Tuesday June 27th, we had an extremely engaging conversation with a nice Irish couple during breakfast and learned more about how and why things have been booming here in the last decade. They also told us about a movie to see, called Ryan's Daughter, part of which was filmed at the Inch, where we were just this past week. After our delcious breakfast, and paying Mrs.O'Conner, we loaded the car in the light mist, and made our way back to Dublin. The drive was uneventful except for the atrocious traffic in the city, and we quickly found our hotel which was right close to the airport so we could easily drop our rental car off in the morning. For the third time now, the hotel did not have a record of our reservation, and I had to print off our confirmation from email. However, they got us into a room, even though we were quite early. After dropping off our bags, we took the #4 bus into the center of Dublin, visited a large department store, and then relaxed in an Insomnia Cafe where we talked, sipped our drinks and read our books. Our goal for the afternoon was to find a movie theater showing a new movie called The Wind That Shakes the Barley, which was about the divisive and sad history of Ireland's fight for liberation from England. We found a theater closeby that was showing the movie, and it was excellent. We then decided to stick around and also see "Thank You For Smoking", another excellent film, a satire about the sickening world of lobbying. In between movies, we grabbed a few goodies to eat, and did again afterwards, then took the bus back to the hotel and checked the World Cup scores. Brazil beat Ghana, and France beat Spain. Tomorrow is our final full day in Europe. Unbelievable.
Wednesday June 28th, our final full day in Dublin Ireland, and the last full day of this entire European experience, was most significantly spent learning more about the history of Ireland through a guided walking tour of Dublin. But first, in the morning, we drove the rental car to the airport and dropped it off at Eurocar no problem. We took a bus from there to Connolly Street in the city center and stopped into the tourist information center to get some ideas for walking tours, then made our way to or usual hangout, the Insomnia Cafe, where we looked at our brochures and made a plan for the day. We read and had our coffees, then walked to the Trinity College campus where we met up with our friendly tour guide, a young lady from London who was finishing up a PhD in history at the College. For the next two hours, we followed her to various important places in the city, amongst our group of about 15 people, while she explained the complicated history of Ireland along the way. We visited the main square in the College, then a large bank across from Trinity College, that once served as the parliament building, then on to Dublin Castle, Christ Church, and ultimately to the Temple Bar area where we paid up for the tour at another information center. We inquired about some plays and found one that sounded interesting, but first we needed something for dinner. First trying a really cool microbrewery, we left after about 15 minutes of sitting there with no service, tried an Italian place across the street with no tables available, and finally, just down the block, another Italian place where we had a delicious dinner, wine, dessert, and excellent service is an authentic quiet romantic setting. We then took a long walk to find the theater where this play was going to be put on, and found out that they offered no same-day discounts, and decided not too spend the money on tickets, and instead took the bus back to the hotel, filming the ride from the top level along the way, and pretty much called it a night.
Thursday June 29th, our last day, we woke up around 5:30 checked out and took a taxi to the Dublin airport. The driver was super-friendly and we chatted the whole way. On AerLingus, we flied into Shannon airport, where we waited a bit before re-boarding our plane that flew us ultimately into JFK in NYC. Once there, we got our bags and asked the information desk person how we could get from the airport onto a train to Philly. We took the "AirTrain", then the subway, then an Amtrak train, then a SEPTA train to Mt.Airy where we made the strange walk back to the house, thinking how just 4 months ago, we had had made the same walk in reverse, full of excitement, anxiousness and anticipation of the unknown. This time, it was a mix of sadness, melancholy, and nostalgia plus excitement to see family and friends and the Bay. We didn't bothered to look around the house much, and just grabbed a bunch of stuff, threw it all into the truck, and drove straight down to Perryville, stopping at Weavers to select some tastey brews, for our first quiet night along together back in the States. We toasted our arrival with a cold beer and stayed up late going through our huge box of mail. So it ended. And begins again. A fantastic life abroad so quickly morphed back into life at home, and the inevitable yet welcome near regularity that it brings.
Friday, June 30, 2006
Thursday, June 29, 2006
Ireland - Kilkenny, Kinsale, Glengarriff, Dingle and Killaloe
Friday June 23rd: In the morning, I enjoyed a delicious full Irish breakfast and Vee was quite happy with the continental. We needed to get cash to pay for our room, and therefore needed to find an ATM in town. It was far enough away for us to decide that we'd go ahead and tour Kilkenny Castle too since it was just right around the corner. We waited for the first tour of the day to begin, and were shown a short video about the infamous Butler family who lived there for generations, and a good background about the castle restoration before we were lead through the castle for another 40 minutes or so. After the tour, we stuck around for a bit and took pictures in the gardens and huge lawns, then went across the street to the old stables that have since been converted into artisan shops, as well as another Butler estate, enveloped in green ivy, its grounds and gardens. We walked back to the B&B and paid John, one of the hosts of the B&B, and had an insightful conversation about how so many people come back to Ireland from the U.S., Canada and Australia, hoping to trace their roots. He had many interesting first-hand stories to tell. And one was that his mother is the last living person to have worked for the Butler family in the castle that we had just toured that morning. They allowed us to park the car in a small spot on the sidewalk adjacent to their B&B, and we walked back into town to explore some more and find a cafe. The night before, it seemed like every other shop was some soft of cafe, but in the morning, we didn't come across as many, but we did find a nice little one where we shared capps and pastries. I asked our waitress where we could go to get a music CD, and she said there was a music store right next door...duh. After we finished, we went to look at CDs, but the prices were outrageous, with most of them being at least 18 EUR. Quickly giving up on the idea of buying a CD for the road, we went across the street to a huge department store to load up on some snacks and water for the next few days of driving. Bags in hand, we hiked back to the car and pointed ourselves to Kinsale, a cute fishing village with a marina and huge multi-colored rusty old fishing boats. We parked the car in a lot up the hill a bit, and walked around trying to find our b&b. We asked a lady in the pharmacy, and she pointed us back up the hill, where we asked another gentleman for help, and he told us exactly where we'd find it, and we did. We met John and Carroll of the Golden Gate as soon as we pulled in, and Carroll showed us to our room. They were real nice, and John seemed like a character, like a kid in a man's body. We unloaded our stuff and since Vee wasn't feeling well, I went into town to walk around some, and came home with some goodies too enjoy while watching World Cup.
Saturday June 24th, Vee felt better in the morning, and after a hearty breakfast, I went into town and got some cash to pay for our room, and while I was gone, Vee overheard another couple checking out, and the guy was explaining to John and Carroll how Bolivia was his favorite place to travel in the world. This got Vee quite excited and she ran out of our room to tell them that she was Bolivian, but the guy could hardly believe it. When I came back, Vee was still all wound up, and when we checked out, we had a really nice long conversation with Carroll and John about Bolivia and all kinds of other stuff, including the Irish sport of hurling. He even got into his truck and pulled out his old hurling stick to show me what it looked like. Its alot like field hockey, but rougher. He said there was a huge tournament going on the next day and that it would be televised. We said our goodbyes and parked the car in the lot down the hill, and walked around the little village of Kinsale until the afternoon. There were so many cool little curvy streets and funky shops, and we walked all the way out along the water by another boat marina, and back again where we stopped into a cafe to watch some Irish rugby and share some coffees. It was a beautiful morning and the sun was shining warm through the cafe's large windows. After we had our fill of rugby and coffee, we continued wandering around town a bit, then hopped back into the car to continue our journey to Glengarriff. As we got closer, the terrain got more interesting; much more craggly and rocky yet deeply green. We found the turn-off to our b&b before getting into town, and this place was AWESOME. The owner, Kathleen was a little angel, syrupy sweet, and showed us to a room that absolutely blew us away. Not only was it huge, and have an amazing view of the mountains and bay and pastures and gardens, but it was beautifully decorated with all the comforts of home. We could hardly believe it, especially given the price. We watched Germany win their match in the very nice common area, and had a nice conversation with a super nice and reserved older German gentleman who was a regular visitor of the b&b. We needed to get more cash to pay in the morning, as well as something to eat for dinner, so after the game, we drove into the tiny village of Glengarriff and found a convenient parking spot right in front of a little Celtic shop. We looked for an ATM, and found none. We stopped for dinner at a little pub, but they didn't accept credit cards and the waitress said that the only place that did was an Inn across the street, so that is where we went next, and had a delicious pub meal. The waitress there explained that we had two options for getting cash, 20 minutes in one direction, or 35 minutes in the other. So, after paying, we drove back out past our b&b to another town, and got money out there, and looked for an off-license to get some beers, but none were open. Back to the b&b for the night.
Sunday June 25th, we enjoyed a delicious breakfast and spoke some more with our German friend about where he was going for the day, and what our plans were. We still had not made reservations to stay anywhere, and were hoping to get some input from Kathleen and/or some other folks so we could make a decision on where we should plan to go for an overnight. Our German friend reiterated that Killarney would be virtually impassable because of a huge motorcycle rally and parade. So, after breakfast, we spent some time analyzing maps and our b&b directory and decided to drive an indirect route to Dingle, by taking the long way out and around the peninsula on N70, instead of the direct route on N71 which would take us right through Killarney. We packed the car and said our goodbyes to Kathleen, who was such a sweetheart, and as we pulled out, we all frantically waved at each other, like family, as we made our way up and then down the long gravel driveway. It was a wonderful start to our day, and it just kept getting better. When we left, we decided on today's travel plans mostly as a way to avoid the anticipated congestion around Killarney, even though we really wanted to see the city, as it comes highly recommended. But, what we didn't know, and would soon find out, was that the driving route we chose was actually one that people do on purpose, and is known as The Circle of Kerry. Absolutely amazing!!! Glengarriff itself was amazingly beautiful, and as we made our way through a number of really nice looking towns, especially Kenmare, the terrain through the sweeping green mountains, and alongside bays and inlets, was breathtaking. I couldn't help but to keep stopping alongside the road to take pictures, probably 5 or 6 times. We stopped for a little break in a small waterside village called Waterville, where we took a nice walk on a sidewalk alongside the water, and then popped into a little cafe for some capps and Internet access. The town was loaded with Harley riders, from all over, including the U.S., France, Italy, Germany, etc. We also called a b&b in Dingle, and made a reservation at the Ard-Na-Mara house with Mrs.Ann Murphy, and got some directions on how to get to her place once we arrive in Dingle. We jumped back in the car, and continued on our way, continuing to take video, photos, oohhing and aahhing at all the green splendor. Another stop, at the last second, was at the "Inch", a strange but awesome stretch of beach among the surrounding moutains where you can drive your vehicle onto the wide flat beach, and do all the normal beach activities that we would do at home. It reminded me of what the Outer Banks might look like, minus the huge green mountains and the Red Cliffs. After enjoying some beach time, we continued onward and long before our expected arrival time, we landed in Dingle. It was not immediately that we found the b&b, but after a few attempts, we found it, and Mrs.Murphy was a sheer delight as she showed us the rooms we could choose from; we chose the one with the view to the Bay, instead of the larger room with a view of the pasture. Tough...heheheee. After unloading the bags, we drove back into town and took a nice long stroll throughout, stopping in a few shops, and then wandering up the hill around the backside of town, into a new development, and back along the water into town from the opposite side. For dinner, we looked at a number menus, and walked into one with definite "criag", but there were no seats or tables available. Finally, into a pub called Murhpy's where we had a delicious meal, where Vee had an opened face chicken sandwich and I had a cajun chicken and vegetable dish. After dinner, I tried to find an "off-license" for a few beers, but they were all closed. Back to the b&b for a nice early night of reading and downloaing our pictures.
