Advertisement
Published: September 24th 2008
Edit Blog Post
The Temple Bar
The famous nightlife area in Dublin Wow...where have the days gone? It's been a while since I last wrote. I guess I'll begin back in Dublin which was about two weeks ago. Dublin was the perfect ending to my month in Ireland. Conor and I spent a few days walking around the city which included the Guinness Storehouse tour! Not only did we get a good feel for the city, but we also got a good sampling of some hostels. Since we arrived on a thursday, we had to change hostels both friday and saturday night because our original hostel was all booked up. But come sunday we headed back to our favorite hostel! We had a good time hauling our bags all over the city. On monday Conor flew out and I decided to stay in Dublin until I flew out on Thursday. I had a great time walking the city by day and going out with a few other travelers by night. It was really nice to stay in one place for a good amount of time without having to worry about your next destination. I did do a day trip up to Newgrange and Knowth, two megalithic burial tombs. They were both amazing!!!!
From Dublin I flew to Brussels and spent two days sightseeing around town and sampling some Belguim food. Both days were sunny and dry which made for a perfect backdrop for all the old buildings and courtyards. One morning I walked across town with two Kiwis to a big flea market. Unfortunately it was still a bit early, so people were still setting up their wares. The next day I went back and it was quite impressive all the different junk that was on display. The whole square was littered with neat rows of random junk. I also took the metro out to the Expo 58 and spent a few hours walking around the grounds of the 1958 world's fair. I splurged and spent 6 euros to tour the giant atomium which is the Belgium equivalent to the Eiffel Tower. I had a few interesting encounters here as well. First a french guy approached me and started talking to me in french, but I had no clue what he was saying. For some reason the only english he knew was something along the lines of you're beautiful and lets go get a coffee, but since we had no common language,
I had to politely decline his offer! And then just a few more strides down the street, I glady obliged to take a group photo for a big group of Indian business people. After taking heaps of pictures with about ten different cameras, one guy had the brilliant idea to get his picture with me instead of the group. Soon after, guys were running from the group shot to cluster around me. It was qutie hilarious. About ten minutes later I finally got my escape when a seperate group shot was formed somewhere else and they beckoned the straggles to get in the picture. I guess I was more of a sight to see than this Atomium. haha! Even though I only had a few brief days in Brussels, I really enjoyed sampling their waffles smoothered in chocolate, the not so exciting frites (big fat fries) and of course their chocolates. It was a delicious and filling two days and I really enjoyed the city as a whole.
On saturday I caught the bus to Amsterdam where I stayed for the next 4 days. My first day I spent walking the streets with Kim, a somewhat local, she lives
a bit out of amsterdam. We had a great time wandering the streets, taking in the sights, and sampling some dutch food. She lead the way most of the time, so I was utterly lost for most of the day. It didn't help that the streets radiate out from the central station in a semi-circular pattern with identical canals making it impossible to tell which direction you're walking in. But I did manage to find my way back to the hostel the next day, without too many hours of looking at the map! My last day in amsterdam I went out of town a bit and finally saw some wooden windmills and a clog workshop. It was nice to escape the big cities, even if it was for only a few hours.
Today I caught the plane from Amsterdam to Prague where I'll be for the next two nights. On friday I'm taking the train to Linz, Austria where I'll meet up with my friend Cornelia and we'll head to Munich for the weekend to check out Oktoberfest. So far my solo european travels have been going wonderful. I'm getting pretty excited to get farther south to enjoy some
Guinness Advertisment
One of the many areas on the Guinness Tour warmer weather. I may have to wait until New Zealand though....
Till next time...
Cheers!
Advertisement
Tot: 0.099s; Tpl: 0.015s; cc: 13; qc: 54; dbt: 0.0625s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.2mb
Jared
non-member comment
Woah woah woah
Anna! Sounds like you are having a blast! All of it sounds like my sort of vacation. One thing though, you have like several cities and several countries all packed into one entry!!! You gotta keep up with this so it doesnt become so compact. So you can go back and read them later and enjoy the details. Also, then i get them too! But thats so cool you are in europe, beligum and everywhere. Thats always an area I've wanted to go to. Keep up the fun!!