Archive for Travel
April 21, 2008 at 10:36 am · Filed under Travel, Work
I’m back from California, and it looks like I missed the last snowfall of the year. I enjoyed sun and warmth in Anaheim and came back to a warm night in Montreal.
While in Anaheim I walked a lot, went on five rollercoasters at Knotts Berry Farm, walked some more, ate at IHOP twice and at the Rainforest Cafe once, perused lots of Disney merchandise, went to Target, oh and did a bit of work.
The presentation went well. We had about four hundred people in the audience. I got a couple of laughs and some good questions at the end, including people wanting to steal my code (if it were up to me I’d GPL it, but it’s not up to me).
April 11, 2008 at 11:54 am · Filed under Travel, Work
Tomorrow afternoon I’m catching a flight to Orange County, California for 5 days of sun and relaxation work. I’m attending the Sungard Higher Education Summit in Anaheim, where I will be taking part in a presentation in front of up to 1,000 people. Worried? Me? Nah, as the refreshment lady says, it’ll be a piece of cake (only parents with two year old Thomas fans will get that reference). Apart from that nerve-wracking hour, the rest of the time will be spent listening to other people talk about all things university computer system related.
Although I’ve been within spitting distance of the border, I’ve never actually entered California before (I don’t count sitting in LA airport for six hours) so that’s another state to cross of my list even though I doubt I’ll get to see much of it.
January 21, 2008 at 11:28 am · Filed under Family+Friends, Travel
At the end of December, my sister embarked on a racearoundtheworld a leisurely trip around the world starting, slightly perversely, in Australia. I’m very envious, but I’m living the trip vicariously by reading her travel blog. She hasn’t been gone a month yet and she’s already climbed a bridge, hiked mountains, canoed, scuba dived, and done a jeep safari, with plenty of stops for beer along the way. We obviously need to find some extreme sporting activities in Montreal for when she finally arrives here. And buy beer.
November 1, 2007 at 12:26 pm · Filed under Family+Friends, Travel
We went to Vermont at the weekend. We visited friends. I got new shoes. And socks. I discovered I’m now allergic to cats (or at least, some cats). Jen got lots of scrap booking stuff including a funky paper cutting machine. We had really good Chinese food. Aidan chased cats and father christmases. I enjoyed locally brewed beer. We played Chatgames for the first time in years. It snowed. Aidan said his longest sentence. Aidan kicked leaves. A fun time was had by all, allergies permitting.
September 14, 2007 at 11:29 am · Filed under Family+Friends, Travel
After our week in PEI, it was time to hit the road for the second week. We drove east along the south coast of PEI to Wood Island which is where the ferry to Nova Scotia leaves from. We had reservations for the 1pm ferry, and got there in plenty of time. Dan and Susan were supposed to get the next ferry, but they ended up on ours, giving Aidan a bit of a surprise. We settled down for the 75 minute journey, listening to a newfie guy singing depressing sea shanties. They even depressed Aidan:
Once we arrived in Caribou, Nova Scotia it was time to drive again, heading south to Halifax. After driving around the city for a while looking for a decent hotel, we ended up at the Waverly, an old and unique hotel decorated in the brothel style:
We dumped our stuff and went out wandering. From the drive in I already knew I liked the city, but walking showed me its full charm. It feels cozy, vibrant and cosmopolitan, like a smaller version of Montreal. There are now three Canadian cities I would be very happy living in. I’m looking forward to having a longer vacation there.
Walking around the waterfront we spotted one of Aidan’s favourite TV celebrities, so we had to take advantage of the photo opportunity:
After that we went for a seafood dinner at Salty’s Restaurant with an old friend of Jen’s before retiring for the evening.
Sadly we had to leave Halifax the next day to embark on the long journey to Maine. The state is not only a shortcut back to Montreal, it’s also a shopping mecca, which is why Jen wanted to go there. We drove back up through Nova Scotia into New Brunswick and through Saint John to the border then down to Bangor, Maine.
The choice of hotels in Bangor is limited to say the least, and because it was getting late we ended up at a very crappy Comfort Inn, which became our base as we spent the next two days exploring the huge mall complex. Jen bought lots of scrapbooking stuff, I bought The Dangerous Book For Boys and Aidan got some clothes and books out of the deal.
Aidan got sick in Maine, and gave the cold to me when we got home, so not the perfect end to a vacation, but the rest of it made it all worthwhile.
September 13, 2007 at 11:38 am · Filed under Family+Friends, Travel
Our stay at the cottage in PEI was fun because of the three children and relaxing despite them. We played a lot, we read a lot, we ate a lot. We hardly used computers, we hardly watched TV. We were outside as much as possible.
We were mere steps from the beach:
So we spent a lot of time there, enjoying the views:
Frolicking in the water:
And building artistic sand castles (Dan’s job):
When we weren’t at the beach, we were back at the cottage, relaxing in the comfy sitting area:
Enjoying the fabulous sunsets:
Or preparing and eating yummy food:
September 11, 2007 at 2:27 pm · Filed under Family+Friends, Travel
Aidan probably enjoyed himself more than anyone else during our week in PEI. He loved the beach and became most indignant if we tried to take him away from it. He also loved the garden around the cottage and running around in the cottage itself. He loved spending time with his grandma (”Bama”) and grandpa (”Ricky”) and even warmed to his cousins (”Limon” and “Aladar”).
