WARNING: this is a extremely long blog, a cup of tea might be in order.
Its been a little while since i've posted anything, i've spent the last couple of weeks recuperating. when i got to here i was exhausted, i can't get over how much traveling has really taken it out of me.
first things first, i got into London and called my friend Sarah to let her know i was in and made my way to her place in Tooting. i got there a little bit early and so i waited in an internet cafe for a while until Sarah finished work. lucky for me her boss saw how excited she was to hear i was here and let her finish work early. before i knew it, Sarah was knocking people out of the way (i'm not kidding) to give me a hug. it was so nice to see Sarah, i think when i worked it out i hadn't seen her for over a year! so it was really nice to spend a solid week together just chilling out, come to think of it i probably wasn't much fun, i slept most of the time! It was actually really handy having Sarah too, because she's lived here for a while she showed me how to get to places and got me an Oyster card which is the card, that looks a little bit like a credit card, you get to use the public transport system here, its pretty nifty, you put money on it and you touch on and off at stations and it will automatically take the cost of your trip off it, then you just top it up when you run out of money. its so handy having it here in London, its busy all of the time, it would be a nightmare to get around any other way. i was interested to know why they called it 'oyster', you have to admit its a pretty strange name, there were a few reasons it was chosen, the first is supposidly its a metaphor, the shell is the plastic card and the concealed pearl is the money on it. the second reason also at one stage the Thames had oyster beds but also and third is the because of the phrase 'the world is your oyster'. i have to say, i kind of like the name. the tube itself is quite easy to use. something i found a interesting were some of the stations. one of them has Sherlock Holmes tiles through it, another has the side profile of her majesty on some of the tiles and the tunnels that link you between the lines make you feel like your going through a portal, like something from out of space. the carriages on the tube are smaller than i thought too, i thought they might be about the size of a train, not so. but, enough about public transport.
Sarah, myself and sarah's house mate Deanna did a day trip down to Brighton, which is a cute little seaside town. i really liked it, the town wasn't that big and had some nice little houses, shops and small lane ways. the beach had pebbles instead of sand which was strange, because i always associate sand with beaches. there is a really beautiful old pier in Brighton, at the end of it they have rides and stuff which was kinda cool. i liked Brighton, but i think a day trip was enough.
Something nice was i caught up a few people while i was here. Steve, who is a friend sarah and I from Melbourne. Steves been living here for a couple of years now and has even got married. it was great to catch up with him and meet his wife, Jo. its kind of strange me saying that, i can't get it around my head that i've hit that point in my life where some of my friends are getting married or having children. anyway, Steve looked really well, he was telling me he's given up a few of his vices and has taken up gym and swimming, for everyone back home that knows Steve, he's never looked so good!
i also saw Maddie, her boyfriend Mike and her brother Sam. Maddie and Mike arrived a couple of days after i did. they are planning on living and working over here. i caught up with them before i left but i hadn't seen Maddies brother in ages, last time i saw him he was about 16, now he's a man and he was massive! infact he has a better beard than me, and he kept reminded me of it.
Of course it was Christmas, but unfortuately not a white one, infact since i've been here the weather has been amazing, it hasn't rained once, which i think is a bit of a feat for London. Sarah and I did the grocery shopping for christmas. i love the fear in everyones eyes around this kind of year, people that were in Sainsbury's were losing there shit left, right and centre. so of course it was hellish buying stuff, but i think we succeeded in getting in and out in under half and hour! GO US! christmas lunch was brilliant, roast chicken & lamb as well as veggies and mulled wine, and for desert Sarah made chocolate moose, it was topped off by watching the christmas episode of 'the office' and a couple of phone calls from home. i've never eaten so much food the whole time i've been here in europe. it was a really enjoyable day, but probably not for Josh (one of sarah's house mates) he caught the flu and would spend the next 6 days looking like death warmed up, i have seriously never seen anyone look so sick, thank god my immune system held it together. As a bit of a thank you for letting me stay with them, for christmas i brought the house a toasted sandwich maker, lets face it, a share house isn't complete without one, am i right? I brought it from Argos which is pretty crazy, you go in there and choose things from a catalogue and then type in the code of the thing you want then they go out the back and get it, its a bit like a lucky dip! anyway, on boxing day Sarah and her housemates went off to Austria to go skiing for a week, so i pretty much got the place to myself, except for josh who was meant to go with them but got the flu, it did my best to play nurse.
while i was here i did pretty much all the touristy things, i'm going to do this in a list because i think its going to be easier for everyone:
- Buckingham palace, it wasn't was cool as you might think but still crazy to think Queenie lives there, its supposidly the most protected house in the United Kingdom but a few years back some German backpackers jumped the fence thinking that it was Hyde Park and camped over night, the funny part is they only got caught in the morning when they asked how to get out! up the road is the house where Charlie, Camilla and the boys live. CHECK!
- the Royal Albert hall, did you know it takes 4,000 hole in blackburn, lancashire to fill the Albert hall? CHECK!
- Abbey Road, i walked across the zebra crossing, it was so much smaller than i thought it was going to be, i've noticed that a lot since i've been traveling CHECK!
- Paul McCartney's London home, it was down the road from Abbey road, the light was on, but i din't see him, oh by the way, i'm not one of those crazy stalker people that visit the homes of celebrities 10 times a day... i only visted 7 times. kidding! actually considering Paul is one of the richest men alive, his home was quite modest compared to his neighbours, but the area was very nice. CHECK!
- Trafalgar square, something interesting i found out about Trafalgar square was that the statues of lions were actually made from melted down french cannons, and the guy that designed them had never seen a lion so he modelled it on his pet dog! CHECK!
- Oxford Circus, christ! circus is an understatement, i have never seen so many people at once, it was mental, it actually made shopping more of a nightmare, stopping and starting and getting blocked in a crowd wasn't really much fun. funny story, Sarah was doing a bit of shopping in Topshop (good store by the way) and when she went into the change room i just waited for her out the front, this guy came up to me and started chatting to me, when Sarah came out he looked at her and said while pointing at me 'I'm a really big Russell Brand fan, see ya mate have a good christmas' this guy thought i was comedian Russell Brand, Sarah thought it was hilarious. its not the first time i've been told i look like him, i've got it quite a bit, some people even double take. its pretty funny, but i honestly don't see the resemblance.
- Carnaby Street, i kind of knew that carnaby street wasn't was cool as it was in the swinging 60's but i still wanted to check it out, i personally think that the area around Covent Garden was pretty cool and not as busy. CHECK!
- Hyde Park, is was massive but quite nice and there are heaps of little squirels, at the end of it they have Kensington Palace which is where the late Pricess Diana lived. i didn't see all the crazy people that exersise there right to free speech, but i'll see it when i come back. there are a few parks in the area, i think it might have been St James's Park that was originally the royal zoo, the only animals that remain are the Pelicans, and they have been up to some strange behaviour of late, they've been eating PIGEONS! i'm not kidding either (check it out here its not for the faint hearted) CHECK!
- Big Ben, it was big, its called ben, its big ben! its attach to the house of lords and the house of commons. it was pretty cool, i thought the gothic architecture was quite amazing CHECK!
- 10 Downing street, whenever you see it on the TV it looks like anyone can walk down there and see it, this is so far from the truth, i couldn't get over how much security there was, it was so far away from the public, understandable come to think of it!
- Westminster Abbey, where most of the Kings and Queens of England have had there coronations and most are buried here too as well as a few other lucky buggers. it was also the home of the 'stone of destiny' for a while too (see my Edinburgh blog)
- Harrods, i couldn't get over how over the top it was, and the price of clothing was out of control. the food court was pretty impressive, especially the chocolate section. i was there during a sale and i still couldn't come close to buying anything, but its true what they say, 'money doesn't buy taste', i can't say i saw many well dressed people there. CHECK!
- Tower Bridge, probably the coolest of the bridges along the Thames, CHECK!
- Tower of London, i thought was pretty good, the crowds were crazy i had to wait in a line for about half an hour in the cold to see the crown jewels. the place is pretty packed full of history, so many people have lost there heads here and most of them are buried under the church, without there heads. something strange is they keep 6 ravens on the premises at all times because of an old tale that if they leave, the monarchy will fall. something else that was funny is before people had there head cut off they used to do a painting of them, well there was one time they forgot to paint a guy, so they stiched his head back on, threw a scarf around his neck, and quickly painted him before they buried him! The painting is still hanging up in the National Gallery, funnily enough he's not smiling...
- Notting Hill, its where the rich and famous live and also the name of a movie, i saw the book store Hugh Grants character work in, which was kinda cool. portobello road wasn't bad either, they had a few good shops there. CHECK!
- Brick Lane, i think was probably the coolest area, during the day its pretty good, great vintage clothing shops and cool bars, but at night is where it gets fun, Brick lane is known for its currys and people stand out the front practically begging you to come inside, i went into one called 'Aladins' and it boasted that Prince Charles ate there once. i have to say it was pretty good.
- Camden Markets, there are some good vintage shops and other bits and pieces, i thought was ok but i think it would've been better about 10 years ago before everybody found out about it, heres somethig for the trivia bank, supposidly its Amy Winehouse's part of town.
- The Ritz, believe it or not they wouldn't let me go passed the foyer! it was because i didn't realise there was a dress code and i was wearing jeans. it didn't really worry me but it did make me think about class. i understand why they have a dress code, its a nice place and it wouldn't be as nice if joe blow of the street came in for morning tea. but i thought the gentlemens clubs are a big wank, i was talking to someone about it, and supposidly the english are really into find out what class you fall under, really, who gives a shit? if your a idiot your still a idiot if you've got a money in the bank or from a privilaged back ground, the only difference is your a rich idiot.
i checked out both the tate modern and tate britian museums, which were pretty good, but if i had to choose i think the tate in liverpool was better. something that i did like at the tate were the different programs you could get, they guided you to different areas of the collection depending on what mood you were in, heres the name of a couple:
- the i like yellow collection
- the happily depressed collection
- the first date collection
- the rainy day collection
- the i want to be swept off my feet collection
i thought it was a cool idea, especially here in europe where there galleries are generally quite big and you just want to see the main stuff.
something interesting i found out about London is there is a hell of a lot of security cameras, infact there is 1 camera for every 13 Londoners, which is pretty crazy, you couldn't get away with scratching your bum without being caught. it actually reminded me that i heard of a movie that was made entirely out of CCTV footage, becuase (i dunno if this is true or not) after a while it becomes public demain. pretty cool concept for a film i think. speaking of security, its really hard finding a bin to throw your rubbish in, which is a real pain, i can't stand littering, i wonder if mass littering was part of the terrorists plan?
i really liked london, history is just bursting at the seams, but i think its one of those places you probably need to live in to fully grasp it. even though i was here for a little over 2 weeks it wasn't enough, but it won't be my last time here during my trip i'm going to do a few stop-off's here. but the main thing is my batteries are charged again which is great, i really needed a break for a bit, and spend some time with some old friends. just wanted to send a big thanks out to Sarah and her house mates for letting me crash with them for a while i hope i wasn't too much of a pain.
anyway off to Paris again for a few days to see Maddie, Mike and Sam again, then to the South of France! See ya!
Liverpool
My trip to Liverpool didn't start to great. the only bus and ferry that went across to liverpool was at 9pm which meant i got into liverpool about 4am. and its not to easy to get a good sleep on a bus or a ferry but when i finally got into liverpool it was all worth while. its kind of like living in a beatles song, before i knew where i had to go to find my hostel i was walking down Lime street which features in the beatles song 'Maggie Mae'. my hostel is pretty dodgy, there are some pretty strange people here but the old guy that runs it makes up for it. he is really kind and has some great stories. he told me a few about his encounters with the beatles. he saw them play at the cavern and on one occation he was in a battle of the bands with the Quarrymen (which was the beatles name when they first started out). Old Kev even saw Bob Dylan when he played here in the early 60's. its funny though, it seems that everyone here has a story about how they know Lennon and McCartney, your forever seeing plaques saying 'john lennon farted in this room' ok, not really, but you get my point, everybody has there claim to fame and who knows how factual the stories are. it reminds me a little bit of Melbourne, and how everyone knows someone thats 'best mates' with one of the guys from the band Jet.
i was pretty suprised with Liverpool, i had a really working class vision in my head but its not that bad at all. i was really impressed with its arts scene. this year, Liverpool is the European cultural capital and the Tate art museum was amazing, they had a great collection of contempory work with names like Pollock, Warhol, Picasso, Man Ray and even a Dali 'lobster phone' which was pretty cool to see. they had a great exhibition upstairs for kids, where instead of the usual, 'shhh be quiet!', 'don't touch' attitude that most galleries have, this one had music blaring, and you could draw on the walls! it was so good. the kids were having a ball and some of them were really good drawers! i thought i was really refreshing.
there was another part of the exhibition where they had people coming up to people and asking them questions and if a conversation was exchanged you got paid 3 pound. i thought it was interesting and would pay for lunch, so i did it, the lady asked me about the economic crisis, and i was shocked because i like to think i'm reasonably well informed but i felt like an idiot becuase i didn't feel i knew anything, well i knew some, but nothing i felt i could have a conversation about. and that was the point of the piece. to be more informed about the world we live in. incase your wondering, i got my 3 pounds.
the Walker gallery here is quite good also, it had plenty of great work in it, like David Hockney, another self portrait of Rembrandt (man, that guy was so vain wherever i go i find a self portait of him) even a Nolan all the way from Australia!
while i was here i saw a Stuart Sutcliffe retrospective. incase your wonder who he was, he played bass with the beatles before they made it big. he left the band in Hamburg to consentrate on his art, but tragically he suffered a brain hemorrhage and died at the age of 21 and is forver immortalized in Beatles history. his work was quite good. mainly oil on canvas but occationally it was cross media, i get the feeling he was heavily influenced by jackson pollock.
i was pretty impressed with some of there street art too. there was this one kind of campaign this particular artist did where he stenciled facts about society all over liverpool, like 'Most people in society beleive there are smarter than than most people in society, are you one of those people?' they were really brilliant, they really made me question myself. they had had this link underneath them. click here to check it out
i did a Magical Mystery tour (i'm not kidding the bus was painted exactly like the really bus) and it took us to a few main places around Liverpool, like the houses of John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo. up the road from Ringos house is the pub that is on the cover of his 1st solo album. we also went to places where ideas for Beatles songs came from like, Strawberry Fields and Penny Lane and they pointed out the bank and barber shop that are mentioned in the song, also the grave where Eleanor Rigby is buried.
i had a wander around around the cavern and had a drink at the Jacaranda which is where the beatles played there first concert. being a beatles fan it was a bit of a dream come true walking around Liverpool seeing all the things i've read and heard about for many years. i could've wipe the smile off my face. i also did the 'beatles story' which is like a museum of beatles stuff and how the story goes. its was pretty good it had a few of there old instruments, costumes and even a couple of Johns glasses.
something i found out that i liked about Paul McCartney was there was an old school that he used to go tohere in Liverpool and it was shut down in 1985, Paul thought this was a real shame so he went to Margert Thatcher, who was the PM at the time and asked her for some money. her reply was whatever he put in, she would match it. so Paul put 15 million of his own money in and after being repaired LIPA was openned 1996 and hads had some students finding musical success i believe bands like The Wombats and the Zutons have studied there. Paul even teaches there sometimes and every year he hands out the diplomas at the graduation.
something i liked was, not far from the cathedrals is an old church that was bombed during the second world war and doesn't have a roof, which is now a open air cinema, its such a great space, i would've loved to watch a movie there but it was way too cold i would've frozen to the pew!
