Almost been a month!

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Well it’s almost been a month now that I’ve been away and it really doesn’t seem that long but the amount of things that I have seen and done is just amazing!! Let’s see where did I leave off?

May 7th
Started off the day leaving Liverpool for 3 nights in Manchester. Started raining pretty bad so that gave me time to get everything settled. Its funny how you meet all these amazing people in the hostels and you will probably never meet them ever again. I have been meeting people from all over and with so many people it’s hard to remember all their names. The "Fat" chick (inside joke) from Singapore, the hot nurse from Vancouver, the Indian girl from Pennsylvania, the 2 Auzzie Civil Engineers, the 2 annoying Irish guys, the 2 that hate me for my passport, the super friendly staff, the old wise Jamaican man, and the extremely interesting Indian guy at breakfast. It’s weird how you become good friends with these people and then the next day either you or they are gone. Kinda strange but if anyone knows me they know I love meeting strangers!! Whoever came up with that rule "don’t talk to strangers" has never stayed in a hostel! Even if I could afford to stay in 4 star hotels there is no way I would pass up on the hostel life! Strange thing though was when I got to the hostel here nobody seemed to want to talk. Everyone just sat there watching the TV so time to go for a walk. I’m starting to think that 3 days in Manchester might be a bit much. There is only really the Man-U club that I wanted to see but oh well. Ended up going for a quick bite for dinner at this really nice pub around the corner. Super cheap and really good dinner. The weird thing was that I was out on the crowded patio and it started to rain. Normally when it starts raining people go inside but all these people just huddled under the umbrellas and just kept on drinking. I could get used to this :-) Ended up back at the hostel and I heard a little bit of a horror story from the night before. I guess this one guy was fast asleep in one of the dorm rooms when this couple that was staying in the bunk bed above him came home drunk at 3am and woke him up. That didn’t really piss him off but then they proceeded to have sex in the bunk bed above him! It apparently only lasted for 2 minutes but the guy was just so pissed off that he couldn’t sleep. I think someone could write an amazing movie out of this stuff!!

Monday May 8th
Headed down to Old Trafford the Manchester United football field and they aren’t doing tours till Saturday!! I guess there is some big match tomorrow and they are all setting up for that. I did get to see the ManU football museum and that was actually really interesting. The one thing that I did realise was how little I actually knew about soccer. I looked at their trophy room and I had no idea what I was looking at. The FA Cup, the European Cup, the Challenge Cup, I have no clue what any of them are but they are all really shiny! Stumbled across the Science and Industrial museum and that was actually really interesting. It was all about the history of Manchester during the Industrial Revolution. The introduction of running water, indoor plumbing, sewers, sounds kinda dull but for some reason I really enjoyed it. They also had a display on some new technologies that are being developed in Manchester and there is some really cool stuff going on there. From there I found myself aimlessly wandering around downtown Manchester and I found this place called Urbis. It was a museum that was all about the Urban lifestyle and the problems that big cities are starting to have. I guess I looked a little lost wandering around and one of the staff saw my Canadian flag on the backpack and it turned out he was from Camir (sp?) Alberta so he gave me a guided tour of the place. I am such a huge fan of free guided tours, everywhere should have them! When I get back I might have free guided tours of our house with a special stop in the bedroom of Glyn the Amazing for those that are interested ;-)