Monday June 26th, we arose in the quiet solitude of Dingle, cleaned up, and headed down for breakfast, where we ended up having a really nice conversation with a really sweet young couple from Turino Italy, Simone and Guliana. Having been in so many places has opened up opportunities for connecting with people so much more easily than before. Guliana and Simone shared all the things they knew about Philly (The movie "Philadelphia", the "Philadelphia" cream-cheese, "Rocky"), and we in exchange told them about our impressions of specific parts of Italy. We exchanged contact information and offered our homes for any future visits in Italy/U.S.. Mrs.Murphy made sure we were well fed and happy, and we were, as I had scrambled eggs and smoked salmon, and Vee had smoked salmon over toast. With the car packed, we paid Mrs.Murphy, and got some last minute advice on where to stay for the night, and decided on Killolee, rather than Limerick or Adare. Our road trip in the morning took us around the Dingle peninsula, where we stopped a number of times to enjoy the spectacular views. One was at a super long and wide beautiful beach where cow pastures had the best ocean front location and the development was sparse to almost non-existant. Another was a view from above, of another wonderful beach. Another spot was at the top of the Conner Pass, where we climbed to the peak and stood on a pile of rocks from 360 degree views, including Brandon Mountain and Brandon Bay on one side of the mountains, and Dingle and the Dingle Bay on the other side. From the top, we rang a b&b in Killolee and were successful on the fourth dial. We had to shimmee the car down the one lane pass, avoiding a few oncoming cars and a bus or two, but luckily, it opened back up to two lanes and was actually quite a nice road beyond the construction. We stopped in a little town called CastleIsland for capps and pastries in the late afternoon, then on through Adare and Limerick and lots of other smaller towns before arriving in Killoloe. We mistakenly crossed the bridge into the adjacent town, after sitting in traffic forever, then had to reverse coarse, and sit in traffic again, but were able to right ourselves, and found the b&b soon after. We were greeted by Bryan, the owner's son, at the front door, and he showed us our room, gave us the keys and explained what the keys were for. We dropped off our bags and on the way out met the very friendly owner, Anne O'Conner, on our way out for a walk into town for dinner at Gooser's where I had a burger and Vee had a veggie baguette and we shared a scallop app and a chocolate mousse dessert. We walked back to the b&b where Vee showered and I washed some clothes in the sink with the Switzerland-Ukraine game on the tele. Probably just do some reading before bed.
Saturday June 24th, Vee felt better in the morning, and after a hearty breakfast, I went into town and got some cash to pay for our room, and while I was gone, Vee overheard another couple checking out, and the guy was explaining to John and Carroll how Bolivia was his favorite place to travel in the world. This got Vee quite excited and she ran out of our room to tell them that she was Bolivian, but the guy could hardly believe it. When I came back, Vee was still all wound up, and when we checked out, we had a really nice long conversation with Carroll and John about Bolivia and all kinds of other stuff, including the Irish sport of hurling. He even got into his truck and pulled out his old hurling stick to show me what it looked like. Its alot like field hockey, but rougher. He said there was a huge tournament going on the next day and that it would be televised. We said our goodbyes and parked the car in the lot down the hill, and walked around the little village of Kinsale until the afternoon. There were so many cool little curvy streets and funky shops, and we walked all the way out along the water by another boat marina, and back again where we stopped into a cafe to watch some Irish rugby and share some coffees. It was a beautiful morning and the sun was shining warm through the cafe's large windows. After we had our fill of rugby and coffee, we continued wandering around town a bit, then hopped back into the car to continue our journey to Glengarriff. As we got closer, the terrain got more interesting; much more craggly and rocky yet deeply green. We found the turn-off to our b&b before getting into town, and this place was AWESOME. The owner, Kathleen was a little angel, syrupy sweet, and showed us to a room that absolutely blew us away. Not only was it huge, and have an amazing view of the mountains and bay and pastures and gardens, but it was beautifully decorated with all the comforts of home. We could hardly believe it, especially given the price. We watched Germany win their match in the very nice common area, and had a nice conversation with a super nice and reserved older German gentleman who was a regular visitor of the b&b. We needed to get more cash to pay in the morning, as well as something to eat for dinner, so after the game, we drove into the tiny village of Glengarriff and found a convenient parking spot right in front of a little Celtic shop. We looked for an ATM, and found none. We stopped for dinner at a little pub, but they didn't accept credit cards and the waitress said that the only place that did was an Inn across the street, so that is where we went next, and had a delicious pub meal. The waitress there explained that we had two options for getting cash, 20 minutes in one direction, or 35 minutes in the other. So, after paying, we drove back out past our b&b to another town, and got money out there, and looked for an off-license to get some beers, but none were open. Back to the b&b for the night.
Sunday June 25th, we enjoyed a delicious breakfast and spoke some more with our German friend about where he was going for the day, and what our plans were. We still had not made reservations to stay anywhere, and were hoping to get some input from Kathleen and/or some other folks so we could make a decision on where we should plan to go for an overnight. Our German friend reiterated that Killarney would be virtually impassable because of a huge motorcycle rally and parade. So, after breakfast, we spent some time analyzing maps and our b&b directory and decided to drive an indirect route to Dingle, by taking the long way out and around the peninsula on N70, instead of the direct route on N71 which would take us right through Killarney. We packed the car and said our goodbyes to Kathleen, who was such a sweetheart, and as we pulled out, we all frantically waved at each other, like family, as we made our way up and then down the long gravel driveway. It was a wonderful start to our day, and it just kept getting better. When we left, we decided on today's travel plans mostly as a way to avoid the anticipated congestion around Killarney, even though we really wanted to see the city, as it comes highly recommended. But, what we didn't know, and would soon find out, was that the driving route we chose was actually one that people do on purpose, and is known as The Circle of Kerry. Absolutely amazing!!! Glengarriff itself was amazingly beautiful, and as we made our way through a number of really nice looking towns, especially Kenmare, the terrain through the sweeping green mountains, and alongside bays and inlets, was breathtaking. I couldn't help but to keep stopping alongside the road to take pictures, probably 5 or 6 times. We stopped for a little break in a small waterside village called Waterville, where we took a nice walk on a sidewalk alongside the water, and then popped into a little cafe for some capps and Internet access. The town was loaded with Harley riders, from all over, including the U.S., France, Italy, Germany, etc. We also called a b&b in Dingle, and made a reservation at the Ard-Na-Mara house with Mrs.Ann Murphy, and got some directions on how to get to her place once we arrive in Dingle. We jumped back in the car, and continued on our way, continuing to take video, photos, oohhing and aahhing at all the green splendor. Another stop, at the last second, was at the "Inch", a strange but awesome stretch of beach among the surrounding moutains where you can drive your vehicle onto the wide flat beach, and do all the normal beach activities that we would do at home. It reminded me of what the Outer Banks might look like, minus the huge green mountains and the Red Cliffs. After enjoying some beach time, we continued onward and long before our expected arrival time, we landed in Dingle. It was not immediately that we found the b&b, but after a few attempts, we found it, and Mrs.Murphy was a sheer delight as she showed us the rooms we could choose from; we chose the one with the view to the Bay, instead of the larger room with a view of the pasture. Tough...heheheee. After unloading the bags, we drove back into town and took a nice long stroll throughout, stopping in a few shops, and then wandering up the hill around the backside of town, into a new development, and back along the water into town from the opposite side. For dinner, we looked at a number menus, and walked into one with definite "criag", but there were no seats or tables available. Finally, into a pub called Murhpy's where we had a delicious meal, where Vee had an opened face chicken sandwich and I had a cajun chicken and vegetable dish. After dinner, I tried to find an "off-license" for a few beers, but they were all closed. Back to the b&b for a nice early night of reading and downloaing our pictures.
Monday June 26th, we arose in the quiet solitude of Dingle, cleaned up, and headed down for breakfast, where we ended up having a really nice conversation with a really sweet young couple from Turino Italy, Simone and Guliana. Having been in so many places has opened up opportunities for connecting with people so much more easily than before. Guliana and Simone shared all the things they knew about Philly (The movie "Philadelphia", the "Philadelphia" cream-cheese, "Rocky"), and we in exchange told them about our impressions of specific parts of Italy. We exchanged contact information and offered our homes for any future visits in Italy/U.S.. Mrs.Murphy made sure we were well fed and happy, and we were, as I had scrambled eggs and smoked salmon, and Vee had smoked salmon over toast. With the car packed, we paid Mrs.Murphy, and got some last minute advice on where to stay for the night, and decided on Killolee, rather than Limerick or Adare. Our road trip in the morning took us around the Dingle peninsula, where we stopped a number of times to enjoy the spectacular views. One was at a super long and wide beautiful beach where cow pastures had the best ocean front location and the development was sparse to almost non-existant. Another was a view from above, of another wonderful beach. Another spot was at the top of the Conner Pass, where we climbed to the peak and stood on a pile of rocks from 360 degree views, including Brandon Mountain and Brandon Bay on one side of the mountains, and Dingle and the Dingle Bay on the other side. From the top, we rang a b&b in Killolee and were successful on the fourth dial. We had to shimmee the car down the one lane pass, avoiding a few oncoming cars and a bus or two, but luckily, it opened back up to two lanes and was actually quite a nice road beyond the construction. We stopped in a little town called CastleIsland for capps and pastries in the late afternoon, then on through Adare and Limerick and lots of other smaller towns before arriving in Killoloe. We mistakenly crossed the bridge into the adjacent town, after sitting in traffic forever, then had to reverse coarse, and sit in traffic again, but were able to right ourselves, and found the b&b soon after. We were greeted by Bryan, the owner's son, at the front door, and he showed us our room, gave us the keys and explained what the keys were for. We dropped off our bags and on the way out met the very friendly owner, Anne O'Conner, on our way out for a walk into town for dinner at Gooser's where I had a burger and Vee had a veggie baguette and we shared a scallop app and a chocolate mousse dessert. We walked back to the b&b where Vee showered and I washed some clothes in the sink with the Switzerland-Ukraine game on the tele. Probably just do some reading before bed.
