It's an Exciting World

Steph and I hopped the train to the airport where we were able to get in the lounge after waiting in line for a bit. The flight was mostly uninteresting, but we did see some aurora from the plane. It was hard to see out the window, and we didn’t have window seats. The woman in the window seat was nice enough to take a picture with my camera.

We got to the hotel, and it had an uneventful Friday. We went to the sauna in the marina, and that was really nice. The sauna has a huge window that looks out across the fjord at one of the mountains. I took a dip in the fjord, as did Steph. It was amazingly cold, but bearable with a pop back into the sauna.

Saturday we took the morning going dog sledding, which was amazing. The dogs were friendly and hilarious. There was a French couple who were guiding for the winter who showed us how to drive the sled. They let us drive the rear sled where the dogs followed the sled in front. It was still amazing to get to control the sled. The dogs loved rolling in the snow whenever we stopped.

That evening we took a bus to see the northern lights. It was cloudy in Norway so we had to drive through Finland and then cross a frozen river on foot into Sweden to get a good viewing spot. When we arrived we got a brief glimpse of strong activity that calmed down after about 30 minutes. Then we sat around a campfire and had some stew before heading back.

Sunday we went to the Polar Museum. It was mostly about hunting, and very rough living. They had lots of sexist views of women portrayed there, without disclaimers. They also had a full life sized diorama of baby seal clubbing, but that one had the disclaimer that they don’t do it anymore. It was a really morbid place.

Sunday evening we went to the Reindeer ranch kept by a group of Sami people. The Sami are the indigenous people of the far north of Scandinavia. The reindeer were cute, but some were pushy, and used their antlers to push you if you didn’t give them food quick enough.

We mainly stayed in for Monday and Tuesday, as it was still cloudy and we’d done everything we came to do. Wednesday we had a very early morning flight back.

Steph and I caught a morning train from King’s Cross to Edinburgh Waverly, which was amazingly convenient. The ride was pretty smooth, with power outlets and wifi. Although the wifi was spotty and terrible.

We got to Edinburgh around 1:30 and checked into the Airbnb, just a 12 minute walk from the station. We had a few shows lined up for that day, and we made our way to the first one, which was actually an escape room. The escape room with Agent November was pretty good, although it also had a murder mystery element that we weren’t as interested in, and failed at. Our small team did find all the clues, we just didn’t have time to piece together the mystery.

We then went to some parks, got some boba, and had some ramen for dinner. We walked over to The Meadows, where our next show was. Steph wasn’t feeling well so she went home. I went to the show anyway. The show was Clique, a burlesque circus show. In line I met an older woman and her daughter. She was very talkative and they followed me after I had my ticket scanned and I went to the ‘sirloin’ line. We got front row seats and it was more than worth it. The show was exactly what I was hoping for from Fringe. They had some normal acts of pole dancing, rope/silk dancing, and skills of balance. The blade swallower did one blade, then two, then six. She also swallowed what was effectively a lightsaber and the glow could be seen through her neck.

The strangest act was a woman handing out popcorn wearing a helmet with a popcorn maker on top. After handing out all the popcorn bags she got a bunch of kernels and put them in the machine, then plugged it in. She started hula hoop dancing some while the kernels were heating. After the first kernels started coming out she took her top off and covered herself in butter. Then she did about twenty hula hoops at once while the kernels were really popping. After that she made a sign like she needed salt. She crouched down and pulled a salt shaker out of her vagina and danced while spreading salt everywhere. It was the strangest performance I’ve ever seen, but really well choreographed and paced.

Some of the other performances were strange, if not as strange as the popcorn performance. One woman had her hair around a clamp that was used to hang her from a wire. She then did a dance while hanging from the wire by her hair. On the same wire they hung a coat rack that a guy did a pole dance like strip routine. Another woman danced with an eight foot tall balloon, which she slowly climbed into, then she stripped inside and popped it from the inside.

