london, england

from the first moment even before i decided to go to london, everybody told me i would love it there.. god only knows why, because it's clearer to me everyday that city tourism is not really my thing...

because of a mistake on my planning, i had more days than i needed to visit london, but the good thing is, there's so much to do and to see there, i'm glad i got it wrong..

the public transportation there is really good, so i got an oyster card, and i had unlimited use of it while i was there, which turned out to be awesome.. london is pretty big, and it's impossible to walk everywhere..

so what did i see there? well, museums, for example.. i don't love museums, but since i had the time and they have many good (and free) ones, i decided to give them a try.. the national gallery and the national portrait gallery have a lot of paintings, some from huge names like botticelli, da vinci, michelangelo, rembrandt, van gogh and others.. very good, specially if you like paintings..

the natural history museum was more interesting to me, with dinosaur skeletons and fossils, the life-size model of a 25m long blue whale, and everything else nature-related, like galleries about bugs ("creepy crawlies"), reptiles, mammals, primates, evolution, etc..

the british museum was the most complete museum i've ever visited.. it's a museum of history and culture.. it's gigantic, and they have stuff from ancient egypt, greece & rome, asia, africa, the americas, prehistoric europe, and a lot more.. and i mean quality stuff, for example, the egyptian collection includes mummies, sarcophagi, huge statues, and even a fragment of the sphinx of giza..

other than museums, the parks were also great places to go, specially considering i had good weather pretty much every day i was there.. hampstead heath, green park, hyde park, greenwich park.. perfect for a little nap between walks..

then, of course, the big names: the houses of the parliament (and the big ben), london eye, tower of london, tower bridge, trafalgar square, picadilly circus, the greenwich observatory, the list goes on.. also, very nice were brick lane and camden town, with their street markets, alternative atmosphere and good vibes..

but probably the best part was meeting friends from many years ago: going for a walk, hanging out in the park, having a drink, a bbq.. felt like home..

all in all, my planning fail turned out to be a win, and when people said i'd love london, they were very much right...

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 london eye | big ben

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 the houses of parliament

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 tower brigde

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 egyptian bust | greek statue (british museum)

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 natural history museum

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birigui =)

sweden

sweden in one word: expensive. green. beautiful. modern. blondes. clean.

ok, i can't do it in one word, obviously.. but let me elaborate a little..

expensive: yes. people talk about nyc, barcelona, paris, london.. but stockholm gave me the hardest time controlling my already super tight budget.. transportation, eating and drinking out, and touristic activities can hurt your pocket like nowhere else i've been to.. granted, they have lidl, a super cheap international supermarket chain, which is the best option to save at least on food and drinks..

green: 60% of stockholm is either water or green spaces. i visited the råstasjön lake (in a neighborhood called solna), and djurgården, this big, beautiful, green island on royal land... the place was packed with locals trying in vain to save up some warmth and sunlight for the winter (it was supposedly the last good weather day of the year)..

also, jönköping (the other city i visited, some 4 hours from stockholm), has some parks and green areas, and is located on the south side of sweden's second largest lake, vättern..

beautiful + modern + clean: both stockholm and jönköping have this modern vibe to them.. new buildings, good transportation system, artsy places.. and in the capital, there's gamla stan (the old town), which has its charm, with the narrow streets and old, colorful buildings..

gamla stan is a small island in walking distance from norrmalm (the city center).. there i saw the parliament (giving access to the island from the north), the royal palace (and the royal guard band.. somewhat entertaining), the nobel museum, the stockholm cathedral and the riddarholmen church..

also, needless to say, the whole place is very clean.. the metro, the streets, the parks.. i guess all the green kinda helps people remember to be respectful with the environment..

blondes: not a myth. lots of them! but blondes or not, there's really a lot of beautiful people there.. after some sightseeing i decided to go hang out next to a street musician in drottningatan (a busy street that goes all the way from norrmalm to gamla stan), and just do some people watching for the next couple of hours.. i swear i felt myself smiling from the inside!

and this was my swedish adventure.. i'd love to explore more of the country, so i'll try to plan to go back with more time and definitely, more money!  

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 stockholm

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 riksdagshuset (the parliament) | street performers in stortorget, gamla stan

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 the royal guard, stockholm

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 drottningatan, stockholm | vättern lake, jönköping

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 jönköping

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jönköping

ireland

so there it is, ireland was the 20th country i visited.. and it was.. well, special, at the least..

it was my first real trip after about 9 months, it was a 'birthday trip' (my birthday is today, 05.05), and most important of all, it was with my sister (who has already been to 5 different countries with me!)..
 
the main destination was dublin.. sometimes i feel like i'm not a fan of big cities, but it's kind of a false feeling... i would say i don't take as many pictures, and i don't really care for going to museums and overly-touristic-and-mostly-tourist-trappy kinda places, but i do enjoy tasting the vibe and the culture of a new place..

there's not a whole lot to see in dublin, so we basically walked a whole day and saw pretty much everything we wanted to see there: in the morning, the st. stephen's green (a cute park), the trinity college (just a campus), the dublin castle (cool) and the chester beatty library (with an exposition about religions)..

in the afternoon, the very famous and very overrated guinness storehouse.. if you're absolutely crazy about guinness (or beer, for that matter), and you haven't seen a brewery before, then maybe, just maybe this is worth the 15€ admission.. ok, it includes a free pint of guinness at the gravity bar, with a panoramic view of the city.. but if you think about it, that's an expensive ass beer, even with a view!

after the beers, we were a little 'happy' and decided to go to the temple bar quarter, a historic area with arts, culture and many, many pubs, half of them with some sort of live music.. it was still early (6, 7pm), but the place was already crowded.. good energy, good music, and good beer.. score.

next day we took a bus to kilkenny, a little medieval town a couple of hours from dublin, and this place was the highlight of the trip.. the town is tiny, cute, colorful, with good people, a nice castle with a huge beautiful garden.. also, we 'found' another garden while finding shelter from the rain.. right across the street, in the back of the kilkenny design center..

and that was it.. a good, unique weekend with the sister..

things worth mentioning:

- there was a serial killer looking (and behaving) guy walking his german shepherd back at the kilkenny castle.. if you go there and see him, RUN!

- plastic bags at the supermarket cost 22 cents!

- there are more bachelor(ette)'s parties there than anywhere i've ever seen.. i swear there are two in any given street block in temple bar!

- skip the guinness storehouse.. invest in kilkenny (round trip bus: 13,50€)..

- i hope ryanair goes bankrupt, so they can't lure any more people (me included) into their scams.

so, ireland.. drink guinness (but skip the tour), soak in the good vibes, see the beautiful places.. long story short, good times, colorful streets, lovely company and tasty beer.. cheers!

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colored doors, dublin


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temple bar quarter, dublin

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guinness mustache | irish coffee

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kilkenny castle

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kilkenny "secret" gardens

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kilkenny street

january 31st, 2010

a year ago today, i left the states with a backpack and 3 main goals: travel the world, meet people and evolve.

not only the mission was accomplished in a better way i could ever plan or imagine, but i still am (and will be for a long time) reaping the sweet fruits of this adventure..

r0ck
and
r0ll.