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#EV12 Day Nine

I started my final day in Berlin by heading up near the zoo to join a walking tour of Sachsenhausen, the concentration camp nearest to the city. I couldn’t find the meeting point, so I was sitting on the side of the street observing Berlin life and listening to Chemical Chords by Stereolab. [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f9LwpTYLJvY&w=450] At that point a woman came up to me and said, “sorry, I noticed your Apple jacket I was wondering if you could help us with our iPad?” seeing as she introduced me to the fact that Berlin’s Starbucks have wifi, I was more than happy to help out this older couple. I learned that Skype for iOS really sucks… Read More »#EV12 Day Nine

#EV12 Day Eight

Thank fuck! I just got my German power adapter working and now my phone is charging. I was worried. I can’t get anything done without this thing. And since my laptop is running on fumes it’s nice to have a working device. It just needs to last until I get to Frankfurt, as the Air Canada flight from Frankfurt should have USB and a North American outlet in the seat backs.  So I never really finished yesterday’s blog post, because that wasn’t the end of my night. Instead I wandered. I just walked north and stumbled upon the Canadian Embassy. They were closed, and they misspelled Canada; it doesn’t have… Read More »#EV12 Day Eight

#EV12 Day Seven

Woke up and had breakfast at the hostel, it was passable. During that time, I charged my iPhone, it was too dark in the bedroom to find an outlet, and struggle with silly German1 adapters. After breakfast, I got on the S-Bahn, and headed up to Gesundbrunnen station2 where I hung around for a while looking for the Berliner Unterwelten ticket office. Eventually I found it, and joined the short queue3 to buy a ticket. The English tour didn’t start until 11, so I went to the nearby shitty shopping mall, and wandered. It reminded me of Centrepoint. I wasn’t there for the mall. Instead I was there for the tour.… Read More »#EV12 Day Seven

#EV12 Day Six

Today is the second day that I’ve worn my sunglasses. It’s a really nice day with a pleasant chill. After waking up early to pack and checkout before 10am, I headed to The British Library which had a bit of an exhibit. They had a bit of a history of the Magna Carta with examples. They also had historical documents like handwritten Shakespeare and the lyrics to “Yesterday.” They also had some early Hebrew documents including haggadot. See, I’m celebrating Passover. Woo! Freedom from slavery. Woo! God giving us the 10 commandments. That’s enough. Dianu. The problem with the exhibit was it was really small. So I was in and… Read More »#EV12 Day Six

#EV12 Day Five

I had to check which day it was. It’s raining here in London, I guess the cliché had to be fulfilled, but c’mon London, isn’t it a cliché, I expect you to be better than that. It’s still early morning, and I’m going to try to go see another play. Why? Well, why not? I’m in fuckin’ London! Going to see a play called Absent Friends. Katherine Parkinson is in it. You know, Jen from The IT Crowd. [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NuPolrd9yuo&w=450&h=259] Elizabeth Berrington is also in it. She’s probably less recognizable to Canadians, but she played Auntie in the episode of Doctor Who penned by Neil Gaiman, “The Doctor’s Wife.” It may just… Read More »#EV12 Day Five

#EV12 Day Four

This… Wow. I walked from my hotel to the Saatchi Gallery. I made sure that it was open, because it was Easter Monday, and of course, the gallery might be closed. There was no mention about Easter closings on the website, and it says it opens at 10am on Mondays, so I made my way over. When I got there, they were open, and the place was practically empty. There were more staff than visitors. It also turns out that today is Sunday, not Monday. Have I been away from work that long that I forget what day it is? The gallery was the number one suggestion from Helen, and… Read More »#EV12 Day Four

#EV12 Day Three

I began my day in London with a morning walk. I walked from my hotel in Pimlico to the Palace of Westminster… aka, Parliament. Earlier I had lamented that Canadian Parliament is so much better than British Parliament, because to tour ours, it’s free, to tour Britain’s is £15. There’s another reason why Canada’s Parliament is better… we’re allowed to take pictures. So the one above and the one below are the two photos I took. The tour was interesting. I got to see and be in the insides of the House of Lords and the House of Commons. I got to school an American on hereditary rights of the monarch. I… Read More »#EV12 Day Three

#EV12 Day Two

For those wondering #EV12 means European Vacation 2012. Much like #ORT12 was Ottawa Road Trip 2012. I went to The Tate. I liked some of the art. My favourite was this room with only a set of see through stairs on the ceiling, and a railing, but it’s all being seen from below. What I really liked about The Tate was people watching. It was quite interesting watching people staring at this object on the ceiling and photographing it. So my legs hurt. I walked a lot today. I woke up at 9, too early, but whatever… I walked to The Tate, as I figured that would be my first… Read More »#EV12 Day Two

#EV12 Day One

My father was nice enough to give me a drive from his place in Thornhill to Pearson at 6am. I arrived at the airport around 6:30, and went through the whole shebang of getting on a plane. First I had to check in, then I had to drop of my luggage, then I had to go through security. It’s a whole big thing. The plane was supposed to board at 7:55am, an hour before it was scheduled to depart. I got there around 7:15 after going through all the fun. I was happy I wouldn’t have too long of a wait. 7:55 rolled around, then 8, then 8:15. We didn’t… Read More »#EV12 Day One