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Day 3 : London - British Museum

 Yesterday 16k quad burning thigh destroying steps, so naturally there is no time to rest we gotta go see London again. Since the breakfast place we wanted to go with the kids doesn't open until later, Michelle and I woke up early. Just to get an extra walk in.  London is a layered city, history built on top of history paved over by chain shops and the few independent bars. The city is always in motion, sure that place used to be where Jane Austen visited every summer for two years but now it's a kicky local spot for drag shows! People still need to make a living, bring their wares and food and experiences to the public. There is simply too much history on top of history to stop and notice it too much. It's a intergridlocked set of past, far past, present, far future all roiling ever forward. And that's not even the most confusing thing about the city. In Vancouver, you get a sense of the geography: the mountains, the water, the rolling hills always give you a sense of
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Day 2 : London

As a nerd, and dad of a certain age I'm drawn to history. In Vancouver it can mostly be summed up as "this is first nations", or "this was related to logging/mining". That's pretty much it. In London of course, there hundreds and hundreds of years of Western civilization everywhere you look. Remnants of an age old foundry or shop or the vestiges of a garden that fed a monastary that was long since been outlawed. As a fan of plaques, as I've said before there are not nearly enough plaques in London. But then again, there would be no place to walk, or put up a wall, or a window if everything was plaqued up. It would a city of engraved history, for which about 1% of the entire tourist population would find endlessly enjoyable and the rest would find rather tiresome. A running joke between my son and I became something along the lines of "and this is where the founding of the banking system originated, anyways, now it's a shoe store". That'

Day 1 : Travel to London

At an ungodly hour we left home, taking transit. Early, early morning, the first bus of the day when the only riders are those who REGULARLY need to get up that early for work, or those that, hopefully infrequently, are on a ride home. And then the odd, overly bright eyed, 'maybe too well dressed for 5:50am' travellers like ourselves. Suitcase, backpack too sensible for work, neck pillow, fashionable water bottle, the incessant check and double check of all necessary passes, documents, passports. I'm not saying I'm crippled with remorse looking at folks trudging to their jobs, but I'm not exactly prancing through the bus aisles either.  Travelling with teens is a lot more carefree than travelling with younger kids. I mean, they probably won't get kidnapped, they have enough sense to pay attention when we get up from a seat and as to where we are going. They have enough just raw power, as invincible bastions of youth, to shoulder any burdens we heap on them like

Europe : Italy Venice Cram Tour - March 23

 The bullet train's only hiccup, thankfully was the text to speech announcer and we made it into Venice. A city hollowed out by AirBnBs and skyrocketing costs of living. Before the pandemic it got approximately the population of Canada in tourists every year. A romantic city, a city that seems only fit for secret agents or heiresses taking a break from the yacht. Thanks for not killing us, pal! It seems that going from Rome to Florence to Venice we've been gradually getting into smaller and more cramped streets with every jump. Rome was tight and packed but at least cars seemed to get up to a fast enough speed to do some real damage to a family of four. Florence, or at least historical Florence where we went had mostly pedestrian ways that grudgingly allowed cars, and most often just seemed to be scooters. Venice is entirely people. People and boats but a boat isn't going to run you over unless you are doing your walking tours, really, almost impressively wrong. One gets th

Europe : Italy BULLET train to Venice - March 23

It's time to say goodbye to Florence. Pack bags, finish what we can of our meagre groceries, separate the trash, double and triple check we have everything, huff it down the eight flights , and cross town, pass the magnificent Duomo. A cathedral that makes no sense to a Canadian mind, just massive, but unlike the medieval churches we saw, gilded and decorated past comprehension on the outside.  In a tip to my lapsed Catholic upbringing, I did want to see the inside. It is pretty amazing how, me, a mostly Asian man from Canada who was raised Catholic can still feel comfortable in such ornate surroundings. The main features of a Catholic church are repeated around the world, and it almost has a homey feeling. I realize this is odd, as among the Christian faiths, Catholicism has the most Baroque and ornate ceremonies. Odd statues and rites.  I remember the first time I visited a Protestant church, being struck by how austere and simple everthing was. Where were the station

Europe: Italy Uffizi Gallery - March 22

 And we finally get to the day of the Uffizi Gallery, the motherload of them all for us plaque readers. Just plaques upon plaques bolstered by an audio tour and some judicious googling. A vast array of art and sculpture, first started by the Medici family, and later pieces added by, I think some non-profit society. I can't help but wonder what sort of fund raisers this non-profit runs to afford ancient works mouldering in some minor royal's mansion. Or if it's just a front to wash ill-gotten krugerrands (why were krugerrands such a staple of 80's action movies?(oh right, apartheid, yowsa)). So, back to the Uffizi, literally, the Office, where the Medici's did the bureaucracy of ruling, directly and indirectly so much of Tuscany. One can imagine it being filled with drones, one scribe saying to another that  yes, we are double sealing all scrolls level 4 and above and if he could come in during the Sabbath to finish up the filing and gold leaf calligraphy that'd