London Calling

An overview of our jam-packed holiday in London, England:

- 5.5 days spent in this English metropolis.
- 3 museums/galleries toured: Tate Modern, National Gallery, and the British Museum. Fun fact: they're all free to get into and to view the main collections. Special exhibits require tickets.

Main atrium of the British Museum.

- 4 bridges crossed: Waterloo Bridge, London Bridge (not to be confused with Tower Bridge), Millennium Bridge, Westminster Bridge.
- 7 iconic landmarks admired: Tower Bridge (viewed from London Bridge), St. Paul's Cathedral, the Gherkin, The Shard (seriously), the London Eye, Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament.

- 1 show attended in the West End: the amazing Lion King.
- 1 Shakespearean production seen at the Globe Theatre: the beautifully staged and wildly entertaining adaptation of "A Midsummer Night's Dream". #WonderSeason.
- 1 Abbey toured: Westminster Abbey (£20 for admission, but you get an audio guide). Darwin and Newton are interred there and there's a great " Poet's corner" where many English literary bigwigs are commemorated, including Lewis Carrol. Also the grave of the Unknown Soldier is here. Handel also has a giant monument as a German-born composer who primarily worked in England. The whole abbey was a lot larger than I had anticipated.

Courtyard of Westminster Abbey.

- 3 squares/circuses (plus Regent St) visited and people-watched at: Piccadilly Circus, Trafalgar Sq, Oxford Circus. Bonus: Canada House is right at Trafalgar Square and houses a small exhibition area currently showcasing Emily Carr paintings. We didn't have a chance to go in.
- 1 viewing of the pomp and pagentry that is the Changing of the Guard at Buckingham Palace. Arrive early and be prepared to lose your place if you so much as twitch or turn away for a half second. Weirdest moment: when the marching band started playing Bon Jovi's "Living on a Prayer" and Ted started singing.

- 4 markets shopped at: Camden Market, Portobello Road Market, Old Spitalfields Market, and Brick Lane Market.
- 2 delicious meals filled with laughs with family and friends who live in London.
- many tubes and double-decker busses ridden. Bonus: an attempt to get to platform 9 3/4 to catch the train to Hogwarts.

- several requisite meals/foods eaten including: yummy Indian food, bangers & mash, meat pie (FINALLY!!), fish & chips, Cornish pasties, Sunday roast with all the fixings, sticky toffee pudding, afternoon tea with scones and clotted cream.
- many pubs visited and several pints of beer imbibed. Bonus: 1 Canadian-themed bar visited where we drank Sleeman's Honey Brown.

The Maple Leaf! I was first brought here during my 2nd trip to London in 2010 by my good friend, Heather -- a fellow Canadian.

- and we still managed to wander the neighbourhoods and duck into residential streets, just to see. Bonus: Street art, 221B Baker St (a totally just-for-fun address, but it still made me giddy!), and a peek at Craven St,  where a particular doorknocker (that is no longer there), apparently gave Dickens (one of my favourite authors) the inspiration to a certain key scene in his classic "A Christmas Carol".

London, you've been a slice!
Up next: Edinburgh, Scotland!

Super happy fun times and a bit of Americana

One weekend late in November, a really very good and fantastic friend named Nikki came to Boston for a 19 hour visit (yes, you read that correctly).

The friends, along with Nikki's luggage, visited Quincy Market and Fanueil Hall where there were a gajillion people present for the lighting of Boston's giant Christmas tree 

They met new characters and ate delicious Italian food in the North End, including cannolis from Mike's Pastry.

 They had a couple of drinks at the Bull and Finch and pretended everyone knew their names (daaah, da, da, da!).

 The next day, after some frantic cabbing and amusing misreading of signs and dates, they took a tour of Fenway Park.

During the tour, they found themselves in the media room...

                                  
   
... And, despite it being a very cold and blustery day, on top of the "Green Monster".

 

Even the non-baseball fan of the trio (that would be me) found the tour super fascinating and learned a lot of the rich history of Fenway Park and of Boston.

The tour, and Nikki's visit, ended with some fun cheesy photo ops, Nikki being hit on by a sweet elderly man, and a chance to try one's pitching arm.

