Galway-Brighton-London-Paris

Yes, it's been ten days since my last blog entry. Hope I haven't lost any of my audience out there. Blog catch-up time. Here goes:

After Dublin, I took a bus to Galway on Ireland's west coast. I spent a few days there, which included a bus tour to the Cliffs of Moher. The cliffs were spectacular. I didn't love the whole bus tour thing. It was okay - we did spend a good amount of time at the cliffs - but for our stops along the way there were elements of the whole "stop-the-bus-get-out-and-rush-over-and-snap-a-few-quick-photos-and-get-back-on-the-bus" thing. It's not my favourite way to travel, to say the least. But the thing is, I had no other way to visit these out-of-the-way places. Next time I'm in Ireland, I think I'd rent a car. The countryside is beautiful, and there seems to be countless neat little spots to visit.

Someone needs a haircut. And hey, those cliffs are nice.

My visit to Ireland has definitely been the most "touristy" part of my trip, which is owing to the fact that I visited during the busiest time of tourist season and that I visited the tourist hubs of Dublin and Galway. I didn't really get as much of a chance to connect with locals like I have in England. Those I did meet were awesome though - warm, talkative, welcoming people (especially Declan - the owner of the hostel I stayed at in Galway - we had some interesting chats). I definitely need to return to Ireland some day - my brief visit was but a taste.

After Galway, I flew from Shannon Airport back to London and then went straight to Brighton, where I spent a few days. I was only supposed to be there a day or two, but some plans changed so I ended up staying there three nights. It was nice to wander around and to get a feel for the place - more so than I was able to in the day trip I took there earlier in the summer. It's a cool place - great shops, artsy feel, and the sea, of course.

I returned to London this past Friday, staying in southeast London with my friends Vicky and Nick. We went to central London on Saturday - guitar and book shopping on/near Charing Cross Road. Sunday, Nick and I went to Blackheath, where there was a little farmer's market (where I had the best - and I mean THE best - chicken burger of my entire life. I wish the whole world could get a taste of that chicken burger - there'd be world peace. Okay, enough about the chicken burger).

And now, I'm in Paris - possibly my favourite city in the world. I took the Eurostar (train) from London. I haven't really given much thought to being here - at least not until I got here. And now I'm getting pretty excited. I'm staying with my brother-in-law's brother in Montreuil, just a 10-15 minute train ride from central Paris. I've been here three (!) times before, so I feel no need to rush around and catch all the must-see sites - I've been to most of them already. But I'm looking forward to hanging out in cafes, wandering around, exploring - you know, stressful stuff (ha!).