Ireland

On Feb 18 2007 Tracey and I set off in the morning to go to Ireland. Caught the tube from her place to Heathrow and caught an very late Aerlingus flight to Dublin. (ok, I apologise now for dodgy spelling, I am on a really dodgy keyboard), then it was off to explore the place that is Dublin.

Dublin, is an older town than I thought, but despite its buildings being mostly grey (and maybe because the weather was quite grey) it was still a lovely town to walk around. Where we saw the Liffey River, Ha Penny Bridge, Temple Bar and a Church (one of several) which was built/established in 1030, and extends across a road, so they have built a bridge to get from one side to the other. We then had dinner at O'Sheas up the road from our Hostel (a huge roast beef) and then off to bed. Not before I have words with someone who doesn't understand the ethics of Hostel TV (my family are laughing at me now, most probably dad, as he has experienced me and my TV control before) but, she sat down grabbed the remote and just changed the channel with no consultation, so I asked for it to be changed back. And it was, but sheesh she didn't like me saying something, but you can't just change it, one must ask. Ok, so Ireland ...

Monday morning we started our tour, with Phil our crazy Irish driver. We travelled out of Dublin and on towards St Peter's Cathedral where we saw the preserved head of Sir Oliver Plunkett who was charged with consipring against the state, and he was found guitly, his penatly - to be hung drawn and quartered. And what we saw of him, was a very black chared head where you could see that his spine had been ripped off at the base of his neck, pretty gross but still a site to see. Sorry no photos of that. Onto Ireland's biggest free standing cletic cross, which is near the Battle of Boyne fields, this battle really stands out for the Catholics and Prostentants it was the War where William of Orange (the orgin of the Orange Colour representing the Protestants) fought for Ireland to be free from the British in 1690, mean while I do not remember all these details from my trip, I am googling it as I type to get the tid bits that I remember right. Then off to Derry.

Derry as called by the locals, but sign posted as Londonderry, and on the signs the London is graffitied to simply say Derry, as the Protestants want it known simply as Derry. Derry has a wall built by the Protestants (during 1613-1619) to keep the Catholics out of the city centre - its still in pretty good nick too. We had a tour along this wall where we had a local give us a walk and talk about the wall and its history and purpose, finishing off at the site of Bloody Sunday, in this area there are powerful murals painted on the walls of the sides of houses, depicting the suffering over the years of the people of derry. From the hunger strikes to how the locals used to warn of british soldiers in the area - they banged their rubbish tin lids with sticks to warn the locals to protect their homes.

Interestingly the "probritish" show their pride/territory by painting their kerbs red, white and blue in line with the British Flag. And we also found out along the way, that when the Irish Army fold their flag they must not let the orange and green touch, as these represent the catholics and protestants and the white symbolising peace which is the element which will one day unite Ireland again.

That night, we as a group went to a pub with a very Irish name which I now forget, and had some dinner and drinks, we were told that there was music that night, which there was but it started at 11pm. I stayed a little while, but ended up going to bed.

Tuesday morning, we set off in the crazy bus again, let me just say that our bus driver, though very good at his knowledge sometimes was too absorbed in talking rather than driving, so there were a few moments, where a couple of "Jesus, Mother, Mary and Josephs" came out of our drivers mouth and other comical excerpts came out of his mouth. And the suspension on the bus meant that we were rocking side to side with his swerving. But nothing went wrong with the driving the whole time, so we were fine.

But Tuesday - We left Derry and travelled East along the coast of Ireland where we saw Giants Causeway - a geological marvel and Ireland's most vistited natural attraction. The tale goes, that a Giant from Ireland fell in love with a Giant on Scotland and he built a bridge across to bring her back to Ireland as he couldn't swim, he brought her back, but she knew she would be followed, so they made an evil plan to trick the person from Scotland who followed her. It worked, but the Giant from Scotland was peeved on the way back so he destroyed the bridge on his way back, leaving what we see today. But the science of it all is that a volcano errupted and caused the rock that is there - Basalt to form into long colums of hexagons when it cooled - I like the tale better. But, alas, as technolgoy goes, my camera was being perverse and wouldn't zoom, so I have really crappy shots of the place.

