X-Git-Url: https://codewiz.org/gitweb?p=wiki.git;a=blobdiff_plain;f=blog%2F2009%2FApril;h=e511b46e92a00f7179856605dbd8f1f389de0fab;hp=7b5c01c8323530aa69e55ab4e664f0c619096918;hb=fa3b66ea4dd0784e9a7c0108df536e92b1e3ee56;hpb=a4b984a9f9fa5e2add2384d8d3d6ae6f445a35a0

diff --git a/blog/2009/April b/blog/2009/April
index 7b5c01c..e511b46 100644
--- a/blog/2009/April
+++ b/blog/2009/April
@@ -1,16 +1,103 @@
 == Bernie's brain dump as of April 2009 ==
 
+=== April 30th: Departure ===
+
+==== My father's photos ====
+
+During the journey, my father also took [[Pictures/vacation/japan_2009/From_Alberto|plenty of shots]]
+with his video camera.
+
+
+==== GEEK UPDATE: A productive flight ====
+
+On the flight back to Europe, I spent some time hacking on [[GeekiGeeki]] to add little goodies such as
+
+ * a grid view for photos;
+ * automatic generation of human-readable link tags from wiki URLs;
+ * a common parser for argument lists such as "foo|bar=1|baz=3";
+ * the ability to specify css style for links and inline objects, which I'm using to produce
+ floating thumbnails on the side of pages without resorting to HTML
+
+These new features will make my wiki markup even lighter than before.
+Moreover, these additions actually resulted in further //simplification//
+of the codebase rather than code bloat.  Way to go!
+
+{{{
+git diff --stat v3.0..HEAD geekigeeki.py
+geekigeeki.py |  709 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++-----------------------------
+1 files changed, 352 insertions(+), 357 deletions(-)
+}}}
+
+If you notice any regressions in the output, please report them to me.
+I'm hoping to release 4.0 soon.
+
+Tags: [[tags/stuff_that_matters]] [[tags/!bloat]] [[tags/as_simple_as_possible]] [[tags/but_no_simpler]]
+
+
+==== Last day in Tokyo ====
+
+With our last energies, we went on a //tour de force// to quickly visit a
+bunch of Tokyo touristic locations that were highly recommended by our guides:
+
+ * The [[Pictures/vacation/japan_2009/Tokyo_Again/Edo_Museum]], along with a wonderful
+ temporary special exhibition of [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Osamu_Tezuka]].
+ * The [[Pictures/vacation/japan_2009/Tokyo_Again/Ameyoko]] markets
+ * The [[Pictures/vacation/japan_2009/Tokyo_Again/Ueno_Zoo]]
+ * The Narita airport :-(
+
+==== How to spend 8 hours in Paris ====
+
+Our flight from Narita arrived at Charles de Gaulle at 4AM, and the connecting
+flight to Florence was at 1PM.  Could we spend all this time sitting in the terminal?
+
+No way!  My camera's battery was gone, but my father took some photos of [[Pictures/vacation/japan_2009/From_Alberto/Paris]]
+with his video camera.
+
+=== April 29th: Back to Tokyo ===
+
+==== Hostel ====
+
+After one last tour of the [[Pictures/vacation/japan_2009/Nikko/town]], we left from Nikko in
+with a low-cost private line (2h40, but only 1100 Yen all the way to Asakusa).
+
+We had just one evening and half of the next day to spend in Tokyo, so we quickly dropped
+our luggage to the [[http://www.tokyo-ih.jp/en/index.html|Tokyo International Youth Hostel]],
+a sort of nazi camp with a great view on the 18th floor of a high-rise building in Iidabashi.
+
+==== Akihabara ====
+
+Because there was a strict curfew at 11PM, we had to take the metro during the rush
+hour ([[Pictures/vacation/japan_2009/Tokyo_Again/metro|photos and videos]]) to reach
+the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Akihabara|Electric Town]] ([[Pictures/vacation/japan_2009/Tokyo_Again/Akihabara|photos]]).
+
 === April 28th ===
 
-The [[Pictures/vacation/japan_2009/Nikko|first batch of photos from Nikko]] are now online.
+==== Guided tour ====
+
+{{Pictures/vacation/japan_2009/Nikko/waterfalls_tour/00038.jpg|maxwidth=640|class=thumbright|The Yutaki Waterfalls}}
+
+Pictures of our day-long [[Pictures/vacation/japan_2009/Nikko/waterfalls_tour]] are now online.
+Our friendly guide, the Buddhist monk whose name I forgot, answered many of our pending questions
+about Japanese traditions and religion.  Hiking through these sacred mountains and woods was an
+enjoyable experience.
+
+TODO: assemble a good video from all the scenes I took along the way
+
+==== Nikko Temple Area ====
+In the afternoon, we went to visit the [[Pictures/vacation/japan_2009/Nikko/world_heritage_site]].
+One would expect to grow bored of Shinto and Buddhist temples after seeing many of them
+all over Japan, but visiting the Nikko temple area was once again an extraordinary experience.
+And I could finally spot a few [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miko]]s too!
+
+{{Pictures/vacation/japan_2009/Nikko/world_heritage_site/00096.jpg|maxwidth=640}}
 
 === April 27th ===
 
 ==== Afternoon: travel to Nikko ====
 
 Nikko is in an adjacent valley east of Nagano on the Japanese alps.  Unfortunately, no train lines
-and busses connect them directly, so we had to take an expensive -- yet very fast -- Shinkansen
-detour all the way down to Saitama and then up again.
+and buses connect them directly, so we had to take an expensive -- yet very fast -- Shinkansen
+detour all the way down to Saitama and then northbound again.
 
 Once at the station, we immediately realized it was a good deal, after all.
 This mountain town overflows with temples, world heritage sites and statues of Buddah