Some pictures of the interior (there are several lounges and a restaurant that seats around 70):
Views from the ship:
As you may have gathered from my Whitby photos, I like dramatic pics of the sky:
Thursday, August 30, 2007
We interrupt our scheduled programming...
... of foreign travel stories to bring you some pictures from Norway. These pics were taken on board the Skibladner, the oldest operating paddle steamer in the world. It was built in the mid 1850s and is still going strong. It's a handsome ship with a very stylish interior. As with pretty much everything else in this country it's a bit on the pricey side, but at around NOK 200 ($33) one way it's still worth a trip I think.
Some pictures of the interior (there are several lounges and a restaurant that seats around 70):
Views from the ship:
As you may have gathered from my Whitby photos, I like dramatic pics of the sky:
Some pictures of the interior (there are several lounges and a restaurant that seats around 70):
Views from the ship:
As you may have gathered from my Whitby photos, I like dramatic pics of the sky:
Tuesday, August 28, 2007
London
Monday morning I caught a cab to my hotel, the increasingly misnamed "Royal" Bayswater Hotel (on second thought, considering the state of the British Monarchy, maybe they're onto something after all). There was zilch, zero, nada and no flexibility or understanding for my pleadings of just maybe, possibly, please, for fuck's sake let me check in BEFORE noon IFFIN you have a bloody room ready. I glared at them through bloodshot eyes, but to no avail - their vacant stare was permanent and so beat mine. I lifted an arm and waved the smell in their direction, but their own garlic stench was permanent, so I lost that battle too. Fuckers.
Still, despite the cramped rooms and the noise in the hallways, the place is quite cheap, and it's central enough. Besides, I've taken a liking to the Queensway area. It's got two underground stations, so transportation is easy and cheap and there's lots of decent, but reasonably priced dining places in the area. There's even a multicinema complex to while away rainy days (who'd have thought that I'd become a mall rat in my 30s...?)
Another brilliant thing I discovered was that the shopping center with the theaters also sported a massage salon. Some of you may have heard about my time in Prague, where I got some "Thai massage" and afterwards felt like I'd paid good money to get beaten up by a five feet tall girl. This time it was a muscular six feet tall Eastern European guy, but the massage was a traditional back & shoulders kinda thing and really pleasant. Highly recommended!
Queensway also has tons of souvenir shops where you can buy all manner of useless crap. I bought the traditional "My brother went to London and all I got was this lousy t-shirt" and for his aussie girlfriend I bought one with a slightly less traditional "Some idiot went to London..." legend.
Random, useless and uninteresting pics:
Buckingham Palace:
The Victoria Monument outside the palace:
A monument to the Royal Marines:
Trafalgar Square, with the Nelson column:
A close up of the philandering bastard:
Charles 1st, of whom John Cleese said "The most interesting thing about King Charles I is that he was 5'10 at the beginning of his reign and only 4'9” at the end of it":
The controversial "Alison Lapper Pregnant" statue. My own caption: "When they told me rapid weight loss would cost me an arm and a leg, I didn't think they meant it literally".
Outside the National Gallery there's a statue of good ole George Washington:
I even was so artsy fartsy as to buy a ticket to their exhibition of Dutch portraits, and it was quite interesting. It's open until September 16, so if you're in London before then, go see it!
Still, despite the cramped rooms and the noise in the hallways, the place is quite cheap, and it's central enough. Besides, I've taken a liking to the Queensway area. It's got two underground stations, so transportation is easy and cheap and there's lots of decent, but reasonably priced dining places in the area. There's even a multicinema complex to while away rainy days (who'd have thought that I'd become a mall rat in my 30s...?)
Another brilliant thing I discovered was that the shopping center with the theaters also sported a massage salon. Some of you may have heard about my time in Prague, where I got some "Thai massage" and afterwards felt like I'd paid good money to get beaten up by a five feet tall girl. This time it was a muscular six feet tall Eastern European guy, but the massage was a traditional back & shoulders kinda thing and really pleasant. Highly recommended!
Queensway also has tons of souvenir shops where you can buy all manner of useless crap. I bought the traditional "My brother went to London and all I got was this lousy t-shirt" and for his aussie girlfriend I bought one with a slightly less traditional "Some idiot went to London..." legend.
