A week of Cryptographers, Crepes, and Trains.
It's been the better part of a week since my last "real" update. My apologies...
Before leaving London I got to take a day-trip out to Milton Keynes, where Bletchley Park is located. Those of you not familiar with the Park's history really should be. Wikipedia article is here. I had an AMAZING time out there, and even got to see a full-size, *FUNCTIONING* replica of Colossus, the world's first electronic computer. (It's existence has only been recently declassified, and ENIAC, in the US, was incorrectly regarded as the first until recently. Colussus pre-dated ENIAC by two or so years.) I had a WONDERFUL chat with one of the engineers who have been rebuilding Colossus, and managed to get myself some paper-tape from a bona-fide Lorenz 40/42 Cipher being cracked by the machine. Interestingly enough, due to the parallel architecture used by Colossus, it still breaks codes as fast, and sometimes faster, as modern-day computers running software to crack the same 1943 ciphers. Astounding. I'll spare you all the technical details, but suffice it to say this is one of the few computers I've seen in my life that I've ever truly been in awe of.
Other treats before I departed London included going to see Othello as a groundling at Shakespeare's globe, which I now count as one of the highlights of my theatre-going career. Met up with my friends dan and Laura for what was supposed to be *A* pint, but turned into several, at the Founders Arms, on the Thames, following the performance. I also managed to cram in a quick visit to King's Cross, platform 9 3/4. Those of you who get the reference will, I hope, be pleasantly amused.
Packed up and snuck out of Robyn and Jamie's place early on Friday morning and hopped the train in to Waterloo. Went through the most thorough security search of my life when I was told my backpack was "packed too densely" for the security x-ray to scan it properly. Spent 45 minutes standing beside a nice security who was was emptying everything (and I do mean EVERYTHING) out onto a steel table. I did get a good laugh when he sniffed the two jars of Veggemite I was taking to my nephew Tristan in Budapest. The stuff is concentrated yeast extract, and smells about as pleasant as you'd expect.
Wrote a small snippet of this blog while I was on the train... I managed to snag GPS coordinates here, at +51° 5' 43.86", +1° 2' 11.20", shortly before entering the Chunnel, and another set of coords here, +50° 39' 35.21", +3° 1' 27.78", shortly after popping out on the other side, in France.
Spent the afternoon in Paris, with visits to Notre Dame and the Eiffel Tower both on the to-do list, as well as a brief detour into some obscure back alleys in le Quatier Latin, to get away from all the touristy crap and kitsch. Walked about 10 minutes and did everything I could to get myself lost in back alleys. Ended up having an awesome lunch at a tiny little crepes restaurant (for lack of a better word) about the size of my bathroom back home in Victoria. The place was so small that I actually couldn't turn around inside with my backpack on. Had to back out once I'd bought my food. The woman who worked there was absolutely THRILLED to have someone as "exotique" as a Canadian in her store. Had two ham and cheese crepes for lunch, with a Nutella crepe for desert. Spent an hour or so reading on the banks of the Seine, then went off to the Eiffel Tower. Was rather annoyed to find multiple-hour-long lineups to get up the thing, AND was told that even if I waited, I wouldn't be allowed up with my backpack due to security concerns. Went across the Seine to la Place de Varsovie, only to find an "Experience Rugby" event going on. Seems someone had the bright idea of bringing in artificial turf, inflatable bumpers, and several tents, and holding a rugby tournament in the middle of Paris. What can I say? It seemed like a pretty cool idea, really, and it looked like everyone was having a blast, to say the least.
Just chilled out for the evening in Paris, then caught the night train to Munich at 10:45 from Gare de l'Est. For the sake of brevity (i.e. I'm tired right now) suffice it to say the transfer through Munich was uneventful, and I made it all the way in to Budapest without too many hassles. Got to see some gorgeous scenery along the way as well, which was great. Snagged one more set of GPS coordinates here, at +48° 11' 32.15", +16° 18' 47.17", on the way into Wien, en-route to Budapest. Was met by my nephew Tristan at the train station, showered at his place (where I'm staying for the week) then went out and was ... errr... warmly introduced... to the city. Having a wonderful time here thus far, but will have more updates once I've explored a bit tomorrow.
(Below: One last picture. Heroes Square, +47° 30' 52.80", +19° 4' 39.02", (Wikipedia link here) in Budapest.)
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Nic's Current Location:
Tristan and Krisztina Hume's Apartment, Budapest, Hungary
+47° 29' 25.43", +19° 4' 6.08"
