It Had Already Been Too Long.

Tags

Africa, Alps, Amsterdam, Austria, Belgium, Brussels, Cameroon, Delft, Douala, Dover, Europe, ferry, France, Germany, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, road trip, ski, solo, solo travel, Switzerland, travel, Yaounde

I haven’t even updated my blog yet about my trip to Baltimore, but here I am sitting at the Washington Dulles International Airport awaiting a flight to Brussels.

Belgium.

New territory.

Remember Johannes from my trip to Andorra from France?  He’s back.  He will be picking me up at the airport, a short 2 hour drive from his home in Germany.  Not the crazy 10 hour drive to Arles like last time…

I’m going back overseas again to return to Cameroon.  But, naturally, I’m always looking for a way to wring out more travel for nearly the same buck.  This time, I found a way to tack on an extra week of vacation which will equate to an entire paycheck for me not working and flying on days that are so much cheaper than the weekends that it actually pays for part of my trip.  Yes, Tuesdays are the best days to travel.  And I’ve been putting in hours over the weekend to save even more paid time off.

Not only will I be returning to Cameroon in Africa and to France, England, Germany, Switzerland, and Austria (maybe more), but I will also be adding the following countries to my seen-it list: Belgium, Luxembourg, Liechtenstein, and the Netherlands.

Johannes and I plan to go on a road trip from Belgium, Luxembourg, and France until we reach the heart of the Swiss Alps where we will go skiing and take an alpine incline, or so we hope.  From there, we will loop back through Liechtenstein, Austria, and Germany, visiting new cities and also spending the night at Johannes’s house.  I’m interested to see his hometown.  (We tried to get a couch surfing host, but we planned a little too late – we’ll see where we end up.)  He will then take me to the airport and I will return to Douala.

In Cameroon, we will spend the first free day in Limbe seeing the wildlife.  Monday next week we will have a meeting in Douala, then head up to the village.  We will only work for about a week, then we will fly out of Yaounde – a new city for me, officially the farthest south I’ve ever been and the farthest east I’ve gone in Africa.

When I land in Belgium again, I will leave my teammates and hit the street yet again.  My student pass still works in Europe, so I’m going to head to Calais, France and take a ferry to see the white cliffs of Dover.  The best part is, I have a whole sack of sterling left over from the last trip – maybe enough to pay for my whole day.  After I’ve seen the cliffs and enough of Dover, I’ll return to France, pass back through Belgium, and finally get to see Amsterdam and the Delft.  There’s a construction project I’ve raving about for the last 2 or 3 years and I’m so glad to say I will finally visit it.

I’m such an engineering dork.

I’ve just been so happy with how willing my friends are to see me in Europe, like Johannes and potentially my friend Carl from home and Ryan whom I met in Benin.  (Carl is studying abroad and Ryan moved to Paris.)  I’m also very pleased by the response I got at work when I asked for boot donations.  I received a large box full of donated construction boots that I gave to one of the students to bring to Cameroon.  We will donate them to the village.  This has earned me a feature with the office in our newsletter.  Oh, and not to mention my wonderful friend Jeff made a shoe contribution, picked me up at the airport yesterday when I had to return a rental from another trip, gave me snacks for the airport, bought me cat food that I couldn’t get when the store closed, bought me dinner, bought me lunch, and handed me a monetary “donation” when I refused to accept fiscal assistance.  What a guy.  And my friend Jess is driving from the west side to periodically check on my cats.  Shout out to all y’all!

Now I just need to remember to keep taking my malaria pills and not get anything confiscated by a corrupt government official…because, yeah, that’s happened before.  D:

From the Lake Districts to Edinburgh and the Highlands

Tags

anglais, architecture, buildings, camping, castle, Edinburgh, England, English, Europe, festivals, Grange, Great Britain, Keswick, Laggan, Lake District, Loch Ness, Loch Ness monster, Moffat, mountain pies, Nessie, Scotland, sleeping in car, Tattoo, tourism, Traffic, United Kingdom

We woke up to a drizzling morning.  Our car was freezing cold.  We rolled quietly out of the camp site and started back down the winding road towards Keswick.  This time the roads weren’t so intimidating and we could see how amazing the view was.  Some stray sheep darted across the road as we made our way out of Grange.  We passed back through a quiet Keswick on our way to Edinburgh.

When we found the highway, we started driving and I noticed on my map a town called “Moffat” that was just across the Scottish border.  ‘Moffat’ was my great-great-grandfather’s name.  Dan and I stopped in town just long enough for me to buy postcards and take photos.  We also stopped at the Mill to buy some souvenirs.  We chose to take the scenic route out of Moffat towards Edinburgh and photographed many scenes of sheep and steep, rolling green hills.  Before long we had arrived in Edinburgh were it was necessary to dart around the throngs of people attending concerts and the Tattoo in town.