Tuesday, June 27, 2006
Dublin - A Full Day in the City, and Then on the Road
Wednesday June 21st would be a full day in the city center of Dublin. Fighting the rain, and very nasty wind, we walked down into town where we found the tram. We ended up running into, and talking with a guy from Lancaster, PA who does website design and was here in Ireland to visit his deceased wife's grave. We talked for a while on the tram into the city, and after parting ways, we made our way to an Insomnia Cafe for some capps, sandwiches, etc., and then continued onto various city destinations including the Dublin castle, a tour of St.Patrick's Cathedral, many of the shopping districts and into the Guiness St.James Storage tour which was very fun, informative, and tastey. Outside, the wind and rain continued it's abuse, but we persisted, and continued walking and exploring alongside the river and back towards some of the shopping areas where we stopped to get some refreshments to take back to the hotel, and then took the tram back, ordered a delivery pizza from Four Star, and watched World Cup football. We would both agree that Dublin is a really cool, vibrant, unprecoscious, young city with tons of energy and bustle. We are amazed at how tied people are to their mobile phones and their iPods, but that just seems to be the way things are going, and these young folks are leading the charge.
Thursday June 22nd, we began embraced the open roads of Ireland. In the morning, we checked out of the IMI Residence, missed the bus by about 5 seconds, and rather than waiting 45 minutes for the next one, we hiked down to town and caught the tram into the city center of Dublin (St.Stephens Square). We walked towards O'Connell Street, from where the airport bus runs. After locating the stop for our bus, we walked back to Henry Street and found an Insomnia Cafe where we enjoyed some capps and eats and a lively conversation about globalization, it's impact on the U.S. versus Europe, as well as how identifying oneself with a religion and/or political party influences one's paradigm of the issues of the day. Soon after a waitress accidentally dumped a mug full of hot chocolate down the steps right next to us, we gathered our bags and walked back over to the bus stop. A taxi driver pulled up and said he'd charge the same rate for a ride to the airport and so we and another couple took him up on the offer. At the airport, the young lady at the Europcar rental desk got us all set up and before long we were outside getting into our little light blue automatic Ford Focus hatchback. We took our time getting prepared before I pulled out onto the highway, but once we both got familiar with the roads we'd be taking, we went for it. I was jittery, and Vee was apprehensive, but after a while, we finally escaped the worst of the traffic, and found ourselves cruising the highways without issue. Driving on the left side of the road became less of an issue as more time went by, but the roundabouts, intersections, exits, and narrow streets were nerve racking. We got a bit screwed up in Kilkenny, but with Vee's navigation skills, we righted our way and found the Celtic House B&B without too much trouble. Traffic is bad though. We were greeted by our hosts and we pulled the car into their gated parking area. We brought our bags inside, and soon went out to find a bit of dinner. We walked this fabulous town for a while, and eventually went into a great little family pub for a delicious meal; I had a beef and Guiness stew and Vee had a chicken in creamed mushroom sauce plate. Our waitress was fantastic, and after we paid up, we walked around town some more, admiring the old buildings, pubs, cafes, shops, churches, the castle, etc., and popped into and off-license for some beers to bring back to our room for the night. We caught the end of Brazil's 4-1 win over Japan, and that would pretty much complete the day.
Dublin - Through Glasgow from Edinburgh
Monday June 19th,
(Vee reporting): This was our last day in Scotland. We left our Euro-hostal bedroom by 9am, and headed inmediately towards St.Andrews Square (next to the scottish monument), where the visitors center is located. After speaking with one of the agents we learned that the bus station was only 2 blocks away. Thirty minutes later we were seated on our Bus with destination to GLASGOW.
The trip was very short (only 1 hour), and the glasgowian bus station was conveniently located in the heart of the city. After locking our bags in the station, we headed inmediately towards the main streets of Glasgow, and despite all the comments we heard about it being a not-so-nice city, we were gladly surprised. Glasgow is probably the biggest shopping city we have seen so far, surpassing Milano, Seville, Barcelona, Rome and Berlin. It is filled with wide pedestrian streets full with busy stores of all sizes, prices, brands and types. Glasgow (like every other big city we have visited) was crowded with people in the middle of the day (we keep wondering if people actually work!), which gave the city an energetic vibe.
After a quick Costa-Cafe break we continued our walk south and then east, covering the main areas of the city.
By 3 pm we felt ready for lunch and decided to stop at an italian restaurant where we had one of the best bruschettas we have ever had. We also shared a delicious pizza and a tasty dessert. The waiter was especially nice. He was a very friendly italian gentleman who recently visited Philadelphia. He was very excited to learn that we were from Philly, and made sure to give us his full attention and service.
A nice tip and 2 full bellies later, we were back on the streets of Glasgow. Cliff and I have not watched a movie since early February, and after confirming that we had in fact covered most of what Glasgow is known for (with the exception of its beautiful National Museums), we felt guilt-free to enjoy a movie at the theather. "The Da Vinci Code" was better than we thought it would, and did the trick. Luckily it finished right on time for us to take the bus to the airport, where we were flying off to Dublin.
The flight to Dublin was only 45 minutes! However the waiting line for inmigration took close to 2 hours! We were happy when we finally picked up our bags and were on our way to the Hotel that we had booked for the first night in Dublin.
The taxi-driver was super friendly, and made sure to recommend a few places to see and visit while in the city.
The Hotel was such a nice relief. It is an almost new construction and our bedroom was beautiful, and super comfortable...a nice break from the euro-hostal we had been enjoying in Edinburgh.
Cliff had to have a guiness, but shortly afterwards (around 2:30 am), we were in bed and very much asleep.
Tuesday June 20th, since the hotel was fully booked, we had to check into another one, and so spent the day making the transition from one to the other. Our intentions were to spend the majority of the day exploring the city center. But, with the time and effort it took to get from our hotel, into downtown, onto the next bus and to our new hotel, and then finding our room hooked up to free always on wired Internet, we decided to use the rest of the day as a work day. And besides, the weather was windy and rainy, and that wasn't exactly a motivating factor. We actually REALLY needed a down day since we both had sore feet and were a bit tired of the hustle of having to check in and check out of a different hotel room each night for the past two weeks or so. Vee worked on videos, I wrote postcards, did laundry, and then ventured out to find a store and a post office, with complete success, and then while Vee worked, I continued to read and watch World Cup football. We nibbled on bread with nutella, and chips. Not much else to report.
(Vee reporting): This was our last day in Scotland. We left our Euro-hostal bedroom by 9am, and headed inmediately towards St.Andrews Square (next to the scottish monument), where the visitors center is located. After speaking with one of the agents we learned that the bus station was only 2 blocks away. Thirty minutes later we were seated on our Bus with destination to GLASGOW.
The trip was very short (only 1 hour), and the glasgowian bus station was conveniently located in the heart of the city. After locking our bags in the station, we headed inmediately towards the main streets of Glasgow, and despite all the comments we heard about it being a not-so-nice city, we were gladly surprised. Glasgow is probably the biggest shopping city we have seen so far, surpassing Milano, Seville, Barcelona, Rome and Berlin. It is filled with wide pedestrian streets full with busy stores of all sizes, prices, brands and types. Glasgow (like every other big city we have visited) was crowded with people in the middle of the day (we keep wondering if people actually work!), which gave the city an energetic vibe.
After a quick Costa-Cafe break we continued our walk south and then east, covering the main areas of the city.
By 3 pm we felt ready for lunch and decided to stop at an italian restaurant where we had one of the best bruschettas we have ever had. We also shared a delicious pizza and a tasty dessert. The waiter was especially nice. He was a very friendly italian gentleman who recently visited Philadelphia. He was very excited to learn that we were from Philly, and made sure to give us his full attention and service.
A nice tip and 2 full bellies later, we were back on the streets of Glasgow. Cliff and I have not watched a movie since early February, and after confirming that we had in fact covered most of what Glasgow is known for (with the exception of its beautiful National Museums), we felt guilt-free to enjoy a movie at the theather. "The Da Vinci Code" was better than we thought it would, and did the trick. Luckily it finished right on time for us to take the bus to the airport, where we were flying off to Dublin.
The flight to Dublin was only 45 minutes! However the waiting line for inmigration took close to 2 hours! We were happy when we finally picked up our bags and were on our way to the Hotel that we had booked for the first night in Dublin.
The taxi-driver was super friendly, and made sure to recommend a few places to see and visit while in the city.
The Hotel was such a nice relief. It is an almost new construction and our bedroom was beautiful, and super comfortable...a nice break from the euro-hostal we had been enjoying in Edinburgh.
Cliff had to have a guiness, but shortly afterwards (around 2:30 am), we were in bed and very much asleep.
Tuesday June 20th, since the hotel was fully booked, we had to check into another one, and so spent the day making the transition from one to the other. Our intentions were to spend the majority of the day exploring the city center. But, with the time and effort it took to get from our hotel, into downtown, onto the next bus and to our new hotel, and then finding our room hooked up to free always on wired Internet, we decided to use the rest of the day as a work day. And besides, the weather was windy and rainy, and that wasn't exactly a motivating factor. We actually REALLY needed a down day since we both had sore feet and were a bit tired of the hustle of having to check in and check out of a different hotel room each night for the past two weeks or so. Vee worked on videos, I wrote postcards, did laundry, and then ventured out to find a store and a post office, with complete success, and then while Vee worked, I continued to read and watch World Cup football. We nibbled on bread with nutella, and chips. Not much else to report.
Edinurgh - Road Trip to Highlands, Loch Ness, St.Augustus and Inverness
Saturday the 17th of June,
(Vee reporting) We got up quite early compared to what we are accostumed by now (6 am), but we had a tour-bus to catch at 7:45 am to begin our 2-day "Highland Experience".
Our bus arrived right on time, and so we met our guide for the trip: "Big John", a tall, very friendly, animated and funny scottish guy around our age who obviously loves his job. "Big J" has 3 passions which he made sure to share with us for the following hours: Scottish outdoors sports, scottish history, and scottish whisky. This was just fine with us, since Cliff and I have come to LOVE learning about the history of these beautiful countries and treasure when this information comes freely and in such a fun way. With 15+ people or so comfortably seated in the bus, we began our ride north driving through the famous "Forth Bridge" to pass by St. Andrews (this is the very famous and privileged private university from which Prince William graduated last year!). After a 30-minute breakfast break in Dundee, we continued north driving through Pitlochry until reaching Dalwhinne where we were allowed a 45 -minute lunch break. We skipped lunch, but enjoyed the free-whisky tasting that was strongly recommended by big J. We also picked-up a very tasty and authentic scottish whisky for Dad, AND some "walkers" cookies as a snack. Once again in our bus, we continued our journey to the end of the first part of the trip for us: Fort Augustus, more known as the small little village next to "LOCH NESS". As most of you know, Loch Ness is mostly known as the official residence of "Nessie" the scottish dragon-like monster that some people believe to have seen in the waters of this lake for centuries. This is also the village where John dropped us off not before explaining us where our Bed & Breakfast is located.
Our B&B was only 2 blocks away from the lake, which I guess is quite far, considering that the whole village was 3 blocks long! The "Caledonian B&B" is a gorgeous 3 story-victorian home with a beaitiful garden, and lovely en-suite bedrooms full of character. Our host was a SUPER-friendly lady from London who had moved to this small area a few years back with her husband. She inmediately showed us our rooms and made us feel very comfortable and at ease.
