Finally got back on the road today.
The weather was potentially disconcerting, but ultimately fine. It was heavily overcast, verging on black clouds overhead, but it never rained for which I was pretty happy about.
I made a quick run for the EuroTunnel, and got an earlier train than I was originally booked for. Met a couple people on the train; a father and son from the UK riding two-up on a BMW R1200GS, and guy and girlfriend from the UK riding two-up on a Kawasaki Ninja, and Oliver from Spain riding a BMW F800R.
This summarizes what I've been seeing in the past week; over 50% of the motorcycles on the road in Germany, Switzerland, France and the UK are BMWs.
I didn't spend much time in France; I wanted to end the day in Germany where I knew I could get online, and would leave me closer to my ultimate goal for the next few days; Innsbruck, Austria. I have an IRC friend that lives there today, but expects to be moving to Belgium in a week or so. I wanted to get time to hang out in Austria with someone who knows the area.
I set my sights on sleeping in Aachen, Germany. There's a local motorcycle accessory retailer here that has a decent price on Schuberth helmets that I don't want to be tempted to buy from, fc-moto.de . Figured if I slept here, I could be unwillingly tempted to visit there on the way out tomorrow, possibly stopping by Heidelberg to drop off my now-spared (again) Shoei RF-900. I hope I don't go there tomorrow.
The typical route from the EuroTunnel to Aachen involves going through Belgium, so that's what I did. I took a short detour off the highway to check out the Belgium coast at Koksijde-Bad. They had some kind of festival going on, with billions of people wandering around. The volume of bicycles around there was awesome; a good percentage of the cyclists were decked out in racing tights on decent road bikes. I've always heard that the generally-flat terrain around Belgium and Holland called for lots of bicycling-obsessed people, and I'm starting to see that. I definitely want to head back there with a bicycle on some future vacation.
At one point, there were some dark clouds boiling overhead. I pulled over on the highway maybe 100m behind a van pulling some kind of industrial contraption on a custom trailer, to put the rain cover on my tank bag. I then noticed that a motorcycle cop was having a really animated discussion with the driver of the van, out by the trailer. After a few minutes, the cop finished with the van driver, whistled to get my attention, then started walking over.
As he approached, he started speaking Dutch. I interrupted him and asked for English. He asked, "Is everything okay? Any troubles?" I replied that the clouds looked wet and I wanted to protect my tank bag. He looked up at the clouds, and said "Those? There won't be rain, and anyway, you're a motorcyclist! What do you care about rain!" I laughed, pointed at my poor rain-sensitive camera in the tank bag, and shrugged. He set off back to his bike, and I got back on the road. He was right, BTW, it never rained.
I'm staying at another ibis tonight. I'll probably see a lot of them through this tour. I'm a fan of last-minute bookings at cheap but clean motel chains. I could book ahead at motorcycle-friendly B&Bs, but I don't expect to be planning ahead that often on this trip.
Thus far, the ibis motels have been great. The rooms aren't large, but they are frequently recently built or to maximize the utility of the space you have, have a good breakfast, and all the amenities I desire. They're part of a larger french chain called Accor Hotels. There are lower end shops, with things like completely self-serve check-ins/outs with shared bathrooms, etc, but ibis's consistently have self-contained rooms, humans at the front doors, and parking (though not often free).
I noticed that while I still have good right-hand-traffic instincts on city streets, I have to keep trying to remember which are the fast lanes on the highways now. Irk. Thanks UK. Love ya.
One thing I'm noticing over here is that when I tell locals that I've got 7 weeks off, they don't think that's too exceptional for Europe.
Tuesday, 7 August 2012
Posted with Blogsy
Monday, 6 August 2012
Day 10 - London UK, Monday August 6th
Started my day off trying to get in touch with Lenovo, while also trying to sort out my brief Canadian return next weekend.
The Lenovo call was interesting, but ultimately unsatisfying. My new x230's Canadian warranty and onside repair are actually international, which is great! However, it is next-business-day, and even then, they don't have a replacement part in stock, suggesting I could be waiting 7 days or more.
