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First and foremost, let's start off with the crazy signs. Please note that these are prevelent here. That is what is odd. I thought they were funny the first time, but I guess, these are just the normal hazzard signs.....
Ok, so I guess this is like our Danger of Electrocution, but this is a far funny sign and you have to love the picture. I was so excited when I saw this, and then we saw it like everywhere. Heck, there is even one on my street.
Tank Crossing? Were we on restricted grounds??? The better sign was the NO TANKS ALLOWED going into a town, but we missed it. Guess I need to start driving through more military areas in the states to take pictures of the signs.
I just don't get it? Is this an angle or what? Haven't seen anything like it. I will not of course mention the person who thought it was number of steps.....how can there be more steps going up than down on the same stairway???
And the classic.....please do not drive off cliff.
Some brief reflections of the trip
- Northern Ireland is beautiful and a place I would like to explore further
- Renting a car in Europe is not the same as renting a car in the US, and nothing redeeming about the experience really other than the cars did not blow up while we were driving them
- In really rural areas of Ireland, it is near impossible to understand the English spoken
- Sometimes maps mislead and take us down horrifically narrow roads meant for one yugo-sized car and a driver who has no fear
- Money never really goes as far as you'd like, no matter what currency is being used
- Trying 'local' food isn't always the best and at times is darn right scary
- When a person is in the street, you really should try better to avoid hitting her. And when a NUN is in the street, you should try harder!! Thankfully, we did not hit anyone.....but there was that rather scary incident with the woman who leaped back into her car......hee hee.
- Always remember that people in some places lie to make more money - ok, most people in most places, lie to make money
- You do not really need a souvenir from every single place you go (or do you)?
- Scotland is worthy of an entire week to explore further
- When you see about a million houses and castles in a two-week period, you become a bit unimpressed. Like - Bantry House became so tiny and small (and it was pretty darn large at the time) after you explore other places. And after about 20 Castles, Mansions, Palaces, you really start to not even care to see another one. But if someone gave me a castle - I'd go live in it....no complaints
- Sometimes cool looking places on the outside, have nothing to offer inside
- Smoking bans are one of the best things in the world!
- I cannot believe how many sightseeing tours exist. Even in small towns. What the???
- Seeing a Premiership Football game live is pretty awesome, and also darn right scary at the fanatism involved (and this coming from someone who is rather fanatical about a certain college team - GO BLUE)!!
- Driving on the other side of the road isn't all that difficult with practice. It is just the practice that was difficult for others.
- Look for deals. Best things in terms of experience or money were Stonehenge (the Stone Circle Access) and the Great British Heritage Pass. Some things you just don't find out in the guidebooks so research is best.
- Don't wait to pray for your own safety after you see a horrific accident that took the lives of 3 people!!
- I found it interesting that in most places in Ireland (even rather remote) the workers were all middle eastern yet Irish. While it is hard to understand the Irish in some places of Ireland...this was even more fun.
- Tour bus drivers must all take the same course in really horrific joke making.
- Trying to do a million things in one day, sometimes proves impossible.
- Even if a road exists on the map, sometimes you just cannot locate it in reality....
- 15 days may be a little too long to continually try to do a million and one things each day.
- When the sign says 'do not drink the water' - DO NOT DRINK THE WATER!!!!
DISNEY IS NEXT......not sure I will document that in the blog....what would it be 'today, we met Mickey and rode Dumbo'....(secretly of course, I will be having as much fun as the 4-10 year olds - I doubt the 1 year old will care much)!!!!
I rejoined the travel on Tuesday, which was Day 12. We've been traveling around England, so I have not been online yet. I will post pictures and write more shortly. First and foremost, this leg of the journey is our lessons in History. It is interesting how little I actually learned in European History. However, I think I am done looking at castles, ruins, buildings, mansions, palaces, for awhile. Glad I did it, but now need to go to something different. And now, I do not need to explore England much.....can concentrate on London.....
Here are the highlights:
Day 12:
Dover Castle
Dover is beautiful. Cool cliffs, cool buildings, and one awesome Castle.
Leads Caslte
Really awesome, and so understated in the travel guide. We were not anticipating such a cool place. I will write about the maze and how two young british kids helped us cheat our way through. Fun to meet cute young kids with awesome accents, with no values around cheating...
The Castle
Seriously - What the?? Albino Peacock? Remember the peacocks from hell in West Jordan and the one that jumped on my car?...erg!
The Maze from Hell. Honestly we were really close, but these two little kids were on the top of the maze and they just told us to cheat. They were cute 'we cheated....just go around...go down....go through the scary tunnel.....go past the scary face...up the stairs and you will find us'. I love kids!!
Day 13:
Hastings and the Great Battle of 1066
We find it interesting that such a historical significant battle as the Battle of Hastings has not been made into a motion picture. Maybe because it would be rather boring, but it is such a significant part of British history. The only thing that would have made this better would have been seeing the reinactment which only occurs once a year.
not sure where all the photos of this are? Did I confuse this with something else? probably.........oh well....it was a hill...there was a battle....that's it.
Brighton: The Pavilion and the Pier
The Pavilion is really awesome, however, it is odd to be in Brighton - a semi-sad looking beach town, which probably is fun over the summer, but reminds me of the not so good beaches and lame piers in California that just do not match up to Santa Monica or San Diego.