Then off the Dunluce Castle, where the McDonnells lived, and one evening were serving a lovely banquet, and a servant walked in and said, that the banquet could not continue as the kitchen and 16 of the staff had just fallen into the ocean - this is actually true as seeing the ruins of it now, it was built too close to the cliff and is still suffering slides to this day. Very picturesque. Then lunch in yet another Irish pub and off to Belfast.

We arrived in Belfast at late afternoon, so we unpacked, and lounged around until 7pm and went off to find a place for dinner. We found a place and just missed the dinner call as we had deviated to a pub on the way to dinner as well - when in Ireland ... so we went across the road and had some pretty average food and then back to our pub we found. Where a football (soccer) match had just ended and a quiz night was beginning, so I had a lovely night drinking Irish Cider -Magners and answering questions which we hardly knew anything about, lucky we had 2 locals with us on the trip and they could help us out, but sadly we came 15th.

Belfast Wednesday morning - Went on a black cab tour around Belfast where we first stopped in Shankill a very protestant area where murals are painted on the walls of their fights, one mural is very famous. Of a balaclava clad man with a M16 pointed at the centre of the area and whereever you walk he follows you, very clever artistry, but also quite spooky. Other murals depict other people who have died for the cause, but some more modern ones are depicting heros who killed people and are now considered maytrs for their cause.

These areas in belfast are still seperated into religious zones where walls are built to seperate them, and are gated, these gates close at 6:30pm and don't open again till 6am in the morning and are closed permanetly from Friday evening until Monday morning. And one wall is recently being up graded its called the peace wall, but it is this huge monstrosity which is about 20 feet high and solid. We were given the opportunity to write messages on the wall, I couldn't think of much at the time, so I wrote the boring thing of my name and country.

That was belfast, we then had an hour or 3 to kill before we went back to Dublin, where we walked around the city centre of Belfast, considered quite safe, just the outer regions are where you don't go wondering. We saw the Europa Hotel which has been bombed 14 times and shopped in the city centre. Then back to Dublin on the bus, the trip went fast as most of us slept. That night, Tracey and I had a quiet night of dinner and then more TV in the hostel common room, no more TV ethic debates though.

Thursday we wondered - 6 of us from the trip to the Guiness Storehouse where we paid our 14 euros and did the 7 floor self guided tour of the Guiness factory. It was great you get given a guiness pebble which is a 5cm round piece of clear PVC with a drop of guiness in it as your ticket, which also gives you a free pint on the 7th floor. Went through and read everything about Arthur Guiness and his product.

Interesting facts; Art Guiness took up a 9000 year lease on his site, now theres self assurance in your product; the pelican is the original symbol for guiness as he could hold more in his mouth than he could in his stomach - 7 guiness, one for each day of the week, the Guiness book of records was actually started by the guiness clan as the manager at that stage was interested in having a book of world records, as he wanted to know the fastest bird in the world and it went from there. Ahhh the pint went down pretty well at the top, but alas I didn't finish it as I hadn't had much to eat and was feeling the effects quite quickly. So I only had half.

Then back to meet Tracey and shop a little for souveniours. Then off to the airport, which was a delima in itself, note to all, if you go to Dublin airport, give yourself more than your recommended hour as they haven't coped with all the new security needs and it takes forever. We bolted in our socks from the security gates to our plane and got there with about 3 mins to spare. Then home to London and reality - I have spent the last 2 days as a Hermit Crab reading and doing nothing as I had such a huge week. But I loved it and am going back to do southern Ireland real soon.

My next coming trip

Well, its coming up to mid term break here so I am off on a holiday. I am going with Tracey to the Emerald Isle - yes Ireland. We will be leaving on Sunday Feb 18 and spending the Day in Dublin and then we will be embarking on a Bus Trip for 3 days around the northern parts of Ireland. I return Thursday Feb 22.

