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Western Europe Wiggle
  • Glen

Western Europe Wiggle

A 82-day adventure by Glen Read more
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  • GlenWestern Europe WiggleTraveler

    Edinburgh - last day jumble

    August 16, 2015 in Scotland ⋅ ⛅ 16 °C

    First, the view from my hostel window! It's more fancy than my last hostel (although it seems most side streets in Edinburgh look very picturesque like this). More importantly, it's much closer to everything than my last place.

    Next, the seat of authority in a dystopian future? No? Just what Edinburgh built to commemorate a famous novelist.

    Then I went to the Botanical Gardens. Very pretty, and very manicured through most of the garden. Also had a nature-based art exhibition in the visitor centre that I found very interesting (the pic is composite photography from many sides of a tree).

    Finally, one of the last Fringe shows I went to, and one of the best (for me). There were gamer/developer/comedians talking about games and questioning the audience, then the comedians had to compete in various retro games on stage. Ended up being both interesting and very funny.    Read more

  • GlenWestern Europe WiggleTraveler

    Oban - arrival/exploration

    August 17, 2015 in Scotland ⋅ ☀️ 18 °C

    Exploring Oban on my first day here. It's a small seaside town that feels very much like Paihia in NZ (without the nice beaches, but with more history). Oban is mostly used as a port on to the Hebrides islands, rather than a destination so somehow feels a bit less vibrant and happy than Paihia.

    On top of the hill overlooking the town there's a kinda bizarre hollow circular structure, McCaig's Tower, architected and commissioned by a wealthy philanthropic banker around 1900. Turns out they stopped building it when he died, with only the outer wall completed. Nice views from there though!

    Walking along the coast, you come to the ruins of Dunollie Castle, a properly old (1400s) fort. There seem to be a lot of small forts around here, must have been a fairly unpleasant region over the last few hundred/thousand years. Unfortunately it was closed for the day so I just got a distant picture through the trees.

    Also interesting: all the signs here are bilingual: English and Scottish Gaelic.    Read more

  • GlenWestern Europe WiggleTraveler

    Lismore - island hiking

    August 18, 2015 in Scotland ⋅ ☀️ 12 °C

    On the very strong recommendation of Adrian, I spent a day on the Isle of Lismore. I don't think it really lived up to his claim that it is literally the best and most amazing place ever, but it was very pretty, quiet, and relaxing. It's not one of the main tourist islands around here (like Mull, Skye, Iona) so there were just 3 other tourists getting off the ferry with me (pic 1) - no fighting the crowds here! It's called "the garden island" but I think "the farm island" would be more accurate, it is almost all covered in sheep/cattle farms.

    I followed the other tourists up to the cafe/visitor centre/museum (yes, it was all one building) and it wasn't supposed to be open yet (at 10:30) but the owner kindly opened it up for the crowd of (4) people arriving. I got a (hand drawn) map and proceeded to the ruins of Castle Coeffin (pic 2, it's about 800 years old) on the cafe owner's recommendation.

    The way to the castle was quite unclear - had to go down driveways alongside fields and through closed gates. At one point I got a fright when farmer in a nearby field stopped his tractor and angrily yelled "what're ye doin'? Ge' over here!" a few times... before I realised he was yelling at his dog. Whew.

    Next, I hiked to the highest point on the island. Only 127m up, but quite difficult because there is no path (and I also have quite inappropriate hiking shoes) - so, finding my way over streams and fences and avoiding mud, poop, and thistles. Worth it for the spectacular views though, here is a photo sphere from the top: https://goo.gl/photos/Ep19iHkX73jAWjJu6 and there are a few more pics on this post.

    Finally I hiked back down to the road, past the lochs (one in pic 6), toward the lighthouse at the south end of the island. Unfortunately (after jogging a bit in a last ditch effort) I had to turn around to make it back before the last ferry left. Less than a kilometer (judging by GPS) from the end of the road, but I really didn't want to be stranded there overnight!

    Despite what everyone says about Scotland, it was hot and sunny all day, and I even got a bit sunburned!    Read more

  • GlenWestern Europe WiggleTraveler

    Scotland - Bye!

    August 19, 2015 in Scotland ⋅ ⛅ 20 °C

    I've had a great time in Scotland, with warm and often sunny weather, and only a few short, light rain showers.
    I'd like to come back to Edinburgh again NOT during festival time, I think it'd feel like a different city. I'd also like to explore more of the Hebrides islands, it seemed like there was a lot to see and I only scratched the surface.

    Through random coincidence, Tim and Kristina (https://timzic.wordpress.com) will be arriving in Edinburgh at almost exactly the time I'm leaving. We'll probably be in the same building at the same time but never see each other on our respective European trips.    Read more

  • GlenWestern Europe WiggleTraveler

    London - walking tour

    August 20, 2015 in England ⋅ ⛅ 20 °C

    Back in London again, staying at another cheap hostel but this time it's very close to a tube station, so not such a hike every day to get out.

    Finally got around to doing a (free) walking tour - kinda went through the same places I'd already been, but the guide of course had extra historical notes to make things interesting. Pic 1 is the alley they replicated for Nocturne Alley in Harry Potter, 2 is the National Gallery, 3 is Admiralty Arch, 4 is a statue of James Cook on the street between there and... #5 Buckingham Palace, looking appropriately ominous, 6 less ominous through the attached park.

    I quite liked this walking tour guide because he mostly let the interesting bits of history speak for themselves, unlike some of the other guides who try to be funny or super dramatic and it just distracts from the point of the tour.    Read more

  • GlenWestern Europe WiggleTraveler
    2

    London - portrait gallery

    August 20, 2015 in England ⋅ ⛅ 19 °C

    After the walking tour I wandered around and ended up at the National Portrait Gallery. Lots of past royalty and other people I didn't know. Here's:
    1: a bust of Edward Elgar (I played some of his music)
    2: Darwin
    3: Elizabeth II, in 1969
    4: George V and Queen Mary, huge with super ornate frame
    5: skeletal "gift horse", with stock tickers scrolling across the bow (temp art installation just outside), thought it was interesting
    6: Canada house, on the corner of Trafalgar Square and Pall Mall, monopoly points!    Read more

  • GlenWestern Europe WiggleTraveler

    Oxford

    August 21, 2015 in England ⋅ ⛅ 21 °C

    Did a day trip to Oxford. What a lovely town (full of (mostly) poor students (some, the children of super wealthy families) living in overpriced, but very pretty, accommodation)!

    I did a walking tour to learn a bit about the history, and saw a lot of pretty buildings, including the inside of a few colleges (each is almost a self contained university, walled off from the outside). Included the place/story where/how Lewis Carroll came up with Alice in Wonderland, and afterwards I had a pint in the pub where CS Lewis and Tolkien met for their weekly writing club.
    There was also the largest single-room book collection and (although I didn't get to see it), there are multiple miles of library tunnels full of books connecting some of the main buildings.    Read more

  • GlenWestern Europe WiggleTraveler

    London - Hyde Park / Portobello market

    August 22, 2015 in England ⋅ ☀️ 29 °C

    Glorious sunny up to 30° day (predicted rain for the next week) so, making the most of it, I rode a bike around Hyde Park. Turned out to be an excellent option because there are paved paths and it's almost flat, although you're restricted to just a few paths in the park. Also it's huge.
    There were some big crowds in places but they certainly had space to spread out (some places were almost empty too). I always like parks in cities.

