VisWeek Conference

I was in Atlantic City to attend VisWeek 2009 which is three conferences in one: VAST (Visual Analytics, Science and Technology), InfoVis and Vis. I was presenting for my research group at VAST and I was also volunteering at VisWeek so that registration and hotel were much cheaper.

I arrived on Sunday morning and missed volunteer training Saturday night so I had to get caught up on Sunday morning but it was pretty quick. There wasn't much you needed to know to do the job. Sunday I had two tasks: registration and then the poster area.

This is the poster area which was in front of the registration desk. At registration we had a lot of people come by looking for free home depot coupons. We had to point them down the hall. They were pretty easy to pick out from the conference goers. At one point a lady came up and asked for "scotch" with some European accent. I had seen her name tag as a member of the conference but the other guy had not. He tried to tell her this wasn't part of the casino, but I cut in and asked "Do you mean scotch tape?" and luckily she did.

On Monday morning VAST started and I had to give a one minute fast forward preview presentation along with everyone else presenting. I was so nervous I froze up halfway through, but I had a cue card and the ten sentences ingrained in my head so I got through it. Unfortunately I don't think we got the laugh we wanted. This is the room where I presented. The sessions of VAST were pretty interesting but the topics varied quite a bit. I think there was more useful talks for me at InfoVis. The part of our software that I am working on is the InfoVis part so it makes sense.

On Tuesday morning I had to present and I was still quite nervous but I sat up in front of everyone well the guy before me presented so I think I became less nervous by the time I had to speak. I was told I did a great job presenting and during the rest of the week a few people came up to me and wanted to know more about our work. Andrew, another student from our lab took this shot of me while I presented.

After my presentation and a few after, I went out to lunch with my two supervisors for my masters and the keynote speaker for the following day for InfoVis and Vis. He's also the author of one of the text books used in my class. Apparently he has been in the Antarctic tracking whales. They stick tags on them with suction cups to track their movements for about a day before the tag falls off.

On Wednesday, Thursday and Friday morning I did a lot of volunteering but was able to catch some InfoVis talks in between or sometimes while volunteering, since there was one volunteer in each room. I got to meet some other student volunteers from around the US and other parts of the world and I got to talk to some people whose papers I'd read. I went out for dinner with another one of the professors from my school, a couple students from my lab and a guy who worked on some software I'd used called Tableau. It was good to be able to talk to him about some new things in the software that I had read a paper on that were related to our project. He also gave me a geeky Tableau t-shirt that says "Party with your data".

On Wednesday night was the reception dinner. It was the Vis conferences 20th anniversary so there was lots of jokes made that you had to have been around a long time to get. There was also a fashion show involving some of the other volunteers strutting across stage wearing previous versions of the conference shirt.

On Thursday night there was the student volunteer party. One of the guys in charge of the conference had this large room as part of his hotel suite and we had it for the evening. We were also given lots of alcohol, pizza and wings. Some fun mingling and chatting ensued and I met people from all over.

All in all the conference was an excellent experience and one I'd like to repeat. It happens every year in October, but if I finish my masters in the planned amount of time then I will be done by the next conference. This means it'd be super expensive to go since the student registration price is cheaper and plus you have to be a student to volunteer. However if something comes up in January like an internship I may not finish by then. We'll see. We have plenty of papers we could write about our software.

Atlantic City

I arrived in Atlantic City at 2am on Sunday October 11th after a long day of travel that mostly involved waiting.

Here is the view from my hotel room in the morning.

Here's the tower I was staying in. It's pretty old but I have no complaints about the room. Then again, I wasn't in the room very much. Sunday morning and early afternoon was the only time during the trip that I had to explore Atlantic City while it was nice and sunny.

My hotel was on Park Place and a block in front of it, where Park Place meets the Boardwalk there was supposed to be a Monopoly monument, but I couldn't find it anywhere. Instead there was this Korean war memorial.

I went down to the beach as I'd never seen the Atlantic Ocean before. Unless you really like gambling I think this city must be more enjoyable in the summer when I know I would be swimming in the ocean every day.

The beach goes on for miles.

Between the beach and the boardwalk there are some sand dunes that I suppose are there to protect everything from flooding but they hide a view of the beach from the boardwalk and vice versa.

There's a mall that extends over the ocean called The Pier Shops at Caesars where Caesars is one of the big casinos. The casinos own a very large portion of anything located near the boardwalk. Anyways, at the far end of this mall is a water show called simply "The Show". The mall opens up on all three floors to allow people to look down on it.

It plays every hour on the hour and lasts for about 10 minutes. It consists of jets of water shooting up from this fountain where the lights change colour. It all goes to music including the jets changing height to look like waves and water falling from the ceiling.

Another casino along the boardwalk is Bally's which contains a wild west section. These buildings along the boardwalk are all fake. That is there is no way to get to the balconies above and if you enter at ground level you end up inside a huge lobby.

The lobby has these fake hills and cacti in the center of it. They like their big fake stuff in Atlantic City. The ceiling is painted and lit up to resemble a sky and another day when I passed through here it looked quite different. My roommate seemed to think that they must paint it with several layers of special paint and then just change the lighting, with the different layers each only responding to one type of light.

A block away from the boardwalk they again had fake hills but at least at this point there are some real trees and the building fronts are just painted on.

Another casino, Tropicana has this whole mall area done up to look like
you are walking outside through a street in some European village.

It's complete with giant statues. This is when we were looking for a pub or bar that wasn't completely devoid of life. It was a Wednesday night in October so it was tough.

