County Antrim, Northern Ireland, Sun 15 June 2008

Up in the morning to catch the tour bus north to the Giant's Causeway in County Antrim, Northern Ireland. First stop was a photo stop at Carrickfergus Castle just north of Belfast. It wasn't open so just had a walk around outside and climbed around on one of the low walls.

We enjoyed a beautiful drive up the Antrim Coast. The scenery was simply gorgeous. So green, lots of sheep, and gorgeous water views. Got beautiful weekend weather, I'm starting to think I'm very lucky when it comes to getting sunny days! Our driver had great stories about the area, he was very knowledgeable and apparently he just did the tour on the weekends for a bit of fun so you could tell he enjoyed what he did.

One place we spotted was called the Vanishing Lake (or Loughareema) which is a valley with a unique valley bed that meant a lake formed when it rained but could drain again within hours. Was empty when we saw it though... except for a few sheep.

Our first main stop was the Carrick-a-rede rope bridge. I was really looking forward to walking along this rickety old rope bridge and when we arrived the area and views over the sea were incredible! There really is no way to describe just how gorgeous it is. There was a stunning limestone bay with a headland called Larrybane which looked very cool with it's contrasts of white, green and blue. Not far off that was Sheep Island where apparently the locals long ago put sheep in the hope the Vikings or whoever would take them instead of raiding the mainland. No idea how they would get them up the tall cliff walls but guess that's what legends are all about.

Sadly the rope bridge wasn't as thrilling as I thought it would be - I've been on much scarier ones in NZ but it was still like 30 meters above the sea so it was fun to cross. The bridge runs betwen the mainland and an island which was used by fisherman who were catching salmon. There was still a small shed and equipment there.

I loved walking around the little island, it was so relaxing. Spent quite awhile lying in the sun! Also walked around to the limestone bay and there was a little fort (apparently from like 800AD) and a great view of a tiny island called Stackaboy which I got some gorgeous photos off because the water was such a beautiful green colour around it. I really could have stayed out there longer. Soon after leaving we passed a place called White Park Bay which is a beach just down the road and has a hostel, I hope I get a chance to go back and stay there one day.

We stopped off to see the Dunluce Castle at a distance. Wish we could have had a walk around it but we didn't have the time, it looked so beautiful. Our driver also described some cool stories. After the photo stop we headed to the Bushmills whiskey distillery and enjoyed a 12 year they only sold there. Very nice. The distillery itself wasn't very exciting. Not even a proper tasting area, you just buy the whiskey at the cafe.

The final stop of the day was the Giants Causeway, a grouping of perfectly shaped flat rocks made by nature. There was a cliff walk along the top looking down on the causeway and it really is incredibly beautiful.

The stones themselves were very cool, how they could possibly be natural is a mystery. Walked around the stones for ages, there was a lot of people there but not too bad that you couldn't find a little spot away by yourself. The whole day made me miss home and the beach but I was also very happy to be out seeing such an amazing place. We spent quiet awhile at the causeway just enjoying the area. I think today was one of my favourite so far in my travels since I landed in London.

Ok there are just far too many good photos so I'm just gonna post the rest under here :)

Belfast, Ireland, Sat 14 June 2008

Arrived about midday in Belfast. Met up with Sam who I used to work with at Intergen and who'd come up from Dublin to catch up with me.

We decided the first thing to do would be a black cab tour of the city. The cabbie took us around the murals that were scattered through the city and told us all about the history of Belfast and the Troubles. It was incredibly interesting, I learned a lot about the history, the people, the murals and their meaning. The most interesting mural was of a gunman who seems to be pointing at you no matter where you are standing to look at it, very scary.

It amazed me that the two areas - Loyalists (Protestants) & Republicans (Catholics) is still so prominent. The two main areas - Shankill Road and Falls Road have a tall wall with metal netting running between them and gates which still automatically shut at night. These walls are also known as the Peace Lines . People still occasionally throw things over the wall between the two sides (this was obvious from the amount of glass around) and there are cages on one side to protect the houses from these projectiles. We were allowed to write on the wall with the hundreds of other people.

