Spring Break Euro Trip

I realised today just how long it has been since I have posted anything on my blog! The past few weeks have been so busy with people coming to visit (first Allen then my Mom, Grandma and Aunts Amy and Mary) and trips around France (I've been to Paris three times since the beginning of March!) I just wanted to take a few minutes to say that I'm on spring break now and will be travelling around Europe with Allen for the next week and a half. We are going to see all that we can in as many countries as posible!

This crazy adventure of ours started Sunday in Paris where we met up with a friend and saw some of the city. That night we stayed in Lille then headed to Brussels the next afternoon. After a quick stop there we continued on to Amsterdam where we spent the night and most of today exploring. We are now staying with my friend Marina in Osnabrück, Germany and will take the train to Berlin tomorrow evening. So far, I've taken a couple hundred photos with my awesome new camera which I think is great! I'll try to keep updating my blog as we travel but I can't promise anything (sometimes computer time can be hard to come by in hostels) and the photos will definitely have to wait until I get back to Lille. Until then, keep on the look out for more updates :)

Long Overdue Photos from Wales

Here are some long overdue photos from my trip in late February to Swansea, Wales. I spent just over a week visiting Allen in Swansea during which time we took day trips to Mumbles and Cardiff and spent two days in Bath, England. The trip was a great way to spend my week long break in February and I even got to see some other friends from home who are studying in Swansea this semester as well! Enjoy the photos :)

Allen on Saturday afternoon as we walked into Swansea from the Student Village where he lives

Houses on the hill in Swansea

Ocean!

Eating my first Welsh cake at the local market – delicious!

Joe and Allen enjoying cheesy chips at Idol’s after an evening of watching the Olympics at Woody’s (the “pub” in the student village)

Swansea Bay on Sunday afternoon, the tide was out so we walked at least a quarter mile out towards the water then turned around and ran back when the tide started to come again, very quickly I might add!

Allen on the beach

The jumping picture – I got totally coated in wet sand doing this but it was worth it :)

We walked all the way out the edge of the water which you can see is a long ways

Like I said, completely covered in wet sand…

A cool old church in Mumbles, and area of the town of Swansea

Moss in one of the headstones

The main street in Mumbles which runs for several miles along the bay

Overlooking the bay from the a conservation area in Mumbles that Allen and I climbed to and walked through on Monday afternoon, the hike was pretty steep but definitely worth it for the view!

The view from the top!

Lighthouse at the end of the point

Headed back down to town - check out the awesome trees!

Welsh McD’s for dinner (sorry about the picture Allen!)

We took a day trip to Cardiff after his morning class on Tuesday, this is Millennium Stadium, one of the most famous sites in Cardiff which is the capital of Wales

Allen and the Stadium from an interesting angle

This just feels so Welsh to me! It’s actually the entrance to a park outside the castle in Cardiff

Another view of the castle which is located right in the center of town

We did some shopping around Cardiff in search of a new camera for me but didn’t have much success, we did find these awesome buildings though, the one on the right is the public library and I believe the one of the left is some type of business

We did have luck shopping at TK Maxx, the European version of TJ Maxx – I was in heaven!

After getting back from Cardiff, we made a late dinner of steak au poivre and it turned out mighty well for my first try if I do say so myself!

After an exhausting afternoon of Bananagrams on Thursday, Joe, Alissa, Allen and I went out to dinner at Toby’s Carvery and Pub where we had a deliciously filling Welsh meal

I’m going to stop posting photos here for tonight because it’s getting late and I have class early tomorrow morning but I’ll get the rest of my trip photos up tomorrow evening including pictures from our weekend trip to Bath and Stonehenge.

