London Day 1: The Cabinet War Rooms and The Churchill Museum

Upon the recommendation of David Whitton, Rowan and I visited the Cabinet War Rooms and the Churchill Museum. After Trafalgar Square, we walked down Whitehall, then up a little side street to the Cabinet War Rooms. Everything was in pristine condition. On VE day, everyone simply walked out and sealed up the place, and it wasn't opened until about 20 years ago. The Churchill museum was quite an educational experience for me. I knew vaguely who he was and some of the things he was known for, but now I have a much better feeling for who the man was. Quite the character; I definitely enjoyed reading and listening to a few of his famous speeches and quotes.

London Day 1: Trafalgar Square and Nelson's Column

After the changing of the guard, we continued walking and happened upon Trafalgar Square and Nelson's column. I say happened upon, because we were mostly just walking up the road between two lovely forested parks and as we were coming to the end of the parks, it seemed that there was some interesting architecture off in one direction. We knew the general direction we wanted to go, but had no set route or plans. One of the lions that guard Nelson. Interestingly, one of the closest buildings to Trafalgar square is the Canada House. I didn't happen to get the name of this monument/statue/place of interest, but it was beautiful and right across the street from Trafalgar square, so I took a picture.

London Day 1: The Changing of the Guard

After the family gathering on Sunday, we decided to spend the next 3 days being tourists in London. Taking the train/underground from Theale to Paddington station, then onto Victoria station. After a few blocks of walking we looked around and realized we were at Buckingham Palace. Large crowds of people were gathering and standing around, so we decided to join them. By listening in on random bits of conversations we deduced that the infamous changing of the guard was about to take place. We settled our selves in and enjoyed the show.

UK Wedding Party

On Sunday, the 2nd of August, at the residence of Chris and Allayne Amos, there was a gathering of Rowan's (naturally they are now mine as well) extended family from the UK. We seem to have brought the sunny California weather with us as there were mostly sunny skies and no rain. Many people seemed to be worried that I might find the relatives a little strange or different, but ofcourse being from the incredibly strange line of Vissers, I felt right at home with everyone. It great to meet everyone and get to know you a little bit. A special thanks go out to Chris and Allayne for hosting this gathering and preparing on a delicious array of tasty food! A photo of the backyard and house. Such a beautiful place! Rachel, Matt, and Chris. Oh, and the cat Jaffer. Fiona and Nana, with Ray, David, Allayne, and Hilary in the background. Doran Doran, Allayne, and Tamsin Tamsin, Nana, and Ray Hilary, David, and Allayne

Oxford

Today Rowan and I visited Oxford. We visited a few museums, a little pub for lunch, a book store, and just generally walked around like tourists.

 

 

 

 

Married!!

Hi everyone, Rowan and I currently in the UK, but my blog has been lacking horribly in updates, so I figured I'd start with something easy and work up from there. For those that don't know Rowan and I recently were married. Here's the full story in the form of a letter I wrote out soon after the event: "Greetings Friends, I have some very exciting and happy news to share, but it will likely come as a big shock, so you might want to sit down. As I think all of you know, I have been dating Rowan for almost 3 years now. During the past year we have seriously been discussing the possibility of getting engaged and hence married. Well, there have been some recent events which have sped up this entire process. I was visiting Rowan's family at the end of June and into the first week of July. On Sunday July 5, at the Calgary airport, heading back to Los Angeles, I was pulled aside to the secondary inspection point when going through US border security in the Calgary airport. After a fairly long wait, I was told I would not be allowed into the US, because I had been there for too many months out of the past year. The problem was that I had been staying in the US more than I had been staying in Canada in the last 12 months. Rowan and I have a very strong and dedicated relationship together. We maintained a "long-distance" relationship for a year when Rowan moved to Los Angeles to do her Ph.D. and I finished up my Master's. Having gone through that, we absolutely did not want to do that again. The very kind border security guard handed me a list of options that would help my case if I wanted to re-enter the US sometime sooner than 6 months from now. Unfortunately, none of these options were helpful or applicable to me. Further complicating matters was an upcoming trip to Austria in August that Rowan is in the midst of planning for her Ph.D. thesis. I am to be her field-assistant for the trip. All of these thoughts, pressures, and complications ran through our minds as Rowan, myself, and her parents sat down to figure out what to do. With surprising ease, it became apparent what the solution would be. We would get married. By being married, I can get a VISA that allows me to stay in the US with Rowan for as long as she is there in school. And so, with very little ado, Rowan and I were married on July 8, 2009 in the presence of her parents, younger sister, and younger sister's boyfriend. It was a time of great joy and happiness, as celebrated the joining of our lives and affirmed our love. There was also a bit of sadness as the situation and circumstances did not allow us to be together with all of our family and friends to celebrate this important event. We hope to find time to visit and rejoice together with all of you as soon as possible. Thankfully, despite the small group gathered, there were 3 cameras recording the event. Rowan and I have selected a number of our favourites, which you can view here. I also have video of the entire ceremony, which I will edit (it runs too long at the beginning and end) and post as well, when I have a moment. Finally, Rowan and I would really like to have a celebration/reception at some later date, when it will work for us and as many others as possible. This would likely happen in Kingston, but as everything has been moving so fast recently, much of this idea is still up in the air and we would appreciate any input on this. With love, Rowan and Jason"

 

 

 

 

Calgary Stampede 2009

Yesterday, I went to the Calgary Stampede for the first time. Definitely a great experience, with many interesting venues, events, and a lot of people! Here are some choice photos from the rodeo itself. We were up on the top level of the grandstand, but fortunately in the front row, so we had a pretty good view of the action. There were some new and different foods available at the Stampede this year: deep-fried jellybeans, deep-fried oreos, deep-fried coke, beef sundae, and probably some others that I am forgetting. We tried the deep-fried oreos. They weren't bad, but they were very sweet... I think I prefer my oreos "natural".