Atlantic City also likes to go big. Behind these fake western buildings are huge towering hotels where the first couple floors are full of slot machines and table games.

Casino after casino line the boardwalk, all super huge. They all have pretty sweet views of the ocean too, if you happen to be on that side of the building.

I also got a chance to go to the White House submarine shop at one point. It was a really busy place around noon. I would have had to wait in a big line if I wanted a table. I had to take it and run back to my volunteering though. This place has had lots of famous people through it. There were photos on the wall of different people eating there including Jerry Seinfeld, Hugh Grant, Ellen, and many more. They also claims to have invented the term submarine sandwich back in the 40's.

Buildings aren't the only big thing in Atlantic City. The food portions are also huge. I made the mistake of getting a whole sub and it turned out to be about a foot and a half. Carrying this thing back to the conference was like carrying a mini-light saber. It was quite good though, even if I ate it over a couple hours.

YVR Airport

Well, I am at the YVR Airport all ready to head to Atlantic City. There's just one problem. It's 1:42AM and at this point I should be on my second flight somewhere in the air between Portland and Houston.

I made it to the airport just fine. Going through the security check the guy looked at my ticket and I guess decided I had time to spare so he did a secondary search of me. What this means is that he patted me down and then went through my pack.

At the gate everything was fine until it was 10 minutes before the plane was supposed to take off and we hadn't boarded yet. The lady came on the speaker and said there was a computer glitch so they were just waiting to receiving confirmation on boarding from the crew. 20 minutes later she announced the cancellation of the flight to Seattle that was supposed to leave from the same gate 20 minutes after ours. She still wasn't sure about our flight though. At this point she was swarmed by the people from the Seattle flight who she gave hotel vouchers to and a phone number to call to rebook. For some people who had come in on another flight she helped them find an alternative out.

After this she talked to people on her radio every 20 minutes or so and always got a response of "we'll decide momentarily whether to cancel" or "just a moment..." Eventually though, at about the time our flight was supposed to have landed in Portland, she finally announced it was canceled. At this point it didn't really matter to me as I would have missed my connection anyway.

We then had to go back through customs, even filling out the form, and pick up our bags as if we were arriving from the US. Naturally our bags took a while to get there. Finally I headed over to the Air Canada counter to find a huge line-up. It was made up of the Seattle passengers as while as the canceled flights of Nanaimo, Whitehorse and Edmonton. A lady told us that if we didn't need a hotel for the night we shouldn't bother getting in line but should instead phone the Air Canada number to rebook.

I phoned the number but of course I was put on hold indefinitely. Since there was no more flights until morning I started taking transit home while still on hold. Unfortunately a short tunnel cut off my phone call. At this point I decided to try a different strategy since everyone else was phoning Air Canada. I phoned Expedia who I booked the trip through. They said it was the airlines that I had to deal with in rebooking my flights. My second and third flight were with Continental so I got their number from her and managed to get a hold of someone after being hung up on accidentally and at this point I was halfway home.

The guy at Continental was really awesome, booking me flights for the next day to get me all the way from Vancouver to Philadelphia. Unfortunately it's going to involve a long lay over in Houston and I won't get in until 12 hours after the original plan. Hopefully this plan actually goes through.

In the meantime, YVR is actually pretty great to hang out in. There is free wifi, no shortage of tables, and a Burger King that appears to be open all night.

Italy - Part 8 - Roma

So we were on our way north towards the Spanish Steps, but we hadn't eaten dinner so naturally we stopped at a pizza place.

It turned out the pizza was sold by weight and it was the best pizza I have had in a long time. It was quite simple, mine just had cheese, sausage and green olives on it but it was amazing. We ate in the place but realized after that we should have ate at the fountain nearby. There were fountains and really old buildings every couple blocks in this part of town. So many photos to take...so much darkness to wreck them. So after eating the pizza we also stopped at a gelato place but ate it on the go.

So we reached the Spanish Steps and this is the view looking up from them.
At the Spanish Steps there were many people hanging out enjoying the night and singing songs. Next we stopped at the Piazza del Popolo which was a huge open space with a fountain and obelisk in the center. Next up was the Piazza Navona which was made up of many carved fountains. I have more photos of Rome on Facebook.

The Pantheon was our next stop. This building was huge and you could walk amongst its giant pillars. I was pretty amazed by it. You couldn't easily take a photo of the whole thing, since you'd have to go back a block or two and in most directions there were buildings in the way.

Gordo by a fountain near the Pantheon.

After talking for at least an hour while looking over the ruins of the forum, Gordo and I arrived at the Colloseum. Wow, the Romans really must have believed bigger is better.

The lighting was pretty sweet. I would like to thank Greg for the awesome walking tour route. Gordo and I didn't get back to the hostel until about 2:30am, which was a short distance from the Colloseum.

So the next day Gordo and I were to meet Alex at this roundabout near the train station.

We took turns watching the bikes while one of us walked over to the train station and wandered around looking for him or trying to figure out when the next train was getting in from the direction of Florence.

This is a building near the roundabout. At about noon, I left Gordo there to seek out Internet. At the Internet place I looked up the location of Hotel Lodi and also emailed Alex to tell him that's where we'd be if we didn't meet him soon. Back at the meeting spot I watched the bikes while Gordo went to the train station. Luckily he came back with Alex who got in on the 1pm train. Without too much trouble we followed a map I'd drawn of how to get to Hotel Lodi. The guy there was really nice, getting us some ice cold water and letting us move our bikes into the courtyard behind a fence.

