September 15 & 16

Yesterday (15th) we took a tour outside London to the Sarum Mound, Salisbury Village and S. Cathedral, Stonehenge and Avebury.  All fantastic sites.  Sounds like it would be a busy day, but we were in a small coach (only about 12 people) and were able to whip around the countryside in a timely fashion.

The Salisbury Cathedral is home to one of the last four Magna Carta manuscripts.  Extremely moving to view a document from about 1215 A.D. which strongly influenced our Declaration of Independence, our Constitution and our Bill of Rights.  Have learnt so much about the histories of Ireland, Scotland and England, and how they are so interwoven, and yet, still not have a clue as to why so many people in Belfast and Scotland would still wish to be part of the crown.  Why they don’t want independence (like the rest of Ireland) is still a mystery to me.   These countries remind me of a bunch of siblings bickering for the seat of honor next to mum and dad at the dinner table.  Oh well….I’ll take the U.S.A. and our democratic process, our separation of church and state, and our lack of a monarchy, ANY day of the week!!!  Do I sound homesick????
S. Cathedral cloisture
Did our version of a “pub crawl” last night: went into whichever pub appealed to us, had a beer, and moved on to the next one!!  Quite fun. 

Today (16) we all slept in and then walked to Buckingham Palace for the tour there.  Much to our delight, we witnessed the changing of the guard—way cool.
Then, into Buck Palace.  Whoa….that place is seriously cool.  After the tour inside, we were set free in the gardens.  Actually had “Tea” in a garden tent that was set up on the back courtyard of the palace and overlooking the gardens.  LaTeDah!!!  Color me ‘Princess Bonnie!’  :-)

 
After walking around the gardens (about 1/2 mile), we all went separate ways.  Bri to visit some church on his “hit list,” Jim to go back to the hotel and then to go for a run (back to the Palace, color him “nuts”), and Janette and I to go shopping!!!  Once again, a good time was had by all.
Back together for more pubs and dinner.  Back home to pack for our departure tomorrow.  Nite-nite!  See u all very soon.

September 14 – London

 

So we caught up with J & J again for lunch and to see The Merry Wives of Windsor at Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre.  Super seats (all seats were great, actually)—we all nodded off once or twice but no one fell off the balcony.  Although, in my case, it was a very, very, close thing!!  Jim had a small metal gadget in front of him and there were a couple of times when Janette thought his head might drop smack into it, but he held strong.  A little tough following the Shakespearean language, but once you relaxed into it, it did seem to come a little easier.  In any case, it was extremely entertaining, and I’m so glad we did it.

J & J went to St. Paul’s Cathedral in the morning, and Bri and I went to Westminster Abbey.  A good time was had by all at our respective bit of culture. 

We also had dinner together at a pub near us and met a charming young lady from Dunedin, N.Z.  Since I’ve told Kelz about all the neat guys we’ve seen, thought I’d stay true to form and tell Liam that it’s too bad he wasn’t with us!!  She’s was very sweet, and smart, too.  Her “schooling” was in “energy auditing” and she’s interested in energy conservation and research!!  Sounds like our sweet Kelsey, doesn’t it? Although I would be horrified if Kelz decided to “see the world” by working as a waitress after she finishes school.  Yikes!!  Perish the thought!

Speaking of horrified, if Ron’s reading the blog he would be shocked to his toes by what we were served in the name of “Prawn Cocktail.”  These were the teeniest, tiniest, little bay shrimp that have ever swam in water.  Too funny for words!

 

We do a day trip out of London tomorrow to Stonehenge, Avebury and the Salisbury Cathedral.  Should catch up on my sleep on the bus--hahaha

September 13, Monday, London

 

Today we went our separate ways.  Jim and Janette were doing a Hop On/Hop Off tour of London and Bri and I headed out of town to Oxford and Christchurch College, Stratford-on-the-Avon (Shakespeare’s birthplace), and Warwick Castle.  Don’t know how J & J fared today ‘cuz we haven’t seen them, but Bri and I had a good time tho it was kind of rushed. Could have spent more time at Oxford University and less time at Warwick Castle, but it was pretty relaxing.  I slept from London to Oxford, I slept from Oxford to Stratford, and I would have fallen asleep again from Stratford to Warwick if the trip had been about five minutes longer.  haha  Guess I needed to catch up on my downtime.  Oh…I also slept on the way back to London.  Feeling quite refreshed right now!!

