Cities on two coasts - Brighton & Liverpool

25 October - 01 November

I caught a train down to England's south coast and Brighton. I had a brief look around in the afternoon at the somewhat tacky but iconic pier and the arcade and amusement park on it, before catching up with two friends I met in Cusco (Peru), Daile and John...

The pier in all it's glory on a typical Brighton day

Had you forgotten you were in England? Don't forget your mushy peas.

In true Cusco-cum-English style, Daile and John Fev showed me some of the evening sights of Brighton (beer and fish and chips, in other words). It was great to catch up on the post-Cusco South American travels we'd each had, reminiscing on stories and the other friends we'd made there. The next morning didn't feel so good... But I met up with them again for brunch anyway.

Fev was playing around with the camera at brunch

Brighton also has a couple of pretty cool shopping areas called The Laines and North Lane, the latter of which had all sorts of interesting hippie type shops (that I never would buy anything from). The former looked like this.

The narrow alleyways of The Laines.

I spent my last day in Brighton relaxing, a bit of blogging, wandering around The Laines again and later on sheltering from the stormy rain that came through. I decided to find some live music though and found an electric blues band to accompany a few beers with strangers.

I'd booked a cheap train ticket with three connections all the way through to Liverpool for the next morning, and woke up to news of railway mayhem - all sorts of closures due to the previous day's storm. Eventually I ended up being waved through various ticket machines in London and ended up on the much more expensive express London-Liverpool service for the price of my original ticket, and arrived earlier than scheduled. Sure.

That evening I headed out with two French guys in the hostel, after dinner heading to The Cavern Club, which is famously where the Beatles first ever performed. Unsurprisingly, the club is now home to musicians playing almost continuous Beatles covers, and we joined in with everyone else singing Hey Jude, A Hard Day's Night, and almost everything else you could think of. The restaurant next door was open for great dinner "Eight Days a Week". Of course, the next day, I went to the Beatles Museum, which was pretty interesting with all sorts of memorabilia, interesting facts and figures etc.

Entrance to the Beatles' first ever performance venue, Liverpool's The Cavern

A wall of fame of Cavern Club, on Mathew Street, with all bands who played there between 1957-1973 as well as some who have played there since it's reopening in the 1990s.
Names included: The Beatles, Queen, The Who, The Rolling Stones, Oasis, Elton John, Rod Stewart, Eric Clapton, Howlin' Wolf, The Kinks, John Lee Hooker...

The other thing I wanted to do in Liverpool was to visit the home of Liverpool FC, Anfield, so I headed out to the famed ground and joined a tour. It was well organised, and included the dressing rooms, the press room, and of course the ground itself and the (in)famous Kop stand.

Outside the stadium

You'll Never Walk Alone

Welcome to The Kop

The Kop from inside

Liverpool FC's dressing room

Liverpool's Champion's trophies

Later, down on the waterfront, I spent some time in the Maritime Museum, which had some good displays on slavery and the Titanic, and found Liverpool's famous Liver Bird.

On the Liverpool waterfront

The Liver Bird atop the Docks of Liverpool building

For my final night I couldn't help but go back to the Cavern Club again for some more Beatles sing-alongs with two other guys from the hostel. This time there was an exciting twist... Being the person there from the farthest away (go New Zealand!) a guy playing covers asked me up onto the stage to "stand where Paul McCartney once stood and sing to the crowd" - some 200 people! That was a pretty cool experience...

On the stage at The Cavern Club singing John Lennon's Imagine

I was down to my last week in Europe, with one final stopover - to see my old friend Max in Oxford, the pinnacle of English teaching.

Would y'like a cup of tea with y'London, guv'nor?

22 - 25 October

A bus from Cork to Dublin and then a flight to London took me into the capital of the motherland, England. I'd been to London once before, but only overnight on a school trip in 2004, so it was a good opportunity to explore the city properly and get a real taste for English hospitality.

I arrived late afternoon and decided to head out to a performance of Shakespeare's As You Like It at the site of the former Rose Theatre, a contemporary to the Globe Theatre where Shakespeare's company was famously based. It was a good performance - a pared back version of the play in a tiny auditorium seating just 30 or so, overlooking the architectural ruins of the Rose.

Afterwards I took a short walk along the Thames on my way back to the underground, and got this view...

Tower Bridge at night

The next morning I headed through Hyde Park along my way to New Zealand House to get a replacement passport, and then headed to the compulsory Buckingham Palace changing of the guard.

Birds sitting on posts in Kensington Gardens

Being from Wellington, how can I not post a statue of the Duke himself? At Wellington Gates near Hyde Park

Horses aren't allowed to cross yet.

Narrow view through the bars of the changing of the guard ceremony, Buckingham Palace

Procession at Buckingham Palace

Royal something on the gates

In front of Buckingham Palace

I walked down past the Westminster Abbey, Government Buildings (including Big Ben), and along the River Thames past the London Eye, snapping more tourist photos the whole way...

