Home again Home again, Jiggity Jig.

So for those who don't know, I once again walk among you. I have returned to seek my fortune and organize millions of photos. in that order.
i flew home on Friday, Canada Day, and immediately hopped a train to Kingston for some R and R at the cottage with family before tackling the scattered pieces of my life in Toronto.
We went to see some fireworks and thank god they were loud ones or else i would have been right out. i slept comfortably with the sound of the lake and the leaves rustling outside on the breeze and it was just what the doctor ordered. however, i found out that my dutch cell phone doesn't have to be on for the alarm to work and i was awakened rudely at 8am London time to my stupid "Get out of bed" song. at this point, i was mondo confused, a little panicked as well...but we made it through it. i was up early and was quickly joined by my aunt dee, uncle dan and parents for coffee on the dock. i love the cottage.
then my dad and i went for a really greasy breakfast at the local spoon, but it turned out my appetite hadn't made a complete recovery so i have to say that my performance was shameful. it was still enough fuel to make it through our morning bike ride. My uncle and cousin Garret came with us and we toured around the country side for a bit in the name of fun and fitness. once returned, naturally, we jumped in the lake. then beer of course.
after enough lazing around, it was time for lunch and then water skiing. yee haw! my cousins are outshowing me better and better every year. not that i am a great waterskier, i'm not, but it is always astonishing to me at how much they improve from the last time i was in the boat with them. Eric is even slaloming and he is only 10. i can't slalom...the though terrifies me.
of course, like all good things, it came to an end too fast. our last night we made a big dinner then played Cranium and had a good laugh at the world through the eyes of a 10-year old. there was a mix up between sigmund freud and sigfried and roy. we laughed our asses off and gave him the points anyway.
now i find myself in pickering working on the "recovery of my life" plan. yesterday was a pretty big day...bought myself a new bike, went to the dentist and handed in my course work so that maybe, just maybe, i can graduate. today, i am working on employment and obviously, personal administration so with any luck, i will hopefully have a decent photo update for you in the near future.
so that's that. the adventure ends...for now. already Maastricht seems so far away, but i have a feeling it will be an emotional afternoon as i sort through the photos. i am so glad i did this, and i would recommend it to anyone who asked. i had the time of my life and i wouldn't change a thing!
over and out.

London Calling

cliche title, so sue me.
So we left Barce and moved onto London...out of the sun and into the fog. consequently, we were both a little glum on the first day. i was a little overwhelmed on top of that as well. i think it hit me that it was all over as soon as i was back in an environment where i understand everything around me. i couldn't stop my eyes from looking at EVERYTHING, and i could understand peoples conversations and felt bad for listening...it was sensory overload. the first thing we did was take one of the double decker tours to see an overview of what we'd be dealing with. it was a cold rainy day, and at one point, we had the whole bus to ourselves. that was pretty damn cool: a private tour of london with our own private guide! we had thoroughly tired ourselves out by the finish of the tour, so we hit the sack at our hotel which i am not sure i would recommend. so that's all i will say about that.
the second day, we did the tourist thing and we saw a lot. first things first, hit the tower of london and i would really recommend it. it was really really cool. they had everything there: even the crown jewels and 400 year old armour and weaponry. it is all the real mccoy and right in front of your face and it was my favourite part for sure. plus, a member of the queen's body guard is your tour guide and they are quite interesting!
we then did a long walk of london stopping for refreshment at the very same establishment that has seen the likes of Chaucer, Shakespeare, Wilde and all the gang. It is something like 400 years old and the oldest pub in the world. we had cider. it felt like being on the wrong side of the velvet rope in a museum.
next stop: westminster abbey. how nuts is that place?! it is full of dead people and it is so crazy old. it doesn't look old, but you can definitely feel it. they have a seat for Canada in there which I thought was cool.
that night, i decided it was high time i caught up with Christian who was also in the London area. It turned out he was in town, not too far away watching Stars (Montreal based band...awesome!) perform at The Purple Turtle. Kim and I decided to join him there with Sarah, another former U of T rower. they're everywhere. it was a great show and Christian was doing some much needed unwinding, unfortunately, it didn't last long enough for my taste. i guess that's what you get for showing up 2 hours late. oops.
the next morning, Christian and I met at Millie's cookies for the train to Henley. The Royal Henley that is. What a day! I am so glad I went. Kim opted not to go and it is a good thing she did becuase she would have been bored out of her skull i think.I definitely had a rowing geek day. kim stayed tourist geek and saw some museums and the changing of the guard. I would argue that Henley IS a museum, but just so I could cross "Museum" off my London list, I went to the Rowing Museum on the Thames. sooo cool!! they had Olympic boats there from all generations, and all kinds of interesting artefacts. i was in heaven. then of course there was the rowing itself. we saw some good, some bad...had a nice breakfast too. which we washed down with a gin libation at 11am. yikes! but it was free...If you read Christian's blog, you can get all the info on the rowing that you could ever want. it is linked on the side bar.
the other "thing" about Henley is fashion. it is about seeing and being seen almost more than the rowing! you should have seen the hats!
kim and i successfully rendezvoused after our separate holidays and went to see Stomp to close off the trip. Then packing and bed. Friday was Canada Day and it had extra meaning this year!