amsterdam trip

:)

2005-05-20T10:05:00.000-07:00

well howdy howdy, friends!
so, we got up at the crack of dawn Dublin time yesterday and partook of the free Irish breakfast (making sure to stay far away from the black pudding after learning a smelly lesson the day before) and then got on our way home. Dublin didn't have the dazzling gaudy buildings of Paris or the balmy outdoorsy-ness of Sorrento, but the folks there were lovely and earthy and it was all good. We finally got in here around 7:00 and then crashed, zombified but awake on the couch until a 'reasonable' bedtime, so hopefully now we'll be on some sort of North American schedule.
the trip was wonderful...wonderful wonderful wonderful! I hope everyone had as awesome and memorable a time as we did. It's amazing how much stuff got crammed into those 16 days...was it only a week ago that we were preparing to leave Paris? Oh, my brain is full! :)
Michael and Ann, although we didn't get to meet up with you, I hope you don't feel too bad about it. A theme that presented itself to us early on (when we abandoned thoughts of doing Venice and Florence in favor of running away south to Sorrento) was the idea of a perfect vacation being one where we do whatever we feel like doing, and to heck with previous plans and itineraries and research.
Scott 'n Amanda, it was good to meet up with you and find you as relaxed as you were; It sounds like you both had lots of fun on your first big adventurin'-type trip. Good work!
we'll get our pictures up sometime in the next little while...in the meantime, I'm still glowing from the memories of adventures and experiences that will last long after the last stroopwaffle has been eaten.

Hey, we're back too!

2005-05-20T09:40:00.000-07:00

Hi all,
Well well well, what a wonderful last two weeks! We never expected to really have such a great time. The food, the people, the lodgings (even if they weren't deluxe) were all so unexpected!
But boy, were we ever tired rolling in to pearson yesterday! The ride on the subway home was a real head-bobber for us.
Anyway, now we get to relax for a few more days of a long weekend! yay! We'll try to post some pix later probably on imagestation.
Scott, you done your DVD yet? :)
ciao for now
Byron

HOLIDAY SNAPS! WINK-WINK! SAY. NO. MORE!

2005-05-18T17:14:00.000-07:00

At Scott's request, here are 24 of our European Tour 2005 photos!

Back in Canada....What day is it?

2005-05-17T15:40:00.000-07:00

Phew...wow, what a trip. Back to my keyboard, my kitty, my bed and Tim Horton's. Still not sure what day/time it is. Yesterday was completely exhausting - we left our hotel at 830am Amsterdam time and got to Scott's apt at the equivalent of 1130pm Amsterdam time - only it was only 5pm here with loads of daylight left. Thankfully, we took a cab to the airport and my mom came and picked us up at Pearson, so that decreased the amount of time lugging all of our crap (which was much heavier returning than on the way there). An annoying child with an even more annoying father kicked the back of my airplane seat for pretty much the entire trip and an even more annoying 20-yr old Quebecois "dude" elbowed me in the gut for the entire trip. Got sniffed out for some reason by a "fruit-smelling" dog at Pearson and had my bag searched. Cute little doggie too.

All in all, home in one piece, tired, confused of day/time/should I eat or sleep, etc. with so much to tell friends and family, I don't even know where to start.

The last day in Amsterdam was great. What a different place. We ended the day eating at the Pizzeria below our hotel - we'd been enjoying its wonderful smells for 2 days so thought we would endulge.

Not that I'm glad the trip is over, but I feel "OK" that it's over - if we'd stayed any longer, we would have had to devote an entire day to sleeping. I think we were both getting to the point where the days would have been less enjoyed because of our fatigue.

Will continue to check the blog for our friends who are still abroad!

Amanda

WITH GLOWING HEARTS

2005-05-16T17:58:00.000-07:00

When I learned that my friends Scott and Amanda were sewing Canadian Flag patches on their backpacks for their trip through Europe, I guffawed.

I always thought the intent behind having one was to tell snooty French and Italians, "Look, I'm not American. Please don't ignore me/beat me up/rip me off." It felt like we were leaning on our flag in an embarassing fashion.

