Photos - Groningen Day 2

What a long day, but we made it by plane and train to Groningen.

We caught our flight at an early 5:45 AM with no sleep on my part. We arrived in Amsterdam airport at 8 AM local time. We were hungry and ate at the airport before we caught the train to Groningen.

We had a very exciting trip on the trains, and because of construction we had to change train 3 times. The only problem with this is that we had only 4 minutes or less to drag all our stuff from one train to the next. If you are going to travel by train, make sure you travel light. We chatted with some locals on the trains and they were just as frustrated with the weekend schedules of the trains.

We made it to Groningen at about 1 pm and started the walk to the hotel. The Garmin 360 NAVI was an indispensable resource in helping us locate the hotel and navigate the surrounding area.

We all checked in and found that the 2 of use that paid via Travelocity.ca, ended up paying more because of the commissions they have to pay. Dave booked via the hotels website and save about 50 euros. As soon as we all hit our hotel rooms we crashed for a few hours before we ventured out for diner.

Groningen is a very peaceful feeling town, and it is going to be a pleasure to be here for 2 days. The venue that the Hip will be playing at is just across the canal from the hotel, so no more needing the GPS for the next 2 days. There is a local brewery that our friendly waiter told us about last night during diner, and we will be exploring that today. Sunday’s is the big day for shopping in the Netherlands and I will also be on the hunt for souvenirs.

We had a great diner in the main square of the town, nice to be able to have a decent meal after the last couple of days. After diner we moved into the main part of the pub, and what a labyrinth we found. The buildings on the outside looked separate, but they are all connected inside with a total of 20 bars. We also found that we had to pay 50 cents to use the washroom, but they had a all you can pee price of 2 euros. Lets just say we got our moneys worth that night.

We left the pub at abut midnight, and the boys found a donair and pizza shop. Everyone grabbed their goodies and we headed back to our hotel. Sleep came quickly and we are looking forward to tomorrow.

Groningen Day 1 photos

Just got back from the London Show.

Was a good show, regular set list.

We spent the mid day seeing the sites with out local tour guides Matt and Ben. We walked around the London Eye, Jubilee bridge, Buckingham Palace and Covent Garden. Took lots of pictures that I will upload later.

London is a dirty city, no garbage cans anywhere, I think they are scared of bombs in the trash cans.

It is 12:36 AM and we have to get up at 3:30 to get a 5:30 flight to Amsterdam. Going to be a long day tomorrow.

Unsorted London Day 2 photos

Lost a day somewhere over the Atlantic, now my internal clock is messed up and Day turns to Night and it is the middle of the day back home.

Our hotel was, we shall say very cozy, and we were on the 4th floor with no elevator.

We met up with Matt in London and he took us to great place for a Beer and Curry. I had not had a beer since May 07, when I started my new life style plan. It was great to have a Curry and an English Pride Ale!

We had fun at the London Hard Rock and went down into the Vault where they have some very cool history memorabilia. They have a Jimmy Hendrix guitar worth 6 million pounds, and we were allowed to touch it! Check out the photos, and yes that is Fozzy bear, Mona’s traveling companion that I promised to take with me on this trip.

Here is Day 1 photos. Check back daily for more, Cheers Mate!
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Sept 19

Well here I go again on another trip to see the World Greatest Band The Tragically Hip.

Got to the airport 4 hours before my flight and it seems everyone else wanted to get there
early too. Everything was routine but I started up a conversation with a fellow named Olley. A native Brit that immigrated to Canada 30 years ago that is on his way back home for his Step Mothers funeral. I checked in and found that the extra bag I brought for the Euro Hip shirts put me over the limit and I had
to pay an extra $28 CDN. I guess someone will buy me a couple of beers for that Olley and I decided to go for a drink and we just had a great time talking, and before we knew it, it was time to go through security.

We went through security with no problem and sat down again and had a coffee before our flight.

Flight was on time and I got a seat with lots of leg room! Movies were Oceans 13 and Shrek 3, so luckily I had my Sony PSP that I had some TV shows to catch up on.Flight was ahead of time, and it was going to be an hour ahead.

I am finally starting to relax and look forward to the adventure ahead and look forward to joining up with my friends from Ontario.

Made it to London and had to wait for just over an hour for the rest of the crew. We made our way to the hotel to drop of our gear and freshen up. Going to head out and grab some food!

Hotel in London