|
Post by BSJ on May 9, 2016 22:35:00 GMT
Love the photo of you and the house on the lake
|
|
|
Post by Helmut83 on May 11, 2016 3:22:19 GMT
- Reflection #4: about politeness. Everyone knows British people are polite, but when you experiment first hand that politeness you realize how much it can enhance your experience as a tourist and probably your day-to-day life if you live there. Except in London, where I found a few bitter assholes, all through the rest of the UK and in Ireland I found people were extremely kind, respectful and eager to help at any circumstance. Everything is "sorry", "please", "thank you", "no worries", smiles, help... And it's contagious, because when everyone around you behaves like that you feel compelled and motivated to behave the same way. ---- - 16/4: Edinburgh - Inverness:I'm going to write a lot about this day because it had many happenings and I knew the city I liked most of my trip. First I got a chance to test the Premier Inn policy of "if you don't sleep well we give you back your money". At the Edinburgh city center Premier Inn I was given a room that had a wooden door in the middle which lead to another room (it was just locked). Before 7:00 a.m. I was awoken by a couple in that room (no, they were just talking... and banging... the door) so I told that to a hotel employee and to my surprise they refunded me all of my money. The train to Inverness was just two tiny wagons and there were loads of people waiting for it at the station. It was chaos. People were traveling standing up because it had been oversold. So South America. The trip through the Highlands with all those beautiful landscapes was an attraction in itself. Scottish Highlands (Cairngorns National Park) from the trainSnowstorm on the wayAt this point of my stay my normally introvert self had given in and I was making friends with everyone everywhere. First I chatted with a Spanish woman who got down at Perth (it was a nice break from speaking in English). Her replacement on the seat was the Scottish version of Cruella de Ville, a stylish, refined, elegant lady with whom I made friends as well. She must have seen me too slim because all the time she asked for food (she had first class tickets) and when the guy who brought it went away she gave most everything to me. She also provided me with booze as she had an apparently endless provision of fruit flavored Smirnoff drinks in her handbag. She was extremely generous -who shares a truckload of food and booze with a complete stranger?- and fun. So I traveled like in first class but with a 2nd class ticket and arrived half drunk to Inverness (not being Scottish I'm not immune to alcohol at that time of the day). Down by the river...
Scottish music at Inverness' city centreI went to my "guest house" only to find out it was a big hotel with lots of rooms and the worst pigsty I had ever been to (and I have been to some serious pigsties). Dirty. No curtains at all. A terribly noisy engine above the ceiling. But worst thing: it wasn't ensuite as it had been advertised. It had shared bathroom. " OK, I have been swindled. Time to accept defeat. They might have my money but there's no way I'm staying at this stable". So I checked out angrily minutes after my check in and surprisignly enough I was offered a refund (that made two in one day!). The owner was conscious about her "mistake" on advertising. So being homeless now I head to the train station for some help and this incredibly nice guy comes out of the information cabin, takes out his phone and starts making research by internet and calling places until he gets me a room in a guest house! Ridiculous! I couldn't thank him enough. I shook hands with him and went to my new guest house, which was luxurious compared to the first one and only 7 pounds more expensive. "No more room for me in ELO? No problem, I'll move to Inverness and dedicate myself to other trades..."Inverness was definitely the standout of my trip and the most beautiful of the cities and towns I've been to. I fell in love with it. Awesome place with a small town charm. It also had the extra value of being a place no one talked to me about and I'd never seen photos of so everything there was a discovery. I walked for about 4 hours, went to the Caledonian canal, the massive Kessock Bridge, the stadium, the city center, the castle and then went all along the Ness river, ending up in some green islands on it. Everything was ridiculosuly gorgeous except for a square building that some genius had the idea of placing right next to the castle. Whoever