tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-86466122024-03-06T20:18:42.895-08:00the hollywood north reportSarah Marchildonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17604609825576716332noreply@blogger.comBlogger559125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8646612.post-89692090575076141432014-05-08T11:39:00.000-07:002014-05-08T11:39:14.992-07:00The mystery of the Japanese town populated by life-size dolls has finally been solved<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Five years ago, I ventured out on a week-long solo bike trip across a small chunk of rural Japan. I wrote about riding through ghost towns devoid of people but full of life-size dolls (<a href="http://sarahmarchildon.blogspot.de/2009/05/kochi-to-kyoto-by-bicycle-day-3.html" target="_blank">here</a> and <a href="http://sarahmarchildon.blogspot.de/2009/05/kochi-to-kyoto-by-bicycle-day-2.html" target="_blank">here</a>).<br />
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From a distance, I mistook the dolls for people since they were doing the usual things that people do. They were working in the fields, fixing cars, waiting at the bus stop, sitting in chairs, fishing in canals, puttering in gardens and sleeping on park benches. Except they weren't moving. It was only when I got closer that I realized they weren't people at all. In fact, there were no people anywhere. Just dozens of dolls. I was alone in a town swallowed by mountains and populated by life-size dolls. It was deeply unsettling. I took a few photos and didn't linger for long.<br />
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At the time, I didn't know who put the dolls there or what they meant. But now, five years later, the mystery of the Japanese doll town has finally been solved.<br />
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Someone by the name of Fritz Schumann made this short documentary about the woman responsible for creating the doll town. The story it tells is beautiful and sad and totally worth watching.<br />
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And just for fun, here are a few more photos from my own (brief) trip to this town five years ago.<br />
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Sarah Marchildonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17604609825576716332noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8646612.post-31721213506078973662013-11-10T09:04:00.000-08:002013-11-10T09:04:17.401-08:00Fall colours in Bonn: a selection of photos I took with my phone<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Sarah Marchildonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17604609825576716332noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8646612.post-39826250039393347602013-07-14T11:00:00.000-07:002013-07-28T10:54:24.051-07:00Hiking the Rheinsteig: "Sexy moves on the steep slopes" (and other gibberish)<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Here's what the Internet tells you in English about hiking the Rheinsteig: "The Rheinsteig is a 320 km trail on the right side of the Rhine that links Bonn, Koblenz and Wiesbaden on mainly narrow paths with steep climbs and descents, leading walkers and hikers to forests, vineyards and spectacular views."<br />
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Here's what the Internet doesn't tell you in English about hiking the Rheinsteig: everything else.<br />
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The fine print -- where the trail starts and ends, and everything in between -- is only available in German. Which is why, when planning to hike a 30-km chunk of the trail last weekend, the only option was to cut and paste the German trail description into Google Translate and hope for the best.<br />
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That was the first mistake.<br />
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The second mistake was cutting and pasting the trail description into Google Translate, printing the translated version and heading out to start the hike without having actually read the thing. Had I done that, we would not have gotten lost (literally and figuratively) after the hike had barely begun.<br />
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We were on top of a hill, overlooking our starting point -- the town of Kaub -- a few hundred metres below. The Internet had gotten us that far. There was no need to pull out the trail description until we found ourselves standing in a spot with a castle on our left and a trail that branched out in three different directions on our right. Unsure which path to take, I pulled out the trail description and skimmed the first couple of paragraphs until I found the part about the castle.<br />
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"Here, keep to the right and sharp leaves the castle on the left," it read. "Built in 1220 as a castle, Kaub plant is one of the most important buildings and residential jam fresh military art and now houses a hotel."<br />
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Keep to the right and sharp leaves? Residential jam fresh military art? Google Translate had gobbled up the original German text and spat out Google Gibberish.<br />
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The rest of the description was no better. It ranged from indecipherable ("We walk through race pus tunnels" and "At the junction after crossing the creek, keep right leg above the creek and marched down trench") to pornographic ("By heat-loving forest with sessile oak, birch, pine and gorse plants first moves our way up to then perform sexy and just along the slope" and "Here, one can choose the right path, the first in Niederwald between boulders and heather descent writhes and sexy moves on the steep slopes along the Bacharach head").<br />
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Sexy moves on the steep slopes? This took lost in translation to a whole new level. The only sentence in five pages of text that seemed to have made it through with its original meaning intact was: "According to legend, the devil lived in Kadrichsberg." An interesting fact, to be sure, but one with very little practical value in terms of getting from point A to point B.<br />
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Back to the hilltop, the castle and the forked trail. We made an educated guess and took the trail heading to the right. It wasn't long before we found a Rheinsteig trail maker telling us we were on the right path. After that there was a trail marker every 50 metres, making it impossible to get lost and making the trail description (in any language) unnecessary.<br />
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It turned out that all we really needed to know was that one little English paragraph on the German website. Just climb and descend the narrow path on the right side of the Rhine leading to forests, vineyards and spectacular views (with a few sexy moves on the steep slopes thrown in for fun).<br />
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<b>If you go . . .</b><br />
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<b>Getting there</b>: The Upper Middle Rhine Valley is the most famous section of the Rhine thanks to its rocky cliffs, steep vineyards, hilltop castles and fairy-tale villages. The 65-km long section from Koblenz to Bingen and Rudesheim was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2002 due to its natural landscape and cultural heritage. Getting to the Upper Middle Rhine Valley from Bonn is easy. Take the regional train from Bonn to Koblenz (about 45 minutes) and then transfer to the local train heading from Koblenz to Frankfurt. Since the train winds its way down the Rhine, you can get off at any stop along the way and pick up the trail on the east side of the Rhine. We chose to start in the town of Kaub (40 minutes south of Koblenz). Expect to pay about 30 euros for a same-day fare. You can knock about 10 euros off the price if you book in advance. <br />
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<b>Staying there</b>: The hike goes from one small town to another. Not all of the towns have hotels so it's good to do a little research in advance on Google Maps if you're planning an overnight hike. We hiked 15 km from Kaub to Lorch and spent the night at a school that had been converted into a hotel in Lorch. The next day we hiked 15 km from Lorch to Assmannshausen and hoped on the train back to Bonn after stopping for dinner in Assmannshausen. Camping is also an option.<br />
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<b>Eating there</b>: Lots of decent and not-so-decent places to choose from. Mostly German-style food on the menu (ie. meat, meat and more meat). Pack your own meals if greasy, fatty food isn't your thing. Fun fact: many of the hotels along the Rheinsteig offer a "packed lunch" service for hikers. For $4.50 they'll let you pack up as much food from the breakfast buffet as you want so that you can have a ready-made lunch for the trail.<br />
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<b>Hiking there</b>: Detailed information is only available in German but it's easy enough to get the general idea using a combination of Google Maps and Google Translate. We used the German site <a href="http://www.outdooractive.com/de/#axzz2Z3BsWCSk" target="_blank">outdooractive.com </a>to calculate the distance, elevation gain and loss and starting/finishing points. Use the drop-down menu near the top to search for hikes under "wanderung." If anyone knows an easier or more English-friendly way to find hiking information in Germany, please let me know!</div>
Sarah Marchildonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17604609825576716332noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8646612.post-56013757398964052382013-06-23T02:41:00.000-07:002013-06-23T02:41:51.487-07:00Amster'damn!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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One of my favourite things about Bonn is how easy it is to get out of Bonn. Not that there's anything wrong with Bonn but the fact that several world-class cities are only a short train ride away makes it tempting to spend more time outside of Bonn than inside it.<br />
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Amsterdam, for example, is only a three-hour train ride away from Bonn. With access like that, how can you not leave Germany behind and hop over to the Netherlands for the weekend?</div>
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First impressions of Amsterdam: it's funky, it's cool, it's beautiful but beware the psycho paths in the cycle paths. Bicycle lanes are more dangerous than the roads. Pedestrians do not come first, cyclists do. So you'd better stop and look both ways before attempting to cross a cycle path or you will be greeted with an angry chorus of bike bells and/or nasty comments (at best) or be run down (at worst).<br />
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Final thoughts: Amsterdamn is so nice, we want to go twice!</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Fighting for space at the Amsterdam sign outside the amazing Rijksmuseum</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Narrow street</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Got the munchies? These hamburger vending machines will save you!</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The crowds during Liberation Day weekend</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Twilight</td></tr>
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Sarah Marchildonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17604609825576716332noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8646612.post-67147241582223843062013-05-07T23:16:00.000-07:002013-05-07T23:16:57.025-07:00Cherry bomb<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Sarah Marchildonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17604609825576716332noreply@blogger.com1Bonn, Germany50.73743 7.098206800000070950.5765235 6.7754833000000705 50.898336500000006 7.4209303000000713tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8646612.post-31784980532303904762013-04-28T01:00:00.000-07:002013-05-07T23:17:14.168-07:00Chasing cherry blossoms in Bonn<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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This is Cherry Blossom Avenue in Bonn (or Heerstraße as it's known locally). Each spring, this street is transformed into a tunnel of puffy, pink cherry blossoms. The trees were in full bloom this week and I headed out after work to take a few pictures.<br />
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Cherry blossom season is fast, fleeting and blindingly beautiful. Maybe it's banal to say the cherry blossom is my favourite flower. Maybe it's akin to admitting you like puppies and kittens (who doesn't?). But having a deep appreciation for life's transitory moments is something that resonates with me. And there is no more perfect metaphor for the fleeting nature of life than the pale pink cherry blossom. Blindingly beautiful and then gone.<br />
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Sarah Marchildonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17604609825576716332noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8646612.post-47054431834169264872013-04-07T06:29:00.000-07:002013-04-07T06:30:38.956-07:00A tiny trip to little Luxembourg<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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My quest to visit all nine countries that share a border with Germany continued with a tiny trip to little Luxembourg last weekend. Seven down, two to go.<br />
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Luxembourg exceeded all expectations. Which isn't saying much considering that I had no expectations to begin with. It wasn't a place I particularly wanted to visit (apart from the nine-border-country challenge). I knew almost nothing about it (other than the fact that it is one of the smallest countries in Europe). And I had no clue what language people spoke there (Luxembourgish?). Just like watching a movie without first having seen the trailer, I went to Luxembourg without having read anything about it.<br />
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The good thing about having no expectations is that it's difficult to be disappointed. Luxembourg had nothing to live up to. It conjured up an ocean of emptiness in my mind. How could I not be pleasantly surprised by the city's pretty valleys, high plateaus, narrow streets and old fortress walls?<br />
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Here are a few things I learned about Luxembourg. The default language is French (handy for those of us whose French has lapsed but can still pull a few useful phases like "Un pain au chocolat avec un cafe au lait, s'il vous plait" out of our hats). The city's old quarters and fortifications are a UNESCO <a href="http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/699" target="_blank">World Heritage Site</a>. It is possible to see everything worth seeing in one day, on foot. And the glass doors inside the National Museum of History and Art are so spotlessly clean that they are rendered invisible (as evidenced by the bump on my forehead after walking full-speed into one of said doors. I'm sure someone has already leaked the security-camera footage to YouTube. Look for me in the 2013 Ultimate Girls Fail Compilation video).<br />
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It took about three and a half hours to get to Luxembourg from Bonn by train. We lucked out with cheap tickets that cost 18 euros each way thanks to the fact that the German rail system charges less for tickets the further in advance you book them. This rewards good planning but penalizes spontaneity. The trains ran on time on the way there but were delayed on the way back, which is consistent with my experience that German trains run on time only about 50 per cent of the time (German trains are not reliable or efficient. Do not believe the hype).<br />
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The train ride itself was uneventful, expect for the group of drunken soccer fans we met on the Koblenz platform when transferring to Trier. They were drinking beer and screaming soccer chants on their way to a game at 7:45 <i>in the morning</i>. I don't follow soccer but I know when a game is being played in Cologne or Dortmund because those are the days the trains are packed with police officers to keep the hooligans under control. It's not fun sharing a train with drunk soccer fans. They smoke on the train, they drink on the train and they're loud, boorish and aggressive. They block the aisles with cases of beer and they stand ready to fight at the slightest provocation. I always feel like there's about two inches between my face and a wayward fist when there's a soccer game on. Public drunkenness is also pervasive in Japan but it's a quieter, gentler kind of public drunkenness, especially on the trains where the only danger is a salaryman soundlessly falling asleep on your shoulder.<br />
