Tuesday, May 22, 2007

Travel Log Blog - Europe 2004

I know it's a strange title for a blog in 2007 but I'll give an explanation. A few weeks ago I donated my first car to charity - Lilly. I decided since no one really has need for it why pay for the insurance and registration when hopefully the car can go to someone who really needs it. At least that's what I hope it going to happen to the car. It could be just used for parts - but I'm not sure I want to know that. She's an old rust bucket now but I'm still a little emotional letting her go since I have a lot of memories from that car. Anyways - before I gave her away I cleaned out the car and I found an old travel journal Krista and I kept when we went to Europe in 2004. That trip holds special signifance to me as it was the first time I flew overseas and since the week I found the notebook is exactly the third anniversary of the trip I decided to publish the journal here. It was an awesome trip full of crazy stories so I thought I'd share it with anyone who cares to read! Here goes...

The Travel Log - London, Ireland, Paris 2004 Kim Powell and Krista Powell

April 27 - Trip's Eve
Krista and Eunice slave over Euni's John Deere T-Shirt which adds some chaos to our preparations. Near miss - our Romeo and Juliet play tickets unexpectably come in the mail! [We were expecting to pick them up at Will Call in London]

April 28 - The Flight Out
To start off we lock ourselves out of the house. Good thing Krista has broken sucessfully before. [I locked her in the basement once!]
6:00 pm Calgary - we board. [I get to use my passport for the first time]
12:30 am Calgary time - sun comes up after only a couple hours of darkness. Woman can be heard commenting..."it's hard to sleep" but if you are standing over our heads we're not sleeping either! Please don't watch the sunrise at 12:30 am!
2:30 am Calgary time - we start to fly over the U.K. and we set our clocks ahead. Outside estimate has our sleep at 2-3 hours tops!

April 29 - London Day 1
10:00 am - we arrive at Gatwick. We whiz through customs and immigration and onto the Gatwick Express into the city.
12:00 pm - we check in to the hotel and it's not a disaster. The internet delivered a safe, clean place to stay.
3:00 pm - pick up London Eye tickets
3-5:00pm - waste time - walk up and down the same street attempting to find Trafalgar Square without asking for directions.
5:30 - ride the Eye. Krista miraculously survives. She doesn't stand up but doesn't fall down. She manages to smile bravely for several pictures 135 metres [feet?] in the air above the Thames.
6:30 - take the river boat tour. We learn all kinds of interesting tidbits of London history. Which bridge had an ex-KGB agent murdered with a poison umbrella, which bridge the Italian mafia had their banker hanged. Movie trivia from Shakespeare in Love, Bridget Jones and James Bond.
7:30 - eat fish and chips at the Sherlock Holmes - a total tourist trap! Surrounded by Canadians talking about their trip to the Okanagan!
10:00 - Sleep!

April 30 - London Day 2
Early start - off to the Globe Theatre for a tour with world's grouchiest tour guide. Let's just call her a theatre "purist". A bit of a Shakespeare fanatic. We were scolded for using our umbrellas in the rain!
Then off to Oxford St - but not really worth the effort - all the store have the same stuff. Visited a Virgin Megastore, bought a lot of OVERPRICED T-Shirts.
Next - Westminister Abbey -absolutely beautiful - Poet's corner was a highlight.
Back to the hotel for a quick nap before Les Mis. Les Mis was good but were exhausted and it was too long! We got to see Piccadilly circus but it's kind of a poor man's Times Square. Not as big and not as exciting. [Damn Americans - they ruin everything]

May 1 - London/Ireland Day 3
Up and at 'em first thing - off to Notting Hill. Some trouble with the Tube but we finally got there and we weren't disappointe! It is great. Like it's own little village in the city. The Portabello Road market lived up to it's name. The shops and booths went on forever. We sampled pastry and fruit - cheap and good! Just the way we like it. We could have spent the entire time in London there but the sightseeing in London was not over. Off to see the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace. A nice walk thorugh Green Park to fight off the crowds to see the guards.
So with London done (for now) off to the airport for our flight to Dublin.
No problems getting to Gatwick - the tube was quiet - finally! However the flight was delayed - supposed to leave at 15:00...15:30 - oh the stress of wondering if we'll land in time to catch our 17:50 train from Dublin to Westport. [last train of the day] 13:45 we took off and we didn't get out of the Dublin airport until 17:15! Our cabbie warned us that there were protests by the train station and we might not get through. More stress and lots of praying! It was a crazy drive downtown but he got us there! The protests had been cleared before we got there. We caught our train with minutes to spare. We tried to call Catie but couldn't [our friend in Westport]. Thankfully Catie was there waiting for us on the platform - much to our relief!

