Un baguette.....ah ha ha, baguette!

Bonjour! I have been in France since the last blog was posted (actually I was in Paris when I posted the last one, so technically I could have added more but I didn’t feel like it then). Right now it is the 25^th of March and I am sitting on a night train from Paris to Madrid. When I last wrote, I was headed to the ferry in Rosslare to Cherbourg. Once again, the ferry (Irish Ferries) was very much like a cruise ship and pretty cool. It was overrun by students from France, but I actually had made a friend from Paris who was on the same ship so we talked most of the time. Once we arrived at Cherbourg (part of Normandy) I went exploring throughout the town. Unfortunately, to get to Omaha Beach, the famous D-Day beach, you need a car, which I don’t have. Oh well, next time I’ll just get a car! I did find out that Cherbourg was were the Titanic was made and it is quite famous for its creation of massive ships and other such things. Quite amazing I would say! From there, I went to Paris where I saw so much stuff! The very first day I ended up walking over 14 miles just so I could see all that I could! First thing I went to was the Catacombs, then the Pantheon, Notre Dame, little Italy, and then I decided to purposefully just wander around and not use the map. I ended up going southwest and after about an hour and a half of just walking seeing random things, I found out where I was and walked towards the Eiffel Tower. I actually didn’t go up the tower as it is pricey, and my bucket list includes the Eiffel Tower, but one thing was missing, so I’ll wait til I go back (which I will) and then all will be right. Of course my bucket list does include climbing Everest, seeing the Northern Lights, finding Nessie, trekking through the Himalayas and finding a yeti….you know, the sensible things! I met a couple who were from China on their honeymoon and they wanted me to take their picture in front of the tower, which is in turn how I got my picture that’s up on Facebook. Their camera was much nicer than mine, so I figured they were safe to let take my picture! I took way too many pictures of the tower, but love some of them, and I will have to figure out how to post some on here! I went to the Louvre the following day and spent 8 hours there! Still didn’t get to see it all too! I met up with my new friend from Paris that night, Eric, and he showed me some of the more “local” things. It was really awesome to get to see Paris through the eyes of a local, plus he had loads of information about anything and everything. Pretty much, my brain was on information overload that day and needed some time to just wind down before sleeping. I did run into some problems with the ticket agents in the Paris stations with them not wanting to reserve me seats on my trains for the next few days so I didn’t get to go to Lyon or Geneva. I did get everything resolved later though by talking with someone who was head of the ticket agents and they ensured that I was treated fairly. The person earlier said they were completely full for all trains from Paris to Lyon, which I guarantee you not that many people traveled on all 14 trains for that day just for the trains to Lyon. Oh well, I got to spend more time in Paris, which actually gave me the opportunity to see a few things I had yet to see/didn’t even realize they were in Paris like Arc de Triumph and I got to go to the top of Notre Dame, which was incredible! While in line for that I met some wicked awesome people, Clare and Ali, both from London, who I will be meeting back up with at the end of my travels when I spend my last days of my journey in London. I think one of the most fun parts of this trip is not just seeing all the sights or tasting all the different foods, but its getting to meet incredible people and connect with them and find out about them.

Everyone's Irish on St. Patrick's Day....I'm just Irish year round!

