Europe: All over the place

This is one of those posts that are pretty much only here for completeness sake. To keep this blogs time line relatively accurate. So, here is a collection of short stories and photos from my last 4 months of adventuring:

Dumfries, Scotland (via Hitch Hiking): Andy and Val vs Lauren and Myself... two teams, one winner. Red card was on the line.. it was intense. Lauren and I started by over sleeping (alarm was set for 5am.. eventually got out the door at 8am..). We then met the opposition at the first Service Station on the M1... we then proceeded to get the first ride and zing ahead... in the end Andy and Val won by 30 minutes... not too bad a margin for a 14 hour race where Lauren and I started 1 hour after. We got to Dumfries and had a fantastic Christmas with a mate and his family, they even gave us stockings. Best Christmas outside NZ ever. No photos as forgot my camera.

Stockholm from a boat

Stockholm, Sweden: Ok, I am a pretty arrogant traveller ("I don't pay for transport.."), but being in London there are many cheap flights all around Europe which lead to us flying to Stockholm for the weekend. Stockholm was pretty cool and I had a good time exploring but I came away with no real appreciation for what it is to be Swedish, or with any real knowledge of Stockholm. It wasn't even that cold either!

Pretty Canterbury

Canterbury, UK: the real one, not the fake one I spent the first 24 years of my life in. My first real English experience (London is not England). We had tea and scones and saw some big cathedrals. My appreciation for England and all things English begins.

Yep, thats in Brussels!

Gent - Brussles, Belgium (via EUROSTAR!!!): Lucas, Andy and I did what I had been excited about for quite some time.. taking the EUROSTAR under the sea to the continent! After work on Friday we jumped on the train and less than two hours later were in Brussels (then another train to Gent). Gent was a very cool little town, and Brussels a pretty cool (and surprisingly diverse city. Then Monday morning for a 1hr48min commute back to work, enjoying a croissant as France rolled by.

Andy on the EUROSTAR!!!!

Sorry to Belgium for talking more about the train than the country, needless to say it had culture, very tasty food, European capitalness and really tasty beer.

Lucas on an ESCALATOR!!!!

Bath - Bristol, UK: Andy, Val and I went on a Easter Escape to Bath and Bristol which was very cool and did well to continue improving my attitude towards England. Bath was cool to look at (Heaps of massive Georgian houses and they use the same rock for all the buildings) but the town itself didn't really have much of a vibe.

Bath in the Snow.

Bristol on the other hand was very cool. Admittedly we were there only one night and almost two days, but it had a really cool feel about (very real..) and the history of the place is very cool (Slavery, exploring, pirates). The Commonwealth and Empire Museum that we went to there made it to my top four best museums of all time.

A pub in Bristol where BLACKBEARD the PIRATE drank at. So did we.

Milton Keynes, UK (via Hitch Hiking): Not too much to report here, went to meet up with an old mate from Uni and had some great times at pubs and university student associations and walking back 12 miles through the country side. Very good times. Most adventurous part was hitching up there (hitching in the UK is awesome) and almost getting a ride on a boat! Did you know you can take a boat in canals all the way from London to almost Scotland? And Birmingham has more canals than Venice? I do now, thanks to a friends canal boat captain.

Part of Englans extensive canal network. IWA Forever!

Football, UK: Caught a very cool game at Emirates Stadium a few weeks back, Sweden vs Brazil, 60,000 people! Heaps of crazy Brazilians. I am now beginning to understand why everyone else in the world loves the sport. Also went up to Bolton to watch the Wanderers take on our boys, West Ham. It was very cool to see the English fans in action.

Brazil vs Sweden with 60,000 people.

That's all for now.... time for me to get away from this computer screen for a week. I am of to Morocco! Just need to go home and pack my bag (and perhaps a quick shisha before I go), a sleep at Heathrow tonight to to Casablanca via Madrid. Life is sweet!

UK: Cardiff, Belfast

From London we have been lucky enough to go on some sneaky weekend jaunts around the UK and continental Europe. The first two of which were to Cardiff and Belfast. We went to Cardiff perhaps sometime in November last year... and Belfast in December... I think. I am well behind. But here are my thoughts on both. I'll quickly sneak in a photo of the White Cliffs of Dover, my first impression of all that is English.

