Mighty Trek

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[mightytrek]

And we're off....Again!! this time driving cross country to California...Visiting family and friends along the way :) It's day #1 and we've been driving about 6 1/2 hours and we're still in snow! We are Somewhere in Ohio now. There's still snow and its 34 degrees...hopefully it will be warmer tomorrow...lol

[mightytrek]

Nice- the not so sunny city we were expecting It was supposed to be a 6 hour train to Nice...which actually turned into an almost 8 hour train ride. 1st class was comfy thank heavens. When we got to the hosts house we were instructed to yell at the window...I think we yelled for about 10 minutes..until the neighbor yelled out wondering who we were looking for... The. We tried to find wifi to connect. We ended up finding wifi and eating at a movie inspired restaurant...with lots of burgers ( quite delicious) Our host contacted us with a stern message saying he was going to be home for the next 1/2 hour, so we scarfed down our food and headed to the apartment to yell once again. Finally we reached him. We ended up exploring a little bit of the town and sat at the ocean for a wee bit, until the rain came through... The rest of our time in Nice ( the next day) was planning the rest of our trip. It was the worst weather nice had in a long time. We attempted to go out ( saw the market and saw the town from below) but it became miserable without a decent waterproof jacket and umbrella, so we mostly stayed inside. We had a great pizza for cheap and watched orphan black for a bit. Our host offered to take us out to see the sites form the car, but we had issues with meeting him without a cell phone. He did make our night by cooking us a traditional French meal (escargot, seashells, sausage, cheese, and more) and he disclosed he worked for a michallean chef! The meal was amazing! That was definitely our highlight of Nice!

[mightytrek]

Monet's marvelous gardens and more! In the morning we boarded the train pretty early to go to Monet's garden in giverny France, which was about a 45 minute train ride. ( about an hour and a half total because Sho lived in the suburbs of Paris) It has been my dream to visit, ever since 8th grade where I learned about and painted a monet styled painting. When we got to the train station we decided to rent bikes to go to the garden, picked up a sandwich and mini dessert from a local boulangerie and cycled on our way. The path there was pretty straight to the point. It was a scenic bike ride, riding through town then over a bridge and on a bike path. We stopped to eat our sandwich near the senile river and then got back on course. At one point near the end of the ride to the garden we did go a little off course and ended riding on the road with little visibility of traffic. When we reached the village we locked up our bikes and then headed to the garden. Thank heavens there was hardly a line to get into the garden. When we entered the first part of the garden I was almost in tears, a bucket list dream of mine was coming true! The first stop we saw Monet's house, which was decorated beautifully. ( all different kinds da of art, a lot of oriental art as well) we got some beautiful shots into the gardens from the house. The gardens surrounding the house were just gorgeous! I don't think we even saw a dead flower or a single weed! There are three main parts to the garden: Monet's house, the backyard garden and the lily pond garden. And the backyard garden is not a typical garden, there were hundreds of flowers, along multiple paths you can really get swallowed up (very pleasantly) among the flowers. The water lily garden looks like a park, you have to descend the stairs and walk through a tunnel before arriving. There is a large walking path around with the famous green bridges connecting the paths together...even more varieties of flowers, shrubs, trees and even bamboo. It's garden heaven! We spent a lot of time in the garden trying to get the right the perfect photos of the area and selfie shots. ( we asked several passerby'ears to take our photo get just the right shot) it was just gorgeous, can't say that enough. On our way out of the lily garden we went back through the house garden making sure to explore every nook and cranny. ( also found out about an apprenticeship program, the house accepts volunteers to work in the garden in exchange for rom and board...one girl we met was working for 3 weeks..no wonder the gardens are so manicured!) I think my favorite flower were purple flowers growing from the ground. I could have spent all day in the garden...we did stay about 2 and 1/2 hours, hit up the gift shop for the usual and then tried to find some lunch. Unfortunately, we ran into the same problem as in Paris lunch was over, (after 2p) so we settled on some gelato and ate in a quaint garden restaurant area. The we rode our bikes back to town, taking the right way up Claude de Monet road stopping at some other gardens to walk through and then walked up to Monet's grave, which was covered in flowers and the church that he attended. ( the church was so peaceful) We stopped at another couple of boulangeries. (I love these little shops!) got another sandwich and dessert and macaroons for dirt cheap in another and headed back to Paris. We stopped to reserve our tickets to nice. ( the train was basically full so we had to get 1st class tickets) and then went to the "European" for dinner which Sho suggested the night before for an excellent meal. The meal did not disappoint, in fact it was the best meal we have had at a restaurant! ( before drink, fois de gras, duck/steak wine and dessert...we did splurge a bit) it was also the longest meal, we were in the restaurant for 3 hours and when we went back to the apartment to tell sho about our awesome dinner, she said that a 3 hour meal is quite typical for Paris...lol We met a new surfer who was travelling from Canada, chatted a bit and said our goodbyes before tucking in for the evening.

[mightytrek]

