Oh Dublin

So I'm sitting here in my bed thinking, oh hey, I haven't uploaded anything in a while.. And I apologize for that, but there was a reason.

So I arrived in Dublin on Sunday evening. It took me a little while to orient myself to this new city, I think I walked through the airport like 3 times trying to figure out where to go. I eventually just asked someone, my brain had finally kicked in, and the nice gentleman at the tourism desk told me which bus to get on. I paid my €2.80 for a bus ticket and hopped on. I was on the bus for about a half an hour when I realized I should be getting off soon. Thank fully there was wifi on the bus so I was able to use google maps to show me how far away from the hostel I was. After finally arriving at the hostel I got myself all settled in, met my roommates , and headed to bed. 

The next morning I didn't really have a plan. All I knew is I had a bunch of Pounds that I needed to convert into Euros. So I headed out of my hostel and walked down the street only to have a man come up and steel my purse. 

This is my reason for not posting. I had no idea if I should really share with the entire world such a shocking event that happened, but finally deciding that if I'm sharing my life through this blog I have to share the good and the bad. Thankfully I was not hurt only utterly shocked. 

For anyone hat has ever been robbed before I am truly sorry for you. It's a feeling of utter brokenness, like someone has come in and taken a physical piece of you and not just that replaceable item. I have to admit I was completely stupid for having everything in the same area, I knew better I just was not thinking. And I know that this isn't my fault, but every victim of a crime probably goes through the oh what could I have done better to change the situation. But in reality everything must happen for a reason.

I am a true believer in karma and that if something bad happens now the good will come later. Had I not had my purse stolen I would not have switched hostels, I would not have joined that walking tour and I would not have met these fellow travellers that I would now consider friends. I can't say that Dublin has been my favourite city so far but the people I have met have made it so much better than the dark first day I spent here. So thank you to those people I've spent these last few days getting to know who helped me realize that Dublin is not such a scary place. 

The city it self is actually quite nice. It's more gloomy than what I was expecting, not just because of the rain, but it is still a city I'm glad I can say that I've seen. For those who are thinking of going I would say that it is worth it, but you won't need any more than 2 days to see everything. The old cathedrals, the museums, the cultural district called Temple Bar are all within a short walking distance of O'Connell Street, which I would call the Main Street of the whole city. 

One thing I do wish I'd done is take a day trip outside of the city. An amazing lady staying in my hostel room went on a trip to the Cliffs of Mohor, I think is the spelling. The photographs and descriptions of her whole trip looked and sounded just absolutely phenomenal and I am so envious. That is definitely something I plan on doing on my next trip to Ireland, along with renting a car and just driving around to see the beautiful countryside. 

