A Collection of Daily Wisdom by Dennis Sylvester Hurd since September 2003.

How old is one during the summer between Grade 5 and 6? I think that was the last time I saw the Grand Canyon. I do remember the family crossing the country on that trip with an old Chevy pickup and camper. My mother always took lots of images in the form of Kodachrome slides. I wish I had those to scan but I guess they no longer exist as my father doesn't know their whereabouts.

I will be sure we get lots of digital shots of me standing at the edge of the canyon when Jay and I head to Arizona next month. We're taking vacation after I complete my current course, so from May 10th to 17th we'll be away.

The airfare we found to Phoenix seems so cheap! To travel one way is just $77 including taxes and fees. It'd certainly cost more than $154 each to drive there and back. Of course, we do have to go to Bellingham, WA in order to get the deal. I hope there are no surprises. We've never been on Allegiant Air before but service on every plane is non-existent nowadays, right? We now make it a habit to bring our own snacks as one is lucky to get a free pretzel to suck on from a flight attendant.

Labels: Desert Southwest, Eurotrip 2005, flying, Paris, travel planning

I really didn't know what to put here today. The day was brilliant and our day off pleasant. I spotted a new icon in the draft version of Blogger.com. I wanted to see what'd happen if I uploaded a video clip. I rather hastily put in a DVD disc from our Eurotrip in the fall of 2005. I cut a chunk and then pressed to upload the 44 MB clip. While the file is being transferred, I'm typing this text. Where's it going, he wonders? I clicked right past those warning things what one is supposed to read when working with software. You know what I mean don't you? I am talking about the agreements that one quickly scrolls to the bottom of, and then presses I AGREE button. Maybe those would've told me that it now belongs to Google Corp. I guess that's okay with me. They can have it, just as long as you can see it too. This is from a section of tape shot in Paris. It's only Montmartre during the day and a bit of the Champs Elysee at dusk.


After waiting half of forever, I decided that my file, although destined for Google Video, would never complete. Therefore, I mashed this up with YouTube.

Labels: blogging, camcorder, Eurotrip 2005, Google, Paris, YouTube

That's what today is called in Canada. CBC News: Remembrance Day

In September, we passed the Vimy Ridge Memorial on our way from Paris to the Chalis ferry. The bus driver asked if there were Canadians aboard and pointed it out from the highway.

Labels: Paris

If I look out the windows now, I see only greyness and fog. It's somehow quite comforting though. Yesterday it rained nearly the entire day. I have to admit that I do enjoy such weather. With the long winter ahead, I'll be witness to such conditions for months and months. I love Vancouver.

(In order to get the max use from the European vacation photos from last month, I'll include a clearer day from the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris.)

Labels: Paris

You know how some things can go very smoothly and come off without a hitch. That sort of describes today. Getting up early was not nearly as hard as I would have expected. You have to remember that by 'early' I mean just a bit before 7:30. We ate. We checked out and walked right to one Metro line at Republic Square. Within 15 minutes we'd departed at the end of the line which led right into the Euroline bus station. We had to wait about a half hour before leaving Paris. It was like clockwork.

The bus was big and comfortable. It also headed for Chalis and a ferry crossing to the English coast. On the ferry we had a great, late lunch and then walked around the ferry a bit before we headed past the white cliffs of Dover and into the port. Our bus was stopped by customs for a check, but even that went without incident.

We got into London a bit late, but we had made reservations at Globetrotter Inn, the only of our trip, before we left Canada. So, we knew there was a room waiting. From Victoria Station we got the District Line to Stamford Book and proceeded right into our room. We grabbed fast food and were quite tired. But, it was a perfect day in many respects.

Labels: Eurotrip 2005, London, Paris

We saved the Louvre for our last day here. I've never walked this much in my life. Even though we're learning the Metro routes, we must've walked three or four kilometers just inside the museum. The Egyptian holdings are very large which helps explain the French accents used by archaeologists in Hollywood movies. The logistics of moving so many visitors through so many objects was superb. We even splurges for a sit-down lunch of salmon; whether it was from BC, I don't know.

We didn't finish the museum until nearly three o'clock. Then, we walked down through the Tuileries towards the Arc de Triomphe. It was miles away, but I love Paris because of it's grand layout. Capitalism benefits consumers but when citizens leave city planning to market forces, they end up with a mess. Nature is random but the greatness of cities comes from straight lines!

Tonight we pack up early. We have to get out of bed earlier than we have been recently. Eurobus suggests getting to the station an hour before our 10:00 am start.

I hope to ride around on double-decker busses and give my poor tennis shoes a great in London.

Labels: Eurotrip 2005, Paris

We hit Sacre-Coeur du Montmartre this morning. It was nice seeing the part of town that was mountainous. In the evening we walked down the Champs Elysees. When I become a multi-millionaire, I'll make sure I have a shop on that avenue.

