Europe 2006

A quick summary of my trip. Click here to go back to the photos.

I left a foot of snow in Edmonton to arrive in southern Ireland after a long flight and five boring hours in Heathrow airport. Cork was wet but a neat town to explore. I kissed the Blarney stone and visited Kinsale, a town on the coast with a large star-shaped fort built to ward off a Spanish invasion in the 17th Century. After three days in Cork I arrived in Dublin on a Friday and was trying to find accommodation only to learn that Saturday night there was a massive rugby match and not a room to be had in the entire town. So I stayed Saturday night in Drogheda, a town about an hour up the coast (near the Battle of the Boyne) and visited the really cool neolithic tombs at Newgrange. I also met a couple of Australians there and we met up again the next day in Dublin and went out to hear some local music. I was staying in the Temple Bar area and it was exciting to be in the middle of everything. Ireland was very green and very wet (no surprise there) with masses of daffodils in bloom.

For the next three days I was in northern Wales. I climbed around Conwy and Harlech castles - one day I was standing on the battlements in a strong wind howling off the sea - awesome. I think the best day of my trip was a sunny afternoon in Ffestiniog when I hiked up in the hills to an old slate quarry. It was really peaceful and the terrain was beautiful. Part of the trip between Conwy and Harlech was on a narrow guage steam train through the mountains.

After Wales I took a very crowded train across country to York, where I stayed for five days. I spent a couple of days just wandering around York, visiting the Minster, castle the Viking exhibition Jorvik and the National Railway Museum. I was staying in a hostel not far from the rail station and very conveniently located for getting into the middle of the city. While in York I also visited Durham and Lincoln, both cities with castles and cathedrals dramatically sited on top of rocky peaks above river valleys. I could easily have spent several more hours at Lincoln cathedral, and the city itself is really cool. I really enjoyed travelling in the high speed trains along the east coast.

I met up with my friend Lisa at Cambridge just before Easter. Lisa showed me around Cambridge and we also visited Sandringham and the coast. I took a couple of daytrips to Norwich, the Imperial War Museum at Duxford and Ely. Ely is the only high land surrounded by fields that are mostly below sea level and I went on two tours that climbed towers to look at the surrounding countryside. A highlight was definitely the evensong service Good Friday at King's College chapel. The sun was setting just as the service ended and light was streaming through the stained glass of the huge west windows.

Lisa and I flew to St. Malo in Brittany where we stayed at a hotel inside the walls of the old town. It's a neat place and although it's a resort town in the summer, it wasn't touristy when we were there. It's also the port from which Jacques Cartier sailed. The next day we went to Mont St. Michel. We missed the tour of the abbey because the American ambassador was visiting and the tour was rescheduled. We were a little annoyed, but it was a good day. We caught a train to Bayeux in the morning and saw the tapestry which was truly amazing. Then we went to Juno Beach and toured the new Canadian centre there. The Canadian staff was really helpful and very friendly - a touch of home. Sunday we went to see Monet's garden at Giverny and saw the lilypond he painted over and over.

I was in Paris for the rest of the week while Lisa went back to London part way through the week. We climbed the 700 steps to the second level of the Eiffel Tower and spent a lot of time walking around seeing all the tourist spots. We also went on a boat tour which is a great way to see the city sitting down. The Louvre and the Musee D'Orsay were amazing and I visited them on late-opening days so it wasn't too crowded, except around the Mona Lisa. At the end of the my time in Paris I visited Vimy Ridge. It was really moving to walk through one of the Canadian military cemeteries at Vimy and realize that almost all the markers were for kids of 18 and 19 years old. It was quite an experience. I enjoyed the food in France, particularly the fresh crepe. Mmmmmmmmmm. I also spent some time in the Tuileries Gardens and at Versailles. Walking through Versailles certainly made it clear how out of touch the ancien regime was with the people of France.

