Well, I made it to Rennes yesterday and arrived on what must have been the hottest day of the year. Rumour has it that it was 36 degrees yesterday.... The hostel is pretty nice, even though they have lockout hours from 10am to 3:30pm. I have two Canadian roommates (at least that's it so far) and they're both really nice. Marina is from Victoria and is anglophone, and Justine is from Quebec and is francophone, though her English is quite good. We've been conversing the whole time in English because Marina doesn't speak much French, unfortunately. After I dropped off my [View Full Entry]

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Well, today was busy, though perhaps not so interesting. I decided before heading out this morning from the hostel that I would get the Nantes 24h pass which allowed free transportation on any of their tram or buslines, and free entry into a bunch of places. For 16 euros, I thought I had better make it worth my while. I wound up going to the castle first, and going through the museum. Not being a big museum person, I was getting bored about halfway through. I had hoped that there would be rooms in the castle set up like they would [View Full Entry]

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I made it to France! I managed to get out of London alive, even though it seemed that Londoners (and I suppose visitors to London) have no idea of personal space, or how to move faster than a slug. Even wearing my two backpacks (the big one weighed in at 13.7kg, not sure how much the smaller one weighed) I was able to move faster than some people this morning! And you would think that carrying so much gear that I should have been quite visible, but I was bumped and jostled about 20 times on the way from my room [View Full Entry]

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So I didn't do nearly as much today. I am really suffering with my allergies, which I think has to do with lack of A/C, open windows, greenery everywhere, and lots of gusts of wind. After signing off here last night, I headed back to my room and discovered that it wasn't too bad a walk in the dark. Not too many people, but lots of streetlights and only about ten minutes to reach the residence. I decided that maybe I would wash some things by hand, and so spent the next little while washing some things in the sink in [View Full Entry]

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So as the title states, Canada Bear will be staying in London. Not by his choice or mine, but because that's where the wind took him. :( I was out by Big Ben and the Parliament buildings when I remembered that I hadn't taken more than a shot or two with Canada Bear and took him out of my knapsack to pose him. We managed the bridge across the Thames fine, and got a couple of shots with him and the London Eye (or Milennium Wheel I guess it's now called) and then crossed over to take some shots of him [View Full Entry]

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Well, looks like this entry will be shorter than I anticipated.... I only have 9 minutes of internet left! Yikes! I spent today walking around the city. I did a free walking tour, that for the price was good, but I'm glad I didn't pay anything for it! The man was full of information, but not quite the type that I would have enjoyed. After a lunch of fish and chips, I gave my mom a quick call so she could in fact HEAR that I was alive, then I walked around the city some more. I went to Yorkminster, a [View Full Entry]

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Well, the adventures have begun! They started with a trip to the airport with my friend Greg, using his GPS and new iPhone to find Hamilton International Airport, and a stop for dinner along the way. We got there fine, and I had three hours to kill in what is, imo, the smallest international airport in the world! Though they did have a Tim Hortons both on the pre-security side as well as on the post-security side. While there, doing my Sudoku puzzles, I overheard some Scots chatting and I joined into a couple of conversations as well. Friendly people!!! :) [View Full Entry]

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This will have to be short since I don't have much money left and only 6 minutes left on the internet! We went to the Temple of Heaven today and were supposed to meet friends from KLC camp, Sarah and Laura. We didn't know which gate to meet them at, so we didn't find them when we got there, but saw them by chance later on. It was really hot today, and all the temples and buildings are starting to look like each other now, so it wasn't really as good as I'd hoped. We realized too that our money is [View Full Entry]

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Today we decided to go to the Summer Palace. En route to the bus, however, we stopped in at a tailor's shop to get a custom made Chinese blouse. I picked out a gorgeous green material with golden dragons on it, and I was expecting to pay for the whole thing maybe $50CDN. No. Unfortunately, what our fellow American tourists who had recommended the place weren't telling the truth. The sleeveless blouse is going to be much more expensive than that, and I wish I'd known before buying the material the cost of the blouse. Oh well. We headed to the [View Full Entry]

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So yesterday we took it easy.... we went shopping and I bought a circular polarizer for my wide-angle lens (about $35?) but no ND filters. There was one place that was selling them, but the box looked older than me and I didn't quite trust it. The place we went was like a big mall of camera equipment. You TPMGers would have loved it! (Maybe more so if you speak Mandarin...) Then we went to buy glasses. I bought two new pairs for under $100. I know that Michelle, you said that someone had bought 6 pairs for $100, but their [View Full Entry]

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