C'est l'Halloween, hey!

Hallowe'en is one of my favouritest "holidays" of the year! Yay! I think it has to do with the joy I find in dressing up as somebody else. Without fail, I put on a costume every year and give candies to friends and strangers. Sadly, people in the city lack this spirit, even at the university! Well, too bad for them! They just don't get any of my candy :)

For the past 2-3 years I've been a kitty cat. Too lazy to change, I guess. This year, no more kitty! I went for the classic vampire!

In the morning, I went down the elevator with some older guy in my building. He asked me how I was doing. I said fine and dandy, since I just snacked on some children and small animals. I don't think he saw the blood dripping down the corner of my mouth as I got a quick glance and silence. 5 minutes later, when we were outside, he came running back to me and said "oh, i didn't realise it was hallowe'en!" I must have scared the bejeezers out of him! Boo!

Wanting to prowl the nights (I am a vampire, after all!), I convinced Odette to wear my kitty costume and we dined together in an Italian restaurant. Needless to day, I had red wine..... Hehhehheh

Happy Hallowe'en to all! Until next year.....

Who'd ever thought I'd like Toronto?

Ah! Conferences bring me on the road again! This time to present a poster at the Annual Meeting for the Canadian Diabetes Association, that brought me the "center of the universe", good ol' Toronto, Ontario!

After learning to travel with my European experiences (and trying to minimize my boss' budget), I decided to screw the fancy hotels and wing it at a youth hostel. In particular, the Canadiana Backpackers Inn, which got nice reviews on the internet. And, boy, what a good choice that was! It's located in the heart of downtown (you can see the CN tower down the street!) and comprises of renovated Victorian style houses. I got a private room that was more than cute and the bathrooms, yes, were clean! You can click on their link if you ever want to stay there.

One thing fun about this youth hostel is that the staff organizes cheap or free Canadiana events for the tourists passing through the place. The event for the evening was to see a live taping of the Royal Canadian Air Farce, an all-Canadian sit-com that mocks Canadian entertainment shows and politics. So I ditched the conference social (I hear it was terrible anyways) to go. Turns out I lost my group, but I went anyways since you just have to walk in and get a ticket a half-hour before taping. I ended up meeting nice people in line and had a wonderful time!

My first time seeing a live taping for tv! Fantastic! I never saw the episode air on tv so I have no idea if my voice could be picked out from the laughtrack :) The tv cameras were often in the way, so we had to watch most of it on the number of screens hanging around. They had musical entertainment and actor's chatting with the audience between takes. And, yes, they even had that neon sign on the ceiling that flash APPLAUSE!

The CBC building (CBC = Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, for all you non-Canadians out there!) where the show was being taped was also really cool (see the view looking down from the balcony in the pic)! They had a hall of fame displaying all the Canadian shows that have been involved with CBC over the years. It took me down memory lane, into my childhood through to my adolescence! Ah! The Friendly Giant, Kids in the Hall, Degrassi Junior High, Degrassi High,...

One evening, I decided to wander a bit up and down the downtown shopping streets when my hunger settled in. I ended up checking out a Korean restaurant (never tried Korean food before! - see the pic) and ordered a combo that comprised of food I had no idea how to eat (what order to eat things, which were condiments and which were appetizers, etc.). Luckily, a "connaisseur" was sitting beside me and offered me some advice. We clicked, seeing that he was originally from Montreal, and finished dining together, chatting about our professions and stuff. Turned out that he works for CBC in the French-speaking department of the Ontario branch as a news investigator of some sorts. He took interest in my work, and before I knew it, I got set up for an interview!

CBC interview - le diabète

The 7-minute interview was being broadcast across the province the next day, so during the conference I hunted for a radio so I could listen to it live. But radios are so out of the dinosaur ages that I didn't find one in the whole entire hotel and missed the live show. No problem, though, because they were kind enough to send me a digital recording of it! Just click on the doo-hickey above to hear it! Oh, and please excuse my terrible, terrible French! Even after they edited out my hesitations and bad grammar (they really did this!), I am shocked to learn how many times I start my sentences with "mais....". French people don't even say this! Oh well....

Other fun stuff about Toronto? The art! I was walking around earlier in the week and noticed this totally awesome building, which I couldn't resist taking a picture of! This is the Ontario College of Art & Design (of course, eh?). I went to take a closer look and came across the Art Gallery of Ontario next door. There was a big banner strewn across the front saying Andy Warhol, and I just had to go!