Liverpool is such a cool place its got such a great vibe, with plenty of great bars and heaps going on, however it really relies on the past quite a lot, it would be interesting to see what Liverpool would've been like if the Beatles never happened. what would be here? but then again, what would the world be like with out the beatles? anyway i'm off to London to spend christmas with my good friend Sarah, i think it will be nice to have some company for a while. bye for now.
i was pretty suprised with Liverpool, i had a really working class vision in my head but its not that bad at all. i was really impressed with its arts scene. this year, Liverpool is the European cultural capital and the Tate art museum was amazing, they had a great collection of contempory work with names like Pollock, Warhol, Picasso, Man Ray and even a Dali 'lobster phone' which was pretty cool to see. they had a great exhibition upstairs for kids, where instead of the usual, 'shhh be quiet!', 'don't touch' attitude that most galleries have, this one had music blaring, and you could draw on the walls! it was so good. the kids were having a ball and some of them were really good drawers! i thought i was really refreshing.
there was another part of the exhibition where they had people coming up to people and asking them questions and if a conversation was exchanged you got paid 3 pound. i thought it was interesting and would pay for lunch, so i did it, the lady asked me about the economic crisis, and i was shocked because i like to think i'm reasonably well informed but i felt like an idiot becuase i didn't feel i knew anything, well i knew some, but nothing i felt i could have a conversation about. and that was the point of the piece. to be more informed about the world we live in. incase your wondering, i got my 3 pounds.
the Walker gallery here is quite good also, it had plenty of great work in it, like David Hockney, another self portrait of Rembrandt (man, that guy was so vain wherever i go i find a self portait of him) even a Nolan all the way from Australia!
while i was here i saw a Stuart Sutcliffe retrospective. incase your wonder who he was, he played bass with the beatles before they made it big. he left the band in Hamburg to consentrate on his art, but tragically he suffered a brain hemorrhage and died at the age of 21 and is forver immortalized in Beatles history. his work was quite good. mainly oil on canvas but occationally it was cross media, i get the feeling he was heavily influenced by jackson pollock.
i was pretty impressed with some of there street art too. there was this one kind of campaign this particular artist did where he stenciled facts about society all over liverpool, like 'Most people in society beleive there are smarter than than most people in society, are you one of those people?' they were really brilliant, they really made me question myself. they had had this link underneath them. click here to check it out
i did a Magical Mystery tour (i'm not kidding the bus was painted exactly like the really bus) and it took us to a few main places around Liverpool, like the houses of John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo. up the road from Ringos house is the pub that is on the cover of his 1st solo album. we also went to places where ideas for Beatles songs came from like, Strawberry Fields and Penny Lane and they pointed out the bank and barber shop that are mentioned in the song, also the grave where Eleanor Rigby is buried.
i had a wander around around the cavern and had a drink at the Jacaranda which is where the beatles played there first concert. being a beatles fan it was a bit of a dream come true walking around Liverpool seeing all the things i've read and heard about for many years. i could've wipe the smile off my face. i also did the 'beatles story' which is like a museum of beatles stuff and how the story goes. its was pretty good it had a few of there old instruments, costumes and even a couple of Johns glasses.
something i found out that i liked about Paul McCartney was there was an old school that he used to go tohere in Liverpool and it was shut down in 1985, Paul thought this was a real shame so he went to Margert Thatcher, who was the PM at the time and asked her for some money. her reply was whatever he put in, she would match it. so Paul put 15 million of his own money in and after being repaired LIPA was openned 1996 and hads had some students finding musical success i believe bands like The Wombats and the Zutons have studied there. Paul even teaches there sometimes and every year he hands out the diplomas at the graduation.
Since i've been in the UK i've been thinking quite a lot about the english language, hearing it change from place to place and different saying etc. i remember i was speaking to some guys from Newcastle when i was in Belfast and they were saying they you can move just a couple of towns over and people will speak totally different but also have different sayings. but the funny thing is they still write in queens english! people from other countries trying to learn english must have an aweful time trying to figure it all out, hell i have problems. just read my blog, i hardly know the difference between, there, they're and their. but there was something that really hit me while i was here. i was going through the beatles story museum and i had one of those walkmans on that tell you about whats in each room. the commerary was done by Julia Baird who is John Lennon's little sister, anyway she said this. 'hi my name is Julia Baird and John Lennon was my brother' i know thats correct English to say, but the word WAS is the thing that really annoyed me, just because hes dead doesn't stop him from being her brother. don't you think?
i was quite suprised with how beautiful the city is, they have some amazing old buildings right in the centre of the city. actually heres a something in case you are ever on the TV show 'who wants to be a million' and this question pops up 'what street is the only street in the world that at both ends of it have a cathedral?' the answer is Hope Street. a funny fact about them is the prodostant one is the biggest in europe (trust me, its massive!) and was designed by a catholic who also designed the telephone box (theres one inside the church to pay tribute to him. i think its because Dr Who left it behind) and the catholic one at the other end of the street was deigned by a prodostant. crazy!something i liked was, not far from the cathedrals is an old church that was bombed during the second world war and doesn't have a roof, which is now a open air cinema, its such a great space, i would've loved to watch a movie there but it was way too cold i would've frozen to the pew!
Liverpool is such a cool place its got such a great vibe, with plenty of great bars and heaps going on, however it really relies on the past quite a lot, it would be interesting to see what Liverpool would've been like if the Beatles never happened. what would be here? but then again, what would the world be like with out the beatles? anyway i'm off to London to spend christmas with my good friend Sarah, i think it will be nice to have some company for a while. bye for now.
Dublin
let me start by saying i really love Dublin. such a vibrant city with the heaps of history and thing plenty going on. its funny, because a lot of locals form all the other places i've visited in Ireland have all said that Dublin is terrible and that i won't like it, but to be honest its probably been one of my favourite places.
You don't go far without finding something on the number of Authors from Dublin, one of there favourites is Mr. James Joyce who wrote a number of books that are based in Dublin. some of his more famous works are Dubliners, Ulysses, Finnegans Wake and Batman... ok, he didn't really write the last one. he was also a roaring alcoholic and was constantly getting thrown out of bars for being soo drunk. supposedly he would say he was going to bars to get more inspiration for his books about the people of Dublin. yeah, right. i only knew of Joyce becuase i found out that John Lennon wrote a couple of books of short stories ('In his Own Write' and 'A Spaniard in the Works') in the early 60's that play heavily with words and he was compared to Joyce. theres a bit of trivia for ya!
something i found interesting about Ireland is up until recently, if you're an artist you don't get taxed. now if your an artist that earn over something like 2 million a year you get taxed, fair enough, but that pretty much narrows it down to U2 and thats about it, but get this, U2 probably one of the biggest bands in the world have decided to move a lot of there business from Ireland because of this. what dodgy buggers! like they even need the extra cash. Bono has a luxury house not far from here and they have a chain of hotels as well, its not like they're struggling. speaking of Bono, not far from where i'm staying is the shop he got his stage name from a hearing aid store called 'Bonavox' (his original name is Paul Hewson. not very rock star huh) i think its latin for beautiful voice, but i could be wrong.
Dublin has a number of good Art Galleries here, but i think my favourite was the Hugh Lane Gallery. Inside its got Fransis Bacons studio, which was moved from London to Dublin a few years back. i remember seeing a doco on the move a few years back so it was something i really wanted to see. it would've been an huge effort to catalog everything not only becuase they had to move a whole room from a house and reassemble it in a gallery, but because the studio was a pig sty! but its really interesting.
something i found interesting about Ireland is up until recently, if you're an artist you don't get taxed. now if your an artist that earn over something like 2 million a year you get taxed, fair enough, but that pretty much narrows it down to U2 and thats about it, but get this, U2 probably one of the biggest bands in the world have decided to move a lot of there business from Ireland because of this. what dodgy buggers! like they even need the extra cash. Bono has a luxury house not far from here and they have a chain of hotels as well, its not like they're struggling. speaking of Bono, not far from where i'm staying is the shop he got his stage name from a hearing aid store called 'Bonavox' (his original name is Paul Hewson. not very rock star huh) i think its latin for beautiful voice, but i could be wrong.
Dublin has a number of good Art Galleries here, but i think my favourite was the Hugh Lane Gallery. Inside its got Fransis Bacons studio, which was moved from London to Dublin a few years back. i remember seeing a doco on the move a few years back so it was something i really wanted to see. it would've been an huge effort to catalog everything not only becuase they had to move a whole room from a house and reassemble it in a gallery, but because the studio was a pig sty! but its really interesting.
one of the guys that was staying in my room was a photographer from Paris and he was having a exhibition so i went along to that too. it was pretty good. it reminded me of what a great time i had there, i think i might go back if time permits. he was saying the light here in Ireland is perfect for taking photos. i'll have to take his word for it.
one of my favourite movies of last year was 'Once' and it was shot here in Dublin and since i've been here i've seen a couple of places that are in the movie, like the scene where Glen is busking on the street (Graften Street, which is a main shopping strip here, supposedly a lot of big musicians started out busking on that street.) and a guy runs passed and steals his change and runs into the Park (St. Stephens Green). anyway, if you haven't seen the movie, you really should, such a good film, it won an oscar for best soundtrack.
The Temple bar district is really cool. heaps of vintage clothing stores, i got chatting to a guy that worked in one of them about Ryan Adams and how good his first 2 albums were, i think i spoke to him for a good hour or so, nice guy. The Temple bar district, funnily enough has some great bars and not just the tradional ones, some really cool, kooky ones! God i love the kooky ones! i was getting a little sick of the tradional stuff. My friend Marcus who i worked with in Brisbane, originally came from Dublin and he told me to check out a bar called Doyles corner, so i took a couple of the people that were staying in my hostel there. it ended up being a really good night, they have this thing called 'Ruby Sessions' on a tuesday night and get people to play music. some pretty big names have started here, Damien Rice and the Frames are a couple of them. the night we went 4 acts played. a Canadian guy who sung country, a local guy who played guitar and had a string section, 3 guys and a girl that sung folk and the headline act, a guy called Bill Coleman (click here to check out his myspace) people are saying his first album is as good as Damien Rice's debut. let me just say whoa! hold your horses! that is a massive call, the guy was pretty good, but not that good. while we were there one of the girls ordered a Guinness with Ribena. sounds like a strange combo but supposedly its a common drink for the ladies. i tried it, i think it kind of tasted like a turkish delight.
speaking of Guinness, I went to the Guinness factory while i was here, and i wasn't that sure if i was going to like it. but it ended up being pretty good. it was kind of set up like Willy Wonkers factory, but for alcoholics, the factory is designed like a giant pint glass. at the factory you got to see how the beer was made etc and you got taught how to pour your own Guinness, which there is a bit of an artform too. but best of all was the Gravity room up stairs, that has a 360 degree view of Dublin, it was amazing. there were a few interesting things i found out about the Guinness family and the business. Mr Guinness signed a contract to lease the brewery for 9000 years for something like £50 a year. talk about good business! something i like was the company looked after there workers really well, they helped them and there families with health care and housing, how nice is that. so if you got a job at Guinness it was like winning the lottery. something a little obsure i heard about Guinness was at one stage, when people gave blood here they got a pint of Guinness at the end to replenish there body. how good is that, a pint for a pint, sounds fair to me!
one of my favourite movies of last year was 'Once' and it was shot here in Dublin and since i've been here i've seen a couple of places that are in the movie, like the scene where Glen is busking on the street (Graften Street, which is a main shopping strip here, supposedly a lot of big musicians started out busking on that street.) and a guy runs passed and steals his change and runs into the Park (St. Stephens Green). anyway, if you haven't seen the movie, you really should, such a good film, it won an oscar for best soundtrack.
The Temple bar district is really cool. heaps of vintage clothing stores, i got chatting to a guy that worked in one of them about Ryan Adams and how good his first 2 albums were, i think i spoke to him for a good hour or so, nice guy. The Temple bar district, funnily enough has some great bars and not just the tradional ones, some really cool, kooky ones! God i love the kooky ones! i was getting a little sick of the tradional stuff. My friend Marcus who i worked with in Brisbane, originally came from Dublin and he told me to check out a bar called Doyles corner, so i took a couple of the people that were staying in my hostel there. it ended up being a really good night, they have this thing called 'Ruby Sessions' on a tuesday night and get people to play music. some pretty big names have started here, Damien Rice and the Frames are a couple of them. the night we went 4 acts played. a Canadian guy who sung country, a local guy who played guitar and had a string section, 3 guys and a girl that sung folk and the headline act, a guy called Bill Coleman (click here to check out his myspace) people are saying his first album is as good as Damien Rice's debut. let me just say whoa! hold your horses! that is a massive call, the guy was pretty good, but not that good. while we were there one of the girls ordered a Guinness with Ribena. sounds like a strange combo but supposedly its a common drink for the ladies. i tried it, i think it kind of tasted like a turkish delight.
speaking of Guinness, I went to the Guinness factory while i was here, and i wasn't that sure if i was going to like it. but it ended up being pretty good. it was kind of set up like Willy Wonkers factory, but for alcoholics, the factory is designed like a giant pint glass. at the factory you got to see how the beer was made etc and you got taught how to pour your own Guinness, which there is a bit of an artform too. but best of all was the Gravity room up stairs, that has a 360 degree view of Dublin, it was amazing. there were a few interesting things i found out about the Guinness family and the business. Mr Guinness signed a contract to lease the brewery for 9000 years for something like £50 a year. talk about good business! something i like was the company looked after there workers really well, they helped them and there families with health care and housing, how nice is that. so if you got a job at Guinness it was like winning the lottery. something a little obsure i heard about Guinness was at one stage, when people gave blood here they got a pint of Guinness at the end to replenish there body. how good is that, a pint for a pint, sounds fair to me!
I had a walk through Trinity college too, which is beautiful. some realy famous people have studied here Oscar Wilde being one them, by the way i saw where he was born and lived for a while. anyway, back to Trinity college. there is a big bell tower in the middle of the grounds. supposedly when its exam time, its bad luck to walk under it and students try and push there friends under it. the libary here is quite amazing and it holds the book of kells, which probably one of the most important books in Irish history, its a book a few monks made containing the four gospels and the new testement. its pretty old, and looking a bit tattered these days, it was stolen at one stage and was recovered a little bit beaten up and missing a few pages. a bit of a nerdy fact about the libary at Trinity college is a scence in one of the star wars movies was shot there (i feel i should give MYSELF a wedgie for writing that).
i ended up getting along with the staff at the hostel really well and we went out a couple of nights to a few different places. we met an aussie guy at one of the pubs and he was such a wanker, he was a real name dropper and thought he was it-and-a-bit, i could hardly contain the laughter. i really hope that Irish people don't think all Australians are like him. the people at the hostel were such a good crew, one day they took me out to a seaside town called Howth which was really pretty, supposedly the drummer from U2 lives there. something i liked was the seals that swam around the docks! they were massive and so cute they would just sit with there heads under water and watch you then pop there heads up when they thought you had food. i had such a good time at the hostel i considered getting a job there because there was a position available, but the boss was such a tool i could see myself clashing with him quite a bit. who knows, if i need the money i might come back.
i ended up getting along with the staff at the hostel really well and we went out a couple of nights to a few different places. we met an aussie guy at one of the pubs and he was such a wanker, he was a real name dropper and thought he was it-and-a-bit, i could hardly contain the laughter. i really hope that Irish people don't think all Australians are like him. the people at the hostel were such a good crew, one day they took me out to a seaside town called Howth which was really pretty, supposedly the drummer from U2 lives there. something i liked was the seals that swam around the docks! they were massive and so cute they would just sit with there heads under water and watch you then pop there heads up when they thought you had food. i had such a good time at the hostel i considered getting a job there because there was a position available, but the boss was such a tool i could see myself clashing with him quite a bit. who knows, if i need the money i might come back.