Labels: Eurotrip 2005, mountains, Paris

We had only booked to stay in our second hotel here for two nights. We decided to change scenery by staying more 'uptown' for the last two nights. Unfortunately, they didn't have an opening for tonight. This is still busy season in Europe and this meant our hotel couldn't find a place for us tonight. We were without a place to stay so, Jay went out 'hunting' in our area but across from one main street. We're in Luna Park Hotel. It's very cheap as it doesn't have an elevator and we have to walk up to the third floor on a tiring, winding staircase. Still the window looks out onto a little place where three or four lanes come together each filled with traditional little shops. It's fine.

In the morning, we will pack up and walk a few streets north for our remaining two nights in Paris. Speaking of remaining time, we'd heard that North Station was the location for the departures of Eurostar to London. How fun it would be to race through the Chunnel, we thought. So, we went to the station to purchase ahead for Friday. It was a bit shocking to hear it would cost us more than E500, or about $750.00 Canadian to go one way! We decided it would be even MORE FUN to take a bus as the per price ticket was only E61 or $90.00 Canadian instead. The trip will last from 10:00 am to 5:00 pm rather than the train's time of less than two hours. It will be much better being able to see actual scenery. Isn't it strange how cost can change one's idea of fun?

Today we also did a bit of exploring by subway. The three-day, unlimited tourist pass tickets will finish at midnight. I like Paris. I also don't feel so embarrassed for Manhattan because of the rat-warren den of its subway stations.

Labels: Eurotrip 2005, Paris

Today was. I'm writing at 10:22 happily but with feet that hurt. We did lots of things in Paris today. We started by finding another hotel but unfortunately can't check in until the day after tomorrow. There's nothing much wrong with this one other than the below-standard towels and lack of WiFi.

We went back to the Eiffel Tower first. Yesterday, we walked around it but today we wanted to go up it. Although there were fewer people in the area, only one 'leg' of the tower was open. In total we waited an hour and a half. There are two 'stages' and then the 'top'. We went directly to the second platform by an escalator that runs at an angle up a leg. We spent some time there before taking an elevator. The way I was positioned, I wasn't aligned with a support. I am not usually afraid of height, but I was a bit unnerved! There only appeared a spider-web of steel beams which didn't look as if they offered a place to stand. Yikes. The view was much greater than it looked from the bottom.

From there, we travelled to the Champs-Elysees and the Arc de Triomph. We also popped out at various Metro stations just to look around. This was how we saw the National Museum of Music as well as the Opera area.

We rode back out to the Eiffel Tower after dark just to see how it looks at night. Jay was correct in insisting that we stay to the turn of the hour. The strobe lights started at 9:00.

We had dinner and now it's time to call it a day.

Labels: Eurotrip 2005, Paris

As soon as we got up, we remembered we hadn't bought breakfast as part of our stay at the hotel. We walked a block or two around the hotel area and didn't find anything we thought would suffice and went back in to get the 6E50 breakfast at the hotel.

We also thought we might be able to do Euro 14.00 cheaper at a hotel right next door and therefore packed up. We later brought the bags there at only 9:00 am. We left them downstairs as the room wasn't guaranteed to be free until 2:00 pm.

We initially thought we'd do a tourist bus to get our general orientation. Then after waiting we decided to check to see if Metro had tourist fares. We instead got 3-day unlimited passes for 18 Euros. We tried them out by going to the Eiffel Tower. What fantastic weather! We couldn't have ordered it any better.

Later in the afternoon we went back to Notre Dame by subway. One final trip was out to Place de Clichy. Wouldn't you know, there really is a Moulin Rouge!

Labels: Eurotrip 2005, Paris

(Jump to Sunday the 18th.) Today ate leisurely knowing that we'd chosen a 12:32 train into Paris. There was even a good, thorough BBC documentary on the implications of American Rap or Hip Hop music. Whereas, MSNBC runs around asking people's opinions of the 60th anniversary of the UN. Let me tell you, most ordinary people don't have opinions worth broadcasting.

Rolling through the French countryside was interesting. There was much more farm land than I'd envisioned. I guess I think Europe should be more widely populated as it's been here so long.

We arrived right on time at Glace d'est at around 4:12. Luckily one of the areas that Jay had written down was only a few Metro stops away from the station. We're one station down from Place de Republique at Oberkampf. It was easy to get to this area. We then walked and stayed at the second hotel we asked about. It was small. The prices here are a bit more reasonable than what we have seen so far in Europe. Still I'm spending Euros as if they were Canadian dollars. C'est la vie!

We managed to walk to Notre Dame before sunset. The map of Paris maps things look like a hop and a skip; however, my feet are killing me after that JOURNEY.

Labels: Eurotrip 2005, Paris

I've not blogged about an old movie in a long time. I did mention how West Side Story (1961) wasn't the best way to prepare for a trip to New York City in May. Similarly, I am sure that watching An American in Paris (1951) won't really be too useful in getting ready for next month's trip to Europe. After all it is a musical and 54 years old to boot!

Still, there are those moments in old films that are simply wonderful and rare. They come from the well-written scripts, I think. I like dialog that sounds contrived; after all, it's supposed to be entertaining. I can hear 'real life' on the way to work on public transit, if I choose.



Gene Kelly: That's quite a dress .. you almost have on.

Nina Foch: Thanks.

Gene Kelly: What holds it up?

Nina Foch: Modesty.

Labels: movies, Paris, stars