell to be touching it. Then pop, Alysons door swung up allowing access to the passenger seat. Must say this hurt a little, I'd kinda hoped, assumed/expected I'd get it. But my excitement had made my head a little fuzzy i think. She had to show me how, but then, I closed the door. And then I opened for the first time ever the door to a Lamborghini Murcielago Roadster!!! HEaven. We went crazy and sat inside and I felt the seats hugging me, just like they had in my dreams haha, that sounds really obssessed, but i actually remember driving one in a dream and it was pretty much just like that, holds you very tight for those high speed turns, and everyone knew i was obsessed so i guess its ok.
We went on from there to try the Gallardo, a score, then sat in an Aston DB9, pretended to be royals in the back of the Maybach with our kms of leg room and endless gadgets. Piloted a Bentley Azure, they have a very special interior they do, then a Ferrari 612 Scaglietti; this is unfortunately my least favourite Ferrari but it has an awesome interior and i could pretend it was any with the horse staring at me from the steering wheel. Unfortunately the Merc SLR and the Vanquish S were locked but it was so damn awesome to have free reign around those cars. It was seriously enjoyable, I mean at motor shows they usually only have a small portion of these cars, and they don't let you anywhere near them. Or at the dealerships in Aus they would keep them locked constantly, with good reason of course, they have to sell those things for serious money, thats what made that day such a blissful heavenly day. I think i've said enough, but very good times.
Also can't believe how small the hostel is here, the rooms are so minituare. It's in a pretty good location though, and was the best deal we could get, but we are very lucky in Aus to live so spread out in big houses, it is so much more comfortable. And they can't drive all that big cars.
Saturday, December 13, 2008
STARS, CARS AND NBA... + more cars.
Well well. We have now ventured to some of the far more razzle dazzle areas in LA. We've basically been carrying out all my dreams really. Cars and NBA, it has been quite delightful. First day we were here we just wondered around Hollywood Boulevard and it is one of the most dissapointing places you could ever find. Not that i had any expectations on what it would be like but it's just nothing spectacular at all. It's got a rather large amount of homeless people and everything seems on the derolict side. I think all the movie characters that stand on the street are actually homeless people that they've dressed up. It's a good idea really, except when you walk around the corner and catch Cat woman and Jonny Depp from pirates of the Caribean shooting up, haha, no its not that bad but they do enjoy a smoke and seem to have a habit of begging when i think they'r paid to do it? It's very funny at night when some of the characters wonder the streets on their way home at night. We found Big Bird all alone just wondering home, very funny sight. I think it would be amazing to see how much the area would transform when the Oscars and such events are on.
On Thursday we caught a bus along Santa Monica Boulevard out towards the Ocean. The beach was very pleasant and the weather was beautiful, a very nice change after spending so much time in rainy/snowy conditions. It's very similar to Brisbane weather it would seem, considering it's winter here at the moment it can still be t-shirt and shorts weather during the day but at night gets a little brisk. I'm not sure what the water temperature was like but the beaches were rather empty. It was incredibly flat swell, but their are surfing beaches around here; as demonstrated in BayWatch and the O.C. Also in those shows are the little life guard huts scattered around the beach, it was pretty cool to see them when they've been used in a number of infamous shows. Along the beach they have public playground equipment of sorts, they have a few swings and such but then alot of the equipment is gym based. They have high vertical ropes and rings and parallel bars, saw some guy who was pretty amazing using some but the most amazing thing was a little girl who could have been no more than 3 or 4 years old doing the ring swing things, looked awesome.
Yesterday night I went to my first NBA game ever!!!! We just turned up to the Staples Centre and managed to score the cheapest tickets possible, they were only $10 US each. On the map it looked like it would be incredibly bad, we were rather far away, like the 7 foot giants looked a little bit like ants. No it was actually really quite good, the view was fine, nothing obstructing it at all because the stadiums are built so well and higher rather than further back so your looking down on the game with a pretty good view. We're glad that we didn't buy tickets off a scalper who was selling us tickets in the next section over, like just beside us for $40, very fortunate. One of the cool things about sitting up high is that whenever anything happened you had a view of the crowd as well, so when something massive happened you would see the whole stadium erupt which was fantastic. The game was LA Lakers Vs. Sacramento Kings. Kobe Bryant was rather awesome along with Pau Gasol, and i think it was John Salmon from the Kings also had a very good game. A couple of times Kobe did some incredible dunks that raised the roof. One time he broke his man down with a killer cross just beyond the arc then drove down hard took off from two feet and slammed down a hard two hand jam on a couple more of the Kings players. It was so incredible too watch, beautiful, absolutely incredible player. Crowd went nuts for a good long while myself included on that one. We enjoyed the spectacle of the, don't mean to generalise too much, but the rather stupid incredibly unhealthy American public. To give some examples, well during the game there is non-stop action, like advertisement quirks from endless fast food chains. They all have a very well organised little routine that lasts about 2 mins, like a txting competition between the upper and lower levels for free coupons or various challenges. One of the main ones was Carl Jnr's was going to give the whole crowd two free taco's if the Lakers held the Kings to under 100 points, nearing the end of the game the crowd was yelling taco's or something spurred on by the screen. When a kings player hit a 3 in the last minute to take them to 101 points the crowd/America was devastated.
This takes me back to how incredibly difficult it is to find good food over here, much more surprising is that even in the supermarkets you ahve to search hard for the fruit and veges, it's just incredible. We have however found a good little chinese place nearby that Alyson has been devouring the Wonton Soups, they are a good big portion as well, surprise surprise. I've been enjoying the 99c burgers at Wendy's which are surprisingly tasty and filling. Can't complain that we don't have more of it back home though, each one i consume feels deadly, deadly good.
Now lets get to the cars, this could take a long while. The kind of craziness it is can be illustrated in that when we were heading out the stadium from the game I noticed a Rolls Royce Phantom, a second later I saw a Maybach, these are both 1million dollar cars. Crazy business, I watched the cars go from that exit and saw an Aston DB9, countless Maserati Quattroportes and much more.
Today was the glory day however, I got incredibly excited initially because i spotted my first ever stationary Mercedes-McLaren SLR, that one that i saw back in Montreal, only to find out that it was even better than first thought. It was the 722 a slightly later release which i think stood for 722 bhp. As well as this it was the convertible model. Absolutely breathtaking beauty, lovely car. Managed to come across the beverly hills Merc dealership and there was another one their as well!! Along with 4!!!!! Maybachs. Bonkers, this is bonkers people. During the day I spotted another SLR on the road and yesterday I'd seen one also. The receptionist helped me track down the Ferrari/Maserati dealership which i went to with gusto, I was dissapointed that they didn't have an Enzo or an MC12 but rather surprised and delighted to find the Alfa Romeo 8C Competizione. It's a beautiful Alfa supercar that we will never see in Australia as it's only coming in left hand drive and all the orders have already been taken for them. It was awesome because they must have been having an introduction day for the Maserati Gran Turismo because a number of them kept going past us with the dealerships plates on them, the salesman squeezing the throttle a little more than most owners seem too; bliss.
My favourite place so far in LA is Rodeo Drive, the rich haven with all the Lui Vuitton and other expensive brands i can't spell all that well. Constantly you see Bentleys, Astons which i've now seen the DBS (James Bonds ride) many times and it looks incredible everytime, Maserati's, and even Rolls-Royce. Mercedes and BMWs a plenty as well of course. One of the craziest cars was the Rolls Phantom Drophead which is the convertible, saw one of those parked, it was Yellow??? Then whilst taking a photo of it a Ford GT came alongside so i got that as well:)
It's been very happy times for me, very happy indeed. Somehow though I'd been expecting slightly more, don't get me wrong i'm incredibly satisfied, but tommorow I am going to go search the dealerships for a Bugatti Veyron. That should be exciting times. My expectations were high because i've seen videos on youtube of the car shows that happen around here, they would be so incredible. The amount of good cars is just insane, and to see them all brought together would just be heaven. I should have planned better but I am still a very happy camper with how things are going.
Tommorow evening we are off to Paris so i have to go and look at some more details for that.
Toodooloo.
On Thursday we caught a bus along Santa Monica Boulevard out towards the Ocean. The beach was very pleasant and the weather was beautiful, a very nice change after spending so much time in rainy/snowy conditions. It's very similar to Brisbane weather it would seem, considering it's winter here at the moment it can still be t-shirt and shorts weather during the day but at night gets a little brisk. I'm not sure what the water temperature was like but the beaches were rather empty. It was incredibly flat swell, but their are surfing beaches around here; as demonstrated in BayWatch and the O.C. Also in those shows are the little life guard huts scattered around the beach, it was pretty cool to see them when they've been used in a number of infamous shows. Along the beach they have public playground equipment of sorts, they have a few swings and such but then alot of the equipment is gym based. They have high vertical ropes and rings and parallel bars, saw some guy who was pretty amazing using some but the most amazing thing was a little girl who could have been no more than 3 or 4 years old doing the ring swing things, looked awesome.
Yesterday night I went to my first NBA game ever!!!! We just turned up to the Staples Centre and managed to score the cheapest tickets possible, they were only $10 US each. On the map it looked like it would be incredibly bad, we were rather far away, like the 7 foot giants looked a little bit like ants. No it was actually really quite good, the view was fine, nothing obstructing it at all because the stadiums are built so well and higher rather than further back so your looking down on the game with a pretty good view. We're glad that we didn't buy tickets off a scalper who was selling us tickets in the next section over, like just beside us for $40, very fortunate. One of the cool things about sitting up high is that whenever anything happened you had a view of the crowd as well, so when something massive happened you would see the whole stadium erupt which was fantastic. The game was LA Lakers Vs. Sacramento Kings. Kobe Bryant was rather awesome along with Pau Gasol, and i think it was John Salmon from the Kings also had a very good game. A couple of times Kobe did some incredible dunks that raised the roof. One time he broke his man down with a killer cross just beyond the arc then drove down hard took off from two feet and slammed down a hard two hand jam on a couple more of the Kings players. It was so incredible too watch, beautiful, absolutely incredible player. Crowd went nuts for a good long while myself included on that one. We enjoyed the spectacle of the, don't mean to generalise too much, but the rather stupid incredibly unhealthy American public. To give some examples, well during the game there is non-stop action, like advertisement quirks from endless fast food chains. They all have a very well organised little routine that lasts about 2 mins, like a txting competition between the upper and lower levels for free coupons or various challenges. One of the main ones was Carl Jnr's was going to give the whole crowd two free taco's if the Lakers held the Kings to under 100 points, nearing the end of the game the crowd was yelling taco's or something spurred on by the screen. When a kings player hit a 3 in the last minute to take them to 101 points the crowd/America was devastated.
This takes me back to how incredibly difficult it is to find good food over here, much more surprising is that even in the supermarkets you ahve to search hard for the fruit and veges, it's just incredible. We have however found a good little chinese place nearby that Alyson has been devouring the Wonton Soups, they are a good big portion as well, surprise surprise. I've been enjoying the 99c burgers at Wendy's which are surprisingly tasty and filling. Can't complain that we don't have more of it back home though, each one i consume feels deadly, deadly good.
Now lets get to the cars, this could take a long while. The kind of craziness it is can be illustrated in that when we were heading out the stadium from the game I noticed a Rolls Royce Phantom, a second later I saw a Maybach, these are both 1million dollar cars. Crazy business, I watched the cars go from that exit and saw an Aston DB9, countless Maserati Quattroportes and much more.
Today was the glory day however, I got incredibly excited initially because i spotted my first ever stationary Mercedes-McLaren SLR, that one that i saw back in Montreal, only to find out that it was even better than first thought. It was the 722 a slightly later release which i think stood for 722 bhp. As well as this it was the convertible model. Absolutely breathtaking beauty, lovely car. Managed to come across the beverly hills Merc dealership and there was another one their as well!! Along with 4!!!!! Maybachs. Bonkers, this is bonkers people. During the day I spotted another SLR on the road and yesterday I'd seen one also. The receptionist helped me track down the Ferrari/Maserati dealership which i went to with gusto, I was dissapointed that they didn't have an Enzo or an MC12 but rather surprised and delighted to find the Alfa Romeo 8C Competizione. It's a beautiful Alfa supercar that we will never see in Australia as it's only coming in left hand drive and all the orders have already been taken for them. It was awesome because they must have been having an introduction day for the Maserati Gran Turismo because a number of them kept going past us with the dealerships plates on them, the salesman squeezing the throttle a little more than most owners seem too; bliss.
