Pickwicks fountain marathon

After watching the snowman explosion in Zurich, we returned to Baden and joined everyone at Pickwicks. To celebrate the last week in Baden for many praktikants, lots of people had met for all-you-can-eat ribs at pickwicks. Of course, ribs were just a prelude to the main event of the night: fountain tossing. It's a tradition amoung the praktikants here that before you leave you get thrown into the fountain at Pickwicks. Or if it's your birthday. Or sometimes for no good reason at all.

Vance did an awesome play-by-play of this night on his blog, so I won't go into too much detail. All you need to know is that by the end of the night every one of us was soaked and had been in the fountain at least once:



















Wet Calgarian praktikants: Tommy, Travis, Mike, Richard, Evan, Felix, Vance, Lindsey, Bernard, Keegan, me, Devon, Shane, Kevin, Warren, Adrienn, Tyler, Henry

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Here's how it all went down:

The night started off with some all-you-can eat ribs and cheery beer drinking at Pickwicks




Warren chows down on some ribs at Pickwicks













Mike and Tyler's last Pickwick's night!














Tyler decides to dress up for the occasion...

















Myri (the Swiss girl that Tommy is dating), Tommy and Warren












One last party together as Kehlians!
Me, Bernard, Richard and Henry










Eventually Tommy had to leave to walk Myri to the train station, and fearing that this might eb the only chance, the fountain throwing started. Basically, Bernard, Henry and Tyler were leaving at the end of the week and deserved to go in. Shane, Devon, Mike and Tommy were pretty much finished work, so they went in because it might have been there last night at Pickwicks. Richard went in because in anticipation for the night he wore his swimsuit, and chose to announce it aloud (common rookie mistake).





Tommy impresses Myri by being the first to be dunked in the fountain













Mike goes next (gotta get the fast ones before they have a chance to run!)











Henry is nabbed from Pickwicks to be thrown in












Richard reveals his swimsuit underneath... it worked out I guess, but ironically had he not been wearing it he might not have needed it. What a paradox










Bernard faces his inevitable doom















The Kehl guys, post-fountain visit












Tyler puts up quite the stuggle, and an umbrella is almost destroyed in the process (but they got him in the end)













Devon takes a swim












Shane was lured down to Pickwicks saying we needed his help to toss people in... little did he know....










After that the excuses started wearing thin... thin as in non-existant. Evan happened to be too near the fountain, with a wet revenge-driven Devon and Shane lurking nearby, so he went in. Vance was loudly orchastrating the whole affair, so he was silenced by being tossed in. Things just went downhill from there...




Evan fights to the death













Vance gets a piece of his own medicine










After Vance went in, he went a wild rampage declaring that everyone must go in the fountain. His first target was Warren. Unfortuantly for Vance, nobody really rallied with him, and the one-on-one battle with Warren resulted with Vance ending up in the fountain for a second time. Berg loyalty came to the rescue though, and Tommy returned from the train station just in time to help Vance throw Warren in.






Vance tries despartly to get Warren in the fountain











Travis was next














Along with Felix














...Keegan...












And Kevin












Apparently Travis didn't get his head wet on his first fountain visit, so they threw him in again














And while we're at it, let's throw Vance in one more time for good measure









By this point Lindsey, Adrienn and I were becoming all too aware that every guy had been tossed in the fountain already, and we were probably next. My only defense was that every other guy had given me his wallet, watch, etc so it didn't get wet... so I quickly loaded up my pockets in anticipation.

First Lindsey was grabbed, and she went in. Adrienn took off running, but I realized that I probably couldn't outrun anybody so in a half-assed attempt to escape getting wet cried out "I have all your stuff!". Nobody cared. They totally called my bluff, and as I was dragged towards the fountain, (being the kind person that I am,) I emptied out my pockets onto the street. Evan lifted me up and my glasses came flying off, as usual, so I tossed them blindly back towards the crowd. I flailed as much as possible, but it was hopeless and I ended up in the fountain, as I knew I would.

Since I was taking pictures, there ended up being no pics of me or Adrienn, so I've created paint images in an attempt to capture the moment.




Only a few dry people left...uh-oh..