After leaving or bags, and with still a half day ahead of us, we walked down to the center of town (all two blocks) and headed towards the tourist information center to inquire about the bus scheduled to "Inverness" (the town at the other end of Loch Ness). Thirty minutes and 22 EUROS later (ouch!) we were seated on the Bus to Inverness. The trip was only 1 hour long, but the views were all worth it....Sctoland is a BEAUTIFUL land, covered with green valleys, hills, mountains and lots of red-haired "hairy-coos(cows)". Inverness was a nice town to see, but for some reason it wasn't quite what we expected. We walked through most (if not all the city) and before we knew it, we arrived back to our bus station. We had only been 2 hours in town, yet we felt ready to go (we also wanted to catch the USA-Italy soccer match on time).
The trip back home felt quick, and so after quickly buying our beverages and snacks for the night we headed back to our B&B where we watched the incredible match that ended with 9 US players against 10 italians, AND with an impressive 1-1 score.
Sunday June 18th,
(Vee reporting) We tried to get up early for breakfast, but with our very late nights it's not an easy task to accomplish. I finally got out of bed afer hearing a small knock on our door. It was 8:30am and apparently we were expected for breakfast at the table by 8am.
Breakfast was simply DELICIOUS!! You should've seen Cliff's eyes when he saw his authenthic scottish breakfast arriving to our table. Our host was very entertaining as well. She asked where we came from and where we had been so far, then she told us more about the small village, and what people were like. Her hilarious sense of humour kept me laughing all through breakfast. When we finally asked her why scottish people were so openly against the british soccer team, and therefore against anything english; she told us about a unique answer she got from a scottish friend of hers :"If we didn't hate the english, we would kill each other!". Her perfect imitation of the scottish accent made it even funnier, and pleased our curiosity.
We still had an hour before catching our 11am FREE Loch-Ness boat cruise, so we decided to walk a little beyond the village. Only a few yards beyond town we found a beautful farm right next to the channel that connects Loch Ness with another Loch (lake). This is where we met "Henry the horny horse". Henry is a very good-looking blonde-haired horse who was happily eating some grass a bit far away from the fence where we stood. We invited Henry to approach us by offering him some grass in the hopes of catching a close-up picture of him. Henry did come towards us, but suddenly stopped before reaching the fence. I kept trying to persuade him to eat the grass out of my hands, but apparently I wasn't trustworthy. This is when Cliff and I exchanged roles by handing him the grass and me holding the video camera instead. Well, this proved to be a succesful idea. Right when Henry was approaching Cliffs hands, the close-up lense of the camera showed me something else that was quite unexpected and made Cliff retrieve his hands inmediately: Henry had suddenly grown a fifth leg; 5 (yes FIVE) legs, instead of four... when I told Cliff, we both retreated. Henry the horny horse, needed some time alone...
After laughing our way back to Loch Ness, we got there right on time to catch our cruise. If you ask us if we saw the monster, then you'll have to wait to see the pictures and videos of our cruise....for now, lets just say that we had an "interesting" experience.
Back on land, we inmediately met big J who had just arrived with the new group of people that came with his bus to complete the 2nd part of our "Highland Experience". The bus was a bit fuller than the day before, but we had no problem getting our seats, and the ride back to Edinburgh was pretty much uneventful, bus still very beautiful and interesting. We drove by Forth William while learning some interesting facts about this area, we later stopped in Glencoe and once again learned some fascinating (and tragic!) stories about some of the old scottish clans like the McDonalds and the Campbells. The McDonalds in particular, have many stories that are still remembered and celebrated in scottish history. The views at this point were absolutely incredible. The mountains of the highlands are so beautiful that I won't even try to describe them, and will only hope that some of the pictures and videos will do them a bit of justice. From here we continued our way south to Stirling, which is mostly known for the famous battles of Stirling that William Wallace lead and WON against the english of Edward the 1st. This is Wallace land, and after seeing it I can assure you that it is a place that I will not forget. The trip until this point was pretty much perfect, with the exception of one little annoyance we experienced in the bus on our way back to Edinburgh. Out of all the passengers, there were only 3 americans: Cliff, a girl and her boyfriend. The "boyfriend" kept interrupting John's stories by telling some of his own stories about the US and how much "cooler", "bigger","better", "expensive", "glamorous", everything in the US is in comparisson to what he had seen so far. Cliff was soo embarrased, since we assume that probably the rest of the bus thought that we either were with them, or we were just like them. Our guide (big J) showed his annoyance as well, but was able to handle the interruptions with class and peacefully.
An hour before arriving to Edinburgh we made our last stop on the road. It was time to meet "Haimish" a 13-year old hairy-coo(cow), who was hard at work ready to entertain the newcomers who were there to see him.
Shortly before 8pm we arrived back to Edinburgh, completely exhausted and very much ready for bed.
(Vee reporting) We got up quite early compared to what we are accostumed by now (6 am), but we had a tour-bus to catch at 7:45 am to begin our 2-day "Highland Experience".
Our bus arrived right on time, and so we met our guide for the trip: "Big John", a tall, very friendly, animated and funny scottish guy around our age who obviously loves his job. "Big J" has 3 passions which he made sure to share with us for the following hours: Scottish outdoors sports, scottish history, and scottish whisky. This was just fine with us, since Cliff and I have come to LOVE learning about the history of these beautiful countries and treasure when this information comes freely and in such a fun way. With 15+ people or so comfortably seated in the bus, we began our ride north driving through the famous "Forth Bridge" to pass by St. Andrews (this is the very famous and privileged private university from which Prince William graduated last year!). After a 30-minute breakfast break in Dundee, we continued north driving through Pitlochry until reaching Dalwhinne where we were allowed a 45 -minute lunch break. We skipped lunch, but enjoyed the free-whisky tasting that was strongly recommended by big J. We also picked-up a very tasty and authentic scottish whisky for Dad, AND some "walkers" cookies as a snack. Once again in our bus, we continued our journey to the end of the first part of the trip for us: Fort Augustus, more known as the small little village next to "LOCH NESS". As most of you know, Loch Ness is mostly known as the official residence of "Nessie" the scottish dragon-like monster that some people believe to have seen in the waters of this lake for centuries. This is also the village where John dropped us off not before explaining us where our Bed & Breakfast is located.
Our B&B was only 2 blocks away from the lake, which I guess is quite far, considering that the whole village was 3 blocks long! The "Caledonian B&B" is a gorgeous 3 story-victorian home with a beaitiful garden, and lovely en-suite bedrooms full of character. Our host was a SUPER-friendly lady from London who had moved to this small area a few years back with her husband. She inmediately showed us our rooms and made us feel very comfortable and at ease.
After leaving or bags, and with still a half day ahead of us, we walked down to the center of town (all two blocks) and headed towards the tourist information center to inquire about the bus scheduled to "Inverness" (the town at the other end of Loch Ness). Thirty minutes and 22 EUROS later (ouch!) we were seated on the Bus to Inverness. The trip was only 1 hour long, but the views were all worth it....Sctoland is a BEAUTIFUL land, covered with green valleys, hills, mountains and lots of red-haired "hairy-coos(cows)". Inverness was a nice town to see, but for some reason it wasn't quite what we expected. We walked through most (if not all the city) and before we knew it, we arrived back to our bus station. We had only been 2 hours in town, yet we felt ready to go (we also wanted to catch the USA-Italy soccer match on time).
The trip back home felt quick, and so after quickly buying our beverages and snacks for the night we headed back to our B&B where we watched the incredible match that ended with 9 US players against 10 italians, AND with an impressive 1-1 score.
Sunday June 18th,
(Vee reporting) We tried to get up early for breakfast, but with our very late nights it's not an easy task to accomplish. I finally got out of bed afer hearing a small knock on our door. It was 8:30am and apparently we were expected for breakfast at the table by 8am.
Breakfast was simply DELICIOUS!! You should've seen Cliff's eyes when he saw his authenthic scottish breakfast arriving to our table. Our host was very entertaining as well. She asked where we came from and where we had been so far, then she told us more about the small village, and what people were like. Her hilarious sense of humour kept me laughing all through breakfast. When we finally asked her why scottish people were so openly against the british soccer team, and therefore against anything english; she told us about a unique answer she got from a scottish friend of hers :"If we didn't hate the english, we would kill each other!". Her perfect imitation of the scottish accent made it even funnier, and pleased our curiosity.
We still had an hour before catching our 11am FREE Loch-Ness boat cruise, so we decided to walk a little beyond the village. Only a few yards beyond town we found a beautful farm right next to the channel that connects Loch Ness with another Loch (lake). This is where we met "Henry the horny horse". Henry is a very good-looking blonde-haired horse who was happily eating some grass a bit far away from the fence where we stood. We invited Henry to approach us by offering him some grass in the hopes of catching a close-up picture of him. Henry did come towards us, but suddenly stopped before reaching the fence. I kept trying to persuade him to eat the grass out of my hands, but apparently I wasn't trustworthy. This is when Cliff and I exchanged roles by handing him the grass and me holding the video camera instead. Well, this proved to be a succesful idea. Right when Henry was approaching Cliffs hands, the close-up lense of the camera showed me something else that was quite unexpected and made Cliff retrieve his hands inmediately: Henry had suddenly grown a fifth leg; 5 (yes FIVE) legs, instead of four... when I told Cliff, we both retreated. Henry the horny horse, needed some time alone...
After laughing our way back to Loch Ness, we got there right on time to catch our cruise. If you ask us if we saw the monster, then you'll have to wait to see the pictures and videos of our cruise....for now, lets just say that we had an "interesting" experience.
Back on land, we inmediately met big J who had just arrived with the new group of people that came with his bus to complete the 2nd part of our "Highland Experience". The bus was a bit fuller than the day before, but we had no problem getting our seats, and the ride back to Edinburgh was pretty much uneventful, bus still very beautiful and interesting. We drove by Forth William while learning some interesting facts about this area, we later stopped in Glencoe and once again learned some fascinating (and tragic!) stories about some of the old scottish clans like the McDonalds and the Campbells. The McDonalds in particular, have many stories that are still remembered and celebrated in scottish history. The views at this point were absolutely incredible. The mountains of the highlands are so beautiful that I won't even try to describe them, and will only hope that some of the pictures and videos will do them a bit of justice. From here we continued our way south to Stirling, which is mostly known for the famous battles of Stirling that William Wallace lead and WON against the english of Edward the 1st. This is Wallace land, and after seeing it I can assure you that it is a place that I will not forget. The trip until this point was pretty much perfect, with the exception of one little annoyance we experienced in the bus on our way back to Edinburgh. Out of all the passengers, there were only 3 americans: Cliff, a girl and her boyfriend. The "boyfriend" kept interrupting John's stories by telling some of his own stories about the US and how much "cooler", "bigger","better", "expensive", "glamorous", everything in the US is in comparisson to what he had seen so far. Cliff was soo embarrased, since we assume that probably the rest of the bus thought that we either were with them, or we were just like them. Our guide (big J) showed his annoyance as well, but was able to handle the interruptions with class and peacefully.