Besides, Americans allegedly sew Canadian flags on their gear as cultural camoflage.

Now, after traveling Europe over the past three years to cities including London, Paris, and Rome I've had a change of heart about the patch.

While neither of us were fluent, in Italy this May we did learn enough Italian to be polite. "Please" and "Thank you" along with elements of ordering meals, train tickets, and the like. Not one of the Americans we've met abroad over the years bothered. And they seemed confused by the lack of "response" they received as a result.

This recent trip, one particularly demanding woman squeeked "Excuse Me!" a half dozen times within ear-shot of an ignoring waiter, then proceeded to made culinary demands that were counter to the culture of the country. Hey, if you wanted a McDonald's hamburger, why did you leave the United States? And how tough is it to learn "Mi Scusi?"

The French and Italians have a reputation for being snooty for a reason: if you don't respect their language or customs, you're going to be treated poorly.

I now recognize that having a means of identifying oneself as Canadian sends a message: we're going to be respectful of your language and culture while a guest in your country.

And that's something that makes me proud to wear our flag.

Insert your own variation on "damn" + Amsterdam

2005-05-15T12:44:00.000-07:00

...sorry we didn't hook up with you guys when you arrived in Amsterdam! Ann and I needed a romantic night to ourselves, so I hope you'll understand.

We've landed in Toronto and are now beginning the process of unpacking and returning to our former lives. One odd thing about the counter-culture shock? After spending two weeks in gaudy Italian and Dutch hotel rooms, our home looks odd with so little on the walls by comparison. Anyone know of a good place to buy tacky wallpaper?

Michael & Ann

Last whole day in Europe

2005-05-15T11:52:00.000-07:00

Wow ... it's seemed like forever but it's hard to believe we're going back so soon.

Amsterdam has been cute. While we could only explore a district or two a day in Paris, this city is navigable entirely on foot. We haven't bought a transit ticket aside from the one that took us two metro stops to our hotel on arrival. Not quite the architectural variety here as in the other cities -- mostly a million variations on the Dutch gable canalhouse theme. They're all cute.

Had a great time with S&B last night at dinner and afterward. Feeling so very very tired today. Got a nice shot of the four of us at the canal bridge near our hotel square. There's a modern art market there today 'til 6!

We were the first ones at breakfast this morning, which was a first for us.

Anticipating utter exhaustion tomorrow morning after a planned excursion to the Van Gogh museum, the sex museum perhaps, Vondelpark, a check of the Anne Frank house and a tour to the red light district, we've prebooked a taxi to the airport. Dude says it's 37 euros, which sounds like a bargain compared to what the H's paid. We've been told and have read that taxis rates here are unregulated, so the hotelier's friend's flat rate sounds safe.

Back onto an airplane Monday morning to Heathrow, then bounce over the ocean to Toronto for about 20 hours of sleep.

Looking forward to some fantastic slideshows after we all sort out our pictures.

Happy flying, all! This has been a trip of a lifetime. Who knows where I'll wanna visit next time....

Hiya!

2005-05-14T15:02:00.000-07:00

Okey dokey - all sounds great!
We arrived in amsterdam on time at 2 and are making our way around and reorienting ourselves :)
So we will see ya there at 7pm then.
by the way, we are thinking of getting a snack and eating when we meet up with ya...
ciao for now
s&b

Saturday meet-ups

2005-05-14T12:25:00.000-07:00

Hey guys! Good luck with the trains today - I hope there isn't a repeat of yesterday (we were also delayed 3 hours by an unexpected train strike....stranded in Brussels and not sure if we had a way out. They said the strike might end at 2 (our train was at 1125am). It did end up leaving at 230 and we made it here!! A few tense moments thought).

So, for meet up today. It is now noon and we've had a bit of a late start of it. We are on our way to a few museums and interesting spots and not sure if we'll be done by 4pm. How about we meet at 7pm at our hotel? We haven't become acquainted enough with the city at this point to suggest another more suitable meeting spot.

Our hotel is Thornbeckeplein 9 (its a square, not a street). I'm not sure where exactly your hotel is, so I'm going to try to give you general directions. It's super easy to find. I hope you have a nice map (our map actually lists this square).