So, the day I was leaving Toronto, I went to the Andy Warhol / Supernova: Stars, Deaths and Disasters, 1962-1964 exhibit at the AGO, which (to my good fortune!) was closing the next day! This was one of the most absolute best art displays I have ever been to! I ended up buying a bunch of AW parafanalia and have his pictures up in my living room now :) Unfortunately, I wasn't allowed to take photos in the gallery, except for in one room. In this room was a fascinating display of a gazillion self-portraits, painted/sculpted/drawn/narrated by guests of the gallery from all over the world. The wall were covered! Children, old people, artists, non-artists, all kinds of people expressed themselves and put themselves on display! Wow.

Oh, yeah. How did the conference go? Well, I did a poster display and that's usually limited on the excitement level. There were, like, 200 other posters and most of the delegates don't understand our scientific jargon anyways.

So, to my own surprise, I ended up really digging Toronto, the city I never really liked before. Go figure! Unfortunately, after this discovery, I had to cut my stay a bit short and take the early train home. My parents had called to say my poor grandmom was in the hospital! (Don't worry, folks, she's recovered and is as fine and fiesty as ever!)

Omigod I'm moving!

Literally walked off the plane after getting home from Europe and my parents greet me at the airport with a key (my birthday gift). No time for travel stories, no! Gotta talk furniture and wall colours!

Yup. While I was away, my parents found a new pad for me to live in. A chic little condo in the downtown area with an awesome kitchen (the most important room!) with a mini bar. I think Paul Martin has a place across the street. Catch is, mum and dad get to stay at "hotel susan" when they are in Montreal. A fair trade for cheap rent!

While I'm moving all my possessions, I'm sadly leaving behind two very special things in my life. Cameron and the cat. I'm quite sad.

The lovely Vienna

After touring Switzerland for a few days, Andi and I hit the traintracks and headed to his current hometown of Vienna, Austria. The train ride alone was a thrill (my first overnight train ride ever)! On economy class, you can turn down the seats to make little beds, so we converted our car into a pseudo disco lounge for a late night party. We were abruptly awoken at 7 am by a group of giggly teenage girls. Good thing, though, because I was awake to see some beautiful scenery in the morning light!

To state the obvious, the most marvelous thing about Vienna is the jaw-dropping architecture and the complicated history that accompanies it (something I won't attempt to repeat accurately here since history was my worst subject in school....but Andi, if I mess up my facts, please correct me!). Anyways, so Andi took me on the grand tour to the main sites, which were clearly numbered on the outside walls from #1 to a gazillion for the convenience of guided tours. There's no way I could post pictures of every gorgeous site I saw, but here is a taste of the view along with some tidbits of info I still remember (or googled)....

Let's see... There's Town Hall. This was an amusing site since a mini circus was going on right in front of it. Then there's the Hofburg Theatre just across the street from Town Hall. On the left, you can spot one of the new high-tech city trams (old rickety wooden ones are also still in circulation). Oooh, and we went by the State Opera House! We made a weak attempt to sneak in to see the inside, but our efforts were not rewarded. And we walked by the Parliament Building where the Green Party was having a little party of their own out front!

Let us not forget the Hofburg Imperial Palace. This place is much, much more grand and vast than the pictures hint at. There's a reason that this place attracts flocks and flocks of tourists, as you can see. Now serving as the official residence of the President of Austria, the home of the Austrian National Library and a series of museums, there's even more stories to tell of its past. In March 1938, it was from the balcony of this building that Hitler made his famous speech proclaiming the annexation of Austria to Germany. Wow.

Ah! And on several occasions we hung around what is undoubtedly the most famous landmark of Vienna, the St. Stephen's Cathedral. This stunningly gorgeous piece of architecture was apparently first built in 1147, if you can believe it! Unfortunately, as could have been expected, it was being restored so some tasteful scaffolding was partially masking this marvel.

I took the liberty of taking a video of the hustle and bustle of the area by the cathedral. I've alwasy been fascinated by tourist hotspots! The weird sounds you hear are courtesy of a street performer (there are many Mozarts hopping around there!). Notice as well the super modern buildings that are just across the street from the ancient cathedral! I think that this has produced mixed feeling among the community, but I find it fascinating!

Ok, so we did soooooooo much more than look at the architecture! After all, I had a local guide so I had to experience more than the typical touristy stuff! What kind of things did we do, you ask?

I experienced, on several occasions, REAL Viennese coffee (which puts Starbucks to shame) accompanied by a deelish helping of Sachertorte (famous Viennese chocolate cake) or even a Mozart-Würfel (google that one!). We even went to some apparently famous cafes, though I can't for the life of me remember the name of them (like the one seen on the left here)! At this place, our coffee and dessert was served on a silver platter by men in bowties!

