Europe: Manchester, England

The last leg of my United Kingdom journey took me to Manchester, England where I was to meet up with a friend named Mike who works for Image Metrics (IM), the company I work for in California. IM also has an office there in Manchester so I had planned on stopping in to say hello to everyone, and Mike had offered to let me stay in the spare room in his house while I was there.


My train brought me into Manchester Piccadilly Station where I had a short five minute walk into the city center and the location of the IM office. Shortly thereafter I found my way and said hello to some guys I hadn't seen in months. I knew a couple of the them but I got to meet some others who I'd heard of but not met yet, so that was nice. A couple of times a year they come to the States to work for a few of weeks so that's how I'd met some of them already. These guys were still working technically so I tried not to bug them too much and instead hopped on my laptop and tried to recover three full days of no internet and soak up as much news and information as I could. Checking emails, replying to comments, learning about all the crazy stuff that'd happened while I was in Wales. I needed my fix! ;)

Towards the end of the day, Mike's girlfriend Kate arrived at the office and we all hopped on the bus back to their house about twenty minutes away. It's a very nice place in a seemingly great neighborhood in Manchester. They had a cat named Brian who reminded me a lot of our cat Charlie back on Cape Cod and he happened to be very friendly, so that was nice!

Mike had a Squash game to play that night that he couldn't get out of, since he is the team captain, so he'd be gone for a few hours. While he was gone Kate and I went down to a local pub called "Kim's By The Sea". There we were meeting up with a very close friend of theirs named Mora who had just that night arrived home from a year long stay in Caracas, Venezuela. She's studying for her doctorate and doing research into the role of education in socialist countries. We got to hear some great stories about her time there. We're brought up in America to hiss and cringe at the first mention of communism and socialism, so it was really, really interesting to hear first hand the perspective of someone who had lived there for a lengthy period of time. We heard a great deal of stories some fun and entertaining and others a bit scary, but all incredibly interesting. Mike arrived a bit later and told us how he had totally crushed his opponent and won the game, so we celebrated with four or five pints of beer. A couple more friends stopped by before we closed out the pub and headed back to Mora's house for more drinking and a backyard bonfire. They told me it had been raining constantly in Manchester lately and this was one of the first nights it hadn't rained, so a bonfire was perfect! We spent the night telling stories, drinking Venezuelan rum, and listening to some awesome music before stumbling back to Kate and Mike's place at about 3am.

The next morning was painful, but a traditional English breakfast at a nearby cafe and a nice, big cup of coffee made it all better. I think it was about noon before Mike got into work that day, it was slow going getting up and ready in the morning, heh. I went with him to the office for awhile and worked on some tools I had been writing, and just relaxed for a few hours fending off the headaches with aspirin and lots, and lots of water. I finished a pretty rad tool I had been building, so to celebrate I went out and got some lunch at a burrito restaurant nearby.

One of the main reasons I had come to Manchester was to see a metal concert. Dragonforce was playing that night at a local venue and I was able to get Mike and I on the guestlist because I've known the band for a few years. Since Mike didn't get into work until noon, he was a bit later than anticipated getting out of the office so I left a bit early to meet Kate and some of her mates at a pub called, "The Jolly Angler". We waited for Mike to finish up and then met him back in the city center where we headed off in the direction of the Manchester Academy, where Dragonforce was playing with Sabaton and a few other bands. A few pub stops on the way and we finally made it to the venue at about 9:30pm, where Dragonforce was just getting ready to go on. Great timing! During the set I did quite a bit of dancing in the mosh pit, and ended up with a body full of bruises and a swollen eye as souvenirs for the night. The band played for about an hour, finishing up a little after 11:00pm. Normally I'd hang out for awhile and meet up with the band and have a few beers but we were both seriously tired and banged up so we decided to head home instead of waiting. It was a short walk back to Mike's house thankfully and sleep was a welcome thing.

Dragonforce

The next morning we again went and got another epic English Breakfast at the local spot but this time Kate, Mora, and Rob came with us. It was about 1pm by the time we finished and during breakfast we'd decided it would be fun to go see an FC United game. They are a local football team that is quite well-known for being semi-new to the leagues but working their way up through them quite fast due to their skill. They had an extremely loyal fan base who follow them everywhere, so it sounded like it was going to be an exciting afternoon. We hopped into Mike and Kate's car and drove about thirty minutes to the field where they play. A bit early for the game, we hit the pub for a beer first and then found our way into the stands and got seats right behind the goal keeper. Calling them seats is a stretch really, since technically we stood up the entire time cheering and chanting. This particular team is in one of the lower leagues, sort of like what we'd call the Minor Leagues in America. As such some of the rules were different, and the one main rule difference for the crowds is that in the big-time Premiere League you aren't allowed to stand up at all. People kind of hate this, so to spite, in the lower leagues you always stand up the entire time! They literally didn't stop chanting, singing, and cheering for the WHOLE GAME. It was awesome, and inspiring to see such passionate loyalty from the fans. It's almost like the team and the fans are a single entity, the team is one the field playing as hard as they can while the fans are there to support them in every way they can. You can really see how the players are driven by it too, it makes such a difference when they cheer louder and heckle the opposing team. Like I said, inspiring to see such camaraderie. Unfortunately the team had a loss that day and some fans weren't all that happy about it. The keeper of the other team had actually punched one of the FCU players and started a fight on field, so the fans were tense and a fight broke out in the parking lot on the way out. Crazy stuff! Intensity and passion go both ways I guess right?

