France & Belgium (Oct 12 to Oct 19 2008)

Locations visited:

• Paris and Versailles, France
  
• Brussels, Belgium
  

Flight Path:

• AC: YYZ->CDG (B767), CDG -> YYZ (B767)
  

Hotel(s):

• Paris: Hotel Prélude Gare du Nord
  

Tourist Tip:

• Paris Musuem Pass
  
• With the PARIS MUSEUM PASS, you gain free entry, without queuing and as many times as you wish, to over 60 museums and monuments in and around Paris.
  
• Can buy for either 2, 4, or 6 days
  
• Definitely worth it, includes the Louvre and Versailles!  However the pass does NOT include the Eiffel Tower.
  
• You can buy the pass at the Airport, there was a store just outside the arrivals area

My first non work or school related trip since 2005, and I was lucky that my friend John from grad school at U of T wanted to go with me to Paris, France and Brussels, Belgium for a week.  I’ve always wanted to go to Paris, to try out my high school French, to see the Louvre, the Eiffel Tower and the Arc de Triomphe, walk along the Champs-Élysées, ride of the metro, to enjoy the French culture and way of life, and also to see the country whose companies sponsored my Masters Thesis (Alcatel—SAFT) and hired me for my first full time job (Thales SA).

Some might call Paris the city of lights or the city of romance, I will call it the city of many steps.  John and I climbed so many towers during our time there: the Eiffel Tower, the Arc de Triomphe (twice), the Towers of Notre Dame Cathedral, the Panthéon, and the Castle at Vincennes!  I had a great time even with all the walking and I was impressed with the architecture and the friendliness and politeness of all the French people we met.

Toronto Pearson International Airport. Our flight AC880, Boeing 767-300ER to Paris - CDG. I've always wanted to go to Paris to see it and to practice my French. I didn't think too much of Paris upon arrival (the graffiti that I saw from the train from the airport to Gare du Nord caught me off guard (but the architecture and the friendly and polite French won me over by the end. I also started every conversation in French and the good news is that for more than 50% of the time, they ended in French!	First day in Paris, where else but ride the metro from the hotel to the Eiffel Tower!
My friend John and I on the first floor of the Eiffel Tower.	On the Champs Elysees.
L'Arc de Triomphe.	Champs Elysees from on top of the Arc de Triomphe.
The National Assembly.	Invalids - Napoleon's Tomb
Notre Dame Cathedral	The Art Deco Metro stop entrance, featuring an RATP van in front.
Sainte-Chapelle	Inside Sainte-Chapelle
Inside Sainte-Chapelle	The Louvre Go in the morning or in the evenings (it is open late on some days) to avoid the crowds).
The Winged Victory of Samothrace	Me on the Mona Lisa Expressway
Venus de Milo	Code of Hammurabi
Le Sacre de Napoléon 1er	The Panthéon - resting place for heros of the French Revolution and also for Louise Braille. Be sure to take the free tour to the roof and to see the Dome.
View from the top of the Panthéon	View from the top of the Panthéon
Chateau de Vincennes - The royal home before Versailles - Nice surprise of the trip, a real French Castle. Similar to the Tower of London but smaller and definitely fewer tourists	RATP Metro Line 6 and the Effel Tower
Basilique du Sacré-Cœur at night	Versailles I would recommend paying for the Audio Guide here.  Otherwise you won't get the full picture of this grand palace.
The Hall of Mirrors with me wearing the geeky headphones =).	The Hall of Mirrors
The gardens of Versailles	Upon returing from Versailles, we climbed the Arc de Triomphe at night. It is definitely worth it to come twice (once durign the day, the other at night) to this historical monument for the views alone.
The Effel Tower at night.	The Thalys high speed train from Paris to Brussels (1h 22m) at top speed of 300 km/h - beats the bullet train I took from Tokyo to Kyoto in June. You can get cheap tickets directly from the train company's website.  Check here before buying from Rail Europe.  We paid 50 Euros for a round trip ticket (same day return) between Paris and Brussels.
Belgian Parliament	Belgian Royal Palace Next to the palace is nice museum, the Belvue Musuem.  In two hours of wondering you can get a short summary on the history of Belgium.
Brussels Town Hall Area	Manneken Pis - or as I called him "pee boy" is a key attraction in Brussels.
The old city wall in Brussels	The City of Brussels Museum in Town Hall The top floor is filled with all the uniforms ever worn by Manneken Pis :).
The Brussels museum in Town Hall at night.	At Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport. The plane in the background is the AC flight to Montreal, while in the foreground is AC881 (Boeing 767-300ER) to Toronto (our plane). Since I got AC Elite Status, we got into the lounge at CDG even on the cheap tourist ticket. Although small, it was one of the better AC lounges =). The flight back was good.

