in numbers...
months -- 3.5
days -- 100
currencies -- 13
languages -- 19
countries -- 21
cities/towns/locations -- 53
transport via...
boat -- 7
minibus/van/ambulance -- 5
air -- 12
bus -- 16
rail -- 36
homes/beds away from home -- 38
memories -- countless
the end. for now.
Day 100: Dublin => home!
Yay for --
- our bed!
- our friends and family!
- our bathroom/shower!
- our washer and dryer!
^o^
- our bed!
- our friends and family!
- our bathroom/shower!
- our washer and dryer!
^o^
Day 99: Giant's Causeway & Antrim Coast
Saturday, July 18, 2009
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Labels:
Europe 2009,
food whilst traveling,
nature,
Northern Ireland,
travel
The research into bus and train times didn't look good >_< So, we ended up taking a day tour up the Antrim Coast and to the Causeway. With the bus and train times as they were, we actually would have only been able to spend as much time at the Causeway as we did with the day tour! K said the tour spent enough time at the Causeway for him. I would have liked more time there, but I'm the type that likes to linger ^-^;; In retrospect, maybe we could have rented a car (which we have yet to do during any of our travels). Then, at least we wouldn't have the extra other day tour stops like the Bushmills Distillery (whiskey), the Carrick-a-Rede Rope Bridge (though that was fun), and a couple of other much shorter stops.
The *best* bread I've had this whole trip: wheaten bread! The texture and flavor remind me a bit of cornbread. It was sooooo good. We (mostly I) ate the whole loaf before our day tour ended.
I definitely got my day's fill of sheep (so much pasture for them, too!) and beautiful Irish coastline!
The naturally-formed hexagonal stones at the Giant's Causeway were just as strangely-cool as I imagined they'd be. These were even better than the similar formations we saw at Jusangjeolli in Jeju-do last year because we actually to go right up next to (and on!) the rocks ^o^
We used up every minute of our time at the Causeway, making the last shuttle back to the parking lot in time to make our on-time tour bus departure ^-^
With a bit of traffic, the bus ended up getting back into Belfast later than the previously-stated time of 7pm. In fact, it got back to two blocks from the hostel a few minutes before 7:30pm, which is when we had to catch our bus to Dublin! It might have been the fastest I've ever had to run in my life, getting off that bus, sprinting to the hostel, grabbing our stuff, and racing down many more blocks to the airport bus stop. Thankfully, we made it *just* in time!
There were only two other people on the bus, a young couple from Florida who were only a few weeks into their six-month trip! It was definitely exciting talking to them about where they were planning to go, some of which overlapped with the places we'd been. Their trip would take them through Western Europe, Central Europe, Egypt, the Middle East, and Nepal. Wow.
The *best* bread I've had this whole trip: wheaten bread! The texture and flavor remind me a bit of cornbread. It was sooooo good. We (mostly I) ate the whole loaf before our day tour ended.
I definitely got my day's fill of sheep (so much pasture for them, too!) and beautiful Irish coastline!
The naturally-formed hexagonal stones at the Giant's Causeway were just as strangely-cool as I imagined they'd be. These were even better than the similar formations we saw at Jusangjeolli in Jeju-do last year because we actually to go right up next to (and on!) the rocks ^o^ We used up every minute of our time at the Causeway, making the last shuttle back to the parking lot in time to make our on-time tour bus departure ^-^
With a bit of traffic, the bus ended up getting back into Belfast later than the previously-stated time of 7pm. In fact, it got back to two blocks from the hostel a few minutes before 7:30pm, which is when we had to catch our bus to Dublin! It might have been the fastest I've ever had to run in my life, getting off that bus, sprinting to the hostel, grabbing our stuff, and racing down many more blocks to the airport bus stop. Thankfully, we made it *just* in time!
There were only two other people on the bus, a young couple from Florida who were only a few weeks into their six-month trip! It was definitely exciting talking to them about where they were planning to go, some of which overlapped with the places we'd been. Their trip would take them through Western Europe, Central Europe, Egypt, the Middle East, and Nepal. Wow.