Lindsey is the first girl to get tossed in















Illustration of Evan throwing me into the fountain











Adrienn in the fountain (she managed to bite Mike's arm in the struggle)

Sechselauten - snowman burning event

On Monday April 24 there was an event in Zurich know as Sechselauten. Bascially, all the old guilds gather and celebrate the spring festival. It's a huge event, and everyone in Zurich gets the afternoon off as a holiday, woo! There's a parade and some other things, but the big event is the burning of the Böögg - a giant snowman. They set him alight and wait to see how long it takes for his head to explode (which is filled with firecrackers). The faster it explodes, the warmer summer will be (kind of like a Swiss groundhog day I guess).

Only Evan and Richard were hardcore enough to come out for the event. We navigated through the crowded streets and found a good place to view the snowman burning. They set it alight, and then all the guilds rode around on horses (I was too short to see this part though, lol). There was a small explosion, and we were like, was that it? Nope...turns out there are firecrackers all through his body. Eventually thing started getting pretty dramatic, with large parts of the Böögg catching on fire and exploding outwards, showering the crowd in flaming snowman flesh. Finally the final explosion came and the whole head was demolished to the cheers of the crowd.

Afterwards everyone made piles of hot coals from the bonfire, and roasted their bratwursts. Evan and I (Richard had to catch a train home) came moderatly prepared with some budget sausages. We managed to join in on the fire of some swiss teenages (who I think felt sorry for us and our pathetic bbq supplies) and found roasting sticks and prepared to cook our food. Unfortuantly, the coals had cooled by that time, and we only got to have lukewarm sausages (there were pre-cooked hopefully...), but it was still a thrill to eat meat cooked (warmed?) on the burning corpse of a snowman.

Unfortunately, none of us had cameras that day, so I have no pics to post. You will have to use your imagination and my vivid storytelling to form your own impression of what it was like.

Basel - not just for EasyJet!

My mom flew to London with EasyJet, so I accompanied her to Basel for the day before her flight. I'd only been there for EasyJet and carnival, so it was nice to have a chance to check out the city.

We went to Jean Tinguely Museum, which was a collection of the artist's work, which mostly fell under the category of kinetic art. There were lots of complex machines that would come to life when activated by foot pedal. They were all very facinating, though lots of the art was very morbid and dark.

After the museum we went on a hunt around the city for the Tinguely fountain (we had forgotten to bring our Basel map walking around, oops!). We finally found it just in time for my mom to catch her train to the airport...it was cool though, and well worth the search.







My mom and a super hardcore tree


















Looking out over the river towards Basel










Walking through the park on the way to the museum













Large machine filling a main room of the museum (you can climb on this one!)














Hanging, whirling machines hanging at the entrance












My mom watching the machines at work (I took this pic from a top the largest machine!)













There was some cool story about this woman and how she watched out over the water, but I don't remember it











Creepy machines in the dark lower levels of the museum














Cool composition of my mom looking at some art
















The other section of the museum had some art...crazy stuff













Creepy...















The Tinguely fountain, really cool, water flying every which way!

Rhine Falls

I have been in Switzerland for almost a year, and it took me until the end of April to see the Rhine Falls! I went there with my parents, and a bunch of the praktikants came too. We checked out the town of Schaffhausen, and then walked to the falls. The falls were pretty impressive, largest in Europe (by volume of water I think), but probably not as impressive as Niagara Falls. It was a sunny day, for the most part, and a lot of fun to chill out in the park and throw around a frisbee. We checked out the falls, and then Shane and Dveon wanted to jump off the bridge into the river. They had done it before, but this time wanted to backflip. It was crazy (the bridge is about 13m high) but all went down sucessfully. I think my parents had fun watching this insanity, but my dad was definilty freaked out...he was ready on the shore to preform the rescue mission should need be. Later on my parents took us out for dinner (thanks!) and then we caught the train home.

I have no pics of the bridge jumping (I was taking pictures with Devon's camera), can somebody who was there please send me some? Thanks!





At the Schaffhausen Cathedral... my dad trying to read the Latin on the large bell in the chapel













Looking out over the town of Schaffhausen














Me and my mom at the Rhine Falls












Largest waterfalls in Europe











Nice view from the other side of the river

Less than Jake / Dropkick Murphys concert!

Adrienn, Evan, Vance, Lindsey, Ryan and I went to see Less Than Jake and Dropkick Murphys in concert!The show was a friday night in Zurich, so I met them all after work and we chilled out a but before going to the show. We had some time to kill, and somehow ended up in Claire's buying hair dye (temporary!). Adrienn, Evan and I used the mirror in the store to put it in, haha, we got some strange looks from people...