Subway stop - Waterlooplein; Tram stop Rembrantplein. If you can find Rembrantplein on your map, we are just south of that, before the Herengracht canal. More complicated instructions - find the cross of the Amstel and the Herengracht canals. We are west of that (or left of that on a map). The Thornbeckeplein square is between Utrechtse Straat and Vijzelstraat on the north side of the Herengracht canal (or on your right if you are walking from the Amster/Herengracht canal crossing).

Our hotel name is Hotel Imperial, its beside a pizzaria. We will be waiting for you on a bench in the square around 7!

In the meantime, if an adjustment of plans is required, you can email Scott's blackberry (as it magically started working yesterday at the most opportune moment) - his first name dot his last name at rogers dot blackberry dot com.

See you then!
Amanda

2005-05-13T19:21:00.000-07:00

hi kids,
It sounds like everyone's trip has been full of adventure so far...we are relaxing right now at Alex's house, laundry is being done and batteries are recharging (batteries of both sorts), getting ready to move on to Am'dam tomorrow am by train, hopefully that goes ok for us. we should be rolling in to town around 2, so we are ready and willing to meet up for dinner or what-have-yous anytime after about 4. scott, since you are our advance envoy in town, maybe you kids could pick someplace to meet up and suggest a time (if you're up for meeting up on Saturday) after 4ish...we should be able to get to where ever without too much problem...
we're enjoying paris quite a bit, having an actual home to come back to at the end of the day helps a lot. yesterday we were out for what, 14 hours or something, walking most of that whole time. unfortunately, to my poor addled brain, everything starts to look the same after a while; after about the 20th gigantic ornate gilded building, I stop being able to appreciate them. oh well! there's been lots else to appreciate, including the delicious pastries :)
will check the blog and email tomorrow when we get in...looking forward to it!
s&b

FLIGHT CANCELLED, LATE ARRIVAL

2005-05-13T01:54:00.000-07:00

Scott and Amanda, due to the strike in Italy, our KLM flight to Amsterdam has been rescheduled. We won't get in until 7PM at the airport. 8PM at the hotel likely. Please leave a note at our hotel telling us if you will meet us at 8PM at our hotel for the evening or at what cafe you'd like us to meet you.

You can call my cell, too, and you should have the number. If not, call my home phone number -- the cell is on the outgoing voxmail msg.

Also, you could try posting to the blog but I can't guarantee I'll be able to see it.

The Amazing Race continues,
Michael & Ann

I am not the most famous pissing boy in Brussels

2005-05-12T22:34:00.000-07:00

Howdy from the capital of Belgium, home of the Mannekin Pis, the famous statue of a boy peeing, and his more obscure female counterpart Jannekin Pis added in the mid 80s. I guess this town respects that kind of urgency.

Poor Amanda is in the next stall over at this stiflingly hot internet place that doesn't burn CDs and only prints documents in Farsi or some equally obscure font, and Amandq's machine is throwing an obfuscating ampunt of popups. Trusting that more workable cafés will be plentiful in 'dam so I can unload my pics to CD before the card fills.

That said, we've accomplished an astonishing amount for a city we arrived knowing nothing about. Saw some crazily old buildings, toured our feet off, ate some local food, and have been staying in a hotel that was given a complete makeover by Belgian artists in 1989/90. I even drank beer, woo woo. One beer on e,pty stomach. Trusted the waiter. Had to convince him that cdn beer is stronger than US, but this stuff is ...well...see the other post.

Paris was freakin' great but didnt feel like "me" like this place does. The transit, the mix of old and new, tradition and modernity, and ethnic diversity make it feel far more like the Toronto I love, only in a different language(s).

Only thing we missed that we wanted to see was the museum of musical instruments. The great tour book said it was open til 8, but we arrived at 6 and it had closed at 5. Shucks. ?aybe they have a web site to view from afar.

S&B, we hope to see you somewheres on Saturday or Sunday .. will check here for notes or watch the regular email for hookup info. M&A, if you're out there, we'll see yall on Friday.