had the idea of placing that soviet building right beside the castle deserves a lifetime of sufferingsI saw people playing bagpipies in the street. At one point I passed by a saloon where a lot of guys were arriving in their kilts, a pictoresque scene which I didn't dare photograph. It didn't sound like a good idea to anger a group of Scots in their kilts. There are beautiful cities and then there's InvernessNess Bank ChurchIt was Saturday so at night I went to a few the city center. If Edinburgh's nightlife had been a bit of a letdown, Inverness surprised me for the good in that aspect having in mind it's such a small city. There were several options, including a couple of dance clubs, most of them pretty crowded, and people on the main street as well. As you can imagine, there were almost more drunk than sober people. Here I must point out Scottish girls are pretty fearless when it comes to braving the weather. Late at night the temperatures in the streets were really cold (I'm pretty sure it was easily below zero) yet they went out exposing a very considerable amount of their legs and chest. Not that I will complain, but I couldn't believe how people with such clothing couldn't be having the worst time of their lives under those climatic conditions. More of Inverness' beauty almost by nighttime - 17/4: Inverness - Glasgow:Took the train at Inverness and caught another one in Perth to get to Glasgow. Here another remarkable footbal coincidence happened: right when I arrived, Celtic FC and Glasgow Rangers were playing the first derby in 4 years -or so I read- (since Rangers went into bankruptcy and disappeared) so the city was paralized and deserted. When I was in the street looking for my hotel Rangers scored a goal and I could hear a massive roar coming from all the buildings around. Finally the underdog Rangers won dramatically on penalties after a great game and during the rest of the day hordes of Rangers fans appeared everywhere on the streets dressed in blue, drunk and singing their team's chants. Some sort of bocce game seems to be quite popular in Glasgow as I saw several fields of it around the city. Kelvingrove Museum in the background. Glasgow has it's nice areas and others which aren't as nice. Some parts of it are dark, gloomy and a bit dirty. The city center is big and has tall buildings and some incredibly steep streets. I walked randomly during all of the afternoon. At night I went to a street full of pubs -maybe it was Sauchiehall but I couldn't tell for sure-. It may have had to do with the football derby but I was impressed by the amount of people that were lurking around there, and it was several blocks of activity even though it was a Sunday. I was rejected from one bar for being in "trainers" -the muscleman at the door called them so- but then was admitted into a few others and people were really friendly. ----------- - Reflection #5: Glasgow vs. Edinburgh. How much an accurate impression of a city can you get when you only get to spend one day there? Not much. That being said, I'm going to state the probably inaccurate ideas I got from Scotland's two largest cities. From an aesthetical and architectural point of view I think Edinburgh is undoubtedly more beautiful. Glasgow has it's pretty parts as well but others don't look as good. However, I got the impression that a lot in Scotland's capital has been mounted for tourism and a whole other lot is sucking from the tits of public administration, particularly in terms of jobs and economic activity. Also, it seems to have been thought as a very cosmopolitan city, built to show to the world. Glasgow seems to be a more authentic city in that aspect, not so planned, much more related to the life and blood of Scotland and more authentically Scottish. It's bigger and it impressed me as more full of life, even if those forms of life aren't always as elegant as in Edinburgh. All in all I'd say Edinburgh sounds better for a holiday but if I had to chose where to live Glasgow looked like a better place to me.
|
|
|
Post by queenofthehours on May 11, 2016 20:08:27 GMT
Wow, Helmut83 met Greyfriars Bobby! I was OBSESSED by the 1961 Disney movie as a kid. I think I broke the tape, I would watch it everyday. Same case as my sister exactly. Yeah, Lake District is so scenic. Have you ever been to? It's not that far from your place. I tried to play the sensitive artist with that photo of the lone daffodil. I have never been to the Lake District. It is the one place I'm longing to see, I know I'll love it . So far I've only got as far as Morecambe!