An hour before arriving to Edinburgh we made our last stop on the road. It was time to meet "Haimish" a 13-year old hairy-coo(cow), who was hard at work ready to entertain the newcomers who were there to see him.
Shortly before 8pm we arrived back to Edinburgh, completely exhausted and very much ready for bed.
Edinburgh - Harry Potter, Braveheart and Rosslyn Chapel
Thursday June 15th, we got cleaned up, extended our stay for a few more nights, and went over to the Elephant Cafe for coffees and something to eat. The Elephant Cafe is where J.K. Rowling was inspired to begin writing the Harry Potter stories. Also, according to the brochure that we received, it has consistently been voted the number one coffee shop in Ediburgh. We think that Vee sat in the seat that gave her the same view to the castle that Ms.Rowling must have had when she began writing her billion dollar books. We shared a massive croissant and a tuna sandwich, and coffees while I pecked away on the computer, and Vee caught up with the news. We took our time and enjoyed ourselves, then went to the Internet cafe where we made reservations for our first night's stay in dublin, and bought tickets on AerLingus to fly from Glasgow to Dublin. We tried to make reservations for our Megabus trip from Edinburgh to Glasgow, but my credit card was giving me a fit, and we decided, since there were so many scheduled departures, to just buy our ticket upon boarding on Monday morning. Once finished with the computer, we walked down the Royal Mile to the Edinburgh Museum, and toured it's entire exhibit from prehistoric times to last century. From there, we walked up the hill to the observatory and adjoining monuments for some really nice views of the city. Then, we crossed the city, walking over to Princes and Rose street to the FOPP store and bought the Braveheart DVD on sale, then to the grocery store for a little salmon and cucumber on wheat sandwich that we ate sitting outside in the gardens near the visitors center. Since it was still fairly early, and we felt that we had pretty much seen all that we could that was still open, we walked Princes Street all the way down into the residential areas, and then back up the entire length of Rose Street. Along the way, we popped into a pub and caught the end of the England vs Trinidad Tobago match which England won 2-0. The behavior of the cheering English fans in the pub put Vee in a foul mood, but that eventually dissipated by the time we stopped in the grocery store again to collect a light dinner of smoked salmon, cheese, and bread. Back at the hostel, we discovered the fully stocked kitchen facility which made our dinner scraps easier to eat, and we fully enjoyed our little meal before settling in for a night of Braveheart.
Friday June 16th, we had to pack up and check out, because they were moving us again into another room. Once cleaned up and out, we got Vee set up at the Internet cafe, and I came back to do the laundry and finish reading a little book I picked up called "1914: Why the World Went to War". Two nights ago, upon learning that Robert Louis Stevenson was from Edinburgh, I read his tale of Dr.Jekyll and Mr.Hyde, which although I found the vocabulary and dated figures of speach a bit difficult for me, I did enjoy. Anyway, with clean laundry folded and packed, I collected Vee at the Internet cafe, and we walked over to another location of the Elephant Cafe where we enjoyed capps, stuffed bagels and a muffin. From there, we stopped into the office for the company that runs the tour we would be taking this weekend up to Inverness and learned that they cancelled the trip. So, they put together a custom trip for us, patching together a half-leg of their Saturday trip, an overnight in a cheaper B&B, and a half-leg of their Sunday trip, and a free boat ride on the Loch Ness, so it seems as if it will all work out fine anyway. Just kinda bummed about not getting up to Inverness, but maybe we'll find a way yet. From there, we descended upon the Visitors Center, and confirmed our information about how to get to Rosslyn Chapel via public bus, and then caught the 15A bus for the ride. It dropped us off pretty much at the entrance of the Chapel grounds, and we found quite a crowd already there, in addition to the large group that travelled on the bus with us. There was the usual hefty entrance fee to pay first, and then we got to catch most of the guide's explanation before we turned ourselves loose on the place. This is the now infamous destination for Da Vinci Code fans. It is a Knights Templar chapel founded by William St.Clair in the 15th century, and is said to contain an as yet unopened underground vault containing possibly the holy grail, the mummified head of J.C., and/or some other treasure. At the least, it is a wonderfully beautiful place, covered completely in ornate carvings, and is in the process of a long restoration. We walked the scaffolding above for nice views of the hills, and the chapel below. The bus ride back to the city was fun, and brief. We stopped in the Rose Street Brewery for a delicious pub meal (Vee=grilled salmon, Me=rarebit chicken) and then back to check into our new room at the hostel. Then, lastly, a short walk up to the quickie mart for our nightly refreshments and back to our room for the night.
Thursday, June 15, 2006
York to Edinburgh
Monday the 12th of June, we checked out of the lovely Quality Hotel York, and left our bags there while we headed out to see more of town. We stopped for a coffee outside of Cafe nero, and had some freshly made pastries from a little bakery next door. We sat on the concrete steps of a little sitting area across from the coffee shop and watched people go by as we enjoyed our breakfast. We next made our way to the spectacularly beautiful York Minster cathedral, paid our entry fees, and went inside to gawk at the insides of this enormous building. We went our own ways, and met up at the gift shop afterwards, then from there, walked towards the "Shambles" part of town where we each got a sandwich for a pound each, and a 7up, which we shared in a little park near a bunch of the little retail stands set up outside. With our tastey little sandwiches finished, we walked the rickety old streets and window-shopped. Vee finally found a clothing store that she absolutely fell in love with, and I kept busy looking into book stores, record stores, junk shops, etc. One of the shops was selling 3 books for 5 pounds, so I picked out a new book for Vee, and two for myself. We are both struggling somewhat with the big ones we are reading now, so these new books will be a bit of a relief for us. After a while, we walked back to the gardens near the cathedral and sat on the grass reading our new books, talking, having an ice cream, and a soda. I felt like I was catching a cold, so I mixed up some aspirin cold relief concoction with the soda and drank that. It was time to go see the big football match, USA versus the Czech Republic, and for that, we first went to the hotel to gather our bags, then marched over to a pub across from the train station and had a cheap pub meal too. Our food turned out to be the highlight of the night, because the US was AWFUL, and got the butts handed to them, 3-0. When the third goal was scored with maybe 8 minutes to play, we gathered our bags and went to the train station hoping to catch one of the earlier trains. The price for our two tickets from York to Edinburgh, which was to be about a 2 1/2 hour trip, just about knocked me out. For this one trip, we had to spend almost as much as we spent for our entire 7 day Flex pass in London...ouch!!! Anyway, turns out, the train we were trying to catch would be almost an hour and a half late, so we sat in the train station, read our books, and patiently waited, as the estimated time of arrival continued to slip, minute by minute. My nose was getting real stuffy, and I could feel the sicky aches start to set in. Eventually, the train showed up, we climbed aboard, and I started feeling sicker, so that by the time we arrived, I was cold, and shaky, and achy all over. Not to mention my back, which is totally messed up again. Vee, being awesome as always, and especially when my physcial condition renders me a useless old geezer, carried my daypack, while I just dragged my main pack behind me. Luckily, we hailed a cab pretty much immediately, as it was about 11pm already, and he took us right to the hotel. Although the guy at the front desk was friendly enough, he had no record of our room reservation, and was totally sold out. I took out our laptop computer and showed him our reservation confirmation, and he said he'd give us a room, and would just hope one of the other parties wouldn't show. And the cost for the room, at the rate I booked it, was less than a third of the standard rate, so that made the situation even more uncomfortable. Anyway, once up to our room, Vee stirred up another aspirin concoction for me, got me all bundled up warmly in bed, while my shakes eventually dissipated. We watched world cup highlights, and fell asleep. As for Edinburgh, from what we saw on the way to the hotel, it looked spectacular, one of the most beautiful cities we've seen, and we looked forward to getting out into it. And, despite the hotel mix-up, our room was wonderful, and it was exactly the comfort that what we needed at that moment.
Tuesday the 13th of June, the girls at the front desk of the hotel got our mix-up all taken care of and were very sweet about it. Once again, I pulled out the laptop to show them the PDF copy of our reservation from Bookings.net, and we were fine. We found a taxi just down the street from the hotel, and the driver seemed to be enjoying a lunch break parked along a little park-like setting. Since we were apparently out of the city center, and I wasn't sure how seen we'd encounter another one, I decided to get the drivers attention and see if he was available, and he was, as he wiped the crumbs away from his mouth and set down his paper-wrapped sandwich to say he'd be happy to take care of us. Once inside the taxi, he began what turned into a very nice long dialogue as he navigated our way down to the city center, explaining some of the city's highlights as we passed them. He dropped us off at the top of High Street since it was a pedestrian-only area, and we thanked him for the ride, and rolled ourselves over to the sidewalk to see about making a gameplan for the morning. I had identified a few hostels from our purple book that sounded good, and we started out to find ourselves some new accomodations. We walked to 3 different hostels, and all three, and their affiliated hostels were fully booked. The only thing they still had available were single beds in separate shared rooms, and we just weren't up for that. Finally, after a bit of frustration and friction, we made our way to an Internet cafe and booked a few nights at a hostel closeby that we found to be the cheapest available on Bookings.net. With our reservations made, we walked to the hostel to attempt an early check in, or at least drop off our bags. Well, they had no records of our reservations, and this turned into a whole new hullabaloo. Luckily, the nice young lady at the desk called in her manager, and they both worked on getting us taken care of, for the price that we were expecting, but instead of having a double room, we would have our own single rooms for the first night, and then a twin room for the remainder of our stay. Again, they were very friendly, and after some more thorough checking, they found our reservations through their online booking administration screen, and realized it was a problem with their system setup, and would work to resolve it. Anyway, we dropped off our big bags, and went out to see what Edinburgh was all about. Having nothing to eat or drink yet, we found a little pub and had a delicious lunch. Vee had a salmon sandwich with potatoes and salad, and I had a soup called Cullen Skink (smoked fish and potato cream) and another traditional plate of chicken breast with potatoes and some kind of brown mixed up something or other in a cream sauce with a side of mixed veggies, all of which was delicious. During our meal, I called a tour company, and booked a two-day weekend trip up to Inverness and back, which we are really excited about. With full bellies, we walked in and out of alot of shops on High Street, and eventually made our way up to the castle. We shared an audio tour, and went inside of virtually every building inside the castle walls. We saw the war prisoner rooms, the crown jewels, the well, the Queens quarters from the outside, the soldiers memorial, David's Tower, and the many canons. Outside the castle, we contined back down the Royal Mile (High Street) and popped inside a scottish kilt factory mill and museum. From there, we walked over to Princes Street and admired the starkly impressive Walter Scott memorial, and took some pictures outside the visitors center. In need of a coffee, we tried to get into the Costa Cafe, but it was closed, so we found a Cafe Nero, and relaxed there with some coffee drinks. Brazil was playing, so we needed to get to a pub and watch. The first one we went to was crammed full, and most were locals, and we couldn't get in view of a tv, so we left before ordering anything, and found another one closer to the hostel where we got comfortable around the bar, and watched the game there instead. Afterwards, back to our separate rooms at the hostel for an attempt at some sleep.
