Merry Christmas

Hey All, still alive despite the cold. As romantic and tradition as a White Christmas sounds (and I do love the movie) I'm beginning to think it is highly overrated! There's nothing like drinking mimosas on the deck outside Christmas afternoon. Not that I've done that on recent Christmases, but I could if I wanted!

Anyway, it is warm inside and wonderful to see friends and family again. The adventures are over but I'm still having fun, at the moment playing with a four year old is the highlight! I've been to Ottawa to visit the La Rues, family friends who may as well be family now, and now I'm in Hamilton with Mum's family. I'm staying with my cousin Suzy and her daughter Kylie (afore-mentioned four year old) and much of the family is expected for Christmas Eve dinner tonight. Then Christmas Day I head for Dad's family again and I basically flit between the two for the next three weeks taking total advantage of everyone's hostpitality. It's a great way to end my trip.

This is short because I don't think it's as interesting for you all to read about my family except for my family, who I talk to regularly now anyway so they know all about them already!

Merry Christmas everyone, hope Santa's good to you!

Oh the stupidity

Before I explain the oh so tantalising title let's see what the last days in England held...

Sheffield was fun, hanging out with Jen a bit more, seeing a large exhibition of knives and forks which Sheffield has produced for many years. Yes, that is their claim to fame. Also Michael Palin comes from there. My bus to London left from a shopping centre outside town so we went there for a while before I made my way back to London to meet Paul for yet another pub dinner.

Wednesday Paul had to work so I went to Harrods and the National Gallery. I honestly don't think I can describe Harrods. It is one of the most ostentatious, luxurious, opulent building I've been in, up there with the Vatican and Uffizi but with that nice touch of tackiness because everything is for sale. Stuck for what to get me for Christmas? Try their Under 1000 pounds section. No, really. I mean, not to buy me but they really have that section. It includes a sterling silver engraved holder for a Heinz ketchup bottle. I spent about an hour wandering around, it was hypnotic and frightening, and it made me feel quite nauseous by the end. In comparison to the shortages of what we would consider necessities in Tanzania the idea that one might want to spend 500 pounds on a Swarovski Christmas decoration was quite sickening. Still an interesting visit and they did have some rather spectacular shoes.

Then back to the National Gallery to see the wings I had missed - some of van Gogh's sunflowers and lots of other Impressionists. Very nice but not one of the better laid out galleries I've been to, lots of backtracking required and impossible to go in order of the room numbers so I don't even know why or how they were numbered!

Then dinner and drinks with Paul, a lovely last night in London. It's always sad to leave my friends but I was also really excited to get to Canada and see all my relatives!

So now the long, horrible and hopefully entertaining tale of how a smart and practical girl managed to make a really basic mistake and had to be rescued by people who love her and a few strangers as well.

Thursday was the 11th of December. Probably you knew that. Probably I knew that somewhere sub-conciously. Unfortunately conciously I thought it was the 12th. How that came about is unclear. I know that for many weeks I believed that I was flying out of London on a Thursday and that at one point my phone calendar was set to the wrong year; whether these two facts are related is not confirmed, it is all speculation. The facts which are known are that it was the 11th of December, it was a Thursday and Caitlin was at the airport three hours before her 12pm flight. Oh and, of course, her ticket was for the 12th. So after swearing in front of the lovely British Airways girl (not at her, I'm not mean, just rude and I did apologise but she just laughed and said she understood - she's British after all and they tend to think of swearing as punctuation, I'm sure she just thought it was a lot of full stops.) she asked if I wanted to see if I could get on today's flight. Everyone in Canada believed I was arriving on the 12th so to arrive a day early would be quite confusing but manageable and the alternative was taking the tube back to London, finding Paul and getting back into his flat before repeating the morning routine of up by 7 out before 8 and to the airport by 9. Not appealing. I picked get on the plane.

To their credit British Airways was great. Stand-by ticket in hand I headed to another desk to sort of register with them and get more instructions and by the time I reached the front of the queue they had decided to put me on the flight. A very full flight I found out so it was a bit of luck and some nice staff. I overheard a man in Business class saying he was lucky enough to get upgraded and I'd like to think that was thanks to me.

Now an hour before boarding and I have to contact Canada, but it's 4am there so instead I ring Peggy on my credit card (oh yeah, add to mess that cell phone battery died) and make her stay up until 1am to phone my grandparents at 7am their time to give them the good news. Plus Gatwick airport was closed so my flight, which I wasn't meant to be on, was delayed by two hours.

