There beneath the blue suburban skies

Hello from England. I've been enjoying my time here, and it's been great having some company with me. Thanks Mandy! I have to be careful what I say about her since she has a habit of reading my blog in my presence...

I kid of course. I have nothing but great things to say of her. I finally arrived in Liverpool on Sunday after all the bus and train shenanigans that I had to go through. It was frustrating to say the least. You can bet they received a polite but firm email from yours truly. You can take the man out of Canada, but you can't take Canada out of the man! Mandy and I caught up over some wine and pasta at the Liverpool hostel. We were both pretty tired from a long day of travelling so we kept it relatively quiet. The next day we decided to be Tourists with a capital T. We went on the magical mystery tour, a Beatles bus tour. We had some time to kill first, so we decided to wander the city a bit. We found a neat graveyard and the Liverpool Cathedral (well...the cathedral is hard to miss...it's massive). The were both neat sites to explore. Finally it was time for the tour. It was very informative, but way overpriced...pretty much exactly what we were expecting. The tour ended at the famous Cavern Club, where we decided to have a drink amongst the other capitalized Tourists. We were glad(ish) we did, since about 30 minutes later, a John Lennon impersonator came out and played. Musically, he was really good...his voice actually sounded a lot like Lennon. Physically he looked more like an Elvis impersonator...the later years Elvis. And he was horribly obnoxious in his between-song banter. Nonetheless, the music was really good so we stayed around for a while. Later that night we went to the Philharmonic Pub which I'd highly recommend to anybody going to Liverpool. The building is very big, old, and fancy and it clearly used to be used for something other than a pub. I was impressed by the bathroom...not to get into too many details, but the urinals were the fanciest I've ever seen. Most men's bathrooms can usually be described as utilitarian at best...this one was lavish and fancy. Let's move on.

We left Liverpool on Tuesday and headed south for Bath. This was a long bus ride, but worth the trip. Bath is a beautiful town with really old architecture. The town is famous for its roman baths, so it's kind of a posh spa town. It's very boutique-y. For my Canadian audience, it really reminded me of Mont Tremblant, minus the mountains and much older. Dan and Hayley, my Australian friends from Edinburgh were there on Tuesday too so we met up for some beers and asshole (the card game, not the orifice). I taught them how to play it in Edinburgh and they've been obsessed ever since. Apparently they were practising all week on the computer. Good times were had by all.

On Wednesday, Mandy and I enjoyed exploring the town, walking around. We found the botanical gardens, and a few other cool spots in the town. We were also determined to figure out a way to get to Stonehenge from Bath without having to pay for one the overpriced tours going there. The only way we could have done it was to take a train and a bus, and then walk for 4 miles over a combination of highways and through farmer's fields with directions such as turn left at the nice row of trees. And it would have cost more than doing the tour. So we both agreed that Stonehenge wouldn't really be worth it and we decided not to bother... the Mystery Tour was our overpriced Touristy splurge of the week. That night we found a really cool pub with some good live music and lots of character. Somebody ended up spotting my Canadian accent and soon enough we were joined by two women, one being from Ottawa. Shockingly she also worked for the gov...such a rare quality in an Ottawa resident! They were cool people to talk to so we enjoyed their company for the rest of the evening.

On Thursday we switched hostels, since the one we had been staying at was a shit hole (avoid Bath Backpackers if you're ever in Bath). Our day was a little quieter but still fun nonetheless.

So what's the plan next you're likely not asking yourself, but I'm answering anyways. In a couple of hours we'll be heading to Bristol where we'll be staying with Mandy's friend for the night. Then Saturday we'll be parting ways...I'll be heading to London to meet up with the Edinburgh crew (and possibly seeing the nfl game at Wembley on Sunday if I can find a cheap ticket...not dropping 80 pounds on two teams that are almost as bad as the Bills). Mandy will be heading to work on a farm near Bristol on Sunday. All the best Mandy, thanks again for meeting up with me and showing me around England!

Photo update. So I've been completely slacking on taking pics. I didn't take a single one in Edinburgh, which is criminal since it's probably the most beautiful and photogenic city I've been to yet. So I'm trying to get back on the trolley. Here are the photos from Liverpool. I tried captioning the Beatles tour pics as best as possible, so you know what you're looking at, other than some old brick house. Have a great weekend!

