France to go

This past week has been quite a lot of fun. On Saturday night we went to see Wicked, which was quite a lot of fun, especially since the audience got really into it — there were girls there in green face paint and a lot of the crowd gave a standing ovation at the end. It was really interesting to see how they turned the book into the musical, though I read it quite a few years ago and don’t remember everything, so there were still a few surprises. The ending was also different from what I remembered. The show also had some great effects, including a huge dragon puppet over the stage and lots of flying/floating.

Today I had a nice morning at Tuttle Club/Social Media Cafe, where I got to catch up with some of the usual crowd as well as meet some new people. I only wish I had been been able to get there earlier or stay a bit later. I hadn’t been in a few weeks, and I really missed it. I hope I get to make it the next few weeks before we leave town.

My Londonist posts for the week:

• 15-Year-Old Schoolgirl Stabbed in Southwark
  
• Londoners Don’t Like Guns in their Adverts
  
• Zippos Creates Mudbath in Twickenham
• And not exactly my post, but I consulted and helped provide pictures – Londonist Loves… Kew Gardens
  

I’m also still doing lots of work over at Workology, so if you consider yourself a Workologist — someone who works freelance or has their own business — please come join the discussion. The site is growing quickly and there are a lot of new conversations and job opportunities on the site.

For our big summer trip, the only visa we need to get in advance is the one for India. And as luck would have it, the High Commission in London has just in the past week changed their system to an outsourced company to help alleviate the long lines and disorder that would typically accompany a visa-purveying trip.

Evan and I got our papers all ready over the weekend. We had our photos, our passports, our references and our supporting documents. We were short a paper clip, so I stopped by the Hilton on my way to the bus stop and asked at the front desk — they were happy to hand one over (thank you very much!). I got to the visa office just minutes after it opened at 8:30 and stood in a short line outside in the morning drizzle. When I got inside, I was instructed to take a number, then go wait. It was no different than being at the DMV.

I had a book with me — thank goodness, since I waited an hour and a half — and when I got up to the counter, I was told that I could get my tourist visa but Evan couldn’t. Now Evan certainly doesn’t have any reason to be denied a simple tourist visa, so what could be the problem? He doesn’t have a UK visa. Since our stay here is less than 6 months, he only has a work permit, which is good through July 4, 2008. I got a visa because it was the easiest way for me to go.

Now why should this matter? I’m not quite sure. We’re both here legally, we’re not returning to the UK after our trip and we’ll be leaving the country before Evan’s visa expires. But apparently his non-visa status strips him of his right to getting a visa to a foreign country he would otherwise be allowed to travel to.

It’s not like we have anywhere else to get the visa. The U.S. India visa site tells us we need to apply for a visa wherever we currently are — we shouldn’t be shipping passports overseas. The agent’s suggestion: Get our visas from Cairo. And while spending part of our short stay in Egypt in a visa queue sounds ever so appealing, we’re not guaranteed we’ll get it there, either. It will take at least 3-4 business days to process, which would be cutting it awfully close when we only have a week in the city.

Fittingly, when Evan emailed the Cairo High Commission, they told him it would probably be easier to apply in the UK, so we’re just being sent around in circles.

So now we’re debating whether to keep our itinerary and try to get visas from Cairo or to change our plans and head to Cyprus, Turkey, Israel or some other location instead. Maybe this is our sign that we shouldn’t be heading to Mumbai during monsoon season.

It’s been a busy weekend! After my trip to Oxford yesterday, I was inspired to venture out of the city yet again — this time, taking advantage of the lovely sunshine and heading to the seaside — to Brighton.

The train was packed on the way down. I was lucky enough to get a seat, but there were lots of passengers left standing or sitting on the floor. When we finally got to Brighton, there was this huge flow of people heading downhill from the station toward the water.

West Pier

The first thing I did was check out the coastline. I was surprised that there was no sand, just pebbles. I took some photos of the old, twisted metal pier frame still standing in the water (though just barely), and also photographed the current pier, with its rides and arcades and traditional piery things.

Brighton Pier

It seemed like every shop was hawking fish and chips, and there were signs for eels and puns with plaice and even a giant lobster by a poster that said “I got crabs in Brighton”!

A giant lobster, lots of fishy signs and beach kitsch

I decided to do a little sightseeing before relaxing, so I went to the Royal Pavilion, the bizarre Asian-inspired seaside palace of George IV. From the outside it was striking, with its white pointed domes, and from the inside, it was truly spectacular.

