THE END!

Well the time has come now to shut this blog site down. For those of you who don't know Megan and I have decided to split up and go off on off on our own directions for time being. It has been a great run and we have had a lot of great times and many wonderful memories. Neither of us hold any regrets and we still remain great friends.

I would like to thank all the faithful readers for following our travel stories on this blog and for all the comments and emails we both received during the last 22 months of us living and travelling in Europe. There have been so many wonderful memories and I look forward to rereading all the posts and comments in years to come. All the blog entries are going to printed out and bound as a reminder of our adventure.

But fear not, a new blog is in the works. This one will be just as exciting if not more exciting than the last. My travel plans now extend outside of Europe and you can follow along if you feel so inclined. Please update your links and feel free to post comments on the new blog located at: www.philtravelstheworld.blogspot.com . Check it out soon to see a few of the highlights to come.

So in closing I would like to recap what a wonderful experience it has been living here in England and travelling Europe with Megan. It has being an adventure I will never forget and has definitely made me who I am today. I hope our paths cross again in the future and we will always remain friends. I wish her the best of luck in the future as I know you all will also.

Thanks again for reading

THE END

Ice Hockey in Sweden

Ok so it has taken me over 2 weeks but here it is. The one you've all been waiting for. We finally got to see a European hockey game as we had always planned and what better place to do this than in Stockholm Sweden. We had such a great time in Sweden last October that we were pretty excited to get up there again.

Day 1

Finishing work on friday night around 5:30 we (Brad, Nada, Megan, and myself) drove up to my grandmothers near Standsted airport so we could get the long drive out of the way that night instead of the following morning. We had a nice 6:30am flight which we only just made and landed in Sweden bright and early in the morning. As the airport is about 100km outside of Stockholm we jumped on the bus and made our way to the city centre. Our first order of business was getting some food as we were all pretty starving. A quick bite to eat a Italian restaurant filled us up and we walked north towards our hotel stopping and taking photos along the way through the city.
Does anyone other than Curtis and Andrew know why I took this photo?


Our rooms weren't ready yet so dropped off our bags and made our way back into the city centre again this time via the metro as it was freezing outside. A quick stop at the tourist information and then we were back on the metro heading to the south island of the city to get to the Stockholm Globe arena where the LG hockey tournament was being held. We grabbed out tickets and made our way to our seats to see the start of the Sweden Vs. Russia game. But not before we managed to get a few jumping shots in front of the arena.


It was my first international game and as I would love to say how great it was I must admit that it didn't compare to a good old Maple leafs vs. Flyers NHL game. It was a bit slower and the big hits were rare (if any at all). The game was more based around great plays and great goals. There were a lot of penalties (one for "kneeing") and it created a lot of power plays. So the final score was Sweden 6 and Russia 2. It was nice to watch a hockey game played slightly different to that in North America.






By the time the game was over it was dark out and we made our way back to the hotel to check in get our rooms and then head out for dinner. We were within a 5min walk of a hardrock cafe (yes don't worry I got the shot glass) but we didn't eat there as they were rude and there was a long wait to get in. Instead we ate at a steakhouse bar across the street and drank local beers which I couldn't pronounce even if I had caught the name when the waitress told us what it was. Brewed in northern Sweden is all I got. It had being a long day so we went back to the hotel (which seemed a lot like a old physc ward) and went to sleep for the night.



Day 2

Waking up to a nice breakfast of hot chocolate and ham and cheese rolls provided by the hotel we got ready and made our way down to Gamla Stan which is the name of the island in the middle of the city. It is also the oldest part of Stockholm and full of eye catching buildings. When you think of Europe this is probably how you would picture it. It was only about -6 C that day but the wind was bitterly cold and yours truly once again didn't wear a jacket. But I did purchase a pair of gloves as we were going to be outside most of the day. We walked all over Gamla Stan checking out the oldest building in Stockholm (the Riddarholmskyrkan) and the Royal Palace with the guards who had the winter uniforms on so we didn't get to see those silly hats they have to wear. Then we walked down by the water looking at all the old buildings and churches and every once in a while ducking down some side streets to see shops and squares and whatnot.



