Trip #3: Cinqua Terra, Italy and surrounding areas

**NOTE: sorry guys, no pics yet since i was watching naruto and prince of tennis last night :D**

Hey guys, back from another weekend trip, was very sweet. We found out on tuesday night that thursday was a Catholic holiday and didn't have to work, so it seemed like a perfect time to take a vacation to somewhere. So we talked to some people and they had a group of 8 going to Cinqua Terra and we decided to join them. So wednesday, we got our tickets (our last minute tickets were actually cheaper then the others advance group special ticket) and took friday off and got ready to go. The trip down to Italy was very nice. The south part of Switzerland is really pretty. Huge mountains and lakes (and a bunch of waterfalls), i'll definitely be making a trip down there later on. We made a quick stop in Milano to switch trains, so i didn't really get a chance to explore it, but I'll be back for sure. On the way the Cinqua Terra there was a HUGE stretch of beach, looked so nice. There are a ton of North American’s at Cinqua Terra and a lot of old people doing the killer hike (more on that later). Pretty much every night we meet a new group of Americans (mostly girls) at the bar or the beach so it was pretty nice to talk to people in normal english every once in awhile. The place we were staying in was quite nice. It was 2 bedrooms, washroom and kitchen as well as some hallways. It’s supposed to house 4 people but we crammed in 6 to keep cost down, just had to hide from the people we rented it from. It worked out to be around € 20 / night.

Cinqua Terra is a region of 5 towns and we were staying in the southern most (Riomaggiore) and spent most of the day exploring the town. There a pretty big church (like every town in Europe) and lots of rocks and stuff near the shore. We pretty much just climbed across the rocks and just chilled till sun down. Jumped in the sea at was pretty warm, but cut up my hand swimming near rocks and stuff. :( The next day we did the 12 Km hike from Riomaggiore to Monterosso (the biggest of the 5, and the one with the beach). We didn't exactly pick the best time of the day to hike (11am start) on a hot hot day The first part of the hike was from Riomaggiore to Manarola across a path known as Lover's Lane. It's pretty much a tunnelled area with lots of love messages written along the walls from people who have passed, for all your couples out there, you should go check it out, very nice scenery. The next leg of the hike was to Corniglia. This was probably the most scenic part of the hike, amazing view of the water, rocks, mountains and flowers. I think i saw a dolphin in the distance but couldn't focus on it with my camera, too bad. The water is really clear and you can see a lot of fish and eels and stuff. All the towns (excluding Monterosso) look pretty much the same so not much to talk about. The next part of the hike was painful. Had to hike up like a million steps (and every step is uneven and vary in height and distance) to the top of hte mountain. My legs were damn sore after it, the only thing driving me was that i needed to refill my water bottle :). The final leg of the hike was the longest and pretty up-hilly also. The paths are very narrow near the top of hte mountain, so gotta be careful and was pretty grueling, but the though of the beach helped push us onwards. The whole hike tooks us about 5 hours I think but jumping into the water felt so good. We just lounged around the beach for a couple hours before keegs, Mike and I decided to check out the a town just outside Riomaggiore. We went to La Spezia because we heard food was cheaper there then in Cinqua Terra, but got there pretty late and not much was opened. Went to some small place and just randomly picked something from the cheap menu, bad idea. All I got was some tuna and mayo, not that great, so we went and got a pizza later. At least teh gelato's were cheap :D We got back and decided to go chill on the rocks for a bit, got some wicked night shots of the town and just as we were leaving keegan dropped his camera down the rocks, probably about 2 metres down. All you heard was 10 bangs as it rattled down the rocks. We used our digtal camera flashes to light up the rock and keegs crawled down afterwards. Luckily the camera stopped on a rock and the camera bag fell into the sea. If it was the other way around, it woulda been bad. After keegs lodged himself in the hole, he used this stick of bamboo to fish out the camera and the camera bag and we pulled him out. We went to a bar afterward to get him a beer to cheer him up and bumped into Vance and Tommy along the way. Miraculous the camera was still fine and working so I bought him a beer for nothing :(. On a side note, Italian beer isn't too bad.