Keeping on the food theme here (I personally think one of the highlights of travelling is the eating!), we went out with other kids from Vienna (or surrounding area) that also stayed in Groningen! For some of us, it was a happy reunion :) So the gang thought it would be fun, to my delight, to celebrate by going to a traditional Austrian restaurant, with authentic waiters and music and all (hahaha!). Of course, I ordered the most traditional dish there was, the Wiener Schnitzel, which is a giant slab of tenderized and breaded meat accompanied by pickled veggies. I even dared a shot of the traditional half-way-there wine that is so... um... distinctive tasting that not many at the table were brave enough to try with me! (It reminded me a bit of the Slivovitz I tried in Serbia & Montenegro)

After the Austrian feast, we hit the coolest little bar strip ever! This was located underneath the train line so that the bars were tucked underneath the archways (look closely in the pic!). Talk about efficient use of space! We popped our heads in a place (sorry, can't remember names here) that was apparently recommended by the Lonely Planet so it was brimming with people, spent some quality time at a sophisticated hangout seen on the left, and later into the morning hours, went to an electronica bar where we saw some crazeee japanese djs.

I also got a little bit of culture in me when we visited a quaint little art gallery where Andi's friend works. His friend wasn't there but the display was not too bad! And it was free! Much better than being suffocated in the overwhelming museums and galleries that are ten blocks big!

We also went shopping a couple of times at a couple of famous strips there. We ate hot chestnuts andfries from vending stands and walked around. I did most of my actual shopping when he was in class (for souvenirs, at that!). I was mostly just impressed at how gorgeous and old the buildings were in a place that is the home too so many modern shopping branches!

One day, when Andi had French class, I got a chance to hang out at his university, the Technische Universität Wien. A stunning campus with more awesome architecture! I got to pretend I was a student while doing some work on the computers in the library (the middle pic). Well, I blended in pretty nice until I opened my mouth, that is!

On my last day there, we went to one of my favourite places in Vienna, the Prater amusement park!!! Whoohoo! This is the home of the other famous landmark, the Riesenrad (literally translating into the "giant wheel"). The wheel originally had 30 gondolas but the whole thing was destroyed in the second world war. They rebuilt it, but included only 15 gondolas (replicas of the originals) the second time around. Of course, we paid our 30 bucks to go up the wheel (the package included a nauseating spinning history of Vienna display) and saw some breathtaking views of the city! I also noticed private gondolas designed for romantic dinners for two! How adorable! We also went on a loop-de-loop backwards-and-forwards roller-coaster (look up!), much to my utter delight! It was my first time in years (my sister and I used to brave the craziest roller coasters around the world!) and Andi's first time ever! Unfortunately, I don't think he'll ever go on one (voluntarily) again.... Well, I love that feeling when your stomach is still in the air while the rest of you is plunging down at super speeds! Fantastic! I also tried my hand at games (archery ones since I'm supposed to be a pro!) and walked out with a 3-inch stuffed puppy worth 1/10th of the money I ended up paying for it. Oh well.

Well, enough rambling about Vienna.... This is one loooooong post! If I were to write everything that happened in this one blog entry, I'd have nothing left to tell when I see you in person!

So, finally, I said goodbye to my sweetie and flew back home to Montreal. It was my 27th birthday and the longest birthday I ever had. Literally! I added 6 hours to my day with the time change! Hahahah! Well, the coolest thing was, we had the fortune of following the sunset home while coasting around the globe. That sunset lasted for hours and that view from the plane window was one of the most beautiful sights I have ever seen... Happy birthday to me!

Swiss Bliss

Conferences. Gotta love them! They are the highlight of my work because, one, I get to present, and two, I get to travel! This time, I was invited to do an oral presentation at the XIVth International Workshop on Bioencapsulation in Lausanne, Switzerland.

Business-wise, the conference was fantastic! I made wonderful new contacts, embarked on a super-exciting international project, and got invited to write a book chapter (in French!) about cell encapsulation. Non-business-wise, my stay was just as fabulous if not better! I had a joyous reunion with my boys from the Groningen lab, Bart and Paul, who did some snazzy presentations themselves (congrats, guys!). And just hours after the conference ended, I started a whole new adventure with my dear friend Andi (I lived across the hall from him in Groningen - recognize him in the pic?).


A first taste of the alps (Wednesday AM)

Here is my first view of the Swiss alps, which was granted the moment I landed at the Geneva airport. It took my breath away. Airplanes were literally landing in the middle of a picture perfect scene that looked just like the movies. Those Swiss really know how to make a first impression!


La La Lausanne (Wednesday AFT to Monday PM)

Some fascinating tidbits that I learnt either about Lausanne or while in Lausanne:

* Everybody speaks French first in Lausanne. This made me feel right at home, despite the noticeable absence of dirty Québecois slang. Most people speak English as well.

