ICE ALASKA

One of the really cool thing that happens in Fairbanks is the Ice carving competition , that started this week.
We at my work have sponsored a web cam, so you can see these hard working people doing their thing with ice. it s really cool to look at. so follow the link and then go look a tthe other ones as well.  this here is a phto i had float ing arround from 2007 with my old camera,  

I will get some cool photos for you to look at another day when it is not snowing.
in the mean time here is the web link


http://www.icealaska.com/videocam/09Cam/sb9/CAM901sb01.html

Sunny Fairbanks

Winter is thinking about being over , ...  

 it  was a wonderful sunny day today, there is still sun in the sky when i go home from work and it' s 20 ( -7, -8 )  there is light in the sky when i get up.

 the lead dogs from the Yukon quest are due in tomorrow looking to break records.

 if this weather continues I will get the camera out and show people what a real sunset looks  like. Pink rather than Orange, that hangs around for a while. we gain 7 minutes of daylight a day

( we loose this amount in the Fall)

 daylight comes.

Xtra photos

Ok so now that i am home and runing on my own computer again , you can get to see more stuff.

i was on the way home from work today and we had a cool sunset, it was pink not orange , i thought i would show you a little more.
 this sequence of photos took 10 minutes. over and done with by 5 30. and it was all dark by 6pm

the Return Home.

Well i could have told you what i did on the 10 but i just thought i would cruise around London well Oxford street. and see if i could  spend some more money. well of course i can.  ended up buying 2 tops i think and headed back to the hostel  to pack .

 the hostel I was staying at was OK , rather large with 800  beds  so somewhat impersonal.  after the wonderful small one in Nottingham  it was a change. Hostels are definitely meant for people younger than me.  But I get lonely sometimes staying in hotels and even  B& B's  and they are way more pricey.

 Flight left at 11 am on the 11th it was an empty plane . their were 45 of us on a 200 seat plane. I had  3 seats to my self.  took a small nap.  pulled into Cincinnati and cleared customs in 15 minutes flat . ( its a small airport) through to Seattle and had 3 hours to fill in  and jet lag set in.  but the exciting thing was that form Seattle to Fairbanks i again had 3 seats to myself. i slept almost all the way to Fairbanks getting in a 12 30 am. yes that's 22 1/2 hours of travel from departure to landing..

 but i was awake at 5 30 on Thursday so went to work. (But i left early )

 here ends my vacation/ holiday. not sure what will happen next. there is lots of stuff happening in town coming up.  so back to the boring stuff of Fairbanks.  the sun is shining and its almost warm the last couple of days.

 i hope to get some more photos around for the last few entries.

Phantom of the Opera

you know, the musical from London. don't know how many years it has been running.

The Musical is better than the movie.

Drama scenery costumes. and even some special effects tha impressed me anyway.it was 2 1/2 hours long. the costumes were amazing. we got to take photos at the start but after that they were really fussy about no photos and I was good.  the music has been runing through my head all day , i might have to go buy a CD .
Got to dig out the umbrella today for the first time , at least it's not snowing. but its been raining all day

The British Museum

back in London with 2 days, when i remember that at the Acropolis they said that if i wanted to see most of the friezes form the Pantheon they were at the British museum, that's a 10 minute walk from the hostel that i am at. It s large museum and also free. So spent 4 hours looking around there. the friezes you can actually photograph and they're in reasonable condition. commonly called then Elgin marbles. for the Duke of Elgin rescued them in 1806


Their current new display is on Iran. there is also a wonderful display on just about any other era you care to name. No i didn't get to see it all, maybe a 1/3 if i was lucky. i just looked at a ll the roman/ Greek stuff and a small amount of the middle ages.
I didn't buy anything today OMG.

Wollerton Hall

a 10 minute bus ride will take you to wollerton hall. Built in 1580 to impress elizebeth 1 . this can be viewed formn 12 miles away. got to od a tour that was of all teh back stairs and servents hallways. the most intresting tour i have done. this kitchen is painted in authentic yellow. ( maximim for light relection. onion skins and pigs urine produces yellow.)

there were lotsof kids cruising around with thier sleds just having a good time

in walking arround in the past coule of days i have seen 2 woman dressed in full muslim clothes. with only the eyes showing. I only guess they are refugees form aftganistan or somewhere.I try not to look, but they are kinda interesting.

one of the other places i found today was a dance store , tey had shoes!!! what makes you think that i am not going to buy any. so now i have my 3 pair of shoes that i said i would get.

Nottingham Castle

old sandstone caves. ... all blocke off.

lace market built in 1400's

georgeon building now museum on site on nottingham castle

Better weather this morning, there is still little snow on the ground.
Nottingham castle is really not much to talk about. too many centuries spent on the loosing side of a civil wars will do that. they do have a really good history display in the ground floor. But the building is only built in the Victorian era.

