ok so i did it. i went and experinced the pagentry of the 4th of july, explored the NYC subway and got on my plane. and so its time for europe. i am playing catch up and will probably try to sum it up as quickly as i can. i will cover my trip to ireland here today and will try to get a posting up about the UK soon.
so after flying into Dublin and the rediculousness of Boston on the 4th, i was ready for almost anything. what to say about dublin? well lets look at what i did!
after arriving we checked out the tourism desk and got recomneded the Freedom pass. its a 72 hour tourist bus pass and is also good for the normal tranist buses (a bloody good deal) also it included our airport transfer (oh yeah, i am no longer solo! Hi there to Kit, you can follow her blog as well if you want). so we got down to the city, found out where the hostel was, and went and got rooms for a few nights. so we then headed out, jumped on a bus, did a lap of the city to figure out just what was there, where we wanted to go and then hit up the pub for a feed and then it was off to bed for the night for the two of us.
dublin day 2 we debated the purchase of a "dublin pass" and decided it was worth it. 40 euros for a heap of attractions for 2 days, and we used it fairly well. we decided to do all of the piss pot activites on the one day. after doing a walking tour of dublin, we then jumped on the bus, headed to Dublina and the cathederal and checked that out. once finished there it was off to the Jameson Whisky store house. after a tour and a tasting we were off to irelands NUMBER 1 TOURIST ATTRACTION................ the guiness brewery. it is increable and covers everythign you wanted to know about the stuff. and also at the bar at the top they have one of the best views of dublin aviable.
back to the hostel again and time for sleep. we got up in the morning and headed out to Croke Park, the spirtual home of irish sport. i found it facinating and loved exploring and futher enhancing my knowlendge of irsih sport and seeing the vneue, it is quite impressive. then we headed down into town, headed to the Wax Museum (DONT BOTHER with it its no good) and then to one of the jails where the english created the revolutionary movment in ireland with exceuctions and also where they stored people prior to transportation. well i think it was quite dull for me becuse as part of australian history we have to learn about why people were transporte d in the first place.
for our last day in ireland we headed to kilkenny and the region where the book of kells was saved.
ireland is a beatuiful country with some wonderful scenery and i realy did love it. the people were lovley and i will go back there to explore it again i hope. there was a sense of familairty with the land and the people. that being said our tour guide on our 4th day in ireland rocked up looking for an irish man and found an austrlian!
the hisotry of the place is facinating and i would recommend spending some time there and usderstanding the orgins of the republic of ireland ( the 3 coulurs are for the republicans, unity and the monarchsits on the irish flag!)
we jumped on a bus to london, had a few lads get kicked off the bus for being drunk and we entered the uk with a passing glance at our pass port it was time to say good bye to ireland and now time for the uk. London
ok so i know this seems rushed but i will try to get some more info on the last 2 weeks of travel up. i am currerntly in Roermond, Nederlands for a jamboree. when i have some more down time i will try to post some more.
Friday, July 30, 2010
Sunday, July 4, 2010
The is far too much to take in here, more to do than can ever be done.
There is far too much to take in here, more to do than can ever be done.
Ok so I know its a cliché and I know that I ripped the title of this posting straight from the lion king. But……. its true.
I have traveled just under 12,000 kms on the greyhound in approximately 6 weeks. No land speed records here, but a lot of seeing new places and exploring sites I have never seen before. Realizations that I am a bit of an idiot at times and also sharing my story and hearing other people storys as I go along the road.
But enough blabbering. This week so far. Well I have two more days in north America before I board a plane. Well as I write this its 11pm on Saturday and I fly at 16:00 Monday so its less than 48 hours. And I have time to spend in boston and in new York. Hold up this is soundling like the way I normaly talk, back on topic.