The things which we will be seeing on the trip, as they are the preprogrammed events of the trip, most of these I know nothing about at the moment, but am sure I will know heaps when I come back: Slane Castle: Rock concerts, Battle of the Boyne Battlefield (1690), The preserved head of St. Oliver Plunkett (1681), South Armagh: ‘bandit country’, Walking Tour of Belfast, The green Glens of Antrim, Giants Causeway, Dunluce Castle: McDonnell fortress, Traditional music night in Historic Derry, Historic Walking Tour of Derry’s walls (1613), Bloody Sunday Murals.

Therefore no Blarney stone, so I will just have to go back again, possibly with Mum and Dad when they come over.

So that should be great. Tell you more about it once I return.

Brussels

Well last weekend was my birthday and I went to Brussels, Belgium.

My weekend started off Thursday night, as I went home to find that we did not have any heating or any gas services at all so no cooking, nor a Bathroom to have a shower. Therefore, I packed myself for my upcoming weekend and off I went to spend another night at Alex and Karens (its my second home now I am sure). Went to school Friday and then off to London Waterloo in the afternoon to catch the Eurostar to Belgium.

Met up with Tracey, Megan and Alex at around 6pm at the train station. Now its very weird knowing that your about to undertake international travel but your lining up for a train. And the customs process just felt like when you are flying out of a domestic airport in Australia, except you get a stamp in your passport - which is a train (very cute I thought).

Then a travelling we went, through the tunnel between mainland England and France (yes Tracey we have been through the tunnel) and after about 40 mins we were in France. Then a short stop in Lille France and off to Brussels. The train ride went very fast, one because the train was going fast and two because we chatted and didn't notice the time go past - or the fact that we were in a tunnel for 20 mins cough cough Tracey.

Then we arrived in Brussels and made our way to a taxi, not before a mile long hike to find the one and only Bathroom in the Train station - which by that time, was closed so we had to line up and wait for the disabled loo. After that, we caught our taxi to the Hilton Hotel in Brussels, next to the Building - which was lit up with all blue fluros, very easy to spot where your staying when walking home at night. Then as we were all hungry we went and found a Cafe - it was midnight by this stage, but as we found out its the euopean way to eat late, the Cafe was open until 5am. We sat down to find out menus in French, not a problem I think, so we'll ask the waiter ... the waiter described something Mozeralla and Tomato to us, by making a symbol on his hand of a circle with slices, so here we are thinking its a pizza - gotta be. But as it turns out it wasn't, in fact we had ordered a salad which was a tomato cut into 8 with Mozeralla filling the cuts in the tomato. Woops! Well Alex and Tracey ate theirs but I didn't so I returned my meal to a baffled waiter. But all was resolved and I ordered the next best thing that I could understand on the menu - a Cheeseburger. It came out tasted lovely, until I actually looked on the inside an found that it was pretty much raw - now I am not one to complain twice, so I ate what I could and left it at that.

Saturday - Happy Birthday! I awoke to a beautiful sunny crisp day in Brussels. We saw the amazing Grand Palace which is a cobble stone square in the heart of Brussels where a mass of 1600's buildings are, and the detail and beauty of these are difficult to describe so I will let the pictures do the talking. We spent well over an hour just in awe of the sights we were seeing. Then off we went and happened upon a sight that I wanted to see anyways - the Museum of Chocolate. Where we learned about the orgins of chocolate and watched praline be made - and we Sadleirs have been doing it the Belgium way for a long time, I was quite impressed. Then we got to taste some that he had made earlier - sounds like a danoz ad. A little bit later on we happened upon a Belgium Waffle place, where we were all tempted and had to have a Waffle whilst in the place of origin - needless to say it was lovely, but very filling and just too much for one day. But after having eaten one, you come to realise that every where you go the smell haunts you and though it is a nice smell, after just having eaten one it kinda puts you off for another.