They also told me about a process to check first; disconnect all power (AC, battery), then hold down the power button for 10-15 seconds. This resets the power manager (or drains the power circuitry anyway). Finishing by reattaching power did not solve my problem though.
Later in the day, I called Lenovo Canada, or as it turns out, a call centre that immediately tells you they're in Atlanta, Georgia. The angle was to try to line up a service call for the Monday that I'll be back; I can't book same-day, and it will take time to get the part in, so I was trying to pre-book. They were potentially even less than useful; they told me they couldn't take the call unless I called from Canada, and demanded that I be able to answer my Canadian phone number, the SIM for which I don't intend on putting back into my phone until I actually return.
The girl said she'd work something out, but also said I could expect an email. I haven't seen an email, so I'm afraid they're trying to call instead.
If I can't get my laptop (for which was purchased specifically for this trip) fixed for use on this trip, I'm going to be pretty irritated.
Besides that, I chilled out at the hotel. Watched some Olympics, read stuff online, generally had a vacation from my vacation (and its stresses).
The Lenovo call was interesting, but ultimately unsatisfying. My new x230's Canadian warranty and onside repair are actually international, which is great! However, it is next-business-day, and even then, they don't have a replacement part in stock, suggesting I could be waiting 7 days or more.
They also told me about a process to check first; disconnect all power (AC, battery), then hold down the power button for 10-15 seconds. This resets the power manager (or drains the power circuitry anyway). Finishing by reattaching power did not solve my problem though.
Later in the day, I called Lenovo Canada, or as it turns out, a call centre that immediately tells you they're in Atlanta, Georgia. The angle was to try to line up a service call for the Monday that I'll be back; I can't book same-day, and it will take time to get the part in, so I was trying to pre-book. They were potentially even less than useful; they told me they couldn't take the call unless I called from Canada, and demanded that I be able to answer my Canadian phone number, the SIM for which I don't intend on putting back into my phone until I actually return.
The girl said she'd work something out, but also said I could expect an email. I haven't seen an email, so I'm afraid they're trying to call instead.
If I can't get my laptop (for which was purchased specifically for this trip) fixed for use on this trip, I'm going to be pretty irritated.
Besides that, I chilled out at the hotel. Watched some Olympics, read stuff online, generally had a vacation from my vacation (and its stresses).
Sunday, 5 August 2012
Day 9 - London, England - Sunday August 5th
Today I just hung around London. Met up with Misha, Basia, and her brother for dinner, and otherwise took a day off to vegetate.
Last night ended on a down note for me; I was trying to process some pictures on the laptop when it suddenly died. Completely dead, won't even beep or light an LED. Sigh. So I'm at least starting the day tomorrow trying to line up Lenovo support, to decide my next move.
I took the local transit options to move around in London, which gave me some freedom to have a few brews.
Last night ended on a down note for me; I was trying to process some pictures on the laptop when it suddenly died. Completely dead, won't even beep or light an LED. Sigh. So I'm at least starting the day tomorrow trying to line up Lenovo support, to decide my next move.
I took the local transit options to move around in London, which gave me some freedom to have a few brews.
Saturday, 4 August 2012
Day 8 - UK Group Ride, Saturday August 4th
Today's highlight was the Garmin Zumo "Ride Out", with Charley Boorman, launched at On Yer Bike, a bike and repair shop.
Charley showed up on many rider's radar when he and Ewan McGregor rode the "Long Way Round"; London UK to New York, 20000miles, 12 countries, 19 timezones, 115 days. Then as an encore, the two rode the "Long Way Down", from the top of Scotland down to Cape Town. As they're both actors, they had a support crew and filmed the majority of their adventures, releasing them to the viewing public. Since then, he's done several of his own projects, continuing his passion for motorcycling, including recently crossing Canada for his Extreme Frontiers documentaries.
Garmin warned that interest was pretty intense for this event, and they weren't kidding. Hundreds of riders showed up, seemingly the majority waiting for Charley to arrive.
Charley showed up on a BMW R1200GS Adventure, the same model (but not the same bike) that he rode for LWD and for crossing Canada, and an upgrade to the older R1150GS Adventure he used for LWR. He seems clearly to have changed his mind about KTM vs. BMW, a debate captured in LWR. That, or BMW is giving him endless free bikes in honour of the awesome showing he and Ewan gave for the bikes.