Saturday Afternoon Strike

This afternoon, I went into the city center in Lille to meet up with my tandem partner, Lucie, for coffee in one of the cafés off the Grand Place. We meet every week to practice our English and French together; she’s a native French speaker and a student at Lille 3. When I got to the metro station nearest to the Grand Place, I could hear a lot of noise and what sounded like engines running. Usually Lille is pretty busy on Saturday but still fairly quiet. I had never heard anything like this before. I walked towards the Grand Place and saw that the whole square was filled with motorcyclists on bikes! I had no idea what was going on because they didn’t seem to be doing anything, just revving their engines and standing around. I walked up on the Théâtre du Nord steps to take a couple pictures of the whole square from above.

I met Lucie shortly after this and she asked if I knew what was going on. I figured that she might know but her best guess was that this had something to do with a large motorcycle race that in a town near Lille each year. We stopped one of the bikers and asked to be sure. He said that everyone there was demonstrating to gain better protection on the roads and highways, rather than for the race. So I can now say that I have seen my first French strike! I was amazed at how many people had assembled and the size of the demonstration which filled the Grand Place and spread down a couple of the surrounding streets. I didn’t know that there were so many bikers in France! Lucie and I walked around the Grand Place to see a bit more of the strike before heading down one of the streets off the Grand Place which was a little quieter to have our coffee and chat. Below are some of the photos of the strike.

A banner that was hanging on the balcony of the Théâtre du Nord, this made me think that all of the bikers were gathered for some kind of convention or something rather than a strike

Lucie talking with one of the bikers and asking him the reason that everyone is assembled

A few more photos from Ireland

Blogger didn't like me putting up so many photos at once, so here a few last pictures from Dublin that didn't quite make it into the first post about the trip.

Christ Church, which was just down the street from the hostel where our tour met

The façade of St. Patrick’s Cathedral

Sarah in the park outside of St. Patrick’s Cathedral

Liz and Dana relaxing and enjoying the sunshine

A street performer on Grafton Street, the main shopping street in Dublin

Claddagh rings which we bought in a small jewelry store near Grafton Street

The view down O’Connell Street as we were heading to the bus

Sean and Declan's 3 Day 91% Female, 54% Aussie, 46% American, 100% Great Craic Tour of the South

Where has February gone?  As of today, I’ve been living in Lille for two months, but I’m not exactly sure where the last month went! I had expected February to go pretty fast with all the travelling that I would be doing, but I had no idea that it would go quite this quickly. I realized that it’s been a really long time since I’ve posted any new stories or photos here and you are probably wondering what I’ve been up to. Well, since the last time I posted, I have been to Wales, England and Ireland! The past two and a half weeks have been a whirlwind of trips and I have a lot of fun stories to tell about all the places that I’ve been, but I think I’ll start with some pictures and captions because it would take so long to share all my stories (and I’m a little behind on homework after all this travelling!) I travelled to Wales and England earlier in the month but I am going to start with my pictures from Ireland and include captions rather than writing about each place we saw just because the country is so beautiful and I think that the photos tell a story in themselves.



Here is a short summary of the places we visited each day (Friday, Saturday and Sunday on  Shamrocker Tour with six Australian girls), on a map we made a clockwise loop from Dublin to the south and west coasts of Ireland, ending up in Dublin again:


Thursday, Feb 25th


-Arrived in Dublin around 11:30pm and met Liz, Allen, Sarah and Dana at our hotel


Friday, Feb 26th


-Left the hotel early and took the bus downtown to meet our tour group, tour left at 8:30am from Dublin


-First stop, the town of Abbeyleix for coffee then on to Cashel Rock to take some photos


-Stopped at Mitchelstown Caves were we walked 200 feet below the grounds and toured the caves


-Explored Blarney Castel and kissed the Blarney Stone, I now have the gift of gab!


-Drove to Killarney for the night, cooked spaghetti for dinner and then went to O’Connor’s pub and saw Pa’s pub theatre show


Saturday, Feb 27th


-Stopped outside Killarney to see the MacGillycuddy’s Reeks mountains


-Took the Slea Head Drive around the Dingle Peninsula stopping to take photos at Inch Beach, 4000 year old beehive huts, a beautiful beach near Coumeenoole North, and the most westerly point in Europe


-Had lunch and ice cream in the town of Dingle then took the Shannon Ferry between Counties Kerry and Clare


-Played the “Whose the Smartest Person on the Bus Quiz!” and I won!