The show was totally awesome!!! First a band called Far From Finished played, they were pretty good. Less than Jake was up next... they are such an energetic band, it was so cool seeing them live. Ska music is so sweet, I love how the horns go so well with the music. I got up to the front with Lindsey, we had a great view of the band and were totally rocking out. They played most of my fav songs, except Screws Fall In, but all their music is so good that it didn't matter. I even got a pick from the bass guitarist! Thanks Evan :)

Dropkick Murphys was headlining (unexpected...we all figured Less than Jake was the bigger band, we it seems like Dropkick Murphys is way more famous here), and they went hard for the whole set. I really like their music, but I think I prefer the recorded stuff better. They played really well, but it was a bit too hard, and the guitars overpowered the other instrurments I thought. It was awesome though, because at the end they invited girls up to the stage for Kiss Me I'm Shitfaced. All 3 of us were up on stage with a whole bunch of others, and there was a pretty decent mosh pit going on. Then the let guys up to and things got totally nuts...I really don't know how the band kept playing it was insane up there! They never played Walk Away (my fav song) which was too bad, but other than that it was pretty sweet.

Here's a few pics from the night... Ryan was daring enough to bring his camera, thanks man! None of the main bands, those memories are saved for those who actually went to the concert :)
(aka, we have no pics of them)




Covert-op pics from Claire's that turned out really artsy

Dying our hair



















Lindsey helps Evan with his hair

















Oh ya, we are hardcore













Far From Finished played a good set















Riding the train home, sore, sweaty and tired.
Linds, Vance, me, Adrienn and Evan

Easter Dinner

Since Thanksgiving Dinner worked out so well in the fall, we decided to do a similar thing for Easter. Everybody brought a potluck dish, and we had an amazing meal! As an added bonus, my parents were visiting at the time and were invited. It was cool that they got to meet everyone, and I think everyone had a great time.

Highlight of the evening: Back at the Christmas party, Evan had tricked Richard and gave him catfood as a gift (he gave him a real gift too). I guess Richard couldn't let this pass un-revenged... we got Tommy to put the cat food into a few of his wraps and managed to get only Evan (and Shane...that was just a bonus! Haha) to eat them at the dinner. When they found out later it was hilarious! Shane thought they still tasted good, haha...

Here's some pics:






Henry and my mom preparing fruit salad













Tyler's last minute contribution: pickles and chocolate

















Lindsey, Tommy and Jenny at Easter dinner












Getting ready to eat














Look at all the great food!

















Mwah ha ha, little does he know...













Happy Easter!
You can see almost everyone who was there













Mmmmm, dessert


















Shane, me, and Walter: his homemade centerpiece (even better than the Turkey from Thanksgiving!)

Istanbul with my parents

My parents came to visit over Easter, and we went on a 6 day trip to Istanbul. Originally we were going to visit more of Turkey, but for such a short visit we would have spent all our time travelling. Instead we stayed in Istanbul, and had a nice relaxing vacation.




My dad, me and my mom in front of the Blue Mosque









We stayed at a pretty cool hostel, and got to know the other guests and staff quite well over the week. I'm writing the post rather late, so I can't remember exactly which things we did on each day of the trip, or lots of name details, so here's a semi-accurate account:

Arrived in Istanbul and checked into the hostel. We met lots of other guests and hung out in the lounge area and had some dinner. There was a guitar that was missing the high E string, but some people still managed to play some good stuff and we had a bit of a sing-along, it was good times. I also broke out my new sketch book for the first time and did some drawing. Turns out this is the best conversation starter ever, haha, so I had to explain to lots of people that no, I wasn't a serious artist, just trying it out for the first time.




My dad chilling in the hostel room














My dad and mon eating dinner at the hostel, mmmmmm























The next day we set out to see some of the city. Or so the plan was...a little ways down the street we met Bill, a turkish businessman who was nice enough to show us some sights and tell us a little about the city. We weren't really such what was going on, but he was very nice so we walked and talked with Bill for awhile. Soon we arrived at a carpet shop, owned by Bill's cousin, wouldn't you know it! He invites us in for some tea and to learn a little about carpets. It sounds innocent enough (we were young and naive), so we go into the shop and meet the owner who proceeds to give us a presentation about the different kinds of carpets, and how they have evolved over the years and what different styles mean. Employees are dragging out heavy carpets from all over the shop and putting them on display for us. It was actually very interesting, and all the while we are drinking apple tea (mmmmm) and turkish tea and having a nice time.

