Santiago, Cuba

Santiago, Cuba

Santiago, Cuba

Santiago, Cuba

Montreal, Canada

London, United Kingdom

London, United Kingdom

Alison -

Anyone surprised that I fell in love with a library can leave now.

The following is just a sample of what they had on exhibit at the British Library:

- Magna Carta
- Alice in Wonderland - original manuscript
- Faust - leaves
- Copy of Shakespeare's first (or second) folio
- Original Beatles writings (incidentally, John handed in 'I Want to Hold your Hand' to a teacher as an assignment. He got 3/10 and a note to see the teacher after class)

However, my favourite thing was a notebook of James Joyce's where he wrote 'Finnigan's Wake'. Basically, (for anyone who's looked at Joyce's work) it is EXACTLY what you would expect it to be. There are scriblings everywhere, half of it is crossed off and written on top of, and you can't read his handwriting at all. It's great.

I love a good library.

Check out the following sites for a taste of what the British Library has to offer:
TURNING THE PAGES Leaf through 13 great books and magnify the details

HIGHLIGHTS TOUR Take a short tour of 15 of our finest treasures


Enjoy!

London, United Kingdom

Amsterdam, Netherlands

Amsterdam, Netherlands

Paris, France

Paris, France

Paris, France

Milan, Italy

Venice, Italy

Alison -

Neither us expected to really enjoy Venice much. We figured that it was another tourist trap. As a result, we were both quite surprised by how much we enjoyed it. We arrived just in time for the celebration of the Feast of the Redeemer. From what I understand, it celebrates the end of the plague.


Day 1:
We were told that there were going to be fireworks at night at San Marco (the main tourist square), so we headed out. When we got to the Accademia Bridge (one of the 3 bridges that crosses the Grand Canal, and half of the way from our hotel to San Marco), we decided to stop and watch from there. That was definitely a good decision. We ended up watching the most beautiful fireworks show that I have ever seen in my life, from one of the most beautiful locations that I have seen in my life; we were leaning off the top of a wooden bridge over the water, watching the fireworks explode over the roof of a domed church while boats drifted below us. Wow. Then we went home to read more Harry Potter.

Day 2:
We took a vaporetto (boat bus) to San Marco to check out some museums. After getting there we decided that we didn't feel like seeing museums. Instead, we decided to do the best thing to do in Venice: wander and window shop. It was a great day.

Day 3:
The day before, when window shopping, we decided that we loved the glass sculptures that they made. As a result, we decided to spend our last full day in Murano, an island outside o f Venice where they make the glass. We basically did what we did the day before: wandered and window shopped. That night, around 4:30 am there was a crazy thunder storm. I happened to wake up right before and watched it for a while. I really enjoyed Venice.

Note to Mom and Dad:
Dad - You would love the glass art and will want to buy everything if you come to Venice.
Mom - Don't worry about him buying everything, because you will not be able to handle the boat bus to Murano that would be necessary for him to see everything.

Florence, Italy

Florence, Italy

Florence, Italy

Sorrento, Italy

Sorrento, Italy

Sorrento, Italy

Rome, Italy

Rome, Italy

Rome, Italy

Rome, Italy

Hadrians Wall, United Kingdom

Edinburgh, United Kingdom

Alison -

Last night, we had the world's most inconsiderate hostelmates. Richard and I had decided to go to sleep early because I was EXHAUSTED. We went to bed at 10:00 with no one else sharing our room. At midnight, six people stormed into the room. They were speaking loudly, singing (etc) and then noticed us sleeping. They then continued. They left to go drinking at 12:30 (having not shut up since they came in). One of them mouthed "sorry" to me.

At 3:30, they came back in. They began loudly discussing all of the people that they met that evening one by one. After about 3 minutes of this I very angrily but very politely said "Is it possible to discuss this tomorrow." They then apologised and went to sleep (or at least whispered).

They then decided to get up at 7:00 am. Apparently, that was not good enough for them. They also had to wake everyone else up. They actually began talking about how they had woken us up and about what I said (etc) at the top of their lungs. WTF!

Once we had gotten up and gotten dressed (because there was no point trying to sleep) Richard went to talk to the front desk to get their room changed. He was told that they wouldn't ba able to change their room, but they could move us. Fine.

Two people from the staff at the reception then came to our room to give them a warning. Afterward I heard them saying to each other "They must be going around saying that to everyone. It was quite loud last night." Sigh. I hope that our new room will be better.

****

I don't know if you are all aware of this, but there is a G8 summit going on in Edinburgh in about 2 days. The 'festivities' started today with the 'Make Povery History' protest. There were well over 100,000 people marching through Edinburgh. Here is CNN's writup.

In general, it did not disrupt our day of touring at all. The march seemed peaceful, so all was well. At one point in the afternoon, while Richard was on the phone, I watched the protest go by. As I did so I got more and more frustrated. I think that you all are aware of my generally left of center views. I believe in excusing third-world debt, and in ensuring that every person have a minimum standard of living. Nonetheless, much of what I saw at the protest made me angry. (Warning, I'm going into a rant. Either brace yourselves or stop reading here.)

- This was a protest for poverty, so why confuse the issue? People were walking around with Palestinian flags. While there is a time and place for presenting that opinion (and it is an opinion), why at the voicing of a cause that is so overarching?

- Many of the placards carried were for the Socialist Workers party. In addition, there were a few communist flags about. I see this as changing the issue. Why alienate the crowd? This is about solidarity, not about highlighting separations.

- Parents brought their children who were often infants. Why make an ideological choice for someone who is too young to make it themselves?

- There was so much garbage thrown on the floor. If you are going to discuss a global issue, why ignore another one? Pollution is as much of an issue as poverty. How could anyone in that croud be so single-minded? Isn't their point that they are aware?

I dealt with closed-minded people who are under the opinion that they are open-minded all year. It was my job. I didn't need this on my vacation. People are stupid.

****

In conclusion, I need to clarify that I am having a wonderful time in Edinburgh. It may not sound like it but I am. It is a beautiful city.

Edinburgh, United Kingdom

Edinburgh, United Kingdom

Edinburgh, United Kingdom

Gairloch, United Kingdom

Gairloch, United Kingdom

Gairloch, United Kingdom

Isle of Skye, United Kingdom

Corpach, United Kingdom

Glasgow, United Kingdom

Glasgow, United Kingdom

Dublin, Ireland

Dublin, Ireland

Galway, Ireland

Galway, Ireland

Galway, Ireland

Dublin, Ireland

Dublin, Ireland

Dublin, Ireland

London, United Kingdom

London, United Kingdom

Montreal, Canada

New York, USA

New York, USA

New York, USA

New York, USA

Jackson, USA

Jackson, USA

Jackson, USA

Montreal, Canada

Montreal, Canada

Alison -

Alright, so now that you were forced to read Richard's drivel, now you can read mine . . . wait . . . that didn't come out right. My drivel's good.

We're leaving for New Jersey tomorrow. While in New Jersey we will be going on the world's highest and fastest roller coaster. I'm already scared. Here are the specs: 45 storeys tall and 0 to 128 mph in 3.5 seconds. AHHHHHH!!! Here's a link to the Kingda Ka. Thank you to Mom for graciously lending us her car so we can go on this kamikazee mission.

Anyway, I'll write to you soon to let you know how it went. If you don't hear from us within the week, call Paperman's.

Montreal, Canada