Almost...Almost...Almost...There we are

Wow, what a difference a week makes. You'll (hopefully) be happy to learn that I'm back to good health. I switched hostels last Sunday in hopes of a fresh start in Edinburgh. I'm sure glad I did. The new hostel was big, but was good...very relaxed, laid back atmosphere. Thanks for the tip, Arty! Still not letting you live down the MNF ticket incident though. Anyways, I checked into my room which was big but luckily not overcrowded with beds. As I was getting settled in, I got to a know a few other people who were also just getting there. They were a couple of Aussies, Dan and Hayley, and a Canadian, Liz. Quick aside... you'll likely notice a recurring theme in this blog, which is the meeting of Aussies. That is because they are everywhere in Europe. I can honestly say I heard more Aussie accents in the last two weeks than Scottish accents. Not that there's anything wrong with that... I just wonder who is back in Australia since they're all out here. Anyways, I quickly befriended these 3 great people and we decided to hit up a pub or two. This is when we discovered our natural ability to assemble a homemade pub crawl. We started out just the 4 of us, but by the time we made it to the 3^rd bar, we had more than doubled in numbers. It was a great night out all in all.

The following day, I finally explored the city a bit. I couldn't stretch myself too much though since I was still regaining my strength from not having been able to eat/breathe much the week previous. What I did see was awesome...very beautiful architecture and design. Just to backtrack a moment...my first Edinburgh hostel had been in the newer part of town, which they for some reason named New Town. Since it is a modern addition, the buildings aren't nearly as old and impressive. My new hostel however was right in Old Town (guess how it got its name), with an amazing view of the Edinburgh castle. So seeing this part of town after having been laid up in my hostel for a week was a great little surprise. That night was Hayley's birthday. Well, the entire day had been Hayley's birthday, but we were celebrating that night. Her one birthday wish was to go to Pizza Hut. You may scoff at this, thinking we're travelling in a faraway continent with loads of culture and cuisine in every direction and all she wants in some crappy pizza from an American chain. However if you've been on the road for any extended amount of time (they're 5 months into their trip), you'll come to appreciate the comforts of home, no matter how trivial, as something to be revered. Hell, I've only been gone a little over a month and it was the best meal I'd had since the chicken roast I had mentioned in a previous entry. So with our stomachs full we went back to the hostel to have some drinks and play some cards before heading out to celebrate. This is when our pub crawl abilities really shined. We were playing cards in our room in the middle of the floor and not only managed to get more people to play the game, we got the entire room (a dozen total) to come out on our pub crawl. Liz lead the way, as always, and we found a couple really good pubs and had a really good time. We also found a couple shitty pubs, but we managed to have a good time nonetheless in those as well. The way last call works in Scotland is that pubs have to close by 1:00 am (in the morning) but clubs can stay open til 3. So at 1 we headed over to a club near our hostel. This won't come as a shock to many of my friends, but I fucking hate clubbing. I hate everything about it...the overpriced drinks, the loud and shitty pop music that prevents any sort of meaningful conversation, dancing, and the obvious way in which half the people there are just trying to hook up. I dunno, I just don't like clubs. Anyways, I figured I'd be a good sport since it was Hayley's bday and went along with the group. I had a drink, but just couldn't get into it...there was no denying that I was miserable there. I didn't want to be a wet blanket on anybody else's good time, so I wished everybody farewell, and took off. When I got back this was great since the whole room was still out of the club. I got to fall asleep in peace. Of course a couple hours later this backfired on me. I'm not sure what happened in those 2 hours that I was gone, because everybody seemed fine when I left. But when they got back it was like an alcohol bomb had gone off. People were singing, climbing into eachother's beds, even climbing (and physically jumping) into mine! I didn't mind the noise because I knew it meant that everybody had been having fun...these were my friends afterall, not hostel randos. However it was not to last. You know the old saying... it's all fun and games until the hairy greek guy strips down to his bikini brief underwear and starts running around trying to insist his way into a girl's bed. No? Well that should be a saying, cause that creeper made the night real fucking weird real fucking quick! After pretty much half the room told him to get his shit together and go to bed, he finally did.

