First day in London and Cat & Martyn

Sarah and I decided to try and save a nights worth of accommodation expense so we spent the day in Belfast and took a night bus back directly to the Dublin Airport. Our flight wasn't until 8:15 and the bus arrived at the airport at 1:15... Long night. We finally boarded our plane to London and before we even took off both Sarah and I were asleep, and didn't wake up until after we had landed. We had to take a bus from Luton into the city. After grabbing lunch, we started walking and the first place that was on our route was Buckingham Palace. The Palace doesn't have a garden, it has around 10 city blocks! The size of the property, as well as the building itself is very overwhelming. We walked from one end of it to the other and it took around 20 minutes. The only bad thing about the day was that it was raining decently hard. Because of this, only one of the famous guards was out at one time and we didn't get to see "Changing the Guard." 

After trying to beat the rain and not ruin our phones, we kept walking along Buckingham Palace Way. The street has well placed trees, whose branches hang over the street so you can't see up at all. Looking at the map I knew that Big Ben was coming up but we couldn't see anything. We finally made it out of the forest and this is the first thing we saw!

What a picturesque moment! Just to the right of what you are looking at is Westminster Abbey. Westminster Abbey was one of the things that I had to do. I really wanted to see Sir Isaac  Newton's tomb. By the time we arrived at Westminster it was already 1:30 and the abbey closed at 3:30 on that day. We decided to move on to other things and come back the next day. 

We started walking and eventually made our way down to Trafalgar Square. The square itself holds two large fountains and one tall poll with a statue on top.

Directly touching the square is the National Gallery. We found out that it was free to go see so we had to kill and grew in awe of all of the paintings. The size and details of the paintings really made me appreciate art, which I guess I usually don't. 

By the time we wandered through the National Gallery, we decided that we should probably start making our way out to Chelmsford where we stayed. We weren't overly warned, but the Underground Tube System in London is a monster! So many people ride them and you can literally go anywhere you need to go with the amount of different lines you can transfer to. By the end of our second day, Sarah and I felt like pros, even starting to memorize the names of the different lines we usually took.

 

We arrived in Chelmsford and waited just outside of the train station for our host to come pick us up. I know this sounds weird, but we just finished our first Couchsurfing experience. The idea is that people host travelers for free and then when they travel they can do the same thing. Basically a pay-it-forward idea. We were lucky enough to be hosted by a Cat (27) and Martyn (22). Nobody really knows what to expect when you are going to stay in a complete strangers house, but we all four just clicked from the first night! This is mostly the reason why I haven't blogged much in the last two days because we have been hanging out and talking about traveling and just enjoying ourselves so much. We would all get carried away talking about traveling or the differences in our two cultures and before we knew it, 1:00 am would be here and it would be time to go to bed! We could not have had better hosts! And we felt that way only after the first day!

Van Morrison!!!

Wow! What a date night! What started out as a struggle and worrisome previous night trying to find a place to stay and figuring out the logistics of the concert turned into one of the best nights in my life. We stayed at the Portaferry Hotel and let's just say that the place isn't really for backpackers. We waited a bit in the lobby and everyone that walked by was wearing super nice clothes and looked incredibly wealthy. Then there was us haha. Portaferry is across a bay from Strangford and Castle Ward, but there is a ferry that crosses the bay, connecting Portaferry to Strangford. Once from Strangford, Castle Ward was a little over two miles up the road. After walking the Camino, those two miles seemed like nothing. The only thing we were worried about was making sure that we made the last ferry back over to Portaferry, but the ferrymen said that because of the concert, they were going to run until the traffic died down. But with us being on foot, we were still worried. We arrived at Castle Ward pretty early and just hung out until the concert started. When you walk into the property, there is about a mile long driveway that leads to the newly built Castle Ward, then about half a mile down property to where the Old Castle Ward stood, where the concert was being held. The newly built Castle Ward was beautiful with a large grass field all the way around it. 

We checked that out for a little bit and then made our way down to where the concert was being held. Apparently, the Old Castle Ward has been used numerous times by Game of Thrones. I didn't quite catch the name of it in the show though. Very medieval looking buildings. 