Day 98: Zurich => Belfast
This morning... booked our rooms for tonight and tomorrow night ^-^;;
4:10pm flight to Dublin. Our plane was almost 2 hrs late >_<
I forgot to buy any souvenirs! This says how 'used to' everything I've gotten. We don't usually buy any non-consumable souvenirs, well, K likes to buy *something*, but I always convince him there's no point. I do like to buy some sort of consumable for friends (and for myself ^_~), but it was after I got to the airport that I realized I've gotten so used to moving around from one location to the next that I 'forgot' this is basically the end! Oops. K did observe that anything I could get in Switzerland I could probably get in the States!
We're going to have a full day at the end in Ireland? Can we squeeze in a trip to Giant's Causeway in Northern Ireland for that day? Hmmm...
... which is how we ended up on a 2.5-hour bus ride up to Belfast after we got off our flight in Dublin. The buses between Dublin airport and Belfast are actually quite convenient; they run every hour between 7am and 9pm.
With our flight being late, it was already after 11pm by the time we got to the hostel, and we still had to do some more research for the train and bus times to get to Giant's Causeway tomorrow. Also, we had a very filling, yummy late-night dinner. Yes, there are actually places open late in Belfast ^-^ Unfortunately, we couldn't take the leftovers to go because we had nowhere to store them; I hate wasting food like that >_<
4:10pm flight to Dublin. Our plane was almost 2 hrs late >_<
I forgot to buy any souvenirs! This says how 'used to' everything I've gotten. We don't usually buy any non-consumable souvenirs, well, K likes to buy *something*, but I always convince him there's no point. I do like to buy some sort of consumable for friends (and for myself ^_~), but it was after I got to the airport that I realized I've gotten so used to moving around from one location to the next that I 'forgot' this is basically the end! Oops. K did observe that anything I could get in Switzerland I could probably get in the States!
We're going to have a full day at the end in Ireland? Can we squeeze in a trip to Giant's Causeway in Northern Ireland for that day? Hmmm...
... which is how we ended up on a 2.5-hour bus ride up to Belfast after we got off our flight in Dublin. The buses between Dublin airport and Belfast are actually quite convenient; they run every hour between 7am and 9pm.
With our flight being late, it was already after 11pm by the time we got to the hostel, and we still had to do some more research for the train and bus times to get to Giant's Causeway tomorrow. Also, we had a very filling, yummy late-night dinner. Yes, there are actually places open late in Belfast ^-^ Unfortunately, we couldn't take the leftovers to go because we had nowhere to store them; I hate wasting food like that >_<
Day 97: Zurich, Murten & Bern day-trip
Since I missed breakfast on my Tuesday visit, I started today with a nice breakfast at the G-office ^o^
We also visited the aquatic lounge since it was closed during my visit the other day. It was definitely a very conducive-to-napping/resting-looking lounge! ^-^
I took the noon train out to Murten, which required a switch at Bern. I got on the right train at the switch, but I think maybe the wrong car of the train. I ended up in Neuchatel! It was basically a loss of an hour. I finally arrived in Murten a little past 3pm (and not in Bern again until 5pm). For the little bit that I was there, Murten was cute. Tiny with nice ramparts. Houses with window plants and pretty lawns.
I've never seen so many tram lines all crisscrossing each other as I saw in Bern!
I was surprised by all the people out by the community pool at 5:30pm on a weekday! But after traveling these months, maybe I shouldn't have been surprised. Unlike the work-work-work attitude of many Americans, Europeans have a much more balanced outlook on enjoying life's pleasures. In the U.S., it's almost as if people take pride in and compete on not having enough time. It feels the opposite here. 
Einstein lived in Bern? I didn't know that. Apparently his couple of years in Bern was when he wrote his greatest papers, one of which won him the Nobel Prize. The house was closed at the time I was walking by, but I felt a teeny tiny bit of extra enlightenment just from being there ^_~
The apartments in Bern struck me as being more uniform than I've seen in many other cities.
Rather than seeing bears at the bear pits, I was met by this >_< Their last bear died just a couple of months ago, on April 30th, and they're not getting new bears until October.
I debated going up to the rose garden, but I did and I wasn't disappointed. There were more people just hanging out (even a group doing taichi), and I saw a beautiful view of Bern on my way up.
I didn't make it back home until nearly 10pm ^-^;;
Day 96: Zurich
The day started out raining, so I decided to postpone my day-trip to Bern until tomorrow.
