T-Minus 6 days to London!

Next Sunday I'm off to London, England for almost three weeks. I've been there a couple times before but always for just a couple days max on the way to/from Europe, so I've hit most of the main highlights but will now actually have time to breath and visit at a leisurely pace. I have a full page of scribbled notes (and then some) from a combination of guide books and blogs (mainly Londonist) where I scoured for unique things to see and places to go while I'm there. Here's my Top 10 of most anticipated things:

1. The BFI National Library
The driving force behind this entire trip is my two-week library school practicum to be completed at the British Film Institute National Library. I had been trying for months to secure a unique practicum experience that aligns with my personal interests and goals (there are not a heckuva lot of dedicated film libraries out there), so I was absolutely thrilled when I found out I was accepted for this stint at the BFI Library!

2. John Barry Memorial Concert
My obsession with the world of James Bond theme songs started in grade 7 when a school friend gave me a Best of James Bond 30th Anniversary CD for my birthday and little did he know how influential that would become in my developing music tastes. When I checked the London concert schedule (always a vacation must), I saw that there was to be a memorial for the late, great Bond composer John Barry who passed away in January. I knew I had to be there if at all possible. Barry composed 11 of the first 14 film scores for the Bond series from Dr. No through The Living Daylights, including the signature James Bond theme, a source of never-ending controversy (it's officially credited to Monty Norman, but it's supposedly Barry who transformed the arrangement into what we all know and love). But there's not doubt, the big brassy, lush sound that permeates the Bond series is all John Barry who, in addition to the actual film scores, co-wrote the classic themes to Goldfinger, Thunderball, You Only Live Twice, and On Her Majesty's Secret Service, just to name a few. It cost a sweet (money)penny to score a ticket to to this memorial concert at the Royal Albert Hall(!), which will feature Dame Shirley Bassey, The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Nicholas Dodd, and tributes by Sir Michael Caine, Sir George Martin, and Timothy Dalton, among others. Should be brilliant.

3. Canada Day in Trafalgar Square
I won't even have been gone two full weeks at this point, but in case I get homesick there's a big Canada Day celebration (reportedly the largest outside Canada) for Londoners and ex-pats in Trafalgar Square. The all-day event will include some sort of Visit Canada pavilion, a street hockey tournament, mounties, imported Tim Hortons, and presumably overpriced poutine. There will also be a number of musical performances from the likes of Oh My Darling, Alex Cuba, Lennie Gallant, and more. I'm excited to see former Philosopher King guitarist James Bryan (apparently now based in London) who will be performing with jazz singer Tammy Weis. Plus, the reliably excellent Blue Rodeo will be headlining. As if that's not enough CanCon, the next day The Barbican is hosting Canadian Blast: A Celebration of Canadian Sound and Vision with Devon Sproule, Chilly Gonzales, Mantler, Ryan Driver, Sandro Perri, The Hidden Cameras, and Woodpigeon. Some of that is ticketed but other performances (such as the awesome Maylee Todd!) will be free.

4. Free museums & galleries
One of the amazing things about London is the glut of free (or rather, by donation) world class museums and galleries. The National Gallery, the National Portrait Gallery (way cooler than I expected last time I went), Tate Britain, Tate Modern, British Museum, Serpentine Gallery, and so on. I also just found out a couple days ago that the Andipa Gallery is also having an exhibition of Banksy works while I'm there. Again, free! Of course, if I'm bored I can go on a free scavenger hunt for Banksy street art that hasn't been painted over or removed.

5. Phantom of the Opera 2: Die Harder
Ok, so Andrew Lloyd Webber's 20+ years later sequel to the Phantom of the Opera opened last year to mixed reviews and, really, I haven't actually heard anything good OR bad about it (simply nothing). But I'm morbidly curious and loved the original musical. Of course, throw in half-price tickets from the tkts booth and I'm there!

6. You're Gonna Need a Bigger Boat Film Quiz
Over the past year, I've become enamored with the pub quiz tradition, which of course originates in the UK. They take things seriously over there (an estimated 22,000+ pubs have weekly quizzes), so I knew I wanted to take part and what better than an all-film pub quiz?!

7. Deathly Hallows, Part II world premiere
Yeah, I'm a bit of a nerd. It'll probably nutso busy (I've already read about people planning to camp out days in advance), but it'll be fun to see the spectacle, stars, and all that. The whole red carpet and all will be happening in and around Trafalgar Square. I'll be popping by after work, probably way too late but we'll see what happens.

8. Jamie Cullum Under the Bridge
Not long after my London dates were already confirmed, I caught word via Jamie Cullum's newsletter that he'd be playing an "intimate full band show" while I'd be there. At 2am on a Sunday, full details were announced and I was able to secure tickets to this late addition to the BluesFest London at the newly built Under the Bridge, a 600-capacity club under the Stamford Bridge stadium, home to Chelsea FC. Score!

9. Olympic Park
I am told there are free tours of the under construction Olympic Park. I'm particularly curious about Anish Kapoor's Orbit Tower (he also did the giant bean in Chicago).

10. London
Ah, who cares what I'll be doing. Knowing me, I'll simply be wandering the streets and riding the tube aimlessly until I stumble on something interesting. I'm in London!

Pacific Rim Whale Fest

I just came back after attending a whale festival on Vancouver island and figured that this might be a good place to tell my friends and family what I got up to.

The Pacific Rim Whale Festival is an annual festival taking place in Ucluelet and Tofino, BC, Canada that celebrates everything whale. Well actually it's more like "everything Pacific coast". The focus is on the gray whale migration that passes along the coast every March as the gray whales head up from the warm waters of Mexico to the feeding gold mine that is the Pacific Alaskan coast. Several hundred whales pass by each year and as such it's one of the best times to go whale watching.