My favourite place so far in LA is Rodeo Drive, the rich haven with all the Lui Vuitton and other expensive brands i can't spell all that well. Constantly you see Bentleys, Astons which i've now seen the DBS (James Bonds ride) many times and it looks incredible everytime, Maserati's, and even Rolls-Royce. Mercedes and BMWs a plenty as well of course. One of the craziest cars was the Rolls Phantom Drophead which is the convertible, saw one of those parked, it was Yellow??? Then whilst taking a photo of it a Ford GT came alongside so i got that as well:)
It's been very happy times for me, very happy indeed. Somehow though I'd been expecting slightly more, don't get me wrong i'm incredibly satisfied, but tommorow I am going to go search the dealerships for a Bugatti Veyron. That should be exciting times. My expectations were high because i've seen videos on youtube of the car shows that happen around here, they would be so incredible. The amount of good cars is just insane, and to see them all brought together would just be heaven. I should have planned better but I am still a very happy camper with how things are going.
Tommorow evening we are off to Paris so i have to go and look at some more details for that.
Toodooloo.
Wednesday, December 10, 2008
Hollywood!!
We're in the big smoke now. It is so far however not that impressive at all, not nearly as many beautiful cars as i would have hoped and none of the celebrities that Alyson had stalking intentions for. Not to judge to quickly though, we have only been here for one brief afternoon and the weather has been simply divine. It's blissful to wear a tea shirt again, just a tea shirt, without any extra layers on top and to feel perfectly warm. Good old sun gets through down here. Feels very similar to Brisbane in a lot of ways, and somehow so far it seems more similar to the 'worse' areas within Brisbane. It's a massive expanse of a city, but we are staying just off Hollywood Boulevard and have strolled along Sunset Boulevard during Sunset feeling just a little underwhelmed. Again though i say we have a whole lot more exploring today.
Skiing, oh my love. Won't get to ski for at least another six months now which is more than depressing, it was getting so thoroughly enjoyable again towards the end. Even though i was usually on my own still i was getting better air and hurting myself less when i would retardly try the rails. Great sport that one. Unfortunately I only have 10 seconds left. Will do more tommoorw.
Skiing, oh my love. Won't get to ski for at least another six months now which is more than depressing, it was getting so thoroughly enjoyable again towards the end. Even though i was usually on my own still i was getting better air and hurting myself less when i would retardly try the rails. Great sport that one. Unfortunately I only have 10 seconds left. Will do more tommoorw.
Wednesday, December 3, 2008
Skiing cont.
Well firstly i must include how our night went last night. It was a good night, all out and feeling good. Must just mention the main point though was that i got kicked out of a club for the first time ever. Stupidly they decided to play a Metallica song so we got a little excited on the dance floor and small mosh circles started up. They kept breaking it up and telling us to stop. I could see the bouncers getting more and more agitated so i wasn't going to go back in but some guy puts his arm around my shoulder and starts jumping with me. About 2 seconds later a bouncer grabs me and drags me away. I'm kinda startled but the only thing i really cared about was that my beanie was knocked off and when i kept trying to pick it up the bouncer wouldn't assist and continued to drag me away. I was still within a metre trying to tell him to let me get it but he told me i would have to come back the next day?? It was still within a metre away? Anyway it was just this that mainly pissed me off with the whole thing, and the fact that i don't look aggressive or act it yet he grabbed me, most likely because i looked the easiest to grab. Outside their was a big bouncer but he was pretty nice and eventually when he had the opportunity he went inside and managed to find the beanie for me and kindly suggested i wash it before wearing it, nice guy. It was an interesting time but i didn't really care about not being in the club because it was overrun with males about 10:1, unfortunately the girls didn't know where i'd gone and waited around for me for a long time.
Skiing!!!.
Well yesterday i had a great day because Alyson finally came up with me. And as i knew would happen we bumped into Grant and Kyle two of the guys that work at the hotel. So I had three people to ride with! It was a fun day but today again Alyson couldn't manage to get herself up because she's getting a bit ill it seems and she had work till late last night. Hopefully she fights it away, i think Alex is getting something too. I still had a really fun day though today because i'm at a stage where i'm pushing myself hard again and i have a good run set up with lots of small jumps off the side and things. I even did my first little 180's which i look forward to exploring much more extensively. I can do them quickly off the small jumps now. I've been practising going backwards/switch and it's becoming more comfortable with a bit of speed which is exciting. Still getting some bruises whenever i try the thinner box/rails. Wish I had more time here. Because unfortunately at the moment the snow isn't good enough or plentiful enough to have any proper jumps. There are still a lot of places you can get some enjoyable air. My it's been jolly. Also I've been flying down the one run which is the steepest part of the mountain thats open at the moment. It's good because their is often noone else or very few people on that particular part. Seen a few movies lately as well now. With Alex I have seen Bolt; a childrens movie which we both kept falling in and out of sleep in, was good. Four Christmases with Vince Vaughn and Reece Witherspoon, quite a funny. Then the most memorable was Twilight. It's based on a novel that was really big in Canada. It's about Vampires and one particular one named Edward that falls in love with a mortal which calls for a challenging relationship because he has to resist eating her amongst other things. Anyhow the funniest thing is that it's been out for a few weeks and whilst working i've seen the swarms of giggling teenage girls that line up sometimes for 2 hrs before it started and take photos with the cardboard cut-out of Edward. I even had to take some photos, it was crazy, the little girls love him. Far more ridiculously then these thirteen to sixteen year olds was Alyson Rachel and Alex performances after the movie. They talked about this guy for about an hour. It was very sad. They even talked about walking through the woods and having Edward come save them. I think they thought it would happen as well, I know at least one of them did because when Rachel had to go meet some friends she decided to walk instead of wait for the bus or catch a cab. It's only a 15 min walk but it was night and their are proper scary animals in these woods. She ended up calling us because she was scared as she went through and I think a little dissapointed that Edward never turned up.
Must mention now that Rachel had also seen a couple of Wolves on the edge of the village just a few nights before. We haven't really spotted much more wildlife other than that for a while now.
Skiing!!!.
Well yesterday i had a great day because Alyson finally came up with me. And as i knew would happen we bumped into Grant and Kyle two of the guys that work at the hotel. So I had three people to ride with! It was a fun day but today again Alyson couldn't manage to get herself up because she's getting a bit ill it seems and she had work till late last night. Hopefully she fights it away, i think Alex is getting something too. I still had a really fun day though today because i'm at a stage where i'm pushing myself hard again and i have a good run set up with lots of small jumps off the side and things. I even did my first little 180's which i look forward to exploring much more extensively. I can do them quickly off the small jumps now. I've been practising going backwards/switch and it's becoming more comfortable with a bit of speed which is exciting. Still getting some bruises whenever i try the thinner box/rails. Wish I had more time here. Because unfortunately at the moment the snow isn't good enough or plentiful enough to have any proper jumps. There are still a lot of places you can get some enjoyable air. My it's been jolly. Also I've been flying down the one run which is the steepest part of the mountain thats open at the moment. It's good because their is often noone else or very few people on that particular part. Seen a few movies lately as well now. With Alex I have seen Bolt; a childrens movie which we both kept falling in and out of sleep in, was good. Four Christmases with Vince Vaughn and Reece Witherspoon, quite a funny. Then the most memorable was Twilight. It's based on a novel that was really big in Canada. It's about Vampires and one particular one named Edward that falls in love with a mortal which calls for a challenging relationship because he has to resist eating her amongst other things. Anyhow the funniest thing is that it's been out for a few weeks and whilst working i've seen the swarms of giggling teenage girls that line up sometimes for 2 hrs before it started and take photos with the cardboard cut-out of Edward. I even had to take some photos, it was crazy, the little girls love him. Far more ridiculously then these thirteen to sixteen year olds was Alyson Rachel and Alex performances after the movie. They talked about this guy for about an hour. It was very sad. They even talked about walking through the woods and having Edward come save them. I think they thought it would happen as well, I know at least one of them did because when Rachel had to go meet some friends she decided to walk instead of wait for the bus or catch a cab. It's only a 15 min walk but it was night and their are proper scary animals in these woods. She ended up calling us because she was scared as she went through and I think a little dissapointed that Edward never turned up.
Must mention now that Rachel had also seen a couple of Wolves on the edge of the village just a few nights before. We haven't really spotted much more wildlife other than that for a while now.
Friday, November 28, 2008
Skiing!!!!
Well I've been skiing all day for the past three days now. Unfortunately right this instant It's easier to feel the pain from my toe that has been squished incredibly hard, i couldn't tell whether it was being squashed or if it was just the numbness. They're bruising up now so i take it they're squashed. Gonna go get the boots checked out after this because i gotta be out there all day tommorow again, tough. It's been rather awesome. Such very thoroughly enjoyable times getting used to the whole business again. Little sad because i'd kinda hoped to jump back on and be at exactly the point where i left off, but just taking a short while to get used to the different conditions and new skiis and such. Still my air is progressively increasing, very exciting.
However what i really look forward to is having someone to ride with. Aly has all her stuff together now which is good so hopefully she'll come with me very soon. It's been interesting to be on my own all the time, there are some perks, I listen to music and i take the singles line at the lifts. Take breaks when i want or as rarely as i like. A lot of freedom but i look forward to company. Alex is in town, can't remember whether I'd said that in the last one. But Alex Bourne from school is with us now which is very nice. The girls had a late one last night but i wasn't up for it because i'm tiring myself out pretty well at the moment. They didn't return home till 4 though and tell me things were good.
Fortuntely it seems we're able to keep our 4 star hotel room for the last 8 days or so in december, really very lucky with that. It's awesome because when i get back from skiing all day i take a spa and then a sauna and it's brilliant. Really brings the best out of the place.
Hopefully more snow will fall still because they haven't actually opened the whole mountain. It was snowing all day today, not that heavily however. It's quite frustrating because you have to take the Gondala back down the mountain. Still the runs that they have open are really very long considering it's nowhere near as big as they could be when the whole mountain is open. Hopefully everything will be able to open before we leave.
However what i really look forward to is having someone to ride with. Aly has all her stuff together now which is good so hopefully she'll come with me very soon. It's been interesting to be on my own all the time, there are some perks, I listen to music and i take the singles line at the lifts. Take breaks when i want or as rarely as i like. A lot of freedom but i look forward to company. Alex is in town, can't remember whether I'd said that in the last one. But Alex Bourne from school is with us now which is very nice. The girls had a late one last night but i wasn't up for it because i'm tiring myself out pretty well at the moment. They didn't return home till 4 though and tell me things were good.
Fortuntely it seems we're able to keep our 4 star hotel room for the last 8 days or so in december, really very lucky with that. It's awesome because when i get back from skiing all day i take a spa and then a sauna and it's brilliant. Really brings the best out of the place.
Hopefully more snow will fall still because they haven't actually opened the whole mountain. It was snowing all day today, not that heavily however. It's quite frustrating because you have to take the Gondala back down the mountain. Still the runs that they have open are really very long considering it's nowhere near as big as they could be when the whole mountain is open. Hopefully everything will be able to open before we leave.
Tuesday, November 25, 2008
Incredibly Exciting Times.
The fields are opening tommorow!!!!! I'm so damn excited and ready. Cannot wait, kinda wanna go to bed now. I intend on being up there from 8.30 till 3.00 when the lifts close. I think it's forecast for a sunny day also so i'll just wonder around enjoying the scenery whilst getting my legs back because i don't have anyone to go with tommorow. I've been studying a trail map and am extremely excited. Apparently it's still not that good snow and everything, but we'll see. Hopefully Alyson and Alex get their stuff organised soon and can come along with me.
Alex got here last night and we showed her a quick tour of the village when i finished work. Today we went walking to Lost Lake. Beautiful once more and this time we actually walked around the lake. Assisted by our scrumptous breakfast of pancakes with lots of Maple Syrup, fruit and yoghurt. I'd been craving the Maple before we came and hoping that it would be cheap for the good stuff over here because, well for obvious reason. Unfortunately however it is not, so have to do with the cheap stuff for now which still tastes fine. After this internet session we're going to go for another Splitz Burger, definately looking forward to that one. Aly and I have been having it quite often indeed. Have filled up our stamp card, so get one free today!!
