Belfast

My flatmate Kiron and I decided to go to Northern Ireland for three days. It was a great trip. We spent two days in Belfast and one day on the Northern Coast. The city has come along way since the Peace Accord in the 90's, but still has along way to go. The people looked like they had lived a hard life. One Irish pub we went to required us to get buzzed in. Something still in place from the days of the IRA. That same pub were we were the only tourist in the place and everyone could tell, there were a group of teenagers who played traditional Celtic music. I didn't' get a picture of it cause I didn't' want to make it any more obvious I was a tourist.


Belfast City Hall... was modeled after London's St. Paul's Cathedral.


Being a chemistry dork and standing below Lord Kelvin's (absolute zero) statue at Queens University.


The kneelers at Belfast Cathedral. On Sunday morning during our walking tour we happened to catch the last part of mass. The organ was massive and sounded awesome.


The very famous Crown Liquor Saloon. The National Trust took it over to preserve it. This was my favorite thing in the city. So ornate and with so much character.


Inside the Crown Liquor Saloon in our own private booth with a door and buzzer for service. Hard to even describe it all.

Northern Coast of Northern Ireland

We took a day trip up the Northern Coast of Northern Ireland. Despite being cold and windy the sun was out in full force. It was an incredible drive on the winding Antrim Coast up to Giant’s Causeway. The Giant’s Causeway is a World Heritage Site. It is four miles long and the main attraction is hexagonal shaped stones stacked in columns. I saw a picture of it in the Aylesbury library and said "we need to go there" and funny enough we did! Anyhow, the stones are supposed to have been formed from volcanic activity 60 million years ago and the cooling process formed these hexagonal shapes. I thought it was over-hyped until I saw it for myself and was totally in awe. This is the reason I have posted so many pictures of it!

We had been told about a rope bridge we could walk across but due to the 40 plus mph winds it was closed.

Standing on the edge of a cliff in heavy winds, it is a long way down.....


These were some cool stepping stones. So perfectly shaped.









This is the Dunluce Castle. Back in the 1600’s they were having a dinner party on a stormy night when suddenly half of the kitchen fell into the ocean killing some of the servants.


A weathered phone booth in the middle of nowhere


There were sheep everywhere. It reminded me of New Zealand.

Buckinghamshire

This is the place I called home for four weeks. The town I was in was Aylesbury. It was a small place and everything closed tight at 5:30. I did explore one day and found the old part of town that had a lot of character. I discovered it is the home of Roald Dahl and site of the film Clockwork Orange. The Waddesdon Castle was only a short bus ride away. I had been there previously with Andy and Hanne. This time all the flowers were in full bloom for the spring. I spent one Sunday at the Farm with the Harman’s (Henry and wife to be Lucy). We had a great time going door-to-door to visit with all the other Harman’s that live nearby and the rest that live in Chesham. It was great to see everyone and meet some new ones too. I had never had so much tea in one day. I was also lucky enough to have Hanne’s cooking twice while I was there. There was a big celebration for St. George’s Day the last week I was there. St. George is the patron saint of England. (St. Patrick for Ireland). There was a big festival in Aylesbury to celebrate. I’d like to think that perhaps they knew we were from St. George’s University and were having a good-bye party for us.




Waddesdon Manor


Market Square in Aylesbury






Down on the Harman Farm


View from Mary's


Archie (little Hannah's son) climbing in to check for eggs

Stratford-on-Avon

It was nice but I’m not sure it was worth almost 5 hours round trip in train travel to get there for a day. Anyhow, Chantal and I went. The city was very picturesque with the river Avon and all the scenery. We saw Shakespeare’s grave, the famous Royal Shakespeare Company and his birthplace. The best part though was when we walked a mile outside of the city to Anne Hathaway’s Cottage (the wife of Shakespeare). There were hardly any other tourist besides us. The famous thatched roof was in the middle of being repaired which didn’t make for the best pictures but it was still worth seeing.

Bath

Bath has England’s only hot spring. The Roman baths were very elaborate. Too bad they wouldn’t let me get in the water! It was a cold day when I went and that water was so toasty! It did taste the water, it was horrible. I could only take two sips of the “healing water". I guess you would be healed if you could bear to drink that stuff. Hopefully, my two sips will do me for a long time. The city was beautiful with amazing views of the countryside everywhere you look. I took a walking tour of the city with one of the blue badge guides and that was just skimming the surface. I only had about five hours there and I would love to come back and see more.