Its a bit of a shame i didn't get to see a game of Gaelic football, i was really keen to see a game. but they are finished for the season. bummer! something that i found out that i liked about Gaelic football is its grass roots. none of the players are professional and all the money generated from games goes straight back into the clubs and the community.
Overall i've enjoyed Ireland, it was nice to see the place were Mum's side of the family would've come from. but something that was annoying with it was how expensive it is, i was really shocked, and i wasn't the only one, some people i've met and found that here more expensive than London. oh well, off to Liverpool to catch up with the Fab Four!
Cork
I have to say even though i hate the bus ride itself the scenery is quite nice so i kind of makes us for the smelly people and children crying, well sort of. Cork is a lot bigger than Galway but still not massive. i like the city center, there are parts of it that actually remind me of Melbourne, mainly because the laneways have lots of cafes, restaurants and bars down them. its quite nice just to walk around them and take it all in. something i've found interesting in not only Cork but throughout parts of Ireland are the signs are in both English and in Gaelic. i've heard there are parts where its only in Gaelic, which could make it a little tricky getting around. where i'm staying is in a good central spot across the road from me is a furniture and homeware store, the woman that owns the shop is really nice and we had a good chat about the stuff she stocked, alot of her stuff is from all over the world, not just Ireland. i was looking at a pattern on a chair and i recognized it from somewhere, she told me it was a Florence Broadhurst design, no wonder i knew it, she's Australian (if you haven't heard of Florence i recommend checking her out, her story is amazing and the mystery around her murder is intriguing). The people i'm staying with in the hostels are pretty cool, heaps of Aussies and New Zealanders and they all seem to be looking for jobs here at the moment. whenever i look at the news here, people are being laid of left, right and center. good luck to them, i hope they find something. but best of all on a Friday night they put on a free sausage sizzle. as i was biting into a gourmet sausage i couldn't help but think, 'i'm living the dream'. but it was short lived, i had to share a room with a guy who snored all night long, i didn't get a wink of sleep.
while i was here i went to a church where you could ring the 'bells of Shandon'. because I've never rang bells before, my ringing was rubbish, but kind of cool to do. you can ring them whenever you like which must be heaven for the people that live around the area. the poor buggers have to listen to piss weak bell rings all day long. while your climbing up the bell tower you can see how the old clock works which is quite interesting. the view from the top was really nice, i was lucky because it was pretty clear when i got up there and could see quite far. the old bloke that worked at the church was good value, i had a chat to him for a bit and he showed me how to get to the university, because he said it was worth checking out, and it was. The university is a mix of old and new buildings but is really beautiful, they have a gallery there too, but the work in it wasn't pretty average. while i was there i wandering into some building where they had all these stones on display. i asked the guy what they were and he explained to me that they were Ogham Stones and the markings on them are the first signs of writing in Ireland. they are pretty much lines at different lengths that sometime over lap. they were used to mark out land. supposedly the university has the biggest collection so stumbling across those was an awesome find!
not far from there was the Cork museum and when i got there it was closed for lunch, which i found a little strange, but i went into the cafe to ask when they open again, the girl behind the counter asked me where i was from and she ended up writing me an itinerary of things to do and bars to check out while i'm in Ireland, i didn't have the heart to tell here i probably wasn't going to do it all, but it was very nice of her, and it killed some time until the museum was open.
St Finbarre's Cathedral is quite interesting and you may have noticed from previous blogs i'm much of a fan of religion. anyway, i walked in there and there were some very excited catholics inside that couldn't wait to show me around, i pretty got a guided tour around the place. supposedly this was the site where a monk started his monastery here and where Cork was founded from. there were a couple of churches built here over time but were demolished to make room for this cathedral. the lead lighting was quite interesting, the left side of the building had the old testament and the right and toward the back had new testament. i really respect that kind of work, i think it would take alot of talent to design that stuff. they had a huge pipe organ which had over 1000 pipes in it, which was pretty impressive. something i found a little strange was there was a cannonball hanging from the ceiling. story goes, there is a fort next door, and during a battle one of the original churches got a caught in the cross fire and a cannonball got lodged in the side of the tower.
One day i took the bus out to Blarney to see the castle and of course kiss the stone. as i said in my last blog, i'm a little over castles but i made an exception for this one. i was actually surprised to find that there was more there than just the stone. the Castle is really cool and has a labyrinth of caves under it which were amazing, they came about for people attacking them trying to burrow underneath the castle. the gardens around it were quite pretty too. in them they had a few strange things to explore like 'the wishing steps', 'the witches kitchen', 'druids cave' and 'druids stones' which, as the story goes, is where witches were said to congregate and snakes were involved in there rituals so thats why they St. Patrick got rid of all the snakes in Ireland. but of course you don't go to Blarney and not kiss the stone. the stone is right up the top of the castle and so you have to trek up some pretty small steps to get up there, the view its self is worth it. by kissing the stone your meant to endow the kisser with the gift of the gab (god, like i needed anymore help, i think your born with it if your a Hendrick) you have to lay on your back hold on to some bars behind you so you don't fall then you lean right back and pucker up! i spoke to the guy who worked there (he was a classic) and he said originally you would have to hang from your feet to kiss the stone, but since then then they have taken out part of the wall to access it easier. Blarney is a pretty little town too, when i say little i mean little, only a few streets really. i went to the local pub there and had an Irish stew for lunch, it was really good but so big, i think my stomach has shrunk! i'm a little bit surprised but the lack of potatoes, i thought i might be force fed them but there are hardly in many dishes. in fact the Scots loved them more i think, they were always selling stuffed potatoes or chips of some kind, still its early days.
during my time in Cork a took some time out and did a tour of the Ring of Kerry. i got recomended by a few people at the hostel i was staying at to check it out, the scenery out there is amazing, i'm really glad i went. something i thought was good was the EU (European union) make countries do a certain amount of conservation, here in Ireland they have put a lot of money into there native animals to helped boost numbers. if they don't they don't get funding for things like roads etc. i think its really responsible and a great idea. i stayed the night in a little town called Killarney which is cute. while i was there they had a great little market going on with people playing music in the street, for a few of the songs they got some little kids to do riverdance stuff to the music which was brilliant! they were pretty good considering how young they were.
its funny, since i've been in Ireland theres been plenty in the news about a girl called Katy French, she was an Irish model that died a year ago from a cocaine overdose, which is pretty tragic. they had a memorial for her the other day. but i can't get over how much the media is making her into a martyr, they have double page spreads in newspapers and TV specials like she was Princess Diana, i think its pretty wrong. lets face it, she died because she was doing illegal drugs, but i feel the media seem to gloss over that fact because she's got a pretty face. now don't get me wrong, i think its terrible that someone so young dies, the media just shit me, they make out like some one else shoved a few kilos of coke up her nose, somehow i get the feeling she wasn't a first time user. i don't really know the full story, she may have been a saint.
I'm off to Dublin next, which i think could be really good, even though the locals tell me its 'shite'! more when i get there.
while i was here i went to a church where you could ring the 'bells of Shandon'. because I've never rang bells before, my ringing was rubbish, but kind of cool to do. you can ring them whenever you like which must be heaven for the people that live around the area. the poor buggers have to listen to piss weak bell rings all day long. while your climbing up the bell tower you can see how the old clock works which is quite interesting. the view from the top was really nice, i was lucky because it was pretty clear when i got up there and could see quite far. the old bloke that worked at the church was good value, i had a chat to him for a bit and he showed me how to get to the university, because he said it was worth checking out, and it was. The university is a mix of old and new buildings but is really beautiful, they have a gallery there too, but the work in it wasn't pretty average. while i was there i wandering into some building where they had all these stones on display. i asked the guy what they were and he explained to me that they were Ogham Stones and the markings on them are the first signs of writing in Ireland. they are pretty much lines at different lengths that sometime over lap. they were used to mark out land. supposedly the university has the biggest collection so stumbling across those was an awesome find!
not far from there was the Cork museum and when i got there it was closed for lunch, which i found a little strange, but i went into the cafe to ask when they open again, the girl behind the counter asked me where i was from and she ended up writing me an itinerary of things to do and bars to check out while i'm in Ireland, i didn't have the heart to tell here i probably wasn't going to do it all, but it was very nice of her, and it killed some time until the museum was open.
St Finbarre's Cathedral is quite interesting and you may have noticed from previous blogs i'm much of a fan of religion. anyway, i walked in there and there were some very excited catholics inside that couldn't wait to show me around, i pretty got a guided tour around the place. supposedly this was the site where a monk started his monastery here and where Cork was founded from. there were a couple of churches built here over time but were demolished to make room for this cathedral. the lead lighting was quite interesting, the left side of the building had the old testament and the right and toward the back had new testament. i really respect that kind of work, i think it would take alot of talent to design that stuff. they had a huge pipe organ which had over 1000 pipes in it, which was pretty impressive. something i found a little strange was there was a cannonball hanging from the ceiling. story goes, there is a fort next door, and during a battle one of the original churches got a caught in the cross fire and a cannonball got lodged in the side of the tower.
One day i took the bus out to Blarney to see the castle and of course kiss the stone. as i said in my last blog, i'm a little over castles but i made an exception for this one. i was actually surprised to find that there was more there than just the stone. the Castle is really cool and has a labyrinth of caves under it which were amazing, they came about for people attacking them trying to burrow underneath the castle. the gardens around it were quite pretty too. in them they had a few strange things to explore like 'the wishing steps', 'the witches kitchen', 'druids cave' and 'druids stones' which, as the story goes, is where witches were said to congregate and snakes were involved in there rituals so thats why they St. Patrick got rid of all the snakes in Ireland. but of course you don't go to Blarney and not kiss the stone. the stone is right up the top of the castle and so you have to trek up some pretty small steps to get up there, the view its self is worth it. by kissing the stone your meant to endow the kisser with the gift of the gab (god, like i needed anymore help, i think your born with it if your a Hendrick) you have to lay on your back hold on to some bars behind you so you don't fall then you lean right back and pucker up! i spoke to the guy who worked there (he was a classic) and he said originally you would have to hang from your feet to kiss the stone, but since then then they have taken out part of the wall to access it easier. Blarney is a pretty little town too, when i say little i mean little, only a few streets really. i went to the local pub there and had an Irish stew for lunch, it was really good but so big, i think my stomach has shrunk! i'm a little bit surprised but the lack of potatoes, i thought i might be force fed them but there are hardly in many dishes. in fact the Scots loved them more i think, they were always selling stuffed potatoes or chips of some kind, still its early days.
during my time in Cork a took some time out and did a tour of the Ring of Kerry. i got recomended by a few people at the hostel i was staying at to check it out, the scenery out there is amazing, i'm really glad i went. something i thought was good was the EU (European union) make countries do a certain amount of conservation, here in Ireland they have put a lot of money into there native animals to helped boost numbers. if they don't they don't get funding for things like roads etc. i think its really responsible and a great idea. i stayed the night in a little town called Killarney which is cute. while i was there they had a great little market going on with people playing music in the street, for a few of the songs they got some little kids to do riverdance stuff to the music which was brilliant! they were pretty good considering how young they were.
its funny, since i've been in Ireland theres been plenty in the news about a girl called Katy French, she was an Irish model that died a year ago from a cocaine overdose, which is pretty tragic. they had a memorial for her the other day. but i can't get over how much the media is making her into a martyr, they have double page spreads in newspapers and TV specials like she was Princess Diana, i think its pretty wrong. lets face it, she died because she was doing illegal drugs, but i feel the media seem to gloss over that fact because she's got a pretty face. now don't get me wrong, i think its terrible that someone so young dies, the media just shit me, they make out like some one else shoved a few kilos of coke up her nose, somehow i get the feeling she wasn't a first time user. i don't really know the full story, she may have been a saint.
I'm off to Dublin next, which i think could be really good, even though the locals tell me its 'shite'! more when i get there.
Galway
the bus ride to Galway was a nightmare at the time but kind of funny in hindsight. the signs at the bus station were incorrect so i had to walk around trying to find the bus. when i did i got stuck with a bus driver with a really strange taste in music one minute he'd be listening to the Mary Poppins soundtrack, then it was Opera and then some music hall numbers from the dark ages. but the funny and painful thing was that he sung along the whole way but he was so tone deaf that it didn't even sound like the song. he sounded a little bit like Mr Bean singing. by the end of the 9 hour trip (it took longer because the roads were icy) i was ready to cry!
Galway, wow! this place is easily one of the most beautiful little spots i've ever seen. the first day i was here i just took it easy and sat on the water for a couple of hours. it was such great weather, there was no wind at all and the sun on my face was magic. i think i could've sat there forever, just looking out over the water. speak of water there are heaps of canals that run through the city which are really nice, i've noticed i really like places with water or canals, can't explain why though.
Galway is a really tradional town, there are some really cute little cobblestone streets and lanes full of shops and great little pubs (i thought the pubs in Belfast were cool, these take the cake!) and the vibe in them is electric, there seems to be something going on in them every night of the week, they have plenty of local music being played in them. the perfect place to have a Guinness, mmmmm Guinness, so good! while i was there people in the crowd were yelling out a request called 'Galway Girl', i'd never heard of it before, but everyone in the pub did, they sung it word for word, it was pretty amazing. the singer was quite good too, he started making up funny lyrics to the song and got everyone laughing.
i think the city is prettiest at night, its light up beautifully. some of the buildings here are really cute too, some of the streets here look great with when the house are painted different colours, sometimes just the doors, sometimes the windows, sometime the roof is made of straw, its all good.
I took a trip down to County Clare and saw a bit of the countrys west coast, it was really beautiful, i couldn't get over how rocky it was, the highlight was the Cliffs of Moher, that are roughly 200m high. i walked along most of it, but it was a bit wet and it was muddy, just as i was thinking in my head 'Australian Male falls to his death' i slipped and nearly did fall in, after that i start thinking 'australian male on holiday finds pot of gold' it hasn't happened yet.
another thing i really liked was the different hues of green, they were unbelievable. The stone walls that divided the area were amazing, the way they were constructed looked like they could fall over at any moment because they were just rocks sitting on top of rocks, they didn't have anything holding them together. speaking of rocks, i saw the Poulnabrone Dolmen. they are kind of like stonehenge but only one of them instead of many, its where they would put the dead and animals would come and eat there flesh (yuk!), when theyre done the bodies would be buried. we also saw the Kilfenora high crosses. and a few different castles. i have to say the novelty of castles has started to wear off, oh whats that? a castle... oh look ANOTHER castle. half of them are ruins anyway.
of course its the people in the town that make the place. everyone here is really friendly and have a good sense of humour. I saw some guy in the street who reminded me of Father Jack from the TV show 'Father Ted' he was mumbling stuff and was rather dissheveled i thought at any moment he might yell 'Feck!'. also there is this woman who is staying at the hostel, she reminds me of a cat lady, minus the cats. she always talking to herself and is always cooking toast and the way she makes her coffee, its like shes making some sort of potion. i think shes a bit mental. i thought that if i go to Ireland i might see a leprechaun, so far i've seen 2 midgets, does that count? anyway i'm off to riverdance my way to Cork! watch out Michael Flatley!
Galway, wow! this place is easily one of the most beautiful little spots i've ever seen. the first day i was here i just took it easy and sat on the water for a couple of hours. it was such great weather, there was no wind at all and the sun on my face was magic. i think i could've sat there forever, just looking out over the water. speak of water there are heaps of canals that run through the city which are really nice, i've noticed i really like places with water or canals, can't explain why though.
Galway is a really tradional town, there are some really cute little cobblestone streets and lanes full of shops and great little pubs (i thought the pubs in Belfast were cool, these take the cake!) and the vibe in them is electric, there seems to be something going on in them every night of the week, they have plenty of local music being played in them. the perfect place to have a Guinness, mmmmm Guinness, so good! while i was there people in the crowd were yelling out a request called 'Galway Girl', i'd never heard of it before, but everyone in the pub did, they sung it word for word, it was pretty amazing. the singer was quite good too, he started making up funny lyrics to the song and got everyone laughing.
i think the city is prettiest at night, its light up beautifully. some of the buildings here are really cute too, some of the streets here look great with when the house are painted different colours, sometimes just the doors, sometimes the windows, sometime the roof is made of straw, its all good.
I took a trip down to County Clare and saw a bit of the countrys west coast, it was really beautiful, i couldn't get over how rocky it was, the highlight was the Cliffs of Moher, that are roughly 200m high. i walked along most of it, but it was a bit wet and it was muddy, just as i was thinking in my head 'Australian Male falls to his death' i slipped and nearly did fall in, after that i start thinking 'australian male on holiday finds pot of gold' it hasn't happened yet.
another thing i really liked was the different hues of green, they were unbelievable. The stone walls that divided the area were amazing, the way they were constructed looked like they could fall over at any moment because they were just rocks sitting on top of rocks, they didn't have anything holding them together. speaking of rocks, i saw the Poulnabrone Dolmen. they are kind of like stonehenge but only one of them instead of many, its where they would put the dead and animals would come and eat there flesh (yuk!), when theyre done the bodies would be buried. we also saw the Kilfenora high crosses. and a few different castles. i have to say the novelty of castles has started to wear off, oh whats that? a castle... oh look ANOTHER castle. half of them are ruins anyway.
of course its the people in the town that make the place. everyone here is really friendly and have a good sense of humour. I saw some guy in the street who reminded me of Father Jack from the TV show 'Father Ted' he was mumbling stuff and was rather dissheveled i thought at any moment he might yell 'Feck!'. also there is this woman who is staying at the hostel, she reminds me of a cat lady, minus the cats. she always talking to herself and is always cooking toast and the way she makes her coffee, its like shes making some sort of potion. i think shes a bit mental. i thought that if i go to Ireland i might see a leprechaun, so far i've seen 2 midgets, does that count? anyway i'm off to riverdance my way to Cork! watch out Michael Flatley!
Belfast
well, i think i under estimated the distance between Glasgow and Belfast. I caught the bus at 4:00pm and i didn't get to my hostel until 11:00pm. but the boat ride across was a bit of fun, though quite rocky at times.
Belfast is in full christmas swing. the city centre is packed with food stalls, Christmas lights and action with George Micheal's 'Last Christmas' being played wherever you roam. i dunno if its a tourism fad at the moment but i've noticed a hell of a lot of ferris wheels on my travels (even in Australia too, theres one in brisvegas and just before i left Melbourne they were completing the eye sore which is a poor attempt to liven up the dockland... it won't by the way) and Belfast is no exception though i'm told its temporary, even though it doesn't look like it is. its right next to the City Hall which is a beautiful old building. Belfast is a pretty place, its kind of hard to believe what happened here with all the IRA and stuff, there are still some things that remind you of it. for instance theres a cage on some of the door of a pub in back streets. i was told it was because there was a few murders in that pub and to stop it they installed a cage. if you wanted to get in you would have to ring a bell, the owner would check you out, and if they knew you were ok, they would let you in, if not, no entry. theres a swanky hotel here called the Europa hotel that has the rather unlucky title of the second most bombed building in the world, also, some of the Peace lines that divided the city are still standing. in some parts of town the curbs on the side of the road are painted in either red, white and blue (english flag) or green, white and orange, (irish flag) depending on where you are. having said that, it is still a really pretty city, the people here are really friendly (EVERYONE says 'hello') and there are some really cute little lane ways around town that you can duck down, half the time you you totally forget and don't even realize what happened here in the past.
famous soccer player George Best came from Belfast, he was considered one of the greats of the game, but by the sounds of it, he played hard but it sounds like he partied a little too hard, he we was a bit of a playboy in his day but ended up an alcoholic and died of liver troubles. While i was here i came across a book of his quotes and it was GOLD! heres a few of them:
- 'I spent a lot of money on booze, birds and fast cars. The rest I just squandered.'
- 'I used to go missing a lot...Miss Canada, Miss United Kingdom, Miss World.'
- 'I've stopped drinking, but only while I'm asleep.'
- 'In 1969 I gave up women and alcohol - it was the worst 20 minutes of my life.'
The area i'm staying in is right near the Queens University which to some people is the most beautiful building in Ireland. it is very nice, kind of makes you WANT to study. The uni is right next to the Botanic Gardens which isn't that big in comparison to others i've been to but it has a glasshouse thats a couple of hundred years old called 'the palm house'. also the area around the uni is quite good. nice streets with cool shops and places to eat.
the Titanic was built here in Belfast almost 100 years ago when the towns port was pumping, now however its a shadow of its former self. but i heard that they are redeveloping the area and building apartments and restaurants and i read in the paper that they are thinking of building a building at replicates the Titanic for tourism, but from the artist impression it looked pretty dodgy. at least this time with it on solid ground and with no icebergs to run into it will stay afloat. fingers crossed!
I did a day trip up to the causeway, which are rocks that formed strange hexagon shapes from volcanic rock thats over 6 million old. the weather was a pretty average and there was an eerie mist that came in over the sea and over the rocks, it was pretty amazing to look at, the trip was so worth while. we then went up to Londonderry or Derry depending on which side of the fence you sit, along the way you see the London either written in or rubbed out. it was also a really beautiful city but also has a terrible past. Londonderry was where Bloody Sunday took place. i went down to where the 'Free Derry' wall stands and saw some of the murals. i have to admit, i was a little awestruck. they were amazing. and i was surprised that they hadn't faded but the tour guide said that they had put a varnish on them to protect them. pretty tragic.
There are a few murals in Belfast also and on my last day there i went and checked them out. it was a little bit out of the city in a rougher area. and i saw a couple of kids (probably about 8 or 9 years old) and they looked like they were up to trouble, nothing serious, just mischief. they saw that i caught them and they said a coy 'hello' and i said 'hi, how are you going?' back, they were really shocked to a different accent. i had my big backpack on and one of them said to me 'where ya get yer bag from, mister?' i said 'Australia'. 'whoa!' they both said, then the other one said to me 'are you catholic?' it was quite and awkward question because i didn't know which area i was in so i said 'i'm nothing...' they both seemed a little confused and asked 'are you goin to beat us up?' i laughed and said 'no, of course not' then they just shrugged there shoulders and said 'ok, see ya mister'. it was really bizarre. obviously people still have there guard up even though there seems to be peace within the area.
it was funny i was in a CD shop just looking around and in the corner of my eye i saw something, a CD titled 'the many hits of Jason Donovan'. now, correct me if i'm wrong, but i don't remember too many hits coming out of old Jason, except for his duet with Kylie, 'especially for you', what a classic that was. maybe the it should've been titled 'the many flops of Jason Donovan' or perhaps the CD's title was a double entendre and was actually commenting of Jason's drug past.
another thing that amazes me about the UK is how any girl can get a boob job, be a page 3 girl, become a W.A.G (W.A.G.S is a group of woman that date sports stars. it stands for Wife And Girlfriends of Sportstars) suddenly there a celebrity. its amazing! i was in a book shop and they had a book written by Katie Price aka Jordan and it had written on the front that it was a Number 1 seller. i was so surprised, i didn't think she would be about string a few words together to write a book! can anyone say ghost writer..?
one night i went out with a couple of guys that were staying in my room. they were from Newcastle and were over here riding there bikes around the coast of Ireland. (i think if i did that i would get about 100m up the road then give up.) they were really good guys we checked out a couple of REAL Irish pubs around the area which were pretty good. so much better than the imposers that you get in Australia, in fact you get them around Europe also. which i was surprised at, i thought it might have been an Aussie thing. its a bit like a Kebab shop, no matter you are in the world, or at what time, you will find a Kebab shop open.
anyway, i'm off to Galway, i think... depending if i catch the bus on time. bye!
Belfast is in full christmas swing. the city centre is packed with food stalls, Christmas lights and action with George Micheal's 'Last Christmas' being played wherever you roam. i dunno if its a tourism fad at the moment but i've noticed a hell of a lot of ferris wheels on my travels (even in Australia too, theres one in brisvegas and just before i left Melbourne they were completing the eye sore which is a poor attempt to liven up the dockland... it won't by the way) and Belfast is no exception though i'm told its temporary, even though it doesn't look like it is. its right next to the City Hall which is a beautiful old building. Belfast is a pretty place, its kind of hard to believe what happened here with all the IRA and stuff, there are still some things that remind you of it. for instance theres a cage on some of the door of a pub in back streets. i was told it was because there was a few murders in that pub and to stop it they installed a cage. if you wanted to get in you would have to ring a bell, the owner would check you out, and if they knew you were ok, they would let you in, if not, no entry. theres a swanky hotel here called the Europa hotel that has the rather unlucky title of the second most bombed building in the world, also, some of the Peace lines that divided the city are still standing. in some parts of town the curbs on the side of the road are painted in either red, white and blue (english flag) or green, white and orange, (irish flag) depending on where you are. having said that, it is still a really pretty city, the people here are really friendly (EVERYONE says 'hello') and there are some really cute little lane ways around town that you can duck down, half the time you you totally forget and don't even realize what happened here in the past.
famous soccer player George Best came from Belfast, he was considered one of the greats of the game, but by the sounds of it, he played hard but it sounds like he partied a little too hard, he we was a bit of a playboy in his day but ended up an alcoholic and died of liver troubles. While i was here i came across a book of his quotes and it was GOLD! heres a few of them:
- 'I spent a lot of money on booze, birds and fast cars. The rest I just squandered.'
- 'I used to go missing a lot...Miss Canada, Miss United Kingdom, Miss World.'
- 'I've stopped drinking, but only while I'm asleep.'
- 'In 1969 I gave up women and alcohol - it was the worst 20 minutes of my life.'
The area i'm staying in is right near the Queens University which to some people is the most beautiful building in Ireland. it is very nice, kind of makes you WANT to study. The uni is right next to the Botanic Gardens which isn't that big in comparison to others i've been to but it has a glasshouse thats a couple of hundred years old called 'the palm house'. also the area around the uni is quite good. nice streets with cool shops and places to eat.
the Titanic was built here in Belfast almost 100 years ago when the towns port was pumping, now however its a shadow of its former self. but i heard that they are redeveloping the area and building apartments and restaurants and i read in the paper that they are thinking of building a building at replicates the Titanic for tourism, but from the artist impression it looked pretty dodgy. at least this time with it on solid ground and with no icebergs to run into it will stay afloat. fingers crossed!
I did a day trip up to the causeway, which are rocks that formed strange hexagon shapes from volcanic rock thats over 6 million old. the weather was a pretty average and there was an eerie mist that came in over the sea and over the rocks, it was pretty amazing to look at, the trip was so worth while. we then went up to Londonderry or Derry depending on which side of the fence you sit, along the way you see the London either written in or rubbed out. it was also a really beautiful city but also has a terrible past. Londonderry was where Bloody Sunday took place. i went down to where the 'Free Derry' wall stands and saw some of the murals. i have to admit, i was a little awestruck. they were amazing. and i was surprised that they hadn't faded but the tour guide said that they had put a varnish on them to protect them. pretty tragic.
There are a few murals in Belfast also and on my last day there i went and checked them out. it was a little bit out of the city in a rougher area. and i saw a couple of kids (probably about 8 or 9 years old) and they looked like they were up to trouble, nothing serious, just mischief. they saw that i caught them and they said a coy 'hello' and i said 'hi, how are you going?' back, they were really shocked to a different accent. i had my big backpack on and one of them said to me 'where ya get yer bag from, mister?' i said 'Australia'. 'whoa!' they both said, then the other one said to me 'are you catholic?' it was quite and awkward question because i didn't know which area i was in so i said 'i'm nothing...' they both seemed a little confused and asked 'are you goin to beat us up?' i laughed and said 'no, of course not' then they just shrugged there shoulders and said 'ok, see ya mister'. it was really bizarre. obviously people still have there guard up even though there seems to be peace within the area.
it was funny i was in a CD shop just looking around and in the corner of my eye i saw something, a CD titled 'the many hits of Jason Donovan'. now, correct me if i'm wrong, but i don't remember too many hits coming out of old Jason, except for his duet with Kylie, 'especially for you', what a classic that was. maybe the it should've been titled 'the many flops of Jason Donovan' or perhaps the CD's title was a double entendre and was actually commenting of Jason's drug past.
another thing that amazes me about the UK is how any girl can get a boob job, be a page 3 girl, become a W.A.G (W.A.G.S is a group of woman that date sports stars. it stands for Wife And Girlfriends of Sportstars) suddenly there a celebrity. its amazing! i was in a book shop and they had a book written by Katie Price aka Jordan and it had written on the front that it was a Number 1 seller. i was so surprised, i didn't think she would be about string a few words together to write a book! can anyone say ghost writer..?
one night i went out with a couple of guys that were staying in my room. they were from Newcastle and were over here riding there bikes around the coast of Ireland. (i think if i did that i would get about 100m up the road then give up.) they were really good guys we checked out a couple of REAL Irish pubs around the area which were pretty good. so much better than the imposers that you get in Australia, in fact you get them around Europe also. which i was surprised at, i thought it might have been an Aussie thing. its a bit like a Kebab shop, no matter you are in the world, or at what time, you will find a Kebab shop open.
anyway, i'm off to Galway, i think... depending if i catch the bus on time. bye!
Glasgow
i got to Glasgow and Georges Square was pumping with music, lights and rides it was the first day of the Glasgow Winterfest. also both the Glasgow football teams were in town so there were a heap of supporters, which was a great vibe to be around. i heard that the football crowds can be quite violent but i didn't have a problem. supposidly Glasgow has the highest murder rate in all of the UK, maybe they should sell T-shirts at the tourist information that say 'I survived Glasgow' then again, maybe not. by the way, its definately winter now, i've even resorted to wearing the thermals. but even that didn't stop me from coming down with a cold. the few days i was here i felt really average and my nose was running like a tap! but i'm feeling much better now in case you were wondering.
Something i learnt pretty early on in my stay here was they are mad about this guy called Charles Rennie Mackintosh, he was an architect and you can't go far without seeing a building of his, there littered throughout the city. i went to a tea room that he designed called 'The willow tea rooms' on the Sauchiehall street. they were quite nice i suppose. not far from there is the Glasgow school of Art which i think he help design also, this is where band Franz Ferdinand went to school.