May 2 - Ireland Day 4
After a good night's sleep we were awakened early by a grunting Tilly - huffing and puffing about our room. After a lazy morning we were off to surfing. We collected wet suits - trying them on in the barn.
The beach was great! The waves were coming in a nice size. We tried out the boogie boards first while Catie used the surf board. It was very exciting but also salty and sandy. We had a little trouble stayingon the surt board! The boogie boards were much more successful. I got to my knees a couple of times but I kept slipping off.
The day was finished off with a picnic in the van everyone crammed into together! Later on we got to experience an authentic Irish pub with traditional music. The highlight was when the locals would break out into spontaneous a capella.

May 3 - Ireland Day 5
Today was a tour and shopping in Galway. Cute shops and bought some cheap things at Pennys! Saw Asford Castle where Pierce Brosnan was married - very beautiful. Visited the Abbey @ Cong with it's ruins and graveyards. It was very peaceful.

May 4 - Ireland Day 6
Slept in and then met Alan and the girls in Westport for lunch. Toured Westport's shops, went to an Irish history museum, supper and home and then some TV. Over all just a relaxing day.

May 5 - Ireland Day 7
Got up and went to Castlebar with Catie in the morning after lots of goodbyes. Caught the train to Dublin and found our B&B. It was a good as it said on the internet. Another great meal at a local pub and exploring downtown.

May 6 - Ireland Day 8
Up early and shopped....left no shoe unturned! Scoped out U2's hotel and had dinner in Temple Bar. Good Indian and Hagan Daas!

May 7 - Ireland Day 9
Enjoyed a full Irish breakfast at the B&B. [An experience in food - eggs, hashers, sausage, mushrooms, potatoes, toast, tomatoes]
Off to the Dublin city tour to see the sights. Trinity College, Grafton Street, Christchruch, St. Patricks, Guinness, Post Office, National Nuseum for more Irish History. Back to the B&B to change and prep for our big brave night - dinner @ the Edge and Bono's Hotel. We muscled up our courage and made a reservation at the Tea Room. Our cultural differences - our 6:30 reservation had us alone in the restaurant. Other people didn't arrive until 7:30-8:00 as we were ready to leave!! Very, very posh dinner but amazing food - worth every precious penny. Very tasty gelato for dessert and a walk along the Liffey.

May 8 - Ireland/Paris Day 10
Up at the crack of dawn - 4 am - off to the airport. No problems until after sitting on the plane for a 1/2 hour to be informed that the plane had technical difficulties and the flight was cancelled. An Amazing Race dash to the ticket counter to get on the next flight. We finally arrived at our hotel in Paris 6 hours behind schedule. [Must be included here - not in the original journal - my melt down in the Paris metro. We arrived in Paris freezing cold and wet and upon trying to get onto the Metro with all our bags I got stuck in the gate. The frustration of the day - up early, cancelled flight, late arriveal, etc and then to get stuck in the metro gates I came unglued. Krista tried to calm me down and I think my responce was somewhere along the lines of - I'm going to freakout if I want to! I think there might have even been a bit of feet stomping!]
Anyways...we still managed to see Notre Dame and Saint Chapelle and eat crepes.

May 9 - Paris Day 11
Up early to the Marche Bastille market for strawberries and pastry. We soon discovered that coffee is actually espresso. We only did straight black once. Drinks are so expensive! Bread and cheese are cheaper than a cappucino. Next up - the Picasso Museum. The afternoon was spent freezing our butts off at Versailles. The gardens are beautiful and have to be seen to be believed! The fountains were amazing even in the bone chilling cold. Who knew there woudl be winter weather in France in May!

