Once there I had some serious time to kill and decided I’d see if Joey was working (she works at the bookstore there). As I was looking to see where the bookstore was, she came up beside me. We spent her break together and got rid of some of the weirdness that things had been left with. With plans to move to Belfast, I trust I’ll see her again, and I can’t wait.

Eventually I caught my plane without hassel and I headed to Paris. I landed at Beauvais Paris airport – which though it has Paris in its name, it really has NOTHING to do with Paris. It’s about an hour from the city centre, so a 10 euro bus ride later and I was about two blocks away from the Arc de Triumph. Now, I just needed to find a phone. Oh, this phone needs a card, must be some business thing, I’ll find one on the street that accepts coins. About 30 minutes and a kilometre and a half later I was no closer to finding a phone that accepted coins. So, I decided to try my luck with a local. A guy was just closing up a cafe and I stumbled my way (using many hand jestures) that I needed a phone. He didn’t speak a word of English, and those of you who know me, know I speak only a very little amount of French. After a bit of negotiations I got him to let me use the phone for 3 Euros, and on top of that he walked me right to the Metro. It was a very funny experience as we did the WHOLE thing without sharing a single common word, except “ummm” and “ahhh”.

So, I got to Amelie’s and got sorted. We chatted for an hour or two and then she insisted on getting to bed as she had to work in the morning. My first day in Paris was absolutely beautiful. I started by taking the Metro to the Arc De Triumph, basically a big stoney staple looking thing a few blocks north of the Seine (the river that runs through Paris). I must admit, and much to the objections to a drunkin’ good-olde Cambridge lad a few days later, I was less than impressed. I didn’t pay the few euros to go to the top and get the “great” view, and the shots I did take were marred with scaffolding.

From the Arc I did the 20-30 minute walk to the Eiffel Tower and man, as cliche as the whole thing is, was I ever impressed. The sheer size of the thing made me dizzy. I opted to do the 3.50 climb to the second level (a mere 700 stairs) as opposed to the 10.50 elevator ride to the top. I think I chose wisely, as the view from the second level is amazing (it’s REALLY high – in photos it’s the last sort of leveled area before the big stretch to the top) and climbing it gave me time to absorb the whole thing. I spent about an hour or two all said climbing, viewing and decending. Then I headed further up the lot to get a good full shot of the tower, before taking the Metro to the Louvre. Now, keep in mind I’ve visited TONNES of museums and galleries since I left Canada – but I was still really exited to get to the Louvre… but meh, I went in, walked around a bit, paid the After-Three-PM discounted 5 euros and basically went straight to the Aphrodite (Venus De Milo) scuplture and the Mona Lisa. The two were pretty far apart so I got to check out a bit more of the museum, but really at that point I was just hungry and tired.

Getting back to Amelie’s she informed me we were going out to a “cheap” place for dinner with some of her friends. I figured if it was cheap I could manage it. The cheap place closed before we got there, so we went to a more expensive place and one of her friends treated us! It was great. I had a nice steak (not really all that amazing by North American standards, but meh) and fries – sorta a French version of fish and chips. We then went to an Irish bar that was covered in English signage – oh my god was I excited about that after sitting through an entire meal of people speaking French. Doing her part, Amelie tried a number of times to get the convo going in English, but when it’s not someone’s native tongue, it’s a tough proposition. On the drive home we drove through the tunnel where Princess Di met her untimely demise – there is still paint on the cement posts in the tunnel – creepy.

Thursday I spent pretty much just hanging about the house. I made Amelie the now famous “Simon’s Pasta” and we prepared to have a bunch of people over for dinner, wine and cheese. Well, no one showed up – so we just stuffed ourselves and chatted, it was cool. Friday I had made plans to meet up with an Aussie girl named Cathy I met of the Thorn Tree (Lonely Planet’s message board). We had planned to go to the Pere Lachaise, a monsterous cemetary that hosts the decomposing bodies of Jim Morrison, Chopin, Edith Pilaf and a load of others… and I mean a LOAD – it is HUGE! However, our directions got jumbled and while I was waiting for her (and cursing under my breath) at the Pere Lachaise Metro station, she was at the metro station by Amelie’s – thinking that that was the one I had said to meet at. Bullocks. So, I just cruised the cemetary by myself and then eventually headed south to Notre Dame and all around that area. I walked and walked and walked thinking I’d find an internet or call shop to get in touch with her, but no go, so when I finally got to a train station to check out trains to Rome for the following day, I called Amelie and she told me that Cathy had called her earlier – blah. So… finding out that she was staying at the Three Ducks I headed down there to find out if she was there. No go. But in leaving there it was now after dark and I was only about 10 minutes from the Eiffel Tower and I’d had been meaning to take a photo of it all lit up. This girl left the hostel near the same time I did, and looked just as lost – so after about 5 minutes of us following each other, I asked her if she knew where the Eiffel Tower was, she said she didn’t and was actually looking for a supermarche. Turns out she was from Wisconsin and it was her first day in Paris. We walked and talked to the Eiffel Tower and just generally wandered around for a bit. I left her at the metro station so I could get back to Amelie’s and get some food in me. When I got there Cathy called and told me that they were going to hang out and drink tonight and invited me along. So, after a few fromage et jambon crepes I headed back to the Three Ducks. We sat and drank there for a while and then tried to find a club, with no luck we returned to the Duck’s bar and just drank there for a few hours. On the journey I met a guy that was travelling the world in his PJ’s and a house coat. He is writing a book about his experience, so keep an eye out for it. Cathy was staying in a room with four beds and only two people so I just snuck in and slept there with the hostel none the wiser (as the metro stopped running at like midnight and I didn’t want to risk trying to take a night bus home).

