belfast to morocco

so me and flick left our cosy little home in belfast and jumped on a very early morning ferry to scotland, then jumped on a train to edinburgh. i really like the train/ferry combination it was how i got to ireland as well, its a little slower than the plane but much more relaxed and you get to see the country your travelling through.we spent a couple of very nice days in edinburgh. edinburgh's obviously a pretty special city seems to be able to keep a little of the medieval feel to it despite all the cars and tourist industry. we did the usual touisty things and blew out on all the little windy,hilly alleys coming off the royal mile its certainly a picturesque city. it was all very pleasant and a nice way to begin our travels.

from edinburgh we headed to newcastle (via the most expensive transport ive ever caught 39 pounds, thats over 100 bucks, for a one hour train trip). we were going to newcastle to visit my relatives, my dads from gateshead which borders newcastle, and many of my relatives live in the area. it was great to see them, as being at opposite ends of the world we dont see each other too often. we stayed at my aunt geraldines and had dinner at my cousin claires with her husband david and another cousin paul. if any of you are reading thanks cause we had a lovely time.

next we headed to york another medievalesque city where the white and black tudor buildings seem to crowd in over the narrow cobblestone streets. we had a lovely indian meal which during my time in england was something i tried to do whenever finances permitted. i cant really say much in the way of positive comments on the food situation in england in comparison to australia but the one area they easily surpass us is indian cuisine. i guess its obvious considering there is huge indian population. infact it seems kinda sacreligious but i think i ate better indian food in england than india, than again i had diahorrea half the time i was in india so maybe i wasnt as appreciate as i could of been.after a sleepless night in a terrible hostel over a horrendous house nightclub we headed for my cousin marks place. tragically i must admit i cant remember where it was! some little village in the yorkshire dales very atmospheric, windy, beautiful and kinda spooky. flick said it reminded her of wuthering heights which turned out to be very perceptive as it was based round there. anyway we had a wonderful evening with mark, jo and the kids, jo cooked such a good moroccan meal that im not sure if its yet been matched by any real moroccans. hope you guys are all well in your mysterious little village.

next up it was back to old london, we arrived there before i managed to tell anyone i was coming so had to spring a surprise call on sammy whitehead asking for a place to stay, luckily he was his usual charming, affable self and we had a fun couple of days hanging with him and cella. then we headed back to my old place at janes a very appropriate place to spend my last couple of days in the uk. in between this we ran around like headless chooks trying to organise everything and got ourselves into an advanced state of stress.in the meantime we bought a camera which should mean i can add some photos to this blog.then we caught an overnight bus/ferry to paris. wow paris is pretty grand hey. you sure can tell those frenchies plundered good and proper in the old colonial days. londons got bits of it round whitehall and all but paris is just like one huge mega monument, pretty impressive and all but a bit much in my personal opinion. we spent a good three hours rushing round the louvre which was about 3% of the time it deserved. saw the mona lisa mainly cause judging by the crowds that seemed to be the thing to do. i dont know i find when youve seen someting in pictures that many times before it isnt as exciting as seeing something new (i think that applies especially to art but even sometimes a bit to buildings although they often benefit from seeing the actual scale).

from paris we had a very long busride to lisboa. luckily it was enlivened by a crew of elderly frenchies in front of us who seemed to be treating it like a big party. one guy spent the entire 20 odd hours standing in the aisle ranting and gesticulating, man i wish i could have understood him. they even passed the hat round for the driver who then gave a speech over the intercom which was greeted with a round of applause.lisboa is so beautiful i think its my new favourite european city, narrowly edging out berlin. its all cobblstone and hills, colourful terrace houses with washing hanging on the balconys and the wonderful trams. the trams are so cool they're tiny and i think i read theyre WW1 vintage which i could believe. i reckon it'd be a great city to live in seems really vibrant but relaxed and really easy to get around even the flash new underground wasnt crowded.as well as wandering around the lovely city we also hung out with a very cool couple shiva and anita. shivas a street performance artist and anitas a puppeteer and she put on a performance of one of her shows for us, it was hilarious.then, sadly, after a couple of days we had to leave and head for morocco.