Scotland Part I - From Beatles to Nessie

Sitting in the Qantas lounge in Sydney after a week spent seeing family in Australia before my flight back home to New Zealand and thought it was a good opportunity to update my blog which has been terribly neglected since I left Europe.

Our coach tour of the British Isles finished a couple of days before I left Europe and my mum and my auntie flew back to Australia the day after it finished. My last post was on the way back across on the ferry from Ireland to Wales. After we'd driven across the top of Wales and North via Liverpool, we spent almost a week in Scotland then travelled south down the east coast via York and Stratford-upon-Avon finishing in London. Here are some excerpts from my travel diaries from that time:

9/10/13 -
Last night was spent in Liverpool which is yet another place I can add to my list of 'places I'd wished I had more time in'. The accent and dialect is a lot of fun, they seem to drop a lot of letters (and words!)... takes a bit of getting used to. Went out for dinner to a local mexican restaurant and the waitress was possibly the most friendly and outgoing waitress I've met in my life who even hugged us when we left, and when she found out we were Aussie's she showed off her 'Aussie accent' by calling us 'sheilas' all night.

First stop this morning was at the Beatles exhibition...I had no idea both John and Paul's mothers had died before they were 18 years old...would love to go on a tour of Liverpool specifically to check out Abbey Rd and Penny Lane etc (I didn't even know Penny Lane is an actual street in Liverpool - and I call myself a Beatles fan - gosh!).

 

Huddling out of the wind waiting for the coach

11/10/13 -
Crossed the border to Scotland yesterday, the border crossing itself is nothing to write home about (although here I am doing just that) as it consists solely of a small sign. Tonight is our second last night in Inverness, Scotland, and this afternoon we had a free afternoon. Our first stop was a kilt-makers store where I found plenty of things I could buy with my Celtic families' tartan on including key chains, mugs, coasters, ash-trays, you name it they sell it with an image of your family tartan and family name on.

The English/Scot border - if you sneezed you missed it

Yesterday we drove past the Loch Ness and it's funny to finally see something in person that you've heard stories about your whole life and therefore formed an image of in your head, especially when it turns out to be not much like that image in real life. Loch Ness looks much like many other lovely lakes I have seen, large, calm and surrounded by valleys and rolling hills, a beautiful spot but not the grey, murky, mysterious body of water that I had created in my head. Oh and I did see Nessie by the way...


Urquhart Castle beside Loch Ness

Scottish Highlands...

Apparently this bridge is in Harry Potter..,

Purrrdy

My flight home is about to board so I will have to show you the rest of beautiful Scotland later (not to mention that my laptop battery is about to die!).

Still feels surreal that I'm currently in Australia and have been for a week, let alone that I am about to fly home to NZ and sleep in my own bed tonight that I haven't been in for more than seven months! At this point I only feel excited about it and can't wait to be home but I feel confident that once that feeling wears off I will be missing Europe again.



Yet another beautiful castle I can't remember the name of...



The Land of Guiness, Dancing Without Use of Your Arms, and Red Heads

We are currently sitting on the ferry which has just left Dublin and is headed back across to Wales and I saw the three hour trip as a great opportunity to update my blog. If my writing seems to make a bit less sense than usual, the reason is that I've popped a sea-sickness pill that I picked up from a pharmacist in Dublin, although the lady assured me it wouldn't make me crazy, you can never be too sure with these things.

I can't believe we are already leaing Ireland after what seemed to be a whirlwind visit and there were so many places I'd wished we had more time in. Guess I will just have to come back again...here are some diary excerpts from my travels...

 

3/10

Most of the people on this trip with us are absolutely lovely, and there's only 22 altogether when the max the coach takes is about 46, so we're very lucky. There is one couple that everybody is trying to aoid though, it's not that they smell or anything, it's more that they're totally self-absorbed and talk an amazing amount about themselves which gets tiring quickly...Today we drove around the western most point of Europe and learned of a community who lived completely isolated on Blasket Island until they evacuated in 1953 after a young person died completely preventably from appendicitis....struggled to get to sleep last night as we could hear that same Irish duo playing their music out front of the hotel and we had to fight the strong urge to get out of bed, grab a Guiness and join them again, but we had an early start the next day....The farmers' here spray paint their sheep bright colours for identification so it's a funny sight to see big fluoro pink, green and blue splotches on the sheep
 

Almost missed this guy

 

Awww the doggie thinks he's people

I don't remember where this was but it's one of the oldest of it's kind anywayz...

 

4/10

Last night we spent a night in Limerick and before dinner we went to a pub for a Guinesss and the barman was just lovely, he heard our Aussie accents and told us he'd spent a year and a half in Aussie himself, he gave us each a postcard which a picture of the pub on and signed them for us...the people here seem to go out of their way to be kind and helpful...dinner I ordered the vegetarian curry and it tasted like a whole container of keen's curry powder had been added to a litre of water to make the sauce...Driving from Limerick to Sligo our tour director pointed out a stretch of motorway which had to be diverted at considerable expense due to a fairy's thorn tree which was discovered in the original path, apparently the Irish still very much believe in fairys and are quite superstitous when it comes to them.