Within minutes of his arrival, he was cornered by hundreds of people seeking pictures and autographs.
After a time, I went to do my own ride of one of the Garmin-recommended routes around the area. It was about 80 miles, and took almost 2 hours. I started alone, but a handful of us found each other during the ride and finished it as a group.
I only mashed the left-side-traffic thing about 4 times. Sigh. Okay, maybe 5. Or... Only one driver was inconvenienced to the point of honking though!
The route finished back at On Yer Bike. I returned just in time to verify that I didn't win the grand prize; I believe it was the "African Adventure", which implies an epic Africa tour. I clearly was eager and anxious to win this. ;)
After the prizes were awarded, Charley joined everyone for a short group ride, with an untold number of people following, including me immediately behind Charley, who was in the #2 position himself. Of course, the very first thing he did when he got out of the parking lot was settle all the gear on his bike with a good wheelie. Then we were off!
It was a fast tour of the local area again, perhaps a 1/3rd of the 80mile circuit.
I didn't really get to talk to Charley much. I think I heard him tell people his next trip is in October, perhaps South America.
I eventually took off. My bike was running on fumes at this point, and I wanted to reclaim my laundry, which I dropped at Launderama in downtown Aylesbury early this morning. Then it was back to the hotel, and a tasty roast beef dinner (with Yorkshire pudding, roast potatoes, stuffing, gravy), and an apple pie with vanilla ice cream for dessert.
I just read an interesting thing; Charley had an R1200GS Adventure stolen, the one he used for his Canadian crossing. Within hours, the bike was traced back to the thieves, and was already partially dismantled. Impressive that they hadn't discovered the tracking module yet and disabled it. I know who I'll be looking to secure my bike if I buy a bike in the UK.
Oh, I see I've been remis with some details people might find interesting. I shall go back in time and add these details to my previous days posts as well.
Premium (95 RON) as prices in the UK appear to be about GBP 1.36/L, or CAD $2.13/L.
Averaging 5.9 L/100km today, on roughly 100km/h roads
Charley showed up on many rider's radar when he and Ewan McGregor rode the "Long Way Round"; London UK to New York, 20000miles, 12 countries, 19 timezones, 115 days. Then as an encore, the two rode the "Long Way Down", from the top of Scotland down to Cape Town. As they're both actors, they had a support crew and filmed the majority of their adventures, releasing them to the viewing public. Since then, he's done several of his own projects, continuing his passion for motorcycling, including recently crossing Canada for his Extreme Frontiers documentaries.
Garmin warned that interest was pretty intense for this event, and they weren't kidding. Hundreds of riders showed up, seemingly the majority waiting for Charley to arrive.
Charley showed up on a BMW R1200GS Adventure, the same model (but not the same bike) that he rode for LWD and for crossing Canada, and an upgrade to the older R1150GS Adventure he used for LWR. He seems clearly to have changed his mind about KTM vs. BMW, a debate captured in LWR. That, or BMW is giving him endless free bikes in honour of the awesome showing he and Ewan gave for the bikes.
Within minutes of his arrival, he was cornered by hundreds of people seeking pictures and autographs.
After a time, I went to do my own ride of one of the Garmin-recommended routes around the area. It was about 80 miles, and took almost 2 hours. I started alone, but a handful of us found each other during the ride and finished it as a group.
I only mashed the left-side-traffic thing about 4 times. Sigh. Okay, maybe 5. Or... Only one driver was inconvenienced to the point of honking though!
The route finished back at On Yer Bike. I returned just in time to verify that I didn't win the grand prize; I believe it was the "African Adventure", which implies an epic Africa tour. I clearly was eager and anxious to win this. ;)
After the prizes were awarded, Charley joined everyone for a short group ride, with an untold number of people following, including me immediately behind Charley, who was in the #2 position himself. Of course, the very first thing he did when he got out of the parking lot was settle all the gear on his bike with a good wheelie. Then we were off!
It was a fast tour of the local area again, perhaps a 1/3rd of the 80mile circuit.
