Waking up Day 3 in Paris was great... no alarms!!! We slept in, had a slow morning (Crepes and Starbucks!), and then: The Catacombs!!!!
This place was SO cool. I was all freaked out walking down there, but after a few minutes I just pretended I was Nancy Drew... then the Goonies... then Indy. it was amazing how many bones there were. There were walls of longer bones with designs made out of skulls!
That night we bought food to cook and went back to the hostel. We wound up cooking Chicken, Mushroom sauce, pasta/rice, veggies, and had bread. mmmmm! While cooking we met Ben (from Canada, living in Ireland, vacationing in Paris) and Kristen (from Australia). They were both lots of fun to hang out with!
Ben wound up coming out with us later that night to the Eiffel Tower. Every hour, on the hour, the tower sparkles! It really was magical!! We got back pretty late and I was really tired (hence no pictures that night - sorry bout that!).
The next morning we were out of the hostel SOOO early to catch a long train to Bern. We got to the train station to find that all the morning trains were booked and we had to wait til 1:15. Great! We sat around in the train station reading and went to lunch at this cute little cafe. Honestly, that might have been the best burger I've had in my life!
When we finally got on the train, it was SO hot. We all started not feeling well from the heat! That train was 4 hours long, then we had two connections that were about an hour and a half total. Ick!!
In bern, we checked into our hostel (a pretty nice place) then went out on the town in search of food. We walked through this park with HUGE chess boards everywhere! The town was hopping with people. We ate at an "American" themed place. I say "American" because it was actually Mexican, but I suppose it's all North America!
Everything in Switzerland is sooo expensive. We found out that it's because all their taxes are on food and stuff but they dont need to pay other taxes? I dont know exactly.... something like that!
Unfortunately, since the train fiasco happend that morning, we didn't really get to see much of Bern. It's a shame, since it seemed like a nice place. It was good to see what we did though!
This morning we caught the less-than-an-hour train ride to Interlaken. LOVE it here! Our hostel room is really cool (6 person room to ourselves plus our own bathroom) and we had lots of time on our hands today.
We wound up going to Harder Kulm, a nearby mountain. We took this really cool Funicular railway up the mountain a bit. There's a restaurant up there and a path to go hiking. Well, we went hiking... all the way up the mountain! And yes, I was in a sun dress today. Smart! By the time we got near the top, my knee was hurting a LOT, so I didn't do the super steep trail (or climb up the dangerously steep slope that Pat and Jen did). I had an amazing view from where I was though, and my knee held out for as long as it did, so I'm happy!!
I'm not too sure what we'll be doing tonight, but Jen, Dave, and Pat are getting food right now (bringing me back some so that I can rest my knee a bit). We might watch some of the world cup tonight down at the bar in our hostel. It's such a big thing here that we're kind of getting into it! I know... Americans... into professional futbol (soccer)?!? That doesn't make sense! For those of you wondering, today we play England. USA all the way!
Anywho, I'm gonna attempt to upload pics for y'all. Enjoy!
Saturday, June 12, 2010
Wednesday, June 9, 2010
Paris (Day 2)
My day in a nutshell: woke up, said hi to Mo (that is, the Mona Lisa...we're close, personal friends now), visited the home of Quasimodo, stood under a HUGE arc, went on another tour, and got rained on all the while.
My day released from the shell:
Pat and I got up early and went to the Louvre. We heard it would take HOURS to get in, then we would see the big works of art if lucky. Lies... all lies! Very Very luckily, we got in very quickly with no line. We walked right up to the things we wanted to see (with the exception on the Mona Lisa... We walked up as far as we could til it was roped off and surrounded by bullet proof glass). Other works we saw include The Wrath of Medusa, the Venus de Milo, Oath of the horatia, a few Vermeer's, a few Da Vinci's, a few Michelangelo's, and much much more. I really can't believe that I saw all this!!! It amazes me!
Pat and I were done seeing all the things we wanted to see by noon, so we walked to Notre Dame. It was just as I remembered (from the cartoon). It really was absolutely gorgeous though!
We hopped on the subway and met up with Dave and Jen, who had done some sight seeing this morning, at the Arc de Triomph. It was AMAZING here. I just wish it wasn't raining and windy... I would have enjoyed it so much more!! Surrounding the Arc is a 10 land circle where 6 roads converge (so 12 exits off the circle). Apparently an accident happens there every half hour. There is a tunnel underground to get to the Arc so that you don't need to cross the road. The tomb of the unknown soldier was there as well. There were flowers around the tomb and a large flame lit.
Jen and Dave met up with us and we went to linner. The restaurant was called Le Flamme. Everyone had Mussels (except for me). I had the delicious 4 cheese Penne. mmmmm :)
After going back to the room and taking a power nap, we got Crepes on the way to another tour (same tour guide as yesterday!). This tour was by the same company, but we payed €9 for it (€10 for students minus €1 for going on the free tour)! This tour was great, like yesterday's, even though it rained! It was a tour of the Montmartre District. We went to a lot of the places in Paris that aren't the main-stream tourist-y spots, so it was pretty awesome!
Tonight I had to wait for our two other room mates to take showers (and they took a LONG time) before I took one and came downstairs to use the internet. Today I'm actually blogging before journaling so that I make sure you are all updated. You're welcome :-P
On a side note... the French people are much nicer than I had heard they were. A lady tonight 9at the bar after the tour) was talking to us and when we had to leave, she asked us a few times to stay! Others have spoken to us in English and have done other nice things. No horror stories to report!!!
Since it's just about 12:30 now I need to push the pictures off until tomorrow once again. I'm sorry... they take a long time to upload! You know I'll have a million pictures to show you all when I get home, too!
My day released from the shell:
Pat and I got up early and went to the Louvre. We heard it would take HOURS to get in, then we would see the big works of art if lucky. Lies... all lies! Very Very luckily, we got in very quickly with no line. We walked right up to the things we wanted to see (with the exception on the Mona Lisa... We walked up as far as we could til it was roped off and surrounded by bullet proof glass). Other works we saw include The Wrath of Medusa, the Venus de Milo, Oath of the horatia, a few Vermeer's, a few Da Vinci's, a few Michelangelo's, and much much more. I really can't believe that I saw all this!!! It amazes me!
Pat and I were done seeing all the things we wanted to see by noon, so we walked to Notre Dame. It was just as I remembered (from the cartoon). It really was absolutely gorgeous though!
We hopped on the subway and met up with Dave and Jen, who had done some sight seeing this morning, at the Arc de Triomph. It was AMAZING here. I just wish it wasn't raining and windy... I would have enjoyed it so much more!! Surrounding the Arc is a 10 land circle where 6 roads converge (so 12 exits off the circle). Apparently an accident happens there every half hour. There is a tunnel underground to get to the Arc so that you don't need to cross the road. The tomb of the unknown soldier was there as well. There were flowers around the tomb and a large flame lit.
Jen and Dave met up with us and we went to linner. The restaurant was called Le Flamme. Everyone had Mussels (except for me). I had the delicious 4 cheese Penne. mmmmm :)
After going back to the room and taking a power nap, we got Crepes on the way to another tour (same tour guide as yesterday!). This tour was by the same company, but we payed €9 for it (€10 for students minus €1 for going on the free tour)! This tour was great, like yesterday's, even though it rained! It was a tour of the Montmartre District. We went to a lot of the places in Paris that aren't the main-stream tourist-y spots, so it was pretty awesome!
