Day 32: Bruges

From Bruges

After a good night’s sleep I got up and headed back to the center of town. Along the way I came across what looked like a huge yard sale for the entire town.

From Bruges

I looked around but didn’t find anything I liked or that I could fit in my backpack to bring back. Next I went and climbed up the belfry tower. It has 366 steps and the staircase is extremely narrow, so it was a pretty fun climb up. Afterwards I wandered around the city some more before eventually going into the Groeningemuseum. It contained lots of famous paintings form medieval Flemish painters. By this time it was getting towards the evening so I caught the train back to Brussels and then from there back to London.

Top of the Belfry.

From Bruges

Belgian Beer.

From Bruges

Day 31: Bruges

I woke up super early Saturday morning and took the 7:00 Eurostar from St. Pancras station in London to Brussels, and from there caught another train to Bruges. I’ve always wanted to see Bruges ever since seeing the movie “In Bruges.” The movie was a dark comedy about some British hit men hiding out in Bruges, but it was also about the city itself. So far I haven’t been disappointed. I got in around noon, and after checking into my hotel went into the city to get some lunch. After lunch I made my way over to the Half Moon brewery for a tour and a sampling of their beer. That would be another reason why I like Bruges so much: they have great beer. I walked around the city some more and eventually made my way to a park where I laid down and had a small nap. After my siesta I had some dinner and then made my way back to the Markt, the center of the city. I noticed they were setting up for a concert just a few blocks away, so I stayed a little while longer and caught most of the concert. The band was called Daan, who I had never heard of but they were actually pretty good and sounded a lot like Depeche Mode.

From Bruges

I head back to London late tomorrow evening so I’ll still have most of the day to see the sights I missed today.

From Bruges

From Bruges

From Bruges

The Belfry Tower.

From Bruges

From Bruges

Day 30: London

Friday we were all on our own, so I decided to go see the Imperial War Museum, which I missed when we originally went to go see it because our plane back from Switzerland was late. For a history buff like myself, it was an incredible place. I could probably have spent all day there. There were tons of exhibits ranging from WW1 all the way up to the first Gulf War, as well as a look at the secret side of British warfare such as MI-5 and the SAS . Friday night I took the train out to Hounslow for a wonderful dinner with Robert and Leann. Thanks again guys.



P-51 Mustang.

Day 29: London

Thursday was our last real day of school work on the trip, and therefore also my last day of school for at least a long time. We finished up presentations around 8:45 am, and then grabbed some breakfast. Later on around 10, we got on the tube and took the long journey towards Wimbledon. After about an hour we got there and were able to look around. There’s a museum that we took a look at, and also they had the men’s singles tournament board still up from last month, still including John Isner’s record setting match. In addition, we also got a tour around the courts as well as a look at the interview area for after games.

Men's Singles board.



John Isner's match.

Days 26-28: London

Monday after landing in London we met up with the group and went to a presentation by the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors. Kind of a governing body for construction in the UK. After the presentation we walked by Westminster Abbey and also went to Churchill's London at War, which was a museum in what was used by the British government as a command post and bomb shelter throughout WW2.

Westminster Abbey.

From London zoo

Some people trying to see how many they could cram into a telephone booth. They got 8.

From London zoo

Tuesday we went on a Thames river cruise, and afterwords walked through Hyde Park to Kensington Palace. Tuesday was kind of a short day so I didn't get to take too many pictures.

Changing of the guard at the Royal Palace.

From London zoo

At Kensington Palace.

From London zoo

Wednesday a group of us went to the London Zoo, and it was awesome. I didn't really expect to like it so much, but I guess I just forgot how much fun it is to see some of the animals.

My favorite part was walking through their rain forest exhibit. In the exhibit, you walk around this rectangular pit that has a small section of rainforest habitat they've created in a greenhouse. This pit is probably about 12 feet below the walkway that you're on, and there are trees that grow up over the walkway and which allow some of the animals to climb up on to the walkway, such as this guy. I have no idea what he's called, but I like him.

From London zoo

And his little friend.

From London zoo

From London zoo

This guy climbed up over us. Kind of scary.

From London zoo

Not sure what he is either.

From London zoo

Meercat.

From London zoo

These otters were pretty cool. They would grab a rock and try to balance it on their paws while juggling it back and forth. They were actually really good at it. I wish I had a video.

From London zoo

Bigger rock. He dropped it.

From London zoo

War Eagle.

From London zoo

Look at that turtle. Huge.