Cathy and I, at some point in the night, decided that we would travel together to Italy and Greece. So we returned to Amelie’s in the morning to sort my stuff out and eat! We took a train to Venezia (Venice) last night (8 p.m. to 8 a.m.) and scored by getting a couchette (a sleep train with beds). After a big fiasco with the tickets, we settled in to our little cabin that we were sharing with Mamadu, a Senegalian who spoke French and Italian but no English. Cathy and I broke out our dictionaries and much hilarity ensued. The sleep was a little rough, but we got to Venice this morning in one piece. We planned to spend the day in Venice and then head to Florence to a place I had set up with a fellow GFLer. We found out that the place was a no go now that I had an extra travel companion, so decided to skip Florence and head directly to Rome. Venezia, much to my surprise, was very cold and foggy – though AMAZINGLY beautiful. It is a bizarre place as there isn’t a single car in the place. It is literally a city without roads. It has a MILLION little canals that run between a bunch of islands that are connected by bridges and pathways. It was really cool, but after a while in the cold, it got a bit redundant.

We got to Roma at about 7 p.m. and went straight to a hostel I got a pamphlet for in Galway. The Yellow Hostel is just a couple blocks away from the train station, which is a nice feature. They also have free internet access, which is cool. But the common room is EXTREMELY small and the rooms leave something to be desired. We ended up getting a special dinner deal at a local restaurante whereby we got a glass of wine, bread, a salad and a plate of pasta for 9 euros. It was a bit out of my budget, but the supermarket was closed and we were starving. The Maitra’d convinced Cathy to come back down at 11 to share a bottle of wine with him, so here I sit, in the common room, at about ten to one in the morning, with most a bottle of French wine I bought the other day for 3 euros running through my veins. This place isn’t so bad, but it defintely isn’t the Kinlay House (where I stayed in Galway). Cathy and I are going to the Colosseum tomorrow and then maybe to Vatican City or the ruins or something, not too sure. It is a weird feeling being in the cradle of Western Civilization. Sometimes it doesn’t sink in right away. I got off the train in Venezia this morning and it just hit me, CIAO VENEZIA! I was ACTUALLY in Venice!! Though it is costing me more than I’d like to be spending, I am having an AMAZING time – I just need to be cautious about over spending. We’ll only be here a couple nights though and then off to what I think will be a cheaper stay in Napoli (Naples) and then to the even cheaper Greece.

Still haven’t sorted out the photo situation – so I’ll just put my photos on the site and give the link I think.

Paris Photos

Venezia (Venice) Photos

Last Monday Carol left for Prague for the New Year celebration. I too was supposed to depart, but because I had stayed up the entire night before scouring the Internet for flight deals to Bangkok and various other travel tips I stayed behind an extra day. Sooo… Tuesday morning I woke up bright and early and headed down to the store to grab the rest of the money I owed Carol (she spotted me to buy my flights) and to get some batteries. Getting back to the house I entered the back gate like I’d done a bunch of times before – but this time something was different… something was VERY different. The key didn’t work! Alright, don’t panic. There’s a reasonable explanation. There MUST be a reasonable explanation. Turns out a key was inserted in the inside lock, which (for some UBERSECURITY reason that is beyond me) negates the openability from the outside (even with a lock). Shit, shit, shit. Carol’s in Prague, ALL my stuff is locked in the house (including phone numbers, etc.) and I don’t know ANYONE in the neighbourhood.

After retrying the lock about 10 times, then checking all the windows, then retrying the lock again, I approached a woman across the street, who after her suggestion of trying a knitting needle (I didn’t even know where to begin) she enlisted the help of her neighbour, Steve. We attempted a non-violent resolution, but in the end we had to bring the hammer down. Yep. That’s how I repaid the kindness Carol extended to me. I broke her front door window to get in. And that was the beginning to what turned out to be the worst day of my trip.

After I got into the house, I left Steve to sort out the piece of wood we now needed to fill the hole in the door and I made the obligatory phone call to Carol. I only got her voicemail, but it was still a tough conversation to have. I had missed the first bus to Belfast, but could still catch the 11:10 bus and get there in time to get the bus down to Dublin. Not wanting to be locked out again in case the bus had already come (or my schedule was wrong), I waited at Carol’s front door until I saw it coming over the hill. The bus stop was right across the street so I slammed the door and hustled across the road. About 10 feet away from the stop (constantly signalling the bus that I wanted a ride), I watched the driver wave as he passed me by. Needless to say, I had some choice words for him, even if the empty street was the only thing to hear them.

Now locked out again, I headed down to the bus depot in the centre of Comber where I discovered the next bus wasn’t until 1:30. So, two hours in the cold and I was finally on my way to Dublin. I got to Dublin, and being three hours late, I was unsurprised when Gerard wasn’t home to greet me. So, I got comfortable in their apartment hallway and waited. And waited. About an hour and a very numb ass later, I decided I’d attempt to call Julie’s mobile (something I’d not had much luck with to date) and grab some food. About 1/2 hour later I was back in the hallway (VERY secure building) eating a stale bagette stuffed with a whole packet of dry chicken/ham loaf. Mmmmm. Yeah, my spirits were high. Thankfully Carol’s friend had given me a small bottle of Bushmills Irish Whiskey, which quickly found it’s way into my Pepsi Max. Soooo… about five seconds after explaining the whole ordeal to my video camera (just to kill the time), they came home – with beer.

Alright, flashforward to the following night – New Year’s Eve!!! We ended up back at Roddy Bolands, the same pub we spent some amount of time at on my previous jaunt to Dublin. The night was a blast! It was full of singing, dancing and of course Guinness. We got there at about 8:00 and met up with Gerard’s friends Rico and Tom as well as Julie’s friend Leona (and her friend Michael). We all just sorta hung by the bar. Midnight came, balloons fell, kisses were given, fun was had. We met these two girls, whose names I have NO idea about… I also remember the one girl saying I could have some of her Champagne (like proper Champagne), I just can’t for the life of me remember what I had to do to get it. Regardless, I got the Champagne. I also got a dance or two.

Julie & Gerard on the way to the bar.

Me getting creative with a pint of Guinness and a camera – man, if I had a nickel for every time I’ve said that.

12:00:01 a.m.

