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Vacationing double
(triple?)-feature: Berlin, Germany
That wasn't to say things weren't completely smooth. Our flight out left the airport at around 7:50am, and since this airport was about an hour's drive away on the other side of London, that meant that we had to get up at around 4 in the morning (which is usually just two hours after I head to sleep), and the early start was definitely a shock to the senses. Still, with the help of a nice cup of Morning Joe from the airport's Burger King, one of the finest caf�s From there, we headed down to our hotel, about a 10 minute walk away, with me continuing to adjust to the climate in the process, before finally arriving at our abode for the next few nights: The Hampton Inn, located opposite the famed East Side Gallery, and at the edge of the newly-built commercial district surrounding the Mercedes Benz Arena. Before going on this journey, I was feeling kinda nostalgic and considered heading back to the hostel I had visited previously: The A&O Berlin Hauptbahnhof, which I distinctly remember for its bright blue-and-orange colour palette, giving off an old-style Berlin Wall-era vibe to the place. Since then though, I've checked it out on Google Maps, and it turns out the place has received this ugly "Millennial Gray" renovation that just makes all the images of it look cold and drab, so combined with the fact the rooms were kinda small anyway, that was gonna be a no-go. This place wasn't really that different from your average hotel in terms of design, but it was still nonetheless very comfortable, stocked with toiletries throughout, and had plenty of content available on TV, so as ma and pa were busy in their room getting everything ready, me and the bros were just chilling watching "Gefragt - Gejagt" (that's German for "The Chase" I think), and trying to somehow get the right answer despite it all being in a language we don't understand. I also could've sworn the chaser looked exactly like Sigmund Freud. Anyway, the benefit of getting up and flying down super-early was that it was only mid-afternoon by the time we got everything sorted, so we had time to make a quick trip to a place I had my eyes on since I first visited Berlin: The DDR Museum. Of course this wasn't a museum dedicated to the 1998 Konami arcade rhythm game alternatively known as "Dancing Stage" in Europe, for reasons apparently outside the connotations of the abbreviation. Rather it was a museum exploring life in what was officially known as the "Deutsche Demokratische Republik" (or simply "East Germany" to English-speaking folk). The museum was particularly interesting due to it holding a fairly satirical edge to its presentation style, regularly taking pot-shots at the Socialist regime, for example including a small display where a bunch of puppets representing the country's political parties would raise their hands based on the positions each party took in key historic votes (they all voted unanimously every time). The museum also came with a full-size replica of a typical East German flat, with memorabilia such as hygiene products, household appliances, comic books and even a TV that could play several clips of both East and West German television, all dotted around the scene. The whole experience actually ended up de-mystifying life behind the Iron Curtain, as my parents, both children of the 70s and 80s, noted that the activities on display were surprisingly similar to what they experienced as kids, with things like stamp collecting for free groceries, which was treated as this alien concept in the museum, being something they vividly remember their parents doing as part of their jobs. Plus, as someone who fell down the conspiracy rabbit hole recently, my Dad started noticing a few similarities between East Germany's government, and our government, especially when it came to the thing about how all the political parties voted the same way on important decisions. There was also mention of East Germany's concept of Western Imperialism, with my Dad scoffing at the sign which discussed how the country had this strange belief that western countries like the USA went to war all the time because that kept the corporations that profitted from it happy, which also illicited a sarcastic 'What? That's crazy!' from me. Politics aside, there was also this Trabant driving simulator that was kinda fun, though you're not given much time if you're trying to break out of the in-game neighborhood like I tried to, and they were selling this citrus-y cola drink in the gift shop known as "Vita Cola", which the East Germans had instead of Coke, so I decided to grab some on the way out for later. For our first big meal in Berlin, we walked down from the hotel to a restaurant named Pirates Berlin, a restaurant/nightclub with a vague Pirate-ish theme here and there (as the name would imply). The seating area was kinda dark and a bit cold (which probably had something to do with that damned weather), but the amount of food and drink options available was incredible, with me personally going for a pepperoni pizza served on a nice thin Neapolitan crust, though you could also check out other options, such as the "Fuckin Famous" (actual name) deep-dish pizza, with "ribs", jalapenos and parmesan cheese, as well as a few assorted non-pizza entrees. Still though, the pizza I got was huge; about 32cm (or a foot-long) in diameter is how they measured it, and the whole thing was really nice and moist throughout, with the pepperoni pieces being especially huge, often spanning over the eight slices I cut up. With this in mind, I tried to be conservative with my sides (sticking to zero-sugar Coke after one normal drink), as I was looking forward to getting some Vita Cola back at the hotel room. Problem was, our hotel wasn't really the kind to keep a mini-fridge in each room, so it wasn't really in the most ideal condition once I finally took my first sip, but it was pretty nice. Felt very natural and I guess rustic (?) with its flavouring. Couldn't afford to get too processed in a place like East Germany I suppose. So, as the night continued on, and I was probably awake for about 20 hours, me and the bros finished our day off with a few episodes of South Park (which we thankfully managed to get in English), before catching some Z's for a long and exciting day ahead. The next day started out pretty early on, as we took the train down a few stations to Hackescher Markt for a walking tour, similarly to one I took part in on my first trip to the city. Walking tours are probably the best way to experience Berlin, as they cover a fair amount of distance and cover several local landmarks, all while offering plenty of fascinating information about the environment, which can end up showing that even fairly mundane-looking places can have some history to them; after all, a walking tour was where I learned about the site of Hitler's Bunker, an unassuming unpaved car park that was deliberately meant to avoid any kind of attention so as to not inadvertently memorialise him. Throughout the 2-3 hour-long walk, several other major landmarks would be covered on this trip, such as the newly-reconstructed Palace of Berlin, which with the exception of a modern-styled rear to it, appears as if it had stood in the city for centuries, despite only opening in 2020, and even previously being the site of the Palast der Republik, the East German parliament building. Then there's also the wide and rugged street of Unter den Linden, lined with dozens of historical buildings throughout, the site of Checkpoint Charlie, complete with a reconstruction of its old 60s-era guard station, a small strip of the Berlin Wall, the Nazi-era Detlev-Rohwedder Building, which still retains its World War II-era bullet holes, as well as an East German propaganda poster, which as seen in the top-near-right image, is now contrasted with a large photograph portraying the harsh realities of life under the Communist government. Our tour concluded by visiting both the imposing and incredibly symbolic Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe (though it was already starting to age, with some blocks appearing slanted, and a portion of the memorial under renovation), and finally the Brandenburg Gate, the most iconic of Berlin buildings, as well as its surrounding square, Parisier Platz, which features various differently-designed embassies, the hotel that Michael Jackson infamously dangled a baby from, and a whole group of protests taking place on the day we showed up, including one against the Chinese government, one demanding the release of Julian Assange, and of course, one protesting Russia's actions in Ukraine, just outside the country's Soviet-era embassy. After a quick refreshment break at the Coffee Lab in Kaiserh�fe (which does a mean vanilla latte!), we decided to head back to one of the places we visited on the tour. The walking tour was chosen as our first major outing as it also had the benefit of helping us choose where to go in the city, as we weren't so sure where to end up visiting, so after some brief decision-making, we settled on the Berlin Wall Museum next to Checkpoint Charlie, which interestingly enough, as you can tell by the far-right image, was right opposite a McDonald's, and was also next to a KFC, symbolising