Edinburgh

Last week, my family was in town and we headed up to Edinburgh, Scotland via train. We got some Brit Rail passes which allow you to travel anywhere you want in the UK via train at no additional charge for the period of time you purchase the pass. It's a bit expensive but ends up being a good deal due to the high cost of train fares in the UK. On our journey, we had an inside view on Santa's whereabouts. It appears that in this modern age he has given up the reindeer and is going with a helecopter. Indeed, he waved to us from the helecopter.

We got to see Edinburgh Castle as well as taking a trip down the "Royal Mile." The Royal Mile is where lots of the city's historical events took place. One highlight was getting a picture at Adam Smith's grave, the father of modern Economics. (You know the supply/demand concept? He's the one who first presented the idea formally in his book The Wealth of Nations.)

On the trip, I also discovered the brilliance of scarves. I got a Scottish made lambs wool scarf and found that it keeps one quite warm by cutting the wind and providing general toastiness.


Me and Adam Smith

Edinburgh Castle at Night

Edinburgh Castle Canon (interestingly, it's never been used. There is a modern canon fired from the castle daily at 1 pm to give the ships in the harbor a signal to set their clocks by.)

More pictures posted here.

Photography Tip #2

There is a general rule of thumb in photography called the "Rule of Thirds," which can help improve the quality of a picture. The basic concept is to imagine there is a 3x3 grid laying on top of the frame. When lining up the picture, center the picture in such a way that the intersection of the imaginary lines have points of interest from the picture. This helps to give a good balanced view of the photo and focuses the eye on natural division points in the picture. For example, if you have a picture of three basketballs lined up in a row, try to line up a seperate ball on each intersection.

Mississippi Squirrel Revival

Check out this funny Ray Stevens song and the lyrics.

Photography Tip #1

Identify your subject and zoom in on it. People sometimes make the mistake of placing a person they're taking a picture of way far back in a picture of some giant piece of architecture such as the Eiffel tower or Big Ben. Bring the subject closer to the camera and have the background be the background. The viewer of the picture wants to see the subject up close and the fact that they were in relative close proximity to the sight.

Cameras

If you're looking into getting a for real camera, let me know and I can give you some tips. Going down either the route of nice point and shoot or DSLR are both valid options when going digital. If DSLR is the route for you, I'd recommend either going with Canon or Nikon. Once you choose one or the other, it's kind of like getting married. They make all the lenses/appliances within a family. So you begin investing in the family and the greater the investment, the tougher it is to switch from an escalation of commitment standpoint.

I went the way of Canon but Nikon has very good equipment as well. Not that other camera companies don't have good products; it's more that Canon and Nikon are top grade and have lots of support and availability to purchase parts/get service.

Again, not necessarily trying to push towards DSLR as one can take some very nice pictures with point and shoot cameras. They've become much more advanced to the point where you can do almost as much with some point and shoots as DSLRs or SLRs. Photography really is an art and takes a certain amount of natural ability in having an eye for things. There are definitely principles to keep in mind and the more you do it, as in anything, the better you get. Probably way more than you wanted to know. :-)

Tech Tip

When in Internet Explorer, to quickly go to the address bar without taking your hands off the keyboard, press alt + d. This will highlight whatever is in the address bar and allow you to enter the next destination, surfing fractionally quicker.

Dublin

This past weekend, I made a short hop, skip, and jump on over to the isle of the leprechauns. While I didn't see any of the wee folk, I did get to see and experience some neat stuff. First, I took a tour around the city on a bus which had commentary on Irish history and the various sites. I've done a tour such as this twice and found it to provide a good broad feel for the city. It helps in getting the lay of the land and figuring out where things are prior to doing some detailed investigation on foot.

Before researching the trip, I didn't realize that Ireland has only been an autonomous country since 1921 when it ratified the Anglo-Irish Treaty. Previously, it was a part of the United Kingdom. Northern Ireland which is still on the same island as the Republic of Ireland chose to remain a part of the UK and as such is a separate country.