Because we got there so early, Sarah and I were one of the first people to go into the venue. And man did that pay off! There were three rows of VIP seating up front, followed by two rows of Endowment seating and then the rest was General Admission seating. We ended up sitting two rows back and in the aisle, just off the center!! Incredible seats!

The concert started with Van Morrison's daughter, Shana(??) singing three songs from her new album and then Van the Man came out! The entire place went nuts and the rest of the night there wasn't much sitting down. The aisles were jam packed with people dancing and it was just very joyous. It is hard to remember a time where I could look around and see so many happy, smiling faces. It made me laugh how Van Morrison's music brings back memories and such. He sang most of the classics and I was super happy because he played all songs that I knew except for two. Amazing playlist! I only wish he would have played Tupelo Honey!

The concert is something I will remember for the rest of my life! That was definitely the highlight of the trip thus far! Not many  people my age know, yet even listen to Van Morrison songs and it definitely showed at the concert. Sarah and I were the you hear people there. I thank Sarah for surprising me with tickets for my birthday back in February!! It was better than anything I imagined. I missed out on my chance to see him when he played at The Gorge in Washington, so we just had to come to Northern Ireland to see him! I love you bub!

Dublin to Belfast

Sarah and I have decided that it would probably be smarter for us to get up to Belfast the day before the concert instead of the morning of the concert. This way, we will have all day to get to the concert and not be in any rush. We woke up early at our hostel and went to the train station to buy our tickets for up to Belfast. We then walked across town to the National Museum of Ireland: Archaeology. The museum was full of treasures and the history of Vikings and English monarchy from centuries ago. It was interesting to see the architecture in things as well as the detail in some of the artifacts found. 

After being done with the museum we walked back towards the train station to see of we could hop on an earlier train. We had planned on leaving on the 3:20 pm train, but we were able to leave on the 1:20 pm train! We had sandwiches from a grocery store last night for dinner and we decided to save money and do it again since we had bread left over. Nothing like a ham, cheese, and Doritos sandwich! We both talked about how it reminded us of when we were little kids on family vacations!

The train to Belfast has been very very smooth and the countryside has been so green and beautiful. The weather is sunny out and only a few clouds so we have been able to see all of the hills. Very gorgeous country!

Dublin!!!

Dublin is an incredible city. We were lucky enough that it was nice out, only a little chilly due to the wind. Our day started with a typical hostel breakfast of toast, cereal, and coffee. The hostel we stayed at last night, Jacobs Inn, is part of a three hostel group that offers a free walking tour of Dublin. Our tour guide was Paul. 

He is an actor who when he has time, does these walking tours for hostels. They are completely free, but he makes his wages solely off of tips. He was hilarious! Full Irish accent so we started the day really only understanding about 25% of what he was saying. As the day moved on, Paul grew on us and we understood everything. The guy swore like a sailor but he was very very funny. He took us on a tour of the major and historical sites around Dublin. We started out at City Hall and the Dublin Castle. The great thing about the tour was that Paul told us the history of Ireland. It is a land of very prideful people and their story of liberation from the UK is something I now want to research more. Anyways, at the Dublin Castle, we weren't able to go inside because the President of the EU was inside and everything was locked. The castle itself used to be the best prison in all of the UK. Paul told us a story about how Shawshank Redemption is a rip-off because there was only one prisoner to ever escape and he broke into the sewer system on a thundery day and crawled through pipes all the way to the Liffy River. 

From there, we walked to Christ Church. It was built in 1030! Paul told us a few stories about Christ Church and how there was a terrible storm that ruined the building and it was turned into an actual pub and then a British man came over and renovated the place. Very incredible architecture. 

Down the street from Christ Church is a huge municipal building of Dublin where Paul showed us a plate in the sidewalk with a few Viking symbols in it. This is to represent what happened in the early 1900s. When excavating the site, they came across the largest collection of Viking ruins. The city gave archaeologists two weeks to clean out the site of all of the ruins. As you can imagine, the excavation lasted more than two weeks, but as soon as the two weeks came, the builders built right over the ruins and didn't care about how special the ruins were they just had a schedule to keep. Paul called it the worse case of cultural vandalism in Irish history. 