Nottingham is very much an industrial town, from the 1850's. One of the industries was lace making. This is in a most wonderful old 14 c building. So now I have some lace for my table.

Nottingham

Yesterday i thought i would tour around but the weather is not cooperating, more snow and Nottingham comes to a standstill.

Nottingham is built on Sandstone caves, even the local shopping centre has caves underneath.
in these caves are an old tannery from 1509. Now some people may know that tanning takes lots of strong chemicals , but guess what they used back in 1509? Urea, then they went and rinsed the fleeces out in the local river water. great for drinking don't you think?

then I went to look at the courts of justice. An old courthouse and jail. it was just amazing what we did to people back a few hundreds years ago. shipping of people to colonies. Isolating people just drove them crazy. A depressing jail, all brick and dark back then . now its well laid out with lots of information.

Then of course i had to indulge in some more retail therapy on the way back to where I was staying. The Igloo hostel, at the back of the Victoria bus station. a wonderful old Victorian house , well located.

Books

( view from the train window)

there is nothing like a good book. !

And when you get to travel you get to read different stuff. i had bought 2 books to read when i was in Greece , but read them rather fast. one was ' the last wife of Henry the 8' which I finished on the plane before I reached London.
by the time I had got to Crete I was drastic for a book in English, when I found a book store in English , the options were some what limited. hence the ' Memories of a lady of pleasure' published in 1748. wonderful English society in London of the time. kinda raunchy but good reading. I ditched this book to some young girls i was sharing a room with in Athens
On the way onto Lincoln at the Nottingham train station, they have the usual book stores. I was looking for something to read again, 2 girls standing next to me suggested a book they one of them had just started ' the Gargoyle' By Andrew Davidson. Now someone recommending a book is a good a reason to buy it ( i told you i get drastic) if you want to read this, it's really good. An interest in European history will help.

Oh so you want to know what i did today, well I caught a train to Nottingham, found my self a hostel. so much cheaper than a b & b.
and spent the afternoon with my nose in the previously mentioned book.

Old Gainsborugh Hall

Caught the train out to Gainsborough, the have a old house that was built in ... wait for it... 1480
a wonderful old house. of the old nobility who was trying to impress the King. that's Richard 3 .
Richard 3 died in battle Bossworth field in 1488 to Edward 7
the house is really well preserved with kitchen and pantry , ( photos will be coming shortly) well worth the £4.00 for entry.
Gainsborough's was nice a enough to have market on Tuesday for me , i found another CD of Queens that I didn't have.
I had a Cornish pastry for lunch. Cornish pastry is like a stew inside a pastry. a really thick meat patotoes and carrots etc.
it was a wonderful sunny day , just some what cold. yes there was lots of snow the other day, i am sure that you have heard. some of it melted today some of it turned to ice. walking down the steep hills of Lincoln was not my idea of a good time. it looks like that trains are running in the smaller towns.
not sure what London is like today.

the weather

England is having the coldest weather in 13 years, this means snow in Lincoln.
i wanted to go see the Bishops Palace, but it was closed as all the steps are outside. and snowed on. they dont get snow that often.

So I was forced to go shoping. Yeah !
how fast can you spend 160 pounds ? 2 dresses and a pair of shoes.
this morning I posted some stuff back to myself to give me some space
i did find a Muesum, with all the roman stuff. this used to be the reitrement center for the Roman legons that were here.

Lincoln

medieval cities have these wonderful walls that you can walk round. this one is just around the cathedral close. the cathedral is fairly clean.

you can get black crap form the 20 century all over it , this needs to be cleaned totally every 20 years. the inside is amazing. the cathedral runs on a budget of 50,000 pounds every week.

this is just the nave. the entrance. there is a full length again behind the organ and choir.

the last of greece

Spent a wonderful day in tehe sun in Athens , doing the last of the shopping. I picked up some olive oil and some sponges. the olive oil was in a sealed metal 1 litre container. I went to check in with the airline and lo and behold they ask about liquids in my pack.Olive oil in metal containers is not allowed. it has to be in wooden ones. not that i am likely to find a wooden box in 1/2 hour flat. and i cant take more than 3 oz in my carry on. So being a very not happy camper i had to give away my olive oil. ( sorry don) i am very not happy.Arrived safely back in luton airport , and took myself off to the nearest hotel. by the airport. Holiday inn express. the have wonderfully comfortable beds to say the least. That's what i get for staying in hostels for this trip. but probably the most expensive night i will have £69.00 the staff were great and got me train time table to get me up to Lincoln yesterday.
it s windy her and cold well 1 degree c, 33 f saying in a wonderful B&b for 4 nights.
last night in looking fr a pub to have dinner in found the te snake and crown and had my fish and chips. ( it s an English thing) walked pas the cathedral and saw a sign for a ghost tour. what fun they are . well worth doing.