Off to find food and get some rest before the train to Holland. A bientot mes amis.

Bye bye Brussels

2005-05-12T22:28:00.000-07:00

So we've managed to see just about everything there is to see (and not enter and pay for) in Brussels. Been fascinated by the architecture...and the food. Also have noticed that the service is better here (not that it was bad in Paris, but the waiters here are particularly charming....service compris is not appearing on our bills so perhaps that is why). Got drunk today during lunch in the Grand Place (amazing square, Gothic buidlings circa 1698 or so) on REAL Belgium beer recommended to us by our waiter...who, by the way, scoffed at us when we suggested Stella was a Belgian beer...he said it was for the Japanese. Then we walked around the tiny little winding streets a little tipsy. Managed to get some souvenir shopping in today as well.

Looking forward to Amsterdam (insert exclamation point here, cant find it on this keyboard). Just hoping that our seats are facing forward on this train ride. On the train from Paris, we were facing backwards and I got quite a good bout of motion sickness. Barf.

See everyone soon.

Amanda

paris, here we come!

2005-05-10T22:19:00.000-07:00

so, we are off to gay paris tomorrow after spending a lovely surprise visit in Sorrento. it was a lovely relaxing time. today we got to the amalfi coast, which had some amazing views,yesterday we visited pompeii.

scott, we also had trouble with getting our battery recharger going, I expect we should be able to charge up in Paris when we stay with alex.

we have had at least two scoops of gelato every day! but we are walking many kms per day as well, so i dont expect we will be any blobbier than normal when you see us.

ta'ta for now! wishing everyone safe and hassle free travel...

sandra (and byron)

PS watch out for germans!

Palace on strike!

2005-05-10T13:23:00.000-07:00

Began our trip to the huge and spectacular palace of Versailles today, but stopped on news that the workers are on strike and the palace is closed. Boy, if King Louis the Whatever were alive today, those workers wouldn't be.

Had a whole adventure yesterday driving to Normandy looking at war stuff. Driving. In France. Not enough room in the blog for it all but we left abt 10am, returned to hotel 1am and still managed to find food. Helluva journey. Looking fwd to video of us lost in the French countryside and petite ancient villages. Very tired today.

Still eating well though every meal seems to come with fries. My food input:output ratio is still about 20:1, so i'm waiting to explode or create a fusion reactor in my gut. Like you needed to know.

Amanda's taking this one off to write email... She did a fab job getting us around yesterday in the rental van. 500+ km and total rental cost was just abt 80€. Subway here is also very thorough if somewhat urine-soaked and graffiti-ized.

I miss chocolate milk and standard qwerty keyboards.

Wish I'd done a Five Things I Learned Today list for this trip. Learning lots.

Off to the Père Lachaisse cemetery (home to Jim Morrisson, Oscar Wilde and abt a million others) now in lieu of the palace, Eiffel Tower tonite... Laundry tomorrow then fast train to Brussels. Au revoir!

quick electrical question

2005-05-08T15:43:00.000-07:00

hey... we brought a 220-110V converter with the two little pins on it ... but our hotel outlets are recessed into the wall a bit and have a third prong sticking the other way on top... so it dont fit, which means no chargychargy. BUT the bathroom has the right holes in an outlet on the hair dryer that says "shaver only" ..... my brain says okay, charger is only 5W... no problem. but i'd hate to burn down the hotel. anybody know?

post script to Scott's post

2005-05-08T15:38:00.001-07:00

So he stole my thunder in writing what we've done so far, so here's what we're up to next:

on our way now to Sacre Coeur church and what is supposed to be an amazing view of Paris, then to the cemetary where are the cool dead ppl are. Going to try to make it an early night tonight as we've been pretty tired and we have a huge day planned for tomorrow...renting a car and taking a drive through the province of Normandy to visit the D-Day Beaches. Hoping to fit le tour Eiffel in there at sunset. If we dont post again in a timely manner, we crashed the Peugeot (sp?) or have been detained by the french police for breaking a traffic rule I wasn't aware of. Tues is Versailles and laundry I believe and Wed is train day to Brussels! Will be sad to leave this city but looking forward to different adventures.