The cliffs of Moher


6/10

Belfast is a great city and one of the many places we've visited where I would love to spend more time...Maybe I'm ignorant, but I had no idea the city ever was, and still is in parts, seperated by a wall which is higher than the Berlin wall in parts...the wall is referred to as the 'peace wall' and was put up when tensions were high to seperate Catholic from Protestant and the Irish 'viewpoint' from the English 'viewpoint', the wall is painted by murals depicting politcal and other views of the time...our tour guide told us about a friend she used to visit every other weekend in Belfast and her friends' boyfriend who was shot in the head while he was sleeping purely because during an earlier house robbery on his place, the assailants noticed his house was full of catholic propaganda, which it turns out wasn't even his but belonged to his dead mother who was very religous...Our guide explained that if we had visited Belfast not ten years ago we would not recognise it today due to the great changes it has undergone, it's a great city with a very interesting past.

A mural depicting the importance of a peaceful future for Belfast



'Nula with the Hula' in Belfast

Titanic Exhibition- apparently the buidling itself is as tall as the titanic

The Giants causeway visit yesterday was not what I expected, the rock formations were very impressive but the amount of people visiting those same rocks was very amusing, and apparently we were there on a quiet day....from a distance it looked like 100's of tiny colourful ants climbing all over some rocks

Lots of people with the same idea at the 'giants causeway'



Haunting monument on the coast called 'waiting on shore'

8/10

Visited the monument in Dublin of Oscar Wilde opposite from the home where he was born. Part of this monument is a great statue of Mr Wilde looking very pleased with himself and several of his better known quotes. My guess is he is looking amused knowing some people have spent years overanalysing and philosophizing over some of his work - knowing full well there is no actual 'higher' meaning behind it at all...

Oscar looking very laxy-dazy...

Something to ponder...

 



Dublin's statue of Molly Malone AKA Tits McGee 

Next stop...Scotland (with a night is Liverpool on the way)...

The British Isles by Coach

It's hard to find time to blog during this coach trip but today we had a day-off so I'm taking the opportunity. I've been keeping a travel diary so here's a few excerpts from the trip so far...

25/9/13
Arrived in London last night after a six hour train journey from Frankfurt. The transfer in Brussels included a British customs clearance, bag scan and passport check...the tunnel under the English channel only took 20mins....I was really looking forward to experiencing the tunnel crossing but was quite dissapointed as it was pitch black outside the train window and even squinting with my head right up against the window all I could see was a concrete wall runing alongside the train. First day of our tour was eventful as the driver managed to reverse the coach into a street sign which smashed right through the back windscreen...the tour director who we call Hilda because we can't remember her name but know it starts with a 'H'...she has a strong Irish accent and instead of swearing says phrases such as 'oh crumbs!' and 'jenny mack!'



Inside Canterbury Cathedral

George IV's house in Brighton

26/9/13
Our first coach stop was Stonehenge. I was pleasently surprised by how close we could get to the stones as I'd heard that with new heritage conservation restrictions that we would be so far away we might need binoculars....I am not used to having only a limited amount of time in one place during my trip and I must say that is a downside to group coach travel. I do enjoy taking my time when there's lots to see and on the other hand, leaving abruptly when I don't like a place.

27/9/13
Visited the south coast today including the southern most tip at a place called 'Land's End'....our lunch break was at St Ives which is a touristy 'beach-side' town...Walking through the cobble stone streets was really nice and we were lucky to get a bit of sunshine but the relentless blowing wind (which the locals called 'only a breeze') was exhausting so we were happy to move on.

Looks pretty but bloody windy

Chimneys on top of chimneys

28/9/13
Bath is a really nice town and the ruins of the Roman baths themselves are really cool to see in person as I had seen them on telly several times...we actually had trouble finding a pub that had three chairs free as Bath was chockers with people (being a weekend didn't help). The food in England is a crack-up, the lady beside us was eating beans on toast, literally baked beans on two slices of white bread with lashings of butter, no bells and whistles...that night we stayed in a hotel over the Welsh border and went out in Cardiff for dinner and drinks...we started walking around Cardiff centre at around 7pm and it was clear that already plenty of people had had a lot to drink...the city was very lively. Apparently almost a fifth of Welsh People still speak Welsh as a first language...some locals taught us to say 'cheers' in Welsh but I've forgotten already.

Bath's bath

29/9/13
Got on the ferry from Wales to Ireland but after sitting on it still docked for three hours the Captain informed us the journey was cancelled due to mechanical issues so we slept in Bunks in the ships claustrophobic cabins until they fixed the boat and we departed at 3:30 in the morning...the Welsh countryside impressed me, lots of green rolling hills and flowing rivers, reminds me of home in NZ...the accent is funny and makes me think of a combination of Wallace and Gromit and my father-in-laws previous two wives rolled into one...

1/10/13
Tonight will be our second night in Killarney, Ireland, last night we stumbled on a wonderful live Irish band and who were a lot of fun and made all the Aussies in the crowd cry when they played 'Waltzing Matilda'...spent the day today strolling through the Killarney National Park which is right near our hotel enjoying the beginning of the beautiful Autumn colours...can't understand what the Irish are saying when they're talking amongst themselves and everybody seems to be a comedian

We're spending another six nights in Ireland then heading back through the top of Wales to Scotland. Hopefully I'll get another chance to blog again soon so as not to keep my fans waiting...