After the bus tour, I took a brief tour at the Guinness factory. This is similar to the World of Coke museum in Atlanta. Interestingly, the Guinness family has given away lots of money to help maintain or build churches. I then went and checked out Dublin castle. There are lots of government offices located here so it is not quite as castlesque as one might anticipate. The Chester Beatty library is located adjacent to the castle and has a plethora of old books and manuscripts.

It was then on to check out St. Patrick's cathedral. The cathedral is allegedly built on the site of St. Patrick's original church building when he came to Ireland in the 5th century A.D. I also went to Christ Church Cathedral and actually attended a singing service. The acoustics were quite nice even with a small choir.

On Saturday evening, I went on a musical pub crawl which was one of the highlights of my trip. A couple professional musicians (fiddler/percussionist and guitarist) gave a nice synopsis of traditional Irish music as well as humor and various bits of Irish trivia. They played a bunch of Irish folk songs and taught us a few which we sang along with. Towards the end of the evening, they issued what is known as the "local call" during which the audience members are requested to share a song from their home country. Not one to shy away, I volunteered and played a rendition of "Sweet Home Alabama." Playing in an actual Irish pub was a very cool experience.

I also got to see the "Book of Kells" which were a couple of ancient manuscripts of the Bible in Latin written in the 8th century. The pages were decorated with ornate illustrations. The exhibit had other old manuscripts as well. Apparently, many times they used cow hide as a parchment.

Another museum that I checked out was a Viking exhibit. The Vikings invaded and lived in Dublin back in the early part of the 2nd millennium. They were known as Danes when not on warring raids and Vikings when conducting activities of battle. A misconception is that they did not wear the horned helmets which people commonly associate with them but rather a leather helmet. The food in the couple pubs I ate in was quite tasty as well. I had beef pie for one meal, salmon for another and lots of potatoes. Yum! Someday, I'd like to go back and check out the countryside which is supposed to be very beautiful.

Unfortunately, I left the battery to my camera sitting in the charger in my flat in London. I did, however, get a disposable camera and will at some point upload pictures after getting them developed and scanned.

Threadless.com

This site, Threadless.com, has lots of funny and/or random shirts. My personal favorites are Darth Vader trimming the hedges and the Bicycle Miles Per Gallon infinity shirts.

London Carolers

This evening while on the way for a brief run in Hyde Park, I heard the unmistakable sound of Carolers sing-sing-singing. I couldn't pass up the opportunity to join them in hearty melody. We sang "Silent Night" and "The 12 Days of Christmas."

Sunrise, sunset swiftly flow the days

Currently, the projected sunrise and subsequent sunset in London are scheduled for 7:48 am and 3:53 pm. I'm told the day will get progressively shorter. 8 hours of sunlight seems such a short period of time. By sunlight, I mean lighter than night since many times the clouds cover the sun for a large portion of the day. It's strange to look out the window at 4:15 in the afternoon and see things all dark. And we're not talking the sun's just started going down. By that time, it's down for a long winter's nap.

British Museum

Today, I spent a bit of time at the British Museum which has an extensive collection of artifacts from all eras. Two notable items I saw were the Rosetta Stone (which the British absconded with following military actions with France in the early 1800s) and parts of the Parthenon. No, I did not make a quick trip to Athens. A man with the named Lord Elgin obtained these parts of the Parthenon back a couple hundred years ago. This was accomplished with permission from the authorities though some felt they should remain with the original structure. On the other side, the pieces were likely preserved much better in the British Museum rather than face damage from vandalism and weather.

I also went and watched the ACC championship game at a BBQ place called BoDean's owned by a guy from Kansas City so you know it was some classic KC style cooking.

Current listening: Licoln Bruster: Let the Praises Ring



This is a nice picture of Regent's Park in Autumn bloom.

Normandy

On the second day of our journey to France, we took a train from Paris to Caen which is the closest major city to the beaches of Normandy where D-Day occurred on June 6, 1944. We rented a car which allowed us to explore at our own pace. We started out at Sword beach on the east side of the beach and worked our way toward Omaha beach on the west side. (Normandy is on the north side of France facing the English Channel) Click here and scroll down just a bit for a map of Normandy. It was amazing seeing this place where so much bloodshed and destruction occurred. In contrast to the violence which occurred, the country side is quite beautiful with many quaint villages along the way.

Looking out into the water, I tried to imagine the 5000 some odd ships which would have been facing the beaches. As we progressed along the coast, we stopped at a place called Aromanches where the British forces built a temporary harbor to assist in bringing supplies/forces from the ships to the land. This allegedly played a critical role in the invasion.

At various places along the 40 kilometer route, we stopped at the actual sites where the battle was fought. We saw enormous guns used to fire on ships, bunkers (some intact some very damaged), pill boxes, and assorted damage to the land. We were able to actually walk inside some of the German bunkers. You could very clearly see the damage to the bunkers resulting from airplane and ship bombardment.

Pont du Hoc on Omaha Beach was a major part of the battle where American troops climbed the cliffs and took on the German forces. I previously had no real concept of D-Day and what it might have been like. Seeing the cliffs and beaches in person helped me to realize the enormous odds stacked against any solider trying to attack from below on the beaches. These were truly heroes with tremendous bravery. All over the ground at Pont du Hoc were gigantic holes and depressions into the ground resulting from bombs.

The most somber and sobering part of the day was when we spent some time at the American cemetery where there are 9600+ graves each with a soldiers name on it. Standing in the cemetery was almost overwhelming. The sheer emotion and realization of the massive sacrifice of life was definitely apparent. Next time you see a veteran, thank them for their service. War is a terrible thing and it was very much realized in that place.

After departing from the beaches, we had a meal in a small town called Bayeux and made our way back to Caen for our trip home to Paris. We were sure to check the last departing train time during the day which was indicated as 9:30 pm. However, this was not the case. Apparently, the 9:30 train only leaves from Caen to Paris on Sunday night. So, we ended up spending the night in Caen arising at 4:45 am and getting on a 5:15 am train to Paris. Not the most fun way to spend one's last night in France but provided fodder for stories to tell later on.






For more pictures please click here.

Bonjour

Recently, my friends Kevin and Matt came to visit from Kansas City. After several days of showing them around London, we went on an excursion to France. Paris is quite close to London and due to the proximity, a train ride is entirely feasible. The chunnel goes under the English channel for around 20 minutes with the total commute from London to Paris being 2 hours and 20 minutes.

My knowledge of French is extremely limited but prior to departure, I consulted with some native French speakers at work. During the trip, I practiced essential phrases such as Combien ca coute? (How much does it cost) Bonjour, Merci, Excusem moi and counting to 10. The lady I sat next to was a native of Paris and she informed me of the reason Paris is known as the "City of Lights." This pseudonym comes from Paris's distinction as being the first city to light up the major sites around the city at night.

We arrived in Paris on Monday night around 10:00 pm. After attempting to say in French "can you take us to our hotel," the driver took a look at the name and location of the hotel and called a compatriot who gave presumably better directions than those I printed off from the internet. The driver spoke virtually no English but as a fellow classical music connoisseur, we proceeded to say composer's names to each other with smiles and nods. "Beethoven, Bach, List, Berlioz, Handel, Debussy."

The hotel room was quite small with room for precisely three small beds and littel more space. But who's looking for luxurious accommodations when you're in a great city to explore in? We got up early the next morning and headed into town on the underground train which had a stop just outside our hotel's front door.

We were well armed with an itinerary thanks to Frommers.com. I highly recommend their advice for any city you'll be travel to for sightseeing. They have excellent general overviews of the city, recommended itineraries, reviews of top sites, eating, and basic getting around information.

Our first stop was the Louvre which for some unexplained reason was closed on a Tuesday. We took a picture and promptly set off for the Seine river. The Seine and its accompanying river walk is quite beautiful especially with the changing autumn leaves. We then went to Pont Neuf, Vert-Galant Square, and Place Dauphine each of which offered nice general views of the city and some of its sights.

