Hello!!!
Yes it has been a while since my last update. It seems like there is so much to do once I get to the computers... book trains, couchsurfing, buses, flights etc!
My time in Lisboa was awesome. I took Sunday off from being a tourist and just hungout at the house. My allergies cleared up from being inside and it was just too hot for me to go outside!
Monday I went into the city to walk around and check out shops. It has a nice atmosphere but it is quite different from Porto. More of a city I suppose, and a lot more tourists everywhere! The people were nice though, it wasnt uptight like a lot of cities... just busy!
On Tuesday I made my way to the National Park which was created for Expo 98. It has lots of really neat buildings, everyone in Lisboa refers to it as "The New Lisbon" because the rest of the city is sooo old! It also has a massive shopping mall that is attached to the train station. Like most places in Europe, the transit system is easy to navigate and very efficient. During my wait at the train station (which I found out later wasnt necessary, because I could have taken the metro instead of the above ground), this older guy sat down next to me and shared his apple. His name was Vladomiro. He told me all about the transit system and wrote down on paper how to get to my destinations for Wednesday. His english was quite good and he was interesting. He is going to send me a postcard from his trip to Iceland in July!
I went to the Oceanarium at the park and it was SOOO neat! The Penguins were hands down the cutest! They recreated the natural habitats of the 5 oceans and had all sorts of different fish and birds. I took some pictures, and a couple videos of the Penguins. The otters were a close second, their little furry hands are so cute.
On the walk from Gabes to the ferry on Wednesday morning I walked by a young guy from Africa. He started talking to me in french and I answered in english... he was just standing at the bus stop and I was talking briefly while I walked by. He decided to follow me and try to talk to me, but he speaks French and Portuguese and I speak very little of either! We asked where I was going so I said I was heading to 2 beautiful towns outside of Lisbon called Cascais (pronounced cas-cash like cashmere sweater) and Sintra. He asked if I was going swimming and I said maybe, then in a series of basic language mixed with actions (its like a big game of shrades!) he asked if he was coming with me. I said "If you want". He went across the ferry with me, walked to the train station and got on the train. 3 stations before Cascais the train guy got on and checked tickets. He had a transit pass but I guess he was outside of his zone. The guy kicked him off and I stayed on the train. I felt a little bad but I didnt have any time to spare and if he was really wanting to go, he should have paid for his ticket while I bought mine! His name was Jalo, rhymes with Shallow.
Cascais is a beach town which is very quaint and lovely. They have a great Marina there called Marina De Cascais which was full of sail boats. That is where I sat and had lunch. Much like the rest of Portugal it is incredibly friendly and laid back. I just loved it! I didnt have all day to sit at the beach because I combined my day with a trip to Sintra. I walked along the coastal path to Boca Do Inferno which translates to "Mouth of Hell". It was the only major thing I wanted to see in Cascais... instead of asking where it was, I just walked straight for quite a while until I walked right into it! My new motto is "when in doubt, walk straight". Boca Do Inferno (google image it since it will be awhile before I upload those pictures) was awesome! It is big rock cliffs that the ocean has chewed away at, so there are caves and jagged rocks everywhere. After that I went back to the centre and jumped on a bus to Sintra.
It is hilarious how the buses operate. A lot of the roads are too narrow for 2 cars (well, a bus and a car) but the buses have no mercy! They fly around blind corners, over hills etc. Gabe was so funny when I told him it was like being on a rollercoaster... he said "Its like the drivers think they are carting pigs or cows!" hahaha. If you could hear that in his accent and tone you would definitely find it as funny as I did.
Anyways I spent the evening in Sintra at Quinta De Regaleira. I spent 2 hours wandering around the grounds which were AMAZING! I found the outside to be so interesting that I spent barely any time reading about the history... so I cant tell you much about it other than what I saw. When you enter you get a map with the letters of the Alphabet that guide you from place to place. The whole grounds are large, hence 2 hours worth of wandering... and they are all bordered by stone walls. It was some kind of royal castle I think. There are caves that interconnect certain parts, a huge mansion (nicest place I have ever been in!). The attention to detail in there was unreal. Churches, turrets, tunnels, ponds, wells, studios. If you go to Portugal you MUST visit this place! Gabriel told me if I had to pick 1 tourist thing to do, it was to go there. There are also castles and large palaces to see!
Once I was done there I went and waited at the bus stop. My feet were too tired and I wasnt sure exactly how to walk back, although I could have just walked straight and it would have delivered me to the train station lol. The bus I took there cost me .9 Euro (90 cents) and it was number 433. While I waited to get the bus home, number 434 rolled up. I got in and I was the only one there. I asked the driver how much to get to the train station and he said it was expensive... I told him on the way there I paid 90 cents. He said yes but now you are on a touristic (hahaha I love that word) bus, and it is the last bus of the night! It was 4.50 but he said he would sell me the ticket for 2.50... He started talking to me, asked me if I was alone in Portugal and I said yes. When I handed him the money he changed his mind and I paid nothing. I meet so many great people!
This bus ride was nothing short of an experience in itself! It wound all the way up the mountain in a snake like fashion, about 1.5 lanes wide or less at a lot of points. On some corners the bus had to do 3 point turns to get around! It went passed the castle at the top and Palace De Pena (I think) which the driver told me was beautiful as well. He spent 8 years in the airforce and since then he has been driving for the city. His english was intermediate but he was fun to talk to.
Sintra is a gorgeous town set into the hills which are quite big so we can call them small mountains. It is definitely a town and not a city. The people are still dressed nicely but it is a casual place. I am so glad I went but a little sorry that I didnt spend more time. On my next trip to Portugal I will spend at least 2 days there! The bus rides offered me an overall view but it would have been nice to stop at a lot of other places!
Thursday night Gabe went out for a drink just as I arrived back into Barreiro to his place which is across the river Tagus from Lisboa. He said he would drive me to the ferry in the morning which was great because I had to take all my bags and they get heavy when walking for a long time. He doesnt wake up to his alarms so he said to knock on his door and wake him up at 8 am that day.
I went to bed, woke up and found that he still was not home from his night out! I had to hurry and pack because it takes 30 minutes to walk to the ferry and I had to be on time for my bus! He ended up walking in the door at 10 after 8, telling me he promised me he would take me haha. He is so great. He dropped me off, I took the ferry then the metro to my bus station. Hopped on a 3 hour bus ride to Faro which is on the south coast of Portugal not far from the Spanish Border. After a break I got on another bus to Sevilla which arrived an hour late, and not at the station near my next host Nanis house! It threw a loop into the plans... this entry is to be part one of two which will include activities in Sevilla and my adventure to find Nanis!
Friday, June 5, 2009
Saturday, May 30, 2009
Lisboa
My last day full day in Porto was pretty good! I went to the beach on the Porto side. It had a kewl lighthouse and this big breakwater to seperate the ocean from the river. The waves were angry and I got some pretty good pictures, but it was not as neat as the Gaia beach!
The day wasnt too eventful... I went back to the house at a reasonable hour to get things packed up for the following day. I debated going out that night but I got into a routine of going to bed early so I automatically get tired by 10:30. Perhaps I had the best 5 hours of sleep of my entire trip so far between 11 and 4 am. I was wide awake at 4 just laying in bed trying to sleep when I noticed my cell phone flashing. Ricardo had called me 3 times and on the 4th time I answered. He said "Hi Marianne, do you mind having the rest of your sleep in my room? I am just having some friends over"... haha This was at 5:20 am! Time certainly doesnt mean anything in Europe. I am fine with that! I cleaned up the living room really fast (I had my stuff all over to pack for the next day) and then headed into his room. His friends only stayed for about an hour so at 6:30 I moved back into the living room. He went over to close the shutters for me.... I asked what he was doing and his reply was "Tell me you knew that you could close the shutters?!!?!?!" nope! I had no idea! I thought it was weird that he didnt have curtains but I thought it was just a choice. It turns out that the "shutters" are metal blinds on the outside of the windows that roll down like garage doors. I ended up sleeping (in the dark, yay!) from 7 something until noon.
In the morning I cooked and ate the rest of the food I had there. Ricardo didnt get up for quite a while but I waited until he got up around 2 and then I headed off to catch my train. I made it in time. Getting around in Europe is very easy. The train ride was about 3.5 hours by the time I got to my station. Once there, Gabriel lives on the other side of the river so I bought another ticket and caught a train to Coina. My cell phone was not sending messages or making outgoing calls (VERY annoying) so when I got to Coina I called Gabe from a payphone. He answered and figured I had missed my train since I did not contact him at all lol. He came and got me right away which was super nice of him! He is everything you would expect a Gabriel to be - friendly, gentle, helpful, genuine. I dont know why I have that impression of the name but I cant imagine anything with the name Gabriel being nasty and miserable!