We searched for a good 30min looking for a ice sculpture museum only to learn that it had been shut down and was no longer in Stockholm. So with that we walked down to the ferry and made our way to another island and another part of the city.

I should probably mention that Stockholm is built on 14 main islands and is located on the coast of Sweden on the Baltic Sea. It is a really incredible city! As the ferry made its way around Stockholm we had a great view of the city from the water which is said to be the best way to view Stockholm. I would have agree. At certain sections the water was frozen and the ferry broke through the ice and pushed it out of the way. It was mostly just large chucks of ice that had already been broken but an experience none the less.



After getting off the ferry, Brad and Nada made their way towards the Vasa museum while Megan and I went to the Stockholm Aquarium to see some shark feeding and a simulated rainforest. It was really incredible but hard to get photos as my camera lens (and glasses) kept steaming up. We spent most of the time there checking out the sharks and eels and had a great seat for when it was feeding time.


After the aquarium we made our way up to the .Vasa Museum to see the huge 17th centry ship that only managed to sail for only a few minutes before sinking to the bottom of the sea. Not the greatest engineering accomplishment of all time but it is a beautiful ship and looks great for the fact that it sat at the bottom of the ocean for 300 years. We ran into Brad and Nada inside but they were just about leaving as we were coming in. We had a good look around all the levels and watched the historical movie about the ship in Swedish (English Subtitles) before making our way back to the city centre via a long path that runs along the river.


Back at the city centre we met up with Brad and Nada again and then went off in search of the Absolute Ice Bar. We had a 15min wait to get in but it was well worth it. The whole bar (except for the metal floor) was made of ice. The seats, countertop, walls and decorations were all ice. Even the glasses were ice cubes with holes bored into them. It wasn't cheap for the drinks but after a photo with Megan hold hers and my drinks and her dropping mine all I could do was laugh. At least there wasn't broken glass everywhere. I was over half done so it wasn't so bad.



It was getting late so we went back for some thai food close to the hotel and then called it a night as we had to be at 2am the following morning. After about an hour of trying to get to sleep I got up again and went for a long walk around the north part of the city while everyone else slept. I went more into the residential area but didn't see anything much of significance. Just nice to get out for a walk.

We were up at 2 and down at the bus station by 2:30 to catch the bus back to the airport. We had enough time to get a bite to eat before flying back to England. The drive back to Bristol was terrible as sat on the M25 for 2.5 hours even before getting to the M4. We made it back into Bristol for 12:25 (Megan had to work at (12:30) and then Brad and I went back to work for the afternoon. It was a long and tiring weekend but it just made me love Sweden even more. Not sure when I will get to go back next though.

Snow in England

Waking up this morning "almost" felt like being back in Canada. This is the first time I have seen snow stay on the ground over here. It did snow once last year but didn't stay. Well I took a few snap shots for you all to see what snow in England really looks like. To those of you reading from Canada no smart ass remarks needed. I already know what your thinking.



Make sure you check back in a few days as I will have pictures from Stockholm where we went this past weekend to see Team Sweden Vs. Russia in Ice Hockey!!!!

In on the Old out on the New (a trip to Wales)

Well yesterday started much like any day would for me. My alarm went off and as per usual I shut it off and went back to sleep. After sleeping past the time we had agreed to wake up by almost an hour my Dad (who is in England for 2 weeks) and I finally got up and went down to local Severn Beach Bakery. To our surprise it was closed. Ok I know a lot of things in Europe are closed on Sundays but to close the local bakery is just plain stupid. So with hungry stomachs we made our way up to the old Severn Bridge and crossed over into Wales in the Peugeot 307cc that my dad rented for the week. We had the top down and I am sure we got more than a few stares for being in a convertible in the middle of January.