The boys with the cigar-like things I bought for us all.

I’ve never had a strange girl come up to me and just randomly put a hat on me before. Don’t I look cute? Shuddup, I know, I know, she looks cuter.

One of these things is not like the other…

Me and [insert girl's name here] cuttin’ some tile – olde skool.

We stumbled out of the bar at about 2 and after trying to get a cab, we ended up walking home. Well Gerard and I did. Julie chose poorly when picking her footwear for the night, and ended up crashing at Gerard’s parents’ house. Gerard and I walked the rest of the way home eating a donar-kebab and discussing the finer points of inner-city security – nothing finer for 4:30 a.m. convo.

Thursday (New Year’s Day) we went to Gerard’s parents. They kindly invited me to come for New Year’s dinner, and it was awesome. They offered me wine and I objected, so imagine my surprise when, two/three hours later, there was an empty bottle of wine in front of me and Gerard and I were working on our second bottle of Irish whiskey. Oh the meal was great too. Oh the family was great too!

A common sight of the Dublin skyline.

Friday I headed to Galway. Julie gave me two free passes for stay in an Irish hostel, and my Eurail pass came into effect, so the trip didn’t cost me anything. The train trip to Galway was really cool, not for scenery, but for the company. I spent the ride chatting to this girl named Becka (I think, damn my memory) from Northern England who was going to school in Brighton (just south of London) for Pharmacology. She was really great and really interesting. She spent time in Africa and so had some interesting things to say. I on the other hand am about ready to shoot myself if I have to explain my situation one more time. I am so tired of hearing about myself. See… the people around me change so I hear lots of great stories from them, but I keep hearing the same story from myself. Maybe I’ll start making things up.

Upon arriving in Galway I checked into the hostel and then just wandered around Galway. It was grey and I was tired, so I just called it a day and spent the rest of Friday in the common/TV room. I met a couple people, but mostly just kept to myself. I returned to my room at about midnight and out of the four beds in the room mine was still the only one looking to get use. As I finished the thought three Spaniards walked in. They were cool, though I only chatted with them while getting sorted for bed.

Saturday morning I hit a low point sitting in the dinning area of the hostel. I was beginning to feel the pangs that come with travelling alone – and I was starting to doubt my ability to meet people. The rest of the day was spent meeting people. Yay me. I’ll not go into all the details of who I met, but for a couple from Winnipeg named Renee and Dave. They had just completed travelling around Europe and shared TONNES of great information on places to stay and things to see. Also, in a weird coincidence, I had just finished explaining to someone how much I missed my guitar when I found a guy in the stairwell playing, so we traded it back and forth for about an hour – it was great fun, but now I miss it more than ever.

Saturday night I headed out with Renee and Dave, along with a girl named Leisel, to a bar called Richardsons that had an NFL game on that Dave wanted to see. I’ve been writing this entry for EVER and I want to go get a movie, so I’m going to sum this up. Had fun Saturday night, returned to Dublin on Sunday putting to use the best thing Renee gave me (an eraseable pen – out of fear of legal action, I’ll not say why it’s the best thing). I spent today (Monday) walking around Dublin in search of the Thai Consulate, only to discover that it would take 5 days to get my visa (I’ll get it in London or Paris or London). I decided to splurge and buy a travel guide called Europe By Rail. It’s sorta like a Lonely Planet guide, but designed specifically for users of Eurail passes. It was about 19 euro, but I think it was worth it. Now I think Julie, Gerard and I are going to go rent a movie and then I’ll get some rest. I have a long day of travel ahead of me tomorrow (today by the time this is posted), as I’m off to Paris. I can’t beleive I’m going to be in Paris tomorrow night. Well good night folks, and Vanessa, thanks again for the phrase book, it’s going to come in mighty handy!!!

This was in a little marina on the way to the coast in Galway … Swans are as common as Canada Geese here, and nearly as mean.

The sunset on the coast in Galway.

Same.

Leisel, Dave and Renee.

This is a Famine Memorial on the shore of the Liffey in Dublin, the kicker is the photo below.

Crazy eh!? Who knew he had Irish roots

I was up all night (no not half the night) trying to sort out aspects of my trip. Things got pretty complicated for a while there.. but I think I’ve got it sorted now.

I had (wrongly) assumed that ferries operate frequently from Ireland to France. Turns out this is only true during the warmer season. The last ferry leaves port on January 2nd. That was ok though as that was the day I had planned to leave. Ah, but isn’t that ferry full. I mean, c’mon. Full? Surely I could sqeeze on. Meh, so I checked earlier dates, tossing around the idea of heading to Paris for New Year’s. Well there are two trips. One in about 15 minutes and one on New Year’s Eve, and well, I really didn’t want to spend NYE on a ferry (just generally good advice I’d say, ahem).

So… other options, other options… stress stress stress… Irish coffee… “thanks Carol, it’s 2:30 a.m. though, don’t you need to go to Prague in the morning and aren’t you not packed…”

Thankfully, by the time 6:30 a.m. rolled around and her cry of “You are NOT still on that!” echoed through the early morning silence that filled this little house in Comber, I had found a solution.

I was sort of sad I wasn’t going to see a bit more of Ireland before heading to the continent. Well, I checked RyanAir (how cool is that?), a discount airline over here, and they have a 15€ (read: 30€) fare to Paris on next Tuesday. My Eurail Pass starts on Friday, and Julie has two hostel coupons for a free stay for me to use anywhere in Ireland… so Galway, here I come. I’m going to spend a couple days there… and then come back, fly to Paris and presto-chango.. I can sleep.

All this was compounded by the real objective of the night – sorting out my Thailand flight. This too got complicated, but I think I’ve found a flight for about £490 (sounds cheap but works out to like $1150) – and now my big question is… travel insurance… GASP!