Believe it or not most people took it easy the following day. The 4 of us, along with another Aussie girl (see?!) headed up to Canton Hill, which overlooks the city. It's got some great views. We took a bunch of food up there and had a nice picnic. It was cool because it was intimate, which is something I mentioned missing in my homesick post. It was nice to just sit and chat and take it easy. That night we played cards again and had a slightly quieter night out at the pubs. It got kind of weird though when a couple of Scottish guys came into our little table alcove to escape the loud music that had been playing. One of the guys, Jimmy, was massive...he made me look short and skinny. The other guy was a smaller guy, very quiet looking. Anyways, they took a liking to us and chatted us up for an hour or two. They were funny guys, but a little off kilter. Jimmy, the big one, was really into conspiracy theories, and would talk your ear off about the Illuminati or whatever the hell else he was on about. The smaller one (forget his name) actually gave me a book and made me promise to either read it or give it to good will. Then he mentioned something about the peace corps and that's when things got awkward. He started on a bit of a rant about how we were just basically taking a holiday (well...yeah...nobody said otherwise) and how we should be spending our time in third world countries (“the dark continent” as he referred to it), helping them with our advanced skills and to quit wasting our time being around other white people. It got really awkward because by the end he was just shouting a bunch of white guilt type stuff. I was tempted to ask why his white ass was sitting in a bar talking to white tourists instead of digging irrigation ditches somewhere, but Jimmy's size kind of prevented that. I'm all for helping others in need, but I'm not presumptuous enough to assume that I can just buy a plane ticket to Africa and solve all their problems with a combination of my awesome white presence and my Bachelor of Arts degree. Anyways, we finished off our drinks and got the hell out of there.

My friends took off by Friday, so I spent the next couple days further exploring the city and even did a 3 hour walking tour. My favourite part of that was when I said the word “toque” to the Canadian tour guide, she hugged me. See? It's the little things that reminds somebody of home.

So where to next? I'm currently on the train, bound for Liverpool. I'll be meeting up with a friend from Canada, Mandy, who has been living over in England for the last year or two. We'll travel around Northern England for a week, and then I'll be heading down to London for the weekend to meet up with Liz, Dan, and Hayley again for some more pub crawls there. The NFL just happens to be playing a game in London on Sunday too...what a coincidence! I figure that'll be a lovely day to see the famed Wembley stadium. Not sure if I'll get a ticket though since there aren't many good ones left for sale. Perhaps though. After that is anybody's guess.

I had a blast in Edinburgh...if you're going to the UK, don't miss it!

PS...believe it or not, the book the crazy guy lent me is actually really good so far...I've only had it for a few days but I've already read over 200 pages.

Addendum: I've arrived in Liverpool after a much longer/harder day of travel than originally anticipated. Due to my connecting train to Liverpool not running for some mysterious and unannounced reason, I had to take a charter bus through about 6 towns I didn't particularly care to see, and then got dropped off at another train station, where I had to wait for a train that was running 50 mins late and full of likewise not so happy customers. Ah well I'm here now in the birthplace of the Beatles.

Sick of sickness

Sorry for lagging on a new post. As you could probably tell from the lack of energy/effort put into the last post, I was pretty damned sick. I'm still not actually 100%, but I'm feeling much better. Unfortunately this means I don't have a whole lot of good stories to share with you since I barely left the hostel in the last week. Unless of course you want detailed descriptions of the pharmacy or perhaps my mucous levels? I'll spare you.
The problem with being sick in a hostel, even with something as simple as a cold, is that there's none of the comforts of home to help you get better. Your sleep is at the mercy of other people's schedules and there's nowhere to just simply curl up and hide like you need to do sometimes. So the cold has lingered and kicked my ass. Being sick and stuck inside has, I must admit, made me rather homesick. When you're constantly on the move, seeing sites, meeting new people, etc, you don't have much time to think of home except for perhaps...man this is way cooler than home! So coming to a crashing halt like this has made me realise what I've been missing that much more. So I figure since I don't have many good stories to share with you, I'll share a list of things I miss about home. Don't get me wrong...this isn't some poor me emo trip...I'm still so grateful to be able to be on this adventure and I know how lucky I am to be doing what I'm doing. It's just something that's been on my mind lately, so I figure I'll share. That said, here's what I miss:

