Hello. A lot of people have asked me how the trip was and what we did. Rather than go through a long spiel every time, I thought I'd just do up a website and send the link around. True to Steph's frequent teasing, I found a very efficient way to share the fun we had on our trip. I hope you enjoy it too. Click on any of the pics for a larger version.

Day 1: 30/06/2004 - Welcome

We left Boston on British Airways in the morning and arrived in London at 6:15 pm local time. I took an illegal picture of Steph at UK customs. We took a train and a taxi to the hotel. The hotel lived up to its 2 star reputation.


After checking in, we went straight to a pub near Dave's (Steph's brother) flat. After a couple of pints, we walked around central London at night but only took one picture (of Piccadilly Circus).

Day 2: 01/07/2004 - British Museum, Covent Garden, and Thai food

On day 2, we walked from our hotel to the British Museum. On the way I took a picture of a fancy looking hotel and one at lunch at a pub. Note the terrible Brit-mullet in the background of the lunch pic.


At the British Museum, I took a ton of pictures of the Elgin Marbles, which are sculptures that were taken from the Parthenon by a Brit long ago. I've always loved the Parthenon stuff and I had to do a paper on the Elgin Marbles once, so that was exciting for me. We also saw the Iran exhibit and took pics for Sherv's benefit. Then we moved onto Egypt, including the Rosetta Stone.


After the museum we went to Covent Garden, saw a street performer, watched football (soccer) at a pub, and ate dinner at a good Thai restaurant. Pictures are: Steph in a phonebooth, St. Paul's Church at Covent Garden, street performer, cool old housing, and Steph being rude. The AVI video is a drunken Steph trying to find our hotel room without my help. I took it sideways without thinking.

Steph video (16.5 MB)

Day 3: 02/07/2004 - Westminster and clubbing (not seals)

On day 3 we went on a long walk from the hotel to Westminster via Trafalgar Square. Most of the following pics are Trafalgar Square.


Once we reached Westminster, I took an obligatory shot of Big Ben and an irony shot of Abe Lincoln before we went to Westminster Abbey. We weren't allowed to take pictures inside the Abbey. After that we walked across a bridge over the Thames and were going to do the London Eye, but bad weather and my fear of heights prevented us from actually doing it. As it is prone to do in London, the weather cleared up and I took a pic of Steph at the Canadian embassy. It's too bad it was one day late for Canada Day.


After that, we visited Dave at work. Later, we met up with his friend, Karina, and went to a pub until 11pm when they close, and then this super posh overpriced nightclub. It became fun for me after consuming a pretty significant amount of alcohol. Zany antics include Karina disappearing and getting thrown out of the club, and Colin and Steph simultaneously getting hit on while looking for her. Some guy had his sister ask Steph, "are you horny?" Crazy Brits.


Day 4: 03/07/2004 - National Gallery, the Queen in her damn undies as the saying goes, and London Pride

After a late start due to hangovers, we went to the National Gallery and spend a couple of hours there. Highlights included the Arnolfini Wedding by Van Eyck and a Hans Holbein that I forgot the name of. We caught part of a lecture on Rubens and Poussin, which was very informative despite the fact that I have only a moderate interest in Baroque art. The museum did not allow pictures. That day Trafalgar Square was host to a gay pride celebration (see the pic). After that we walked to Buckingham Palace and walked around taking some pictures. The royal family isn't exactly my department, but seeing this stuff was cool nonetheless. We spent the rest of the evening eating and watching a movie at Dave's.


Day 5: 04/07/2004 - Greenwich has no green in it

We celebrated Independence Day by hopping on the tube and taking the DLR passed "Mudchute" and into Greenwich. In Greenwich, we saw boats, the market, the Royal Observatory, and the National Maritime Museum. Highlights include the Greenwich mean time clock being wrong (too bad my watch didn't come out in the pic), and an amazing British obsession with Lord Horatio Nelson, who died while defeating the unified French and Spanish naval fleet in 1805. There was a little snippet in the maritime museum about General Cornwallis, but curiously no mention of his surrender to George Washington ending the American Revolution. Hey, I had to work the 4th of July in there somewhere. Anyway, Greenwich was really cool. We followed up a day of learning about the sea by watching Master and Commander at night. Arrrrrrrrrr matey, where were the damn pirates? It's been driving me nuts all day.

Day 6: 05/07/2004 - St. Paul's construction company, EasyJet, and Versoix

Even the freakin courthouse looks like a church (pic 1). We went to St. Paul's Cathedral on this Monday morning since it is closed to tourists on Sundays. It should be closed to tourists everyday, at least to paying tourists, cause it's under heavy construction and restoration which detracts considerably from it's majesty. Still, it's not like huge Baroque churches grow on trees here in the New World, so it was cool to see. Again, no photography on the inside. We climbed up almost 300 stairs to the Whisper Gallery, where we were treated to a closer view of the scaffolding and Colin's vertigo. The crypt has some tombs of famous people and organists. Surprise surprise, the most prominent tomb is Nelson.


After that it was off to Gatwick airport and an EasyJet flight to Geneva. I think EasyJet is part airline, part Lord of the Flies style study into human nature when placed in a situation that rewards rudeness and aggressiveness. Good times. We got to Switzerland and took a ride in a mini Fiat to Greg's (my sister's husband) family's house in Versoix. We had some excellent quiche, then went over to see Lake Geneva and have some Swiss ice cream before getting soaked in the rain.

Day 7: 06/07/2004 - Geneva, funny faces, and Chateau de Chillon

We spent a couple of hours in Geneva, just walking around and checking out some old buildings and lots of Francais.