I was so tired after the game that when we returned to the house I ended up just relaxing for a couple of hours and doing some blog writing. We'd planned a pub crawl that night so we made sure to have a nice dinner, and Kate cooked us some vegetarian fajitas which were excellent! I got a great amount of food, got some rest, then suited up to head out that night and party.

The first place we hit was called "Briton's Protection". It was so packed that we only stayed for a couple of beers but it seemed a decent place. They have a giant selection of whiskeys to choose from if that is your fancy, but I just stuck to beer. Next stop was "Peveril of the Peak", a pub that had the entire outside covered in artistic tilework. I use to do tile work when I was younger so I had a vague idea idea of how difficult it was to build. It was really nice and to see the entire building covered in them too. Inside we played a few games of darts to 301, drank a few pints and met up with Rob and a mate of his. Rob had told us about a band that was playing at a place nearby called "The Green Room". We bounced over just in time to catch the headlining band we had come to see, a group called, "Thingamabob and the Thingamajigs". They were a pretty talented band that played funk music. They all had top hats on and one guy had an insanely awesome mustache. The kind you win contests with. In fact Rob told us last year he entered in the world mustache competition and placed well. It was excellent! At one point they played a song I think they called "The Monkey Song" or something like that where he made the entire crowd sit down and make monkey noises while he was playing. It was fun to say the least. Good music, good beer, good people, a great night so far. When the band ended we headed out for one last stop, a pub called the "Sandbar". This pub was excellent because it had Orval, my new favorite beer I had discovered in Brussels weeks ago. I drank a bunch of it. Mike, Kate and I discussed Belgian beers and hung out for a bit before we called it and trekked home to their place.

Peveril of the Peak

The next morning I woke up, packed my gear and got a ride to the airport with Mike for my flight back to Paris. It had been a great time in Manchester with some new friends and some excellent memories. Thanks to Mike and Kate for letting me sleep in your spare room and being so hospitable!

Europe: London, England

As the end of my days in Europe drew near, I had about two weeks left to plan what I wanted to do with the remaining time. For a bit I visited the idea of going to Morocco, Africa to surf near a village named Imessouane. I had the entire trip planned and was literally a click away from booking it, when I had some second thoughts and decided to go another route. The trip to Africa would have been some serious fun, and a great adventure...but with the money and time required I knew I could probably visit many more countries instead. So, first I went to Prague, Czech Republic. (Read about my trip to Prague here.) After Prague, I returned to Paris and had about ten hours before I had to leave again for my next stop: London, England.

My flight to London was around 2pm, so I left for the airport at a nice, comfortable hour for once as opposed to six in the morning or something like that. I had enough time that morning to eat a good breakfast, clean the apartment up a bit, and leave confidently knowing I hadn't needed to rush and probably didn't forget anything too important. Metro to the Roissybus again brought me to the airport and I checked in with no troubles and had a pleasant hour long flight to London Heathrow airport. Upon arrival in England I had to explain to customs why I was an American coming from Paris, but then leaving from another city and going back to Paris. She was nice and all, but in the end I ended up having to explain quite a lot for her to understand how I was doing all of this with no visas, etc. Finally I got my passport stamp and went off to find the underground trains, or the "tube" as the call it here.

A friend of mine who works at Image Metrics named Nick lives here in London and I was off to meet him in the city. I took the "Piccadilly Line" to the Piccadilly Circus stop and climbed out of the underground and into the city. My first impression was sort of a mellow, panic. There were about nine billion people around walking in all different directions, all with somewhere to be and quick. It was much like a Times Square sort of feel. I had drawn myself a map on how to find our meeting spot, but realized right away that I hadn't drawn quite enough and was pretty much lost right away. I was suppose to meet Nick at 3pm but hadn't even gotten off the train until about that time, so I was already late and had no idea where to go! My mobile phone is unusable due to not turning on international roaming yet so I couldn't call him...so finally I asked someone and he pointed me in the right direction. I was suppose to find "Soho", a lively area in London where the pub I was meeting Nick is located. A few minutes later and after asking one more guy for directions, I found the place and met up with Nick.

