Keeley Contributes

There have been comments made that I am not contributing to the blog… Which is unfair because I help Scott write this one, just he words it so it sounds too smart for me to have written.

Anyway. I'm not going to tell you about every day so far because that would be boring, you have already read Scotts (and a little it my) version. So you get the Highlights Package. A little bit about all of my favourite moments so far:

If you remember back to the start of the trip we landed ourselves in Hong Kong for a night. There we had the best noodles I have ever had in my life. I'm sad to say that Noodle Box will never quite be the same again. The markets were good too, the money I could have spent!

After that we headed up to Scotland, where I experienced a not so traditional Christmas. There is usually some alcohol at Christmas, but these people were excessive. And I can't leave out the worlds biggest trifle. Made in a 35 litre storage container. Not long after that there was the amazing torch-light procession and the New Years fireworks. Incredible. Also the Vodkat, it's Vodka, except so cheap and horrible that the Vodka experts refused to let it be called Vodka, or so I decided.

Riding the tube and the big red bus was cool, only because it reminded me of the game Scotland yard, and because it is so ridiculously famous. Continually seeing streets of the monopoly board never got old, for me anyway. I think Scott got over it pretty quickly.

Running into Tom at London Bridge, and been scared out of my head at the London Tombs (that scare attraction we visited which claimed to be the history of London Bridge????)

Sleeping at the airport not overly pleasant, but better then the 20 pounds in accommodation we would have had to pay.

Sleeping in a castle is not something I will quickly forget either, just like the insane run that we did down the road to get the incredibly infrequent bus.

Epic Nachos, they were like normal nachos, except with Bolognese sauce and there was enough for an army…

All time favourite place so far is Poland. It is going to be tough to beat. I love it here. When we arrived the place was covered in snow. I really like that we have the time to just stay here a bit longer and see places like Zakopane. It was indescribable; my vocabulary is way too small. Photos don't even do it justice. Trying to speak Polish was good fun, I think we are rubbish at it, but we tried and hopefully they appreciate that. Being better at Snowboarding then Scott was good to. Doesn't happen very often that I'm better at something, just ask my dad.

So that is my input to the blog, hope you enjoyed my compacted version, a full version will be available when I get home. I have been keeping a journal, so I have everything written down the same as Scott, just not as technologically.

Enjoy the hot weather, and get off my back about Scott doing all the work for the blog, he he he.

Keeley

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Day 33 - Zakopane

We woke up very stiff and sore today – our entire bodies hurt from the snowboarding. This led to a consensus to take it pretty easy today. We caught up with the guys from last night who had, by all accounts, a rather big one. Donny didn't get back to the hostel until 5:30am. We didn't really leave the hostel until noon, and went for a walk through Zakopane with Donny and Mark (our roommates). Overnight a lot of the snow had melted, and it was very slushy. The alpine magic of the place seemed to have lost its lustre, and we were very glad we snowboarded yesterday and not today. The sun was out, though, and it was a mild 8°C, so it was quite enjoyable seeing all the little shops around the place. By the time we were ready to leave at 2pm, our backs and shoulders made us feel every step to the bus station, and we journeyed back to Krakow. We haven't done much else, just made tea and Keeley attempted to bake a cake in a bench oven (like those griller things we used to toast sandwiches at home in). The cake tastes okay, but doesn't look brilliant. Tomorrow we head to Auschwitz, which will no doubt be a much more sobering experience than the last couple of days. Tonight we have returned to our hostel in Krakow, one because it is so good and two because we're staying for €4 a night each.