I didn't really get to talk to Charley much. I think I heard him tell people his next trip is in October, perhaps South America.
I eventually took off. My bike was running on fumes at this point, and I wanted to reclaim my laundry, which I dropped at Launderama in downtown Aylesbury early this morning. Then it was back to the hotel, and a tasty roast beef dinner (with Yorkshire pudding, roast potatoes, stuffing, gravy), and an apple pie with vanilla ice cream for dessert.
I just read an interesting thing; Charley had an R1200GS Adventure stolen, the one he used for his Canadian crossing. Within hours, the bike was traced back to the thieves, and was already partially dismantled. Impressive that they hadn't discovered the tracking module yet and disabled it. I know who I'll be looking to secure my bike if I buy a bike in the UK.
Oh, I see I've been remis with some details people might find interesting. I shall go back in time and add these details to my previous days posts as well.
Premium (95 RON) as prices in the UK appear to be about GBP 1.36/L, or CAD $2.13/L.
Averaging 5.9 L/100km today, on roughly 100km/h roads
Friday, 3 August 2012
Day 7 - UK, Friday August 3rd
Today saw me taking the Le Shuttle trip with the bike through the EuroTunnel.
I was booked for the 14:50 train, and I read that you should show up at least an hour beforehand for customs, etc. I was a bit earlier than that, showing up at 13:05 or so. As you approach the EuroTunnel booths, you're given an option of self-serve (if you have a reservation) and staffed booths (half marked with british flags and right-hand-drive oriented, half not.) I had a reservation, but I really felt like talking to a human, so I picked a staffed booth.
The girl was a bit surprised that I already had a reservation, but she was cheerful enough about it, asked for the credit card the reservation was made with, and offered to bump it up to the earlier 13:50 train for me.
French customs was almost a non-event. They took my passport, glanced in its general direction, then handed it back with a smile. I can't be sure they even opened it. I know for sure the 4 UK passports that were handed over by the van before me were waved off once the guy verified they were all the same colour from a distance.
The UK customs officer was quite friendly. Asked lots of questions, demonstrated that he had a personality, and was pretty conversational while getting the details he needed. There was none of the sense of threat I often feel when crossing the US/Canada border.
Off-topic, but I wonder if I can order the Ford Focus UK bumpers for delivery in Canada. They're so much nicer. Anyway.
The EuroTunnel train is basically a very long empty tube. About every other car has a large side door, so you can just drive in and down its length as far as you can. They only require you to engage your parking brake and put the vehicle in 1st; no tiedowns required. A few minutes later, they closed the external and internal doors between the rail cars and we were off.
The transit was about 30 minutes. Surprisingly, I had a very strong Orange France 3G signal all they way across until the train exited the tube in the UK.
While I was in the tube, I looked up the O2 store address in Folkestone UK, and bee-lined there as soon as they let me off the train. Picked up SIMs for both the iPhone and iPad. They enabled my iPhone account immediately, and sent me off to do my own iPad registration.
As a note, being left to do your own iPad registration while in a foreign country is a non-starter; a fact I forgot about until trying to do my registration. To complete it, you require a credit card, and you have to enter the local country's address that is registered to that credit card. They check the zip/postal/post code against the card registrar's database. If you're a foreigner, you're SOL. Best solution there is to get some form of pre-paid credit card that lets you configure your own address online. I have to admit, once you do get online, you feel like you just slayed a dragon.
As many are aware, the UK follows left-hand traffic, opposite most of the world as the wiki shows. They've got a pretty good system as you come out the UK side of the EuroTunnel; you are essentially dropped into the left-hand lane, with a big sign reminding you about left-hand traffic in the UK. I was always afraid of how my instincts would tolerate being shaken up by this, but so far, it has been okay.
Next was the 250km transit to Alyesbury, with a half-pass of the "London Orbital", the M25. My GPS was having fits as it got traffic updates; most highways on the far side of London towards Heathrow were really congested, or "severe" as my GPS says. For a while, it had me doing 5000 roundabouts through subdivisions before it finally ran out and only had the M25 to feed me.