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The other thing worth noting is that you don't need a passport while travelling between European countries by train. There are no border control officers because there are no borders. Or at least there are no borders that you can actually see. Not only are there no visible borders, there are no announcements to let you know you've left one country and entered another.<br />
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The first time I traveled from Germany to another country by train, I had expected the conductor to make an announcement like, "Ladies and gentlemen, we have just left Germany and have now entered Switzerland!" And then all the passengers would applaud and say things like, "Oooh! Awesome!" But this never happens. Europeans are not partial to North American enthusiasm. The only way to know you've crossed a border in Europe is through your cell phone, which immediately receives a text message when you cross a border to let you know how much it costs to make and receive calls in the new country. If you want to know when you've crossed the border, you just have to listen for the symphony of ringtones when everyone receives the same text message at the same time.<br />
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And that's all I have to say about Luxembourg (although, technically speaking, only two of the above eight paragraphs are actually about Luxembourg).<br />
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Sarah Marchildonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17604609825576716332noreply@blogger.com15tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8646612.post-12530476777920053142013-03-29T11:27:00.002-07:002013-03-29T11:27:53.851-07:00You may say I'm a dreamer but I'm not the only one<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<i>"Today we have not only an ecological crisis, we also have a kind of story crisis. That is to say there's something very wrong about the way that we understand who we are and our relationship with the earth." -- Continuum trailer</i><br />
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This is a film that needs to be made. This is a story that needs to be told. But best of all, this is a film that <i>will </i>be made because people believe it is a story worth telling.<br />
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<a href="http://www.planetarycollective.com/" target="_blank">Planetary Collective</a> has spent the past three years working on Continuum, a feature-length documentary that tells the story of our interconnection with each other, the planet and the universe. Back in February, they put the project on <a href="http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/planetary/planetary-collective-presents-continuum" target="_blank">Kickstarter</a> in an attempt to raise enough money to fund the final push through <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crowd_funding" target="_blank">crowd funding</a>. I watched the trailer, fell in love with the film and decided I had to back the project. If all that was needed to make Continuum happen was a little bit of money from a lot of people then I wanted to be one of those people.<br />
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I don't know what excites me more: the film itself or the way Kickstarter has the potential to revolutionize how creative projects get funded. It gives citizens the power to support projects they like and it gives the filmmakers, artists and musicians complete control over their projects. It's democratic, it's participatory and it's refreshingly real in an era of manufactured pop stars and Hollywood schlock. We get to help make something great happen and, in return, we get to be part of that greatness.<br />
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Here's how the filmmakers describe Continuum on their Kickstarter page:<br />
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"We are in the midst of an ecological crisis of an unprecedented scale, with implications not only for mankind's social, economic and political spheres, but for the life system of the planet as a whole.<br />
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One of the fundamental factors underlying this crisis is our worldview: the way we see the world around us and our relationships to each other, the planet, and the cosmos as a whole. Our worldview informs our values, behaviour, and way of life in such a way that some environmentalists have declared the environmental crisis to actually be a 'crisis of worldview'. One dominant feature of our ordinary worldview is the misperception that we are separate from each other and the greater systems we are embedded within.<br />
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CONTINUUM is a feature-length documentary that explores this sense of separation and its roots in language, perception and our evolution. The journey will take us from the first stirrings of life to the emergence of a global brain; from the complexity and wonder of a single plant cell to the emerging biomimetic technologies that are changing the way we build the future; and from the appearance of modern humans to the planetary crisis we face today."<br />
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The filmmakers hope the documentary "will change the way we think as a species -- to stop seeing ourselves as separate from each other, from the planet and the cosmos -- and inspire us to work together to transform our planetary crises."<br />
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I can't wait to see this film when it's finished. In the meantime, I highly recommend watching Planetary Collective's first short film <a href="http://vimeo.com/planetarycollective/overview" target="_blank">Overview</a> -- which explores the perspective-altering phenomenon that many astronauts experience after being in space.</div>
Sarah Marchildonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17604609825576716332noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8646612.post-36439777128413806592013-03-25T10:31:00.000-07:002013-03-25T10:31:46.505-07:00Hot off the press<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Back when I was a student at <a href="http://www.ges.kyoto-u.ac.jp/cyp/index.php?ml_lang=en" target="_blank">Kyoto University's Graduate School of Global Environmental Studies</a>, my professor created a newsletter to highlight some of the impressive work being done by faculty and students in our program.<br />
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It was a project I was excited to be a part of because the point of the thing was not to be some sort of self-serving, jargon-laden, grant-justifying puff piece. The point of the thing was to be a place where we could share our stories with the wider world -- to shine a light on action both on campus and in the larger community. It was born of a genuine desire to bring our stories beyond the confines of the conference circuit. To build a bridge between scientists and the public.<br />
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The newsletter's <a href="http://sansai.ges.kyoto-u.ac.jp/Pages/outside/SNLNo3_.pdf" target="_blank">third issue</a> is now online. Articles cover a wide range of topics, from a forum on how to green university campuses to the role of young people in international biodiversity negotiations to the growing youth movement against nuclear power in Japan. My professor asked me if she could include a condensed version of my blog post on the <a href="http://sarahmarchildon.blogspot.com/2013/01/deconstructing-doha_6.html" target="_blank">UN climate change conference in Doha</a> in the newest issue and I was happy to oblige.<br />
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It's not the most scintillating newsletter you'll ever read. But communication is a critical part of creating momentum for change and for that I salute it.</div>
Sarah Marchildonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17604609825576716332noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8646612.post-70120578457328453482013-03-23T09:29:00.000-07:002013-04-28T04:47:12.028-07:00Awesome Austria<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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I've been in Germany for exactly one year now and the novelty of being transported to another country, climate and/or geographical zone by train <i>still</i> hasn't worn off. The smallness of Europe and the extensiveness of its rail network continue to amaze.<br />
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I'm not sure how much longer I'll be here but before I leave I'd like to complete my quest to travel to all nine countries that share a border with Germany, preferably by train. It's not that I have a burning desire to visit Luxembourg or Poland. But I like the sense of accomplishment that comes from making lists and crossing things off them. I also like circuitous challenges. And I like taking the train. Visiting all nine border countries combines the best of all three. The tally so far: Six countries down, three to go. Austria is the latest country scratched off the list.<br />
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Not that crossing a conveniently located country off an arbitrary list was the only reason to go to Austria at the end of February. There were other reasons too. Like the Alps, a shitload of snow and a joint birthday celebration.<br />
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I had a two-point plan to celebrate my birthday at the end of February. Sergey, who shares the same birthday, had a zero-point plan; he was up for anything. I wanted to trade Bonn's dark, soggy lowlands for somewhere more sunny, snowy and mountainous while, at the same time, setting foot in another German-border-sharing country. Austria was the obvious choice. Having settled on Austria, the next step was to find a place that offered every winter sport you could think of but mostly cross-country skiing. If you type "where in Austria can you find a place that offers every winter sport you can think of but mostly cross-country skiing?" into a Google search, you will not find a match. But if you type "cross-country skiing in Austria" into a Google search, you will find a place called <a href="http://www.seefeld.com/en/aktivitaeten/winter/langlauf-biathlon" target="_blank">Seefeld in Tirol</a>.<br />
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Seefeld in Tirol claims to be the best place for cross-country skiing in all of Europe. Which seems like hyperbole but turns out to be fact. Seefeld in Tirol is located on a high plateau in the Austrian Alps with 279 km of groomed cross-country ski trails (154.3 km of trails for classic skiing and 124.7 km of trails for skate skiing). Basically it was a cross-country-skiing paradise. Which, for reasons I don't understand, seemed to attract a mostly older crowd. Like much older. Like 65+ older. If having an appreciation for silence and solitude on skis makes me old then so be it.<br />
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There were five villages within skiing distance so you could leave from Seefeld in the morning, ski all day, stop for lunch at one of the huts along the way, pop out in a different town and take the bus back. (Provided you didn't mind waiting for the bus, which ran only once an hour or sometimes not at all. But being in civilization, you could call a taxi to take you back.)<br />
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While skiing in Austria was incredibly beautiful, I wouldn't exactly call it a wilderness experience. The trails weaved in and out of forests but there were huts serving hot food and drinks every five kilometres or so. It was all very civilized. I especially enjoyed the complimentary blankets for coffee drinking.<br />
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Next weekend: A little trip to the little country of Luxembourg.</div>
Sarah Marchildonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17604609825576716332noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8646612.post-56031155243453019662013-02-26T13:20:00.000-08:002013-04-28T04:47:12.026-07:00Gone skiing<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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I'm heading to the Austrian Alps for a birthday bonanza of skiing, skating and snowshoeing! Back online next week.</div>
Sarah Marchildonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17604609825576716332noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8646612.post-3411971230616603572013-02-17T13:00:00.001-08:002013-04-28T04:47:12.022-07:00The end of the backyard ice rink?<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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This is not a story about hockey. Hockey is a game and this goes deeper than that. Strip hockey of its teams, its salaries, its sticks, its pucks, its rules and its regulations. Take all of that away and you are left with what makes hockey possible in the first place. This is a story about ice.<br />
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Ice is a part of our collective Canadian consciousness. When I think about the winters of my childhood, I think about the hours spent skating on the tiny ice rink my dad built in our backyard. It was a simple bit of engineering with magical results.<br />
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My dad would wait until mid-December for temperatures to drop. After enough snow had fallen, he would clear an area of the backyard and use the snow to make banks around the rink. He repeatedly sprinkled water on the sides of the banks and on the edge of the grass in order to seal the area around the edges so that the water wouldn't leak out. After it had been cold enough for the ground to freeze, he used a hose to build up a base of ice.<br />
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Once we had a couple of inches of ice, he would "Zamboni" it by filling a large pail with warm water and flooding the rink. The warm water melted the surface and filled in all of the cuts from earlier skating. It probably took a week or two, depending on the weather, to create a good surface. Of course, thaws and rain would melt the rink but my dad would rebuild it as soon as it got cold again.<br />
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I couldn't get enough of that backyard rink. I would skate every day after school and go back out again after dinner. The sound the edge of the blade makes when it scrapes across the ice is etched into my bones.<br />
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The backyard ice rink is part of our narrative. But for how much longer? Will future generations of Canadian children be able to skate on homemade outdoor rinks or will it be a story we tell them about the way things used to be?<br />
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Climate change is transforming the world as we know it. This is not an exaggeration; this is a fact. Research shows that Canada's average winter temperature has increased 2.5 degrees Celsius in the past 70 years. According to Environment Canada, last year was the <a href="http://www.ec.gc.ca/adsc-cmda/default.asp?lang=en&n=8C03D32A-1" target="_blank">third-warmest winter</a> in Canadian history.<br />
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Scientists in Montreal were the first to connect the dots between climate change and a shorter outdoor skating season. They looked at data from weather stations across Canada during the last 50 years and extrapolated that "at current rates, within four decades there will be very little to no outdoor natural skating in Canada with the exception of Winnipeg."<br />
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This prompted a group of geographers at Wilfrid Laurier University to create <a href="http://www.rinkwatch.org/" target="_blank">RinkWatch</a>, a website where users can enter information about their rink's skate-ability and where researchers can track climate change. Associate professor Robert McLeman is hoping this will help people better understand large-scale environmental issues by placing them in their own backyard.<br />
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As he told the <a href="http://www.ottawacitizen.com/travel/Backyard%20rinks%20tapped%20help%20gauge%20global%20warming/7793410/story.html" target="_blank">Ottawa Citizen</a>, "When you talk about climate change and global warming, it's one of those big-picture ideas that people have trouble relating to on a personal or individual basis, so we thought, let's get kids and families to collect data about outdoor skating and use that as a bridge to pull them into citizen-engaged science."<br />
