The Girl Who is Going to 26 Cities!!!!

Merry Christmas Eve everyone!!!!  Now this posting is just about the first portion of my Alberta trip - stop 1:  Calgary!!  The next posting will be all about my actual being at home for Christmas trip, so be prepared for that one!!! So for your listening I pleasure is a song that I had listened to multiple times during the day since I knew I was coming home for the holidays:  good old Paul Brandt  The zoolight pictures you see scattered throughout are the ones from the Calgary Zoo!!! 

 

Well getting to Calgary itself was quite the rigamaroll.  I get everything packed up, make sure things around my place will be fine for the month+ that I will be gone, talk to the leasing company and talk to the neighbours to watch things for me.  Perfect.  Get on the metro and start getting all excited about getting on a plane and going home.  I arrive at the airport and panic sets in - what did I do with my house keys?  I hunt and can't find my keys - oh shit - did I leave them in the front entry part when I put the note on my mailbox?  Not good.  So I hunt around in my bag everywhere and still can't find them.  I phone the leasing company, panicked, asking them to head over there and see if they are sitting there.  Nothing I could do about it at the moment so I proceed into the airport.  Everything there is mostly self service, so I check myself in and proceed to the baggage helper person to get my luggage tag, and he announces 'I'm looking for the girl going to 26 cities', meaning me.  He wishes me luck on my trip and I am off on my way.  Board the plane and go all the way back to the last row (issue for later on) and get comfy at my window seat.  I do that whole 'oh please sit beside me' when seeing a hot guy come up the aisle, but alas, no hot guy sat beside me.  We start to taxi and I am watching, waving Goodbye to Washington, but then the plane starts doing a u-turn and suddenly I am seeing myself waving Hello to Washington.  I listen to the pilot who says that we will be detained in Washington for 30 mins due to weather in New York.  I start to slightly panic as I only had 1.5 hours to make my connecting flight in New York, but I am still sitting at 1 hour to make it.  Doable.  We are sitting there and sitting there, 30 mins goes by and we haven't started to taxi again, and then eventually the pilot comes back on 'excuse me ladies and gentlemen but it appears as though we will be delayed another 15 to 20 minutes'.  Not good - I am officially going to miss my connecting flight.  I flag down the flight attendant, who already seemed to be in a cantankerous mood due to people not listening to her many announcements regarding luggage in the overhead bins, and ask her what would happen once we got to New York for connecting flights - she asks me who I am flying with when I get there and I tell her Air Canada.  Her wonderful response 'since it is not US Airways, I can't help you'.  So now I have about an hour and some to sit there and stew and panic about missing my flight.  At the end of the plane.  Needing to wait for everyone else to get off first.  Even worse. 

 

We finally get to New York.  I come running off the plane and start looking at all the boards to see where Air Canada flys out of as I need to get my tickets changed.  No Air Canada listed on any of the boards.  Crap.  Stop and ask a worker dude at the Airport 'excuse me, I am looking for the terminal that deals with Air Canada - do you know where it is?'  He looks up, thinking, a lost look on his face - 'Air Canada.....Air Canada.....I have never heard of that airline before.  I don't think we have that here.'  I quickly say thank you and keep running through the airport, trying to find a more helpful person.  I stop and ask another person where Air Canada is, and they tell me Terminal D.  Okay, way more helpful.  Perfect.  I start moving again and realize I don't know where Terminal D is or how to get there, so stop and ask another person how to get to Terminal D.  'What airline are you wanting to get to?' 'Air Canada' 'Oh, that is in Terminal B.  Go outside and get into the line that is for the Bus route for the terminals'.  Okay, so Terminal B.  Gotcha.  Head outside.  There are lines everywhere and for what? who knows as there are no signs anywhere.  So I just start asking people in line - excuse me, where is this line going?  Somebody asks me where I am trying to get to and once I tell him, he proceeds to tell me what line I want.  Perfect - a very helpful person.  I was about to hug him but then remembered where I was and decided probably not a good thing.  I get into the line (after asking the person ahead of me if this line was for the Bus Terminal route) and phone Ma, freaking out about missing my flight and if I was needing to spend a night in New York I was not going to be happy and yadda yadda yadda.  I get off the phone and the person behind me asks me where I am trying to go and so I tell him Terminal B.  He tells me that the line I was in was for Grand Central Station.  Ahhhhhhhhhh!!!!! Are you shitting me!!!!!  Not good at all.  So this wonderful guy takes me to the right line and I finally get to the right terminal.  Go stand in line.  Wait. Wait. Wait.  I see no Air Canada ticket agents.  I ask the lady in front of me if there has been anyone there and she tells me that she has been waiting 30 minutes.  I don't have 30 minutes so I head over to the 'priority/important person' line - I get up to the agent and tell her the deal and she starts typing and tells me that she can hook me up with the next flight that is leaving New York to Toronto and then the next flight from Toronto to Calgary, with the caveat that I only have an hour in Toronto to get through customs, security and recheck the luggage.  I tell her that come hell or high water, I will make that flight so just book it for me hahaha.  She does her magic, prints me off two new boarding passes and I am on my way.  I get up to the gate and go talk to the agent there - telling them that I missed my last flight and that my luggage will need to be on this flight.  She types in her computer and tells me that they were already advised and my luggage was already on my plane.  Sweet.  Love this - things are finally working out.  I ask her if it was possible to get a closer seat to the front of the plane - she did some typing and said yep.  She took my boarding pass, ripped it up and went to print my new one.....but it didn't print.  So I had to go to a different line (a long lineup) and get them to reprint my boarding pass - by this time I have about 20 minutes to get on the plane.  I stand in line and wait and wait and when I am 2 people from the front of the line, they announce over the PA that the following people are able to go to the front of the line as they are waiting for stand by tickets....my name is not announced so I wait and wait some more. I finally get my boarding pass and get onto the plane.  We are sitting there, about to taxi to the runway, and the pilot comes on, telling us that we will be delayed about 15 minutes......I keep my nerve somehow and just turn the music on louder hahaha.  We finally take off - good bye New York!!!! 

 

We pull into Toronto and I am flying (hahaha pun intended) off the plane, trying to get to Customs as fast as possible.  I am on the escalator, heading down and what do I see above/in front of me, this sign.  I did not take this picture as I did not have enough time to stop, dig out the camera and take the picture so I googled this one hahaha.  But it was a wonderful feeling.  I get through Customs with a wonderful 'welcome home' from the customs agent, run to security where I got a pat down since I didn't take off my boots or anything like that (the most action I have seen for 5 months I might add), got to the luggage carousel, grabbed my luggage, rechecked the luggage, and ran to my gate.  In my running, I passed a Davids Tea!!! Another warm feeling that I was home!!! I get on the plane with about 5 minutes to spare and was advised that I got a free meal with my ticket -thank you ticket agent chick in New York!!!! I didn't even realize that other than the airplane munchy foods I didn't eat something since about noon.  The flight was quiet and long - but an uneventful and kind of relaxing one, which was nice.  I was finally in Canada!!!  We pull into Calgary and I am looking outside, seeing the wonderful snow and feeling ever so happy of finally making it there (I think I was only an hour and a half late than my scheduled arrival time).  I go and stand by the luggage carousel.  I wait and wait. Wait some more.  Finally a guy walks over and asks me my name - I say yes, I am.  He says 'I am so sorry but your luggage is still in Toronto'.  I kind of figured as much.  So we go and he puts in a request for it to come on the next available flight in the morning and will bring it to where ever I am staying.   Very helpful.   Shannon was there to pick me up and after a very long day, seeing a wonderful, smiling and happy face was very muchily needed. 