When I finished my last posting I had just left Washington dc. A city in conflict. And an interesting place. But it was off to new York city. I will say this first. Racisim is alive and well in America, and I have been the victim of it a few times. Whilst most people do not actively abuse or discriminate or say they are more “entiled” because of their race, I have encounterd it a few times. Boardin the bus to NYC was one of these times. After a lady que jumped with the rest of her family and it was pointed out to her that there had been a que of people waiting paitently for the bus, she said to me that she wanst going to have no “white boy” tell her what she can and cannot do and she will do what she wants. I didn’t realize it at the time, but that stament hurts. It made me feel belittled and unimportant but I might explore that idea of race and racisim over at http://rpm85.blogspot.com at some stage, but not here.
I arrive in NYC at 05:30 on a Sunday morning. Expecting to find a city asleep, I discovered that times square was a matter of two blocks from the bus depot so I went for a walk up to times square and wiatied. I then found some internets and figured out where the hostels were in town and headed up that way. After finidng a hostel (Central Park Hostel is a very nice place, good price and two to a room!) it was time to go explore the city. As I had already bought a Metro card (that let me ride the subway and buses all day) I decided to go and hit up Stanton island. Down town was MORE crazy than normaly apparently due to the gay pride festival (from the small bit I saw it was awesome) so the ferry ride over to Stanton island was fantastic, a great view of the statue of libery and a chance for me to put my hand into the Atlantic ocean. A bit of an explore around the neighbor hood, the upper west side of manhattan island. I felt safe, even though it was a black neighbourhood, but it felt safe.
The following day I explored central park for the morning, caught up with William derby, my vicar from Vancouver and explored the fashion district, the upper part of the finachianal district, move from the hostel to a hotel and freshened up. Because I was off to broadway. And I went and enjoyed the spectacle that was American idiot. As far as narrative, its rather week, in score, in set, in ceorgoraphy, in emotion, its one of the more powerful plays I have ever seen. So thanks to my folks and to Dwayne for making the whole experience possible.
My final day in new York was focused around times square. I walked pass a heap of the theaters, and explored some of the madness that is in that area. I had JUST enough time that if I had wanted to I could have quickly seen toy story, but cinemas charging $20 for a movie are out of their mind! But the M & M’s store, the giant Toys R Us, the times square ball, and everything else from that area is just insane.
Well it was off to Ottawa and after dealing with a bus that was 2 hours late, and had a family moving home using greyhound, I made it. After helping set up some stuff for the local Canada day celebrations in Barhaven, it was home for a good nights sleep ad then it was time to head down town and witness the midday show in ottwa, the celebrations there and in gaitneau and then out to barhaven to see how they do it in the burbs. It was quite the experience. And it was good to see.
Then off to montreal I went. Took in a few hours of the montreal interaitonl jazz festival and headed out to dorval to hang with Kevin. I staye at his mums as he headed out to play with Live Steam, which are miniature locomotives. I headed out, joined him and saw the trains and had a bit of fun out there and now here I am. Sitting on the bus writing for your enjoyment, I hope.
Well this is the last time I write to you in this mode, on a bus, as a travel across North Amreica. I might write a posting from the airport. I proabaly will. So I will leave my highlights reel until then. But for now I will say this much.
There are places I want to return to. There are places I fell I have to return to, there are things I want to do that I havnt done, either due to cost or time, but I realsei that I may never get to do those things. And I regret none of my choices on this trip so far. Well its time for me to enjoy the carpark that is montreals roads, watch the world go by a bit, wait to reach the USA boarder and then sleep a bit as I head into boston. But there realy is far to much to take in here, and there realy is more to do than can ever be done.
Ok so I know its a cliché and I know that I ripped the title of this posting straight from the lion king. But……. its true.
I have traveled just under 12,000 kms on the greyhound in approximately 6 weeks. No land speed records here, but a lot of seeing new places and exploring sites I have never seen before. Realizations that I am a bit of an idiot at times and also sharing my story and hearing other people storys as I go along the road.
