Dublin, a city to party in!!

This last weekend Sherrie (another Canadian teacher on exchange in England) and I decided to head over to Dublin to taste the freshly poured Guinness and to hear the Irish brogue. ( My main goal was to hear some live Irish music)

Somehow, and I am not really sure how, it turned into a drinking weekend. (Nothing excessive, just constant) I had a beer in my hand and was singing along with the band (Off key of course) within 30 minutes of arriving. Everywhere we went there was live music and drinks. It didn't seem to matter what you were wearing (Some were really dressed up and others were in their scruffy work clothes) or where you were from, (Local or Tourist) everyone was welcome as long as you were up for a good time. Before this trip I couldn't understand why so many of the English would rather go to Dublin for their HEN parties (stagettes) and STAGS rather than London. But it is clear to me now, you don't have to have a lot of money or fancy clothes to have a good time out and about in Dublin, while London seems to set a higher standard of dress and expense. (Still lots of fun, but requires more effort)

Very little site-seeing was accomplished, unless you count tours of both the Guinness Factory and the Jamison's Whiskey Factory (Both of which included drinks in the entrance fee) and an endless search for the perfect Bailey's n' Hot chocolate (It was a cold outside!!). Although, we managed to have a traditional Irish Stew, made with Guinness. (A girl has got to EAT!) Which was very good, we never got around to hearing live Irish music. It seemed that in every place that advertised it (and many do) we had just missed the Irish music and dance set, but were in time to hear "American Pie" played each and every time.

Did I mention that I met a real leprechaun?? Sherrie and I had dinner one night (In a pub that advertised live Irish music, but was instead playing "American Pie") at a table with two really, really, old gentlemen. One of them looked just like the guy off the Lucky Charms commercial!! Seriously, its true!! I would have taken a picture but I couldn't figure out how to manage it politely.

As you can tell I had a good time in Dublin and am looking forward to going back (maybe to do some actual site-seeing this time) Carmen are you excited!!

I leave you with this one piece of info. I have it of good authority that there is one song (from a Canadian artist) that maintains the record for the longest time at number 1 on Ireland radio stations. Can you guess which song and who recorded it?? Its not Celine Dione or Avril Lavigne, but BRYON ADAMS with the song "Everything I do I do For You" (Off the Robin Hood Sound Track) This is what Canadians are known for in Ireland, being the home of Bryon Adams.

Bonfire Weekend in the UK

This last weekend was BONFIRE weekend!!! Actually its is a day (November 5th), not a weekend, and is as big as Thankgiving weekend in Canada. (Without the turkey dinner) It is supposed to commemorate Guy Fawkes, a man who tried to blow up the English parliment (this is the story I am getting from the students), why he wanted to do it, nobody seems to know. The weekend doesn't celebrate Guy Fawkes but rather that he was caught and killed. (Here in England they don't celebrate their revolutionaries, but their capture, torture, and death)

To celebrate, people hold bonfires and let off firecrackers on Nov 5th (Monday evening) But this has turned into a weekend celebration where you can have a bonfire any night of the weekend and let off firecrackers all night long for about 4 nights. There is food and drink and lots of good company. All day long I have been asked if I am going to a bonfire tonight, and the answer is YES!!! It seems the British thing to do.

Anyone in the UK can buy fireworks (over 16 yrs of age) and they have been selling them by the truck load. Now, many people have complained about the nights of endless firecrackers, scaring their pets and small children, but from my view out the front window it has been a smorgisborg of sound and color. On Saturday night, I could see at least 30 different locations where firecrackers were being lit. It was very COOL.

So if you read this today, have a bonfire, raise at toast to the demise of Guy Fawkes. The man who almost destroyed the British parliment.

The Italy Experience

If you've read my previous entry, then you might think that my entire trip to Italy was fraught with travel mishaps and mayhem.....NOT TRUE! People keep asking me what my favorite part was, and I can't choose any one thing.

