but I finally finished editing my first round of pictures from my trip this summer. Watch and enjoy.
http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=u54fr1b.427g004f&x=0&y=-hb0tj
= :)
Aug 23, 2006
Jul 9, 2006
Wee Bonnie Scotland
Or at leats it should be called that, because it sounds suitably Scottish.
I had an absolutely wonderful time in Scotland, and I wish I was able to spend more time there. I took a tour with the same company Erin and I took to Wales, and the tour was just as phenomenal. The weather cleared up and was an unseasonably warm 22 degrees on one day, a little misty on the next, and warm with blue skies on the third. I saw the Isle of Skye, visited the William Wallace Memorial (freedom!), ate haggis, and resisted the urge to buy every little cheesy Scottish souvenir I could find (Nessie hats and snowglobes, anyone?). I served as bait for the Loch Ness Monster, climbed a hill entirely shrouded in mist, used the Loo of the Year (2006), and heard the fairies piping at Kilt Rock. All in all a successful trip, I might say. (Oh, except for my failure to find a fried Mars Bar anywhere, probably due to the fact we only stayed in small towns. The only chip shop we found refused to make one, even when we offered to pick one up ourselves from the nearest newsagent. Boo. Next time.)
In Cambridge now at Nic's, where I've been lazing in the sun all day along with the cats. After all that traveling, I needed a little relaxing. Next stop: London!
= :)
I had an absolutely wonderful time in Scotland, and I wish I was able to spend more time there. I took a tour with the same company Erin and I took to Wales, and the tour was just as phenomenal. The weather cleared up and was an unseasonably warm 22 degrees on one day, a little misty on the next, and warm with blue skies on the third. I saw the Isle of Skye, visited the William Wallace Memorial (freedom!), ate haggis, and resisted the urge to buy every little cheesy Scottish souvenir I could find (Nessie hats and snowglobes, anyone?). I served as bait for the Loch Ness Monster, climbed a hill entirely shrouded in mist, used the Loo of the Year (2006), and heard the fairies piping at Kilt Rock. All in all a successful trip, I might say. (Oh, except for my failure to find a fried Mars Bar anywhere, probably due to the fact we only stayed in small towns. The only chip shop we found refused to make one, even when we offered to pick one up ourselves from the nearest newsagent. Boo. Next time.)
In Cambridge now at Nic's, where I've been lazing in the sun all day along with the cats. After all that traveling, I needed a little relaxing. Next stop: London!
= :)
Jul 5, 2006
So Cold
So, so, so cold.
Edinburgh is a very pretty city. Edinburgh is also freezing, even in the middle of summer. No one told me this. I assumed it would be colder in Edinburgh than in London - I just didn't expect a temperature change of 15 degrees Celsius on a 5-hour train trip (33 in London, 18 but feels colder in Edinburgh).
I am not equipped. I don't even really have warm clothes. Fed up with the weight of The Beast, I dropped off some clothes in London...including my coat. Awesome. But whatever, it probably wouldn't have been adequate enough, anyway, as everyone else seems to be wearing winter coats.
Is this a commonly known fact? Are you supposed to wear hats and gloves in Scotland, even on July 4th, when I should be sitting on a porch somewhere, eating watermelon? I feel so ignorant and naive. I also fear hypothermia.
If you don't hear from me within the next few days, you'll know what has happened. Remember me fondly.
= :(
Edinburgh is a very pretty city. Edinburgh is also freezing, even in the middle of summer. No one told me this. I assumed it would be colder in Edinburgh than in London - I just didn't expect a temperature change of 15 degrees Celsius on a 5-hour train trip (33 in London, 18 but feels colder in Edinburgh).
I am not equipped. I don't even really have warm clothes. Fed up with the weight of The Beast, I dropped off some clothes in London...including my coat. Awesome. But whatever, it probably wouldn't have been adequate enough, anyway, as everyone else seems to be wearing winter coats.
Is this a commonly known fact? Are you supposed to wear hats and gloves in Scotland, even on July 4th, when I should be sitting on a porch somewhere, eating watermelon? I feel so ignorant and naive. I also fear hypothermia.
If you don't hear from me within the next few days, you'll know what has happened. Remember me fondly.
= :(
Jul 3, 2006
End of the Affair
So, I'm back in Bucharest, and it's my last day in Romania. What a short, strange trip it's been. Romania has been an experience, to say the very very least, and I'm glad I got a chance to visit before globalization (further) wreaks its havoc. I'd like to come back here in a couple of years and see what joining the EU does to change the country.
In a way, this also feels like the end of my big backpacking adventure. I'm off to Scotland on Tuesday, but really, it's in the same country as London and everyone speaks English (kinda). I didn't really think I could travel alone at the beginning of all this, and it's had its tough bits, but I really, really enjoyed being able to travel around and see places I had only read about before. It's given me the traveing bug, though, which should be interesting on a student's budget for the next 2 years. To celebrate my successful conquest of (parts of) Eastern Europe, I think I'll get a nice pasta dish from the local Italian place. All that meat has made me consider the vitues of vegetarianism. A vegetarianism that contains a little more variety than cheese, bread, and more cheese. Yummm.
In the spirit of last days, here are some pictures from my last night out in Camden (my last night out before tomorrow night, that is, when I'm going to treat myself to a big jug of Pimms - all for me, of course). Please note: we were very, very inebriated at the time - I bear no responsibility for how ridiculous we may look. :P
http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=u54fr1b.b1pl39q7&x=0&y=9b60vj
= :)
In a way, this also feels like the end of my big backpacking adventure. I'm off to Scotland on Tuesday, but really, it's in the same country as London and everyone speaks English (kinda). I didn't really think I could travel alone at the beginning of all this, and it's had its tough bits, but I really, really enjoyed being able to travel around and see places I had only read about before. It's given me the traveing bug, though, which should be interesting on a student's budget for the next 2 years. To celebrate my successful conquest of (parts of) Eastern Europe, I think I'll get a nice pasta dish from the local Italian place. All that meat has made me consider the vitues of vegetarianism. A vegetarianism that contains a little more variety than cheese, bread, and more cheese. Yummm.
In the spirit of last days, here are some pictures from my last night out in Camden (my last night out before tomorrow night, that is, when I'm going to treat myself to a big jug of Pimms - all for me, of course). Please note: we were very, very inebriated at the time - I bear no responsibility for how ridiculous we may look. :P
http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=u54fr1b.b1pl39q7&x=0&y=9b60vj
= :)
Jul 1, 2006
Village People
Hey everyone -
They keyboard here is not agreeing with me, so bear with the typos and short entry.
The tour is getting better day by day. On Friday morning, we headed off to a little village called Viscrii (from the Saxon "Weisskirche"), which is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. We had to travel on a bunpy, bumpy dirt road to get there (damn you, back seat!), but it was worth it. The village is almost completely isolated, and its cute little houses are all well-kept and brightly-painted. There are all sorts of foundations supporting the village and its inhabitants, so it's much cleaner and more beautiful than surrounding villages. Inhabitants take part in the "Sock Project," in which they earn money by knitting various items (socks included, obviously), and sell them to the public.
You have to wonder who they sell them to, though, since there were only 2 other tourists in the town with us. The main attraction of the village is the White Church itself, a fortified Saxon church from the 1600s. It still has a loyal congregation of about 15 people, descendants of the original Saxon (German) population that moved there in the 1500s or so. The Church is in decent condition, but climbing the rickety tower was still an adventure. The people who take care of it are amazing. They still speak the Saxon dialect and maintain all of the traditions of their people - even after living among Romanians for over 400 years! A Saxon family invited us for lunch, in what was definitely the highlight of the trip (shush, Nic). They made homemade wine and plum brandy, and this fantastic tomato soup and cabbage stew, all made with ingredients freshly grown from their garden. We ate it at a long table in their garden, among their dogs and cats, and it was by far one of the best things I've done while traveling.
We're in Sigisoara now (birthplace of Dracula!), which is cute and old and all the buildings lean to the side. Off for the England gane and one last Romanian feast tonight, and then back to London on Monday. Sadness. I know Romania will all be changed when (if?) I come back, but it's been a great experience to be here now. Yaay Romania. :)
Off to Scotland next - on July 4th - woohoo! Talk soon!
= :)
They keyboard here is not agreeing with me, so bear with the typos and short entry.
The tour is getting better day by day. On Friday morning, we headed off to a little village called Viscrii (from the Saxon "Weisskirche"), which is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. We had to travel on a bunpy, bumpy dirt road to get there (damn you, back seat!), but it was worth it. The village is almost completely isolated, and its cute little houses are all well-kept and brightly-painted. There are all sorts of foundations supporting the village and its inhabitants, so it's much cleaner and more beautiful than surrounding villages. Inhabitants take part in the "Sock Project," in which they earn money by knitting various items (socks included, obviously), and sell them to the public.