Instead, I visited the weekly Wednesday market in the train station. Compared to other markets we've seen, Zurich is quite orderly and also quite varied. There's very little overlap between the stalls and quite a few prepared food stalls. I went around lunch time, so all the many tables laid out in the middle of the market were filled with locals eating the market food.
It was my first time seeing bell-pepper-shaped eggplants.
I also went to visit one of the Asian groceries in the city. The size was just a bit smaller than the one we have "near" (30 minutes drive) my parents' house in Jersey. I couldn't help myself -- I bought tofu. After eating tofu yesterday at lunch, I just had a craving for even more tofu, silken, drizzled with soy sauce and dashi, topped with bonito flakes. I bought the silken tofu and I'll just have to make do with only soy sauce, but it's better than nothing. It was 300g for 2.75 CHF, more than twice what I'd pay in the States O_o
K reflects that it was good we didn't end up moving to Zurich. We both knew the cold weather would do him in, though it's been quite *hot* these last few days. But also, everything here is expensive! I think I could survive and get used to the prices. And there are things I like (it's pretty clean compared to other cities and it has a good transportation system), but I wouldn't want K complaining every day. Then again, he doesn't do grocery shopping, so he wouldn't see the more expensive grocery prices. I'm not sure at what point we'd be able to stomach the prices for eating out Chinese here though. Also, D says I'm bored of Europe. I think 'bored' is a bit extreme, just ready for other types of adventures ^_~
Instead, I visited the weekly Wednesday market in the train station. Compared to other markets we've seen, Zurich is quite orderly and also quite varied. There's very little overlap between the stalls and quite a few prepared food stalls. I went around lunch time, so all the many tables laid out in the middle of the market were filled with locals eating the market food.
It was my first time seeing bell-pepper-shaped eggplants.
I also went to visit one of the Asian groceries in the city. The size was just a bit smaller than the one we have "near" (30 minutes drive) my parents' house in Jersey. I couldn't help myself -- I bought tofu. After eating tofu yesterday at lunch, I just had a craving for even more tofu, silken, drizzled with soy sauce and dashi, topped with bonito flakes. I bought the silken tofu and I'll just have to make do with only soy sauce, but it's better than nothing. It was 300g for 2.75 CHF, more than twice what I'd pay in the States O_o
K reflects that it was good we didn't end up moving to Zurich. We both knew the cold weather would do him in, though it's been quite *hot* these last few days. But also, everything here is expensive! I think I could survive and get used to the prices. And there are things I like (it's pretty clean compared to other cities and it has a good transportation system), but I wouldn't want K complaining every day. Then again, he doesn't do grocery shopping, so he wouldn't see the more expensive grocery prices. I'm not sure at what point we'd be able to stomach the prices for eating out Chinese here though. Also, D says I'm bored of Europe. I think 'bored' is a bit extreme, just ready for other types of adventures ^_~
Day 95: Zurich
G visit day! I love visiting the various G offices. Ok, we've only visited one other one, Tokyo, which had a similar feeling to G-MtnView, but with some Japanese flavor (free drinks within vending machines, yummy Japanese snacks, etc). When we saw P in Berlin, he told us that G-Zurich actually has a tour that the host (K) can print and use.
We got to the office just missing breakfast. Oops.
Some highlights...
Sometimes, I'm just too easily amused. I loved their elevator signs!
Each floor is themed and usually has some small phone conference rooms according to its theme. Some of these rooms seem perfect for napping, too ^-^;;
A slide into the cafeteria!
Fire pole connecting some of the floors!
Of course, I ate lunch with K. Fois gras with apples on brioche, fish with yummy sauce (K says they *always* do fish really well here), coq au vin, tofu schnitzel, fried jalapeno, some veges, a choco banana strawberry crepe, and some really yummy French nugget candies ^o^
We got to the office just missing breakfast. Oops.
Some highlights...
Sometimes, I'm just too easily amused. I loved their elevator signs!
Each floor is themed and usually has some small phone conference rooms according to its theme. Some of these rooms seem perfect for napping, too ^-^;;
A slide into the cafeteria!
Fire pole connecting some of the floors!
Of course, I ate lunch with K. Fois gras with apples on brioche, fish with yummy sauce (K says they *always* do fish really well here), coq au vin, tofu schnitzel, fried jalapeno, some veges, a choco banana strawberry crepe, and some really yummy French nugget candies ^o^