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2023/12/31 NYE Dinner at Villa 9 Trois

π 2023-12-31 01:01 in Dining, Family, France, Ndining

We had been there before in previous years, and I was happy to invite my dad and Patricia for another NYE dinner there. It was a fixed menu. Of course it wasn't cheap, as nothing is on NYE, but it was quite good without being too much food:

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2023/12/30 National Videogame Museum in Sheffield, UK

π 2023-12-30 01:01 in Computers, Sciencemuseums, Uk

While briefly in Sheffield, I had a little bit of time before going back to Manchester, and the most enticing place to visit was the National Videogame Museum.
Once there, I only had about 1H as it closes betweeen 13:00 and 14:00. I didn't have a much time to play, but enough time to look around and enjoy the collection:

The various historical collections were fairly good:

Hopefully I'll be back in Sheffield one day, and will have time to play more next time.

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2023/12/30 Another Xmas in the Park, In Mamchester's Heaton Park

π 2023-12-30 01:01 in Outings, Uk

While Around Manchester for 1.5 days, my last stop was to visit Xmas At Heaton Park, some nice decorations that were nice to checkout just before going back to the airport and flying back to Paris.
They did a good job:

after fasting for 48H, best hot chocolate ever :)

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2023/12/29 Early NYE Party: Rebooted - Trance Made in Sheffield

π 2023-12-29 01:01 in Clubbing

I was in Paris for the holidays, and unfortunately it's a wasteland for Trance. It's even hard to get good EDM there apparently. After asking around, I found out about a nice trance event in Sheffield, which wasn't super close, but Manchester is only a 90mn flight away from Paris and then 1h30 by train to Sheffield, not too bad. That's barely more than what it takes to drive across LA :)

I was greeted by expected rain, but once indoors, I dried out quickly:

I only brought part of my LED outfit, but still enough to add a bit of fun to the party :)

I was there bright and early, things started at 15:00, the club was not huge but just big enough for the crowd and a great atmosphere

Honestly the music was great from the very beginning, but when Scott Bond took the decks and then was joined by Biacan Blezard playing live violin over some of my favorite trance tracks, I literally melted. I cannot describe how good this was and my camera managed to capture a little bit despite the difficulties of recording loud sound:

27:20: Push - Universal Nation

36:30: Can't get no Sleep - Insomniac

46:00: Lost Tribe - Gamemaster

[youtube:kISd29nupw0:1024x576:t=t=1639]

Then Francesca Faye also sang live over a few tracks:

And Craig Connelly took over for a 3H hour set fully of bliss:

Lucky Craig had a long line of people for pictures after his set ;)

The night was not over yet, 1 more hour:

And then 4H after party at Record Junkee down the road:

Definitely worth the trip from Paris, awesome night and great to meet the UK Trance fans.

Full Video:

More pictures: https://photos.app.goo.gl/mp3nHMz1NBZiJke29

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2023/12/29 Another Few Hours in Manchester

π 2023-12-29 01:01 in Ntrips, Uk

I was able to have a quick day in Manchester a few years back, and this time I was back as part of a very quick trip to go see Rebooted Trance Made in Sheffield. Turns out flying to Manchester was of course quicker but also cheaper than taking the train all the way to Sheffield, even with the Eurostar, so that gave me a few hours in Manchester on the day I landed, and just before taking off the next day.

small airbus A310 from Paris to Manchester

Manchester University

The Manchester Museum inside the univeritsy, had a bit of everything but wasn't bad:

Kakapo!

Had a very short time downtown before having to take the train to Sheffield:

some amount of train issues around that time, but thankfully mine ran

On the way back from Sheffield, had a couple of hours before having to head out:

St Mary's RC Church

I had just enough time for the Manchester Art Gallery, which was pretty small and perfectly matched the time I had left:

From there, it was time to go to Xmas at Heaton Park

And then it was just the right time to get back to Manchester Airport for my flight back Paris. It was really nice, definitely liked it:

new security screening that allowed bottled water and could actually see inside my luggage for a change

lounge was open just long enough to enjoy it before my flight back to Paris

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2023/12/29 Small Google Manchester Office

π 2023-12-29 01:01 in Google, Uk

Last time in Manchester, I totally failed to look up the google office there, but this time around I stopped here briefly, which worked out as it was really just a portion of a floor, very quick visit.

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2023/12/29 Very Quick Trip Through Sheffield

π 2023-12-29 01:01 in Ntrips, Uk

Sheffield was not quite on my travel list, but thanks to Rebooted Trance Made in Sheffield, it became on my list :)

Very quick trip, rainy the entire time, it's the uk in december, so what else should I expect? :)

A quick stop at the Sheffield Cathedral:

The highlight of the short visit, however, was Sheffield National Videogame Museum.

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2023/12/22 Another Xmas At My Dad's

π 2023-12-22 01:01 in Family

My dad was able to prepare another Xmas eve family dinner and Xmas brunch the next day. I was there to help as needed, but in the end he was still able to do everything he wanted, and he was quite happy about that: