A Busy Month Part 2

See, I told you I would write again soon.

Last time we saw Kelly she was galavanting around the world, leaving Coventry and flying to Glasgow. Let"s see how that journey turned out, shall we?

I flew out of Birmingham airport to go to Glasgow. While in the airport I saw a few British army guys around. One in full fatigues. They were all on my flight. There was a cop (sorry mom, a police officer) helping a woman in the airport. The woman didn't speak English and the poor cop was doing his best. People around them noticed the scene, including the army guy. After, the cop walked away with an awkward smile and passed by the army guy. I loved to see the commradery and respect as they made small talk. The cop offered to get him a coffee or anything else he may want or need. It was such a sweet scene and made me feel all warm inside :)

I arrived in Glasgow and took the bus into the city where Nicole was going to meet me. Now Nicole wasn't an old College or highschool friend, I didn't even know her. My sister's friend knew Nicole and connected us on facebook. Nicole was great enough to let me stay with her for a few days and played tour guide too. The evening I arrived, we took the metro to Ashton lane, most ghetto metro I've ever been on. Ashton Lane is a cool little strip of pubs and bars. White Christmas lights hanging over the street and lots of people around make it a fun spot. We walked back to Nicole's place and stopped at another Chippy on the way. It was late so there wasn't a lot of options, but we opted for deep fried sausage. My heart is clogging right now just thinking about it. But it was the perfect 1am meal. 

The next morning we went to Edinburgh. We tried to get a good shot with the castle in the background, but just the pretty trees.

The fringe festival was happening there all of August and we caught it on a nice day. We walked around the city and saw some of the festivities. We stopped for a beer at a pub and chatted with some funny British guys. Have you heard of pass the wasp? Or Vics in the eye? I have...now. There was a wasp hanging around and one of the guys shared the techniques for passing the wasp. Slowly lean forward towards someone else and the wasp will move from you to them. Genius. The vics in the eye is far from genius, but aparantly this guy used to do it when he was a kid. Dip your finger in vics vapor rub and poke someone in the eye. Opposite of Genius. But funny.

That evening we checked out one of the many comedy shows going on in the city. The performers called themselves the Silky Pair. Two British ladies. It had it's funny moments, but wasn't a total knee slapper. There were too many people crammed in a tiny little room, not the best venue. But on the up side, we got our own little comedy show waiting at the train station heading home. There was a man walking up and down the platform with his tucked in shirt poking out of the fly of his pants. Now that's comedy.  

The next day Nicole had to work so I checked out Glasgow on my own. I heard there was a Brad Pitt movie being filmed in George's Square in Glasgow, so I checked it out. They weren't filming yet, but the streets were being changed into Philidelphia streets. Signs, lights, cars, the whole deal. Even the locals were taking pictures infront of the Philly cabs. 

I visited a modern art museum that had some great displays. There were some exhibits that really got to me. Good stuff. I was also told that I had to have Hagis before I left Scottland. I ordered it not knowing that it isn't always deep fried in batter. Either way, I can't say I was a big fan. I didn't make it too far through it. But I guess it is a badge of honor to say I tried.

The next day it was back to Edinburgh to fly to my next destination. Stockhom!

I was greeted at the airport with huge banners celebrating the stars from Stockholm. Abba was just one of many. Gotta love 'em. I took the bus to downtown and walked to the hostel from the bus station. It was a beautiful hot day, and a nice walk there. I hadn't eaten so I stopped on the way for a French Hot dog. My first, but not my last. They are all the rage in Scandanvia. Something kinda disturbing about them though.

The hostel in Stockholm was an old converted building and a little bit of a maze, but a descent place. The first night I met another Canadian girl in my room so we did a little sight seeing and souvenir shopping. The next day was my only full day in Stockholm so I wanted to see as much as I could. My hostel was right on the water so I took a ferry over to an island that has a few major attractions.

The first stop was the Vasa museum, a pretty cool place to learn about the sunken ship that was recovered after 300 years in the water. Pretty cool, my dady would love it. Then I went to another museum that was all about Sweeden. They were setting up for a fashion show in the museum, but aside from that, there were some pretty great things in there too. I have gone to more museums in the past couple of months than in the rest of my life. So why not one more. The last stop on the Island was an open air museum called Skansen. There was a village of houses and businesses set up as they would have been in Stockholm over a hundred years ago. It was pretty cool, but that wasn't all. The place was huge and had a zoo and amusement park too. I loved this lady who just got off work in her tradition outfit and talking on her cell phone. Don't know if you can catch that from the photo.

By the time I was ready to leave there it was getting later so I just walked around downtown a little. There was a festival in town so there were stages everywhere with concerts and performers. I checked out a couple and spotted this poster which I was super pumped about before heading back to the hostel.

The next day it was an earlish flight to Copenhagen. My stay in Stockholm was short but it is a beautiful city and I felt like I got a good grasp of what it has to offer.

I flew into Copenhagen late afternoon and it was a pretty nice day. I seemed to get atleast one nice day in every city. Denmark was country number 5 on this two week whirl wind trip. So by the time I got there, I was tired but ready to finish strong.

Between Sweden and Denmark the money had me really confused. They both have Krone as their currency, but Swedish and Danish Krone are different. 10 Swedish Krone is like 1 euro, so about $1.50 Canadian. I was just getting the hang of that before going to Copenhagen where 1 euro is about 7 Krone. That math is a little harder to do on the spot. Probably should have my math tutor from highschool with me. Lori, you better clear your schedule if I head back. Or atleast make me one of your famous cheat sheets. I still remember the one you made me for French 8. Excellent use of the four colour clicky pen.  wow...sure got of track there. Moving right along.

I settled in to my hostel in Copenhagen. The Generator. Sounds more like a club than a hostel? Well it is both. The 2nd floor is a club/bar/lounge. Nice for meeting people but the whole place was new and felt more like a hotel than any other hostel I've been to. After settling in I walked back to the square nearby that is a popular spot anytime of day. I did yet another boat tour in Copenhagen on the first night. It was anice way to see a lot of the landmarks and make note of what I wanted to go back to see from dry land. The little mermaid for example, known as a pretty famous landmark, not worth going back to, but the Salvation church was worth a second look. After the boat ride I walked around the harbour a little and saw a few of the many elephant sculptures around the city. They were part of a city wide open air exhibit to raise funds and awareness of Thai elephants. Some of them were pretty cool.

The second day in copenhagen was another busy one. I met a few more people in my room at the hostel. Another girl travelling alone from the US and a french couple that pretty much kept to themselves. I headed into to town and found the longest walking shopping street in Europe. I checked things out around there until I got to the end of the street. It opens up to town hall and an open area where people were celebrating pride weekend. There was samesex ballroom dancing going on and tons of people around. Across from the town hall there was an exhibit for the Titanic. It was interesting, but the audio tour was a little cheesy. But over all for an hour, it was worth it. It gave an interesting perspective on the ship and passangers.
Attached to the building where the Titanic exhibit was, was Trivoli! Trivoli is another amusement park that takes up a huge space right in the middle of the city. It has been around for a long time and it shows. The rides and atmosphere are a little...rustic. But it is a cool place. There are lots of pretty spots with gardens and fountains and a ton of resturaunts. One area is set up like China town. There were fun shops there and it was a cool place to spend an afternoon.

After Trivoli I went through Ripley's believe it or not and The Hans Christian Anderson experience. They were an ok way to see some fun stuff, but I was fading fast after a long day so I made my way back to the Hostel. That evening I checked out the club in the Generator and chatted with some people there. There was this guy, I think his name was Nick. His story was that he won a magic competition and got a trip to Copenhagen from England where he was from. So he came with a deck of cards and was doing tricks for me and some girls from Germany I had met. Pretty good actually.

The next morning I checked out a free walking tour advertised in the hostel. NewEurope is a company that does these tours all over Europe and it's basically by donation. So I went with a couple that were staying in my room at the hostel. Rachel and Shamis live in Australia, though Shamis is Irish. We walked all over the city for three hours. It is a good way to see lots of the city and hear about what you're looking at. One of the most beautiful spots is the harbour. So gorgeous.

One of the things I had seen from afar on both the boat tour and walking tour, was the Salvation Church. It's steeple is high over the city and has a gold spiral staircase winding around it to the very top. Different from other church steeples I've seen in Europe. So Shamis, Rachel and I went over there to check it out. We started climbing inside the building. Then you come out to the outside. You think you are done, but then comes the spiral staircase that goes to the very top. It gets steeper and more and more narrow as you get closer to the top. The last step is barely big enough for a foot. It was great to see the city from there, but the higher we got the more butterflies seemed to make their way into my stomach. Shamis seemed to feel the whole thing wave in the wind. I don't know about that, but it was pretty high. That's the steeple behind the yellow building.

That night we were all pretty bagged so we watched a movie at the hostel. "In Brugge" is a great Collin Farrel movie about Brugge, the city in Belguim. Rachel and Shames had been there and said it was great, after seeing the movie, I plan to go there soon too.

The next day I had a later flight so I went off to explore more of the city on my own. I went to the Guiness book of world records (it was a combo deal with Ripley's) and then went to Christiana. This is the 'green light district' of the city, but is actually a pretty cool place. There was so much to see and I loved it all so I am glad I had so long in Copenhagen. I went back to the hostel for a bit before heading to the airport that evening. I was back home by 11:30 that night and was exhausted. It was definitly a whirl wind couple of weeks, but I was glad to be able to see so much. 

The next couple weeks before the kids went back to school were good. I had a going away party for a friend moving back to Canada. The party pretty much lasted all weekend but was great. And I had one more really fun weekend in store for me. Elise who was in England for the summer was coming to Holland for a few days to visit before she went back to Canada.

She arrived on the friday night and the amazing weather we'd been missing all summer came with her. Saturday was hot and a great day to show her Hilversum and Utrecht. We did a lot of shopping and exploring. That evening there was a festival in town so there were people everywhere and stages set up in town with djs and bands. It was a good day. The next day the weather turned back to what we're used to around here...rain. We went into Amsterdam and spent the next couple of days there. We met up with Saskia, another friend from home, and stayed at her place. She works with Anti-human trafficing in amsterdam and gave us an interesting tour through the red light district. Kindof surreal to see so many tourists taking pictures when you hear the back story of some of these women. Elise and I also went to the Anne Frank house. It was interesting. The part that got me was where you can see where they marked the heights of Anne and her sister Margot, on the wall. Made them a real family for me. I realized while I was there, that though I know the story, I've never read the diary of Anne Frank. So I bought it there. So far it has been really interested to see things through her eyes.

The next day in Amsterdam we went on a NewEurope walking tour again. Julian was our guide, and though he was a bit sassy with me initially, he put on a good tour. I had seen a lot of Amsterdam, but didn't always know what I was looking at so I was glad we did the tour. I learned a thing or two. That night I headed home because I had to work the next day, while Elise stayed with Saskia and then flew back the next morning. It was fun having someone from home here. Anyone else wanna come visit?

I am still finalizing details for my birthday weekend in Paris, hopefully it all works out. I'm sure I will let you know how that goes soon enough. Until next time, peace out homies (haha rememebr that Julie)

A busy month

It's been a long time since my last post, I know, but it's hard to keep up. I am also trying to keep up a travel journal and adding pictures to facebook, so by the time that's all done, it's hard to relive everything in blog form. So, sorry for the delay. I hope it was worth the wait.

Since I last wrote I have had a busy couple of months. Mostly day trips or short weekenders near by, but keeping pretty busy. I will skip over some of the shorter trips to get to my two week holidays this August. I left August 6th and Visited Ireland, England, Scottland, Sweden and Denmark before arriving back in Amsterdam on August 21st. Here are the days of my life...

I arrived in Dublin and met up with Amanda at the airport. I went to highschool with Amanda and don't think we've seen each other since. She's been living there with her husband and two children for years and was great enough to let me stay at their place for a few days. I loved Dublin! It was refreshing to be back in an English speaking country. At Amanda's suggestion I decided to do a hop on hop off bus tour. I see them in every city but never thought to really do them. But this one turned out to be great. The whole tour lasted over an hour but then of course you can hop off at any stop and check stuff out and then get back on when your done. It was great for someone like me who didn't really know where to start. Plus the bus drivers were kinda funny, some of them atleast. My Dad's sense of humor would fit right in. 

I did a lot in Dublin and was able to see a lot of great stuff. I checked out the Guiness brewery which was fun. Once you've looked around the place you go up to the sky lounge for a pint of Guiness. I'm not a big beer drinker to start, so it wasn't my favourite, but it was all part of the experience, and it was a good one. You can see most of the city from the sky lounge. Too bad it was pouring rain by that point.

The next day I saw a lot more sights and took the metro around the city. I wanted to check out this old jail that has been closed for years and just used for tours and a museum now. It was pretty remarkable. One story that stuck with me from the tour was about a prisoner who was executed in the stone yard there. Many of the prisoners there are now thought of as heros in Dublin with streets named after them. This one man was shot in the leg. It started to infect while he was in jail, so they sent him to the hospital. The infection spread so bad that death was inevitable. So they returned him to the prison so they could execute him quietly without a lot of attention. When they brought him in the gate, he was too weak to make it across the yard where the executions took place so he was the only one to be executed on the other side of the yard. He couldn't even stand so they brought in a chair and eventually had to tie him to the chair because he was too weak to sit up. This was a horrifc story and really made the jail more than just a museum for me.

Now that we got the sad stuff out of the way...Dublin was great! Live Irish music, first time on the other side of the road, catching up with old friends, Temple Bar, learning a thing or two and overall having fun. Next stop, LONDON!

