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 Design Information Weblog
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Tuesday, October 03, 2000
Going into E-Business: Part Three
posted by Jon Swenson on 10/3/2000
Thursday, September 21, 2000
My last day in Bath today. I'm in the youth hostel
lounge. I'm looking out through the glass double
doors into a lush green yard bordered by a cover of
trees and shrubs which is just about to turn colors.
It's still light out, but night is coming soon.
Although it rained quite heavily at times today, I see
patches of blue in the sky right now.
Today I was out looking at Stonehenge and another
henge in Avebury. Who knows what a henge is? Shoot .
. . I left the book with the definition upstairs in my
room. Anyway, it's sort of a circular arrangement of
stones enclosed by a ditch and a bank along side the
ditch. This will be clear when I show you the aerial
shots of both Stonehenge and Avebury henge.
I went in a tour bus that had about 14 people
altogether. This was a nice cozy feel. The guide was
good, which made it fun. Most of the tourists around
here are Americans. Feels at home sometimes. The
tour bus came to the youth hostel to pick up a few
people and off we went.
Drove through the beautiful green country side.
Fields on rolling hills with horses and cattle and
sheep. Pigs here and there. Clumps of trees
scattered all around.
Driving on the left side of the road is still a weird
concept to me though. I haven't gotten used to it
yet.
As we started off into the country, the guide shot off
various historical facts and anecdotes about the area.
We had about an hour's drive into Stonehenge. "I
can't talk the whole time so I'm going to play some
music," he said. I waited for Beethoven or Mozart.
It seemed very appropriate at the time. What I got
was Aretha Franklin singing R-E-S-P-E-C-T. A
surprise, but okay. Another Aretha song, then Ray
Charles, then "I feel good" by James Brown. American
soul. The music fit the scene, the scene fit the
music . . . whichever way you want to look at it.
Then we got to Stonehenge.
You have to pay a £4.00 adult entrance fee to get
close to the stones, unless you have British heritage.
Then it's free. And you get an audiophone (my new
favorite toy) with admission.
You can look at it as just a bunch of big stones piled
up together I guess. But there's something there. I
don't think it's necessarily the size of the stones
that impressed me, some of them are 60 tons. And they
were brought in from 30 miles away. But it's the
unmistakable symmetry which is so powerful. Someone
put those stones there in that order. This symmetry
doesn't happen on its own. Who put them there? Why
did they do it? Topics of many academic discussions I
guess. Why did they bring the stones from so far
away? What did they do with or in the henge?
According to the literature, Stonehenge was built
little by little over 1700 years. First construction
started about 5000 years ago. And the complex seems
to have an astronomical function to it. The rising
sun appears between a different set of columns for
each month of the year.
SO . . . 5000 years ago there were civilizations with
such mastery of their environment and knowledge of
nature that they had time to engage in such
mathematics, such intellectual efforts. They didn't
write anything down so we don't have their words. But
they left behind the fruits of their efforts.
The henges are generally associated with Druids but I
found out today that the Druids came more than 1000
years after the people who built the henges.
So many different civilizations . . . the henge
people, the druids, the Romans, the Normans. And
that's just in this little island of England. Think
of all the civilizations that have ever lived and died
on the face of the earth. Same rules as for all other
things I guess . . . you're born, you live, you die.
Even civilizations and cultures fall, longer than it
might take an oak tree to fall, but they fall.
After Stonehenge, we were off to Avebury. This time
we got the Beatles.
The town of Avebury is close to Stonehenge. It's
built in the middle of another henge which is sixteen
times bigger than Stonehenge. The town sprang up in
the middle because that's where builders found the
most stones. Archealogists don't know the purpose of
this henge but they think it had something to do with
fertility festivals. You can go up to the stones and
touch them in this henge. There's quite a bit of
history associated with this henge. I can tell you
about it later.
Imagine, these people used deer antler and cattle
shoulder blades as tools to make the henge complexes.
After the henges, the tour stopped at two very
picturesque old English villages. One village had
only one street. In the other village, we stopped for
lunch at a pub that's been liscensed since the 1300's.
Well, tomorrow back to London to meet Gary. He should
be just getting ready to take off from San Francisco
right now. There are so many things I didn't get to
see in London. It will be fun.
These two ladies on the tour told me I should go to
York (much prettier than Bath) and Ambleside
(prettiest of all). Those towns are way far up north
in the country. I'll try to catch them after Paris.
So many places and so many things to see and ponder
over in this world!!!
Talk to you later,
Bijaya
posted by Bijaya Ojha on 9/21/2000
Today I visited the Roman baths. When I came out, I
felt like I was a Roman myself who had just been
through the hot tub and full body massage treatment.
These Romans knew how to live. When I get back home,
I'm going to book a nice day out in the baths in
Calistoga. Can't wait . . . actually I can. Europe's
quite an adventure.
Let's start at the very beginning -- a very good place
to start (as the magnanomous Brit Julie Andrews would
say).
Today was a b-e-a-u-t-i-ful day. Sun was out all day,
didn't rain at all. I took the bus into town and got
off near the abbey churchyard (the 14th century Gothic
church). I hadn't had breakfast yet and was quite
hungry, but then I remembered the wise Rick Steves.
He had mentioned in one of his many publications
(which I've seen in many people's hands around here)
that every day, several times a day, the good citizens
of Bath take tourists around on city walks. I checked
my notes and found that a walk would start at 10:30
from the abbey churchyard. It was 10:20 just then and
I scrambled around trying to find the group. And what
a group it was! There were so many tourists that two
guides were needed, each guide with about 12 - 15
people. Our guide was a proper old English gent who
did these tours for his love and pride of Bath. He
made it clear that no tips were expected.
One funny story during the tour was when he explained
the advent of indoor toilets. He pointed out in one
of the Georgian houses how the first toilet rooms were
built right off of the house walls. He set us up with
all the history and all the key figures that went into
the toilet scene. Two engineers modified an already
existing design to make it more functional and they
got together with a plumber who was able to
manufacture the toilets. The plumber's name was John
Crapper. All the native English speakers laughed.
Two non-English speakers in the crowd didn't quite get
it. Another man in the tour explained to them that
crap was a word for shit. "Nicely put," said our old
English gent guide. He had had a difficult time
figuring out how to explain it to the last non-native
English speakers in his tours. "Defication" was the
word he used.
The walking tour took two hours. Afterward, I had
lunch in an outdoor cafe at the abbey churchyard.
Nice English lunch -- chicken pot pie with peas and
carrots and gravey, followed by a blackberry pie with
two scoops of vanilla ice cream. YUM!
Now the Roman baths. These Romans were damn good
engineers. After 2000 years, the hot spring water
still flows down their plumbing system. Their design
for the complex is still functional. The bathing
pools where they collected the water for bathing still
look spectacular.
I got an audio phone for a self guided tour with the
entrance fee.
And let this be a lesson to all of you for when you
get here. Don't throw away your guided bus tour
passes. In Bath, I've saved 10% off of museum
entrance fees and dinner when I presented my pass.
And I haven't had to pay yet for the bus trip in and
out of town. In London, I saved £12.00 off the ticket
price of Cats. The bus tour pass cost me £15.00.
Worth keeping the pass!!!
Anyway, the audio phone made the whole Roman bath
complex come to life.
One of the pools in the complex is huge, atleast twice
the size of the next biggest. All around these pools
there are signs saying please don't dip into the
pools, the water is untreated, it may be harmful, etc.
etc.
The hot spring waters of Bath have been famous for
their healing qualities since before Roman times.
Maybe it was for this reason, or some other unknown
reason to me, I saw a man walk briskly through the
doors into the yard with the big pool. Next thing I
know, the man takes off his shoes and socks and dips
his feet into the water. He then takes off his shirt.
He has open sores all over his right arm. He washes
his face, his hair, and his chest and arms.
Everyone is staring at him at this point. People are
laughing. Museum guides are now on hand trying to get
him away from the water. They exchange words with him
while he defiantly puts his clothes back on. He's
then gone as fast as he walked in. Strange sight
indeed!
After the Roman baths, I went to Bath's
internationally renouned costume museum. I managed to
fit it in before it closed at 5:00. Fashion since the
1600's to today. Jennifer Lopez's low cut dress we've
seen so much of lately was displayed as dress of the
year for 2000. Hmmmmm.....
After the costume museum, I walked around the city
center and contemplated life. Then I headed back to
the hostel. Now I'm in the hostel lounge surrounded
by a bunch of Russian school kids reading and talking
amongst themselves.
Tomorrow I'm going to Stonehenge.
Talk to you later,
Bijaya
posted by Bijaya Ojha on 9/21/2000
Hi My Friends,
I'm not in London anymore and internet access is more
expensive from here. So I'm writing this letter out
by hand first before typing it up and sending it out.
Jon, Justin, Gary: thank you so much for replying to
my letters.
I am in Bath tonight. Before I talk about Bath, let
me say that I didn't get a chance to write yesterday
becasue I was watching Cats in the New London Theatre.
There are so many shows going on around London.
Shows seem to be more popular than movies there.
I guess yesterday was an emotional day, with it
raining and all. I found myself crying when the cat
started singing Memories. Good thing I was by myself
and no one could see me.
Yesterday wasn't as hectic a day as before on my feet.
I toned it down a little, although I did spend half
the day walking in the British Museum.
Mom: I got your messages on my phone mail. My feet
are okay . . . Really. I think I exaggerate a little
when I write.
I'm also getting messages from work on my phone mail.
They're asking how to do something. I reply of
course. It's kind of annoying though.
I started out the day yesterday wanting to go to
Spencer House, Kensington Gardens, and Kensington
Palace. But it was raining and I didn't feel like
walking around in a garden so I went to the British
Museum.
I didn't see all of the British Museum. It's a huge
place and I'll have to go back if I can. I saw
displays on ancient Assyria, ancient Greece and
ancient Rome. I can definitely see the connection
between today's Western society and ancient Greece and
Rome. Imagine everything you have in your possession
today. Now imagine what those things will look like
in about two to three thousand years. There you have
the Greek and Roman exhibits.
Lots and lots and lots of Greek vases. We can make
them today just as they did then. We can appreciate
today the same beauty they appreciated then. The only
difference is time. The museum had a lot of jewelery
on display too. Some lady that lived 2500 years ago
had the same taste in jewelry that I do.
Another display I saw at the museum was Ancient Egypt.
And what's more synonymous with ancient Egypt than
mummiew? There were so many mummies on display at the
British Museum. There were rooms and rooms of coffins
(sarcophagi ????) There were empty mummy caskets and
there were mummy caskets with mummies still inside.
There was one which had the face of the deceased
painted on the top while the body was still locked up
inside. There were baby mummies, there were animal
mummies. And there were human remains -- mummies
which had been taken out of their coffins and put out
on display. Some were just bones, but some were
curled up in the display, their skins still entact.
And everywhere there were artifacts which were dug up
with the mummies. Grave robbery at its grandest, I
say. Walking through the displays was eerie and
uncomfortable.
After the museum, I went to a Starbuck's right off of
Piccadilly Circus. That's where I decided I was going
to go watch Cats.
This morning I got up early. I had to get to Victoria
Station to catch the 9:30 bus to Bath. It was a nice
drive through the English country side. I could have
taken a train but I was in no particular hurry.
The hills of the English country side roll like waves
in the sea, slow and gentle, up and down, up and down
everywhere. When the sun peaks through the clouds
after it's been raining, the ground changes to a
lighter shade of green. Imagine Victorian country
houses spotting the fields here and there. Brick
stables here and there.