At the end of the tour our guide dropped us at a famous pub in Belfast, the Crown Saloon. It was such a cool pub! It had little booths (called Snugs) that were fully enclosed with little doors and cool features like stained glass windows, mosaics and gas lamps. The booths also have little doorbells that used to be used to ring the waitress but they don't work anymore. The food was good too, I had a Steak & Guiness Pie. Tasty! Of course I also decided to try the local whiskey - Bushmills. It's a lot weaker than Scotch so was very easy to drink straight. The bar has had it's fair share of history since it's opposite the Europa Hotel which used to get bombed constantly so the pub took a few hits too.

After lunch we had a wonder through the city and checked out a few of the sights, the clock tower (which is apparently on a lean, but I never noticed), the pier with the fish statue, and cathedral square. The cathedral had a crazy huge spike coming out of it.

After that we realised we'd pretty much seen all of Belfast... it really didn't take that long :) So I decided I was definitely going to go on the Giants Causeway tour on the Sunday and managed to convince Sam to go too even though he'd already been before.

Headed out to the pubs for the night and met up with Paul, one of the Belfast EPiServer partner people I met in Sweden. It was great to have a local to take us to the best pubs. Tried a hot whiskey at one of them, which I didn't actually like, tasted like a whiskey & hot lemon drink. Little strange. No live bands which was disappointing but we did somehow find ourselves in a Swedish pub. So an Irish pub in Sweden and a Swedish pub in Ireland! Weird, hehe.

All the pubs shut up about 1 so headed back to the hostel and found a good samaritan van on the way serving coffee and chocolate... yay!

New Flat, London, Sat 7 June 2008

Unfortunately all the traveling (and lack of sleep and a real bed) took its toll and i developed a nasty cold that got progressively worse throughout the week.

I moved into my new flat on the Saturday and I was really looking forward to my own space. I hadn't had my own room for over two months, I had been sleeping on air beds and mattresses on friend's lounge floors up till then (very lucky to have such great friends).

I went out with Arn on the Saturday to get some bedding from Ikea - pillow, sheets, duvet etc. Made up my bed and literally fell in it. Didn't really get back out until Monday I was so ill. I was very lucky to have my own room and bed to crawl into as it helped me get better a lot faster (and stopped me from inflicting my cold on others too much).

My new flat is in an area of London called Putney, south west of central london. It's a nice quiet area, a bit out of town, but popular with kiwis and aussies. It has a few great pubs and some nice parks around the area. I'm a bit far away from public transportation but the walk in the mornings is actually quite pleasant at this time of the year... I probably won't be thinking as much in winter but that's a bit far off to worry about.

It's a two bedroom place and I'm living with a couple - Christa & Andrew. Christa is the cousin of Den who is my friend Arn's boyfriend, so it's nice to be living with friends of friends. They are really nice and I get along with them really well. Turns out Christa is also cousins with the wife of Ben, who I used to work with at Intergen in NZ. Gotta love how small the world is sometimes!

My room is huge for London which is great, and gets some really good sunlight. We don't have continuous hot water, just a boiler, which I'm still trying to get used to. If you need a shower out of normal times you have to turn the boiler on and wait for it to heat up first. Not too bad though. Plus we're just around the corner from Sandi & Brett who I stayed with when I first arrived which is good to have friends so close by. And my mate Jodi is only a couple of train stops away.

Paris, France, Mon 2nd June 2008

After returning back to London at about 10pm Sunday night from Sweden I had to be at the train station at 7:30am the next morning to head to Paris for work. I felt like I hadn't slept in almost two weeks I was so exhausted.

I didn't see much in Paris as I was only there for two days for work so not much to write about. Spotted the Eiffel tower in the cab on the way to and from the hotel and managed to grab a photo but that's about it.

The hotel we stayed at was right next to the company office but we did head out for dinner on the Monday night to a little restaurant called the River Cafe because it was on a boat permanently stationed on the river side. Incredible food (in fact all the food in Paris was fantastic) and a great atmosphere.

Stockholm, Sweden, Sun 01 June 2008

Final day in Stockholm and no conference so I headed into the city with the NetCel guys for a bit of sight-seeing. Such a nice city and I enjoyed just walking around it. We mainly wondered around the Old Quarter which was very cute.