I did get picked up by a confused and loving Grandfather who was nice enough to only tease me incessantly since hearing the full story. He enjoyed Friday morning saying that the only thing he had to remember to do was to pick Caitlin up at the airport. It's less than I deserved for such a completely dumb thing to do so I'm content. I did consider lying to try and blame someone else but even on an 8 hour flight I couldn't figure out a believable tale I decided to give you all a nice wee laugh instead and opted for the ruefully honest tack.

Learn from me - check a calendar as you leave the house!!

So I'm here in Canada with family, it's great. Nice to not be a tourist and to just relax, can't wait to see everyone and so looking forward to Christmas. I probably won't update this as much because while Mum and Dad will be interested in how everyone is I imagine reading about what various cousins are up to is not as thrilling as being stalked in Istanbul or visiting the Louvre in Paris for the rest of you. Hope you enjoyed my tale of Karma saving my arse once more (with the help of three BA staff, one tired sister, one devoted Grandfather and a Visa card which wasn't maxed out.)

A Trip North (but not Very North)

Hello again!

So the British Museum was fantastic! Saw lots of great stuff, including interesting African, Mexican and Indian displays - not usually seen in European museums but I guess the British stole from everyone! Interesting also was the pamphlet available in the Parthenon display explaining why the British Museum would rather not return Greek national treasures to Greece. Top reasons were hinting that the Greeks couldn't take care of them properly (because they accidentally blew stuff up in 1610) and that where they are they can be viewed in an international cultural context. Nevermind that thousands of people come to see it every year and maybe they'll make donations, that's so not an issue, we're just interested in the furtherment of cultural understanding. Can you guess what side of the debate I'm on? No? Glad I was able to present a balanced point of view.

So after that I met Charles and Paul, we got some dinner and went out to meet some of their old school friends who are now living in London. I was pretty exhausted and Paul was too, plus they took us to this horribly tacky bar full of young professionals with music so loud you couldn't make yourself heard without shouting. So we went to HMV instead and then home to watch Stardust. We're exciting people.

Sunday was my last chance to see the changing of the guard because it's only every second day in the winter so Paul accompanied me out to watch men in big furry hats play the flute and carry guns with pointy knives on the front. Not simultaneously, different men played flutes and carried guns. I got some photos which I will post in due course (i.e. in about a month.) Paul then had to do some work since I had effectively distracted him for five days so I headed to the Tate Britain to entertain myself. It was really cool, lots of British artists and artists who lived in Britain so I got my fill of Turner and Constable. Did a wee tour with one of the guides talking about the meaning of flowers in paintings, quite interesting and not too long. After Tate I had some time so I headed to the National Gallery but I was a bit burned out so I only did one wing thereby missing van Gogh's Sunflowers and a lot of other famous paintings. If I can be bothered I might go back Wednesday but it depends on many factors. I did enjoy the National Portrait Gallery - lots of famous people there! Saw the portraits of Shakespeare, Henry VIII, his six wives plus his kids and more.

Monday (yesterday) I headed to Sheffield to visit my friend Jen, from Volunteer Africa. Jen emailed me to assure me that there was nothing touristy to do in Sheffield, which sounded quite nice. Mostly I just wanted to visit her, which I am in fact doing right now. So we went out for lunch and then to the art gallery which is quite cute. We went out that night for a drink and then home to watch a bunch of great panel shows. I don't think anyone in the world does panel shows like the UK, they're hilarious! Loads of comedians and intellectuals discuss current events. So it sounds terrifically dull but I love it.

Bit of a late start today, a nice lie in and cooked breakfast before heading into town for more wandering and probably lunch. Bus to catch at 4.30 to head back to London so it's a short visit but a nice one.

Londonium

Hello all, sorry about the delay in update, I've simply been having too much fun to take the time to write about the fun I've been having.

Tuesday I arrived at Gatwick airport at 8.15pm and caught a bus into London, except my bus arrived at Fulham Broadway which is about a hundred miles from Paul's house. To complicate matters I caught an earlier bus and he had just ordered a drink with a friend who lives out there when I got in so I spent my first half hour in the country drinking lager in an Aussie themed bar (not his first choice but closest to the bus stop.) It was fun, like a piece of almost home. Then we headed big pack and all to find some food because we were both starving but by the time we got to his part of town is was almost midnight and we had a mission to find a place open. Ended up with Indian from a nice restaurant, don't know why their kitchen was still open at that time on a Tuesday but didn't ask.

