Wales 22-25.5.09

In Ireland I met Jaron. She's from the states studying in Dublin and we decided to go to Wales for the long weekend (no idea what the long weekend was for).

I met her on the saturday in Cardiff. I had such a great time. Although i loved the Ireland Tour, It was very rushed, but this weekend we were able to relax and take our time.

When we arrived in Cardiff, the 1st thing we did was go to the Cardiff castle, cos we didnt see enough castles in Ireland.
It was reall nice to just stroll around. We had a beautiul sunny day and we just sat around working on our tans. We had a welsh cider, and i am a big fan.

For Dinner we thought we would check out a vegitarian festival. But after finding our way there we realised that it was just a bunch of people standing around in a hall, rather than a festival. There was a really good violinist and we did have some really good food. However being the carnivours that we are we made our way to a really good Indian restaurant which was much more satisfying.

Neither of us new anything about cardiff, or wales in General and had no idea what to do or what to expect. So the man at the Touris centre sugested we head to Llantwit Major 24.5.09, which is about 40 minutes of Cardiff. Im so glad we went there,. It was so beautiful. We got there and walked down to the beach. Now its one of those beaches with rocks instead of sand, but was still really beautiful. We walked all along the cliffs and we had such a great day for it. The view was amazing. It was really sunny and Jaron even got burnt.

On Monday our lsat day, Jaron thought it would be a good idea to go cycling. Well im not the sporty type, but i actually really enjoyed it. We hired some bikes in Cardiff and took a really nice ride along the lake. We got a bit lost, but eventually found our way, and kept going until we came to another castle. We didnt bother going in. But we did walk around the grounds and even climbed a tree without brakeing any bones. When we came back to the bikes, my tire had gone down. We stopped at a pub where there were other cyclists and a lovely bloke helped change it, as i clearly had no idea what i was doing.

By the time we got back i was so exhausted! I then made my way back to London and Jaron headed back to Dublin. It was a great little trip

Ireland Tour Day 6 (9.5.09)

Today was the last day of the tour, and we did lots more driving.
The highlight of today was Blarney Castles. It is one of Irelands most famous castles. At the top there is a stone and legend states that if you kiss it you get 7 years good luck. Its quite a challange to kiss it as you have to lie down and hang your head over a cliff and try not to fall.

The grounds of the castle are beautiful, we had an hour there but i could have spent a lot longer exploring it.

We arrived back in Dublin about 6pm that night and some of us went to the Arlington Pub to watch some Irish Dancing which was lots of fun. We may have had a few to many. Didnt get in till late and i slept in the next morning and missed the shuttle bus, but still managed to make to the airport. Then it was back to reality the next day.
I had the best time. It was hard to really appreciate all teh places we went as we were there for such a short time, but now i know the places i wont to go back to. The best part about the tour is a met some really great people that i never would have met if i went on my own.

Ireland Tour Day 5 (8.5.09)

Today we made our way to Killarney, Stopping at Dingle, The Sleeping Giant and The Debug Fort.
The sleeping Giant is basically a big ireland that looks like a big sleeping giant. We were really lucky and got a beautiful day so we went and played on the beach. It was beautiful and we had a great time. Dingle seemed cool but we were only there for an hour, so basically just had lunch and by the time we got there it was raining again. I think i just liked the name, Dingle.,

When we arrived in Killarny we did a hourse and cart tour, which was a really good way to see the beautiful scenary. We had a quiet evening at the pub where we saw Maria Doyle Kennedy sing. She is in the Tudors and the was also in the movie, the commitments. She was amazing, i really enjoyed it.

Ireland Tour Day 4 (7.5.09)

Today was pretty full, stopping at a few places, but the highlight was definately to Cliffs of Moyer. They are absolutely beautiful. Unfortunately it was another shitty day and the view is supposed to be spectacular on a sunny day, but it was still great. I did think i was going to get blown away though.
Along the way we stopped at Adare and Corcomroe Abbey which is the ruins of a 12th century ruin.
We also stopped at Dunguaire castle and the fertility spring.
Tonight we stayed in Annascaul. This was a beautiful little village with 250 people, and 8 pubs. The tour group owns one of the pubs/hostels in this town so we all went out there. I may have had a few to many drinks. Oh and they made us all do kareoke. We all had a great night, a few others and i did Barbie Girl, which is really embarasing, but i only had one line to do over and over, so wasnt to bad.

