Baile Atha Claith - Dublin and friends

In our ever conscious quest to save a Euro, we decided to travel to Dublin via train and ferry. For only $45.00, the Rail and Sail special routed us on two trains from London to Holy Head, then onto Dublin by sea. What should have taken about 7 hours, getting us into Dublin in time to meet my best friend Tara (of Nebraska) for dinner, took 26 hours. Due to a British bank holiday, the train schedule was slightly off, so we took three trains to get to Holy Head. The third train arrived fifteen minutes after our ferry left, and the following two ferrys were cancelled due to a storm in between the islands. We had about 14 hours to spend in chilly, rainy Holy Head. Luckily, the ferry line stored our baggage and we were able to go see a movie and have some dinner in town. We slept on the ferry, which departed at 2:00am. Weary and bleary eyed, we were received with a warm welcome by Tara and Ciaran around 8:00am.

We had long anticipated this leg of the journey because it was the only point where we would be staying with old friends. The Irish leg marked the halfway point in our trip, and we were excited to take stock of where we'd been and where we were going. Ciaran and Tara's apartment was a perfect place to do this. Not only did we have our own room with a real bed (a far cry from 34 consecutive nights of tent camping), we had our own bathroom with a bathtub. Rediscovering hot baths was just one delight in a sea of comfort and good times we had with Tara and Ciaran during our three week stay.
Greystones is in County Wicklow (nicknamed the garden of Ireland) and about an hour south of Dublin. Home to a quaint and relatively hip down town strip lining the sea front, the town lacks the suburban feel typically felt an hour outside of a major city. We especially enjoyed visiting the Happy Pear to eat lunch and to buy organic kale, something we hadn't eaten since our trip began. Another store sold tempeh, so we were able to make our favourite dinner to share. We also consumed a few Guinness for good measure, and learned how to make traditional Irish soda brown bread. From the apartment roof, we practised yoga each day and stared at the mesmerizing Irish sea.

Tara and Ciaran are in the music business, and we quickly realized this equals little time to spare in a week. Between gigs, recording sessions, and rehearsals we supported our musical hosts in every way we could. We helped promote the Ishna show by passing out flyers on Grafton Street in down town Dublin. Ishna, Tara and Ciaran's new band, is quickly becoming a Celtic rock sensation. People can find them on www.myspace.com/ishnamusic . Tara's electric fiddle and Ciaran's smooth tenor voice pair up to make a great sound. The audience loved the show, and we delighted in seeing the duo perform original work and arrangements on stage together.

On a rare day off, the four of us visited Glendalouch, an ancient monastic site. We enjoyed frolicking and joking together in the sunlight, and stopped for cake on our way home in pre-30th birthday celebrations for Tara. Ireland has the greenest hills we've ever seen, and during our stay we only saw rain three times. We really lucked out!

Tara had a big solo gig on her 30th birthday, Josh and I dressed in all black and pretended to be part of her technical crew so we could see her perform. She was amazing! The audience loved her, especially us! The previous night, we had a special dinner and night out on the town to celebrate her next decade. It was so much fun to go out dancing with friends, something we hadn't done in over a year. All four of us delighted in each other's company, the laughter during our stay was much needed by everyone. We can't wait to see Tara and Ciaran again! Thank you for the hospitality, great times, and letting us fill up on domestic bliss in your home! We couldn't have enjoyed Ireland more!
During our last weekend, we took an Anusara workshop at Yoga Dublin. Working with Jayendra Hanley on our alignment got us excited to move onto India. Time spent with good friends eating good food was an invaluable component in our preperations for part two of the trip. With our Indian visas in hand, we were ready to fly to Delhi. Well, almost... we had to take the Rail and Sail back to London first. Luckily, our route back went as scheduled and we got into London in time for a night with Sophie and Jane (thanks again ladies!). Onto India!

Look Kids! Parliment! Big Ben!

London, England was made possible by our friend Sophie and her fabulous aunt Jane. They graciously welcomed us into their home so that we could get to know their fine city a bit better. We hadn't seen Sophie since our salt flats trip in Bolivia and we were excited to catch up in her native environment. They live in a borough of London called Brixton. The southern neighborhood is the seat of London's Afro Caribbean population and we had a great time people watching in the markets and on the busy streets.

Sophie took us on a walking tour of Parliament and Big Ben. We had a great time wandering through the streets of London without having to read a map every few blocks.

