Stockholm Syndrome

Have you ever played the skyscanner game?  Its great fun.  Pick some dates where you can travel, a home location and then look for flights to anywhere.  Sort by price, and see where you could go for cheap.  I played this game, and looked at my options.  Flights to Stockholm for <£40?  Why not!

So I went.

After my whirlwind trip of NY a few months earlier, I wasn't too phased about the prospect of trying to do this with little planning.  While there is plenty to do in Stockholm, it is not on the same scale as NY, so the few weeks planning time I had was plenty.

Prior to this, I knew next to nothing about Sweden.  The extent of my knowledge was drinking is expensive, its going to be cold and I needed to try some meatballs.

Flicking through the guidebook, a few things became obvious.  With all the islands and water ways, I would need to go on a boat trip.  Unfortunately it seemed that most of the islands of the archipelago, but not the city, were closed for the winter.  My desire to hike would not be sated.   Second, this is the home of Nobel, the Nobel Museum and Nobel Park.  I'm a scientist, and think I have a reasonable intellectual curiosity; Nobel is the ultimate, reading about the prize winners is inspirational.  Lastly, Stockholm had been an Olympic city.  I needed to see the stadium, even if I knew I wouldn't get inside.

These were my "goals", but I had plenty of time.  This wasn't going to be like NY, where I was rushed off my feet to try and see as much as possible.  I could be relaxed, see these things and then decide which of the other sights I wanted to do on a day by day basis.

Stockholm itself was interesting, and I do mean that genuinely.  The mixture of northern architecture and the water everywhere was unlike anywhere else I had been before.  I didn't go to many of the different Islands, but they all had their unique feel, which is strange for such a small city.  The museums were different and interesting to; from Nobel, like I already mentioned through, to one that includes an entire viking longship, with some restoration work admittedly.

Stockholm was a great city to wander around, taking my time to enjoy the view, pausing to warm up in coffee shops (and oh my god, the cinnamon rolls.  If only I could have them everyday...), and just seeing what there is to see was really enjoyable.  And the meatballs were damn tasty too.

So Good They Named It Twice (Nov '14)

After I got back from Iceland, my first day back in the office I found out I was going to the states two weeks later.  With work paying for a transatlantic flight, this seemed to good an opportunity to miss.  I booked some leave and so I could extend my stay in the states and started planning.  I have a list of US cities I want to visit, and starting to tick the ones I've visited off.  So I booked flights, and started planning a trip to the city most Europeans think of as The american city; New York, New York.

Planning a trip to New York in under two weeks is hard.  Especially when the trip will only be a few days.  There are so many aspects of the city that you know from popular culture, things that are famous and you just have  to see.  Icons of the country, some of the world's best museums, and sights that you have seen countless images of, but not in person.  How do you see as much as possible in 3 days?  What do you miss out?  What can you still get tickets for two weeks out?  And how can you plan it all in 2 weeks?

Some things were obvious.  I had to see Liberty, Empire States, Central Park, the Met.  Others were things I would like but less important.  MOMA, Time Square, Rockefeller, Guggenheim, Madison Square Gardens, Ground Zero.  The list goes on.

And this was before people started giving recommendations.  Turns out lots of people have been to NY, and they all have something else you have to try.

So I timetabled.  I prioritised.  I got the NY city pass, found a way to see Liberty, Empire, Met, MOMA, Guggenheim, walk over the brooklyn bridge, chill out in Central Park, see the best book shop in the city, Time Square.  Unfortunately the ice hockey at Madison Square Gardens was out of my budget, as was a broadway show.  Rockefeller I half forgot, half ran out of time.  But in the three days I had, I don't think I could have done much more.  I was rushing everywhere.  Now you may think that doesn't sound like a nice holiday, a relaxing time.  But this is New York.  The city that never sleeps.  Where everyone is in a hurry, and by rushing yourself you feel like you belong.  Where grabbing a coffee to go is normal, having a think pizza and cheesecake is something you have to try.  And its fantastic.

Chilling In the Land of Ice (Oct/Nov'14)

One of the things I want to see before I die is the aurora.  Borealis or Australis, but I want to see them.  With this in mind, I headed north, to Iceland to go hunting.

Now I know that you need a bit of luck to see them, and it needs the solar activity to play ball.  Thankfully, there are plenty of other things I wanted to see there.  The location of Iceland makes it unique, and gives it some very cool geology.  You can stand with one foot on the Eurasian plate, and the other on the North American.  You can see Geysirs and swim in natural hot springs.  So of course I did.

