Off to Toronto. At Dublin airport at the moment. First time in Ireland.
(https://iili.io/C3nSEKv.jpg)
(https://iili.io/C3nljt9.jpg)
(https://iili.io/C3xL3Hg.jpg)
Got a window seat.
Quote from: Slim on May 30, 2026, 10:08:59 AMOff to Toronto. At Dublin airport at the moment. First time in Ireland.
Careful now!
Why are you in Ireland?
Quote from: Nickslikk2112 on May 30, 2026, 02:19:55 PMQuote from: Slim on May 30, 2026, 10:08:59 AMOff to Toronto. At Dublin airport at the moment. First time in Ireland.
Careful now!
Down with this sort of thing! 😂🤣
Quote from: Slim on May 30, 2026, 10:08:59 AMOff to Toronto. At Dublin airport at the moment. First time in Ireland.
(https://iili.io/C3nSEKv.jpg)
(https://iili.io/C3nljt9.jpg)
Looked up this Aer Lingus aircraft. EI-DEL, an Airbus A320-214. Which leg of the journey is this for?
Flight Radar says Birmingham to Dublin.
https://www.flightradar24.com/data/aircraft/ei-del
Done 5 flights today.
Dublin - Birmingham
Birmingham - Dublin
Dublin - Hamburg
Hamburg - Dublin
Dublin - Rome
No wonder the world's heating up...
Nice view of the CN Tower from the room. Nice day here.
(https://iili.io/C37zHRR.jpg)
Quote from: David L on May 30, 2026, 05:21:01 PMWhy are you in Ireland?
You can't get a direct flight from Birmingham to YYZ.
I think I might fly to Birmingham fairly soon. Looks like the simplest way to get to Ashby-de-la-Zouch. There's a Westfield specialist there and I've switched my attention to those as I just can't find the right Caterham. Scotland really is hopeless for such things.
Ashby's only 4 miles from Chez Slim, let me know and we'll go for a beer if you fancy it.
Meanwhile - only a 15 minute walk from the hotel, rude not to. Not that high up on my list of Rush locations. But nice to see. Very quiet there, we had the place to ourselves.
(https://iili.io/C3YvzRn.jpg)
This though, made me a bit emotional when I turned the corner and saw the sign.
Couldn't quite believe I'd come to this place in person. I thought of the very first time I heard All the World's a Stage, one night in December 1976. The countless times since that I immersed myself in this place, especially as a teen. And I'm not embarrassed to say I blinked back a tear.
(https://iili.io/C3Ygu7S.jpg)
Toronnno is great.
Expensive beer, but you get what you pay for. :)
(https://iili.io/C38pxt9.jpg)
Held my monocular eyepiece to the lens of my phone for a sort of DIY telephoto.
(https://iili.io/C3gzOPa.jpg)
Quote from: Slim on May 31, 2026, 09:57:54 PM(https://iili.io/C38pxt9.jpg)
Looks like if you visit the store next door beforehand you can fly into the club, going by the last four letters in the sign.
Danforth and Pape. Nice round there, a sort of Greek quarter. Lots of bistros and bars. About 25 mins on the subway from the hotel.
(https://iili.io/CFq29Rf.jpg)
From there we walked, mainly along Pape Avenue to 14, Overlea Boulevard - once Toronto Sound Studio.
Couldn't quite believe I was here. My journey through time and space had brought me to the Foundry of Fountain of Lamneth, the Birthplace of Bastille Day; the Cradle of Caress of Steel. The Singularity of Something for Nothing, the Origin of Oracle: The Dream.
Some sort of building work going on outside as you can see, but I walked round it and rocked up to the front door. I touched it. I played Passage to Bangkok on my phone, pressed it to my ear and couldn't quite believe that what I was hearing was happening on the other side of the door.
(https://iili.io/CFqYht2.jpg)
(https://iili.io/CFqvLIp.jpg)
Back form an incredible 9 day holiday in Switzerland - incredible weather and the most beautiful picturesque countryside I've ever visited. Zurich - Lucerne - Interlaken - Zermatt.
Up Jungfraujoch, Mount Pilatus, Harder Kulm, Matterhorn. Railway journeys, cable cars, boat rides...
Best holiday I've ever had.
View from the hotel room this evening. We're on the 38th floor.
(https://iili.io/CF5v9pV.jpg)
About to board to Amsterdam en route to Barcelona for Primavera Festival.
