Ryan's Travel Blog

July 12, 2005

2006-04-12T22:32:00.000-03:00

July 12, 2005
Noja, Spain

Well we're not in Pamplona anymore! We managed to fix our van with some high-temp sealant at the place our friend Xavier told me about. We spent the 9th fixing up the ol' Beddy and managed to get out of our final day in Pamplona. The last few days everyone we'd met at the park initially, had moved on and we'd seen everything we wanted to anyway. We took off and headed straight for the coast. We got to Bilbao and drove north-east towards Mundaka where we stayed the night at one of the most gorgeous coastlines I'd ever seen. We then took the next day to drive west to Bilbao to see the city. There we saw the Guegenheim
Museum and they were also setting up a formula 2 racetrack around the whole city for the world series apparently.
We dropped off two passengers then headed towards Santander but stopped in Noja for the night where we are again tonight. The place is just beautiful, the beach is blue green clear water and white sand beach with NO rocks. Its just amazing. Basically we spent the last two days at the beach every minute we could.

July 08, 2005

2005-10-23T10:57:00.000-03:00

July 08, 2005
Pamplona, Spain

Dodge damn van! The thing is still leaking oil. Not sure if I mentioned that before but the thing has had a leak in a gasket since we've had it. We've been using heaps of oil every day of driving. A few days back we tried to seal it but we made it quite a bit worse apparently. Today we spent hours trying to find proper gasket sealant but everything in town is shut for the San Fermines holidays. We do have a lead on a possibility of something that might be open tomorrow though. Heres hoping!
Oh as for the rest of the day.. we drank by the pool. Heh.

July 08, 2005

2005-10-22T19:25:00.000-03:00

July 08, 2005
Pamplona, Spain

July 07, 2005

2005-10-22T13:04:00.000-03:00

July 07, 2005
Pamplona, Spain

This morning we woke at the planned 5 am and really hated ourselves for it. We left for the bus which, of course was 15 minutes late. Arrived in town at 20 minutes to 7 to a sea of people who had made a night of it and were already in position for the run. The whole city gets rearranged for this event so its really interesting watching them put up all the guard-rails and funnel people into the running arena. Those who were inside when the gates closed were handed leaflets saying on the first line that "bulls are very dangerous and can kill people". Huge cracks of sound went off and thousands of people went running. I've never seen a look of such terror on people's faces before. It was amazing to watch. Not many were hurt seriously today. The bulls apparently get bigger later in the week, they run everyday until the 14th with new bulls every day. One person died yesterday in town at the opening ceremonies while jumping off a monument in the city square unfortunately. People were warned not to jump off it into the crowd though. The running event was so cool to watch but only took about 7 minutes in total. An amazing thing to watch.
We took off around the city a bit, litter up to our knees from the day before. Cleaning crews were working 24 hours to clean the city. Everything was still closed for the holiday except bars and restaurants so it made things easier.
We heard about the bombings in London as soon as we got back from the city. The news was scattered and the only tv news station was entirely in Spanish. Things didn't look good though. Quite a sad thing to have to be so close to. I was there a week ago right where two of the explosions reportedly happened.
Last night (I'm writing this Friday morning) we had a huge campground party and were just meeting the hundreds of other travellers around. Some really cool people came a really long way for this week. Good times.

July 06, 2005

2005-10-22T13:03:00.000-03:00

July 06, 2005
Pamplona, Spain

This morning was incredible! We left in the rain at about 11 am and drove our van into a sunny Pamplona for its biggest party of the year. We got into the town centre square after passing the bulls running path into the stadium and we were enveloped in a sea of people dressed in traditional white with red belts and scarves. We went to a café while we waited the last few moments before midday and then squeezed in alongside the authentic proper marching band while everybody drank huge bottles of Sangria and Champagne. Huge firework blasts were going off to cheers of the crowd and there were hundreds of thousands all yelling and singing the whole time. Buskers lined corners of roads and 2L bottles of anything you want were being sold at roadside. In the centre square there was a huge 'foodfight' with people spraying eachother with ketchup, mustard, whipping cream, champagne, coffee, and anything else they could find. We, naturally had no idea to expect this so our good clothes got pelted with all sorts of stuff that's not gonna wash out heh.
We watched some bands play and walked the city a bit before packing it all in. Everyone gets in early tonight for the 5am wakeup tomorrow morning for the first run. The city itself was ok, nothing too special but the atmosphere was way beyond. There were people out on their balconies just throwing water and wine over into the crowd and people loved it, everybody was filthy. I came out with heaps of mustard and whipping cream all over me. Those who caused that though were paid back in full. :-)
After we got back we had a bit of a nap, this was at 3 P.M. just to show you how wretched we were after that session. I spent the rest of my day by the pool thanks very much hehe. Tomorrow is the first run!

July 05, 2005

2005-10-22T13:02:00.000-03:00

July 05, 2005
Pamplona, Spain

Well it's been another day, it's been a good day actually I'm feeling a slight bit better from before. Coupled with the fact that this was my first day to relax with no travel in a while meant I wasn't going to let my ailments ruin my day. Basically we tried fixing up the old Bedford van which has been leaking oil like mad every day. We ripped it up and the boys put a new seal on the leak which ought to hold for a while (crosses fingers). I spent most of the day reading and meeting people around the site.
Now the site we're at is basically where you're staying if you're camping in Pamplona for the festival. It's called Ezcaba and is a 10 minute bus ride to the city. It holds about a thousand campers apparently but I've no idea of its actual capacity. There is lots of space here though and 99% of the people who've all filled in the spaces are college aged (read: Cancun Spring break aged) people. Of those, so far I'd estimate 50% are Australian and the other half are Kiwi's. We're in the middle of a rugby disaster waiting to happen.
The kiwi's I've been travelling with have of course been having a blast as have I. No details sorry, Pamplona rules.
I'm looking forward to the festivities starting tomorrow. The opening ceremonies start at midday and then I imagine I'll see the city a bit before coming back here. The first run of the bulls is Thursday the 7th so we're already planning on getting there early. Something like 3000 runners and 3 million spectators expected this year. Its going to be spastic. Just can't wait! Wish me luck! kidding :-)

July 04, 2005

2005-10-22T13:01:00.000-03:00

July 04, 2005
Pamplona, Spain

Um, happy independence day! We woke up to rain, rain and more rain. We were at a campground this time at least. After a shower we were off to San Sebastian just over the Spanish border. The crossing of the border much like the crossing of the English/French border was as non eventful as it gets. You really know you're crossing borders when you start to see the changing architecture of buildings and structures. You can observe the unfolding of another countries history. We arrived in San Sebastian shortly afterwards where we stopped for a beer and a surf in this coastal city. It had a statue of the virgin Mary in the hills overlooking the city and beach, and there were beautiful bridges crossing the river running through town.
We left San Sebastian around 4 and got to Pamplona around 5:30. We didn't get to see much of the city today besides the supermarket but we got our tent and van all set up in a field of freakin aussies and kiwis. Seriously never before have I seen so many bloody kiwis and aussies in my life. I doubt I even need to visit those countries after the virtual tours I've been given. I was still sick with strept throat so I packed it in early in the hopes that tomorrow would be a better day for my health.
Regardless we've made it, our dodge '83 Bedford van of kiwis and a Canadian has completed its first major leg from London to Pamplona. Here we'll stay for a week then off towards Santander in the north coast of Spain. This is where Heather is meeting me for a week's holiday. Pretty psyched about that as well.

July 03, 2005

2005-10-22T09:19:00.000-03:00

July 03, 2005
Biarritz, France

I woke up with strept throat in a really nasty way. Even that is an exaggeration because I didn't really get much sleep of any kind. I get this once or twice a year and it fast-tracks me to a more or less miserable state within 24 hours. It lasts days. We were able to get to a pharmacy where I picked up some medicine for it. Hopefully the swelling will come down in a day or two.
We pretty much drove all day today, no stores were on on Sunday (so NS isn't the only place!) right to Biarritz where we found a campground and were able to charge our phones and whatnot. The rain tonight has been constant and doesn't look to be stopping any time soon. Hopefully tomorrow will be a better day. We did nothing today but travel in the rain, we'll be so much better off tomorrow for all our driving today, though.

July 02, 2005

2005-10-22T09:18:00.000-03:00

July 02, 2005
Bordeaux, France

Today was just beautiful. The south of France is just incredible, let me say that much. We arrived in Sables d'Olonne last night but when day broke we realized what we were into. One of the most gorgeous coastal cities I've ever seen. And we were camping basically right on the beach! Quite literally this city borders a white sandy beach and harbours hundreds of sailboats, when the sailboats leave for their around the world trip (an event whose name I cannot remember) they leave from this city. There is a small castle and villa on the beach at one end with two lighthouses and then white beautiful buildings all along the beach for miles. An amazing sight. Water fountains all over the place the city is so classy and well kept.
We spent the afternoon there, Ben went surfing and I walked the city a bit. I did a good bit of walking around on the beach and back into the city, visited some cool shops and spoke with terrible 6th grade French to people whenever I got the chance. My French as terrible as it is has been partially relied on by my kiwi counterparts which is truly a case of trust misplaced. We've been doing really well so far, though. We all met up a few hours later and set off for Bordeaux where we set up camp for the rest of the night. I'm feeling a little sore throat coming on hopefully it doesn't get worse.

July 01, 2005

2005-10-22T09:15:00.000-03:00

July 01, 2005
Paris, France

Happy Canada Day! I'm just after having quite the road trip out of Paris. We took off this morning and found ourselves travelling through some amazing countryside in the southern half of France. We stopped at a poppy field outside Le Mans and a few other cool spots along our trip to the coast. The new zealanders I'm travelling with had to be taught the national anthem and every car we passed had to know it was Canada day.
We stopped at a supermarket in Nantes and bought 8 cases of beer which we had neither the room for nor money for but somehow we ended up with just enough of both. We decided to cruise to les Sables d'Olonne a coastal city in the southern region but we ended up in pitch blackness with no gas on dark, barely lit and worsely marked streets. We pulled over to try to figure out how to get out of this mess when an amazingly nice French man came out of his car and walked right up to our dodge van in the middle of the night offering to help us. He took us to the nearest town to gas up and even let us use his credit card to pay for it! At night in France very few gas stations are manned. They rely on pre-pay credit cards which are only French. So no visa, no bank cards from outside France. In other words we were screwed before this guy came and helped us.
We thanked him over and over then drove finally into Sables d'Olonne.

yeah yeah i know i know

2005-08-01T07:45:00.000-03:00

ok so i know i havenºt posted here lately, honestly finding the internet the last month has been a real mission and iºm sitting in a net cafe in portugal trying to organise a ferry ride over to morocco so i canºt really post anything yet except to say this:

yes i have been getting all your emails, iºm sorry you havenºt got my responces yet but i type them all up on my palm pilot and the thing has been without wireless internet access since san sebastian before we even got to pamplona. this is like a few days after paris literally..

so basically if i can find wireless internet on this freakin continent again all my emails will be sent and the last month of blog updates will be put up instantly. so keep emailing me cause i can read them at the net cafeºs but i canºt get my responces out to you just yet. soon though.

thanks for that! cheers!