Tonight I had to wait for our two other room mates to take showers (and they took a LONG time) before I took one and came downstairs to use the internet. Today I'm actually blogging before journaling so that I make sure you are all updated. You're welcome :-P
On a side note... the French people are much nicer than I had heard they were. A lady tonight 9at the bar after the tour) was talking to us and when we had to leave, she asked us a few times to stay! Others have spoken to us in English and have done other nice things. No horror stories to report!!!
Since it's just about 12:30 now I need to push the pictures off until tomorrow once again. I'm sorry... they take a long time to upload! You know I'll have a million pictures to show you all when I get home, too!
Tuesday, June 8, 2010
Overnight train and Paris Day 1!
The overnight train strated off really cool. Jen and i were in a room with a really nice woman from Paris and a Spanish Nun. the boys were right next door. The train had a dining car that we made 10pm reservations for!! It was great! They turned down the beds around 9:30, and they didn't seems too bad. The train moved SO quickly, too.
We went to the dining car and sat down and looked at the menu. None of us were too hungry and wanted something small. Little did we know this would be a problem. Pat tried to order fruit, which was a dessert, and the waiter refused and got mad at him. I had looked at the menu. There was Pork and Duck and Seafood. Now, I've done REALLY well on this trip with food, and I really did not feel like spending 20 euros on food I didn't want. When I saw the menu I planned to wait til everyone was done then eat at the bar in the next cart over (there were things like chicken burgers and pizza on the menu!). The waiter wound up throwing pat and I out. SO ridiculous. The picture is of us BEFORE the waiter came. What a jerk. The bar was no good though, because they didnt have most things on the menu and no seats were available! Pat and I split a donut and went back to our cabins.
It took me forever to fall asleep with the motion on the train. It was an interrupted night, but it was long, so that made up for it. We got into Paris at 10am.
We dropped our bags at the hostel and went on our way. First was Starbucks, which was across from the Moulin Rouge, then it was off to another one of the Free Walking Tours!
Linda was our guide and she was great!! We saw SO much on the tour, including the outside of Notre Dame and the Louvre, St. Michael's fountain (where he crushes Satan), the statue of henry IV (they recently turned him into a real Jedi Knight for the next few weeks by giving him a light saber), The Arch Bridge, The Opera house that Phantom of the opera is based off of (there reall is a lake under it that the fire department uses!), Napoleon's Tomb, the Eifel Tower (from a distance), and so much more. So cool!
We went to lunch with Linda and some others afterwards. Down the street from where we ate were some riots... we were protected by the riot police and barracades. We could see the tear gas from a distance though.
The four of us then went to the Eifel tower. Pat and I went all the way to the top!! It was well worth it.... The view was awesome and it's so great to be able to say that I did that!!!!
We booked a tour through the New Paris company that gave the free tour (this one costs money, though) for tomorrow night. Same tour guide! Yay!
I'll be posting Spain and Paris pictures soon. We're at this hostel for three nights, so I'll have free wifi again! I'm just tired and have just done 3 posts and I dont want to spend the time posting the pics right now!
I've come to terms with the fact that I will forevermore call french fries "chips". Thank you, UK.
Also, a running theme of the trip is Dave being left behind. Whether he gets stuck at a cross walk or an elevator or subway door closes without him with us, it's alway him getting stuck. It's pretty darn funny!
Anyway, Nighty night. Sleep tight! May God go with you and Smelly Man stay away!!!!!!!!!! ;-)
We went to the dining car and sat down and looked at the menu. None of us were too hungry and wanted something small. Little did we know this would be a problem. Pat tried to order fruit, which was a dessert, and the waiter refused and got mad at him. I had looked at the menu. There was Pork and Duck and Seafood. Now, I've done REALLY well on this trip with food, and I really did not feel like spending 20 euros on food I didn't want. When I saw the menu I planned to wait til everyone was done then eat at the bar in the next cart over (there were things like chicken burgers and pizza on the menu!). The waiter wound up throwing pat and I out. SO ridiculous. The picture is of us BEFORE the waiter came. What a jerk. The bar was no good though, because they didnt have most things on the menu and no seats were available! Pat and I split a donut and went back to our cabins.
It took me forever to fall asleep with the motion on the train. It was an interrupted night, but it was long, so that made up for it. We got into Paris at 10am.
We dropped our bags at the hostel and went on our way. First was Starbucks, which was across from the Moulin Rouge, then it was off to another one of the Free Walking Tours!
Linda was our guide and she was great!! We saw SO much on the tour, including the outside of Notre Dame and the Louvre, St. Michael's fountain (where he crushes Satan), the statue of henry IV (they recently turned him into a real Jedi Knight for the next few weeks by giving him a light saber), The Arch Bridge, The Opera house that Phantom of the opera is based off of (there reall is a lake under it that the fire department uses!), Napoleon's Tomb, the Eifel Tower (from a distance), and so much more. So cool!
We went to lunch with Linda and some others afterwards. Down the street from where we ate were some riots... we were protected by the riot police and barracades. We could see the tear gas from a distance though.
The four of us then went to the Eifel tower. Pat and I went all the way to the top!! It was well worth it.... The view was awesome and it's so great to be able to say that I did that!!!!
We booked a tour through the New Paris company that gave the free tour (this one costs money, though) for tomorrow night. Same tour guide! Yay!
I'll be posting Spain and Paris pictures soon. We're at this hostel for three nights, so I'll have free wifi again! I'm just tired and have just done 3 posts and I dont want to spend the time posting the pics right now!
I've come to terms with the fact that I will forevermore call french fries "chips". Thank you, UK.
Also, a running theme of the trip is Dave being left behind. Whether he gets stuck at a cross walk or an elevator or subway door closes without him with us, it's alway him getting stuck. It's pretty darn funny!
Anyway, Nighty night. Sleep tight! May God go with you and Smelly Man stay away!!!!!!!!!! ;-)
Spain!!!
The airport in London was really cool... it was like a mall inside!! The flight on RyanAir to Barcelona went smoothly, but be had a very long ride from the airport to the city itself. We took a bus for a loooong time and then had to take the metro. When we finally got to the hostel, we were all pretty worn out. We wanted to go out, but it just didnt wind up happening.
At first, the language barrier made me uneasy. All those years of high school spanish did NOT prepare me! I knew enough to get by though, and where words failed, mini games of survival-charades worked well!
The next day in Barcelona was rainy. Who woulda thunk that our first day of rain wouldn't be in the British Isles... but Spain!! I thought the rain in Spain stayed mainly in the plain.... LIES!
Anyway, Jen and Dave took that day to just relax at the hostel. Pat and I went out on the town! First stop was Gaudi Park. His architecture is AMAZING and the park itself was beautiful! From the outside, some of the buildings reminded me a little of Dr. Seuss... it was kinda funny!
We went to Sigrada Familia. It's this giant cathedral that Gaudi designed and it's super impressive. Unfortunately, the inside was being renovated so we couldnt see the whole thing and due to the weather we couldnt go up in the tower. boo. It really was beautiful, though!
Next up was the Arc de Triomf. Then we went to the old city, saw some more of Gaudi's works, and had a wonderful spanish meal of Dominoes (yay for Sunday's when nothing is open!).
We went back to the room to nap, then went out to this bar called Chiputos that Drew had reccomended to me. We looked it up online and everything to make sure it'd be open. When we walked up to it, though, it was closed. Fail. I was pretty upset.