Something i did like was the Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum (i think it was better than the Modern art gallery). there were some nice pieces of art work in there, even a Dali. but there were two displays there that touched me the most. the first was a huge display of stuffed animals around the world, the kids were going nuts for them. but it really shocked me when i figured out the room was full of animals that are now extinct. i couldn't get over the number of different wildlife that were no longer walking on this earth. it was pretty tragic really and in a way quite embrassing as a human being. i felt terrible that this is the only way of seeing these beautiful creatures. the second exhibit was women being abused. i actually have seen a couple of exhibits like this in Glasgow, there must've been a big problem here in past or perhaps even present, it was pretty full on and something i didn't really expect in a museum, but i think it was a good idea to teach children that its not ok to abuse people, physically or emotionally.
Glasgow science centre is an interesting modern building and just across the river from it is the Scottish exhibition and conference centre, to me, when you look at them together they both kind of look like two big snails sliding along the riverside. not suprising i suppose, scotland has great weather for snails, its generally drizzling. The Barras Market was 'interesting' to say the very least, if you want to go people watching, here was the place to do it. i'm pretty sure half the stuff there was hot goods, if not it was going to be stolen for the stall. The Barras Market was right near the Peoples Palace which, in my opinion is nothing to really rave about except for the glass house on the back of it. it boasts about its terracotta fountain at the front of the building, supposedly its the only one of its kind from that era.
something i really enjoyed seeing was the Clava cairns. they are these ancient burial mounds that are thousands of years old. looking at them, theyre a little bit like stonehenge i suppose but with a pile of rocks in the middle. not much is really known about them apart from they used to cremate people in them. so amazing.
we went to a waterfall on the way home and there was a small old building on the top of crest that overlooked the waterfall. it turns out it was owned by one of the Dukes that lived around there a few centuries ago, and lets just say it wasn't used for hoildays. the Duke had a taste for ladies of the night and would take them up there. so i guess you could call him a McPimp daddy!
on the trip i heard so much about the different clans, Robert the Bruce, William Wallace, the Campbells (not the soup company) and the McDonalds (not the fast food resturant) and it was a little hard to take it all in. but one thing i did take in was it was a very violent history did you know that to find out if you were a witch they would throw you into a river and see if you drowned, if you did, congrats your not a witch however your dead and if you did float you were burnt at the stake. another way of finding out if you were a witch was if you had red hair, so if if you had fanta pants your in big trouble!
it was really nice to get out into the country for a bit, such a nice change from seeing cities. the only annoying thing was that the tour ended in Edinburgh so i had to catch a train back to Glasgow, but it ended up being quite good because i was sitting right near the toilet on the train, generally its not the hottest seat on the train but this time it was. there was this drunk guy on the train and he was trying to get the door to the toilet open but he didn't realise that it was an automatic door and all he had to do was push a button, instead he was trying to pull the door open. i was going to tell him, but it was too funny. then he finally openned it and went inside. i pushed the button so it would close but he didn't see me. the look of confusement on his face was priceless, anyway after a while he tried to force the door open again, by this stage there were a few people aware of what was going on and we all just look at each other and giggled. when he finally got out he said in a drunk scottish ascent 'that toilets haunted!' i couldn't help but laugh. classic.
Something i'm really enjoying about the UK in general is the radio soaps. call me an old foggy but they are pretty good! so nice to hear theater of the mind. i don't think they do them in Oz, which is a real shame. this probably explains why i'm so bad at coming up with ideas for radio ads! so far the food over here has been rubbish! its no wonder a lot of people over here are so over weight. i went into a fish and chip shop one day and ordered some chips, the girl behind the counter asked if i wanted some sauce on my chips i said 'i'll just have some salt please' the girl nearly fell over with shock, she said that everyone that orders chips from here always put a million types of sauces and stuff on it. i told her i was a purist! however the only thing unhealthy that has sucked me in is fudge, i could eat the stuff all day!
Oh well, that was the Glasgow experience, now i'm off to Belfast. Bye!
Something i learnt pretty early on in my stay here was they are mad about this guy called Charles Rennie Mackintosh, he was an architect and you can't go far without seeing a building of his, there littered throughout the city. i went to a tea room that he designed called 'The willow tea rooms' on the Sauchiehall street. they were quite nice i suppose. not far from there is the Glasgow school of Art which i think he help design also, this is where band Franz Ferdinand went to school.
Something i did like was the Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum (i think it was better than the Modern art gallery). there were some nice pieces of art work in there, even a Dali. but there were two displays there that touched me the most. the first was a huge display of stuffed animals around the world, the kids were going nuts for them. but it really shocked me when i figured out the room was full of animals that are now extinct. i couldn't get over the number of different wildlife that were no longer walking on this earth. it was pretty tragic really and in a way quite embrassing as a human being. i felt terrible that this is the only way of seeing these beautiful creatures. the second exhibit was women being abused. i actually have seen a couple of exhibits like this in Glasgow, there must've been a big problem here in past or perhaps even present, it was pretty full on and something i didn't really expect in a museum, but i think it was a good idea to teach children that its not ok to abuse people, physically or emotionally.
Glasgow science centre is an interesting modern building and just across the river from it is the Scottish exhibition and conference centre, to me, when you look at them together they both kind of look like two big snails sliding along the riverside. not suprising i suppose, scotland has great weather for snails, its generally drizzling. The Barras Market was 'interesting' to say the very least, if you want to go people watching, here was the place to do it. i'm pretty sure half the stuff there was hot goods, if not it was going to be stolen for the stall. The Barras Market was right near the Peoples Palace which, in my opinion is nothing to really rave about except for the glass house on the back of it. it boasts about its terracotta fountain at the front of the building, supposedly its the only one of its kind from that era.
One thing Glasgow is known for is its music scene. quite a lot of big bands come from here, like Franz Ferdinand, Travis, Belle and Sebastian, the list goes on. i checked out 'King Tuts Wah Wah bar' (which is consistently voted one of the best venues in thr UK) and 'the Arches' which is where a lot of the bands played some of there first gigs. so that was kinda cool, they were both pretty cool bars. i can't say i really enjoyed Glasgow as much as i thought i might, i don't really know why, i just don't think it lived up to expectations. i would say West End was the only part i truely liked, they had some good shops, interesting laneways and a good vibe about it which i kind of felt the rest of the city lacked a little.
while i was in Glasgow i took a 2 day tour up to the highlands. the scottish highlands are absolutely stunning, and i had a really great time. i think it helped that we had amazing weather and our views weren't spoilt, but also, our tour guide was hilarious and had a one liner for everything, he was brilliant off the cuff too. he took us to some really amazing places and things (we saw highland cows too, which are one of the oldest breed of cows in the world.) i was suprised to find that the mountains aren't that high in comparison to other ones around the world, but our guide was saying that more people had died climbing them than in the Alps. mainly becuase they don't look that high up and they underestimate the climb. while we were up in the highlands i saw my first dump of snow since i've been in europe. and naturally we had a good old fashioned snow ball fight! brilliant! along the we saw plenty of lochs but of course we saw the most famous of them all. Loch Ness, funnily enough i didn't see Nessie but supposidly over time, a thousand people have. the whole time i was there i kept thinking of this episode of 'The Goodies' and how they went for a swim in the loch and got chased by the loch ness. pretty strange i haven't watched the goodies since i was really really little. its funny what you remember.
we stayed the night in a place called Inverness which was a really pretty little town. even though its quite small, the girl that worked at the hostel told me, its known for its music and have a lot of great bands in the area, also the guy who wrote Peter Pan is from here. on the trip i met a guy from Spain, Ismael, he was there with his girlfriend who didn't speak much english. so when we stopped in Inverness they saw a spanish restaurant and said that i MUST come with them to try some tapas with them. it was actually a really good experience because they told me about the foods and how they should taste and how they're cooked. it was funny, ordered one dish that had blood sausage in it, Ismael asked the waiter where abouts the sausage was from and it turned out it was from the same butcher that his girlfriends father worked at. small world. i spoke to Ismael about his english and asked him if he learnt it in school, he told me that he did get taught it at school but he mainly learnt english from playing Nintendo! he told me when he was a little kid he got a Nintendo but all the games were in english so he was sit down in front of the TV with a controller and a dictionary to translate the words! i couldn't help but laugh. TAKE THAT all those people that say you don't learn anything from computer games!
something interesting i learnt while i was on the trip was that the kilt you see today is different to the way they originally were. they actually were a lot bigger and thicker and were used mainly in the highlands becuase it was so wet up there, it was quicker and easier to get throught the terrain if you didn't have pants on because you would get weighed down when they got wet. also they would smear animal fat on them to keep them waterproof and of a night use it to wrap themselves up in to keep warm.something i really enjoyed seeing was the Clava cairns. they are these ancient burial mounds that are thousands of years old. looking at them, theyre a little bit like stonehenge i suppose but with a pile of rocks in the middle. not much is really known about them apart from they used to cremate people in them. so amazing.
we went to a waterfall on the way home and there was a small old building on the top of crest that overlooked the waterfall. it turns out it was owned by one of the Dukes that lived around there a few centuries ago, and lets just say it wasn't used for hoildays. the Duke had a taste for ladies of the night and would take them up there. so i guess you could call him a McPimp daddy!
on the trip i heard so much about the different clans, Robert the Bruce, William Wallace, the Campbells (not the soup company) and the McDonalds (not the fast food resturant) and it was a little hard to take it all in. but one thing i did take in was it was a very violent history did you know that to find out if you were a witch they would throw you into a river and see if you drowned, if you did, congrats your not a witch however your dead and if you did float you were burnt at the stake. another way of finding out if you were a witch was if you had red hair, so if if you had fanta pants your in big trouble!
it was really nice to get out into the country for a bit, such a nice change from seeing cities. the only annoying thing was that the tour ended in Edinburgh so i had to catch a train back to Glasgow, but it ended up being quite good because i was sitting right near the toilet on the train, generally its not the hottest seat on the train but this time it was. there was this drunk guy on the train and he was trying to get the door to the toilet open but he didn't realise that it was an automatic door and all he had to do was push a button, instead he was trying to pull the door open. i was going to tell him, but it was too funny. then he finally openned it and went inside. i pushed the button so it would close but he didn't see me. the look of confusement on his face was priceless, anyway after a while he tried to force the door open again, by this stage there were a few people aware of what was going on and we all just look at each other and giggled. when he finally got out he said in a drunk scottish ascent 'that toilets haunted!' i couldn't help but laugh. classic.
Something i'm really enjoying about the UK in general is the radio soaps. call me an old foggy but they are pretty good! so nice to hear theater of the mind. i don't think they do them in Oz, which is a real shame. this probably explains why i'm so bad at coming up with ideas for radio ads! so far the food over here has been rubbish! its no wonder a lot of people over here are so over weight. i went into a fish and chip shop one day and ordered some chips, the girl behind the counter asked if i wanted some sauce on my chips i said 'i'll just have some salt please' the girl nearly fell over with shock, she said that everyone that orders chips from here always put a million types of sauces and stuff on it. i told her i was a purist! however the only thing unhealthy that has sucked me in is fudge, i could eat the stuff all day!
Oh well, that was the Glasgow experience, now i'm off to Belfast. Bye!
Edinburgh
the story of Edinburgh starts with a bus ride to the airport. i got stuck sitting next to this Indian guy how kept asking me questions, but i had absolutely NO idea what he was saying. i had to asked him to repeat it a million times. but i think he was incredibly dodgy. the questions i did understand were 'can i buy flight to Rome at airport i don't have ticket' and half way there he said 'how much longer until airport' which made me think, why is this guy in such a rush to get out of the country. then he said 'immigration? will they check immigration at airport?' i think he was smuggling curry or something... THATS RACIST!! sorry, bad joke. then on the flight i fell asleep and i woke up with some strange hippy girl asleep on my shoulder. scared the shit out of me!
Edinburgh is a really beautiful place. i kind of have to kick myself sometimes when i get to places because its hard to believe i'm there. one of those moments was looking up at the old castle that has so much history attached to it like Mary Queen of Scots and all that Jazz. i went up and had a look around and saw the crown jewels and the stone of destiny. The stone of destiny is a really big thing to the Scottish people, i was where the first king of Scotland sat when he was crowned. to put a long story short, it was taken by the English and kept at Westminster abbey until in the 1950's where some Scottish students stole it and brought it back to Scotland. but after they got it all the way to Scotland it was taken back again by the English. but it was eventually given back to the Scots in the mid 90's. another thing about the castle is at 1 o'clock they set off a cannon. they have done this for hundreds of years so that the ships down at the docks in Leith know what time it is. i really enjoyed walking around old town, its so beautiful walking around the small lane ways. i didn't like the New town as much but i liked its design. it was designed so it looked like the union jack, but it turned out more like the Scottish flag.
at the other end of the Royal Mile is the the Palace of Holyrood House, which is where the Queen comes to stay when shes in Scotland, but shes not such a hit around here. in fact the Scots HATE the English, so, needless to say, she doesn't visit very often. but right near there is Arthur's seat which is quite a climb, i think i deserved some kind of medal for getting to the top. i was exhausted! but the view was truly worth it. amazing to say the least.
not too far from there is Calton Hill which i think is a funny part of town. on top of the hill is this big Greek half finished Parthenon kind of thing which seems a bit out of place. it was put there because Edinburgh was considered the Athens of the United Kingdom and began to build this thing, but ran out of money and never finished it because one one liked it.
I really enjoyed walking around the botanical gardens too, they were really beautiful but best of all there were heaps and heaps of squirrels! they are really cute, i couldn't get over how close they come up to you and check you out.
i really enjoy the Scottish humor too. for instance there is a wine bar called 'the last drop' and most people might think it was named that because of the wine. but actually its because in front of the bar is where they would hang people. hence the last drop. also there is a statue of a guy named Hume. and the story goes he didn't believe in superstitions so the Scottish people tell tourists to rub his big toe for good luck!
in the UK, national museums are free to check out so i went a bit museum crazy. i saw a Rembrandt, Monet, a couple of Van Goghs and a Lucian Freud which was quite cool. also in one of the museums they keep Dolly the Sheep. you might remember Dolly, she was the first mammal ever cloned. and did you know they named her Dolly after Dolly Pardon. why? because she was cloned from the breast of another sheep. (theres that Scottish humor again!)
I'm a sucker when it comes to terms and phrases and where they come from. a heard a beauty while i was here. at one stage before it plumbed people would throw there waste outside on the street. as you could imagine it caused a bit of a mess as well as a bit of a smell, so the government passed a law so that everyone at 1opm had to go to there window and yell out something along the lines of 'watch out below!' then throw the waste out the window. the only problem with that was a lot of the pubs closed at 10pm also. so, if your a little bit drunk, stumbling down the street on your way home and you hear someone yell something out the window above you, your most likely going to look up. except if you did on this occasion you would get a whole lotta shit on your face. hence this is where the term 'shit faced' came from.