Ryan

June 30, 2005

2005-07-02T09:51:00.000-03:00

June 30, 2005
Paris, France

I'm having a bit of a fit about all this. I just spent the day in PARIS! Unfortunately I have to finish up about yesterday before I can get into today so here we go.
Basically after we got off the ferry we drove south through Boulogne, down through Amiens, Beauvais, and then straight into Paris. The drive was breathtaking. The countryside of France is gorgeous and the small remote towns are full of character and uniqueness. There is such a difference here in the way people live and work. Siesta between 2 and 6 in many places. Bread bakeries are everywhere and the bread is better than you can imagine. Everything here is geared towards being fresh and not bulked together. You buy your food fresh and cook it, you just don't buy those pre-packaged supermarket deals here. The people have been really helpful and very nice. They can not all speak English but try to help anyway. Being Canadian I keep expecting to see English translations on signs but they're all in just French of course.
We arrived in St. Germaine at around 6 PM and found our campground after a bit of struggling with mispointed street signs. It is a really nice area with a river flowing through it and you can just see the Eiffel Tower in the distance. I was looking to go see it that night but being it such a long day we all decided to relax for the evening so we could head out early.
I left the camp around 7 by myself and went to try to learn Paris' train and tube systems. It wasn't too bad after its London counterpart but there was little to no English to be found there either. I decided since I knew nothing about the city that I'd go to the tourist information centre which took 2 connecting metro subways and when I arrived it was closed. Luckily the Louvre was directly next-door and was just opening.
The Louvre is the most gigantic gallery I've ever seen. It has 3 wings each with 3 floors and each floor with the walking distance of several city blocks. The actual building and court take up enough space that it takes 20 minutes to walk around it. Deciding where to go was easy but getting there wasn't quite so. After probably 20 minutes of walking in just one wing I found myself standing in front of the Mona Lisa. The thing is impressive and not because it's so famous but because it's so small and holds itself up to huge 20 foot canvas paintings. It is really something special. Before I left I had seen the Venus de Milo, crown diamond jewels, the angel on the rocks and so much more. I could have spent all day there really but with only one day in Paris I had to move on to my next stop.
After the most expensive trip to Starbucks I've ever had (6.80) who ever heard of 2 Euro for a small café americano anyway? I saw some of the opera house then walked to the Notre Dame Cathedral. This was the best thing I did in Paris I reckon. The church itself was incredibly beautiful, a real picture of flawless gothic architecture to be sure. The stained glass windows were so big and beautiful thy let in just enough light to see the details on the stone carvings inside. The alter was probably 50 feet deep with an organ and everything a proper old cathedral needs. There were stone carvings all around it where you could walk and see them up close. A massive organ elevated on the second floor of the back end of the cathedral took up nearly the whole wall. I then climbed the tower at the cathedral which had the bell, the gargoyle and a panoramic view of Paris that was mind-blowing.
I took a walk to the centre of the city where there was some huge monuments and beautiful bridges across the river dividing the city. I came across a huge field at the end of which was the museum of the army which by no coincidence at all is where Napoleon is buried. I spent a little time there before heading to the Eiffel Tower. I can't even describe it the thing was just surreal to see in person. It has elevators and stairs in each of its legs and then a main elevator to the top from the first level. I was so impressed by the thing, I feel really lucky to have been there.
The next stop was to be the Arc De Triomphe but when I came to near the Canadian embassy (just off New York Avenue heh) I found myself in the middle of a huge protest rally for an upcoming election in the Congo that people were trying to draw attention to. The riot police showed up and started pushing them back to the middle of this major 5 road roundabout so the traffic could flow again. The protesters had been blocking every road and causing a lot of excitement. Then things got even better when a bunch more protesters showed up and started singing and passing out leaflets in the middle of the street and about a hundred more riot police came out of nowhere and started surrounding them. Then the police started pushing us back so after they pushed me out of the incident area I decided to move on to the Arc De Triomphe finally.
By this time it was after 7 PM and I'd been going hard all day so it was time to call it a day pretty soon. The Arc De Triomphe was really cool, beautifully built and looked very well taken care of. When I got there they were performing some sort of ceremony involving a government official from some country that I had no idea. A full police ceremonial guard was there and a drum band. They kept people back but there was hardly any crowd there because of the thunderstorm that had started.
After I'd had my fill of Paris for the day I hopped the train back to Maison LaFitte train station and met up with everyone at the campground. We all exchanged stories from the day over a few cases of Heiniken. We'd all had just a brilliant time it was the most amazing day. We topped it off with a few games of pool up the street and crashed for the night.
Basically it was the most terrific day I had, I can't even remember everything I saw and did because I'd crammed so much into one day. Paris is such a gorgeous city I need to go back. One day just can't do it justice.

June 27, 2005

2005-07-02T09:23:00.001-03:00

June 27, 2005
En Route to London

Well today quite frankly was shit. Pure unadulterated shit. I cannot properly express the distinct measure of sadness, loneliness, anxiety, excitement, and fatigue I feel at this moment. Everything is ok though don't get me wrong. All except for the fact that I've just left my home and my family for the second time. That's right, I've just left Edinburgh.
Maybe for my own record keeping sake I ought to try to recap the last hectic month of my life as I severely neglected my blog. Try as I may, though I'll never quite recall everything I ought to add here. Working the bar at the hostel was easily the best time I've ever had working. The job was simply great, I worked for and with great people and I loved every minute of it. I could have stayed another month or 4 and just continued on but time wasn't nearly on my side. We bid farewell to some longtermers (Elana, Ruffee, Constanza) and a whole slew of new people came in. One of them an Edmontonian named Heather who I sort of took under my wing and helped her get settled in. I can't put to words how incredible that girl is and we hit it off straight away. She's definitely someone I'm going to meet up with again. Perhaps before we go back to Canada. She's made Edinburgh twice as hard to leave for me. I was able to do a lot of really fun things the last few weeks of my time there thanks to her. At least I know we made the most of our time. I'm going to miss her a great deal.
Stefano came back this week after his exam in Venice. He's doing great and still texts Tash all the time. Him and I are going to meet again I know it. We have some travelling to do together.
I'm going to miss Canada Day at the hostel which really sucks. I made a huge playlist of Canadian artists for the bar when they celebrate it there. I think I'll be in Paris that day. Oh well, could be worse. Speaking of the hostel they threw a big going away party for me and Constanza a few days ago. I was working that night behind the bar but I was able to get a few glasses of punch behind there before finishing up and joining them. It was quite a ridiculous night but so much fun. I was murderized the next day though. Worst hangover ever. I slept until 5:30 PM and started pulling pints at work at 6:00. Needless to say that was a rough shift. Worth it Im the end though, naturally.
My last days here were packed full of touristy things I was doing with Heather. My last day (yesterday) we got up and climbed Arthur's Seat. Phenomenal once again. We had a pint of beer in the sun on the Royal Mile (high St.). After packing we did our last quiz night at the hostel and won the Vodka. Fantastic. Next I said goodbye to a lot of amazing people. Friends I'll never forget and many of which I will see again. The session continued when we all packed into Chris's room where we sang all their classic
Songs. (Rumpy Pumpy, bouncing on your belly, sexual junkie, and dirty dan.) Eventually we made it to the penny black which is a dirty pub that opens at 6AM here. So I finished my marathon with a pint at the penny black then hopped on my bus at 8:25 this morning. I haven't slept in god knows how long and I'm on a miserable bus to London. Firstly the bus went to Glasgow which took 1 hour where I had an hour stopover then onto my 10 hour bus ride to London. Currently I'm 1 hour away, after I get there its 1 hour more on the train to my friends waiting for me with their van. I cannot wait to see them.
I had the most terrific day in Edinburgh and it was just heartbreaking to leave. It was heartbreaking to leave the hostel where I've made my home for the last 3 months. It was heartbreaking to leave my friends and co-workers who all lived there with me and seemed like family. It was heartbreaking to say goodbye to people who will be my lifelong friends like Jonathan, Stefano and Heather. I know I'll see them again someday but it doesn't make leaving any easier. It was heartbreaking to leave the most gorgeous city I've ever been in especially after being a part of it.
Now before I start to sound too sulky or remorseful let me add a bit of context and qualify this a bit. Of course I'm excited for my trip this summer in the van. I'm sure I'll have the time of my life and my future entries will no doubt reflect this. However until you've gone out totally alone with nobody at your side for as long as I have you cannot appreciate how attached you become to people and places you love no matter where you are. It makes it so difficult to leave. So what I'm trying to do is take a snapshot of myself at this point in time so I can remember everything I went through. I think that's important. I wouldn't be doing the experience justice if I didn't talk about the downs as well as the ups.
I don't find travelling alone easy, I'd never claim to. I love the people I meet and hate leaving them. Travelling alone has afforded me the opportunity to meet people whom I'd have otherwise not. After this van tour though, I think I'll be over it. I might be ready to find Heather and Stefano and travel with them. Going it alone has been good to me and the experience has been unique and rewarding but I'm ready to share the experience with others now. So I think I'm going to start today when I meet Ben and Mel.

P.S. Someone was just trapped for 5 minutes in the toilet stall on the Bus. I thought that was worth a mention.

June 29, 2005

2005-07-02T09:23:00.000-03:00

June 29, 2005
White Cliffs of Dover

Well I don't want to start off on the negative again but Monday night I was rewarded for my 12 hour bus trip with my train getting cancelled and having to wait 2 hours in bloody London Victoria station. Regardless it only took a small while (1 more hour) on the train to bring me directly to my old friends again. Was so great to see them again. Ben and Mel picked me up in our camper van at the Borough Green station at 10:30 PM and we all drove to their campground they had set up. There I met Joel who is Ben's friend from New Zealand who was already in bed and jetlagged from his flight from home to London. We started catching up but eventually my 2 days without sleep caught up with me so I hit the pillow and slept like a rock.
The next morning I woke up bewildered but after a moment or two I realized I wasn't in Kansas anymore. We all packed up and went to Ben's brother and his friend's place in the south of England. We were able to relax a bit there and get dinner, have some internet time, recharge our batteries and have a hot shower. Let me not under-stress how great a non-hostel shower is after something like four months... Wow four months. Anyway we stayed the night there and set off at 3:30 am for Dover. I'm writing this on the ferry from there to Bolognè as a matter of fact. We're about to hop off this boat and on to French soil.
We're expecting to have half of today and all of tomorrow in Paris then we press on for the south of France.