We parked at the Omni center in Edinburgh and ate at a local place that had Wi-Fi for free.  We made the castle of Edinburgh our destination point, passing and photographing several other sites along the way as the city plans to install a new rail system.  We passed several magnificent buildings and picturesque streets full of crowds.  We made the way up to the castle, passing through the arena where the Tattoo plays and buying tickets to continue through the castle on a self-guided tour.  We could see the whole city from the hill, including the extinct volcano and islands surrounding the region.

After we had walked around enough, we headed out of Edinburgh for the Highlands.  We had decided to make Loch Ness our goal: we wanted to see Nessie!  We drove and drove and drove through endless hillsides, stopping once in Laggan for restrooms and later gas and snacks.  We bought some kindling, canned food, beer, and tin foil with the intentions of having a cookout.  By the time we reached Loch Ness, however, we weren’t able to pinpoint exactly which campground I had mapped out for us to use..  We found one which was probably the one I had found before, but there was no one at the gate.  We slipped in to find no tents whatsoever and chose to pull into an empty lot again.  We rolled up jackets in our windows and played Easy A on my laptop while drinking our beers and shivering against the definitive cold that lingers in northern Scotland.  It was a long day and we were longing for a shower, but the air was too cold to use the shower houses and the dark fog floating around Loch Ness was intimidating.

Scenery outside of Grange, England.

Moffat, Scotland!

A street in Moffat.

Me outside of Moffat on a scenic route in southern Scotland.

Sheep!

Laggan, Scotland.

Edinburgh, Scotland.

Edinburgh from the castle.

Me within the castle walls.

Me with Edinburgh in the background.  You could see the volcano from the hill.

 

Robin Hood and the Leeds Gay Pride March with Cousins

Tags

A66, bar, beer, camping, castle, Doncaster, driving in Britain, England, Europe, Gay Pride, Gay Pride March, Great Britain, Keswick, Lake District, Leeds, local beer, Nottingham, Penrith, pub, Richmond, Robin Hood, scenic route, Sheffield, Sherwood Forest, tourism, traditional food, United Kingdom, Yorkshire, Yorkshire Dales

We checked out early from our hotel so we could walk around Nottingham a little.  We went to the castle first then took photos near the walls and the Robin Hood statue.  We then headed out north towards Doncaster, passing Sherwood Forest on the way.  We stopped for some traditional breakfast at a rest stop on the way.  Before long, we were in Doncaster and pulling up to the house to meet Dan’s cousins.  We sat and chatted awhile over coffee before they took us into Leeds.

In Leeds, there was an enormous Gay Pride march.  When we first got there, it was busy but things weren’t too out of control.  We stopped for a beer and then went to a restaurant to eat.  From the restaurant, we could see men in heels and dresses and others running with gay pride flags running into the streets for the start of the parade.  There was also a man in a kilt and full outfit.  We had to walk back through this crowd on the way to the car to find the Royal Armouries.  The streets were so packed I felt like I was in India again.

When we finally got to our car and the Royal Armouries, we went inside and walked around the free museum to see all of the years of warfare and tools during the reign of England.  There were scenes from ancient times as well as scenes from the conflicts in India and other territories.  Inside a fancy tent set-up, we watched bits of film of jousting from movies.  In the corners of some rooms were stations where one could insert a pound and shoot and holograms.  This is when I learned that the cousins shoot trap.  They regretted not knowing before because they would have taken me shooting with them.

Back at their house, the kids showed me their guns and the grandpa talked about them.  Dan and his cousins took pictures together and talked about their families.  They also asked for pictures with me.  Before long, Dan and I had to be heading out.  We thanked them and followed some of his cousins in their car to the highway where they pulled over and waved as we continued on.  We set out sights on Richmond to the north, a stop along the way to the A66 which we were told we should take into the Lake District.  In Richmond, we were able to photograph the castle, waterfalls, and other buildings in the small town center.  We left and photographed a bit of the Yorkshire Dales before catching A66.

Our goal was to camp somewhere near Keswick for the night.  We became hungry and decided to stop in Penrith before we reached the Lake District in case things would be closed.  It was raining but we found our way into a quaint pub.  It was decked out in American license plates and we had wonderful conversations with the woman who runs it.  She’s been to America many times and loves it.  She opened the kitchen for us so we could have some traditional food and we also tried a local beer.  She and the older men at the bar gave us directions for a petrol station and we thanked her before heading out for Keswick.