Here was my bed for that night. So then we had to decide what to do with the rest of the day. Alex really wanted to visit this seafood restaurant where you could get a great 8 course meal. Gordo was good with that too so we decided to walk to the newer part of the city called San Lorenzo and spend the day there rather than the super crowded touristy places.

We set out on foot. There was a lot of grafitti.

Little did we know how much walking we would do that day. We started by walking somewhat in the wrong direction because we wanted to find a place to cross the railway tracks. Unfortunately once we managed that we had to cross another set of them later and basically they were everywhere. We got a little turned around. During the day we stopped at a grocery store and bought some lunch. Alex and I split some fancy cheese as part of the lunch. We also stopped at a little department store where I bought 8 notebooks, each a different colour with a different smilie face on the front and Italian writing describing the colour in the cover. One for each of my family members.

Along the way there were many water fountains (aquaducts) and many of them were continuously running. They had a useful spout design where normally the water comes out the bottom for filling out a water bottle, but if you block this it shoots out the top for drinking.

More grafitti and walking.

More walking but now while it's getting dark we have navigated successfully to San Lorenzo. Unfortunately the fish place didn't seem to be open. There were signs for it but that was about it. Alex said they would setup in the street but there were cars parked where they usually setup. Luckily we did managed to find the gelato shop Alex had wanted to go to the whole day. It was called Nice Ice and it was delicious, but then all the gelato in Italy was. We sat in a park where there was a memorial to all the people who died in the bombings of this neighborhood in the 2nd world war. This is why the area has so many newer buildings, because the old ones were ruined. At around 9:30pm we realized the fish place was not going to be opened so we wandered over to a square where many young people were hanging out. Alex had also been there before.

We ate dinner in this pub. It turned out they had a buffet which had a good variety. After eating and drinking (Alex and I had wine) we walked back to our hostel in a very direct way. Then we spent some time on the Internet planning for the next day. Alex and Gordo were heading north out of Rome towards Switzerland and then Germany while I was leaving the continent to head back to Canada.

Here's my bike the next morning, ready for it's last trip in Italy.
I biked to the Roma Tiburtina station where I caught a train back to the airport.

Here's my last meal in Italy, bought in the food court of the airport. Watermelon! All in all, my trip to Italy was pretty freakin sweet.

It has taken me a bloody long time to write all these blog posts as I've been really busy with school and work and there is just so much to say. This is done just in time for a new trip. Tomorrow I am off to Atlantic City followed by New Orleans. Expect a blog post or two when I return.

Italy - Part 7 - Chiusi

The next morning we woke up here, having placed our tents so they'd be in the shade in the early morning. Some people showered in the morning and Alex lent me his razor so I could shave. I just shaved down to a goatee with mustache. Alex also decided he wanted to relax and spend a day at the campsite and around Chuisi which he studied when he was in Italy for the design school. So, I talked to Gordo and we decided we would go ahead without Alex to Rome that day and explore it on our own before meeting Alex the next day.

Before we left though we went down to the lake and out for a good lunch. This is the first dock we found at the lake, but then we went along further to a park where there were picnic tables and people fishing. No one was swimming but Gordo and I wanted to go swimming so we dipped our feet in the water at the end of one of the docks. Then I turned around and lowered myself into the water just to find out it was only up to my waist! I swam/walked out about 60 meters but it didn't really get any deeper... so much for that idea.

We went over and joined Alex, Greg and Jon in their game of Fluxx although it was soon over. Then we started to leave the park but Alex stopped and talked to an old couple who were having a picnic in the park. They gave him a cup of their wine and I had a little too. I could understand a little of what they were saying. They seemed to be enjoying life.

We got back to the campground where there was a restaurant called La Fattoria, which I believe means the farm. It was a nice restaurant though.

Alex and I both ordered the full 3 course meal which was kind of silly since it meant the other were watching us eat for some of the meal, although we did share some with them. I had spaghetti, a big piece of chicken, fries and then my choice of dessert.

For dessert, Alex and I were led into the building where there were 6 different dishes to choose from. We both chose tiramisu and it was excellent.

At the end of the meal we had to once again figure out who owed what and the payment of the meal was supposed to be what balanced out the bills for the trip. This was our last meal as a whole group. After the meal Gordo and I were ready to head off. There was some debate about where we should meet Alex in the morning. Alex thought we should pick the spot or meet at a place familiar to him but Greg said we should meet near the train station and Gordo and I had no idea of a good place to meet. We decided on a piazza about a block from the train station.

Gordo and I then biked off towards the Chiusi train station and despite taking a few wrong turns we reached the station with about 45 minutes to wait for the next train.

On the train Gordo read his whole journal to me from the point the biking started to when I arrived which was pretty sweet. They had some awesome times in France including some nice beaches on the island of Corsica, that it's too bad I missed.

Arriving in Rome, we found a hotel info booth where a lady was willing to book a hostel for us. Unfortunately she couldn't find Hotel Lodi, the name of the hostel Greg and Jon recommended. So we asked her to just book a place nearby and preferably one where we could keep our bikes inside. She asked if we needed our own bathroom or a private room but we just said No, get us something cheap. So then she booked a place nearby for us and gave us a map to it. She also charged us 8 Euros for booking it.