May 29, 2005

2005-06-04T11:33:00.000-03:00

May 29, 2005
Edinburgh, Scotland

Well the last few weeks have been terrific but a little bitter sweet to be honest. The aussie girls Beth and Tash had to get on their plane to Ireland on Friday night and it was like losing my best friend. We still keep in close contact though. Jonathan had to go to London that same night so it was just Stefano and myself. He's a great bloke but we missed the girls a lot. Such is the nature of hostel life though. For everyone that leaves someone quickly takes their place. We're getting into season now so the hostel will more than likely be booked solid every weekend for the next 5 months. Gradually we'll be getting into such a busy time that midweek will be as busy as the weekends. All this as we get closer to festival time. An insanely huge deal for Edinburgh.
Stefano and I have already started planning a trip next year to Australia. I'm thinking of meeting him in his home in Venice then exploring Italy for a while then go to Asia (Tibet, China, Thailand) then New Zealand followed by Australia just in time for a working visa to start there. We'll have to see if we can sort that all out. I have so many people to visit there.
I'm finally starting in the bar at my hostel next week. No more cleaning! I'm extremely psyched to get working there; its a great bar and I hang out there all the time anyway so why not get paid a few hundred pounds a week for it. The bar is called 'the swamp' Its got live bands every Friday and Saturday nights which we charge cover for. We have lots going on there usually and everyone from the hostel hangs out there. I get to be the 'DJ' too since the whole audio system runs on mp3 from a PC behind the bar.
Edinburgh is getting warmer and busier. Im finding myself less time to do things like write this or read or whatever. The city is packed full of tourists all the time and the shops are always full. I had no idea this city could hold so many people but I suppose the bulk of the money they make is going to be on tourism so they're prepared for it.
I'm still stoked to get going on my European van tour. Money seems to be on track and we have our ferry from the UK booked. Just a matter of time until we leave now. I'm hoping to get to Paris for its part in the G8 summit protest concerts. Would be amazing to see some of the bands they have lined up. Anyway just under a month to go. Time tends to fly here. We'll see how we go.

May 16, 2005

2005-06-04T11:26:00.000-03:00

May 16, 2005
Edinburgh, Scotland

Ok I just got back from seeing Oasis in concert. I cannot believe it either.
Well let me try to think for a second here.. Its been a good while since I've written here so I have a lot to catch up on.
As I predicted the staff party was absolutely ludicrous and the idea of free drinks to me now seems like a warning rather than an invitation. Needless to say it was a legendary party and it went down just disastrously. There are too many great stories to come out of it, none of which are printable. The party was a 'fancy dress' party which in Europe means a costume party. I went as a Saturday Night Fever-esque disco guy. Of course my costume was brilliant and I have the pictures to prove it. That was the last all night party I've had. The staff of the hostel spent the next two days recovering from it and absolutely nothing got done around here.
A lot of that week as well I spent working and making my own recovery. I started doing night shifts at the hostel while we re-work the schedule. Basically its kitchen cleaning and then clean the bar. The shift is from 12 midnight until 8 am with about 4 hours of work to do in it. Which is nice because I can sleep for the rest of it, unless its the weekend when I need to start kicking people out of the bar around 6 or 7 am so I can clean it.
Jonathan came back from his trip to turkey that weekend and we hit the pub immediately. He's one of my best friend's here so it was great to see him back. He had a spectacular time in turkey for A.N.Z.A.K. day and had enough time there to lie on the beach and so some hang gliding. The video he took with his camera going over the mountain cliff was mind-blowing. That Sunday we hit the Sunday market and Joseph bought a television and video player for our room. Basically we have everything in there now. We have a flat pretty much.
Last Saturday night we had a bit of a party in our room at the hostel, half the population of the place showed up. And of course they would considering that it's the best room in here. Hah. We started the party around 5 and it carried on in various incarnations in various locations all night. We're definitely doing that again. Everybody had a great time.
Stephano my new friend from Italy (Venice) moved into our room the other day, he's such a great guy and we all have a blast. He's a proper Italian being all cool all the time. Me and him have some great photos of the staff party hehe. Stephano mentions to me yesterday that someone his boss works with who is a rep for some ticket agency has tickets to the Oasis concert and he said he might be able to hook me up with one. We went out to see if we could get a hold of them and when we got to the auditorium I ended up with floor seats to the show! The tickets were £35 each to buy and it had been sold out for weeks. I saw people scalping them out front for over £100 each. Do the conversion on that one! Getting a free ticket to that show was like winning the lottery for me. The show was at a proper theatre with upper level stadium style seats and a floor level standing. The place was small maybe only 2000-3000 people in there. Half the room was taken up by speakers. The sound was amazing in there. There was an intense crowd and I was 10 feet from the stage at one of the best shows I have ever seen. El Presidente opened for them and played a terrific set. Oasis then hit the stage and it was absolutely amazing. Their drummer is Ringo Star's son now apparently. They all performed top notch and their new album sounds to be really good.

May 3, 2005

2005-05-03T11:30:00.000-03:00

May 3, 2005
Edinburgh, Scotland

So much for a few days off hah. When I realized I had 20 days of debt to the hostel I decided working would be a good idea. I worked full days the last few days for credits at the hostel, been out every night as well. I've been having no trouble fitting all this into my days either I'm pleased to say. All I had to give up was sleep and I suddenly had all this extra time! I'm looking forward to a few days of relation perhaps but it probably won't come until after the big work party tonight. We're having a staff party tonight where everyone in the hostel is invited but full-time staff get free drinks all night! Fresh off yesterday's heinous hangover I'm going to be in a state tomorrow for sure.
Saturday night we went to Carlton hill for a huge festival called 'Beltane Fire Festival'. Basically it's a pagan thing where they paint their bodies up and "welcome the summer" by doing these dancing rituals. They lit this huge column structure on fire and started with these drums that continued for 4 hours as they paraded around the hill. There were probably a hundred performers and thousands of spectators. They had four stops on the parade, one for each act in this ritual and in each one they performed some crazy pagan fire dance. They ran around yelling and screaming and lighting things on fire, great times. Quite an amazing thing to see. I have some great photos and video's of it.
I heard from Ben today; it looks like we should be able to get all of us insured on the camper van for around 400 quid, so 100 each, brilliant. I cannot wait to get behind the wheel of something! I miss my car..
My German friend Ninia came back to the hostel so that was pretty cool and a big surprise.
More to come as I remember it!

April 27, 2005

2005-04-28T08:58:00.000-03:00

April 27, 2005
Edinburgh, Scotland

Well I've neglected the blog so before I forget everything heres what I've got. Sunday night was the quiz night in the hostel, and thanks in no small part to my knowledge of the first and last names of all four Ghostbusters we were able to win the cheap-ass bottle of "Glen's Scottish vodka". After drinking said bottle we had a great fun time in the bar, naturally. That carried on in the upstairs lounge all night.
Monday was great, after work I entered the pool competition and got handily trounced by this south African guy who ended up losing to my Italian friend Stefano in the last round. He was hilarious though he bought us shots of absinthe all night, we closed the bar. That was a terrific time he was a really cool fella. Stefano brought out his winnings (another bottle of Glen's Heinous Vodka) so we all helped him drink the stuff. We seriously did the guy a favour, the vodka tasted like paint thinner.
Last night we had to go out because my Swedish friend Aram was leaving the next day for Dublin. It was all good though I had a great time once again. We went out to Opium, then the 'Three Sisters' then some Irish sports bar. Met a few really cool people along the way and was quite off my face by the time we got back to the hostel. The bar was still open when we got back around 4 so we kicked around there a while longer until I realized the following morning I had my last day at 'Romanes and Patterson'.
So I went to work all in a state, again. Was ok though everybody was sad to see me go and we just chatted and joked around all day, even my supervisors. And I finally got paid too! Finally I'm not destitute anymore. Now I've got a few days off before I start working at the hostel so I'm going to relax and sightsee a bit I think.

April 23, 2005

2005-04-26T08:57:00.000-03:00

April 23, 2005
Edinburgh, Scotland

So I went out last night finally after a hiatus that must have lasted about a week, surely. It felt like plenty longer. I swear I'm never again taking a job that pays monthly, seriously what was I thinking? I'm going to have a boatload of cash in the bank.. in 5 freaking days. Lots of good it does me right now. So basically I can't go out to the bars every single night because beer costs almost £3.00 on the weekends. For those keeping track that's something like $7.50 cdn. An absolute joke. I'm going to create my own currency someday and make the British pound worthless against it. Just watch, forget what you learned in economics cause I'm doing it anyway.
Whoops got side-tracked there. Anyway we went to an Irish pub called Finigans down off the Royal Mile. The live band was pretty good but this place is no split crow. I had a great time anyway of course. Being a pub we were booted out at 1 am so we walked next-door to 'Espionage' (just like my ringtone yay!). This bar is ridiculous. It's got almost nothing on street level but a small lounge with a bar. The real fun is the 3 floors below. Each of the floors on this place had a different theme. The one below street level is a large bar with low level alternative music playing and a bunch of couches and chairs to lounge around on. The level below that one is twice the size and has a huge dance floor playing deafeningly loud dance/pop music. This floor is apparently always packed wall to wall. The floor below that was about the same as the one above it except it has a smaller dance floor playing hiphop and rap type music. Quite a variety but the whole place is just non-stop cracking on. Great night though.
Yesterday I worked all day, biding time. Wasn't too bad though. Last night there were a few really decent bands playing in the bar, cover was being charged. I decided to watch them, really good alt-rock bands this week.

