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.