We saw the Palace and timed it just right and got to see the changing of the guard which was very entertaining. Got to see a bit more than the British one as there weren't so many people around. The guards had a funny run they kept doing which kept making me crack up. The guns were pretty cool too, with huge bayonets on the end.

We had lunch at a little cafe overlooking a square where a classical band were playing, a lovely way to spend some time, and then we headed to a department store so Tim could get some lego for his son. There was an awesome R2D2 made out of lego there, geeky yes I know but it was cool.

It was a nice way to end off my trip to Sweden and I really hope to have a chance to go back again, Stockholm was such a beautiful city.

Stockholm, Sweden, Sat 31 May 2008

More conference sessions today, the last ones including the roadmap ahead. It was a really good conference, I enjoyed a lot of the sessions and it was great to have an opportunity to meet and speak with everyone.

In the afternoon we took a boat out to our afternoon activities. It was so nice being out on the water and it was a great way to see the city. We had a choice of three activities for the afternoon; a boat museum, a theme park or an open aired museum called Skansen. I originally was signed up for the theme park but after my night out I decided a more sedate Skansen was the way to go. Plus I knew they had animals there so I was excited about that.

We strolled through the park, jumped on a cable car and enjoyed a drink out in the sun. Then we went and checked out the animals. I got to see reindeer, brown bears (very cool!) and other smaller animals like otters and birds etc. The bears were the coolest. There were two younger bear, probably call them teenagers, who were play fighting together which was heaps fun to watch. And there was a mum bear with three little cubs who were so gorgeous. Sadly my camera had almost died of battery by then so i didn't get many photos of the animals. There were also wolves which I really wanted to see too but one of the mums had just had pups and the rest were in hiding so didn't get to see them.

We had our last group dinner together at Skansen which was also an awards dinner. Intergen won best international partner, go Intergen! It was a good night and good food. We headed back into town again and ended up at the irish pub again. It was the same band so not quite the same the second time round and I was pretty tired so wasn't a late one.

Stockholm, Sweden, Fri 30 May 2008

A full day at conference so pretty draining. Have to give a mention to the yummy food we had in Sweden. There were a lot of tasty breads and cheeses and the like for breakfast and it seems for lunch and dinner all they eat is fish and steak! We had steak for every meal we were there and usually a fish entree, incl caviar which I made the mistake of eating not quite realising what it was! Sorry to say I'm not that posh, caviar just aint my thing. but the steak was incredibly delicious though!

After the developer conference we met up with those that had been on the partner conference (we had split in two for the day) at a restaurant on the waterfront. There was a human foos game set up but I wasn't quite game enough in high heels (damn them!), still a lot of fun watching though.

After dinner we headed into town to a club called Cafe Opera. We were meant to stay there for the night but it really wasn't my scene, I need music with lyrics and more chilled out environments, so a few of us took off to an Irish pub. It turned out to be a great place with a live band and a good atmosphere. Strange thing was the band was scottish (at least that's what I took from the guy in the kilt and the bagpipes they pulled out on one of their songs!), so it was an interesting experience being in an Irish pub in Sweden listening to a scottish band play Irish music... hmm... that's unique! We stayed there till it shut at about 3am.

One of the crazy things about Sweden (and i imagine a lot of places in the north) is that at this time of the year it doesn't get dark! So at 3am it was as light as it is at dusk. The sun never truly sets. It was the strangest thing. I've added a photo of stockholm at 3am so you can try and get a taste of what it's like.

Saltsjöbaden, Stockholm, Sweden, Thurs 29 May 2008

The morning started with a very early 4:30am wake up call in order to get to the airport for the EPiServer Partner Summit in Sweden. Ouch! Very sleepy, but once we were there... wow!... what a city. Stockholm is simply gorgeous. We were lucky enough to land during beautiful weather and the city is filled with green and blue. I couldn't stop staring out the window. It reminded me so much of home.