OH!!! I ALMOST FORGOT!!!! This is the night that smelly man entered our lives. Smelly is not the right word. Even, "Most horrrific smell we have smelled in our entire lives" is an extreme understatement. Smelly man was our room mate. Jen and Dave had met him earlier in the day and told us they couldn't even stay in the room with him. pat and I were like "oh nooo"... but little did we know.... As Pat put it, his insides were burnind from the stench. And it wasn't even like this guy was smelly then he left... the stench lingered. It was there for 20 minutes after he left (the window was open) when we couldn't stand it anymore. He had taken the elevator, and people getting off the elevator a half hour later were walking out holding their noses. It was BAD.
Needless to say, we got a room change. We also had a LOT of laughs. (Smelly Man, Smelly Man, what are they feeding youuuuuu)
Enough of grossing you out though. We conquered the worst smell we will ever smell. No stench will ever seem so bad ever again!
The next morning was the train to madrid. The train took longer than expected, then we had too book our overnight tickets to Paris. That took FOREVER. It was horrible. The line was forever and a half long! By the time that was done, we had like, 4 hours to go around the city. It stunk, because we were on the opposite side of the city of everything we wanted to do (which wasn't much, anyway). We wound up walking around, getting some middle eastern food for lunch (siesta... everything else was closed, practically), and hanging out on a playground. Luckily the train station had lockers for our back packs. In the park, it was so hot. An old man saw Dave on the bench and made him a newspaper hat... and did the same for all of us! It was really cute, especially since he didn't speak or understand a word of English!
Overall, Spain was not my favorite. If I had more time there it might have been better, but oh well... at least I was there!!!!
At first, the language barrier made me uneasy. All those years of high school spanish did NOT prepare me! I knew enough to get by though, and where words failed, mini games of survival-charades worked well!
The next day in Barcelona was rainy. Who woulda thunk that our first day of rain wouldn't be in the British Isles... but Spain!! I thought the rain in Spain stayed mainly in the plain.... LIES!
Anyway, Jen and Dave took that day to just relax at the hostel. Pat and I went out on the town! First stop was Gaudi Park. His architecture is AMAZING and the park itself was beautiful! From the outside, some of the buildings reminded me a little of Dr. Seuss... it was kinda funny!
We went to Sigrada Familia. It's this giant cathedral that Gaudi designed and it's super impressive. Unfortunately, the inside was being renovated so we couldnt see the whole thing and due to the weather we couldnt go up in the tower. boo. It really was beautiful, though!
Next up was the Arc de Triomf. Then we went to the old city, saw some more of Gaudi's works, and had a wonderful spanish meal of Dominoes (yay for Sunday's when nothing is open!).
We went back to the room to nap, then went out to this bar called Chiputos that Drew had reccomended to me. We looked it up online and everything to make sure it'd be open. When we walked up to it, though, it was closed. Fail. I was pretty upset.
OH!!! I ALMOST FORGOT!!!! This is the night that smelly man entered our lives. Smelly is not the right word. Even, "Most horrrific smell we have smelled in our entire lives" is an extreme understatement. Smelly man was our room mate. Jen and Dave had met him earlier in the day and told us they couldn't even stay in the room with him. pat and I were like "oh nooo"... but little did we know.... As Pat put it, his insides were burnind from the stench. And it wasn't even like this guy was smelly then he left... the stench lingered. It was there for 20 minutes after he left (the window was open) when we couldn't stand it anymore. He had taken the elevator, and people getting off the elevator a half hour later were walking out holding their noses. It was BAD.
Needless to say, we got a room change. We also had a LOT of laughs. (Smelly Man, Smelly Man, what are they feeding youuuuuu)
Enough of grossing you out though. We conquered the worst smell we will ever smell. No stench will ever seem so bad ever again!
The next morning was the train to madrid. The train took longer than expected, then we had too book our overnight tickets to Paris. That took FOREVER. It was horrible. The line was forever and a half long! By the time that was done, we had like, 4 hours to go around the city. It stunk, because we were on the opposite side of the city of everything we wanted to do (which wasn't much, anyway). We wound up walking around, getting some middle eastern food for lunch (siesta... everything else was closed, practically), and hanging out on a playground. Luckily the train station had lockers for our back packs. In the park, it was so hot. An old man saw Dave on the bench and made him a newspaper hat... and did the same for all of us! It was really cute, especially since he didn't speak or understand a word of English!
Overall, Spain was not my favorite. If I had more time there it might have been better, but oh well... at least I was there!!!!
london day two!
So, London was my first bad knee day. I made it that far without a lot of problems, so yay!!
We started off the day with breakfast and went towards the free walking tour (same company as in Edinburgh). Running a tad bit behind schedule didnt help at all when we walked very far down the wrong street! We we got to the tour starting spot and they were, gone, but we met up with them at Buckingham Palace!
We got there just in time to see the changing of the guards. It was all pretty cool! It was like a parade and they marched and some played instruments. We knew the Queen wasn't home at the time, because the British flag was flying... when she is home her own personal flag flies.
We walked down the street and saw the palace that Charles, William, and Henry live in. Not too shabby! Around the corner from that is another palace where lots of important decisions have happened and events taken place. This is also where princess Diana lived during the divorce!
We passed through the city square, said hi to Big Ben again, and saw the Eye, the Horse Guard Cross, Westminster Abbey, and more!
"Westminster" actually means "West Abbey", so we really say Westabbey Abbey. haha.
Next we went to tea. With the Queen. She was pretty nice, but the tea could have been better. She brought us into her private wing and it was REALLY nice in there!! We got in a good hour or so in the palace before we had to go to meet up with some of Dave's friends. We made plans to visit her again, though!!
Now, if you believed any of the last paragraph, I'm not sure we can be friends anymore :-P
We did, however, leave the tour and go meet up with Klair and Carl, two of Dave's friends that live in England. We went to lunch with them at a Sports bar ( I had hoped there'd be some baseball on, but then I realized it was only 10am jersey time *tear*). We had SO much fun with them and we were really happy when they decided to hang out with us longer!
We walked down to the water and wound up going to the Tate, a free Modern Art Museum. It was great in there! After that, we went to Shakespear's Globe Theater, where they STILL do performances!!! That night it was MacBeth, and unfortunately the tickets were a bit over our price range. It was still pretty neat to see from the outside.
We crossed the river to St. Paul's Church (where Prince Charles got married both times). We waled til we passed London Bridge and got a good view of tower Bridge. Don't worry. I didn't let London Bridge fall down!
We took the Underground back to Picadilly Circus and wiund up going to Planet Hollywood for a (very) late dinner. It was the shortest wait I've ever had at a Planet hollywood, since there was no wait!
Klair and Carl missed the last train out, so they wound up getting beds in the hostel we were staying at. It was great because we got to hang out even later then!!
In the morning we had breakfast with them and then parted ways. We had a flight to catch to Spain! Adios, London Baby!
We started off the day with breakfast and went towards the free walking tour (same company as in Edinburgh). Running a tad bit behind schedule didnt help at all when we walked very far down the wrong street! We we got to the tour starting spot and they were, gone, but we met up with them at Buckingham Palace!
We got there just in time to see the changing of the guards. It was all pretty cool! It was like a parade and they marched and some played instruments. We knew the Queen wasn't home at the time, because the British flag was flying... when she is home her own personal flag flies.
We walked down the street and saw the palace that Charles, William, and Henry live in. Not too shabby! Around the corner from that is another palace where lots of important decisions have happened and events taken place. This is also where princess Diana lived during the divorce!