Denmark (Aug 31 to Sept 8 2007)

Locations visited:

• Aalborg, Copenhagen, and Roskilde, Denmark
  

Flight Path:

• UA: YYZ->IAD (E145), SK: IAD->CPH (A330), CPH->AAL (Q400), AAL -> CPH (MD-80), CPH-> IAD (A330), UA: IAD->YYZ (E175)
  

Hotel(s):

• Aalborg: Park Hotel Aalborg
  
• Copenhagen: Norlandia Star Hotel
  

Tourist Tip:

• Copenhagen Card
  
• Free entry to about 70 museums and attractions.
• Free transport by train, bus and Metro in the entire Copenhagen Region – also from/to the airport.
  
• Can buy for either 24, 72, or 120 Hours
  
• Definitely worth it!  It even includes train travel from Copenhagen to Roskilde.  For the National Museum (Nationalmuseet) which is normally free admission, they gave me an English Souvenir Guidebook just for showing the card
  
• You can buy the pass at the Airport, there was a store just outside the entry to the train station
  

The purpose of this trip was to present a paper I wrote for the 2007 European Power Electronics Conference in Aalborg, Denmark.  The paper was based on my Masters thesis and was titled: “A Software Simulation Program for a Hybrid Fuel Cell – Battery Power Supply for an Electric Forklift “.  It was a really great learning experience to present the paper at the conference and I am fortunate that my Masters supervisor, Prof. Dawson gave me this opportunity.

Since there are were no direct flights from Toronto to Denmark, I had to travel from Toronto to Washington DC to Copenhagen and then to Aalborg.  It was my first trip abroad by myself and I was a little nervous about missing any connections.  In Washington DC, I ran into Prof. Lehn who was also attending the conference so it was good to find out that I would have some company for part of the trip.  On the way from Copenhagen to Aalborg, I flew on a SAS Q-400 turboprop.  I even bragged to the Danish fellow seated next to me that the plane was built in Toronto by Bombardier.  Just a few weeks later, three of those types of planes operated by SAS crash landed - with no fatalities (In hindsight I shouldn’t have bragged!).
 
After the conference I stayed an extra two nights to sight see in Copenhagen (I had to pay SAS $100 CDN out of pocket to permit me to stop over).  Overall it was a good experience.  I also learned that for some reason butter cookies, the famous Danish export cost 2x more in Denmark than back home in Toronto!

The Park Hotel Aalborg.  This was my hotel for the conference.  The hotel was in downtown Aalborg next to the train station and near the bus to the Airport.	The Lindholm Høje Museum - a great small musuem about Vikings!
Lindholm Høje Itself - The largest Viking Burial Site in Scandinavia - the site is just north of Aalborg)	The Conference Centre where EPE2007 was held at the Aalborg Kongress & Kultur Center
My poster at the conference.	Jens Bang’s House.  Built in 1642, it is an example of Renaissance Architecture
The shops of the pedestrian area (the strøget)	Aalborghus Slot (Aalborhus Castle).  A Danish Castle built between 1539 and 1555.  I was able to walk into former prison cells
After my conference, I flew to Copenhagen for the weekend before coming back home to Toronto. Here is a SAS Q400 Jet at Aalborg Lufthavn (Airport) - This one crash landed (landing gear collapsed, no fatalities) in Lithuania a week later.	The Norlandia Star Hotel.  The hotel is right next to the train station and to the Tivoli Gardens.
Frihedsmuseet, the Museum of Danish War Resistance.  It was interesting to see how the Danes dealt with the Nazi invasion.	The Gefion Fountain in Langelinie Park next to Kastellet (near the Little Mermaid Statue).
The Little Mermaid Statue in Copenhagen.	The Rundetaarn (Round Tower) was build by King Christian IV in 1642.  I made my way here after seeing the Little Mermaid.  This place was the highlight of my stay in Copenhagen.  It was an easy walk up the tower on the spiral ramp, although I was a little disappointed that I needed to climb some a few stairs to get outside to the observation deck - it was neat to see Copenhagen from up high.
Inside the Round Tower (it is called the round tower as you walk up the tower on a ramp). On the way up, you can see an old latrine that was used by some famous Danes, including Hans Christian Andersen, there was a plaque saying so!	On Top of the Round Tower in Copenhagen
Inside the Tivoli Gardens.  The park opened on August 15, 1843 and is the second oldest amusement park in the world. If you go there in the evening, before closing there is a laser light show.  I was able to stay late as my hotel was nearby.	Københavns Rådhus, Copenhagen City Hall.  After taking some photos, I was stopped by another tourist looking for some directions (I was holding a Denmark guidebook in my hand).  It turned out he was from Edmonton, and we decided to explore Copenhagen together for the day.  I’ve heard of stories of how Canadians meet up abroad, but I never guessed it would really happen.
A 17th Century model of a ship in Silver.  This was on display at the Danish National Musuem (Nationalmuseet).	A nice street scene in downtown Copenhagen.
The Viking Ship Museum (Vikingeskibene) in Roskilde, an hour train ride from Copenhagen.	Roskilde was founded during the Viking age and was the capital of Demark in Medieval times.  Around 1070 AD, five Viking ships were deliberately sunk at Skuldelev in Roskilde Fjord in order to block the most important fairway and to protect Roskilde from enemy attack from the sea.  These ships, later known as the Skuldelev ships, were excavated in 1962.  They turned out to be five different types of ships ranging from cargo ships to ships of war.  The remains of these ships are the star attraction at the Viking Ships Museum.
Changing of the Guards at Amalienborg Palace, the winter home of the Danish Royal Family	Frederiks Kirke, Frederick's Church in downtown Copenhagen.
Magasin du Nord, one of two big department stores in Downtown Copenhagen.  Things in Copenhagen are not cheap!	One of my best photos from Copenhagen.  Late Afternoon in Nyhavn, a popular entertainment district Hans Christian Andersen once called this area home