At the end of the presentation, the owner now tells us he will begin taking away carpets, and we are to say yes or no about whether we like them. Suddenly alarm bells start to go off...wait a minute, since when are we purchasing carpets. I have a whispered conversation with my mom, and she says that she actually is interested in maybe buying one, so we play along. This process takes quite some time, and eventually we are down to 7 carpets that we like. The owner does some over-complicated math and shows us the amazing deal that he will give us if we buy all 7. We laugh and refuse, explaining that we would actually like to be able to afford our flight back to Switzerland.

After much awkward negotiating we end up buying 3 carpets for a decent price (we hope). The owner is satisfied, and invites us back later for some turkish dinner and to meet his friends. We of course fall for the trap again...dinner ends up turning into yet another round of attempted carpet selling (though we do get some nice food too). Eventually we managed to leave without buying the $16000 silk carpet that we didn't buy earlier, and return back to the hostel. Day 1 done, no sightseeing accomplished, lol. At least we got some nice carpets :)




My dad, mom and me in Istanbul in front of some cute houses













My mom in the carpet shop












Carpet buying.....eep!














The nice Kilim we bought

















Wool carpet, embroidered with silk


















Wool on wool, "Santa Claus" rug. Various symbols on the rug represent different religions.














The next day we checked out an Istanbul festival that was going on. There was some traditional dancing, which reminded me a lot of Irish dancing, and some drumming. We then went to the Topkapi Palace, which was very beautiful. Lastly, we headed down to the shore and checked out the spice bazaar, where all the locals buy spices and food. It was packed with people, but fun to look at all the crazy food for sale.




Turkish dancers













Yup, he's spinning the drum from his teeth














Gardens inside the palace














Visiting Topkapi Palace















Spices at the spice bazaar













That is one huge block of cheese









That night I went out partying with some of the other people from our hostel. We took a cab to Taksim and went to a club that had a turkish band playing, they were pretty decent. Everyone was really fun to hang out with, and we had a good time dancing and talking.

The next day (Easter!) I walked along the Marmara Sea coast with my parents. It was a nice sunny day (most of our days there were) and we watched people fish and bought food from various vendors. We went for dinner at a resturant near our hostel, where there was a Whirling Dervish performance, it was cool.




Cucumber salesman ...interesting














Some guys were snorkeling and fishing













My dad eats muscles














Whirling Dervish...hope I didn't distract him with the photo...oops










My parents in front of the Hagia Sophia at night










Monday we took a boat ride to the Princess Islands (group of islands south of Istanbul in the Sea of Marmara). It gave us a good view of the Istanbul coastline...I couldn't believe how far the city stretches! We walked around the largest island, and had some lunch (at the most expensive resturant on the island....sigh, long story...). In the evening we went to Taksim and shopped in stores and saw the Galata Tower. The original tower was a fire look-out tower...until it burnt down, haha.




The boat we rode on














Getting off the boat at the islands











View of Istanbul from the sea














Feeding seagulls that were flying behind the boat














Galata Tower in Taksim...didn't go up becuase it costs money, and all there is is a resturant at the top













The next day we did another boat ride...this time up the Bosphorus. We stopped at various docks on both sides of the river, and ended up nearly at the Black Sea, where the was a short walk up to a castle. We got a great view of different parts of Istanbul, and the 3rd longest bridge in Europe (or something like that...). It was here that I had my only kebap in Turkey, since I ate so many at the beginning of the year I unfortunatly exceeded my kebap quota before I even got to their origin country, lol.

On the way back to the hostel we went through the Grand Bazaar, which a covered area packed full of vendors and various stores. I didn't buy anything, but it was amazing to see all the different things for sale. The bazaar is divided up into different sections for different items, and it's so huge that you could easily get lost. All the surrounding streets are somewhat involved, so we had a bit of a hard time getting out, haha.





Cruising up the Bosphorus














One of the stops on the boat ride.
















The scenic walk up to the castle at the last stop














The more scenic part of the walk














Castle, with Istanbul in the distance











My parents with the Bosphorus and the Black Sea in the background













Me and my mom on the boat ride back. We got given flowers from the resturant owner where we ate lunch.