We passed through the city square, said hi to Big Ben again, and saw the Eye, the Horse Guard Cross, Westminster Abbey, and more!
"Westminster" actually means "West Abbey", so we really say Westabbey Abbey. haha.
Next we went to tea. With the Queen. She was pretty nice, but the tea could have been better. She brought us into her private wing and it was REALLY nice in there!! We got in a good hour or so in the palace before we had to go to meet up with some of Dave's friends. We made plans to visit her again, though!!
Now, if you believed any of the last paragraph, I'm not sure we can be friends anymore :-P
We did, however, leave the tour and go meet up with Klair and Carl, two of Dave's friends that live in England. We went to lunch with them at a Sports bar ( I had hoped there'd be some baseball on, but then I realized it was only 10am jersey time *tear*). We had SO much fun with them and we were really happy when they decided to hang out with us longer!
We walked down to the water and wound up going to the Tate, a free Modern Art Museum. It was great in there! After that, we went to Shakespear's Globe Theater, where they STILL do performances!!! That night it was MacBeth, and unfortunately the tickets were a bit over our price range. It was still pretty neat to see from the outside.
We crossed the river to St. Paul's Church (where Prince Charles got married both times). We waled til we passed London Bridge and got a good view of tower Bridge. Don't worry. I didn't let London Bridge fall down!
We took the Underground back to Picadilly Circus and wiund up going to Planet Hollywood for a (very) late dinner. It was the shortest wait I've ever had at a Planet hollywood, since there was no wait!
Klair and Carl missed the last train out, so they wound up getting beds in the hostel we were staying at. It was great because we got to hang out even later then!!
In the morning we had breakfast with them and then parted ways. We had a flight to catch to Spain! Adios, London Baby!
Thursday, June 3, 2010
Liverpool, Oxford, and LONDON, BABY!
Liverpool was our first oopsies. We woke up in Edinburgh 2 hours late. We rushedn (thankful for the community bathroom with four showers!) and got a later train, but we still didnt get to liverpool til about 2:30. it was then a LONG walk to the hostel (first hostel with a bad location). We stopped 2 people to ask for directions. The first guy walked with us a bit til he got to where he was going. He kept pointing things out about the city, which was sweet. The second guy gave us directions then gave us his card in case we had any troubles!
By the time we got to the hostel we were exhausted! Pat and I headed out to Albert Dock to go to The Beatles Story. This museum was soooo cool! Loved it!! I had lots of fun there! The city of liverpool is pretty cool as well.... I wish we had more time to spend there!
When Pat and I got back to the hostel, the four of us walked to ASDA, aka Walmart in England. We bought food here to cook for dinner and breakfast! When we got back to the hostel we made a yummy dinner of pasta with shrimp and veggies. I don't like shrimp and even I admitted it was yummy! I did, however, only have a small bowl of it and had some seperate pasta and veggies sans the shrimp!
The next morning, we made breakfast in the room of eggs, toast, bacon and fruit! It was great! We had a looong train ride, once again, but it was 3 seperate trains, so it seemed to fly by! The hostel we stayed at was cool... funky colors on the walls and murals everywhere. It was our first night in a 20 person room... not too shabby. We went to Christ's Church at the University, but it was closed by the time we got there. We went through town looking through the shops. It's such a nice place!
We had dinner at a place called Aldates Tavern. I had a PB&J that I made at the hostel this morning, so I saved lots of money on dinner! The boys and the girls then split up for movie nights. Prince of Persia and Sex and the City 2. Jen and I went to the Prince of Persia.... just kidding! Our movie did start much later than theirs though, so we went to a pub and had some wine together... appropriate for our movie :-)
The movies were incredible. In Jersey, we pay $10.50 for a cruddy seat that you have to get there early to claim. Here, we payed £8 ( or about $12), which is the highest priced option, for couch seats in the balcony!! Totally awesome. Assigned seats, so you can get there whenever! We felt like we were at a broadway show!!
It was also pretty funny when Jen and I were so amazed at the theater, because we asked a lady to take a picture of the 2 of us in the seats, and when I thanked her, she said "no problem... I remember those early days!" ...She thought we were a couple. We got a kick outta it! There were also a few america-Specific jokes in the movie, and they were blatantly obvious to us because we were the only 2 laughing!! haha.
After the movies, we were back at the hostel. The boys had made friends with a few people there... Travis and Alex and Kate. They were a lot of fun and we had lots of laughs hanging out in the common room!
This morning, breakfast was free at the hostel again (aka another PB&J for lunch!). We Made another attempt at Christ's Church, but it was stupid because they charged money to get in. that being said, we didnt go!! Travis came out with us this morning, though, so it was nice to spend some more time with him!
The train to London wasn't that wrong. We hopped in a cab at our train station and headed towards the hostel. Turns out we headed towards tomorrow night's hostel which is on the outskirts of town!! We realized this £12 into the ride. eek. So we turned around and went back. Our hostel tonight is right by picadilly circus! When we saw how great this location was, i cancelled the other hostel and booked another night here. We will have to change rooms tomorrow, but that's fine by me! we can deal with that for such a great location.
We were all pooped from being up so late last night, so we took naps when we got here. We got up and went out on the town, because we're in LONDON, BABY!!!!! We realized that this area of London is much like times square... pretty cool! We went to dinner at a place called the Spaghetti House. I had...you guessed it... spaghetti! We walked around town. And... there's Big Ben! It was great! We saw The eye of London (and yes, I sang a parody to Eye of the Tiger). We couldnt get on the Eye of London tonight, but we'll get to that tomorrow!
I also, in honor of FRIENDS, made sure to place a map on the ground and stand on it to get my bearings... I had to get inside the map ;-)
Tomorrow is all day here in London!! (Every single time Jen or I say London, we say "Baby" after it and high five. yay FRIENDS!) We are going on another one of those free walking tours tomorrow (same company that runs it), so we're pretty excited! Lots of adventures await us!!
So long for now! LONDON, BABY! *high five*
By the time we got to the hostel we were exhausted! Pat and I headed out to Albert Dock to go to The Beatles Story. This museum was soooo cool! Loved it!! I had lots of fun there! The city of liverpool is pretty cool as well.... I wish we had more time to spend there!
When Pat and I got back to the hostel, the four of us walked to ASDA, aka Walmart in England. We bought food here to cook for dinner and breakfast! When we got back to the hostel we made a yummy dinner of pasta with shrimp and veggies. I don't like shrimp and even I admitted it was yummy! I did, however, only have a small bowl of it and had some seperate pasta and veggies sans the shrimp!
The next morning, we made breakfast in the room of eggs, toast, bacon and fruit! It was great! We had a looong train ride, once again, but it was 3 seperate trains, so it seemed to fly by! The hostel we stayed at was cool... funky colors on the walls and murals everywhere. It was our first night in a 20 person room... not too shabby. We went to Christ's Church at the University, but it was closed by the time we got there. We went through town looking through the shops. It's such a nice place!
We had dinner at a place called Aldates Tavern. I had a PB&J that I made at the hostel this morning, so I saved lots of money on dinner! The boys and the girls then split up for movie nights. Prince of Persia and Sex and the City 2. Jen and I went to the Prince of Persia.... just kidding! Our movie did start much later than theirs though, so we went to a pub and had some wine together... appropriate for our movie :-)
The movies were incredible. In Jersey, we pay $10.50 for a cruddy seat that you have to get there early to claim. Here, we payed £8 ( or about $12), which is the highest priced option, for couch seats in the balcony!! Totally awesome. Assigned seats, so you can get there whenever! We felt like we were at a broadway show!!
