Last Stop - London

We returned to London for a few days to end our trip. It was weird, even with being so close at Oxford it felt like we hadn't really explored London. I also had yet to see my friend Angus, who is at LSE there, so this was my last chance before heading home. Besides seeing Angus (and helping him lift a bed up two stories in Notting Hill - don't ask), we went to the Comedy Store for a comedy show, and to a musical. If Blood Brothers is playing in New York, save your money.

I found the Maple Leaf pub near Covent Garden, so if I'm ever in London during the hockey playoffs, you will be able to find me there.


I also actually went around the British museum, and saw the Rosetta Stone.

We also had our last high tea in style at the Dorchester. Three words - Unlimited finger sandwiches.





I left London to go back to Toronto to relax before going to New York to start work this summer. It was pretty incredible how quick the whole Oxford experience and travelling was. It felt like I had so much time when I started the trip, but really it was very short. England was strangely foreign, but at the same time familiar to me. I'm pretty sure that I don't want to live there (at least not in Oxford), but I think at least this whole thing taught me that it's not all that far away, and I won't go so long without visiting Europe again. For now, it looks like it's back to the CBC for a little bit.

Paris

From Dublin, we flew to Paris. I was really excited to be back in France, and really looking forward to speaking (non-québecois) French again. Our hotel was in a really central and nice location in the 1^er arrondissement, near the Louvre.

On our first day, we walked through the Tuileries Gardens, saw Madeleine Church, Notre Dame, and very disturbing art at the Pompidou Centre.


The next day, I went to the Musée Rodin, and the Musée d'Orsay, where I had some odd flashbacks of being 12 years old, and seeing the same statues outside the museum. After we had a leisurely coffee in St. Germain. All the chairs at tables in the cafés in Paris faced outwards, so you can watch the people go by in the squares.

We went to St. Sulpice Church next, which was in the Da Vinci Code. We didn't see any albinos or dead nuns, but it does have the gnomon (obelisk). It was funny because everyone was trying to pretend that they were there because of the holyness of the church, and not because of the book, but no one was pulling it off.

Next was place des Vosges which is "arguably the city's most beautiful square." It had pink-brick and stone mansions, and I really liked it, even though I had a lot of trouble seeing the colours.

It was also really near the Jewish Quarter, so I stopped to check out the neighbourhood.

The next day, we saw the Paris marathon in the morning, and then went to Versailles. I toured the palace, but wasn't that impressed - it really wasn't any different than Blenheim, or the Doge's palace in Florence. But the gardens were really incredible. Normally the fountains aren't on at this time of the year, but for a couple hours (and €5.50 admission) they turned them on and pumped classical music through the gardens. It was really incredible. We also rented bikes and went around the grounds.

That night we went to Montmartre which had really great views of Paris, and a really amazing sunset. We also stopped by the café from Amélie, so I should probably see that movie at some point.

Dublin

Continuing on our Celtic adventure, the next stop was Dublin. It was kind of a shock leaving the B&B in Edinburgh and arriving at our "business" hotel. I don't think a lot of business gets done in Ireland, since these people wouldn't even answer the phone when my friend Mike called repeatedly.

We went out the first night to Temple Bar, an area with a lot of good restaurants and bars, although a little touristy. Then we headed over to Mulligan's for the supposed best pint of Guinness in the city. But I couldn't really taste the difference between it and any other Guinness I've had.

The next morning, we went on a historic walking tour, given by a grad student at Trinity College. We saw the college, city hall, the old post office (used to be Irish parliament), Dublin castle, and other assorted city sights.

Then in the afternoon, we took the commuter rail to Howth, which is by the sea. It has a really incredible cliff walk, and goes by where Yeates used to live, but we couldn't do the whole thing because the sun was setting, and we might have fallen off. But best fish and chips of the whole trip.

The next day we took a bus tour in the Wicklow mountains. It started with Sandycove, a suburb south of the city where James Joyce lived.

Then we headed to Glendalough, which is a monastic site founded by St. Kevin in 570. It had some really interesting ruins and, two big lakes.

The highlight was stopping at Sally's Gap, with its black lake and boglands. Amazing views.

At night, we finally managed to connect with Mike (my friend from highschool who's at UC Dublin med school), who had been calling the above mentioned hotel repeatedly. We checked out his house and had some dinner where "real Dubliners live" as he put it (a.k.a. yuppie-ville).

The next morning, we walked by the Guinness factory, and saw Kilmainham Jail, where leaders of Irish rebellions were imprisoned and executed.

Dublin was a great mix of a city with a good nightlife, but not too big so as to feel imposing. Again like in Scotland, people told us that we should have visited other parts of the country (namely Galway).

Edinburgh

Our next stop was Scotland. We woke up ridiculously early and got to the airport for our 7am flight. Before we could congratulate ourselves however, the SAS crew were not so diligent and neglected to show up. So after a 1½ hour wait, we left for London. We were on time for our noon train, and headed north to Edinburgh.

Edinburgh is a visually beautiful city. It has a large castle built on a hill, very nice old buildings, and a lot of good restaurants (take note England). It also had the best B&B of our entire trip - we had a huge room, great breakfasts made to order, and a real shower (unlike the hose attached to the sink in Copenhagen).

On our first full day, we climbed Arthur's Seat, an extinct volcano with great views of the city. It took a while, but it was worth it when we got to the top (and didn't lose our keys like the other tourists up there).





We climbed down and headed towards the Scottish Parliament building, which was just built since they finally got their own parliament back from the English. It had these really weird window seats where the MPs can sit and think in their offices.

Next we crossed the street to go see the Palace Holyroodhouse. This is where the Queen hangs out when she comes to Edinburgh. Attached to it was the ruined Holyrood Abbey from the 12th and 13th century.












That evening we went (at the suggestion of Wilma, our parliament tour guide) to Sandy Bell's to hear some live celtic music. Apparently it's known all over Europe, and musicians just come in at random nights to jam. We saw a 93 year old woman playing a bodhrán (drum). She had just learned to play a few years ago, and also smoked 60 cigarettes a day (a testament to big tobacco). We also hung out with a good Scottish guy named Andrew and his girlfriend, who bought me a bunch of alcohol. He was from Glasgow, and he (among other people we talked to) told us we should have gone there. Glasgow is apparently uglier to look at, but the people are much nicer, and the nightlife is better. Of course, this was information from Glasgowians, so they might be biased.

The next day we went to Edinburgh castle, which was a big waste of time. The highlights though were the kilt walk (every Sunday people walk around the castle in their traditional kilts), and the gun that fires every day at 1pm to set the time in Edinburgh.







We left and went to the Botanical Gardens, which was much nicer than the castle. Really nice to be in, and just out of the city so as to be really peaceful.