France

I am in Caen France, as I have been for a few days now. I got here on Friday and am leaving tomorrow (Monday) fairly early. This town is pretty sweet - I guess 80% of the town was bombed during the 2nd world war, and so as a result it looks a bit more modern then one might imagine.

This town was the home base for William the Bastard ... yes that was his real name ... who was a Norman king, and the last to conquer England (1044). However, after conquering England he finally earned the right to have his name changed to William the Conquerer, which sounds better anyways. However, I will be usurping that name once I get my first million, and will build a castle on one of the hills in PT and it will be known as the castle of Michael the Bastard!

I am staying with a friend from high school, and she is doing an excellent job at showing me around, and translating what people shout to one another across the street. There are all kinds of gargoyles around here ... well ... to be more accurate ... there are a couple cathedrals that have many gargoyles on them.

Gargoyles are the coolest things ever, in my opinion. I guess on rainy days the water comes off the roof of the cathedrals and pours out of their mouths. Which begs the question, why didn't they make people statues that would do the same thing? Wouldn't that be more accurate and symbolic of the middle ages?

French people, as all people, are really nice. I can't speak for the Middle East, but as a whole, people from other countries don't hate Americans. I don't know where we all get that. In fact, there have been several people who have been exstatic to find out that I am American and have gone out of their way to be super friendly. So anyone my age reading this and thinking about traveling, don't buy a Canadian patch for your backpack - but maybe don't buy an American flag either ..

Now comes the sad disappointing news for those of you who have been hoping for this .... but I decided that I am not going to go to Paris or Amsterdam as originally hyped. After a few laid back days in France, I just decided it would be nicer to hang with the family over here that I wont see for awhile, and to maybe make a couple small ventures into Eastern Europe. What a tearjerker, eh? haha. But France is cool. I think when I go to Portland I want to take French lessons. Almost sure of it.

I am getting into the major reflection part of my trip now. I don't really feel confused about everything in life as I did before I came here. Because life is kind of like a train station. It's just about making choices, jumping on that train, seeing where it takes you ... and after all you just end up at another station and can make another decision. So I hope that I wont feel overwhelmed by the future anymore ... and I hope that I can manage my stress over things that I cannot control. Mike

Dublin Again

One of the greatest things about being in a large city in the morning as a tourist, is watching the people. You might be strolling down the street - admiring buildings, looking at chewing gum on the sidewalk - checking out your reflection in the window... but everyone around you is on a fast-paced one way ticket to somewhere and they don't have time to navigate around some tourist! There's literally thousands of these people walking down O'Connell street in the morning - running after busses, jumping onto moving busses, dodging cars as they run across the sidewalk, walking at a slow paced run. And then there's someone like me. Just woke up, wearing the same clothes as yesterday (perhaps the day before even?), yawning and stumbling at a snails pace in the opposite direction as everyone else. Such is Dublin this morning.

I have made it back to the land of expensive internet, but I figured it was time to give everyone a mini-update. I just spent the past ... I dunno ... Two weeks or so in both Curraun in County Mayo, and Glenfarne in County Leitrim. Mayo was a lot like Port Townsend if instead of the Puget Sound and clay bluffs, there were an angry Atlantic ocean blowing out gale force winds across chiseled stone cliffs that are said to be the highest in Europe. Glenfarne is more like your misty little farming town. I would go down to Clancy's in the morning for breakfast half expecting some Okie to serve me up a batch of bacon and eggs. In America, Clancy's would probably be called Joe's Cafe or something like that. I got to see where great grandparents were buried - meet cousins, great-uncles, great-aunts - it was just good times. It is an amazing experience to 'go back to your roots.' I can't say that it explains a lot about my life ... haha ... but I can say it was a real privilidge to see where my grandmother and grandfather lived - and to see how the sacrifices and struggles they had, helped to create this pretty burgeoise life that I lead. That is no discredit to my parents either - but you know what I am saying.

Anyway, I am back in Dublin and am flying to London on Friday. I just bought my ticket, and am preparing myself emotionally to watch all of my money evaporate. Argh, the pound! Why does Britain have such a strong economy anyways? Is it all of the Grail seekers pouring through the streets spending their old money in search of Mary Magdalene? I don't know - but I must add that I have been reading the Da Vinci Code and it is tripping me out. Whoa ... I just realized I am paying 10 cents a minute to use the internet and at the time that sounded like a deal, but I just did the math in my head. So that is all for now - I will maybe write more in London ... but don't be surprised if there is another gap. I will give you the unedited true version of all events in person. Mike

from Galway on to Castlebar

I am getting ready to jump off the face of the metaphorical technological earth.
I am heading to Castlebar and then some small town where I have some family in Northwest Ireland. I will be getting away from the internet for awhile I think - which will probably be good for me because all of this free internet has distracted from the actual enjoyment of traveling.

I think I am getting my second wind here, as the last 24 hours have been really fun. Last night I went to this concert by myself, where three different bands performed. I had never heard of any of them, but figured it was something to do. Turns out 2 of the 3 acts were from Seattle (Ian Moore and Richmond Fontaine) and the other one called the Amazing Pilots was from somewhere around here. The musical abilities and the sound were just amazing. I sat next to this guy who has a recording studio here in Ireland, and we talked about the Dylan album 'Blood on the Tracks' which is a personal fave of mine, and this guy Ken told me the whole story behind the recording session.

