Monday, August 20, 2007
Back in NZ
Arrived back on Thursday. Will update blog with the final part of our trip and photos soon.
Sunday, August 5, 2007
No more buses!
Back in Paris after finishing our busabout journey. French keyboards are difficult to use!
Monday, July 30, 2007
Sunday, July 29, 2007
Saturday, July 28, 2007
Friday, July 27, 2007
The expensive Spain
Phew, this place is expensive!!! Not because of the prices but because they have so much cool things to buy here. I´m already up to T-shirt number four on this trip and don´t know how many more my pack can hold. Then there´s all the great food and of course, the sangria.
We´re have a fantastic time here in Spain. Barcelona was a definite highlight of our trip and one of the world´s great cities in our opinion. It´s very modern but has also done a good job of preseving it´s history. So far in Spain we´ve discovered a relaxed modernism that we found lacking in the busier parts of Italy.
Then, there´s the amazing design and architectural works of Antoni Gaudi - this guy is a rock star round here...only they ran him over with a tram back in the 1920´s - opps. This guy was the genius behind the most amazing church (perhaps building) in the world - the Sagrada Familia, still under construction. We also visted other pices of his work including Park Guell and an amazing apartment block built in the 20´s.
We saw alot in our four days and there is still plenty more to see an do. We also finally discovered some decent falafel at a great vego place where you fill your own salad. We went there four times! Oh course, there are also the moments of insanity, where some dickwad in your dorm room decides to play video games on his mobile at 12:30am and you´re too polite or stupid to get out of bed and kick his butt.
Next it was on to Valencia. We were quite tired when we arrived and thought it might be an unnesecary stop on our trip. However, a rest and a cold shower later we discovered that this is also a great city and we´ve had a nice and relaxing two days here. Our room was a bit crap though, resembling a jail cell with only one window out into a well where the air was just as stagnant as in our room (yes, it had no AC other than a crappy fan), plus due to dodgy plumbing the shower also smelt like the toilet.
That aside, we headed to the beach yesterday using their great metro/tram system and also checked out the America´s cup village which is totally dead now that the racing is over. We then headed back to the same cheap little Tapas bar and Irish pub (sepearte places) as the night before and relaxed with some food and beer. Clare says it great to have a local, even if only for two days. It may sound a little boring but when you´ve been away for 10 weeks and you discover great cheap food and service, we figure it´s a good idea to stick with it.
In a couple of hours we head to Madrid.
We´re have a fantastic time here in Spain. Barcelona was a definite highlight of our trip and one of the world´s great cities in our opinion. It´s very modern but has also done a good job of preseving it´s history. So far in Spain we´ve discovered a relaxed modernism that we found lacking in the busier parts of Italy.
Then, there´s the amazing design and architectural works of Antoni Gaudi - this guy is a rock star round here...only they ran him over with a tram back in the 1920´s - opps. This guy was the genius behind the most amazing church (perhaps building) in the world - the Sagrada Familia, still under construction. We also visted other pices of his work including Park Guell and an amazing apartment block built in the 20´s.
We saw alot in our four days and there is still plenty more to see an do. We also finally discovered some decent falafel at a great vego place where you fill your own salad. We went there four times! Oh course, there are also the moments of insanity, where some dickwad in your dorm room decides to play video games on his mobile at 12:30am and you´re too polite or stupid to get out of bed and kick his butt.
Next it was on to Valencia. We were quite tired when we arrived and thought it might be an unnesecary stop on our trip. However, a rest and a cold shower later we discovered that this is also a great city and we´ve had a nice and relaxing two days here. Our room was a bit crap though, resembling a jail cell with only one window out into a well where the air was just as stagnant as in our room (yes, it had no AC other than a crappy fan), plus due to dodgy plumbing the shower also smelt like the toilet.
That aside, we headed to the beach yesterday using their great metro/tram system and also checked out the America´s cup village which is totally dead now that the racing is over. We then headed back to the same cheap little Tapas bar and Irish pub (sepearte places) as the night before and relaxed with some food and beer. Clare says it great to have a local, even if only for two days. It may sound a little boring but when you´ve been away for 10 weeks and you discover great cheap food and service, we figure it´s a good idea to stick with it.
In a couple of hours we head to Madrid.
Saturday, July 21, 2007
Spain
Well, we´re back online after a bit of a break and feeling recharged by being in a new country again. We´re certainly aware of the nine weeks we´ve now been away from home but also a little sad to be getting nearer the end of our trip.
We made it into Barcelona last night after a very long bus trip from Nice (French Riviera). We´re here for 5 nights as we were unable to get any accommodation in Avignon due to a large arts festival. We love the city already - it´s clean, lively and full of amazing architecture, bars and rstaurants. We´re staying in a dorm for the first time in a while but the hostel is great. We enjoyed some Sangria last night while listing to a great local band at the hostel and then ate like the locals - at 10pm!! Had a good sleep despite the drunken Australian super-snorer (seriously, this guy sounds like he´s about to die with every gasping breath!).
Today, we´re started on our way to the waterfront along the main drag, which is packed with interesting buskers, pet shops and an amazing food market - where you can get everything from whole piglets to live crabs.
What else have we been up to?
After our great time in Siena we spent a few days in a very hot Florence. Had a good time here but had to take it easy due to the heat and our campsite was located quite a distance from the central city (we also waited in our longest line yet - over 2 hours to get into the Uffizi gallery). Next it was onto La Spezia which is the gateway to the amazing Cinque Terre national park. This is a series of five small villages perched in cliffs above the sea. We had an amazing time here - google it if you want to check this place out and we´ll try and post some photos soon. Then it was onto Nice which wasn´t that nice. The main street was all dug up and we couldn´t find a decent meal (which turned Christian into a hungry zombie monster) - luckily it was only an overnight stop before Spain.
We made it into Barcelona last night after a very long bus trip from Nice (French Riviera). We´re here for 5 nights as we were unable to get any accommodation in Avignon due to a large arts festival. We love the city already - it´s clean, lively and full of amazing architecture, bars and rstaurants. We´re staying in a dorm for the first time in a while but the hostel is great. We enjoyed some Sangria last night while listing to a great local band at the hostel and then ate like the locals - at 10pm!! Had a good sleep despite the drunken Australian super-snorer (seriously, this guy sounds like he´s about to die with every gasping breath!).
Today, we´re started on our way to the waterfront along the main drag, which is packed with interesting buskers, pet shops and an amazing food market - where you can get everything from whole piglets to live crabs.
What else have we been up to?
After our great time in Siena we spent a few days in a very hot Florence. Had a good time here but had to take it easy due to the heat and our campsite was located quite a distance from the central city (we also waited in our longest line yet - over 2 hours to get into the Uffizi gallery). Next it was onto La Spezia which is the gateway to the amazing Cinque Terre national park. This is a series of five small villages perched in cliffs above the sea. We had an amazing time here - google it if you want to check this place out and we´ll try and post some photos soon. Then it was onto Nice which wasn´t that nice. The main street was all dug up and we couldn´t find a decent meal (which turned Christian into a hungry zombie monster) - luckily it was only an overnight stop before Spain.
Saturday, July 14, 2007
The real Italia
After our experiences in Rome (see previous post) we have well and truly moved on. We have had a perfect couple of days in Siena which is an old medieval walled city like you imagine when you think of Italy. It has narrow cobbled streets, lots of great little shops and restaurants and plenty of things to do all without millions of tourists and handbag peddlers.
You;ll probably hear a lot more about this fantastic place when we return to NZ, it;s one of our favourites so far. It;s quite amazing how your experience of a country can change so dramatically over night!
8 weeks down, 4 to go.
You;ll probably hear a lot more about this fantastic place when we return to NZ, it;s one of our favourites so far. It;s quite amazing how your experience of a country can change so dramatically over night!
8 weeks down, 4 to go.
When in Rome....
....hold your nose to block out the smell of urine. Well, we had some interesting times in Rome. We ended up staying here a bit longer than we originally planned as we decided to skip Ancona which is basically a grimy port town and what a wise move it was as we discovered when we drove through.