The Grand Bazaar










On our last day in Istanbul, we finally went inside the Blue Mosque that we passed every day on the way too and from our hostel. It's still used as a mosque, so you can only go in during non-prayer times. The inside was beautiful, all decorated with blue and white tiles (that it is named after). Next we went to the Hagia Sophia. It was really cool because it used to be a church, but it got converted into a mosque. They've uncovered paintings of Jesus and Mary undernead the new walls.

That evening my mom and I went to a turkish bath. It was a crazy experiance, you go into the main room and they scrub, wash and massage you until you have never felt so clean. I would definilty reccomend it if you are ever in Turkey, though, I've heard that the men's ones can be quite harsh (one guy showed me bruises he got!)




Inside the Blue Mosque


















The gardens in front of the Hagia Sophia













Inside the Hagia Sophia














Uncovered from when it was a church









The way home was pretty eventful, especially since I forgot my passport in the safe at the hostel and only remembered on the way to the airport! We somehow still made the plane...oh the shame though ;)

It was a fun and relaxing vacation with my parents. I'm glad that I was able to go on a trip with them while they visited me, it was definitly a different style of trip than what I'm used to, way less hectic!

Nerd crepes

Well, D&D finished at the end of April. It was a fun time, but it was more of a winter activity, since it's better to be outside taking advantage of the nice weather than battling undead sea creatures and shadow monsters and evil monks in a fantasy world. I'm glad I got to try it out (thanks Vance!) but I don't think I'll continue in Calgary (haha, all my friends breath a sigh of relief...).

Most D&D sessions somebody would bring food, ususally something pretty awesome. Warren has made fondu and pizza, and there's been other various snacks and baking. Here's some pics from Richard's idea to have dessert crepes (he cooked, and we all brought various fruit...there was even a fresh pineapple!). They were delicious!






Richard making crepes (most of them turned out better than this one, haha)
















Lots of toppings to choose from!













Creating our masterpieces

















Yum!

Visiting in Scotland

I have cousins on my Dad's side that live in Glasgow, so I decided to go visit them for a few days! I expected to be a solo trip, but Vance was also planning a trip to Scotland to see Loch Ness, so ended up going together. It was nice having somebody to sight-see and pary with, so it worked out well for both of us.

Min Yu and Yvonne have 3 kids: Emma (4 years old), Euan (2 years old) and Evie (3 months old). As you can imagine, it was pretty hectic staying with them! It was awesome to see them though, and I had a great visit. They really showed us a good time, and spoiled us so much that it will be hard to go back to hostels on trips! (haha, just kidding). Thanks!

Right now I only have my pictures posted, I will put up Vance's later (see some on his blog in the meantime)



Min Yu with Euan, me, Yvonne, Evie and Emma (who wasn't into picture taking that day, lol)












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After a stop-over in Amsterday, Vance and I arrived late Wednesday night in Glasgow. So far the trip was going smoothly, and we commended ourselves on our awesome two-person travel efficiency. Min Yu picked us up at the airport, and took us to their house, which was not too far away. They live in an apartment that is older than Canada! Haha, it is cool, it's taller than it is wide, with 3 stories, very old school European. That night was pretty chill, we just hung out and talked with my cousins, and made some plans for the visit.

Thrusday morning we woke up early to take the bus to Edinburgh. Emma was already up having breakfast, so we had a nice discussion about Cheerios before Vance and I left for the day.
The bus ride was beautiful, but I slept most of the way and missed a lot of the awesome Scottish countryside. We arrived and headed straight for Edinburgh Castle. I should take a minute now to say that I have been to Scotland before. I came on a big England/Scotland/Ireland trip with my family when I was 13, and we travelled a bunch around the countryside and saw lots of castles and chuches. Lots. So by the time we got to Edinburgh (near the end of the trip) my brother and I were like "no more castles!". So although I have been to Edinburgh before, I had never been in the castle.

We went to the castle on this trip though! It was well worth it too (young Jacqui didn't know what she was missing out on...), lots of cool displays and you got to explore the whole castle and grounds to see them. We managed to arrive at the cannons right in time for the daily firing, so that was cool (though startling).

By then it was around lunch, and we had already had every type of weather imaginable. I blame the high winds...the rains and clouds just rolls in and out.

For lunch we went to a pub (of course) and had burgars (mmmmm...) and beer (mmmm....). We decided to check out the whisky museum next, which included taking a tour where they let you sample some scotch whisky. I don't think I have yet aquired the taste for straight whisky, but it was still alright. It was interesting seeing how it was made too, though, the highlight was probably the ride at the end, haha.