It was also pretty funny when Jen and I were so amazed at the theater, because we asked a lady to take a picture of the 2 of us in the seats, and when I thanked her, she said "no problem... I remember those early days!" ...She thought we were a couple. We got a kick outta it! There were also a few america-Specific jokes in the movie, and they were blatantly obvious to us because we were the only 2 laughing!! haha.
After the movies, we were back at the hostel. The boys had made friends with a few people there... Travis and Alex and Kate. They were a lot of fun and we had lots of laughs hanging out in the common room!
This morning, breakfast was free at the hostel again (aka another PB&J for lunch!). We Made another attempt at Christ's Church, but it was stupid because they charged money to get in. that being said, we didnt go!! Travis came out with us this morning, though, so it was nice to spend some more time with him!
The train to London wasn't that wrong. We hopped in a cab at our train station and headed towards the hostel. Turns out we headed towards tomorrow night's hostel which is on the outskirts of town!! We realized this £12 into the ride. eek. So we turned around and went back. Our hostel tonight is right by picadilly circus! When we saw how great this location was, i cancelled the other hostel and booked another night here. We will have to change rooms tomorrow, but that's fine by me! we can deal with that for such a great location.
We were all pooped from being up so late last night, so we took naps when we got here. We got up and went out on the town, because we're in LONDON, BABY!!!!! We realized that this area of London is much like times square... pretty cool! We went to dinner at a place called the Spaghetti House. I had...you guessed it... spaghetti! We walked around town. And... there's Big Ben! It was great! We saw The eye of London (and yes, I sang a parody to Eye of the Tiger). We couldnt get on the Eye of London tonight, but we'll get to that tomorrow!
I also, in honor of FRIENDS, made sure to place a map on the ground and stand on it to get my bearings... I had to get inside the map ;-)
Tomorrow is all day here in London!! (Every single time Jen or I say London, we say "Baby" after it and high five. yay FRIENDS!) We are going on another one of those free walking tours tomorrow (same company that runs it), so we're pretty excited! Lots of adventures await us!!
So long for now! LONDON, BABY! *high five*
Monday, May 31, 2010
Lots to update...
Ok so last time I updated was Belfast... So much has happened since then! AKA all of Scotland! Also, I'm uploading pictures to Flickr, so check out the bar on the right and click it to look at more!
When we got to Scotland, we had a 3 hour train ride to Glasgow. It wasn't bad... these long trains are seeming quicker and quicker. The hostel was really close, and oh boy was it nice! It was Euro Hostel, and it was like a hotel in size! That night was somewhat wasted since we decided it's be a good idea to do laundry, but we didd get some take out chinese food and had a good time with each other.
The next day we took a 10 hour bus tour. First stop was the Wallace Monument (note: check out the movie Braveheart for the meaning behind this monument). It was pretty cool, even though we had to pay to get in on top of the price of the bus tour. It was a really steep climb up the hill to the monument and it was a narrow steep spiral staircase in the monument, but it was SO worth it to see the views from the top! Beautiful!!
As I already noted in a post from the bus, there were sheep EVERYWHERE! And I've never in my life seen cows run before now... it was kind of funny! Next we were on the bus again, passing through Crief (Ewan McGregor's hometown). We stopped at a scenic overlook (SOOOOO pretty). I didnt stay outside long though since it was SO cold. The tour guide (who was wearing a kilt, by the way) kept teasing me for being so cold. It's the end of May, though! It should be 80 degrees!! lol.
The next stop was Aberfeldy, when J.K. Rowling either grew up or currently owns a place... not positive which. We had lunch there (mmmmm steak pie!!!!) and then headed to Dewar's World of Whisky. We didnt have enough time there to tour, but we saw a movie about it and then went through this interactive thinger. Pretty cool. Free whisky at the end... always a plus!!
On the bus we passes a town called "Dull". hahahaha.
We went to this really old graveyard that had a 5,000 year old tree... pretty cool! Apparently it's the 2nd oldest living thing on earth. I still don't know how they know how old it is... something about the roots?
Next stop was Dochunt Falls in Killin. We only had 15 minutes there, but it was AMAZING!! It was one of those gradual waterfalls, but it had these huge rocks that you could climb on and jump across. I got some pretty nice pictures there!
Back on the bus, we saw a forest that had been cut down. Next to every single stump, though, was a baby tree that had been planted! Not only does Scotland use tons of wind turbines for energy, but they also replant their forrests. Kudos, Scotland, Kudos!
We also went to the Falls of Falloch. Now, THAT was a waterfall. A few minutes walk down a path and we were there. It was so beautiful. It actually made me have the urge to go cliff diving! Dont worry, Mom, I didn't and I wont :-P We did climb down a more gradual way though and again jumped on big rocks to the middle of the water. Jen made it really far. So fun!!
On our way back, we passed Loch Lomond. Oh my goodness... saying it was breathtaking doeant even begin to describe it. Words and pictures just dont do it justice.. I only wish the bus had time to stop here.
We drove through a little conservation village, which was cool. The entire time we were on the bus, the tour guide played old Scottish music... it was neat to listen to it while we looked out the windows!
Dinner today was McDonalds... a nice traditional meal from Scotland! haha. 50 minutes into our train ride we were in Edinburgh! So short! We stepped out of the train station and were awestruck. Every single building is SO old. There's this huge castle built on a cliff (that happens to be across the street from our hostel!
Speaking of the hostel... SO great. 10 person room, but there's lockers for our stuff and our roomies are great. We have 3 guys who I don't know their nationality yet, Felix from Germany/ England who is now looking into grad school here, Mark from Germany, and Gary who did a 104 mile run in 25 hours and came in 3rd place (but he wont be here tonight... not sure if we'll have someone different). It's been great! The common room in the hostel is always packed with people, so it's a great place to hang out and meet new friends!
Last night we tried the pub that the guy from that Irish band reccomended, but it was closed. boo. Felix came with us though, and we wound up hanging out at a pub called The Beehive. It was nice, even though we weren't there for long.
Mom, I know today is Memorial Day, so I wore a red shirt so you wouldn't get mad :-P Today is a Bank Holiday here in the UK, so the streets were very busy! We went on a 3 hour walking tour through the city today for free!!! (A three hour tourrrrrrrrr)
Our tour guide was Andy... hea's a student at the university here and he was such a wonderful guide! Not only was he knowledgable but he was funny, said everything with a smile and made the tour fun!
We saw lots of places, such as the city chambers, Market Cross (used for proclamations and persecutions... now only for a new king or queen proclamation), St. Giles Cathedral, Greyfriars Kirk (Rowling got name inspiration from here... saw McGonagal!), Hogwarts (well, the school it was modeled after), the pub that J.K. Rowling wrote the first few books in, and sooo much more.
Andy had people act a few things out. Dave acted as a husband and his wife (a girl from Chicago) needed food for the babies so he had to steal it. He was then persecuted at Market Cross, getting his ear nailed to a wall, just like the olden days lol.
We learned about trip steps in old houses to catch burglars: one step would be smaller so they's trip down the stairs causing a commotion and would be caught. Smart! Andy had our couple act that out and Pat was the theif!
We learned about William Burke and William Hare, 2 serial killers who suffocated people to get money by selling their bodies to medical research. Apparently it's been made into a movie ( a comedy) that will be coming out later this year!
