Sunday, June 29, 2008

Who Knew There's New News?

I purchased my concert tickets to Tom Waits in Prague weeks ago, but hadn't yet gotten around to booking my flight and accomodations until today. Fly in late Friday and back late the following Wednesday. Man I'm really looking forward to that. It was a difficult decision to make between a hostel and a hotel. In the end I went for a private room at a hostel, though I believe it is a shared bathroom. Compromise between privacy and price.

This coming weekend I'm flying into Toronto for a week as part of the new project I'm working on. Most of the other people on the project with me are based out of Toronto, so we're having a week of ramp up and architecture/design discussions to get the project off to a good start. I'm hoping to actually have some free time this time around in Toronto and look forward to hanging out with Matt and Janella (?on spelling of her name).

Besides those two items, not a whole lot new going on. Second week living in Camden Town went fine. Still no furniture, but I am borrowing an inflatable mattress from a co-worker so at least I'm not sleeping on the floor anymore. I promise to have the place furnished before any of you drop in for a visit :). Speaking of visitation, I've found a great pub that I'll definitely be taking people to. It's named Quinns and its a bit out of the Camden Town core, so it's not too crowded. They have a decent selection of Belgian beer in bottles, and they only charge 3.30 pounds per bottle, which is what some of the other pubs in Camden Town charge for a pulled pint of ale. For those not in the know in regards to current conversion rates that's about $6.50 for my bottle of St. Bernardus Abt 12. Pretty close to what Rob charges at the Monk, right?

Speaking of Quinns, it's a beatiful Sunday afternoon, I think I deserve a St. Bernardus...

Thursday, June 12, 2008

Moving This Weekend

Finally moving to my own place. The next week is going to be a hellish week though. I get my keys Friday night and have to be fully moved in by next Wednesday because the lease is up then on my current place. Plus I'm supposed to go to a training on Saturday AND Sunday that runs from 9am to 6pm... Plus my current contract is up next Friday so I'm going to be really busy at work too. Not looking forward to the next week.

But on the bright side I'll finally be in my own place! :)

Updated "Miguel's London" (see link to the right) with the location of the flat.

Monday, June 02, 2008

I've made my decision

I am indeed going to Prague to catch Tom Waits. Not for one show, but for both shows! I've already purchased my tickets; Monday July 21st and Tuesday July 22nd at the Kongresového centra Praha (bit pricey, but you only live once...). I plan to fly in on Saturday and hang out for the weekend before hitting the shows on Monday/Tuesday, then fly back to London on Wednesday. If anyone has recommendations on places to sleep/eat/visit in Prague they are much appreciated. Leave comments or send emails!

Enjoying Edinburgh

I've been in Edinburgh, Scotland since Saturday morning. It's Monday morning now and I'm elated that I'm not at work! :P Was considering doing a day trip to the Highlands (maybe Loch Ness) with the parents, but decided to just do more wandering around the side streets of the city today. Beautiful architecture and roads in the city, both old city and new.

The old city is something around 870 years old (don't remember exactly). We're staying on the corner of St. Giles Street and Lawnmarket, essentially right on the Royal Mile. Right smack dab in city center, more old city than new. Lot's of "closes" and "wynds", which are the side streets we'll be exploring today. From what I understand, a close is essentially a dead end alley (usually small arch leading you between buildings) and a wynd is a non-dead end alley :). We're only like 1/8 of a mile from Edinburgh Castle. The photo to the right is of the castle from below the clif it's on. The small windows in the bottom are the windows out from the prison underneath the castle.

The new city is 200 something years old (you can tell I'm not really a history buff), and is a bunch of Georgian architecture and built more with a grid structure.

Went to a place called Sandy Bell's (or something) last night and drank a few pints of scotish ale while listening to people jamming traditional music. Couple fiddlers, couple guitarists, couple people on wind instruments and harmonicas and a dude on a traditional drum.

I'll try to post later with some more photos of the place because it's really amazing to see.