Three more days left in our grand adventure...and we'll be home...really hard to believe! Anywho, here's our experience in Paris... Our time in Paris We arrived at 10pm at Beauvais airport which is super outside of Paris...so I booked an air B and B for the evening. Our host graciously picked us up from the airport and drove us to his home. I tried to communicate in broken French..but it was difficult to speak! It had been since high school that I have used French and it seemed my brain was blocking a bunch of vocabulary. I managed to convey simply not grammatically that I learned French as a child and we were from New York. Our host did not speak a whole lot of English and I don't speak a whole lot of French so it was interesting interacting. For the most part we understood each other either by words or gesture. He showed us around his home, told us how to use the shower and asked when we wanted to go to the train station in the morning) I did have a small conversation about his cat and our cat in French! His kitty cuddled up on my lap whilst Jean Marc was helping me with the wifi password. (So cute! ) then a cat being a cat started biting so he took him away. In the morning Jean Marc provided us with coffee, tea and cookies and took us to the train station. We said our goodbyes and I managed to say. "Thank you very much you are very kind and your house is beautiful" and we got our tickets (apparently the station was exempt from euro rial which was a bummer) and we were on our way to Paris! When we arrived in Paris, our first task was to find a luggage locker..which took a bit to find a helpful information employee. We managed to find one and they were only 5.50 euros a day. It also took us a bit to figure out how to work it, until an employee helped us out. That was pretty much our only hang up. We had the free walking tour planned so we went to Notre dam, saw the gigantic line to get in and decided to marvel at the outside instead. Stopped for a sandwich ( and I ordered it in French!) and walked around the gigantic church. It was a car free day in Paris, so the streets were clear of automobiles ( minus some busses and taxis) and were filled with bikes and pedestrians. Also saw a lot of armed guards around the church. We walked to the walking tour location and it was crowded with people. ( but first bought sunglasses as the cheap pair I bought at h and m in Dublin fell apart on three days) Our tour guide was French, which was refreshing..compared to Belfast and very knowledgeable of the city. We walked around Paris for 3 hours with the tour seeing the louvre, the Latin quarter, view of the Effiel tower, and much more along the way! At the louvre we stopped for a break and picked up McDonald's macaroons...yes...they have a McDonald's French cafe...and the macaroons were not half bad. The louvre was setting up for Paris fashion week, which was just in a couple weeks. I did not realize the louvre was so big! (I say that a lot) takes up three huge buildings with a glass pyramid in the middle. After the tour we decided to take full advantage of the no car day and walked to the arc in the street to the arc de triomphe from the louvre. There were no cars for a huge section of the road, completely blocked off from traffic..just a whole bunch of people and a whole lot of bikes! When we got to the arc, we couldn't figure out how to get across the street...while busses and taxis were driving around the circle, as there is a round about around the arc...so we booked it across the street ( come to find out there is an underground tunnel connecting the two sides...oops!!) We decided to climb the stairs to the top, which was over 500 steps. The view from the top was amazing! You could see Paris stretching out for miles, and of course the Effiel tower. We stayed up at the top for quite a while soaking in the city and the moment! Going round and round the arc to see a different part of the city. ( the modern district was one of my favorite views and intrigued me to check out more about the district) We debated staying for sunset but after sitting and eating the rest of our soda bread from Belfast and trying to figure out directions to our host's place we finally descended the steps to the bottom. There was some spectacle of political nature as there were again armed guards all around flags flying and what looked like diplomats at the center of the arc de triomphe. After watching the festivities for a bit we found our way back to the train station to pick up our luggage...getting a bit turned around. We didn't end up getting to our host's house until 9:15pm. Sho wasn't even home and was actually travelling herself to Switzerland for the day so Zahara showed us around. We also met two other travelers who were staying with Her as well...one from ny on a 1 month adventure and one from Brazil who had been doing a gap year. There was pasta so we ended up having dinner at the house, and after dinner we met Sho and all chatted a bit. ( she had taken in over 300 surfers over the past 5 years and had surfed a bunch herself) She showed us our sleeping quarters which were mattresses on the floor in a little nook and sleeping bag (actually quite comfy!) In the morning we were actually the first ones out and up for the day. It was Garrett's day today so we started the day with going to the louvre. We went to a less known entrance, but there was still a gigantic line for security..but it went relatively fast. (We ended up waiting maybe 20 minutes total) Once In the louvre we explored the Egyptian art. (All the descriptions were in French...we should have figured...although some had english translations which was nice) the louvre is definitely more touristy at certain art pieces than others with crowds of people trying to take pictures and selfie's with the art...like the Nike statue and the Mona Lisa, which was the most crowded! There was a crowd about 6 people deep and almost the length of the room! We had to push our way through to the front once people were getting out of the crowd. We did manage to get some good shots, thank heavens! What was also cool was that artists were stationed at certain locations and were recreating (painting) classic art pieces. We didn't get to explore all of the louvre but we did see a big chunk of it. I didn't realize that the art spans from bc time to the 1900's which is a lot of art to go through. What was also cool is for the gallery you could see the scenic outside of the museum, as its in a horseshoe so there was always a good view! I think we spent a good 2 1/2 hours inside before taking a break (getting a Dixie cup full of expresso for 2 euros! And standing in line to use the bathroom for 20 minutes! It's a busy place!) After the louvre we walked around the promenade outside the louvre..I think the area is the most picturesque place in the city...beautiful architecture, and such a relaxing atmosphere. People sit aside fountains, and have picnics in the grass. We got a bit lost going to our next destination, the cinamatique. ( figuring out how to get there from the louvre and then taking the wrong road to the museum...it happens!) Along the way we stopped at a tasty boulangerie for lunch which was off the beaten path. We got a huge meringue for only 90 cents! A quiche and a croque misuer. We also stopped at a grocery store, picked up wine, cheese, bread, and charcuterie! We then walked to the cinamatique with help from the GPS and finally found it. The museum was pretty cool, I enjoyed it especially with Gar's tidbits about Jean Millieer , the founder of visual effects . The museum told the history of film from the first camera to costume design... There were a lot of interactive old school film contraptions...which were fun to try out. Garrett loved it! After, the museum there was a video library where you could choose just about any film to watch. Garrett choose a classic " over the moon" by Millieer. We watched about 8 short films of his and then headed to the tour Effiel, which was on the other side of town. When we got to the Effiel tower, it was just a little before sunset. We found a spot on the grass had our cheese, bread, and charcuterie..such a romantic spot with a great view! There were guys going around trying to sell wine and snacks to other couples and groups also on the grass. We bought a bottle of wine for our picnic that required a cork screw, and asked about every guy who wanted to sell wine and snacks to us. Probably after about 5 guys came over, one had a corkscrew! So, we got to enjoy our wine as well. ( we finished the whole bottle, and were a bit tipsy walking back) A bit after sunset the tower lit up, and sparkled..which was a sight we were not expecting to see! And then when we were packing up to go, the tower turned purple! (For breast cancer awareness month) it was just gorgeous! Such a memorable experience to end the day. After, we headed back to our hosts house, had a crepe along the way, chatted with everyone, (about the catacombs, pickpockets, rope trick scams and more) had some wine, and tucked in for the evening. In the morning we got up and headed towards the catacombs of Paris and to our amazement there was a mega long line! It wrapped around the street!The catacombs is a really unique experience so we sucked it up and stood in line for about 2 hours. Only 200 people are allowed in at a time so it took a while. When it was finally our turn, we walked down several flights of stairs to the bottom. We decided to get an audio tour, which really enhanced the experience. The first part of the tour was about the formation of the underground...and we walked for about an hour until we entered the door to the catacombs. It was unreal, thousands of bones and skulls stacked up to the ceiling! And we walked for about an hour through pathways of bones and skulls. At a certain point, I had seen enough, and when I thought it was over...there were more bones, and more skulls. Some of the "bone stackers" made designs...I suppose they were bored of skulls in the circle of a heart, and a bone sculpture that looks like a basket in the middle of the room. The attraction was opened in the late 1800's and they even had a concert evening in the catacombs which was extra strange. I saw enough skeletons for a lifetime. When we exited the catacombs we were on the other side of town! After the catacombs we headed to "la defense" which is the modern, architecturally savy part of the city. Again, we got a bit lost on the way...ended up getting on the wrong train...then almost got in trouble by the metro police for Garrett hoping the Barrier because we took the wrong train...and there were undercover officers. Thanks heavens we talked to the ticket office and they gave us a ticket to use but it was only for one person...kinda didn't make sense but we went with it and both tried to go through at the same time ...and alas Garrett got stuck behind, and hence had to hop the barrier. After all that jazz...we finally headed to la defense and I was quite impressed with the area. All the buildings look futuristic, and the modern arch is quite cool to see up close. (It is a wind tunnel). There was also a bunch of sculptures scattered throughout, a nice promenade that lead to a body of water decorated with modern colored shaped designs (also at the arc as well) what was even cooler was You could see straight down to the arc de triumphe. We walked around the area for quite a bit getting soaked up by the architecture. After, we headed to the sac de coeur, which is famous for a large church on the top of a hill and it's an artists area as well as a large touristy spot. It has one of the best views of Paris! What was a bit unnerving was the amount of con-mans, especially with the "rope trick" there was basically almost a human wall blocking the steps to go up the sac de coeur, the men would try to get people to try the rope trick...which is basically rope is placed around both hands and it's impossible to get out of and you need to give the money to let you out. Not cool! And then there were tons of peddlers selling hats Effiel tower replicas and more. At one point the police showed up and everyone picked up their bag and ran off and not even 15 minutes later they came back and set up their goods again. ( I bought an Effiel tower and got a good price) We didn't stay in the area too long, browsed plenty of souvenir shops and then headed to Notre dam to try to see inside the church, but the doors had closed about 10 minutes prior. So then we tried to go to a super market around the corner and that too was closed! (Shops close early in Paris like 7p) so we walked parallel to the seine river for bit trying to find a decent placed non touristy place to eat,..no luck unfortunately...and we walked all the way to the Bastille area. Finally we found a small market store picked up some cheese, wine, and meat..and the. By luck we found a proper grocery store and finished our meal off with some bread. We went back to Sho's apartment and share our meal with everyone, laughing and having great conversation. :)

[mightytrek]