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It's great to see scientists who understand the importance of getting the public involved in their work. They're not just working to address climate change, they're working to make it matter to all of us. It's about making us less complacent by making us care.</div>
Sarah Marchildonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17604609825576716332noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8646612.post-28619121329606492792013-01-27T09:36:00.000-08:002013-04-28T04:47:12.020-07:00Cross-country ski porn<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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A modern twist on the old adage could go like this: if something seems too good to be true, it probably is, especially if you found it on the internet.<br />
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A search for a place to go cross-country skiing near Bonn last week turned up disappointing results. Most trails were closed because of a lack of snow and the few places that were open didn't rent skis. It wasn't looking good. And then, a few pages into the search results, an <a href="http://www.slv-ernstberg.de/48/Ski-Langlauf-Zentrum.html" target="_blank">obscure website</a> popped up promising snow, trails and rentals a little more than an hour drive southwest of Bonn. Not only that but it claimed to have a hut with a wood-burning stove and volunteer staff serving up hot chocolate and home-made cake. It seemed too good to be true.<br />
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We headed out yesterday morning with low expectations -- the website was probably out-of-date, surely there wasn't enough snow to ski on. But the place was close enough that we figured it was worth driving down to check it out and maybe, just maybe, it would turn out to be as good as advertised.<br />
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After a white-knuckle ride on the German autobahn (where the "recommended" speed limit is 130 km per hour, which drivers in the left lane interpret as the minimum speed rather than the maximum speed making the whole experience more terrifying than exhilarating) we arrived in a winter wonderland.<br />
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Located inside <a href="http://www.nationalpark-eifel.de/go/eifel/english.html" target="_blank">Eifel National Park</a>, it seemed to have its own microclimate. A short hike through a snowy trail brought us to a hut in the middle of the woods where the use of the trails, skis, boots and poles for the day cost a total of nine euros. And taking a break to drink hot chocolate and eat home-made cake in front of the wood-burning stove in the hut? Indescribably good.<br />
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The trails went in and out of silent forests, and up, down and around <a href="http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ernstberg" target="_blank">Mt. Ernstberg</a> (which at 698 metres is more of a bump than a mountain). I could tell you more about it but I'll let my <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/hollywood_north/sets/72157632614187621/" target="_blank">photos</a> speak for themselves.<br />
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Sarah Marchildonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17604609825576716332noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8646612.post-11330308586986379882013-01-20T10:31:00.000-08:002013-04-28T04:47:12.013-07:00In defense of winter<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Poor winter. The least appreciated of the seasons, it is written off as a hardship to endure or something to escape from.<br />
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Winter is described in menacing terms -- bleak, desolate, frigid, dark. We are caught in its teeth, in winds that bite and in snow that blinds. I don't deny the accuracy of this description but instead of making my heart sink, it makes it sing. I love winter. Always have, always will. The colder and snowier it is, the happier I am.<br />
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I'm talking about real winter, of course. Not this rainy, grey non-season that passes for winter in Bonn. Real winter means months of below-zero temperatures and snow that stays on the ground and piles up higher and higher with every successive snowfall. Real winter turns lakes and canals into skating rinks. Real winter stings the nostrils and fuses eyelashes together.<br />
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There is no season more beautiful, more romantic and more magical than winter. I love the way snow softens edges and muffles sound. I love the silence and the solitude. I love the minimalist beauty of a world turned white, so completely still it feels like a painting. I love seeing roads, trees and houses covered in snow while walking home at night. I love warming up frozen toes in front of a fireplace. I love that winter makes it okay to do nothing and go nowhere -- the only season that makes anti-social behavior socially acceptable.<br />
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I haven't outgrown the childlike sense of wonder at waking up to see snow outside the window. It still thrills me. It brings back happy memories of building snowmen, barreling down a hill on a toboggan, skating on a square of frozen ice, cross-country skiing out the front door and generally just spending hours outside playing in the snow.<br />
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Up until last week, winter in Bonn has been grey, gloomy, rainy and warm. While some people were fantasizing about flying south, I was seriously contemplating a trip to northern Norway to get my fix of real winter. I'd take the aurora borealis over a tropical beach any day.<br />
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But then something wonderful happened; it started snowing and it hasn't stopped. The temperatures have been below zero every day since Tuesday. Real winter has finally arrived in Bonn. And I couldn't be happier.</div>
Sarah Marchildonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17604609825576716332noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8646612.post-40301656428762993692013-01-06T06:00:00.000-08:002013-01-06T08:25:06.672-08:00Deconstructing Doha<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Two words come to mind when reflecting on the United Nations climate change conference in Doha: cognitive dissonance. We talk about the need to address climate change and yet we continue to burn fossil fuels like there's no tomorrow. This dissonance -- the inconsistency between what we know and how we behave -- was on full display in Doha.<br />
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Not that anyone expected Doha to raise ambition on climate change. Before it even began, Doha was only always seen as a "transitional" conference. It was about moving forward on a new agreement by 2015 that will require both developed and developing countries to cut their emissions. It was about making progress on a commitment to channel $100 billion to developing countries every year by 2020 (although no clarity was provided in the end).<br />
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It was also about launching a second commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol, which ends in 2020 (when the new agreement comes into force). But without Russia, Canada, Japan and New Zealand on board, the second commitment period covers just 15 per cent of global greenhouse gas emissions. That leaves us with a Kyoto Protocol that is more symbolic than significant.<br />
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The negotiations are starting to feel like a car stuck in a snow bank -- the wheels spin and spin but fail to gain traction.<br />
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The conference ended with a package of decisions called the <a href="http://unfccc.int/files/press/press_releases_advisories/application/pdf/pr20120812_cop18_close.pdf" target="_blank">Doha Climate Gateway</a>, which at the micro level contains markers of progress but at the macro level reflects the low level of ambition and the lack of real movement that have hampered these talks for the past 20 years.<br />
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Despite closing with a weak outcome that all countries decided they could live with but that no countries were particularly happy about, the conference was applauded as a success. Not that "success" means much in international climate change negotiations these days; the word has become as gelatinous as jellyfish. Success no longer means that something monumental was achieved; success now means that the conference didn't collapse.<br />
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In the end, the Doha conference achieved what it set out to do. There was progress for the process but action on the ground is happening at a pace far too slow to get us to where we need to go. And so the <a href="http://www.rtcc.org/governments-extending-%E2%80%9Cemissions-gap%E2%80%9D-between-climate-policy-and-2%C2%B0c-target/" target="_blank">gap</a> between what countries have promised to do to reduce emissions and the growing concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere continues to widen.<br />
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<b>A record-breaking year for climate change</b></h3>
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Outside the conference walls, 2012 was a record-breaking year for climate change. November was the <a href="http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/sotc/" target="_blank">333rd consecutive month</a> with a global temperature above the 20th century average. The first 10 months of 2012 were the <a href="http://www.wmo.int/pages/mediacentre/press_releases/index_en.html" target="_blank">ninth-warmest</a> since records began. The volume of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere reached a <a href="http://www.wmo.int/pages/mediacentre/press_releases/documents/GHG_Bulletin_No.8_en.pdf" target="_blank">record high</a> and Arctic sea ice shrank to a <a href="http://www.nasa.gov/topics/earth/features/2012-seaicemin.html" target="_blank">record low</a>.<br />
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Hurricane Sandy devastated parts of the Caribbean and the U.S. East Coast. Typhoon Bopha killed more than 1,000 people in the Philippines and left 300,000 people homeless. And in case this wasn't evidence enough, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) released a <a href="http://www.rtcc.org/ipcc-confirms-link-between-climate-change-and-extreme-weather/" target="_blank">report</a> that found extreme weather events could become more likely, more frequent and more extreme with worsening climate change.<br />
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The climate is changing but politics remains still. Every year that we don't deal with climate change, the problem just gets worse and worse. And at a certain point, it will be too late to fix it. There will be too many emissions in the atmosphere and no way back to a world that isn't buffeted by uncontrollable, catastrophic climate change.<br />
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U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon <a href="http://www.un.org/sg/statements/index.asp?nid=6482" target="_blank">spoke frankly</a> in Doha: "The danger signs are all around. One-third of the world's population lives in countries with moderate to high water stress; land degradation affects 1.5 billion people. Ice caps are showing unprecedented melting, permafrost is thawing, sea levels are rising. The abnormal is now the new normal."<br />
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<h3 style="text-align: left;">
<b>Two degrees: still possible or too late?</b></h3>
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The world's leading scientists have been telling us increases in global temperatures must be kept to no more than two degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels to avoid the worst consequences of climate change. In order to limit temperature rise to two degrees, the IPCC warns that global emissions have to peak by 2015 and then drop to 50 per cent below 1990 levels by 2050.<br />
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But the <a href="http://www.tyndall.ac.uk/" target="_blank">Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research</a> suggests that two degrees is no longer the threshold between "acceptable" and "dangerous" risks but between "dangerous" and "very dangerous" climate change. Scientists there are looking at 1.5 degrees as a safer target. That means cutting global emissions at least 85 per cent below 1990 levels by 2050.<br />
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We're not making much headway on that front. According to the United Nations Environment Programme, the <a href="http://www.unep.org/publications/ebooks/emissionsgap2012/" target="_blank">gigatonne gap</a> between where global emissions need to go by 2020 and where they are actually going has widened over the last year. It suggests that annual global emissions should be reduced to at least 44 gigatonnes by 2020 in order to have a good chance of meeting the two-degree target. However, emissions were at about 50 gigatonnes in 2010, and they are <a href="http://www.unep.org/newscentre/Default.aspx?DocumentID=2698&ArticleID=9335&l=en" target="_blank">projected to rise</a> to about 58 gigatonnes by 2020.<br />
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Although Doha launched the second commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol, the commitments that have been made are far too weak to actually achieve the target of keeping global temperature increase below two degrees Celsius. The IPCC suggested that developed countries should reduce their emissions by at least 25 to 40 per cent below 1990 levels by 2020 but <a href="http://unfccc.int/resource/docs/2012/cmp8/eng/l09.pdf" target="_blank">current commitments</a> add up to 18 per cent below 1990 levels by 2020 -- far below the range suggested by the IPCC.<br />
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Governments are aware that climate change comes with a time limit and that the window to stabilize global temperatures is closing. The Doha agreements note with "grave concern" the widening gap between what countries have promised to do to reduce emissions and the growing concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. Countries also stated an intention to "identify and explore in 2013 options for a range of actions to close the pre-2020 ambition gap."<br />
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But several reports seem to be abandoning hope of keeping to the two-degree limit. The UK government's scientific advisor says the target is "<a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-19348194" target="_blank">out the window</a>." A study published in Nature Geosciences finds temperatures could rise by as much as <a href="http://www.rtcc.org/world-could-see-3-degree-warming-by-2050/" target="_blank">three degrees</a> Celsius by 2050. (To put it into context, the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stern_Review" target="_blank">Stern Review</a> on the Economics of Climate Change predicts that a rise of three degrees would mean 550 million more people would be at risk of hunger, 170 million could suffer coastal flooding and nearly half the world's species could face extinction.)<br />
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In November, the World Bank warned the planet is on course to warm <a href="http://www.worldbank.org/en/news/2012/11/18/new-report-examines-risks-of-degree-hotter-world-by-end-of-century" target="_blank">four degrees</a> Celsius by 2100 unless urgent action is taken to address climate change. In the report's foreword, Dr. Jim Yong Kim, the new leader of the World Bank, <a href="http://climatechange.worldbank.org/sites/default/files/Turn_Down_the_heat_Why_a_4_degree_centrigrade_warmer_world_must_be_avoided.pdf" target="_blank">writes</a> "It is my hope that this report shocks us into action."<br />
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<b>What happens next?</b></h3>
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This is the big question: what happens next? Will negotiations during the next three years actually result in real emission reductions or will it be too little, too late?<br />