ANYWAY… other than that whole headache, and still being at Carol’s even though I said I was going to leave today (Carol, I hope you don’t mind, I stayed an extra day…), I’ve had a cool last couple days in Belfast. After the silence of the Christmas Crowd leaving on Saturday was quietly appreciated, Carol and I headed to Scrabo Tower in Newtownards (Ards Peninsula) not far from Comber. It’s a bit of a hike up to the tower, but the view is absolutely amazing. You can see the Mourn Mountains in the south and Scotland to the east, it’s incredible and it was such a beautiful day – though a bit cool.

After the little hike we went to Stormount where the Northern Ireland Parliament is. It was cool, and featured yet another hill to climb. I swore Carol was trying to kill me feeding me Ulster Frys (bacon, sausage, soda bread, potato bread, eggs, etc.) and then leading me on hilly walks. She assured me it was nothing compared to a hike up the Mourns and besides, she bakes/grills her Frys. My arteries disagreed but accepted the answer.

Scrabo Tower

The countryside surrounding the tower. I’ve still not got my nice close up of a sheep. Maybe someone can tell me why they’re so nervous of humans eh!?

Rocks. Duh.

Stormount – this is the N. Ireland parliament building. And you thought the fit hit the shan in Ottawa… needless to say, security around here is tight.

Yesterday Carol again took me out to get a few more photos before we packed it in and I headed to Dublin and she headed to Prague. We went up past Scrabo Tower and visited some friends of her’s on the coast. The craic was good and I got some nice shots of the sea and a cool windmill. (Oh, craic is sorta vibe, mood, laugh, good time, etc. all rolled into one term: i.e. The craic at Mahafey’s Pub is great. -OR- How’s the craic?).

Ballycopeland Windmill.

The sea at Donaghadee (c’mon it’s just fun to say… let’s make a song.

Alright, time to get done with this damn Internet and find another box to spend some aimless hours in front of.

Meaningless Quote of the Day:
“To be or not to be. That’s not really a question.”

I met Christmas Day with a mix of emotions. I’ve been gone about a month and a half, and yesterday was easily the day I spent the most time thinking of home. I had some ups and downs, but kept my head down and made it through. As nice as it was to have relatives to spend Christmas with, it really wasn’t the same as spending it with my family. We spent the day at Carol’s mom’s, a retirement-like home where we were able to use a big common room all for ourselves the whole day.

Graham and I went down to the Odessy to see Lord of the Rings: Return of the King. We had a half hour to kill, and as I didn’t take any photos of him when I stayed with them in London, I figured I’d get a shot.

[1] On the shores of the Lagan at dusk. [2] An inlet of the Lagan. The big yellow crane marked with ‘H & W’ is a famous fixture of the Belfast skyline. They are being decommisioned, but will likely remain as a reminder of Belfast’s historic shipbuilding past.
Christmas Eve was one of the more unique experiences of the holidays. We spent the evening chatting and drinking well after the kids went to bed to wait for Santa. At about 2:30 a.m. the kids, likely curious to what the drunken ruckus was about, decided to come down and see what Santa brought them. Well, “Santa” was still making attempts at wrapping presents. It was … interesting, but we were all too full of “festive cheer” to really care.

[1] Graham and his mom, Margaret, on Christmas Eve. [2] Andy showing us how to properly drink Schnapps (minus the ‘Remove Cap’ step).

We finally fell asleep near 3 (after Graham made a quick trip upstairs and said a Christmas prayer to the porcelain idol). Unfortunately due to our sleeping arangement, and Andy’s penchant to waking up early, we were up after only about 5 hours of sleep, which made for a LONG day (and some under the breath cursing by Graham and I). After doing the present opening thing, Andy, Margaret, Samantha and David headed down to Carol’s mom’s while Graham, Carol and I hung back to A) clean up breakfast, B) let Carol get ready, and C) enjoy the hard-found peace and quiet.

[1] Graham and I looking mighty festive (because of the hats). [2] Why NOT to fall asleep after Christmas dinner.
The rest of the day was as I said above – a mix of feelings. Missing home, happy to be invited to spend Christmas was my “new” relatives, highs and lows. Today I finally got to sleep in a bit (until 9:30) and I spent most the day lounging around and researching Thailand on the Internet. I am not 100% sure what I’m doing now. I am considering taking a TEFL (Teaching English as a Foreign Language) course in Koh Samui, only problem is, it’s over $1,000 and I can’t afford it with my current amount of limited funds. I’m really not sure what I’m going to do yet.

Me and Carol on Boxing Day – can you tell I really made myself up for the photo?

I am blessed that I have Carol, her mum and the Kirklands to spend Christmas with, but I not in my entire trip have I missed home as much as I do today.

Thankfully I’ve had lots to keep me busy. Graham (Carol’s nephew – what does that make him to me?) and I went and saw Lord of the Rings: Return of the King today. I think it was exactly one year ago today that I saw Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers with my Dad and family in Ohio – bizarre.

Things around Carol’s have been crazy since the Kirklands arrived on Monday night. Instead of Graham and I staying at Carol’s mom’s, all seven of us are shacking up here at Carol’s – a modest two bedroom house. Anyway you do the math, you might imagine it is quite crowded.

Anyway, I should go and pour myself a pint of Smithwicks. I hope you all have a proper crimbo(selecta). Expect photos of Belfast and Christmas soon.

Oh, slight change of plans with New Year’s. I’m still going down to Dublin, but I think I’ll just be spending it with Julie and Gerard. Sad to lose out on Glendalough, it did look beautiful – but circumstances are beyond my control.

Peace,

Ryan.
PS: As down as I sound – please don’t think I’m not having a great time. I really am, I just miss everyone a lot.

I arrived Friday afternoon on a 16 quid/return bus from Belfast. The ride down went quickly, and it was with much amusement I sat and listened to some very loud locals sitting beside and behind me (I swear one day I’m going to just sit beside the cute girl that is ALWAYS on the bus before me, but because there’s so many open seats, I just sit alone and end up having some whiny, smelly or loud old person beside me). It was fun to listen to them and try to figure out how much I could understand. The Irish-gypsies in Snatch had nothing on these people, it was great. After stumbling out of the bus station (due to lack of any known direction or placement in the city) I consumed my packed lunch by the Liffey, Dublin’s main waterway, and searched my backpack for the tourism pamphlet I was praying had a map in it. Fortunately it did and with what has become my standard rations, a ham and dairylea sandwich, in my belly, I began to wander towards the approximate area of Julie and Gerards.