April 22, 2005

2005-04-22T12:16:00.000-03:00

April 22, 2005
Edinburgh, Scotland

I'm in bed, it's about 11 am and I've absolutely no ambition to do anything right now, and because today is my day off I really don't have to. My second in a row infact. Yesterday was quite a nice day for me, an important one as well for two very specific reasons. After breakfast yesterday my friend Joe and I set out on a walk towards some shop on the other side of town to get some tape adapter thing. It was just gorgeous out, the sun was shining and get this.. stayed out all day! This sort of thing just isn't done in the UK as far as I can tell. I kept waiting for the crack of thunder when we were the farthest possible distance from the hostel and my umbrella, amazingly it never came. We walked for about 4 hours which was a great way to finally orient myself somewhat to the City. It's rather large. After a nice coffee on the Royal Mile Road we headed towards the library to send a few e-mail when I heard the unfamiliar shriek of my cell phone's 'espionage' ringtone. Who was on the other end but my brother Mark.
This was the first event of importance and I don't want to downplay the importance of it. I was bewildered. It's going to, of course, sound totally fabricated at this point but I had planned on calling him that very night from the hostel. I had the cash for the phone card finally and was planning on doing this in only a few short hours. So suffice it to say when I answered the phone I got the feeling that I was on the truman show or something. You must understand that despite the fact that we communicate via e-mail all the time I honestly don't remember the last time I heard Mark's voice. It bothers me that the last conversation that I remember was Christmas though I'm sure we spoke after that. Also I tried several times to call him from Italy but there was an issue with his phone being out of credit and my ineptitude at international dialling. So for him to call me, months later on the very day I was to call him is quite simply astonishing. He used up pretty much all of his phone card on the call as well. We spoke for a while about everything and how great Amsterdam is going to be when we meet up there. It was so great to hear from him, I really felt quite nostalgic after I hung up the phone. It's been a long time since I've seen him so I naturally miss him a lot. Cannot wait for the fall!
Later that night I was supposed to go to the 'Walkabout' with some people, I was waiting for my laundry to finish in the washer when I decided to have a quick nap. That nap accidentally lasted through until 2:30 am when my now increasingly more familiar 'espionage' ringtone began to sound like a banshee with a purpose. Mark again? No.. It's quite late at night here which could only mean one thing, of course it's my mom and dad. Half asleep I leapt out of bed and gathered my phone and keys and took myself to the hallway in my underpants. It was great to hear from them. It was an amazing coincidence that they'd choose to call me on this day but I suppose not entirely as it was my father's birthday which I knew was this week... sometime. I know I'm a terrible son. But to be honest it's so freaking difficult to keep track of the days of the week when I work every day (yes even Sunday) and I have no tv. This used to be how I found out such things. Anyway all excuses aside dad called me and wished me a happy birthday to him. If you follow. After apologizing probably 20 times I got to talk to them for a while about everything else, it was really really nice. I was so glad to hear from them and to hear that everything is going well back home. It makes things easier and harder all at the same time. I went to bed a little more nostalgic and homesick than I'd like but I'm glad for the chance to talk with everybody in my family in the same day. It made my week, truly. I have the best family in the world.

April 20, 2005

2005-04-22T08:57:00.000-03:00

April 20, 2005
Edinburgh, Scotland

Back in the big city for a few days now I've had a few interesting things happen. Firstly my heinous boss Vicky tried to screw me out of a whole weeks worth of shifts at the kilt shop after I gave her notice that I was leaving. I managed to get them back but she's been riding me ridiculous for days now. Basically I have to try to avoid her for the last week so she can't find any excuses to fire me. I need every bit of work I can get for my summer holiday.
As for my summer holiday I got an e-mail from my pal Ben saying he found us a van in London and it cost us a lot less than we were expecting to pay. There's four of us in there for the long haul from June 30th until the beginning of September and it looks like we'll all fit in there nicely. Basically now we're just waiting for the summer making as much as we possibly can in the meantime. This is where making British pounds really works well for us. It'll work ridiculously well for me going back to Canada as well.
Otherwise I'm still up to the same old stuff, I'm working 30 hours a week and fresh off my little holiday to Inverness I'm already working on my next trip either to the isle of sky or Glasgow to see a concert. Might hire a car this time, I miss driving so much! I went to Edinburgh castle finally on Saturday, its huge and has a lot of smaller museums of various themes inside. It was well worth finally seeing the dungeons and war paraphernalia, not to mention the spectacular view as the castle overlooks all of Edinburgh.
Edinburgh is the same, tons of construction zones in the city getting ready for the big festival this summer. The whole city is dug up. It's going to look great by summer though.

April 15, 2005

2005-04-22T08:55:00.000-03:00

April 15, 2005
Inverness, Scotland

Good times! Inverness was just fantastic. As I write this on my palm pilot I'm on the bus, it's 10pm and we're on our way back from Inverness to Edinburgh. Today we woke up and walked around town a bit more. I met a Swiss girl named Fanny! These Swiss girls and their great names, really. Afterwards I had lunch and then we got on the boat for the Loch Ness tour.
Loch Ness itself is dark as hell. The water looks almost like oil when you look down on it from the deck of the boat. We were on the water for over three hours just plowing through the waves. Today was cloudy, windy and rainy. In other words perfect for effect. Makes for some eerie atmosphere. I got soaked when we were out on deck taking pictures and we hit a big wave. Good times. It was a great tour.
Just enough time to get on our bus home, its dark now but the scenery here earlier was worth coming for alone. Snow covered mountains that you could walk to. Not a building in sight, and the skyline was right from a picture.
Great trip.

April 14, 2005

2005-04-22T08:50:00.000-03:00

April 14, 2005
Inverness, Scotland

Alright so its been a few days, almost a week actually but honestly there hasn't been a great deal to write home about.. so to speak. It's like.. I'm working nearly full-time and after I finish work I go to the supermarket. Seriously. It's not even a real supermarket either its just a mini-grocery store which oh-so conveniently is located across the street from the hostel. From its city centrally located perch it can pick at the brittle bones of the weary traveller with its obscene prices and ludicrously tempting but always unhealthy pre-packaged meals. Ok so its an expensive city, I get that. But it shouldn't be that you simply cannot prepare a meal as cost effectively from scratch as you can when you buy these oversalted ready made meals that taste almost as good but are stripped of their nutritional value and replaced with preservatives. It also doesn't help the decision to eat healthier when the things are 3 minute microwave-able. Tesco isn't the devil, it just owns nearly all of Britain and pays its workers nothing. Wow, alright so that was a somewhat cynical thought train that led absolutely nowhere.
Back on track now; after the work and supermarket I always head into the bar at the hostel. Johnathan and his boss Simon are always in there having a drink, so I naturally like to start my evening with a pint or twelve. After an hour usually I head upstairs to cook my dinner. Or reheat it if I was feeling really unambitious in the supermarket earlier. After that we just chillout for a while before hitting the actual non-hostel related bars. I've been avoiding them this week because I cannot afford to get drunk enough to enjoy the amazingly cheesy music they play at the clubs here. I need more than a few beers to get me dancing to the 'Love Shack' in a bar packed with 300 inebriated idiots. With my current state of being paid once a month I'm forced to live a wee bit more reserved for now. Pay-day in only 16 days woo!
Now, thats not to say there aren't interesting things going on as well. Firstly that German girl Ninia went back to Germany. She was great. Coming back again in May. Hmm what else.. I'm learning Spanish again! Great fun. We have a huge stereo in our room now, nice. Also I'm on holiday in Inverness! Yes as I write this I'm in "Ho Ho's Hostel" in Inverness Scotland. Its a gorgeous part of the highlands of Scotland. It's also where you can find Loch Ness. My friend Alison and I are on holiday here and we're going for a huge boat trip tomorrow on the loch. Today though we just relaxed after the 4 hour bus ride, saw some of the city and just enjoyed the highlands. It's been an amazingly relaxing trip. Just what I needed.
At the hostel here we met some interesting characters: a cool Canadian girl, a really nice Australian girl we met in Edinburgh originally, and a whiskey thief with an active arrest warrant. Good times.
The e-mail situation sucks right now. The wireless hotspot I was using to send and receive e-mail is now gone so I can only check my mail at the library in the mornings before work. This slightly annoys me so I'm going to have to go searching for more hotspots soon.
Work is going well, its an awfully rediculous job but it'll do for the next 20 days or so until I start at the hostel full-time. The people I work with are really cool and we get to "test" whiskey there for free as well!
Working and living in Edinburgh has been an unforgettable thing, totally glad I did it. So many travellers here it's really an international style city. Sometimes I think the aussies here outnumber the scotts. Of course that wouldn't surprise me of any European city, aussies just love to travel. Great people too. Not that I totally feel the need to qualify that but I do like australians.
Gonna try to write again after the inverness trip,
Oh, Happy Anniversary mom and dad! Love you guys!
Ciao!

Pictures!

2005-04-12T07:05:00.000-03:00

Ok so I had nowhere to put these pictures so I'm going to put them here for now. I'm going to try to arrange them and organize them over time. Also not all the pictures I wanted to put on here made it, something to do with filesize limits or something.

Halifax:
Airport

London, England
Greenwich, London England
Greenwich Painted Hall
Prime Meridian
Buckingham Palace
In Front of Palace
Big Ben
Abbey Road Studio
Underground
City Of London
Tate Modern Museum
Leister Square
Hyde Park
Tower Bridge
Ben, Mel and the German Girls
The German Girls and Me
Beatles Shop in London

Rome, Italy
Santa Maria Maggoire Church
The Coloseum
American Girls by Coloseum
View From Coloseum
View From Inside
Roman Ruins
Me in the Ruins
Coloseum
Water Fountain
Ferrari Store!
St Peters Basilica
St Peters Square
Me in St Peters Square
Rent a Scooter!
Ancient Roman Government Building

Edinburgh, Scotland
Girls in a Scottish Pub
Same Pub
Edinburgh Castle
Bunch of us Overlooking Edinburgh
On Top of the Edinburgh Museum
The Royal Mile
Edinburgh Castle
A bunch of us Travelers
Me On Top of Arthurs Seat
Americans on Arthurs Seat
Canadians on Arthurs Seat

Thats All for now, hopefully all the links work and all the descriptions properly match everything. I'll have a look at it again in a few days.

April 8, 2005

2005-04-09T15:57:00.000-03:00

April 8, 2005
Edinburgh, Scotland

Well its been a few days indeed. Working all the time has made it harder to update this blog along with the fact that since I've started working there has been less new things going on, well as far as what I can write on my blog is concerned anyway.
I'm still having a great time of course. I'm loving staying at this hostel. Some of the oddest, nicest and most interesting characters I've ever seen I've met right here. Jess is a cool girl I met through Amy before she left. Jess is Canadian also and we've been hanging out for a few days now. I can tell we're going to be good friends. All us Canadians around here are starting to take over I think.
Another girl I met recently is this German bird named Ninia. She's amazing actually we've been going out all week. She's from the south Germany suabian area and she's probably best described as a new age hippie. She's here sightseeing but she said she hasn't seen as much of Scotland as she'd planned because she keeps staying here hanging out with me. How lucky is she? Really interesting and fun girl. Definitely one of the cooler people I've met. Beautiful girl too, going to be a shame when she goes back to Germany. We've already planned a few things for when I go up for octoberfest this fall. (Rocky Horror Picture Show! Nevermind)
Wednesday night we all went out to Tron again. Its become my Wednesday tradition. After which we went 'dancing' at subway (the worst bar in Edinburgh) then we went to Opium. Then... We went back to damn Subway again. Hah. I have a term for what brought us there twice that night, I call it the 'new palace syndrome'. Nuff said!
I had Thursday off and did pretty much nothing productive with it. Actually I did finally figure out how to upload all my pictures to my webspace account so hopefully early next week I'll have a bunch of them online.
Yesterday I was offered a full-time job at the hostel which I took straight away. It's not perfect because it entails 2 of my 5 shifts per week being from 12AM to 8AM. This is harsh but I reckon I'll get used to it. On the plus side I get 10 extra hours per week of work and I get free accommodation. So I'm saving £55 a week and getting £150 a week cash. Plus its a really relaxed job that I don't need a goofy uniform for. This means I can actually enjoy my days off instead of working random shifts at the hostel on them. Not a bad deal, definitely worth it for me at this point.
Later I worked at the hostel and hung out with ninia afterwards. Not a bad day, have to get my new job all set up and give my 2 weeks at the shop! Woo!