• Friends and family. 'nuff said.
• Privacy. Pretty straightforward... living in 8-16 bed dorms, shared bathrooms, common kitchens, etc means you're rarely by yourself, and when you are, it's never for too long.
• Having a "homebase". I never really realised how important this was to me until losing it (as is usually the case, isn't it?). Just having somewhere that belongs to you and only you. Could be as simple as closing your bedroom door to the world on a bad day or your spot on the couch in front of the tv. Living out of a bag pretty much negates this.
• Familiarity of surroundings. I can't think of anything that quite matches the combination of emotions (disorienting/thrilling/scary) that occurs when walking out of the bus or train station in a new city and trying to figure out where the hell you're going. I experience this this once or twice a week. And then just when you start to gain your bearings, you take off again to do it all over again!
• Intimacy. I'm not talking in a sexual way...I'm talking about having interactions with people that moves beyond the superficial level. It's kind of like the Narrator's theory in Fight Club about people you meet on planes...they're single serving friends. I've met some really cool people, but you know you'll likely never see them again after a few days, so you keep conversations simple and light... you don't grow attached.
• The little things. Haven't been able to find proper chicken noodle soup at all. No NyQuil over here from what I can tell. I still have no friggin clue which way to look first before crossing the street. That type of thing. That's not to say Canada is better because it has stuff the UK doesn't...It's just that you get used to these things that are in your culture and don't even think about them being absent in another culture.
• My effin bed! Not gonna lie... my bed is awesome. It's the perfect mix of comfort and support. That's what Angelina Jolie keeps telling me anyways. So sleeping in hard bunk beds designed for people about a half-foot shorter than me has been a bit of a shock to my system. Most of my friends know how much I love my tv...but I'd have to say...if I could only salvage one or the other from a fire, I'd probably go for the bed. That's how much I love it. Although that would be a pretty slow burning fire if I had enough time to grab the mattress, frame, and box spring. I'd probably just work on putting out the fire to save everything.
• Football. What more can I say? Bills are terrible this year, but who cares...I'd still love to be watching the games every Sunday!

So that's it for my list. Hopefully reading this will make you appreciate a little bit more the things we take for granted. I'm moving on to a new hostel in an hour or two. Still staying in Edinburgh, I'm just switching hostels. I figure I've gained the reputation as the weird quiet guy who is always in the common room and blowing his nose/clearing his throat. May as well start fresh now that I'm up for interacting with people and going out again. I took a walk yesterday to find my next hostel, which Arty recommended. And if there's one person who is reliable when it comes to travelling, it's Arty. If there's anybody you would want to trust something important with to not lose (such as a Monday Night Football Bill's ticket...for example), he is definitely the man! He would never ever lose something like a Bills ticket 2 hours before kickoff. Nope, not Arty...too reliable. Anyways, on my walk there yesterday, I found a nice little farmer's market where I bought some fruits and veggies, as well as a bison burger. I was tempted to try the Venison Haggis, but I figure I should try the real stuff first. Finding the market kind of gave me the boost I needed, reminding me that it'll be worth it to get out again and explore now that I'm better since I never know what I'm going to find.

One last note...the blog has been up for just under a month and I already have over 1000 pageviews. And I'm pretty sure at least 150 of those pageviews are people other than my mother, checking up on me every hour. Just wanted to say thanks to everybody for taking the time to check in and see what's up with me... I would have never guessed I had so many people who cared!

Glasgow

Luckily for you, this one's going to be a little less long-winded because I'm under the weather. I had a good time in Glasgow. My first night there, I met up with Caetano, who is my mother's colleague's daughter's husband. Simple, right? He was a cool guy and gave me some good tips for the city. The following day was spent exploring the city and seeing some sites. There's a nice park a few minutes away from the hostel, so it was nice to stroll through there. That night I made friends with a Canadian, Adriane, who lives in Kingston, which is practically right next door! We played flip cup with some Aussies and the hostel employee on duty at the time, James. The aussies eventually took off, only to be replaced by a few german guys who were fun to drink with. All in all a good night. The next day Adriane and I set off to find the Baras market, which Caetano had told me about. If you want to imagine what the Baras market was like, imagine a flea market but take away the class and cleanliness. It was a good time though strolling the booths and finding the random crap that people were selling. That night we had a few more drinks with a Scotsman and an Aussie, which was a good time as well. On Sunday Adriane took off for Belfast and I went wandering around the city again. I went to the Kelvingrove Museum, which is an odd collection of art and artifacts... you'll find a stuffed elephant and an airplane hanging from the ceiling in the same room. I went back out that night with the Scotsman and Aussie along with a couple of French girls who seemed to appreciate somebody actually being able to (barely) speak their language in these parts. They pretended like I spoke French well in return. We had a great time out despite the crappiness of the live music we were listening too. They even convinced me to stay an extra day in Glasgow, as I had been planning to leave on Monday. Unfortunately when I woke up Monday, our plans of having a big day together were quickly shot... I woke up with a terrible sore throat and the rest of the fun that comes along with a cold. I spent all of Monday in bed aside from going to get some soup for dinner in hopes of making a quick recovery. Being abroad and alone while sick is no fun... I expect to be babied dammit! Ah well. I got up this morning and decided I may as well get moving on, so I caught the bus to Edinburgh. Just got to the hostel about an hour ago. Hopefully I'll be feeling better for the next post and put a bit more effort into it. Until then!