I got in touch with Julie, found out she was at work and so headed down there to say hello. It was great to see her again. Julie and I have never been the closest friends in the group, which I would attribute to neither of us having much in common with the other, but that was quite inconsequential. Where we’ve only ever really been friends through shared friends, and would only on rare occasions hang out together in small groups, I feel that our friendship is much stronger now – it only took being 5,000 km away from home. Anyway, she and Gerard were working until 6 p.m. so I wandered around town, checked out an Internet cafe and such, until they were done. We then went back to their place and ordered some pizza, but not before stopping at the Off License (read: LCBO) and picking up some drinks. On the way back to their flat we were walking past this store that a family was coming out of when we hear the wife scream “Not here! Not in front of the kids!” to two guys waiting outside the shop who ignored her and began beating on the dad until he retreated into the store. “Welcome to Dublin,” Gerard calmly says to me. Julie had told me their place was small, and she wasn’t lying, but it was nice and cozy.

[1] Henry Street, a pedestrianized cobblestone street full of shops and Christmas shoppers leading up to the Dublin Needle. I have no idea if that’s what it’s called, but it really just looks like a big spike that stretches into the sky. [2] The river Liffey.
I had made plans to meet up with a girl named Joey I’d met through GlobalFreeloaders.com in a search for people to hang with in Dublin. In an e-mail she said that I could come with her to a party Friday night if I wanted. I wasn’t sure if Julie and Gerard had anything planned for Friday, so I kept plans loose, but when they said they only really had Saturday planned out, I figured I’d take leave and go see what Joey was like. I felt a little bad about ditching Julie and Gerard so quickly after getting there, but they said it was cool with them and we made plans to check out the city on Saturday.

I was instructed by Joey to find her wearing a brown poncho outside a bar called Eamon Dorans in Temple Bar, a section of Dublin that is a collection of bars, shops, cafes and related poshy/touristy stuff. After getting a bit lost I found her and her brother and we caught a bus to Rathmines (no idea how to spell that), the studenty area of Dublin. The party was great. Absolutely packed with people of all sorts. I wandered a bit, but spent most my time hanging close to Joey – partly because she was the only person I “knew” and partly because she was just really cool. Her brother, Derrick (sorry if I spelt that wrong), is a scarily smart guy and officially the only guy I know that can solve a Rubbix Cube in under 5 minutes (regardless of the state the cube is in) – he also got the lightbulb riddle in like a minute – currently the record. Everyone at the party was great, with the exception of this one Australian guy (that no one seemed to know). Joey and I were sitting on the floor in a bedroom packed with people just chatting away when he came up to us and sorta crouched down using my leg as support – or so I thought. He started getting a bit groapish with his “support”, but being the polite outsider that I was I didn’t say anything. After he left I hesitantly turned to Joey to ask her if she had noticed, and thankfully she had and we laughed about it. The guy continued to plague us with his presence all night, though as much as he was just an ignorant jerk in the drunkly slurred things he was saying, he did add a bit of humour when he mistakenly took a big swig of the cup he was holding, presumably assuming it was his drink, and forgetting that it was actually the improvised ashtray. I tried to warn him, I swear.

Things ran pretty late and I found myself walking about 3 km home through unknown Dublin streets at about 7 a.m. I fell asleep for a few hours, but got up at about 10:30 to get ready to walk about town with Julie and Gerard. We went down to the National History Museum and I learned all about how the country got its independence and whatnot. It was cool.

Sorta self explanitory, no? Apparently there are all kinds of these houses in this neighbourhood on the south side.
As I mentioned, Julie and Gerard had planned to show me a bit of Dublin nightlife on Saturday. Ironically we headed back up to Rathmines because it is a cheaper place to drink than the downtown core (Temple Bar). We met up with two of Gerard’s friends, Ricco (sp?) and hmmm… damnit, I can’t remember. The five of us headed to a bar whose name also escapes me, but it was a blast. Eventually Julie’s friend showed up and for whatever reason the four boys (me, Gerard and his two friends) left the girls and did a bit of a pub hop for about 40 minutes or so. We eventually returned and just hung out at the original bar until it closed. I had told Joey where I was going to be and in a pleasant surprise, she showed up with her friend Niall (again, sorry if the spelling isn’t right). After the bar closed I headed back to Nile’s place with him and Joey where we hung out, playing Jenga and chatting until the wee hours of the morning. I again headed back towards Julie’s after the sun had come up, and didn’t get to rest my head until about 9 a.m. I was beginning to think that people don’t sleep in Dublin.

[1] Julie, me and Gerard on Saturday night. [2] Gerard’s two friends (Ricco is on the right, signing his approval of the picture).

[1] “Cheers!” [2] Niall, myself and Joey.
Sunday was mostly spent just sitting around recovering from the night before. As was Monday, and ditto Tuesday. Though Tuesday I did manage to venture out and wander around a bit, but I didn’t really see much. Dublin isn’t really that exciting of a town for “tourism”, at least not for this tourist. I’m quite sick of museums and galleries, can’t be bothered to spend the money to walk around old houses and well… that’s about all there is to do. That stuff isn’t why I’m travelling anyway though. I’m looking for the culture, not the glass cases … and I think I found that in Dublin.