Good-Bye London, for now

So today I unfortunately have to leave London. I've been here since the 15th, which I believe was Monday, and I have to say this city is just magnificent. The tube system despite being a tad overwhelming at points is actually such a great system. Definitely much better than anything we have in Calgary.
So Monday was just my arrival I didn't really do much that, just kind of say in my hostel relaxing. Tuesday was the real start to my holiday. To be honest I didn't really know what to do with my time. I sat in the hostel most of the morning just firing out where to go an dhow to get there. But I did end up going to Green Park, which is close to Buckingham Palace. At 3 o'clock that day I did a walking tour of London which took us around western central London I'd say, and the guide we had, his name was Eddy, kind of reminded me of Doctor Who a little bit, but that's besides the point. Eddy was actually very knowledgable about London and shared with us some very interesting facts. Like how in Green Park they have no actual flower beds, there are flowers just no flower beds, because some king was cheating on his wife and was picking some flowers for his mistress from the park so his wife ordered them torn up. I'm sad because I don't remember which king it was exactly, but I believe it was King Charles II.
Frem there we continued towards Buckingham Palace. Which is heavily guarded, but really gorgeous. It is believed to have some 780 room or something close to that if I remember correctly. There is also more than one part of this building. It you look close at it you will see that it is 2 different colours, the front part is actually a newer addition to the building.
Walking away from Buckingham Palace you will notice that the road there is red, it is called the Mal. Eddy said that the road there is red so that it seems like a red carpet when travelling on it. I thought it sounded kind of silly but it did make sense.
Continuing on we walked through Westminster which has a lot of prestigious clubs. I don't mean party dance clubs, I mean prestigious groups of people that get together to drink tea or brandy or something and talk about the city. After walking through Westminster we ended up in Trafalgar Square. Trafalgar Square is averylarge area that was used for many protests or gatherings. The fountains within the square we're supposedly built to reduce the amount of space people could use to protest. The large statue within the square as four lions upon it and a man on top of a tall pillar. Now again I don't remember his name but he won a war for Britain during Napoleon Bonapartes attempt at ruling Europe. The lion statues in the square were made by a man who was a painter rather than a sculptor. The lions were his first sculptures and therefore he requested a real lion so he could get the look and everything about it right. So they went through a lot of trouble to bring this man a lion. When they eventually found one they killed it and brought it back to him, but the decaying animal does not provide a perfect model so that is why you may notice the lions in the square may appear to have disfigured paws.
Ater the square we walked along a road with many parliament buildings on it. Then we ended up beside Big Ben, the actual Building of Parliament, and Westminster Abbey. It was phenomenal to see, as some of you my know I've always wanted to go to London and see these sights. I can't even explain how extraordinary it was to experience, I took many pictures as you can guess. After Big Ben and other things we walked through some smaller side streets and finished at an all boys school who claims they invented soccer/football; they have a field in the middle of their courtyard that you can only be on if you are playing soccer/football.
From there we all parted ways and I found my way to the London Eye, which for those who don't know is basically a giant Ferris wheel in the centre of London. It cost £20 to go on but it was well worth it. The time of day that I went on was just perfect. The sun was just starting to go down so it was still light out but it was also starting to get dark. Going up in that little bubble thing was unreal. You literally get a view of the entire city. Just about the only thing I couldn't see was the London Bridge and the Tower of London, but I think I'm just blind. Or was looking in the wrong direction..
Once I was done there I took a nice long walk back to my hostel. I got a little lost trying to find the right directions to go so it was a bit of an adventure. Walked a couple blocks down the River Thames and then turned to head towards Trafalgar Square. Walked down the Mal a little and then turned into St James Park. It was nie walking through the park by the water there. I basically took a similar route that the tour took a couple hours before.
The next day, Wednesday, I headed over to Camden Town, which is a large market area of London. It was actually super cool. The area used to be a horse hospital, I believe, so all of the stands have been set up in old horse stalls. Something that you would never see in Calgary. While there at the market I actually ran into 2 girls I had met on the walking tour. One is fully from France so I couldn't really talk with her, but the other girl was in France for some schooling but spoke English so we got along quite well. It was not planned in any way so it was a huge surprise to find them. After we left Camden Town we headed to Hyde Park. There's moms boats there that we took a ride on then headed for dinner.
Thursday I did a bunch of museums, started at the British Museum, which is where I ran into the same girls again! After the Britsh museum we went to the National Gallery and the National Portrait Gallery. After saying good by for the third time I went and met up with an old friend for dinner. i was really happy to be able to catch up with her, it had been quite some time and I really missed her.
Yesterday I just spent lounging around a bit in the morning. Headed to Oxford Street later in the day just to check it out and I must say it is an insanely busy place.
Today I am sad to say hat I must leave London for the next leg of my journey. I am sad but happy. I truly think London is a magical place. They actually have a reliable public transportation system, driving on the left side of the road is still a bit strange, but it comes with being in the UK I guess. I'm sad to go like I said, but 3 months and I'll be back again. =D

Last Manchester Days

So the hotel I was in a few nights ago was not very nice. I mean it was decent, but I would definitely not stay there again. It was a small room with extremely thin walls. I guess it doesn't help that I just couldn't get to sleep that night, I was awake until 4 am! Ridiculous right.
Once the night was done thought I had a good day. I checked out of that hotel, it was Sacha's Hotel by the way, and headed back to the previous one, the Palace Hotel, that I had stayed in the first two nights that I was there. I couldn't check in for a while so I headed around the corner to a cute little coffee shop, ordered myself a tea and a muffin and sat there for about an hour. I sat there for a while enjoying my time but did eventually get bored. So I left and went to find some post cards with no luck.. =(
When it was finally time for me to head to my hotel room I was slightly tired, I still have not gotten used to this time change, and it took me almost 10 minutes to even find the place. My room was on the fourth flow so I had to venture to one elevator, go up to the third floor then head to another elevator, go up to the fourth floor and then walk through like 4 corridors until I found my room. I think I got lost every time I had to go back to my room and every time I had to leave.
But oh my gosh was it worth it. I had been upgraded to an executive suite because he wonderful Stephen has some amazing perks from his job. It was a large room on the top floor overlooking a part of the city. It had 2 chairs, a couch, a giant bathroom and the room was just huge in general. I have to say it was the best sleep I'd had since I've been here.
Before I had to go to bed Stephen and I went out for dinner one more time before I left. We went to Stephens favourite Cuban restaurant, Revolution de Cuba, and my oh my was it ever good. It was 2 for the price of 1 cocktails, so safe to say we each had to drinks. The meal we had was a appetizer platter type thing. You got to pick 5 little dishes for £20. We ended up having chicken Quesdillas, two different types of shrimp, a pulled pork dish, and a sweet potatoe dish as well.