Venice

Venice is an expensive place to visit but worth it. But beware the salesmen, they are sneaky....I almost bought a vase valued at £400 because the gentleman selling it to me was very persuasive and flattering. But I stood my ground, and snuck out of the shop when he was distracted by another lady laughing. Whoo, a close call, the salesman had made me feel as if my purchasing the vase was the first step towards WORLD PEACE.

Travelling in Venice is simple, you either walk or you take some form of river taxi. It is small enough that you don't need to spend any Euros getting around. Although the experience of taking a taxi by water is part of the Venice experience. The food was really good and inexpensive if you avoided the restaurants in the high tourist areas. I was offered a drink with my breakfast the first morning in Venice, my choices were American coffee, Espresso, Cappuccino or Chocolate. I choose the chocolate, thinking it would be nice on a crisp early morning. How was I to know that chocolate is not like Hot Chocolate in Canada, it is in fact thick, creamy melted chocolate in a coffee cup. (I figure about the equivalent of 4 melted chocolate bars) Hmmmmmm....tasty goodness.
I managed to have a bit of a social life as I had dinner with an American man on the same tour of Venice. Don't read anything into it, his mother also joined us for dinner as the two of them were on a 2 month European vacation. They were both really nice, but I found it weird (really weird) that a single man of 32yrs would travel with just his mother for two months.

On to Rome

A person could spent 2 weeks in Rome alone, and still not have seen everything. The history here, both political and religious, has impacted much of what Christians believe today, and how we perceive world politics. I was surprised how much seeing the "Sistine Chapel" in its entirety blew me away. Its detail and hugeness was unlike any other piece of art I have ever seen. Looking up at the walls and ceiling of the chapel, I could almost believe that I was physically part of the history portrayed. INSPIRING!!! I also managed to get up close and personal with Pope Benedict, well as close as a person can get while separated by a crowd fence and a pope mobile. (I was within 3 meters) Not as dynamic as Pope John Paul the 2nd, Pope Benedict still made an impression on the thousands gathered to here him speak.

The hostel I stayed at was the best one ever!!! If any of you are going to Rome, check out Hotel Leonardo (Great atmosphere, cheap, and everyone was really friendly) I calculated that I averaged 1 to 1.5 bottles of wine a night, hanging out with the crowd from the hostel.

For you info: In the 4.5 days I was in Rome I had Gelato 5 times and ate Gnocchi 4 times, Hmmmmm, small bits of potato pasta. Thank you Pat (Jessi's mom in Calgary) for introducing me to my favorite Italian pasta!!

Bye the way, my trousers (I can't say pants because the British think that I am talking about my underwear when I use that word) don't fit well anymore and I feel like I should stop eating, BUT I can't stop myself. FOOD IS GOOD, ITALIAN FOOD IS GREAT!!! I'll diet when I get back to Leeds.

On to Milan

My stay in Milan was a short one (About 24 hrs) and the whole purpose of going was to see DaVinci's painting of the Last Supper. I had prebooked a tour 3 weeks earlier and had confirmed it 48 hrs prior to arriving, but when I went to get on the bus my name was not on the list and the bus was full. No "Last Supper" for me!!
This turned out to be a good thing as I had time to wander through Milan (a Beautiful city, that has some of the best shopping in Italy, not my cup of tea) and stumbled across a Celtic Festival. An Italian Celtic Festival , not Scottish. They had an actual village set up with about 200 people dressed the part, living the life of the times back then. (they were there for a week) There was even a military encampment, where children could go and get lessons in dismembering people with a short sword. Lots of Fun!

This short write up is only a glimpse into what I saw, did, and experienced in my 9 days in Italy. I met many people that I consider to be new friends. Weirdly enough none of them Italian. (German, Spanish, Australian, American, Canadian, Portuguese, Finnish and Peruvian)

The sites and food were fantastic, but it was the people I met on the way to those sites and the people that shared my meals with me that made the biggest impression. Its funny how a person can travel by themselves, but never actually BE by themselves!