There are some really amazing stories in Edinburgh. there was this really when known locksmith in Edinburgh who was known for being really trustworthy and he did the locks for all the people in town, especially the rich, but the truth was, he would keep the spare key and rob people without having to force entry. it baffled the police for years. and it ended up being the inspiration for the book 'Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde'.
another great story is of this woman called Maggie Dickson. she had a baby out of wedlock (or something like that, i can't fully remember) anyway, it was enough to get get here hanged. after she was hanged and pronounced dead, put into a coffin and started hauling the coffin up to the cemetery they heard some knocking. they opened the coffin and found her alive so they went to hang her again and as they put her head in the noose some lawyer yelled from the back 'you can't actually do that, you can't hang someone twice for the same crime' so lucky for her she got off. then opened a bar right across from where they she nearly died in an area called the Lawnmarket.
another is of these two guys called Bourke & Hare. the story goes, one of them had a girlfriend who was a landlord and she was upset because one of her tenants died penniless and owed here £3 (which was a lot of money in those days) so old Bourke and Hare took the body up to the university to be used for medical purposes. and got £7 in return for the body. which made the two men think, if they kept getting bodies they could make a lot of money, so the two went on a massive killing spree and killed somewhere between 15 to 35 people until they got found out. crazy. with stories like this its no wonder that Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's brain started ticking over and created a character by the name of Sherlock Holmes to fix some of the crime going on around the town. living in Edinburgh there would've been plenty of inspiration around, the stories would pretty much write themselves.
The national dish here is Haggis so i had to give it a go. and to be honest it didn't look exactly as i thought it might but it tasted pretty good, it was served with neeps and tatties which in plain English turnips and potatoes. while i'm on the topic of how things are pronounced, i know that i'm in an English speaking country but sometime i really don't think i am. the accent here is so strong, i'm forever going 'pardon?' or 'could you repeat that?'. anyway, i think the national dish here shouldn't be Haggis, it should be the deep fried mar bar! thats right, a mars bar, battered and deep fried. its actually really tasty. i believe its more of Glaswegian thing so it should be interesting what else they deep fry when i get to Glasgow.
Something that i really like about Edinburgh is there commitment to being Carbon Neutral by 2020 and are at the moment putting in a tram system around the city. its causing a bit of chaos, because of the road works, but good on them for there forward thinking i say! anyway, off to Glasgow to try all there deep fried treats. more soon!
Stockholm
The bus ride didn't really go as planned. i still had half a book to read but before i knew it i had finished it and was no way near half way on the bus. I'm still in two minds about whether or not i liked the ending of it. some days i do some days i don't. on the bus just sitting across from me was some really old guy that i thought might keel over at any moment. he was coughing and spluttering the whole way, at one point i did think he was going to make it to Stockholm, actually, he didn't... he got off a couple of stops before.
a bit of a positive is a got into a really good hostel. Eleni (the Australian girl i met in Gothenburg) told me about the place. its quite central and you get free pasta there (so guess what I've been eating for lunch and dinner all this week?), a sauna (which is a must do when your in Sweden, however your meant to go naked i didn't fancy getting kicked out of the hostel so i kept my boardies on.), free internet and free ice skate hire! naturally i had to go for a skate, i hadn't been in years, i was a little shaky at first but after a while i got into the swing of it, it was like riding a bike. it was really nice to go skating outside too. I've never experienced that before. oh, and i didn't fall over once! while i was here they showed a swedish film called 'Evil' it was about a boy who used to get beaten by his step father and got sent to a boarding school where he got bullied, it was quite a good film actually, i won't tell you the end, but i'm sure you can guess it.
while i was there i met 3 English blokes. one of them was moving over here to be with his girlfriend and the other 2, as they put it, were here to make sure he stays here. they were really funny guys and we went out one night to checkout the nightlife in the Stureplan. because they were clubs, i didn't really enjoy them much, not really my scene, but the company was good. i have to say the next day i struggled a fair bit. i think the best part of town for going out at night and also for checking out during the day was the Sodermalm area. with some really cool little bars with great vibes as well as great clothing stores, new and old.
something that doesn't really have to do with Stockholm, but just up the road from when I'm staying is a really good record shop, i found an original Rolling Stones 'Sticky fingers' record that had the fly stuck on the front, just as Andy Warhol had intended when he designed the record. they stopped reproducing them with the fly because the records would get damaged from the fly sticking in them. i guess something that doesn't really have anything to do with Stockholm but i was excited by it.
something interesting I've found here is when you go to the supermarket, you don't hand your money to the check out chick, you put it in a money counting machine and it spits out the correct change for you.
i was actually really shocked at the size of Stockholm, its really quite big, compared to many of the other places I've been before. but its really nice to just walk around and take it all in there are some really cute little streets. i took a walk around the old town which is quite pretty with little streets (some of them are REALLY small) and tall buildings leaning in on each other. it kind of reminded me of parts of Prague actually. very nice. also its where the Royal Palace of Sweden is so that was kinda cool to see i guess, but i believe its not really where the Royals live. i got a kick out of the kids that were mucking around taking the piss out of the statues. some of the statues are quite camp to say the least, and one little boy did a great impression.
on my way to ice skating i saw this place called the Kulturhuset which, when i looked in the window, looked like there was interpretive dancing classes, which was hilarious! i know that the swedes are really big on the arts, for instance they really encourage music in schools from an early age. which, kinda explains ABBA!
it seems everyone here wears either Nudie jeans or Cheap Monday jeans. and rightly so, there both really good Swedish brands. I've had a couple of pairs of Nudies, there brilliant. but i have to say, i like the Cheap Monday story. 3 guys opened a shop in outer Stockholm called 'Weekend' (because it was only open Saturday and Sunday) considering it was a little out of the CBD, the shop took off. one of the guys saw that a lot of what they were selling was so expensive and felt they could make a cheaper alternative that was the same quality. so they created Cheap Monday. within a couple of weeks they sold out of there jeans. i went to a store that sold Cheap Monday and i couldn't get over how many types of jeans they had, it was mental. they have grown so much since 2004. and i never knew they made shoes either, they might be something new.
it was raining one of the days i was here so it was good museum weather so i checked out the Vasa Museum which holds this big old ship that sank 350 years ago then in the 1960's they pulled it out of the ocean, restored it, and built a museum around it. when the Vasa set sail it was one of the mightiest warships in the world with something like 60 odd guns and 300 soldiers. but i didn't get far, the ship sank within a few minutes of it sailing. in the 17th century there were no scientific methods of calculating a ships stability, it turns out it was quite common for warships to sink back in those days. it was pretty amazing to see, it looked like Captain Hook's ships from Peter Pan, i couldn't get over the detail in the carvings. Brilliant!
one night i check out the Absolut Ice bar, there are a few around the world now, but i believe, from what I've been told, this was the first one. it was a bit pricey but i justified it because you got a free drink. i have to say its not normally something i would do, but i did think it was pretty good advertising. creating a ice bar and incorporating your brand by having complementary drinks of Absolut cocktails served in an ice glass. though the way they create the bar and carve the ice is pretty clever.
i think i would've liked to have stayed a little longer in Stockholm but i'm flying to Edinburgh, i got some really cheap flights at Ryan Air a couple of weeks back so i had to go. but, i'm looking forward to seeing a bit of the UK. more when i get there.
a bit of a positive is a got into a really good hostel. Eleni (the Australian girl i met in Gothenburg) told me about the place. its quite central and you get free pasta there (so guess what I've been eating for lunch and dinner all this week?), a sauna (which is a must do when your in Sweden, however your meant to go naked i didn't fancy getting kicked out of the hostel so i kept my boardies on.), free internet and free ice skate hire! naturally i had to go for a skate, i hadn't been in years, i was a little shaky at first but after a while i got into the swing of it, it was like riding a bike. it was really nice to go skating outside too. I've never experienced that before. oh, and i didn't fall over once! while i was here they showed a swedish film called 'Evil' it was about a boy who used to get beaten by his step father and got sent to a boarding school where he got bullied, it was quite a good film actually, i won't tell you the end, but i'm sure you can guess it.
while i was there i met 3 English blokes. one of them was moving over here to be with his girlfriend and the other 2, as they put it, were here to make sure he stays here. they were really funny guys and we went out one night to checkout the nightlife in the Stureplan. because they were clubs, i didn't really enjoy them much, not really my scene, but the company was good. i have to say the next day i struggled a fair bit. i think the best part of town for going out at night and also for checking out during the day was the Sodermalm area. with some really cool little bars with great vibes as well as great clothing stores, new and old.
something that doesn't really have to do with Stockholm, but just up the road from when I'm staying is a really good record shop, i found an original Rolling Stones 'Sticky fingers' record that had the fly stuck on the front, just as Andy Warhol had intended when he designed the record. they stopped reproducing them with the fly because the records would get damaged from the fly sticking in them. i guess something that doesn't really have anything to do with Stockholm but i was excited by it.
something interesting I've found here is when you go to the supermarket, you don't hand your money to the check out chick, you put it in a money counting machine and it spits out the correct change for you.
i was actually really shocked at the size of Stockholm, its really quite big, compared to many of the other places I've been before. but its really nice to just walk around and take it all in there are some really cute little streets. i took a walk around the old town which is quite pretty with little streets (some of them are REALLY small) and tall buildings leaning in on each other. it kind of reminded me of parts of Prague actually. very nice. also its where the Royal Palace of Sweden is so that was kinda cool to see i guess, but i believe its not really where the Royals live. i got a kick out of the kids that were mucking around taking the piss out of the statues. some of the statues are quite camp to say the least, and one little boy did a great impression.
on my way to ice skating i saw this place called the Kulturhuset which, when i looked in the window, looked like there was interpretive dancing classes, which was hilarious! i know that the swedes are really big on the arts, for instance they really encourage music in schools from an early age. which, kinda explains ABBA!
it seems everyone here wears either Nudie jeans or Cheap Monday jeans. and rightly so, there both really good Swedish brands. I've had a couple of pairs of Nudies, there brilliant. but i have to say, i like the Cheap Monday story. 3 guys opened a shop in outer Stockholm called 'Weekend' (because it was only open Saturday and Sunday) considering it was a little out of the CBD, the shop took off. one of the guys saw that a lot of what they were selling was so expensive and felt they could make a cheaper alternative that was the same quality. so they created Cheap Monday. within a couple of weeks they sold out of there jeans. i went to a store that sold Cheap Monday and i couldn't get over how many types of jeans they had, it was mental. they have grown so much since 2004. and i never knew they made shoes either, they might be something new.
it was raining one of the days i was here so it was good museum weather so i checked out the Vasa Museum which holds this big old ship that sank 350 years ago then in the 1960's they pulled it out of the ocean, restored it, and built a museum around it. when the Vasa set sail it was one of the mightiest warships in the world with something like 60 odd guns and 300 soldiers. but i didn't get far, the ship sank within a few minutes of it sailing. in the 17th century there were no scientific methods of calculating a ships stability, it turns out it was quite common for warships to sink back in those days. it was pretty amazing to see, it looked like Captain Hook's ships from Peter Pan, i couldn't get over the detail in the carvings. Brilliant!
one night i check out the Absolut Ice bar, there are a few around the world now, but i believe, from what I've been told, this was the first one. it was a bit pricey but i justified it because you got a free drink. i have to say its not normally something i would do, but i did think it was pretty good advertising. creating a ice bar and incorporating your brand by having complementary drinks of Absolut cocktails served in an ice glass. though the way they create the bar and carve the ice is pretty clever.
i think i would've liked to have stayed a little longer in Stockholm but i'm flying to Edinburgh, i got some really cheap flights at Ryan Air a couple of weeks back so i had to go. but, i'm looking forward to seeing a bit of the UK. more when i get there.
Oslo
the train, i feel way have gone a little too well. except for the customs people setting there hound on me, but if i were them i would've too, (my hair is really long and i haven't shaved in about a month, i look a little bit like 'The Dude' from the movie 'The Big Lebowski'.) i read about half of the book! which i was hoping would take me longer. but its such a good book, it was hard to put it down. oh well, hopefully there is a good book swap up ahead. i was thinking maybe i should read all the classics while i'm away, i've been meaning to read 'The Animal Farm' for years. by the way i think i'm falling in love with the Swedish scenery. its absolutley stunning! plenty of trees and every so often you see a beautiful lake. oh, and in Norway i saw plenty of Norwegian Wood (see what i did there).
Oslo is a really nice place. the town is quite tradional, you know the deal, tree lined streets, beautiful old buildings etc. probably 15% of it is new building the rest are pretty old. the only really cool new one is the Opera house it was only openned this year. and they seem quite proud of it, theres photos on just about every tourist pamphlet you pick up. and i don't think the town is that big really, you can walk it easily.
Famous artist Edvard Munch is from here, there quite fond of him too. so much so he has his own Museum, i didn't bother going because i'm not a huge fan and i saw a lot of his works when they came to Australia a couple of years back. his most famous painting is 'The Scream' and i think i know what happened to make him paint it. he must have gone into a shop and seen the price tag of something because EVERYTHING here is so expensive. i've been cooking for myself so thats been saving me quite a bit of money. thank god i can cook pasta! funny thing happened while i was at the supermarket. i was looking for some canned tuna and was walking down the aisle when i saw a can in the corner of my eye. i went over to inspect it and found that there was a picture of a little girl on the can and not much else. i turned to the person next to me and showed them the can and said 'surely theyre not canning little children, are they?' turns out it was like a chicken paste that you put on bread. i brought some to try it. it was rubbish, maybe it was a little girl.
its funny i was having a wander around the Royal Palace gardens, just minding my business when the guards started making a bit of fuss. i thought they were changing guards or something, but then i realised it was too early for that so i went up to inspect a little, when some guy in a limo rolls out of the palace and gives me a wave. i waved back and i turned to a girl who was standing not far from me taking a photo of the limo and i asked her 'who was that?' and see replied 'The King of Norway'. i dunno if it was, because really, she could've told me anything, i had no idea what the hell the King of Norway looks like. but i'm gonna run with it.
i also checked out sculpture park which was quite pretty. there are over 200 statues of naked people doing all different sorts of things and in the middle is a pillar thats made out of people climbing and laying on top of each other. quite amazing really.
a part i really liked was checking out the Akershus Fortress and Castle which is built right on the water. i found it so interesting because it must be centuries old and to build something like that back then, just to collect all the rocks and stack them correctly to make it would've taken so long! i was equally amazed when i went to the Viking ship Museum. the Viking were clever guys, there boats were designed to be really shallow so they could come right up close to the land so they could attack with a suprise. also i couldn't get over how a lot of the things they used back then, is essentially the same design as today or are made in a similar way. i never realised that the Vikings were quite similar to the Egyptians when it comes to the after life. when Vikings died they were buried in there boat. and it would be filled with food and drink as well as jewels (in one case they found a peacock!) to prepare you for the next life. i learnt so much at that museum i can't wait to do a little bit of raping and pillaging when i get back home (i know, bad joke)
i went into a clothing store in the city and had a chat with the guy behind the counter for what felt like a good hour. he was a really cool guy, the shop was his (if you were wondering, it was called 'Vegas') and he was telling me about his trip to Australia and about sharks, boy this kid knew about sharks! Sounds like Norweigans as tight buggers too, he was saying that Norway is one of the richest places on earth but still a lot of the Norwegians go over to Sweden to do there shopping because prices here are too high. by the way there are some great little shops around too. i was just a little bit outside of the city when i found a couple of streets that had all these cool cafes, bars and vintage clothing stores. brilliant! and i think i found the best music store EVER, some really great vinyl as well as CD's. you name it they had it! there are some really cool furniture shops here too. i dunno where this love of furniture has come from but ever since i started traveling, i love going into furniture shops. strange!
i had a minor freak out the other day. i know what caused it too. its because i haven't been creative for a while. its something i've had for years but i've only in recent years figured out what it is and how to fix it. its like a strange energy i get and i can only let it out creatively and as you can imagine its a bit hard to do that at the moment. i get really restless and can't sleep properly its kinda strange. its a good thing when i can create but i'm finding it really frustrating at the moment.