that indeed, the Capitalists won the Cold War. The museum (which of course was also one of the stops on my first trip) primarily discussed the stories of the Wall's construction, its impact on the city's community, and those who dared to cross the death strip for a better life. However, it also had a more generalised theme of being what I called a "protest museum" on my first visit, as it made reference to several big issues and movements that shaped German and world politics since the 1960s, such as Martin Luther King's civil rights campaign, the expansion of NATO following the Cold War, and of course, the Russian invasion of Ukraine, illustrated by the building's large Ukrainian flag with text basically telling Putin 'Hey! Just don't... OK?' (that was actually also there on the first time around, being up ever since the Invasion of Crimea in 2014). This could have had something to do with the museum apparently being in place since shortly after the wall itself was erected, showing its historic focus on striving towards freedom and peace, two things that contrasted against the imposition of the wall in the first place. After being shown the evils of authoritarianism and the Communist regime, I decided to get some flags from some past Communist regimes, sold at an outside market stall, which I had always wanted to get around to doing since the school trip. Managed to snag an East German flag and a Soviet one. I just think they look cool. Honest. For dinner, we headed down to a Bavarian-style restaurant named Maximilians. The whole place had a beautiful wood-panel appearance to it all, with a nice combination of classic and modern to its styling, as well as its own brewery, which probably would've been amazing if I drank alcohol. But besides their large selection of drinks, there were also plenty of traditional German foods to quench your appetite, with me personally deciding to go for a veal schnitzel with a portion of either fried potatoes or fries (not sure which, might've been both, since they were shared) on the side. I only really found out what a schnitzel was last year whilst I was in Turkey, and the best comparison I could make would be with those large breaded chicken fillets I used to have (and enjoy) when I was younger, but this meal of course far exceeded the kind of store-bought fillets I was used to, and was absolutely succulent and flavourful from beginning to end. Whilst it didn't really matter much to me since I thankfully wasn't the one paying, the price of the food was perfectly reasonable for an up-market restaurant, and that schnitzel was worth every penny anyhow, so I couldn't complain there! By the time we were done, it was already dark out and we decided to head home by taking a couple-line trip on the U-Bahn to the station on the other side of our hotel (as opposed to Ostbahnhof). However, I was being a bit too much of a tourist during the day, and my incessant picture-taking may have ended up catching the wrong kind of attention, with this guy coming up to me on the train as I was taking some pictures of the interior, who then tried to knock my phone down. I mean fair enough, I should've been more considerate of those around me, and I learned to be less intrusive with the pictures I took, but I mean that guy could've at least told me to stop first or something, rather than just shock me like that. Still, this one incident didn't do much to take away from the experience I had of a grand day out, and as me and my boys headed back to watch some more TV before the last big day, I was more at ease, and ready for another day of travels. The next day started off with a bit more of a sobering experience, with a visit to the Topography of Terror museum detailing the atrocities committed by the Nazi regime. On my previous visit, I managed to visit the Sachsenhausen Concentration Camp in Oranienburg, but since that was probably a bit far for us, and maybe a bit too depressing for a fun long weekend away, we decided to visit this more local installation instead. That isn't to diminish the quality or harrowing nature of the experience that was visiting the museum; its structure was actually rather unique through its combined use of a modern, blank and utilitarian building, so as to not take away from its message, and a long timeline documenting the party's rise to power, located outside, both next to the foundations of the Reich Security Main Office, and underneath the long strip of the Berlin Wall we visited earlier during the walking tour. There were several segments discussing the Party's structure, its treatment of people such as political opponents, Jews, Romani Travellers, gay and disabled people, and citizens of occupied states such as Poland, as well as the aftermath of its fall at the end of the war, including the fact that many former Nazi Party officials would go on to work for the American and West German governments during the early days of the Cold War. Though the most impactful part of this exhibition was how it plainly illustrated the gradual erosion of rights for Jewish people living within Germany, which reminds people to always look out for early signs of tyranny taking form, as like with the "Frog in Boiling Water" analogy (which isn't scientifically accurate, but it still counts here), most of the time it's difficult to tell you're in real danger until it's too late. Nevertheless, despite the harrowing nature of the visit, me and my family weren't looking to leave this city depressed, so we decided to hop on a train and head somewhere further out of the centre of town. A place that was of particular interest to my brothers: The Olympiastadion, which started out as an example of Fascist architecture intended to serve as a key component to the Nazis' propaganda machine, but has now morphed into a less controversial landmark of Berlin, playing host to major sporting events such as the 1974 and 2006 World Cups, several different concerts, and the home games of its local football team, Hertha BSC. This unfortunately meant that, since it was a match day, we weren't able to go in for a tour as they were preparing for the game later that evening. Still, we managed to take a walk around the place and explore the atmosphere of a more suburban part of what was now former-West Berlin. The environment itself was really well put-together, though there were a few cracks showing compared to the centre of the city, like a shopping trolley showing up just outside the stadium and some grime showing up here and there. My guess was that all the big property people moved out of West Berlin after the 80s to take advantage of the East's cheaper real estate or something. Once I decided we should travel further up the train line to Spandau, that's when the comparisons to the 80s became far more apparent, as noted by there still being a Woolworth's department store in the centre of town and a C&A nearby (though that's probably because our country specifically hasn't had them in a while). Of course, that doesn't take away from the soul the town was rocking, with it having not just a single street, but an entire old town district that was completely pedestrianised, really embodying that feel of classic German living. Of course, since the town didn't receive as much attention as the main city from tourists, with most Brits probably only knowing it as the first half of a band name, we ended up sticking out like a sore thumb in the local community. Still though, we were able to find a place to sit down and have a drink, as there was a football match on in one of the bars, even though my Mum found it kinda frustrating to communicate with the waitress who, understandably, didn't speak English as well as people in the city probably would. Nevertheless, I would recommend heading down to Spandau for at least a couple hours on a trip to Berlin, but it would probably work best if you spoke at least some amount of German. We were planning on getting some souvenirs whilst we were in Spandau, as I assumed it would've been more a tourist-y kind of place, but since we didn't really get around to that, we decided to head back to Berlin and get some trinkets there. On the way, we managed to get our hands on some Currywurst, a local delicacy. Originally, the name didn't sound particularly attractive to me, as I assumed it would've been a sausage in chip shop-style curry sauce, though it turns out it instead uses a mixture of ketchup and curry powder to create a nice and flavourful taste, whilst not having too intense a level of spice for my un-melanated taste buds! Soon though, after making it to a gift shop on Unter den Linden, most of my family wasn't sure on where to go next, probably deciding to make it back to the hotel before dinner. However, I elected to instead go on my own to a place I also gained a keen interest in: The Computerspielemuseum, which luckily enough wasn't too far away from our hotel. So, I decided to set off to Weberweise station, though the journey did feel a bit unnerving because since I couldn't to get a ticket due to only having cash on me, I could only freeload and hope there wasn't an inspector around. Still, I made it through with no problems and got myself into the museum. This place discussed the history of video gaming, partly in relation to German history (for example, an East German "Poly Play" machine was present in the back of the complex), but more or less exploring the medium's past in general, with this being achieved through its wide array of different displays, offering reconstructions of living rooms and bedrooms of the eras each console was from, as well as a couple nice reconstructions of small arcades, one of which you can see in the left image of the montage. Though beyond its discussion of the history of video games, it also exhibited a few interesting examples of unconventional gaming experiences, such as a copy of Burnout with an exercise bike as the controller, a game of The Legend of Zelda played on probably the world's largest NES controller, and the infamous "PainStation", a recreation of Pong which inflicts painful consequences on the game's losers, with one of your hands either getting hit by a zip-tie, a slight burn, or an electric shock. Naturally, I didn't think I was ready for that pain. There was so much to explore at the museum, but unfortunately I only really gave myself about an hour or two there before it closed at 8pm. Since I heard we planned to book a table for tonight's dinner at around 8:30, I knew I had to run back down as quickly as possible. So, with the power of Moby's "Go" blasting on my phone, I rushed down through the streets of former East Berlin, observing the tower blocks and wide roads as dusk fell on the city, and despite some confusion here and there whilst taking a few shortcuts, I managed to arrive back at the hotel in about 15 or 20 minutes, which was still enough time to have a quick shower as it turned out we weren't leaving at exactly half-8 anyway. Oh well; at least I got the exercise. The place we were eating was far closer to home; it was a Tony Roma's in the same complex as our hotel. Tony Roma's hasn't been in our country for a long time, but whenever we came across one on our vacationing, my Dad was always looking to visit one, as he claimed they had the best ribs known to man. Once I managed to get around to them, I can at least say they're definitely in the running for it! Whilst I'm more of a steak guy myself, I won't deny that the world-famous ribs offered there are certainly second-to-none, and whilst some dishes such as the Chicken Lollipops might not be as appetising, I surprisingly got a lot out of the restaurant's unique Onion Loaf, which I suppose is kinda the result if an onion ring and an onion bhaji had a baby and then fed it a load of steroids. It was real nice, but damn, no man was meant to eat so much onion! We ended our trip the next morning, on Easter Sunday, with a nice serving of self-made waffles from the hotel's breakfast bar, and though there were a couple issues in the mad dash back to the airport, which resulted in us failing to stamp our tickets as we didn't want to miss our train, which got further exacerbated by that elusive inspector finally showing up on a train, he understood the situation as just us being tourists, and let us go. Before leaving for Berlin, I was worried that I might end up being somewhat disappointed by the journey, as it wouldn't live up to the expectations my hyper-nostalgic brain built up for it. But no; Berlin's just as amazing and exciting as I remember it, and with a few rare exceptions here and there, I was having a whale of a time from beginning to end. The experience of taking in this city, its culture, its history, its nuances; it's why I love to travel anywhere outside of my dull and depressing neck of the woods. Normally, one international holiday is enough for my family's budget for the year, but this time, this would only be the first of three I ended up doing over the course of the year. Whilst for a while, it was still kinda up in the air as to whether or not we could make it into the US this year, by mid-May, it was official: America's last Covid restrictions were gone, just in time to make it to my cousin's wedding in late-August. Going back there was something I spent years waiting for, and now it was finally happening! Vancouver, BC, Canada
Each of us headed down to a different outlet offering the unique tastes of Canada, with me choosing "Japadog", a Japanese-style hot dog place that's apparently a pretty decently-sized chain of restaurants in the Vancover area; I gave it a go since when's the next time you're gonna have a Japanese-style hot dog? My choice was the Wagyu Terimayo, consisting of seaweed, fried onions, mayonnaise, teriyaki and of course a wagyu beef hot dog, a succulent delicacy that carried the flavour of the dog and was worth every penny. Uncertainty set in however, once we found out that my Mum and (younger) younger bro's flight had been delayed, so we ended up spending this delay buying time; my Dad and bro headed down to a sports bar next to the baggage claim, whilst I took a quick tour through the nearby 7-Eleven, coming up close and personal with the incredible size of the Super Big Gulp, reacting like an alien who had just crash-landed on Earth. Boredom however soon set in, as I grew tired of waiting for the flight, both figuratively and literally, as I had gotten up around 5am for the flight out from London, and it was about midnight in that part of the world by the time we were finally reunited as a family at the baggage claim. After a trip through Vancouver to our Airbnb location, as well as some late grocery shopping after we settled in, I had been up for about 24 hours and was getting extremely cranky by the time the grocery shop happened. But whenever travelling over the Atlantic, the day of the flight is always the worst because of how the daylight hours screw with your senses. But that was only the first day (or only really the first half-day); everything was gonna get far better from here on out. So, the full first day started out with a sudden bout of exercise, with my Dad recommending I run out with him down some of the neighbourhood streets, which turned out to be a bit more stressful than it sounds, mainly due to the fact that our spot in North Vancouver was rather hilly. Though we spent a lot of the time going downhill through Mahon Park, a very rural-looking and picturesque place for a city suburb, with declines so sharp that it was difficult to keep control of myself at points, the strange layout of the local area combined with the fact we hardly knew where we were going nevertheless made it a pretty tough job. Still, we made it back in one piece and decided to mark the start of our holiday in Vancouver by leaving Vancouver itself for the mountains up north. Despite it being incredibly close to where we were staying, we decided to skip out on Grouse Mountain in favour of something further out. We had initially considered setting off for Whistler before the holiday began, but concluded that it would probably be a bit too far for a day out, so we chose to head over to a midway point of sorts, the Sea to Sky Gondola at the Stawamus Chief Provincial Park. Really, all that needs to be said is just how jaw-droppingly beautiful the local landscape is. The wide-reaching sprawl of the coniferous trees, the incredible views from the mountains and the precarious sections of the trails keeping nothing between you and the risk of becoming one with nature; they all offer such a beautiful picture of the environment around you (even if that last point was maybe a bit morbid), and practically every picture you could take there would be worth hanging up on a wall. Once we embraced the heights of nature, we came back down to civilisation with a trip to the city of Squamish for a quick refreshment break at the local A&W (first time I had a proper drink of root beer was there; it was all right; tasted kinda like a Vanilla Coke), before making another quick stop to Alice Lake on the way back to Vancouver. Like the peaks of Stawamus Chief, the sights were stunning, and the lake was teeming with vacationing families taking advantage of the good weather, though we didn't get much time to hang out there before heading back to our Airbnb to relax and prepare for the evening. I took the opportunity to show off some of J.J. McCullough's Weird Canada Iceberg videos to the fam to expand their Canadian knowledge, but I guess they didn't really take much of an interest. For the evening, we headed out to The Shipyards, giving ourselves a brief glimpse into Vancouver's stunning modern developments, as well as the people that turn them into lived-in places. Women practiced yoga, whilst friends congregated (and probably blazed) in the parks, and there was tons of live music going on at the Shipbuilder's Square late into the night, allowing us to bask in the glory of the bright skyline of Vancouver proper, something that we would finally go down to explore after another well-needed night's rest. The next day started out with us heading into town for a bike tour around the city. It was probably a better option than a walking tour considering a lot of the stuff around the town was a bit more spread out than in Berlin, though despite the distance, it really wasn't any trouble at all (this is coming from a guy who does 20-mile bike rides though tbf). The roads were nice and flat, and the cycling infrastructure was absolutely top notch, with segregated and well-paved bike paths throughout. These took us through all the different aspects of Vancouver's cityscape, and I mean all of them. From the highs of the culture of Davie Street, the excitement of an anime convention at Canada Place, the spectacle of Robson Square, and of course the sprawling natural beauty of Stanley Park, all the way down to the lows of the crack smokers at Mole Hill. Still, there were far more highs than lows, and far higher highs at that. My personal favourite part of the journey would have to be travelling through Stanley Park. Stawamus Chief may appear more beautiful overall, but Stanley Park was definitely the most impressive. It seemed impossible to feel so far away from city life, whilst literally just being a mile or two away from it in reality. Stepping under the bridge leading into the park and through to the swamp featured on the top near-right image was like entering into another world, with not a speck of skyline in sight, nor the faintest sound of cars. It just goes to show how versatile a place like Vancouver is for filming, as each section of it can easily feel like another part of the world. Though weirdly enough, I actually don't really know that many things filmed in Vancouver (at least to my knowledge) besides the Diary of a Wimpy Kid movies, so there weren't really that many places that immediately appeared recognisable to me. Don't get me wrong, they were real cool, but not really as recognisable as they would've been if I took a trip down New York or LA. Though there was one connection I had to Vancouver, but that'll be explored later. The rest of the day was pretty chill; we got ourselves some hot dogs and tater tots from a place called Felbo's Franks, which had a whole bunch of different sauces, toppings and drinks on the side, like root beer, cream soda, Vanilla Coke, and even Monster Energy drinks to go with your glizzy, though I just stuck with a Coke Zero as I was saving my sugar for later. Not much really happened after that. Just sitting around, watching some movies on Netflix, that sort of thing. The only time we went back outside was to get dinner at a place called Smoke & Bones BBQ, home of the Brisket BBQ Sammich, which came with a side of fries and coleslaw, which whilst delicious, was quite a mouthful, and I struggled to get through it by the time I made it to the coleslaw. Guess when it comes to massive calorie-coalescing portions of food, Americans and Canadians aren't so different after all! The next day felt rather apocalyptic. The news was going on about these wildfires taking place on the east side of BC and by this point the smoke had reached our turf. I was kinda bummed out since I wanted to go on a longer bike trip, but since intense exercise was out of the question when you're breathing in shit tons of burnt wood, I postponed it for another day. Instead, we went on another, this time self-guided and somewhat aimless tour around town, taking the SeaBus to the downtown, the train to Yaletown, and then walking over the main bridge to Granville Island, the number-1 recommended spot for Vancouver's tourists. As soon as we got there, it became immediately apparent as to why this was the case, with the whole place kinda feeling like Disneyland for hipsters, with several local trinkets as far as the eye can see, such as magic healing crystals, indigenous sculptures, or even just plush moose-es if you don't wanna go too far out of your comfort zone. There's also plenty of options for food, such as a place named Lee's Donuts, which of course does some real good glazed and gourmet-tier donuts, as well as several other places in the Public Market selling international food offerings, such as Thai, Japanese and (I think) Korean foodstuffs, as well as a spot seen in the bottom far-left pic that apparently also does Royal Scottish and Gay food. Wonder what that tastes like. The whole place had a very boardwalk-ish kind of feel to it, with broad pedestrian spots and even some buskers playing near the market. From here, we took this cute tiny ferry boat down to one of Vancouver's top sporting venues, BC Place, home of the Vancouver Whitecaps football (soccer) team, who just so happened to be playing later that evening against the San Jose Earthquakes, so with my brothers not wanting to pass up the opportunity to see a game of football (soccer), we quickly snagged ourselves some tickets. Though since the game wasn't gonna be for another few hours, we decided to head over to the tourist-y spot of Gastown for a drink and to also see another sports game on TV. While the journey to Gastown involved going via East Hastings Street (Vancouver's Skid Row), once we were there, you could definitely commend how well the local area captured the spirit of a quaint old town, and while we were a bit too far out to see the famous Gastown Steam Clock (which unfortunately isn't actually powered by steam), there was plenty of nice and colourful decor dotted around the place, like a really nice tree-styled set of street lights that you can see on the bottom near-left pic. The bar we hung out at, Smith's Irish Pub, also reflected that atmosphere super well and was a nice chill place to get yourself a Coke. Issues would arise though, once my Dad figured we should head down to the Chinatown for dinner, since Vancouver has such an expansive Chinese community that their Chinese food would probably be some of the best in the world (outside of China, of course). However, once we decided to walk down through that section of town, it didn't really feel as inviting as other areas in Vancouver, appearing unfortunately rather run-down, with some strange characters walking around here and there, and though it did have a few interesting landmarks, such as an authentic Chinese garden, and may have offered quite a few nice food offerings, the atmosphere made the area far less enticing for my parents. Instead, we played it safe by heading to a Boston Pizza joint (which ironically is actually a Canadian-only chain) next to BC Place, complete with a multiplex of different sports channels playing at once in typical American sports bar fashion. The food was real nice, but generally the kind of stuff you'd normally expect from a Pizza Hut, though they did also have these massive-ass chocolate cake slices that was absolutely teeming with flavour. The stadium itself was also a pretty nice place overall. Like a lot of modern North American stadia, especially in Northern North America, this one was completely indoors, and was at that ideal temperature for humans; not too hot or too cold, just the perfect setting for watching and especially playing sports. Unfortunately, the Whitecaps didn't really play too well this time; they didn't really feel that well co-ordinated, hitting the ball too far and not making it fast enough to pass it over. This ultimately resulted in them conceding a goal to San Jose, and scoring none themselves, despite the morale-boost of their constantly-singing troupe of supporters (who even came with their own conductor!). Whilst on the previous day I was introduced to Vancouver proper with a brief tour of some of the highlights, this day allowed me to truly immerse myself in the different aspects of life in the bustling city, and on the next day, the last full day out, I wanted to continue that by exploring its offerings even further afield. By next morning, the smog had cleared out and it was back to the beautiful sunshine we had at the start of the trip. Initially I planned on taking this day to go out and try some cycling by myself, but my Dad thought the idea was interesting so he suggested that he could come along as well, and soon enough the whole family decided to go on the ride together. Whilst I was planning on doing another long ride, I decided to adjust things by instead having the journey be a quick tour from the same bike hire place where the cycling tour started, to just over False Creek where we headed over to Kitsilano Beach. Whilst the area was interesting to my family, due to the beautiful high-income houses dotted around the coast, as well as the fact that the town apparently had a prominent Irish community, my interest in the area was related one of the few Vancouverite celebrities I knew: The infamous Game Dude, who filmed his video manifesto, as well as some music videos dedicated to the ex-girlfriend he went on to stalk, around the location seen on the bottom near-right image, before fleeing the country with practically no lead to suggest where he is now. If you wanna hear more about him, then check out this video here. Anyway, after finding the location, as well as a 10-cent coin in completely perfect condition just laying on the ground, we cycled on the side of False Creek for a while before we made it down to its inland edge at Science World, making a long and flat, but by now kinda tiring, journey back up to the bike hire shop, at one point coming across a sculpture depicting the iconic Inukshuk, seen on the far-right of the image collection. After the long bike ride, we decided to get ourselves some refreshments at a Tim Horton's, which we waited until now to actually visit during our time in Canada. We didn't manage to snag some Timbits sadly, but we did end up getting some fairly nice fried chicken wraps instead. So whilst we finally ticked one thing off the list, there was still another Game Dude-related location I had yet to visit, though it was a bit further out this time. Now that my family had kinda