His place is awesome - up on the 6th floor with wicked views of Lisboa across the river. It was about 33 degrees when I arrived and didnt cool off much as the night progressed. We went to this very local tiny bar to listen to the locals sing Fado. He told me before we left, "Are you feeling sad? You must be a little sad to fully enjoy this experience you will have". He wasnt kidding!!! I walked in there and it was like walking into a funeral (not a celebration of life, a Funeral). I have a hard time keeping the smile off my face, but it would have been like laughing at a funeral when everyone else is crying... so I put my hands on my face to avoid any motivation to smile. We could only last about an hour in such a somber place. Gabriel swears that it can be funny but we didnt see any humour that night!
Afterwards we went walking through the streets which were very alive! What a great atmosphere. It is such a nice energy here in Portugal. At 12:15 when we wandered to meet his friend, there were about 10 kids playing soccer in the park! People are very open and naturally expressive. They dont seem to think "what is everyone else thinking about what im wearing, how im acting" etc but rather just be themselves and act on what they feel. I mentioned it to Gabriel and he agreed that it is very natural here compared to superficial America. It is very apparent with couples. Their PDA´s (public display of affection) are not offensive at all. At home it is typically forced, awkward, or people are doing it to with the purpose of being offensive. Here it is just because that is how they feel in that moment. It is such a great thing! Gabe told me "I thank God you are not like most americans!" and then on the topic he said, "and on the opposite end of our affection we have the germans". hahaha. I get such a kick out of the general characteristics of the countries.
Saturday was awesome - nothing happens in a rush or panic it seems. We just got ready, walked to the supermarket, bought our groceries and then returned to head to the beach. I also got some eye drops because the allergy pills werent enough to quell the attacks.
We drove about 35 kms to this awesome beach... but if he didnt tell me we were going to a beach, I never would have guessed. You wind up through the "Mountains" which are actually hills, it feels like you are in farm land. Eventually they drop off kind of cliff like and there is the beach! The hills block the wind and such so it is the most calm beach here. I had to wait until 5 pm to go into the sun because of the heat and my previous sunburn... but evenntually I made it out there and it was great. The ocean really isnt that warm but its so hot outside that the ocean feels good. I swam for about a half hour and then hungout on the lawn chairs that the beach provides. At the end the wind picked up and created a sandstorm so we left.
Once we arrived back at Gabes we showered and got ready to go out for dinner. We headed over to lisbon... it is about a 10 minute walk to the ferry terminal, maybe a bit more. The ferries run every half hour, they are just little passenger ferries. Then once there we hopped in a cab for a short ride to a restaurant. It was close to 10:30 when we arrived but they were still serving food. They had some much happier Fado singers there and they were great. One thing I love about Portugal is that the kids are involved in the nightlife, which makes them so much more cultural. Next to use was a table with about 15 people and 7 of them were children. We didn´t leave until after midnight and the kids were still there. They were very well behaved because they come out on the weekends from the time they are babies. They sing along with the Fado and play in the sreets.
Afterwards we wandered through the main part of the city where the bars and clubs are. People are all over the streets which is kewl except that they ALL smoke so I cant breath. There is lots going on in this city as far as culture goes - during our walk we passed places that had african music and dancing, and then another place with brazilian music and some native dancing. Unfortunately my allergy to cigarettes makes it difficult to enjoy but it was good to get a glimpse in passing.
Of course I am having a fantastic time so far. Gabe is a very great host. I am not sure what today will hold, I will try to work with my pictures that he let me upload onto his laptop... they could take a while. The only 2 downsides to my entire trip is a lack of fitness and the amount of cigarette smoking. I am looking forward to getting to Santander where I can create a routine of some sort! Or just live healthier without a routine is fine too!
Soon I will have pictures! :)
The day wasnt too eventful... I went back to the house at a reasonable hour to get things packed up for the following day. I debated going out that night but I got into a routine of going to bed early so I automatically get tired by 10:30. Perhaps I had the best 5 hours of sleep of my entire trip so far between 11 and 4 am. I was wide awake at 4 just laying in bed trying to sleep when I noticed my cell phone flashing. Ricardo had called me 3 times and on the 4th time I answered. He said "Hi Marianne, do you mind having the rest of your sleep in my room? I am just having some friends over"... haha This was at 5:20 am! Time certainly doesnt mean anything in Europe. I am fine with that! I cleaned up the living room really fast (I had my stuff all over to pack for the next day) and then headed into his room. His friends only stayed for about an hour so at 6:30 I moved back into the living room. He went over to close the shutters for me.... I asked what he was doing and his reply was "Tell me you knew that you could close the shutters?!!?!?!" nope! I had no idea! I thought it was weird that he didnt have curtains but I thought it was just a choice. It turns out that the "shutters" are metal blinds on the outside of the windows that roll down like garage doors. I ended up sleeping (in the dark, yay!) from 7 something until noon.
In the morning I cooked and ate the rest of the food I had there. Ricardo didnt get up for quite a while but I waited until he got up around 2 and then I headed off to catch my train. I made it in time. Getting around in Europe is very easy. The train ride was about 3.5 hours by the time I got to my station. Once there, Gabriel lives on the other side of the river so I bought another ticket and caught a train to Coina. My cell phone was not sending messages or making outgoing calls (VERY annoying) so when I got to Coina I called Gabe from a payphone. He answered and figured I had missed my train since I did not contact him at all lol. He came and got me right away which was super nice of him! He is everything you would expect a Gabriel to be - friendly, gentle, helpful, genuine. I dont know why I have that impression of the name but I cant imagine anything with the name Gabriel being nasty and miserable!
His place is awesome - up on the 6th floor with wicked views of Lisboa across the river. It was about 33 degrees when I arrived and didnt cool off much as the night progressed. We went to this very local tiny bar to listen to the locals sing Fado. He told me before we left, "Are you feeling sad? You must be a little sad to fully enjoy this experience you will have". He wasnt kidding!!! I walked in there and it was like walking into a funeral (not a celebration of life, a Funeral). I have a hard time keeping the smile off my face, but it would have been like laughing at a funeral when everyone else is crying... so I put my hands on my face to avoid any motivation to smile. We could only last about an hour in such a somber place. Gabriel swears that it can be funny but we didnt see any humour that night!
Afterwards we went walking through the streets which were very alive! What a great atmosphere. It is such a nice energy here in Portugal. At 12:15 when we wandered to meet his friend, there were about 10 kids playing soccer in the park! People are very open and naturally expressive. They dont seem to think "what is everyone else thinking about what im wearing, how im acting" etc but rather just be themselves and act on what they feel. I mentioned it to Gabriel and he agreed that it is very natural here compared to superficial America. It is very apparent with couples. Their PDA´s (public display of affection) are not offensive at all. At home it is typically forced, awkward, or people are doing it to with the purpose of being offensive. Here it is just because that is how they feel in that moment. It is such a great thing! Gabe told me "I thank God you are not like most americans!" and then on the topic he said, "and on the opposite end of our affection we have the germans". hahaha. I get such a kick out of the general characteristics of the countries.
Saturday was awesome - nothing happens in a rush or panic it seems. We just got ready, walked to the supermarket, bought our groceries and then returned to head to the beach. I also got some eye drops because the allergy pills werent enough to quell the attacks.
We drove about 35 kms to this awesome beach... but if he didnt tell me we were going to a beach, I never would have guessed. You wind up through the "Mountains" which are actually hills, it feels like you are in farm land. Eventually they drop off kind of cliff like and there is the beach! The hills block the wind and such so it is the most calm beach here. I had to wait until 5 pm to go into the sun because of the heat and my previous sunburn... but evenntually I made it out there and it was great. The ocean really isnt that warm but its so hot outside that the ocean feels good. I swam for about a half hour and then hungout on the lawn chairs that the beach provides. At the end the wind picked up and created a sandstorm so we left.
Once we arrived back at Gabes we showered and got ready to go out for dinner. We headed over to lisbon... it is about a 10 minute walk to the ferry terminal, maybe a bit more. The ferries run every half hour, they are just little passenger ferries. Then once there we hopped in a cab for a short ride to a restaurant. It was close to 10:30 when we arrived but they were still serving food. They had some much happier Fado singers there and they were great. One thing I love about Portugal is that the kids are involved in the nightlife, which makes them so much more cultural. Next to use was a table with about 15 people and 7 of them were children. We didn´t leave until after midnight and the kids were still there. They were very well behaved because they come out on the weekends from the time they are babies. They sing along with the Fado and play in the sreets.