You have to wonder who they sell them to, though, since there were only 2 other tourists in the town with us. The main attraction of the village is the White Church itself, a fortified Saxon church from the 1600s. It still has a loyal congregation of about 15 people, descendants of the original Saxon (German) population that moved there in the 1500s or so. The Church is in decent condition, but climbing the rickety tower was still an adventure. The people who take care of it are amazing. They still speak the Saxon dialect and maintain all of the traditions of their people - even after living among Romanians for over 400 years! A Saxon family invited us for lunch, in what was definitely the highlight of the trip (shush, Nic). They made homemade wine and plum brandy, and this fantastic tomato soup and cabbage stew, all made with ingredients freshly grown from their garden. We ate it at a long table in their garden, among their dogs and cats, and it was by far one of the best things I've done while traveling.
We're in Sigisoara now (birthplace of Dracula!), which is cute and old and all the buildings lean to the side. Off for the England gane and one last Romanian feast tonight, and then back to London on Monday. Sadness. I know Romania will all be changed when (if?) I come back, but it's been a great experience to be here now. Yaay Romania. :)
Off to Scotland next - on July 4th - woohoo! Talk soon!
= :)
Jun 30, 2006
Brighter Day
I don't know, maybe yesterday was a bad day, but today's looking a lot better. We all had a big dinner last night, and it was a lot of fun. A lot of wine, and a lot of meat.
Meat. Romania is ALL about the meat. Most menus hardly have anything meatless on them, and you even get cold meats for breakfast. Madness. That aside, the food is absolutely delicious. I usually end up having some hearty soup for dinner, along with some kind of meat and the national dish, mamaliga (a kind of polenta). Like one night I had minced pork rolled in sauerkraut. And last night I had a peasant dish of layers in a bowl, starting with mamaliga and then with goat cheese, pork, a fried egg and more cheese piled on top. Awesome. Where else would you get food like that?
The tour is, at worst, convenient, and it gets me into a lot of things for free and gets me there for free. Like today we went to Bran Castle (of Dracula fame...pretty boring, really), and Rasnov fortress, which was really great. It's an old ruined fortress from the 1400s, and they're painstakingly restoring it to the way it looked then, complete with 80 houses, a chapel, and a school, all within the citadel walls. There are also donkeys, which, while not as exciting as monkeys (see Shelley's blog), are really cute. Plus, they eat apples from your hand. Awww.
Other highlights of the day - bargaining furiously with an old woman at the market at Bran Castle and riding local buses in 90 degree weather. Shelley, I do not envy you your Chinese transportation.
Going to eat soon, which is always the highlight of the day. :P Also, something else that makes me happy? Pictures. Enjoy the smorgasbord...unfortunately, the only photos the internet speed in this cafe allowed me to upload. So enjoy and quit your complaining. :P
http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=u54fr1b.beo8lb9z&x=0&y=-meb44f
= :)
Meat. Romania is ALL about the meat. Most menus hardly have anything meatless on them, and you even get cold meats for breakfast. Madness. That aside, the food is absolutely delicious. I usually end up having some hearty soup for dinner, along with some kind of meat and the national dish, mamaliga (a kind of polenta). Like one night I had minced pork rolled in sauerkraut. And last night I had a peasant dish of layers in a bowl, starting with mamaliga and then with goat cheese, pork, a fried egg and more cheese piled on top. Awesome. Where else would you get food like that?
The tour is, at worst, convenient, and it gets me into a lot of things for free and gets me there for free. Like today we went to Bran Castle (of Dracula fame...pretty boring, really), and Rasnov fortress, which was really great. It's an old ruined fortress from the 1400s, and they're painstakingly restoring it to the way it looked then, complete with 80 houses, a chapel, and a school, all within the citadel walls. There are also donkeys, which, while not as exciting as monkeys (see Shelley's blog), are really cute. Plus, they eat apples from your hand. Awww.
Other highlights of the day - bargaining furiously with an old woman at the market at Bran Castle and riding local buses in 90 degree weather. Shelley, I do not envy you your Chinese transportation.
Going to eat soon, which is always the highlight of the day. :P Also, something else that makes me happy? Pictures. Enjoy the smorgasbord...unfortunately, the only photos the internet speed in this cafe allowed me to upload. So enjoy and quit your complaining. :P
http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=u54fr1b.beo8lb9z&x=0&y=-meb44f
= :)
Jun 28, 2006
Degamed...big time
So. All the guidebooks (and a lot of fellow travelers) warn you about Romania before you visit, telling you to look out for scams on taxis and trains and pretty much everywhere else. Little did I think that the biggest scam would be from my tour group.
