Random Amsterdam Thoughts and Observations

I managed to scam an extra few minutes of free internet and thought I would list some of the odd points I have seen around here
- Bikes EVERYWHERE. You really have to see it to believe it
- I saw ONE truck in the past 3 weeks and it was way out in the country on a farm (saw it from the train between Eindhoven and Amsterdam)
- No flip-phones (other than a few rare Razr's), and viseo phones are just starting to come out over here - been out in Japan for a few years now
- All the locals are tall and blonde - apparently the Dutch are one of the tallest groups of people on the whole (women 5'8" and men 6'2" - according to my tour guide, but it seems believable)
- Pay toilets everywhere, but that was expected - at least they are clean (not like the street corner urinals)
- The Dutch speak GREAT English (so much better than the Brits and Irish), and almost everything is bilingual with Dutch/English

I know I have a bunch more written down back at the hostel, but that will have to wait for another time.

What can I say about the Netherlands

So I'm down to my last night in Amsterdam and it's been an awesome 4 days here. I started out by arriving in Eindhoven and Couchsurfing (www.couchsurfing.com for more info). Martijn (my host) picked me up from the airport, then we hung out with 2 other surfers he had staying with him from Italy. It was Dutch Design Week, so we spent the next day checking out some of the exhibits - it was great having a local as a tour guide. I caught a train to Amsterdam that night, then set out walking around the city aimlessly. A-dam definitely wins for most confussing city, as I got lost every 5 minutes. Fortunately it's small enough that you will always find your way back home if you just keep walking around. The next day I went to a "Free Tour" put on by people that were travelling though Europe, stopped here intending to stay a day, but have now been here months. They work strictly for tips and tell you ALL about the city in a 3-hour walking tour. Apparently there are similar tours in Berlin and Munich that I highly reccomend and plan on checking out myself when I get out that way. After hitting a few of the historical "regulars" (eg. Rembrant and Van Gogh exhibits), I managed to get out to check out the Red Light District. Turns out it's just a whole lot of english tourists walking around checking out the windows, although it would probably be quite a bit more fun in a big group, rather than wandering around solo. Finally, today I got a chance to meet with with friends from home (the Venekamps) - took a canal cruise all through the city, then lunch and a bit of a walk around Rudy's old neighborhood. It was great to be able to talk with people past the typical conversation of "where are you from/what are your plans/etc . . .).

Tomorrow morning I'm off to Den Hagg in the morning, then Rotterdam in the evening before heading into Belgium and Luxembourg for the next 2 weeks.

Sorry this post was quite a bit matter of fact and I'm lacking pictures, but I'll try to get a few interesting stories up later in the week (hopefully I'll have some free internet access).

Dublin, the city of a thousand pubs (almost)

So I don’t think I have the time or patience to write about everything I’ve done in Dublin, but here is a bit of a summary to go along with the latest pictures. My routine the past few days has been to pick a direction and just start walking. I stop at museums, monuments, parks, etc. and go as far as possible until about 1pm, find something to eat, then turn around and head back to the hostel.

It turns out that the remains of the St. Valentine are housed at the Whitefriar Street Carmaline Church next door to the hostel I am staying in. I thought there would be more publicity about that sort of thing, but there is just a small plaque stating that Pope Gregory XVI gave it to the church as a gift.

On Saturday, Susan and I made it out to the Temple Bar area and went to Oliver St. John Gogerty’s and The Porterhouse. Gogerty’s was so packed full you could barely move, and apparently is a prime pickpocket zone. The Porterhouse had a bit more space to move around in, but that was because it’s got 5 full floors – it also had an awesome live band and featured a few mean harmonica solos! For the count, that is 2 pubs down with a little more than 900 to go.

Yesterday, Susan and I, along with Joan (her flat mate), Amy and Kaitlin (2 people I met at the hostel) picked up some fish & chips from the renowned “chipper” Leo Burdock, then went over to Dublin Castle to eat. My advice is to get the half-order of fries. I attempted the full meal deal, but was defeated. In my defence, the thing weighed about 5 pounds and was just dripping with grease. Even if I did finish it I don’t think I could have considered it a win.

Today I decided to head north and look for the Wellington Monument (it’s always a bit of a search for a particular building because only every other street is marked . . .). After an hour of searching I found myself in what appeared to be a housing project of some sort. There were rows and rows of identical, attached houses surrounded on three sides by brick walls, with a prison in the center. And if you check out the photo, the walls had shards of glass cemented into the top to deter scaling. In finally made it to the park and even managed to get myself into a few of the pictures with the Monument.

Some of the other pics and places I’ve been:

- The Brazen Head – oldest pub in Dublin

- All along O’Connell Street – featuring the Spire and other Monuments

- Kilmainhag Gaol – jail that played a major part in Ireland’s history

- Jameson Whiskey Distillery and Chimney Viewing Tower – went past, but didn’t go on the tour (10am was feeling a bit early to be taste testing)

- Guinness Brewery and Windmill– hopefully will have time for the tour before heading to the Netherlands

Tomorrow is my last full day in Dublin for a few weeks, but I’ll be back in the middle of November to start looking for a job and place to live, as well as take weekend trips a bit farther outside of the city.

The Guinness in Dublin is Definately Creamier

So I had my first pint of Guinness here and it just wasn't the same as home (although the price was). It took a good 2 minutes to pour, but was well worth the wait. Dublin is just as expensive as London, but it has the advantage of having a friendly atmosphere and a pub within eye-shot no matter where you are standing.