Wednesday June 14th, we checked out of our separate rooms, and left our bags in the locker room. We found a little cafe called the Bean and Grape where we had a bit of breakfast, talked, read, and made plans for the rest of our time in Edinburgh. We stopped inside Tron Kirk, which is an old church with a good bit of historical significance, and read a bunch of material on various tourist attractions in the area. After reading about one particular tour, the City of the Dead, we decided that although this city is loaded with supposedly paranormal activity and entities, we would not be partaking in this one, and maybe not any of them. The City of the Dead tour looked absolutely terrifying, with pages and pages posted of people's accounts and photos and newspaper clippings of people being physically attacked by the ghosts and poltergeists on this tour...NO THANKS!!! The one most active ghoul was at Grey Friars cemetary: the McKenzie poltergeist. YIKES!!! What a horrible story, and we certainly didn't want any poltergeists following us back to Philly. With that decided, we did find a few other things of interest, one being Roslyn Chapel, which I think we'll do on Friday. I think it plays a part in the Da Vinci Code story. Anyway, since it was right close by, we visited the St.Giles Cathedral and sat through their 15 minute noon church service, and then wandered around the sanctuary for a while before continuing on down the Royal Mile to the Palace. We paid up, and with our audio tour handpieces, toured the entire building and grounds. I think the most impressive part was the beautiful gardens in the back, as well as the temple ruins next to the palace. We took a bunch of pictures, and admired the beautiful flowers, trees, lawns, and brigh blue early afternoon sky. Then, outside we began what would be a full afternoon hike up the "craggies" (?) for amazing 360 degree views of the city, the water, and everything else within who knows how far. The wind was blustery, but not bad, and the views were amazing. Then, we hiked back down, and eventually back up High Street, to the hostel where we checked into our new rooms, dropped off our bags, and headed out for a chinese food buffet dinner. After a delicious gorge-fest, we stopped into a nice bookstore and picked up a few things, and went back to the hostel. We both read, for a while, and went downstairs to see what was going on with the Germany-Poland match, and got to see the end of it when Germany finally scored in the extension. That about wraps it up for the day.
Tuesday the 13th of June, the girls at the front desk of the hotel got our mix-up all taken care of and were very sweet about it. Once again, I pulled out the laptop to show them the PDF copy of our reservation from Bookings.net, and we were fine. We found a taxi just down the street from the hotel, and the driver seemed to be enjoying a lunch break parked along a little park-like setting. Since we were apparently out of the city center, and I wasn't sure how seen we'd encounter another one, I decided to get the drivers attention and see if he was available, and he was, as he wiped the crumbs away from his mouth and set down his paper-wrapped sandwich to say he'd be happy to take care of us. Once inside the taxi, he began what turned into a very nice long dialogue as he navigated our way down to the city center, explaining some of the city's highlights as we passed them. He dropped us off at the top of High Street since it was a pedestrian-only area, and we thanked him for the ride, and rolled ourselves over to the sidewalk to see about making a gameplan for the morning. I had identified a few hostels from our purple book that sounded good, and we started out to find ourselves some new accomodations. We walked to 3 different hostels, and all three, and their affiliated hostels were fully booked. The only thing they still had available were single beds in separate shared rooms, and we just weren't up for that. Finally, after a bit of frustration and friction, we made our way to an Internet cafe and booked a few nights at a hostel closeby that we found to be the cheapest available on Bookings.net. With our reservations made, we walked to the hostel to attempt an early check in, or at least drop off our bags. Well, they had no records of our reservations, and this turned into a whole new hullabaloo. Luckily, the nice young lady at the desk called in her manager, and they both worked on getting us taken care of, for the price that we were expecting, but instead of having a double room, we would have our own single rooms for the first night, and then a twin room for the remainder of our stay. Again, they were very friendly, and after some more thorough checking, they found our reservations through their online booking administration screen, and realized it was a problem with their system setup, and would work to resolve it. Anyway, we dropped off our big bags, and went out to see what Edinburgh was all about. Having nothing to eat or drink yet, we found a little pub and had a delicious lunch. Vee had a salmon sandwich with potatoes and salad, and I had a soup called Cullen Skink (smoked fish and potato cream) and another traditional plate of chicken breast with potatoes and some kind of brown mixed up something or other in a cream sauce with a side of mixed veggies, all of which was delicious. During our meal, I called a tour company, and booked a two-day weekend trip up to Inverness and back, which we are really excited about. With full bellies, we walked in and out of alot of shops on High Street, and eventually made our way up to the castle. We shared an audio tour, and went inside of virtually every building inside the castle walls. We saw the war prisoner rooms, the crown jewels, the well, the Queens quarters from the outside, the soldiers memorial, David's Tower, and the many canons. Outside the castle, we contined back down the Royal Mile (High Street) and popped inside a scottish kilt factory mill and museum. From there, we walked over to Princes Street and admired the starkly impressive Walter Scott memorial, and took some pictures outside the visitors center. In need of a coffee, we tried to get into the Costa Cafe, but it was closed, so we found a Cafe Nero, and relaxed there with some coffee drinks. Brazil was playing, so we needed to get to a pub and watch. The first one we went to was crammed full, and most were locals, and we couldn't get in view of a tv, so we left before ordering anything, and found another one closer to the hostel where we got comfortable around the bar, and watched the game there instead. Afterwards, back to our separate rooms at the hostel for an attempt at some sleep.
Wednesday June 14th, we checked out of our separate rooms, and left our bags in the locker room. We found a little cafe called the Bean and Grape where we had a bit of breakfast, talked, read, and made plans for the rest of our time in Edinburgh. We stopped inside Tron Kirk, which is an old church with a good bit of historical significance, and read a bunch of material on various tourist attractions in the area. After reading about one particular tour, the City of the Dead, we decided that although this city is loaded with supposedly paranormal activity and entities, we would not be partaking in this one, and maybe not any of them. The City of the Dead tour looked absolutely terrifying, with pages and pages posted of people's accounts and photos and newspaper clippings of people being physically attacked by the ghosts and poltergeists on this tour...NO THANKS!!! The one most active ghoul was at Grey Friars cemetary: the McKenzie poltergeist. YIKES!!! What a horrible story, and we certainly didn't want any poltergeists following us back to Philly. With that decided, we did find a few other things of interest, one being Roslyn Chapel, which I think we'll do on Friday. I think it plays a part in the Da Vinci Code story. Anyway, since it was right close by, we visited the St.Giles Cathedral and sat through their 15 minute noon church service, and then wandered around the sanctuary for a while before continuing on down the Royal Mile to the Palace. We paid up, and with our audio tour handpieces, toured the entire building and grounds. I think the most impressive part was the beautiful gardens in the back, as well as the temple ruins next to the palace. We took a bunch of pictures, and admired the beautiful flowers, trees, lawns, and brigh blue early afternoon sky. Then, outside we began what would be a full afternoon hike up the "craggies" (?) for amazing 360 degree views of the city, the water, and everything else within who knows how far. The wind was blustery, but not bad, and the views were amazing. Then, we hiked back down, and eventually back up High Street, to the hostel where we checked into our new rooms, dropped off our bags, and headed out for a chinese food buffet dinner. After a delicious gorge-fest, we stopped into a nice bookstore and picked up a few things, and went back to the hostel. We both read, for a while, and went downstairs to see what was going on with the Germany-Poland match, and got to see the end of it when Germany finally scored in the extension. That about wraps it up for the day.
Sunday, June 11, 2006
London - To York
Saturday June 10th, we pretty much just took it easy, it being our last full day in London, and the first game for England in the World Cup. We spent some time in the cafe, and then went to a pub to watch England win 1-0 versus Paraguay. We were both quietly rooting for Paraguay. We had some excellent Thai food there at the pub, and after the game, just went back to the Mad House to relax. Eventually, Vee worked on getting our pictures ready, and then I spent the rest of the night uploading them.
Sunday the 11th, we got up early, checked out with Joan, and took the tube from Russell Square to Kings Cross station and got a train to York. We debated whether or not to wait in line, and buy a special ticket for our trip, since our FlexPass was not supposed to work for the entire trip. Deciding to risk it, and not buy the additional ticket, worked out perfectly fine, as the train agent checked our FlexPass tickets and thought they were perfectly fine. Once in York, we were floored by how beautiful it was. There was a magnificant gate, and old city wall that we walked through, and the streets were lined with really really old buidlings in fantastically restored condition. Vee lead the way to our hotel, where we left our bags, and we headed out to explore the town some more. The York Minster cathedral was beautiful, from the outside, and tomorrow, we'll go inside. We walked through the many shop-lined streets and markets and then back to the pub, Weatherspoons, across the street from our hotel for a good cheap pub meal. We checked into the hotel, and attempted to listen to the French Open final between Federer and Nadel, but it was not on any of the tv stations. So, improvising, we hooked up the laptop to the wireless Internet and found that it was being radio-casted online, so we listened to the match, while watching Mexico beat Iran in the World Cup. With the light still bright outside, but the day growing long, we were eager to get back outside before nightfall, and see more of York. We took a really nice slow stroll through town, and began walking through the gardens, but had to leave because they were locking the gates. Just outside the gardens, and across the street from the cathedral, we shared an ice cream and read our books and talked. On our way back to the hotel, we stopped back into Weatherspoons for some nachos and a nightcap while we watched Portugal finishe off Angola in the World Cup, and then back to the hotel and called it a night.
Saturday, June 10, 2006
London - Back to the Mad House, and on to Bath
Thursday, June 8th was a transitional day. We checked out of Cecil Court and back into the Madison House. In the morning, I worked on the laundry, while Vee had some time to herself in the room to get ready and pack her things. After stuffing the washer, I speed walked to McDonalds for a quick egg mcmuffin, hash brown and oj, then hustled back to put the clean laundry in the dryer. Then, a bit before checkout time, and before the clothes were dry, I went to the hotel room, and helped check out, then Vee and I both went to gather, fold, and pack our newly clean clothes. With our bags full, we walked to the cafe and relaxed there for a bit, before taking the tube over to check in at the Mad House and drop off the bags, then on over to visit Westminster Abbey. The entry fees, when converted to dollars, to get into these places is ridiculous. The signs they post outside, telling you that they are self-funding and not supported by "the crown" don't help, at least in my opinion, and it sure doesn't generate any sympathy. Anyway, once inside the Abbey, I believe the same strange thoughts and feelings came over me before, when I first visited as an undergrad: respectful revulsion. Although I recognize that many amazing people had contributed greatly to the many causes of Britain, and deserve to be honored and remembered for their efforts, I was equally disgusted with the lengths Britain has taken to deify these people, especially those who contributed militariliy to the empire. Given the state of affairs in the world right now, and the unified unilateral position the U.S. and England has backed itself into in Iraq, I was obviously particularly sensitive to the overwhelming royalist monumentalism on display here in the famous abbey "of coronations". Vee and I had a very engaging conversation about this in the apse, which we continued afterwards. After rounding many tombs of kings, queens, nobles, knights, saints, and monuments to every other notable historical politico imaginable, we made our way outside for a soft ice cream before heading to Picadilly for Waterstones, our favorite book store. We happily poked around for a while, and although I found a whole slew of books that I wanted, I bought none, since I was nearing completion of "Memorial Day" by Vince Flynn, and needed to work more on my epic "London", but Vee found one that she was excited about. We took a break in the cafe for some coffees and sandwiches, and read and talked. After a while, we began our walk back to the Mad House, and shared a delicious Dionysus fish and chips along the way, and stopped for a few refreshments at a grocery that we brought back to the room with us.