I don't know what made me sign up for a group tour of Romania...maybe I was afriad to go to the country myself, maybe before setting off to travel alone I didn't think I could make it by myself for 2 straight weeks after Croatia. Whatever it was, it was a bad idea. First of all, the country is dirt cheap, so I have no idea where my exorbitant (for Romania) tour fee is going. My tour mates are: 2 middle-aged friends from Australia, a Kiwi couple in their 30s, and a mildly boring Belgian girl about my age. (Our tour guide is another matter altogether - she's Polish and in her 20s and fantastic, but she really can't make up for everyone). Everyone is perfectly nice, and we've had some good dinners out, but there's no one I've really connected with. I met SO many people at the hostel in Bucharest - maybe it was a fluke, but I had someone to go out with every night. Here I feel more isolated than I did traveling alone, because I'm alone in a group, which is far worse.
We're visiting lovely little Transylvania villages, which is nice, but ultimately boring, because there's not much else to do besides hiking and walking around - both of which are pretty undesirable in temperatures of 30 degrees Celsius and above. I just want something to swim in SO BADLY - I was right about thinking I should have ended my trip on the coast. I spend a lot of time reading and searching for shade. It's exciting, let me tell you.
It's not all bad. Oue first day in Sinaia, a little mountain resort, we took a cable car up 2,000 feet and then hiked down the mountain - for 6 hours. It was tiring, but really exhilarating - every turn offered a new view down the mountain, and we ran into herds of sheep and cows on the plains on top of the mountain. We also visited Peles Castle, which is absolutely gorgeous. It's just the dead time like now that's hard...I find myself trying to kill time a lot in between meeting up with other tour group members. If I were by myself, I would be on the move every day - or most likely, I would have given up and headed for the Black Sea by now. At this point, I'm looking forward to England being cold!
I don't know what I expected...maybe I thought the other people would be younger, or we would have a more interesting, less relazed tour. All I know is: no more tours. Ever. I don't care if I'm going to Cambodia, I'm doing it by myself. Or only on highly recommended tours (by people I know). I could have saved so much money! Eh. You live, you learn.
Sorry for the depressing news...I'm a little down because this is the last part of my trip and I was really looking forward to it. Oh well, there's still Scotland. Will write again soon (probably very soon, considering there's nothing else better to do). Boo.
= :(
I don't know what made me sign up for a group tour of Romania...maybe I was afriad to go to the country myself, maybe before setting off to travel alone I didn't think I could make it by myself for 2 straight weeks after Croatia. Whatever it was, it was a bad idea. First of all, the country is dirt cheap, so I have no idea where my exorbitant (for Romania) tour fee is going. My tour mates are: 2 middle-aged friends from Australia, a Kiwi couple in their 30s, and a mildly boring Belgian girl about my age. (Our tour guide is another matter altogether - she's Polish and in her 20s and fantastic, but she really can't make up for everyone). Everyone is perfectly nice, and we've had some good dinners out, but there's no one I've really connected with. I met SO many people at the hostel in Bucharest - maybe it was a fluke, but I had someone to go out with every night. Here I feel more isolated than I did traveling alone, because I'm alone in a group, which is far worse.
We're visiting lovely little Transylvania villages, which is nice, but ultimately boring, because there's not much else to do besides hiking and walking around - both of which are pretty undesirable in temperatures of 30 degrees Celsius and above. I just want something to swim in SO BADLY - I was right about thinking I should have ended my trip on the coast. I spend a lot of time reading and searching for shade. It's exciting, let me tell you.
It's not all bad. Oue first day in Sinaia, a little mountain resort, we took a cable car up 2,000 feet and then hiked down the mountain - for 6 hours. It was tiring, but really exhilarating - every turn offered a new view down the mountain, and we ran into herds of sheep and cows on the plains on top of the mountain. We also visited Peles Castle, which is absolutely gorgeous. It's just the dead time like now that's hard...I find myself trying to kill time a lot in between meeting up with other tour group members. If I were by myself, I would be on the move every day - or most likely, I would have given up and headed for the Black Sea by now. At this point, I'm looking forward to England being cold!
I don't know what I expected...maybe I thought the other people would be younger, or we would have a more interesting, less relazed tour. All I know is: no more tours. Ever. I don't care if I'm going to Cambodia, I'm doing it by myself. Or only on highly recommended tours (by people I know). I could have saved so much money! Eh. You live, you learn.