The Royal Pavilion

Unfortunately, we weren’t allowed to take photos of the inside, but the highlights were the dining room, which has a 30-foot-long chandelier with dragons holding lotus-flower light shades in their mouths suspended from a giant dragon’s claws in the middle of a domed ceiling painted with plantain leaves. (Seriously, it’s sort of shockingly insane.) The music room was also interesting, with a similar shockingly dramatic look. And it was interesting to see the king’s chambers and some of the more private areas like the kitchen, which came complete with stuffed animals (including rats!) to make it seem like it would be used today.

After the Pavilion tour, I went to check out the Lanes, a shopping district of alleyways, which was once a fisherman’s village. I was surprised by the quality of goods there, especially their fair trade, locally made and recycled/reused offerings. I was tempted to buy a lot, though I didn’t indulge. There were also some spectacular looking bakeries and ice cream shops. One particularly cute cupcake shop even sold little felt cupcakes and other goodies.

Cute fake cupcakes!

Once I was done window shopping, I took a stroll down the crowded pier. It seemed like everyone had an ice cream cone with a flake bar sticking out of it in hand, and everyone also had a sunburn. Almost as soon as I started walking the pier, I saw some guys jumping off and even diving — a big no-no according to all the signs posted. There were some angry looking security guards around and tons of spectators.

Boys jumping off Brighton Pier

Some of the guys tried to climb back up onto the pier, but I think they all ended up just swimming to shore. There are plenty more pictures, including ones of divers and the boys climbing back up on Flickr.

Once I was done on the pier, I went to North Laines to walk around a bit and see the artier side of the city. I caught an interesting street performance where people dressed as mimes were putting on a show for a person sitting in a peep-show sort of contraption that had lots of windows that someone would open to tell the story. I only watched it from the outside, but it was pretty funny and most certainly absurd. There was also lots of street art to check out, and I took some good photos of the graffiti and graffiti-style murals in the area before catching the train home.

Take a look at the rest of the day’s photos on Flickr.

In Oxford today, I took some nice close-up pictures of architectural detail and reliefs. Check them out…

Reader at Balliol College

Couple with a skull at Christ Church Cathedral — they look, probably appropriately, distressed

Angel playing lute at Christ Church Cathedral

How did Donkey from Shrek make it onto University Church?

Giving the peace sign at University Church

Golden Pan gracing a doorway

See the rest of my Oxford photos on Flickr.

Today I finally made it to Oxford for the day! I took the X90 bus, and got there in about an hour and forty minutes. I met up with friends (well, connections — I’d never met them before) and wandered around the city with them for a bit, then went out on my own to explore the many colleges, churches and gardens Oxford has to offer.

Christ Church College and gardens

I started with the obvious choice — Christ Church College, the biggest and most renowned of Oxford’s colleges. I got to go into the dining hall, a room full of historic portraits, excessively long tables and a giant pump bottle of Heinz ketchup. Yes, it’s still in use for students today, who all eat their meals in the hall — on Christ Church-imprinted plates, no less!I also checked out the large quad and the cathedral. I don’t know if I’ve ever seen so many churches crowded into a small town like at Oxford. Each college seems to have at least its own chapel, and there seem to be spires everywhere you look in the city.

The colleges also all seem to have their own beautifully manicured gardens, which are off-limits to visitors, and I could spy students picnicking, tanning and drinking beer beyond the gates in many of the colleges.

Punts in Oxford

After Christ Church, I wandered into a few other colleges, then walked down to the river, where I watched people going punting. I would have loved to go, but I wasn’t going to try to manage a boat on my own or hire someone to push me along in my romantic ride for one. I considered just trying to make friends by asking strangers to hop in their boat, but I never got up my nerve. (For anyone who doesn’t know, Evan is out of town this weekend, so I was exploring on my own.)

After checking out the river, I walked down a long alleyway by Magdalen College and ended up walking under a replica of Venice’s Bridge of Sighs, which curiously just crosses over a street. This brought me to the concert hall and library. I could hear a concert going on, but it was well underway and the doors were shut.

Bridge of Sighs

From there, I walked to the Radcliffe Camera and University Church, where I climbed the tower to get a view of the city.

View of the Radcliffe Camera from University Church tower

I walked around a bit more, back through the center of town, and went to check out “Oxford Castle,” which is apparently a center full of chain restaurants — quite disappointing.

The best parts of the day were definitely seeing all the gardens and Christ Church College, and climbing up the tower at University Church. Just walking around town was also really nice, since there are lots of beautiful buildings with ornate details and the weather was perfect. Some close-up shots are on their way!

You can check out all my photos on Flickr.

Saturday, Evan and I went to Leeds Castle. It all started in a pretty dramatic fashion, when we nearly missed our train. Evan rushed to buy one from an automated kiosk, while I tried my luck standing in line. Of course, we both reached the front of our respective lines at the same time, and while I was being hassled by the Victoria Station ticket agent, who told me I really should just go to Leeds Castle another day since it was already the afternoon and kept hassling me about our travel plans while refusing to let me purchase a ticket, Evan managed to get them.

