i got a room with a nice view (simply by asking for one):

Had a look at some [new google bulidings nearby|perso/google/post_2021-09-28_Visiting-Google_s-New-Seattle-Lake-Union-Buildings.html]:

I had some time on the last day, so I went to see EMP/MoPOP again as it got a lot bigger and changed in the last 6 years:

And I finished with Mohai since it was closeby and I hadn't seen it yet:

and it was then time to go home

After getting up, I had a nice buffet dinner with my dad and family that could make it (thanks to them for coming):

The next 2 days, I went to Paris to see some friends and a few things outdoors:

hadn't seen Rani in a few years and got to meet Siri

I'm glad Paris has money left over for random BS like this

Another dinner with my dad;

And another day out:

tried to get into google Paris, but they wouldn't let me in because of covid

One last dinner with my dad, couscous:

And I had an early flight the next morning, going through FRA (no more United direct flight to france for now):

and the plane invented something great: things you can watch in the flight time you have left, genius!

Day #0: Bucharest

I finished the day with a nice dinner

Day #1: Bran Castle, Brasov

Bran Castle is known as Dracula's castle, because Vlad the impaler (Dacrul), used to reside there:

long line for the castle, but thankfully George knew people and got us in quickly

Dracula is really a bunch of marketing around a story that took off

nice gardens

We then drove to Brasov:

Day #2: Sinaia and Peles Castle, Saxon Trail and Villages, Sighisoara

We went to Peles Castle first thing in the morning, beautiful decors:

Next, we continued our trip through Saxon Trail and Villages and onto Sighisoara:

this was an actor that came out to scare you ;)

Day #3: Gypsy Village - Biertan Fortified Church - Sibiu Tou

Next was Biertan Fortified Church and Sibiu:

back in the days, it used to be held by the germans

I agree ;)

George and I had time for a good lunch

I went to check out a nice art museum:

Day #4: Corvin's Castle - Deva Fortress - Turda Salt Mines

A quick look at the remmants found in the ground:

Next was Deva Fortress, which is half ruins at this point, but a fun ride up and unusual ride:

I climbed to the top, which was not super safe as it was in disrepair

and last, but not least were the Turda Salt Mines, definitely setup for tourists but very cool to visit:

The inside of the caves is very nice if you pay attention:

The really cool part of the cave is the underground amusement park:

amusement rides underground

we went for a ride

I saw the light :)

A few more things on the way out:

Day #5-8: Cluj Napoca

Once in Cluj for Untold, in the few hours in the mid afternoon, I took some electric scooters to go around:

A couple of museums:

orthodox church museum was really good

The inside was really beautiful too:

More of the city:

Another day, I did the botanical garden, quite nice too:

The last day, my host nicely took us to a nearby village with traditional houses:

And that was it for Romania while being there for Untold Festival. I got to see a lot more than planned, lots of fun.

After arriving the previous night and checking in my hotel, my "we had never met in person" LED hacker friend, Louis Beaudoin of Pixelmatix fame. Since I had my dual CPU LED outfit with me for the festivals I was going to, I showed it to him, and we geeked out on LEDs:

The next day, I went to the Imperial War Museum in Duxford, hands down the best flight museum in England with an active runway and all kinds of scenic flights:

Seriously, go see my report of the Imperial War Museum in Duxford

The other cool thing is that while I was there, I rented a plane to do a scenic flight over Cambridge to get great views (clickme). A few examples below:

It was not possible to get an uber back to town (only there in the morning), and getting a cab also took a very long time, but thankfully I found someone who had called one already and shared her cab back to the train station. Soon after, I went back our to meet the Woddhouses at Midsummer House, an excellent 2 michelin star rated restaurant

The next morning, I went to meet Anna and Paul who were nice enough to come meet me for breakfast to catch up:

I then went on in town to visit several of the smaller museums: Sedgwick Museum of Earth Science, Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, Museum of Classical Archaeology, and he Fitzwilliam Museum (that one was a highlight). Thanks to Louis for giving tips on what to go see. By then I had finally figured out how to use the stupid scooters they had lying around, you literally had to give them a valid drivers license and ID before you were trusted to use one, and only in some streets, as many were geofenced out...

I then went to meet Louis and family for some punting which he suggested, and that was a great idea: it is actually the best way to see nice views from colleges from the water side:

I gave punting a shot at the end. I wasn't too terrible ;)

I then had a timed entry for the small Whipple Museum of the History of Science:

and the time I had left, I scootered around to see one college that did let me in, and others from the outside:

It was then time to hurry back to my hotel by the train station and catch a train back to London for Trance on the Thames.

As part of my Trance in Europe trip, I went to:

And just like that, my trip of England was over.

Highlights:

Lowlights:

Anyway, That was a good trip, happy that I got to go and see a bunch of things I had missed in my last trip.

Birmingham was not meant to be a destination on my trip, but iven that the Cosford RAF Museum (click me) was definitely a destination for me. It was a pain to get to (had ot take a train to Stafford and an expensive uber to get there without wasting an extra 1H+), but it was definitely worth it, especially with the private 3H+ tour that I got, it was fantastic:

FOMO me, instead of spending more time in the museum, elected to take an uber that was driving by (they are rare in the area, so that was a stroke of luck), I decided to spend the rest of the day in Birmingham and go visit the Thinktank Science Museum (clickme), which actually was a fairly decent science museum:

I then had just a few minutes outside of the train station before catching a long and slow transcontinental train to Cambridge: