london

on tuesday i purchased 'battle studies' by john mayer for an exorbitant price at the local record store. it is a good one, pretty chill and maybe a bit more serious, still good and worth it though. on wednesday, i baked a delicious meat pie, tourtiere as it is called in french canada. and attempted lemon meringue but that was a failure, i will work on that one, still baking is not my area of expertise.

left for london on friday night after work. it was a logistical nightmare, i hate flying out of basel and the basel airport on cheap airlines like ryan air and easy jet. it takes ~1.5 hours to get to the basel airport on train+bus. then 'jamming' to get on the plane cause there are no assigned seats. the flight is only 1:10 or so. london gatwick is a ~45 minute + ~20 pound train to the city center. between leaving work and getting to our hostel, took about 6 hours. next time, flying out of zurich to london heathrow, on british airways or swiss air, i will pay the extra little bit for a little more quality.

in any case, london was absolutely amazing. like one of my favorite places so far. threw down our stuff at the hostel, it was chris' birthday on the friday actually, so had to go out, there was no other choice. met up with rachel who got there earlier in the day and her two friends that are living there, it was very much appreciated as well to have locals show us around. proceeded to eat some MACdonalds which was probably a poor decision, and then wandered the streets of london essentially to get to this one bar. got there at around 2, drum and bass was playing, the tube doesn't start running till about 6, so there was no choice but to stay out until about 7 am. great decision. woke up the next day, went to the natural history museum, there was a skating rink outside, it was funny watching people skate. pretty clear why canada vs. england in hockey has never happened. the natural history museum was so awesome. animals, nature, dinosaurs, pretty much just everything that is awesome that exists was in there. spent a good long time hanging out in there, it was very very cool. after the museum we went out to eat at this local pub, it was kind of out of the way but very nice, the food was just very, very solid. just good, proper food, i got a steak, there was a meat pie, and fish and chips. nothing special, i love just good food though. after this pub, we headed over to camden market, this big permanent outdoor/indoor market that i'm pretty sure sold everything, and it was about infinitely big. vintage clothes, shoes, bags, hats, everything for cheap too. we were only there for a couple hours, although if we had stayed longer, i would have likely bought 100x more stuff. so cool. smelled like food too. good food that was available for reasonable prices, like 3 pounds ~= 5 chf maybe. man, i would go back to london just for proper food. also had a starbucks latte, not like i love starbucks that much or anything, but for 2 pounds ~= 3 chf it was actually reasonable rather than the 7 chf that you would pay in zurich. after the market was a theatre show. took the tube to picadilly circus, there were just a ton of people there. i guess it's supposed to be pretty much like times square so yea there were a lot of people. the show was very good, Avenue Q, it's like an adult version of sesame street, pretty inappropriate but hilarious and very well done. seeing as the previous night had been a late/early? one, just headed back to sleep after the show.

the sunday morning we walked through hyde park, just this big park with trees and a ton of squirrels. lots of people walking their very english looking dogs. guards riding horses. overcast day. very nice walk. went to join this free walking tour of all the palaces and such. got devastated by an intense rainstorm. finished the tour. saw most of the sights. went shopping a bit more. got ready to catch the tube to the heathrow airport to go home that night. yup, pretty much just did not make it to the airport on time at all. completely missed the flight. luckily, there was a little bit of confusion with the flight time etc., and the very nice british airways man changed our tickets to the monday morning free of charge. what a nice guy. british airways is pretty classy. so is the heathrow airport. so rachel calls up her friend and she lets us stay over at her house for the night. went and got some greasy chinese take away. it was probably not the greatest, but i haven't had black bean sauce in forever so it was pretty good. woke up early the next morning just to make sure not to miss the plane this time. ate breakfast and had a pint of cider at the airport. it was great.

just a great trip, read a paper on the way back, missed doing that. understanding what people say, reading signs, doing a crossword, i miss just being able to speak to people. definitely want to go back.

callouses on my fingertips, guitar is so fun. i would rather do that than sitting at work right now.

guitar

last week after coming back from berlin was for the most part pretty relaxed. went to a wine tasting on boats in zurich on wednesday, that was very good. i really like wine now. i feel like it's an extension of loving food, i can honestly say that i can smell and taste a lot of flavours in good wine. that was pretty fun.

went out to zurich again on thursday, looked for more shoes, ate the worst piece of pizza i have ever had from some really sketchy place. and then went and ate some good indian food after which made up for it. also reserved trains for my christmas trip, i am really excited for that now actually. vienna, budapest, and prague. looong train rides, but with great company, it will be awesome i know already.

friday was a big birthday party at one of the intern houses. it was a great party. like one of the best house parties ever.