May 10 - Paris Day 12
A little sleep in - then off to the George Pompidou for the Museum of Modern Art. 1905 - Present Day. We saw paintings, a humming ziggy suspended from the ceiling, a pile of pany hose hanging from the ceiling, piles of clothes and tea pots, Eames, Pollack, Matisse and of course Piacsso and all the guys who riped him off! A high note was Chagal - the violin playing goat painting. I bought a cool watch in the gift shop. We have eaten more baggettes on this trip than in our whole lives put together!
That night it was off to the Tour Effiel. More heights for Krista to conquer! The tower lit up at night was awesome.

May 11 - Paris Day 13
Before we forget: The crazy music on the metro! The musicians or poets who get on teh car with their sound system. They play or sing and then collect money. There are tradition French songs, a guy quoting something or a guy just playing the tamborine!

Breakfast at Pomme de Pain - where we can at least get coffee in a paper cup to go. It doesn't have a lid though! Off to Mused D'Orsay. Money, Van Gogh, a model of the Paris Opera House. Next - Musee Rodin - The Thinker andThe Kiss. A great garden to enjoy our first warm day in Paris!

Off to the North Tower at Notre Dame to climb the 300 steps each way! You are really only on the edge off the tower! Krista again did fine even though she was only 2 feet from the edge! The gargoyles at the top were amazing!

The rest of the day - shopping, Hagen Daas, Sephora and Champes D'Elysses and the Ballet. The hightlights of Paris: Champes D'Elysses and Arc de Triompe - 100's of stairs just about lost Krista! Effiel Tour - Krista survived. Dinner - 7 euro for coffee each!

May 12 - Paris Day 14
Off to Momantre for a quick picture tour of Sacer Coeur and Moulin Rouge. A little more shopping and then back on the Metro to the hotel. Off to the airport and back to London without mishap! More shopping in London and then one more mad dash to the Globe Theatre for Romeo and Juliet. 25 minutes for 2 tube rides and a 10 minute walk. We got there just in time!

May 13 - London Day 15
Not much to tell - just to the airport on our way home.

Trip Top 5's
Top 5 Things We'll Miss:
1. Hagen Daas
2. French Bread, Cheese and Pastry
3. Shopping in Dublin and Penny's
4. Surfing in Ireland
5. Sightseeing and good tour guides

Top 5 Things We Won't Miss:
1. Rain, lashing rain, misty rain...
2. "Coffee" or black espresso
3. Sore Feet
4. Stressful connections
5. The Backpacks!

Top 5 "High" Climbs
1. The "Eye" in London
2. Arc de Triompe
3. Effiel Tower
4. North Tower @ Notre Dame
5. The Tube escalators

Top 5 Best Surprises
1. Good cheap food
2. London
3. Priority entrance with Paris Museum passes
4. Metro/Tube navigation
5. Room of Van Gogh at Musee D'Orsay

Top 5 Best Moments
1. Notting Hill/Portobello Road Market in London
2. The Clarence in Dublin
3. Surfing and picnic in Ireland
4. Supper @ the foot of the Tour Effiel
5. a. R&J at the Globe b. Tour Effiel lit up @ night

Tuesday, May 8, 2007

The Mothership is Landing!

This week marks the arrival of my mothership - H&M has finally come to Calgary. It opens at 12 noon this Thursday. I would LOVE to blow off work and be one of the first in line. In honour of H&M coming I'm posting my top 5 tips for shopping at H&M. The un-initiated to H&M will come to realize the wisdom of my advice and the experienced H&M shoppers will whole-heartedly agree!

5. Take a deep breath before you enter. Have a calm state of mind. Be prepared to be overwhelmed. Have a bottle of water and maybe some snacks in your bag to give you endurance. Don't be intimidated by the vacant eyed skinny teenagers wandering around the store trying to pass themselves off as customer service. The attitude is - shop here if you dare - it's unorganized and we probably won't help you. We're just here to look cool in our H&M clothes!
4. Pick up anything you like the first time you see it. NOTHING is organized according to style only by colour.
3. Go through every rack two times - it is very easy to miss a treasure by going too quickly.
2. If possible don't try anything on - buy everything you like in extra sizes. Take it home try it on there and return anything you don't end up liking, doesn't fit or is the wrong colour. You can only bring in 7 items and trust me when I say that is just NOT enough. The change rooms are also hot and small and like I already said - the staff usually aren’t very helpful.
1. Enjoy shopping in a clothing paradise! With H&M in the city you can go as often as you like so as the saying goes if at first you don't succeed - try, try again! The gas to Market Mall is SO much cheaper than the plane ticket to Toronto, London, Paris, or Dublin!