Here's Gordo being somewhat hysterical about how the day has gone so far - shortly after we got into our private room. Yes, at the hostel we had a private room with a TV and a fan. We also had a bathroom directly across the hall and they wouldn't let us keep our bikes inside anywhere. They had to be locked up on the street, so it was the opposite of what we asked for. It was however very close to the Colloseum and train station and it was cheap. Also, the guy said it was a safe neighborhood and there were a lot of other bikes and scooters on the street.

So once we took showers, we got ready to follow a walking route Greg had outlined for us through the streets of Rome at night. We wanted to lookup on the Internet how to take the metro to get to the start of the tour. At the Internet room there was a guy from Nicaragua who told us we should just walk it. "You are two big strong guys, you can walk. You go on the metro and you got guys all in your face and pick-pocketing you. You walk the street you get to see things on the way." He showed us a map of all the places he had walked which was all over. So we grabbed a map of the touristy areas for ourselves and set out on foot to explore Rome.

Italy - Part 6 - Last Days of Biking

This is where we spent the night. In the morning we woke up early although a number of vehicles had already driven by since it became light. Just before we were ready to move out a pickup truck (which there aren't many of there) drove up from the road that was part of the property and a farmer got out. He then had a long conversation with Alex while the rest of us watched. He wasn't angry. Instead he was amused that we slept in such an uncomfortable place! Through Alex's translation we heard there was a better place to sleep just down the hill, and some of the guys life story. He also mentioned there were good places to eat in another town.

Well we got back on the road again to start climbing the hill towards Montalcino. This is a view from part way up. Gordo went on ahead and I followed but couldn't keep up with him. Eventually I made it to a roundabout at the edge of town and there was no sign of Gordo and no signs for a COOP.

This is a view of the town from near the roundabout. I went on up some more steep hills until I met Gordo at the main junction of town. From there we ventured further into town and came across the COOP. We took turns in the store filling up the cart and then managed to pack it all on our bikes and started riding back down the hill. We met the others just before they reached the roundabout. Unfortunately from looking at the map it turned out we had to go back up to the junction. On the way up we stopped at a pull-out and ate the lunch/breakfast food. Then we climbed the big hill to the junction just to turn off and start back down another side of the hill. We went downhill for quite a while from here although unfortunately Greg got a flat tire. After an hour or two of riding we stopped for a seista in some shade in a field below the road. After everyone had napped for a while we started out again but it was a lot of uphill. We were a little afraid it might start to rain as there were some dark clouds in view.

At this point we decided to split up into two groups for a while. Gordo and I would bike on ahead and we would meet up again at Rocca d'Orcia, an old castle that was also one of the highest elevation points of the day. So Gordo and I biked on ahead and it was pretty tough to keep up with him! We only really stopped for a few minutes once in a small town to get some water from an aquaduct. We had some amazing 360 degree views at a few spots and also saw some lightning in the distance. We made it to Castiglione d'Orcia at around 6pm to discover that the Rocca was a little off our path. There was a COOP there so we bought a snack and some cold drinks and then went back to the intersection between the COOP road and the town's main road to wait for the rest of the gang.

We spent part of our wait sitting in the shade at this gas station. The lady working there started talking to us and I was afraid she wanted us to leave so I was trying to have a conversation with her. To accomplish this it ended up needing me, Gordo, my phrase book, the woman and two Italian guys, both of which didn't know much English. In the end, she didn't have a problem with us waiting there for our friends. The conversation wasn't really about anything except trying to communicate as we thought they might have a problem with us and they thought we had a problem.

Just before the COOP closed at 7:30, Gordo went and bought some groceries for dinner. Everyone else showed up around 8 and after they bought some cold drinks and dessert at a little convenience store we sat down to have a feast on this ledge. Everyone was in a good mood and the place was a very friendly classic Tuscana town. There were lots of old women or men sitting around chatting near the intersection. Before we left Beth told Alex to tell them they had a beautiful town. Just after sundown we were riding down switchbacks and out of the town. We crossed a major road onto a minor road following our route and then turned off onto a tiny road to find a place to sleep. We eventually ended up sleeping in a rather open spot again but this time it was in an unused part of a field a good distance from the vines. It was a less used road than the one before and I slept much better. In the morning we woke up early and as we packed up we said buon giorno to a few passing joggers.

We rode a short distance and then stopped here for breakfast. No not in this structure, just in a field by the road. The town in the distance is where we ate dinner the night before, Castiglione d'Orcia. After some peanut butter, apples and baguettes we were ready to roll out. The ground was so flat along this stretch that we were making really good time. Unfortunately Greg got another flat tire. Greg and Alex told us to go on ahead while they fixed it, so the rest of us kept going.

Eventually we had to go up some hills and so Gordo and I waited for Beth and Jon at a parking lot with some picnic tables and lookout in a tiny place called La Foce. Gordo took this photo of me there. We both wrote in our journals while waiting.

Here's Jon showing up at La Foce.

Luckily there wasn't much more uphill and then there was a lot of downhill. At the bottom Gordo and I found this great spot to spend siesta and although we'd covered a lot of ground it was only 11:30am. We waited there for Jon and Beth and unpacked some of our bags. When they showed up they started their siesta while we biked the 2 km to the nearby city of Chianciano Terme.

Once there our mission was to find a COOP and bring some food back to the group. We rode through the place looking for signs for a COOP and we just kept going and going. Eventually though just when it seemed we would leave out the other end, we found a sign. It pointed down a street that immediatedly forked but had a huge sidewalk sale on it so we couldn't really see much in either direction. After walking our bikes to the left, then to the right, then back to the left we found the COOP.

