Hashing in Eindhoven...

When I found out that hashers Just the Tip and More Meat Please lived in Eindhoven, I chatted with them about the possibility of haring during Eindhoven GLOW, an amazing annual light festival. This year it finally worked out, although she was out of town, so Just the Tip was on his own. On the way to the start, which was their apartment on the Technical University Eindhoven campus even though neither of them attended that school, I came across these giant bowling pins...

...and a cool 3D chalk drawing. 

Opee went early to help Just the Tip buy beer for the beer breaks, although from this photo it looks like he was just along for the ride.

The view from their apartment was quite amazing...

 ...as was the trail.

After the circle on the large balcony, we were treated to an incredible homemade Chinese meal.

It was even more incredible when we saw the tiny kitchen where he somehow managed to cook a huge dinner for 19 hungry hashers.

Historic Exeter...

Oops...just realized that I missed posting this with the other Exeter entries. As you can see, I took a bunch of photos of historic buildings in the city. Unfortunately, I am now too lazy to spend the time to identify each of them. Instead, just enjoy their beauty.

Exeter Cathedral...

That afternoon we were able to enter Exeter Cathedral for free as it was open for a Christmas Bazaar.

Dating back to 1400, its ceiling was especially magnificent.

It’s not so surprising that I was impressed, as I have now learned that it has the longest uninterrupted medieval stone vaulted ceiling in the world at 315 feet (96 meters) long.

The Big Lego Build is a 300,000 piece model of the cathedral being built as a fundraiser. 

Exeter was one of Germany’s targets during WWII in an effort to harm British cities of cultural and historical importance. The chapel of St James in the cathedral was demolished by a direct hit by a large high-explosive bomb, of which this piece is on display as a reminder. Luckily the stained glass windows and other artifacts had been removed in anticipation of such an attack.

This memorial was unveiled in the rebuilt St James Chapel in November 2017 commemorating Polish airmen who defended Exeter during the war, of which 21 died.

These tombs for Bishops of Exeter date back to the 15th century and were protected by sand bags during WWII. 

That evening I was happy to get to meet Brett, whom Veronica had been dating for about six weeks. He joined us for dinner at her place before we all went to a movie about climate change. It was a nice ending to a great visit! The following morning, I made the long journey home via four trains and two subways. Little did I know then that I wouldn’t be able to visit her again in the spring...

Visiting Totnes...

The following day, we caught a train to Totnes, a market town of just 8,000. Its first castle dates back to 907, but the remaining walls and keep date from around the 14th century. Unfortunately, we were unable to enter the castle ruins.

Totnes claims to have more historical buildings per capita than any other British town.

Its shopping street was quite lovely and we enjoyed finding some cool things in their charity shops.

Thought this was a clever name for a shop.

We enjoyed a great vegetarian buffet with lots of vegan options for lunch at Seeds 2 Totnes.

St Mary’s Church dates back to 1460.

In front there was another red poppy memorial for World War I.

There were definitely an impressive number of Tudor buildings...

...as well as a fake castle. 

The train journey was very scenic as well.

Guy Fawke’s Night...

That night we caught a train to Exmouth, a seaside town of around 35,000. Little did we know that we had stumbled upon the Exmouth Dinosaur Trail, featuring 15 life-sized dinosaurs.

After dinner, we headed to the park to witness my first Guy Fawke’s Night, an annual commemoration on November 5 observed with bonfires and fireworks, to celebrate that King James I survived an assignation attempt due to the failure of Guy Fawkes to safeguard the explosives under his care that he intended to use to blow up Parliament in 1605.

Mother Nature managed to put on a pretty nice show that night.

It wasn’t the best fireworks show, but we enjoyed chatting with the fellow next to us about how crazy some of the celebrations in other villages get.

Instead of fighting the crowds to rush to the train station, we opted to stop for a hot toddy to kill time until the next train an hour later.