Good Times Great Places (2025)

06/11/2025

I recently visited the Palace of Versailles about 18 km west of Paris. It's quite the elaborate palace with a very expansive area of gardens and fountains. It was built around 1670 when King Louis XIV moved the royal residence from Paris to Versailles. Government affairs eventually moved there as well, making Versailles the de facto capital of France. Important treaties were signed there, such as the Peace of Paris Treaty in 1783, which ended the American Revolutionary War. Also, the Treaty of Versailles was signed here in 1919 ending World War I. At the beginning of the French Revolution in 1789, a significant event occurred at the palace. Thousands of upset Parisians gathered weapons and marched for six hours to Versailles in "The Women's March on Versailles" on October 5. Protestors were able to get inside and confront King Louis XVI. He was willing to listen to their requests, which was largely about a desire to end the monarchy and somewhat about the high cost of bread. The queen's interaction was less peaceful, and fighting did occur with a few deaths. Protestors wanted the king and queen to leave the palace; it worked. The King and Queen left Versailles for good, and government affairs were returned to France. This was a significant event during the French Revolution, as it led to the ending of the monarchy as France knew it. Nowadays, the government of France owns the palace; it's one of the world's most visited tourist attractions. During the 2024 Olympics, this was the site of the equestrian events.

04/11/2025

I recently visited the iconic Eiffel Tower in Paris, France. This 330 meter high tower was completed in 1889 for the World's Fair to celebrate the centennial of the French Revolution. After two years of construction, this was the world's highest man-made structure for 41 years. It was named after Gustave Eiffel, who owned the engineering company that built the tower. There was quite a bit of resistance to building the tower by local artists. They thought the tower would be overwhelmingly tall, thus standing out too much and devaluing other beautiful landmarks in the city. Construction continued nevertheless. One artist who opposed the construction supposedly often ate lunch in the tower after it was completed, because it was the only place in Paris where the tower couldn't be seen :). It was only supposed to exist for twenty years, but the tower remained upright after it was shown to be useful for practical purposes, such as meteorological observations and scientific research. Today, it's the most visited paid manmade landmark in the world. Visitors can take an elevator to the top, but it was sold out when I arrived. I was able to climb the 660 steps to the viewing platform on the second floor. It should be mentioned that some funding to build the tower was unfortunately provided by controversial loans with the country of Haiti. France once colonized Haiti and enslaved the local residents. Eventually Haiti's citizens revolted and successfully overtook the French. France made a deal allowing Haiti to be an independent nation as long as Haiti paid France a large sum. Haiti was forced to take out a loan through a French bank; this bank used some of its profits to pay for the Eiffel Tower 's construction. Unfortunately, this debt is one of the reasons why Haiti is currently a poor country. It's ironic that France was celebrating its revolution by building a tower with funds that another country justifiably staged a revolution against them. Nevertheless, it's an impressive tower that is especially beautiful at night. A light beam rotates around the top, so it acts like a lighthouse.

25/10/2025

Visiting Luxembourg was really cool! It's a neat and beautiful city situated on a few levels due to its hilly geography. It has a lower city and an upper city. The city has the highest GDP per capita in the world, and it shows. It was originally founded in the 10th century. A castle was built on a hill. Walls were built around the city, and it became one of the best fortifications and important military locations in Europe. Its nickname was "the Gibraltar of the North". Due to its significance, over several decades, it was conquered by numerous armies: the Spanish twice, the Austrians, the French twice, the Burgundians, and the Prussians. In the 17th century, several kilometers of tunnels were built with casemates to allow for military weapons to be stored and used from within rock faces. Walking through the casemates is a common tourist activity and is an interesting experience. The fortifications here created so many military conflicts that a treaty in 1867 called for the destruction of the walls. There are still some remains from the original fortifications though. It's a really beautiful, fun, and unique city. You ought to go sometime!

22/10/2025

The Cologne Cathedral! This incredible building is Germany's most visited landmark, and it makes sense. Once the world's largest building, it's now the world's tallest twin-spired church in the world. What an awesome piece of architecture! Construction began in 1248, but it was halted in 1560. It wasn't worked on again unti 1814. It was finally completed in 1880, 632 years after initial construction! We actually walked up one of the steeples. It was a challenging 533 stair climb, and we were awarded with a great view. By the way, the church was build on ancient Roman ruins. These ruins are almost 2000 years old and can be viewed below the church. Pretty damn cool!