Saturday night I asked Joey if she’d like to hang out just her and I at some point before I left to which she quite rightly asked, “Like a date?” I sorta scratched my head, grinned and didn’t really know what to say. Well apparently I managed to get out, “Yeah a date.” But I didn’t know that until midway hanging out with her on Wednesday when I asked her if she would have said yes if I had asked to which she replied, “Isn’t this a date?” I swear.. I’m such an idiot some times. So yeah, we met up Wednesday. I was supposed to meet her for 1, but when she hadn’t shown up by like 1:30 I began to feel stiffed and decided to go and entertain myself. I found a little photography gallery in Temple Bar, wandered around the first floor, got bored and skipped the second floor in hopes that maybe Joey had shown up. She had! We spent the day doing a bit of pub crawling, where we eventually ran into some friends of hers.

An interesting side note – I didn’t technically eat anything on Wednesday. I managed to eat a grilled cheese in the wee hours of Thursday morning, but nothing but Guinness, whiskey and wine all Wednesday.

I gave my Dublin tourism book away to some girl from Arizona that I met on my way to the bus station yesterday, so I don’t know what this building is. I’d make a great tour guide, don’t you think?
At about 9:30 we decided we’d had enough of the bars and opted to grab some wine and watch a movie at her place in Malahide, a beautiful seaside suburb of Dublin. We drank some wine with her brother and hung out and chatted most the night away – again finding me still awake as the sun started to appear. At about 11:30 I caught a bus back to Dublin, dropped by Julie’s work to say goodbye and grabbed my stuff from her appartment before hopping on the 2 p.m. bus back to Belfast. I’m now drying out back at Carol’s. I’ve not 100% decided what I’m doing yet, but I’m either going to spend New Year’s with Julie and Gerard or with Joey and the people I met at that party. I think I’m siding with Joey’s plans. As much as hanging with Julie and Gerard would be cool, they are doing the pub thing for New Year’s and I know I’d have a blast, but Joey’s friends are all going out to a place called Glendalough, a beautiful picturesque place, and hanging out at a big cabin-like place there.

Even with the 7 euros a night there, plus booze and transportation, it’ll be cheaper than a night at the bar I think – plus I’d like to get some Irish scenery on my camera before I leave for mainland Europe on the 2nd – and it really wouldn’t pain me to see Joey again.

Awe…

Just wanted to post quickly and say that photos will be coming soon (well, when I get back to Belfast). Dublin has been awesome. Seeing Julie and Gerard has been great! And I met a very cool, very cute girl named Joey that is assisting in showing me what Dublin is all about.

Ok… gotta run, only 2 minutes left on my Internet cafe time.

Peace.

I figured that perhaps now would be a good time to share some of the wisdom I’ve learned so far.

A) Travellers are a community unto themselves. It is like a club and once you join, you are a member for life.
B) For some reason dryers never caught on in the UK.
C) Fortunately radiators did, and so when visiting someone for the first time, you usually get a great glimpse of their gitch collection laid out to dry.
D) Though you are not limited to 5 channels, it’s all many people have. To get more you have to get a digital box.
E) BBC4 (I think it’s also called ITV4) is the best channel. It has hardly any censorship. They have a show here called Dirty Sanchez that is like Jackass, minus any sort of storyline or creativity – it’s mostly just painful, scratch that, it’s ALL painful. I’m also addicted to this new show called Bedsitcom, which is like Joe Schmoe, but set up like The Real World and it has three real people and three actors. It’s hilarious. I could speak endlessly about the TV here.. it’s great. I’m also addicted to Eastenders, but don’t tell anyone.
F) Many movies do come out later here (i.e. SWAT just came out in theatres), but by and by the bigger films come out at the same time.
G) I survived haggis, have avoided Marmite at every turn and am in love with Dairylea cheese spread.
H) I’ve given up on trying to sort out the whole “wrong side of the road” issue, and I just look about 10 times in both directions, step forward and pray.
I) The accents aren’t that hard to get used to – though most the people I’ve met have been Australian!
J) If you come to the UK, DO NOT STAY IN THE SOUTH! Really, there is very little difference between Southern England and Ontario. I mean, the architecture is a bit different, but mostly, boring and the same. However, Northern England, Scotland and Ireland are great for scenery!
K) The British Empire may have ushered in a new era in mass transportation and created a navy the world feared for centuries – but they have a LONG way to go when it comes to plumbing.
L) Populations and distances are something to get used to. Because the cities are so famous for various reasons, you just assume they are really big. Belfast and Edinburgh are smaller than Hamilton. Glasgow is about the same size of Hamilton.
M) I should have brought another shirt or two, I shouldn’t have brought my winter jacket, I should have brought a lighter jacket, I’m glad I brought my laptop (though it’s heavy), I could have left my mobile at home (but it’s light)and my digital camera is great – but eats batteries like an SOB.
N) The British are obsessed with their mobile phones!
O) Round-abouts are something that North American could learn a lot from for traffic control.
P) As much as my friends get the run down on what I’m doing, I NEVER hear from them! Bunch of ungrateful bastards.

Haha, so yeah.

I went into Belfast yesterday and explored a bit. The weather was crummy so I didn’t take any photos. I did a tour of the City Hall which was quite cool and then I walked up to a photography exposition that was on. From there I figured I’d kill a couple hours and catch a movie. I went and saw Timeline. I had read the book and didn’t think they’d do a very good job of the movie. I was wrong. It kicked ass. I really liked it. PLUS I got to see a teaser trailer for AVP (Aliens Vs. Predator) out in 2004!!! Oh yeah! I’ve been waiting for what… 5 years for that?

I also ended up splurging a bit and bought three books yesterday. It was a 3 for the price of 2 sale and I couldn’t resist, even if it did run me £17. I am super excited about the books though. I finally bought Stupid White Men by Michael Moore – a long time coming. The other two I bought were Staw Dogs: Thoughts on Humans and Other Animals by John Gray and The Life of Pi by Yann Martel. I bought it yesterday and am more than halfway though. I can’t put it down, it is incredible. I bought it because it sounded interesting and I know that M. Night Shamalhan (sp?) is making a movie of it. I can’t wait to see it. I love his movies to begin with… so this should be great.

Well, I’m heading down to Dublin tomorrow. I’m going to once again try hitch hiking. I can’t wait to see Julie and Gerard! I’m also hoping to meet up with a really cool sounding girl from Globalfreeloaders.com, and hopefully chill with her too.