Atop Government Buildings

The River Thames, with Government Buildings and Big Ben at left and the London Eye at right

Then it was off to the reconstructed Globe Theatre itself, having been to the Rose Theatre the previous night. It has been constructed as close to the original as they were able to find out by research, about 300 m from it's original location, and is the only thatched roof in the whole of London, due to regulations following the Great Fire of London in 1666. The original Globe was the home to Shakespeare's acting company the Lord Chamberlain's Men (later the King's Men) and where the majority of his plays would have been first performed.

During summer, Shakespeare's plays are performed at the open-air theatre, but it is considered too cold in winter and unfortunately I missed the end of the performing season. So I joined a tour instead.

Outside the iconic Globe

View of part of the stage and auditorium

Imagine performing on this stage...
"Friends, Romans, Countrymen" or "To be, or not to be" or "All the world's a stage" or "Wherefore art thou Romeo"

The tour was quite well run, with stories about what attending and performing in the Globe would have been like compared to modern theatre, some of Shakespeare's lines, and a fair bit of humour. There was also a very complete exhibition about London in the late 1500s and early 1600s and Shakespeare's influence and contemporaries.

The only reason I left in the end was because they were closing. I walked back across Tower Bridge and past the Tower of London on the way back to the underground.

Tower Bridge at dusk, double decker bus and all

Walking along Tower Bridge

Tower of London

The next day I headed to another part of town - further north, towards Trafalgar Square and the National Portrait Gallery, and later to the British Museum.

 Nelson's Column in Trafalgar Square (Thanks Dean for the correction)

Ornamental lion statue (they're everywhere in London) in front of the National Portrait Gallery in Trafalgar Square

Statues in Trafalgar Square... Spot the odd one out? General Napier, Major General Havelock, King George IV and... A bright blue rooster. 

I also had another mission over my few days in London... Monopoly streets. I took photos of as many as I could find...

Maybe a bit weird. But awesome.

It was then off to Brighton for a few days, where I'd also catch up with some friends from Peru. But just in case you didn't feel British enough yet...

What would London be without phone booths?

Exploring Éire (Ireland) - Part 2

17 - 21 October

Inis Mór is part of a group of three islands, popular with tourists due to it's deserted, bleak karst landscape and nature of it's inhabitants, who identify themselves as strongly Irish and generally speak Gaelic as their first language. A morning ferry delivers everyone there, and I hired a bicycle to explore the island for the day, enjoying the quiet and the moody serenity of it all.

Harbour at Kilronan

Low tide

Some of the karst stone constructions viewed through a stone wall

Reputedly the smallest church in the world, at 3.2 x 2.1 m - Teampull Bheanáin

Panorama of the island

Western coastline of Inis Mór, somewhat reminiscent of the nearby Cliffs of Moher

The pre-historic fort of Dún Aonghasa, thought to date from 1100 BC, perched perilously atop the cliffs

Panoramic view from the Dún Aonghasa fort

After marvelling over the unusual beauty of the island for a little too long, I only just got back in time for the return ferry to the mainland. Unfortunately I only had just over a week to visit Ireland, and so the next morning it was off to the south of the country, and another day of bussing got me to the tiny spot of Ballymaloe, near Cork, where my cousin Robyn lives with her husband Darren.

Darren's family own a large farm, which also runs a cooking school and a boutique hotel with all of their produce sourced either from their own farm or locally. They live in a cottage on the property along with this cute little new arrival...

Baby Xanthe and I at Ballymaloe cooking school

Darren and Robyn were very good hosts for 4 days, and I was beginning to wish I was able to stay in Ireland a bit longer. I helped out a bit on the farm - as much as a city boy can (read: I followed Darren around one morning), and enjoyed the Allen family hospitality, both in the restaurant and for a couple of "shneaky pints" - stout only - at the local pub. Plus - I got some of Robyn's famous handmade soap!

Turns out I'm a bit of a wuss in a beekeeper's suit. When I got stung I ran away like a little girl.

Robyn, Darren, Xanthe and the dog defying Irish weather

It was pretty cool to see where Robyn lives, in this out of the way spot on the other side of the world. I also got to be the second person from her side of the family to get baby cuddles!

My last day in Ireland I got a lift into Cork itself to take a look around, and took the opportunity to visit the famous Blarney Castle, which dates from 1446. The huge grounds and castle were neat to look around, despite the drizzling rain, and of course I climbed all the way to the top to the kissing stone...

Central Cork

Blarney Castle walls

Blarney Castle grounds

View from the top

Gaining the gift of the gab at the Blarney Kissing Stone

I have to admit I very much enjoyed what Ireland had to offer, and was a bit sad to be flying over to the UK. I definitely want to visit this country again!