First escape was to Cardiff, the capital of all that is Welsh. It was a town.. quite nice and windy around the harbour. The highlight (aside from a little shape cutting and a candle that changed colours while it burned.. pretty amazing really) was heading out to the country for a sunday roast with a friend of mine. The countryside was, for lack of a better word, quintessential. It was so... Wales. And aside from the abundance of wild life we don't have at home (I love squirrels) it was also very familiar looking.

The most defining moment for me though was when my mum for the day bought out lunch... it was such a fantastic lunch. Roast Lamb, vegetables, and dessert! .. so good. But the scary part was that it was virtually identical to a roast mum would make for me 20,ooo in White Rock (obviously you can't compare anything to your own mums cooking, my mums is the best in the world by far). If I think about it I shouldn't be surprised, we are after all part of the same empire, but I was a little surprised. Anyway, here's the evidence:


Second jaunt: Belfast. With a sneaky, wicked cheap flight from RyanAir we made one giant carbon footprint and flew over there. Its a cool little town and the most Irish I have ever been. We stayed with a super friendly English lass and managed to really explore the whole town. The most remarkable thing for me was the reality that is Northern Ireland. I have a habit of forgetting about things if they are not on the news every days... so I figured everyone in Northern Ireland was happy and the all the trouble had merrily resolved itself... how ignorant I am. Sure its super safe and it is just a normal town, but the history (a very recent history), is still so real. There is a frickin' massive wall separating two parts of the town, I was well surprised.


And there are also very cool murals all over the place, either side of the divide.
But Belfast is a cool town, its not just all walls and murals. There was a cool market going on in town and we met some very cool people and saw some pretty sites.

So we got Wales and Northern Ireland done over two weekends. Next blog post: Dumfries and Canterbury. And tonight Andy, Lucas and I jump on the EUROSTAR(!!!!) and go under the sea to Belgium. I'll post about that in 2009 sometime. High five!

London

If you thought I was still in Paris, I apologise, that would be completely my fault. I am in actual fact now in London, England. The capital of the world. The most cosmopolitan, busy, eclectic, explorable and generally English speaking city in the world.. and by far NOT the most English. I love it.

St Pauls Cathedral

I arrived here October 21st, one day after the Rugby World Cup final which luckily enough (there is always some silver lining) had England in it. This made hitch hiking from Paris to London a little too easy in that we jumped in the boot of van load of English lads from London who took me one block from where I was staying in Clapham, London (andy had to take a bus.. poor kid).

Our flat. Andy found it.. and we flipped a coin to choose it, the first we saw. I was convinced as soon as we got a scoop of chips from the local.

It took one week to find a flat, two months to find a job and I am still seeking the best kebab in London. I am now well settled in a flat in Leytonstone, East London. Its absolutely fantastic. We have had many many couchsurfers sleep on our couch, on the kitchen floor and in the stairway cupboard. During my two months of unemployment I was essentially managing (read: conversing and partying) with couchsurfers. Averaged about 6 a night.

Our lounge, note the shisha on the right.. our pride and joy. and the largest thing I own (thank you Fi).

I have now got a sweet job at a company similar to my one one back home, aside from this one is 20 times bigger. WDA is in full swing with a regular crew every week. I have been able to sneak away on a few sneaky little trips, more about that in the next post (yes, I intend to post two or three times in the next few days... it may be possible). Life is pretty darn sweet. Even the English weather has been far better than I anticipated (admittedly I had extremely low expectations).



One high light in London has been having Lauren (my most awesome little sister ever) sneaking over here for Christmas. It was a cool opportunity to explore London together. I didn't realise how much I missed my family until I had Lauren here (which is rather convenient really).

I would like to give you some insight into London, how it works and what I think about it. But I am really not sure where to start. Its massive, that's obvious. Its diverse... which I reckon is the best part. We live in East London, Leytonstone to be precise, and there are more Eastern Europeans, Africans and Middle Easterner people than there are English people. In fact its quite a treat to meet a pom. I love London, you know what i mean?

I thought it best to finish with a small video clip from the banks of the Thames in London just before Christmas. You can see The City in the back ground with the 'gherkin'. I also managed to capture a 'rare' kiwi well out side its natural environment.. cutting some mean shapes. Big ups Lauren!