Afterwards we wandered through the main part of the city where the bars and clubs are. People are all over the streets which is kewl except that they ALL smoke so I cant breath. There is lots going on in this city as far as culture goes - during our walk we passed places that had african music and dancing, and then another place with brazilian music and some native dancing. Unfortunately my allergy to cigarettes makes it difficult to enjoy but it was good to get a glimpse in passing.
Of course I am having a fantastic time so far. Gabe is a very great host. I am not sure what today will hold, I will try to work with my pictures that he let me upload onto his laptop... they could take a while. The only 2 downsides to my entire trip is a lack of fitness and the amount of cigarette smoking. I am looking forward to getting to Santander where I can create a routine of some sort! Or just live healthier without a routine is fine too!
Soon I will have pictures! :)
Wednesday, May 27, 2009
Sunburnt! (Porto 2)
So perhaps the last few days havent had the same entertainment value as my first 24 hours! I think part of that is because I put my hair up into a ponytail so walking on the streets is far less eventful!
Sunday was my last blog... it was a slow day here in Porto. It is weird to see an entire city shut down like that! Mondays weather was overcast, maybe 14 degrees and windy. I just laid low for the day... did some walking, checked out some shops. It wasnt warm out at all, and I decided to try to use Ricardos washing machine (which proved to be quite frustrating) so my one and only pair of pants was wet!
When Ricardo called me to check up on the weekend, I asked him how to use the washing machine. He replied to me with "I dont know, my cleaning lady is the only one who uses it" lol... so much for that. He told me to Push power, and figure it out. Well it was pretty much a nightmare! First of all I dont have a lot of clothes so my only chance to wash them meant putting all the colours and whites in the same load. Second, the thing starts washing and doesnt stop!!! Finally after 90 minutes I got sick of watching it go around and turn Judis beautiful white towel to a dull murkey gray.... (Sorry Judi, will replace that for you)... I pushed enough buttons to get it to start to spin and pull the water out. I was making lunch at the same time, so I walked away only to hear water running... go back to check on it and the damn thing was full of water again! I waited again for it to spin and then I pushed a bunch of buttons, got the door unlocked, powered it down and got my clothes out to hang dry. It stretched my sweater, wore some of the decoration off my pretty shirts, turned the towel dirty... kind of a nightmare but my clothes are clean, not sure if it was worth it yet!
On monday night I went to this restaurant called Chez Albert. I was way under budget that day so I didnt mind spending money on a nice steak dinner for myself. I havent eaten very many real meals because I cant read the menu here... so I just eat junk food that I know I can trust like pizza and pastry. I walked in and I was the only person there... this really nice older guy (who turned out to be Albert) came over and started chatting with me. He is very nice, he teaches PE at college and has 2 restaurants as his hobby. One of his kids works in the restaurant with him. I ordered steak with mushrooms, and it came with potatoes and vegetables. When it showed up it was steak covered in mushrooms and a sauce, the vegetables were kind of like shredded cabbabe and a few other shredded things with some oil (they were good but different) and the potato was a Belgian dish. It was mashed, in tinfoil with onions and spices, then on top was melted cheese. It was hands down the best part! Perhaps I will drop in there again just to order the Potato! Anyways Albert was insistent that I "study". He says its very important to experience the world but also to study... when I asked him what study meant, he said it didnt necessarily mean college or university... so maybe his version of "study" just means to always be learning. He was happy to practice his english while talking to me. I think he speaks French, Portuguese and Spanish fluently. He told me when I go to school and complete my studies, that I am welcome back to Porto with my boyfriend (not sure where he got that from, everyone knows I dont have a boyfriend haha) for a free dinner at one of his restaurants. He gave me his email, so I will touch base with him. He told me I am like a child to him and he wants me to do well like his kids lol.
Tuesday was a beautiful day here. I think it was about 24 degrees.. the humidity here is very low so the heat is amazing and not gross like home can be! I did a lot of walking, about 4 hours worth. I went down to the white bridge (which is the new one) and then did the riverside walk all the way back to the downtown (iron) bridge. I got sun burnt and it felt so good to be in shorts and a t shirt all day! There is a beautiful expensive place here called the Majestic Cafe on the main street, Rua de Santa Catarina. It is a pedestrian street and the one I walk up and down the most! I got a really good fruit smoothie after my long walk. I came to the internet cafe at night... it is in a complex with an open hallway and shops on both sides. Everyone that works and owns shops here lives upstairs, so they all know each other. Across the way buying water, I met a guy named KK from africa. When I was done here he walked me to the supermarket so I could buy dinner and then paid for my groceries! He is very kewl, he speaks 5 languages. He makes shoes until he has a container full, then he ships them and his brother sells them in Africa.
Wednesday was by far my best day yet! Ricardo got up earlier than normal and told me that the cleaning lady was coming in 10 minutes, so we had to get up and get out of the apartment lol. He drove me down to show me where the train station is that I will be leaving from on Friday afternoon. I am headed to Lisboa at 3 pm and will arrive down there at 6 pm. Gabriel will host me there! He is awesome as well I am very excited to meet him!
I walked up santa catarina into the malls looking for breakfast. On my way into the mall, a bunch of police cars came flying up the road and stopped about 30 ft from me. I was going to hang around and see what they were doing, but I was hungry and it didnt look urgent so I went inside. I found the food court right away and it was great! Lots of options, so I was wandering around and making sure I saw everything before I decided. All of a sudden, while I had my eyes on this great fruit salad.. I heard a bunch of yelling. I was on the 3rd floor and it was coming from 2 floors down. At first I didnt pay much attention because sometimes people yell at each other for no reason here it seems... then I looked over to see 2 cops walking in, security people with walkie talkies... the shop owners at the food court started pulling down the shutters like they were closed. I looked down and saw that someone had let off a smoke bomb a couple floors down and was smoking the place out lol.... everyone was coming flying out of the stores but I cant understand the language so I was just standing there until I saw 2 young girls. I asked them what was going on and they said the police were running an exercise so we all had to get out. I walked out the doors and this really cute (perhaps the only cute) cop started talking to me in Portuguese. I let him finish and then said "Can I have that in english" so he said uhh... you go there, and pointed across the streeet lol. I didnt get a chance to ask him if he was single haha. Everything turned out fine - across the road was another mall with a food court where I got a quiche! It was chicken with corn and carrots... freshly baked and very good. Perhaps the healthiest things I could have found. Afterwards I bought a donut. Sometimes I do the stupidest things. It wasnt worth it and I certainly dont need any more donuts!!!!!!!!!!!!! I hope you guys will still love me when you see how chubby I am lol.
Anyways, I booked my train ticket at the internet cafe and in the complex I bought a tanktop. There is this cute little shop owner that sitts behind his till playing guitar. I bought a yellow tank top, because I had no yellow to go with my bikini top, I needed a tank to change my tan lines, and it was the first thing I saw that didnt clash with my camo shorts. The shorts are the best buy ever! The pockets are super reliable, nothing ever falls out, and there is a pocket for everything! After my purchase I walked down to the main bus station. I was looking for english speaking people to direct me to the Eletrico line 1 that goes to the beach... but instead I got some people who spoke very little english that put me on a bus that went the complete opposite direction lol. Across the river from Porto is a town called Vila Nova de Gaia. The bus I got on went out to the beaches there which was fine. The beach I got to was absolutely awesome! It was steep, so the waves crashing in sounded like thunder and they were gorgeous. On the beach there were these massive rocks. When I first arrived, I thought no one was at the beach... but then when I got closer, I could see people tanning in amongst the rocks. They use the rocks to block the wind! Its genius! I found my own rock to hide behind, and tanned in my underwear (dont be alarmed, my underwear actually cover more than any of my bathing suits haha). I enjoyed the tanning until the tide got a little too close to me then I got up and had some lunch. Along the beach and across the road they have cafes and restaurants. It is much like the LA beaches. I enjoyed a soft ice cream cone, banana chocolate twist and then sat down to enjoy the view again. I thought I was out of the woods as far as the sun burning me went... but apparently the heat stays in that sun until almost 7 pm and burns you the whole time! I am pretty much a lobster haha. I left the beach around 5:20, but while I was walking up to the cafe it was still super super hot and that was well after 6 pm!
Tomorrow I will get Ricardo to drop me at the Eletrico station and head out to the Porto beaches. My burn today was much worse than yesterdays but I dont have sun stroke or anything so I am sure it will turn into a tan soon. I have some time on Friday to hangout since I will get out of Ricardos in the morning and give hi mthe keys, but dont have to be at the train station until 3 pm.
I should do 1 more small update before I leave Porto and then I will be updating you from Lisboa! The weather is supposed to be up to 27 by Friday so more sun for me! I just love that there is no humidity here :)
Apparently you are getting nice weather at home finally so you wont be too jealous... except maybe that I get to nap on the beach and dont have a care in the world haha!