April 4, 2005

2005-04-04T23:02:00.000-03:00

April 4, 2005
Edinburgh, Scotland

Sunday market down near Grassmarket is a huge indoor flea market, it's actually inside some sort of car park. Alison, Miguel and myself went down to check it out. It was nice to go for just the walk but there was actually a bunch of cool things there, next week I'll probably go back and buy something ludicrous just for the hell of it. Maybe an outfit for the 80's retro bar so I can get the cheap drinks there.
That night at the hostel we played and lost the quiz, no vodka there. Then tonight I lost in the first friggin round in the pool competition! So no vodka this week. It was pretty sad actually hanging out in the bar after two nights of defeat in a row, even happy hour was pretty ironic. So I decided to go type up some email on my palm but everybody kept coming in and distracting me, then Joe convinced me to watch 'Me, Myself and Irene'. Pretty quiet few nights but its been fun regardless.

April 2, 2005

2005-04-04T08:45:00.000-03:00

April 2, 2005
Edinburgh, Scotland

The weather today is just gorgeous. It's not often it gets so sunny and warm here. I took a walk this morning before work and got there in time to catch some news reports about the pope being on his death bed. They said he wouldn't last very long and they were right as he died later in the evening. It's quite sad and truly the end of an era.
Tonight we just hung around the hostel again and listened to the band play a little. They were alight, actually. It was a good time, let me say again that having a bar in your house is an amazing thing. Probably too good of a thing but I'm not complaining. It was packed and people who weren't staying at the hostel had to pay cover too, so the show was at least that good. Afterwards we hung out in the kitchen lounge and listened to nine inch nails while I wrote postcards. It was a little embarrassing though because I had bought all these postcards in London and Rome but everything was so hectic that I had no time to mail or even write any of them. So every one of them are pictured of Rome or London but postmarked Scotland.

April 1, 2005

2005-04-02T16:46:00.000-04:00

April 1, 2005
Edinburgh, Scotland

April fools day isn't very popular here it seems. I thought it would be fun to mess with people at work a little but when I asked them it totally took the fun out of it when I had to explain the concept of April fools day from scratch. In fact I hadn't heard mention of it all day from anybody. If I had known this I would have planned a prank much more elaborate. Oh well next year perhaps.
After work I got back to the hostel to find Jonathan covered in diesel. His co-worker Jason (who also stays with us at the hostel) filled the oil sump on their water pump with diesel, about 20 litres worth and it nearly ruined the engine. Later after they got it fixed, Jonathan was standing behind it and it spit a white cloud out at him, contained in this cloud was heaps of oil and he was covered. So his day didn't go so well. We went out to cheer him up with some fish and chips and then had a few drinks of straight vodka with these Swedish guys who taught us their drinking song. I've never met a more energetic bunch of people. They wore me out just talking to them.
Due to a combination of fortunate circumstances for us, a new room opened up and we moved into it that night. Its got the same number of beds except its twice the size, has a bar fridge, has shelves, has a better location in the building and is the same price. Best of all I got out of the same room as those damn French guys! They're cool fellas but I'll never again live with them.
After moving in I had a few drinks with Jess and Amy for her last night here. We hung around in the bar for a bit and called it a night. I'm going to miss that girl she's quite the character. We're going to meet up again when she comes out to Halifax next year, for sure.

March 31, 2005

2005-03-31T23:34:00.000-04:00

March 31, 2005
Edinburgh, Scotland

I had yesterday and today off work so yesterday I picked up a shift at the hostel making beds for a few more hours. Joe was working there as well so we kicked around not doing much all day, just having a laugh. My new found canadian friend Amy is going back to canada in a few days which is a shame. She's an absolute encyclopedia on canadian music and her favorite band is Sloan which is quite cool with her being from saskatoon. Since she's leaving for a while we decided to go to one of her favorite bars in town called 'Tron' which just happened to be the wednesday night bar with £1.00 drinks. It's a great spot with three levels as far as I could tell. All narrow hallways that lead into nooks with tables in them, beanbag chairs and cheap tv's all around playing the video to the song that’s playing at the time. They play just rock type music, lots of foo fighters and franz ferdinand so I was loving it. The bar was open until only 1 so we headed off to Opium afterwards with some crazy scottish people we'd met up with.
Unfortunately Amy was quite over-served and was a little sick that night, so we came home shortly before 3 but we made macaroni and cheese and drank some more till well after 4. Good times.
Today I did nothing partucularly constructive. Went to the library, made some good chicken dinner with red wine sauce. Tonight we just hung around listening to music and chilling a bit. Wasn't bad for a change.

March 29, 2005

2005-03-29T23:32:00.000-04:00

March 29, 2005
Edinburgh, Scotland

Today I had to run to work because I was running late. I always end up doing that. It sucked aspecially because it was raining and has been for almost a week straight. Lately the weather has been terrible here. Cold, rainy, foggy and even a bit windy just to make it difficult for our umbrellas. I guess I can't complain though after the latest earthquake in east asia. They really have it bad. It's pretty annoying as well that I can't really get news reports either, the tv is wreched at the hostel. British tv is terrible anyway. Its only saving grace is that there aren't as many commercials so shows tend to be longer. Simpsons can run for 30 minutes with just one commercial break. Theres a lot of added scenes or I should say there are scenes that haven't been removed. You wouldn't even notice unless like myself you've seen every episode at least twice. Or so I'd thought anyway. So less commercials is a great thing. This can work against though because it means the awful british reality and talk shown seem to run on forever. After work I retired to the hostel and decided (was convinced) to go to 'cabaret voltaire' with everyone. Its the place we tried to get in last Tuesday but the bouncer wasn't being very helpful. We got in no problem this week and I found the place to be just as it was described to me.
Basically there is a main bar and the place then splits off into two opened rooms, one playing slowish drum&bass music and the other playing faster hiphop/techno type music. So there's something for the little raver kiddie in all of us there I suppose. It was alright though and of course we all had a blast. There was heaps of people there and you can really tell that bars here are more specific and targeted to certain types of people than they seem to be back home. The washrooms in these places are hilarious too, instead of urinals there is an enormous sort of receptacle that resembles an animal troth and it takes up an entire side of the bathroom while sinks line the other side. Maybe they have them everywhere but just something I hadn't seen before. There's a big nightlife in Edinburgh, its such a fun spot but unless you know where to go on which nights then you'll pay a LOT at these places. We follow the £1.00 bar schedule and can usually come up with one or two places each weeknight where drinks are only a pound each. Cheap as it gets around here that’s for damn sure.

March 28, 2005

2005-03-28T23:31:00.000-04:00

March 28, 2005
Edinburgh, Scotland

Worked again today but got back to the hostel in time to meet up with Jonathan who was just getting back from London. He moved all his things into my room because there was space after somebody else moved out. So that's alright he managed to snag the bottom bunk before those damn French guys I share the room with could. I'm not particularly fond of them, really. They actually annoy the hell out of me. Now Miguel and I get along fine, same with Jason (Jonathan's co-worker) but these French guys piss me off. Theres 6 of us in the room and they choose to throw all their shit practically burying me in and I can't even reach my backpack without having to walk all over their crap on the floor. They just do it to annoy me I'm sure. Anyway my other roommates are great and I'm sure Jonathan will be good as well.
Alright so we went down to the swamp (the hostel bar) and had a drink where I decided to enter the pool competition. So basically my night was planned out at that point because with 16 players (4 rounds) it was going to take a while. So I kicked around in the bar with my sandals on and had drinks with everybody. Meanwhile I managed to win the pool competition of which the grand prize was another bottle of cheap-ass single-distilled "Scottish made" vodka. And since I'm off Wednesday and Thursday I'm going to put this vodka in a good place tomorrow. That's two bottles in two days for anyone counting! Heh. Nine hour shift tomorrow though and its 2 am. Gotta jet.

March 27, 2005

2005-03-27T23:28:00.000-04:00

March 27, 2005
Edinburgh, Scotland

Yesterday was alright, I worked but it was good cause it was my last day of work this week. The liqueur store was closed before I got there so I had a few drinks at the bar instead with Joe. Joe is this interesting character, an aussie born in Melbourne he's probably almost 30 but he's just like a kid, the guy doesn't stop joking or laughing anytime I see him. He's got me laughing all day, he's like that class clown type. He'll scream out "where's my underpants!" and I'll almost fall off my chair laughing. Long story behind that one. Anyway Joe and myself had a few drinks at the bar yesterday after which I went up to the upstairs kitchen/lounge and was taught Coldplay's "yellow" by Juliete from Holland. She's a really good guitar player, self taught as well.
Tonight was a bit different. This afternoon firstly I worked a few hours of making beds for the hostel to pay for a few more nights accommodation and then went out to visit another hostel with Alison just for comparison purposes. No luck there but we're keeping our eyes open for a better hostel or a flat. Not that this hostel isn't great but another one could be cheaper/quieter/cleaner perhaps. And a flat is always a good idea if enough people are interested.
Tonight Amy, Miguel, Joe, Ollie and myself entered a quiz competition in the bar where general trivia questions are asked and the team that wins gets a £25 bar tab. We entered but lost by 1 point to the staff who knew the answers to the questions beforehand. Anyway its all good cause second place turned out to be a quart of vodka! So we split that up and had a few more drinks besides before heading out to a bar on the otherside of Edinburgh Castle. The bar we ended up going to was called 'Opium' and it's a hard rock/metal bar. They play no hiphop, dance or techno, ever. They play 'Rage Against the Machine' and Korn and Metallica, even Tool and Zeppelin. It's quite a cool place, has 2 levels, lots of dance floors and was absolutely packed wall to wall. The reason for this is because on Sunday there is no cover charge and drinks were only £1.00. So that was a great time we got there at 1 ish and stayed until 3. We created little mosh pitts as we went, good times! Halifax ought to have at least one bar like this, all our bars play is the same old thing, ja rule, 50 cent and 'lil jon' heh. Ahhh the palace.