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It's easy to feel pessimistic about international negotiations on climate change. Each meeting seems to follow the same pattern: all talk, no action. World governments have been talking about climate change for 20 years with very little progress. Trying to get 194 countries to move together in the same direction on climate change feels less like building consensus and more like herding cats.<br />
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Part of the problem is that negotiations are complicated by fundamental differences of positions, which have yet to be resolved. Countries will have to find a way to work through several key differences, including differences of historical responsibility, differences in development and differences in geographic vulnerability to climate change. International cooperation on deeper emission cuts will be impossible unless these differences can be resolved. After two decades, the split between developed countries and developing countries continues to fracture climate talks.<br />
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The 1997 Kyoto Protocol enshrined a division between developed countries (which were required to cut emissions) and developing countries (which were not). This principle of "<a href="http://unfccc.int/essential_background/convention/background/items/1355.php" target="_blank">common but differentiated responsibilities</a>" compels developed countries, which were historically responsible for pumping the majority of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, to take the lead in reducing emissions while providing financial and technological support to developing countries. But the world in 2013 is a much different place than it was when the Kyoto Protocol was being negotiated. Back then, China was classified as a developing country. Now it is the <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2012/dec/08/doha-climate-change-deal-nations" target="_blank">world's biggest emitter</a> and will soon overtake the U.S. as the biggest economy. As a result, developed countries are insisting that developing countries take on commitments too.<br />
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The changing structure of the world's economy was front and centre at the Durban climate change conference in 2011, where countries <a href="http://unfccc.int/files/meetings/durban_nov_2011/decisions/application/pdf/cop17_durbanplatform.pdf" target="_blank">agreed</a> "to develop a protocol, another legal instrument or an agreed outcome with legal force under the Convention applicable to all Parties" (to be negotiated by 2015 and come into effect from 2020 onwards). The key sticking point is what <i>applicable to all</i> will mean in the new agreement. In Doha, countries argued about whether or not the Convention principles, especially the principle of common but differentiated responsibilities, should be at the core of the new agreement. They will somehow need to resolve this issue within the next three years.<br />
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Still, it is impossible to ignore what Lord Nicholas Stern has called the "<a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2012/dec/04/lord-stern-developing-countries-deeper-emissions-cuts" target="_blank">brutal arithmetic</a>" -- the fact that action by all countries will be necessary to hold global temperature increase below two degrees.<br />
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"His new research shows that even if developed countries cut their emissions to zero, that would not be enough to halt runaway climate change -- because emissions from rapidly industrialising economies are now so high. Greenhouse gases from emerging economies -- such as China, South Korea and India, that have industrialised rapidly in the past two decades -- now make up the bulk of the world's carbon emissions," reports the Guardian.<br />
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The negotiations leading up to 2015 will likely be complex, difficult and fraught with animosity, especially if developed and developing countries refuse to move beyond their entrenched positions. It's not clear if the 2015 agreement will keep climate change below two degrees Celsius because this would require steep cuts in emissions by both developed and developing countries, starting almost immediately.<br />
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The glimmer of hope in all of this is that if governments decide they want to raise the level of ambition on climate change, the new agreement can be a tool to set us on course. Governments can, theoretically, design the new agreement to match up with the deep emission cuts the IPCC indicates are necessary to avoid the worst consequences of climate change. The negotiations between now and 2015 will determine if we are serious about solving climate change or not. It's what happens next that really matters.<br />
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<h3 style="text-align: left;">
<b>The unreality of reality</b></h3>
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It's worth mentioning what it's actually like to be at one of these United Nations climate change conferences. The Economist described the meetings as a "theatre of the absurd" (an incisive observation that could be equally applied to the opulent Qatar National Convention Centre where Swarovski chandeliers dripped from the ceiling -- all of it paid for by the world's unquenchable thirst for Middle East oil).<br />
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Since 1995, representatives of countries from around the world have gathered at the annual Conference of the Parties to hammer out the details of international action on climate change. For two weeks each year, thousands of negotiators, politicians, heads of state, journalists, celebrities, business leaders, academics, youth activists and environmentalists converge in a frenzy of activity.<br />
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Because there are so many high-profile people in one place, security is always a concern. Passing your bag through an X-ray machine and walking through a metal detector become as much a part of your daily routine as brushing your teeth. The security checkpoints, scanners, X-ray machines, fences and road closures make you feel as if you are entering a gigantic hermetically sealed bubble when you walk through the conference doors. And, in a way, you are. You are entering a universe unto itself with a language unto itself. Everyone at the conference speaks in abbreviations: CDM, JI, REDD, SBSTA, SBI, AWG-KP, AWG-LCA. The numbingly dull list goes on and on (and we wonder why we're not winning the hearts and minds of the general public).<br />
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Comic relief is provided by the small contingent of oddballs that always turns up at these conferences -- like climate skeptic Lord Monckton, whose modus operandi is <a href="http://www.wakeup2thelies.com/2011/12/03/lord-monckton-say-hes-at-cop17-to-stop-the-marxists-wet-dream-that-is-global-totalitarian-dictatorship/" target="_blank">stopping the Marxists' wet dream of global totalitarian dictatorship</a>. His self-aggrandizing blather has become so legendary that panelists no longer give him the floor during press briefings or at side events. So he decided to don a disguise in Doha, showing up at a press conference wearing an Arabic white gown and head cover. A few days later, he sat at an empty chair in the main plenary, impersonating a delegate from Myanmar to address the conference floor. He managed to give a short speech denying the reality of climate change before the President of the conference realized who he was and cut him off. Lord Monckton was escorted from the building and given a lifetime ban from attending U.N. climate change conferences. (It makes me a little sad to think we'll never see his antics again.)<br />
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<h3 style="text-align: left;">
<b>A surreal location for a climate change conference</b></h3>
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Qatar was a surreal location for a climate change conference. Or maybe -- as a living example of what growth at any cost looks like -- it was the perfect place for a climate change conference.<br />
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Qatar has the world's highest per capita carbon emissions. Which is not surprising when you consider it burns fuel to desalinate seawater, builds golf courses in the desert and cranks the air-conditioning to the max. Doha is what happens when you build a city in the middle of a desert with no thought to the environment (or <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_rights_in_Qatar" target="_blank">human rights</a>, for that matter).<br />
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The city is designed for cars. The roads are wide. No one walks anywhere. Sometimes there are sidewalks, sometimes not. Going for a walk is like interval training -- you alternate walking with bursts of sprinting across six lanes of traffic. The only form of public transport is taxis. There's not a cloud in the sky and yet there's not a single solar panel in sight. Doha's half-empty skyscrapers, luxury hotels and vast shopping malls were built by oil wealth -- the same oil that is accelerating the pace of climate change.<br />
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<h3 style="text-align: left;">
<b>Action already underway</b></h3>
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There is a tendency to despair after coming home from these climate change conferences. I'm left vacillating between idealism and cynicism. Hearing about action already underway inspires me; seeing the low level of political ambition on display depresses me. But I recognize the importance of staying away from the extreme end of idealism (the naive and infantile kind of thinking that presumes people are inherently good or will choose to do the right thing) and the extreme end of cynicism (the negative and defeatist kind of thinking that constantly says "that's unrealistic").<br />
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There's a quote from a <a href="http://www.up.edu/commencement/default.aspx?cid=9456" target="_blank">speech</a> that keeps me hopeful: "When asked if I am pessimistic or optimistic about the future, my answer is always the same: If you look at the science about what is happening on earth and aren't pessimistic, you don't understand the data. But if you meet the people who are working to restore this earth and the lives of the poor, and you aren't optimistic, you haven't got a pulse."<br />
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I met many people in Doha working hard to make a difference. But the ones who impressed me the most were the young people. They were a reminder that action on climate change is already underway, that young people everywhere are working to reconstitute the world.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgf6vVwGGl4mXSkLcQYVoBrS8fmvBG3f5cMrWaScT5Lo3BMdhx3ziPLhKauQS6KYtYdzJ_-R-8Ypo2lXQcaaZfBo2v6JGx-fB7hXE5VBE_kTM-9vbAso19IKY8ssSRvMF6wZUmmMA/s1600/doha+-+asian+youth.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgf6vVwGGl4mXSkLcQYVoBrS8fmvBG3f5cMrWaScT5Lo3BMdhx3ziPLhKauQS6KYtYdzJ_-R-8Ypo2lXQcaaZfBo2v6JGx-fB7hXE5VBE_kTM-9vbAso19IKY8ssSRvMF6wZUmmMA/s400/doha+-+asian+youth.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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I met Reuben Makomere and Kennedy Liti Mbeva -- two Kenyan youth delegates who voluntarily created a <a href="http://www.scribd.com/doc/115293662/My-Little-COP-PocketBook" target="_blank">jargon-free guide</a> to the UNFCCC process to help young people better understand the negotiations.<br />
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I met a group of young women from the World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts who teamed up with Greenpeace to send a Girl Guide from Ghana and a Girl Scout from Peru to the Arctic on an icebreaker ship. They witnessed new scientific research into ice thinning, and are now asking the world to protect the Arctic region.<br />
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I met three Japanese students from Doshisha University who explained how their university has been nationally recognized for its efforts to reduce carbon emissions on campus. Some of these efforts include setting the air conditioning at 28 degrees Celsius in summer and 22 degrees Celsius in winter, replacing energy inefficient light bulbs with LED lights and installing solar panels.<br />
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The examples go on and on. If I listed all of the brilliant work young people, NGOs, universities and local governments are doing to curb climate change, I could fill a book.<br />
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<h3 style="text-align: left;">
<b>Conclusion</b></h3>
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If we want to shift the level of ambition and political will that countries bring to the international negotiating table, we need to ramp up public concern on climate change. Without public pressure for strong action, countries will be able to continue to push for weak targets at international climate negotiations. Ministers will be able to return home from these meetings and ignore the problem until the next summit. Without this mutual reinforcement, international negotiations will continue to go nowhere and emissions will continue to rise.<br />
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Although the U.N. process is the centre of international engagement, "<a href="http://www.ipsnews.net/2012/12/op-ed-a-universal-climate-change-agreement-is-necessary-and-possible/" target="_blank">it is not the circumference of action on climate change</a>." The fight to protect the climate doesn't begin and end at these conferences; it happens at home. The more we demand fundamental changes, the more space political and business leaders will have to act.<br />
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Or as George Monbiot <a href="http://www.monbiot.com/2012/12/31/annus-horribilis/" target="_blank">put it</a>: "Governments care only as much as their citizens force them to care. Nothing changes unless we change."<br />
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So how do we change? How do we create a groundswell of support for renewable energy and sustainable growth? I think it's worth repeating what I <a href="http://sarahmarchildon.blogspot.de/2011/11/forward.html" target="_blank">wrote before</a> about the four things most social movements tend to share in common:<br />
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1. Action. If you want to influence other people, you need to back up your words with action. It's not about being dogmatic or demanding. It's about being the change you want to see in the world.<br />
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2. Communication. Share your ideas. If 10 people share their idea with 10 other people, they will reach 100 people. If 100 people share their idea with 10 other people, they will reach 1,000 people. If 1,000 people share their idea with 10 other people, they will reach 10,000 people. Ideas can spread exponentially, so start spreading them.<br />
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3. Organization. Slavery in America ended because people organized. The Berlin Wall came down because people organized. The Arab Spring spread across the Middle East because people organized. People need to come together to make their voices heard.<br />
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4. Long-term commitment. Urgency does not mean panic. It means continuous, patient action to change the world.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhh9UObo7obD9u0fJ4GkEmJcPy1IrZ8cIJtWXzObqYqYZ73o7w5-FYtwU_mulQ2SfXhZNUDHudzz_rKkDXu-NnId-68FbiarEHNRVY6M55CIJv1XztcsCa929nG0XLotKw0FZItow/s1600/doha-+youth+action.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhh9UObo7obD9u0fJ4GkEmJcPy1IrZ8cIJtWXzObqYqYZ73o7w5-FYtwU_mulQ2SfXhZNUDHudzz_rKkDXu-NnId-68FbiarEHNRVY6M55CIJv1XztcsCa929nG0XLotKw0FZItow/s400/doha-+youth+action.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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It's easy to blame political leaders for the failure to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. But the problem goes deeper than that -- there is very little being done to address the root cause of climate change. And while it's true that climate change is caused by increased concentrations of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, that's only part of the story. The climate crisis is also a crisis of worldview.<br />
