Arriving back in Liverpool after taking the train up from London at the end of my Topdeck tour I stayed in the HOAX Liverpool which is a really funky hostel thats also attached to a cool restaurant called Hopscotch. I needed to stay in the hostel for two nights before I moved into my lovely new house. The location of HOAX is perfect for exploring Liverpool as it's right in the centre.
The weather has not been too great in Liverpool the past few days which sucks as the days when the sun is out are amazing. I'm trying to plan my next adventure but struggling with where to go and when and how to get there.
I would love to see Iceland, Ireland and Northern Scotland.
I want to go back to Edinburgh, Bruges and Amsterdam.
Jamie and I are planning several day trips out of Liverpool, hopefully getting to Southport and North Wales soon.
I want to save Ireland for when my mother and sister come over so its as new to me as it is to them.
Do you have any ideas for me? The crazy Ryanair deals are tempting me.
As mentioned in my last Topdeck post featuring Bruges, it was the last day of my tour and we had just left Bruges to head from Belgium into France to Calais. The drive from Bruges is little over an hour which seemed to fly by way too fast. Soon we were off loading our beloved Topdeck bus for the last time. Making sure we had everything as we would never see it again.
The morning of the 24th of April was very hard. It was the dawn of our last day of the tour. I had been hanging around with all these lovely people for sixteen days. I could have done with 16 more. We left our hostel, making our way through the quiet streets as we headed for where the bus was parked waiting for us.
After the bike tour, Josie and I headed back to the Vondelpark so that we could have lunch at the Blue Teahouse inside. We enjoyed all the tulips the park had to offer as well as some interesting sculptures. There were a lot of people lounging about the park enjoying the sunshine and it would be a very nice place to have a picnic.
Our large group was off to do a bike tour. We were using Mike's Bike Tours. I got paired with the beautiful Purple Rain which was to be my ride for the day. All the bikes had equally cool names. We saddled up and headed out in hopes of not dying. That was big on all of our lists of things to do that day.
Monday, Monday. Today I got two things in the mail and I was very happy to receive both. A beautiful card from my friend Hillary in Powell River and my National Insurance Number. Finally. I sent away for it on the 16th of May so it's a relief to finally have it. The job hunt continues. I had an interview on Friday with Boots at Liverpool John Lennon Airport but I have yet to hear back from them. They will call if its a yes and email if its a no. It's a bit of a hard thing as well because if I get the job I need to go forward with getting the security clearance for working in the airport. Background check, security testing and then a five year past history reference.
Above is the card that Hillary sent me which right away went to my mantle to join in with the postcards my mother sent me in her letter. All the beach glass I collected in Cadiz and my bike from Amsterdam, beautiful drawing from my cousin Jen's daughter Lily, photo of my sister, mother and me, a bracelet Jen's son Jackson made me, Mr Tapir, my little black horse from Jerez and all my rail tickets from travelling about on the trains.
Been searching for jobs most everyday but as my last few posts show, frequenting Sefton Park for BBQs and music festivals. The weather has been lovely recently so its best to get out and enjoy it.
Been watching this video as well as all of his others. Matt Harding has always been inspiring to me with all the places he shows in his videos. I always tear up a bit watching them especially his earlier ones. Don't know why, they make me happy sad.
Today I joined Ruth in going to the Africa Oyé in Sefton Park. The Africa Oyé is the UK's largest celebration of African and Caribbean culture and music. It was on all weekend and today was its last day. We could hear the music when we were having our BBQ last night and we were not very close to the area the festival was happening in. The place was packed with people sitting on the lawn enjoying the music. Lots of dogs and babies everywhere. Around the outskirts of the festival were food stalls and clothing stands. Ruth and I did a full circle of the grounds before settling on Moorish, a stall selling some tasty North African Souk Food. I got the chicken with hummus which was amazing and Ruth got the Spicy Lamb. After we enjoyed eating our food on the lawn we wandered around a bit more and I got a Chai Latte from a Chai stall. After we had our fill we headed home again. It was beautiful weather today which was good for the festival as Ruth was telling me how it had been cancelled two years ago due to rain and last years was a bit windy.
It was a beautiful day in Liverpool and my housemate Ruth invited me along to her friends birthday party. Her friend had lived in the house but had moved out long before I had come along. I happily agreed and we drove to Sefton Park, stopping at a Tesco along the way so I could pick up some alcohol. The park was lovely and we walked through it and joined them by the lake where they were all attempting to get the BBQ lit. Everyone there was super nice and welcoming. So I had a great time. There was delicious trifle which I could have had a dozen servings of it was so good. We had burgers and chicken skewers which were super tasty once we got the BBQ functional. We got there a little after seven and I left to go home around ten. I had a lot of fun and it was nice getting out and meeting new people.
The big event of the day was to be the bike tour happening later on in the morning but after enjoying breakfast in the hostel I wandered out to explore some of Amsterdam on my own. Enjoying the stillness of the canals, the beauty of the buildings and the chiming of bicycles.
I love Instagram. It's an easy way to share photos and edit them with the filters the app has. It keeps me in touch with my beautiful family in Canada and the friends I have made over the years. I have a lot of Instagram photos so will try and share a few of the ones I have taken in March. Will do a separate post with April and May.
Amsterdam, Amsterdam! How your beauty overthrew me! I had no idea how much I would enjoy Amsterdam and I must say that I will be going back. Not sure when but hopefully soon. It is a beautiful city. The canals are gorgeous. I cannot wait to get back and explore it more.
Leaving Berlin behind we made our way through Germany and entered the Netherlands. Before we were to arrive in Amsterdam we stopped at a small dairy farm that produced cheese and as a side business made traditional Dutch clogs.
After the morning walking tour a group of us decided that we would pay the famous Berlin Zoo a visit. We managed to find the nearest metro station by Check Point Charlie and bought tickets which was a bit of a struggle. After we all successfully had tickets in hand we boarded the metro and headed to the zoo. Not paying much attention when we exited the metro we missed the large giraffe telling us to head left. We headed right, wandering around a bit before turning around and managing to find the zoo. I had gotten a small 10% card from the hostel so I was pretty excited. Finding the zoo entrance, we joined in the line of people queuing to get inside. The line moved quite quickly and we paid the €13 to get inside.