In Edinburgh we also went on a mission of finding Vance's family tartan. After some unsucessful searching, we were advised to seach for the clan tartan instead, since the family tartans are not commonly sold in stores. We were able to find the tartan for the clan Vance's family belongs to, yay.

By then it was time for Vance to take the bus to Inverness (he was going to check out Loch Ness the next day), and I went back to my cousin's place in Glasgow. Once again I slept most of the way...I guess I am too trained to taking advantage of guarenteed sleep oppurtunities, haha.


Thursday night was pretty chill, we ate a nice supper at the house, hooray for home cooked meals! I discovered that when there are small childeren involved, eating supper is an evening activity in itself. You quickly rush to get everyone their proper meals, and then attempt to get them to eat the whole meal, and then try to finish your own food before everybody is running around too much that the room becomes a mad house. Haha, it was really fun actually, it's neat having kids around sometimes (thought I think the novelty would wear off after awhile). Don't worry! I'm not planning on having any anytime soon!



Emma's pro picture taking skills (once I learned to duck into the photo)












On Friday Yvonne, Emma, Evie and I had a girls day of shopping. We went to the local mall and browsed around the stores, and all bought a few things. I got some shirts from Mango, a cool store that I seem to only afford to shop at when I'm with my cousin, haha, she's a bad influence.




Emma doing some shopping















We went for lunch, where Min Yu met up with us, since he only had a half day of work. Before he came, I was holding Evie while Yvonne bought the food. She was hungry, and crying so much that somebody nearby offered an extra bottle, haha. I don't think I have the baby-soothing touch, this seemed to happen a lot over the weekend, lol.



Min Yu and Emma (and Evie) at the mall















Evie chillin in her stroller















We picked Vance up from the bus station, and were happy to see that he hadn't been consumed by Loch Ness. That night after dinner Vance and I went to The Arches, a club downtown that was having a music show that night. Our goal for the weekend was to see as much live music as possible, to get away from the regular clubbing, and since Glasgow is supposed to be a great city for live stuff.

After a drink in the lounge section, that may or may not have been a bright pink cocktail, we watched the band Trap_6 play their set. They were pretty sweet, especially for a random find. Typical type of band, kind of emoy and energy-fille. It would have been all the much better if the band members were good looking ;)





Vance loses one man card for this


















Trap_6 rocking out at The Arches










On Saturday morning I got up early to go with Yvonne and Evie to Emma's dance class! (Vance opted for sleeping in instead, haha) The class was a weekly thing at the community center...basically a whole bunch of little girls in dance gear running around trying to mimic the teacher, hehe. It was super cute, they did a bit of balletish stuff, and the broke out the tap shoes for the second half. I was totally jelouse...





Yvonne getting Emma ready for dance class













Euan and Emma, shortly before the piece of bread got scattered all over the couch (oops!)











Me with Emma. Yvonne and Evie in the background










Vance shows Euan his mad lego skillz















Emma and me playing











The rest of the day Vance and I checked out various sights around Glasgow, and occasionaly met up with the others for lunch and dinner, etc. It worked out really well, we were able to get some efficient Vance-approved sight-seeing done and the others could take the 3 hour long lunch that's required for a family of kids of that age, haha. We visited the Glasgow Cathedral, the cemetery (eerie, but beautiful), Museum of Religious Art (which gave a cool overview of religions, with some neat displays) and also looked around the university. It was cool being in a university envoironment, it's amazing how easy it is to feel at home once you are around students (especially when they are speaking English!). At the university we saw the Hunterian museums (one art, and one random cool stuff).




Scenic pic of the cemetery












Vance had haggis at lunch, which I tried and was actually not that bad, kind of like ground beef with spices.

That night we went to a bar to see some more music. We showed up early to get a table, but I think we overshot because there were only a few people there (and we found out later they were all the bands that were playing later, haha). We chilled and had some beer, and eventually the music started up. The first band was pretty crazy, they had 2 drum sets going, but it only sounded like one (I haven't decided if this is a good thing or a bad thing).

The second band (Learn to Swim) was probably the coolest, they had a whole array of insturments: guitars, a drum set, a trombone, a xylophone and a cello. Their sound was really cool, it almost reminded me of Modest Mouse.