Had a good weekend because Jas one of the girls from the cinema let me tag along on her party weekend. Finally after nights of useless depressing insomnia we were able to go out and enjoy the time we should be sleeping. On friday night we went to a house party which i thoroughly enjoyed. It had been snowing on friday and the house was in Creekside. It's quite high up and the hill and it was beautiful, snow covering all the trees and the ground was covered in about 25cm all over! I loved it because at one point everyone decided to go outside and try boarding on a snowboard that didn't have any bindings on it. It was great fun and even Aly had a go which was awesome. I'm overly impressed with myself because we decided too try about a 2 foot acid drop with about a 2 metre run up. The first guy was too drunk to stand up on it. Second guy fell when he did it. I assumed i was going to fall back and smack my head on the ledge, I think we all did. But no, I landed and gracefully stepped off. It was great times anyhow. Also we had my best snowball fight ever. Only comparing to the time in NZ when Phill and I got sick of hitting eachother from a few metres away so decided to turn upon Alyson who didn't care for any of it. Another good thing about it was whilst you play you can put your drink down and it's kept naturally very cold. Great time.
I really just cannot wait for tommorow. Can't wait. Very exciting, very much.
Alex got here last night and we showed her a quick tour of the village when i finished work. Today we went walking to Lost Lake. Beautiful once more and this time we actually walked around the lake. Assisted by our scrumptous breakfast of pancakes with lots of Maple Syrup, fruit and yoghurt. I'd been craving the Maple before we came and hoping that it would be cheap for the good stuff over here because, well for obvious reason. Unfortunately however it is not, so have to do with the cheap stuff for now which still tastes fine. After this internet session we're going to go for another Splitz Burger, definately looking forward to that one. Aly and I have been having it quite often indeed. Have filled up our stamp card, so get one free today!!
Had a good weekend because Jas one of the girls from the cinema let me tag along on her party weekend. Finally after nights of useless depressing insomnia we were able to go out and enjoy the time we should be sleeping. On friday night we went to a house party which i thoroughly enjoyed. It had been snowing on friday and the house was in Creekside. It's quite high up and the hill and it was beautiful, snow covering all the trees and the ground was covered in about 25cm all over! I loved it because at one point everyone decided to go outside and try boarding on a snowboard that didn't have any bindings on it. It was great fun and even Aly had a go which was awesome. I'm overly impressed with myself because we decided too try about a 2 foot acid drop with about a 2 metre run up. The first guy was too drunk to stand up on it. Second guy fell when he did it. I assumed i was going to fall back and smack my head on the ledge, I think we all did. But no, I landed and gracefully stepped off. It was great times anyhow. Also we had my best snowball fight ever. Only comparing to the time in NZ when Phill and I got sick of hitting eachother from a few metres away so decided to turn upon Alyson who didn't care for any of it. Another good thing about it was whilst you play you can put your drink down and it's kept naturally very cold. Great time.
I really just cannot wait for tommorow. Can't wait. Very exciting, very much.
Tuesday, November 18, 2008
Just waiting...
Ok it's getting seriously frustratingly depressing now. Really need for the snow to fall. Apparently they're still definately going to open the chair lifts on the 27th, and next week there should be snow and things so it should be alright. At the top of the mountain their will be some at least, just have to catch the lift back down probably. Unfortunately it looks like we'll only get two weeks of snow time. The mood is the same with everyone pretty much, it's just waiting for the snow, but none so much as me. Incredibly unfortunate.
Alyson got back from Vancouver yesterday so that was very good. We went for a pretty good walk to Green Lake, passing Lost Lake again on the way. They're really beautiful as i've said and i can't wait to go back and see them when everything has snow, just better happen soon. During our walk we spotted what at first looked like squirrels, however due to their shorter tails and when they started speaking to us we realised that Alysons assumption was correct, these were in fact Chipmonks!!
At work the other night when i had to do my bin run, I saw some shady figures skulking around the dark alleyways, I was abit worried because i've heard that Coyote's wonder about at night. Eventually I got a good glimpse of them and it turned out to be a rather shy family of Racoons, three of them. They're awesome little creatures, I love all the woodland animals you get around here. You hear so many stories of how people see Coyote's at night, and Bears that wonder the Village, It's crazy. One of they guys down at reception said that when he went out for a smoke he'd just closed the door when he noticed a bear about 3 metres away. It was only the size of Shiba, so an average/largeish dog but they can still easily kill you. Would have weighed about 5 times as much as Shiba and big claws and so on that make it quite a worry. He kinda snuck back in whilst whistling to it trying to let it know he wasn't going to hurt it. Apparently their personality is abit like a cats, they don't really care about you, they'll just go about what they're doing until you actually make enough noise to scare it off or make it decide to leave. I wanna see one up a bit closer, though it'd be incredibly frightening at the same time.
Took Alyson to see Quantom of Solace last night and she liked it which was good. What's better however is that i've crushed her fetish for popcorn in the only way possible, through drowning. I've brought her home so much now and last night we again had way to much that she says no more. We'll see how long that lasts. It hasn't exactly lasted all that long with me considering just about every time I work i eat so much i get sick and then remember why i never want to have it again, or at least quite so much.
The Splitz Grill is a famous burger place over here, it's really really beautiful burgers. I've had the Spicy Lentil burger before so when we went that's what Aly got and i tried the Legendary Splitz burger which is beef. It was very delightful. I'd like to try compare it to the Ferg Burgers in Queenstown but i think it'll be out of mind by the time i get back there.
Alyson got back from Vancouver yesterday so that was very good. We went for a pretty good walk to Green Lake, passing Lost Lake again on the way. They're really beautiful as i've said and i can't wait to go back and see them when everything has snow, just better happen soon. During our walk we spotted what at first looked like squirrels, however due to their shorter tails and when they started speaking to us we realised that Alysons assumption was correct, these were in fact Chipmonks!!
At work the other night when i had to do my bin run, I saw some shady figures skulking around the dark alleyways, I was abit worried because i've heard that Coyote's wonder about at night. Eventually I got a good glimpse of them and it turned out to be a rather shy family of Racoons, three of them. They're awesome little creatures, I love all the woodland animals you get around here. You hear so many stories of how people see Coyote's at night, and Bears that wonder the Village, It's crazy. One of they guys down at reception said that when he went out for a smoke he'd just closed the door when he noticed a bear about 3 metres away. It was only the size of Shiba, so an average/largeish dog but they can still easily kill you. Would have weighed about 5 times as much as Shiba and big claws and so on that make it quite a worry. He kinda snuck back in whilst whistling to it trying to let it know he wasn't going to hurt it. Apparently their personality is abit like a cats, they don't really care about you, they'll just go about what they're doing until you actually make enough noise to scare it off or make it decide to leave. I wanna see one up a bit closer, though it'd be incredibly frightening at the same time.
Took Alyson to see Quantom of Solace last night and she liked it which was good. What's better however is that i've crushed her fetish for popcorn in the only way possible, through drowning. I've brought her home so much now and last night we again had way to much that she says no more. We'll see how long that lasts. It hasn't exactly lasted all that long with me considering just about every time I work i eat so much i get sick and then remember why i never want to have it again, or at least quite so much.
The Splitz Grill is a famous burger place over here, it's really really beautiful burgers. I've had the Spicy Lentil burger before so when we went that's what Aly got and i tried the Legendary Splitz burger which is beef. It was very delightful. I'd like to try compare it to the Ferg Burgers in Queenstown but i think it'll be out of mind by the time i get back there.
Friday, November 14, 2008
Whistlers Lakes
Well in the past couple of days we've been to visit most of the surrounding lakes that are within walking distance. On wednesday it was rainy and things but Lost Lake still looked brilliant. Yesterday it was a beautiful sunny day, something rare in these parts, so we went walking for a few hours to three more lakes, Alpha, Nita and Alta Lakes. They're all spectacular, the views are astonishing because of the clearing that the Lakes create you can see some of the incredible surrounding mountains. It's really brilliant and I look forward to seeing the all again once everything is covered in a thick layer of snow! Some of the lakes are so glassy that it honestly reflects just like a mirror, got a couple of awesome photos that when you turn the camera upside down it looks just like I've taken shots of the landscape, not the reflection in the water. Can't beleive just how reflective it was.
Alyson went back down to Vancouver last night, she'll be coming back up on Saturday at some point which leaves me quite lonely. But i'm working all three days anyhow, so she would have been on her own otherwise i guess. Last night to help drown the loneliness I went and saw a couple of movies. Bottle shock is about the succes off the Napa Valley vineyards in Calafornia, it's ok. And then the very first showing of the new James Bond 007 Movie. Bit of a let down, still good, not as good as Casino Royale though. Nice Aston DBS but it's only in the movie for the first car chase scene unfortunately. And you barely see it before once again it gets pretty wrecked.
Must move on quickly.
Paintballing the other day.
Well it was just like paintball always is, but it was so cold, and rainy, which i'm really not used to. It's usually extremely hot when i've played in the past obviously in brisbane. Also the most amusing differing aspect is that we had to watch out for bears, apparently they enjoy the sweet nectar of paintball as well. It's a vegetable based paint you see.
One of the rounds that we did was just crazy, it was invincible capture the flag. Two teams start on either side and the idea is to get the flag from the middle to their opposing side. And you can get hit as much as you want. It's a ridiculousu round, crazy. I was the hero though! hahaha. i ran and took the flag to the other side in about 30 sec and recieved at least 20 hits and some from within a couple of metres because i ran round the side of one of the trucks and caught someone by surprise, they regathered themselves and got me a lot though. The most annoying thing about it was that my gun could not shoot in a straight line. I had a clear view of people sometimes and i would take 20 shots and not one would hit, they went in different directions mid air everytime, most guns were just about as bad as mine but one of they guys on the other team had the straightest shooting gun i've ever seen. It's like the disadvantage of a slow kart when go-karting; incredibly frustrating. The group of people I went with were from the cinema, Alyson was invited to come but she preffered to save the money, and i'm not sure she would have enjoyed it so much. One of our manages at the cinema looks exactly like Dan Accroyd as well as Elvis. He's a strange man, but we were told that he had nicknames for Mack and I who'd both recently started there. I was bitch because I tie my hair up and Macks was considerably worse because he thinks he's gay in how he acts gangtser cause he's all into the skiing scene. he's actually sponsored and everything so he must be pretty damn awesome. Anyhow the day was successful because apparently I'm going from bitch to hero after my run, that's exciting news, and i recieved some decent welts to go with.
Alyson went back down to Vancouver last night, she'll be coming back up on Saturday at some point which leaves me quite lonely. But i'm working all three days anyhow, so she would have been on her own otherwise i guess. Last night to help drown the loneliness I went and saw a couple of movies. Bottle shock is about the succes off the Napa Valley vineyards in Calafornia, it's ok. And then the very first showing of the new James Bond 007 Movie. Bit of a let down, still good, not as good as Casino Royale though. Nice Aston DBS but it's only in the movie for the first car chase scene unfortunately. And you barely see it before once again it gets pretty wrecked.
Must move on quickly.
Paintballing the other day.
Well it was just like paintball always is, but it was so cold, and rainy, which i'm really not used to. It's usually extremely hot when i've played in the past obviously in brisbane. Also the most amusing differing aspect is that we had to watch out for bears, apparently they enjoy the sweet nectar of paintball as well. It's a vegetable based paint you see.
One of the rounds that we did was just crazy, it was invincible capture the flag. Two teams start on either side and the idea is to get the flag from the middle to their opposing side. And you can get hit as much as you want. It's a ridiculousu round, crazy. I was the hero though! hahaha. i ran and took the flag to the other side in about 30 sec and recieved at least 20 hits and some from within a couple of metres because i ran round the side of one of the trucks and caught someone by surprise, they regathered themselves and got me a lot though. The most annoying thing about it was that my gun could not shoot in a straight line. I had a clear view of people sometimes and i would take 20 shots and not one would hit, they went in different directions mid air everytime, most guns were just about as bad as mine but one of they guys on the other team had the straightest shooting gun i've ever seen. It's like the disadvantage of a slow kart when go-karting; incredibly frustrating. The group of people I went with were from the cinema, Alyson was invited to come but she preffered to save the money, and i'm not sure she would have enjoyed it so much. One of our manages at the cinema looks exactly like Dan Accroyd as well as Elvis. He's a strange man, but we were told that he had nicknames for Mack and I who'd both recently started there. I was bitch because I tie my hair up and Macks was considerably worse because he thinks he's gay in how he acts gangtser cause he's all into the skiing scene. he's actually sponsored and everything so he must be pretty damn awesome. Anyhow the day was successful because apparently I'm going from bitch to hero after my run, that's exciting news, and i recieved some decent welts to go with.