About 10 miles over the boarder we stopped at a rest stop to get some breakfast having missed out on the sausage and egg bun before. We both opted for the big breakfast that came with sausage, egg, fried bread, beans, and tomatoes. There were a few other items behind the counter including mushrooms, toast, and black pudding (if you don’t know what is then I suggest you look it up). Well my Dad decided that the black pudding looked more appetising than the tomato (yes he’s crazy), so he simply asked if he could switch the two. The young man behind the counter said that was it was against managements rules and therefore was not able to do this. Not getting angry he simply asked for mushrooms instead of the beans or a fried tomato. Once again the response came that was simply impossible and there was nothing the restaurant could do. England has got to the state now where everything has a rule and it and I wouldn’t have been surprised if the guy at the till called out the police to arrest my dad just for asking this simple question. The funny thing was that there wasn’t much beans or tomato’s left but there was a whole tray of black pudding and a whole bin of mushrooms just sitting there going to waste as nobody wanted to pay extra for them. So we continued down the line and paid for our meal. The best part was there was another guy in line who asked to switch his fried bread for toast. Ok this one should be fine as its just a piece of bread for another piece of bread. Once again the response that this was entirely impossible and there was nothing he could do. This did I was in hysterics at the whole situation. The man ended up buying a slice of toast and getting the fried break as well. Wow, what a country the UK is.

If you follow the south coast for about an hour or so you reach Bridgend. Just past here is a small coastal town called Porthcawl that has a great walk along the beach/rocks/cliffs. If you have been following along with the blog you will have seen photos of this place before. Megan and I went to see a show singing in the rain here and this is also the spot where Ryan walked out to the end of the pier to get a photo of some splashing waves when a huge wave came in and he got a little wet. Anyways today was unusual as it was really sunny and we managed to get a great parking spot at the beginning of the beach. We walked along the coast for about an hour all the way down to Rest Bay where people were surfing (wearing wetsuits of course) and we stopped in at a small café over looking the water. It had a great view so we couldn’t resist doing at least one jumping shot with that kind of a back ground. We made our way back to car and made our way back toward Cardiff.



About 20min north of Cardiff there is a town called Caerphilly which has an amazing castle. In fact it is the first castle that I have been to that still has a moat all the way around it that hasn’t being drained. Let back up a little though, before I get to ahead of myself with the castle. Before we went into the Castle we stopped off at a local welsh pub for a quick pint. First of all I could only pick up maybe 3 out of 10 words they were saying as they were talking so fast and with such a thick accent. The words I did here were easy though as it was always the worst language you can imagine. It was a great little pub though apart from all the smoking but that is only going to last 6 more months before they all go smoke free.

So from here we went to the Castle by way of walking half way around the outside. The castle sits in the middle of the town but it has a fairly large park around it so you can still get some great photos. Check it out on maps.google on this link. The first thing we noticed (nothing to do with the castle at all) is all the fishermen fishing in the moat and how ridiculously long the fishing rods where. They came out half way across the moat. The castle itself was built in 1268 and then attacked in 1270. In 1271 construction began again where it was fully completed this time. If you are interested in the history of the castle click here for more information. We walked all around the castle checking out the small doorways, the defensive overhangs, and all the towers we were allowed to venture into. The highlight of the day came when we where in the top of one of the towers when we heard a bunch of girls (about 12 years old I would guess) come running up the stairs. My Dad let out this huge “Arghhhhhhhhh” which proceeded to send all 4 girls running and screaming down the stairs. They came up to us later in thick welsh accents said “You were the man shouting at us”. “No no no, that was the ghosts of the tower”. Always good times scaring people younger than you.

The rest of the castle was fantastic as well as you but my two favourite parts were: 1) the tower that looked like it was about to fall down due to a huge split in the walls and 2) the recreated catapults and other weaponry that had on display. Apparently twice a year they shoot the weapons into the moat to see what kind of distance they can get from them so I think I will have to try and go back to see that. Some of the weapons can shoot over 120 yards. Not bad for that time period.

One of the catapults (Perrier) was operated by having 6 men pull on 6 ropes simultaneously to provide the power to launch the stone ball. The largest of three on display (Trebuchet) used a counterweight which consisted of a bucket full of ballast. They also had a large crossbow called “The Ballista” which used to shoot 5 foot long darts from it. One of the stories said it once skewered 7 men together with one dart in a battle. Check out the pictures below to get an idea of what they looked like.