We found Rome to be a pretty crazy and very dirty place - perhaps it;s doing it;s best impression of a Roman ruin? It;s quite funny how lots of people drive around in flash cars wearing the lastest fashion but the city is disgusting and run down. I;m not sure what they do with all the tourist dollars but it;s certainly not used to clean the city and make life easy for tourists.
On our first full day we took the bus from the campsite to near the Vatican. I was surprised where we stopped, thinking to myself what a bad neighbourhood the Vatican is in! We started exploring with a walk down the river - and had to make our way over terrible footpaths covered in plenty of urine, crap and rubbish while enjoying the view of all the graffiti and a river no one seems to care about. It seems a real shame as the river seems to have the same potential as Paris and could be quite beautiful but has basically been ignored.
Anyway, we looked around the main monuments which are quite spectacular if you can see them past the other tourists and ignore the people trying to sell you handbags. We had a mad dash back across town to catch the right bus back to our campsite where we enjoyed some local wine from our yoghurt pottles - we had no cups and it was a little better than drinking it out of the bottle, right?
To cut a long story short we didn,t particularly enjoy Rome, we had a few mishaps - including thinking the ATM had kept our 250 euro but charged our account and having to deal with Italian bank staff "come back later" - "come back tomorrow" - Ahhh!
But Rome has some truly amazing history and some beautiful monuments, St Peters and the Sistine Chapel etc are really fantastic. Maybe we;ll tell you about them sometime when we;ve blocked out all the bad memories!
We found Rome to be a pretty crazy and very dirty place - perhaps it;s doing it;s best impression of a Roman ruin? It;s quite funny how lots of people drive around in flash cars wearing the lastest fashion but the city is disgusting and run down. I;m not sure what they do with all the tourist dollars but it;s certainly not used to clean the city and make life easy for tourists.
On our first full day we took the bus from the campsite to near the Vatican. I was surprised where we stopped, thinking to myself what a bad neighbourhood the Vatican is in! We started exploring with a walk down the river - and had to make our way over terrible footpaths covered in plenty of urine, crap and rubbish while enjoying the view of all the graffiti and a river no one seems to care about. It seems a real shame as the river seems to have the same potential as Paris and could be quite beautiful but has basically been ignored.
Anyway, we looked around the main monuments which are quite spectacular if you can see them past the other tourists and ignore the people trying to sell you handbags. We had a mad dash back across town to catch the right bus back to our campsite where we enjoyed some local wine from our yoghurt pottles - we had no cups and it was a little better than drinking it out of the bottle, right?
To cut a long story short we didn,t particularly enjoy Rome, we had a few mishaps - including thinking the ATM had kept our 250 euro but charged our account and having to deal with Italian bank staff "come back later" - "come back tomorrow" - Ahhh!
But Rome has some truly amazing history and some beautiful monuments, St Peters and the Sistine Chapel etc are really fantastic. Maybe we;ll tell you about them sometime when we;ve blocked out all the bad memories!
Thursday, July 5, 2007
Summer`s here at last
Hello again,
We are now in Venice and the key board characters are pretty normal but the punctuation is totally messed up so forgive my writing. Had a couple of relaxing nights in Austria on our way here. We were booked into stay at some Aussie pub but we were given a room at a guest house next door with a nice host named Annelise. Felt a wee bit isolated from everyone else but it probably worked out for the best as they all stayed up till 3am drinking and we are just getting too old for that kind of carry on. We think the Aussie pub must have imported lots of flys to make it more like home as there were a hell of a lot of them in this town. It can also rain rather well also. Had great weather on our second day though and went for a great walk into the countryside.
So we are now in Venice staying at a campsite near the city, convieniently located next to the noisy airport. The drive through Northern Italy was beautiful and it was actually quite cold when we arrived due to recent rain. The weather today has been perfect and not too hot. We jumped on the shuttle bus and headed into the city which is stunning as expected.
It is a bit of a maze to navigate but much easier when you actually dont have a detailed map and just follow your nose and the signs to the main landmarks. The main square is pretty nuts and full of my pet hates - pidgeons and other tourists. The ice cream makes up for this though. Once we got to a more quiet spot, the place is pretty unbeatable with the ocean, ancient buildings, warm sun, wide blue sky and cool sea breeze.
We are now in Venice and the key board characters are pretty normal but the punctuation is totally messed up so forgive my writing. Had a couple of relaxing nights in Austria on our way here. We were booked into stay at some Aussie pub but we were given a room at a guest house next door with a nice host named Annelise. Felt a wee bit isolated from everyone else but it probably worked out for the best as they all stayed up till 3am drinking and we are just getting too old for that kind of carry on. We think the Aussie pub must have imported lots of flys to make it more like home as there were a hell of a lot of them in this town. It can also rain rather well also. Had great weather on our second day though and went for a great walk into the countryside.
So we are now in Venice staying at a campsite near the city, convieniently located next to the noisy airport. The drive through Northern Italy was beautiful and it was actually quite cold when we arrived due to recent rain. The weather today has been perfect and not too hot. We jumped on the shuttle bus and headed into the city which is stunning as expected.
It is a bit of a maze to navigate but much easier when you actually dont have a detailed map and just follow your nose and the signs to the main landmarks. The main square is pretty nuts and full of my pet hates - pidgeons and other tourists. The ice cream makes up for this though. Once we got to a more quiet spot, the place is pretty unbeatable with the ocean, ancient buildings, warm sun, wide blue sky and cool sea breeze.
Wednesday, July 4, 2007
Sunday, July 1, 2007
Camera crimes 101
There's one thing about travelling I hate as much as pidgeons and hoards of other travellers, and that's tourists taking photos. Now this may sound a bit hypocritical being a fairly keen tourist photographer myself and all - except that all my photos are great.
Why oh why must people use a flash on all occasions, even in bright sunlight?? There's also nothing worse than being bombarded with flashes everytime you're in a dark spot. I really wish cameras were banned in more places, it would really improve the experience - and you can always get decent photos on postcards or the Internet etc. Though I can understand the appeal of taking your own pictures, it's everyone seems to take so many.
Then there's probably the worst crime and that's making people wait while you take a photo of your buddy, Mrs, whatever in front of some stupid attraction. This is so damn rude in my opinion and I'm sick of it!! This is made worse by people who don't know how to actually use a camera and take 10 minutes to take one.
You have the people taking videos of videos, not realising how bad these will actually look back home and the fact that they'll never watch them anyway. People want to take photos of absolutely everything, to capture it all - but you can't!!. Someone at an art gallery on the box the other night was saying that people don't go to galleries to see art - they go to take pictures of themselves.
Worst of all was at Duchau today - to me this memorial wasn't really a place to take photos, but obviously not other people - 'look Mom, here's me in front of the crematorium ovens, and here's me in the gas chamber, and here's the video I took of the video of the dead bodies' - sick!!!! There were people smiling for the camera while their friend took a photos of them in the grounds. There's no way I could smile in a place like this.
Rant over.
Why oh why must people use a flash on all occasions, even in bright sunlight?? There's also nothing worse than being bombarded with flashes everytime you're in a dark spot. I really wish cameras were banned in more places, it would really improve the experience - and you can always get decent photos on postcards or the Internet etc. Though I can understand the appeal of taking your own pictures, it's everyone seems to take so many.
Then there's probably the worst crime and that's making people wait while you take a photo of your buddy, Mrs, whatever in front of some stupid attraction. This is so damn rude in my opinion and I'm sick of it!! This is made worse by people who don't know how to actually use a camera and take 10 minutes to take one.
You have the people taking videos of videos, not realising how bad these will actually look back home and the fact that they'll never watch them anyway. People want to take photos of absolutely everything, to capture it all - but you can't!!. Someone at an art gallery on the box the other night was saying that people don't go to galleries to see art - they go to take pictures of themselves.
Worst of all was at Duchau today - to me this memorial wasn't really a place to take photos, but obviously not other people - 'look Mom, here's me in front of the crematorium ovens, and here's me in the gas chamber, and here's the video I took of the video of the dead bodies' - sick!!!! There were people smiling for the camera while their friend took a photos of them in the grounds. There's no way I could smile in a place like this.
Rant over.