Still very much impressed with the food, the hotel, the Metro system and the Parisian lifestyle (read RELAXED) except I'm finding it very hard to get a cafe to go in this city.

Glad to read everyone is also having an amazing time....

I just peeked over the kiosk and read that Scott is writing about his constitution problems...I apologize that you have to hear about that too.... :)

See everyone soon!!!
Amanda

Of course paris' red light district has a cafe

2005-05-08T15:38:00.000-07:00

Heya... finally found a place to offload my memory card for backup and freedom's sake... three hundred and some megs of pictures so far... thats one cd rom half full... a dvd slideshow for the 'rents sounds like a neat project on return.

goddq,,it, hoz do europeqns type on these keyboqrds????

saw a ton of stuff in the past few days... went through the big church (notre dame), the army museum and napoleon's tomb at the Hotel des Invalides, arc de triomphe and cha,ps elysee today where they had a big ceremony and parade for v-e day (got little cdn flags from our troops), boat ride on the seine river yesterday... continuing to eat fabulously and sleep too little. presently on our way to the sacre-coeur church; its up a hill so i'm glad we stopped here for a sec. just returned from the musee d'érotisme, first of many on the trip i imagine. i think amanda is summing the still-to-come plan in the kiosk to my right.

really we've seen more stuff than i can remember... including many metro stations. TTC is a kid's project compared to this place.

s&b, you guys are doing great by the sounds of it! weather is a bit cooler here but lovely -- warm enuff for no jacket when the sun is out and pleasantly cool when its not.

will either be sick of smoking or heavily addicted after this leg of the journey after consuming many many stinky french cigarettes.

waiting patiently to shit after, what, four days of post-imodium bung-uppedness. had hope this morning but only two little poops.

ate at mcdo's this afternoon to get the requisite "royal with cheese" moment (ref: Pulp Fiction).

next update when we find the next cafe! au revoir from paris! stay safe and healthy everybody!

Sorrento? wherezat?

2005-05-07T21:51:00.000-07:00

Hi all,
yes, Byron has already posted from beautiful Sorrento,but I think more enthusing is in order. We left Rome this ay'em for parts unknown..we had to sit and figure out what we were doing, and when we couldnt decide we just figured we would head south and see. Here we are, and it is lovelier than I could have hoped for. A great view of the ocean and vesuvius, lovely people,good, cheap food and astounding accomodations...it is like a rsort here. Hope everyone else is equally thrilled with where they are and what they are doing...Paris, Amdam and Dublin will have to be pretty frickin awesome to beat this...

S

Wow!

2005-05-07T21:42:00.000-07:00

So, after hectic day, here we are in Sorrento...an hour trainf from Naples. This place is stunnng so far, and we've so far only been here the evening. Excellent food, nice people, and a real getaway for us!
Rome was great and we saw lots of stuff! colosseum, the Pantheon, andlots andlots of ruins!
anyway, I think we'll endup staying here a few days and enjoy the warmth and sea air!
Ciao!
Byron

hello from the Eternal City!

2005-05-06T21:20:00.000-07:00

Hiya folks,
today was our first real vacation day; yesterday was spent waiting in airport waiting rooms for the flight crew to show up (both flights were late departing) and walking to our accomodations. It turned out to be much longer than the 10 minute walk that the nice traffic cop implied it would be, yet when we tried to take a cab the cabbie refused us and told us it was indeed very close. Close my big fat ass! :) we made it though, and had a good nights sleep in our little surprise tent. yes, tent, we are camping, and the weather is perfect for it.
Now is my paragraph.
we have had lotsa fun so far in rome....except for the same problem scfott was having with the keyboard...err...anyway, there is lots to see here and most peoplehave been extremely helpful and friendly...the bonus is that it's like 24 degrees :)
ciao!
b
we have tons of photos already, but no means of uploading them (we may find an internet cafe with a cardreader if we're lucky).
ttyl!

S

uh, second post from eu, yall

2005-05-06T19:05:00.000-07:00

Jeeeeeeezus, who designed this keyboard? the keys is all over the plqce.

