ericrose.net

Comments (0)

Le Tour

For the past six years Andy had been to a different stage of the Tour de France. Since he was studying in a country conveniently located next to France it would be tragic if he missed a part this year, so for the prologues he and Susan were planning camping on the French border the night before and waking up early to get a good spot on the course in Strasbourg. Eager to try out my new tent I asked if I could tag along. Wes and Monika also had access to a tent and with 5 available spots in Susan’s car things were looking good. The only problem with camping near a city with a section of the Tour in it, is that it’s impossible to camp near a city with a section of the Tour in it. Susan tried a few different camp grounds and all of their reserved camping areas had been booked for months. So we improvised. We decided that our only option was to find a section of deserted road, pull off and set up camp. Early Friday morning we threw all of our stuff in Susan’s car and headed towards France. Susan also came up with the idea of stopping by Europapark, a theme park with rides a plenty, since it was between Bamberg, Germany and Strasbourg, France (kind of between). We spent the day hurdling through the air on various roller coasters, water rides, and whatnot but we had a bit of a problem: Germany was in the quarter finals and we HAD to watch the game. We hastily threw together a plan that involved leaving the park an hour before the game started, heading to the nearest small town, finding a bar and watching the game. Luckily for us Europapark was showing the game in a typical German fashion, under a huge tent with picnic tables and beer. The game ended in a shootout making the German goalie, Lehmann, a German hero. For me it was the most intense game of the entire world cup. Andy, Wes and I were all wearing our German jerseys and after the game we drove through as many towns as we could and shouted and waved German flags and generally conducted ourselves as hooligans. We caught the Italy v. Ukraine game in a bar somewhere and then decided it would be best to find somewhere to crash for the evening before it got too dark. On the way to the French border, and listening to the best schlager southern German radio had to offer, a news reporter came on and informed us of a massive doping scandal that had implicated all of the Tour’s top riders including this year’s favorite, Jans Ulrich. Dismayed, we decided to continue anyway. We ended up finding a rather secluded stretch of road about 20km away from the border and simply drove through a field and set up camp… and by camp I mean I threw my sleeping bag on the ground and passed out in side of it. I was harassed the entire evening by mosquitoes and various other flying nuisances, but at six we were all up and made our way to Strasbourg.

Knackered, we wandered around the start/finish area trying to find the perfect vantage point to watch the riders go by. I decided that I couldn’t function without coffee so I left the viewing selection up to Andy and Susan and Wes, Monika and myself tried to procure some coffee. With my limited French I was able to order a simple breakfast (when I say limited I mean I pointed a lot and used only the words “un,” “deux,” “et,” “oui,” and “Merci”). We then found our way back to Andy and aggressively defended our position. Before the riders went there was a large parade of sponsors giving out all kinds of free stuff, like magnets, hats, and hot coffee. Under normal circumstances I wouldn’t want hot coffee in standing in the sun in 90 degree weather, but I was exhausted. And then the riders went, spaced about one minute apart with a police officer on a motorcycle in front of them and a team car with spare parts and a loudspeaker behind them. Most flew by too quickly to get a very good photo, but it was still fun to watch. By the time 4 o’clock rolled around I was so tired that I could hardly stand and passed out under a tree in the shade. Originally we had planned to camp two nights, because the next stretch of the Tour both began and ended in Strasbourg, but we were all too exhausted to move. Instead of staying another night we headed back to Germany with a little sunburn, lots of cool pictures, and a bag full of free junk.

Comments (0)

Ireland Part II - The North

Our bus from Dublin to Belfast was delayed by an hour and shortly after the bus departing it hit a parked van. The ride was comfortable and scenic. Mark met Mere and I at the bus station/mall and he took us for a short walk around Belfast. We saw the most bombed hotel in Europe, and then went to Tesco. That evening we grabbed some food and then went to Bangor and wandered around and looked at the tall ships and watched the sunset… at 11:30pm. That night we stayed at Marks place because Mark’s mom and sister were kind enough to give Meredith and I a place to sleep. The next morning we took the bus tour of Belfast where we learned about the invention of air conditioning and saw where the titanic was built. We also rode through the protestant and catholic neighborhoods and heard about just how bad things got during the troubles. We then grabbed a quick lunch in the largest thatched roofed restaurant in Europe or something like that, it was tasty. The rest of my day sucked, and Mark and Meredith are truly saints for helping me. I am very thankful to have them as friends. That evening we watched some TV and I called it an early night. The next morning we went to Carrick Fergus castle and looked at stuff. Before leaving to head back to Dublin we made a last stop in at Tesco and bought a box of Mr. Brain’s Pork Faggots, Ambrosia creamed custard, and a tin of Spotted Dick. I also made sure that Mark brought back his Tesco uniform for Andy to try on.