After meeting Susan's friends I felt right at home - it definately didn't hurt that a half dozen of them were from the Vancouver area.

Not sure what the weekend holds, but will post as soon as anything notable happens.

So long London, Hello Dublin

So it turns out that if you check out of your hostel in the morning, and your train doesn't leave until the evening, you have a lot of time on your hands and not many options of things to do (as you have to carry your pack around all day). After a whole lot of people watching, reading a book almost cover to cover and listening to a bit of music, my train finally came. I had planned on sleeping a bit on the way to Liverpool, but had heard we needed to change trains at some point - I just couldn't understand where this was taking place (the English accent is surprisingly elusive). I met an old Irish guy next to me who was going to Dublin too, so I ended up just following him. All in all I managed to get a total of about 30 minutes of sleep on the floor of the 4-hour ferry, then trekked my gear across Dublin because the bus I needed wasn't running yet (at 6am). It turns out that Dublin really isn't all that big; I figure it's about on par with the size of UBC. Also, the story of Dublin having a pub on every corner is not quite true . . . there is a regular store on every corner and the rest are ALL pubs! Honestly, every street has 5 or 6 places to sit down and have a pint of the dark stuff.

The hostel I was at in London was full of Kiwi's, Aussie's and school groups - The people that were there already had their "groups" formed and weren't all that social. The place I'm at now in Dublin is looking like more of the same, only with a ton of Italians and Germans. It's all good though, tomorrow I'm meeting up with Susan and it's looking like we're going to hit up a pub or two.

I'm in a 12-bed room in my latest mega-hostel, but it is cheap and they have free internet. I figure I can put up with it for the week.

As I have this unlimited access to the net, I've managed to get some pics up finally. As I was going through them I realized that I am lacking any with myself in the foreground. I'm not a fan of doing the "out-stretched arm" deal, thereby having a picture of my huge head with some random location behind me. I'll try and work on it though. You can probably figure out what most of the pics are of, but I labeled most of them (yes, I know there are spelling mistakes).

I also included a few pictures of a few cars that I saw parked along the same street when I was walking around Marble Arch (I heard Madonna lives in this area). Also, I overheard a few guys saying that the housing prices in the area were about £2,500/sq ft. I didn't get a chance to get a pic of them, but there was also a Lamborghini and a Rolls Royce driving around the block.

By the end of the week I should have a few pictures and stories from Dublin, but so far it has just been walking around in the rain.

Mind The Kerb

Mind the step, mind the kerb, mind your head, watch for pick-pockets, look right, look left - it seems like there are warnings EVERYWHERE on the street here (along with tons and tons of CCTV cameras watch you).

So a week has come and gone, but after a pocket full of ticket stubs to attractions, thousands of steps to the top of the London Bridge, St. Pauls Cathedral, The Monument, etc. and about 500 pictures, I like to think I have seen and done quite a bit in the time I've had. My days have been pretty rushed, but I've managed to enjoy every minute of it. Once I get more organized and have access to a computer that lets me upload my pics, I'll put up some of my favorites.

Forget the Netherlands being odd for putting mayo on their fries . . . how about corn and ketchup as extra toppings on your sandwich at Subway? Alright, so I had the corn on mine and it was delicious, but ketchup!?
Aside from a few oddities, London is just about like being home (or at least isn't too different). I've caught myself a few times having to remember where I am exactly - at times it has seemed like I would turn a corner and end up in Stanley Park.

In the morning I'm getting booted from my hostel and am off to Dublin (by the overnight train-bus-ferry route) and should get there by Wednesday morning. I left booking a hostel a bit late, so am fairly limited with places to stay. However, I've found a place within walking distance of downtown that should do the trick for the week.

This week has been the longest time in a while that I have gone without hanging out with good friends, but that will come to a close very soon. I talked to Susan yesterday and word is that we are starting off the weekend early with an Irish concert of some sort (don't really know the details, but she sold me on it - honestly, how can you go wrong?). After that I figure we'll hit up some of the regular sights around Dublin for the rest of the weekend.

Thanks to those that have written and I'll try to stay on top of getting back to everyone. Bye for now.

I made it!

So I am finally here in London!
The flight over was great and got moved to empty rows on both of my flights (and even managed to get a bit of sleep). I got to the hostel at around noon, then went straight downtown to see what I could see. Turns out I just can't get away from the local sights of Vancouver/Sqamish. I walked though Harrods Department Store and was taking a look at the new plasma TVs on the 4th floor - the demo they had playing on them caught my eye right away . . . it was False Creek, then Stanley Park, The Chief and Whistler Village. I got a bit of a laugh out of it. After that I went down the street to check out the V&A Museum, and walking toward me is Torin Falknor (from Squamish). Turns out he's been travelling around Europe for the past few months and has settled in London for a while.

I've managed to get around the city quite a bit in the last 2 days (all thanks to the Underground - greatest transit system I've ever seen). I'm still not quite used to looking right when I step off the side walk, but everyone seems a bit sketchy when it comes to "rules of the road" around here. Yesterday I saw a guy on a scooter get taken out by a bus, and stop lights are routiney treated as a suggestion only.
Although, in the past 48 hours, I've seen more Bentlys, Aston Martins and every other luxery car imaginable, than ever before.

My time at the cafe here is running out, so hopefully I'll be able to write a bit more next time,
Trev