Tales of a Technogypsie

Thursday 5 April 2007 :: Avebury/Salisbury, England:: Stonehenge Sir Thomas Leaf awoke without knowing his destination for the day. The plan was to be abducted by Lady Marion of Salisbury. The adventure party never heard from her since Malham, only that she would meet them at the train station and take Sir Thomas Leaf in [...]

Wednesday 4 April 2007 :: Bolton Abbey, England – Yorkshire::Chapter 6: Part 2 Sir Thomas Leaf and the Ruins of Bolton Abbey The foot-sore adventurers piled into the coach, adjusted to the driving on the left hand side of the road, Sir Thomas Leaf constantly with reflexes of grabbing a steering wheel that doesn’t exist [...]

Wednesday 4 April 2007 :: Grassington, England – Yorkshire::Chapter 6: Part 1 Sir Ingo the Great of Koln, Lady Vanessa of the Rhine, and Sir Thomas Leaf Cartographer of Colorado Once again, Sirs Thomas Leaf and Ingo the Great awoke early long before the breakfast buffet began. Hanging out thumbing through some books on Yorkshire [...]

Tuesday 3 April 2007 :: Kettlewell, England – Yorkshire::Chapter 5: Part 2 a horde of gnomes, dwarves, and hobbitsrevealing secrets to the adventurers With relief of the rainbow, the sun peeked through the clouds. The adventurers could take of their raingear. The road to Kettlewell from Arncliff had steep moments as it went up and [...]

Tuesday 3 April 2007 :: Arncliff, England – Yorkshire::Chapter 5: Part 1 Sir Ingo the Great, Lady Vanessa of the Rhine, Lady Marion of Salisbury in the rain by Malham Tarn That morning the sore legged adventurers awoke early to the Malham Hostel breakfast of champions – a breakfast buffet of ham, eggs, bacon, croissants, [...]

Tuesday 3 April 2007 :: Malham, England – Yorkshire::Chapter 4: P2 Sir Thomas Leaf, Lady Vanessa of the Rhine, Lady Marion of Salisbury Reaching the Malham Hostel, the Lady Vanessa was tired so went to take a nap. Sir Thomas Leaf set off to the pub for a Jameson & Coke as well as to [...]

Monday 2 April 2007 :: Malham, England – Yorkshire:: Sir Thomas Leaf on the Malham Cove, overlooking the village of Malham in the valley below Our adventuring party continued their journey along the Pennine Way, back to the village of Malham. Sir Thomas Leaf was in deep contemplation about the new journey set forth before [...]

Monday 2 April 2007 :: Malham, England – Yorkshire:: “no one wants to go down …”Sir Ingo the Great starting his climb up the scramble After the failed attempt at meeting the Queen of the Fairies, and visions of “the elders at Avebury” our adventure party continued on with their journey. Not too far up [...]

Monday 2 April 2007 :: Malham, England – Yorkshire:: What in the Faerie Goddess’s name is wrong with that trunk? Early to rise our fine adventurers stumbled down to the hostel breakfast buffet to fill their bellies for a 7-9 mile hike around Malham, it’s scars, and many waterfalls. ‘Tis also the morning they set [...]

Monday 2 April 2007 :: Janet’s Foss :: Malham, England – Yorkshire:: Hammered Coins into a Trunk Money Trees at Janet’s Foss (Malham, England)On my trip to England, hiking across the Yorkshire Dales, I came upon an English tradition that I still do not know the full story of. I’ve asked over a dozen different [...]

Monday 2 April 2007 :: Malham, England – Yorkshire:: Early to rise our fine adventurers stumbled down to the hostel breakfast buffet to fill their bellies for a 7-9 mile hike around Malham, it’s scars, and many waterfalls. ‘Tis also the morning they set out to meet the Faerie Queen of Janet Foss in hopes [...]

Sunday 1 April 2007 :: Malham, England – Yorkshire:: : B Daffodils along the roads of Hanlith Village, England The adventurers arrived in the small village of Malham around 3 o’clock. (13:00) As they came over the hilltop to where they could see Malham in the distance, they could also see a pretty active little [...]

Sunday 1 April 2007 :: Gargrave, England – Yorkshire:: The adventure party and the Royal family: Sir Ingo, Lady Vanessa, Sir Robin, Queen Susan Just as the adventure party expected, Vanessa’s nephew, Sir Luca the Valiant, who has explored Skipton in great detail, must have found the parchment for the details about seeing entrance with [...]

Sunday 1 April 2007 :: Bradford, England; Skipton, England – Yorkshire:: Once upon a time, there was a beautiful woman named Vanessa, Lady of the Rhine – who was the envy of all of the ladies in the village of Dusseldorf, along the Rhine river in Germany. One of the local enchantresses who envied Vanessa, [...]

Every year, I take an epic saga, a sort of “living myth”. Following are the last two European quests that I had an “adventure of a lifetime” with. Enjoy! and please comment on these working sagas … Part 1: Lady of the Rhine, Quest of Ring: Chapter 1: Lady of the Rhine (4/1/07: Germany) Chapter [...]