Comments (3)

Ireland Part I - The Republic (Dublin)

Or why I’m never flying Ryanair again. Originally Emma and Meredith had planned to go to Dublin together however after purchasing their plane tickets Emma found out that her boyfriend was coming over to see her for their anniversary. Emma and Mere were discussing canceling their tickets when I volunteered to take over Emma’s and go with Mere. We also invited Mark and Andy to come with; Mark agreed, Andy hesitated. With the addition of Mark to our travel group we decided to change our travel plans a bit from just staying in Dublin to also traveling to Belfast. The Johnstons were also kind enough to give us a place to stay while in Northern Ireland. Emma helped us book a cheap Bed and Breakfast on O’Connell St. and a hostel not too far from downtown Dublin as well as laid out a general travel itinerary for our time in Dublin. Mark wasn’t really that interested in seeing Dublin so he was going to catch a bus to Belfast as soon as we arrived in Dublin Airport and we were to meet him a few days later.

With our plans in place, all we had left to was leave for Ireland. In order to catch the bus from Frankfurt (Hahn) (hereafter referred to as NOT ANYWHERE NEAR FRANKFURT), we had to catch the first train out of Bamberg at 5am. Jen, Mark, Emma, Mere, Andy and I stayed up all night the night we left for Ireland and at 4:30am we hurried to the train station. Unsure about where exactly we should buy our train tickets to because there was no Frankfurt (Hahn) train stop, we just bought tickets to Frankfurt. That makes sense, right? On the train we figured out that in order to catch the bus to the airport, we needed to stop in Mainz which is two train stops past Frankfurt. Due to a delay in changing the engine in Frankfurt we missed our bus, so we had to wait an hour for the next one. The bus ride took an hour and ten minutes and upon arriving at the Hahn airport (NOT ANYWHERE NEAR FRANKFURT) we were informed that checkin had closed and that the next flight to Dublin was in 11 hours. We didn’t really have an option since we had already booked our lodgings in Dublin, so we paid the 60 Euro fee to change our flight to the one at 10pm and then we sat… and sat… The Trinidad and Tobago national soccer team was for some reason also in Hahn and Meredith got her picture taken with Dwight Yorke. When we finally made it to Dublin, we took a bus to O’Connell St walked around a bit, saw the Spire of Dublin, the General Post Office (which served as the headquarters for the leaders of the Easter Rising of 1916) and then checked into our “Budget Bed and Breakfast.”

The next morning we saw Mark off to the bus station and then Mere and I checked into our Hostel on Aungier Street, the Avalon house. It turned out to be one of the nicest hostel experiences I’ve had to date, and I would recommend it to anyone staying in Dublin. We dropped our luggage off and headed over to St. Patrick’s Cathedral. After that we took a tour of Dublin Castle and then went to grab a bite to eat. We then shopped until the stores closed at an unreasonably early hour and took a walk through St. Stephens Green. That evening Mere and I went to the Temple Bar area for a couple pints of Guinness and Harp. Our entertainment that evening was provided by the myriad of “Hen Parties” taking place that evening, each of which had some kind of matching attire and plenty of really drunk women.

The next morning Mere and I ate our gourmet complimentary breakfast of stale bread and watered down orange juice and then schlepped our luggage over to the Bus station and threw it in a locker. We made our way to Trinity College and waited in line to see the Book of Kells. After the Book, the college had a Samuel Beckett exhibit set up in the Long Room in their library. Next we wanted to check out the Guinness Storehouse, but I realized that I had forgotten my cell phone and had to walk all the way back to the hostel to get it. There was some kind of Harri Krishna march making its way through O’Connell Street that day, so that provided us with some amusement. The weather was overcast and rainy so Mere and I decided that it would be okay to just go ahead and take the bus to Belfast.