Bath is a pretty big town in the middle of and around
the sides of a bunch of hills. It's a very
characteristic place in that everything here is made
out of bath stone, a yellowish limestone that's local
to the area. I learned today that it's a Georgian
town. Architecture here is outstanding. The town is
built into clusters of huge crescent rows of houses.
This town used to be the play ground of high English
society. A long time before that, the Romans were
here and made many bath houses for the hot spring
water in the area. There are Roman columns everywhere
in the architecture. There's a huge gothic cathedral
in the middle of town too. Bath is a very pretty
place.
Not only that, the youth hostel here is wonderful.
It's a country retreat in the hills right outside of
town. I have to walk up this little country lane to
get to the hostel from the road. Also, it's costing
me half of what it cost me in dirty London. Great
deal!!! I recommend this to anyone.
One of the things I like most about Bath is its
people. I was really scared at first becasue
everyone's white here. I was wondering how I'd fit
in.
I got off the bus this afternoon very disoriented.
Like I said, I was a little scared and I knew that the
hostel was a ways away from the bus station. I knew I
had to take another bus to get to the hostel. When I
arrived, I didn't really want to figure everything out
right away. I was hungry and just wanted to find some
food. I walked around a little timidly with all my
baggage around me until I found a little deli at the
bus station. A big white guy with a bunch of tatoos
greeted me. I told him I wanted the turkey and
cucumber sandwich with a pepsi (yes, turkey and
cucumber). He turned out to be the nicest guy.
Really made me feel welcome.
After eating, I decided to take a tour from the bus
station (never mind I had to take all my baggage).
The ticket guy asked me if I was a student. I said
no. He gave me the student ticket anyway, said it
would save me two pounds. After the tour I asked how
to get to the youth hostel. They told me I could take
the tour bus to it and helped me all the way.
Everyone I've met here has been really nice. I'm
having a good time.
Tomorrow I'm going to check out Bath a little more.
Then, day after tomorrow, I'm going to Stonehenge.
Talk to you all later.
Bijaya
posted by Bijaya Ojha on 9/21/2000
I've been walking around all day today. I walked
around so much that my feet are numb now. By the end
of the day, I was telling my feet "I think you can, I
think you can." That's about when they went numb . .
. wait a minute, I think feeling's coming back now. .
. Aaaaauuuuuuu.
I shouldn't complain though. I'm relatively young and
my body can still take some abuse. One of my
roommates in the new hostel is really old. She looks
like she's in her sixties. She's Swiss and doesn't
speak much English. She practices her English on me
though. She said she was in Paris before she came to
England. She's going to Germany tomorrow. Pretty
amazing that she's hosteling around the world in her
age. My other roommate is a young Japanese girl.
I was mistaken for a 19 year old by some guy in the
park today. I told him I was over 30 and was waiting
for my husband. He was pretty surprised.
I went to Buckingham Palace today. I'm so amazed how
easy it is to travel around London. A subway station
is never far away from anywhere and I never have to
wait more than 2 minutes for a train to arrive. I
found Buckingham Palace pretty easily.
Buckingham Palace is the official residence of the
queen of England, although she prefers to live in
Windor Castle and uses Buckingham Palace as her
office. I guess there was a fire at Windsor Castle a
few years back, and to help in the restoration, the
Queen decided to open parts of Buckingham Palace to
the public. It cost me £10.50 for the ticket. Of
course only a few of the 600 rooms in the palace were
open to the public, but now I have a little glimpse of
how kings and queens live.
The ceilings, the wall carvings, the furniture, the
pictures, the marble sculptures, the staircases, the
hallways, the chandeliers, the doors were all so
intricate and beautiful. I bought the "Official
Buckingham Palace Guide." I'll show it to whoever
wants to see it when I get back.
I actually got to Buckingham Palace around 10:30 this
morning but didn't get to go into the palace until
around 1:30. Reason is, I wanted to see the changing
of the guards. That took for ever. Changing of the
guards happened at 11:30. But people were actually
waiting around for it since probably 10:00. I stood
in one spot for 1 hour (10:30 to 11:30) to watch this.