It’s hard to believe that it has already been over a week since I last wrote. Time has been flying by and I’ve had so much fun. I’m currently on a ferry headed to Cherbourg, France, which is about a 19 hour journey. When I last wrote, I was headed to Edinburgh, Scotland. It was absolutely beautiful there! Stepping out of the station, you could easily spot Edinburgh Castle high up on the hill. The main tourist spot is the Royal Mile, which is full of shops with anything and everything, kilts, scotch whiskey, Scotland rugby paraphernalia, and other things the Scots are known for. Even the Queen of England has her own palace there called Hollyrood. There’s a park near the palace, which has some mini mountains that you can climb up and one mountain, called Arthur’s Seat, the highest point in all of Edinburgh. The first day I was there I climbed up the mini ones to see the city from a different view. All around it was amazing, with the ocean off in the distance and beautiful architecture everywhere. I actually did climb Arthur’s Seat on my last day there, which was a bit difficult, because I was taking the uncommon path trying to climb almost directly straight up. I had to switch over to the common path because the rains from the previous day had made quite a muddy mess of things, but it was still well worth the climb! I got to spend some time at a Farmers Market in Edinburgh as well, which made me really wish that I lived there and was able to buy and prepare all the different foods that we don’t have in the states. Speaking of foods there, I went to a pub to watch one of the 6 Nations matches (rugby) and had some nachos. Not at all the same as in the US, but good none the less. While in Edinburgh, I decided to take a quick trip to St. Andrews, the home of golf. It was only an hour train ride, so I figured I could spend a few hours walking the course and town and then hop back on the train to be back in time to watch Man U play Arsenal. Well I got there, and it was raining quite a bit, which didn’t stop me from walking around. Even in the rain, it was amazing to get to see the Old Course. I stopped in a few shops to escape the rain, of course had to get a St. Andrews golf towel, and ended up having some nice chats with some locals there. After some more walking I headed back to the train station, only to find that all trains to Edinburgh had been cancelled due to a transmission problem at one of the stations between Leuchers(the station you have to take to go to St. Andrews) and Edinburgh. After patiently waiting for a bit (because if you are patient everything will soon be fixed), one of the rail attendants had a solution. We had to take a bus to a different station, and then take the rail from there to Edinburgh. In the end, what should have only been an hour ended up to be over 3 hours, but I got back fine, and just had to settle with reading the scores online. Now the next day was insane, because I ended up not sleeping for over 40 hours. I got up at 9 to pack things up, climb Arthur’s Seat, spend a few more hours in Edinburgh, and then I had to catch a train to Holyhead, Wales, so I could take the ferry to Dublin. Now at this time, there was a strike on the rail station in Wales, so I had only one train that I could get on that went to Holyhead, which I luckily made. It got into Holyhead at 11pm and my boat left for Dublin at 2:45am. At this point I bought a cup of coffee, and waited around for the boat. Once on the boat, I couldn’t sleep, but was able to sit and just relax a bit. We arrived in Dublin at 6am but nothing was open yet, so I took some time to sit and readjust my itinerary some, and figure out what things I wanted to hit up later on. At this point I would like to thank Miss Lauren Silva for the caffeine pills that she gave me, because I took one and was wired the rest of the day! In fact I didn’t sleep until about 1:30am. I went all over Dublin, seeing Christ Church Cathedral, St. Patrick’s Park and Cathedral, the Guinness factory, Phoenix Park, and spent some time at O’Connell Street. I actually stayed up late talking to a guy from Brazil and finally had to crash after a long day. The following day I ended up at Jameson Distillery, many of the different National Exhibits; museums and galleries, and explored the back streets that were away from the main touristy things, which is hard to do because most of Dublin is set for tourist. The following day, I went to Cork, which is in the southern region of Ireland. It seemed like it had a bit more tourist than normal, due to St. Patrick’s Day, but not nearly as many as Dublin. I actually ran across a music store in Cork, where I took some time to play some guitar. I think one of the things I miss most is playing almost every other day and I haven’t gotten to play since sometime in February. I tried finding some Irish folk music that night but was unsuccessful and it seemed like most of the places I came across only had DJs, which made the pubs seem more like a club, so I didn’t bother to stop. However, the following day was absolutely AMAZING! There were rowing races out on the river, there was a parade downtown, there were live bands out on the street and two really good ones up on a stage set up by the city. One was an actual Irish folk band with a banjo, accordion, guitar, and violin, while the other was a swing band with a piano, drums, trumpet, sax, and singer. The piano actually doubled up as piano and played the bass at the same time, which he was quite talented. After looking through a few pubs by 6, most in the pubs were already drinking quite a bit and it was definitely the more club atmosphere so I headed back to my hostel to drop a few things off and check for my trains time tomorrow. When I was about to leave to go back downtown, I met a girl from Australia and we talked for a bit. We ended up going around town trying to find a pub that wasn’t overrun by tourists and drunks but had good music. After going into about 5 different places, we found a pub that seemed like fun and a band just started to play. Funny story, the band started playing an Irish jig so Brittany started to get up and do an Irish dance, which was amazing, and she later on admitted it was completely fake. Well after that, some of the locals came over and started talking to us. They all thought it was legit which made it even funnier! We had such a great time with all the people there dancing, chatting, and listening to stories, that we ended up not getting back to the hostel til well past 2 in the morning. I actually only got about 4 hours of sleep that night because a bloke in my bunk wanted to talk and I had to be up at 8 to catch my train to Killarney. Now Killarney is definitely the least touristy of the other places I had been, but it still has its fair share, and I’m sure more so in the summer time. I got there around noon and got to see most of the town that afternoon, and decided to take a short nap before that night. Another funny story, it so happened that my new friend Brittany ended up in Killarney that day too at the same hostel so we hung out again that night, not as late as the previous night, but it was still fun. We actually found a small pub that was packed with people but had real Irish folk music. We actually were talking to a gent in the pub who said the best folk music is in Dingle, which I will have to go back sometime so I can experience that! The following day I went out to Killarney National Park and ended up riding 40km the equivalent of 24 miles. Not bad for someone who hasn’t really ridden a bike in about 2 years I would say! Everything there was absolutely gorgeous! I saw waterfalls, lochs, Ross Castle, Muckross House and Abbey(graveyard), the Meeting of the Waters, which is where the two lochs meet. You can actually see the water going in one way and out the other! I had to travel about 6 hours by train to go to Rosslare Harbour to catch the ferry, but the last bit was absolutely beautiful. From Dublin to Rosslare, the train is following the coast, so you are constantly looking out over the ocean. Its just like looking into a painting constantly. In many ways, I wish that I wasn’t going over to the continent, because there is so much more of Ireland that I want to see, but the way I see it, I think this will happen a whole lot while I’m on the go. There will always be much more to see, which just means I’ll have to come back! If I get completely bored with the continent, or have difficulties with the language barrier, maybe I’ll just come back to Ireland and stay the rest of my time there! I’ll try to write a bit more than just a week, because I just realized how long this post is. All 1715 words of it. For those of you that read it all, congrats, you are now at the end! :)