Friday, the 9th, we day-tripped to Bath. Our BritRail FlexPass was not valid for the entire journey out, but since no one took notice, it worked there and back. First though, we had our traditional morning machiatos at Costa Cafe where we talked and read before taking the tube to Paddington Station where our train would depart. With some help from the information desk, we found our platform, and boarded for the 90 minute ride. We shared a bagel with smoked salmon and cream cheese. Once there, we bought a little map, and made our way towards the Roman Baths and Pump House, stopping in to see the Sally Lunns museum for the oldest house in Bath, and bakery, famous for its roman-style buns. Then, over to the baths for a visit that was very enlightening and interesting. The baths themselves must have been fantastic back in the days of the Romans. We did the audio tour, and took our time reading most of the wall-mounted explanations as well. Then, we just strolled through the charming town full of high end clothing and shoe stores, boutiques, hair stylists, restaurants, cafes, etc. We stopped into a very well done "media" store full of CDs, DVDs and books. I thinked it was called "FOPP". We also popped into a little cafe tucked away upstairs inside of a large department store where we had an "afternoon tea" for the first time, sharing finger sandwiches, tea, and biscuits with clotted cream and strawberry preserves. They were running a two for one special, so the price was right too. From there, we gawked some more around town, then thanks to the visitor information center, we were directed to the Pig and Fiddle Pub to watch Germany open up the world cup with a 4-2 victory over Costa Rica. Then, at the train station, we shared some tomato and cheese baguettes while waiting for our train that was about 45 minutes late. We had to squeeze into our seats, apparently unsettling some jerk and his girlfriend across from us, who didn't feel like moving their feet to let us in. Nice. Anyway, the train ride was otherwise uneventful, and we made it back to the mad house for the night.
Friday, the 9th, we day-tripped to Bath. Our BritRail FlexPass was not valid for the entire journey out, but since no one took notice, it worked there and back. First though, we had our traditional morning machiatos at Costa Cafe where we talked and read before taking the tube to Paddington Station where our train would depart. With some help from the information desk, we found our platform, and boarded for the 90 minute ride. We shared a bagel with smoked salmon and cream cheese. Once there, we bought a little map, and made our way towards the Roman Baths and Pump House, stopping in to see the Sally Lunns museum for the oldest house in Bath, and bakery, famous for its roman-style buns. Then, over to the baths for a visit that was very enlightening and interesting. The baths themselves must have been fantastic back in the days of the Romans. We did the audio tour, and took our time reading most of the wall-mounted explanations as well. Then, we just strolled through the charming town full of high end clothing and shoe stores, boutiques, hair stylists, restaurants, cafes, etc. We stopped into a very well done "media" store full of CDs, DVDs and books. I thinked it was called "FOPP". We also popped into a little cafe tucked away upstairs inside of a large department store where we had an "afternoon tea" for the first time, sharing finger sandwiches, tea, and biscuits with clotted cream and strawberry preserves. They were running a two for one special, so the price was right too. From there, we gawked some more around town, then thanks to the visitor information center, we were directed to the Pig and Fiddle Pub to watch Germany open up the world cup with a 4-2 victory over Costa Rica. Then, at the train station, we shared some tomato and cheese baguettes while waiting for our train that was about 45 minutes late. We had to squeeze into our seats, apparently unsettling some jerk and his girlfriend across from us, who didn't feel like moving their feet to let us in. Nice. Anyway, the train ride was otherwise uneventful, and we made it back to the mad house for the night.
Wednesday, June 7, 2006
London - Leeds Castle from Maidstone
Wednesday, June 7th, we road tripped to Maidstone, on to Leeds Castle. Wanting to get back early enough in the evening to do laundry before their 8:30pm closing time, we skipped our traditional morning coffee at Costa Cafe and instead went directly to the City Line tube to Victoria Station to get our train. There, we did get some take away capps and pastries for the brief ride. Once in Maidstone, we found a tourist info center and were explained how to get from there, on the 510 bus, to the castle. We walked around for about 20 minutes before the bus arrived, and then boarded the double-decker for the quick trip out. The bus driver told us where we needed to go before we got off, which proved critical. We walked to the castle grounds, bought our tickets, and walked through the beautifully manicured and maintained forest setting and gardens and paths by the various ponds and flowers and bridges. Eventually, we made it to the castle and it was gorgeous. We toured the inside and learned about the multitude of owners, from royalty, to private wealthy owners. The Fairfax family owned it for a number of generations, and it was the family patriarc who was granted a large estate, next to George Washington's in Virginia. Henry the VIII also owned it for a time, and some of his wives spent some time there. The castle was originally built in 1066, when William the Conqueror took control of the island. We got to see many paintings, tapestries, wood carvings, armor, swords, and rooms as they had existed during various periods of time in its existance. Besides the castel itself, the grounds were beautiful. The aviary was alot of fun as we attempted to converse with the many different exotic birds there, like the toucans, owls, amazons, parrots, parakeets, etc. The maze was a frustrating exercise in patience, so we cheated our way out, and enjoyed being done with it. The lake was full of swans, ducks and geese, and they were fun to watch, especially the white swans that fly-run across the top of the water. We missed the bus that we wanted to take back to Maidstone, and thus, missed our opportunity for doing laundry later on, but made the most of it by spending the next hour reading under the shade of a big tree before catching the next one. The train ride back to London was a non-event, and that pretty much makes it another complete day. Tomorrow, we leave this dump, and head back over to the Madison House for our final 3 nights in London and thereabouts.
Tuesday, June 6, 2006
Day Trips to Canterbury, Dover and Brighton
Monday, June 5th, we road-tripped to Canterbury, where we explored the famous cathedral and it's grounds, and the surrounding town. The cathedral is drenched in history, containing the tombs for many kings, queens, saints, deans, priors, etc. It is quite beautiful and very well maintained, although not particularly ornate on the inside, comparitively speaking of course. We walked the town and it too was quite charming, with loads of little shop lined narrow streets and buildings and businesses that have been there for hundreds of years. We caught a train to Dover, and despite our efforts to get up into the castle, we were too late and turned away. Taking the guards guidance, we tried circling the castle grounds for a walk along the cliffs, but ended up having to reverse our tracks all the way back into town, through town, and back up from the bottom instead. It was a long walk, but we were eager for the exercise. Turns out, there really isn't a whole lot to see from where we ended up. There were some really nice views behind the cliffs, of the rolling green hills, and the castle, but there weren't many while cliffs in our view, and the water, although very pretty in itself, was cluttered up by the very busy industrial port. We had a tasty, cheap meal in a pub, and took the train back to the hotel.
Tuesday, June 6th, we road-tripped to Brighton. Neither of us had been there before. I had low expectations, based on a few of the little blurbs I've read, and Vee had no expectations. Well, what a treat!! Just a great beach city with a festive vibe and lots going on. The water was a fantastic blue green, and the pebble beach was vast and long. We strolled down the main street into town, then veered left along the coastline where we walked and walked and walked until we finally got to the marina and quaint waterfront condo complex, then turned around and walked back. About 4 hours later, we finally took a break for another cheap, but delicious pub meal, and continued walking for another hour or so before finally heading back for the 55 minute train ride to the hotel. Almost all of the buildings we saw, if they weren't recently, and/or meticulously restored and/or maintained, there wer in the process of it. There were so many clubs, bars, restaurants, shops, cafes, galleries, theatres, etc., as well as a cathedral, and a number of other historical buildings. And, in the distance, was a while cliff lined coastline that went on and on. We really really enjoyed ourselves, and coudl imagine folks coming here for long weekends or weeks at a time during the Summer months and having a blast.
Tuesday, June 6th, we road-tripped to Brighton. Neither of us had been there before. I had low expectations, based on a few of the little blurbs I've read, and Vee had no expectations. Well, what a treat!! Just a great beach city with a festive vibe and lots going on. The water was a fantastic blue green, and the pebble beach was vast and long. We strolled down the main street into town, then veered left along the coastline where we walked and walked and walked until we finally got to the marina and quaint waterfront condo complex, then turned around and walked back. About 4 hours later, we finally took a break for another cheap, but delicious pub meal, and continued walking for another hour or so before finally heading back for the 55 minute train ride to the hotel. Almost all of the buildings we saw, if they weren't recently, and/or meticulously restored and/or maintained, there wer in the process of it. There were so many clubs, bars, restaurants, shops, cafes, galleries, theatres, etc., as well as a cathedral, and a number of other historical buildings. And, in the distance, was a while cliff lined coastline that went on and on. We really really enjoyed ourselves, and coudl imagine folks coming here for long weekends or weeks at a time during the Summer months and having a blast.
Sunday, June 4, 2006
London - Regents Park and Waterstones
Sunday the 4th of June, we checked out of room B, and back into room 6, at Cecil Court. We could hardly wait, since room B was even more of a dump than room 6. The bathroom was so small, that if I wanted to sit down, I had to back in through the doorway. I could literally lean out from the shower stall, over the toilet and wash my hands in the sink if I wanted to. The best part was that there was a leak in the shower line so that if you hold the shower head any normal fashion, water would spray all over the walls and on down into the door frame, on down to the floor, soaking the carpet of the room. Another way you could soak the carpet is if you pull the shower curtain across, and inwittingly cover the shower drain so the water builds up and breaches the tiny shower basin down into the door frame and onto the carpet. Evidently, whoever was in the room before us, did at least one of these things since at least half of the floor in the room was sopping wet when we checked in, and STUNK! There were no other rooms available at this price, so we stuck it out. Just very glad to be back in the room #6 dump today though. After checking out, we left our bags in the office, paid, then went to Costa Cafe to read, make plans, have coffee, etc. From there we took the tube to Baker Street and on to Madame Toussauds. With the expense and wait, Vee deciced it wasn't all that important to visit, and so instead, we walked all through Regents Park, which was spectacular. There were people everywhere, sitting on lounge chairs, blankets, throwing frisbee, kicking footballs (soccer), eating, drinking, talking and just plain having fun. We sat under a tree for a while and read and took in the beautiful sun. We later took the tube to Picadilly and raided a place called Waterstones, which is the largest bookstore in all of Europe. We probably could have spent an entire day in there. Finding books that we wanted took only a matter of minutes, and then we kept finding more. Ugghh!! But, they closed at 6pm, and we were forced out with one book each, mine was only 99p, and Vee's was 3 Pounds off regular price, total bill was about 4 pounds. Yeehaa! Oh, but the price we'd pay... Every place we walked by was closing their doors, so we couldn't immediatly find a place to eat. We ended up at what we though would be an inexpensive italian pizza shop for a panini, a bagel, 2 slices, and a beer. 21 pounds. WHAT!!!!!!!!!??? Furious. But, what could we do? I bit my tongue, fuming, and in disbelief, we walked around until we finally decided, with the mood killed, to take the tube back to the hotel, and call it a night. All in all, it was a fabulous day! The rose garden in Regents Park, the playful birds, the blue rowboats, willow trees and festive atmosphere were sangrias for the soul.