Didn't miss his calling...

  

The end.

Whirlwind Tour

I haven't been awesome at showcasing this new city I've moved to yet but a visit from my sister provided the nudge to rectify that! Amy was in town for a few days last week for a two-day workshop. She came for an extra day so in addition to spending three evenings together, we were able to spend an entire day together. It was the perfect chance for me to explore the city some more in ways that didn't include focussing on searching for necessary household items or furniture and we ended up having an amazing time together that included shopping, a bit of sight-seeing, a performance of the Boston Symphony Orchestra (BSO) and three seafood-filled dinners!

My day with Amy started with brunch at Max Brenner, a fun chocolate-lovers haven, where we had French toast and Belgian waffles. Everything was served with sides of chocolate sauces to drizzle on top of everything. The highlight was the hot chocolate and the mocha which Amy described as "heaven in a mug".

                                   
 

                                                   

Amy enjoying a Mexican Chilli Hot Chocolate

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     



This was followed by shopping and browsing along Newbury Street, followed by a stroll through Public Garden and Boston Common. And what trip to Boston is complete without a stop at the Cheers Bar (or rather, the Bull and Finch, the bar that the TV show Cheers was fashioned after)?

Boston Common

Public Garden

Where everyone knows your name...

On Amy`s last night, we went to a performance of the BSO. It was pretty exciting as it has been a goal of mine since childhood to listen to them live. They certainly did not disappoint with a program consisting of Mendelssohn, Ives, Franck and a composition by the conductor himself (Ades)! The program`s overall story was of an orchestral journey through time.

Let`s not forget the dinners!!!

Raw shellfish platter! YUM!

On the first night, we went to Island Creek Oyster Bar and partook in the raw shellfish platter for four. This was an amazing meal and Amy, Ted, and I definitely gorged ourselves on mussels, clams, shrimp, fluke, and lobster.

Enjoying beer, natch.

Amy`s scallop dinner

                                     

Night two found us at Atlantic Fish Co., 

another place with really good seafood and where we each ordered our own meal (I had the lobster ravioli: rich, creamy and delicious). While a tad more touristy than the night before, it was still a wonderful dining experience and the food was fresh.

And on the third night, since we were short on time and needed to be at the Boston Symphony Hall at a particular time, we went to the food court and had Boston Chowda co. clam chowders. Even their food court clam chowders are yummy here.








Thus endeth a fantastic visit with my sister and a great few days of just enjoying the city.

Jinja (Nov. 19-20, 2011)

One very rainy weekend, Tan and Pan travelled north to Jinja...

... and noted the differences in architecture between Uganda's largest town and Masaka (eg. this Hindu temple in Jinja)...

... before going in search of the Source of the Nile River.

After much walking in the rain...

... the Alexes successfully reached the Eastern bank...

... where they stood and looked out across to the Western Bank...

... and also marveled at man's attempt to tame nature.

The Alexes were initially respectful of the weather and stayed on firm-ish ground...

... but the temptation to dip their feet in the Nile...

... was simply too great.

(The bird agreed.)

The Alexes then visited a small memorial garden that marks where some of Ghandi's ashes were scattered...

...before taking one last look at the River Nile and heading back to Masaka.

                                   The End.

Addendum: We had fantastic Indian food in Jinja and got to meet the chef herself - a hilarious, opinionated, and motherly woman who immigrated to Uganda from India with her husband in 2006. Or, as she tells it: "My husband made this mistake of moving to Uganda in 2006. And I followed him because he's my husband and you know, Indian culture..." Cue awkward laughing. The two run the restaurant we ate at. She taught us how to 'properly' eat the food with 'real' garlic naan (which, according to her, is different than the naan found in the UK and in North America). This was probably the food highlight of my time here, so far.

A brief history lesson: From what I've been told, many people from India had settled in various parts of Uganda (particularly Jinja) and set up businesses until the expulsion of Asians by Idi Amin. Under the current government, Asians have been invited back and many have returned and reclaimed family businesses.