Heidelberg

As I've previously mentioned here, Heidelberg is extra special to me as my mum and family are from there (if you haven't already, you can read about the last time I visited Heidelberg while on this trip here). This visit was extra special as it was my auntie's first time back in Heidelberg since she left with her family at ten years of age. One of things my auntie was interested in doing while here, was to seek out the spot where her Grandparents were buried. On a previous trip a few years ago when mum and I were here together, we went to the graveyard where we know they were buried, but after almost an hour of searching, could not find the spot.

We stayed two nights in a lovely hotel that was in a perfect location we could walk everywhere from.

Our hotel in Heidelberg

One of the first things we did after arriving was to head to the Heidelberg University library to see if they could give us any information on how we might find the exact final resting place of my great grandparents. The uni staff were absolutely amazingly helpful and contributed further towards breaking down my aunties belief that Germans are cold, arrogant and not helpful people (yes I know - she said it not me!). The nice lady did suggest we confirm with the local Bureau for that sort of thing, but she also explained to us that in Germany burial sites are 're-used' after about 20 years if nobody continues to pay for their upkeep. This was news to us, I believe there's talk of doing this in Australia as land becomes more and more scarce, but the idea of it is just...well...creepy. Do they just dig the grave back up and chuck another on top? While my mind boggled, we left the University with an address for the Bureau but a little sad knowing the grave would most likely no longer exist. Another staff member also took down our details and said he would find out what he can find and email me back. I had an email the next day from him saying he'd had no luck on the 'grave-front' but he did find an old telephone book listing with my great-grandfathers' name in which he'd forwarded to me and was cool to see.

University Library Entrance

We spent the rest of the day exploring the breathtakingly beautiful old part of Heidelberg.

 

The next day we spent exploring the other side of the river, an area called Neuenheim which is where my family used to have a house, and is therefore the area where my aunty remembers best. At the end of what used to be her street, she had memories of an old church and courtyard where she used to attend a weekly market when she was a kid, and we found that they still have markets in that same spot every week.



The courtyard at the end of the street where they still have markets

Afterwards we went for an hour cruise along the Neckar...

Our vessel of choice - the 'Germania'

 
...and finished another beautiful day off with another beautiful piece of cake!

It's berry season -yummo!

Only 3 days left in Germany before I head off to the UK for almost a month where my mum, auntie and I are taking a coach tour of England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales (although only a snippet of each). I'm really sad to be leaving Germany and also sad that my trip is coming to an end, but I'm also looking forward to going home, so the feeling is bittersweet...

Zwickau - Clearly Still Some Catching Up To Do...

Our relos were so keen to catch up with us that they drove almost four hours just to pick us up in Frankfurt and take us back with them to Zwickau. I did suggest that we could just get the train but they insisted, which turned out good because my auntie got to have her first experience of what it's like to drive on the Autobahn (and she had the white knuckles to prove it).

In the time I've spent in Germany so far, most of it has been in what used to be West Germany, and what I have seen of the former East,has suggested the economic gap between east and west is no longer obvious. Although I have heard stories of Zwickau being a bit more 'behind the times' so I was keen to check it out, and in this respect, I was not dissapointed.

The apartment building the relos live in



An example of the sort of 'neglected' buildings we saw frequently

Even though we found this quite a shock and a bit sad and depressing I must admit (especially after just having been in the fairytale land that is Nürmberg), Zwickau also has nicer areas that have been fixed up including the town centre.


Us all in the central market area



The building my mums' dad was born in, only about a 5 min walk from central Zwickau.

My relos are elderly now and have always lived in the east so remember life in the GDR well and often talk about it. Even though building maintenance and the upkeep of Germany's beautiful building's was obviously not a priority for the socialist government, my relos say they miss some things about it, like the amazing free health care system (including dental) that has now been replaced by a system all but run by insurance companies.

The relos' apartment is a one-bedroom unit on the top floor and doesn't have much space so they kindly put us up in a hotel for the 3 nights we were there (actually we nick-named the hotel 'faulty towers' but that's another story). They also rent a small holiday unit about an hours drive out of town that they spend their Summers at and enjoy an escape from the city. On our last day in Zwickau they took us for a drive to their Summer home and we had lunch in a traditional pub on the way (that had vegie schnitzel on the menu - yum!) and headed back to faulty towers in the arvo.


The relos at their Summer home

One of many 'lovely' fake greeneries stuck to the walls in our room at faulty towers
 

One of three randomly placed antique sewing machines we passed (yes thats right I said three) on the way to our room at faulty towers - oh and look, more fake greenery 

Lonely puddy tat in the streets of Zwickau...

It was a great experience seeing Zwickau and seeing how some people there live, but my relos speak no English at all so it was also quite mentally draining trying to think and speak in German 24/7, so we were all looking forward to getting back to Frankfurt. We were also looking forward to getting back because the next day we had an early train booked to Heidelberg - yay!