Thursday, November 13, 2008
A Niece!!!!!
Alright well it sure has been a while and I've only got 20 mins. So I'll get through as much as i can chronologically.
First of all however, I have a niece!! Mandy had a baby girl on Saturday the 8th at 4am i believe. Also it quite funny to learn the news about 14 hours before that time where we are, crazy time zones. Pete and Mandy named her Crystal Anne Joshua. She is strong and healthy even though she came a few weeks early. From what i hear Mandy was quite seriously ill but again I think she is getting better. Crystal was also born just two days before Pete's bday on the 11th of Nov.
On thursday the 6th, a week ago it was a beautiful glorious day. When i woke up it was snowing and everything was covered in the wonderful stuff. It was so nice, like nothing i'd ever seen before. NZ wasn't like this because their was only snow at the peaks of the mountains. It was awesome but it's kinda frustrating now because it was just teasing me. It reclines quite quickly really when the snow stops and then the rain starts up. Still really can't be that long before another dump comes. And this time i've got my skis ready so i'll head straight up their and have myself a grand time. I had been looking around at all the best deals and my deal really is quite incredible, yet still expensive unfortunately. The only specification that i was really after with the skiis were twin tips because i wanna try to be going backwards and such. I'm gonna try and talk to Rachel and Bruce her dad and see if i can send it back with their stuff if it's cost effective and so on. I'm getting them back tommorow and on my first day off after that which i believe is Monday, i think i'll hike up the mountain till i find some snow. The really depressing thing about that is that once i reach the snow line i have to unstrap and walk back down as well. Still very exciting possabilities.
A very funny thing happened at the initial staff welcome meeting for the mountain job. I didn't know anyone their but fortunately I got talking to a nice guy so that was cool. While we were talking however a girl came up and sat beside me, she didn't say anything straight away, and i felt a very strange vibe so i didn't really feel like attempting conversation. At a random point during Aaron and my conversation however she plucked the courage and enlightened us with her speech. She got more strange as she went on. When it came to asking where we came from she said you'll never guess where I'm from. Then she said that she's actually had three lives, and made me try and guess. Now i was tryign to be polite here, in a way that showed i wasn't very into the conversation but polite nonetheless. Aaron was a bit more blatant but he could be because he was on the other side. So she didn't really offer me with any valuable hints about her three lives other than this is her first one as a girl??? Finally she told me that in the 1850's she'd been a Pirate. And previous to that life she was a Lion... ... .. .
Yesss. Well i thought it was quite interesting actually, not realy her but what was going on inside her head to either make herself believe that because it honestly sounded like she did. And then even more interesting of course would be if she actually did know, but that's all psychic stuff that you can't really understand, or believe when the person that is telling you this simply looks crazy and has serious sociable problems. Interesting topic for you Mum, I assume you'd pass it off as crazy talk though, certainly seemed to be that way. Apparently she's from Whistler, in this life.
Alyson and I had a lovely day off on monday. We went Ice skating at the Meadow Park sports place. It was really fun because they had an area where you can play ice hockey with plastic equipment. It was really really enjoyable. For the whole first session i was too scared to jump in there, not for myself but i thought i'd cut someone, badly. But after they cleaned the ice Aly and i rushed to the sticks and got ourself one of the few pucks. We were having a jolly old time until some kid stole the puck of Aly, let me tell you she was not happy. Hockey is one of the sports that Alyson really enjoyed and is still keen to play these days, one of the few. But this kid taking it off her was too much. She chased him for a while but he was too good so she left the area hating all children once more. It's really fun though because when your in that little thing all you do is try and steal the puck off people and have random shots at goal. I could usually compete with the kids until they were about 8 yrs old. Then they slaughtered me, Canadians are awesome at this stuff. It was really fun though, and i even got a steal off one of the guys who was about 14 once and they were really good. I got no more time left now. Have to talk about movies, lakes and of course Paintball next time.
Aly and i are gonna go see some more lakes today hopefully because its a beautiful sunny day.
First of all however, I have a niece!! Mandy had a baby girl on Saturday the 8th at 4am i believe. Also it quite funny to learn the news about 14 hours before that time where we are, crazy time zones. Pete and Mandy named her Crystal Anne Joshua. She is strong and healthy even though she came a few weeks early. From what i hear Mandy was quite seriously ill but again I think she is getting better. Crystal was also born just two days before Pete's bday on the 11th of Nov.
On thursday the 6th, a week ago it was a beautiful glorious day. When i woke up it was snowing and everything was covered in the wonderful stuff. It was so nice, like nothing i'd ever seen before. NZ wasn't like this because their was only snow at the peaks of the mountains. It was awesome but it's kinda frustrating now because it was just teasing me. It reclines quite quickly really when the snow stops and then the rain starts up. Still really can't be that long before another dump comes. And this time i've got my skis ready so i'll head straight up their and have myself a grand time. I had been looking around at all the best deals and my deal really is quite incredible, yet still expensive unfortunately. The only specification that i was really after with the skiis were twin tips because i wanna try to be going backwards and such. I'm gonna try and talk to Rachel and Bruce her dad and see if i can send it back with their stuff if it's cost effective and so on. I'm getting them back tommorow and on my first day off after that which i believe is Monday, i think i'll hike up the mountain till i find some snow. The really depressing thing about that is that once i reach the snow line i have to unstrap and walk back down as well. Still very exciting possabilities.
A very funny thing happened at the initial staff welcome meeting for the mountain job. I didn't know anyone their but fortunately I got talking to a nice guy so that was cool. While we were talking however a girl came up and sat beside me, she didn't say anything straight away, and i felt a very strange vibe so i didn't really feel like attempting conversation. At a random point during Aaron and my conversation however she plucked the courage and enlightened us with her speech. She got more strange as she went on. When it came to asking where we came from she said you'll never guess where I'm from. Then she said that she's actually had three lives, and made me try and guess. Now i was tryign to be polite here, in a way that showed i wasn't very into the conversation but polite nonetheless. Aaron was a bit more blatant but he could be because he was on the other side. So she didn't really offer me with any valuable hints about her three lives other than this is her first one as a girl??? Finally she told me that in the 1850's she'd been a Pirate. And previous to that life she was a Lion... ... .. .
Yesss. Well i thought it was quite interesting actually, not realy her but what was going on inside her head to either make herself believe that because it honestly sounded like she did. And then even more interesting of course would be if she actually did know, but that's all psychic stuff that you can't really understand, or believe when the person that is telling you this simply looks crazy and has serious sociable problems. Interesting topic for you Mum, I assume you'd pass it off as crazy talk though, certainly seemed to be that way. Apparently she's from Whistler, in this life.
Alyson and I had a lovely day off on monday. We went Ice skating at the Meadow Park sports place. It was really fun because they had an area where you can play ice hockey with plastic equipment. It was really really enjoyable. For the whole first session i was too scared to jump in there, not for myself but i thought i'd cut someone, badly. But after they cleaned the ice Aly and i rushed to the sticks and got ourself one of the few pucks. We were having a jolly old time until some kid stole the puck of Aly, let me tell you she was not happy. Hockey is one of the sports that Alyson really enjoyed and is still keen to play these days, one of the few. But this kid taking it off her was too much. She chased him for a while but he was too good so she left the area hating all children once more. It's really fun though because when your in that little thing all you do is try and steal the puck off people and have random shots at goal. I could usually compete with the kids until they were about 8 yrs old. Then they slaughtered me, Canadians are awesome at this stuff. It was really fun though, and i even got a steal off one of the guys who was about 14 once and they were really good. I got no more time left now. Have to talk about movies, lakes and of course Paintball next time.
Aly and i are gonna go see some more lakes today hopefully because its a beautiful sunny day.
Wednesday, November 5, 2008
Everything Should be Alright.
Well within a week we have both found jobs now! Really glad.
Alyson was approached within the first two days that we got here, in about the only five minute time slot that I wasn't with her, by some guys from Buffalo Bills. It's a club/pub that is apparently one of the best places you can get work here. Everyone who hears that she's got a job there is jealous, apparently you can make $200 in tips per night quite regularly, and $500 on big nights. Crazy, hopefully she can support us both.
I now have two jobs however, had my first shift at the cinema last night. It's not too bad at all, really rather simple work at an incredibly low wage but that's alright, everything here is usually low. At least i get free pop-corn and soft drink and of course movies. My other job is at the RoundHouse which is a fast food eatery on top of Whistler. It's perfect because I get a free lift pass working with the mountain! So hopefully i'll work it that I can do a few days there and 4 or so nights at the cinema.
Everything has been much more exciting of late because snow has been falling! It's so awesome to see. In fact the first day when it was still rather high up the mountain i was that excited that i tried to walk to it. I definately could have done it but there was only an hour left of sunlight before i left. So i had to head back once all of a sudden the clouds came over the closest mountain and everything got much darker and it would have been tough to walk down the hills in the rain/ even snow high up. I did get to see my first bear though, it was about 60 odd metres away but very cool to see one. Also a little frightening because at that point I was out of sight of everything and it suddenly felt like yes there are actually bears around here, and I thought they might be everywhere. Not to worry though they tell me. Cougars are the ones to worry about, if you see a Cougar it's probably been stalking you for hours and your about to be eaten. Still it would be cool to see one.
We're looking at all our options for buying our gear at the moment. Tossing up whether to buy or hire it, its hard to tell when the lifts will open. But I figure that if the snow falls enough and the lifts still aren't open i can trek up a little and that'd be worth while. We're both working tonight, it's a pretty strange feeling to finish work and head back to your hotel, I like it.
Alyson was approached within the first two days that we got here, in about the only five minute time slot that I wasn't with her, by some guys from Buffalo Bills. It's a club/pub that is apparently one of the best places you can get work here. Everyone who hears that she's got a job there is jealous, apparently you can make $200 in tips per night quite regularly, and $500 on big nights. Crazy, hopefully she can support us both.
I now have two jobs however, had my first shift at the cinema last night. It's not too bad at all, really rather simple work at an incredibly low wage but that's alright, everything here is usually low. At least i get free pop-corn and soft drink and of course movies. My other job is at the RoundHouse which is a fast food eatery on top of Whistler. It's perfect because I get a free lift pass working with the mountain! So hopefully i'll work it that I can do a few days there and 4 or so nights at the cinema.
Everything has been much more exciting of late because snow has been falling! It's so awesome to see. In fact the first day when it was still rather high up the mountain i was that excited that i tried to walk to it. I definately could have done it but there was only an hour left of sunlight before i left. So i had to head back once all of a sudden the clouds came over the closest mountain and everything got much darker and it would have been tough to walk down the hills in the rain/ even snow high up. I did get to see my first bear though, it was about 60 odd metres away but very cool to see one. Also a little frightening because at that point I was out of sight of everything and it suddenly felt like yes there are actually bears around here, and I thought they might be everywhere. Not to worry though they tell me. Cougars are the ones to worry about, if you see a Cougar it's probably been stalking you for hours and your about to be eaten. Still it would be cool to see one.
We're looking at all our options for buying our gear at the moment. Tossing up whether to buy or hire it, its hard to tell when the lifts will open. But I figure that if the snow falls enough and the lifts still aren't open i can trek up a little and that'd be worth while. We're both working tonight, it's a pretty strange feeling to finish work and head back to your hotel, I like it.
Sunday, November 2, 2008
Halloween in the US of A
Our first overdone Halloween. It's crazy because for these people Halloween is for adults what Christmas is for Children, and halloween for that matter. Everyone gets excited and really go hard out with their costumes. People spend some big money on their superhero suits that they'll never wear again. Alyson and I left it very late but we pulled off some pretty good costumes ourselves however, and on a budget. I got a clown setup, containing face paints and wig for 5$, thanks to Alyson's prowess with makeup I was one of the best looking clowns we saw that night. Aly was wearing green lipstick and extremely long bird eyelashes. When we went back downstairs the receptionist Mike didn't even recognise us; and we know him pretty well. So I thought it was a very successful dressage effort.