Wednesday was a touristy tour of the city, I saw Big Ben, Winchester Cathedral (didn't go in, £12!) Buckinham palace, St James Palace, Trafalgar Square, the Canadian Embassy (not so touristy but still cool) and had lunch in a 400 yr old pub called The Cheshire Cheese. Then we went out to Camden - pretty much the coolest place on the planet. I want to go and live in the market, or at least near by. Amy Winehouse lives there, which is not necessarily an endorsement of the area. I really loved it to the point that I insisted we go back at a later date when I had time and money to really shop. Paul's uncle works in London and we ran into him on the street, really weird since that never happens in London, and we were invited to go out for a drink with him that evening. We had to meet him in Leicester Square which is coincidentally where the Twilight preniere was taking place (Haven't heard of it? Lucky you.) and we got to battle screaming teens and preteens all waiting for cheekyboney brooder and sweepeyhair glarer, not fun. Found a lovely pub with two for one drinks and I released my inner girl by ordering a raspberry dacquiri. We had decided to go to a West End show and since my heart was set on Les Miserables or The Lion King and Paul alway thinks of beastiality with the latter we bought the cheap seats to Les Mis. The seats were right at the front, Paul literally got spit on, but we could see almost everything and were right in the action so I loved it. It is such a great musical and it was so well done, I wanna go back!

We found something for dinner and headed home to watch British comedy (Green Wing) before retiring to bed since Paul had to be up at 5 to pick up Charles from the airport. Paul is playing hostels as various people take advantage of him for free acommodation. So not really playing hostels since no one is paying him.

Anyway, he had had about 4 hours sleep and left me still sleeping and Charles had just flown for 12 hours so they were both pretty punchy all day. We went to the Tate Modern which was very very cool. Lots of great modern art and some odd contemporary stuff - Paul is doing his Art History PhD so is qualified to say things like "well that's just bollocks" and "ach, what shit." Along the walk to the gallery was the Tower Bridge and the Tower and various other sights from the Thames. We headed back to The Cheshire Cheese for lunch, it's one of Paul's favourite places. Terrifically historical - burnt down in the Great Fire and was rebuilt, Samuel Johnson wrote part of his dictionary there and invited many a famous friend around.

That afternoon we went on a major hunt for an inflatable mattress so that everyone would have a place to sleep and failed to find one for a very long time, eventually picked one up in Argos which is this crazy place where you order from a catalogue and they go get it from the storeroom for you. That evening we headed out to Wembley Arena to see Russell Howard, a British comedian who's often on a show called Mock the Week. Hugely funny, I had trouble breathing at times I was doubled over from laughing.

Friday we all slept for about 10 hours, them from tiredness and me from laziness! We got up around 11 and headed out to Camden again for lunch and shopping. I bought a few nice things, though I was surprisingly controlled. The markets have everything from secondhand stores to rave stuff. There's a store called Cyber Dog which sells a bunch of neon coloured Jetsons' style outfits. I suspect you have to take a lot of party drugs to really appreciate the clothing, but it was fun to browse. They also sold stuffed toy versions of germs like chlamidia, black death and ecoli. It would be kind of fun to give someone the plague!

We decided to cook our own dinner that night instead of going out yet again and then hit the town! We went to a couple pubs and then a couple bars. I'm still not sure what the distinction is but pubs close at midnight and bars are open later. Eventually we decided to go dancing and ended up somewhere Paul described as gay-friendly but being one of only five girls there I think it was more than just friendly! It was great, no worrying about creepy people grabbing you or about people spiking your drink or being labelled a 'tease' - not a single person in that room was interested in me, it was quite relaxing. We danced our hearts out until about 3.30am before having the mission of getting a taxi to take us home because apparently at that time of the morning all the taxis want to go home and will only take fairs in the direction they're going. Got home safely anyway and am now about to head to the British Museum! So ridiculously excited.

Yeah... I'm a classics geek. But a happy one. Except maybe they should return the Elgian marbles, just not this week. After this I think my London experiences will be complete: West End, comedy, Camden, gay bar, museum... what more is there?