I flew to London and arrived at the Gatwick airport with my first travel mix up. I was set to take the train from the airport to Exeter, but miss judged how much time I would have. I thought I would be able to see a bit of London that day, but unfortunately only saw the airport. Instead I took a train to Reading, England. I had a short stop over there to see the city a bit, and a great street performer, before catching a connecting train to Exeter. If you know much about England you may be wondering why I went to Exeter. Well to see Elise of course. My friend Elise has been working in Exeter for the summer and I went for a a quick visit to see her. She picked me up at the train and we walked back to where we were staying. It was late so we pretty much called it a night then hit the 'big city' the next day. Exeter was pretty. We looked around the Cathedral and did some shopping. We went down to the quay and walked along the water and checked out the views. It was also the first sunny day of the trip and one of the last.

We sat for a drink at a cute little patio resturaunt. And I had a very unfortunate encounter with a wasp. I wasn't stung, but he did bogart my beer. I look happy at this point, but there was sheer panic taking place not long before this picture was taken. He was one determined little guy. And ended his lfe happily swimming in my beer.

That night we went out with some of Elise's friends to a great little spot, the Firehouse. It was a good night, but I had to head back to the train station for an early train out at 6:30am. So it was to bed I went.

My train got into London around 9:30. I only had the day there before my next stop. So I preplanned a couple of things. I met up for lunch with another old High school friend, Fong Yee. Again, great to see her after 10+ years. It was a quick lunch and then I was off to explore the South Bank area of London. I started with a trip around the London Eye. It was great. I wasn't sure what to expect but got a good deal booking online so I thought it was worth a go. The city was so beautiful from up there and was a straight shot across from Big Ben.

After the London Eye, I went on a boat tour. Which was lucky because it poured rain while I was cozy in the boat. Now the boat was interesting. It was more like a floating club with a a bar, dance floor, and disco lights to match the leather furniture.  Kinda wierd, but another fun way to see South Bank. Later I went to a promotional 'beverage garden' introducing a new cider. It was right beside the water and had a great band playing with some even more entertaining older folks cutting a rug. They came prepared with their 60s/70s get ups and funky moves. I don't think this or any other picture could quite capture the creepiness and awsomeness of these three, but they were having a good time and I hope I have that much groove 40 or 50 years down the road.

After a stop over in the gardens, I walked further along the river and checked out the Tate Museum. I didn't have long enough before it was closing so I didn't get to see all I wanted to see, but it was great and I hope to get back there at some point. I checked out a few other spots before the exaustion of the day set in and it was time to head to my next destination. I caught an evening train to Coventry, a couple hours north of London. I got to the station a little earlier than expected and had a reserved train ticket. I had a bad feeling when I got on the train that I wasn't on the right train. It was going to the right place, but it was different time but I gave it a shot. We were almost in Coventry when the dreaded moment arrived. The guys was coming to check the tickets. He took a look at mine and let me know I was on the wrong train. I didn't realize there were two different train companies and that I got on the fast one, which is more expensive. I put my best dumb tourist face on mixed with a touch of emotional girl, and turned on the charm. And...it worked. He waved the 40pound fee plus the cost of a new ticket and let me go with a warning and some tips to better understand the train system :) Too bad I can't be so convincing with the cops back home with speeding tickets.

I eventually arrived in Coventry and it was around this time that I learned that my phone was busted and I couldn't connect with Jaime. I went to College with Jaime and she moved to Coventry a few years back. And again, she was great enough to pick me up at the train, let me stay at her and her husbands place, and play tour guide for a couple of days.  I got ahold of her on a pay phone (they still exist), and we headed to her place. It was late, so we chatted for a while and then were off to bed. My two days in Coventry were a nice half way mark. By this time I was getting tired, and that mixed with more crappy weather, meant we had some down time to relax a little. Though we did manage to see what the Coventry area has to offer. We went to Stratford one day and explored Shakespears home town. There are lots of houses/museums to pay to get into, but we opted for the cheep tour. The one where you stand outside and take a picture. No entry fee :)

This is me infront of Shakespears house. I felt so smart just standing there.

And you gotta love the classic British phone booths and mail boxes. Ya just gotta.

That evening I went to my first chippy. Now that's a Fish and chips place for the uncultured readers. Though, not being a seafood fan, I opted for the chicken and chips version. The next day we saw more of Coventry. We spent a while at the old cathedral there. Now I have been in Europe for 4 months now, and there are a lot of cathedrals around here. But I haven't seen another cathedral like this one yet. The roof was bombed out in the war and just the outer wall are left standing. The frames of the stained glass windows are there with a little of the original glass still hanging on. It was beautiful. That Saturday afternoon, one week into the trip, it was back to the airport for me. I flew from Birmingham to Glasgow. 

But for more on that story, tune into my next post which I assure you will be sooner rather than later. My real life version of a choose your own adventure book continues with three countries left to explore. And an added bonus, an old character resurfaces as Elise takes on the Netherlands for a weekend visit. That, and more in my next post. Until then, love and miss you.