Alright… that’s all for now, I just KNOW Carol’s trying to call me and I’m on dialup…

Peace.

Well, I’m about four days into settling into Ireland for the month and I’m having quite the time!

Friday night Carol took me to her friend’s place out in the country where I ate TONS of curry and drank LOADS of Guinness. I’ve waited until Ireland to have a drop of Ireland, and with the amount of pubs I’ve visited since my journey began, it’s not been easy. We basically just sat around and shot the shit, which was quite cool.

Saturday Carol and I got up “early” (I think we were on the road by like eleven – after a bit of an Ulster Fry breakfast consisting of bacon, soda bread and some sort of potato bread thing). Carol took me down south through County Down. We went to a city called Downpatrick that has a cathedral that features the alleged grave of St. Patrick – the patron saint of Ireland, better known for the guy we toast with green beer every year.

[1] A Castle. I wish I could remember the names of these places – but unfortunately the map is still in the car. [2] The Cathedral … now to find the grave. [3] Ah… maybe this is the way… [4] Voila! Saint Patrick’s grave. I’ve seen nicer tombstones to tell you the truth. Sort of a rustic look.

From there we continued south to a mountain range called the Mournes, which were absolutely spectacular. The weather was dry, but grey, so I couldn’t TRUELY appreciate them, but if I’m around in the warmer months, I’m DEFINITELY going to take advantage of all the hiking paths the range contains.

After travelling through the Mournes, and stopping at a dam just for a quick moment as it was DAM(N) COLD, we went to this park/craft fair that had a big pond and a castle.

[1] I was attempting for that far-off visionary look … yeah, it made me laugh too. [2] This the damn cold dam in the Mournes. Good thing they had that sign posted, I was about to unpack my Irish Spring.

[1] The picnic area with the castle and pond … and ducks. And dogs. And grass. And a REALLY big hedge maze, but it was closed. [2] Carol

Beaten by the cold and driving all day, we headed back to Comber – the little township on the outskirts of Belfast where Carol lives. She had plans that night, so I just stayed in, finished off the rest of my Guinness watching Bowling For Columbine. It’s the third time I’ve seen it, but it still has the same emotional impact. What a phenomenal movie.

Sunday Carol got back from her friend’s and because the weather was so nice, she wanted to take me up along the north east coast. First she dropped me off at Belfast Castle while she went and got her mum to come with us.

[1] The gardens at Belfast Castle. There are supposedly nine cat references in the garden, but I could only find five. [2] The Castle itself. [3] Same again

We then headed up past Larne to Ballygalley. Ballygalley is only a few kilometres from Cairecastle and Corkermain, the place where William McLaughlin was born, my Great, Great, Great relative. We travelled around the area but couldn’t find the church. We did find a church close by, but there was no McLaughlin’s in the cemetary and the church appeared closed. So, I think we’re going to head back up that way in a couple weeks on our way to Giant’s Causeway on the north coast.

Here are some scenic photos from the coast.

The church that “may” have some link to my ancestors.

Coming back from the coast we hit up a big fish and chip chain restaurant that was awesome. Another bonus at dinner was I got to meet some more of my Irish relatives. (Ok, get ready to go cross-eyed). Carol is my grandmother’s cousin’s daughter. The people at the restaurant was another of my grandmother’s cousins, as well has his son. Then after dinner we dropped off Carol’s mum and went out for some Meatloaf … that’s right, the big man himself! We went and saw Meatloaf in concert, and it was fantastic! I’ve never been what you’d call a “fan” of his, but I was quite impressed. I really only knew his big hits, but there was quite a few of them, and it was great fun! Cory: He announced last night, even though this was supposed to be his last tour, that he is going into the studio in January to work on Bat III. So there ya go, a bit of inside information for ya pal! And here are some photos

MEATLOAF sadly suffering in photographic glory due to the limits of my little camera.

So, today I’ve spent just sort of lounging around and trying to work on my Scotland article. Sadly I’ve gotten nowhere on it, so perhaps I’ll spend tomorrow in and try again, ah the benefit of having few, if any, commitments. Oh! I’ve sorted things out and will be heading down to Dublin to visit Julie and Gerard this weekend.

Oh, and due to popular request, I’m including Carol’s address, where I’ll be until the end of the month, for anyone that wishes to write me or whatnot.

Ryan McLaughlin
c/o Carol McVittie
5 Braeside
Comber, BT23 5PA, North Ireland
United Kingdom

I realized last night that I’ve been too much in the mentality that I’m just on vacation and because I’ve been visiting different people every week, I’ve shared TOO many drinks. So time to dry out.

Rundown on Ryan’s drinking (a ‘what not to do when trying to save money’):

Sunday, Dec. 7th: Pint for dinner, 3 at concert and one after concert.
Saturday, Dec. 6th: Seven cans of Guinness to pass the night away.
Friday, Dec. 5th: Five cans of Guinness with Carol’s friends.
Thursday, Dec. 4th: Shared bottle of wine with Carol and a pint with dinner at Pizza Hut.
Wednesday, Dec. 3rd: A bottle of nice South African red.
Tuesday, Dec. 2nd: Excessive drinking in Edinburgh with Tori.
Monday, Dec. 1st: Pints upon arriving in Edinburgh with Tori and Scott.
Sunday, Nov. 30th: Pints with Simon and Gemma in Inverness.
Saturday, Nov. 29th: Pints out on the town with Simon.
Friday, Nov. 28th: A few beers hanging in with Barbara in Glasgow.
Thursday, Nov. 27th: A few pints out in Glasgow with Barbara.
Wednesday, Nov. 26th: Hot Toddies to keep away the chill of Glasgow.
Tuesday, Nov. 25th: A bottle of wine shared with Barbara with dinner in Glasgow.
Monday, Nov. 24th: The extra night in Manchester after failed hitching – much cider was consumed by all.
Sunday, Nov. 23rd: Last night in Manchester (supposed to be), I am not 100% if I drank anything this night.
Saturday, Nov. 22nd: A night in and a bottle of wine, along with some Crown Royal and Malibu Rum.
Friday, Nov. 21st: Bass beer and some Absinthe! (oh gawd…)

Yeah, that’s bad. That’s over two weeks of consecutive drinking. Mind you, most nights were not nights that would be drinking until drunk, but still… my poor liver. I think it’s about to rebel and try its luck on the market in India. It does show you a bit of the culture over here though…

Yesterday I boarded a train that took me to the costal town of Stranraer where I got on the biggest ferry I’ve ever seen and waved farewell to Scotland.