One of the good things during the day was that the hotels put candy out, so everytime we went through reception I got a bit more chocolate, and when we went to apply at some other hotels we got some more also. Good incentives to even apply for jobs on halloween. Also as a treat we bought some of the gourmet every flavour jelly beans, they're so good. I had always wanted them but never really had them, but they're incredible for jelly beans, they really get the flavours very right as well, they must just get the particular sugar ingedient from each other flavour they'r trying to recreate and it shows you that the sugarness is all that tastess so good. As far as i can tell anyway.
Rachel came up from Vancouver, came up with her friend Nadine who she did the season with last year. We went out to a house where there were many more people to meet who had just about all been lifties last year. It was a good night and thoroughly enjoyable to see all the costumes, one of the best was a guy who was dressed as BeetleJuice. Also i can't remember the exact combination but i think i saw a fairy making out with a devil or something, quite funny.
I'm much less stressed because the cinema said that they were quite interested so hopefully i'll hear back from them soon, and Alyson has her trial tonight so hopefully she'll get some work soon. Tommorow I have an interview with the Intrawest company which owns most of the business up here, they run the lifts and mountain and heaps of resteraunts and things. It would be really good if i can get a job with them because you get the pass and things.
Otherwise it's pretty unfortunate that it just rains constantly, just gotta wait for it to turn into snow, very much looking forward to seeing the progress.
This morning we had a sauna before breakfast which is something new.
One of the good things during the day was that the hotels put candy out, so everytime we went through reception I got a bit more chocolate, and when we went to apply at some other hotels we got some more also. Good incentives to even apply for jobs on halloween. Also as a treat we bought some of the gourmet every flavour jelly beans, they're so good. I had always wanted them but never really had them, but they're incredible for jelly beans, they really get the flavours very right as well, they must just get the particular sugar ingedient from each other flavour they'r trying to recreate and it shows you that the sugarness is all that tastess so good. As far as i can tell anyway.
Rachel came up from Vancouver, came up with her friend Nadine who she did the season with last year. We went out to a house where there were many more people to meet who had just about all been lifties last year. It was a good night and thoroughly enjoyable to see all the costumes, one of the best was a guy who was dressed as BeetleJuice. Also i can't remember the exact combination but i think i saw a fairy making out with a devil or something, quite funny.
I'm much less stressed because the cinema said that they were quite interested so hopefully i'll hear back from them soon, and Alyson has her trial tonight so hopefully she'll get some work soon. Tommorow I have an interview with the Intrawest company which owns most of the business up here, they run the lifts and mountain and heaps of resteraunts and things. It would be really good if i can get a job with them because you get the pass and things.
Otherwise it's pretty unfortunate that it just rains constantly, just gotta wait for it to turn into snow, very much looking forward to seeing the progress.
This morning we had a sauna before breakfast which is something new.
Wednesday, October 29, 2008
An incredible deal!
The main problem with Whistler over winter is that accomodation is an absolute joke. There is such a demand to live here that you just can't find accomodation anywhere and it's all ridiculously expensive. The first thing that employers ask you if your applying for work is whether or not you've got a place to live, it's a serious problem.
Our place that i mentioned at the end of the last blog, is a 4-star hotel. We got an awesome deal of a website that doesn't even disclose the name of the place your looking at because they wouldn't usually do such good deals. So i thought I was going to have to plead with the receptionists to get us a few more nights for the same price. They told us however that they are now offering some incredible deals on extended stays. It is insane, We can get a studio for $39 a night, which is what we're in now, it's pretty cosy but can easily live 2 people. It's got a little fire place, bathroom, fully furnished kitchen, fox tv, stereo, dvd and it gets cleaned everyday!! Tommorow however we're going to move into the Loft apartments which basically has the studio on the bottome level, and another Queen bed upstairs with TV, bathroom and SAUNA!!! It's absolutely incredible, it's going to be $49 a night but we can very comfortably and are allowed to fit 4 people in the room. Divide that by 4 and it's cheaper than the staff accomodation, in an incredible location and it has all the perks of the hotel along with it! It's a bit expensive while it's just Aly and i but considering we have no other option and we get everything that goes with it, it's a rather worthy splurge. Such good luck, cannot believe it. It's got a nice little fire place just beside our bed as well, gas fireplace which manages to cut through the tacky appeal actually, best looking false fireplace i've seen actually, probably because ther's real fire. The hotel also has heated pool and spa outside which will be awesome after a hard day skiing, this is so topped off by the sauna in our room!! The guys who work at reception are all pretty young and very cool, we had a good chat to Grant last night and he's been saying how awesome Whistler is. The thing that i found most interesting is the fact that he said it's even better in the summer. Says the amount of things you can do quadrooples. Just pack a tent and go hike for a couple of days through the incredible landscape and camp beside the picturesque lakes. Probably the coolest thing he said is just how many different activities you can pack into a day. Skiing on the glacier in the morning, then mountain bike riding which is apparently just as unbelievably addictive as snow sports, then golf and rafting and things, he said he's done all that in one day before, crazy. Apparently its a bit of a boy heaven, unlimited adventure activities, and that's what makes the whistler ratio of boys to girls about 10-1. So Alyson will have no trouble finding a job by the sounds of it. In fact one of the few times we split up she was offered a job at like one of the best bar/resteraunts in whistler! Apparently she could make hundreds of dollars in just one night just through tips if she can get that! We've applied at heaps of places but the general consencus is that it gets much busy in a few weeks and thats when most places are looking for workers. Unfortunately we have to hide from them that we are leaving shortly after that, something i'm not so good at but will just have to do. Wanna work at a hotel or something big where they are used to massive turnover and it won't really effect them. We applied for a perfect job at our place the Mountainside Lodge. It's a houseman job so apparently you just have to stock up the extra things when people need it, like taking pillows to a room or something, or sweeping stairs. Sounds perfect considering we'd be working at our home. And the wage is good and everything. Apparently there have been heaps of people applying for it though, Grant went and checked for us if our resumes were still in the pile and they weren't so i'm gonna fill out another one! good to have someone on the inside. Sounds like we just gotta keep going back everywhere and checking over and over.
Also it's rather dissapointing to see no snow in sight. Bit of a shame, particularly because Whistler isn't scheduled to open for another month. Hopefully they will get a dump a week or two early though, severly hopefully because other wise my snow time will be extremely limited. Either way though we'll have sweet accomodation and as long as we can find a job it will be cool to see the snow either gradually come or just all of a sudden be here.
I have really wanted to walk to the top of the mountain, haven't been able to convince Aly to come with me though. On the first day i went for a bit of a walk on my own and it was really cool. Mainly i was just freaked out about bears, I asked the guys at the front desk if it was likely or a danger but they were very casual about it and said that they used to see one everyday when one of them used to walk up the hill, and the other guy mentioned how a bear had been trying to get into his place the last few nights or something. Apparently if I were to come across one it would usually be from very far away which would be awesome, I'd love to see one just not so much on my own, but you just stay calm and look at it and back away, don't turn and run. The worst case is if you stumble across some cubs on their own, you shouldn't look around or panic in case the mother is just behind you. Apparently you just just start clapping and yelling to scare them off or something. That would not be a good situation.
On my walk/wonder there were quite a few other people around. It was cool to walk up the runs that will very shortly be covered in snow and thousands of people. There is a nice creek that runs between the two mountains which will look reall nice if that freezes ontop a bit and is still running underneath for a while, i'm assuming that will happen. Also their was a very nice sunset that day, our first two days here were really beautiful so it's a shame we didn't walk that far up the mountains, because today and the scheduled forecast for the next few days is raining, correct right now.
Came across the Whistler Skate Park which is probably the best skate park i've ever seen. It's got this incredibly aweosme flowing bowl/halfpipe continuation that has really smooth edges, just about no coping anywhere. Its really sweet to see the good guys carve through it. just looks like they're floating/surfing and they were going faster than i've ever seen any skaters go before, i tried to take some photos Phill but i don't think they will do any justice. You might be able to see it on the net or something. I'm tempted to come back next year because it will be easy cause i'll still have the valid working visa and SIN no. and even bank account. So Phill that's something i'll try and convince you to do with me because i think that when i leave here it will feel as if my work is very unfinished. Just come for the Uni break, we can still get a few months and it's the time of the best snow over here! Otherwise its very tempting to defer 2010 and spend a year here and do heaps of hikes and such. We'll see we'll see. Probably not that wise I guess, but on the other hand extremely.
Also it's Halloween on Friday which is MASSIVE over here. It seems like christmas for children, but its halloween for 3-40 yr olds. I'll have to purchase a mask or something, Look forward to it.
Hopefully have a candy fight.
Cannot wait to be skiing and hopefully shortly i'll have a job.
Our place that i mentioned at the end of the last blog, is a 4-star hotel. We got an awesome deal of a website that doesn't even disclose the name of the place your looking at because they wouldn't usually do such good deals. So i thought I was going to have to plead with the receptionists to get us a few more nights for the same price. They told us however that they are now offering some incredible deals on extended stays. It is insane, We can get a studio for $39 a night, which is what we're in now, it's pretty cosy but can easily live 2 people. It's got a little fire place, bathroom, fully furnished kitchen, fox tv, stereo, dvd and it gets cleaned everyday!! Tommorow however we're going to move into the Loft apartments which basically has the studio on the bottome level, and another Queen bed upstairs with TV, bathroom and SAUNA!!! It's absolutely incredible, it's going to be $49 a night but we can very comfortably and are allowed to fit 4 people in the room. Divide that by 4 and it's cheaper than the staff accomodation, in an incredible location and it has all the perks of the hotel along with it! It's a bit expensive while it's just Aly and i but considering we have no other option and we get everything that goes with it, it's a rather worthy splurge. Such good luck, cannot believe it. It's got a nice little fire place just beside our bed as well, gas fireplace which manages to cut through the tacky appeal actually, best looking false fireplace i've seen actually, probably because ther's real fire. The hotel also has heated pool and spa outside which will be awesome after a hard day skiing, this is so topped off by the sauna in our room!! The guys who work at reception are all pretty young and very cool, we had a good chat to Grant last night and he's been saying how awesome Whistler is. The thing that i found most interesting is the fact that he said it's even better in the summer. Says the amount of things you can do quadrooples. Just pack a tent and go hike for a couple of days through the incredible landscape and camp beside the picturesque lakes. Probably the coolest thing he said is just how many different activities you can pack into a day. Skiing on the glacier in the morning, then mountain bike riding which is apparently just as unbelievably addictive as snow sports, then golf and rafting and things, he said he's done all that in one day before, crazy. Apparently its a bit of a boy heaven, unlimited adventure activities, and that's what makes the whistler ratio of boys to girls about 10-1. So Alyson will have no trouble finding a job by the sounds of it. In fact one of the few times we split up she was offered a job at like one of the best bar/resteraunts in whistler! Apparently she could make hundreds of dollars in just one night just through tips if she can get that! We've applied at heaps of places but the general consencus is that it gets much busy in a few weeks and thats when most places are looking for workers. Unfortunately we have to hide from them that we are leaving shortly after that, something i'm not so good at but will just have to do. Wanna work at a hotel or something big where they are used to massive turnover and it won't really effect them. We applied for a perfect job at our place the Mountainside Lodge. It's a houseman job so apparently you just have to stock up the extra things when people need it, like taking pillows to a room or something, or sweeping stairs. Sounds perfect considering we'd be working at our home. And the wage is good and everything. Apparently there have been heaps of people applying for it though, Grant went and checked for us if our resumes were still in the pile and they weren't so i'm gonna fill out another one! good to have someone on the inside. Sounds like we just gotta keep going back everywhere and checking over and over.
Also it's rather dissapointing to see no snow in sight. Bit of a shame, particularly because Whistler isn't scheduled to open for another month. Hopefully they will get a dump a week or two early though, severly hopefully because other wise my snow time will be extremely limited. Either way though we'll have sweet accomodation and as long as we can find a job it will be cool to see the snow either gradually come or just all of a sudden be here.
I have really wanted to walk to the top of the mountain, haven't been able to convince Aly to come with me though. On the first day i went for a bit of a walk on my own and it was really cool. Mainly i was just freaked out about bears, I asked the guys at the front desk if it was likely or a danger but they were very casual about it and said that they used to see one everyday when one of them used to walk up the hill, and the other guy mentioned how a bear had been trying to get into his place the last few nights or something. Apparently if I were to come across one it would usually be from very far away which would be awesome, I'd love to see one just not so much on my own, but you just stay calm and look at it and back away, don't turn and run. The worst case is if you stumble across some cubs on their own, you shouldn't look around or panic in case the mother is just behind you. Apparently you just just start clapping and yelling to scare them off or something. That would not be a good situation.
