Tuesday, April 8, 2008

The Olympics and Nazis

Apparently the tradition of the Olympic torch was started by Nazis!


Looks like Montreal messed up when it had its chance with the torch. Not as much as Paris did yesterday - it got put out 4 times because of protests.

Snow Invades London

I didn't know it was snowing until someone told me on MSN and I went to the window and looked out.


It had all melted before supper time.

Wednesday, April 2, 2008

Spider Invades Work

There was a really big spider at work today and by big, I mean it was about the size of a twoonie but it looks pretty menacing in this picture.


It was a pretty bad day for some people. There was a car accident just down the street from our office and the helimedics had to be called in, it landed in the field next to us but I didn't want to take any pictures.

Alex Invades London

Alex came to visit last week. Here are some pictures we took of central London on a bright and sunny day.

Here are some impressive buildings taken from across the Thames.


Here is Tower Bridge from far away.


Here is Tower Bridge from a bit closer.


Here is Tower Bridge from right up close.


Here is a picture of City Hall and a staircase. I thought it looked sort of cool but Alex made me take another one of just the building for him.


Those are all the pictures I have now. You should contact him if you want to see any others. They are mostly night shots from when we went on Jack the Ripper Tour and his last night here when (we went all the way to the pub across the street).

Stockholm, Sweden

I went to Sweden for a couple of days over the Easter weekend. Here is the only picture I took. Apparently this is a theater inside looks even more expensive than the outside.

Southern (Bonus Panoramic)

You'll have to click the picture and wait for it to load, it's very big. It is a 360 shot taken from the middle of the pier. It was bright and sunny on our walk back, we stayed in the cafe until the storm went away.


Warning: It is a pretty big file, so it could take a while to load. You're probably better off to right click the thumbnail and use "Save Target As" or a similar option.

Tuesday, April 1, 2008

Trip to Southend

I went to Southend to see the longest pier in the world about a month ago with Simon (on of my flatmates). I kept forgetting to get he pictures off my phone and even now, I was too lazy to resize them. In any given picture you should be able to see where the next one is taken from.

This is a picture taken from shore looking out over the amusement park and Southend Pier.


This is me before setting out on the 1.3 mile (~2km) walk to the end of the pier that you can see off in the distance. The track on the left is for a little shuttle train (if you're lazy or smart).


We went on the weekend where there were huge storms and lots of wind. We got about half way out before it started raining sideways. It reminded me of Montreal except the rain wasn't frozen. But we made it to the other end, here is the view from the other end. They used to have shops and more rides but they burned down, twice.


Ok, I guess you can't really see this observation tower in the previous picture unless you now what to look for, it's sort of hidden behind the lamp post on the left side of the pier.


Looking along the shoreline from the observation tower. The statue in the next picture is just off to the left along the top of the grassy hill / ridge.


Here's a statue of Queen Victoria, I think. There's a story behind it about her facing out to sea but I don't know it and I can't be bothered to look it up right now. Try Wikipedia.

This is the inscription on the back of her throne.


And that's the end of the tour.