If you're on the shore, then you're sure not me-o

Hello again. I've had quite the week, so let's jump right into it! The hostel I was staying at in Belfast offers a free day tour of the Giant's Causeway, the Carrick-a-Rede bridge, and Derry, so I decided to do that on monday, and then just get off the bus in Derry for a few days. A free ride's a free ride right? The only problem was the bus driver was pretty cheesy, telling the same crappy jokes he obviously tells everyday. And man did he push having lunch at one particular restaurant. I say this without exaggeration...he repeated the same thing about lunch at the restaurant a minimum of 10 times within 2 hours. It became a bit of a running joke with my friend Dylan (the brit who came on the black taxi tour as mentioned previously). “Know anywhere good for lunch?” “I heard there was good lunch there. Oh yeah, where'd you hear that?” He was obviously getting at least a free meal out of it, if not more. Ah well. We started with the bridge, which has some amazing views along the path to it. It's a big rope bridge about 100 feet above the sea that leads to a little island. It was originally built by fishermen so they could cast nets off the island. It was a bit of a rip off to pay for crossing the bridge, but it was still pretty cool... it's very high up and the rope sways, so it's definitely not for the feint of heart! Next it was onto the giant's causeway, which has some corny folklore behind it, but really it's on a coast where volcanic eruptions occurred a long time ago, and formed some really cool rocks and formations. Very impressive. Then it was on to Derry. The group did a walking tour but I skipped out and set off for my Derry hostel.

If ever you're in Derry, go to the Derry City Independent Hostel... cleanest hostel I've ever stayed in. It was basically somebody's house, so it had lots of character, with plenty of cool decorations and a really nice atmosphere. I was planning on having a quiet night in for my first night, but the guy running the hostel came in and said a bunch of folks were going out, so out we went. Hit up a small pub with a couple guys who were playing some traditional folk/rebel music, which was awesome. And then the Irish carbomb happened. Not the drink... an actual car bomb. It went off around midnight when we were still out. It wasn't really close to the pub thankfully... about an 8 minute drive away. Naturally, hearing this, I became a little nervous at first, but it seemed to be pretty much business as usual for most of the locals. If something like that happened in Ottawa, the city would be shut down for days I think. So I decided to not worry about it since it seemed to be more about making a statement and disrupting business (it went off outside a bank) than it was about harming people.

The next morning I met up with one of the girls who had been out the night before, Danit who was from Israel (look at me Dana!), and we went out on the Free Derry walking tour. This is run out of a small museum and it takes you along the road where Bloody Sunday occurred, which is essentially what kicked the troubles into high gear for the next 30 years. There are some murals with stories behind them. The guide for this tour was incredible. He had spent 7 years in jail for being a member of the IRA, possession of explosives, and suspicion of assassinating a British soldier. He didn't really confirm that last part, but he wasn't really denying it either. Regardless, the subject matter was obviously very personal to him, which made the tour fascinating and authentic. If you don't know much about bloody sunday, the troubles, or Derry-Londonderry (I admittedly didn't know much before coming here), I highly recommend reading up on it...very fascinating stuff. Even the name of the city is contentious... the English helped build a wall around the city a few centuries ago in order to help the loyalists fend off the Irish, and in return, demanded that the city be renamed Londonderry. So the republicans and unionists call it Derry on one side of town, and the loyalists call it londonderry on the other. You can give yourself away just by referring it to the wrong way on the wrong side of town...and apparently catch an ass whooping.