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Day 32 - Zakopane

Today we went skiing. Well, not really. First of all we hired snowboards (they had one in my size, yay!) for a fairly measly 40 Zł each for 24 hours (about ?10 or AU$20). We met a nice guy, Donny, last night and he told us to head to Bialka, a ski village with some really good beginner and easy intermediate runs. Unfortunately, we had to wait 45mins to find a bus that went there, and it was an old, dodgy looking 16-seater minibus and we were a little sceptical. Nonetheless we got on board and half an hour later, with the assistance of a Polish skier who walked us in the right direction, we found the runs. We were expecting a dodgy little town operation, but it was a very professional setup with about half a dozen chairlifts and some more t-bar lifts, and a cool magnetic ticketing system like a Oyster card where you just scanned in for each lift ride. We got an unlimited 9am-4pm pass for 65 Zł (around $32 each). The runs were magnificent, and the snow was amazing. When you go skiing in Victoria, the snow is really wet and icy, and you end up drenched. Here, however, it brushes right off you and we just wore jeans and our regular jackets and didn't get cold at all. I didn't even bother with a beanie and Keeley just wore her earwarmers, and we were fine. This was just as well, as I spent the majority of the first hour on my bum while I tried to learn to snowboard (something I've never done) by trial and error. Fortunately I worked out the theory fairly quickly and once I gained a little confidence I was enjoying myself a lot. I did feel bad for holding up Keeley, as she knew how to snowboard and had the added benefit of practising last night, but once I knew what I was doing (after lunch) we weren't that far apart in speed and she didn't have to wait longer than a couple of minutes for me at the bottom. I was lacking a lot of technique, and I struggled to turn on my toes, but for one day I'm pretty happy with myself. It was enjoyable and that's the most important thing. My legs are very sore though; not only am I lacking general fitness but holding the standing position for over a kilometre at a time was not easy.

 

We also tried some traditional Polish bread stuff, which was incredibly dense and very, very salty. Neither of us could stomach more than a mouthful, which was disappointing, but at least we tried it. Tonight we went out to the charismatic pub down the street with about a dozen guys from the hostel, which was really good fun. We also Skyped with our families, which was good and I think Mum particularly was relieved to hear our voices.

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Day 31 - Zakopane

Breakfast at the Premium Hostel in Krakow was excellent, with cottage cheese and some packaged cream cheese things with various flavours (eg mushroom, capsicum, chives, etc). There was even a container of coco balls for Keeley. The other great thing about this hostel is the staff – they are very knowledgeable. The girl on reception knew the bus details off the top of her head on how to get to Zakopane (our next stop for skiing), including price, frequency and even the exact bay in the bus station it went from. This proved invaluable with our inability to read Polish timetables in the bus station.

 

The bus ride was about two and a half hours, and wound through some pretty picturesque scenery. There is snow everywhere, and it's beautiful. Zakopane is a smallish ski village, and our hostel is conveniently located about five or ten minutes walk from the bus station. We checked in, had lunch, went exploring, then really jumped into it and built a snowman (Mr Cool). This took a little time as the powdery snow didn't stick together well at first. We kept at it and the finished product looked pretty impressive we think. The snow is just amazing – you can kick it or throw it and it just 'puffs' rather than spraying like you would expect from the icy stuff at home. Best of all, it doesn't really make you wet; you can fall over in it or have some on your clothes but it doesn't really matter unless you get seriously covered. Alas, we did discover this the hard way when we went skiing this afternoon. There is a small run (maybe one or two hundred metres) right in the middle of town, about a minute walk from the bus station. We hired a snowboard for Keeley and skis for me (there were no snowboard boots in my size) and spent an hour re-learning what we'd forgotten. It took Keeley a large number of attempts to master the t-bar lift up the hill, and I had enough trouble keeping my feet pointing in the same direction. Fortunately it only took us one downhill run each to get it right, and we had a lot of fun after that. Keeley had a very spectacular stack which has left her with a bruised bum and wet jeans, but other than that it was really fun and, again, not as cold as I had been expecting. The worst thing is holding onto the cold metal lifts. We're looking forward to a much bigger expedition tomorrow.

 

We also bought some pork for dinner, making the most of the exchange rate to eat well yet again. I even found some zucchini for the first time since I left home (Keeley didn't have any). She found what she thought was custard powder in the supermarket, and muddled her way through it but it turned out to be vanilla pudding mix instead. This didn't bother us and it tasted pretty good with peaches.