Chapter 17: Part C Saturday, 11 April 2009Mons, Belgium Realizing the key has been discovered, Sir Thomas Leaf sat to ponder the new revelation that the key was not an ancient rusting artifact, but rather a gift of spirit, warmth, youth, Faerie energy, and a re-awakening that the Irish and English faeries he met unlocked [...]

Trolls et Legendes Festival 2009 – Day 2 – Concerts Lotto Mons Expo * Avenue Thomas Edison – 7000 Mons – Belgium * http://www.trolls-et-legendes.be/2009/index-en.htm Knowing its a shame that I could only attend 2 of the 3 nights of concerts, I was in extreme excitement about tonight’s line-up with the chance to see my second [...]

Chapter 17: Part B Saturday, 11 April 2009Mons, Belgium “Closer to the key, I can feel it …” Sir Thomas Leaf pondered. “It is the day for the revelations to be revealed.” Difficulties making conversation or getting around without knowing French was pretty prevelant for the duo, and it frustrated Princess Brea. Sir Thomas Leaf [...]

Trolls et Legendes vendorsphoto by Zoe Nicholls Trolls et Legendes Festival 2009 – Day 2 – the Market Lotto Mons Expo * Avenue Thomas Edison – 7000 Mons – Belgium * http://www.trolls-et-legendes.be/2009/index-en.htm Wandering around the vendor side of the the Festival, I was amazed by the incredible and amazing array of artwork presented. Paintings, books, [...]

Part A figures by Brian & Wendy Froud Saturday, 11 April 2009Mons, Belgium Today is the revelation of the key. Such as sacred day indeed. The adventurers awoke at the hostel, packed up their gear, and headed down for a decent breakfast. It was quite obvious many other Trolls-et-Legendes Festival-goers were there, as one could [...]

Part B Trolls et Legendes Friday, 10 April 2009Mons, Belgium Heading down to the Central Station, and getting a little turned around doing it, the adventurers finally found the info booth, and in half-english, half-french was directed round-a-bout to where they needed to find the C bus. Of course, none of the signs listed a [...]

Naheulbeuk Night Trolls et Legendes Festival, Night 1, 4/10/2009 – Lotto Mons Expo Center, Mons, Belgium Le Donjon de Naheulbeuk (France) presented the night with a role-playing parody that began originally as an audio saga. Apparently the group became immensely popular and diversified into a band, a series of comic books, novels, and soon a [...]

Trolls et Legendes – Day 1 Trolls et Legendes Festival 2009 – Day 1 Lotto Mons Expo * Avenue Thomas Edison – 7000 Mons – Belgium * http://www.trolls-et-legendes.be/2009/index-en.htm Day one of the infamous Trolls et Legendes festival at the Mons Expo center … evening only as they were to present some films and concerts from [...]

Part A Hunting for the hostel in Mons Friday, 10 April 2009Amsterdam, The Netherlands – Mons, Belgium The adventurers had a pretty interesting night partying in Amsterdam with the pub crawl. Awaking early with a hangover was not the best start to the day that Sir Thomas Leaf could have. Onwards to check out from [...]

Part C Ultimate Party Pub Crawl Thursday, 9 April 2009Amsterdam, The Netherlands After an afternoon’s rest, Sir Thomas Leaf and Princess Brea were ready to hit the bars and clubs – partying all night long. They hopped the bus to the meeting place at News Cafe on Korte Leidse dwarsstraat. With some time to spare, [...]

Part B Entering the Begijnhof Thursday, 9 April 2009Amsterdam, The Netherlands Sir Thomas Leaf was inspired by the healing energies of the plaza that was mythologically known for its healing and the bread that doesn’t burn. From the crazy wild partying city of Amsterdam – a walk through a door to another dimension – into [...]

New Amsterdam free tour meeting place at the monument in De Dam square New Amsterdam Free Walking TourRain or shine this tour meets every day at 11:00 am and 1:00 pm in front of Centraal Station, and Starts at 11:15 am and 1:15 pm at Dam Square in front of the National Monument. It is [...]

Part A The Dam Monument Thursday, 9 April 2009Amsterdam, The Netherlands Sir Thomas Leaf awoke shortly after Princess Brea disappeared down to the dining hall. Slowly rustling out of bed, Sir Thomas Leaf headed downstairs to join her and their new friend from Ireland, James for a pretty delicious continental breakfast and good conversation. Princess [...]

Part D New friends … Wednesday, 8 April 2009Amsterdam, The Netherlands Onward the adventurers met with the tour guide leading them through the Red Light District on a spectacular tour learning the history of the sex trade, industry, prostitution, and cannabis culture of Amsterdam. The adventurers met some amazing new friends from around the world [...]

Part C Candles in a cafe Wednesday, 8 April 2009Amsterdam, The Netherlands Looking over the maps, the weary travellers decided against hiking across town to the City center. Sir Thomas Leaf bought the pair some 24-hour Metro tickets so they could hop the bus and trains unlimited for the next 24 hours. The hostel recommended [...]