Leaving Manchester this morning was sad. We went and had tea one last time before Stephen dropped me off at the train station and I took my train back to London. =(
My train ride was about 2 hours long spanning throuout the English countryside. I think it is beautiful, but others might disagree. I really jealous that they have an efficient train system, I really wish Canada did because I would take it everywhere. It's such a great experience to do I think.
Once I got to London it was a little bit more hectic than my relaxing train ride. When my train arrived I really had to pee, sorry for those who maybe don't care to know that information but too bad. For those of you who don't know you have to pay to use the washroom in certain places. It costs 30 pence which is basically like 30 cents in Canada I think. It's such a strange concept for me. I've never had to pay t use the washroom before, I was quite surprised by that. I mean I had definitely heard of that before but had never experienced it first hand.
Anyway, once out of the washroom I made my trip downstairs to the underground train system, or the tube. I think I almost got on the wrong train like 4 times. =P. but I did manage to make it to my hostel all safe and sound which is where I am now.
I hope you all enjoy the rest of your day. I will be sure to post again soon.thank you for reading!


Fernweh: a crave for travel; being homesick for a place you've never been

Day 3

Hello everyone!! I know it's been a while since I've posted. And for that I apologize, haven't had enough Internet access to actually be able to post something. =( but I'm good now!

So my flight on Wednesday was a pretty good one. Although long I can't complain too much. I had an aisle seat  within a row of three. Next to me was an empty seat (soo awesome). But next to the empty seat was a cute British guy named Tom. So I now know 3 British toms! He was super nice, we chatted for a while during the flight. Tried to sleep though and had some troubles with that, I just could not find a comfortable enough position. By the time the plane landed I had successfully had 3 hours of sleep thank god. 

Going through customs/border control was a bit of a pain. Not that I actually had any problems getting through but the officer there was a huge asshole. Couldn't understand half of what he was asking me, and he made me feel like a complete and utter idiot. Told me that I would be travelling illegally at the end of my trip. Stupid man. 

Everything else on that first day was mostly successful. Got on the Gatwick express heading in to London perfectly fine. The only other mishap was when I didn't print all of my tickets for my train into Manchester. So I had to buy an entirely new ticket but it was well worth it. =) the train ride up there was relatively boring, was falling asleep through most of it, I was soo unbelievably tired.. 

Stephen met me at the station and things only got better from there. Stephen is one of the nicest men I could know. Stephen is a resident here in manchester and has s very good job that provides some nice perks. He is just a charming and amazing man and I'm extremely grateful I've had the pleasure of meeting him. He put me up in a beautiful hotel because his flat was put under renovation. We took a little walk through the city that evening before heading out for dinner, and I must say that Manchester is absolutely gorgeous! The buildings are so old, they have the most amazing architecture. I will hopefully upload some pictures onto my Facebook at a later time. 

Day 2 had a bit more of a late start. We were supposed to head out early in the morning to do some city sightseeing. But Stephen got a little caught up in some of his work that we weren't able to head out until about 4 pm. It definitely was a fun evening however. Had a few drinks, was able to finally talk a bit with my lovely family. Our night took us to Icon Bar in Manchester. A local gay bar and LOADS of fun. The amaretto sours that I normally have in Calgary consist of Amaretto, sprite and lime juice. The amaretto sours here consist of amaretto and 2 lime wedges, safe to say that after a few of those I was feeling quite good =P. 

For dinner we headed over to Taurus Bar also within Manchester's gay community. We were able to get one of the meal deals which was an appetizer as well as a main dish; and I must say that the lamb steak I had for my main was absolutely delectable. Despite my not so lovely stomach I was able to eat most of it and thoroughly enjoyed what parts of it I had.

So far today, day 3, I've checked out of one hotel and into another hotel for the night. There's a little park by my current location which is gorgeous. It has a little cafe smack dab in the middle, and actually has an amusement ride in it as well. It's one of those circular swings that rises super far into the sky and then spins. There is also a little market and mall close by. I've had the opportunity to adventure a little bit today, was by myself walking through part of the city here and one thing I must say about this city and probably most of England as well is that the road are extremely confusing. Everyone kind of takes a free for all when crossing the streets, and having cars drive in the opposite direction is really strange. Not something I will get used to in the short time I will be here for.

Fernweh: a crave for travel; being homesick for a place you've never been