Learn to Swim and their awesome array of instruments











The last band (This Ain't Vegas) was pretty popular, from what I could tell. They were pretty awesome, definitly a bit more professional than the other bands, kind of screamo rock if I remember correctly (I'm writing this post wayyyy after the trip, for shame is me...).

After the show we headed over to the university bar, and caught the very tail end of a Pink Floyd Cover band that happened to be playing, it was cool. We arrived only seconds before last call...one minute we were buying beer, and the next time we turned around the bar was closed off with metal gates, haha. Luckily they were nice enough to let us chill out and finish.

On Sunday we checked out the Burrell Collection, which is basically a museum with a whole bunch of random stuff that Sir William Burrell collected and donated to the city. Honestly, we saw everything from pottery to tapastries to sculptures and more.

We also went to House for an Art Lover, which is only one of the things in Glasgow that was designed by Charles Rennie Mackintosh. He is a really cool architect, and incorporates a lot of art and interior design into his work. We also saw the Mackintosh House, which is part of the Hunterian's Museum at the univeristy. I really enjoyed his design, it's filled with sharp contrast, but he incorporates soft touches, such as rose designs. It's simple and modern, and really striking to the eye.




Vance in some cool gardens













Inside House for an Art Lover











Outside the House for an Art Lover there was a really cool playground...sort of like fun meets art. We played there for a while with the kids, and then it was time to head to the airport.





Playing in the park outside House for an Art Lover









I was really happy that I got a chance to visit my relatives while I was in Europe, since I don't see them very often. It was fun to play with the kids, and the trip was a good mix of visiting and sight-seeing. I'd love to go back to Scotland for longer sometime, and maybe see more of the rest of the UK and Ireland too.

Oslo, Norway

Alright, enough is enough. I need to catch up my blog, I'm in danger of being out-blogged by Vance (something that I can never allow to happen).

The first weekend in April was Tommy's birthday, and he decided he wanted to spend it in Oslo. A bunch of us also went with him (solo birthday's aren't really as fun): me, Adrienn, Evan, Vance, Lindsey, Richard, and Devon. Evan and Devon actually know a girl that lives in Oslo (Paige...she's from Alaska and they met her on a ski trip in France), so they got hooked up with a place to stay. The rest of us were forced to rough it in a hostel.




Being silly at our hostel:
back: Tommy the Birthday Boy, Vance, Evan, Devon, Richard
front: Lindsey, me, Adrienn







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We arrived Thursday evening, to find Tommy returning drunk from a day of sightseeing. Haha, it was hilarious because as we were checking in, he wandered past the windows and proceeded to wave and dance around, while we were trying to keep a straight face as we dealt with check-in business. We just chilled out at the hostel that night, and made a new friend in our hostel room: English guy named Paul. He was really cool, and ended up hanging out with us the whole weekend (a decision that he may have regretted, haha).




Richard, Vance, Adrienn and Tommy at our hostel











On Friday we headed to a Viking ship museum, which was really impressive. They had 3 giant preserved ships that had been restored, that filled up the whole place. There also lots of other artifacts that had been found with the ships (the ships were used as tombs!). We learned a lot about Viking culture... I was impressed to find out that the Vikings navigated with only the use of the stars!




Me with a Viking ship

















Look how huge they are!!













Next door there was another random museum that we looked at. It included a movie about Norway, which would have been kind of boring except for the fact that it was shown on 5 screens that all lined up (or tried to...). Actually, it was still kind of boring, though we got to see a lot of nice scenery. I refrained from buying a copy of the dvd that they were selling in the gift shop (would you need 5 tvs lined up??!?!?!). I did, however, buy an awesome Norway toque :)

We wanted to go to the Kon-Tiki museum, but it was closed for renovations. I settled for getting a pic with the statue outside.





Which one is me!?!?!?!

















Outside the museums











On our way to the next sight, we passed a electronic store with some aweosme robo-dog in the display case! We spent a great deal of time trying to play with it through the glass, and then finally went in and got a sales guy to show us how it worked. Unfortuantly, robo-dog was pretty tired (aka, batteries were not fully charged) so he didn't want to play. Eventually we snapped-to and realized that we should get going.





Robo-dog in action (kind of...). I want one!












Another cool random thing we saw. Not sure if it's actually somebody's bicycle.