Just finished up in Nice (it was a short stay) and are on our way to Geneva! Waiting for our flight now...anywho I would say our experience in Belfast had its ups and downs to say the least...read on to see for yourself :) Belfast The train to Belfast was about 3 hours, and all was smooth with the ride. We noticed a middle aged women drinking more vodka than coke next to us for a majority of the ride, and just before we arrived in Belfast she informed us that we reminded her of her son and his girlfriend, offered us a lift into town, ( which was a kind gesture) (ps her friend was picking her up...no drunk driving here) When we figured out she was going the opposite direction, she told us how to take the bus into the city center. She was on her way to a family wedding and it seemed she was starting the party early! Her directions were right and we found the bus and rode on into the city center which was free ( one point for Belfast!) they also had a great big visitor center, where it seemed you could find any activity going on in the city. Too bad we stayed in the visitor center about 2 minutes too long because I wanted to take a tour of city hall...and the city hall worker rudely informed me that "the tour just left" and she could let us join. :( So anywho... We walked to our hostel which was 40 minutes away. (Yeah...hostel...near a university...in retrospect....bad decision!) The staff actually out us into a 8 bed dorm instead of a 10 bed dorm..which was a surprise...but really didn't make a difference in the end. The room didn't seem too bad, except the window was lodged open and would not close and it seemed as if the room was pretty occupied. There was a bunk for two so we claimed our spots. I had been reading about a black taxi tour which was a MUST in Belfast and it just so happened that the hostel booked them...so we signed up for one. Before the tour we walked around the surrounding area...hitting up a botanical garden and old school English university. The taxi tour was incredible! (In retrospect...again...probably not an activity to do right when you arrive to Belfast...but a definite must activity) We really got to learn about the political unrest/ violence in the city between the Protestants and Catholics....and the unrest is still going on today! ( which really floored me) Our guide picked us up in a black taxi and took us to the famous political murals depicting "heros" ( depending which side you were on) victims of the horrible tragedies that took place in Belfast. He himself had personally experienced multiple tragedies, and it seems like his current mission was to inform visitors of the past and present of the city. Our guide took us to the "peace wall" (picture with the pig police) which to this day separates Catholics and Protestants...and we got to sign the wall. It was very powerful that our guide compared the treatment of Catholics in Belfast to the treatment of African Americans in America. ( but the story has been untold) and that the conflict to Protestants and Catholics in the city is similar to Israeli and Palestinian conflict. In fact some houses fly Israeli or Palestinian flags alongside Irish or British flags. There is also quite a conflict between independence from the UK and conformity with the UK, and there is corruption with the police. To this day there are protests every night, Protestants trying to march into a catholic neighborhood...and it still can get violent. All this information we were totally oblivious to before coming to Belfast. Our guide even kept us an extra 45 minutes. Really powerful experience. When we returned to our hostel it seemed like a lot more people were there...the doors were wide open...which didn't seem too secure...and some not so friendly looking guys were also trying to get a room. It was loud...so we retreated to our dorm...but when we got to the dorm two Brazillan gentleman were staked out with no plans to move. We went out to get some food...and the neighborhood looked a bit scratchy. Every sit down place was closed or ridiculously expensive, so we ended up buying some sandwhichs and eating them back at the hostel. When we got back...again it was ridiculously noisy and there was not one chair available in the kitchen! So we are in our room among the loud braziallan gentleman. At this point we needed an exit strategy so we found an air B and B for the next evening. Sleeping also sucked because people came in late and left ridiculously early...were talking 3am. Needless to say...we did not get that much sleep...and we booked a game of thrones tour in the morning. The game of thrones tour was a breath of fresh air! Absolutely fantastic!! Our guide was even a "wildling" extra on the show!!! The tour was all day, and took us to multiple shooting locations..whilst playing clips of the shooting location from the show so we could spot the difference. It did take a bit to get out to the first location which was the castle black wall...which was only seen from the bus. ( you could see where the wall was spray painted white for snow) pretty stinkin cool!! We went through the hills and back for some of the locations...the first stop where we could get our of the bus was on top of huge rolling hills...it was super windy and cold so we only stayed there for less than 5 minutes. We even went to the cave where the shadow creature is born. It was super cool that our guide (Charlene) told us about spoilers for the upcoming g season....where she had seen the actors filming ( whether "dead" or alive at the end of the season) and had some leaked photos too!! One of the major stops was the crickek bridge, where we crossed a bridge that was about 50 feet suspended connecting two pieces of land. Definitely was a bit scared to look down!! And also we went to giants causeway which had amazing landscape ...there was a story of the two giants who created such a wonder. We were able to walk around the park for about an hour and change...we could have spent way more time there! The tour was finished off to a trip of the dark hedges...the mystical trees seen as Aria makes her voyage.what was even better always the tour provided game of thrones cloaks and swords for a photo op. On the downtime on the bus we had selfie time, where we got to take photos with the helmets and a real sword from the show. The tour was officially finished off with a game of thrones trivia quiz, which unfortunately we didn't win...but had fun participating. It was the best tour that we have done so far in our journey! When we got back to the city we took a bus to our air B and B (our host was not home and left us a key) got some dinner at a super market (microwaveable food) and headed back. There were at least 3 other people staying in the house. We chatted with a lad who was on a solo venture for a bit and then ate our dinner and watched the first episode of Dr. Who!! (Because we were finally back in the UK and had access to the BBC) I wanted to do some wash so I messaged our host back and forth. ( she was very helpful from afar) Again there was a washer dryer machine...super difficult to figure out..a fuse ended up blowing and there was not enough time in the morning to dry everything...so yeah wet clothes for the morning. Needless to say...our last day in Belfast did not run that smoothly either...but the evening definitely made up for the day. First thing was first...we had to dry our clothes. Garrett found a laundry mat that offers a laundry service..but it was almost 6 pounds! We were in a pinch so we did it. Then we took the bus to the market thinking we could buy breakfast, and come to find out everyone only took cash..and there was a huge fee to take money out so we ended up splitting half a sandwhich. Still hungry...we had to go back to the laundry mat pick up our clothes and actually get dressed ( we ended up just wearing what we didn't wash) we found a McDonald's grabbed a coffee and got properly dressed for the day. Then it was back to city hall to see about the city hall tour (where we were previously denied) and to see if we could stash our luggage. We of course missed the tour again! The fee was ridiculous for the luggage storage so we took our packs around all day. We caught a bus to the Titanic quarter, and walked around a bit, and then went to the PRONI..which is a public records office and they have hundreds of thousands of documents from Northern Ireland. I decide to do some family history research looking for Speers, Fallin, and Christie. I found a diary of p. Speers online and requested a copy of the document. Mind you the records office is super secure...I even had to get a security badge and had to leave all my stuff with Garrett. You can only bring paper and a pencil into the library. After, finding the electronic record I was shuffled into a reading room...and about 15 minutes later I was able to look at the actual diary from 1936. ( after waiting and not realize my number was called to pick up the document...the security guard informed me I had to go to the collection point to get the material). The diary was more like a telephone log and appointment calendar. It was written pretty sloppily..I could understand some of it and figured that p. Speers was either a funeral director or helped people get their finances in order for wills and things like that. There as reference to wills and ceremonies..so it was hard to tell. Pretty cool to see an original document. For the rest of the afternoon we walked to the dock of the titanic boat, went into a pump room and titanic dock ( which was really deep) and passed by titanic studios where games of thrones was shot. Had some issues with the bus ( the bus driver passed us..so we ended up waiting 30 minutes for a bus that took 10 minutes) and probably 25 minutes to walk. In retrospect...probably should have walked but by the end of the day we just wanted to sit and not walk. We had to meet our host Aidan at 5pm...thankfully we were early and camped out by the statue in the middle of city hall. Aidan showed up promptly and informed us that two polish guys were also staying with him and we would wait for them for a bit. In the meantime Aidan showed us that the city center statue represented the city by the maritime economy learning with the universities. He pointed out the titanic Rememberance garden of the titanic and commemorative plaque of the deceased. The polish guys still did not show up so we boarded the bus with Aidan and headed to his house. His house was really nice and Aidan really made us feel like we were home. ( we stayed in a spare bedroom which was beautifully decorated!) the polish brothers showed up a bit later before dinner...and we go to know each other a bit. ( one did all the talking it seemed) they were on a month journey around Ireland hitchhiking along the way) we also met a visiting cat whom Aidan let come in and out of the house. ( I fed her cheese!) The evening was just awesome! really made up for the day! Garrett learned how to make Irish soda bread from scratch, Aidan provided us what seems like a 4 course meal...before dinner drinks, Irish soda bread and cheese, a vegetarian and cashew casserole, wine with dinner, and mince meat pie for dessert! We found out Aidan worked for Rick Steves giving tours of Belfast ( no wonder he knew everything about city hall) I was fascinated! He was also a frequenter of Paris so he gave us loads of tips! He was also a jewelry maker and let Garrett and I make our own necklaces and metal bookmarks to take home! We watched an old time film...I think to get the one brother to be quiet for the most part..Aidan showed us his street photography which was very interesting and ended up tucking in at 1am! In the morning we all had a proper breakfast (cereal, bread/jam yoget and fruit) the boys went out for the day and Aidan drove us and gave us a mini tour of the city. We visited Belfast castle..searched for hidden cats in the garden..visited Belfast's hidden entrances ( which we decked out in cool art) and then headed to the train station with 5 minutes to spare to catch the train. On the car ride to the station Garrett admired Aidan's hat and he gave it to him! Such a sweet gesture!! We felt so lucky to have been able to stay with Aidan. We were in awe of our experience reflecting going back to Dublin. He was our most generous host! Hope he comes to visit us in the states. For the rest of the day we were travelling...taking a train back to Dublin a bus to the airport and a flight to Paris.

[mightytrek]