At the end of that week I took the Eurostar t rain through the Chunnel to London and then a high speed train to Edinburgh. Paris to Scotland in one day. In Scotland, I really enjoyed Edinburgh. It's a really neat city with a lot of things to see and do, including a Pipes and Drums performance by the cadets band on the castle esplanade. I was in a Georgian townhouse that had been restored to its original decoration and they had actual period newspapers on display, including a, 1793 current events column about the latest happenings in the French Revolution. I met up with some friends of a friend in Dunblane and they took me around the area (thanks Malcolm and Helen!) and I saw Stirling Castle and the Wallace Monument, and also the castle where some of Monty Python and the Holy Grail was shot. I spent a couple of days in northern Scotland with a tour of the largest Orkney island (called Mainland). It was really really windy in the Orkneys and there aren't any trees, but it's beautiful country and there are lots of cool archaeological sites. The weather was great and the train ride through the mountains on the way between Edinburgh and Inverness was fantastic. My last morning in Edinburgh the fog rolled in so I had a whole range of weather in Scotland.

On the way south I stopped in Hexham, visited Housesteads fort on Hadrian's Wall and even walked along a section of the wall.

I spent a couple of days with friends near Stratford and took in a performance of Julius Caesar. It was mostly good, but the actor doing Brutus gave a poor performance which created some issues. In contrast, Cassius was great and Antony was amazing - even performing in a cast and crutches.

I really enjoyed the last week of my trip in London. I did things that I hadn't done on my last trip (Natural History Museum, London Eye, Tate Britain) as well as visiting a few places for a second time. I was in a small hotel on Gower street which was walking distance from the British Museum and the West End. I saw some amazing art in the galleries and some fantastic theatre (5 shows in 7 nights). Staying up late also gave me a cold, but it was worth it. I saw Judi Dench in a Noel Coward play, Les Mis, The Producers, Blood Brothers and Billy Elliot. So much amazing theatre all in one place. As the week went on I felt ready to come home, but as I was walking to the train station on the last morning I felt like I could stay for a while longer.