Tuesday, April 17, 2007

Hola! Part Three

Days 3 to 7: Tennis, Sleep, Food - The rest of my days at Tennis El Palmar had a nice pattern. Get up early, enjoy the fresh bread that was delivered to my door each morning with some cheese. Head off to tennis - throughout my 7 days in Mexico - people came and went but there was always great people to play with. After tennis - another shower, a snack and probably a nap.




Later in the afternoon there would be a trip to the market or the corner store for supplies. In addition to my many fish tacos I had fresh fruit(strawberries, mango, pineapple), guacamole with lime and torillas everyday! In the evening once it got cool there would be dinner at a local restaurant. One night we had a bbq with everyone staying in the complex.




The one thing I didn't get to do in Mexico was surf or even swim - the waves were just a little too intense. They broke really close to the shore and at times were very big. The last night I was there they were so big they shook the building! My door rattled every time a wave came in. Most nights though the sound of the waves put me to sleep.
I read two books while I was gone and at the end of the week I marvelled at my face - no bags under my eyes and the crevice between my eyes (my work stress wrinkle) had disappeared. I think I could have stayed in Mexico indefinitely!

Monday, April 16, 2007

Hola! Part Two

Second Day: Tennis in Mexico - Bright and early Monday morning Fergie our chauffeur, tennis coach and tour guide picked us up at the hotel. When I arrived there were 5 other tennis players staying at the hotel so we had a full van. Fergie lives in Mexico part time like most Americans and Canadians who call Melaque home. We arrived at the courts in Cihuatlan in about 15 minutes and discovered they are beautiful! I don't think pictures could capture it - surrounded by fields of palm and banana trees, flowers everywhere. And the heat! At 9 am when we arrived it was tolerable but by 10:30 I was soaked. We played for 3 hours and then the six of us piled back into the van to head home. Don Paulo the owner of the courts came to meet us and gave us each a bunch of tiny bananas - dominicas. Very tasty after the hours in the sun. The potassium I'm sure helped keep the muscle cramping at bay too!
After tennis was an adventure on the bus with some new friends from Tennis El Palmar. We took the bus to Barra de Navidad a nearby town on the beach. However we decided to take the bus the opposite direction that would go through the downtown of Melaque so we could see more. We thought the bus would loop back around in Melaque and then take us on to Barra. Well...we did see a lot and the bus ride was an adventure. We slowly made our way through Melaque and at the end of the downtown we didn't turn around. We started to get concerned as the bus headed farther north and up into the hills. When we stopped we were informed to get off- that it was the end of the line. We weren't sure what to do knowing we couldn't walk back to town and we didn't know where we were. Luckily a fellow Canadian noticed us and he explained where we were and that another bus would be heading back to Melaque and on to Barra in about 5 minutes. About an hour and a half after we left the hotel we circled past the bus stop we started from! Barra was worth the trip - it was a nice beach town with lots of shops and restaurants right along the beach. I had my first of many Mexican fish tacos and some great coffee. After the adventure it was time for my daily siesta. My naps were usually 2-3 hours of sleep by the pool or under the fan in my room. Because the tennis and the sun I slept 12-13 hours a day. It was great!

Wednesday, April 11, 2007

Hola! Part One



So my big adventure in March was my solo trip to Mexico. It was definitely an adventure to travel to a new country on my own.

First Day:Arriving - I catch a cab without mishap from the Manzanillo airport and travel the half hour north to Melaque. (Melackee) The cabbie was very efficient and definitely had a method for dealing with the heat. He had a towel tucked into his collar and his hair slicked back so with the windows open the wind wouldn't mess his hair! The trip in the cab was a great way to absorb the landscape. Lots of palm trees, papaya, mango and banana fields. I was thinking that I could have rented a car and driven myself until we came up on the first giant speed bump in the middle of the highway. Given that the warnings for these speed bump are in Spanish I probably wouldn't have seen then until the car was airborne! The speed bumps seem to be the only way speed can be controlled on the highways and roads so they are everywhere and huge!