I watched the bikes while Gordo got the food. We drank our milk, and then packed all the food away on our bikes. Back at the siesta spot we showed up just a little while after Alex and Greg because they'd really had a lot of problems with the tire.

I took these closeups during what became our longest siesta of the trip. Beth is not a fan of photos taken of her so that's why it's just the 5 of us. It was quite relaxing and we ate some food and took naps, but Gordo and I calculated we left there 8 hours after we had first arrived as we didn't get away until 7:30pm. Greg and Beth took off before this but we ended up sticking around a bit longer while Alex figured out the budget for the trip. Figuring out who owed what to who was complicated because some of it went back before I joined them.

Back on the road we met up with Greg and Beth and then skirted around Chianciano following our route. At one point we thought we had taken a wrong turn but it turned out we just hadn't reached the junction yet. Then we were on the busier road and biking into the dark while looking for a campground. I was being careful because my back brakes had stopped working. Luckily it wasn't that hilly. We got a bit spread out and there was some frustration because the campground on our map didn't actually exist. Also Greg almost got hit by a car as the driver went right through a stop sign without slowing down. So, eventually we had to go all the way to Chuisi, the town with the train station, and then off away from it again to a campground by Lago di Chuisi...lake of Chuisi. We arrived there pretty late but the restaurant/office still had people working there and we got a site and went on in. We set up the tents although I was the only one sleeping in mine because Alex and Gordo were sleeping outside.

Once settled in I slept pretty well. It was a long two days but we covered quite a distance, saw some amazing scenery and an awesome little town and generally had a great end to our bike trip. The next day I would be heading to Rome.

Italy - Part 5 - From Siena to Montalcino

The morning of the 23rd of August, we woke up and started packing up camp as we had to check out by noon. It was also Sunday so we had to get to a grocery store before they closed down for the rest of the day. Jon, Gordo and I packed up quick and took off before the others to go to the COOP for groceries. Alex, Beth and Greg tried to get Internet at the campground, but it wasn't working.
Except for one small wrong turn we made it to the COOP easily. Unfortunately it was all closed and locked up, despite it being before noon and the sign saying it closed at 1pm on Sundays. Apparently it was a holiday. Since this is where we were supposed to meet the others, Gordo stayed at the COOP while Jon and I biked over to another grocery store he knew. This second store was in a mall by the train station and was open all day. Jon bought the groceries and then we managed to get them all over to the COOP just as the others showed up.

We ate some lunch in front of the COOP while people kept showing up to see if it was open. Unfortunately I had recently developed a sore throat and a bunch of canker sores that made eating not that much fun. After lunch we biked back to the second grocery store because there were a few items we forgot.
Outside the mall there were 3 fountains shaped somewhat like giant pinball machines. It would have been fun to have toy boats to race down these things. After buying the food we set out by bike and then walking our bikes into the historic center of the city to look for an Internet place. We found a couple closed ones but then managed to find an open one. We took turns waiting outside watching the bikes and people dressed up in costumes for the holiday. Alex and Gordo planned some of their biking route through Germany for the next week. Greg and Beth looked into flights leaving Italy in early September. I was on the computer for 20 minutes during which the guy who worked there was in the basement and just walked by a couple times. No one seemed to be paying and I didn't know how it worked so I just left. Later Greg and Beth were telling me I should go back and pay, as they had finally paid. When I went back to pay (1 Euro) the guy was so confused about why I was paying but not sitting down and using the Internet. Beth had to use Google Translator to finally explain to him that I had already used the Internet. After about an hour and a half that seemed way longer because I'm too impatient, we were ready to go.

Now we needed some food for dinner, and most people wanted McDonald's so we ended up going there. I ordered some food for Gordo and I who ate it outside while watching the bikes. I didn't deem McDonald's cool enough to take a photo of but the one above is just outside it. After the meal I led the way following a map to take some back streets that would be less crowded to get across the city.

When we came to this view of a church, we decided to take a bunch of group photos.

We took at least 4 different photos with different cameras all set on timers to take the shots.

They were some pretty sweet shots, and I hope
to get the other photos from everyone else at some point.

A block from here we came to the back of the city's Duomo which was pretty impressive.

The front of the Duomo was much more impressive though and quite pink for some reason.

There were a lot of little details carved into it. After taking a bunch of photos we were able to make our way to the edge of the city where our tour route started the day. From here there was an awesome view of the countryside just before sunset. Then we got to zip down a series of switchbacks and then stopped at a roundabout next to a large highway.

After consulting the map and directions we figured out
where to go and were soon on a smaller road.

We biked quite a bit that night. For the most part are bikes were fairly well lit up and there was very little traffic on the road. We stopped in a small town around 9pm and it was pretty active. A group of people walked by where we were relaxing and one guy said "Now that's real biking!" It turned out the group of people were from Ontario.

Despite a lot of uphill after the town we managed to bike at least another hour before Alex found this really good spot for wild camping. It was just below a pullout and the trail dead ended. Being down hill from the road it was pretty out of sight. We slept without the tents.

In the morning we were ready to go after some quick breakfast while packing up. We heard some other bikers shouting to each other above us as we ate. Here's the pullout just above our camping spot.

We stopped in this small town and bought some lunch food at a local store. We ate in a park where there was a ton of ants crawling everywhere. We got in a good amount of biking that day and took our siesta in the middle of it. At one point we rode past a signed that warned about nuclear testing. It was very odd. The scenery was great and the road wasn't that well travelled.

