Dublin, Ireland

We spent the first day checking out Dublin. It was a nice city and much smaller than I expected. The doors of the houses were all painted bright colors, red, blue, green and it definitely made the places look better. We walked through all the major parts of the city, Grafton Street, Temple Bar, Trinity College, St. Stephens Green, Dame Street and the old wall and gate of Dublin. We finished the day having some Irish coffee at Temple Bar and listening to some Irish music.
We visited Trinity College, the oldest in Ireland. I mean really old, it was founded in 1592 by Queen Elizabeth I. The library at the college holds the Book of Kells. The Book of Kells is an ornately illustrated manuscript, produced by Celtic monks around AD 800 in the style known as Insular art. It is one of the more lavishly illuminated manuscripts to survive from the Middle Ages and has been described as the zenith of Western calligraphy and illumination. It contains the four gospels of the Bible in Latin, along with prefatory and explanatory matter decorated with numerous colourful illustrations and illuminations.

The 3 pictures above are on the green in the middle of Trinity College. Oscar Wilde's apartment was around the corner.

Dublin Castle.

Looking at Dame Street in downtown, near Christ Church.

Christ Church at the top of the hill.

The other side of Christ Church.

The famous Ha'penny Bridge over the River Liffey.

Singing old Irish songs on the church steps.

The magic of a camera timer.

Roundabouts, 2 lanes, no shoulder and Stone walls

That basically describes every road in Ireland.

These are some of the roads. We handled driving on the left like champs!

Driving on the wrong side of the car. Note the arrow on the windshield saying stay left.

Making my way to Dublin

-Isn't Ireland Beautiful-

-The lighthouse welcoming us to Dublin Harbor -

After spending the night in Waterloo Station, I needed to make my way to Dublin. A few weeks earlier, I had invited my Mom to meet me in Dublin and spend a week in Ireland and London before heading back to the States. Her flight arrived early the next morning and she was renting a car. She was really nervous that I wouldn't get to the airport in time and she would have to navigate the roads to the hotel by herself while driving on the left side of the road and using a manual transmission for the first time in 30 years. Doesn't sound that difficult:)

I left my suitcase at the Eurostar luggage check and was there at 5:45am waiting for 6am when they opened. There was a train going to Holyhead, Wales early in the morning from Euston station. Unfortunately, the luggage person was late and I didn't get out of there until 6:30am. It may have been later but a couple trying to catch a Eurostar train to Paris made a big deal about it and we found out that only one person in the world had the key to the luggage check. That doesn't seem very smart.

When I arrive at Euston, the train I wanted to catch was leaving (Thank you Eurostar). I had to burn another 2 hours before I could board the next train. Realizing that I couldn't catch my train I let some of the Brits that were in a hurry move in front of me in line. They were very gracious. Just trying to give a good representation of Americans.

I did finally catch my train. The scenery in Wales was similar to when I reached Ireland. Many farms and sheep.

I reached Holyhead and borded another ferry for my trip across the Irish Sea to Dublin. The weather was not very good and the sea was rough. In my entire trip it rained 2 times that I could remember. When I reached the British Isles, it rained every day until I left. It took about an extra hour to cross due to the weather.

Another bus ride from hell-

When I left the ferry terminal, there was only one city bus waiting to provide a ride to the city center. The ferry terminal in Dublin is at the docks and a long way from downtown. It was really ridiculous that there was only one bus. I've never in my life seen so many people and so much luggage fit onto a bus. People were everywhere and luggage was stacked in the aisles and the area by the back door of the bus was filled with suitcases and bags. It was crazy. We either broke a number of limit laws or Dublin is just pure legal chaos. When we reached downtown, I basically fell off the bus with my luggage. It probably took another half hour to unload the rest of the people.

-The Customs House on the River Liffey in downtown Dublin-

It was later than I had hoped when I arrived downtown and I still needed to find a hostel for the night. I didn't want to spend another night in a train station. I walked about 10 miles around Dublin with all of my stuff and tried 3 hostels unsuccessfully before coming upon the perfect place in Temple Bar. The hostel was safe, clean, cheap and right in the middle of everything. There was even an Indian restaurant that was open late next door. We'll get to the open late thing later. Let's just say the Brits and Irish are on a little different daily schedule than we are. I couldn't have planned it any better, so I'm glad I didn't plan anything. Temple Bar is the main entertainment and pub area of Dublin, it's not an actual bar. However, there is also a Temple Bar in Temple Bar. Is that clear?

I finished my night with a great Indian dinner while watching some Bollywood movies at the restaurant. Extactly what I expected in Ireland!

-As you can see below, my Mom did make it to Dublin and survived the first car ride-

There's more

For more pics from my trip, you can check out my brother's blog:
http://www.buildmesomething.blogspot.com/

Out of Waterloo Station at 4am!

For those who have inquired, I did not see Jason Bourne at Waterloo Station in London. It was interesting to watch the movie and see a long action sequence at the station I slept in and spent numerous hours exploring or, to be honest, being a bum.

London was very peaceful before 5am and there weren't any tourists or commuters to get in the way of my photographs. However, it was a little cold or at least it felt that way after being in other parts of Europe.

It rained twice on my entire trip through Europe. When I reached the British Isles, that changed.

Crossing the Baltic

I left Malmo, Sweden really early in the morning on a long trip to get to England. I had my itinerary set to get to Brussells but the trip from Brussells to London was going to be tricky because there wasn't much time to spare and I needed to buy a Eurostar ticket when I arrived. I took a train befroe 7am to Copenhagen. From there I took a train to Hamburg. On the way to Hamburg the train was loaded on a ferry and we crossed the Baltic. I was able to go outside and look out across the Baltic and take the picture below. It was a great view.