Anyway, spent day one feeling like i'd worked the Storm Centre, got a half decent night's sleep and now we've had q very productive dqy....zhich is being slozed dozn by this crqwy keyboqrd. yq dig?

Found this internet "cafe" in the latin qtr -- uh, no cafe here and only one stool but we's gettin by. 2€ for half an hour. zhich is ql,ost up ///// which is almost up so i gotsta run.

totally digging the new camera btw... gonna have some kickass shots. gonnq sign off before this keyboqrd drives ,e nuts:::::

catch y'all later in hamsterdam! be well and be safe.

FIRST BLOG FROM ABROAD!!!

2005-05-06T09:52:00.000-07:00

...and a funny keyboard at that.

Flight wasnt bad but we were zonked when we got here...no sleep on the plane. Our hotel is nice ... very very clean...central location...small room and no shower curtain (which is truly throwing Scott off). We've eaten like kings thus far...I ate DUCK...possibly the best piece of meat I've ever had...and it was cheap. Today we did the Louvre and the big Cathedral, finished off with a walk through the Latin Quarter which is equally neat. Taken many pictures and looking forward to tomorrow...Musee D'Orsay and army museum among other things. Will try to find another internet cafe soon but they are few and far between!!!

Hope everyone else is having an equally awesome time and enjoying their trip.

Happy Trails,
Amanda

Electricity in Europe

2005-05-03T06:45:00.000-07:00

Electricity in Europe: Travel Voltage Fundamentals may be helpful reading.

Electricity in Europe is 220-240 volts at 50 hertz. We use 110 volts at 60 hertz.

My digital camera's battery charger reads a "50/60Hz 100-240V" so I don't need a transformer, just a plug adapter -- the two prong style. Same thing with my iPod.

For your toys, check your user manual if unsure.

Also note that if you've got one of those heavy "transformers" to North American voltage, there's a 50 watt upper limit -- so your hair dryer won't work, and anything that sucks a lotta juice won't, either. And you might not want to leave them unattended: we had one that melted from over-use. They're heavy 'cos they're basically blocks of copper to "use" the excess power and they get very hot as a result of all that electricity coursing through the copper veins.

An Explorer's Best Friend

2005-05-03T05:51:00.000-07:00

Doctor Scholl's Cushlin Gell Blister Treatment!

Six medicated pads (available in various sizes!) that act like a second skin for those abused toes and heels.

Michael's Top Five Digital Camera Tips for Tourists

2005-05-03T05:40:00.000-07:00

Buy a camera from a company that makes cameras. The image quality will be higher and the unit should be more sturdy.
Get an additional memory card, at least 256MB. I'd recommend 512MB and a fast card. The more you put on a large card, the longer it takes to save the image. By the 511th MB, it'll take up to a minute to save with a slow card. Trust me, I have one.
Bring a spare battery. Sounds silly, yes, but you'd be amazed at how quickly you run outta juice over the course of a single day.
Make sure your battery charger works in the country. Many chargers are 110v/240v and just need an adapter, not a power converter.
Don't delete photos unless absolutely necessary or crappy. Wait until you get home and you can see them on a big screen. Deleting on the camera takes time and distracts you from your tourista activities.

Bonus Tip:

Buy one of those "mini" tripods so you can sit the camera on a restaurant table to take a low-light slow-exposure photo. Saves you from disturbing others with the flash, and you can get some great night shots without having to lug around a full sized tripod.

Blogging by Email

2005-05-03T05:36:00.000-07:00

Yes, Blogger supports blogging by email, Scott!

Under the "Settings" tab in the Blogger Dashboard, the administrator of the blog clicks the "Email" option.

Under "Mail-to-Blogger Address" you enter a top secret email prefix and select "[X] Publish" and save the settings.

Byron: let us know what the bloggerl address is via private email (you certainly wouldn't wanna publish it here!) and we're off to the races.