Reflection of the floor onto the bath




Bath Abbey in the background


Someone was kind enough to take my picture


This is where you can sample the water

York

I took some days off mid week to go with Chantal to York. We went to visit Joan who was finishing up her last weeks of clinicals at the hospital there. We had an awesome time despite the very chilly weather. York was probably one of my favorite cities and I was wishing I had selected to do my rotation there instead of Aylesbury. It had so much to offer. There were the old Roman walls that are virtually all intact around the city that were added to in the medieval times. The York Minster (an awesome Cathedral) was stunning. We climbed to the top and almost got blown away in the wind. There is a road called The Shambles that was a sight to see. It was the butches street so all the houses are built angled inward to prevent the sun from shining down on the meat.

I loved this...this guy was playing the piano in the rain without a care in the world. I stood for what seemed like ages waiting for people to move so it was just him. When it finally happened, the shot was blurry. We had to run to meet Joan and I never got the shot I wanted. But I have the mental one. It was awesome!


The red line is the division between the Roman (below it) and the medieval (above it).


What was a cathedral that King Henry VIII had to have destroyed because they were making too much money.


Freezing on our walking tour.


York Minster


View from the top!


The Shambles


By the river Ouse

Adventures in Great Britain

I had a fabulous time in England and Northern Ireland. I am still worn out from all of it. I managed to squeeze in a lot of traveling into the five weeks I was there. I didn't go to my rotation all that much since my consultant (the doctor in charge) was away half the time. It worked out well for me. I am going to post about all the place that I went along with some of the pictures. Can't put them all up. After that I will put up all the graduation stuff!!

Tourista is tired...

I think I have seen almost all of England and Northern Ireland at this point. I am very worn out at this point. I am heading back New York on Sunday. I can't wait to sleep in my own bed and have my blackberry!!! I will update more when I return! Ohhh and I graduate on May 3rd. Almost all my family (and Angie) will be coming so it will be awesome. More soon...

I had dinner with some of the Harman's last night. Mary, Henry and Lucy met up at a local place in Aylesbury. Mary and Henry (and Matthew) all work in town so that made it easy. I am going to spend some more time with them and the rest of the clan on Sunday. Last weekend Allison and Julie came and boy did we do lots of stuff. I will try to post a link once I get them up on ofoto. It isn't cooperating right now. The library has free wireless and doesn't block my blog! So that is why I am finally able to post some pictures.


Standing near Tower Bridge



This is the view from the top of St. Mary's Church in Oxford.

The picture above is one my dad just sent me. Apparently take right after I was born. Glad someone was there to document the moment! Thought I would share.

I ditched going into the hospital today and instead went to Oxford with my flatmate. It was only a bus ride away from Aylesbury. The countryside was lush and green all the way over. I sat up on the top of the double decker bus in the front seat with the best views. It is so beautiful here with all the colleges. There are 39 that make up the university and each one has a chapel and garden. The students are on break so there aren't any of the students and tutors in their regalia and so much history. This is where Alice from Alice in Wonderland is from! I will try to upload photos when I can find a place with wireless. Allison and her friend Julie come in tomorrow so I might skip work then too. We are going to be tourists in London for a long weekend. Then on Sunday three of my other friends from school are coming for their roations at my hospital for four weeks. More about the asia trip once things get finalized, right now they are up in the air.

the dark ages

I am living in the dark ages here. No internet (with access to the sites I use, the blog included), no cable (well two channels if that counts) and no phones (without spending a ton of money). I am getting lots of reading done though which is a good thing. Right now I am at the public library that lets me get to sites without blocking them! My house is nice and so is my flatmate and I have a full fridge too. The hospital rotation is fine. Just way more work than I have been doing in the past couple months. Please email me so I have more things to read when I sign on if you can. Ohhh and the good news is my mom and I are planning a round the world trip which will be focused on Asia. More details about that later. I am very excited about it. Allison and her friend Julie are coming to visit on Friday and staying till Tuesday. Hopefully I can get out of the hospital early to visit them on Friday and perhaps skip Monday too. Anyhow, back to the dark side.