Our time in Ireland (Cork & Dublin) We took a flight to Dublin and then took a bus to Heuston station and then took a train to cork. (Lots of traveling for a day) We didn't arrive to cork until about 10pm, as our flight was delayed, which meant we had to take a later train and etc. almost walked it to our air B and B host, but decided to take a taxi. Then the next challenge was finding the address..it seemed very few people had actual addresses on their houses so we wandered around a bit and by the grace of God I spotted the house number! In the morning, our host provided breakfast. She was a gruff women, and seemed like she didn't take any crap from anyone...kinda intimidating..lol we walked into Cork city with our packs to the bus station and and caught a bus to blarney, to of course see the blarney castle! Unfortunately, we did not have the best weather...although the rain did hold off while we were exploring the pathways to the castle, the Blarney Stone, and poison gardens...yes poison! The only plants in the garden were poisonous in some way to humans. It was funny because they even had opium and marijuana, but they were protected by cages...so no one could sample the plants. About the Blarney Stone...definitely not what I was expecting! We had to climb up stairs through the castle until we reached the top...mind you we were carrying our packs...so we were close to getting stuck in some of the passageways. There was also a long line to even get up to the top, and it was sprinkling by that time. You actually have to lie on your back and with help from the guide, bend over backwards to kiss the Blarney Stone. We did kiss it, and thank heavens have not gotten I'll from it. Millions of people have done the same! I wish we would have had more time exploring without the rain. It seemed everyone had an umbrella, except us! And there was nothing we could do about it because it started raining as we were in a trail through the majestic gardens. The plants were quite beautiful and it had a mystical atmosphere. I think we would have explored more, if we were not sopping wet from the rain :( after that the focus was to get to Dublin and we ended up arriving around 7pm and waked about 40 minutes to our accommodation for the evening. We ended up staying in a hostel, which was actually a very nice place to stay. The dorm rooms had curtains on the beds for privacy, and the room was actually quiet! I think we had some Brazillan food for Dinner, as it was cheap and seemed like a home cooked meal. Little did we know that we would have tons more run-ins with brazillians! ( Latina communities for that manner) Who would have thought in Dublin! Day 2 in Dublin started with a walking tour of the city, our guide Alita was from Argentina. We walked around for about three hours with our guide as she showed us the city center and surrounding areas. We walked around Dublin castle and the castle gardens. The castle itself is not that grand, it was actually destroyed by a fire so small parts remain, and in the 70' it was painted retro colors which are still there now. We walked around the cathedrals and temple bar area, and learned about the U2 scene in Dublin. A lot of history was presented about revolutionary stuff. My favorite part of the tour was walking around trinity college, the architecture of the school is just beautiful. Temple bar area was eclectic and colorful. Our guide talked about other tours that were offered through sandemans, which our other guides did to do...and that was peculiar, but did make us interested in the pub crawl so I guess her tactics worked. She also talked about second hand shops that actually donated all proceeds to charity in the city, so I of course wanted to check them out. I realized after the fact that time management of the day was not in my favor and probably should have not made the thrift shops priority...and also eating at Tony's diner...bad decision..fried chicken and fries...and breaded hotdog...yuck! I realized after the fact that was an American based restaurant :( We walked to st. Patrick's cathedral which is a massive church, and has a lovely park in the front of it. We didn't even have to go in because looking at the view from the outside was magnificent. I found yarn bombed trees which was the first time on the trip I've seen...of course had to take a selfie :) we also took a tour of the Jamison distilery...well a replica tour and found out how Jamison is made. We even go to do a whiskey tasting comparing American, Scottish, and Irish whiskey...guess who'was the best?! And we were given a Jamison and ginger ale with lime, which was so tasty! We sat at a table with a middle aged couple who were on holiday and talked about our travels. They gave us tips on visiting Switzerland and we gave them tips on Edinburgh..and we told them about couchsurfing which they seemed interested in. That evening whilst going to our air B and B for the night we stumbled on a celebration! You see the finals for Gaelic football happened the night before...Kerry versus Dublin and Dublin one so the city threw a welcome home party. There were people waving the teams flags, an Irish band, and a crowd of people. We stood in the crowd for a bit soaking up the atmosphere. We went to our Air B and B for the evening, which was a bit away and our hosts were Brazillan. The wife of our host showed us to our room and did not say much except"welcome" as we were walking up the stairs. We chatted with our host briefly and he was kind enough to give us an umbrella when it was raining to go to the grocery store for some food,as we were starving. I have no idea what was in the sandwhich we ate but it was delicious, some mixture of meat I think. Back to our host, that was our only encounter with the family. We did not see them at all after that. We had an awesome traditional breakfast in the morning at a quaint restaurant near the little museum of Dublin. I think the highlight of the day was meeting a local Dubliner ( who looked like a giant at 6 and 1/2 feet tall) and sharing a pint, thanks to the city of 1000 welcomes. ( we went to green park and did a bit of souvenir shopping) We got three pints, one for each of us and chatted for about an hour and change. He told us about thing to do in Dublin and we told him about geocaching, which he thought was a amazing! Really great lad! We also visited the little museum of Dublin, which all the objects inside were all donated from locals. There were a to. Of things on the wall...dating back to the 1900's. Garrett went searching for a flat cap, which he did not find...but tried a whole lot of caps on. We also found a name heritage place, and the store clerk helped us find out about the Fallin name origin. In the evening, we signed up for a pub crawl, through sandemans tours ( the group our guide was talking about) and when we got there there were only 2 other couples and they were Brazillan. And, the tour guide,ticket agent, and bar tender were Brazillan. The 1st bar we went to was dead, and the bar tender did even know how to pour a proper Guinness ( bad sign in Ireland) we ordered a couple ciders sat down and tried to figure out an exit plan...pronto!! Everyone in the bar was speaking Spanish and the bar was serving burgers... Not the Irish experience we were looking for at all! I looked up a literary pub crawl and found it started about 5 minutes ago, so we downed our drinks and scurried to meet up with the pub crawl group...and when we go to the pub they were leaving the bar...so we tailed them on to their next location, which was trinity college...and followed non chalently behind them. We thought we were found out that we were not in the group, so while the pub crawl group listened to literary times of old...we meandered over to quite the spectacle of fire dancing put on by college students, turning our backs to seeing the group had left to the next place, and followed behind. We ducked behind pillars to be more inconspicuous along the way to the next pub. Finally, Garrett told the gentleman in charge of the group about our horrible pub crawl and invited us to join the tour. ( not telling us the price or saying we had to pay). We went into the next pub grabbed a drink and sat down adjacent to the group. After everyone finished we joined the tour, the guide informed us that tickets were $12 but if we didn't tell he wouldn't tell... His co-partner. We were very grateful! The two guides did a sketch about being a Protestant Begger and catholic one, it was quite funny and both staff were very good actors. We then went to another traditional pub and then the guides did a quiz to win a tee shirt, and hit the last pub. We slipped Danny a tip and thanked him for saving our night :) then we caught the train back to our air B and B. In the morning, we did some souvenir shopping...Garrett finally decided on a tweed cap! And I found my magnet! We caught the bus to city center and had an awesome traditional Irish breakfast off the beaten path, and headed to the train station to go to Belfast.

[mightytrek]

It was about a 45 minute train ride to the cam and dursley station, where our host was meeting us and was literally in the middle of a corn field. Ian greeted us warmly and explained that the family had just come from a sheep auction, and that they had done better than they thought! We picked up Ian’s daughter who was doing an internship at the John deer factory in mechanics. She talked about ripping out a tracker engine to find dead birds ip side, and she wasn’t even grossed out! Ian explained some of the work we would be doing on the farm briefly, and and asked if we were afraid of insects because the Other woofer was terrified of them! Thank heavens spiders were not the culprit of the farm, Garrett would have gone mental. The farm was in a rural area surrounded by other farms ,very pretty countryside, we even passed on our way some of the Cotswold hills, which was pretty cool.

When we arrived at the farm we were greeted by Tanya and asked in for a cup of coffee. Ian showed us around the orchard and legit WWII bomb shelter, where they kept some of the. Apple juice for storage. The family owned the farm house orchard and had sheep on other bits of land. We were shown around the house and to our room. ( we were staying in their sons room who was now in the navy) Definitely not the farm homes was expecting! (Not like the prestine nature of the old homestead in Canada). After settling in a bit we me the other kids in the house and another wwoofer who was from Shanghai. We took out “Todd” for a walk, the family dog to get acquainted with the nearby footpaths. We had a great meal that evening made by Tanya….mince, fatties, and peas….and then “pudding” which we later found out meant dessert, which consisted of scones and clotted cream. Oh man, do I love clotted cream! I’m sure it sits in the arteries, but definitely worth it. We did a bit of planning in the “playroom” which is basically a hanging out room. Watched a bit of TV with the siblings, some interesting show called robot wars, which pinned machines against people in their daily tasks.

We had to be working every day at the farm at 10am, which thankfully was not the typical up with the rooster time. Our first task was to do a bit of weeding, ( 2 out of the 3 days) well actually a big section of weeding on a hill. Instead of the little garden tools we used big ones to dig out the weeds. We were also given “Wellies” and gloves. I learned what “nettles” we’re, which apparently real,y exist in the UK. They are nasty little buggers, have little thorns on the outside of the leaves, which penetrate the skin leaving a bit of poison inside, and sting like hell. After, the stingers swell up and itch, until the swelling goes down. I managed to get stung several times while weeding! Chen, the girl from Shanghai also did weeding, but had a different kind of uncomfortable experience. She was terrified of pretty much everything that moved on the ground, worms, mice, and especially frogs. For some odd reason she had a horrible fear of frogs, and you guessed it saw a frog while working and flipped out! I was the nice one and asked her if she wanted to switch areas when the critters popped up. Each day we worked about 3 hours and then had “dinner” which we call lunch, but it’s different in the UK farming families. We were given a sandwich and coffee and got a bit of relaxing time. Then, we ended up doing something apple related for the last half of the day.

The first day we were sent to pick apples at a nearby orchard, the thing was there was only one car, and not enough room for all of us…so Chen, Abigail (one of the children) and I rode the bikes three miles to get to the farm…and it wasn’t flat riding. It was up and down hills to get to the farm. Abigail stopped a couple of times to point out a haunted bridge and to give us a taste of wild raspberries. I really wish I could have taken photos of the journey….really scenic countryside. When we got to the orchard, Tanya showed us the sheep. I of course was super excited as I wanted a selfie with a sheep. Tanya called “buster” over and he came to her just like a dog obeying its owner. She stroked him like petting a dog and gave Chen and I a try. He really liked being pet, and even nudged as a signal for more petting. Alas, I dint have my camera and had to wait until picking was finished to take the selfie, but I did get one!!

We had apples bags that went across the shoulder, and were helpful with picking. We picked up high and down low on about 3 apples trees, which in the end have the family 9 bins of apples for processing apple juice. The trees were super branchy, so I kept getting my hair caught in the branches. My French braid was completely worthless…

I ended up biking back to the farm again, as I was the group was waiting for me to finish my sheep shots. We had a cup of tea when we got back to the house, and then Garrett and I helped cut and peel about a careful of apples for apple pie. We cut and peeled the apples that could not be used for juice, so they were a bit brown and bruised. Garrett even found a couple of worms, which I threw back in the mud.

We had another awesome “tea” which we call dinner consisting of roast lamb, homemade mint sauce, creamy greens and potatoes, and Yorkshire puddings, which are basically hollowed out flaky biscuits, and cake! After dinner we basically did more research for our trip, and watched the Tellie.

The second day we continued to work on weeding, and then I got to mill and juice the apples. The family has an electric mill which you toss the apples in and it grinds them into bits. Since we were picking for a family that was not going to sell the juice, we did not have to cut and clean the apples, which saved a ton of time. Then, you take the milled up apples and stuff them in the juicer, where juice is squeezed out. Then that juice goes in a big tank where impurities are strained. It was cool to see the grinding and juicing process. One of the younger girls helped out, she was such a teenager thigh humming and hanging at doing more work when we had one more barrel to do after we finished putting everything away…kinda comical. We did more weeding of the hill and finished up around 5:30p, and had tea. Dinner was scrumptious once again, this time veggie lasagna and apple pie with

Day 3 was my favorite work day. We drove about 40 minutes away to the most picturesque orchard I have ever seen. It was walled in by a cobble stone wall, had dozens of well prune apple, pear, and date trees, and just seemed to be the kind of place where you could bask in the sun and read a classic novel. We picked about 35 crates of apples all together, so it was indeed a true day of picking. At lunch time, to our surprise a wooden table and chairs with sandwiches, crisps, tomatoes, and coffee was placed outside in the orchard for all of us to enjoy. We even had chocolate biscuits for dessert. It was like out of a scene from the secret garden.