run out of ideas on where to go, they thought it would be an all right time if I wanted to split off, so I went ahead and got myself the bus up to the centre of the city, so I could take the SkyTrain over to Gamedeals in New Westminster. Whilst on the bus journey, I managed to find myself another coin just laying around: A loonie (a $1 coin for non-Canadians, 'cause it has a duck on the reverse side). I was starting to think it must've been my lucky day or something, though I was thinking a little differently once I went around Central Vancouver for a quick bathroom break. By the way, Do not use public bathrooms in Vancouver. Anyway, after that ordeal, I decided to hitch a ride on the SkyTrain down to New Westminster. There was also a comic shop I was interested in visiting just on the line down but turns out it was open on every day of the week except for this particular day (a Monday), so I had to end up skipping it. So once I got over to New Westminster, the main street immediately offered a much more quiet environment compared to the bustle of the downtown, with the Gamedeals store being tucked away in a nice little segment of the street. The connection this particular store had to the Game Dude was that this was apparently his local game store before he went AWOL, and they even invited him over to do an interview for the store's YouTube channel, though much of it just ended up taking the piss out of the guy. Immediately I could notice that the Super Mario Bros. mural from the background was still up, but from what I can tell, the store has seen a bit of a changing of the guard, and now the clerks have hardly even heard of the guy. Beyond that though, there was a huge collection of games around the place, both new and old, and even quite a few special editions of games from the Shantae series (of course minus the coveted Pirates' Curse), and even a toolbox-shaped special edition of the Scott Pilgrim video game. However this meant that a lot of these games were extremely expensive, a fair bit over the CA$100 mark, with some games going even higher, such as a boxed copy of the original Pok� Overall, I was pleasantly surprised by the amount of stuff there was to sink my teeth into during my visit to Vancouver, a place that may initially appear like a typical North American city, but in reality holds an identity more divergent from any other city on the continent. Vancouver's unique culture, incredible architecture, and its striking blend of exciting urban life with its gorgeous natural landscape, help it to stand out among much of the rest of the cities surrounding it (which can definitely explain why living there is apparently so prohibitively expensive). Whilst there were moments where I was taught the hard way that having a bunch of wackos walking around the big cities isn't exclusively a US thing in North America, it ultimately didn't detract from my overall experience of the wondrous city of Vancouver, and it's likely that it could appear on the "love" category on the map featured on my "about" page, especially if I ever come back after consuming a wider range of films and TV shows, so I'm more likely to appreciate the local land and occasionally recite the phrase "I know what that is!" around town. But that's only the first half of my trip across the pond; I've still got a whole week ahead to appreciate the wonders waiting for me at my home-from-home: Minneapolis!
Minneapolis, MN, USA
 But there was still a bit left to go until then, so we made the most of our trip by engrossing ourselves in the local environment, starting out with a super early run in Chaska, going around its natural outskirts and back to where we started, a task that was far more difficult than it was in Vancouver, as it had already reached about 25�C by around 10am, and the course was through some improvised paths which ended with a creek crossing, which I didn't manage to pass unscathed. Since I was running pretty slowly (and actually taking a few frequent breaks, which, like, never happens normally), I was far behind my (younger) younger bro and my Dad, but about even with my (older) younger bro (let's call them "Yu-yun" and "Ol-yun" for simplicity's sake), and once we returned to our starting point, the car we took was nowhere to be found. I had no clue where it could have gone, and I felt like I entered the Twilight Zone or something. Though then, just before I was planning on walking back to the family house, Dad and Yu-yun arrived back with the car, and managed to get themselves some ice cold water while we were waiting, the one thing we desperately needed in the hot Midwestern summer. The rest of the day was a much chiller affair, taking a trip to the Mall of America, which is generally the big highlight of a visit to the Twin Cities. Whilst the cynic may call it a cathedral to Consumerism, to me, someone who prefers having fun, the place is often a high point in every visit to the local area, with tons of different shops, eateries and other attractions to pull you in. Unfortunately though, much of our time here was spent shoe shopping, but we did have a bit of time left over for a few rides down at Nickelodeon Universe, though the cost per ride was pretty high, and one of the big pulls, the zip wire across the park, was closed for the day. Still, we did get through quite a few thrills, my personal favourite of the ones I went on being the Pepsi Orange Streak, as I was never really too keen on intense coasters, and the ride managed to fill that safe fix, though if I come back later I might take a plunge (hint hint) for an even greater high (though we'll see if I actually do that). Oh, and I also managed to notice what I think was an anti-Scientology sticker on one of the park lamps (as you can see on the far-right pic), because what could be a better place to make your important political statement than a theme park for children? Anyway, sadly we didn't have much time left over to visit the other shops I had on my mind, like the mall's Barnes and Noble, a personal favourite spot in the complex, as we needed to head back before more family members came over to the house. Still, I was told that we could visit the mall or someplace like it soon, so I guess I had that to look forward to. And besides, there's more to Minnesota than massive malls and big box stores. That "more to Minnesota" was something I wished to explore the following day by going on a bike ride from Chaska all the way in to central Minneapolis, but that unfortunately had to be postponed since I couldn't find a nearby place that offered bike hire services, so instead we hung around back at the house for a little bit before Dad suggested we try and freshen up on our golf skills with some Topgolf. For those who haven't visited it, it's sort of like a golf driving range, but more of a Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games Dream Event-kind of version of it, or maybe just mini golf but bigger, with the objective being to land your ball in certain targets, and there's a whole bunch of different themed versions of the game to check out, though just we stuck with the default. It could be frustrating at points, especially since I'm kinda rusty with golf and could rarely even hit the ball in a straight line, but once I got a technique down, I managed to do decently well. Not as well as my more golf-literate family members, but enough to feel confident in myself. It also had quite a few different clubs on hand for lefties like me, even though I guess like 9 out of 10 Americans are right-handed, so that definitely helped me feel more at ease, and there were also plenty of wide-ranging food and drink options available, with me choosing a hamburger (surprisingly it was probably the first proper one I had on this trip to North America) and a massive jug-worth of pink lemonade, which of course was really nice and sweet, but again it felt like a bit too much! Really though, the main attraction of this day would have to be the place we visited on the way back: Excelsior, which has definitely got to be (based on my limited knowledge of American towns) the best town in America. It's been a place I visited before on my prior two trips to Minnesota, and I can definitely say that it's been on the way up in recent years. Not only is it facing the expansive beauty of Lake Minnetonka, which made the town a popular tourist spot in the days of yore, but it also holds a characteristic small town feel that's only been built upon through a decade or so of regeneration. Whilst Excelsior holds the appearance of classic Americana, you might notice that a few of the buildings, such as the Municipal Library, feature fairly recent establishment years on their facades (the library for example was only built in 2014), and there have been many examples of new apartment complexes and refurbished townhouses popping up around the place, as developers and upper-middle-class people looking for that sought-after "walkable neighbourhood" flock to these former township titans, forming a new identity for these towns through the new businesses established to cater to this clientele. This can be seen by how it's practically impossible to visit an old town Main Street without coming across at least one new independent ice cream shop, for example. That's because Excelsior isn't alone in this small town