The summit was being held in Saltsjöbaden which was outside of the central city and was originally built as a resort location. We stayed at the Grand Hotel, a large hotel right on the waterfront with lots of outdoor spots to enjoy the sun. Some of the EPiServer local guys had their boats moored at the jetty and we were all welcome onboard for a chat and a drink in the sun (which of course I took advantage of). Honestly nothing better than drinking champage on a fancy boat. Dad don't worry I took photos of the boats for you.

Turned out we all had to share rooms and I was sharing with a girl called Mari who worked for EPiServer Norway but we only had one bed in the room! It was all good in the end, a bit of a laugh.

The afternoon was spent in conference and then we enjoyed dinner and a casino night at the hotel. I lasted 3 rounds of poker before I lost it all. I mean who wouldn't go all in on an ace, nine double pair?!

I met a lot of people on the first day including many from NetCel, a partner company in St Albans, which included Nick Urry who used to work for Intergen, Wellington and we also met up with Intergenite Wayne Forgesson who was over from NZ. It was great to see so many familiar faces, and it was fantastic to meet a lot of people I'd talked to in the EPiServer community but had never met.

Central Park, New York, Sun 25 May 2008

After two very long days of walking I decided my last day in New York City should be as relaxing as possible, so I decided to spend it in central park. The weather was incredible so it was a good day for relaxing in the sun. I took the subway up to the top of the park so I could make my way down through the middle (not quite realising just how long it is...). I stopped off at a little grass hill for awhile enjoying the sun and watching the bikes and joggers go past. The park is absolutely stunning and you can really forget you're in the middle of the city.

I really loved Central Park. On a beautiful day in New York it really is the best place to be.

There was a large reservoir in the middle which was beautiful to walk around. It was a favourite with runners and your supposed to walk anti-clockwise but I defied the rules and walked the other way because it's much more fun people watching that way. No one seem too bothered by it. I don't mind looking like a complete tourist sometimes ;)

Once in the middle of the park I found the Great lawn which was a great spot to lie in the sun, so that's exactly what I did (and I might have even dozed off for a little while...). Emily and Dom got a hold of me by this point and joined me which was awesome to have some company. We stayed there for quite awhile before deciding to head off to the Central Park zoo (I didn't even know there was one!) On our way to find the zoo we came across a roller disco! Right in the middle of the park, lots of people in old skool roller skates dancing away to a DJ. Was great fun to watch. I have a video too but not sure if I can upload it here... I tried but it took far too long so gave up.

At the zoo I got to see seals, penguins and a polar bear! So cute. It was a really hot day so the polar bears were pretty lazed out trying to keep cool but the penguins were a bit more active. It looked like it was mating season because they were all paired off with nests. I love watching penguins. The zoo also had a kea from NZ! Pretty cool.

I left Emily & Dom in the late afternoon to head back out to the airport. I was incredibly lucky to be able to spend the weekend in New York.

Midtown Manhattan, New York, Sat 24 May 2008

The Sat was a very long day in New York. I walked for hours! My feet were very sore by the end of the day. I started the morning with a walk through Chelsea, south of my hostel and across to Union Square where a lot of people were relaxing and enjoying the sun. I came across a group of people giving away "free hugs". I'd seen them before on you tube and think it's a crack up. I watched them for awhile for a bit of a laugh and got talking to one of the girls, apparently most of them had been roped into it that day. So after a bit of light entertainment I got my hug and went on my way :) .

I headed further up Manhattan to the Flat Iron Building. I've always been intrigued by this building when shown on tv shows and I quite liked seeing it in person. The weird triangle shape is so unique. Apparently its more famous for the way it was built (some sort of Iron structure hence the name) but I just like the look of it. There was a park opposite - Madison Square - which I walked through and there was a dog park in there. There were so many dogs of all shapes and sizes and it was all enclosed so they could run around making friends or whatever. I'm such a softie when it comes to dogs, I just couldn't help myself and had to sit and watch them for awhile.

Kept on walking North, past the Empire State Building, and the public library. Spotted the Chrysler Building not too far off but decided would be a bit of detour to head east to see it. Stopped when I reached the Rockefeller Center and Square (and the Radio City music hall across the road) to have a look around. Not a lot there really, you can go up the building but I was going up the Empire State Building that night so decided against it. St Pauls Cathedral was over the road and although I love walking through cathedrals this one was so packed with tourists it really took all the pleasure out of it. I really didn't pick the best weekend to be in New York, it was a long weekend so it was packed with out of town Americans.

