Ian's Travels and Everything Else » Experiences

Dublin & Finishing up the trip

Ian — Sat, 16 Jan 2010 19:36:40 +0000

Dublin’s been fun, the weather’s better here so it’s much nicer to walk around than elsewhere! (Belfast was fine too it seemed)

I’ve gotten to the Trinity College and National Museum of Ireland, both of which are really worthwhile – albeit the Book of Kells exhibit at Trinity is a bit pricey, seeing the old library (and the books themselves) was worthwhile. The National museum has lots of great antiquities covering all periods of Irish history – with some things from as far back as 7000 BC.

I visited the Guinness storehouse and the Old Jameson distillery – the Guinness storehouse is very worthwhile and really well done – it’s a huge exhibit and it’s clear they’ve put a ton of money in to it. The Jameson tour wasn’t as good – and it cost more!

I ran in to a friend Hugo from Montreal at the Guinness storehouse – we knew we were both in Dublin but communicating was a bit tricky, fun to run in to him there! We did the Jameson tour after and met a local friend of his afterwards.

I made it to Kilmainham Hospitol where the Irish Museum of Modern Art is – and that was pretty interesting, unfortunately I didn’t make it to Kilmainham Gaol before it closed – I really wanted to see it, but it closed at 4:30, earlier than I thought I had read. It’s an old prison, where people from the 1916 rebellion were kept and some executed. Lots of neat architecture, and it’s a Panopticon, which I’ve wanted to see for a while. That’s a design such that the guards can overseen every part of the prison, and all of the inmates without them knowing they are being observed.

So, now I’ll be heading home tomorrow – my flight leaves at 9:10 and I should be back in Seattle just after 6PM.

I haven’t uploaded pictures in a while – hopefully I’ll get some uploaded tonight, but it may not be until I’m back until they’re all uploaded.

It’s been a good trip! I’m looking forward to visiting again in summer or spring some time, especially to see more of Scotland’s highlands.

Mull

Ian — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 11:39:48 +0000

I’m currently in a car driving from Tobemory to Fionnphort, to catch a ferry over to Mull – much to the locals disreccomendation, apparently it’s quite the tourist attraction.
In Oban, I met a german couple, Stefan and Sabine. I’ve been traveling around Mull with them which has been great. Stefan turns out to be a Subversion and OpenBSD developer, small world!

We are going to stay here another night, we’re at the Rockcliff B&B in Tobemory with the great hosts Donna and Pattrick, an English couple.

Here’s a picture of the coastal scenery!

Goodbye Edinburgh!

Ian — Sat, 09 Jan 2010 12:15:26 +0000

Edinburgh has been great fun, it’s a really interesting city and has a lot going on. It’s the second largest city in the United Kingdom after London, but all of the neighborhoods make it feel like a small city when you’re walking around. The history here is fantastic, and I’ve really enjoyed learning about what I can while I’m here – it’s all new to me and there’s lots to take in!

My stay at the Abbey Hotel was good, it’s up a hill a bit but it’s centrally located between the old and new towns of Edinburgh.

I met some great people while I was here, Jim, a fellow from Musselburgh was very kind and invited me to come along with him and two of his other friends last night to The Stand Comedy Club – that was great fun, stand up comedians from Scotland and Ireland – a real local treat! Thanks to Jim and Steven for showing me around, and I’m afraid I don’t remember the other fellows name – but thanks!

Montpellier

Ian — Tue, 29 Dec 2009 17:14:11 +0000

My train from Barcelona took me to Montpellier, France – from 8:45 to 13:30 or so. Once I was at Montpellier, I had to figure out how to get to Arles – it’s a stop on the train to Marseille, so that seemed easy enough.
Montpellier is a fairly small town, but it was incredibly busy – it’s a university town, and at the time it was chocked full of students and their parents it seemed. I asked at the information booth what I needed to do to get to Arles – I was told I needed a reservation, so I went to the ticket counter to get one. There I was told that a reservation was not needed! Just hop on the train that says “Arles” at 15:30 – Okay I said (this time the person spoke english, so it was more clear) – and I wandered around a bit.
There were no trains that said Arles near that time, so, I went back to the information booth and asked again – I was assured again that I do need a reservation! Back to the ticket counter. I got some help from another person, who said I did indeed need a reservation, and that I had missed the 15:30 train, but that I could get on a 17:04 train – because of the miscommunication she gave me a first class reservation for free, and I got to check out Montpellier in my newfound time, excellent!
I enjoyed Montpellier quite a bit – a bit too much though, I found myself thinking I knew where I was 20 minutes to my departure time – and ended up going in a few good circles, and then finding that I didn’t have small enough change to purchase a tram ticket! With the help of some nice locals, I found out how to get to the train station on foot (up a bunch of stairs, with my backpack on – oof!) and I got to the platform with 3 minutes to spare, no problem!

One of two tram lines that run in Montpellier

Of course, I took some photos while I was there, and my GPS unit is still working like a charm! Check out the photos on a map here, and you can see what I saw!

Here’s a link to a map of all my photos from Montpellier