From Hamburg, I took a train to Koln (Cologne), Germany. On the trip I met a very nice German woman and we talked most of the way. I found everyone in Germany to be very nice and friendly. Koln was my final stop in Germany before heading back to Brussells. In Brussells, I had to try and catch a Eurostar train to London. Eurostar is the high speed train that goes through the Channel Tunnel. I was able to buy a ticket and was the last person in the customs line. It was the first time on my trip I had to go through actual customs where my passport was checked and they asked questions.

I arrived in London at Waterloo International Station very late. I didn't feel like finding a place to stay or paying the money, so I slept in the station. It was probably the safest place I stayed considering at any time there are about 3 cameras on you. The security in England is impressive. I checked my luggage to lighten the load. I made a peanut butter and jelly sandwich for dinner. Yes, I carried the peanut and jelly with me at almost all times during the trip. Although it wasn't easy to find peanut butter in Europe. At one point during the night I slept across three chairs. I was not the only bum hanging out in the station but these where middle class bums. In the morning I would catch a train to Holyhead, Wales and then on to Dublin, Ireland.

Copenhagen, Demark

I took the overnight train from Berlin to Malmo, Sweden. The train is loaded on a large ferry in the middle of the night and taken across the Baltic Sea. It was very early when I arrived in Malmo, so I was able to see some of the town before checking into my hotel. I was lucky enough to get a 4-star hotel for $60. It's great staying in the nice hotels because they will do whatever you want. So I gave them my 10 postcards to mail, free postage and no worries. I did make the mistake of saying I wanted yogurt with my breakfast in the morning so I had cereal with yogurt, no milk.
I took the train into Copenhagen for the day. I wasn't too impressed with Copenhagen. It was too expensive. It may have been a different experience if I visited earlier in my trip. Everyone told me how great it is but I didn't see anything that stood out from the other places I visited. I actually liked Malmo, Sweden more.

The buildings were very impressive and along the north coast of Western Europe the rivers and canals are really great in every place I visited. In Copenhagen they have hundreds of free city bikes you can use but unfortunately none were available when I was there. I guess they go fast. I really wanted one because my knee was still in a lot of pain. I moved slowly around the city.

In many spots it was very peaceful and quiet.

This is the Denmark Parliament building. It was very small, probably because it's a very small country.

When I visited the palace above, there weren't very many people there. At one point I was the only person inside except the armed guards. Through the entrance above was a large town square that was almost empty and surrounded by the palace buildings.

This was the city hall in downtown Malmo, Sweden.

Here's what you are looking at from Berlin

The bottom picture under my Berlin post was the Bradenburg gate again. Above that is the Jewish memorial with all of the concrete squares. It was controversial because about one block away is the site of Hitler's WWII bunkers where he married Eva Braun and committed sucide. The site is only marked by one sign because they don't want his life celebrated. His body was burned in a bomb crater near the bunkers by his Generals.

Above that is the BMW headquarters. It was a Monday and the Deutches Guggenheim was suppose to be free but instead it was closed for remodeling. I was ticked but I walked half a block and there was a free exhibit in the headquarters of Chagall, Picasso and Dali. I went in and checked it out. It was an excellent exhibit. Considering it was raining out at the time, it all worked out well. The last picture is the square next to the Berlin Tech University, Opera house and Library. This is significant because it was the site of the Berlin book burning in 1933. It was a turning point in Germany. It was within months of Hitler's election victory and Nazi joined with students and professors to raid the library and create a human chain to empty all the undesireable books out of the library and into the fire. There was a small monument for the event, it was a glass tile in the square and inside below your feet there was a room with empty bookcases.

Berlin was a great stop. I had some interesting adventures. One of the nights at the end of a pub crawl, I was given bad directions and I ended up on the far northwest side of Berlin, miles from downtown and the trains shut down. I was staying in East Berlin. My knee still hurt from my injury days before. I was walking through all these neighborhoods in the middle of nowhere at 3am. It was actually cool. I eventually walked 5 or 6 miles towards downtown and made my way back to a major street. Then I jumped in a taxi and was home in time to get some sleep before I checked out.

On my last night in Berlin, I was at the Bradenburg gate and walked into the train station to catch a train to the Central station where I was catching an overnight train. I had over an hour until my night train left, so I thought I was fine. Unfortunately, 2 trains came and went going the other direction and after almost half an hour my train was no where in site. Most times you catch a train in under 10 minutes. I was beginning to get nervous because I still had to transfer once before getting to the central station.

Finally, I decided I wasn't going to get burned by the train system again and I took off. I ran out of the sub station and through the Bradenburg gate, through the Tiergarten, past the Reichstag and over the river to the Central station. It was not a short distance. I went up to retrieve my bags from the storage and nobody was at the counter. I kept ringing the bell and finally an old man came. He took my tickets and went in the back. He slowly came out with one of my bags. Problem was, I had two bags. It was like a movie when you're in a hurry and the slowest person in the world is waiting on you. Finally he came with my other and I made my train. I even had 30 seconds to buy some yogurt from one of the stands.

I had a great time in Berlin and things were definitely always interesting.

Luckily, I was the only passenger in my sleeper car and I was able to lay down and relax. I woke up across the Baltic Sea in Sweden.

More posts soon

Sorry I have not posted anything about my trip to the blog in a while. I traveled to more places but haven't had the time to post. I've been preoccupied with other things. There will be more soon.