The next major place we visited was Sainte Chapelle, a Gothic chapel with beautiful stained glass windows all around. Stained glass windows literally covered all the walls in a brilliant array of colors with each window pane telling a portion of the Biblical account. As a side note, we learned that sometimes stained glass windows were used to help those who could not read still see and understand stories from the Bible.

Shortly after, we wandered through the Latin Quarter on our way to Notre Dame. Restaurant proprietors stood in the doorways inviting us to try their fares. However, we put lunch on hold until after Notre Dame.

Notre Dame was my favorite site in Paris. It has beautifully intricate Gothic architecture and is magnificent both inside and out. The cathedral was finished in the 1200s and took approximately 80 years to complete. Inside it was very beautiful but dark and tall at the same time. We were there during a Mass which was in French and that we clearly could not understand. Kevin and I climbed to the top via stairs and were greeted by stunning views of the city as well as some interesting gargoyles and statues on top.

After a lunch at a kebab shop in the Gothic Quarter, it was on to Place de la Concorde which contains a large obelisk allegedly built in 1200 B.C. We made this journey on foot which though a bit laborious, seemed more reliable to the newbie than the underground train system. I'm sure the train system works well for those who know its ins and outs but it did not seem as intuitive as the London Tube system.

We then made our way down the Champs de Elysees, Paris's most famous boulevard. Each summer the Tour de France participants race down Champs de Elysees on international television. The focal point of the avenue is the Arc de Triumphe which is 49 meters tall. Continuing our foot journey, we made our way to the Effiel Tower for a view of Paris's most visible landmark. It is 317 meters tall and one must get quite far away to take an adequate picture. Unfortunately, my wide angle lense stopped working so I had to take two shots of the tower with my telephoto lense. The Eiffel Tower was built in 1889 for the World's Fair and remained the tallest building in the world until the completion of the Chrysler Building in New York was built in 1930. Kevin and I took an elevator to the top for a view over the entire city. This completed the first day. The second day we went to Normandy which I will discuss in a separate entry.

On the third day, the main site we saw was Sacre Cuer which is a beautiful basilica with another superb view of the city. Inside a choir was singing and the effect was one of reverence. The stated mission of the church is for worldwide prayer and intercession. The rest of the day was spent exploring the city a bit more then making our way back to the train station for the return to London.

Overall, the food in France was excellent. I had crepes on a couple occasions as wells as multiple tasty pastries. I'm not a big fan of cheese but was equally impressed with the quality. I'd place it on a completely separate level to that which I've previously tasted. The French can definitely cook.











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Goderade

"Whoever drinks of the water that I will give him shall never thirst; but the water that I will give him will become in him a well of water springing up to eternal life." -John 4:14

The things of the world have a tendency to cause thirst whether new or revisted. Drink daily from the water of Christ and be quenched of worldly thirst. Make Him your "Goderade."

Barcelona

Hola. Buenos Dias. Me gusta Barcelona. Porque no todos amigos y familia hablan Espanol, escribo en Ingles. My trip to Barcelona was muy bien. I enjoyed experience the culture there. One suprise was that Barcelona is essentially the capital of Catalonya which is kind of a nation within the country of Spain. They understand Spanish there but the primary language is Catalonian. When I arrived at the airport I was looking around at signs seeing a language that had some similarities to Spanish but was unfamiliar. I was thinking "um, what exactly does that say? I thought I was in Spain but that's not Spanish." It turns out that signs in public places like train stations, museums many times are listed with Catalonian boldly displayed and Spanish and English with less prominent positions on the signage.