We arrived in the city of Buonconvento around dinner time and I spotted the COOP just as we entered town. I got some yogurt to feel good for my throat but unfortunately the fruit stung my mouth. We all shared a quarter of a watermelon and Beth bought some ice cream that we helped her finish. Once again there were a lot of ants! Alex took a time lapse of them swarming over and destroying a piece of meat.

We had to go on a busy road for a km but then were again on a side road and about 10km from Montalcino but unfortunately it was all uphill. As it got dark we biked up to a crossroad with two smaller roads to look for a place to sleep. Choosing which road to take we biked along looking for a place that would be ideal for wild camping but found nothing close. It was too open and it was all vineyards with houses nearby. Eventually we settled on sleeping at the edge of one of the vineyards on the rocky corner. At this point we had been hearing gunshots once every half hour for the last couple hours. I believe the noises were setup to scare birds away instead of using a scarecrow. We looked all our bikes together and went to sleep but this was probably the worst sleep in Italy for most of us. The ground was uncomfortable and a bunch of cars went by during the night, catching us in their headlights. The next day we would have a talk with the farmer...

Italy - Part 4 - To Siena

We actually covered a decent distance this day although we didn't get that far on the map since we went to meet up with the tour route and take the beautiful scenic route through the country side. It was pretty awesome scenery.

Here we've gone about 15km, but we're back north at 2km from Colle di Val d'Elsa because of the circular route.

One of the many vineyards along the route.

We stopped at a small town called Strove which was in the middle of 5 star scenic riding according to the tour. There was a really small COOP there and we bought some hot dogs to replace the ones that had gone bad. We've always had a good supply of peanut butter on this trip and here Greg had some that had melted so much that he could drink it. We also bought some cold drinks and had a good game of Fluxx before getting back on the road. That night we slept about 5km away from Siena. We wild camped in a pretty good spot where cars driving by on a small dirt road could not really see us unless they were looking. We cooked the hot dogs in the dark and then set up the tents and crashed. In the morning we packed up quick and early and then ate some breakfast a little further down the road. Then we biked into Siena and followed signs to a campground to arrive about 10am.

After doing some laundry and taking showers Gordo, Alex and I played some Fluxx outside the laundry room while eating cold lentils from the cans for lunch. We were watching over our camera battery chargers plugged in in the laundry room. Then we were all set to head into town. Alex, Gordo, Jon and I took a bus and Greg and Beth would meet us later.

In the old center of the city we snacked on some pizza, visited a bankomat and then hung out in this piazza for a little while. It had a statue of Sallustio Bandini who founded the library of Siena in the 17th century.

At the top of the wall overlooking the piazza was a series of heads. I assume they are of people who ruled the city but they could also be criminals considering they are just heads.

Finally we came to the Piazza del Campo and the Torre del Mangia of Siena. Gordo and I decided we had to go up but Jon and Alex stayed down in the Campo because they'd already been up.

At the top there was a couple bells...

...and an amazing view...

...and us! I didn't look very good in any of the photos though.

The stairs up/down were ridiculously narrow at times...

...and the ceiling became really low. Gordo filmed the majority of the trip down.

The Campo is a huge space where lots of people come and just hang out and sit on the ground. It's shaped like a fan divided into segments and twice a year there's a horse race around the outside. Siena is divided up into 17 contrade (districts) which have competed in the race for centuries. Actually each contrada hires a mercenary from the surrounding towns to ride their horse bareback. Apparently there's quite the celebration right after the race but we were there about a week after.

After Greg and Beth showed up we went to look for a place for dinner.

The place we found was pretty nice and the patio we were on overlooked a valley although our table wasn't near the edge. Everytime we ate in Tuscany it was outside. All the restaurants seem to have patios. I had a lasagne and split a spicy pizza called Diavola with Gordo. The lasagne was really small but all the food was good. Alex, Greg and I split some wine again. At the end of the meal we tried to work out the bill but couldn't figure out why there was an extra $9 item on the bill and the waiter was really busy. So finally we just left some cash for it all and left. Apparently Alex wrote "Hmm..." beside the item on the bill.

We went and hung out in the Campo for a while and played a little Big2, but then headed for the bus station because it was late. We waited for the bus and then Gordo, Alex and I rode the bus while Greg, Beth and Jon opted to walk back. The next day we would spend a little more time in Sienna before riding out at sunset.

Italy - Part 3 - Bike Problems

The next morning our plan was to head to town and get some groceries and then get on the road. Unfortunately my back wheel had become warped due to the weight and my bag rubbing against it through the holes in the rack. We didn't think it was a good idea to ride the bike any further without getting it fixed so the bags from my bike were given to other people and then we walked the bikes into San Gimignano.

Ok so Alex didn't carry the bags like this but it was funny that they fit well on his pants.

Before we left all the guys got a tattoo drawn on using a black felt. Most of them were done by Beth. Here Alex is doing his angry Italian impersonation.

I was the only one who really needed to walk the bike all the way but it made some sense for the others as otherwise they'd just have to wait for me.

The first stop was the COOP for groceries.

As usual we ate some lunch right after so that we didn't have to pack and keep things cool like yogurt and milk. We had a watermelon for desert which I think is Greg's favourite fruit.

This is the classic Coke Addict photo, very well done by Alex.

After lunch Alex and I walked into the center of town with my bike to look for an information place that would in turn tell us where a bike shop was. I had a chance to take some photos of the place in the daylight.

