Christmas Belfeast

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?

Proper Crimbo

Well, it's Christmas Eve, I don't know it for the feel of it, but only for the day that it is. It just doesn't feel like Christmas without being surrounded by the ones I love.

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.

Man Alive, Barely

What do you call two Canadians in Dublin? Doesn't matter, they're too drunk to care.
So, what an interesting time Dublin proved to be.

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...

Dublin

Yep.. that's about as creative as I can get for a subject line right now.

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.

The Life Of Ry

Hey, so today officially marks the One Month Away point. And let me be the first to say, it's flown by.

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.

Ulster Fries & Meatloaf

A panoramic view of Belfast. A little handy photoshop work and presto!

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...

Random In Edinbur-ah!

The Humanaught

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.

A Ness Place To Visit

Inverness

I must say, what the Glasgow gloom did to dishearten my spirits about Scotland, Inverness lit my opinions with sunshine. Though I arrived in the dark and rain, by Sunday morning, true to the day’s name, the sun was shining.

I didn’t end up going out Friday night, as Barbara’s boyfriend never made it down – so we stayed and watched the plethora of Jackass and Jackass-esque shows that were on MTV-UK and BBC4. Saturday morning I met Barbara in the city centre for a quick lunch and a pint before I grabbed my train to Inverness.

The journey to Inverness, at least the part I could see before the early 3 p.m. sunset, was very scenic. I met Simon at the Eastgate Mall in town and we headed back to his place where he cooked me an awesome dinner. All my hosts throughout my trip have been absolutely awesome, but hands-down, Simon was the most knowledgeable about the area I was in. He has an encyclopedic knowledge of random facts – particularly on the topics of the Highlands and Gaelic.

Random Item Learned From Simon: Hat Trick, used to mark three goals in various sports (oh hockey how I miss thee), comes from the Gaelic Tha Trì Agam (pronounced Ha Tree Akham).


Simon Varwell – The Wee Purple Man (it’s a joke, but for the life of me I cannot remember the punchline).

Sunday, having the day off, Simon gave me a tour of Inverness. We walked about the city and also took a bit of a walk down the River Ness to the Ness Islands, a small, picnic/dog walk area of islands in the river. I had originally planed to go to Kyle of Lochalsh, but because of stupid train times, I wouldn’t have had much time to see anything there. My secondary plans were to take a bus with Simon down along Loch Ness to a city south where his parents lived as well as Urkhart Castle right on the lake. The buses turned out to be about as co-operative as the trains, so we opted for the Inverness walkabout.


[1] Inverness Castle from the opposing side of the river. The castle was built on the site of the original castle, that was destroyed during the Jacobite uprising. [2] Inverness Castle with a statue of Flora Macdonald, the heroine of the Jacobite uprising. She helped Bonnie Prince Charlie escape the pursuing British.


[1] An old cemetery at the local Catholic church. There are a large number of churches in Inverness catering to every denomination. [2] Some holly? I dunno, I thought it looked nice - and festive.

Sunday night Simon and I went out for a quick pint to meet his ex-flatmate Scott. Scott is from Ottawa but lives and works over here now. We chatted about all things Canadian, and various travel tips and such (sort of the standard fare when meeting either fellow travelers or fellow Canadians). Scott was heading down to Edinburgh the following day (same as me) and offered to take me with him if I didn’t mind swinging by Aberdeen with him on the way. My original plan was to take a quick bus down to Urkhart Castle on Loch Ness and then return to catch a train for Edinburgh. Scott agreed to take me down to the castle so I could get a glimpse of the famous loch before leaving the area. So, not needing my first class train pass anymore, I went by a local hostel and gave it to them in hopes someone could use it.

Simon and I then went back to his flat and had a traditional Scottish dinner, complete with haggis. I was apprehensive at first, but really, it tastes like mince (a.k.a. ground beef). We had to buy a bit of a modernized haggis, which was packaged in plastic, not a sheep’s stomach. After dinner Simon and I met up with a friend of his named Gemma. We hit a couple local pubs and watered ourselves with pints.


[1] Myself, Scott and Simon. [2] Me, Gemma and Simon. Yeah I know, it’s a bit blurry, but so were we, so it all works out.

Monday morning I met Scott at about 11:30 and we headed down to Urkhart Castle. It was 5 quid to get “in”, but as I could see “in” from the carpark, I opted to save the money. The castle was destroyed by Bonnie Prince Charlie on his retreat from the British.


[1] Urkhart Castle [2] Urkhart Castle with Loch Ness behind it.

We then began our trek to the east coast and the Granite Capital of the UK, Aberdeen. After getting lost in Aberdeen for about an hour and a half, and passing our destination about three times, Scott did his business and we set our sites on Edinburgh. The trip was a lot better than the train I would have taken, as I got to see a lot more of the Scottish countryside and chatting with Scott helped pass the time.

We got into Edinburgh last night at about 7:30 and met Tori, my Aussie host in the city, at a local pub (have you all picked up on a theme here? I think there is something like 800 pubs in Edinburgh alone). Tori and I just stayed in and watched my recommendation, True Romance. As I couldn’t imagine anyone not liking it, I was not surprised that after watching it she quite liked it.

It’s grey in Edinburgh today, and rain is falling, so I’ve decided to stay in, only venturing out to post this at a local Internet shop and to grab some food. Tori has the daytime free tomorrow, so we’re going to go up to Edinburgh Castle and probably a few other places.

It’s quite cold here, and my winter jacket is beginning to earn its keep as the bulkiest member of my pack. I’m looking forward to getting to Carol’s at the end of the week and being able to relax a bit. I am sure there is a lot in Ireland to see, but I’m not going to kill myself doing it. I’ll do a couple things, but mostly just relax. I have a feeling that Belfast or Edinburgh will be the place I’ll come to work if I get the Holidaymaker Visa upon my return to Canada.

Peace.