March 25, 2005

2005-03-26T16:40:00.000-04:00

March 25, 2005
Edinburgh, Scotland

Went to work again today, of course that was enjoyable. Basically what I do as a "sales assistant" at 'Romanes & Paterson' is perfect the art of appearance. What I mean by that is I have to appear to look busy while keeping the store appearing to look clean. Now that's not to say I don't do anything because I do, but the instances where there's actually something to do are so few and far between that 80% of the time so far has been downtime. When there's actually something for us to do I work the till or stock shelves or fold ludicrously expensive cashmere jumpers all to our special blend of Scottish bagpipe rock. That's about all really.
The music I have to say is just like a drill to my brain. It's on a CD that plays repeatedly and non-stop all day. It didn't sound good the first time I heard it, nor did it sound any better the 500th time when I left work this evening. My co-workers say there's a point you reach when you just stop hearing it altogether. Im not sure how far this point is past the point of psychosis, and I am sure it is, but not sure I'm altogether comfortable with the idea. Then again maybe the point is legal deafness? In which case I'm not sure which one I'd prefer.
On the plus side I did get free shortbread cookies today. They were my lunch and they were delicious. I also never want to see one again. Too much of a good thing does indeed apply to shortbread cookies unfortunately.
I have really prissy Scottish managers but my supervisor is this hilarious Spanish 29 year old. She's a bit of a spitfire and she hates tartan and bagpipes as much as I do. She's great, looks sorta like that Spanish girl from 'Spanglish'. I pretty much kill hours talking to her about anything not related to the shop.
The job is going to be ok I think. At least bearable enough for a while, whilst I save for my big summer trip.
I heard from Sara today, she might be coming to Edinburgh as well, it would definitely be fun to see her again.
Hmm nothing else today.

March 23, 2005

2005-03-24T16:38:00.000-04:00

March 23, 2005
Edinburgh, Scotland

Got up early for that hostel breakfast I love so much. No sarcasm either it's terrific. Unlimited everything. Two kinds of toast (white & whole wheat with 3 types of jam) real orange juice not that orange drink crap, coffee and 2 kinds of cereal which are corn flakes and Muslee which is my new favourite cereal ever. Anyway all this, unlimited, free (well, included in rent) and every morning until 10. I can't wait to get up for this seriously. I know it's quite sad but I don't even care.
Well after breakfast I walked about 9 minutes up the road to start my job. It wasn't too bad either. I'm getting fairly good hours, good people seem to work there, its close to home, there's free coffee on breaks, kitchen there, couches, tv. In between which I have to work occasionally. More on all that tomorrow perhaps. Tonight we had a few drinks at the bar and relaxed all night. I did laundry. Ooh fun. The freakin laundry was a mess tho there was a bunch of people waiting so it took me until 1:30 to finish but so great to have clean clothes. Amazing how the bar for what's "clean" lowers so gradually when you're on the road that you barely even notice it. Oh well there's no excuse now since I have a laundromat in my place. But then again I also have a bar..

March 22, 2005

2005-03-24T16:35:00.000-04:00

March 22, 2005
Edinburgh, Scotland

Well I got a job today which is just cool. My first interview and I had a job by the time I'd finished. Not too shabby. Now I just need some cash lol. Well I had originally planned on going to pass out résumé's all afternoon but since I've got a job with 30-40 hrs a week I figured I ought not to bother job searching just yet. Instead I went to the library and sent a few emails.
Tonight a bunch of my new friends (who are regulars at the hostel) and I decided to go out, being it Tuesday and all.. We made snakebites and had a few drinks before we headed out to the bar. Cabaret is a club with 2 sections, one part techno and the other part drum and base music. We were planning on hitting the latter when the damn bouncer stopped us at the door, apparently he had a problem with my roommate Miguel but wouldn't say why. We weren't happy at all and swearing at him wasn't helping. We decided instead of trying to move mount Everest or convince a bar bouncer to change his mind that we'd go elsewhere.
We tried club opium and a few other places that had low or no cover but another bouncer gave us a hard time about Miguel's track pants (if you wear them around here you're automatically considered to be a drug dealer) and drinks were costing too much everywhere else, we just went back to the hostel frustrated and hung out there for a bit. We didn't even make it back until after 1 at which time I remembered that I had to start a new job bright and early; so it was all just as well I suppose. We're going to try again tomorrow probably though.

Ryan Theriault
Mobile Number:
44-791-377-9296
See my blog at:
http://ryantravel.blogspot.com

march 21, 2005

2005-03-22T08:17:00.000-04:00

Day 21: march 21, 2005.
Edinburgh, Scotland

Today the assistant manager at the hostel again asked me if I wanted to work a shift for them. So I did. Was only going to hand out CV's anyway today. So they had me stripping down bed sheets and putting clean ones on. Takes a while for a hostel with hundreds of beds but we worked together and it was so damn easy. By 7 P.M. I was finished and in the hostel bar with a kroenenberg in my hand. Combined with my last shift, I can now stay here until next Monday without paying a cent.
Whats better is I got a call on my mobile for a job interview tomorrow! Only one problem with that though.. Im not sure where the interview is. When the lady called me she said the name of the company and all that, but her accent was WAY too Scottish to understand over the phone. Im having a little trouble with that. So I asked her to repeat the name and she did, again.. in thick Scottish. Well I couldn't ask her again, she's calling me about a job for Christ's sake. She'd have thought I was retarded. So I got the street address from her and its on the main commercial street in Edinburgh where I put out 80% of my CV's. So basically tomorrow Im going to leave early enough to find the place, could be anything really. Oh well.
Moved into my new room here, its got a nice view and only 2 roommates right now. Plus I can use the other kitchen and much better lounge thats extremely well hidden from the temporary stoppers. Hopefully less of my food will be stolen from this kitchen as today somebody stole my last slice of banana bread, talk about depressing. The bastard even put the empty wrapper back in the fridge for me to find. I swear if I ever find out who.. Hell to pay!

March 20, 2005

2005-03-22T05:53:00.000-04:00

Day 20: march 20, 2005.
Edinburgh, Scotland

About time for a nice slow day. Went to Jonathan's construction site today just to kill time. He's a landscaper and we went out to refill some water pump thing. Exciting.. Made pasta for dinner then we baked (yes baked) banana bread with cream cheese icing. Not bad for a hostel. And it was so damn good you've no idea.
The day was so slow and shamefully non-productive. In other words, perfect. Touring countries is a lot of work, and so is job hunting lol. Every once in a while a good chillout day is more than required, its expected in this part of the world. Edinburgh is a lot like Halifax in that way. You'll always find people out shopping or relaxing at a café. Lots of people have jobs apparently not a lot go to them.
Well hoping to have some job calls to keep me occupied on Monday.

march 19, 2005

2005-03-20T08:27:00.000-04:00

Day 19: march 19, 2005.
Edinburgh, Scotland

Today the job search began. I handed out heaps of CV's and job applications all around my part of Edinburgh. That took me all morning and early afternoon but its all good cause it was sunny, warm, and beautiful out so it was enjoyed. The afternoon was just what I'd planned for. The 6 nations rugby finals were on so after Peter went back to his part of England where he's working, Jonathan my new Aussie friend went to the closest pub we could find to watch Wales unfortunately destroy Ireland. It was fun to watch though. Wales has a damn good team.
After that we both decided to cook up some steak and mash. My first really good meal in a while it was terrific. Nothing else special today except a girl who works here at the hostel needed someone to fill in a cleaning shift for someone who had to cancel. So I picked it up and had 7 hours of gross cleaning of sinks, floors, and disgusting shower stalls that night. It was just gross. My mom would love to have seem me clean that many bathrooms. It seemed to go pretty fast listening to my ipod though. Anyway I got 4 nights accommodation here for a few hours work so thats not bad. Takes some of the pressure off while Im job searching.

march 18, 2005

2005-03-20T08:25:00.000-04:00

Day 18: march 18, 2005.
Edinburgh, Scotland

Got a bank account! Ok I know.. Whooop de do. But you must understand in the U.K. its nearly impossible for a traveller like myself to get one of these. Basically in order to get one at just about any bank for a non-citizen you need a valid passport, U.K. drivers license, proof of address and a job or source of income. The proof of address is the worst part cause its got to be a utility bill which you can't get unless you've been staying at your own place of residence long enough to actually GET a utility bill. So at least two weeks, usually four. So to get that you need a job to pay for it, but you have to find one under the table because without proof of residence you also cannot get a national insurance tax number. You can work without this legally as well but you pay penalties for not having it. Then you'd also need to cash your paycheques at banks who will charge you because you don't have an account with them. So then to pay for your apartment or whatever you're carrying around ALL your money in cash on you all the time. You COULD put it in your Canadian bank but theres charges for that as well because there are no Canadian banks here. Plus you'd be losing on exchange twice, once to convert sterling to Canadian then back again when you want the money. They always take some when converting currency. Oh and once you have the credentials to GET an account theres a waiting period while they approve you, which is often a week itself. Ludicrous. Blame all that on anti-terrorism and anti money laundering laws.
Well I was able to avoid most of that by finding a diamond in the rough, a bank that gave me an account with just my N.S. Drivers license, passport and letter from my hostel saying I was living there at the moment. And the account is mine, today. Sweet.
So my day went well. Did some internet at the library (got a library card w00t), printed off some resumes or CV's as they call them here. Went out with my friend peter and a few American girls to this great pub called the 3 sisters (think Shakespeare for the reference). And we all had a few drinks. Very productive day.And Guinness is gross. That is all.

Happy St. Patrick's Day

2005-03-18T09:36:00.000-04:00

Day 17: march 17, 2005.
Edinburgh, Scotland

Today was crazy, we climbed Arthur's seat which is a 250 metre tall dead volcano inside Edinburgh just on the edge of the city. The thing has a path going partway but more than half you have to climb rocks on an incredibly steep incline. It took an hour but we made it to the top to find a breathtaking view of Edinburgh and its countryside. For those that have been, its quite like cape breton's highlands. From the very top you can look down to see birds flying and the wind up there is so strong I was able to lean into it to the point where I had nothing but wind holding me up.
After our descent we checked out a few shops then headed back to the hostel, that night I met a nice Australian guy named Jonathan and him, I and two others went to the hostel bar for a few drinks then to a pub near Edinburgh castle for St. Patrick's day. I can't say its as big here a in Ireland probably but we had a blast and the beer here is just as good as Canadian beer, sometimes stronger too.
All in all it was a good St. patties day, it was open mic at the hostel bar and all the regulars from the hostel were hanging out there keeping an eye on the football game going on in the tv room next door.
I also got a phone today, its a pay-as-you-go so I WON'T be calling anyone on it since its ludicrously expensive but its free to receive calls and text's anytime day or night. So if anyone has decent long distance plans that beat my rate of what roughly translates to $4.50 CDN per 25 seconds of a call to overseas, then please gimme a ring sometime lol.
If you're in the UK dial:
0-791-377-9296
If anywhere outside the UK dial:
44-791-377-9296

Happy St. Patrick's day!

Blog Update

2005-03-18T07:29:00.000-04:00

My regular post will come later today when I find another wireless hotspot in edinburgh, there doesn't seem to be many free ones around. Anyway I wanted to just let you guys know that I realize theres some problems with formatting (words running together and bad paragraphs) and double posts on the blog, In order to post to it from my pocket pc I need to email the posts to it and the email server went wonky the other day so there were a bunch of mis-ordered posts and double posts to it, I tried to iron it out as much as possible but it could be like that for a few more days.