Quote from: captainkurtz on June 03, 2026, 09:05:04 AMAbout to board to Amsterdam en route to Barcelona for Primavera Festival.
Mind you wallet, Amsterdam is not a city, it's a theme park these days.
Quote from: Thenop on June 03, 2026, 09:40:29 AMQuote from: captainkurtz on June 03, 2026, 09:05:04 AMAbout to board to Amsterdam en route to Barcelona for Primavera Festival.
Mind you wallet, Amsterdam is not a city, it's a theme park these days.
Just 2 hours in the airport before my connecting flight...
Quote from: captainkurtz on June 03, 2026, 09:05:04 AMAbout to board to Amsterdam en route to Barcelona for Primavera Festival.
Okay, Alan Whicker... ;)
Noticed the A380 is now back on the Glasgow-Dubai route. Numbers must be back to where they were. Will folk never learn?
Quote from: The Picnic Wasp on June 03, 2026, 08:41:38 PMNoticed the A380 is now back on the Glasgow-Dubai route. Numbers must be back to where they were. Will folk never learn?
Learn what?
Quote from: David L on June 03, 2026, 11:02:51 PMQuote from: The Picnic Wasp on June 03, 2026, 08:41:38 PMNoticed the A380 is now back on the Glasgow-Dubai route. Numbers must be back to where they were. Will folk never learn?
Learn what?
That jetting off to a simmering, potential war zone isn't the wisest thing to do, but each to their own.
Edit: I'm aware of the political slant to my post so won't post anything additional on the subject in this thread. Just seems an unlikely holiday destination in the circumstances.
Quote from: The Picnic Wasp on June 03, 2026, 11:58:42 PMQuote from: David L on June 03, 2026, 11:02:51 PMQuote from: The Picnic Wasp on June 03, 2026, 08:41:38 PMNoticed the A380 is now back on the Glasgow-Dubai route. Numbers must be back to where they were. Will folk never learn?
Learn what?
That jetting off to a simmering, potential war zone isn't the wisest thing to do, but each to their own.
Edit: I'm aware of the political slant to my post so won't post anything additional on the subject in this thread. Just seems an unlikely holiday destination in the circumstances.
Nowhere near as stupid as waking up and deciding to go on a motorcycling holiday to Iran, though! That takes a special kind of stupid!
Went up the CN Tower - not just the main viewing platform, but the top viewing platform which is the smaller bump in the spike near the top.
Walked across the glass floor, with the view right to the bottom. Not a comfortable experience.
(https://iili.io/CKiEzYu.jpg)
(https://iili.io/CKiW8f2.jpg)
We went to Niagara Falls yesterday. This is one of the few images that survives from my phone, because somehow I lost it there. I uploaded this one and a couple of others to Facebook before I mislaid it.
We went on the boat trip that goes right into the spray and that was pretty amazing. I think I got some fantastic pics, but I'll never know.
Had a stressful few hours before I could lock the phone down remotely, but it's unlikely someone defeated the screen lock and went on a Google Pay spending spree. Hopefully. I've disabled the SIM remotely and my mobile bill looks normal.
Shame because although the phone was battered and cracked, it did have a great camera. Fortunately I brought a 'proper' camera with me and have mostly been using the phone camera as a social media convenience. But I didn't take it to the Falls because I didn't want to get it wet!
Used 'er indoors' iPhone for the two CN Tower pics.
(https://iili.io/CKiOXJ2.jpg)
I did all this back in '86, had a great time. One night in the Days Inn on the Canadian side of the Falls followed by two nights in Toronto. I was big into Rush and saw Massey Hall but none of the other Rush-related landmarks. I'd rectify that if I revisited. We also did the 'Maid Of The Mist' voyage and I'm sure I have a photo of me somewhere stood in more or less that exact spot at the top of the CN Tower. Lovely city.
Loved the Canadian side of Niagara Falls and Niagara on the lake is one of the most beautiful places I've ever been too. Just a gorgeous lovely town with friendly and helpful people.
I was very reluctant to walk on the glass floor at the CN Tower through the basic primal fear that I assume kicks in for the vast majority of people; but then I saw a kid aged about four casually rolling around on it, and, to my surprise, I felt completely fine after my first few steps.
The upper pod was closed unfortunately.