Alex found out that the bike shop was just across the parking lot from the COOP so we walked all the way back there to it. From the looks of the place it was actually an auto shop that rented out bikes. Alex explained the problem with my wheel to the guy who explained that he couldn't fix it and we'd have to go 11km to the nearest city called Poggibonsi to get it fixed.

This really being our only good option we set out to walk 11 km to Poggibonsi. There was a lot of downhill although that just made it more frustrating to not be able to ride it. The others would often coast down the hill and then wait for me at the bottom. Upon entering the very outskirts of Poggibonsi we were lucky that Beth saw the bike shop across a field. Inside there was a wait for the bike repair people but we watched some music videos while we waited. When it came to my turn Alex explained the problem and the guy got right to work tightening up all the spokes. After this he also fixed the derailer so that the bikes could now go into all gears.

Once again my bike was back in excellent shape and the guy only charged me 5 Euros! In this photo outside the bike shop everyone looks like they've just been shot! After the bike was fixed up we biked back towards San Gimignano to where there was a smaller road we could find a place to camp near. What followed was our first real stealth camping experience. We camped down a small dirt road into the forest that dead ended but was most likely on someone's property. There was some locked boxes there but we figured we were safe because it was already dark and we would leave early. We set up the tents trying to keep quiet and use little light and went to bed without any dinner. In the morning we packed up and moved out pretty quick and biked onto another side road towards our bike tour route.

We stopped on the side of the road for breakfast which was the pasta meant as dinner from the night before. Alex and Jon left us to ride back to the bike store so they could get Jon's biked fixed up. I tried to make the pasta while Gordo ended up helping because he was the real chef of the group. At this spot I found a little plastic brown horse which I gave to Greg and he wore it in his helmet for the rest of the trip.

Eventually Alex and Jon returned and Jon's bike had been fixed up. After we had all eaten and packed up we got back on the road and biked about 8 km to the outskirts of Colle di Val d'Elsa. Along the way we saw a lot of fields of sunflowers of all different ages.

In town we stopped at a small park and bought some cold drinks. We had an early siesta there, relaxing and playing lots of games of Fluxx while Alex was checking out his wheel and trying to figure out why it seemed warped now too. He played with tightening some of the spokes but this didn't seem to help much. Finally he decided he had to go back to the bike shop, so him and I unloaded some of our bike bags and then biked off to the shop while Beth and Greg biked into the center of town to get groceries. The guy was able to fix Alex's bike but he had to jump on it to get it back into shape! We arrived back at the park and after Greg and Beth got there we ate some lunch.

After this we left town once again back on our tour route but quickly left it for a dirt road in the direction of an agriturismo. Unfortunately when we got there the place looked really fancy and they told us they didn't want tents on their land. It was ridiculous because they had lots of land and how could it hurt. We ate some dinner at the base of their driveway while Jon checked out his bike. Dinner was pretty awesome with a lot of lunch meats and cheese in the dark while listening to Alex' wind-up radio-flashlight. That night we slept a little further back down the dirt road just on the side of it in a clearing. We didn't bother setting up the tents.

The next day as we were heading back into Col di Val D'Elsa Jon got a flat tire so Greg, Jon and Alex stayed behind to fix it while the rest of us went back to the same park. Then Gordo and I went into the center of town to get groceries for the day. Alex and Jon arrived while I was watching the bikes outside the store and afterwards we all biked back to the park where we ate some more food. Then finally we were on our way out of town with all our bikes in decent shape, back on the tour route. Part way through day 6 since Florence and barely started day 2 of the tour route.

Italy - Part 2 - San Gimignano

That night just before dark we thought we should stop and ask someone if we could sleep in their field. There were a lot less campgrounds in Italy than France (where everyone else had just been biking) and we were nowhere near one. So we stopped and Alex and Greg went up to a house to ask. When they got back they said the lady had said no but that we should check at an agriturismo just down the road. These things are basically farms that can't support themselves on the land alone so they also run a cheap B&B. She thought they might allow tents. Well we continued along her street when perhaps we were supposed to go up the main road. We ended up in a small town off of our tour route and didn't find the agriturismo.

We set down our stuff in a gravel parking lot after dark and made some pasta for dinner.

We slept in the parking lot but didn't bother setting up tents. Jon said that perhaps we should have one person awake at all times but then he fell asleep with the rest of us.

The parking lot was right next to a well lit, but very overgrown playground.

We woke up early and ate breakfast down the road. Around noon we arrived at Castelfiorentino, a town big enough to have a couple good grocery stores. I waited outside with Gordo and Beth while the others bought some groceries for lunch and more pasta for dinner.


While the guys were inside I walked up onto a nearby bridge to get a look around. When I saw them come out I headed back over to the side of the building where we ate lunch. After lunch we were all set to head out and Gordo, Jon and I biked only as far as across the parking lot.

At the other side of the parking lot no one had followed us. Apparently Beth was trying to decide whether she should hop a train and leave us as she thought she was slowing us down and she wasn't feeling well. Anyways, Gordo, Jon and I hung out beside the road for probably about an hour and played some hacky sac which I suck at.

Later we biked across town to a place near the train station only to wait another hour or so playing cards while Greg and Beth were talking. So then Greg told us they would meet us at San Gimignano, the end of the first day of the tour in the book we were following. Jon, Alex, Gordo and I set out for what was the most elevation gain of the tour.