On my walk/wonder there were quite a few other people around. It was cool to walk up the runs that will very shortly be covered in snow and thousands of people. There is a nice creek that runs between the two mountains which will look reall nice if that freezes ontop a bit and is still running underneath for a while, i'm assuming that will happen. Also their was a very nice sunset that day, our first two days here were really beautiful so it's a shame we didn't walk that far up the mountains, because today and the scheduled forecast for the next few days is raining, correct right now.
Came across the Whistler Skate Park which is probably the best skate park i've ever seen. It's got this incredibly aweosme flowing bowl/halfpipe continuation that has really smooth edges, just about no coping anywhere. Its really sweet to see the good guys carve through it. just looks like they're floating/surfing and they were going faster than i've ever seen any skaters go before, i tried to take some photos Phill but i don't think they will do any justice. You might be able to see it on the net or something. I'm tempted to come back next year because it will be easy cause i'll still have the valid working visa and SIN no. and even bank account. So Phill that's something i'll try and convince you to do with me because i think that when i leave here it will feel as if my work is very unfinished. Just come for the Uni break, we can still get a few months and it's the time of the best snow over here! Otherwise its very tempting to defer 2010 and spend a year here and do heaps of hikes and such. We'll see we'll see. Probably not that wise I guess, but on the other hand extremely.
Also it's Halloween on Friday which is MASSIVE over here. It seems like christmas for children, but its halloween for 3-40 yr olds. I'll have to purchase a mask or something, Look forward to it.
Hopefully have a candy fight.
Cannot wait to be skiing and hopefully shortly i'll have a job.
Monday, October 27, 2008
More Live from Vancouver.
Well I've pretty well recovered from my little cold patch. During the days we've been fairly routine now. We usually walk with Rachel to her work. Also we meet Rachel for lunch everyday where I have been getting a nice honey & lemon tea and Vege Somosa. Even tried a Cranberry cheesecake which was very pleasant from the nice gourmet grocery store where the ladies get their Croissants. They usually get a moccha to go along with this, all very routine and delightful. Then Aly and I walk around various places in Vancouver but are always back in time for Bruce's dinners.
We had a very nice walk along the sea wall just the other day, started from Granville Island where we shared some goods from the bakery and wandered back along the waters edge enjoying the view of the mountains in the backdrop. Another days walking was over the bridge into the downtown area. We got a bit lost and didn't want to end up around East Hastings where the homeless have claimed 2 whole blocks. I'm not kidding their are the most homeless I've ever seen in one area lining the streets. So we ended up in the gay district which had some interesting stores. Along the beachfront I got a vege hotdog from a stand, much better than the ones in NY. Even cooks it on a barbie and there are so many condiments at your disposal, I always go a little crazy with such a variety. Next time I'll just stick to the Banana Peppers, Mustard, Mayo, BBQ sauce and chilli sauce, i think that would be grand.
What else has been happening. I finally set up my skype account properly, it was ridiculously easy, just put a bit of money on it and now can call for very cheap rates. I'd heard about it years ago but for some reason i've only just done it now. Well worth while, i recommend everyone do.
We hadn't really been doing all that much after nightfall. Hired a couple of movies, factory girl and Team America, seen them before but both good viewing, the best thing was the guy working at the store showed us coupons which got us the movies for free. Was pretty great. Went in set up an account, got 2 movies for free and now i'll never go there again!
Last night however we finally felt like getting a bit of a groove on. Was the best night out i've had in a long time actually, felt really good the whole time, till 4 in the morning. We went to have some drinks at Toms place, he's a friend from Rachels work. The houses are such awesome old estate houses around where he lives. Massive houses, particularly after living in units for so long now, really beautiful estate, with lots of nice cars mind. Apparently there are skunks around their too, we'r still holding out to see one.
After having some drinks at Toms we headed downtown to a club called SweatShop. Its funny because we walked for about half an hour and then had to catch a taxi for the last few Km's because the place is ages away from anything. Very underground, very cool. You wouldn't really know anything was their, mainly because you wouldn't expect something so far out. But we had a good time there, it has an outside area with some old skate ramps and the downstairs room is much more hardcore which is a sweet change.
Anyhow today we had a bit of a sleep in because of the late one and then I got very excited because Bruce told us we could go Ice Skating in the afternoon!! Unfortunately his friend had mixed the times and we could not make it today. That was ok i guess because we got to go back to sleep, this was our afternoon nap to try and catch up a bit. Regardless I was quite dissapointed, not quite as much as his friends son though, who they had forgotten to tell it was off, when he asked at 8pm and recieved the bad news he burst out in tears, I feel your pain little buddy I do. Hopefully we'll get to go sometime soon though.
Alyson and myself went wondering through the nice suburbs today, saw some very grand houses, and I got lucky with one of the last houses having a BMW Z8 parked outside, I got a sneaky papparazi shot of it!! It was the second one of those I'd ever seen, the first I chased down the main street on friday. I guess i'll get onto news on the car front now. There have been a few more firsts, I saw my first ever Lamborghini Miura on the road, supercar from the 70's i believe, great classic now, absolutely through the roof expensive. I've now seen the complete Japanese trio, the Mitsubishi Evo X, the Lexus IS-F and the Nissan GT-R. Must give a bit of a wrap to the GT-R, they set out to be better than the Porshe 911 Turbo with that car, an absolutely incredible effort because they pretty well spanked it from what it sounds. I'll have to drive them both one day of course to give you my opinion but it laps the German Nurburgring faster than most of the supercars including the 911 Turbo. An insane feat because its about half the price as well. Also saw another Audi R8 which i like very much and some Astons, Bentleys, even some Lambo's and Ferrari's, just some perks of being out walking for large portions of the day.
We can't really figure out where Vancouver gets its wealth from, doesn't seem to be that much industry really, nor that many big office buildings, I mean they really do have a lot of expensive cars, and those houses would be millions as well. We figure old money but it'd be interesting to know a bit more.
Tommorow morning, well actually later on this morning considering it's quarter past one, we're heading up to Whistler! Staying in a 4-star hotel that we got for a great deal in the last minute deal section. Hopefully everything should be fine but once we got the confirmation email it said minimum age is 21, on the other site we booked through it said 19 so we should be in the clear. Will be looking very fiercely for jobs and accomodation.
Before I go I must mention the predigament that dinner turned into. I had been intending on making a stir-fry the whole time. Then because we were so tired after last night Aly convinced me that if she cooks the fish and we just have a salad with it that will be fine, so we went home and slept instead of buying veges from Granville Is. Then she was waiting for Rachel to come home before she started making it, but Rachel had decided she wanted pizza, Alyson agreed. So they went a couple of doors down to the Pizza Hut and got 2 pizzas and a mountain dew. When I looked at the bill i couldn't believe it, one pizza cost $20 !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! From Pizza Hut?????? They bought two because the second one was a bargain at $10. Luckily the mountain dew was the average reasonable price but they still managed to spend 35 canadian dollars on two Pizza Hut pizzas. Hence I will never let them ever again make any decisions. Fortunately the pizza did taste remarkably good...... for Pizza Hut.
Thursday, October 23, 2008
Sorry all, this ones dedicated to Cars.
Well I've been a little bit sick lately and things have been slow going anyhow. But yesterday morning even though my sinuses were feeling full and my throat was rather sore i woke in a good mood. The morning was beautiful and you could see all the mountains so clearly and the city and the day beckoned. Also i couldn't stand waiting around for the girls to get ready so I headed out on my trip around the dealerships. Lots of nice cars, that's a given. There was a glorious white Ferrari F430, a nice Ferrari 456 which for some reason that car never took off, but I enjoy its subtle curves, intriguing. Lots of nice Astons of course, a nice V12 Vanquish S hiding in the back alley way which i really liked, its the back alley where lots of the dealerships met up. There were heaps of Bentleys and Lambos and Astons parked back there and somehow pulling off a more exotic feel in these surroundings then in their sterile showrooms. The cleaners and mechanics would drive past in a beautiful V8 Vantage or someone in a massive Bentley and squeeze through the tightest spots, it was hairy. Let's quickly get through some of the other bests, the Lambo Countach was fantastic, just like the framed one that has sat up on my wall for years, some exquisite new LP640 Murcielago's, one in red which is nice and different, and an entourage of Porsche and Lotus. The main component to the experience however were the salesmen. In most of the places they really don't care, they just want to make the sale, don't even really care about the cars from what it seems.
Ok now i'm really pissed off cause the net keeps stuffing up and i've written the ending from here 2 times now. So i'm just going to skip everything and write the best part of the story.
In the end i met an awesome guy who has done many incredible things. One night he went for a cruise in a Mercedes-McLaren SLR, another in a Porsche Carrera GT (the best and most expensive Porsche about 1 million), another in a Lamborghini Gallardo Spyder and finally the owner of all these drove his Lamborghini Reventon!!!!! There are only 20 Reventons, they cost about 2 million and they're the craziest cars you would ever see, but you'll never see one. Now most people surely couldn't comprehend how good that would have been but i'll tell you that the closest thing to it is heaven. Bruce i think his name was proved to me that with passion and good communication you can't just sell cars, but you can get close to the clients and drive the cars as well. It's just awesome the cars he has driven, on Saturday passed he was driving the Lambo Countach which i actually spotted from the apartment before seeing in the dealership. Let me see if this works finally.
Monday, October 20, 2008
A Lot Can Happen in a Few Days.
Haven't updated since the 14th, we're on the other side of Canada now and their has been much happenings; this could be long.
Our plans for Wednesday were to visit the Andy Warhol exhibition and visit the Olympic Stadium site. I really wanted to go see the stadium first because i doubted the girls would actually come otherwise. We'd heard it was very far away you see, when we asked people where it was they said it was much too far too walk, I thought it must be an hour, hour and a half max and apparently that's all it would be. It's funny though because in NY walking for that long is nothing, you walk all day long because there are so many things to see everywhere around you. I guess the locals just don't usually have time because there were lots of beautiful sights along the way in Montreal for sure. Anyhow we ended up going to the Warhol exhibition first so I still had to prod the girls along with my words later on in the day.
The exhibit was actually reflecting on the Andy Warhols influence within the music scene. Quite an interesting topic when he never really did anything directly focused on this but they pulled off a large exhibition to the contrary. There were a lot of interesting pieces but i must say i missed the headsets that tell you all about it like at the Guggenheim. There were some guided tours but only in French on that day. Makes it much more interesting with headsets, we still read all the information but it's not the same. Alyson and Rachel enjoyed it much more than me however, and its true that the works he was doing were far ahead of his time.
Alright so after the art gallery we headed on our lengthy walk to the Olympic Stadium. On the way i saw my first Lexus IS-F also, a very new and great car, and I think i've also seen the new Nissan GT-R but it was at night and far away. Well from the get go the girls were saying that we should just catch a bus to the Stadium but i wanted to walk there and see everything along the way. It was fortunate that we did because we found the most spectacular park. All the trees there were falling, or whatever you call it when they die in such a beautiful manner. So many different shades of Autumn. The park has a great lake there as well and the best part is the squirrels. More squirrels than anywhere i think i've seen. Even they come in different shades, there are a variety of brown shades and black and even some white ones. We were relaxing under the trees on the leaf covered grass and feeding the squirrels dates. Thoroughly enjoyable time.
Eventually we got to the Stadium and by that time noone cared about it except me, it was starting to get dark and apparently their legs were going to fall off, or had or something. It's a brilliant stadium though. The base looks like some big UFO and a massive leaning tower rises up with very strong curves. I liked it anyhow.
We caught a train back, their train system is called the Metro and their trains are funny because the wheels are actually rubber tyres. I wonder how much more effective, or indeed if it is more effective than the metal wheels most trains have. I imagine they'd have to be replaced pretty regularly. Canada has a bit of a thing for quirky transport i think, the Vancouver buses are all electric, and they run off overhead cables which are everywhere, they have to go really slowly at the points where the extended arms that are attached to the electric wires need to change line.
That night we the movie Vicky Christina Barcelona. Wasn't that good a movie but it had Penelope Cruz and Scarlett Johansen. Best thing is probably all the nice scenic shots around Barcelona, it looks amazing, or when they kiss. It's pretty much just about Vicky and Christina going to Barcelona.