From London zoo

Its kind of hard to tell in this picture, but the monkey that's being jumped on was sitting there eating something, when the monkey that's on top of him walked up and swatted the food out of his hand. The first monkey was obviously none too happy about this, so the second monkey jumped on top of him and then ran away.

From London zoo

Regent's Park walking back from the zoo.

From London zoo

From London zoo

Day 24 & 25: Dublin

Saturday we all got on one of the big red city tour buses, just so we could orient ourselves with the city and get a better understanding of what everything was about. We got off at the Jameson distillery and went on a tour. The tour was pretty cool in that we got to see how Irish whisky was made and how its different compared to Scotch and American versions. Yours truly was one of the lucky eight selected for a taste test, in that I got to sample Jameson, Jack Daniels, and Johnny Walker Black and tell which one I liked best. As this was Ireland, I of course said Jameson was the best. But really I preferred the Johnny Walker. After the Jameson tour we walked over to the Guinness factory, which is really quite massive. The building consisted of seven levels, each one giving different information about Guinness including how it’s made, the different kinds of Guinness, and Guinness marketing campaigns throughout the years. Finally we got to the seventh floor where you get your complimentary glass of Guinness. I’ve heard Guinness doesn’t travel well and therefore that a glass at the brewery is the best that it gets. Turns out that’s true. Compared to Guinness I’ve had in the states it seems to have a little more flavor and taste, and not seem as bland.

From Manchester + Dublin

Jameson tasting.

From Manchester + Dublin

Found outside the Guinness brewery.

From Manchester + Dublin

Inside the Guinness Brewery on the tour.

From Manchester + Dublin

The purpose of the tour. A pint of Guinness seven floors up with a wonderful view of Dublin.

From Manchester + Dublin

The bar area.

From Manchester + Dublin

Sunday I went with Jeff, Clinton, and Kay to take a day long bus tour of Wicklow. We left pretty early and made a few stops along the way for some photo opportunities. This was a German cemetery for airmen who were shot down during WWII and crashed in the Wicklow area of Ireland.

From Manchester + Dublin

From Manchester + Dublin

Apparently this bridge was used in the filming for a scene from ‘PS I Love You.’ I haven’t seen it so I have no idea, but it looked cool.

From Manchester + Dublin

Incredible road.

From Manchester + Dublin

Great view overlooking a lake.

From Manchester + Dublin

It was pretty windy.

From Manchester + Dublin

From Manchester + Dublin

From Manchester + Dublin

Overall it was a great side trip and a good break from the urban setting of Dublin.

Day 23: Dublin

We certainly started off the Dublin trip with a bang. We're in a pretty big group as there's 11 of us total, so finding accommodations was a little troublesome. We were originally scheduled to be staying in a set of apartments on the south side of town. However, a few days before we left we got an email saying we had been 'upgraded' to a new set of apartments. We thought this was great, however it turned out to be pretty pretty bad. Our flight didn't end up getting us into Dublin until about 11:30 Thursday night. As we were taking the cab into Dublin, the driver mentioned in his 15 years of driving he had never driven anyone to where we were going. Warning sign #1.
When we pulled onto the street where we were saying, the driver started to mention that this wasn't exactly the best side of town, and that he wouldn't walk alone at night, or wonder off the main street. Warning sign #2. We finally got into our apartments, and they actually weren't too bad, besides being in the absolute slums of Dublin. To cap it all off, the property manager who was letting us into our apartments, Martin, had a HUGE attitude and was completely rude to everyone and was showing absolutely no respect to any of us.
At this point we had figured out that our 'upgrade' was nothing more than a dupe and that they had probably just run out of room in our original location and just moved us over to the rough side of town and hoped we wouldn't notice. We gave the booking agency a very angry phone call and they promised they would send someone over in the morning to work it all out. We survived the night, barely. Turns out someone was stabbed to death not too far from us. The booking agency sent Karen over, and she was genuinely sorry for the mistake, and realized her company had screwed up big time. We got a full refund for all four nights we were supposed to stay there, including the night before, plus 100 Euros extra. We immediately went straight to the Holiday Inn in the good part of town, and couldn't have been happier since.
The rest of Friday consisted of us walking around town and seeing the Temple Bar area. We spent most of the day going to pubs and seeing what Dublin had to offer. Today, Saturday, we plan on doing a bus tour and seeing more of Dublin's traditional landmarks. I'll bring my camera this time so I should have plenty of pictures.