Random, useless and uninteresting pics:
Buckingham Palace:
The Victoria Monument outside the palace:
A monument to the Royal Marines:
Trafalgar Square, with the Nelson column:
A close up of the philandering bastard:
Charles 1st, of whom John Cleese said "The most interesting thing about King Charles I is that he was 5'10 at the beginning of his reign and only 4'9” at the end of it":
The controversial "Alison Lapper Pregnant" statue. My own caption: "When they told me rapid weight loss would cost me an arm and a leg, I didn't think they meant it literally".
Outside the National Gallery there's a statue of good ole George Washington:
I even was so artsy fartsy as to buy a ticket to their exhibition of Dutch portraits, and it was quite interesting. It's open until September 16, so if you're in London before then, go see it!
Saturday, August 25, 2007
York
After Eden Camp I drove on to York, the ancient walled city. The (mostly Danish) Vikings made this their main city, and knew it as Jorvik. Due to rains and general fatigue (yes, I am a lazy bastard) I never made it to the Viking centre, but I did spend a few happy hours at the York Castle Museum on Saturday. They had some interesting exhibits devoted to life in and around York in centuries past, the most famous being Kirkgate, a recreated Victorian street. Highly recommended!
The hotel I staid at wasn't much, but joy of joys, I was able to find an unprotected wi-fi somewhere in the area, so I could finally keep up with emails and news again. Sunday I had lunch with an old friend from Huddersfield (she comments here under the name of Stef sometimes... we've been hurling abuse at each other online for a good five years now...) before spending most of the day in the railway station waiting for my night bus to London.
Ever the moneygrubbing little capitalist pig, I thought I'd be smart and save on a night's hotel costs by taking the overnight coach from Leeds to London. Oy vey, what a schmuck I was! Saving a few pounds was NOT worth having to spend the night in a crowded, stuffy bus where the garlic odors of the numerous Asian passengers competed for my attention with the garlic odors from the English drunk snoring in the seat next to me. A background sniff of stale sweat prevailed throughout. To top it off, the coach developed technical problems somewhere around 2:30am, so we had to wait for a replacement vehicle which was much older and had no suspension worth mentioning. It was a grouchy, sleepy, cursing Ghost that reached Victoria Station in the wee hours of Monday morning...
The Museum parking lot was full of birds and birdshit:
British cattle pre-growth hormones:
"Another bone? Thanks, but I'm stuffed!"
Some of the Victorian houses had real shops, I think this one sold old toys:
A Victorian class room... oh, to be able to cane the little bastards!
I think this is from the Edwardian "Half Moon Court", which is a follow-up to Kirkgate:
The famous York Cathedral:
The place where we had lunch on Sunday, a cozy place called "Hole in the Wall":
At least they had a cool bus shelter... the actual buses, on the other hand...
The hotel I staid at wasn't much, but joy of joys, I was able to find an unprotected wi-fi somewhere in the area, so I could finally keep up with emails and news again. Sunday I had lunch with an old friend from Huddersfield (she comments here under the name of Stef sometimes... we've been hurling abuse at each other online for a good five years now...) before spending most of the day in the railway station waiting for my night bus to London.
Ever the moneygrubbing little capitalist pig, I thought I'd be smart and save on a night's hotel costs by taking the overnight coach from Leeds to London. Oy vey, what a schmuck I was! Saving a few pounds was NOT worth having to spend the night in a crowded, stuffy bus where the garlic odors of the numerous Asian passengers competed for my attention with the garlic odors from the English drunk snoring in the seat next to me. A background sniff of stale sweat prevailed throughout. To top it off, the coach developed technical problems somewhere around 2:30am, so we had to wait for a replacement vehicle which was much older and had no suspension worth mentioning. It was a grouchy, sleepy, cursing Ghost that reached Victoria Station in the wee hours of Monday morning...
The Museum parking lot was full of birds and birdshit:
British cattle pre-growth hormones:
"Another bone? Thanks, but I'm stuffed!"
Some of the Victorian houses had real shops, I think this one sold old toys:
A Victorian class room... oh, to be able to cane the little bastards!