Walking around Oslo














The Berg having a moment













Evan, Richard, Tommy, me, Lindsey, Adrienn and Devon in front of the Royal Palace











Next stop was Vigeland Park, which was basically a park with statues of naked people. Actually, it was really tasteful, and I enjoyed the art a lot. It managed to convey a lot of emotion in a way that was simple and very pleasing to the eye. Some of them were still pretty funny though, and we got some mandatory statue abuse pics.




The center of Vigeland Park

















The Monolith... pillar of bodies arranged in a very Escher-esque way.














Beware of falling babies















Nice pic by Vance (he got a good series of pics from this park)











Another one

















Tommy also enjoyed the park


















"go away!"













Walking through Vigeland Park















Fountain in the park











After the park we met Paige and she took us to the university where there was some sort of mixer going on. Aka, free snacks and coffee... we were all in.





Devon, Adrienn and Paige at the student mixer













Enjoying some free snacks!










That night we all met at Paige's place, and pre-partied with her and some of her friends. It was awesome of her to invite us! We caught the bus to a club, which was pretty cool... minus Vance and Evan, who due to unfortuante circumstances missed it and spent the night trying to navigate through Oslo.




On the way to Paige's with our new friend Paul!














Playing drinking games before the club















Richard and Vance being goofy...haha, notice that we are using jars for glasses! Cool idea.












Tommy and the girls, quite the trick












Lindsey giving Tommy guff for something, I think it may have been hockey-related.










The next morning we checked out the miniture bottle museum! We had heard great reviews from Travis, but it still exceeded our expectations. The museum was very elaboratly decorated, and had attention-grabbing informative displays showing minuture bottles of every country, shape, size (well, all small I guess), category, etc. There was even a slide! We spent a long time here...so long in fact that Vance got impatienient (as Vance does) and went off on his own for some efficient solo sight-seeing, haha.




A glimps at the number of bottles this place had











These bottles were all in the shape of mucisians...you could press a button to play music and watch them dance (aka, move around on a track, haha)














Spirytus Rektyfikowany!! This was in the "danger!" sections, haha, oh and it should be!











Evan trying the slide head-first (Tommy tries to catch him, haha)














How did we get here?!?!?!














"Guess what there was in the bathroom?" (answer: hair gel, don't worry)

Probably the neatest bathroom I have ever been in, it was really fancy and girly. The guy's had a magnifying mirror at the urinal, haha.














Outside the bottle museum
"You know I'm a unicorn J. D."!











Next we went to meet Axel (guy we met in Zermatt) and Erland (guy Devon and Evan met randomly in Engelberg) who also live in Olso (I don't know how there happened to be so many people in this one city that we knew). We chilled out at a cafe near the water, and took in the nice weather (warmest day we were there, by far). Next Erland took us up to the Akershus Fortress for a nice view of the city. It was nice having a local show us around, he gave us all sorts of inside info, and was really fun to hang out with.



Akershus Fortress

















Beatiful day!












Adrienn and a nice view of the harbour














Candy!















Chewy candy...












That night we went out to a big party to celebrate Tommy's birthday. They basically opened up 4 floors of the student center and turned it into a big club. Some floors had live music, and others had dj's, it was really awesome! Beforehand we partied at the hostel. Paul was not planning on coming, since he had an early flight the next morning, but we sucked him in!

We all lost each other at the club, which was unfortunate because not all of us had hostel keys. Evan and I got stranded outside the door, and huddled against the wall for warmth (it was cold and snowing) and waited for somebody to get back. We must have looked pretty pathetic, because a passer-byer gave us some change, haha.





Devon and Evan are upset about leaving Oslo soon












Tommy sporting a nice birthday "hat", enjoying his birthday













Paul, me, Lindsey, and Adrienn on the way to the party. I should take this













Adrienn and Lindsey at the club











The next day Vance went off on his own again (I think he saw about 10 times the things we did in Oslo) and the rest of us went to the National Gallery. There was a nice selection of art there, including The Scream by Edvard Munch, which was cool. By then it was time to head home (I guess we were ineffecient afterall... haha, Vance made his choice)




Linds and Vance with their morning supplies in personal sizes.











I haven't mentioned up until this point how amazingly expensive Oslo is. We brought our own liquor from home, and ate in grocery stores (after purchasing the food I mean) and still managed to spend quite a bit. It was good to finally visit a Scandanavian country though, and something I noticed about Oslo was that it reminded me a lot of Calgary. Maybe it was just the cold, haha.