    Next off to the largest antique market in the world, Portobello markets. This was a long street market (plus shops too) with a focus on antique stuff. I wasn't tempted to buy anything (except food) but it was interesting to see all the weird and old stuff displayed in the stalls.    Read more

  • GlenWestern Europe WiggleTraveler

    London - Camden Market

    August 23, 2015 in England ⋅ ⛅ 21 °C

    Went to Camden Town, a very short tube hop from my hostel. Basically it's a big, busy street market with lots of great crafts and amazing food. The best bit was the free samples from all the food stalls (student instincts in full effect - I sampled everything, some twice). Very cool stuff (although I didn't buy anything because I don't want to carry it for two months).
    Then it rained. Time to make an exit.    Read more

  • GlenWestern Europe WiggleTraveler

    London - V&A Museum

    August 23, 2015 in England ⋅ 🌧 17 °C

    Seeing as it was raining, I decided to see a museum. This one wasn't even very crowded (in relative London terms).

    Great museum, mostly of artistic stuff throughout history. I particularly loved the superbly detailed marble statues (#1. Valor crushing Cowardice, #2. Neptune and Triton, #3. Ceres, goddess of agriculture, oak).
    I never knew how large Michelangelo's David was (#4, a plaster cast of the original).
    There was also other interesting stuff. #5: a lamp made out of concrete, bronze circuitry, LEDs, and dandelion heads. #6: Edward Snowden's laptop, destroyed after it held the leaked information. Also a section about glassmaking through history.

    A huge museum! I spent maybe 5 hours here and had to rush through some bits to see it all (although I still feel like I might've missed some stuff).    Read more

  • GlenWestern Europe WiggleTraveler

    London - Natural History Museum

    August 24, 2015 in England ⋅ 🌧 16 °C

    Another rainy day, another museum... only half of London had the same idea (#1). Even though there wasn't anything stopping people getting in besides how packed the front room was, there was a massive line outside. Luckily the rain paused while I was in line!
    Right inside, there's an almost-complete stegosaurus fossil (#2), awesome! There was also a huge line inside to get into the dinosaur exhibit (#3). You can also see in that photo that it's quite a beautiful building, too.

    And HEAPS of other stuff. (#4 is a whole large room full of different minerals / gemstones, #5 is a ~1500yo giant sequoia with rings labeled for historic events).

    Half an hour before closing time I lined up for the dinosaur exhibit, having rushed through some bits and missed other entire sections. Always cool, the dinosaurs did not disappoint (although I thought the earth/volcanoes/earthquakes section was just as good). I particularly like these fossil teeth where you can see serrations on the edge. Unfortunately I didn't make it through the whole exhibit (going was slow because it was super packed) before the museum closed and they ushered everyone out.

    All up 4 hours spent and needed more time! I should have woken up earlier!    Read more

  • GlenWestern Europe WiggleTraveler
    2

    Bletchley Park

    August 26, 2015 in England ⋅ 🌧 16 °C

    Went to see the now-famous (once top secret) wartime codebreaking center. There's actually quite a bit to see around the site and I think I spent a bit too long following around the audio guide (of the outdoors) instead of looking at the displays indoors.

    Most impressive was the working rebuilt replica Bombe (electro-mechanical-)machine, designed (but not built) by Alan Turing, to break the German enigma codes in WW2. Also interesting were the restored huts in which the codebreakers worked.

    I didn't realise until the end that there was a separate National Museum of Computing next door (that is separate because of an ongoing spat between the organisations). They had a separate entry fee and a replica Colossus (the first actual programmable electronic digital computer), also used for codebreaking. Unfortunately by the time I realised this there wasn't time to see it :(

    I did stumble upon an interesting little exhibit on radio, including amateur radio station, near the exit. It was inside Bletchley Park so free bonus!    Read more

  • GlenWestern Europe WiggleTraveler

    London - Greenwich & British Museum

    August 27, 2015 in England ⋅ ⛅ 17 °C

    After Bletchley Park I made my way to stay with Diane and Luke - thanks so much for having me! For my last full day in London I decided to cram in the two things I had been meaning to do but hadn't managed yet: Greenwich and the British Museum. As an added bonus I got to hang out with Diane all day as she came along too (solid effort after coming back from Japan yesterday)!