Our next stop was a pub in the famous Temple Bar area. I had my first, legit Irish pint of Guinness. Needless to say, it was just past 11:30 when we entered the bar and there were already people drinking. Ireland is known for drinking beer and a lot of drunks. I kid you not, we walked out of our hostel at 10 am and there was a guy with a beer in his hand, already drunk. We thought it might have been an anomaly but only just over an hour from then did we walk into a pub and it is packed with people drinking beer. 

That concluded the first part of the tour. We had to walk to the National Museum of Archaeology where Paul told us how the government works and a story of why Irish people love Obama but don't like prince Phillip. Sarah and I are planning to go visit the museum on our own tomorrow. 

Trinity College was next on our tour. Trinity College was the first university to enroll women in the entire world. It also has housed loads of famous poets, politicians and other people of importance. It also is the resting place for the Book of Kells. 

Our second to last stop was right outside the Shelbourne Hotel. It is the nicest and most expensive hotel in Dublin. It has been used by all the stars but also was a headquarters during the Irish Revolution. Paul told a story of two women drinking tea at the restaurant and they look to their left and see Bono from U2 drinking a pint with another guy. These women were so excited to see a celebrity that when Bono went to the bathroom, they went over to Bono's friend and asked him if he thought Bono would be okay with signing a few autographs and taking a few pictures. Bono's friend said that Bono would be more than happy to do all of those things, and he did when he got back from the bathroom. The women went back to their table and when it came time to pay their bill, the waiter came over and told them that their bill had been paid for. The women were so happy that Bono had paid for their bill, when the waiter said, "Look at the receipt, there is a note." The note said "thank you ladies for making my day. I couldn't be happier! Signed, Bruce Springsteen." The whole group laughed pretty hard at that one. 

 Our final stop on the tour was at Saint Stephen's Gardens.  It is like their Central Park. Very beautiful with ponds and running trails and gardens marked with tons of statues, all in tribute to people who helped the Irish Revolution. 

The day tour was amazing! We got to see a lot of main attractions and the tour guide was hilarious! Loads of stories! I would conclude that Dublin is a very proud city. Everywhere you look there is something to remind you of the Irish Revolution or people helping another out. I have truly enjoyed Dublin and can't wait to see the National Museum. 

Goodbye Camino

As I say goodbye to Santiago de Compostela, and take an overnight train back to Madrid, it is the perfect time to reflect on the opportunity that began as a challenge and has now changed the lives of everyone who was involved here. I wanted to write a little something to each person who walked and just reflect on it all. First off, Alicia, I never got to walk with you and I am sorry that it ended up not working out for you. You were one of the first to sign up for the class and we had always had fun in anticipation of the walk. I know you are going to have a blast the rest of the summer! NayNay, it is funny how you can grow up knowing the same people and never meeting. I didn't know what to expect from you but whatever it was, you blew it out of the water. You were hilarious and killed the walks each day! Thank you for taking care of Sarah for me! Kyle, we never hung out until I started playing baseball, but I am very happy that you were on the trip! Out of all the people that walked, I think you were the most excited every day! Don't be afraid of your emotions man. We will have to continue a few talks when we reconvene. Kraygen, I hope you are ready for what is to come! I thank both you and Kyle for helping Sarah and I out whenever we needed it. You are a good dude. Your generosity goes unnoticed but what you did for Kyle at the train station goes a long way towards your character. I can't wait to meet back up in Milan. Have fun in Greece! Doug, you were the wildcard as you came in without really a Concordia connection. You could not have fit in better. We all thank you for knowing Spanish and being so helpful every time it was asked and other times when we wanted it but felt bad for always asking. I hope your walk to A Coruña goes smoothly and we get to see you again soon! Dick, I honestly wish that we would have had more time to have some deep talks and some history lessons. You are an awesome man and if I can speak for the group, we all couldn't be more thankful to have you on this trip. Michelle, this definitely would not have happened without you! I have never met a professor like you and probably never will. Don't ever change a thing about you (that puppy is coming soon). You have taught me more in the last year than I can count and that isn't book smarts, it's lessons for life. I can't thank you enough for everything you have done for me and I hope we get to have more life talks soon! And finally Sarah! I love you and am seriously proud of you for completing what you just did. It was definitely hard and it cracks all those who walk the Camino but you powered through those moments. I hope you can one day look back at the near 200 miles you walked in 11 days and it gives you strength to do anything you want to do. I am thrilled that I got to spend time with you and am so excited to travel around the rest of Europe with you!

Hello Dublin!

The leg of the trip where it is just Sarah and I has begun! We left from Madrid on a flight by Ryanair. It is a cheap, discount airline that charges next to nothing for the flight itself, but tries to get you when it comes to the day of the flight. For example, if you don't print your boarding pass out on your own, then Ryanair will do it for a 70 Euro fee. 70?! And then if your bag is too big then it is a 60 Euro fee. Luckily we had a hostel that allowed is to print our boarding passes and we snuck by the boarding gate with our giant backpacks that we thought we were gonna have to pay! But anyways, we landed in Dublin and all you can say is Green! Very beautiful flying over Ireland. Reminds me of home. Except that the cars drive on the left side of the road. We are staying at a hostel called Jacobs Inn and we are hoping to take the free walking tour of Ireland this morning. 

Sunset at Point Zero

Everyone has seen a sunset, but it was something special to witness what the group did last night. The beach that we went to was in between two hills with one of them being very large. Dick Hill told us that on top of the taller hill was the final point on this trek and it is where all the pilgrims in the past went to to pay homage to Saint James and everything else. We went to the grocery store and bought some snacks to eat up at the top and began climbing! The hike was incredibly steep in a couple points, steep enough to put your hands on the ground while climbing up. But once we all got to the top, a special feeling came through me. You could see forever as the top of this hill was higher than anything around. Fisterre is on the north end of a large bay on the Atlantic and the hill where we were was the northern most point of the bay. Seeing far inland, up the coast of Spain to the north and also out to the horizon of the Atlantic set up for an incredible moment. The home was very difficult but the sights made it all worthwhile. The wind was ferocious which made it very cold, but being able to hold Sarah and watch the sunset created a memory that will be hard to forget. We talked about many things that made me appreciate our relationship even more than I already do. Kyle Preston said "This is Our Lives" and it really made everyone think about where we were and how many other people get to witness what we were viewing. Great night!!!

Fisterre, the beach, and Charlie

Fisterre is a town that is a goal for different pilgrims. It is a three day walk from Santiago and there are plenty of people who kept on walking from Santiago and finished here. It is a decent sized town which has a feel like Seaside, OR. Lots of little shops. After getting our room at 'Albergue Por Fin' we found a cafe that was run by a German couple. Outside it said "We Speak English!" It is funny because that is a draw for us. We have Doug, who is fluent in Spanish and that helps a lot, but it totally makes it easier on everyone if they speak English. We are so used to eggs and ham that nobody wants to eat it anymore. Everything has ham in it. Even hamburgers are made with a mix of beef and ham. The menu at this cafe had four different pasta options and everyone ordered pasta. It was so good!

Being a beach town, we asked our waitress for the best beach around. She directed us to one of the prettiest beaches I've ever seen. It was a pretty calm beach with a cove that had a ton of tide pools. It reminded me of my fifth grade trip to the Pacific to look at tide pools. The water was way too cold for everyone to get in, but the rocks blocked enough of the wind for it to be perfect just laying out. We ended up staying at one place for about three hours. And the only reason we left was because we wanted dinner. 

When I describe the actual city, it might sound gross but there are a lot of dogs that just roam the streets. The dogs are mostly small dogs, but there was one big dog. We think he was a Border Collie and German Shepherd mix. We decided to name him Charlie. When we were at lunch, Charlie came by and just layed down by us and started relaxing. When we left to head back to the Albergue, he lead the way and even went into our place before we did. How would he know that? He got shooed out of the Albergue and we didn't see him for awhile. About an hour into us hanging out at the beach, here comes Charlie running down the beach to us. He ended up staying the rest of the time with us and taking a nap at my feet! We thought we had seen the last of him until we came back from watching the sunset when the five students went to go get a bite to eat. Everything was closed except a few diners and we were about twenty minutes into our meals when Charlie sprinted into the diner and hid under our table. I can't explain it but it was an awesome thing to experience. It was like he was our dog!!!