The Spanish I learned in high school is not pronounced the same way as the traditional Spanish pronunciation. For example, the "s" in the word for school, "escuela", in Spain is pronounced with a "th" instead of the "es" that was taught in my classes. I found in heavily tourist areas that vendors usually just spoke English to me instead of helping me along with my broken Spanish. While this might be good for someone who doesn't care to practice, it was a bit frustrating to me because I wanted to practice using the language. I did have many opportunities to use it as well. I successfully talked my way out of a misunderstanding at the museum, purchased stamps, took a taxi to the hotel, purchased lunch on several occasions, and mailed some post cards all using Spanish. I also met a guy from Columbia on the plane and spoke a good deal of Spanish to him. (actually sat by the same hombre on the way there and back)

While my vocabulary is not what it could be, I've decided that I could definitely survive in a totally Spanish speaking environment if needed. Things don't come as quickly in Spanish but after a few days you start picking up on things. I even began to try to translate every object or word into Spanish. For a brief time when I started reading a book in English, I found myself still trying to think of the Spanish word.

Overall, I feel that the American culture would do well to learn more languages. Many people throughout the world can speak multiple languages. Knowing another language helps open up a new venue for communication and broadens one's horizons. Even if one does not become fluent, a basic understanding is good to have.

I arrived in Barcelona around 11pm at night but after a 15-20 minute taxi ride, arrived at my hotel. It was a very nice 4 star hotel which I found on the Internet for a reasonable price. One downside was the distance from the middle of the city. It took around an hour via tram and train to get to Las Ramblas which is in the center.

The first morning, I went into the city and began by walking down Las Ramblas. This is a street where they have tons of vendors, mimes, street performers and mostly where all the fast paced action happens. I also wandered around the Bari Gotic which has some really cool Gothic architecture. Another stop the first day included the Barcelona Cathedral. This is an enormous cathedral which has very nice stain glass windows, architecture, statues, and its very own gaggle of geese inside. I also stopped by a basilica called Santa Maria del Pi.

At the bottom of Las Ramblas close to the harbor, there is a monument of Christopher Columbus. I rode the elevator to the top and looked out over the harbor and the city. I then rode the funicular (basically a tram) up to the top of Mount Juic and got to see the Olympic stadium and former Olypic torch. Wandering served me well that evening as I wandered down to the Font Magica (Magic Fountain) which is a series of water falls flowing down and ended with a nearby fountain. The fountain has lights and water shooting all over with coreographed classical music. This over looks the city and provides a beautiful view. I highly recommend this as something to do if you're ever in Barcelona.

On the second day, I checked out the Picasso museum. It was structured more towards exploring his art throughout his life vis a vis just his well known cubist phase. He was quite talented at the more traditional styles of painting and drawing. I did some more wandering around the city and took some pictures of one of the many street performers playing guitar as well as a guy playing the glass harp (glasses filled with water) I went to La Sagrada Familia, a cathedral by the famous architect Gaudi, that has not yet been completed (estimated completion in 2025). I'm not one to be scared of heights but after taking the elevator to the top of this enormous structure definitely had a bit of nervousness. It is currently 60 meters (197 feet). It provided a terrific view of the city and I was up there close to sunset so had the added benefit of the extra color in the sky. I finished the day with a walk along the beach. There aren't really any waves that I could tell but that may change depending on weather.

On a couple occasions, I got some helado (ice cream) called frambuesa which was very good kind of tropical flavored. I also sampled some canella which provided a rich taste very similar to cinnamon.

I found a small bakery close to my hotel which had some really good pastries for a very reasonable price compared to some of the prices for things in the city. One day I went there and had breakfast, read my Bible, and wrote in my journal. The bakeries throughout the city had very high quality food and are another of my recommendations. Another classic Spanish dish is paella. It is a rice base with vegetables and possibly a small quantity of meat depending on the dish. Quite tasty.

The last day, I went to Parc Guell a park designed by Gaudi. This has some odd art/structures in it. I was not as impressed with the Park as I had anticipated being. There was some nice live jazz music put on by a guitarist and saxophonist at the top of the park. I also got a humorous picture of a sign on a nearby house indicating "if it's tourist season then why can't we shoot them."