Oxford University is actually home to 39 colleges—I won’t go into the makeup right now, but it was interesting how certain colleges catered to future politicians, or to future writers, or to future engineers, etc.  Some colleges were more prestigious than others, but in true socialist fashion, they have done away with preferential treatment and a council now decides which college you will go to.  You can ask for one college over another, but the ultimate decision is up to the council!!

Christchurch College is home to the “great hall” which is the hall used in Harry Potter.  Man, it was like being on the movie set.  Way cool.

Shakespeare’s birth place was illuminating, and the exhibit was well done.  Learned a lot about William in a very short time.  Worth seeing.

 

This is photo of the floor in Will’s house.  Really nifty slate!!  Got in trouble for taking this photo—it seems no photos are allowed inside the dwelling and I didn’t know!!  Oops—me bad.

Warwick Castle was stunning and a lot of fun.  They have many life like mannequins arranged throughout the castle as well a live performers.  Rather disconcerting to find a live person who you thought was a mannequin, and vice versa.  Very entertaining and the castle and grounds are stupendous.

 

Early night tonight.  Hope I can sleep!  haha

September 12, LONDON and Recap

 

Forgot to tell you about St. Andrews and The Old Course (that’s Scotland for you non-golfers)!!!  I shot a 95 and was hailed as the best non-pro they had ever seen!!!  Haha….just a “wee” jest,  Didn’t golf, but did get photo on the bridge.  Loved every minute of our time there.  Super B & B about 1-1/2 minutes from the Old Course—seriously, would recommend it to anyone who is interested.

 

Got to London on Sunday and immediately did the London Eye and the high speed boat (RIB—rigid inflatable boat) trip up the Thames.  What a blast.  Janette was laughing like a loon and I wasn’t far behind.  :-)  Had Sunday dinner at a local pub—too late for the roast beef and yorkshire pudding so we settled for the roast chicken and yorkshire pudding and I’m happy to say it was delicious.  A relatively early night.

This was in the London Eye gondola.

 

Jim doesn’t look that enthusiastic in this photo, but he really did have a good time.  That’s the London Clock Tower (aka Big Ben) behind them.

Day? Crossing Irish Sea & Scotland

“Rock & Roll” NOW has a whole new meaning for me.  Pretty rough ferry crossing.  Whilst (British term) fixating on a sign on the wall (in an attempt to keep my inner ear stable), I amused myself by watching hardier folk than I stumble around on the violently rolling ferry.  I swear one young lady appeared to be line dancing as she took two steps to one side and then two steps to the other side and then two steps back again.  Yikes…she made me rather dizzy!!
Got to Troon (Scotland) and a short taxi ride later we were the proud renters of a lovely little BMW wagon.  THEN…the true journey began.  Getting the car door open, and then unlatching the trunk, and then fitting all of our luggage in said trunk, all whilst the rain gently fell on our poor, wee little heads, was truly an experience.  No manual in the car so all switches and seat adjustments were hit and miss.  :-)
Bri did OK driving on the “wrong” side of the road, but it was the left-handed turns coming out the the roundabouts that gave us all an adrenaline rush—especially to those of us on the left-hand side (me and Jimbo)!!  The poor BMW’s left front wheel had quite a work out as Bri consistently, and without mercy, slammed it into the curb time and time again!!  By the time we got to our first point of interest (the Falkirk Wheel), about 90 minutes later, we were all laughing hysterically and Jim kept wondering “how much is that wheel damage going to cost me?!”  When we stopped at the wheel and wondered how long we could afford to spend there and still reach our destination that night, Jim had a throwaway line that actually had me pee me pants!!  He says, “Well, we already own the car; we can take as much time as we want!!”  God, I couldn’t stop laughing…and the pee kept flowing!