saturday, went to this photo exposition just here in baden, stayed only for a little while cause it was in german - i would have really really enjoyed it i think if i understood what was going on. but saw some new cameras and massive lens and some pretty good photography so that was good enough. then went out to zurich on a mission to find a guitar, which i did, and i got. i am so excited to learn to play, my fingers hurt already but i like it. also tried to find a ski shop to rent skis, but me and chris obviously didn't write down directions or addresses, being the men that we are. so we just wandered around zurich hardbrucke for awhile, it was a beautiful day though so i wasn't fazed at all. going home through zurich, we walked down by the lake and saw the alps in behind zurichersee. very cool, reminds me a lot of how you can see the rockies on the horizon from calgary...

yesterday i made some butternut squash soup, and it was pretty good. new john mayer album tomorrow, i am also excited for that.

going to london this weekend, should be fun!

berlin

last week there was a small christmas market in baden, just alongthe main street badstrasse and there were a lot of stands selling stuff like mittens and sweets like candied almonds and gingerbread and stuff like that, it was very cool, looking forward to going to a big christmas market in germany in a little while.



went to berlin on friday after work from basel, about an hour and a half flight. got there at night, went to the hostel, took awhile cause the s-bahn was a little messed up just then. walked to the reichstag at night, stood in line for a bit, but it was very awesome going up there at night. mirrors, glass, windows, view of the city at night. so it was the 20th anniversary of the fall of the berlin wall so there as just a ton of stuff set up around brandenburg gate, it was very very cool. something once in a lifetime for sure. proceeded to go eat some kebabs at 'pergamon bistro' where we would end up eating 90% of our meals in berlin. nothing better than 3 euro kebabs, that is about 4.50 chf which is less than half of what a 10 chf kebab is in switzerland. and also ate a currywurst as well as the kebab. it was alright, i expected better. come to think of it i also ate a falafel in addition to that as well. after dinner we pretty much started wandering around. somehow wandered into the most awesome art collective building ever. it's called 'tacheles' and it's an old building that artists have been squatting for years. randomly, we followed these people carrying old beat up brass instruments up these stairs in this completely graffiti-ed building. there were people selling stuff like clothes prints and jewellry, very very cool. i honestly was so taken away in this place. stood there and listened to the band play for a long time. somehow they were so good, so into it, just a great time. there were 4 floors i think in this place, we explored all of them. there was another band playing home pipe instruments including a homemade bagpipe. this other artist's exhibition was really just incredible as well. and just all over the place awesome graffiti. there are also two bars i think that are attached to this place.

the next day, got up and went on a free walking tour of the city. started by brandenburg gate, there were a lot of people there obviously for the whole event thing, but managed to get on the tour. walked around for a good 4.5 hours actually, but it was very good. lots of history, lots of stuff to see. cool city. went to the holocaust memorial again and went through the museum, it was pretty sobering but yea, should probably have gone through it. went for more food, obviously kebabs again, and then went out that night. didn't really stay out too late though.

sunday we went to go see the east side gallery, all of it had been freshly repainted - just a long section of the berlin wall that's now a big outdoor gallery, it was very cool, about the length of an interval between s-bahn stops. it was also pretty cold this weekend just throwing that out there. after this, we went to a great outdoor market, forget what it's called now, but there was a lot of just junk there, but also some really neat stuff. old cameras, food, i bought a couple t shirts, lots of socks, ate some corn. watched some random karaoke, started a dance party in a field with random speakers at 4:30 in the afternoon. it was great. didn't really do too much else this night, just hung out at the kebab place, wandered around some more - the next morning was getting up at 5:00am to get to the airport to get home, and then for work once getting back to baden at 9:30 am. but it was a really cool trip, nothing like i have ever seen before.

the city is somehow so "real". it's kinda dirty, artsy, grungy, just a lot of stuff has happened there, and it definitely shows still, but the people are cool, lots of arts and culture going on. yea, an interesting place, i feel like everyone should visit there.

nothing that special

last weekend was very relaxing. didn't really do too much, watched the movie "desparado" on friday, it is very ridiculous/good. went to zurich on saturday, walked around, ate some chestnuts, went shopping, there are some cool shops in the old town area of zurich. got a pair of shoes and a sweater. went home and made some noodles, hung out and drank some wine, went back out to zurich to find a halloween party, ended up just wandering around and getting lost and coming back late.

it was one of the best sundays ever, just really chill, went for a walk in the forest which is just beautiful now with all the fall colours and stuff.

went to go see rise against in zurich yesterday! one of my favorite bands and it was a good show in a small bar, it was a good time rockin out.

going to go bowling this week, and then berlin on the weekend!