Quote from: captainkurtz on June 05, 2026, 04:35:34 PMLoved the Canadian side of Niagara Falls and Niagara on the lake is one of the most beautiful places I've ever been too. Just a gorgeous lovely town with friendly and helpful people.
Stayed there many years ago, had a few ice wines.
Quote from: Matt2112 on June 05, 2026, 08:18:19 PMI was very reluctant to walk on the glass floor at the CN Tower through the basic primal fear that I assume kicks in for the vast majority of people; but then I saw a kid aged about four casually rolling around on it, and, to my surprise, I felt completely fine after my first few steps.
We did The Edge in New York and the platform there has a glass floor. At first it's unnerving but it only takes a few seconds for your brain to readjust and realise it's not hazardous.
I didn't readjust, I felt extremely tense the whole way across. Logic versus instinct, I suppose.
When I worked in the top floor of the tower at Canary Wharf, some people used to amuse themselves occasionally by pushing people against the windows. The glass went all the way to the floor. An occasional variation of this sport was to roll someone's office chair against the glass at high speed.
We went to the revolving restaurant in the tower last night. I'd always wanted to visit the Post Office Tower one but of course it's been closed since the '70s, so this was a very welcome opportunity.
The moving part of the restaurant spins round once every 90 minutes. We had a window table.
The really odd thing is - you don't feel like you're moving. The view outside doesn't seem to change in real time. What seems to be happening is that you're stationary and the window frames and the columns are moving past you, rather than vice-versa, which is what's really happening. But we did do a complete circuit.
The moving part is a sort of outer floor disc so the centre of the restaurant also seems to be spinning round slowly.
I took a few seconds of video and will YouTube it when I get back.
(https://iili.io/Cfjr66x.jpg)
The food was good, if a bit expensive.
Quote from: Matt2112 on October 30, 2025, 10:03:09 PMAmongst the many statues passed, I was particularly impressed by a fantastic sculpture in Omonia Square of Icarus, falling to his death head first to the ground; I found it not only aesthetically stunning but an example of genuinely great art that has got under my skin in a good way and that I've thought about ever since (it's on the "Revisit List" for next year).
That's from one of the posts in the Holidays 2025 thread that chronicled my family visit to Athens last October/November; on my visit two weeks ago with a lifelong friend to see Iron Maiden, we indeed took the opportunity to have a dedicated visit to this "Sight Of Icarus". ;) And here it is:
(https://i.ibb.co/Cs1nnJ6g/IMG-3921.jpg)
The official title of this magnificent creation, seen in the Greek inscription, translates as "Monument To The Fallen Aviators"; and to slightly correct the record, it's actually in Karaiskaki Square, not Omonia Square, which is an easy 500 metre walk away.
Incidentally, only a few days ago did I notice the sign with the ironic name of the hotel in the background.
Back home now.
Absolute highlight of the trip was walking from Danforth and Pape to Toronto Sound. But I really loved the whole CN Tower experience, going to Massey Hall was great too. The city is great, a bit like a more laid back (and cleaner) Manhattan. Nice restaurants, friendly people.
I still feel uncomfortable living out of a hotel and having to go to a restaurant for every meal. I really hate hanging around airports.
Anyway I have the photos off my proper camera now. This is the upper platform of the Tower:
(https://i.ibb.co/xtJvcCXh/topview.avif)
(https://i.ibb.co/YF4sVtYn/towerarrow.avif)
The vertical glass barrier is very sturdy but the windows feel like very ordinary glass, which I found a bit unnerving.
Looking through the glass floor:
(https://i.ibb.co/snkz31Q/glassfloor.avif)
When I was there, I think it was called 'The Space Deck'
Our hotel, the Sheraton, seen from the upper observation deck on the Tower (centre of image). One evening with the sun shining on the hotel side of the tower, I watched people wandering round the upper deck with my monocular from the hotel room.
(https://i.ibb.co/Jf6btLD/sheraton.avif)
I always take my monocular with me on a holiday (unless I'm taking binoculars). Bought it in an army surplus shop on the Strand in the late '90s. USSR era Russian. Surprisingly good optics for its size.
From the revolving restaurant.
After the usual several months of flip-flopping on which Greek destination to have this year's main summer holiday, and being convinced for much of that time we'd be going to Santorini (for a second time), I've just booked 10 nights at a very nice beachfront resort hotel in Rethymno, Crete. 8)
Off to Arran for a week tomorrow..friends and family all piling in during the week as well..