Really lovely experience so glad we wwoofed :)

Next up…Dublin!

[mightytrek]

23 days into our trip! Right now we are on a train headed for Belfast. (Just a little bit to go) we just spent 3 days exploring Dublin, and I think our top experience was having a pint with a local Dubliner, who gave us his recommendations of the city and a bit of history. More on that later... Here's a bit about our experiences in Bath :) Beautiful Bath (and Stonehenge) It was about a 2 hour ride and it pretty much rained the whole way. When we arrived in Bath, it was also raining. We spent about 2 hours trying to get stuff sorted out (storing luggage, getting our barring, getting swim suits In case we went to the spa, going to the spa and finding out their twilight package was booked :( ) We had some sausage rolls for only a pound! at this awesome cafe called scoffs and hurried to the Roman baths to wait for the free walking tour, and it was actually free! Couldn't even tip! The tour was brilliant, the guide new so much information about bath....he transported us back to the 18th century for most of the tour, talking about the Roman baths, how they used to be a place where poor people who were sick would come and became more of a posh thing when the queen of England came to bath in hopes to conceive a child, due to the magical powers of the baths. Miraculously, after visiting the baths she conceived a son 9 months later...and that's when bath became more popular, growing from 3,000 people to a population of 30,000. We walked around the city for about 2 hours with our guide,and come to our amazement it did not rain at all on the tour. After the tour we had to figure out our sleeping arrangments for the evening via emailing our host, as both of our devices were almost out of power. We went and toured the Roman baths which was fantastic! The museum provided an audio guide throughout the museum, so you can learn about the baths from roman times. We were able to see the original baths, and even sampled the water, which tasted unpleasant but hey it's over 2,000 years old! We actually took a phot of tasting the water, which was pretty priceless. After the baths, We took a plunge and decided after all to go to theorems spa. A 2 hour ticket gave us access to the who spa, a cozy towel, slippers, and a robe. One of the negatives is that no photos were allowed at all at the spa, and we couldn't capture the beautiful rooftop pool that overlooked the city. The spa's facilities included aroma therapy saunas which had a mix of different scents like eucalyptus, and lemon and ginger. There was the rooftop pool and lower deck pool that had noodles to relax, Jacusi bubbles and a massaging shower. It was lovely. On the way out of the spa, there was even a drying tank for our swimsuits. We headed to the bus station after the spa to catch the bus to the B and B for the evening. The bus was at the stop about 30 seconds before us, and we tried running to catch it, but it didn't see us. The bus came every 30 minutes so we sat and waited for the next one..debating whether we should get food for the mart across the street or wait till the house. The bus fare was way more than London, which was surprising and did not smell pleasant. We ended up sitting behind the b and b's neighbor, who happily showed us to the place for the evening. Before settling in, we had to run to the bank down the street to pay our host. Our host showed us to our room, and then around the house. He asked if we had eaten and I politely replied no, and then awkwardly shook his head. I had an emergency supply of oatmeal for us, so he boiled water so we could have a bowl. After the oatmeal was ready he offered us "spag-Bol" which apparently means spaghetti with bolganaise sauce, we politely declined as we just shoveled apple and maple oatmeal into our mouths...spaghetti and oatmeal just don't mesh. David was a nice fellow, he came to the door to greet us in an apron, (from making slag-Bol) and chatted a bit with us about our journey. He had a beer on an ironing board when we arrived, and then excused the odd combination, and was watching a show about a gentleman who was eccentric and had many wives. His house was very nice, tidy, quint, and comfy. He provided us (his guests) with loads of samples for body lotion, conditioner, and shampoo and we had a heated mattress. Needless to say we slept like bricks that night. In the morning we had breakfast ( the typical cereal, fruit, yogurt mix) and met one of the other guests, who was an elevator salesman (for private homes) and was in town to meet potential clients. We also chatted with David and found out he hosted 7 guests the night prior...I'm guessing it's how he makes a living! We had to catch the bus back to the city center, as we did not want to be late for the Stonehenge tour...so we quickly packed up and went on our way. Before the tour we took some pictures of the area, and visited the Roman baths shop. The tour departed at 9:30a and for once in a blue moon we were early for the tour! We went with a company called scrapers, which is a local family run business. The tour was 4 hours in total and we got a little less than 2 hours to explore Stonehenge. The site was not at all what I was expecting! Firstly, we had to take a bus to the site, which was about 5 minutes away..I also thought because it was "shoulder season" it would not be crowded...I was wrong! There were loads of people! I can't imagine the crowds in the summer. It was cold and windy the day we went. The good thing was we got there early enough to beat the massive crowds, and because we were part of a tour, we got priority with getting on the bus. The downside was we ended doing the audio tour in reverse, so there were tons of people at the end of the audio tour and there was a massive line to go back to the Stonehenge visitor center, and lawn work was being done..yes lawn work. There were people throwing dirt and there was even some kind of tractor. You wouldn't imagine such a thing at a world heritage site! The site is managed pretty well...so buses came about every 5 minutes. Before we boarded the bus to the site, Garrett downloaded an audio guide which made the experience more enjoyable and educational. It's amazing what we found out through the audio guide! For instance, I had no idea that Stonehenge is not entirely original...in the 1900's they reset some of the stones in concrete! Also, some stones have fallen over and they have reset them up. I personally preferred looking at Stonehenge from a distance to marvel at the site and history. Towards the entrance you can get pretty close up to the stones, although it's blocked off by ropes. We did get some great couple and selfie shots, and definitely learned a lot a,ing the way ( for instance experts believed Stonehenge was a memorial for the deceased, because it's made of rock rather than wood which is for the living) I always find it fascinating learning about a famous site in school and then seeing it in person! (Definitely surreal!). After touring Stonehenge up close, we went to the souvenir shop to get our collectables ( magnet and pin) almost got a children's book about Stonehenge until I read a bit and there was tons of mention about murdering and sacrifices...not too suitable for children.. I forgot to add in the beginning...Garrett and I are trying to collect children's books along our journey or at least write the titles down and order them later. We want our future kids to be exposed to different cultures from the get go. We quickly went to one of the mini museums about Stonehenge and then were out of time, so we had to go back to the bus. We didn't have too much time when we got back back to Bath before needing to go to the train station to Charfield for Wwoofing. When we got off the bus without realizing it forgot our packs! Thank heavens the bus did not drive away with our luggage...the packs were actually on the sidewalk and were almost confiscating by local security. We missed that one! We browsed around some of the shops for a bit ( mostly book shops) I don't think I said this before, but bath is expensive! They even charge for park admission...no joke.. 2 pounds for entry per person to walk in a park...so we opted out because you could see the garden from above , and it didn't look that impressive. Instead, we got some sandwiches at scoffs and ate under a tree across the street from the park. After scoffs we headed to the train station to catch our train to cam and dursley station. Next up...WWOOFing on an apple farm :)

[mightytrek]

