DL&GotS,

Inspired by good old Paddlewick's recent ruminations re: The City, Lady X organized a tour to the Old Metropolis. While brief and hurly-burly, the jaunt refreshed our fading impressions of City Culture and Achievements of Mankind from Archytecture to Scientifick Advance to Creative Use of Yeast.

Accommodations were procured at Cartwright Gardens, quite conveniently located and apt to be made the habitual locale of temporary headquarters for us long range emissaries, what with the absolutely reasonable price of £85 per night.

Our first excursion headed to the nexus of the City, the immediate area of the Imperial College, the Museum of Natural History, the Royal Geographick Society -- and our target of the day, the Museum of Science. Carriages were prominently displayed, powered not only by equine grace, but also by the alchemy of Chinese powders and subsequent concoctions of explosive delight, and even Tesla's electrick magic. (One is astounded, nay, gobsmacked, that the noisier, exhaust-ridden relatives of these carriages have lately gained so much eminence.)

Say what one will of rocketry & turbines, the zeppelin does have a certain distinguished habitus, and should be considered the favored mode of travel for official Society business.
Mr. G. Tilghman Richards' annular monoplane allegedly displayed superior flight control properties. It certainly evidences intriguing parallels to some later aviation experiments performed in the Colonies.

A section of the Babbage-o-Matic, or Difference Engine. Fate & Chaos conspired to hide the larger, working unit from us.

Past Now and Long Now. The Empire once broadcast its definitive opinion on Time across the globe, but the practice is already fading into history. The Long Now Foundation adopts a grander perspective, intending a gargantuan timepiece powered by the tears & sweat of ascending acolytes to bridge the gaps between the rise and fall of civilizations. Laudable, I say.

The beginnings of the Cornucopia Machine. An exposition on Automatick Mechanical Assemblage of Matter was held by intrepid Inventors, Explorers, and Enterpreneurs. Already impressive for those with interests in design, arts, & archytecture, these machines are but a glimpse of what is to come, Difference Engines to today's Computational Units. Interesting times!

The City itself reminded us of the delights of a densely packed, variegated, self-sufficient conurbation, a decided contrast to our more recent vistas of the Natural Elements. The layering of venerable and modern produces a pleasing complexity of space that keeps the observer alert and involved in the environs.

Investigations in the Creative Application of Yeasts. The Bree Louise offered a particularly genuine and broad glimpse into the artistry of Cider and Beer...

...while at the other end of the spectrum, the Coal Hole's rowdy clientele belied the upscale upholstery. Nothing but trouble, those dastardly Theater fiends!
Envigored by the City experience, we simply must return for more, be as it may circumrouting the unending horrors of British Airways and its fog alerts.

London Calling!

Greetings chaps,
recently I had yet again the good opportunity to jet down to the UK, for a bit of business and pleasure. Actually, business was all for my friend, pleasure was for me.

My friend Mr. Saresén, Esq, was on one of his in-&-out carriage fetching missions. You see, he has a habit of acquiring an used carriage to his liking, often from the British Isles. Sometimes another party actually pays & purchases the carriage, but Mr. Sarasén rides the car through the Continent, as that is the time-and-money consuming part of the transaction. Sometimes he enlists a co-rider along for the expenses-paid travel. Sometimes he buys a carriage for himself, as was the case this time. I went along for a quick Seven Nation Ride-Through, riding both 'shot-gun' and pilot seat.

But before the marathon ride, I arranged a couple of days in Londontown for myself. Last time I had missed quite a few landmarks, but my appetite had been whetted. This time along, I knew I did not have much time either, so I whittled the must-see list down to a few essentials. And had actually a rather good success rate with them.

So here is a quick glimpse of London. My people are working on some kind of 'moving picture' presentation about the actual Seven Nation Ride-Through, but more on that later!

Keep clam & carry on!
Paddlewick, Esq.

 The British Museum was on the list. The good thing is that

it is sort of free. The downside is that they close at 5 in the P.M.

That did not leave me any time to peruse the prizeless

collections, but there is always the next time!

 I drew this in the shadow of Big Ben, whick struck mid-day

just as I had finished the sketch. I like the busy riverscape

of this bustling metropolis, with various barges & ships

and plenty of joggers along the river all day long...


Tick Tock, Twelve O'clock!

 St Paul's was an on-the-fly addition to the List, as I

was walking in The City. Once inside, I found out they

charge 15 quid for entrance, so I thus postponed the

actual visit to another time. This exterior view was

done without my opticals, hence perhaps a tad less

detail than usual :)


A wobblier view of St Paul's

 Herzog & deMeuron, those Baselian architects, left their mark

upon Thames at the turn of the Millennium. Like the British

Museum, Tate is free-ish and closes at 5 P.M. Too bad, for it

seemed really interesting. Here is a a view from Foster &

Partners' Millennium Bridge, which is wobbly no more.

Interior of Tate, with lights out and a choir singing. I doubt

the singing happens every evening?

Koala conversing with the locals. 

One of my favourite London landmarks, the Gherkin.

And the latest, but not the least
 controversial landmark, the Shard 

Heading out of North-West London at 5 A.M. 