Tuesday May 9th
Woke up pretty early and headed out to get some blank cd's to back up my pictures on. As soon as I walked down the stairs to reception I knew something was up. As far as the eye could see the reception area was packed full of guys in green and white football jerseys. I fought my way through them to the front doors to find that didn’t help much. Everywhere I looked the streets were full of these green and white jerseys! I stopped one of them to ask them what was going on and he was just HAMMERED and started singing some football song to me. His friends quickly joined in as well as about 30 other guys on the other side of the road. What the heck is going on, its 9am, now I’m curious. I also noticed another prominent colour of uniform on the streets, police lined the streets with horses at the ready. I started talking to them and I guess there is a big match between Man-U and Celtic. Turns out there was a guy by the name of Roy Keene that played for both teams. He was the captain of ManU through some amazing success and spent the last year of his career playing at Celtic. I guess at the end of a successful footballer’s career they give him a Testimonial match. It’s basically a farewell friendly match to allow the fans a chance to say good bye and to watch him one last time. All of the proceeds from the game go to a charity of the player’s choice so it’s a good deal all around. I asked the officer if they were expecting trouble and since it was just a friendly match they were expecting a TON of happy drunk Manchester and Scottish fans. I guess its been sold out for weeks so there was no way I was getting tickets but the officer told me that if I wanted to see a good party to head down to the grounds. Ended up talking to a girl from California that flew over just for this match, I guess it’s not just the Europeans that are nuts about this guy. I bought my cd's, backed up my pictures and headed down to the grounds. You have to realize that its only 2pm at this point and the match didn’t start till 8pm but once again the second I stepped out the door of the hostel it was insanity!! I made my way towards the tram only to get sandwiched into a packed LRT with drunk singing soccer fans. What the heck am I getting myself into? Finally get down there and the streets are lined with nothing but Celtic fans as far as the eye could see. Not quite as bad as the infamous Red Mile but this is getting pretty damn close. Ended up buying a flag with the colours of both teams so that nobody would think I wasn’t a fan and kill me where I stood. Found a huge crowd of people just standing around drinking and hey look, it’s a beer store. Scrambled through the crowd and picked up 4 beers and just started talking to people. I was talking with a couple of Scottish guys when they mentioned that the real party was going on inside this pub a stones throw away from the beer store. What is that noise? There was this dull roar coming from within the building and as I got closer I could see that it was PACKED full of fans and they were all singing! I gotta get in there! Snuck my way past security and found myself immersed in the most insane thing that I have ever seen. The pub was designed in two halves. One half was full of Celtic fans and the other half was ManU fans. The one side would sing one of their songs and then the other side would respond with one of theirs. I thought that would only last maybe a couple of minutes and everyone would go back to drinking in quiet peace. WRONG!!!! Met a ton of people there that filled me in on the history of this guy and the importance of this event. Fast forward 6 hours and the crowd is still SINGING!!! "Its going to be the match of a lifetime and if you think it’s crazy in here wait to you get inside Old Trafford!!" Something inside me was just dying to know and to be able to have my first football match be one of such insanity I just couldn’t pass that opportunity up. Found me a scalper and paid £60 for a £20 but what the heck. I had had a few drinks at this point so I merrily made my way to the grounds about 20 minutes before the match started. My pictures and videos might give you an idea of what it looked and sounded like in there but I can promise you one thing, there is no way that ANYONE, let alone a little blonde Welshman like me, could ever describe the atmosphere in there!! It was UNBELIEVABLE!! The songs the sights the smells it was literally sensory overload! I found my seats next to an elderly man and his grandson that had made the trip down. The stadium started filling up with 76 000 insane fans and probably 10 times that in the streets and pubs surrounding Manchester. The players had their warm up and went back to the dressing rooms. They came out and when they introduced Roy Keene the whole stadium, the young, the old, the men, the women, the Celtic fans, the ManU fans and yes even myself, exploded into the same song. "Keano, there's only one Keano, theres only one Keano..." over and over again for what seemed like an hour. Insanity at its best here! The match was interesting. Keane played the first half for Celtic and at half time he switched jerseys and played the second half for ManU and when they reintroduced them at the 2nd half as a special substitution I thought the walls of the stadium were going to collapse the crowd was screaming so loud! The match ended, but the party continued into the streets that brought back the feelings from the Red Mile...damn you Flames...somehow found my way back to the hostel to a warm and happy bed. What a night!!!!

Wednesday May 10th
Made my way up to York. I’m getting good at this train stuff. I found out that if you fill in the date on your Brit Rail pass in pencil you can just erase it when you get to your next destination and do it all over again. Damn I’m sneaky. Well I found my way to York with the skill of a seasoned traveller and got my stuff unpacked in the hostel. Co-ed dorm rooms!! Bow chicka chicka bow wow! Unpacked my stuff and decided to start the night off with a bit of an aimless wander followed by a ghost tour of old York. If you are thinking of doing a trip like mine, I HIGHLY recommend ghost tours! Not only do you get a quick history of the city by a very entertaining and interesting guide but it’s a GREAT place to meet women :-) Case in point I’m waiting for the tour to start and I see a woman around my age standing by herself...and the predator stalks his prey...turned out to be an amazing Auzzie woman by the name of Helene. We went on the tour and York has a really grizzly history. Nothing but bloodshed and beheadings and the ghosts that are left! Ended that night with a couple of drinks and another late return to my hostel. Thank god for 24 hour door policies ;-)

Thursday May 11th
Found out that there are free walking tours of York available so I bought myself a York city pass (great deal by the way, keep an eye out for the tourist city passes if you go travelling) and tried to get a hold of Helene but her cell phone just went straight to voicemail. Did the hour long walking tour with a young guide named William a student from the local university. There were us 2 and the youngest person besides me and the guide was probably about 60 so me and him spent quite a bit of time chatting while we walked from spot to spot. One of the other tourists spotted my flag on my backpack and asked where in Canada. Turned out they were from Victoria and had family in Calgary, it’s a small world!

