Europe

Four Years

 For our forth anniversary we went to Europe. We have dreamed and saved and planned and built castles in the sky and gone without and sacrificed since we were first married for this trip. And it was worth every bit.

We backpacked, cause we are cool like that. (Although if you had asked me at the end I would have said crazy like that.)  We started out with packs that weights 8 and 12 kilos, and ended with 14 and 16 kilos. Which is substantially more when it is on your back. But it was a lot more convenient that lugging typical baggage around, and gave us a lot more mobility and freedom for impetuousness.

We flew Icelandic Air, which I highly recommend. They are exceedingly friendly, less expensive and fairly standard in terms of amenities, like videos, music, food and will soon be getting WiFi.

Mr Sollywood is amazing and I am still marveled that I found a man like him.I don't know a lot of people who want to travel so much that they will sacrifice tv, eating out (this one is especially hard for us as we are food lovers), two cars, (at times even one car), spending money and also willing to work during school in order to save enough to do it. But he did and I love him even more for it.

Our trip included London, Paris, Rome, Venice, and Reykjavik and was three weeks long.

We ate some pretty awesome and some pretty quintessential food everywhere we went. Fish and chips and bangers and mash are a must in London. And as an Irish lass myself I love anything potato related. Bangers aren't bad either and the chips were good, almost as good as fry truck fries back home.

Mr Sollywood took me to see the Lion King in the theater district in London and it was amazing, absolutely energizing. The opening scene was fantastic, it made me cry it was so good.

Stonehenge was on Mr Sollywoods list of must sees and it turned out to pretty cool. The weather changed while we were there and it was neat to feel how the entire atmosphere of the place changed with the

 elements. At first with the sun shining it was a ancient  monument to something mysterious but as the wind picked up and the sky darkened it become rather eerie.

My must see in London was the Police Box (after a show in the theater district that is). I love Doctor Who and I was so excited to be able to see a Tardis!! "I am and always will be the optimist. The hoper of far-flung hopes and dreamer of improbably dreams." "Nothing is impossible, the word itself says I'm Possible."

Our tour guide for Stonehenge, Bath and Windsor Castle was this hilarious tiny Irish woman named Tish, with red hair not unlike Merida from Brave. She made me so glad to be Irish and also laugh a lot. She was pretty funny and quirky.

Mr. Sollywood here. It's been so long since I wrote a blog post (last summer I think) that I forget how to do all the cool stuff like add pictures! Anyway, a 3 week trip around several countries in Europe is tough to summerize and 4 years married to the worlds most wonderful woman is even harder to put into words. I really wanted to be in Paris during our anniversary but seeing the weather in Paris... it might just be better the way things turned out! I like Paris, don't get me wrong, but it rained everyday and I had to layer my clothes because the forecast did not say rain! I had to wear Bogden Smau's sweater the whole time. We slept at his place. Kind of a strange arrangement... but it's all good.

Let me talk about what I really wanted to see in Europe. The Sistine Chapel. Other than the Mona Lisa (which is a bit of a let down in my opinion, seriously, all around it in the Louvre are paintings just as good) which work of art in the entire world is more renowned? The ceiling of the Sistine chapel is much more awe inspiring than Mona. Let me see if I can put up a pic. I had to sneak them because they don't allow photography.

Let's hear it for sneaky cell phone pics!

Now the other place I really wanted to see was Stone Henge. I found it very cool but it was cold and I look fat in the pictures. I had layered clothing and a waste pouch holding our money on underneath, come on!

My pleasant surprise of the trip was Vimy Ridge. That was on Mrs. Sollywoods must see list and other than the basics of a Canadian battle in WW1, I didn't know much about it. I will let her write more on than I but I will say that the Canadian monument (along with being the only nice day in France) had a very... spiritual feel to it. I'm not quite sure of the right word to use to describe it so I think spiritual will work. 

I was freaked out at first before going because here is how this trip went. I contact some guy online and say I want to go. I give no credit card info, nothing paid up front and only give my name. We hop on a train from Paris to Arras, about an hour north, and hope some guy in what I imagined to be a creepy van was there. If said van showed up at all I was prepared to bail on it if it was without windows or any other passengers. All sorts of freaky thoughts went through my head on the way there. They were also late and none of the numbers given to me worked. Sketchy a bit?? Well it turned out awesome. I'm down with taking those risks but not really with expressing those concerns until supported by reality. We went on a day tour with a few other Canadian couples and had an awesome guide. 

Speaking of which, I was totally prepared for whatever kind of weirdos came our way. That's part of the fun of doing the trip the way we did. Not knowing every detail and not doing everything so... 'travel agency'. I like the unknown. It's not always comfortable, it doesn't always work out or pay off but it's always exciting. If I know exactly what I'm getting into I don't find it as exciting. Sometimes you just have to go and see how things turn out. 

We also went to Italy which was amazing, but as this post is getting long we will save that for another day, if people want to read about it that is. Caio 

something minded

What I never understood

Religion can be a fairly hot topic. Socially (in North America and most of Europe at least) if you are new to a group it is fairly well established that you don’t talk about politics or religion. Too many views, too many emotions. It isn’t a topic for the work place, nor for any social gathering that is supposed to stay nicey-nice. But I am about to talk about religion so if you are easily offended better stop reading now. However if you are not easily offended I have a few questions I would like you to consider. And please let me know where you see a flaw in my logic. Point of clarification for those who do not know if they are atheist or agnostic:

a.       Atheist- one who believes there is no deity.

b.      Agnostic- one who is not committed to a belief that there is or is not a deity.  

My question requires some context. Often I hear a similar complaint/sentiment from those who are atheist or agnostic. Which is that: religious people force their children to believe a certain way and don’t allow them to search out other ideas or beliefs (be they different religions or the belief that there is no deity.) I completely agree with this statement. I think that many religiously minded people force their children to adhere to a certain set of beliefs- thus inevitably pushing them away from said belief.  Now I am not saying that all religious parents do this, I recognise that many religious parents introduce their own beliefs to their children and teach them about said religion hoping that the children will adopt the same beliefs. The question that I have comes from the response I get to the questions I pose next. I ask how they will raise their children. And usually it starts off in a vain that I agree with ‘I will teach my children about what I believe and what other people believe’ but then it usually ends with ‘and I’ll explain that if they want to chant to an imaginary being in the sky than that is their business.’ 

·         How is teaching your children that religion is ridiculous any different than teaching your children that religion is good? (Because people who have said this to me honestly feel that they are being open minded and possess a clearer intellect.)

Pushing your religion on a child or belittling an entire set of beliefs (and by extension, a people) seems wrong to me. And both seem close minded.  I want to raise my children with a full understanding of what I believe and why I believe it. Because my religion is important to me. And I want them to explore other religious views and atheist views. I will be biased because my own research has led me to my religion, BUT I feel it is important not to mock or belittle other beliefs and allow an open exchange of thoughts and ideas. Why is it that when people say they are Open Minded, what they are really saying is that they think you are Close Minded, and what they should be saying is that we are all just Differently Minded?
Atheists do it, religious people do it, agnostics do it, I do it too.  But why, why do we do it?

ps I really like thepianoguys. Go listen to them. Here i'll make it easy for you