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Day 30 - In Transit to Krakow

We slept at Dublin airport last night, and it was not as comfortable an experience as Stansted. The PA system kept blasting out warnings about leaving baggage unattended and making sure we adhered to the 100mL rule all night. We were aroused by the Garda (Irish police) at about 1am to check everyone's passports and flight details. At first we were afraid they would kick us out, but they were very friendly and our theory is that they were looking for non-travelling homeless people just camping for the night in the airport. On the upside, our restless night allowed us ample time to pack our bags to the weight limit and check them in stress-free. It also meant I slept soundly on both our flights. We flew to Stansted, got waived through passport control (something about arriving from Ireland), stood in a long queue to get on our next flight to Krakow and before you knew it we were on the continent. It is a lot different here to the affluent Ireland we just left. For a start, the place is covered in snow. The airport is pretty tiny (much smaller than I had expected) and the suburbs are classic Eastern Europe stereotype. Snow is everywhere, the buildings are mainly grey and brown, and a lot are pretty run down. It feels grungy, like it's still trying to catch up to the 21^st century. It's exciting to be in a different place though, and in a strange way it feels a little like the outskirts of Hong Kong – I think it's the colours, or lack thereof. Everything feels grey and dull here. You can't knock the place we're staying though – Premium Hostel, a short walk out of the city centre, is clean, great value (around €12 a night each to stay in our own twin room), a pretty well-stocked kitchen, and very very friendly and helpful staff.

Tired, we didn't feel like doing much when we got here, so we went for a walk and bought some food for dinner. This was much more exciting than it sounds, though, as very few people speak even a little English here, and we managed to string some words and lots of sign language together to get a hearty meal. We are very proud of ourselves, given that we struggled to catch a bus here this arvo. We even got adventurous with our food – we found a ravioli-looking thing in the supermarket, and knowing nothing about it owing to our lack of ability to read Polish, bought it anyway. It turned out to be a bit like a Polish dim sim, at least that's what it tasted like, and we were doubly impressed with ourselves for not only experimenting but communicating in a foreign language to do it.

Tomorrow we're heading to Zakopane, a village in the mountains where we plan to go skiing. Through a fortunate twist of fate, it turns out we don't lose much at all to stay an extra four nights rather than getting a bus on Tuesday because of the prices. Of all the places in Europe, this is an okay place to be 'stuck' in that situation because the exchange rate makes it cheap. Keeley is very excited at this prospect, and it will definitely be cheaper than skiing in Switzerland or Austria (although we're not ruling that out… yet).

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Days 28 and 29

DAY 28 – CORK, BLARNEY, KILKENNY 15/01/2009

Cork is a nice city, it has a lot of character and a handful of things to do, but we had explored what we wanted to explore yesterday and wanted to make the most of our time in the south of Ireland. We caught a bus to Blarney, only 8km from Cork, and visited the famous castle and Stone. We were very glad we did. The castle looms over a spectacular garden, which feels wild and free unlike a lot of strictly regimented gardens at palaces. A short walk from the ticket office follows a river to the castle itself, the north wall an imposing sheer vertical wall above us, probably four or five storeys high. It's all self-guided, with signs everywhere giving interesting pieces of information. Before you actually enter the castle, you can walk underneath it in a couple of different secret passageways that were used to get into, or escape, the castle. It was strange to be able to actually walk right in them, quite a long way, because most places would have it roped off. This is the same in the castle itself – you can explore almost every room in it, which is very cool. It has a very romantic medieval ruin feel about it, which is spectacular. The stone itself is a rather quick affair, because the man supervising it is obviously used to the summer high season (there was only one other person in the grounds with us) and he was very much lay down, reach back, kiss it, okay you're done and move on. Unfortunately this meant that I didn't get a chance to get Keeley's photo at the stone properly, but on the upside my photo wasn't much worse than the photos you can buy for €10. Regardless, it was an experience that I think everyone should do if they're in Ireland – it was a great setup and really enjoyable.

We caught the bus to Kilkenny, fortunately getting an earlier bus than we had thought we'd have to, and continued the medieval theme of the day with a tour of Kilkenny Castle. It was brilliant value at €2.50 a head (student), as the guide was incredibly detailed, professional, easy to listen to, and gave a suitable aura of respect to the place. Some of the features of the castle are very interesting – it was originally a square plan, with four walls and a central courtyard, but the south wall was destroyed in an attack and torn down, giving it a U-shape. The whole building has been restored to its 18^th-century glory, including wallpaper like the bright yellow in the library (to reflect light and make it bright enough to read), the antique furniture (Keeley particularly liked the 'conversation chair'), and the gallery, which takes up the full length of one of the wings and has an ornately detailed hammerbeam roof and glass ridge to allow light in. It was one of the best experiences in terms of tours we had done.