Finished the tour and went over to the York Minster and climbed up the 274 stairs to make it to the top of the tower. Holy crap there are some amazing views around here. The difference between York and Oxford was that although Oxford had a load of old buildings right next door were brand new modern buildings. York on the other hand is all old style buildings. Even if the building is brand new the city ensures that the builders keep them looking old. Makes for a really interesting environment. Met back up with Helene and ended up checking out a few more touristy sights. We went through this one museum that had some recreated city streets which were really interesting!

EVERYTHING closes at 5pm, even the touristy crap so all you have left to do is go to the pub...fine with me!! We found a nice little pub and there was this group of guys that looked like a punk rock band. We heard them talking about recordings and everything so I guess they had to be. Eventually ended up asking them if they had a gig tonight and they did so they told us to come check it out. The "Towers of London" were playing at Fibbers, or was it the "Flowers of Tondon" playing at Flippers? (I love inside jokes) They said they would put us on the guest list under the name Adam Dove plus one. Nice enough guys so we decided to go check out the show. They didn’t play till 11 so we stuck around for another couple of drinks and Helene wanted to change her shirt for the club. Thank God for that!! I don’t know why I didn’t take any pictures but guys you would have loved it!! Still kicking myself for that actually...oh well. The band didn’t put us on the list so we had to pay to get in and in fact they weren’t really that good. They only played for half an hour and then the place closed. Another late night stumbling back into the hostel at like 2am, the people in this room must hate me!!

Friday May 12
Helene took off so it was just me left to attack York alone. I went to check out a really interesting Viking museum and grabbed some lunch. I was in the sandwich shop and it started to rain a bit. I realized I had left my jacket at the hostel because it was so nice outside in the morning. I started to make my way back to the hostel and it started coming down like crazy. I’m from Vancouver Island and when I say it was raining hard you know it was raining hard. Even Noah would have agreed that it was raining hard and he was on an ark! Cold rain that quickly turned to hail...this is CRAZY!! I ducked under the cover of a street market that was going on and tried to wait it out. One minute turned to 5, 5 to 10, 10 to 15 and no sign of it letting up. Funny thing was all the women in white tank tops and t-shirts :-) I didn’t mind the view but it was getting a little cold out there and I was starting to freeze. I decided to make a break for it and 2 second in the rain and I was soaked to the bone. I made it back to my hostel and I was a drowned rat. I got changed and literally seconds after I dried off the rain stopped and the sun came back out. Damn you English weather! Spent that night in watching Braveheart. Strange being in York when they mention that William Wallace had just sacked York!! Every man dies, not everyman really lives" I’m starting to understand what that quote is really about!

Saturday May 13
Made my way to Edinburgh with the skill of a daily commuter and I think I snuck into the first class train! YAY Glyn!! I walked out of the train station and I saw a sight that I have yet to see on this trip. Hills! Not the best thing when you have a huge backpack crammed full of crap! Got to the hostel and as it turned out the FA Cup football final had just started so I asked Alex, the guy at the counter where would be good to watch it. Turned out there was a really cheap pub that would be showing the game right around the corner. I sprinted there and it was packed to capacity. Turns out there was the FA Cup Final and the Scottish cup final and both were being shown at the same time. This could get interesting. 1 beer turned into 2 and 2 into 10. Made some new friends that explained the game to me and both matches ended in ties after extra time. They both ended in shootouts about 2 minutes apart!! My first 3 football matches have been amazing!! I could see myself getting into this. Well that night was a bit of a blur after that. Ended up going to a night club with some folks from the hostel but if you ask me the name of it or how did we get there I wouldn’t be able to tell you.