Sunday was my last blog... it was a slow day here in Porto. It is weird to see an entire city shut down like that! Mondays weather was overcast, maybe 14 degrees and windy. I just laid low for the day... did some walking, checked out some shops. It wasnt warm out at all, and I decided to try to use Ricardos washing machine (which proved to be quite frustrating) so my one and only pair of pants was wet!
When Ricardo called me to check up on the weekend, I asked him how to use the washing machine. He replied to me with "I dont know, my cleaning lady is the only one who uses it" lol... so much for that. He told me to Push power, and figure it out. Well it was pretty much a nightmare! First of all I dont have a lot of clothes so my only chance to wash them meant putting all the colours and whites in the same load. Second, the thing starts washing and doesnt stop!!! Finally after 90 minutes I got sick of watching it go around and turn Judis beautiful white towel to a dull murkey gray.... (Sorry Judi, will replace that for you)... I pushed enough buttons to get it to start to spin and pull the water out. I was making lunch at the same time, so I walked away only to hear water running... go back to check on it and the damn thing was full of water again! I waited again for it to spin and then I pushed a bunch of buttons, got the door unlocked, powered it down and got my clothes out to hang dry. It stretched my sweater, wore some of the decoration off my pretty shirts, turned the towel dirty... kind of a nightmare but my clothes are clean, not sure if it was worth it yet!
On monday night I went to this restaurant called Chez Albert. I was way under budget that day so I didnt mind spending money on a nice steak dinner for myself. I havent eaten very many real meals because I cant read the menu here... so I just eat junk food that I know I can trust like pizza and pastry. I walked in and I was the only person there... this really nice older guy (who turned out to be Albert) came over and started chatting with me. He is very nice, he teaches PE at college and has 2 restaurants as his hobby. One of his kids works in the restaurant with him. I ordered steak with mushrooms, and it came with potatoes and vegetables. When it showed up it was steak covered in mushrooms and a sauce, the vegetables were kind of like shredded cabbabe and a few other shredded things with some oil (they were good but different) and the potato was a Belgian dish. It was mashed, in tinfoil with onions and spices, then on top was melted cheese. It was hands down the best part! Perhaps I will drop in there again just to order the Potato! Anyways Albert was insistent that I "study". He says its very important to experience the world but also to study... when I asked him what study meant, he said it didnt necessarily mean college or university... so maybe his version of "study" just means to always be learning. He was happy to practice his english while talking to me. I think he speaks French, Portuguese and Spanish fluently. He told me when I go to school and complete my studies, that I am welcome back to Porto with my boyfriend (not sure where he got that from, everyone knows I dont have a boyfriend haha) for a free dinner at one of his restaurants. He gave me his email, so I will touch base with him. He told me I am like a child to him and he wants me to do well like his kids lol.
Tuesday was a beautiful day here. I think it was about 24 degrees.. the humidity here is very low so the heat is amazing and not gross like home can be! I did a lot of walking, about 4 hours worth. I went down to the white bridge (which is the new one) and then did the riverside walk all the way back to the downtown (iron) bridge. I got sun burnt and it felt so good to be in shorts and a t shirt all day! There is a beautiful expensive place here called the Majestic Cafe on the main street, Rua de Santa Catarina. It is a pedestrian street and the one I walk up and down the most! I got a really good fruit smoothie after my long walk. I came to the internet cafe at night... it is in a complex with an open hallway and shops on both sides. Everyone that works and owns shops here lives upstairs, so they all know each other. Across the way buying water, I met a guy named KK from africa. When I was done here he walked me to the supermarket so I could buy dinner and then paid for my groceries! He is very kewl, he speaks 5 languages. He makes shoes until he has a container full, then he ships them and his brother sells them in Africa.
Wednesday was by far my best day yet! Ricardo got up earlier than normal and told me that the cleaning lady was coming in 10 minutes, so we had to get up and get out of the apartment lol. He drove me down to show me where the train station is that I will be leaving from on Friday afternoon. I am headed to Lisboa at 3 pm and will arrive down there at 6 pm. Gabriel will host me there! He is awesome as well I am very excited to meet him!
I walked up santa catarina into the malls looking for breakfast. On my way into the mall, a bunch of police cars came flying up the road and stopped about 30 ft from me. I was going to hang around and see what they were doing, but I was hungry and it didnt look urgent so I went inside. I found the food court right away and it was great! Lots of options, so I was wandering around and making sure I saw everything before I decided. All of a sudden, while I had my eyes on this great fruit salad.. I heard a bunch of yelling. I was on the 3rd floor and it was coming from 2 floors down. At first I didnt pay much attention because sometimes people yell at each other for no reason here it seems... then I looked over to see 2 cops walking in, security people with walkie talkies... the shop owners at the food court started pulling down the shutters like they were closed. I looked down and saw that someone had let off a smoke bomb a couple floors down and was smoking the place out lol.... everyone was coming flying out of the stores but I cant understand the language so I was just standing there until I saw 2 young girls. I asked them what was going on and they said the police were running an exercise so we all had to get out. I walked out the doors and this really cute (perhaps the only cute) cop started talking to me in Portuguese. I let him finish and then said "Can I have that in english" so he said uhh... you go there, and pointed across the streeet lol. I didnt get a chance to ask him if he was single haha. Everything turned out fine - across the road was another mall with a food court where I got a quiche! It was chicken with corn and carrots... freshly baked and very good. Perhaps the healthiest things I could have found. Afterwards I bought a donut. Sometimes I do the stupidest things. It wasnt worth it and I certainly dont need any more donuts!!!!!!!!!!!!! I hope you guys will still love me when you see how chubby I am lol.
Anyways, I booked my train ticket at the internet cafe and in the complex I bought a tanktop. There is this cute little shop owner that sitts behind his till playing guitar. I bought a yellow tank top, because I had no yellow to go with my bikini top, I needed a tank to change my tan lines, and it was the first thing I saw that didnt clash with my camo shorts. The shorts are the best buy ever! The pockets are super reliable, nothing ever falls out, and there is a pocket for everything! After my purchase I walked down to the main bus station. I was looking for english speaking people to direct me to the Eletrico line 1 that goes to the beach... but instead I got some people who spoke very little english that put me on a bus that went the complete opposite direction lol. Across the river from Porto is a town called Vila Nova de Gaia. The bus I got on went out to the beaches there which was fine. The beach I got to was absolutely awesome! It was steep, so the waves crashing in sounded like thunder and they were gorgeous. On the beach there were these massive rocks. When I first arrived, I thought no one was at the beach... but then when I got closer, I could see people tanning in amongst the rocks. They use the rocks to block the wind! Its genius! I found my own rock to hide behind, and tanned in my underwear (dont be alarmed, my underwear actually cover more than any of my bathing suits haha). I enjoyed the tanning until the tide got a little too close to me then I got up and had some lunch. Along the beach and across the road they have cafes and restaurants. It is much like the LA beaches. I enjoyed a soft ice cream cone, banana chocolate twist and then sat down to enjoy the view again. I thought I was out of the woods as far as the sun burning me went... but apparently the heat stays in that sun until almost 7 pm and burns you the whole time! I am pretty much a lobster haha. I left the beach around 5:20, but while I was walking up to the cafe it was still super super hot and that was well after 6 pm!
Tomorrow I will get Ricardo to drop me at the Eletrico station and head out to the Porto beaches. My burn today was much worse than yesterdays but I dont have sun stroke or anything so I am sure it will turn into a tan soon. I have some time on Friday to hangout since I will get out of Ricardos in the morning and give hi mthe keys, but dont have to be at the train station until 3 pm.
I should do 1 more small update before I leave Porto and then I will be updating you from Lisboa! The weather is supposed to be up to 27 by Friday so more sun for me! I just love that there is no humidity here :)
Apparently you are getting nice weather at home finally so you wont be too jealous... except maybe that I get to nap on the beach and dont have a care in the world haha!
Sunday, May 24, 2009
Oporto!
Hey everyone!
So much goes on during my travels that I have decided to update you more often!
My trip from Dublin to Portugal was seamless. I totally loved Ireland but now that I am in Portugal, some things in Ireland are waaayyy overpriced. For instance, when I was leaving Dublin I went to this coffee shop in the airport.. I asked for a hot bacon breakfast roll thinking it would be some kind of sandwich... it was literally a big white bun (that wasnt even very good) and overly salty bacon. Thats it!!! FOR FIVE FIFTY! That is almost 10 bucks Canadian. It was ridiculous.