After navigating a small town - which again would have thrown me if I had rented a car - we came upon Melaque. After turning off the highway we started winding our way through the small mostly unpaved streets until I saw the sign Tennis El Palmar and I knew I had arrived. The cabbie dropped me off and I went to what looked like the front door. It had a pad lock on it...hmmm maybe they are gone for awhile and they'll be back. I tried what looked like a door on the side of the building - I tried pulling on it but there was no handle. The entire place was surrounded with a 10 foot wall so I couldn't see in.

The panic started to rise a little - I had the phone number for the place but I hadn't bothered to check if my cell phone worked in Mexico. I didn't have any change so I wouldn't be able to use a pay phone. I thought about yelling but that seemed a bit futile. I went back to the front door and I finally noticed a button that hopefully was a doorbell. I pushed it and my host appeared at the door! He led me back to the door on the side and explained I PUSH the door to get in! Ah! He gave me my keys and a bit of an explanation of the surrounding area. I hauled my suitcase up the stairs to my suite. A bedroom, bathroom, kitchen and sitting area. Very nice and such a relief! I ventured down to the beach and to the corner store where I bought some food. I was so tired and a little disorientated I decided to just crash after a couple of hours. I think I fell asleep at 8 pm! I wanted to be well rested for the next adventure - tennis at 8:30 the next morning.

Tuesday, April 10, 2007

Snow Patrol, Ok Go and Silver Sun Pickups

I should be posting something about my trip to Mexico but I decided to post my comments on the Snow Patrol show last night instead.

Despite having to wait an extra 1.5 hours to get in it was an excellent show. There was a power outage that went until 5pm so there almost wasn't a show at all!

Silver Sun Pickups played first and they are pretty decent band - the lead singer screams at bit too often for my taste but I like their sound. Their last song with the OK Go drummer and Paulo from Snow Patrol was really cool.

Ok Go was a bit of sensory overload due to the video being constantly played on the screen behind them. Some of the video was irritating but some of it was really cool and I was often watching the video more than listening. The slow-mo clip of a some girls getting doused in water was the highlight for me. The slash of water was slowed way down and the water almost seemed separated from the image of the girls, but from the expression on the girls' faces you knew the water was going to hit them!

Snow Patrol was AMAZING! Their sound was great live and really deserved to be in a bigger space. MacEwan Hall was fine but SP really make the space feel too small. They have huge, soaring music that belongs in an arena or a stadium - hopefully someday they will be playing those venues in Canada. I'm sure they have gotten to do that in the UK. It's hard to pick out a favourite song but two that come to mind are Set the Fire to the Third Bar with Nicki from Silver Sun Pickups singing Martha Wainwright's part and Open Your Eyes in the encore. I was really looking forward to hearing Chasing Cars and it was good but I was happy that some of the less popular songs were really spectacular.

My ears hurt and my legs are sore from standing for 5 hours but it was all worth it!

Monday, March 19, 2007

Blogging on Blogspot

Since many of my friends have started blogspot blogs I feel I must join in and move my blog from myspace. The myspace page will still be there for pictures and video and such but my thoughts will come here.

Quick update on what I've been up to. February was full of coaching - we finished 2nd in Div 2 Calgary 4A schools. It was an accomplishment to reach the Div 2 final and even though we lost it was a good conclusion to a very rollercoaster season. The Divisions were decided by how you finished in league play - we finished in 5th out of 8 in the north so that determined the Div 2.

Work has been very frustrating - lots of layoffs - doing work I don't enjoy, etc. I've got a few months to see if things calm down and then my hand may be forced to try to find another job. I don't relish that at all as over the years I've come to really enjoy my job and get good at it. I also think Bell is a good company and they take care of their employees. However I have decided part of my frustration is that I don't like change forced upon me. I think it comes from growing up with many big life changes being forced on me - ie. moving, changing schools, etc. I guess it's just something I need to work through.

Other than that - not much has been happening. There will be a good posting when I get back from Mexico. That's right - I'm going on an advernture to Mexico to play tennis and sit on the beach. I've been practicing some Spanish and getting a base tan. I'm going by myself - which is a first.