The next day we just we went to explore Monterosso a bit more and lounged around the beach. Afterwards we decided to check out another town called Levento. It was a lot nicer then La Spezia with lots of trees and a really nice beach. Best of all, FOOSBALL!!! We also had some really good focacissa, and following frungy’s advice, bought a tub of gelato and had that for dinner, felt kinda sick after eating it all.
On Sunday, we had to go home, so didn’t have much time but we had to leave early since we were not supposed to be staying at our flat. We decided to check out La Spezia again since nothing was opened the last time we went, but it was a Sunday and everything was closed once again. We ended up going to Genoa a little early (had to go there to switch trains). This was a pretty big city, so lots to see. There’s a pretty big Christopher Columbus statue here, don’t know if he was from here or not though. We went to the docks and saw a “fake LV bag” raid, was pretty cool. Also saw some of the LV knockoff’s for like € 20, so if anyone wants one, let me know since I have one to give away :) After that we pretty much just went home.
Overall, it was a pretty fun trip, good mix of stuff to do and see as well as relaxing. We found out a ticket to Pisa from where we were was just € 4.60 so I wish we’d gone there, but I’ll be back in Italy for sure. Hope everyone is doing fine at home and all is well. I have internet at home now, but it’s setup in a friend’s room, so won’t be on too much, but we’ll be getting a wireless router soon. Hope to catch you guys online and I’ll talk to you later.

TRIP2: Zurich

well, being broke and all, we only took a small trip this weekend. No overnight stays or anything, just a nice little trip to Zurich. The weather was pretty crappy so didn't take 2 many pictures, too much rain, but it looks very nice. There's a pretty nice river down the center of town and the trainstation is massive. Only takes like 30 min on the slow train and 15 min on the fast train to get here, so i'll be back pretty often. We mainly went cuz Tim and Preston had to go to church and we just tagged along. Walking to the church they go to, we passed a ton of other ones, here are some pics of them.









just a funny random car pic. Do you think they need to both pay full fare?






We eventually got there and found out there was no english service so we sat in on a German one. Never thought my first church thing would be in German, the whole church thing seems weird to me so i'll probably just wander around time next time. After the service the priest person invited us for dinner, so we ate with them. At dinner we meet one of the people there and he showed us around town and around the university, very nice guy. They're university is really old but doesn't look too nice.





From the top of the university, you had a really nice view of the city, too bad it was gloomy.








After a couple of hours of walking around we headed home. Total cost of travel, 3 francs and 3 francs for icecream (and a damn expensive cone at that). That's all for now.

First week of work

Well, my first "week" of work is over and all seems well. wouldn't really count it as a week since it was really short. Monday was a holiday and tuesday was orientation day, so not much working there. I spent most of the week setting up an experiment for a friday test. Had to machine a bunch of parts and stuff, pretty fun, like being in shop class again, but getting paid to do it. Probably can't talk much about the experiment (confidentiality agreement and all that), but the testing on friday was sweet. In theory, arc is pass through a tube from 1 electrode to another, and so measurements need to be made. The arc is about 21 KA and maybe 20KV or something. We'll, it didn't really work as planned. We got to watch the experiment, was sweet, had these huge ear muffs on to protect our ears and 2 welding mask glass to protect our eyes. Just see a big flash and pretty loud pop. We'll, we went to check out the results but didn't quite work out as planned. The arc didn't go through the tube but travelled through the metal frame instead. We indirectly made a rail gun as the arc vaporized part of a screw, hollowed out the inside and shot the top part 2 stories up to the roof. Was sweet, here's so of hte screw that we found.



So i guess we gotta make some changes and try again this week.

Today we had a job applicant do a presentation and i guess it's an ABB tradition for applicants to pay for everyone's lunch (glad i'm just an intern). Free lunch always tastes better :D. Well, that's all for now.

TRIP 1: Munich, Germany

Hey everyone, finally have some time after work to update my blog. Now with pictures!
So lets start from the beginning. I flew into Zurich via Frankfurt, got a cool picture, but it’s not mine, it’s Tim’s.





Got into Baden and instantly went to Munich for the long weekend. Took a few trains to get there. Baden to Koblenz, then Koblenz across the border into Waldshut, Germany. Then from Waldshut to Ulm and finally from Ulm to Munich. Takes about 5 hours and 7 euros. The German-Swiss border is pretty cool, it’s the Rhine River. Here’s me infront of the train to Waldshut.