Anyway I arrived in Porto and once again was welcome with open arms by my host Ricardo! He is one of the sweetest guys Ive met with a wonderful temperment. He lives not too far from the city centre (walking distance for me, since I walk everywhere). His place is beautiful! It has a view of the whole city and the ocean on most sides, I will take pictures. Rita is his 8 year old boxer. Ricardo went out of town for the weekend so he left me with his keys, his house and his dog and told me he will get back Monday. He dropped me off at the Riverside area, gave me a map and showed me all the things to do and see. Just by fluke, the first people we saw was a couchsurfing friend of his named Pedro who was just starting to show his guests around, 2 girls from Albania. They took me with them for the afternoon.
First we walked by the river and then went to this little restaurant. Pedro doesnt like tourist places so he took us to a normal restaurant here. My lunch was 4 (thin) chicken breasts with grilled pineapple, rice which was really good, and french fries. It cost 5 euro!!! Imagine that stupid bacon breakfast roll cost more than my whole lunch lol.
We walked up a big hill that has huge stone walls on both sides. There was no sidewalk and it was only about 1.5 lanes wide lol. It was sketchy but fun! At the top we went to Grahams Port Wine cellar for a tour. Despite my lack of interest in wine it was educational and fun! The cellar was neat. I didnt care for the actual wine tasting part so I gave Pedro some of mine haha.
The sisters and I checked out a photography museum afterwards. It was very nice, some kewl pictures but mostly I enjoyed the old building it was in! The girls went back their own direction and I walked back to Ricardos with plans on going out for the evening. Once I got back to his house, I figured out how to hook my ipod up to the stereo and I rested my feet for a while. I ended up falling asleep for a bit, so I didnt go out.
The windows in the living room that I am in are massive so it was bright this morning but I slept through it. I needed to catch up on sleep, since my last night in Dublin went until 3 am and I was up at 6:30 to head to the airport. My last night there was awesome, I said bye to the boys at La Med and Paul and I hopped from bar to bar having a drink at each one.
So far my day has been awesome here in Porto. I walked back downtown to where we were yesterday. Everything is closed up here on Sundays except for the odd cafe. At the first one I stopped at, I got ham and cheese heated up inside a kind of Pastry. It cost me One euro! I just love how cheap it is here! Then I strolled onto another cafe, where I had some apple pastry things. They were small and good. On the patio there was a nice couple behind me from Switzerland. They speak about 5 languages! (There is a story to how I found this out). Then there were a few other couples on the patio as well from different places, some that spoke only portuguese.
A man came from inside the cafe, walked right out to my table and started talking to me in Portuguese (I could be spelling this wrong lol). I told him I didnºt speak english but he didnt seem to care, he kept talking in long sentences. Evevtually I heard this one guy say "This is hilarious because she has no idea what he is saying", which was true. A while went by, he kept talking, and I turned behind me to see the swiss couple. They were laughing and I heard them speak english so I said, do you guys know what he is saying? They told me they understand some Portuguese but not everything. He was saying I looked like a movie star, and as the italian guy from Geneve put it "He tells you only pretty things". Eventually he grabbed a napkin and folded it into a heart, lol, and proceeded to kiss it and throw it into the wind. Then he decided to start singing. Everyone was watching the performance in front of my table lol... the cute waiter kept shrugging his shoulders at me apologetically and I just laughed.
I guess because my hair is blonde and my skin is white it is obvious that I am not from here. Yesterday I was walking up to Ricardos and this car drove by me... he slowed down, almost to a stop and honked so I looked to the middle of the road thinking something ran out in front of him. The guy behind him almost rearended the vehicle, so he went forward again about 10 feet and stopped again. He was rolling down his window to say something to me but the guy behind him got impatient and started honking so he took off lol! Some people might think that I am pretty but lets be honest, I am not a traffic stopper! These people are hilarious. I have to admit that the people from here are really beautiful everywhere you look. I know a few Portoguese guys from Toronto who are very good looking but it seems like the whole country is!
So far it has been awesome here, mild weather, friendly people! It took me a while to find this internet cafe but it is cheap, clean and friendly as well. Now I am set during my stay in Porto! This city is beautiful, very laid back and it has an indescribable charm to it. I look forward to posting pictures when I get a chance!
Bye for now :)
So much goes on during my travels that I have decided to update you more often!
My trip from Dublin to Portugal was seamless. I totally loved Ireland but now that I am in Portugal, some things in Ireland are waaayyy overpriced. For instance, when I was leaving Dublin I went to this coffee shop in the airport.. I asked for a hot bacon breakfast roll thinking it would be some kind of sandwich... it was literally a big white bun (that wasnt even very good) and overly salty bacon. Thats it!!! FOR FIVE FIFTY! That is almost 10 bucks Canadian. It was ridiculous.
Anyway I arrived in Porto and once again was welcome with open arms by my host Ricardo! He is one of the sweetest guys Ive met with a wonderful temperment. He lives not too far from the city centre (walking distance for me, since I walk everywhere). His place is beautiful! It has a view of the whole city and the ocean on most sides, I will take pictures. Rita is his 8 year old boxer. Ricardo went out of town for the weekend so he left me with his keys, his house and his dog and told me he will get back Monday. He dropped me off at the Riverside area, gave me a map and showed me all the things to do and see. Just by fluke, the first people we saw was a couchsurfing friend of his named Pedro who was just starting to show his guests around, 2 girls from Albania. They took me with them for the afternoon.
First we walked by the river and then went to this little restaurant. Pedro doesnt like tourist places so he took us to a normal restaurant here. My lunch was 4 (thin) chicken breasts with grilled pineapple, rice which was really good, and french fries. It cost 5 euro!!! Imagine that stupid bacon breakfast roll cost more than my whole lunch lol.
We walked up a big hill that has huge stone walls on both sides. There was no sidewalk and it was only about 1.5 lanes wide lol. It was sketchy but fun! At the top we went to Grahams Port Wine cellar for a tour. Despite my lack of interest in wine it was educational and fun! The cellar was neat. I didnt care for the actual wine tasting part so I gave Pedro some of mine haha.
The sisters and I checked out a photography museum afterwards. It was very nice, some kewl pictures but mostly I enjoyed the old building it was in! The girls went back their own direction and I walked back to Ricardos with plans on going out for the evening. Once I got back to his house, I figured out how to hook my ipod up to the stereo and I rested my feet for a while. I ended up falling asleep for a bit, so I didnt go out.
The windows in the living room that I am in are massive so it was bright this morning but I slept through it. I needed to catch up on sleep, since my last night in Dublin went until 3 am and I was up at 6:30 to head to the airport. My last night there was awesome, I said bye to the boys at La Med and Paul and I hopped from bar to bar having a drink at each one.
So far my day has been awesome here in Porto. I walked back downtown to where we were yesterday. Everything is closed up here on Sundays except for the odd cafe. At the first one I stopped at, I got ham and cheese heated up inside a kind of Pastry. It cost me One euro! I just love how cheap it is here! Then I strolled onto another cafe, where I had some apple pastry things. They were small and good. On the patio there was a nice couple behind me from Switzerland. They speak about 5 languages! (There is a story to how I found this out). Then there were a few other couples on the patio as well from different places, some that spoke only portuguese.
A man came from inside the cafe, walked right out to my table and started talking to me in Portuguese (I could be spelling this wrong lol). I told him I didnºt speak english but he didnt seem to care, he kept talking in long sentences. Evevtually I heard this one guy say "This is hilarious because she has no idea what he is saying", which was true. A while went by, he kept talking, and I turned behind me to see the swiss couple. They were laughing and I heard them speak english so I said, do you guys know what he is saying? They told me they understand some Portuguese but not everything. He was saying I looked like a movie star, and as the italian guy from Geneve put it "He tells you only pretty things". Eventually he grabbed a napkin and folded it into a heart, lol, and proceeded to kiss it and throw it into the wind. Then he decided to start singing. Everyone was watching the performance in front of my table lol... the cute waiter kept shrugging his shoulders at me apologetically and I just laughed.
I guess because my hair is blonde and my skin is white it is obvious that I am not from here. Yesterday I was walking up to Ricardos and this car drove by me... he slowed down, almost to a stop and honked so I looked to the middle of the road thinking something ran out in front of him. The guy behind him almost rearended the vehicle, so he went forward again about 10 feet and stopped again. He was rolling down his window to say something to me but the guy behind him got impatient and started honking so he took off lol! Some people might think that I am pretty but lets be honest, I am not a traffic stopper! These people are hilarious. I have to admit that the people from here are really beautiful everywhere you look. I know a few Portoguese guys from Toronto who are very good looking but it seems like the whole country is!
So far it has been awesome here, mild weather, friendly people! It took me a while to find this internet cafe but it is cheap, clean and friendly as well. Now I am set during my stay in Porto! This city is beautiful, very laid back and it has an indescribable charm to it. I look forward to posting pictures when I get a chance!