We did have to routinely remind ourselves that traffic comes from the LEFT. Za stepped out in front of several cars the first few days thinking the road was clear of traffic.

The London Eye is a huge Ferris wheel in the center of town.

Big Ben was looking rather handsome in the later afternoon sun.

We loved looking at all the lions scattered around town, especially the lions at Trafalgar Square. Sightseeing can be quite drianing so Sophie took us to eat a traditional fish and chips dinner. Josh liked the mushy peas best.

Sophie and Jane were fabulous hosts! We really couldn't have seen London without them!

We took a day trip to the Greenwich Royal Observatory to see the 0'0'0 meridian line. Although we became quite lost on several parts of the day, we had a great time!

The London Underground is pretty straightforward. We know now why they call the subway the Tube: it's very narrow compared to other subways. The network itself is huge!

We enjoyed this sculpture during one of our lost wanders.

We took a canal ride and saw many sights from the Thames River. This is not the London Bridge , but we thought it was much more impressive.

We finally arrived at the Meridian Line!

Josh stood on the line while waiting in line for a photo.

A geography nut's dream!

Our last day in London was spent at the Notting Hill Carnival. Apparently the largest street party next to Rio's carnival, there were wall to wall people covering the city. Sophie and her friend Ben wandered with us throughout the day.

On almost every corner, there was a sound system blasting reggae music.

This was our favorite Rasta man. What a great carnival!

On to Dublin to apply for our Indian visas and to visit our favorite musicians in this part of the world...

Camping in Amsterdam

As we unpacked our bags, we didn't know we'd be staying for nearly three weeks at Camping Zeeburg. We just couldn't find anywhere else that was less than eight Euro per person a night. Plus we had some great neighbours during our stay!

Zeeburg was on the outskirts of town, a short walk to the light rail that connects the city. The above photo shows only one of the four camping fields, there were also lots of camper car spaces, cabins, a restaurant, bar, shop, kayak and bike rentals available. It was sort of like a little city, with a population base that was constantly in flux. It was fun to watch people come and go during our stay.

When people think of Dutch souvenirs, they may think of wooden shoes, windmills or Heiniken beer. We think stroopwaffles. These delicious honey cakes made a great vehicle for Josh to transport Nutella and peanut butter into his stomach. Luckily, the "stroopies" aren't readily available in the rest of the world.

The city is filled with canals and bridges. Unlike Venice, the water in the canals is refreshed every six days. The system is quite impressive, as are the views! Our camp site was just to the left of this canal.

The population of Amsterdam is around 740,000 people. The bike population is about 700,000. The city is so quaint and compact, it would simply cease to function if everyone drove a car. Bicycle consciousness is the highest we've seen in any city, as a pedestrian one has to look three times before crossing the road! Once for bikes, twice for cars, and a third time for the light rail system that uses normal streets.

We rented bikes for a day and went to the beach and Van Gough museum. However, our bikes were not as colourful as these.

Beautiful statues adorn the squares and canal wallkways.

Since we'd been in Europe for about a month, we decided to make a bit of money to help with expenses. Za has always liked playing with her devil sticks, and she's been making them to sell for about ten years. Each day, we would make a few pair at the campsite and then go hawk them at Dam Square. It was a great way to meet tourists from all over the world, and to watch people try to learn how to juggle. We were supposed to have a permit to sell them, but the cops are pretty relaxed in Amsterdam and we kept a low profile. Over the few weeks we performed, we witnessed cops doing all sorts of non cop-like activities like hugging one another and talking for an hour or two, eating a bbq lunch out of a paddywagon, and playing soccer by the train station.

Josh making a pair of sticks and using his shirt to keep the sun off his face. Maybe we should have taken that turban tying class at the yoga festival after all! There was a hardware store close to our campground where we bought our supplies. Plus, the main material for making the sticks is bicycle innertube. In this town, it was easy to obtain!

After selling a few pairs of sticks, we would go on adventures around town. We liked this sign, and it made for great people watching!

A bar we liked named for a band Josh loves.

Josh took a picture of this neat bridge while he was riding his bike.

The parks throughout Amsterdam were beautiful and picturesque. The leaning tree above was just one of dozens in Wondelpark.

The weather during our stay was gorgeous. Most days were in the mid to upper 70s with lots of sunshine.

We spotted this sculptuure in the middle of a canal.

Hands down our favourite European city thus far! Thanks Amsterdam!