York, England
Brilliance and sunshine for all. A Jurassic Park dinosaur exhibit was at York Museum. We also saw Roman artifacts. I have a picture of the Ruins of the York cathedral that Henry 8 destroyed. We ate lunch sitting on top of some of its walls. A few of us went on a boat tour around the rive Ouze. One of my strongest memories is of a ceramic cat prowling on a windowsill. Then to the York Minster, and we separated.
I walked around town by myself, stopping at some shops, but mostly walking myself out of existence and into frustrated boredom. I was meeting the others at Reeves Tea House at 16:00, but I was half an hour late because I didn't know where it was. I had a scone when I got there. The waitresses all stood in a clump talking. They were quite rude to all of us, except one of them and I were making eyes at each other as the group of us left. Life is silly.
We all met at the Cathedral at 17:00 and went to the Jarvik Viking Center where they found residences from Viking times when they were digging up dirt for a shopping mall. They had a ride with life-like smells and wax statues and hut scenes of Viking times. It presented the Vikings as people who settled in England and held steady jobs, not pillaging.
We went to our hostel. Kris and I played pool before dinner, and then after dinner we all went to The Punch Bowl on Shambles for many 1 pound pints of Guinness. Lisa and I talked for a long while alone about art and people. Then we sat with the others, who were bored. We went to the hostel much later. Drew Curtis, Becca, Kris and I stopped at The Hole in the Wall (because Kris had a bar of this name in his home town.) Then we walked home. Becca and I argued a little on the way home. We exchanged a hug before we went to bed, which Christy caught us having in the hallway. Then I went to bed. The YHA at York was excellent. We had a good time there.
1993
Rachel and I met Jill for a Gordon Lightfoot concert at the State Theatre on Hennepin Ave. Afterwards, we saw Gordon downstairs at the hotel, and exchanged a few words and a picture. Some of the musicians joined us in our hotel room later for some drinks. Rachel was tricked into singing "Mio Bambino Caro". It was a fun night, but sometimes things just go on too long. That song was the perfect length, however.
2007
La Crescent, MN
We rode with Lee and Alexander (his friendship fellow from France, studying at UW La Crosse). Rachel met us later, after church. We ate with the Mason family, and then Frida and I took a walk around the town to Bauer's Apple Market. Then back to the parade, and Rachel had arrived. We went to La Crosse to look at options for Frida's phone. We stopped on Pearl Street Ice Cream parlour, and then headed back to Spring Grove. I had my first rehearsal for "Escanaba in da Moonlight". Rachel reheated Indian food for herself, and Frida and I had some Chinese leftovers from another night. We watched the movie "Saved!" together, and it was hilarious and wonderful.
2013