And I thought it was a happy accident - it's very artistic, very Wordsworthian and Romantic. If you had been on your Grand Tour in the 1700s that view would have taken pride of place in sketch book.
|
|
|
Post by unomusette on May 11, 2016 20:36:28 GMT
Another brilliant slice of travelogue fun, loving the Reflections parts too, very professional
|
|
|
Post by Helmut83 on May 11, 2016 21:25:07 GMT
I wonder how many of these places have you guys been to. I know many of you have been to Edinburgh but I'd like to know a bit more about what other of these places you've been to (maybe after I've made the whole list). I hope I don't say any brutality about some place you know (about the ones you don't know I could be saying anything and you'd swallow ) but if that's the case don't hesitate in correcting me.
|
|
|
Post by sparky123 on May 14, 2016 20:23:49 GMT
I wonder how many of these places have you guys been to. I know many of you have been to Edinburgh but I'd like to know a bit more about what other of these places you've been to (maybe after I've made the whole list). I hope I don't say any brutality about some place you know (about the ones you don't know I could be saying anything and you'd swallow ) but if that's the case don't hesitate in correcting me. So far only London and Edinburgh (as its just up the road from me, well 120 miles up the road!) but apart from that I've not been to any other of the places you've visited and spent any time there to give a judgement. You are right about London though it can be a unfriendly place but I love it there (a viewpoint not shared my many in the UK) as there's so much to see and do.
|
|
|
Post by Helmut83 on May 15, 2016 2:10:34 GMT
- 18/4: Glasgow - Belfast:
I woke up at the Argyle Street Premier Inn and again, hop-on hop-off bus (at this point I should have been named honorary client) for an insight on the history of the multifasceted Glasgow, how the city was formed and the big influence the tobacco lords had on this process. George Square in GlasgowI got down at the Riverside Museum, which has to be a dream for every car and motorcycle lover as there are lots of models of the most varied eras, including some very old ones. There's also old trams, locomotives, horse-drawn coaches, sidecars and many other means of transport. I'm not particularly keen on vehicles but I was still absorted by the variety in display. There are so many motorcycles and cars at the Riverside Museum that they have to pile them in shelvesThen I hopped on the Glenlee (aka Tall Ship), a ship which served in the Spanish Navy and is docked right beside the Museum. After that I completed the bus loop, went to the hotel to fetch my things and took the train to the small coastal Scottish town of Stranraer, changing at Ayr. On the GlenleeThe guy thinks he's an artist or something...I can't remember who's the guy on the statue, but what I can remember is that it is usual to find him wearing a traffic cone that the locals placed over his head. Apparently the Police has to take it down every day but people climb on the statue at night and put it there again. I love those folkloric oddities.The landscape along the way to Stranraer was very scenic, as in every other trip I made in Scotland.At Stranraer I took a taxi to Cairnryan, the even smaller town from where the Stena Line ferry departs. On the way the taxi driver, a Stranraer native who who bred horses for jumping, asked me for a photo because he liked to upload photos of forieign passengers to his Facebook account. He gave me his card and told me to search for him on Facebook because he would upload my photo (and he did! By the way I don't think I've ever looked more destroyed in my life than in that photo). After waiting for more than 3 hours (much of which I layed in a wonderful green grass outside the ferry terminal, taking advantage of the first sunny day since my arrival in the UK), I did the check in. Stena Line was hostile to me since then. The woman who checked the handbags passengers were taking with them opened my backpack and asked me if I was taking anything sharp with me. " Oh... I have a Swiss Army knife". I hadn't thought about it. Woman checks indefinitely and starts spreading my luggage all over the place. Me: " Do you want me to show you where the knife is?". Woman " No". Keeps checking and spreading every single thing I had in the backpack. Me: " But I can show you...". Woman: " No!". Me: " OK...". She keeps on checking, keeps on spreading, and after a good while is forced to admit defeat: " where's the knife?". I felt tempted to point my finger at her and start laughing ala Nelson from the Simpsons " ha-ha! ♪♫ You could't find it, you couldn't find it! ♫♪". Instead I controlled myself and showed her the hidden pocket where the knife was. She just muttered an " it's OK", letting me know I could travel with the knife. Do you think she helped collect my things and put them away? No. Proud woman, I should have laughed at her. On the ferry leaving ScotlandSo I boarded the