He loved hunting for crabs and snails:
He loved playing in the sand:
He loved UFO spotting:
He enjoyed shopping for second hand clothes at Frenchies:
He also liked taking naps in unusual places:
September 10, 2007 at 2:38 pm · Filed under Family+Friends, Travel
Having returned from a very pleasurable vacation, it’s time to bore anyone reading this with all the intimate details. This week will be all vacation blogging, so you’re pre-warned and can hit that ‘Mark all as read’ button without thinking.
The first week of our vacation was to be spent at a cottage on Prince Edward Island. We would be staying there with Jen’s mum and stepdad and her brother and his family. We were all driving there, in three different cars, us with Aidan in the back, Jen’s brother with a three year old and a five month old in the back, and Jen’s parents with a big pile of food and alcohol in the back.
Because we had no idea how Aidan would cope with 12 hours of driving, we decided to split it over two days. He fared surprisingly well on the first day and we made it to Fredericton before he started getting really cranky. We found a very reasonable Comfort Inn and settled down for the night. The next morning we got our first sign that we were in the Maritimes:
The second day of driving was much shorter, which made Aidan very happy:
At around lunchtime we reached Confederation Bridge, a 12.9km bridge across the Northumberland Strait between New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island. It’s an amazing thing to see, photos just don’t do it justice:
After crossing the bridge it was less than ten minutes to our cottage. We were first to arrive, greeted by the property manager who showed us around the property and introduced us to our beach. Everyone else showed up shortly after that and our vacation began.
August 23, 2006 at 12:36 pm · Filed under Travel, Work
For most schools around here, this is the last week of summer. For the past few weeks I’ve had peaceful journeys to work, sitting reading my book in a quiet carriage, sometimes with empty seats around me. All that is about to change.
It started today with the Dawson students who thankfully are old enough to be reasonably restrained, but on Monday it will be bedlam. The train will be full of screaming 12 year olds with their cell phones and ipods and all the souvenirs of a summer spent having way too much fun. They will be in a frenzy of excitement at least for the first few days until school has drilled all the fun out of them, then they’ll just be mildly hysterical. They’ll be running up and down the aisle, throwing stuff at each other, flirting, fighting, gossiping, screeching and generally being teenagers.
Oh well, maybe I’ll be more awake when I get to work now.
August 17, 2006 at 7:43 am · Filed under Travel
The joys of becoming a parent are immeasurable, but it does have a few small downsides. One of those is that we haven’t been on any trips for a couple of years. I have to admit that I’ve travelled more than my wife, but only because of a business trip to Florida and a trip to France which was not a happy one.
So until we can travel again (hopefully next year), I’m doing my travelling vicariously by reading travel books. I started with Bill Bryson’s Notes From a Small Island, documenting in hilarious fashion his travels around Britain, followed by Notes From a Big Country, The Lost Continent and A Walk in the Woods, also by Mr Bryson.
Having exhausted my Bryson collection (apart from the Australia one, I wasn’t in the mood for Australia), I’ve now started re-reading The Kingdom by the Sea by Paul Theroux, another amusing trip around the coast of Britain. Theroux’s writing pulls one along at such a speed that I expect to finish the book very quickly, which exhausts my travel book collection.
So my fair readers, can you recommend some travel books that I can feed to my travel bug?
May 30, 2005 at 7:47 am · Filed under Food, Travel
Our last night in PA was spent in Intercourse (snigger) where we saw authentic and not so authentic Amish folk, bought jam, and ate traditional Amish fare (ham and reconstituted dried apples with potato dumplings and chow-chow).
I arrived back in Montreal on Saturday morning to be greeted by my lovely wife who I missed terribly while I was away. We went home and spent the weekend gardening, mowing lawns, pulling up dandelions and using C&T’s super-duper jet washer to wash the deck. We finished the weekend with chicken on a beer can (shove a half empty can of beer up a chickens bum and stand it on the bbq for an hour or so) and a trip to Rockaberry’s for pie.
Now I’m back at work and trying to figure out if I actually learned anything last week.
May 27, 2005 at 10:32 am · Filed under Travel
On Wednesday night we visited Philly. We spent a long time trying to decipher the parking signs (and I thought the Montreal ones were bad). We saw the Liberty Bell Centre (or Center as they like to call it) and Washington Square and all that patriotic stuff. We ate at a fancy contemporary Italian restaurant where everything was delicious.
Last night we went on a scenic drive through the PA countryside, visited the Chadds Ford Winery and picked up a couple of bottles then went back to the hotel for an evening of wine, pizza and a good movie (The Station Agent).
Tonight we’re going to visit the Amish and try some shoo-fly pie.
May 25, 2005 at 8:05 am · Filed under Travel
We went to the King Of Prussia mall last night. Depending on who you talk to it’s either the biggest or the 2nd biggest mall on the East Coast side of the USA. It’s big, but it’s not really exciting for the likes of me. I drooled over everything in the Mac store then wandered around aimlessly for an hour before eating an oversized meal at the Cheesecake Factory. I still have half a slice of cheesecake in my hotel fridge.
May 24, 2005 at 9:21 am · Filed under Travel, Work
I’m in Malvern, PA, population 3000. It is not very exciting.
September 5, 2004 at 5:58 pm · Filed under Home, Travel
After finally finishing the last few bits and pieces in the bathroom, we decided to go for a walk to our local supermarket, Provigo. Along the way I took these photos of our lovely neighbourhood. It was about a six kilometre round trip, and I was carrying a backpack full of groceries for three of those, so I think I got my exercise for the day.
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