It was very dark by the time we reached Keswick and we could not locate the campsite we saw on the map.  We circled the city a little before deciding to head south towards Grange.  The back roads were dark and eerie from the fog that was lingering on the pavement.  We turned to cross over a bridge and realized we must be next to one of the lakes.  We finally found a campsite, but no one was at the entrance.  There was no gate, so we drove in.  We found a spot that was empty and not near campers.  There were no other tents around and it was still raining, so we decided to lean back our seats and sleep in the car.  It was a chilly night.

Me in front of Nottingham Castle at the Robin Hood statue.

Leeds Gay Pride decorations.

Dan and family.

Crazy hair.

In the Royal Armouries.

Dan with family.

Dan with more family.

Richmond castle.

View from A66 passing the Dales.

Decor in the pub in Penrith.

Our local beers, peas, eggs, and chips.

 

Stonehenge, Wales, and the English Countryside

Tags

Amesbury, ancient ruins, anglais, British rain, British weather, car rental, Cardiff, Cardiff Castle, cousins, cycling, Doncaster, driving in England, driving on the left side, England, English, English countryside, Europe, family, festivals, Flake 99, Gaelic Football, GPS, Great Britain, Harry Potter, highway, ice cream, King's Cross, London, Monmouth, Nottingham, O'Neill's Pub, Platform 9 3/4, Robin Hood, Shakepeare's birthplace, Shakespeare's house, Sherwood Forest, standard transmission, Stonehenge, Stratford-Upon-Avon, taxi, tour, Tour London, tourism, Traffic, United Kingdom, visiting Stonehenge, Wales

The first thing we did this morning was return to King’s Cross to take a photo of us at the trolley passing through the wall at Platform 9 ¾.  The shop where we bought our things yesterday was closed, so we took photos and left to find a cab.  The cabs in the UK are old-fashioned and we wanted to be sure to ride one, plus we didn’t feel like walking all the way to the car rental place and being even more behind schedule.  Our driver dropped us off and we stood in a long line until we were finally able to check out with a small silver car that we called Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.  It didn’t take Dan long to adjust to driving on the left side with a stick shift.  The only difference is the hand you shift with and the road rules which I helped him navigate until they became easier.  We discussed how incredible it is that people in the US don’t even know how to drive standards.  In Europe, an automatic is really a specialty car.  Rental places offer them but at a higher cost.

We were already behind schedule, but we walked the ring around Stonehenge with the crowd.  I was surprised by how small the rocks seemed compared to how I had imagined it.  The skies were ridiculously blue, the clouds were pure white, and the grass was very bright.  The weather felt like the air when summer is fading into autumn.  There was evidence of storm clouds in the distance.  Halfway around the path, Dan and I took photos of each other and together.  Then, as a joke between ourselves and for my brother, we pulled out our Harry Potter and Hermione Granger wands and asked a stranger to photograph us performing spells on the stones, saying, “We solved the mystery!  Wingardium Leviosa!”  When we were done at Stonehenge, we crossed the dips and cairns and made a quick stop at the burial mounds behind the parking lot.  We climbed one and took photos of the fields and sheep around us.

We were already behind schedule, but we walked the ring around Stonehenge with the crowd.  I was surprised by how small the rocks seemed compared to how I had imagined it.  The skies were ridiculously blue, the clouds were pure white, and the grass was very bright.  The weather felt like the air when summer is fading into autumn.  There was evidence of storm clouds in the distance.  Halfway around the path, Dan and I took photos of each other and together.  Then, as a joke between ourselves and for my brother, we pulled out our Harry Potter and Hermione Granger wands and asked a stranger to photograph us performing spells on the stones, saying, “We solved the mystery!  Wingardium Leviosa!”  When we were done at Stonehenge, we crossed the dips and cairns and made a quick stop at the burial mounds behind the parking lot.  We climbed one and took photos of the fields and sheep around us.

Back on the road, we headed straight northwest for Cardiff, Wales.  We passed through several small villages with thatched roofs and eventually found a superhighway in the off-and-on rain.  We crossed an enormous bridge and officially left England.  The signs were suddenly in English and in Welsh.  Cardiff wasn’t very far from England.  We arrived, parked in a lot, and walked around the city for a while.  The castle was closed because we were behind schedule, but we walked around it and took photos anyway.  There were a lot of people in costume and drunk.  We walked despite the rain and found a small Irish pub, O’Neill’s, where we ordered some traditional food and local beer.  I had Dan try HP sauce.  The locals were watching Gaelic football; it was interesting to see how into it they were getting.  To us, it looked like a combination of basketball, soccer, and rugby.