	A quick summary of my trip. Click here to go back to the photos.
I left a foot of snow in Edmonton to arrive in southern Ireland after a long flight and five boring hours in Heathrow airport. Cork was wet but a neat town to explore. I kissed the Blarney stone and visited Kinsale, a town on the coast with a large star-shaped fort built to ward off a Spanish invasion in the 17th Century. After three days in Cork I arrived in Dublin on a Friday and was trying to find accommodation only to learn that Saturday night there was a massive rugby match and not a room to be had in the entire town. So I stayed Saturday night in Drogheda, a town about an hour up the coast (near the Battle of the Boyne) and visited the really cool neolithic tombs at Newgrange. I also met a couple of Australians there and we met up again the next day in Dublin and went out to hear some local music. I was staying in the Temple Bar area and it was exciting to be in the middle of everything. Ireland was very green and very wet (no surprise there) with masses of daffodils in bloom. For the next three days I was in northern Wales. I climbed around Conwy and Harlech castles - one day I was standing on the battlements in a strong wind howling off the sea - awesome. I think the best day of my trip was a sunny afternoon in Ffestiniog when I hiked up in the hills to an old slate quarry. It was really peaceful and the terrain was beautiful. Part of the trip between Conwy and Harlech was on a narrow guage steam train through the mountains. After Wales I took a very crowded train across country to York, where I stayed for five days. I spent a couple of days just wandering around York, visiting the Minster, castle the Viking exhibition Jorvik and the National Railway Museum. I was staying in a hostel not far from the rail station and very conveniently located for getting into the middle of the city. While in York I also visited Durham and Lincoln, both cities with castles and cathedrals dramatically sited on top of rocky peaks above river valleys. I could easily have spent several more hours at Lincoln cathedral, and the city itself is really cool. I really enjoyed travelling in the high speed trains along the east coast. I met up with my friend Lisa at Cambridge just before Easter. Lisa showed me around Cambridge and we also visited Sandringham and the coast. I took a couple of daytrips to Norwich, the Imperial War Museum at Duxford and Ely. Ely is the only high land surrounded by fields that are mostly below sea level and I went on two tours that climbed towers to look at the surrounding countryside. A highlight was definitely the evensong service Good Friday at King's College chapel. The sun was setting just as the service ended and light was streaming through the stained glass of the huge west windows. Lisa and I flew to St. Malo in Brittany where we stayed at a hotel inside the walls of the old town. It's a neat place and although it's a resort town in the summer, it wasn't touristy when we were there. It's also the port from which Jacques Cartier sailed. The next day we went to Mont St. Michel. We missed the tour of the abbey because the American ambassador was visiting and the tour was rescheduled. We were a little annoyed, but it was a good day. We caught a train to Bayeux in the morning and saw the tapestry which was truly amazing. Then we went to Juno Beach and toured the new Canadian centre there. The Canadian staff was really helpful and very friendly - a touch of home. Sunday we went to see Monet's garden at Giverny and saw the lilypond he painted over and over. I was in Paris for the rest of the week while Lisa went back to London part way through the week. We climbed the 700 steps to the second level of the Eiffel Tower and spent a lot of time walking around seeing all the tourist spots. We also went on a boat tour which is a great way to see the city sitting down. The Louvre and the Musee D'Orsay were amazing and I visited them on late-opening days so it wasn't too crowded, except around the Mona Lisa. At the end of the my time in Paris I visited Vimy Ridge. It was really moving to walk through one of the Canadian military cemeteries at Vimy and realize that almost all the markers were for kids of 18 and 19 years old. It was quite an experience. I enjoyed the food in France, particularly the fresh crepe. Mmmmmmmmmm. I also spent some time in the Tuileries Gardens and at Versailles. Walking through Versailles certainly made it clear how out of touch the ancien regime was with the people of France. At the end of that week I took the Eurostar t rain through the Chunnel to London and then a high speed train to Edinburgh. Paris to Scotland in one day. In Scotland, I really enjoyed Edinburgh. It's a really neat city with a lot of things to see and do, including a Pipes and Drums performance by the cadets band on the castle esplanade. I was in a Georgian townhouse that had been restored to its original decoration and they had actual period newspapers on display, including a, 1793 current events column about the latest happenings in the French Revolution. I met up with some friends of a friend in Dunblane and they took me around the area (thanks Malcolm and Helen!) and I saw Stirling Castle and the Wallace Monument, and also the castle where some of Monty Python and the Holy Grail was shot. I spent a couple of days in northern Scotland with a tour of the largest Orkney island (called Mainland). It was really really windy in the Orkneys and there aren't any trees, but it's beautiful country and there are lots of cool archaeological sites. The weather was great and the train ride through the mountains on the way between Edinburgh and Inverness was fantastic. My last morning in Edinburgh the fog rolled in so I had a whole range of weather in Scotland. On the way south I stopped in Hexham, visited Housesteads fort on Hadrian's Wall and even walked along a section of the wall. I spent a couple of days with friends near Stratford and took in a performance of Julius Caesar. It was mostly good, but the actor doing Brutus gave a poor performance which created some issues. In contrast, Cassius was great and Antony was amazing - even performing in a cast and crutches. I really enjoyed the last week of my trip in London. I did things that I hadn't done on my last trip (Natural History Museum, London Eye, Tate Britain) as well as visiting a few places for a second time. I was in a small hotel on Gower street which was walking distance from the British Museum and the West End. I saw some amazing art in the galleries and some fantastic theatre (5 shows in 7 nights). Staying up late also gave me a cold, but it was worth it. I saw Judi Dench in a Noel Coward play, Les Mis, The Producers, Blood Brothers and Billy Elliot. So much amazing theatre all in one place. As the week went on I felt ready to come home, but as I was walking to the train station on the last morning I felt like I could stay for a while longer.