Grass market had tons of pubs and was where all the hangings used to take place. There's a story about Maggie Dickson that's really cool. She was left by her husband, came to the city to work, and fell in love with her boss's son. They couldnt be together since she technically was still married and never fgot divorced. She got pregnant, hid the pregnancy since she couldnt be fired or have a baby out of wed lock, baby died, got arrested and convicted for concealment of a pregnancy ( apparently a crime back then) and was hung fo this. She was pronounced dead and was on the way to the cemetary when she woke up and banged on the walls of the casket. She wasn't dead yet and the cobblestone drive apparently acted like CPR??? The driver took her back to be hung again, but just as they were about to do it, the judge stepped in, saying that she couldnt be convicted of the same crime twice! Then, since she had been pronounced dead, and her marriage vows said "til death do us part", she was able to remarry! she lived happily ever after!!!!!!!
We saw this place: the Heart of Edinburgh . Pretty funny when tourists propose there, then see people spitting there (as Andy had Pat and I act out lol).
Greyfriars Kirk is the resting place of John Gray. He had a dog for 2 years before he passed away named Bobbie. On the day of the funeral, Bobbie was there. The cemetary guard had to carry him out at the end of the day to lock the place up. Bobbie was still there in the morning. This dog layed at his master's grave every single day for the rest of his life. People took care of him, giving him food, but when Bobbie could be in the cemetary, he was there. How touching is that?!? Man's best friend! Sadly, the church would not allow Bobbie to be burried next to his master (you had to be Christian). He is burried right outside. There is a statue of Greyfriar Bobbie just across the street. Ironically enough, I saw a sign posted outside the cemetary that says "No Dogs Allowed".
The tour ended with us sitting in a park under the castle and Andy telling us about the students in the 1950's who stole the Stone of Destiny back from Westminster Abbey. Such a good story!! And Andy was a wonderful storyteller!
We got a late lunch at Garfunkel's (chicken and veggies for me!), went to get smoothies at Hulza, went to the store to buy food to cook for dinner, and went to visit the castle up closer. It was 13 pounds to get in, so we just took pics outside. I swear the moat and front door of the castle was the inspiration for Peach's Castle on N64. I jumped up the walkway saying "Wha! Woo hoo! Yippee!" Just for you, Bobby ;-)
Dinner was mac n cheese and corn for me! I'm hanging in the hostel common room right now doing all of this while the other 3 are on a ghost tour of the city. That's not my cup of tea, especially at night! I'm staying safe and sound right at the computer here... not even going back to the room since we're sharing it with a bunch of guys. They should be back fairly soon.
*Phew* that was a lot to type. I had to go buy another hour of internet time to finish this up!! lol. Anyway, in the morning we're off to Liverpool! YAY BEATLES!
When we got to Scotland, we had a 3 hour train ride to Glasgow. It wasn't bad... these long trains are seeming quicker and quicker. The hostel was really close, and oh boy was it nice! It was Euro Hostel, and it was like a hotel in size! That night was somewhat wasted since we decided it's be a good idea to do laundry, but we didd get some take out chinese food and had a good time with each other.
The next day we took a 10 hour bus tour. First stop was the Wallace Monument (note: check out the movie Braveheart for the meaning behind this monument). It was pretty cool, even though we had to pay to get in on top of the price of the bus tour. It was a really steep climb up the hill to the monument and it was a narrow steep spiral staircase in the monument, but it was SO worth it to see the views from the top! Beautiful!!
As I already noted in a post from the bus, there were sheep EVERYWHERE! And I've never in my life seen cows run before now... it was kind of funny! Next we were on the bus again, passing through Crief (Ewan McGregor's hometown). We stopped at a scenic overlook (SOOOOO pretty). I didnt stay outside long though since it was SO cold. The tour guide (who was wearing a kilt, by the way) kept teasing me for being so cold. It's the end of May, though! It should be 80 degrees!! lol.
The next stop was Aberfeldy, when J.K. Rowling either grew up or currently owns a place... not positive which. We had lunch there (mmmmm steak pie!!!!) and then headed to Dewar's World of Whisky. We didnt have enough time there to tour, but we saw a movie about it and then went through this interactive thinger. Pretty cool. Free whisky at the end... always a plus!!
On the bus we passes a town called "Dull". hahahaha.
We went to this really old graveyard that had a 5,000 year old tree... pretty cool! Apparently it's the 2nd oldest living thing on earth. I still don't know how they know how old it is... something about the roots?
Next stop was Dochunt Falls in Killin. We only had 15 minutes there, but it was AMAZING!! It was one of those gradual waterfalls, but it had these huge rocks that you could climb on and jump across. I got some pretty nice pictures there!
Back on the bus, we saw a forest that had been cut down. Next to every single stump, though, was a baby tree that had been planted! Not only does Scotland use tons of wind turbines for energy, but they also replant their forrests. Kudos, Scotland, Kudos!
We also went to the Falls of Falloch. Now, THAT was a waterfall. A few minutes walk down a path and we were there. It was so beautiful. It actually made me have the urge to go cliff diving! Dont worry, Mom, I didn't and I wont :-P We did climb down a more gradual way though and again jumped on big rocks to the middle of the water. Jen made it really far. So fun!!
On our way back, we passed Loch Lomond. Oh my goodness... saying it was breathtaking doeant even begin to describe it. Words and pictures just dont do it justice.. I only wish the bus had time to stop here.
We drove through a little conservation village, which was cool. The entire time we were on the bus, the tour guide played old Scottish music... it was neat to listen to it while we looked out the windows!
Dinner today was McDonalds... a nice traditional meal from Scotland! haha. 50 minutes into our train ride we were in Edinburgh! So short! We stepped out of the train station and were awestruck. Every single building is SO old. There's this huge castle built on a cliff (that happens to be across the street from our hostel!
Speaking of the hostel... SO great. 10 person room, but there's lockers for our stuff and our roomies are great. We have 3 guys who I don't know their nationality yet, Felix from Germany/ England who is now looking into grad school here, Mark from Germany, and Gary who did a 104 mile run in 25 hours and came in 3rd place (but he wont be here tonight... not sure if we'll have someone different). It's been great! The common room in the hostel is always packed with people, so it's a great place to hang out and meet new friends!
Last night we tried the pub that the guy from that Irish band reccomended, but it was closed. boo. Felix came with us though, and we wound up hanging out at a pub called The Beehive. It was nice, even though we weren't there for long.
Mom, I know today is Memorial Day, so I wore a red shirt so you wouldn't get mad :-P Today is a Bank Holiday here in the UK, so the streets were very busy! We went on a 3 hour walking tour through the city today for free!!! (A three hour tourrrrrrrrr)
Our tour guide was Andy... hea's a student at the university here and he was such a wonderful guide! Not only was he knowledgable but he was funny, said everything with a smile and made the tour fun!
We saw lots of places, such as the city chambers, Market Cross (used for proclamations and persecutions... now only for a new king or queen proclamation), St. Giles Cathedral, Greyfriars Kirk (Rowling got name inspiration from here... saw McGonagal!), Hogwarts (well, the school it was modeled after), the pub that J.K. Rowling wrote the first few books in, and sooo much more.
Andy had people act a few things out. Dave acted as a husband and his wife (a girl from Chicago) needed food for the babies so he had to steal it. He was then persecuted at Market Cross, getting his ear nailed to a wall, just like the olden days lol.