Also as I'll explain in my following posts, I'm setting up here in Edinburgh for a while and i've got a library card which gives me some free internet access on terminals here that actually let me transfer pictures to and from my camera and iPod. So as soon as i get the chance i'm going to start uploading a boatload of pics from my digicam to a site somewhere and hopefully have some links up here. I was just looking and a lot of the pics I took look just terrific. I can't wait to put them up.

March 16, 2005

2005-03-17T11:43:00.000-04:00

Day 16: march 16, 2005.
Edinburgh, Scotland

Ok so after my first full day in Edinburgh I've pretty much decided that I'm going to stay here and work for a while. It not only reminds me of Halifax with all its nice pubs but its an absolute blast at this hostel I'm staying at. Its huge and there's a big bar and its all located in pretty much central Edinburgh.
Today my new American friends and I climbed that huge hill to get to Edinburgh castle which was amazing. Then we walked down the royal mile and decided along the way to go on a tour at a scotch whiskey museum. Very educational indeed and very tasty as well! Museums just seem more interesting when you're drinking whiskey .
After this we toured the museum of Scotland where there was a lot of interesting exhibits on William Wallace and all sorts of artifacts from wartime Scotland.
I am also getting ready to start work here, setting up a bank account is a pain in the ass and takes a week for approval. You also need proof of residence and money to float on while you wait for all this. I'm going to try to find some under the table work until I have all my requirements in place.

March 15, 2005

2005-03-17T11:42:00.000-04:00

Day 15: march 15, 2005.
Edinburgh, Scotland

Well then! Connecting flights across timezones is a pain in the ass, I don't know how I'm managing to keep track of it all. Firstly.. Got up early.. like 6:45 and for anyone who knows me, I need not go any further into that. So I got up at that unholy hour and got ready to go realizing that I was running late I took to the streets at 7:30 am with my huge-ass backpack on just running as fast as I could. My farewell to Rome came in the form of avoiding leaving pieces of myself strewn about on the streets as I manoeuvred my enormous pack and me around, through, and in some cases over rush hour traffic. What a delightfully exhilarating morning run that was.
I landed back in Gatwick airport, ahh Gatwick. The last airport I ever wanted to see again after my previous encounter with it, you may recall my overnight stay there which I enjoyed so much. Thankfully this stop was much more brief and before I knew it I was on my way to Edinburgh.
I landed and took the bus into the city centre where coming off the bus I met some more American travellers on spring break. Lots of them around Europe and each I've met are terrific people. So we all decided to go eat at a pub because we were starving after our flight. We passed a few great looking places like 'Filthy McNasty's' but settled on a great little spot which played the strangest most eclectic mix of music complete with music video on their large tv's. After checking into our hostel we returned there to watch the Chelsea match and have a few drinks.
Edinburgh is a great city but while its fresh still I want to write a little more about Rome. The city itself as far as cities go is just beautiful. Its got some remarkably well preserved parts of both renaissance Italy and ancient Rome right in the heart of the city. And it looks like they take good care of everything there as the ruins are under constant renovation and restoration. Its going to be so different in 20 years time. City life though is about the same as other major cities. Everyone here drives scooters and they park them seemingly wherever they please.. On the sidewalk, in alleyways, in the middle of parks or even streets in some cases. They drive on the proper side of the road here but they do it at a speed that frightens me to even think about. I heard of a guy who drives incredibly fast on a motorcycle and hops over obstacles without even blinking. Evil Kanevil (sp?) and every scooter driver in Rome. These guys wouldn't stand a chance if they had to stop for a traffic accident or say.. a red light if they didn't run right through them. It's crazy trying to cross the road here too, 10% of the intersections I saw had crossing signals, the rest.. well you just go. Traffic or no traffic you just cross and let the pieces fall where they may. Its not illegal its actually encouraged here. Its how they roll here. There's no Italian word for jaywalking.
There's a lot of poverty in this city which is obviously a shame. Lots of gypsies who exploit their children to steal from unsuspecting tourists while they're distracted. The Italian people themselves have been very kind and helpful they are just beautiful people. I had a great experience in Rome because of them. It was just one of those amazing, real experiences. Love this city.

March 14, 2005

2005-03-17T11:33:00.000-04:00

Day 14: march 14, 2005.
Rome, Italy

Well today I had a slightly better day. I slept in and left the hostel around 11 AM and went for a walk. I walked straight up behind the Santa Maria maggiore church and went to a lookout cliff where you can climb a staircase and get a terrific view of northern Rome. The city is such a mishmash of ancient roman, Italian renaissance, and modern Italy that the city is probably like no other in the world. Its just something you have to see. It didn't hurt that it was almost 20° Celsius and sunny either. Next I walked to this immense fountain which is partly imbedded in a wall of some sort of church or something.. Ok I know.. But Italian is a difficult language and the names of things and places are confusing. Take for instance the word 'plaza' or 'place' which is probably what they mean when they say 'piazza' just about everywhere here. If theres a building or group of buildings which happens to have some importance then its 'piazza del ...' then the name of said place. Now that alone is not confusing but when you're hungry and lost and every sign ALMOST says pizza in a city that smells like pizza, you'll appreciate my frustration. Not to mention that there are pizza shops everywhere (hence the smell) so between signs that say 'pizza' and ones that say 'piazza' I found a word necessary to ignore completely.
Anyway got off on a tangent there.. Next I visited via del poppolo which is a few km down the road. Its basically a large stone court with an obelisk in the middle surrounded by water fountains. It was very nice and at the end of a street that made me feel right at home with all its gap and Calvin Klein shops. I even saw a Mc Donald's there. After a walk back to the coliseum I kept going south and saw a beautiful cathedral outside of which I got my last taste of real gelato from Italy on this trip.. not to put too fine a point on it but it was almost TOO good.
Drank enough cheap wine that night to properly sedate a 160lb. Canadian, so needless to say I slept well. I actually got to know some of my hostelmates too, three girls from Romania who told me about a great spot on the black sea near the Bulgarian border which is amazing in august apparently. I'm so convinced that I'm making arrangements to be there for one of the best beach parties I've ever heard of.

March 13, 2005

2005-03-14T21:40:00.000-04:00

Day 13: march 13, 2005.
Rome, Italy

Last night I checked my bank account while I was booking my hostel and realized I was poor. About half of my money is gone after 2 weeks so that means .. JOB TIME! Can you feel my enthusiasm? I booked a flight back to London to connect with a flight to Edinburgh, Scotland. Its still in the UK so i'm able to work there. And i've never been there so I figure I will be a fun place to try.
Being poor certainly sucks.. Hopefully it doesn't take me too long to find work.. The hardest part though is finding a bank account because you need a residence first, for which money is required.. See the catch 22?
Today wasn't a great day at all in fact, well first I went to the internet café to transfer all my digital pictures to my ipod which is what i've been doing to free up memory on my camera. Well I did that then went to book my hostel in scotland and somehow the wrong onw was booked and I was left with a $100 US charge to my credit card which I can't get back. Lovely.
Anyway hopefully things work out better in scotland, i'm ready to get going now. Just one more day here in rome.

March 11, 2005

2005-03-13T13:55:00.000-04:00

Day 11: march 11, 2005.
Rome, Italy

Well instead of seeing the vatican today like we'd planned, the american girls and I went to a few of rome's museums to start the day. It seems we'd overestimated our ability to navigate Rome's public transportation system. First we got on the wrong train (there are only 2) then we tried getting a bus but a street was closed on our route so we ended up back where we started. So plan B was in order. We went to like 3 huge museums all of which were full of crazy sculptures and mosiacs from ancient greece. Next we went to the palatino which was a huge walk-in garden next to the colliseum. A huge grassy field type place with orange trees high above the streets. Emperor's and ceasars used to look over rome from this place.
Near there is a courtyard that was designed originally by michaelangelo, it sits on top of a huge staircase and allows access to three buildings.
Still later that day we saw a church that was restored by da vinci in the 1500's on the ruins of ancient greek public baths that went on for hundreds of meters originally. It had a museum naturally but was pretty interesting.

March 10 2005

2005-03-13T11:45:00.000-04:00

Day 10: march 10, 2005.
Rome, Italy

Well that was a damn long day! This morning I landed in Rome! The sun was out and it was WARM too! This isn't London weather. I arrived at 10 am and took a bus to rome's Termini station. Got out and I was in the heart of rome. I met a nice lady on the bus who happened to be a tourguide for rome and she offered me a few tips that have already been helpful.
Right off the bus I met a few american girls studying in london and we all decided to help eachother find our hostels. We also made plans to meet up later in the afternoon.
We did so after checking into our hostels and went for a walk around rome. At the end of our street where our hostels are located there is a huge church called the Santa Maria Maggoire. It was very large with a cobblestone courtyard with a huge fountain out front. The inside was paintings on all walls and statues made of stone. It was a really great place. We then decided that the colliseum would be a good thing to try for our first day. Well it was amazing. Words cannot describe the enormity of this thing. Its every bit as impressive as just about anything I can remember seeing. Some restoration work is underway on it and the condition of a lot of it is remarkable. It is just amazing. Next to it is some ruins of Fort Romano Palatino which was like walking through ancient rome.
After eating some real italian pizza and gelato we made way for the Pantheon. It was being restored so part of the inside was covered in scaffolding but it was interesting to see the contrast between the restored and original walls, they're doing a terrific job.
On the way back from the pantheon we took a different route than we came and ended up lost on rome for a few hours. Just walking around we came across the spanish steps which were great to see all lit up at night.