I think this is from the Edwardian "Half Moon Court", which is a follow-up to Kirkgate:
The famous York Cathedral:
The place where we had lunch on Sunday, a cozy place called "Hole in the Wall":
At least they had a cool bus shelter... the actual buses, on the other hand...
Wednesday, August 22, 2007
Eden Camp
After Robin Hood's bay I drove on to Scarborough, which I found to be quite dreary and dull looking. Just spent a night there and then drove on towards York on Friday.
On the way I stopped and spent three wonderful hours at Eden Camp, a former WWII prisoner camp that is now a museum. The 20+ huts cover several subjects relating to warfare in the 20th century, but the main emphasis is on WWII. It's a great place if you're into history, the exhibitions are both informative and entertaining. The only minus was an overpriced canteen that served rather tratidional English food (meaning barely digestible for humans).
Some pics:
Luckily for someone, this never exploded...
Nope, no phallos symbolism here. No sirree!
It was all I could do not to run around with my arms outstretched and make engine noises...
This sign was put up at a pub where a bomb had blown out all the windows... "More open than usual"... English humor at its finest!
I quite liked this one too:
On the way I stopped and spent three wonderful hours at Eden Camp, a former WWII prisoner camp that is now a museum. The 20+ huts cover several subjects relating to warfare in the 20th century, but the main emphasis is on WWII. It's a great place if you're into history, the exhibitions are both informative and entertaining. The only minus was an overpriced canteen that served rather tratidional English food (meaning barely digestible for humans).
Some pics:
Luckily for someone, this never exploded...
Nope, no phallos symbolism here. No sirree!
It was all I could do not to run around with my arms outstretched and make engine noises...
This sign was put up at a pub where a bomb had blown out all the windows... "More open than usual"... English humor at its finest!
I quite liked this one too:
Thursday, August 16, 2007
Robin Hood's Bay
Thursday, I drove on to Robin Hood's Bay. The origin of the name is unknown, it's quite some distance from Robin of Locksley's supposed haunts in the Sherwood forest, down Nottingham way. It's a tiny fishing village (actually, it was best known as a center for smuggling) very, very quaint and cozy. You need a special permit to drive in it, the tourist traffic has to stop at a parking lot on the top of the steep hill that rises over the town. Again, narrow cobblestone streets and lots of little inns and pubs. Tourism probably makes up 90% of the economic activity there these days. Some nice pics:
View from the top of the hill:
Some local history:
Ish nice:
When I win the lottery, I'm going to buy this house, which sits right on the docks:
In a tiny, tiny tourist shop the old lady who owned it was having a closing down sale, so I got some loot at half price. I bought this keybox, which I am going to bribe my boss with tomorrow:
View from the top of the hill:
Some local history:
Ish nice:
When I win the lottery, I'm going to buy this house, which sits right on the docks:
In a tiny, tiny tourist shop the old lady who owned it was having a closing down sale, so I got some loot at half price. I bought this keybox, which I am going to bribe my boss with tomorrow:
Back by popular demand...
Ok, I know I've been tardy with my travel stories, but with effin work starting up again there hasn't been much time, and even less motivation *sigh*
Still, here are the last parts of my UK travel in June/July... the last installment was from Lindisfarne. From there I drove down to Whitby, a cozy little city on the coast. It's a bit touristy in places, but in sum a very nice place. Lots of nice old buildings, quaint pubs and inns, narrow cobblestone streets etc. Definitely worth exploring, and I even moved my lardass to climb the "famous" 199 steps up to the ruins of old Whitby Abbey. Doing this after I'd just stuffed my face with a solid helping of Tikka Massala at the pub "King George" did not improve the experience. I recommend the pub, though. Good, cheap grub!
Whitby is a picturesque place, and the view from the abbey across the bay is quite simply stunning, especially when the sun's playing with the clouds. These pictures turned out quite nice I thought - but they don't come close to doing the real scene justice.