Muchen
Spent the last two days checking out Munich and it's a great city - this wasn't completely obvious when we arrived on Friday night as we're staying on the edge of the CBD with plenty of bad 60's design, but once you get into the centre it's beautiful. It's hard to believe that most of the bulidings are only aroudn 60 years old as the place was carpet bombed during the war then rebuilt - many building to their historical specifications.
The hostel we're staying at is probably the best so far - these guys really know what they're doing and we took the free (well, it works on a tips basis) walking tour from here yesterday morning. Our guide was great and we packed in heaps into our several hour tour - he even gave us useful and accurate information, unlike our bus tour guides. Finished up walking through the large and beautiful public park and having a beer at the huge beer garden (not before seeing the clothing optional section, though unfortunately we didn't see the local sun legends 'Tripod' and 'Robocop' - guess how they got their names).
We spent Saturday evening on a beer appreciation tour (or more accurately, a pub crawl). At times I think we were the only two actually listening to the beer history and trivia. There were were plenty of 'interesting' travellers on the tour and by the end we were pretty ready to leave them all but it was still a good time. I wonder what the locals think of us boozed tourist. Must have eaten something funny though as I had a bit of an upset tummy when I got back to the hostel ;-)
Today, we took the metro out to the Duchau concentration camp memorial - this was a very sombre experience but something very worthwhile. We feel like we're got a much better perspective on the war from our time here in Munich.
The metro system here is fantastic and we arrived back in town nid afternoon. It was very hot so we took refuge in the historical Hoffbrau beer house and enjoyed some more beer and local food. Back at the hostel now doing some necessities like washing before we head to Austria in the morning.
The hostel we're staying at is probably the best so far - these guys really know what they're doing and we took the free (well, it works on a tips basis) walking tour from here yesterday morning. Our guide was great and we packed in heaps into our several hour tour - he even gave us useful and accurate information, unlike our bus tour guides. Finished up walking through the large and beautiful public park and having a beer at the huge beer garden (not before seeing the clothing optional section, though unfortunately we didn't see the local sun legends 'Tripod' and 'Robocop' - guess how they got their names).
We spent Saturday evening on a beer appreciation tour (or more accurately, a pub crawl). At times I think we were the only two actually listening to the beer history and trivia. There were were plenty of 'interesting' travellers on the tour and by the end we were pretty ready to leave them all but it was still a good time. I wonder what the locals think of us boozed tourist. Must have eaten something funny though as I had a bit of an upset tummy when I got back to the hostel ;-)
Today, we took the metro out to the Duchau concentration camp memorial - this was a very sombre experience but something very worthwhile. We feel like we're got a much better perspective on the war from our time here in Munich.
The metro system here is fantastic and we arrived back in town nid afternoon. It was very hot so we took refuge in the historical Hoffbrau beer house and enjoyed some more beer and local food. Back at the hostel now doing some necessities like washing before we head to Austria in the morning.
Friday, June 29, 2007
Happy Hour - Beer 1 Euro
Opps - couldn't find the Euro symbol on this keyboard. We're finally in a place where they respect beer with cheap prices so we're making up for lost time - Munich! Not that beer wasn't cheap in Switzerland - except at the British pub where a pint of Guniness was about 11 NZ!! Anyway, we relectantly left Switzerland this morning, where we had a great time. It's a beautiful country whose scenary rivals NZ, except that they don't have any sea - altough they do have ashtrays in toilets which means you can go for a smoking shit!!
Ate lots of cheese and chocolate, which I hear can block you up a bit. Yesterday in Lucerne we went up Mt Pilatus on a crazy railway which reaches angles of about 48 degrees - unfortunatly the top was in cloud but it was a great day out anyway. We enjoyed our time in our Lucerne hostel where we had a room with a balcony that looked out on the river (and no bed bugs). The infastructure in Switzerland is quite full-on compared to NZ - if there's a mountain in the way they just build a tunnel through it - though sometimes you do get the feeling that you're travelling down a road rather than through a country.
Looking forward to our couple of days in Munich and sampling the local beers. Miss NZ a lot but having a great time over here and apparently the weather's crap over there anyway. About half way though our journey - phew!!
Ate lots of cheese and chocolate, which I hear can block you up a bit. Yesterday in Lucerne we went up Mt Pilatus on a crazy railway which reaches angles of about 48 degrees - unfortunatly the top was in cloud but it was a great day out anyway. We enjoyed our time in our Lucerne hostel where we had a room with a balcony that looked out on the river (and no bed bugs). The infastructure in Switzerland is quite full-on compared to NZ - if there's a mountain in the way they just build a tunnel through it - though sometimes you do get the feeling that you're travelling down a road rather than through a country.
Looking forward to our couple of days in Munich and sampling the local beers. Miss NZ a lot but having a great time over here and apparently the weather's crap over there anyway. About half way though our journey - phew!!
Monday, June 25, 2007
Paris and Switzerland
Hello,
Finally getting round to doing a post - the keyboards here are all messed up and Internet cafes are very expensive so updates are going to be less frequent. Made it to Paris last Wednesday on the Eurostar train and then took 2 Metro (tube) trains to our hotel, which was very small and smelt of cigarettes but was in a great part of the city. We met Clare's friend Bryony and she took us on a whirlwind tour of our part of the city. We were feeling a bit shellshocked with the language difference but soon Clare got the hang of things. I navigated.
We went to the Airshow and it POURED with rain, but it was worth it (Clare may disagree). On Saturday we went up the Eiffel Tower and got sick of all the tourists - how dare people want to see the same things as us.
We joined our busabout tour yesterday and got dropped off in the beautiful town of Bern - Switzerland's capital. Scenery is amazing (so are some of the prices - e.g. about NZ $11 per hour for shit Internet access, makes me want to cry).
Finally getting round to doing a post - the keyboards here are all messed up and Internet cafes are very expensive so updates are going to be less frequent. Made it to Paris last Wednesday on the Eurostar train and then took 2 Metro (tube) trains to our hotel, which was very small and smelt of cigarettes but was in a great part of the city. We met Clare's friend Bryony and she took us on a whirlwind tour of our part of the city. We were feeling a bit shellshocked with the language difference but soon Clare got the hang of things. I navigated.
We went to the Airshow and it POURED with rain, but it was worth it (Clare may disagree). On Saturday we went up the Eiffel Tower and got sick of all the tourists - how dare people want to see the same things as us.
We joined our busabout tour yesterday and got dropped off in the beautiful town of Bern - Switzerland's capital. Scenery is amazing (so are some of the prices - e.g. about NZ $11 per hour for shit Internet access, makes me want to cry).
Tuesday, June 19, 2007
Sunday, June 17, 2007
Saturday in Dublin
Had a pretty good sleep last night and recovered from our tour - really wished we had our own room but it was good to have a bit of a sleep-in regardless. We got up just in time for some free breakfast at the hostel, checked some emails and then made our way to the Guinness factory via the river, while also seeing 'Christchurch Cathedral' on the way. The factory is huge and takes up several blocks. The tourist part has been created in the old fermentation area of the factory and is quite impressive, taking up several floors with a large, pint-glass shaped glass atrium in the middle. We seemed to arrive at a reasonable time to beat the crowds although it was still busy.
I've reversed my previous dislike of this dark ale for what I hope to be genuine reasons but you still have to admire the genius of this marketing triumph - the building is packed with people, many who probably don't even like beer. We both really enjoyed the tour and it's generally very well done, though some bits are bordering on the cheesy. We were sure to visit the section on enjoying Guinness responsibly where we were assured that we didn't actually have to drink the stuff - it was 'our choice'. Here we heard a regretful tale about how Jimmy had a really engaging conversation with some bird after a few glasses of wine and then didn't know what to say to her when sober - this is supposed to put people off drink??!! We enjoyed a pint at the gravity bar up top and admired the views of the city, before heading to the obligatory stop at the gift shop.
After this, we stopped for an non-nutritional snack at a convenience store on our way to Kilmainham Gaol. It was only after much walking that we read on our map that it wasn't to scale - no kidding!! Kilmainham is an old Victorian-style prison where many from the Easter rising were held and then executed in 1916. The tour was very informative and the place has been restored into a great historic place. After, this we were a bit buggered and headed back to the hostel.