But enough blabbering. This week so far. Well I have two more days in north America before I board a plane. Well as I write this its 11pm on Saturday and I fly at 16:00 Monday so its less than 48 hours. And I have time to spend in boston and in new York. Hold up this is soundling like the way I normaly talk, back on topic.
When I finished my last posting I had just left Washington dc. A city in conflict. And an interesting place. But it was off to new York city. I will say this first. Racisim is alive and well in America, and I have been the victim of it a few times. Whilst most people do not actively abuse or discriminate or say they are more “entiled” because of their race, I have encounterd it a few times. Boardin the bus to NYC was one of these times. After a lady que jumped with the rest of her family and it was pointed out to her that there had been a que of people waiting paitently for the bus, she said to me that she wanst going to have no “white boy” tell her what she can and cannot do and she will do what she wants. I didn’t realize it at the time, but that stament hurts. It made me feel belittled and unimportant but I might explore that idea of race and racisim over at http://rpm85.blogspot.com at some stage, but not here.
I arrive in NYC at 05:30 on a Sunday morning. Expecting to find a city asleep, I discovered that times square was a matter of two blocks from the bus depot so I went for a walk up to times square and wiatied. I then found some internets and figured out where the hostels were in town and headed up that way. After finidng a hostel (Central Park Hostel is a very nice place, good price and two to a room!) it was time to go explore the city. As I had already bought a Metro card (that let me ride the subway and buses all day) I decided to go and hit up Stanton island. Down town was MORE crazy than normaly apparently due to the gay pride festival (from the small bit I saw it was awesome) so the ferry ride over to Stanton island was fantastic, a great view of the statue of libery and a chance for me to put my hand into the Atlantic ocean. A bit of an explore around the neighbor hood, the upper west side of manhattan island. I felt safe, even though it was a black neighbourhood, but it felt safe.
The following day I explored central park for the morning, caught up with William derby, my vicar from Vancouver and explored the fashion district, the upper part of the finachianal district, move from the hostel to a hotel and freshened up. Because I was off to broadway. And I went and enjoyed the spectacle that was American idiot. As far as narrative, its rather week, in score, in set, in ceorgoraphy, in emotion, its one of the more powerful plays I have ever seen. So thanks to my folks and to Dwayne for making the whole experience possible.
My final day in new York was focused around times square. I walked pass a heap of the theaters, and explored some of the madness that is in that area. I had JUST enough time that if I had wanted to I could have quickly seen toy story, but cinemas charging $20 for a movie are out of their mind! But the M & M’s store, the giant Toys R Us, the times square ball, and everything else from that area is just insane.
Well it was off to Ottawa and after dealing with a bus that was 2 hours late, and had a family moving home using greyhound, I made it. After helping set up some stuff for the local Canada day celebrations in Barhaven, it was home for a good nights sleep ad then it was time to head down town and witness the midday show in ottwa, the celebrations there and in gaitneau and then out to barhaven to see how they do it in the burbs. It was quite the experience. And it was good to see.
Then off to montreal I went. Took in a few hours of the montreal interaitonl jazz festival and headed out to dorval to hang with Kevin. I staye at his mums as he headed out to play with Live Steam, which are miniature locomotives. I headed out, joined him and saw the trains and had a bit of fun out there and now here I am. Sitting on the bus writing for your enjoyment, I hope.
Well this is the last time I write to you in this mode, on a bus, as a travel across North Amreica. I might write a posting from the airport. I proabaly will. So I will leave my highlights reel until then. But for now I will say this much.
There are places I want to return to. There are places I fell I have to return to, there are things I want to do that I havnt done, either due to cost or time, but I realsei that I may never get to do those things. And I regret none of my choices on this trip so far. Well its time for me to enjoy the carpark that is montreals roads, watch the world go by a bit, wait to reach the USA boarder and then sleep a bit as I head into boston. But there realy is far to much to take in here, and there realy is more to do than can ever be done.
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