March 12 2005

2005-03-13T08:14:00.000-04:00

Day 12: march 12, 2005.
Rome, Italy

Well today we finally got to see the Vatican City and Sistine Chapel. We got up extremely early and took the subway to the station near the Vatican. We came across a huge court about half a kilometer across all made of stone and surrounded by pillars. The thing had two fountains and a monument in the center and it was all in front of st peters bassilica. That was our first stop.
The place was unreal, a huge church with some of the best sculptures i've ever seen. When I say a huge church I should elaborate.. There are at least two separate churches inside this place with a main hall in the centre of them. The place is covered in artwork on all walls and ceiling and it all contains history on the church and the pope's. The floor had artwork in it and all the pillars were 4-5 feet wide and looked immovable. Its a wonder this was possible 600 years ago.
Next we waited in line for about 25 minutes for the vatican but that was well worth the wait. The amount of people crowded in there could fill the metro center easily. We were led to the Vatican Museum which began with a corridor about 30 feet wide and 20 feet tall completely painted with 15th century art. This corridor went down for probably 1/4 of a km. After that there are some twists and turns as we were led eventually to the sistine chapel. I'm running out of words to express my enthusiasm but suffice it to say I was astonished, I've never seen so much great and beautiful art. The restoration was aparently finished and it showed. The colours were vibrant and the detail was incredible. We spent a good part of our day just staring at it. Imagine a room with walls so beautiful you could sit there and stare at them all day. Having trouble? I couldn't either until I was standing there. And as kitchy or hokey as that might sound you have to really be there to appreciate this place fully. Its not something that i'll forget

March 9 2005

2005-03-13T07:51:00.000-04:00

Day 9: march 9, 2005.
Gatwick Airport, London

Well right now I'm at an airport bar at 11pm, i'll tell you how I got here in a minute.
This morning I went with Grete, Julia and the three american guys to Camden Town. We walked this time which took quite a while; luckily grete and julia let me store my pack in their room as I checked out at 10:00 AM and would have had to lug thee thing across london. Camden town was fun again we got to see more of london since we walked and didn't take the underground. After Camdon town we took the bus home. Was nice to relax that say because I had a long night ahead of me.
I guess I forgot to mention yesterday that I'd booked a flight to Rome. I want to see venice as well but i'll have to wait until there are more hostel rooms free.
Getting to the airport wasn't too bad. I took one way on the underground to victoria station, from there I had a 10 minute walk to the coach station for my express coach (bus) to gatwick. I arrived there around 6:30 so I had to wait an hour for my bus. Then the bus itself took an hour and a half to get to the airport. Once at the airport I have to wait until 4:30 AM for boarding and 6:30 for my flight to Rome. I'll land at 10 local time ( +1 hr ). So this means more waiting, about 7 hours worth in the damn airport. Oh well. So I'm sitting in the bar here with a good sized crowd watching the chelsea football game.
I'm very excited for Rome, should be a lot of fun for sure.
Ooh chelsea just scored.

March 8th 2005

2005-03-13T07:41:00.000-04:00

Day 8: march 8, 2005.
Bayswater, London England

This morning I went with a few american guys to the national gallery in trafalgar square. Its adjacent to the canadian embassy which is an interesting yet useless fact for ya.
It was surreal to see original work by leonardo da Vinci, raphael, monet among others. They have paintings from the 1900's all the way back to the 1200's all arranged by country of origin. The place was huge too.. Like most of the museums in London it took hours to see it all, over 2000 paintings on display.
I also saw London Tower and Tower Bridge, I missed them earlier in the week they are over by the Big Ben sorta. They are, of course, enormous as well. You'd never miss a landmark in this city.
Later in the evening I went with my friends I met there from new zealand (ben and melanie) and germany (grete and julia) we all went down to the tesco (small grocery store) to pick up some wine and so we hung around the hostel drinking for a while. Was a good chance to catch-up and make plans. In fact i'm hoping to meet up with melanie and ben this summer and do some traveling. We're thinking of getting a van and driving around europe. I'm really excited by that I hope it works out. I'll have to get a job before then though.. Ugh.. Heh

Day 7: march 7, 2005. Bayswater, London England

2005-03-07T22:43:00.000-04:00

Still here at the hostel in bayswater, I like it though it has a big kitchen and a lot of fun people.Today Sara and I went out to the Science museum whichwas alright for a museum for sure. They really go allout for museums here, they're just friggin massive andtake all day. This one had a cool simulator we went onand it was like one of those IMAX rollercoasterthings. After that we went to the museum of NaturalHistory and saw some dinosaur skeletons. Cool stuff.Then we walked Hyde Park till she had to leave forVenice. I'm trying to book accomidations there sinceEVERY hostel near Dublin is booked for St. Patrick'sDay.Hopefully know where I'mgoing soon!

Day 6: march 6, 2005. Bayswater, London England

2005-03-06T22:42:00.000-04:00

So I went my new hostel today. It was a day to restfor me as I spent most of the day feeling quite sick.I met a few new people today including a guy named Janwho educated me quite a bit on the Balkans as he isfrom Slovenia. I also met a few Canadians, this onegirl named Sara from Victoria, B.C. who is travellingto italy very soon is someone I might meet up withdown the road; trying to plan a trip to Istanbul withher.The hostel I’m staying at is a bit of a party hostel.A lounge downstairs with tons of drunk people.Goodtimes. Not a lot else today just waiting to see ifI’m going to Dublin next week or Rome.

Day 5: march 5, 2005. Royal Oak, London England

2005-03-05T21:41:00.000-04:00

Today I went back to tour trafalgar square and oxfordand picadily circus' during the saturday shoppingrush. I'd say it was a little like what i'd imaginetimes square to be like in New York City on saturdayafternoon. Was a great chance to watch people andtake in the sights. Before I left I called mom and dadto say hello, hadn't called them yet so that was nice.I also talked to Mark on MSN in Perth, Australiabriefly which was great cause its been so long sincewe spoke.After walking around for hours I got back on the tubeand went back to the hostel where I met a cool fellowfrom Quebec and we had some beers at his hostel room.His roommates were from Quebec as well so we all gotto reminiss about Canada for a while.I have quite a bad cold so i'm going to bed for now.

Day 4: march 4, 2005. Royal Oak, london england.

2005-03-04T23:40:00.000-04:00

Last night I bid farewell to my friends Kevin andJudith which was sad but we're going to keep in touch.Today Martina and I went to her university which sheis attending here in London, she had a presentation soI was able to use her computer access card to makesome travel arrangements online. After which we wentout shopping for a bit. Had to get a new batterycharger to replace my piece of junk which I threw inthe bin.Next we went to the museum of Britain which wasamazing as well. This is where the Rosetta Stoneexhibit is. Just seeing that was remarkable. We weresitting near the Rosetta Stone replica that people cantouch and look at more closely when the lady sittingnext to us asked what we thought of it, she told usshe had sponsored it being there in memory of herfather. She told us all kinds of interesting thingsabout it and London. She asked about us and wassurprised to hear that I was from Halifax, she turnedout to be from New Brunswick and had taught in NovaScotia. Small world.Martina and I parted ways after going out for chinesefood and a full day of sightseeing. I then went to myhostel which was overbooked so I was moved to a nicerone with just 1 roommate and our own kitchen andbathroom. Not bad.

Day 3: march 3, 2005. Greenwich, london england.

2005-03-03T23:38:00.000-04:00

I’m in a room with 6 beds and its full of odd frenchpeople who don't seem to be overly friendly. I didn'tsleep the greatest but i'll get used to things sooneror later. Yesterday I met a guy named Kevin Amdahlfrom minisota and we decided to travel together for awhile. we met a girl from holland named Judith atbreakfast and all decided to go see the city together.It was cold and rainy and sometimes snowy! Damncanadian winter.. Must have brought it with me. Wefirst went to southwark cathedral which was gorgeous.Many rooms and sections and a large organ. Next wasthe Tate museum of modern art. Amazing place filledwith crazy abstract stuff as well as dali's &picasso's. The building was enormous and 7 floors! Sowe spent a while there. Kev and me then went to themuseum of london and saw a little of st paul'scathedral. Ooh ooh then I took my first coffeehousepicture! It was at a starbucks haha. Oh well they areEVERYWHERE in London. Next we went by westminsterabbey which was closed and took some pictures atBuckingham palace. The queen was in but didn't wannacome see us at the door :( We then sat in at theparliament building which was cool, the politicianshere are hilarious but we didn't get to see tonyblair.Back at the hostel I met a cool girl from slovakianamed Martina. Awesome girl, we were up chatting till4am. Might go see some of the city with her later.So that was all yesterday. This morning after seeinga little more of Greenwich we took the tube to AbbeyRoad where we saw the studio where the Beatlesrecorded. That was cool for sure. Next we went to oneof the most unforgettable parts of London, Camdentown. I wouldn't have even known to go there ifsomeone at the hostel hadn't have mentioned it. CamdenTown is best described as perhaps theyouthful/alternative section of London. Its trulylike no other part of the city and is huge in itself.The streets are lined with shops selling anything andeverything. Its like mary jane's and the black marketevery 10 feet in any direction. You get the punk typepeople there with the mohawks and green/orange hairand everyone had tons of piercings, just to give youan idea. If you live in London and want to buy drugsyou go to Camden town.After diner and a shower we met up with some peoplethat Judith knew and they showed us around the city atnight. Trafalgar Square, china town, picadily circusand a bunch of other places. Then we went for a drinkat a pub. So much fun, the beer here isn't bad!

Day 1: march 1 2005 - Greenwich, london england.

2005-03-01T22:31:00.000-04:00

Oh what a day that was.. If I were to say it was thelongest day of my life it would probably sound overlydramatic but considering the four hours of sleep thatI got in the last few days its probably true.
Evelin and I went out to see the metric system lastnight after a nice last dinner with my parents. jeanpierre's is closing down in a few weeks.. Too bad tooits a fun spot. After cramming two days of packing into an afternoonI left with mom and dad for the airport. said mygoodbye's to my great friends who met me there; derek,danielle, lorne and jacklyn. Then boarded the plane for london.
On the plane I sat next to a friendly german fellanamed Dirk. He is a crime scene investigator and wasreally nice. He gave me his office addy and number soI can look him up in germany. He said he'd get meoutta jail. Hah.
Today I saw 0° latitude! Theres a big museum andobservatory dedicated to greenwich mean time (GMT). Istood where time starts for the world with the atomicclock. greenwich is where my hostel is located. Itssorta older and very nice. Many attractions like themaritime museum and the painted hall. I pretty muchsaw all of greenwich today just on foot.

.. And I'm going to London, England

2005-01-24T16:55:00.000-04:00

Well I finally bought my plane ticket today. My date of departure, officially, is February 28th at 9:10 PM. That means I'll begin the month of March over international waters and won't expect to touch canadian soil until at the earliest, November 2nd (which is the return flight date). I'm thrilled that I'm finally going. As of right now I'm awaiting my working visa for the U.K. which I hopefully won't get too much use out of but I'm confident it will save me in a pinch.

I haven't mapped out my itinerary just yet and probaby will leave with only a rough idea of what I plan to do once I get there. I'm not worried I think its probably the ideal way go about it.

I spent the day digging out of the snow after "Blizzard '05'". Honestly it wasn't a lot of snow.. but combined with the last 2 storms we got this week we had a considerable amount of freaking annoying fluffy rediculousness to deal with when we woke up this morning. But allow me this, at least. Its my duty as a resident of Nova Scotia to bitch about the weather at least once in a while.

Anyway I'll leave you with this great photo. Why oh why would anybody want to leave this place..

It truly is a winter wonderland, 8 months of the year.

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-"Don't say we don't have any Martin King Jr's anymore, We are the ones we have been waiting for.." - Lisa Sullivan

I'm leaving this place..

2005-01-12T10:51:00.000-04:00

So I'm going on a trip. This should serve as a half decent intro.

I decided to go backpack western europe, which is something I've wanted to do for a very long time. I'm leaving in february (hopefully) for London England and thus the point of this blog thing would be to archive as much as I can from my overseas endeavours. Since my memory is god-awful I think this will serve as a good medium to record things I might otherwise forget. Heres hoping I remember to post to it. hah.

This is the bedford waterfront where I spent a lot of nights hanging out with friends.