After the tour Danit and I walked around the town for a while and then took another walking tour along the walls. There was a lot of overlapped info from what we had learned in the morning, and this tour guide was crappy. He was just kind of on autopilot, reading from the script, telling the same corny jokes much in the same manner as the bus driver. At least this one didn't recommend a place to eat lunch. I spent the rest of the afternoon exploring the city and then finally had that quiet night in. We watched a movie in the common room with some popcorn and wine which was a good way to unwind after a long day. One funny note...when we were in the common room, the guy running the hostel came back into the room after talking to a couple guests and told me the guy who I was sharing a room with (rudely, apparently) requested a room change for the night because I had been snoring all night. I blame the Guinness! I feel for the guy, because having spent the last couple weeks in hostels, I know how brutal it is to be kept up by snorers...there's always at least one. Ah well...I got the room to myself, so I wasn't too heartbroken. He didn't realise though that I had befriended the hostel employee, so apparently he stuck up for me and almost kicked the guy out.

So the next day, Wednesday I suppose, I chilled in Derry for the day and the caught the bus back to Belfast. I returned to the same hostel I had been staying at because I had got to know a couple of the guests as well as the employees. When I returned, Sarah, who works there told me they were roasting a chicken with all the fixins and invited me to join them for dinner. This was a perfect end to a long day of travel...the meal was absolutely spectacular. I haven't eaten that well since I left Canada. Living on the cheap in hostels means a lot of pastas, soups, and sandwiches. So eating chicken, roasted potatoes, veggies, gravy, and stuffing was so good for the soul. I had also been bummed out because I had forgotten this coming weekend is Thanksgiving until my mom emailed me and said the whole family would be over on Sunday. I was sorry to miss it, so I guess this is next best thing. My favourite part was the yorkshire pudding. I haven't had that since my nana used to make it, and that would have been at least 10 years ago or so. So it was awesome being reminded of dinner at my nana and grandpa's place, who have both since passed away. No cabbage salad (family in-joke), but beggars can't be choosers! We finished it off with Banoffee pie, which I'd never had before but will definitely have again... extremely tasty.

So I'm off to Scotland right now. I'm currently writing this on the ferry (insert “I'm on a boat” jokes here) to Strenraer, then taking the train up to Glasgow, where I'll stay at least until the weekend. Until next time. Happy thanksgiving to all my Canadian peeps...have an extra slice of turkey for me!

Pictures: Rope Bridge and Giant's Causeway and Derry

So this happened last night

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-foyle-west-11473586
I was in a pub when it happened, about 45 minutes, walking distance away. not to worried about it though. Nobody around seems to be anyways. I get the impression the town's been through much worse. Car bombs aside though, Londonderry's a pretty cool place. Lots of history. I'll go into more detail about it all later. Like there was any doubt.

Belfast Times

I arrived in Belfast on Thursday and was rather tired from having spent a minimum of 3 hours per day in transit over the previous 3 days, so I stayed in for the most part. My hostel was right near Belfast's Queens University, which meant lots of people (read: girls) around my age in the area, which was fun. On my first night there, I decided to check to see if there happened to be any rugby happening in the area in the weekend, and sure enough, there was a match the following night, Friday. So I booked a ticket. As I was clicking “confirm” I happened to hear another guest at the hostel say they were in town for the hockey game. Saying “hockey game” in earshot of a Canadian abroad is kind of like shaking a box of dog treats in earshot of a dog. I went to find this angelic voice and enquire what she was talking about. Turns out that the Boston Bruins are in town for an exhibition match tonight. (I'm writing this on Saturday, but won't get the chance to post it until Sunday, when I get WiFi access again, so if my times and tenses seem off, that's why). I went online to check it out, but unfortunately the tickets are very pricey (remember that taxi ride I freaked out about in the last post? A single nosebleed seat costs more than that). I figure I can go see the bruins play the Sens any time in Ottawa, when it actually counts for something, for cheaper, and when I actually have an income. Besides, I had rugby to keep my sports appetite sated!