I also found at one point that I had to kill my audiobook. I noticed I had started being "surprised" at left-hand traffic decisions and realized I needed to concentrate more.
I will also say that perhaps due to the higher traffic volumes here than I've seen since I landed last week, people really weren't dealing with the roundabouts very well here. Lots of people were stopping before entering, and judging by the levels of aggression by people in the roundabout (speed primarily), I can't blame them. I rarely ever saw people have to stop before entering in the smaller cities and towns I'd seen in Germany, Switzerland, and France, but I also haven't seen a city over here with even a fraction of London's population yet.
Once I got back on the M25, I took my hand at lane splitting. Wooo! Admittedly, my bike is a bit wide with its side boxes on, but people were opening up the right split (between the fast and second-fast lanes) for me readily enough.
After getting to the hotel, I set about trying to sort out the mess with getting my iPad on O2 here, and hit the pub next door. Bangers, mashed, and a Guinness; aww yeah. And now that I know that many UK pubs don't serve you at the table, that went a bit better for me this time around too.
Called Misha in London. Hopefully I'll get to visit him while I'm over this weekend. If not, I'll likely be back here before the end of this trip. He lives in the northern part of London, and figures as long as I avoid the core, I shouldn't run into too much Olympics insanity.
Tomorrow will be an early start. Breakfast at 08:00, then I want to drop my clothes at a nearby laundrette when it opens at 08:30, then zoom off to the ride for its 09:00 start. Har. I have lofty goals!
I should also comment on work. I have been keeping sporadic touch with my work mailbox. Thus far, things are either going well, or noone is bothering me with escalations. After a week away, I can't believe how remote work feels. I feel like I've experienced a month's worth of stuff in the past 7 days. And I have, what, 42 more days to go? Not that I'm counting at all; I'm really not. But the scale of the past 7 days did need some perspective of what I've got ahead of me.
Premium (95 RON), prices in England appear to be about GBP 1.35/L, or CAD $2.12/L.
Averaging 5.9 L/100km today, on roughly 120km/h roads
I was booked for the 14:50 train, and I read that you should show up at least an hour beforehand for customs, etc. I was a bit earlier than that, showing up at 13:05 or so. As you approach the EuroTunnel booths, you're given an option of self-serve (if you have a reservation) and staffed booths (half marked with british flags and right-hand-drive oriented, half not.) I had a reservation, but I really felt like talking to a human, so I picked a staffed booth.
The girl was a bit surprised that I already had a reservation, but she was cheerful enough about it, asked for the credit card the reservation was made with, and offered to bump it up to the earlier 13:50 train for me.
French customs was almost a non-event. They took my passport, glanced in its general direction, then handed it back with a smile. I can't be sure they even opened it. I know for sure the 4 UK passports that were handed over by the van before me were waved off once the guy verified they were all the same colour from a distance.
The UK customs officer was quite friendly. Asked lots of questions, demonstrated that he had a personality, and was pretty conversational while getting the details he needed. There was none of the sense of threat I often feel when crossing the US/Canada border.
Off-topic, but I wonder if I can order the Ford Focus UK bumpers for delivery in Canada. They're so much nicer. Anyway.
The EuroTunnel train is basically a very long empty tube. About every other car has a large side door, so you can just drive in and down its length as far as you can. They only require you to engage your parking brake and put the vehicle in 1st; no tiedowns required. A few minutes later, they closed the external and internal doors between the rail cars and we were off.
The transit was about 30 minutes. Surprisingly, I had a very strong Orange France 3G signal all they way across until the train exited the tube in the UK.
While I was in the tube, I looked up the O2 store address in Folkestone UK, and bee-lined there as soon as they let me off the train. Picked up SIMs for both the iPhone and iPad. They enabled my iPhone account immediately, and sent me off to do my own iPad registration.
As a note, being left to do your own iPad registration while in a foreign country is a non-starter; a fact I forgot about until trying to do my registration. To complete it, you require a credit card, and you have to enter the local country's address that is registered to that credit card. They check the zip/postal/post code against the card registrar's database. If you're a foreigner, you're SOL. Best solution there is to get some form of pre-paid credit card that lets you configure your own address online. I have to admit, once you do get online, you feel like you just slayed a dragon.
