Warwick Castle day trip

Today was a day trip to Warwick. It was the first time I used my InterRail pass for real. It appeared that nobody at Maryleborn station had a clue how it worked but I got on the train eventually.

The city itself is nothing special but they did mistakenly give me roast chicken with roast potatoes for dinner, so I give them high points.

Warwick castle is your typical highway robbery tourist trap but if you happen to think medieval castles are cool, you've gotta bite the bullet. I also got to see a trebuchet fire a flaming rock, so if you couple that with a roast chicken dinner... awesome.

Heading back now to London. I feel like this update is a bit of a let down without a picture of the flaming rock in motion but I decided to enjoy the event without my phone, like some kind of backwards peasant from the 1990s.

Quick check-in before sleep

Not a lot to say, cause I wanna go to sleep. The Eurostar train to London was neat, in that it was fast. Way too expensive though. I would recommend flying when possible. Had a proper breakfast (though, I was chastised for not eating the beans, tomatoes, and mushrooms but there are some bridges too far) and a Sunday roast, so if there's a better turn out for a day, I can't imagine it.

Interesting fact I learned in the London transit museum: did you know they actually ran steam trains underground? That's a bit mad. Also, in the 1800s, London's subway was already better than Toronto's today.

Tomorrow I will head to Warwick, to check out the castle.

Someone should write in the comments, so I don't feel like I'm writing to no one. That seems a bit pathetic.

God save the Queen.

Trip Advisor invented attractions

I'm sure these tourist traps sometimes have a background but I think people are just showing up a lot of the time because it's on a list of things they are supposed to see.

Walking in the city centre of Brussels, I came to an impassible intersection, where everyone needed a photo of some statue peeing into a fountain. I'm too lazy to look it up on Wikipedia but I also don't care.

It reminds me of the people running through the New York art galleries to take photos of every painting, before dashing off to the next painting. I'm not sure what they gain from it but it makes it harder for people to just enjoy the painting, much as normal people couldn't pass through this intersection.

Nice centre but too crowded

Brussels seems to be a big city with a nice centre, where everyone (too many people) is hanging out. I don't want to imagine it in the summer. All in all, this city was only worth the half a day. I made the right choice!

Los Geht's

Hope I didn't forget anything. I'm now on train #1 of 27482816362.

Last minute

Realised at 12 am that I need to set up bill payments for the next month. Oops.

Preparation

Leaving tomorrow. Watching Braveheart tonight for an accurate depiction of how English people treat others. So far, I am not encouraged.

Plans are in motion!

The ticket has been bought. The plans are in motion. Here are my current plans, adapted from an email to some friends.

I am leaving Saturday morning to Brussels. On Sunday morning, I will go to England, most likely London. It depends on if my friend, Felicity, is free then. Otherwise, I will save London for the end of England but I only plan to be in London for a day anyway.

Not sure how many days I will spend in England but the plan is less than a full week. Then I will take the ferry most likely from Portsmouth to Saint Malo, so I can go to Mont Saint Michel, one of the few musts on the list.

Getting out of there is a bit tricky, so there will be a lot of trains. I will wander around France, heading south to Spain, where I will spend some more time.

Eventually, I will head up the coast of France to Monaco. After that, it's a mystery, which depends on time left and temptation. I will either head to Wien/Prague or might dip down to Rome/Napoli. We'll see.

Mattblog: Resurrection

After 4.5 years, I'm finally about to live the dream: an Interrail backpacking trip! I will set out within a week or so and, rather than keep everyone up-to-date individually, I will do that here. Or, at least, I plan to.

I'm not sure if that will take the form of a travel journal, photos, or just notes to say I'm alive. We'll see how it turns out.