Finally made my way as north as I was going to go that day - to Carnegie Hall and then around the corner to Carnegie Deli. I wanted to walk through the hall (it's where they play mainly classical concerts) but you only can through organised tours and they didn't seem to have any going when I was there. The deli was recommended by a friend because it's one of the most famous in NY. Now as most people know I'm not a big meat eater so it was disturbing to find that the sandwiches they served at this deli were essentially a pile of meat (usually corn beef or pastrami) with a tiny slice of bread on top. I couldn't believe it. It looked really disgusting. I was already seated though so I just ordered a little chicken bagel which turned out not too bad. I took a photo of the sandwich of the guy sitting opposite me so you can see why I decided not to order one of the normal ones (and that's just half of it!).

Heading back down towards the hostel I stopped in once again at Times Square to check out M&M world (every type of M&M you can possibly buy) and a huge Toys R Us with a ferris wheel inside the shop. Also checked out Macy's - the largest department store in NY. It's a whole city block and some crazy amount of stories high. Shopping not so easy in there on a long weekend so I gave up on ideas of buying some nice new clothes.

All up I walked from 30th street down to 14th, up to like 57th and back down to 30th. So that's about 86 blocks! Not to mention the going west to east and back again. I think I was crazy.

That night was dedicated to visiting the Empire State Building, and it did end up taking the whole night! I couldn't believe the amount of people there were - again not a good idea to visit the biggest NY attraction on a Saturday of the long weekend! The queues were incredible. There was a queue to get in the building, a queue for security, a queue for tickets, a queue for tourist photo (weird I know), then finally a queue for the elevator. And then!.... once on the elevator I got all excited only for it to open on the 80th floor to see another queue for a second elevator to take us the last 6 floors! What the?! Very disappointing moment. Thankfully a security guy opened up the stairwell (which you're not usually allowed to use) and let some of us walk the finally stories to the viewing platform. I didn't mind that so much, made it a bit more worthwhile walking the final league. All up it took me 2 hours to finally reach the top (crazy huh!).

The views were great though. I had hoped to see the sunset from the top but I didn't make it in time but the lights were beautiful. I did my best to capture it with my camera but night shots are a little tricky. It was freezing at the top too. The wind had picked up and with no sun it felt like the middle of winter. I had to keep going back inside to warm up again. There were a lot of people at the top which made it hard to get a good spot... very far from the Sleepless in Seattle romantic feeling ;) but I did find a little seat on the concrete wall which I sat on for awhile till the security guard told me to get off. hehe. The worst thing was it took me another hour to get back down again cause... wait for it... more queues! For the downstairs elevator! Sheesh. What a night. Finally got home about midnight, exhausted and ready for a good nights sleep. Thank goodness for ear plugs!

Downtown Manhattan, New York, Fri 23 May 2008

I went for a walk in the morning to check out the Soho area, which turned out to be one of my favourite areas of NY. Pretty cobble stone streets, quaint little coffee shops and fashion stores dominated Soho. There were also gorgeous art shops including an animation art shop which had some of the coolest paintings of various cartoon characters. Even though I was walking around the area till about 10:30am none of the clothing shops were open, it seems people sleep in late in Soho :). But it was enjoyable just strolling the streets. I stumbled across Bloomingdales too which was open so I had to check it out. I don't think it was the flagship store but it was still 5 stories with plenty of unaffordable clothes and shoes.

Sadly I needed to get back to my hostel to check out (I couldn't find a hostel to cover all 3 nights) so couldn't stay around Soho waiting for the shops to open. In fact I hardly did any shopping in New York, too much other stuff to do. Maybe I'll get a chance to go back another time for a shopping trip.