regeneration, with nearby Victoria getting its own library around 2014, and Carver getting an old-style town hall in 2019. These redeveloping communities will be among the things I hoped to check out on that bike journey I planned to finally take the next day. On the previous day, I hit a road block in searching for a bike to hire for the long journey. However, later in the evening, I learned that the family friend we were with had a bike at her Airbnb just down in Carver that I could use. So, combined with a lock and helmet loaned by my bike-riding Uncle (I don't think I could've been trusted with his bike), I was finally able to start that bike ride I had prepared for months, which would turn out to be one of the longest (and definitely one of the toughest) I had ever completed. It started out from the centre of Carver, which was a bit further than I expected, as I thought my Dad would take the bike back to the house first. Still, Carver wasn't too far from Chaska anyway, and the road down there was an old rail trail that was nice, smooth and straight throughout the journey there. Chaska itself turned out to be a pretty nice city as well. Whilst there wasn't really that many people around, especially since they were doing up the main street at the time, it still held some really nice old town architecture, as well as some cute amenities like a town square park with a gazebo in the middle of it. However, whilst I was in the middle of taking pictures of the town and the surrounding area, I realised about 45 minutes had already gone before I reached my first stop: A quiet suburban neighbourhood that served as the inspiration for the version of James Halliday's residence I featured in that Ready Player One script I did (I just saw a house from there on Zillow one day whilst visualising the scene and I thought it looked neat; nothing creepy or anything, I swear!). From there, I cycled down a path leading to the main trail, spotted a deer running off halfway down, and took the long route all the way through to Eden Prairie. Whilst there were definitely a few interesting things I managed to spot on this long stretch of road, the journey was taking quite a long time, and I don't think I could've made the trip so far through these large and barren paths in the beating hot sun if I wasn't listening to some videos I had downloaded for the journey (I couldn't just listen to them online; data roaming costs too much). Nevertheless, I finally made it down to Eden Prairie around 2 hours into my journey, and decided to take a quick break by heading into the Eden Prairie Center mall for a little while. The mall was a bit quiet at the time, what with it being midday on a Friday and all, but I felt that kind of added to the atmosphere of the place, with the mall possessing a classic 90s-era design and colour scheme, with a calming mixture of greens, creams and browns, neat marble floors, and plenty of decorations, many of which hint at the area's local history. It feels a lot like how I imagine places like the Mall of America used to appear until more recent refurbishments came about, and though that could show that it's now been greatly overtaken by the MOA in terms of foot traffic, I still think that it has its own personal charm that makes it stand out. For example, one thing Eden Prairie has that the Mall of America doesn't is an independent video game store: High Score Video Games, who have just recently moved from the Shakopee Town Square Mall (a place I also mentioned in that Ready Player One thing), and are already making their mark in the centre. The store's neon-emblazoned interior and wide range of products, including games from all the way back to the Atari 2600, to the big sellers of today, alongside miscellaneous items such as strategy guides, old magazines and even a keyboard, all do their part in making the whole shop an absolutely enchanting place to visit. Unfortunately though, there weren't many games there that could actually be played on my consoles (y'know, with region locking and all) besides a few Switch games that didn't really take my fancy, so I ended up leaving that place empty-handed. Though that wasn't the main reason I went on the journey. Rather, it was so that I could check out the construction work taking place on the way up to Minneapolis for the Southwest light rail line (because autism). It was interesting to see how different so much of the construction was by the time I showed up to see it. There were stations further towards Eden Prairie which were practically finished; the overhead cable pylons had been largely installed and even the signs were up on the station structures. If the entirety of the line was like that, then it wouldn't be unreasonable to assume that the line would've been ready this time next year. However, the further you went in, the more you realised 'Oh yeah. There's still a bit to go'. By the time you made it to Hopkins, there weren't any pylons put up yet and even some of the track hadn't been laid. Then once you made it to Minneapolis proper, where there's far more conflict over land use and more complex projects like a short tunnel being considered, much of the land appeared to have barely developed further than its dirt foundations, with even the station structures still resembling sculptures of steel beams. Though it was a really interesting experience seeing all the construction work thus far in the flesh, taking this route made it far more of a pain in the ass to get to my destination than it would have by just taking the trail all the way up to Minneapolis, with the Google Maps GPS feature quickly becoming my worst enemy once I started following the LRT route, as the location tracking wasn't accurate enough probably due to using a downloaded map. But, I mean, at the same time, it was also telling me to go places I knew I shouldn't be going down, but it still gave me shit for it and told me to turn back like, what's your deal?! Anyway, trying to follow the route I laid out was quickly becoming extremely frustrating, and I decided to just take whichever route was the fastest way back up to the trail in Hopkins. This was also where I was planning on getting lunch before making the final stretch towards Minneapolis, as I heard the old rail depot building had a small caf� that served sandwiches and stuff. However, to my shock and horror, it turned out that it was actually closed for good not too long ago, meaning I had to go even further in to get something substantial. But, like an angel descending from the heavens to help me in my time of great need, my Dad gave me a call saying he was at a British-themed sports bar with my brothers, and was all right with getting a burger and some fries for me once I made it there. So, with this palatable promise of protein and potatoes functioning as the light at the end of this tiresome tunnel, I rushed over as quickly as I could to Minneapolis, and though there were some bumps in the trail here and there due to the construction going on, I was able to quickly ride down and finally arrive at the Brit's Pub, there to be reunited with my family, carrying a sense of exhaustion but also triumph in finally completing such a Herculean task. The food I was given there helped to carry that triumphant feeling further, and the Coke that washed it down also allowed me to re-hydrate after having to drink water from an old and warm plastic bottle for much of the ride. In the end, factoring in all the breaks I took here and there, it took me about six hours to get from Carver to Minneapolis, a route a little over 31 miles in length. Whilst I may have taken routes that were around the same length or felt about as long, here I was far less familiar with the territory, and didn't have the luxury of hopping on public transport and making my way back home, being dependent on my Dad's ride as my only proper way back. I also didn't have as much time generally, as whilst I would normally go on long rides on days where I wasn't doing much, today I had to head home straight after food, unfortunately skipping a small tour of central Minneapolis, to get ready for a pre-wedding get-together at the house of the groom's parents; our in-laws-to-be. They helped us feel right at home through the amazing food and drink they gave to us, and they're definitely one of those families that embodied that quintessential "Minnesota Nice" attitude. I knew that, come the next day, my cousin would make the right decision to be with someone from that loving family. The wedding was, unsurprisingly, a very emotional experience throughout much of the day, especially since it was the first time someone of my generation in the family was getting married, and I hadn't been to one in about a decade by this point, so it all felt a bit new to me. The service was conducted at a small and nicely decorated church in Shakopee, complete with stained-glass windows that made the setting not too dissimilar to the kind of church you'd see in the old country. The music was of course there to offer that classic wedding feel, straight out of only the cheesiest of Hallmark movies, but I didn't care because that, combined with the atmosphere was just so beautiful! My Mum was also one of the speakers, and though she was a bit anxious before the event, everything went ahead smoothly. So, with the exchange of rings