Our fabulous time in London! Again, I am behind with the blogging. Right now we are in Cork. Took us all day to travel from the farm to Bristol and then to Dublin and then to cork, we didn't get in until 10p. What were we thinking! Anywho, the plan for tomorrow is to go to blarney castle and of course kiss the Blarney Stone! Then it's back to Dublin. So anywho, here's a recap of our London adventure! Again, we had the most magnificent hosts in London :) London (10th to the 14th) When we got to London airport we found out the hard way that we were WAY outside the city, and decided to take the bus which took a bit longer but was half the price of the fast train. We were supposed to be in London by 10:30, but didn't end up arriving until about 12:45p. Our couchsurfing hosts Sarah and Chris gave us awesome directions to their home, and we got our Oyster card and got to the flat with almost no issue. We stayed in Islington, a borough in London. We rang the apartment and Chris came down and welcomed us. Chris talked about showing surfers around London and talked about his "grand tour" which we didn't have time for that day. We talked about wanting to see "nerdy" things and soon we were off to explore. Chris led us around to see the tardis, the Harry Potter 9 and 3/4 platform, sherlocks home on Baker Street, and sherlocks home in the TV show. We even ate at speedy' diner, which is where sherlocks TV home is filmed. He grew up in London, and really knew his way around the city. We went to a train station and Chris pointed out benches that were made out of Olympic Rings. Really cool! We went to the hospital where Sherlock jumped from in the TV show as well and saw the fandom around the area, like TV messages on the wall and phone booth professing love to Sherlock. We headed back to the flat around 5pm and chatted for a bit. Sarah came home around 6p and we got to meet her! She was super welcoming and gave us a hug and mock kiss on the cheek. ( like the French, I didn't know that was a British thing) We gave our hosts some jam from Scotland and a magnet from buffalo. We chatted a bunch and Chris ordered Indian food for dinner ( including a vindaloo) after food and conversation, We prepared the sofa bed and tucked in for the night. In the morning we all gathered around 9:45a and Chris started his "grand tour" We went to a local cafe/restaurant for a traditional English breakfast. (Fried toast, Canadian bacon, eggs, sausage, beans, and more with a "builders" tea aka English breakfast) it was more than I could eat, but kept us full for most of the day. Apparently builders breakfasts are popular among constructions workers, policeman, etc. ( a fact from Chris). After breakfast we headed to buckingham palace to see the changing of the guard. It was not scheduled, but we got to take pictures of the palace and surrounding areas. The palace was not as big as I thought ( could be more than the one palace or buildings, but you can only see the front through the gate) we strolled down the road leading to the palace to see more statues and monuments. Chris took us to the grave of the only nazi in London. (He likes to look up random tidbits and add them to his tour) which the grave was of a German soldiers dog. "Giro" We walked around Trafalger square, where the national gallery is located and Chris told us a bit about the museums. Got a picture of a police box that looked like the tardis as well, minus the blue color. We got a picture with a guard at horse square. It's pretty much the only place you can get a picture, as there are no guards outside the gate anymore at Buckingham palace. Chris led us around Westminster, showed us the house where the prime minister lives, took a proper photo in a telephone booth, and showed us Big Ben ( which is actually the bell, instead of the tower...its proper name is Elizabeth tower) and the Houses of Parliament, and Westminster (from the outside) everything was just massive! The Houses of Parliament took up a whole street! We walked around a garden near the tower with famous world leaders and Chris gave us a quiz at who the statues were. We passed! ( Nelson Mandela and Ghandi) he said we were the first surfers to get the answers right...lol (other surfers were from Asia and Brazil) took lots of pictures and an epic jumping shot of the tower :) We walked over a bridge to see the London eye from afar and got some nice photos. There were a bunch of people trying to con people by paying a "wheres the ball" game. Totally illegal, and a tourist trap, the first part of the trip where it felt sketchy. We then went around the London eye and explored the park a little. There were people in costume to pose for pictures ( Charlie chapman and an army robot guy) No pics, unfortunately because we had to pay. We bought some tickets for a boat ride along the Thames river, some nice views of the city. Got to see Shakespeare globe theatre ( unfortunately not the original..informed by Chris) we got off the boat around the London bridge area and headed to the borough market for some proper pie from the "pie minister" a cheeky shop with traditional but tasty English pies. We got a steak and ale pie, which was quite good...better than the British chippy in buffalo. Chris got a chicken ( tasted both) The market area had a great atmosphere, tons of stands with all kinds of food. We tried some high end cheese samples, and tea samples. I got the best chai tea, at one of the stands. ( really helped my throat and cold...yes I was still sick). After the market we strolled along the promenade and saw tower bridge. ( the bridge with the two towers at the end, which I originally thought was London bridge...come to find out London bridge (from the song) is not too impressive...just a flat bridge) Chris told us about a folklore that an American bought London bridge thinking it was tower bridge and got London bridge instead...its apparently a story tower bridge employees tell on guided tours...makes American look really smart :( We walked over tower bridge and then down to the Tower of London which originally was a prison. Again, massive in size taking up a whole block! We then headed over to take an old timey double decker bus along a popular route. The bus was smaller than the regular double decker and a lot bumpier. We got off to see St. Paul's cathedral from the outside, again just massive! Tried to see inside but it was closed for the evening. Chris tried taking us to a rooftop garden but there was a huge line to get in. We then headed to convent gardens, near the Mexican restaurant where we were meeting Sarah and her friends for dinner. Convent gardens is an old fashion marketplace, which used to be a fruit market. Now it's a trendy shopping center. It had a balloon cloud installation ( we got a pic). Really lovely place. We listened to some opera music and then headed to the Apple Store,also located in an old fashion building. After we went to the Mexican place and met up with Sarah and friends for a birthday celebration. Got some mohijos, which were very good. Fresh mint crushed up. We ended up getting some guac for 6 pounds! thank heavens we were no too hungry. Our host's friends were really friendly. One friend worked at west minister, which I thought was truly impressive. The gal I sat next to was moving to Texas for 6 months, we chatted about vacations and our travels. The group seemed pretty tight knit and went on holiday's together to places like Prague, and Warsaw. After, we headed to a pub for another drink. The pub was like a maze, multiple levels and multiple bars. Liz one of the friends encouraged us to stick together as there's no cell phone reception and you can get quite lost. There was a cover band playing what seemed like 90's music. We stayed there for a bit and then headed back to the flat via subway. Chris and Sarah told us that they were going to a family party in the am and a BBQ in the evening and said we were welcome to stay another evening, and come to the BBQ. When we got to the flat, Sarah made up some tea and we chatted about all sorts of things, like holidays, Black Friday, elections, and more comparing the British way to American ways. Then we tucked into bed for the evening. ( by this time Garrett was sick with a bad cold :( ) In the morning we got up, put a load of laundry in...in a fancy machine that did both washing and drying! Something we've never seen...and headed out to Buckingham palace to see the changing of the guard. We got there a bit early, so we walked around a nearby park for a bit...and then found a spot on the curb near the palace road where the guards come down. (Chris recommended) We were solo on the curb for about 5 minutes, and then loads of tour groups started to line the curbs. We waited for about 10 minutes until we heard the guard band playing up the street. When they came down the road I got a good video of the performance. After about a minute of playing we sped walked down the street along with hoards of people to see the guards turn in to the palace. There were tons! Of people wanting to see the same sight. We couldn't get a good view of the actual changing of the guard inside the palace gates but we did get a good view of the guard bands playing through the streets. The streets were all sectioned off...so it was hard to get closer. When we were walking back we saw the guard band marching away from the palace. It was probably around 12p when the ceremony was over, with no breakfasts in our tummies we headed to trafalger square to browse shops for pins and magnets and to get some grub. Take away food is cheaper than sitting in, so we grabbed some breakfast grub and sat on the fountain in the square. The square seems to be a hangout spot for all, tourists and performers alike. We saw more character based performers...dressing up like yoda and more to pose for pictures. Some characters were levitating...not sure how they did that! We went into the national gallery and browsed around the art. There were protesters outside protesting about keeping the museums free of charge and not privatizing. No one really seemed to sign the petition, but who knows? The art collection was solid and had Pieces from renound Classic artists like Matisse, Van Gogh, and Monet. I always enjoy spotting the artists just from looking at the pieces. That's my favorite part. There were some more classic pieces from the 1500's which I didn't fancy as much. After, we headed over to St. Paul's cathedral to try to get photos of the inside. We wandered around the gardens for a bit, and took some photos. (Gorgeous angles around the cathedral) went inside to see the church and found out about the 15 pound admission, so we went to the free area and tried to soak up the scenery. I got some info about free services to see the inside, so that was the plan to see the church. Then we headed over to the millennium bridge, seeing traditional English dancers along the way. We got some great photos of the bridge and scenery around the bridge. We walked around the Tate Modern for a while. There were a lot of modern known artists, like leickenstine, Andy wharhole and more. My favorite piece was actually a video. Maybe documentary? Telling and showing people who were blind, painting...he asked them to paint animals and miraculously some painted the shape of the animal without ever being able to see. We were an,e to get some good shots of the city from the museum balcony as well. I was starving when we went through, so I might have paid a bit attention if my tummy was not rumbly...not saying that I didn't pay much attention. Garrett found a great yelp rated fish and chips place, so for the next 1/2 hour we were on a mission to find it with spotty wifi. It was tucked away literally In an alleyway, the name was something to the extent of sir masters cheese something...I'll have to look on the receipt. There were a lot of nooks for seating within and when we entered we went down a flight of concrete stairs to the lower bar where we ordered proper fish and chips (first ones in the UK). We split an order and also had deep fried Brie with a side salad, which was very good. The best way I have found to eat Brie :) We stopped in a supermarket and picked up some jelly doughnuts for only 30 pence a piece, a bargain find really. We then headed to Victoria coach station to pick up our bus tickets took a while to find the station and figure out we didn't have to print out the tickets. The lady at the coach ticket place told us that it would be $1 for printing, and gave us McDonald's vouchers (discounts) "you like McDonald's in some kind of not British accent, which we thought was a bit odd, but hey free coupons! Finally, we figured out tickets didn't have to be printed, sent Sarah and Chris our whereabouts and inquired about meeting them later, and after we headed to King's cross station to get the 9 and 3/4 platform picture. The station has a replica of the Harry Potter cart going into a wall and there are staff from the Harry Potter store (located right next to it) that throw a house scarf around your neck and capture "jumping" into the wall. We chose griffendoor house and I was the first one to leap, Garrett went next and twinged his back from bending too much, also the fact that the Harry Potter staff wanted to capture his epic jump a second time (the pics were free to take with your own camera, but 9 pounds for an hp store photo) We sat on the steps for about 5 minutes looking at the pictures and giving Garret's back a rest. By this time we were still trying to figure out if we were meeting up and found some wifi outside a Starbucks. We got a message saying they were heading out, whilst having some tea and we ran around trying to find a bottle of wine for the party, got our train tickets to Hatfield and ran and caught the train, as it was leaving in a minute! When we arrived at the station, we looked for a pay phone, but alas no luck. I asked a couple of people to use their cell phone, one lady said she didn't have any minutes and another gentleman offered his, but it had to be quick because his train was leaving. I called up Sarah quickly and let her know we were at the station. They came to pick us up about 15 minutes later, and then headed to the friend's house. The party was for celebrating a house renovation. The house was lovely, food was great, and people were friendly. I had some homemade currant wine, which was delicious. At first I did not know what "currant" was but after a bit figured it out and we all had a chuckle. There was more food and drink than people really, and the hostess ensured everyone had their fill :) We ended up staying until about 2am, laughing and chatting the night away. I chatted with 2 gals who was a teachers, pre school and elementary) one was also a police officer, there was a lad who was a watchmaker, and another who is a paramedic. When we got back to the house Chris told us about a fancy park and cafe where you could get scones and tea for a great price :) We went to bed shortly after and in the morning took a photo with Sarah and Chris (selfie stick of course) and said our goodbyes. They were amazing hosts! We couldn't have asked for a better experience :) After saying goodbye we went to a lovely park and tea house, it was about 30 minutes away by bus but totally worth the drive! The tea house was nestled along a park and woods, when we walked up there was a group doing yoga in the grass, if I would have had a mat I would have jumped on in! We gathered our tea and scones in a cafeteria type set up and then walked outside to a Latino with wooden chairs and tables alongside a garden, very quaint and picturesque. We scones with clotted cream and jam, first time having clotted cream. We stayed for a while, chatting about the party from the previous night and the next stage in our journey. We took a bus back to the station and then took a subway to our hotel (around 1pm) for the evening, which was located close to Victoria station. A majority of the day was spent having alone time and planning the next steps in our trip. Garrett was not doing well cold wise so around 4pm I ventured out to find to some cold medicine and food for lunch/dinner, and after we aimed to get our souvenir shopping done (golden snitch pin, London pin and magnet of course) see Olympic park, and go on a Jack the Ripper free walking tour, but alas we bit off more than we could chew. The park was way too out of the way, and not on a subway line and we almost made the Jack the Ripper tour, but got a bit confused with directions so we were waiting for the train when the tour began, and decided to go back to the hotel. We did get our souvenir stuff, which was a win and ended up stopping at the grocery store on the way back and feasted on a chicken kabob, potato salad, cheese and onion pockets. We had to rent a remote out, and watched Big Bang for a bit before turning into bed for the evening. In the morning, we had breakfast at the hotel for 2.50 pounds each, not too shabby. Then, we walked to the coach station and boarded the bus to Bath.