The last group of performance was a man/woman team that did comedy skits. They did a quick change skit where the woman changed outfits really quickly, then the guy went in and came out nude. He then climbed around the audience for a bit, while she convinced an audience member to give her a sock. The guy came back by and grabbed the sock and used it as his only clothing. Later they had another bit where they were biting off bits of banana and spitting it back and forth, they got an audience member to try as well. The guy did some juggling/spitting of the banana bits, and then it got too strange for me to record here…

I went to a sexy circus show later, around midnight, as Steph was still tired. I sat in the front row again, as these are mostly small venues and I’m showing up early to many of them. I’m also wearing my Captain America shirt, so I get called out a lot. The MC of the sexy circus called me up to the stage to help with the juggling and spinning objects show. He had me put on a bowtie, then a sequin hat, then a pink strap-on. He had me lay down and he used the strap-on as one of the things to hold spinning soccer balls. I then handed him more and more knives as he juggled.

The second day we slept in and went to the Audio Deepfake exhibit at the university. Then we went to an amazing a cappella concert put on by the student group Norther Lights. The beatboxing was especially impressive.

We found some good gelato and then took a rest for a bit. After resting we grabbed dinner, and I tried to go to a sing-a-long pub quiz, but it was full.

Friday evening Steph and I went to Showstoppers, the Improv musical where they did a great performance. They had the theme of a puppet convention titled ‘No Strings Attached.’ They had musical numbers based on Queen, Sondheim, Annie Get Your Gun, and Avenue Q. A few of the songs were decent, but most were surprisingly good. They lost the plot for most of it, focussing on characters, but it actually came together in the end. The way the director broke in to make people do different things was great.

Saturday, our third day of Fringe, started out with sleeping in. Around 10 we headed out to another escape room experience, which was a lot of fun and we did really well on it. This one was out of a case, which was pretty well done. We had about 2 too many people I think, but they managed to get some parallelization in the case, which was impressive.

We grabbed some Thai for lunch then I found a few shows I wanted to see.

The first was a pirate themed comedy show, Max Norman: A Pirate’s Life For Me. The guy running it was one of the best improve comedians I’ve seen. He kept the narrative together and had wonderful pacing and timing. He had lots of audience participation, asking for a word from random audience members.

Steph went to the Little Black Dress exhibit at the Scottish National Museum and I went to a show called Lane Kwederis: Sex Job. It was well done, with lots of interesting information and views that I had never been exposed to. I thought the mindset that she has is far healthier than those I’m normally around with regards to sex and sexual desires.

Steph and I met up and headed to Aloft for some more circus like performances. They did some hula hoop dancing, and more of the silks and pole dancing. One of the most unique performances was a poetry reading while juggling.

The last even Saturday was too late for Steph, Bubble Show for Adults Only 2. It was a fun experience where I could tell the performers were loving it. I got pulled up on stage and they made a giant bubble penis on me. They then had one of the bubbles with vape inside on top they they put the wand over and popped the bubble inside the wand, which made the vape gas come out the top. She also had me pop lines of bubbles with vape in them with my nose off her chest and leg. They had a few other funny sections, one with shadow puppets, and another with bubble guns.

Sunday Steph and I went to the castle in the morning, then had a nice lunch at a Spanish tapas place. The afternoon started off with Steph taking a break while I went to the show Calling in Love. It was strange and interesting, but it was certainly the worst show of the weekend. The performer did a great job performing, but the jokes took the self deprecation too far and it made it more sad than funny.

We then went to another improv musical, but this one wasn’t nearly as good. It was done by students, and the format they chose for audience suggestions made it much harder to get characters that were interesting. They had the audience give the setting, title, and two characters. The first musical did setting, title, and musical genres; leaving the characters to be created by the actors.

We skipped one show, to relax for a bit, then headed to the AI Improve show. It was hilarious, especially because I could understand what they were using and doing. I talked to the organizer afterwards and will reach out to him, as he works across the street from me.

We had a lovely dinner at a Japanese restaurant, then saw the last show of our run, Sex Ed: Revisited. It was the first show the actor was putting on and she did a really good job. I think the science she was presenting could have used a bit more rigor, but the points she was making and the parts she did present were great. I learned something, which I wasn’t expecting.