Tiddlee dee potatoes

I just got back from the magical part of Ireland now! Dublin is very pretty and fun but the highlights of Dublin were definitely Frances and Laura. This week I headed South to find cute villages, rolling hills and rainbows everywhere, you know that image you have in your head of what Ireland looks like? That's pretty much accurate.

So Wednesday we headed into Dublin centre early, though not as early as we had intended, for breakfast at Bewleys, a place James Joyce frequented back in the day. Lovely breakfast where I got to try black and white pudding. Black was okay, full of flavour and spices. White was one of the grossest things I've ever eaten to the point that I almost spat it out (harkening back to the first time I tried avocado when I was 9 so it might yet end well for white pudding and I since of now a big avocado fan, but proportianally that won't happen until I'm 44.) Laura went to work while Frances and I walked to the bus station to get me a ticket to Limerick and kill half an hour walking along the dock (past some 'knackers') and back. Bus ride was uneventful and I met Mike at the other end. It was great to catch up after so long! He lives in a little community called Doora which has a pub and a church (Irish priorities are clear) and is a ten minute drive outside Ennis for all the necessities. I got a proper Irish welcome from Mike's parents who said I could stay as long as I wanted (unfortunately I couldn't really take advantage of them since a) I was well raised and b) I had plans for Sunday.)

That night his father Mick was performing in a one act play for the Ennis Players. There were three plays on and his was definitely the best, in fact they won a place in the All Ireland competition and hope to be able to travel with it as well. Thursday morning I ate three kinds of cereal for breakfast (the joy of staying with a family instead of in a hostel) and then we went out to the Cliffs of Mohar, very beautiful and rugged. The weather was clear but cold when we left and by the time we got to the cliffs it was raining and freezing so it was more like the one minute tour of the cliffs with an hour and a half driving through pretty countryside one either side. A good trip out anyway and then home to thaw out. The area is really beautiful and I must have seen half a dozen rainbows on the drive.

Friday was a trip into Limerick to find out that King John's Castle was closed, it looked good from the outside anyway. We drove past the area where people get shot and the university and stopped in Shannon for tea and cake. Also hit the two euro store where you can buy 5 chocolate bars for €2! I was excited about that. Probably a little too excited. It was Mike's friend Gary's birthday so we went out for a few drinks with him to celebrate. Not a true Irish pub experience since no one drank Guinness but it was fun all the same.

Saturday I got a bus back to Dublin to hang out once more with Laura and Frances who were playing tag team because they were working different shifts and only overlapped by half an hour! Laura and I went to the art gallery and spent a long while in the gift shop - so full of pretty things. Frances and I went shopping for NZ wine to take to Enniscorthy and for dinner supplies. We thought we might go out on the town but it was so bitterly cold that we ended up not bothering and watched X Factor instead which I've heard a lot about but never seen. It was fun, different kind of fun to going out, but infinitely warmer.

Sunday my bus left at midday so we had a nice breakfast again before Laura went to work again and Frances and I headed to the station... again. It was very much like the Wednesday before! I arrived in Enniscorthy to be met by my cousin Bridget. Want a family tree? I know I needed one! My great-grandfather Patrick Fitzgerald and his brother Francis moved to Canada, his sister Mary Fitzgerald stayed in Ireland and married somebody Dempsey and she is Bridget's grandmother. Cool? Anyway, she was great, kept saying I had 'come home.' We went out to the pub for a true Irish experience, it was loud and crowded and a woman gave me a picture of Jesus to look after me and someone got a drink poured over his head. I met a bunch of Bridget's friends and got stories about all of them, she seems to know everyone and be "practically related" to most of them! Monday we went out to Blackwater, where Patrick and Francis grew up. Got quite the tour of the area and went to a sawdust pub and a tavern for lunch before heading back to Enniscorthy and going to Carmel's for dinner, Bridget's sister. On the way I met their brother Peter's kids (Eamonn, Elizabeth, Elaine and Stephen) but Peter was working so wasn't in. Carmel has a ten year old daughter Niamh who's a firecracker. I got lots of hugs so felt quite welcomed. Their brother Tony stopped by for a drink too and I got to go out and see his house and meet his wife Eleanor - it was quite the family meeting day!

So today I got a midday bus to Dublin, where I am now taking advantage of Frances' internet account to update you all. I fly out to London in three hours so I'm about to get some supplies and head out to the airport. See you in England!