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May 6th 2008

Published: May 6th 2008

Don't worry, I'm still here. Just haven't gotten around to updating even though I've had access to the internet. I'll give you a quick update of what I've done since my last post.

London:

26th - I wandered around London with the Canadian... saw Tate Britain museum, Houses of Parliment, Big Ben (part of Parliment building), Westminster Abbey (across the street), saw the London Eye but didn't go on it, and then found Indian food in the area of London where a lot of Indians live.

27th - Checked out the London Tower and the London Bridge before going on a Jack the Ripper tour which was pretty cool. We walked past the alleyway of shops where Diagon Alley was filmed for Harry Potter but I didn't go down it because we were a block away and on the tour.

28th - Went to the London Dungeons which is this place where they have actors pretending to be from the 1880's and they tour you around the place and thy to scare you and tell you stories about the plague and torture and what-not. Afterwards I checked out a street market before making my way to the London Eye. Went on the Eye and had a great view of the city.

29th - Filled my day with museums. Starting with the Victoria and Albert Museum. You walk into the building from the subway entrance into a hall of statues. The 1 day that I forget to bring my camera with me, I go to a museum that actually allowed photography! Blasphomy! I would have loved to take some pictures of some of those statues. Next was the Wallace Collection, then the National Portrait Gallery where they were having a Vanity Fair Exhibit with portraits from the Vanity Fair mag from 1913-2008. Around the corner I went to the National Gallery which was great. Took a Black Cab ride to the Buckingham Palace... sorry, no pictures. It was raining, I saw the guards march back and forth. It was interesting but not too exciting.

30th - Flew to Amsterdam

Netherlands

30th - Got off the plane in Amsterdam, trained to Simone's place in a nearby city, and by the time we got back to Amsterdam to check out the celebrations (Queen's Day), it was 5:30pm and things were dying down. We still walked around and checked things out before heading back to her place.

1st - Went to The Hague (a city) to check out a museum... Mauritshuis. Fantastic Dutch paintings by artists like Rembrandt and Vermeer. The Girl with a Pearl Earing by Vermeer was there and it was beautiful in person. I love that painting.

2nd - Went to Amsterdam, checked out the Rijksmuseum (more Dutch art and more Rembrandt), walked around, went through the Red Light District to see what it was all about. Essentially, you walk down little alleyways with windowed doors to little rooms where girls are sitting/standing in lingerie trying to look sexy. The further down you go, the less attractive they are. Afterwards I got Greek food and headed back to Simone's.

3rd - Took a train to Berlin. Long train ride... 6-7 hours. I got to see STUEY!!!! I missed that boy so much! We wandered around a bit, went to an Australian restaurant where Stuey got his first proper burger in 7 months and I got Tandoori Chicken and rice... Indian food at an Australian place in Germany... lol. I got hugs too!!! I had 2 hugs in 3 1/2 weeks which just doesn't do it for me. I was so glad to have Stuey, a friend, to hug!

4th - Met up with Stuey in the morning, wandered around some more, checked out an Art Market near the Museum Island and bought a painting. Saw the Brandenburger (famous archway), and headed towards the Siegessäule (Berlin Victory Column... with the Angel on top in the middle of a roundabout). On the way, I decided we should walk through the park parallel to the sidewalk... bad idea. Cut through a space in the bushes and walked under a tree... stepped unevenly on a tree root, ankle gave and I fell. My painting, which on a wood board, just so happened to land on a piece of broken pottery in the dirt which gauged the painting and scratched it up. I think I was fortunate that I was wearing my flipflops that day because my foot had the flexibility to slide in my shoe that I wouldn't have had with trainers and therefore I didn't hurt my ankle... somehow. So, pissed of that I fell and ruined my painting I sulked the rest of the way to the Column with Stuey. From the Column, we made our way back to the art market hoping it was still set up (tents) and that the artist had another copy of the paiting. Fortunately, it was and she did. I gave back the damaged one and offered to pay for the new copy but she gave it to me for free since it had slight damage (water damage maybe, a little bit of fogging on a corner). And since I was willing to pay for the 2nd copy to begin with and I like all of the paintings, I got another one that I was really wanting to get. Left feeling much better about what happened earlier and got food before heading back to the hostel and Stuey went home.

5th - Stuey had school so I wandered around a bit, found a little restaurant for lunch where the waitress didn't speak english, got a salad because that's what I understood on the menu lol. Met up with Stuey later in the day, found the Holocaust memorial (last time I was in Berlin, they were still building it and it was fanced in), and then made our way to the East Side Gallery which is the best preserved part of the Wall. The sun was going down so we didn't have much light, but enough to see the art on the wall and our camera flashes worked just fine for pictures. Didn't get to see a lot because Stuey had to start heading back home, but what we saw was pretty cool. Head back to my train stop, got off and hung out while we waited 10 minutes for the next one for him to hop on to go home. I miss him already 😞

6th - And now, I'm back in the Netherlands with Simone for another day or 2 before heading to Belgium.

By the way, my dropshots account reached it's limit of 500 pictures lol I'm certainly not paying a monthly fee to get an upgraded account for more pictures, so I just made a second account. So the new picture account is the same address at the other... with a 2 at the end. www.dropshots.com/imaginarygill2
I haven't posted any pics since London, but I'll get around to putting some more up soon enough.

Miss you all!

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