We kept climbing and just when I thought we were at the top, we'd go up another hill. Around dusk we got to speed down many hills to the base of the hill town of San Gimignano. We had a lot of trouble this night finding a place to sleep again. We ate some pasta after Greg and Beth met us and then biked around looking for a place to stay. There was a campground but it was very expensive, about 75 Euros. It was quite a night, which included Jon and I biking across town three times, and Alex yelling about nuking Tuscany.

We ended up sleeping here, in a parking lot beside a pool about a block from the campground. We found out in the morning that we once again slept next to a playground.

Some olive trees surrounded the playground and overlooked our sleeping spot.

We decided the campground was a good idea if we made it worth it by getting there early so we went there in the morning and took showers, recharged our camera batteries and took siesta (a nap in the afternoon). Then we locked up our bikes and took a local bus into town.

Here's Greg at the aquaduct before filling up his bottle. The water in this town and the campground did not taste very good at all.

We wandered into the historic center castle part and found a good place to eat. We had a delicious meal and mine was an olive and anchovy pizza. Then we got some gelato and wandered the streets some more.

We sat down for a bit along one street and just chilled.

I balanced my camera on a door handle in order to get a crazy group shot. That night we walked back through the darkness to the campground. In the morning we would bike away on the second day of the tour and leave San Gimignano far behind, OR so we thought!

Italy - Part 1 - Firenze

So, my trip to Italy was awesome although I am also glad to be home with a nice warm comfy bed and easy access to water. Apparently there's this idea in Europe that Canadians waste more water than anyone else. Oh well, we have lots of it.

Anyways, I flew out of YVR Friday morning and landed near Rome on Saturday morning around the same time of day but just 14.5 hours later. The flight went north over Hudson Bay, Baffin Island and Greenland and then down south over Ireland and France.

There was a stop in Barcelona, Spain to let some people off.

When I got to the airport I had some problems communicating with the guy at the express train booth but eventually had to go to the other train booth because I couldn't take my bike on the express. The guy there was really nice and gave me tickets to get me all the way to Florence. The local train into Rome had a lot of graffiti in it and looking out the windows it seemed Rome itself had a ton of graffiti. In the end I would say Italy has a big load of graffiti.

Transferring within Rome to the train to Florence was a piece of cake and then it was a long train ride on the regional (slowest train) up to the main train station of Florence. I hop off with my bike and transferred all my gear onto it. Here it is before my very first ride in Italy. My mission...to get to the other train station and meet Greg, Jon, Beth, Gordo and Alex.

I messed up that mission pretty bad. The streets of Florence are hard to navigate, what with the only street signs being on the actual buildings or non-existent and a lot of one-way streets. When I did reach the station I somehow didn't see them and went on to our backup plan, a hostel. This is in the nearby Piazza della Liberta. My first look at some big arches and fountains of Italy.

The view from the back window of the hostel where the others eventually arrived late at night. This was taken the next morning when were deciding what to do.

We decided to start biking that day and made our way through the city. This is a bridge called Ponte Vecchio (Old Bridge) which has a lot of jewelry and leather shops on it. Apparently Florence is the leather capital of the world.

Greg, Jon and Beth shortly after the bridge.

After some small problems with my bike and a lot of biking through suburbs we climbed up out of town along switchbacks between olive groves. You can still see the top of the Duomo, Florence's central cathedral and Italy's largest dome, in the distance.

We were on our way...

Off to Italy

So it's 4am here but it's 2pm in Italy right now. I've already half adjusted to Italy time and it's not like I would be able to sleep anyway at this point. My flight leaves at 11:30am which means I have to be at the airport by 8:30. Before then I still want to weigh my baggage, make sure I have everything, try and find my watch that went missing, ready my bike for the flight by removing the pedals turning the handle bars and deflating the tires, and make a snack for the plane.

I'm currently at my grandparents place as this is where I"m getting a ride to the airport from. My brothers going to stay in my apartment and hopefully take good care of it. Unfortunately my fridge is completely empty except for the condiments and my cupboards are pretty bare so he's going to have to buy some food.

Today I'll have a really quick day and then a really quick night as the flight lasts 14.5 hours and lands at the same time of day it takes off. Hopefully my jet lag isn't that bad. After the plane I've got a couple train rides and then I hope to meet my friends at the train station in Florence. Greg said there's a 75% chance they'll be there when I get there. If not, well... I shall wait.

Peanut Butter Marshmallow

The marshmallows have been sitting in my cupboard fora long time and needed to be eaten, so I dipped some in peanut butter. Yum!

Italy in 6 days

Lately I've been doing lots of biking to get ready for Italy as I now leave in 6 days! I'm very excited because not only will I be traveling to another continent for the first time, but I'm going to be biking and camping with close friends who I haven't seen in a while.

Unfortunately I'm having some budget issues so its a good thing we'll be living cheap. My friends have already been there for a month and a half now and are also low on funds. Traveling to Italy, for me started as just a way of doing something exciting and escaping the everyday. Usually the money in my savings account simply gets saved for a rainy day. This time I thought I'd throw it all into a very memorable and awesome experience. Actually, I didn't think I'd throw it ALL in but it's now turning out that way. Due to some unrelated and unexpected costs to do with school, I'm now cutting it pretty close.

There won't be many visits into museums or famous historic sites (that cost money) and I may not be buying any souvenirs. I plan on taking lots of photos and just enjoying the moments. To me it's just being there with my friends in a totally new place, in a totally new situation that will be perfect.