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We don't live in an infinite world and yet we act as if we do. We act as if the ocean will never run out of fish or as if the ground will never run out of oil. During the past 250 years, human beings have altered the planet more rapidly than any other period in history. We have consumed resources faster than they can regenerate. We have driven thousands of plants and animals to extinction. The science is clear: a major shift in our consumption and production patterns is needed in order to live within the constraints of the natural systems that support us.<br />
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It's time to break the cycle of cognitive dissonance that allows us to talk about the need to address climate change while we continue to burn fossil fuels like there's no tomorrow.<br />
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<i>Disclaimer: The views expressed herein are my own and do not necessarily reflect the views of the UNFCCC.</i><br />
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Sarah Marchildonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17604609825576716332noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8646612.post-36992592880224636242012-12-24T09:06:00.001-08:002012-12-24T10:12:04.351-08:00Merry Christmas (or "Frohe Weihnachten" as it's called in these parts)<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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I won't be home for Christmas. I'm spending the holidays in Bonn. This is my first Western-style Christmas in four years (Christmas in Japan is all about <a href="http://sarahmarchildon.blogspot.de/2008/12/sex-chicken-christmas-in-japan.html" target="_blank">eating fried chicken and having sex</a>).<br />
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Christmas in Germany is almost exactly like Christmas in Canada. There are lights and trees and tinsel and caroling. There are cheesy ads on TV and seasonal songs in all the stores. All that's missing is freezing temperatures and heavy snow. But what rainy Bonn lacks in wintery atmosphere, it makes up for in Glühwein.<br />
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Every December, Christmas markets spring up in city centres across Germany for three full weeks. The markets are composed of dozens of wooden huts selling various things. There are a few stalls selling things that could be wrapped and put under a Christmas tree but most of the stalls are geared toward the more hedonistic side of the season -- selling Glühwein (hot, mulled wine) and wurst (I'm not a fan but people here seem to like it. Back home, they'd also sell tofu-dogs alongside the meat variety but that's a trend that hasn't yet caught on in Germany.)<br />
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Judging by the amount of vomit on the sidewalks and on the tram, people seem to really enjoy the Glühwein. I had my first taste of Glühwein last weekend and I have to say there is something intensely satisfying about a hot cup of spiced wine on a cold winter night.<br />
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Anyway, wishing you a merry Christmas (and a very happy whatever it is you do or don't celebrate this time of year)!<br />
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Sarah Marchildonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17604609825576716332noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8646612.post-27327404236942986292012-11-04T08:42:00.000-08:002012-11-04T08:42:31.950-08:00Weekend in Prague<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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It takes time to really get to know a place. To peel back layer after layer to get to the core of what makes it tick. You have to live there, work there, learn the language and make friends in order to really understand it. Travelling through a place only gives you enough time to explore its first layer -- what the buildings look like, what the food tastes like and what the general atmosphere feels like. But if you only have time to skim the surface then you might as well do it in a place like Prague with its awe-inspiring skyline of castles, cathedrals, towers and domes.<br />
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Three days in Prague is exactly enough time to soak in the atmosphere. Simply walking through the city's narrow lanes is a magical experience. There's something inherently romantic about a narrow street with cobblestones underfoot and church spires overhead. A narrow street is cozy and intimate, built for people rather than cars. That it snowed while we were there only served to make an already beautiful city even more beautiful.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtWFfAfRLBDXZlIIi_wnExUD5qBxFTsAyEBkjZXbKwwk-kI0wz43VSwXVeMNhaRQCgte69Oan-o1fHsGZifogUXtXH-9gbKDRz-yNQh6psHEKjjm5n6hEyso1-mjdMXPJ8TJk5Lw/s1600/prague+snow.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtWFfAfRLBDXZlIIi_wnExUD5qBxFTsAyEBkjZXbKwwk-kI0wz43VSwXVeMNhaRQCgte69Oan-o1fHsGZifogUXtXH-9gbKDRz-yNQh6psHEKjjm5n6hEyso1-mjdMXPJ8TJk5Lw/s400/prague+snow.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Snow makes everything beautiful</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Snow on the Charles Bridge</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Inside the castle</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">My feet were warm and dry all weekend thanks to the plastic bags</td></tr>
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Of course, Prague also has a sinister side. I came prepared to get ripped off after a Slovakian colleague who lived in Prague for 18 years filled my head with stories about criminals who took over the city after the fall of communism. The switch to a market economy gave rise to an enterprising new industry that existed solely to rip off tourists. Cab drivers, hotel owners, restaurant owners and pickpockets were all in on the scam. (I'm told it's not nearly as bad today as it used to be.)<br />
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I'm happy to report that Sergey and I didn't get robbed or ripped off. The only halfway shady thing that happened was when a guy appeared out of thin air, sidled up next to us and asked, "Change?" (Meaning, did we want to exchange our money on the street? We did not.) And we were taken for a bit of a ride when we arrived in Prague to find our hotel reservation had been mysteriously cancelled, forcing us to find last-minute accommodations. We spent our first hour in Prague at an internet cafe where we booked another hotel room online. But when we went to the hotel to check in, we were told it was fully booked. They kept the money and sent us to another hotel under the same management, assuring us the rooms were the same price (they weren't). That was as bad as it got, which wasn't bad at all.<br />
<br />
Still, it's easy to see how con artists can thrive in a place like Prague. The city was packed with tourists. We heard people speaking Russian, German, Japanese, Korean, Italian, Spanish and English. Every language except Czech. In the historic centre, it seemed every second shop was selling tacky souvenirs (hats stitched with the word Prague, t-shirts stamped with idiotic sayings like "Czech me out!" and all sorts of useless crap). There were so many tour groups that you could join one for a few minutes to listen to the tour guide explain a few interesting facts and then move on. Sometimes you found yourself tacked on to the back end of a tour group whether or not you wanted to be. Although simply following the stream of tourists proved to be helpful in the absence of a guidebook.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGRx8uPFmAk3EtGq1X0zbq1wV1MFFP45OF8Pbjk2X3m5B01KcHxXFYozAxnZB3ub6lrEuFEN4-XyW7Lzutxb_Wid9vXPE2tNumy1FOHArhWT9B2IaEaOYrecGYkPY0qLhAyTKzHw/s1600/prague+people.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGRx8uPFmAk3EtGq1X0zbq1wV1MFFP45OF8Pbjk2X3m5B01KcHxXFYozAxnZB3ub6lrEuFEN4-XyW7Lzutxb_Wid9vXPE2tNumy1FOHArhWT9B2IaEaOYrecGYkPY0qLhAyTKzHw/s400/prague+people.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Tourists as far as the eye can see</td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjK_Fl3gszRYO4-TQ0yYxxEq06ngDoLIcUlqauiAfm9ZaCnoZwEBqPHEV30osgxo7s8_YBC3MeNRRAtYbGG_OCzCrIt_m1ekIEBXZ4nV2uUROs6TfAG8HMTyAX-mhq8O43SuEy0Gw/s1600/prague+me+square.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjK_Fl3gszRYO4-TQ0yYxxEq06ngDoLIcUlqauiAfm9ZaCnoZwEBqPHEV30osgxo7s8_YBC3MeNRRAtYbGG_OCzCrIt_m1ekIEBXZ4nV2uUROs6TfAG8HMTyAX-mhq8O43SuEy0Gw/s400/prague+me+square.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">One more tourist in the crowd</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
Taking the overnight train to Prague was an adventure in itself. It takes about 12 hours to get from Bonn to Prague by overnight train. Much slower than flying but way more glamorous. I love the idea of long-distance train travel. It harkens back to a bygone era of rail travel -- gourmet meals in the wood-paneled dining car, piano music in the gold-trimmed lounge car and white-gloved crew members serving up champagne in plush, private cabins. (I've never actually experienced this kind of train travel but I'm nostalgic for it nonetheless.)<br />
<br />
Our train ride was the opposite of that. There was no dining car, no white-glove treatment and the only music we heard was the snoring of other passengers. I was looking forward to being rocked to sleep by the rhythm of the rails in my cozy berth but was kept up all night by people getting off and on the train at different stops.<br />
<br />
We booked the second-class couchette car on the City Night Line train. Each compartment on the couchette car is the size of a closet with six bunks stacked three deep on each side.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZ1mle1WVFbXrqS2BYEBiLupVJzq47AScbopcuJfgcjmkMSdl_xdU4S5tbWYlZ7ChYPdjL3kDe1jQIiRDM40K4mgSFu_9DUjC7mDWRD4HXmHTqHQahIemYNWeGo-DRYnm_TPHTvQ/s1600/prague+train+cabin.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZ1mle1WVFbXrqS2BYEBiLupVJzq47AScbopcuJfgcjmkMSdl_xdU4S5tbWYlZ7ChYPdjL3kDe1jQIiRDM40K4mgSFu_9DUjC7mDWRD4HXmHTqHQahIemYNWeGo-DRYnm_TPHTvQ/s400/prague+train+cabin.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Our hot and sweaty (but not in a good way) compartment</td></tr>
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<br />
The train attendants bang on your compartment door 20 minutes before your stop, which is a great way to avoid missing your stop but not so great when you're sharing a compartment with travelers getting off the train at 4 a.m. The compartments were hot and stuffy. The train attendant told us to keep the door to our compartment closed because of the bandits who jump on the train at different stops, steal bags, pull the emergency brake and jump out the window.<br />
<br />
Still, it was nice to see the sunrise from inside the train and to arrive in Prague as the city was waking up.<br />
<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1qx-ScbPvla6JmaEU_1izIwQjV169exXjRwXHhurz9ujGAwgz_XKoCEiiI8Y5An2lZDw-mmiEE7e6soiuP64-mOcrw74ktw4FvMnxG2qyOAc9p3m69Q8CVhKqndzjr20aeoxjhQ/s1600/prague+view+from+train.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1qx-ScbPvla6JmaEU_1izIwQjV169exXjRwXHhurz9ujGAwgz_XKoCEiiI8Y5An2lZDw-mmiEE7e6soiuP64-mOcrw74ktw4FvMnxG2qyOAc9p3m69Q8CVhKqndzjr20aeoxjhQ/s400/prague+view+from+train.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Watching the sun rise from inside the train</td></tr>
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Sarah Marchildonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17604609825576716332noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8646612.post-31060437906657827752012-10-24T12:19:00.000-07:002012-10-24T12:19:04.648-07:00Living in Germany: The good, the bad and the weird<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEja6Hpr3cJmn3PIFnAUz_W_MCCM1nZc-uXW_H_14kcIoM90taZ_g3rsyJ52VmH5lb8NLlqI2RYm_EIoG_xEQFl5GVKcONMOKoa6fkvdBQaJmp7YmBMmn3LuDftB8esUyPVMNb8kSw/s1600/germany-bike-lights.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEja6Hpr3cJmn3PIFnAUz_W_MCCM1nZc-uXW_H_14kcIoM90taZ_g3rsyJ52VmH5lb8NLlqI2RYm_EIoG_xEQFl5GVKcONMOKoa6fkvdBQaJmp7YmBMmn3LuDftB8esUyPVMNb8kSw/s400/germany-bike-lights.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Cyclists in Bonn get their own little traffic lights. How cute is that?</td></tr>
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<br />
There are many things about living in Germany that strike me as weird or wonderful. Here are a few of them.<br />
<br />
<b>Naked swimming</b><br />
Public swimming pools in Bonn are pretty much like public swimming pools in the rest of the world. Except that public swimming pools in Bonn have naked days. The first Sunday of every month is known as Adam and Eve day and wearing a swimsuit is not an option. Go nude or go home.<br />
<br />
<b>Panic shopping on Saturday evening</b><br />
Nothing is open in Bonn on Sunday. All of the shops and all of the supermarkets shut down on Saturday evening and don't open again until Monday morning. So every Saturday evening, just before the stores close, a mad rush of people charge into the supermarkets to stock up on food and drinks for the rest of the weekend. Most supermarkets only have three check-out counters so the lines are long and the aisles are crowded and if you don't get there early enough all of the fresh stuff is long gone by 7 p.m.<br />
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<b>White asparagus. What's the point?</b><br />
White asparagus is mysteriously popular in Germany. When it's in season, grocery stores, restaurants and markets are bursting at the seams with white asparagus. Green asparagus is nowhere to be found. I have no idea why white asparagus is so popular and green asparagus so elusive. White asparagus doesn't taste as good as green asparagus and it's less nutritious (white asparagus is grown under thick mulch. Deprived of sunlight, it can't produce chlorophyll, which is why it is white not green).<br />
<br />
<b>Padded coffee</b><br />
Just like white asparagus, coffee pads are mysteriously popular in Germany. Germans class up their coffee by putting in into a pad and selling a machine whose sole purpose is to brew said pad. I had never heard of coffee pads until I moved to Germany. My apartment came with a coffee-pad machine and my German landlord (a huge, raving fan of coffee pads) taught me how to use it, telling me I'd never go back to freshly ground coffee again. Coffee pads aren't as delicious as fresh coffee but they get the job done quickly and the coffee isn't as bad as you'd think it would be.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinoJ1zmQ4BU5kTpHXmOzP6iyQTQEWHaljwSc4KdG9vYCgUQeGDV97_KduRTPwiISjrp5X32iDCG8jgj9GxuR1DZ7np_4lUHEQMihMhWnL1ylWAGLB-MoloMjGMlAiPEcjUkVs43A/s1600/germany-coffee-pads.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinoJ1zmQ4BU5kTpHXmOzP6iyQTQEWHaljwSc4KdG9vYCgUQeGDV97_KduRTPwiISjrp5X32iDCG8jgj9GxuR1DZ7np_4lUHEQMihMhWnL1ylWAGLB-MoloMjGMlAiPEcjUkVs43A/s400/germany-coffee-pads.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Brewing up some coffee pads in my funky coffee-pad machine </td></tr>
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<br />
<b>Waiting for the little green man</b><br />
Jaywalking is verboten. People wait for the lights to change, even in the middle of the night with no cars around for miles. If you must jaywalk, make sure there is no one watching you. Otherwise, prepare to get a nasty look or publicly scolded in German. Which, based on personal experience, is way scarier than getting yelled at in English.<br />
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<b>Clarity-frei street signs</b><br />
I don't understand this sign. What does "frei" mean? Does it mean you can bike freely down this street even though it's a one-way street? Or does it mean this street is free of bikes because it's a one-way street? Adding to my confusion is the fact that I got scolded (twice) by a police officer for riding my bike the wrong way down a one-way street. The street in question wasn't marked with a bike-frei sign, which I had originally interpreted to mean no biking (like lactose-frei milk, I assumed the "frei" in bike frei meant "without"). So I figured cyclists were free to ride down any street without a bike-frei sign. But now that I've gotten into trouble with the law for riding freely down a street without a bike-frei sign, I'm having second thoughts. Now I'm starting to think bike frei means to bike freely in any direction. But I'm still not sure. Feel "frei" to clarify in the comments section.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAByZ9fEmpPrvt4yxmax__AYB_8CrYlvF3KEcSab3n5FtY197jdAESNKw87MAtEnYm8uewOxsBQ2WykGALdhCPMzFM_s1dQjukVTZ-sONhUGvZPcDuCwXS6FVjeFaDWRUuxP7geA/s1600/germany-bike-frei.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAByZ9fEmpPrvt4yxmax__AYB_8CrYlvF3KEcSab3n5FtY197jdAESNKw87MAtEnYm8uewOxsBQ2WykGALdhCPMzFM_s1dQjukVTZ-sONhUGvZPcDuCwXS6FVjeFaDWRUuxP7geA/s400/germany-bike-frei.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Free of bikes or bike freely? Your guess is as good as mine</td></tr>