So on Friday I spent most of the day exploring Belfast by foot. It's a beautiful city, and in my opinion, much cleaner and better looking than Dublin. In the evening I made my way over to Ravenhill Stadium to check out the Ulster Vs Glasgow match. Ulster is northern province in which Belfast resides, so Ulster is basically the Belfast team. It was a lot of fun! The stadium was smaller than I was expecting...maybe a 12000 seat capacity tops. But it was a great time, and the small size gave it a bit more of an intimate feel. It reminded more of a roughrider/renegade game at Lansdowne than say a Bills game. Having received a crash course in the rules of rugby the week previous, I had a general understanding of how the game went, but I'd be lying if I said I understood all of it. That didn't take away from my enjoyment though, since I had a blast watching the game and experiencing the crowd. I even learned the official team song: something something something something...something Ulstermen! A couple other quirks I noticed, for those interested in the cultural differences in sports: the first is that despite the rough nature of the game, rugby is very much a gentlemen's sport. The crowd goes completely silent (you'll get shushed) when either team is lining up for a field goal (I don't know what it's actually called, but it's field goal-like). And then the crowd will clap for both teams after every attempt, whether they make it or not. That's a far cry from american football, where the entire stadium does its best to make as much noise as possible to distract the other team. The other quirk was the crowd here chants for the home team much in the same way do to taunt the opposing team...slowly drawing it out (daaaarrrelllll). I know about 80% of my readers won't care about that last bit, but those sorts of differences are what interest me when I watch foreign sports.

The game was over by 9:30 so I made my way back to the hostel to grab a beer and possibly head back out to a pub. I ended up staying in the common room, having a couple drinks with some of the other guests. There was a Nova Scotian couple (believe it or not, but the first canadians I've met that I know of on this trip) who had biked across the states and then flew over here to visit family. There was also a German girl, and an American. We had a great time chatting and swapping travel stories and comparing our home country's customs (I always wondered what Nova Scotians ate). All in all a good time.

The whole point in talking about that little gathering was that I learned from the German girl that she and a couple other guests at the hostel were going to be doing a black taxi tour the following morning. The tours are given by taxi drivers who have been in the area a long time and know the history of “the troubles”. It costs a flat rate, so the more people you can get in the car, the more it's split up. I jumped on the opportunity and agreed to go with them. So the following morning 4 of us (me, the German, an Aussie, and a Brit) took the tour. If ever you are in Belfast, it is well worth the time and money...one of the best “touristy” things I've ever done. Our driver, George, was extremely knowledgeable, accommodating, and friendly. He took us all through the neighbourhoods on both the Protestant and the Catholic sides. It's been 12 years since the peace agreement was signed, but the signs of divide are still very much present. There's a giant fence/wall that goes through the middle of the town (I thought it was ironic that it was called the peace wall) that separates them. What makes the tour so interesting is that there are all sorts of murals along the walls on both sides and much of the tour is spent explaining the meaning behind the murals, which gives you a great history on all of the conflict that took place for over 30 years (the short of it...the protestant side wanted to be part of the UK, the Catholic/Republican side wanted to be independent of English rule and be part of the republic of Ireland). The tour lasted about 80 minutes. At the end he dropped us off in front of a library that had a great display of the political posters that had been created over the years. The German girl didn't have much interest in that so she took off.

On our way back to the hostel, the Aussie mentioned that he wanted to go to a pub to catch a game of Aussie Rules Football. Apparently it was the equivalent of the super bowl game, so of course I told him I'd join him. The Brit came too. Again, believe it or not, we had a great time. Rugby on Friday night, then Aussie Rules Football Saturday afternoon, and if I wasn't so cheap, I'd be going to a hockey game tonight! I'm gonna try my best to catch an NFL game tomorrow night too to see if I can press my luck ;)

So that's all I've got to say for now. I'm planning on staying in Belfast until Monday, when I'll do a tour of the Giant's Causeway (my hostel does it for free) and probably hop off the bus in Derry for a couple nights. Thanks for reading. Here are some blurry pictures of rugby and some better pictures of the Black Taxi Tour and political posters. Later!

*Editor's note from Sunday morning...met a couple fun guys at the hostel last night...one, Arden, a Canadian who has been living in Ireland for the last 8 years and his Irish friend Mike from high school. They were in Belfast for the hockey game, and we ended up going out after it. Really funny guys and we had some fun over a few pints. They actually got Shawn Thornton's autograph the next morning cause we were in a cafe that was right next to the Bruins' hotel. Thanks for the good night out fellas!