There's a tour that I went on that goes round something called the Golden Circle.  You see three of the countries most visited tourist spots, and they are worth it.  It is a land of natural beauty, and these are some of the highlights of places within a drive from the capital.  And that didn't seem enough, so I added a snowmobiling trip on top of a glacier to it!  That was ridiculously fun.  Got some good speed, about 50mph, and if you've ever been quadbiking, imagine that but better!

I spent a few days wandering around the city, looking at some museums, churches and the opera house.  There was a very odd exhibit at an art gallery that I just didn't get, and the inside of the cathedral felt a bit too empty, almost like a sports hall.  The view from the top of it was great though.  The houses are coated in corrugated iron which is then painted, so you get great colours.  And when the sunset lit up the opera house, it was just beautiful.  In fact everything I saw there was.

Unfortunately, the one down side was I didn't see the Aurora.  I went out searching for them three nights in a row, but there was no solar activity.  I got some great pictures of stars, but no green lights in the sky.  Think this calls for another trip towards the poles!

Belle Paris

Been a while since I had time to write, but I think its time to add in my next travel.  Last July I was in Paris.  Not only was I in Paris, I was also there for Bastille Day.

I was away with work, and then stayed on for a few days to enjoy the city.  Not too much to talk of about the first week, but there are a couple of things to highlight.  Bastille Day was something pretty special.  I went for a long run in the afternoon, saw a lot of the sites - Place du Bastille, Louvre, Musee D'Orsay, the banks of the Seine, the Eiffel Tower, Arc de Triumphe, and I ran down the Champs Elysee all decked out with the Tricolor.  It was pretty incredible, and one of the most beautiful runs I've ever done.

Then the evening came, and with it the fireworks. I think they might have been the first actually launching off Eiffel for several years, and the atmosphere was pretty special.  Afterwards we went for a few drinks and maybe the most expensive three drink round I've seen.  About 70Euros for three beers...  Only other thing I need to share is the social.  Dinner cruise on the Seine.  Thank you, I will do that.  Beautiful food, and great sights.

I didn't have much time afterwards to enjoy myself, but I did get a few cool things done.  I met some very cool people in my hostel; Elizabeth, Dasha, and the American guys.  The Louvre is possibly bigger than they say, and I was impressed I managed to get through about 2/3rds of it in half a day.  However I much preferred the Musee D'Orsay.  The art they have there is much more of the style I like; Renoir, Monet, Manet and Van Gogh.  I hate to imagine the insurance costs for that.  Versaille is just lovely, and the fountains were incredible.  Notre Dame, Sacre Couer and Saint Chapelle are beautiful.  The view from the top of the Arc, with the spidersweb of roads emerging from it is pretty impressive, but it all scales compared to the view from the Eiffel Tower.  It is about as recognisable a landmark as anywhere in the world, and there's a reason people flock to it.  Same as the Colisseum in Rome, people flock to it and you can't help it. 

You try, but you can't.

Cowboy Country (March-May '14)

Hot on the heels of the first, comes travel blog the second.  This time its America based, and is going to detail my time away in Albuquerque.

Last spring people that know me in real life will have noticed that I happened to not be around for a while.  There was kind of a Phil shaped gap where I would normally be.  And every now and again there would be some crazy photos appearing.  This is because I spent two months working in New Mexico, and not at home!

I'm not going to go into the details of it all, and I don't want to list everywhere I went, everywhere I saw.  I'm just going to go through my highlights.  And just because I was based in New Mexico, didn't mean I couldn't go elsewhere

Monument Valley
Every Western you ever see looks like it's set here.  Driving towards it makes you feel like you're on the surface of another world; the landscape is that alien.  Giant structures appear out of the earth, dwarfing you in their majesty.  It's a Navajo tribal reserve so everywhere you go there are people peddling their wares.  Meant I got a few people some cool birthday presents - about as authentic a dream catcher as you can get!  I also got the full Forrst Gump view in my wing mirror as I drove away from it.  Had to pull over and get a picture.

Bandelier National Monument
Bandelier stands out to me for a few reasons.  It was the first place I went when I was over there.  It has some history attached to it; its some native american ruins, and is a lot more advanced than I thought they would be, and there was some really good hiking there, that would be down to the Rio Grande if the paths were in good condition.

Grand Canyon
Any list would be incomplete without mentioning this place.  Everyone I know who has been there says that it is just incredible.  Normally when that is the case, it tends to be overhyped.  But not this time.  If anything it is underhyped.  By a long way.  The only thing I feel like I can compare it to is the Large Hadron Collider.  They are both so huge that pictures can't do it justice.  Consequently you try to describe them using numbers.  However those numbers are so big they quickly become meaningless.  I can't visualise a 27km circumference circle, or a ditch a mile deep.  You have to go to them and see them.  Can not recommend them enough.  Hiking down the canyon is the stuff that dreams are made of.

Roma! (May '13)

It's been a while since I last wrote anything, and I feel like I should share something.  Normally you get my views on films and TV that I'm watching or something sport related, but today I'm going to try something different.  I'm going to give you a bit of a travel blog.

Now to do this properly I should have written it at the time, or maybe just afterwards.  Not a year and a bit late. But someone suggested it, and I thought why not try.

I class my trip to Rome as arguably my first real holiday.  It was the first time I went away with money I earned from working.   I went away by myself, did what I wanted to do, when I wanted to do it, ate where I wanted and I had an absolute blast.

The reason I wanted to go was the history.  I love the old style Roman and Grecian architecture, the columns, the lines, the symmetry of it.  Without knowing anything at all about it, I enjoy looking at pretty buildings.  I loved it in Oxford, a great advantage to living there!  I wanted to see the Colosseum, the roman forum, the Vatican, everything!  Another reason was the cuisine.  It's something I eat a lot of anyway, and to have it there was pretty special.

I was there for about 5 days, when you adjust for travel time.  Hindsight, I think I got that about right.  Maybe a touch long; by the end the art galleries I was looking at weren't hitting home the same way they were at the start.  I think I just had too many in a short time, and some were incredible.  I think I did all the major sights, and got a couple of extra ones in.  I think the more uncommon one was the Stadio Olympico.  I want to try and collect Olympic stadia, having been to see the London games.  This was my second.

There are two things that summed up the city for me.  The water fountains.  Everywhere and such a great thing to have.  And narrow streets that open out onto something amazing.

While the city was really cool, and the food was amazing, what made the trip for me was the people.  I stayed in a place called "Yellow Hostel".  Everyone I met was really friendly, really cool and great fun.  I got a ton of recommendations, shared quite a few beers and made some good friends.  Even met people from my home town that know people I went to primary school with!  Very small world.  So Kyle, Emma, Mike, M, Renee - huge shout out to you guys!

I'll leave you with one memory, and its arguably my favourite from the trip.  First evening, I went for a walk around the city.  Didn't look at a map, I just took the turning that looked the most interesting.  And it led me everywhere.  The PMs house, the Trevi Fountain, the Pantheon, the Dajan Column, the Colosseum, the parliament building, the Fountain of the Four Winds.  Best way to see a city.

A Dame to Kill For

A few years ago, I would have told you that Sin City is one of my top 10 favourite films.  I'm not sure if it's still that high - I've seen some great films since then and not revisited a top 10 list in a whle, but I still thoroughly enjoy it.  So when I saw that the sequel was out I waws eager to go and see it.

The original was striking, new and exciting in the way that it was shot.  The black and white, with the very occasional colour.  It looked stunning.  There were some great quotes, "look at you Hartigan, you can't even lift that cannon you carry" is one that sticks in my mind, and while there was a lot of comic book style violence, it was never excessive, and the story always gave a reason for it.

In the sequel the art direction is stil the same, but more so.  I'm wondering if it was a bit much in some cases.  Less of the comic book and more of the real world would have been nice.  Some of the progresion in it was great, new touches especially with the water physics. However, the amount of block colour was a bit much and detracted from it.  It was done better in the original.

The violence in it is something else that was a bit excessive.  Not in the amount, or the style.  It was the lack of reason that got me.  In the original, Hartigan went after that yellow bastard to protect Nancy, Marv for veneance of Goldie (who had a really nice cameo) and Dwighht to protect his girlfriend who's name escapes me.  In this it seems to be done for kiciks a lot more than for anything.  Only Nancy really is after revenge, and she uses Marv who jjust seems to like violence in this.  Dwight's story is a bit more than just for the hell of it, but not by too much, and gave good background to the original.

I did like how it jumped around in time before and after the original.  Adding depth to the character roster, explaining people's back stories. It kept you paying attention, aan made it feel a lot more rewarding for fans of the original as opposed to a casual viewer.

Out of the new charaters I really liked Joseph Gordon Levitts part, and I thought it suited him well.  It was cool and suave, withh the dose of violence that is whatSin City should be all about.  He also had reason other than "that girl's pretty".

The one thing that really let it down is the lack of quotability.  This may be different after repeat viewings, but for the first time nothing sticks in the mind.  Films like this I want to be quoting it for days after, if not weeks.

This may sound like I'm hating on it, which I really am not.  I thought it was a thoroughly enjoyable film, and willl very probably buy it when it comes out. But it's just not the same as the original, which still sits high on my favourite list.