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<br />
<b>Cheese overload</b><br />
I am officially sick of cheese. I don't want to eat it. I don't want to smell it. I don't want to see it. Even writing about it is making me feel queasy. Eating out in Germany usually means ordering something baked with cheese, covered with cheese, sprinkled with cheese or carved out of cheese. What's with all the cheese? (The bread, on the other hand remains melt-in-your-mouth delicious. I will never get sick of German bread.)<br />
<br />
<b>Tap water is taboo</b><br />
I have never seen so many people guzzle so much sparkling water in my life. Forget beer. Sparking water and Apfelschorle are what everyone really drinks here. If you order water at a restaurant, the waiter will ask if you want sparkling or flat. Flat water does not mean tap water, it means bottled water that isn't bubbly. Don't even bother asking for tap water. No one drinks it, no one orders it and the waiter will probably fight you on it. It's not worth the hassle.<br />
<br />
<b>The multi-person beer-drinking bicycle-riding machine</b><br />
I don't know what the German word is for this contraption. Let's just call it the multi-person beer-drinking bicycle-riding machine. These things are all over the road in Dusseldorf and Berlin. As far as I can tell, a driver (presumably sober but who knows?) steers the thing through traffic while everyone else drinks beer and pedals. It's just like drinking at a bar but with way more people checking you out. (It's illegal for me to ride my bike the wrong way down a one-way street but it's legal for these guys to block traffic with their giant, boozy, 10-seater bicycle?)<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3Ef8fofQ-mYcOrKY3gjr_RzDQ4jqvxMTb6hY2WUQenxLH2RdmrZtPcamvs7-rr-WIOrwfKcIJgBMpZDQtm-Wiv1WzKuTLsNCe9JkPNFe6SMgIoEw60Q-88wCNbENBd8FZxiCvmg/s1600/germany-beer-bike.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3Ef8fofQ-mYcOrKY3gjr_RzDQ4jqvxMTb6hY2WUQenxLH2RdmrZtPcamvs7-rr-WIOrwfKcIJgBMpZDQtm-Wiv1WzKuTLsNCe9JkPNFe6SMgIoEw60Q-88wCNbENBd8FZxiCvmg/s400/germany-beer-bike.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Calorie-neutral drinking</td></tr>
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<br />
<b>Telling time the old-fashioned way</b><br />
I live across the street from a church that rings its bells four times an hour. They ring on the hour and they ring at a quarter past. They ring on the half-hour mark and again at a quarter to. Sometimes all the bells ring at once in a loud, clanging frenzy for several minutes straight. This happens absurdly early on Sunday morning and carries on most of the afternoon. Is all of this bell ringing really necessary? What's the point? Especially the time-telling function. Is there anyone out there who actually relies on church bells to know what time it is?<br />
<br />
<b>Thirty-one flavours of yogurt</b><br />
Germany has more flavours of yogurt than ice cream. They have the usual flavours, like blueberry, strawberry and mixed berry. But they also have funky flavours, like pear chunks and chocolate flakes, mixed grains, coconut and figs. If you can think of a flavour, there's a yogurt for that.<br />
<br />
<b>Huge pillows</b><br />
Why are the pillows so big? Germans don't have extra-big heads so why do they need extra-big pillows that take up one-third of the bed? These aren't decorative pillows. These are the pillows you're supposed to lay your head on when you go to sleep.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5e8Ys3iW7jyp3Kw9WCdHK35EIil1-oifvleKRdYgeMcvc16xGD__ADnUP7KHYd_E9kACl76tPk94hvhbn9nuzu6MZDlwGJJTzSDGXdgp0iMdpT8C8Xh1zPXLPtcGC6bdhCxiOUw/s1600/germany-big-pillows.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5e8Ys3iW7jyp3Kw9WCdHK35EIil1-oifvleKRdYgeMcvc16xGD__ADnUP7KHYd_E9kACl76tPk94hvhbn9nuzu6MZDlwGJJTzSDGXdgp0iMdpT8C8Xh1zPXLPtcGC6bdhCxiOUw/s400/germany-big-pillows.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A Canadian-sized pillow on top of a German-sized pillow</td></tr>
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<br />
<b>Doners: not just a snack after binge drinking</b><br />
There are doner shops everywhere in Germany. In Canada, I've only seen people eating doners on the street at 3 a.m. after stumbling out of a bar. Here, people eat them for lunch and dinner while sober.<br />
<br />
<b>Sidewalk rage is the new road rage</b><br />
It's not easy being a pedestrian in Bonn. Especially when the sidewalks are overrun with cars. The roads are narrow and the sidewalks are wide, which probably explains why it is perfectly legal for drivers to park their cars all over the sidewalk. This is great for drivers but not so great for the pedestrians and cyclists who have to maneuver around these monstrosities. Cars and sidewalks go together like alcohol and rollercoasters.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgli87rN7mrop2yfmHLYGderSXQ9A8wdZa3dxxFrpwB_Y8zu5cFdcyEEnOJocBXdq5M_LaB0Lp04jntYJabv_UWqIedGqjTAxzKOJdTfjOa7BCo3FyY0tPteC8AjGgHb6e3WG7zXg/s1600/germany-car-sidewalk.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgli87rN7mrop2yfmHLYGderSXQ9A8wdZa3dxxFrpwB_Y8zu5cFdcyEEnOJocBXdq5M_LaB0Lp04jntYJabv_UWqIedGqjTAxzKOJdTfjOa7BCo3FyY0tPteC8AjGgHb6e3WG7zXg/s400/germany-car-sidewalk.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Kind of like plaque constricting the flow of blood through an artery</td></tr>
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<br />
<b>Doors that lock automatically</b><br />
Here's a lesson I learned the hard way: apartment doors lock automatically when you close them. I'm not talking about the front door of the building but the door to each individual apartment (like a hotel room). This is something the landlord doesn't tell you. Why would he? Everybody knows the doors lock automatically. Except for those of us who come from countries where the doors only lock if you put the key in the hole and turn the deadbolt yourself. Anyway, I found out the door locked automatically when I closed it with my keys still inside the apartment. It was bad enough that I locked myself out, it was even worse that it happened on a long weekend when my landlord was on vacation in the south of France. (It took a few hours but I managed to reach my landlord, who then coerced an intern to go to his office, get his spare key and drive out to my apartment and unlock the door. I have been paranoid about locking myself out ever since.)<br />
<br />
<b>Trains that run on time? Not in Germany</b><br />
Contrary to popular belief, trains in Germany do not run on time all the time. They run on time maybe half the time. The other half of the time, the trains are delayed anywhere from five to 45 minutes (or cancelled altogether). I'm not sure why Germany has a reputation for fast and efficient public transit. I have taken the bus three times in Bonn. The first time the bus driver screamed at me after I didn't pay my fare properly. The second time the bus was 15 minutes late. The third time the bus was one hour late. There has not, and never will be, a fourth time.<br />
<br />
<b>Vibrator vending machines</b><br />
Vending machines that sell tampons and condoms in public washrooms are par for the course. But in Germany, the washroom vending machines go one step further by adding vibrators to the menu. I wonder what they sell in the men's room?<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEE2vjYQr_EDgFvFRwICnp7dOXIV47mlK32vbqZ-9XuaoOdtRV8GwTUQTBOBvXn4ClvGAOExIMDqXUsHlnFvJuw4LI2r8TkjQtWisrLHzASy6fr6QeA3CdutZMjB4qAvVMSVuICA/s1600/germany-vibrator-vending-machine.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEE2vjYQr_EDgFvFRwICnp7dOXIV47mlK32vbqZ-9XuaoOdtRV8GwTUQTBOBvXn4ClvGAOExIMDqXUsHlnFvJuw4LI2r8TkjQtWisrLHzASy6fr6QeA3CdutZMjB4qAvVMSVuICA/s400/germany-vibrator-vending-machine.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Everything you need for a fun night out</td></tr>
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Sarah Marchildonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17604609825576716332noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8646612.post-56822215903580728122012-10-14T09:20:00.000-07:002012-10-14T09:31:44.574-07:00My morning commute<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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As someone who has never owned a car, the distance between work and home has always been my biggest priority when hunting for an apartment. The commute is the deal-breaker or the deal-maker.<br />
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I need to live in a place where I can walk to work. Walking to where I need to go is something I've done since childhood. I walked to elementary school. I walked to high school. I walked to university. And I walked to every job I've ever had since then. The reason is as simple as the act of walking itself: it makes me feel good.<br />
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Walking helps me wake up before I get to work and decompress before I get home. It gives me time to think about things or to turn off my brain and not think about anything at all. It's a way to lighten my footprint on the planet. And it's a guarantee that, no matter how busy I am or how late I have to stay at the office, I will get a little bit of exercise every single day.<br />
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Ideally, it should take me somewhere between 45 minutes and one hour to walk to work. Less than 45 minutes and it's too short. More than one hour and it's too long. The commute should also contain a good amount of beauty, something to make me feel inspired on a daily basis. The length of the commute is important but so too is the scenery along the way. The fewer busy roads the better.<br />
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That's how I picked my apartment here in Bonn. I looked at a dozen different apartments before settling on one. It wasn't the nicest apartment of the bunch. But it had the best commute. It takes about one hour to walk to work and I can get there several ways. I can walk along the Rhine River. I can walk through the park. Or I can walk along quiet side streets.<br />
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I can't imagine living in the suburbs and sitting in bumper-to-bumper traffic for two hours each day. I couldn't do it. I also can't imagine living in a country where it's extremely dangerous for women to walk alone at night. I'm lucky to be free and healthy enough to choose a car-free lifestyle and it's something I try not to take for granted. So I walk because I can.<br />
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I always keep my camera in my backpack just in case there is something worth photographing. These are some of my favourite photos from my commute to work in Bonn.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAgA4eSkNPPlGkoNzOjFrxJk9QdKDLTpJU4ROO2ogGk7YZNJcntuHCgW_enl_UFDVonL6hp98Roha69cPAj_aajToFX96XkEk6s8pMP15KO509Dmjxy9ycgD_ytoF5tnmyZxbeWw/s1600/bonn+sunrise+rhine.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAgA4eSkNPPlGkoNzOjFrxJk9QdKDLTpJU4ROO2ogGk7YZNJcntuHCgW_enl_UFDVonL6hp98Roha69cPAj_aajToFX96XkEk6s8pMP15KO509Dmjxy9ycgD_ytoF5tnmyZxbeWw/s400/bonn+sunrise+rhine.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sunrise on the Rhine River in winter</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Early morning on the Rhine River in summer</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Fall fog in the Rhine park</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3yzbd4kOA45iKTGFBbhAHK9nDHeoDKurPOr4dngfSvFz26P-NmwBw3CCholMRb4OhikVUhtprxajfjY6Rk2Ckc-E3fEEXvwH9YIvXlwd0yt1F1_TpbFOCLOUV3pAUBSN-BOpTlg/s1600/bonn+park+trees+path+fog.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3yzbd4kOA45iKTGFBbhAHK9nDHeoDKurPOr4dngfSvFz26P-NmwBw3CCholMRb4OhikVUhtprxajfjY6Rk2Ckc-E3fEEXvwH9YIvXlwd0yt1F1_TpbFOCLOUV3pAUBSN-BOpTlg/s400/bonn+park+trees+path+fog.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">As it gets cooler the morning walks get foggier</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgiYJnFNgPX0jr7_KYjS11tqZRZ6T_QapLC38tOL0PsnO2OGoO50iV6VM97G7u_MAc4XcrqMbtoVIr8JIDRW6vtoJ1EHlA29txSa9q6xpU6df45WQow0WELAZEsX7ZJNCiOaRo96g/s1600/bonn+park+solo+tree+fog.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgiYJnFNgPX0jr7_KYjS11tqZRZ6T_QapLC38tOL0PsnO2OGoO50iV6VM97G7u_MAc4XcrqMbtoVIr8JIDRW6vtoJ1EHlA29txSa9q6xpU6df45WQow0WELAZEsX7ZJNCiOaRo96g/s400/bonn+park+solo+tree+fog.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Lone tree in the fog</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwvEW7Ekz8z8kykpaQ1O6pMtALvoJwYvjhjHXPkUVcTrIFeG5JKGeGABEt7sONGeqBLPdN0aAI_gtwTVP4QIVDx8cV44_Br16uhsMUWM36PA793bMJftLWBxvjO0WltLdVR_TliQ/s1600/bonn+park+snow.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwvEW7Ekz8z8kykpaQ1O6pMtALvoJwYvjhjHXPkUVcTrIFeG5JKGeGABEt7sONGeqBLPdN0aAI_gtwTVP4QIVDx8cV44_Br16uhsMUWM36PA793bMJftLWBxvjO0WltLdVR_TliQ/s400/bonn+park+snow.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Winter in the Rhine park close to the office</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgY3NhG-ocDOfb7ay8PYvC_ADDnm4Ot0fvc57Y5fuEdUZMhTYJqg0VAD9XliS9xrQJPnny2ky8Hn07wfOQdqddPr9iWiYT3vMYclixX_LIK038qzhymW-iZ-IBZvur7fYEtTnYsCQ/s1600/rhine+boat+fog.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgY3NhG-ocDOfb7ay8PYvC_ADDnm4Ot0fvc57Y5fuEdUZMhTYJqg0VAD9XliS9xrQJPnny2ky8Hn07wfOQdqddPr9iWiYT3vMYclixX_LIK038qzhymW-iZ-IBZvur7fYEtTnYsCQ/s400/rhine+boat+fog.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Boat in the fog</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0y4-tFPlKkOuO5EOAzTZ6XiJ7zV27YH0yb0cdOPfqC3i2BFRpSOktS6nVaSjOezSbxQMepNyTNatcmPqfoNgAlWpCBDgnXMT1GpJnNUiM5xzBslrgIhSwLSD0AkEZK6qlOIiTVw/s1600/bonn+park+cherry+blossoms.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0y4-tFPlKkOuO5EOAzTZ6XiJ7zV27YH0yb0cdOPfqC3i2BFRpSOktS6nVaSjOezSbxQMepNyTNatcmPqfoNgAlWpCBDgnXMT1GpJnNUiM5xzBslrgIhSwLSD0AkEZK6qlOIiTVw/s400/bonn+park+cherry+blossoms.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Cherry blossoms this spring in the Rhine park</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYJJLwzey_y1oTzxvuuyz0HIrbh7aI3chETrYJM7WAeQ3OZbtF1CWnd1QEMrvYNgXIyVMw-HjmQ9mT-cocJRxeW4vKIdd7BcL0nhYNivnPj9v-XuUFAlNuj58VzVgFi1IBCpUQwg/s1600/bonn+sunset.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYJJLwzey_y1oTzxvuuyz0HIrbh7aI3chETrYJM7WAeQ3OZbtF1CWnd1QEMrvYNgXIyVMw-HjmQ9mT-cocJRxeW4vKIdd7BcL0nhYNivnPj9v-XuUFAlNuj58VzVgFi1IBCpUQwg/s400/bonn+sunset.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sunset on my way home last Friday</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtDjWrOW5705hHiM37HTxMaCIj4moHo5sh5qeQVpeR-Mi40xSkZRfqZui4eGIUAGSRxrgVReHVz2J6pnR78_-em067gE4Z14pVzliPKVhDKGKsUFbGkYHoTPmajneP91hih3IE8Q/s1600/bonn+japanese+garden+hold.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtDjWrOW5705hHiM37HTxMaCIj4moHo5sh5qeQVpeR-Mi40xSkZRfqZui4eGIUAGSRxrgVReHVz2J6pnR78_-em067gE4Z14pVzliPKVhDKGKsUFbGkYHoTPmajneP91hih3IE8Q/s400/bonn+japanese+garden+hold.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">View of the Japanese garden on my way home</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6p_sYuDCCrzeAB0dyMstNU1eZW2oVO2_LXevBByPRaYVf3qRskZWZadQNgPSCSAvbCxbJcwtPDBYm123tI5oG-jwc4mp98DFaZCg80wY3-iHEqhHtUe2waBXCgQJikpPhJwlrjg/s1600/bonn+ubhan+station.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6p_sYuDCCrzeAB0dyMstNU1eZW2oVO2_LXevBByPRaYVf3qRskZWZadQNgPSCSAvbCxbJcwtPDBYm123tI5oG-jwc4mp98DFaZCg80wY3-iHEqhHtUe2waBXCgQJikpPhJwlrjg/s400/bonn+ubhan+station.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Short cut through the train station to avoid waiting at the lights</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMUNar6SBfLTxrGbf1l7sQ94ULWYZ3ZBbLYvu6G7OCrwve-FJ9Umff-aVUEufaeAS3mPN8Qs_gObYj4VYKqY5XQkMC0GTAlX_g7oHJ8MQHIRfBoHBp-L8s2gDoDEoXclngFxt7Kg/s1600/bonn+tram+escalator.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMUNar6SBfLTxrGbf1l7sQ94ULWYZ3ZBbLYvu6G7OCrwve-FJ9Umff-aVUEufaeAS3mPN8Qs_gObYj4VYKqY5XQkMC0GTAlX_g7oHJ8MQHIRfBoHBp-L8s2gDoDEoXclngFxt7Kg/s400/bonn+tram+escalator.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Down and up</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9qEzszz5D_3FDkLgcdiOtcI1R22BuTEFU7Oz8hgBfJl7YEd3ftFtNfs6rbuZVFJ2wTxF2BWO-5v8WGrmErl4hFCJVLe7UMRodgD4bcfaZ0RyN-Y3HmMVEv1dt922qB2ftsmEPtA/s1600/bonn+train.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9qEzszz5D_3FDkLgcdiOtcI1R22BuTEFU7Oz8hgBfJl7YEd3ftFtNfs6rbuZVFJ2wTxF2BWO-5v8WGrmErl4hFCJVLe7UMRodgD4bcfaZ0RyN-Y3HmMVEv1dt922qB2ftsmEPtA/s400/bonn+train.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Waiting for the train to go by before crossing the tracks</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDFsopfxNqpOVdyr337-HKNsTL__YbBzqEhaA7CH0X2by-dMi5PY-JssO8l1YWyY1Kjbn2QvzQIj_u6wUiApFbIJ9Bh9tTVQG-13juht8b460WfPZBIeuR4l7km_A0W9Nm1grv1A/s1600/bonn+kessenich.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDFsopfxNqpOVdyr337-HKNsTL__YbBzqEhaA7CH0X2by-dMi5PY-JssO8l1YWyY1Kjbn2QvzQIj_u6wUiApFbIJ9Bh9tTVQG-13juht8b460WfPZBIeuR4l7km_A0W9Nm1grv1A/s400/bonn+kessenich.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">My neighbourhood</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTHltp0ooYXcIemSTLGrWXkX1_577Aa_Y7dbMQjuZkkZSOgwRHR_dCVrbP3kB9y9BYxoacwuhBPIKuE-EdR3gM5d_5gc1Ou7R1N8jQ5MyLScs-nNBrZhEdBPaEqIAXEN5wcLs7TA/s1600/bonn+kessenich+intersection.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTHltp0ooYXcIemSTLGrWXkX1_577Aa_Y7dbMQjuZkkZSOgwRHR_dCVrbP3kB9y9BYxoacwuhBPIKuE-EdR3gM5d_5gc1Ou7R1N8jQ5MyLScs-nNBrZhEdBPaEqIAXEN5wcLs7TA/s400/bonn+kessenich+intersection.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The corner near where I live (for now)</td></tr>