After Geneva, Greg drove us to Vevey where we got on a boat up to Chillon Castle. Note the funny Swiss people on the boat, the beautiful Swiss scenery, and a billion pictures of the super cool Middle Ages castle. I'll let the pics do the taking from here. Switzerland fin.

Day 8: 07/07/2004 - Paris, riding down Champs-Elysees like a victorious army, the Louvre. Excuse moi pour le mal Francais.

Another lovely EasyJet experience and voila, we're in Paris. We rode the Metro with the stinky and pushy Parisians until we reached La Place de Charles De Gaulle Etoile, which houses the Arc de Triomphe. For such a little guy, Napoleon sure knew how to do monuments. I got some nice pics of the sculpture on the Arch, including one of the diminutive Emperor himself.


Here we go down the Champs-Elysees past the Hotel des Invalides (the gold dome) where Napoleon's tomb is and the obelisk in the Place de la Concorde. Continuing on through the park and to the Louvre Museum (the one with the pyramid), check out the view back down the street where you can see the obelisk and the Arch in the distance. We spent over 3 hours in the Louvre and saw a lot of amazing stuff. Pictures were allowed, but we only took 2 because we were annoyed with the hoards of tourists who needed to take pictures of themselves standing next to great works of art, and also because 3 hours isn't a lot for the Louvre and I didn't want to stop to photo things. We did take a pic of 2 Michelangelo slaves and the large format room with some famous Jacque-Louis David paintings.


Upon returning from the Louvre, we discovered that a change of plans required us to stay in a hotel rather than the apartment that we had planned. Check out the luxury accommodations in this lovely Paris hotel. (That's called sarcasm for those keeping score at home.)

Day 9: 08/07/2004 - Les Bateaux Mouche, Sainte Chapelle, and more poor attempts at French spelling.

Again, we started the day at the Arch, this time crossing the Seine to hop on a boat and tour down the river. Photos taken from the boat include sites such as the Musee D'Orsay, Notre Dame, the Pont Neuf, the Eiffel Tower, and the replica statue of liberty. The audio on the tour was quite amusing and used such terms as "Manhattanization" and "Up-to-dateness."

Boat video 1 (1.4 MB)
Boat video 2 (3.2 MB)

Our tour continues as we get off the boat, get a closer look at les Invalides, and make our way to the Isle de la Cite. Next up is Sainte Chapelle, which is the lesser known of the 2 cathedrals on the Isle, but perhaps more breathtaking from the inside. Steph did an admirable job of capturing the awe of this amazing and hard to photograph place.


After that we braved the horrendous Boston-like horizontal rain and inside-out umbrellas to see a bit of Notre Dame. It really is an amazing building and it's a shame the weather put a damper on the experience. Maybe some videos can help you feel the overall experience.

ND video 1 (0.9 MB)
ND video 2 (0.5 MB)
ND video 3 (1.4 MB)

Tired and sick of the weather, we made our way back to homebase, which was an apartment near Gare du Nord (aka North Station, see pic 1). Unfortunately, we discovered that my sister had made off with the keys. We entertained ourselves in the most Parisian way we could, by swigging cheap wine out of the bottle and eating a baguette. Wine makes everyone happier. European sirens are funny too.

Siren video (1.6 MB)

Day 10: 09/07/2004 - Back to London, Topshop, and where the hell are all the pictures?

I have no idea why this is the only picture we took from this day. Amanda (sister), Steph, and I took EasyJet back to London where we checked into the next hotel, did the Museum of London, and walked all over, and eventually landed in the shopping district. Steph and Amanda found their Mecca in Topshop and I fled to sanctuary in Dave's office.

Day 11: 10/07/2004 - Camden Town, The Tower of London, a great find, and PwC

Again, the pics have a gap here as we went up to Camden Town market and saw a lot of cool little shops and marketplace. We found the counter culture that I had noticed was lacking in central London. There were about 15 stores selling huge goth boots and a few more selling "magic mushrooms." My parents were with us but they didn't make it into any of the pics. After Camden we made our way down to the Tower of London. There's lots of really cool stuff in the Tower and stories to tell, but I'm tired. Suffice to say that most of it was bloody and involved people being beheaded. Maybe I'll edit in more tomorrow.


While we were in the tower, my mom discovered this site where a Christopher Wren (famous Baroque architect who rebuilt most of London after the great fire of 1666) church had been made into a park. It was bombed in the WWII air raids and never rebuilt. They let vines and foliage grow all over the remaining Baroque stone to form one of the most amazing parks I've ever been in. Steph was also very happy to find out that a massage therapy center has moved into the remaining tower. Very cool place. In contrast to this peaceful place, it was back to Topshop for Amanda and Steph. After dinner at Raj Tandoori, we stumbled upon a PwC sign and took the last cheesy picture.

Day 12: 11/07/2004 - Hampton Court, taxidermy, and flower people

A 45 minute train ride out of Waterloo Station, Hampton Court is a site of more Royal Palaces, mostly built by Henry VIII and William III later on. We took an audio tour of the Tudor kitchens (see taxidermy) and some other tours given by in-character costumed people. There was also a flower show going on and hoards and hoards of British people carrying around plants.

Day 13: 12/07/2004 - Parting shots

We didn't really do much on the last day, apart from a final trip to Covent Garden market and to Dave's flat. Farewell London. We shall return when I win the lottery.



Wow, that took a really long time. Hopefully a few people will enjoy this. I know I will. In parting, I'd like to paraphrase the cowboy in the BL:
I ain't never seen no queen in her damn undies as the fella says, but now I can say I seen London, and I been to France. I'll tell you what, I guess I seen somethin' ever' bit as stupefyin' as ya'd see in those places, and in (mostly) English too, so I can die with a smile on my face without feelin' like the good Lord gypped me.