We learned about trip steps in old houses to catch burglars: one step would be smaller so they's trip down the stairs causing a commotion and would be caught. Smart! Andy had our couple act that out and Pat was the theif!
We learned about William Burke and William Hare, 2 serial killers who suffocated people to get money by selling their bodies to medical research. Apparently it's been made into a movie ( a comedy) that will be coming out later this year!
Grass market had tons of pubs and was where all the hangings used to take place. There's a story about Maggie Dickson that's really cool. She was left by her husband, came to the city to work, and fell in love with her boss's son. They couldnt be together since she technically was still married and never fgot divorced. She got pregnant, hid the pregnancy since she couldnt be fired or have a baby out of wed lock, baby died, got arrested and convicted for concealment of a pregnancy ( apparently a crime back then) and was hung fo this. She was pronounced dead and was on the way to the cemetary when she woke up and banged on the walls of the casket. She wasn't dead yet and the cobblestone drive apparently acted like CPR??? The driver took her back to be hung again, but just as they were about to do it, the judge stepped in, saying that she couldnt be convicted of the same crime twice! Then, since she had been pronounced dead, and her marriage vows said "til death do us part", she was able to remarry! she lived happily ever after!!!!!!!
We saw this place: the Heart of Edinburgh . Pretty funny when tourists propose there, then see people spitting there (as Andy had Pat and I act out lol).
Greyfriars Kirk is the resting place of John Gray. He had a dog for 2 years before he passed away named Bobbie. On the day of the funeral, Bobbie was there. The cemetary guard had to carry him out at the end of the day to lock the place up. Bobbie was still there in the morning. This dog layed at his master's grave every single day for the rest of his life. People took care of him, giving him food, but when Bobbie could be in the cemetary, he was there. How touching is that?!? Man's best friend! Sadly, the church would not allow Bobbie to be burried next to his master (you had to be Christian). He is burried right outside. There is a statue of Greyfriar Bobbie just across the street. Ironically enough, I saw a sign posted outside the cemetary that says "No Dogs Allowed".
The tour ended with us sitting in a park under the castle and Andy telling us about the students in the 1950's who stole the Stone of Destiny back from Westminster Abbey. Such a good story!! And Andy was a wonderful storyteller!
We got a late lunch at Garfunkel's (chicken and veggies for me!), went to get smoothies at Hulza, went to the store to buy food to cook for dinner, and went to visit the castle up closer. It was 13 pounds to get in, so we just took pics outside. I swear the moat and front door of the castle was the inspiration for Peach's Castle on N64. I jumped up the walkway saying "Wha! Woo hoo! Yippee!" Just for you, Bobby ;-)
Dinner was mac n cheese and corn for me! I'm hanging in the hostel common room right now doing all of this while the other 3 are on a ghost tour of the city. That's not my cup of tea, especially at night! I'm staying safe and sound right at the computer here... not even going back to the room since we're sharing it with a bunch of guys. They should be back fairly soon.
*Phew* that was a lot to type. I had to go buy another hour of internet time to finish this up!! lol. Anyway, in the morning we're off to Liverpool! YAY BEATLES!
Sunday, May 30, 2010
For My Sigmas...
There are lambies EVERYWHERE in the Scottish countryside! Just thought I'd share! I miss ewe ladies! SLAM!
More updates later today.. Back to enjoy the view!
More updates later today.. Back to enjoy the view!
Saturday, May 29, 2010
im on a boat!
Take a good hard look at the ... Boat!
Ok so we just got on the ferry to Scotland. It's seriously like a cruise ship! Movies, cafes, bars, casino, arcade, lounges, nail salon.... We are SO impressed. We thought we'd be rocked around on a tiny little boat! Ah loving this!
Last night Phil helped us book our tickets. Phil os awesome. He's our hostel workin buddy. Such a great guy. We talked to him fopr like an hour after he helped us. He travels to Jersey a lot to visit friends and family so we're facebook-ing each other to keep in touch! Yay Phil!
Ok time to go enjoy the boat! Woot!
Ok so we just got on the ferry to Scotland. It's seriously like a cruise ship! Movies, cafes, bars, casino, arcade, lounges, nail salon.... We are SO impressed. We thought we'd be rocked around on a tiny little boat! Ah loving this!
Last night Phil helped us book our tickets. Phil os awesome. He's our hostel workin buddy. Such a great guy. We talked to him fopr like an hour after he helped us. He travels to Jersey a lot to visit friends and family so we're facebook-ing each other to keep in touch! Yay Phil!
Ok time to go enjoy the boat! Woot!
Friday, May 28, 2010
Cullen/Blarney/Cork... oh and Belfast, too!
Hey all!
First off, a little birdie told me that there may be a plus to the next sentence I write. Hey Uncie!
Anywho, yesterday was AMAZING! We woke up in Killarney to another Toast breakfast, which stunk, but that's alright, because right after breakfast Uncle Tadhg picked us up!! We drove to Cullen to vistit with some of Pat's relatives, which was really nice. We saw the cemetery where Pat's Great-Great Grandparents are buried, and as Jen said, If you have to lay somewhere forever, THAT's the place to be. It was SO beautiful.
From there we went to Blarney Castle! Uncle Tadhg was so so sweet and paid for ALL of us to get in, including himself!!! It was soooo cool going through the castle, including the dungeon!! At the top we all kissed the Blarney Stone! I now have the gift of gab ;-)
Uncle Tadhg then dropped us off at the Cork Gaol (the old city jail). The four of us did an audio tour of the place... it was actually VERY interesting! Creepy at times, but interesting all the same. That took longer then expected, so we walked into the city and had something to eat. I had this delicious potato with chicken and cheese in it. mmmmmmmm! We had enough time to walk to Patrick's Street to meet up with Uncle Tadhg just in time!!
We went back to the house in Glenmire (we were all very impressed with the house... Uncle Tadhg built the entire house... as well as some of the other houses the family lives in!). We had some lasagna which was SO yummy! After meeting some more family, we hung out with Pat's cousin Tara and the girls (18 months and 2 months,... SO cute!).
That evening we went to the Yacht club with Pat's Uncle to race the sailboat!! We were pretty much dead wait on the boat, but we evened out the weight in the front of the boat, sticking our legs over whichever side stuck up in the air. Uncle Tadhg said it helped, so, yay! The Lady T (Micheal's boat that we were racing... Micheal is Tadhg's son) won 2nd place!! Yay!! Only a few injuries occured, like jen almost getting knocked off by a sail and Dave getting smacked in the face with the other sail's ropes and banging up his nose and getting rope burn on his neck. He's a trooper... he took one for the team!! We hung out at the Yacht club for a bit, drinking while waiting for the results.
We then headed to Michael's and Tara's house to celebrate the victory and give them the prize ( a 12 pack of heineken lol). Unfortunately Cuiva (spelling?) was sick again... poor thing. Marie spent a lot of time snuggled in my arms, so I was quite a happy camper! We had a great time with all of them... I just wish we had more time so spend with them.
Back at Uncle Tadhg's, we sat in the living room, talked,drank, and hung out ( Auntie Merlin was there too!). It was so noce to hear all the stories they had for us. All four of us agreed that it was the best day yet in Ireland! We went to bed well after midnight, and we were able to sing happy birthday to Pat before we went to sleep.