-Stayed overnight in Ennis, where we cooked quesadillas for dinner and went out to two pubs (Cruise’s and O’Keefe’s) for traditional music and Guinness!


Sunday, Feb 28th


-Left Ennis for the Cliffs of Moher where the wind almost blew us away!


-Took a scenic drive along the coast, stopping at the Burren National Park before heading to Galway


-Spent a couple hours exploring Galway then headed straight back to Dublin


-After our tour ended around 5:00pm, we walked through Dublin, seeing St. Stephen’s Greens and Merrion Square before eating dinner


-Saw a movie on O’Connell Street because most things were closed after dark, by chance we happened to see Tilda Swinton at the movie theatre because her new movie was premiering there as part of the Jameson Dublin International Film Festival


-Crashed early in our super-fancy hotel!


Monday, Mar 1st


-Headed back into Dublin in the morning and met Cathy (a friend of mine who is studying in Dublin)


-Walked through Trinity College and the Temple Bar area, then saw Christ Church and St. Patrick’s Cathedral before shopping a bit on Grafton Street


-Took the shuttle bus to the airport and flew out of Dublin, getting back to Lille around 11:00pm






Ok, so that wasn’t really a short summary… Here are just a few of the over 1000 photos I took in Ireland!

Paris Charles DeGaulle Airport

Cashel Rock castle which was one of our first stops on the tour

A view of the Irish landscape from Mitchelstown Caves

 

An artsy photo of the cave entrance

Team America at Blarney Castle (Sarah, me, Allen, Dana and Liz)

Blarney Castle

Me kissing the Blarney Stone – now I have the gift of gab!

Pa’s Pub Theatre, put on in the upstairs of a pub called O’Connors by a local man named Pa who can drink a pint of Guinness faster than you can say pint of Guinness – literally

Macgillycuddy’s Reeks Mountains in the morning

Team American is flying high!

Probably my favorite photo of the trip, Allen jumped off the 5 foot tall fence to take this photo

Looking out over Inch Beach

4000 year old beehive hut complete with crappy red car and painted sheep

A quick photo stop along the coast – Liz and I decided to spell "Buchanan" (the residence hall where we work at home) with our bodies and ended up taking a jumping picture too!

The beach near Coumeenoole where it rained on us while it was sunny – still beautiful though!

Yay Iowa Staters!

The most westerly point in Ireland and Europe

The harbor in Dingle

Eating Ice Cream from Murphy’s which is supposed to be the best ice cream in all of Ireland – it was pretty darn delicious!

Inside the Rowan Tree Hostel in Ennis which was more like a hotel than a hostel!

Traditional music session in the hostel

Cruise’s Pub, where we hung out with our tour guide Sean on Saturday night

Early morning in Ennis – Sarah and I walked to a music store on Sunday morning so that she could buy a traditional tin whistle, the store owner opened the store just for us and Sarah found a really cool whistle!

Almost blowing away at the Cliffs of Moher

Another view of the Cliffs

The Burren National Park (this is the only place on the planet where Arctic, Alpine and Mediterranean plant life grow together)

The cows reminded us of home so Liz, Sarah and one of the Australian girls tried to pet them…

Lunch in Eyre Square in Galway

Our tour group back in Dublin with Declan, our driver

A pub window on Dame Street in Dublin

I don’t know? Why not…?

Some on the architecture around Dublin

Government buildings as the sun was setting

Tilda Swinson – her new movie happened to be premiering at the same theater as we had gone to see a movie on Sunday night!

Cathy and I at Trinity College - where the Book of Kells is held

Trinity College

The original Temple Bar in the Temple Bar area of Dublin – Allen and Cathy didn’t want to pose together for this photo apparently

On the River Liffey with Cathy and Allen

A look of pure determination