    To get to Greenwich we took a tour boat down the Thames (pro tip: 50% off voucher is online), providing a different view and commentary on many of the landmarks I'd seen before. Greenwich itself was a nice little town, and it's only a short walk up the hill to the observatory/museum/vantage point where the meridian line (#2) is drawn. I'm still a little hazy on how places claim to be the first in the new day on the west of that line, given that GMT+12 exists...
    The museum/observatory itself was not free(!) and maybe I've been spoiled but it didn't look worth the price.

    On to a much bigger and freer museum, the British Museum. Huge museum with tons to see - kind of an odd selection of artefacts collected from around the world. We were a bit limited on time so we just looked at the Egyptian, Greek, and Japanese sections mostly. The Rosetta stone was crowded but there was a replica in another section that you could actually touch and see up close. Lots of other cool Egyptian stuff like Cleopatra's mummy & coffin. The Greek section was mostly broken pieces of the Parthenon, a bit disappointing after the beautiful marble carvings in the V&A. The building itself had a very unique architecture too.
    Whew, busy last day!    Read more

  • GlenWestern Europe WiggleTraveler

    Madrid - ¡hola! & first impressions

    August 28, 2015 in Spain ⋅ ☀️ 31 °C

    Landed in Madrid. First thing I noticed was the super modern airport terminal, something I kinda wasn't expecting. This was true of the rest of Madrid too, (and I know this sounds bad but) for some reason I wasn't expecting a modern, clean, safe-feeling, very much first-world city. The metro here is relatively quiet (e.g. you could actually listen to headphones on it, unlike in London) and air conditioned. The metro stations are likewise clean and modern.

    I had only a minor language snafu when getting on the metro to leave the airport and finding out the train and metro are actually "distinto" from the man at the gate. Luckily, after a bit of mime, he let me get out and to the correct one (also luckily the airport fare is like 3 Euro not 17 pounds, because I had to pay that twice).    Read more

  • GlenWestern Europe WiggleTraveler

    Madrid - hostel

    August 28, 2015 in Spain ⋅ ⛅ 33 °C

    My hostel is on a quiet side street where everything seemed to be closed. Not sure if due to siesta our economic issues (arrived in 30°+ weather, around 5 pm). However, it's close to everything, cheap, and actually very nice, despite being called "OK Hostel". Definitely the best hostel I've been in!

    Also free brewed coffee and an espresso machine to use... looks like I'm renewing my caffeine addiction here!

    They also have a 3 course dinner prepared by a chef with free beer/sangria while you eat. Only ten Euro, nice! I didn't bother cooking my first night so had the hostel dinner, yum! Also a great way to socialise and meet people in the hostel!    Read more

  • GlenWestern Europe WiggleTraveler

    Madrid - walking tour

    August 29, 2015 in Spain ⋅ ⛅ 27 °C

    The Hostel provides a free walking tour, so decided to tag along instead of the usual free "New Europe" tour. Bit of a mistake - the guide didn't seem to know too much about most places we visited, but it gave me a nice intro to the city.

    #1 typical old-style Madrid buildings
    #2 Plaza Mayor, a huge square with 237 apartment balconies and many shops/restaurants around the edge (and also the awesome bubble-blowing guy mentioned by Tim/Kristina when they visited :D). It was only 11am but this pic kinda gives an idea of how hot it was.
    #3 Almudena cathedral, rotated to most attractive angle! Constructed over a century, different sides are in different architectural styles. This is gothic style and the other side is a much more subdued baroque style (because it's facing the royal palace and had to match, or at least not outdo!)
    #4 the royal palace, or Palacio Real, with its ludicrous 3,418 rooms. The royals don't actually live here anyway
    #5 "Gate of the Sun", or Puerta del Sol, is the center of Spain's radial road network, and mostly just a big touristy square. Not really as nice as plaza mayor.
    #6 a cute statue of a bear eating from a "madrone" red berry tree, the heraldic symbol of Madrid    Read more

  • GlenWestern Europe WiggleTraveler

    Madrid - (walking &) food!