Sunday May 14th.
Woke up fully clothed in a bed full of my unpacked backpack, I knew I forgot to do something. Met up with Michelle from Oxford again. Turns out that she was up here at the same time as me. I really need a cell phone. Checked out Hollyrood Palace, the home of the Queen when she is in Edinburgh and she lives in STYLE!! I should be the next King, it sounds like a ton of fun. Ended up doing another ghost tour, the infamous City of the Dead. There are about 5 different ghost tours in Edinburgh but this one has the keys to the Covenanter's Prison and the MacKenzie Poltergeist :-) There have apparently been over 900 documented interactions with this poltergeist and over 130 people have been knocked unconscious here so I had to check it out. We were in the graveyard and the guide was giving us the history of the graveyard and its connections to JK Rowling, Mary Shelly, Bram Stokers, Charles Dickens, and a dog by the name of Greyfriars Bobby when all of a sudden he paused. He saw a figure in another part of the graveyard where there shouldn’t have been anyone else there but us. It was about 10pm at this point and the tour was being done by flashlight but with the limited lighting you could make out a figure of something. He seemed a little bit shaken by this and had to tell the story over again. I noticed that he was really distracted by this figure and he was trying to keep his eye on it. I was starting to get a little curious and followed his gaze back to the mysterious dark figure and it was defiantly getting closer. I could see the outline of a hooded hunched over figure slowly walking towards our group. I looked back at the guide and he was back telling the story to the group and when I looked back again I could tell that it was defiantly still coming our direction. Every once in a while it seemed to pause but only for a moment and would almost stop to listen for something and then continue our way. Eventually the figure got closer and closer and the guide honestly was starting to look concerned. The figure was about 5 feet away from me at this point and all I could see since the light was coming from behind it was the outline of a hooded figure that seemed to be hunched over. The guide stopped the story and shone his flashlight at the figure and I got the FRIGHT OF MY LIFE....
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ANOTHER AMERICAN!!! Her name was Julie and she was actually in the same hostel as Michelle. She had done the tour before us and wanted to join it again at this point to see if she could get attacked by the poltergeist this time. She was from New Orleans and was actually going to be doing ghost tours there when she went back so this was "research" for her. The tour ended without a scratch or event, the poltergeist was not interested in us it seemed. It was about 11pm and we were all still wide awake so we had to go for a couple of drinks. Ended up back at the girls hostel and caught a bit of a hockey game, oh how I miss it. Michelle went to bed and it was just me and Julie and we just ended up talking till like 9am when I decided that I needed some sleep.


Monday May 15th
11am I awoke to the sound of road construction. Yeah that’s right 2 hours sleep, I’m going to kill you if I ever see you again :-) I’m just kidding and remember it was the ghost not the pillow (inside joke) Couldn’t get a hold of Michelle this morning so I went off to the castle with 2 girls from the hostel, Canadian and American were their names :-) Went to the castle and bumped into Michelle, what are the odds. We went over to the Royal Yacht Brittania and I decided that I need to own a castle and a yacht or I’m never going to be truly happy. I’m getting tired of typing so let’s just say the night ended with drinks and another late night!

Tuesday May 16th
Updated my website today and finished doing that right............NOW

Oh yeah if the pictures are all black, I will fix them tomorrow. This website seems to be having problems with pictures.

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Photos

Competition?
Who is cuter? The one on the left of the one on the right? You had better say the one on the right!!!

Inside the pub
Now these guys know how to party!!

Green Mile
Look familiar anyone? Why is Calgary better? Please refer to www.flamesgirls.com for further information.

Little Mikka the football fan
Here you see Little Mikka with some beer and a scarf, hes getting into this too!!

They all came out to see Little Mikka
All these people showed up just to meet Little Mikka and they werent dissapointed!

The York Shambles
York has some of the strangest streets!

The York Minster
Had to get a picture of the York Minster!

Whip-ma-WHAT????
Like I said before, strange road names. This was where men could bring their wives if they wanted to publically whip them. I can think of a few ex's...nah Ill leave that alone!

The Castle
Saw this on the ghost tour and also on the hop on hop off bus tour, some dark history here.

I love travellers
They are always so friendly :-)

Why dont you want to piss off Little Mikka?
See what he did to this poor homeless guy? Sucks to be asleep on the bench and have Mikka be in a bad mood!

SPOOOOOOOOOOKY
Here is the ghost tour guide, wow hes a goth, never would have saw that coming!

She never sleeps!!!!
Here you see Julie sitting on the couch. She intentionally went out to get attacked by the poltergeist and I think it got her.

IT GOT HER!!!!!
You cant really see it too well on this picture but the poltergeist got her. There was a little red scratch mark on her back. She would try and convince you that it was from sitting on the pillows of the couch for so long but I KNOW IT WAS THE POLTERGEIST!!!

Glyn going gun crazy
If only this was loaded the fun I could have!!

one of the few pictures of me
L to R Canadian, American, Michelle, and Glyn the Great! Future King of Wales!!

Weird people
I guess in Poland they wear garbage bags instead of socks!!

Coooooooool
Here you can see some hair from Mary Queen of Scots. I wonder if there is going to be a museum somewhere that will have my hair in it one day? OF COURSE THERE WILL BE!!!

Comments

[Erin]

Sounds like you're having a blast. I don't know if I'd be able to handle a ghost tour. My imagination might get the better of me. I want to hear all about it.