Day 14:
Stonehenge
We had the special Stone Circle access. We went at 630am and got to touch the stones and walk around for an hour with very few people there. It was really unbelivable. Yes, it is a pile of rocks, but it was a lot of fun. Also, there was a he-she there doing some sort of ceremony. Depending on who you ask, this person was thought to be many genders (maybe a woman - which I thought but she had smoked for 40 years straight, or a man, or a man becoming a woman, really we were uncertain). The reason for our fascination was really the fact that we were told we could NOT smoke, and here this person was doing a special ritual ceremony, basically smoking. Not putting down anything here, but it was rather odd, and he or she or whatever, was odd. Ok well, I have a LOT and I mean a LOT of photos of Stonehenge. Some awesome, some ok. I will put up the OKs for now until I decide which of the awesomes to show to the viewing public.
A Stone just my size!!
First - The he/she. Not a good shot at all. But.....I just thought it was a great shot with the No Admittance sign and this person. (even though I was there as well)!
Bath
The Roman Baths. This was actually a really cool site. It amazes me what still exists. I guess coming from America where our history is rather limited, I am rather shocked at how much has been maintained throughout Europe over the centuries. NOTE: The water they allow you to taste is absolutely nasty. They say if you drink 5L a day you can be cured of any illness. I'd die from drinking 5L of that. Seriously. I could barely handle two sips.
Blenheim Palace
Birthplace of Sir Winston Churchill. I went a bit overboard on the merchandise. My little nephew is named Winston Churchill (no I kid you not)!! Blenheim Palace is on something like 2100 Acres, which is insane. I am still amazed at all of the open space in Europe. It is kind of nice to still see small towns and undeveloped areas.
Day 15:
Stratford-on-Avon
Birthplace of the great William Shakespere. A rather quant little town, however, nothing all that exciting either. I rather enjoyed it, but would not be a place I'd highly recommend unless going on a historical site trip. I am a huge Shakespere fan, so it was fascinating, but again, nothing like to set it apart from all of the other places we have visited so far on this journey.
The home......people have been coming there since 50 years after his death. Just that fact, is rather impressive!
My travels are done! I survived and actually have a ton more energy than when I started and feel fantastic!
As I have not been feeling well, I've decided to take a few days off from traveling. I did manage to get down to the Boat Race today (well, I basically looked outside from my deck). Cambridge won.... The Boat Race Website
Will have to write this later and basically just post photos. I slept a good 10 hours of the 12 hour journey as I did not feel all that well. But Glen Coe and Loch Ness area are super pretty.
Glen Coe
Glen Coe is striking, but does not really compare to Switzerland.
Loch Ness
(and no, we didn't see the dang monster, how annoying. I want my money back)
The waters are really dark. They say that, but when you see it, it is creepy.
This is as close to Nessie as we came.....so sad. What is even more sad is the people who have moved to this area, in desparation of locating the monster, which any sane person would say, does not exist.....
Also, the adventures of our Hostel, which was great, but made me feel rather old........and sharing a room with 15 people??? Let's just say I have become a snotty 5-star hotel chick!
Also, we saw this animal today....
Sorry for the delay in photos....and many more to come. Still have issues with one of my cameras....
Dublin
There was this tour that you could go on around Dublin and wear viking gear. Aimee was very upset that we did not chose to do this. I for one, probably would have done it, but would have had to erase or burn any evidence of going on it or paying for it. But, we did not....promise....nope....we DID NOT go on this!
Famous Molly statue....
Book of Kells - Trinity College. Exhibition was really cool and a must see if you are in Dublin. It is a copy of the first 4 gospels, made by monks and beautifully illustrated by monks. I just remember reading how they had to make the colours and paper and such - it was fascinating. The blue was only from a Lapis Lazuli (stone) found only in Afghanistan at that time and the red was from a pregnant insect body, and the purple was from a flower in the Mediterranean or something, and the paper was made from cows and it still had hairs in some places....
The Long Room exists in Trinity College. It is a library. One amazing library. A place that made Aimee fall in love. She fell in love with the oldness. The masses amounts of books. The heights of the shelves. The cool movable ladders. The ceiling. The floor. It reminded her of a scene from Indiana Jones....Did I mention the books? Aimee decided she could live there, in the Long Room. It became her favourite part of Ireland, or at least Dublin, but may for sure be one of her favourite places she has ever seen).
We could not take any photos inside, but you can read all about it here. Book of Kells
Kilmainham Gaol
Where U2 filmed their music video for A Celebration. We learned a lot about the struggles for freedom over many years and the sadness of the famine and the sad petty crimes that got people thrown into this jail or beheaded.
Stalking of U2/Bono - yes, we did try to go see a few things U2 related......we will post those creepy stalker photos shortly (we did not break any laws, however, promise, but may have been fun had we done so).
Dublin semi redeemed itself to me. I loved the Temple Bar area and the city was charming, but honestly, did not feel any different than North Eastern United States, probably because places like Boston were heavily influenced by Ireland, but I expected Dublin to be cooler.
Photos and more coming.......
We went to the South Coast and Powerscourt Gardens to start the day. Went through Sandycove, which is near where Bono lives, and an amazingly beautiful city near the Killiney Bay, which I could retire at, if only a bit warmer year round.
Sandycove area
I loved this cute little kid. He just smiled and laughed a lot.
Powerscourt Gardens
See some random photos. It was beautiful, but everything is pretty and green hear, so everything is kind of blending in.
Please note, that this estate is where Braveheart battle scenes were filmed in DUBLIN of all places.....
We also drove through The Scalp, which is a dramatic geographical fault - yippie....no photos were taken....
We then returned to Dublin and just hopped on a bus and checked out random sites. Saw Trinity College, National Gallery, Natural History Museum, Temple Bar, Dublin Castle, Christ Church Cathedral, St. Patrick's Cathedral, Guiness Storehouse, Phoenix Park and some other random sites. We didn't explore much, and will do that in the morning and go to Trinity College and to the Jail......
Oh and we saw the President of Ireland driving around:
Temple Bar
Dublin City
We go to Scotland tomorrow night....wahooo!