and acquisition of a new surname, my cousin and her now-husband were married, and that was when the real festivities began. The reception was held at The Wilds, one of the many extravagant golf clubs dotted around the Twin Cities area, complete with its own gated community, wide-reaching views from the club house that were perfect for photo-ops, and a nice selection of food items from the buffet once it was time for the big sit-down meal. The bridesmaids and groomsmen sat on the table reserved for the new Mr. and Mrs., and offered their heartfelt and hilarious speeches dedicated to the happy couple, many of whom had histories dating back to their childhoods. Finally, after the first dance, with the couple alone together dancing to what they'll go on to remember as their "wedding song" (as I started getting emotional again), the joy of the day was on full display, as several family members headed down to the floor and busted some moves, dancing to several catchy pop tunes from years gone-by. It was an absolute thrill at the start (which is weird 'cause I don't normally do loud parties), and I also managed to catch a bit of attention from some people who had heard through the grapevine that I cycled all the way to Minneapolis the previous day (I was still recovering a bit at this point). However, a couple hours in, I started to notice that my brothers were nowhere to be found, but it turns out they were hanging out with the groomsmen in another room, who were preparing for one of their bro-rituals that happen at every wedding they visited. Here, they made their way back over to the floor, clad in full skin-tight bodysuits (like Pink Guy but without holes for the face), emblazoned with the colours of the Union Flag (since my cousin was technically of "British descent"), as they handed out bead necklaces to the partygoers they ran into. Then, things got even crazier once the star of the show, the groom's Uncle, came out dressed as Elvis, complete with his own Union Flag cape. The chaos continued to unfold on the floor as the music played on, finally ending with a slow and celebratory group sing-along to Piano Man, before the DJ quickly came back for an encore, underlining his work for the evening with Mr. Brightside, at which point everyone still on the floor started moshing again, lifting the bride and groom up in excitement, like Jewish kids celebrating their Bar Mitzvahs, which helped to get all the remaining energy out of everyone. As the club cleared out, some were looking to stick around for a little while longer, with the bride and groom heading off to a nearby casino, whose lights were up in the night sky for much of the evening, like a UFO searching for one of the wildest parties in the universe. It made a bit of sense, as the groom had recently been on a bit of a lucky streak, having won $1000 on a slot machine during his bachelor party, and had also married my cousin! Me though, I was all partied out, ready to take a cab home and cool down from the mania of that night. The next day was much more chilled out. My parents were mainly just recovering from drinking the previous night, so we ended up not going too far for much of the day. I decided to try and go for a run, so I could sort of familiarise myself with the new neighbourhood, and it was certainly still rather new, with houses still going up throughout the circuit I chose for myself (we noticed that one particular house was going through like several different phases of construction in the week we were there, 'cause of how streamlined plywood house-building is in America). Of course, a lot of the houses looked kinda same-y, but that wasn't to say that there weren't any people already turning them into homes, with a couple driveways having the mascot for the local high school sports team spray-painted on. While the route did end in a brief trudge through an unfinished pathway, it was a far easier journey than it was during the run at the start of our visit, especially since there was a bit more cloud cover around this time. Since the main attraction had now come and gone, we decided to spend a bit more time with the family before they started heading back, going down to a small fancy restaurant known as Birch's on the Lake, where I had these pretty nice BBQ ribs, whilst going halves on some fries with Ol-yun, who got this massive piece of fried chicken. I swear, it was like a schnitzel with bones. The portion sizes were real filling, in proper American food-style, and combine this with the atmosphere of the restaurant and its location right next to a lake (hence the name), this ultimately resulted in the restaurant charging a pretty high price in the end. So high that for the 20-ish people sitting there, we ended up getting a bill over $1000 in price, though to be fair, I guess that just puts the cost at a little over $50 per person, so if you were looking to go on a hot date with your girl/boy during your vacation to scenic Minnesota, then you won't need to spend much to get a good night out with a scenic dining experience. With the massive entrees out of the way, we decided it would be best to avoid going for desserts at the restaurant, but there was still one place on my mind; a quaint little ice cream spot that to my British self was like this surreal dreamworld, that was constantly out of reach on my side of the Atlantic. Its name was Dairy Queen, and apparently there was a restaurant not too far away from Chaska that was open all the way up until 10, so my Dad dropped Mum back home to chat with my Aunt, and then took me and the bros over so we could get ourselves one of those super-thick Blizzards. Though that wasn't without a little bump in the road. By this point in time, I noticed that both America and Canada's roads and public spaces felt far less surveilled than the Orwellian hellscape that is the UK, with not so much as a speed camera in sight. Though it appeared the law can just up sometimes adopting a human face. Basically, we got held back for about 10 minutes because we, like, barely overran a stop sign through an un-lit street. I guess I was worrying a bit too much, since I wasn't sure what was gonna happen, though it seemed we were OK and the traffic warden let us go without any problems, though he did mention it was the first time he saw a British driver's license. Anyway, we managed to finally make landfall at Dairy Queen, and I decided to grab myself what I intended to be a small M&M's Blizzard, though my Dad insisted I might as well go with a medium whilst I was there. Turns out while the small is about the size of a British McFlurry tub, the medium was basically the size of a regular drinks cup, and whilst this did allow me to savour the moment of finally coming face to face with the rich creamy and chocolate-y goodness of my post-meal meal, I guess I'm kinda glad that this stuff is still a once-every-four-years kind of treat, 'cause even with all the exercise, I'd probably end up being at least a couple dozen pounds larger if I showed up more often. Still, I wasn't completely done with living the American way yet, as there was still one big thing my family had yet to do before heading back. The State Fair is one of the most significant events in the calendars of Minnesotans and even Americans around the country, so since we were visiting the state around the same time the fair was going on, and were also encouraged heavily to go by my cousin (she wanted to join us but had to go upstate for a nice honeymoon in Duluth), with one full day still ahead of us, we decided to check it out with my Aunt and Uncle, and see what the hype was about. It quickly became apparent that the fair was incredibly popular, so popular in fact that basically all of the parking spaces within the immediate vicinity of the showgrounds were full up, leaving us spending about 40 minutes stuck in traffic looking for a parking space. But just before we decided to give it up and try again on another trip (and somehow get up at an even earlier time for it), we came across a park and ride bus stop that was about a couple miles out, so we ended up settling for that. Beyond then though, there weren't any problems for us, and before we knew it, we were soon in the middle of one of the busiest places in America. I couldn't exactly tell how many were there on that particular day, but seeing how there was practically not a single piece of ground left untouched, it would be safe to assume that the attendee count was probably somewhere in the thousands. One big thing about the Minnesota State Fair is that it places a large focus on celebrating the state's heritage and farming industry, with large stables in place to house petting zoos exhibiting cows, pigs, sheep and horses both from around the state and across the US and Canada, as well as a horse show, judging the abilities of different horses and the quality of their appearance, and whilst it's probably not as exciting as a rodeo, it was still a nice novelty to see all these horses and carts being paraded around like they were a century ago. There were also a few displays presenting prize-winning pumpkins, chillies, cookies, cakes and All-American apple pies (none of them could be eaten sadly), a series of decorated flower exhibits, with one based around Shrek getting a bit of a chuckle out of me, an exhibit presenting Minnesotan