On the Thursday we went for a walk up the hill which i'd been wanting to do badly. Really wanted to go up and watch the sunset, didn't do that unfortunately. The view from the hill is again spectacular, looking out over Montreal which is all pretty flat with just the Olympic Stadium rising above everything in the distance. The walk up to the top is just as nice as the final view though. Everything was yellow. Honestly the colours of Montreal are just brilliant.
There is a store that all the students know and love called Dollarama. It's a massive dollar store where everything in the store actually does just cost $1 or less. You could throw a really good party with all the costumes and disco balls and things. We just went for the candy and the tamagochi things. Alyson's and mine are still living, Rachel I'm afraid didn't give hers enough care or attention.
In the afternoon Pete and Ian took us for some very cheap drinks at the UNI. It was funny because it feels like it's in a classroom but they had loud music and drinks are only a dollar. They have it every Thursday apparently but it's only from 4-7. Hence we started our night extremely early. After that it was a bit of a shamble trying to decide what was happening, the guys got caught watching rugby and by the time they felt like going out it was 12. Aly and I called it a night cause we'd tried to go out at one point but all we did was go get pizza pretty much. Rachel kept going and she met up with some girls she knew.
Friday
Had our last morning ritual of getting cheap croissants from the grocery store than going across to the cafe where the girls get their moccha and I got a fresh OJ. Today we splurged a little and bought some special chocolate butter croissants as well.
We flew with Air Canada from Montreal to Vanc and it was pretty decent. Had a reasonable entertainment selection but somehow it was mostly crap. I watched The Happening which is a pretty sick movie. Some airborne virus that makes people kill themselves. Wasn't particularly good. Drinks were included but meals weren't so it was ok for a 5 hour flight.
Vancouver! Rachel has been taking us with her on her daily schedule really. We walk her to and fro work and stop and get coffee and pizza at the best local places. Very good.
On Saturday we went and had a look around Granville Island. It's quite a big area down on the waterfront that has a marketplace with nice fresh produce and a few stores around, but main focus is food. We ate by the water and spotted a seal swimming around. Vancouver is really beautiful too. Has lots of nice trees and mountains in the backdrop when it's clear enough to see them. Main problem here is the weather. Apparently it just about rains constantly for 4 months. Good though because that's when Whistler gets snow! Also the cars have been very good so far, saw an Aston V12 Vanquish almost immediately when we went walking! Then De Tomaso Pantera and scored big when I realised that the Aston Martin dealership is literally the next street down from where Rachel lives!!!! On further exploration the Lamborghini and Bentleys live just round the corner, i have to search more to see if the Ferrari's and Maserati's are close by. Very exciting. At the Aston dealer there are so many lined up, in perfectly straight lines, DB9's to one side and V8 Vantage to the other; heavenly.
Rachel lives here with her dad Bruce. He's incredibly nice and when we got back he offered us to go hiking with him. Said it was a 6hr and 22km walk. It was funny because we were meant to have a night out with Rachel and her friends, but by the time we got back to them we were pretty well out of the mood. So we sat in a bar sharing hot chocolate and they all think we're incredibly sad; even when we told them that we had the opportunity to go on an amazing hike in British Columbia they weren't persuaded that we weren't losers. Funny.
So early we woke, 7 am, the earliest in a long time at least. Got ready for our big adventure with a lot of apprehension. The group that Bruce goes with are all fitness freaks, himself included. Also funny is that they're pretty much all doctors, this was much more interesting after working in the hospital for three months where the doctors definately hold a superior aire about them. Well they're always incredibly busy at least but it was really a great group. One of the girls had just turned 30 and decided that she'd try and be healthy so instead of having a night out she went on a 30 km trail run; crazy stuff considering she walked 22km with us the next day. Apparently 2 weeks before that she'd done a half iron man, the distances i think are about 87km cycle, 21km run and 3 km swim, Bruce wants to do one of those before he turns 60 so he's got a few years to do that. You see that these are determined people and were were a little worried about how our fitness would go, have to say particularly Alyson judging from the amount of winging i've heard at points of this trip. She did incredibly well though and even by the end of it I got a smiling shot when we were both expecting her to be a heap on the ground for the final photo. The walk wasn't actually too bad, most of it was pretty flat and the gradients weren't that steep anyhow. The scenery though was spectacular. This was the second time i'd seen snow in my life and even though we didn't have any on our mountain top it looked incredible on the surrounding peaks. So exciting, cannot wait to be skiing again. I think i'd forgotten how great the outdoors are, it was just beautiful, their were some beautiful lakes where we stopped and had our lunch that Bruce packed for us. The best, biggest and healthiest meal i've had in a long time only to be topped by the dinner he cooked; Salmon smoked on a plank with some delightful sauce, and very nice salad and veges to go. The silence at the lakes was so nice, a really loud silence that makes you remember how long it's been since you've heard it and forces you to appreciate it. Another great thing was that Pete; the guy who organised it was able to tell Alyson some things about dietetics. He knows because he's a dietician and he is going to study medicine in Brisbane next year actually. And Christian was a German guy that they'd met on another hike when it was him and his girlfriend, who's now back in Germany. Well Christian did Engineering, focusing on the industrial design side which is what I have thought about. The company that he's just started with makes hydrogen fuel cells so we talked alot about that which was very interesting. It would be really great to work in that line, the future of cars but i still think the best thing would be automotive journalist so i'll head for that. So hiking in the British Columbia was a fantastic time and we didn't see any bears which is both fortunate and not, probably more fortunate. Also I had my first chance to use my camel, its the 2 litre plastic water pouch so that was good but it tasted very plasticky, apparently the key is to rinse it out with some mouth wash so i'll try that before the ski slopes, I bought it to minimise the stopping time on the ski slopes. Phill can understand I'm sure, now if i'm really keen i can just take up bars of some sort and pretty well go all day without stop i think.
And finally today, well it hasn't been the best of days. I had a terrible sleep last night because i've had a bit of a sore throat and it was very bad last night. The weather is really bad also, has been raining or looking gloomy all day. We went out and got our SIN number which is just like tax file number and now we have to do resumes. Still not too bad a day of course, no work and i saw a Lamborghini Gallardo Spyder and when i finish my resume i'm gonna have a quick squiz round the dealerships:)
Our room is really nice, well it's their lounge room but it has a very nice view, at night you can see all the lights from the city which is really nice and in the day you can see the mountains and the city and things.
Wednesday, October 15, 2008
More from Montreal
Well what's been happening over here. The guys came back from their weekend in Quebec. They say that its really a beautiful place, more so than Montreal. Looks it too. Has all the amazing trees but they're surrounding lakes and things which is pretty great. Also the people that they went their with have some amazing properties. One of their places has it's own lake and hillside covered with incredible trees, very peaceful looking but they also have quadbikes! The other place is located just beside a chairlift at a snow field. Apparently this family also has property in Dubai, Singapore, Texas, Montreal and probably elsewhere, crazy.
Would have been awesome if we had a bit more time to go up to Quebec but it's still a few hours away and it will have to wait for some other time. We went walking yesterday in search of the art gallery which is showing an Andy Warhol exhibition. Decided instead that we'd do that today. But we got to see more of this very cool city.
Unfortunately our timing isn't so lucky with the uni schedule, everyone has mid-terms in the coming days so they can't show us around or come out so much. Thursday night i am told will be a large one.
We took it upon ourselves to actually go out last night. Mainly because I badly wanted to play beerpong which is a tuesday night thing over here. It was pretty good, would be great in a big group. It's different to what we played at straddie, at straddie we had the ping pong table and just played with cups in front of us, if you get it in the oppenents cup they have to drink the whole contents, if you hit the cup, just half. Over here they have tables set up and you start by splitting a jug into ten cups and having them in front of you in a triangle. You are in teams of two, luckily i managed to get Rachel to go with me. The teams take turns of throwing the ping pong ball at the other teams cups. If it goes in you have to take that cup away. Anyhow it was pretty good fun, would be great with a bigger group as I say, also I was kinda letting the team down, I only got one in and rachel got four. we lost.
I guess i don't have much if i've gone on about this for that long. Another thing however is that I still badly want a motorbike. Would love to ride around everywhere.
Today we're hopefully going to walk across to the Olympic Stadium area from where Montreal hosted the i think it was 86 olympics? Then onto the art gallery, Better get to it then.
Would have been awesome if we had a bit more time to go up to Quebec but it's still a few hours away and it will have to wait for some other time. We went walking yesterday in search of the art gallery which is showing an Andy Warhol exhibition. Decided instead that we'd do that today. But we got to see more of this very cool city.
Unfortunately our timing isn't so lucky with the uni schedule, everyone has mid-terms in the coming days so they can't show us around or come out so much. Thursday night i am told will be a large one.
We took it upon ourselves to actually go out last night. Mainly because I badly wanted to play beerpong which is a tuesday night thing over here. It was pretty good, would be great in a big group. It's different to what we played at straddie, at straddie we had the ping pong table and just played with cups in front of us, if you get it in the oppenents cup they have to drink the whole contents, if you hit the cup, just half. Over here they have tables set up and you start by splitting a jug into ten cups and having them in front of you in a triangle. You are in teams of two, luckily i managed to get Rachel to go with me. The teams take turns of throwing the ping pong ball at the other teams cups. If it goes in you have to take that cup away. Anyhow it was pretty good fun, would be great with a bigger group as I say, also I was kinda letting the team down, I only got one in and rachel got four. we lost.
I guess i don't have much if i've gone on about this for that long. Another thing however is that I still badly want a motorbike. Would love to ride around everywhere.
Today we're hopefully going to walk across to the Olympic Stadium area from where Montreal hosted the i think it was 86 olympics? Then onto the art gallery, Better get to it then.
Sunday, October 12, 2008
Montreal- A place to live
I am really tempted to come and study overseas in Montreal now. Somehow it pulls of a small town feel even though it's really quite a big city. Everyone seems very friendly and it is very beautiful of course. Another deciding factor for me however, is that their are alot of nice cars that recide here. More than New York. Yesterday was one of my best car spotting days ever, I saw a Maybach; I know there are alot in NY but back home you'd never see one. Then there were two of the beautiful Ferrari F430's, A nice gaggle of Porsche's throughout the day. And then i saw her.
Well I'll throw in the story leading up to this. On this day, the girls decided once more that it would be another shopping day. I went along with them for a little while but i wasn't really in the mood, and i'm quite involved with my book at the moment, My Sister's Keeper by Jodi Picoult. So i thought i'd go walk up the hill to where the trees are colourful and get encaptured in my book. Unfortunately the position i chose for myself, which was a nice spot there were nice trees nearby and it was a lovely grassy area where i was seated. but there was a main road just down below. I can't concentrate on much when i'm near a main road, i'm too worried that i'll miss nice cars driving on by. For those of you who didn't know how obsessed i am i'm sure your starting to realise now.
Well I got a bit of reading done, but my concentration was very much divided. In one of the moment when i decided to look up at the road, i saw her. My very first ever glimpse of the Mercedes-McLaren SLR. That is one gorgeous car, wish i could have got a photo of it as it cruised on by. I watched it in disbelief until it vanished around the corner, happy to know that I could easily come and spend some of my life in Montreal. It's got everything I think a city needs.
Well I'll throw in the story leading up to this. On this day, the girls decided once more that it would be another shopping day. I went along with them for a little while but i wasn't really in the mood, and i'm quite involved with my book at the moment, My Sister's Keeper by Jodi Picoult. So i thought i'd go walk up the hill to where the trees are colourful and get encaptured in my book. Unfortunately the position i chose for myself, which was a nice spot there were nice trees nearby and it was a lovely grassy area where i was seated. but there was a main road just down below. I can't concentrate on much when i'm near a main road, i'm too worried that i'll miss nice cars driving on by. For those of you who didn't know how obsessed i am i'm sure your starting to realise now.
Well I got a bit of reading done, but my concentration was very much divided. In one of the moment when i decided to look up at the road, i saw her. My very first ever glimpse of the Mercedes-McLaren SLR. That is one gorgeous car, wish i could have got a photo of it as it cruised on by. I watched it in disbelief until it vanished around the corner, happy to know that I could easily come and spend some of my life in Montreal. It's got everything I think a city needs.
Friday, October 10, 2008
Our very own Bachelor Pad!