Ireland Tour Day 3 6.5.09

Today We left Derry in the morning and had a very long day driving to Gallway. We drove mosdt of the day. We did have a couple of quick stops. Firstly stopping at WB Yeats's Grave. He was a famous Irish poetry. Im not into poetry, but if any of you guys, well Belinda and Claire, (since im pretty sure u 2 are the only ones that read this, Oh and thanks for leaving the comments, makes me feel very special!) if you have heard of him, it was in this really cute,tiny little place that we couldnt even call a village. Anyway we stopped there for about 20 min, so not worth rambling on about.

We then stopped at these seaweed baths. It sounds gross, and i hate seweed. But it was the most relaxing experience of my life. Everyone has there own room with a mini steamroom, and a bath. After sitting in the steamroom you can take a bath in salt water, with seaweed. Dont know what it it is but it is so relaxing. I dont normally like baths or seaweed, but if i lived there id go everyweek!

We then headed to Gallway. Unfortunately it was late by the time we got there, so we basically just had dinner, watched a bit of a band playing, but we all had an early night. Gallway seemed really cool and would like to go back and check it out properly

Ireland Tour Day 2 5.5.09

Today we made our waf from Belfast to Derry. First Stopping off at the Carrick-A-Rede Rope Bridge. This bridge is about 3 years old, and was made for fisherman to cross to a small Island to catch salmon. It has been slightly modified, but cant have been to safe when it was 1st built. It gets pretty windy in the middle.

We then made our way to The giants Causeway. It is so named because legand has it that a giant built a bridge, to scotland, or walked to scotland, not really sure, the Irish have so many legends and tales its kinda hard to keep up. Anyway, its basically a really nice walk, around some cliffs. Would have been even better of we wernt being blown away by the wind. Still it is really quite beautiful.
Its such a small world, this is where i randomally rain into someone that i work with in london, who used to work at Auburn/Westmead hospital. Weird.

After the walking tour, went to a proper Irish Pub, Peadar O'Donnell's for some Irish music/dancing. We all had a great night and maybe had a few to many.

Ireland Tour Day 1 4.5.09

The whole tour packed in so much, drove around the coast of the whole country, in 6 days, so it all seems like a bit of a blur. But will try and outline most of it.

The 1st day we made our way from Derry to Belfast, with a few stops on the way. The 1st being the Guiness brewery. Nothing like a Guiness at 10.30am. That was really interesting. I dont normally like Guiness, but as everyone says, its much better in Ireland. I could usually manage no more than 2. I pulled my own pint, and did alright. Tasted pretty good too.

We then made our way to Belfast stoppinb Briefly at Slane Castle, Where St. Patrick was said to have been permission by the king to convert Ireland to Catholisism. We also stopped at the round Tower.

We were only in Belfast for one night and left the next morning. But it was really interesting. We did the Black Cab Tour, which is a must in Belfast. The Cabbies were often targeted during a lot of the trouble in Belfast and they took us to all the signifficant sites during most of the fighting.

We then had dinner and drinks at Pub, which seemed to happen everynight. Was a good way to get to meet everyone else on the tour.

Ireland 6 day tour 4-9/5/2009

I Have never done a tour, other than day tours, so thought it would be a good way to see the whole country with out having to worry about accomadation, where i was going or anything at all, and it made everything so easy. It was also a great way to meet people. Had a wonderful time. The tour group were a lot of fun, and all the people were cool. Went with Paddy Wagon Tours, and they were so good.

Ireland 2-10/5/2009

Ive always wanted to go to Ireland. Not sure why i think its cos i love the accent.
I was at the point where i thought it was time for me to start doing some more travel now that it is getting "warmer", so thought i may as well go to Ireland. But just because its getting somewhat warmer in London, doesn mean it is in Ireland. I was there for 7 days and it rained for about 5, and it was freezing! Oh well, had a great time anyway, and thats why its so damn green.

So i arrived in Dublin on sat afternoon, 2.4.09. I wanted to take it easy as i was starting a 6 day tour on monday. So just had dinner at a pub, walked around the "city" and chilled at a the hotel. Couldnt believe that its the capital, it was like a small town. Not that we can judge, having Canberra as a capital.
On the Sunday, I went to dublinia, the Viking museum, 3.5.09 Dublin Castle and the Jameson Distilery. Im not a whiskey guy, but that was really interesting, and i actually liked it. But of course only liked the stuff i so cant afford. Did get a taste testing certificate, which made me feel very proud. Met an Aussie bloke there and we went on to the Brazen Head, the oldest pub in Dublin.