Off to Stockholm next, which i think will be pretty cool. can't wait!
Oslo is a really nice place. the town is quite tradional, you know the deal, tree lined streets, beautiful old buildings etc. probably 15% of it is new building the rest are pretty old. the only really cool new one is the Opera house it was only openned this year. and they seem quite proud of it, theres photos on just about every tourist pamphlet you pick up. and i don't think the town is that big really, you can walk it easily.
Famous artist Edvard Munch is from here, there quite fond of him too. so much so he has his own Museum, i didn't bother going because i'm not a huge fan and i saw a lot of his works when they came to Australia a couple of years back. his most famous painting is 'The Scream' and i think i know what happened to make him paint it. he must have gone into a shop and seen the price tag of something because EVERYTHING here is so expensive. i've been cooking for myself so thats been saving me quite a bit of money. thank god i can cook pasta! funny thing happened while i was at the supermarket. i was looking for some canned tuna and was walking down the aisle when i saw a can in the corner of my eye. i went over to inspect it and found that there was a picture of a little girl on the can and not much else. i turned to the person next to me and showed them the can and said 'surely theyre not canning little children, are they?' turns out it was like a chicken paste that you put on bread. i brought some to try it. it was rubbish, maybe it was a little girl.
its funny i was having a wander around the Royal Palace gardens, just minding my business when the guards started making a bit of fuss. i thought they were changing guards or something, but then i realised it was too early for that so i went up to inspect a little, when some guy in a limo rolls out of the palace and gives me a wave. i waved back and i turned to a girl who was standing not far from me taking a photo of the limo and i asked her 'who was that?' and see replied 'The King of Norway'. i dunno if it was, because really, she could've told me anything, i had no idea what the hell the King of Norway looks like. but i'm gonna run with it.
i also checked out sculpture park which was quite pretty. there are over 200 statues of naked people doing all different sorts of things and in the middle is a pillar thats made out of people climbing and laying on top of each other. quite amazing really.
a part i really liked was checking out the Akershus Fortress and Castle which is built right on the water. i found it so interesting because it must be centuries old and to build something like that back then, just to collect all the rocks and stack them correctly to make it would've taken so long! i was equally amazed when i went to the Viking ship Museum. the Viking were clever guys, there boats were designed to be really shallow so they could come right up close to the land so they could attack with a suprise. also i couldn't get over how a lot of the things they used back then, is essentially the same design as today or are made in a similar way. i never realised that the Vikings were quite similar to the Egyptians when it comes to the after life. when Vikings died they were buried in there boat. and it would be filled with food and drink as well as jewels (in one case they found a peacock!) to prepare you for the next life. i learnt so much at that museum i can't wait to do a little bit of raping and pillaging when i get back home (i know, bad joke)
i went into a clothing store in the city and had a chat with the guy behind the counter for what felt like a good hour. he was a really cool guy, the shop was his (if you were wondering, it was called 'Vegas') and he was telling me about his trip to Australia and about sharks, boy this kid knew about sharks! Sounds like Norweigans as tight buggers too, he was saying that Norway is one of the richest places on earth but still a lot of the Norwegians go over to Sweden to do there shopping because prices here are too high. by the way there are some great little shops around too. i was just a little bit outside of the city when i found a couple of streets that had all these cool cafes, bars and vintage clothing stores. brilliant! and i think i found the best music store EVER, some really great vinyl as well as CD's. you name it they had it! there are some really cool furniture shops here too. i dunno where this love of furniture has come from but ever since i started traveling, i love going into furniture shops. strange!
i had a minor freak out the other day. i know what caused it too. its because i haven't been creative for a while. its something i've had for years but i've only in recent years figured out what it is and how to fix it. its like a strange energy i get and i can only let it out creatively and as you can imagine its a bit hard to do that at the moment. i get really restless and can't sleep properly its kinda strange. its a good thing when i can create but i'm finding it really frustrating at the moment.
Off to Stockholm next, which i think will be pretty cool. can't wait!
Gothenburg
Gothenburg is quite a nice little town but its a lot bigger that i thought it was going to be. i was expecting a quaint little fishing village or something, geez, i was wrong! its still quite quaint with beautiful little shops, tree lined streets, cute little gardens and laneways. overall its quite a tradional town, you don't see many really new Über (thought i'd pop that word in somewhere because its swedish) modern buildings which is nice. i was staying near the old town, all the roads there are cobble stoned and on the top of a hill is an old military tower, from there i got a great view of the city.
Gothenburg is well known for the Liseberg, which is there amusement park (i think its the biggest in Sweden) but it was closed until Christmas, because i think they decorated it for the Christmas period, which was a bit of a shame but i'm not really that shattered.
I met some people in my hostel that recognized me from the hostel in Hamburg, the group of them are from all over the world, the girls are from Austria, France and Portugal and the guys are from Spain and Poland. and they are all studying in Denmark. which made me think, i should've studied abroad, it would've been awesome! but i don't think it was offered in my course, oh well. they are all really friendly and one day we went to Sweden's biggest park, Slottsskogen. which was a bit of a highlight. it was really beautiful even though it rained a little bit. the park has a zoo in it and everything, i saw seals (who were such show pony's, once they knew you were watching they would show off and do tricks), penguins, dear, moose and many more. it was strange because there didn't seem to be anyone official around so it didn't really feel like a zoo, if there were a zoo like this in Australia i'm sure people would try and climb in and swim with the seals... i was tempted! the park itself had a few lakes and the golden leaves on the ground made it look picturesque!
you might remember how i wrote in my last blog about Scandinavians getting depressed from not getting much sunlight. in Gothenburg there are heaps on solarium's, there everywhere, theres even one in my hostel! i think this is there way of trying to fix the problem. so everyone here seems to have a great tan or at least some horrible tan lines - its a very fine line. while i'm on the topic of sunlight, it gets dark around 4:00pm here. which is so strange for me. and it kind of makes you feel tired, i was exhausted last night and it was only 9:00pm, i'm turning into a Nanna! soon i'll be having my dinner and 4:00pm!
I met a girl from Melbourne while i was here, her name was Eleni (i asked her about here name because i'd never heard of an Eleni before, i thought it might have been short for Melanie or something, she told me it was Greek and translated it means Helen) anyway, we checked out 'Cafe Publik', which was a cool, low key bar, just down the road from us. everyone that was drinking there was ridiculously cool, there's just something about the Scandinavians and i can't put my finger on it. it might be that everyone is really good looking and that they all dress really well, hopefully they all have terrible personalities so there is still a chance for people like myself.
an interesting fact about Sweden is they have restrictions on alcohol, for example: you can't buy highly alcoholic drinks in bars, you have to go to a special shop to buy it and regardless of how old you are (even if your 70!) you need to show ID. i'm pretty sure the government introduced it, pretty crazy, but i don't see many drunks wandering the streets.
one night when i was on my own i ran into a gallery openning, so i went inside and had a bit of a look around. the artwork was a bit out there. all the works were made out of fluro squares and triangles. i think if you had it hanging on your wall you would have a seizure every time you entered the room. but in the gallery they had some amazing chairs and furniture, which reminds me, there are some great furniture shops here, really interesting designs.
One thing i like about, not only Gothenburg but Europe in general is (this is really nerdy of me to say) its recycling. they have bins that are broken up into paper, plastic and general rubbish, which obviously makes it easier to recycle but also when you buy, for example, a coke you pay a little bit extra and then when your finished you bring it to any place that sells coke and you get a refund. its brilliant! i know they do it in Adelaide (i never thought i'd think Adelaide was cutting edge) why not do it all over Australia? its actually really good for homeless people also, i always see them picking up cans and bottles and recycling them for cash. sure beats them begging for money on the street.
a thing i found funny about Sweden is the Grey army here don't just one walking stick, they have TWO! so when they are walking down the street they look like they are skiing cross country. i think its called 'Nordic walking' keep a watch out for it Nanna, its coming to an RSL near you!
Overall i've found Sweden, so far, not to be that expensive which is really good, but all that is about to change, i'm going to visit Norway, possibly one of the most expensive places on earth! anyway more from Oslo when i get there, hopefully the train ride is made easier with my new purchase, a book, the classic 'The Catcher in the Rye'. i have to say i'm kinda embarrassed that i've never read it before. its one of those must-read-before-you-die books. though i've never been much of a reader, except for those 'goosebumps' books when i was a kid, but i'm pretty sure on m ost of them i gave up half way and never fully read them. anyway, looking forward to reading this one. cheerio!
Gothenburg is well known for the Liseberg, which is there amusement park (i think its the biggest in Sweden) but it was closed until Christmas, because i think they decorated it for the Christmas period, which was a bit of a shame but i'm not really that shattered.
I met some people in my hostel that recognized me from the hostel in Hamburg, the group of them are from all over the world, the girls are from Austria, France and Portugal and the guys are from Spain and Poland. and they are all studying in Denmark. which made me think, i should've studied abroad, it would've been awesome! but i don't think it was offered in my course, oh well. they are all really friendly and one day we went to Sweden's biggest park, Slottsskogen. which was a bit of a highlight. it was really beautiful even though it rained a little bit. the park has a zoo in it and everything, i saw seals (who were such show pony's, once they knew you were watching they would show off and do tricks), penguins, dear, moose and many more. it was strange because there didn't seem to be anyone official around so it didn't really feel like a zoo, if there were a zoo like this in Australia i'm sure people would try and climb in and swim with the seals... i was tempted! the park itself had a few lakes and the golden leaves on the ground made it look picturesque!
you might remember how i wrote in my last blog about Scandinavians getting depressed from not getting much sunlight. in Gothenburg there are heaps on solarium's, there everywhere, theres even one in my hostel! i think this is there way of trying to fix the problem. so everyone here seems to have a great tan or at least some horrible tan lines - its a very fine line. while i'm on the topic of sunlight, it gets dark around 4:00pm here. which is so strange for me. and it kind of makes you feel tired, i was exhausted last night and it was only 9:00pm, i'm turning into a Nanna! soon i'll be having my dinner and 4:00pm!
I met a girl from Melbourne while i was here, her name was Eleni (i asked her about here name because i'd never heard of an Eleni before, i thought it might have been short for Melanie or something, she told me it was Greek and translated it means Helen) anyway, we checked out 'Cafe Publik', which was a cool, low key bar, just down the road from us. everyone that was drinking there was ridiculously cool, there's just something about the Scandinavians and i can't put my finger on it. it might be that everyone is really good looking and that they all dress really well, hopefully they all have terrible personalities so there is still a chance for people like myself.
an interesting fact about Sweden is they have restrictions on alcohol, for example: you can't buy highly alcoholic drinks in bars, you have to go to a special shop to buy it and regardless of how old you are (even if your 70!) you need to show ID. i'm pretty sure the government introduced it, pretty crazy, but i don't see many drunks wandering the streets.
one night when i was on my own i ran into a gallery openning, so i went inside and had a bit of a look around. the artwork was a bit out there. all the works were made out of fluro squares and triangles. i think if you had it hanging on your wall you would have a seizure every time you entered the room. but in the gallery they had some amazing chairs and furniture, which reminds me, there are some great furniture shops here, really interesting designs.
One thing i like about, not only Gothenburg but Europe in general is (this is really nerdy of me to say) its recycling. they have bins that are broken up into paper, plastic and general rubbish, which obviously makes it easier to recycle but also when you buy, for example, a coke you pay a little bit extra and then when your finished you bring it to any place that sells coke and you get a refund. its brilliant! i know they do it in Adelaide (i never thought i'd think Adelaide was cutting edge) why not do it all over Australia? its actually really good for homeless people also, i always see them picking up cans and bottles and recycling them for cash. sure beats them begging for money on the street.
a thing i found funny about Sweden is the Grey army here don't just one walking stick, they have TWO! so when they are walking down the street they look like they are skiing cross country. i think its called 'Nordic walking' keep a watch out for it Nanna, its coming to an RSL near you!
Overall i've found Sweden, so far, not to be that expensive which is really good, but all that is about to change, i'm going to visit Norway, possibly one of the most expensive places on earth! anyway more from Oslo when i get there, hopefully the train ride is made easier with my new purchase, a book, the classic 'The Catcher in the Rye'. i have to say i'm kinda embarrassed that i've never read it before. its one of those must-read-before-you-die books. though i've never been much of a reader, except for those 'goosebumps' books when i was a kid, but i'm pretty sure on m ost of them i gave up half way and never fully read them. anyway, looking forward to reading this one. cheerio!
Växjö
Caught the train to Växjö. the trip was quite nice, beautiful country side which is thick full trees. i couldn't get over the fog in some spots it was so thick you could hardly see. When i got there i noticed how much colder it was, it least a few degrees colder at least. anyway, i found a phonebooth to change into my superman costume (only kidding) i called Andreas to let him know i was here so he could pick me up from the station, but the number he gave me had the country code on the front so i couldn't get through to him becuase i wasn't sure which numbers to drop so i went across to a music shop across the road and the man in the shop was so helpful, he didn't just explain to me which numbers to drop he actually let me use his phone. how nice!
when i spoke to andreas, his wife Christine had the car so he could pick me up in an hour so i spent the time walking around the town, which is quite small but very pleasent.
Andreas and Christine have a home just a short bit out of town in a nice area, they only just moved into there house recently and are in the middle of renovating. they brought it with there good friends Lars and Linda and they have divided the house, which is quite big, into 2 apartments. Lars and Linda and there 2 daughters live down stairs on one level, and Andreas, Christine and there 1 and a half year old Alve son live upstairs. Alve is a cute little kid, always smiling and talking to himself, he's such a little terror at times getting into everything and pushing boundries, but he's just at that age.
when he's not touring, Andreas is a stay at home dad, looking after Alve during the week and then he works a couple of days a week at a local TV station as a web programmer, he took me to see his work and got a bit of a tour of the studios etc. the part where he worked was where the designers were and had a pinball machine and a nintendo wii, it was really fun to be in a creative environment again, and it make me think of how much i kind of miss working and being creative on a daily basis. Christine works full time helping disabled people, which i think she would be very good at, she seems like a really kind, patient person.
While i was here we just mucked around and chilled out a lot of the time. we took Alve for walks around town and check out a few things like a local castle and a big water tower, that is designed in a way that when you stand directly under it your voice bounces around and creates an amazing delay, which was pretty cool. we caught up with the other guys from the band also and had a couple of drinks at there houses. Thomas (the drummer) and his girlfriend have also just moved into there new home, which is really nice. while i was there they played music from a few different Swedish bands, which was cool, i think i knew some of the songs. Thomas teaches drums his girlfriend is a nurse. another night we went to Pierre's, who is the other guitarist. he is still studying and lives on campus in a cool little student apartment. i think he teaches music also.
we all chatted about Sweden and Scandinavia in general, they were telling me that in the winter it gets realy dark here and that a lot a people get depressed because of lack of sunlight and its quite common for people to go on anti depressants. they also told me about the swedish royals and how when i get to copenhagen to watch out, they're not a great drivers and have a reputation of running people over! also childrens author Astrid Lindgren who wrote 'Pippi Longstocking' came from around the Växjö area and so did the guy who created IKEA.
it was really nice to chill out and do, in a sense, nothing for a bit. traveling constently does kind of get to you after a while. also to have some home cooked meals i was so sick of eating cheap rubbish food or my own cooking. it was so nice of everyone to have me stay at there place and hang out with me and show me around they are all really great people, it was kinda sad to say goodbye to them. off to Gothenborg next, more soon.
when i spoke to andreas, his wife Christine had the car so he could pick me up in an hour so i spent the time walking around the town, which is quite small but very pleasent.