Then the ceremony took almost another 45 mins. So I
stood at the same spot for almost 2 hours. Let me
tell you, it wasn't pretty. My feet are crying, I'm
fidgeting, I'm waiting for something, anything to
start happening.
I now have new found respect for those guards in the
funny red uniforms. They stand in one place for up to
half a day. Not only do they stand in one place, they
don't move any part of their body in that whole time.
What if they have to go to the bathroom? Potty break
before duty must be compulsory.
There was much pomp and circumstance when they changed
guards. Lots of marching music, lots of men in skirts
(the Scottish contingent), and men in red uniforms
with big hairy hats. Was it worth waiting 2 hours to
see? I guess to atleast see it once. Funny thing is
though, everytime I tried to take a picture of the
guards with my camera, my batteries kept running out.
After Buckingham Palace, I changed the batteries to
some other ones that were in my backpack. Those
batteries were working fine for me. Then I spotted
another regiment of red guards. I tried to take their
picture and just then, my batteries ran out.
Hmmmmm...
After Buckingham Palace, I walked to Speaker's Corner
in Hyde Park. Every Sunday whoever wants to give a
speech can bring a stool, stand on it, and start
talking. There was one guy who was talking about the
evils of capitalism, about 2 people talking about
Islam, and the rest of the 8 - 10 speakers were
talking about Jesus. There was one guy who wasn't
talking at all but who had signs all around him
claiming that he was Jesus.
Most people in the audience seemed pretty amused, in a
snickering way that is. Some people were getting into
heated debates with the speakers. Some speakers were
actually debating eachother, telling eachother that
the other wasn't really a Christian. It was quite a
circus. I was hoping there would be some intellectual
speeches there but I guess I expected too much.
I walked around Hyde Park a little bit after Speaker's
Corner. But I didn't get too far before remembering
that the Thames River Festival was today. The guide
in my London walk tour had told me about it. So I
rushed to the subway and headed to the Thames. I
walked and I walked and I walked before I found the
festival. I guess "festival" is synonymous in all
parts of the West with "lots of stalls selling
trinckets." Add some musical acts to this, some face
painters, and some food stalls, there you have a
festival. Anyway, it was interesting. Lots of people
everywhere. Hippie types and all. But it was also a
kids' festival. There were lots of things for kids to
do. They also had an orchestra out on a barge on the
Thames. On the shore in front of the orchestra, they
lit paper bag laterns which kids around London had
made. It was nice.
Then I walked and I walked and I walked again. This
time I had a little difficulty trying to find the
subway. I was getting toward the end of zone1 in the
subway system. Outside zone1, I guess they have fewer
services.
It was at this time my feet went numb. I found the
subway station and came to the "Easy Everything
Internet Shop" to write this letter.
I like writing these letters. I don't really talk to
anyone during the day. This gives me a sense of
communication. My time on the computer's almost run
out now so I'll have to wrap up the letter. Need to
go back to the hostel and plan the rest of the week.
I want to get out of London in the next 2 days. Need
to find out where to go, how to get there, and where
to stay when I get there.
Talk to you all later.
Bijaya
posted by Bijaya Ojha on 9/21/2000
Tuesday, September 19, 2000
Not much today. I was very tired and felt a little
sick after yesterday's jaunt in the rain all day long.
It didn't rain today but it got very windy at times.
I had to leave the place where I was staying because
they didn't have any more rooms for tonight. I've
been making reservations each morning for the coming
night. But I woke up too late this morning to get a
room for tonight. You have to be early. I tried to
make a reservation at 8:50 this morning but they were
all out of rooms. They didn't let me reserve a room
last night because they didn't know what would be
available.
Anyways, I'm in another hostel tonight. This hostel
is 1/2 a block away from St. Paul's Cathedral. I can
hear the cathedral bells ring each hour. This new
hostel seems cleaner and in a better location than the
one I was in before. But I'd already gotten used to
the old one and had gotten to know the surroundings.