To be continued...

Of Uisge Beatha and such

As some of you Ladies and Gentlemen may know, whisky is near and dear to my heart, and especially my tummy, so to say. Therfore it has long been a dream of mine to venture to Scotland for a proper "Tour de Whisky", most likely with a few like-minded fellows. (Some of you might remember I have done a Tour de Whiskey in Ireland, and hope to make Tour de Bourbon in the U.S. of A. some day...) Plans have been made and discarded, but this time we actually managed to gather a group, stick to the plan, and purchase travel tickets! Our destination was The Isle of Islay, that modern-day mecca for those of us who like our uisge strong, smokey and peaty! Islay is a rather small island in the far west of Scotland, yet boasts 8 functioning distilleries, and even more mothballed ones. Here are my impressions gathered during the trip, with a wide variety of operators and management styles, as well as selection available at the Distillery Shoppes.

 

Best architecture & grounds: Ardbeg

Very nice compound & grounds, and shoppe/cafe area.

Also the most fun attitude with Islay-lympics &c.

 

Best bar: Bowmore

Upstairs from the Shoppe, a nicely sleek & modern

pub with amazingly blue ocean view!

 

Kindest staff: Bruichladdich

We got here after they had closed, but the staff gave me

a 2 dl bottle for free :)

 

Best name. Nomen est omen.

Got here too late, as well. Not much of a store or selection,

would have been nice to tour a little bit.

 

Least attractive experience: Caol Ila

Meh.

 

Best surprise: Jura

Great little Shoppe with great selection and generous pouring policy.

Also the furthest distillery from anywhere else.

 

Best attitude: Kilchoman, Ardbeg

Keep it small, local, and uncompromised, Kilchoman!

 

Best lounge: Lagavulin

A great, wood-paneled surpise, an old-fashioned Gentleman's Library tucked

away in otherwise so masonry-heavy environment.

 

Best shore view: Laphroaig

Sitting on the pier, this view was my favourite.

If I find the resources and/or time, I will write up more raportage later on. And of course, it might be time to start planning that Bourbon-trip to the Colonies, now!

Slainte Mhath!

Paddlewick, Esq, Society Whisky Connoseur

Ötztal Tales

 Ötz Valley, home of Ötzi

 Greetings, Ladies & Gentlemen!
This is a tale of Alpine skiing vacation. Last autumn my colleague Mr. Tribelet started to organize an Alpine holyday, and inquiered if I wanted to join him & his friends for some fresh air & hot fondue. As an avid alpine-skier and Glühwine connoseur, I naturally accepted the offer. Thus we found ourselves one fine Saturday morning at the Zeppelin-port of Helsinki, heading towards Innsbruck, Australia. Some time later, we rode into the town of Sölden, close to the Italian border, and checked into our guesthouse...

 Views from the Valley

The first day was just to acclimatize to the 1300+ m height, nearly mile high. We checked some shops and restaurants, then retired to the Hotel for some card-games, local weissbier, and of course some shut-eye for the next day's travails...

 View from the balcony

Nice, sunny morning views from the balcony

Next morning, after a hearty German-style breakfast, we headed to the ski-shoppes ( I had to rent me some skis and boots), and then started our long ascend to 3300 metres! It took about four different skilifts & gondolas, but finally we got there!

Halfway there, at Rothcogljoch (or somesuch), the final destination just off the upper left corner.

 The view from Schwarzcogl (?). I like the layers of weather and climate made possible by some 2000 vertical metres, something I am not accustomed to in the southern finnish flatlands!

 Mr. Lochhead, Ms. Hippie, and Mr. Tribelet

somewhere up there, where eagles do not dare.

 

The photo on the left is looking down over the glacier's edge, towards a gondola's lower station. Most of the days we were able to find nice powder over here. Some of the other peaks were icier or rockier.

My stunt-double, Mr. Tribelet. The tracks on the right are mine.

Taken at the upper red arrow in the above picture.

Well, we immediately settled to our routine: brekky at 07:30 am, head out by 08:30, ski until 15-16:00 PM, convene at a piste-bar for a refresher, shoot down the rest of the narrow, bumpy, bottle-neck of a piste/transfer route to the village for apres-ski & dinner, with games & cocktails at the HQ. Rinse & repeat the next day.

The village itself was nothing special. A fairly modern & touristy version of an alpine village. Not ugly-modern, but nowhere near quaint-cute either.

 Olde and moderne architectural details in the village.

Really nice woodwork, one must say!

 Koala at Tiefenbachkogl.

Mr. Lochhead taking a photographikcs.

For those about to rock, I salute you!

 Top of the World, Mum!

 Ski, eat, drink. Such a basic holiday, but it is a concept that works well, and draws in a lot of crowds every winter to these sun and snow bleached peaks! Overall a very good hollyday with pleasant people. And only one collarbone and one thumb damaged, but that is only par for the course! (Or as the colonials like to say, 'No pain, no game!'). I learnt some powder skills, but still have a lot more to learn. That will be a goal for next winter's holiday, which I am already looking forward to!!

Until next time, keep on exploring! Ta ta!
Paddlewick, Esq. / Society Powder Research Team