I feel a bit like I’m on a city scouting trip, as each place I go I am trying to gauge if I could live there. I think I mentioned this previously, but I’m hoping to return to Canada at the start of April and get my Holidaymaker Visa to come back and work in the UK for up to two years. I am hopeful of Belfast, as I’ve always wanted to live in Ireland, but it is in tough competition with Edinburgh. What a phenomenal city. It is beautiful in its layout – all hills and valleys, cusped by the impressively ancient Edinburgh Castle nestled on a large hill in the centre of the old city.

The nightlife is also top notch, with a good number of pubs and clubs for all types – something I was given a major tasting of on Tuesday night. After writing my previous entry I headed down to the Internet Café, but they couldn’t facilitate my laptop, even though the cute girl working there the night before had assured me, albeit in broken English, that they could. So, it didn’t get posted until today. Anyway, after that, Tori came home from work with good news – she had got me a ticket to come with her and some friends from work to a performance at the Edinburgh Playhouse called Fosse, based on a number of musicals by Bob Fosse (he worked on Chicago to some extent). So, after eating a slightly modified version of Simon’s recipe (which I made him give me before I left), we headed up to the Playhouse. The musical was quite good, with the second half being extremely impressive. After the performance we all went to The Slug and Lettuce, the bar/restaurant where Tori works, for a quick drink. A quick drink turned into a few drinks, and then the group (which had expanded a bit) headed to another little pub called The Bull Bar that was having an open mike night. Sadly it had shut down, so we settled for pints.

[1] Maggy and … oh geez, I don’t know if I ever got his name. He was quite cool though – a HUGE Bryan Adams fan that had the perfect Edinburgh accent. [2] Justin, Tori, Alex, Me and Maggy.

After here we headed further into the city for a club we were meeting some people at, but it was a hospitality industry night. I was given a card that said I was a chef, but made a mistake when I said I worked at the bar that Tori works at. Apparently the bouncers had had an altercation with one of the chefs there last week, and because of that, all male staff had been banned. Bunk! Luckily Alex and Justin, the two guys we were with, knew another place. I can’t remember what it was called, but we ended up there and continued to pollute ourselves. The bar had a reasonably good cover band, that actually did a cover of Yellow Ledbetter – I couldn’t believe it! (and stumbled up to the stage and told them so).

After the bar we all had a bit of the post-bar munchies, and that’s how it was that I found myself eating a Peach and Banana Pizza. It was the most bizarre thing. I guess, as I don’t really remember, we ordered four pizzas but could only decide on three, so they brought us the peach and banana. I’m actually surprised we didn’t get booted from the place, we were quite rowdy and Tori broke two glasses (though she insists I helped her do it, I really don’t remember that!).

[1] Us, just before the pizza got to the table, but after the first glass broke. [2] Alex and Justin

”Oh! I NEED a photo of me in one of those…” he said while stuffing the digital camera in the hands of Justin and stumbling towards the phone booth.

Getting home at about 4-4:30 a.m., I, obviously, immediately poured myself some wine, put on a movie and promptly passed out. I woke up Wednesday morning when a WAY TOO CHIPPER Tori came in, laughed at the full glass of wine and told me I needed to get my ass in gear – we were going sight seeing.

So, I have shin splints I think. I hadn’t really noticed it until Edinburgh, but walking up the hills there was just BRUTAL on my shins/calves, and I SWEAR the ENTIRE city was uphill. I don’t really understand it, but it seemed where ever we went, it was uphill, and I hardly remember walking downhill at all. Mysterious.

We headed up past Princess Street – the street that Renton and crew are running down in the opening monologue of Trainspotting – and went to Edinburgh Castle. The castle was really cool, and we got around the £8 entrance fee by saying we were just visiting the War Memorial, which is right at the top and is free to visit. From the top of the castle you could see right out across the city – it was an excellent view. Something I’ve learned about Scotland is you can’t count on the weather at all. We left that morning with a beautiful day in front of us, but by the castle it had turned grey and was threatening to rain. Our hangovers were catching up with us, so instead of doing this big hike that we had planned, we opted to just head back to the flat and eat something.

[1] Princess Street and the Monument. [2] St. Giles Cathedral, I think. It was really big and really old. [3] Edinburgh Castle from a bridge crossing into the old town. The old town is really neat because it is centuries of buildings built on top of each other. Often roads and new buildings were just built right on top of the old, effectively burying them. Apparently it is prime areas for creepy ghost tours. [4] The Playhouse where I saw Fosse. Tori’s work is literally two doors down in a big mall-like collection of restaurants and pubs.

Tori worked that night, so I just spent the time relaxing on her couch watching the tele. I caught the newest episode of The Office and a new show called Macintyre’s Millions – a show where this guy goes around the world with a virtually unlimited budget and he exposes the crazy blackmarket stuff you can buy – the first episode tackled the human organ trade in India.

Yesterday was spent travelling – arriving in Belfast about 5 p.m. last night. Carol came and collected me at the ferry port and we met with her mate from work for some Pizza Hut. Carol’s great and I think we’ll get along smashingly. She has a beautiful home and it’s just loaded with stuff from her travels. I am going to have to bug her to get out her photo albums.

Belfast harbour

Well I am going to see about getting on the Internet and hopefully post this.

Cheers.