Rampin' up for takeoff

2005-05-02T12:40:00.000-07:00

Kitty's with my folks now ... Amanda sewed a Cdn flag patch on my backpack ... the framework of the itinerary has been finalized for a while ... been rolling coins to trade in for Euros ... suddenly had an urge to eat french bread with butter. Mmm.. Butter.

Mrs. H had a good suggestion for the flight -- bring bottled water 'cuz it's so dry on there. Smart move. I know I won't be wearing my contact lenses. *crunch*scrape*

Hey, I bought an MP3 player for the trip. Cheapass $99 512MB one. Loaded it up with music, and thought ... jeezus, there's gotta be a better way. So I downloaded Itunes. Michael, I think Rich was right, it's a cool program. But I don't think it'll help me with my mp3 player.

I'm tenatively planning to hit downtown after work on Tuesday to get a haircut and ask the kids at Henry's what kind of kickass digital camera I can get for $400. Y'know, what's the bestest camera I can get for that $$$. My last $400 camera was five years ago and is still good, if not for being in shitty shape, so I'm sure $400 will get me a much cooler hunk of junk.

I don't know if my Blackberry will work in EU -- well, I mean the email/phone part. I'm gonna take it anyway, as it's my watch, calendar, calculator, vibrator, etc. If it works to update the blog, though, that'd be very neat. Anyone know handily if I can just email blog entries that way?

Try to get some sleep, everybuddy!

can'twaitcan'twaitcan'twait!

2005-05-02T10:28:00.000-07:00

Hiya,
so, I'm at work today...bad idea! I'd originally talked about taking today and tomorrow off, but decided to bank my non-essential holiday days. I'm too excited to work! Oh well, the day is zipping by, and the good thing about being so excited is that any unpleasant people I may encounter won't put a dent in my good mood.
Looking forward to seeing folks on the road...keep in touch by email if bloggin's no good. May all our adventures be happy full of wonder! Let's all appreciate the lovely folk who each of us is lucky enough to be embarking on such an adventure with, and be gentle and forgiving of complaints of sore feet and vehement protestations that I'm not the one that wanted to see this in the first place and frustration at the fact that it's raining again... Not that any of us would have such problems, but I'm planning on taking the Buddhism for Dummies along, so I wanna get into a peaceful frame of mind before we go :)
cheerio!
S

European ATM warning

2005-04-29T09:53:00.000-07:00

Not sure if everyone is already in the know about this, but I thought I'd pass along my new-found info. Apparently, European ATMs only accept 4-digit PIN numbers - so a warning for any of you with a 5-digit one!

Scott & Amanda's Hotel in Amsterdam

2005-04-28T14:15:00.000-07:00

Hey there folks - as requested, we are staying at the Hotel Imperial (http://www.amsterdamby.com/imperial/). I think there's a map on there if anyone is interested in finding us.

miscellaneous

2005-04-27T10:05:00.000-07:00

Well, a week today is take off day...we're taking Atticus Catticus to my dad's house tonight, where he'll be well taken care of and socialized until we get back. I'm a little anxious about this...he's almost 14 years old, by my calculations, and getting a little slow and er..geriatric. I got him the year I graduated high school, and he's my oldest friend (sorry, Scott, although I call you my oldest friend, technically you're only my oldest *human* friend). I've never been away from Atticus for this long, and he's never had to leave the comfort of his home while I'm away. :(

In other news, I got my euros this week; they're beautiful! and we've booked our first couple of nights' stay in Rome for a pleasingly reasonable rate. where will everyone be staying in Hamsterdam? It'd be fun to meet up with everyone for at least a meal or two or an afternoon or something while we're there...

Scott & Amanda's Itinerary

2005-04-25T13:01:00.000-07:00

Our itinerary is pretty concrete (hotels booked and train tickets already purchased) and is as follows:

May4: Depart Toronto
May5-May11: Paris
May11-May 13: Brussels
May13-May16: Amsterdam
May16: Depart Amsterdam for home

I's here.