Dan got a call from his cousins who live in Doncaster, England and we decided to rework our schedule so we could visit them.  However, it was running late and we weren’t sure we could make it there before they were in bed.  Orignally, we were going to head towards Liverpool and maybe spend the night in the Lake Districts.  Instead, we headed towards Doncaster.  Rather than paying for the bridge fare again, I rerouted us through Monmouth, Wales where we stopped for snacks to take with us and to see the sights.  A festival was just starting up.  We grabbed some Flake 99 ice creams on the way out and left Monmouth as it was starting to get dark.  The next stop on our list was Stratford-Upon-Avon, which we made by dark.  Here, we got out and visited the house where Shakespeare was born.  We could take pictures because of how well lit everything was and we touched the house with our hands.  Dan called his cousins and we all decided it would be better if we arrived in the morning, so I set our GPS to a mid-way point: Nottingham, England.  When we arrived in the town, just an hour outside of Doncaster, we saw the advertisements in the city and confirmed that Nottingham is indeed Robin Hood’s city!  We managed to get a hotel room in the busy town at a discounted price because it was so late.  We were too tired to even shower.

Me going through the Platform.

Dan at the Platform.

Portobello Road.

 

Us performing spells on Stonehenge.

 

Me on one of the burial mounds.

 

Castle in Cardiff.

Street in Cardiff with Welsh flags.

 

Pub in Cardiff with people watching the gaelic football.

Shakespeare’s birthplace in Stratford-Upon-Avon.

London in the Footsteps of Harry Potter

Tags

anglais, Australia House, Big Ben, bilingual, bridges, bus, Case Western Reserve University, Chunnel, customs, double-decker, England, English, Europe, filiming, francais, France, French, Globe Theater, Gringott's, Harry Potter, London, London Eye, metro, movie, mugged, night lights, Paris, pickpockets, pickpockets in Paris, RER, river, Shakespeare, solo, solo travel, stolen iPhone, student, Thames, Tower of London, traditional food, train, travel, walking tour

Leaving Paris was a nightmare.  We were way too tired to want to get up in the morning and it took too long to get out the door.  We checked out and dragged our luggage to the closest metro stop on the east end of the city.  We took this train towards the center of town to transfer to a line that would take us to Gare du Nord but there was construction and we were tried several lines before we found one that was open.  It was an RER line and I had told Dan I didn’t want to take the line.  It seemed dirty and slow but we had no choice.  While we stood on the platform, two men closed around either side of me and I felt uncomfortable at how they were looking at me.  When the train arrived, I tried to get on when one of the men stepped in front of me and tried to grope me.  I shouted at him in French and pushed him with my bags, completely distracted from what was going on.  Dan didn’t understand either and commented on how the man sat on the other end of the car.  We couldn’t understand why.

When we got to the train station, we rushed through customs as quickly as we could until Dan got pulled aside for carrying knives onboard.  He had packed them for camping and his military card fortunately let him keep them.  We ended up missing our train over this… which is when we bought breakfast and I finally put two and two together: the man on the train had distracted me so his friend could dig out my iPhone and flee the platform without me realizing.  I felt incredibly stupid and angry.  I replayed it a thousand times and imagined how much I would love to chase the guys down and beat them with my suitcases.  But it was too late.  I don’t have a phone for the rest of my trip.  At least it was completely backed up…and my parents consequently blocked the service.

We were able to take the next train to London without any problems.  We got seats together and watched as we passed through the northern countryside of France and slowly descended into a Chunnel for the train.  Upon arrival in London, the train station and how kind the people were amazed us.  We quickly found our Holiday Inn, drank a bottle of cider we had brought from Bretagne, and mapped out our sights for the day.  We were psyched to include places on our list where the Harry Potter films were made.  Our walking tour of London started with King’s Cross and Platform 9 ¾, then we took the metro (oldest in Europe!) to the Tower of London.  We walked along the bridge and the shore from here, stopping where scenes from Diagon Alley and Gringot’s were filmed and others, crossing nearly every bridge, and hitting popular points like the Globe Theater.  We stopped for some traditional dinner after taking a double-decker from Twinning’s Tea Shop to a plaza where we took the metro to Buckingham Palace and its surroundings.  We passed the Arch and gardens by the Palace on our way to Parliament, Big Ben, and a view of the London Eye under its blue evening lights.  It was a great day and we managed to see everything we wanted to see!

Arrival at the station.

King’s Cross.

Me outside of what would technically be Platform 9 3/4.

Me with an official Gryffindor tie where they filmed scenes from Diagon Alley.

Me by the Tower of London.

Me in front of the Tower of London Bridge that we had just crossed.

Me with Dan by a pub near the Thames.

Telephone booths!

Beefeater out by Buckingham Palace.

Big Ben at night.

London Eye on the Thames at night.