 

My Calgary trip was a whirlwind of seeing people and covering the city getting from point A to point B but it was a good trip. I was staying everywhere - Shannons, Aly's, Sam's, Sonya's - basically anywhere that had an available bed for me hahaha. The Saturday I got there I met up with some friends and we went and played Name That Tune - I totally kicked ass and won our team a $50 gift certificate to the pub.  It is how I roll…hahaha.  One night Aly and I went to zoolights as that is a tradition of ours (3^rd time we have went).  It was pretty awesome – I swear that there are more lights this year than there has been other years, although the musical lights section was a little disappointing, but the rest of the lights were pretty spectacular.  Another night we went to Ranchmans and got our line-dancing on.  It was pretty fun – you can’t go wrong with country music, cheap Budweiser and laughter.  Met up with my cousins and uncle one night and that was good to see them – talked to my cousin about her wedding plans and all of that. It was a very good trip - seeing friends and family was something that I needed very much and it was a good way to start the Christmas season!! I miss all of you Calgary peeps and wish you a very Merry Christmas!!!! 

 

 

The Churches of all Churches, the Library of all Libraries, an American Version of Zoolights and the End of a Semester!!!!

So here is some music for you guys for this posting - it is one of my favorite songs to listen to while studying and being in wicked awesome places!!!!   Some Clint Mansell for you

So way back in the day when I first realized I was going to be moving to Washington, my first round of business was going to get a library card from the Library Of Congress so I can be all cool and professional and whatnot and study there as it is *the* library of all libraries (alright, *maybe* the Vatican City Library is a better library, judging from the movie Angels and Demons but for now, the Library of Congress is *the* library). The first semester is over and I have yet to go and get a library card.  Granted, I have attempted a couple of times to do it, but something usually happens to stop it from happening.  However, the day that Riya and I were supposed to go and get it, we still wandered around the unlibrary part of the library which was pretty amazing.  The architecture there is outstanding – it reminded me of the Vatican (never been there however) or Caesars Palace in Vegas (have been there) or something like that; basically not a library.  However, since I wasn't in the actual library part, that could be why.  All around the roof were quotes - not famous quotes in a way, but just very thought provoking quotes, like "They are never alone who are accompanied by noble thoughts" or "the history of the world is the biography of great men".  Next time I go there, I am going to take a picture of every quote they have as they were inspiring to read.  I was more in the museum part of the library, which is why it didn't look like a library.  Thomas Jefferson’s Library was amazing to see all his books and what he liked to read about (6,487 books, mostly science stuff) and the part dedicated to the Jewish culture (Winnie the Pooh anyone??) was full of so much information.  The whole place was just full of so much information and history, I loved walking around, reading everything and just soaking it all up.  Every time I go to a place, I am in awe at the history, the information and the experience that I get no matter where I go.  However, I feel like I missed so many other collections there as the website (http://www.loc.gov/pictures/collections/) lists way more things than I saw so I will definitely need to go back and try to see everything there.  And get into the main reading room.  And try to find the President's Book of Secrets.  And not get kicked out of the Library (if the Government is reading this, I am joking - I will not try to find the Presidents' Book of Secrets).  Can’t wait till I can actually get my library card and to into the actual library part and study.  But for now I will just leave you with a picture of the greatest rooms ever in the history of libraries. 

After the library, we decided to trek to the National Cathedral as I have heard wonderful things about that place and the rumours were not lying – this building is both daunting and romantic (http://www.nationalcathedral.org/).  It is frigging huge and tall - there is a tour one can take to get up to the bells in the great central tower - this is 333 steps, 300 feet above ground.  I think one time I am going to do this climb as the view at the top would be absolutely gorgeous.  The stained glass windows were breathtaking to admire and the high alter was a little unreal and potent and serene all at the same time.  I could have stood there for hours just looking at the glass, waiting to see how different they would look when the sun was hitting it from a different angle.  The colors were so vibrant and potent, mesmerizing to stand there and just stare at them.  If I am ever to get married, that is where  I want to get married.  I haven’t looked into how much it would cost or how far in advance I need to rent/book the Cathedral, but it would be amazing.  The gardens outside were gorgeous (albeit not in bloom as it was fall that we went) and walking about the place was very peaceful and calming.  On the outside of the Cathedral there is something like over 120 gargoyles and I was quite excited when I heard this, but me being me, I imagined gargoyles like in the old cartoon Gargoyles blast from the past - you need to watch this, not just listen or like the gargoyles from The Hunchback of Notre Dame bad quality but good still.....how wrong I was.  But, don’t get me wrong, they were pretty interesting to spot and look at as they were all different and unique.  It would be fun one day to try to spot them all.  I think that is going to be on the New Years Resolution list. Apparently there is a Darth Vadar-esque one that I need to go and sleuth out.  I don't know how to put into words the beauty and splendour of this place - the top floor is all the stained glass, high alter and a kid's chapel area.  Downstairs are mini chapels signifying Jesus' life. It would be absolutely amazing to have Christmas Eve mass at this place - something I would love to experience one day. 