As many are aware, the UK follows left-hand traffic, opposite most of the world as the wiki shows. They've got a pretty good system as you come out the UK side of the EuroTunnel; you are essentially dropped into the left-hand lane, with a big sign reminding you about left-hand traffic in the UK. I was always afraid of how my instincts would tolerate being shaken up by this, but so far, it has been okay.
Next was the 250km transit to Alyesbury, with a half-pass of the "London Orbital", the M25. My GPS was having fits as it got traffic updates; most highways on the far side of London towards Heathrow were really congested, or "severe" as my GPS says. For a while, it had me doing 5000 roundabouts through subdivisions before it finally ran out and only had the M25 to feed me.
I also found at one point that I had to kill my audiobook. I noticed I had started being "surprised" at left-hand traffic decisions and realized I needed to concentrate more.
I will also say that perhaps due to the higher traffic volumes here than I've seen since I landed last week, people really weren't dealing with the roundabouts very well here. Lots of people were stopping before entering, and judging by the levels of aggression by people in the roundabout (speed primarily), I can't blame them. I rarely ever saw people have to stop before entering in the smaller cities and towns I'd seen in Germany, Switzerland, and France, but I also haven't seen a city over here with even a fraction of London's population yet.
Once I got back on the M25, I took my hand at lane splitting. Wooo! Admittedly, my bike is a bit wide with its side boxes on, but people were opening up the right split (between the fast and second-fast lanes) for me readily enough.
After getting to the hotel, I set about trying to sort out the mess with getting my iPad on O2 here, and hit the pub next door. Bangers, mashed, and a Guinness; aww yeah. And now that I know that many UK pubs don't serve you at the table, that went a bit better for me this time around too.
Called Misha in London. Hopefully I'll get to visit him while I'm over this weekend. If not, I'll likely be back here before the end of this trip. He lives in the northern part of London, and figures as long as I avoid the core, I shouldn't run into too much Olympics insanity.
Tomorrow will be an early start. Breakfast at 08:00, then I want to drop my clothes at a nearby laundrette when it opens at 08:30, then zoom off to the ride for its 09:00 start. Har. I have lofty goals!
I should also comment on work. I have been keeping sporadic touch with my work mailbox. Thus far, things are either going well, or noone is bothering me with escalations. After a week away, I can't believe how remote work feels. I feel like I've experienced a month's worth of stuff in the past 7 days. And I have, what, 42 more days to go? Not that I'm counting at all; I'm really not. But the scale of the past 7 days did need some perspective of what I've got ahead of me.
Premium (95 RON), prices in England appear to be about GBP 1.35/L, or CAD $2.12/L.
Averaging 5.9 L/100km today, on roughly 120km/h roads
Thursday, 2 August 2012
Day 6 - France, Thursday August 2nd.
I flew through France today. Didn't see much, because I wanted to get close to the EuroTunnel before nightfall, to make tomorrow an easier day.
The ride started with a transit of the Jura Mountains up the D1005 and N5. There are some great roads up there, and not very busy. Lots of cyclists pounding away on the ascents. Once the mountains were past though, I caught the A31, A5, and A26 to Saint Omer, making a fast transit of the country. The A's seem to be toll roads; paid out about €30 on them.
I can't say that I feel at all cheated about the fast ride. I saw a few signs along the way (Vimy - Canadian Memorial, and a Canadian Cemetery near Calais in particular) that I want to see when I have time later. I had a great and relaxing day on the road, which I had gotten used to doing riding around North America.
I did notice that the French are kinda particular about their language. I tried speaking a few words in french, but I generally got a frustrated frown back, and a terse "correction", which often included a bit more of a roll on the R, more stress on enunciating the vowels, or just plain horror. If I spoke english, they didn't like that either. Greeting them with a "Bonjour!" would result in them happily talking at me in french for a few minutes, then I'd have to interrupt them, ask for english, and watch them get cranky. They just don't like me.
I stayed at an ibis in Saint Omer. When in doubt, I try to stay at economy chains; ibis is reasonably respected throughout Europe, and I figure there is a good chance I won't wake up with bedbugs the next morning.