Sorry for the depressing news...I'm a little down because this is the last part of my trip and I was really looking forward to it. Oh well, there's still Scotland. Will write again soon (probably very soon, considering there's nothing else better to do). Boo.
= :(
Jun 26, 2006
Purple Rain, Purple Rain
Hey everyone...just thought my fellow Green-hoes would like to know that Prince's "Purple Rain" is the single most commonly-played song on Eastern European radio. I swear, I've heard it at least 6 times since I've gotten here. Big shout out to Sammy Ford. Bye!
= :)
= :)
Jun 25, 2006
Hello, people of Budapest!
Which apparently is what Michael Jackson said to a crowd filling a public square. In Bucharest. I've made sure not to mix up the names myself.
Bucharest is absolutely fantastic. It's hot as hell, the streets are full of people, and it's loud and noisy, but I really like it. I visited the Parliament today, which is the second largest building in the world, and is obulently turned out in the best of everything from Romania - marble, wood, silk, etc. It was built under Nicolae Ceausescu, the communist dictator, as a kind of meglomaniacal plan to transform Bucharest into the ideal communist city. It's actually not even finished yet, and the fact that construction continues is astounding. The Parliament is such a symbol of the repressive communist regime, but the people of Bucharest seem determined to turn it into a national monument - it's opulent enough to warrant that.
Ceausescu's plan razed a lot of the old city and involved a lot of concrete and a ceremonial boulevard exactly one meter wider than the Champs Elysses. The best part, though? It was called "Project Bucharest." Gotta love it.
The Funky Chicken Hostel has also lived up to all of my expectations (basically based on the name). It's really chill, in a great location, and the people are tons of fun. I think we're going out again tonight, which should be fun, considering the headache I woke up with this morning. I've definitely gone out on this trip more than I have in London for the past few months...madness. It's all been worth it, though. The fact that alcohol is generally the cheapest beverage helps a lot, as well. :P
I'm off to join my tour tomorrow, which I'm actually fairly ashamed of. I could totally have done Romania by myself, and for a lot cheaper. I feel like a wuss, somehow, after meeting all this hardcore backpackers. I feel like a dilettante. (And now I feel like a nerd for using that word. :P ) At least it means I might actually meet and hang out with people for more than one night for the next week. This can be good or bad. We shall see. Rest assured that I will pass judgement if the tour members suck. But then again, that didn't really prevent me from enjoying the last tour, so we shall see. It only takes one cool person...
Anyway, that is enough from me. Internet is cheap here, so expect to hear from me more often. And I'll try and post some pictures. I can't believe it's all winding down!
= :)
Bucharest is absolutely fantastic. It's hot as hell, the streets are full of people, and it's loud and noisy, but I really like it. I visited the Parliament today, which is the second largest building in the world, and is obulently turned out in the best of everything from Romania - marble, wood, silk, etc. It was built under Nicolae Ceausescu, the communist dictator, as a kind of meglomaniacal plan to transform Bucharest into the ideal communist city. It's actually not even finished yet, and the fact that construction continues is astounding. The Parliament is such a symbol of the repressive communist regime, but the people of Bucharest seem determined to turn it into a national monument - it's opulent enough to warrant that.
Ceausescu's plan razed a lot of the old city and involved a lot of concrete and a ceremonial boulevard exactly one meter wider than the Champs Elysses. The best part, though? It was called "Project Bucharest." Gotta love it.
The Funky Chicken Hostel has also lived up to all of my expectations (basically based on the name). It's really chill, in a great location, and the people are tons of fun. I think we're going out again tonight, which should be fun, considering the headache I woke up with this morning. I've definitely gone out on this trip more than I have in London for the past few months...madness. It's all been worth it, though. The fact that alcohol is generally the cheapest beverage helps a lot, as well. :P
I'm off to join my tour tomorrow, which I'm actually fairly ashamed of. I could totally have done Romania by myself, and for a lot cheaper. I feel like a wuss, somehow, after meeting all this hardcore backpackers. I feel like a dilettante. (And now I feel like a nerd for using that word. :P ) At least it means I might actually meet and hang out with people for more than one night for the next week. This can be good or bad. We shall see. Rest assured that I will pass judgement if the tour members suck. But then again, that didn't really prevent me from enjoying the last tour, so we shall see. It only takes one cool person...
Anyway, that is enough from me. Internet is cheap here, so expect to hear from me more often. And I'll try and post some pictures. I can't believe it's all winding down!
= :)
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