We ran through the station, rounding a corner where we could see our train beyond some gates, and the large digital clock, which was ticking down about 30 seconds from departure time. We struggled with our tickets to get through the gates, and finally hopped on the train — hoping it was the right one — before the doors shut right behind us. Whew!

The train ride itself was thankfully uneventful, and we had a rather relaxing, hour-long journey to Bearsted, despite the looming clouds which threatened rain. By the time we got to Bearsted it was quite rainy, the coaches had stopped running to the castle and the number outside the coach and car hire office wouldn’t connect us to anyone. So we walked into town and stopped at a pub for a bite to eat and directions. The pub, The Oak on the Green, turned out to have some good food, and our server helped us call a cab to take us to the castle.

Once at the castle, the fun really began. We walked through the duckery, where I got quite close to an albino peacock, which really became the theme of the day — me trying to get close to the birds, that is. And we caught some very nice views of the castle in the distance.

We then walked along a winding garden path, and finally approached the castle. We passed black swans, some sort of snake sculpture that emerged from the grass and a whole bunch of very whiny children (they all seemed a bit tired and on their way out of the park). We entered the castle through the gatehouse across the moat, then walked around its outside to a back entrance.

Inside the castle, we got to walk through a large number of rooms, mostly decorated for the castle’s most recent owner, Lady Baillie. There were also some really nice and clear exhibits on royal coats of arms, and the castle had an interesting history — it was used as a hospital during WWII, and Lady Baillie’s daughters served as nurses. And there were lots of bird drawings and sculptures decorating the rooms.

Once we finished the castle tour, we headed to the dog collar museum (sort of interesting, though small), another garden, the aviary and the labyrinth, which were situated along a river.

The labyrinth, though it looked small, still took a while to figure out, and we spent a good amount of time wandering its green corridors trying to find our way to the center. Once in the center, we got to climb up to see the top view of the hedge maze, then descended into the cool, watery grotto to make our way out underground.

Though we could have stayed longer, had a picnic and caught one of the falconry shows or duck feedings, half a day was enough to have a good time at Leeds Castle. We wanted to check out the Go Ape adventure experience, but they seem booked up for a long while, so it wasn’t an option. And our only slight hassle was getting a cab. But once we got the number, they came quite quickly and were pretty inexpensive — £6.80 each way, I believe.

Also, admission was £15 a person, which lets you return anytime for an entire year after purchase.

Check out more photos on Evan’s site.

After Evan and I are finished our stint in London at the end of June, we plan on traveling for a month or two, making our way back to LA heading east. Our tentative itinerary:

• 1 week in Egypt 
• 1 week in Jordan
• 2 weeks in India
• 2 weeks in Thailand and Cambodia
• 1 week in Japan
• 1 week in Maui (to join up with the Kizner family summer vacation)
• Back to LA

We haven’t booked our ticket yet, but we met with a travel agent on Saturday about it and are going back in a couple of weeks to really sort things out. It looks like we’ll be getting some sort of around-the-world ticket, which is flexible on dates, though less flexible on destinations once we pick them.

So now we need help — we want to know what to see, where to stay, what and where to eat, which guide to get, and all your other travel tips for these destinations. Please post them in the comments or email them directly to me. And if you have friends and family who have been to these places, please ask them to share, too.

Thanks!

Though I’ve written about all of these events, you can finally see the full sets of photos from:

• Ceres’s visit
• Our day in Greenwich
  
• Our weekend in New York City for the Towards Darkness premiere

He has also posted the photos on Facebook if you prefer looking at them there.

Our last stop on Monday was Parc de Ciutadella, which we entered through Barcelona’s Arc de Triomf. We also learned that unlike the arches in Paris and London and other European cities, this one isn’t commemorating a war victory, it’s just for show.

We go to the park at sunset and snapped some photos in the remaining light, walked around the little lagoon where people were taking out row boats, and helped retrieve a stray soccer ball (Evan kicked it back).

On the way back from the countryside, we took a route into the city that brought us over some mountains. We stopped at a lookout point, and Evan grabbed these great shots.

One of the best parts of the weekend was getting away to the Spanish countryside with Miriam’s family. We cooked over an indoor fire pit, played with dogs, rode horses in view of the Pyrenees, and walked in the mountains. These photos are from Sunday morning.

Check out many more photos of the Spanish countryside on Evan’s site.

Saturday, on our way up to Miriam’s brother’s house, we stopped by Montserrat to have a look around the monastery on the mountain. The views were great. I only wish we had more time to explore.