England (Feb 11 to Feb 17 2005)

Locations visited:

• London, Salisbury, and Bath, England
  

Flight Path:

• AC: YYZ->LHR (B767), LHR->YYZ (A330)
  

Hotel(s):

• London: Royal National Hotel
  

Tourist Tip:

• There is no need in London to buy the "London Pass" as most of the musuems in London have free (or donation based) admissions - the notable exceptions are the Tower of London and the London Transport Musuem
• Since Stonehenge is relatively isolated, if you want to see it sign up for a bus day tour.  The bus tour was informative and we got to see Salisbury Cathedral and its copy of the Magna Carta. 
  
• Public transport in London is very expensive compared to other cities around the world, so take advantage of travel cards or get an Oyster card to save money
  

The Rosetta Stone at the British Museum.  It provided the key to the modern understanding of Egyptian hieroglyphs.	The main hall of the British Musuem.
The ship "Cutty Sark" Clipper Ship dry docked in Greenwich (East End of London).  The last surviving tea clipper and the fastest and greatest of her time.  Launched in 1869, initial route was London<->Shanghai.	The Royal Observatory, Rotal Musueums Greenwich.  This is where you can stand on the line for G.M.T. - Greenwich Mean Time, the Prime Meridian of the World, making it the official starting point for each new day and year.  The musuem was also pretty neat, learned all about the history of keeping time on ships.
The Docklands Light Railway (one of three ways into East London and Greenwich on public transport).  The train is automated - Little did I know then that I would wind up working for the company that did the automation and would help out debugging issues for the line :).	The Jubilee Underground Line (the second way into Greenwich area, the third being by ferry).  Again, I didn't know it then but I would be part of team that helped to automate this line :).
The Imperial War Museum in South London (one of the few attractions on the south of the river Thames).  Key attractions here: you can walk through a realistic replica of a WWI trench and the Holocaust part of the Musuem was an eye-opener (definitely not for kids).	The London Transport Museum in Covent Gardens.  This was my favourite attraction (this won't surprise any of my friends).  Lots of old subway trains and buses here, plus a small scale demo of the Docklands Light Railway.  Fun for kids and rail fans!
A decommissioned subway train at the London Transport Museum.	The Tower of London.  Really neat here!  You can see the Royal Crown Jewels, medival swords and armour, etc.  Make sure you go on a free tour given by a Beefeater (the Royal Bodyguards)
Inside the Tower of London grounds with Tower Bridge in the background.	The Monument.  Sir Christopher Wren’s flame-topped Monument to the Great Fire of 1666 is the tallest isolated stone column in the world. Completed in 1677, The Monument stands 202 ft high and is positioned 202 ft from the spot in Pudding Lane on which the Great Fire is believed to have started. You can climb up it (311 steps) and when you go up and down, you'll get a certificate souvenir of the climb when you exit the tower.
On the bus tour: The first stop was Salisbury Cathedral.  This was a surprise attraction.  The architecture was great and I got some nice photos.  One of 4 copies of the Magna Carta is housed here.	Second Stop was the main attraction - Stonehenge.  We had an audio guide but weren't allowed to touch the stones.  So it was a little dissapointing, at the end of the day it was just a bunch of rocks.
Third and last stop: Bath.  The entrance to the Roman Baths in Bath.	Here's the actual bath part of the Roman Baths.  No, you cannot bathe in them now :).
Street scene in Bath.	Buckingham Palace.
The Mall, the street that leads to Buckingham Palace.	The Victoria Memorial (for Queen Victoria) in front of Buckingham Palace.
The London Eye.	Westminster Abbey.
Royal Albert Hall.	Big Ben and the The Palace of Westminster.  This was a nice night shot taken from the south bank of the river Thames.