We rounded out our very medieval day by staying in a castle. That's right, in a tiny town out of Kilkenny, there is a hostel set up in a castle. It's pretty cool, even if the caretaker seems a little out of it and the showers don't work. The dining room is set up with stone walls and the works. The only issue will be getting back to Kilkenny – it seems the bus doesn't run very regularly, so that could be fun…

DAY 29 – KILKENNY 16/01/2009

The castle in Jenkinstown was fun, and as a bonus we washed our clothes for free (usually €4 a load) and got upgraded to a twin room rather than separate dorms for the same €14 a night pricetag each. This is just as well, as there was nobody else staying there, and it would have been a very lonely night. As it was, there was a creepy echo when we finally got out of bed this morning (we treated ourselves to a sleep in) suggesting we were, in fact, the only people on the property. We didn't see the weirdo caretaker again, so we just packed our bags and had brunch. We called the bus company and discovered we had less than ten minutes to dash up the road 'Amazing Race'-style to get the next service for God knows how long. It was fun. We dropped our bags at the train station, and spent the next several hours just wandering round Kilkenny. There is quite a lot of construction work going on over here, both in Kilkenny and Cork – in Cork there were two really big commercial developments in the city centre and in Kilkenny there was a hotel, a shopping centre (just completed), an urban redevelopment at the castle, and lots of other little renovations going on. Keeley looked in vain to find some replacement boots (as hers have a leak in them when it rains) but settled on a litre of choc-chip ice cream instead, which we demolished while waiting for the bus. The rest of the day has been pretty uneventful – a bus ride to Dublin, fast-food for tea (Subway for yours truly and Supermac for Keeley – she really wanted to try it as we haven't seen it elsewhere), another run for a bus from Dublin (the 16A didn't really seem to be following a timetable), and setup for another airport sleepover. Dublin airport is much quieter than Stansted, and we're secretly praying we don't get kicked out or something stupid, but we should be okay. We fly to London then straight on to Krakow tomorrow.

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Day 27 - Cork

We got up nice and early to catch our bus here to Cork. Today marked a momentous day for a much bigger reason though – today was the first time in our whole trip that we've seen rain. Fortunately it wasn't torrential, just that annoying misty stuff that saturates you without really trying. It was also pretty windy, but not all that cold, which was good. We checked into our hostel (Sheila's) and went on a bit of a walk through Cork. It feels like a seaside town, with the river running through the middle of it, the grey skies and windy climate, lots of industrial and converted industrial buildings, but it has a cool vibe. There are lots of pubs and shops, though not as many as Dublin, and some really nice cobbled streets. We spent ages looking for the Butter Museum, which we thought would be really interesting and different, but when we finally found it we discovered it was closed until March. Dejected, we went south of the river to find the English market. We did eventually stumble on a pretty large food market, where we got some really good food deals. Anyway, it was really good value and we got a whole cooked chicken for €3 and some really nice bread for the next couple of days. We'll have to keep our eyes out for markets like this because it will make the trip that much better value.

 

We retreated back to our hostel with our food and checked the place out. It is one of the best hostels we've stayed in so far, its only downfall being that you have to buy breakfast rather than being provided. There is a really big commercial-style kitchen, free internet, clean showers, and… a sauna. That's right, we had a sauna this arvo for €2 (pretty cheap we thought). It was good to just relax after a fair bit of hectic travelling the last few days. I'd never had a sauna before and found it a bit uncomfortable, given it was so humid and around 55°C-65°C. It did give us a taste of what our families must be sweating through back home, but at least we could walk out of ours. Tonight we also had dinner with Johanna, Keeley's German exchange student from way back who is in Cork as a nanny for some rich people's kids. We went to a Chinese restaurant and ate lots, then went to a pub for a pint. It was good for Keeley to see her, but the conversation was a bit stilted (I suppose that happens when you haven't seen someone for three years). We'll see if the time with my exchange students works out like that.

 

Very importantly, and to my great elation, last night just before bed Lauren (our new Australian friend) allowed me to take her 40g Vegemite jar with me. Being so small it is safe from the evil airport security and I can once again enjoy the occasional piece of toast.

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