We then decided to head to 'Temple Bar' - the bar district near our hostel for a look and some food. We stopped at an alright looking kebab place hoping to get something similar to the great kebabs back home. I did my best to communicate to the English-as a-second-language order taker, emphasising 'Falafel' every time she couldn't understand what I was saying. But it still didn't work and we ended up with two taco kebabs - not really fancying grotty beef mince, we ate the bread and cheese and then retreated to a dairy to try and make-up for our crap meal with a fruit smoothie. Clare's was fermented so we decided we'd had enough bad-luck and headed back to the hostel (while carefully dodging all the human and canine feces, spew, glass, piss and cigarette butts - this place is so dirty there aren't even many pigeons around!). We recently just headed out to a quiet close-by bar and enjoyed a couple of final pints in Ireland.
I've reversed my previous dislike of this dark ale for what I hope to be genuine reasons but you still have to admire the genius of this marketing triumph - the building is packed with people, many who probably don't even like beer. We both really enjoyed the tour and it's generally very well done, though some bits are bordering on the cheesy. We were sure to visit the section on enjoying Guinness responsibly where we were assured that we didn't actually have to drink the stuff - it was 'our choice'. Here we heard a regretful tale about how Jimmy had a really engaging conversation with some bird after a few glasses of wine and then didn't know what to say to her when sober - this is supposed to put people off drink??!! We enjoyed a pint at the gravity bar up top and admired the views of the city, before heading to the obligatory stop at the gift shop.
After this, we stopped for an non-nutritional snack at a convenience store on our way to Kilmainham Gaol. It was only after much walking that we read on our map that it wasn't to scale - no kidding!! Kilmainham is an old Victorian-style prison where many from the Easter rising were held and then executed in 1916. The tour was very informative and the place has been restored into a great historic place. After, this we were a bit buggered and headed back to the hostel.
We then decided to head to 'Temple Bar' - the bar district near our hostel for a look and some food. We stopped at an alright looking kebab place hoping to get something similar to the great kebabs back home. I did my best to communicate to the English-as a-second-language order taker, emphasising 'Falafel' every time she couldn't understand what I was saying. But it still didn't work and we ended up with two taco kebabs - not really fancying grotty beef mince, we ate the bread and cheese and then retreated to a dairy to try and make-up for our crap meal with a fruit smoothie. Clare's was fermented so we decided we'd had enough bad-luck and headed back to the hostel (while carefully dodging all the human and canine feces, spew, glass, piss and cigarette butts - this place is so dirty there aren't even many pigeons around!). We recently just headed out to a quiet close-by bar and enjoyed a couple of final pints in Ireland.
Saturday, June 16, 2007
Warning: this may sound like a rant
Ireland, what to say about Ireland... I think it's fair to say we were spoiled on our Scotland bus trip as we certainly found this week a lot tougher and less enjoyable. It all started off pretty well as we scrambled to get our appropriate seat on the bus - very important in establishing the social order for the week to come. We go for a middle seat - slightly toward the back as this says 'we're middle of the road, but still cool'. Of course, you have the cool but slightly naughty people in the back seat and the geeks up the front. We also go for seats on the right hand side but I haven't yet worked out what this means.
This weeks group was bigger than Scotland and we soon realised, a different mix of people. Although, of course you have the similarities to last week with the loud mouth Aussie lads, who only bought a pair of jandals for footwear and only T-shirts to keep warm (of course, it's not their fault - they were led astray by the 4 days of good weather in London last week so didn't think it might rain in Ireland). You kind of have to admire them for showing it can be done, but also at the same time you want them to slip off a big rock in their jandals so you can say, 'I told you so'. You also have a similar spectrum of kiwi couples with the 'North Islanders' - this time a couple from Rotorua. You have the 'Southlanders' or 'Westcoasters' this week (actually living in Wellington, but their natural habitat is the coast). And then there is of course, us - the ultra-hip urban liberals.
This time round, we had a bit of a surprise with the stereotypical, ignorant and wealthy Americans - this was a mix of two related families, sans the fathers who were presumably still hard at work financing this shopping trip. This was the Americans first experience in staying at hostels and was great entertainment value. I had to stop myself from laughing when asked on the first night if I'd stayed in hostels before - I tried hard to level with them and said that I wasn't that keen on it either. Good thing is, no matter how much you were suffering this week, you could take comfort in the fact that you knew that it was far more painful for them. Of course, they tried the Jesus trick and turned our free breakfast toast into muffins and bagels on the second morning. 'Opps, we bought too much food, help yourselves...' Clare did her best to help out by pointing out where to get coffee, but it wasn't enough to fulfil someones craving for a Starbucks triple iced frappe mocha latte. Another annoyance was the ultra-neurotic Australian girl, who was finding the whole experience a tad stressful - 'where am I? who am I? Just breathe! I'm going straight to hell!'. Though she might be correct about that last one, you should go to hell for sleeping with the tour guide! If he'd been more interested in acting as a tour guide than pimp daddy we might've had a better time. The most vivid piece of commentary on the bus wasn't about the historical relevance of some castle, but about the great deeds of some footballer from Cork. Of course, I would've posted feedback this feedback of the evaluation forms provided at the end of the tour instead of this blog, except he didn't provide any.
Another thing that adds to the displeasure factor is the endless playing of boring middle of the road pop rock packed onto everyone's ipod that you've heard 10,000 times before. I was reaching for the razorblades this afternoon when they played a James Blunt album and was only able to save myself by imagining the Pogues' Shane MacGowan drunkenly smashing a glass of Guinness into his pretty little face.
We're found the scenery here to be somewhat unspectacular after being in Scotland and I guess it doesn't help being a from NZ... 'you call that a mountain??!!'. A lot of the country-side is scraggy, rolling farmland and looked a lot drier than I expected. I was wondering on the first day if things would look better when raining and was granted that wish as soon as we got to Westport and started walking to the supermarket. The stupid thing about these raining places like Scotland and Ireland is that none of the shops have verandas to stop you getting soaked. Some of the coastal scenery is spectacular and I wished we'd spend more time around these areas.
The Irish are kind of funny with their tourist spots - they've made a huge thing about the cliffs of Moher, having just completed a 30 million Euro tourist centre in the side of the hill. This place is packed with tourists and here you can spend money on the 'Cliffs of Moher Experience' which seems odd when the spectacular cliffs are outside for free. And of course, natural beauty never gets in the way of all your shopping and crappy gift buying needs. The other extreme of the tourist experience is funny little curiosities situated on private land, after many twists and turns down terrible, narrow country lanes. Here you find some crappy, hardy visible sign and realise the ticket office is actually someones uninviting cottage where some old queen of the harpies is waiting to relieve you of your hard earned cash.
Of course then there's Blarney Castle, the Paris Hilton of Irish tourist attractions - famous for being famous. The operators must be laughing all the way to the bank and obviously very thankful to who ever made up the load of BS about kissing the stone. There doesn't even seem to be a decent tale behind the stone, our guide had to make something up. After forking out 8 Euro to get in, you can also throw away another 2.50 to get a certificate that you have to fill in yourself saying you kissed the stone and now possess the gift of eloquence. And of course, because you can't take photos, you'll need to fork out some more to get an official photo of you slobbering the stone. Bah humbug! we decided to spend out cash on some yummy seafood chowder at a local cafe and shelter from the rain instead. Plus we both already have the gift of eloquence.
What the Irish may lack in an abundance of natural beauty, they make up for in their hospitality, nightlife and music - even in rather small places where we stayed, such as Doolan there's no shortage of cosy pubs and good music. It's hard to imagine such fun being had in similar sized places in NZ and this is certainly one thing we'd love to take back home if we could.
And yes, if you couldn't tell from my ranting, I still have my cold :(
We're looking forward to it just being the two of us again as we spend a day in Dublin tomorrow, before returning to London and then beginning our Western Europe travels.
This weeks group was bigger than Scotland and we soon realised, a different mix of people. Although, of course you have the similarities to last week with the loud mouth Aussie lads, who only bought a pair of jandals for footwear and only T-shirts to keep warm (of course, it's not their fault - they were led astray by the 4 days of good weather in London last week so didn't think it might rain in Ireland). You kind of have to admire them for showing it can be done, but also at the same time you want them to slip off a big rock in their jandals so you can say, 'I told you so'. You also have a similar spectrum of kiwi couples with the 'North Islanders' - this time a couple from Rotorua. You have the 'Southlanders' or 'Westcoasters' this week (actually living in Wellington, but their natural habitat is the coast). And then there is of course, us - the ultra-hip urban liberals.