    August 30, 2015 in Spain ⋅ ⛅ 21 °C

    I did another walking tour today, learned a lot more history than on the hostel's walking tour, but mostly visited the same stuff. Here's a picture of the royal palace gardens and a neat 3D door sculpting I came across.

    More importantly, I sampled some Madrid food, and it was delicious! First up, a visit to the semi-authentic "100 montaditos", a fast food chain that serves mini sandwiches/burgers for 1 Euro each on Sundays. It was tiny but tasty! To finish lunch, slices of brie, which is less expensive than regular cheese at the supermarket. Also it surprised me (after at least 15 mins searching the supermarket) that fresh milk is not sold commonly, with UHT milk sold instead.

    For dinner I went out to a tapas bar (Das Meigas - "the witches?") recommended by the tour guide. He said it was where locals go, and he was right - nobody spoke English but I was able to get the idea across with "tapas?" and "tinto de verano?" (the common type of sangria here) and the masterstroke "otro, por favor" (another please). Each time I was given a different dish with my sangria. It was good! I tried to subtly take photos of my food at the bar, so they were probably complaining about tourists to each other but I couldn't understand a word.

    To cap things off, I went to Chocolateria San Gines, known for its churros and chocolate. I got porras instead (thicker than churros), and the chocolate is essentially liquid chocolate in a coffee cup for dipping. I made a valiant effort but couldn't finish. Yum! Urgh, too much!

    P.S. After midnight Madrid is a lovely 23°, great for walking in t-shirt and shorts :D    Read more

  • GlenWestern Europe WiggleTraveler

    Madrid - city exploring

    August 31, 2015 in Spain ⋅ ☀️ 27 °C

    I wandered over to the west side of the central city to see an Egyptian temple on a hill - not very spectacular, but there was a decent view from there.

    Walked down the main street (Calle Gran Via) - lots of shops and dept stores, and I noticed they have "Dunkin' Coffee" here instead of Dunkin' Donuts, a name that makes little sense (in English at least).

    Stopped for a traditional Spanish tortilla (egg and potato omelette with some filling). Good, but this one was very salty and also huge.

    Lots of nice mini-parks between streets here. Also lots of monuments/statues like the Puerta de Alcala pictured.    Read more

  • GlenWestern Europe WiggleTraveler
    2

    Madrid - Retiro park

    August 31, 2015 in Spain ⋅ ☀️ 23 °C

    Madrid has a huge park east of the city center, kind of like the Auckland Domain but bigger, nicer, and more popular. It has tons of paved/dirt walkways, fountains, statues, buildings, and a lake. Very nice.

    There's a modern art museum in the park too. Someone had put wooden blocks in various simple patterns. I don't understand modern art.

    The Crystal palace there was neat too. Hard to see in the photo but it's all glass and you can see right through it.    Read more

  • GlenWestern Europe WiggleTraveler

    Madrid - more art, streets

    August 31, 2015 in Spain ⋅ ☀️ 23 °C

    Briefly visited another art museum. Interesting building with glass elevators on the outside. Took a photo of a Picasso before the attendant told me off (there were no photo-prohibiting signs around there, I swear!).

    Interesting thing here: almost all the streets are "Street of (person or thing)". This was the corner of Jesus and Saint Mary streets. My hostel was near Street of the Studies/Studios.    Read more

  • GlenWestern Europe WiggleTraveler
    2

    Madrid - more wandering

    September 1, 2015 in Spain ⋅ ⛅ 27 °C

    Last day before conference, wandered back through another part of Retiro park and to Atocha train station, where they had converted an old terminal into an indoor park (with a tortoise pond!).

  • GlenWestern Europe WiggleTraveler

    Madrid - hotel

    September 1, 2015 in Spain ⋅ ⛅ 28 °C

    The one hotel I'm staying in during this trip. Living it up! Nice to have a whole bed/bathroom/space to myself but feels so isolated compared to hostels. Not much in the surrounding area either. My last hostel was so good I kinda prefer it!Read more

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