One year after Vancouver 2010

It’s been one year since the Opening Ceremonies of the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympic Games, and I’m not in Vancouver for the anniversary. Where am I? How am I feeling? Check out my post on 2010vanfan!

NerdBird at Mineral Exploration Roundup 2011

NerdBird at Mineral Exploration Roundup 2011 - I’m blogging this week from the Mineral Exploration Roundup in Vancouver.  Covering all the exciting events and making sure everyone is up-to-date.  Check it out at The Core – AME BC blog.

A strange weekend in Seattle

A trip to Seattle to see Harry Potter The Exhibition and Picasso: Masterpieces from the Museé National Picasso, Paris seems like the oddest of juxtapositions. On one hand we have a child’s story, full of witchcraft and fantastical creatures, stories that have become a world sensation. A sensational pop culture phenomenon. And then there is Picasso, an artist born more than a century before even the idea of Harry Potter. Picasso once said “It took me four years to paint like Raphael, but a lifetime to paint like a child.” He was also a pop culture phenomenon – one that could paint with great grace as well as great harshness. Harry Potter is a boy becoming a man, while Picasso was a man who seemed to be becoming a boy. As odd as the combination is they made for a great weekend.

A walk across the Lions Gate Bridge

I got to walk across the Lions Gate Bridge yesterday – it was quite an adventure. Honestly, I don’t think it was something that I had ever considered doing before but my parents had asked me to drop of their vehicle for servicing in North Vancouver and when I looked at a map to determine how best to get home I figured I’d give it a go. I’ve taken SeaBus many times so that that route wasn’t a very exciting idea. The Lions Gate Bridge is beautiful and though I have driven across the bridge many times I’ve never had an opportunity to stop and take photos or enjoy the view, it seemed like the most exciting option by far!

Are you a Vancouver 2010 Blue Jacket (aka Smurf)?  Want to walk with John Furlong and some more Blue Jackets for the 2010 Santa Claus Parade on December 5th? Click here for more info!

Eye of the Wind – visiting the wind turbine at Grouse Mountain

Along with my Olympic buddies Rachael and Dave I got to see the Eye of the Wind turbine at the top of Grouse Mountain. It was an amazing trip – everyone should go!

Touring the Museum of Anthropology and UBC’s Gardens

After several wonderful tours in Europe I was keen to go on some tours back here at home. Luckily, not long after I got home Groupon put up a 50% off deal for a tour of the Museum of Anthropology (MOA) at UBC. I have lived in Vancouver (off and on) for 11 years now and have somehow never made it to MOA – I have no excuse for that. Heck, I was at UBC, steps from MOA for four years! And now that I’ve been there I know I’ll be returning soon.

Grand Tour Days 77-84 – Cornwall and Munich and the end of my journey

The last week of my Grand Tour was a bit of a whirlwind. From Germany to Cornwall and back with one missed train and one missed plane to add excitement to the adventure. Those of you that know me well know that I am a worrier and a planner. I worry about everything, often about things I can’t control. One of my personal goals for this trip was to worry less – to let things happen as they happen and not to stress about them. Well, I think I was successful, rather, too successful. I somehow became so complacent about travelling and scheduling that I really believed two hours would be enough time to get from Stansted airport, across the city and onto my train to Cornwall. When I missed that train I blamed it on the holdups at customs and decided not to worry about rebooking my train back to London, which would arrive at Paddington station two hours before my flight to Munich. So not only did I miscalculate the first time, I was convinced that I would be successful the second time, doing basically the same thing. I was wrong and I hope I have learned after not just two but three missed bookings in one week (I missed my train from Paris to Munich the week before) that a bit of worrying is a good thing. And showing up to the airport or train station well before my departure time is not an uptight thing to do.

Grand Tour Days 68 – 76: Last week in Paris then to Munich and beyond

I tried to write on the train to Cornwall yesterday and failed miserably, but today, in the peaceful village of Falmouth I have time and some focus. It’s been over a week since I last posted – the longest I’ve gone without writing in more than a year I believe (wow, just realised that this second). The last week has been busy, it involved – my last week in Paris starting with the Tour de France and ended with me missing my train to Munich by 15 seconds, going to Munich for the weekend and then travelling here to Cornwall. Busy but in a way that only your final moments on vacation can be – wonderful.

Grand Tour Days 63-67 – The subsurface and art of Paris

The city of Paris is huge. While the city proper is a bit smaller than Vancouver land-wise (105 km2 versus 115 km2) the metropolitan area sprawls (14,500 km2 versus Vancouver’s meager 2,900 km2). And population density? I would have thought that with all of the new condos in downtown Vancouver that we are a reasonably dense city but all you have to do is walk through Paris to know that there are many more people here.