After getting back to car (leaving the roof up this time) we made our way back over to England but this time via the new Severn Bridge. Its a much more direct route except there is no direct way to our house so it takes longer this way. Since we were heading over to Lynn and Richards (Dad’s cousin and husband) for dinner and wine it made more sense to go this way. Plus we got to use both bridges in one day. On the way we stopped in at Bristol to show my Dad my office, the cathedral, harbour, and queens square. It was a quick tour but at least he got to see the best part of Bristol. Dinner was amazing as always and we stayed for about 3 hours before heading back to Severn Beach and crashing for the night. It was a long day but great one. A nice way to spend a Sunday at least.
P.S. This is my 100th blog entry so I expect everyone who reads it to sign it. Just this one time.

Oh Canada!

Well after almost a year of being away I returned back home to Canada for 2.5 weeks over the Christmas break. Megan flew back the day before me from Stansted and had a much easier time than me. I flew out the following day from Heathrow where they were cancelling about 300 flights a day because of the fog. Luckily I got to Heathrow 3 hours before my flight to find out it had being delayed for 2 hours. Everyone else was aware of this as they received a phone call from Air Canada. Everyone except me that is! No problem though I went to the bar and talked with a few other people to pass the time. One guy I talked to was from New York and said he would buy me my next beer. So he came back a short while later with 2 more beers. I asked him when his flight left and he told me 4:00. I looked at my watch to see the time was currently 3:30. I asked him if that was his boarding time or flight time and he responded that it was his flight time. This is when I pointed out the time to him he took off and said to drink his untouched beer as well. Could I have planned that one any better. Two free pints at Heathrow’s outrageous prices. Anyways by the time I got on the plane I we had to wait another 2 hours before take off so needless to say I got back to Canada a lot later than I expected. I arrived in Canada about 10:30 and I was at the bar by midnight (wow I miss bars that stay open after 11pm) having a few pints with people I had not seen in almost a year. Yes it was great to be home.

I spent the next few days shopping and hanging out with friends and family. We had 2 friends of the family over for the break as well from South Africa (Matt (17) and Jess (19)) which was really good fun. From racing remote control cars, watching movies, playing pool, glow in the dark mini put, bowling and spending the nights at the bar things were going really well. Christmas day was spent at home with the 6 of us and the afternoon was spent down at Lowville park walking down by the river. The only bad part was the lack of snow. Actually it did not snow once while I was there. Apparently it did the day I left though.

Even without the snow in Toronto we did manage to go out riding up at horseshoe on boxing day where we met up with Ann )Dad's cousin) Andy and the kids. They rented a chalet up at the resort and spent most of the Christmas week. While the riding conditions weren’t fantastic by any means I did manage to take a big hit to ribs (I blame the kid in jeans that was out of control and didn't know how to ski for this). Turns out it they are just bruised and should be fine in 4 weeks or so. Great.... After riding we stopped in at my sister’s new house in Newmarket for some food and NHL 2007 on the PS2. Good times even though I lost a few games.

New years eve we all went over to Trevor’s house for a lot of drinks a pool. The night went by quickly and it was almost 4am in no time. It was great to see everyone out and also great not to have to pay for those pricy drinks at the bar.

The last week back in Canada was spent just seeing friends and getting ready to come back to England. My last night was supposed to be just a few drinks with friends but it turned into a lot of shots and a lot of drinks. I have no idea how I made it through the night and managed to get up the next morning for McDonalds breakfast and then off to Toronto lakeshore for some outdoor Ice Skating. On the way back home my parents dropped me off at the airport and I made my way to the executive maple leaf lounge for free drinks, food, internet, and hockey on the big screen. Not a bad way to pass the time while waiting for a flight. Thanks dad for that free guest pass. I know you have a few left so if you need help getting rid of them you know where to send them. The flight itself was delayed for 1.5 hours as they forgot the food and then broke the cargo door on the plane. It was a long journey back to London and it seemed even longer getting down to Bristol. Its good to be back in England but I am really going to miss all the late night bar excursions with everyone back in Milton.