The first thing we did was head to a pub right on the same street named, "Crown and Two Chairmen". It was funny carrying my big suitcases into a pub, but luckily we found a back corner table against the wall where I had room to store them so they wouldn't get stolen, or forgotten after a night of drinking! We had a couple of pints there before a friend of Nick's named Joe arrived, and another guy named Mike shortly after that. Joe worked with Nick at Autodesk and Mike was a friend of Joe's who works for HP. We spent the next few hours drinking and talking, telling stories, etc. Mike has a lot of foster children so hearing stories about them was cool. He's also an avid reader and recommended some books I should read. "Why God Created The French", "The Lovely Bones", and "How The Irish Saved The World". He is Irish and spent a good bit of time telling me all about the torrential rains in Ireland and how some of the smaller villages were almost completely underwater. Doesn't sound like too much fun, you know...being underwater. As the beer kept flowing, the stories became more and more exaggerated which turned into a pretty funny memory now...we kept giving him shit all night about his whole country being underwater. A friend of all of theirs had a band who was playing in King's Cross, London so we all hopped into a taxi and made our way to a pub called, "The Cross Kings". Technically, their friend was the singer but had left the band and they now had a new singer. Apparently she didn't leave the band of her own will and had been ousted due to her traveling, so the new singer on stage was a bit of an awkward scene. It was a bit of a critique more than just enjoying it for some. The band played some decent funk music and was fun to listen too though in the end. We stayed there for another few hours until about 11:45pm and then Nick wanted to head back so we didn't miss the last train to his place.

On the way home, we managed to almost miss the train we were already on by getting off thinking it was going the wrong direction. It was going the right direction afterall, so thankfully we got onto the next one which was actually the very last one of the night...then we somehow lost the ticket on the way out and narrowly avoid a 50£ fine when the guys just got annoyed with us and let us out for free. Finally we made it off the train, and found some food at one of London's premiere Kebab shops (or so I hear anyway.) Next we stumbled onto a bus, met a guy from Montreal, and finally made it home to Nick's place where his two awesome dogs named Coby and Mojo were waiting for us. His girlfriend Kim was away for the weekend so the dogs were happy to see people after most of the afternoon alone. The couch was nice, and sleep came quickly.

The next morning I woke up to the dogs climbing all over me and a bit of barking, but feeling relatively okay considering how much beer I had put down the night before. We spent the morning relaxing and watching some European Football and planning out what to do that day. I had to budget wisely since my bank won't let me take money out anywhere but France, so if I overspent I'd be stuck with no cash. Nick had suggested I explore the South Bank area so I walked to the nearby train station and caught a train to Waterloo Station.

The South Bank is a nice area in London that is on the south side of the Thames river that runs through the city. It contains the "London Eye" as well as a good amount of museums, restaurants and markets. In fact, there were many christmas markets setup all around the area, similar to the ones I saw in Prague. Selling all sorts of trinkets, holiday gifts, great foods, beer, and loads of other things. I spent a few hours wandering through all of this, exploring the area. I came across a lot of interesting things on the way. A large group of people holding signs that read "FREE HUGS" and "PRACTICE RANDOM ACTS OF KINDNESS". They were a bunch of young guys and girls just giving hugs and giving out free candy, pretty cool. :) I saw some street performers dancing and singing, a couple of Mimes, and all sorts of characters performing various, random tasks to entertain the flocks of tourists walking along the banks of the Thames. Towards the center of the South Bank area is the Westminster Bridge, which when you cross it to the North side leads you to Big Ben, the Houses of Parliament, Westminster Abbey, Buckingham Palace, and all sorts of other big London sights. It was rainy quite hard so I only walked across the bridge to get an up close peak at Big Ben, and decided I'd come back for the full tour tomorrow. As it went there was a giant protest going on in the area about Global Warming and Climate Change. So many people had come to protest that they had closed half of the Westminster Bridge and there were enough people to fill up the entire thing. It was a sight to see for sure. I snapped a couple of photos with my cellphone and headed back towards Waterloo Station and the train towards Nick's place.

View From Westminster Bridge - Thames and the London Eye

Climate Change Protests on Westminster Bridge

Back at the house, I spent the rest of the afternoon relaxing and writing the rest of my blog post about Prague. We watched a game of Rugby which was fun, I'd never seen it played before so I learned about the rules of the game and such. Around dinner time we decided it would be cool to make some sushi for dinner, so we got some supplies at a local market and came back and made some epic salmon and creamed cheese rolls with cucumber and avocado. Not a bad home made meal! Nick is moving to the States soon and as such he cannot bring his wine collection with him. He offered to drink some since it might have to get sold or go to waste anyway, so we ended up drinking a couple of bottles of some real good wine. I wish I could remember the name of the wine...but I never can. Watched some football games and a couple of films and called it an early night.

Street Performers on the South Bank.