Then off we went to explore and shop - found the Mannequin Pis which is a statue of a little boy peeing and the story about it, is that in the 1600's a little boy was lost in Brussels for 2 days and when he was found by his father he was found in the comprising position which is now immortalised at his fathers request. Interestingly with this statue is that he has costumes 600 infact (all housed in a museum, but brought out regularly) which change daily and that are sent to the country by all different countries around the world. We saw him twice once in Tuxedo and the next day completely naked.

Shopping was good fun - I bought throughout my duration there a Handbag, Brooch, traditional Belgium Lace, a rubby Ducky TShirt and Chocolate of course. And was given Moriccian Pearl earrings from Alex. Tracey and Megan have bought me a Hairdryer for my birthday and will be receiving it this weekend - no point in carrying it on the trip.

Other highlights of my trip was to see the Atomium - an atom structure which is 150 Billion times the size of an actual atom. But its full of Barbie Dolls so we didn't bother going in.

Sunday was a day of shopping in the antique markets - where I picked up my brooch and then a little bit more sightseeing and then off again to the train station to go back to London.

Now whilst in Blegium I tried my hardest to speak the French which Tracey and Alex where imparting on me, Merci, Bonjour, Palre Le vou Enlge ... but when I tried to say excuse me in French it actually came out in Italian, ex cusi, Alex pays me out for it now.

The trip back was also very nice, as this time we could see out the window for a while before it got dark. Once I returned to London I went home, to find still no Shower, but we do have heating! And my housemates had bought me a chocolate cake with one candle, where they came into the living room singing Happy Birthday, all in all it was a lovely weekend and a great 26th Birthday.

Where to next, I don't know but I am sure it will be great.

Australia Day

Well, its taken me a while to get back here and say what a day I had, as I it took me a while to recover. Kinda ...

The day started as normal, train etc. But it was a lovely day, as it was Australia Day. I wore my Staffroom 4 gift all day - see pic when I put it up, and was walking around school saying HAPPY AUSTRALIA DAY to all staff and students included. Even got to have some Tim Tams, yahoo.

Then after school it was off to the pub, we had planned to go to a Bar which was having an offical party, but when I got there the line was around the corner and an hour long to wait. No thanks. So we found an alternative - The Roadhouse ... it was great, good music (Aussie songs till 9pm) and drinks were a bit pricey and the place a bit smoky. Thank goodness for the new aussie smoking laws, yes sad legal studies teacher here, but hey.

Then for some reason I was put in charge of getting us all home safely, so after walking around Leicester Square doing Aussie Aussie Aussie Oi Oi Oi at the top of our lungs we hopped on the train. Got to Earls Court, got the busting Alex to the loo, which she was fascinated by the fact that it washed itself. Then off to Gunnersbury, but not until we watched a guy blow his nose onto the train tracks (really gross) and then also to have me and my loud teacher voice asking whether our train, was actually our train, as it was saying two conflicting things. But hey, had to find out.

Saturday was also a fun filled day, went to Ealing Broadway to meet up with Tracey and Megan, booked my Birthday weekend away to Brussels, Belgium. Then they invited me along to go and see We Will Rock you with them, had to rush to Leicester Square at that moment to go and line up for a ticket, an hour later of being in the line I got my ticket - D 19. Which was only 2 seats away from Tracey and Megan, so therefore I asked the people if I could swap with them, and they did. Worked out very well, the show was great, very quick witted and comical and an excellent use of every possible Queen song.

Saturday night, I went to dinner with Tracey and Megan - and during dinner Rachel Parsons (from Gang Show) messaged me, she was in the Punch and Judy bar (yes like the puppets) just up the road, so I went and caught a drink with her. But the evening was cut short as I wasn't feeling overly well, suffice to say, I woke up quite sick on Sunday morning (virus sick that is) and spent the day in bed, then Monday went to work and got sent home, and Tuesday I spent at home, though not my home, Alex and Karens, as I didn't have a working Bathroom.

But that is it up till about there, will tell you more about Brussels soon.