We caught the train back to King’s Cross the next morning and it was a smooth ride the whole way home.

Archer was soooooo happy to see me when I got home. Here is a video of him showing his love:

Here is a collage of the promo images for the shows we saw:

Steph and I took the Eurostar from St. Pancras to Paris. The check in was a little hectic, but we made it through just in time for the boarding to start. We weren’t able to sit next to each other based on booking separately and the train having last minute seating shuffles, but we were close. Steph was stuck with a family of two young kids and a sick mom. I was in a seat next to a quiet older woman. We grabbed some food in the ‘dining’ car, which didn’t have seating or cooked food, just a snack bar. However, the snack bar was very well stocked and not crazy prices. I really enjoyed the travel, and it was way more convenient than flying.

We got in and headed to drop our bags off at the hotel before walking to the Tomb of Napoleon and the military history museum. We went through the sections on the French resistance during WWII, the section on the Royal arms and armor, the suits of armor, and the Napoleonic sections. We walked through a few more parks before heading back to the hotel. We grabbed dinner and a glass of wine at a local bar before calling it a night.

Saturday we started with l’Orangerie, which was not my favorite kinds of art. We followed that with Musee d’Orsay, which I really like. I’d been there once before, and it was as great as I remembered it being. I like the building and even though they had some of the same artists as l’Orangerie, I think the works displayed in Musee d’Orsay were ones I liked more. For example the Monets shown in Musee d’Orsay were the studies of light, like Le Pie, and the waterlily paintings were the ones with the other interesting features, like the famous bridge. I just think the artworks and format were better at Musee d’Orsay. We went through pretty much the entire museum, then grabbed a drink by the river. We headed to the Champs-Élysées and walked through the parks and saw some crazy fashion. I think the military boot style is a silly one. We headed up to Sacré-Cœur area for dinner and looked out over the city for a bit before heading back to the hotel.

Sunday we headed out of Paris to Versailles. It was easier to get there and back than I remember it being previously. I skipped the palace as it was looking packed and I’d been through it before. I decided to spend some extra time in the gardens and relax a bit. When Steph joined me we walked out to the Grand Canal and had lunch under some trees nearby it. Then we walked over to the Grand Trianon and Petit Trianon. The gardens are massive in land area, and in vegetation. The hedge walls went up to 20ft in the air in some sections. Everything was also meticulously maintained. We walked for many hours through the gardens, including the quaint village. Steph made the perfect comment that it felt like a Disney resort park with how it was laid out perfectly to be visually stunning while not really being of any substance.

Monday Steph and I had a lovely breakfast at the cute cafe with all the teddy bears. Then we took a short walk along the river. We then headed into the Louve. We first went to the Denon wing, then made our way to the Sully wing, finishing in the Richelieu wing. We didn’t see everything, but we saw quite a bit. We headed straight to the train station afterwards and were there with plenty of time to spare.

Two friends of ours, Michael and Yutong, contacted us a few weeks ago saying they had last minute business trips to Europe. One was gong to be in Munich on the weekend, and the other was going to be in Zurich at the start of the week. We had a late Friday flight planned for getting to Munich, but I was an idiot and forgot to take my passport with me. I had to go back to the house and missed the flight. I grabbed one the next morning and met them in Munich for lunch. It is nice that it is so easy to get around, and missing the flight wasn’t a huge deal. We had a great walk around the English Garden and saw the standing wave in the canal. It was the kind of thing that I think should happen in more places. We got to see a ton of little chicks of all sorts of birds, some of them we didn’t even know what they were. We drank at the Hofbrauhaus, and saw the Nymphenburg Palace. The gardens at the palace were amazing, and we especially liked the grotto and carriage collection.

Steph and I said bye to Michael, and hopped on the train to Zurich. We didn’t have nearly as much time in Zurich, but had the Lindt chocolate factory tour booked. We got in a little late, and had a great lunch with Yutong. It was so great to see her. I love how infectiously happy she can be. The chocolate factory tour was great, especially with all the included chocolate. They had three chocolate fountains, eight machines chopping up chocolate bars, eight different types of chocolate truffles, and two places to get chocolate squares. It was a truly decadent experience, and we all left on an incredible sugar high. I was shaking slightly from all the sugar. We chilled at the park for a bit before heading to an amazing Syrian dinner that Yutong suggested.

