My journey started directly from work. I had the pleasure of taking a 2009 BMW 750Li for the trip. This made the driving extremely enjoyable, comfortable, and easy.

The first leg was Ottawa to Kingston. I needed to stop into Kingston to pick up my tent and [...]]]> Last weekend was packed full of adventure.

My journey started directly from work. I had the pleasure of taking a 2009 BMW 750Li for the trip. This made the driving extremely enjoyable, comfortable, and easy.

The first leg was Ottawa to Kingston. I needed to stop into Kingston to pick up my tent and sleeping bag. When the 416 was nearing an end an unbelievable rain storm. Cars were slowing down to less than 80 km/h; some were pulling over. The rain sensing wipers were praised, and the 19″ V-spoke wheels kept me cruising without delay.

From Kingston I continued on to Toronto. It started to get quite sunny so I put the automatic rear sunshades up. With lane departure warning enabled, active cruise control with stop and go, and active blind spot detection the car basically drove itself. My overnight destination was One King West where I valet parked the car, naturally.

In Toronto that evening I met up with Mr. Keeves. He is confirmed to be alive and well. We met after he had finished working for the day, and we made our way to a microbrewery on Yonge St. This place had flammkuchen, a treat that I hadn’t had since leaving Germany. I had as close to traditional flammkuchen as possible–it was good, but not quite right.

The next morning I met Stephanie and Erin for a run. It was awesome to meet with them on such short notice. We ran through Mt. Pleasant cemetery, and along Yonge and St. Claire. At nice as the route was, the company was better. I had some 50% off fruit that I left with Stephanie. I wonder if she ate it.

I visited MEC, the CBC’s World Cup Street Party, and Starbucks before heading into traffic en route to the Niagara region. The traffic was surprisingly bad for a Saturday afternoon. This caused me to stop for some New York Fries–I’m not complaining about that. The best-in-class infotainment system in the BMW kept me on track, in contact, and entertained. It was a real joy even in traffic.

When I arrived to Eric’s parents’ place I met with Brunke and Rebecca then setup my tent. I have a super tent that virtually puts itself up, and does so in seconds. It didn’t take long, so we managed to get some joy riding in with the Bimmer. Scott had most of his fun with the active drive mode set to Sport+.

After a delicious meal at Casa B. we headed to the Thorold Legion for Eric and Tiffany’s “Stag and Doe”. I had committed that I would win a barbecue at this event but I did not. The barbecue in question was a Broil King Crown 10. I had quite bad luck at this event, actually: after spending around $200 I had no barbecue, no money, a “fun basket” prize, and I didn’t even save Tiffany from getting a pie in the face.

The drive back to the “campsite” was pretty nice. The girls in the back seat had the massage and heating features on. They were quiet and relaxed. The amount of stuff we comfortably fit in the trunk was also quite impressive.

Sunday morning was an amazingly complete breakfast followed by a trip to see Niagara Falls. I had never been. We spent $20 to park for 10 minutes to see water falling off a cliff. It was worth it to not have to make a special trip from Ottawa to see them again.

I left the Niagara region at about 13:30 and made it to Kingston at 17:00, in time for a steak dinner with family. It was amazing, but it disabled me for a short time due to being full. I left at around 21:00 and returned to Ottawa. I drove to Ottawa via highway 15 and had enabled the automatic high-beams as well as night vision with pedestrian detection to assist with a comfortable drive back. And after hours in the car, if I ever felt restless I simply enabled the driver’s seat massage.

Alas, I returned to Ottawa without barbecue. I spent this week procrastinating from doing my school work and researching barbecues. I am happy to report that I think I found a winner.

Before I left Ms. Kirkey was kind enough to prepare for me a photo album with a collection of photos of friends and family. I kept this photo album on my coffee table the entire time I was in Germany. It was [...]]]> I am faced with a difficult challenge: a year in 100 photographs.

Before I left Ms. Kirkey was kind enough to prepare for me a photo album with a collection of photos of friends and family. I kept this photo album on my coffee table the entire time I was in Germany. It was a great reminder of the people who help to make my life what it is.

The album also happened to be half-empty, allowing the perfect opportunity to fill the album with photos from my year abroad. I just counted the pages and there is space for about 100 photos. I wasn’t photo crazy most of the time I was there, but I have lots of photos among:

• in and around my flat
• the chicken castle
• Built to Spill in Stutgart
• a sloppy joes party
• a pigeon festival
• my Kinder Surprise advent calendar
• a 1FCK match
• the Karlsruhe Christmas market
• the XXL restaurant
• Skiing at Mehliskopf
• London, Paris, and Germany with Katy
• visiting at mine and castle at Neuenbürg
• Munich, Prague, Strasbourg, Blackforest, and Zurich photos with Evan, MK, and Zout
• Canada Day and barbecuing in Germany
• the Alpencross
• my trip to Madrid to see NIN
• the Porsche museum
• the Canadian Memorial at Vimy Ridge
• road trip to Brussels, and
• my trip to Berlin

I don’t know how I can condense this to 100 photographs. So far my best idea is to do so using people–minimize the inclusion of photos don’t don’t include people I’d like to remember–but I still think I’ll be left with too many photos to fit in the album.