wildlife using the most lifelike dead animals around (period), a fun little show involving lumberjacks competing to be the best at doing lumberjack stuff, and of course plenty of vendors selling their new equipment and gifts to anyone stopping by. So basically it's like Comic-Con but for farmers. The food was also a massive part of the fair-going experience, with practically any combination of food items being available, and probably also put on a stick, with some of the things we tried including deep-fried pickles, which weren't really my thing; just a weird contrast between the batter and the sour pickle, as well as the fair's own brisket burgers, which of course were super nice and crispy. I also got a quick bite of a corn dog which turned out to be a bit sweeter than I expected, and a whole cup's worth of freshly baked chocolate chip cookies that were just absolutely chef's-kiss! They're just so smooth and melt in your mouth so well! Still though, we decided to get ourselves a quick sit-down meal on the way back, heading over to a Chick-fil-A, a place that's both praised and maligned throughout the States, but to us was just a pretty nice meal to have. It wasn't the most divine thing to ever be put between two burger buns, but it definitely showed the kind of stuff we were missing back at home. We actually had a single location in the UK recently for about six months before they immediately shut it once its lease expired, though me and my family managed to get a meal there before it went. After our trip to this Chick-fil-A however, all the sugar from the past day was proving to be too much for one of my bros, so we had to rush back in order to get him somewhere more relaxing, at which point he practically fell fast asleep and got up the next day as if nothing happened, like the absolute champ he is! The rest of the evening for me though was pretty quiet. I was thinking about checking out that new Checkered Past block on Cartoon Network to see what that was about, but we got home a bit too late for that, so we just chilled watching some more South Park as we wound down, preparing for the long flight back the next day. But just because we were leaving on this day didn't mean we weren't gonna be doing anything interesting before we headed back, with even in a nice breakfast out being on the cards. This was at the Getaway Motor Caf� in Carver, which was a nicely decorated proper hipster-tier joint, with a wide variety of hot drinks to get that energy in. However, their choices for breakfast (and hot food in general) were still kinda limited, with only a couple of toasted sandwiches and some pastries on offer. So I just ended up having an iced cinnamon swirl with a vanilla latte on the side, which was kinda pushing my recommended daily sugar intake for just the first meal of the day, but I guess I was still on holiday for now, so what's the big deal? Needless to say, I was full of energy for much of the rest of the day, which continued with another visit to the Eden Prairie Center with the family, who were travelling there to get a couple sports team souvenirs whilst there was still time left (though not without getting stopped by the police again and being let off with a warning; good thing we were leaving today at least). The place with all the sporting apparel was in this anchor store called Scheels, which for a simple department store has probably got to be one of the craziest places in the world of American retail, with tons of decorations and fixtures that made it all stand out, including a Ferris Wheel, a wide-spanning aquarium, an arcade, and even a bunch of statues of old US Presidents at the front of the store. Apparently this store is a very recent addition to the shopping centre, and I'm surprised that you could find something this absolutely soulful in present-day America. Guess stores really need to stand out in the age of the retail apocalypse after all. Anyway, this visit to the store gave me the opportunity to finally visit a Barnes and Noble, like what I had hoped to do at the Mall of America, mainly so I could check out the graphic novels and that sort of thing, but I also came across quite a few interesting other items during my visit. For example, within a large list of religious books, I managed to come across something as niche as a Torah printed in the ancient Hebrew script. I don't know if that many people speak the language these days, but I suppose it's nice to have if you're a Yahweh superfan. The store also included a large CD and DVD section at the back, though considering that the Streaming Wars are in full swing in the States, much of the shelves were practically empty, and there was even this old CRT display TV that I guess was used to show off new titles, but has since been left to collect dust (it still worked though! Tested it myself!). While I never really got around to buying anything (even if some of the items looked really interesting), simply the novelty of visiting this American retail staple was enough to leave me in a good mood. And on the drive home, it seemed that other parts of Eden Prairie were looking up, as whilst the construction site I visited a few days ago had hardly anyone in sight, it appeared that the Southwest LRT recently ended up having a cash injection and a few contracts finally sorted out, with people back on the track, installing the first overhead cables that linked the pylons together. It was anyone's guess as to when the rest of the line would get that treatment, but one thing at a time, I suppose. So, after a final bit of packing, we bid our Minnesotan brethren farewell, and drove off to the airport, taking in the buildings and structures around the city one last time, including an abandoned Toys R Us that's been sitting there unused for at least 8 years, based on my previous visits (I think I might've actually been there when I was 9, back when it was still open). With our truck dropped off, we got ready for the long flight ahead, getting ourselves a nice meal at Stone Arch, offering restaurant-quality food in the middle of a busy terminal. Fearing I was gonna have a heart attack the next time I ingested any more sugar or caffeine, I ended up settling for Diet Coke for the time being, though I forgot that while there's no sugar in the drink, it's still got around the same amount of caffeine, with the only real difference being that it just tastes like shit. But that didn't do much to put a damper on my mood. We collected some more last-minute souvenirs, boarded the plane, and since we managed to snag some extra-comfy seats in the front this time around, we enjoyed what was probably the best overnight flight I ever experienced (though to be fair that isn't really saying much). In the end, as we left Heathrow and got a fresh whiff of that cold London air, feeling that depression of living in this hellhole rush up through our bones in real time, I was at the very least thankful that we managed to make so many great memories with the time we had outside of the country. At least I could finally get some sleep after the flight; we didn't set out too late, and the journey was nice and comfy, but I still didn't manage to properly get some rest in the loud carriage of the aircraft. Overall, I'd say there's a lot of things to do out in Minnesota, so many in fact that I considered the idea of making a return trip sometime in the near future to do the things I never got around to trying out, like getting a nice meal and having a fun night out at Dave and Buster's or something. Ol-yun also had a few things he wanted to see but never got around to because of how tight we were for time, like visiting a Bass Pro Shops store for one of their trademark hats. But really though, whilst we can go on about all the different things you can see and do in the Twin Cities area, to me, I feel that family is an important part of what makes Minnesota so special to me. Without them, we wouldn't have had much of the motivation we needed to visit this wonderful place, and it would've just been another one of those typical American cities to us if it wasn't for the friendly hospitality, and the memories provided to us through the side of our family that made the decision to cross the Atlantic and discover the opportunities waiting for them. As for next year, well, we're not too sure on where to go yet. Dad's been threatening a three-week holiday to El Salvador, since it's now a crypto paradise or something like that, though we'll most likely end up at our usual turf in Spain (which is weird because it would be the first time we've made the visit in about five years). I actually wouldn't mind the idea of maybe trying the multi-city holiday thing we do in North American in Europe at some point, spending one week somewhere else on the continent, and then heading for a relaxing vacation in Spain to round it all off. And if that ever happens, then I'll probably end up writing a novella's worth of ramblings about that too! I swear, I wasn't expecting to write anywhere near as I much as I did here, basically writing more than all of my previous blogs posts combined, so if you managed to read this far without dying of boredom, then I would just like to say thank you, and I hope I can add a few more things to this site soon, after leaving this place a little too inactive for a little too long. |