Turkish Restaurant 25.12.09

Songul is Turkish and we decided to check out a Turkish restaurant in North London. We had a great time, The food was wonderful, and the Belly Dancer was great.
We all had a wonderful time.

Easter 2009

I didnt really do much for Easter, and never really do. Ate some chocolate.

On Easter Monday, Songul, Annette and I attempted to go to Maddame Tussauds, but there was a four hour late, so we gave up on that idea pretty quickly. So of course we went to the pub. Followed by a cubin restaurant with lots of wine. Had such a great night, I think the food was good, i remember there being lots of wine. So didnt want to go to walk to next day.

Theatre

I love that there are theatres on every other corner in london. I havnt been to the movies all year, but have been to the theatre three times.
Went to The sound of Music and Dirty Dancing. Wasnt sure if id like them, but it they were both great. I really loved the sound of musci, and dirty dancing was ok. And a couple of weeks ago we went to see chicago. I saw it 10 years ago when i was at school and liked it then. And i loved it this time too. IT was so much fun. Cant wait to se another one.

Aunty Megs Birthday

We went to Dinner at one of Aunty Megs favourite spanish restaurante. We had a lovely night and sang happy birthday. Had a great night. The food was so good

Nurses ball 20..09

The nurse ball is an anual envent, everone gets dressed up, gets drunk and basically has a great night. I even bought a tux. It was heaps of fun. Had fancy food, drank champas, ad tried to dance.

Snow Day 2.2.09

Leading up to today it had been very cold and it was reported that it may snow, and it did. London, one of the worlds biggest cities came to a complete halt. 1 in 5 people, including me couldnt get to work because all trains were severely delayed and every bus in London was cancelled. It was great. I made a really pathetic attempt at a snow man. It is a lot harder to make them than you would think.

I spent most of the day inside, and when i did go out, i was wearing about 5 layers.
Had a great day.

Australia Day 25.1.09

I had a great day Australia Day. It was so strange, being cold and wet. I went to an old traditional Engish Pub, called the Ye Old Swiss Cottage. Went with Kathy and Camron. Kathy is an Aussie SW from Adalaide. We all had a lovely time. It was strange thought.

Claires House

So i stayed with Claire, Andrew and Claires parents. There house is in a beautiful town near Euro Disney and it looked amazing covered in the snow.

The Louvre 5.1.09

So the Louvre is huge. We saw quite a lot of it, but impossible to see all in one day. A lot of people say not to bother with the louvre, but im really glad i went. Im not really an art person, but there are some pretty amazing peices. I took heaps of pics again. It was pretty hard to get a nice pic of the mona lisa cos it is roped off and cant get very colse and there are so many people there.

Today was my last day and it snowed. Aparently never snows right in Paris and if it does, it never settles, so i was really lucky! It was so beautiful being at the Louve and seeing it covered in snow. We also walked around the city in the snow. It was amazing.

Food

So i didnt get the chance to eat frogs legs, but will do that next time. However, Claires mum kindly cooked escargot. I did like it. It tasted good, but the texture was a little strange. They were cooked in butter, garlic and basil. Kind of like a mushrooms, but the textrue was different.

We always had lots of great bread and cheese. The cous cous was really great too.

I think i had crepes everyday. They were so good. Sold on every corner. Love it with bananna and chocolate.

4.1.09 Notre Dame, Sainte-Chapelle amd the conciergerie

Today We went to Notre Dame. Im not usually one for going to church, but it was pretty amazing walking around one of the most famous church's in the world. Didnt get to meet the hunchback, was quite dissapointed about that.
We also went to the La Conciergerie. La Conciergerie is a very historical monument that includes the remains of the oldest royal palace in Paris and was first constructed at the start of the 14th century but was then turned into a prison during the 15th century. Marie-Antionette spent some time here.
We also went to Sainte-Chapelle which was built in the 13th century by Louis IX.

For lunch we went to a restaurant and had fondant. I have never seen so much cheese and definately never eaten so much. I cant believe how good it was. The french really know how to eat.