The hill Montserrat is on, itself, is actually quite different from the surrounding scenery — it’s much craggier, with rock pillars jutting up like fingers, instead of the smooth ridges found on the nearby mountains.

We also learned that Montserrat is a common Catalonian woman’s name, most often abbreviated as Montse. We’ve met a Montse before, but didn’t make the connection until Miriam told us that it’s also her mother’s name.

Check out more Montserrat photos on Evan’s site.

One of our first Barcelona photos when walking around the city Saturday morning, looking towards Placa Colon (aka Columbus). The first (and only other) time I went to Barcelona, we rode up the elevator in the central column to catch the view from up top, underneath the half-globe. It’s quite a scary, narrow, ride.

Check out more Barcelona photos on Evan’s site.

We’re back from Barcelona and yet another whirlwind weekend. The quick rundown (um, it didn’t end up being that quick… we did a lot!):

We left Friday night and our otherwise on-time plane was delayed about two hours by a passenger who apparently was too scared to fly. The pilot said he has been flying since 1981 and has never had to let someone off a plane because he was afraid to fly — and that he was scared of what the passenger might do if forced to fly. Apparently he had some sort of “crazy look in his eyes.” We didn’t really notice any commotion, though. It just felt like a lot of waiting.

The delay, subsequent search of the plane and refueling, put us into Barcelona late. We had a light dinner at Bernat and Miriam’s apartment, where we stayed, and rested up for the next day’s activities.

Evan and I started the day by checking out the main cathedral, walking down the the sea, strolling up La Rambla and some other big streets, and checking out some of the many back alleys. We met up with Bernat and Miriam at the Santa Caterina Market, where we saw all sorts of meats and fishes (we got some good photos, coming soon) and Spanish foods. After buying plenty of food, it was time to head out of the city and towards the mountains.

Our first stop was Montserrat, the monastery and church high up in craggy mountains. We walked around a bit, had lunch and checked out the sanctuary. The views were great, though we didn’t stick around too long — we were heading further into the mountains to visit Miriam’s brother.

By the time we got to his house, in the foothills of the Pyrenees, it was dark and rainy. We made a big dinner over an indoor fire pit, drank wine, played games and watched movies. I also got to practice my fake — or more like paltry, though never actually learned — Spanish. Evan said was better than his fake French, though, and gave me plenty of help putting together phrases. We forgot how quiet it could be away from the city, and we woke up the next morning to birds chirping outside.

In the morning, we walked around outside and enjoyed stunning views of snow-capped mountains, then took a short walk to a small church. On the way back, we ran into Miriam’s brother, who let us take turns riding one of his horses. I don’t even remember the last time I was on a horse, so it was quite a treat. Late in the afternoon, we had lunch, relaxed, and finally said our goodbyes, smelling of wood smoke.

That night we had dinner, and the next day, Easter, Evan and I headed to Parc Guell, a huge modernist park on a hill with views of Barcelona and the Mediterranean, and plenty of bizarre buildings, sculptures, structures and mosaics to check out. We continued our Barcelona tour with a trip to Casa Batllo, the Gaudi apartments, which looked like a house for a family of mermaids. The tiles, ocean theme and undulating spaces were fun to walk through, and from the roof, we saw plenty more buildings we wanted to check out.

We ended up at the Parc de Ciutadella at sunset, where the sky glowed peach, pink and blue behind the Arc de Triomf, and we took a stroll around the lake and headed back to the apartment to relax before dinner. We went out for drinks, dinner, and drinks again, and left the next morning, flying out over the blue sea and snow-capped mountains, to come back to London.

What an amazing weekend. We couldn’t have asked for better hosts for our trip — we felt like part of the family and saw a side of Barcelona and the Spanish countryside neither of us had ever seen. I can’t wait to go visit again, and I can’t wait to look through all the photos Evan took on his new camera.

Update: Photos are up on Evan’s site.

After all the QR and 2d code talk last week, I of course starting seeing the codes everywhere. And even in the US, where I said they weren’t used much commercially. I still stand by that they’re really used only for B2B purposes — there was one on my flight check-in print-out from Continental. There was a colorful, argyle-y code on the wall at MoMA, and then there was this Pitney Bowes ad I saw in the airport.

and closer up

Intriguing, no? Definitely an image that brings up a lot of questions.

The data matrix code isn’t meant to be read — the ad’s call to action is to text “Pitney” to a number, which sends you to their mailsream website. The answer to the question is that it can help organize patient communications. Once again, a B2B function. Now, wouldn’t it be cool if consumers could read the code in the ad?

Maybe they can — I can’t tell since my phone is behind the times. If you can read it, let me know.

I also sent this to 2d code, and they posted it today.