Now I have to start all over.
There aren't as many people walking in the streets
around the new hostel. I liked the hustle and bustle
and the hordes of Londoners walking around near the
old place.
Anyways, I'm back in the old neighborhood right now.
Back in the "Easy Everything Internet Shop" to write
this letter. It's a short subway ride to get here.
So this was my plan for today:
Madam Taussaud's
Planetarium
Buckingham Palace
Westminster Abbey
I did Madam Taussaud's and the Planetarium. Then I
was too tired to go on. I went back to the hostel and
took a nap. After the nap, I went to St. Paul's then
walked around the neighborhood. Hardly anyone in the
streets in that neighborhood.
Madam Taussaud's was fun. But the horror part of the
exhibition scared the freaks out of me. It's not hard
to scare me but this was pretty scary. It showed
people being tortured via various torture methods that
have been employed in British history. It showed Jack
the Ripper's victims with their stomachs torn apart.
It showed various London mass murderers and described
what they'd done. These people looked so normal, it
made me wonder whether the guy standing next to me
wasn't a mass murderer.
Also, I must note that this exhibit came complete with
the stench of what backstreet London may have smelled
like in the 1800's.
There was much more to Madam Taussaud's than that
though. There were Hollywood celebrities, British
celebrities, sports celebrities, heads of states and
historical figures from throughout history. Wax work
was really well done -- down to the pores on their
faces and hands in some cases.
I saw some people who looked like they were Nepali in
front of the Dalai Lama model. Later I heard them
talking in Nepali. They were taken in by Princess
Diana for some reason.
Planetarium was pretty fun too. I bought a combined
Madam Tussaud's / Planetarium ticket from the bus
company with which I previously took the London tour.
Tussaud's and the planetarium are right next to
eachother. Excellent idea to buy the tix in
advance!!! I didn't have to wait in the mile long
line around Madam Tussaud's. I got to go in the much
shorter ticket holders' line. Also, I saved a £
buying from the bus company than if I had to pay at
the door.
So that was it before nap time. St Paul's was nice
too. Huge and beautiful inside. But they didn't let
people get close to the front (the sanctum???) unless
people had a ticket. Can't really see much of the
ceiling art work unless you go up front. I might pay
for the admission later. Can go any time now that I'm
in the neighborhood.
Then I just walked around trying not to get lost.
Checked out a British pub in the neighborhood. Then I
took the "underground" to come here.
I still have to eat. Should I do Burger King or Pizza
Hut tonight? Hmmmmm . . .
Tomorrow, will have to go to Buckingham Palace and
Westminster Abbey. The girl I roomed with last night
told me that there's a Star Trek museum here too.
Will have to find out where that is.
Still need to do the British Museum and National Art
Gallery and some of the many, many, many museums
around here. But one of these days I have to make it
out of London to go see Stonehenge and hang out around
Bath for a while.
So many things to see around here. Hope you're all having fun.
Talk to you later,
Bijaya
posted by Bijaya Ojha on 9/19/2000
Sunday, September 17, 2000
Yesterday about this time, it was nice and sunny
outside. There were plenty of clouds in the sky but
they were just fluff passing by. I was thinking to
myself "Where's this London rain that's famous around
here? . . . I have to see this London rain before I
leave."
My wish came true today in a big way. Until about
6:00 pm today it rained and rained and rained.
Sometimes it would lighten up, sometimes it would pour
really hard, but it never stopped raining. Good thing
I brought my ducky umbrella. Yesterday I was walking
all around London with the duck hanging out of the
side of my backpack. After a while I wanted someone
to steal it because I didn't want to walk around with
it anymore. I'm glad no one stole it.
I had chicken mcnuggets at McDonald's for dinner
today. This was at a McDonald's right next to the
Tower of London -- the medieval fortress where most of
the kings and queens of London lived in the past 1000
years.