Andreas and Christine have a home just a short bit out of town in a nice area, they only just moved into there house recently and are in the middle of renovating. they brought it with there good friends Lars and Linda and they have divided the house, which is quite big, into 2 apartments. Lars and Linda and there 2 daughters live down stairs on one level, and Andreas, Christine and there 1 and a half year old Alve son live upstairs. Alve is a cute little kid, always smiling and talking to himself, he's such a little terror at times getting into everything and pushing boundries, but he's just at that age.
when he's not touring, Andreas is a stay at home dad, looking after Alve during the week and then he works a couple of days a week at a local TV station as a web programmer, he took me to see his work and got a bit of a tour of the studios etc. the part where he worked was where the designers were and had a pinball machine and a nintendo wii, it was really fun to be in a creative environment again, and it make me think of how much i kind of miss working and being creative on a daily basis. Christine works full time helping disabled people, which i think she would be very good at, she seems like a really kind, patient person.
While i was here we just mucked around and chilled out a lot of the time. we took Alve for walks around town and check out a few things like a local castle and a big water tower, that is designed in a way that when you stand directly under it your voice bounces around and creates an amazing delay, which was pretty cool. we caught up with the other guys from the band also and had a couple of drinks at there houses. Thomas (the drummer) and his girlfriend have also just moved into there new home, which is really nice. while i was there they played music from a few different Swedish bands, which was cool, i think i knew some of the songs. Thomas teaches drums his girlfriend is a nurse. another night we went to Pierre's, who is the other guitarist. he is still studying and lives on campus in a cool little student apartment. i think he teaches music also.
we all chatted about Sweden and Scandinavia in general, they were telling me that in the winter it gets realy dark here and that a lot a people get depressed because of lack of sunlight and its quite common for people to go on anti depressants. they also told me about the swedish royals and how when i get to copenhagen to watch out, they're not a great drivers and have a reputation of running people over! also childrens author Astrid Lindgren who wrote 'Pippi Longstocking' came from around the Växjö area and so did the guy who created IKEA.
it was really nice to chill out and do, in a sense, nothing for a bit. traveling constently does kind of get to you after a while. also to have some home cooked meals i was so sick of eating cheap rubbish food or my own cooking. it was so nice of everyone to have me stay at there place and hang out with me and show me around they are all really great people, it was kinda sad to say goodbye to them. off to Gothenborg next, more soon.
Copenhagen
So the bus ride was an interesting one. I got to the bus depot at 7am (which is pretty bloody early for me) and found that my bus would be running half an hour late, which was fine. but half an hour turned into and hour and an hour quickly turned into 2 hours! the reason it was late was because the police were checking it out for drug smuggling, which supposidly is quite common on buses that go to Hamburg. Anyway, on the way to copenhagen i couldn't get over the amount of wind farms on the coast of germany, they were everywhere! i don't understand why, theres plenty of wind why do we need to farm more? (only kidding) there was one guy on the bus that must have loved them because he was going photo crazy! the bus ride took about 6 hours and included a trip on a boat, which was a VERY rocky ride, i definately didn't pack my sea legs. but i got there in eventually.
Famous Author Hans Christian Anderson came from Copenhagen and i can totally understand why he wrote some amazing fairytales, because Copenhangen is like a fairytale. there a big fan of him too, there is a street named after him and a statue as well as a few statues of his characters like the Little Mermaid. The town centre is quite old and boasts the worlds longest pedistrian street in the world, which are full of cafes, restraunts, bars, clothing stores etc. there are some really beautiful old buildings in it and outside there is a mix of old and new. what i liked is the new architecture is really modern but so tastefully done it works really well. the Opera house is a really good example of this. i really liked the Rivoli which is a beautiful old amusement park, unfortunately it was closed when i was there so i couldn't go on any of the rides. but it didn't stop me from taking a peak at some of them.
i went to the Royal Palace and thought i'd drop in and have tea with Princess Mary, i thought she might like some Australian company, but she wasn't home. they love her here, shes always in the papers and magazines. while i was there and totally by accident i saw the changing of the guards which was kinda cool. i actually nearly walked into the middle of the whole thing because i didn't realise what was happening. the guards look just like the ones in England but have different colours. while were on the topic of the royals a funny little fact is the Danish Queen married a French guy, who is now King of Demark, but he was too lazy to bother to learn Danish.
a really nice part of town is the Kings gardens which are stunning, full of box hedges and lush green gass also its close to the Rosenburg castle which hold the crown jewels. there were plenty of guards there but they clearly weren't doing there job very well, i just walked in and wandered around, it wasn't until later that i realised i had to pay to get in.
An interesting part of town is 'Christiania' it was originally an army barracks until the 70's when hippies and squatters moved in (by the way, why are they called squatters? the only logical explaination i can think of is, when dogs mark there terriory they wee, and a guess it might have been the same for humans at one stage. if anyone knows, please drop me an email and tell me) Christiania used to be known for its drug problem and at one stage it was legal to smoke pot there, but today its still bohemian, especially compared to the rest of Copenhagen, but its pretty tame, fully of hippy stalls and artwork etc.
I found 'Retro Cafe' where 'Final days Society' (the band i met in Hamburg) were playing and check out there show, they were glad to see me and introduced me to there girlfriends who had come down to Copenhagen to see the show. they joked that i was a confused groupie because i had actually never seen the band play. they were all really nice and the guitarist Andreas and his wife invited to stay at there place in Växjö for a couple of days which was very nice of them. by the way the show went really well, they were pretty tight as a band i liked there music too, kind of indie rock i suppose. we wound up having a few beers back at the hostel, which they were also stay at. they had brought a heap of alcohol from Germany becuase they told me that its cheaper to buy it there because of taxes, and that many Swedes regularly go to germany fill there car to the brim with alcohol and drive it back to Sweden!
some of the bars here are pretty cool too. there is one in particular that i found, where you can actually drink and do your laundry at the same time, it was really popular, i suppose it makes you want to do the washing, maybe i should start a bar where you do the ironing while you drink? i imagine there may be a few burnt shirts after a couple of beers.
there are some really cool places to shop also, wheather it be for vinyl or for threads, there are heaps of vintage shops as well as new cutting edge clothing. i have to say, everyone here is dressed so well, there is just something about them that makes them all look REALLY cool.
Famous Author Hans Christian Anderson came from Copenhagen and i can totally understand why he wrote some amazing fairytales, because Copenhangen is like a fairytale. there a big fan of him too, there is a street named after him and a statue as well as a few statues of his characters like the Little Mermaid. The town centre is quite old and boasts the worlds longest pedistrian street in the world, which are full of cafes, restraunts, bars, clothing stores etc. there are some really beautiful old buildings in it and outside there is a mix of old and new. what i liked is the new architecture is really modern but so tastefully done it works really well. the Opera house is a really good example of this. i really liked the Rivoli which is a beautiful old amusement park, unfortunately it was closed when i was there so i couldn't go on any of the rides. but it didn't stop me from taking a peak at some of them.
i went to the Royal Palace and thought i'd drop in and have tea with Princess Mary, i thought she might like some Australian company, but she wasn't home. they love her here, shes always in the papers and magazines. while i was there and totally by accident i saw the changing of the guards which was kinda cool. i actually nearly walked into the middle of the whole thing because i didn't realise what was happening. the guards look just like the ones in England but have different colours. while were on the topic of the royals a funny little fact is the Danish Queen married a French guy, who is now King of Demark, but he was too lazy to bother to learn Danish.
a really nice part of town is the Kings gardens which are stunning, full of box hedges and lush green gass also its close to the Rosenburg castle which hold the crown jewels. there were plenty of guards there but they clearly weren't doing there job very well, i just walked in and wandered around, it wasn't until later that i realised i had to pay to get in.
An interesting part of town is 'Christiania' it was originally an army barracks until the 70's when hippies and squatters moved in (by the way, why are they called squatters? the only logical explaination i can think of is, when dogs mark there terriory they wee, and a guess it might have been the same for humans at one stage. if anyone knows, please drop me an email and tell me) Christiania used to be known for its drug problem and at one stage it was legal to smoke pot there, but today its still bohemian, especially compared to the rest of Copenhagen, but its pretty tame, fully of hippy stalls and artwork etc.
I found 'Retro Cafe' where 'Final days Society' (the band i met in Hamburg) were playing and check out there show, they were glad to see me and introduced me to there girlfriends who had come down to Copenhagen to see the show. they joked that i was a confused groupie because i had actually never seen the band play. they were all really nice and the guitarist Andreas and his wife invited to stay at there place in Växjö for a couple of days which was very nice of them. by the way the show went really well, they were pretty tight as a band i liked there music too, kind of indie rock i suppose. we wound up having a few beers back at the hostel, which they were also stay at. they had brought a heap of alcohol from Germany becuase they told me that its cheaper to buy it there because of taxes, and that many Swedes regularly go to germany fill there car to the brim with alcohol and drive it back to Sweden!
some of the bars here are pretty cool too. there is one in particular that i found, where you can actually drink and do your laundry at the same time, it was really popular, i suppose it makes you want to do the washing, maybe i should start a bar where you do the ironing while you drink? i imagine there may be a few burnt shirts after a couple of beers.
there are some really cool places to shop also, wheather it be for vinyl or for threads, there are heaps of vintage shops as well as new cutting edge clothing. i have to say, everyone here is dressed so well, there is just something about them that makes them all look REALLY cool.
as my first taste of Scandinavia, Copenhagen was brilliant! i would've loved to have stayed longer but it was just too expensive. it was pretty hard to find a cheap eat around, even in the areas out of town. i was reduced to jam sandwiches a few times there. maybe i'll come back one day when i'm rich... i might be waiting a long time. anyway, i'm off to Växjö to stay with Andreas (from the band) and his family for a couple of days which should be fun. more when i get there.
Hamburg
I got on the train to Hamburg and sat next to a guy who, the more i noticed him the stranger he got, he was almost a little reluctant to move over so i could get a seat (the train was totally packed by the way) anyway as the train ride went on his behavior got more and more erractic, like checking his watch every 15 seconds, looking at his luggage (at one point i thought he had a bomb in his bag) then i noticed on his left hand he was wearing one white glove, then i figured it out. the reason he was so strange was that he was a Micheal Jackson fan. what a weirdo!
So got into Hamburg about an hour late, which i felt was strange seeing that the Germans are known for being on time. anyway, got in and finding a hostel wasn't as easy as i first thought, they were all booked up, but i eventually found one which wasn't far from the infamous St. Pauli district, even the guy at reception was surprised i found the place. it ended up being a bonus because the St. Pauli area is probably what Hamburg is known for.
i can see how some people might like it but i can't say that this part was really for me. the part i did like about it was this is where the Beatles started there careers, they toured here and played in bars just before they got a record contract. there is a street named after them here also.
St.Pauli has a bit of a reputation of being a bit rowdy, sometimes rough and a bit kooky. They have a football team here and they won the premiership a couple of years back. and instead of doing what normal clubs would do like, buy new players or fix up there ground, they threw a MASSIVE rock concert for 100,000 people and drank all the profits away. oh and another interesting thing about the club is the president is a female but used to be... a MALE!
The St. Pauli area is not far from the harbour, which kinda explains why St. Pauli is the way that it is. but the habour itself is actually quite nice, it looks like they have cleaned up that part because there were a few posh stores around, i kind of liked the view of the big ships and giant metal contraptions sticking out of the water, though i can see how some people might not.
The city was quite pretty, its pretty old in the city centre (it was strange to see a Burger King in a 200 year building) in some parts they have canals running through it. Probably the best building is the Rathaus, which means City Hall. but some of the outskirts are newish with modern architecture but nothing to write home about really. (hang on, i think i just did)
I'm definately glad i came but i was only here a couple of days and that was more than enough for me. i think perhaps i didn't enjoy it as much because i just had such a great time in Berlin. but one thing i have learnt while i've been traveling is sometimes your gut instinct is right and if your not enjoying a place, just move on. having said that, I'm off to Copenhagen on a 7am bus, hopefully the ride is ok.
So got into Hamburg about an hour late, which i felt was strange seeing that the Germans are known for being on time. anyway, got in and finding a hostel wasn't as easy as i first thought, they were all booked up, but i eventually found one which wasn't far from the infamous St. Pauli district, even the guy at reception was surprised i found the place. it ended up being a bonus because the St. Pauli area is probably what Hamburg is known for.
A bit of a highlight was meeting a band from Sweden, called 'Final days Society', (click here to check out there myspace) they had just released there debut album and were in the middle of doing a week tour. they had a show in Hamburg but it was cancelled due to a booking stuff up so they just had a day off and were staying in my dorm at the hostel. We got on quite well and watched a few funny videos on youtube (click here to check out one of them) looking at them now i think they were funnier at the time. and we went down to the St. Pauli area and had a couple of beers. we got on so well in fact that they offered me a lift with them to Copenhagen (where there next show was) but i had already brought a bus ticket. but i think i'll check out there show.
The St. Pauli distict is pretty cool in parts of it, some of the bars and shops are quite 'interesting'. but also there are parts that are REALLY seedy. Sometimes i felt i was blinded by a sea of red light. the place is full of topless bars and peep shows, i'm trying to keep this blog a PG rating so i'll let you use your imagination. there were plenty of drunk and emotional German men running around saying something around the lines of 'i love youse maaaate...' but in German obviously.i can see how some people might like it but i can't say that this part was really for me. the part i did like about it was this is where the Beatles started there careers, they toured here and played in bars just before they got a record contract. there is a street named after them here also.
St.Pauli has a bit of a reputation of being a bit rowdy, sometimes rough and a bit kooky. They have a football team here and they won the premiership a couple of years back. and instead of doing what normal clubs would do like, buy new players or fix up there ground, they threw a MASSIVE rock concert for 100,000 people and drank all the profits away. oh and another interesting thing about the club is the president is a female but used to be... a MALE!
The St. Pauli area is not far from the harbour, which kinda explains why St. Pauli is the way that it is. but the habour itself is actually quite nice, it looks like they have cleaned up that part because there were a few posh stores around, i kind of liked the view of the big ships and giant metal contraptions sticking out of the water, though i can see how some people might not.
The city was quite pretty, its pretty old in the city centre (it was strange to see a Burger King in a 200 year building) in some parts they have canals running through it. Probably the best building is the Rathaus, which means City Hall. but some of the outskirts are newish with modern architecture but nothing to write home about really. (hang on, i think i just did)
I'm definately glad i came but i was only here a couple of days and that was more than enough for me. i think perhaps i didn't enjoy it as much because i just had such a great time in Berlin. but one thing i have learnt while i've been traveling is sometimes your gut instinct is right and if your not enjoying a place, just move on. having said that, I'm off to Copenhagen on a 7am bus, hopefully the ride is ok.
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