Mike's Travels: July 2005

Wien Pictures

Town Hall with Film Festival

Food Stalls

Opera House

Inside St. Stephan's Church

Dance lessons in the Streets

Street 'Dance Exhibit'
This was a blown up bubble and inside was the layout of a typical apartment. Inside the dancers would perform strange movements. It was called 'the apartment'.

Skateboarding

Downtown

Brno Pictures

Brno Skyline

Hostel

Dead guys

2nd Hand

Statue - Darn Lamborghini is in the way

Prague

The Charles Bridge - Pragues famous landmark

St. Joseph's Bacillica - where I saw a great classical music performance

Prague Castle Gardens

Castle Guards

Cubism

Iron Men Art

Even Superheros have bad days

More random art

Stonehaven Pictures

War Memorial: 1914 A tribute to their dead.
One by one death challenged them
then one by one they smiled in
his grim visage and
refused to be dismayed

Approaching Dunnottar Castle

The Castle ruins

View from the cliffs

Dee, Laura, and I

Rescue boat trip over the North Sea (a great excursion on a fabulous evening. The sea was smooth with occassional big swells. The sights of the cliffs and the castle were amazing. One of my favorite experiences in Scotland.

St. Mary's Kirk (Church) and golf course (The church is right next to a green)

John teaches how to taste whisky

The fabulous Burns supper at the Cruickshanks. This was a special meal complete with haggis, nips and taties (?). Although typically held in January, we broke from tradition and had a beautiful outdoor supper. It was great with John making a toast to the haggis, William piping, Jane entertaining (as usual), Tom giving a toast to the memomy of Burns, me a toast to the lassies, Dee a response, and then a few random poetry readings etc. We were all a little green from previous whisky tastings and such that the whisky did not a play all that big a role in our dinner, but it was a great time and I had a lot of fun.

Much Needed Update

So, I'm finally getting around to uploading some more pictures and updating you on my activities.
Following London, my itinerary has been as follows:

London: Departed on July 14th
Prague: July 14 to 20st
Brno: July 21st, 22nd
Vienna: July 22nd to 26th
Next: Bus trip to Croatia

Prague was a gorgeous city, but strewn with random tourists. Most were living, but I swear that few had caught that horrible disease that was featured in 'Sean of the Dead'. They traveled in large, lumberous groups, and seem to have a dazed distant look on their faces. They drooled and breathed heavily. It was a little disconcerting.

Prague castle is a sight to be seen. Wading through the tourists you get a fabulous view of the main cathedral. Insight, you realize just how big it is (very). I was amazed. What's also amazing about Pragues is that there is beautiful architecture at every turn. I walked the streets for hours, just to get lost. I found myself in areas where nobody was around and there were still picture perfect streets with little marble square stone sidewalks, and quaint restaurants and lights. It has a very warm and magical feeling - like a summers day that blows in a pleasant smell of fresh bread.

After visiting Prague for a week, I headed to the smaller city of Brno - to get away from the crowds. Brno is very nice and is in the SE part of the Czech Republic - the former Moravian capital. While there I visited the local castle. Its history dates back to the 1200s and includes various uses such as a residence, a stronghold, a prison, a torture prison, a nazi prison, and now a museum. The most amazing part was seeing the prison cells in the deep confines of the castle.

Following the castle I went to the crypt. I saw about 50 skeletons of various notable figures that are held in a church in the middle of Brno. They all are from the 1700s and it has an eary feeling to it.

I then headed on the train for Vienna. The trip was quick (two and half hours) and I had no problems, once I figured out how to communicate my need to buy a ticket and get on the right train.

Vienna is also a beautiful city with amazing cultural events and rich architectures. In the central core, there are muscial perforamances all around. At any one time you can be within a few minutes walk of a Mozart, Beethoven, Strauss, or other classical performance. Last night I attended free film festival outside the Rauthaus - an amazing city hall. There, we saw a film of a classical concert in Berlin. What's great is that therew were probably 1200 people crammed in to watch a DVD of a classical music performance. Nearby there were international food stalls selling a fine assortment of meals, wines, and other great gastronimic treats.

London Bombs

I'm currently in Prague - the weather is gorgeous and so is the city. I spent the day at Prague castle and now I'm exploring more of the city. I'm looking forward to getting off the tourist train, but I am enjoying the beer - it's also the cheapest beverage on the menu.

So, I visited London four days after the bombs went off. I made a journey to King's Cross. On the way I came across the site of the explosion on the bus. First of all, I was hit by the volume and presence of the news media. There were cameras constantly trained on the memorials - waiting for something to happen. Second, the memorials themselves were very moving. They were full of flowers, messages, and statements of support. What was most moving was the posters of the, then, still missing.

Ït brought tears to my eyes to see pictures of happy smiling people and then see in the background a memorial or signs of their violent demise. There are no words that can explain how it felt. It's something I hope to never feel again, but it's something I'll never forget.

Here are a few photos:

Still in Scotland

Thanks to those of you who have e-mailed me to see if I was in London during the bomb attacks. I'm still in Scotland, in a town called Stonehaven. I will be traveling to London on Monday, and then on to Prague on Wednesday.

It is a horrific tragedy that innocent people have been injured or killed while going about their everday business.

Photos

London

Dad at a memorial for Canadian soldiers

Scotland
Tour of an anchor handler in Aberdeen

Statue at the Aberdeen art gallery which I thought encapsulated what the G8 protests should be about. The statue has a "make poverty history" banner around its neck and is a peaceful icon of an alternative ideal.

Aberdeen - the granite city

One of the most interesting things about Aberdeen is that it is an area steeped with historical figures like William Wallance (shown here) and Robert the Bruce.