I also went up to the top of Montjuic once more to see the Spanish fortress over looking the city and Mediterannean. In my opinion, this was probably the best view in the whole city and consequently spent a decent amount of time at the top. I closed the trip out by checking out the cathedral Santa Maria delMar then heading back to the hotel to grab my bag and head to la aeuropuerta. My flight arrived back in London at 12:15 am on Halloween and I had my second experience on the London bus system in the middle of the night. Not that the bus is bad, I've just become accustomed to traveling via the tube.









More pictures at the following links:
Day 1
Day2
Day3

Happy Guy Fawkes Day

Happy Guy Fawkes Day! Here in the UK they celebrate Guy Fawkes day. This is in memory of November 5th 400 years ago when Guy Fawkes and some of his buddies tried to blow up the Parliment building with the members of parliment and King James I inside. They were caught, tortured, and hung. (Guy Fawkes & co. that is)

To be honest, I think the celebration is just an excuse to shoot off fireworks and blow things up. They obviously don't observe the US holiday of the 4th of July so this is somewhat of an equivalent. I went to Battersea Park where allegedly the best display is put on. It was correographed to music and was quite good. As a side note, Guy Fawkes is alluded to in the movie V for Vendetta. Haven't personally seen it but it supposedly has a similar theme of rising up against the man.






More pictures viewable here

The Wave

We'd like to pause for a moment of reflection as we've arrived at the 25th anniversary of The Wave. This popular sports phenomena was first started 25 years ago at a playoff game between the Oakland A's and New York Yankees. See here for more details.

John Wesley, Les Miserables

This past weekend I went to visit the Wesley Cathedral in London. It is where the Methodist church got its start with John Wesley and his friends as the founding fathers. He lived in a house immediately next to the chapel and was known to be a well traveled preacher. He would preach most anywhere he could get an audience- often times in an open air environment. They had several artifacts including Wesley's traveling preaching Bible on display. The chapel had very nice stain glass windows. At the time it was built, it had the largest unsupported ceiling in London. The posts originally used for the balcony were former ship masts.

I also had the opportunity to attend the musical Les Miserables www.lesmis.com in the West End. It is the longest running at 21 straight years. Once again, the performance including acting/singing/costumes/set design were all outstanding. The story is quite impactful with Jean Valjean beginning as a criminal, coming to repentence, becoming a respectable citizen, and saving more than one person along the way from peril. He is plagued through out the musical by Javert a police man who wants to put Jean ValJean back in prison for breaking parole despite his demonstrated years of honest upstanding citizenship and service to society.

A parallel can be drawn between ValJean and the follower of Christ. While once a sinner, he came to repetence and became a new man. Javert can be seen as representative of Satan in that he continuously tries to assert Jean ValJean's guilt and insist that "a man such as you can never change." ValJean fights against this idea and clings to righteousness.

John Wesley related pictures: http://new.photos.yahoo.com/aallen30605/album/576460762331437211#page1

Hipster Haiku

If you ever see the book Hipster Haiku by Siobhan Adcock, Look inside for my name. Allegedly it should be in there as a runner up in the haiku contest sponsored by Gotham Writer's workshop. www.writingclasses.com My haiku is a part of a previous post at: http://aallen820.blogspot.com/2006/05/haiku.html.

Wimbledon

This weekend, I went to Wimbledon. http://www.wimbledon.org/en_GB/index.html Mind you the tournament is in the summer but it was still very cool to take the tour and check out the museum. They even had a 3d video image of John McEnroe which gave a tour of the locker room and sundry memories of the great moments in Wimbledon history.

During the winter the grass at Wimbledon is kept at 15 mm, 12 mm in the summer, and 8 mm during the tournament. One interesting note is that foxes live in the complex. You can see the electric fence in the WimbledonCourtNumber1 picture which keeps them off of the court. Due to construction which will create a removable roof on Centre Court, we did not get to actually go inside the court but did get to go inside Court Number 1 which holds around 12,000 people.

I got my picture in the chair/room which the players are interviewed in following the matches. Following the tour, I stopped off at the restaurant for some traditional strawberries and cream, a standard dish at Wimbledon.

See pictures of Wimbledon at: http://new.photos.yahoo.com/aallen30605/album/576460762325194963#page1