After I dropped my gear off at Hostel number 2 (on the west side, top of Chelsea), I headed to downtown Manhattan. I took the free Statton Island ferry that transports commuters and tourists and has great views of the Statue of Liberty. I didn't think there was much point going to Liberty island since you can't go up the Statue anymore so I settled for the free ferry. I really enjoyed it too because it was a beautiful day and I could enjoy the sun while looking back over at the views of Manhattan and Brooklyn Bridge. Manhattan is full of helicopters! It is rare to see the sky without one or two of them flying around. On the ferry you could see one of their landing pads down on the waterfront and watch them constantly landing and taking off.

Back on land I strolled through Battery Park which is right at the bottom of Manhattan. I hoped for a lie down in the sun but not a lot of grass so settled for a seat overlooking a pier. There were a lot of performers in the park too. While walking away from the park I noticed a lot of traffic controllers around and it wasn't long before I found out why, a hue row of police cars with their lights going headed around the corner.. and they kept on coming. There must have been about 15-20 of them. And then a few minutes later another lot. No idea what it was for or why but it was fun to watch.

Next stop was the sight of the World Trade Center, also known as Ground Zero. Not much to see, the whole area was blocked off with high fences for construction but they did have one mural depicting the events and the names of many who lost their lives. The mural had flowers and notes under it and the mood was a sad one. Around the corner was Ladder 10, the first fire station on the scene. Many of that company never made it and they had a memorial permanently stationed there for them.

I walked back east and visited Trinity Church, a very old and popular church in New York. It was beautiful inside with a huge stain glass window and was incredibly peaceful so I stayed awhile. The church sits opposite Wall Street so that was my next destination. There really isn't much to say about Wall Street, its a business district so it's not that exciting. I walked past the New York stock exchange and came across a Tiffany & Co which looked so fancy I didn't have the guts to go inside... :)

The last thing I wanted to do downtown was walk along Brooklyn Bridge. Looking at my map I headed up the east side of Manhattan until I realised that the bridge was quite far above me! I had to walk back inland for quite awhile to find the start of the bridge, the maps I had didn't indicate this at all so I ended up walking so much further than I needed to. The bridge was worth the wait tho as it had spectacular views back over manhattan and on towards Brooklyn. I walked the whole bridge there and back which was no small feat considering how much I'd already walked and how long the bridge is. I just googled and the bridge is about 1.8 kms in length. I knew it felt like a long bridge walk!

Deciding I'd had enough of walking I decided on Little Italy for a good meal and a well deserved rest. I expected Little Italy to simply be a street with a few italian restaurants. Man was I wrong! It was quite a few blocks of a closed off ave filled with carnival style stalls including games, icecream and sweets and decorations. It was filled with people wondering around and the street was lined with restaurant after restaurant with the most delicious sounding menus. I finally settled on one that had a small cosy feel to it, a friendly italian owner (the owners are out on the street trying to get you to eat at their place), a small table overlooking the street and home made Sangria. The table made for great people watching, the Sangria was delicious and the food even more so! I had a home made lasagna which was just incredibly tasty, and of course I couldn't resist dessert, deciding on a lemon sorbet which came out inside a hollowed frozen lemon. Extra points for the cool presentation! The owner and waiters were very friendly and took pity on my sitting on my own so would come and chat to me often. There was a guy and girl who had arrived during my dessert and sat next to me, and when one of the waiters mentioned something about New Zealand the guy struck up a conversation because he had always wanted to go.

Their names were Dominic and Emily (and they're no doubt reading this so I better be nice... ;) ... just kidding guys.. oh and sorry about the bad photo!), and they were so friendly. They were both local New Yorkers (yay some locals!) and worked together as fashion buyers, which took awhile for them to explain to me what that was. It was great chatting to some locals and they were fascinated by my travels so far. We got along so well I ended up ordering another Sangria and chatted to them through their dinner too. We all left the restaurant together and headed back to Soho for a drink and ended up in a margarita bar. It was a great night and it was so nice to have some company. We exchanged numbers with the promise of catching up again later on in the weekend.

We all headed down to the subway station after our drink to head home and we spotted some workers on the track. I started to get worried but Emily pointed out this was normal and they just stand in this slight indentation in the wall when the train goes past. I couldn't believe it! The space is so small, you really wouldn't want a big pot belly with that job!