Ski Resorts and Vanishing Snow!

As I've blogged before... climate change is real. It's happening. We won't get into the causes, solutions, marketing opportunities, etc. One huge industry that's attempting to battle the brown bandit of climate change are Ski Resorts. What are they going to do if there isn't snow in 50 or 100 years?!

Well, many of them are working hard now to combat that potential likelihood and feverishly putting in extras and non-snow-sports options to not only entice the more sedentary among us and to increase their year-round popularity, but to also improve their no-snow survivability. Many resorts in the Swiss Alps that used to be mobbed for their winter revelry are now attempting to compete in the areas of pop culture, shopping, and spa'ing in addition to their lessening on-hill attractions.

In the meantime, get your snow-on and head up to the Whistler SlopeSide Retreat. They still have great snow in the winter and even more to do in the summer with several world-class golf courses, mountain biking tracks, hiking trails, and more!!!

FREE Education?! Nahhhh.

Yeah, that's what I first thought. I mean sure most nations on earth offer at least basic primary education free of charge, that's old news! No, what I'm talking about here is university-level, first-rate, higher education... FREE OF CHARGE!

Okay, what's the catch?! Well, apparently there isn't one... yet. Canada, although democratic and certainly quite capitalistic, is quite far down the Capitalism-Socialism scale. Some of the benefits of this include 'free' health care for all, many social programs, cheap education (especially when compared with higher-level education available in the United States), and of course a some sweet taxes. Further down the scale toward socialism are many Scandinavian countries. Some of the benefits of these countries' social values are in line with Canada's but instead of inexpensive education their higher education is free, that's right, FREE.

There are current discussions with the European Union to alter the current free education for all stance to have it only applicable to EU member countries. Presently, Denmark is the only country that charges non-EU students tuition fees and they have done so since September 2006.

So if I were to study in Scandinavia would my English-only skills pose a problem? Normally not. Most Scandinavians speak some English and many courses are taught solely in English. Also, depending on the school, some offer introductory language classes as a part of an international student program.

Accommodation and living expenses are not covered, but student housing is often available at a less-than-market-value level.

Countries that make up Scandinavia include: Norway, Sweden, Finland, Denmark, Iceland, and Greenland. I'll have to do more research to verify if all Scandinavian countries, save Denmark as earlier mentioned, offer this sweet deal.

Update 2: Munich, London, Customs, etc.

07.03 - Paddington Stairs
Originally uploaded by sacrifice333.

Tricia's put another update on her blog. Sounds like she had a pretty interesting time. Her blog is here.

Munich

07.03 - Munich Town Hall
Originally uploaded by sacrifice333.

Munich is definately a great city. As with many cities the public transportation is incredible. The systems in Europe really put most of the North American ones to shame. Vancouver's no exception in that area. So, when we arrived we jumped on the S-Bahn directly to the main station, Hauptbanhof (or something like that). The train was easy... the purchase of the tickets through the non-English speaking/communicating machine was nearly impossible. Thankfully, after far too long we found a desk manned by real people that spoke English. English speakers sure are demanding, eh?!

The character of older European cities is hard to imagine and fully understand and appreciate coming from North America. The picture included here is of the glochenspiel (sp?) above the Rathaus (city hall) in the Marienplatz (city center square). The part housing the tower and clock is only about 250 years old. The rest of the building is 400-500 years old! And that's just in the Marienplatz, there are many, many, many other very old, historically significant buildings scattered throughout most of the city. The other interesting contrast is the German affinity for ultra-modern design. The contrast is very interesting and I'll have to upload some more photos to my Flickr account when I have a chance.

But the architecture and history is only part of the story. The passion of the German's for all things German (and some not) is quite something. It's not really a stereotype that Germans love their beer, at least not regarding Barvarians. There's a beer for every occasion, different beers in different seasons, and countless micro-breweries. There's even beer that's especially for breakfast! Weis beer (wheat beer) is eatin' with white sausages and pretzels, but it's only served before noon so you have to make sure you're up early.

The passion Germans have for sport is quite something. Their passion really makes Canadians' hockey passion quite pathetic. I didn't get a chance to attend a football (soccer) game at Allienz Arena to get the full affect, but I did attend a Muenchen playoff hockey game and it was great! Nearly half the fans had the home-teams jerseys on and many other's had scarfs representing the home team. The chanting and constant noise was electrifying and yet there were only 2300 people in attendance at the Olympic Zentrum. Every time the home team scored a giant flag, bigger than the infamous Canadian flags that have been smuggled into Olympic hockey games in years past, was passed over the crowd as chanting and screaming abound. Of course there was beer and wine at the game, the wine was called bluwine, or something, and was a warm, mulled wine.

More to come...

London Town

Trish & I had a great time in London. It's been our first trip together to Europe and we've had a great time together. Our hotel is near Paddington Station near the Northern border of Hyde Park. We took the Heathrow Express into Paddington and then found our hotel.

After checking in we crashed for a bit to try to regain at least a smidgen of energy. Before long our little crash turned into a bit of a medium crash. We finally wrestled ourselves out of bed and into the town. I think we strolled toward Hyde Park and along Regent Street before eventually using the Tricia Navigation System, known as TNS, to get us to Liecester Square to check on cheap show tickets for the evening. Wanting to see the Lion King we had to continue on to the Lyceum theatre to get tickets. We managed to score the VERY last row. It was still great and I'd see it again in a heartbeat, though maybe I'd try for the second last row.

On our next day we again strolled through Hyde Park, enjoyed coffee in our duplex and then went on to Camden Town to visit its' markets. We had lots of fun exploring them and seeing a new area of London. That afternoon we tried to go to the London Museum, but due to an extended nap and poor scheduling on my part we didn't make it there in time. Quickly coming up with an alternative plan, Tricia used her TNS to get us to Oxford Circus and then into SOHO where we decided to find some dinner. We found a nice little place, Aperatifo, which was fine but nothing too special, especially the service.

Read more about our adventures @ The Boulevard to Paris.



Cheers.