Today I hung out with a couple of Americans and a Swede - and we just had lunch and talked about American politics for three hours.
It got a little old - but one of the Americans is a grad student in law, so I learned a lot about our constitution and the way our government makes laws. It was like watching one of those 'Schoolhouse Rocks' videos ... only in a pub setting.

Galway has been my favorite town to visit.
I am sure that years from now I will remember the good times I had - and not the times I spent wandering around aimlessly, or reading 'the Grapes of Wrath' all day along the quay.

I've had some epiphany's about various things - but I have had so many of those lately that I am just taking them with a grain of salt now.
I have been relieved to talk to other lone travelers who have said they had little depressing emotional breakdowns. I am just glad that I didn't end up curled in a ball and crying in the middle of the Limerick bus station - as this one girl did that I met today. Mine have more to do with 'what am I doing with my life?' or 'what am I going to do when I get back to the states?' or 'ahhhhhhhh?'. I have found it interesting to sit back and think about how I delt with these situations after the fact. haha. But I am so used to having those feelings over the last few years, that I am hardly phased by them for more then a couple days. I can remember times in college or even in Port Townsend earlier this spring - where I had many sleepless nights and whatnot - but now it just comes and goes. Ebbs and flows if you will.

I am falling asleep at night ... And not peering over my covers and staring at the black ceiling for hours on end. So that is good. I am really starting to believe that everyone my age should do something like this. I don't even know what I am doing really - but I just mean striking out on their own and getting away from things they feel comfortable with. Because you learn a lot about life. And you really learn to appreciate what you DO have in a way that I don't think you can otherwise. I almost felt grateful for my college debt the other day. It was crazy.

But mostly - I am just hoping that something exciting happens soon so I can really tell everyone some great adventure stories. Maybe I will walk down the quay at 3 in the morning after the bars close, and then come back here and report to everyone what happens. I guess last night I did see a guy throwing up all over his shoes ... but I have seen that so much here that it is hardly exciting anymore.

The drinking culture here has a lot of life to it ... like a 800 year old redwood growing in the forests of Northern California. Yes, I think the drinking culture is somewhat like that.

Ennis, Galway

So I spent the past several days in Ennis, Ireland.
Not to be confused with Ennis, England - which I believe I will be hanging out at in the coming future. Man, I am very conscious of my American slang lately and feel somewhat guilty for having such a lazy tongue. I am in Galway now, and it is everything I hoped it would be and more. I am at a hostel called sleepzone that is supposed to be the 7th best in the world, but after my Dublin experience I am forced to ask, 'where are the Danish high school students?' Well, in fact, there are high school students here ... but they are really young and loud and I am wondering how I will sleep tonight. There is also an Aussie soccer team - and the fellas are pretty laid back, but not too exciting to talk to. Probably similar to trying to talk to an American college football team.

I stayed with a friend of a friend who allowed me to stay with only 4 hours notice.
I realized on Friday evening that every place from Cork to Dublin had been booked for the night. I desperately called, Conor, as he is referred to - and he graciously invited me up to Ennis. He is a man of his mid to late 40's - a vegetarian, a cross country runner, and an avid cyclist.

I ate better there in two days, then I had in the previous two weeks in Ireland.
He wouldn't have had it any other way. Connor's thick Cork accent made it hard to understand him. I cannot explain what it sounds like, but if you picture your typical American with a severe speech impediment mixed with a musical quality, then you have a Cork accent. Oh, and then add 'like' to the end of every other sentence. (although he didn't do that so much, it is a quality of the Cork accent) That isn't intended to be rude, that is just how it is. But Connor was really neat because he is one of those guys that went back to college in his 40's. He got his masters degree after studying in San Francisco, and came back to Ireland to be a guidance counselor.

Over dinner, he told me of his plans to set up programs in Africa to spread education to remote villages, as he figures education is the only way to really help those less privilidged.
Pretty cool, I must say. In Ennis, I was starting to realize what a change Ireland has gone through in the past several years. Connor explained that many of the locals jokingly refer to Ireland as the 51st state! From Dublin to Galway, all along the roads there is continuous development and improvement. Whereas the majority of the roads have been two lanes ... almost exclusively - they are adding new lanes in many places. Every city I have visited has been littered with cranes - and surrounded with new housing developments.

Connor said Ireland is approaching its pre-famine population for the first time since 1840 - with most of the immigrants coming from Eastern Europe.
I have noticed it - in every town there are many Romanians and Polish. I guess they are estimating the Polish population in Ireland to be near 250k - out of almost 4 million now. It is a very interesting time to be here for those reasons, but I have also heard that Ireland is second to the US in creating new millionaires over the past five years, with a continuing division between the rich and poor closely resembling the situation in the US. History lessons aside, I can totally dig Galway. I am referring to it as 'Port Townsend East'. This is to myself mind you, as I haven't found a good companion yet.

Today I met an American named Nick, who could play the fiddle like you cannot believe
- and I am hoping to jam with him sometime this week. He is the kind of guy where the only arrangements you can make are 'maybe I will see you on the street corner tomorrow?' Such is my life as of late. I went to the grocery store today hoping to buy fajita ingredients, only to turn back an hour later frustrated that the grocery stores have no refried beans OR tofu. Ireland is harsh, don't let anyone tell you otherwise.

I am trying not to go to bed early tonight. It is only 10:30 or so ... probably not even that. The other American in my room is already asleep and I want to throw a bucket of water on him and say, 'hey you are in Ireland you idiot.' But he would probably just turn over and ask for a cheeseburger or something.
Mike