Bye for now :)
Thursday, May 21, 2009
Ireland
This place is everything I thought it would be, which is awesome! Right from the get go, I've had a smile on my face in Ireland. That is partially because I get a smirk on my face everytime I hear their accents!
After a really long wait in the airport in Paris, we arrived to rainy Ireland. The weather is much like home - 4 seasons in day. The fact that they speak english has made it that much easier for me. I caught the right bus and was dropped off within a 2 minute walk from where I was staying. Unfortunately no one in Dublin knows the names of streets, lol, so I was a stones throw from the address I needed but I had to get a taxi to get there. He thought I said Cork st not Cook st, so it cost me 10 euros when it fact it was a 2 minute walk away. It was my one and only experience with taxis here in the city.
I arrived at Pauls and was welcomed with open arms. He is really wicked and a great host. He was born in South Africa, was raised in the UK and now has lived in Dublin for 3 years. He has a 2 bedroom place to himself so I got my own room in a sweet location - 3 minute walk from Temple bar! I got showered up and then we went out to Temple Bar to see an art exhibit, then for a drink at the Czech Inn. Great casual place!
Day 2 I wandered around Dublin all day. It is an incredible city. Some streets are just for pedestrians (mostly in Temple Bar, which is the name of an area not a specific bar). The culture is everywhere, the people are friendly, and there are always tons of people in the streets! It feels very safe and friendly everywhere you go.
Saturday night I went out to a restaurant called La Med. I had an awesome pizza and ended up with a super friendly wait staff. It started off with me ordering my pizza, and to drink I ordered water. Javier said "Really? You are in Temple Bar on a saturday night" I said yeah really... so Baldo walked over with this wine glass with a pink drink.. so I looked at him funny and he said, Did you not order Rose? I said no, then javier walked down the stairs and said don't worry about it, its on me. So that was my first experience with wine! They closed up the restaurant but I stayed behind to have a few drinks with them before we all went out to the Porterhouse. Baldo and Javier are from Spain, Anya is from Poland and Shakeel is from an island that he calls paradise but I don't know the name of it. We went to the Porterhouse which is a place that has a microbrewery on site and their own flavours. The boys asked what I wanted and I said I would stick with the sweet rose... they told me I can't order that at a place that makes its own beer. I said I don't drink beer either so try to order it. They did, the bartender looked at them, and then poured me a glass of water and put it on the bar! Haha - this city is opposite! You order water and get wine, order wine and get water. Shakeel didn't come with us to the Porterhouse. He is moving to Quebec in the next 2 months so he wanted to chat with me about Canada, which we did on Sunday.
I booked a 3 day Paddywagon tour called Ireland South. We left monday morning at 8 am and arrived back on wednesday afternoon at 4. It was packed, but such a blast and I was with an awesome group of travellers!
Monday night was spent in Galway. It is such a beautiful little town. I think if I moved to Ireland, that would be my choice of places to live. I do like Dublin a lot also. The main street there also is just for pedestrians. Everyone went out that night but I was tired from the day of touring so I crashed early. We stayed in a hostel so in my room were 2 girls from PEI who are working in Oxford UK, 1 girl from Vancouver and 1 from Portland who are on vacation, and then the 3 girls from upstate New York. It was a good group.
During Tuesday the weather was great. We went to the world famous Cliffs of Moher which are unbelievable in person. A girl named Courtenay and I decided to hike passed the sign that said it was dangerous to go beyond this point lol. Everyone else was doing it but if you are scared of heights, then its not for you. It is the part where there are no fences separating you from the cliffs. They are breathtaking, and it helped that the weather was so nice. It was quite possibly the first time I took my jacket off since I arrived in Ireland!
Tuesday night was spent in Killarney. We relaxed for a while before heading out for some quick food and then to a place called the Grand Hotel. First they had some traditional Irish Music, then an awesome cover band, and in the same building was a night club. We had a blast and danced ourselves silly until closing at 2:30 am. Needless to say the 7 am wake up on Wednesday was an early one! A very awesome night with a good crowd in Killarney, and so much fun considering it was a Tuesday!
Wednesday we went through Cork and visited the Blarney Castle. It had recently rained there so everything was a vibrant green, but we had sunshine during out visit. There are caves under the castle that Terry, Chris and I decided to climb through. Then we went up to the very top and kissed the Blarney Stone! The view was great from up there, hopefully my pictures turn out well!
Wednesday night when we arrived back, a group of us from the tour met up at their hostel. We shared some drinks then went for a night on the town! We drank through the Irish dancing lol so we ended up just hopping from bar to bar. I left at midnight when the dancing started, I was very tired from such a late tuesday night. I hear the party carried on well into the wee hours of the morning.
Thursday I went to Bray (seaside village) with Shakeel. It is very quaint and peaceful there. We had a great afternoon and then went back to La Med for pizza. It's so good! Thursday night I went to Irish dancing with Christian (who I met on the tour) from Louisiana.
Thursday night I went to see live Irish Dancing with Christian who is from Louisiana. They dancers were fantastic! It really is like river dancing you see on tv where only the lower half of their bodies move lol. We met a really nice girl there from Wisconsin named Laura who I hope to go to Beerfest with in Germany!
Today is friday and it's my last full day in Ireland. I really really love this place! The city makes you feel at home, it is very safe here. Everyone is nice, their accents rock. The tour of Ireland was also wicked, I have nothing negative to say here except that they smoke cigarettes right beside the doors and the air pushes all the smoke inside. Other than that super annoying thing, everything has been unreal. I wanted to buy a bunch of souvenirs but I'm on a budget and don't have enough room in my bag to carry things home!
I'm off to Portugal early Saturday morning. I hope they let me stay longer than 1 week there, lol. From there I'll head through the south of Spain and then up to the north where I'll be in Santader for three months!
And also, no one from home is updating me with what is going on except Mom. So all you slackers need to start saying Hi to me! :)
After a really long wait in the airport in Paris, we arrived to rainy Ireland. The weather is much like home - 4 seasons in day. The fact that they speak english has made it that much easier for me. I caught the right bus and was dropped off within a 2 minute walk from where I was staying. Unfortunately no one in Dublin knows the names of streets, lol, so I was a stones throw from the address I needed but I had to get a taxi to get there. He thought I said Cork st not Cook st, so it cost me 10 euros when it fact it was a 2 minute walk away. It was my one and only experience with taxis here in the city.
I arrived at Pauls and was welcomed with open arms. He is really wicked and a great host. He was born in South Africa, was raised in the UK and now has lived in Dublin for 3 years. He has a 2 bedroom place to himself so I got my own room in a sweet location - 3 minute walk from Temple bar! I got showered up and then we went out to Temple Bar to see an art exhibit, then for a drink at the Czech Inn. Great casual place!
Day 2 I wandered around Dublin all day. It is an incredible city. Some streets are just for pedestrians (mostly in Temple Bar, which is the name of an area not a specific bar). The culture is everywhere, the people are friendly, and there are always tons of people in the streets! It feels very safe and friendly everywhere you go.
Saturday night I went out to a restaurant called La Med. I had an awesome pizza and ended up with a super friendly wait staff. It started off with me ordering my pizza, and to drink I ordered water. Javier said "Really? You are in Temple Bar on a saturday night" I said yeah really... so Baldo walked over with this wine glass with a pink drink.. so I looked at him funny and he said, Did you not order Rose? I said no, then javier walked down the stairs and said don't worry about it, its on me. So that was my first experience with wine! They closed up the restaurant but I stayed behind to have a few drinks with them before we all went out to the Porterhouse. Baldo and Javier are from Spain, Anya is from Poland and Shakeel is from an island that he calls paradise but I don't know the name of it. We went to the Porterhouse which is a place that has a microbrewery on site and their own flavours. The boys asked what I wanted and I said I would stick with the sweet rose... they told me I can't order that at a place that makes its own beer. I said I don't drink beer either so try to order it. They did, the bartender looked at them, and then poured me a glass of water and put it on the bar! Haha - this city is opposite! You order water and get wine, order wine and get water. Shakeel didn't come with us to the Porterhouse. He is moving to Quebec in the next 2 months so he wanted to chat with me about Canada, which we did on Sunday.
I booked a 3 day Paddywagon tour called Ireland South. We left monday morning at 8 am and arrived back on wednesday afternoon at 4. It was packed, but such a blast and I was with an awesome group of travellers!
Monday night was spent in Galway. It is such a beautiful little town. I think if I moved to Ireland, that would be my choice of places to live. I do like Dublin a lot also. The main street there also is just for pedestrians. Everyone went out that night but I was tired from the day of touring so I crashed early. We stayed in a hostel so in my room were 2 girls from PEI who are working in Oxford UK, 1 girl from Vancouver and 1 from Portland who are on vacation, and then the 3 girls from upstate New York. It was a good group.
