G20 weekend

Riots in Toronto - it was a wise decision to leave the city. The university kicked us out off the building at 6pm, wednesday afternoon, locked the doors, and gave us some extra free days. Clemence and I rented a car and went off to Ottawa on thursday morning. We stayed with Mike's parents in Kanata.

Paul in his community orchard

It was a pretty relaxing weekend, lots of reading, watching the Jays win, loose, win, loose on Max' gigantic TV, and having great food from the BBQ. Friday late morning we went for a short hike in the Stony Swamp area, where Mike and I had gone in the winter for skiing. It was different now, we were almost alone, saw a deer, birds, turtles, and moskitos and bugs kept flying around our heads. In the afternoon, we tried climbing at Vertical Reality on Victoria Island. Well, we were not too impressed. It was small, old grips and old walls. The routes were definitely another style, involving big steps that gave us some trouble. The bouldering area was not too bad. Coming home, the BBQ was already on, waiting with BBQed pork tenderloin, peppers and pineapple.

The unfinished fence on the orchard

Saturday, we spend in the Gatineau with Paul and his family. Starting the day with brunch, Paul's signature waffels with maple sirup, bacon and fruits. It was nice to hang out with Mike's good friends Andrew and Paul. It's great to hear stories about his crazy youth, climbing supermarket roofs, going inside and scaring the security guide, running from the police, climbing hydro towers, and spinning the car in full speed, crazy guy! During our two hour walk in the woods, the deer flies kept attacking, and the moskitos biting us - I am glad we didn't camp...

During the walk in the Gatineau - shooting with me new 50mm/f1.4 lense

And sunday, Germany:England on the big screen - and what a game! The Germans played great, they are going fast towards the goal and are fun to watch. Looking forward to the next game against Argentina, then Portugal, then Netherlands in the final....summer dreams!

Memories...

When I opened my inbox this morning, I found some unexpected pictures of my dad. My aunt had digged them out from an almost forgotten CD. The are from the fall 2005. The cancer had already been detected in the summer, and the medication seemed to kick in well. So, he and my mum went on holidays to the Black Forest, and on that occasion got on some trips with Mechthild and Herbert.

The pictures are really nice, he looks happy, being in a 'Verkehrsmuseum', close to real trains. My dad was really fond of trains. Maybe that underestimating it a bit, he loved them, riding with them, taking pictures, collecting miniature trains, collecting articles from the papers, train tickets, old schedules, and anything you can imagine that has to do with trains. The dining room was never used for dining, the table and desk was buried in paper, boxes, pens, ect...and the floor covered with a miniature railway. On sundays or in the evenings, he would let the trains roll, laying on the floor, trying out a new purchase, just being very content and happy with the world.

When he got sick, things went very badly very fast. It looked promising in the beginning, the treatment kicked in. But the cancer had spread, moreover, the kidneys started failing, chemotherapy made everything worse. He could not keep any food down anymore. Mike was there for me and helped my getting through this difficult time.

Seeing these pictures makes my smile and cry at the same time. It's a weird and strange feeling. some wounds well never heal, they only hurt less. Some time memories will make us feel good, not sad, that's what I am hoping for.

NYC

Last weekend, Clemence and I went for a short trip to New York. We arrived at LaGuardia after a 1.5h plane ride from Toronto, waiting for the bus to take us to Manhattan. There, we stayed in a hostel near midtown and Union Square. First thing there, Clem's towel was dirty, but otherwise it seemed ok. Some friendly people were there, too, and some idiot teenage girls who switched on the dryer at 3am in the morning (and again at 7:30am). Besides that, the breakfast was decent and the place clean enough.

Friday night we went out for Thai food @ Pam Real Thai, delicious! It was as remembered from my trip 2 years ago, nicely spiced in contrast to thai food in Canada. Afterwards, we took a walk along Times Square. I got to say, I don't like it very much, too many glitzy advertisments, too many people (and 99% of them tourists), just not a nice atmosphere. After a beer in a pub-club close to the hostel, we got some sleep, albeit for me only till 8am. I cannot sleep in. Starbucks served the needed Americano for my start into the day.