First Week (England & Scotland)

Hey Everyone,

I figured that I would write a blog about once a week while I’m here. I’m not going to be able to write out everything that I experience (I’m keeping a journal of every single thing so you can ask me about it when I get back) but I will hit up some of the highlights. Lets see, a week ago from today I was just arriving in London Heathrow. A few things went wrong at the start of my trip with the 3 things that could be the worst to happen when traveling; customs, no place to stay, no access to money. Needless to say, everything worked out fine in the end, just have to have a little bit of patience. I got to explore the north part of London, which included Arsenal’s Emirates Stadium and Camden. While waiting for a few things to be sorted out, I went out for a nice long walk, which ended up being about 3 hours and that’s when I got to explore Camden. Honestly without the older historic buildings, it just seems a lot like NYC, at least that area. The next day I went to Liverpool and happened to hit quite a few things by luck. The coach that I happened to choose was the only one that didn’t have reserved seating, and the train was completely packed with people standing the entire trip because of the Man U v Liverpool game. I sat next to a pretty cool guy, Scott, who happened to probably be the only other Man U supporter on the train. He also told me about some places that I should hit up while I was in England, which I did and was very appreciative of it! Off the train, I was able to drop off my stuff at the hotel, and walked to Anfield to try to get tickets to the game. Once I got there, they were completely sold out, so I ended up grabbing some chips and curry and going to a pub next to the stadium that was filled with Liverpool hooligans. I was very grateful not to be wearing my United jersey at that point or I prolly would be dead. After a disappointing loss for Man U, I walked back to town and headed out to Albert Dock. Definitely a cool place along with the downtown area. The following morning, I went to Blackpool, which is considered, as Scott said, England’s mini-Vegas. It was a really nice town by the sea that has the Blackpool Tower, which looks like a smaller version of the Eiffel Tower. I went to the Blackpool v Chelsea game while there. What an amazing experience! Their games are unlike anything that we have in the US. I loved hearing the team fans yelling their chants back and forth at each other, and its not just like one or two people yelling these chants, but the entire sections of fans. I hope that I get to come back in the future and experience another Premiere League game. The following day, I went to Manchester and got to go to “Mecca” for any Man U fan, which is Old Trafford stadium. That place is truly an amazing sight. I would say the only stadium that could rival it is the new Cowboys stadium, and even then, that’s just because there is a giant tv. I actually could have gotten tickets for their game against Arsenal for this Saturday, but it would have completely destroyed my budget, which I still almost went for it. I guess I’ll see if I really regret not spending the money on going or not (I kind of already do). If I had gone, I would be coming home much earlier, so I guess good for rational thinking, but at the same time…..The next day I went to Glasgow and did a bunch of random little things there. I also found out this day that I have about 5 blisters on my left foot, which is definitely no good. I think its due to the fact that my pack adds so much weight and my feet aren’t used to it quite yet. Also walking about 8-10 miles a day can pay its toll, but I’ve figured out a few ways to fix it all and improvise. Its kinda nice to have a brain sometimes. Last night I was in Inverness, the gateway to Loch Ness, or for those that were there last night, the home of the torrential downpour. I couldn’t make it past 2 miles out of the town because of standing water, so I ended up turning around and went back to town and found things to do there. I want to come back here and see all the different lochs and go out to Skye as well, but I will definitely have a car when that happens. Everywhere I go, I keep meeting people from all over, which is really cool. So far I’ve talked with a few people from London, a couple from Germany, one from South Africa, one from Prague, and another from Yale back in the States. I just hope that I don’t run out of finding people to speak English with, otherwise, I think I could go crazy. ;)