This time round, we had a bit of a surprise with the stereotypical, ignorant and wealthy Americans - this was a mix of two related families, sans the fathers who were presumably still hard at work financing this shopping trip. This was the Americans first experience in staying at hostels and was great entertainment value. I had to stop myself from laughing when asked on the first night if I'd stayed in hostels before - I tried hard to level with them and said that I wasn't that keen on it either. Good thing is, no matter how much you were suffering this week, you could take comfort in the fact that you knew that it was far more painful for them. Of course, they tried the Jesus trick and turned our free breakfast toast into muffins and bagels on the second morning. 'Opps, we bought too much food, help yourselves...' Clare did her best to help out by pointing out where to get coffee, but it wasn't enough to fulfil someones craving for a Starbucks triple iced frappe mocha latte. Another annoyance was the ultra-neurotic Australian girl, who was finding the whole experience a tad stressful - 'where am I? who am I? Just breathe! I'm going straight to hell!'. Though she might be correct about that last one, you should go to hell for sleeping with the tour guide! If he'd been more interested in acting as a tour guide than pimp daddy we might've had a better time. The most vivid piece of commentary on the bus wasn't about the historical relevance of some castle, but about the great deeds of some footballer from Cork. Of course, I would've posted feedback this feedback of the evaluation forms provided at the end of the tour instead of this blog, except he didn't provide any.
Another thing that adds to the displeasure factor is the endless playing of boring middle of the road pop rock packed onto everyone's ipod that you've heard 10,000 times before. I was reaching for the razorblades this afternoon when they played a James Blunt album and was only able to save myself by imagining the Pogues' Shane MacGowan drunkenly smashing a glass of Guinness into his pretty little face.
We're found the scenery here to be somewhat unspectacular after being in Scotland and I guess it doesn't help being a from NZ... 'you call that a mountain??!!'. A lot of the country-side is scraggy, rolling farmland and looked a lot drier than I expected. I was wondering on the first day if things would look better when raining and was granted that wish as soon as we got to Westport and started walking to the supermarket. The stupid thing about these raining places like Scotland and Ireland is that none of the shops have verandas to stop you getting soaked. Some of the coastal scenery is spectacular and I wished we'd spend more time around these areas.
The Irish are kind of funny with their tourist spots - they've made a huge thing about the cliffs of Moher, having just completed a 30 million Euro tourist centre in the side of the hill. This place is packed with tourists and here you can spend money on the 'Cliffs of Moher Experience' which seems odd when the spectacular cliffs are outside for free. And of course, natural beauty never gets in the way of all your shopping and crappy gift buying needs. The other extreme of the tourist experience is funny little curiosities situated on private land, after many twists and turns down terrible, narrow country lanes. Here you find some crappy, hardy visible sign and realise the ticket office is actually someones uninviting cottage where some old queen of the harpies is waiting to relieve you of your hard earned cash.
Of course then there's Blarney Castle, the Paris Hilton of Irish tourist attractions - famous for being famous. The operators must be laughing all the way to the bank and obviously very thankful to who ever made up the load of BS about kissing the stone. There doesn't even seem to be a decent tale behind the stone, our guide had to make something up. After forking out 8 Euro to get in, you can also throw away another 2.50 to get a certificate that you have to fill in yourself saying you kissed the stone and now possess the gift of eloquence. And of course, because you can't take photos, you'll need to fork out some more to get an official photo of you slobbering the stone. Bah humbug! we decided to spend out cash on some yummy seafood chowder at a local cafe and shelter from the rain instead. Plus we both already have the gift of eloquence.
What the Irish may lack in an abundance of natural beauty, they make up for in their hospitality, nightlife and music - even in rather small places where we stayed, such as Doolan there's no shortage of cosy pubs and good music. It's hard to imagine such fun being had in similar sized places in NZ and this is certainly one thing we'd love to take back home if we could.
And yes, if you couldn't tell from my ranting, I still have my cold :(
We're looking forward to it just being the two of us again as we spend a day in Dublin tomorrow, before returning to London and then beginning our Western Europe travels.
Tuesday, June 12, 2007
Erie
Just a quick update tonight - we're staying the night in Galway tonight on the second day of our tour. It's a great small city and apparently we're going out tonight to learn some Irish dancing and then see some music. Been a bit tiresome with still getting over my cold and stupid things like leaving my towel at last night's hostel and dealing with idiots in supermarkets, but we're still having a great time. Stayed last night in Westport where I got over my historic hatred of Guinness and enjoyed a few pints + saw some great local musicians and some great old local guy, telling jokes and singing traditional songs.
Sunday, June 10, 2007
Where are we now?
I'm finally getting round to doing an update - have been suffering a bad cold for the past few days so haven't felt like posting. Clare also had a cold this week, so we're hoping the coming week will be better.
We arrived in Dublin this afternoon to great weather, but were pleased to get off the plane due to my cold and a bunch of Irish tossers who thought they were comedians in front of us. True, the UK is small but it still took us 8 hours door to door to get here. We're liking Dublin so far, and had a much better time once we got our bearings - there wasn't a free tourist map in sight and the only one we could find was in a window and had no 'you are here' thing. So after a good walk round in a few circles we made it to our hostel which isn't too bad. They have ice cold showers but free Internet! (which kind of cancel each other out). Found a free tourist map here - I think there's something wrong with it though as it actually folds back up easily and in the correct sequence!
We had our final night of our Scottish bus tour in a fantastic little place called Fort Augustus which is at the head of Loch Ness (stayed here two nights). After spending the day sampling some local Whiskey, we headed into Glen Nevis and did a fantastic walk up the valley to Steel Falls. The track was pretty crazy compared to most tracks in NZ, with plenty of jagged rock and steep banks. The scenery here was quite stunning and certainly rivals NZ. After making it back to the hostel, we sampled some Haggis, and then went for a pint at the local. After this we had a fantastic time back at the hostel bar where a local musician played into the wee hours. Had some tense moments trying to tell the uptight bar maid that I only wanted the cheap whiskey though.
On the final day, after trying to summon Nessie, it was back on the road again to Edinburgh. By this time we were well sick of waiting for stragglers to get back on the bus in time. It was back to the crusty hostel for the night which wasn't too bad this time as we stayed in a room with some Kiwis from the tour. Everyone had an early night which seemed funny for a Saturday night in Edinburgh, but we'd had a great time on the tour so it didn't matter. We certainly enjoyed the small towns in Scotland more than the two big cities.
The next day, it was off to the castle - not Edinburgh castle but our own one! We took a train from Edinburgh to the nearby town of Stirling. We then took a taxi through some nice countryside to Culcreuch Castle, built by the Galbraith Clan around 700 years ago. We were pleasantly surprised to find that we'd been upgraded to a bigger room due to our last name! We had a walk around the grounds, along with several rabbits and squirrels before heading to the bar. We had a great meal in the Dungeon restaurant, while reading an information leaflet about a war-like clan named the Galbraiths. I didn't have a great nights sleep due to lots of creaking from the floor and old furniture, and anticipating a visit by one of the three resident apparitions, but the whole experience was definitely worth it.
In the morning, we took another taxi directly to Glasgow, as it was about the same distance back to Stirling. The centre of the city is quite modern and pleasant but it's easy to get to some grotty areas by walking a few blocks the wrong way as we found out the next morning while out walking. As we didn't have a lot of time in Glasgow, we mainly stayed around the city centre which is mainly about shops. I would quite liked to have found about some historical stuff such the city's ship building but you can't do everything. We had a great cup of tea and scone at the Willow tearooms designed by Charles Rennie Mackitosh - check out the massive chairs in the link!
Then, it was on another train bound for Nottingham to see Matt. The first train was made quite unpleasant by an extremely drunk Scottish munter in our coach, and the crew who didn't seem to care. We changed trains at Warrington (which also involved changing stations!) and then we were finally able to relax. Matt picked up from the station and then it was out for curry and a pint at the local pub. One thing over here you certainly notice is the smoking in bars (and all over the place such as malls). NZ is much nicer with non-smoking, though England is about to follow on 1st July.
The next two days we spent relaxing, and having a look around the city centre, which is quite large. We also checked out the remains of the old castle - this now contains a museum / art gallery which we found a bit strange as it's a bit of a mish-mash of stuff. We decided not to do the tour of the limestone caves under the city as we were feeling a bit tired at this stage. In defiance of the overcast and cool weather we even had a BBQ in true NZ style. Friday saw us take a bus trip to the beautiful Peak District. Because we left late and the bus arrived at our destination late, we basically spent 4.5 hours on the bus and half an hour in Bakewell, where we has one of their famous tarts. Despite our short stop, the scenery from the bus was great. This was our final night here, so despite feeling crap due to my cold we had a night on the town and as Matt said, 'you're only going to be here once'. Our first stop was a crazy pub in a massive former church - it felt quite sinful drinking here, but at the prices they charge I guess they give a cut to God or something. Next it was off to 'Ye Olde Trip to Jerusalem' which rumor has it was a local stop for the Crusaders before heading to the Middle East. This is quite an amazing place as it consists of caverns cut into the Limestone bank which runs through the city. Our final stop was 'Ye Olde Salutation Inn' (at least that's what I can remember). Thankfully tonight was hard rock Karaoke night complete with 80's hair metal barman, which made for some great entertainment. There was plenty of sing-along to Foreigners 'I Want to Know What Love Is' and Bon Bovi's 'Living on a Prayer'. I was keen to do an Avril Lavigne number but was only held back by my sore throat. Most of the singers were pretty good although one was almost as bad as me on my Stag's night according to Matt.
We all managed to pull ourselves out of bed the next morning and eventually hit the road in our rental car bound for Cambridge. After a few extra miles due to the complex nature of the roads and signage, we made it to Duxford airfield (this is a former WW2 airfield which is now a major aviation museum). After paying our admission, Matt and I were like kids in a candy store, while Clare now had some expensive benches to read her book on. After a couple of hours here, we headed into Cambridge where we managed to find Rachel and Nick's flat without a map! (Rachel is a former Stats friend currently living in Cambridge). After saying farewell to Matt, Rachel and Nick showed us around beautiful Cambridge - everyone was out and about because the weather was perfect despite the forecast. We had a picnic in one of the many parks - it's quite amazing how people seem to utilise their parks so much over here compared with NZ - there was activity everywhere, no doubt enhanced by all the students. Cambridge must be the bike capital of the world, with tons of bikes everywhere. You certainly won't be called a geek here even if you have mudguards and a wicker basket on the front. If Cambridge has any leather clad and tattooed gangs, it's a safe bet that they ride push-bikes. After some walking around we hit a local pub where I, probably for the first time didn't have a pint, but some juice - damn cold!
This morning, we got the bus to Stanstead airport to catch our plane to Dublin. Security was a breeze today, unlike when we went to Edinburgh - we suspected my beard must have made me look like a terrorist then, but it was only Clare who got a pat-down today. I'm still not used to the whole immigration thing here where EU passport holders are treated like angels straight off a plane from Heaven, while the rest of us are criminal scum who must wait forever and be subjected to their stupid questions. 'Purpose of your visit?'...'I'm just here to take your women, drink your beer and burn your cities'...'Thank you, have a nice time!'
Anyway, sorry for the long post, I'm off to bed. Tomorrow, we start our 6 day trip around Ireland.
We arrived in Dublin this afternoon to great weather, but were pleased to get off the plane due to my cold and a bunch of Irish tossers who thought they were comedians in front of us. True, the UK is small but it still took us 8 hours door to door to get here. We're liking Dublin so far, and had a much better time once we got our bearings - there wasn't a free tourist map in sight and the only one we could find was in a window and had no 'you are here' thing. So after a good walk round in a few circles we made it to our hostel which isn't too bad. They have ice cold showers but free Internet! (which kind of cancel each other out). Found a free tourist map here - I think there's something wrong with it though as it actually folds back up easily and in the correct sequence!
We had our final night of our Scottish bus tour in a fantastic little place called Fort Augustus which is at the head of Loch Ness (stayed here two nights). After spending the day sampling some local Whiskey, we headed into Glen Nevis and did a fantastic walk up the valley to Steel Falls. The track was pretty crazy compared to most tracks in NZ, with plenty of jagged rock and steep banks. The scenery here was quite stunning and certainly rivals NZ. After making it back to the hostel, we sampled some Haggis, and then went for a pint at the local. After this we had a fantastic time back at the hostel bar where a local musician played into the wee hours. Had some tense moments trying to tell the uptight bar maid that I only wanted the cheap whiskey though.
On the final day, after trying to summon Nessie, it was back on the road again to Edinburgh. By this time we were well sick of waiting for stragglers to get back on the bus in time. It was back to the crusty hostel for the night which wasn't too bad this time as we stayed in a room with some Kiwis from the tour. Everyone had an early night which seemed funny for a Saturday night in Edinburgh, but we'd had a great time on the tour so it didn't matter. We certainly enjoyed the small towns in Scotland more than the two big cities.
The next day, it was off to the castle - not Edinburgh castle but our own one! We took a train from Edinburgh to the nearby town of Stirling. We then took a taxi through some nice countryside to Culcreuch Castle, built by the Galbraith Clan around 700 years ago. We were pleasantly surprised to find that we'd been upgraded to a bigger room due to our last name! We had a walk around the grounds, along with several rabbits and squirrels before heading to the bar. We had a great meal in the Dungeon restaurant, while reading an information leaflet about a war-like clan named the Galbraiths. I didn't have a great nights sleep due to lots of creaking from the floor and old furniture, and anticipating a visit by one of the three resident apparitions, but the whole experience was definitely worth it.
In the morning, we took another taxi directly to Glasgow, as it was about the same distance back to Stirling. The centre of the city is quite modern and pleasant but it's easy to get to some grotty areas by walking a few blocks the wrong way as we found out the next morning while out walking. As we didn't have a lot of time in Glasgow, we mainly stayed around the city centre which is mainly about shops. I would quite liked to have found about some historical stuff such the city's ship building but you can't do everything. We had a great cup of tea and scone at the Willow tearooms designed by Charles Rennie Mackitosh - check out the massive chairs in the link!
Then, it was on another train bound for Nottingham to see Matt. The first train was made quite unpleasant by an extremely drunk Scottish munter in our coach, and the crew who didn't seem to care. We changed trains at Warrington (which also involved changing stations!) and then we were finally able to relax. Matt picked up from the station and then it was out for curry and a pint at the local pub. One thing over here you certainly notice is the smoking in bars (and all over the place such as malls). NZ is much nicer with non-smoking, though England is about to follow on 1st July.
The next two days we spent relaxing, and having a look around the city centre, which is quite large. We also checked out the remains of the old castle - this now contains a museum / art gallery which we found a bit strange as it's a bit of a mish-mash of stuff. We decided not to do the tour of the limestone caves under the city as we were feeling a bit tired at this stage. In defiance of the overcast and cool weather we even had a BBQ in true NZ style. Friday saw us take a bus trip to the beautiful Peak District. Because we left late and the bus arrived at our destination late, we basically spent 4.5 hours on the bus and half an hour in Bakewell, where we has one of their famous tarts. Despite our short stop, the scenery from the bus was great. This was our final night here, so despite feeling crap due to my cold we had a night on the town and as Matt said, 'you're only going to be here once'. Our first stop was a crazy pub in a massive former church - it felt quite sinful drinking here, but at the prices they charge I guess they give a cut to God or something. Next it was off to 'Ye Olde Trip to Jerusalem' which rumor has it was a local stop for the Crusaders before heading to the Middle East. This is quite an amazing place as it consists of caverns cut into the Limestone bank which runs through the city. Our final stop was 'Ye Olde Salutation Inn' (at least that's what I can remember). Thankfully tonight was hard rock Karaoke night complete with 80's hair metal barman, which made for some great entertainment. There was plenty of sing-along to Foreigners 'I Want to Know What Love Is' and Bon Bovi's 'Living on a Prayer'. I was keen to do an Avril Lavigne number but was only held back by my sore throat. Most of the singers were pretty good although one was almost as bad as me on my Stag's night according to Matt.