Christmas Markets bustling with people on the South Bank.

Even with the early night I don't think I got up until about noon. Traveling is exhausting! After a cup of coffee and a shower, we took the dogs for a walk through a nearby park and then went for some lunch at a spot called "Nando's". Then, a drink in a neighborhood pub called, "St. John's House & Secret Library". It's actually two separate pubs in the same building which is kind of interesting. Tasted a beer here called, "Tiger" which was excellent! Later on we went back to Nick's place and Kim had returned from her trip in Paris. We were introduced, chatted for a bit and then I grabbed my stuff and left for the hostel I had booked nearby.

About fifteen minutes later I was headed to the train and realized that I had forgotten to write down directions on how to get to the hostel from the train station. I knew the name of the road, and I remembered from looking at the map that it was right next to it practically so I figured I'd just find it. Mistake. I got off the train and spent about forty-five minutes looking for it before I had to admit defeat and find a map. I ended up walking up and down this one road about five times and in the process, lost my beanie (hat) that'd been in my back pocket. Noooo! I had a spare but it was back in Paris...so now I'd need to go the rest of trip in the UK without a hat. Shit! It was damn cold and I'd regret this later for sure.

Skateboarding and Graffiti area on the South Bank.

I finally made it to the hostel called, "The Walrus Waterloo". It was pretty nice looking when I walked in, a bar in the downstairs of it filled with people and in a nice area right near the South Bank and Waterloo station. I got signed in and went up to my room where I met four people from Spain! That week there was a holiday in Spain so the four of them had taken a trip to London for the week. They didn't speak a lot of English so I didn't talk to them all that much, but it was nice to meet some more people anyway. That night was kind of mellow, I spent some time wandering around the area and had a couple of beers but went to bed relatively early.

The next day was excellent. The hostel had a free continental breakfast in the morning with toast, cereal and coffee which was a perfect start to the day. I filled up, grabbed my coat and scarf and headed out for my first touristy stop of the day, Westminster Bridge. This is the same bridge the protest had been on a couple of days earlier, but now it was nice and clear. It was a bit of a cloudy day which was a shame but besides that it was a tremendous view of the surrounding areas from the bridge. When you cross the bridge to the North side of the Thames River you are met eye to eye with Big Ben, the famous clock that sits outside of the Houses of Parliament. I took some photos, enjoyed the view, sat in awe of the amazing architecture of the buildings and then moved on to the next stop, Westminster Abbey. It's amazing as you can imagine. I spent about an hour there walking around and looking at everything. I didn't have my camera unfortunately but I snapped a few pics with my cellphone.

Houses of Parliament and Big Ben.

After the Abbey I left and kept walking North towards the Royal Parks and Buckingham Palace. The parks are absolutely stunning, they're so huge that I spent a good two hours just walking through the different areas and looking at birds, wildlife, flowers, and all the things it had to offer the passer through. When you get through the parks, you come across Buckingham Palace, where the British monarch lives. (The Queen, etc.) It was just like you'd think really, enormous, beautiful, filled with tourists and people walking around snapping photos, and those guards with the really big black furry hats who aren't allowed to talk or even acknowledge your existence. It was definitely a cool thing to see. I got lucky and happened across it right in time for the "Changing of the Guard" ceremony at the front of the palace. It's sort of a parade where the new guards march down the street and replace the guards in the front of the palace, it happens once per day. Random, but it reminded me a lot of the scene in Final Fantasy VII in the town of Juneau when the Shinra soldiers are marching down the streets. :) After seeing it all I spent another hour or so in the parks before heading back towards the hostel for a beer and some lunch. I stopped by the Christmas Markets on the South Bank on the way back for a beer and a brought-wurst German sausage. It was excellent.

Buckingham Palace

I don't even know what this crazy bird is! Anyone know?


"Great Tits" are a common sight in the Royal Parks during the colder months. Har Har.

That night, since I hadn't met anyone at the hostel I took the train back to Nick's place and had some dinner and wine with him and Kim at a restaurant called "Out of the Blue". It was unique because on Monday nights they allowed you to bring your own wine to drink as long as you paid a £3 corking fee per bottle. Nick brought along a couple of his epic wine bottles and I ordered the Mussels and chips again...a recurring theme! I've tried them now in four different countries, and...London wins. They were so, so good at this place. Anyway, dinner was fun. You can also bring your dogs with you to this restaurant so Coby and Mojo hung out under the table while we ate and drank. We talked for hours about all sorts of random things, telling stories and enjoying the wine. After dinner we said our goodbyes and I promised to help Nick and Kim move once they got into their place in the States. They had been so hospitable and nice to let me stay with them that I had to repay the favor! The train took me back to the hostel where I had a beer in the pub and went to sleep.

The next morning I caught the "tube" to London Euston Train station and got onto my train headed for the city of Bangor in Northern Wales.