ferry and after promenading myself around the deck and watching the Tottenham vs. Stoke City game at the ship restaurant I arrived in Belfast, where much to my fascination the taxi driver told me the airport was named George Best after the famous Northern Irish football player. I was tired, dizzy after the ship (the tide had been pretty wavy) and my toe was hurting so that night I didn't go out and went to bed early at the Belfast Premier Inn. - - Reflection #6: accents in the UK and Ireland. Some of you guys asked me how I fared with the regional accents during my stay in these countries. Well, I must say London was probably the place where I felt I understood the most. Then, as I went moving up North things started getting gradually worse: Birmingham and Liverpool's accents were still mostly understandable for me (although not as much as London's), at Windermere I had some difficulties and on reaching Scotland things got pretty bad and I found myself having to ask people to repeat what they were saying once or twice -and even like that sometimes still not understanding-. In Ireland I did quite OK (although I came across so many foreign people that I couldn't tell for sure about the Irish themselves) and in Wales much better than I had expected. With people from the Sheffield area I had quite a hard time in that aspect. One factor which I noticed is that, no matter the place, in general older people tend to pronounce much more clearly than younger people and I was able to understand them much better. --- - 19/4: Belfast - Dublin: Guess what I did in Belfast? Yeah, hop-on hop-off bus. This one had the particularity of featuring a live guide, a very extrovert and proud Northern Irish whom along the way took time to chat two or three times which each of the passengers, asking them where they were from, what were they doing there, etc... When I told him it was the most sunny day I have gotten in the UK so far he was all like " see? I told you! This is Belfast, baby! We are the best!". Then on the mic he joked about the Titanic: " it was in excellent condition when we built it and sailed it. It's only when you give things to the English that stuff like that happens...". I laughed, probably more at the guide's lack of diplomacy -there must have been some English tourists on the bus- than at the joke itself. Belfast City HallThe whole bus thing was very revealing for me. I vaguely knew the basics about the Troubles, the bombings and all that stuff, but I wasn't aware the problem between unionists and nationalists was still relatively alive and a matter of discussion these days in Northern Ireland, I thought it was more a thing of the past. You can see it everywhere. Many houses have Irish or British flags in their fronts or hanging from their windows, a way in which people manifest themselves as to which side they are in favour of. There are lots of murals with political and belic content but the most impressive thing are the Peace Lines, huge walls built in the middle of the city that separate unionist from nationalist neighbourhoods and that according to our guide were longer than the Berlin Wall. The bus also takes you to the Parliament Buildings (aka Stormont), a very impressive palace with huge beautiful gardens. As if their very high salaries weren't enough, the suits in charge of complicating peoples' lives get this beauty of a premise for themselves
One of the many murals with political content you can find on Falls Road. No, it's not Bev Bevan
The Peace Lines or Peace Walls. Mindblowing to think such a thing is still standing up today somewhere in the UK
After completing the bus loop I still had time to go to the Titanic museum (following unomusette 's advice). It's really big and modern and even if you are not too obsessed with the ship's story it's an interesting visit that can take up to 3 or 4 hours. The thing which impressed me the most was reading the SOS morse calls the Titanic sent and the answers of incredulity it received from other ships, some of them asking if they were being serious. The Nomadic is the last White Star Line ship that still floats somewhere. It's anchored outside the Titanic museumIn the evening I took a very good train from Belfast Central station to Dublin Connolly. I had to switch from Pounds to Euros. I arrived at night and checked in at the Times Hostel, which is a pretty lousy one but cheap and in great location. At night I went to the Temple Bar Pub to met up with the 3rd forum member on my trip, 21stcenturyman (aka "Tranquilidade Brasileira" ), who is Brazilian and a Fluminense fan, great guy with whom I got along really well. We chatted a lot about many things, among them ELO. He had already been to the show at Leeds and he didn't anticipate me much but told me that it had been fantastic and there would be a few unexpected susprises on the setlist. He also introduced me to his course mates (we was doing a 2-week course for his career if I recall correctly). We didn't speak in Spanish nor in Portuguese; just English.