We all managed to pull ourselves out of bed the next morning and eventually hit the road in our rental car bound for Cambridge. After a few extra miles due to the complex nature of the roads and signage, we made it to Duxford airfield (this is a former WW2 airfield which is now a major aviation museum). After paying our admission, Matt and I were like kids in a candy store, while Clare now had some expensive benches to read her book on. After a couple of hours here, we headed into Cambridge where we managed to find Rachel and Nick's flat without a map! (Rachel is a former Stats friend currently living in Cambridge). After saying farewell to Matt, Rachel and Nick showed us around beautiful Cambridge - everyone was out and about because the weather was perfect despite the forecast. We had a picnic in one of the many parks - it's quite amazing how people seem to utilise their parks so much over here compared with NZ - there was activity everywhere, no doubt enhanced by all the students. Cambridge must be the bike capital of the world, with tons of bikes everywhere. You certainly won't be called a geek here even if you have mudguards and a wicker basket on the front. If Cambridge has any leather clad and tattooed gangs, it's a safe bet that they ride push-bikes. After some walking around we hit a local pub where I, probably for the first time didn't have a pint, but some juice - damn cold!
This morning, we got the bus to Stanstead airport to catch our plane to Dublin. Security was a breeze today, unlike when we went to Edinburgh - we suspected my beard must have made me look like a terrorist then, but it was only Clare who got a pat-down today. I'm still not used to the whole immigration thing here where EU passport holders are treated like angels straight off a plane from Heaven, while the rest of us are criminal scum who must wait forever and be subjected to their stupid questions. 'Purpose of your visit?'...'I'm just here to take your women, drink your beer and burn your cities'...'Thank you, have a nice time!'
Anyway, sorry for the long post, I'm off to bed. Tomorrow, we start our 6 day trip around Ireland.
Thursday, June 7, 2007
Wednesday, June 6, 2007
Our Scotland tour group
Here's a photo of our tour group and big yellow bus at Loch Ness - we're in the middle.
Some things to hate about the UK
#1: Coins (aka shrapnel)
Grrrr, the coins over here are ridiculous - they're so backward that they still have 1p, 2p, and 5p pieces which just fills up your wallet with heavy but virtually worthless junk - I bet with today's copper prices, the 1 & 2p coins would actually be worth more than their face value if sold as scrap! You have to fiddle round for half an hour at checkouts trying to get rid of this stuff and they have also conveniently mixed up the coin sizes relative to value which makes things even worse.
#2: Toilets
One annoying thing over here is the flush handles on all loos - these resemble door handles and sometimes have to be pushed several times or pumped rigorously to actually flush (especially if trying to remove a large triple-coil deposit). Another problem is that they still use those horrible smelling sanitary blocks in urinals, and in large quantities. In NZ, I think they realised that these things actually make your bollocks shrivel-up and fall off so have stopped using them. There truly is nothing like the smell of these blocks mixed with the smell of urine, cigarettes and beer. Some of the hostels we've visited are pretty grotty and they seem to have some strange aversion to providing hand-drying facilities. Also, here's a tip - in flash automatic toilets on trains, always remember to push the door 'lock' button.
#3: CCTV
No, this isn't some local TV station running programmes about a jam making contests run by the United League of Women, but the thousands of closed-circuit TV cameras watching every square-metre of public space. Apparently, the average Briton is caught on camera up to a couple of hundred times a day. There are all kinds of debate about the necessity of these things, their effectiveness and so on. Whatever side you're on, most will agree that there is something quite unnerving about being constantly watched. They're even starting to trial speakers on the cameras so they can tell people off - 'Oi you, hands out of pants!'. Though I admit, some major fun could be had if you were the one sitting in the control room.
Grrrr, the coins over here are ridiculous - they're so backward that they still have 1p, 2p, and 5p pieces which just fills up your wallet with heavy but virtually worthless junk - I bet with today's copper prices, the 1 & 2p coins would actually be worth more than their face value if sold as scrap! You have to fiddle round for half an hour at checkouts trying to get rid of this stuff and they have also conveniently mixed up the coin sizes relative to value which makes things even worse.
#2: Toilets
One annoying thing over here is the flush handles on all loos - these resemble door handles and sometimes have to be pushed several times or pumped rigorously to actually flush (especially if trying to remove a large triple-coil deposit). Another problem is that they still use those horrible smelling sanitary blocks in urinals, and in large quantities. In NZ, I think they realised that these things actually make your bollocks shrivel-up and fall off so have stopped using them. There truly is nothing like the smell of these blocks mixed with the smell of urine, cigarettes and beer. Some of the hostels we've visited are pretty grotty and they seem to have some strange aversion to providing hand-drying facilities. Also, here's a tip - in flash automatic toilets on trains, always remember to push the door 'lock' button.
#3: CCTV
No, this isn't some local TV station running programmes about a jam making contests run by the United League of Women, but the thousands of closed-circuit TV cameras watching every square-metre of public space. Apparently, the average Briton is caught on camera up to a couple of hundred times a day. There are all kinds of debate about the necessity of these things, their effectiveness and so on. Whatever side you're on, most will agree that there is something quite unnerving about being constantly watched. They're even starting to trial speakers on the cameras so they can tell people off - 'Oi you, hands out of pants!'. Though I admit, some major fun could be had if you were the one sitting in the control room.
Some things to love about the UK
#1: They take public transport seriously over here
Though it isn't fun when you have service outages or have to share a journey with nutters or drunk a-holes, it's very easy to get all over the place quite efficiently using public transport, which is great for us backpackers. One thing that surprised us was the extent of bus services on Skye in Scotland - buses frequently run in the middle of nowhere on one-lane roads, though this can obviously be a bit of an issue when your tour bus meets one!
#2: Vegetarians are treated like actual humans
Though we're not fully vegetarian anymore, it's been refreshing to find this diet well catered for, even in traditional pubs where you wouldn't expect it. There are usually several vege options on menus (rather than one in NZ - usually pasta), all vege dishes are clearly marked and even traditional food such as haggis and bangers and mash is available in vege versions. (though this might seem crazy to the connoisseur). The only problem with comprehensive labeling is that it gets over used - did you know that water is vegetarian?
#3: Long grass
OK, it might seem strange to get excited about grass but I like the way that lots of the urban parks are left quite natural with long-grass and areas left to run wild. In NZ, there seems to be a obsession with perfectly manicured grass and an emphasis on creating gardens in urban parks rather than creating a bit of the country in the city. It's great seeing wildlife such as squirrels in the middle of Hyde park.
Though it isn't fun when you have service outages or have to share a journey with nutters or drunk a-holes, it's very easy to get all over the place quite efficiently using public transport, which is great for us backpackers. One thing that surprised us was the extent of bus services on Skye in Scotland - buses frequently run in the middle of nowhere on one-lane roads, though this can obviously be a bit of an issue when your tour bus meets one!
#2: Vegetarians are treated like actual humans
Though we're not fully vegetarian anymore, it's been refreshing to find this diet well catered for, even in traditional pubs where you wouldn't expect it. There are usually several vege options on menus (rather than one in NZ - usually pasta), all vege dishes are clearly marked and even traditional food such as haggis and bangers and mash is available in vege versions. (though this might seem crazy to the connoisseur). The only problem with comprehensive labeling is that it gets over used - did you know that water is vegetarian?
#3: Long grass
OK, it might seem strange to get excited about grass but I like the way that lots of the urban parks are left quite natural with long-grass and areas left to run wild. In NZ, there seems to be a obsession with perfectly manicured grass and an emphasis on creating gardens in urban parks rather than creating a bit of the country in the city. It's great seeing wildlife such as squirrels in the middle of Hyde park.
Thursday, May 31, 2007
Welcome to Munterville
Had a ton of rain yesterday and everyone was getting a bit low spirited when we got to Ullapool where we spent the night. Ended up braving the weather and having fish and chips again and then hitting the local pubs (which mainly consisted of a bunch of us kiwis trying to find the rest of the group in the stormy weather). After finding them, the group was told to 'shut the F--- up' by the bar lady - mainly because the Aussies thought it polite to play drinking games at the local. We had to be promptly home by 12am or turn into pumpkins (and be locked out in the storm).