2005-04-25T10:33:00.000-07:00

Yo, yo, posse. The countdown is on. Nice to see you all. Thanks to B for putting this place together. Yes, I haven't learned Dutch, but I've found a web site that promises to teach me Dutch. Or at least some basics.
I've yet to investigate whether I'll be able to Meet James Ensor (Belgium's famous painter), though http://www.missingimages.com/jamesensor/ it appears someone else has tried.

re:digital photography

2005-04-25T07:12:00.000-07:00

Hmmm...
Yeah, Sandra and I are bringing her digital camera as well, but I am still debating on whether to bring my SLR or not...we'll see.
How about itineries? We have not really gotten ours sorted out completely yet, but are thinking Italy from the 5th to 10th, France until the 12th or 13th, and then Amsterdam the 14th to 17th, and then to Dublin for a couple days and then home...
Byron

Eyewitness Travel Guides: Holland

2005-04-23T07:29:00.000-07:00

This is the travel guide Ann and I bought for Holland. It has some fantastic illustrations and some excellent "factoids" about Amsterdam's history, architecture and society.

We bought it here from Indigo.

...and Amanda: Scott ain't gonna learn Dutch in 12 days. Thank goodness the locals speak English.

Feeling inferior to Michael's toys...

2005-04-22T19:01:00.000-07:00

Gee...I'm still weighing the "digital camera vs. 20 disposal cameras" debate. I've had a digital camera now for a few years, but it is by no means top-of-the-line (Kodak EasyShare CX6200 circa 2003). I've never used it for taking more than 5 pictures at a time, so I'm nervous relying solely on that for the entire trip.

I'm starting to get really excited about the trip! I can't believe take-off is only 12 days away. Still doesn't quite seem real. Everything is finally done, all plane/train tickets and hotel vouchers in hand, miscellaneous items required for the trip purchased, etc.. Scott has yet to learn Dutch, but that's another story.

Looking forward to seeing everyone there!

Charging the toys for the trip

2005-04-22T12:44:00.000-07:00

So I bought a new cellphone, one that has a camera built-in. It's a Rogers "world phone" so I'm hoping that includes Amsterdam. Pass along the private email address for posting remotely, and I'll fire off a photo or two to the site once we're there!

...I just hope the batteries last, along with the credit card: I'm sure emailing a 40K photo from Amsterdam through Toronto won't be cheap! I just got my local cellphone bill wiht $58 tacked on for (gasp) 2.1MB worth of Internet traffic.

I also have a digital camera connection to my iPod which allows me to offload the photos to the music player's hard disk and wipe the memory card clean. If you're interested in getting one for your iPod, Belkin is the company you want to talk to. No, you don't need the new iPod Photo model to use it.

The real advantage is theft prevention: if someone mugs you for your camera, at least you haven't lost all your photos, too. I'll be keeping the iPod back in the hotel room safe and transferring nightly. It's a big deal, particularly if you take massive panoramic photos like I do.

Alternatively, Apple now sells an adapter that also allows you to offload photos, that may be a simpler option: you use your camera's USB cable instead of removing the memory card from the camera. It's the dongle you see to the right. The advantage of the one that I have is it supports a half dozen memory card formats so you can be downright promiscuous with your iPod.

Thanks for the invite to the Blog, too! Sandra: Got your message fished out of my spam folder, and you bet we'll drop in the night of your get together! Dunno for how long, of course, considering the allergies!

wheee!

2005-04-21T10:17:00.000-07:00

Hiya,
well, two weeks from today we'll have already made our first stop--Dublin--and will be en route to the Eternal City. It's all very exciting! We still haven't done all the reading I hope to, and I haven't been frantically packing and unpacking and repacking as I thought I might, but I'm definitely getting wound up.
Byron created this blog so that those of us who are planning on meeting up in Amsterdam can see where the others are at and arrange our rendezvousing fairly easily (some of us are taking the flying-by-the-seat-of-our-pants philosophy, and don't yet know when or where we'll be any place in particular).
So...enjoy the anticipation of the trip! Looking forward to seeing everyone at some point along the way...

2005-03-03T05:51:00.000-08:00

amsterdam map

first post

2005-03-03T05:25:00.000-08:00

This is the first post regarding our meeting in Amsterdam.
We can communicate with friends, family and each other easily this way i think...