During Tuesday the weather was great. We went to the world famous Cliffs of Moher which are unbelievable in person. A girl named Courtenay and I decided to hike passed the sign that said it was dangerous to go beyond this point lol. Everyone else was doing it but if you are scared of heights, then its not for you. It is the part where there are no fences separating you from the cliffs. They are breathtaking, and it helped that the weather was so nice. It was quite possibly the first time I took my jacket off since I arrived in Ireland!
Tuesday night was spent in Killarney. We relaxed for a while before heading out for some quick food and then to a place called the Grand Hotel. First they had some traditional Irish Music, then an awesome cover band, and in the same building was a night club. We had a blast and danced ourselves silly until closing at 2:30 am. Needless to say the 7 am wake up on Wednesday was an early one! A very awesome night with a good crowd in Killarney, and so much fun considering it was a Tuesday!
Wednesday we went through Cork and visited the Blarney Castle. It had recently rained there so everything was a vibrant green, but we had sunshine during out visit. There are caves under the castle that Terry, Chris and I decided to climb through. Then we went up to the very top and kissed the Blarney Stone! The view was great from up there, hopefully my pictures turn out well!
Wednesday night when we arrived back, a group of us from the tour met up at their hostel. We shared some drinks then went for a night on the town! We drank through the Irish dancing lol so we ended up just hopping from bar to bar. I left at midnight when the dancing started, I was very tired from such a late tuesday night. I hear the party carried on well into the wee hours of the morning.
Thursday I went to Bray (seaside village) with Shakeel. It is very quaint and peaceful there. We had a great afternoon and then went back to La Med for pizza. It's so good! Thursday night I went to Irish dancing with Christian (who I met on the tour) from Louisiana.
Thursday night I went to see live Irish Dancing with Christian who is from Louisiana. They dancers were fantastic! It really is like river dancing you see on tv where only the lower half of their bodies move lol. We met a really nice girl there from Wisconsin named Laura who I hope to go to Beerfest with in Germany!
Today is friday and it's my last full day in Ireland. I really really love this place! The city makes you feel at home, it is very safe here. Everyone is nice, their accents rock. The tour of Ireland was also wicked, I have nothing negative to say here except that they smoke cigarettes right beside the doors and the air pushes all the smoke inside. Other than that super annoying thing, everything has been unreal. I wanted to buy a bunch of souvenirs but I'm on a budget and don't have enough room in my bag to carry things home!
I'm off to Portugal early Saturday morning. I hope they let me stay longer than 1 week there, lol. From there I'll head through the south of Spain and then up to the north where I'll be in Santader for three months!
And also, no one from home is updating me with what is going on except Mom. So all you slackers need to start saying Hi to me! :)
Saturday, May 16, 2009
Paris
Hey Everyone!
I'm alive and well in Dublin after my time in Paris. It was a very interesting experience there! I have lots of pictures that I will eventually put up on facebook to correspond with my blog... but at this point, all I can share is through writing!
Upon arriving in Paris I was a bit jet lagged. On Day 1 I arrived at 8:30 am and made it eventually to my hostel, with my first experience on the intricate subway system. It proved to be a very convenient way to get around as I ventured through Paris! I ended up sleeping from 3:30 pm-8:30 pm, which left me awake for the entire night on Tuesday. I was in a hostel room with 2 sets of bunkbeds, so I had 3 other people in my room. One was from Mexico (she snored!), and the other 2 were friends, one from Montreal and one from Maine. The one from Montreal actually plays hockey for Concordia so I immediately had something in common with her. The other one slept the entire time, so we called her snooze-bear (a nickname her friends had given her) and that was the extent of it.
I got up at 6 am on Wednesday and had breakfast at the hostel. It is very difficult to eat well because it costs a lot to eat my regular diet, and not everything is accessible. At 8 am I left on the subway to meet Judi's awesome friend named David. He was gracious enough to offer me a place to stay (in a great location), tell me about things to see in Paris, equip me with a map and cook me an awesome dinner! It was a pleasure to meet him and it really made my stay in Paris a lot more fun! David had to go to work on Wednesday, but he left me with a set of keys so that I could come and go in the city. I napped but only for a couple hours, because I had to adjust to their time schedule. Eventually I got up, walked all through the city on some very interesting streets! It was very difficult to navigate the streets even with a map, so I relied on Judi's awesome compass necklace to tell me directions. I saw tons of old buildings including the Louvre, but I didn't go inside it. I walked all around the island in the middle of Paris. We had dinner together on wednesday night, David prepared an awesome quiche! Early to bed and up Thursday for another day of tourist stuff.
Thursday morning was lazy. I washed my hair, then went to dry it and forgot to turn the dryer to the higher voltage setting. It turned bright orange and lit on fire inside, with a few sparks and a tiny bit of smoke. So much for drying my hair lol. Learned my lesson there. I had to find out where to get a new one, I was directed to Galeries Lafayette. Its such an awesome mall! It's not a mall with individual stores, but rather a massive open place where each designer has their own open section so you just walk through and browse based on what you are looking for. The Eiffel tower was pretty kewl. The 2nd level is open to outside but the very top is all glassed in, so that was kind of disappointing. Lot's of fun though, the view from up there is awesome. Paris is a very appealing city!
Friday was up early because I had to travel to the airport to get to Dublin. Turns out there was a technical difficulty and I was delayed for about 6 hours in a rather small airport. No worries though, I'm on vacation :)
So now you have the rundown of my activities, I'll tell you what I'll think of the next time someone speaks of Paris (eventually pictures will correspond with lots of these points):
1. Fashion and Cigarettes are equally popular, the latter being excessive when everyone is doing it. Thankfully they don't smoke inside, but 90% of the time when you are walking down the street you are inhaling straight smoke. I won't miss that at all!
2. The bums wear nicer shoes than most city people in Canada!
3. The hookers are not on drugs... as a general rule, they are rather healthy looking, voluptuous, and old! I don't think I saw one under 40, and that's being generous! Sidenote: I was taking a picture of a storefront which is quite possibly one of my favourite things to take pictures of... and this hooker thought I was taking a picture of her (won't lie here, I was hoping to catch her in the shot, but it was the sign that made me take out the camera). She started losing it at me, screaming from across the street, throwing her hands in the air, talking to her hooker friends and pointing at me. Unfortunately I don't understand french, but that was the one time I really wished I did lol. I put the camera down and kept walking... I have no idea the big deal but the only thing I caught was "c'est travaille" which I think means "its work!!!!" lol.
4. There are no normal intersections! Each intersection has at least 5 streets and a lot of them function as traffic circles. No one, including pedestrians, obeys the traffic signals. It is absolute chaos. David offered me this card so that I could ride a bicycle from point A to point B for free. There was not a single chance that I was riding a bike there, I was scared enough to walk!
5. Being in Paris and not speaking french, or being with someone who speaks french is pretty difficult. I likely won't visit too many countries on my trip where I don't speak the native language. It sounds close minded, but I understand a fair amount of french and I still couldn't speak to 90% of the people in Paris! I don't have a fighting chance in any other languages!
6. I've seen the true definition of an efficient transit system. The subway (or Metro as they call it) is so convenient and there is a stop within 500 meters of any given spot in the city.
7. Everyone eats white bread with what seems like every meal! I get chubby when I eat bread, I have no idea how they keep their figures with so much bread in their diets!
There is tons more of course but these are the main things that stood out to me! I'll update this when I think of more!
I'm going out to Temple Bar tonight in Dublin, to a couchsurfing acoustic night on Sunday, and on a 3 day tour of the South of Ireland on Monday morning. Thursday will find me either flying to London or Madrid. I'm having such a good time with so much to look forward to :)
Cheers for now
I'm alive and well in Dublin after my time in Paris. It was a very interesting experience there! I have lots of pictures that I will eventually put up on facebook to correspond with my blog... but at this point, all I can share is through writing!
Upon arriving in Paris I was a bit jet lagged. On Day 1 I arrived at 8:30 am and made it eventually to my hostel, with my first experience on the intricate subway system. It proved to be a very convenient way to get around as I ventured through Paris! I ended up sleeping from 3:30 pm-8:30 pm, which left me awake for the entire night on Tuesday. I was in a hostel room with 2 sets of bunkbeds, so I had 3 other people in my room. One was from Mexico (she snored!), and the other 2 were friends, one from Montreal and one from Maine. The one from Montreal actually plays hockey for Concordia so I immediately had something in common with her. The other one slept the entire time, so we called her snooze-bear (a nickname her friends had given her) and that was the extent of it.