This year was the 25th Anniversary of the festival and was my first time heading up. I got a chance to do an educational talk about my thesis work on the filtration mechanics of lunge-feeding baleen whales, but my wife and I made a vacation out of it and stuck around for a few festival events too.

Anyways, let's make this easy and just run thru the day-to-day fun that my wife and I got up to.

Check out some of my pictures here.

Friday
We took off for Vancouver Island the day before the festival got started and actually got an early jump as my wife was home sick that day. It was an easy traveling day though, so I managed to get her in the car and we took off for Port Alberni where my in-laws live. The drive is always incredible on the way to Port Alberni and this relaxed drive finally gave us the opportunity to stop at Cathedral Grove. I highly recommend stopping there if you pass by. The temperate rainforest that surrounds you is simply magnificent.

Saturday
We spent the day in Port Alberni and ended up going on a little nature walk here as well. The walk was actually pretty amazing considering we were within the city (town?) limits and yet felt like we were in the middle of nowhere. (Check out the pictures) In the late afternoon we made our way over to Ucluelet and checked into our hotel. And what a hotel! (Again, see the pictures) The Waters Edge Resort in Ucluelet was perfect. We had a one bedroom suite on the third floor overlooking the dock and the town. At night I took advantage of our brand new tripod and my new camera lens to capture some pictures that I never thought I could do! And while I took pictures of the port, my wife took in the private balcony jacuzzi that comes with each suite. Ya, pretty sweet deal.

Sunday
A perfect, blue sky on a spectacular March day. We really couldn't have asked for better weather on this trip. The west coast is renowned for it endless cloudiness and frequent rain. We, however, got very little of that. After taking in a late breakfast we thought we should take advantage of this weather (it might not last long!) and do some outdoor activities. It started with some kayaking around the straight. The kayaks were free courtesy of the hotel so we did a little bit of island hopping and sea lion spotting. Hanging out on the water and just sitting still is a feeling that us city folk don't really get to experience much. The extent of silence that you can get when you're out on the water always impresses me. There's no background noise. No cars. No rumbling generators. No humming street lights. Nothing. Just silence. Ahhhhh....

Anyways, back to the adventure. We then headed off on some whale watching. Having studied the feeding mechanisms of whales for the last couple years, I had yet to see a free, live baleen whale. So this was the perfect chance. And sure enough we spotted a couple whales. We saw about 4-6 grey whales and 2 humpbacks. Plus some stellar and California sea lions. All in all a pretty jam packed 2.5 hour boat ride. We went with Jamie's Whaling and I would highly recommend it. Our guide, Scott, knew a fair amount about the whales and the coast in general. I like it when guides don't have to be prompted to give you information. Scott would just bring up interesting facts without prompting, but would still leave some times of quiet and peace.

So, alas I had seen some live whales!! I didn't manage to get any great pics, the whales were not to obliging on showing their backs let alone their whale tails or a full breach. Never the less, it still counts as a whale sighting if all you really see is the mist from the blow hole! The boat ride itself was worth the trip. We were on a small 20 foot zodiac, but man, that thing could really cook it. At some points we were just skimming the water and the guy behind me's clam chowder just wouldn't stay down. He was quick enough to hurl over the side though, so I stayed clean.

We took an early night as I wanted to get ready for my talk the next day. Just another evening of jacuzzi tubbing and fishing boat photographing.

Monday
The big day! I gave my talk at the Wickannish Interpretive Centre in Pacific Rim National Park. Almost half way between Ucluelet and Tofino. It was a beautiful setting with the interpretive centre sitting right on the beach (the southern tip of the famous Long Beach). At first it looked like my 11:30am Monday morning time-slot might have dissuaded anybody for coming, but by the time I started there were about 30 people in the crowd.

My talk seemed to go over well. I had a lot of questions at the end of it so that's always a good sign. The questions I got ranged from a 4 yr old getting her mum to ask whether Nemo really could have come out of the spout of a whale to someone (who must have been an engineer) commenting on pressure differentials and laminar versus turbulent flow. Thankfully I think my background abled me to address both questions. :)

After my talk we met up with some of Alys' relatives and had lunch at the beautiful Black Rock Resort in Ucluelet. Considering how posh the resort is, the restaurant was pretty reasonably priced (lunch anyways) and pretty tasty too.

The evening gave us the chance to attend Sweet Indulgence, the Whale Festival's all you can eat dessert event. It was held at the Ukee community centre and had a couple hundred people show up. And the desserts were tasty too! The people of Ucluelet really put a lot of effort into making tons of homemade desserts and we were able to eat until we couldn't take any more. There were also about 50 door prizes too, of which we won one (2 for 1 dessert!) and a pretty good live acoustic duo playing some original and some acoustic covers the whole evening.

Guess what we did later in the evening? That's right....jacuzzi and pictures! I guess it looks like I'm really into photography now! And my wife must be really into jacuzzis...

Tuesday
Our first rainy day. We woke up to rain and it didn't want to let up. So unfortunately we had to skip the last event we had planned to attend (a nature walk led by a professional photographer) and headed back up thru Port Alberni and back to Vancouver.


All-in-all this was an amazing trip and I definitely hope to be back to Ucluelet and Tofino for the Pacific Rim Whale Festival! Next time we'll have to do some surfing and some more hiking if we get weather like that again. If you ever get a chance to hit up the Whale Festival, don't pass it up. I guarantee it'll be worth it!