So during the Thanksgiving weekend holiday, I needed to get out of the house from doing so much school work and then with my godmother's funeral and whatnot and I remember seeing a poster at the metro station regarding Zoolights at the Zoo so I figured this would be a perfect thing to go and do - when has the Zoo never made me feel better??  I got to the zoo a little earlier than when Zoolights started to get in some viewing of the animals but with it being in the Fall/Late November, most of the animals were like 'screw you, it is too cold out here' but the 'Canadian' animals (wolves, beavers, etc etc) were out and loving the weather.  I found that quite funny and stayed in that part of the zoo for a bit to feel one with home.  So I am wondering through the zoo, seeing no animals except for the Canadian animals, ooooh I saw the Panda which was pretty awesome, but saw him very briefly as there were people all around the exhibit to get a look at them and just waited for the sun to go down and the lights to be awesome.  The cheetahs were fun to watch as they just kept pacing and pacing around their exhibit.  I was waiting for one to pounce but sadly, it did not happen.  So finally, when the sun was set, the lights were lit and it was a nice break from reality to be there.  One thing that I felt while walking through the zoo was that their Zoolights compared to Calgary's Zoolights wasn't anything spectacular or out of this world.  It could be because the Washington Zoolights was free when Calgary's you need to pay for so that could be a reason, but regardless, the lights at Washington still made me happy and gave me warm fuzzies as it felt like Christmastime and Winter has finally hit.  Except for the lack of snow and the still in the positive temperatures we have been having, Christmastime and winter nonetheless.  While walking around the zoo, they opened up some of the houses for people to pop into and warm up and one of them was the reptile house.  I have no clue how I missed this guy the first time I went to the zoo as he is pretty hard to miss, but I was totally and utterly enraptured with him.  I think I stood there for at least 10 minutes, just watching him, doing nothing.  Maybe I was waiting for him to move, do something, but he didn't, and that just made my day.  He was so grumpy looking that it kind of reminded me of Papa Joe.  I just imagined a cane in his one hand and it would have been a splitting image hahaha.  I haven't named him yet but I think he is my favorite animal at the zoo as of today Overall, the trip to the zoo did just what I needed it to do - it gave me a reprieve from life and a chance to get out and just go see some lights, think of Christmas and get away from everything for a bit.  

The end of the semester was upon us....studying was being had by all and exams were looming around the corner.  The semester went so fast that it was amazing when we were all said and done everything.  I don't think I could have gotten through the semester without the wonderful group of girls that I had made friendships with - without you guys I would have felt so alone, in more ways than one as you guys helped me through the tough times near the end of the semester.  I am so fortunate to have met you all; I wish you all the very best during the Christmas break and I am missing you guys!!!  I will see you all in the New Year!!!

I will leave you all with this little saying from Mr. Lincoln himself - I went and saw Lincoln with Riya and I will say that he is my favorite president - so calm, poised and powerful.  This speech that he did just shows what kind of man he was.  This was at the National Cathedral.  For some reason I feel like this has touched me in more ways than one with all the losses I have had in the recent past. I hope you enjoy it!!! Merry christmas to everyone!!!