[mightytrek]

Adventures in Edinburgh and the highlands

We are currently on a farm in the UK, just actually finished working for the day, weeding, picking apples, and peeling apples for an apple pie :) I even got to pet a sheep! He kinda acted like a dog, nudging me to pet him some more...aww! Getting to pet a sheep has been a wish of mine since Iceland! So i was happy it came true today :) Today we biked it to the next farm over to go to the orchard, really lovely countryside. A bit billy at parts, but a nice 3 mile ride. Garrett and I arrived last night, and we were picked up from the train station, given a tour of the apple orchard and were given a great dinner :) There are 3 of us WOOFers including Garrett and myself, the other girl is from China and she has been at the farm for about a week. Anywho, wanted to back track to Edinburgh to write about our experiences. We spent three days there...had an awesome couch surfing host and go to see a lot. Anywho...here it goes :) The flight to Edinburgh 8pm the flight was late, and pushed it back to 9p. Our first night in Edinburgh was quite interesting. We received word from our air B and B host that she was not going to be in for the evening and she would leave us a key under the mat. We had a flight scheduled for 8pm from Reykjavik, but it was delayed by an hour and a half and with the time difference we didn’t end up getting to Edinburgh until 1:30am! When we got off the plane we started looking for an atm, and all the machines were down…so our only option was to take a taxi. When we got to the house, we did find the key under the mat, but when we went in we had trouble locking the door. Come to find out locks work a bit differently in Scotland, and you have to turn the handle up to lock the door…funny thing to find out at almost 2am. Thanks to Garrett and some patience we finally were able to lock the door for the evening. The host left us notes about the bus in the morning, so in the morning we headed out to find an atm, as we had no local currency After searching for about 15 minutes we found a grocery store and tried to buy some gum to use debit to get cash out, but we didn’t have the right pin card, so no luck with getting money out once again! One of the cashiers asked if there was anyone in the store who could direct us to a close atm as she was horrible at giving directions. A retired police office named William piped up and said he knew the way, and he would walk us there. It was a good 10 minute walk until we got to the atm and were able to pull out some cash. We still didn’t have change for the bus (as no change is made on the bus) and asked where we could make change. He gave us money for the bus, and when we tried to pay him back…he refused to take our money. He walked us to the bus stop told us what bus to take and wished us a safe trip, and said he was happy to help out visitors visiting his city. I really believe he was a God send, we would have been up a crick if it weren’t for William. Edinburgh was not exactly smooth sailing the first day...it was a lot of ups and downs. For instance when we got to the city, the free tour time we had written down was different than the actual time. We had our packs with us, which were really heavy! After walking up and down the royal mile, we found a hostel and were able to stash Garret's pack for a day. I suppose I was stubborn and carried mine around all day. We did do a free walking tour which was excellent! It was about 2 and a half hours and our guide was awesome, telling us about the history of Edinburgh, where certain phrases came from like "your a shit faced drunk" from Edinburgh having to empty waste at certain times of the day, and drunks stumbling into the alley during the "gardilu" and the women Mary who was hung and survived. After the tour we kind of stumbled around town without a concrete plan. (More of a down for the day) we did go to the "elephant cafe" where jk Rowling wrote her books and saw the fandom in the restrooms, walls covered from head to toe in Harry Potter graffiti, and made it down to the end of the Royal mile. Another challenge was finding our host for the night. ( I mixed up the building number, and we spent about 20 minutes trying to look for the house. Finally my phone got into a wifi area and we were able to check the address. When we arrived Derrick welcomed us and offered us some tea. After chatting for about an hour or so, he offered us dinner which we were not expecting at all! And to top it off, he gave up his bed for our stay and he slept in his living room on couch cushions. In the morning he provided us with breakfast and took us to Arthur's seat, which was a volcano at one point. We walked and chatted along the way. Derrick had some interesting stories to tell about being a private eye, and a bouncer, and was currently a teacher of sociology and religious studies. He studied meditation and told us a bunch about silent retreats and He also played the tabla, which we woke up to peacefully in the morning. Just an awesome guy all around! We were blessed to stay with him. When we had the day to explore on our own, we saw Scottish parliament, and got stopped for security due to my selfie stick...lol the guards started laughing when they saw it. We also ate some proper haggis at "the worlds end" good food, but slow slow service. We waited over an hour for two mini plates. We strolled up the royal mile and went to Mary kings close, which is an underground tour of the city way back when. I thought it was more of a haunted tour, but come to my astonishment...it was a tour about the plague :( I unfortunately had a "spell" when our guide started to talk about the plague ( he went into detail and used medical words which cause me to freak out a bit) I even covered my ears, but alas I broke into a cold sweat and felt like I was going to faint...crouched down on the floor and hoped the guide would just shut up....quite embarrassing. Garrett alerted the guide and we got an escort out of the close. We made it through about half of the tour :( we walked around a bit and then went on the haunted tour of Edinburgh, not as haunted as we thought. Our tour guide was a Frenchman living in Edinburgh. He was more of a history guide, rather than a teller of ghost stories. It was nice that we got to wander more around the city...rather than just the royal mile which was the foundation of our route the previous day. There's a Netflix movie we are going to watch about murderers in Edinburgh who killed people to give bodies to a medical professor for teaching purposes. He talked about a haunted bridge where shady business occurred...nothing really too scary. After the tour we did some souvenir shopping and got some haggis nachos, cider, and beer from "the white heart" the oldest pub in the city. We walked into new town and strolled up princess street and then decided to walk back to Derricks, which was about a 40 min stroll. Surprisingly, I did not get spooked walking back in the dark...which always happens in Buffalo. It seemed like a pretty safe area, which was refreshing. We actually bumped into Derrick on the street on our way back. He was supposed to go to a concert,but his friend cancelled. We ended up having tea and chatting till about 11:30. We got up early in the am, said our goodbyes and walked to the bus stop to get a bus to highland tours. It was the 9th and we booked a tour to explore the Scottish highlands, Loch Ness, and more. The tour was all day, (8a to 9p) and we went all over the place. We had an awesome tour guide (Marc) who told stories about Scotalnds history sights we were seeing and his own stories. We learned where the phrase "cold shoulder" came from. Apparently even during war times Scottish folks had an oath to provide basic necessities for those needing it...and Marc explained that even enemies had to be taken in under the oath...but in those cases enemies would get minimum treatment like sleeping on the floor and eating the shoulder of the lamb, (cold temp) which is the worst piece of meat...hence the term (giving the cold shoulder) The scenery was absolutely beautiful...going through the countryside...from rolling hills to mountains with lakes and streams in between. It was a nice relaxing day. We fell asleep several times on the bus and woke up when we stopped place to place. It was a bit touristy, but it was the break we needed from walking around. After the tour we went for a traditional Scottish dessert and tea. ( I came down with a cold from Iceland) at the last drop, a pub in the grass market district. We aimed to catch the bus, but we were running late to the air B and B so we caught a cab to the place. I ended up chatting with min for a bit, with my hoarse voice...wishing each other happy birthday and talking about the day. It was nice :) We took a shower and went to bed because we had a 6a flight to catch to London...and had to be up and out by 4:30a!! When we got to the airport it was packed! Quite surprising at 4:30am. Thank heavens we had no issue with check in. Got some souvenirs for our next hosts, and got on the plane. I slept the whole way there ( only an hour and change flight)

[mightytrek]

It's day 11 on the trip, finding out its harder than I thought posting on the road...spotty wifi, doing other travel planning...etc. so far we have gone through Iceland, Scotland, and are on our 2nd day in London. Crazy how fast it's going! We have had an awesome time so far, and looking forward to the next leg :) Here's a mini recap of our Iceland trip in photos :) The first picture was our first day, and first natural sight we can across. We were driving on the road and saw a waterfall from afar, and lone behold when we drove up a bunch of people had discovered the site as well. There was a massive amount of cars, that we had to park on the road. We got to walk behind the waterfall which was a cool trek, and the photo is from the perspective behind the waterfall. The second picture is also from our first day. Garrett was the trooper and drove all day to reach the glacier lagoon (6 hours!) It was freezing!! Got our hats, gloves and scarfs out and strolled along the edge of the glacier lagoon taking in the breathtaking scenery and of course getting pictures. We even saw seals swimming by the icebergs. The third photo we went to guiser and saw steam coming from the earth. The best view was a guiser erupting about every 5 minutes or so, and this giant cloud of steam. We literally got lost in the steam at certain points. Really unique sight! The fourth photo and my all time favorite experience in Iceland was soaking in the hot river, thanks to our awesome couchsurfing hosts, (photo 5) who told us about the trek and how to get to the awesome spot! It was about 45 minutes outside of Reykjavik. We actually had to hike uphill for about an hour through the mountains, even passing sheep on the way! We passed waterfalls and streams, which made the hike more pleasant. When we got to the spot, there were only about 15 people there, which was awesome! We found a little nook in the river all to ourselves, and propped our head on a rock and relaxed, made the hike totally worth it! The hot river actually is hotter toward the beginning of the river and cools down as you go down stream...it's an amazing natural wonder :)

[mightytrek]

Yea, we know it’s been three years, but we are back in action and off for another crazy adventure! This time Backpacking! We’re headed on a whirlwind trip exploring Iceland, the UK, and Western Europe.