Jinja also has a gen-u-ine main street that consists of decent little coffee shops (of course we stopped in one for a cuppa), pubs, restaurants and various little shops filled with crafts, knick knacks and art. Also of note: I had a fried egg and bacon sandwich for breakfast -- and it contained real breakfast bacon, my first taste of the wonderful, wonderful product in over 3 months. As we entered Jinja, we crossed over the top of the Owen Falls Dam, which provides (or doesn't provide, given the low water levels) electricity to Uganda. We shook our fists at the dam -- it was a break from griping about bad government and business deals that have resulted in the current power situation.
Tourist note: Jinja is also the place to go for apparently amazing white-water rafting and bungee jumping.

Tan and Pan rating: neat vibe, great food, the Nile River. Well worth the visit and the time spent folded into matatus for 5-6 hours one way.

Kigali, Rwanda (Nov. 4-6, 2011)

In short, Kigali was awesome. As the capital city of Rwanda, I assume it showcased the best of Rwanda. It was orderly, clean, and well laid-out. It had a very different feel, vibe, and look than Kampala, the capital city of Uganda (which I also assume, in theory, showcases the best of Uganda).

The weekend trip was marked by a lot of wandering around and confusion (e.g. incorrect bus route, incorrect time zone, incorrect citizenship, incorrect street, incorrect hotel....) which made for some good belly-laughs, afterward. We DID notice that the confusion also extended to the elevators at the Hotel des Milles Collines (I couldn't seem to rotate the picture...sorry).

Updated details:
Bussing from Masaka to Kigali was a pain and took about 9-10 hours. We found out much later that the bus we had hopped onto was taking the very, extremely long route out of Uganda. I suppose this is what happens when one travels without much of a plan. I don't know what it is about sitting on a bus all day that is so exhausting, but it is.

At the border, we all got off the bus and had to walk across (after visiting the outgoing Ugandan immigration office). As a Canadian, I had to pay a $30USD entry visa fee. The visa only came into effect in 2010 and I found out afterward from Heather that it's in response to Canada's idiotic immigration policy for Rwandans that has them indicate whether they are part of the 'Hutu' or 'Tutsi' tribe. Um, hello, Canadian government -- but didn't colonial classification of people result in something called genocide in 1994? The government's justification is that they want to prevent perpetrators of genocide from entering Canada. *cue massive eyeroll*.

Rwanda is known as the "Country of a Thousand hills", and Kigali certainly is hilly - beautifully so. And the organized, regulated system of boda boda taxis was a beautiful sight to behold after having gotten used to playing "dodge the boda bodas" on a daily basis. We spent our time in Kigali by visiting the Kigali Genocide Memorial Centre, which houses a beautiful and moving exhibit regarding the 1994 genocide. I know it sounds like it would be super depressing but it was very well laid-out and obviously had the aim of looking forward in hope and learning from this tragedy.

Aside from the museum, we did a lot of wandering around the streets, stopped in at the Hotel des Milles Collines (aka "Hotel Rwanda"), and hit up a crafts market. Popping in and out of dimly lit little shops, looking at crafts (if not made locally, at least made in East Africa), and participating in the "how much is this/how much will you offer for this" dance is always good fun.

On the food front: We had real hamburgers, which we had been missing. And there was a French influence noted in the food, likely due to the Belgian/French colonists.

The next morning, we caught the 5am bus back to Masaka, since we figured it would take another 9-10 hours to get back. It was while we were waiting for our bus that we figured out that Rwanda is an hour behind Uganda which meant we were at the bus station before 4am and had spent the entire previous day an hour off. How does that even happen?! This explains our confusion about why the museum wasn't open yet, at 8:50am (according to Alex's watch) despite the sign saying it was open at 8am. This also explains the patient yet slightly exasperated way the guard at the museum was trying to explain that the museum wasn't yet open when we asked and pointed at the sign (yes, we were THOSE tourists). This also explains why, when we stopped back into the Hotel des Milles Collines after dinner to check out the advertised live music, there was no band playing despite the poster saying they would start at 7pm and Alex's watch said it was 7:30pm. Needless to say, it was a very silent bus ride back to Uganda. Thankfully, the trip back was much more pleasant - we got on the desired and significantly shorter bus route.