We said our goodbyes and trained back to the airport, and got back to the kitties around midnight. It was such a great weekend, especially because we got to see Michael and Yutong.

Little happened of note on Week 19, other than it being a short week due to Easter. Steph and I took the long weekend in Amsterdam. We had planned in advance to see two of the major attractions of Amsterdam, the limited time Vermeer exhibit, and the tulip festival.

Steph managed to get tickets to the Vermeer exhibit at the right times, as she was ready when the ticket sales opened. We had an evening ticket for Saturday on Easter weekend, which was perfect. I set up for us to go to Keukenhof on Easter, and we managed to get a small group tour that was biking through the flower fields on the way to Keukenhof.

We arrived in Amsterdam pretty late on Friday, with about a 30 minute walk through the center of the city to our hotel, near the museums. We got in and then headed out for the evening through the red light district and the main squares, just to see the city. The red light district especially was stupidly overcrowded, so much so that the entire street was taken up with pedestrians and it was one way walking traffic. We got out of there quickly, as neither of us like crowds. We found a lovely hotel bar that was cozy and had good drinks and relaxed there while talking over the rest of the trip.

The next morning we went to the National Maritime Museum, which had a number of great exhibits. The main exhibit was the Amsterdam, a ship replica of an old merchant vessel. They also had sections on navigational equipment, ship decorations, tapestries, ship models, and maps. We especially like the section on maps, and how the European understanding of what the world looked like slowly changed with the passage of time. They focussed on the shapes of different countries over the different iterations of maps. Japan’s shape was especially strange to start with, and nothing like what it actually is.

We walked the city for the afternoon, as the normal entry to the Rijksmuseum was sold out. We had tickets that gave us entry to the special exhibit for Vermeer, and then afterwards we could go around the rest of the museum. That particular detail of it being only after wasn’t on the ticket, but in a FAQ on the website. Our entry to the Vermeer exhibit was after the main museum had closed, and there were lots of guides ensuring that nobody from the special exhibit wandered from the prescribed section.

The Vermeer exhibit itself had most of his known paintings. It was amazing to compare his work over his lifetime, and see the props and rooms he painted several times. The details were exquisite and seeing them in person showed the layering and details in a clearer light than can be captured in a photo. We had missed the ‘girl with the pearl earring’ by a week, but the rest was still fantastic. Afterwards we got some great Eritrean food and called it a night.

Easter Sunday was another morning of wandering around Amsterdam. We went to a rubber ducky store where Steph found a tech diving rubber ducky, although it uses back mounted doubles instead of side mount. I insisted she get it. We also grabbed some freits at a small chip shop.

We headed to the train station where we met up with Hans for an amazing tour of the flower fields on bike, then a jaunt around Keukenhof. The bike ride was amazing, and the weather was pretty much perfect for it. Hans said that the tulips had started blooming only a few days earlier, and there were fields of orange and red tulips. It was a surreal sight. They also had many daffodils, from almost a orange gold color to a pale yellow. My favorite were fields of hyacinths in deep blue, purples, pinks, and whites, which smelled amazing.

The Keukenhof was full of flower beds that were arranged in all sorts of layouts. The place was a huge garden, with many different types of flowers mixed in all sorts of interesting arrangements. It was clear they took the timing of the blooms into account and layered them so that each bed had something interesting no matter the week. It was one of the most magical places I’ve been.

We had a lovely sunset bike ride back to the station and Hans herded our group back onto the train and back. I had a great time and would highly recommend the tour.

We took it easy that evening and just had a drink at a bar around the corner from our hotel before going to sleep. The trip back was uneventful, but I couldn’t help but notice the times involved. In theory it is about a 3.5 hour train ride, but the timing for the flight is 5 hours from the same Amsterdam Central station all told. We’ll have to tally up the costs, but even if the train is more expensive it might be worth it for the additional convenience of not switching transport, and time.