Fortunately enough we have just managed to acquire ourselves a Bachelor Pad in Montreal. As you can imagine though the girls are Bachelorettes and have trouble grasping the simple pleasures that bachelors enjoy such as the lack of reason/necessity to clean, for example there are empty beer bottles throughout just about every room, you know, bachelor stuff. So they're currently scrambling around trying to clean up, they started on this merely five minutes after the guys had left for their weekend trip to Quebec.
The guys at hand are Ian, Pete, Lachy and Jake. They really are exceptionally nice. Rachel was the one who knew them and apparently she didn't even know them very well and they have been really nice to let us come and stay at their place, even while they're away for a few days as well. They are from Brisbane and are a few years older, all good rugby players and such apparenly, two of them are studying on exchange from UQ over here and the other two managed to get jobs coaching the college uni team they play for. We got in yesterday afternoon after about a 10 hr bus ride from New York. Must admit that a few dark jokes were passed around in reference to the Canadian bus experience that made worldwide headlines in the recent months. One was at a point when everyone was hungry because we didn't take much food, I stated to Alyson, "their is plenty of food around you." You really have to be in a strange mood to enjoy that one so sorry to those who found it inconsiderate/disrespectful. On the bus trip we passed through a lot of beautiful scenery, some really spectacular colourful landscapes with all the Autumn trees in bloom or dying.
Montreal has a massive French influence, not so much an influence as opposed to it is French. Never knew just how much it was, because most places i've been to that have had French influences in the past just have some cool architecture ie. Hoi An in Vietnam or Akaroa in NZ. Here everyone actually speaks French as well, big step up; however everyone can also speak English so it's not that different. I really wish we actually had a system in Australia where we properly learnt another language, wasn't just the bludge subject at school. Makes you feel quite stupid when everyone you meet travelling has at least two languages in their repetoire.
Back to these fetching lads. Well last night after we arrived here on the bus we got straight to it. Headlong into the bachelor lifestyle, first thing we did was go and get beer, then after this go and get cheap thai down the road, was very good actually. Then we started drinking.
Had a very good night actually, we had a few quick ones to catch up before we headed out. I think we left here at like 11.30. They have a really good location with their place, were very fortunate to get it apparently. So it wasn't a long walk to the main strip where all the clubs and pubs are. First place we went into had vouchers for free shots. When we went in their it was empty and we managed to rig the system without any effort at all and we all managed to get lots of free shots in the end. They were half shots, and then half oj, went down very well. I honestly got about 6 or 7, it was crazy. The girls and myself definately felt we were doing fine on the drinks side of things you know, woudln't need anymore for a good long whilebecause this was my first big night out in a long time due to saving every penny before the trip. But the next place we went into the bachelor lads found a deal that they couldn't refuse and we all put in for 15 shots for 30$. We were saying no but it happened anyhow haha. So it ended up being quite a big night really. So that was a fun night indeed, don't you worry mum, i reserved some brain cells for the future, sacrificing only the unnecessary ones would you believe.
Today we went with the boys for a bit of sightseeing. We went down to the Old Port area. It's a beautiful city Montreal and this area is particularly splendid. The trees are so incredible when they are all different colours of autumn. We had lunch at a crepe resteraunt which was a bit pricier than we would usually opt but it was worth it. They were absolutely beautiful and i wanted them because i had to try the Maple syrup in it's home country of course. Aly had a spinach, swiss and bechamel cheese for a savoury flavour. I indulged in toffee and icecream upon which i added Maple Syrup! It was delicious, by the end of it i was actually quite sickened; very happy however, very happy.
Alyson, Rachel and myself have just returned back from a college Ice Hockey game. It's such a great sport, i really wish that i understood more of the rules though. Very aggressive and it's on ice, great combinations. Aly was actually very intent on watching which was interesting, guess it hales back to her field hockey days; good to see her so interested in a sport. In the end the opposing team one with a goal in the last few mins to take it to 2-1. McGill is the uni that these guys go too. I had some pizza and a beer at the game and we all shared some popcorn too which was sweet. Aly had a hotdog, very US like.
Quick touch up on the last few days in NY. The main big thing was going to the top of the Empire State Building, which we did at night. It was such an awesome view. You can see for ages, and all that way is lights. Its such a big place it is just breathtaking. Also we went to the Magnolia Bakery where the girls in Sex & City go to. So again that was a big thing for the girls. They got many cupcakes from there and i was very into the white chocolate fudge brownie, quite divine.
The guys at hand are Ian, Pete, Lachy and Jake. They really are exceptionally nice. Rachel was the one who knew them and apparently she didn't even know them very well and they have been really nice to let us come and stay at their place, even while they're away for a few days as well. They are from Brisbane and are a few years older, all good rugby players and such apparenly, two of them are studying on exchange from UQ over here and the other two managed to get jobs coaching the college uni team they play for. We got in yesterday afternoon after about a 10 hr bus ride from New York. Must admit that a few dark jokes were passed around in reference to the Canadian bus experience that made worldwide headlines in the recent months. One was at a point when everyone was hungry because we didn't take much food, I stated to Alyson, "their is plenty of food around you." You really have to be in a strange mood to enjoy that one so sorry to those who found it inconsiderate/disrespectful. On the bus trip we passed through a lot of beautiful scenery, some really spectacular colourful landscapes with all the Autumn trees in bloom or dying.
Montreal has a massive French influence, not so much an influence as opposed to it is French. Never knew just how much it was, because most places i've been to that have had French influences in the past just have some cool architecture ie. Hoi An in Vietnam or Akaroa in NZ. Here everyone actually speaks French as well, big step up; however everyone can also speak English so it's not that different. I really wish we actually had a system in Australia where we properly learnt another language, wasn't just the bludge subject at school. Makes you feel quite stupid when everyone you meet travelling has at least two languages in their repetoire.
Back to these fetching lads. Well last night after we arrived here on the bus we got straight to it. Headlong into the bachelor lifestyle, first thing we did was go and get beer, then after this go and get cheap thai down the road, was very good actually. Then we started drinking.
Had a very good night actually, we had a few quick ones to catch up before we headed out. I think we left here at like 11.30. They have a really good location with their place, were very fortunate to get it apparently. So it wasn't a long walk to the main strip where all the clubs and pubs are. First place we went into had vouchers for free shots. When we went in their it was empty and we managed to rig the system without any effort at all and we all managed to get lots of free shots in the end. They were half shots, and then half oj, went down very well. I honestly got about 6 or 7, it was crazy. The girls and myself definately felt we were doing fine on the drinks side of things you know, woudln't need anymore for a good long whilebecause this was my first big night out in a long time due to saving every penny before the trip. But the next place we went into the bachelor lads found a deal that they couldn't refuse and we all put in for 15 shots for 30$. We were saying no but it happened anyhow haha. So it ended up being quite a big night really. So that was a fun night indeed, don't you worry mum, i reserved some brain cells for the future, sacrificing only the unnecessary ones would you believe.
Today we went with the boys for a bit of sightseeing. We went down to the Old Port area. It's a beautiful city Montreal and this area is particularly splendid. The trees are so incredible when they are all different colours of autumn. We had lunch at a crepe resteraunt which was a bit pricier than we would usually opt but it was worth it. They were absolutely beautiful and i wanted them because i had to try the Maple syrup in it's home country of course. Aly had a spinach, swiss and bechamel cheese for a savoury flavour. I indulged in toffee and icecream upon which i added Maple Syrup! It was delicious, by the end of it i was actually quite sickened; very happy however, very happy.
Alyson, Rachel and myself have just returned back from a college Ice Hockey game. It's such a great sport, i really wish that i understood more of the rules though. Very aggressive and it's on ice, great combinations. Aly was actually very intent on watching which was interesting, guess it hales back to her field hockey days; good to see her so interested in a sport. In the end the opposing team one with a goal in the last few mins to take it to 2-1. McGill is the uni that these guys go too. I had some pizza and a beer at the game and we all shared some popcorn too which was sweet. Aly had a hotdog, very US like.
Quick touch up on the last few days in NY. The main big thing was going to the top of the Empire State Building, which we did at night. It was such an awesome view. You can see for ages, and all that way is lights. Its such a big place it is just breathtaking. Also we went to the Magnolia Bakery where the girls in Sex & City go to. So again that was a big thing for the girls. They got many cupcakes from there and i was very into the white chocolate fudge brownie, quite divine.
Saturday, October 4, 2008
Recent Events
Yesterday there were numerous things that happened of course, can't state or remember all of them but the main thing was that we had a wonderful explore around NY again, finding different places at every corner. It's really great if your just wandering and enjoying the sights, but it's so difficult if you actually want to navigate in this Massive(necessary capital M) city because every single street looks so different. Your only a street away from where you were before but you don't really have a clue. The signs say your in the right place, and you know your near, but somehow you can't find it and you get sidetracked and things very frequently. It's mainly hard to navigate because there are so many tall buildings that you can't see what the next street is going to look like. We went to lots of great places though, there is an awesome suburb called SOHO. Very cool little area which has some paved streets and things and everything just feels special. Also where Heath Ledger used to own an apartment which the girls love to discuss. At night we remembered that the Museums are free entry on friday nights, but we only rememberd this late in the day and we had to get back in time to sign in again because we have a different room for the last 5 nights when Rachel will be here. So we tried to rush back and sign in quickly and then headed back out to the city in search of the Museum of Modern Art, MOMA but by the time we got to its area it was quarter to 8 and it closes at 8. We still had a very nice time walking around Time Square at night and things which is awesome, very colourful and busy.
Rachel arrived today and we had a good time walking down the length of Manhattan once again from where we are posted on 118th down to the bottom. The ladies had a lot to winge about though i must say, an amazingly numerous reocurrence this is becoming. Still, again i'll admit we did walk quite along way, particularly after we've done it three days in a row for Aly and I, dunno why Rachel was joining in haha.
Have made a couple of purchases between us now, after looking in about 30 shoe stores I have made a shoe purchase, bought a very cool pair of Retro style Reeboks. It's actually not quite as good as I would have hoped the shoe shopping, mainly cause Footlocker.com is so good and cheap. They're really cool though and still an awesome price. And it is good I lie, if i didn't have tyo worry about bag space, and money for the end of the trip, I would ahve bought at least 10 pairs. Aly bought a very nice pair of Leather boots also, they'll last her along time and look very good. And today I purchased a very nice long coat from a second hand store in midtown somewhere. Got it for quite an incredible deal cause it was from a very nice store when it was new. Very happy with it, have wanted one of these coats for some time now.
Today we also visited Ground Zero, it's incredibly tragic but also too difficult to comprehend that the two largest buildings in NY used to be located at that spot. Also we didn't really find the massive memorial i was expecting, there was a little bit but not that much.
Also Alyson got some things from American Apparel which is good because Rachel works their and was able to provide her with some discounting.
Tommorow we are hopeful to make it to the Staten Island ferry, it's likely we'll make it cause we're going to rely on Subway, not Legs this time.
Rachel arrived today and we had a good time walking down the length of Manhattan once again from where we are posted on 118th down to the bottom. The ladies had a lot to winge about though i must say, an amazingly numerous reocurrence this is becoming. Still, again i'll admit we did walk quite along way, particularly after we've done it three days in a row for Aly and I, dunno why Rachel was joining in haha.
Have made a couple of purchases between us now, after looking in about 30 shoe stores I have made a shoe purchase, bought a very cool pair of Retro style Reeboks. It's actually not quite as good as I would have hoped the shoe shopping, mainly cause Footlocker.com is so good and cheap. They're really cool though and still an awesome price. And it is good I lie, if i didn't have tyo worry about bag space, and money for the end of the trip, I would ahve bought at least 10 pairs. Aly bought a very nice pair of Leather boots also, they'll last her along time and look very good. And today I purchased a very nice long coat from a second hand store in midtown somewhere. Got it for quite an incredible deal cause it was from a very nice store when it was new. Very happy with it, have wanted one of these coats for some time now.
Today we also visited Ground Zero, it's incredibly tragic but also too difficult to comprehend that the two largest buildings in NY used to be located at that spot. Also we didn't really find the massive memorial i was expecting, there was a little bit but not that much.
Also Alyson got some things from American Apparel which is good because Rachel works their and was able to provide her with some discounting.
Tommorow we are hopeful to make it to the Staten Island ferry, it's likely we'll make it cause we're going to rely on Subway, not Legs this time.
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