It’s too bad I wasn’t married to a photo-crazy woman who would just take care of this for me. This would make my life ten times easier in this respect.

I need song, album, artists suggestions to keep me [...]]]> Alright everyone: In less than 24 hours I am off to Ulm to try to run a marathon. In less than 40 hours my feet will hit the pavement. As I’ve written before, I expect it will take me 4-5 hours–that’s a lot of music.

I need song, album, artists suggestions to keep me pumped and motivated during the run. Even more of a reason: if you suggest a song then when I hear it I will be reminded of you. What more motivation would I need?

Please, suggest away (even if I don’t know you)!

Update: Here is the Marathon Playlist. It worked quite well–I finished much faster than I expected (4h 4m, I expected 5h).

Church was lively and fun, the Currywurst museum was great, and the rain saved itself until the end of my weekend. Well, actually, it rained about an hour before I had to set [...]]]> I was in Berlin. The proof: I know about the Ampelmann. Oh, and there are my photos from the trip.

Church was lively and fun, the Currywurst museum was great, and the rain saved itself until the end of my weekend. Well, actually, it rained about an hour before I had to set out on my journey to the airport. I was spared from the rain by a couple from the US, who invited me to a cup of coffee while we chatted about life in Germany, past and present.

The flight and train rides were both quite fine. Tegel is a small airport, and strangely setup. It is not my favourite. Flying with Lufthansa, which I did for the first time, was quite a treat.

A number of weeks ago I went to Stuttgart for a day and visited the Porsche museum. I finally uploaded some photos from that trip as well.

I’m [...]]]> Almost every time I travel alone I think about how much better it would be to have someone with me.  Not necessarily for the visiting but for the actual travel portion.  When I have been blessed enough to have someone to travel with I never think about how much worse it would be without them.

I’m about to board a flight to Berlin.  I realized sitting here that this is actually a fairly expensive trip; I will spend a little over 40 hours in the city.  I have only a few things that I want to do, so hopefully I have enough time.

I left the organization of some of the finer details of the trip until today.  Luckily it was pretty quiet at work so I found time to take care of these things.  Though one of the details was the packing, which took place for about 20 minutes before I left for work.  In my haste I forgot all bathroom things, and a coat.  Luckily I remembered my Visa card.

Last night I had dinner with the Hammers.  It was really awesome.  We had home made stone-baked pizza.  There was also feta pate, and a special cake that I had never had before.  Everything was delicious and filling.  On top of this, the apartment was quite homey and comfortable.

I am still not really prepared to think about the end here (despite my constant references).  I am taking care of the necessary things but will put off what I can.

Marathon in 9 days, apparently.

I stayed at one of the LSE residences. It brought back memories of various residences I’ve visited and stayed in. It also made me think that students living in residence are either really motivated to get through school [...]]]> A few people have asked me about my trip to London. Here are some details.

I stayed at one of the LSE residences. It brought back memories of various residences I’ve visited and stayed in. It also made me think that students living in residence are either really motivated to get through school (and willing to make great sacrifices) or are just happy to be living away from home for the first time.

I bought two sweaters. One heavier one, suitable for fall, from Esprit and another that was much lighter: a wine coloured v-neck sweater made with merino wool. I didn’t mention it earlier but I also bought a sweater the previous weekend in Heidelberg.

I visited the Regent Street Apple Store twice. Once I bought Snow Leopard.

I visited Waterstone’s and picked up a couple of books to carry me through to the end of my year abroad. I am currently reading Dispatches by Michael Herr.

I went to Starbucks each day after eating my full English breakfast.

I ate Indian food twice.

I went to see As You Like It performed at Shakespeare’s Globe. It was quite good.

Lots of walking about, relaxing in the parks, riding the Tube. I took one or two photos only, and one of them was a picture of American Psycho in the storefront window at one Waterstone’s location. It was a recommended read.

I watched the film Inglourious Basterds in a theatre that might be smaller than the one in downtown Kingston. I also ate popcorn for dinner that night.

On Monday I woke up at 4:30 a.m. (BST), took a taxi to Liverpool Street, took the train to London-Stansted, flew to Baden Airpark, and drove to Karlsbad for work by 10:30 a.m. (CET).

But the real story is: two new sweaters.