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Sarah Marchildonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17604609825576716332noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8646612.post-17760543796838689512012-10-03T08:55:00.001-07:002012-10-03T08:55:57.704-07:00George Stroumboulopoulos and his distractingly tight pants<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Every fall, a new season of <a href="http://www.cbc.ca/strombo/" target="_blank">George Stroumboulopoulos Tonight</a> begins. And with each new season comes big changes -- name changes, time changes, studio changes, channel changes -- but no changes have been as radical as the ones introduced this fall.<br />
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The length of the show has been chopped in half, the studio has been completely redesigned, the time slot has been moved to primetime, the news segment is out and a new three-person comedy panel is in. Also, George now wears skinny jeans that are distractingly tight in the crotch region (not that I'm complaining).<br />
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Here's how George explains the new format: "We used to go to bed together. Now we're having dinner together -- and maybe just that."<br />
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Cutting the show to 30 minutes and moving it from 11 p.m. to primetime may be good for ratings but it's bad for those of us who liked the freedom late-night television gave George to be George. Gone from the primetime show are George's musings on religion, politics and the environment. George was always impartial but he was never neutral. You never knew what party he voted for but you always knew what issues he cared about. His show was often a platform for his activism (he's an ambassador for the United Nations <a href="http://www.wfp.org/" target="_blank">World Food Programme</a> and he's traveled to the Arctic for a special on literacy, youth culture, and the loss of Inuit identity. He's been to Sudan with <a href="http://www.warchild.ca/" target="_blank">War Child Canada</a>, and to Zambia for a <a href="http://www.worldaidsday.org/" target="_blank">World AIDS Day</a> documentary. He sponsored the <a href="http://www.onemillionactsofgreen.com/" target="_blank">One Million Acts of Green</a> challenge and he's a member of the David Suzuki Foundation's <a href="http://www.davidsuzuki.org/about/people/board/" target="_blank">board of directors</a>).<br />
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I miss the anti-religious, anti-consumerist and anti-authoritarian undertones of the old format. The only good thing about cutting the show in half is that it gives George less time to talk about hockey. I hate hockey.<br />
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But 30 minutes isn't enough time to let George do what he does best -- the long-form interview. George is a master of the long-form interview. He is sincere, interested, informed and intelligent. As a result, his subjects respect him. His interviews often feel more like conversations. He knows how to draw stories out of actors, directors, writers, musicians, athletes, activists and politicians. He's done the research and knows what he's talking about. He takes his time when asking a question. And, more importantly, he listens to what the other person is saying. He doesn't read scripted notes. He doesn't fawn. He isn't fake. He leans forward and draws people in with his natural charm and those big, brown liquidy eyes. He’s not just a good interviewer, he's an award-winning interviewer (as his collection of Geminis attests).<br />
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The CBC is making a big deal about moving the show to 7 p.m. But is this really a big deal? Do people still watch TV shows on television? I haven't watched TV shows on television since 2006. The beauty of watching George's show online is that I can watch it when it's convenient for me. So I can watch him when I eat breakfast or when I come home from work. Or I can just curl up on the couch and watch an entire week's worth of episodes back-to-back on Saturday afternoon. I suspect that most of his audience watches the show the same way, so why not keep it in the 11 p.m. timeslot?<br />
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Perhaps the move to primetime is a recognition by the CBC that George is one of its biggest stars. But what made him a star are all of the things you can't do in primetime. This is why Canadians like him. We sense he is genuine, deep and intelligent. If we want shallow and superficial, we'll watch CNN. The CBC is a public broadcaster. It should not be overly concerned about numbers and ratings and making money. Sure the CBC might get higher ratings by moving the show to primetime but at what cost? Is it worth getting more viewers if you have to sacrifice quality and depth? But there's no way to talk about this without talking about government funding and budget cuts and that's a post better left for another day.<br />
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As for the new set, I'm still getting used to it. It's too slick. Too bright. Too corporate. It's a beautifully designed set for a morning show. But not for George. The show's old set was always dark with lots of black. And I think this darkness contributed to the success of his interviews. It set a mood that helped people open up. The mood was serious and somber, a perfect setting for probing questions. The new studio doesn't match the mood that George tries to set in his interviews. It's too light, bright and airy. Of course, not all of George's interviews are serious. He's a funny guy and maybe he wants to inject more humour into the show. A lighter, brighter set better reflects this new direction.<br />
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The biggest change this season is the introduction of the three-person comedy panel. The panel takes up the last 10 minutes of each show and features two permanent panelists (comedian <a href="http://www.standupali.com/" target="_blank">Ali Hassan</a> and actress <a href="http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1690652/" target="_blank">Naomi Snieckus</a>) and one rotating guest panelist (filled by various celebrities but best when filled by the funny ones like Andrea Martin and Colin Mochrie). The panel riffs on random topics while George facilitates. Ali and Naomi are clever and funny. The panel is a good idea but it would be better to have it once a week rather than every night. Turning it into a weekly segment would keep it fresh and fun.<br />
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Anyway, I'm happy to see the show is still on the air. Nine seasons is an impressive run for a Canadian talk show. George just keeps getting better (and hotter) as he gets older. I just wish the CBC would recognize that George is one of their best interviewers and give him the time and space to do long interviews.<br />
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The new show is good. But I prefer the hour-long, late-night format.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZDFpZQoZMIJUwBDHsTjvorF9ayR7cBXrZegWZzDKLX2k9BNsuLytHOc-KKrEWkrYAXvoamPCoQW5C2qW22RkpbKflwZUim7eXME4PKX1hGN40L2YpQ9kl4WBsJVTaMM9wPct4_g/s1600/me+and+george+stroumboulopoulos" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZDFpZQoZMIJUwBDHsTjvorF9ayR7cBXrZegWZzDKLX2k9BNsuLytHOc-KKrEWkrYAXvoamPCoQW5C2qW22RkpbKflwZUim7eXME4PKX1hGN40L2YpQ9kl4WBsJVTaMM9wPct4_g/s400/me+and+george+stroumboulopoulos" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Me and George outside CBC headquarters in Toronto this summer</td></tr>
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Just for fun, here are a few of my previous posts about George Stroumboulopoulos:<br />
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<a href="http://sarahmarchildon.blogspot.de/2008/01/we-love-george.html" target="_blank">We love George</a><br />
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<a href="http://sarahmarchildon.blogspot.de/2006/07/george-goes-to-america.html" target="_blank">George goes to America</a> <br />
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<a href="http://sarahmarchildon.blogspot.de/2005/04/four-hours-with-george.html" target="_blank">Four hours with George Stroumboulopoulos</a><br />
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<a href="http://sarahmarchildon.blogspot.de/2005/02/george-stroumboulopoulos-canadian-sex.html" target="_blank">George Stroumboulopoulos: Canadian sex symbol </a><br />
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<a href="http://sarahmarchildon.blogspot.de/2005/01/hour-with-george-stroumboulopoulos.html" target="_blank">An hour with George Stroumboulopoulos </a>Sarah Marchildonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17604609825576716332noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8646612.post-4999610386514335572012-09-23T12:36:00.001-07:002012-09-23T12:36:46.463-07:00Hiking in the Swiss Alps<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Hiking doesn't get much better than this. Big mountains, breathtaking views and world-class trails -- steep, challenging and a little bit scary -- stretching out for hundreds of kilometres in all directions.<br />
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Hiking in the Swiss Alps isn't exactly a wilderness experience. The valleys are dotted with resort towns and railway lines. The mountainsides are home to cows and goats rather than bears and cougars. It's wilderness lite. But this is part of the charm of hiking in Switzerland. Civilization never really disappears but it doesn't encroach on the landscape either. It strikes the right balance between nature and culture. You can hike for hours with nothing but mountain peaks and frozen glaciers for company and then, like a mirage in a desert, you turn a corner and there's a mountain hut serving up cold beer on the edge of a cliff. It's luxurious and I love it.<br />
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I've gone soft and I'm okay with that. Ten years ago I would have scoffed at the idea of hiking in a developed area. It's easy to be a backcountry snob in Canada with its open spaces and wild places. Hiking back home means walking into the wilderness with your tent on your back and walking out a week later dirty, smelly and covered in mosquito bites. No hotels, no restaurants, no hot showers, no cold beer. Nothing but uninterrupted wilderness.<br />
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The only downside is that it's impossible to get to the edge of civilization in Canada without a car. Not just a car but the kind of car that can withstand bone-rattling logging roads that deliver you to the trailhead. All of the backcountry hiking I did in British Columbia wouldn't have been possible without Paul Johnson and his truck. (Wow. Just writing that brought tears of homesickness to my eyes.)<br />
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The beauty of living in Europe is that you can get deep into the mountains by public transit (I suppose this is also the downside of living in Europe. If you can get deep into the mountains by public transit, it means everyone else can too). If getting into the mountains in Canada is difficult, getting into the mountains in Switzerland is easy. We rolled out of bed in Bonn, hopped on the subway, changed trains a couple of times, transferred to a bus, rode up a cable car and, just like that, we were in the middle of the Swiss Alps. We were sitting on a train in the morning and hiking in the Alps in the afternoon. Public transit delivered us effortlessly, seamlessly into the heart of the Alps right from our front door. You just can't do that back home.<br />
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Sergey and I spent four days in <a href="http://wikitravel.org/en/Gimmelwald" target="_blank">Gimmelwald</a> (pop. 120), a tiny, car-free village perched on the edge of a cliff 1363 metres above the Lauterbrunnen valley. There are only two ways to get to Gimmelwald from the valley floor: by foot or by cable car. There's not much going on in Gimmelwald. There are two places to eat, a couple of cheeseshops, a handful of log cabins and more cows than people. In other words, it's an excellent base camp for day hikes.<br />
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The best thing about Gimmelwald is that it isn't developed like other Swiss towns. A few decades ago, developers wanted to turn Gimmelwald into a huge ski resort. But the villagers thwarted those plans by getting the entire town reclassified as an "avalanche zone." The avalanche classification means it's too dangerous for development projects. So Gimmelwald remains a small community of farmers who milk their cows, cut their hay and survive with Swiss government subsidies.<br />
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The cows, the fairytale homes and the fresh cheese all add to the joy of hiking in the Alps.<br />
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<b>If you go . . .</b><br />
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<b>Getting there</b>: By train, Bonn to Gimmelwald takes about seven hours door-to-door. From Bonn/Siegburg take the high-speed train to Basel. At Basel, transfer to the regional train to Interlaken Ost. From Interlaken Ost, take the local train to Lauterbrunnen (make sure you sit in the front car as the train splits halfway there, with the front half going to Lauterbrunnen and the second half going to Grindelwald). At Lauterbrunnen, walk across the street and take the bus heading for the Stechelberg gondola station, and get off there. Ride the gondola up one station to Gimmelwald. Alternatively, you can hike 1.5 hours up to Gimmelwald from Stechelberg. If you book three months in advance, the train ticket from Bonn to Lauterbrunnen costs around 60 euros. The later you book, the more expensive it gets. Check <a href="http://www.bahn.com/i/view/index.shtml" target="_blank">DB Bahn</a> for fares. The combined bus and cable car fare from Lauterbrunnen to Gimmelwald costs 10 francs.<br />
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<b>Staying there</b>: The cheapest option is to bring your own tent and stay in the Stechelberg campground. If you prefer a bit more comfort, Gimmelwald has a hostel, a pension, a couple of B&Bs and an old hotel up the hill -- all run by locals whose families have been living in this town for generations. We stayed at <a href="http://esthersguesthouse.ch/cms/en/" target="_blank">Esther's Guest House</a>, in a tiny attic room with a skylight above the bed for stargazing at night. Our room cost 65 francs per person per night (with a discount of 10 francs per night for paying in cash).<br />
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<b>Eating there</b>: The cheapest option is to make your own meals. There is no grocery store in Gimmelwald so stock up at the Coop in Lauterbrunnen (right across the street from the train station). If you don't feel like cooking, there are decent pizzas at the Mountain Hostel and good meals (with vegetarian options) at the Pension & Restaurant Gimmelwald. For more variety, walk 30 minutes uphill to the town of <a href="http://wikitravel.org/en/Murren" target="_blank">Murren</a>.
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<b>Getting out</b>: Check out the hiking map on <a href="http://map.wanderland.ch/" target="_blank">this site</a>. The hike up and down the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schilthorn" target="_blank">Schilthorn</a> (2970m) from Gimmelwald is a must-do. It takes about seven hours round-trip (more than 3500m total elevation gain and loss) but give yourself at least nine hours because you will want to stop, sit and soak in the 360 degree views along the way. Use the map to custom-design other hikes based on how far you want to go each day. The possibilities are endless.