Woke to amazing weather today and hit the local beach where 'Dingo', the 48 year old Aussie know-it-all (and honorary tour leader) won the stone skimming contest. Then it was on to Inverness - or munterville according to our tour guide. After playing spot the ugliest munter as we drove through town, we stopped and got some food. We were told today's 'good news' by the local crazy old man, which wasn't the football win last night but the fact that Jesus loves us and we shouldn't go to hell.
Have seen some amazing waterfalls the last two days as well as an ancient burial site, where the bus almost left the road. We arrived safely at Loch Ness and are staying at a fantastic hostel tonight in a beautiful village at the head of the Loch.
Woke to amazing weather today and hit the local beach where 'Dingo', the 48 year old Aussie know-it-all (and honorary tour leader) won the stone skimming contest. Then it was on to Inverness - or munterville according to our tour guide. After playing spot the ugliest munter as we drove through town, we stopped and got some food. We were told today's 'good news' by the local crazy old man, which wasn't the football win last night but the fact that Jesus loves us and we shouldn't go to hell.
Have seen some amazing waterfalls the last two days as well as an ancient burial site, where the bus almost left the road. We arrived safely at Loch Ness and are staying at a fantastic hostel tonight in a beautiful village at the head of the Loch.
Tuesday, May 29, 2007
Isle of Skye (Eilean a' Cheò)
Things are looking up - staying at a fantastic hostel tonight out in the complete middle of nowhere + they even have decent Internet and are even letting us stay in the same room together. Clare found the precarious drive to the hostel rather nerve-racking, single lane roads with wandering livestock, but it was definitely worth it. Been raining all day but it only adds to the atmosphere of the amazing scenery.
Had a good night last night eating local fish & chips on the waterfront of a little seaside village called Oban. We then went to have a few pints in the pub and got to know the other people on our tour. Was a little bit annoyed when the vending machine ate my £1 and didn't dispense my souvenir whisky flavoured condom though. There must be a lot of disabled people in this town as the local Tesco had 19 wheelchair parks (about 25% of the entire car park)!
Had a good night last night eating local fish & chips on the waterfront of a little seaside village called Oban. We then went to have a few pints in the pub and got to know the other people on our tour. Was a little bit annoyed when the vending machine ate my £1 and didn't dispense my souvenir whisky flavoured condom though. There must be a lot of disabled people in this town as the local Tesco had 19 wheelchair parks (about 25% of the entire car park)!
Monday, May 28, 2007
Freedom!!...kind of
In Scotland and it seems Mel Gibson has made a big impact here - it even inspired some dude who had a heart attack to carve some horrible statue of him at the William Wallace Memorial. Struggling to update the blog though because the Internet at backpackers is a bloody rip-off and usually blocks access to our site! Plus they're making us stay in separate male / female dorms...my ancestors didn't fight for this kind of treatment!!
Thursday, May 24, 2007
Two days in sunny London by Christian
Well, we've been here for three days now and here's a summary of the last two - the weather has been perfect so we've been very hot and busy trying to take in all the sights.
On Wednesday, after a large sleep we took the tube to Piccadilly Circus and then made our way to Trafalgar Square. Through some accidental, but fortunate timing we managed to see the changing of the guard or something similar where a bunch of horse mounted guards head down to Buckingham Palace. Apparently, they had opened up the headquarters today for some charity appeal where we could meet some pensioners!! Only just managing to tear ourselves away, we headed through St James's park on the way to the palace. This and another garden we walked through earlier are amazing in the sunny weather. Quite funny though how they have signs with hundreds of bylaws for use of the parks which discuss things such as the 20 points of canine feces removal. A sign by the horse guards warns that the horses may bite or kick you.
And of course please mind the gap.
Buckingham palace was pretty packed, though there wasn't a great deal to see today and the royal family doesn't exactly excite us at the best of times but it's something you have to see. Bit of a shame that there's a huge road running past the attractive square in front though.
Headed back into the centre of town, grabbed some sandwiches from good-old Tesco's and then we browsed the National gallery. It was great to see some of the original works by Van Gogh, Monet, Constable, the impressionists and others. There is plenty there for those that love fire and brimstone, weird babies and violent death orgies but there's a lot to take in and it's best to be selective rather than try to see everything.
After this, we walked past the parliament and Westminster Abbey before heading to the other side of the Thames where we walked past the London eye. This was about enough for our first day! Read up the Lonely Planet city guide when we got back to Hammersmith and tried to fix my bearings which got quite confused during our walking.
Today (Thursday) saw us planning to head to Hyde park and a few museums. We got off one tube stop earlier than planned (my fault), but this actually working out well. Went to the National History museum in Kensington - this is housed in a simply amazing building complete with hundreds of gargoyles and creatures and plants carved into every pillar. The museum is fantastic but was packed with thousands of extremely loud school kids which drove me crazy!!! There must have been some interesting questions for the teachers at the start of the human biology exhibit. Again, there's a lot to take in here and it's easy to lose interest after a while.
Next we went to the Science museum next door and I was a bit like a kid in a candy store here. There have some amazing pieces of history in their collection including the Apollo 10 module, Stephenson's rocket and the Cray supercomputer. Tried to just focus on a few highlights - i.e. aerospace.
Finally made it to Hyde park for which we found really beautiful and relaxing. Clare paddled her feet in the Princess Diana memorial fountain. Checked out the ANZAC memorial then headed for 'home'.
Got the tube back to Hammersmith and had a pint of fosters at one of the pubs in the station - "The Trout". Another great day had by all.
On Wednesday, after a large sleep we took the tube to Piccadilly Circus and then made our way to Trafalgar Square. Through some accidental, but fortunate timing we managed to see the changing of the guard or something similar where a bunch of horse mounted guards head down to Buckingham Palace. Apparently, they had opened up the headquarters today for some charity appeal where we could meet some pensioners!! Only just managing to tear ourselves away, we headed through St James's park on the way to the palace. This and another garden we walked through earlier are amazing in the sunny weather. Quite funny though how they have signs with hundreds of bylaws for use of the parks which discuss things such as the 20 points of canine feces removal. A sign by the horse guards warns that the horses may bite or kick you.
And of course please mind the gap.
Buckingham palace was pretty packed, though there wasn't a great deal to see today and the royal family doesn't exactly excite us at the best of times but it's something you have to see. Bit of a shame that there's a huge road running past the attractive square in front though.
Headed back into the centre of town, grabbed some sandwiches from good-old Tesco's and then we browsed the National gallery. It was great to see some of the original works by Van Gogh, Monet, Constable, the impressionists and others. There is plenty there for those that love fire and brimstone, weird babies and violent death orgies but there's a lot to take in and it's best to be selective rather than try to see everything.
After this, we walked past the parliament and Westminster Abbey before heading to the other side of the Thames where we walked past the London eye. This was about enough for our first day! Read up the Lonely Planet city guide when we got back to Hammersmith and tried to fix my bearings which got quite confused during our walking.
Today (Thursday) saw us planning to head to Hyde park and a few museums. We got off one tube stop earlier than planned (my fault), but this actually working out well. Went to the National History museum in Kensington - this is housed in a simply amazing building complete with hundreds of gargoyles and creatures and plants carved into every pillar. The museum is fantastic but was packed with thousands of extremely loud school kids which drove me crazy!!! There must have been some interesting questions for the teachers at the start of the human biology exhibit. Again, there's a lot to take in here and it's easy to lose interest after a while.
Next we went to the Science museum next door and I was a bit like a kid in a candy store here. There have some amazing pieces of history in their collection including the Apollo 10 module, Stephenson's rocket and the Cray supercomputer. Tried to just focus on a few highlights - i.e. aerospace.
Finally made it to Hyde park for which we found really beautiful and relaxing. Clare paddled her feet in the Princess Diana memorial fountain. Checked out the ANZAC memorial then headed for 'home'.
Got the tube back to Hammersmith and had a pint of fosters at one of the pubs in the station - "The Trout". Another great day had by all.
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