Times Square, no tripod needed

Typical tourist picture

After supplying ourselves with strawberries, cherries, bagels, cream cheese and mini-pretzls, we went to Central Park. We had brought our climbing shoes as there are boulders in the park. We went to Rat Rock in the south end of the park and attempted the traverse. V0 is damn hard! It was a bit slippery, the rock actually painful, and we gave it a couple of tries before giving up. Later, we walked a bit through the park, watching guys play baseball, and kids playing with foam bubbles. We walked towards the boat house, and took pictures on 'Clemence's white bridge'. It was super humid and warm this day.

We were in need of coffee and a rest. For that, we went to Greenwhich Village/West Village, to Perry Street, where a lot of SatC was filmed. I saw the first half of England:US, with half of the cafe cheering England, the other half the US. After a good rest, a great muffins and a long awaited sandwhich, we continued strolling through the streets, along Bleeker, Christopher Street and more, and eventually walked back to the hostel from there after a stop in a book store. Clemence took a nap, and I decided to write a card over a beer at happy hour in a pub. For the night, we went to Williamsburg. It's different than Manhattan, lots of people around on the streets, but no high rises.

Crysler buidling

Sunday we did lots of shopping, spending too much money, but enjoying ourselves. We were always lucky to find good places to eat, so again, great brunch in a cafe along Lexington Av. Unfortunately it started to rain, and we could not see the Rockefeller Center. Eventually, it stopped again when we exited the subway. I don't understand the Americans, it's nice and warm outside but freezing inside. The subway was freezing while the waiting area was boiling hot (of course due to the heat emitted from the too cold trains).

on the Brooklyn bridge

That night, we walked with flip flops and sandals to the East Village to have some sushi, and a nice glass of wine and sake cocktail on the patio of an organic food and wine bar. Monday was our last day, so we had to do some more shopping....Walking over the Brooklyn bridge gave us a rather foggy view over Manhattan. After lunch of the Brooklyn bridge, we had some longer rest and coffee in from of the New York stock exchange, before we had to get back. Leaving was a slight panic due to a sales girl at Victoria Secret, but after all we managed to be in time at the airport.

NY Stock Exchange

view from Madison square, just before we had to leave

New York was cool, my feet were hurting every day :) We did lots of walking and shopping, too bad that we had no blue sky this time...

and the germans always win...

right...I guess that doesn't count any more. What a horrible game. Full of (unnecessary) yellow cards, and a missed penalty shot. The Germans played rather disappointing, no ideas, missed (good) chances, disorganized defense...and the Serbs played rather boring yet successful. I mean, just put 10 players in their half and defend, and then wait for the mistake. So, no we have to cross our fingers for the next game. The Germans have to win, lots of pressure on the team. Maybe some changes in the team could help. No Podolski next time, please!

I prefer offensive football. But that seems to be harder to win: look at 1) Spain:Switzerland, 2) today's game, and 3) Greece winning the EM 2004. They were playing really boring at the time, and it seemed to work. Let's see what the English do this afternoon. Good, that my boss is on holidays :)

Soccer Fever

Dear folks, I am in soccer fever...Only the timing is bad here in North America, games starting at 7:30am. The next two days I will be getting up early. And CBC doesn't do its best job on online broadcasting. Sometimes I wish to have a TV.

Well, so far this world cup has been full of surprises. I guess the only teams that convinced so far were, of course, the Germans, the Dutch and the Argentinians. Who would have thought that Switzerland wins against Spain, and the French against the Mexicans. I like it :) luckily, there is no pool here, I would be so much behind...

So and the winner? I am still hoping for Germany:Netherlands in the final! and then, sorry, the dutch have to loose - as you know, 'the ball is round', 'the game is 90 minutes' and 'Germany always wins'.

CN Tower and CSC2010

So, I finally made it up the CN-tower - for free with the environmental chemistry folks, including a couple of free Gin-and-tonics. Well, I have to admit, I was not that impressed: from close-up that thing looks pretty ugly, an oversized block of concrete. Derek had told us earlier that it's THE place to be when an earth quake hits Toronto, and is designed to fall into the lake in case of whatever....I can hardly imagine that people pay 30$ for a lookout from dirty, scratched windows, scratched glass floor, or a tight fence.

The whole visit happened during the CSC-conference, excitingly in Toronto. It was good to meet old friends, go out every night and drink too much. The chemistry was very diverse, I have to admit that the organic chemistry was rather boring, too much of natural product synthesis. Inorganic was much better....Can you imagine me saying this, after having bitched almost my entire studies about it :)