The whalebone monument to Whitby's past as a fishing village (tourism is the main thing these days):
The Abbey seen from the other side of town:
Nice beaches if you're into that sort of thing:
The 199 steps up to the Abbey:
The Abbey ruin:
Lots more pics of the bay area, taken from the Abbey site:
Still, here are the last parts of my UK travel in June/July... the last installment was from Lindisfarne. From there I drove down to Whitby, a cozy little city on the coast. It's a bit touristy in places, but in sum a very nice place. Lots of nice old buildings, quaint pubs and inns, narrow cobblestone streets etc. Definitely worth exploring, and I even moved my lardass to climb the "famous" 199 steps up to the ruins of old Whitby Abbey. Doing this after I'd just stuffed my face with a solid helping of Tikka Massala at the pub "King George" did not improve the experience. I recommend the pub, though. Good, cheap grub!
Whitby is a picturesque place, and the view from the abbey across the bay is quite simply stunning, especially when the sun's playing with the clouds. These pictures turned out quite nice I thought - but they don't come close to doing the real scene justice.
The whalebone monument to Whitby's past as a fishing village (tourism is the main thing these days):
The Abbey seen from the other side of town:
Nice beaches if you're into that sort of thing:
The 199 steps up to the Abbey:
The Abbey ruin:
Lots more pics of the bay area, taken from the Abbey site:
Friday, August 3, 2007
Brief update from Kiev
Yes! I made it here alive! Brief summary of the trip so far:
Saturday: Norway-Berlin. Found a cheap motel without any hot water, but since there was a huge gas station with showers just 200 meters up the road, that was no problem. However, the house party they were having in the basement until 1AM was.
Sunday: Completely missed the intended exit into Berlin, which would have taken me to my hotel. Instead, through sheer dumb luck I ended up outside the Altes Museum, where I intended to go anyway. I spent several hours browsing through their wonderful Egyptian collection, and finally fulfilled my old dream of seeing the famous Nefertiti bust. It is every bit as stunning and lifelike as pictures make it out to be.
In the evening I hooked up with a couple of Dutch hitchhikers, who I'd agreed to take with me to Lublin, Poland (see hitchhikers). They were very nice people, and we had a pleasant dinner and conversation, much of it centering on the numerous similarities between Netherlands and Norway.
Monday: We navigated our way out of the road hell that is Berlin, and set off for Poland. T'was a long drive through mainly flat and boring landscape (there were shouts of joy every time we saw a hillside...) and a lot of jokes regarding the general standard of the Polish countryside. One of the Dutch suggested they could have been the set for Borat's hometown. I dropped them off at their campsite and almost immediately picked up a couple of Polish hitchhikers. This turned out to be a fortunate move, since they were able to spot my hotel, whose sign was written in such a ridiculously embroidered writing, I wouldn't have found it in a million years. I had dinner in the hotel restaurant. The food was quite tasty, but the waiter looked like it hadn't quite dawned on him yet that he would no longer be sent to Siberia for talking to westerners.
Saturday: Norway-Berlin. Found a cheap motel without any hot water, but since there was a huge gas station with showers just 200 meters up the road, that was no problem. However, the house party they were having in the basement until 1AM was.
Sunday: Completely missed the intended exit into Berlin, which would have taken me to my hotel. Instead, through sheer dumb luck I ended up outside the Altes Museum, where I intended to go anyway. I spent several hours browsing through their wonderful Egyptian collection, and finally fulfilled my old dream of seeing the famous Nefertiti bust. It is every bit as stunning and lifelike as pictures make it out to be.
In the evening I hooked up with a couple of Dutch hitchhikers, who I'd agreed to take with me to Lublin, Poland (see hitchhikers). They were very nice people, and we had a pleasant dinner and conversation, much of it centering on the numerous similarities between Netherlands and Norway.
Monday: We navigated our way out of the road hell that is Berlin, and set off for Poland. T'was a long drive through mainly flat and boring landscape (there were shouts of joy every time we saw a hillside...) and a lot of jokes regarding the general standard of the Polish countryside. One of the Dutch suggested they could have been the set for Borat's hometown. I dropped them off at their campsite and almost immediately picked up a couple of Polish hitchhikers. This turned out to be a fortunate move, since they were able to spot my hotel, whose sign was written in such a ridiculously embroidered writing, I wouldn't have found it in a million years. I had dinner in the hotel restaurant. The food was quite tasty, but the waiter looked like it hadn't quite dawned on him yet that he would no longer be sent to Siberia for talking to westerners.
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