[mightytrek]

Back in Western NY!

So Garrett and I have recently gotten home from our year abroad. We've been back for a little over one month, which does not feel like it has been. My! how time flies!

Today Garrett and I went down to devil's hole to "our spot" which is situation by the whirlpool area of the Niagara river. Its about a 45 minute hike scenic down to "our spot"  

For our 2nd anniversary gar carved our initials in a nearby tree, and every year we go to visit it. (minus our year in Korea of course)  4 years later the tree carving is still there, a little worn but still there :) Next to our tree there is a nice flat rock to sit on and watch the rapids pass. Its the prefect place to have a picnic  (which we quite often do) or just bask in the sun. Today was super cold so we didn't stay too long, but managed to take some good shots of the area and relax with some cider and cheese. 

The trail was not as hard nor steep back up as the mountains we climbed in Korea. Before Korea we would huff and puff going up the hundreds of stairs to the top, stopping multiple times along the way. This time we climbed up the stairs, in one swoop up, heart racing, but not as exhausted as before.  It felt like quite the victory! 

Hopefully this weekend we will check out one of the restaurants in the mac and cheese challenge. I'll update if we do :)

Until next time ...

*Kyla* (3/31/12) 

[mightytrek]

retirement ceremony and final thoughts

Five days to go until I fly back to the USA. 1 year has gone by so fast. In the beginning it felt like the months dragged on, but as soon as we passed the 6th monthmark, time began to fly!

    Last Friday was the last teacher dinner. Well, it was actually my principal’s retirement ceremony. The ceremony seemed like it could be a wedding. There were lots of white covered linen tables, an orchestra, and a tasty buffet. My principal was in a traditional hanbok, and all the teachers from the school were there. Even the ones who were leaving for the next semester. In the US I don’t think people would do the same, unless they were close with the principal. Family and friends of the principal were all there too. To my amazement, my principal’s grand-daughter had lived in the states for 6 years and was 8 years old. She spoke English magnificently! No korean accent and she understood every question I threw at her. When my principal saw me she shood her grand-daughter over to me to speak English. So, I started asking her generic questions “how old are you?” what is your name? and what grade are you in? her response to the question, I am not in school now I am on vacation. I knew I was talking to a native speaker, who could have been quite the smart alec.

The ceremony was very formal, speeches were given that I didn’t quite understand, presents were given to my principal many times, songs were sang, (from all the head teachers, the pe teacher and music teacher) We heard the teachers practicing in the teachers room about 2 hours before the ceremony. I guess my principal arranged everything and told so and so they had to sing. In Korea, the principal is “king’ of the school.

After the hour and so ceremony there was a buffet dinner. It seemed the etiquette was don’t go up alone to the buffet, bring a friend. The buffet was nice, the food a little cold but still edible. After dinner, teacher’s just chatted. I was looking at my i-pod because tonight was the same night as the foreigner dinner at D’Marcis. At around 8;00 I planned to leave the event, but I didn’t want to just scoot out the door. I thought it would be nice to say my goodbyes to the teacher’s that were leaving (after 5 years a public school teacher must relocate to another school) So, that’s what Jeong Eun and I ended up doing, but instead of going to just the tables with the teacher’s leaving I went to every table and gave “insa” respect to the teachers.

                   The first table I went to was 우성’s table. She is the art teacher and was always very kind to me throughout the year.  So, jeong eun and I went over. Jeong Eun said what I was doing in Korean and then I added a bit of English at the end. I bowed to the teacher’s and 우성 said “American style goodbye” She gave me a gigantic hug, and then some of the other teachers who were very kind throughout the year followed suit. Other teachers stood still and waved both hands. Then, 우성 said “now Korean style” and gave me a shot of souju. “one shot” she said. So, I barely swallowed the soju down and then she fed me some kind of fish. I think feeding someone is symbolic of something im not sure of. Other teachers wished me well for the future.

          Even though not a whole bunch of teacher’s knew/ wanted to speak English at Namoe their kindness was always apparent. I was always included in the teacher’s meetings, lunches, dinners, staff events. Going hiking with my vice principal and other teachers was my favorite. My lunch was bought for me too many times to count, during the summer and winter afterschool classes. Food was always shared with me, and I was included in coffee time in the teacher’s room. (even though I didn’t really understand the conversation) I always had a buddy at lunch, or was included in the round table lunch hour when the whole school was not in session. I really felt like I was a part of the school. I feel like I was treated as one of the “teachers” and not some spectacle to be put on display. I will definitely miss my school.

until next time...

*Kyla*

[mightytrek]

The Big Knit Cafe, Bangkok

So, before go to Bangkok, i looked up the worlds most unusual restaurants in the world and stumbled upon the "Big Knit" in Bangkok, so Garrett and I decided to check it out our last day in the city.

It was a 45 min walk from the sky train to get to, but the directions were super easy to follow from the website. The big knit is exactly how it sounds, a coffee shop that fosters the love of knitting.

There are tons and tons of knitting books for inspiration in both English and Thai. From beginner to vogue projects. Plus, lots of colorful knitted stuffed animals nuzzled beside the window of every table. All around the cafe are shelves and shelves of yarn, from simple wool, to frilly pom poms. Yarn for any type of project. (the yarn is imported from italy, so its a bit pricey) If your not the best knitter there are purses, scarfs, and stuffed animals for sale.

The cafe offers a variety of drinks, hot and cold from teas and coffees to milkshakes. All come to the table presented on a knitted coaster. They offer desserts too, Garrett and I tried the banana chocolate pie which was delicious.

This is a place where any knitter can get their creative juices flowing. Definitely worth it to stop by, you'll be glad you did ^_^

[mightytrek]

Tiger Temple: Thailand!

By far the best experience of my stay in Thailand! The tiger temple is a nature preserve owned by monks, where hundred of animals run free through the grounds (not the tigers though) Originally started as a forrest monastery in the early 1990's, the temple got its first tiger in 1999, several tiger cubs later were delivered later to the temple either from poachers who had killed the mother sparing the cubs, or pet tigers who were too big. Now, on the tour we were told they have 108 tigers! Only 15 or 20 are seen a day, those on their "best" behavior. They have  seasoned staff, monks, and volunteers to care for the tigers and other animals on the property. 

As a visitor to the temple you pay 600 baht ($20) to hang out with teens/adult tigers for the day (walking them to the canyon, taking pictures and petting them, watching them play etc.) Most tigers were sleepy when we got there (tigers apparently sleep between 16 and 18 hours a day) But, we saw tons of tigers playing in the water which was a sight to see, pouncing on each other, stealing away toys, just like regular felines. 

There are also a whole bunch of other animals roaming free, like peacocks, antelope, horses, and water buffalo. Three black bears were also housed in an enclosure, and just recently a lion and lioness, who were given to the temple by the police. A drug dealer in Thailand raised the lions to be guard animals for his drug business. 

The best part of the whole experience was playing with and feeding baby tigers!  For 1,000 baht ($33) each , you can take part in different programs (exercise program, morning program, baby tiger feeding, etc.) We chose to do the feeding program!! We got to play with 7  1 and 2 month year old tigers for about 40 min. They are so soft and cuddly!!  The two year olds were more playful than the little ones. I laid down on my back and a 2 month year old jumped right up on me and started nibbling my shoulder. (I have a battle wound to prove it ^^)  Don't worry..they all have their shots.

After some play time, we were able to bottle feed the tigers and the staff took our pictures with them. There were 4 groups of tourists doing the baby cub feeding and playing program, so the tigers were pretty much out like a light after that. 

It was such a great experience to be a part of...well worth the 2 and 1/2 hour drive. Such a great place. Before going to the temple i heard mixed reviews about the place. (drugging tigers, abuse, etc) It didn't seem to be the case. (Although one staff I saw was a bit rough with a couple of the tigers to take photos) Chatting with one of the volunteers looking at information for the tiger temple helped debunked some of the negative reviews.  If your ever around Bangkok, don't forget to stop at the tiger temple, it will be one of your cherished memories of Thailand.

[mightytrek]

11/11/11 was millennium pepero day for South Korea the most epic pepero day ever!!!.