A really pictoresque thing I found in Dublin nights are some very particular carriages that wander around the streets at night. They are tricycles powered by one person pedaling at the front and at the back they have a semi-closed bench with room for two passengers. Their drivers stop and offer you to take you on a ride. I don't know if the Irish judge that it's a romantic thing to have another human being pedaling for you -and probably hearing your gossip with your partner-, but it's a most curious means of transport and there are many people offering it. In fact when we came out of the pub with 21stcenturyman we were offered to be taken around in one of those , but we gently refused as we were only starting to know each other. Later on another carriage appeared driven (and pedaled) by a remarkably attractive young lady -why she was commited to forced duties is beyond me- and we were both like " yes, I'd go in that one! Please ask me!" but she didn't.
|
|
|
Post by Horacewimp on May 15, 2016 15:45:11 GMT
I think the guy on the horse is someone important from the Industrial Revolution.
|
|
|
Post by Helmut83 on May 15, 2016 18:26:35 GMT
I think the guy on the horse is someone important from the Industrial Revolution. Having in mind the guy is using a horse instead of a steam locomotive, I'm starting to have doubts about the exactitude of my Birmingham personal guide...
|
|
|
Post by unomusette on May 15, 2016 20:32:56 GMT
Fantastic post, great pics, especially Man With Cone Hat. It must take a lot of effort getting the cone up there every night, wonder where they get them from? I reckon it's the police doing it with the same cone, just to give themselves something to do next day, taking it down.
|
|
|
Post by Helmut83 on May 15, 2016 20:53:32 GMT
Fantastic post, great pics, especially Man With Cone Hat. It must take a lot of effort getting the cone up there every night, wonder where they get them from? I reckon it's the police doing it with the same cone, just to give themselves something to do next day, taking it down. Yeah, there are probably not many incidents in Glasgow so they have to justify their wage somehow.
|
|
|
Post by BSJ on May 15, 2016 22:50:36 GMT
great humor
|
|
|
Post by Helmut83 on May 19, 2016 4:05:12 GMT
- 20/4: Dublin:
I had to sacrifice the whole morning to administrative and mundane issues such as making a few bookings and doing laundry, taking advantage of the fact that the hostel I was staying at had computers with internet and some laundry machines. Then I had lunch with some Spanish people at the hostel. That was the good thing about the hostel, despite being quite cheap and anything but luxurious, there was a general good vibe all around. There were many young people with good predisposition there. In the afternoon I went to... guess what?... yes! Yet another hop-on hop-off sightseeing bus. Those are always interesting and entertaning to do. One particular thing I can recall is that the recording talked about the Duke of Wellington being ashamed of his origins and normally trying to hide the fact that he had been born in Dublin. When asked about it, he answered " being born in a stable doesn't make you a horse". Wellington Testimonial, a massive obelisk in Phoenix ParkDublin is quite a beautiful city. The Irish take their colours very seriously, you can see lots of orange but particularly green everywhere, including the facades of the houses. We passed by several iconic places, like O'Connell Street, Christ Church Cathedral, Trinity College, St. Patrick's Cathedral and the Guiness beer distillery. St. Patrick's Cathedral. Terrible photo, I know, but all of my photos from Dublin are really bad.
At night I went for a walk around Temple Bar, where I saw a few pubs where Irish traditional music was being played live. That's quite a spectacle to witness, particularly when there is a very lively audience dancing and cheering on the musicians, just like in the movies. Here I must say the Irish struck me as remarkably friendly and open, more so than the British -for example, more prone to approaching you out of nothing and starting a conversation-. An Irish party at Dublin Reflection #7: Driving in the UK. Driving in the UK is surprisingly different to how this activity is developed in Argentina and other parts of the world, and not just because they go by the left. The British way of driving is much more lively, vehement and, in my eyes, risky (but then again, they are such great drivers that they don't crash). Everything is very tight spaces, narrow streets, sharp corners, short blocks, ridiculously steep slopes, sudden turns, buildings which end literally at the side of the road or street, cars parked everywhere... And in the middle of all that the British manage to develop surprisingly high speeds. I talked about this subject with people from the US and Brazil (21stCenturyMan) and we shared exactly the same point of view: we would last around 5 minutes without crashing in the British traffic. ------ - 21/4: Dublin - Cork - Dun Laoghaire:
The previous night I had received the good news that 21stcenturyman would be joining me on my day tour to the South of Ireland, so we met at the collecting point early in the morning and took the bus. At first the landscape was very similar to the north of the Province of Buenos Aires, OK but nothing spectacular. Then as we approached the south it turned more scenic as a few mountain ranges appeared. Me with the Rock of Cashel (a very ancient castle) in the background. The sky steals the picture here.We went by Cashel in the Tipperary, and after a while we arrived in Cobh, a very beautiful port town which has the particularity of being the last dock where the Titanic moored before sailing into open sea and disaster. There we went for a walk, took a few photos and then headed for lunch to a restaurant. I asked for some unknown mix of sea products (oysters, shrimps, etc...) and it came out to be the finest meal I've ever had, absolutely fantastic. I asked the waiter to congratulate the cook for that dish. Brazil and Argentina at CobhThen I had a proof that 21stcenturyman 's calmness and optimism is bulletproof and nothing at all can disturb it. We kind of got lost and couldn't find the bus and it was almost the meeting time. I was going crazy saying " where the hell is that damn bus? Wasn't it here that it should be? If they leave us here we are doomed! We will have to swim our way back to South America!" and in the midst of all my apocalyptic ramblings he was totally unconcerned: " It's OK, man, just relax, everything will be alright, they are not going to leave us...". Enviable calm. Much for my relief he was right, they didn't leave us, and luckily a few of the other tourists were worse than us and arrived later. Then we went to the magnificent Blarney Castle, or, as 21stCenturyMan accidentally called it, the "Barney Castle" (here I warned him that if he was expecting to find the purple dinosaur inside that castle he had taken the wrong tour). We had a laugh at that. Inside we climbed all the way up through an incredibly narrow spiral staircase and we reached a ridgy terrace where the Blarney Stone is located. This is an iconic monument for the Irish. It is said that if you kiss it in an incredibly uncomfortable position (upside down and with a massive abyss below you) you gain the gift of skillful speech for 7 years. After witnessing what you had to do to kiss the stone both 21stcenturyman and I agreed that we could live without the gift of speech. In comparison, I liked the Blarney Castle much more than the Edinburgh Castle because it is not as overhauled and revamped. It's almost as nature left it: in ruins -except for the gardens, of course-. The Blarney Stone is right at the top of it.
Climbing to the Blarney Castle terrace where the Stone was. Out of shape anyone? It sounded like we were climbing Mount Everest. "My gym for today", that's 21stCenturyMan. lol
This young girl had the worst time of her life on her attempt to kiss the Blarney Stone, but her determination was admirable. She was trembling but never thought of giving up, and she made it. Would you believe that while she was going through this there were some unscrupulous people taking pictures of the situation?With 21stCenturyMan in an internal patio in the CastleA mansion in the gardens of the Castle that could have been labeled as a castle itselfLast stop was at Cork, Ireland's 2nd largest city. Again, beautiful (how many Irish cities or towns couldn't be labeled as such?) and with very colorful buildings. We took a walk by the city center and the River Lee, had some sandwiches at a bar and went back to the bus that would take us back to Dublin. Cork's city centreSomething always reminds you of ELO, even in CorkOn arriving I said goodbye to my fellow Southamerican traveling mate, went back to the hostel, picked up my things and took a train to Dun Laoghaire, which is an outskirt of Dublin which has a port from where my ferry to Wales was going to come out. On arriving at Dun Laoghaire everything looked normal: I passed by the Stena Line terminal (I could see the signs with the name of the ferry company), then I asked the receptionist at the hotel how long it was walking to the ferries' terminal and he told me it was a 10 minutes walk... Everything seemed ok. Everything SEEMED ok... but disaster was already in the making.
|
|
|
Post by queenofthehours on May 19, 2016 12:35:21 GMT
I prefer "Barney" to "Blarney" Castle by any name it's a magnificent building.
|
|
|
Post by BSJ on May 19, 2016 22:09:02 GMT
I'm outside reading this on my iPad, and I discovered that I can enlarge your photos, making them "more better" (ha! I need kiss the Barney stone) seeing details. Members faces are clearer. Lovely to see ya'll And, most important to me, buildings. Agree with queenofthehours. Magnificent is the castle as well as the photo. Might be the best one yet.
|
|