On that note, HAPPY BIRTHDAY PAT!!! We woke up this morning and had a DELICIOUS breakfast of eggs and sausage and toast and black pudding prepared by Auntie Merlin. We then had to say our goodbyes so we could get dropped off at the trainstation. We kept joking that we weren't going to leave...we'd just spend a month with Pat's family then go home! That's how much fun we had!
Anyway, all of today was spent traveling to Belfast. It was a 3 hour train ride back to Dublin since there are no trains up the west coast here... Everything goes through Dublin. Then we had a 2 hour wait til the next train to Belfast. That train was on the other side of town, though, so we walked all the way to the station and stopped for lunch on the way.
The train out of dublin was a bit delayed, but not bad. We talked and played cards (still trying to get the hang of Peanuckle) the whole way there. Last night Tara gave me a little cake with a hard chocolate coating on it and candles! It was so so sweet of her. 2 things though.. First, We didn't have matches and I couldn't find any in stores I went to. Second, the chocolate coating cracked apart in my bag, even though I tried to be gentle. It was too tough hiding it! Anyway, we made pat close his eyes as we unwrapped it and stuck the candle in. We sang to him and he blew out the non-existant flames lol.
When we got to Belfast we took a connecting train to a stop closer to our hostel. We were jokingly pessimistic about it, being in Northern Ireland, which is part of the UK and it being gloomy out and all. We went to our hostel to check in: it's really nice here! Its part of a chain of hostels. Were in a 4 person room, so with the key cards to get onto the elevators and into the rooms, we don't have to worry about locking our stuff up at night. That's really nice.
We got dinner at a place called Laverys. We almost went to KFC wheb we saw this place across the street! Yay! No american chains whike were here!! Although, the KFC had pretty much no menu in comaprison to the US anyway...
Our waiter and the manager at Laverys were both so great! They spoke with us about our trip and about times they've been to the US. When the waiter heard it was Pat's birthday he brought us a free bottle of sparkling white wine!!! I loved it, as did jen and dave... Even Pat said it was pretty good lol.
Now we're just taking it easy tonight. We may or may not spend time here tomorrow before heading to the ferry to Scotland... Who knows?
Oh wait I know. Just looked up ferry times. Unfortunately we won't be goibg to Giant's Causeway tomorrow, but I guess we'll have to come back sometime! Ferry to Scotland in the AM!!
Check out pats blog for pictures. I update from my phone so I can't put pics up from here. Sorry everyone!
One country down, many to go ;-)
First off, a little birdie told me that there may be a plus to the next sentence I write. Hey Uncie!
Anywho, yesterday was AMAZING! We woke up in Killarney to another Toast breakfast, which stunk, but that's alright, because right after breakfast Uncle Tadhg picked us up!! We drove to Cullen to vistit with some of Pat's relatives, which was really nice. We saw the cemetery where Pat's Great-Great Grandparents are buried, and as Jen said, If you have to lay somewhere forever, THAT's the place to be. It was SO beautiful.
From there we went to Blarney Castle! Uncle Tadhg was so so sweet and paid for ALL of us to get in, including himself!!! It was soooo cool going through the castle, including the dungeon!! At the top we all kissed the Blarney Stone! I now have the gift of gab ;-)
Uncle Tadhg then dropped us off at the Cork Gaol (the old city jail). The four of us did an audio tour of the place... it was actually VERY interesting! Creepy at times, but interesting all the same. That took longer then expected, so we walked into the city and had something to eat. I had this delicious potato with chicken and cheese in it. mmmmmmmm! We had enough time to walk to Patrick's Street to meet up with Uncle Tadhg just in time!!
We went back to the house in Glenmire (we were all very impressed with the house... Uncle Tadhg built the entire house... as well as some of the other houses the family lives in!). We had some lasagna which was SO yummy! After meeting some more family, we hung out with Pat's cousin Tara and the girls (18 months and 2 months,... SO cute!).
That evening we went to the Yacht club with Pat's Uncle to race the sailboat!! We were pretty much dead wait on the boat, but we evened out the weight in the front of the boat, sticking our legs over whichever side stuck up in the air. Uncle Tadhg said it helped, so, yay! The Lady T (Micheal's boat that we were racing... Micheal is Tadhg's son) won 2nd place!! Yay!! Only a few injuries occured, like jen almost getting knocked off by a sail and Dave getting smacked in the face with the other sail's ropes and banging up his nose and getting rope burn on his neck. He's a trooper... he took one for the team!! We hung out at the Yacht club for a bit, drinking while waiting for the results.
We then headed to Michael's and Tara's house to celebrate the victory and give them the prize ( a 12 pack of heineken lol). Unfortunately Cuiva (spelling?) was sick again... poor thing. Marie spent a lot of time snuggled in my arms, so I was quite a happy camper! We had a great time with all of them... I just wish we had more time so spend with them.
Back at Uncle Tadhg's, we sat in the living room, talked,drank, and hung out ( Auntie Merlin was there too!). It was so noce to hear all the stories they had for us. All four of us agreed that it was the best day yet in Ireland! We went to bed well after midnight, and we were able to sing happy birthday to Pat before we went to sleep.
On that note, HAPPY BIRTHDAY PAT!!! We woke up this morning and had a DELICIOUS breakfast of eggs and sausage and toast and black pudding prepared by Auntie Merlin. We then had to say our goodbyes so we could get dropped off at the trainstation. We kept joking that we weren't going to leave...we'd just spend a month with Pat's family then go home! That's how much fun we had!
Anyway, all of today was spent traveling to Belfast. It was a 3 hour train ride back to Dublin since there are no trains up the west coast here... Everything goes through Dublin. Then we had a 2 hour wait til the next train to Belfast. That train was on the other side of town, though, so we walked all the way to the station and stopped for lunch on the way.
The train out of dublin was a bit delayed, but not bad. We talked and played cards (still trying to get the hang of Peanuckle) the whole way there. Last night Tara gave me a little cake with a hard chocolate coating on it and candles! It was so so sweet of her. 2 things though.. First, We didn't have matches and I couldn't find any in stores I went to. Second, the chocolate coating cracked apart in my bag, even though I tried to be gentle. It was too tough hiding it! Anyway, we made pat close his eyes as we unwrapped it and stuck the candle in. We sang to him and he blew out the non-existant flames lol.
When we got to Belfast we took a connecting train to a stop closer to our hostel. We were jokingly pessimistic about it, being in Northern Ireland, which is part of the UK and it being gloomy out and all. We went to our hostel to check in: it's really nice here! Its part of a chain of hostels. Were in a 4 person room, so with the key cards to get onto the elevators and into the rooms, we don't have to worry about locking our stuff up at night. That's really nice.
We got dinner at a place called Laverys. We almost went to KFC wheb we saw this place across the street! Yay! No american chains whike were here!! Although, the KFC had pretty much no menu in comaprison to the US anyway...
Our waiter and the manager at Laverys were both so great! They spoke with us about our trip and about times they've been to the US. When the waiter heard it was Pat's birthday he brought us a free bottle of sparkling white wine!!! I loved it, as did jen and dave... Even Pat said it was pretty good lol.
Now we're just taking it easy tonight. We may or may not spend time here tomorrow before heading to the ferry to Scotland... Who knows?
Oh wait I know. Just looked up ferry times. Unfortunately we won't be goibg to Giant's Causeway tomorrow, but I guess we'll have to come back sometime! Ferry to Scotland in the AM!!
Check out pats blog for pictures. I update from my phone so I can't put pics up from here. Sorry everyone!
One country down, many to go ;-)
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