I could have spent the whole day at the Tower of
London. There's a poster in the subway stations
advertising this place showing pictures of various
royal figures who were murdered or beheaded or
imprisoned at the Tower of London. The poster reads
"Like them, you'll find it hard to leave." That's
exactly what happened. Every time I thought I'd seen
everything, I'd turn the corner and there would be
some other turret or some other tower that I still had
to go see.
I walked and I walked and I walked today until my feet
were about to fall off. Then I walked some more and
my feet forgot they wanted to fall off. 1000 years of
British history leaves a lot to see.
The Tower of London houses the crown jewels. These
are all the kings' and queens' jewelry, crowns,
sabres, orbs, pottery . . . virtually, the royal
valuables from 1066 to today. I have never seen so
much gold, diamonds, emeralds, rubies, silver, pearls
in my entire life before. You should see the gold
threading on Queen Elizabeth's coronation dress. It
looks like someone poured liquid gold on every part of
the dress and smoothed it all out. Then there was the
golden punch bowl that was big enough to be a child's
bathtub.
I got to see Thomas Moore's cell that Henry the eighth
imprisoned him in. The cell was opened to the public
for the very first time this year for the mellenium
celebrations. It will be closed after this year.
They don't want to keep it open because somebody lives
there -- not in the cell but in the house that the
cell's a part of.
I couldn't believe that there are still a lot of
people that live in the Tower of London. Their houses
are right next to the place where they used to behead
so many people. Thomas Moore was beheaded and his
daughter kept his head. It was buried with her when
she died. I think the guide said it's buried in the
chapel on tower grounds where they still hold church
services.
I need to find out more about this Thomas Moore guy.
I vaguely remember him from history class. The guide
said he was a really great guy.
Right next to the Tower of London is Tower Bridge. I
went there before going to the Tower of London. I
took a little tour where I learned about the bridge's
history and how it works (ie how the bridge opens up
to let ships pass). It's an interesting tour if
you're interested. I was semi interested so I had a
semi good time. When you all come to London, I think
you can skip this tour unless you really want to take
it. If it's raining really hard when you're here
(like it was today), you may want to skip the this
tour all together and check out some museum (inside
and out of the rain).
Before the Tower Bridge, I was in the London Eye.
This is the giant ferris wheel I talked about
yesterday. Skip it !!!! Way over hyped for my taste.
All you do is wait in a giant line (which isn't fun
when it's raining), get into a car with a bunch of
other people, and go up and down in a giant circle
very slowly. It takes about half an hour to go all
the way around. Maybe this tour will be fun for
people in a group or for families with small children.
You get to see a lot of London from higher than a
bird's eye view. But, there's no guide to tell you
what you're seeing. You can pick out Big Ben and
Tower of London and Tower Bridge, but what's
everything else?
The car got to the top of the circle and I was bored.
Rest of the ride down, I tried to figure out how the
ferris wheel worked. Huge cables!!!!
Well anyway, that's a synopsis of my day. Hope you
guys are enjoying getting these e-mails as much as I'm
enjoying writing them.
Go ahead and check yahoo for a live cam of Oxford
Circus. That's very close to where I'm staying.
Remember I said yesterday that I couldn't believe how
many people there are in London??? Check it out for
yourself. When you get here, try walking down the
street at rushhour like I've done in the past two
days. First try it when it's not raining. There's
hardly room to see your feet. Then try it when it's
raining and umbrellas come out on top of everyone.
Finally try taking the subway at rush hour like I did
today. It's a different place here.
Talk to you later,
Bijaya
posted by Bijaya Ojha on 9/17/2000
Saturday, September 16, 2000
I'm having a great time here.
I just left Oxford Street at rush hour to get into
this "internet shop." I can't believe how many people
there are in London.
I had a great day today. I ate breakfast at
Starbuck's and dinner at Kentucky Fried Chicken. In
between, I took a city bus tour. I could get on and
off where ever I wanted on the tour.
I saw Big Ben - it was just a big clock tower to me
when I saw it on tv. It's actually very pretty. It's
part of a huge complex with shiny, gold trimmings
everywhere.
