Ch1. B3 - Capital Tour

No surprize that "soon" is never as soon as at should be for me when it comes to blogging. It is now a couple weeks later and I am in Germany, and I likely will not even have anything on Germany untill the next blog. Also, I do intend to post pictures with this blog, but if you don't see them yet it's because I thought I should get to the wtitten part first. So...

I left off in Gelncoe, and the next stop for me was Inverness. I realize that it's not a national capital city and maybe doesn't belong on the Capital Tour blog along side Edinburgh, Lodon and Paris, but as the capital of the Scottish Highlands it's good enough for me.
Inverness was quite pretty, and it was small enough to explore easily by foot. I stayed only one night, and I made sure during my brief time there I got out to see Culloden battlefields where the Scottish Jacobites soldiers made a last stand for their independence, but were totally decimated by the English. It was quite rainy, windy and cold when I went, but it seemed as though the gloomy weather was suited to the atmosphere of the place.
After getting thoroughly chilled, I also made sure that in my brief time in Inversness I made it to a pub. At my hostel I met Robin, a fellow sociology major from the U.S., and she and I went out to the Hootanny Ceilidh Cafebar, where we enjoyed drinks and live traditional music. (Along with the entertainment of sitting next to a large group of students - from the Netherlands, I believe - who were on some sort of fraternity holiday. They seemed to be quite enjoying themselves as they got drunk wearing kilts they had bought that day, partying away despite the fact that their term had already started.)

The next day I got on a train and headed south to Edinburgh, which is a very picturesque city full of amzing things like quintiscential castles, haunted graveyards, deep fried marz bars, J.K. Rowling, and of course, haggis. And, their national Art Gallery is free... which made me just as happy as discovering that many scottish artists appreciate their natural surroundings just as much as I do.
Edinburgh is also where I discovered the fabulous free Europe walking tours (of which I've done in three different places already). The Guides tend to be current or former university students from an Enlish-speaking coutry, and the way it works is the tours are free but you are expected to tip at then end. You learn loads, see the city, and I highly reccomend them for people on a budget. And they are easy to find since they have big red sings that say FREE on them where the tours start - I even found one by accident in Munich. On the Edinburgh tour we heard many sotires and saw many things, including the the Elephant house, the cafe where J.K.R wrote most of the first Harry Potter book, and the building that is said to have inspired Hogwarts (which you can see from the rear of the cafe).
I also made friends at my hostel there. The first night I went on a ghost tour with Yi Chan Lin from China, who I convinced to come with me. A good thing too because it got quite spooky towards the end. After the next day full of visiting the royal caslte, the National Gallery, and doing the walking tour, I decided to make the most of it and tagged along with a German and Spanish guys who were goin out for the night. And it was most of the night. After one bar, one jazz club, and one more deep fried marz bar, I only got about two hours sleep before I had to get up and catch the express train to London.

Ah London... busy, exciting, full of things to see, and ridiculously expensive. I would have never stayed so long was it not for the hospitality of my cousin, Julia, and her fiancee, Richard, who let me stay at their place (thanks, guys!). Julia also had her friend Andy visiting when I arrived, which was great because when Julia and Richard were busy working those first few days Any and I went and ran around London together taking pictures of Trafalgar Square, Buckingham Palace, the London Eye, and so on. Having navigated the crowded halls at Uvic for the past 5 years definitely gave me an edge when mastering the "London swerve," as Julia calls it - an essential move for quickly navigating the crowds in tube stations (that's the London Undergound, or subway, for all you North Americans reading).
I really did have quite the English experience while I was in London. I got to experience a real English tea, tiny porcelain teacups and clotted cream included, hosted by some slightly more distant cousins. I also saw a play at Shakespeare's Globe Theatre with Julia and Richard, and of course visited the Tower Bridge. I got to mingle with some of Julia's cultured, city-living actor friends (yes, I'm talking about you, Ambjorn), got to see the inside of a London gay bar, as well as enjoy the company of some of Julia and Richard's friends at a neighbourhood pub, after which transpired a rather unfortunate event involving one of said friends' head and a car door coming together a little too quickly.
Despite me still not having my entry visa for Ghana, (which I tried to get once, didn't have the right information, went back for again but decided not to because it would take too much time), I decided it was time to move on, and left London for Paris the same day Julia left to move back to Canada. I hope you have enjoyed this blog, I will add in Paris later this evening. (Hopefully)

Hah! I did make it back this evening to do the Paris bit! Firts, however, for those who are wondering, the reason I need a visa for Ghana is because I will be Volunteering in Togo and Benin starting in Decmber, but I fly in and out of Ghana in order to get there.

And on to Paris. I loved Paris. It was warm and sunny most of the time when I was there, I could speak with the locals, and I really wish I had had more than three nights and two days. Making it to Paris in the first place, on the other hand, was a bit of a challenge. The train Journey from London to Dover was easy enough, and the ferry to Callais was not too expensive, but I didn't really know where to go from there except that I wanted to catch a train to Prais. Luckily for me I ran into a couple of helpful touring musicians - The Bolloch Brothers (sorry if I spelled that wrong) - who wisely advised me that walking to the train station was not as easy as the lady at the information desk suggested. Also, since the bus wasn't for another half hour, they offered to let me share their cab with them at no cost to myself. This I did despite their own cheerful warnings to me that they exactly the kind of people my mother had in mind when she taught me not to talk to strangers. Sorry, mom.
Once I was safely on the train, I had to face the fact that I was not going to get to Paris on time to claim my spot ot the youth hostel I wanted, and needed to find another one. It turns out that Paris youth hostels are not only busy in the summer. While franrically calling every hostel in my guide book, I realized I was overhearing a conversation in English right behind me. Wanting to vent my frustraions a bit I started a converstion with the two girls behind me. They were Kate and Nicole, two americans who were travelling before heading back to study in the U.K. It turned out that they had also had to scramble for accomodation at the last minute, and understanding my plight, when I asked them after probably less than hour of knowing them they aggreed to let me share their hotel room. Thus I spent my first night in Paris sleeping on the floor of slightly scuzzy and odd looking hotel room, sharing a room and a laugh over the odd lighting with two poeple I had met a few hours before. Maybe not the most romantic begining to my stay in Paris, but the next day was just ahead, and it included a free breakfast.
Sorry, but that is all for now, I will finnish Paris later but right now I have to go to sleep because tomorrow I am off to explore another Capital, Berlin.