Over the weekend, Erica and I visited the Yerkes Obervatory, near Lake Geneva, WI.

Yerkes Observatory, which calls itself “the birthplace of modern astrophysics,”[1], is an astronomical observatory operated by the University of Chicago in Williams Bay, Wisconsin. It was created in 1897 by George Ellery Hale and financed by Charles T. Yerkes. The observatory represented a shift in the thinking of observatories, from mere housing for a telescope and observer, to the modern concept of observation equipment integrated with laboratory space for physics and chemistry. A 102 cm (40 inch) refracting telescope built by the master optician Alvan Clark is located inside. It is the largest refracting telescope used for scientific research (a larger demonstration refractor, the Great Paris Exhibition Telescope of 1900, was exhibited at the Paris Universal Exhibition of 1900). ~Wikipedia

I pieced a few shots together to make this panographic photo (click it to see it bigger):

The Grizzle makes the trek across the ocean for a weekend in Europe. Hilarity ensues…

Note: This is in reverse chronological order for some reason.

I’ve been traveling, and traveling, and traveling lately…

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Tonight I stumbled across the blog we put together when we were backpacking all over Europe two years ago. We hit 15 cities in 30 days… obviously too much, but we got to see a lot. Since then, I’m much more likely to go to only one (and max 2) places on a vacation. Turbo tourism is fun, but I think the best part of Europe is when you’re staying in one place and meeting people.

Check out the Miami Backpackers Blog…

The photo above has received more comments and views than any other picture I have ever put on Flickr, so I thought that I should post it here. What do you think? I’m a big fan of night photography like this. I’ll post more of an update soon. I’m in London this weekend, and I’m typing on a French keyboard – which is difficult…

Here are the rest of the Paris photos from my most recent visit:

Oslo, Norway…where a McDonald’s combo meal will cost you $18 USD and even the airport looks like a ski lodge.

Here are a few pics from my trip last week to Paris (more, as usual, on Flickr):

Tomorrow is a holiday here, and I’m heading to Manchester, England for the night. Then I have two days of work in Leeds, England on Tuesday and Wednesday. So when I’m not pent up in an office or riding on a train, I’ll be trying to see these two cities. This is my first time to England…

I know this looks pretty sad… don’t worry though, I’m OK. Malnourished, but OK.

I just added a calendar showing some of my confirmed travel dates.  Check out the right side of this page.

No, I’m not talking about the bootleg film… I’m talking about the second half of this week (and actually it’s two nights). That’s right, I’m heading to Paris tomorrow night. It’s a Belgian holiday here on Thursday so I’m taking the opportunity to travel.

I’m pretty bad, in general, about planning my trips in advance — so I’ll probably pay about 80 Euros just for the one way journey. Luckily I’m staying with a friend, so the free lodging should more than make up for expensive transit.

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