We checked into the Hostel next, it’s pretty cool, didn’t have our own room so slept in this huge hall with 40 beds. Meet a dude from somewhere in the states and a bunch of people from Seattle.



The first place we went to visit in Munich was Schloss Nymphenburg (Castle Nymphenburg). This place was HUGE!!! The front yard was massive and had a stream with like 20 swans, how much Royal-like can you get? The back yard was even bigger with stone statues of Roman (or Greek) gods all over. There was also a stream that seemed to go on forever.








Later on that night we wandered around town, They have a similar thing to our Cow’s in Calgary. A bunch of lions that are painted and all that.




Also found a Ferrari, Lamborginni and Bentley dealership (and BMW and all that, but that’s not as cool anymore when all the taxi’s are Mercedes and all the cop cars are Audi’s and every 2nd car is a BMW).




The following day we took a train to Füssen to see Schloss Hohenschwangau and Schloss Neuchwanstein. O, here’s my traveling group. From left to right is Tim, Diden, Cigden, me, and Keegan, I hope I got the twins right, can’t tell them apart.





The first one was ok, not too big, but it was completed, so could see all the rooms. The other one looked amazing, but a lot of it wasn’t finished since the Duke or King died. We hiked up a huge cliff to get a wicked view of the castles, man they look amazing. Meet a bunch of Canadians as well. Here’s a few pics. The first one is from inside the first castle. The 2nd one is Hohenschwangau from a lookout point, the 3rd is Neuschwanstein from a bridge, the 4th is Neuschwanstein from the top of the cliff and the last one is the roof of the main hall of Schloss Neuschwanstein.












After the castle stuff was over, we trained it back to Munich. So , when in Bavaria, do as the Bavarian do….DRINK! Man these guys are hardcore about their drinking. Back in the day they raised the cost of beer by 2 cents and they revolted against the government. Then like 5 years ago they tried to make last call 11pm and they revolted again. Did you know you can drink in public here? In the trainstation, in the streets, in Mcdonalds even. You can even buy beer at Mcdonalds. Here’s some proof.









Here’s a wicked picture of the Glockenspiel at night (Glockenspiel = clock + play in German, pretty much does this little play with figures and stuff at 11, 12 and 5.





The next day we joined a walking tour, it was great, tons of information and got to meet a ton of people. We got to see Mozart’s place then went to this building nicknamed the Monkey Tower. It’s an old Bavaria legend that when King Ludwig was a baby a monkey took him and brought him to the top of the building, The locals used beer to coax the monkey down (they love their beer). Here’s the building





Another Bavarian legend is how this one church got built really quick (20 years, it’s Huge too). Basically the devil came up and saw the church only had 1 window and thought it’d be perfect to take over and all that since it was dark and stuff. So he made a deal with the builder that didn’t build any more windows the devil would get his minions to build it, so the builder agrees since there was tons of windows, the devil just didn’t see. After it was build, the devil got all pissed with the windows, and when he (or she) found out they got the short end of the stick, he/she stamped his/foot really hard and stormed away. Here’s a pic of the footprint. It’s exact same size as my foot……..




There are a ton of churches here, all are beautiful here’s a pic of one of the bigger ones with the Frauenkirche (2 towers) in the background.




One of the most amazing churches here is the Asamkirche. It’s done in rococo architecture (or something like that). Fricken amazing, tooks of shots inside, was hard tho since a Mass was going on (probably going to hell of it too).






Next we went to the biggest beer hall in the world, the Hofbräuhaus. On a darker note, here’s were Hitler made his first public speech. On a ligher note, I’ll be here again during Oktoberfest.




Last little big of WW2 history that I thought was really cool. There’s this square that the Nazi plaque was and it was required to salute the SA whenever you walked by. Just before it was an alley to bypass the plaque, so there’s trail to commemorate the people take avoided the Nazi’s back then (not an easy thing as the SA would see you walking in the alley and beat/kill you). Here’s also a pic of where the plaque was.







Well, that’s about it for now, was a sweet trip, and quite cheap. It’ll get some pics of my room and stuff later, take care for now you guys.