22/10/2025

It was a cool experience visiting Dusseldorf, Germany. The coolest experience I had there was going up the Rhine Tower, with a height of 168 meters. What a view! The city originated in the 13th century as a settlement where the Dussel River empties into the larger Rhine River. "Dorf" means village, so the city's name means "village on the Dussel River." In the 17th and 18th centuries, art and architecture flourished here. Rapid industrialization took place in the 19th century. During WWII, the city was heavily bombed. In April 1945, the US 97th infantry division easily captured the city. During the 1950s and 60s, rapid reconstruction took place, and the economy took off during a period referred to as the "economic miracle." After Germany's reunification in 1990, the city solidified itself as a political, economic, and cultural centre. Fun fact about the city: it claims it's the place where the cartwheel started. They say children did cartwheels to celebrate the city's founding in 1288. There are signs around with children doing cartwheels, and there's even an annual cartwheel contest. I had to do a cartwheel when I was there :)

20/10/2025

Amsterdam baby! It became an incredible city, largely because it was the richest city in the world back in the 17th century. This period is referred to as the "Dutch Golden Age." This wealth happened because of several reasons: its location was excellent as a major port. There was a ton of trade here with the East India Company as well as with the Dutch West India Company. A lot of imported goods came here, were processed, and then delivered throughout much of Europe. Also, herring fishing was huge here, and they had a monopoly on imported beer from Hamburg. The city is referred to as the "Venice of the North", because it has 165 canals! We had fun on a canal cruise, where we went near many of the 3000 houseboats in the city!

15/10/2025

Am getting ready to board my big flight from Seattle to Copenhagen! Time to get this epic Europe trip started!

09/10/2025

I'm a week away from an epic 2-week adventure in northern Europe. Am flying into Brussels and heading to Amsterdam, Germany, Luxembourg, and Paris. Gonna be a rad experience. Am excited about seeing awesome places, learning cool things, and making some videos. Maybe I'll find a new place to live :).

01/09/2025

Whistler, British Columbia is an awesome resort town. It consists of two major ski resort mountains: Whistler and Blackcomb. In the Summer, Whistler ski resort turns into the biggest mountain biking park on the continent. You can also do the Peak-2-Peak experience like I did. This involves riding a gondola 🚡 from the base at 650 meters ASL way up to 2100 meters ASL. You can take a chair lift from there to the top where an incredible view of glacier-topped peaks surrounds you. There is a cool footbridge that suspends high above the ground below. It was a bit wobbly, but it was a cool experience to walk across. I took the cable car that connects Whistler to Blackcomb, and then I rode a gondola down. Good times great mountains.

29/08/2025

Am chillin' in a beautiful town in British Columbia called Lillooet. Lillooet's original name meant "place where the three rivers meet," because it's a confluence of three rivers. But it was changed in 1859 to honor the Lil'wat people who lived near here...The town is only at an elevation of 250 meters (820 feet) above sea level, and the adjacent mountains rise over 2000 meters (6560 feet) high, so the landscape is awesome. This town was significant around 1850, because there was a gold rush nearby. This caused Lillooett to develop into one of the biggest settlements in North America at the time! Also, it's incredible that in the early to middle 20th century, they built a rail from Vancouver all the way up to Prince George. Given the intense terrain, it must've been quite the engineering project! This is one of the hottest places in Canada. During the big Northwest Heat Wave in 2021, it reached 46.8 C (116F)! At that time, nearby Lytton reached the highest temp ever in Canada at 49.6 C (121 F)!

27/08/2025

It felt good to cross the U.S./Canada border and venture into British Columbia. B.C. is awesome. We pulled into a town called Osoyoos. It's interesting that Osoyoos Lake exists in both the U.S. and Canada. Apparently, boaters are allowed to cruise between both countries, but they aren't allowed to cross and come on shore. Osoyoos is considered the warmest place in Canada, so it's funny. On the U.S. side of the lake, people don't care much, so it's nothing too exciting. On the B.C. side though, this is considered a warm beach place, so it has been built up as a nice resort town. This town advertises itself as a place where Canada's first fruit was grown; it blew up into a major agricultural zone with a ridiculous amount of wineries. BTW, the name came from a native tribe word pronounced "sooyoos".They added the letter O in front, because many towns and lakes around there had the letter O in front haha. An interesting thing about the lake is there is a "sandspit" that naturally formed, so a thin piece of land extended out into the lake. This has to do with waves crashing onto land at angle and then retreating 90 degrees from the shore. You can camp out there, or go swimming as I did.

26/08/2025

North Cascades National Park is a place you gotta go sometime. Over 300 glaciers! Awesome turquoise water caused by glacial flour. Mountains formed from a variety of effects, like terranes from the Pacific Ocean colliding onto the continental plate, faults, and volcanic effects. Good times great geology!

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