* Strangely enough, it seemed that 9 out of 10 restaurants in Lausanne were pizza restaurants. This must be tied to the fact that Italy is a bordering country. We hit one remarkable pizza place where they encourage customers to write on the walls and ceilings.

* You need to be a billy goat to live there. The inclines are insanely steep. Funny enough, bikes and scooters (for kids) are particularly popular there. I guess the downhill rides must be worth hauling up your vehicle to higher altitudes.

* The public transportation system is simply impressive. Each bus stop is clearly marked by name, and inside the buses are electronic signs that constantly remind you what route you are on, the direction you are going, and what stop is coming up next. For the first time, I totally lost my phobia of public buses. The metro system is just as efficient. In fact, I took the bus and metro to the conference in the mornings and I felt like a regular old Swiss commuter.

* Ding dong ding!... go the bells of the many, many churches about every half an hour. A fascinating sound that we noticed while hanging around this lookout point, which provides an awesome view of the rooftops typically scattered at all altitudes along the mountainside.

* Lausanne is the home of the International Olympic Committee headquarters. That's about all I know on this subject since I didn't actually go see the Olympic museum.

* It's all about the huge, picturesque lake. Lausanne borders lac Léman (a.k.a. Lake Geneva) which, according to Wikipedia, is the second largest freshwater lake in Central Europe at 582 km2. It's no lake Ontario (which is allegedly 18 960 km2), but it seemed massive nonetheless. It must be the mountain thing warping my sense of size.

Talking about the lake reminds me of a funny story. The conference committee organized a social night at the "château". We had to pile onto buses and drive 40 minutes out of the city, along the lake, and into the cutest little town seemingly in the middle of nowhere. Luckily we were driving along the lake during sunset so I could take this photo (from a moving bus window) to share with you. By the way, it turned out that we didn't dine in the "château" - We ate in a barn-like structure across the road from the castle. I think they tried to trick us by getting us drunk with a wine-tasting that took place in front of the castle before herding us into the barn.

* Switzerland loves Canada. I felt so proud to see various signs of our country in the most random places all around the city! As you can see in the pics, we saw them on foreign Molson Canadian beer bottles (so nifty looking yet so yucky tasting - seems to me we ship the crappy batches to the outsiders), on flags hanging anywhere from the downtown pubs to the souvenir shops, within graffiti comments littering the tourist hotspots, and on bouncy balls being sold from coin machines.

* Speaking of souvenir shops, the Swiss apparently really are coo-coo about clock parafanalia, at least when it comes to pushing it to tourists! Just check out all the tickin' crazy stuff in this store window!

* The Swiss really do make the best chocolates. A free sample from the chocolaterie absolutely convinced me of this.


A zany 24 hours in Zurich (Monday PM to Tuesday PM)

Andi and I fled Lausanne by train to spend an action-packed 24 hours in Zurich, just like they do on that travel television program.

As soon as I laid eyes on the largest city in Switzerland, I fell in love. Lausanne just seemed small and simple next to the exciting hustle and bustle of Zurich. The view of the train station alone had me hooked (seen on the left). What also had me fascinated were the trams. On the way from the train station to our youth hostel, we spotted a fancy looking tram that appeared to cruise around town while, inside the car, couples eat intimate fondue dinners as they enjoy the surrounding low-lit lamps, red velvet, and other gawdy decor.

Our youth hostel was located on top of a restaurant called the "Spaghetti FACTORY", located in the heart of the lively bar and restaurant strip. To get to the reception desk, we literally had to climb up four flights of stairs, past the restaurant kitchen wafting with the smell of tons of boiling pasta. Crazy.

Here's some of the fun things we managed to do in 24 hours :

* We ate fondue for dinner. Now we can finally say, "I ate cheese fondue in the Swiss alps". Amusingly, we evidently weren't the only tourists with the same idea. It was the busiest restaurant on the strip.

* We played Jenga back at the youth hostel. I had always wanted to play Jenga ever since I was a little kid! The fun part is, each piece has a hand written message from someone who has passed through the hostel - little pieces of travel advice, life mottos, drunken quotes, etc.

* We had breakfast on a park bench in the center, taking in a beautiful view of the water on one side and watching the morning rush hour traffic at a busy intersection on the other side.

Click on play above to see a nifty video I shot of the trams zooming by (in front of a Lindt chocolate sign!).

* We checked out the university campus. Gorgeous buildings. I felt like a queen going through there.

* We took a ride up the funicular to a super high point in the city where the wealthy enjoy their huge homes and forested areas and fancy smancy restaurants with a killer view of the city.

* We ventured to Technorama, Switzerland's only science center. It's not really located in Zurich, but rather in the next town over called Winterthur. This is a fact that we discovered the hard way. It was a long trek out there, but it was well worth it! Go science!