London - Day Trip to Hastings by The Sea
Saturday June 3rd, we got up early, and after showering, I went to Costa Cafe, while Vee finished getting ready and met me there afterwards. Using the free wireless internet connection, we confirmed the train station we needed to use for catching the train to Hastings. With two morning newspapers in hand under arm, we took the tube to London Bridge and then the train for an almost 2 hour trip to the southern coast. The final stop was ours, Hastings, and it was a short, direct walk down into town where we immediately went towards the sea, and walked the stony beach for a while. Again, it was a beautiful day, warm and sunny, clear skies with a bit of a chilly breeze. We walked back up onto the sidewalk and continued on through the old town area, by the net houses, the boats, the shipwreck and sailors museums, and to a concrete outcropping and pier where we walked out towards the sea again and took some pics and video. On our way back towards town, we stopped into the Amsterdam shipwreck museum, and then outside, where the boats were, there was a woman showing off her 5 beautiful owls, so we hung out there for a little bit, admiring these funny, cat-like, birds with giant orange eyes and fierce talons. For lunch, we went into one of the many fish & chips shops and got a delicious order of cod and chips for ourselves, which we ate sitting on a thick wood railing near the boats with a miniature train occasionally running back and forth behind us. From there we explored the narrow winding streets of the old village. We stopped to gawk at this little yellow slice of a house called the mouse house (it resembled a wedge of cheese), and I said hello to a little old lady as she walked by. She stopped, looked at me right in the eyes, and said "I've met you before". I managed not to jump out of my skin, and instead emitted a nervous chuckle and said, "no, we just got here....we're uh, admiring the view." She continued, "oh, well I live right up here", pointing to a narrow alley just a few steps further up the street, "you should come have a look, you'd never know it was there...come on now!" with a great big smile and a happy kinda cooky glassy look in her eyes. Vee and I didn't know what the hell to do, but in the split-second we had to evaluate the situation, we must have both ultimately come to the same conclusion that there was nothing this little lady could do to hurt us, no matter how strange the situation was. So, we looked at each other, saw no obvious evidence for not continuing, and turned to follow the direction in which the little old lady was pointing. She said that if we follow the little alley, past her house, we would have the best view of the city. She followed us for a bit, then turned into her homes gated entrance, and pointed us in the direction to this supposed great view. Well, she was right, and we climbed a long, steep series of steps all the way up the side of this cliff, and on top, we were rewarded with a wonderful view of the English Channel and of Hastings below. We walked far up, through the lush green grass, and over to the other side of the hill for a fantastic view of the water. On our way back down to the village, closer to the little old lady's house, we reminisced about the strange episode with her in front of the mouse house. This is now known as our "Hansel and Gretel" moment, with our visions of being locked inside a gingerbread house and boiled alive. Back into town, we walked through a number of streets lined with interesting little shops, pubs and restaurants. Ironically, we stopped at a bakery for two little gingerbread cookies that were delicious. Needing a break from all the walking and climbing, we stopped at a cafe for some coffees and water, then headed out to the beach and read and napped for a few hours. We walked back up to the train station, but decided to walk back down into town for a dinner that would be much cheaper than eating in London, and we were right. For less than 13 pounds, we each had a drink, Vee had a roasted chicken platter and I had a pasta platter. We then made our way back up to the train station, and back to London and the hotel.
Saturday, June 3, 2006
London - Lady in Black, London Dungeon and Windsor Castle
Wednesday the 31st through Friday the 2nd of June: Playing catch-up again because of our long full days and nights, and so I'm going to have to gloss over details. Wednesday, in the morning, we hung out at the Costa Cafe, and then did laundry at a nice laundromat right around the corner from the hotel. It didn't take us longer than an hour and so by early afternoon, we dropped off our clothes back in our room, and took the tube to Leicester Square where we got tickets to play: The Lady in Black. From there, it was a short walk to the National Gallery, where we looked at beautiful paintings by Seurat, Signac, Monet, Manet, Renoir, Canaletto, Parmigiano, Cassatt, Holbein, El Greco, Valesquez, Rembrandt, and so many others. In one of the galleries, there was a string quartet giving a free Beethoven concert, so we sat on the floor there and listened until they were through. That was such an unexpected treat! Then we walked to our play, and even though our seats were up on the upper-most level, last row, we still had a fine view, and the show was quite a thriller. Afterwards we went to a little cafe for a panini and coke, and took the tube back to the hotel for the night.
Thursday June 1st, we were back at Cost Cafe in the morning for a planning session. We decided on renewing our room in our current hotel, buying a BritRail Flex pass for 15 days, and using the next week in London solely for doing day trips before heading to York and then Edinburgh for travelling Scotland. After putting the finishing touches on our plans, we took the tube to Piccadilly Circus where there was a tourist information center that sold BritRail tickets, amongst all kinds of other things. We expected some difficulties because the little sign behind the counter said we needed to have our passports and flight tickets with us in order to buy the tickets, but they didn't enforce this, and we got our passes no problem. From there, we went to London Dungeon, the ultimate low-brow entertainment spot in London, and had a great time getting all grossed out and freaked out, despite the exhorbatant cost, long line and obnoxious kids in our group. It was good, disgusting fun. Afterwards, we had a really nice leisurely walk alongside the River Thames to the Royal Festival Hall to see what was going on there. The show for the night didn't sound all that interesting, so we decided against staying, and instead, took the took back towards the hotel, but got off a few stops early so that we could explore some areas we hadn't yet seen. We ended up having dinner at a Pizza Express, which was nothing like what we expected, and instead, was really very nice, and super tasty with nice comparitively low prices. We stopped at the little corner shop for some snacks and went back to the hotel.
Friday the 2nd of June would be our first of many road trips out of London. Today, was Windsor Castle, and oh what a treat it was. One of the funny things was hearing the automated voice on the train announce at each stop "Mind the gap between the train and the edge of the platform.". Now, on the tube, you frequently hear "Mind the gap", and we just thought is we hilarious that on the train, they actually took it so far as to not only warn us against the gap, but to also explain exactly where the gap was, just in case we couldn't figure that out for ourselves. Hilarious. So proper. So British. Another thing was the many, many times the train conductor came over the loud speaker system to apoligize for the train being delayed by 3 minutes, and how terribly sorry they were for any inconveniences that this may have caused. And then a few more times when we were 5 delayed by 5 minutes, and a few more times when we were about 10 minutes behind. The entire trip was only about a 52 minute ride, and not only were they continually apoligizing for our slipping tardiness, but they also took the time to explain exactly why we were being delayed (congestion on the railway). Once in Windsor, it was a short walk through the tidy little town to the ticket office, and inside the castle walls where we explored the State Rooms, Queen Mary's dolls and dollhouse, St.George's Cathedral, and the Royal Collection of arms and paintings. It was a beautiful, warm, sunny day. We saw the changing of the guard, and then walked to Windsor Park where the long straight gravel road leads from the castle to a huge monument on the horizon. We walked more through the village and had a very nice conversation with some super friendly folks inside an art gallery before we headed back to the train station for our ride to the Waterloo station in London, and eventually back to the hotel. To cap the night off, we walked around for a little while around the hotel and found a little family Italian restaurant where we shared a tomato and mozzarella appetizer, Vee had a smoked salmon salad and I had a chicken breast with prosciutto and cheese, and we shared a home-made tiramisu for dessert, all of which was delicious.
Thursday June 1st, we were back at Cost Cafe in the morning for a planning session. We decided on renewing our room in our current hotel, buying a BritRail Flex pass for 15 days, and using the next week in London solely for doing day trips before heading to York and then Edinburgh for travelling Scotland. After putting the finishing touches on our plans, we took the tube to Piccadilly Circus where there was a tourist information center that sold BritRail tickets, amongst all kinds of other things. We expected some difficulties because the little sign behind the counter said we needed to have our passports and flight tickets with us in order to buy the tickets, but they didn't enforce this, and we got our passes no problem. From there, we went to London Dungeon, the ultimate low-brow entertainment spot in London, and had a great time getting all grossed out and freaked out, despite the exhorbatant cost, long line and obnoxious kids in our group. It was good, disgusting fun. Afterwards, we had a really nice leisurely walk alongside the River Thames to the Royal Festival Hall to see what was going on there. The show for the night didn't sound all that interesting, so we decided against staying, and instead, took the took back towards the hotel, but got off a few stops early so that we could explore some areas we hadn't yet seen. We ended up having dinner at a Pizza Express, which was nothing like what we expected, and instead, was really very nice, and super tasty with nice comparitively low prices. We stopped at the little corner shop for some snacks and went back to the hotel.
Friday the 2nd of June would be our first of many road trips out of London. Today, was Windsor Castle, and oh what a treat it was. One of the funny things was hearing the automated voice on the train announce at each stop "Mind the gap between the train and the edge of the platform.". Now, on the tube, you frequently hear "Mind the gap", and we just thought is we hilarious that on the train, they actually took it so far as to not only warn us against the gap, but to also explain exactly where the gap was, just in case we couldn't figure that out for ourselves. Hilarious. So proper. So British. Another thing was the many, many times the train conductor came over the loud speaker system to apoligize for the train being delayed by 3 minutes, and how terribly sorry they were for any inconveniences that this may have caused. And then a few more times when we were 5 delayed by 5 minutes, and a few more times when we were about 10 minutes behind. The entire trip was only about a 52 minute ride, and not only were they continually apoligizing for our slipping tardiness, but they also took the time to explain exactly why we were being delayed (congestion on the railway). Once in Windsor, it was a short walk through the tidy little town to the ticket office, and inside the castle walls where we explored the State Rooms, Queen Mary's dolls and dollhouse, St.George's Cathedral, and the Royal Collection of arms and paintings. It was a beautiful, warm, sunny day. We saw the changing of the guard, and then walked to Windsor Park where the long straight gravel road leads from the castle to a huge monument on the horizon. We walked more through the village and had a very nice conversation with some super friendly folks inside an art gallery before we headed back to the train station for our ride to the Waterloo station in London, and eventually back to the hotel. To cap the night off, we walked around for a little while around the hotel and found a little family Italian restaurant where we shared a tomato and mozzarella appetizer, Vee had a smoked salmon salad and I had a chicken breast with prosciutto and cheese, and we shared a home-made tiramisu for dessert, all of which was delicious.
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