I got up at 6 am on Wednesday and had breakfast at the hostel. It is very difficult to eat well because it costs a lot to eat my regular diet, and not everything is accessible. At 8 am I left on the subway to meet Judi's awesome friend named David. He was gracious enough to offer me a place to stay (in a great location), tell me about things to see in Paris, equip me with a map and cook me an awesome dinner! It was a pleasure to meet him and it really made my stay in Paris a lot more fun! David had to go to work on Wednesday, but he left me with a set of keys so that I could come and go in the city. I napped but only for a couple hours, because I had to adjust to their time schedule. Eventually I got up, walked all through the city on some very interesting streets! It was very difficult to navigate the streets even with a map, so I relied on Judi's awesome compass necklace to tell me directions. I saw tons of old buildings including the Louvre, but I didn't go inside it. I walked all around the island in the middle of Paris. We had dinner together on wednesday night, David prepared an awesome quiche! Early to bed and up Thursday for another day of tourist stuff.
Thursday morning was lazy. I washed my hair, then went to dry it and forgot to turn the dryer to the higher voltage setting. It turned bright orange and lit on fire inside, with a few sparks and a tiny bit of smoke. So much for drying my hair lol. Learned my lesson there. I had to find out where to get a new one, I was directed to Galeries Lafayette. Its such an awesome mall! It's not a mall with individual stores, but rather a massive open place where each designer has their own open section so you just walk through and browse based on what you are looking for. The Eiffel tower was pretty kewl. The 2nd level is open to outside but the very top is all glassed in, so that was kind of disappointing. Lot's of fun though, the view from up there is awesome. Paris is a very appealing city!
Friday was up early because I had to travel to the airport to get to Dublin. Turns out there was a technical difficulty and I was delayed for about 6 hours in a rather small airport. No worries though, I'm on vacation :)
So now you have the rundown of my activities, I'll tell you what I'll think of the next time someone speaks of Paris (eventually pictures will correspond with lots of these points):
1. Fashion and Cigarettes are equally popular, the latter being excessive when everyone is doing it. Thankfully they don't smoke inside, but 90% of the time when you are walking down the street you are inhaling straight smoke. I won't miss that at all!
2. The bums wear nicer shoes than most city people in Canada!
3. The hookers are not on drugs... as a general rule, they are rather healthy looking, voluptuous, and old! I don't think I saw one under 40, and that's being generous! Sidenote: I was taking a picture of a storefront which is quite possibly one of my favourite things to take pictures of... and this hooker thought I was taking a picture of her (won't lie here, I was hoping to catch her in the shot, but it was the sign that made me take out the camera). She started losing it at me, screaming from across the street, throwing her hands in the air, talking to her hooker friends and pointing at me. Unfortunately I don't understand french, but that was the one time I really wished I did lol. I put the camera down and kept walking... I have no idea the big deal but the only thing I caught was "c'est travaille" which I think means "its work!!!!" lol.
4. There are no normal intersections! Each intersection has at least 5 streets and a lot of them function as traffic circles. No one, including pedestrians, obeys the traffic signals. It is absolute chaos. David offered me this card so that I could ride a bicycle from point A to point B for free. There was not a single chance that I was riding a bike there, I was scared enough to walk!
5. Being in Paris and not speaking french, or being with someone who speaks french is pretty difficult. I likely won't visit too many countries on my trip where I don't speak the native language. It sounds close minded, but I understand a fair amount of french and I still couldn't speak to 90% of the people in Paris! I don't have a fighting chance in any other languages!
6. I've seen the true definition of an efficient transit system. The subway (or Metro as they call it) is so convenient and there is a stop within 500 meters of any given spot in the city.
7. Everyone eats white bread with what seems like every meal! I get chubby when I eat bread, I have no idea how they keep their figures with so much bread in their diets!
There is tons more of course but these are the main things that stood out to me! I'll update this when I think of more!
I'm going out to Temple Bar tonight in Dublin, to a couchsurfing acoustic night on Sunday, and on a 3 day tour of the South of Ireland on Monday morning. Thursday will find me either flying to London or Madrid. I'm having such a good time with so much to look forward to :)
Cheers for now
Tuesday, May 12, 2009
First flight across the Atlantic
Well actually it was the first international flight that crossed water! All of my travels went very smoothly, I couldn't have asked for more!
Flight 1 from Calgary to Montreal was on time. This guy was sitting next to me and he smelled fantastic, so that was a plus! Didn't have too much time to kill in the Montreal airport before the massive airbus took us to Paris. Once again, I got great seatmates!
I had a super nice young pilot named Kait on my right and a very kind lady named Jan from England on my right. We had lots of fun, watching movies together, chatting about all sorts of things. We all drank a lot of water and barely had to pee. All the water must've gone into my feet because my shoes were super tight when I tried to put them back on!
Arriving in Paris was smooth as well. Customs stamped my passport.. my first stamp!Then I walked to the train, paid, took the train to my transfer station Gard Du Nord (almost missed it actually lol)... then had to transfer, so I asked a guy working there and he explained it in french and also by pointing in directions, so I figured it out. That train took me to my destination, then I ran into some problems.
I walked into a store and asked the guy for directions. He wrote down a name on a small piece of paper and pointed to the bus stop, telling me the numbers of bus to get on. I tried to get on the bus but they dont have ticket machines, so I asked the driver how to pay, and he kicked me off the bus! lol. First time I've been turned away for offering to pay my fare. Anyhow, I talked to a nice girl who spoke english to me and she sent me to get coins instead of bills. I finally did that by buying a "petite frites" for 1 euro at the macdonalds lol. 2nd try getting on the bus was good with a driver who was friendly but didnt speak much english. I showed him the address and he happened to be stopping by it, so he actually let me out right in front of my hostel! There was lots of confusion but I got here without too many hiccups haha.
So a few things about my introduction to Paris!
1. It is the most green city I have ever seen. The trees are so bright they are almost neon!
2. It rains a lot here, but I knew that already. It's been totally overcast all day... south of Spain here I come. I have been thinking that lots of ppl here smoke, which is true, but sometimes it is just their BREATH I can see, and they aren't smoking at all lol. Brrr.
3. The driving here is the most ridiculous thing I've ever seen. Every intersection seems to be a traffic circle, and no one (including pedestrians) follows any of the signs or rules. I can't believe I didn't see at least 3 scooters get picked off while weaving in and out of traffic illegally. I was fully entertained just by watching the intersection today!
So far that is all I have to tell you! ;) More to come on my Paris experience once I got a shower and some sleep. Only downside so far is that I can't make calls on my cell phone :(
Bye for now!
Flight 1 from Calgary to Montreal was on time. This guy was sitting next to me and he smelled fantastic, so that was a plus! Didn't have too much time to kill in the Montreal airport before the massive airbus took us to Paris. Once again, I got great seatmates!
I had a super nice young pilot named Kait on my right and a very kind lady named Jan from England on my right. We had lots of fun, watching movies together, chatting about all sorts of things. We all drank a lot of water and barely had to pee. All the water must've gone into my feet because my shoes were super tight when I tried to put them back on!
Arriving in Paris was smooth as well. Customs stamped my passport.. my first stamp!Then I walked to the train, paid, took the train to my transfer station Gard Du Nord (almost missed it actually lol)... then had to transfer, so I asked a guy working there and he explained it in french and also by pointing in directions, so I figured it out. That train took me to my destination, then I ran into some problems.
I walked into a store and asked the guy for directions. He wrote down a name on a small piece of paper and pointed to the bus stop, telling me the numbers of bus to get on. I tried to get on the bus but they dont have ticket machines, so I asked the driver how to pay, and he kicked me off the bus! lol. First time I've been turned away for offering to pay my fare. Anyhow, I talked to a nice girl who spoke english to me and she sent me to get coins instead of bills. I finally did that by buying a "petite frites" for 1 euro at the macdonalds lol. 2nd try getting on the bus was good with a driver who was friendly but didnt speak much english. I showed him the address and he happened to be stopping by it, so he actually let me out right in front of my hostel! There was lots of confusion but I got here without too many hiccups haha.
So a few things about my introduction to Paris!
1. It is the most green city I have ever seen. The trees are so bright they are almost neon!
2. It rains a lot here, but I knew that already. It's been totally overcast all day... south of Spain here I come. I have been thinking that lots of ppl here smoke, which is true, but sometimes it is just their BREATH I can see, and they aren't smoking at all lol. Brrr.
3. The driving here is the most ridiculous thing I've ever seen. Every intersection seems to be a traffic circle, and no one (including pedestrians) follows any of the signs or rules. I can't believe I didn't see at least 3 scooters get picked off while weaving in and out of traffic illegally. I was fully entertained just by watching the intersection today!
So far that is all I have to tell you! ;) More to come on my Paris experience once I got a shower and some sleep. Only downside so far is that I can't make calls on my cell phone :(
Bye for now!
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