To sum up Scotland….WOW…very tranquil, few bodies, and a wonderful sense of calm. Castles abound!!  Although Stirling Castle was something out of a movie set, and Edinburgh Castle was imposing, the one that had us all drooling was Urquart Castle on Loch Ness  .  It is really only a well-preserved ruin, but enough of it stood on the banks of Loch Ness that we were all fantasizing about where we’d put the morning room, the breakfast terrace, the family room, the bedrooms, etc,  What an incredible location.  I want it!!!! Badly!!


The bagpipper was on the side of the road…incredibly eerie to hear him on the side of the road in this mountain setting.  I wanted to ask him if he was the same guy in the Rick Steeve’s video, but decided not to embarass him or me!!

September 11 we hit Liverpool for the night.  Great Beatles tribute and lovely trip down memory lane.  Lots of BBC coverage of 9/11.  Happy Birthday to Charlize and Hunter.  And onto London on Sunday, September 12.

Last Day Dublin & Off to Belfast

September 3, Cliffs of Moher and back to Dublin

Hello People, and Happy Birthday Mom!!

Got up bright and early for the last day of our 3-day tour.  Went by van to Limerick (about 90 minutes) and joined up with another group (down from Dublin on a day trip) and our first day's tour guide (Billy).  For the rest of the day we were in a large coach--first on the bus so we got the best seats.  :-)  Two other people were on the same 3-day tour with us Ken (the dad) and Sean (the son) from New Jersey.  Sean is doing a semester at the university in Glasgow and they took a quick trip to Ireland before his semester starts.  In any case, the dad was very funny and we enjoyed having them both around. FYI, Kelsey, Sean is a very personable young man and it is too bad you weren't with us on this trip.  :-)  

Once again, throughout the day we saw some fantastic scenery.  Stopped at Bunratty Castle just outside of Limerick. The castle was completed in 1425 and was recently renovated.  Could actually live in it, if it had heat, plumbing, etc!  Just a few creature comforts.  haha

Visited the Cliffs of Moher which are among the highest sea cliffs in Western Europe.  The highlight of my day, I might add, and I may not need to see the White Cliffs of Dover now that I've seen Moher.  They were spectacular and the weather was incredibly cooperative. Unseasonably sunny and slightly breezy, the sea air felt and smelt wonderful.

We continued on the coast road on our way to Galway and passed by an area called The Burren.  "Burren" is an Irish word that means 'rocky place' and that is exactly what it was.  It literally looks like a lunar landscape.  In 1649 one of Oliver Cromwell's men described this area as, "No tree to hang a man, no water deep enough to drown him and no soil deep enough to bury him."  Pretty much sums it up!

Oh, we actually saw the house they use in the British show, "Father Ted."  Brian and I are very familiar with the TV program, much to the delight of Billy!!  We also saw Galway Bay and as usual, the scenery was beautiful, etc, etc.  ^__^

Finally got to Galway and caught the train back to Dublin (about 3 hours).  Found a cab that could carry all six of us.  The seating was somewhat like a limo.  Bill sat in front with the driver, Joan, Janette and I sat in three seats facing the front, Jim and Brian were on pull down bumper-type seats with their backs to the driver.   The driver showed Jim where his lap belt was and Brian said, "Oh, I have a shoulder strap!"  Jim was feeling quite left out with his lack of safety restraints.  In the meantime, Brian was struggling to hook his shoulder strap and we were laughing at him saying he had eaten too much/drank too many beers on our mini tour, when the driver yanked on the belt and Brian yanked back wondering what the heck was going on.  The driver yanked again and said, "You've got me belt!"  We were in hysterics all the way to the hotel!!!

Everyone went to bed except for Brian and I and we went over to the Temple Bar area for a nightcap.  Ended up getting to bed about 1:30 AM!!  Had a very good time!