Premium (95 RON), prices in France appear to be about EUR 1.68/L, or CAD $2.09/L.
Averaging 6.1 L/100 km today, at roughly 130 km/h
The ride started with a transit of the Jura Mountains up the D1005 and N5. There are some great roads up there, and not very busy. Lots of cyclists pounding away on the ascents. Once the mountains were past though, I caught the A31, A5, and A26 to Saint Omer, making a fast transit of the country. The A's seem to be toll roads; paid out about €30 on them.
I can't say that I feel at all cheated about the fast ride. I saw a few signs along the way (Vimy - Canadian Memorial, and a Canadian Cemetery near Calais in particular) that I want to see when I have time later. I had a great and relaxing day on the road, which I had gotten used to doing riding around North America.
I did notice that the French are kinda particular about their language. I tried speaking a few words in french, but I generally got a frustrated frown back, and a terse "correction", which often included a bit more of a roll on the R, more stress on enunciating the vowels, or just plain horror. If I spoke english, they didn't like that either. Greeting them with a "Bonjour!" would result in them happily talking at me in french for a few minutes, then I'd have to interrupt them, ask for english, and watch them get cranky. They just don't like me.
I stayed at an ibis in Saint Omer. When in doubt, I try to stay at economy chains; ibis is reasonably respected throughout Europe, and I figure there is a good chance I won't wake up with bedbugs the next morning.
Premium (95 RON), prices in France appear to be about EUR 1.68/L, or CAD $2.09/L.
Averaging 6.1 L/100 km today, at roughly 130 km/h
Wednesday, 1 August 2012
Day 5, CERN, Wednesday August 1st
To start the day, I woke up early to get to CERN early to try to get a space on a tour. But I couldn't find my main set of keys. I had my backup keyring, but my main one was AWOL. After checking my bike without results, one of the girls at the front desk intercepted me and told me I dropped my keys in the parking lot yesterday. Someone found them and give them to the front desk. I think I dodged another bullet!
Anyway. (Always an anyway.)
I couldn't get an advanced reservation on a tour, but they suggested I get there by 09:00 and they'd try to fit me in. I did, and they did, for the 13:00 tour.
They can't take people into the tunnels on this tour as experiments are running. They said that they may be shutting down the LHC in 2013 for upgrades, which might open up the tunnel for tours. I'm already planning ahead for that! (Anyone want to do a CERN+Oktoberfest week in 2013?)
They started the tour in CERN building 33 with a movie going over the first 50 years. Saying it was inspiring to me is an understatement. If I had seen it 20 years ago, I know I'd be living over here, working at CERN now. The importance this project has played in science is breathtaking.
After the tour, they took us to the ATLAS building. They showed us a 3d video from the making of the ATLAS collector, then took us to see the ATLAS command centre.
I met a Danish rider at the tour. He mentioned the costs of owning a vehicle is absurd in Denmark. Like, the plate itself costs 125% of the sales tax, which is 25% on top of the cost of the vehicle. Buying a car can easily cost half a year's salary, if not well over.
Anyway. (Always an anyway.)
I couldn't get an advanced reservation on a tour, but they suggested I get there by 09:00 and they'd try to fit me in. I did, and they did, for the 13:00 tour.
They can't take people into the tunnels on this tour as experiments are running. They said that they may be shutting down the LHC in 2013 for upgrades, which might open up the tunnel for tours. I'm already planning ahead for that! (Anyone want to do a CERN+Oktoberfest week in 2013?)
They started the tour in CERN building 33 with a movie going over the first 50 years. Saying it was inspiring to me is an understatement. If I had seen it 20 years ago, I know I'd be living over here, working at CERN now. The importance this project has played in science is breathtaking.
After the tour, they took us to the ATLAS building. They showed us a 3d video from the making of the ATLAS collector, then took us to see the ATLAS command centre.
I met a Danish rider at the tour. He mentioned the costs of owning a vehicle is absurd in Denmark. Like, the plate itself costs 125% of the sales tax, which is 25% on top of the cost of the vehicle. Buying a car can easily cost half a year's salary, if not well over.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)