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More photos on my <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/hollywood_north/sets/72157631535785475/with/7986091770/" target="_blank">flickr page</a>.<br />
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Sarah Marchildonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17604609825576716332noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8646612.post-74464589240562765412012-09-16T07:55:00.028-07:002012-09-16T11:41:26.866-07:00The mountains are calling and I must go<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsrEKy5IHcg_lroZfsreDUO7PRQ5Mfoozh1GdtADhPnWJQLCGVyDaq2pgL9h0EpKz2J_D_w7EljDwdm9mfwqX24Q9AYuXkx0DAbnk-RLMrpdn0Nac5dXursV_GzoyepBjnh1114A/s1600/call+of+the+mountain" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsrEKy5IHcg_lroZfsreDUO7PRQ5Mfoozh1GdtADhPnWJQLCGVyDaq2pgL9h0EpKz2J_D_w7EljDwdm9mfwqX24Q9AYuXkx0DAbnk-RLMrpdn0Nac5dXursV_GzoyepBjnh1114A/s400/call+of+the+mountain" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5788809271203302082" border="0" /></a><br />For me, spending time in the mountains is not a luxury, it is a necessity. It's important to feel unimportant, to let some air out of the ego.<br /><br />I've written about this <a href="http://sarahmarchildon.blogspot.de/2011/05/call-of-mountain.html">before</a> but I think it's worth repeating: the view from the top of a mountain not just stunningly beautiful, it's also philosophically important. To stand on top of a mountain and see nothing but mountains beyond mountains all the way to the horizon is a humbling experience. You can't help but surrender yourself to the realization that you are nothing more than an insignificant speck on a tiny planet in a vast universe whose mysteries we know very little about.<br /><br />This is not a bleak, cold or empty view on life. To me, surrendering to the mysteries of the universe is more fulfilling than subscribing to a religious story that claims to have all the answers. Certainty is absurd. Why not revel in uncertainty?<br /><br />There is nothing more fascinating than life on earth. Our planet is the only place in the known universe where life exists, which is an amazing thing when you consider how big the universe really is. Our planet is just one of eight in orbit around our sun, which itself is only one of about 200 billion stars in our galaxy. But even our galaxy is just one of 100 billion galaxies, all joined together in an enormous web stretching out in all directions.<br /><br />It's a waste to reduce all of this to a religious story and then fight over whose version of the story is better. Why can't we just marvel in the evolutionary perfection of life without ascribing some greater meaning to it?<br /><br />I didn't intend for this post to go this way (I was actually going to write a straight-up post about our hiking trip in the Swiss Alps. Where we went and what it was like and all of that). It's just that everything seemed so simple in the mountains and so unnecessarily complicated back in Bonn.<br /><br />We got back from the Alps the day violent protests over the anti-Islam film were <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/15/world/middleeast/anti-american-protests-over-film-enter-4th-day.html">making headlines</a>. The whole thing struck me as being absurd. It boggles the mind on so many different levels. I watched the <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MAiOEV0v2RM">trailer on YouTube</a> to see what the fuss was all about. And I just don't get it. The film is such an incoherent, idiotic, embarrassingly bad, low-budget mess (the whole thing looks like it was filmed in front of a green screen) that it's hard to believe anyone could take it seriously. It's not even worth responding to, let alone getting up in arms about it.<br /><br />What's wrong with us? And by "us" I mean "us as a species." Why are we still whipping ourselves into a frenzy over such petty, tribal divisions? Why can't we just accept that we don't have all of the answers and that none of us have exclusive access to the truth?Sarah Marchildonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17604609825576716332noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8646612.post-40961757200499551602012-09-02T11:13:00.005-07:002012-09-02T11:36:30.728-07:00Home sweet home<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhD4JxByDhbW-J0jhHFc5n-xg6SR2qGgowur7ZzWDNL4BVJOUmE_vNRfxYRGolG2tf1EXZvn7CorDa6aj4AFz7RTdFAQyO4jPGaAJc2ATF0Iz8tXrQgZadOBB55nwU8GSlsXRbhBQ/s1600/bowron-lakes"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhD4JxByDhbW-J0jhHFc5n-xg6SR2qGgowur7ZzWDNL4BVJOUmE_vNRfxYRGolG2tf1EXZvn7CorDa6aj4AFz7RTdFAQyO4jPGaAJc2ATF0Iz8tXrQgZadOBB55nwU8GSlsXRbhBQ/s400/bowron-lakes" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5783647373804557314" border="0" /></a><br />I went home for the first time in more than three years. I had expected it to feel weird to be back on Canadian soil after so much time away. But everything was pretty much the same as it always was.<br /><br />Still, I saw some of the same old things with fresh new eyes. Take the word "awesome," for example. A few days before I left for Toronto, a German friend asked me about the word "awesome." He wanted to know: a) what it means; b) why it's used so often in place of more descriptive and/or accurate adjectives; and c) why it's considered an appropriate response to the question, "How are you?" (I had similar conversations with a Russian friend who confessed she found the word unbearably annoying and an Albanian colleague who was shocked to receive "Awesome!" as a one-word reply to a work-related email. For the record, the email was not from me.)<br /><br />I explained that awesome was just a generic word to describe varying shades of good without expressing any real degree of the goodness of the thing being described. And that the point of using the word "awesome" as a response to the question "How are you?" is to demonstrate enthusiasm and extroversion, which are prized personality traits in North America. But I also said that Americans were the true users and abusers of the word and that Canadians didn't really say it that often.<br /><br />And then I went to Toronto and was proven wrong.<br /><br />I don't know if my ears were attuned to the word because of all of the recent conversations about it or if people in Toronto had always used the word and I simply hadn't noticed. But as soon as I arrived at Pearson International Airport, I started to hear the word everywhere I went. I heard it on the subway. I heard it on TV. I heard it at the coffee shop. I heard it at the hair salon (the girl cutting my hair said awesome six times in one hour. I counted). I even heard it in a commercial for salad dressing ("eat awesome" was its ambiguous tagline).<br /><br />The other hint that I had been away from home far too long came during an afternoon at the Canadian National Exhibition. I decided to gamble $5 at the "Guess your age" booth. The carnie sized me up. He asked me to smile, he looked deep into my eyes, he looked at my hands, he asked me what my favourite food was (Japanese) and to name my favourite movie (don't have one). He pretended to think about it for a bit and then he pronounced me 55.<br /><br />Clearly, he was just giving the stuffed animals away but I was annoyed that he didn't even try to guess. What's the fun in that? So I asked him how old he really thought I was and he replied, "Um . . . 43?" I was no longer annoyed, now I was angry. (I didn't know it at the time but I would be vindicated a few days later when I stumbled across an <a href="http://www.thestar.com/news/gta/article/1244610--cne-sizing-up-visitors-with-an-educated-guess">article about the guy</a> in the Toronto Star. He seems to consistently guess too high and is thrown off his game by tall people.)<br /><br />He said it was tough to guess my age because I was tall (it's unclear why a professional age guesser would make a correlation between height and age for anyone older than 18) and because he mistook my sister for my daughter.<br /><br />I used to baby-sit my two youngest sisters when I was in high school. My favourite baby-sitting game was called, "Let's pretend I'm a teenage mother and you're my children." I'd take my sisters to the mall and make them call me "mom." It used to amuse me when people thought my sisters were my daughters. Now it depresses me. So I guess that's a pretty major change.<br /><br />What else did I see with fresh eyes? Well, public transit in Toronto seemed embarrassingly bad after living in Japan for three-and-a-half years. It's not convenient, it's not reliable and it never really gets you where you need to go quickly enough. Toronto is decades behind other big cities when it comes to public transit. Also, Toronto's subway system seems to attract more "interesting" passengers than other cities, such as the woman who sat beside me who smelled like she hadn't bathed in three months or the guy who sat directly behind me, clipping his fingernails the entire time.<br /><br />It goes without saying that the best part of returning home was reconnecting with <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/hollywood_north/sets/72157631276326582/">family and friends</a> (although in the age of Skype and email it's difficult to lose touch).<br /><br />But it was just as nice to be in an English-speaking environment. I could read menus and chat with the checkout girl and read the community listings and eavesdrop on conversations and catch up on Canadian news and read the ingredients on the cereal box and order a pizza and ask for directions. In Canada, I'm no longer an outsider living on the fringes of a world I am part of but don't really belong to. In Japan and Germany, there were days I felt completely isolated and alone. I don't feel that way in Toronto. I feel like I belong.<br /><br />Growing up, there were things about Toronto I hated. I thought it was too big, too urban, too flat, too ugly. It still is all of those things but I've come to appreciate it in a way I never did before. The city hasn't changed but my perception of it has.<br /><br />It's an awesome place to call home.Sarah Marchildonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17604609825576716332noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8646612.post-81532622771434386052012-08-05T09:25:00.004-07:002012-08-05T09:37:05.633-07:00The cutest mayor ever<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8CcU2hc9u3XfpbomCmIMZSuz7v7zpALgQ7D4unILSsD2_Pu3CCQYUhww0eebpX_PBggcB8L-0IcCDws4LXqt2JdT6Yem9jkC8FihRm6eV-cK9pSxLTK01CB4WK6sTN7AMTob20A/s1600/Stubb-the-mayor-2.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8CcU2hc9u3XfpbomCmIMZSuz7v7zpALgQ7D4unILSsD2_Pu3CCQYUhww0eebpX_PBggcB8L-0IcCDws4LXqt2JdT6Yem9jkC8FihRm6eV-cK9pSxLTK01CB4WK6sTN7AMTob20A/s400/Stubb-the-mayor-2.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5773226728792274290" /></a><br />It turns out Japan is not the only country with <a href="http://sarahmarchildon.blogspot.de/2009/03/cutest-story-ever.html">cats</a> in <a href="http://sarahmarchildon.blogspot.de/2011/06/cute-not-so-cute-and-ugly.html">positions of power</a>. Meet Stubbs. He's a cat. He's also the mayor of Talkeetna, Alaska (pop. 875).<br /><br />Mayor Stubbs recently celebrated <a href="http://newsfeed.time.com/2012/07/17/cat-marks-15-years-as-mayor-of-alaska-town/#ixzz22UPahSfC">15 years in office</a>. To mark the occasion, CBC Radio interviewed Lauri Stec, manager of Nagley's General Store, which doubles as Stubbs' mayoral office. In the <a href="http://www.cbc.ca/news/offbeat/story/2012/07/16/cat-mayor-alaska.html">interview</a>, Lauri admits Stubbs isn't exactly the hardest working man in Alaska. He usually spends his office hours in front of the computer, napping on top of the keyboard.<br /><br />When he's not sleeping on the job, Mayor Stubbs likes to walk around town, keeping the rodent population at bay and having his belly rubbed by constituents. He heads to the bar at 4 p.m. everyday to drink water (out of a wine glass, no less) laced with catnip. Lauri describes Stubbs as an "all around good guy," who is a good listener, non-judgemental and doesn't raise taxes.<br /><br />Fifteen years ago, so the story goes, the citizens of Talkeetna didn't like the list of human candidates for mayor so they decided to elect Stubbs as a write-in candidate. At the time, Stubbs was a kitten who had been newly adopted by Lauri. He was a fixture at her store and popular with local residents.<br /><br />Technically, the town is a "historical district," which means Stubbs is more of a symbolic mayor than a real mayor. And, of course, there's a human council that steps in when actual decisions need to be made. But Stubbs has become a tourist attraction, drawing in visitors (and dollars) to the town.<br /><br />Mayor Stubbs has become something of a celebrity, and is more popular in the polls than some of his human counterparts. He has <a href="https://www.facebook.com/mayorstubbs?ref=ts">25,000 subscribers</a> on Facebook, which is almost 10 times the amount of people (2,610, to be exact) following <a href="https://www.facebook.com/robfordtoronto?ref=ts">Toronto Mayor Rob Ford</a>.<br /><br />Meow.Sarah Marchildonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17604609825576716332noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8646612.post-70369923879504747972012-08-02T08:42:00.007-07:002012-08-02T09:16:17.687-07:00In Bruges<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKLxEvp3GZlMyRwdnFerwq3jR0XwJPteGjkizsHph4F9cvsW2LtYosu3A17Ged3NSDomDLuC-fSyVDsBpPHplxOzaEg0ow5BC6VzkR3i7WvpOCu3jl0pdrMNgDDZIeuYo99007UA/s1600/bruges+street.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKLxEvp3GZlMyRwdnFerwq3jR0XwJPteGjkizsHph4F9cvsW2LtYosu3A17Ged3NSDomDLuC-fSyVDsBpPHplxOzaEg0ow5BC6VzkR3i7WvpOCu3jl0pdrMNgDDZIeuYo99007UA/s400/bruges+street.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5772109446014831234" /></a><br />In Bruges. Really. Walking down narrow cobblestone streets. Drinking Belgian beer. Trying to figure out if this fairytale town is heaven, hell or something in between.<br /><br />When I first saw <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0780536/">In Bruges</a>, I thought . . . where the hell is Bruges? Now I know. It's a city in northwest Belgium. I also now know that the city as it looks in the movie is exactly how it looks in real li<span><span></span></span>fe -- like a perfect 15th-century film set. And, unlike Colin Farrell's character, who characterizes hell as an eternity spent in Bruges, I found the place quite charming.<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRTj55LgIen82vE6r7tMZhZo7s-hbid1qg8NO59PbMsSGXnz8qXu_K5zjQ1dQRLKzmQIPIh8Et7MN46V3d18f1gUzIJLSnLKl19F3FvoHcVuZ9I-elIfZD1xxK6C83bn4J2bMT0A/s1600/bruges+rooftops.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRTj55LgIen82vE6r7tMZhZo7s-hbid1qg8NO59PbMsSGXnz8qXu_K5zjQ1dQRLKzmQIPIh8Et7MN46V3d18f1gUzIJLSnLKl19F3FvoHcVuZ9I-elIfZD1xxK6C83bn4J2bMT0A/s400/bruges+rooftops.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5772109038752303986" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgI4x7W64qcozPEUeyxUwOCAGVCqLWDPkgzspQGiSQ3rwwtf46lZqNoo8UAg-w292YCxhHbmAdO5aaNS3dxrpwQH2KhxSOfVLiUo_3NepLc7_xnskmMOfDifqganmeU4fpr6alH2Q/s1600/bruges+rooftops+2.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgI4x7W64qcozPEUeyxUwOCAGVCqLWDPkgzspQGiSQ3rwwtf46lZqNoo8UAg-w292YCxhHbmAdO5aaNS3dxrpwQH2KhxSOfVLiUo_3NepLc7_xnskmMOfDifqganmeU4fpr6alH2Q/s400/bruges+rooftops+2.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5772109042984557554" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8s_tuq2hxRo71PqHA7P8oguoHSgAaJVBdrll9GxJPpDo4FC0ei8X9_2a0pRBtDn6g7bplS6zEdxX4QnYiZxeDq2LDhW0Tpro4Ob5zpwZHP2x2pvI2yMcHiuLS69nG8y4x0fuTBA/s1600/bruge+belgium+chocolate.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8s_tuq2hxRo71PqHA7P8oguoHSgAaJVBdrll9GxJPpDo4FC0ei8X9_2a0pRBtDn6g7bplS6zEdxX4QnYiZxeDq2LDhW0Tpro4Ob5zpwZHP2x2pvI2yMcHiuLS69nG8y4x0fuTBA/s400/bruge+belgium+chocolate.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5772109032149816674" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikpo0Q4RlYQjD8wTQSb4tBlNDujHLX23oRCYmPkLP75Qa8Vgpbvya2LFdDO8Zoqj7l2yZEgr6idvD2YLKutPSARBhvw6LfQUl72EEB1kxzyranchrxGItsqCCnwJ14SMiAev4FhQ/s1600/bruges+sitting+around.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikpo0Q4RlYQjD8wTQSb4tBlNDujHLX23oRCYmPkLP75Qa8Vgpbvya2LFdDO8Zoqj7l2yZEgr6idvD2YLKutPSARBhvw6LfQUl72EEB1kxzyranchrxGItsqCCnwJ14SMiAev4FhQ/s400/bruges+sitting+around.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5772109027777775234" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgB1bcDtT5rp1esMuDJnXiuXV1Dm0moZgWDw-y4f_Lti52GSKjNHiMw-1JRelLFCrxmpa1dAYeH-gCVGnRtzm51I-HD1qKYqNawjxSKxhIDkVSkaSfaI_BQWd1lsxViXH-4_Z6GuA/s1600/bruges+bridge.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgB1bcDtT5rp1esMuDJnXiuXV1Dm0moZgWDw-y4f_Lti52GSKjNHiMw-1JRelLFCrxmpa1dAYeH-gCVGnRtzm51I-HD1qKYqNawjxSKxhIDkVSkaSfaI_BQWd1lsxViXH-4_Z6GuA/s400/bruges+bridge.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5772109023527569762" /></a>Sarah Marchildonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17604609825576716332noreply@blogger.com7