Arrived safely

Well, finally got a hold of the net. If my typing is really bad its cuz im on a german keyboard. (y and z are mixed, don't know how to use some puncutation marks, haven't spelt but, drank a bit...ect)

Well, the flight was surprisingly good for air canada. Keegs , that lucky bastard got bumped to business class, but luckily Tom was on my flight also so he took his place. Watched Oceans 12 and food was ok(last beef meal in a while). When we got to Frankfurt, we meet up with another student coming from U of C and seat happened to be next to us, so that was pretty cool. I arrived at Zurich at 2pm and got to Baden at like 3ish. Got the grand tour and all that and went out to play some basketball. Was pretty fun, meet alot of bosinian and croatians playing had a blast. We finished at around 9 and decided to go home for some dinner. Walked in , meet the roommates and 5 minutes later got invited to go to munich for the weekend. After that we went to the beer gardens. Its cheap and comes in 3 sizes, .5 liters, 1 liter and 5 liters. My goal is to collect all the mugs (got the small one but 5 litres is insane!!) The train pass is really cheap over weekend. $14 round trip or something like that. We went to this huge castle, its so damn nice. I will show some pics later. Man, in germany there are so many nice cars, BMW and mercedes everywhere. Saw a really sweet aston marton and a couple ferraris. Right now im travelling with the 2 u of c guys (keegs nad tim) and the twins from turkey (cigdam and didem) its been great. We are going to a castle tomorrow and probably some mussems and stuff. Anyways very rushed for time as i am at an internet cafe. So i will do better messages later and some pic but for now this will have to do. O bayer munich (or whatever that soccer team is) won the champions league title so was in that celebration, was cool but red mile was better. Watched the canada-russia game also, go canada. Ok, till next time.





Vic

See ya all in a year

"All my bags are packed, i'm ready to go..."

Wow, I guess the day has finally come, and much too soon if you ask me. I'm really gonna miss you guys a lot, maybe I'll even fly you guys in if I get really desperate :)

Well, I hope everyone has a great year, keep me updated on all your happenings.

Fugu - Awwww....i'm gonna miss you (even though we don't see each other much, it's just the as you going back to school but seems worse, kinda weird). Remember, INTERNATIONAL SKYPING!!!! If I can't download much, my Naruto addiction lies in your hands. I'll trade you chocolate for them (even though nestle and bernard is the same stuff).

E-bear - COME VISIT ME!!!! Gonna miss you a ton, who am I gonna own in all hte gamecube games now (even though your better then me now :( ). Too bad you have work when I have school and i have work when you have school, eh? sucks how that worked out. At least we can graduate together :). Remember if work gets really boring, just burn the building down.

Dima - Yeah, you don't have a nickname like the girls do (would be kinda gay, eh?). Hope you get a job soon. That way I can borrow your credit cards for Ebay and hold off paying you longer. Plus if you get a job, your car is gonna be happy. Take good care of ebear, hope she won't be too lonely.

Tay - WE DIDN'T GET TO GO BLADING!!!! :( We'll at least school will keep you occupied for a little while, but gonna be weird not chillin in your basement all summer :(. Hope everything goes well and Paolo own's everyone in poker :D. When you go to HK, take a side trip to Europe :D.

Frank - Hey man, if you see any solar car people , tell them i went off to Nam (although i doubt you'll be in the solar car room). Hope 4th year treats you ok, should be fine now that me and keegs are gone, no distraction and bad influences. Take good notes so I can mooch off them, and become the fooz master you were destined to be :). That and play lots of squash in my honor.

Uzi - (ok, so some guys do have nicknames, but it just sounds too cool). If I get really desperate, mail anime to me :). Hope summer treats you well and a good internship position comes along. Hang out with Tay and E a lot for me so I can live vicariously through you (ahhh...ethics tought me that word). Wish we got in a game of hockey before I had to go. O, go to towas with frungy during winter break, take pics of the food so I see what i'm missing and will get home ASAP. :D.

Everyone else, i'd write something for everyone but it's late and I should sleep a little before I fly tomorrow. Hope everyone had a good summer and last year in school (or whatever you guys are doing). And I'll let you all know when i'm there and have an internet connection. O, and leave some comments every now and then so it doesn't seem like i'm talking to myself. Mom, Dad, I'll call you when i get there, take care and see you all in a year.

Vic/Biv/Choy

T-Minus 4 days

Well, i'm outta here in 4 days or so, so might as well get the blog up and running. Just testing the pictures and all that. Almost done packing, should finish that soon. Ok, that's all for now.