I got a glimpse of Buckingham Palace. I'll have to go
back there. For a few months this year, the palace is
open to the public. The guide said this might be the
only time the palace will ever be open to the public.
I saw the London eye - the huge ferris wheel that's
taller than anything else in London. I have tickets
to ride it tomorrow.
I went across the Tower Bridge. Again, it's way
prettier than it ever shows up on tv.
I went to Trafalgar Square. Pigeons everywhere. Once
in a while, someone shoots blanks and all the pigeons
fly up all at once. Trafalgar Square is awesome.
Four huge lions gaurd this tall pillar on which some
military looking man stands. There are various
statues all over the square, and there are two gushing
fountains on either side. I stayed at Trafalgar
Square for a while and watched just watched
everything.
A cruise on the Thames was included with the bus trip.
The cruise was nice. Got to go under the Tower
Bridge. Tomorrow I'll have to go on the Tower Bridge.
The bus trip package also included walking tours
through London. I took one where the lady talked
about London art/literature. There were only two
other people who took the walking tour. We walked
through the parts of town where William Blake and
Charles Dickens used to live. I got to know where the
term "red light district" and the expression "we are
not ammused" come from.
Today, I also bought tickets to Madam Tousaud's wax
museum and for the planetarium. But I'll probably
have to go day after tomorrow.
I'm staying at the same youth hostel tonight. I was
thinking it might be in a bad area but I think it's
ok. The girl that shared the room with me yesterday
came in around midnight. She said she had no problems
coming in alone that late. Also, I didn't want to
carry all my stuff all over town today so I left my
big backpack at the hostel.
Write you later.
posted by Bijaya Ojha on 9/16/2000
Thursday, September 07, 2000
Affinia went out of business the day after I made a store for Bijaya.
If your still interested in affiliate product sales for your website, check out linkshare.com, referit.com, or associate-it.com. It takes about 2-3 days to be approved for the program, then you are free to sell products on your website. Most payouts are 3-15% per sale, or .02+ cents per referal.
For an example visit : Sharkspage.
posted by Jon Swenson on 9/7/2000
Sunday, September 03, 2000
A moderate earthquake occurred at 1:36:30 AM (PDT) on Sunday, September 3, 2000 .
The magnitude 5.1 event occurred 5 km (3 miles) WSW of Yountville, CA.
The hypocentral depth is 9 km ( 6 miles).
posted by Justin Leggroan on 9/3/2000
Saturday, September 02, 2000
Been researching London for my trip to Europe. Found good website to get details: timeout.com.
posted by Bijaya Ojha on 9/2/2000
Hi all, hope your having a good labor day weekend.
posted by Jon Swenson on 9/2/2000
Friday, September 01, 2000
Congulation to Bijaya for five years at Altera, and her upcoming two months in england, france, spain, italy, and greece.
posted by Jon Swenson on 9/1/2000
Thursday, August 31, 2000
Today I created a nepali books, videos and music store for Bijaya.
Using jimtools.com I submitted this site to a number of search engines, 55 directories, and 1600 FFA lists. Total time to create the store and submit the website = 2 hours, not bad.
Now im off to Seybold San Francisco 2000.
posted by Jon Swenson on 8/31/2000
Wednesday, August 30, 2000
Last night created a few basic flash animations with Swish 1.51 (available at swishzone.com cost = $30). Nothing fancy, but it looks good. Swish is a great entry program for web designers interested in flash animation. This program offers around 10 quality text effects, with zero learning curve.
Also took a look at buzzkiller.net, the site dedicated to killing over-hyped marketing buzzwords. Nice premise, but these journalists need a little help in the humor/sarcasm department. I also don't believe the boast about never using a PR release for a story.
posted by Jon Swenson on 8/30/2000
Hello, welcome to my web design blog. If you want to get in touch with me, visit http://www.designinformation.com.
posted by Jon Swenson on 8/30/2000
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